Older Bolder Life

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the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Easy Peasy Italian Seasoning

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One of our family mantras we’ve embraced for years now is the simple mindset of “dammit, we can do that”.

The first time I personally uttered that phrase was back in 2003 as we shopped around for barns to board our daughter’s first horse back then. That critter was entirely her project – from purchase to boarding to ongoing maintenance (if you’ve never been involved with horses, the ongoing costs are never-ending and impressively varied) – though that animal led us down a path none of us expected at the time.

The “dammit, we can do that” approach to that particular challenge led to buying a horse farm and show operation the next year, which we managed top to bottom as a family, and used as a learning lab for a plethora of life lessons, including teaching both of our then early teenage kids how to run a business.

The “dammit, we can do that” mantra works wonders in the kitchen too.

With a bit of research, creativity, and a modicum of skills there a host of great recipes and techniques available to the home cook these days; making home spices mixes with great ingredients is a prime example.

We love spicy, full-flavored foods around our camp, and have taken of late to buying organic, fresh as possible spices at our favorite local grocer, using them in various dishes as called for, and mixing up our own classic spices mixes as well.

This Easy Peasy Italian Seasoning is one that we find ourselves reaching for more and more often this fall; if you can measure and stir with a spoon, you can put this one together in minutes, and it’s a wonderful spice mix to have on hand for a host of recipes.

The Grilled Diablo Chicken Margherita from a few weeks back is a prime example of a dish where this spice mix shines; we’ve thrown it on chicken and pork headed for the grill all fall, and my wife thinks it works on grilled shrimp too.

I’ve very intentionally left the volume of the recipe up to you – I’m making a giant batch for gift giving this holiday season, though when I’m throwing together a quick recipe of this one at home, I typically use 1 part equal to 1 teaspoon using the following ratio.

(And note, while many commercial Italian spice mixes will have salt added, I’ve left it out so you can better control how much salt you’d like to add when cooking. Want salt in your mix? By damn, put it in.)

6 parts dried basil
6 parts dried oregano
6 parts dried parsley
3 parts crushed red pepper flakes
3 parts rosemary
3 parts thyme
2 parts marjoram
1 part granulated garlic

Combine the dried spices in a small bowl and mix well. Store in an airtight container or bag in a dark cabinet or the pantry.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Grilled Diablo Chicken Margherita

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I was chatting again recently with our chef buddy Libby in Austin a couple of weeks ago and the topic of the migration of her catering menu to her fall rotation came up.

She has a boatload of great ideas (always) and is a magician when it comes to putting together innovative and unique menus; her skills are truly a gift and I stand in awe of her ability to pull things together based on what’s fresh in the market and staying diligently attuned to her clientele in Austin.

Much to my surprise, and her’s as well, one of the most requested menus for her fall events is a Grilled Diablo Chicken Margherita, referenced by most clients as “one like they serve at Olive Garden”.

I had to admit to Libby that we haven’t set foot in an Olive Garden in over a decade, and she responded by saying it’d been even longer for her. (We both had plenty of exposure years ago to the food industry scuttle that OG cooked very little fresh in their kitchens, and they’ve reportedly had a long history of “issues” in the kitchen from a health standpoint. Nuff said.)

Her Grilled Diablo Chicken Margherita has a couple of interesting twists that are ridiculously easy for the home cook to incorporate; after all, who doesn’t like a tender, juicy grilled chicken breast or thigh topped with melted mozzarella and a great pesto?

Living in Austin Libby has a client base that’s tuned in to, and clamors for spicy foods – that’s in part why she and my family resonate so well.

That said, one of her versions of this dish uses a classic Italian seasoning mix (house made of course) with a healthy dose of fresh red pepper flakes thrown in. She tops that with a classic pesto, though she agrees with us that roasting the garlic and pine nuts is essential for a great pesto, and then uses this same tomato/basil/lemon juice relish or topping, the lemon providing a great burst of acidity to the dish. Now and then if good lemons aren’t handy, she’ll use balsamic vinegar as well for the relish.

Her more TexMex version of this recipe features an ancho chile based rub for the chicken with a cilantro pesto – we’ll have that recipe upcoming before too long, as well as recipes for the ancho rub and a great Italian spice mix too.

This recipe comes together quickly, and happens to be one of my wife’s favorite dishes to take to work for a quick lunch these days.

4 boneless chicken breasts
4 chicken thighs
2 tbsp olive or avocado oil
1 tbsp good Italian seasoning mix
1-3 tsp fresh red pepper flakes (optional)
8 slices mozzarella cheese
1/2 to 1 cup fresh basil pesto (try this one)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup basil leaves, chiffonade prep
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Good salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Rub the chicken pieces with your oil of choice and dust with the spice mix and red pepper flakes; set aside at room temperature while you fire the grill and complete your prep.

While the grill is preheating, combine the halved tomatoes, basil leaves in chiffonade, the lemon juice, and salt/pepper; set aside.

Now grill the chicken until done, 6-8 minutes per side, topping with a slice of mozzarella during the last couple of minutes. Covering your grill during the cheese melting window will make speed the process.

Pull the chicken, plate it, spoon on your pesto (up to 2-3 tbsp each), and top with the tomato/basil relish.

Enjoy.

Sauce Monday: Our House Pesto (with a Roasted Twist)

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At the risk of posting one of those recipes that just about every curious home cook already has in their repertoire, and probably a family favorite at that, I’ve had several requests of late for an easy, quick, damned tasty, and storable pesto recipe.

There are a ton of great pesto variations and recipes floating around out there, and we tend to lean on a fairly classic approach using really good ingredients – particularly the freshest basil you can get your hands on and a great parmesan cheese.

Several talented mentors in the kitchen, including our compadre Chef Libby in Austin, have taught us over the years that you can up your pesto game with a couple of simple roasting steps for the pine nuts and garlic.

Toasting (roasting) the pine nuts in particular brings out their umami flavors and we think adds a bit of tooth to the texture as well; you can either do in the oven or a pan on the stove (I do in the oven for 7-8 minutes at 300 to lower the risk of burning them, and typically just throw 3 garlic cloves in the pan as well to roast along with the pine nuts).

You certainly don’t have to do this, but you should try it at least once, and you’ll also find the roasted garlic is much more mellow and rounded after the gentle application of a bit of heat.

We usually scarf down a batch of pesto the day it’s made, but if you’re doing a bigger batch, you’ll preserve the basil’s bright green color longer in the fridge if you blanch the leaves for 15-20 seconds in simmering water followed by a dip in an ice-water bath immediately after. Drain well before blitzing, and your pesto will stay bright green in the fridge for days (though we always store ours with a thin layer of good olive oil on top too).

Friday I’m posting a great grilled chicken recipe featuring this pesto….

1 cup packed fresh basil leaves, see note above about optional blanching
1/4 cup fresh pine nuts, roasted
2-3 cloves garlic, roasted
1/3 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup good EVOO
1/2 to 1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (or to taste)
1/2 tsp good salt (or to taste)
1/4-1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper (or to taste)

Roast the pine nuts and garlic if desired; see discussion above.

Blanch the fresh basil leaves if desired, see discussion above.

Combine the basil leaves, roasted garlic (minced if using raw, start with one clove), cheese, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and olive oil in your trusty food processor and pulse until the desired smoothness is achieved (we like our pesto with a bit of tooth or texture).

Store in the fridge with a thin layer of olive oil on top.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Friday Feast: Greek Chicken Breast Sauté

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As my lovely wife and I have been wrestling ife back under control post our recent move, I came across one of our favorite old cookbooks that’s now out of print. It’s one of two collections of recipes from chefs working in and around Santa Fe and neighboring areas in New Mexico.

We’ve harvested literally dozens of great recipes from these cookbooks over the years, tweaking them to be healthier with cleaner ingredients, and marveling all the while at the flavors that the tri-cultural melting pot that is New Mexico has produced over the years.

If you’ve never made it to Santa Fe, go visit sometime, soak up the history, hike in the nearby hills (they call them mountains – the terrain is gorgeous, but more hilly than mountainous), and enjoy some of the culinary treasures of the region. And by all means, you have to do breakfast at The Pantry on Cerrillos.

Back to today’s recipe, this Greek Chicken Breast Sauté is an incredibly simple, easy to prepare, and quick from prep to table recipe that has been a staple around our camp for over 20 years.

We’ve served it to high brow company, enjoyed it many times around a relaxed family dinner table, and even cooked it a few times on the road or river while camping.

I’ve left it to you to choose your flour of choice to dust the chicken breasts; I’m not convinced that any of the alternative grain / gluten free flours brown as well as conventional wheat flour, though you need to experiment yourself. To be honest, I often season the chicken well and sauté it without any flour at all, though we do miss the good crust it makes now and again.

Finally, this is one of those recipes that is better with really good olives, though you don’t need to break the bank buying insanely expensive ingredients – it works really well with the basics too.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup seasoned flour of choice (salt, pepper, spices)
1/4 cup olive or avocado oil
1 and 1/2 cups dry white wine
1 cup fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped
1/2 cup capers
2/3 cup black olives, pitted, sliced
2/3 cup green olives, pitted, sliced
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped, or two fresh rosemary sprigs

Dredge the chicken in the seasoned flour (see comment above) and shake off the excess.

Heat your oil of choice in a large skillet over medium high heat, then sauté the chicken for 3 minutes per side until golden (but not cooked through). Add the wine and simmer for 5 – 6 minutes until slightly reduced, then reduce the heat to medium.

Now add the tomatoes, capers, both olives, and the rosemary; simmer for another 4-8 minutes until the sauce has slightly thickened and the chicken is just cooked through.

Serve immediately on warmed plates with the sauce spooned on top.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: (Primal) Texas Style Picadillo

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Growing up in the panhandle of Texas back in the day I had several friends whose families made picadillo routinely at home; we ate it in tacos, in big bowls over rice on cold, blustery days, in tortilla wraps, and even stirred into scrambled eggs now and again.

With the official transition to astrological fall this week, it’s time to begin to rotate some tasty soups, stews, chiles, and picadillo onto the menu.

Picadillo (according to the experts and food historians) claims its roots in a number of latin American countries, though a Filipino residency mate argued that his version from back home was the very best. Being from the Southwest and unabashedly heavily biased toward Tex-Mex and the hodge-podge of culinary history that makes up Texas cuisine, I tend to think of the picadillo we’re used to enjoying as a dish originating in Mexico and other countries on further south.

Picadillo is one of those simple, almost peasant foods that varies from region to region and family to family, and the version below should as always be considered a simple framework to start from.

We’ve tweaked the version I remember from days in the Panhandle to make it more Primal and healthy eating friendly, easy changes like grass-fed ground beef, healthier oil, and sweet potatoes instead of the classic russet. We also think it’s immeasurably better with just a bit of dried ground ancho chile powder in the skillet, and my favorite dish from years ago was dressed up a little with the addition of a handful of peas (though you’ll see raisins in a number of recipes floating around out there as well.

Don’t forget a bit of chopped cilantro, diced avocado, and a spritz of fresh lime juice at bare minimum to finish this one off…

1 lb grass-fed ground beef
2 tbsp avocado oil, divided
1-2 sweet potatoes of choice, peeled, 3/4-inch pieces
1 medium onion, small dice
1 medium poblano, stemmed, seeded, small dice
2-3 plum tomatoes, cored, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 serrano peppers, stemmed, seeded, finely chopped OR
1-2 jalapeno peppers, stemmed, seeded, finely chopped
1 and 1/2 tsp kosher salt or 1 tbsp Diamond Crystal salt
1-2 tsp ground cumin
1-2 tsp ground dried ancho pepper (optional)
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 cups chicken stock or broth
1/2 cup peas, optional

To Finish
1/3 cup chopped cilantro, leaves and small stems
Sliced radishes
Diced fresh avocado
Crumbled cotija cheese (feta plays well too)
Fresh lime juice

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; now sauté the beef until browned but not fully cooked through (6-7 minutes). Remove the beef to a small bowl using a slotted spoon.

Back the heat down to medium, add the rest of the oil, and quickly sauté the potatoes until just beginning to brown (3-4 minutes); remove to a small plate and set aside.

Now add the onions, diced peppers, garlic, salt, cumin, and black and ancho peppers, stirring occasionally, and cook until the vegetables are just beginning to tenderize (4-5 minutes).

Add the beef (and any juices) back in, along with the stock and peas, and simmer for 15 minutes. Now add the potatoes back in, stir to mix, and simmer another 5-7 minutes. Now add the chopped tomatoes and simmer another 3-5 minutes.

You’ll know you’re there when the beef is fully cooked, the potatoes are just tender, and just about all of the liquid has evaporated off. Taste for salt and cumin, stir in the cilantro at service, and finish with whatever add-ons you have on hand.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Sunday Afternoon Roast Chicken

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When I was a wee lad visiting grandparents on the Texas Coast, now and again on a Saturday afternoon Ma-Ma (pronounced maw-maw) would walk down the block in Bay City to the corner grocery, replete with wooden floors and swinging screen doors out front that always banged shut behind us, and buy a fresh chicken or two from the cooler in the back.

She and the shop owner would chat about whose farm it came from and how fresh it was; she’d always insist on poking, prodding, and even sniffing the bird to ensure it met her standards. It would be wrapped in white butcher paper that was torn off a roll that seemed to my child eyes to be bigger than me, and then handed over the counter like a treasure.

We’d walk back to the house, she’d liberally salt and pepper it, rub it with a cut garlic clove, then place it in the fridge “to season” overnight, before roasting the next day in a hot oven for what seemed like forever but was just about an hour every time.

We’d fight over the crispy skin and wings, and gobbled with delight whatever piece we were granted at the table later. Damn, that was good.

Roasting chickens at home isn’t rocket science, though we home cooks sometimes try to make it insanely more complicated than it need be; quite frankly none of us really need to deviate from Ma-Ma’s recipe from now over 50 years ago to make great roast chicken at home.

There are a few tips and tricks you need to keep in mind however.

One, you need to track down the best damn bird you can find. Your Sunday Afternoon Roast Chicken deserves more than the tired, mass-produced bird frozen in the poultry bin at your big box grocer; find a farmers market, coop, local farmer, or other vendor who sells real, pasture or yard raised chickens who’ve eaten more than just grain day in and day out (chickens are omnivores you know…). I guarantee that bird will taste more chicken-y that any you’ll find (ever) at the big box.

Drier birds (before roasting) make for crispier skin, so grab your roaster the day before, pat it dry, season to your liking, and throw it in the fridge to let those seasonings work their magic and the skin the dry a bit. I like to truss mine at this point to make the cook even easier.

By the way, you’ll read a ton of recipes that suggest adding vegetables, a bit of stock, or even herbs to the pan when roasting; my chicken mentor thinks that’s a mistake – anything that adds moisture makes for less crispy skin given the steam that’s produced during the cook.

And while a case might be made for a slow cook followed by a blast of heat at the end to crisp up skin, most of the chefs that I pestered for their chicken roasting thoughts suggested just firing the oven to 425 and roasting away (roughly an hour for a 4 pounder) until the meat around the thigh / leg joint is 175-176. Ma-Ma did it that way, and most of us are looking to make the best damn food we can as efficiently (and simply) as possible.

Ma-Ma was always careful to save the rendered chicken fat – you should as well, it’s delicious, and making a pot of homemade stock with the picked bones is child’s play simple.

4-5 pound chicken, see note above about finding the best bird
Great salt
Fresh ground pepper
Spices of your choice

The day before you plan to roast this prime poultry, pat it dry, season it at minimum with salt and pepper, place it on a plate and throw it in the fridge uncovered. Leave it alone, you’re wanting the seasonings to work their slow magic and the skin to begin to dry out (the drier the better for crispy skin).

When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 425, and slide the bird in on a baking tray for roughly an hour.

Start checking (or use a continuous read, ovenproof thermometer) at about 50 minutes; we’re looking for the temperature at the leg/thigh junction to be about 176 when the bird comes out.

I like to let the bird rest for 10-15 minutes before carving, longer if I’m going to pick the meat for chicken salad, sandwiches, or other recipes, and make damn sure you save both the chicken fat that renders off as well as the bones for stock.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Bake for a Crowd

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Several weeks a good friend called asking for help with an event he was planning; turns out the matriarch of his clan (Estelle) was celebrating her 94th birthday on the 4th of July.

From the sounds of things, Estelle is fit as a fiddle and sharp as can be, walking 30 minutes or more every morning, and still living at home with minimal family assistance for household chores. Estelle also happens to be a long-time fan of the flavors of Santa Fe and the American Southwest, asking for chile ribs and Santa Fe style flat green enchiladas (that’s my kind of woman!) for her birthday event this year.

My buddy was in charge of the event cooking, and wanted some input on the best way to serve Estelle the great food she’d asked for, in a prep that he could parcel out over several hours as they worked to manage the relatively large family crowd anticipated, safely spaced out throughout the afternoon to pay honor to Estelle.

We just happened to have been putting the finishing touches on this Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Bake for a Crowd, adjusting a master recipe we’d pilfered from our catering genius friend Chef Libby in Austin, and spicing things up a bit to suit our own family palate. As an added bonus, it feature the stunningly good Roasted Green Chile Sauce we posted last week.

Recipes like this one have an established place in history; in the South this recipe would fall under the broad umbrella of a “covered dish”, and taken to church socials, block parties, socials, wakes, special events, and homes of friends and family under the weather.

Both my wife and I grew up in Texas, and even back then when the earth’s crust was still cooling it seems that every family had a recipe for a chicken tortilla enchilada casserole; it was often called King Ranch chicken where we grew up in Texas, and invariably included one or more flavors of Campbell’s soup (here’s one version of that very recipe we posted on a fly fishing blog years ago).

As my buddy has several in his clan who’re gluten free, I suggested he use one of the Siete tortillas available now (for some reason that isn’t entirely clear to me we like their cassava flour version better), though if you have room in your carb budget, an artisanal / organic corn tortilla works well here too.

This holds well once baked, and can be chilled down and reheated in the oven with ease.

1 medium-large sweet onion, medium dice
1 poblano pepper, stemmed, seeded, medium dice
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, medium dice
1-2 serrano or jalapeño peppers, stemmed, seeded, small dice/minced
1 generous tbsp olive or avocado oil
3-4 cups cooked chicken, shredded or diced
3 cups of this amazing Roasted Green Chile Sauce (or salsa verde)
12 grain free (ie Siete) or organic corn tortillas, cut in half
3 cups grated/shredded Monterrey Jack or Colby Jack cheese
1 to 1 and 1/2 cups grated/shredded Cotija cheese
Kosher salt

Optional
Jarred pimento peppers, drained
2 big handfuls of organic baby spinach
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
Other veg, you make the call

Toppings for service
Sliced or diced avocado
Fresh cilantro, leaves and tender stems, chopped
Diced fresh or pickled red onion
Sliced fresh or pickled jalapeños
Sliced radishes
Green onion, thinly sliced

Preheat your trusty oven to 375 and lightly butter or oil a 9×13-inch baking dish, set aside.

Heat the tablespoon of oil in large sauté pan over medium-high heat and add the onion, poblano, and bell peppers along with a pinch of good salt, sauté until they begin to soften, then add the serrano or jalapeños and cook for another couple of minutes.

Now add the prepped and cooked chicken and any of the other optional ingredients (we’d always use pimento peppers and black beans at least) along with 2 cups of the roasted green chile sauce and mix well. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Spread 1/2 cup (or a touch more) of the sauce in your pan, and layer in 8 tortilla halves to cover the bottom; now cover with roughly 1/3 of the chicken mixture then 1/3 of the Monterrey Jake or Colby cheese. The second layer over that one is identical: 8 tortilla halves, followed by 1/3 of the chicken mixture and 1/3 of the cheese.

The final layer is a little different: 8 tortilla halves, the remaining Monterrey Jack or Colby Jack cheese, the remaining chicken mixture, the remaining sauce, followed by the grated/shredded Cotija cheese.

Cover your masterpiece with foil and throw in the oven for 22 minutes, the remove the foil and bake for another 10-12 minutes until the edges are bubbling and the Cotija is beginning to brown in places.

When done, remove from the oven and let stand for 7-10 minutes, then serve warm with your toppings of choice.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Zucchini Jalapeño Salad

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Now that summer is in full swing for most of the country, or soon will be, it won’t be long before we’ll all be seeing oodles of zucchini at our favorite farmer’s market or grocer.

We’ve been seeing the really good fresh, younger zucchini here in North Texas for several weeks now, and while I’d probably rather slice it thin length-wise and grill it quickly over high heat, my lovely wife is a huge fan of spiralized zucchini salads.

This past week I started fiddling around with several of our favorite salad preps and dressings, and cobbled together this Zucchini Jalapeño Salad with an Asian-inspired dressing featuring the gently sharp acidity of rice vinegar with a healthy splash of toasted sesame oil.

Throw in one or two finely diced red jalapeño or Fresno chiles and some of that delicious chile crisp from last week, and you’ve got a nifty, bright tasting, unique, and healthy as can be side or salad for your next feast with the family.

There’s not much to this one, though note in the recipe below that a little resting time is called for to let these flavors mature. And as always, given the Asian inspiration here on flavors we’ve played with adding a bit of sweetness, though at least around our table, we prefer it without.

No spiralizer? No sweat, just chop into matchsticks and go to it.

2 medium zucchini, trimmed, spiralized or cut into 3-inch matchsticks
1/2 tsp kosher salt

1-2 red jalapeño or Fresno chiles, seeded, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 and 1/2 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1/4 tsp kosher salt

Optional
1-2 tsp chile crisp (homemade is far better)
Up to 1 tbsp sweetener of choice (see note above)
Toasted sesame seeds as garnish

Prep the zucchini using your method of choice, place in a medium bowl and sprinkle with the 1/2 tsp of kosher salt. Note if spiralizing your zucchini, consider cutting the longer strands into roughly 3-inch long pieces. Let rest 30 minutes or so, drain, and return to the bowl.

In the meantime, combine the prepped chiles and garlic, the rice vinegar, sesame oil, 1/4 tsp salt, and sweetener of choice if using in a small bowl, whisk to combine. Set aside to let the flavors develop.

After draining the zucchini, stir in the dressing to combine well. Let it rest in the fridge for another 30 minutes or so before serving (could probably go up to 5 or 6 hours), cover if resting longer than 30 minutes.

Stir in the chile crisp right at service and sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds if using.

Enjoy.