Chicken LaBamba

This one was made with the boyfriend in mind. Chicken LaBamba is a Mexican casserole that is cheesy, creamy and can definitely be classified as comfort food. My mom used to make this for us when we were little and when I had an intense craving for it a few weeks ago, she reminded me which cookbook to look in. Luckily, I had an old copy of hers on hand. There is some disagreement as to how it got in my possession. It may have been permanently "borrowed" without permission though my recollection is that there were two copies laying around and I ended up with one. Either way, I love having her hand me down cookbooks because she has a tendency to take notes on the recipe directly on the page. It's not only sentimental, but provides a great road map for me on where to take the recipe.

Her notes recommended skipping the special topping and using chips instead. I followed her suggestion and sprinkled my chips with some shredded cheese and salsa as well.

Chicken LaBamba

Adapted from California Sizzles

1 cup light sour cream

1/3 cup milk

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 t cumin

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 t chile powder

1/2 t salt

1 can cream of chicken soup

10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

4 oz diced green chiles (I used mild, go for hot if you like more spice)

2 cups diced chicken

1 cup shredded jack cheese, divided

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 1/2 cups broken tortilla chips (I used blue corn)

1/2 cup salsa plus more for serving

Preheat oven to 350*

Combine sour cream and next nine ingredients and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine chicken with 1/2 cup of jack cheese and all of the cheddar. Spread half of the spinach mixture in a greased casserole, top with half of the chicken mixture and repeat layers. Top with broken tortilla chips and sprinkle with remaining half cup of jack cheese and salsa. Bake for 40 minutes and let sit for 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Cucumber, Corn and Onion Salad

Sometimes the simplest of things are the best. A simple salad is exactly what was needed for a BBQ with friends and my neighbor. My neighbor had come home with a ton of cucumbers so we chopped that up, added corn and sweet onion and finally dressed it with a simple vinaigrette. We almost had to make a second batch:

Cucumber, Corn and Onion Salad

1 cucumber, cut into wedges

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn

3/4 cup sliced Vidalia onion (using sweet Vidalias is key here)

1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

1 T dijon mustard

salt to taste

Combine cucumber, corn and onion and set aside. Put vinegar and a sprinkling of salt in a separate bowl and drizzle olive oil in while whisking the mixture together. Add mustard and whisk together to emulsify the dressing. Pour vinaigrette over salad and enjoy!

Malted Chocolate Cupcakes

These cupcakes are so yummy, but be prepared for a serious sugar high after consuming even just one of these. I came up with these after seeing a malted chocolate cake in a magazine. The first time I made them I put malted milk powder in the batter as well as the frosting and it was too much. Ever since, I've settled on chocolate cupcakes with malted chocolate frosting. I use Martha's One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes from her Baking Handbook. The recipe I created for Malted Chocolate Frosting is what makes these stand apart.

Malted Chocolate Frosting

1/2 Pound Butted (softened)

2 - 3 T Water

1 1/2 Pounds Powdered Sugar

1 Cup Cocoa Powder

1/4 Cup Malted Milk Powder (I use Horlicks)

Add butter and 2 T water to mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and turn on to medium low. Sift powdered sugar, cocoa and malted milk powder together and add to the bowl in four small additions. Add additional 1 T water if needed to loosen frosting.

Martha Stewart's One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/4 cups cocoa powder

2 cups sugar

2 1/2 t baking soda

1 1/4 t baking powder

2 eggs + 1 egg yolk

1 1/4 cups milk

1/2 cup + 2 T vegetable oil

2 t vanilla bean paste

1 1/4 cups warm water

Preheat oven to 350*

Sift together first six ingredients in mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment. Add remaining ingredients and mix until well blended. This batter always seems runny to me, but it works out perfectly. It's easiest to get it into the cupcake pan if you pour the batter into a large measuring cup first. Fill the muffin cups about 3/4 full and bake for 25 minutes. Be sure to cool completely before frosting and topping with malt balls.

Zucchini Banana Bread

When you have a zucchini plant that's going crazy like mine is, there's only one thing to do. Make bread! Even more than zucchini bread, I love zucchini banana bread. Adding banana to baked goods works best when the banana has gone black and it's well past the point you would want to eat it on its own.

Zucchini Banana Bread

1 1/4 cup Flour (divided)

1 t Baking Powder

1 t Baking Soda

1 t Salt

2 t Cinnamon

1 t Nutmeg

1/3 cup Sugar

1/3 cup Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Vegetable Oil

1 Egg

1 Medium or 2 Small Zucchini

1 Smashed Overripe Banana

Preheat Oven to 350*

Shred zucchini by hand or using grating disc of a Cuisinart. Toss shredded zucchini with 1/2 cup flour and set aside. Combine 3/4 cup flour with next 9 ingredients and mix together. Stir in Zucchini and smashed banana. Spray loaf pan with cooking spray and pour in batter. Bake for 45 minutes and enjoy!

Lemon and Mint Ravioli Filling

The options for ravioli fillings are pretty much endless. It's one of the benefits of making your own ravioli at home. I'm going to serve mine with lamb ragu so I'm opting for a pretty simple filling with some mint to play off the classic lamb and mint combination. Here's my filling:

4 oz Goat Cheese

4 oz Marscapone

Zest from 1 large or 1 1/2 medium lemons

2-3 T Chopped Mint

Salt to taste

Mix together all ingredients, add salt to taste and set aside until ready to use.

Lamb Ragu

I needed to find something to do with the lamb I had leftover from grinding meat for my lamb burgers last week. I had about 3/4 of a pound left and decided to turn it into a ragu to go with some ravioli I was making. I'm a fan of the traditional Bolognese Ragu, which is a meat sauce that has very little tomato to it. Here's how mine ended up:

Lamb Ragu

3/4 Pound Ground Lamb

1 Bay Leaf

2 T Olive Oil

4 Cloves Garlic

2 Cups Mirepoix (1 cup chopped onion, 1/2 cup chopped carrot, 1/2 cup chopped celery)
3 Cups Lamb Stock

2 T Tomato Paste

Parmesan Rind (optional)

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan (enameled cast iron works great for this). Add smashed garlic (a la Julia) and bay leaf to the pan and stir just until the garlic begins to develop some color. Add the lamb and saute until well browned.

Add mirepoix to the pan and continue to cook until the mirepoix begins to soften (about five minutes). Add one cup of stock to the pan and scrape up any brown bits, then add the additional two cups along with the tomato paste and bring to a very gentle simmer.

Cover and let her go for 3- 4 hours. I happened to have a parmesan rind in the fridge so I threw that in there to help develop flavor, but it's not necessary. When the meat reaches that magical fork-tender place, uncover and allow the stock to reduce down to desired consistency. Enjoy!

Pasta School

The freshness of homemade ravioli and the ability to control all of the fillings makes taking the time to make your own, absolutely worth it. And if you have a few kitchen appliances, the work is actually pretty easy. Today I used a pretty common ratio of 1 cup semolina flour, 2 eggs and a splash of olive oil to pull the pasta together. Just add all ingredients to a Cuisinart fitted with the dough blade and let her rip.


When the dough forms a ball and starts to clean off the sides of the bowl, the dough is ready. Divide dough into two pieces and flatten into a rectangular disc shape. Wrap the discs in saran wrap and let sit for at least thirty minutes.





After the dough has rested, feed it through a pasta maker at the widest setting. Fold the dough into thirds, as shown, and feed it through again short end first. Repeat folding and feeding it through on the widest setting 4 - 6 times. At this point, I like to cut the piece of dough in half so that the length is more manageable as you stretch it through the machine.



Starting on the widest setting, feed the dough through the pasta machine once at each setting, stopping at the second to last setting. When you're making ravioli, it's better to stop here so that you don't end up with a dough that will tear when filled.

There are many ways to shape ravioli, but I prefer an easy method that produces a rustic looking ravioli. Simply lay the dough out on your work surface and place small mounds of filling (the recipe I'm using can be found here) about one to one and half inches apart.

Brush a little water or egg wash around the bottom of the pasta sheet and each side of the individual filling mounds and fold the pasta over the filling.

Seal the raviolis by pressing first around the filling and then out to the edges to make sure there are no air bubbles trapped inside.

Use a knife to cut each ravioli and transfer to a baking sheet dusted with cornmeal to rest while you repeat the process with the remaining pieces of dough.

Fresh pasta cooks a lot faster than dry so these guys will only need about 3 - 4 minutes in boiling water. I try to put them in and take them out pretty gingerly to avoid breakage and remember - don't crowd the pot. It's better to cook in two sessions if you need more room.

These raviolis are good as is or maybe with just a sprinkling of parmesan, but I'm going to serve mine with a lamb ragu.

The First Tomatoes of Summer

They're here! The first tomatoes of summer. It reminds me of the Polar Express and the first gift of Christmas, but this is way better. Santa has nothing on Mother Nature this time of year. There were only three and they're small, but oh so good. They're the same ones I posted a picture of last weekend, from the Sprite plant. It's a determinate variety so I should be overwhelmed with the little guys soon enough.