Food for Thought Thursdays: Our Illustrator Can Cook!

John here: Before Rachel got pregnant, I knew two truths about pregnant women: they are hormonal and they are picky eaters. Rachel’s always been hormonal, I have tools for navigating that, but the food issue had me nervous. I can’t eat pickle sandwiches for dinner, I just can’t. Rachel did have a pickle phase but it was short lived and stayed mostly to eating them out of the jar and not in weird combinations like with ice cream or something else ridiculous. I could deal with that and I did. While I was expecting the worst from my beloved pregnant wife, sneaking yummy snacks so as to not be too hungry when her urge for okra or uncooked rolled oats kicked in, she was busy building a formidable hunger and unending desire for the staple food of her pregnancy: Hot Wings. Whoa…. Am I the luckiest man alive or what? Not only is my beautiful partner emotionally consistent with her roller coaster hormones, but also she craves my favorite food! HA to all of you other schleps running to grocery stores in the middle of the night for a jar of pickled beets! We live within walking distance of a great wing spot that has done the brunt of the work feeding Rachel, but last night I made her hot wings as a labor of love and joy and to show her my undying gratitude for carrying and supporting our child through the last seven months. She is the best partner I could ask for, and I really can ask a lot sometimes.

Creamy Orange and Chipotle Hot Wings
serves 2

Ingredients
10 whole chicken wings (makes 20 hot wings)
1 12-oz, bottle of Frank's Red Hot hot sauce
1/4 stick of butter
1/2 an orange
1/3 7-oz. can chipotle peppers (about 4 peppers plus juice), chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 pint buttermilk
salt and pepper
olive oil
celery, cut into sticks
blue cheese dressing (or dipping sauce of your choice)
Up to 1 T. brown sugar (or more, if you like sweet sauce)

Method
Wash chicken wings. Divide each wing into two pieces (this is easy to do at the joint). Steam wings for 30 minutes. Lay flat in a baking pan and chill until cooled (roughly 30 minutes). While cooling, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Season wings with salt and pepper before tossing with olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes, or until skin is crisp. Immediately start on your sauce. Pour the Frank's into a sauce pan with the chipotles and their juice. Grate in the zest of your 1/2 orange and squeeze in its juice. Add garlic, butter and brown sugar. Simmer until sauce thickens slightly. When ready to serve, stir in buttermilk. Add wings to the sauce and toss before serving.

It's Ch-Ch-Chili

Janet here: In the winter in the Northeast, I turn to chili when I want an easy dinner that will satisfy. First, I can make it ahead. Second it's easy. Oh and then there's the nutrition factor. It's made of all kinds of stuff that are good for you (which also meant that it was a dish that I used to sneak good food into my kids when they were younger without them realizing it. I have one son, for instance, who will not eat beans or onions in pieces ... except he does in chili so haha.)

But I digress.

Anyway, I make a lot of different kinds of chili, including a very tasty white one that I just discovered this past year. I decided for this post, however, to do the vegetarian one since my carniverous daughter was going to be including some kind of meat. So on to the dish, which of course is also just a great way to have a lot of melted cheese too. :) This batch will serve 6-8.

Ingredients
1 large yellow onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, diced
1 19 ounce can red kidney beans
1 15 ounce can black beans
1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with jalapeno
about 1/2 cup rice
chili powder, hot sauce, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste


Method
In a large cooking pot, put in the oil and saute the onions and garlic until translucent. Then add the beans, tomatoes, rice and seasonings. Cook, covered, on low heat until the rice is done. Serve with grated cheese and sour cream.


Rachel here: Chili is awesome. I really think this. First, it's a vehicle for cheese and sour cream. Second, it's warm. Third, it's hearty. Fourth, it's easy. Really, it's like a wonder-food. For this batch I used a combination of leftover items in my fridge along with umm...non-leftover items (there must be a better way to say that). And, in the end, I now have new leftovers, but now they are of the chili variety (yeah!) and some will be frozen in portions for a future evening and the rest will be eaten for lunches and whatnot this week. It's a happy day here in Oakland (oh, and it's a bit chilly, too...ha ha ha).

Ingredients
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium sweet potato, chopped
28 oz. whole peeled tomatoes (I use the organic variety and, I dare say, you should, too)
28 oz. ground peeled tomatoes
2/3 lb. flank steak, cubed
1 large bone-in, skin-on chicken breast
1 c. chicken stock (or more if you have it...just use that instead of the water)
2 c. water
4 c. beans (NOT dried...I used the leftover black beans I posted about last week)
6 large fresh basil leaves
2-3 T. fresh lemon thyme
2 c. couscous (already cooked)
2 c. fresh chopped spinach
fennel
dried oregano
paprika
cayenne
orange peel
chili powder
worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper

Method
In a large pot, saute the onion, garlic and sweet potato in butter. Add tomatoes, steak, chicken stock, water, beans, chicken breast (I like to put it in whole and then pull it out after it's cooked, chop it up and throw it back in), couscous, spinach, basil (I just tear these up as I throw them in) and thyme. Let simmer until starts to cook down and chicken is cooked. Add spices listed above to taste. This recipe makes a big old pot of chili so I don't cook it down quite as far as I would if I were serving it all at once so that in future re-heatings I won't have to water it down. Sprinkle cheese on top and add a dollop of sour cream and go get cozy.