Punt the Velveeta for a Super Bowl of Queso!

That’s right.  It’s Super Bowl time again.  Even though Hubby’s two least favorite teams will be playing, I have a feeling we’ll still be watching it, regardless of how much he rants about the Patriots.  Yes, we live in Massachusetts, and my husband hates the Patriots.  And although he also hates the New York Giants, his favorite team is the Jets, who are also from New York.  I don’t really get it.  I have a feeling it has a lot more to do with uniform colors than anything else.  Anyway, enough about the sport, let’s talk food.  More specifically, let’s talk Chili con Queso… or more commonly known as just Queso.  I have to admit that I love the stuff.  Warm, creamy, spicy, cheesy, what’s not to love, right?  I’ll answer that for you.  Velveeta.  Velveeta is a creepy, ‘cheese food’, product that requires no refrigeration and never goes bad.  Honestly, I’m surprised it even works as fish bait.  Unfortunately, probably every queso you’ve ever eaten was made from it, or something very similar.  Well, no more.  I wasn’t sure I could actually make a dip that would have the same creamy consistency using real cheese, but I did, and it is amazing. 

Here’s what you’ll need:   

18 oz. grated cheese (about 5-ish cups)
1 ½ cups whole milk
2 – 3 jalapenos, diced
½ onion, diced
2 – 3 tomatoes, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 Tablespoon)
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoons chili powder
½ cup cilantro, chopped
¼ cup sour cream

The first thing you’ll want to do is dice everything up.  Then, in a sauce pan over medium low heat, melt 2 Tablespoons of butter and throw in your jalapeno and onion. 

Sprinkle over the salt, pepper, and chili powder. 

Stir the mixture and allow it to begin to sweat off some of its liquid.  After about 5 minutes, stir in the garlic.

Continue to cook the mixture for another 5 minutes or so, stirring frequently.  While it’s cooking you can go ahead and grate the cheese.  It’ll be much easier to do if you put it in the freezer for 15 minute or so first.  It’s very important to grate your own cheese for this.  The pregrated stuff doesn’t melt as well.  It’s also important to use cheeses that melt very easily.  I used about equal parts of Monterey jack and mild cheddar.

Once the vegetable mixture has cooked down and everything is mostly soft, add the diced tomatoes. 

Stir them around just long enough to cook off some of the moisture.  About 2 minutes.  Sprinkle the flour over the top of the mixture. 

Stir it in until it is completely incorporated and you no longer see any dry flour.  The mixture will be thick and pasty. 

Cook it for about a minute, stirring constantly, and then pour in the milk. 

Stir until the mixture become thick and creamy and comes to a boil.  You might need to increase the heat a little for that.  Once it’s come to a full boil, turn off the heat and throw in the cilantro.

Stir that in and allow the mixture to cool slightly before beginning to add the cheese.  There are two very important rules you need to follow in order to ensure you’ll end up with a nice creamy dip and not an oil clumpy mess.  First, it CANNOT be boiling when the cheese goes in.  Second, the cheese has to go in very, VERY slowly.  You want to add maybe ¼ cup at a time. 

Then stir it in and allow it to fully incorporate before sprinkling in the next addition.  If you have strings like this,

It’s not ready for another addition yet.  It should be smooth and creamy, with no stretchy, stingy, anything.  If the mixture cools too much, you might want to turn the burner back on to a very low heat, but be careful.  If it gets too hot, it will turn grainy and will eventually break.  If at any time, you start to see it becoming a grainy texture, remove it from the heat immediately and stir in a couple of ice cubes and a tablespoon of milk.  If you’re lucky, that will save it for you, but no guarantee.  Remember, low and slow is your friend here.  Continue to stir in the cheese until it’s all incorporated completely, then add the sour cream. 

Stir that in.  The heat will slowly allow it to melt and disperse into the mixture.  There you have it.  Creamy, delicious queso made without using any processed, cheese food product.  If you have a way to keep it warm at a very low temperature, that will keep the consistency the best.  If not, just cover it and serve it in small portions that can be eaten before it cools completely.  Serve with your favorite tortilla chips. 

Creamy, slightly spicy, and delicious.  The perfect accompaniment for the Super Bowl.

So, Pats or Giants?  Who are you rooting for?     

because we always do what we're told

So our lovely winner, Angel, suggested that we make either a turkey pot pie or some kind of spaghetti with chicken. Well, we go all out around here when people give us suggestions. I mean, really, I once made cookies with garam masala in them because one of the guys at work challenged me to do it. Chicken Spaghetti? No problem.

I did have to pause when I was told that most people mean some kind of ... *cringe* casserole (gag) when they say "chicken spaghetti."

I have an undying holy hate for anything called casserole. While this kind of thing serves as comfort food for many people, memories of my mother's pasta-and-cans-of-mystery-soup dinners are things of nightmares.

I do not, and will not ever, make casseroles.

And because of this, I turned to my old standby. One cutting board, one pan, and dinner in as little time as possible.

Chicken Spaghetti

What you need:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 4 giant mushrooms
• 1 small box of spinach
• 1/3 c basil leaves
• 1-1/2 c table cream
• 1/4 c cream cheese
• 1/4 c parmesan
• 1/2 box linguine

What you gotta do:

Get a nice big pot of water on to boil. (this is the pasta equivalent of remembering to preheat the oven)

So, because I'm damn lazy, hate washing dishes and have limited cutting boards, I always chop the veggies first. Mince the garlic, slice the mushrooms, and chiffonade the basil.

Then, once those are taken care of, I use the same board for raw meat. Chicken breast cooks faster when it's thinner, and it's quite satisfying to make big loud banging noises as you shake everything on the counter with every swing. I remember my mom having a "meat mallet" and it seemed like a common tool at one time, but most utensil sets nowadays don't seem to include them.

It is a bit of a specialized item and I'm quite fond of multi-purpose items, so I use the bottom of a Pyrex measuring cup. Works just fine.

Bring a bit of butter to bubbly in a large pan.

Add the chicken breats and cook until it's just starting to brown. (um, that's pepper. I like pepper. Which reminds me: salt and pepper.)

Flip them over and give them just a couple minutes then take them out of the pan and cover them with foil. Don't worry if it's not entirely cooked all the way through. It's going to rest on a plate for a while and then go back into the pan. It'll have lots of time to finish cooking.

Dump the mushrooms and garlic into the pan. If you'd like you can add a bit more butter with them.

If your spinach is small-leafed enough, you can just toss it in as is. If the leaves are a little on the big side, you can tear or chop it before adding it. Me, I just tore it up a bit since I'd already dirtied the only cutting board I wanted to wash.

Once the spinach has wilted a bit (that takes like 2 minutes, and likely you'll be busy adding linguine to water while it happens) add the cream,

and the cream cheese.

Let this simmer for about 5 minutes over reasonably high heat. I used cream with 18% milk fat, which is less than whipping cream, but more than what typically goes into coffee. If you've got whipping cream, cut it with a bit of milk or chicken broth. The cream cheese isn't totally necessary in this, but it adds a nice bit of cheesey flavour.

When your pasta is almost done, slice your chicken breasts. Add it and the basil and grated parmesan to the pan.

Drain the pasta, leaving just a little bit of water in the bottom of the pot, then dump it all into the sauce pan.

Give this a good mix, and keep it bubbling over medium high until the sauce is the consistency you want.

I kept mine bubbling for about 3 or 4 minutes before I loaded it onto a plate and into a couple of containers for lunch tomorrow and dinner in a couple days.

So, there we go. A deconstructed Chicken Spaghetti casserole (gag) made with fresh ingredients, in about 30 minutes with as few dishes as humanly possible.

Next challenge??