Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Recipe: Lazy, Puerto Rican Style Arroz con Pollo

My father is half Puerto-Rican and half Greek. The Greek side is actually Sephardic Jew. So, between all that I have been gifted with frizzy hair and an ample tush. Unfortunately both grandparents passed away long before I was born so I never learned any of their recipes.

My father cooks a really good Puerto-Rican style Arroz con Pollo (ACP as we call it), but it involves dark meat, carefully tending a pot, and using lots of oil. That is the correct way to cook this dish according to Dad. But my way of cooking is more easy than "right" but the result is still tasty.

Lazy, Puerto Rican Style Arroz con Pollo (The comma is essential to denote that this is a lazy recipe and I'm not calling Puerto Ricans lazy)

Ingredients
Olive oil
Bag of frozen precooked diced chicken breasts
Bag of frozen onions, red peppers, and green peppers
2 cups uncooked brown rice
1 jar of Sofrito (it is a Goya product and you can find it in the "Hispanic" food section of grocery stores)
Diced garlic out of a jar
1  14 oz can of diced tomatoes with tomato juice
3 cups chicken stock
1/2 jar pitted Spanish Olives and pimentos
1 tiny jar of pimentos
1/2 jar of capers

Directions
1. Again, this is a lazy version. Pour about 1 Tablespoon of oil in the bottom of a rice cooker.
2. Throw in bag of frozen chicken breast
3. Spoon in Sofrito. Once empty, fill half way with water, close up, and shake. Pour this into the rice cooker to add some fluid and clean out all the sofrito into your dish.
4. Pour/spoon in half the jar of the jar of Spanish olives with pimentos. Make sure you pour in the juice.
5. Spoon in the capers. Do not pour in the fluid.
6. Throw in everything else.
7. Set rice cooker

And that's it! See, I said it was lazy. It has a lot of flavor from the olives.

Downsides to this method: you don't get the burnt rice at the bottom of the pot which is really good.

So, if you're craving some ACP but need a quick and easy alternative give it a try!

The Final Product. I forgot to take a picture while it was pretty on a plate. Instead, here is a picture of it cold in a pot we used to store it in the fridge. 

Recipe: Fried Chicken

My husband is from South Hill, Virginia, which is a small town in Southern Virginia off I-85 near the North Carolina border. His mother, Doris, was from England but she cooked like she was born and bred Southerner and Alan learned at her knee how to make many foods including fried chicken. 

I never learned how to make fried chicken, so this was a tutorial for me.

Ode to Doris Crawford Fried Chicken (there are no measurements!)

Ingredients:
A couple of pounds of skinless chicken pieces, breasts and thighs
A paper bag from the grocery store
Whole wheat flour
Leftover stale crackers
Greek yogurt, plain
Salt
Pepper
Mrs. Dash Garlic seasoning
Allspice
Paprika
Oil (we used a combination of peanut, vegetable, and olive although we probably would have just used peanut if we had enough)
Electric skillet and a couple of pans and ideally some type of grate thing to elevate your meat

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 375 F
2. Pour oil into electric skillet set to 350 F
3. Put chicken pieces in a large casserole dish. Heavily season with salt and pepper on each side. Also cover with paprika and the Mrs. Dash. No measuring, just pour it on.  You really want to douse it with salt and pepper.
4. Cover the chicken pieces with Greek yogurt.
5. Prepare the paper bag: pour in flour, leftover stale crackers we crumbled (optional), salt, pepper, paprika, Mrs. Dash, and allspice.
6. When the oil is hot, throw in a couple of pieces of chicken into the bag and shake until it is covered. Put the chicken in the oil.
7. Cook/brown on each side. Do not crowd the chicken because my husband said that's bad. Not sure why.
8. Put on a grate thing to drain over a pan to get some of the oil off.
9. Put the chicken into a baking pan and put in the oven for about 20 minutes at 375 degrees. If you have the elevated grates you can put them in the oven as well since more grease will come off during the baking.
10. Take out and let cool so you don't burn your face off.


Chicken covered in salt, pepper, paprika, and Mrs. Dash


Yogurt bath


The Secret Weapon: Bag of Powders




Frying in the Skillet



Post Baking Drip


The final delicious result

If you have any suggestions for making the chicken crispier or just want to share a fried chicken recipe, please do in the comment section. 

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Home Post: Breckenridge Vanilla Porter

It's a lazy Sunday and we're cooking so that means it's time to unwind a little more before the hectic work week begins with a refreshing beverage. Today's is the Breckenbridge Brewery Vanilla Porter.
I'm keeping these Christmas Lights up all year round.

The Vanilla Porter is very light--if dark beers scare you this is a good one to try. It has a toasted taste to it with a hint of coffee. The vanilla is very subtle and doesn't hit you over the head although I think it would benefit from a more robust vanilla taste to make it a true stand out. It's best to pour into a glass and take a deep smell of the vanilla notes before you drink. It's a subtle tasty treat and available at your local grocery. I got mine at Kroger's. 

Comfort in a Plate: Joe's Inn

You will probably be able to decipher the kind of "eater" I am with my declaration that my favorite place in Richmond is Joe's Inn (The Fan). This post is specific to the Fan location and not the Bon Air location. I don't know if this is true, but I heard that they used to have the same owner but now the two establishments are owned by two different family members. The Bon Air location isn't as good (especially the cheese choices) and definitely lacks the vibe the Fan location has.

Photo from Yelp

To me there is nothing better in this city than a giant heaping pile of spaghetti. Growing up, every Sunday my father Richard would make a big spaghetti dinner. He still makes the best spaghetti I know and when he visits my friends all ask for invitations to dinner. My father takes pride in making a sauce that will stain your shirt to the point of ruin, homemade monster meatballs, and using ridiculously expensive Italian cheeses. Whenever I think of comfort, my comfort food is spaghetti. With my parents on the other side of the U.S., the next best thing to my Dad's spaghetti is Joe's Inn.

Just look at this thing of beauty: Spaghetti a la Rudd
Photo from Urbanspoon

Let's break this down: you get a ton of freakin' pasta here. They then add in spinach, mushrooms, and a massive amount of cheese including feta and then bake the damn thing. But no, it gets better. The marinara is great and the Greek meatballs are extraordinary. You have to order the meatballs separate--don't forget. I have no idea what's in the meatballs and I don't want to ask since I try not to eat veal. If someone tells me that there is veal in it, I will just have to forget that bit of information. Also, ask for at least two of the parmesan cheese shakers because they have some of the best parm in town. I don't know where they get it but I could just eat it from the jar. If there is some underground cheese black market let me know. Can you tell how much I love this dish?

The Greek salad is also one of the best in town. Two people can easily eat off the "small". Again, their choice of cheese, in this case the feta, is spot on. The only downside is they don't pit their kalamata olives so beware. Between the pasta and the salad, my husband and I are often able to both eat and have leftovers for another dinner or lunch.

Joe's Inn is always full and energetic and the beer list is fantastic. I normally go for a red wine while eating Italian, but at Joe's nothing goes better with pasta than a crisp draft beer. If you are in the mood for craft beer Joe's Inn usually has a good selection. A special treat is when the Hardywood Gingerbread Stout is available.

I assume the rest of the food is great but I can't bring myself to order anything else.

Joe's Inn on Urbanspoon

Dinamo: New Upscale Italian in a Familiar Place


Dinamo is a newer restaurant in a familiar space: the old 821 Cafe location at 821 W. Cary Street. The inside is a far cry from the decor of the old 821 Cafe with Dinamo's bold graphics and baroque mirrors. The place is still very small which lends to a cozy dinner atmosphere. I don't want to be a hater, but it would be nice with some color on the walls to really make it more lived-in. I would think that reservations are a good idea since it is so small and there was limited bar space as well.

Dinamo is owned by the same people who brought you Mama Zu's and Edo's Squid so you know the food is going to be good (On a side note, this place was nice if you don't care for Mama Zu's no credit card policy and/or don't wish to go to Oregon Hill, or you wish to avoid the loudness of Edo's but still want some good Italian). If you are looking for more traditional Italian fare, such as eggplant parm or a giant plate of lasagna, then this isn't the place for you. Instead, you'll find a limited menu of fresh items that are unique and wonderful.

My husband Alan ordered the appetizer serving of cabbage. It was very well seasoned and robust with several spices and was large enough to eat as an entire meal. It blew him away.

Alan had the sausage and potato dish. The sausage was huge. I had the squid ink pasta with seafood. It was absolutely wonderful. The portion was a good size, the pasta tasted home made, and there was plenty of seafood in it including shrimp and calamari. This was my first time having squid ink pasta and it didn't taste odd or "squidy". I enjoyed the novelty factor of eating black pasta.

The service was pleasant and swift. They had one young woman whose entire job appeared to be refilling water so we never wanted for drink. The wine list was small but good with a few wines available by the glass. No fancy stem ware here--you drink your wine out of small tumblers.

It was a great dining experience and we will likely return in the near future. We are always on the hunt for tasty new Italian restaurants and we are glad we can add this to list when we want unusual, high quality Italian fare in a cozy and intimate setting.

Dinamo on Urbanspoon


A Little Introduction

My name is Angela and I moved to Richmond, Virginia, in 2007. I instantly fell in love with my new adopted home and thought it would be fun to share some of what goes on in Richmond and the surrounding areas, particularly through the amazing food and drinks available here.

This blog will highlight the eating and drinking scene in Richmond and will inevitably incorporate in other happenings in the area as well as the food and drink scene in other areas as we travel. I hope you enjoy!