Perfect Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
I seriously LOVE mashed potatoes. IF they are done right. None of this “keeping the skin on with a smidge of butter and regular milk” crap. If you’re going to make them, please, please, PLEASE make them right. So that with each bite your eyes roll back in your head and your tummy screams, “comfort.” (Hey, it better, since the next time you put on your cute-jeans, it’ll scream “why did you eat so many potatoes!?”)
Hubby’s Note: Bless my wife’s heart. I am lactose intolerant, and I can’t stand potatoes. Though I’m convinced this is due to my Irish ancestors eating only potatoes for years. This dish is my kryptonite. I would rather take meals and bath duty for my two girls for a month than eat these potatoes. But every person she’s ever served it to actually levitates from the table while they eat it. I’ve got dents in the ceiling to prove it. So…I guess they’re pretty amazing.
Killer Shrimp
I must be feeling nostalgic for some reason. Because this is another recipe from back in the day. From 1999-2004, I lived in Sherman Oaks with my pretty fabulous roommate/sister from another mother/best friend, Molly. The day we moved in, we had tons of friends and family helping us out. Molly insisted that at the end of moving day we went to a restaurant waaayyy tooo close for the comfort of my jeans called Killer Shrimp. It’s essentially a broth based soup with about 12-14 pieces of shrimp in it. It’s full of flavor and sometimes spicy. It was served with the largest basket of french bread you have ever seen.
Roasted Garlic
Here’s the deal. Garlic is amazing. If you don’t think so, you haven’t had it made for you the right way. Roasted garlic is one of our favorite starter appetizers. We love serving it with some crusty French bread. Spread it across the bread, sprinkle it with some kosher salt and black pepper and take a bite. It’s beyond delicious. Take it one step further by drizzling some white truffle oil over it. Or even placing a slice of avocado on top of the garlic and then drizzling with oil, salt and pepper. Mix it up peeps! Make it the way you like it – as long as you make this garlic.
Grandma Josie’s Chile (Salsa)
Ofrasina (Josie) Avila-Preciado was born in 1930 in Michoacan, Mexico. She was one of fourteen children. As a baby, she was smuggled into the United States under her aunt’s dress. She put her roots down here in California, got married, and started a family of her own. Her son Steve is my best friend Jessica’s father. Grandma Josie was one of the most selfless ladies to have ever lived. She loved her children and worked everyday to provide everything for them. One of those things she provided, was of course food. And Josie loved to cook. She would cook all day for her family and passed many of her recipes on to them.
She had a heart of gold and if she liked you, you were blessed. If she didn’t like you, well let’s just say I’d advise you change your name and move to Canada. Grandma Josie passed away in 2002 but her life continues to always be celebrated. The stories about Josie still make her family laugh, cry and relive her life all over again. It is my great honor to post the recipe (with her family’s blessing of course) for Josie’s amazing “salsa.” Please make this as soon as you possibly can. It has become a favorite in my family as well but it will always carry Josie’s name on it.
Hubby’s Note: My wife has been known to put this salsa out when I have the guys over to watch a game or for poker night. Any one of my friends that has had it once, will inivitably ask for it the next time they are over. It’s so fresh tasting. It’s the perfect mix of spicy and sweet and fresh. The only thing that improves it is a dollop of Guac on the chip right along side it. Thankfully, I’m always asked to be the taste tester while it’s being made. Does it need more of this? Of that? No honey, it needs more tortilla chips in my hands to eat it with.
Filet Mignon with Whiskey Cream Sauce
This past weekend I had my first mommy getaway in almost a year. My brother in law is getting married in October and I went on the bachelorette party for my soon to be mini sister-in-law. I say mini because she’s a beautiful petite woman. I was so excited to spend the weekend with her, her friends and of course my other sister in law, Kellie.
I don’t know what it is about when Mom’s go out of town but Murphy and his damn law inevitably show their faces and the children get sick. Here I am sitting on Descanso beach in Catalina with 12 really fabulous ladies and my brand new iphone gives its legendary ring of a new text message. Excited to see a picture of my darling girls, I am instead greeted with, “Buggies has a fever of 102.” Ugh. Really? 102??? Several hours and several text messages later, I’ve decided to stay on the island rather than helicopter myself for a bazillion dollars to my doorstep. As the night goes on, she’s not feeling better and my guilt level starts to rise. My downright out of this world husband insists he’s got everything under control through the cries from the girls and the panic in his voice.
Forty Cloves of Garlic Chicken
We spent the 4th of July weekend up at my parents house in Bear Valley Springs. Their Homeowner’s Association puts together this non-stop action packed weekend for the 4th. There are hot air balloons that take off every morning, a fair, a parade, swimming, live music, movies in the park…it just goes on and on. So, when talking to my dad about all of the guests they would have at the house and how I could help with the cooking, he said, “will you make that garlic chicken thing you made for your mom on her birthday?” So, I did. And he had two helpings (maybe three but who’s counting.) I served it with my mashed potatoes and some crusty french bread to sop up the garlic and sauce.
Hubby’s note: This dish MUST be served with some kind of bread. The chicken is outstanding. But the BEST part of this dish is the melted garlic cognac sauce in the pot. Garlic + Cognac + Chicken + Carbs = Heaven You could even take the chicken out of that equation, but not the carbs. You need the bread to sop up this delicious slice of heaven. I’ve said before that my wife’s cooking has the power to make me levitate. This dish does that. Ridiculously good. I give it Two Thumbs Up with a Snap in Z Formation.
Cuban Garlic Chicken
I posted a picture of this chicken on Facebook and it got such an amazing response, I felt that I had to get this onto Mommy Bistro for you as soon as possible! If you have ever had real Cuban Garlic Chicken (meaning you have been to Versailles Restaurant in Encino, CA or another location), then you know what I am about to give you. Anyone who has been to this gem of a restaurant, realizes the magnitude of the gift this recipe is. I obviously didn’t steal their recipe (if I only knew how!!), so this is my own version. This is the dish to end all dishes, the-end-of-the-world-what-am-I-going-to-eat-before-I-die Cuban Garlic Chicken. The last time I made this I didn’t have time to go to Jons Market for La Lechorana so I used the Albertsons brand from concentrate orange juice and I used three lemons instead of two. I serve this chicken with cilantro rice and black beans.
Hubby’s Note: If I were on Death Row, this might possibly be my last meal request. But only because you can’t count on the quality of the Filet Mignon in prisons these days. They don’t make them like they used to. Back to the Chicken – it’s amazing. I’ve been known to start speaking in a Cuban dialect while eating this dish and spouting the benefits of communism whilst cursing the capitalist pigs that insist–wait, I digress. Ok, I know it looks nice and neat in the picture, but I highly recommend ripping this dish a new one. I cut all the chicken up first and then ditch the carcass so I can devote 100% of my attention to the delicious mess of Chickeny Citrusy Garlicy Rice-Beansy Oniony goodness before me. Warning – suprisingly, the hottest part of this dish is the raw onion. I asked my wife if she could maybe sweat the onion a little bit to tone it down. She responded by taking my “Man-Card” from me. I had to do masonry work in the yard to earn it back.
Pollo Borracho…. Spaghetti
I have no idea how I came up with this recipe. All I know is that some kind of chicken pasta with tequila and peppers sounded REALLY good one day. Though now that I think about it, is there any kind of alcohol that chicken does not taste good with? I think not. And as I was cooking it, I added a bit of this here and a bit more tequila there. Borracho means “drunk” in spanish. And I like to get this chicken good and borracho. I am really not pleased with the picture I took cause the chicken looks funky in it? But I assure you, the drunk ass chicken pasta is downright delicious.
Hubby’s Note: Tequila? Check. Meat? Check. Carbs? Check. Tequila in a glass over rocks for Daddy? Check. All systems are go.
Recipes Headed Your Way
I am trying to release three recipes a week. I wish I could release one everyday but who am I kidding? I’ve got two kids and its summer! Lots of things to do before Pixie heads off to preschool in the fall…. ah! Gonna cry thinking about it.
Okay so here is a list of the recipes headed your way in the next few weeks. If you want to see something added to the list, post a comment! I’m totally down to take on your challenge. Let’s do this people:
Hungarian Langos
First off, you absolutely must love garlic to love Langos. Second, if you are eating it…everyone around you MUST eat it too. Cause it ain’t pretty when you’re the only garlic infused person in a room. I’m going to give you two recipes: the authentic recipe making it from scratch. And the “I want langos now and don’t have time to make the damn dough recipe”
Hubby’s note: I’m not Hungarian. And I don’t play Hungarian on TV. When I first started dating a Hungarian family (you don’t just date the daughter), they made this dish one night. They cooked the dough, and then handed me a whole clove of garlic and said “Bite into this!”. I’m not gonna lie to you, I thought they were crazy. I was one fried dough patty away from taking off. But OH, am I glad I stayed. This stuff is ridiculous. Be daring! Bite the garlic! You will thank yourself later. As an added benefit, vampires won’t come within a mile radius of you (nor will your spouse if they didn’t have any).