Clinton Kelly’s Texas Nachos 10.19.11

Here's the description for this recipe, found on The Chew website (Click HERE for the recipe)...

In this recipe Clinton married a bacon cheeseburger with nachos. One word comes to mind, yum!

And that's the truth!

This may be the very best thing I have made from The Chew.  Just simply loaded, these will ruin you for bar food forever!

In honor of the St Louis Cardinals and one of the best World Series I have ever seen, I found some red and white corn chips (they are actually for the Kansas City Chiefs, but the episode was devoted to baseball, and I am so much enjoying the series.... But I digress).

I followed the recipe exactly as posted on The Chew website (again, click HERE).  I used a white Monterrey Jack Queso cheese, I believe on the show, Clinton used a yellow queso cheese.  I was using some pretty hot peppers, plus the cheese was plenty spicy, so I didn't add any spices to the hamburger.

And these are now my "goto" bar food.  A great dish to make for a ball game, Super Bowl party, progressive dinner (I'm claiming the appetizer course from mow on).

I weep at the memory of how good these were!

Carla Hall's Pinwheel Snacks 9.30.11

Delicious and easy.  Sounds like a great combination to me.

This was an audience participation recipe.  Watching the first lady in the row work was almost painful.  No matter what you may have seen from her angle, this is just about as easy as you can get.  And in Carla's instructions, it got even easier.

Her only rule, use cream cheese as a "glue" to keep the wheel together.

As to stuffing, what you like.  I happened to have had a rotisserie chicken (So cheap).  So I knew I was going to use that.  Now, Carla showed thin slices of lunch meat.  I knew I wasn't going to be able to slice my chicken breast thin enough, so I just made a chicken salad.  Instead of tuna, I just used minced bits of chicken.

If you are lucky enough to have a handy dandy stand mixer (OK, a KitchenAid brand mixer), just toss an 8 ounce brick of cream cheese in, the cooked meat from one rotisserie chicken breast and whatever you might like to add some zing to your salad.

I added...

1/4 cup minced pickles
1/4 cup minced sweet Onion
1/4 cup minced Granny Smith Apple
1/4 cup minced Grapes

I didn't, but I should have added a tsp of a Cajun Spice mix

Turn on the mixer and in about 2 minutes, you have a creamy paste!

This was enough "paste" to make 4 tortillas worth of pinwheels.

And from there, nothing to it... Take a whole wheat tortilla, spread a thin layer around and roll up.  Slice about 1 inch thick "wheels".

Makes a great snack (wonderful recipe for kids to make).
Dress it up with a sprinkling of paprika and would make a casual appetizer
Wanting a light low carb lunch, here you go.

This was so easy, and so flexible (long as you use cream cheese as the glue, fill with what you like (All veggies would be terrific), the recipe is not available on The Chew website.  But that's OK.  This is truly one of those, "Anyone can Cook" recipes!

Clinton Kelly's Romaine Heart BLT 9.26.11

Welcome to blog post number one, from the first day of the CHEW, ABC's new daytime all food all the time talk show.

Only the first day.  I have some opinions, most strongly that the show is too full.  Too many people, cooking too many recipes, not enough details to really stick out.  Also, too easy.  I am fine with 5 minute meals, 5 ingredient meals, etc.  But so far, the entire show was filled with these quickie dishes.  With the exception of Mario Batali's very quickie take on homemade pizza.  4 minutes, including a homemade crust recipe just does not cover it.

But, first day, way too early.  Time will tell and I am sure we are just getting the early version of a terrific idea.

I decided to make Clinton Kelly's Romaine Heart BLT.  Clinton is the "Entertainment" guy on the show.  His specialty is parties and style.  He chose the first show as an opportunity to showcase some party appetizers.  His theme was to deconstruct big main courses and turn them into tiny appetizers.

Like a Classic Bacon Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich...

Big change from the classic sandwich is no bread.  It's a lettuce wrap.

You can view the ABC The Chew Homepage official recipe and photo by clicking HERE.

Under the categories of "Who am I to make such changes", I made a few changes...

I didn't do anything terribly special to change.  I made mine two bites, so I used a little larger piece of bacon and two cherry tomato halves instead of one.

I also caramelized the tomato halves.  Very easy to do and by heating these you bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes.  Very simple, heat a saute pan over medium heat.  Add just a single TBS of Canola Oil (Best not to use Extra Virgin Olive oil as it can burn at higher temperatures).  Do that chef flip thing to coat the tomato halves.  Cover and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes.  Double check them every few minutes to be sure they are not burning.  You do not want to discolor them with char marks.  I did this the same time I was making the bacon, so I do not think it added any real time to the recipe... just an extra dish.

I also changed the recommended store bought spicy Mayonnaise with my own home made Cajun Garlic Aioli.  This sounds so incredibly special and exotic.  Honestly, it is a matter of a few squirts of a couple of liquids, a quick and easy peel of a few garlic cloves and a whirl in the blender or handy dandy mini chopper.  Once you stop taking the time to measure, you can whip this up in 2 minutes.  Again, while the bacon was frying, I just added, whirled and it was done!

Here's the recipe...

1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1 TBS Dijon Mustard
4 cloves garlic
Zest of 1 Lemon
Juice of 1 Lemon
2-5 Basil Leaves
1 tsp "Big easy in a Jar", or any Cajun Spice mix

Add everything in a blender, whirl until garlic has been minced and the Aioli is the constancy of the original mayo.

BTW, I make my own Cajun mix I call, "Big easy in a Jar".  You will be seeing this ALOT.  It's a fast way to add that special heat to any dish.  I make about 2 cups worth a month and bit by bot, it is gone!  Tastes great on eggs to chicken and anything in between!

1 part Garlic Flakes

1 part Onion Flakes

1 part Dried Thyme Leaves

1 part Dried Oregano

1 part Black Pepper

1 part White Pepper

1 part Lemon Pepper

1/2 (one half) part Cayenne Pepper

1/2 part Ground Bay Leaves

4 parts Sweet Paprika

This is a great little spice to have around. Add brown sugar (1/2 the amount of spice mix) to make a BBQ rub. And add a little to a soup to zing it up.

Again, feel free to substitute a commercial brand of spicy Mayo or if you make the Aioli, you can sub a store bought spice mix.

 And that's what I made from day 1!