I really like experamenting with food and since I have a bunch of free time this summer I decided that once a week when I go grocery shopping I would purchase one produce that I have never eaten before to see if I like it or not. I have titled this "Foreign Food" Not necessarily because it's from a different country, but because I have never tried it before now and thus it is foreign to me. I've tried several "foreign foods" so far and decided to share them with you!!
I think so often we get in a rut making the same food over and over again because that's all we know (or you have picky eaters and you don't think they'll like something they've (or you've) never tried before). A lot of the time people say they don't like a food because of how it looks, it just doesn't LOOK like it will be good. Let me tell you now- Live a Little! Try new things! You'll like some of them!
Let me start this series of posts off with this delicious dish I made recently: Chicken with a tomatillo and anahiem pepper sauce.
1. Start with chicken (I like boneless skinless breasts). I thaw them for a minute on both sides in the mocrowave, then slice it down the middle because they cook way faster this way.
2. Place the chicken in a large pan.
3. Get your veggies ready! If you don't do this already: WASH ALL PRODUCE ALL THE TIME. You don't know where it's been or who's touched it or what's pooped on it, and you're gonna stick it in your mouth? Yeah. Wash it.
This dish specifically has TOMATILLOS and an ANAHEIM PEPPER. Other than that it's up to you what else to put in. I put in onion because onions are amazing and give so much flavor to anything. Garlic, for the same reason, and regular ol' tomatoes because they are great too! Tomatoes are not necessary for this dish and you could add other veggies if you want.
The pepper on the right is an Anaheim Pepper. A good rule of thumb for peppers are: the smaller they are the hotter they are. This pepper is pretty big, but smaller than bell and poblano, so it gives the dish a nice little heat, but definately not overpowering.
4. The first thing you'll want to do is place the Pepper on a baking sheet, stick it in the oven and BROIL it. You want the skin to get black and toasty. That's good, don't worry. Flip it over until it's blackish on all sides. When it's like this picture below you take it out and put it in a plastic bag to "sweat."
5. When it's cooled down enough, take it out of the bag and peel off all the skin.
(Side Note FYI: This is how they make chile relleno! They use a poblano pepper; take the skin off like this; fill it with cheesy goodness and fry it!)
6. Open this puppy up with a knife and scoop out the seeds. I like to rinse it off in the sink to get all the seeds out (I do this with tomatoes whenever I'm cooking with them also).
7. Place the pepper in your food processer and chop it up! (Yay for food processers!)
If you DO NOT have a food processer you could chop it by hand or you could blend it and make a smooth sauce.
Chunky sauces and smooth sauces are both good!
On to the other special ingredient: Tomatillos! These are mainly used in Mexican dishes, especially salsa and stuff like that. When you see them in the store they have a papery skin on them, and they kind of look like a paper lantern.
8. Peel the papery skin off and it looks just like a green tomatoe (don't be fooled, the inside looks different). Wash the tomatillo and chop them up just like the pepper. It is advisable to do this while the pepper is in the oven.
Multi-tasking is pretty essential in the kitchen.
10. You're going to need to add some liquid to this. Water, chicken, or vegetable stock will do nicely.
11. Add some salt and you're good! Cook this until the chicken is done and enjoy!
This dish would be delectible on rice or you could chop up the chicken into little bits and put it on pasta, or just eat it out of the pan like this! I hope you have a little more courage to try something new!
If you have any requests that you'd like me to try just let me know!
