Avocado Caesar

Although I've never posted a salad recipe, I consider myself an expert salad maker :). One of the main reasons we call Dolce an omnivore is he likes lettuce and even ARUGULA! I've never heard of another dog that will eat arugula :). I'll try to start putting up all of my salad creations. I made this up on the fly to go with chicken enchiladas at a dinner party last week and it was a big hit. It was a nice light substitute for rice and beans in an already heavy meal of enchiladas.

With avocado, cheddar and homemade breadcrumbs, how could you go wrong? The avocado is a great way to create a thick creamy dressing without adding any buttermilk or mayo. We've been using the avocado dressing all week as a sandwich spread with turkey pastrami... YUM!

Avocado Caesar
Serves 4

2 heads of romaine lettuce, cut in half and then into 1 inch strips
1 cup cheddar cheese
Homemade croutons:

• 1 baguette or loaf of french bread
• 3 tbs olive oil
• salt

Avocado dressing:

• juice of 2 limes
  
• Avocado
  
• 1/3 cup olive oil
  
• 1 or 2 cloves garlic
  
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 to 3/4 cup water to thin
  

Preheat the oven to 375F. For the croutons: Cut the baguette into bite sized pieces (I like big 1 inch cubes, but smaller works too :). You want about 2 cups of croutons. Toss with enough olive oil to coat - this may be more or less than 3tbs - and about a teaspoon of salt. Bake on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes or until golden. Check and turn over every 5 minutes until done. WARNING: Set a timer!! I am notorious toasting things and assuming I'll remember to keep an eye on it because I'm doing something else in the kitchen.

Meanwhile, combine the ingredients for the dressing and a 1/4 cup of the water in a blender and puree. Slowly add up to 1/2 cup more of water to thin the dressing to your desired consistency (adding more olive oil would make it thicker and way too oily). I left it pretty thick to coat the croutons and greens since this is dressing is the star of the salad.

Just before serving toss together the romaine, cheese, and croutons. Then sprinkle with black pepper and enough dressing to coat and toss again.

Enjoy and let me know how it turns out if you try it!

Chicken enchiladas

As a true Texan, I love Tex-Mex, Mexican, New Mexican and, well, pretty much any cuisine that revolves around peppers. DC isn't the best place to satisfy my Mexican food cravings, and certainly not as cheaply as I am used to from Texas. I think these enchiladas are just about the best to be found in DC - if I may say so myself. Dolce certainly agrees :), as did Leland and our friends Jenn and Brett that we had over to pig out on them!

I won't pretend this is a quick meal, but it will pay off in the end. I started with a whole chicken, roasted it and shredded it myself. I do think this is the most flavorful way to go, but you could also buy a rotisserie from the grocery store and shred it or just roast breasts or thighs (skin on), boil the meat or whatever you want. You'll want 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lbs of meat in the end. Without further ado:




Chicken Enchiladas

12 to 16 corn tortillas

Enchilada Sauce (from Bobby Flay - I left out the honey)

1 3 to 4lb Roast Chicken (yields about 1.5 lbs of meat) or 1.5lb of breast or thigh meat cooked

2 cups of shredded cheese (this could be a mild cheddar, or other mild cheese like colby, monterey jack or a mixture)

1 can green chiles

1 tsp cumin

salt and pepper





Preheat the oven to 375F. If you are buying canned enchilada sauce and a rotisserie chicken, you can skip straight to the enchilada assembly as soon as you have your chicken shredded. The homemade enchilada sauce makes a HUGE difference and I like this recipe from Bobby flay because it is simple. I'm sure I will play around with using different dried peppers in the future, but the ancho chiles give a great flavor.

If you want tips on roasting the chicken, I would be happy to share, but I'd ask America's Test Kitchen! I rubbed my chicken with garlic paste, cumin and cayenne between the skin and the meat to give a little more flavor in the roasting process.

For the filling: Mix together the chicken, 1 cup (or more) cheese, cumin, salt, pepper and green chiles Add more cheese, cumin, or salt and pepper to taste.

Heat the tortillas 5 at a time in the microwave with a damp paper towel for 20 to 30 seconds or on a skillet as you assemble. This is to prevent them from cracking as you roll them up.

Ladle about a cup of enchilada sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish. Fill each tortilla with about 1 1/2 tbs of filling (not too full), roll up and place seam down in the dish. This should make 12 to 16 enchiladas. Pour 1 1/2 cups or more of the sauce over the tortillas and put in the oven for 15 minutes. Sprinkle the top of the enchiladas with up to a cup of shredded cheese and return to the oven for 5 minutes or until melted. Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes and serve with rice and beans or the Avocado Caesar salad!