Sweet Chili Chicken Livers

Okay. I know. Chicken livers are public enemy numero uno for most people. Sandwiched somewhere between Bush and Bin Laden. But way lower on the list than say, tripe. You know - stomachs, brains, eyeballs and other unmentionables. *Shudder*

Livers though? Definitely *not* the same as tripe. It won't hunt you down and give you nightmares. Nor will it remind you of monsters and other creatures of the undead. Promise.

Instead it will charm your tastebuds with its delectable richness. Make you squeal with delight at it's smooth creaminess. Full-fat cream has nothing on livers, I tell ya. Livers are the foodie world's Mr I'm-Too-Cool-To-Care when it comes to cholesterol. Because actually it is insanely good for you. Have you had a  look at those nutritional stats down below? Scroll down further. Riiiiiiight at the bottom. You see that? Nutritional rockstardom if ever there was such a thing. Cholesterol be damned.

Now that we've set the health nuts at ease, let me tell you about this little number here. It is so ridonkulously easy, cheap and quick to whip up that you will wonder if you've missed something. It'll make you doubt yourself and double check the recipe. Twice. But one bite of the end result and your doubts will fly right out of the window. Money-back guaranteed.

And dare I say: it makes livers seem... almost... sexy?

For these are chicken livers at their absolute mouthwatering best. Quickly seared, then cooked to perfection in a spicy-sweet tomato based sauce, quick 'n easy doesn't get much better than this. Making it the perfect go-to meal to whip up when you've got unexpected guests. And leaving you with enough time to regale them with crazy stories about your old enemy tripe. Or, if all else fails, impress them with your nutritional knowledge regarding livers. Knowledge is sexy you know.

Sweet Chili Chicken Livers
Serves 6 - 8 as starter or 4 as main

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tsp garlic, minced>
500g chicken livers
2 tins (410g each) peeled, chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup sweet chili sauce
1/4 - 1/2 tsp dried red chili flakes
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
garlic chives, chopped (optional)

1. Heat half a tablespoon olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic, sauteeing until glazed and see through. Remove and set aside.
2. Add another half a tablespoon of oil, increase heat to high and quickly sear half the chicken livers. Remove and set aside, then repeat with remaining oil and chicken livers.
3. Return onion to the saucepan, along with tomatoes, sweet chili sauce and chili flakes. Bring to a boil, cover and allow to cook over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes or until thickened.
4. Add livers to the sauce, turn heat down, and allow to simmer, partially covered for 5 - 10 minutes or until livers are cooked through to your liking. Garnish with chopped chives and serve with a rustic loaf of bread.  

Nutritional info (per serving): Calories 340.3, Total fat 13.5 g, Saturated fat 3.2 g, Polyunsaturated fat 2.0 g, Monounsaturated fat 5.5 g, Cholesterol 705.0 mg, Sodium 295.8 mg, Potassium 426.8 mg, Total carbohydrate 17.7 g, Dietary fiber 0.3 g, Sugars 5.5 g, Protein 35.2 g

Good source of: Vitamin B12 440.2 %, Vitamin A 359.5 %, Folate 175.8 %, Riboflavin 170.4 %, Selenium 157.9 %, Pantothenic Acid 104.2 %, Iron 89.9 %, Niacin 87.2 %, Phosphorus 56.0 %, Vitamin B6 54.4 %

Green Chili and Chicken Enchiladas

Yes it's that time of the month again friends: time to dust of our aprons, sharpen our knives and get daring. Daring with a capital "D" that is!

Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.

Truth be told the concept of enchiladas wasn't all that daring to me, as I've ventured down that road before. However the real challenge was making your own Mexican style sauce to use in the enchiladas and this was definitely worth the effort. I ended up butchering this challenge (out of necessity) to adapt to what I could procure locally and tomatillos,  unfortunately, was not one of those things. Neither was corn tortillas. Corn tortilla chips I could find by the truckload but a plain tortilla? No dice. 

I bravely attempted to fashion my own corn tortillas using maize flour - I figured, it couldn't be too different from the masa harina normally used to make this. Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. Don't even attempt this. Unless you want to end up with a mushy, white bowl of flour sludge. Not an appetising thought.

In the end I decided to abandon the stacked enchilada concept as advocated by the sample recipe in favour of the more traditional rolled enchiladas. For which I could use the easily obtainable flour tortillas. The tomatillos was substituted by green (i.e unripe) tomatoes with added lemon juice, as suggested by our resident Daring Kitchen expert, Audax.

And that was it folks. After overcoming these obstacles the recipe came together easily and relatively quickly. I was a bit apprehensive regarding the large (to me) quantity of chillies, but even though chili sauce was fiery on it's own, it was spicy perfection in combination with the chicken and tortillas. Which just proves again - homemade is always superior. Thanks Barbara & Bunnee for an awesome challenge!

Green Chilli and Chicken Enchiladas

Adapted from Fine Cooking (written by Rob Walsh)

Serves 4

8 small green chillies

5 medium green tomatoes, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic

4 cups chicken broth

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 tbsp cornstarch (dissolve in 2 tablespoons water, for thickening)

2 skinless boneless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

60g yellow pattypan squash (summer squash), coarsely grated

170 g gouda cheese, grated

salt and pepper to taste
3 1/2 large flour tortillas (25cm/2 inch diameter)

fresh coriander (cilantro) for garnish, chopped 

1. Place chillies, tomatoes and garlic on a oven tray. Broil for 10 - 15 minutes or until tomatoes are softened and chillies blackened.
2. Peel skins off chillies, slit open and remove seeds. Add chillies to a blender along with tomatoes and puree.
3. Removed pureed tomato-chili mixture to a saucepan and squeeze the roasted garlic into the sauce. Add oregano, salt, pepper and chicken broth, mix through and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add the cornstarch/water mixture and stir well. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened and reduced to 4-5 cups (this will take approximately 10 - 15 minutes).
5. Taste, adjusting seasonings if needed. Set aside.
6. Preheat oven to 180C. Mix together the chicken, squash and half of the cheese for the filling, lightly seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

7. Spoon half of the sauce into the bottom of a rectangular ovenproof dish, large enough to hold all the enchiladas.

8. Cut tortillas in half, then add a large spoonful of filling to each half, and lightly roll up. Tightly pack into the ovenproof dish, atop the sauce.

9. Spoon over the remainder of the sauce and place enchiladas in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove briefly, topping with the remainder of the cheese, then return to the oven for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbling. Garnish with chopped coriander (cilantro) and serve while still hot.

Nutritional info (per serving): Calories 506.3 , Total fat 19.5 g, Saturated fat 9.9 g, Polyunsaturated fat 2.0 g, Monounsaturated fat 8.4 g, Cholesterol 90.0 mg, Sodium 2,014.7mg, Potassium 1065.3 mg, Total carbohydrate 49.7 g, Dietary fiber 4.3 g, Sugars 8.5 g, Protein 33.5 g

Good source of: Phosphorus 63.8 %, Vitamin C 62.0 %, Selenium 55.8 %, Calcium 36.8 %, Thiamin 33.5 %, Riboflavin 33.5 %, Vitamin B6 30.3 %, Folate 28.3 %, Iron 25.5 %,

Vietnamese Chicken and Pineapple Soup

It is freezing in the Western Cape at the moment. Yes, I know I proclaimed my love for winter just the other day, but it would be nice if the temperature could be dialed up to juuuust a notch above freezing. Just saying.

This month Joanne from Eats Well with Others chose Vietnam as the theme for the Regional Recipes event and when I saw that I did a silent "hell yeah!" in my head. Because you see, I  love asian food. Chinese take out (the greasier the better), all-you-can-eat buffets and tempting noodle-y dishes at our local Thai place, you name it, and I'll probably like it. Sad thing though: I tend to not cook a lot of asian food at home. Yes I do the odd stirfry, but that's where it stays. Mostly.

So this was the perfect opportunity for me to get out of my rut and into my kitchen. Except it was really cold yesterday. And while Asian foods are many things, comforting is not the first word that springs to mind. Or maybe I've just been ignorant so far?

Nevertheless I set off without fear or trepidation into the hallowed halls of the internet where I stumbled across a vast array of warming soups and even a curry or two. Comfort meal? Hells yeah! But one stood out. Vietnamese Chicken and Pineapple Soup. Yes, okay, the reason I was attracted to it, was because of the odd combination. Pineapple? In soup? Eh... 

But it works! Oh and does it ever. TheHusband and I slurped this motley crue of ingredients right up. And we want more. MOAR I say! Any volunteers for making me another batch?

I'm submitting this to Regional Recipes - Vietnam, hosted by Joanne from Eats Well with Others.

Vietnamese Chicken and Pineapple Soup

Adapted from Pots & Pearls

Serves 4

2 small pineapples

approx 8 cups water

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1 - 2 tbsp dry red chilli flakes

3 tsp minced garlic

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp fish sauce

1 lemongrass stalk

120g fresh shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced

2 large tomatoes, chopped

1 tsp black pepper

2 skinless boneless chicken breasts (approx 250g)

200g rice noodles, softened

1/4 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped

1/4 cup fresh mint, roughly chopped

1. Peel and core pineapples, discarding only the peel. Chop the cores and puree with 1/2 cup of water in a blender. Strain using a sieve and pressing down on the solids to extract the most liquid. Discard the solids and set the juice aside. Chop the remaining pineapple pieces and set aside as well.

2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large pot, then fry the chillies and 2 tsp garlic for a minute or two until fragrant. Add 1/4 cup fish sauce and cook another 2 minutes to reduce.

3. Add enough water to the pineapple juice to make up 8 cups, then add to the pot with the lemongrass stalk.

4. Bring to the boil, then add mushrooms, tomatoes, reserved pineapple pieces and 1/2 tsp pepper. Return to the boil, then cover and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a frying pan, add rest of garlic, along with a pinch of chilli flakes and the remaining 2 tbsp of fish sauce. Cook 2 minutes or until reduced, then season chicken with 1/2 tsp pepper and add to the pan, frying briefly until just cooked.

6. Stir chicken into the soup and simmer for 1 minute.

7. Divide noodles amongst serving bowls, then ladle in the steaming hot soup. Sprinkle with chopped herbs and serve.

Nutritional info (per serving): Calories 327.5, Total fat 8.8 g, Saturated fat 0.8 g, Polyunsaturated fat 4.9 g, Monounsaturated fat 1.5 g, Cholesterol 33.8 mg, Sodium 2236.7 mg, Potassium 577.9 mg, Total carbohydrate 50 g, Dietary fiber 5.3 g, Sugars 24.4 g, Protein 16.3 g 

Good source of: Manganese 212.2 %, Vitamin C 80.0 %, Magnesium 23.8 %, Vitamin E 20.1 %