Cowboy Chicken Casserole
Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse,
Show: Emeril Live
Episode: Casseroles for Every Occasion
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves (I did more like 3/4 cup)
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (I did 1/4 cup or 2 limes)
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 teaspoon black peppercorns (couldn’t find these, so I used green)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
2 bay leaves
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound white button mushrooms, wiped clean and stems trimmed, quartered
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole milk
12 cups tortilla chips (12 cups is a lot, we are just lining the bottom of the dish, about a half inch after crushing)
2 cups finely chopped onions
1 cup finely chopped bell peppers
2 jalapeno peppers, stem and seeds removed, finely chopped, optional (I used three large)
8 ounces grated Pepper Jack
8 ounces grated Cheddar
1 tablespoon Emeril’s Southwest Seasoning, recipe follows
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup chopped drained canned tomatoes
1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles, drained
Combine the chicken, chicken stock, wine, cilantro, lime juice, garlic, peppercorns, 1 teaspoon of the salt, the oregano, and bay leaves in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the chicken to cool in the poaching liquid for 45 minutes. Remove the chicken from the cooking liquid and tear or cut into bite-size pieces. Reserve the chicken. Strain the cooking liquid and reserve.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Heat the butter in a large skillet over high heat until foamy. Add the mushrooms, the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and the black pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms release their liquid. Continue to cook until the mushrooms are golden brown and all the liquid has evaporated, about 6 minutes. Sprinkle the mushrooms with the flour, stir to blend, and cook for 1 minute. Add the milk and stir, scraping up any bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until the mixture begins to thicken. Add 1 1/2 cups of the reserved chicken cooking liquid, stir, and cook until very thick and flavorful, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Place the tortilla chips in the bottom of a 9 by 13-inch glass casserole. Crush the chips with your hands so they form a thin layer on the bottom of the dish. Pour 1 cup of the reserved cooking liquid over the tortilla chips and allow them to soak up the liquid. Scatter the chicken over the top of the tortilla layer. Spread the chopped onions, bell peppers, and jalapenos evenly over the chicken. Top with half of the grated cheeses. Sprinkle with the Southwest Seasoning, chili powder and ground cumin. Spoon the reserved mushroom mixture evenly over the top of the spices, then top with the tomatoes and green chiles. Cover with the remainder of the cheeses. Bake uncovered for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and the casserole is heated through. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.
Tip: This casserole may be prepared in advance and frozen until ready to use. Simply allow it to thaw 1 day in the refrigerator and come to room temperature before baking.
Emeril’s Southwest Seasoning:
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon dried oregano
Combine all ingredients thoroughly.
Yield: 1/2 cup
How is life? Mine, well, pretty good actually. My parents just left Saturday after a fun 7 day visit. Yes, I did say fun. My parents are young for my age as well as young for their ages (it makes sense, think about it). So we were on the go every day. I woke up early, well early for me, every day and took them on an adventure!
Saturday, after fetching them from the San Diego Airport we stopped off at C Level to toast their arrival and enjoy the view. Sunday we headed off to Old Town, where to my surprise there was an Art Festival! We looked at everything. After we were done there, Mom insisted on a trip to the Swap Meet. Ew… we capped off the day with dinner at the Turf Supper Club. Awesome place! What better way to follow up a meal in a dive than a trip to the shishy-est sky bar Altitude?? Monday was all about rest and a home cooked (by me!) meal. Tuesday we did the Geocaching with dad, since it was Richard’s day off. Plus, we wanted to try it with our iPhones. It works! So now we have a log in at the site and 7 caches under our belt. LOL. Obviously Mom had other plans, and was off for a Shopping Day with one of our friends. Later we de-parented at the big SDTweet-Up (#sdtweetup). That was, as always an amazing time! Wednesday my folks and I were off to Temecula Valley Wine Country for a day of tasting and scenery. Fantastic! Thursday was more Geocaching around town. That Geocaching is a great way to see some great sights you wouldn’t otherwise… That night I was pooped so Dad manned the grill and we dined out on the patio at home. Friday was when I finally had to sleep in! Well, till 9:30.. we lazed at the house till Richard got home. He had ditched work early so we shopped and hit up Bing Crosby’s Piano Lounge until it was time for the crowning jewel of the visit: dinner at Kous Kous. My folks got to eat well (very well! you MUST go to Kous Kous!) and meet up with our friends and generally have a great night out. Although we had drinks first at Martinis Above 4th, where the owner stressed me out when he KISSED Richard hello in front of my father. That’s when my father realized we had taken him to a GAY bar. OMG OMG OMG. He never would have known otherwise… Oh well. No harm was done. All was erased by the amazing food at Kous Kous!
As for Saturday… Well that was for packing and the Airport. Buh-bye!
Okay, the good news? I am feeling better. I stayed in bed extra long.. I think that shot of Nyquil at 7 in the morning helped with the additional rest… Ya think? It’s nice to be feeling a bit more normal. Don’t get me wrong tho, I am still gonna sit on my ass as much as possible today. Heh. The bad news is that Richard has become this deranged combo of Bree and Martha Stewart. He is walking around humming, muttering under his breath, and singing. Insane, I tell you.
I went downstairs as soon as I woke up. At noon. He already had placed the serving platters, spread out glasses and the wine selection, moved furniture around, and had the warming dishes staged. Every platter had a post-it note labeling what will go in it. Everything staged and ready. Right down to the paper plates and napkins. He walked over to the warming dishes, muttered something, reversed the placement, nodded, and shuffled up the stairs. I think he’s losing it. But I have to say, looking at the staged serving ware, it is going to be a lovely spread. I just hope he settles on a flattering lighting arrangement without too many candles. No one has time to monitor all of that.
I wish I could help more, but it is better I rest. Besides, one of us has to remain sane.
...by one of Richard’s friends. A person that we had invited to OUR party. Well now I think this person should be UNinvited to ours if I am unwelcome at theirs. Richard doesn’t want to stoop to their level. I have no problem stooping… (If you are a member, log in for more details) What would you do?
uninvite or not?
total votes: 26
uninvite! one rude turn deserves another
31%(8)
leave it lie, we don't need more drama at christmas
12%(3)
don't uninvite, but make a scene if they show. just like bree...
12%(3)
pretend you don't know and be extra nice! kill 'em w/kindness!
What am I going to do with all this candy? There is so much! All chocolate, of course. This neighborhood sucks for trick-or-treaters. I think we had like 5. Richard will tell you it was more, but don’t believe him. I ate that candy, I didn’t give it out. The really funny part was that Richard came home, and waited for like 2 hours in his Batman outfit to hand out candy. Not once did the bell ring. The minute he went up to shower they came. The first two I didn’t count. I don’t think those tots could even walk they were so young. I swear mom had a pulley system installed on the brats just to get the chocolate. Then there was this tiny boy dressed as.. something. I forget. I do know that his Dad was totally hawt and dressed as a cowboy in tight jeans. Awwww! Hawt dad! I gave them lots of candy. Lots.
After his shower Richard took over. It always reminds me of my youth, the way Richard answers the door on Halloween. “Oh hai! Look at yooooou! What are yoooou supposed to be? A bee! Oh realllly? Well that’s just great! Happy Halloween!”
I swear he’s like a grandma.
In other Halloween news, we never carved our pumpkins. Kinda sad, but the house looks deliciously autumn-ish now thru Thanksgiving! We have a lot of pumpkins. So that’s a good thing. (I swear I get gayer every year. But I do always say that I am so gay I pee glitter!)
So now I am just warming up my blogger mojo. November is a long and scary month for me, and I am challenging myself yet again with this NaBloPoMo business. National Blog Posting Month. I have to post once a day. Now I typically do that, but I want to actually type something. Not just click thru a link. Although that will still count, I want to do better than last year by providing personal blog entries that I actually like experienced or thought about or something. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll just make more people I know seem like lushes. Heh. Cause that’s the real magic yo. BTW, where’s my drink? *hic*
What else? Did I tell you about Fondue Night last night? It was a hoooge success. Basically I invited my good friend Fred over and served cheese. Boiling cheese. It was soooo good. We dipped shrimp, mushrooms, and the typical bread. All with a classy accompaniment of red wine. We had a great time!
But that may have been because Richard answered the door as batman… Did I mention his Batman outfit had spandex pants?
I have never been a tea drinker. Gimme my coffee anytime yo! But alas, no coffee for me this time of day. Weirdo. I have to get to sleep. Richard has made me some of his tea to help me. I can never sleep when I have to sleep. Do you have that problem? I can’t be the only one as Richard makes it seem. You see, I am the early opener at work tomorrow. Early as in FIVE. Yup, you read that right. Five in the morning. That of course means that I need to be up at three. Ugh. I am up way too late already. So my mind is wired, my body is antsy, and I will be up all night worrying about waking up. I have taken relaxation pills, had some wine, and now am heading into my teacup of herbal sleep aides. Hell. You’d think I’d never wake up! But sleep is still a concern.
Hell this tea is hot. I think my man is trying to burn me. Smells like cat nip too. That’s just great. I am drinking boiled cat drugs. Tastes like cat-box. Bah.
The nice part is that tomorrow we’ll be off early! Richard is on the same shift. He thinks we’ll want to go and like do something. I said yeah, like come home and sleep. Heh. I am already planning that. I wonder where he wants to go? He is clearly nuts. Waking up at three. That’s barely bedtime. Not waking up time. This is all wrong. Hell. I feel like I am taking crazy pills. Oh, the tea must be working!
Last night was a lot of fun. We started out at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. It is the only sky bar in San Diego, so even though the service is kinda cruddy we like it. cocktails and hors d’oeuvres were had. The server was the worst one in that bar to date. As was the bartender. He shook every drink for at least 5 minutes, and when there were no drinks to make he threw napkins at server station. All of which is in plain sight. But the view was great, and the snacks were really good. We ordered a classic cheese plate, as well as the Bavarian Sausage plate. The sausage was amazing. Slices of bratwurst with sauerkraut, a baguette and spicy mustard, mini pickles… I liked the mini pickles! Every time I bit into one Richard said “Surprise!”. You remember, as in Pickle Surprise. Dork. But I laughed every time he did it! After waiting 10 minutes for our check Richard walked over to fetch our soon to be badly tipped server. We settled up and headed out, but only after seeking out a manager. Someone had to be made aware… The most friendly and efficient service we experienced at the Manchester Grand Hyatt that night came from the parking garage cashier, employed by Ace Parking. We were sure to get his name to send compliments to his bosses. I mean, karmic balance and all… We did just rat out the skeevy staff in the bar.
Then it was off to dinner. There’s a little Mexican place downtown that I love because it was one of the first places we dined at in San Diego. It’s kinda a mix of trendy and traditional. The food is always good and they have this ‘diablo’ salsa that is spicy hot yet delicious! The service there is always great too, but they had this new bartender. She was cute enough and was quite personable. But there was something about her that Richard noticed right away. She was All About Her Titties™. You have heard of good posture making your chest appear bigger? Shoulders back, stand up straight, and all that? Well this girl had her shoulder blades pinched so tightly together I was expecting to hear bone grind. She was contorting her spine as she poured and maneuvered in the tight space behind the bar in ways that I thought would hurt her. I have to admit though, her modest tits did look great at all times. In fact they were the focus. The entire place was All About Her Titties™! Guys went out of there way to order from her! I think her co-workers had noticed what she was doing, because Richard got more than one chuckle as her imitated her extreme ‘chest out’ posture when he pointed it out to me… So anyhoo, it was dinner and a show over there. A free boobie show! Yay!
And that my friends is pretty much the evening. We (and by we I do mean me) wanted to go to the Lamplighter. By the time we got over to Hillcrest it was raining pretty good though. We decided to call it a night.
Wow! Number 10! Is that an anniversary? Do I get presents?
Mentioned: Amy, Betty, Richard, boys, coming out, ...was i there? (the name), kissing…
Again I continue to ramble late at night. Heh. Not to mention that GarageBand crashed and I almost lost the whole thing, then I had to re-edit the shit, THEN when I was doing that I forgot to include my image file. Damn!
happy! 
