Tomato Garlic Crustini

Best summer food of 2015, courtesy of our trip to the Mediterranean back in June – Tomato Garlic Crustini.

What’s even better, we found it by chance, thanks to Fred looking up reviews on TripAdvisor for someplace to eat on our last night in Barcelona.  Not too far from the AirBNB we rented in the El Born section of Barcelona, we walked over to Melic del Gotic.  It was one of the best meals we had on our trip!  It was a small restaurant, with such a happy, fun atmosphere.  The staff and the food were amazing!

We were met outside with shots of sangria and a liqueur, Santa Fe Grosella – no idea what was in it, but YUM.  This was definitely the right place for our crew.

Our first course was this amazing food, which I could totally eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner forever.  So fresh, so good… I even absconded with the rogue piece of garlic that hadn’t been used and left on our table – a nice souvenir to use when I made it when we first got home.

The rest of the meal was fantabulous... but I'll have to write up more about this for our TripAdvisor review.

• Ciabatta bread
• Garlic cloves
• Ripe tomatoes

DIRECTIONS

1. Slice the ciabatta bread, about ¼” to ½” thickness
2. Toast or grill the slices
3. Peel a whole clove of garlic and lightly rub over the toasted bread
   (a little goes a LONG way)
4. Slice the tomato in half and rub, cut side down, over the toasted bread, letting the juices absorb into the bread; discard the outer skin of the tomato
   (depending on the size of the tomato, a half-slice may be used on more than one slice of bread)
5. Repeat with as many garlic cloves and tomatoes as you need.
6. Try to only eat one slice!

More deliciousness from our trip:

Sriracha-Glazed Grilled Chicken

The kids are home!  While they were away, I spent my nights surfing Pinterest to find things to cook once they came home.  I found this recipe that had the key ingredient of sriracha, which I have wanted to use.  This was a great recipe that I could put the sriracha on some of the chicken, but leave some of it plain, for those who didn’t want the spice (---- > Jim lol).  I ended up marinating it overnight and it was so tender and flavorful.  We made homemade rice pilaf to go with it, and it was a scrumptious meal!

• 4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• ¼ cup peanut oil
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp minced fresh garlic
• 2 tsp. ground ginger or finely minced fresh ginger root
• 3 Tbsp lime juice
  (I used the juice of one lime)
   
• 1-2 Tbsp. Sriracha Rooster Sauce
  (the sriracha is mixed into the remaining marinade used to brush on as you cook the chicken)

DIRECTIONS

1. Put chicken pieces and HALF the mixed marinade into a plastic bag.
   The original recipe calls to cut the chicken breasts into about 2” square chunks; however, I kept the chicken breasts whole.
2. Add the oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and lime juice to the plastic bag to make the marinade.
3. Marinate the chicken 6-8 hours (or overnight) in the refrigerator, turning a few times if you're home.
4. When you're ready to cook, heat the grill to a medium-high temperature.
5. Take the chicken out of the plastic bag and transfer to a plate.
6. Pour remaining marinade from the bag into a small bowl.
7. Mix the 1-2 tablespoons of sriracha sauce into the bowl of reserved marinade to make the glaze.
8. Put chicken breasts or kabobs on the grill and brush generously with the sriracha glaze.
9. Turn chicken about every 4 minutes and brush with glaze each time, cooking the kabobs until the chicken is nicely browned and firm (but not hard) to the touch (actual cooking time will depend on the thickness of the chicken pieces and how hot your grill is, but estimated time is about 15-18 minutes).

Adapted from Kalyn’s Kitchen

Creamy Avocado Pasta with Chili Lime Chicken

This was the winter of all winters with record-breaking cold and snow.  But, spring has finally come!  (Although we still have a last, little mound of snow that is only days away from being gone.)

I have done some cooking here and there over the winter, mostly making tried and true meals just to put something on the dinner table.  Part of my lack of inspiration was because the winter was just brutal, and the other part was because I miss my partner in cooking.  But, alas, with our first 70 degree day in almost 6 months, and Catherine coming home in less than a month, I broke out the grill and got on Pinterest to find out what I could make with the chicken and avocados I bought a few days ago.  Most of the recipes I found had to do with chicken avocado burritos.  Of course, that would be totally fine by me, but I knew I needed something my boys would eat.  After some scrolling, I came across this.  Holy yumilicious this was good!  Timmy loved the chicken, Jimmy loved the pasta, and I loved it all.  I can’t wait for Catherine to come home so she can try it!
(Don't be intimidated by how long this looks... it's not complicated at all and doesn't take as much time as you may think looking at this) 

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 recipe Chili Lime Chicken (see below for Chili Lime Rub)
• 16 oz. fettuccine/spaghetti, cooked al dente
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 cup corn kernels (or 1 ear of sweet corn)
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
  Optional:
• 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes with green chilies, drained
• Hot sauce to taste

Chili Lime Rub

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• ½ tsp. chipotle chili powder *
• ½ tsp. ground cumin
• ½ tsp. smoked paprika
• ½ tsp. onion powder
• ½ tsp. garlic powder
• ¾ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. brown sugar
• ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
• 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (about 1 lime)
• Lime zest from 1 lime* 

*  Adaptations:  I didn’t have chipotle chili powder, so I just omitted and I didn’t feel like zesting a lime so I just left it out.

DIRECTIONS - To make Chili Lime Chicken...

1. In a small bowl, whisk chili lime rub ingredients together.
2. Place chicken breasts in a gallon-sized zip lock baggie and pour chili lime rub over, mixing evenly all over chicken breasts.
3. Time permitting, allow chicken to sit for 30 minutes at room temperature or refrigerate up to 8 hours then bring to room temperature for before cooking (the longer it marinates, the more flavorful it will be.
   (I only had time for 30 minutes, and I felt like it was nicely flavored!)
4. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat.  Once very hot, add chicken and cook, undisturbed for 3-5 minutes, or until nicely browned (or blackened if you prefer) on one side. Turn chicken over, cover, and reduce heat to medium.  Cook the chicken for approximately 5-7 more minutes (depending on thickness of chicken), or until it is cooked through.
   (Wanting to christen the grill for the first time this Spring, I used the grill versus the skillet for the chicken)
5. Remove to a cutting board and let rest 5 minutes before slicing – don't slice until ready to serve.
6. Garnish with extra fresh lime juice if desired.
7. Make Creamy Avocado Sauce

Creamy Avocado Sauce

• 1 cup sour cream (may substitute Greek yogurt)
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 avocados, peeled and pitted
• 1-2 jalapenos, seeded, deveined and roughly chopped*
• ¼ cup packed cilantro
• 1 tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. pepper
• ½ tsp. cumin
• ¼ tsp. smoked paprika
• 1 Tbsp. lime juice

 *  Adaptations:  I didn’t have jalapenos, so I just omitted them.

DIRECTIONS - To make Creamy Avocado Sauce...

• Add all of the Creamy Avocado Sauce ingredients to your blender and puree/liquefy until smooth.

DIRECTIONS - To put together...

1. In the same skillet you cooked your chicken in (or a fresh one if grilled the chicken), heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat (you can use remaining oil from chicken if there's enough). Add red bell peppers, corn and garlic and sauté 1-2 minutes, or until red peppers are crisp-tender.
   (If using, add diced tomatoes in green chilies and heat through.)
2. Add cooked pasta followed by Creamy Avocado Sauce and stir to combine.  Heat through.
3. Taste and add any additional salt, pepper, hot sauce to taste.
4. Slice chicken and serve on top of pasta, garnishing individual servings with optional toppings of cheese, green onions and fresh lime juice.
   
   Refrigerate leftover pasta for up to 5 days (the lime juice will keep the sauce from discoloring)

Adapted from Carlsbad Cravings’ Blog

http://www.carlsbadcravings.com/purpose-chili-lime-chicken-rub-marinade-recipe/

http://www.carlsbadcravings.com/creamy-baja-avocado-pasta-chili-lime-chicken/