Friday Foodday

Happy Friday!

Here are my favorite recipes this week. 

Scotch Collins
c/o Fogged in Lounge

Ingredients

• 2 oz blended scotch (Johnnie Walker Black Label)
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 1 tsp rich simple syrup
• soda to fill

Directions

Stir all but soda with ice, and strain into an ice-filled collins glass. Fill with cold soda. Lemon garnish.

Layered Chicken Enchilada Bake

c/o Emily Bites

Ingredients

• 2 (10 oz) cans red enchilada sauce, divided
• 9 (6 inch) yellow corn tortillas (I use Mission Extra Thin Yellow Corn Tortillas)
• 1 (16 oz) can fat free refried beans
• 4 teaspoons canola oil
• 1 ½ lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped into small bite-sized pieces (about ½”)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 cup drained and rinsed canned black beans
• ¾ cup frozen corn kernels
• 6 oz 50% light sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350. Lightly mist a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray. Drizzle about 1/3 cup of the enchilada sauce across the bottom of the dish and spread around with the back of a spoon to lightly coat the bottom of the dish. Arrange 4 ½ of the tortillas across the bottom of the dish to cover the majority of the space (my arrangement is pictured above). Use a spatula to spread the refried beans evenly across the tortillas, forming an even layer across the whole dish. Set aside.
2. In a large skillet or saute pan, bring the oil to medium heat. Add the chopped chicken and diced onion and stir to coat in the oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through and the onions are softened (6-10 minutes). Drain the liquid from the pan if necessary. Add all the remaining enchilada sauce, the black beans and the corn and stir together. Remove from heat.
3. Spoon about half of the chicken and sauce mixture evenly across the top of the refried bean layer in the casserole dish. Sprinkle about half of the cheddar cheese evenly across as well. Arrange the remaining 4 ½ tortillas in a similar style to step 1 (I did the same but flipped the layout so any small missing spots from layer 1 would be covered and vice versa). Spoon the remaining chicken and sauce mixture evenly across the newly laid tortillas. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Cut into 8 pieces and serve.

Double Chocolate Creme Brûlée

c/o Country Cleaver

Ingredients

• 2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
• 6 Egg Yolks
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1 Tbsp High Quality Cocoa Powder
• 4 ounces Finely Chopped Semi Sweet Chocolate
• 2 tsp Vanilla Bean Extract
• 4-6 teaspoons of Turbinado or Demerara Sugar*

Directions

Place the oven rack on the lower-middle rack, and preheat oven to 300 degrees. Fill a small saucepan with water and bring it to a boil.

Place cream, and sugar into a different, medium sized saucepan and bring the mixture to a rolling simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. While the mixture is heating up, crack the eggs and separate the yolks from the whites. Discard the whites or use them for another recipe. Whisk the eggs in a bowl until they are light and fluffy yellow.

When the cream is simmering, turn off the heat, and remove the cream from the stove. Stir in the vanilla extract, chopped chocolate, and cocoa powder. Stir the mixture until the chopped chocolate has melted completely. Return to the heat if there are a few chunks that just won’t melt.

Slowly pour 1/2 cup of the cream mixture into the egg yolks while whisking them continuously to temper the eggs. Repeat this process until you have whisked in all the cream mixture. Distribute amongst the ramekins. Place the filled ramekins into a 13×9 inch baking pan, and place them into the oven. With the boiling water you prepared earlier, gently pour the water into the bottom of the 13×9 inch pan, until it reaches about 2/3 of the way up the sides of the ramekins. Gently push the rack into the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the temperature of the custard reaches 175 degrees.

Gently remove the ramekins from the oven and place them on a wire rack to cool for at least one hour. Cover with plastic wrap and place the custards into the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours. Blot away any condensation with a paper towel prior to torching the sugar on top and serving.

Torch the top of the creme brulees until the sugar melts and becomes crispy and caramel colored. Serve immediately.