Category Archives: Main Courses

FRENCH BARBECUED CHICKEN

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IMGThe family that sleds together, stays together, right?  I was scratching my head trying to figure out what was going on in this vintage photo I found on ebay.  But the Rodeo is in full swing here in Houston, and all of a sudden it dawned on me — these are Alpine professional bull riders, honing their skills without the benefit of a mechanical bull.  Of course!

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 Arm up, Bud!

Last year I watched two hours of professional bull-riding at the Rodeo.  It was fascinating.  The goal is to stay on the bull for 8 seconds.  That doesn’t sound so hard, until you see the bulls, and then you just start praying that the cute cowboy doesn’t fall off and get trampled or gored.  The bullriders, whether on a real bull or a mechanical one, wave one hand in the air to help maintain their balance.  As one person describes, bullriders don’t just wave their hand in the air to look cool, even though it does.  You’re not supposed to hold on with both hands–that’s why you only get one glove.  You waive your free hand in the air to help adjust to the bucking of the bull, much like a tightrope walker keeps his arms outstretched to help with his balance, or a drunk person keeps his arms extended trying to walk a straight line for the officer.

Part of the fun (OK, a lot of the fun) of the Rodeo is the carnival food.  There’s tacos, nachos, pizza on a stick, giant smoked turkey legs, chocolate-covered cheesecake, and bacon-topped cinnamon rolls, for starters.  Then there’s fried everything — red velvet cake, twinkies, cookie dough, Kool-Aid (huh?), and Fruity Pebbles, just to name a few.

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 My daughter said the Fried Oreos were to die for.  Or maybe she said they’ll kill you.

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Fried Twinkie — yum or yuk?

I read that new this year is something called a Popcornsicle — “a ball of candy-coated popcorn on a stick kept in dry ice, making it so cold it emitted vapor clouds.”  I wonder if your tongue sticks to it if you lick it?  All the crazy carnival foods aside, it wouldn’t be the Rodeo without barbecue. The Rodeo kicks off with the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, a three-day event where approximately 300 teams compete for barbecue glory.  You can smell the smoke for miles.

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Do I smell barbecue?

It seems like everyone’s got a favorite barbecue recipe, and my Mom was no exception.  French Barbecued Chicken was one of her most requested “dinner party” recipes — she used to boast that one of her friends told her she should never cook chicken any other way.  Inspired by the photo of the Alpine sledders and the smell of smoke wafting over from the Rodeo, I offer you French Barbecued Chicken.  It’s an oven-baked dish, and is about as French as I am (just like anything with water chestnuts in it is automatically crowned “Asian.”).  The “French” in the recipe is half an envelope of Lipton’s Onion Soup Mix.  This is, of course, not “barbecue” in the Texas sense of the word, but it is tasty, and you don’t need a smoker or a cowboy hat to prepare it.

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Ingredients
  • ½ package dry onion soup mix
  • ¼ cup cider vinegar
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • ½ cup catsup
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • Pepper, to taste
  • 6 skinless bone-in chicken breasts
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place all ingredients except chicken in a medium bowl, and mix together until well combined. Place chicken, breast side down, in a 9" x 13" baking dish and cover with half of the sauce. Bake for 45 minutes, basting occasionally. Using tongs, turn chicken over and coat with remaining sauce. Bake an additional 30 to 40 minutes, until sauce is baked onto the chicken. Transfer chicken to serving platter and spoon any sauce remaining in the baking dish over the chicken.

 

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Bon appetit, y’all!

STUFFED POBLANOS

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Meet Baby I See You, a recent estate sale find.  This doll has crazy eyes that appear to be following you.  Or maybe they really do follow you.  As the box threatens, “Walk to the Left.  Move to the Right.  Wherever you go, you are never out of sight.”

It should come as no surprise that this doll was still in its original packaging (i.e., never played with), where it has been safely twist-tied down for nearly a quarter of a century (“Gee, grandma, thanks for the stalker doll.”).  Until now.

This is one creepy doll.  Even my teenagers have requested that I “get it out of the house.”  (Fat chance of that happening now that I know they’re scared of it.)  I’m not sure, but I think the Littlest Stalker may have been the inspiration for Glenn Close’s character Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction.  You have to admit, the similarities are hard to ignore — the wild blonde perm, the crazy eyes . . . .

 “Walk to the Left.  Move to the Right.

  Wherever you go, you are never out of sight.” 

“I’m not gonna be ignored, Dan.”

They should have named this doll Baby I.C.U., not Baby I See You, because I’ll tell you, if I ever stumbled across this creeper doll in the middle of the night, I would have had a heart attack.  In fact, if I’d had one of these dolls when the kids were little, I would never have needed to hire a babysitter — just plunk this demon doll down in the middle of the room and my kids would have sat there until we returned, too terrified to move.

But alas, I did have to hire babysitters.  Chela was one of the first ones I trusted to watch my daughter.  Chela did some housekeeping for us, and after the kids were born she would babysit for us occasionally.  I remember when we found out we were pregnant with my daughter and excitedly ran out to buy “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.”  When I came home the next day after Chela had been there, I found a note taped to the book that read “Is it you, Angel?”  She knew before we had told a single soul.  Long after she became too sick to work due to complications from diabetes, she would still call on everyone’s birthday.  She also checked in every year after receiving our Christmas card, to tell me how great the kids looked and remark on how much they’d grown, and fill me in on what her beloved son Manny was up to.

Usually, I’d order pizza for the kids and their babysitters.  But one time, I had 2 leftover stuffed poblanos in the refrigerator, and I told Chela she was welcome to have them.  When I came home, she looked at me, and said simply, “Oh, those peppers . . . .”  This was high praise, indeed.  I think of her every time I make them.

Chela passed away a few years ago.  She was only 48.  About a year before she died, she wrote a farewell, which her family printed and handed out at her funeral.  She said that she was not sad and was ready to go.  She said she looked forward to being able to eat whatever she wanted, even “a whole box of cookies with a lot of sugar.”

Inspired by recollections triggered when I sprung Baby I See You from her cardboard prison, and in memory of my special friend Chela, I’m sharing my recipe for Stuffed Poblanos.  They aren’t difficult to make, but be careful handling the peppers when you’re peeling them, so as not to tear them.

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STUFFED POBLANOS
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 4 large or 6 medium poblano peppers
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 11-ounce can corn, rinsed and drained
  • 14.5-ounce can petite diced tomatoes, rinsed and drained
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • ½ teaspoon dried oregano
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • Pinch of cayenne
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 2 cups grated cheddar, colby jack, or monterey jack cheese
Instructions
  1. Preheat broiler. Using a small knife, slit peppers lengthwise down one side, being careful not to cut through to other side. Place peppers on foil-covered baking sheet, and broil until beginning to blister and blacken. Turn peppers using tongs, and broil other side. Set aside to cool. When peppers are cool enough to handle, gently remove seeds and peel off skin.
  2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and saute until golden. Add garlic and saute one minute more. Add ground beef and cook until browned, breaking up with a spoon as necessary. Add corn, tomatoes, parsley, oregano, chili powder, and cayenne, and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of the cheese.
  3. Carefully spoon filling into the peppers, dividing evenly among peppers. Place in an ovenproof baking dish, and sprinkle remaining cheese over peppers. Place under broiler 2-3 minutes, or until cheese is melted. (If prepared ahead, bake at 375 degrees until heated through and cheese is melted, about 20 minutes.) Serve hot.

Ready to go under the broiler. 

Nicely charred.

Seeded, peeled, and ready to be stuffed.

Almost ready for the oven.

Now they’re ready!

Ta-da!

Enjoy!