Category: Entree

3-Alarm Chili

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I’m at yet another potluck, and someone is staring down at my chili with a confused look on their face.

“This looks like chili.”
“Yeah,” I say, “it is chili.”
“uh….with pasta? How does that work?”
“It just does,” I assure them. 

I found the base recipe years ago in a Betty Crocker vegetarian cookbook and have been hooked ever since. Once people get over their confusion and try it, I always get rave reviews—and you’ll love it too. The dish has a great spicy heat that you can dial up to suit your taste. The cinnamon in the sauce makes it especially comforting and aromatic in colder months. It’s chili-licious.

3-Alarm Chili

Special Equipment 

  • Dutch Oven

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1 large white onion, chopped
  • 1 medium pepper (Heat Control: Green bell pepper for mild, Pasilla or Anaheim for medium, 2 large jalapeño peppers for hot, or 2 Serrano peppers for sadists.)
  • 3 cups water
  • 1/2 cup taco sauce (Heat Control: The hotter the taco sauce, the hotter the dish. Just be aware that this is the tomato-based taco sauce, NOT a pepper sauce like Tabasco.)
  • 2 cans diced tomatoes and chilis, undrained (Heat Control: Ro-Tel sells 4 versions of heat – Mild, Original, Hot, and Lime.)
  • 2 tsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1/4 ground cinnamon
  • 1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/4 box angel hair pasta

Optional Add-Ins:

  • Canned corn; adds a bright, sweet, crunchy contrast
  • Smoked Turkey Sausage; Adds fat, umami, savory notes, and checks the box if you prefer meat in your chili

Preparation:

  • In a dutch oven or a large, deep skillet, sauté the onions and bell pepper in EVOO until soft and translucent, about 4 minutes. 
  • Add in the water, cans of tomato and chiles, sauce and seasonings. Just hold off on the beans and angel hair pasta.
  • Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium-low heat. Simmer for 5 minutes.
  • Add in the beans and pasta and return to boiling. Reduce back to medium-high heat. Simmer for 8-10 minutes.
  • Serve with garnish assortment so people can doctor their chili up as desired.

Garnish Assortment

  • Sour cream
  • Cilantro, roughly chopped
  • Sliced, fresh jalapeño
  • Pepper sauces: Franks, Tabasco, Tapatillo, and Sriracha
  • Shredded cheese: Cheddar, Pepper Jack (for added heat), or Gouda—because this dish is already kinda whack, so why not add nuttiness?

Serving options

  • Summer version: Increase the heat and serve with tortilla chips, Frito scoops, and Tostito bowls. Pair with ice-cold light beer to balance the spice.
  • Fall comfort: Keep the heat mild and serve with skillet cornbread. There are many styles to explore—buttermilk, bacon, Southern, Northern.
  • Sweet-savory contrast: Make the chili moderately spicy. Prepare cornbread with honey and maple syrup instead of sugar. Serve on the side for dipping and scooping.

What’s a Trencher?

A trencher is a thick slice of bread placed in a bowl and drenched with chili or stew. You can eat it with utensils or go full medieval and use your hands.

What’s a Dutch Oven?

When I first started cooking, I didn’t know what this was. I asked around and got conflicting answers. Here’s the correct one: a Dutch oven is a deep pot with a tight-fitting lid. Mine has a lid that doubles as a skillet. It’s economical, durable, and built to last.

Nom on, 

~Crunchy

Turkey Spinach Meatballs

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Meatballs are one of those versatile dishes that might seem mystifying or hard to make, but they don’t have to be. I will likely post more meatball recipes when we get back to the cooler, fall weather, but a turkey-spinach meatball has the right flavors for summer.

Spinach Turkey

Turkey Spinach Meatballs

Ingredients

  • 1 10-ounce package of frozen, chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 cup herbed or plain breadcrumbs
  • 2 tablespoons grated onion
  • 1 teaspoon garlic salt
  • 1 pound ground turkey

Preparation

  • Mix the spinach, egg, breadcrumbs, onion, and garlic salt together in a medium-sized bowl.
  • Add the ground turkey into the mixture and mix with your hands.
  • Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees and place a rack inside a shallow baking pan.
  • Shape your mixture into 2-inch balls and place on rack. You should end up with about 14-16 meatballs.
  • Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes. The center should no longer be pink and you want the internal temp to be about 160 degrees.
  • Drain on paper towels.

Ok, I have meatballs. Now what do I do with them?

Well, to be fair, you can eat them on their own, with a nice cherry-tomato salad or fat slices of seasoned beef steak tomatoes. It’s low carb, super healthy, and perfect if its summertime and you want hearty without the heavy. But here are some other options. My personal creation, Farmer’s Market Soup, is at the very end and also a fabulous option if you want healthy and hearty. Highly recommended as an alternative to chicken noodle soup if you have a household suffering from flu and cold season and your need to nourish them back to life!

Capellini and Meatballs

  • Simmer them in 2 cups of your favorite marinara sauce until the sauce is thick and bubbly. Reduce the heat to low.
    (Tip: The sauce can wait, but the pasta can’t. Always make your sauce first and reduce heat all the way down to low.)
  • Bring water to bowl and add a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil to the water, plus a little salt. Cook the pasta for 4-5 minutes and drain. Only do a very light rinse or you will lose all the oil.
  • Divide pasta and simmering meatballs into four bowls and serve with a little freshly grated parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper.

Meatball Subs

  • Simmer them in 2 cups of your favorite marinara sauce until the sauce is thick and bubbly. Reduce the heat to low.
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Cut open 4 sandwich rolls; crusty, french rolls from the bakery if you’ve got ’em.
  • Ladle meatballs and sauce into rolls. About 4 meatballs each.
  • Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese and crushed red peppers, then top with a slice provolone cheese.
  • Bake for 2-3 minutes at 400 degrees to melt the cheese and lightly toast the bread.

Swedish Meatballs

  • Prepare one package of egg noodles according to directions on package.
  • Combine 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup, 1/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 tablespoon dried parsley, and 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg in medium sauce pan and stir.
  • Fold in meatballs and simmer for about 5 minutes, until sauce and meatballs are all heated through.
  • Pour over egg noodles, garnish with a little fresh parsley for color and serve with salt and pepper to taste. Red pepper flakes can also be offered if your brood likes their meals with a little kick.

Farmer’s Market Meatball Soup

  • In a large pot of dutch oven, add meatballs.Step One Meatballs
  • In a cast iron or stainless steel skillet, add a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and a BUNCH of fresh, chopped squash. There are so many types of squash in season during the summer and many farms just sell medley bags in their stalls with green, yellow, etc. Include one or two peeled and chopped carrots. Sauté for about 5 minutes, until a little tender. Don’t cook them all the way down as they need to survive the soup boiling process. Toss them in the pot with the meatballs.Step 2 Saute Squash
  • Next, in the same skillet, add more olive oil and pop in a head of roughly chopped spinach. If you can find a market stall that sells mixed bags of kale, spinach, and arugula (or other combo of dark, leafy greens) that is even better. Also add in a 1/2 basket of sliced white mushrooms. Sauté these gently, just until the leafy veggies wilt. Add them to the pot.Step 3 Saute Spinach
  • Take a moment to savor all that lovely color. Mmmm….Colorful Veggies
  • Next, add water to the pot, enough to just cover the top of all the veggies. I am guessing this is close to 8 cups. Bring to a boil.Step 4 Add Water
  • When the water is boiling, I add two large cubes of either chicken or vegetable bouillon to the water. This saves you the trouble of using broth (which spoils and is expensive) and adding a lot of salt.
  • Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
  • Now, here you have a choice. If you just want a light soup, you can simmer for another 10 minutes and be done with it. If you want a little more bulk to the soup you can return to a boil and either add 4 tablespoons of rice, lentils, couscous, or quinoa to your broth.
  • Simmer with the lid on for 10-15 minutes.
  • At this point I do a few rounds of taste testing. I try a spoonful and if its a little bland I add salt and black pepper, about 1/4 teaspoon at a time. I just keep stirring, tasting, and seasoning until I hit the ‘oooohhhh yeaaaah’ flavor. This is totally your call.

I serve this soup piping hot in a huge bowl with a hunk of lightly toasted french bread. I also put out crushed red peppers, Sriracha, salsa roja, pepper sauces like Franks or Tabasco, salt, pepper, sour cream, and grated parmesan cheese. It’s a fun soup to doctor up and I like to provide all the options.

Nom On,

~Crunchy

Buttermilk Baked Chicken

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I’m a huge fan of fried chicken, but less excited about what the saturated grease does to my stomach. Enter this easy recipe that gives you utterly yummy, juicy chicken legs with 1/3 of the fat and none of the nasty. It does take about a day of advanced planning, but in general, it’s a very easy dish.

Buttermilk Baked Chicken

Buttermilk Baked Chicken

Ingredients

  • 9 or 10 chicken drumsticks
    • Budget Note: If you buy a big batch of drumsticks on sale and freeze them, you can defrost half the batch at the same time you marinate them.
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • Pepper hot sauce – Tabasco, Franks, or Louisiana hot sauce all work
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 cup plain or Italian breadcrumbs

Preparation

  • In a small bowl, combine the buttermilk, a few dashes of hot sauce, and the salt and pepper together and stir.
  • Pour the mixture into a large freezer-sized ziplock bag. Add the chicken drumsticks, frozen or fresh, into the bag with the mixture. Move the chicken and mixture around to make sure it’s all coated and place in the fridge to marinate.
    • Fresh chicken – 3 hours
    • Frozen chicken – 24 hours.
  • Once your chicken is done marinating, pour the bread crumbs into a bowl or onto a plate. Roll each drumstick around to fully coat and place on a baking sheet coated in olive oil.
  • Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes.

Now you got yo’self a plate of chicken. Serve with whatever you normally like – baked beans, corn on the cob, potato salad, or mashed taters and gravy. No KFC shiz-nits for you!

Nom On,

~Crunchy

The Verde Burger

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This weekend I went on a salsa-making rampage. This led to the need to use it and thus The Verde Burger was born. I call it The Verde because it is full of tasty green things – a thick turkey patty stuffed with avocado and diced jalapeño and drenched in freshly made salsa verde, which, of course, gets its color from the tomatillos and Serrano peppers used to make it. Add slices of Monterey jack cheese and juicy beefsteak tomato, and you got yourself a party.

The Verde Burger

Ingredients

For the patties

  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • 1 jalapeno, diced
  • 1 large, ripe avocado, cut into small chunks
  • 1 clove of garlic, chopped
  • 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper

For the rest

  • 4 onion hamburger buns
  • 1 large beefsteak tomato, cut into 4 thick slices
  • 1/2 cup salsa verde, prepared in advance

Optional fixings

  • 4 leafs of romaine or other leafy, dark green lettuce
  • Thin slices of red onion
  • Roasted pasilla pepper fillets

Preparation

  • Heat up your grill – cast iron griddle, George Forman electric grill, or outdoor grills all work just fine.
  • Combine all the ingredients for the patties and form into 4, thick burgers.
  • Grill the burger patties.
  • Layer the bun with a slice of tomato, the patty, and smother in salsa. You can add your optional garnishes next, if using.

How do I get the perfect burger?

  • Flip the patties only once so each side gets browned.
  • DON’T PRESS on the patties or otherwise fiddle with them beyond the one flip. You will lose all the juices.
  • Don’t overcook. 155 – 160 degrees internal temp is enough. They will finish cooking as they rest.
  • Add your cheese slices right before you remove the patties from the grill. They will melt from the internal heat and not become rubbery or overly melted this way.

I dedicate this burger to Kermit the Frog. It’s not easy being green, but at least he’s got color- coordinated eats.

Nom On,

~Crunchy

Chile Rellenos: Fried batter goodness

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I think it’s safe to say that we all have our favorite dishes from any cuisine. And no matter how complicated and labor intensive it is to make it on our own, we anoint the dish worth the effort to learn. On this particular weekend, I decided that dish would be the Chili Relleno. After god knows how many hours, and god knows how many glasses of wine (I refuse to believe the wine delayed the process one bit,) the end result was stinging eyes, possibly a chili seed that got in my nose from itching it, a sense of pride, and a fully-bellied nap afterwards meant for the gods. It’s called, winning!!

Chile Rellenos

Special Equipment

  • Cast Iron Skillet

Ingredients

  • 12 pasilla or Anaheim peppers
  • 1 pd block of jack or pepper jack cheese
    • *Note: If you have a smoked cheese, this is the time to use it. Some basic grocery stores sell habanero pepper jack and farmers markets often have cheese merchants that sell some amazing smoked cheeses.
  • Grapeseed Oil
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt

Preparation

  • Roast chili peppers

There are a few ways to do this. You can either brush the peppers with olive oil and roast them under the broiler, you can put them in a cast iron skillet or on a cast iron griddle, or you can put them right on the burner. The goal is to char the skins and get the peppers soft and flaccid. ( Heh, heh, she said ‘flaccid.’)

Roasted Peppers

When the chiles are done roasting, put them in a plastic bag to steam for a few minutes. If you don’t have time to finish the project you can actually leave the peppers in the bag until you are ready to make your rellenos.

Steamed Chiles

  • Slice a small opening into the chiles and scoop out the seeds. Using a paper towel and over the sink with the facet trickling, scrap the chard skins off the peppers.
  • Cut the 1 pound of cheese into 12 strips of equal size.
  • Stuff each pepper with a slice of cheese and close them up.
  • Mix the egg, flour, milk, baking soda and powder, salt and pepper and whisk with a fork. Sprinkle flour on your cutting board or prep surface.
  • Pour a fair amount of oil into your skillet, up to 1 inch and heat over a medium-high flame. (Personally, I don’t like cooking with that deep an oil bath because it splatters like crazy and is wasteful. I don’t cook with cheap oil, so I pour enough in to make about 1/4 inch bath and it browns the batter just fine.)
  • Now comes the tricky part. With your skillet oil slightly smoking, take a stuffed pepper and roll it in flour, than dip into the batter. Place the gooey, dripping mess into the oil and fry. Using tongs, each side only needs a minute or less, so roll as gently as you can to brown all sides of your relleno.
  • Once all the batter is fried, use tongs and transfer to a plate. Repeat that exact process with each of your peppers.
  • Once you have all your peppers fried, you may need to pop them in the microwave for just a few seconds to make sure that cheese is melted inside. This will depend on how thick the slices of cheese were that you stuffed the peppers with and how deep an oil bath you used.

How do I garnish and serve the rellenos?

Ok, this dish is popular all over central and south America and garnish styles do vary. If you are used to eating your rellenos served drenched in a mild ranchera sauce, you can certainly do that. I have had them that way, sometimes baked with a little cheese on top of the sauce. I have had rellenos served almost as a soup, the tomato sauce more a delicate broth than a sauce.  However, there are some communities that serve the dish plain and offer salsa roja or salsa verde and maybe a little sour cream to garnish as you see fit. I recommend you try it WITHOUT a sauce bath at least once because they are amaze-balls.

Try to eat your fill of rellenos BEFORE you look over at the disgusting, oil-splatter, batter-drip-covered nightmare your kitchen has become. It will bolster your spirits for the clean up job ahead. Or, if you have kids of chore-doing age, make those little punks deal with the mess while you take a nap and really give all that cheese and batter carte blanche access to your thighs.

Nom On,

~Crunchy

The Perfect BLT: Bacon loves tomato

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I don’t know what it is about a BLT that just screams perfection, but they can do. You see it on the menu or realize you have some tomato in your veggie drawer about to go to wasted veggie heaven so you think BLT…. and it’s super lackluster. The promise of simple greatness is there, your current sandwich stinks though. Like all simple dishes, it comes down to ingredients and prep. Let me show you the way; bacon loves tomato.

Perfect BLT

Ingredients

  • Onion Hamburger Buns or Onion Deli Rolls – the fatter and fluffier, the better
  • Thick cut Bacon – if a package has more than 9 slices, its false advertising
  • Ripe Beefsteak Tomatoes – squishy and ready to explode from the farmers market is best
  • Leafy Green Lettuce – Iceberg is watery and flavorless, so use it only if you can’t get romaine or any other dark green, leafy lettuce
  • Mayo or Miracle Whip
  • Salt and Pepper

Preparation

  • Either pan-fry or bake your bacon to about 155 – 160 degrees. Let rest.
    Note: Generally there are instructions on the package if you want to bake and I follow those, but reduce the time by a minute or two. You NEVER cook bacon to a full 165 degrees because it continues to cook through its internal heat and will ruin the flavor and texture. 
  • Slice your tomato to resemble a hamburger patty; thick and juicy. Dust each slice with salt and pepper. Tomato loves salt and soaks it up, so be liberal.
  • Rinse and tear your lettuce in large, ragged chunks.
  • Lightly toast the buns, face down to get a little texture to absorb the mayo.
  • Add mayo liberally to top and bottom bun. If it oozes out a little with each bite, that’s about right.
  • Layer bottom bun with lettuce, bacon, tomato, then top bun.

What stuff should I not add to my BLT?

  • cheese
  • avocado
  • mustard, ketchup, or hot sauce (ewww…)
  • fried egg or egg salad
  • tuna or chicken salad
  • deli meat

Look, I appreciate the desire to garnish. I have made my BLT with many of these things and realized I now have an egg  salad sandwich with bacon. Or a turkey club. If you start adding the stuff listed above, it’s not a BLT. You’ll be missing the point.

Serve with pickles and the usual picnic lunch sides. While chewing, raise hand in whatever hail Mary, peace and love, praise Jesus, party on, or namaste salute you feel is appropriate as your BLT craving is thus satisfied.

Nom On,

~Crunchy

Quesadilla Flight: The cure to the Saturday lunch doldrums

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Oh lord, It’s Saturday afternoon again. The whole family is milling around, wanting lunch and a stack of sandwiches just sounds so….weekday sad. The errands are done and maybe you have a little more time to cook than usual. You look in the fridge and see a bunch of random, almost used up stuff like chicken breast, deli meat, and a couple hunks of cheese. I keep a stack of corn tortillas handy to handle Saturday afternoon, because nothing uses up leftovers and delights the palate like the quesadilla flight!

Quesadilla Flight

The Quesadilla Flight

Ingredients

  • Shredded Cheese – any kind, seriously. You can use cream cheese, too. I find jack or mozzerlla to be the most-kid friendly, so if you have that, use it.
  • Filling – empty your fridge of things like the tomato and avocado that are close to spoiling, the almost empty tub of deli meat, that lone left over chicken breast, the ubiqutous 1/2 onion … you get the idea. These all sound obvious but you can use up squash and that 1/4 jar of spaghetti sauce, too. Corn tortillas are one of the most versatile canvases ever, so don’t assume your flight has to only offer the more classic Mexican cuisine flavors.
  • Corn tortillas – they are healthier, tastier, and less caloric than flour. They are also smaller in size and maximize your number of canvases to make your combos. You’ll see.
  • Extra virgin olive oil

Preparation

  • Thinly slice veggies or finely dice whole pieces of meat such as chicken breast or pork tenderloin. Thinly sliced or finely diced ingredients cook better in quesadillas.
  • Shred your various cheeses and, depending on how compatible the flavors of the cheese, either keep them seperate or blend them. For examle, jack, cheddar, and mozzerella can be blended. Gouda usually can’t pair unless you have another nutty or smokey cheese like gruyere left over also. If you really want to up the diversity of your flights, don’t combine cheeses.
  • Let the crazy begin! I just go with flavors and pairings that I know to go well together based on what I have to work with. Cheddar, ham, and tomato slices. Pepper jack, turkey, and avocado slices. Cream cheese with tomato and olives. Jack with shredded chicken, diced onion, and cilantro. If I have nutty or smokey cheeses to use up, I add thin apple slices and some sauteed onions. Some cheeses pair well with pesto or berry jams, and of course if you have left overs from spaghetti night, just do a thin smear of tomato sauce, mozzarella, ham, and olives.
  • To cook the quesadillas, just put your pan over a medium-low flame and add a litte EVOO. Place the tortilla into the pan and rub around to coat. If using sauce, spreads or jams, spread that first. Then, sprinkle the cheese and then layer meat and then veggies. I let the cheese melt a little and then fold the tortilla over. You just want to cook each side to lightly brown and get the cheese gooey.
  • Repeat with various combos, based on your ingredients. I generally end up with quite a variety, even in I just omit an ingredient here or there or sub another. The goal is to make a flight, so they shouldn’t all taste just the same.
  • Serve with dips, lime or lemon wedges, or extra tomato slices dusted with salt and pepper. A little side salad if you have it handy.

Note: These guys get cold fast, so I am basically a short order cook. Serve as batches are ready and encourage your peeps to dig in. As Chef, you should be nomming as you cook. For this reason, I don’t make the same quesadilla twice in a row or your batches won’t be ‘flights.’

Dips to serve with my flights?

I am a dips, salsas, and sauces fanatic. As far as I am concerned, the food I eat is just a vehicle for the real flavor payload. So why not offer some with your quesadilla flight? Quick prep or left over salsa is obvious, but here are a few others I whip up.

Guac and Spiced Sour Cream

Crunchy’s Guacamole Dip

Ingredients

  • 2-3 Ripe avocados, cubed
  • 1 or 2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
  • 1/2 Red onion, coarsely chopped
  • 2 to 3 Garlic cloves, roughly diced
  • Fresh squeezed juice from 1 to 1 1/2 Limes
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • Ground cayenne, to taste
  • Cilantro, ripped or roughly chopped

Preparation

  • With a fork, mash and stir the avocado. You can leave it a little chunky; it’ll get smooth as you mix in your spices.
  • Fold in the tomato, onion, diced garlic and stir.
  • Squeeze in the lime juice and stir.
  • Add in about 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/8 tsp black pepper. Stir and taste.
  • Add in a few shakes of cayenne. Stir and taste.
  • If your quac seems bland, you can add in a little more salt or cayenne, but don’t go to crazy. Ground spices are more potent than freshly chopped peppers so the taste changes quickly.
  • Cover with plastic or seal with a lid if you prepped in tupperware. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or so. Perfect to prep this right before you start the quesadillas. Ground spices need way less time to soak and marinate than fresh ingredients.
  • When you serve, sprinkle a little cilantro on top. It’s more colorful and less overpowering this way than when you mix in with the other spices to marinate.

Crunchy’s Spiced Sour Cream Dip

  • When you are ready to serve the first batch of quesadillas, add a healthy dollop of sour cream to each plate. Dust each with black and/or cayenne pepper.
  • Dash some olive oil into your hot pan and pop a handful of diced onions in there. Stir and lightly sauté.
  • Add a tablespoon of the onions to each dollop of sour cream and serve.

I don’t know about you, but at this point, I am ready to … nom on,

~Crunchy

Baked BBQ Chicken: Chicken-lickin’ good

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I thought for my first post I would share a great recipe for baked ‘BBQ’ chicken. I found this simple approach to getting the sticky, gooey mess I love about BBQ food without the fuss of a grill. I hope you enjoy it!

Baked BBQ Chicken Drumsticks

Ingredients

  • Chicken Legs or Thighs (the bone-in, dark meat is juicer than boneless chicken breast.)
  • Olive Oil
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Sweet Heat BBQ sauce 

Preparation

  • Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
  • Lay out ckicken on a rimmed, foil covered baking sheet
    • Brush meat with olive oil all over
    • Sprinkle salt and pepper all over
    • Set timer and bake for 20 minutes
  • Pull Chicken from oven
    • Brush chicken all over with BBQ sauce and bake for 7 minutes
    • Repeat once more and check internal temperature. If you have reached 160 degrees, allow chicken to rest
    • If needed, brush chicken with sauce once more and bake for an additional 5-7 minutes
  • For the final round of baking, check the chicken’s temperature to be sure it hasn’t already passed 160°F. If your chicken often turns out dry or chewy, you’re overcooking it. Remember, meat continues to cook after it’s removed from the oven. That’s why recipes tell you to let it “rest”—the internal heat finishes the job.
    In our world of paranoia about bacteria and food poisoning, it’s tempting to overcook meat. But the truth is, overcooked meat tastes terrible. 165°F is all you need. Respect the internal temperature, and let the meat rest.

If you don’t feel like making a big meal, these are delightful to eat with a loaf of fresh bread.

Nom on,

~Crunchy