Grilled Green Chile Chicken Pizza

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It’s hot here. It's hot everywhere. It's that stretch of summer where I refuse to turn on my oven because it heats my house up by 25 degrees. No thank you very much. This leads to a lot of grilling, which I did plenty of this past weekend (along with some cold beer). Saturday night I was I was feeling pizza, which I normally make with fresh tomatoes from the garden, but those are still a few weeks away. I did have some leftover grilled sweet corn and fresh green chiles I pulled out of my garden.

As is apparent, from my Southwest roots I developed an appetite for all things green chile. This is no exception, and along with the delicious peak season sweet corn, it turned out fabulous. If you're in a pinch, you can use leftover roast chicken instead of grilling your own, but make sure to spice it before sprinkling it over your pizza.

Grilled Green Chile Chicken Pizza
Makes 3 16-inch pizzas

Dough (adapted from Alton Brown)
3 cups flour (16oz)
2 ½ teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/3 cups warm water

Sauce
4 tomatillos, husks removed
2 green chiles
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
½ teaspoon sugar

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded to even thickness
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
4 medium ears sweet corn, grilled or boiled, cut off the cob
6 ounces Mozzarella cheese

For the dough: Combine the flour and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Start the mixer on low, using the hook attachment, and mix until the dough just comes together, approximately 1 1/2 minutes. Increase the mixer speed to medium and knead for 15 minutes. Be careful as your mixer may try to walk off the counter.

Tear off a small piece of dough and flatten into a disk. Gently stretch the dough until thin. Hold it up to the light and look to see if a see-through, taut membrane has formed. The dough will be quite sticky, but manageable. Fold the dough onto itself and form it into a smooth ball. Lightly oil the bowl of your mixer (olive oil or cooking spray). Place the dough in the bowl and roll it around to coat with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature to double in size, approximately 1 hour.

Split the dough into 3 equal, and then flatten each piece into a disk on the countertop. Form each piece into a ball. Roll each ball on the counter until they tighten into rounds. Cover the balls with a tea towel and rest for 45 minutes. While that's happening you can prepare everything else.

For the sauce: Preheat grill to high heat, grill chiles and tomatillos over direct heat, turning occasionally, until soft and charred. Let chiles cool for 5 minutes, remove skins, stems, and seeds. Place tomatillos, chiles, cilantro, and sugar in a food processor and blend until smooth. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper

For chicken: Season chicken with salt, pepper, cumin, and coriander. Place on grill and cook, lid down, for 4 minutes. Move chicken to cooler part of grill (keep main burner on high but keep chicken off of direct heat) and grill, lid down, until chicken reaches internal temperature of 165°F, abut 5-6 minutes. Remove from grill and rest for 5 minutes. Shred with fork.

Assemble: Return all burners to high on grill, close lid. Lightly flour the countertop and flatten 1 of the dough balls. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a 16-inch round, rotating the dough as you go. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured pizza peel and stretch to re-shape if necessary (it will likely shrink so you may need to let it rest and then roll it out a bit more).

Oil grill grates and turn all burners to medium. Brush the dough with a small amount of olive oil and flip onto the hot grill. Close the lid and cook until the bottom of the crust is golden brown, 1-2 minutes. Brush the top side of the dough with a small amount of olive oil, then immediately flip using the peel or tongs. Spread 1/3 of the sauce over the pizza, sprinkle 1/3 of the chicken and corn followed by 1/3 of the cheese. Close the lid and cook until the bottom of crust is golden brown and the cheese has melted, another 1 to 2 minutes. Using the peel, remove the pizza to a cooling rack and let rest for 3-5 minutes before slicing. You can also hold them in a warm oven set to 200°F. Repeat with remaining pizzas and enjoy!

Chicken with Almonds

Stir fries have become a big part of my life since I met my wife. Growing up I did eat sweet and sour pork my mom would make in our electric wok, but that was (I think) about it. No fault of hers, we had to trick my brother every time we had it because he didn't like Chinese food, but he liked sweet pork and rice.

Now, I break out one of my two woks every week. Fast weeknight meals, maybe a new rice dish, you can even deep fry in them (more on that later). Far and away the most common dish to come out of my wok is chicken with almonds, a fantastic adaptation from Craig Claiborne's "Chinese Cookbook" that my wife's dad shared with me.

It follows the general rule of stir frying. Fry meat, remove, cook remaining ingredients as needed, drain off most oil, add seasonings, replace meat, add sauce. Eat. You can make a lot of good food if you follow those rules. I like to serve mine with plain white rice and stir fried broccoli, which I have included below. Enjoy!

Chicken with Almonds
serves 3-4

1 1/2 pound boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 egg white
1 cup peanut or vegetable oil
1/2 cup blanched almonds (found in grocery stores)
6 garlic cloves, smashed
6 thin slices fresh ginger
12 dried chiles (arbol)
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons dry sherry

Combine corn starch, salt, sugar, and egg white in medium bowl. Add chicken breasts and marinate 30 minutes (room temperature).

Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium high heat in a wok or large skillet until just starting to smoke, about 375-400°F.  Gently add 1/2 chicken and fry, stirring to break up into individual pieces, until brown and just cooked through, about 5 minutes.  Remove chicken with slotted spoon and transfer to paper towel lined plate to drain.  Return oil to temperature and repeat with remaining chicken.  After, add almonds, frying and stirring until almonds are well browned, about 5-6 minutes.  Remove almonds and let drain.

Pour off all but 2 tablespoons oil (cool the rest in a pyrex cup, bottle, and refrigerate for future use).  Add garlic, chiles, and ginger, frying until all are well browned.  Remove seasonings and discard.  Add chicken back to wok and warm, stirring constantly, 1 minute.  Add soy sauce and sherry, toss until sauce thickens. Serve immediately with almonds on side.

Stir Fried Broccoli

1 pound broccoli or other vegetable such as asparagus, snow peas, or green beans
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Trim broccoli crowns into 1 inch pieces.  Peel stems and cut into 1 inch thick strips.  Heat oil over medium high heat in wok or large skillet.  Add broccoli and toss constantly for 2 minutes or until starting to brown.  Combine sugar, salt, soy, sherry, and water in a small dish and add to wok.  Cover and cook for 3 minutes.  Combine cornstarch with 1-2 tablespoons water and add to wok, stirring to thicken.  Serve.

Chicken Piccata Pasta

I'm over winter. I grew up in the desert, where winter was about 3 days long, and when I moved to Indiana I loved the thought of actually have seasons. Still do. But this winter has been a bit taxing. Between Snowpocalypse and some crazy up and down weather, all I want is 50° and sunny. Just for a few days. Please.

My cooking is starting to reflect this want of change. Case in point I grilled steak teriyaki the other night just because I wanted to cook outside. It was cold, windy, and my wife thought I was nuts, but I was set on having a grilled piece of meat.

Where am I going with all of this? As spring sets in and the weather warms, my food starts to reflect the change. The heavy stews and chili of winter gives way to artichokes and brighter dishes. I found this recipe from Rachel Ray and it fit my mood quite well, it was quick enough to assemble on a weeknight and was not a stretch for ingredients considering most vegetables are out of season right now. I really liked it and only tweaked it a tad (RR dishes tend to come out on the high end of liquid so it takes adjustment).

The good news of course, is that the sun is shining and we have 10 days of warm weather coming. Time to start digging in the garden…

Chicken Piccata Pasta (adapted from Rachel Ray)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white wine
1 lemon, juiced
1 cup chicken broth or stock
3 tablespoons capers, drained
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flake
1 pound penne rigate pasta, cooked to al dente
Chopped or snipped chives, for garnish
Salt and pepper

Heat a deep skillet over medium high heat and add a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to the pan. Brown chicken until lightly colored all over, about 5 to 6 minutes. Remove chicken from pan and return the skillet to the heat. Reduce heat to medium. Add another tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon butter, and shallots to the skillet. Saute and shallots 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook additional 30 seconds.  Add flour and cook 2 minutes. Whisk in wine and reduce liquid 1 minute. Whisk lemon juice and broth into sauce. Stir in capers and red pepper flake. When the liquid comes to a bubble, add remaining 1/2 tablespoon butter to the sauce to give it a little shine. Add chicken back to the pan and heat through, 1 to 2 minutes. Add parsley, toss hot pasta with chicken and sauce and serve. Adjust salt and pepper, to your taste. Top with fresh snipped chives.