Tomato Archives - Popcorn and Pandas

Chicken Mole Poblano

Latin food is one of my favorite genres to both cook and eat, and this dish is on the top of my list. I originally got this chicken mole poblano recipe from Top Chef Season 5 contestant, Carla Hall, when she was featured in Health Magazine. I made it a few years ago and loved it, so I decided it was time to break this recipe out again this past week. I’m not going to lie though, Carla would have been disappointed with the amount of “love” I put into this dish. In the beginning of the week, I couldn’t wait to make it, and then reality set in. I got home from work late, I was tired due to lack of sleep the night before, and the last thing I wanted to do was try to make a recipe I hadn’t done in three years. I had planned on creating this post, but then I was in such a funk that I scrapped taking photos and glumly resumed my wifely/motherly duties with a sour look on my face. I had promised my husband (and he was super excited) to make this delicious meal, but I just didn’t feel like it! However, I knew it was the right thing to do to by making it. You know those days when you really just don’t want to go to the gym or work out? But then you do anyway…and you feel SO much better afterward??? Well, this is how cooking this meal went. I really was not in the mood to cook in the beginning, and was super cranky about it (sorry dear husband). But as I got into it, I started getting excited (more than likely because I was going to get to eat it)…and then after it was done, I was extremely proud of how it turned out. I then rushed to grab the camera and take a photo of the final product. I got back on board with doing a blog post about it, and wished I hadn’t been such a grouch in the beginning. It’s amazing how making a little meal can uplift your spirits and shift your mood. I’m still blaming certain mood swings on the hormones. 😉

As for this recipe, I think you will also find it delicious. And it’s even better when you make it with a little love. As usual, I made a few changes to my own liking (especially with the chicken – I tend to prefer white meat over dark), but for the most part, the sauce is the same.

Hope you enjoy!

What you need:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1.5 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

.5 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 (4 oz) can diced green chiles

1 teaspoon tahini (I omitted this, because I couldn’t find it at the store)

3 oz dark chocolate chopped

1 tablespoon cilantro chopped

Carla used an already cooked rotisserie chicken, divided into 6 pieces and warmed – I used uncooked chicken breasts instead covered in cumin and cinnamon to taste and white cooking wine

1/2 avocado, pitted and sliced

1 tomato, diced

How to Make it Happen:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place uncooked chicken breasts covered in cumin, cinnamon, and white wine into a baking dish and cover with aluminum foil. Bake the chicken for approximately 35 minutes (will depend on thickness of the chicken and how your oven cooks, so make sure to check it early to avoid overcooking!)

While the chicken is baking, heat oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add onion and cook for 3 minutes or until translucent. Add garlic, and cook for 1 minute. Stir in cumin, cinnamon, sale, and pepper; cook for 1 minute.

Add canned diced tomatoes and chiles to saucepan, and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in tahini and chocolate until melted. Stir in chopped cilantro. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Put sauce in a blender or food processor until smooth. Spoon as much sauce as you like over the chicken. Serve with avocado and tomato.

I also decided to serve it with some black beans and rice, which really completed the meal for me. The cheese on top of the beans is cotija.

Happy to say, we blended everything all together to serve to our little guy as well, and he happily ate it as well!

Hope you are all having a great week!

XO,

Gina

Garden Fresh Homemade Tomato Sauce

It’s that time of the year! The time when our tomatoes are coming up in the garden, and more importantly…time for fresh pasta sauce! I typically make my own homemade sauce (carrying on the family tradition) all year long using cans of tomatoes, but there is something about those fresh tomatoes that really make the world go ’round. I have tried both all fresh and all canned versions of this recipe, but my preference is actually a 50/50 method of half fresh, half canned. For some reason, that packs the best punch of flavor in my book, and it’s just the perfect combo for an amazing sauce.

The recipe is quite simple. Most of it is all about taste and preference. I hardly measure anything, and I kind of pinch and throw in as I go.

What you need:

4-6 cloves of garlic chopped (or whole, but I chop mine)

chopped yellow onion (or white or spanish) – I use about 1/4 of a medium size onion

extra virgin olive oil

fresh tomatoes from the garden (I used about 12)

canned tomatoes (my favorite brand is the Sclafani crushed, I used 1 can for this batch, because that was about how many fresh tomatoes I had, and I wanted it to be a 50/50 mix)

fresh basil from the garden to taste (I used about 10 leaves)

salt

pepper

dried italian herbs (if you have more fresh, the better!)

sugar (my secret ingredient)

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How to Make it Happen:

First prep the fresh tomatoes by dicing them up to remove all the seeds (the more seeds you have the more bitter the sauce is, so I remove them all from the fresh tomatoes). Then, you can either put them in a food processor to blend or keep them as is (again your preference of texture!) and put them aside.

Saute the garlic and onions in the olive oil in a large pot on medium heat for a couple minutes or until the onions are translucent.

Add the fresh tomatoes and the can of tomatoes to the pot and stir, stir, stir. Lower heat so it’s not popping bubbles of sauce all over the kitchen.

Next, stir in the basil, salt, pepper, extra Italian herbs, and sugar to taste.

Let it sit, stirring frequently, and tasting frequently. You may find you want to add a few herbs, a little more sugar, etc. as it cooks. You can really cook it as long as you want. The flavors will change a bit as time wears on, and you may want to add more to it. I am all about the quickness, so unless I have a very large pot of sauce, I don’t really cook mine for more than 20-30 minutes. I am usually just cooking for two, so it can cook pretty quickly.

Boil up your favorite type of pasta while you are waiting for the sauce. Once the pasta is ready, drain it, and coat it with a few large scoops of sauce so that it doesn’t dry out and stick together. Serve it up in bowls, and add as much extra sauce as you like! I top mine with grated Locatelli Romano cheese as well, and voila! Dinner is served.

Buon Apetito!

XO,

Gina

Our Brooklyn Garden

Since moving from the Upper East Side to Brooklyn, we have acquired a ton of outdoor space. Last year, my husband and I decided to grow a little garden in our front yard. It was crazy plentiful with tons of basil and other fresh herbs, tomatoes, lettuce, green beans, peas, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and of course some pretty flowers as well. But as you can see from this photo, it was also quite a bit of a mess. This could possibly (ok definitely) have a lot to do with the fact that I think we only weeded once the entire growing season, but regardless, this year my husband was bound and determined to create a much more organized and clean structured looking garden. He even created raised beds…raised beds! I have to say, I have been very impressed with all the work he has put into it. He has been working his tail off, while I haven’t even lifted a finger this year. I’m using my pregnancy as an excuse, but frankly, I’m just not that into yard work. I would much rather be doing laundry. Luckily, our neighbors have been very helpful. Our one main problem is the stray cats in the area, which is the reason we fenced off portions of the garden last year. They like to dig up our fresh eats and relieve themselves in our flower beds. Darn cats. So anyway…here is the transformation from last year’s garden, to the new and improved 2013 Brooklyn Garden.

Last year…

This year…

IMG_8248_Layers_v1 — This empty space here is waiting for a nice little outdoor table and chairs set

IMG_8249_Layers_v1 — Fresh spinach growing

Since I took these photos, those darn cats have returned, and they have started to dig into the spinach bed. Therefore, my husband was back out there last night putting up a little fence around the bed, and I’m sure he will have to do the same with the other beds as well. Hopefully that will do the trick as it did last year. I am dreaming about making fresh homemade tomato sauce and fresh pesto sauce this year…mmm…I can’t wait!

Tomorrow, Zack and I are leaving on a jet plane and heading west to Arizona! We are super excited for our 10 day adventure and state tour. I’m pretty sure I won’t really get around to posting or editing anything next week, since I will be too busy exploring, so follow along with my adventures on Instagram!

XO,

Gina