Aarti Sequeira's Hot Dogs a la Rose

So Tina has gathered all the ingredients for Rachael Ray’s tortilla soup recipe and is planning on making it today. Looking forward to that. We’ll definitely let you know how that turns out. Meanwhile, check out this cool recipe for Hot Dogs a la Rose from Food Network star Aarti Sequeira, star of “Aarti Party,” which showcases Indian fusion food. This looked amazing on the flat screen and promises to be a flavor fest in real life.

Anyway, Tina was looking for a creative way to use some of the Nathan’s Beef Franks we have left from the heavily discounted three-pack we bought on sale at Costco. If you’re looking for something tasty that’s a little out of the ordinary, try this. We certainly will. Pair this with a six-pack of Corona Light, one of our favorite choices.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
• 1 handful shredded carrots, optional
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
• 1 large tomato, diced
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 (12 oz.) package hot dogs, sliced about 1/16-inch thick (recommended: Hebrew National or Nathan's)
• 1/4 cup water, if necessary
• Handful cilantro leaves, minced

Directions

Heat the canola oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, until shimmering.

Add the onions, garlic, ginger and carrots, if using, and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Saute until onions are softened and slightly brown around the edges (takes about 5 minutes).

Add the turmeric, garam masala and paprika, quickly stirring for about 20 seconds to keep the spices from burning.

Stir in the tomatoes and ketchup, and taste for seasoning; add more salt and pepper, if needed.

Add hot dog rounds, stirring to cover them with the tomato mixture. Add 1/4 cup water if the mixture is too dry. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat 15 minutes.

Taste and season accordingly. Remove from heat, stir in cilantro and transfer the mixture to a serving bowl. Serve and enjoy.

Top image courtesy of meggoesnomnom.com. Left image courtesy of Food Network, and bottom image comes from hulahangout.com.

Rachael Ray’s Santa Fe-Tastic Tortilla Soup

Summertime is soup time. Just because the weather is warm doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a healthy bowl of delicious broth, vegetables and tender chicken breast meat, all perfectly seasoned. Tina’s Recipe of the Week is a light Southwestern dish – by all accounts perfect for cool and arid weather alike – that Food Network star Rachael Ray calls her Why the Chicken Crossed the Road Santa Fe-tastic Tortilla Soup. It’s an easy dish that takes about 25 minutes and serves four.

Tina recommends using Kirkland chicken tenders (but of course). Pair it with a Blue Moon Belgium White Ale and slice of orange for maximum effect.

We’ll be enjoying some time off over the next few weeks, so we’ll most likely be posting more frequently for our adoring public – and making more Costco trips, for sure. Check back often!

Ingredients

• Vegetable or corn oil, for drizzling, plus 2 tablespoons - 2 turns of the pot in a slow stream
• 3 ears corn on the cob or 2 ears fresh-frozen cobs, defrosted
• 1 red bell pepper, split and seeded
• 1 pound chicken breast tenders
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, 1/3 palm full
• 1 teaspoon cumin, 1/3 palm full
• Salt and pepper
• 1 small to medium zucchini, small dice
• 1 medium yellow skinned onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 to 2 chipotle in adobo peppers (medium to hot heat level), chopped -- available in small cans in Mexican and Spanish food section of market
• 1 can stewed tomatoes, 28 ounces
• 1 can tomato sauce, 8 ounces
• 3 cups chicken stock, available in re-sealable paper containers on soup aisle
• 4 cups blue corn tortilla chips, broken up into large pieces
• 1 cup shredded cheddar or pepper Jack cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Optional garnishes

• 1/4 red raw onion, chopped
• 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro or parsley leaves
• 1 ripe avocado, diced and dressed with the juice of 1/2 lemon

Directions

Heat a grill pan to high and a soup pot to medium high. Drizzle oil on corn and place on grill. Add red pepper to grill with corn. Char vegetables 10 minutes total, turning occasionally. Remove to cool, 5 minutes. Remove charred skin from the pepper.

While vegetables are cooking, dice the chicken. Add 2 tablespoons oil to hot soup pot, then add chicken to pot. Season with poultry seasoning, cumin, salt and pepper.

Lightly brown chicken on each side. Add zucchini, onions and garlic and chipotle peppers.
Cook vegetables with chicken 5 to 7 minutes to soften. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and stock.
Bring soup to a bubble, reduce heat to medium low.

Scrape corn off cob and add to soup. Chop grilled red pepper and stir into soup. Add chips to soup in handfuls and fold in.

Serve soup immediately with scatters of shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream. Top with any or all of the suggested garnishes.

Top photo courtesy of Food Network. Left photo courtesy of FHM Magazine, and the bottom image comes from Blue Moon Belgium White Ale.

Rachael Ray's Barbecued Chinese Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Today we celebrate Carmageddon – the most ridiculously overhyped L.A. hysteria since the nonexistent 1984 Olympics Terminal Gridlock From Hell – with Tina’s incredible Recipe of the Week, courtesy of celebrity chef and Food Network superstar Rachael Ray. Tina, by the way, recommends using Costco Kirkland chicken breasts for this. They're exceptionally large and meaty and grill very nicely.

This light Pacific Rim masterpiece is very SoCal; enjoy with a chilled Samuel Adams Summer Ale or three, and at least a half hour of breathless local TV news coverage of relatively empty fast lanes.

Ingredients

• 2 cups, 4 handfuls, fresh shiitake mushrooms
• 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 lbs. thin-cut chicken breast or chicken tenders
• 2 tablespoons light colored oil, such as vegetable oil or peanut oil
• Coarse salt and coarse black pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 inch ginger root, finely chopped or grated (optional)
• 1 orange, zested
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced small
• 1 small tin, 6 to 8 ounces, sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped
• 3 scallions, chopped
• 3 tablespoons hoisin, Chinese barbecue sauce, available on Asian foods aisle of market
• 1/2 large head iceberg lettuce, core removed, head quartered
• Wedges of navel orange -- platter garnish

Directions

Remove tough stems from mushrooms and brush with damp towel to clean, Slice mushrooms. Chop chicken into small pieces.

Preheat a large skillet or wok to high.

Add oil to hot pan. Add chicken to the pan and sear meat by stir frying a minute or 2.

Add mushrooms and cook another minute or two.

Add salt and pepper to season, then garlic and ginger. Cook a minute more.

Grate zest into pan, add bell pepper bits, chopped water chestnuts and scallions. Cook another minute, continuing to stir fry mixture.

Add hoisin Chinese barbecue sauce and toss to coat the mixture evenly.

Transfer the hot chopped barbecued chicken to serving platter and pile the quartered wedges of crisp iceberg lettuce along side.

Add wedged oranges to platter to garnish. To eat, pile spoonfuls into lettuce leaves, wrapping lettuce around fillings and squeeze a juicy orange wedge all over it.

Top photos courtesy of Rachael Ray and Food Network. Lower image courtesy of Samuel Adams Beer.

Cooking With Costco: Chicken Salad with Watermelon and Peaches

Tina's recipe of the week comes from the latest issue of Costco Connection -- a summer classic that offers a sweet and simple twist on the classic chicken salad. We're taking our's to the beach along with a couple bottles of Elena Chardonnay from the Russian River Valley. Got the second bottle for 5 cents at BevMo!, voted L.A. Times Readers Choice Award for Best Liquor Store. No surprise there.


3 cups chopped cooked chicken (We used Costco’s rotisserie chicken)
1 cup plain yogurt
½ cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon dried dill or 1 tablespoon fresh dill
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
2 peaches seeded and chopped
2 cups chopped and seeded watermelon
Greens or mini-baguettes

Mix together chicken, yogurt, mayonnaise, dill and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving, gently mix in chopped peaches and watermelon. Serve over greens or inside spilt mini-baguettes. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Photo courtesy of Costco Connection

Dining Out at Costco: Sauza Hornitos & Hoffy Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs

Welcome to the Fourth of July edition, inspired by our Costco visit last Thursday, mainly to pick up our Vizio High Definition Sound Bar – a tremendous value at $89.99, 10 bucks less than MSRP, and super easy to install. We went next door to pick up “Rocky Horror” on Blu-Ray at Best Buy (we had a 10% off coupon), a perfect movie to test our new home-theater set-up – and the Vizio blew us away. Great surround-sound performance in a small package. We’ve seen “Rocky Horror” countless times and it was like seeing (and hearing) it for the first time.

Enough about that. We picked up more Stolichnaya at Costco, along with a big bottle of Pom and, following a delicious free bbq sandwich sample of Kirkland Roast Beef and KC Masterpiece sauce, a four-pack of the canned roast beef ($10.99). A 1.75-liter bottle of Sauza Hornitos tequila was only $32 with a $8-off coupon (very tempting, but we’ll pick that up next time).

We also scored a bottle of Focus Factor vitamins, a result of an earlier free sample. And although we didn’t buy the aforementioned Hoffy Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs, it did inspire us to get a three-pack of Nathan’s All-Beef Franks (six dollars and change, on sale, which is stupid cheap) and we grilled them wrapped in Butterball turkey bacon the next day at our favorite park, coupled with Kirkland turkey burgers and washed down, of course, with Stoli lemonade. What a delicious way to salute the birth of our country three days early. We beat the crowds and practically had the park to ourselves.

Anyhow, the Costco sample lineup was a tribute to the Fourth, and packed with gluten-free stuff, two clear themes for this day. Here’s the lineup below. Happy Independence Day to all!

 Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing with salad
 Mama Bella Garlic Toast
 Mandarin Orange Chicken
 Dino Buddies Chicken Nuggets
 Boca Burger (vegan) with A1 Steak Sauce
 Santa Barbara mango peach salsa and chips
 Don Miguel chicken empanada
 Roast beef with A1 Steak Sauce
 Kirkland turkey burger
 Grilled Kirkland American cheese on Rudi’s gluten-free bread
 Kirkland Diet Green Tea

Images courtesy of Square H Brands and Sauza Tequila