Ode to Rotisserie Chicken

How I love

my fast food chicken

meat so tender

just for pickin'

from my fingers

I'd be lickin'

juice from my

rotisserie chicken

All right so a great poet I'm not but I need to write about my favorite fast food.  Relatively healthful, pretty cheap (Costco, ~3 pounds for $4.99 just blocks from my house and better yet, on the way home!), tender, juicy and tasty.  Does anyone disagree this is the best fast food deal out there?

Again tonight the youngling was deep into his baking for tomorrow's bake sale to benefit the people of Haiti being hed at my office.  Tonight another 6 dozen chocolate chip cookies using the recipe for THE BEST chocolate chip cookes ever from my friend Alice from Savory Sweet Life.  I've written about Alice before, a great cook, terrific photographer and a beautiful lady inside and out.  Check out her recipe here and if you're not following this award winning blog yet then it's time you start.

Knowing Henry would be at it for some time and needing to run out for more eggs in order to complete the double chocolate brownie which are also headed to the office tomorrow for the same sale, I thought dinner could be easy, hot, and mighty tasty with a quick stop by Costco.  A surgical entry and exit and I made my way to the auto with a plastic box from which was emanating a most yummy aroma.

There is just so much that can be done with this convenient bit of deliciousness.  Tonight we made chicken sandwiches to eat in between rolling dough balls for the cookies.  At other times I've been known to pull the meat from the bird and use it for a quick batch of Enchiladas Suizas, chicken curry, wrap it a tortilla with some Tapatio & Pico Pica with sauteed onions and peppers, weeknight chicken soup or even that down home country comfort classic, chicken and dumplings...mmm, etc, etc, etc...

Anyway, I just thought I'd try and wax a bit poetic about one of the things that helps us stay on budget when we need something good tasting, good for us and good for the wallet.  We can't eat at MacDonalds or Taco Bell for that kinda money and this is WAY better for all concerned...

Hasta

Tuesday 2nd February 2010

Here is is a Tuesday evening, had a hankering for some south of the border flavors so decided I better dig in and make myself some.

Henry and I tried a new place (for us anyway) the other night, La Casa Azul in Shoreline and it was quite delicious.  Henry's carne asada with home made tortillas was top shelf, world class, etc on the adjectives.  My enchiladas de pollo con salsa verde was also quite good.  A bit tart for the make it to my top few on the salsa verde scale but the chicken was scrumptious, the home made tortillas tender and don't get me wrong the sauce was delicious but I like mine just a bit less tart and a bit more creamy with onions.  But what I took away was my absolute love of a good margarita (funny how you forget these things) and any place that makes their cadillac 'ritas with Hornitos is OK in my book. 

Yes, the caddy 'ritas were spendy ($8.95 and I had 2) but last week was a week of dining out as I was on some whacky off shift work (one night until 0130, I'm too old for that sh*t) and worked the first 60 hour week in recent memory (that used to be my regular, I guess I'm feeling my near 50 anos eh?) so I really didn't have much food in the house and Friday night was late and I needed something different and tasty so we tried La Cas Azul.  It is a lovely little piece of Oaxaca in the north end of the Seattle area....give it a try, it'll make you happy.

So I took a bit of a ghetto approach to some guacamole tonight, some Trader Joe's Avocado's Number Guacamole, Trader Joe's Organic Tomatillo and Roasted Yellow Chili Salsa (Henry's favorite), a dash of Tabasco Chipotle and POOF! guacamole on a weeknight that takes about 2 minutes.  A perfect margarita and once again POOF! here we find ourselves in Mexico without customs and long flights. Crank up the heat, put on your flip flops and here we are with the season premier of Lost (tropical theme, don'tcha get it?).

Anyway, here's my little slice of Tuesday paradise; the perfect margarita and some guacamole with chips..ahhhh.

Weeknight Guacamole

• 1/2 package (8oz) Trader Joe's Avocado's Number Guacamole
• 1/4 Cup Trader Joe's Organic Tomatillo and Roasted Yellow Chili Salsa
• 1 teaspoon Tabasco Chipotle

1. Stir together and set aside while making the 'ritas

The Perfect Margarita

• 4oz Fresh squeezed lime juice
• 4oz Sauza Hornitos tequila
• 2oz Cointreau

1. Blend the above together and set aside
2. Rim a pint glass with lime juice and kosher salt
3. Fill the glass with ice
4. *Note - Taste the mix, this is the time to sweeten if necessary.  Tonight my lime juice was a bit bitter, I like the tanginess of the straight lime juice but I needed to cut the bitter so I added 1/4 teaspoon honey but agave syrup would work as well
5. Pour the mix over the ice and top with a wedge of lime

Serve the guacamole with Trader Joe's Longboard tortilla chips and kick back for the summary of the first 5 seasons of Lost.  A fine way to spend a Tuesday evening...this is what you end up with -

Hasta