Posted on

Mango Habanero Chicken Quiche

This is another one that was inspired by a meal that I had a few weeks ago. Qdoba has added some new items to their menu and and a couple taste good. I thought one in particular would make a great modification to one of our early quiches. And I thought that I’d try to make this as simple to make as possible. So I decided to use all off the shelf products to make this work. So here is a Mango Habanero Chicken Quiche that also has some Mango Candied Bacon included for fun.

Mango Habanero Chicken Quiche with Mango Candied Bacon
Mango Habanero Chicken Quiche with Mango Candied Bacon
All of these ingredients are simply off the shelf products and require a minimum of preparation so that you don’t need to spend a bunch of time working on preparation. Just a little bit of cooking, some mixing and your done. I originally intended to make this into a Tourtiere but changed my mind as this was meant to be simple. And if you want to taste what this tastes like, minus the eggs, try a chicken burrito from Qdoba and add their new seasonal mango salsa. They taste almost the same.

And for a bonus, if you don’t want to use the Mango Candied Bacon in the quiche, you’ve got yourself a real good snack.

Serves 8 – 12 ( one quiche)

Ingredients

Filling

  • 1/4 – 9 oz jar of Major Grey’s Chutney
  • 1/2 lb Chicken Breast
  • 2 tsp Olive Oil
  • 1/2 – 15 oz can Pinto Beans
  • 1/2 – 15 oz can Southwest Corn or Corn with Peppers
  • 1/4 to 1/2 – 10 oz can RO*TEL diced Tomatoes with Habanero (depends on how spicy you want it)
  • 1/4 cup sliced Green Onion
  • 1/2 – 7 oz cup Fage Yogurt (2% has a little better flavor)
  • 1/4 cup Half and Half
  • 4 large Eggs
  • 1/4 cup shredded Italian Blend Cheese (or if you want it fancy Smoked Gouda is good too)
  • 9 in Pie Pan with Pie Crust (I used a pre-made pie crust for the one in the picture)

Mango Candied Bacon

  • 1/2 lb Bacon (use your favorite cut, just not too thick)
  • 1/4 – 9 oz jar of Major Grey’s Chutney
  • 1 – 2 Tbsp Red Chile Flakes
  • 1 tsp Ground Black Pepper

Preparation

Mango Candied Bacon

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Remove the bacon from the package and lay out the bacon on top of a cooking rack placed in a lined cooking sheet so there is no overlap of the bacon strips. Using either a fork of a brush, spread out an even layer of the Chutney over the top of all the bacon. Then evenly sprinkle on the Chile Flakes and Pepper. Put it in the oven and cook for 20 – 30 minutes, or until it’s just starting to turn brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. When cooled remove from the tray and chop into bit sized pieces. A good quarter of these always get eaten before making it into the quiche. But put them away until ready for final assembly.

Quiche Filling

While the Bacon is cooking you can chop up the chicken breast into nugget sized pieces. Pour the Olive Oil into a small cup or bowl, and lightly coat the chicken pieces. Then prepare a cooking sheet by lining it with foil and evenly distribute the chicken pieces on the sheet. If you like, sprinkle lightly with a little salt and pepper. Place in the oven and cook for 20 – 30 minutes, turning over halfway through cooking. The chicken should start to turn lightly brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool until you can handle them easily. Then chop them up a little more into 1/2 inch cubes. Store properly until final assembly.

While all that is cooking, get a mixing bowl and open and drain the Beans, Corn and RO*TEL. Save about 2 Tbsp of the RO*TEL liquid (be careful as this makes it spicier) to mix into the eggs later. Put the Beans and Corn into the bowl and mix completely. Put the RO*TEL in another container if you want to layer this into the quiche. All this does is make the top a little more colorful. Store these properly until ready for final assembly.

And lastly if your using a prepared pie crust cook it according to its instructions.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat the oven to 380 F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the Chicken, Bacon, Beans and Corn and thoroughly mix. Put this mixture into the prepared pie crust. Top with a layer of Cheese, RO*TEL Tomatoes and the sliced Green Onions. Then combine in a mixing bowl the Yogurt, Half and Half, Eggs and the liquid from the RO*TEL that you reserved earlier. Beat this mixture with a whisk until frothy. Pour this over the filing in the pie crust, shake it up a little to make sure the egg mixture fills all of the spaces in the crust. Top with a little salt and pepper to taste, and put it in the oven for about 40 minutes, or until the top is a golden brown. Remove from the oven and either serve or pack it up for the rink.

Posted on

Cajun Blackened Chicken Frittata

After a dinner trip to Popeye’s for some Cajun style dinner the wheels started turning to figure out how to make my dinner into a quiche. The flavors should work so off we went looking for portioning and trying to figure out how to get the right spices into the chicken. And of course we included Red Beans and Rice into this because that is one of the best Cajun sides. All this combines to make this a very tasty Cajun Blackened Chicken Frittata.

Cajun Blackened Chicken frittata
Cajun Blackened Chicken Frittata
This took some research and testing to get the flavors close to the original. And had to come up with a similar seasoning that would taste like the little flavor packs that most people don’t know are available at Popeye’s. Or you could just get a dinner there and ask them to throw in a bunch of extra Cajun Sparkle packets. Personally, I think the Sparkle makes this dish, but it could also be the Red Beans and Rice. Who am I kidding, it’s the Blackened Chicken. We made this frittata style, but you could also use a buttermilk biscuit style crust to make this a quiche. If we ever get that perfected, we’ll add this to the recipes.

Ingredients

Cajun Sparkle

  • 1 Tbsp Salt
  • 1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper
  • 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Onion Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Sage (ground)
  • 1/2 tsp Paprika
  • 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
  • 1/4 tsp Accent Flavor Enhancer (Optional)

Filling

  • 1/2 lb Chicken Breast
  • 3/4 Cup Buttermilk
  • 3 Tbsp Tabasco Sauce
  • 4 Tbsp Zatarains Blackened Seasoning
  • 8 oz canned Red Beans (about half a can)
  • 1/4 Cup finely chopped Andouille Sausage
  • 1/2 Cup Cooked Rice
  • 1 tsp Butter
  • 1/4 chopped Onion
  • /4 Cup finely shredded Mozzarella Cheese

The Rest

  • 1 – 9 inch Pie Pan
  • 1 Tbsp Butter
  • 1/4 Cup chopped Green Onion or Chives
  • 1 – 2 Tbsp Cajun Sparkle (to taste, how strong to you want your Cajun flavor)
  • 1/4 Cup shredded Smoked Gouda
  • 4 large Eggs
  • 3 oz. Greek Yogurt
  • 1/4 Cup Half and Half

Preparation

You can make the Cajun Sparkle anytime before making this dish and store it for later use. The portioning makes a little more than 2 Tbsp of the seasoning, which is the amount you’ll need, so you can combine all of the Cajun Sparkle ingredients above and put this into a spice container for storage. Also, if you don’t like MSG you should leave out the Accent, as it’s mostly MSG.

To prepare the chicken you’ll need to start at least 24 hours before you’ll need the chicken to be cooked as this needs to marinate for 24 hours. Prepare the marinate by mixing the Buttermilk and Tabasco Sauce in a bowl. Chop up the chicken into 1/2 inch cubes and place in the marinate. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Prepare a cooking sheet by lining with foil and then either using a light cooking spray or oil coating to keep the chicken from sticking to the foil. Then heat a skillet over high heat. When the skillet shimmers, take the marinated chicken chunks out of the marinate and roll in the Blackening Seasoning. Knock off the excess so that each chunk is evenly coated.  Immediately place the chunks into the skillet for about 2 minutes turning the chunks about every 30 seconds. When they have a little char around the edges, transfer to the cooking sheet and place in the oven for another 5 – 7 minutes. Remove when done and set aside until ready for final assembly.

To prepare the Red Beans and Rice, you’ll need to mix the half can of Red Beans with the Andouille and Onion and cook for about 10 – 15 minutes over medium high heat to reduce the liquids and mix the flavors together. You can even add a pinch or two of the Cajun Sparkle while this is cooking. When thick like a gravy, reduce heat and allow to cool. Properly store until ready for final assembly.

The only thing remaining is to prepare the rice. Simply prepare it by the instructions on the box and add in 1 tsp butter when it’s done and thoroughly mix in. Store this separately until ready for final assembly.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Coat the pan with the butter. Layer in the rice just so that it makes an even layer in the bottom of the pan. Then in a mixing bowl mix together the Green Onion, Mozzarella and the Blackened Chicken chunks. After you get them thoroughly mixed, then place them on top of the rice in the pan. In a mixing bowl combine the Eggs, Yogurt, Half and Half and Sparkly and whisk together for about 3 -4 minutes to thoroughly mix. Then gently add the Red Beans to the egg mixture mix thoroughly. Pour this mixture over the chicken and rice in the pie pan and top with the shredded Gouda cheese. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until the cheese is a golden brown. Remove from the oven as it’s ready to serve or pack it up for the rink.

Posted on

Georgian Style Sausage Quiche

After coming back from Georgia, the country not the state, I’ve missed some of the great food that I had while there. I made this recipe trying to capture the great flavors of the Georgian food that I had and make it into a quiche form. The fellas seemed to like it, but that could be just because it was different.

Georgian Style Sausage Quiche
Georgian Style Sausage Quiche

To make this Georgian Style Sausage (Abkhazura or Kupati) Quiche you’ll need some unconventional ingredients for a quiche. Specifically, Savory, Coriander, Walnuts and Pomegranate seeds. Georgian like different seasonings that are from the various cultures that are all around them, along with their own unique favorite to add to almost everything, walnuts. I also used a Cheesy Potato Crust for this one just to mix things up a little more. Most won’t have access to the flavorful Georgian Cheeses used in this so I’ve provided slightly weaker alternatives.

Serves 8 – 12 (one quiche)

Ingredients

Crust

  • 1/2 Cup Simply Potatoes Southwestern Hash Browns
  • 1 – 9 in. Pie Pan
  • 1/2 Cup Shredded Imeretian Cheese or Mozzarella (or any tasty Italian Blend)

Sausage

  • 1 lb. ground Pork or Pork Sausage
  • 1/2 finely chopped Onion
  • 2 finely chopped Garlic Cloves
  • 1/2 Tbsp Savory Spice
  • 1 Tbsp Coriander Seed
  • 1 Tbsp Chili Flakes (Ground Fenugreek Seeds if you want to be authentic)
  • 2 Tbsp Pomegranate Juice
  • 1 Tbsp Ground Pepper
  • 1/2 Tbsp Sea Salt

The Rest

  • 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1/4 Cup Chopped Pepper
  • 1/2 Cup Chopped Walnuts
  • 1/4 Cup Pomegranate Seeds
  • 1/4 Cup Shredded Sulguni Cheese or Smoked Gouda as a close substitute
  • 4 large Eggs
  • 1 Tsp Ground Pepper
  • 1 Tsp Sea Salt
  • 3 oz. Greek Yogurt
  • 1/4 Cup Half and Half

Preparation

I like to use fresh Pomegranate Seeds and Juice. To make this, take one whole pomegranate, cut it in horizontally in the middle. Then take each half and pull out the sides gently to loosen up the insides. Then hold the pomegranate half over a bowl and smack it sharply with a wooden spoon on the outside of the fruit. The seeds should easily drop out into the bowl. Pick out any of the white supporting tissue and discard. This will yield about 1/2 Cup of pomegranate seeds. Take half of the seeds and refrigerate them until ready for final assembly. Put the other half in a blender or food processor and turn into a juice. You can strain it if you want to really make it a juice, but I just let it set for a bit to settle out the sediment and carefully pour the juice out for the sausage. This whole process takes about 10 minutes to do.

First lets mix the sausage ingredients together. In a large mixing bowl combine all of the sausage ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Then lets get the crust done and out of the way. Preheat the oven to 400 F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the hash browns and Imeretian or Mozzarella and mix thoroughly. Lightly coat the pie pan with olive oil. Then place the cheese and potatoe mixture into the pie pan and press up the sides of the pan and onto the base to form a crust in the pan. Pop this into the oven for 18 – 20 minutes or until the cheese and potatoes are starting to brown. Remove and allow to cool until ready for final assembly. Refrigerate if assembly is tomorrow.

In a large frying pan or pot, over medium high heat, add some olive oil. When the oil starts smoking, add in the sausage mixture chopping it into large chunks and cook until browned on all sides. Remove from heat and drain the fat off and allow the sausage to cool on a paper towel to further remove the grease. Once cooled pack it away and refrigerate until ready for final assembly.

Chop up the pepper into 1/2 inch chunks and refrigerate until ready for final assembly.

And last but not least, using a food processor or mortar and pestle, finely grind up the Walnuts and refrigerate these as well. This will make about 1/4 cup when done.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat the oven to 380 F. In a mixing bowl combine the sausage, chopped peppers and about 2/3 of the Walnuts and Pomegranate Seeds each. Mix thoroughly and place into the pie crust. In another mixing bowl, combine the Eggs, Yogurt, Salt, Pepper and Half and Half and beat until uniform and starting to froth, about 3 minutes. Pour this mixture into the pie pans to cover the sausage mixture completely. Top with the shredded Sulguni or Smoked Gouda Cheese. Then sprinkle the remaining crushed Walnuts on top. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until the cheese is a golden brown. Top with the remaining Pomegranate Seeds and it’s ready to serve or pack it up for the rink.

Posted on

Goalie Skating Techniques

There are primarily two types of goalie skating techniques that every goalie needs to perfect. These allow the goalie to move around on the ice efficiently and quickly while maintaining the best control possible. Without mastering these two techniques and their subtleties a goalies ability get into position will be severely limited.

The C-Cut

This is used for forward or backward motion in a straight line over a short distance. This technique uses one leg for power and the other for steering, and both for stopping. This technique usually only needs one stride to reach your final position. But if one stride doesn’t get you there simple switch the power and steering sides as needed to get where you need to be. 

To do this stride, this example is going to use the left leg for power and the right leg for steering. Visualizing this completed move the left foot would have cut a large C into the ice. Starting with the feet together, the left toe is pointed out and the left leg pushed hard to the back and outside. The left inside skate edge is used to push against on the ice. As long as the right leg is pointed in the direction of travel and the right inside edge holds against the ice, this will propel the goalie forward on the ice. As the left leg reaches full extension to the left side the left foot is turned back in so the feet are coming back together. By this time the goalie should be nearing where he wants to go so once there, both feet are turned toward center to essentially make a snow plow style stop. If done right, the goalie will be in the ready position and facing the shot.

This method works both forward and backward. The backward direction starts with the heel turning out instead of the toe. This is great for moving backwards toward the net while maintaining eye contact with the play and keeping the upper body in a ready position.

It is critical that goalies practice this both forward and backwards and that their form is consistent and quick.

This can also start out with the following technique but needs to have a pivot added to it as soon as the first push is made to turn in the direction of travel. If necessary to go further than a single stride, the goalie should transition to C-Cut for another stride. But anything further than this the goalie should use regular skating strides to get there quickly. The only time this would be useful is when the goalie is coming out to play the puck, getting into the initial position for a penalty shot or shoot out.

The T-Push

There are two version of this, one that is generally used for large side to side movements which I usually refer to as “explosively” and is the high power version of this technique and is used for large side to side movements or starting out a long movement that transitions to a forward or backward movement using a pivot. The other version is for shorter side to side movement and is sometimes referred to as a shuffle.  This movement requires strong ankle control so that the leading skate slides sideways across the ice until the goalie needs to stop. Then using ankle control the goalie tips the inside edge into the ice to stop the slide.

The goalie transfers his weight to the trailing foot and angles the edge on this foot so most of the weight is on the inside edge of the trailing skate. Then pushing straight to the side by extending the leg out, keeping the trailing skate edge tightly biting into the ice.  The other leg, leading leg, is kept flexed, with the knee bent, and positioned so the leading ankle can control the edge of the leading skate. This edge should be flat so it slides easily sideways. Keeping the skate blade as vertical as possible allows the leading foot to slide easily across the ice. If the goalie has to move to far from a good ready stance to get this angle of his skate, he should simply learn to shift more weight to the trailing foot to make this move successful. 

Once the trailing leg is fully extended, it should be pulled back to just outside of shoulder width for another push. Repeating as necsessary until the goalie is in position and transition into a ready stance. 

Working on these two methods until you perfect them allows for quick controlled movement on the ice without getting to far from a good ready stance. These have to be practiced because they aren’t “normal” skating strides. Once mastered you’ll be able to move around easily and always be ready to make a save. 

Posted on

Chipotle Beef Quiche

Sorry that we’ve been away for the last couple of weeks, there hasn’t been any ice available for us due to a big USA Hockey Camp, so no need to cook. And to make matters worse, we were going to post a recipe for Georgian Khinkali but every batch we make fails in some way. So we made this Chipotle Beef Quiche, because we knew it would be successful.

Chipotle Beef with Corn Salsa
Chipotle Beef with Corn Salsa
This one was inspired by a recent lunch at Chili’s. I’m guessing that Chili’s made their own version of a Chipotle’s burrito in bowl form, but who knows. They call theirs “Chipotle Fresh Mex Bowl” and this is just different enough that it got my interest. And it tasted good enough to try making it a quiche that tastes similar. The ingredients in this are pretty standard, except for the Chipotle Pesto Sauce that is drizzled all over it. It’s quite tasty and as usual, this disappeared quickly after the skate.

And on a side note, going foward the ingredients portions will be sized for one quiche, since most people will only cook a single pie at a time.

Serves 8 – 12 (1 Quiche)

Ingredients

  • 1 8 – 10 oz. portion of Flank Steak (or other cut to your preference)
  • 1/2 14.5 oz. can of Roasted Sweet Corn
  • 1/2 14.5 oz. can of Black Beans
  • 1/4 Red Onion (finely chopped)
  • 1 Jalapeño (seeds removed and finely chopped)
  • 1/4 cup cooked Rice
  • 1/4 cup Cilantro (finely chopped)
  • 1 Lime (halved)

Chipotle Pesto

  • 2 Chipotle Peppers in Adobo (remove seeds for less heat)
  • 3 Tbsp Hummus or Ground Chickpeas (use Pine Nuts for a traditional flavor)
  • 1/4 cup fresh Cilantro (chopped)
  • 2 cloves Garlic (grated)
  • 1/4 cup Queso Fresco (crumbled)
  • 2 – 3 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1 tsp Salt 
  • 1 tsp Ground Pepper

Quiche Filling

  • 4 large Eggs
  • 4 oz. Greek Yougert
  • 4 oz. Half and Half
  • 1/4 cup shredded Habanero Jack Cheese
  • 1/4 cup Tostada Strips

Preparation

Prepare and grill the flank steak in the manner that you find best. But my favorite is to simply sprinkle some salt and pepper or Monterrey Seasoning on each side and grill till medium on an open flame. Then let it rest while you prepare the other portions. 

The Chipotle Pesto is made by in a food processor or blender, by first blending together the grated garlic and olive oil. Allow that to sit for about five minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients. Then pulse the machine while adding in the rest of the ingredients. When everything is in, run the machine for at least another 20 seconds. Remove and store in a glass container until final assembly. This will probably make about 1/2 cup of the Pesto and I recommend only using about 4 oz. in the quiche filling so you’ll have some to snack on. It’s great as a dip or even spread on bread.

The corn and bean salsa is made by combining the beans, corn, onion, jalapeño and half of the chopped cilantro in a mixing bowl. The beans and corn should be drained before mixing. After everything is fully mixed  squeeze in half of the lime and mix a little more. Store this in another glass container until final assembly.

Prepare the rice according to the package, and allow to cool until lukewarm. Then mix in the remaining chopped cilantro and squeeze the other half of the lime over the rice. Mix completely and refrigerate in a glass container until ready for final assembly. 

By now the meat has rested enough, so chop it into small squares, no larger than 1/2 inch. Refrigerate separately until ready for final assembly. 

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat the oven to 380 F. Combine the chopped steak, corn and bean salsa and seasoned rice into the pie crusts and make sure they are thoroughly mixed. Prepare the egg filling by whisking together the eggs, yogurt, Half and Half and the Chipolte Pesto. I recommend about 4 oz. of the pesto, but a little more doesn’t hurt. Beat until fluffy, adding some salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the other fillings in the pie crust and top with a layer of shredded cheese. Then add the tostada strips on top. Place in the oven and cook for 35 – 40 minutes, or until the cheese just starts to brown a bit. Remove and either serve or pack it up for the rink.