Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus

Being someone that had never tried hummus in her life, I guess I thought my first time trying it should be homemade...and not a recipe that was the "standard" hummus recipe. I feel like it was a smart move though! I watched Guy Fierri make it, but he didn't give any measurements and it wasn't on the website so I kind of went with whatever I thought he did. I'm getting more comfortable with trusting myself in the kitchen with new recipes! Playing around with a recipe for a food I'd never had before? Just go with it :).

One other quick note is that almost all recipe's call for canned chickpeas. Alton Brown said to soak them in the crock pot for 5-6 hours with baking soda an some other stuff to ensure a creamy hummus. I went ahead and got both canned and dried. I used canned for this recipe (pressed for time) and will try soaking dried next time!

What you will need-

*Again, these measurements are mostly my own. I'm not totally sure how much Guy used but guessed based on what things looked like.*

• 1-2 cans chickpeas, drained and dried
• 4 cloves garlic, diced
• 1/2 C minced red onion (not sure if he put this in there, but I think I saw it sitting in this food processor before he added the chickpeas so I threw some in!)
• 1 jalapeno, sliced
• 2 adobo chili's in adobo sauce (Just happened to have a couple cans of these on hand. I think he used two? He may have only used one, I used two)
• 1 1/2 tsp. Paprika
• 1 Roasted bell pepper, sliced*

Directions:

• Using a blender or food processor (I finally have a good food processor YAY!), blend chickpeas, garlic, onion and jalapeno.
• Add in the adobo chili's and paprika and blend
• Add in some olive oil if needed
• Add in the red pepper and blend, adding in olive oil until you reach your desired consistency
• Garnish with olive oil and paprika (I think..)

* You can buy jarred roasted red bell peppers. I've used jarred for my Roasted Red Pepper and Basil Sauce. This time I roasted my own. This is the roasting method I use-

• set your oven to Broil
• Place the red pepper in an 8x8 baking dish 
• Roast for about 10 minutes. Once the side facing up is blackening and bubbly rotate it to the next side. 
• After all sides are roasted, place the pepper in a brown bag to let the pepper "sweat" and cool for handling (about 10 minutes)
• Peel the blackened skin off of the pepper and cut in half to de-seed

Guy Fieri's Cajun Chicken Alfredo

Guy Fieri claims that one of the best things he's ever made...

is this Cajun Chicken Alredo.

And how nice of him to let us in on the fun.

On the Food Network website, they only recommend a certain type of blackening spice, but on the show, it was made with multiple spices. I have no idea of the recommended blackening spice is good, but making it from scratch was BOMB so I'll include the spices used for that.

Get ready, because this is so good it should be illegal.

What you will need:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 C. blackening spice (Recommended: Paul Prudhomme's chicken)*
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• 3 T minced garlic
• 1 C roughly chopped marinated sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/4 C white wine
• 3 C heavy cream
• 3/4 C grated Parmesan
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lb. cooked fettuccine
• 1/2 C sliced green onions

Directions:

• Have the Fettuccine ready to start cooking whenever you feel is best to get it started so it doesn't end up sitting around waiting for everything else to be done.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Heat a cast iron skillet over very high heat (if you see smoke coming off the pan, you might think that's hot enough. Wait until you see actual white spots forming on your pan; "white hot.")
• While the pan is getting hot, make sure the raw chicken is dry, coat the chicken breasts with the blackening spice and place on the hot skillet pan**
• Blacken both sides of the chicken (When you place the chicken on the pan, remember that it's really really hot, so don't be alarmed when it starts smoking. That's the blackening happening!)
• Keeping the chicken in the cast iron pan, place the pan into the oven and cook chicken for about 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked all the way through.
• Slice chicken in strips and set aside (Personal preference is letting it rest until you're ready to use it to slice it up, but that's up to you!)
• In a saute' pan over medium heat, lightly caramelize the garlic in the olive oil
• Deglaze the pan with the white wine
• Add in the heavy cream
• Let the cream simmer and wait for the sauce amount to reduce by about half
• Add in the sun-dried tomatoes (Guy points out not to add in the tomatoes too early so they don't "bleed out," yet in the recipe online it says to put them in before the heavy cream so...up to you!)
• Stir in Parmesan, salt and pepper
• When fettuccine is cooked, place that in the sauce with the chicken slices
• Garnish with green onions and more Parmesan

 *Blackening spice from scratch

• 1 tsp Paprika
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 T garlic powder
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 T salt
• 1 T black pepper
• Cayenne pepper to taste

**If you made your own blackening spice, sprinkle the amount of you want to use for the chicken onto a different dish instead of using the bowl with all of the spice in it so you aren't contaminating all of your spice. Also, don't lean over the pan when you place the chicken on there or you will inhale a nice amount of cayenne pepper. 

Chicago Style Italian Beef Sandwiches and Au jus

I love the Food Network.

I love The Next Food Network Star.

I love Jeff (last seasons winner).

He's the Sandwich King.

Ever since he shared this recipe it has been a favorite!

It does not dissapoint.

Each time I eat this, I am reminded why I'm so happy he won.

Mmmm!

His recipe includes the Sweet Peppers as a topping for the sandwich and his other recipe for the Giardiniera topping (it's always nice to have on hand for all kinds of things) is posted here. They are great together, but as of late have only been doing the giardiniera. 

You will need:

Pot Roast

• 1 boneless beef chuck eye roast 
• 4 soft, hinged or hogie rolls
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 1 T dried Italian seasoning
• 2 tsp. crushed red pepper
• 6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 med. onion, roughly chopped
• 1/2 C dry red wine
• 3 C beef stock
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme

Sweet Peppers

• 4 green bell peppers, seeded and cut into strips
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 tsp. granulated garlic
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Pot Roast

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees
• Lightly sprinkle the entire roast with salt and pepper
• Heat olive oil in Dutch oven or over medium-high heat
• Brown the roast on all sides until golden and caramelized (reduce heat if fat begins to smoke)
• Transfer the roast to a plate and reduce heat to medium
• Add in onions and saute', stirring occasionally until just beginning to brown (about 8-10 mins)
• Add in Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper and saute' until fragrant
• Add garlic and saute' until fragrant
• Deglaze with the red wine and cook until the alcohol smell diminishes
• Add beef stock and thyme and bring to a simmer
• Place roast back into pot and place into the oven
• Cook roast, turning ever 30 minutes (I turned mine about every 40-45 minutes and it's fine!)
• Cook for 3-4 hours
• Transfer the roast to a cutting board and tent with foil.
• Strain the jus through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl and return back to the pot.
• Bring to a simmer and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
• Once cooled a bit, pull the meat into smaller chunks and reserve for the sandwiches.

Sweet Peppers

• Once pot roast is done, turn up heat to 350 degrees
• Toss the pepper strips in the vegetable oil, garlic and salt&pepper on a baking sheet
• Bake, stirring halfway through until lighter in color and soft, about 20 minutes.