Not Your Mother's Weeknight Cooking: Review

This is my third cookbook review despite my cookbook collection pushing the 50 item mark. I have to talk about this book because it gets used often for dinner. I have made several recipes and all the dishes have been winners and repeat worthy. Unfortunately because it’s a dinner cookbook not too many photos get posted because they end up looking like crap. And it’s hard to convince someone that something is good when the picture looks less than appetizing.

Gotta love my Lowel ego light! I have to say that this dinner picture turned out pretty well — the steam even got captured.

The recipes for this book are fairly straight forward. We love the Mustard-Soy Glazed Salmon with Brown Sugar and Ginger it’s a household favourite and I’ve even made it for his family as a somewhat fancy dish. There are many recipes in this book, but there aren’t many pictures. A problem if you like to know how your food should turn out. I haven’t minded the lack of pictures because everything I’ve made has turned out.

Also, even though it’s geared for weeknight cooking, this is not a 30 minute meal book, some recipes do take about an hour or a little longer.

This recipe is the Mexican Chicken with Beer Glaze and Sweet Potato Fries. I didn’t even make this dish, the husband did. He’s a cookbook-phobe but did just fine. One warning though: R has never de-seeded a jalapeno. So he just used his fingers to rip those suckers out. Then his fingers burned until the morning. So don’t do that. Here’s a helpful youtube video I found and the Pioneer Woman shows you how to de-seed with a spoon here. Just make sure you’re very careful about not touching your face or rubbing your eyes when you’re cutting them. And wash your hands thoroughly. I worry one day I’ll be cutting a jalapeno, rub my eyes, and try to start pouring milk on my eyeballs for some relief.

This book never would have been on my radar if I didn’t pass by it at Costco to look for my “Valentine’s Day present” (this year I told the husband to skip the flowers and get me a cookbook instead, totally worth it!). It’s definitely worth checking out.

Mexican Chicken with Beer Glaze and Sweet Potato Fries From Not Your Mother’s Weeknight Cooking by Beth Hensperger

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into 1 inch strips
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 clove of garlic crushed
1/2 to 1 whole jalapeno de-seeded and minced (we used 1/3 because we’re wimps and thought the dish would be too hot when we tried a tiny bit raw. But you can use the 1/2 and it’ll give it a little kick. Use the whole for extra spicy and don’t de-seed if you want it fiery.)
1/2 to 3/4 cup light-coloured beer (we used a dark beer because that’s what we had in the fridge)

Spice rub:
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried crushed thyme
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne, chili powder, or ground chipotle chile
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Sweet potato fries:
1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges or strips
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
salt

Directions:
1. Combine spice mixture and rub on chicken. Let it rest for 10-20 minutes at room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 450F with the baking sheet lined with foil in the oven. This is a tip I learned somewhere online so you get nice and crispy fries without flipping. Toss the potatoes with olive oil, sprinkle salt liberally on it and when the oven is done preheating, throw the fries on there and bake for about 15-20 mins.
3. While the fries are cooking, heat the oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add half the chicken and saute until golden. No need to cook the chicken completely through as it gets cooked again in the glaze. When the chicken is golden, remove to a plate and do the other half.
4. When the other half is golden, return the other chicken that’s on the plate in the pan. Add the garlic, jalapeno and beer. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes and every 5 minutes make sure the chicken gets turned in the broth so all sides are coated. It’ll be all nice and glazed.
5. Serve hot with fries.

More recipes can be found on the website here