Iron Chef Extension

Congratulations to everyone who submitted a recipe for the first Iron Chef Challenge. Iron Chef Camille, Iron Chef Lena, and Iron Chef Kevin all deserve a round of applause for their fantastic cuisine creations.

Today was the last day to get in your recipes for Battle Potato. However, I am going to be the first to break my own rule and turn my recipe in late. Haha. It's good to be a moderator! Granted, I've already started my recipe but it's a 24 hour project and won't be completed until tomorrow. So, for those Iron Chefs who still want to submit for Battle Potato, you can have until the end of the weekend to submit your recipe and I'm going to shift the timing for future challenges so that they can end on a weekend instead of weeknight for those chef's whose weekday schedules are a little tight. (Not that I have any excuse right now!)

Potatoe & onion soup

As soon as Cindy mentioned her Iron Chef challenge, I had two thoughts - she has waaaay too much free time ;) and secondly, the much happier one - I can do that and I know exactly what I'm cooking!

Since I'm lucky enough to go through the Swedish school system when home-economics actually included the textbook including lots of quick and easy recipes for two, this recipe is from my home-economics book. About 30 minutes from beginning to end.

Potatoe & Onion Soup

Ingredients
1/2 leek or 1 yellow onion
1/2 tbs margarine or butter
3 medium size potatoes
2 cups of water
1 bullion cube (I use Knorr's vegetarian bullion cube).
salt (optional)
pepper (optional)
2 tbs cut parsley or leek for decoration (optional)

• Peel and rinse the potatoes; clean and rinse the leek. Cut into thin slices.
• Melt the margarine in a pot (about 3 quarts size).
• Fry the onion in the melted margarine (just for a little bit so that the onion is soft).
• Add potatoes, water, bullion cube, stir and bring to a boil.
• Turn down the heat and allow the soup to simmer for about 15 minutes under lid.
• When the soup is done, add salt and pepper to taste, whisk the soup to break up the potatoes.
• Decorate with either parsley or leek (optional).

This has been a staple recipe for me ever since I moved out of the college dorms, so by now I just eyeball this ... if I have too much potatoes, I just add more water. I always use yellow onion, I'd like it better that way.

Tonight I just used half a yellow onion and four potatoes and it turned out great. I always skip the salt, but always add a little pepper to spice it up. I'm pretty sure it would be OK to substitute the water and the bullion cube with two cups of chicken broth, but I have never tried that. Added bonus, leftovers taste great for lunch the next day.

Easy Chicken Dinner

Tonight I meet your challenge, Cindy! I have used to potatoes in tonight's dinner. I'll admit, it's not a new recipe but it's one of my favorites. The bonus is it's easy, super healthy, and makes the house smell oh so good.

I volunteered for a KCTS fund drive a few years ago with my Mom and Dad, and they had a huge pile of cookbooks on clearance sale! I picked up a few, including "Healthy Cooking For Two" and there are some amazing recipes in there, enough for just 2 people should you have limited food or are single and don't want leftovers for 4 nights. The following is probably one of my top 3 picks from the entire book simply because it's so easy and tastes so good. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Chicken Dinner in a Pocket

Ingredients:

aluminum foil
2 boneless chicken breasts halves, skinned
1 medium potato, sliced (approx. 6oz)
4 slices onion (which I left out)
2 small carrots, sliced
1/8 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/8 teaspoon salt
dash black pepper
dash Louisiana Hot Sauce (which I leave out)

Using 2 layers, make 2 stacks of aluminum foil large enough to wrap ingredients and fold over. Place 1 breast on each stack of foil; divide potato, onion, carrots, dill, salt, pepper, and hot sauce evenly between the 2 stacks (I eyeball the seasonings). Bring sides of 1 sheet of foil up around the chicken and vegetables folding over to seal. Then bring sheet of foil up in opposite direction, folding over to seal. Repeat for second dinner. When ready to cook, preheat grill*. Reduce flame to medium-high; place on hot grill about 6 inches from coals, grill for about 25 minutes, turn and continue to cook about 20 minutes or until chicken and vegetables are tender.

*Can be baked in a 400-degree oven for 45-50 minutes.

Yield: 2 servings

1 serving contains:

Cal: 238kc Prot: 29g Fat: 3g Carb: 22g Fiber: 4g Chol: 73mg Sodium: 239mg

Kama Sutra Iron Chefs

The Cooking Kama Sutras are taking it up a notch. To spice up our website a bit and bring a little more excitement and inspiration into our kitchens, I've decided to start a little Iron Chef Challenge. Once a week -- or when we have time or when we feel like it -- we will post a new secret ingredient. The challenge will be, much like the Iron Chef show to try to come up with the best recipe you can which really features the best qualities of that ingredient. It can be something that you invent from scratch, something you have made a hundred times before but just want to share it with other people, or a new recipe from your cookbook collection or internet database. It can be an appetizer, main dish, side dish, or dessert. The possibilities are only as limited as your imagination. The only rules are that after the secret ingredient is listed, you will have a certain period of time in which to select your recipe, prepare it, taste test it, and then post it and review it before we pick the next secret ingredient. Even if the recipe turns out to be a total flop, go ahead and post it anyway and give your honest critique. You still get credit for participating.

I would love for as many people to participate as possible. If you want to join in the fun but aren't already on the list of contributing chefs just let me know and I will add you. Unlike the real Iron Chef show (Japanese or American depending on your tastes) among the Kama Sutra Iron Chefs there are no winners and losers. This is just a fun opportunity to share our excitement over cooking and help us to gain more experience in the kitchen as we try new things.

And with that, the first ever Kama Sutra Iron Chef secret ingredient is going to be ...

...Potatoes...

...of any kind. I thought I would start us off with something easy so that everyone would be comfortable taking a shot at it. Still with such a simple household staple product as potatoes, I will be interested to see the incredible variety of dishes that people come up with. Everyone has until January 24th to submit their recipe before we pick a new secret ingredient. Ready...Set...Cook!