HOT DISH FOR A COLD DAY

CHICKEN TINGA TOSTADAS

**As Seen on The 10! Show. 1/5/09

This is a quick, easy and economical dish to make for a party, football games or dinner!
It can be as mild or spicy as you like, easy for the kids to help and "men love it"!

You can find chipotles in most grocery stores in the International isle. I like the LaMorena brand the best.

You can serve it on individual tostadas or break them up and make a messy, but delicious, nacho platter.

And remember..

If nothing else...EAT!!!


Ingredients

* 6 bone-in chicken breast halves
* 7 medium onions, thinly sliced
* 1 clove garlic, chopped
* 1/4 cup vegetable oil
* 6 medium tomatoes
* 1 (7 ounce) can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
* 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon granules
* 16 tostada shells
* 1 cup sour cream
* salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place the chicken into a large pot along with 1/4 cup of sliced onion, garlic, and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and cook until no longer pink, about 25 minutes. Remove chicken, cool, and shred meat. Discard skin and bones.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining onion slices, and fry until transparent. Place tomatoes into a pan of boiling water (you could use the leftover chicken water), and boil until they split open.
3. Place the tomatoes, the whole can of chipotle peppers, chicken bouillon into a blender or large food processor. Process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Pour this mixture into a large pan, and add the shredded chicken and cooked onions. Heat through.
4. To serve, each person spreads some sour cream on their tostada shell, and tops with chicken and shredded lettuce.

for a video of this dish go to:

www.the10!show.com
look for the link to Game Day Recipes

Julie and Julia

So, after a busy holiday season, I finally got around to watching Julie and Julia, the movie.

Knowing the premise of the movie helped, and of course, having cooked for Julia herself, 17 years ago in NYC, it made watching the movie nostalgic and special.

The movie was fine, Meryl Streep as Julia was fine and the food was awesome. But, for me, the inspiration of Julia's life was the special ingredient I need to inspire me to go forward with my plans for television success!!!

Whether on a national or local level, I believe..like Julia, that I am a teacher and that I have something to say. Cooking should be fun, anyone can do it if they put their minds to it and that simple is always best. That is the message I want to get across to viewers and hopefully, 2010 will afford me that opportunity.

When I met Julia Child, I had only been cooking professionally for 3 years. I was with B.Flay, in the kitchen of the Rainbow Room in NYC and it was Julia's 80th birthday celebration.

She came into the kitchen, larger than life, as genuine as she was tall. She really did talk like we remember her and she was more than gracious to every Chef, Line Cook (that be me) Waiter and Dishwasher that were in the kitchen that day. She took my hand and said "Well, seems to me that you are one of the only women in the kitchen... well good for you"!! She said it with a hearty laugh and a twinkle in her eye. To this day, 17 years later, I can still hear her words and see that big smile, with my hand firmly grasped in hers. I will never forget that moment.

Later in the evening, after all of the festivities were over, B. Flay told me to go and get my cookbook, my Mom had mailed me a copy a year earlier that she "pinched fro the Bala Cynwyd Library.. I hemmed and hawed that she was too tired, the night was over, etc.. He gave me that stare and said " GO GET IT"! So, I did!!
When I approached her, she was a lovely and as gracious as she was hours earlier in the kitchen. She remembered me, but not my name and I eagerly reminded her as she signed her name.
I have tears in my eyes as I write this, it was a magical moment for me.

A year or so later, I was again at the Rainbow Room, this time with B. Flay's then wife, Deborah Ponzak, cooking for The Dames Escoffier tribute to ...none other than Julia Child!!!
No kitchen appearance this time, and I did not see her but from the balcony above the famous dance floor, but I was in the same room!! Something I had chopped, diced, peeled or poached went to her table and that was enough for me!!!

When she died in August of 2004, I was working in my kitchen and the news came over the television that she had died. I stood and wept, at my cutting board, as if she was a relative or an old friend. Where else would I be when hearing about Julia, seems she would have wanted it that way. That moment when time stood still..when I met Julia, I was in a kitchen and when she left, I was doing the thing she loved most.

She was an old friend, not just to me, but to millions of people who opened her books and tried to truss a chicken, make an aspic or add more butter!!! I will never forget her and will continue to embrace my life, my food and my future with the same gusto in which Julia embraced hers.

I am inspired again, to try for my future, as she did hers that day when she stepped into Le Cordon Bleu!

A l'avenir!!!