Nothing feels worse than a cold in the summertime, and I've got a nasty one. I felt fine early yesterday. I hit the St. Paul Farmer's Market like I always do (the photo is a bunch of the stuff I bought there), and then I was at the Minneapolis art fairs with my dad. I felt fine all day, got home, and then got hit by a train. My head feels like it's going to explode with each sneeze, and I go from feverish to freezing every two minutes.
I've got a couple favorite cold remedies, none of which I make myself, because who wants to cook when you're sick? The first one, which I reserve for the full blown January, post-holidays cold that all of Minnesota passes around to each other every year, is the Masaman Curry at
Pad Thai Grand, on Grand Avenue in St. Paul. Spicey, hot, clears out your head, and if you order it medium hot or hotter, I swear it makes your vision blur. I'm really not kidding.
Next best cold cure on my list are any of the noodle bowls at
Tanpopo Noodle Shop in St. Paul, down by the Farmer's Market. Hot steamy broth, with spinach, mushrooms, udon or soba noodles, and this great pepper mix that you add yourself, it's like your consuming liquid health. And if you're well enough to eat it there, it comes in these beautiful, hot, ceramic bowls. I usually order it with tempura. Fabulous!
So when I left work early this morning I went to
Cafe Latte in St. Paul, and brought home a bowl of their chicken salsa chili. The spice level is just right for most Minnesotans, but I brought it home and dumped a whole bunch of sriracha on it and ate it with all the toppings-sour cream, tortilla chips, cheese and onions. The spice cleared out my head, and I fell into a happy three hour chili coma. The complementary whole wheat bread, and the day old piece of marble pound cake helped a lot, too.
Here's the recipe for Cafe Latte's Chicken Salsa Chili from their website.
Café Latte’s Chicken Salsa Chili
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red chili pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh jalapeno chili peppers
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes, undrained and broken up
• 1 can (29 ounces) tomato puree
• 2 cans (15 ounces each) dark red kidney beans drained
• 1 can (15 ounces) hominy
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
To make chili: Warm olive oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Sauté chicken
until cooked. Add onions and reduce heat. Cook for 3 minutes or until onions are tender.
Add pepper flakes, garlic, jalapenos, chicken stock, chili powder, tomatoes and tomato
puree, kidney beans and hominy. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
To serve: Add chopped cilantro and limejuice just prior to serving. Adjust seasoning to
taste. Top with sour cream, chopped red onions, grated cheddar cheese and tortilla chips.
I've been in the restuarant business for nearly 9 years now, and I have never worked with produce as beautiful as I've been getting this year. Working at the U of M, I've got access to Cornercopia, the student-run organic farm on the St. Paul campus, where they're growing cool things like currants, new types of strawberries that are still being developed and aren't available to the public, bright orange Turkish eggplants, and as of last week, the farm's first three pretty little eggs. Light blue, and pink, they're straight out of an airbrushed issue of Martha Stewart, only real!
