Chipotle Renaissance

just in case anyone confused my hating on Chipotle® with my hating on chipotle, let me clarify:
= BAD!

= AWESOME!

with this in mind, i have been on a chipotle kick these last two nights.
Sunday night:

Shrimp in Chipotle Sauce over whole wheat pasta (adapted from epicurious.com recipe)

1 pound uncooked medium to large shrimp, peeled, deveined
1 1/4 cups marinade (see recipe below)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 shallot, chopped/minced
2 tablespoon minced canned chipotle chilies (plus some adobo sauce from can)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Place shrimp in 1 gallon Ziploc bag. Add marinade, squeeze out most of the air, seal
and shake around to coat. Refrigerate between 15-30 minutes. Drain shrimp; discard marinade. Place shrimp in large bowl.

In food processor, add 1.5 tablespoons olive oil, 2 garlic cloves, chipotles + sauce, and dried oregano and process until smooth. Transfer chipotle mixture to bowl with shrimp; toss to coat.

Heat remaining 1.5 tablespoons olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add remaining garlic clove(s) and shallot and sauté approx. 1 minute. Add shrimp with chipotle mixture (dump in everything from the bowl); sauté until shrimp are cooked through, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve over whole wheat pasta.

Marinade:
1 12-ounce bottle light-colored beer (i used Amstel)
3/4 cup fresh lime juice (i used lemon)
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon powdered chicken bouillon base (i used liquid concentrate)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Whisk all ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Let marinade stand 1 hour before using. (Can be prepared 1 week ahead. Cover marinade and refrigerate. Rewhisk before using.)

Makes about 2 1/2 cups.

next time i might make some extra chipotle mixture and cook that up in a small pot with some seafood or vegetable broth and crushed canned tomatoes to create some extra sauce for the dish. it was HOT but, boy, was it a great meal.

continuing with the theme (and because i had both extra marinade and chipotles left over in the can)--

Monday night:

Chipotle Chicken with corn, peppers and shallots

1 lb. or so of boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into fingers or approx 1.5" cubes
1 1/4 cups marinade
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
3 ears of corn, boiled in salted water for approx. 3 minutes
1 red pepper, chopped
1 yellow pepper (or whatever color you like), chopped
1 shallot, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 chipotles, minced
a few shakes of dried oregano and grill seasoning (i used Tequila lime) a handful of grape/cherry tomatoes cut in halves or thirds
a couple of Tbsps. of fat free chicken broth/stock

Cut chicken into pieces and place in one gallon Ziploc bag. Add marinade, squeeze out excess air, and shake to coat. Refrigerate approx. 1 hour. While the chicken is marinating, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add three ears of corn. Boil for approx. three minutes and remove corn with tongs; set aside corn.

After almost one hour is up, chop up peppers, shallot, and garlic. Cut corn kernels off the cob and set aside ina small bowl. Remove chicken from fridge, drain and mix in a bowl with chipotles, oregano and grill seasoning.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over med heat and add peppers, shallot and garlic. Cook these until slightly softened (a couple of minutes). Add chicken + mixture to pan. After chicken cooks for a minute or two, add broth (whatever amount seems right to just over the bottom of the pan in a thin layer). Cook until chicken is almost cooked through (over medium or med-high heat) and toss in tomatoes and corn kernels. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve alone or over rice.

Serves 2 hungry people or 4 not-so-hungry people.

this dinner was also awesome and a little less spicy. i must have used less chipotle than the shrimp recipe, which is fine by me as the shrimp recipe had my mouth ¡en fuego! but in a good way.

all in all, i love chipotle and wonder why i have not used it more often in my kitchen lately. in any event, it's back in a big way, and it rules!