by Wilbur, Todd
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 eggs
4 ounces white chocolate,
chopped into chunks
OPTIONAL GARNISH
2 ounces shaved white chocolate
canned whipped cream
1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Place a large pan or oven-safe skillet filled with about ½-inch of water into the oven while it preheats. This will be your water bath.
2. Combine the raspberry preserves with ¼ cup water in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 1½ minutes on high in your microwave. Stir until smooth. Strain to remove the raspberry seeds (toss ’em out), then let the strained preserves sit to cool, then put the bowl in the refrigerator until later.
3. Measure 1½ cups chocolate cookie crumbs (or crush 20 Oreo cookie wafers—with the filling scraped out—in a resealable plastic bag) into a medium bowl. Mix in ⅓ cup melted margarine. Press the crumb into a 9-inch spring form pan that has been lined on the bottom and side with parchment paper. Use the bottom of a drinking glass to press the crumb mixture flat into the bottom of the pan and about ⅔ the way up the side. Wrap a large piece of foil around the bottom of the pan to keep the cheesecake dry when placed in the water bath. Put the crust in your freezer until the filling is done.
4. Use an electric mixer to combine the cream cheese with the sugar, sour cream, and vanilla. Mix on medium speed for a couple minutes or until the ingredients are smooth and creamy. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl and then add them to the cream cheese mixture. Blend the mixture just enough to integrate the eggs.
5. Remove the crust from the freezer and sprinkle 4 ounces of white chocolate chunks onto the bottom of the crust. Pour half of the cream cheese filling into the crust. Drizzle the raspberry preserves over the entire surface of the filling. Use a butter knife to swirl the raspberry into the cream cheese. just a couple passes is fine, you don’t want to blend the raspberry and cream cheese together too much. Pour the other half of the filling into the crust.
6. Carefully place the cheesecake into the water bath in the oven. Bake for 12 minutes at 475 degrees, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees and bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until the top of the cheesecake turns a light brown or tan color. Remove the cheesecake from the oven to cool. When the cheesecake is cool, use the foil from the bottom to cover the cheesecake and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
7. Before serving, sprinkle the entire top surface of cheesecake with 2 ounces of shaved white chocolate. To serve, slice the cheesecake into 12 equal portions. Apply a pile of canned whipped cream to the top of each slice and serve.
• MAKES 12 SERVINGS,
CHEVYS FRESH SALSA
Whip out the food processor and fire up the grill because you’ll need these essential tools to clone one of the best restaurant salsas in the business. The key to recreating the flavor of the real deal is to fire roast the tomatoes and the jalapenos, and to add a little mesquite-flavored liquid smoke. The restaurant chain uses a mesquite grill, so these steps are crucial to getting the same smoky flavor as the addictive restaurant version. Chevys uses chipotle peppers, which are smoked red jalapenos. But unless you grow your own jalapenos, it may be difficult to find the riper red variety in your local supermarket. For this recipe, the green jalapeno peppers will work fine if you can’t find the red ones. Adjust the number of jalapenos you use based on the size of the peppers that are available: If you have big jalapenos you need only 6, and you’ll need around 10 if your peppers are small.
6 medium tomatoes
6 to 10 jalapenos (use more if
small, fewer if large)
¼ of a medium Spanish onion
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons chopped fresh
cilantro
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
1 ½ teaspoons liquid mesquite
smoke
1. Preheat your barbecue grill to high temperature.
2. Remove any stems from the tomatoes, then rub some oil over each tomato. Leave the stems on the jalapenos and rub some oil on them, too.
3. Place the tomatoes on the grill when it’s hot. After about 10 minutes, place all of the jalapenos onto the grill. In about 10 minutes you can turn the tomatoes and the peppers. When almost the entire surface of the peppers has charred black you can remove them from the grill. The tomatoes will turn partially black, but when the skin begins to come off they are done. Put the peppers and tomatoes on a plate and let them cool.
4. When the tomatoes and peppers have cooled, remove most of the skin from the tomatoes and place them into a food processor. Pinch the stem end from each of the peppers remove any skin that has burned, and place the peppers into the food processor with the tomatoes.
5. Add the remaining ingredients to the food processor and puree on high speed for 5 to 10 seconds or until the mixture has a smooth consistency.
6. Place the salsa into a covered container and chill for several hours or overnight so that the flavors develop.
• MAKES APPROXIMATELY 2 CUPS.
CHEVY’S MANGO SALSA
This zippy mango salsa clone from America’s “Fresh Mex” chain is great sprinkled over fajitas, burritos, tacos, salads, sandwiches ... you name it. The salsa is so good on its own you may be tempted to eat it straight from the bowl with a spoon. A little bit of fresh habanero pepper brings the heat to this concoction, but if you can’t track down fresh peppers use a couple drops of your favorite bottled habanero sauce.
1 peeled mango, seeded and
diced (about 2 cups)
¼ cup minced white onion
2 tablespoons minced red bell
pepper
1 teaspoon minced fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
½ teaspoon finely minced
habanero pepper
⅛ teaspoon salt
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl, Cover and chill before serving.
• MAKES 2CUPS.
CHEVYS CHILE CON QUESO
This top secret clone of the cheesy appetizer from this 107-unit Mexican food chain is perfect to whip out for your festive fiestas. This recipe will make enough of the spicy cheese concoction for plenty of party-time double dipping. The Anaheim chile has a mild spiciness, so we’ll toss a jalapeno in there for an extra spicy kick. If you can’t find an Anaheim pepper, use any mild green chilies that are available, as long as you get about ½ cup of diced pepper in the mix.
one 16-ounce box Velveeta, diced
¾ cup whole milk
1 green Anaheim pepper, seeded
and diced (about ½ cup)
¼ cup diced white onion
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and
diced
2 teaspoons minced cilantro
juice of 1 lime
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
(freshly ground is best)
pinch of salt
pinch of dried thyme
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and
diced (about cup)
GARNISH
¼ cup ranchero cheese, crumbled
tortilla chips for dipping
1. Combine Velveeta and milk in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. Stir often as cheese melts. Be careful not to burn it.
2. When cheese is melted add all remaining ingredients except the tomatoes. Continue to cook over medium/low heat for 7 minutes, stirring often to prevent burning. Stir in tomatoes and remove the queso from the heat.
3. Pour queso into a serving dish, top with crumbled ranchero cheese and serve with tortilla chips for dipping.
• MAKES ABOUT 2 CUPS.
TIDBITS
Ranchero cheese is a crumbly Mexican cheese that can be found near the cream cheese in your supermarket.
CHEVYS GARLIC MASHED POTATOES
This easy-to-clone dish comes alongside many of the tasty entrees at this Mexican restaurant chain, or it can be
ordered up, pronto, on the side. It’s a nice clone to have around since it goes well with so many of your homemade dishes, Mexican or otherwise. Get yourself four large russet potatoes and start peeling, but you don’t need to peel all the skin off. Leave a little skin on there for texture. And when you boil the potatoes, toss the whole garlic cloves right in the pot. That way the garlic begins to flavor the potatoes as they boil, and when you mash the potatoes the cooked garlic gets mashed up too. Cool, eh?
6 to 7 cups water
4 medium/large russet potatoes
6 cloves garlic
6 tablespoons butter (¾ stick)
½ cup heavy cream
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1. Peel potatoes, but leave some skin on. Slice the potatoes into quarters.
2. Boil the potatoes and garlic for 30 minutes in the water in a large saucepan or pot. Make sure the water completely covers the potatoes. When potatoes are tender drain them. Don’t lose the garlic—keep it with the potatoes.
3. Pour potatoes and garlic back into the pan. Commence with the thorough mashing. Mashing is fun. Stir in butter, cream, salt and pepper and reheat over medium/low heat until hot.
• SERVES 6 TO 8.
CHEVYS SWEET CORN TOMALITO
Other Mexican food chains such as Chi-Chi’s and El Torito call it “Sweet Corn Cake.” But at Chevy‘s, the corn-filled, pudding-like stuff that’s served with most entrees is known as “Tomalito:’ That masa harina in there (corn flour) is what’s used to make tamales, and it can be found in your supermarket either with the corn meal and flour, or wherever the other Mexican/Spanish items are stocked. Everything else here is basic stuff. While other corn cake recipes may require canned corn or canned cream-style corn, Chevys’ “no cans in the kitchen” commandment requires that we use frozen corn for a proper clone. Of course, you may also use corn that’s been cut fresh from the cob, if you’re up for the task.
4 cups frozen corn, thawed
⅓ cup butter, softened (⅔ stick)
½ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup milk
½ cup masa harina
½ cup corn meal
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Cream softened butter together with sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add milk and masa and mix well.
3. Use a blender or food processor to puree 2 cups of corn until smooth. Add pureed corn to butter/masa mixture and mix well. Add corn meal, baking powder, salt, and remaining corn and mix until combined.
4. Pour mixture into an ungreased 8x8-inch baking pan. Cover with foil and place it into a 9x 13-inch baking pan. Add hot water to the larger baking pan until it’s about ⅓ full. Bake for I ½ to 2 hours or until corn cake is firm in the center. Let it sit covered for 10 minutes before serving. To serve, scoop out ½ cup portions with a large spoon.
• MAKES 8 SERVINGS.
CHEVYS FLAN
Abiding by this large Mexican food chain’s “no cans in the kitchen” edict, we’ll craft our clone of the delicious flan dessert with fresh whole milk, rather than canned sweetened condensed milk required by most flan recipes out there. The canned stuff has a bit of a funky taste to it, plus it’s much too sweet to be an accurate Chevys knockoff. When you’re ready to clone this one, be sure to get some parchment paper (it’s near the wax paper in the supermarket). When laid over the top of the baking pan, the parchment paper helps the flan cook faster and more evenly than if left uncovered. Aluminum foil doesn’t seem to work as well since it tends to reflect the heat away from your ramekins of sweet, creamy goodness.
2½ cups granulated sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ cup hot water
3 cups whole milk
4 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Combine cinnamon with 2 cups granulated sugar in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. When sugar begins to melt, stir often until all sugar has dissolved and solution is light brown. Add water to pan and stir until smooth. Pour about ¼ cup sugar solution into each of six 6-ounce ramekins (custard cups). Swirl the sugar around the inside edge of each of the ramekins. Arrange the ramekins in a 9x 13-inch baking pan.
3. Heat milk in another medium saucepan over medium heat until it starts to bubble.
4. As milk heats up whisk together eggs, egg yolks, vanilla and remaining ½ cup sugar in a large bowl. Mix until sugar has dissolved.
5. When milk starts to bubble remove it from the heat. Carefully pour about ¼ cup of hot milk into the egg mixture while stirring. This will temper the eggs so they don’t cook while adding the rest of the hot milk. Slowly add the remaining milk while mixing.
6. Fill the ramekins to the top with the custard mixture. Remove any foam from the top of each ramekin. Add water to the pan so that it goes halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Place a piece of parchment paper over the ramekins and bake for 75 to 90 minutes or until custard is firm and a knife inserted into the middle of the custard comes out clean.
7. Cool flan and cover each one with plastic wrap. Chill thoroughly before serving. To serve, simply cut around the inside edge of the ramekin with a knife, then turn the flan over onto a plate. The golden, caramelized sugar will spill down over the edges of the flan. Forget about the leftover hardened sugar that stays inside the ramekin. Let the dishwasher deal with it.
● MAKES 6 SERVINGS.
CHILI’S SALSA
This super simple salsa can be made in a pinch with a can of diced tomatoes, some canned jalapenos, fresh lime Juice, onion, spices and a food processor (or blender). Plus you can easily double the recipe by sending in a larger 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes, and simply doubling up on all the other ingredients. Use this versatile salsa as a dip for tortilla chips or plop it down onto any dish that needs flavor assistance—from eggs to taco salads to wraps to fish—for that extra special restaurant-style zing. You can adjust the heat level to suit your taste by tweaking the amount of canned jalapenos in the mix.
one 14.5-ounce can diced
tomatoes
3 tablespoons bottled or
canned diced jolapenos
1 tablespoon lime juice
I teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
½ cup diced white or yellow onion
1. Combine diced tomatoes, jalapenos, lime juice and spices in a food processor. Run food processor on high speed for just a few moments until the tomatoes have been nearly pureed, yet still chunky. The jalapenos should be chopped into visible minced bits. Be careful not to over-process.
2. Pour the mixture into a bowl and add the sliced onion. Stir well, cover and store overnight for the flavors to properly develop.
• MAKES 2 CUPS.
CHILI’S BONELESS BUFFALO WINGS
MENU DESCRIPTION: “Breaded chicken breast tossed in spicy wing sauce. Served with cool bleu cheese dressing.”
This clone gives us the zesty flavor of traditional Buffalo chicken wings, but the bones and skin are left back in Buffalo. That’s because these “wings” are actually nuggets sliced from chicken breast fillets, then breaded and fried, and smothered with the same type of spicy wing sauce used on traditional wings. If you like the flavor of Buffalo wings, but wish you could use a fork, your spicy dreams have come true. Serve up these puppies with some celery sticks and bleu cheese dressing on the side for dipping.
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon paprika
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 skinless chicken breast fillets
6 to 10 cups vegetable or canola
oil (amount required by your
fryer)
¼ cup Frank’s or Crystal hot
sauce
I tablespoon margarine
ON THE SIDE
bleu cheese dressing (for dipping) celery sticks
1. Combine flour, salt, peppers and paprika in a medium bowl.
2. In another small bowl, whisk together egg and milk.
3. Slice each chicken breast into 6 pieces. Preheat 6 to 10 cups of vegetable oil in a deep fryer to 375 degrees.
4. One or two at a time, dip each piece of chicken into the egg mixture, then into the breading blend; then repeat the process so that each piece of chicken is double-coated.
5. When all chicken pieces have been breaded, arrange them on a plate and chill for 15 minutes.
6. When the chicken is done resting, drop each piece into the hot oil and fry for 5 to 6 minutes or until breading is golden brown.
7. As chicken fries, combine the hot sauce and margarine in a small bowl. Microwave sauce for 20 to 30 seconds or just until the margarine is melted, then stir to combine. You can also use a small saucepan for this step. Just combine the hot sauce and margarine in the saucepan over low heat and stir until margarine is melted and ingredients are blended.