crazy chicken fajitas

Not really your average chicken fajitas; kicked up a few notches with the addition of horsey sauce and onion straws. I love chicken fajitas and need to make them with a sauce or two. First a good base sauce/marinade should be the coating on the chicken or beef, then a sauce to go over the fillings of the fajitas, and finally a relish or salsa on the side for extra dipping pleasure. I need the extra dipping pleasure....I love my sauces.
But first I want to say congrats to Joanne over at eats well with others. She was the lucky winner of the $50.00 gift card to Williams Sonoma. Congrats Joanne. Let us know what you got at Williams Sonoma. I know I can easily drop about $2000.00 in that store in the blink of an eye. What kind of giveaway should we have next? I love to hear all ideas....

I also want to say thank you to the la times for featuring my giant quarter pound double chocolate cookies on their blog. That was wonderful--many thanks Renee.

crazy chicken fajitas
by dawn finicane
print recipe

marinade
2 boneless chicken breasts, sliced into strips thinly
3 TB fresh lemon juice
salt & pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed

veggies for fajitas
1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 orange bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeds removed, and thinly sliced/or diced

sauce for chicken
1 TB olive oil
2 TB Worcestershire sauce
2 TB dark brown sugar
1 TB crushed garlic
1-2 limes (juice of)

combine all marinade ingredients in a plastic bag, seal and let marinade for a couple hours or more.
when ready to use, heat skillet or grill, lightly oil with olive oil. discard the marinade and cook thoroughly. set aside. in same pan grill up all the veggies until they have a nice color to them and a bit of char. you might need a bit more olive oil. remove veggies from pan. in same pan to make the sauce add in the garlic, let it cook a couple minutes, add in the lime juice, add in the dark brown sugar, get up the little bits from pan, then add in the worcestershire sauce. add the chicken and veggies back in the pan and coat well. serve on warm tortillas. add the horsey sauce or whatever you wish. I served this with some sweet pepper relish from stonewall kitchen or you could use corn relish--that works very well too. I made some onion straws to put on top of these and to devour half by myself as well. or you could use crispy shallots.

horsey sauce
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup grated horseradish
1 ts of white wine or vinegar

In a small bowl stir together the sour cream, heavy cream, wine, and horseradish.
Makes about 1 ½ cups sauce; you can halve this or even quarter this recipe.

onion straws
by guy fieri

2 cups canola oil
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 sweet onion (Maui or Vidalia)

For the onion straws: In a medium sauce pot, heat the oil to 350 degrees. Whisk the egg and milk in a medium bowl. Mix the flour, cayenne pepper, paprika, garlic powder, 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper in another medium bowl. Cut the onion in half, then slice into 1-inch-thick half rings; separate into short straw-like pieces. Add to the milk mixture to soak. Once the oil is hot enough, remove the onions from the milk mixture, shake off excess and dredge in the flour mixture, 4 or 5 pieces at a time. Add to the pot and fry until golden brown; transfer to paper towels to drain.

crispy shallots
semi-adapted from barefoot contessa

1 cup light olive oil
3 tb unsalted butter
5 to 6 shallots, sliced into medium-thin rings

Heat the oil and unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat until it reaches about 250 degrees F. Reduce the heat a bit then add the shallots. I did this in two batches. You really do not want to crowd the pan at all. The shallots will brown perfectly if they have plenty of room in the hot oil to swim and get happy. Cook until nice and brown. Make sure to stir the shallots once in a while to get all sides brown. Once down remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon, and drain, then place on paper towels. They should stay at room temp., don't put them in the fridge as they will go soft and lose all that nice crispiness.
Should make less than ½ cup.