Monthly Archives: January 2018

Pollo Toluca

Entrees, General,

Pollo Toluca is one of my favorite entrées to order at a Mexican restaurant. For people who are not familiar with this dish, it is a dish comprised of grilled chicken breast covered with chorizo and cheese sauce. In a typical restaurant, it is generally served with Mexican rice, guacamole and Pico de Galo. However, it is a no brainer to make it keto by omitting the rice and adding more salad to it. It has a healthy amount of fat and very little carb.

Basically it is a three part recipe but, honestly, it is not at all complicated. I buy my chorizo from a local Mexican butcher but I am pretty sure any chorizo or chorizo like sausage will work just fine. I know for a fact that there is a very similar sausage available in Goa, India; it has the same kind of vinegary taste that chorizo has and can work really well. If you can’t take the sausage out of the casing and crumble, you can slice it and then fry it too. The recipe makes 6 servings:

For the cheese sauce,

1 cup of chicken broth

2 cup queso cheese (shredded or cubed)

1/4th cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons of diced poblano pepper

Salt to taste

Pinch of nutmeg

Combine all the ingredients except the poblano pepper in a saucepan, bring it to a boil and then stir and simmer until cheese melts and the sauce thickens. Add the poblano pepper, stir to combine and put it aside.

For the chorizo, you will need as much as you want. Ideally 2 tablespoons of cooked chorizo per chicken breast but it is personal preference. Cook the chirizo as per your taste preference.

Now for the chicken breast:

3 chicken breasts butterflied and pounded to make it thinner. This helps in cooking it evenly and fast.

1/2 teaspoon of Salt

1/2 teaspoon of Garlic powder

1 teaspoon of Paprika

2 tablespoon of butter

Season the pounded chicken breasts with the salt, paprika and garlic powder.

Heat the butter in a pan and cook the chicken breasts for 3 mins on each side on medium high heat.

I cooked the chicken breasts in two batches (3 chicken breasts in one batch and used a tablespoon of butter for each batch.

To serve, simply top each grilled chicken breast fillet with 2 tablespoon of chorizo and cover with some cheese sauce. Serve it with a nice crunchy salad. Enjoy!

Zuppa Toscana

Soup

This winter has been hard. After coming back from 2 weeks of vacation from California, this was definitely not what I was looking forward to, but life has to go on and vacation has to end. Also, I wanted to get back to my Keto lifestyle after such a long break. San Francisco is both mine and my husband’s favorite city and the reason is the availability of such vast and delicious variety of different cuisines. We indulged every day without fail, be it a luscious seafood Risotto in Little Italy or some steaming dim sum in China town. So it was time to get back to reality.

Since we were gone for a fortnight and the refrigerator was completely empty, we had to brave the chills and go to the grocery store the next day. I bought a bunch of swiss-chard in hopes of making a lentil soup only to come home and discover that I was out of lentil too. However, not everything was a loss. I had all the ingredients to make a pot of Zuppa Toscana; in fact, a keto version of it. To my surprise it turned out so good that I have decided that everyone who follows a keto lifestyle should give this amazing soup a try. I guarantee that you will not be disappointed. Anyways, here is the recipe…

1 small onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic finely minced

4 sliced of bacon chopped

3 cups of cauliflower florets

4 cups of Swiss chard (cleaned and chopped)

4 cups of chicken broth

½ cup heavy cream

4 tablespoons of grated parmesan

  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Sauté the bacon on medium heat in a pot or dutch oven until the bacon starts to brown.
  • In the same pot, add the onion and garlic and sauté for a few minutes.
  • Next add the cauliflower and Swiss card along with the broth.
  • Cover and cook for 20 minutes on medium heat.
  • Add the cream, parmesan and season with salt and pepper to taste and simmer for another 10 minutes.
  • Serve hot and enjoy.