This is one of my favorite recipes for pigging out if good chicken wings aren't available at the moment [img]http://i.imgur.com/6GzDmcY.jpg[/img] You'll need: - 2 chicken breasts (3 if they're small) OR 4 trader joe's pre-cooked chicken cutlets (1 package contains 4) - 4 oz. cream cheese - 4 oz. mild cheddar cheese - 1/2 oz. bleu cheese crumbles (or 1 oz. if you like it extra blue cheesy) - bunch of scallions or chives (whichever you prefer) - 1/2 cup (plus maybe a tbsp or two) frank's red hot sauce (has to be Frank's, REGULAR not "Buffalo" or extra hot or whatever) - 3 tbsp mayonnaise - salt, pepper, dried oregano, cayenne papper Directions: - preheat the oven to 350 F - if you have the pre-cooked chicken, ignore the rest of this step. Slice your chicken breasts into thin cutlets, season with salt and pepper, and cook them until tender, either by broiling, grilling, or searing (don't poach) - once they've cooled a bit, cut up your chicken cutlets into small cube-ish pieces, however small you want. you can even shred them if you're fucked up like that. i don't recommend it - in a big mixing bowl, combine the cut up chicken, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, bleu cheese crumbles, hot sauce, and mayo - sprinkle some oregano in (like maybe a teaspoon? or a tbsp? i do like 10 shakes of the shaker) - sprinkle a bit of cayenne pepper on if you like it hot. i put a little extra salt in, too, but that can always be done later - mix everything up very thoroughly (don't crush the chicken though... not that it's particularly easy to do so) - pour the mixture into a casserole dish or something like that. glass works best but the non-stick metal shit that comes with most ovens will work okay too - once the oven is preheated, put the dish on a rack roughly halfway down, maybe a third down. doesn't matter much - bake for 30 minutes - while the dip is baking, take your scallions or chives and cut them up. I usually use like... 15 chive maybe. if I'm using scallions, maybe 3 or 4. - when the dip is done, take it out and sprinkle the chives or scallions on, then mix casually enjoy the dip with tortilla chips, carrots, or celery you could probably substitute extra firm seared tofu for the chicken if you're vegetarian

Like all recipes, this one has undergone some changes over the past months. A couple notes: 1. I used to think the Trader Joe's pre-cooked chicken was the key but turns out what's really important is the cheese you use. Try to use a very mild cheddar cheese that hasn't been aged more than 30 or 60 days. This will give you a nice gooey consistency and the other flavors will be able to stand out better. 2. Before, I recommended mixing the scallions/chives in after the full 30 minutes of baking. Now what I do is put them in 2/3 of the way through (so, if you need 30 minutes, put them in after 20 minutes, stir it up, and bake for the final 10 minutes). This takes some of the unpleasant sharpness out of the scallions/chives and blends the flavor into the rest of the dip a little better. 3. Regarding the baking time: you should really only bake the dip until it is evenly heated. Once it's reached the desired temperature, take it out. If you keep it in too long the oils will separate and the cheese will start to curdle. The risk of this happening isn't big or anything, it's just a good idea to take it out sooner rather than later.