...not Foo Fighters, though they were in town the other night.
Last week, I had a case of the sniffles. Just a tiny bit of congestion, nothing to worry about.
Then, I shared a long aluminum tube with a bunch of people of varying states of health, followed by three days of thin, extremely dry mountain air and another stint in an aluminum tube. Yeah, not feeling so hot right now.
I do, however, have all the fixings for a soup that works well to clear out sinuses and make you feel a bit better. This morning I picked up some lovely brioche rolls at Panera (I'm still upright and mobile, but am anticipating a crash tonight - been through this before). Sickroom food is about to be prepared.
Flu Fighter Chicken Soup
Six servings
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
24 ounces low-sodium chicken broth
8 cloves garlic -- minced
3 stalks celery -- diced
2 each carrot -- diced
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 each onion -- chopped
1 each bay leaf
1 each lemon -- juiced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Preheat oven to 375.
Season chicken breast generously with salt and pepper, then drizzle with olive oil and season with garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cayenne, oregano and basil, rubbing spices on both sides of chicken. Put on a large baking pan, and roast 25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Remove from oven and cut or shred into small pieces.
For the soup, heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat and saute onion, carrot and celery until softened. Season with salt and pepper to taste and red pepper flakes.
Add garlic and bay leaf and cook for one minute, or until fragrant. Pour in chicken stock and add pasta, if using.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until pasta is al dente. Add chicken, lemon juice and rosemary to the soup. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Heat until chicken is warm.
NOTES: Add about half a cup of small pasta, if desired, at the indicated time.
This really is a lovely soup, warm and bright. Don't skip the lemon juice at the end, as that is what gives the soup a lift. I have a couple of pounds of chicken breast - I'm tempted to double the spices and put half the cooked chicken in the freezer, to save time the next time I need to make this. What I'm not sure of is whether all the herbs rubbed on the chicken will maintain their flavor if I freeze it.
Please, don't skimp on the garlic, either - yes, that does indeed read EIGHT cloves. Garlic is a cure-all. As an added bonus, you won't have to worry about spreading your cold to your loved ones (or being attacked by vampires) while you recover.
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Thursday, October 18, 2018
Sunday, March 11, 2018
Lists Day Nine: Favorite Recipes
Okay, so yes, I am a few days behind on posts. To be honest, I hit this particular prompt and my mind exploded. Just ONE recipe? One lonely recipe to serve as a stand-in for all the lovely concoctions out there?
Impossible.
I'll refer you to the "Recipes" category in the post tag listing in my sidebar. Take a walk through about ten years of recipe related posts.
But since it is getting close to grilling season (anytime the temperature is above forty degrees, Wisconsin breaks out the grills...it's going to hit fifty late this week), here is one for the grill. Note that there is a long marinade time (prepare one night before you go to bed, cook for dinner the next night) and it is fairly spicy. But oh so very good...
Jerk Chops
Serving size: 2
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup onion -- chopped
1/2 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon green onion -- chopped
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground thyme
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 each pork chop (thick, boneless ones are my favorites)
Place all ingredients except chops in a blender and blend until smooth. Place pork in a resealable plastic bag and pour marinade over it. Marinate in refrigerator at least 12 hours, but not longer than 24 hours.
Preheat broiler or outside grill. Pour off marinade; broil or grill chops until fully done.
Impossible.
I'll refer you to the "Recipes" category in the post tag listing in my sidebar. Take a walk through about ten years of recipe related posts.
But since it is getting close to grilling season (anytime the temperature is above forty degrees, Wisconsin breaks out the grills...it's going to hit fifty late this week), here is one for the grill. Note that there is a long marinade time (prepare one night before you go to bed, cook for dinner the next night) and it is fairly spicy. But oh so very good...
Jerk Chops
Serving size: 2
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup onion -- chopped
1/2 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon green onion -- chopped
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground thyme
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 each pork chop (thick, boneless ones are my favorites)
Place all ingredients except chops in a blender and blend until smooth. Place pork in a resealable plastic bag and pour marinade over it. Marinate in refrigerator at least 12 hours, but not longer than 24 hours.
Preheat broiler or outside grill. Pour off marinade; broil or grill chops until fully done.
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Jam-filled doughnuts!
Others may call this Pancake Day, and eat stacks of fluffy disks covered with all sorts of different toppings. Some may shout "Mardi Gras!" and down a mostly liquid, alcoholic diet for the day. A few may still view the day as Shrove Tuesday, with the appropriate confession of sins and seeking of absolution.
But here in Milwaukee, where a large portion of the population has a bit of Polish in their heritage, it is best known as Paczki Day.
What are they?
They are fluffy, deep fried, filled doughnuts covered in powdered sugar. Traditional fillings are prune (which is actually quite good) and raspberry, though many bakeries offer alternative flavorings. The dough is especially rich in eggs and butter, as the whole idea is to empty your pantry of those indulgences before the start of Lent.
On Paczki Day, everyone is a bit Polish.
While I'm not aware of anyone doing an official count, based on reports I've heard from various big commercial bakeries in the area, plus sales at supermarkets and smaller bakeries, I'd say the total number of doughnuts downed today in greater Milwaukee will easily - easily - pass 250,000.
Yup, a quarter of a million doughnuts.
You can, of course, make your own, if you don't mind deep frying at home. There is a recipe at the end of the article here. You will, however, need eat a lot of egg white omelettes (or make a meringue-based cake) to use up the whites left after using 20 (TWENTY) egg yolks for two dozen paczki.
Paczki show up in cities and areas with a high concentration of Polish immigrants, whether recently or in the past. Philly, Boston, Detroit, Cleveland, parts of New Jersey, Chicago and northwest Indiana are all familiar with the seasonal treat. It's not just a Midwestern thing.
I see my boss brought a couple dozen in....one advantage of getting to the office at the break of day is first choice of the baked goods...
Sunday, February 11, 2018
Under pressure
Back in September or so, I succumbed to the hype and bought an InstantPot.
It's been a revelation.
At the moment, I've a six pound turkey breast cooking. Mix soft butter with various herbs, salt and pepper and smoosh (technical cooking term, that - "smoosh") it around between the skin and the meat. Put it in the pot, along with 1 -2 cups of chicken broth.
Here's the fun part - the cooking time. It is cooked at high pressure, for thirty minutes.
Thirty minutes.
Even allowing for fifteen minutes to come to pressure, and about the same for a natural pressure release when the cooking is complete, that is still a substantial improvement over the 1 1/2 to 2 hours for a comparable size breast made in the oven (plus the twenty minutes or more it takes my oven to preheat - cannot wait to get rid of it!).
There are trade-offs for the time improvement, though. Pressure cooking is basically cooking with steam. You simply will not get a crispy skin on, well, anything that is cooked in a pressure cooker. It's a quick fix, though, if you simply transfer the bird to a roasting pan and run it under the broiler for five minutes or so. If you are one of those people who avoid eating poultry skin at all costs, well, it doesn't really matter.
This is the third turkey breast I've done in the last eight weeks. One was for a party at work. Today's is destined in part to be put in gravy with onions and mushrooms, then poured on top of a baked potato for lunches this next week. Some of the remainder will be chopped and frozen to use in soup at some point, while a bit will be today's lunch and perhaps tomorrow dinner.
Cook once, eat a lot is my motto.
I've been using this cookbook, or this one. Chicken breast is cooked up for shredding for soup in no time, without drying out. Stew is wonderful, veggies are a dream (I cook several bunches of broccoli florets on Sunday - one minute in the InstantPot cooks them to perfect tender-but-firm - and reheat servings as needed through the week, or do the same with cauliflower or green beans).
The InstantPot is actually a multi function unit. In addition to pressure cooking, it works as a saute pan (brown your roast in the same pot you will slow cook it in!), a slow cooker, yogurt maker and rice cooker. The rice, by the way, is not only perfectly cooked, but slides right out of the pot with no sticking.
Yep, I'm a fan.
The pot just beeped at me, letting me know the pressure cycle is done. Cannot wait to taste that turkey.
It's been a revelation.
At the moment, I've a six pound turkey breast cooking. Mix soft butter with various herbs, salt and pepper and smoosh (technical cooking term, that - "smoosh") it around between the skin and the meat. Put it in the pot, along with 1 -2 cups of chicken broth.
Here's the fun part - the cooking time. It is cooked at high pressure, for thirty minutes.
Thirty minutes.
Even allowing for fifteen minutes to come to pressure, and about the same for a natural pressure release when the cooking is complete, that is still a substantial improvement over the 1 1/2 to 2 hours for a comparable size breast made in the oven (plus the twenty minutes or more it takes my oven to preheat - cannot wait to get rid of it!).
There are trade-offs for the time improvement, though. Pressure cooking is basically cooking with steam. You simply will not get a crispy skin on, well, anything that is cooked in a pressure cooker. It's a quick fix, though, if you simply transfer the bird to a roasting pan and run it under the broiler for five minutes or so. If you are one of those people who avoid eating poultry skin at all costs, well, it doesn't really matter.
This is the third turkey breast I've done in the last eight weeks. One was for a party at work. Today's is destined in part to be put in gravy with onions and mushrooms, then poured on top of a baked potato for lunches this next week. Some of the remainder will be chopped and frozen to use in soup at some point, while a bit will be today's lunch and perhaps tomorrow dinner.
Cook once, eat a lot is my motto.
I've been using this cookbook, or this one. Chicken breast is cooked up for shredding for soup in no time, without drying out. Stew is wonderful, veggies are a dream (I cook several bunches of broccoli florets on Sunday - one minute in the InstantPot cooks them to perfect tender-but-firm - and reheat servings as needed through the week, or do the same with cauliflower or green beans).
The InstantPot is actually a multi function unit. In addition to pressure cooking, it works as a saute pan (brown your roast in the same pot you will slow cook it in!), a slow cooker, yogurt maker and rice cooker. The rice, by the way, is not only perfectly cooked, but slides right out of the pot with no sticking.
Yep, I'm a fan.
The pot just beeped at me, letting me know the pressure cycle is done. Cannot wait to taste that turkey.
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Not Your Momma's Mac & Cheese
Last week, the cheese lady at my local grocer (yes, they have a cheese lady) wondered what I was going to do with all the cheese I bought. This is it. As usual, my personal notes are at the end.
Pasta Al Quattro Formaggi
1 pound penne -- uncooked
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 ounces Italian fontina cheese -- shredded
3 ounces Gorgonzola cheese -- crumbled
1 ounce Pecorino Romano cheese -- grated
1/2 ounce Parmesan cheese -- grated
Bread crumb/Parm topping - see below
Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 500 degrees. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil over high heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon table salt and the pasta. cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain the pasta, return it to the pot and toss with the olive oil. Set aside.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until golden, about one minute. Slowly whisk in the cream; bring to a simmer and cook, stirring often, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Off heat, add 1/4 teaspoon salt and the pepper. Cover to keep warm.
Combine the cheeses in a large bowl. Add the cooked pasta, then pour the hot cream over all. Immediately cover the bowl with a plate or foil. Let stand for three minutes. Uncover and stir with a rubber spatula, scraping the cheese from the bottom of the bowl, until the cheeses are melted and the mix is thoroughly combined.
Transfer the pasta to a 9 x 13 baking dish and sprinkle with bread crumb topping. Bake until the topping is golden brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Serve immediately.
Bread crumb/Parm topping
4 slices white sandwich bread -- torn into pieces
2 tablespoons unsalted butter -- melted
1/2 ounce parmesan cheese
Process the bread and butter in a food processor fitted with the steel blade until coarsely ground. Transfer to a bowl and toss with Parmesan cheese.
My notes:
1. Buy the best cheese you can, as the cheese is the star of the dish.
- Fontina is very soft. Sticking it in the freezer for 10 - 15 minutes before shredding/grating makes it easier. I used the food processor to shred mine.
- YES, Gorgonzola. Do NOT skip this or substitute something else. Regular mac & cheese uses dry mustard to provide a bit of a bite. The Gorgonzola provides a nice tang in this dish.
- Pecorino Romano and Parmesan - For the love of heaven, do NOT use the dust in a can! Both of these are hard cheeses. If you buy a small quantity of the good, imported stuff and keep it in an airtight container in the refrigerator, it will keep indefinitely. If you have never had the real thing, you are in for a treat. It is so much better than the green/red can stuff.
2. Don't substitute milk for the cream. Really, over six servings, it is only 1/3 cup per serving. I know people who use that much cream in their coffee over the course of the day. This dish is a treat, not an everyday thing, so live a little.
3. Again, do not skip the topping. This crumb mix is outstanding. Here, you can substitute Panko breadcrumbs if you don't have squishy sandwich bread handy - eyeball the quantity.
This is from Cook's Illustrated, a sister publication to America's Test Kitchen. This is hands down the best variety of mac & cheese I've ever had. There are a few variations to the dish, one adding a drained can of diced tomatoes and some fresh basil, another adding peas and four ounces of chopped Proscuitto. Both sound equally wonderful.
Fast and fairly easy to make, this is a keeper.
Pasta Al Quattro Formaggi
1 pound penne -- uncooked
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 ounces Italian fontina cheese -- shredded
3 ounces Gorgonzola cheese -- crumbled
1 ounce Pecorino Romano cheese -- grated
1/2 ounce Parmesan cheese -- grated
Bread crumb/Parm topping - see below
Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 500 degrees. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil over high heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon table salt and the pasta. cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain the pasta, return it to the pot and toss with the olive oil. Set aside.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until golden, about one minute. Slowly whisk in the cream; bring to a simmer and cook, stirring often, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Off heat, add 1/4 teaspoon salt and the pepper. Cover to keep warm.
Combine the cheeses in a large bowl. Add the cooked pasta, then pour the hot cream over all. Immediately cover the bowl with a plate or foil. Let stand for three minutes. Uncover and stir with a rubber spatula, scraping the cheese from the bottom of the bowl, until the cheeses are melted and the mix is thoroughly combined.
Transfer the pasta to a 9 x 13 baking dish and sprinkle with bread crumb topping. Bake until the topping is golden brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Serve immediately.
Bread crumb/Parm topping
4 slices white sandwich bread -- torn into pieces
2 tablespoons unsalted butter -- melted
1/2 ounce parmesan cheese
Process the bread and butter in a food processor fitted with the steel blade until coarsely ground. Transfer to a bowl and toss with Parmesan cheese.
My notes:
1. Buy the best cheese you can, as the cheese is the star of the dish.
- Fontina is very soft. Sticking it in the freezer for 10 - 15 minutes before shredding/grating makes it easier. I used the food processor to shred mine.
- YES, Gorgonzola. Do NOT skip this or substitute something else. Regular mac & cheese uses dry mustard to provide a bit of a bite. The Gorgonzola provides a nice tang in this dish.
- Pecorino Romano and Parmesan - For the love of heaven, do NOT use the dust in a can! Both of these are hard cheeses. If you buy a small quantity of the good, imported stuff and keep it in an airtight container in the refrigerator, it will keep indefinitely. If you have never had the real thing, you are in for a treat. It is so much better than the green/red can stuff.
2. Don't substitute milk for the cream. Really, over six servings, it is only 1/3 cup per serving. I know people who use that much cream in their coffee over the course of the day. This dish is a treat, not an everyday thing, so live a little.
3. Again, do not skip the topping. This crumb mix is outstanding. Here, you can substitute Panko breadcrumbs if you don't have squishy sandwich bread handy - eyeball the quantity.
This is from Cook's Illustrated, a sister publication to America's Test Kitchen. This is hands down the best variety of mac & cheese I've ever had. There are a few variations to the dish, one adding a drained can of diced tomatoes and some fresh basil, another adding peas and four ounces of chopped Proscuitto. Both sound equally wonderful.
Fast and fairly easy to make, this is a keeper.
Sunday, May 28, 2017
Kitchen Duty part II
I've spent so much time in the kitchen the last two days, I've actually almost forgotten what I had for dinner last night. After some thought (and putting away the rest of the box of pasta), I realized it was whole wheat spaghetti with butter and Parmesan as aside to a wonderful piece of skin-on salmon. The salmon got a bit of lemon pepper on the flesh side, then was put skin side down in a very hot pan coated with olive oil. Let it sit for five minutes until the skin is crisp, then turn it over for a few seconds. The skin should be crisp, the inside still pink (unless you are one of those people who likes your fish really well done).
It was annoying me that I couldn't remember at first what I ate.
Today, I don't have that problem.
Prep for several dishes began shortly after breakfast (toasted pieces of yesterday's English muffin bread topped with peanut butter). It always seems most efficient, when I'm doing several dishes, to do all the prep work for everything all at once (and it usually keeps me from saying to heck with it and stopping halfway through the plan). Dice an onion. Chop up the rest of the bread. Shred two different types of cheeses (really, it takes only a minute or two to shred cheese from a block, and then it has none of the cornstarch coating that keeps preshredded cheese from sticking together - and makes it gummy when it melts). Peel and slice potatoes. Boil the huge pot of water for the brine.
Once the water cooled, all sorts of good stuff was added to it, and the pork tenderloin (two smaller ones, I found when I opened the package) were put in it to soak for half a day. The linked recipe is the brine I used; if you make pork chops rather than tenderloin, a half hour is all they need. Soak too long, and the meat starts to deteriorate.
A potato gratin was meant to accompany the pork (this was all planned for dinner). Last grocery order, I bought half a dozen russets. They must have been "baking" potatoes, as each was pretty darn big. The two that were left filled up my regular size gratin dish. My standard is a variant of this dish. No leeks, but some shallots in with the cream. Not Gruyere (at least not if I have to make a special trip), but lots of Swiss. It's easy to make, especially if you have a mandolin to help slice the potatoes thinly.
The bread, if you will recall from yesterday, was made to be the basis for a new-to-me breakfast casserole. The other ingredients are sauteed pork sausage, cheddar cheese, eggs and milk.
Naturally, I didn't have any pork sausage, but I did have a pound of ground turkey, as well as a magic ingredient: Penzey's breakfast sausage seasoning. Used that with the turkey, and it was delicious. It is this recipe, though I also added sauteed onion...I had a couple of corner nibbles when it first came out of the oven (it's meant to be cut up and frozen for future breakfasts) and it is really good.
In the end, dinner was some of the potato gratin, some of the pork, green beans and a rather sizeable glass of Stag's Leap Aveta Sauvignon Blanc. There are leftovers of everything. There are two tiny lamp chops in the freezer that may be dinner tomorrow, with the potatoes. The pork can be sliced for sandwiches, or, if I do a bit of grocery shopping later for spinach and berries, my favorite salad.
tomorrow will be spent deep cleaning the kitchen. The A/C annual service is Tuesday, and part of what he has to check is attached to the furnace...which is in the closet in the kitchen. Eh, it's supposed to rain off and on all day, anyway.
My legs and feet ache from all the standing. The kitchen is so small, you sort of stand in one place and pivot, or take just one step from side to side. No chance to really stretch your legs. Must remember to take an Advil before bed so I can move in the morning.
In between things, I've been reading and sewing. I'm machine quilting a baby quilt for a coworker. The batting I'm using is wool - very soft and fluffy, but I think I underestimated the warmth factor. Good thing this baby is due in late September.
On that, I'm off to bed. Trying hard to maintain regular bed/rise times over this vacation. I did get up at the usual time this morning, but after half an hour of wandering around online, went back to bed for an hour. Don't want to do that tomorrow.
It was annoying me that I couldn't remember at first what I ate.
Today, I don't have that problem.
Prep for several dishes began shortly after breakfast (toasted pieces of yesterday's English muffin bread topped with peanut butter). It always seems most efficient, when I'm doing several dishes, to do all the prep work for everything all at once (and it usually keeps me from saying to heck with it and stopping halfway through the plan). Dice an onion. Chop up the rest of the bread. Shred two different types of cheeses (really, it takes only a minute or two to shred cheese from a block, and then it has none of the cornstarch coating that keeps preshredded cheese from sticking together - and makes it gummy when it melts). Peel and slice potatoes. Boil the huge pot of water for the brine.
Once the water cooled, all sorts of good stuff was added to it, and the pork tenderloin (two smaller ones, I found when I opened the package) were put in it to soak for half a day. The linked recipe is the brine I used; if you make pork chops rather than tenderloin, a half hour is all they need. Soak too long, and the meat starts to deteriorate.
A potato gratin was meant to accompany the pork (this was all planned for dinner). Last grocery order, I bought half a dozen russets. They must have been "baking" potatoes, as each was pretty darn big. The two that were left filled up my regular size gratin dish. My standard is a variant of this dish. No leeks, but some shallots in with the cream. Not Gruyere (at least not if I have to make a special trip), but lots of Swiss. It's easy to make, especially if you have a mandolin to help slice the potatoes thinly.
The bread, if you will recall from yesterday, was made to be the basis for a new-to-me breakfast casserole. The other ingredients are sauteed pork sausage, cheddar cheese, eggs and milk.
Naturally, I didn't have any pork sausage, but I did have a pound of ground turkey, as well as a magic ingredient: Penzey's breakfast sausage seasoning. Used that with the turkey, and it was delicious. It is this recipe, though I also added sauteed onion...I had a couple of corner nibbles when it first came out of the oven (it's meant to be cut up and frozen for future breakfasts) and it is really good.
In the end, dinner was some of the potato gratin, some of the pork, green beans and a rather sizeable glass of Stag's Leap Aveta Sauvignon Blanc. There are leftovers of everything. There are two tiny lamp chops in the freezer that may be dinner tomorrow, with the potatoes. The pork can be sliced for sandwiches, or, if I do a bit of grocery shopping later for spinach and berries, my favorite salad.
tomorrow will be spent deep cleaning the kitchen. The A/C annual service is Tuesday, and part of what he has to check is attached to the furnace...which is in the closet in the kitchen. Eh, it's supposed to rain off and on all day, anyway.
My legs and feet ache from all the standing. The kitchen is so small, you sort of stand in one place and pivot, or take just one step from side to side. No chance to really stretch your legs. Must remember to take an Advil before bed so I can move in the morning.
In between things, I've been reading and sewing. I'm machine quilting a baby quilt for a coworker. The batting I'm using is wool - very soft and fluffy, but I think I underestimated the warmth factor. Good thing this baby is due in late September.
On that, I'm off to bed. Trying hard to maintain regular bed/rise times over this vacation. I did get up at the usual time this morning, but after half an hour of wandering around online, went back to bed for an hour. Don't want to do that tomorrow.
Saturday, May 27, 2017
Kitchen Duty
I am on vacation this upcoming week - finally. To say I've been looking forward to this is an understatement. The one fear I have, though, is that I'll spend it just lazing around, not actually getting any needed chores done, nor actually having any fun.
As with other vacations, I have a "list". Haven't looked at it yet, though I know what the highlights are. One of those things is a two-part goal of 1) Cooking more of my meals, rather than grabbing some sort of takeout/fast food, and 2) Cooking through the stuff in the freezer. Notice how those two things dovetail so nicely?
When I went grocery shopping a week ago, lemons were on sale three-for-something. Since then, those poor lemons have been languishing in the refrigerator, until I remembered a lemon/chicken/orzo soup I've done before. A quick look at the ingredient list showed I was only lacking the boneless thighs and the orzo. I have plenty of bone-in thighs in the freezer, but thawing and taking them off the bone seemed like a bit too much work for the first afternoon of vacation (when I went to put the orzo away after making the soup yesterday, I discovered I did, indeed, have half a box of orzo in the cupboard...I really do need to cook more often, so I can remember what I do and don't have on hand).
While today the sun came out and the temperature hit the low seventies, it will not stay that way. The soup is actually pretty light, particularly with the lemon and rosemary flavors. Do not use chicken breast; thighs have more flavor and are much juicier.
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
2 T olive oil, divided
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1" chunks
salt and pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 t dried thyme
5 cups chicken stock
1 cup water
2 bay leaves
3/4 cup uncooked orzo pasta
1 sprig rosemary
Juice of one lemon
2 T chopped fresh parsley
Heat 1 T oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to the pot and cook until golden, about 2 - 3 minutes; remove from pot and set aside (chicken will not be cooked through).
Add remaining T of oil to pot. Add garlic, onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3 - 4 minutes. Stir in thyme until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Whisk in chicken stock, water and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Stir in orzo, rosemary and chicken; reduce heat and simmer until orzo is tender, about 1-0 - 12 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and parsley; season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
Another thing on the vacation list is to cook some breakfast-type things for the freezer. I have the supplies to make homemade Egg Muffins; they taste almost like the fast food ones, in addition to freezing/reheating well. But the easier way to make breakfast ahead is to make a big old egg casserole, cool it, cut it into portions and freeze them. I'd uncovered a recipe I'd saved for "Sausage Muffin Egg Casserole" that sounded like the right blend of carbs, protein and fat.
However, the English muffins I have on hand are earmarked for the sandwiches. I'm not about to make a special trip to the store for more.
My extensive recipe collection came to the rescue. I've never made English muffins - too much standing over the skillet watching them cook. I have, however, made English muffin bread. It bakes in a traditonal loaf pan, and putting it together is as easy as putting together a quick bread (in other words, no kneading). The muffins form the base of the casserole, on which you put pork sausage and sauteed onion (more on the pork sausage adventure/solution another time).
As I told a friend with whom I shared this, toast a slice of the bread, top with peanut butter and/or Nutella, along with (maybe) a sliced banana, and you have an excellent breakfast.
I use a nonstick spray to coat the loaf pan, before dusting it with cornmeal like you would dust a cake pan with flour, and the finished loaf slides right out.
English Muffin Bread
1 pkg. yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons, or 7 grams)
1 Tbsp Granulated Sugar
1/2 cup Warm water
1-1/2 cup All-purpose flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
7/8 cup Milk, nonfat, warmed
Combine yeast, sugar and warm water; stir until dissolved.
Combine flour, salt and soda and add to yeast mixture. Add warm milk (not too hot or you'll kill the yeast). Mix well.
Cover and let rise until double in size, 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
Stir down and put in greased bread pan sprinkled with cornmeal. Sprinkle top with cornmeal. Cover and let rise 40 to 45 more minutes.
Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned on top and toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool on cooling rack. Makes 12 servings.
Not that I want to spend the entire week cooking, but...I have Italian sausage in the freezer and had a vague idea of making brioche hot dog rolls to have them on, along with homemade tomato sauce and parmesan. It's been a while since I've made brioche, so I pulled out Julia Child's The Way to Cook, and flipped to the bread section. Since I'm making sauce, I'd like to make pizza from scratch later this week, so I flipped to her section on pizza doughs. Be still my heart, she has a recipe there for an onion and anchovy pizza! I grew up begging for anchovies out of the can, and in fact, have three cans in my pantry right now. I cannot wait to try this.
Anchovies and onions...well, at least I can be pretty well assured I won't have to share.
As with other vacations, I have a "list". Haven't looked at it yet, though I know what the highlights are. One of those things is a two-part goal of 1) Cooking more of my meals, rather than grabbing some sort of takeout/fast food, and 2) Cooking through the stuff in the freezer. Notice how those two things dovetail so nicely?
When I went grocery shopping a week ago, lemons were on sale three-for-something. Since then, those poor lemons have been languishing in the refrigerator, until I remembered a lemon/chicken/orzo soup I've done before. A quick look at the ingredient list showed I was only lacking the boneless thighs and the orzo. I have plenty of bone-in thighs in the freezer, but thawing and taking them off the bone seemed like a bit too much work for the first afternoon of vacation (when I went to put the orzo away after making the soup yesterday, I discovered I did, indeed, have half a box of orzo in the cupboard...I really do need to cook more often, so I can remember what I do and don't have on hand).
While today the sun came out and the temperature hit the low seventies, it will not stay that way. The soup is actually pretty light, particularly with the lemon and rosemary flavors. Do not use chicken breast; thighs have more flavor and are much juicier.
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
2 T olive oil, divided
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1" chunks
salt and pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 t dried thyme
5 cups chicken stock
1 cup water
2 bay leaves
3/4 cup uncooked orzo pasta
1 sprig rosemary
Juice of one lemon
2 T chopped fresh parsley
Heat 1 T oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to the pot and cook until golden, about 2 - 3 minutes; remove from pot and set aside (chicken will not be cooked through).
Add remaining T of oil to pot. Add garlic, onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3 - 4 minutes. Stir in thyme until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Whisk in chicken stock, water and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Stir in orzo, rosemary and chicken; reduce heat and simmer until orzo is tender, about 1-0 - 12 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and parsley; season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
Another thing on the vacation list is to cook some breakfast-type things for the freezer. I have the supplies to make homemade Egg Muffins; they taste almost like the fast food ones, in addition to freezing/reheating well. But the easier way to make breakfast ahead is to make a big old egg casserole, cool it, cut it into portions and freeze them. I'd uncovered a recipe I'd saved for "Sausage Muffin Egg Casserole" that sounded like the right blend of carbs, protein and fat.
However, the English muffins I have on hand are earmarked for the sandwiches. I'm not about to make a special trip to the store for more.
My extensive recipe collection came to the rescue. I've never made English muffins - too much standing over the skillet watching them cook. I have, however, made English muffin bread. It bakes in a traditonal loaf pan, and putting it together is as easy as putting together a quick bread (in other words, no kneading). The muffins form the base of the casserole, on which you put pork sausage and sauteed onion (more on the pork sausage adventure/solution another time).
As I told a friend with whom I shared this, toast a slice of the bread, top with peanut butter and/or Nutella, along with (maybe) a sliced banana, and you have an excellent breakfast.
I use a nonstick spray to coat the loaf pan, before dusting it with cornmeal like you would dust a cake pan with flour, and the finished loaf slides right out.
English Muffin Bread
1 pkg. yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons, or 7 grams)
1 Tbsp Granulated Sugar
1/2 cup Warm water
1-1/2 cup All-purpose flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
7/8 cup Milk, nonfat, warmed
Combine yeast, sugar and warm water; stir until dissolved.
Combine flour, salt and soda and add to yeast mixture. Add warm milk (not too hot or you'll kill the yeast). Mix well.
Cover and let rise until double in size, 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
Stir down and put in greased bread pan sprinkled with cornmeal. Sprinkle top with cornmeal. Cover and let rise 40 to 45 more minutes.
Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned on top and toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool on cooling rack. Makes 12 servings.
Not that I want to spend the entire week cooking, but...I have Italian sausage in the freezer and had a vague idea of making brioche hot dog rolls to have them on, along with homemade tomato sauce and parmesan. It's been a while since I've made brioche, so I pulled out Julia Child's The Way to Cook, and flipped to the bread section. Since I'm making sauce, I'd like to make pizza from scratch later this week, so I flipped to her section on pizza doughs. Be still my heart, she has a recipe there for an onion and anchovy pizza! I grew up begging for anchovies out of the can, and in fact, have three cans in my pantry right now. I cannot wait to try this.
Anchovies and onions...well, at least I can be pretty well assured I won't have to share.
Sunday, May 21, 2017
Devil Chicken
While I certainly haven't been blogging this last two weeks plus, I have been doing a bit of cooking. I've a backlog of "recipes to try" that would keep a small country fed for a year. Tonight's recipe is courtesy of Jacques Pepin, chicken thighs in a spicy tomato/vinegar sauce.
Chicken Diablo
6 large, bone-in, skinned chicken thighs (if you insist, you can use breasts, or even boneless, skinless breasts, but honestly, learn to eat dark meat - it is so much more flavorful, and thighs are actually easy to eat with a knife and fork off the bone)
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
3/4 teaspoon pepper, divided
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (or 1/4 cup vinegar and no wine)
2 tablespoons dry white wine
8 ounces tomato sauce (or 3/4 cup tomato puree)
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon Tobasco sauce
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
Cook chicken:
Sprinkle both sides of chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Heat butter and oil in a large, heavy, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add thighs, cover and cook five minutes. Turn, cover and cook an additional 10 - 15 minutes, reducing heat and turning as needed, until done (check near the bone - for more even cooking, before putting them in the pan, make a 1/2" cut on the backside of the thigh on each side of the bone, not going all the way through). Remove from pan and put somewhere to keep warm.
Make sauce:
Add garlic to pan drippings and cook, stirring, about 30 seconds, without browning. Deglaze pan with vinegar and wine, stirring to melt the solidified juices. Cook 1 to 2 minutes; most of the liquid should have evaporated. Add water and tomato sauce and bring to boil over high heat. Cover and boil 1 minute. Stir in remaining 1⁄4 teaspoon salt and 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper, Tabasco and tarragon. Spoon sauce over the chicken and serve.
Serves 4
Diane's take: The tang from the vinegar and the heat of the Tabasco combine to give you spicy, but not overly so (maybe my Tobasco is old - I put in closer to two teaspoons). Don't skip the fresh tarragon - it adds needed depth.
I wasn't sure I'd like bone-in chicken with a sauce on it, but as I said above, chicken thighs, having pretty much just the one, round bone, are very easy to eat with a knife and fork. They also cook up very juicy and flavorful. There was rather a lot of chicken juice/rendered chicken fat in my pan when I took the thighs out; though I left it in the pan, the sauce wasn't unduly greasy. My one change would be to serve this with something to soak up more of the sauce - rice, couscous or some other grain. While I made oven baked fries, they didn't soak up as much of the sauce as I'd have liked.
This is a keeper.
Chicken Diablo
6 large, bone-in, skinned chicken thighs (if you insist, you can use breasts, or even boneless, skinless breasts, but honestly, learn to eat dark meat - it is so much more flavorful, and thighs are actually easy to eat with a knife and fork off the bone)
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
3/4 teaspoon pepper, divided
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (or 1/4 cup vinegar and no wine)
2 tablespoons dry white wine
8 ounces tomato sauce (or 3/4 cup tomato puree)
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon Tobasco sauce
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
Cook chicken:
Sprinkle both sides of chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Heat butter and oil in a large, heavy, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add thighs, cover and cook five minutes. Turn, cover and cook an additional 10 - 15 minutes, reducing heat and turning as needed, until done (check near the bone - for more even cooking, before putting them in the pan, make a 1/2" cut on the backside of the thigh on each side of the bone, not going all the way through). Remove from pan and put somewhere to keep warm.
Make sauce:
Add garlic to pan drippings and cook, stirring, about 30 seconds, without browning. Deglaze pan with vinegar and wine, stirring to melt the solidified juices. Cook 1 to 2 minutes; most of the liquid should have evaporated. Add water and tomato sauce and bring to boil over high heat. Cover and boil 1 minute. Stir in remaining 1⁄4 teaspoon salt and 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper, Tabasco and tarragon. Spoon sauce over the chicken and serve.
Serves 4
Diane's take: The tang from the vinegar and the heat of the Tabasco combine to give you spicy, but not overly so (maybe my Tobasco is old - I put in closer to two teaspoons). Don't skip the fresh tarragon - it adds needed depth.
I wasn't sure I'd like bone-in chicken with a sauce on it, but as I said above, chicken thighs, having pretty much just the one, round bone, are very easy to eat with a knife and fork. They also cook up very juicy and flavorful. There was rather a lot of chicken juice/rendered chicken fat in my pan when I took the thighs out; though I left it in the pan, the sauce wasn't unduly greasy. My one change would be to serve this with something to soak up more of the sauce - rice, couscous or some other grain. While I made oven baked fries, they didn't soak up as much of the sauce as I'd have liked.
This is a keeper.
Sunday, October 02, 2016
31 Days...Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
What? It's my 31 days; I can take the easy way out by posting a recipe.
Leaving sunny Baltimore Tuesday afternoon, I came home to a rainy, cloudy, dreary evening. Things haven't changed much since then, though I do believe the sun came out for about five minutes yesterday afternoon.
Rainy days always make me hungry for soup, in this case, a new variant of tried-and-true chicken soup. The flavors - thyme, rosemary, garlic and lemon juice - along with the orzo make this say "Greek" to me, or at least a close cousin to it. Chicken thighs rather than breast are a nice change, more flavorful and moist.
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
2 TBS olive oil, divided
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1" chunks
Salt and pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
6 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves
3/4 cup uncooked orzo pasta
1 sprig rosemary
Juice of one lemon
2 TBS chopped fresh parsley leaves
Heat 1 TBS olive oil in a large stockpot. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pot and cook until golden, about 2 - 3 minutes; take chicken out of pan and set aside.
Add remaining TBS of oil to the pot. Add garlic, onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3 - 4 minutes. Stir in thyme until fragrant, about 1 minutes.
Whisk in chicken stock and bay leaves; bring to a boil. Stir in orzo, rosemary and chicken; reduce heat and simmer until orzo is tender, about 10 - 12 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and parsley. Taste; add additional salt and pepper to taste.
Serve immediately.
This makes about eight one-cup servings, though it's so good one little cup isn't enough. Orzo is the rice-shaped pasta. I'm sure you could substitute rice for the orzo in the recipe, though I think you might need more broth if you do.
Now that I am well provisioned with soup, the weatherman says the next several days will be dry. Just about the time the soup-for-lunch runs out, the rainy weather is supposed to roll back in. Maybe a chili or stew next time...
Leaving sunny Baltimore Tuesday afternoon, I came home to a rainy, cloudy, dreary evening. Things haven't changed much since then, though I do believe the sun came out for about five minutes yesterday afternoon.
Rainy days always make me hungry for soup, in this case, a new variant of tried-and-true chicken soup. The flavors - thyme, rosemary, garlic and lemon juice - along with the orzo make this say "Greek" to me, or at least a close cousin to it. Chicken thighs rather than breast are a nice change, more flavorful and moist.
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
2 TBS olive oil, divided
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1" chunks
Salt and pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
6 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves
3/4 cup uncooked orzo pasta
1 sprig rosemary
Juice of one lemon
2 TBS chopped fresh parsley leaves
Heat 1 TBS olive oil in a large stockpot. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pot and cook until golden, about 2 - 3 minutes; take chicken out of pan and set aside.
Add remaining TBS of oil to the pot. Add garlic, onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3 - 4 minutes. Stir in thyme until fragrant, about 1 minutes.
Whisk in chicken stock and bay leaves; bring to a boil. Stir in orzo, rosemary and chicken; reduce heat and simmer until orzo is tender, about 10 - 12 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and parsley. Taste; add additional salt and pepper to taste.
Serve immediately.
This makes about eight one-cup servings, though it's so good one little cup isn't enough. Orzo is the rice-shaped pasta. I'm sure you could substitute rice for the orzo in the recipe, though I think you might need more broth if you do.
Now that I am well provisioned with soup, the weatherman says the next several days will be dry. Just about the time the soup-for-lunch runs out, the rainy weather is supposed to roll back in. Maybe a chili or stew next time...
Sunday, January 24, 2016
No (more) soup for you
Hot soup on a cold day is nourishing, warming and tasty. So much so I may just have had a bit too much of it.
I blame Facebook.
A current fad, at least in my timeline, is for people to repost videos of recipes. Disembodied hands measure, pour and cook the different dishes, until the final shot of a foodblog styled, perfectly cooked entree.
One of the recent posts featured a crock pot chicken with wild rice soup. I adore my own version of that soup, but I'm willing to branch out and try something different.
After tracking down the actual recipe (I hate videos with a passion - give me printed words on a page and I can do anything.), I gathered up the ingredients to load down the crock this afternoon.
While you still need to make the bechamel on the stove, adding it to the crock near the end of the cooking time, the overall process is pretty easy. The end result? Pretty tasty, without the sticky sweetness the evaporated milk gives to my own version.
The caveat? This filled my almost 6 quart crock pot to the brim. After filling my covered soup mug for lunch tomorrow (20 ounces), filling a covered coringware 2 quart bowl for eating the rest of the week and eating two big mugsful for dinner, I've still frozen four, two cup containers.
Bring on the cold weather.
Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup - crock pot
1/2 cup uncooked wild rice
1/2 cup uncooked basmati rice
1 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast (cut pieces in half if large)
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced celery
4 -5 cloves minced garlic
1 -2 bay leaves
6 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 cups water
1 T Italian seasoning
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt
Bechamel:
5 T butter
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 cups milk (whole works best, but you can use even skim if you are patient)
Rinse the rice under running water. In a 5 1/2 quart slow cooker, place the rices, carrots, onion, celery. garlic, bay leaves, chicken broth, water, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and chicken in the slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 7 - 8 hours.
Half an hour before the end of the cooking time, remove the chicken and allow it to cool slightly. Shred and return to the cooker.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour, stirring to combine and cooking for at least a full minute. slowly add the milk while whisking to remove lumps. Continue to stir over medium heat until the sauce thickens and becomes creamy.
Add the thickened bechamel to the crock and stir well. Taste the soup and adjust seasoning as needed. Let stand five minutes before serving (soup will thicken as it stands).
I blame Facebook.
A current fad, at least in my timeline, is for people to repost videos of recipes. Disembodied hands measure, pour and cook the different dishes, until the final shot of a foodblog styled, perfectly cooked entree.
One of the recent posts featured a crock pot chicken with wild rice soup. I adore my own version of that soup, but I'm willing to branch out and try something different.
After tracking down the actual recipe (I hate videos with a passion - give me printed words on a page and I can do anything.), I gathered up the ingredients to load down the crock this afternoon.
While you still need to make the bechamel on the stove, adding it to the crock near the end of the cooking time, the overall process is pretty easy. The end result? Pretty tasty, without the sticky sweetness the evaporated milk gives to my own version.
The caveat? This filled my almost 6 quart crock pot to the brim. After filling my covered soup mug for lunch tomorrow (20 ounces), filling a covered coringware 2 quart bowl for eating the rest of the week and eating two big mugsful for dinner, I've still frozen four, two cup containers.
Bring on the cold weather.
Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup - crock pot
1/2 cup uncooked wild rice
1/2 cup uncooked basmati rice
1 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast (cut pieces in half if large)
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced celery
4 -5 cloves minced garlic
1 -2 bay leaves
6 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 cups water
1 T Italian seasoning
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt
Bechamel:
5 T butter
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 cups milk (whole works best, but you can use even skim if you are patient)
Rinse the rice under running water. In a 5 1/2 quart slow cooker, place the rices, carrots, onion, celery. garlic, bay leaves, chicken broth, water, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and chicken in the slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 7 - 8 hours.
Half an hour before the end of the cooking time, remove the chicken and allow it to cool slightly. Shred and return to the cooker.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour, stirring to combine and cooking for at least a full minute. slowly add the milk while whisking to remove lumps. Continue to stir over medium heat until the sauce thickens and becomes creamy.
Add the thickened bechamel to the crock and stir well. Taste the soup and adjust seasoning as needed. Let stand five minutes before serving (soup will thicken as it stands).
Sunday, January 17, 2016
At least my insides are warm
It is one, lonely degree right now.
That is the high for the day.
Thankfully, my heat works well, and I spent a good potion of the later morning and afternoon in the studio, which is the warmest downstairs room.
Aside from wanting to sew, I needed to be in the studio for its proximity to the kitchen (the studio has two doors, one to the small hallway past the bathroom to the living room, one to the east end of the galley kitchen). Nothing warms you up on a bitter cold day like soup. Tex-Mex soup, in this case.
It's a bit like liquid loaded nachos - tomatoes, sour cream, corn, black beans, warm spices, fresh cilantro and cooked, chopped turkey. The soup can be topped with cheese, corn chips and more sour cream, completing the nachos comparison. The spices give warmth rather than fire, much like they do in my smothered chicken with barley.
Tex-Mex Soup
Roughly 6 servings
1 T olive oil
1/2 c minced onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 t chili powder
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t oregano
4 cups water
1 (10.75 oz) can condensed tomato soup
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 c salsa
4 c shredded turkey
1 T dried parsley
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 (14 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 c frozen corn
1/2 c sour cream
1/4 c fresh cilanto, choppped
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and cook until they begin to soften, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin and oregano and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
Stir in water, tomato soup, diced tomatoes, salsa, shredded turkey, parsley and bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes o until bouillon cubes dissolve.
Add black beans, corn, sour cream and cilantro. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.
Serve topped with your choice of crushed corn chips (Xochitil are my favorites), monterey jack cheese, more sour cream or cilantro.
My notes:
Do not just throw the chili powder, cumin and oregano in the pot and immediately add the water, but follow the directions to stir and cook for a minute. It's called "blooming" the spices, and warming them this way activates their flavor. It does make a difference.
Feel free to skip the whole water and chicken bouillon thing and use four cups of stock from a box, made from a soup starter or created by any of your favorite methods. You don't really want anything that has a strong taste of its own, though.
Chicken works just as well as turkey. While I bought and purpose-cooked turkey breast, any kind of left over poultry, as long as it wasn't too highly seasoned to start with, works well. The friend who gave me the recipe in the first place uses this as her go-to leftover Thanksgiving turkey recipe.
The finished soup freezes/thaws nicely.
Considering I'm not a fan of black beans, sour cream or cilantro, it's a bit of a miracle that I love this soup as much as I do. It certainly warmed me up today.
That is the high for the day.
Thankfully, my heat works well, and I spent a good potion of the later morning and afternoon in the studio, which is the warmest downstairs room.
Aside from wanting to sew, I needed to be in the studio for its proximity to the kitchen (the studio has two doors, one to the small hallway past the bathroom to the living room, one to the east end of the galley kitchen). Nothing warms you up on a bitter cold day like soup. Tex-Mex soup, in this case.
It's a bit like liquid loaded nachos - tomatoes, sour cream, corn, black beans, warm spices, fresh cilantro and cooked, chopped turkey. The soup can be topped with cheese, corn chips and more sour cream, completing the nachos comparison. The spices give warmth rather than fire, much like they do in my smothered chicken with barley.
Tex-Mex Soup
Roughly 6 servings
1 T olive oil
1/2 c minced onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 t chili powder
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t oregano
4 cups water
1 (10.75 oz) can condensed tomato soup
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 c salsa
4 c shredded turkey
1 T dried parsley
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 (14 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 c frozen corn
1/2 c sour cream
1/4 c fresh cilanto, choppped
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and cook until they begin to soften, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin and oregano and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
Stir in water, tomato soup, diced tomatoes, salsa, shredded turkey, parsley and bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes o until bouillon cubes dissolve.
Add black beans, corn, sour cream and cilantro. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.
Serve topped with your choice of crushed corn chips (Xochitil are my favorites), monterey jack cheese, more sour cream or cilantro.
My notes:
Do not just throw the chili powder, cumin and oregano in the pot and immediately add the water, but follow the directions to stir and cook for a minute. It's called "blooming" the spices, and warming them this way activates their flavor. It does make a difference.
Feel free to skip the whole water and chicken bouillon thing and use four cups of stock from a box, made from a soup starter or created by any of your favorite methods. You don't really want anything that has a strong taste of its own, though.
Chicken works just as well as turkey. While I bought and purpose-cooked turkey breast, any kind of left over poultry, as long as it wasn't too highly seasoned to start with, works well. The friend who gave me the recipe in the first place uses this as her go-to leftover Thanksgiving turkey recipe.
The finished soup freezes/thaws nicely.
Considering I'm not a fan of black beans, sour cream or cilantro, it's a bit of a miracle that I love this soup as much as I do. It certainly warmed me up today.
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Food and rest
Day one of vacation is in the books, and it has been all about basic needs.
When I got home from work last night, I was utterly exhausted. Up too late several of the previous nights, and out the door even earlier in the morning than usual. That, plus the knowledge that the end of the workday signaled the start of a week of free time, signaled my body to just.let.go.
Even that tired, my body insists on waking itself up at the usual time. Who needs an alarm clock? My initial plans for the day included being at the eye doctor when they opened at 8 a.m. to pick up contact lenses and chose/order new glasses, but after checking email and reading the paper online, I made the executive decision to go back to bed. It's the time of year when sitting at the desk in the loft in the early morning in pajamas is a bit chilly, but not cold enough to grab the robe. So much easier to just get under the still warm covers again.
"Late" is relative: I was up again just before eight. Time to start vacation with a special breakfast.
Dutch baby pancakes (or pancake, singular, as it makes one really big one) are super simple to make, and provide a lot of filling options. The basic recipe:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Put 2 TBS of butter in an 8 or 9 inch pie plate and put it in the oven for the butter to melt.
While that happens, mix the following:
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs (milk and eggs should ideally be at room temp - who has the patience to wait?)
a dash or two of salt
a bit (I used about half a teaspoon) of sugar
Once all that is well mixed, add 1/2 cup of all purpose flour, mixing just until the lumps are out.
Carefully take the hot pie plate with the melted butter out of the oven. Swirl the butter around so it covers the bottom of the plate AND the sides. Pour the batter in, then put the pan back in the oven.
Bake for 15 - 17 minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR DURING BAKING.
The batter slides itself up the sides of the pie plate, but doesn't run over the edge. It just sort of continues to grow vertically, until it curls over itself towards the center of the dish. Turn on your oven light to check through the window close to the end of the cooking time - you want this risen part to be golden to brownish.
When you take the pan out of the oven, the pancake should slide right out onto a platter. The sides will collapse a bit.
Now comes the fun part. You can fill the center with all sorts of goodies. My recipe actually uses bacon bits in the batter, then has you fill the finished pancake with apples sauteed in butter and maple syrup. Sprinkling with powdered sugar is pretty traditional. You could also fill it with jam, rather than fresh fruit. How about sliced up breakfast sausage sauteed in maple syrup? Whatever floats your boat.
Me? Too lazy to do the apples, I stuck a spoonful of Nutella in the center to melt. Heaven.
Then off to chores. Laundry, garbage gathering, unload/load the dishwasher, do the hand wash dishes. Somewhere in there stop to watch some NCIS and read a bit. Do the every-so-often bleaching (porcelain sink, both sides, other - ahem - porcelain).
About three o'clock realize you've not eaten since breakfast. Decide to try a new-to-me, but probably familiar to moms everywhere dish: Cheesy chicken, rice and broccoli. Saute half an onion. Add a pound of boneless, skinless chicken breast cut in small chunks. Brown it a bit. Add minced garlic. Push all to side of pan, add a little more olive oil and a cup of (brown, in tonight's case) rice. Saute the rice until it starts to look translucent. Add appropriate amount of chicken broth for the amount of rice. Stir, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and walk away. Ten minutes before the rice should be done, add three cups or so of frozen broccoli.
When the rice is done and the broccoli hot, remove the pan from heat and stir in a cup or so of cheddar cheese. Put another half cup on top of the dish, put the cover on and let it sit a minute or so. Remove cover and enjoy.
In the process of making dinner, I discovered two horrifying facts: 1) there were only two onions left in the pantry, and 2) there is no mild or medium cheddar cheese in the refrigerator, only aged, sharp vermont white cheddar. The casserole tasted fine with the sharp cheese (which I love), but aesthetically it would have looked nicer with cheddar colored cheddar (beige rice, beige chicken, beige cheese and little islands of green - not exactly haute cuisine)
Now, upstairs to peruse the open enrollment materials (short story, premiums up 6%, maximum out of pocket limit up 140%) and plan for the rest of the week. I'm trying out the bullet journal system, and while I've been using it for over a month, I think I have a few ideas that will make it work better for me.
That is pretty much it for the first day...one hopes the next eight will be about more than sleep and food.
When I got home from work last night, I was utterly exhausted. Up too late several of the previous nights, and out the door even earlier in the morning than usual. That, plus the knowledge that the end of the workday signaled the start of a week of free time, signaled my body to just.let.go.
Even that tired, my body insists on waking itself up at the usual time. Who needs an alarm clock? My initial plans for the day included being at the eye doctor when they opened at 8 a.m. to pick up contact lenses and chose/order new glasses, but after checking email and reading the paper online, I made the executive decision to go back to bed. It's the time of year when sitting at the desk in the loft in the early morning in pajamas is a bit chilly, but not cold enough to grab the robe. So much easier to just get under the still warm covers again.
"Late" is relative: I was up again just before eight. Time to start vacation with a special breakfast.
Dutch baby pancakes (or pancake, singular, as it makes one really big one) are super simple to make, and provide a lot of filling options. The basic recipe:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Put 2 TBS of butter in an 8 or 9 inch pie plate and put it in the oven for the butter to melt.
While that happens, mix the following:
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs (milk and eggs should ideally be at room temp - who has the patience to wait?)
a dash or two of salt
a bit (I used about half a teaspoon) of sugar
Once all that is well mixed, add 1/2 cup of all purpose flour, mixing just until the lumps are out.
Carefully take the hot pie plate with the melted butter out of the oven. Swirl the butter around so it covers the bottom of the plate AND the sides. Pour the batter in, then put the pan back in the oven.
Bake for 15 - 17 minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR DURING BAKING.
The batter slides itself up the sides of the pie plate, but doesn't run over the edge. It just sort of continues to grow vertically, until it curls over itself towards the center of the dish. Turn on your oven light to check through the window close to the end of the cooking time - you want this risen part to be golden to brownish.
When you take the pan out of the oven, the pancake should slide right out onto a platter. The sides will collapse a bit.
Now comes the fun part. You can fill the center with all sorts of goodies. My recipe actually uses bacon bits in the batter, then has you fill the finished pancake with apples sauteed in butter and maple syrup. Sprinkling with powdered sugar is pretty traditional. You could also fill it with jam, rather than fresh fruit. How about sliced up breakfast sausage sauteed in maple syrup? Whatever floats your boat.
Me? Too lazy to do the apples, I stuck a spoonful of Nutella in the center to melt. Heaven.
Then off to chores. Laundry, garbage gathering, unload/load the dishwasher, do the hand wash dishes. Somewhere in there stop to watch some NCIS and read a bit. Do the every-so-often bleaching (porcelain sink, both sides, other - ahem - porcelain).
About three o'clock realize you've not eaten since breakfast. Decide to try a new-to-me, but probably familiar to moms everywhere dish: Cheesy chicken, rice and broccoli. Saute half an onion. Add a pound of boneless, skinless chicken breast cut in small chunks. Brown it a bit. Add minced garlic. Push all to side of pan, add a little more olive oil and a cup of (brown, in tonight's case) rice. Saute the rice until it starts to look translucent. Add appropriate amount of chicken broth for the amount of rice. Stir, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and walk away. Ten minutes before the rice should be done, add three cups or so of frozen broccoli.
When the rice is done and the broccoli hot, remove the pan from heat and stir in a cup or so of cheddar cheese. Put another half cup on top of the dish, put the cover on and let it sit a minute or so. Remove cover and enjoy.
In the process of making dinner, I discovered two horrifying facts: 1) there were only two onions left in the pantry, and 2) there is no mild or medium cheddar cheese in the refrigerator, only aged, sharp vermont white cheddar. The casserole tasted fine with the sharp cheese (which I love), but aesthetically it would have looked nicer with cheddar colored cheddar (beige rice, beige chicken, beige cheese and little islands of green - not exactly haute cuisine)
Now, upstairs to peruse the open enrollment materials (short story, premiums up 6%, maximum out of pocket limit up 140%) and plan for the rest of the week. I'm trying out the bullet journal system, and while I've been using it for over a month, I think I have a few ideas that will make it work better for me.
That is pretty much it for the first day...one hopes the next eight will be about more than sleep and food.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Zuppa Toscana
As much as I lament the changes in service philosophy at Olive Garden, I still love their Zuppa Toscana. Mr. Google was able to provide a recipe for a knock-off of this delightful soup, which I threw together yesterday.
Here's the basic recipe; notes on my changes come after.
Zuppa Toscana
1 pound Italian sausage, removed from casings
2 russet potatoes, cut in half lengthwise and then cut into 1/4" slices
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups kale, chopped
2 cups chicken broth
1 quart (4 cups) water
1 cup heavy cream
Brown sausage in soup pot, crumbling into small pieces as it browns. Add chicken broth and water to pot; stir.
Add onions, potatoes and garlic. Cook on medium heat until potatoes are tender. Taste; add salt and pepper to taste.
Turn heat to low. Add kale and cream, heat through and serve.
Serves 4 - 6
Use whatever spiciness level of sausage floats your boat, Rather than removing the sausage from the casings if you have links, you can slice it thinly (less work), but I find the sausage is better distributed through the soup if it's loose. You may want to put a bit of olive oil in your pot to keep the sausage from sticking (I did). If you leave the potato skins on (I did), it makes a more rustic soup (less work). You can use chopped, frozen kale (I did; less work) instead of fresh. Since it's going into a liquid, it doesn't make any difference in texture or taste to make the substitution. You also aren't left with the rest of a bunch of kale to incorporate into other recipes before it gets all slimy in the refrigerator (not that I'm speaking from experience or anything).
Finally, I ended up using four cups of chicken broth and two cups of water, rather than two and four. Stock-in-a-box, which is what I had, comes 4 cups to a box. I had no immediate use for the two cups that would have been left over had I followed the recipe proportions. In the end, I'm not sure it made much difference in the final flavor. Oh - and absolutely use real heavy cream, not milk. There isn't that much of it when divided amongst the portions, and you cannot duplicate the creamy richness using milk.
It does taste very much like the soup they serve at Olive Garden. My only regret is that I didn't have any crusty bread on hand to go along with it.
The rather quick preparation means this can be made even on a weeknight. It's going into the regular fall-winter-early spring soup rotation at my house.
Here's the basic recipe; notes on my changes come after.
Zuppa Toscana
1 pound Italian sausage, removed from casings
2 russet potatoes, cut in half lengthwise and then cut into 1/4" slices
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups kale, chopped
2 cups chicken broth
1 quart (4 cups) water
1 cup heavy cream
Brown sausage in soup pot, crumbling into small pieces as it browns. Add chicken broth and water to pot; stir.
Add onions, potatoes and garlic. Cook on medium heat until potatoes are tender. Taste; add salt and pepper to taste.
Turn heat to low. Add kale and cream, heat through and serve.
Serves 4 - 6
Use whatever spiciness level of sausage floats your boat, Rather than removing the sausage from the casings if you have links, you can slice it thinly (less work), but I find the sausage is better distributed through the soup if it's loose. You may want to put a bit of olive oil in your pot to keep the sausage from sticking (I did). If you leave the potato skins on (I did), it makes a more rustic soup (less work). You can use chopped, frozen kale (I did; less work) instead of fresh. Since it's going into a liquid, it doesn't make any difference in texture or taste to make the substitution. You also aren't left with the rest of a bunch of kale to incorporate into other recipes before it gets all slimy in the refrigerator (not that I'm speaking from experience or anything).
Finally, I ended up using four cups of chicken broth and two cups of water, rather than two and four. Stock-in-a-box, which is what I had, comes 4 cups to a box. I had no immediate use for the two cups that would have been left over had I followed the recipe proportions. In the end, I'm not sure it made much difference in the final flavor. Oh - and absolutely use real heavy cream, not milk. There isn't that much of it when divided amongst the portions, and you cannot duplicate the creamy richness using milk.
It does taste very much like the soup they serve at Olive Garden. My only regret is that I didn't have any crusty bread on hand to go along with it.
The rather quick preparation means this can be made even on a weeknight. It's going into the regular fall-winter-early spring soup rotation at my house.
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Cajun Burgers
Although I've talked about them a number of times, I realize I've never posted the recipe for the cajun burgers I had for dinner tonight. The kick they provid isn't going to burn the inside of your mouth, but will wake you up. You should note that the longer the burgers rest after they are mixed and formed, the stronger the taste will become.
Cajun Burgers
2 pounds ground chuck
1 green pepper, minced
1/3 cup green onion, minced (I just use a yellow onion)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon garlic salt (if you only have garlic powder, use about 2 1/2 tablespoons and make the rest up with salt)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Mix it all up, then form into 6 patties, being careful not to compact them too much. Put on a platter, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate several hours of overnight.
Cook whatever way makes you happy (too hot to grill out tonight, so pan fried in the cast iron skillet).
These freeze very, very well. I can pull a couple out and they will thaw in an hour or so, while I'm figuring out what to have with them.
Cajun Burgers
2 pounds ground chuck
1 green pepper, minced
1/3 cup green onion, minced (I just use a yellow onion)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon garlic salt (if you only have garlic powder, use about 2 1/2 tablespoons and make the rest up with salt)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Mix it all up, then form into 6 patties, being careful not to compact them too much. Put on a platter, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate several hours of overnight.
Cook whatever way makes you happy (too hot to grill out tonight, so pan fried in the cast iron skillet).
These freeze very, very well. I can pull a couple out and they will thaw in an hour or so, while I'm figuring out what to have with them.
Sunday, June 07, 2015
What a tart
A real tomato.
Tomato tart, that is.
I finally got around to making the tomato tart whose ingredients have been hanging around for over a week. It's pretty simple, but the end result looks fancy and tastes divine. It's about time I shared the recipe, isn't it?
Tomato Tart
1 pie crust for 9" pie pan or fancy tart pan with a removable bottom - you can make your own, use a mix or use the unfoldy-type ones, or keep it really simple and use a pre-made, unbaked kind - whatever floats your boat (note: you can use puff pastry, but pie crust works better)
About one cup of shredded swiss cheese (do yourself a favor: buy a block and shred your own for much better taste)
One small to medium onion, diced fairly small, or cut in half and sliced thinly, your choice
One or two tablespoons of butter
Quarter cup of dry white wine - optional
One pint or so of cherry tomatoes, or twice as many grape tomatoes, or the awesome campari tomatoes, or regular old on- or off-the-vine tomatoes
About a teaspoon each of sage, thyme and oregano
Salt and pepper
The ingredient list is a bit floaty; trust me, you can't mess this up.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. Put a tablespoon or so of butter in a nonstick pan. Throw in the sliced or diced onion and cook over a low heat until they are caramelized. Toss in a half teaspoon of brown sugar to help the process along if you must.When they are almost done, you can put in a quarter cup of white wine and cook until it evaporates, but that's up to you, as the tart tastes just as great without it. Let the onions cool (throw them in the fridge for a while).
2. When the onions are cool, lay them in the pie crust, covering the bottom. Layer the grated cheese on top. Now for the fun part...
3. The goal is to cover the cheese with the tomatoes. If you happen to have both red and yellow cherry tomatoes, you can cut them in half and lay them cut side up in a fun pattern. Or you can just use the red ones. If your cherry tomatoes are on the small side (or you are lazy like me), you can leave them whole. If you only have standard size tomatoes, slice them about a quarter of an inch thick and lay them out, cutting the slices as needed to cover all the cheese. Really, the only way to mess up this step is to layer the tomatoes on too thickly.
4. Sprinkle the tomatoes with the thyme, sage and oregano. Add a shot of salt, and more of pepper.
5. Bake at 350 for an hour or so, watching during the last 10-15 minutes in case you need to cover the edges of the pie crust to keep it from getting too dark.
Serve either hot or at room temperature.
I still want to try making these in the little individual, fluted edge ceramic pie plates I have, for a fun course for a dinner party. The first time I made the tart was for an opener for a dinner; I set it down, went to the kitchen to stir the stew, and by the time I came back, the tart was gone. It's that good. It's a great change from salad or sauce once the tomato crop starts coming in.
Sorry about not having a picture...I may have cut into it the second it came out of the oven. Leftovers (assuming there are any) should be refrigerated and gently reheated in the toaster oven or oven for about five - seven minutes at 250 for optimal taste. I've even taken it in my lunch, and eaten the leftovers at room temp.
So happy we are heading into fresh tomato season.
Tomato tart, that is.
I finally got around to making the tomato tart whose ingredients have been hanging around for over a week. It's pretty simple, but the end result looks fancy and tastes divine. It's about time I shared the recipe, isn't it?
Tomato Tart
1 pie crust for 9" pie pan or fancy tart pan with a removable bottom - you can make your own, use a mix or use the unfoldy-type ones, or keep it really simple and use a pre-made, unbaked kind - whatever floats your boat (note: you can use puff pastry, but pie crust works better)
About one cup of shredded swiss cheese (do yourself a favor: buy a block and shred your own for much better taste)
One small to medium onion, diced fairly small, or cut in half and sliced thinly, your choice
One or two tablespoons of butter
Quarter cup of dry white wine - optional
One pint or so of cherry tomatoes, or twice as many grape tomatoes, or the awesome campari tomatoes, or regular old on- or off-the-vine tomatoes
About a teaspoon each of sage, thyme and oregano
Salt and pepper
The ingredient list is a bit floaty; trust me, you can't mess this up.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. Put a tablespoon or so of butter in a nonstick pan. Throw in the sliced or diced onion and cook over a low heat until they are caramelized. Toss in a half teaspoon of brown sugar to help the process along if you must.When they are almost done, you can put in a quarter cup of white wine and cook until it evaporates, but that's up to you, as the tart tastes just as great without it. Let the onions cool (throw them in the fridge for a while).
2. When the onions are cool, lay them in the pie crust, covering the bottom. Layer the grated cheese on top. Now for the fun part...
3. The goal is to cover the cheese with the tomatoes. If you happen to have both red and yellow cherry tomatoes, you can cut them in half and lay them cut side up in a fun pattern. Or you can just use the red ones. If your cherry tomatoes are on the small side (or you are lazy like me), you can leave them whole. If you only have standard size tomatoes, slice them about a quarter of an inch thick and lay them out, cutting the slices as needed to cover all the cheese. Really, the only way to mess up this step is to layer the tomatoes on too thickly.
4. Sprinkle the tomatoes with the thyme, sage and oregano. Add a shot of salt, and more of pepper.
5. Bake at 350 for an hour or so, watching during the last 10-15 minutes in case you need to cover the edges of the pie crust to keep it from getting too dark.
Serve either hot or at room temperature.
I still want to try making these in the little individual, fluted edge ceramic pie plates I have, for a fun course for a dinner party. The first time I made the tart was for an opener for a dinner; I set it down, went to the kitchen to stir the stew, and by the time I came back, the tart was gone. It's that good. It's a great change from salad or sauce once the tomato crop starts coming in.
Sorry about not having a picture...I may have cut into it the second it came out of the oven. Leftovers (assuming there are any) should be refrigerated and gently reheated in the toaster oven or oven for about five - seven minutes at 250 for optimal taste. I've even taken it in my lunch, and eaten the leftovers at room temp.
So happy we are heading into fresh tomato season.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Fat Tuesday
Or Shrove Tuesday ("shrove" comes from the old English "shrive", which has to do with confession of sins and asking of absolution), Pancake Day (based on an old pagan holiday where pancakes symbolized the sun, and the object of eating pancakes was to help the gods to usher in spring) or Mardi Gras (a belief in drinking and partying until you wake up with a killer headache and no memory of the previous three days)(but technically the name for the day spent eating the fatty, rich foods one is giving up for Lent).
As a Catholic university, we lean towards the "Shrove Tuesday" definition (at least officially - the students may have a different perspective). We have a long tradition in our office of...food. Every quarter or so we have a donut day for the entire department, held alternately in our building or a couple of blocks away, where the student services section contingent works. It seemed a natural to have this quarter's mixer on Fat Tuesday.
In Milwaukee, in addition to other places around the country with a larger Polish immigrant population, there is an additional sweet incentive for the day: paczki. The link will provide an explanation along with a mouth-watering picture. I'm not much for filled doughnuts, nor for things covered in powdered sugar (I've been to New Orleans twice, soon to be three times, and have yet to have a beignet), but for these, I'll make an exception.
If you take a look at the recipe at the end of the link, you'll see why paczki are a fitting treat for Fat Tuesday: the dough, with 20 egg yolks for four dozen doughnuts, is incredibly rich. The two traditional fillings are prune (actually quite tasty) and raspberry, but I see that Grebe's is offering a new flavor for the year that includes...bacon.
Whether your town offers true paczki, a smorgasbord of pancakes, hurricanes or a simple jelly filled doughnut, have a sweet treat today; Lent begins tomorrow.
As a Catholic university, we lean towards the "Shrove Tuesday" definition (at least officially - the students may have a different perspective). We have a long tradition in our office of...food. Every quarter or so we have a donut day for the entire department, held alternately in our building or a couple of blocks away, where the student services section contingent works. It seemed a natural to have this quarter's mixer on Fat Tuesday.
In Milwaukee, in addition to other places around the country with a larger Polish immigrant population, there is an additional sweet incentive for the day: paczki. The link will provide an explanation along with a mouth-watering picture. I'm not much for filled doughnuts, nor for things covered in powdered sugar (I've been to New Orleans twice, soon to be three times, and have yet to have a beignet), but for these, I'll make an exception.
If you take a look at the recipe at the end of the link, you'll see why paczki are a fitting treat for Fat Tuesday: the dough, with 20 egg yolks for four dozen doughnuts, is incredibly rich. The two traditional fillings are prune (actually quite tasty) and raspberry, but I see that Grebe's is offering a new flavor for the year that includes...bacon.
Whether your town offers true paczki, a smorgasbord of pancakes, hurricanes or a simple jelly filled doughnut, have a sweet treat today; Lent begins tomorrow.
Friday, November 28, 2014
Baby it's cold inside
During the seventy-five minutes the technician needed to do the annual maintenance service on the furnace, the heat was mostly off. I keep it at only 67 to begin with, so it got rather nippy inside quickly. Have I mentioned it's only 29 degrees outside?
Yeah...as soon as he left, this happened.
Toffee Squares
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, separated (you need both parts)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
Preheat oven to 275.
Mix the flour and cinnamon in a small bowl until blended.
In a larger bowl, cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the egg yolk and the vanilla to the sugar/butter mix and beat until combined. Add the flour/cinnamon mix and stir until just blended.
Grease a 9 x 9 pan or spray with nonstick spray. Press the dough into the pan in an even layer. Brush the top lightly with the egg white.
Bake 35 minutes or until lightly browned.
When it comes out of the oven, spread the chocolate chips over the top. Let sit five minutes, then spread into an even layer over the crust (this is easier if you start with the mini-chocolate chips-they melt faster). Sprinkle with the nuts. Chill until the chocolate is firm.
Cut into 24 squares.
Yeah...as soon as he left, this happened.
Toffee Squares
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, separated (you need both parts)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
Preheat oven to 275.
Mix the flour and cinnamon in a small bowl until blended.
In a larger bowl, cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the egg yolk and the vanilla to the sugar/butter mix and beat until combined. Add the flour/cinnamon mix and stir until just blended.
Grease a 9 x 9 pan or spray with nonstick spray. Press the dough into the pan in an even layer. Brush the top lightly with the egg white.
Bake 35 minutes or until lightly browned.
When it comes out of the oven, spread the chocolate chips over the top. Let sit five minutes, then spread into an even layer over the crust (this is easier if you start with the mini-chocolate chips-they melt faster). Sprinkle with the nuts. Chill until the chocolate is firm.
Cut into 24 squares.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Stacked up
It's probably unwise to start cooking an unfamiliar recipe later than your normal dinner time, when you are already both tired and hungry.
Eh, what's life without a few challenges?
I picked up an eggplant last week. Eggplant was a staple when I was growing up, and I hated it. Peeled, layered in a colander with tons of salt, left to dry out, dredged in eggs and breadcrumbs, then pan fried, and finally layered in a pan with tomato sauce - ugh. Eggplant has almost no taste of its own, and by the time you suck out all the moisture and otherwise abuse it, well....
A few years back I tried a casserole that used cubed eggplant, along with sauteed ground turkey, some other veggies and a sauce. Eh. The flavor was fine, but the eggplant was a bit spongy. Yes, I realize it's that way naturally, but Texture Girl here just couldn't handle it.
So a different recipe tonight, Mario Batali's Eggplant Parmesan. It's different from my family recipe, as the eggplant is baked separately first, then layered with mozzarella, basil, Paremesan and sauce before being baked again. The only breadcrumbs are a little bit as a topping.
All right; I really chose the recipe because he makes them in cute little stacks, kind of like those cute little stacked up caprese salads.
Only my eggplant was a tiny, baby one. And I found out later - too late to stop - that my stash of good Parmesan cheese was completely depleted. Oh, and I didn't have any jarred sauce in the house (don't judge) and no frozen homemade stuff, so I had to make a quick tomato sauce as well.
It's a miracle I ate dinner at all tonight.
Actually, it didn't take very long at all to make, along with some whole wheat spaghetti as a side. Taste? Pretty darn good, though next time, I'll bake the eggplant a little longer the first time around, use a full size eggplant and put another layer on.
The finished product:
Eh, what's life without a few challenges?
I picked up an eggplant last week. Eggplant was a staple when I was growing up, and I hated it. Peeled, layered in a colander with tons of salt, left to dry out, dredged in eggs and breadcrumbs, then pan fried, and finally layered in a pan with tomato sauce - ugh. Eggplant has almost no taste of its own, and by the time you suck out all the moisture and otherwise abuse it, well....
A few years back I tried a casserole that used cubed eggplant, along with sauteed ground turkey, some other veggies and a sauce. Eh. The flavor was fine, but the eggplant was a bit spongy. Yes, I realize it's that way naturally, but Texture Girl here just couldn't handle it.
So a different recipe tonight, Mario Batali's Eggplant Parmesan. It's different from my family recipe, as the eggplant is baked separately first, then layered with mozzarella, basil, Paremesan and sauce before being baked again. The only breadcrumbs are a little bit as a topping.
All right; I really chose the recipe because he makes them in cute little stacks, kind of like those cute little stacked up caprese salads.
Only my eggplant was a tiny, baby one. And I found out later - too late to stop - that my stash of good Parmesan cheese was completely depleted. Oh, and I didn't have any jarred sauce in the house (don't judge) and no frozen homemade stuff, so I had to make a quick tomato sauce as well.
It's a miracle I ate dinner at all tonight.
Actually, it didn't take very long at all to make, along with some whole wheat spaghetti as a side. Taste? Pretty darn good, though next time, I'll bake the eggplant a little longer the first time around, use a full size eggplant and put another layer on.
The finished product:
 |
| Objects appear larger than they are. True size about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. |
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Let's get cooking
Nothing makes you hungrier than watching episodes of Julia Child's The French Chef while you wait for the grocery order to be delivered.
Although Julia is making veal right now, and I've not been able to afford veal in years.
Has anyone?
The plan for lunch is home made minestrone of sorts. Cannelini beans, carrots, onion, celery. A whole tomato, blanched, peeled and chopped. Vegetable broth and a shot of tomato paste. Italian seasoning, salt & pepper. Chopped kale for just a minute at the end to wilt.
No pasta; the beans have enough starch in them. Besides, you have to have bread to sop up the very last of your bowl of soup.
Better start chopping.
Although Julia is making veal right now, and I've not been able to afford veal in years.
Has anyone?
The plan for lunch is home made minestrone of sorts. Cannelini beans, carrots, onion, celery. A whole tomato, blanched, peeled and chopped. Vegetable broth and a shot of tomato paste. Italian seasoning, salt & pepper. Chopped kale for just a minute at the end to wilt.
No pasta; the beans have enough starch in them. Besides, you have to have bread to sop up the very last of your bowl of soup.
Better start chopping.
Monday, July 15, 2013
The jewel in the crown
About the furthest we got from basic American meat-and-potatoes for the meals of my youth were Italian dishes (my mother's heritage) and one, maybe two German dishes (to keep my dad happy). I'm not entirely sure my mother has even had Mexican food - ever.
I'm willing to try just about anything, within reason. I'm even willing to cook strange things (just ask any of my past dinner guests - what else are friends for?), provided the ingredients are fairly easy to find and not exorbitantly expensive.
Tonight's dinner hailed from India, via Britain. The recipe came from the BBC Good Food website - Chicken Balti.
Converting the measurements from metric to imperial was the hardest part of the dish, but with the aid of Mr. Google, the correct portions were calculated. I will confess - the curry paste I used was of the "mild" variety, almost too mild. Cashews didn't make it onto the grocery list, but would have added that wonderful crunch and saltiness. Coriander (cilantro to those of you who prefer the American/Latin American name) isn't my favorite flavor. While I don't have fresh on hand, I do have dried...and forgot to put it in.
It almost sounds like a different dish.
No matter, it will make it onto the rotation based on taste, not just to use up the curry paste. Next time around, I'll add home made naan.
A friend who follows food fads nutritional research was pushing me to try quinoa. I'd had it once before, in a soup at a friend's house, and hadn't been impressed. After tasting the Chicken Balti, I think perhaps it was the rest of the soup I didn't like, not the quinoa. In this dish, it worked quite well.
Note for the future: When one has quinoa, couscous, panko breadcrumbs and barley all in translucent tupperware containers in the cupboard, it may be a good idea to label the outside of the containers, rather than just putting the little slips of cardboard with the cooking instructions inside with the grains.
I'm willing to try just about anything, within reason. I'm even willing to cook strange things (just ask any of my past dinner guests - what else are friends for?), provided the ingredients are fairly easy to find and not exorbitantly expensive.
Tonight's dinner hailed from India, via Britain. The recipe came from the BBC Good Food website - Chicken Balti.
Converting the measurements from metric to imperial was the hardest part of the dish, but with the aid of Mr. Google, the correct portions were calculated. I will confess - the curry paste I used was of the "mild" variety, almost too mild. Cashews didn't make it onto the grocery list, but would have added that wonderful crunch and saltiness. Coriander (cilantro to those of you who prefer the American/Latin American name) isn't my favorite flavor. While I don't have fresh on hand, I do have dried...and forgot to put it in.
It almost sounds like a different dish.
No matter, it will make it onto the rotation based on taste, not just to use up the curry paste. Next time around, I'll add home made naan.
A friend who follows
Note for the future: When one has quinoa, couscous, panko breadcrumbs and barley all in translucent tupperware containers in the cupboard, it may be a good idea to label the outside of the containers, rather than just putting the little slips of cardboard with the cooking instructions inside with the grains.
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