Delicious Orangy Goodness

In my attempt to eat more healthfully, watch my budget AND cook new recipes in this new year, I cracked open one of my forgotten cookbooks. The Best 30 Minute Recipe is published by the fastidious folks from Cook’s Illustrated, so you know the methods are sound and flavors full. Really, my only gripe with Cook’s has been that many of their recipes are too involved and tedious, forsaking time for taste. Not so with this collection. The only problem I have with this cookbook is that the 30 minute chicken stew recipes involve partially cooking the chicken in the microwave. Grossness. I will gladly tack an extra 20 minutes onto the cooking time to avoid the sin of microwaving meat.

Anyway, there are lots of recipes that sound promising, such as Caldo Verde or Ravioli with Butternut and Sage. Later this week I’m making Tamale Pie. Simplest thing in the world, I know, but what sounds better than chili and cornbread on a cold night?

And yesterday, I made Carrot Ginger Soup. I only had to purchase three ingredients, everything else I had on hand. That’s my kind of soup. The plan is to eat it with a salad and hunk of hearty bread for lunch this week. My only substitution was skim milk for whole milk. I’m not buying whole milk for one recipe.

Weekly New Recipe #1 = success.

Carrot Ginger Soup

3 cups low sodium chicken stock
1.5 lbs carrots, chopped coarse
2 Tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
2 Tbsp grated ginger
Salt and pepper
.75 cup whole milk (I subbed .5 cup skim milk + .25 cup light sour cream)
.25 cup orange juice

Bring stock and carrots to a boil in a covered saucepan, reduce heat and set aside. In a Dutch oven or similar soup-making device, sauté onion in the butter over medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add ginger and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Add broth and carrots to the onions. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for 15 minutes or until carrots are tender. Puree soup with an emulsion blender or in batches in a traditional blender. The emulsion blender yields a chunkier, more “rustic” soup, but it is +10 easier and -10 messier, so that’s what I used. After the soup is smoothified, add the milk and OJ. Season to taste, serve with chopped chives if you’re feeling fancy.

Thanksgiving Eve

Preparations are underway already. The bread is cubed and drying for stuffing. The pumpkin cheesecake bars are baking. The wine is being sipped. I even have something resembling table decor. I know, I think I must have hit my head on something.

My favorite Thanksgiving food, to eat and to cook, is stuffing. When I was wee my maternal grandmother's stuffing was the best. I made it once as an adult; it is not actually the best. It is kinda gross, in fact, a mixture of finely ground hamburger buns, hard boiled egg, celery and oregano, it was clearly a product of the 60s. I wished that stuffing was nearly as good as I remember it to be, since it would be nice to have a family recipe to turn to.

Instead I usually look up a couple different recipes and end up improvising. This year I'm using a mix of white and wheat bread, though in years past I've used challah or a baguette. The flavorings are dried apricots, cherries and pecans, along with the traditional celery and onions. Herbs are mostly from the garden (that's how mild the weather has been, I've still got herbs growning!). I decided on fruit and nut because it turns out that all my recipes this year have nuts in them. Look at all the bags of stuff from Trader Joe's!

Best leftovers ever.

The first time I had chilaquiles was for breakfast, served with huevos divorciados. Basically just stale tortillas cooked in sauce. Nothing fancy, but just. so. good.

I've gotten chilaquiles at restaurants a few times, but this weekend I finally made the dish myself. Out came my Rick Bayless cookbook and away I went, with some additions. I put leftover cooked chicken into the mix, along with peppers from the garden. I don't know what kind of peppers they are, probably Anaheim.

Ingredients

12 corn tortillas, cut into sixths and baked until crispy
1 (28 ounce) can whole canned tomatoes, drained
3 chipotle chiles in adobo
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 chopped medium onion
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 1/2 cups chicken broth (vegetable broth can be used if you prefer)
salt
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, coarsely shredded
1/4 cup queso fresco
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions

Pour the drained tomatoes and the chipotles (seeds and all) into a blender. Puree the mixture.

In a large Dutch oven with a lid, heat the vegetable oil and cook about the onion, stirring regularly, for about 7 minutes or until golden. I also added my homegrown peppers at this point.


Add the garlic and cook for another minute, stirring so garlic doesn't burn.

Increase heat to medium-high and add tomato/chipotle puree. Stir until the mixture thickens up a bit, about 4 or 5 minutes. Although Bayless' recipe called for the chicken to be served more like a garnish, this is where I added my chicken. I wanted it heated and seasoned through.


Stir in the broth, and salt to taste. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the chips and stir to coat. Bring sauce and chips to a rolling boil again. Cover the pan, turn off the heat and allow to stand for 5 minutes (no longer, because the chips should be a bit chewy and not mushy). Serve with cilantro and cheese sprinkled on top.



This would be super easy to cut down to smaller portions, and next time I have a few leftover corn tortillas I'll definitely make chilaquiles again.

Love Me Tender Tartlets

On Wednesday I attended a "Top Chef" viewing party. Just sitting around watching "Top Chef" isn't much of a party, so we all made a dish inspired by Las Vegas, the location for this season. Bridget, our hostess, made it clear that our food could be either "classy or trashy." Limitless possibilities.

I've never been to Vegas. Everyone yells at me when I say that, but I'm not into gambling or strip clubs, so that removes 75% of the draw right there. When I think Vegas, I think Elvis. And no food says Elvis like a peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich. Just slapping together a PBB&B doesn't really count as cooking in my book. So I decided to fancy it up a bit. I wanted appetizer-size portions, as this was going to be served at a party. Maybe this would be the time to put my mini-muffin pan to use.

Jim deserves the credit for this dish, really. He came up with making a shell out of peanut butter cookie and filling it with banana pudding. Inspired! And listen, I know just moments ago I complained that making a sandwich isn't cooking, so using store-bought cookie dough is kinda hypocritical. It is, I fully admit that. But I have a job and stuff, and I can't just be making cookies from scratch all the time. I know how to make peanut butter cookies. There is no challenge for me there. So I cheated. I used a tube of cookie dough. So shoot me. This was the first of many, eh, challenges. Because cookie dough rises. A lot. A lot more than you think it will when you smoosh it down into a mini-muffin tin.

I melon-ballered my way out of ruin. The cookie crusts weren't exactly what I had in mind, but they were peanut-buttery, and that was their purpose in life.


Next, the filling. Pudding is a common vehicle for banana, and it would dollop into my crusts nicely. Plus, I had a ton of eggs on hand. So I made banana pudding. From scratch. I'm not super into banana, but this was good. Panic did set in for a moment, that moment when you think, I've been whisking an awfully long time, and the recipe said this was going to start thickening. Why isn't it thickening?! Why can't I even make stupid pudding? I am a failur.... Oh, wait, now it's getting thick. Phew. Nevermind.


And for the final touch: BACON! So, this is sorta weird, I know, and I was kinda nervous. I didn't know who would be at this party, maybe they would think I was nuts. Maybe they wouldn't be the kind of people to try chocolate-covered bacon on a stick or a Maple Bacon Latte. But then I thought, do I really want to be associating with people like that? No, I do not. So I fried up my bacon and sprinkled it on top of those innocent little tartlets and they were transformed into Something Different.


Did my Love Me Tender Tartlets jettison to the top of my go-to party food list? No. But they'll go down as one of the more interesting dishes I've made. And I think it's safe to say they definitely fit the bill of a "Top Chef," Vegas inspired dish.

Cooking is Back!

I haven't cooked in ages. Which is sad, because I pride myself on being a fairly decent home cook. I don't think I've actually cooked anything in over a month. Pathetic. But I was actually home alone this Saturday night, so I decided to go for it.

Here's the article that finally got me cooking again. The Nigella Lawson recipe particularly appealed to me since I love Moroccan spices.

Root Vegetable Couscous

3 T olive oil
2 med. onions, quartered & sliced thickly
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 t each ground cinnamon, cumin & coriander
1/2 t paprika
generous pinch of saffron (if you have it around)
3 med. carrots, peeled & cut into a 1 inch dice
2 med. parsnips, peeled & cut into 1 inch dice
2 medium turnips, peeled & cut into a 1 inch dice
1 small kabocha or butternut squash, peeled & cut into a 1 inch dice
1/2 med. rutabaga, peeled & cut into a 1 inch dice
3 zucchini sliced 1/2 inch thick (you can peel if you like)
4 1/2 cut chicken, beef or vegetable stock
1/2 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with liquid
2/3 c sultanas
1 1/2 c (14 oz each) chickpeas
salt
few drops chili oil or 1 t harissa if you have it

1/2 c pine nuts
4 c quick-cooking couscous
2 T butter

1. Heat the olive oil in a big, deep pot & turn the onions in it for a few minutes.

2. Add the garlic, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, paprika and saffron, and stir over low to medium heat for 5 minutes.

3. Add the carrots, parsnips, turnips, squash, rutabaga and zucchini and turn briskly.

4.After about 5 minutes add the stock, tomatoes, orange zest, sultanas and chickpeas. Turn again & try to get everything at least partially covered by the stock. Add more stock or water if needed. Season with salt.

5. Cook for 20-30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender but not mushy (at least not all of them - some will be beginning to fray around the edges, and that is good) and the liquid has formed a thin but not watery sauce.

6.Taste and add chili oil or the harissa if you want it to have more punch. Serve with couscous, pine nuts.




I doctored it up quite a bit. Trader Joe's had a pre-cut medley of squash, turnips and yams, so I just used that plus a couple carrots and turnips. I attempted to buy parsnips, but was in a hurry and accidentally ended up with daikon. Oops. They'll make a tasty snack tomorrow, I guess!



I couldn't get the effing tin of paprika open (seriously, you need like tin snips to get in that thing) so I used a pinch of cayenne to add heat. Plus Melinda's XX hot sauce instead of harissa. I skipped the pine nuts, I was going to use almonds instead but totally forgot and didn't miss them at all.

Do you know what sultanas are? Me either, until this recipe. They're just white grapes, easy-peasy. British people use such fancy words! Aubergines, brown sauce, etc. I happened to be watching Jacques Pepin today, and he referred to golden raisins as sultanas, so I used raisins instead of actual grapes. We may never know Nigella's actual intended ingredient, but it turned out just fine.

And one last swap, I used Israeli couscous instead of regular, the box had been been sitting lonely and unused in the pantry for months. It's bigger than regular couscous and I love the texture. Think round orzo.



I'm so glad I finally washed some dishes and cooked something. It reminded me of what I love about cooking: being creative with a recipe, that sense of accomplishment when you ladle up your dinner and of course a delicious meal.

Plays well with stouts

I've been cooking less often than usual, but what does get made has been pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. Now's the time of year for hearty comfort food, which I usually don't feel like taking the time to make. Here's the last few months of standout cooking.

For Thanksgiving I was planning some fancy pies, but when a six-year-old requests a classic pumpkin you can't say no. So I made pumpkin and pecan. Lucky for me I married a man who loves to make pie crust, so he did the heavy lifting.



A while back I made Sunday pot roast. I didn't get the chance to take a picture of the final product, but here's the meat looking all delicious:



And here are the other ingredients:


Notice the Founder's Breakfast Stout, an inspired suggestion from my beer- and meat-loving brother-in-law. The roast turned out so well Jim gave me permission to make it again, which is really something since he usually despises hunks of meat like this.

And finally, tonight we had $5 foot-longs from Subway, which is not the most satisfying dinner in all the land. So I did a mental inventory of our cupboard and realized we had all the fixins for bread pudding. Here is the rough recipe:

2 cups milk
hunk of butter
3 eggs
2/3 cup brown sugar
vanilla
cinnamon
nutmeg
3 cups of torn up pieces of French bread

Heat up the milk and butter until sightly warm and the butter is melted. Whisk in the eggs, sugar and seasonings. Pour over the bread pieces in an 8x8 buttered pan. Sprinkle in some pecans and chocolate chips. Bake for 45 minutes. Eat that shit!

See, I clearly got the last bit of the instructions right:

Spider Cake

Every Halloween, my agency has a scary dessert contest. Last year I did a gingerbread man graveyard massacre. Inspired by this pumpkin patch bloodbath.

Well, I wanted to up the ante this year, so after some searching online I came up with doing a spider cake. Her legs are pirouettes glued together with frosting. Her body is a bundt cake and her head is carved from a couple eight inch round cakes. Eyes are marshmallows and mini chocolate chips. And the best part? There are guts! She was filled with whipped cream and raspberry coulis.

As you can see, she was gored by the hungry mob. I didn't win the baking contest, but I'm always satisfied when my creations are devoured.