Occasionally, I entertain the idea of joining the world of vegetarianism.
I entertained it wholeheartedly years ago only to fall off head first into a lamb chop and pretty much haven’t entertained it at all since then.
I do try to incorporate several meatless meals a week into our food routine, but Groom is not much on them. He tolerates the Hay Stacks and the various pasta sauces. The question always asked after I announce our dinner plans usually is “Could we have some chorizo with that?”, “ Didn’t I see a bit of prosciutto in the fridge?”, “ We have some roast chicken left over …that would be a delectable option.” He has his moments.
I understand his thinking. And I usually pretend that I didn’t hear him (he’s a very patient man with me).
But, last night I did listen.
Because I had to.
I had come across a column by Elaine Louie (she of the divine ONE POT Columns) in the N Y Times called The Temporary Vegetarian which featured a recipe called Chana Punjabi. A chick pea sauce cooked til thick and creamy and served over rice with fresh cilantro, tomatoes and ginger. It looked divine, sounded perfect and was vegetarian and would be easy to do in a pinch.
Absolutely perfect.
Except I only had one can of chick peas and as I was pondering the lack thereof, there was Groom.
“We have roast chicken. It would be great in this.”
He was right.
Chana Punjabi with Chicken
Adapted from Elaine Louie’s adaptation of Heather Carlucci - Rodriguez’s recipe
Extra virgin olive oil
½ large onion, chopped
Small jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped fine
2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Turmeric
2 tsp Garam masala
1 spoonful garlic confit, smushed
6 San Marzano tomatoes, chopped
½ small lemon
1 15 ounce can chickpeas, drained
2 cups chopped roasted chicken
1 cup chicken broth
Small handful fresh cilantro, chopped
Cooked rice
Heat a medium sized sauce pan over medium heat and add a couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil. Add the chopped onion, jalapeno pepper and fresh ginger. Cook til onion is soft and golden, add the smushed garlic confit and tomatoes. Add about a ¼ cup chicken broth, stir to blend and then put in food processor and hit it with a couple of pulses. Add back to the pan on the stove and add all the spices, season with a bit of coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Squeeze half a small lemon into pot.
Add chick peas, and chicken broth to cover bring boil. Add roast chicken and lower heat . Let simmer along while the rice cooks, adding more chicken broth if you need it.
Add chopped fresh cilantro right before serving.
Serves 3 generously.
This was fabulous on rice, but the ultimate side dish is smushed potatoes. I‘m sure there is a support group for people like me who like smushed potatoes with everything. If not, I’ll be happy to start one.
Click here for a printable recipe!
One Year Ago on Feeding Groom
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Chana Punjabi with Roast Chicken
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Anchor Bar Buffalo Chicken Drummettes
What better way to celebrate the possibility of snow last weekend than with two people who grew up in knee deep snow. Both from upstate New York, adventurous cooking buddies who know how to eat.. witness other feastings with them. This time the decision was made to do casual food ahead of time. Sit around and munch and laugh and will it to snow in a place that when it does time stops and grocers celebrate.
Well, we willed it to snow, but apparently our aim was off. We got a dusting and one county to the south of us got 9 inches.
I guess we need to do a bit of adjusting on our mental "wishforsnownometers."
The food was divine: Buffalo chicken wings perfectly cooked.. the recipe from the Anchor Bar in Buffalo…crispy hot spicy and divinely cooled off with celery sticks and creamy blue cheese dressing.
And….the best ribs ever…which seem to taste better in the dead of winter than in the summer..spicy, sweet, sticky … a chunky potato salad and wine, red and white and flowing in all directions.
Snow?
Who needs it!
Anchor Bar Buffalo Chicken Drummettes
from Charley's recipe box
36 chicken drummettes
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp coarse salt
1 cup all purpose flour
1-½ tbsp white vinegar
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/ tsp Worcestershire sauce
¼ tsp coarse salt
6 tbsp Frank’s Louisiana Hot Sauce
6 tbsp unsalted butter
Celery sticks
Blue Cheese Dressing (we used Marzetti’s Gorgonzola because we love it)
Preheat oven to 425.
Toss the drummettes in a large bowl with the oil and a tsp of salt. Put the drummettes into a large plastic bag and add the flour. Shake well, and remove the drummettes from the bag. Shake off excess flour and place on foil lined baking sheet making sure you don’t crowd them. Bake for 20 minutes, turn and bake for 20 more minutes until the drummettes are golden brown and cooked through.
Mix sauce ingredients and heat over low til simmers, and remove from heat.
Transfer drummettes to large bowl and pour sauce over, coating well and serve.
Can be reheated for 15 minutes in 350 oven before serving.
Serves 6.
Click here for a printable recipe!
One Year Ago on Feeding Groom
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Queen Creole Sauce
I think Paul Prudhomme rocks.
He does.
Think about it.
However many years ago he wrote Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen and changed the way people thought about food.
Louisiana food.
He made it accessible, he made it easy and you know the dairy farmers had to be happy about the amount of butter he called for in every recipe.
Wallpaperers were happy too. I had to rewallpaper my kitchen after blackening redfish one night.
Surely other people had the same experience I did.
Red beans and rice became a staple all over the country.
Jambalaya too.
But for me, the best thing Paul Prudhomme did was introduce me to Creole Sauce.
It’s happy with chicken, shrimp, sausage, pork, fish…it’s universal. It takes the great triumvirate of green bell peppers, onions and celery to a whole new art form. And when you throw in bay leaves, white pepper, sweet hot smoked paprika (my touch), cayenne, basil, oregano, thyme (another triumvirate unto itself) you can turn a plain old dinner into something to behold.
That’s why I call her the Queen.
Make some soon.
Keep it in the freezer for a night when you don’t want to cook but want to impress.
For example a little chorizo, a little shrimp, a little rice and the Queen Creole Sauce. you’ll knock ‘em dead.
God save the Queen.
Queen Creole Sauce
Adapted from Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen
A couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil ( you can use 4 tbsp butter like Paul, but if not….)
3/ 4 cup chopped sweet yellow onion
3/ 4 cup chopped celery
3/ 4 cup chopped green bell peppers
1 large spoonful garlic confit, chopped
1 cup chopped San Marzano tomatoes
1 cup juice from the can of tomatoes (make sure the juice is thick or use a decent jarred tomato sauce)
1 1-/2 cup chicken stock
Freshly ground black pepper and coarse salt to taste
1/ 4 tsp ground white pepper
2 bay leaves
½ heaping tsp dried sweet basil
½ heaping tsp smoked sweet paprika
½ heaping tsp dried Turkish oregano
½ heaping tsp dried French thyme
A big pinch of sugar
A good swirl of Tabasco
Put a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat and throw in the onion, green bell pepper and celery and cook til onion is translucent. Add all the seasonings, stir and let it cook for a few minutes. Add the garlic confit, tomatoes and cook for five minutes and then add the tomato sauce, sugar, chicken stock and Tabasco. Let cook for about 25 minutes. Adjust seasoning. Remove the bay leaves before serving.
Makes about 3 cups.
Freezes like a dream!
Click here for a printable recipe!
One Year Ago on Feeding Groom
Monday, February 23, 2009
Braised Pork Loin in Tomatillo-Chipotle Sauce
Before....
After...
One thing leads to another.
Always.
This beautiful braised pork loin in a tomatillo chipotle sauce led to a black bean and pork stew over twice cooked new potatoes topped with a cool salad of mixed greens, campari tomatoes finished with fresh avocado, a squeeze of lime, a splat of sour cream and fresh cilantro.
Two entirely different approaches to one main dish.
Too good.
Braised Pork Loin in Tomatillo Chipotle Sauce
Adapted from Rick Bayless Mexico One Plate at a Time
2 pounds pork loin roast
10 tomatillos, husked and rinsed
5 plum tomatoes, rinsed
1 chipotle en adobo sauce
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Big spoonful garlic confit
1-1/2 cups chicken broth
1 large sweet yellow onion, sliced thin
5 medium Yukon gold potatoes, washed and halved
Do a good swirl extra virgin olive oil in a Dutch oven large enough to hold the pork roast. Heat medium high. Add the pork roast…brown about five minutes on both sides. Season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Remove from the Dutch oven and set aside.
Add the sliced onion to the Dutch oven and cook til caramelized, about 20 minutes. Add the garlic confit and smush into the onions.
Preheat broiler and roast tomatoes and tomatillos til blackened in oven, whirl in a blender and add with 1-1.2 cups chicken broth to caramelized onion and garlic. Add the fresh cilantro. Lower oven to 325 degrees put the pork in onion tomatillo sauce, cover it and put in the oven for 30 minutes.
Boil the Yukon gold potatoes in salted water for 20 minutes. When the pork has cooked for 30 minutes add the potatoes to the pork. Let cook 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for five minutes before slicing. Sprinkle with a bit of fresh cilantro before serving.
Serves 4 generously.
Click here for a printable recipe!
Black Bean and Braised Pork Stew on Twice Cooked Potatoes
I had leftover sauce, potatoes and pork.
Slice the leftover pork. Put in a sauce pan.
Add one can black beans, drained and set over medium heat.
Slice the leftover cooked potatoes.
Heat a medium skillet add a bit of olive oil and put sliced potatoes in the skillet.
Cook, pressing down til hot and then turning several times til golden brown.
Add 1/3 cup chopped cilantro to stew.
Serve potato with stew over. Top with fresh mixed greens, sliced avocado, quartered tomatoes, a splat of sour cream and a squeeze of fresh lime and cilantro.
Serves 3 generously.
One Year Ago on Feeding Groom
Monday, February 16, 2009
Cheese Souffle
Sometimes a Sunday will just wear you out. Could be the anticipation of a Monday, a national holiday, that is not observed at your office, and you have a mental pity party for yourself all day. Or it could be that there is no beach in your back yard, which increases the effect of the mental pity party.
So, what do you do?
Eat cheese. The ultimate comfort food for me in this state. Any kind of cheese. Cream cheese, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, Monterey jack cheese, string cheese, Saga Blue cheese, parmesan cheese, sliced American cheese.
No cheese is safe.
These cheesy moods usually lead to a major caloric indulgence. It could be macaroni and cheese, an over the top cheese and cracker indulgence, cheese dip with the dreaded Velveeta (usually reserved for desperation induced pity parties) or cheese soufflé.
Cheese soufflé is the perfect antidote for a mental pity party. You have to pay attention to what you’re doing.
You can’t jump up and down and stamp your feet because then you won’t have a cheese soufflé.
It’s easy to make, goes great with a baby romaine, avocado and sliced Ruby Red Grapefruit salad with a Dijon mustard vinaigrette and you don’t use every bowl, pot or pan in the kitchen which would send someone else into a pity party.
It does help to keep the appropriate soufflé dish close by, instead of using it for, say, a dog water bowl.
Hence the fact that the above picture looks like the soufflé didn’t rise, which it did, beautifully, into fluffy, cheesy lightness. You just can’t tell because the non dog water bowl soufflé dish is too big.
A couple of bites into these mind altering dish and the Sunday pity party is a thing of the past. You’re rejuvenated, ready to take on the world Monday morning, while no one else is working.
But you’re okay with that.
Manchego Cheese Souffle
Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume 1 by Julia Child and Simone Beck
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Grate about 3 tbs parmesan cheese. Butter a 6 cup soufflé dish well and sprinkle with the parmesan cheese. Set aside.
Heat 1 cup milk to boiling.
Melt 3 tbsp butter over medium heat. Add 3 tbsp flour and stir with a wooden spoon about a minute over the heat til thick. Remove from heat, add boiling milk all at once and whisk til smooth. Return to heat and stir about 2 minutes. Add a good pinch of nutmeg, a pinch of cayenne pepper and a touch of coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. .
Separate 5 eggs. Beat 5 egg whites with a pinch of salt into stiff peaks using hand mixer. Use 4 yolks, adding one at a time to hot sauce and whisk til each yolk is incorporated. Then add about a quarter of the beaten egg whites into sauce and fold in well. Add 3/4 cup grated Manchego cheese. Then add the remaining whites, folding in carefully so the mixture remains light and fluffy.
Put soufflé into prepared soufflé mold and put in the oven. Immediately reduce the heat to 375 and cook for 35 minutes.
Do not open the oven door for at least 20 minutes. Do not put on dance music or allow a
Great Pyrenees to run through your kitchen during this time.
Remove from oven and serve immediately.
Serves 3 generously.
Click here for a printable recipe!
One Year Ago on Feeding Groom
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Korean Short Ribs
Short ribs. Again.
It’s gotten to be a compelsion, which is a compulsion with a mind of its own.
Compelsions make plans for you, you don’t make plans for compelsions.
You make a list and head to the grocery. Once in the electronic doors, the compelsion takes over..
It’s like I have blinders on. My eyes glaze over. What list?
I walk straight past the produce, the fish, the bakery and head straight to the meat counter.
Next thing I know, I’m in the check out line with a bag of dark chocolate M&Ms and 5 pounds of short ribs.
Groom is dispatched with haste back to the store to get what was on my list in the first place. He doesn’t have compelsions. Unless it’s about a song. And you can’t eat that.
This recipe is from the massive yellow Gourmet Cookbook. It requires little or no talent in the kitchen at all ( a first for something from Gourmet) ,a grill and a bit of prior planning. And for your minimal effort, you get a rich, sticky, caramelized short ribs that need little more than a bit of rice, maybe a salad and those dark choco M&Ms.
And, maybe, a compelsion.
I’m starting a support group.
Korean Short Ribs
Adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook
4-1/2 pounds boneless beef short ribs
3-5 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
Couple of dashes Worcestershire
Couple of dashes fish sauce
4 swirls toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup chopped scallions
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 spoonful garlic confit
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
freshly ground black pepper to taste
Sprinkle the short ribs with the sugar on both sides, cover with plastic and let sit in fridge four hours. (they can sit up to eight hours in fridge with just the sugar on them).
Put everything but scallions in blender and whirl together. Add the scallions and pour over the short ribs and let marinate minimum 2 hours.
Grill 15 minutes total. let sit for five.
Serves 4 generously.
Click here for a printable recipe!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Claudia's Osso Buco
I am a huge fan of Osso Buco.
HUGE FAN.
I have made variations of this for years. However, in my entire history of
osso-buco-ing, there is one version that stands out.
In its own field.
And it’s this one from cookeatFret.
You know Claudia, if you don’t, you need to.
This chick can cook.
Especially rustic Italian. Her specialty.
Simple.
Easy.
Legendary.
Follow this recipe to the letter. I did not change one thing. I even served the green beans with it.
You make this, people will talk about it for years.
I know, I made this last year.
They’re still talking.
Claudia's Osso Buco from cookeatFret
veal shank sliced in 2 - 3 inch pieces
2 - 3 T olive oil
flour for dredging
salt and pepper
3 ounces pancetta - finely chopped
6 or 7 anchovies - finely chopped
white wine - 1 cup
veal or chicken stock - about 2 cups
lightly flour the shank pieces and lightly salt and pepper
brown the shanks well on both sides in the olive oil
remove to a plate and set aside
add the pancetta to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes on low to medium heat
add the anchovies for about another 3 minutes and then the garlic for another 2
deglaze the pan with the white wine and reduce it down almost all the way
add back the veal and cover the meat halfway with the stock
cover the pan and simmer for 90 minutes
remove the shanks carefully - i didn’t tie mine and they held together just fine
strain the liquid that’s left in the pan (i saved the pancetta pieces for a pizza later in the week)
and then return strained liquid - i had about 2/3 cup - to the pan and add about 2 or 3 T butter to make a sauce.
Serves 2 happy humans!
Click here for a printable recipe!
