Tomatillo Guacamole

I don't know about you but usually I’ll buy tomatillos in their papery husks and put them in a bowl with lemons and limes and wonder why, four months later when I decide I want to use them, there’s nothing there but hard little round sticky things.

So after years of mistreating the tomatillo, I decided to treat it right. Taking note from Martha Rose Shulman’s fabulous Mexican Light cookbook, I tried her Tomatillo Guacamole.

I will be nice to tomatillos from now on. This is a wonderful take on guacamole. The sharp taste of the tomatillos, a bit of garlic, fresh cilantro, jalapeno slices and a big squeeze of lemon juice provides a wonderful spread for homemade corn tortilla chips, a great dip for fresh veggies and a wondrous blop of goodness on top of a special quesadilla. Like the one I cooked for dinner tonight, for example. Sauteed shrimp with a bit of olive oil and hot Spanish paprika on top of refried black beans flavored with ground cumin and ground chipotle pepper topped with caramelized onions, flipped back and forth on a hot griddle, served with a bit of sour cream.

Hey, it’s Monday. You need to start the week off with a bang, right?


Tomatillo Guacamole
Adapted from Martha Rose Shulman’s Mexican Light

4 large fresh tomatillos, roasted in the oven until they blacken, cooled and peeled
1 large spoonful garlic confit
Fresh cilantro to taste
4-5 sliced pickled jalapeno slices
A good squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large ripe avocado, peeled and diced

Put the roasted tomatillos, garlic confit, cilantro, and jalapeno slices in blender and combine til smooth.
Add to diced guacamole in bowl and season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Then squeeze the lemon (half a large lemon) over. Stir gently.

Makes about 1-/1-2 cups.

Click here for a printable recipe!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Tomatillo Guacamole

Garlic Confit

Ok it’s true. I’m a nut for garlic confit.
I use it constantly.

I can’t help it.

It’s my most favorite discovery in years…well, other than Groom, but that’s a different story. Yes, I did blog about it last year, but the requests from readers and friends led me to make it the subject of its own post. It is most definitely post-worthy.

It’s quick, easy to make and the benefits are huge.

You get wonderful garlic oil that can go in salad dressings, or drizzled over home fries, brushed on grilled lamb chops…or even swirled through a bit of cream cheese (it was late and we were hungry!).

Not to mention soft sweet garlic cloves that mush beautifully in tomato sauce, or thrown artfully on a pizza, or stuffed in tomatoes topped with grated Manchego cheese and bread crumbs for a quick broiling to accompany roast chicken. I’ve swirled it into macaroni and cheese that is made by someone other than myself and has been known to be a lifesaver.

I could go on forever, but you need to get out and get a bag o’ garlic and start your own love affair with confit.

You’ll thank me for this over and over.

Garlic Confit
Inspired by A Chicken in Each Granny Cart (thank you again, Ann)

You’ll need 20 heads of garlic, separated into cloves, paper husks rubbed off with your fingers, last husk left on.
Put into 2 quart saucepan. Cover with extra virgin olive oil.
Set over medium low heat and bring to a good simmer. Remove from heat, cover and let sit for at least 30 minutes. Oil will be cooled and you can test a clove to be sure it’s soft. If not, you can put back on the stove, bring up to the simmer and repeat the process. Drain the garlic, reserving the oil. Take the cloves and squeeze them into a quart jar. When you’re through with this, pour the reserved garlic oil over the cloves in the jar, put the top on it and store in the refrigerator.

I usually call for “a good spoonful of garlic confit” in the recipes on Feeding Groom. At our house, it’s a soup spoon. You’ll get to where you know how much to use. You’ll be making this as much as I do before you know it!

One Year ago on Feeding Groom

Garlic Confit

Cannelini and Broccoli Rabe Soup

Broccoli rabe and I have become very close.

It’s my new favorite bitter green.

Raw it’s got a whang to it that I thought only belonged in old tennis shoes.
Cooked in boiling water and cooled in ice water, it mellows into a spicy vegetable that adds its own special touch to soup and pasta. As a sautéed side dish flavored with crushed red peppers and garlic, it pairs well with grilled meats and poultry.

Here, it’s the star in a mellow white bean soup perfect for a cold winter’s night in front of the fire.

Cannelini and Broccoli Rabe Soup
Adapted from a recipe for Kale and White Bean Stew Bon Appetit Magazine February 2009

1 large bunch broccoli rabe, washed, stems trimmed and chopped
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped shallots
1 cup chopped fennel
1 cup chopped carrots
1 large spoonful garlic confit, smashed
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large cans cannelini beans, rinsed
1 cup dry white wine
4 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves
1-½ tsp dried thyme
Splash of sherry vinegar
¼ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

Bring large pot of water to boil, salt it generously and add broccoli rabe. Cook for five minutes. Remove from boiling water to bowl with ice water to stop the cooking. Drain the rabe and squeeze the water from the cooked vegetable. Set aside.

Heat large Dutch oven over medium high heat and add a couple of swirls extra virgin olive oil. When oil gets wavy, add the shallots, fennel, carrots and garlic confit and cook for about 1 minutes, stirring often, til golden. Season well with the coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the white wine and bring to slow boil and cook for five minutes. Add the cannelini, thyme, bay leaves and chicken stock and cook for about 35 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, blend soup for a few minutes with the blender to mash up the beans to desired thickness. Add the broccoli rabe and cook for five minutes. Add the splash of sherry vinegar and the parsley right before serving. Season to taste with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Serves 4 generously.

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Cannelini and Broccoli Rabe Soup

Short Ribs Braciole

Fine and you?

It’s been a nice holiday break around the Red Brick Ranchero. Wild “goings-on”, as they say.

Standing rib roast, flourless dark chocolate truffle cake and one of the better Christmas Eves ending with my great great great somebody’s eggnog that makes your eyes water to grilled lobster tails and old and new friends gathering on New Year’s Eve. Never a dull moment!

This past weekend, Groom requested short ribs. And being the loving person that I am, I said,
“well, if we must.”

I know, I know. But I love short ribs.

This recipe is from Andrew Carmellini’s new cookbook, Urban Italian. And it’s a good one.

I’d seen Braciole in several cookbooks, usually a flattened piece of beef rolled with cheese, prosciutto and hard boiled eggs, browned and braised in a simple tomato sauce.

This recipe takes the simplicity of the tomato sauce, the salty flavor of pancetta and spicy crushed red pepper to make a memorable meal from short ribs.

No eggs., no rolling up anything. Just easy.

Fine with me!

Short Ribs Braciole
Liberally Adapted from Urban Italian by Andrew Carmellini and Gwen Hyman

¼ pound pancetta, diced
2-3 lbs boneless beef short ribs, trimmed of fat as much as you care to do
Coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 medium sweet yellow onion, chopped
1 large spoonful garlic confit, smashed
Crushed red pepper flakes
4 cups whole canned San Marzano tomatoes
½ cup red wine

¼ cup pine nuts, chopped
A couple of swirls of extra virgin olive oil
½ bagel, not toasted and whirled in food processor til bread crumb texture
1 tbsp Turkish oregano
¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh Italian parsley
2-3 tbsp grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Over medium high heat, cook pancetta in large Dutch oven til the fat renders, stirring occasionally to keep from sticking. Season short ribs with salt and pepper to taste and add to pan. Brown on all sides and remove from pan. Add onion and cook til softens, about five minutes. Add garlic confit and a couple of good shakes of crushed red pepper flakes.

Add the ribs back to the pan and squeeze the tomatoes into the pan along with their juice. Bring to a low boil, cover and put in the oven to cook for 2-1/2 hours or until you can stick a fork in the ribs and they fall apart. Take out of the oven and add the red wine to bring the sauce together. Let sit over very low heat.

Toast the pine nuts over low heat about five minutes and then add a bit of extra virgin olive oil and then add the bagel crumbs. Add oregano and fresh parsley, stir well, remove from heat and grate in the cheese.
Plate the short ribs, (we served it with a couple of new potatoes), top with pine nut mixture and serve.

Serves 3-4 generously.
(I did this in the slow cooker, setting it on high for 3 hours. Worked beautifully!)

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Short Ribs Braciole

Pan Sauteed Pork Chops with Braised Fennel and Gorgonzola

Simplicity is the order of the day around here. This time of year and the year that we are having dictates some sort of simplicity would be welcome anywhere.

And that is the beauty of this dish.

This easy method of cooking pork chops on top of the stove presented last year by Terry B of Blue Kitchen makes a flavorful chop.

The addition of braised fennel and salty sweet Gorgonzola run under the broiler at the last minute takes the chop to an elegant finish.

Easy.

Flavorful.

Delish.

Simple.


Braised Fennel with Gorgonzola
Adapted from Kitchen Conversations by Joyce Goldstein

A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp butter
2 small heads fennel, sliced thinly
1 tbsp garlic confit, smashed
A good splash dry white wine
½ cup homemade chicken stock
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 ounce Gorgonzola, crumbled


Heat a medium saute pan and add the swirls of extra virgin olive oil. And butter. Add the fennel and garlic confit. Cook over medium heat until golden, about 10 minutes. Add the wine and let reduce down, about five minutes. Add the chicken stock and cover the pan. Cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Remove top and let simmer until chops are done.


Pan Sautéed Pork Chops
Adapted from Blue Kitchen
1 tsp fennel seed, crushed
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 to 4 bone-in pork chops, about 8 ounces each
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tbsp butter

Heat a large cast iron (or ovenproof) skillet to medium. Add olive oil. Terry says the oil will start to shimmer (and it does!), stir in fennel seed and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Pat chops dry and season on both sides with salt and pepper. Increase heat to medium-high and add the pork chops , directly on top of herb/garlic mixture. Cover pan and cook chops undisturbed for 5 minutes. Turn chops, cover pan, reduce heat to medium and cook until just cooked through, about 5 minutes for chops 3/4-inch thick.

When chops are done, put braised fennel on top and sprinkle Gorgonzola over the top. Run under the broiler until Gorgonzola melts, no more than five minutes tops.

Enjoy!!

Serves 2-4 depending on how many chops you cook!

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Pan Sauteed Pork Chops with Braised Fennel and Gorgonzola

Lamb Curry

I could tell you that I took a grand picture of this divine lamb curry elegantly served on fine china, possibly the best pic I've done yet, but it didn’t turn out and you would believe me.

But I didn’t.

I took pictures all the way up to when I added the stock and whisked in the Greek yogurt.


And it curdled.

Time stopped. Hysteria ensued.

Cats hid under the piano.

But wait, what would any self respecting food blogger do?

Adapt.

Talk about the incredible flavors this lamb curry has.

Cardamon, cinnamon, bay leaf, garam masala, ginger and garlic… spicy cloves, onion, tomato, smoky hot cayenne.

Talk the ease of prep. Slam bam thank you ma’am. Easy peasy. Cooks like a dream.

And vow to make again til the yogurt whisking becomes second nature.


Lamb Curry
Adapted from Sue L.’s 2002 version in Recipezaar

2 lbs boneless lamb, cut into nice chunks
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
1 large sweet yellow onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 large cinnamon stick
1 tbsp whole black peppercorns
4 whole cloves
1 tbsp ground cardamom
2 tbsp chopped fresh garlic
1 large spoonful garlic confit or 4 big fat cloves garlic, smashed
1 smallish green chile, seeded and chopped (I used jalapeno)
Splash of water
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp garam masala
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup chopped fresh tomato
½ cup Greek yogurt
3 cups chicken stock (if you have lamb stock or beef stock you could use it or just water)
Chopped fresh cilantro
Chutney

In a good sized Dutch oven, heat the swirls of extra virgin olive oil over medium high heat and add the bay leaves, cardamom, cinnamon stick, cloves and peppercorns. When the bay leaves start to cook and release their aromas, reduce the heat to medium, add the onions and cook for about 15 minutes until the onions are golden. In a blender, put ginger, garlic, green chile, and a splash of water. Grind to make a paste.

Raise heat to medium high, add the lamb and the ginger paste and combine well. Season the lamb with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook for about 20 minutes. If the lamb starts to stick, add a bit of liquid to the pan. In my case it was a bit of Shiraz for lack of anything else nearby.

Add turmeric, garam masala, cayenne, tomatoes and coriander and another splash of nearby liquid (aka Shiraz) to keep from sticking and cook for five minutes. Remove lamb from pan and add the stock, raising the heat to high and reduce sauce down about half. Whisk the yogurt into the sauce, add lamb back into the pan and heat over low til flavors blend and you’ve quit freaking out over the yogurt curdling.

Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro.

Serve with jasmine rice, some wondrous homemade mango chutney and candlelight.

Serves 4.

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

Lamb Curry

FG's Chicken Fajita Pasta

Comfort food.

Sometimes you need it because you’ve had a bad day at work.

Sometimes you need it because trying to create something exotic and grand to eat seems positively akin to having a bad day at work.

Then again, sometimes you need it because, well, it’s familiar, tasty, easy, and comforting.

Comforting because you’ll probably have the ingredients in your pantry and freezer.

A little Mexican, a little Italian, a lot of good.

Comfort food.



FG’s Chicken Fajita Pasta

1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp medium chile powder
1 tbsp Spanish hot paprika
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
1-½ tsp garlic powder
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into long strips
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into long strips
1 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into long strips
1 medium Spanish onion, cut in half and then cut into strips
A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
5 boneless chicken thighs, cut into strips
1 14 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
Penne for three people, ready to cook
Shredded sharp cheddar cheese
An avocado, peeled and cut up (if you like)
A handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
Your favorite salsa
Greek yogurt or sour cream

Combine seasonings in small bowl. Rub into the chicken thigh pieces and let sit while you cook the veggies. Swirl extra virgin olive oil in cast iron pan and when oil is wavy add the onion and peppers and cook until soft. Remove from pan and add a bit more olive oil. Add the chicken pieces and cook on one side til golden and turn and cook on the other side.

Start the pasta water and when boiling add the penne and cook 10 minutes.

When the chicken is done, add the peppers and onions back to the cast iron pan and the black beans. Let simmer until pasta is done.

Drain the pasta, reserving ½ cup of the cooking water. Add pasta to the chicken and veggie mix along with the reserved pasta water. Stir well and cover for five minutes over low heat to allow pasta to absorb the flavors.

Serve with shredded sharp cheddar cheese, avocado, cilantro, chopped tomatoes, your favorite salsa and a blop of Greek yogurt or sour cream.

Serves 3 generously.

One Year Ago on Feeding Groom

FG's Chicken Fajita Pasta