Jambolicious!

At our farmer's market over the weekend we picked up a pack of chorizo sausages from our local vendor. So far all of their products have been really good, but I hadn't had the chorizo yet. I wasn't sure what I would make and just tossed them in the freezer for the time being. As I planned out what to make for the next few days I had two things in mind. Use the chorizo and make something I could have leftovers for lunch. As the weather continued to cool down, I was craving something spicy, warm and filling. Jambalaya! Now, traditionally, jambalaya used Andouille sausage, not chorizo. There are also a million ways to direct your jambalaya from there. I wasn't concerned. Chorizo was gonna work for me! Oh, and forgive me Cajun spirits. My trinity didn't include celery--I forgot to get some! I subbed in some ground celery seed, crossed myself and said a prayer instead.

Jambalaya

I sort of made my jambalaya up as I went along. I started by cooking the sausages. I choose to keep them in their casing and cook them whole. I thought about removing the casing and crumbling the meat up, but I wanted bigger chunks of meat. I'm pleased with the direction I went. Cooking the sausages first renders out some of their fat, which I then used to cook the rest of the ingredients.

After remove the sausages from the pot, I sauted chunks of diced chicken. When that was cooked through, I removed it and moved on to the onions and garlic. I had to cross myself again here, as I didn't follow the true trinity! The peppers. I'll tell you more in a minute. While the onions were cooking, I moved on to spices. I used about a TB of cajun seasoning and 1 tsp of ground celery seed, 1/4 tsp of chipotle chile and chimayo chile for some heat. I also added a TB of Beau Monde seasoning. I dropped in a full bay leaf as well. I returned the chicken and sausages to the pot and poured in a 14 oz can of petite diced tomatoes and 4 cups of chicken stock. Carefully stir in 1 cup of uncooked rice. Bring to a simmer then reduce the heat to barely a bubble. At this point I added the peppers-diced green and red. I do this so the peppers don't cook too far and become mushy. I like them to still have some texture and be "just soft." In the past, if I saute them with the onions and celery (when I have it), they almost become too mushy for me.

Cook slowly until the rice is just cooked through. If you want to use shrimp or other seafood in your jambalaya, now is the time to add it. The residual heat will cook the tender morsels, without over cooking them.

Turn the heat off. I let my jambalaya sit for a few minutes before serving. The rice continues to absorb liquid and flavor.

Serve hot, in large bowls with large spoons! Enjoy.

Pepper Steak

Each time I make Pepper Steak, I'm reminded how it was the first "Chinese" food I had. It was made a home and I'm sure it was more bland than what I'm making now, but I believe it was introduction to soy sauce. I like this dish for it's simplicity in preparation and for the complexity of flavor notes you get with Asian cuisine. Ginger, garlic, salty soy sauce, sweet hoisin, tangy-smelly fish sauce. Heat from jalapeno and hot sauce. More sweet from the peppers and onions. All very good. For some reason, this was far better than in the past when I've made it. Don't know why, but it's a keeper.

Quick Dinner

Hey all...no photos...sorry, boring post, feel free to skip.

After eating one stale cinnamon muffin and two cups of tea yesterday, when dinner time rolled around, I actually was feeling hungry for the first time in 3 or 4 days! Something needed to happen quick, but I wasn't prepared to do anything involving too much time or effort. What I threw together was great and I think will be a great basic recipe for something in the the future.

In a medium/large pot over medium-high heat, add 1-2 TB of olive oil. When hot, add chicken breasts that have been seasoned with salt & pepper. Leave for four minutes per side. Remove to a plate. Optional, add 1 TB of butter. If not, make sure there is a little oil in the pan and add 1 sliced shallot. Saute for a quick minute or two, until they become translucent and fragrant. Add just shy of a full cup of uncooked rice, we used jasmine. Toss to coat in the remaining oil or butter in the pan. Cook, stirring regularly for 1-2 minutes. The rice will start to toast. Add 1 teaspoon of a seasoning/spice blend of your choice. I happened to use this Ozark Seasoning from Penzey's. Stir to incorporate and allow the spices to bloom and release their flavors. Pour in 1/4 cup of dry white wine. Stir. As the wine cooks down, add 2 cups of water or broth. Stir well. Place the chicken back in the pot, nestled in among the uncooked rice. Bring to a simmer, turn the heat to low. Cover and let cook for 20 minutes. When it's done, the rice should be tender, slightly 'creamy,' almost risotto like.

One pot meal. Less than thirty minutes. Infinite possibilities. Add veggies you--we didn't have any in the house. Use the spices you like. A curry blend and swapping some coconut milk for 1/2 the water/broth would be awesome. Chili powder and a can of diced tomatoes and some frozen corn. Do try to keep the liquid (water/broth) content to 2 cups. Any more and your final dish might be too soupy.

For the first true meal since getting the flu, it was very satisfying, mildly seasoned, warm and SUPER easy.

Hearty chicken & rice soup

I adapted my wild rice soup recipe to make this hearty chicken and rice soup. Very tasty and filling. The first main change was using a brown and red rice with barley and rye. I also used half beef broth and half chicken broth. The beef broth brought an additional depth of flavor to the soup that is lacking when using prepared broths vs. homemade. Oh, and the original recipe calls for milk, the only dairy in this soup is some butter to cook the onions/carrots and make a roux base.

Here's the rice close up. Lots of good stuff in there. I cooked it probably 75% of the way in the rice maker, then let it finish in the prepared soup. The rice then picks up some of the flavor from the broth.

Here's the rice package. I've found it in the store next to the regular rice, but have also found it in the organic/whole food section of the store.

A Major Change for Next Time

I've shared my opinion on Saffron. I know as a wanna-be foodie, I should love it, but I just don't. It's not the first time this spice has ruined a meal for me. Sad. I am not going to write off this recipe. I will make it again, but I will skip the saffron completely and maybe cut back on the mint, just a touch. For all the work you go through to layer the flavors and with all the great aromatic herbs and spices, you don't want any one to be smothered and suffocated by another arrogant spice. This took me an hour and a half to make, and in the end, I had a few bites and pushed my plate away and had toast with peanut butter for dinner. The saffron was just so ridiculously strong, I couldn't do it.

Anyway, I was making Chicken Biryani and I've had it before and it's lovely, but the minute the saffron crosses the threshold from "I can't taste it" to "did you put anything but saffron in here," for me, it became inedible.

Let's get started shall we.

Here's something that went right. The rice is par-boiled in a broth made with ginger, cinnamon, cumin seeds and cardamom. The cardamom should be in pod form, which I didn't have, so I just added a 1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom to the water. The broth was highly fragrant and wonderfully spiced.


Another major flavor component is fresh mint. Chop finely and mix with freshly chopped cilantro for the lively herbal blend. Next time I will keep the mint, but cut the amount by half. After the saffron, the other flavor I had was muted mint.


The rice is partially cooked, the mixed with saffron and dried fruits such as currants or golden raisins. This turns the rice golden yellow and releases the saffrons flavors.


Another great flavor level...carmelized onions, garlic and jalapenos...all cooked in butter.


Here's the rice stirred up with the raisins. It looks lovely.


The signature of Biryani is layers...rice mixture, onion mixture...

...then seared chicken thighs and mint/cilantro...

...more onions and more rice. Cook for thirty minutes with some of the flavored broth the rice was cooked in. The chicken will be tender and cooked thru and the rice will be light and fluffy.


The plate. Not the prettiest photo, but it should be full of great flavor. Maybe next time...

Spicy Chicken and Coconut

Yesterday I had to work. On a stinky Sunday. Blah! All I could think about the entire time, was..."I'm so hungry I want to make dinner." Dinner was good. Nothing super special, but tasty and filling and used up more stuff I had at home. Gotta try to be as frugal as possible! And this wasn't a bad dish to be frugal with. Chicken--legs and thighs are great here!. Rice. Easy enough. A veg. I had a bell pepper and if I would have used my brain, some frozen veg as well. The only real specialty ingredient was a can of coconut milk!

This is an adaptation of another Everyday Food recipe.

Coconut Chicken Casserole

1 TB olive oil
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, but into large pieces
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 can (14.5 ounces) coconut milk
1 ½ cups chicken broth
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp Sweet Curry Powder
1 tsp hot sauce
2 tsp grated ginger
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole
1 cup jasmine rice
1 red bell pepper (ribs and seeds removed), cut into 1-inch pieces

Directions
1. In a large pan or pot, heat oil over medium-high. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Working in batches if necessary, cook chicken until browned; transfer to a plate (chicken will cook more in step 2).

2. To pot, add coconut milk, broth, ½ cup water, and seasonings (garam masala, sweet curry powder, hot sauce, ginger, garlic cloves); bring to a boil, and stir in rice. Add chicken (with any juices), arranging pieces in a single layer. Cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, without stirring, until rice is almost tender, 15 minutes.

3. Scatter bell peppers on top of chicken mixture; cover, and cook until vegetables are crisp-tender, 8 to 10 minutes.

The chicken and rice are bubbling away. The original recipe called for chicken legs. They would be delicious, as would thighs. So juicy and flavorful. The chicken breast are what I had on hand and worked very well. Next time when I plan this recipe in advance, that's what I will be doing! Cheaper too!

Half way done. Just a few more minutes. Again, the original recipe called for green beans and more bell pepper. I used one pepper as I'm saving the other for later and I forgot the green beans. I'm sure you could add just about any veg you like. Just give it ample time to cook until tender.

Done. Very filling. It was spicy from the heat in the sweet curry and the hot sauce. I didn't have the listed Red Curry Paste--I thought I did, but must have thrown it out. I like the spice combos I used. I think with just coconut and garam masala, it would almost be sweet, so the curry and hot sauce took over a little. Next time a little less hot sauce for a milder spice.

And it's a ONE POT MEAL! Less dishes!

Packaged Indian Flavors

A few weeks ago we had dinner at Mr. D's place and we were talking food and I mentioned I just made Butter Chicken that previous weekend. This was interesting as Mr. D's recent boyfriend was of Indian heritage. The BF gave our friend these various packets for making quick Indian food and this this brand was actually very authentic. Mr. D. gave us this packet and we had it tonight. Good stuff!


You mix the contents of the packet (a spicy paste) with about one cup of plain yogurt and let some chicken parts sit for at least and hour. Then cook. I put the chicken on a foil lined baking sheet and placed them in a hot (425F) oven for 25 minutes, then under the broiler for about another 5 minutes. Done! We served with rice seasoned with Garam Masala and Butter Toasted Almonds. Yum. The only thing missing was a yogurt sauce to cool the heat of the chicken. This packet had a "2 pepper" rating and it was spicy. I think you'd need a pretty high heat threshold for a 3 pepper rating.

A nice simple dinner.

Using my gourd

Round about Halloween, I bought a few pumpkins. I planned on cooking with them right away, but I didn't. They sat around. They decorated the house for Thanksgiving. And the first week of December. So...it's time to start to use the pumpkin for its intended purpose...DINNER!

On Sunday I cleaned up one of the pumpkins; peeled, seeded, diced. My medium sized eatin' pumpkin, not the Jack O' Lantern pumpkins. These smaller pumpkins have more flavor and are farmed for the purpose of consumption. Sometimes they are called "Sugar Pumpkins." After cleaning the pumpkin, I had about 6 cups of diced pumpkin. I divided my bounty into three. One batch for tonight. One for later this week. And one into the freezer. This leaves me one more pumpkin for cookin' later this winter.

My diced pumpkin, after a short bath in boiling veggie stock...until tender. That's some sage sitting there waiting.

Tonight I needed some stock for dinner. I used this brand at Thanksgiving so more foods could be veggie friendly. This isn't a bad brand. It does need some salt...make sure to taste and season appropriately.

And dinner...pumpkin risotto garnished with fresh sage leaves and roasted pumpkin seeds. And a broiled pork chop on the side. Risotto was mild and light today; mostly due to the unsalted broth. But very good!

Dessert...more of this goodness...and boy was it good!

Fried Rice

The other night I made Pineapple Fried Rice for dinner again. Tasty. As I said the first time around, once you take a few minutes to prepare the ingredients, the actually cooking time if very short!


I added bean sprouts this time to add a little more crunch/veg to the mix. But something was off...I don't know what it was, but the dish lacked a little something. It was great! But not as great as the first time around. I'm wondering if I left something out of the recipe? I did notice that I treated the rice a little differently. Last time I spread the rice out on a sheet and put it in a warm oven for a few minutes. This time I just spread it out on the sheet. So maybe the rice was feeling a little too fresh this time around? Maybe I didn't have enough soy sauce?

I was just about finished with cooking and thought this composition looked really great, so I had to snap a photo!

Risotto

Following the basic risotto recipe, we had...

Sausage & Fennel Risotto

I browned 1/2 a pound of italian sausage with a touch of olive oil. When cooked through, I removed the sausage to a plate and added 1 small onion and 1 bulb of fennel, roughly chopped.

When the fennel and onion have softened, add the arborio rice, stir to coat the rice grains with oil. Allow to saute for a moment. Deglaze with white wine. Then begin the patient process of adding chicken stock one ladle full at a time. When the rice is tender and creamy, I added one peeled and diced tomato. Next, I returned the sausage and parmigiano cheese. The final steps, stir in 1 TB fresh, chopped oregano and 1 TB butter. Stir and serve. Garnish with a fennel frond.

Ina Ina Bo Bina Fe Fi Fo Fina...

Dinner last night was a quick version of Ina's Indonesian Ginger Chicken. I didn't know I was making this until right before I left work for home. I ran to the Giant quickly to get what I could...what a sad state that store is in on Monday's...note to self, don't shop on Monday's. The only chicken they had were jumbo packages of legs. I'll make it work. Got the rest of the ingredients and ran home to quickly make the marinade. I had enough time to let them soak for an hour. Having made this before where the chicken really could sit overnight, it makes all the difference in the world.

The nice part of the dinner was my first experimentation with Coconut Rice. I substituted half the water with coconut milk. Toss the whole mess into the rice maker and 25 minutes later, done! Tasty. But next time, I'm going for the full amount of coconut milk. Doing half water and half coconut milk was nice, but the coconut flavor was just barely there. Next time!

Fruity Fried Rice

The short story for dinner tonight. J-lo wanted pineapple. Mmmm??? I happened to be chatting with the Vampire Slayer in Oregon at the time and I asked her about her Pineapple Fried Rice. First...I don't know...I guess there was an outbreak of vampires in beaverland, so she had to leave me. Umpf! Second...pineapple fried rice? The Vampire Slayer was always talking about it and craving it, so I heard about it, but never saw it or tasted it, but I trust her, so here goes.


The recipe she gave me was really basic. I've played around a bit and have added some things.

Pineapple Fried Rice
serves 2-3

3-4 TB vegetable or peanut oil
Pork or Shrimp or Chicken (optional, see note)
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp Chinese Five Spice blend
1 small onion, diced
2 carrots, finely diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 TB grated fresh ginger
1 cup fresh pineapple, 1/4 inch dice (& juice)
1/4 cup diced green/spring onion
2 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp hot sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce, low sodium
Day old rice, about 3-4 cups
1/4 cup loosely packed cilantro, chopped
Next time: A handful of Bean Sprouts

Make sure all your ingredients are prepared and ready to go. This will move fast, just a few minutes.


Add the Chinese Five Spice blend and salt to the pork, toss to coat.

Heat your largest skillet or wok over high heat. When super hot, add the oil. Give it a moment to shimmer, add the meat. Stir for a brief minute, the meat will start to cook.

Add the onions, stir until softened, about a minute. Add the carrot, saute for a minute. Add the garlic and ginger. Stir until fragrant.

Add the pineapple and it's juice, stir to incorporate and heat through. Add the green onions, fish, soy and hot sauces.

Add the rice and stir to fully incorporate. Give a minute or two to absorb the flavors in your pan.

Stir in the cilantro.

Serve Hot.

NOTE: The meat is optional. I was able to get a pack of three thin pork chops. I removed all the fat and sliced thinnly. I would also do the same thing with chicken. If I went with shrimp, I'd clean up and cut in half or smaller bites. If I had shrimp, I'd add them after the carrots, as they will only take a moment to cook.

Oops...I just realized that Ms. Slayer said to add an egg...oops. Maybe next time.

My rice was not day old. So I cooked up a double batch in the rice cooker when I got home. When it was done, I let it steam out for a minute, the spread it out on the pan (sprayed lightly with cooking spray so it didn't stick), the threw it in a warm (300) oven for ten minutes. I think this set the rice up to soak up a little more flavor.

(stupid blogger broke--1 picture missing)


The pork & spices cooking with the onions.

Add carrots, garlic and ginger.

Add the pineapple and some of it's juice.

Green onions and sauces.

Rice!

Cilantro!!

Delicious! It tastes like more!!! And I had another plate full. So much for leftovers for lunch. By taking a few minutes to prepare the ingredients, your dinner will be done in minutes...really, just a few minutes.

Thanks Slayer--we miss you!!!

Shopping Cart Sunday

I've been a little busy, but I haven't been lazy...just haven't had much time for posting.


I made brisket the other day, so we'd have something for lunches this coming week. Really tasty, but this time it was a little dry. I think it was the meat, there wasn't much fat. So I took the cooking liquid and simmered it down to a light gravy, giving the tad dry brisket a little extra lip smackin' flava!


Sunday morning, I experimented in the cookie vain. I will owe you all a recipe on this one! There were two types of cookies; Cherry Blossom Special and "Carmel Apple Cookies!" Sometime last year I bought some cookies from the bakery at Giant. Carmel Apple Cookies. They were wonderful. I think I have a good start here! We'll give them another try and see what I can prepare for you.

And one night last week I wanted a little something sweet to finish dinner. Chocolate Rice Pudding. Mmmm, rice, cream, sugar, chocolate fudge from Michigan. YUM. I made a full pot. The leftovers the next day...crap! It was like eating paste! Garbage!!!

Loosely Interpreted Puddin'

I needed a sweet last night after a less than yummy dinner.

I had leftover rice. Heavy cream. Hot fudge. OK.

Warm the heavy cream in the small saucepan with a tsp or two of sugar. Add a heaping tsp of this amazing hot fudge sauce that came back with us from Michigan. Oh, a wee pinch of salt. When at a light simmer add your rice. Stir to incorporate. Pour into a bowl. Indulge.

Warm Chocolate Rice "Pudding!"

I could eat another bowl...and maybe I'll make more rice, just to have 'leftover' rice for more!

I say "Pudding" because I think a real rice pudding had egg in it and is allowed to set up and get thicker, more custard like. Perhaps as I play around with this, I'll give it a try.

This website says some puddings have egg and some don't. Very well then!

Another Julia dinner

I continued flipping through Mastering The Art of French Cooking this weekend and found another something I wanted to try;

Boeuf À La Catalane
Beef Stew with Rice, Onions and Tomatoes

Serves 6 people
Takes about 3 hours from start to finish

Here is a hearty dish from the Spanish-Mediterranean corner of France.

¼ lb of bacon
2 TB Olive Oil
3 LB lean stewing beef cut into cubes
1 ½ cups sliced onions (1 large onion)
1 cup white rice
1 cup dry white wine
2 to 3 cups beef bouillon/stock
Salt/Pepper
2 cloves mashed garlic
½ tsp thyme
Pinch of saffron
1 crumbled bay leaf
1 lb. ripe red tomatoes, peeled, seeded, juiced and chopped (1 ½ cups)
Extra bouillon as needed
1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 325.

Cut the bacon into ½ inch slices and simmer in 1 quart of water for 10 minutes. Drain, dry and brown lightly in oil in the skillet. Remove with a slotted spoon to a 3 quart oven proof casserole.

Dry the beef on paper towels. Heat the fat in the skillet until almost smoking then brown the meat a few pieces at a time. Place in when browned in the casserole.

Lower heat to moderate, and brown the onions lightly. Remove them with a slotted spoon and add to the casserole.

Still in the same fat, stir the rice over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes until it turns a milky color. Scrape into a bowl and set aside until later.

Pour any remaining fat out of the skillet, add the wine and stir for a moment over high heat to dissolve any browned bits, pour into the casserole.

Add stock almost to the height of the meat. Salt lightly. Stir in the pepper, garlic and herbs. Bring to simmer on top of the stove, cover tightly, and set on the lower rack of the oven to simmer slowly for 1 hour.

Remove casserole from oven. Stir in the tomatoes, bring to a simmer on top of the stove, cover and return to the oven for an additional hour or so of very slow simmering. When the meat is almost fork-tender, remove casserole from oven. Raise oven heat to 375.

Tilt casserole and skim off fat. You should have 2 to 2 ½ cups of liquid; add more stock if necessary. Stir in the rice. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove, cover and set again in lower third of the oven. Regulate heat to keep liquid at a full simmer for 20 minutes so the rice will cook. Do not stir the rice. Ad the end of this time it should be tender and have absorbed almost all the liquid. Remove from oven and correct seasoning.


**May be prepared in advance to this point. Set aside, cover askew. To reheat, cover casserole and place in a pan of boiling water for about half and hour.**

Just before serving, delicately fold the cheese with a fork into the hot beef and rice. Serve from the casserole or on a hot platter with green salad, french bread and a big fat red wine.


Outside of the time commitment, this was pretty easy to make. There is a great aroma that permeates your house!

Overall this was very tasty. Some changes...a little more thyme and tomatoes. No parmesan...it didn't heighten the flavors, it had a certain pungency to it, but nothing transcendent. Maybe bring the wine to 1 ½ cups of wine, instead of 1 cup, and then a touch less broth. I would finish the dish on the stove (cooking the rice) instead of the oven, a little easier to manage the cooking process. The beef was super tender and flavorful, so well worth the time. As for simmering the bacon in water. That's interesting. In Julia's book, she says she does that for American bacon because of its extra saltiness and smokiness...the simmering pulls that out. It seemed to work, but not so much that it is worth the extra step. Oh, and an extra pinch of saffron, I think I was too conservative and didn't want to use too much, but in the end, you couldn't taste the pinch I added. Bon appetite!