Eating local tastes good!

Today, we were busy. And tired. So tired in fact that Peter took a nap while I stared into the fridge and tried to figure out what we were going to eat for dinner. Luckily, I had taken some ground pork (from the happy pig guy who delivers weekly) and it was defrosting. I then looked at the 8 Japanese eggplants we had hanging out in the fridge and the basket of tomatoes from the garden and started to throw things together.

Take some gorund meat (I used ground pork but sausage would be good too) and saute with evoo. I added S & P and some dried herbs but I'd skip that if I was using sausage. Remove it from the pan once browned, but don't drain whatever oil you have leftover. Chop a bunch of eggplant (we had at least a pound of the dark purple Japanese variety - fresh picked from our "farm") and saute in the pan for at least 10 minutes, letting them shrink and brown. Add a little S & P as the cook and toss regularly. Chop a small hot pepper or add some hot pepper flakes (I did both) and add them after the eggplant has reduced and softened. Also chop some cloves of garlin and add once the eggplant is very tender (so the garlic doesn't burn). Then chop a whole heap of tomatoes - I used mostly romas since that's what we grew, but any type would be fine, I'm sure. Add the tomatoes and stir. Reduce heat and stir back in the pork and the juice from that. Put a lid on and let those tomatoes soften and the whole mixture become tender - kinda like a ratatouille (how the heck do you spell that word?). Boil water and cook some pasta - a short shape that is curly will hold the most sauce. When the pasta is ready, chop a lot of fresh basil and mix it in. Then mix pasta and sauce and eat!

Yum yum. And all the ingredients except garlic and oil were local - or homegrown! Hooray!


Notes and Next Time

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Ingredients/Recipe

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Mom's Zucchini Casserole Redux

So there are some good family stories about Mom, one of the most famous being the way she claims to have "followed" a new recipe but yet has changed just about every ingredient and cooking preparation. Needless to say that this trait runs in the family. Last night, inspired by a gorgeous piece of wild, sockeye salmon (a rariety out here in the Middle), I created this side dish by "following" one of Mom's recipes.

Take a summer squash or two (I used 1 yellow zuke and 1 yellow crookneck from our garden) and dice smallish. Saute them with some garlic and olive oil. Once just starting to brown, add the sides of bell peppers (I used 1 red and 1 yellow) and rice (I used left over white rice). Remove from heat and add quartered cherry tomatoes, shredded Parmesan, and herbs (I used fresh thyme and chives from the garden). Then, spoon this into the hollowed out peppers (I cut the side off if possible so I can serve them with the top on the side... just cuz it looks cool. Cut off the tops if it's easier). I tend to make a lot, so I had enough left over to also fill both halves of a hollowed out zuke AND a small ramekin. Bake in a hot oven until done.

This is what you get!!

Notes and Next Time

• any grain would work well, brown rice, quinoa, etc
• I bet other veggies would work too... some spinach or other greens, bits of leftover winter squash (like acorn)
• tomorrow I might add leftover italian sausage and make them the main dish
• I bet different cheeses would also change things up a lot
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• some veg
• some herb
• some grain
• something to bake in (other veg or baking dish)
  
• some cheese
  

What I've been eating

So, I have no cooking tales to report, but I have lots of tales about eating! Cristiana and Alfredo are both fabulous cooks and they not only share their talents with us, but are very responsive to my nosy questions asking how they did this or that.


For example, yesterday, Cristiana made tacos. Yawn, you're probably thinking, aren't you tired of tacos yet? And truly, the answer to that question is that I could NEVER tire of tacos. But, these aren't any simple, boring old tacos. No, I would call these enchiladas, even though Cristiana doesn't. Anyhoo, let's begin.


The tacos are rolled around a filling of barbacoa and in a green sauce (doesn't that sound like enchiladas?). They were delicious and tasty and I ate all 4 of the ones on my plate. Yum yum.


At dinner last night, I asked Cristiana how she makes them, what's the secret. We've had a few of the conversations so far, and they typically end with, special ingrediant that doesn't exist in The Middle (although you on the coasts might fare better). This time, as always, this was the case. The secret ingredient is barbacoa - not BBQ, but a slow roasted meat in it's own juices so it's tender, not drier like BBQ (no charred bits etc). To make barbacoa, meat is stewed placed in mamey leaves and then placed in a hot earthen oven (like tandoori almost I think). This makes a little packet and the leaves impart their own flavor. Then the meat is cooled, chunked, and the tortillas (fresh from the tortillaria of course) are filled and rolled. THEN, and here is where it gets interesting... the rolled tortillas are quickly dipped in hot oil - not until they get crunchy (that would be flautas or taquitos) but just to soften them. Then, you pile them up on a plate to wait for your hungry family. As they arrive, you place three or four of them in the bubbling plate of green sauce (tomatillos, chiles, garlic, onion) until just heated through. Then move them to a plate and top with crumbled cheese.

Several new techniques stuck out at me that I plan on trying. First, is the not baking the enchiladas in the oven for a long period of time. Cristiana noted that they can get a bit mushy (and PEter and I noticed this the last few times) and that tey just needed to be gently heated through. Also, she made her own sauce so quickly and easily, that I'm convinced I can do it too... and without perservatives and other strange things!

We have a great carnitas recipe at home (but I haven't posted it yet, will do when I get back!) that I think would make an excellent filling for these tacos. I'll experiment and keep you updated!

Notes and Next Time

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Ingredients/Recipe

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Fire Roasted Red Pepper Sausages with Orzo and Veggies

So I was trying to figure out what to do with my raab and spinach I got in my last organic produce delivery (pioneerorganics.com), so I starting digging in the cupboards and fridge. I found chicken/turkey fire roasted red pepper sausages from Applegate Farms. They are raised with no antibiotics, check out their website where you can track where you meat comes from. Found some cherry tomatoes that needed to be eaten and spiced it up with garlic, onions, and red pepper flakes. The recipe that follows has no measurements since I didn't measure anything. It made enough for 3 servings.

Ingredients/Recipe:
2 chicken/turkey fire roasted red pepper sausages (Applegate Farms) http://www.applegatefarms.com/Products/Details.aspx?ProductID=118
chopped onion
garlic
red pepper flakes
raab
spinach
orzo
cherry tomatoes
grated Romano cheese or Parmesan
evoo

Start pasta. While pasta is cooking prep veggies and sausage.
Saute onion, garlic, and raab in evoo till the raab is about half done. Add sausage and put lid on to steam while you drain the pasta. Add tomatoes and spinach, replace lid until spinach is done. Serve and sprinkle grated cheese. Delicious and simple.

Notes and Next Time:
I thought that it was fantastic. The only thing i would change for next time is to make that none of the cherry tomatoes were put into the leftovers and reheated. I would just throw some uncooked ones in after reheating.

Sometimes simple is the way to go

There are times for fancy complicated meals and times for easy, quick to whip up meals. Tonight, it was time for the latter. I threw together a quick meal of quesadillas and a pomegranate soda.

Quesadillas are one of my favorite easy things. I recently found 1/2 white 1/2 whole wheat tortillas at the grocery store and heartily recommend them. They aren't as heavy as straight whole wheat, which I've tried but can't get excited about. And they have more healthy things than the straight white ones (which I need!). I always cook my quesadillas in the cast iron skillet, and I don't use any oil or butter. I'm sure I don't have to give anyone directions for making them, so I'll just record what I filled them with this time.

We had 1/2 an avocado left over from lunch, some preshredded cheese blend, and part of a tomato that all needed to be eaten. I added to this some baby shrimp (the bay or salad shrimp size) and finely minced serrano peppers. I had to go easy on the cheese, since there was little left (maybe 1/3 cup max). I spread part of it on the tortilla, topped with the rest of the toppings, flipped it when the bottom was nice and toasted and ate.

Oh and that pomegranate soda? 2/3 pomegranate juice, 1/3 soda water or tonic water. Yum yum.

Quick, easy, tasty...


Notes and Next Time

• yum
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• tortillas
• cheese
• fillings (peppers, shrimp, chicken, tomato, avocado, etc etc)
  

Chicken Tikka Masala

I love chicken tikka masala. LOVE IT. When I lived in Cambridge MA, there was this small Indian place right around the corner, and I would always order their tikka masala (and pakoras and samosas and nann and saag). We found a recipe in an old Cook's Illustrated, so we decided to go for it. And let me tell you, not only is it super wonderful tasting, it is surprisingly easy to make. So go make some. And then send me some.

I have to say, at first, I was a little skeptical of making this. I've seen other people make Indian food, and the time and process can be a little daunting. Well, it did take us about 2 hours to make this whole meal (including cooking naan and saag), but now that we've done it once, I think we could make the tikka masala in about an hour from start to finish (and we have some naan in the freezer, so we can just reheat that). However, we did use pretty much dish we owned. It would have been nice to have a dishwasher.

First the chicken. We rubbed the chicken breasts with cumin, coriander, and cayenne. Then we mixed up some yogurt with fresh ginger and garlic, dipped the chicken in , and cooked under the broiler until done. The yogurt mix gave great flavor and seemed to keep a lot of the moisture in, while allowing the chicken to char nicely on the outside, just like it was out of a tandoori oven (which, unfortunately, we don't own one of).

As for the sauce, it couldn't have been easier. Just make tomato pasta sauce, but instead of using garlic, basil, oregano, and thyme, use onions, garlic, fresh ginger, and garam masala. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, then add heavy cream. A handful of chopped cilantro provided the finishing touch. Done and done.

Once the chicken was allowed to sit for a couple minutes, we cut into chunks, dropped into the sauce for a quick minute, and proceeded to devour. It was so good. The chicken had the tandoori oven texture - charred in places, kind of dry, kind of hard, but still moist - and the sauce had the perfect creamy-tomato taste.


Notes and Next Time

• I will make this again. Maybe tonight. It was good.
• We used 2# of chicken, which was a ridiculous amount. But with the amount of sauce from one big can of crushed tomatoes and 2/3 c of heavy cream, it was the right amount. We have enough leftovers for today and tomorrow. I guess I don't have to make more tonight after all.
• When we cut the chicken, we make the chunks too big. Next time, slightly smaller.
• It would be interesting to use just the yogurt mix with some bone-in chicken, to see if you could replicate the tandoori oven without the sauce. Might be a fun adventure.
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• 2 # chicken, boneless, skinless
• 1 c yogurt
• dry spices: coriander, cumin, cayenne, garam masala
  
• fresh spices/herbs: ginger, garlic, cilantro
• 1medium onion, chopped
• 1 large can crushed tomatoes
• 1 T tomato paste
• a chili pepper (for heat, but can be left out)
  
• 2/3 c heavy cream
• salt
• sugar
• vegetable oil
  

Naan

With the lack of Indian restaurants in town (there is one Indian restaurant, which is decent, but we're trying to be frugal), we decided to try our hand at making some Indian food (we were also partially inspired by our newest copy of Cook's Illustrated, which we were given as a Christmas gift). Since we were going to try our hand at making some of our favorite entrees, we decided to also try our hand at making naan, a south-Asian flat bread.

Kimberly had a recipe in one of her old cookbooks, so we went with it. It was actually a pretty simple recipe - since it's a flat bread, it has no yeast and, therefore, doesn't need to rise. First, I combined the flour, salt, and baking powder, then added in the yogurt. Once it started thickening, I turned the mixture onto the board and kneaded until smooth and elastic. The recipe called for the dough to sit for an hour or more, but I'm not sure it needed that long.

I then cut the dough into small portions, which were flattened into about 6-8" roundish shapes. They were pretty thin, sometimes ripping and being see through. The dough was pretty sticky, so it wasn't easy to make perfect rounds, but rather, they came out slightly oval shaped, which was a fortunate mistake. Each was cooked on a pre-heated, dry cast iron skillet over medium heat. After a few minutes, the expected black/burn spots would start appearing, and the dough would start bubbling.

I took the naan off the heat before they finished cooking and set aside. After finishing the rest of the meal, I put them into a 500 oven and heated through, then slathered with butter - unfortunately, I took the first few out too early and they were still a little uncooked in the middle.

Overall, they came out pretty well. Crispy and black in some parts, chewy in the middle, nice tangy-ness from the yogurt, a good buttery creaminess. The recipe made 10 breads And we have half the recipe left to put in the freezer for future reheating.

Notes and Next Time

• Finishing the naan in the oven immediately after taking them off the skillet may have worked better. Then a quick reheat in the oven right before serving would have been perfect.
• I need to keep them in the oven longer to ensure that they cook through. I suppose I could have kept them in the skillet longer, which would have given them more color in addition to cooking through.
• In the skillet, the center of the naan was cooking/browning faster than the edges. Since we have a gas stove and the heat was set on medium, the flame was basically in the middle. It might be nice to have a flame diffuser (which would also help with the simmering of sauces and chili and the like).
  

Ingredients/Recipe

From The New Vegetarian Epicure:

• 4 cups AP Flour
• 1 t salt
• 1 t Baking Powder
• 2 c yogurt
  

Risotto

While in Italy, we had risotto a few times and raved about it each time. The first time was during our stay in the agriturismo in Assisi.. Later, in Milan, our cousin Guido made risotto for us. This morning, over breakfast, Peter came up with the brilliant idea to make risotto for dinner tonight.
The grocery store had nice looking asparagus and shrimp, so we decided to add those to the risotto. We started with arborio rice. We sauted shallot in some butter. Then we added in the rice and stirred it until the rice became translucent. Once the rice had turned, we added about a cup of white wine (we used a chardonnay from Australia) and let it cook until the pan dried out. Then we added about 1.5 cups of homemade chicken stock. We let it simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the stock had completely absorbed. After the initial stock, we added the rest in ladleful amounts, letting it absorb between each addition. Once the rice was almost done, we stirred in blanched asparagus and cooked shrimp. Then, after the rice had finished cooking and the asparagus/shrimp had heated through, we added parmesean.

Notes and Next Time

• Guido used red wine too
• peas might be nice
• saffron would be pretty
• cooked pancetta could add a nice flavor
• as could mushrooms
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• arborio rice
• broth
• shallot/garlic/onion
• butter
• asparagus
• shrimp (small bay or salad shrimp)
• white wine
  

Chicken, Artichoke, Mushroom

Well, I'm on my own a lot for dinner these days, so I'm trying to remember both quantity (no need to make enough for 2!) and short recipes. I'm crazy busy these days, so quick one pots meals are important. At the same time, I don't want to subsist on frozen things or totally unhealthy things.

So, tonight I was inspired by the chicken defrosted in the fridge and the package of mushrooms threatening to go bad. I decided that they'd go well together, especially with the addition of some artichoke hearts.

I started by sauteing the sliced chicken in evoo until nicely browned. I tossed in a little chopped garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes. I didn't worry about cooking the chicken all the way through, but instead put the chicken in a bowl once it was nicely browned. Then I heated a little more evoo and sauted the quartered mushrooms (maybe 4 or 5 medium sized ones). I added a little more garlic, dried oregano, more pepper flakes, and a little salt and let them brown. Once they looked pretty, I tossed in drained quartered artichoke hearts (not the marinated ones, just the regular canned ones). I let everything heat and come together. Then I added back the chicken and heated the whole thing until the chicken was cooked through.

I served this with a slice of toasted sourdough bread.


Notes and Next Time

• this would be good tossed with pasta too
• asparagus or green beans would be good in place of the artichoke hearts
• the red pepper flakes are a good addition
  

Ingredients/Recipe
to serve 1

• 1 chicken breast
• 2 cloves garlic
• red pepper flakes
• mushrooms, 4-5 quartered
• artichoke hearts (1/2 can, not marinated)
• oregano
• s&p
  

Pork Cutlets with Broccoli and Quinoa

We made Pork Cutlets again, since we have a freezer full of pork chops. I won't go through the whole thing again, but I will say I followed some of my previous notes, and things worked out much better: I only cut the pork chops once, then flattened by pounding; I soaked in milk only briefly; and trimmed the fat prior to breading.

For our broccoli, we steamed it in a saute pan, with some water. We like our broccoli on the verge of raw, so we drained it pretty quickand just drizzled a little evoo over it for eating.

As for the quinoa, we cooked it using the standard 2 c water to 1 c quinoa ratio. We added some sun dried tomatoes, with its oil, at the end to try to add some flavor. Unfortunately, the quinoa was a little tough and bitter. Not exactly sure why it happened, but it did.

Notes and Next Time

• We need to play with the quinoa some more to make it better. Not exactly sure how to do that, but we'll see. I really like quinoa, so I'll make it work.
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• Boneless, skinless pork tenderloin 'chops', maybe 1/2 # each
  
• Bread crumbs, fixed to your liking
• Milk, or egg, for soaking
• EVOO for cooking and garnish
  
• Broccoli
• Quinoa
• Sun dried Tomato
  

Gnocchi, the follow up

So we had the gnocchi that Peter froze tonight, and they were the absolute best gnocchi he's made thus far! Certainly, I do refer to gnocchi in general as "little pillows of love" among other monikers.But I think the small amount of flour that he added this time really made them tender and delicate. They cooked very quickly, just a minute or two in the boiling water and they floated to the top. We tossed them with homemade sauce and topped with a little freshly grated Parmesan.


Mmmm... too bad there aren't any leftovers!

Tomato Sauce

Tomato sauce was the first thing I ever cooked once I moved out on my own. When I asked my mom how she makes hers, she said that you just cook the tomatoes until they were done. While this is great advice, it's not very helpful, especially when looking for ingredients, ratios, etc. Over time, I picked up some tips from my mom and Grandma, and can consistently cook a pretty good sauce.

In my opinion, the beast sauces start with pork. Sometimes I use a cheap cut, like a pork shoulder, that will be tender and soft after a long simmer (you can't really use something like this if you're trying to make a quick sauce). You can also use any other kind of meat, or veggies, or no 'meat' at all.

I started by browning the meat - in this case, hot Italian sausage - in a little evoo. I used our Les Crueset, which is heavy-bottomed and cast iron, and allows for even, consistent heat. After they browned nicely on all sides, I took them out of the pan and let them rest a little; at this point, they were not cooked all the way through.

In the same pan, I then threw in a bunch of chopped garlic with a little more evoo. I like to cook my spices a little too, so I threw in the oregano, thyme, basil and red pepper for a little bit. Before the garlic or spices got too brown/toasted, I added the tomatoes. I really like the crushed tomatoes, since they don't have many chunks and the juice isn't too thin. I also cleaned out the cans with a little water, which killed three birds (cleaning cans, getting small amount of tomato still in can out, and adding water) with one stone.

[When I was little, I always like my Aunt Nina's sauce more than my mom's or Grandmother's, because it was thicker. So when I started making my own sauce, I was intent on not adding water to thin it out. However, over time, I have come to realize that a little water is needed and the sauce will still thicken up as the water evaporates over the long cooking time.]

Once everything is in, I added the s&p and bay leaves and bring the whole pot up to a boil. Once it boils, I turned down the heat to simmer the sauce and added the sausages back in. I usually allow the sauce to simmer anywhere from 1 to 3 hours, depending on how much tomato is used. You will 'know when it's done' from 2 things: 1) the evoo will look cooked and will come to the top and 2) it will taste good.

I make 2 or 3 cans of sauce at a time, which is good for anywhere between 3 and 6 meals. The sauce freezes easily in ziploc bags and keeps for some time.

I used 2 cans of tomatoes for this iteration. We used the sauce for our gnocchi, but have enough for 2 bags in the freezer.

Notes and Next Time

• Taste is most important in determining if the sauce is done. You'll know if it's still raw simply by taste.
• We've been using the hand blender to blend up the sauce occassionally; that's a great technique and makes the sauce taste/feel lighter.
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• Canned tomatoes (I prefer the crushed tomatoes)
• Spices (thyme, oregano, basil, bay leaves, crushed red pepper)
  
• s&p
  
• evoo
  
  

Marinated Chicken with Soba Noodles

This was a classic 'clean out the fridge night.' We had some chicken breasts lying around, so I tried an experiment by marinating the chicken overnight in some Balsamic Vinaigrette (which we had taking up space in the fridge).

I ended up struggling with side dishes, since we didn't have much for veggies in the fridge. For some reason, I kept thinking of these soba noodles we had in the cupboard; I wanted to dress them in soy sauce, sesame oil, and sesame seeds, but that didn't seem to work with the balsamic chicken.

We ended up cutting the chicken in strips and sauteing it with some veggies, then putting in on top of a noodles. It was fine, but certainly not great. I think the marinating of the chicken is a good idea, but the sauce needs to take into account the sides and be a better complement.

Notes and Next Time

• The chicken should be skewered some with a fork to allow the marinade to infiltrate the chicken.
• Soba noodles are good, but I think it would be better paired with Asian-themed marinades and veggies.
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• Chicken
• Marinade (aka salad dressing)
• Soba noodles
  

Gnocchi

Yesterday, we made stuffed gnocchi, for which we needed to make a basic gnocchi. Kimberly likes to refer to gnocchi as 'little pillows of wonderful;' I agree whole-heartedly.

I usually use leftover mashed potatoes to make gnocchi, but we didn't have any this time, so I needed to start with cooking the potatoes. We used yellow potatoes, cooked whole, then peeled and mashed. I added a little evoo, but not much.

After mashing, I was worried that the potato mixture would be too dry. After consulting our America's Test Kitchen cookbook, my fears were assuaged. As it pointed out, the drier the potatoes, the less flour I would need to add, the lighter the gnocchi would be. This was great, because I've found that when I use leftover mashed potatoes, I always add a ton of flour, and the final product is pretty dense; I am always envious of the light gnocchi at restaurants.

As I added the flour, I certainly didn't add as much as usual, which I think would be good. At first, it wasn't coming together, but as I kneaded the potato-flour mixture, it became a nice and smooth, not unlike a bread dough, but with less bounce.

I then rolled out the dough in a small tube (diameter of a quarter, maybe), then used a fork to cut each little dumpling, maybe half an inch long. I then rolled each gnocchi on the gnocchi-board my aunt in Italy gave me (it's wooden, with grooves in it). It made nice little balls, with grooves, just like in a restaurant.

We didn't end up eating any plain gnocchi, I simply froze them (individually on a sheet pan, then when they froze, put them in a ziploc bag). When we want to eat them, we'll just throw them in a pot of boiling water still frozen; once they float, they'll be ready to eat.



Notes and Next Time

• Any kind of sauce is good for gnocchi: red (tomato), white (cream or butter), pesto, etc. One of the best ways is to simply drizzle nice evoo over the cooked gnocchi, then grate parmigiana over them.
• When we finally cook them, we'll put tasting notes in there.
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• Yellow potatoes
• Flour
• evoo

Stuffed Gnocchi

When we were in Padova over the summer, we went to a restaurant and had Stuffed Gnocchi; they were amazing. The stuffing seemed to be similar to a ravioli filling. The outside was a green potato dough. The contrast between the green and white was pretty cool. They were served in a white sauce, with arugula and cheese. They were pretty big - like the size of a meatball - so there was only 5 on the plate. We decided to try to replicate them at home.

For the outer dough, we made a standard potato gnocchi (see here). We kept it white; in the end, I wish we had colored it with spinach or tomato, to give the dish some additional color.

For the stuffing, we decided to go with a basic ricotta filling, similar to what we make for ravioli. We mixed some ricotta cheese with egg (to bind it together), some parmigiana cheese, chopped fresh parsley, grated fresh nutmeg, and s&p. We mixed it up, but we felt it was too loose to work properly as a filling, so we added some flour. It helped, but we didn't want to add too much, as it was beginning to change the flavor of the ricotta.

Once we had the two parts, we made little beds of gnocchi. We placed a small dollop of filling it he middle, then tried to close the dough around the cheese. It wasn't easy: the potato was uneven around the stuffing.

As we brought the water to a boil, we made a quick sage butter sauce: heated butter, fresh sage, and chopped spinach. It was really tasty.

We put the dumplings in the boiling water and cooked until they floated. After a test, we noticed they weren't totally cooked, so we let them float in the water for a while to ensure they were cooked through.

In the end, we had a nice facsimile of the the original stuffed gnocchi. There were some small problems, but I think they could be remedied through practice.

Notes and Next Time

• The gnocchi was uneven around the stuffing; we need to find a way to better close the pouches. The potato was a little overwhelming, hiding the flavor of the filling. I think upping the intensity of the filling would also help.
  
• The stuffing was kind of loose, but needed to be thicker. I think if we add shredded mozzarella or parm to the stuffing to help solidify it some. Also, less egg. And if all else fails, some flour or corn starch.
• I would have preferred a sauce with more sauce; the butter tasted good, but there wasn't much 'dressing' for the gnocchi. Maybe a cream sauce would work nicely. Also, I think adding some mushroom would be a nice thing.
  
• Coloring one of the components would make the dish more visually interesting would be good. Spinach, squash/pumpkin, tomato, etc, would be fun to try; depending on the season, you could definitely play with the color combo to reflect the time.
• These would be a fun dinner party food. They're kind of time consuming to make, but with a good color contrast, they are a fun food, with a fun surprise in the middle.
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• Standard Gnocchi recipe
• Ricotta
• Parmigiana cheese
• Egg
• Whole nutmeg
  
• Parsley
• Butter
• Sage
• Spinach
• s&p

Spiedini [Grilled Lamb]

In my mother's family's village in Italy, they make these things called spiduchi: in the rest if Italy, they call them spiedini. Spiedini is the generic term for small pieces of meat cooked on a grill. Spiduchi are small chunks of lamb, salted, and grilled. They are usually made for feasts and other special occasions; they might be one the best things ever.

We ended up buying a 7# leg of lamb, using the special spiedini cutter to skewer and cut it up, salted it, then grilled it for about 5 minutes over hot coals.

Spiedini are possibly the easiest thing to make (it helps that my aunt and uncle have the special spiedini maker to make the skewering and cutting easy), and super tasty. We probably made about 150-175 skewers, and between the 9 of us, they were being eaten as soon as they came off the grill.

Notes and Next Time

• We don't have the special spiedini maker - it's 1400 miles away - and I'm not sure I want to go through all the skewering and cutting without it. I'm not sure next time will be anytime soon.
• There's really no way to improve on spiduchi. Except to be sure to soak the skewers so they don't burn over the fire.
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• Lamb
• Salt
• Grill
  

Enchiladas

Mmmm, enchiladas! I started making these way back in my post-college vegan/vegetarian days and have just kept messing with the recipe ever since. My current take on them involves chicken and green sauce, but they've included tofu, black beans, pork, turkey, various veggies and various sauces over the years.

I start out by sauteing an onion and some peppers until the wilt a bit. I like to use a combination of peppers including red, green, pasillas, and anaheims if I can get them. Canned green peppers will work in a pinch. Then I add the chicken. This time around I marinated the chicken for a while in a mixture of cayenne, paprika, salt, and crushed garlic for extra flavor. I nestle the breasts on top of the onion mixture, add about a half cup of water, and put the lid on the skillet, turned down to low. This way the chicken cooks slowly and seems to be less dry. Once the chicken is just barely cooked through (the whole dish will bake in the oven, so no need for it to be completely done), I pull it from the heat and take the breasts out to cool slightly on a cutting board. Then I shred them using a pair of forks (although I'm sure cutting them in chunks works fine too). So now, we're basically done. The shredded chicken goes back into the pan and mixed with the onions/peppers. Taste the mix for seasoning (salt, pepper, spices) and we're reading for putting it all together!

A while back I discovered the layered enchilada. So much easier than the rolled version, although not quite as pretty. So, to put my enchiladas together, I start with a big baking pan and spray it with cooking spray. Next goes a spoonful of enchilada sauce (I like the canned green one right now). Then a layer of tortillas. On top a layer of the chicken mixture and some cheese (whatever you like, cheddar, jalapeno jack, queso blanco etc). Then a few spoonfuls of enchilada sauce and start the layering over. I rip up tortillas to make an even layer is necessary (just like with lasagna). The top should be tortilla with a generous amount of sauce (so the top layers don't dry out) and topped with cheese to brown.

Bake at 350 until bubbly, brown, and the center is hot. Anywhere from 20-40 minutes depending on the number of layers and size of the pan! Tasty topped with lime, cilantro and served with spanish rice and/or beans.


Notes and Next Time

• it's nice to add mushrooms, corn, black olives, or beans to the filling mix.
• tempeh might be nice too

Ingredients/Recipe

• chicken (maybe 2-3 breasts for 2 pans)
• onion
• peppers (green, red, etc)
• garlic
• spices
• enchilada sauce (at least 2 15 oz cans)
• cheese
  
• garnishes
  

Chili

Mmmmm, chili. Nothing's better on a cold day, and we certainly have plenty of those here. I'm a big fan of this type of one-pot meal that takes a few hours to cook slowly on the stove.

I start by browning meat (if it's not veggie). This time I browned the turkey in canola oil in our large Le Creuset pot and seasoned with s & p. Then I add in the spices. I remember reading once upon a time that spices had better flavor if they were allowed to toast lightly. I add cumin, chili powder, paprika, cayenne, thyme, and any other chili type spices I have on hand (I used to add chile de arbol (wicked hot) but I've long used that one up and can't find it out here. Ditto the ground poblano spice). I don't measure any of these, but use more paprika and chili powder than cayenne. Sometimes I add a bit of cinnamon too. Next comes an onion, chopped and some garlic. If I have some roasted peppers in the freezer those go in too, if not some canned green chilies (don't get the jalapeños by accident!). I like to add fresh peppers too, if they aren't ridiculously expensive. Red, green, poblano, jalapeño... whatever's easy.

Cook until the onions soften and everything looks a bit tender. Now's the time to check the spices a bit, maybe add a bit more salt and pepper. I add about a cup of water and a can of tomatoes. Sometimes I use the Ro-tel (they come extra spicy!) but remember to reduce the spices. Otherwise just a can of chopped tomatoes is fine.

Now we wait. And stew. I lower the heat to barely a bubble and let it sit until it's about 20 minutes until dinner. Now's the time to stir in the beans. I'm a big fan of the traditional red, but Peter will eat just about any type, black, white, pinto. One or two cans depending on how many leftovers we'll want and how spicy the mix is (since the beans will dilute it a bit). I often use the bean juice too, since I buy the low-salt beans it's not too salty and seems to thicken up the chili a bit.

Now is also the time to make cornbread, for which I use Mom's recipe that was inspired by her mom, Bert's southern style cornbread.

I think chili tastes best the next day, slowly reheated with maybe a spoonful or two of water to thin it back out.


Notes and Next Time

• we should make more vegetarian chili.
  
• the leftovers that I added frozen sweet corn to were very nice
• lime is a good addition, stirred in right at the end
• can always thicken thin chili with cornmeal or cornstarch made into a paste with water
• good toppings are avocado, cheese, gr onion, lime, corn chips, salsa, fresh tomato
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• turkey/pork/elk/etc
• onion
• garlic
• peppers (fresh, canned, roasted)
• spices (cumin, chili powder, thyme, cayenne etc)
• tomatoes (canned)
• beans (canned; kidney, black, white, pinto etc)
  

Split Chicken with Roasted Potatoes

We've been experimenting with buying and cooking whole chickens instead of buying the store rotisserie chickens. It gives us better control of what goes on the chicken, it's cheaper, and it turns out that it's a lot easier that I originally thought. We never had good luck with cooking the chicken whole, but we've found that splitting the chicken prior to cooking works significantly better.

On the recommendation of Cook's Illustrated, I brine the bird. Since it's not so big, I just threw the bird in a large pasta pot with about 1/2 C of salt, a couple cloves of garlic and a couple t of thyme, then covered with water. I let it sit about 1 - 1-1/2 hour in the brine. After pulling it out and wiping it down with paper towels, I cut out the spine and cracked the breastbone (so it would lie flatter in the roasting pan). To help dry the bird, I put a drying rack on a sheet pan with the chicken on top, then the whole set-up into the fridge for the rest of the day.

For the potatoes, I peeled and cut about 5 medium sized reds into 1/4 - 1/2 inch slices. I also julienned half of a sweet onion. I tossed everything in a bowl with s&p and evoo.

I then lined the bottom portion of a 2-piece broiling pan with foil, sprayed with PAM, and layered the potatoes. The split chicken was put on the top portion of the broiling pan, and the whole thing replaced on top of the potatoes.

The whole set-up was cooked in a 500 oven for about an hour. At the half-way point, the chicken was rotated. We used a thermometer to make sure the chicken gets to temp.

Notes and Next Time

• Having the potatoes and chicken all cooking in one pan and finished at the same time is really nice.
• The chicken comes out nice and moist, due to the brining.
  
• We've been having a problem with the bottom of the potatoes burning. Maybe if we cut the potatoes a little thicker or maybe flipping/rotating them at the halfway point will be better. I think the flipping will be better, since we've already started cutting them thicker than originally, and that hasn't worked.
• The chicken skin isn't crisping, despite an EVOO massage. Butter may be better.
• The onion, although a nice idea, worked out poorly. They all burned to the point of inedible. If I could figure out a way to make bigger pieces, it might work. The only thing I can think of is thick rings, but that doesn't solve the problem of the thinness of each onion layer.
• The brine could probably be done the night before, and the chicken left in the fridge for the whole next day. I might cover it with some cheesecloth or something similar in that case.
• The chicken carcass will be used to make stock in the future.
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• One whole chicken, about 5#, brined
  
• Red potatoes
• Onion
• s&p
• evoo

Pumpkin Pie and Cinnamon Ice Cream

For our Thanksgiving dinner, I decided to make a pumpkin pie, which has become my 'thing' to make, with cinnamon ice cream. I was inspired to make the ice cream by a local restaurant, where Kimberly got pumpkin pancakes topped with cinnamon whip cream; Kimberly's mom also has a hand-crank ice cream maker, which you need to make ice cream.

I used a pumpkin pie recipe that I've used for the past 4 years and has proven to be a winner. Its best with real, mashed pumpkin, but I'm lazy and used canned pumpkin this year. I also use store bought crust because, again, I'm lazy, and par baked it before adding the filling. I baked it for 10 minutes with beans (to keep the crust from bubbling) then for another 5 without. After it cooled, I filled with the pumpkin mixture and baked. It took a little over an hour. The pie came out great, but the crust was a little over cooked. I like it when the top of the pie cracks, but it didn't this year.

As for the ice cream, this was my first foray into ice cream making , so I pretty much followed the recipe, except that I added a cinnamon stick while the mixture was cooling. I let it cool overnight in the fridge. And it doesn't say in the recipe, but I added the heavy cream right before churning.

I have to say, the ice cream came out pretty awesome. The cinnamon went perfect with the pie. It was smooth, soft, and creamy. Overall, an excellent decision. I will definitely make more ice cream in the future.

I think the combo worked really well and I think it went over well with the crowd. Unfortunately, there was Marionberry Jesus pie, which is maybe the best thing you can have for Thanksgiving dessert, so the pumpkin pie was overshadowed. But the ice cream was still popular.

Notes and Next Time

• I've made the pie a few times, and I really like it. I have messed with the ratio of white to brown sugar in the past. going anywhere between all white to 1/2:1/2. I haven't ever taken notes, but I think the 1/2 white: 1/2 brown ratio makes the best pie.
• I didn't do it this year, as I was feeling lazy, but cooking and mashing my own pumpkin definitely makes the best pie. I did that the first time I made this recipe and it was by far the best.
• The crust was overcooked. I think just the initial 10 minute par bake would have been fine. Or covering the outside crust with tin foil would have been better.
  
• The vanilla bean was awesome. I will use it as much as I can in the future.
• Using the cinnamon stick was also a nice touch. I think I should have used it from the start, and maybe used less ground. If I cooked both types, I think it may be strong. However, as I did it, it was excellent, so maybe the ground and stick method was good.

Ingredients/Recipe

Pumpkin Pie - I found this a long time ago on-line somewhere, but I don't remember where. My mom uses it as well.

• 2 c. cooked and mashed pumpkin
• 1 c. sugar (I have tried 1/2 c white and 1/2 c. brown sugar in the past)
• 1/2 stick butter
• 3 eggs (beaten)
• 1/2 c. buttermilk
• 1 T vanilla
• 1+ t nutmeg
• 1+ t Cinnamon
• 1/2 t fresh lemon juice

Mix ingredients well and pour in pie crust.
cook ~ 1 hour @ 350 until the mix stops jiggling.

Cinnamon Ice Cream

I pretty much used this from foodnetwork.com, but modified it slightly with this from epicurious.com, as above.