Boy oh boy, The Man is getting good at smoking stuff. Yesterday it was a chicken. He sent me pictures, and although my mouth watered at the idea of it, my brain screeched to a halt - what does one serve with smoked chicken? After consulting with the food heads at work and getting a different answer from each of them, I decided to do something incredibly simple but delish.
Hand made corn tortillas (no, not by these gringa hands, though I have made them before), fried in a little coconut oil until crisp is the base of this delightful stack. I spread a layer of refried beans on that, then sliced avocado, the baby spinach, a pile of smoked chicken, then shredded cheddar. This was served with leftover rice sauteed in coconut oil with onion, garlic, corn, red bell pepper, cilantro and cumin. Oh, and a little piece of the skin crisped up in the oil with the tortilla. Yeah, it was pretty awesome, very healthful and took only a few minutes to throw together. The chicken was without a doubt the star, being smoky and moist and packed with flavor; the rest of the supporting players doing just that, supporting and carrying that flavor without upstaging it. After another 50 hour week, it was nice to settle down to a plate of yumminess, an ice cold beer and the Pro Bowl without working up a sweat.
Fried chicken is perfectly acceptable when eating a healthy diet. Everything is, in moderation. I don't believe that you should deny yourself anything, but you do need to learn control. Tonight was a test of that control. I got a great deal on a chicken at work, so I decided to make buttermilk fried chicken. It's one of my favorite things, and something I can consume mass quantities of if I'm not careful. I confine myself to a thigh, maybe a wing, and that's it for the day. But, oh, it's so hard to stop. Hot and juicy meat contained in a light, crispy crust, there are few things in this world as perfect as good fried chicken. No, I don't take the skin off. Yes, I fry it in lots of oil. Get over it. I don't do it often, and when I do I want to do it right. This is right.
First, you soak the chicken parts, whatever parts you like, in a buttermilk marinade. This is a mix of buttermilk, herbs, spices, and lots of salt and pepper. Tonight it was parsley, garlic, onion, paprika, and some secret stuff that I can't share or you'll never need me again. Mix that all together and pour it into a heavy gallon size freezer zip top bag. Put the chicken in and massage it around gently, getting all of the chicken coated. Let this sit at least an hour, and as much as 12 hours. The buttermilk gets into the meat, tenderizing it, adding flavor and making it ridiculously moist. It will also hold the coating on without needing an egg wash. Okay, coating. Flour is the base. I use unbleached white, I've never used whole wheat so I don't know if it works or not. I also add potato flakes (the same ones that I used in the salmon chowder). Equal parts flour and flakes seems to be the best. Scrunch them up a bit with your hands but leave the pieces in pieces, it makes a nice flaky coating. I add onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper, a bit of paprika and parsley. Put this in a 8X8 pyrex, it gives you the most room to toss stuff around. Heat a couple of inches of oil in a deep frying pan. I use a blend of canola and peanut. Heat this over medium heat until it shimmers. Pull the biggest pieces out of the marinade, leaving as much on as possible, and put it into the coating. Pressing down gently, making sure the coating covers everything completely and sticks well. Lay the chicken in the pan, skin side down, without crowding. I usually do the breasts and legs first, then thighs and wings in a second batch.
DO NOT MOVE THE PIECES UNTIL A NICE BROWN CRUST IS FORMED. I can't stress that enough. If you toss them around before the crust forms, it will all come off and you will have naked chicken and ruined oil. Leave it alone for at least ten minutes. Walk away if you have to. When it's a nice golden brown, turn it over gently and let the other side cook. The second side should take about 8 minutes. Another little secret is how you finish them. Set the oven to 300*, and a cookie sheet on the lower rack. Put the now perfectly browned chicken on the rack above the cookie sheet. Right on the rack. This way it will stay crisp on all sides and gently finish cooking, then stay nice and warm until you're ready to serve. When the breasts and legs are out, do the same for the wings and thighs.
This chicken is great hot, but it's great cold the next day as well. The Man made noises that would have been completely inappropriate in society, so I guess I did okay. Seriously, there is nothing wrong with this once in a while. If you want to, take the skin off, if it makes you feel better. This works great for boneless breasts, either whole or cut into fingers or nuggets. I prefer meat cooked on the bone, though. It has more flavor and stays far more moist. Make it once in a while and treat yourself to something fabulous. Tomorrow can be a juicing day.
Well, we're in the middle of an ice storm, and not sure we're going to make it to work today. So I decided to clean out the 'fridge. (don't have a heart attack, Mom, I do it all the time.) In preparation for that, I mentally took inventory yesterday, so I could do the appropriate shopping last night to use up what needed to be used. This is what I did to clean out the veggie drawer and use the rest of that amazing smoked salmon. Chowders are an incredible way to use up all sorts of stuff, and it's a chowder as long as you use onions, celery and potatoes. Oh, and milk. Not heavy cream, milk. This is not a bisque, people. Personally I think that chowder without bacon is a sin, but I think most things without bacon are just wrong. In 42 minutes (yeah, I timed it. The Man is baffled by how quickly I can get things cooked, so I've started timing everything for entertainment value.) Diced bacon, onions and celery go in to the bottom of a heavy pot with a bit of butter over medium heat. I have to use the butter because the apple wood bacon that I get is on the lean side and doesn't render enough fat. When the bacon is crisping and the veggies are browning, add a good dose of salt and pepper, chopped herbs of your choice (Simon and Garfunkel in this one) and lots of diced potatoes. I used russets, and leave the skin on! Let that go for just a bit, then add some chicken stock to just cover everything (or vegetable stock, or fish stock), scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Then add good full fat milk to make it a soup. Let that simmer (never boil, you'll break the milk) for a few minutes, then add the smoked salmon broken up into big chunks. Now, I'll let you in on a little secret. I like a bit of body in my chowder, but hate to add flour. So I use potato flakes. Bob's Red Mill makes a great instant potato flake that is actually that, all potato. I add about a half cup to a pot of soup, and it gives it a little thicker, a little silkier texture that I find very pleasing. Let that cook another couple of minutes, adjust the seasoning and serve. Once again, I am truly a kitchen witch, able to produce incredible yumminess in no time flat. Reputation saved, my work here is done.
I reiterate, I hate waste. Packing lunches for The Man helps get rid of a lot of leftovers, but it can get boring for him. I try to reinvent as I go, as you can see from last night's dinner. So, this morning I was faced with a dilemma - we both have a long day, and have plans with friends tonight after work without dinner, so we need substantial lunches to get us through. The quinoa pilaf from the other night wasn't enough for two but just a little too much for one, even with a protein. So I went back a little further, and pulled the turkey bolognese out of the freezer, grabbed a bag of shredded cheese, and made a mexican-esque lasagne thingie. Layers of quinoa, turkey and veggies in red sauce, and cheese went in to the baby Crock-Pots.
After a couple of hours in the baby Crock, this is what we got:
Layers of flavors, warm and bubbly, and really yummy. We will definitely be making this again!
Almost two years in Tennessee, and this is my first real snow! Fine, we only got an inch or two, and it's been so warm and rainy since Sunday that there is no way it will still be here in the morning, but it was a real live snow. We got out of work early so I had time to cook a nice meal for The Man. Scored a great little four rib bone in pork roast, about 2 1/2 pounds, some beautiful baby carrots and tri-color quinoa, and from that I made this.
Roast was seasoned well with salt and pepper, then slowly seared, fat cap down first. Then I drained all of the fat from the pan and made a glaze - fresh herbs, dark wildflower honey, coarse grain mustard and dry English mustard. I spread that on the fat side, popped the pan into a 375* oven and let it slowly roast for about 40 minutes. I basted it with the pan juices a couple of times, building that beautiful crust.
I dumped a 1 pound bag of carrots into the pan and let the roast finish, about 20 more minutes. I removed the roast to the cutting board to rest, then put the carrots on the stovetop on medium high to reduce the glaze and caramelize the carrots.
Quinoa cooked in the rice cooker (the best, easiest way to do it in my opinion). One part quinoa to three parts liquid, some fresh herbs, salt and pepper, and a little nob of butter, and it does it all by itself. Count that as a major time saver.
Once again, The Man was impressed with my ability to create something out of seemingly simple ingredients. I really hope I don't run out of tricks too soon.
Hmmmm.... so the party is over, and you're left with little nubbins of a whole lot of cheeses. Wrapping them up seems silly, but wasting them would send you directly to hell. What to do.... Well, if you're in our family, you make mac n' cheese. With a few additional ingredients, you can make a pot of exactly what is needed to satisfy your need for comfort food. (Oh, and if you don't want to make it right away, take all those odds and ends, toss them in a zip top bag and put them right in the freezer for the perfect moment to impress all those that are under your roof.)
Like all brilliant recipes, this starts with a couple of strips of good bacon. Dice it small and put it in to the bottom of a good, heavy pot over medium heat. You want to render as much of the fat as possible, while making it crispy. I use the Earth Fare uncured applewood smoked bacon because it is certainly what angels eat in heaven. Thick cut, perfectly smoked and just the right ratio of fat to meat, I refuse to eat anything else. Start a big pot of well salted water at the same time to cook the pasta in.
A really good mustard, Worcestershire sauce and a good pasta are all essential, as are finely minced onion and garlic, flour, whole milk, salt and pepper. If you like it, a dash of hot sauce is also welcomed, but not for me, please. This whole wheat pasta is one of the best tasting I have had, and the texture is great. I highly recommend it.
Remove the now amazingly crispy bacon from the pan, leaving as much of the bacon fat as possible. Sprinkle in some flour, about twice as much as the fat that is in the pot. No, you don't need exact amounts, you really can't screw this up.
Stir this around, letting it pick up all the fat and any browned bits at the bottom of the pot. Cook the flour until it starts to smell a little toasty, then add the finely minced onion and garlic, the mustard, Worcestershire, and a good dose of salt and pepper. Let the onions and garlic start smelling really good, then add the milk. Again, I can't give you amounts. Add a couple of cups, and start to whisk it around. As it starts to simmer it will thicken. If it's too thick add more milk, a little at a time, until it's like a nice white gravy.
Now comes the fun part. Add all that cheese, and any other little bits of cheese you have in your 'fridge. When it was all said and done, 11 different cheeses went in to this pot. E L E V E N. Everything from a bit of stilton that was hanging out from New Year's Eve, the leftovers from last night's cheese platter, a couple of other cheddars that were in the freezer, and a lump of jack that somehow just appeared in a drawer. Turn the heat to low and let them melt slowly so nothing burns. Once they begin to meld into that sauce, you'll start to smell what magic you've created.
By now your pasta is perfectly cooked and well drained. I picked shells because they will grab all that incredible sauce and bacon into little pouches of love, but you can use whatever you like. Sweet Daddy Bones likes rotini or fusilli, but he'll just have to learn to deal.
Add the pasta to the cheese sauce, stir the bacon back in and either serve right away or pour into a well greased baking dish, top with buttered crumbs and bake until bubbly. We have a hard time waiting for it to come out of the oven, so the first bites are right out of the pot.
Potato soup is one of those things that I make when I need comfort food on the fly. In about 30 minutes I can have a big bowl of love without a lot of effort or expensive ingredients. It can be made as easy or as complicated as you like, but I go for simple. Bacon, potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, milk and chicken stock is about it. Sometimes I add cheese, sometimes beer, at times chicken or beans or some sort of fish makes it way in to the pot. Today I need simple. A couple of slices of really good applewood bacon are diced small and tossed in to the pot with a lump of butter. (If you're using a bacon that you know renders a lot of fat, hold off on the butter. I happen to know that this bacon is pretty lean so I add the butter.) Diced red onion, carrots and celery go in, then diced potato. No, I don't peel mine, but you can if you like. Season well with salt and pepper, and let it cook until the veggies get a little color. Then add milk and stock, and bring it up to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are tender. From beginning to end, it took about 45 minutes in my new shiny stock pot that my brilliant brother Timothy gave me for Christmas. Isn't it pretty?? Some went in to the mini crock for The Man to take for lunch, along with a side of shredded cheddar to top it with, the rest will cool a bit on the stove and then get packed for the 'fridge, after I have a bit of it of course.
After being sick for almost a week, I needed to cook something a little more involved than a pot roast. For most, breakfast for dinner is a simple affair, but I decided to go all out. The Man goes to work at 1p, and is forced to have his lunch at 3p due to scheduling snafus, so by the time he gets home at 10:30p he's gnawing on the steering wheel. Not wanting to feed him anything too heavy (I don't want to completely disrupt his sleep patterns), I go with multiple small dishes, more of a buffet than a meal. We nibble, talk and relax, and both go to bed sated but not stuffed. So, I put together a nice little brunch-esque buffet last night. Sweet potato pancakes, maple turkey and applewood bacon hash, ginger pear sauce with vanilla bean, orange spiced butter and warm real maple syrup (get the Grade B - it's got far more flavor, and is about $10 cheaper per 8 oz.) For our beverage, I made a mulled cider with chai teabags, orange slices, a little piece of vanilla bean and some candied ginger in a really good organic apple cider. I let that simmer for a bit and then sit for a couple of hours. That was served hot with a shot of good bourbon, Bulleit. Some candles on the table, and I thought I had the romance in the bag... forgetting it was Monday, and there was football on. Oh well, nothing and no one is perfect, but the food rocked. If you'd like recipes, let me know. I'm happy to share!
This is one of my finest moments - I put this meal together with things that I had in the freezer, 'fridge and pantry, with only the addition of the asparagus and wine, which The Man brought home from work. This is the part that I am truly proud of, because it was really really good. Plus, it's not pedestrian. I didn't open a can of salmon, mix in some canned bread crumbs and called it a day. There was thought and planning used.... well, not much planning, but lots of thought. Fine, not a lot of thought either, but isn't that what having a properly stocked kitchen is all about? Okay, to begin, I poached about 1 1/4 pounds of salmon in a broth made from carrot, celery, onion, lemon, parsley, small piece of ginger, a piece of salmon bacon, pepper corns, salt, unfiltered apple juice and water. (that simmered for about thirty minutes before I used it.) Slid the still frozen salmon into the hot poaching liquid (called a court bouillon, by the way), let that simmer a few minutes and then turned it off, letting it set until everything was cooled, a few hours. Then I pulled the meat out, slipped the skin right off and broke the meat up in a bowl. The now pretty amazing stock got strained and popped into the freezer for fish chowder. Carrot, celery and onion got finely diced, seasoned with salt, pepper and parsley, and sauteed in butter with diced Bosc pear and roasted pumpkin until everything was nicely browned. Let this cool for a bit then toss in with the salmon. I made fresh breadcrumbs with the rest of the challah I had on the counter, added some to the salmon, along with an egg, and mixed it all up. Formed into patties and rolled in the crumbs, they get a nice nap in the 'fridge until dinner time. Had two pints of grape tomatoes that wouldn't have lasted more than a day or two, so I popped them into a pan with olive oil, salt and pepper over real low heat, and let them pan roast for about an hour, tossing occasionally. When there was a nice tomato caramel formed on the bottom of the pan, I raised the heat to medium, deglazed with a little apple juice, and added a splash of sherry vinegar. This reduced to a nice sauce with the tomatoes, so it also got set aside until dinner. Once I got the call that The Man was on his way home with some lovely asparagus and a box of red wine (Bota Box isn't as bad as I expected, we had the RedVolution with this meal and it went perfectly), I heated up a large saute pan over medium heat, added a little oil, recoated the salmon cakes with the crumbs and browned them nicely on both sides before popping into the oven to finish. A pot on the back of the stove got filled with water to blanch the asparagus, and the tomatoes were brought back to temp over medium heat. When he walked in the door, I trimmed the end of the asparagus, and cut into thirds. Blanched quickly, they turned bright green. Drained and tossed into the pan with the tomatoes, they started getting glazed with that wonderful tomato caramel/sherry vinegar sauce. Once that was all done, I plated, and without washing the pan, put a knob of butter and some shallots in the pan. I let them get nicely browned, then added red wine, scraping up all the yummy tomato bits, and let it reduce. A splash of sherry vinegar, some herbs and a little sundried tomato paste, I let this cook down, then finished with some cold butter swirled in just until it melted. Cakes out of the oven, plated, topped with sauce, then devoured. Really good meal, and I didn't have to get out of my jammies! Yay me!
If the thought of eating Bambi makes you retch, re-read one of my other blogs, please. For the rest of you, here we go. I was gifted with a venison shoulder and a couple of loins the other day, and can't fit both bags in my freezer. So, while my honey works all day, I get an uninterrupted day of cooking. The easiest thing to do with the shoulder is stew (though I did knock around the idea of doing pulled venison... maybe next time). Started with a crock pot of sweet potato, onions, celery, carrot, garlic, thyme, oregano, parsley, apples and garlic. Then I got to butchering the venison. Being that it's a wild animal, there is a lot of connective tissue, so it doesn't come apart as easily as a pork shoulder, and all that tissue needs to be removed. Taking the silver skin off isn't that hard, just time consuming. Take the tip of a very sharp knife and slip it under the silver skin, sliding the knife to the right to give you an end to grab on to. Spin the piece around, and bring the knife the other way, gently pulling with your left hand and sliding the knife between the meat and the silver skin, trying to lose as little meat as possible. It's not hard if you take your time. (I did discover that if the meat is previously frozen, as this piece was, it comes off even easier, pretty much just peels off once you get an end to pull.) I got as much off as I needed to, cubed it up and tossed it in the crock pot. My liquid is a mishmash, but brings tons of flavor - Fat Tire beer, spiced apple cider, a little really good bourbon, a couple tablespoons of coffee, and finished with chicken stock. Yeah, I'm nuts, I know. Oh, and I added a pinch of cumin too. The earthy quality of that echos the game taste of the meat. Mix it all up with a good dose of salt and pepper, and it will cook all day long.
couple hours in, it's looking and smelling great.
After cooking for almost 12 hours on low, it's so tender it melts. So so good!
served with buttermilk biscuits and roasted pumpkin, it made for an incredible dinner.
I'm a chef, mom of two grown amazing people, a culinary instructor, and now a holistic nutrition and wellness counselor. I will be adding homeopathy to that list of accomplishments soon, and this is a record of my journey towards that and many other goals, along with the stuff that turns me on and off. Like my Facebook page for even more amazing ideas and recipes. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Healthy-People-Culinary-Program/214831771901699?ref=hl