(Stewed Little Meats)
I had a lot of roast pork left over from my birthday luau and a need to cook mass quantities of it before it went bad. I made one version of this stew but truly nailed it on the second go. Here's what you need.
3 lbs pork (mine had already been roasted, but you could toss in uncooked pork butt and still get a good stew out of it).
3-4 potatoes (experiment with this, I tried reds the first time around and yukon golds the second)
1 c carrots, chopped
1 c celery, chopped
2 cubanelles
1/2 c minced garlic (I'm not crazy, you're the one who's crazy, you're driving me crazy!)
2 Tbsp course ground black pepper
1 qt chicken stock
2 c spicy tomato base (when I got my roast pork from the market, they included about a pint of hot sauce. I'm not sure what goes into it, but I suspect it's a combination of tomatoes, water, jalapenos, garlic and vinegar - experiment with your own or just find a spicy, tomatoey - that's a word! - alternative).
1 Tbsp Cilantro
1 Tbsp Thyme
1 Tbsp Cumin
1 tsp Oregano
Toss all ingredients into your 6 qt crockpot and set a course for stew. About 7-8 hours on low should cook all the ingredients, soften the harder vegetables, and get the smells mixing around in there really well. The second time I made this it was for a potluck at work and I did it for 4 hours on high. The flavor was great, but the potatoes were harder than I prefer. I like them to completely break down and thicken the liquid. Enjoy.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Eliachi Gosht (meat cooked with cardamom)
I recently had a birthday and received a fair number of cookbooks. One of them is a wonderful cook/history/philosophy book called "50 great curries of india" by camellia panjabi. In this book she tells the reader about the background of indian cooking from different regions with the idea in mind that someday you will be making your own curries at home. Half the book is preparing you for improvising your own recipes so that you can cook just like the regional cooks.
Here's one that sasha and I tried last night. The flavors are subtle, but definitely there. Not satisfied with the rules, we started making changes in the middle. We were satisfied with the results:
Serves 6
2.25 lbs of lamb (on or off the bone)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
35 green cardamoms
1/2 cup oil (any kind will do, according to the book. We used Sesame Seed Oil)
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 teaspoon chile powder (we used traditional chile powder, I think next time we'll try to use a more traditional Asian pepper or birdseye pepper)
2 tsp coriander powder
3 medium tomatoes, sourish variety, finely chopped (the author talks a bit about tomatoes in the beginning of the book "Even when ripe the Indian tomato is slightly sour in taste, compared to European or American varieties. Its acidity level is also much higher. When using tomatoes for curry-making, avoid sweeter Italian tomatoes." (p. 38))
salt
1. If the lamb is on the bone, wash it in warm water. Whisk the yogurt with a fork in a bowl.
2. Grind the whole green cardamoms in a blender with a little water, or in a coffee grinder without water and then mix with a little water to make a paste. (we went the coffee grinder route with the cardamoms, coriander seeds, and black pepper. It was so cool. sasha laughed at me and called me a dork.)
3. Heat the oil in a cooking pot. Add the cardamom paste and the pepper, and fry over a low heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the meat and the turmeric, chile, and coriander powders, and saute for 10 minutes, stirring all the time to prevent the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pot, adding water if necessary. The secret of success with this dish lies in making sure that the meat and spices are fried for a full 10 minutes without allowing the spices to burn. Therefore it is essential to keep the heat low and use the recommended amount of oil.
4. Lower the heat and add the yogurt, tomatoes, and salt to taste, and continue to saute for a further 5 minutes. Add about 4 cups of water (we only used 2, this is supposed to be a "thin gravy" but we were worried about diluting our mixture too much), cover the pot, and leave to simmer over a low heat until the meat is tender.
The recipe suggests serving it with chipatis or rice. We chose the latter, since it was less work (but the chipati recipe in the back of the book looks remarkably like a certain director's tortilla recipe). This was pretty easy, took us about an hour to prepare and maybe an hour to simmer (at the end of step 4). The leftovers look great, I'm staring at them right now.
Here's one that sasha and I tried last night. The flavors are subtle, but definitely there. Not satisfied with the rules, we started making changes in the middle. We were satisfied with the results:
Serves 6
2.25 lbs of lamb (on or off the bone)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
35 green cardamoms
1/2 cup oil (any kind will do, according to the book. We used Sesame Seed Oil)
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 teaspoon chile powder (we used traditional chile powder, I think next time we'll try to use a more traditional Asian pepper or birdseye pepper)
2 tsp coriander powder
3 medium tomatoes, sourish variety, finely chopped (the author talks a bit about tomatoes in the beginning of the book "Even when ripe the Indian tomato is slightly sour in taste, compared to European or American varieties. Its acidity level is also much higher. When using tomatoes for curry-making, avoid sweeter Italian tomatoes." (p. 38))
salt
1. If the lamb is on the bone, wash it in warm water. Whisk the yogurt with a fork in a bowl.
2. Grind the whole green cardamoms in a blender with a little water, or in a coffee grinder without water and then mix with a little water to make a paste. (we went the coffee grinder route with the cardamoms, coriander seeds, and black pepper. It was so cool. sasha laughed at me and called me a dork.)
3. Heat the oil in a cooking pot. Add the cardamom paste and the pepper, and fry over a low heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the meat and the turmeric, chile, and coriander powders, and saute for 10 minutes, stirring all the time to prevent the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pot, adding water if necessary. The secret of success with this dish lies in making sure that the meat and spices are fried for a full 10 minutes without allowing the spices to burn. Therefore it is essential to keep the heat low and use the recommended amount of oil.
4. Lower the heat and add the yogurt, tomatoes, and salt to taste, and continue to saute for a further 5 minutes. Add about 4 cups of water (we only used 2, this is supposed to be a "thin gravy" but we were worried about diluting our mixture too much), cover the pot, and leave to simmer over a low heat until the meat is tender.
The recipe suggests serving it with chipatis or rice. We chose the latter, since it was less work (but the chipati recipe in the back of the book looks remarkably like a certain director's tortilla recipe). This was pretty easy, took us about an hour to prepare and maybe an hour to simmer (at the end of step 4). The leftovers look great, I'm staring at them right now.
Monday, August 13, 2007
BBQ Chicken Pizza
I'll admit, when Wife first told me about this one, I was skeptical. After all, my fist exposure to the concept of BBQ chicken pizza was in the East Quad cafeteria, not exactly the place to go for fine cuisine (or really any cuisine actually...). However, Wife changed this skeptic's opinion, and it's one of my favorites now!
What you need:
Boneless chicken, 2 breasts, cut into ~1inch cubes
Pizza crust (your option here, make your own, or buy it from the store... this is one area where we are lazy)
two onions, one diced, one cut into strips
BBQ sauce (again, your option, store bought is just fine here, provided it isn't the sickly sweet stuff)
Monterrey jack cheese
cheddar cheese
chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, red pepper flake
How you do it:
In a large pan, sweat the diced onion in some olive oil. Cook it just enough to get some of the flavor opening up, then toss in the chicken. Add the spices to taste (the cumin gives it a nice smokey flavor), and let the chicken cook for a few minutes. It's going to cook more in the oven, so don't over do it...
Meanwhile, prep your crust, a cookie sheet works OK, but a pizza stone is even better. If you are using a stone, toss it in the oven while the oven is pre-heating (to 400deg F), that way it will be ready when the oven is. Smear out some BBQ sauce on the crust (again, quantity to taste) and put down a layer of cheese (either one). Now, spread out the chicken on the pizza and the sliced onion (and any other toppings you want, jalapeno would probably go well...) and smother it with another layer of cheese. Bake for about 20-25 minutes and enjoy!
What you need:
Boneless chicken, 2 breasts, cut into ~1inch cubes
Pizza crust (your option here, make your own, or buy it from the store... this is one area where we are lazy)
two onions, one diced, one cut into strips
BBQ sauce (again, your option, store bought is just fine here, provided it isn't the sickly sweet stuff)
Monterrey jack cheese
cheddar cheese
chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, red pepper flake
How you do it:
In a large pan, sweat the diced onion in some olive oil. Cook it just enough to get some of the flavor opening up, then toss in the chicken. Add the spices to taste (the cumin gives it a nice smokey flavor), and let the chicken cook for a few minutes. It's going to cook more in the oven, so don't over do it...
Meanwhile, prep your crust, a cookie sheet works OK, but a pizza stone is even better. If you are using a stone, toss it in the oven while the oven is pre-heating (to 400deg F), that way it will be ready when the oven is. Smear out some BBQ sauce on the crust (again, quantity to taste) and put down a layer of cheese (either one). Now, spread out the chicken on the pizza and the sliced onion (and any other toppings you want, jalapeno would probably go well...) and smother it with another layer of cheese. Bake for about 20-25 minutes and enjoy!
Monday, August 6, 2007
Chicken Long Rice
This past weekend I threw my first luau with "Wife" (of Adventures in Newlywedland fame). We are both Leos and thought that this would be a fine time to celebrate our birthdays (which are so close together) with a massive pull-out-all -stops party. As often happens with these gigs, we ended up with a lot of leftovers which have started making the trip into work. Co-workers have asked questions (after hearing reports) and upon seeing this recipe in its Tupperware state have asked that I post it.
Original from here.
Ingredients
Directions
1. Soak long rice in warm water for one hour.
2. Soak mushrooms in warm water for 20 minutes, drain, then remove stems and slice caps.
3. Pour chicken broth into large pot, add chicken and ginger and simmer for five minutes.
4. Add onion, celery, carrots, mushrooms and simmer for another 4 to 5 minutes.
Drain long rice and cut into 3-inch lengths.
5. Add green onions and long rice to pot and cook five minutes or until long rice becomes translucent.
A few words, my friends.
1. Do not arbitrarily double this recipe without checking to see if you have pots that can accommodate the extra food. Sasha and I thought we should make extra and found that we'd prepared more food than could be cooked in one pot (everything except the rice and green onions fit into my 6 qt. crock pot). We ended up dividing the noodles into two 4 qt. sauce pots and dumping half of the crock pot's contents into them.
2. The recipe does not tell you to cook the chicken first - but you really should. I don't believe that the simmer time is sufficient to fully cook everything. We grilled the chicken before cubing it and found that this saves a bit of time (but again, we were cooking 4lbs at a go).
3. I went looking for this recipe because my sister and I enjoyed it at a luau in Hawaii. The first time I had it, there was less "stuff" in it. It was just chicken & ginger flavored noodles. To duplicate that recipe, I would remove most of the "stuff" and drain the chicken stock prior to serving the noodles.
If I were to make this again, I still might drain the chicken stock. As served, this was more like a ginger, chicken noodle soup. Though very good and I'm glad to continue eating it - not like the experience that sent me looking for this recipe in the first place. It's a win, but a different kind of win.
Original from here.
Ingredients
Directions
1. Soak long rice in warm water for one hour.
2. Soak mushrooms in warm water for 20 minutes, drain, then remove stems and slice caps.
3. Pour chicken broth into large pot, add chicken and ginger and simmer for five minutes.
4. Add onion, celery, carrots, mushrooms and simmer for another 4 to 5 minutes.
Drain long rice and cut into 3-inch lengths.
5. Add green onions and long rice to pot and cook five minutes or until long rice becomes translucent.
A few words, my friends.
1. Do not arbitrarily double this recipe without checking to see if you have pots that can accommodate the extra food. Sasha and I thought we should make extra and found that we'd prepared more food than could be cooked in one pot (everything except the rice and green onions fit into my 6 qt. crock pot). We ended up dividing the noodles into two 4 qt. sauce pots and dumping half of the crock pot's contents into them.
2. The recipe does not tell you to cook the chicken first - but you really should. I don't believe that the simmer time is sufficient to fully cook everything. We grilled the chicken before cubing it and found that this saves a bit of time (but again, we were cooking 4lbs at a go).
3. I went looking for this recipe because my sister and I enjoyed it at a luau in Hawaii. The first time I had it, there was less "stuff" in it. It was just chicken & ginger flavored noodles. To duplicate that recipe, I would remove most of the "stuff" and drain the chicken stock prior to serving the noodles.
If I were to make this again, I still might drain the chicken stock. As served, this was more like a ginger, chicken noodle soup. Though very good and I'm glad to continue eating it - not like the experience that sent me looking for this recipe in the first place. It's a win, but a different kind of win.
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