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Archive for February, 2010
A Quality Waffle Recipe
February 28, 2010Sausage Always Overwhelms
February 22, 2010Don’t get me wrong, I love sausage. But I’ve also recently realized that it dominates any meal. That’s not a bad thing; it’s just something I’ve come to realize.
This fact dawned on me when I cooked a sausage, white bean, and kale soup based on a recipe in the Whole Foods newsletter. It’s a tasty soup, it just tastes like “sausage” soup. I guess the beans and kale make it healthy. If you’re interested in making it, here’s how it goes down:
Brown one pound of any type of sausage in a heavy bottomed pot. Add a diced yellow onion and cook until it is translucent. Then add a quart of chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add chopped up kale (thick stems removed), and cook until the kale is soft. Blend 3 cups of white beans with 3/4 of a cup of chicken broth in a blender. Add the mixture to the soup along with another 3 cups of white beans. Finally, add a little more broth if the soup needs it. (Mine had too much broth which definitely brought the soup down.) Add salt and pepper to taste.
Simply Clams
February 22, 2010I forgot how good clams are. This afternoon Anne suggested we buy some at the Ballard Farmer’s market and cook them with a little wine, garlic, and butter. And that’s just what we did.
Heat the garlic in a little oil, then add white wine and some water. Throw the clams in and enjoy the symphony as they pop open. When they’re done, pull ‘em out, and toss a few tablespoons of butter into the left over liquid. When the butter has melted, ladle the delicious sauce over the clams and serve with a hunk of bread.
Taco Salad
February 15, 2010My wife Anne had a craving for taco salad tonight, so she pulled up two money recipes: the first, a simple ground beef mixture:
- 1 pound of lean ground beef (I know, a real shocker – I normally hate ground beef)
- 2 teaspoons unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/8 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
The second, another simple one, a cilantro-lime dressing:
- 1/2 cup cilantro
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- pinch of garlic powder
- pinch of Mexican oregano
- salt to taste
Mix the ground beef and the spices in a bowl and then throw them into a hot pan that is capable of searing the meat. For me, that meant putting them in my beloved cast iron frying pan.
While the meat is doing its thing, put all the ingredients for the dressing in a blender and liquefy.
Finally, in whatever order you choose, place the following:
- lettuce
- ground beef
- diced red onion
- diced tomato
- avocado
- tortilla chips
- cilantro dressing
Bam. Absolutely money.
Chicken, butter, thyme, shallots, and cream – and I guess some salt
February 7, 2010Julia Child brings it home. She really does. First, it was a creamy tilapia. Now, it was a creamy chicken dish. What’s funny is that I attempted to cook something like this off the cuff recently. And I failed miserably. I can’t even remember why. But at least I’ll have this post to remind me how to do it properly moving forward.
What’s also funny is how simple the recipe is. Heat some oil and butter in a dutch oven until it starts to foam. Then add bone-in chicken (thighs and breasts are equally delicious). Cook them on both sides until they’ve reached a nice golden brown. Then salt them, and throw in an herb you have on hand (for me it was thyme). Put them in the oven at 350, and they’ll be done in about 30 minutes. If you want the timing to be perfect, set the skinnier pieces aside, and add them back about 10 minutes into the 3o minute session.
After 30 minutes, pull the dutch oven out of the oven. Ladle a tablespoon of the oil and fat into a saucepan and add a tablespoon of shallots. Cook that for about a minute, then throw in a half a cup of dry (but not young!) white wine. Boil that down to three tablespoons and put in a cup of cream. Cook that for a few minutes and you’re ready to go. Serve and enjoy. And pair it with a pinot noir or some other light red wine. Lovely really!
Meatballs and Soup
February 7, 2010I cooked two bomb dishes in the last two weeks. The first was a helluva spaghetti and meatballs. Now for those of you who know me well, probably only my wife unfortunately, you’ll know that I don’t really like ground beef. I think it has a gamey taste that pretty much makes me want to barf directly back into my meal. So in order to make money meatballs, I use other ground meat. This time I used ground turkey (pretty much tasteless and fatless) and ground sausage meat (pretty much the tastiest and fattiest ground meat in the world). As I have been doing recently, I went with an Earthbound Farms recipe. Having cooked various meatball and meatloaf recipes in the past, I was pretty skeptical of this one due to the shear amount of ingredients involved. Beyond the standard cheese, milk, and breadcrumbs, it wanted every damn spice and herb in the kitchen. But whatever, I was feeling it. After throwing all of the ingredients into a bowl, I proceeded to use two of my favorite gadgets – a stand mixer and an ice cream scooper. I used the mixer to fold everything together, and the ice cream scooper to portion out evenly sized meatballs onto parchment paper, which is pretty money in its own right. I then covered them with plastic wrap and let them sit overnight. The next day I was in heaven. I ate them plain, I ate them with spaghetti, I ate them in sandwiches. They really were some of the best I’ve ever had.
Next up on the docket was chicken tortilla soup, which I’ve cooked probably a half million times before. It is one of my favorite soups if only for its fantastic broth. But I’m always disappointed that in the end, the only thing I end up chewing is chicken and tortillas. This time around, the Whole Foods recipe kiosk pulled through. It spit out a chicken tortilla soup recipe that included corn, spinach, and copious amounts of fresh chopped cilantro on top. This time, unlike my previous attempt, I remembered to set aside some fresh chopped red onions. So for this go round, I had my standard chicken and tortillas, but also cilantro, fresh chopped onions, spinach, and corn. With a fuller bowl, I was much more satisfied.
Superbomb Salsa
February 7, 2010I’ve made this salsa twice before (once for last year’s superbowl), and I plan on making it again for tomorrow’s superbowl. It’s unbelievable. It take some time though, but I assure you it is well worth it.
