dinner

It’s different every time!

~ nancyruth ~ 2 Comments

bbq 004

I make my own barbecue sauce and it is never the same. But this time I remembered what I did. I find that BBQ sauce is basically a tomato base with a “hot” added plus some vinegar of some kind. I saw once a “recipe” that was three ingredients of ketchup, sriracha, and Worcestershire. I don’t usually cook with ketchup; I save that for cheeseburgers. Although I do plan to make my own ketchup later this spring. I have seen a recipe for making it in the slow-cooker. I like that idea.

I love barbecued ribs! So we bought a rack of baby-backs at our discount grocery store. So I don’t know if this is the best of my homemade sauces or if it was the best rib rack we bought or the two of them combined, oven-baked smothered with sauce.

Not wanting to use ketchup I use tomato sauce. And not having Worcestershire, I use apple cider vinegar. Most of the amounts are approximations and can be adjusted to taste.

bbq2 002

  • 8 ounce can tomato sauce
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons sriracha sauce
  • 1 tablespoon dried minced onions
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon espresso powder (at hubby’s insistence)

Just mix this all up together. I suspect hubby also put in some ground coffee. He has been telling me this is an essential ingredient in barbecue sauce. Anyone ever hear of that?

We poured the sauce over a rack of ribs (cut into individual ribs) turning them to coat each one in sauce, covered the roasting pan with foil and baked this for 45 minutes at 325 F. Then removed the foil, baked for about 10 more minutes, and then broiled for maybe 5 minutes. We then poured the sauce over the ribs. These were delicious! I may never let hubby grill ribs again!

I also made coleslaw and toasted some anadama bread slices on the griddle. I make a dill-buttermilk coleslaw dressing adapted from my cookbook The Basic Gourmet by Morgan, Taggart, Taggert, and Vareldzis (1995 Chronicle Books). I buy the coleslaw mix in the produce section because a head of cabbage makes too much slaw.

  • 1/4-1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise or plain yogurt
  • 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried dill weed; I used snippings of fresh dill because I had some!
  • 2 teaspoons mustard, any kind
  • 1 dash hot pepper sauce (sometimes I forget to add this)
  • 1/4 teaspoon sugar (I usually leave this out)
  • salt and pepper to taste

Whisk the ingredients together and pour over the coleslaw vegetables and stir to coat.

This was good eating!

Quinoa 2

~ nancyruth ~ 1 Comment

Continuing on my quest to use interesting ingredients and healthy ones I have made another quinoa dish. This one I found on food.com: http://www.food.com/recipe/southwestern-quinoa-vegetable-casserole-304705

This is an easy to prepare recipe as it is mostly assembly. I added ground beef and an onion so that had to be browned before putting it all in the dish to bake. I actually followed the directions exactly but for that. Sort of.

  • 1/2 pound ground beef, browned
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes with green chilies (I used the store brand; the name brand is Rotel.)
  • 1 15 ounce can black beans, drained (I forgot to buy black beans most recently so I substituted a can of pinto beans, drained.)
  • 1/4 cup sliced jalapeno
  • 1/2 can vegetable broth (I used chicken broth because that is what I had on hand.)
  • 3/4 cup quinoa
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 cup cheddar cheese
  • sour cream for serving

I had only whole cumin seeds and whole coriander in my spice cabinet so I got to use the mortar and pestle that my son brought back from his international travels. I believe he brought this from Morocco. So these are “roughly ground”!

Preheat oven to 400 F. After browning the onion and beef, all the ingredients except the cheese and sour cream are mixed together in a 2 quart casserole.

quinoa 2 007Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove and stir. (I was not sure if this meant to remove the foil for the next cooking segment, so I covered the dish again. Bake for another 20 minutes until liquid is absorbed and quinoa is tender.

At the 30 minute mark the quinoa still looks quite small and raw. But the next 20 minutes finished cooking it perfectly.

After the 20 minutes remove the foil, cover with cheese and broil until cheese is melted about 1-2 minutes only. Serve with sour cream.

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I served this with tortilla chips to add some crunch. This makes four servings so I will have leftovers. I’ll serve the leftovers with a big salad and freshly baked cornbread or rolls.

Note: This dish has heat. It is very spicy. I might leave out the jalapeno next time or use a can of regular diced tomatoes without the chilies.

Quinoa 1

~ nancyruth ~ 4 Comments

sewing 007My sewing room has been feeling neglected so I spent time in there instead of browsing recipe books. But dinner is needed and I was thinking of something simple like bacon and eggs when I took a break and looked through my “recipes of interest” notebook. And there I found a recipe for a quinoa and green bean salad. In fact I found two variations. I say to myself “Self, there are green beans in need of fixing! And there is quinoa in the pantry.” Although salads can be nice for lunch and can work for suppers, I think hubby would like more substance. How about adding the bacon and eggs? And serving it warm?

sewing 008I put together what I want to use. Servings for two. (You can double the quinoa and the beans if you want to serve four.)

  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • olive oil for the skillet
  • 1/4 pound bacon, diced
  • 1/2 cup quinoa
  • 1/2 pound green beans
  • 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon dried parsley, plus sprinkle for garnish
  • 3-4 eggs, poached

sewing 009First make the dressing: whisk together the vinegar, 1/4 cup olive oil, and parsley.

Put a bit of olive oil in a skillet to saute the garlic and onion. I then added the diced up bacon. Oh boy does this make the kitchen smell good! When the bacon is cooked I added the quinoa and stirred it for one minute. I am adding the amount of water per the quinoa package directions, so this is 1 cup. This is then brought to a boil, the skillet is covered, the heat lowered and let simmer for 15 minutes or per the quinoa package directions.

Meanwhile blanch the green beans just for a few minutes until bright green. (Do these look brighter green?) They should be al dente.

After the quinoa has been cooked per package instructions and let sit for 5-10 minutes to finish absorbing the liquid, stir in the green beans and the dressing. Keep this warm.

Now to poach the eggs. I have not really studied how best to do poached eggs. I think I read somewhere to put a little vinegar in the water but I am not sure. I bring about a half inch of water to a boil in a skillet. Then I slowly pour each egg into the water. I cover the pan and wait for the whites to solidify. How did I do?

Scoop the quinoa mixture into serving bowls and carefully place an egg or two on top.

Quinoa is one of those super foods that is being touted as something we all should eat. It provides protein. fiber, and essential vitamins and other nutrients. I have some other recipes I plan to try out in hopes to put this in our diet. Stay tuned.

 

 

Sunday Pot Roast: so many choices

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When grocery shopping I wanted to buy a brisket but the discount grocery I went to only had corned beef briskets available. So hubby and I picked out a beef roast, round, sirloin tip. I asked hubby if this was a “nice” cut of beef and he replied that any beef cut was a nice cut of beef. He’s my carnivore!

quinoa and pot roast 016Instead of freezing this nice just-over-2-pound roast we thought we would make ourselves a nice roast dinner for Sunday. One could just throw the beef in a pot with potatoes, onions, and carrots but I wanted something a little different. I have many cookbooks to get ideas from and I had a full pantry and fridge from the grocery shopping. I think I looked through at least half a dozen books and laid out a few for hubby to choose from. These choices included Beef Bourguignon from Julia Child, New England Pot Roast by Betty Crocker, and a Swedish Pot Roast from the Better Homes and Garden book. I admit I have not actually perused the beef recipes sections in my cookbooks for some time. There were some interesting ideas.

The “winner” comes from my Anheuser-Busch Cookbook: Great Food Great Beer. I am originally from the St. Louis area so have an affinity for Anheuser-Busch even though we don’t drink their beer very often. I bought this cookbook in 2008 when we took the family to tour the brewery. We settled on New England-Style Pot Roast on page 206. It’s cooked in beer! For the weekend grocery shopping we also went to the liquor store next door. While waiting for hubby to bring the car around I went looking for Sam Adams Cream Stout which is his favorite beer. We like dark beer. I found a craft beer from a local brewery that is a chocolate stout. What a great combination! I bring it to him and tell him I found “dessert beer”! The point is that although the recipe calls for Michelob Amber Bock, we use the Hooker Chocolate Truffle Stout.

I have a two pound roast which is half the size of the one in the recipe but is plenty for the two of us with leftovers. Hubby and I are cooking together which is fun. I am working hard at not being the kitchen bully and telling him how to do things!

quinoa and pot roast 017Here’s what I used:

  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 4 large onions, sliced.
  • 2.05 pound round roast, sirloin tip
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper,  or whatever it takes to sprinkle all over the roast
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup chicken stock (the recipe calls for beef stock but I didn’t have any)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (I used 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 12-ounce bottle of beer: we used the chocolate stout
  • 1 tablespoon corn starch

First slice the onions and cook in the pot in the butter. Cook these stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes. The recipe called for 40 minutes but hubby thought that was too long. Meanwhile rinse and pat dry the roast and sprinkle all over with the salt and pepper. Remove the onions to a platter, add the olive oil to the pot, and brown the beef on all sides. Add the onions back into the pot, add the thyme, the broth, and the beer.

Cover pot with lid and put in oven heated at 325 degrees F. Half way through the cooking time the roast will need to be turned. Since this is a 2-pound roast it should be medium rare in about one hour. So I turn it over in 30 minutes. At one hour the internal temperature was 155 degrees. The roast is removed from the pot and hubby slices it. Now for the gravy. This is where something wasn’t quite right. The original recipe calls for 1-teaspoon of flour to thicken the liquid that is left in the pot. There’s a least two, if not three cups of liquid here. I used cornstarch and brought it to boil for more than the minute called for in the directions. Perhaps I should have removed the onions as well as the meat? The gravy did not thicken but still was very tasty.

quinoa and pot roast 027
Served with mashed potatoes and peas

It did not quite look like the photo but tasted like roast beef dinner. The meat was tender and not overcooked so that also was a success!

Now on to the week!

 

Chicken Piccata

~ nancyruth ~ 3 Comments

chicken piccata 017

Chicken thighs were brought up from the freezer to the fridge to thaw for supper. I went to my newly organized recipe notebook looking for a coffee marinade (I had a bit of leftover coffee from the morning) and came across a page I had saved from a 1991 Woman’s Day magazine on how to prepare chicken multiple ways using a basic starter of chicken thighs or breasts.chicken piccata 001 Add a different sauce and different vegetables and you have different dinners all week. I looked at it pretty thoroughly and found that I had all the ingredients for “chicken picante with green beans“. Even the white wine. Reading through the recipe I had the unique thought that I could actually follow this recipe exactly. Well, not exactly exactly. I would use fresh green beans instead of frozen, and I had a few mini orange peppers instead of a red bell pepper. It seemed exact enough to me!

This handy dandy recipe chart has four parts to each dish: the chicken, the vegetables, the liquid, and the finishing touch.

The first is of course the chicken. One trims the visible fat (I do a half-hearted effort at this) and coat the pieces with seasoned bread crumbs. Well, I have a package of Panko bread crumbs and that will have to do. The recipe calls for 1 1/2 pounds of chicken parts. I have thawed a 3 pound package so that will have to do as well. I’ll plan for leftovers this way. I put my breadcrumbs in a ziploc bag to toss with the chicken, one piece at a time.

  • 6 large chicken thighs, thawed. These could have the skins removed for a more calorie conscious meal.
  • 4 tablespoons Panko bread crumbs
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil for the skillet

Heat the oil in a large skillet with sides and cook the crumb coated chicken pieces for about 6-8 minutes, turning once.

Meanwhile prepare the vegetables:chicken piccata 006

  • 4 mini peppers or a red bell pepper, diced (any pepper or combination of colorful peppers would work here, red, orange or yellow will provide a nice contrast to the green beans)
  • fresh green beans, trimmed, about a pound (or 10 ounces frozen green beans)

chicken piccata 008Prepare the liquid:

  • 1 cup white wine
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • 1 tablespoon drained capers
  • 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper
  • 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

When the chicken is nicely browned, add the vegetables and the liquid to the pan, cover and let simmer for 30 minutes.

The finishing touch is to sprinkle with Romano cheese.

chicken piccata 016

I make a bowl of couscous to serve with this. I set the table and wait for hubby to arrive.  I remove the chicken and vegetables to platter and plates. I sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of flour into the sauce in the pan and bring it to a boil to thicken. This takes just a few minutes. We sit down to a nice meal (after saying the blessing). We are having a nice conversation sitting at the table for our meal when he informs me this is a Piccata, not a picante, when I tell him about the recipe. A piccata is a white wine sauce with capers. Hubby used to work in high end restaurants and has hobnobbed with real chefs so he should know. Oh, I’m sure I have had this dish at restaurants before but did not connect the ingredients in this recipe to the misnomer by the magazine.

I wonder if it was just an oversight by the food editor?  I know of Picante as a Mexican hot sauce. I was just going by the name given by the Woman’s Day magazine people. Points scored by hubby for his culinary knowledge. I am not surprised. This is the man who lent me his copy of Gastronomique and The Professional Chef when we started dating! He used to quiz me on the Five Mother Sauces! I guessed at them; I’m just a home cook raised in the Midwest. I just make gravy!

Can you name the Five Mother Sauces?

Bacon and Egg Spaghetti

~ nancyruth ~ 3 Comments

bacon and egg spaghetti 012

Sometimes it is difficult to know what to cook for dinner. I am trying to cook what is in the house to avoid a grocery shopping trip until another week goes by. I like having food in the house so when I go to the store I tend to buy lots! Everyone chooses how to spend their money; some spend it on dining out, entertainment, cars, travel. Me, I tend to spend it on food! And of course reading my fellow bloggers recipes and seeing the photographs of delicious food always inspires me to have enough variety of food in the house so I can cook up an experimental dish on a whim!

The inspiration for this dish is threefold. First and foremost is this blog that I just recently was reading: https://mioshotfood.wordpress.com/2015/12/10/original-italian-carbonara/. This sounded fabulous and I wanted to make this. While thinking about this I remember my brother-in-law talking about making a bacon and egg spaghetti and also in one of the many food magazines I have read over the years there was a page on a quick weeknight dinner featuring a bacon and egg spaghetti. I describe this to hubby and he says it sounds appealing so up from the sofa we get and go into the kitchen.

Here’s what I used:

  • 1/2 pound spaghetti noodles
  • a little bit of olive oil for the skillet
  • 1/4 pound bacon cut into small dice (I use uncured bacon that I keep frozen and just chop from the end what is needed)
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
  • 1/2 cup cottage cheese
  • freshly ground pepper
  • dried parsley for garnish

Boil the water for the spaghetti. This is what takes the longest time for this dish. While waiting for the water to boil and/or the spaghetti to cook, dice up the bacon, onion, and garlic. Hubby kindly took care of the bacon while I did the other. Saute these together in the skillet with a little bit of oil. Add the oregano and basil when the bacon is starting to brown and the onion is caramelizing. I read somewhere that fat distributes the flavors so I am thinking this is the time to add the seasonings. This concoction will have your kitchen smelling wonderful!

In a bowl beat the three eggs with a fork and add the Romano cheese. Drain the spaghetti and add it to the skillet with the bacon and onion. Pour on the egg mixture. Cook this over medium heat stirring with tongs to coat the spaghetti. It will start to look like scrambled egg on the spaghetti. We added the cottage cheese here for extra creaminess. Season with pepper. Put in serving bowls and sprinkle with the dried parsley and more pepper to taste.

It served the two of us. This would be nice served with a green salad and crusty bread neither of which I had in the house at the time. I figure the onion is our vegetable, the eggs and bacon are our protein, the cheese is the dairy, and the pasta is the grain. That covers the major food groups and makes this a square meal!

 

 

It’s Just a Pasta Dish!

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notebooks 001

I spent a morning organizing my recipe notebooks in which I had collected clippings and printings of recipes I have used and/or want to try. It was quite interesting going through the most recent collection. I removed some that were duplicative and that I would not really use again. I have another one that also has “classic” recipes from my early days as a wife and mother. I did not glean through that one. When these are changed up it is kind of like losing the ambiance of the thing. I have three of my mother’s notebooks. I wonder if my daughter will do this? I gave her one to start on but…?

pasta with beans and greens 005In organizing the two notebooks I came across this newspaper clipping from a year or so ago. In deciding what to cook for supper I wanted to use Italian sausages and thought this recipe could be the inspiration for supper. We like pasta dishes that have more “stuff” than the pasta.

I gathered what I wanted to use. I did not have fresh greens (Swiss chard) nor cannelini beans but that never stops me from going forward!

  • 3 1/2 pounds sweet Italian sausages in links (my addition)
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 8 oz pkg of baby portabella mushrooms, roughly chopped (my addition)
  • 1/2 pint grape tomatoes, cut in halves
  • 1 cup frozen spinach (my substitution, but I like cooking with spinach)
  • 1 15.5 ounce can pinto beans, drained (substitute for the canellini beans)
  • 1/2 cup of broth
  • olive oil for the skillet
  • 8 ounces whole wheat fusilli pasta (less than the pound of the newspaper recipe)
  • sprinkle of red pepper flakes
  • grated Romano cheese to serve (at son’s suggestion)

First put on a big pot of water to boil for the pasta. Cook pasta according to package.

I sliced up the sausage links. This is easier to do when the meat is partially frozen.Heat olive oil in a large skillet and brown the meat. Be sure to cook it through. This takes about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally so that all gets evenly cooked. Meanwhile chop the vegetables. When the sausage is browned remove from the pan and drain most of the fat. Saute the onion and the garlic in this pan with a bit of the fat. When fragrant and caramelizing add the mushrooms, tomatoes, and beans.

Stir the mixture and cook for about 5 minutes, then add the broth, the spinach, and the sausages to the pan and simmer while waiting for the pasta to finish cooking. This should cook for another 10 minutes.

pasta with beans and greens 011

Blend in the drained pasta, add a shake or two of red pepper flakes, sprinkle on the Romano, and dinner is served:

pasta with beans and greens 013

This was a big hit with hubby and son who were home for dinner. Which means I will make this again. This serves six. Son had two helpings. I put the remaining two servings in a freezer container for an “emergency meal” for the future.

Thoughts for changes that would be nice: use more spinach (or other greens of choice), use canellini beans (or less than a full can of pinto/brown beans), artichokes could be added, and an addition of black olives would be spectacular!

 

 

 

Pork and Peppers

~ nancyruth ~ 1 Comment

The inevitable question running through my mind is “what’s for dinner?” I don’t think other family members have this question constantly bombarding their brain. Sitting home with son and hubby I was contemplating this and when I asked what they thought, I got the “I don’t know” looks from them. Son tried to be helpful with “what do we have?”

I looked through several cookbooks but was not inspired. I keep a running list of meats that I have in the house so I can quickly pick out something. I recently inventoried my pantry and spice cabinets and posted the contents inside the cabinet doors. (I am not used to being home 24 hours a day!) In the spring and summer I will keep a list of produce so I can use it before it passes it’s prime. I hate throwing away food!

So after reaching a point in the book I am reading where I could put it down for a bit, I took three pork chops out of the freezer. I defrost these somewhat in the microwave. Not sure what to do with them yet, I decide to take out veggies from the produce drawer and add them all together. In my perusal of recipes I had recently come across one that called for grating an inch of ginger root, so I take the ginger root from the freezer and some teriyaki sauce from the fridge. I will cook up all these veggies and serve them on top of the pork chops. I add a side dish of Bulgur.

pork and peppers 004

  • 1/2 inch of ginger root, grated; approximately 2 tablespoons
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed in a press or finely minced
  • olive oil and coconut oil for the pan, 2-3 tablespoons combined
  • 2 small onions, sliced
  • 3 carrots, pared and thinly sliced
  • 1 large red pepper, sliced (I should dice these in the future)
  • 4 ounces portabello mushrooms, roughly chopped
  • splashes of teriyaki sauce
  • sprinkle of oriental five spices powder
  • 1/2 cup broth (I make my own and freeze it in 1-3 cup portions)
  • 3 pork chops, bone in

Put the pork chops in a pan and into the oven at 350 F. Prepare a skillet with the oils. I love using my cast iron skillet. Grate the ginger root. Mince the garlic.

Several years ago I picked up a gadget from a tag sale. This is a garlic press. It is made in Italy. I had to ask what it was and thought it was a novelty so took it home. I know that I figured out how to use it then but had not since. It did not work out quite like I expected.

So I finely chopped the garlic cloves with a knife.

Saute the onion, garlic, and ginger in the oil in the skillet. While this is cooking, stir it occasionally, chop up the carrot, red pepper, and mushrooms. Put the carrot and pepper in to cook for 4-5 minutes, then add the broth and splashes of teriyaki and 5 spice powder. You will have to judge the amount based on the fragrance, whatever is pleasing to you. Add the mushrooms and cook uncovered about 5 minutes. The broth will be reduced and the carrots will be al dente.

pork and peppers 017Take the pork chops from the oven and flip them over. Put all the vegetables on top. There is a little bit of liquid so the pork chops will not dry out. Return to the oven and increase the heat to 425 F for about 20 minutes more.

pork and peppers 018

“This is delicious” were the first words out of son’s mouth after his first bite. That’s what a mom likes to hear.

pork and peppers 019

So I wrote down how I made this dish so I can make it again. But never leaving well enough alone there are a few changes: I think if I had put the temp up to 450 F and left in the oven a bit longer, the vegetables would take on a “roast” like look and flavor. I would either dice up all the vegetables or slice all of them more equally in size. I might add a bit more ginger root for more of a “bite”, OR I could make it the same way and know that it is delicious as is!

 

Beef: it’s what’s for dinner.

~ nancyruth ~ 6 Comments

The above title is not original to me. It is from a Beef Industry commercial that ran in the early 1990s. It was a very catchy commercial using music by the composer Aaron Copeland, sounding quite like the American West, eliciting images of ranches and herds of cows! Passing a field of cows on family trips as a kid always got a “hamburger on hoof” comment from my Dad.

I like cooking from recipes but do not always have the motivation/time/energy to do so. My husband does not cook from recipes. And he cooks dinner from time to time. (when I let him!!) A husband who cooks is a keeper.

Hubby loves red meat. I think he dreams of cheeseburgers! We have beef usually once a week or once every other week, or maybe three times a month. When we go out to eat I can count on him ordering something beefy to eat. For this week’s grocery shopping trip he picked out the beef. After all we have plenty of chicken and some pork in the house from our last major grocery shopping. And even though we have a bit of ground beef, the two remaining patties in the freezer are “too small” according to him. And I thought I made 1/3 pounders!

The beef was a “thin sirloin tip steak”.  When he took it out of the package it was thin but rolled into what had looked like a small roast. The weather is warmish so the steak will be grilled. Even if the weather were cold and snowy, the steak would be grilled. He seasons it with Soulard Grill spice/herb mixture (from the historic Soulard Market in St. Louis) and grills it to perfection: rare for him and medium rare, heavy on the medium, for me.

He also washed and cut the potatoes and boiled them for a hearty mashed potatoes as a side. There are leftovers to make a shepherd pie later in the week. I mashed these up and melted the butter first (not sure why) and threw that in the pot with a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream and a splash of milk. Good thick creamy mashed potatoes! Add salt and pepper to taste.

Then I made a bit of a Greek salad: lettuce, grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, feta cheese. I dressed this with the buttermilk ranch dressing I had previously made. The buttermilk dressing is modified from Joy of Cooking. One doesn’t really need a recipe for salad dressings. Put your herbs of choice in the cruet or small jar, add some vinegar or lemon juice and stir together. Add your oil and shake vigorously. Add buttermilk to this and shake vigorously again. The oil can be reduced if using buttermilk or yogurt for a creamy dressing. Generally it is presumed 2 parts oil to 1 part vinegar but change this up to suit your own tastes. I have used equal parts as well as less oil than vinegar. You can also put your ingredients in an almost empty jelly jar for a fruity dressing.

Back to beef…hubby also cut up one red and one yellow onion to saute with olive oil to throw on top of the steak.

endofJan2016 014

Dinner without much fuss.

 

Georgian Stew: Chanakhi

~ nancyruth ~ 2 Comments

Chanakhi 043

For New Year’s Day my son cooked a Georgian Stew: Chanakhi. I am not talking about the Southern state in the United States but of the country in the Caucasus. This had several inspirations and is an adaptation of the recipe in the book he gave me for Christmas which I read in just a few days. He then read it in a few days and decided this was something he would make for us.

But the book is not the only inspiration. My son served in the Peace Corps in Armenia (southern neighbor of Georgia) from 2010-2012. My sister and I visited him there in 2011. We spent the first few days of our visit in Tbilisi Georgia before traveling into Armenia and staying in Ijevan and then Yerevan.

So I have a bit of nostalgia around my visit to these countries in the region. I get a thrill when there is a reference to the Caucasus in books or shows or the news.

The book is The Art of Soviet Cooking: a memoir of food and longing by Anya Von Bremzen.Chanakhi 013

 

This is a fabulous readable history of the Soviet Union and the way that family experienced the times and food with a few recipes given in the back of the book.

Here in the U.S.A. I grew up in the era of “Better Dead than Red” and fears of Communism and Communists, a bit later than the McCarthy Era, but close enough. In this day and age the fear is of Terrorists and how hidden they can be. Anyway back to the Soviets…they were supposedly “the Evil Empire”. But when you meet everyday people and hear from them, they are just people living their lives the best they can, just like us.

Chanakhi 001While in Georgia that year I bought a cookbook of Georgian Cuisine. The translations of the recipes are not easy to follow in that the exact ingredients and amounts are not always given. Chanakhi is in this book and can be cooked in individual clay pots or “the boiler”. I am not sure what “the boiler” is but it sounds like a large Dutch oven or stock pot. “Sheep fat tail” is not something I can find in my local grocery store. Chanakhi is basically a lamb stew with onions, eggplant, tomatoes, and potatoes. Pork is more affordable than lamb so we use a Boston Butt.

The recipe we try to follow is from the Soviet book and not the Georgian. It is more “American kitchen friendly” than the book I bought in Georgia although it is a very complex recipe. This takes all afternoon to make and we fear having to eat late at night but this does not turn out to be the case. Recipe begun at 2:00 PM and we eat by 6:30 PM.

  • 3-3 ½ pounds Boston Butt Bone-in Roast (my son felt that a bone-in cut would make a tender stew; it should fall off the bone on its own at the end of cooking time)
  • 1 large red onion and 1 medium yellow onion, cut in wedges
  • 1 large eggplant (could not find Asian eggplants in the produce section)
  • 3 potatoes (russet, because that is what is in the pantry), cut in wedges
  • 1 28 ounce can of whole peeled plum tomatoes and its juice; we blend a few of the remaining tomatoes into juice for the second addition);about 1 ½ cups juice needed
  • Olive oil; a few tablespoons
  • ½ teaspoon salt; kosher salt, several grinds of pepper; several shakes of red pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 12 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 cup each of freshly chopped parsley, basil, and cilantro (we used home dried basil of about 2-3 Tablespoons, the other herbs were the fresh bunches from the produce section of the grocery store)
  • One crushed bay leaf (son’s addition, just because)

Now get ready for the preparation, assembly, and cooking! To start there is a toast with vodka chased by a pickle.

Preheat the oven to 325 F. This stew will be cooked on top of the stove and then in the oven. I have a 12 inch Cast Iron Dutch oven that will be the cooking vessel.This thing weighs about 20 pounds! But the son can handle it just fine.

Mince the garlic; chop the herbs; mix together in a bowl with salt, gratings of black pepper, paprika, and red pepper flakes. Cut the onions into large wedges or quarters.

Chanakhi 021Rub a handful of the herb mixture on the meat with a little of the olive oil. Chanakhi 028Pack the meat and the onion into the pot stirring them up to coat with the oil and herbs. Cook on high (on top of the stove) for 3-4 minutes, then cover and cook for 12 minutes. Turn the meat over and cook another 3-4 minutes.

Chanakhi 034Add 2 chopped tomatoes, 1 cup tomato juice, another handful of herbs and 1 Tablespoon of the red wine vinegar. Bring to a good simmer and then put the pot in the oven. Cook until the meat is tender. We checked it at 1 hour and 20 minutes and it was good.

Chanakhi 032Meanwhile char the eggplant over the stove burner for 2-3 minutes. Our big eggplant took about 5 minutes. My son contemplated skinning this but did not.

This was then cut into 4 sections, slit and stuffed with some of the herb mixture. Potatoes were cut into wedges and tossed with the herb mixture. Four of the remaining canned tomatoes were cut into fourths and the two remaining after those were churned into juice with the immersion blender.

The potatoes and the eggplant were added to the pot along with the remaining tomato juice and vinegar, and a handful of herbs after the initial hour and 20 minutes in the oven. Now this cooked in the oven for 30 minutes. Then add the quartered tomatoes and the remaining herb mixture. Cover this and bake for 20 minutes. Raise the oven temperature to 400, uncover the pot and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving straight from the pot.

Chanakhi 045
enjoying the fruits of his labor

 

This took us all afternoon because we were not sure of the steps and had to double check the next step over and over. It took us just under 4 hours. For the future after the prepping of all the ingredients, this would take about 2 ½ to 3 hours. Also, for the future, we would use the small eggplant, peel and scrape out the seeds and then just slice it so that it can mix with the other vegetables and not stand out quite so much with all its seeds and skin. I think cooking it all in the Dutch oven on top of the stove would be my preference as well.

Chanakhi 046

I made a batch of popovers to go with this and the meal was a hit with all who partook.