Last night I suggested this to my husband and like a twelve year old boy who thinks prunes are just for old people with bathroom trouble he said, "That sounds gross". Now I admit it sounds better in French Boulet aux Pruneaux which is how I read it in a French cookbook, so I knew right away that this would be delicious.
It was quite simple to make and we had most of the ingredients on hand. Including the prunes, which my husband asked me to buy, specifically because he wanted to eat more foods favored by old people so that he could avoid eventual bathroom trouble. He ended up admitting that this was a wonderful combination, and that he had fallen victim to what he thinks is a very American misconception about not mixing "good for you" with "good". It does seem that a lot of the time we think in order to be healthy we have to be sacrificing, and if something is rich and delicious it must be an indulgence, something to feel guilty about. I think my favorite part of this whole project is discovering how much rich, delicious, "decadent" food I have been able to eat, while losing weight and feeling healthier. I don't assign any of my mental energy to worrying about how much fat, or how many calories are in any of the recipes. I make no substitutions based on cutting fat or calories. I don't concern myself with how many carbs I'm consuming, or what my carb-to-protein ratio is. Primarily my concerns are, using up the vegetables that come in my CSA box before they go bad, using my time wisely to make sure we have food made when we need it, and so I am not cooking all. the. time. Since I see every ingredient that goes into everything I'm never taken by surprise or tricked into thinking something is healthier than it is. And honestly, I think it is hard to make food that is truly bad for you when you are pretty much working with things that were grown from the ground, or fed from the ground, rather than conjured in a lab. Oh dear, I'm starting to sound like a preachy zealot... suffice it to say, this is working out nicely for me, I'm learning a ton, eating lots of wonderful food and really not missing much of anything most of the time. On to this delightful recipe.
I found it in the Chocolate & Zucchini cookbook. This is the cookbook version of the blog by the same name. This is the first recipe I have made out of it, but it's a lovely and really enjoyable cookbook with delightful musings on food and entertaining by the author Clothide Dusoullier. (It turns out she consulted on a food show called Bizarre Foods that my friend Superterrific worked on a few years back, when they did an episode in Paris... the food world keeps getting smaller)
I made some modifications to this recipe to accommodate ingredients I had on hand, I will note them in the recipe.
Ingredients:
1 pound ground meat (She suggests lamb, but I had grass fed ground beef, so that's what I used. I'm sure lamb would be richer and more luxurious tasting, but the beef worked out well.)
12 good quality prunes (sometimes called dried plums for reasons of perception mentioned above) Pitted and finely chopped
2 small shallots, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/4 cup (packed) fresh, flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, plus some extra for garnish
1 tablespoon orange zest, freshly grated and finely minced from two oranges. (I used clementines)
1/4 teaspoon allspice (I did not have any allspice, so I used almost a 1/4 tsp cinnamon, about an 1/8 tsp ginger and a dash of nutmeg. I would have used a ground clove, but I didn't have one.)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the meat, prunes, shallots, garlic, parsley, orange zest, allspice, egg, 1 Tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well with a fork. Cover and refrigerate from 10 minutes up to 8 hours. (I put it in there for about 45 minutes)
Remove the bowl from the refrigerator. Wash your hands well, and keep them damp. Scoop out rounded tablespoons of the mixture and roll them into balls between your palms. Set aside in a single layer on two plates until you've used up all the meat. Wash your hands again.
Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add half of the meatballs in a single layer without crowding. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring the meatballs gently around the pan to brown them all over. Set aside on a clean plate and cover with foil while you cook the second batch. Return the first batch to the pan and cover, reheat for 2 minutes.
Serve over a bed of cous-cous and drizzle a little yogurt over the top and sprinkle some additional chopped parsley on top and a lovely green salad on the side.
I have some pictures of this, but it keeps failing when I try to upload them, so I will have to try it again later. For now use your imagination.
Showing posts with label Main Dish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Main Dish. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Beef Stew
I wrote this entire post yesterday and lost it, so you will have to imagine how clever and witty it was because I don't think I can repeat the magic. I have made this Beef Stew recipe twice since New Years. It is quite delicious and satisfying as a winter meal. The first time I just served it with a salad of mixed baby greens from my garden, avocado, pomegranate seeds and red onion. The second time I served it over Leek and Potato puree. (This was actually DR's brilliant idea. I made the puree and then had no idea what to do with it.) It was perfect! The puree gave the soup some extra body and made it more filling, and the soup gave a savoury-ness to the puree that was much needed... a puree like that is too rich and bland to eat too much on it's own.
I got this recipe from the book Cleaving the second book by Julie Powell of Julie & Julia fame. By virtue of it being her lesser known work the wait for it at the library was shorter than for Julie & Julia, so I read it first. For Ms. Powell's sake I would suggest not doing this. Cleaving is the story of her 6-month apprenticeship at a butcher shop in upstate New York. This part is fairly interesting as she learns how to debone a pig, make sausage, and hack through all manner of meat products. (Reading it did make for some unpleasantly meaty dreams when I was suffering from a brief stint with the flu over Christmas) But by far the more unsavory and nauseous element of this book is her overly detailed descriptions of her extended extra-marital affair, which she blames on the excess of free time and the email and text messaging mobile phone she acquired after the success of her first book and movie. First of all, it's annoying to listen to someone complain about how success has corrupted them, but now that I am reading the first book with the knowledge of the second book, it is pretty clear that the only thing keeping this histrionic narcissist from having an affair sooner was free time and an interested partner. She seems surprised by her behavior in the second book, but the first book is full of complaints about her husband, and jealousy over her single friends romantic conquests. For a book about food, it's an awful lot about sex. So she may be right in that her success gave her the opportunity to engage in behavior that a 40 hour a week job and a time-consuming cooking project didn't. Anyway, despite this being kind of a skeevy and not terribly well-written memoir, it did have some good recipes in it, and I'm not going to let the source taint the food.
I have made some adaptations to this recipe. For instance I am using more vegetables, because I found it to be too meaty the first time (which is really saying something). And I make it in the slow cooker, rather than in the oven. I think it's safer for this kind of thing because when things cook for hours it's easy to forget about them. So here is my version.
3 lbs stew meat cut in chunks (The chunks in the meat from Trader Joes that I get are usually too big, so I cut them in half)
1/2 cup flour in a shallow bowl
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus some more (or however much you think you need)
1 large onion sliced into thin half moons
1 head of garlic, minced
6 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch rounds
6 stalks of celery, finely sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh thyme
2 cups red wine
1 1/4 cups beef stock (Ingredients: Organic Beef Stock (Water, Organic Beef) Organic Beed Flavor Base (Organic Roasted Beef Including Beef Juices, Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Beef Flavor, Organic Onion Powder, Sea Salt, Organic Canola Oil, Organic Caramel Color, Organic Garlic Powder, Organic Black Pepper, Organic Paprika, Natural Flavor), Sea Salt, Organic Garlic Powder) I 've had this beef broth in my cabinet since before the project began. It's amazing that I've still got stuff like this, but it came in handy since Beef Stock is something I am very intimidated about making. There is enough left for one more stew I think...yikes.
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste
Dry the stew meat with paper towels and toss them lightly with the flour until evenly dusted. On the stovetop, brown the meat in batches in the olive oil over high heat.
Once all the meat has been browned remove it to the slow cooker, add the beef broth, wine and tomato paste, cover and turn the cooker to the low setting.
On the stovetop, turn the heat down to medium, add some more oil to the same pan, and throw in the vegetables and thyme. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often, until vegetables are softened.
Then add the vegetables to the slow cooker and add salt and freshly ground pepper generously. Cover and walk away for as many hours as you can. If you need to eat the stew in the next two hours, I suggest turning the heat up to high, but if you can avoid it, leave it on low. Around here people are used to eating meals very late, and often much later than they were originally told, but your house might run more like a train, I don't know.
I got this recipe from the book Cleaving the second book by Julie Powell of Julie & Julia fame. By virtue of it being her lesser known work the wait for it at the library was shorter than for Julie & Julia, so I read it first. For Ms. Powell's sake I would suggest not doing this. Cleaving is the story of her 6-month apprenticeship at a butcher shop in upstate New York. This part is fairly interesting as she learns how to debone a pig, make sausage, and hack through all manner of meat products. (Reading it did make for some unpleasantly meaty dreams when I was suffering from a brief stint with the flu over Christmas) But by far the more unsavory and nauseous element of this book is her overly detailed descriptions of her extended extra-marital affair, which she blames on the excess of free time and the email and text messaging mobile phone she acquired after the success of her first book and movie. First of all, it's annoying to listen to someone complain about how success has corrupted them, but now that I am reading the first book with the knowledge of the second book, it is pretty clear that the only thing keeping this histrionic narcissist from having an affair sooner was free time and an interested partner. She seems surprised by her behavior in the second book, but the first book is full of complaints about her husband, and jealousy over her single friends romantic conquests. For a book about food, it's an awful lot about sex. So she may be right in that her success gave her the opportunity to engage in behavior that a 40 hour a week job and a time-consuming cooking project didn't. Anyway, despite this being kind of a skeevy and not terribly well-written memoir, it did have some good recipes in it, and I'm not going to let the source taint the food.
I have made some adaptations to this recipe. For instance I am using more vegetables, because I found it to be too meaty the first time (which is really saying something). And I make it in the slow cooker, rather than in the oven. I think it's safer for this kind of thing because when things cook for hours it's easy to forget about them. So here is my version.
3 lbs stew meat cut in chunks (The chunks in the meat from Trader Joes that I get are usually too big, so I cut them in half)
1/2 cup flour in a shallow bowl
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus some more (or however much you think you need)
1 large onion sliced into thin half moons
1 head of garlic, minced
6 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch rounds
6 stalks of celery, finely sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh thyme
2 cups red wine
1 1/4 cups beef stock (Ingredients: Organic Beef Stock (Water, Organic Beef) Organic Beed Flavor Base (Organic Roasted Beef Including Beef Juices, Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Beef Flavor, Organic Onion Powder, Sea Salt, Organic Canola Oil, Organic Caramel Color, Organic Garlic Powder, Organic Black Pepper, Organic Paprika, Natural Flavor), Sea Salt, Organic Garlic Powder) I 've had this beef broth in my cabinet since before the project began. It's amazing that I've still got stuff like this, but it came in handy since Beef Stock is something I am very intimidated about making. There is enough left for one more stew I think...yikes.
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste
Dry the stew meat with paper towels and toss them lightly with the flour until evenly dusted. On the stovetop, brown the meat in batches in the olive oil over high heat.
Once all the meat has been browned remove it to the slow cooker, add the beef broth, wine and tomato paste, cover and turn the cooker to the low setting.
On the stovetop, turn the heat down to medium, add some more oil to the same pan, and throw in the vegetables and thyme. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often, until vegetables are softened.
Then add the vegetables to the slow cooker and add salt and freshly ground pepper generously. Cover and walk away for as many hours as you can. If you need to eat the stew in the next two hours, I suggest turning the heat up to high, but if you can avoid it, leave it on low. Around here people are used to eating meals very late, and often much later than they were originally told, but your house might run more like a train, I don't know.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Vegetable Quinoa Bake with Kuri Squash
I bought this red Kuri Squash at Figueroa Produce last week just because I had never seen one before and I thought it was beautiful. I guess I have a weakness for a pretty squash... fully knowing that I have way more vegetables than it is reasonable to prepare and eat before I leave town for Christmas, and having absolutely no idea what to do with this odd speciman, I bought it anyway.
It sat for a over a week in the windowsill of my kitchen, taunting me. I figured it was like a pumpkin and could be used in any of the numerous pumpkin recipes I've made in the past. But that felt like cheating. This is something new and exotic and I should make a new and exotic dish with it. So it sat and sat on the pedestal of too high expectations. I was unable to engage it for fear of seeming plebeian and dull. So finally I sat down and searched the good old world wide web and found a recipe, that while not exactly exotic, at least it something I've not made before and did not require a trip to the store. It turned out to be a nice, hearty, vegetarian entree (if you use vegetable stock rather than chicken stock). I found the recipe on a website called fatfree.com (not my usual stomping ground). It was adapted from a recipe published in the December 1994 issue of Vegetarian Times. I have adapted it somewhat here.
white wine or chicken stock
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large bell pepper, diced (I used 1 red & 1 green and part of 1 yellow)
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (optional) (I didn't have one)
1 small zucchini, diced (I didn't have any zucchini, but I suspect it would have been a good addition)
2 cloves garlic, minced (I used 4)
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed well
2 cups peeled and diced red kuri, pumpkin, or other winter squash
(I used the whole squash, I would guess about 4 cups)
1 cup chopped greens of your choice
2 TBSP fresh parsley or 1TBSP dried (I forgot!)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Preheat oven to 400ºF.
Saute with wine or broth the onion, peppers, zucchini, and
garlic for about 5 minutes. Stir in rest of ingredients and bring to
a boil. (I did NOT stir in the greens, instead I placed them in the
bottom of the dish first.) Transfer mixture to a 9x13 casserole dish
and cover. Bake until liquid is absorbed, about 35 to 40 minutes.
Remove from oven and fluff with a fork. Let stand 5 minutes before
serving. Makes 6-8 servings
I think you can adapt this pretty easily to whatever veggies you have on hand. The recipe posted asked for 8-10 mushrooms, which I don't care for, but perhaps you do...I served this with a lovely Persimmon, Walnut & Pomegranate Salad. I loosely stole the recipe from my friend Louisa who made it for our Community Garden Holiday potluck. I added avocado, which is always a nice touch. I used this meal to trap my friend Jan Smelk at my house for many hours when she dropped by to deliver her homemade Holiday Kahlua, a delight of the season I look forward to every year.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Pan Roasted Pork Chops with Creamy Cabbage and Apples
This recipe was in the December 2009 issue of Food & Wine Magazine
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp olive oil
4 Thyme Sprigs (I used Rosemary because I have a ton of it)
1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
4 12oz bone in pork loin chops
3 thick slices of applewood-smoked bacon cut into 1/2" dice (I used unsmoked, cured pork belly because that's where it was in the process)
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 head Savoy cabbage thinly sliced crosswise
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2" dice
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
3/4 cup heavy cream
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1. In a large, shallow dish combine 1/4 cup olive oil with thyme (or rosemary) sprigs and garlic. Add the pork chops and turn to coat with the marinade. Refrigerate overnight. (I didn't read this ahead of time - so they marinated for almost 2 hours)
2. In a large skillet, cook the bacon over moderate heat, stirring a few times, until browned, about 4 minutes; pour off the fat. Add the butter and cabbage to the skillet, cover and cook over moderate heat, stirring occaisionally, until the cabbage is tender, about 7 minutes. Add the apple and vinegar, cover and cook, stirring occaisionally, until the apple is tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the mustard and cream and simmer uncovered until the cream has thickened, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, cover and keep warm. (This can be made ahead of time and refrigerated overnight. Gently reheat)
3. Preheat the oven to 325º. In a large, ovenproof skillet, heat the remaining 1 Tbsp of olive oil until shimmering. Remove the pork chops from the marinade; discard the thyme sprigs and scrape off the garlic. Season the chops with salt and pepper and add to the skillet. Cook over moderately high heat until richly browned, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast the chops for about 12 minutes, turning once halfway through, until just pink in the center. Transfer the pork chops to plates and serve with the cabbage.
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp olive oil
4 Thyme Sprigs (I used Rosemary because I have a ton of it)
1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
4 12oz bone in pork loin chops
3 thick slices of applewood-smoked bacon cut into 1/2" dice (I used unsmoked, cured pork belly because that's where it was in the process)
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 head Savoy cabbage thinly sliced crosswise
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2" dice
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
3/4 cup heavy cream
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1. In a large, shallow dish combine 1/4 cup olive oil with thyme (or rosemary) sprigs and garlic. Add the pork chops and turn to coat with the marinade. Refrigerate overnight. (I didn't read this ahead of time - so they marinated for almost 2 hours)
2. In a large skillet, cook the bacon over moderate heat, stirring a few times, until browned, about 4 minutes; pour off the fat. Add the butter and cabbage to the skillet, cover and cook over moderate heat, stirring occaisionally, until the cabbage is tender, about 7 minutes. Add the apple and vinegar, cover and cook, stirring occaisionally, until the apple is tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the mustard and cream and simmer uncovered until the cream has thickened, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, cover and keep warm. (This can be made ahead of time and refrigerated overnight. Gently reheat)
3. Preheat the oven to 325º. In a large, ovenproof skillet, heat the remaining 1 Tbsp of olive oil until shimmering. Remove the pork chops from the marinade; discard the thyme sprigs and scrape off the garlic. Season the chops with salt and pepper and add to the skillet. Cook over moderately high heat until richly browned, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast the chops for about 12 minutes, turning once halfway through, until just pink in the center. Transfer the pork chops to plates and serve with the cabbage.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Pot Roast
This recipe is adapted from one I found on simplyrecipes.com. The original called for cooking it over the stove or in the oven. I made mine in the slow cooker.
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 lb of beef shoulder or boneless chuck roast
- 1 Tbsp olive or grapeseed oil
- Salt, pepper, italian seasoning to taste (I didn't have Italian Seasoning so I used orgeno, thyme and sage)
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped or sliced
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 1/2 cup of red wine
- Several carrots, peeled and cut lengthwise
1 Use a thick-bottomed covered pot. Heat 1 Tbsp of oil on medium high heat (hot enough to sear the meat). Sprinkle and rub salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning all over the meat. Brown roast in pot, all over, several minutes on each side. Don't move the roast while a side is browning, or it won't brown well.
2 Put onions and garlic in the bottom of the slow cooker and when roast is browned, place it on top. Add 1/2 cup of red wine. Cover. Set the cooker to low. Near the end of the cooking, add carrots, cook until tender, about an additional 30 minutes.
I made the mistake of cooking this on the simmer setting for the first few hours, then turned it to low. I think it would have been juicier and more tender if I had cooked it on low the whole time.
Serves 4-5. Suggest serving with green beans and potatoes
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Thomas Keller's Easy Roast Chicken
Thomas Keller is the chef at French Laundry in the Napa Valley and Per Se in New York. While I have so far only dreamed of dining in these restaurants, I believe he is known for his incredibly complex cooking. So I was surprised to find such an incredibly simple recipe from him. This is far and away the easiest roast chicken recipe I have encountered, and the result was at least as good as any of the others I have tried so far. Mr. Keller recommends slathering the chicken in butter before eating, which I didn't think was necessary. And when I say butter isn't necessary that is really saying something. I did however really enjoy the quality the Dijon Mustard added to the chicken.
Ingredients:
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Rinse the chicken, then dry it very well with paper towels, inside and out. The less it steams, the drier the heat, the better.
Salt and pepper the cavity, then truss the bird. Trussing is not difficult, and if you roast chicken often, it's a good technique to feel comfortable with. When you truss a bird, the wings and legs stay close to the body; the ends of the drumsticks cover the top of the breast and keep it from drying out. Trussing helps the chicken to cook evenly, and it also makes for a more beautiful roasted bird.
Now, salt the chicken—I like to rain the salt over the bird so that it has a nice uniform coating that will result in a crisp, salty, flavorful skin (about 1 tablespoon). When it's cooked, you should still be able to make out the salt baked onto the crisp skin. Season to taste with pepper.
Place the chicken in a sauté pan or roasting pan and, when the oven is up to temperature, put the chicken in the oven. I leave it alone—I don't baste it, I don't add butter; you can if you wish, but I feel this creates steam, which I don't want. Roast it until it's done, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove it from the oven and add the thyme, if using, to the pan. Baste the chicken with the juices and thyme and let it rest for 15 minutes on a cutting board.
Remove the twine. Separate the middle wing joint and eat that immediately. Remove the legs and thighs. I like to take off the backbone and eat one of the oysters, the two succulent morsels of meat embedded here, and give the other to the person I'm cooking with. But I take the chicken butt for myself. I could never understand why my brothers always fought over that triangular tip—until one day I got the crispy, juicy fat myself. These are the cook's rewards. Cut the breast down the middle and serve it on the bone, with one wing joint still attached to each. The preparation is not meant to be super elegant. Slather the meat with fresh butter. Serve with mustard on the side and, if you wish, a simple green salad. You'll start using a knife and fork, but finish with your fingers, because it's so good.
Ingredients:
- One 2- to 3-pound farm-raised chicken
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons minced thyme (optional)
- Unsalted butter
- Dijon mustard Ingredients: Water, Mustard Seed, Vinegar, Wine, Salt, Citric Acid
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Rinse the chicken, then dry it very well with paper towels, inside and out. The less it steams, the drier the heat, the better.
Salt and pepper the cavity, then truss the bird. Trussing is not difficult, and if you roast chicken often, it's a good technique to feel comfortable with. When you truss a bird, the wings and legs stay close to the body; the ends of the drumsticks cover the top of the breast and keep it from drying out. Trussing helps the chicken to cook evenly, and it also makes for a more beautiful roasted bird.
Now, salt the chicken—I like to rain the salt over the bird so that it has a nice uniform coating that will result in a crisp, salty, flavorful skin (about 1 tablespoon). When it's cooked, you should still be able to make out the salt baked onto the crisp skin. Season to taste with pepper.
Place the chicken in a sauté pan or roasting pan and, when the oven is up to temperature, put the chicken in the oven. I leave it alone—I don't baste it, I don't add butter; you can if you wish, but I feel this creates steam, which I don't want. Roast it until it's done, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove it from the oven and add the thyme, if using, to the pan. Baste the chicken with the juices and thyme and let it rest for 15 minutes on a cutting board.
Remove the twine. Separate the middle wing joint and eat that immediately. Remove the legs and thighs. I like to take off the backbone and eat one of the oysters, the two succulent morsels of meat embedded here, and give the other to the person I'm cooking with. But I take the chicken butt for myself. I could never understand why my brothers always fought over that triangular tip—until one day I got the crispy, juicy fat myself. These are the cook's rewards. Cut the breast down the middle and serve it on the bone, with one wing joint still attached to each. The preparation is not meant to be super elegant. Slather the meat with fresh butter. Serve with mustard on the side and, if you wish, a simple green salad. You'll start using a knife and fork, but finish with your fingers, because it's so good.
Pumpkin Stew in a Pot
This recipe is from Organic Baby & Toddler Recipes. I made it for my 10 month old son. They said the recipe would make four servings for a 15-month old. I don't know who this 15-month old they are referring to is, but he must have quite an appetite. This made more than four adult servings. But I served it to my son last night, and it looked so good, and he enjoyed it so much that my husband and I had it for dinner as well. I added a little bit of salt and pepper to mine, but that is the only change. I should probably eat all the same foods as my son. Anyway this is a delicious recipe for the whole family.
1 pumpkin or squash about 6lbs. (I used two small kombucha, otherwise known as Japanese pumpkin. It has a green skin and is generally thicker than pumpkin.)3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb ground pork or beef (I used grass fed ground beef) You can also use cooked unsalted Lima or Great Northern Beans instead of meat.
1 large onion chopped
3 apples, cored and cut into large chunks
1/2 cup water or stock
1/3 cup raisins
1 tsp chopped fresh or 1/2 dried basil or thyme
Preheat the oven to 350ºF
Cut the top off the pumpkin or squash and discard. Cut the pumpkin or squash in half and scoop out the seeds and stringy pulp. (You can toast the seeds for a snack.) Place the pumpkin cut side down in a large, deep baking dish with 1/2" of water in the bottom. Cover with foil and bake in the oven until tender, about 2 hours.
Heat the oil in a pan and fy the meat or beans, onions and apple until tender, about 15 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, then simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.
Drain the water from the pumpkin. Use a spoon to scoop out the soft flesh, then discard the skin. Mix the flesh with the meat or bean mixture and return it to the baking dish. Cover with foil and return it to the oven until hot, about 20 minutes.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Julia Child's Roast Chicken
This recipe was definitely tastier than the previous one I tried, but it alsorequires a much higher level of concentration, which is a commodity in short supply when you have a ten-month old child. But fortunately for me, I imported a slave for this event. My friend Jan Smelk expressed interest in spending her day off toiling in my kitchen, and I am not one to say no to an offer of someone doing work for my benefit. Even the bottle of wine I opened to keep her on task was one she had brought over on a previous visit, so this worked out great for me. We started under the guise of working together, but Baby J and I conspired that he would start to fuss, or get into something dangerous whenever there was actually work to be done. So basically I stood around holding the baby and chatting, while Jan made the chicken.
This was probably for the best, because I found Ms. Childs' recipe unbelievably confusing. We eventually made our way through it, or Jan did at any rate, and we have tried to outline it here in language that is more clear. If you are more mentally capable than me, you might be able to go straight to "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" but otherwise, here is what we did.
Roast Chicken
1 3-5 pound chicken
1 medium carrot
1 small onion
oil
salt
butter, butter, butter
Preheat the oven to 425ºF
Slice a carrot and an onion and place in bottom of roasting pan.
Rinse the chicken. Pat dry with paper towels.
Coat the cavity of the chicken with salt and butter.
Place the chicken on the roasting rack in the pan and rub with butter all over.
Truss the chicken. (See guest post from Jan Smelk on this.)
In a separate bowl combine 1 Tbsp oil and 2 Tbsp melted butter for basting.
Place roasting pan in oven with chicken breast side up for 5 minutes.
Then, turn chicken onto it's left side and brown for 5 minutes.
Then, turn chicken onto it's right side and brown for 5 minutes.
At each turn baste the chicken with oil and butter mixture.
Keeping the chicken on it's right side, turn oven down to 350ºF.
Add a pinch of salt.
Baste every ten minutes.
After thirty minutes at 350ºF, turn the chicken to the left side.
Add a pinch of salt.
Continue basting every eight minutes. (When you run out of oil/butter mix you can use the juices in the pan to baste)
After 16 minutes, turn the chicken to breast side up for the rest of the hour.
Add a pinch of salt.
Check the temperature of the chicken with an instant read meat thermometer. It should be 180º-190º depending on how well done you like your chicken. (We forgot to do this.)
If you are like Jan, and like a crispy skin, turn the heat back up to 425º and cook until it looks good. (In our case about 15 minutes keeping in mind that everything I cook takes twice as long as it says.) Julia Childs encourages "rapid basting" which stressed us out considerably. I'm sure we would have bitterly disappointed her with the rate of our basting, and that might account for the fact that our chicken was a little under done even with the additional time. However, our chicken was still chickeny deliciousness.
Once out of the oven, the chicken needs to rest for 5-10 minutes so the juices can reabsorb into the flesh. This is the perfect time to make a sauce.
Sauce
Put the roasting pan that has the cooked carrot and onion in chicken drippings on the stovetop, adding a chopped shallot and a cup of chicken stock. Scrape up all the goodness in the pan and heat until liquid reduces to a half a cup. Strain and add a tablespoon of butter. This is your chicken gravy. You can also use this over a baked potato.
Chicken Stock
We made the chicken stock used in the sauce in between bastings of the chicken.
Brown the gizzard, neck and organs in a sauce pan with oil, a carrot and an onion. After a few minutes, add two cups of chicken broth, or stock if you have it and enough water to cover everything by a half inch. Add a pinch of thyme and a bay leaf. Let simmer for an hour and a half.
This was probably for the best, because I found Ms. Childs' recipe unbelievably confusing. We eventually made our way through it, or Jan did at any rate, and we have tried to outline it here in language that is more clear. If you are more mentally capable than me, you might be able to go straight to "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" but otherwise, here is what we did.
Roast Chicken
1 3-5 pound chicken
1 medium carrot
1 small onion
oil
salt
butter, butter, butter
Preheat the oven to 425ºF
Slice a carrot and an onion and place in bottom of roasting pan.
Rinse the chicken. Pat dry with paper towels.
Coat the cavity of the chicken with salt and butter.
Place the chicken on the roasting rack in the pan and rub with butter all over.
Truss the chicken. (See guest post from Jan Smelk on this.)
In a separate bowl combine 1 Tbsp oil and 2 Tbsp melted butter for basting.
Place roasting pan in oven with chicken breast side up for 5 minutes.
Then, turn chicken onto it's left side and brown for 5 minutes.
Then, turn chicken onto it's right side and brown for 5 minutes.
At each turn baste the chicken with oil and butter mixture.
Keeping the chicken on it's right side, turn oven down to 350ºF.
Add a pinch of salt.
Baste every ten minutes.
After thirty minutes at 350ºF, turn the chicken to the left side.
Add a pinch of salt.
Continue basting every eight minutes. (When you run out of oil/butter mix you can use the juices in the pan to baste)
After 16 minutes, turn the chicken to breast side up for the rest of the hour.
Add a pinch of salt.
Check the temperature of the chicken with an instant read meat thermometer. It should be 180º-190º depending on how well done you like your chicken. (We forgot to do this.)
If you are like Jan, and like a crispy skin, turn the heat back up to 425º and cook until it looks good. (In our case about 15 minutes keeping in mind that everything I cook takes twice as long as it says.) Julia Childs encourages "rapid basting" which stressed us out considerably. I'm sure we would have bitterly disappointed her with the rate of our basting, and that might account for the fact that our chicken was a little under done even with the additional time. However, our chicken was still chickeny deliciousness.
Once out of the oven, the chicken needs to rest for 5-10 minutes so the juices can reabsorb into the flesh. This is the perfect time to make a sauce.
Sauce
Put the roasting pan that has the cooked carrot and onion in chicken drippings on the stovetop, adding a chopped shallot and a cup of chicken stock. Scrape up all the goodness in the pan and heat until liquid reduces to a half a cup. Strain and add a tablespoon of butter. This is your chicken gravy. You can also use this over a baked potato.
Chicken Stock
We made the chicken stock used in the sauce in between bastings of the chicken.
Brown the gizzard, neck and organs in a sauce pan with oil, a carrot and an onion. After a few minutes, add two cups of chicken broth, or stock if you have it and enough water to cover everything by a half inch. Add a pinch of thyme and a bay leaf. Let simmer for an hour and a half.
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