Cod in Parchment Paper

I think the name for cooking in parchment paper is cooking "en papillote," but you know, it's my mom and my brother that speaks the French, murky bo cups. I based this dish on one I saw Rachael Ray do, which of course, she calls "Spanish Fish in a Sack." (Okay, maybe you CAN dumb something down a bit too much.)

I just love cod, and olives too, so this looked mighty fine to me. I didn't check Rachael's recipe for anything but the cooking time (400 degrees for 20 minutes). I put cod, grape tomatoes, green and black Greek olives, onions, garlic, thin lemon slices and parsley in mine. Then I seasoned the stack and drizzled it all with extra virgin olive oil. I think fennel would have also been good... But I put the fish on the veggies so that it would cook down over those, and the lemon on top of that so it would go down into the fish.



Oh, and I put them all on parchment paper. Then I folded them over on the top seam, and up at the ends. I put them all in a glass baking dish.



I opened the bags, and drizzled each with more lemon juice. Delicious.



I made extras for leftovers, as I usually do, but I wouldn't recommend it. Just buy what you are going to eat that night... The leftovers were not as tasty as they were fresh from the bag. I served them with a little pasta, and I would definitely do it again, especially when I'd like to be "faux fancy" for company.

Wayne's Pizza

About six months ago, I found out my cholesterol was slightly high. That was the wake-up call that I needed to lose the last fifteen pounds of pregnancy weight. Coming off Thanksgiving weekend (okay, week if I'm being honest), I'm back to eating big salads and righting myself again. But the week sure was fun while it lasted! And hey... Now that the weight is off, it's all part of the maintenance plan. (Meaning, I can hog out now and then.)

When one of those times comes around, one wicked place to eat is Wayne's Pizza in Arlington Heights, IL. They have a great thin crust pizza (my favorite is spinach and mushroom), and their "nibbles" are amazing. I love the cauliflower bites. I could drink a liter of their ranch dressing (yeah, if that sounds disgusting, try it... And then you tell me). And recently (dammit), I discovered that their chicken wings are my favorite (even over Hooters' wings, which I heard a rumor that they have changed, anyway). This place isn't paying me, so believe me when I say that if you eat here all the time? Your health is gonna suffer. But if you eat at Wayne's now and then... I think it might make your life better.

Acorn Squash

Dad used to make acorn squash now and again, and it was always like getting dessert for dinner. He slathered it with all kinds of butter, salt, cinammon, and a handful of brown sugar. Everyone got their own half to scoop out with a spoon.



Chris and I found some acorn squash at one of this year's last farmer's markets. I was going to pass them up, because I thought that the last time I made them, he wasn't so crazy about them. But he said, "Hey, do those again! I loved them!" Oh! Okay!

I just cut them in half, dotted a little I Can't Believe It's Not Fabio on each one, and brown sugar, salt and pepper. I got a little fancy with the spices, but afterward I wished I had just done a little cinnamon. Keep it simple. Oh, and also I think they are better when covered: about 400 degrees for 40 minutes, or until soft when pierced.



I served each one (1/4 is actually a big serving) with the shepherd's pie I had cooked right out of the freezer. (Which, by the way, came out very well: 350-375 degrees for about 1.25 hours or until the very middle is warm).

I! Have Made! Pasta! (Spinach Gnudi)

I've already admitted to the whole universe, here on this blog, that I'm not the greatest Italian in the world because I don't ALWAYS make my own sauce (that's because that world that I live in? It's the REAL one. Join me, there are babies here... Messy, but worth it!) Anyway, now I'll tell you another purulent, grotesque truth: I don't make my own pasta.

The last time I tried to make homemade pasta was when I was in grade school, with my father (who was Sicilian, and from New York, and bought his pasta from the store like most other Italian-Americans). We tried the same ravioli roller thingie that everyone else purchased during the time in the eighties when Julia Child, the Galloping Gourmet, and Jeff Smith were at the height of their popularity, and Dad sat with a pad and pencil next to our 13-inch black-and-white TV set every Sunday, trying not to miss any ingredients. (See if you can name all the technologies I pre-date with that sentence... It's fun!) We tried it once and only once. We kneaded and re-kneaded, rolled and re-rolled, cooked fillings, pressed and patted, and created a gigantic mess that culminated in the two of us declaring "Oh, eff this" and going to Arby's. Our roller thingie, along with all the other roller thingies from the eighties, ended up in a garage sale. Perhaps we aimed too high.

That's why I knew that when I saw this recipe from Giada (Yes! Yes, I AM the Everyday Italian!) it was ju-u-ust right. I had never heard of gnudi. They are a ricotta and flour dumpling that is larger than gnocchi, but smaller than... I dunno, a big meatball. I made mine smaller than hers, about the size of a Chicken McNugget (that way there is more sauce per bite). It came together so quickly, and just worked. No special knowledge or equipment needed. And it was filling yet light. It was just delicious. One thing you should know: the mixture may be kind of wet in the proportions she states... Just add a tiny bit more flour at a time until the dough is still moist and pliable, but not sticky. Then be sure to dust each in flour before dropping in the water. Simple enough to make on a weeknight.



I stored the leftovers with the sauce, and they re-heated beautifully. I printed this recipe, cut it out, and glue-stick-ed it into my recipe index file. Now with THAT commitment, you know I loved it!

Baba Ghanoush

Baba ghanoush is an Arabic dip made from eggplant that I'm thinking most of us have had by now. Don't worry if you can't pronounce it. Just make it, and eat it.



I've purchased baba ghanoush in a can that was, believe it or not, fairly decent. But it is so inexpensive to make, like, a metric ton of it. Like dude: a TON. Anyway, I froze several containers of it for later. I'll let you know how that goes.

Ingredients:

4 eggplants
olive oil
lemon juice
3 or 4 garlic cloves
beans or tofu
salt and pepper

Here's how you do it: I use a simple 4/40/400 rule: put four eggplants on a cookie sheet with foil for 40 minutes at 400 degrees. Turn them over once halfway through cooking. Let them cool. Then peel the skin off and put the "meat" into a food processor with three or four cloves of garlic (yes, this plan of mine will yield a strong garlic flavor. If you want less, use less, but honestly just thinking about that makes me a little sad). Use salt (plenty, keep tasting) and pepper and a little something to thicken the mix: I use either a rinsed can of white beans, chickpeas, or about 3/4 cup of tofu (whatever you have). Then I add lemon juice, and I use the concentrated stuff if I don't have fresh ones on hand.

Blend it all up, and while it is whirring, drizzle in about a quarter cup of olive oil. Serve it with chips or pita, and drizzle it with more olive oil and some paprika. So, so good, and good for you (unless you have a date or a job interview). My friend Lynn recently made me aware of "sale produce" at our local Italian grocery, where they sell produce in big bundles that has only a day or two left. So I made this quadruple batch for about $1.29. What a thrill!

Pizza Stone and Pizza on the Grill

Lookie my new toys!



I've been messing with this all summer. I bought a pizza peel (the big paddle), and a large rectangular pizza stone on Amazon.com. I went by the ones with a high rating. I have been buying the whole wheat pizza dough from Trader Joe's, and I've had a lot of success with that. But you could make your own. I tried Pillsbury refrigerated dough on the stone once, and it scorched on the bottom and was raw on the top. I had to throw it out. But at a lower temperature, it might have worked.

I started this because I've never had a crispy bottom crust in the oven, ever. Sure, Boboli work, but I wanted real pizza: chewy inside, floury on top, and crunchy on the bottom. Well, turns out you need a stone. And it could not be easier.

You build the pizza on the paddle, and you're supposed to use corn meal. Well, I've used Italian breadcrumb, and that seems to work okay. The purpose of this is just ball-bearings... You know, to move the dough off of the peel easily. The stone gets pre-heated on the propane grill (or in your oven). Mine gets up to just over 400 degrees (medium-high works pretty well). Also, you MUST use room temperature dough. Otherwise, it's like trying to roll a rubber band. Also, it won't puff up while cooking.



I use marinara out of a jar, but I've found it can be watery. You can mix it with tomato paste and heat it, or barbecue sauce. Or, just touch a paper towel corner to the watery parts when it comes out, and the water will wick up into the towel.



I've made all kinds of pizzas this summer, but all a little bit healthy. Turkey sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella... Take my advice and use the shrink-wrapped cheese, not the kind in water. Too much water on your pie. And I dunno about you, but I've never sat on Santa's lap and asked for a watery pie.



After some trial and error (and a lot of blackened dough), turns out these babies cook in about four minutes! (Lets see Domino's beat that). But you want to burn it just a LITTLE bit... This is supposed to simulate the coal or wood-burning pizzeria oven, after all!



I also bought a honkin' pizza blade to cut the pizza with, shaped kind of like a saber and a mezza luna combined (they have them at Bed, Bath and Beyond). Your little wheel just isn't ready for this kind of crunch.

Swiss Pita Burger

If you put spinach on something, it's "florentine," and if you put mushrooms on a dish, it's "swiss." Those are the rules, I don't make them. (This burger isn't so much of an alternative burger, but I did put it on pita bread. So there's your alternative.)



I sautéed and seasoned the mushrooms in the pan that I cooked the burgers in. I put the 'shrooms on the burgers, melted the swiss on top, and added Country Bob's steak sauce. If you're not familiar with Bob's, you should get there. Like Tracy Morgan says, "I'm down" with Bob's "like four flat tires." If you put Bob's on a bank vault, I think I'd gnaw through the steel door. This sauce would make me eat my mother's pork chops.

I liked the whole-wheat pitas on these, because the bread was basically a vehicle for what was between it: the meat, cheese, mushrooms, and the Bob's. In fact, with those toppings, you could easily use turkey meat or a veggie patty, and it would still taste good. (Not as good, but that's just my opinion).

Lamb and Feta Burger

Did I say I was doing these burger posts beginning July 4th? My, how time flies! Well, it might take me until next summer, but I'll get the rest of these alternative burgers up. I'M BUSY. In fact, the dedicated reader will spot the backdrop in this next picture: the kitchen I moved out of in January of 2008. But I remember how good these burgers were!



This ground lamb burger is based on a recipe I have printed in Bob Sloan's wonderful book, "Great Burgers." I based it on his "Lamb and Feta Burger with Cumin-Yogurt Dressing." I'd reprint it here for you, but A) I'm not sure I have permission to do that, and B) I didn't really follow it closely anyway. I found ground lamb at Joe Caputo's (but any real butcher is likely to have it, just probably not "the Jewel's," as Dad would say). I seasoned it simply, added a packet of crumbled feta, some toasted pignolis, and dried Italian seasoning. The yogurt dressing was greek yogurt with cumin and lime juice, and I sautéed the spinach with some simple seasoning, and finished it with some red wine vinegar at the end. And I didn't measure anything.



I served them on pitas as Bob recommended. They were a bit rich (the lamb has a rich flavor), but nice for a new option.

Turkey Marinara Burger

What better time to post a run of burgers than the week of July 4th? Most of these are "alternative burgers," since I thought perhaps this might be the only time of the year when we all might be a little burnt out on the regular kind. In the last week, I've seen a thick, juicy looking, Grade A veggie burger at not only J. Alexander's steak house, but Wrigley Field as well. It's a beautiful time to be alive, friends.



I'm starting things off with something simple (it IS a holiday, and I've had a long day of rainy ball games, dinners out, baby baths and two Old Styles, though not all concurrently). This is a ground turkey patty, having seasoned the meat with Italian seasoning and garlic, salt and pepper. I topped it with melted mozzarella, marinara, and put it on a toasted, buttered roll. I also had some leftover pesto, and I shmeared that on the bottom part of the roll, though you don't necessarily need that part. Deliziosamente sciatto! Which means, "deliciously sloppy." I think.

Beata's Hoot Owl Cutlets

These are bad. BA-A-A-AA-D. But they are so good, you know? (I sound like a guy in a leather beret from a 1980 cop movie explaining to the uptight lead, "Naw, man. Bad means GOOD.") These are definitely in that "meat candy" category: sweet and savory, and fried and cheesy. In short, the perfect food.



Remember the meat-a-riffic baby shower that I went to for my friend Beata? Well, here is yet another entry on something fun she had there. She made these breaded cutlets from pork, but I used chicken (pounded out). I asked her how she got such a great breaded crust, and she said she double-coated them in Italian breadcrumb. So that's flour, then beaten egg, then breadcrumb, then egg again, then breadcrumb. Then she fried them, and put pineapple slices on top, and American cheese and put them under the broiler for a minute or two. Is she brilliant, or what?

She didn't call them "hoot owls," but that's what they looked like to me. (Now you know what you're bringing to your next Harry Potter party.)



I'm not usually an American cheese fan, but it just seemed right on these. They have that feel of a recipe you'd get from a 1950s cookbook, called "Luau Chicken" or "Hula Pork," where a ring of canned pineapple counts as an exotic ingredient from the south Pacific. And you just need American cheese for that.

These take a TON of breadcrumb, and I can only eat about half of one at a sitting. Which is probably advisable, since I don't want to know how much fat is in one of these. I'm calling it special occasion food, when you're "feelin' kinda cutlet." Or maybe when one of the kids gets glasses, and needs a little giggle!

Slow Cooker Spicy Chicken and Rice

Okay, my posts have gotten a bit shorter. But there's a good reason for that. My time has gotten shorter, too! And I figure if my time is shorter, then other people are probably short on time, too. Since, you know, I only have the one kid, and/or I don't work full time. So hopefully other people will be interested in dinners that are as fast as I'd like them to be. And if not, have you read dooce.com lately?



Oh, and sorry about the lousy picture. Again: time crunch.

First you drop four to six chicken breasts into the slow cooker. Or hell, just use two, I don't care. Sometimes you get through those giant Costco packages of chicken and all you have are two left over. Or maybe you just bought two, and that's a little bit sad and lonely for you, but I'm not here to make you feel worse. (But really, you should make more and plan for leftovers. I'm not your mother but I'm just sayin'.) I was about to add "then lightly season the chicken," but who am I kidding? I didn't do that.

Then you drop a can or two of cream of mushroom (or cream of anything) soup on top. Also add wild or brown rice, and enough liquid to cook the rice (I like to use chicken broth). Cook it for six hours or so, and the chicken will break apart easily with two forks, so you can s-to-the-hred it. Then add a liberal amount of hot sauce (I like Red Hot), and some salsa, and stir it again.

This can be eaten with a salad or veggie on the side, but it's also really good inside tortillas with taco fixings.



The best part about this dinner is this: not only did you barely cook today, but you don't have to cook tomorrow, either!

Battle Potato

My good (well, she's "great," actually) friend Ann has a sister who is battling MS. Every year Ann joins in the fight against the disease by captaining a team for the MS Walk (to hear Ann and her sister Maggie's story or to make a donation at any time, go here.) As a "thank you" to her friends and donors, she threw a party this year and called it "Battle Potato," in the style of Iron Chef on the Food Network. In case you're the last person on the planet not to see the show, everyone was to bring a dish with potato as an ingredient. Then the guests vote on their favorite, and the winner jumps on his or her cutting board, and shouts "IN YOUR FACE. FOR MS RESEARCH" at all the other guests, while brandishing a butcher knife. And now (it must be said), "Allez cuisine!"

Ann decorated the place all purty with potato centerpieces.



The guests who cooked were given numbered cards to place by their dishes, for the vote later on.



One gi-normous nerd brought a title card for her dish, and pinned her number to the card with an Idaho potato button that she just happened to have brought. Who's the geek?



My card reads, "Twice-baked ranch potatoes with scratch chicken BBQ." Poor Ann had other guests asking her, "where's my title card?" And she had to keep saying, "Uh, she made that." Well, you know what? You could have made your own, too. Don't hate the player.

There were more dishes than I imagined would be there. Curry salad, egg pie, thai dishes, and au gratin. I began to sweat. And eat. Eat and sweat.



I really, really enjoyed the food. When I saw the potato desserts, I knew it was over. There were chocolate-dipped chips, and cream-cheese frosted potato spice cake. There were DOUGHNUTS. How do you compete with that? Might as well just fill my plate.



Some folks got in a time-crunch, and were still courteous enough to go and get what people really like, and then arrange it artfully on a plate. Thanks Abby! Truthfully, I probably had more of the fries than anything else... So now I was contending with food science. You can't argue with years of testing for aroma and "mouth feel."



Or, have some red wine.



Then, form a totem pole, because it mocks both ancient Native American customs as well as your own ridiculously short stature. Everyone wins!



After eating, we all were to vote once for "Best Tasting," and once for "Most Creative." Ann had potato-shaped ballots to write the numbers on, and Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head receptacles to put them in. Aw, shmoosh.



And when the votes were tallied, my friends Anna and Adam won for "Most Creative" for their chocolate-dipped chips, and I won for "Best Tasting." Yay! I think it is POSSIBLE that some people pitied the sad girl who made the title card... Or as Jason ribbed me (who baked the cake at #6), he was pretty sure some of his votes got construed as my #9. Also possible. But Jeff said, "I counted those votes. I know my sixes from my nines." What's an election without controversy?

My prize was a colander, filled with everything needed to make a pasta dinner. Which is crazy, because that's exactly what I gave Ann as a wedding gift about a decade ago, only with a double-boiler instead of the colander. So now, I'm pretty sure I owe her a wedding gift. Still, I'm stoked because I can really use that colander!



I can't wait until this party goes again next year. And if I win again, I'll try to be more careful brandishing that butcher knife. (Sorry honey - but you were already missing most of your hair anyway, right?) Thanks for the party, Ann. It was awesome.

Here's my recipe for the potatoes, only this time, I added Hidden Valley Ranch Dip mix to the potato mixture. I also refrigerated the baked potatoes overnight in their foil, and they were a lot easier to scoop out the next day.

Black Bean Hotcakes

Y'all ready for this? (Nah nah nah neh-neh-neh...) This is something strange that I came up with when Emeril failed me one too many times. I've been using this recipe for close to ten years now, since I was a vegetarian and that was a LONG time ago. Or at least it seems like it. Well, it has a high rating on the website, which kind of shocks me, because I don't think it works too well. It is basically beans and flour, with seasoning and some other ingredients to flavor them. It sure is tasty and filling - but they soak up a LOT of oil, and I'm never quite sure when they are done frying. They just don't crisp up like I want them to. Ever. I've tried very high heat, more oil, less oil... But I've not gotten the result that I think I'm supposed to.

Mainly, I've always wanted them to lift a little. They're so dense and heavy... So I looked up a recipe for pancake batter, and mixed that into the beans. I seasoned them well, and added garlic, cilantro and onion to the mix. Voilà! A black bean cake hybrid that is a bit lighter, less dense, and I could tell just when they were done (flip them when the bubbles come up, just like a pancake).



Black Bean Hotcakes:
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 red onion, diced fine
2 cloves garlic, diced fine
2 Tblesp. cilantro, cleaned and diced fine
1/2 jalapeño diced very fine
2 cups all-purpose flour, stirred with a whisk or sifted before measuring
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 1/2 cups milk
good shake (2 teaspoons or so) salt
liberal dusting of mexican seasoning

Take half of the beans and half of the milk, and purée them in the food processor. Then return them to a bowl and mix the rest of the ingredients together. (Check my lists below: you can dice all of the onion, garlic and cilantro that you'll need for the guac at the same time.) Then drop them as you would pancake batter, about a 1/4 cup at a time in a hot pan. Turn them as you would pancakes.



It's all about the condiments with me, as usual. So top the cakes with lime cream and guacamole, and fresh salsa or your favorite from a jar.

Lime Cream (my version):
1 cup light sour cream
juice 1 lime
2 Tblesp. sugar

Guacamole:
2-3 avocados, diced
juice 1 lime
1/4 red onion, diced fine
2 cloves garlic, diced fine
1/2 jalapeño diced very fine
1 Tblesp. cilantro, cleaned and diced
salt & pepper to taste



These reheat very easily (just keep the toppings separate. And if you put enough lime juice in your guac, it will keep in the fridge for a day or two without browning.) I don't think Chris quite wrapped his head around the whole "savory pancake" concept, but he loves the sweet stuff. But I think these are a filling, tasty veggie dish, and might be good with leftover bacon or ham in them, too - if you've fallen off the veggie wagon, as I did!

Beyond Easy Vodka Cream Sauce

I'm committed to making things easily, with as few steps as possible. But honestly, I felt guilty about posting this. And then I realized it was two steps beyond simply opening a jar, which I do all the time. With one little rationalization, I went from feeling a little dirty to being one fancy lady!



Last week Ruby had nasty virus, which made her very uncomfortable, and for lack of a better term, "scream-y." All day and evening, even with children's Motrin. On a day like that, jokes aside, I truly don't feel guilty about shortcuts. I warmed a brick of low-fat cream cheese in a skillet until melty. Then I added a jar of Barilla marinara (Bertoli is also good), and two shots of vodka. Then I let it all warm through, and I added some pre-made sun-dried tomato meatballs from Costco. Is that how vodka cream sauce is supposed to be made? I seriously doubt it. And I seriously didn't care. Also, only one of the shots of vodka actually ended up in the sauce, and the other one may have fallen in my mouth.



I served it all over Costco mushroom ravioli. I wasn't a huge fan of the meatballs, but the sauce was very good. I think I will try in the future to make and freeze little meatballs of my own, and save them up for nights like this when I'm really beat. (And by the way, Ruby has made a complete recovery, so don't worry! She is all smiles once again.)

Portillo's Chocolate Cake

I'm somewhat back "on the wagon" right about now, watching my calories and portion sizes. Of course, this doesn't apply to weekends, or holidays, or that time of the month. In fact, with all my trangressions, I'm really surprised that I've lost any of the fifty pounds that I gained while pregnant at all. Twenty of that was baby, and whatever the baby is in that I don't really want to think about. The rest has been coming off slowly, and none more slowly than these last eight pounds or so. I'm determined to do it, but no one can stop me from fondly reminiscing about the type of eating that I did during my last month of pregnancy. That was the stuff!

Two weeks before Ruby came along, I wanted cake. I wanted Portillo's chocolate cake. But a whole Portillo's cake is a little on the expensive side at about $18. And buying one piece per day until you have a baby (because you're kidding yourself into thinking you just want ONE piece), as I knew I would end up doing, is even more expensive. (Oh yeah, a piece of cake per day? As that commercial says, "I was there.") I heard a rumor on the radio: the caller claimed that he used to work at Portillo's, and guess what? The cake is just Duncan Hines' Moist Deluxe chocolate cake mix (some claim it is Betty Crocker, whatever), mixed with 3 eggs, 1 cup of water, and 1 cup of mayonnaise. Yes, mayonnaise. Just ignore what else it says on the box, and just add those things, and bake at the temp the box recommends. I don't know if this rumor is true or just an urban myth, but let me tell you, I will not ever need another cake recipe. No seriously, I'm good with this one.



I topped it with store frosting, and it was fantastic. No muss, no mess, just a teeny bit of measuring, and it was just as good as Portillo's, if not better. I think it is even better than the Hershey's chocolate cake recipe, which until now has set the bar for me. And I didn't need to boil water! The cake was so good, in fact, that I made one the very next week. And then I literally had a baby.



This last one is my favorite. At the school cafeteria, they always served chocolate cake with white vanilla frosting. I had it all through gradeschool. It was one of the only things the school did well - always so moist (and I seriously hate that word, but "tender" is for meat, and "damp" and its ilk are even worse) and perfect. I was always so geeked to see them serving it, and it is still my favorite.

You gotta try it, but I'm warning you: be nine months pregnant, or have guests over... Because you WILL eat it by yourself!

AMENDMENTS: I just made one of these with Light Mayo (Hellman's) and it worked... But it is definitely NOT the same cake. Just a decent, light cake.

Also, did you know that coffee brings out chocolate flavor? Use a cold cup of coffee instead of the cup of water, and it brings out the cocoa flavor (you won't taste the coffee.)

Artichoke Cream Pasta

Chris recently brought a regular sale to my notice through Amazon.com. You can get subscriptions to lots of magazines, many times, for $6-$10 for the whole year (or sometimes two years.) I treated myself recently to a dirt-cheap subscription to Cooking Light. I really like it. I've read many foodie periodicals over the years, starting with my father's old addiction to Gourmet magazine. Cooking Light is one part lifestyle mag (like Gourmet), and the second half has most of the recipes. I've already tried several, and they've all turned out well.

This one is an artichoke, lemon zest and pea pasta that is based on a recipe that they had. Of course I took my usual cursory look at the recipe, but I put onion and garlic in a liberal amount of oil first. Then I added drained and rinsed artichoke hearts, and peas, a little white wine and the zest of a whole lemon. Then I seasoned the mix. Lastly, you add cooked pasta and about a half-cup of ricotta cheese, and just stir until mixed.



It was good, but I must say, I have never eaten a dish that so BEGGED for bacon. I think if I had started the mix with a little diced pancetta, it would have been so much better. As it was, it tasted a little flat. Either that, or leave out the ricotta, and I think the zippier flavors (like the lemon) may have come through more. Quick way to make a cream pasta, though!

Easy Galumpki Bake

Recently, I was at my friend Beata's baby shower. She and her husband are Polish, and they had lots of Polish friends, who brought quite a bit of Polish food. And when I say, "they brought quite a bit," I mean in the way that Sitting Bull brought quite a bit of Cheyenne to a small party with Custer. It was astounding. After we all ate our fill, Beata announced, "And now, we eat dinner!" Holy crap. That's when the meat really came out. Dear lord, the meat! If meat makes for a healthy baby (and I think I'm a testament to that), then this kid is gonna be Herculean.

One of the many tasty, meaty items was galumpki, which I think most people have had at one time or another. They're also called cabbage rolls, and that's just what they are: rolled cabbage leaves with rice and pork in the center, and tomato sauce on top. All through my childhood, my father made them, and mistakenly called them "pigs in a blanket," which they are not.

They're great, but not so easy to make. The cabbage leaves have to be blanched, and the rice pre-cooked, and then of course there's all the rolling. I made a sort of "deconstructed" galumpki in the slow cooker, which is also a bit healthier because it uses turkey. It tastes great (much like the original), and utilizes a much simpler "open package, dump contents" sort of technique.



Ingredients:
1 carrot, peeled and broken up
1 celery stick with leaves
1/2 onion
1 clove garlic
(if you made the Turkey Chili Mac, then you already have these in your fridge)
1 cup uncooked brown rice
1 bag of cole slaw mix (shredded cabbage and carrots)
1 lb. ground turkey
1 cup water
1 29 oz. can tomato sauce (puree)
salt and pepper

In layers, place half the bag of cabbage mix, then half the mix of the first four veggies, which you've pulsed to a fine chop in the food processor. Add half the rice, then tear half the turkey up into chunks to complete the first layer. Make sure you season the meat. Then repeat each layer once more, and season again. Add the sauce to the top, and the water. Cook on low for six to eight hours.



Serve with crusty bread, with parmesan cheese on top. Mm!

Turkey Chili Mac

This was super quick and easy, and I even made it a "deluxe" way. It was sort of a cross between a bolognese sauce (which has carrot in it), and regular chili mac. A bit of extra work to just pulse up the mirepoix (carrot, celery, and onion - in this case, I also added garlic) in the food processor, yes, but I doubled the mix of the four veggies, stuck half of it in the fridge, and then threw it into the Crockpot for "Easy Galumpki Bake" the next day. So you're saving time!



Ingredients:
2 carrot, peeled and cut into big chunks
2 celery sticks with leaves, cleaned and "chunked"
1 onion
2 clove garlic
1 lb. ground turkey
1/2 glass red wine
1 cup frozen peas
1 large can chopped tomatoes
mexican seasoning
salt and pepper
shredded cheddar
whole wheat pasta

Pulse the first four ingredients in the food processor until finely chopped (note: if you're only making the chili mac and not the Galumpki Bake, cut the amount for the first four veggies in half). Sweat the veggies until they are just translucent. Add the ground turkey and brown it, then add your seasonings, then the wine and tomatoes. Add the peas at the last moment just to warm them through. Serve over pasta with lots of cheddar!

Country Steak and Beef Stroganoff

I saw Alton Brown make country-style cube steak, and I had to get me some of that.



I altered his recipe a little. What I was really in the mood for were some mushrooms. Also, I don't yet have a dutch oven (but I have an Amazon rewards coupon currently burning a hole in my pocket). I sautéed some onions, celery and a package of baby portobello mushrooms (also known as cremini mushrooms). I set that to the side, and then continued with Alton's instructions in the same pan. (I was using my big oven-proof sauté pan, and that seemed to work just fine.)

I didn't use the bacon fat he called for (not something I have lying around), I just fried them suckers up, cleaned up most of the oil, and returned everything to the pan. I was also puzzled by the instruction to cut the steaks "with the grain." I couldn't get this to make sense in my head. so I cut against it. The steaks came out very tender, so I think I did right. Also, when they were all cooked, I tempered some sour cream and added that at the end into the sauce.

(Also, those are some sweet potato oven fries that I made. Toss them in oil and seasoning, place them all flat in a 400-425 degree oven, turn after 20 minutes, and cook for another 20. I added some BBQ sauce to some Hellman's Light mayo and served that to dip them in. Going up the country, good eatin' there.)

I got a lot of steaks rather cheaply out of this recipe, and let's face it: times is hard all over, baby. So that was great. Since it is just the two of us (there are three, but one of us is still eating oatmeal and formula), I broke up the leftovers, and served them over noodles as stroganoff.



I added frozen peas to make it a complete (and completely different) meal. I think this dish will turn out even better when I get my cast-iron dutch oven. Can't wait!

BBQ Chicken Pizza and Twice-Baked Potatoes

I know I've shared my recipe for BBQ chicken in the crockpot before, but oh lord, I'm getting good at this.



It's finally got that dark mahogany color and smoky flavor that I want it to have. Here's the new and improved recipe:

two cups of ketchup
one cup of mustard, any kind
two capfuls of liquid smoke
about a quarter to a half cup of molasses
one cup of packed brown sugar
as much Red Hot sauce as you think you’ll like
one dark beer, or a couple of shots bourbon for a thicker sauce
half a medium onion, diced finely
two cloves diced garlic
a heavy shake of cumin (don’t be shy) and a shake of coriander
salt and pepper (plenty of black pepper)
two small cans of tomato paste (this is the new part - my sauce was coming out too runny)

(This is the same recipe that I printed here for the beef ribs. You can really plunge any meat ya like into this sauce, and it'll come out tasty. Or in a pinch, use shoe leather.) In this case, I put two packages of chicken into it, and cooked it for six hours. When the chicken shreds very easily with a fork, shred it all up right there in the Crockpot. This recipe makes a ton of chicken. I freeze half for another time. You can use some in tacos, on buns as sandwiches, or on a pizza (great with goat cheese and thinly sliced red onions, and more cheddar on top).



I decided some would be great on top of some twice-baked potatoes. So I made up a recipe for those, and it came out great. First, bake four potatoes. Use the big brown russet or baking potatoes for this. Scrub them, pierce them with a fork in several places, salt them liberally and put a dab of butter on top of them inside some foil. Wrap them up and bake them for about an hour to 75 minutes at 400 degrees. (I've read some recipes since that insist you don't use the foil - I'll try this next time. But I didn't want the skins to shrivel, and they didn't doing this with the foil.) When they come out, vent them a little and let them cool until you can handle them. Then scoop out most of the insides into a bowl, leaving about a half-inch of flesh. You can't really scoop all of it out, because then the skin will be too thin.

To the potato flesh, add one brick of cream cheese (light is fine). Sauté one diced half-onion and one clove of crushed garlic in a little oil, and add that to the mixture, plus a little salt. Mix, and put the mixture back in the potatoes (I had returned them to the foil I used before). Then top with cheddar, and bake at 375 degrees for about fifteen minutes.



You can top them with bacon or anything else you like. I put the BBQ chicken on top, along with scallions and light sour cream (hey, every little bit helps.)



They were mounded so high, we ended up just eating a half at a time, so it made lots of nice leftovers.

Hey, love BBQ, bacon, swearing and hardened arteries? You have to check out this post on my brother's blog (he's the funny one in the family.) But don't go if you don't like the swearing. As a matter of fact, what are you still reading my goddamn blog for?

Mahogany Ale Shepherd's Pie

This isn't a traditional shepherd's pie, just something I made up. (Why do I even bother saying that any more?) I wanted to use ground turkey, and still come up with something that was dark and rich on the bottom layer, without being too fatty. It came out so well that I actually wrote it all down immediately so that I wouldn't forget what I did (and if you know me, you know that I never do that.)



Filling:
1/2-1 cup carrot
2 celery ribs
2 cloves garlic
1/2 white or yellow onion
1/2 cup parsely
1 package ground turkey, as lean as you like
1/2 cup ketchup
1 Abita Turbodog or other dark mahogany beer (Raison D'être by Dogfish Head is great, too)
1/4 cup or more red wine
flour (about 3 Tablesp.) and butter (about 2 Tablesp.)
1 large can of peas and carrots

Seasonings (about a halt Tablesp. each):
salt and pepper
celery salt
paprika
Jamaican allspice
ground mustard

Potatoes:
6 Yukon Gold potatoes
1 "brick" cream cheese, or 1 cup sour cream (light is fine with either)
chicken broth (about 1 cup)
salt and pepper

Directions:
Pulse the first five ingredients (washed) in the food processor until finely diced. Sauté them in a little olive oil, add the turkey and brown it. Add the seasonings (just a good "shake" of each.) Add about three tablespoons of flour, combine the mixture, add the butter, and combine it again. Then, add the ketchup, then wine, then the beer, letting each heat through before adding the next. Then add chicken stock or broth a little at a time. The mixture should be a thick, dark sauce.



Pour the mixture into a deep lasagna pan, and add the canned peas and carrots (rinsed and drained). I used canned vegetables here, because I wanted that English, "tinned" feel to it... Or maybe it just reminded me more of the school lunchroom. Anyway, you could certainly use frozen or fresh.

Clean the potatoes and dice them (I like to leave the skins on). Boil the potatoes, drain and smash them, using the rest of the ingredients on the list. Add chicken stock until they are the thickness you want (they should still form stiff peaks). Then dollop it into the pan and spread it out over the meat mixture. Top with shredded parmesan cheese, and bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 35 minutes, broiling briefly at the end to brown the cheese.



I really loved this, and I think Chris did, too. I didn't miss the beef a bit. Perfect for a cold evening, and a big serving of it made a nice lunch to take along the next day.