borscht

This is a yummy, hearty, economical, nutritious, and beautiful soup.

Borscht

Use the Shreddar Attachment of your wonderful Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer to shred:

6 cloves peeled garlic
2 large carrots
1 cored apple
1 small onion
6 small potatoes
1 small head red cabbage
1 small head white cabbage
3 cooked beets (save the cooking water)

Simmer for hours along with:
beet water
soup bone
1 can tomato paste
extra water as needed.

Add salt to taste, serve topped with sour cream and dill.

Especially nice with the rye bread.

Zucchini Ratatouille

This recipe grew out of a hunt through the pantry that yielded a jar of spaghetti sauce and very little else. We liked it so well we made it the next day too.

Zucchini Ratatouille

chop coarsely & combine:
1 giant zucchini
1 large onion
6 cloves of garlic
1/4 C olive oil mix together:
1/4 C basil strips (basil leaves that you have cut into ribbons by rolling them up and slicing) or 1 T dried basil
1/4 C fresh parsley or 1 T dried parsley
1/8 C fresh thyme or 1 t dried thyme
1/2 t ground cloves
 1 t salt

dig out:
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
1 C Parmesan cheese, grated

layer:
1/2 of the vegies
1/2 the seasoning
1/2 jar of spaghetti sauce
1/2 C Parmesan
1/2 of the vegies
1/2 the seasoning
1/2 jar of of spaghetti sauce
1/2 C Parmesan (if you can, mix all this up hours ahead and let the flavors meldge before you bake it. Add a little baking time to bring it up to temp from the fridge).

cover & bake: 350 for 45 minutes, or until the whole thing is bubbly.

Serve with good bread. 

reposted from 9.1.2008

fall cookery

I don't much like fall, as it is the end of swimming season, but I do like fall cooking. I'll be posting links to some of my fall favorites. What are yours?

Split Pea Soup

Combine in your large crockpot:

• 4 cups rinsed split peas
• 1 whole onion, peeled and nasty bit removed
• 4 large carrots
• 4 stalks of celery
• a lump of bacon ends, a little smaller than a fist.
• water to cover + 1 inch.

Cook overnight.  In the morning blend to desired texture.  Add salt and pepper.  Serve with fresh bread, cheese slices, and pickles.

Stuffed Pumpkin

Oh how we loved it.  It reminded us a bit of a good cheese fondue, but more healthful.   I based it on Dorie Greenspan's recipe.

Dice and cook:
3-4 strips of bacon

Cut the top off of, and hollow out:
1 large pumpkin, about 4-5 pounds

Combine, and then fill the pumpkin with it:
the bacon
1 loaf of white artisan bread cubed and dried out in the oven.
1/2 C pinenuts
6-8 cloves garlic,
minced 3/4 C cubed cheddar
3/4 C cubed Swiss
1/2 C homemade soft cheese that I had to make when the yogurt I was trying to make curdled
1/2 C cream cheese, diced
1 C half-and-half
1 T nutmeg salt and pepper

Bake on foil lined cookie pan for about 2 hours at 350. Serve with apple and tomato slices.

Dorie's instructions are much more detailed, so if you have questions, go see her post, linked above.

Pork Shoulder Roast

Very easy, very yummy.

Puree together

• 1 T crushed garlic
• 1 T oregano
• 1 T cumin
• 1/4 t chipolte pepper
• 1 T salt
• 1 T wine or cider vinegar
• as much olive oil as you need to make a paste

Rub the paste all over the pork roast.
Put in your baking pot

• the roast
• 1/4 C water

Roast at 300 for about 3 hours.

Serve in taco shells with sourcream and salsa and a side-dish of black-eyed peas & spinach (reduce the liquid and leave the hamburger out of the soup).

Zucchini Pie

Very yummy.  Very easy.

Steam together:
1 large zucchini, peeled and quartered, or the equivalent in small zucchini
1 onion, quartered.

When soft, mash them up in the bottom of a pie plate.  Cover with:
sprinkling of feta
sprinkling of herbs
6 eggs, blended together with a splash of milk

Top with:
1 sleeve of Saltine crackers smashed into
1/2 C melted butter.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Cumin-Rubbed Pork Chops with Creme Fraiche Sauce

This was so yummy, that I licked the serving platter.  Chickadee caught me and I had to buy her silence by letting her have a few licks.

Before you begin, time-travel back to yesterday and make yourself some creme fraiche. Or, if your time-traveling device is down, go pick some up at the grocery store and try not to think about how much you are overpaying for it.

Cumin-Rubbed Pork Chops with Creme Fraiche Sauce

In a small bowl, combine:

• 1 Tb minced garlic (I used the Trader Joe's cheater stuff)
• 1 t ground cumin
• 1/4 t freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 t kosher salt
• 1-2 T olive oil

Rub this all over your pork chops.

In a roomy skillet, heat:

• 1 T olive oil

Add the chops. Brown them on each side.  Turn the heat down and cook them until they are done.  Use a meat thermometer; pork is not something you want to eat undercooked.  When the chops are done, remove them to a platter that you warmed in the oven.

To the saucepan add:

• 1/2 C lemon cooking wine (or 1/2 white wine and a squeeze of lemon)

Scrap the stuff off the pan sides and bottom and let it all bubble with the wine.  Heat on high until half of it is gone.

Add:

• 1/2 creme fraiche

Cook until it is to the thickness you like for sauce.  Pour over the chops.  Serve.

leftover turkey? turkey pot pie

Turkey Pot Pie

turkey -- cubed or shredded
lightly cooked vegies (peas, onions, carrots, whatever you have)
binder (egg or creme fraiche or cream of heart-attack soup or whatever)
pastry (from scratch or puff pastry or (gasp!) Pillsbury crescent rolls, torn and layered.

350 degrees, 30 minutes

You might also like Turkey Dumpling Soup or Turkey Curry Salad.

stuffing. or dressing. whatever

I call it stuffing because I like to stuff my mouth with it.  Dad prefers that it be called dressing.  I figure that when he makes it, he can name it.  Until then . . .

Suzanne's Stuffing

Saute together: 

• 1 large bunch of celery, sliced thin
• 2 large onions, chopped small
• 2 large apples, diced
• 1 C butter

Then add:

• 2 boxes Trader Joe's cornbread stuffing mix
• 1 C oj
• 1 C chicken broth
• 2 packages Trader Joe's Rosemary Cranberry Pecans

Check for moisture content -- add more broth if you need it.
Put in shallow baking dish -- heat up before serving.

Round Steak & Grilled Onions Stroganoff

This started out as Round Steak Baked with Onions, but it has drifted a bit. 

Round Steak & Grilled Onions Stroganoff 
onions
butter/olive oil
1 round steak
white wine
thyme
salt and pepper
Crème fraiche

In a cast-iron skillet, saute in butter/olive oil two onions, sliced thickly.  When they start to soften, take them out of the skillet and set them aside for awhile.  Into the skillet pop one round steak which you have cut into bite-sized cubes.  Brown this for while and then add the onions, 1/2 C white wine, 1/2 C water, some thyme and a little salt and pepper.

Cover and bake at 300 for 1.5 hours.  Remove from oven, stir in 1/2 Crème fraiche and some sauteed mushrooms.  Serve over rice or noodles.

I watched Julie & Julia (streaming Netflix rocks!) the other day and am now all inspired to cook again.  I may have to get the cookbook.

Cream Cheese Teriyaki Frosting

Just wanted to let you know that if you are trying to pour maple syrup into your creamed butter and cream cheese, and that if you accidentally grab the teriyaki sauce instead, you can just dump the mess into a colander or sieve and rinse the teriyaki sauce out with cold water. One more crisis averted.

Irish Stew

I know I have posted this before, but just in case you missed it, I must post it again. It is thrifty and easy and a perfect recipe for a beginning cook. Chop. Heat. Eat.

Irish Stew

In a heavy deep pot, sauté together:
1/4 C vegetable oil
1-2 lbs stew beef, cut into 1-inch pieces

When beef is browned on all sides, add:
6 good-sized cloves of garlic, minced

When garlic is golden and aromatic, add:
8 C liquid: beef broth or water
2 T tomato paste
1 T dried thyme
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T sugar
2 bay leaves

Simmer together for one hour.



In another pot, combine & sauté until golden:
2 T butter
6-8 C of ½ inch pieces of potatoes
1-2 chopped onions
2-3 C ½ inch pieces of carrots

Add veggies to meat. Simmer together for about 45 minutes. Remove bay leaves. Serve topped with a dab of sour cream and chopped fresh parsley.

This recipe is even yummier the second day and is ideal for crockpot reheating.

Zucchini Recipes

As zucchini season is upon us, here are three of our favorites:

• Pioneer Woman's Zucchini Cakes
• Zucchini Ratatouille
• Zucchini Loaves

Black-Eyed Pea Soup

This soup is delicious, nutritious, easy, and thrifty. What's not to love about that?

Black-Eyed Pea Soup

Soak a package of black-eyed peas overnight. Rinse well.

In the bottom of your soup pot, brown and crumble:

• 3/4 to 1 lb hamburger

Add the black-eyed peas and enough water to cover them. Bring to boil and then let simmer for 2-3 hours. Then add:

• 1 package of frozen spinach
• 1 Tb sugar
• 2-3 Tb white vinegar
• salt and black pepper to taste

Serve with a dollop of sour cream on top and cornbread and green salad on the side.

Caramelized Butternut Squash

We have spent the day with My Gift's parents, eating yummy food that I did not prepare, which is always my favorite sort.

This recipe is from The Barefoot Contessa cookbook:

Caramelized Butternut Squash

Heat oven to 400.

Trim off the ends and cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes:
2 butternut squash

Melt together:
6 Tb unsalted butter
1/4 C light brown sugar
1 1/2 t kosher salt
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper

Combine with squash cubes and spread onto baking sheet.

40 to 55 minutes.

Very yummmy. Did I mention that I ate too much? I probably will never need to eat again.

toxic beans: who knew?

Maybe you knew. I didn't. I was reading my newest cookbook, Nigella Bites: From Family Meals to Elegant Dinners - Easy, Delectable Recipes For Any Occasion, which I found on the used shelf the other day and snatched right up.

I like Nigella Lawson's books because her recipes are yummy, and the photography looks real. By that I mean that if the picture is of food roasted in an oven, there are spatter marks visible on the sides of the pan. It looks like they are photographing real food cooked in a real kitchen that will be eaten by real people.

Anyway, Nigella mentioned in a rather off-hand way something about toxin and beans and boiling:

I never soak black beans; just make sure that when you cook them they get their 10 toxin-destroying minutes of vociferous boiling and you're off (p 130).

I had no idea what she was talking about, so of course I googled it.

Remember all those times you are told to soak your beans and then to toss out the water and rinse well? There is a reason! The water leaches out some of the toxin stuff and if you don't do this you are feeding your family some nasty stuff. I think I may have done this . . . in fact I am sure I have. I may have poured off some of the water, but rinsing well? I'm sure I never have. I didn't know!

Yes, I have a copy of Joy of Cooking, and I am sure it is in there, but really, when would I have ever sat down and read about beans when there are pages and pages of pastry-talk to peruse?

Apparently raw beans and partly cooked beans contain Phytohaemagglutnin which make people feel really lethargic and barfy and nauseated and experience some nasty durchfall, which is a German word that translates literally to through-fall. Even a few beans can bring this about, so a cook who samples the soup before it is done cooking could experience this, while the rest of the family, who eats the soup after it is done, is fine! I'm sure I have done this.

The preventative? Boil briskly for 10 minutes and the nasty stuff is killed off.

I also learned, in my beany research, that one can reduce any unpleasant side-effects commonly associated with bean-eating by adding a bit of vinegar at the end of cooking, or by cooking beans with cumin, or by changing the water during the aforementioned soaking.

So tell me true, did you know this already?

And in case you are taking notes for Christmas, I have Nigella Bites and How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking.



:: one year ago today: Marmoleum and Compound W
:: two years ago today: Singing Children

turkey soup

We cooked our practice turkey on the grill last week (speaking of turkeys, remember to thaw yours) and I casually made a soup that we all agree must be made again, and often. Here is is, lest I forget what I did.

Turkey Noodle Dumpling Soup

Boil down what is left of a turkey. Drain off the broth and then when the turkey is cool enough, pick off the meat. Pop the broth and the turkey meat back into a large pot.

In a skillet, saute together:
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
1-2 large onions - diced
2 large carrots, sliced into pennies

When very soft and fragrant, add to the broth pot. Simmer for a couple of hours.

Shortly before serving, add:
any leftover gravy to pot
1-2 C cooked egg noodles (we had some leftover)

In a bowl, combine:
1 C flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 t parsley
1/2 t salt
1/2 t sugar

Whip together, and then add to the dry goods (do not overmix):
1/2 C moo
1 egg

Drop spoonfuls of dumpling batter into the gently simmering soup. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover and simmer for another 10 minutes.

For the kids, I pour a little milk into their bowls before ladling in the soup. This cools it a bit for them and adds a bit more milk to their diet. If you want to add milk before the dumplings, scald it first so that it won't separate when heated.

works for me: Thanksgiving Checklist

I survive with lists. Here is my checklist for Thanksgiving. Yours will vary depending on what you are serving, whether or not you are having other people bring stuff, and whether or not you feel comfortable putting your guests on task. But for what it is worth, here is my big list of things to do and when to do them.

The Great Thanksgiving List
because proper preparation and planning prevents poor performance!

at least 1 week before
1. order brine
2. purchase turkey
3. if you are cooking a turkey for the first time, or trying a new method, do a practice turkey
4. press leaves for table decorations
5. polish silver
6. make & freeze pie crusts
7. finalize & delegate menu
8. clean oven
9. confirm table coverings
10. collect table decorations
11. confirm that your turkey fits in your pan
12. confirm that you have a working food thermometer

weekend before
1. clean house
2. make duty cards: door host, coffee sergeant, appetizer server, table waiters, before dinner kitchen tidier, sous chef, table clearer, after dinner kitchen tidier, garbage taker-outer, dessert server, after dessert kitchen tidier. Folks draw one card on arrival and that is their duty for the day (I assign some of them as I see fit).
3. timeline food prep
4. wash living room & dining room windows
5. figure out turkey thawing schedule
6. empty front hall closet and confirm available hangers

Tuesday
1. make mashed potatoes
2. roast pumpkins
3. make pumpkin soup
4. clean off all ancillary surfaces and tables

Wednesday
1. brine big turkey
2. set up tables
3. set tables
4. set out and label serving platters & utensils
5. set out extra platters and serving bowls for guest use
6. mix up turkey rub
7. make dressing
8. make pumpkin black bean casserole
9. mix up pecan pie filling
10. stage apple dumplings
11. lay in fire
12. clean house again
13. move living room furniture to accommodate extra chairs
14. filter and chill water for table

Thursday
1. remove potatoes from fridge
2. rub down turkey if you didn't brine
3. run & empty dishwasher
4. confirm garbage can is empty
5. sweep front porch and walk
6. stage tea station
7. sniff check animal litter boxes just in case

12:00
1. make a thermos of coffee & prep coffee maker for next round
2. make sure you have eaten something sustaining

1:45
1. confirm small lamps and candles are on/lit
2. recruit valet for parking
3. confirm dishwasher is empty
4. turn on coffee pot
5. close and latch bunny room door against visiting dogs and small children.

Now, what is on your list that I forgot to put onto mine?



:: my other Works for Me posts.
:: one year ago today: The U.S. Constitution - Preamble and the very least you need to know about Dr. Ron Paul and Thanksgiving Weekend Menu and turkey thawing
:: two years ago today: Who Loves You?
works+for+me

Greek Potatoes

I've shared these before, but they are worth another posting. This time you even get a picture.

Greek Potatoes

Combine in a deep flat pan
6 potatoes, cubed
1/2 C lemon juice
1/3 C vegetable oil
1 T olive oil
2 minced garlic cloves
2 t sea salt
2 t oregano
1/2 t black pepper

Add
3 C hot water

Bake
at 475 for 1 & 1/2 hours, no lid.
Stir now and then and -- in the first hour only -- add more water if you need to.

Sprinkle with
chopped fresh parsley & a wee dash of paprika

:: super yummy with feta pie, pita, and hummus.

:: one year ago today: car report and Ron Paul: Hope for America