Foodmomiac

Baba Rice (a weeknight lifesaver)

This is my dear friend Lisa. Our husbands have known each other since Kindergarten (!!) and when we lived in Toledo, Lisa was a constant in my life. I remember calling Lisa and Todd just a couple of days after they brought their oldest son home from the hospital to tell them that we, too were going to have a baby! Now Ty is almost 11, and Dylan is 10, and I feel like an elderly woman, but that's a story for another day.

Lisa is the friend who introduced me to Bunco (which I greatly miss - why don't people play Bunco in Chicago??), and the person who brought over food after Dylie and Max were born. And the one dish that was ALWAYS included with this delivery was Baba Rice. Baba was Todd's grandma, and she was from Bulgaria. I love Baba Rice, but I could never make it properly no matter how many times Lisa walked me through it over the phone.

This has always been a source of frustration for me, so when we visited Todd and Lisa Thanksgiving weekend, I watched her make it and took very detailed notes. I am happy to report that I have now made Baba Rice twice and was successful both times. Woot!

And now I am sharing with you. Enjoy.

Baba Rice
2-1/2 cups Uncle Ben's rice (the brand is important here, so don't try to get all fancy. You need the original Uncle Ben's converted rice)
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 small onions, chopped
5 cups chicken broth
freshly ground black pepper
1 Tb. dill
1 Tb Spike seasoning or summer savory (Chubritza is the Bulgarian word for this)
1 tsp chicken bouillion paste (I use that Better than Bouillion stuff from the supermarket)
1/4 cup canola oil 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put the rice in a 9x13 Pyrex dish. Add the celery, onion, broth and spices. Break the bouillion paste up into smaller pieces and distribute throughout the dish. Pour in the oil and mix everything well. Cover the pan with foil and place into the oven for an hour. Remove from the oven and mix up a bit with a fork. Enjoy!

FoodKIDiac: Guest post by Dylan - Baked Acorn Squash

My favorite dish lately has been baked Acorn Squash it is SO delicious! It is fun and easy to make! I was able to make it all by myself, actually. Today we had it with chicken and a nice little salad! It is such a great comfort food and it adds a little sweetness to your dinner! I guarantee that you will LOVE this dish! Acorn squash is probably the best fall dish you can ask for! Today my Dad built a fire in the fireplace so it was really nice and cozy in our house.

I could eat acorn squash forever! You HAVE to try this dish!

Here is the link to the recipe I used:

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/classic_baked_acorn_squash/

 

 

The Monday Night Dinner that Garnered a Standing Ovation (Lamb Meatballs and Mujadara)

The title of this post is no exaggeration. Shortly after declaring it, "the best meal you have cooked in five years," Michael told the kids they should give me a round of applause. And then Dylan stood up on the bench in the kitchen to turn that round of applause into a full out standing o. This is NOT the norm in my household, but damn, it was definitely satisfying.

Dinner was an old favorite that I hadn't made for years (mujadarah) along with a new dish that I tried for the very first time (lamb meatballs). The lamb recipe has a gajillion steps, so I am just going to link to it rather than adapt it and repost here. Click here for amazing lamb meatballs.

I will, however, share with you the recipe for Mujadara. This recipe comes from David Rosengarten, a chef who was a very big deal on the Food Network back in 1996 when I worked there. (He also wore a ridiculous amount of makeup when recording his shows, so when he'd swing by the cubicles to talk to the "little folk," we always ended up laughing over his oompa loompa face as soon as he left.) 

Mujadara

1 cup green or brown lentils
1 quart cold water
3 large white onions, sliced into thin half moons
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup basmati or jasmine rice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. allspice

Bring the lentils to a boil in the cold water and then turn the heat down to simmer. Let them cook for about 25 minutes or until they are just about tender. Reserve 1.5 cups of cooking liquid (you likely won't be able to reserve this much, but you can just make up the difference with fresh water), and drain the lentils.

While the lentils are cooking, cook the onions in olive oil until they get nice and soft (the original recipe calls for five minutes, but this took me at least 10). Pull out 1.5 cups of the onions and set them aside. Cook the rest of the onions until they are caramelized and verging on crispy (again, they say five minutes, but it was more like 10 or 15). Drain these on a paper towel and set them aside.

In that same saucepan, add the cooked lentils, the reserved liquid, the softened onions (not the caramelized ones), the rice, salt and allspice. Cook this over low heat, covered, until the rice is tender, which should happen in about 20 minutes. Serve topped with caramelized onions. Sit back while your family applauds your efforts.

The Foodmomiac Summer Salad Dressing

I adapted this recipe from one that was shared in the Harvest Moon Farms CSA newsletter. They send me the newsletter every week, and for every item that is going to be in my CSA box, they provide a recipe. This one seemed too simple to be a stand-out, but I am in love. It is the perfect light vinaigrette for a hot summer day.

The agave syrup was my addition, as the originally recipe called for sugar. If you don't have agave syrup (available at health food stores like Whole Foods), feel free to go back to sugar or try maple syrup.

Simple Vinaigrette

1 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tb plus 2 tsp. sherry wine vinegar (you can also use red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar)
2 tsp. ground black pepper
2 tsp. agave syrup
2 tsp. sea salt

Combine all of the above ingredients in a salad cruet or a jar with a lid, and shake very well to combine. Store in your refrigerator for up to a month. Remove about 30 minutes before use to give the oil enough time to warm up (the dressing will separate in the fridge since it is homemade and doesn't have any stabilizers). 

Quick, Cheap, Yummy Dinner: Tostadas

This is less a recipe than a method, but everyone loved it, so I had to share. Over the weekend, we watched the Rick Bayless show, Mexico, One Plate at a Time. Cooking shows are one of the few things we all enjoy watching, and this was a great one to watch together because it also was about travel and culture, and the kids were tickled that Bayless lives in Chicago.

Tostadas are so easy to make. We are lucky to live in a city with a big Mexican population. It means that fresh tostada shells are available in the supermarket. If they aren't available near you, you can make your own by frying corn tortillas until crispy.

I heated some oil in a pan and added mashed garlic and some chopped green pepper. Once fragrant, I added 2 cans of black beans and mashed it all up a bit with a potato masher. That got pushed to a back burner and left on low.

The next piece is protein. You can use shredded leftover chicken or steak, or you can do what we did tonight and just cook up some chorizo.

Take a tostada, spread it with the beans, top with the meat, and then garnish! Our garnish was sliced avocado, shredded cheese and some lettuce that was tossed with sour cream and hot sauce.

What have you all been eating this week?

Dylan teaches you how to make the perfect roast chicken

IMG_0943.MOV
Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac

I told Dylan how easy it was to make a roast chicken, and we then decided it would be fun to make a video lesson. Here's my girl, giving you the low-down.

(Chicken is in the oven, and we are also having mashed potatoes and some sort of veggie.)

A Crazy PickPocketing Story with a Bonus Family Breakfast Recipe: Crepes!

I love crepes. But doesn't everybody? Crepes are one of those foods that I can't imagine anyone disliking (other foods in this category include garlic knots and French onion dip). I actually got pickpocketed once as a direct result of my love of crepes.

It was late at night in Paris. I was studying there during my junior year, and had a late night craving (let's call it "the munchies") that could only be satiated with a nutella crepe. I was hanging at my friend Judith's apartment on the Boulevard Montparnasse (she lived almost directly above La Coupole, for those familiar with the area), and there happened to be a crepe stand just outside her building. So, I ventured outside and purchased a nutella crepe. I couldn't wait to eat it, so I dug in right there, standing on the sidewalk, looking out at the traffic and pedestrians of the busy Boulevard.

In those days, I never carried a purse. I wore an oversized men's leather jacket (it was the early 90s) and kept my wallet in the inside pocket. In those days, a group of gypsy types hung out in an alcove right next to La Coupole. They had some mangy dogs and were all kind of dirty and scary looking. That night, I was so enraptured by the warm, sweet Nutella oozing out of my freshly-made crepe that I didn't even notice when someone lifted my wallet right out of my jacket pocket and took off with it.That was some crepe, my friends.

(Side note: for those thinking that it is absolutely impossible for someone to be pickpocketed without even noticing, I urge you to rent the 1959 movie Pickpocket by Robert Bresson. Parisian pickpockets have some mad, mad skills, and this movie showcases their underworld so, so well.)

Wow, that was a really long-winded way of leading up to my favorite crepe recipe. I use the Basic Crepe Recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook. I blend up the batter, let it sit for a bit and then start making crepes to order. I put an assortment of toppings on the counter and the kids can choose whatever they want. My favorite is the simple combination of butter and sugar, to which I'll occasionally add some thinly-sliced bananas. Dylan loves honey. Michael and Max vacillate between Nutella and fruit jam.

Crepes (adapted from The Moosewood Cookbook)

1 egg
1-1/4 cup milk (I use low fat)
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
butter

Combine the first four ingredients in a blender and blend well. Let sit for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Using a pastry brush (I prefer the silicon kind), brush the skillet with butter. Pour in about 1/4 cup of batter and swirl around to make a big-ish circle. Once you get skilled, you can try spreading the batter around a bit (quickly) with a rubber spatula. Once the crepe is set, add the ingredient of your choice, fold the crepe into quarters and serve immediately.

Bon Appetit!

A New Family Favorite - Chicken Paprikash

My husband is a creature of habit when it comes to dinners. He FREAKS OUT when I change a recipe that he loves, and if he had his way, I'd make many of the same dishes over and over. So, when I made Chicken Paprikash for the first time this past weekend and he loved it, he made a declaration. He decided that we need to do a better job keeping track of our family favorites. The easiest way to do that is by just making that a category on the blog, so here it is. Family favorites.

The latest issue of Saveur is the annual 100 recipe, where they publish 100 fabulous things. This year, the issue was especially interesting because all of the articles were user submitted. It was kind of like reading eGullet or my food blogs but on paper. So enjoyable. And the recipes they included (not enough, by the way) were really enticing.

The Chicken Paprikash was written about towards the end of the issue in an article about a woman's mom and the delicious Paprikash she'd make for the family. This was so, so good. It was filling, and rich, and the chicken was moist. It was just amazing, and we all loved it. We ate this Sunday night, and it was much needed, as I had run 8.5 miles that morning. We will certainly be making this again.

A few notes: I cooked it a lot longer than they said, and it was fine (though I had it on extremely low heat). I also just added the whole pepper to the dish instead of reserving some as garnish. Finally, the dumplings were really yummy, but they were HUGE. I think next time I'll use my spaetzle maker so that they are smaller and more tender.