Foodmomiac

Our Favorite Crockpot Meal: Red Beans with Smoked Turkey

We didn't have a good morning. It's day four of the Chicago teachers' strike, so the routine we were so happy to return to last week is shot. Additionally, Michael is oversees on a business trip, Dylan insisted that she had no pants available to wear, Max wouldn't eat breakfast, no one could tell me what they wanted for lunch, and I'm having one of those weeks where I'm just super stressed about having a start-up and all of the uncertainties that entails.

By 8:30am, all three of us were crying hysterically. Not my proudest moment.

I finally got the kids out to their "strike camp" and headed off to my annual dermatology appointment. Now, I pride myself on having crazy low blood pressure. It's so low that when I went in to get Lasik surgery eight years ago, I wasn't allowed to take a valium as it would have made me too loopy. So, anyway, there I am at the doctor, and they pulled out the blood pressure cuff. I was soon informed that my blood pressure was a bit high.

Yeah. A morning like we had can do that to a person.

Once I got back home, I decided I needed to so something to calm myself down a bit prior to jumping into my work day. I needed to do some chopping. That's when I pulled out the crockpot and the smoked turkey legs. I love this dish because it is hearty, and delicious and easy and makes the house smell fabulous. I also love that it uses (cheap) dried beans but doesn't require overnight soaking. I made things a bit more complicated this morning because I added vegetables. As I said, I needed some time with my chefs knife. The food is now happily cooking away and I'm quite sure my blood pressure is back to its freakishly low self.

Red Beans with Smoked Turkey Legs

One large or two smallish smoked turkey legs (the ones I used today were purchased at Whole Foods, but they often have these at our grocery store as well)
One bag red kidney beans, rinsed and picked through
Veggies, chopped (optional) - today I used one onion, three stalks of celery and a few peppers including one jalapeno

Put the turkey legs into your crockpot. Top with the beans and veggies. Cover everything with water and cook on low for 6-8 hours. About an hour before it's done, pull out the turkey legs, remove the meat from them and put them back into the crockpot. (Be careful with the bones -the legs have these really weird spindly needle bones throughout.)

Serve with rice.

Note: we also like to top ours with a healthy sprinkling of Tony Chachere's creole seasoning. 

 

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.

Outrageously Good Dinner (with very little effort): Osso Bucco

Yesterday, we took a little family trip to our new grocery store, Mariano's Fresh Market. I am a little bit embarrassed by how excited I was to have this new store open up in our neighborhood, but there you go. I was VERY EXCITED! It's a supermarket, so you can get all of your household supplies, but they also have a terrific bakery, deli counter (they sell Creminelli salami - my former client and maker of the best salami ever), and they feature a nice amount of local produce, with the farm called out clearly on the signage. 

Anyway, I'm also a fan of the meat counter. They have some really great looking stuff, including the insane hunk of meat pictured above. Michael grabbed this while I waited for my number to be called at the deli counter. It is called a volcano veal shank (linked here is a great primer on veal shank cuts) and he asked me to make Osso Bucco. Normally, as you'll see if you click that link, you make Osso Bucco with small slices of the shank, but I figured the recipe would work just as well with the mongo one he bought. I was right - SO good.

The recipe came from Epicurious, and was adapted from Tony Bourdain (link here to naughty picture of Mr. Bourdain for those who appreciate that sort of thing). Osso Bucco is a great meal if you are entertaining, because it can all be made ahead, it tastes amazing, and it is really impressive. We served it with some little roasted potatoes, but I would actually recommend serving it over polenta - I think that would be a much better receptacle for the yummy sauce you'll have.

Osso Bucco

One enormous veal shank or cut up, osso bucco style shanks (one per person if you do the small guys)
flour
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
2 carrots, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 cups dry red wine (we used a pinot noir)
2 cups veal demiglace or chicken stock (i used one cup of each - I found the veal demiglace at the supermarket in the freezer department)
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes, smushed up a bit (i used a quart jar of homemade canned tomatoes from my father-in-law)
1 bay leaf

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Lightly dust the shank(s) with flour and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large dutch oven (I used my trusty Le Creuset), and brown the shank(s) on all sides over medium/high heat. This should take about 10 minutes total. Remove the browned shank and place on a plate. Add the butter. As soon as it melts, add the carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Saute for about 8-10 minutes until the onion softens up. Add the red wine, stirring up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Then, add the stock, tomatoes, and bay leaf and place the shank(s) back in the pot. Bring up to a boil, then cover, and place into the oven for 2.5 hours. 

Remove from the oven when done and take the shank out, placing it on a platter to rest (cover it with foil). Place the pot with all of the sauce in it on the stove over low/medium heat and let it reduce for about 15 minutes. If there is a ton of fat, you can skim some off at this time.

Serve the meat with sauce spooned over top. Enjoy!

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?

Buddy's Meatballs

So... my daughter is obsessed with Buddy Valastro from Cake Boss, the baking show on TLC. Lest you think I'm overstating things, she actually thinks that New Jersey is the greatest state in the country because it is home to Hoboken, and Hoboken is home to Buddy.

Now, I also enjoy the show, but not to her level of obsession (she even follows Buddy on Twitter, reading his tweets with the same enthusiasm as those from her beloved Justin Bieber). Anyway, we were both pretty psyched when we learned that Buddy had a new show, Kitchen Boss. And last night we tried his meatballs. They were AMAZING. Super easy, super delicious. The recipe is here.

We didn't do the full on Sunday gravy thing that he does. I just sauteed them and then put them in a pan with a jar of crushed tomatoes, a can of tomato sauce, some water, and a finely minced onion that I sauteed in the meatball grease. This is a new family favorite for sure.

 

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 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.

Easy and Impressive Broiled Chicken

Last week, I got home relatively late from work, but decided that I still needed to make a home cooked meal. We had a ton of groceries in the fridge, and I think everyone is getting sick of delivered food in this household. One of the food items in my fridge was a whole chicken, cut up, so I pulled out Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" and started searching for the easiest option.

Broiled chicken it was! I preheated the broiler, brushed a large casserole dish (you can use a broiling pan) with olive oil and placed the chicken in it in one layer. I then mixed together about 1/2 cup of dijon mustard (I used a combination of coarse grain and regular) and a tablespoon or two of lemon juice. The chicken was salted and peppered and placed under the broiler for a minute or two, until it started to sizzle a bit. I then brushed the chicken with some of the mustard mixture and put it BACK under the broiler. In a couple of minutes, I pulled it out, flipped it, basted it again with the mustard and put it back. I repeated this process (broil, pull out, flip, baste) about 3-4 times until the chicken reached a temperature of about 165 degrees and was nice and crispy. Served with leftover cheesy potatoes and a salad, this was a simple and elegant meal that everyone enjoyed and that took just minutes to prepare. Awesome!

A Great and Healthy Recipe: Butternut Squash and Kale Risotto

I was really excited about tonight's recipe. It's from The Gastrokid Cookbook. The concept of the book is awesome. All of the recipes are created to be kid-friendly, but it's not your usual chicken nuggets and mac n' cheese. This recipe was ideal because it used two of the veggies I bought at Sunday's Farmer's Market - butternut squash and lacinato kale. The original recipe includes pancetta, but we decided not to include it, as part of our effort to be healthier.

Dylan loved the risotto, but Max wouldn't take one bite (even after I removed the kale). One day I'll make a healthy dinner that both kids eat. Oh well - he ate a piece of last night's lasagna (the one that DYLAN hated). I personally thought this dish was fantastic and can't wait to have leftovers for lunch.

The recipe is below, but let me first remind you that I'm posting every day for a month to raise money for Healthy Schools Campaign. Thank you so much to Kim for her generous donation. We're continuing to plug away. If you'd like to help the cause, please click here and choose your donation amount. Every little bit helps.

Butternut Squash and Kale Risotto (adapted from The Gastrokid Cookbook)

6 cups chicken stock
extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch fresh kale, stemmed and chopped (if you use lacinato or dino kale like we did, cook it a bit longer)
1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed (Trader Joe's sells it pre-cubed if you are short on time)
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup Arborio rice
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Heat the chicken stock in a small saucepan and keep warm on a low burner.

Heat a large pan over medium heat. Add a splash of oil and the kale. Saute for about five minutes (or longer if using lacinato). Remove the kale from the pan and put it aside.

Add another splash of olive oil to the pan and toss in the squash. Season with salt and pepper and saute for about five minutes. Add the rice and saute for another minute. Turn up the heat just a bit and add the wine. Cook, stirring constantly until the wine is absorbed. Add two ladles of stock. Cook, stirring constantly until the stock is absorbed. Add another two ladles of stock and repeat the above. Continue doing this until the squash is softened (but not dissolved) and the rice is al dente. This can take 15-30 minutes. For us, it was a good 25 minutes.

Once the risotto is ready, add one more ladle of stock and the kale. Mix to combine, and add the grated cheese.

Serve in bowls with additional cheese on the side. Enjoy!

(serves 4)

A New Recipe: Vegetarian Greek Lasagna

On Sunday morning, I drove to the Logan Square Farmers Market, and I bought three giant bags of gorgeous produce. Anything that looked great made its way into my tote bags. One of the farmers actually told me that I needed a sherpa. It was awesome.

When I got home, our Internet was down, so I had to get old school and look through my cookbooks for some recipes. I found some dinner ideas, picked up the rest of the ingredients at Trader Joe's, and was all set for the week ahead.

On Monday we had vegetarian congee made in the crockpot. Congee is a Chinese rice porridge. When made with chicken stock, it is amazing. Comforting, rich, delicious. Sadly, I used vegetarian stock instead. We are trying to avoid meat during the week, but next time I make congee, I think we'll make an exception and use the poultry stock. Congee made with veggie stock was vile.

Yesterday, the plain was to make a butternut squash and kale risotto. But, then I remembered that we had the kids' open school night and then a haircut appointment. We had frozen pizza (and I'll make the risotto tomorrow - the recipe looks really promising!).

Tonight, Greek Lasagna was on the menu. However, Michael developed a nasty flu/virus, so I had to cover for him in a three hour client meeting off-site. What to do? What to do? I decided to delegate. I left the recipe and the ingredients out on the counter and asked our new nanny Sammy to prepare the lasagna with the kids. It was delicious. Michael ventured out of his sick bed to eat three pieces, Max ate up with gusto, and I enjoyed it as well. The only naysayer was Dylie. She has just never liked lasagna of any variety, and this was no exception. (She prepared a Trader Joe's Green Curry for herself in the microwave).

The recipe is below, but let me first remind you that I'm posting every day for a month to raise money for Healthy Schools Campaign. Thank you so much to Lauren, Mir and Mamacita for their generous donations. We are off to a great start! If you'd like to help the cause, please click here and choose your donation amount. Every little bit helps.

Greek Lasagna (adapted from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics)

Tomato Sauce

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chopped onions
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons dried marjoram (we omitted this, you could subtitute oregano if you like)
5 cups undrained canned whole tomatoes (we used 5 cups of Michael's dads homemade tomato puree)
1/3 cup chopped kalamata olives (we used less, because we didn't have that much around)
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill (we used 1.5 tablespoons of dried)

1 large eggplant, cut into 3/4 inch rounds
olive oil for brushing
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups cottage cheese
1 teaspoon ground fennel seeds (we omitted this)
3 cups grated feta cheese (we used slightly less because we didn't have enough)
12 uncooked lasagna noodles

In a medium pot, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onions. Saute for about five minutes. Add the garlic and majorum and cook for another few minutes. Add the tomatoes, cover the pot and bring it all to a simmer. Turn the heat down to medium low and add the olives, salt, pepper and dill (you can wait until the end to add the dill if you want maximum flavor).

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. While the sauce continues to cook, lightly oil a baking sheet and cover it with the eggplant slices. Brush each slice with olive oil and bake for about 15 minutes. Remove the eggplant from the oven and then turn it down to 350 degrees.

While the eggplant cooks and the sauce simmers, mix together the eggs, cottage cheese, fennel and 1 cup of the feta. Set this aside.

Lightly oil a large Pyrex baking dish (or other lasagna pan). Spread on two cups of the tomato sauce. Top this with one layer of noodles and then another cup of sauce. Layer on all of the eggplant, one cup of feta, another layer of noodles and another cup of sauce. Add the cottage cheese mixture, another layer of noodles, the remaining sauce and the last of the feta.

Cover with foil and bake for 45-50 minutes. Remove from the oven, take off the foil, and let it rest for 10-15 minutes. Serve with some crusty bread and/or a green salad.