Buffalo Turkey Chili

A healthy, hearty delicious and cheap dish. What more can you want? I think there’s about 400 calories per serving (1 cup), if you omit the sour cream and cheese. Adapted from http://www.skinnytaste.com/2014/09/buffalo-chicken-and-bean-chili.html

Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings: 10

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground turkey

1 large onion, chopped

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup chopped celery

2 cloves garlic, diced

1 habanero, deseeded and minced

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon paprika

1 15 oz. can pinto beans

1 15 oz. can navy beans

1 15 oz. can pink kidney beans

Salt and pepper

1 6 oz. can tomato paste

½ cup Frank’s hot sauce

3 cups chicken stock

2 cups corn

1.5 cups frozen peas

Garnishes:

Chedder cheese

Green Onions

Sour Cream

Heat a 6 quart dutch oven over medium high, add in a little oil and brown the turkey in two batches (about 5 minutes per batch), salting the turkey as it cooks then removing to a paper towel lined plate when finished.

Drop the heat to medium and add in the onion, carrots and celery, and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, until the vegetables start to soften.  Add in the garlic and habanero and cook for another minute. Add in the tomato paste, and cook for another additional minute.

Add all the stock and beans to the pot along with your seasonings – chili powder, cumin, paprika, Frank’s hot sauce (feel free to use less than ½ cup – start low and add as needed) salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, then cover the pot and cook for 10 minutes.

Add the turkey back to the pot, give it a stir, and bring it back up to a simmer. Cover and cook for 20 minutes. Add in the corn and frozen peas, give the pot a stir, then cover and cook for another 8 to 10 minutes.

Serve with sour cream, cheese and green onions.

"Anti-Vampire" Pot Roast

A few weeks back I made a one pot pot roast, so this time around I wanted to do something a little different. It bugs me when the vegetables in a braise get all mushy, so I decided to roast my veggies separately, sort of like Julie Child’s Beef Bourguignon. I kept some extra veggies for the braising pot to add flavor, but discarded them after they did their job.

Anti-Vampire Pot Roast

3 lbs chuck roast

3 cloves garlic, sliced into thin pieces

1 cup beer

1 quart beef stock

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

3 sprigs fresh thyme

2 bay leaves

4 carrots, divided

1 leek, halved

1 onion, sliced

3 cloves garlic

10 shallots

1 lb. mushrooms

1 cup frozen peas

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Egg noodles

Poke holes into your roast with a paring knife and insert the slices of garlic. Salt the meat, and brown in a dutch oven over medium high, about 4 minutes per side.

While that’s going on, slice the onion, halve the leek, remove the 3 cloves of garlic from its papery-sleeve and slice 2 carrots. Once the meat is browned, remove it and add these veggies to the pot and cook over medium for 5 to 7 minutes, until softened.

Add the beer to deglaze any stuck on bits and let the liquid cook down a little, for about 3 minutes. Add the meat back in along with the stock, rosemary, thyme and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 2 to 2.5 hours.

Meanwhile, cut the remaining 2 carrots into pieces. Halve the shallots and cut up the mushrooms into chunks. Preheat your oven to 425°F. Toss the carrots with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for 45 minutes, turning periodicaly. Toss the shallots and mushrooms with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in the oven for 30 minutes, turning once or twice.

Once the meat has cooked, remove it from the pot, and pass the liquid through a strainer, discarding the vegetables.  Set the pot back on the stove and turn the temperature to medium. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter and add in the flour, whisking to form a roux. Cook the roux for 1 to 2 minutes, then add back in the reserved cooking liquid. Whisk and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or to your desired consistency. Cut the meat up while the gravy cooks down and add it back in the pan. Add the peas to the gravy for 2 minutes to cook through. Serve the meat, gravy and vegetables over egg noodles.

Coq Au Vin

This is Julia Child-ish, since I changed a few things from her original, but tried to keep the spirit of the thing. Julia adds cognac and flambés after browning the chicken, however she never had wooden cupboards above her stove like me, so I left that part out. Besides, I’m not buying a bottle of cognac I’m never going to drink.

Keeping with the theme of not taking a special trip to the liquor store, I used a bottle of red wine from the Loire Valley as opposed to the more traditional Burgundy called for. Also worth noting: the caramelized cippolini are the show stealer; I could eat them all by themselves and be a happy man.

Servings: 4 healthy portions

Time: 1 hour 45 minutes total

1 chicken, 4 to 5 pounds

½ pound bacon

~20 cippolini or pearl onions

2 leeks, cleaned and sliced

6 cloves garlic, peeled

2 cups red wine (Burgundy or Pinot Noir is best)

2 cups chicken stock

1 bay leaf

Handful of thyme sprigs

Handful of parsley sprigs

½ pound crimini mushrooms

3 tbsp butter, divided

Egg noodles

Parsley for garnish

Crusty bread for serving

Cut the up your chicken, separating the legs from the thighs and slicing the breast in half. If you’re not familiar with breaking down a chicken, it’s Alton Brown to the rescue.

Place the bacon slices in a pan of cold water (covered by a few inches) and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. This is a Julia Child thing for removing some of the excess saltiness from the bacon. Remove the blanched bacon pieces and cut into 1” x ¼” strips.

Heat a dutch oven over medium and add the bacon, cooking until crispy. Remove the bacon to a paper towel lined plate, and drain the excess grease (save enough to coat the dutch oven).

Up the heat to medium high and brown the chicken in 2 batches, seasoning the meat with salt. If there’s excess grease once all the chicken is browned, drain that.

Remove the chicken and lower the heat to medium. Add the leeks and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, assemble the parsley, thyme, and bay leaf into a cheesecloth bundle, for easier retrieval.

Pour the red wine into the dutch oven, and scrape up anything sticking on the bottom. Add the stock, the chicken and bacon back in, and the herb bundle. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover, cooking for 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.

 

 

The wine I used

The cheesecloth looks like a gym sock in there, doesn't it?

Meanwhile, for the onions: Blanch for 30 seconds to a minute in boiling water, then remove and take off the skins. Cut off the root and stem ends. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast in a 425°F oven for 20-25 minutes until they have some nice color on them. Flip them about halfway through. Set aside.

For the mushrooms: Clean them off, and roughly chop them. Set a pan over medium high heat and melt 1 tbsp butter. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 8 minutes, seasoning with salt to help draw out excess moisture. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Okay, back to the main dish. Once the chicken is cooked through, remove it to a plate. Remove the herb bundle, and the garlic cloves. Bring the sauce to a boil and reduce by ½ to ¾. I probably could’ve reduced mine slightly more, but I was hungry.

While the sauce is reducing, cook your egg noodles according to the instructions on the package.

Once the sauce is in a good place, add the chicken back in, along with the onions and mushrooms to warm through.  Serve the coq au vin over the egg noodles, garnish with parsley, and serve with a heel of crusty bread.

Seafood Gumbo

I’ve been meaning to try some Cajun recipes for a while now, but haven’t had the chance. Gumbo always seemed a little intimidating as well – I thought the dark roux required would be a much longer time commitment, but really as long as you’re near the stove there’s not much to it. This recipe is a mashup of these two:

http://www.marthastewart.com/344207/emerils-classic-seafood-gumbo

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Seafood-Gumbo-241194

using the little bit of shrimp I had on hand and what was good/cheap at the fish market.  Typically you see oysters, shrimp, and crab (blue crabs, shell on) in this dish. If you don’t have shellfish stock on hand (this is the first time I’ve ever had it, thanks to some lobsters I had a few months ago), you could substitute chicken stock as well. You’ll probably want to use whole crabs in that instance to impart some additional flavor in the broth; the lump crab meat in this recipe only cooks for a minute.  Also, I used a “seasoning salt” recipe from a bbq book in place of Cajun/Creole seasoning on account of the fact that it’s fairly similar and was already in my pantry.

Gumbo:

¼ cup bacon grease (or vegetable oil)

1/3 cup flour

½ large onion, diced

2 “frying peppers” (that’s what the produce store called them; they’re about the size of poblanos) or 1 bell pepper, diced

2 ribs celery, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

1 quart lobster stock (or other shellfish stock)

½ lb. frozen cut okra (not thawed)

1 cup diced tomatoes

Bay leaf

5 sprigs thyme

1 teaspoon Worcestershire

1 tablespoon seasoning salt (recipe follows)

1 tablespoon paprika

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 lb lump crab meat

1 lb bay scallops

2 lb mussels, cleaned

½ lb. shrimp, deveined and deshelled

Green onions

Parsley

Ground Filé powder

Seasoning Salt:

½ cup salt

¼ cup paprika

2 teaspoons dry mustard powder

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon ground thyme

½ teaspoon ground oregano

Method:

Melt the bacon grease in a 6 qt. dutch oven, and add the flour. Stir to combine, and continue to stir regularly/frequently for 20 to 25 minutes. You don’t have to be hunched over the pot, spoon in hand for the duration, but stay nearby. The roux should darken to the color of chocolate milk.

About 1 minute into cooking

20 minutes of cooking

Add onion, peppers, celery and cook for 5 minutes, stirring to incorporate with roux. Add in garlic and cook for another minute.

Add stock, frozen okra, tomatoes, bay leaf, thyme, Worcestershire, seasoning salt, paprika, smoked paprika, and black pepper to the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and simmer for half an hour, uncovered. Adjust seasonings. 

Add shrimp, mussels and bay scallops and cook for 2 minutes. Add in the crab meat and cook for another minute. The shrimp should be pink, and the mussels should be open to indicate that they’re cooked.

Serve over rice, and stir in filé powder (add to individual servings, not the whole pot – it will make the gumbo stringy if you try to reheat it with filé in it) and garnish with green onions and parsley.

Caldeirada Maranhao

I have to admit, I’ve never had Brazilian food, nor do I know the first thing about it. Luckily the internet exists, so I found a recipe from a brazilian food blog to try. Caldeirada Maranhao is a fish stew from the state of Maranhao. Makes sense I suppose. It was an easy dish to make, and came out tasting pretty good. I could definitely see making this again sometime. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

½ pound of shrimp, peeled and deveined

½ pound white fish, diced (I used whatever the fish was I found in my freezer)

Juice of 1 lime

2 hard boiled eggs

1 potato, diced and par-boiled

½ white onion, diced

1 jalapeno, deseeded, deveined and diced

1 side of a bell pepper, diced

1 diced tomato

½ cup tomato sauce

½ cup coconut milk

1 cup water

Parsley

Green onions

Steps:

1. Hard-boil the eggs, par boil the potato for about 10 minutes, and get the rest of your mess in place. Season the fish and shrimp with the lime juice and some salt and let it sit for a few minutes.

 

2. Heat some oil in a dutch oven and sweat the onion, peppers, and tomatoes for about 5 minutes.

 

3. Add the fish, shrimp, tomatoes, water, coconut milk, tomato sauce, eggs, and potatoes and simmer for 15 minutes.

   

  4. Serve over rice, garnished with parsley    
      and green onions