yet another "door knock"

When you are creating a dinner from your own pantry/fridge/freezer, it is important to think in terms of what flavors go well together.  I had some chicken thighs in the freezer.  Jim loves them cooked skin-side down to crispy perfection.  All that is required there is to plop them in a pan, on medium low heat, and let the skin crisp while the meat cooks.  Leave them skin side down in a nonstick skillet, and you won't be disappointed.

The next order of business was to get after some veggies that would taste good with chicken.  I had mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and arugula.  I had thyme in the garden.  All in all, a great combo of veggies, so I chopped the shallots, garlic, and shrooms, and when the chicken was crispy and cooked through and seasoned with salt and pepper, I drained the fat, and let the veggies deglaze the pan.

it's quick work to chop the veggies

tossing veggies into the chicken pan, once the fat is drained, 

does a great job of deglazing

At the same time, I started some pasta water.  Once it was boiling, I added some little shells I had on hand.  Once the veggies were soft and starting to brown, I added some demi glace (stock would work, too) a cup of Madeira, and some sprigs of thyme.  When the shells were al dente, I tossed them with the veggies, and some arugula left over in the fridge.  That, topped with the crispy chicken, made a tasty and attractive dinner.

the finished dish

With an open mind, and a good look in the fridge, a good meal is on the way...

tandoori chicken without the tandoor

One of my favorite Indian dishes is tandoori chicken.  I find that dark meat stays moist under high heat application, and for the sake of convenience, I usually just use bone-in skin-on chicken thighs.  Costco sells packs of them for 99 cents a pound, in sealed packs of four, which is perfect for Jim and me.

The best cooking method I have found goes against tradition, but produces fantastic results.  Instead of marinating the thighs (skin removed and fat trimmed) in the yogurt, I rub them with a spice rub instead, and then just dip them in the yogurt before cooking.  The spice rub for four thighs is 5 cloves of garlic, an inch long knob of ginger, a tablespoon of garam masala, a couple of teaspoon of ground cumin (I grind the whole cumin in the spice grinder -- whole spices = better flavor), and a couple of teaspoons of chili powder.  All of that is sauteed in a bit of oil until fragrant.  About five minutes.

a few minutes in the saute pan can really bring out the flavor of spices

Half of that gets a couple of teaspoons of salt and the juice of half a lime stirred in, then it's rubbed into the skinless chicken -- make a few slashes in the surface to allow the flavors to penetrate.  That needs to sit in the fridge for half an hour, but it can sit in the fridge for several hours without any adverse affects.  Mix the other half of the spice mixture and the juice of the other half of the lime into a cup of yogurt.  Greek yogurt, which is nice and thick, works very well.  Up to you on the full fat vs. low fat.  I prefer the full fat, just because that's the way I am.

Just before it goes on the grill, the chicken gets tossed in the yogurt mixture

Sorry that chicken looks rather disgusting.  It tastes wonderful.  Pull it out of the yogurt, and toss it on the cool side of a 375 grill.  I accomplish this (on a gas grill) by heating the two burners on the left side of the grill full blast, then tossing the chicken on the right side of the grill.  After 15 minutes, turn it.  After ten minutes, reduce the burners to medium, and flip the meat directly over the heat.  Close the lid, and wait about ten minutes.  Flip the meat again, and wait another ten minutes.  The outside should be beautifully charred, and the juices should run clear.  The most reliable test is to poke the largest thigh in the thickest part of the meat and get a reading of about 165.  Once it hits that, take it off the grill, and let it rest for five minutes, while you assemble any sides.  I like to serve my tandoori chicken with rice with peas and mushrooms, garlic naan, and cilantro chutney.

Can I make naan?  Yes.  Do I?  No.  My local grocer sells a marvelous naan, that toasts to crisp/tender perfection with five minutes in the toaster oven, so why not use it?  I do make the cilantro chutney, which consists of a couple of hot chilis, a couple of big fistfuls of cilantro, a teaspoon of salt, and a couple of tablespoons of coconut milk, all tossed in a blender, and blasted with a few pulses.  It makes a delicious sauce for both the chicken and the naan, and the rice for that matter, and the leftovers freeze extremely well.

cilantro chutney

The rice is simply a mixture of sauteed mushrooms, peas barely warmed through, salt, and basmati rice.  The end result is a lovely, spicy, satisfying dinner.

can you believe that all that slop pictured above turned into

this plate of crisp chicken and tasty sides?  Me neither.

But, trust me, it works, and in about an hour.

Welcome to New Mexico

I have visited New Mexico many times.  I don't live there.  I am going to hazard a guess though.  Their most celebrated ingredient --  NM chilies, roasted in the parking lot of every grocery store.  They are delicious in just about everything, including Sunday morning scrambled eggs.

But hot on the heels of NM chilies -- Carne Adovada.  A pork stew that shows up in nearly every respectable NM diner, adovada is a wonder of tender pork, chiles and garlic.  For some reason, it has never really jumped the border, so when I crave it, I make it at home.  It is easy, aromatic, and delicious with something cool and crunchy, and some home made flour tortillas.

The dish starts (when I make it) with a roux, toasted to a medium caramel color (equal parts oil and flour, about thrre tablespoons each for 4 pounds of pork)

a caramel colored roux

Into that roux goes about 6 tablespoons of dried NM chile, available on the internet from the Sante Fe Cooking School.  Though I must admit I am struggling at the moment to find this particular product on their website.  http://santafeschoolofcooking.com/cgi-bin/siteman/search.cgi?query=chimayo+red+chile+powder&Go=Go  They do show it in a bag.

an unusual New Mexico chile powder

In a spice grinder I grind a tablespoon of cumin seeds and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt into a powder, then I add about six cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of chipotle pepper flakes (or one canned chipotle pepper,) and two tablespoons of fresh oregano, and grind that into a paste.  That mixture goes into the roux as well, and gets cooked on low heat until it is fragrant.  If you are interested in making this, but you want it to be a quicker process, you could use ground cumin -- a little less than a tablespoon -- and a tablespoon of dried oregano, and about 5 teaspoons of the pre-chopped garlic you can find in a jar in any grocery.  Then you can skip the grinding altogether and just chop up the chipotle.  The addition of cumin to adovada is controversial in the world of New Mexican cooking.  Some consider its addition heretical, but I like the flavor, so in it goes in my house.

I also part company with tradition by adding a sliced onion, which I think adds a nice texture, and some vegetation.  When making onion slices, cut off the ends, slice the onion in half lengthwise, remove the peel, and slice "pole-to pole."

slicing an onion end-to-end makes slices that won't get "wormy" 

looking when cooked

 The onions should be sauteed in a little oil to a nice golden brown.

Traditionally, the pork (I used 4 pounds -- this is wonderful as a leftover, and freezes well) is placed raw into the marinade, and refrigerated overnight.  I have found this step to be unnecessary.  I like to brown the meat, for the extra flavor that browning brings to the party.

  The onions and browned meat are then added to the sauce, and cooked, covered, in a 275 oven for 3 hours or more.  A crockpot works just fine for this as well, and the meat can cook all day on low.

 browned meat and onions being added to the sauce

A nice citrusy jicama slaw is the perfect accompaniment to this spicy stew, as are flour tortillas.  For a real treat, make them yourself.  1 1/2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup lard (you can even use butter if you can't get unhydrogenated lard) and a teaspoon of salt go into the food processor and are mixed together until the mixture looks crumbly.  Then enough warm water is drizzled in, about a half cup or so, until the dough gathers into a ball.  Continue to process for a few more seconds to knead the dough.  The dough should be soft and very pliable.  Divide it into about 10 pieces, and flatten to roll in a little flour.  Baked on a medium hot griddle, the tortillas get browned and puffy.  They only take about a minute and a half per side.

puffy, golden flour tortilla on the griddle

You can eat these traditionally, rolled and eaten as a side dish, or spoon in a bit of the pork, roll it, and eat it like a burrito.  A tasty meal, and just absolutely delicious accompanied by eggs and hash browns for a traditional New Mexico breakfast.  Yes, spicy pork stew for breakfast.  Try it!

Footnote:  If you don't want to order the NM chili powder, which is a bit pricy, Cooks Illustrated has an intriguing looking recipe for replicating the flavor of adovada.  I have not tried it, because I have a supply of the chile powder, but I may give it a whirl some day.  Here is a link:  http://keyingredient.com/recipes/100770/new-mexico-pork-chili-carne-adovada/

The versitle hamburgler

Grinding your own hamburger is a cinch (see earlier post) and forming patties and freezing them is a path to a quick, easy meal off of the grill.  And they couldn't be simpler to dress up in a variety of ways.

For instance, most people love bacon, but bacon on a burger can be a bit messy to eat.  Instead, try crisping some little lardons (small cubes or strips of bacon) and mixing them into the hamburger before you form the patties and grill them.  You'll use less bacon, and still have that great, smokey flavor to accent your burger.

Last night I caramelized onion that we have growing wild in the flower beds (I yank them up when I find them, and they might as well get used) along with some mushrooms, and mixed that into the meat along with a pinch of salt and pepper.  They were wonderfully delicious, and so easy. If you don't have a melting cheese on hand, but want some cheesy goodness in your burger, try stirring a bit of grated Parmesan into your meat.  It will bring salt, a bit of fat (which makes a burger juicier) and great cheese flavor to a hamburger.  A burger is a great way to get your imagination going in the kitchen, and it's a prime candidate for "door knock dinner" ideas.

A toasted baguette or toasted english muffins do a great job of standing in for the bun if you don't have hamburger buns on hand.  And now that summer is here, a tomato out of the garden is a fantastic topper for a burger.  No ripe tomatoes yet?  Try making a relish from a green tomato chopped up with a couple of spring onions, and pickled in a bit of salt, a pinch of sugar, and wine vinegar.  That will add a welcome note of crisp tang to your burger, and plays very well off the richness of the meat.

Grilling season is here, and the economical burger is a sure bet for a great casual meal.

The mighty man burger

short rib sandwich

I was in the grocery store this morning, and they had some very nice looking short ribs.  Other than using them as a hamburger ingredient, I haven't done much with short ribs, so I flashed back on the February cover recipe from Bon Appetite -- a grilled short rib sandwich.  These were particularly meaty short ribs, and I thought they might be up to the task.

short ribs, salted and peppered, with a few aromatics

So I browned them, along with a few veggies, garlic, salt, and pepper, then braised them in the oven with red wine, beef stock, and marsala.

the browning, before the braising liquid

Once they had braised in the oven for a couple of hours, I shredded the meat, defatted the broth, and then reduced the broth with the shredded meat to make a glaze.  The sandwich recipe called for some red onions glazed in sugar and red wine vinegar.  When you are slicing onions, it is almost always best to slice them "pole-to-pole."

onions sliced lengthwise don't get that "wormy" look when sauteed

I simply tossed them into the braising pan with a little sugar, and some sherry vinegar -- which was what I had on hand -- any sort of wine vinegar would do.

 the onions should be soft and slightly browned, but not caramelized

Then shredded short ribs, a little heap of the onions, some arugula, and cheese (I used compte, but any cheese that melts well would do) are piled on buttered bread and grilled.  Mmmm, mmmm, good.

 not diet food, so I only made a half -- very yummy

leftover ham and a head cold

What does one eat when there is a head cold in the family, and the mauled remains of a ham in the fridge?  Everything-but-the-kitchen-sink soup comes to mind.  That is, veggies in the fridge chopped small -- I had mushrooms, leeks, sweet peppers, hot peppers, leftover spiced carrots, garlic,  and onions.  It can all be chopped, and added to some home made stock from the freezer, or some boxed or canned stock from the pantry.  I am lucky enough to already have herbs from the garden, but dried or frozen herbs will do just as well.  In this case, I used thyme, chives, parsley, and a but of shredded endive.  Into the pot went the stock, a cup of penne noodles, and all of the veggies and herbs, and salt and pepper, with the exception of the chives, parsley, and endive.  That all simmered together merrily until the noodles were al dente, then in went the chive, endive, and chopped ham.

veggies, ham, and noodles in broth

After it is ladeled into bowls, a quick sprinkling of grated parmesan and the parsley enriched the broth and added some color.  The meal was done in under 30 minutes, offered pleasant relief to the symptoms of a head cold, and tasted rich but light.  And it used up some of the ingredients lingering in the fridge.  

A satisfying bowl of soup, fresh and tasty in under 30 minutes

Off to Florida tomorrow!

Easter dinner

I am an Easter dinner traditionalist, with a few twists, of course.  But I confess, we had guests, and I plum forgot to grab the camera and get some pictures.  Except of the "pie," which I baked earlier yesterday morning.  So I will start with that.  I am a fan of the rustic tart form of pie baking.  I love it's carefree look, and Jim likes the, as he puts it, ratio of crust to fruit.  For a fool proof, tender, crisp pie crust, start with cup of flour, a tablespoon of sugar (omit for savory pies, like quiche) a teaspoon of salt in a food processor.  Of course you can make it in a bowl with some sort of pastry cutter, but the food processor makes it a 2 minute operation.

Whir the dry ingredients for a couple of seconds to combine.  Then take a little 3 oz package of cream cheese and half a stick of butter (4 TBS), chunk them up with a knife, and toss them in the processor.  Pulse the processor until your flour looks crumbly, then with the processor running, dribble in just enough cold water to barely bring the dough together.  You should just see a few clumps starting to form.  It usually takes no more than a teaspoon or two.  Gather that into a disk, wrap it, and put it in the fridge for an hour or the freezer for half an hour.

Yesterday's pie choice was peaches and raspberries.  Fresh are great if you have them, frozen work just fine, too.  Just dump the frozen fruit in a bowl, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar, depending on your tastes and the sweetness of the fruit (taste it, for goodness sake!), a quarter cup of flour (or tapioca which I like, or cornstarch -- it doesn't matter), and the juice and zest of one lemon (I like Meyer lemons.  The brightness of lemon can really punch up the flavor of fruit.)  Toss it about to combine.

Now, for a free form tart, just roll that dough out into a medium to large size pizza.  Put a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and put the dough on that.  It can hang over the sides.  Please tell me you know how to pick up pie dough -- you just gently roll it around your rolling pin, then gently unfurl it on the pan.  Dump the fruit in the middle, and spread it to within about 2 1/2 inches of the edge, and then just start folding the edges up over the filling, just gently gathering it together.

assembled tart, just put in the oven

bake that for about 30 minutes in a 425 oven, and you have a beautiful tart with little fuss involved.  I served mine with a home made Meyer lemon sherbet.  Yummy.

baked tart

brushing the crust with a little egg white and 

sprinkling it with sugar gives it a nice shiny look

The rest of the dinner was pretty traditional -- a baked ham glazed with a maple/bourbon/orange glaze.  Hint:  a simple glaze can be made with 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/2 cup maple syrup, a tablespoon of any brown mustard, 1/4 cup brandy or bourbon, and 2 teaspoons of wine vinegar.  Boil it down to a syrup, and baste it on the ham for during the final half hour of baking.  If you put it on too soon, it will burn.  Asparagus and carrots, home made rolls, au gratin potatoes.  Typical American Easter fare, I know, but there is some comfort in traditional meals.

One last little non-traditional twist.  I discovered that glazed carrots get marvelous flavor from Chinese five spice powder.  I glazed mine in ginger ale, a knob of butter, and a liberal sprinkling of the spice powder, and they tasted wonderful.  Give it a try sometime.  If you are feeling adventurous make your own.  The best recipe I know of is actually a ten spice powder from the China Moon restaurant, which is in San Francisco, I believe.  Here is a link to the recipe:  http://einiverse.eingang.org/ein2/2008/12/31/ten-spices-the-variety-of-life/  It makes a spice mixture that is well worth the effort.

Mom is doing all right.  She is in rehab right now, and I hope to be back on track this week with the blog.  Thanks to all for your good wishes for Mom's speedy recovery.