Wednesday, 20 January 2010 11:21
Soup
Ingredients
12 ounces center-cut bacon, sliced into 1/2-inch thick pieces
2 medium onions, chopped fine
1 medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (Omit if you desire a milder chili.)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (Omit if you desire a milder chili.)
2 pounds ground beef
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (28 ounce) can tomato puree
1/4 cup maple syrup
Salt
Instructions
1. Fry the bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring frequently, until browned, about 8 minutes. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat, leaving the bacon in the pot.
2. Add the onions, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, pepper flakes, oregano, and cayenne and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high and add half the beef. Cook, breaking up the chunks with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink and beginning to brown. Add the remaining beef and cook, breaking up the chunks with the wooden spoon, until no longer pink.
3. Add the beans, tomatoes, tomato puree, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour. Remove the cover and continue to simmer 1 hour longer, stirring occasionally (if the chili brings to stick to the bottom of the pot, stir in 1/2 cup water and continue to simmer), until the beef is tender and the chili is dark, rick, and slightly thickened. Stir in maple syrup. Adjust the seasoning with additional salt to taste. Serve with desired condiments.
Suggested condiments: diced fresh tomatoes, diced avocado tossed with lime juice, sliced green onions, chopped red onion, chopped cilantro leaves, sour cream, and shredded cheese.
Comments
I have a confession. I’ve never made a real meat chili before. I have made vegetarian chilis, but meat chili has always been Art’s domain. However, Art’s methods are not replicable and I wanted to find a chili method that I could blog about as well as enjoy. I scoured a few cookbooks and found this recipe in The New Best Recipe. I made a few minor adjustments, like the addition of maple syrup, and wished I had omitted the red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper as well. It was just a tidge too spicy for my tastes, even with a nice dollop of sour cream!
Those things being said, this was a fantastic chili. Even Art approved and he’s picky when it comes to his chili. The bacon added lovely smokiness, the ground beef was great for the major meat component. I’m not a huge fan of kidney beans so the black beans were a fantastic change. I was very pleased with the result of this recipe and I think I’ll enjoy making minor modifications in the future. I could envision doubling the recipe and adding in an additional meat for more texture (like flank steak) and probably lentils or garbanzo beans as well.
Shown here with the absolute best Skillet Cornbread.
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Ingredients
12 ounces center-cut bacon, cut into small pieces
16 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups sour cream
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup green onion, sliced into small rounds
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 400*F.
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until crisp. Drain well. Combine all ingredients in a 2-quart casserole dish. Cover and cook for 25-30 minutes or until hot. (Can also be baked in a hollowed sourdough loaf.)
Comments
I was looking for an appetizer idea when I ran across this post in the Noble Pig blog. What a great name for a blog! The recipe looked great and similar to another cream cheese dip I’ve made in the past, so I decided to try it out. I served this with sliced sourdough baguettes and thought it paired well with the flavor of the bread. Crackers, other breads, and some veggies would also work well.
Since there was a little dip leftover, I had it cold the next day and decided that I actually prefer it cold. But it’s delicious either way.
Thursday, 04 March 2010 18:09
Beans
Ingredients
1/2 pound andouille sausage, cut into thin half moons (I used Aidells.)
1 onion, chopped fine
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped fine
1 celery rib, chopped fine (Mine was about 7-8 inches long.)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper
5 cups chicken broth
1 pound dried small red beans, rinsed and picked over
1 bay leaf
Instructions
1. Heat sausage in Dutch oven over medium heat until fat renders and sausage is browned, about 8 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to paper towel-lined plate, cover, and reserve in refrigerator. Cook onion, bell pepper, and celery in sausage fat until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, oregano, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add broth, beans, and bay leaf; bring to low boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until beans are just beginning to soften, about 20 minutes; transfer to slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW until beans are completely tender, 4 to 5 hours (or cook on HIGH 3 to 4 hours). Note: If the beans appear too dry around the last hour of cooking, stir in an extra 1/2 cup of water.
2. Remove bay leaf. Transfer 1 cup bean mixture to food processor and process until very smooth, about 1 minute. Stir pureed beans and reserved sausage into slow cooker, cover, and cook on HIGH until heated through, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with rice.
Note: I processed the onion, red bell pepper, and celery in my food processor, since I was running short on time. This worked well.
Comments
Technically this recipe should just be named “Slow Cooker Red Beans” because it doesn’t include instructions for preparing rice, but I’ll stick with the name the way it is. My rice cooking method is 2 cups of rice and 4 cups of water in a saucepan, bring to boil, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Works like a charm every time.
Up until this point, my only experience with Red Beans and Rice has been from the box that says Zatarans. I’ve never been a fan, it’s entirely too spicy for me even if I dilute it with extra rice. But Art loves Red Beans and Rice so I figured I would try this recipe out for him and, if it had the same pitfalls as the boxed stuff, I could always eat leftovers.
Wow, was it tasty! The texture of the beans was great, they weren’t as broken down as they are in the box sort. The flavors were spot on as far as I could tell, and the spice level was perfect for me. Just a little heat but nothing overwhelming. The true test was Art, since he’s the Red Beans and Rice connoisseur, and he loved it. I declare this recipe a resounding success and it’s all thanks to the 2009 Cook's Country Annual.
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Ingredients
2/3 cup pepperoni
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
1/3 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
3 1/4 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
Instructions
1. Place two layers of paper towels on a microwave-safe plate. Spread pepperoni out on paper towels and place two more layers of paper towels on top. Microwave for 30 seconds. (Do this in batches, if necessary.) Dice pepperoni and set aside.
2. Place all remaining ingredients in the pan according to the order in the manufacturer’s instructions. Select basic bread setting, medium crust, and 1 1/2 pounds for loaf size. Press start. (This recipe is not suitable for use with the delay timer.)
3. Just before second kneading cycle begins, add pepperoni. (Or whenever your machine beeps at you to add nuts and other mix-ins.)
4. When the baking cycle ends, immediately remove the bread from the pan and place it on a rack. Let cool to room temperature before slicing.
Comments
A friend of mine mentioned that she was going to be making “pepperoni and cheese bread” in her bread machine and my ears immediately perked up, especially since I had quite a bit of pepperoni leftover from pizza-making earlier in the week. I asked her for the recipe and she gave me the Recipe Zaar link. Sure enough, I had all the ingredients, so it went into the machine that very day. I did use the pepperoni degreasing trick that worked so well for the pizza and it worked just as well with the bread.
The house smelled like pizza while this was baking and the taste was phenomenal. This would make fantastic garlic bread, toast with butter, or even the base for a quick and easy English muffin-style pizza in the toaster oven. I will definitely be making this whenever I have leftover pepperoni on hand!
(Please ignore the blade hole in the top slice of bread, I didn't hear the "remove blade now" beep!)
Friday, 12 March 2010 22:08
Dessert
Ingredients
6 cups cooked rice, cold and unsalted (Mine was jasmine.)
2 (13.5 ounces each) cans coconut milk plus enough half and half to equal 7 cups total
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cinnamon, optional
Instructions
1. Simmer rice, milk, coconut milk, sugar, and salt, uncovered, in a large saucepan over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until thickened, about 40 minutes.
3. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Serve warm or cold, depending on preference. Top with cinnamon if desired.
Comments
I made a whole lot of fail rice the other day. I’d never made jasmine rice before and I attempted to make it with the same rice to water ratio I always use. Apparently this road leads to failure because the rice was extremely mushy and unpalatable. I didn’t want to throw it all away so decided to try salvaging it in the form of rice pudding. This recipe is from Epicurious.com and I thought it turned out very well. I did find the rice to liquid ration was off and ended up using twice as much rice as the recipe called for. Delicious.
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