Butter and Whiskey

Bok choy, chicken, and udon soup

This soup, despite the longish list of ingredients, really couldn't be easier. We ate it tonight and it was delicious and very filling. Precooked udon noodles are available at Whole Foods, but if you use dry noodles, just add them earlier. You could also use capellini or rice noodles if you break them up into one inch pieces.

2 Liters (2 boxes) low sodium chicken broth

5 cloves garlic, sliced thinly

3 two inch pieces of ginger, peeled

2 green onions, white and green parts, sliced diagonally into one inch pieces

1 pint sliced mushrooms (any kind will do)

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into one inch chunks

1 bunch baby bok choy, separated, cleaned thoroughly, and sliced thinly (white and green parts)

4 Tblsp soy sauce

1 drop sesame oil

1/2 Tblsp garlic salt

1 package pre-cooked udon noodles

Combine first four ingredients and let simmer (don't boil) for about fifteen minutes. Add next two ingredients and simmer for ten minutes, covered. Add final five ingredients and simmer for another ten minutes, covered. Taste for seasoning and serve. YUM.

This makes a LOT, so you may want to adjust if you don't want leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Delicious and Healthy Chicken Wrap

Inspired by a recipe in this month's Sunset Magazine, I give you my version of Chicken Wraps - hearty and filling enough to have for dinner.

Serves 2 (with enough leftover for lunch the next day)

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into long strips

1 box vegetable broth

salt and pepper

1 tblsp fresh tarragon

1 handful flat leaf parsley

2 tblsp sour cream

2 tblsp mayo or Veganaise

1 tblsp champagne vinegar

1 tblsp fresh lemon juice

salt and pepper

1/2 tblsp capers

1 clove fresh garlic, roughly chopped

1 red bell pepper, sliced in long strips

1/2 hothouse cucumber, sliced into thin disks

1/2 cup fresh spinach leaves, washed well

2 burrito-sized flour tortillas

4 slices Swiss cheese

Preheat oven to 425.

Add a good handful of salt and pepper to veg broth in a deep skillet. Simmer chicken in veg broth for about ten minutes or until no longer pink inside. Remove chicken and set aside (save the broth in the fridge and use later to make yummy rice).

In the meantime, combine next nine ingredients in a small food processor or blender and blitz until well-combined. Taste and adjust seasonings (salt really helps here).

Assemble the wraps: 

Lay half the chicken on each tortilla and top with two slices of Swiss cheese. Place on cookie sheets and put in the preheated oven for five minutes (until cheese is melted). Remove from oven and drizzle with dressing. Top with cucumbers, red pepper slices, and spinach leaves. Roll up wraps and cut in half.

We were stuffed with these! Cheap and fast and easy and delicious. Would also be great with firm tofu for the veggies out there. Enjoy!

Best Tomato Basil Bisque. Ever.

I made this up, and I'm hoping my memory is serving me well here. Came out absolutely delicious:

2 T olive oil

2 T butter

1 large red onion or 2 small red onions, chopped

5 cloves garlic, chopped

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

2 1/2 T flour

1 small can tomato paste

1 box (2 1/2 Cups, I think) vegetable broth, warm

2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1 large can (20 oz) diced tomatoes

One handful fresh basil, washed well

1/2 C heavy cream or half and half

In a large, heavy bottomed pot, melt butter and oil together over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and salt and pepper well. Cook gently until onions soften, careful not to burn garlic.

Sprinkle in flour and stir well for 3 minutes. Add tomato paste and stir well. Slowly add in warm vegetable broth and stir with a whisk as the combination thickens. Add chopped tomatoes and can of diced tomatoes and stir well. Don't let the mixture come to a boil. Simmer for about 15 minutes.

Throw in basil for last 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cream.

Ladle into a blender, working in batches. YOU MUST REMOVE THE LITTLE CAPPY THING ON THE BLENDER COVER AND HOLD TOP DOWN WITH A TOWEL. I learned this the hard way - when you blitz hot things in a blender it makes the top blow off. My old condo's kitchen looked like a Tarantino film the first time I made this.

Anyway, blend in batches and blend really well until it's nice and smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings (sometimes I make this when I'm sick and I'll add a clove of raw garlic to help me heal).

Lentil Salad

I want to drop a little weight, so I'm half-assed South Beaching it for a bit. Here's a delicious salad I made today that will last us a whole week. Cheap as hell too, so it's a recessionista special:

2 C Lentils

handful of fresh sage

3 cloves garlic, chopped very finely

3 T fresh squeezed lemon juice

3 T balsamic vinegar

3T extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

1 t paprika

two red bell peppers, chopped

three green onions, chopped, white and pale green parts only

handful of pitted kalamata olives, quartered

Rinse the lentils under cold water. Combine the lentils and sage, along with a good handful of Kosher salt, in a pot with six cups of water. Bring to a boil and then simmer until lentils are cooked, about 45 minutes. Fish out the sage and discard. Drain and set aside.

In the meantime, combine the lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper, and paprika in a large bowl. Whisk in olive oil to combine. Stir in lentils while they're still warm, so they lightly cook the garlic, and let it all come to room temperature.

Stir in bell peppers, onions, and olives. Taste and season further if needed.

Going Vegetarian Twice a Week for the Environment

.... And it's made me cook new and interesting things.

For example:

Quinoa with roasted beets and brussel sprouts!

3 large beets

10 large brussel sprouts

couple tablespoons olive oil

1 C quinoa

5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large or 2 small shallots, chopped

1/2 C balsamic vinegar

two green onions, sliced finely

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Peel the beets (wear gloves if you don't like red stuff all over your hands) and chop into one to two inch chunks. Toss with a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper well. Place the beets on a cookie sheet and into the oven.

Meanwhile, chop off the ends of the brussies and cut in half. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper well. Place cut side down on a sheet, and after the beets have been cooking for about twenty minutes, put the brussies in the oven.

In a saucepan, combine the quinoa with two cups water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until the water is absorbed.

Saute the garlic and shallots in a little olive oil - careful not to burn!! - until shallots are translucent. Salt and pepper well, and whisk in balsamic vinegar. Bring to a simmer for about four minutes.

After the beets have been in the oven for forty minutes (and the brussies for twenty), check to see if the beets are fork tender. If they are, remove them, along with the brussies.

Combine the quinoa, beets, brussies, sauce, and chopped green onions. Taste for seasonings and add more salt and pepper if needed. Serve warm. 

Oyster and bacon omelette

Made this up today for hungry hungry hubbie:

Four slices of bacon

5 large oysters, shucked

half a red onion, chopped fine

salt and pepper

4 eggs, beaten with

1 tblsp heavy cream - although, since I didn't have heavy cream, I used all I had, which was ricotta cheese and it was heavenly

1 tblsp butter

Crisp bacon in a skillet until fat is rendered, remove to paper towels. Drain all but one tablespoon of bacon fat (Molly Malone was a lucky Scottie and got the rest this morning) from the skillet. Add shucked oysters and red onion, plus salt and pepper.

Cook on medium heat until onions are translucent and oysters are cooked.

In the meantime, beat the eggs with cream (or in my case, ricotta cheese) for a good while, until eggs have little air bubbles floating on the top.

Remove oysters and onions from skillet. Chop up the cooked bacon and mix the oysters, onion, and bacon together on a plate. 

In a separate frying pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add beaten eggs and be PATIENT while the bottom sets. Carefully add the oyster and bacon mixture, then fold one side over. Once set, flip over once until eggs are set on the inside.

Serve with a little Tabasco sauce and see a happy hubbie. And puppy.

Slow cooker beef stew

Had to use up some stuff before it went bad, made an awesome slow cooker beef stew:

1 lb. stew beef

1/2 C flour

1 T paprika

2 T salt

extra virgin olive oil

four carrots, cut into chunks

two large brown onions, cut into eighths

1 can tomato paste

1/2 C red wine

2 T soy sauce

2 T red wine vinegar

salt and pepper

1 t sugar

1 bag frozen peas

Toss the beef with the flour, paprika, and salt, then brown in olive oil on all sides in a large skillet. You may have to work in batches so you don't crowd the pan. Make sure to get each piece nice and brown on all sides.

Remove beef to slow cooker and top with carrots and onions. 

Combine last five ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk til smooth. Add a little to the skillet to de-glaze all the brown bits. Use a wooden spoon to really scrape up all that flavor. Add to the slow cooker along with remaining tomato sauce.

Mix it all up, add a little more salt and pepper, and cook on low for eight hours or high for four and a half hours. Add the peas for the last fifteen minutes of cookin'.

Serve all alone, over rice, over mashed potatoes, over some nice wide pasta. Makes a ton, so set some aside for freezing. 

No pic, but blankie was awesome

I didn't have a chance to take a photo of little Tegan's blanket, the giant granny square, but it really came out amazingly well. Kathlene loved it, which is all that matters. 

Started a log cabin style blanket for YET ANOTHER new baby, who's due this summer. All garter stitch, which might drive me crazy. I'm not building it the way one would normally build a log cabin blanket, with all the picking up stitches. I'm making a bunch of different sized shapes, which I'll then stitch together. I'm basing the idea on the Mason-Dixon Moderne log cabin blanket, but I'm going to simply make the nine squares and then assemble.

If it works, I'll post the pattern. Eek.

Easy Recessionista Soup: Andouille and Beans

Used up a bunch of stuff to make a filling soup that will last for days. 

1 Tblsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 large brown onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

salt and pepper

red chili pepper

2 Andouille sausages, cut into chunks (either buy precooked or cook off before you start soup)

1 can diced tomatoes

1 box chicken broth

1 can white beans (canellini - drain and rinse well)

Saute all the veggies together until soft, but not brown. Add salt and pepper and red chili flakes. Add sausage and cook until the smokey flavor is all through the veggies. Dump in tomatoes with juice, broth, and beans. Add more salt and pepper as needed. Simmer until the flavors all meld it up and there you go!

Other add-ins: Start the soup with bacon or pancetta, then add the veggies from there. Don't like beans? Don't use them. Try adding some rosemary or thyme when you're sweating the veggies. Kale makes this soup amazing - just remove the tough stems and give it a little chiffonade. Or, tear apart some stale crusty bread into one inch chunks and throw it in there to suck up all the nummy broth, making it an Italian bread soup. Add some peeled potatoes if you've got some.

I just used what I had on hand to feed my hungry hippo husband.

Been ages...

But since my friend Jill has just started blogging, I thought I'd pick it up again and catch up on a couple recipes and patterns.

Firstly, I have spent the last several months creating the biggest granny square in the world for my friend Kathlene's new baby, Tegan, who surprised us all by coming a couple months early. It's, I think, the prettiest thing I've ever made. Pic to come once I give it to her tomorrow. It's just one giant square. A million shades of green.

I'm on a slouchy hat kick right now. I'm trying to get a perfect slouch. Once I master it, I'll post the pattern. It's almost there.

I'm also making a circular scarf using Noro silk. Pic and pattern to come.

And now, a recipe. Finally.

T = Tablespoon

t = Teaspoon

Valentine's Day Indian Butter Chicken

For the marinade:

1 lb. chicken breast, chopped into 1" pieces

1 C plain yogurt

juice of two lemons

1 T chopped garlic

1 T minced ginger

1 T garam masala

Combine all ingredients well and marinate for at least an hour (or overnight if you're awesome).

For the sauce:

1 T vegetable oil

2 shallots, chopped

1 T minced garlic

1 1/2 T minced ginger (I used the jarred stuff)

2 T fresh lemon juice

3 T butter

1 T garam masala

1 t cumin

1 t red chili powder

1 can tomato purée

1/2 C plain yogurt

1/2 C heavy cream

Sauté the shallots in the heated oil until translucent (don't brown). Stir in the garlic and ginger and turn down the heat, stirring until they're soft but not brown. Add lemon juice, butter, spices, and let them all hang out on low heat for a couple minutes. Add tomato purée and yogurt. Add the cream and remove from heat (don't let it boil or you'll be sorry. Not really, but it'll not be as smooth as it should be).

Remove chicken from marinade and discard marinade. Add oil to pan and heat. Sear on all sides, about four minutes on each side. Add to sauce, and gently heat it all up together until chicken is cooked through.

Serve with basmati rice and make your mouth happy all over. You can top it with a little cilantro to brighten it too, unless cilantro tastes like soap to you, which it does to some people.