I’m always up for new ideas and recipes, so please share.
I haven’t cooked much in the last couple of days, but this week I’m going to make fish tacos, cream of jalapeno soup with this recipe, and pineapple pie. Pineapples are on sale for $1 right now, and every time that happens, I bust out with the pies- they’re unusual and very, very good. I had never made fish tacos until a couple of weeks ago, and turns out I make them very well! I just use tilapia, which is very plentiful and cheap here, saute it in a pan with lime juice and Mexican spices, and serve with lightly fried corn tortillas, cabbage, salsa, and more lime. Yum. I’ve never made the jalapeno soup before- I was going to make it a couple of months ago, but I never got around to it.
I’m also planning roasted brussel sprouts with bacon- but I make those so often because I’m addicted to them. I went 30-something years without brussel sprouts, because I remembered them as bitter and nasty from childhood. A shame!
8 sliced apples (tart ones, like Granny Smith)
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped green chiles (briefly broil and skin before chopping them)
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Crisp Topping:
1 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup Turbinado sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
dash of salt
1/2 cup butter
2 Tablespoons canola oil (or heavy cream)
Preheat oven too 375º degrees.
Combine apples, brown sugar, chile, vinegar, lemon juice, cinnamon, salt, allspice and nutmeg. Mix well to incorporate spices. Spoon into a buttered baking pan. I used a 10-inch ceramic pie dish.
In a food processor or mixing bowl, combine flour, sugars, cinnamon, salt. Cut in butter and oil (or cream) until mixture is crumbly.
Sprinkle on top of the filling and bake at 375 degrees for about 35-40 minutes until browned and bubbly.
I have seen a version of this recipe on this board before, koeeoaddi, except it had a walnut or pecan crust, maybe? Anyway, I’ve often considered making it. I need to get my fill of southwestern food soon, before I move to the southeast, so I think I’ll try it!
I’ve been baking bread. I made a sourdough starter about a month ago, and now it’s doing great. Gotta feed it once a week or so. Nice rise to the bread. I might make a sourdough pizza this weekend.
Also, for some reason, I’ve been trying to make a lemon-cream-parmesean chicken and pasta dish. Been experimenting a little. It’s difficult to do with the acid from the lemon trying to curdle the cream sauce. There’s a nice recipe for baked chicken imperial from Cook’s Country that I’d link to, but it’s behind a sign up wall.
Right now, cooking is a little limited due to being in an apartment with only a skillet and a single saucepan. Being in the Ivory Coast doesn’t help much either, but I did manage a couple of fish + veg + pasta dishes that turned out just fine. Only four or five ingredients each, twenty minutes max. Both serve two people
8 oz long pasta (tagliatelle/spaghetti)
4oz cream cheese
4oz smoked salmon
handful or two of peas
Cook pasta
Chop salmon
Drain pasta
Throw everthing into the empty pasta pot and stir until the cheese is melted.
That’s it. I had to used the devil’s spawn that is tinned peas - frozen ones are much better.
8oz short pasta (penne or some such)
1 portabello mushroom
2 maybe 3 oz shredded mozzarella
1 can tuna (preferably the stuff in olive oil)
three cloves of garlic
Chop your fungus. If you’re feeling fancy, chop it in the same shape as the pasta.
Saute the chopped mushroom
Cook the pasta
Chop the garlic and throw it in with the mushrooms
One minute later, dump in the tuna
Drain the pasta.
Dump everything in the empty pasta pot and stir.
For some reason, I became fascinated with the antique dish called “croquettes”. My old Joy Of Cooking says they were essentially some sort of finely chopped foodstuff folded into a very thick white sauce, refrigerated until stiff, and then clumps of the chilled stuff rolled into balls or cones, covered in bread crumbs, and deep-fried.
So I tried it last weekend, using poached salmon and asparagus tips as the filling. Good God, they’re good. They’re crisp and crunchy on the outside and creamy and soft in the middle. I served them with lemon wedges and chopped parsley.
Next time I’ll make them with chopped leftover ham and peas.
Made cabbage soup Monday–ground beef, cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, lotsa pepper. Also used the rest of the nine pounds of bf for tacos, and froze the rest of the meat. I have asparagus, collards, Easter eggs, and a few other things in the fridge I need to use…maybe I’ll make a quiche this weekend. Also have some leftover plain pasta–I’m thinking pasta with asparagus, ham, cream/cottage cheese, parm.
This is good–it’s too easy for me to look at the ton of stuff in the fridge and say, eh…I’ll just make grilled cheese.
I’ve been trolling Pinterest for the last couple of weeks and I’ve found tons of things that I want to make. I’m doing a couple of new recipes every week. Recently I made Slutty Brownies which were a huge hit.
Slutty Brownies
1 Tube Nestle Toll House Cookie dough - or use a mix or your own recipe
16 Double Stuf Oreo cookies.
1 Boxed brownie mix of your choice - I use Ghirardelli Caramel Turtle just to make it over the top
Preheat oven to whatever your brownie box tells you. Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper to aid in brownie removal later. Smoosh the cookie dough evenly over the bottom of the pan getting all the way to the edges and in the corners. Place your Oreo cookies in an even layer on top of the cookie dough. You should need 16. I won’t judge you if you eat the rest of the package. Next, prepare your brownie batter as directed on the box and pour over the cookies. Spread evenly and bake as directed. You don’t want to overbake them, and in fact slightly underbaked and gooey is desirable. The hard part is waiting for them to cool. I cut them into 16 pieces, but do what your heart tells you.
These are without a doubt the best brownies I’ve had in my entire life. I’m going to make them to take to a dinner party in a couple of weeks.
I’ve been doing very simple, sauteed chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) based on the recent food column in the NYT Sunday Mag, modified by me:
Salt and pepper the chicken breast(s), then coat with flour.
Sautee over med heat in olive oil for 5 minutes per side. Remove, and set aside, covered.
Deglaze the pan with a little white wine and maybe a bit of chicken broth. Reduce until thick (takes about 2-3 minutes). Don’t use too much of this, just enough to end up with a nice sauce.
Add mushrooms (and other chopped vegetables as desired).
Put the chicken back in, lower heat and cook, covered for maybe 3 minutes.
Easy, easy recipe and tastes great. Serve with rice. Yum.
You can use red wine, if you prefer, but I think it tastes better with white. I use Chardonnay.
Haha Hockey Monkey, I like to snark about the “winning Pinterest recipe of the day” and that was one of them. It’s almost less apologetic than “Snickers salad”.
Oh, and food. Since the weather got warm we have been grilling our steaks. We buy a half of a half of a dairy steer every winter. This year’s had a lot more grass than last year’s, it is definitely leaner and more flavorful.
Lots of tacos and hamburgers with the ground beef. Lots of asparagus, roasted in the oven. Lots of skillet fried potatoes, sometimes with just pepper and sometimes with other spices. Every now and then a rice dish instead. Or I try to get away with no carb… on those nights my husband makes microwave popcorn after the baby is in bed.
I just don’t have the brainpower to do anything more complicated. Meat on the grill, veg in the oven, potatoes on the stovetop. No pre-planning required, aside from getting the meat thawed. And that’s very often a problem.
