Tonight I decided I would make home made ravioli. It looked so easy in the cookbook, the pictures made it look like simplicity in cooking form. While it was not difficult to prepare, it was very messy, or I was very messy, in any case there was a mess. We can assign blame later.
So I began! I cooked my ground turkey and I mixed my ravioli filling - garlic, herbs and spices and ricotta (instead of mascarpone, it's what I had on hand, and I forgot to put in the Parmesan cheese... oops!) I laid out my wonton wrappers because they are multipurpose items, and scooped my filling onto each little square. I brushed the edges with water and topped them each with another wonton wrapper and pressed to seal. They were adorable pouches of delicious.
In the meantime I was making the sauce these little cuties would be cooking in. Red wine in place of white... what's life without improvisation? The wine is mixed with chicken broth and you put in cherry tomatoes and cook them until they pop. But I was impatient so I squashed them. I scooped out the little flattened tomatoes and ground them up in the Manual Food Processor so my sauce would be a little smoother. I accidentally reduced too much liquid so I added a can of diced tomato.
To cook the ravioli you put them in the sauce and "swirl to coat". I'm not even kidding, that was my instruction; so I'm "swirling" and nothing is really being coated so I just scooped some sauce on top of the little buggers.
After the cooking time was up I fished out two, one for me and one for Shane my dearest husband, and we dined upon these test ravioli. They needed more cooking time. Despite the recipe's clear lack of calling for a lid, I added a lid after more attempts at "swirling" and then just scooping.
Then we feasted upon ravioli as if we were royalty who particularly love to feast upon ravioli. They were delicious, but sort of hard to eat without making a mess. They were kind of too big, and I ended up chopping all mine up (yes, after all that work, I just chopped them up) and it turned into sort of goulash.
When I finally finished cleaning up the HUGE mess I had made while preparing this dinner I decided that next time I will just buy the filled pasta and make this amazing sauce to go with them. I'm glad I made this recipe, but I don't think I will go to the trouble again.
Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
Monday, March 19, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Ricotta Gnocchi
Last Monday we decided to go meatless for dinner. So I looked through my cookbook, "29 Minutes to Dinner Volume 2", and found the meatless section. After flipping past recipes for soup and tofu which I just did not feel like making, I found a recipe for "Ricotta Gnocchi". At first glance I was sure this recipe was far too fancy and difficult to make.
But it sounded so good and the picture was so tantalizing, I read the ingredients and there wasn't anything too fancy... then I read the instructions and I was amazed at how easy it was going to be to make this beautiful, fancy dish in just 23 minutes. I'm not kidding, it really took less than 30 minutes to make dinner!
So we set out for the grocery store for the two ingredients we did not have on hand: ricotta cheese and Parmesan cheese (block). That's it. Everything else I had on hand: flour, butter, olive oil, red pepper flakes, garlic and 1 egg. I left a couple things out, because that's how I roll. And I hate lemon as you may know, so I feel I had good reason. I picked up spinach because spinach is delicious and it sounded good.
Then Monday dinner time arrived. I began by preparing the simple dough in my batter bowl. I grated the parmesan, measured the ricotta and mixed them with the egg and flour. I used my Small Scoop to make the cutest little dough balls. I heated butter and olive oil in my non-stick pan and scooped the dough directly into the pan. I cooked each for two minutes and flipped them with my chef's tongs (coated in silicone to keep the pan safe) and cooked them another two minutes. As they cooked they flattened just a bit and looked kind of like small scallops when they were finished.
I removed them from the pan, added garlic and red pepper, and then tossed in a couple handfuls of fresh spinach leaves, just to coat and wilt a bit. I made a wilted spinach salad with our cheese gnocchi. Truth to tell, I had this ulterior motive since I purchased the spinach when we went out for cheese.
It was ridiculously delicious! My husband tried to confiscate mine and has requested this dish again and soon. I was so impressed with how simple and elegant this dish was and how quickly it came together.
But it sounded so good and the picture was so tantalizing, I read the ingredients and there wasn't anything too fancy... then I read the instructions and I was amazed at how easy it was going to be to make this beautiful, fancy dish in just 23 minutes. I'm not kidding, it really took less than 30 minutes to make dinner!
So we set out for the grocery store for the two ingredients we did not have on hand: ricotta cheese and Parmesan cheese (block). That's it. Everything else I had on hand: flour, butter, olive oil, red pepper flakes, garlic and 1 egg. I left a couple things out, because that's how I roll. And I hate lemon as you may know, so I feel I had good reason. I picked up spinach because spinach is delicious and it sounded good.
Then Monday dinner time arrived. I began by preparing the simple dough in my batter bowl. I grated the parmesan, measured the ricotta and mixed them with the egg and flour. I used my Small Scoop to make the cutest little dough balls. I heated butter and olive oil in my non-stick pan and scooped the dough directly into the pan. I cooked each for two minutes and flipped them with my chef's tongs (coated in silicone to keep the pan safe) and cooked them another two minutes. As they cooked they flattened just a bit and looked kind of like small scallops when they were finished.
I removed them from the pan, added garlic and red pepper, and then tossed in a couple handfuls of fresh spinach leaves, just to coat and wilt a bit. I made a wilted spinach salad with our cheese gnocchi. Truth to tell, I had this ulterior motive since I purchased the spinach when we went out for cheese.
It was ridiculously delicious! My husband tried to confiscate mine and has requested this dish again and soon. I was so impressed with how simple and elegant this dish was and how quickly it came together.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Turkey Meatballs, Fruity Style
So I have this new cookbook which has I think five or six recipes for tapenade, which is like a topping/sauce of chopped veggies or fruit and olive oil, similar to pesto but more chunky and less oily.
I found this recipe called "Tapenade Turkey Meatballs" and it sounded amazingly delicious! And I had all the ingredients! Or so I thought... The recipe called for 1 cup tapenade. I then consulted the tapenade recipes to find that I had only about half the ingredients for any given recipe of tapenade. As you can imagine this disrupted my culinary plans for the evening. Never one to let a little kitchen adversity bring me down I figured I would just wing it and put in something else.
The original recipe called for 1 slice of bread, processed into crumbs. I didn't feel like dirtying my BRAND NEW Manual Food Processor (I FINALLY got that thing! I've been waiting since March! Oh how I love Pampered Chef <3). So I used 1/3 cup Italian style breadcrumbs. At this point I already had 3/4 lb of ground turkey in my mixing bowl with one egg, so it was time to find the flavor that would have been provided by the elusive tapenade. To my fridge I did go to look for that special secret ingredient.
What I found was a variety of dressings, condiments and other unsuitable things that had no place in meatballs. I was perusing our large variety of hot sauces when I saw Spicy Pineapple Rum Sauce (from the Pampered Pantry). It looked to have a similar consistency as the tapenades in the picture so I decided that 1/3 cup of Spicy Pineapple Rum Sauce would be just the thing for these wayward meatballs.
Everything became mixed and then I used my Small Scoop (good for cookies too :D I made those earlier in the day) to make 30 little meatballs and put them into my new Small Ridged Baker (which is the newest piece of stoneware offered by my favorite company, so I have to test it out, right?) The recipe called for me to microwave them for 6-7 minutes and I thought that was a bad idea. I do not like cooking in a microwave, though I am learning how, especially after the never-ending heatwave this summer.
So I instead baked them for 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven. They came out moist, not crumbly and best of all not greasy/fatty because all the drippings collected in the ridges of my stoneware. (Which was surprisingly easy to clean, a huge relief after seeing all those ridges for the first time!) And not to forget the most important part of any dish - the flavor! They tasted phenomenal, I had amazed my own taste-buds this time. And my husband has (another) new favorite meal! :D
I paired them with a side dish of sauteed zucchini and squash from our garden, with some chopped vidalia onion, sea salt, coarsely ground black pepper and butter for flavor.
I found this recipe called "Tapenade Turkey Meatballs" and it sounded amazingly delicious! And I had all the ingredients! Or so I thought... The recipe called for 1 cup tapenade. I then consulted the tapenade recipes to find that I had only about half the ingredients for any given recipe of tapenade. As you can imagine this disrupted my culinary plans for the evening. Never one to let a little kitchen adversity bring me down I figured I would just wing it and put in something else.
The original recipe called for 1 slice of bread, processed into crumbs. I didn't feel like dirtying my BRAND NEW Manual Food Processor (I FINALLY got that thing! I've been waiting since March! Oh how I love Pampered Chef <3). So I used 1/3 cup Italian style breadcrumbs. At this point I already had 3/4 lb of ground turkey in my mixing bowl with one egg, so it was time to find the flavor that would have been provided by the elusive tapenade. To my fridge I did go to look for that special secret ingredient.
What I found was a variety of dressings, condiments and other unsuitable things that had no place in meatballs. I was perusing our large variety of hot sauces when I saw Spicy Pineapple Rum Sauce (from the Pampered Pantry). It looked to have a similar consistency as the tapenades in the picture so I decided that 1/3 cup of Spicy Pineapple Rum Sauce would be just the thing for these wayward meatballs.
Everything became mixed and then I used my Small Scoop (good for cookies too :D I made those earlier in the day) to make 30 little meatballs and put them into my new Small Ridged Baker (which is the newest piece of stoneware offered by my favorite company, so I have to test it out, right?) The recipe called for me to microwave them for 6-7 minutes and I thought that was a bad idea. I do not like cooking in a microwave, though I am learning how, especially after the never-ending heatwave this summer.
So I instead baked them for 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven. They came out moist, not crumbly and best of all not greasy/fatty because all the drippings collected in the ridges of my stoneware. (Which was surprisingly easy to clean, a huge relief after seeing all those ridges for the first time!) And not to forget the most important part of any dish - the flavor! They tasted phenomenal, I had amazed my own taste-buds this time. And my husband has (another) new favorite meal! :D
I paired them with a side dish of sauteed zucchini and squash from our garden, with some chopped vidalia onion, sea salt, coarsely ground black pepper and butter for flavor.
Friday, May 20, 2011
An Asian Essential: Egg Drop Soup
This is my recipe for egg drop soup, distilled from about five or six sources. Everyone has their own way of making things, and of course this recipe is no different. Some people call for a pile of chopped vegetables for egg drop soup, others insist upon noodles, and still others say it's not egg drop if there are more than eggs in it. This recipe is simple, flavorful, fast and easy. I have received only raving compliments (no exaggeration) whenever I've made it. So here I'm sharing with you my special recipe for egg drop soup.
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups beef broth
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 T soy sauce
1/2 T sugar (or less)
ginger and white pepper to taste, I use a few dashes of each
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil (optional, but add it before the eggs if you use it)
4 green onions, sliced
1/4 cup water (optional)
Combine everything except the eggs and the onions in a medium to large sized sauce pan, bring the broth to a bowl and then reduce it to a simmer. In a bowl mix the eggs, you can use a fork or a whisk, I use a fork since a fork is required for the next part.
Stir the broth and remove the stirring-spoon so the broth continues to swirl, then slowly pour the eggs over the tines of a fork. When the broth stops moving, stop pouring and gently stir again - repeat until you run out of egg. (This will make the long thin strands of egg, if you like big clumps, slowly add all the egg into a still pot of broth, but not all in one spot, move the bowl as you pour so it isn't one giant piece of egg.) Immediately add the onion and simmer for about 2 minutes.
Do not boil the soup after you've added the eggs unless you like your egg pieces to be smaller than grains of rice.
Some people add noodles to egg drop soup, and you can if you like, I would use egg noodles or ramen if you think noodles are a good idea. I've also heard that white rice is good in egg drop soup, cooked first of course!
I say the last 1/4 cup of water is optional because of salt preference. Without it I think it is a little too salty, but then I don't care for salt, so your soup may not need it. The optional sesame oil adds a slight smoky flavor, it is good, but I only add it about half of the time. It is pretty strong, so you only need a small amount. (It's also good for making peanut chicken - I'll blog it eventually because it is so good and so spicy!)
Now you can prepare a simple but crowd pleasing soup. It is easy to make half the amount or double the amount. The measurements above serve 4-6 depending on bowl size. This is a great (light) meal on its own, or a great precursor to your main dish. Try pairing it with Chinese cabbage salad, fried rice, teriyaki chicken, or even sushi. Or you can do like I did on Wednesday and pair it with penne Alfredo and asparagus. It tastes so good, it can go with any type of food! :D
So let me know if you like it! And when you prepare it, give me a little credit, since I took the time to experiment for the last four years to make it perfect!
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups beef broth
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 T soy sauce
1/2 T sugar (or less)
ginger and white pepper to taste, I use a few dashes of each
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil (optional, but add it before the eggs if you use it)
4 green onions, sliced
1/4 cup water (optional)
Combine everything except the eggs and the onions in a medium to large sized sauce pan, bring the broth to a bowl and then reduce it to a simmer. In a bowl mix the eggs, you can use a fork or a whisk, I use a fork since a fork is required for the next part.
Stir the broth and remove the stirring-spoon so the broth continues to swirl, then slowly pour the eggs over the tines of a fork. When the broth stops moving, stop pouring and gently stir again - repeat until you run out of egg. (This will make the long thin strands of egg, if you like big clumps, slowly add all the egg into a still pot of broth, but not all in one spot, move the bowl as you pour so it isn't one giant piece of egg.) Immediately add the onion and simmer for about 2 minutes.
Do not boil the soup after you've added the eggs unless you like your egg pieces to be smaller than grains of rice.
Some people add noodles to egg drop soup, and you can if you like, I would use egg noodles or ramen if you think noodles are a good idea. I've also heard that white rice is good in egg drop soup, cooked first of course!
I say the last 1/4 cup of water is optional because of salt preference. Without it I think it is a little too salty, but then I don't care for salt, so your soup may not need it. The optional sesame oil adds a slight smoky flavor, it is good, but I only add it about half of the time. It is pretty strong, so you only need a small amount. (It's also good for making peanut chicken - I'll blog it eventually because it is so good and so spicy!)
Now you can prepare a simple but crowd pleasing soup. It is easy to make half the amount or double the amount. The measurements above serve 4-6 depending on bowl size. This is a great (light) meal on its own, or a great precursor to your main dish. Try pairing it with Chinese cabbage salad, fried rice, teriyaki chicken, or even sushi. Or you can do like I did on Wednesday and pair it with penne Alfredo and asparagus. It tastes so good, it can go with any type of food! :D
So let me know if you like it! And when you prepare it, give me a little credit, since I took the time to experiment for the last four years to make it perfect!
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Curry Chicken Ramen
A friend emailed me a recipe, asked if I'd make it when he came over - it looked good and not too hard, and it called for curry (one of my favorite flavors) so I said sure! I then lost the recipe and half forgot about it. Yesterday we were facebook chatting and the recipe came up... had to find it, but luckily the email search feature came to my rescue, the recipe was found and the day was saved.
Of course, I didn't go shopping for any of the ingredients and I didn't even read the instructions until today, while I was writing down the recipe so I would know what to cook.
The recipe called for potatoes, carrots, turnips, parsnips and other similar vegetables. I had carrots only so I sliced a couple handfuls of baby carrots and put them on the boil for 4 minutes. The recipe didn't call for onions, but I put onions in almost everything, so I chopped half of one and set it aside. Then I diced the chicken and put it in my large skillet with olive oil, 1 clove garlic (pressed with my trusty garlic press! I use that thing almost every day, if there is one thing every kitchen needs it is a garlic press!), and 1 tsp each chili powder, crushed rosemary, curry (I used red), and "grainy" mustard (I used a stoneground which had a bunch of whole seeds still in it, very tart and very nice). After a minute or two when the chicken was no longer pink on the outside I added the onion and drained carrots, stirred and covered.
(On a side note I used dried rosemary leaves that I crushed using my marble mortar and pestle. A mortar and pestle is not a standard kitchen object, but I think it should be. I may not use it every week or even every month, but there are some things that just don't turn out right if you don't have a set! I could have tossed my leaves into my herb grinder [i.e. our 2nd coffee grinder] but they would have gone too powdery. I could have crushed them by hand, but then they would have been too hard. In the end it was my mortar and pestle which gave me the consistency I was looking for.)
Then I started to rummage through my cupboard looking for something fast that would go well with this chicken. Pasta didn't sound right and neither did egg noodles. Rice and barley would take too long and I didn't have minute rice or anything like that. Then I found in the back of the cupboard a food I didn't remember we even had - ramen noodles. And I thought, why not? I can make them on the side and if they're terrible when I taste them together, I can throw them out, they cost 25 cents so it's not a big deal.
I boiled the noodles for 5 minutes and before draining, I reserved 1 ladle of the water. Then I added the seasoning packet and the ladle of water to the noodles and stirred, tasted, and of course they tasted like bland but too salty ramen noodles. My chicken called for 1/4 cup creme fraiche, which I did not have, and I did not have any suitable substitute, so I decided I was going to use milk and this recipe was just going to have to turn out anyway!
I stirred the milk in with the ramen noodles and tasted them again... you would never believe it but adding milk to ramen noodles makes them taste edible, even good! It was amazing, so I stirred them in with the chicken let it sizzle a moment and tasted this culinary concoction, to my amazement and delight it tasted pretty good! Next time I will probably add more curry, because I LOVE curry, but most people would probably prefer it with the current amount of curry.
I seriously deviated from the recipe on this one, but I think it turned out better than what the recipe would have. And I didn't feel like baking, which is what the recipe wanted me to do with the chicken and potatoes.
Of course, I didn't go shopping for any of the ingredients and I didn't even read the instructions until today, while I was writing down the recipe so I would know what to cook.
The recipe called for potatoes, carrots, turnips, parsnips and other similar vegetables. I had carrots only so I sliced a couple handfuls of baby carrots and put them on the boil for 4 minutes. The recipe didn't call for onions, but I put onions in almost everything, so I chopped half of one and set it aside. Then I diced the chicken and put it in my large skillet with olive oil, 1 clove garlic (pressed with my trusty garlic press! I use that thing almost every day, if there is one thing every kitchen needs it is a garlic press!), and 1 tsp each chili powder, crushed rosemary, curry (I used red), and "grainy" mustard (I used a stoneground which had a bunch of whole seeds still in it, very tart and very nice). After a minute or two when the chicken was no longer pink on the outside I added the onion and drained carrots, stirred and covered.
(On a side note I used dried rosemary leaves that I crushed using my marble mortar and pestle. A mortar and pestle is not a standard kitchen object, but I think it should be. I may not use it every week or even every month, but there are some things that just don't turn out right if you don't have a set! I could have tossed my leaves into my herb grinder [i.e. our 2nd coffee grinder] but they would have gone too powdery. I could have crushed them by hand, but then they would have been too hard. In the end it was my mortar and pestle which gave me the consistency I was looking for.)
Then I started to rummage through my cupboard looking for something fast that would go well with this chicken. Pasta didn't sound right and neither did egg noodles. Rice and barley would take too long and I didn't have minute rice or anything like that. Then I found in the back of the cupboard a food I didn't remember we even had - ramen noodles. And I thought, why not? I can make them on the side and if they're terrible when I taste them together, I can throw them out, they cost 25 cents so it's not a big deal.
I boiled the noodles for 5 minutes and before draining, I reserved 1 ladle of the water. Then I added the seasoning packet and the ladle of water to the noodles and stirred, tasted, and of course they tasted like bland but too salty ramen noodles. My chicken called for 1/4 cup creme fraiche, which I did not have, and I did not have any suitable substitute, so I decided I was going to use milk and this recipe was just going to have to turn out anyway!
I stirred the milk in with the ramen noodles and tasted them again... you would never believe it but adding milk to ramen noodles makes them taste edible, even good! It was amazing, so I stirred them in with the chicken let it sizzle a moment and tasted this culinary concoction, to my amazement and delight it tasted pretty good! Next time I will probably add more curry, because I LOVE curry, but most people would probably prefer it with the current amount of curry.
I seriously deviated from the recipe on this one, but I think it turned out better than what the recipe would have. And I didn't feel like baking, which is what the recipe wanted me to do with the chicken and potatoes.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Warm Lemon Pepper Chicken Salad
I finally made my calendar recipe from March! I admit, that I didn't follow the directions, but I did use the same ingredients, except that I omitted the artichoke hearts, because I couldn't find any marinated artichoke hearts. I think I should have checked Meijer, but I didn't, so I didn't get them.
I started by making a layer of pea pods on the bottom of my saute pan, and I added less than 1/4 cup water, just enough to cover the bottom and get them wet. I don't like boiling vegetables unless they are potatoes, which are tubers and don't count. So I turned that on to cook off the water and steam the pea pods. In the mean time I took some potatoes that Shane had crinkle cut for me with the Ultimate Mandoline (that's what it's called, and it is pretty cool, so don't knock its name :D) and put them in my large Micro Cooker with 4 cups of water for 15 minutes (which turned out to be too long).
While the peas and potatoes were cooking I chopped 1/3 of one large green bell pepper and 1/3 of one huge red onion. The onion I added right to the peas, along with 1 clove garlic pressed and 1 T olive oil and half of 1 lemon freshly juiced (the water had cooked off by this point). I gave that a nice stir and drained the potatoes and chopped the breast from a rotisserie chicken (so yum!)
In my small size Batter Bowl, which is a large measuring cup that is big enough to mix and make and bake in, I whisked together just under 1/4 olive oil and the other half of that lemon. When it was done it looked sort of like whisked egg yolk, so that was cool and odd. I added some cracked black pepper and added that along with the potatoes to the peas and other things.
When I stirred that all together, the potatoes crumbled and became a mashed potato coating for the other food. Upon tasting this dish, I remembered that I hate lemons and everything that tastes like lemons... I think picture was so pretty I convinced myself that it wouldn't be that lemon-y. I was wrong, it was VERY lemony. I added a pile of salt and that helped (and if you know me you know I don't like salt either). If I make this dish again it is not going to involve lemons. I am considering an orange. And I could use rice or perhaps cook the potatoes less.
I started by making a layer of pea pods on the bottom of my saute pan, and I added less than 1/4 cup water, just enough to cover the bottom and get them wet. I don't like boiling vegetables unless they are potatoes, which are tubers and don't count. So I turned that on to cook off the water and steam the pea pods. In the mean time I took some potatoes that Shane had crinkle cut for me with the Ultimate Mandoline (that's what it's called, and it is pretty cool, so don't knock its name :D) and put them in my large Micro Cooker with 4 cups of water for 15 minutes (which turned out to be too long).
While the peas and potatoes were cooking I chopped 1/3 of one large green bell pepper and 1/3 of one huge red onion. The onion I added right to the peas, along with 1 clove garlic pressed and 1 T olive oil and half of 1 lemon freshly juiced (the water had cooked off by this point). I gave that a nice stir and drained the potatoes and chopped the breast from a rotisserie chicken (so yum!)
In my small size Batter Bowl, which is a large measuring cup that is big enough to mix and make and bake in, I whisked together just under 1/4 olive oil and the other half of that lemon. When it was done it looked sort of like whisked egg yolk, so that was cool and odd. I added some cracked black pepper and added that along with the potatoes to the peas and other things.
When I stirred that all together, the potatoes crumbled and became a mashed potato coating for the other food. Upon tasting this dish, I remembered that I hate lemons and everything that tastes like lemons... I think picture was so pretty I convinced myself that it wouldn't be that lemon-y. I was wrong, it was VERY lemony. I added a pile of salt and that helped (and if you know me you know I don't like salt either). If I make this dish again it is not going to involve lemons. I am considering an orange. And I could use rice or perhaps cook the potatoes less.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Experimental Dessert: A Brilliant Creation or a Terrible Disaster?
In March I started offering My Pampered Chef Hosts and Hostesses free dessert when they host a party in the month that their birthday is in, and today (Saturday) I needed to provide a free dessert. I actually had this particular culinary adventure on Friday, but it's been a busy weekend (you know, homework, facebook, planning for the Pampered Chef party, facebook, housework, facebook...)
Originally I was going to bake a cake, but then I thought that was too boring. Then I was going to make a cookie dessert pizza thing, but decided that was too much work and too many ingredients. So I looked in my cupboard and I looked at my cookbook and I had a rare moment of total and utter recipe loss - I had no idea what I should make, and I had 12 hours until time to leave for the party (sleep took up a big part of the 12 hours). So I sat down and balanced my checkbook (math soothes me, don't ask because it probably won't make sense to you, I'm just that strange). While balancing the checkbook I came across the receipt from groceries earlier that day and on that reciept was two kinds of cheerios and an idea began to form.
I had both chocolate cheerios and cinnamon cheerios and at first I wanted to just cover and smother them all with a simple chocolate coating (2 cups chocolate chips, any kind, and 2T+2tsp shortening). It turned out I didn't have enough chocolate chips for that so I thought about the cheerio flavors - I'd already represented chocolate so more cinnamon would probably bring a nice balance to this thing I was making. I googled "cinnamon fillling" and found an amazing recipe for cinnamon rolls that I promptly stole the cinnamon filling from. I thought I would mix the cheerios in the cinnamon filling and then coat them in chocolate, like little coated candy treats. (Later I saw that cinnamon filling wasn't sticky enough to lend itself to this idea, so I came up with a new one.)
I mixed up a half batch of cinnamon filling in a mixing bowl and then a half batch of simple chocolate coating in the Double Boiler (then set to simmer so it wouldn't re-harden). I checked my cinnamon filling, and for cinnamon rolls, it would have been perfect, but I wasn't going to be making any sort of roll. So I doubled the butter (I know, I'm so bad, but it tastes so good!) and that gave it a smoother more "spreadable" consistency - but not at all sticky the way I had hoped it would be. I had another idea though, so all was not lost. But before I went and ruined two perfectly good things, I took a small bowl and mixed a spoonful of each sweet to give it a taste combined - the taste was good, the chocolate drowned the cinnamon a little in my sample, but overall there was more cinnamon filling than there was simple chocolate coating, so that wouldn't be a problem with the full size mixture.
I added the simple chocolate coating to the cinnamon filling and stirred until they were well combined, then I added 1 cup each of chocolate and cinnamon cheerios and stirred to coat. There was a lot of chocolate-cinnamon goo left so I added another 1 cup of each flavor of cheerios and stirred them in. This time they were all evenly coated without an excess amount of leftover chocolate-cinnamon sauce.
I spread out waxed paper onto two cookie sheets and cleared space in the refrigerator - chocolate sets best when chilled. I used my Small Scoop, which holds about 1 T, to scoop up about 65 of these little cheerio treats. I wanted them small because they had a lot of flavor, and if they ended up too big they'd be too sweet to eat. Once I had dished them all out I put them in the refrigerator overnight.
After packing up all my show supplies (cooking gadgets and toys, catalogs, order forms, netbook, first aid kit and aloe - I'm a little accident prone, and Pink Zebra demo products) I almost didn't remember to pack up my little creations! But luckily for me, since I had promised a free dessert, I did remember to pack them up (after sharing a few with my husband of course!) According to the guests, my brand new Chocolate Cinnamon Cheerio Treats are a brilliant creation, because there were only a handful leftover!
Next time I promise a dish, I think I'll plan ahead. (Even if these did turn out, you never know when a terrible disaster will land on your cookie sheet!)
Originally I was going to bake a cake, but then I thought that was too boring. Then I was going to make a cookie dessert pizza thing, but decided that was too much work and too many ingredients. So I looked in my cupboard and I looked at my cookbook and I had a rare moment of total and utter recipe loss - I had no idea what I should make, and I had 12 hours until time to leave for the party (sleep took up a big part of the 12 hours). So I sat down and balanced my checkbook (math soothes me, don't ask because it probably won't make sense to you, I'm just that strange). While balancing the checkbook I came across the receipt from groceries earlier that day and on that reciept was two kinds of cheerios and an idea began to form.
I had both chocolate cheerios and cinnamon cheerios and at first I wanted to just cover and smother them all with a simple chocolate coating (2 cups chocolate chips, any kind, and 2T+2tsp shortening). It turned out I didn't have enough chocolate chips for that so I thought about the cheerio flavors - I'd already represented chocolate so more cinnamon would probably bring a nice balance to this thing I was making. I googled "cinnamon fillling" and found an amazing recipe for cinnamon rolls that I promptly stole the cinnamon filling from. I thought I would mix the cheerios in the cinnamon filling and then coat them in chocolate, like little coated candy treats. (Later I saw that cinnamon filling wasn't sticky enough to lend itself to this idea, so I came up with a new one.)
I mixed up a half batch of cinnamon filling in a mixing bowl and then a half batch of simple chocolate coating in the Double Boiler (then set to simmer so it wouldn't re-harden). I checked my cinnamon filling, and for cinnamon rolls, it would have been perfect, but I wasn't going to be making any sort of roll. So I doubled the butter (I know, I'm so bad, but it tastes so good!) and that gave it a smoother more "spreadable" consistency - but not at all sticky the way I had hoped it would be. I had another idea though, so all was not lost. But before I went and ruined two perfectly good things, I took a small bowl and mixed a spoonful of each sweet to give it a taste combined - the taste was good, the chocolate drowned the cinnamon a little in my sample, but overall there was more cinnamon filling than there was simple chocolate coating, so that wouldn't be a problem with the full size mixture.
I added the simple chocolate coating to the cinnamon filling and stirred until they were well combined, then I added 1 cup each of chocolate and cinnamon cheerios and stirred to coat. There was a lot of chocolate-cinnamon goo left so I added another 1 cup of each flavor of cheerios and stirred them in. This time they were all evenly coated without an excess amount of leftover chocolate-cinnamon sauce.
I spread out waxed paper onto two cookie sheets and cleared space in the refrigerator - chocolate sets best when chilled. I used my Small Scoop, which holds about 1 T, to scoop up about 65 of these little cheerio treats. I wanted them small because they had a lot of flavor, and if they ended up too big they'd be too sweet to eat. Once I had dished them all out I put them in the refrigerator overnight.
After packing up all my show supplies (cooking gadgets and toys, catalogs, order forms, netbook, first aid kit and aloe - I'm a little accident prone, and Pink Zebra demo products) I almost didn't remember to pack up my little creations! But luckily for me, since I had promised a free dessert, I did remember to pack them up (after sharing a few with my husband of course!) According to the guests, my brand new Chocolate Cinnamon Cheerio Treats are a brilliant creation, because there were only a handful leftover!
Next time I promise a dish, I think I'll plan ahead. (Even if these did turn out, you never know when a terrible disaster will land on your cookie sheet!)
Monday, April 4, 2011
The Invention of my Famous Quick Chicken Goulash
I say famous in the title, because I know that I'm going to be asked to make this one again and again! I was looking at the cupboard and I wasn't sure what I felt like making for dinner so I started setting things on the counter, to visualize the possibilities.
I started with tri-color rotini, because pasta is quick and Shane (husband creature) had to go to work in less than an hour. Also, they are pretty. Next to that box I placed a can of dark red kidney beans and a can of chicken. Ideas began to form in my head so I added a can of diced tomatoes and started the water to boil. I measured my pasta and went to the refrigerator to forage for produce. I found onions, garlic, green bell pepper and tomatoes, but decided it was quicker to use the canned diced tomatoes, so the fresh tomatoes had to stay behind.
The pasta water came to a boil so in the pot with the pasta. Set the timer and give it a stir and it can take care of itself in my non-stick pot, an invention handed straight from the gods to mankind. Nothing sticks to non-stick, not even ignored pasta!
On to my veggies! The onions and peppers I treated the same, almost. Of course, they are different creatures, you don't peel your pepper and you don't de-seed an onion, but I did mince them both with my food chopper. I had decided this dish would be soup-ish so I wanted them really little, I don't like big chunks of pepper or onion in my soup (unless it's French onion, and then peppers aren't invited at all). The onion went into the frying pan with a little sea salt and butter - to start them caramelizing faster. The pepper needed to wait a minute, as it wouldn't be added to the pan until the end. After peeling the garlic I pressed it right into the frying pan with the onions, which were about half way done at that time (I was going for a more light burn than a true caramelization). I added a little more butter and gave it a healthy stir before remembering I hadn't stirred the pasta since I had started it to boil.
So I stirred the pasta and then drained it, reserving 2 cups of my boiling water. To the same non-stick pot I emptied the can of diced tomatoes. I put the kidney beans back in the cupboard because I decided I didn't need competing proteins and I had already decided chicken sounded better. To the diced tomatoes I added the two cups boiling water and I hate to admit it, but 2 chicken bullion cubes (I'm out of canned low sodium stock!) I also added paprika, black pepper, basil and cilantro (I love cilantro, it goes all sorts of places it was probably never meant to go).
Back at the frying pan the onions were starting to get a nice crispy sort of brown, so I added the peppers and stirred them. Then stirred the soup, and then I opened the canned chicken, because yes it is edible, and rinsed it REALLY well. The onions were added to the soup and the chicken went into the pan to cook off the extra water. At this point I felt my soup was too thin, so I added about 1/2 can of tomato paste. I then decided it didn't have enough vegetables and it wasn't yet colorful enough so I added a can of corn, I normally use frozen, I really don't care for canned vegetables, BUT canned corn that is going to become part of soup is my one exception. I didn't even drain it, as I had added a bit much tomato paste and it would add a little bit of sweet and salty flavor.
By this time I had almost forgotten about the pasta again, but it was still hot when I added it to my soup, which I promptly decided was more like goulash than soup, so now it was a goulash (you see how recipe naming works now, don't you?) I also added the chicken, and debated adding black beans, decided against and stirred vigorously. This broke the rotini a bit, but that was fine with me. I let it simmer maybe 6-8 minutes before serving, allowing to cool for about 2 minutes and eating.
It was super yum, and Shane only poked it once to find out what all was in it before eating the whole bowl!
I started with tri-color rotini, because pasta is quick and Shane (husband creature) had to go to work in less than an hour. Also, they are pretty. Next to that box I placed a can of dark red kidney beans and a can of chicken. Ideas began to form in my head so I added a can of diced tomatoes and started the water to boil. I measured my pasta and went to the refrigerator to forage for produce. I found onions, garlic, green bell pepper and tomatoes, but decided it was quicker to use the canned diced tomatoes, so the fresh tomatoes had to stay behind.
The pasta water came to a boil so in the pot with the pasta. Set the timer and give it a stir and it can take care of itself in my non-stick pot, an invention handed straight from the gods to mankind. Nothing sticks to non-stick, not even ignored pasta!
On to my veggies! The onions and peppers I treated the same, almost. Of course, they are different creatures, you don't peel your pepper and you don't de-seed an onion, but I did mince them both with my food chopper. I had decided this dish would be soup-ish so I wanted them really little, I don't like big chunks of pepper or onion in my soup (unless it's French onion, and then peppers aren't invited at all). The onion went into the frying pan with a little sea salt and butter - to start them caramelizing faster. The pepper needed to wait a minute, as it wouldn't be added to the pan until the end. After peeling the garlic I pressed it right into the frying pan with the onions, which were about half way done at that time (I was going for a more light burn than a true caramelization). I added a little more butter and gave it a healthy stir before remembering I hadn't stirred the pasta since I had started it to boil.
So I stirred the pasta and then drained it, reserving 2 cups of my boiling water. To the same non-stick pot I emptied the can of diced tomatoes. I put the kidney beans back in the cupboard because I decided I didn't need competing proteins and I had already decided chicken sounded better. To the diced tomatoes I added the two cups boiling water and I hate to admit it, but 2 chicken bullion cubes (I'm out of canned low sodium stock!) I also added paprika, black pepper, basil and cilantro (I love cilantro, it goes all sorts of places it was probably never meant to go).
Back at the frying pan the onions were starting to get a nice crispy sort of brown, so I added the peppers and stirred them. Then stirred the soup, and then I opened the canned chicken, because yes it is edible, and rinsed it REALLY well. The onions were added to the soup and the chicken went into the pan to cook off the extra water. At this point I felt my soup was too thin, so I added about 1/2 can of tomato paste. I then decided it didn't have enough vegetables and it wasn't yet colorful enough so I added a can of corn, I normally use frozen, I really don't care for canned vegetables, BUT canned corn that is going to become part of soup is my one exception. I didn't even drain it, as I had added a bit much tomato paste and it would add a little bit of sweet and salty flavor.
By this time I had almost forgotten about the pasta again, but it was still hot when I added it to my soup, which I promptly decided was more like goulash than soup, so now it was a goulash (you see how recipe naming works now, don't you?) I also added the chicken, and debated adding black beans, decided against and stirred vigorously. This broke the rotini a bit, but that was fine with me. I let it simmer maybe 6-8 minutes before serving, allowing to cool for about 2 minutes and eating.
It was super yum, and Shane only poked it once to find out what all was in it before eating the whole bowl!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Baked Macaroni and Cheese
I was feeling down today and after doing the dishes I realized it was high time there were some dirty dishes on my counter! Yesterday when my sister was trying to talk me into making her macaroni and cheese AND pizza I found a recipe on the Food Network website by Alton Brown (my most favorite chef ever! Good Eats :D) My sister got pizza only, but now I was equipped with a new and exciting recipe, that was burning a whole in the pocket of my mind, like a child with a quarter. (She said the pizza was amazing, mayhap I will blog about a repeat performance of the pizza recipe another time.)
So, obviously, you start with some al dente mac' when making a mac'n'cheese. So al dente I did, and then gave my pasta elbows a nice bath so they didn't stick together horribly. Now I had to multitask as I roux-ed and chicken-ed at the same time. (Chicken [cubed] + bruschetta flavored olive oil = yummy chicken!) To my roux I added green onions, ground mustard, paprika, one bay leaf and milk, simmer for 10 before removing the bay leaf and adding cheese (in that order, you don't want to try fishing a broken bay out of cheese). Alton wanted me to use cheddar, but I don't like cheddar and more importantly we didn't have any. I used Colby jack, mozzarella, Parmesan and provolone.
While that simmered (before the cheese was invited) I chopped broccoli and tended the chicken and procured an egg (different chicken). Again before the cheese, I tempered in one egg. I wasn't so sure about this at first, but Alton has never done me wrong before, so I trusted him on this. Finally the cheese! Now I combined all my ingredients: macaroni, chicken, broccoli and cheese sauce. Top with buttered breadcrumbs (I substituted half my breadcrumbs with chicken flavored stuffing, for funsies) and bake for 30 then rest for 5.
Taste test time! Beautiful, brilliant, amazing! Best macaroni and cheese I've ever made (<3 Alton). And right now, there are dirty dishes on my counter, mission complete.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baked-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/index.html
So, obviously, you start with some al dente mac' when making a mac'n'cheese. So al dente I did, and then gave my pasta elbows a nice bath so they didn't stick together horribly. Now I had to multitask as I roux-ed and chicken-ed at the same time. (Chicken [cubed] + bruschetta flavored olive oil = yummy chicken!) To my roux I added green onions, ground mustard, paprika, one bay leaf and milk, simmer for 10 before removing the bay leaf and adding cheese (in that order, you don't want to try fishing a broken bay out of cheese). Alton wanted me to use cheddar, but I don't like cheddar and more importantly we didn't have any. I used Colby jack, mozzarella, Parmesan and provolone.
While that simmered (before the cheese was invited) I chopped broccoli and tended the chicken and procured an egg (different chicken). Again before the cheese, I tempered in one egg. I wasn't so sure about this at first, but Alton has never done me wrong before, so I trusted him on this. Finally the cheese! Now I combined all my ingredients: macaroni, chicken, broccoli and cheese sauce. Top with buttered breadcrumbs (I substituted half my breadcrumbs with chicken flavored stuffing, for funsies) and bake for 30 then rest for 5.
Taste test time! Beautiful, brilliant, amazing! Best macaroni and cheese I've ever made (<3 Alton). And right now, there are dirty dishes on my counter, mission complete.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baked-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/index.html
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Taco Munchies - A Win/Lose Recipe
A couple of weeks ago I was sent a recipe called "Taco Munchies". It looked easy and yum and something I could do quickly, I thought, "This will be a great recipe for a cooking demonstration!" So I put it in with the recipes for my sister to pick for me to demonstrate at her Pampered Chef party (later this week). I admit I didn't read it closely, just a quick skim of the ingredients, and as many long-time chefs do, I can pretty much figure out the rest after reading the ingredients. There are only so many places you can go with it after that.
I purchased the ingredients, there weren't many, and got ready to practice this recipe. It may be a case of worrying too much, but I like to practice a new recipe before making it for a crowd, to make sure there won't be unforeseen side effects. In this case, I was very lucky to have wanted to make it early. All the measurements were wrong, the baking time was wrong and even the baking temperature was wrong. If anyone were to follow these directions, they'd have many small over-flowing taco soups that would be way beyond Cajun (a colloquial for "burned"). And what else is odd is the ingredients list has garlic on it, but the instructions never called for garlic. Poor garlic. :C
So I start out unaware of these foul wrongs this recipe has, but luckily for me, when I cook for my husband and myself I always use about 1/2 or less than half the amount of meat a recipe calls for (healthier that way). So instead of 1 pound of ground beef I decide to fry 8 ounces. As it's cooking I roll out my seamless dough sheet (tubed crescent rolls with no perforations, amazing!) and cut them into squares. Not having worked with this dough a lot, I pick up a square right away and try to put it in a mini muffin cup - doesn't work out so well. It was too little and didn't cover the sides. I did a couple more and became a little frustrated, so I set it aside and measured 1 cup of salsa, because I thought an entire jar (with no specific amount listed, just "1 jar" of salsa) would be too much.
Then I realize that I have garlic out and no part of this recipe calls for me to do anything to the garlic. *facepalm* So I press the garlic into the cooking beef (which has been flipped and chopped into bits) and give it a little stir. During all this the dough has had a chance to set out and come to room temperature. I tried putting another one into a muffin cup and - success! It fit nicely, covering the sides and making little leaves on the edges. The dough definitely needed a rest before any attempts of stretching and squishing it into muffin cups should have been attempted. Next I mixed the salsa and ground beef + garlic, and my "wrong" measurements turn out to be the right ones! I had a little leftover filling but I can't imagine what I would do with another 1/2 pound of ground beef with these things!
Next comes baking. Recipe says 350, dough sheet instructions say 375, and I learned a long time ago that the people who write on those packages give you a temperature for a reason, it tends to take a lot longer if you cook them at the wrong temperature. I picked 375, I didn't want to wait an extra 5-10 minutes because of faulty temperature settings. I set my timer for 15 minutes, and after 10 I could hear them sizzling and I peeked at them to see what they were up to. They were already done, had I let them go a few minutes longer they'd have been burned and terrible - the recipe wanted me to bake them for 20 minutes, maybe because it had a lower temperature, but since this is a recipe I plan to use for demonstration, the less baking time the better. There's only so much chatter and fill you can give to people before they get bored and stop listening to you. I know, because I tend to stop listening if people are talking too much or for too long. Maybe I have ADD, but whatever.
I topped them all with cheese, which melted without additional assistance from the oven, lying recipe. Time to serve! After figuring out that I have no idea how to get the little devils out from their cups, and my traditional method of dumping cupcakes upside down wouldn't work because all the filling would fall out, I decided a couple burned finger tips would have to get the job done.
After one bite though... it was all worth it, Taco Munchies win the flavor festival this week! Perhaps it was the peach pineapple salsa, or maybe it was just a perfect combination of these comfort food flavors, but these were very yum!
Now I know how to make the recipe for later this week, and I have devised a plan involving a citrus peeler to free the munchies from their cups.
In the words of Alton Brown, "Remember, play with your food!" :D
I purchased the ingredients, there weren't many, and got ready to practice this recipe. It may be a case of worrying too much, but I like to practice a new recipe before making it for a crowd, to make sure there won't be unforeseen side effects. In this case, I was very lucky to have wanted to make it early. All the measurements were wrong, the baking time was wrong and even the baking temperature was wrong. If anyone were to follow these directions, they'd have many small over-flowing taco soups that would be way beyond Cajun (a colloquial for "burned"). And what else is odd is the ingredients list has garlic on it, but the instructions never called for garlic. Poor garlic. :C
So I start out unaware of these foul wrongs this recipe has, but luckily for me, when I cook for my husband and myself I always use about 1/2 or less than half the amount of meat a recipe calls for (healthier that way). So instead of 1 pound of ground beef I decide to fry 8 ounces. As it's cooking I roll out my seamless dough sheet (tubed crescent rolls with no perforations, amazing!) and cut them into squares. Not having worked with this dough a lot, I pick up a square right away and try to put it in a mini muffin cup - doesn't work out so well. It was too little and didn't cover the sides. I did a couple more and became a little frustrated, so I set it aside and measured 1 cup of salsa, because I thought an entire jar (with no specific amount listed, just "1 jar" of salsa) would be too much.
Then I realize that I have garlic out and no part of this recipe calls for me to do anything to the garlic. *facepalm* So I press the garlic into the cooking beef (which has been flipped and chopped into bits) and give it a little stir. During all this the dough has had a chance to set out and come to room temperature. I tried putting another one into a muffin cup and - success! It fit nicely, covering the sides and making little leaves on the edges. The dough definitely needed a rest before any attempts of stretching and squishing it into muffin cups should have been attempted. Next I mixed the salsa and ground beef + garlic, and my "wrong" measurements turn out to be the right ones! I had a little leftover filling but I can't imagine what I would do with another 1/2 pound of ground beef with these things!
Next comes baking. Recipe says 350, dough sheet instructions say 375, and I learned a long time ago that the people who write on those packages give you a temperature for a reason, it tends to take a lot longer if you cook them at the wrong temperature. I picked 375, I didn't want to wait an extra 5-10 minutes because of faulty temperature settings. I set my timer for 15 minutes, and after 10 I could hear them sizzling and I peeked at them to see what they were up to. They were already done, had I let them go a few minutes longer they'd have been burned and terrible - the recipe wanted me to bake them for 20 minutes, maybe because it had a lower temperature, but since this is a recipe I plan to use for demonstration, the less baking time the better. There's only so much chatter and fill you can give to people before they get bored and stop listening to you. I know, because I tend to stop listening if people are talking too much or for too long. Maybe I have ADD, but whatever.
I topped them all with cheese, which melted without additional assistance from the oven, lying recipe. Time to serve! After figuring out that I have no idea how to get the little devils out from their cups, and my traditional method of dumping cupcakes upside down wouldn't work because all the filling would fall out, I decided a couple burned finger tips would have to get the job done.
After one bite though... it was all worth it, Taco Munchies win the flavor festival this week! Perhaps it was the peach pineapple salsa, or maybe it was just a perfect combination of these comfort food flavors, but these were very yum!
Now I know how to make the recipe for later this week, and I have devised a plan involving a citrus peeler to free the munchies from their cups.
In the words of Alton Brown, "Remember, play with your food!" :D
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Turkey Chili - A Surprise Inside
When I read the title on this recipe card I was thinking, "What's so special about turkey chili?" I learned it's dirty little secret when I read the ingredients list, it calls for beer! At first I wrinkled my nose at the idea of putting something as foul tasting as beer into something as amazing as chili. Then I remembered the first time I tried broccoli and decided to give this recipe a chance.
(I had spent my entire life up to the moment I tried broccoli believing I hated broccoli, merely because it was a weird little green tree. When I finally tried it, I LOVED it, and decided that there was no way I was ever going to not eat a food because I thought I might not like it. Which is why I always try the beer my husband drinks. So far the only ones I have liked have been so dark you couldn't see light through them - Guinness Extra Stout and He'brew Jewbelation Bar Mitzvah. In addition to those wicked dark beers I now eat pretty much every fruit vegetable except cabbage, because I think it has a strange texture, but still tastes okay, and lemons because I do not enjoy sour things - though I still use lemon juice and lime juice to cook with.)
Anyway, back to that chili! Another ingredient that this chili called for is chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, something I've wanted to try for a long time, but had never known what to do with them. After (finally) finding the chipotle peppers in the Hispanic foreign foods section in Meijer, I brought these little devils home to make an epic chili.
I read my recipe and instructions carefully, and started with my aromatics - onions and garlic in bruschetta flavored olive oil with a pinch of sea salt. To this I added chili powder, oregano and three chopped chipotle peppers, though the recipe called for a measly one along with tomato paste. Then I added the ground turkey, and cooked until well browned. Now it was time for that special ingredient! BEER! I poured in the whole bottle, thinking, "Wow, I hope this tastes good!" because up to that point it smelled amazing. I simmered my spicy mix for a few minutes, to cook off the alcohol and make a reduction (by half). Then I added a large can of crushed tomatoes and a well rinsed can of red kidney beans. Simmer for ten, garnish with a bit of freshly grated Parmesan and a side of cornbread (with bits of actual corn in!) Time for the taste test!
First bite and I'm thinking, "How have I gone my entire life without this amazing beer-ific chili?" Second bite and I'm thinking, "OMG! Maybe one chipotle pepper would have been enough!" All in all, this recipe is awesome and amazingly delicious, easy to make (30 minutes or less!) and was a fun flavor adventure. I highly recommend this one to everyone!
(Thank you Food Network recipe calendar!)
(I had spent my entire life up to the moment I tried broccoli believing I hated broccoli, merely because it was a weird little green tree. When I finally tried it, I LOVED it, and decided that there was no way I was ever going to not eat a food because I thought I might not like it. Which is why I always try the beer my husband drinks. So far the only ones I have liked have been so dark you couldn't see light through them - Guinness Extra Stout and He'brew Jewbelation Bar Mitzvah. In addition to those wicked dark beers I now eat pretty much every fruit vegetable except cabbage, because I think it has a strange texture, but still tastes okay, and lemons because I do not enjoy sour things - though I still use lemon juice and lime juice to cook with.)
Anyway, back to that chili! Another ingredient that this chili called for is chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, something I've wanted to try for a long time, but had never known what to do with them. After (finally) finding the chipotle peppers in the Hispanic foreign foods section in Meijer, I brought these little devils home to make an epic chili.
I read my recipe and instructions carefully, and started with my aromatics - onions and garlic in bruschetta flavored olive oil with a pinch of sea salt. To this I added chili powder, oregano and three chopped chipotle peppers, though the recipe called for a measly one along with tomato paste. Then I added the ground turkey, and cooked until well browned. Now it was time for that special ingredient! BEER! I poured in the whole bottle, thinking, "Wow, I hope this tastes good!" because up to that point it smelled amazing. I simmered my spicy mix for a few minutes, to cook off the alcohol and make a reduction (by half). Then I added a large can of crushed tomatoes and a well rinsed can of red kidney beans. Simmer for ten, garnish with a bit of freshly grated Parmesan and a side of cornbread (with bits of actual corn in!) Time for the taste test!
First bite and I'm thinking, "How have I gone my entire life without this amazing beer-ific chili?" Second bite and I'm thinking, "OMG! Maybe one chipotle pepper would have been enough!" All in all, this recipe is awesome and amazingly delicious, easy to make (30 minutes or less!) and was a fun flavor adventure. I highly recommend this one to everyone!
(Thank you Food Network recipe calendar!)
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