Dan’s Lentil Chili

This vegetarian chili is quick and simple. The recipe comes from the kitchen of Dan & Salley, long time friends.

DAN’S LENTIL CHILI
Ingredients:
1 lb bag lentils
1 15 oz can tomatoes
1 chili powder to taste

Cook lentils as directed.
Add tomatoes and chili powder. Add salt & pepper to taste.
Stir well.
Allow to heat through and serve.
Of course I had to mess with it.

I added sauted onion and garlic, and shredded fresh zucchini when the tomatoes went in.

Extra cumin is well appreciated in my kitchen, too. If you can’t smell the cumin in a chili pot, it’s simply not acceptable to the family.

There’s a lot of texture in this chili, both in the original recipe and in my version. As with any chili salt, pepper, sour cream, shredded cheese, picante, and/or hot sauces are all optional toppings.

Enjoy!

–Ann Cathey
P.S. My apologies for the lack of photos.

Spanish Flavor Highlights

Mexican cooking and Spanish cooking have a lot in common, it’s true. Spanish cooking, however, missed most of the New World influences so prevalent in Middle America.

Some of the particular flavors found in Spanish cooking come from regional availability of certain plants.

OLIVES
Spanish olives and olive oil are known for their high quality and unique flavors. While the olives generally available in the United States that are commonly known as Spanish olives are most often small, green, and stuffed with pimento. They are also extremely salty. Like the wines of Spain, true Spanish olives are distinctive in flavor and texture to their regions, raging from subtle and floral to robust and nutty.

Olives grown in Spain go through a rigorous grading system, with a larger portion being used for oil pressing. The remainder fall into four color/ripeness groups that then become many of the olives known in Spanish cuisine.

Green olives are harvested for their firmer flesh and smokey flavor. Semi-ripe olives have a mottled, pinkish color, and a vibrant flavor. Ripe olives are dark and robust. Ripe black olives are harvested before they fully ripen, and treated to maintain their color and to remove any bitterness.

WINE
As with any other wine producing country, Spain is known for it’s many regional vintages. Wine if often the drink of choice at meal time and topped off with sparkling water. Spanish wines come from grapes with names like Albariño, Tempranillo and Verdejo, and pair with regional spices like no others.

While I am not a wine drinker by choice, I know where to find the best in my area. I frequent Spec’s and enjoy perusing their selections.

MEATS
Jamon is an air-cured ham. It is a visual fixture in Spain as well as a culinary one. These hams may be found hanging everywhere form restaurants to home kitchens to meat markets. Thinly sliced, it adds a rich flavor to a variety of dishes from tapas to stews.

Chorizo in Spain is quite different from the more familiar chorizo from Mexico. Mexican chorizo is made from fresh pork, whereas the Spanish counterpart is smoked. The Spanish variety imparts is regionally spiced flavor to paella among other dishes. It can also be found sliced very thinly and served with a complimentary selection of cheeses.

SAFFRON
Among all the spices grown in Spain, saffron is the most outstanding of the lot. It’s origins trace back into Asia, but the majority of the world’s saffron in modern times comes from Spain. It takes thousands of Crocus sativus flowers to yield only an ounce of saffron. the spice is collected in “threads” which are ground and added to a variety of dishes. Saffron is also known for imparting a rich golden-yellow hue not only to foods, but to textiles as well. Along with cumin, tarragon, dill, sage, anise, thyme, fennel, mint, cinnamon, cloves, the Spanish have collected spices from around the world and embraced them as their own.

These are but a few of the outstanding ingredients found in Spanish cooking. For your edification, give this recipe a try, or look up one of the many recipes available online.

Fabada Stew
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 2-3 hours
Servings: 4-5

Ingredients:
1 large onion, peeled but still whole
1 head garlic, whole
4 cans (15 oz.) beans (cannellini or other large white beans), drained
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 large pinch saffron threads, crushed
1 (1 lb.) meaty  ham hock
½ lb. bacon, unsliced
½ lb. chorizo
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Drain beans and transfer them to a large Dutch oven. Add the onion, garlic, paprika, crushed saffron, ham hock, bacon and 12 cups cold water. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to moderate and simmer the stew, tucking the ham hock under the cooking liquid as necessary, about 1 hour.

Add the chorizo to the bean stew and cook until the meat and beans are tender and the cooking liquid is thick and slightly reduced, about 45 minutes longer.

Discard the onion and garlic and transfer the meat to a bowl. Pull the meat from the ham hock and cut it into large pieces. Cut the bacon and chorizo into pieces. Add the meat back into the beans and season lightly with salt and pepper.

Serve hot. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Enjoy a taste of Spain in your own kitchen!

–Ann Cathey

Quick Casserole Meals

Remember all those casseroles your grandmother used to whip up in her sun-filled kitchen? She was on to something with those one-dish sides and meals. You can be, too.

Most casseroles include a starch (potatoes, pasta, or rice) as a base, veggies, meat, and some cheese. It all depends on what’s on hand or what you prefer.

Here’s a basic casserole that my family enjoys once every couple of weeks. While I have had to put a strong low-carb rule in place, you may not have to.

Ingredients:
2 cups dry rice, cooked
12 oz concentrated cream of something soup (potato, chicken, mushroom, etc.)
1/2 cup fluid (milk, heavy cream, chicken broth, etc.)
1/4 cup hard cheese, fine grated (Asiago, Romano, Parmesan, etc.)
15 oz can of beans or peas, well drained
Other veggies as desired, pre-cooked and diced (potato, carrot, green beans, etc)
8 oz meat, diced or broken
Onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper to taste
4 oz shredded cheese, any firm type (cheddar, Swiss, Provolone, Gouda, etc)

In a large bowl, place rice, soup, fluid, veggies, spices, and hard cheese. Fold together gently so as not to break up the veggies.

I will also fold in the meat at this time. You may choose to layer it in the baking dish.

Place the contents of the bowl into a baking dish, spreading it evenly. If you are layering the meat in, put it between two layers of the rice mixture so it doesn’t dry out during baking.

Sprinkle a couple of ounces of shredded cheese on top. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350F. Everything in the dish is precooked, but you want it to heat throughout.

Remove dish from the oven and uncover. sprinkle on remaining grated cheese. Allow to sit for five minutes or so while the cheese melts and the dish comes to a reasonable serving temperature.

When emplating, feel free to toss on strips of fresh basil, more cheese, chopped parsley or whatever topping you desire. A dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream is also tasty.

Leftovers can and do add a lot of variation to this meal. A teaspoon of sour cream left from taco night? Throw it in! Some shredded mozzarella left from pizza night? Stir that into the mix to create a gooier texture. Black olives? Mushrooms? Broccoli crowns? The more the merrier!

Want an Italian flavor? Use Italian spices, Italian sausage and or pepperoni with a mix of mozzarella and provolone shredded on top. A white or navy bean works well for the added texture. Serve with garlic bread or bread sticks.

Tex-mex more to your liking? Add chili powder and onions, black beans and use Monterrey Jack or pepper-jack cheeses. Top with sliced jalapeno or salsa.

Cajun Crazy? Try andouille or boudan, Ementhaler, and Cajun seasonings (We like Tony Cha’s) with diced bell pepper and onion.

The ham and cheese option is also nice. Use cheddar, leftover ham, and black-eyed peas for a southern variation.

In short, this dish can be customized pretty much any way that pleases your palate. It’s also hearty enough to put leftovers into microwavable containers for tomorrow’s lunch, or for a side dish later in the week. Just heat and serve.

Bon Appetite!

— Ann Cathey

Home-made Pot Pies

Whether you prefer to make them single serving size, or make larger family sized pies, pot pies are a wonderful dish to serve warm on a cold evening.

You can use traditional recipes, making your crust from scratch and cooking up a stew-pot of sauce and veggies. You can also use a lot of modern day short cuts as you will see below.

CRUSTY CONCEPTS
For single serving pot pies, grab a can of biscuit dough in your favorite variety. Separate the biscuits on a board and using a rolling pin, roll them out flat while retaining their round shape.

Using a cup cake tin, line each cup with one rolled out biscuit. Add your filling (we’ll discuss that below), and use a second rolled out biscuit to cap the cup. Inch the edges together and slit the top for a steam vent. You might also use a quarter of a biscuit on top as dumpling instead of a cap.

Bake these as directed on the biscuit container. When they come hot out of the over, top with a bit of grated cheese and serve warm.

Another crust short-cut for family sized pies is to use pre-made pie crusts or pizza dough. For pie shells, pre-bake them for ten minutes before filling. This will give you a better, less soggy texture. Pizza crusts are great to slice and weave for a beautiful cap on the pies. You can also skip the lining crust and just use a lattice on top to reduce your carbs a bit.

FILLINGS
Broken meats, or meats purchased specifically for pie fillings are both good to work with. Canned chicken, turkey, beef or ham will bring an extra load of salt and preservatives to the dish, but they are also very handy.

If your meats need to be cooked first, use a fat-free or low-sodium broth to start your filling out.

Fresh vegetables, such as carrots, potatoes, or turnips should be diced to 1/2 inch cubes and tossed in with the cooking meat to cook through. Peas and mushrooms, which cook much faster, should be added later in the process. Remember that mushrooms release a lot of water.

Leftover veggies are also great for this dish. They are precooked and ready to be tossed into the sauce. Baked potatoes, savory yams, buttered carrots are all likely candidates. Drain them well, skin them if you prefer, and dice them to a comfortable size before adding them.

Canned veggies, which are of course already fully cooked, should be drained thoroughly before being added to anything. Again, low or no-salt is encouraged.

For the sauce, follow your recipe for the next few steps. If you are taking short cuts, you might consider a condensed cream soup such as a cream of mushroom, asparagus, chicken or potato. Do not add any liquids! You do not want your sauce to be runny.

Turn the soup out into a bowl. Fold in your meats, veggies, and additional spices you may desire. Garlic, onion, rosemary and thyme are a good mix for most meats.

If you find yourself in need of a thickening agent, don’t rely on corn-starch. While it works very well, it also adds a lot of carbs/sugars and calories to your dish. Use finely grated hard cheese, such as Parmesan, Asiago, or Romano, as thickeners. These are a tasty addition as well adding extra protein.

Fill your pastry cups 3/4 of the way with whichever mixture you decide to use. Cap, lattice or dumpling the tops and bake as directed.

SERVING
Unlike most dishes that are called “pies” the inside of a pot pie of this sort will not gelatinize. You will wind up with a very thick stew in a shell. Be prepared to spoon out some extra filling if you serve family sized pies, and to be very careful when popping the individual pies out of the baking cups. Place your serving in a dish, sprinkle with some shredded cheese and a slice of toasted baguette.

If all of this sounds vague and less like a recipe than an idea, that’s because it is. The variations are seemingly endless, and the choice of ingredients is up to your own tastes. Make your pot pies creamy with chicken and mushrooms, or a bit more tart with turkey and turnips. Use Italian spices and tomato paste for a roseate alternative, or wild onion and venison in a brown gravy style sauce. No matter what angle you choose, it’s sure to be delicious!

— Ann Cathey

Easy Enchiritos

In need of a hot meal quickly?This little Tex-Mex experiment turned out much better than expected.

Easy Enchiritos

 

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Serves 4

 

Ingredients:

1 15ox can black beans, drained

1 8 pack burritos or chimichangas

1 15 oz can chili

1 tsp each garlic powder, onion powder, cumin

lots of grated cheese of choice (to desired cheesiness)

 

Oil spray an 8×8 baking dish. Spread the drained beans evenly in the bottom. Dust spices over the beans. Add a layer of cheese.

 

Layer in burritos. I had to cut one in half to make them fit: five across, two and two halves to fill the rest of the space. Add a layer of cheese.

 

Top all this off with the can of chili, spreading evenly and covering all exposed tortilla to prevent drying. Add another layer of cheese. Go ahead and lay it on thick! You know you want to! 🙂

 

Bake at 400F for 40 minutes to ensure that all ingredients are thoroughly heated and cheese is melted.

 

Serve with dollop of sour cream, hot sauce, salsa, sliced black olives, sliced avocados, or diced green onion, as preferred.

 

I would offer photos, but it went too fast.

Enjoy!

–Ann Cathey

Crock Pot o’ Ham

Do you have a frugal streak and like to buy holiday hams after the holiday when they are on sale, but don’t have a lot of freezer space to store them? I discovered a trick for rendering those shoulders and haunches into serviceable size pieces.

Buy smaller hams to begin with. The price per pound won’t be any different, and while you do get a bit more bone, for this project, I find it worth it.

We started with an 11 pound ham. It was placed into a crock pot flat side down. Some of the pointy end of the ham did have to be sliced off so that the lid would close. It was allowed to slow roast over night on a low setting. Nothing was added, as this was the first time this process had been tried in our kitchen.

In the morning, the ham looked whole and brown, and was sitting in about 4 inches of it’s own juices. The top seemed a little dry, but not excessively so. The bits that had been sliced off which had not been covered by the juices were practically jerky, but re-hydrated well. Using tongs and a fork, I peeled back the top meat, and removed the bones with a bit of a tug. They slid right out, clean of any meat or cartelidge. Likewise, the fatty bits were very discernable, and could be lifted or scraped from the meaty parts.

Some of the chunks of muscle were sliced, some pulled (shredded), and some simply eaten right off the mass. This enabled us to freeze whatever we didn’t need right then into smaller packages that fit well in the freezer. Other bits became pulled pork sandwiches and salad toppings immediately. Yet more was set aside for dirty rice (which turned out exceedingly well). The remaining meat was nibbled on as sandwiches and ready snacks for the next two days.

The broth, while salty and concentrated, was reserved for later use. The plan is to set up our New Year’s black eyed peas with some of it. By using the broth, there is no worry over bone flakes from a hambone, no need to add bullion or salt, and it’s ready to use. The broth may be frozen if it won’t be used within a couple of days, or simply kept refrigerated.

Another portion of the broth, the leftovers once the meat and fat has been removed from the crock pot, had two pounds of split green peas and lentils, 12 oz of spinach, and 4 cups of water added. The resulting pot of peas cooked quickly and served as supper and breakfast. Given a little less fluid and some form of lard and appropriate spices, it would easily have become refried beans.

I’m calling this experiment a success. Given that 11 pounds of ham (fat and bone included) was rendered into meat components for at least five 4-person meals, broth for at least 2 more meals, scraps to supplement several more meals for our House Husky, and 2 dog well-cooked bones for her as well, we managed to stretch this out a lot further than we had expected.

Depending on the need for the next foray into slow roasting a ham like this, we may season it with roasted garlic, or cinnamon and ginger.

We’ll be sure to let you know how it turns out!

— Ann Cathey

 

PS: Sorry I didn’t include photos for this entry. The Holidays are a bit nuts at our house!