Mussels with Andouille

So apparently I’ve never written down my base recipe for mussels, one of my favorite things to cook and eat.  This recipe is an easy crowd pleaser served family-style, and is fun luxury for a date.

Ingredients

The rule of thumb when mussels are the main course is one pound per person.  This recipe makes enough broth enough to happily serve 4-6 people, maybe more.  I suppose you could make less broth if cooking for fewer, but then you might miss out on having an excellent leftover soup base.

• 1 or 2 andouille sausage, cooked and diced into roughly quarter-inch cubes (or linguica, chorizo). 1/4 to 1/3 pound total.
• 1 small onion, diced (or 2 shallots or 1 shallot and the whites of a bunch of scallions)
• 1 bulb fennel, diced
• (some halved cherry tomatoes too if you want)
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• pinch saffron (10ish threads)
• 1.5 to 2 cups chardonnay.  I like the Chateau San Michelle we have out in Washington a lot in this dish (a little sweet, not too much oak, and it makes good drinking too).
• salt to taste
• mussels (1 pound per person)
• greens of a bunch of scallions, 1 inch pieces (for color)
• good bread for dipping

Equipment

• big pot with tight lid for steaming.  You can make this work with a big skillet with deep walls and a lid too.

Preparation

1. Try to buy mussels the day you’re going to cook them, but people say they’ll keep for a day in a dry bowl in the fridge under a wet paper towel.
2. If the sausage isn’t pre-cooked, cook the sausage and reserve a tablespoon of the fat.  Then cube.
3. Rinse and soak mussels under cold water for a couple minutes to remove grit. Shortly before cooking, de-beard the mussels.
4. In a big pot with a tight fitting lid over medium heat, brown the sausage cubes in their own fat or tiny amount of butter.
5. After sausage starts to brown, add onions and saute for a minute or two. Add a pinch of salt and add butter as needed.
6. Add fennel and saute for a minute or two.
7. Add garlic and give things a good stir.
8. Add (remainder of) stick of butter, stir it in as it melts.
9. Add a pinch of saffron and stir it all about. A little goes a long way. My best guess is I put in about 10 threads, maybe a little more.
10. Add 1.5 to 2 cups of wine (you’re already drinking some, right?). Turn up the heat and boil until the alcohol smell is diminished (2ish minutes for me).
11. Taste and add salt if necessary (a pinch at a time, stir and taste).  You want it to taste a bit under-salted because the mussels add their own, but you don’t want the broth to taste totally flat at this stage.
12. Add in the mussels and the scallion greens, put the lid on, and steam for 3 to 5 minutes.  Once most of the mussels are open wide, it’s done.
13. Transfer to a big serving bowl, let rest for a few minutes to come to a tastier temperature, and enjoy with lots of bread!

Leftovers

If you have leftover broth, there’s a great soup base waiting.

1. With any leftover mussels, pluck the meats out and set aside. They’re good in a salad.
2. There’s a lot of flavor on the mussel shells, so take the leftover shells (minus any mussels that didn’t open), and put them in the big pot with the leftover broth and about 1 to 2 times as much water.
3. Boil everything for a few minutes with the lid on.
4. Discard the shells and use the broth for soups or whatever.

Soup ideas

1. This last time, we made a soup with more andouille cubes, scallions, kale, and grated parmesan.  This went great as an opener for a lemony butter garlic pasta.
2. This would also make an excellent tortellini soup base.
3. The next night, we shifted it with a little soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and a little sweet paprika and white pepper, served alongside rice.

Enjoy!

Clam and mushroom soup

After watching Little Forest yesterday, I never want to eat out again.  It’s an absolutely beautiful movie (in 4 acts, one for each season) from Japan that was about food and place in life and how you treat yourself when no one is around.

Tonight, I treated myself to a soup inspired by the movie. I am proud of this soup. Savory, fresh, and pretty.

Ingredients (for 2 bowls of soup)

• 1/2 pound steamer clams
• 3 dried shiitake, rehydrated in 2 cups of water
• 3 scallions, sliced small
• 2 cups dashi broth (bonito and dried kelp)
• splash (~1/2 T) soy sauce
• 1 small baby bok choy, quartered
• 3 garlic shoots, cut into ~1.5 inch pieces
• salt to taste (err under until after the clams)
• rice on the side

Preparation

1. Rehydrate mushrooms for a few hours in 2 cups of room temperature water. Set aside 1 cup for the broth and save the other for something else.
2. Make 2 cups of dashi. Steep dried kelp in water on the stove until it starts to boil, then take out the kelp.  Add bonito flakes, boil for a couple minutes, and steep off-boil for a few more.  Strain the broth.
3. Back on the stove, combine the 2 cups of dashi, 1 cup of mushroom water, a splash of soy sauce, and a pinch of salt.  As you bring it to a boil, add green onion and sliced mushrooms.
4. I had garlic shoots and bok choy at home, so I added that too, but whatever you like (or not). The garlic shoots were really nice though, but are seasonal.
5. After the veg has cooked at a low boil for a moment or two, add the clams.  Boil until they open (2ish minutes), and then you’re done.
6. Check if it needs a little more salt, and enjoy!

Greek lemon chicken and potatoes

Chicken with the skin on has been a serious adversary in my oven. Some combination of the size of the oven, my roasting pan, what vegetables I try to roast along with the chicken, and the heat has made it really hard to get good skin with a little crisp and nice browning.  I finally found a recipe that works. This has the right amount of crowding in my roasting pan (not much) and roasting potatoes (and only potatoes) seems to have provided the right conditions to get pretty, tasty chicken.

Thank you, Chef John at Food Wishes (with video)!

Ingredients (3 servings)

• 3 legs and 3 thighs (about 2.25 pounds total)
• 2 large baking potatoes, sliced into eighths (about 2 pounds)
• 1/2 T kosher salt
• 1/2 t black pepper
• 1/2 t dried rosemary
• 2 t dried oregano
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 cup chicken broth to add to the roasting pan + a splash more to de-glaze

You’ll need

• large mixing bowl
• large roasting pan

Preparation (cooking time 45 minutes to 1 hour)

1. Pre-heat oven to 425.
2. (Peel and) section the potatoes. (Peeled potatoes are prettier but I like potato skins.)
3. Remove the excess skin flap from the thighs and put the chicken in a large bowl.
4. Add the salt, pepper, rosemary, oregano, and minced garlic to the chicken.
5. Add the lemon juice and olive oil.
6. Add the potatoes to the bowl.
7. Toss the chicken and potatoes until the marinade is well-mixed.  You can leave it in the fridge for a few hours or just cook immediately.
8. Lightly oil the roasting pan.
9. Add everything to the roasting pan, chicken skin-side up, and space it all out.
10. Add most of the cup of chicken broth to the pan. (This is to keep things from burning to the roasting pan.)
11. Roast for 20 minutes, and toss.
12. Roast for 25 to 40 minutes more (and check).
13. Take out any chicken that is nicely browned and set in a serving dish.
14. Finish the potatoes (and pale chicken) under the broiler for 3 or 4 minutes. (Keep your nose on the job so you don’t burn it!)
15. De-glaze the pan with a little more broth or water and spoon the liquid over the dish.

Serve with a simple arugula salad or something like that.

Pork Chop

So, a fun experiment.  This meal was a disaster.  Below, in bold and normal fonts is what I wrote in between cooking steps before the final product appeared.  In italics is what actually happened. No blame to the Kitchn. I’m sure all the mistakes are mine.  Enjoy!

______________

Woke up, watched a movie, went to the market, opened the windows and sat down with a book and a glass of wine, fell asleep, talked on the phone, ate pork chop. True day so far. Nothing fancy here.  Just a simple pork chop, prepared as described in the Kitchn (not exactly).  Tastier than it has right to be. Bu-u-u-ull-shit! The pork chops were super salty and I undercooked them three (3)! times.  Oh, and I tried my new rice cooker with some short grain brown rice and I made gummy rice.  Train wreck of a meal.  At least the arugula salad tasted good, but that involved no cooking and the dressing was store-bought Garlic Sensations.   Recorded here so I can find it again.

Brine

3 cups of water, 3 T kosher salt, 1 t black pepper, bay leaf in a freezer bag.  Cover the pork chops (I made 3, no bone, about a pound total).

Ingredients

• Pork chops
• olive oil, salt, pepper

Preparation

1. After brining for 1/2 to up to 4 hours, dry the pork chops with paper towel and maybe place them back in the fridge on a plate for a little while. I swear I brined for 4 hours.  That had to have been too long.  Next time, 30 minutes to an hour only.  
2. Heat your cast iron skillet in a 400 degree oven.
3. Rub the chops with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.  I also over-salted at this step.  If the Kitchn is to blame for anything here, if you brine for 4 hours, you probably really don’t need any surface salt.  
4. If you’ve got a probe thermometer, place it in a pork chop. And set it to the right temp (not 145 F), and read it when it beeps, and pay attention to the one pork chop that was thicker than the other two. You know, the one you didn’t put the thermometer in.
5. When hot, place the skillet over medium-high heat on the stove top and sear the pork chops. 3ish minutes
6. Flip the chops and place the skillet back in the oven.
7. Cook 6-10 minutes until done (~165 F). And not 145 F.
8. Rest before serving. And don’t rest and turn off the oven without fully cooking, and don’t do that again with the thicker chop.

Served with a simple arugula salad, some rice (some gummy rice, with no flavor.  This was at least salvageable with green onion, soy sauce, and white pepper), and a glass of red (or two!).

_______

Next time, whenever I get the courage to revisit the simple pork chop, I will salt soo much less, and not screw up the thermometering!  Not my best work, not at all.

Until we meet again, food! Until we meet again…

Frittata with Asparagus

From Chef Pasquale comes a recipe for a nice frittata with bacon and asparagus.  I just made it for the second time this month.  It’s good!  Tastes good, looks good, is easy, bacons up your cast iron, and reheats well for breakfast for a few days.  Minor variations from the source: here’s how I do it.

Calorie Estimate: 1600

Ingredients

• 10 eggs
• 5 strips bacon
• 1 lb asparagus (top half of the stalk only)
• 2 T butter
• 1 t black pepper
• couple pinches salt

Preparation

1. Preheat the over to 400.
2. In a cast iron skillet, cook 5 strips of bacon over medium-high heat, starting from cold.
3. As soon as the bacon is done to your liking, take it off the heat and drain it over paper towels.
4. If you haven’t already done so, turn the heat to medium. Toss in the asparagus and cook it in the bacon fat until it softens up and maybe browns a touch.  Scrape up any bacony bits as you move the asparagus around.
5. While the asparagus is cooking, scramble 10 eggs in a large bowl and cut the bacon into bite size pieces. Season the eggs with pepper and a pinch or 2 of salt.
6. When the asparagus is almost done, put in the butter (you need it for the taste–it’ll brown with the eggs–and to prevent sticking).  Put the bacon back in and give everything a toss. When the butter is melted, pour in the eggs and give everything a good mix. I like tongs for this.
7. After a few minutes on the stovetop, put the skillet in the oven.
8. After 5 minutes in the oven, flip it. How it’s done (7:26).
9. Finish it about 5 minutes more in the oven.
10. Flip it out of the pan again and enjoy!

I haven’t tried making a frittata with other veggies yet, but I’m sure red peppers, caramelized onions, or maybe a lightly pickled red onion, or what else would be great.

Balsamic Pork Tenderloin

Balsamic pork tenderloin: tasty (but nothing special, at least on my first try) and could work with any cut of pork (tenderloin is honestly an odd choice for slow cooking, but it was available and is fast, which is why I bought it).  All credit goes to addapinch and all blame to me. See her post for beautiful pictures.  

Calorie Estimate (assuming tenderloin): 900

Ingredients

• 1 T cooking oil
• 1.5 lb pork tenderloin
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 T soy sauce
• 1 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1 T honey
• 1/2 t ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (if using the thin, salad dressing stuff) or 1/4 cup of the good ($30 bottle, delicious on vanilla ice cream and strawberries) stuff
• 2 t red pepper flakes
• salt to taste

Preparation

1. In a dutch oven, season the tenderloin with some salt and brown in the oil.
2. Mix the everything else marinade together.  Warm it first if you like.
3. When the meat is browned, add the marinade (well, pre-sauce/cooking liquid, since we didn’t soak first, it’s not really a marinade).
4. Cook low and slow until it hits 160 in the center, the lower the heat and hold it there until you’re ready to break it down and are 10 minutes from putting dinner on the table.  (Original recipe calls for a slow cooker, but I don’t have one.  Alternative is to marinade in the sauce first.)
5. Remove the meat, reduce the sauce.
6. If you’ve been patient enough that it’s falling apart and you want a pulled pork texture, pull it! Or slice it, up to you. Either way, serve with the reduced sauce.

Served with roasted rosemary red potatoes and an arugula salad with simple garlic vinaigrette.

This wasn’t bad, but would be a lot better with a pork shoulder and 5 hours of slow cooking!

“Spanish” rice and Sausage

2 posts in 1 day? Mon Dieu!

I’ve been trying to shake off a rut of making the same things I always make (and eating out too much).  I also don’t make many good rice dishes, especially ones that reheat well.  So I got the idea I’d like some hearty “Spanish” rice.  I have no idea who I would offend if I took away the quotes, but it came out pretty great.  H/T to Martha (and Lu) for getting me started. Here ya go.

Calorie Estimate: 2300

Ingredients

• 3 T cooking oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 red bell pepper, diced 1/4″
• 1 lb. smoked sausage, sliced into bite-size rounds (“fully cooked” hot links or andouille, (or kielbasa, portuguese, lop cheong(?)….))
• 1 1/2 cups rice (white, light brown)
• 2 cups chicken broth/stock
• 2 cups water
• 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 t ground red pepper
• 2 t white (or black) pepper
• 2 t ground cumin
• 1.5 T dried oregano
• salt to taste
• (You should also keep at least 2 cups of water near a boil in case the rice is slow to cook, especially if not using white rice.)

Preparation

1. In a large (12″, walls at least 2.5″ high) skillet, sautee the onions and garlic in the oil.  Add a small pinch of salt to start releasing the water.
2. After a few minutes, add the sausage rounds and diced bell pepper.  Sautee until the sausage starts to brown.
3. Add in spices and seasoning and cook the spices for a couple minutes.
4. Add in the tomato sauce and cook a few minutes.
5. Fold in the rice.
6. Mix in broth and 2 cups water. Lower the heat to a simmer (between 1 and 2 on my stove), stirring occasionally.
7. Simmer until the rice is cooked.  If it’s starting to dry out before the rice finishes, add water a half-cup at a time like a risotto until it’s done.  Salt to taste (although I doubt you’ll need more).

Note: I used a light brown Thai rice (brand Aroy-D Extra Quality AAA) and needed to add about 1.5 cups of water from the hot water pot.  Somehow this took 90 minutes from start to finish.  I should consider using a covered cooking vessel next time.

Chili Verde

Hey Blog, I still remember your password!  After an excellent ski trip and a lackluster restaurant chili verde, I ask myself: “why don’t I make my own?”  Problem solved.  H/T everydaypaleo for providing an easy recipe to start from.

Serve with: rice, corn tortillas, or whatever else you want with a Mexican stew.

Calorie Estimate: 1400

Ingredients

• 2 T cooking oil
• 1 lb. pork shoulder cubed for stew
• 1 lb. fresh tomatillos
• 3 Anaheim or poblano chiles or other mild peppers with a “smokier” flavor
• 1 jalapeno
• 2 cups chicken broth/stock
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 bunch cilantro
• juice from 1 lime
• 1/2 t smoked paprika (or red pepper powder or whatever you like)
• 1 T cumin
• 1 t black pepper
• salt to taste (don’t add more than a pinch or two until toward the end of cooking, as it cooks down)

Tool I don’t normally use

• Food processor or blender or stick blender and large bowl

Preparation

1. (See also step 4!) In a heavy stew pot or dutch oven, brown the pork over the oil (5 – 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and be careful not to burn the stuff that might stick to the pan).  When browned, remove the pork and set aside.
2. Add the onion and garlic with a little more oil if necessary and sweat (5 – 10 minutes).
3. Add the spices and cook them for a few minutes, then add the chicken broth. Be sure to dissolve all the bits off the bottom of the dutch oven.  Add the pork back to the pot and lower the heat if you’re not ready to finish step 4.
4. Peel and wash the tomatillos and seed the peppers (but otherwise leave them intact). In a dry skillet over medium/high heat, char the tomatillos and peppers, turning often. When charred, blend the peppers, tomatillos, and cilantro until smooth.  (We’re charring for flavor and not to remove the skins, but I suppose if you want the skins removed, after roasting, put them in a paper bag to cool and then peel.)  Add the green puree to the dutch oven after you’ve completed step 3.
5. Simmer uncovered for a least 2 hours until pork is tender and the sauce has thickened (reduce about half in volume). Toward the end, add the lime juice, salt to taste, and enjoy!

Notes

This was my first attempt.  It turned out good but was maybe a little too sweet (especially the next day).  Next time, I’ll remember the cilantro (oops!), try another pepper, a couple fewer tomatillos, and char for longer (I wasn’t that patient).  Otherwise, it was better than the typical chili verde I’ve had a random restaurants.

Eggplant and potato curry

Long time no see, blog of new recipes!  After becoming deathly bored of everything I normally eat (much of which is a variant of the few things you can find here, much of which I eat 4 or 5 days in a row because it’s infinitely more practical), and only a few days away from finishing a draft of my thesis, it’s time to learn something new.  I want to expand my range on vegetable-laden meals, for health and variety.  Where’s easily the world’s awesomest repository of vegetarian meals that are actually meals? The Indian subcontinent.  Now, to begin aimlessly experimenting until I learn how to do enough wrong that it’s time to get taught by someone who knows something.

For a first pass, last week’s dinner was this chana masala from Smitten Kitchen.  I’m not writing it up as it came out fine and I did nothing different.

On today’s agenda is eggplant and potato curry.  I suppose I could call it Baingan-Aaloo Ki Subji from the recipe that I’m more or less following, but that would be insulting to India.  This recipe came out fine to my ignorant taste buds—a good start on this adventure.  (This post is likely to be revised over time.)

Calorie Estimate: around 2400?

Ingredients

• 2 onions, diced however you like
• 6 japanese eggplant (or whatever equivalent by total size), cubed 1/3″-ish
• 2 large potatoes, diced 1/4″-ish
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• oil to coat the bottom of the pot (I use my dutch oven)
• 1.5 T ground cumin
• 1 T coriander
• 1.5 T ground red pepper
• 1 t turmeric powder
• 1T garam masala
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• plenty of salt to taste
• juice of 1 lemon

Preparation

I had success chopping as I go, just keeping an eye on the heat and adding a few ounces of water as necessary to keep things under control.  It’s gonna stew at the end for 30 minutes, so it’s not essential that all veggies of a type get in at the same time.

1. Warm oil in a deep pot.  Soften onions.
2. Add in the spices.  Stir to coat well.  Cook the spices with the onions for a few minutes.  It will start smelling wonderful at this point.
3. Add in the  can of tomatoes, diced potatoes, and the eggplant.  If you notice, this is a huge recipe, so add in handfuls and stir every couple handfuls.  This is easier if you’re adding as you chop.  Also, if it’s getting too dry, add a little water.  The veggies will give up theirs soon, so not too much, but it helps if you’re about to burn the spices, which would be a disaster.As you’re adding the vegetables, keep in mind the single most useful piece of advice I ever got from a cooking show, Avec Eric with Eric Ripert:  “don’t salt the dish, salt the vegetables.” You know about how much salt a cooking onion needs, a potato, etc., but do you know how to salt 5 quarts of stewing vegetables all at once?(As an aside, there are probably only two cooking shows I actually recommend as being spot-on with the mix of useful to you right now, beautiful, aspirational, culturally interesting, and entertaining too: Avec Eric and Molto Mario with Mario Batali.)
4. Stir everything often until the spicing is really thoroughly mixed in with the veggies and everything is starting to cook.  Once it’s all getting together, turn down the heat to low and simmer covered for 30 minutes or so.
5. Turn off the heat, uncover, and let some of the water escape and get reabsorbed.  It should be moist but not soupy.
6. Stir in the lemon juice for some brightness and tartness.
7. Eat!

Because of the potatoes, you can maybe  do without  bread or rice, but that’s up to you!  I’ve got a small spinach naan in my toaster over right now!  Also, a little cool, tart yogurt on the side, mixed on the spoon, is nice.

Butternut Squash Soup

Calorie Count: 2400 with cream, 2000 without

Ingredients

• 2 T olive oil
• 2 leeks (or a large onion), diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 1 butternut squash (2-3 pounds), peeled, seeded and coursely diced
• 2 waxy potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 or 3 apples, peeled and diced
• 2 T of ginger, peeled and minced
• a few garlic cloves, chopped
• a pinch or two of red pepper flakes
• 6-8 cups vegetable broth
• 1 C cream
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Over medium heat, sweat the onions, carrots, and celery for a few minutes with a hefty pinch of salt.
2. Add in everything else, stir and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add in the broth with a healthy blast of black pepper.  Bring to a boil, and then simmer 20 to 60 minutes depending on how lazy your dice was, until everything is cooked.
4. Add cream. Blend everything thoroughly with an immersion blender.
5. Serve warm with a blast of citrus juice to brighten.