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Super Tasty Red Sauce - with Spinach, Olives and Pesto

 I was really making lasagna - and that dish did happen but its for a family gathering in a couple of days. I had left over red sauce, homemade pesto and some spinach. Sounded pretty good to me for pasta. Anyway - it tasted so good I thought I'd better write it down. The red meat sauce was a bit of a mix today. I used a pound of ground buffalo meat along with a pound of chicken mild Italian sausage (PCC). After this browned in some olive oil, I scooped it out of the pot and then added in a diced onion, leek, and a lonely shallot that had nowhere else to go. I like to cook onions and their ilk slow to soften, not burn. I add a little salt and pepper too. After the onion mixture is starting to get a little golden (and soft!) I add 3 cloves of chopped garlic. When the garlic gets aromatic, I add back in the meat and then follow that up with two 24 oz cans of crushed whole tomatoes and one jar of marinara sauce. I usually wash out the cans and jar with about a cup of water, adding that

Mashed Potatoes

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 It sounds so simple, right? Faraway child is cooking Thanksgiving dinner for some friends in Malaysia. Mashed Potatoes are a family favorite and of course she wants to make them from scratch. Er, I should say that she wants her loving husband to make them from scratch. Son, I swear this is easy! This dish just needs some time and patience! :) Making anything from scratch takes time. I love the boxed varieties too - but, honestly, nothing beats homemade mashed potatoes. You can start with different kinds of potatoes but I really like russet - or baking - potatoes best. White or Yukon gold are great mashed as well - you just need to peel them before boiling and then watch that they don't start disintegrating in the pot. Let's prep these potatoes as russet baking potatoes.   These are really big potatoes! scoring the tops   Baking potatoes range in size and sometimes its hard to figure out how much to buy. If a potato is the length of my hand - I want 1.5-2 potatoes per person. S

Chicken Chili

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Many years ago, a friend gave me this recipe and its been a family favorite ever since. It was one of the dishes that my faraway child asked me to help her cook in Malaysia and it turned out to be very easy to get all the ingredients from her local market.  RECIPE: 1-2 Tbsp. Vegetable oil  2 medium onions 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 3 cups chicken broth 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro (coriander) or 1/2 tsp dried/ground coriander seeds 2 Tbsp. lime juice - or more to taste 1 tsp ground cumin - I like to add a bit more but I wait for final seasoning taste 1 tsp dried oregano 1/4 tsp. red pepper sauce (peri peri sauce would work great) - optional salt and pepper  1 small can of corn kernals. In the USA white "shoepeg" corn or hominy works great too 1 can (15-16 ounce) great northern beans - or cannellini beans I can (15-16 ounce) butter beans 2 cups boneless chicken thighs - chopped into bite size pieces. 1/2 cup flour - might take more to coat the chicken. You can season

Best Chicken Stock Ever

 I just have to write this down... because... wow... I went to roast a chicken in my dutch oven soup pot. I spatchcocked the chicken to save some time - and also because I could then make stock with the backbone and bits. With my handy-dandy new poultry shears, it was super easy, by the way. Feeling a bit lazy but also wanting to keep the chicken up out of the juices (fat) that would accumulate in the bottom of the pot - I sliced a whole onion into big thick rings, laying them on the bottom. In went the chicken, olive oil, garlic salt/pepper and - zatar spice.  Oven was at 350 with lid for about 30 minutes. I checked the temperature, removing the lid and left to roast another 15-20. The chicken was good - but the stuff in the bottom of that pot was pure gold. Caramelized onions, juices and fats from the chicken and spices. I added back in the raw back bone, water, loosely chopped up some celery and a few heads of garlic - and set to simmer. Those caramelized onions crafted such a rich