what's yours is "Minestone"

I had never made minestrone before.  I was planning out the menu for the week (you do that too, right?, of course you do.) and came across this recipe from Martha Stewart.  It was magically delicious.  There are so many "good things" in here.  Red onion, celery, carrot, pasilla peppers (my addition), tates, cannelini beans, cabbage, peas, tomatoes, and pasta (I used penne).  Made some sourdough croutons for supreme crunchiness, OH SNAP!

so, back to the menu thingy.  You really should give it some consideration.  wife and I have committed to dining out only once a month.  There are a few reasons for this.  The obvious one being that it saves a lot of money.  Number two reason:  It makes going out special.  We have a certain dollar amount that we set aside for things, i.e. going out to eat, etc.  by saving this money up for a month, we can afford to go somewhere really nice and not just a lot of really craptastic places.  the other obvious reason: It makes me a better cook and it makes me think about what we are putting into our bodies.  So....back to the menu...again...sorry, I got sidetracked there for a bit. every sunday, I make a menu for the week.  You might think that this a pain or you don't have time for this, I say phooey to that!  if you have time to watch tv, you have time to do this.  get together some cookbooks and just go through them and pick out some recipes you want to try.  arrange them into a week's worth of meals, being conscious of not serving similar things two days in a row, and then VOILA!  you have your grocery list.  remember what I said about saving money?  Well, you only need to buy things for what is on your menu.  You can eat leftover's for lunch that next day (because your dinner was so tasty, you'll be looking forward to a rerun), so your pretty much covered for the week.  Don't forget to pick up healthy snacks and fruit and veg.  

otherworldlynewsworthy news:

I am going to be a baking machine today.  cookies, galettes, and pie crust dough.  but first, I need to take mbf on a walkies and work out. pieces.

DISH recommends:

Making a Menu:  have you picked up the theme for todays post?  try it for one week, if you hate it, well, then you're probably a little bit stupid, but you can come up with some other inferior method:)  here's the menu for this week at my house:

Sun: Minestrone w/ sourdough croutons

Mon: Pork chops w/ apple gastrique, roasted potatoes, and braised greens

Tue: Spaghetti Marinara w/ snow pea salad

Wed: Shepherd's Pie w/ sauteed Broccoli

Thur: Ale-Braised Cornish hens w/ roasted root veg

Fri: Teriyaki Salmon Bowl

Sat: Rustic Elk stew

"Hey, Moses...give me a break here, we've been eating quail forever!"

Let me just say, for the record, I love chicken.  However, I need a break.  we've been eating chicken all week long.  I made some chicken salad with the rest of my braised chicken leftovers, and last night I made chicken normandy.  My version is sauteed chicken breasts instead of the dredged and fried stuff.  the normandy sauce is basically stock, apple cider, and cream.  pretty tasty.  I served it on top of some pureed potatoes.  The potatoes were actually almost a disaster.  I was going to just make mashed potatoes, but somehow all the water in my pot (lid slightly ajar) had evaporated and the potatoes were just starting to brown on the bottom.   I added a little water and scraped up the browned bits and then just pureed them with some of the normandy sauce.  nice save.  sauteed zucchini rode shotgun and it was all over from there.  here's your do:

chicken breasts

apple cider

chicken broth/stock

salt and peps

olive oil

in a med. skillet, heat a tablespoon of olive oil.  add your seasoned chicken breasts and brown on both sides.  as soon as they are browned, add about 1/4 cup of stock to the pan, scraping up the bits with a wooden spoon.  this will reduce and get thick, I promise.  when it does, add about the same amount of cider.  let this get thick again, and add a little more stock.  on the last time, instead of cider, add a couple of splashes of heavy cream.  by now, your chicken should be done and juicified.  slice chicken on the diagonal and top with sauce.  serve with raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

DISH recommends:

Gerber's all natural "amish raised" chickens.  No hormones, additives, or science junk.  just chicken.  all tasty. all the time. I think they even let them have beaks, OH BOY!

A Colon One

So, the other night I used my new pot to braise a chicken.  I forgot to take a picture.   Just know that it was crazy delicious.  I had a ton of meat left over and was wondering what I was going to do with all of it when I thought that making a galette would be a great idea.  My sister in law made one over the holidays that was pretty tasty.  her version was leeks and mushrooms.  Mine...well I wasn't sure what mine was going to be so I just kind of played jazz.  A couple of skee bop's and a shoobady doo later, I had made a pretty tasty filling. shredded chicken, caramelized onions, feta cheese, cottage cheese, eggs, spinach, salt and peps.  it kind of reminded me of spanikopita.  Also, I forgot to mention that I made the crust from a "Gourmet" magazine recipe.  I picked up a cookbook a while back on Gourmet magazine's best of the last 50 years or something.  they claimed that this crust recipe was especially delicious.  However, as usual, I had to improvise because their recipe was a little wonky (one version too small, one too big).  I did like that they combined both butter and shortening.  It made for a very flaky, tender crust.  will definitely use it again.  I would post some sort of recipe for this since it was so good, but I'm not even sure what i did really. hmmm...the world may never know. (ps...I hated that kid on the tootsie pop commercial.  I didn't like that smug owl either...not one bit.) 

Other newsworthy news:  ok, so I know a couple posts back I briefly mentioned a total body cleanse.  I never really followed that up did I?  that's what I thought.  well, the other day at work Martha said, "hey, have you ever looked up those testimonials on colon cleansing?"  My response was no, and I have to admit, I was more than intrigued.  I looked them up when I got home and they were pretty horrifying.  disgusting. etc. etc.  well, it really made me think, "wow, what if one of those terrible half jump rope half gila monster petrified turds is lurking in my deeps?"  I figured I had nothing to lose (well...) so I went to whole foods and bought this total body cleanse deal.  I was a little reluctant to try it, but so far, I feel better than I have in a long time.  it is supposed to clean your liver, kidneys, colon, etc.  I haven't had any CYE car wash moments yet, but we'll see what happens.  I still have a couple of weeks to go.  yeah, yeah.  I realize some of you might grimace or wince, but come on, you know what they say "death starts in your colon."  Or is that "death lurks in your colon?"  Hmmm, I'll have to get back to you on that one.

DISH recommends:

Yerba Prima Men's Rebuild Internal Cleansing.  They also have a women's version.  because you could swallow pipe cleaners, but there's no guarantee you'll get them back.

pps. I oiled my cutting board.  doesn't it look nice?

Just call me Aaron Burr...

I broke down and spent some christmas dough.  We went to omaha yesterday to exchange some things that wife had bought for me (which, by the way was a total loss because the JCrew store in omaha stopped carrying men's clothing!?!).  We did make a couple of extra stops at whole foods and sur la table.  oh, and also world market, which I had never been to.   I picked up an oval "Coq au vin" pot made by staub. It was 50% off! I couldn't believe it.  It is the yellow one in the picture on the left.  The picture to the right is my new pot and pan setup perfected by wife.  There was some serious organization going on yesterday (by her, not me:).  

speaking of what do you use a "Coq au Vin" pot for, it has come to my attention that there are people out there wondering just what to cook in a dutch oven.  Well, I guess my answer to that would be, "Lots of stuff."  I use mine for soups, stews, risottos, curries, roasts, etc.  The main thing I do with them is braise.  you cannot beat the performance of these for braising something.  here's your do:

take a whole chicken and cut it up into six pieces (you can also buy a cut up chicken if you are not hip to the breaking down of whole birds).  Season how you like (I like salt and peps, lemon zest, some herbage, and maybe some minced garlic) and brown in olive oil (in your dutch oven of course). you're using medium-low heat right?  you bet you are!  after browning, remove chicken pieces and set aside. (do not let the bottom of the pan burn, that means you have the heat too high.  you want a nice golden brown color on the bottom, this is called "fond" and adds lots of flavor to your final product)  at this point, I usually add some diced onion and whole garlic cloves, diced celery, and a bit more olive oil.  let these soften, then deglaze (pour liquid into hot pan, scraping up the browned tasties) your pot with your choice of liquid.  I would use something other than water, like stock/broth, beer, wine, vermouth, etc. then add the rest of the veg you want in there.  I would recommend some of these: carrots, potatoes, celery root, turnips, parsnips, tomatoes, mushrooms, etc.  season your veg liberally with salt and peps, and then add your chicken pieces back on top.  liquid should come up 3/4 of the way, so supplement if it does not.  throw this into a 350 F oven for about 1-1.5 hours and grab a chair, you'll need to sit down after the flavor explosion.

ps. you can separate the broth from the finished product and thicken it up with a roux or cornstarch slurry, if you'd like.  sometimes I do, if I am feeling like more of a gravy than a broth.  

DISH recommends:

Staub "Coq au Vin" 6 qt. Oval dutch oven.  Sur La Table. Omaha, Ne.  135 clams.  50% off.  Where are you going to find another deal like this??? Nowhere!  so get out there and get one!

Unlike blue jeans, TA gines, are not self-cleaning.

well, a lot has happened since last post.  Major kitchen revamp, a fruitful trip to o-town, and total body cleansing.  what????  oh, yes, it's true.  let's start with the food.  I made some pepper steak a few days ago.  always a quick and tasty dish.  I used sirloin steak, but really, I just use whatever is on sale.  basically, you get a cast iron super hot and throw in some veg/olive oil, (the veg oil raises the smoke point so you can add the olive, but not without the veg) thinly sliced onions and peppers (red, green, pasilla, whatever you have), garlic, super thin slices of beef, salt and peps, chili powder, cumin, coriander, cilantro, a little balsamic, and a little can of tomo sauce.  this will reduce quickly, and when that starts happening, I add beef broth, (splashes).  throw in some rice, and then just keep reducing and adding more broth.  yumsters.

Also, some get well soup was made for wifeshow.  she was feeling a little under the weather. that's whole wheat sourdough, not a baked potato.  Last night I used the new tagine for the first time.  We made a veggie tagine with potatoes, celery root, carrots, and cauliflower.  The sauce was sauteed onions, garlic and tomatoes, pureed with cumin, cinnamon, coriander, and curry powder.  it turned out pretty excellent.  I am pretty excited to cook a chicken in the tagine, but alas, that shall be another post.

DISH recommends:

Staub tagine: amazon.com???  I really couldn't find a match for the one I bought.  I got mine from TJMAXX.  duh.  anyway, I think I paid about 40 clams.  a great way to cook, things stay super moist and delicious.  highly recommended.