Our garden is producing like crazy. We put in six Swiss chard plants and only one made it. But, it's glorious. And, the romaine lettuce is so beautiful. Peas are coming on. We've got a few baby tomatoes. The mesclun mix is taking over. And, we've got almost a whole bed of arugula. A veritable bounty of veggies. Connie's been bugging me to please use the Swiss chard. I'd thawed a pound of lamb stew meat from our friend's at Viking Lamb to make Giggles, The Kitchen Witch's lamb stew for later this week. It's a dish that's better left overnight. That meant I still needed something for dinner... And, I really needed to be thinking about lunch too since what's left at the office is all frozen or canned.
I knew there was a lamb recipe in Carnivore (Michael Symon) that son David wanted me to make. My memory did not serve me well because I was convinced it was lamb stew. So, I hunted for the cookbook to compare that recipe to Giggles. Well, now, as I looked thru I saw a recipe for Orecchiette with Chorizo and Swiss Chard. Score. I didn't have chorizo but I did have about a pound of pulled pork. My guess was that I could toss about half a pound of that with the chorizo spices and be good to go. I went back to the chorizo recipe from Hoosier Mama. We made this a couple of months ago and totally loved it. And, since I was using pulled pork, I substituted pinto beans. There. I had a plan. Dinner for Sunday. Dinner for Monday. And, lunch for Monday was on it's way...
What did we think? We absolutely loved this. I wasn't sure the flavors would all work together but they certainly did. This was so easy to make and for us used mostly pantry ingredients or ingredients that could easily be substituted, my guess is it'll become one of our go-to meals.
Orecchiette with Chorizo and Swiss Chard
Ingredients:
1 lb dried orecchiette pasta (I used half as much)
1 lb fresh chorizo sausage, removed from the casing (see spices below if you're subbing pulled pork)
1 lb Swiss chard with stems, roughly chopped
1 c cannellini beans (I used pinto)
grated zest and juice of one lemon
1/2 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 c chopped fresh leaf parsley
2 T unsalted butter
1 T extra-virgin olive oil
spices I used for the pulled pork:
2 t sweet paprika
2 t finely chopped fresh oregano
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 t kosher salt
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1/2 t granulated sugar
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
1/4 t ground nutmeg
1 T red wine vinegar
Directions:
Start a large pot of water boiling. Once it's ready to go, add the pasta. Cook it for a couple of minutes less than the package directions. If you're using the chorizo, brown and drain it. If you're using the pulled pork, toss it with the spices and set it aside.
Either add the chopped Swiss chard to the chorizo or put a good drizzle of olive oil in a large skillet, heat it to shimmering and add the Swiss chard. Once it's wilted, add 1/4 c of the pasta water, the beans, pasta and butter.
If you're using pulled pork, add it at this time too. Cook all of that until the pasta is al dente. Then, remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the lemon zest and juice, the parsley, extra virgin olive oil and the parsley.
Basic recipe from Carnivore. Chorizo spices from Hoosier Mama Book of Pie
Yet another home run from Michael Symon. On his 15th wedding anniversary too :-) I know I've said this before but I'm going to say it again. 5 in 5 is a winner. This cookbook has so many wonderful, quick, easy, flavorful recipes. I'd really recommend adding it to your collection.
Friday was supposed to be my day to get a lot done. It wasn't happening. We had an audit in the morning. That went well since I'm pretty detail oriented about making sure that everything's in good order. But, after that the wheels fell off. My back and my belly hurt. I just wanted to be at home in my chair - or better yet on my couch. Lunch didn't happen. Needless to say, we went home early. And, by that time I was finally hungry. Connie made us a cocktail that was fabulous. I'll let him tell you about that. I wanted mac and cheese. So, I pulled out the Mac and Cheese cookbook by Ellen Brown and started hunting. I found a perfect one that Alton Brown had deemed the best mac and cheese in America. When I opened the fridge to get the cheddar cheese, there I was, looking at the chicken thighs that were supposed to be dinner. Hmmm. Do I serve mac and cheese as a side along with chicken thighs cooked with loads of yummy veggies or do I just load up on the mac and cheese? Healthy won out. And, I am certainly glad it did since the chicken was the winner of the evening.
The only change I'd make would be to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Try as we might we couldn't find boneless, skin on thighs. So, I used bone in, skin on. And, they released a veritable torrent of fat. I had to drain the skillet! Ok, so actually, I used the full sauce recipe for two thighs. That meant a whole bite of veggies with each bite of chicken. If I ever make four or six thighs, I'll double the sauce recipe. It was that good.
When it came to the mac and cheese, I used an old, faithful skillet. The cheese stuck. Not just a little. It took Connie about 10 minutes to scrape it. He finally came up with the idea of deglazing it with some white wine. That worked perfectly. So, whatever you do, don't use a skillet that's infamous for sticking!
Overall, the chicken was a five and the mac and cheese a four. Both were fabulous. The chicken is a super easy weeknight dish that will be a regular around here. Well, as regular as any dish - probably twice a year :-)
Chicken Diablo
Ingredients:
1 T olive oil
2 - 4 oz boneless, skinless chicken thighs
salt and pepper
2 garlic cloves, sliced or minced
1 red or green bell pepper
1 jalapeno minced (the recipe called for rings but I'm a baby...)
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
2 T capers, rinsed and drained
1/2 c roughly chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
Directions:
Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper.
Heat the olive oil to shimmering in a large skillet. Brown the chicken on both sides. Add the bell pepper, garlic and jalapeno and sauté until they're softened.
Add the tomatoes, juice and capers.
Cover the pan and simmer for 2 minutes. Serve sprinkled with the fresh parsley
adapted from 5 in 5 by Michael Symon
Skillet Fried Mac and Cheese
Ingredients:
1/2 lb macaroni
2 T unsalted butter
3 T chopped onion
1 bay leaf
1 T flour
3/4 c whole milk, warmed
2 T heavy cream, warmed
1/2 t Dijon mustard
8 oz, sharp Cheddar cheese, grated
salt and pepper
1 T olive oil
Directions:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni, reduce the heat and cook until al dente. Drain and rinse the macaroni.
While the macaroni is cooking, melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the onions and bay leaf and sauté until the onions are softened.
Stir in the flour. Cook for a couple of minutes until the flour is just slightly beige. Remove the bay leaf. Gradually add the milk/cream mixture, while stirring constantly. Cook the sauce until it's thickened. Add the mustard.
Gradually add the shredded cheddar.
Once all of the cheese has melted into the sauce, combine the sauce and macaroni.
Now, while all of the above is going on, heat a large skillet with the tablespoon of olive oil in it. Once the sauce and macaroni have been combined, pour them into the skillet. Smooth out the mac and cheese so the entire bottom of the skillet is covered.
Allow it to cook for three minutes before scraping the mac and cheese and crust off the skillet. Continue to cook it this way until more than 15% of the mac and cheese has a crust.
adapted from Mac and Cheese
One of my favorite tv chefs premiered his new cooking show last night - Michael Symon's Symon's Suppers. We've loved watching him on Iron Chef and pretty much anything else he's on. Not only does he cook like we do - lots of flavor - but he's got such a fantastic personality. Connie and I were both exhausted and staying up until 10:00 was a major effort. I know, what babies! Let me tell you, the show was well worth it! He made an incredible roasted chicken with salsa verde. Along side he did fried smashed potatoes. Oh, and a chocolate pudding cup. Dessert is not our bag. Roasted chicken is. And, smashed potatoes. Since we'd not been to the grocery in more than two weeks, it was time. We bought a chicken and some parsley and tarragon. Everything else we had.
Now, Friday night is date night for us. Connie used to play bridge on Fridays but has switched to Mondays. It means we actually get to either spend a lovely evening at home or go someplace fun like First Friday - a wander around some art galleries. Since we were supposed to have freezing rain staying home sounded like a MUCH better idea. And, since I didn't have to be at the office at the crack of dawn it didn't matter when we ate. Time to roast a chicken.
What did we think? This went together really easily. I actually made some gravy from the pan juices. We didn't need it. Let me tell you about the salsa verde. Connie loves mustard. I love gravy. No, in both cases the word is LOVE. Connie says, "This is almost as good as mustard." I'm pretty much doing a Meg Ryan on my side of the table. The salsa verde is seriously good. It could be used for many dishes. Connie was worried that it'd be too spicy with the jalapeno and crushed red pepper. Nope. It was perfect. The only problem was the recipe called for the chicken to be pulled from the oven to rest when the thigh reached 160F. That meant the legs and breast were undercooked. I wound up putting the roughly chopped chicken back in the oven for 12 minutes to cook it through. My advice would be to aim for 170F. When we finally had fully cooked chicken, we loved this dish. Another note - the recipe called for salting the chicken then refrigerating it overnight. I didn't have that luxury. I don't think it suffered a bit for the lack of the overnight salting.
Along with the chicken, Michael deep fried smashed potatoes in bacon fat. He said that was his favorite fat. I declared mine to be duck fat so mine were drizzled with duck fat and roasted. They wound up brown and crispy and fantastic. They're very easy to make. Just boil potatoes until they're smashable, smash them, drizzle them with duck fat. Then, top with some salt and freshly ground pepper and roast them for about 20 minutes.
Connie would like for me to try them deep fried in duck fat. I don't think that's on the menu. But, drizzled and roasted. Absolutely!
Roasted Chicken with Salsa Verde
Ingredients:
4-5 pound chicken
1 lemon, thinly sliced and seeded
2 fresh bay leaves
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 small onion, quartered
1 small bunch fresh thyme
2 T olive oil
for the salsa verde:
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
2 T capers, chopped
2 T fresh tarragon, chopped
1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes
2 anchovies, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
grated zest and juice of one lemon
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 shallot, minced
salt and freshly ground pepper
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 425. Rinse and dry the chicken. Gently lift the skin from the breast. Tuck in lemon slices and the bay leaves.
Into the cavity put the rest of the lemon slices, the onion quarters, the garlic cloves and the thyme. (I left the thyme out and didn't miss it in the least.)
LIberally salt the chicken. Slather the chicken with the olive oil. Bake it at 425F until the temperature in the thigh measures 170F.
While the chicken is roasting make the salsa verde. Combine all of the ingredients and set aside to allow the flavors to marry.
Remove the chicken from the oven and allow it to sit for 10 minutes so the juices can redistribute. Serve with the salsa verde.
