Tag Archive for 'pepper'

Sauerbraten

Published by Hal on January 29, 2008 in Hal's Hint and recipes. 2 Comments

Like I said a few nights ago, my wife has very German heritage, and we rather like German food. My wife’s family came over three or four generations ago, and brought some very German recipes over–last Christmas, one of her aunts even compiled some of them into a family cookbook. This particular one come from Stacie’s aunt Peg, whose note with the recipe reminds us that Stacie’s grandfather, Peg’s dad, loved this recipe.

I’ve not had the opportunity to make many of these family recipes, but I hope to be able to now that I’ve begun writing. I, too, have a book of family recipes that my aunts gave Stacie and me as a wedding present several years ago. We find, often times, that food is central to our family histories and certain dishes usually mean something incredibly special because of a particular memory or event associated with it. As I share these recipes, I’d love to hear of your family traditions and recipes.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of water
  • 2 cups of vinegar
  • 2 onions, sliced
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 10 whole cloves
  • 6 peppercorns
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 4 pound beef roast
  • 12-14 gingersnap cookies, crushed

Procedure

Combine the water, vinegar, onions, and spices/herbs in a big zip top bag. Shake to combine, then add the beef roast. Allow the roast to marinate for 2 to 5 days, turning daily.

After the roast has marinated, remove it from the bag. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brown the roast in a shallow sauce pan, in a small amount of fat, over medium heat. If your roast has a layer of fat, place the roast fat side down first. If you are using a standard pan, do not move the roast for at least five minutes, otherwise it will stick and tear. After five minutes, turn and allow another side to brown.

Remove the roast from the pan and strain the marinade. Add the strained marinade to the pan, whisking up all the brown bits from the bottom. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Add the roast back to the pan, cover, and place in the oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until it reaches the desired done-ness (about 140 for medium, 150 for medium-well; the temperature will increase about 10-ish degrees as the roast sits). Allow the meat to rest for at least 15 minutes before proceeding.

After the meat has rested, remove the roast from the pan and place the gravy over medium heat. Bring the gravy up to a bowl, and whisk in the gingersnap cookies to thicken the gravy. If you desire, you can sweeten the gravy with some sugar, to taste.

Hal’s Hints: Really, don’t move the meat once you place it in the pan to get brown. Second, this recipe makes a ton of food–6 to 8 servings. I cut it in half–if you do that, I recommend you bake for 45 minutes to an hour depending on desired done-ness. I also used apple cider vinegar because of its sweetness. You can use what ever you like the taste of, but I would stay away from distilled (no flavor) and balsamic (strange flavor) for certain.

Next–do you see those black flecks in the sauce, in the picture? Those are bits of yummy goodness from the browning process. Use a regular (not non-stick) pan and a metal whisk to whisk them up when you first boil the marinade. I have a non-stick cook set, but I just bought a regular saucier over the weekend with just this purpose in mind and it’s quickly becoming my favorite pan in the kitchen!

Finally, I don’t keep ginger snaps on hand as a matter of course, so I thickened the gravy with some corn starch. Bring the gravy up to a boil as directed. Combine 1 tablespoon corn starch with 1 tablespoon water (twice as much for the normal recipe). Then, whisk into the gravy and reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer for five minutes, then serve

Chicken & Corn Chowder

Published by Hal on January 29, 2008 in recipes and rotisserie chicken. 2 Comments

I went to a training today that made me realize that I really should have a privacy policy for this site. Initially, I didn’t because I didn’t think I collected any information about the visitors to the site, but then I realized that’s not so–I use Feedburner for my feed stats and Google Analytics for my site stats. These two programs tell me who is clicking on my material and how they got to this site. So, consider yourself disclosed :) I don’t know exactly who you are, I just know that someone from some where is coming here using some key words typed into Google.

So, the point of telling you all that wasn’t so much to give you notice as it was to share some really interesting things about how it seems you guys are coming by this site. Three of the most popular searches are for “how to chop basil,” “how to cook pin oats,” and “recipes with a rotisserie chicken.” Hating Paula Deen is up there, too, but since I actually like Paula Deen, I’m choosing to ignore that ;)

This tells me that I need to write more “How-to’s” (thinking about what to do next), find a recipe for pin oats besides oat meal (I’m working on it–it’ll probably be a cookie), and write some recipes with that crazy rotisserie bird. Who knew it would be so popular?

Well, I can satisfy one of these needs tonight. My wife and I picked up one of these little guys at the store yesterday for dinner last night, but we got side tracked and made something else instead (hopefully I’ll be able to tell you what in a few days). My wife is also not feeling too great, so I needed to come up with something with some nutrients and simple. Chicken soup came to mind–but, wait, I have all these root vegetables (including little potatoes), some whole milk I’ll probably never get to finish, and a shiny new saucier. Chowder-time!

Before tonight I was thinking that most chowders were potato based, but in doing a bit of research, that doesn’t seem to be the case–rather, it’s a thick soup, with heartily cut ingredients, made from whatever a cook had available. We associate it with clams and seafood in the US because of New England, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be so. In fact, I say this dish epitomizes the idea of chowder, since I took what ever I had on hand, threw it in a pot, and called it dinner!

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 1 celery rib, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 5 small potatoes (1 1/2″ diameter), halved, then quartered
  • 1 cup shredded chicken (from a rotisserie chicken)
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 1/2 cup frozen corn
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon fresh black pepper
  • 1/2 cup of whole milk

Procedure

Combine the oil and butter in the bottom of a 2 1/2 quart saucepan, over medium to medium-high heat. Once the butter has melted, add the onions, celery, and carrots. Cook until the onions are just starting to caramelize, then add the garlic and the potatoes. Cook until the potatoes begin to show color at the edges, stirring occasionally.

Add the chicken, chicken stock, corn, bay leaves, tarragon, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and allow the chowder to simmer for about 30 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender and begin to fall apart. Add the milk to the chowder, then stir to combine. Serve immediately.

Initially, I thought I was going to need to make a roux, but then I remember I was cooking with potatoes. Potatoes have enough starch in them to be a good thickening agent for whatever your cooking, especially if you cook them until about when they fall apart.

This recipe is really as simple as putting the ingredients in a pot and calling it dinner. What I loved about this is that it takes almost no effort, and the payoff is huge! This makes a delicious chowder, and feeds about four. Trust me when I say you don’t need anything else but a bowl of this for your dinner.

Recipes: Focaccia

Published by Hal on January 22, 2008 in recipes. 3 Comments

I apologize for not posting much over the last several days–we had a wedding back home, so I spent the weekend traveling. Then, we went over to a friend’s house for dinner last night and didn’t get home until late.

However, it was the weekend of great food! The wedding was held at the Krohn Conservatory, overlooking downtown Cincinnati. The couple had the reception catered by Jeff Thomas Catering, who came up with an ingenious way to design a menu. The bulk of the party was in three rooms at the Krohn: the southwest room, the bonsai room, and the floral display house. In these three rooms was a tacos/fajitas bar, a Southeast Asian bar, and a pasta bar, respectively. Everything was amazing, especially the Southeast Asian bar. The chicken curry was delightful!

Then, last night, we went to our friend, Sonia’s, house (hi, Sonia!), where she treated us to an assortment of yummy food. First, she doctored up some canned cream of mushroom soup with chickpeas and rice (a good tip, if you’re in a rush). Then, we had some chicken in aromatic rice, biryani, lentils, and flatbread. Finally, she ended with a perfectly cooked, deliciously lemony cheesecake. What a nice!

Anyway, I’ve been getting into baking lately, at the suggestion of my friend, Charli (hi, Charli!). Last week, I found a delicious recipe for focaccia, here, and it’s been a hit the three times I’ve made it. Of course, I took my own spin (on the directions at least). So, without further ado:

Focaccia

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
  • 1 teaspoon white sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 pinch ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup mozzarella

Directions:

  1. Proof the yeast with the water and the sugar.
  2. Meanwhile, combine the remaining dry ingredients. Use a whisk to distribute the herbs throughout.
  3. After the yeast has proofed (you can tell because the head will have more than doubled), stir the yeast/water mixture and the vegetable oil into the dry ingredients.
  4. Using the dough hook on your mixer, or just a wooden spoon, stir the ingredients until they come together into a ball.
    • If you’re doing this by hand, you can also just use your hands once you’ve got all the ingredients combined.
  5. Knead the dough about 20 times and form into a ball.
  6. Cover with a kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise for 20-30 minutes. (Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 450 degrees)
  7. After the dough has risen, turn it out onto a greased baking sheet. Then, flatten it to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.
    • You can make a rectangle, but the dough seems to want to be round. I just use a solid bottom pizza pan and make a round loaf.
    • I would not use one of those baking sheets that has two layers of metal with air between. You’ve seen them–they keep the bottom of cookies from browning too much. Problem is, they keep the bottom from browning, and you want a nice crust!
  8. Brush with the olive oil, then sprinkle the cheeses over the top.
    • The ingredients say mozzarella and parmesan, and you can use that, however it, would be like a pizza without cheese. The first time I made this, I used shredded (not grated) parmesan and romano cheese. My wife thinks this was much better.
    • Experiment with the toppings–I’ve been thinking of caramelized onion slices and sun-dried tomatoes.
  9. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the cheese is golden brown. Serve warm.

Frugal Friday: Preparing Your Own Skillet Meals in Advance

Published by Hal on January 19, 2008 in Frugal Friday. 0 Comments

This post is provided courtesy of the Simple Dollar. Trent doesn’t know it, but since all articles on his site are in the public domain, I’m yanking it for use here, while I’m traveling this weekend (which is also why this has been posted on Saturday–oops!). If you like this content, and you want to know more about personal finance from an everyman’s perspective, check out his site!  (Original source)

Many busy familes (even on occasion, our own busy family) often resort to prepackaged skillet meals in order to get a hot, prepared meal on the table quickly at dinnertime. With both parents getting home at five or later and a desire to get a meal on the table early enough so that there is some semblance of a family evening, it’s not surprising that the ease of preparation, the speed, and the relative healthiness of prepackaged skillet meals have become popular.

There are a few problems here, though:

Prepackaged skillet meals are often very expensive for what you get. Skillet meals are almost always at least $6 and often cost significantly more than that. Pick up five of them at once and you’re talking a bill of $35 or so. The food in the bag often adds up to less than a pound in total weight.

Such meals are often laden with preservatives and “industrial” ingredients. As a rule of thumb, if I don’t know what that ingredient is, I don’t like to eat it. Using that rule, pick up pretty much any prepackaged meal you can find and read that ingredient list. My stomach is flopping.

Such meals are often not very healthy in terms of fat, sodium, etc. These meals are designed to be tasty, not to be healthy. Based on the nutrition facts on these items, I’d have to say that most of them don’t worry about healthy too much at all.

I generally like most of the prepackaged skillet meal offerings, I just wish they were healthier - and preferably cheaper. As a frugal parent, I’d like to find a better solution to this situation. I’d like to have a healthy and tasty meal that I could prepare quickly.

My solution? Make a whole bunch of them in advance.

All you have to do is find a good skillet meal recipe, quadruple the recipe, prepare all of the ingredients, then fill four freezer bags with the meal. Then, when you’re ready to eat them, get that bag out of the freezer, thaw it, and then cook it in the skillet until it’s nice and warm. Done!

You can find countless skillet recipes online. My usual technique is to cook the meat in advance, then add all of the needed ingredients to the ziploc bags. Here’s an example:

Trent’s Beef and Vegetable Skillet Meal

The normal recipe involves the following:

3/4 lb. lean ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped green pepper
3 1/2 cups diced tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 cup peas (frozen ones are okay)
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup uncooked rice
1 1/2 cups water

I add everything but the ground beef to each bag. Then, I cook up three pounds of ground beef and drain it, then add a quarter of that beef to each ziploc bag. On the outside I write “beef and vegetable skillet - simmer 40 minutes” on masking tape (so I can reuse the bag for another meal later) and I toss the bags in the freezer.

When I come home, I get out a bag, run it under hot water for a bit so that I can easily get the contents out, then I put it in a skillet on high until it’s just barely boiling, then I drop the heat until it stays just barely boiling. I cook it for about forty minutes or so, then it’s ready to serve.

A similar philosophy applies for pretty much any skillet meal you might prepare. They all work pretty well.

Making skillet meals in advance actually makes for a great weekend afternoon project that saves money and helps you to eat healthier. The meal above is really healthy - it’s loaded with vegetables and, if you cook lean ground beef and properly drain it, it’s very low fat, too.

Plus, the ingredients all together cost only a bit more than one ordinary skillet meal. Compared to the cost of four typical skillet meals, the needed ingredients save about $15, and you can have the bags ready to go into the freezer in less than an hour. That’s $15 saved (compared to prepackaged skillet meals) even without considering the positive health effects - quite a bargain in my eyes.

Recipes: Chicken Tacos

Published by Hal on January 12, 2008 in recipes. 7 Comments

My wife and I don’t really plan a menu when we’re going to the grocery. I guess we do this because it allows for some spontaneity, but there comes a problem when we want to actually make something because we don’t always have the ingredients on hand.

On the flip side, this also means that we buy ingredients that we don’t have any clear plan for. By example, this week we bought a pound of chicken breast–no idea how we were going to use it, it just sounded good to me when we were at the market. Fortunately, it was mostly frozen when we got it home, and I don’t thaw things on the counter, so I had a few days to figure it out or refreeze the meat.

Last night, my wife suggested chicken alfredo. An alfredo sauce isn’t that hard to make, but I was tired (I had a great Thursday night!) so we were going to just buy a sauce in a jar and grill the chicken. On the way to store, I bagged out and we went to Fazoli’s instead. So, we still had this chicken that we needed to do something with.

Today, I’m downstairs, paying the bills, when my wife brings up the chicken. “We can make pasta for lunch,” she says (or something like it). I protested that pasta was too heavy, maybe we could make a grilled chicken caesar salad instead. She wasn’t thrilled about that, so I secretly planned to make the pasta and just serve a salad with it. But when we got to the store, something changed in the produce section:

“What about tacos?” she asked.

“What?” That came out of left field! She happened to see some diced onions and had the idea. So, away we went. I didn’t want to buy a packet of taco seasoning, so I took a quick gander to see if I could be inspired, and I was.

Ingredients:

  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/3 teaspoon tumeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 pound chicken breast
  • 7 ounces tomato sauce

Procedure:

Combine the spices in a small cup and set aside. Season the chicken breasts on both sides (I used a liberal amount of seasoned salt–you could use just pepper and salt, and that would be just fine). Heat about two tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium heat and add the chicken.

Cook the chicken until it’s done, turning once. Don’t move it, or it will stick! Turn it once–I’m serious! You’ll be rewarded with some nice, tasty carmelization! This should take about 10-15 minutes (5-7 minutes on each side), depending on how thick the breasts are.

Remove the chicken from the heat and allow it to cool. If you into them right away, the juices will run everywhere (drying out the meat) and you’ll get burned :). In the meantime, go make some rice, tea, wash some dishes, whatever–just don’t touch the chicken. I used the time to make some spanish rice and to prepare some pico de gallo

Once the chicken has cooled enough to handle, tear it into chunks. I used the help of a serrated knife, and chuck the chicken into chunks about 1/4 inch square. After the chicken has been shredded, add it back to a sauce pan, over medium heat. Add the tomato sauce and the spices and stir. Allow the mixture to get hot, and cook for about five minutes to allow the spices to cook and release their flavor.

Add 2-3 tablespoons of the mixture per taco. Serve with fresh pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, or your other favorite condiment! Makes about 12 tacos.

As a side note, this could be another use for a rotisserie chicken! The cooking is done for you, you just need to shred.

Another view (clockwise, from the top, Rice-a-Roni Spanish Style Rice, tortilla chips, and the main event, a chicken taco):

Leftovers: Beef Stew over Pumpkin Risotto

Published by Hal on December 16, 2007 in leftovers and recipes. 1 Comment

One of the best things about cooking at home is the next day and leftovers. This is also a great way to save money while you’re cooking–make it once, eat it twice!

I made a beef stew the other night and after a few days it got much better. I made Pumpkin Risotto last night. I needed something for lunch (and I’m still debating dinner) so I thought I would combine the two.

Basically, I put one serving of the risotto in a bowl, then covered it with the chunks of stew, then the stew liquid. I microwaved the bowl for 4 minutes at 60% power, sprinkled some shredded Parmesan cheese over the top, and this was the result:

Beef stew over pumpkin risotto

Yum!

What are your favorite left overs?