Chicken, Carrot, Kalamata Olive Pasta Salad

This started as a what-do-I-have-on-hand meal. I wanted to run get some feta, but we decided that would defeat the purpose and could be added to the leftovers later. It had a very nice flavor and was pretty simple. We ate it warm, but I'm pretty certain that it would be good cold as well. *update - yep good cold, too*

My sister adopted an olive tree for me for Christmas last year. Nudo sent a very nice package including a description and picture of my tree, as well as a spring pressing package of olive oil and a fall flavored package. The olive oil was outstanding and I totally need to re-up my adoption as well as order some extra. I highly recommend this gift for any foodie friends or yourself. Caution, you may wind up wanting to drink the olive oil.

3 chicken split breasts

olive oil

kosher salt

paprika

fresh ground pepper

3/4 c. pitted kalamata olives, sliced

3/4 c. sliced baby carrots

3/4 c. Italian Parsley, chopped

1.5 c. penne pasta

1 shallot, chopped

2 tbsps olive oil

4 tbsps champagne vinegar

1/8 tsp ground mustard

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

3/4 tsp murray river salt

Preheat oven to 400. Season chicken with salt, paprika, and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 40 minutes or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 170.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add penne, cook for 6 minutes, add carrots cook another five minutes. Drain, add to large bowl.

Shred chicken with fork, add to pasta. Add, parsley and olives. In a small bowl, combine olive oil, vinegar, mustard, pepper, salt, and shallots. Stir then pour over pasta dish. Serve warm or cold.

Chicken Marsala with Cremini Mushrooms

Food can bring back memories, and memories can bring back food. I went to a wedding once, not one of my finer moments. The wedding was for one of my now husband's cousins. At the time, I was busy having a nervous breakdown about the fact that I was still not engaged and being asked to step out of family pictures. My husband is from a very Italian family. His uncle is a deacon in the Catholic church, and this wedding was for the eldest of his four daughters. So aside from the fact that I was totally inappropriately dressed (dress too red, too dressy, and too revealing to boot), somehow in my anger/sadness/worry about my impending need to dump my boyfriend because he wouldn't propose, I had a bit too much to drink. The meal was catered by another Italian friend, and the entree was Chicken Marsala. I don't think I'd ever had chicken Marsala before, but in my memory, it was delicious. The next morning, I wasn't so sure.

Anyhow, that night is not one I've often liked to revisit over the years. As we close in on a decade since the event, I suddenly had the desire to attempt my own chicken Marsala. I love that my husband is from a very Italian family. I've always joked that I'm a first generation American. Not that *I* emigrated here, but our lineage is becoming such the melting pot, I don't even know what to call myself other than American. My mother is quite the genealogist and would assure you that this is not true, and that we have very specific western European lineage, but combine that with my dad and it's all pretty muddled at this point. When my husband's grandfather was dying, I cooked a lot of meals for him. It was the only thing I knew how to do, the only way I knew how to contribute. I'd try to cook things he liked or asked for, but a renal diet is rather challenging. But I think Grandpa would have liked this chicken Marsala. Not that he was picky with me, he mainly said everything I cooked was wonderful. In fact once he joked that I could cater my own next wedding. (Which I definitely do not plan on having!)

So I completely spaced out when planning what to serve with this dish. I completely forgot about pasta all together. After ruling out couscous (we had it last night) and black beans (totally inappropriate) I settled on lentils. The husband and kids liked it, but the sauce would have been much more suited to pasta.

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts, butterflied, then pounded thin
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
flour
olive oil
5 tbsps butter, divided
16 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 cups dry Marsala wine
1 cup chicken stock
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice
chives for garnish

Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Dredge each in flour in a shallow bowl. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat, add 2 tbsp olive oil, then 1 tbsp butter. Shake excess flour from chicken, then brown in skillet, about 3-4 minutes per side, minding your heat and adding additional olive oil to your chicken to keep the flour browning. Only cook about 3 chicken pieces at a time. When browned, remove chicken to plate and set aside.

Add 1 tbsp butter to skillet then add mushrooms. Cook over medium high heat about 6-8 minutes or until liquid has released, and mushrooms begin to brown. Add Marsala wine and bring to a boil. Cook until reduced by half. Add chicken stock, garlic, lemon juice, and remaining 3 tbsps of butter. Cook 4 more minutes, then add chicken back to skillet. Cover and cook 6-7 minutes, turning once. Serve over pasta and garnish with chives.

Pancetta Wrapped Pork with Couscous and Herb Salad

I am suffering from a severe lack of creativity over here. Maybe it's because it was my birthday last week, maybe it's because my husband's been sick, maybe I'm just bored. In any case, I'm feeling to lazy at the moment to really whip up any of my own inspired meals. On the upside, sometimes it's good to simply follow someone else's recipes because you learn things you can incorporate into other dishes later.

Tonight I'm making a pancetta wrapped pork loin I found on Martha Stewart's website. Martha actually has a couple of versions of the same thing on her site, but this is the one I liked the best. The little onions for example, unpeeled? Really? I was anxious to see how they turned out and really shocked to see them on the serving platter. Are they just for decoration? Edible? Do they turn out like roasted garlic, all squishy in the center, good on toast? (They looked cool, and peeled like roasted garlic, but tasted kind of bleh, IMO.)

I also like the sauce base for this recipe, used in place of a roux. Equal parts of fat and flour used to thicken broth. But instead of cooking the fat and flour, then adding the liquid, you're adding it after reducing the liquid. It should thicken and make a nice basic sauce. (Sauce had great color and was a very nice addition. )

Of course everything seems to be thwarting me these days. The grocery was out of rosemary. I thought about emailing some friends to ask if anyone had an out of control rosemary bush I could pilfer a few branches from, but instead trucked it to another grocery store. I'm frustrated that I don't have a real outdoor herb garden. I used to have one, but somehow, my life got stuck on permanent pause when I moved here, and I just can't manage to get a life plan together and actually start living instead of merely planning, debating, pondering, then starting the vicious cycle all over again. And I hate my kitchen. Perhaps I should go back to work so I could buy myself a nice kitchen. Of course than I wouldn't have any time or energy to use it. Yet another conundrum. Ack. I promise to try to be back on top of the world tomorrow.

The recipe is definitely pretty. But as for basting with the juices, mine had no juices. Of course, my pancetta was a little thin as it was the prepackaged stuff, since the neighborhood grocery doesn't carry it in the deli. If it were thicker, I am certain it would render more fats and juices. Even without basting, the end result was very good. I give the recipe a very high ranking.

1.5 lbs boneless pork center loin

kosher salt

fresh ground pepper

olive oil

2 tbsps finely chopped fresh rosemary, plus several sprigs

1/3lb pancetta or bacon, thinly sliced

10-12 small pearl onions, unpeeled

1 tsp butter, softened

1 tsp flour

1 c. chicken stock

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Season pork with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Sear pork on all sides until browned, about 10 minutes total. Remove from heat.

Rub pork with chopped rosemary. Wrap with pancetta, overlapping strips slightly. Use toothpicks to secure pancetta, if necessary. Place a rosemary sprig on top; tie pork with kitchen twine, and remove toothpicks. (I didn't use twine or toothpicks, a benefit of using very thinly sliced pancetta) Return pork to skillet. Scatter onions and rosemary sprigs around pork. Roast in oven, basting occasionally with cooking juices, (see above concerning my results) until it reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from oven. Transfer pork and onions to a platter; cover to keep warm.

Make pan sauce: In a small bowl, combine butter and flour. Place skillet over medium heat. Add stock, scraping bottom of skillet to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil; reduce liquid slightly, about 2 minutes. Whisk in butter mixture; cook until thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Slice pork, and drizzle with sauce.

Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting

Yesterday was our friend's 30th birthday. Her favorite cupcakes are all strawberry, all the time. I like strawberries but generally stray from things flavored with/by strawberries. After preschool, I drove past the Sprinkles cupcakes, thinking how conveniently it is located. But then I remembered I'd have to take two kids out of carseats, drag them into a store full of over-priced sugar, wait in line, then purchase 12 of the $4 a piece cupcakes. So I shook off that image, came home, hit google and voila! Martha Stewart had a recipe for Sprinkles' Strawberry cupcakes!

I think I may become a baker yet, y'all! After I made the batter, I decided to take a small taste. Salmonella be damned! WOW! There really aren't enough explanation points in the universe to show my excitement over this batter. This was so easy and the result was delightful. The cupcakes came out very fluffy and light and the frosting was delicious. I did add an extra tablespoon of strawberry and an extra half cup of powdered sugar to the original recipe, just to give it that extra strawberry kick.

For those of you without preschool aged children, there's this crazy food allergy phenomenon going on these days. When I was a child, home-baked/homemade food was strictly forbidden due to concerns about food handling procedures or possibly that some rouge parent was going to try to poison their children's friends or other such madness. Well luckily, the pendulum has swung. Luckily in some ways I guess. I'm thrilled that schools are back to trusting parents sanity and personal responsibility, and what's better than homemade foods? But the reasoning is almost crazy. Apparently there isn't a bakery in town that can guarantee a peanut free environment. So store bought goods are now strictly forbidden. Anyway, I should total start advertising at the school. Need some homemade cupcakes? Call me! I'll be happy to bake them with the finest ingredients. Peanut free!

You can find the recipe for these delightful cupcakes here.

Vegetable Soup

Last night I had the pleasure of dinner by myself with a glass of wine and a book. This is *very* unusual and was most welcome. I've always enjoyed dining by myself. I like to go to restaurants by myself as well. Sometimes I really miss the days when I was working and I'd go hide at Houston's for lunch because it was highly unlikely anyone from my office would come looking for me there. No, I didn't have any business eating lunch at an expensive restaurant like that. It probably took me the whole day's pay to make up for my lunch. But it was divine. These days, I make no money and generally travel with an entourage of toddlers. Plus sometimes my husband works from home, and he'd totally bust me for extravagant lunches like that.

Last night while the kids watched Aladdin for the 10 billionth time, I hid in the dining room with my dinner, glass of wine, and book. Which also has totally made me make the jump from vampires to faeries. I finished Wicked Lovely in one day mainly because I am obsessed. Granted it is also a young adult novel, but I love the escapism.

As for the blackeyed peas, you can use fresh or dried that you've soaked overnight after cooking them in water for about an hour. Just don't put them in your ham stock raw. Or you can use canned, but I'd rinse them first.

Vegetable Soup

Leftover shank bone from ham, with some meat still attached

Water

large white onion, sliced

1 lb of carrots, peeled and sliced

6 stalks of celery, sliced

2 c. cooked blackeyed peas

8 small red potatoes, peeled and sliced into thin discs

40 or so ounces canned diced tomatoes

22 ounces canned whole kernel sweet corn

salt

pepper

cayenne

Place ham bone in stock pot, cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook 3 hours or so, the longer the better. Remove ham bones with a slotted spoon. Add blackeyed peas, carrots, celery, onion, cook 30 minutes. Add potatoes cook, 10 minutes, add tomatoes and corn, cook another 20 minutes. Season to taste, serve with grilled turkey and cheddar sandwiches.

Brisket with Family Recipe Barbque Sauce

My sister, Amelia, started me making my own brisket. I just don't really remember anyone making briskets growing up in the midwest. I don't even remember hearing the word brisket until I came to college in the great state of Texas. My family has long been barbecue seekers and connoisseurs, but we tended to stick with ribs and chopped beef sandwiches and pulled pork as our staples. In retrospect, I guess that chopped beef came from brisket mixed with sauce, I just don't remember seeing it sliced. My favorite brisket for the record, is the extra moist at Rudy's. And though I like their sauce, it's not my favorite, I'm not sure I've found a sauce in Texas worthy of a favorite. My godmother sometimes brings this Alabama barbecue to the beach with a super thin almost like vinaigrette consistency sauce that I love. And though it's been a long time since I've had it, I have fond memories of Show Me Barbecue sauce.

I finally made the family recipe for my husband and he loved it so much he said, "Bottle it and Sell it." When asking my mama for permission to post the family recipe here, she said, "If Cory likes it so much, why *don't* you sell it, Lane?" Well, I'm pretty sure that it would be totally cost-IN-effective to sell something made from so many already commercially produced products and not raw ingredients. And how on earth would I list my ingredients on the label to meet USDA requirements? I'm pretty sure A-1 Sauce, is not a valid "ingredient." So our family sauce is added to my list of products to re-engineer. Perhaps once I pull off a successful re-engineered version from the basics, I will sell it! But until then, I recommend this method for deliciousness.

8 lb beef brisket
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
paprika
olive oil
white onion, cut into rings
2 Fat Tire beers
1 tsp brown sugar

Season brisket with salt, pepper, and paprika. Cut into two pieces if necessary to fit in your pans. In a large, heavy bottomed pan, heat olive oil on medium high heat. Brown brisket thoroughly on all sides, raising and lowering your heat as needed, to reduce smoking and increase browning.

Cover the bottom of your crock pot with the onion rings. Place browned brisket on top, pour over two beers and sprinkle with brown sugar. Cover and cook on higher heat settings for six hours or more. If your liquid amount seems really full, cook with the lid off for last 45 minutes.

Family Barbecue Sauce

1/2 c. Worcestershire
1/2 c. ketchup
1/2 c. A-1 Sauce
1 c. water
1 c. tomato sauce
1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp brown sugar

Add all ingredients in a sauce pan and cook on low for 20-30 minutes.

Flank Steak With Herb Sauce

This was the week for revisiting recipes I've already blogged about. Maybe I just wasn't feeling creative, but I think I just wasn't feeling on my A-Game. Anyway, we had a great week of food, and luckily all the repeats turned out better the second time around. In early March, I blogged about my experiment using top round steak in place of flank steak. The meat was tough and blah and I was disappointed. I went back to my usual flank steak this time, with great results. In that round, I plated the meal poorly as well as drowned it in sauce, cause I was trying to overcome my meat. This was much better. The meat was tender and juicy and the sauce complementary instead of dominating.

Flank Steak is cooked opposite of the way you normally cook steaks on a grill. The goal is to avoid grill marks, as you don't want your flank steak to curl up and cook unevenly.

Flank Steak

Olive Oil

Kosher Salt

Fresh Ground Pepper

Yep, that's it. All you need. Rub your flank steak in olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat your grill pan on medium high heat. Add flank steak, then turn every couple of minutes, rotating the meat to avoid grill marks. The whole process takes around 10 minutes. Cook to an internal temp of 135, then move to a cutting board and let the meat rest for a full 15 minutes. Cut against the grain, and serve topped with the herb sauce.

Herb Sauce

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp salt

1/2 a bunch flat leaf parsley, stems trimmed, finely chopped

7 sprigs of fresh mint, leaves removed, chopped

3 tbsps. capers

15-20 pitted Nicoise or Kalamata olives, chopped

1 tsp anchovy paste, optional
olive oil

In a small bowl, combine garlic and salt. Mash with a fork to make a paste. Add parsley, mint, capers, anchovy paste, and olives. Cover with olive oil and stir. Let stand at least 30 minutes for flavors to combine. Serve on flank steak.

Banana Bread Experiment with Yogurt Substitution for Sour Cream Experiment

I found time to get in touch with Robert Shimmin concerning my banana bread yougurt substitution experiment. If you followed that link, you'll notice it takes me to my domain instead of the normal blogspot address. Now that I've gotten going with this blog, I've realized I really should have had it at my own domain and using wordpress software instead of blogger. So in an effort to minimize my correction of links, I'm going to start pointing you over there. The theme or layout is ugly, and in my computer dorkiness fashion, I've decided to code my own theme, so that's in the works and I'll soon be back to my black background and a better layout.

Back to the experiment, Robert explained the science perfectly, so I'm going to quote his answer to my original question. When baking and substituting yogurt for sour cream, why it suggested to add an extra tsp of baking soda per cup of yogurt?

You add extra baking soda to the yogurt because yogurt is more acidic than sour cream, and so you're adding some extra base to balance it out.

Details: Whole milk that hasn't been homogenized will separate into milk and cream. Cream is the fat rich phase, milk is the water rich phase. Milk sugars are water soluble, so they mostly stay in the milk. (If you're curious, look at the nutritional info on cream sometime. Not much sugar in there.)

Sour cream is cream fermented with lactic acid bacteria. Yogurt is milk fermented with lactic acid bacteria. The bacteria eat sugar. The lactic acid is their waste product, and it curdles the milk. Milk contains more sugar than cream, so afterward, yogurt contains more lactic acid than sour cream.

Whole milk yogurt is a good baking substitute for sour cream. Low-fat and nonfat yogurt is a brand-by-brand experiment, because I have no clue which of the various thickening agents used in them stand up to the oven.

And there we have it. My results of course weren't as I expected. Isn't that always the way with science? So I have a few theories on why it went wrong. First and foremost though, what went wrong. 1) The batch with extra baking soda did not rise as well. 2) The batch with baking soda tasted like soap. Well not awful, but had soapy backnotes. It's possible that the original recipe is wrong and had too much baking soda to sour cream ratio or that my oven is funky (messing up the rise - in retrospect whenever I make 2 zucchini breads, one always rises a little better), but at the end of the day, in this recipe, if you sub the sour cream for yogurt, leave the baking soda alone. Also, I used 1% fat yogurt - Mountain High brand - and that held up. The normal 1 tsp of baking soda tasted great.

Did you ever wonder how the original cooks came up with bread baking in the first place? I think about that every single time I bake. Cooking seems fairly intuitive to me, but baking, really? Hmmm... I guess I'll throw some of these flours and sugars and fats together and tweak it until the whole is better than the sum of it's parts... I am awed by the original bakers.

Chicken Avgolemono: Round 2 With Gusto

I wrote a post on Chicken Avgolemono back in March. I'm remembering not being pleased with the way my sauce turned out and more than likely due to a messed up bedtime during the point of critical mass. This sauce is really delicious but takes focus and concentration like a gravy. Actually, it doesn't so much take focus, but constant stirring and occasionally paying attention to the heat and the thickness. I love that it's so light yet it feels totally decadent and creamy. I also remember being displeased with my picture, and in retrospect, I can see why! We were thrilled with the taste of tonight's dish and I liked the plating better. Check the link above for the recipe. The only things I did differently tonight were using 3 lbs chicken breasts instead of tenders, and I left out the broccoli. I wished I had asparagus on hand, but I didn't. To make up for the increase in chicken, I used about 3 cups of chicken stock, 5 eggs and 6 tbsps of lemon juice. But we have tons of leftover sauce, so that really wasn't necessary. If you can tell the color change in the sauce on this round, that's totally due to my doing a better job on browning my chicken from the get go. Cheers!

Egg White Omlets with Ham, Cheese, and Fresh Herbs

So you know you spend too much time in the grocery store when...

Last week I got busted by the Kenneth type grocery sacker doing a little dance to the bad elevator mix in the laundry detergent aisle. Our neighborhood grocery is two stories, so while I was alone in the aisle, "Kenneth" was looking from above on the mezzanine level. When some one called out, "Hey, I like this song too!" I was mildly embarrassed, but chalked it up to the over exuberance any mother feels on a preschool day.

Today we divided and conquered after nap time. I took the baby, my 2.5 year old bundle of joy little boy, who'd been exhibiting Excorsist worthy post-nap behavior. We did well on the quick drive over, and my spirits were lifted when I pulled him out of his carseat. On our way in the grocery, spring-like, atrium inspired music met my ears, and I began to bounce involuntarily with the beat.

TO MY FLIPPING DISMAY, I suddenly realized - holy hell, this is a Paris Hilton song. Yep, same song in exhibit A and B, Paris freaking Hilton. On a mix loop version. Jeez. I wish I could safely use stronger expletives. I am now the least cool person on the block. scratch that in the city. scratch that in the universe. WOW.

Anyway, when grocery planning this morning, my stomach began to crave food. Good food. And I realized, though I am not a morning person, hey! It's noon! The stove can be my friend. So I whipped up some omelets including last weeks ham leftovers. And chives from my aerogarden (though bestowing us many fresh herbs, mine doesn't look quite that balanced). I *might* decide to like breakfast food if it could consistently be made at noon. Heck, we nearly ran out of coffee today and the end result was not pretty, unless you like things thrown at your head.

Egg White Omelet

5 egg whites

olive oil

3 tbsp finely chopped ham

1.5 tbsp chopped sauteed white onion

2 tbsp finely shredded cheddar

1/2 tsp fresh chopped chives

1 pinch Murray River Salt - if you follow the link scroll below, I used to put my thoughts at the end of the recipe

Whisk egg whites with a fork. In a skillet over medium heat, heat 1 tbsp olive oil. Pour egg whites into skillet. Cook for 3-4 minutes until bottom looks firm, yet surface still looks like raw egg whites. Add ham, sauteed onion, and cheddar to one half of eggs, cook for another 2 minutes. Use spatula to loosen non-topped egg side from skillet. Balance and watch. When there is too much oil, you can see the egg bubbling and oil around all the edges. When there's NOT enough oil, your egg sticks to the skillet and your spatula has troubles sliding underneath. When it's just right, you see no oil, but the egg is not sticking. Err on the side of too little. When you have to little oil, gently add oil to the edges of egg slowly, then gently squish your spatula underneath to spread the oil. That will gently ease the oil underneath. Gently fold over half onto toppings, wait 30 seconds. Slide the fold side edge to the edge of skillet, use a *fish spatula to scoop omelet onto plate. Top with fresh chives.

*when I went to make the link on this tool, what I have is no longer manufactured. What I'm referencing is a wider than long spatula. I will photograph mine and look for a new site to update purchase options, but I guess mine no longer exists. bummer.

Ready to Cook Ham

Around Christmas and Easter, and a few other times, you can find ready to cook hams in the grocery. They come in a shank portion and a butt portion. I go with the shank portion because it has less gristle and is easier to carve. A ready to cook ham has been wet cured and needs to be cooked to reach an internal temperature of 160.

Ham also definitely falls under my budget meals category. This 8 pound ham cost just over 10$. Sometimes it's more than that, I've paid double or triple, but this is still a good price. An 8lb ham serves about 15 dinner size servings, and the bone provides a wonderful base for blackeyed pea soup or vegetable soup. The price per serving of this meal was literally about $1.25. Of course we'll need to be committed to eating ham sandwiches for the next while, but who doesn't love a jambon-beurre sandwich?

8 lb ready to cook ham
water

In a glass pan, place rinsed ham, then add about an inch of water to the pan. Cook in an oven preheated to 325. Needs to cook for about 18 minutes per pound to an internal temperature of 160.

To carve, slice thin slices down to bone, then cut along bone to free slices. Turn ham to other side and repeat. Save shank bone in freezer for later use.

Tortilla Soup

Everyone seems to have their own version for tortilla soup. Some are thick, some are thin, some are creamy, some are brothy, some are red, some are green. This one's mine. Without the fried tortilla strips, this soup wouldn't be much. It would still taste good, but the tortilla strips make the meal.

I don't think I'd ever had tortilla soup before I moved to Texas, but it is prolific here. You can adjust the spiciness to your liking, and optional toppings include avocado strips, cilantro, fresh lime, and shredded cheese.

For the fried tortilla strips, take caution in heating your oil to the proper temperature. Frying at a lower temperature results in extra oil absorption, 375 really is the perfect temp. I generally use canola oil for frying, for reasons I've discussed here. But you could also fry in another oil with a high smoke point like peanut oil, grapeseed oil, sunflower or safflower oils to your liking.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
1 whole chicken
4 split breasts with skin
5 stalks celery chopped
1 large or 2 small yellow onions, diced (not sweet, or maui, but yellow - white will work if you can't find them)
3/4 of a 1lb bag of baby carrots
4 cloves whole garlic
1-2 tsps crushed red pepper
1 diced yellow onion ( this is not a repeat it's for a separate step)
2 tsp oregano leaves
2 cloves garlic
4 bay leaves whole
1/2 a jalapeno, seeds removed and finely chopped
1 1/2 large cans diced organic tomatoes - get the most expensive kind at the grocery - it doesn't cost that much more - but adds alot - if you can find the ones in glass instead of canned - even better
10 tortillas
a whole bunch of canola oil

I use an 8qt stock pot - but really I wish I had a bigger one

I use a leftover roasted whole chicken. I roast a lot of chickens, and we only eat the breasts so this is essentially a whole chicken sans breasts. Before I roast it I add 4 garlic cloves, 1 lemon quartered, 2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper to the inside. After I make it and serve it, I throw the whole thing in a bag in the freezer and it will keep for several months if needed.

Pull the chicken from the freezer, put in pot, add split breasts, cover with water and add 1 1/2 tbsps salt. Cover, bring to a boil, then turn heat to medium and cook for at least an hour - the longer the better. Add celery, onions, carrots, garlic, and red pepper. Cook for another hour at least. Really you can't over cook this, use as much time as you can gather.

Saute onion in a separate pan in olive oil - about 2 swirls. Keep it on medium high, but watch it to make sure you don't burn your onions. Cook til soft and translucent, probably 10 minutes. Halfway through, season with salt, pepper and oregano. Add garlic, jalapeno, and bay leaves, saute for 3 more minutes. Add tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and cook for 4-5 more minutes. Turn off heat.

Remove chicken from soup to a large bowl. The longer you've cooked it the more it will be falling apart, so you will need to carefully go through the soup with a slotted spoon to get all the pieces. Discard everything but your split breasts. Pull the bones and skin from the split breasts and shred chicken. It will be very easy and just fall apart.

Add tomato and onion mixture to stock, then add shredded chicken. Stir and let simmer for 20-30 min then taste and adjust seasonings.

In a large, heavy bottom skillet add about an inch to an inch and a half of canola oil. Heat until 375 - this is vital, if you don't have a thermometer, heat for 8 min on high then start testing with teensy pieces of tortilla. You want it to instantly bubble heavily when added. Cut tortillas into strips. Add a about 10-15 at a time to oil and turn occasionally, frying until golden. Remove to plate covered with paper towels and salt immediately with sea salt. Repeat. Watch your heat, at some point, you will have to reduce the heat from high to med-high. You can tell when the tortillas start browning nearly immediately or if your thermometer reads over 400.

Serve soup with tortilla strips on top. You can also garnish with avocado slices and cilantro if you so choose, but I never go to the trouble, of course I don't really like those.

Whole Roasted Chicken with Sauteed Cabbage

Last week Central Market had whole chickens on sale for an absurd price. Actually whole chickens are often very inexpensive and provide the base for an additional soup meal. You know how people always talk about how much money you can save cooking at home instead of eating out? If you ate like this every day, you would. I like to experiment, so I'm not sure that we save any money in the long run, but we eat well and I can control everything that goes into our bodies. This dinner fed the four of us, plus leftovers for the kids school lunches for a grand total of about $8. And I could have made that under $5 by using bulk rice or lentils or another bulk grain instead of the Near East boxed couscous. That link is to the Roasted Garlic and Olive Oil flavor instead of the Herbed Chicken shown in the picture. We grabbed the wrong box from the grocery likely while trying to wrangle small toddlers from tearing open the dried beans to pour all over the aisle.

Cabbage costs absolutely nothing, like 79 cents or something. The secret to mine is sauteing in a tiny bit of bacon grease. Yumm. Cabbage is a cruciferous vegetable, like broccoli, kale, and brussel sprouts. If you clicked on that link and read any of it, it seems to prevent nearly every kind of cancer with amazing results.

Make sure you save your chicken carcass for a soup base, I'm making tortilla soup with mine.

Whole Roasted Chicken

3.5 lb whole chicken
1/2 of a small lemon, cut into quarters
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed a little
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
paprika
olive oil

Preheat oven to 400. Rinse chicken, remove any giblets and pat dry. Put salt and pepper in chicken cavity. Place lemon and garlic cloves inside chicken cavity. Place chicken on a rack in a roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle with paprika, kosher salt, and fresh ground pepper. Cook for approx 16 minutes per pound, though check to ensure chicken reaches an internal temperature of 160. Let rest for 10 minutes then carve and serve.

Sauteed Cabbage

1/2 head of green cabbage, sliced thinly
1/2 tbsp bacon grease
kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

In a cast iron skillet, warm the bacon grease over medium heat. Add cabbage and saute until cabbage turns a bright green and softens about 7 minutes.

Super Thin Crust Pizza

I grew up near the best pizza restaurant in the the free world. Agatucci's is unlike any other pizza I've ever eaten and has such a place in my heart, I've regularly considered moving back to the midwest just so I could eat it more frequently. I periodically have bursts of intense homesickness and have to plan a trip all brought forth from just thinking about this pizza. I took seriously amateur dance and gymnastics across the street as a kid and my best friend's grandmother lived in the neighborhood behind the restaurant. It is such a place of memories for me, it brings tears to my eyes.

If you clicked through to that link for Agatucci's above, you no doubt read the restaurant has been handed down between four generations of sons. What lucky sons! I know restaurants can be all-consuming of your time, energy, and resources, but I envy anyone who has a "family business." Let alone in food!

I'm going to try and go with a two picture method today to point out some unique characteristics of this style of pizza. Please try to ignore my 10 million year old oven in the background. One day, a gourmet kitchen and I will come together in bliss. And yes, I broke my oven thermometer in the pizza making process, hence its disheveled appearance in the background. My oven has a mind of its own and suddenly started heating 35-45 degrees hotter than the setting this year.

So key items to note include: toppings go nearly edge to edge, this crust is so thin, the pizza is cut in small rectangles instead of triangles, the tiger sauce in the first picture, and the baking apparatus. I used a yeastless dough recipe, cause in this style you really don't want your crust rising at all. I've no idea if this is how Agatucci's does it, it's just my attempt at recreation of greatness. I was pleased with the consistency of the dough and the texture. I mentioned last week that I'd asked Agatucci's how they baked their pizza and they'd told me no pan just direct in the oven. Well that wouldn't work with my oven rack so I went in search of the pizza disc you see here. Those holes go all the way through, providing more direct heat to the crust. I'm not sure if I think it was better or not, so next time I am also going to try one on a pizza stone to compare textures. I had a hard time figuring out how to move my paper-thin rolled pizza onto the 16-inch disc, so I wound up doing some final rolling on the disc, which resulted in little hole dents in the bottom of my crust.

I tried rolling on wax paper, but the dang paper kept getting folded and torn. I wasn't sure how to move it direct from the counter, so I didn't go that route. What I think would actually work best would be a large silicone sheet the size of your disc that you could roll on, then pick up and flip your crust onto the surface. I guess maybe that's the theory with the pizza peels, that you flip it and drop it, I had never used one though and was imagining trying to slide off the pizza and thinking that will never work! I would think a large cutting board would work as well.

My sauce could have been zippier, but wasn't bad. I'm thinking definitely more garlic and possibly some kind of vinegar? I'll update it next time I try this. The cheese was definitely not quite right. In my research, I came across a kind of cheese called provel, which is used in St. Louis style pizza, specifically Imo's. It's a blend of cheddar, swiss, and provolone. My sister thought it was Velveeta, and apparently, she's not the only one. I've had Imo's and I just don't remember it making a big impression. But the cheese is consistently described as tangy, so I was wondering what a blend of mozzarella and swiss might do for my pizza? Something to try.

I meant to make my own sausage topping for this pizza but the process and research became all consuming and my husband over-ruled me and went out and bought pepperoni. So made the crust, topped to edge with sauce, topped to edge with mozzarella, then added pepperonis and a sprinkling of white onion. Serve topped with the Tiger Sauce, a garlic flavored vinaigrette purchased at Agatucci's. You could probably call them and they'd mail it to you!

Crust:

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

1 1/2 tsp dark corn syrup

3/8 c. water

Mix all ingredients until thouroghly combined, shape into a ball and roll out until paper thin.

Sauce:

28 oz can puree tomatoes

14 oz drained petite diced tomatoes

1 tbsp green bell pepper, finely chopped

2 tbsp yellow onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp oregano

salt and pepper

Put all ingredients for sauce in food processor and puree until smooth. Pour into saucepan and heat on lowest heat for 15 minutes. Cool before using.

Blackened Red Snapper

Well, I should have had the seafood watch app on my iphone. Cause it looks like I went ahead and bought red snapper which is on the avoid list due to overfishing. Seafood has gotten incredibly hard to buy, I think. There are the environmental concerns to be aware of, then there are the health concerns, then there's the local food concept to consider as well. The fishmonger at Central Market suggested a Hawaiian fish instead of my snapper, but I don't live anywhere near Hawaii, and it was farm raised. It's complicated. Next time, I'll take the extra time to go to the local seafood store and I'll see what are options are. Anyway, it was delicious. Spicy, but delicious. Served with roasted asparagus and quinoa.

I used this blackened seasoning. Take note, this stuff is hot. I only blackened one side, and I thought I was fairly gentle with it, but it was hot. So use with care.

1.5 lbs fresh red snapper fillets

blackening seasoning

Murray River Salt

olive oil

Rinse fillets and pat dry. Rub fillets with olive oil on both sides, sprinkle surface with blackening seasoning, then sprinkle lightly with salt. Cook in a grill pan in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes depending on thickness of fillets. Cook until flesh is opaque.

Sliced Chicken Salad

My husband wanted chicken salad for dinner and I was all, umm okay, gross. I hate mayonnaise. And he was all, what? And I realized he meant a green salad with chicken on it, not that other stuff people serve on bread and call a sandwich. This is totally not a recipe, but I'll just give you a picture and shout out to one of my favorite salad finds.

Brianna's Salad Dressings. Brianna's is made by Del Sol Foods in Brenahm, TX. Back when I was a working person, they were a customer of my former employer, Megabyte Express. I love the French Vinaigrette, but my husband is partial to a combo of the French Vinaigrette and the Blush Wine Vinaigrette. The french vinaigrette is also delicious over hot pasta. I have always been envious of people who've made their life's work in the food business. How awesome would it be to create and manufacture salad dressings? I wonder if they have a factory tour.... hmmm....

Banana Bread

This recipe comes from my Great Aunt Marguerite, who I am embarrassed to say I can't actually remember who she's related to. I know she's on my mother's side, but past that I can't remember. (Sorry Mom!) The sour cream is allegedly the key, though I've used yogurt as well and also like that. The official substitution guidelines call for adding a teaspoon of baking soda per cup of yogurt, but I don't really remember doing that. I may have to do a food science experiment on this one. I'm not sure, but I *think* you're adding extra baking soda because the yogurt contains more acid and the baking soda is what neutralizes it. I couldn't google any confirmation of the acidity levels, but I may just be using the improper terms. I'll check with Robert Shimmin and I'll do the experiment next week.

In case you're wondering who Robert Shimmin is, he's a guy I went to school with. He came to our school in the 5th grade and is far and away the smartest person anyone will ever meet. And I knew/know a lot of smart kids. As an example, when studying colligative properties in chemistry one time, I was musing if fish die when lighting strikes the ocean since the salt in the water conducts electricity. Robert knew *off the top of his head* the equation to determine the radius fish would die. The guy's crazy smart. It's awesome. I wish every one grew up with a kid like him.

This recipe is a total conundrum for me because I don't like bananas, sour cream, or walnuts, yet I kind of like this bread. It's strangely addictively good. And the family likes it.

1/2 c. butter

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2-3 mashed bananas

1.5 c. flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c. sour cream

1/2 c. finely chopped walnuts

Cream butter and sugar together. Then add eggs and vanilla. Add other ingredients, stir just enough to blend.

Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake 1 hour in a 350 degree oven.