Category: Inspiration

Hearty Beef Stew with Red Wine

Perfect for a cold winter’s night, this hearty stew takes about 30 minutes to prep and then cooks all day (or part of the day, depending on your method).  The addition of red wine makes it quite similar to beef bourginon, but this version also includes potatoes.  It can be made in the slow cooker or in the oven.

Time: 30 minutes (active prep), 4-8 hours (in the slow cooker), 4 hours in the oven.
Level: Easy
Cost: About $4 per plate
Serves: 4- 6

Ingredients

  1. 3 lbs chuck roast (to be cubed after browning it; more on that later)
  2. 1-2 TBSP olive oil or clarified butter
  3. 4-60z bacon, sliced into lardons
  4. Salt and Pepper to taste
  5. 2 lbs white potatoes, cubed
  6. 1 yellow onion, diced
  7. 4-5 celery stocks, chopped into 1.5 inch pieces
  8. 2 lbs carrots, peeled and chopped into 1.5 inch pieces
  9. 4-5 garlic cloves, minced
  10. 8 oz Crimini or Baby Bella mushrooms, halved or quartered depending on their size
  11. 1/4 brandy (optional, for flambé)
  12. 1 cup sturdy red wine (such as Cabernet, Shiraz, or Zinfandel)
  13. 1/2 cup concentrated beef stock
  14. 3 TBSP all purpose flour
  15. 2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
  16. 1 TBSP Soy Sauce
  17. 1-2 tsp cayenne pepper, depending on how much zing you want to add, optional

Instructions

Note:  If going the slow cooker route, every time the instructions say “Remove and reserve” you can just dump whatever it is into the slow cooker.

Preheat oven to 275°F (or if using slow cooker, coat the bottom of the slow cooker with cooking spray).

Begin by heating bacon and 1 TBSP olive oil or clarified butter in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium heat.  Sauté bacon until fairly crispy and most of the fat has rendered.  Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve.

Next, pat the roast dry with paper towels and season aggressively with salt and pepper on all sides.  Sear the roast on all sides until golden brown.  Remove roast and allow to rest on a cutting board while continuing to the next steps.

Add onion, celery and carrots to the pot and sauté until onions are translucent and vegetables begin to soften, 5- 7 minutes, scraping up any brown bits that may begin to loosen as the onions begin to sweat.  Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, 1-2 more minutes.  Remove all items from the pan with a slotted spoon and reserve.

Add mushrooms to the pan and sauté until lightly caramelized and they have absorbed most of the fat/liquid in the pan (mushrooms are like little flavor sponges).  Once the pan is beginning to look a bit dry on the bottom, add 1/4 cup brandy and flambé.

Add bacon, onions, celery, carrots and garlic back into the pan with the mushrooms.  Add soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and cayenne pepper and stir to combine.

Add red wine and beef stock and bring to a boil, continuing to stir to scrape up anything that might still be on the bottom of the pan.  Stir in flour.  Reduce heat and allow liquid to simmer, reducing by about 1/3 to 1/2.

Meanwhile, while the liquid in the pan is reducing, cube the beef on the cutting board and add it directly back into the pot.  Add potatoes.

If finishing in the oven, give everything a good stir to combine and then cover and place in a 275 degree oven for 3-4 hours.

If finishing in a slow-cooker, dump the whole mess into the slow-cooker, give everything a good stir to combine, and cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for four hours.  Personally, I have found the low, slow 8 hour cook in the slow cooker to yield the best results.

 

 

Butterless Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken

This dish preps in about 20 minutes, cooks all day, and then awaits you when you get home from work (or whatever you are doing).  The addition of yogurt makes it a bit healthier than the traditional all-butter-and-cream method, and adds a zesty tang to the final product.  Serve this over a bed of white rice and brighten it up with a garnish of fresh cilantro and a few squeezes of lime just before serving.

Time: 20 minutes (active prep), 6-8 hours (in the slow cooker)
Level: Easy
Cost: About $3 per plate
Serves: 4- 6

Ingredients

  1. 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
  2. 1 medium white onion, finely diced
  3. 2 tsp garam marsala
  4. 2 tsp yellow curry powder
  5. 2 tsp cayenne powder (less if you can’t handle a bit of heat)
  6. 1 tsp cumin powder
  7. 1/2 tsp ginger
  8. 1 6oz can tomato paste
  9. 1 cup full fat plain Greek yogurt
  10. 3 TBSP heavy cream (or coconut cream if you want it super healthy and you like the flavor)
  11. Optional:  If you like it a bit more “soupy”, you can add a cup of water or stock to the mixture.
  12. About 3 lbs chicken breast (or boneless thighs), cubed into 1 – 1.5 inch cubes

Instructions

Coat the inside of a slow cooker with cooking spray.

Combine ingredients 1-7 in the slow cooker and stir well to combine.  Add ingredients 8-10 (and 11 if using) and stir well to combine again.  Add chicken and stir well to combine a third time.  Cover, and cook on LOW for 7-8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours.

That was easy, wasn’t it?

Caesar Salad

This Homemade Caesar Salad is tangy, delicious and the perfect compliment to almost any meal. If the whole raw egg and homemade emulsion thing either makes you nervous, or it’s just too much work, you can make a simpler, equally delicious version that will last you longer in the fridge – just substitute the 1 cup vegetable oil and the raw egg for 1 cup of mayo (preferably Kewpie, but any mayo will work great).

Continue reading “Caesar Salad” →

Panko Crusted Chicken Cutlets

Although this recipe is already contained in a number of other recipe posts on this blog, I thought it was worth sharing by itself because making these crispy, golden cutlets opens up a world of creativity in terms of what you do with your pan sauce.  Once fried golden brown, you pop them in the oven to cook them through, and while they are finishing you can use the fond in the pan as a base to create any number of sauces.  The chicken itself can then be served over rice, pasta, potatoes, bread – whatever you fancy – with your sauce drizzled on top.

Ingredients

  1. 2 or 3 Chicken breasts, sliced in half lengthwise to make two, thinner cutlets – so, you’ll end up with 4 – 6 cutlets total
  2. ½ cup flour
  3. Kosher Salt
  4. Black Pepper
  5. Pinch Paprika
  6. 3 Eggs
  7. 3 tablespoons vodka (alcohol is a binding agent)
  8. 3 tablespoons milk, cream or water
  9. 1½ cups panko breadcrumbs
  10. ⅓ cup parmesan cheese
  11. Zest of 1 lemon
  12. 1 cup or so vegetable oil, ghee or any other high smoke-point fat: enough to get about 1½ inches deep in a cast iron or other suitable pan for frying

Prep

  1. Using a Meat Mallet, pound each chicken cutlet to even thickness (the wider end will need more pounding than the narrow end) – you’re shooting for ¼ to ⅓ inch thickness… so pretty thin. This is important to ensure that chicken is cooked through during the frying process.
  2. Set up your dredging station.  You’ll need two, wide shallow dishes and one medium sized bowl.
  3. Put the flour in one of the wide, shallow dishes.  Season aggressively with salt and pepper; add paprika and mix until seasoning is well distributed.
  4. In the second wide, shallow dish add Panko Bread Crumbs, Parmesan Cheese, and Lemon Zest.  Whisk together until well mixed.
  5. Crack three eggs into the medium sized bowl; add vodka and water.  Whisk together until slightly foamy.
  6. Set them up in this order:  Flour mixture, egg wash, bread crumb mixture
  7. Dredge a chicken cutlet first in the flour mixture (shaking of excess), then dip into the egg wash, and then dredge in the breadcrumb mixture, pressing firmly to adhere to each side and flipping a few times as needed.
  8. Transfer to a baking sheet.
  9. Repeat this process with all the chicken cutlets. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes, and up to 8 hours

Instructions

  1. Fill a A 12″ Cast Iron Skillet about 1½ – 2 inches deep with a high smoke-point fat (I like to use vegetable oil and maybe ¼ cup of duck fat or ghee for a little extra flavor)
  2. Heat oil to 375°F as measured with an Instant Read Thermometer.
  3. Safety Notes:
    • You’ve got super hot oil in a skillet that probably has a handle. Point that handle toward the rear of the stove, angled away from the edges of the stove where it could accidentally be knocked
    • Keep kids/pets and things you can trip over out of the kitchen during this time
  4. Carefully lay two or three of the breaded chicken cutlets into the hot oil. A few important notes here:
    • Lay the cutlets away from you so if there’s any splashing it doesn’t go in your direction
    • Lay cutlets in oil slowly – don’t be afraid of it; dropping things in quickly will lead to more spattering/splashing. If you’re nervous, use tongs.
    • Do not overcrowd – you don’t want to drop the oil temperature too much
    • Right when you lay the cutlets in the oil, they’ll sink to the bottom, so use tongs to gently wiggle each cutlet to ensure it isn’t sticking to the bottom of the pan
    • It’s okay if the cutlets aren’t fully submerged – you’re going to turn them over once in a while anyway (see next step)
  5. Cook until deeply golden brown on all sides, turning occasionally, around 5-6 minutes (approximately 3 minutes per side)
  6. Once cutlets are beautiful, golden, stiff, and crunchy, transfer them to a Rimmed Baking with oven safe wire rack
  7. Repeat with remaining cutlets, and transfer to 170°F oven to keep warm 

Not sure what sauce to make?  Try one of these!

Chicken Parmesan

Chicken with Italian Red Sauce; i.e., Marinara Sauce

Chicken Marsala

Chicken in a mushroom Marsala reduction sauce

Chicken Piccata

Chicken in a lemon butter pan sauce with capers and white wine

Cajun Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

This classic Cajun stew is perfect for a cold winter’s night – or pretty much any time.  The flavor profile is totally unique; if someone were to ask “What does gumbo taste like?” the answer is “It tastes like gumbo!”  And it is totally delicious.

Time: 90 minutes – 2 hours
Level: Intermediate (bordering on advanced, depending on your roux making skills)
Cost: About $4 per plate
Serves: 4- 6

Ingredients

  1. 4-6 chicken breasts, 2-3lbs package weight
  2. 12oz Cajun Andouille Sausage (I like Aidell’s brand), sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds (or “coins”)
  3. 1 cup all purpose flour, plus 2 TBSP, divided
  4. 3 TBSP Creole Seasoning
    • Note:  You can use any store bought brand such as Tony Cachere’s, but I prefer “Emeril’s Essence” (also referred to as “Bayou Blast) which you can buy in stores or make it yourself.  When opting to make it myself, I usually make it by the teaspoon rather than tablespoon, but the key is just to keep the ratios the same.
  5. Olive oil:  2 TBSP, plus a few drizzles to coat chicken for dredging
  6. 1 cup vegetable oil
  7. 1 large green bell pepper, diced
  8. 1 large yellow onion, diced
  9. 4 ribs celery, diced
  10. 4 cloves garlic, minced
  11. 3/4 cup okra (optional, some people don’t like it, but it’s what makes gumbo authentic)
  12. Dash Worcestershire sauce
  13. 2 140z cans low sodium chicken broth
  14. Cooked white rice, cooked according to package directions, for serving

Instructions

Add 2 TBSP olive oil plus sausage rounds to a dutch oven or large sauté pan and heat over medium-high heat.  Sauté until sausage is well browned and most of the fat from the sausage has rendered, 5-7 minutes.  Remove sausage with a slotted spoon and reserve in a medium size bowl.

In a another medium bowl, mix 3 TBSP all purpose flour with 3 TBSP creole seasoning.  Whisk to combine thoroughly.  Pat chicken breasts dry and rub each breast with a drizzle of olive oil.  Dredge the chicken breasts in the seasoned flour mixture and add to pan with sausage fat.  Fry breasts in sausage fat on each side, 2-3 minutes or until well browned.  Remove to a cutting board and reserve.

Note:  Don’t overcrowd the pan with the chicken; work in batches if you have to.  Add more fat to the pan between batches if you have to, either by adding extra olive oil, extra sausage fat from the bowl of reserved sausages, or both.  You want to develop a nice fond on the bottom of the pan, but you don’t want to burn anything.

Add onion, green pepper and celery to the pan (this combination is known as the Trinity of Cajun Cooking) and sauté until the vegetables and onion have released most of their moisture and the onions are mostly translucent, 5-7 minutes.  Stir constantly, scraping up any fond (brown bits) from the bottom of the pan to combine with the mixture.

Add garlic and sauté until very fragrant, 1-2 minutes.

Add okra (if using), and dash of Worcestershire sauce.  Add chicken broth to deglaze the pan and stir, scraping up any remaining brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Add sausage and any drippings to the pot.  Cube chicken breasts on the cutting board (it’s okay if they’re still raw in the middle, they’re going to cook in the pot), and add to the pot.

Give everything a few good stirs to combine and bring to a boil; then reduce to a simmer.

While the stock is simmering, make your roux:

To make the roux, heat 1 cup vegetable oil in a medium sauce pot over medium-low heat until it is around 250°F – 300°F.  Whisking vigorously and constantly, slowly add the 1 cup flour to the oil, a few sprinkles at a time, until all the flour is incorporated.  Continue to whisk vigorously and constantly, cooking the flour in the oil.  Don’t stop whisking!  You will notice that the color of the roux changes from white, to blond, to peanut butter colored, to light brown, to dark brown (the color of beef stock).  Once the roux is the color of beef stock, remove from the heat and continue to whisk until significantly cooled.  While you are whisking your roux to cool, off the heat on the simmering pot completely.  (Did I mention don’t stop whisking?)

Note:  None of this is as hard as it sounds.  I got it on my first try.  Go slow, pay attention to what you’re doing and you’ll be fine.  DO follow the instructions below.

Note:  This will take anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes depending on how much heat you are using.  The higher the heat, the more likely it is you will burn your roux and you will have to start over.  If you see black flecks in your roux, you have to discard it and start over, so use lower heat at first.  As the roux begins to darken it is not uncommon for it to smoke quite a bit.  Also, it is incredibly hot, so don’t try to taste it.

Note:  Adding the hot roux directly into the simmering pot will create an impressive explosion, sending lava-hot roux and boiling broth erupting like Vesuvius all over you and your kitchen.  I did this on the first go-round; don’t be like me.  Follow the instructions in the next paragraph instead…

Once the roux has cooled, take a ladle full of liquid from the pot and slowly whisk it into the roux, stirring constantly to combine.  Very carefully and slowly, add the roux mixture back into the pot, a little bit at a time, stirring constantly while you do this to combine.

Return pot to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and allow to reduce until thick and hearty, about 45 minutes.  Serve with steamed white rice and a crusty loaf of bread.