Curried Chickpeas

Indian (of the subcontinent, not Native American) food is probably our favorite cuisine to cook at home. Part of it is out of sheer necessity; neither St. Cloud nor our prior city of residence, La Crosse, has a single Indian restaurant. I've had to learn some basic techniques of Indian cooking. This has come from a few great cookbooks, and a heck of a lot of experimentation. There have been pots of curry gone wrong... very wrong. But overall, I think I've gotten pretty consistent with turning out decent, sometimes even excellent, Indian meals. This is an example of a dish that came out of simple trial and error.

CURRIED CHICKPEAS

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

large onion, diced very small

3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and shredded

2 teaspoon honey

2 tablespoon curry powder

zest of one lemon

2 cups chicken stock

2 cans chickpeas, drained

3/4 cup plain, unsweetened yogurt

palmful of cilantro, chopped

salt, if needed

In dutch oven or deep large saucepan over medium heat, brown onion in oil until golden brown. Add grated ginger and minced garlic and stir for about 1 minute. Add curry powder, honey, and lemon zest and stir for another 1 minute. Add chicken stock and chickpeas. Bring to a boil. Cook at a low boil for about 20 - 30 minutes until liquid has reduced to at least half the volume or less and starts to thicken a bit. Remove from heat. Add yogurt, a little bit at a time, stirring constantly to try to avoid curdling. (if the yogurt curdles, the dish isn't ruined... it just won't look as pretty) Add chopped cilantro. Adjust seasoning by adding a little salt if needed. You can increase spiciness by adding cayenne pepper or using a spicy curry mix. Serve over basmati rice. Serves 4-5. It's easy to make this vegetarian by substituting water or vegetable stock for the chicken stock.

Roasted Pepper and Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons

It is the end of autumn in Minnesota, which means... it's soup weather. There is nothing on a cold, blustery day to warm you from the inside out like a bowl of hot, homemade soup or stew. This soup is a grown-up version of tomato soup and grilled cheese. It's sweet and salty and the roastiness from the peppers makes it a lot more interesting than tomato soup from a can.

Soup Ingredients:

2 TBS olive oil

1 medium to large onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 small jars of roasted red peppers

2 15 oz cans of plain tomato sauce (I really like Hunts or Trader Joe's brand)

2 TBS sugar

several grinds of black pepper

1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)

"Crouton" Ingredients:

sliced white bread

butter

cheese of choice

grated or finely shredded parmesan cheese

In large pot, brown onions in the olive oil until they start to caramelize a little. Add garlic and stir just until the garlic begins to get a little toasty colored. Add tomato sauce and roasted red peppers (include the juice from the peppers; this adds flavor and also helps thin the soup out a bit). Stir well. Bring to simmer and let gently boil for about 5-10 minutes. Blend soup in blender or food processor (I use a stick/immersion blender... well worth the money) until pureed. Add sugar and black pepper to taste. Soup probably won't need extra salt unless your tomato sauce isn't very salty, but you may need to add a little depending on your ingredients. If desired, you can finish off the soup with 1/2 cup cream or half and half. It doesn't need it, but it does add a nice silky finish to the soup. I usually don't use it.

For croutons, basically assemble one to two grilled cheese sandwiches (one sandwich will make croutons for two people). Butter the outsides liberally. Dip sandwiches in grated parmesan, and grill over medium heat in a frying pan as you would any grilled cheese. When done, cut into cubes with a knife and sprinkle over the top of the soup.

Chicken Cheddar Apple Salad

This may be the shortest recipe I ever post on this blog. I whipped this up for dinner in literally 10 minutes. It's healthy, tasty, and way more interesting (not to mention cheaper) than takeout. It's made completely of convenience items from the grocery store, but isn't full of junk like most "grab and go" dinners. Ingredients can definitely be substituted or omitted depending on taste, but it's a great combo of textures and tastes.


Ingredients:

• 1 box of mixed salad greens (Earthbound Farms, etc.)
• breast meat from 1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
• 4 oz of white cheddar, cut into matchstick-sized pieces
• 1 green apple, cut into matchstick-sized pieces
• 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts
• Newman's Own Light Mustard Vinegrette

Mix greens, cheddar, walnuts, and apple. Add chicken to top of salad, and drizzle with dressing (or let everyone dress their own).

New York Strip with Gorgonzola Butter

Save yourself about $40 and give yourself a steakhouse-quality dinner at home...

Ingredients

2 NY Strip Steaks (or any cut you prefer)

freshly ground black pepper

salt

1 TBS butter, room temperature

2 ounces gorgonzola cheese, room temperature

3 grinds freshly ground black pepper

For the gorgonzola butter -- mash cheese, pepper and butter together until well blended. Cover and refrigerate.

Generously coat both sides of steaks with liberal amounts of black pepper and salt. Grill or pan-fry (I sauteed mine in olive oil and butter, since there was a blizzard outside... ) steaks to preferred doneness. Place a heaping tablespoon or so of gorgonzola butter on the top of each steak. I served mine with a crisp green salad and homemade bread. The sharpness of the cheese and pepper marry so beautifully with the richness of the butter and the meat itself.

Indian Wedding Soup

This post is more one of cooking philosophy than an actual recipe... the reason there's no recipe is because this dish took so much tweaking that I couldn't keep track of all of the amounts of everything. Indian food (when it's done right) is such a balance of sweet, savory, sour and salty. There are times when I think a pot of curry is absolutely ruined, but then I add a pinch of sugar and an extra squeeze of lemon and the entire dish is saved.

This soup was an exercise in re-interpretation of the original version of a dish. Italian wedding soup, for those of you who've never had it, is a chicken broth based soup with small meatballs, spinach, and acini de pepe pasta. Instead of italian meatballs, I used the lamb-burger recipe ( http://belliesbeerbaking.blogspot.com/2008/12/greek-lamb-burgers-with-feta-sauce.html ) that I posted in December to make little tiny meatballs. I broiled them to avoid having to turn little tiny meatballs with little tiny tongs. I browned some onion, then added chicken stock and Indian spices. Rounded it out with some lemon, cilantro, and a little honey. I then added the meatballs to the soup, and threw in a large handful of Israeli cous cous. Simmered for about 15 more minutes, then served it with some crisply baked naan (thanks, Trader Joe's).

This is a great example of how you can take a traditional dish and keep the spirit of the original while completely experimenting with the flavors. I challenge you to take one of your favorite meals and try to re-interpret it... you might just find that you have a new favorite.

Cider-Roasted Pork Loin

This is basically an adaptation of the beef roast recipe I posted a few weeks ago. Instead of using a beef roast, it uses pork loin. Hard cider stands in for the beer. It would be great alongside some sauteed cabbage or roasted potatoes.

Ingredients:

2 pork loins (you could use just one if you don't want leftovers)

2 TBS olive oil

1 TBS butter

1 medium onion, sliced

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground preferred

1 bay leaf

1 12 oz. bottle of hard cider - the dryer (less sweet) the better

zest from one orange

In oven-proof sautee pan or dutch oven, brown pork loin(s) in the olive oil over med-high heat until nicely browned. Remove from pan. Add onions and butter, sautee until onions start to brown. Add bay leaf, salt, pepper, and cider. Stir to deglaze pan. Add pork, cover, and bake in a 325 degree oven for about 2.5 hrs or until pork is tender. Remove pork to serving platter, cover with foil to keep warm. Strain cooking liquid, add orange zest, and reduce over med-high heat by about half. Pour over pork. Serve.

I plan on tossing the leftovers with some barbecue sauce for pulled pork sandwiches. Oh, and regular apple cider could of course be used as a replacement for the hard cider.

MySpace Archives #3: Taco Meatloaf

TACO MEATLOAF WITH CHIPOTLE KETCHUP

Meatloaf ingredients:
1.5 lbs ground beef (I used 93% lean ground sirloin)
1 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 small can chopped green chiles
1 packet taco seasoning ( I prefer La Preferida... how ironic)
1/4 cup plain oatmeal
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Ketchup ingredients:
4 Tbs. ketchup
2 canned chipotle peppers in adobo, chopped finely
1 tsp. brown sugar

For ketchup: mix all ingredients well and refrigerate. Add more ketchup or use less chipotle if this is too spicy for you.

For meatloaf: Sautee onions in olive oil until they just start to brown. Add garlic and cook until garlic just starts to take on color. Set aside to cool.

Mix rest of ingredients EXCEPT FOR CHEESE together until well combined. Place into loaf pan. Bake at 350 for one hour. Pull meatloaf out, drain off excess fat and juices (there will be a fair amount of liquid you'll pour off -- this is ok, your meatloaf will still be very moist), sprinkle cheese over top of meatloaf and return to oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, slice, and serve witih chipotle ketchup.

I served this with soft polenta and garlic-sauteed green beans. The polenta went great with the flavoring of the meatloaf, almost like the corn taco shell flavor of an actual taco. Just a hint: whenever I make polenta, I always add a little salt, a little sugar, and a knob of butter at the end to bring out the full flavor of the corn.

I'm thinking that leftovers warmed up and wrapped in a flour or corn tortilla with some hot sauce would be pretty darned yummy. Or put a small slab on a corn muffin for a little Mexican sandwich.

MySpace Archives #2: Green Chile Fritatta

Ok, folks... here's another recipe from my old MySpace blog. I figure it's timely in times of growing grocery bills. You can throw this together for literally a couple of dollars. It's very easy to play with the ingredients in this, too. You can leave out the chiles if you don't like them and substitute any sauteed veggies (beware of raw vegetables -- they will give off water when they cook and wreck the fritatta), and use any cheese you like. You could also add meat if you are so inclined -- I bet an italian sausage and sharp cheddar fritatta would be pretty darned awesome on a Sunday brunch lineup.



GREEN CHILE FRITTATA
Ingredients:
8 large eggs
1/4 cup milk or cream
1 can fire roasted green chiles
1/4 tsp salt
several grinds of black pepper
4 oz. monterey jack cheese, shredded and split into two portions

In large bowl, beat eggs and milk. Stir in rest of ingredients, but reserve 2 oz. of the cheese for the top of the frittata (later in recipe).

Over medium heat, take an OVEN PROOF skillet and heat 2 TBS of olive oil until hot. Add egg mixture. Stir slowly occasionally to break up the part of the egg that's starting to cook, until you have a mass of what look like undercooked scrambled eggs. The top at this point should still look moist, but you don't want big pools of undercooked egg. Distribute into one even layer, add reserved cheese, and put into the oven on the middle rack. Broil for a few minutes until cheese melts and the top of the frittata starts to brown. The frittata may puff up (even getting one or more very large air bubbles) during cooking, but it will settle substantially after if comes out of the oven.

Allow frittata to cool for a minute or so, then cut into wedges and serve. I served mine with a green salad and corn muffins.

Sweet Garlic Lasagna

Lasagna is one of those foods that I've always been a little "meh" about. It just never did much for me. It was heavy and full of meat and I dunno... kind of dull. A few months back Nathan asked me to make lasagna. I'd made it once before, but it was never on my dinner roation for the aforementioned reasons. So I figured I'd make MY kind of lasagna. Something lighter, brighter, fresher, and sans meat. Hubby was skeptical. I'd go so far as to say nervous. "What, no meat? No sausage? Not even a little hamburger?" Nope. No meat. Suck it up and eat it. And guess what? He did! And not only did he eat three large helpings, he took LEFTOVERS. *faint* And he proceeded to actually buy all of the ingredients (ok, most of the ingredients... he is a man, remember) a couple of weeks later so I'd make it again. This dish is now a monthly routine for us; Nathan makes a Trader Joe's stop on his way home from Naval Reserve drill, and I lovingly craft the lasagna on the following Tuesday (my weekday off). It's inadvertently become a little family tradition.

Ingredients:

2-3 TBS olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 large can of tomato sauce (16 oz.)
1 TBS sugar
1/2 (or so) box of no-boil lasagna noodles
1 lb whole milk mozzarella cheese- sliced into thin rounds/slices (a piece of string works best for slicing)
1 12 oz. carton of cottage cheese
1 egg


For sauce, lightly brown garlic in hot olive oil. Add tomato sauce and sugar. Simmer for about 10 minutes, set aside.

Blend cottage cheese and egg together in blender or food processor, set aside

In a 8x8 inch pan, start your layers. They should go like this (after an initial layer of sauce on the bottom) -- pasta, sauce, mozzarella, THIN layer of cottage cheese mixture. Repeat. Build lasagna until it's about 1/2" from the top, and finish with a layer of sauce and mozzarella. I always use up all of the sauce and all of the mozzarella but have about half of the noodles and half of the cottage cheese stuff leftover.

Bake in 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes, uncovered until bubbly and browned on top. Take out and let sit for 10-15 min before slicing.

This is great in the summertime with fresh basil leaves placed every other layer, too. Try to avoid the temptation to spice up the tomato sauce with a bunch of dried herbs; I really think the beauty of this dish is the brightness of the simple sweet tomato sauce. Serve with a crisp green salad and bottle of wine, and you're on for a li'l Italia in the midwest. :)