Chicken with Red Wine and Rice

Kind of boring title, but that is where I started with this recipe.  I wanted to make something similar to chicken marsala but different.  I bought some chicken thighs at the store this week and needed to use them before Thanksgiving.  So I synthesized a couple recipes into what follows. Served it with steamed broccoli.  No pictures, since I didn’t anticipate blogging it, but I needed to remember what I did since it was so good.

Ingredients:

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs  (The local QFC was very low on chicken, all the refer case space being taken up by various forms of Turkey and ham for the holiday.  So I actually deboned and skinned some regular thighs.  Added 20 minutes to the deal.)
• Basmati rice (about 1 cup dry would work well for 3-4 servings)
• 1 whole regular onion thinly sliced
• about 1/3 bottle decent red wine  (Gascon Malbec was wine of choice tonight)
• 1 Qt chicken broth
• Thyme (about 1/2 + tsp)
• Salt and pepper
• Minced garlic (about 2 cloves worth)
• Olive oil

Brown chicken in a heavy bottom dutch oven over medium to medium high heat in olive oil in batches.  Remove to a plate.

Sauté onions on medium to medium low heat in same pot.  When soft and slightly browned (about 10 minutes), add garlic and sauté for another one to two minutes.  Add chicken on top of onions and garlic and any juices from the plate.  Add red wine and bring to low simmer, add enough chicken stock to just barely cover the chicken.  Cover and simmer for about 30 – 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, prep rice and any side dishes so they will finish about 5-10 minutes after chicken is done.  I used basmati rice cooked with chicken broth.

When chicken is done, and about 10 minutes before side dishes are done, remove chicken and most of the onions to a platter with a slotted spoon, cover with foil and keep warm in a 175 degree preheated oven.

With lid removed, simmer liquid in pot to reduce to about 1/2 original.

Serve on warm plates by putting chicken and onions on bed of rice with reduced liquid on top.

Turned out so good that Jeannine, Nicole and I devoured all six chicken thighs with no leftovers.

Pork Tenderloin “make it up as you go” Clay Pot

Have done pork tenderloin in a clay pot several times, but this time was the most successful by far in the taste department.  Just kind of made it up as I went.  Clay Pot cooking for the uninitiated uses a 2 part clay pot that you soak in water, put the food in, place in a cold even and then cook so that the food steams and cooks.   While the clay pot produces wonderfully tender food, this recipe could be done in a Le Creuset or other dutch oven.  Serves 2-4 depending upon size.  Prep time 30 minutes, cook time 60 minutes.  If using a clay pot, soak per manufacturers instructions first.

Ingredients:

• One large or two small pork tenderloins cut into halves and trimmed of silverskin and other “goobers”.
• 4-5 red potatoes sliced thinly
• 1 large or 2 medium onions sliced thinly
• 2 tart (like granny smith) apples peeled and sliced
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• thyme
• parsley flakes or fresh italian parsley

Sauté onion in olive oil until translucent and soft in a heavy bottom pot.  If not using a clay pot, use the dutch oven you are going to finish in.  Remove onion to a plate or dish.
Turn up heat and brown pieces of salt and peppered pork tenderloin.  Only do one or two pieces at a time to prevent them from stewing.  Remove to a plate or dish.  (these should be browned but not cooked, use high enough heat to brown well, but not burn.)

In clay pot (or dutch oven) assemble as follows:

• about half the onions on the bottom of the pot
• about 1/3 the apple slices
• pork with a sprinkling of thyme and parsley
• the rest of the onions
• then layer apples, potatoes, salt and pepper, thyme, parsley and repeat
• carefully pour in chicken broth on the side to keep from washing away seasoning and add the apple cider vinegar

Cook at 425 for 50 – 60 minutes until done.  (Note:  clay pots go in a cold oven.)

Clay pot out of the oven after cooking with lid removed.  Pork, onions and apples are buried underneath the potatoes.


Plated food.  Steamed broccoli was accompaniment:

Indiana Jones and the Grains of Paradise

Well it could have been a movie…
I wanted to make a lentil soup, so I checked out one of my favorite sources for reliable recipes, Alton Brown of the Food Network.  He had what looked like a great basic recipe that had good reviews here.  It had an interesting ingredient however: grains of paradise.  After doing quite a bit of online research to see where I could find this mysterious and exotic sounding spice locally (vs. going to Pike Place Market Spice Merchants), I found it at the Sea Salt Superstore in Lynnwood which has lots of specialty salts, peppers and spices.
Long story short, the soup was wonderful and easy to make.  The GOP’s, frankly were a non-event.  Since the minimum quantity I ordered far exceeded what the recipe called for, I kept adding and adding to see if I could actually taste the spice.  Pretty much like mild pepper if you ask me though freshly ground it has a very interesting and intriguing aroma.  Good thing is, you don’t need it for this recipe. Variations could include curry for sure.

• 2 TBs olive oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
• 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 lb lentils picked and rinsed ( I used multi-colored to add interest)
• 1 cup peeled and chopped tomatoes (I used canned)
• 2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground coriander (I used the pre-ground spice)
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground toasted cumin (I used the pre-ground spice and didn’t toast it)
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground grains of paradise (see notes above)

Sweat onions, carrots, celery in the olive oil with the salt in heavy bottom stock pot until translucent and soft.   Add lentils, tomatoes, broth, spices and stir to combine.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cover until lentils are tender, around 30-40 minutes.  Using a stick blender, puree to your preferred consistency.  Serve immediately.
[Made this tonight sans the tomatoes (since I had none), using 1/2 the broth and lentil ratio to full quantities of veggies.  Added some red pepper to the finely chopped veggies at the beginning and used the following spice ratio:  1/4 tsp each of coriander, cumin, curry.  Was quite good ]

Updated Go To Lentil Soup March 2020

• Avocado oil 
• 1lb ground mild italian sausage - either bulk or remove casings.  Can use chicken sausage too
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
• 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• salt to taste
• 1 cup+ lentils picked and rinsed - current fav is small green lentils from PCC bulk food section
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes
• 2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
• Cumin to taste (~ 2 TSP)
• Curry powder to taste (~2 TSP)
• Harrissa paste to taste (1/2 TSP depending on heat level)

Brown sausage, remove to bowl
Saute veggies
Add everything back to pot
Simmer 30-45 minutes
Stick blend to desired consistency

Can add Kale too

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Had this rough idea in the brain for a long time and finally got around to trying it out.  Basically made it up as I went, aided by what I had on hand.  The end result was quite tasty and I would definitely make again.  Can be adapted for vegetarian by switching the broth.  When all was said and done, it was really pretty easy.  45 – 60 minutes to roast the squash and about 15 more minutes to finish it off.  Serves 4 first course.

• 1 medium 2-3 lb butternut squash
• 1/2 large onion finely chopped
• 1-2 stalks celery finely chopped
• 1 Tbs minced fresh ginger root
• olive oil
• 1 Qt  Chicken (or Vegetable broth)
• Curry
• Chinese Five spice
• Salt and Pepper
• 3 TBs cream or half and half to finish

Cut squash in half, remove seeds, coat lightly with olive oil and put on a foil covered pan.  Roast loosely covered with foil at 425 for 30 minutes.  Remove cover and roast another 15 – 30 minutes until fork tender.

Meanwhile…  finely chop vegetables and sauté in heavy bottom soup pot on medium low heat in olive oil until translucent and tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.  Add about 3/4 of the broth and bring to a simmer for another 15 minutes or so while squash is cooking.

Remove squash from oven when done, let cool a little for easier handling, and scoop out flesh from skin.  Add roasted squash flesh to simmering broth.

With stick blender, puree soup until smooth.  Add some of the remaining broth if necessary to get desired consistency.  Season with Curry (1-2 tsp to taste), Chinese Five spice (1/4 tsp + to taste), salt and pepper.  Let sit for 5 – 10 minutes on low heat until flavors meld, then finish with the cream and serve immediately.

Fall Wild Mushroom Soup

One of my favorite soups, but one that has to wait until mushrooms are plentiful and cheap.  This recipe is actually a combination of two of James Petersons recipes from his “Splendid Soups” book with very little modification.

Made this tonight since the Thriftway had wild chanterelles on sale for 4.99/lb.  These were obviously wild harvested since they had a lot of pine needles in them.

This soup comes together quite quickly at the end, so I would recommend prepping everything beforehand in prep bowls before starting, otherwise something is going to get overdone while waiting for prep.

Serves 4

Soup Base (Mushroom Veloute)

• 1 medium sized onion finely chopped (about 1 cup)
• 4 TBs unsalted butter
• 1 TBs olive oil
• 3 TBs all-purpose flour
• 1 QT chicken stock
• 1/2 Cup Madeira or DRY sherry (don’t be tempted to sub cream sherry)
• 1 lb +/- cremini mushrooms cleaned and roughly chopped
• 1/4 lb chanterelles cleaned and roughly chopped **
• 1/4 lb portabellos cleaned and roughly chopped **
• 1 TBs dried porcini mushrooms **
• 1/2 cup cream or half and half
• salt and pepper

Garnish

• Sliced portabello and sectioned chanterelle mushrooms.  Enough for 2-3 pieces each for each serving (4)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

** Chanterelles and portabellos are both used for the garnish.  Base total amount of mushrooms on combined requirement.  Use the stems and sides and unattractive parts for the soup base, reserve the good parts for garnish.  Other wild mushrooms can be added/subbed for more interest.  Fresh porcinis can be used instead of dried but they are usually very expensive.

Start the the dried porcinis soaking in the Madeira or dry sherry.  If you have neither you can use dry vermouth in a pinch like I did tonight.  These need about 20 minutes so time accordingly.

Prep the rest of the ingredients, making sure you have some good looking slices of the exotic mushrooms for garnish.  Keep these dry.

Prepare a veloute by sautéing the chopped onion in the butter and olive oil.  Sauté on medium heat until translucent stirring almost constantly to keep from any browning, about 10 minutes.  Add flour and sauté another 5 minutes to cook out the starchy flavor.

Add the broth and prorcinis and Madiera, bring to low simmer for about 5 minutes.  Add the roughly chopped mushrooms reserving those for the garnish.  Using an immersion blender, blend up all the mushrooms until smooth.  Reduce heat and add cream or half and half.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Keep hot but not simmering.  (Note that you aren’t “cooking” the blended mushrooms, the soup base is done at this point.)

In a medium hot pan with olive oil, brown the garnish sliced mushrooms, turning once.  Make sure the pan is hot before adding mushrooms and not to crowd the pan so the mushrooms brown and not stew.  Do in batches if necessary.  Season with salt and pepper.  Reserve to a hot plate.

Serve soup in bowls immediately, garnished with the browned mushrooms.

(The original recipe called for adding a persillade to the browning mushrooms for the garnish.  A persillade is a mixture of minced shallot, garlic and parsley.  You will see this in the pictures below.  I didn’t feel this added anything to the soup, was very hard to keep from burning and added a level of complexity at the end that was a pain.)

The Thriftway was having an “open house” sale today (guess they didn’t want to call it a Veterans Day sale) and part of the deal was 4 bottles of wine for 15% off.  Got some 2008 Corvidae Rook (made by Owen Roe) which is a wonderful sub $15 CMS red blend.

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Mushrooms prepped and ready

Sautéed onions ready for the flour

After the flour was incorporated and sautéed for another 5 minutes

The dried porcinis soaking in the booze

Veloute with mushrooms ready for stick blending

After the blending

Garnish mushrooms with persillade

Ready to eat!

Fall “What’s in the Refer” Soup

This soup turned out better than expected, so I’ll record it here for possible duplication at a future time…

• 4 mild italian sausages cut into 1/2” rounds
• 1 medium yellow onion roughly chopped
• 1 large carrot roughly chopped
• 1/2 parsnip roughly chopped
• 1 large celery stalk roughly chopped
• 1 qt chicken broth
• 1/4 – 1/3 lb small penne pasta
• 1 can red kidney beans drained and rinsed
• Bay leaf
• Italian seasoning
• Salt and pepper

Brown sausage in olive oil in a heavy bottom dutch oven.  Remove to a plate.  Adjust heat and saute onion and celery until soft and translucent in the same pot.  Add carrots and parsnip and saute for another 5 minutes.  Add sausage back and saute another few minutes.

Add chicken broth, bayleaf and about 1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and low simmer covered for about 30 minutes until vegetables are nice and soft.

Uncover, bring back to a low boil and add pasta and kidney beans.  Simmer for about 10 minutes until pasta is done, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

14 Hands Hot to Trot red blend was a nice wine to accompany this soup as was a crusty italian bread.

Corn Chowder

Another soup that benefitted from the immersion blender.

• About 6 – 8 pieces of thick sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4” strips.
• Can of corn – not drained
• 1 qt chicken stock
• 1 cup each finely chopped onion
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup each finely chopped
• onion
• celery
• carrot
• red or yellow or orange peppers
• 2-3 medium white potatoes 1/2” cubed
• 1/4 cup cream
• salt, freshly ground pepper, tobasco to taste

In a heavy bottom stock pot or dutch oven, cook bacon in a tablespoon or two of olive oil until well cooked.  Remove to a plate with paper towel.

In remaining bacon grease (should be around 2 TBs, if not add olive oil), saute chopped vegetables until soft and translucent and cooked down, about 15 minutes.  Add bacon back and saute for a couple more minutes.  Add stock, corn and potatoes to pot, bring to a boil then simmer for about 45 minutes until potatoes are soft.

Use immersion blender selectively - just enough to add some body to the chowder without eliminating all the texture and color.  Probably just a few seconds in a couple different parts of the pot.

Add cream and seasonings to taste.

Roasted Vegetable Soup with Chorizo

This soup can be made with or without the Chorizo, and if you want a vegetarian version, use vegetable stock instead of chicken.   Beets in the roasted veggies adds a wonderful color to the end product.

• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• Curry powder
• Salt and fresh ground pepper
• Cayenne pepper
• Roasted vegetables per last post (I didn’t use squash or potatoes for the soup).
• Ground chorizo sausage (optional)
• 1 qt quality prepared or homemade vegetable or chicken broth

Start vegetables roasting.  Meanwhile saute chopped onion and celery in olive oil in a heavy dutch oven or stock pot large enough to hold finished soup.  When onion and celery are soft and translucent, add stock and low simmer while vegetables are roasting.

Brown/cook chorizo in a separate pan.  remove to plate with paper towels to drain.

When vegetables are done roasting, add to stock and blend to desired consistency with immersion blender.  Add salt, fresh ground pepper, curry, cayenne to taste.   Chorizo can be added to whole pot or individually to bowls when serving.

 

Roasted Vegetables

I have become a huge fan of oven roasted vegetables, after being introduced to them by my nieces.  The sweet carmelized flavors, the wonderful smell in the house, the simplicity, and the “fallness” of the dish cant be beat.  Recipe below:

1-2 cups each vegetables cut into similar size chunks so everything gets done about the same time.  Not too small or they will burn.  Scrubbed but not peeled unless otherwise noted.  Onion can be cut into quarters or eighths and then broken up.  Leave out what you don’t like, pump up what you do.

• Yellow or sweet onion
• Parsnip (use about 1:2 ratio to other vegetables vs. 1:1)
• Carrots
• Red Potatoes
• Yellow/orange/red peppers
• Squash (peeled and cubed)  (if using, segregate on baking pan and cover with foil for half the time.)
• Beets (peeled and cubed)
• Yam or Rutabega

Put cut veggies in a bowl and mix with a 5:1 ratio of olive oil to basalmic vinegar until well coated but not swimming.  Salt and fresh ground pepper.

Spread out on a rimmed baking sheet covered with foil in a single layer.  Roast in pre-heated oven at 425 for about 45 minutes until soft and carmelized, turning once or twice.