Weekend Challenge, Part #2

After making the calzones, it was on to Saturday. Susan had bought regular chicken thighs, not the boneless, skinless kind, but no matter; those are awesome, too. At first, I thought about cooking them in a bunch of liquid, and throwing rice in the pot with the chicken to cook, but that really didn't sound all that hot to me. So I started thinking about something with pasta instead.

I wanted to go simple, with few ingredients, so I heated up some olive oil in my La Crueset dutch oven, and browned the chicken thighs with plenty of salt and pepper. Once those were done, I added about 3 tablespoons of butter to the oil and let that cook and brown a little bit. To that I added 4 medium onions, chopped, and 2 red peppers, also chopped. I stirred to coat them in the oil/chicken fat/butter, and then put the lid on the pot. I cooked the onions and peppers until they were nicely caramelized, taking the lid off towards the end to reduce the liquid. I put the chicken thighs back in, and then added a 28-oz can of diced tomatoes. That didn't look like quite enough, so I threw in another 14-oz can. I let the simmer for about 3 hours, and then served it over penne with copious amounts of parmesan.

On Sunday, I had a smallish pork roast to contend with. I initially considered cubing the meat and braising with rice and beans in a southwesterny sort of way, but then it turned out that Susan had forgotten to get me any chiles. Plus, after braising the chicken, I kind of wanted something different. So, I took the pork roast (a 2.6 pound bone-in picnic roast), rubbed him all over with olive oil, and then salt and pepper, and let it sit out to come up to room temperature.

After a couple hours, I pre-heated my grill and threw the roast on high heat to sear it on all sides. As that was going, I started my potatoes. I took about a 1.5 lbs of red potatoes, diced them (about a 1 inch dice), and tossed them with olive oil and two cans of artichoke hearts in a large meat roasting pan. I slid that into a 350F degree oven.

Once the roast was seared nicely, I turned off the right side burner, and slid him over, intending to cook the roast over indirect heat, like I do with ribs. The roast was a bit fatty, and I didn't want flareups. Unfortunately, when I stuck in my instant read thermometer about 45 minutes later, I got nada. Since the potatoes were rapidly reaching readiness, I turned the right side burner back on, turned all the burners to med-low, and put the roast over direct heat.

Once the potatoes were fork tender, I liberally coated them in parmesan cheese, and slid them back into the oven. I took the roast off the grill, and let it rest while the potatoes were cooking. It had a very nice crust from the grill, and looked really good.

In the end, the roast turned out very flavorful, although there wasn't as much meat on it as I had thought. No matter, the left overs and bone are going to become part of some navy bean soup this week. The potatoes were good, although both Susan and I agreed that the artichoke hearts didn't really add anything. They tasted fine, but the potatoes would have been just as good without them. So, they are going to get combined with some ground lamb, sauteed with a bit of cinnamon and cumin, along with a can of diced tomatoes, and make some sort of Greekish/lambish potato thing.

This Weekend's Challenge...

So, this weekend brings a new challenge...instead of going to the store and buying all sorts of awesome ingredients to play with, I get to use just what we have on hand (within reason, of course...we needed some meat and a few staples). So, it's time to peer into the pantry and figure out what the heck I'm gonna do.

Tonight will be an easy layup. I have shredded mozzarella and tomato sauce left over from last weekend, so tonight I'm making homemade calzones, with my crust rising as we speak. Not sure about Saturday and Sunday, but I did notice we have a lot of canned beans...pintos and black beans, so I'll likely be doing something with those. We have plenty of pasta and rice, and some potatoes as well, so lots of stuff to play around with. Susan got the cheapest meat she could find, so I'll be working with boneless, skinless chicken thighs, and a small pork picnic roast (at $2.49 a pound, no less!). So, we'll eat good, save some money, and clean out the pantry, all in one weekend!

Roast Chicken & Gnocchi; Homemade Pizza

So, this weekend, the one thing my wife really, really wanted was homemade gnocchi. Not sure why she was craving it, but when I asked her what she wanted me to cook for her this weekend, that was what she wanted. Always happy to oblige, I immediately started thinking about the possibilities.

The first thing that sprang to mind was a simple brown butter sauce with sage. I’ve never tried it before, but it always seemed like a surefire winner with the gnocchi. But that left open the question of what to serve with it…that alone really isn’t a main course. So I started thinking along the lines of a Bolognese sauce. Not an Americanized spaghetti sauce, mind you, but an authentic Bolognese sauce, starting with a mirepoix of celery, onions, and carrots, and slowly coaxing maximum flavor from ground pork, beef, and maybe veal or lamb. A real Bolognese has no oregano or garlic, or any of the other seasonings we typically associate with that sauce. Nor is it overly tomatoey…my favorite Bolognese sauce recipe is from Saveur magazine (number 110, April 2008), which is “Anna Nanni’s Ragu alla Bolognese.” It is fantastic, and has only 2 tablespoons of tomato paste. It is utterly sublime over homemade gnocchi. But I digress…

I floated the idea of the gnocchi with the Bolognese sauce with Susan, and got only a lukewarm response. Her tummy doesn’t respond well to too much rich foods, and I think she was hoping for something a bit less fatty. Hmmm…back to the drawing board for me. I thought of all the things that go great with gnocchi…fontina cheese, pesto, etc….and I figured they all would be a bit too rich for this weekend.

So I started thinking about chicken…perhaps roasting one, and having the gnocchi on the side. But what to do with the gnocchi? Then it hit me…why not pull the chicken out of the roasting pan, and then put the gnocchi into the drippings, toss, and then roast? And, perhaps throw some fresh sage leaves into the mix? Susan also wanted asparagus to go with her chicken, so I figured I could parboil the asparagus, blanch it, and then throw it into the gnocchi / chicken drippings mix, and roast until hot.

By the way...if you've never made gnocchi before, I'll let you in on a secret....never boil your potatoes....bake them instead. I once tried to quickly boil small chunks of potatoes, and ended up with water-soaked potatoes. There wasn't enough flour in the world to bind the mashed potatoes into a dough that I could roll into gnocchi...it all had to get tossed. Then I read a recipe that had you bake the potatoes, let them cool, peel them, mash them, and combine with flour...that worked way more better, and I've never looked back. So, never boil, always bake, and add just enough flour to bind the potatoes, and you will have wonderful gnocchi.

That is essentially what I did, and it turned out pretty darn good. Except for the sage…that was waaaaay too strong. Normally, when I use fresh sage when I roast a chicken, I throw it on quartered red potatoes, and let it cook the entire time…that way the flavor is milder and the leaves are crispy and good. This time, after only a few minutes of cooking, the sage was raw and overpowering…I found myself shoving them to the side of the plate (as did Susan, who is usually a fresh sage freak). The gnocchi, though, immersed in the chicken juices, was very flavorful. So next time, I’m going to forego the fresh sage, and just use the chicken drippings to flavor the gnocchi.

Tonight, we decided to do homemade pizza. I used my favorite recipe for the crust, from “The New Best Recipe,” from the folks who do “Cooks Illustrated” magazine. I threw the dough together in my Cuisinart, and let it rise in a warm oven for about an hour. I had a couple toppings in mind…a leek/onion/tomato mixture for Susan and I, and a straightforward cheese pizza for my son Nick. I had also promised Nick that he could help, so he was very excited about cooking with Dad.

After getting the pizza dough started, I cleaned and chopped the leeks and onions. I threw those into some hot olive oil with salt and fresh ground pepper, and let that caramelize. I got Nick started with a very simple tomato sauce for his cheese pizza…a single can of tomato sauce with another can of tomato sauce, combined with a bit of garlic salt, some summer savory (‘cause I was out of oregano!), some dried basil, and a hit of fresh ground pepper. Then I had Nick form his pizza crust (see the pics). We pre-baked the crust on a hot stone (heated at 500F for about 45 minutes), and after about 5 minutes, pulled it from the oven, sauced it and cheesed it, and then slid it back in to finish.

While Nick’s pizza was cooking, I got going on the other pizza. I formed it, and got it on my pizza peel, and stabbed it several times to keep it from puffing. When Nick’s pizza was done, I slide mine in, and decided to go chill out by the computer with a glass of Pinot Noir. I waltzed back into the kitchen, and almost had a heart attack…my pizza dough had puffed to almost 5 inches in height! Egads! I pulled it immediately, and attacked with a fork. Fortunately, I was able to deflate it without too many issues, and started topping it. I poured the leek and onion mixture over it, and then added sliced roma tomatoes. I covered those with parmesan cheese, then shredded mozzarella, and finally a handful of dried basil. I slid that into the oven, and cooked until the cheese started to brown a bit.

It turned out pretty good. The tomatoes could have been a tad thinner…the slices were a bit thick, but overall, the complete package was fairly tasty. Nick’s cheese pizza was really good…I threw on some parmesan on that as well, and the final product was really good. It all reminded me how easy and good homemade pizza can be.

Pork Chops, Potatoes & Apples, and Asparagus

As part of the "Iron Chef" gig for this weekend, my wife got some gorgeous thick cut, bone-in pork chops from our local butcher, Greg's Meats in Springboro, Ohio (yes, we have a local butcher, and the meat there is fantastic...its nice to have his shop as an option as opposed to just what they have in the local grocery stores). She had also gotten some potatoes and asparagus, and now it was up to me to come up with something.

Initially, I was just thinking about grilling the chops and roasting the potatoes, but that sounded sort of boring. As I was leafing through a "Food and Wine" magazine, I came across a recipe for an orange and herb marinated pork loin. Hmmm...that sounded pretty good. I had done a pork roast using orange juice as a marinade before, and it had turned out pretty good. So, I decided to go with that with the chops, and I decided to do something different with the potatoes as well. For some reason, the notion of combining apples with the potatoes kept coming back to me...I knew I had read about it somewhere, and the notion sounded intriquing. I mentioned it to Susan, but she sort of wrinkled her nose at the idea. That set me back a bit, but I was not to be put off. I googled "apples and potatoes" and came across several hits that combined those two unlikely pan-mates.

So, I grabbed a bowl and whisked together 1/4 cup olive oil, 1-2 cups of orange juice, 4 medium cloves of garlic (smashed through a garlic press), some dried parsely, 1 teaspon cumin, and salt and pepper. I put the 3 pork chops into a large zip-lock bag and poured the marinade in, and then set the bag on the counter. Now, it was off to the store to get the rest of what I needed.

I went to my local grocery store and got some apples, fresh rosemary, a nice Austrian Gruner Veltliner white wine, and some more beer (I was down to only 2 bottles...the horror!). When it was time to start cooking, I peeled,cored, and cubed 3 Granny Smith apples, and combined them with 1 1/2 lbs small red potatoes, which I had cubed rather small (about 1/4 inch dice). In a large sauce pan, I melted 3/4 stick of butter of medium heat, and when that was bubbling, I added the apples and potatoes. I tossed the mixture in the butter to make sure they were all coated, and then added 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary. I put the top on the sauce pan since I figured it would take a while to cook, and preheated my grill for the pork chops.

When it was time to put the pork chops on the grill, I pulled them out of the baggie, and poured the marinade into a small sauce pan, and turned the heat up to medium high, and then added 2 tablespoons of butter. I figured that the marinade would make a nice pan sauce after I had boiled and reduced it a tad.

With that I got the pork chops going on the grill, and then prepped my asparagus. I decided to do that simply....tossed with a bit of olive oil and salt and ground pepper. Once I flipped the pork chops, after about 5 minutes, I threw the asparagus on. I pulled the chops off the grill after they had been on about 12 minutes or so, and let them rest for about 10 minutes.

Everything turned out rather well. The apples cooked far faster than I had anticipated, even though I had cubed them at least twice as large as the potatoes. In the end, the apples pretty much disintegrated, coating the potatoes in an apple mush. As unappetizing as that sounds, it actually tasted pretty good, with the apples lending a distinctly tart, slightly sweet (I purposely used the Granny Smiths to avoid adding too much sweetness to what should be, in my mind, a savory dish) flavor to the buttery potatoes. The marinade reduced to a nice, rich, orangy sauce that I poured over the pork chops, which came of the grill at just the right moment. The only part that didn't turn out quite as I had planned was the asparagus, which was a bit cold. Next time I'll put the asparagus on while the pork is resting, as it doesn't take long to cook or cool down.

Southwestern Baked Pasta

Well, I did largely what I wrote yesterday. First, I did my chopping...I minced 4 cloves of garlic, 2 onions, 2 red peppers, and 2 jalapenos. I grabbed my trusty La Crueset dutch oven, and heated about 3 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat until it was shimmering. I put in the garlic and sauteed that until it was fragrant, and then put in the rest of the vegetables. I sauteed those until they were nice and caramelized, about 20 minutes, with a nice fond on the bottom of the pan. Then I started rummaging around the spice cabinet. I grabbed a small pyrex dish and put in 1 tablespoon of cumin, 1 tablespoon of ancho chile powder, 1 tablespoon chipotle chile powder (both from Penzey's), and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. I mixed those in the pyrex dish, pushed the vegetables aside, and dumped them into the pot. I fried the spices for a few minutes, and then added 1 lb burger and 2 chorizo sausages (with the skins removed). I broke up the meat with a wooden utensil, and once it was browned, I added 2 14-oz cans of diced tomatoes and one can of tomato sauce. Once that was in, I gave it a good stir, added 2 teaspoons of oregano, and turned the heat down to medium-low.

I let that simmer for a good hour, in order to let the sauce thicken a bit. In the interim, I cooked a box of farfalle pasta. Once that was done, I drained it and then put the pasta into my lasagna pan. I dumped the pot of sauce into the pan, and then stirred to combine. I minced a bunch of fresh cilantro, and sprinkled that over the top, and then spread two 8-oz packages of shredded colby-jack cheese over the top. I slide the pan into a pre-heated 400 degree oven, and baked for about 45 minutes (I pulled it out just as it appeared the cheese was starting to brown in spots, and the whole thing was bubbling).

I served it with a generous dollop of sour cream...it was really good. If I had to do it over again, I would probably just do one jalapeno...it was fairly hot. Not terribly so, but there was some definite heat. I might also be tempted to kick up the smoky flavor a bit by using a can of chipotles in adobo sauce rather than just rely on the spice. But all in all, it turned out pretty well. Hopefully, tonight's excursion with pork chops will be as good!

Ah, the Possibilities

So, on Friday morning, I told my wife I wanted to cook this weekend (as I do just about every weekend). I also told her I wanted to do the “IronChef” thing…she goes to the store and comes back with stuff that looks good to her. I have to make something out of it. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to post what she got, and what I’m thinking so far with what she brought home. Here’s what Susan came home with:

Colby/Jack shredded cheese
1 lb burger
2 chorizo sausages
2 lbs thick cut pork chops
2 jalapenos
Cilantro
2 red peppers
Asparagus
Red potatoes
Yellow onions

I’m also allowed to use whatever we have in the pantry or fridge, which includes canned beans, pasta/noodles, rice, canned tomatoes, garlic, and canned chicken broth.

So, I’m thinking for tonight I’m going to utilize the burger and chorizo to make a baked southwestern pasta dish. Maybe sauté up some garlic, onions, peppers, and jalapenos in some olive oil, then add the burger and chorizo, brown that, and then add tomato sauce and diced tomatoes and simmer for an hour. Once that is reduced to a nice thick sauce, boil some pasta, mix it with the sauce, put in a baking dish, sprinkle some minced cilantro over the top, cover with the shredded Colby/jack cheese, and bake until the cheese is almost browning.

Not sure what to do the pork chops yet. Considering just grilling them and serving them with roasted asparagus and the potatoes, although I also saw a great recipe that involved marinating a pork loin with orange juice and garlic, and roasting. I also have this idea of pairing the potatoes with apples with grilled pork chops….

I’ll post tomorrow to let everyone know how things turned out.

A Southwestern, Chickeny, Tomatoey-Type Thing

So it was IronHomeCook time again in the Raihala household this weekend, and my wife presented me with her ingredient: Diced tomatoes with green chiles, two 14-oz cans worth. Hmmmm…immediately I began thinking of something southwestern…I mean tomatoes and green chiles? How could it be anything but?

However, my brain went completely to mush, and I just couldn’t think of anything. I was frozen with indecision or any clue as to how to proceed, so I made….pizza. That gave me another day to think about what to do with the tomatoes with green chiles. Not just any pizza, mind you, but with a homemade dough and excellent Boar’s Head pepperoni. I even made homemade tomato sauce (although I got carried away with the garlic and nearly made my beautiful pizza inedible).

The next day, I grabbed my cookbook, “The Feast of Santa Fe,” which has the bestest Indian Fry Bread recipe you’ve ever tasted, and started looking for inspiration. It started coming to me, and by and by I had an idea of where to start, and what to use. My wife had also purchased boneless, skinless chicken thighs (which I dearly love…they are cheap at $3.99/lb, and to my mind and taste buds, are far, far better than chicken breasts, which can dry out so easily, has less flavor, and is usually a lot more expensive), so I figured I would use those. I also had three dried ancho chiles (I think they were anchos, but then I’ve had them for a fairly long time) that needed to get used, and some good chile powders from Penzey’s, so I decided to just start with the chicken and move on from there.

I poured some olive oil into my trusty La Crueset dutch oven, and heated it over medium heat until it was shimmering. I dropped the first set of chicken thighs into the pot and browned them with salt and pepper, being careful with the heat so as not to burn the nice fond that was forming. It took four batches (Susan had bought three packs of thighs), and after it was all done I had a very nice fond on the bottom. I threw 4 minced cloves of garlic into the oil, and then thinking about some of the Indian recipes I’ve made, I decided to fry the spices with the garlic for a bit before adding anything else. I dumped in the three ancho chiles that I had stemmed, seeded, and ground in my Cuisinart Mini-Prep, a tablespoon of cumin, a tablespoon of more Ancho Chile powder from Penzey’s, and a ½ teaspoon of cinnamon. I added a bit more oil, and then started stirring. The spices combined with the fond on the bottom to form a rich, dark glaze. I threw in 2 chopped onions, and stirred them in with a bit more oil. I was thinking of adding a bit of liquid to deglaze the pan before the fond burned, but I wanted to sauté the onions, not boil them, so I turned the heat down a tad, and figured that the onions would release enough liquid to deglaze the pan anyway. That is exactly what happened, and after about 10 minutes I had deglazed the pan and browned the onions.

I dumped in the diced tomatoes, the browned chicken thighs, and a can of chicken broth so that the liquid covered the covered the chicken, and reduced to the heat to medium-low for a slow simmer. I let that cook for about an hour, and then added a pound or so of quartered red potatoes. I let that cook for another hour, and when the potatoes were fork tender, I decided to experiment a bit. I was thinking about mole sauces, and figured I was pretty close to one with what I had, so what would happen if I threw in some unsweetened chocolate to make my sauce even richer? However, it turned out we didn’t have any….phooey! But, Susan told me, we did have unsweetened cocoa powder…maybe that would work? Delighted, I grabbed the cocoa, and was considering how much to put in when I thought that perhaps I should try it out on a small bit of sauce before potentially ruining a fairly large amount of food with an ill-conceived idea.

I grabbed a small stainless steel bowl and ladled in some of the sauce. It smelled and tasted wonderful…the flavor was rich and deep. I threw in a teaspoon of cocoa, and….couldn’t taste a thing. I threw in more…still not really doing it for me, so I dropped in a large dollop and stirred like crazy. Eagerly, I raised a spoonful to my lips, and tasted. It was….nasty. Gack…I was overwhelmed with raw chocolate flavor. Clearly, I have a bit to learn about making mole sauce. I decided to not mess with an already good thing, and just served it as it was, being very glad that I had decided to try the cocoa on a small scale before hand.

Anyway, here is the recipe, which I am calling my Southwestern Chickeny Tomatoey-Type Thing, because I don’t know what else to call it.

3 to 3.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
3 dried ancho chiles
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon ancho or chipotle chile powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 onions, diced
Olive oil, as needed
2 14-oz cans diced tomatoes with chiles
1 can chicken stock or broth
1 lb small red potatoes, quartered

-Brown the chicken in batches in the olive oil, sprinkling each batch with salt and freshly ground pepper
-Saute the garlic in the olive oil after the chicken for about 1 minute
-Fry all of the spices with the garlic in the oil…add another tablespoon if it looks too dry
-Add the onions; sauté until browned; use the released liquid from the onions to deglaze your pot
-Add the chicken back in and the tomatoes
-Add the can of chicken broth
-Simmer for approximately an hour; add the potatoes
-Simmer for another hour, or until the potatoes are fork tender and the sauce has reduced a bit
-Can garnish with cheese and sour cream, and also good with tortillas…but also just good as it is!