Pretty Dinner

Walleye with Whole Foods brand "Asian Fish Seasoning" pan fried. Chard sauteed in a bit of rice vinegar. Curd rice* which is leftover Chinese takeout rice with yogurt and tomato pickle. Tomato pickle explanation can be found here.

*It may not be officially curd rice, but what it is what I call curd rice.

White Food

White Food: Ugly, impossible to photograph, boring.

Last night I made a very simple fish dish that tasted very good, but was totally not photo compatible.

White fish, with a colorless sauce, with white rice. Dear, dear, dear, how boring.

But it was good. I saw Bittman do it on PBS, so I replicated it without having any measurements.

Take a nice mild white fish and pan fry it quickly in olive oil making sure not to over cook it. We used wild caught Dover Sole (you should always use wild caught fish. Farmed fish has none of the nutritional benefits associated with fish like Omega-3s and is generally bad for the environment.) Make sure to season it generously with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, make the sauce, I used a couple tablespoons of butter melted. Add a tablespoon or so of capers, a tablespoon or so of red wine vinegar and two tablespoons of honey.

The sauce is very runny, which was perfect with the rice. The whole meal (we had rice already made) took about 7 minutes.

Chili, Rice, and Oh My Gosh!

Wow, it has been a long time since I blogged. Bad Kassie! But I've been busy, or something.

But the weather is right for cooking, so I guess I'll just pick up where I left off.

So, with the weather cool and football on TV, I made some chili today. I never have an actual recipe for my chili, but this one turned out pretty good, so I'll see if I can write it up.

Start by browning 1 lbs ground pork and 1 lbs ground beef. I used organic grass fed beef and organic pork for this. I think with chili, choosing high quality meat matters. You want the meat to stand out and be distinct.

Drain and set aside.

In a Tablespoon or so oil, saute a chopped onion and 5 cloves garlic. I add in a lot of my spices at this time so they can be toasted sort of in the oil. I added in about 2 T. of cumin, 2 T. of cinnamon, 2 t. of cayenne, 6 T. of chili powder, salt and pepper. I use a lot of chili powder because I used the cheap brand. I have a really good spicy Indian kind and 6 T. would be a killer. All these spices are approximate amounts and I adjust by adding more as I go along to see how it tastes. A bay leaf or two would be good here too, but I was out.

I let the onions cook down, careful to not burn them, for about 10 minutes.

Then I add 28oz can of whole tomatoes, 28oz can and a 16 oz can of chopped tomatoes, and a can of tomato paste. For the tomatoes I always use Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes. They have a really great taste.

Then add in 1 big box of organic beef stock, 1 bottle of dark beer, 1 small can of rinsed black beans, 1 small can of rinsed pinto beans, and the meat. Finally, add in some chipotle peppers from a can. I added in 4 chopped. CJ thought it was too hot. I thought it wasn't hot enough.

At this point, the chili will seem really runny, and it is. Bring the whole thing to a boil, then cover partially and simmer on low for the next few hours. I'd say at least 2. You want to condense all the flavors and reduce the liquid. I cooked mine for about 5 hours today.

You need to stir every 30 minutes or so to make sure it doesn't burn. It really needs to be on low heat or it will burn and ruin the whole pot.

I served with sour cream and cheddar corn bread. It was very good. We now have 3 big servings in the freezer and one in the fridge for my lunch tomorrow.

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Additionally, we got the greatest cooking contraption of all time today- A RICE COOKER. I already cooked up one pot full and portioned it into individual bags and put them in the freezer. This will change how we eat forever. We love rice, but have little patience for cooking it.

I (heart) Risotto

Risotto. I love it. And it is great for a Meatless Monday. True I use some chicken stock, but veggie broth could substitute.

This is my go-to risotto. Great for kids (if they like rice) and great for picky adults too.

Start with an onion and a bunch of garlic, chopped. Use half an onion or less if you aren't a big onion fan, I thought a full onion was almost too much.


Put in a pan with some olive oil and saute until soft.
At this time, put a whole box of chicken stock and half a box of water on the stove. Bring it to a simmer and keep it there.

Add the risotto rice (arborio is what I use) to the onion and garlic mix. I put in about a cup of risotto rice. I'm not so much with exact measurements. You want to saute the risotto rice until translucent.

Next up, add in two ladle fulls of the simmering stock, a couple T. of dried herbs, salt and pepper to taste, and a 28 oz can of chopped tomatoes.
Now, here's the key to making risotto. You bring this all to a boil and then lower the temp. You cook the rice until most of the liquid is absorbed, then add another ladle or two of stock. Let that soak in, then more stock. You keep adding stock until the rice is soft.

When the rice is soft, add in cheese and fresh basil.
I like manchego cheese with this, but mozzarella or other semi soft cheese would work well in this. Stir it in and let it cook for a minute or so.

Serve as a side dish or main dish.

Tonight I'm making a mushroom risotto.

Another Meatless Monday

A nice vegan meal for us on this Meatless Monday.

The main is roasted butternut squash with toasted walnuts and lentils. It is topped with a squeeze of lime (and cilantro that I forgot for the picture) which really makes the flavors pop. The rice is spiced with saffron, cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon. The spinach is plain sauteed spinach.

Good, easy, and cheap, just how we like it.

Presidents' Day Weekend

It was a long weekend of treats and dinners. Did I take lots of pictures? Of course not. Friends were in town, guests had to be fed, and I was absent-minded.

Friday started out with some homemade Mexican. I made a nice meal of tacos, beans and rice. The filling for the tacos was chicken in a green pumpkin seed sauce. It was outstanding, in my opinion, and you can get the recipe here. I tweaked the recipe a bit, but it is close.

Have I mentioned my love of homemade beans? Beans are the easiest things in the world to make from scratch and one of the most satisfying. Bean juice is the greatest tasting substance in the world some days. Everyone should spend time next weekend making beans at home. Pinto beans are a very easy place to start and give you the most bang for your buck.

Saturday dinner was a bit complicated. It had to be a vegan gluten free dinner. Yikes. I ended up with a mushroom ragu (that was way too watery) on polenta. Tisha brought a spinach salad, that was perfect. Dessert was a bizarre concoction of prunes, oranges, and cardamom syrup on ice cream (and soy cream). It was an okay dinner, but not my favorite by any means.

Sunday, my feet hurt from two days of cooking, so dinner was takeout.

Today, was sort-of-meatless Monday. See, CJ gave me these great crocks for my birthday and Valentine's Day.
I also had a lot of chicken stock left over from making chicken Friday night and no room in the freezer for it.

What could I do? I made super nummy, super tasty, super awesome French Onion Soup.

I used the recipe from Cook's Illustrated. It took over four hours to make; 2 1/2 half were inactive. It was very good and well worth it. While very few ingredients are used in the recipe, it would be too much work to paraphrase, so I suggest you get to the library and get the recipe yourself for your collection.

You do have a collection, don't you?

Just Another Meatless Monday

Today, for Meatless Monday, we have roasted veggies and rice. Lots of fresh veggies and herbs were used. Pretty boring, but an easy meal.

I'm beginning to realize that Meatless Monday is tougher than I ever imagined. Not because it is hard to eat veggies or come up with food ideas. It is hard because it follows Meatful Sunday. We always have leftover meat in our fridge on Mondays, and I think it is a waste not to eat it on Monday. Why cook a completely new meal when we have more than enough tasty leftovers? Seems wasteful.

Anyway, click here to hear how CJ feels about the whole thing.

Meatfull Sunday

The day before Meatless Monday is Meatfull Sunday, I guess.

Last night I made a boneless leg of lamb with a berbere rub.
Served medium rare.

I also made a really great rice dish.
Basmati rice with dill and pistachios. It turned out really good.

Meatless Monday

(Spicy Indian Chickpeas with Basmati Rice)

My New Year's Resolution is to eat less meat. Specifically, I want to stick to a vegetarian diet once a week. Therefore, in comes Meatless Monday.
Meatless Monday is a "nation health campaign to help Americans prevent heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer..." According to wikipedia, it dates back to a government movement during WWI for families to eat less meat to save money for war bonds.

If you know me, you know that this is not why I'm doing it. I'm doing it because Americans eat too much meat. Meat, produced under most circumstances (including organic), is much worse for the environment than how most veggies (especially organic) are produced. Also, meat takes a lot more inputs of energy and water than veggies. And we all know that our next war will be over water, we are already fighting over energy.
Plus, veggies, grains, and beans are tasty. It helps expand my collection of recipes. And, it is good for our health.

So, today was my first Meatless Monday of the year. Or, should I say, our first Meatless Monday.

These chickpeas were great. Spicy, a little tart, and a bit tangy, they really hit the spot on a cold Minnesota evening. They were also super low fat and have lots of fiber. Served on rice, they make a complete protein. Even CJ liked them.

Chicken Friday

Friday night we had chicken and rice, a very simple meal. I used this chicken recipe:
orange braised chicken with olives
and this rice recipe:
yellow rice with sofrito.

I'm learning lots of things with this new blog:
1) Brown plates + brown foods = ugly looking food. I'm going to start trying to use white plates for pics, I think that will help.
2) Meat goes on top. See that pick above. It would look better if the meat would have been on top.
3) Green. Plates need green. Or some bright color.