Wow, August has been a productive month for me. Maybe I'm making up for all the recipes I didn't post over the rest of the summer. No doubt I'll slack off again soon, as school has begun. But for today, here's a new one that I think I'll be returning to frequently.
I love curries. There's a Thai place about fifteen minutes away that makes an excellent chicken curry, and I've always liked their stuff. Unfortunately, my own attempts at curry had never quite seemed right. Until I (on my current low-cal kick) stumbled across a WeightWatchers recipe that promised to taste great, and seemed pretty healthy to boot. Me being me, I took it and twisted it, adding my own stuff and changing proportions.
It was fabulous. This was curry the way I liked it, and now I can make it at home in large quantities. Because this recipe certainly makes a very large quantity! I'll be eating curry for supper for the rest of the week, but I don't mind. It has a whole lot of my favorite stuff in it (Cashews! I love cashews!), and it's just the right amount of heat with an underlying hint of sweetness. I'm betting this one goes into regular rotation on my menu.
This recipe could very easily be made vegetarian by just leaving out the chicken. It has enough veggies in it that it will still seem chunky and full. You could also substitute tofu cubes for the chicken. This is an especially good recipe for tofu, since the tofu absorbs the curry flavour deliciously during the recipe's simmering time. I've made it both ways, and it's good any way you choose.
Cashew Chicken Curry
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 large sweet onion, diced
1 thumb fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 large cloves garlic, minced (or three smaller cloves)
1-3 tbsp red curry paste
1 tsp cumin
1 lb chicken tenders, cut into bite sized pieces (chicken breasts work too, whatever you've got on hand)
28 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 lb baby carrots, chopped
8 oz baby bella mushrooms, torn into chunks
1 tbsp fresh oregano
2 tbsp fresh thyme
1 tbsp fresh rosemary
1/4 cup very finely chopped cashews (think dust), plus extra cashews for sprinkling over the top
1 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt
1 can coconut milk (14 oz)
1/2 lb frozen peas
Salt
Pepper
In a large soup pot or dutch oven, melt 1 tbsp of butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions, garlic, and ginger, and saute until the onions are translucent but haven't yet begun to brown. Add the chicken, and keep a close eye on your pot (especially if you're using a soup pot instead of a dutch oven) to make sure that nothing sticks. Add the other tbsp of butter if necessary to prevent stickage. Stirring frequently, let the chicken pieces cook all the way through. Add the tomatoes, the carrots, and the mushrooms. Stir to make sure everything gets mixed together, and bring to a simmer. Add in the curry paste, the cumin, the oregano, the thyme, and the rosemary. Stir until the curry paste has completely dissolved in the liquids from the tomatoes. Taste it, then add salt and pepper as necessary.
A word on the curry paste: I personally used three very heaping teaspoons, and the resulting curry was only barely spicy. My roommate, who is sensitive to hot foods and dislikes them, pronounced it perfect. The key when first adding the curry is to remember that you will later be adding the coconut milk and the yogurt, both of which will cut down the spicy flavor, and you will be serving over rice, which will also mitigate the spicyness. So to get appropriately spicy curry, you actually need to make it hotter than you think you will enjoy at this step. It'll tone down later, trust me. But add more curry (at least a heaping teaspoon more, and even more than that if you really like things hot) than you think you need here, or you'll end up surprised by the mildness at the end. Do not be shy.
Bring the whole thing to a boil, then turn the heat down, cover the pot and let the mixture simmer for 25-30 min. It can go as long as 45 min if you get caught up doing something else, this simmering is not exact science. When you're ready, remove the cover and dump in the frozen peas, then turn the heat back up under the pot to bring it to a simmer again. Add the cashews, the yogurt, and the can of coconut milk, then stir. If you like your curry a little thicker, you can let it reduce for a few minutes, stirring slowly, but I usually just eat mine as is. Serve over rice, topped generously with cashew halves for crunch.
Servings: 8-10. This makes a pretty large pot. Curries are really good for leftovers, though, since the flavors blend and actually improve over time. You might like it better the second day than the first!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Hot Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
When I was a kid, there was a running contest in our house: the kid who could find the hottest hot sauce and bring a sample of it home for my father would win $5. Your hot sauce would be diligently compared to the previous reigning winner, and it quickly became very difficult to find a sauce that would make the grade. My father loved spicy foods. (For the record, the current winner is a "psycho" grade sauce from a restaurant in Orlando, Florida. We brought it home in a styrofoam cup, but almost immediately had to transfer it to a plastic bottle because the sauce ate through the cup.)
I personally never caught the hot foods bug, though. To this day, while I love my curries well enough, I've never gone in for the burn-your-mouth southwestern style of cooking. Mexico can keep its chipotles and habaneros, I certainly don't like them.
But today I decided to try a recipe that promised to jazz up hummus, and I like hummus enough that I was willing to be jazzed. Even if it involved peppers. To make it even more promising, the hummus in question would let me make use of the red and yellow bell peppers that my tiny kitchen garden has just started to produce. I was sold. Bring on the hummus.
And it turns out, I like it! So here's the recipe, one of the rare and elusive hot food recipes from Joye.
Hot Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
1 can chickpeas (15 oz), drained
2 red bell peppers (I use peppers from my garden, so I use 4 very small peppers)
1 tsp chipotle in adobo (more if you like it really spicy, leave it out if you hate heat in your food)
3 cloves garlic, chopped into chunks
2 tbsp parsley
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp basil
1 tsp paprika
¼ medium onion, rough chopped
2 tsp cumin
3 tbsp lemon juice
Nonstick grilling spray (olive oil spray also works)
(Optional) 1 cup shredded parmesan, loosely packed
Pepper
Salt
Remove the seeds from the bell peppers. Spray a nonstick pan with grilling spray and sit it over medium-high heat. Lay the bell peppers in the pan skin-side-down, and roast them until the skin develops black spots. While the peppers are roasting, chop the onion and garlic. When the peppers are done, chop them into chunks to make it easier on your food processor. Add all the ingredients except the salt and pepper (and the cheese, if you're using it) to the food processor, and process until smooth. Taste and season (warning: season carefully, because a little salt goes a long way in hummus. Be conservative about your salt additions). If you need more moisture, add water, or if you like your hummus a little smoother, add a hint of olive oil to smooth it out. This is the point to dump in the cheese if that's your thing. Process again to mix in the new additions, taste, and serve. It’s good warm, room temp, or cool. I serve with carrots or snow peas for dipping, but toasted pita triangles are good too.
Servings: 10-15. This makes a LOT more than you’d think it does. One can of chickpeas goes a long way.
I personally never caught the hot foods bug, though. To this day, while I love my curries well enough, I've never gone in for the burn-your-mouth southwestern style of cooking. Mexico can keep its chipotles and habaneros, I certainly don't like them.
But today I decided to try a recipe that promised to jazz up hummus, and I like hummus enough that I was willing to be jazzed. Even if it involved peppers. To make it even more promising, the hummus in question would let me make use of the red and yellow bell peppers that my tiny kitchen garden has just started to produce. I was sold. Bring on the hummus.
And it turns out, I like it! So here's the recipe, one of the rare and elusive hot food recipes from Joye.
Hot Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
1 can chickpeas (15 oz), drained
2 red bell peppers (I use peppers from my garden, so I use 4 very small peppers)
1 tsp chipotle in adobo (more if you like it really spicy, leave it out if you hate heat in your food)
3 cloves garlic, chopped into chunks
2 tbsp parsley
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp basil
1 tsp paprika
¼ medium onion, rough chopped
2 tsp cumin
3 tbsp lemon juice
Nonstick grilling spray (olive oil spray also works)
(Optional) 1 cup shredded parmesan, loosely packed
Pepper
Salt
Remove the seeds from the bell peppers. Spray a nonstick pan with grilling spray and sit it over medium-high heat. Lay the bell peppers in the pan skin-side-down, and roast them until the skin develops black spots. While the peppers are roasting, chop the onion and garlic. When the peppers are done, chop them into chunks to make it easier on your food processor. Add all the ingredients except the salt and pepper (and the cheese, if you're using it) to the food processor, and process until smooth. Taste and season (warning: season carefully, because a little salt goes a long way in hummus. Be conservative about your salt additions). If you need more moisture, add water, or if you like your hummus a little smoother, add a hint of olive oil to smooth it out. This is the point to dump in the cheese if that's your thing. Process again to mix in the new additions, taste, and serve. It’s good warm, room temp, or cool. I serve with carrots or snow peas for dipping, but toasted pita triangles are good too.
Servings: 10-15. This makes a LOT more than you’d think it does. One can of chickpeas goes a long way.
Baba Ghanouj
I’ve been on a dip streak lately, so one I’m posting a recipe for baba ghanouj (that spelling… every person I meet spells this dip differently!) that I adapted from a college friend of mine. She was in the hospitality school at our university to become a chef, and our dorm served as her willing guinea pigs. This is a version of her recipe, cut back a little on the lemon juice and with the addition of the mint. What can I say, I like mint. I also like almonds, so even though it’s probably heresy to any actual middle eastern person, I sometimes chop those and add them too. Added bonus: this dip is both absurdly low-cal, and vegan. I've been trying to eat less meat lately (meat is expensive!), so a veggie-only dip is good for me.
Baba Ghanouj
1 eggplant
3 cloves garlic
1/8 cup lemon juice (Give or take. I usually just fill a ¼ cup measure about half full, so it’s never exact.)
1 heaping tbsp tahini
1 tsp ground cumin
(Optional) ½ tsp fresh mint (my plant is peppermint, so I use that, but it doesn’t matter)
(Optional) ¼ cup finely chopped almonds (the “finely” here is important. Your food processor will NOT appreciate large pieces of almonds.)
Salt
Pepper
Preheat the oven to 430F and slice the eggplant into ½ inch thick slices. Spray a baking tray with nonstick grilling spray (the grilling spray takes more heat; normal nonstick spray will burn) and arrange the eggplant in a single layer on the tray. For extra reassurance, you can spray both sides of each eggplant slice with the grilling spray too. Bake the eggplant for 30-40 minutes or until the middle of all the slices have sunk down and turned softly brown. Remove the eggplant from the oven and use a paring knife to peel each slice. Chop the garlic into chunks. Dump the slices into a food processor and add the lemon juice, tahini, cumin, salt, pepper, and any other additives you may like to the processor as well. Process until smooth (this may take a while, especially for the eggplant seeds), scraping down the sides of the processor once or twice to make sure that all the bits get chopped up. Serve chilled or room temperature, with veggies or toasted pita slices. I like carrots and sweet peas for dipping, but supposedly broccoli, cauliflower, and celery are good too.
Servings: 8-10
Baba Ghanouj
1 eggplant
3 cloves garlic
1/8 cup lemon juice (Give or take. I usually just fill a ¼ cup measure about half full, so it’s never exact.)
1 heaping tbsp tahini
1 tsp ground cumin
(Optional) ½ tsp fresh mint (my plant is peppermint, so I use that, but it doesn’t matter)
(Optional) ¼ cup finely chopped almonds (the “finely” here is important. Your food processor will NOT appreciate large pieces of almonds.)
Salt
Pepper
Preheat the oven to 430F and slice the eggplant into ½ inch thick slices. Spray a baking tray with nonstick grilling spray (the grilling spray takes more heat; normal nonstick spray will burn) and arrange the eggplant in a single layer on the tray. For extra reassurance, you can spray both sides of each eggplant slice with the grilling spray too. Bake the eggplant for 30-40 minutes or until the middle of all the slices have sunk down and turned softly brown. Remove the eggplant from the oven and use a paring knife to peel each slice. Chop the garlic into chunks. Dump the slices into a food processor and add the lemon juice, tahini, cumin, salt, pepper, and any other additives you may like to the processor as well. Process until smooth (this may take a while, especially for the eggplant seeds), scraping down the sides of the processor once or twice to make sure that all the bits get chopped up. Serve chilled or room temperature, with veggies or toasted pita slices. I like carrots and sweet peas for dipping, but supposedly broccoli, cauliflower, and celery are good too.
Servings: 8-10
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Gourmet Green Bean Casserole
I like older recipes that you can dress up and get creative with, much like the "Take ordinary, typically bad food and make something special" challenges on Top Chef. I was fiddling around with a few ideas one day, and found myself looking at green bean casserole. The idea was good: beans and onions, with some mushrooms and a little crunch. I remained unsatisfied with my makeover efforts, though, until I discovered a recipe online for a take on green bean casserole that looked like it had possibilities. Still, I wouldn't be me if I didn't love to fiddle with peoples' perfectly good recipes, so I altered it a little, tossed in some cheese on a whim, cut the chopping time by using frozen beans, that sort of thing. And here it is, the green bean casserole that's fancy enough for me to make on Christmas.
Gourmet Green Bean Casserole
1 1/2 lbs green beans, frozen
3 cloves garlic
1/2 lb (8 oz) baby bella mushrooms (shitake work also)
1 SMALL pinch ancho chile powder
3/4 cup chicken stock (broth works also)
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp dry sherry or white wine
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup Jarlsberg cheese, finely grated (gruyere works also)
1 1/2 slices whole wheat bread
1/2 can french fried onions
1 tbsp margerine or butter substitute
Salt
Pepper
Preheat oven to 400F.
Begin by boiling a pot of water with 1 tbsp salt in it. I know, it seems like a lot, but it's right, trust me. The beans don't absorb much, so don't be shy. Add the frozen beans when the water boils, then bring the pot back to a boil and let the beans cook for 5-10 minutes until they're tender but not wilting. Drain in a colander and run cool water over them to stop the cooking process, then let them sit while you finish the rest of the recipe.
Wash your mushrooms and tear them into pieces (tearing gives a nice textural contrast to the machine-sliced 'shrooms in canned casseroles). Throw them in a pan with a teeny dash of olive oil, and let them saute over medium-high heat while you dice your garlic. Add the garlic to the pan when you get done with it, along with a little salt, some pepper, and the pinch of chile powder.
While the mushrooms are cooking, whisk the flour into your chicken stock, making sure there are no lumps. When the mushrooms are golden brown and beginning to render their juices, add the stock to the pan along with the sherry or wine. Turn the heat on the burner down to medium and stir until the sauce thickens (this should happen pretty quickly, so keep an eye on it). When it's thick, add the cream and the Jarlsberg to the pan and stir to mix. Stir occasionally until this mixture thickens.
When you've got a nice thick cream sauce, add the beans into the pan and mix the whole thing together. Sit the pan off the heat for a moment while you make the topping.
To make the topping, pulse the bread and the margerine together in a food processor until it turns into moist little crumbs. Dump these out into a bowl, and add the fried onions to them, then use your hands to mix the onions and bread crumbs together.
To assemble the whole casserole, get a medium-large casserole dish and pour in the bean-mushroom mixture from the pan, spreading it into an even layer. Sprinkle the breadcrumb-onion mix on evenly top. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes. Keep an eye on this, and take the casserole out when the topping turns a deep golden brown, but before it burns. Serve immediately.
Servings: 8-10.
Gourmet Green Bean Casserole
1 1/2 lbs green beans, frozen
3 cloves garlic
1/2 lb (8 oz) baby bella mushrooms (shitake work also)
1 SMALL pinch ancho chile powder
3/4 cup chicken stock (broth works also)
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp dry sherry or white wine
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup Jarlsberg cheese, finely grated (gruyere works also)
1 1/2 slices whole wheat bread
1/2 can french fried onions
1 tbsp margerine or butter substitute
Salt
Pepper
Preheat oven to 400F.
Begin by boiling a pot of water with 1 tbsp salt in it. I know, it seems like a lot, but it's right, trust me. The beans don't absorb much, so don't be shy. Add the frozen beans when the water boils, then bring the pot back to a boil and let the beans cook for 5-10 minutes until they're tender but not wilting. Drain in a colander and run cool water over them to stop the cooking process, then let them sit while you finish the rest of the recipe.
Wash your mushrooms and tear them into pieces (tearing gives a nice textural contrast to the machine-sliced 'shrooms in canned casseroles). Throw them in a pan with a teeny dash of olive oil, and let them saute over medium-high heat while you dice your garlic. Add the garlic to the pan when you get done with it, along with a little salt, some pepper, and the pinch of chile powder.
While the mushrooms are cooking, whisk the flour into your chicken stock, making sure there are no lumps. When the mushrooms are golden brown and beginning to render their juices, add the stock to the pan along with the sherry or wine. Turn the heat on the burner down to medium and stir until the sauce thickens (this should happen pretty quickly, so keep an eye on it). When it's thick, add the cream and the Jarlsberg to the pan and stir to mix. Stir occasionally until this mixture thickens.
When you've got a nice thick cream sauce, add the beans into the pan and mix the whole thing together. Sit the pan off the heat for a moment while you make the topping.
To make the topping, pulse the bread and the margerine together in a food processor until it turns into moist little crumbs. Dump these out into a bowl, and add the fried onions to them, then use your hands to mix the onions and bread crumbs together.
To assemble the whole casserole, get a medium-large casserole dish and pour in the bean-mushroom mixture from the pan, spreading it into an even layer. Sprinkle the breadcrumb-onion mix on evenly top. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes. Keep an eye on this, and take the casserole out when the topping turns a deep golden brown, but before it burns. Serve immediately.
Servings: 8-10.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Chicken noodle soup
I had roasted a chicken, and had plenty of left-over chicken bits that I needed to do something with. To be precise, I had half a breast, a thigh, a wing, and a leg. The obvious solution was to make chicken soup.
This is best if you think a little bit ahead of time when you're prepping your chicken. If you're sectioning the chicken (I always do a ten-piece section, but to each his own), take the backbone and giblets and boil them in a large pot of water with some veggie bits (save the ends of your leeks, maybe toss in some baby carrots, whatever you've got and don't really need) and spices for a couple of hours to make stock. That will save you money, since you won't have to buy stock, and it'll taste better anyway. If you aren't sectioning your chicken, just use boxed stock.
What type of noodles you use is also up to you. I used the 'dumpling' noodles that come in large bags, since they were on sale. But any type of pasta is good, so just throw in whatever you've got on hand.
Chicken Noodle Soup
1/2 medium sweet onion (or 1/4 large onion), diced
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 leek
15-30 baby carrots, sliced into little circles
2 ribs celery, diced
Chicken, torn into bit-sized chunks (I never measure how much chicken I use, since it's mainly determined by how much I've got left over. It doesn't really matter, just use what you've got)
Stock (Again, I never measure this, since it's mainly determined by whether I made stock when I sectioned the chicken. Just have enough to fill the pot to a comfortable level, about 2 qts)
1 cube chicken boullion
Fresh thyme and oregano, wrapped together into a little sachet
1/2 tsp ground sage
Noodles
Begin by melting the butter over medium heat in a large soup pot. When it's melted, add the onion, and let the onion soften for 5 minutes or so. While the onion is cooking, slice the leek by cutting off the end and the dark leaves, then slicing it length-wise once and into 1/4 inch thick semicircles. When the onion has turned translucent and is right on the edge starting to caramelize, add the leek and stir until the leek has softened up.
When the onion and leek are done, add your stock to the pot and dump in your chicken and carrots. Add your spice sachet (I sometimes just use a twist-tie to make a little bundle, if I'm out of cheesecloth) and the two boullion cubes. The boullion is in fact optional, but I find it gives a little more dimension to the stock.
Bring the pot to a boil, and then cover it and reduce the heat on the burner to low to let it simmer for 30-45 minutes. More time won't hurt it, but I wouldn't try to do this any quicker. The soup tastes better when it has time for its flavors to meld.
Ten minutes before you intend to serve it, boil the pasta in salted water. It's important that you only add the noodles to the soup right before you serve it, otherwise they get soggy and lose their texture. If you intend to keep the soup for several days and serve leftovers, just keep the noodles in a separate container of their own, and pick out a handful to add to your bowls just before you rewarm the soup. Remove and discard the herb sachet, then serve with crusty bread.
Servings: Variable, depending on how much of the chicken, stock, and noodles you use. I usually do large batches that are about 12 servings, but it could easily be cut to 4 or 6.
This is best if you think a little bit ahead of time when you're prepping your chicken. If you're sectioning the chicken (I always do a ten-piece section, but to each his own), take the backbone and giblets and boil them in a large pot of water with some veggie bits (save the ends of your leeks, maybe toss in some baby carrots, whatever you've got and don't really need) and spices for a couple of hours to make stock. That will save you money, since you won't have to buy stock, and it'll taste better anyway. If you aren't sectioning your chicken, just use boxed stock.
What type of noodles you use is also up to you. I used the 'dumpling' noodles that come in large bags, since they were on sale. But any type of pasta is good, so just throw in whatever you've got on hand.
Chicken Noodle Soup
1/2 medium sweet onion (or 1/4 large onion), diced
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 leek
15-30 baby carrots, sliced into little circles
2 ribs celery, diced
Chicken, torn into bit-sized chunks (I never measure how much chicken I use, since it's mainly determined by how much I've got left over. It doesn't really matter, just use what you've got)
Stock (Again, I never measure this, since it's mainly determined by whether I made stock when I sectioned the chicken. Just have enough to fill the pot to a comfortable level, about 2 qts)
1 cube chicken boullion
Fresh thyme and oregano, wrapped together into a little sachet
1/2 tsp ground sage
Noodles
Begin by melting the butter over medium heat in a large soup pot. When it's melted, add the onion, and let the onion soften for 5 minutes or so. While the onion is cooking, slice the leek by cutting off the end and the dark leaves, then slicing it length-wise once and into 1/4 inch thick semicircles. When the onion has turned translucent and is right on the edge starting to caramelize, add the leek and stir until the leek has softened up.
When the onion and leek are done, add your stock to the pot and dump in your chicken and carrots. Add your spice sachet (I sometimes just use a twist-tie to make a little bundle, if I'm out of cheesecloth) and the two boullion cubes. The boullion is in fact optional, but I find it gives a little more dimension to the stock.
Bring the pot to a boil, and then cover it and reduce the heat on the burner to low to let it simmer for 30-45 minutes. More time won't hurt it, but I wouldn't try to do this any quicker. The soup tastes better when it has time for its flavors to meld.
Ten minutes before you intend to serve it, boil the pasta in salted water. It's important that you only add the noodles to the soup right before you serve it, otherwise they get soggy and lose their texture. If you intend to keep the soup for several days and serve leftovers, just keep the noodles in a separate container of their own, and pick out a handful to add to your bowls just before you rewarm the soup. Remove and discard the herb sachet, then serve with crusty bread.
Servings: Variable, depending on how much of the chicken, stock, and noodles you use. I usually do large batches that are about 12 servings, but it could easily be cut to 4 or 6.
Low-cal Spaghetti Bolognese
I've been cutting back on calories lately, which has affected my cooking output. I've been making a lot of ultra low-cal food in fairly large batches, which means I don't get to try new things as often as I might like.
Part of eating low-cal, for me at least, has been finding ways to adapt my kitchen staples to my desire to eat healthier. This recipe is good example. It was actually born out of thrift rather than a need to cut calories. I was shopping for the stuff to make spaghetti sauce, since I was having my nephews over and I know spaghetti is something they'll eat (they're very picky). Ground beef has been getting so expensive lately, though, and on that day it was over $3.50 for the low-fat kind, for less than a pound of meat! Ridiculous. I noticed, though, that the ground turkey was $2.75 for a pound and a quarter, and I remembered those fabulous turkey meatballs I discovered a few months ago. Clearly the gods intended for me to use ground turkey instead of ground beef.
Thus this recipe, which combines some stuff I had laying around in my pantry and fridge with the turkey to produce a spaghetti sauce that would make my mother proud. It doesn't give up an ounce of taste to my usual spaghetti recipe, but it gives up about 300 calories. And that's enough for a guiltless cookie after dinner! Practical cooking at its best.
Low-cal Spaghetti Bolognese
1.25 lbs ground turkey
1/2 medium sweet onion (or 1/4 of a large one), diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 oz can stewed tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
Chicken stock (or veggie, or even beef, whichever floats your boat)
7-8ish mushrooms, sliced
2 stalks fresh oregano, chopped
1 stalk fresh rosemary, chopped
Pepper
I do this whole recipe in an electric frying pan, and it turns out to be the only thing I have to wash. You could probably do it in a large saucepan over a stovetop just as easily though. Just make sure the saucepan has a lid or something to cover it, so that it doesn't lose too much moisture while it simmers.
Start by dumping the ground turkey into the frying pan, and turning it on to 300F. Let the turkey get a pretty decent start on cooking, and use a spatula to stir it around and break it up into bite-sized chunks as it cooks. You can dice your onion and mince your garlic while this is going on, just keep an eye on the turkey as you do to make sure it doesn't stick to the pan. When the turkey starts to render what little fat it contains, dump in your diced onions and garlic. Stir the onions and the meat around while the meat finishes cooking and the onion softens to translucent. It should smell really good.
When the meat is done all the way through and the onion is translucent, dump in the whole can of stewed tomatoes, juices and all. Use your spatula to chop the tomatoes up into smallish pieces (they come whole in the can, and you want them to be bite-sized). Don't trash the can that the tomatoes came in, instead fill it half up with whatever stock you're using and add that to the mix. Next dump in the can of tomato paste, and stir the whole thing around for a few minutes. The tomato paste should initially be very thick in an otherwise watery mixture, but as you stir, it should combine more thoroughly to form a still-slightly-watery mixture. Cover this, turn the pan down to a simmer, and let it sit for a minute while you wash and slice your mushrooms, and chop your spices. Just dump those into the pan as soon as you get them done, so the mushrooms can begin to soften and the spices can start to assimilate more harmoniously into the mix. Stir everything once more to make sure the spices are evenly distributed.
Taste the mixture when you've added everything, and season with pepper as appropriate. It shouldn't need salt (at least, I don't think it does), which keeps it fairly low-sodium as well. Re-cover your pan and let it simmer for between 30 and 45 minutes. Towards the end of the simmering period, dump some pasta into a pot of salted boiling water so you'll have something to put the sauce on. Ten minutes before you intend to eat it, check the sauce. It should have thickened up, but if it's still a little watery you can leave the lid off the pan for the last ten minutes of simmering, which should bring the texture up to par.
Serve hot on top of pasta. Whole wheat pasta goes especially well with this, since it continues the healthy theme and tastes better than refined-flour pasta anyway.
Servings: 6-8, or as many as 10 if you're me and don't eat much per serving.
Part of eating low-cal, for me at least, has been finding ways to adapt my kitchen staples to my desire to eat healthier. This recipe is good example. It was actually born out of thrift rather than a need to cut calories. I was shopping for the stuff to make spaghetti sauce, since I was having my nephews over and I know spaghetti is something they'll eat (they're very picky). Ground beef has been getting so expensive lately, though, and on that day it was over $3.50 for the low-fat kind, for less than a pound of meat! Ridiculous. I noticed, though, that the ground turkey was $2.75 for a pound and a quarter, and I remembered those fabulous turkey meatballs I discovered a few months ago. Clearly the gods intended for me to use ground turkey instead of ground beef.
Thus this recipe, which combines some stuff I had laying around in my pantry and fridge with the turkey to produce a spaghetti sauce that would make my mother proud. It doesn't give up an ounce of taste to my usual spaghetti recipe, but it gives up about 300 calories. And that's enough for a guiltless cookie after dinner! Practical cooking at its best.
Low-cal Spaghetti Bolognese
1.25 lbs ground turkey
1/2 medium sweet onion (or 1/4 of a large one), diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 oz can stewed tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
Chicken stock (or veggie, or even beef, whichever floats your boat)
7-8ish mushrooms, sliced
2 stalks fresh oregano, chopped
1 stalk fresh rosemary, chopped
Pepper
I do this whole recipe in an electric frying pan, and it turns out to be the only thing I have to wash. You could probably do it in a large saucepan over a stovetop just as easily though. Just make sure the saucepan has a lid or something to cover it, so that it doesn't lose too much moisture while it simmers.
Start by dumping the ground turkey into the frying pan, and turning it on to 300F. Let the turkey get a pretty decent start on cooking, and use a spatula to stir it around and break it up into bite-sized chunks as it cooks. You can dice your onion and mince your garlic while this is going on, just keep an eye on the turkey as you do to make sure it doesn't stick to the pan. When the turkey starts to render what little fat it contains, dump in your diced onions and garlic. Stir the onions and the meat around while the meat finishes cooking and the onion softens to translucent. It should smell really good.
When the meat is done all the way through and the onion is translucent, dump in the whole can of stewed tomatoes, juices and all. Use your spatula to chop the tomatoes up into smallish pieces (they come whole in the can, and you want them to be bite-sized). Don't trash the can that the tomatoes came in, instead fill it half up with whatever stock you're using and add that to the mix. Next dump in the can of tomato paste, and stir the whole thing around for a few minutes. The tomato paste should initially be very thick in an otherwise watery mixture, but as you stir, it should combine more thoroughly to form a still-slightly-watery mixture. Cover this, turn the pan down to a simmer, and let it sit for a minute while you wash and slice your mushrooms, and chop your spices. Just dump those into the pan as soon as you get them done, so the mushrooms can begin to soften and the spices can start to assimilate more harmoniously into the mix. Stir everything once more to make sure the spices are evenly distributed.
Taste the mixture when you've added everything, and season with pepper as appropriate. It shouldn't need salt (at least, I don't think it does), which keeps it fairly low-sodium as well. Re-cover your pan and let it simmer for between 30 and 45 minutes. Towards the end of the simmering period, dump some pasta into a pot of salted boiling water so you'll have something to put the sauce on. Ten minutes before you intend to eat it, check the sauce. It should have thickened up, but if it's still a little watery you can leave the lid off the pan for the last ten minutes of simmering, which should bring the texture up to par.
Serve hot on top of pasta. Whole wheat pasta goes especially well with this, since it continues the healthy theme and tastes better than refined-flour pasta anyway.
Servings: 6-8, or as many as 10 if you're me and don't eat much per serving.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Meat and Mushrooms
This is a good way to dress up cheap meat cuts. It's another of those recipes that came together when I discovered a few ingredients in my kitchen, and needed a way to use them. In this case, I had a package of cube steak in my freezer, and some mushrooms in the crisper that needed to be eaten before too many more days passed. Sounded like the perfect start to a meal. Add pasta, onion, garlic, some herbs, and a nice sauce, and viola, supper.
This doesn't take as long as I thought it might, so it's not bad for weeknights, but it's nice enough that I would serve it to company without blinking twice. It's also pretty forgiving: you could probably use just about any cut of beef and it would work fine. I would recommend hamburger steaks if that's what you've got on hand, or you could dress it up by using one of the nicer cuts. I bet you could even use NY strips and melt some provolone over the top for a neat date night meal that wouldn't require much stress.
Steak and Mushrooms
1/2 lb pasta (it doesn't really matter what pasta you use here. I used vermicelli, but to each her own)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 lb cube steak (Or whatever beef cut you've got on hand. This would probably even work with chicken.)
1/2 vidalia onion
3 cloves garlic
1/2 lb (8 oz) mushrooms
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tsp worchestershire sauce
1/2 cup beef stock plus 1 tbsp beef stock, separate
1 tsp cornstarch
Optional: fresh-cut rosemary and thyme
Salt
Pepper
Begin boiling water for the pasta. When the water boils, add a dash of salt and the pasta to it. Keep and eye on this while you're doing the other things, and drain the pasta when it's cooked to al dente.
Start by cooking the meat as appropriate for whatever cut you're using. Salt and pepper the meat on both sides. Pour in 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, and lay your cube steaks in a pan over medium-high heat. Turn after 3-4 minutes, and cook the other side until they're done. If you're not using cube steaks, cook whatever meat you're using until it's appropriately done. Remove the meat from the pan to a plate, and let it sit for a while to absorb its own juices.
While the meat is cooking, dice the onion and mince the garlic. Wash the mushrooms, and slice them into 1/4 inch thick slices. When the meat has been removed from the pan, add the onion and garlic, and cook until the onion is lightly browned. If you need more olive oil to keep the onion from sticking, add more, but be sparing. You probably won't need the whole 3 tbsp I've allotted. You may need to turn the heat down a little to keep things from cooking too quickly here, you want this to go slowly enough that the mushrooms will have time to saute before the onions caramelize to a pulp.
When the onion is slightly browned and the garlic has begun to turn translucent, add the mushrooms and let the whole thing cook for a while. When the mushrooms have sauted themselves soft, add the balsamic vinegar and let that cook for a minute or so to get the strong vinegary taste out. Then add the worchestershire sauce, and 1/2 cup of the beef stock. Stir, and let the whole thing simmer. If you're using the rosemary and thyme, chop those finely and add them now. Add the meat back into the pan with the sauce, as well as any juices that might have seeped out as the meat was settling, so that the meat can start to absorb some of the flavour of the sauce.
In a separate cup, mix the remaining tbsp of beef stock and the tsp of corstarch together, then add those to the pan with the mushroom mixture. Let the sauce simmer for another 3 minutes or so, to mix everything together and give the starch a chance to thicken it a little. Taste it, and add salt and pepper as appropriate. Serve over the pasta.
Servings: 4-6
This doesn't take as long as I thought it might, so it's not bad for weeknights, but it's nice enough that I would serve it to company without blinking twice. It's also pretty forgiving: you could probably use just about any cut of beef and it would work fine. I would recommend hamburger steaks if that's what you've got on hand, or you could dress it up by using one of the nicer cuts. I bet you could even use NY strips and melt some provolone over the top for a neat date night meal that wouldn't require much stress.
Steak and Mushrooms
1/2 lb pasta (it doesn't really matter what pasta you use here. I used vermicelli, but to each her own)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 lb cube steak (Or whatever beef cut you've got on hand. This would probably even work with chicken.)
1/2 vidalia onion
3 cloves garlic
1/2 lb (8 oz) mushrooms
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tsp worchestershire sauce
1/2 cup beef stock plus 1 tbsp beef stock, separate
1 tsp cornstarch
Optional: fresh-cut rosemary and thyme
Salt
Pepper
Begin boiling water for the pasta. When the water boils, add a dash of salt and the pasta to it. Keep and eye on this while you're doing the other things, and drain the pasta when it's cooked to al dente.
Start by cooking the meat as appropriate for whatever cut you're using. Salt and pepper the meat on both sides. Pour in 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, and lay your cube steaks in a pan over medium-high heat. Turn after 3-4 minutes, and cook the other side until they're done. If you're not using cube steaks, cook whatever meat you're using until it's appropriately done. Remove the meat from the pan to a plate, and let it sit for a while to absorb its own juices.
While the meat is cooking, dice the onion and mince the garlic. Wash the mushrooms, and slice them into 1/4 inch thick slices. When the meat has been removed from the pan, add the onion and garlic, and cook until the onion is lightly browned. If you need more olive oil to keep the onion from sticking, add more, but be sparing. You probably won't need the whole 3 tbsp I've allotted. You may need to turn the heat down a little to keep things from cooking too quickly here, you want this to go slowly enough that the mushrooms will have time to saute before the onions caramelize to a pulp.
When the onion is slightly browned and the garlic has begun to turn translucent, add the mushrooms and let the whole thing cook for a while. When the mushrooms have sauted themselves soft, add the balsamic vinegar and let that cook for a minute or so to get the strong vinegary taste out. Then add the worchestershire sauce, and 1/2 cup of the beef stock. Stir, and let the whole thing simmer. If you're using the rosemary and thyme, chop those finely and add them now. Add the meat back into the pan with the sauce, as well as any juices that might have seeped out as the meat was settling, so that the meat can start to absorb some of the flavour of the sauce.
In a separate cup, mix the remaining tbsp of beef stock and the tsp of corstarch together, then add those to the pan with the mushroom mixture. Let the sauce simmer for another 3 minutes or so, to mix everything together and give the starch a chance to thicken it a little. Taste it, and add salt and pepper as appropriate. Serve over the pasta.
Servings: 4-6
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