Ingredients:
3 Onions - Chopped
3 Carrots - Grated
2 Tbs. Minced Garlic
2 Tbs. Oil (Olive is nice)
2 Cups White Wine
6 oz. can Tomato Paste
8 Cups Chicken Stock - Homemade is best, of course.
8 oz. Bacon - Cooked crisp and drained
1 lb. Lentils - Picked through and rinsed
1 Tbs. Sugar
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Preparation:
In a very large sauce pan or dutch oven, sweat the onions, garlic, and carrots in the oil.
Once the onions begin to brown, add the wine and reduce to about half the original volume.
Add the remainder of the ingredients except the tomato paste.
Simmer on low until the lentils are tender, around 2 hours.
Add the tomato paste, and simmer for an additional 30 minutes.
Serve alone, or over small pasta like ditalini.
You're Going to Need:
A very large sauce pan, or a dutch oven.
Serves:
6, easily.
Fun recipe - kind of involved, but, worth it. This recipe has three parts:
1. The Ceviche
2. The Asparagus
3. The Glaze
Ingredients:
Ceviche:
1 lb. Yellowfin Tuna - Cubed into 1/2" cubes
1 Ripe Avocado - Cubed into 1/2" cubes
1 Medium Onion - Diced Small
1/2 Cup Fresh Lime Juice (About 2 limes' worth of juice)
1/4 Cup cold-pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Cilantro - To Taste
Kosher Salt - To Taste
Some type of Lettuce - For garnish/serving
Asparagus:
1 lb. Asparagus
1/4 lb. Prosciutto
Glaze:
1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 Cup Fresh Lime Juice
1/4 Cup Sugar
Preparation:
Ceviche:
Mellow the onions by soaking them in a bowl of water with about 1 tsp. dissolved salt for about 45 minutes.
Drain the onions, and combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Combine gently.
Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Taste, and re-season if necessary
Asparagus:
Bring a saucepan of water to a boil with a pinch of salt.
Boil the asparagus for about 3 minutes, then, shock in ice water.
Dry on a paper towel and grill on a grill pan, barbecue grill, or clamshell grill.
Wrap 1/2 piece of prosciutto around each stalk while the asparagus is still warm.
Let cool to room temperature.
Glaze:
Simmer the vinegar, lime juice, and sugar until the mixture reduces by about half.
Set aside to cool.
Plating:
On one half the plate, place a large piece of lettuce, and mold about 1/4 cup of the ceviche into a round on top of the lettuce. A biscuit cutter works well for this.
On the other half, lay a thin line of glaze, about the average length of the asparagus stalks, and place three wrapped stalks on top.
You're going to need:
Nothing special, although, a biscuit cutter would help for presentation.
Serves:
4-6, easily.
Use a roasting pan with a rack, and cook your turkey upside down.
Start with the bird with the breast up, and cook it for about 25 minutes at about 400 degrees. Drop the heat to 325, open the oven, remove the turkey, and carefully flip it breast down. This is a good time to put a remote thermometer into the thigh or breast.
Put it back in the oven and finish cooking it upside down to ensure you get juicy white meat.
Ever burn a serious amount of grease splatter right onto the heating element on your glass-top stove? Fun, right? I just went through this while making Chicken Marsala, and I tried a bunch of things to clean it.
The less-successful attempts were:
Soft Scrub (Which is what I normally use to clean the stove)
Soft Scrub with a Scotch-Brite (Which is what I normally use to clean the stove when it's filthy)
A Razor Blade (Not uncommon when the stove has a small spot of burnt-on grease)
A cleaner designed specifically for cleaning burnt-on grease from a glass cooktop (I'm not going to mention the name, because the produce was worthless)
Dish detergent left to sit on the grease for several hours
Some cussing (Didn't work, but helped my mood tremendously)
All of that failed. The only thing that seemed to make a dent was the razor blade. I poked around the kitchen and garage and found two things that worked, with very little effort and fantastic results:
A fresh razor blade.
A Mister Clean Magic Eraser.
That's it - nothing fancy. If you can't figure out how to make that work, put down the razor blade and don't play with stoves anymore.
Ingredients:
12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cubed into 1" cubes. (Don't bother with white meat, the thighs are better here)
Marinade Ingredients:
1 Cup Plain Yogurt
1 Tsp. Chile Powder
1 Tbsp. Garlic Paste
2 Tbsp. Ginger Paste
2 Tsp. Cumin
1 Tbsp. Garam Masala
1 Tsp. Paprika
1/4 Tsp. Turmeric
1/2 Tsp. Ground Coriander
1/2 Oz. Lemon Juice
2-3 Pinches Salt
Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl, whisk together, and add the chicken pieces.
Stir well to cover all the chicken and put in refrigerator, preferably overnight, but, for at least 8 hours.
Sauce Ingredients:
2 Onions, Chopped
1 Tbsp. Butter
2 Tbsp. Oil (Vegetable is fine)
1 Tbsp. Ginger Paste
1 Tbsp. Garlic Paste
1 Tsp. Cumin
1 Tsp. Ground Coriander
1 Tbsp. Sugar
1 Tbsp. Garam Masala
1 Tsp. Paprika
1/2 Tsp. Turmeric
1 Pint Heavy Cream
1 Cup Plain Yogurt
6 oz. Tomato Paste
Salt
Preparation:
Begin making the Sauce:
Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan or chef's pan. Once heated, add the onions and a pinch of salt, and caramalize the onions.
Get the Heavy Cream ready, and add the Garlic and Ginger pastes to the onions. As soon as the pastes begin to stick to the bottom of the pan, add the heavy cream, then, the rest of the ingredients.
Stir well, and then stir occasionally while you cook the chicken.
Cooking the chicken:
There are several ways to accomplish this. The tastiest way by far is to grill the chicken. In the past, I've skewered the chicken pieces and grilled them. Great flavor, however, quite time consuming.
Alternately, a large skillet will suffice, however, don't crowd the pieces in the skillet, as they'll end up boiled instead of pan-seared, and you'll lose the marinade. As the chicken finishes cooking, add it to the sauce.
Another method that works quite well is using a clamshell grill. It's fast, maintains the marinade on the chicken, and is easy to clean up afterward. Again, once the chicken finishes cooking, add it to the sauce
Once all the chicken is combined with the sauce, cook over low heat for an additional 15 minutes or so to let the flavors incorporate.
Plating:
Serve with or over saffron-infused rice, and with naan.
You're going to need:
Aside from the spices, nothing special.
Serves:
4-6, easily.
Picked this tool up at Gander Mountain.
It's a Guide Series Jerky Shooter, and its advertised capacity is 1 1/2 pounds of ground meat, although, I find it holds a bit more than that.
I adapted a stuffing horn from a small grinder to fit the collar on the end, and find that this is much faster and much more controllable than using the grinder to stuff sausages.
Once you're in the groove, it takes about two minutes to prepare, stuff, and tie off a 1-pound ring of sausage.
These are nice and crisp, and easy to make.
Ingredients:
2 Quarts Water
1 1/2 Cups White or Apple Cider Vinegar
1/3 Cup Salt
1/4 Cup Sugar
2 or 4 Garlic Cloves, Chopped
1 Cup (or more) Fresh Dill
1 Tsp. Mustard Seed
Cucumbers, Cut or Sliced to taste
Preparation:
Wrap the Dill and Mustard Seed in Cheesecloth, this will allow you to avoid straining the brine and adding more garlic later on. If you don’t have cheesecloth, double the amount of garlic.
Bring the Water, Vinegar, Sugar and Salt to a boil; boil 3 minutes, then remove from heat.
Add the Dill/Mustard Seed Packet and Garlic, and allow mix to cool.
Once cool, remove the packet with the Dill and Seeds, or if you didn’t use cheesecloth, strain the mixture into another container and add more garlic.
Put cucumbers in a Glass or Plastic container, and pour the cooled liquid over them. Let stand unrefrigerated for 24 hours. After 24 hours, refrigerate pickles.
You're Going to Need:
Container(s) for the pickles.
Serves:
Makes about 3 jars of pickles.
