Becker five-minute polenta rustica (p. 349) and Becker rice and noodle pilaf (p. 355)

I've grown up eating polenta. It's a really good go-to food that is both cheap and filling (not surprisingly for a food item that has it's roots in gruel and was traditionally considered peasant food [Wikipedia]). So I was intrigued by Becker five-minute polenta rustica (p. 349). Would it really only take 5 minutes? Would it be good?

I melted butter in a saucepan, adding onion and cooking until translucent. I added chicken broth, which I brought to a boil:



I added cornmeal slowly, whisking constantly so that lumps didn't form:



I whisked for five minutes, eventually stirring in Parmesan cheese and salt:



It was surprisingly good! I love polenta and this was a much faster recipe than most. I would much rather stir for 5 minutes than an hour or more. That being said, I didn't think it was quite as good as long simmered polenta but the difference isn't one most people would notice (especially if you haven't eaten your weight in polenta over the years). I will absolutely make this again.

I also made Becker rice and noodle pilaf (p. 355).

I mixed butter, vegetable oil, shallots, fine egg noodles (if you can't find these, look in the Kosher section, that's where they were in our grocery store), and white rice in a skillet and stirred until the noodles were toasted:



I added chicken broth:



I reduced the heat to low, covered, and simmered gently for much more than the recommended 20 minutes:



Like most grain dishes at high altitude, all the water never did get soaked into the rice. And it wasn't until I was finished that I noticed that this recipe makes 10-12 servings. That is a LOT of pilaf for two people. It made a huge amount of pilaf. I'm not a big pilaf fan, I would have been just as happy with a box of Rice-a-Roni. That being said, this was another super easy and cheap recipe.

Both recipes could easily be converted to vegetarian dishes if you used veggie stock rather than chicken stock.

RCD5:Warm barley, mushroom, and asparagus salad (p.347),Roasted red pepper dressing (p. 574), & Rye berry salad w/ roasted red pepper dressing (p.361)

Rachel Cooking Day Post 5

I don't like most grain salads. I never will. I've tried them in so many ways, so many times, and I just don't like them. It is making progress through the "Grains" chapter a real challenge. So when Rachel told me that we could make a couple recipes and she would eat them, I jumped at the chance. We picked a rye berry salad and a barley salad.

The grains were bought out of bulk bins (rye berries on the left, barley on the right):



TJOC has a very handy chart on pages 364 to 368 explaining how to cook almost every type of grain. I utilized it.

Rachel thought Warm barley, mushroom, and asparagus salad (p. 347) sounded good.

My cooked pearl barley:



I managed not to take any pictures of my barley-salad-making process. I sauteed shallots in olive oil and then added sliced mushrooms. I cooked the mushrooms until they started to soften and added lemon zest, lemon juice, parsley, and salt and pepper. While re-reading the recipe, I think I was supposed to cook the asparagus with the barley but I didn't realize that until too late. The asparagus got steamed instead. I mixed all the components together:



Rachel claimed it was tasty but could have used more asparagus and mushrooms. I think it's obvious from the picture that it has too much barley and not enough "other stuff".

Bell peppers are one of the only foods I don't like (canned tuna is the other one), although I do enjoy roasting peppers (it seems to impress people when I have them n hand as a condiment and it's not difficult at all to do). Roasted red pepper dressing (p. 574) was almost a guaranteed hit with people who like red peppers (Rachel, Mom) and a big ole fail for me.

The dressing was simple--I mashed a garlic clove and salt in a food processor and then added a jar of roasted red peppers, olive oil, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, shallots, cumin, ground red pepper, and salt and pepper.



Rachel said it was incredibly delicious. Smooth, tangy, and very well seasoned. Perfect for people who like roasted red peppers.

The roasted red pepper sauce was for Rye berry salad with roasted red pepper dressing (p. 361).

I cooked the rye berries according to the TJOC grains chart:



I mixed them with the red pepper dressing, diced carrot, celery, radishes, zucchini, yellow pepper, and onion, minced cilantro, and salt and pepper:



A closer look:



BEAUTIFUL! So colorful! I wouldn't eat this on a dare (between all the peppers and grains, it's pretty much a nightmare for me) but I would make it for a party. It was beautiful, spectacularly good for you, and it made an amazing amount. Rachel and my mom said it was extremely good but really could have used even more dressing. This recipe makes a LOT. Make sure you either love leftovers, have lots of people in the house who like grain salads, or are making it for a potluck.

Do you like grain salads?

Random facts related to this post:

• Barley was considered the special food of the gladiators (On Food and Cooking, p. 469)
• The moist climate that is perfect for rye is also ideal for ergot. Ergot is a fungus that can cause St. Anthony's Fire, a disease that can cause mental derangement and progressive gangrene. It also causes hallucinations similar to LSD (On Food and Cooking, p. 470 and Wikipedia)
• Rye has a bunch of negatives working against it when it comes to bread making, it's a miracle that rye bread exists (my personal thoughts)

Baked brown rice with mushrooms (p. 355) and Brazilian black beans (p. 256)

I wasn't optimistic about Baked brown rice with mushrooms (p. 355). I don't have good luck with rice (I blame the altitude, rice just doesn't seem to cook correctly) and I particularly don't like brown rice. I don't like the flavor of brown rice and I don't like the texture. On the bright side, I do like mushrooms, so that was the small piece of hope that the recipe could succeed for me.

I melted butter in my ovenproof pot and added mushrooms, onions, and a garlic clove:



When the mushrooms were lightly browned, I added long-grain brown rice and stirred until the rice was coated with butter:



I added chicken stock, salt, and pepper, brought it to a boil, transferred it to the oven, and baked it.



For some reason I don't have an "after" picture. Mushrooms and brown rice are a really good combination and homemade chicken stock rounded out the flavors well. Even so, I didn't really like the dish. I don't like the chewiness of brown rice and the "nutty" flavor. Do you guys like brown rice? I'm always disappointed when a dish comes with brown rice instead of white--white complements the flavor of a dish better whereas brown lends too much of it's own flavor (in my opinion).

I wanted to make a dish that would produce a lot of leftovers, so I wouldn't have to cook for a few days. Brazilian black beans (p. 256) seemed like a good choice. I soaked black beans overnight and drained them. Are black beans always more of a purple? I thought they were a really pretty color:




I started browning some fresh hot sausage when I re-read the recipe--apparently I wasn't supposed to use bulk sausage but, rather, link sausage.



This recipe was pretty complex with tons of ingredients and lots of steps resulting in this:





(I can give more information about the cooking process if anyone wants it)

I recommend using link sausage instead of bulk sausage. Because I added the sausage way too early in the cooking process, it turned black, which was a bit disturbing. I didn't really like the sweet flavor components in this dish (cardamom, orange juice, sherry), I thought they mixed really strangely with the hot components (hot sausage, red pepper flakes). Has anyone made this before? What did you think?

I'm really tired tonight so this post is getting the bum's rush. Don't forget to add me on Facebook and Twitter!

Granola (p. 353).

I'm not a huge fan of Granola (p. 353). It's just not something I'm drawn too. I don't even like granola bars.

The few times I've eaten granola or oatmeal for breakfast, I've added so much cream and brown sugar that it no longer resembles a healthy food. Honestly, I'm pretty sure you could add heavy cream and brown sugar to cardboard and it would be edible. I've had the ingredients on-hand for TJOC granola for probably a year and managed not to make it because it didn't seem that interesting and I have an irrational distaste for recipes that include "wheat germ".

I toasted rolled oats in the oven, stirring them occasionally so they didn't burn. I then mixed wheat germ, almonds, coconut, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds in a bowl:




In a pan I heated vegetable oil and honey:



I mixed all three together and spread them out on a cookie sheet:



I watched them like a hawk, stirring every five minutes, for 45 minutes. They went from perfect to burnt in about a minute:



They don't look burnt in this picture but the granola was definitely overcooked. It was very frustrating because it took so long to make! The mild burnt taste was eliminated by copious amounts of heavy cream and brown sugar but I imagine most people don't eat granola that way. It's hard for me to judge this recipe--it seems like a pretty typical granola.

I threw the burnt sections outside for the squirrel that lives in our tree, who seemed to really enjoy it. Random fact for the day--did you know that squirrals live at least five or six years and their number one cause of death is being hit by cars? I love squirrals. They are the cutest vermin.



Yes, I have a squirrel on my lap in this picture, with another sneaking up behind :)

Coconut rice (p. 357), Meatloaf II (p. 512), and Lamb curry with tomato (p. 497)

Sorry regular readers! I've gone on a two month long no-posting break for some reason. I apologize and promise not to do it again! I haven't been cooking enough, especially if I hope to hit my 201 recipes in 2010. I've been desperately working on my dissertation research so I can get the heck out of school! My graduation party in May should be a great time to knock out some recipes.

I did a bunch of cooking in mid-February (all on the same day but I'm going to spread out the posts). Coconut rice (p. 357) would have been a really easy recipe if I didn't live in Colorado, where rice rarely turns out.

I brought coconut milk, water, jasmine rice, ginger, and salt to a boil in a saucepan, stirred once, covered, and cooked over low heat. I found the directions confusing--only stir the ingredients once? Doesn't that mean there will probably be big pockets of salt? I cooked it for about 25 minutes and sprinkled some toasted coconut on the top.




It was okay--I didn't really know what to eat it with. It was only mildly coconut-y until I sprinkled the toasted coconut on the top. In my opinion it was too coconut-y. I like coconut but it always reminds me of suntan lotion, which isn't very appetizing. I know someone recommended this recipe to me--what did you eat it with?

I had high hopes for Meatloaf II (p. 512) because Meatloaf I was absolutely delicious. The recipe was totally different. I mixed ground beef, horseradish, chili sauce, salt, pepper, diced bacon, chopped onions (a TON of onion), cracker crumbs (an entire cup!), and an egg with my hands (does anyone else like this part? I always think it's fun to smash the food).



I then shaped it into a loaf and rolled it in more cracker crumbs:



And poured some chicken stock in the bottom of the pan. This recipe isn't made in a loaf pan, so it's probably lower fat (the fat drains out). I baked it for about an hour and it was done:



This was a very very strange meatloaf. Josh really liked it, I wasn't as sure. The flavors were stranger, there were WAY too many onions, and the bacon didn't really crisp. I liked the crackers because I like some crisp on meatloaf. I don't see myself making this recipe again, especially when there is a delicious meatloaf recipe right above it. And there really wasn't a big enough meat:everything else ratio, so the meatloaf was crumbly. Plus I'm kind of turned-off by all that grease on the bottom of the pan.

Those of you who know me in real life know what an enormous geek I am. A huge geek. In just about every way (I don't play WoW or DnD but that's about it). I'm going to out myself to the rest of you now. I love those stupid Facebook games--MafiaWars, SororityLife, CafeWorld, etc. When I'm playing CafeWorld, I always read off what I'm "cooking" to Josh and he tells me what he would order. Recently, he's been "ordering" the lamb curry. So I thought it would be funny to make Lamb curry with tomato (p. 497). We can LARP CafeWorld!

The recipe looks so complex and is actually really simple.

The first step is to coarsely chop a 28-oz can of tomatoes, reserving the juice. Make sure you do this on a cutting board with troughs, otherwise you are going to have a HUGE mess.



The next step is to make your own curry mixture--I ground cumin, coriander, garlic, fresh ginger, turmeric, and ground red pepper in my spice grinder. It smelled delicious!



I sauteed an onion in some vegetable oil and added the spice mixture to it:



Some of the tomatoes and the tomato juice were added to the onion mixture, along with lamb stew meat.



I added the rest of the tomatoes and tomato juice:


I removed the lamb and cooked the liquid down until it was thickened. And it was done!




It was really good! It smelled absolutely amazing. My only issue with the recipe is that it really doesn't make that much--it says 4 servings but that would really be 4 small servings. It actually got even better when held overnight--the flavors melded perfectly. This would be one of those recipes that would be easy to fool around with too--it would be great with pork or turkey (or even tofu) in my opinion.

I promise I am catching up on my blogs so be sure to check back!

Jambalaya (p. 356)

As many of you know, I love New Orleans. In fact, I LOVE NEW ORLEANS. I could write an entire post about the city and how much fun I have when I go down to visit one of my besties, Erin, and my odd-ball friends down there. How I feel New Orleans has the very best food and drink in the country. And maybe one day I will. But today, I'm depressed about missing Mardi Gras so I tried to recreate a little bit of New Orleans in Fort Collins by making Jambalaya (p. 356)and bread pudding (the next blog post).

First, I browned some chicken in pot:

Then I removed the chicken and browned some andouille sausage (not as good as the andouille I could get in New Orleans but I had a several choices at the local grocery store, which surprised me). I removed the sausage and added onion, green pepper, celery, and crushed garlic (I love my new garlic press!):

I added some rice, tomato paste, and ground red pepper:

The tomato paste did NOT want to get mixed in--I actually really hate working with tomato paste for that exact reason. And I never use the whole little can so I end up throwing most of it out. I really need to start buying it in those tubes.

I added in boiling water (measure it after boiling, not before!), tomatoes (whenever TJOC asks for whole tomatoes, chopped, I just add diced tomatoes. I figure, what's the difference?), parsley, salt, thyme, pepper, and a bay leaf.

The chicken and sausage were added back to the pot and it was cooked until the water was absorbed and the chicken was cooked (use your food thermometer--nobody likes food poisoning). TJOC says this should take about 20 minutes but here in Colorado it took about twice that.

I let it sit for about 15 minutes and it was done!

How is it? Surprisingly good and accurate (in my frequent-visitor-but-not-from-New-Orleans-opinion). It was really easy and cheap to put together (both probably reasons why it became so popular in New Orleans). My mom pointed out that every culture has a version of this--something heavy on cheap starch or protein (like rice or beans) that can stretch meat (using it more as a flavoring rather than a costar in the dish).

I actually only had two problems with the recipe.

1. There was too much chicken in the recipe and I didn't like pulling it off the bone while eating the jambalaya. Plus, I don't really like chicken--my favorite jambalaya in New Orleans is at Coops Place and is made with rabbit (delicious!). I used only thighs, so the chicken was as flavorful as chicken gets, but I still think it would be better with shrimp or pork.

2. There was no Tabasco in the recipe. I just saw Princess and the Frog and they made it very, very clear that Tabasco was a requirement in jambalaya :) Instead I used my dad's special spicy death powder, which added a lot of spiciness and depth to the recipe.

Slow-cooker stock (p. 118), Chicken-fried steak (p. 475), Fried eggplant III (p. 273), and Jamaican rice and peas (p. 356)

I hate wrestling my ancient slow-cooker out of the cabinet and I hate wrestling it back in just as much. So when the slow-cooker comes out, I like to make more than one recipe with it. And, of course, since I have a phobia of leaving it on when I'm not at home, Sunday was the perfect day to use it.

I decided to use the chicken backs that I picked up at the grocery store (only a dollar!) for Slow-cooker stock (p. 118). I couldn't imagine a stock recipe that would replace my beloved household poultry stock recipe but it was worth a try.

The recipe was easy--dump the chicken, celery, onions, carrots, peppercorn, and bouquet garni into a slow cooker, cover it with water, and cook it for about ten hours.




I then strained the stock and there it was!



Poultry stock. Delicious and probably really easy and a very worthwhile recipe if you regularly use a crockpot. If you are like me, it's much more efficient and considerably faster to make the stock on the stovetop.

I really like to make a big Sunday dinner meal to eat while watching The Amazing Race, especially if it leaves tasty leftovers for Monday's lunch. I found round steak in the clearance bin at the grocery store and thought that Chicken-fried steak (p. 475) would be a great main course.

I cut the steak into three pieces before pounding it, even though TJOC recommends cutting it after--I've found that the meat cuts easier that way, although I would probably get more similar sizes if I waited until after the pounding.



I actually enjoy pounding the steak--it's very cathartic and gets a lot of frustration out.



I combined milk and egg in one shallow container and flour, black pepper, salt, and red pepper in another container. A lot of pepper...delicious!



I coated each steak with the flour mixture, dredged it in the egg mixture, and then it went through the flour mixture again.



I shook off the excess and let the steaks dry on a cookie rack for a half hour. I popped a steak at a time in some vegetable oil (I would have used lard but I didn't feel like dealing with the mess). TJOC mentions that the steak would only take a few minutes but I was worried it wouldn't cook all the way through...




But no, it really only took a few minutes!



All three pieces were done within about ten minutes.

***PSA--The oil got very very very hot though--I wouldn't do this without an apron and be really careful about the bubbling oil***

I removed the steak and started to pour off most of the oil. This was harder than it seemed and I managed to pour hot bubbling oil all over the stove and down the burners, causing me to have to stop, disassemble the burners (it's an electric stove), and wash everything.

When I could finally move on, I added an onion to the hot oil.



The browned bits were more like black bits but I could figure out how to get the burned pieces out and leave the good, savory brown pieces in...

I added a little flour and whisked in some milk:



TJOC says that it should take 3-5 minutes to become thick--mine was thick within a minute, I think by 5 minutes it would have been like concrete.

Absolutely spectacularly delicious! When I told my friend Rachel that I made chicken fried steak, she said "well, you do really like it"--actually, I thought I only liked it when I was hungove. Apparently, I always like it--even sober! It was delicious and homey and I would recommend it to anyone--it was easy, too. I would definitely make it again!

I am so sick of the randomly selected list that I decided that I didn't care how it went with the meal, I was going to make something off of it. I thought Jamaican rice and peas (p. 356) would be as good as anything else.

I'd actually meant to make JRaP for about the last year and had all the ingredients and I just never did it.

I added my black-eyed peas (Fergie-free!), garlic, and water to a boil:



I then added unsweetened coconut milk, scallions, a habanero, some salt, and pepper, and brought it to a boil, and then added two cups of white rice.



It was cooked for about twenty minutes and became this:



I removed the pepper and the scallions and it was done! This recipe makes a TON of rice. And it's really really filling. It has a very light coconut flavor and was really tasty (and not spicy at all). Josh ate it for a couple weeks mixing in various proteins (tuna, spam, etc.).

The grocery store was having a sale on eggplants so I picked a few up and decided to make Fried eggplant II (p. 273). I wasn't very optimistic about this recipe since the baked eggplant slices weren't very impressive. It seemed perfect though, since I was already fully immersed in breading the chicken fried steak.

I combined eggs and olive oil in one bowl, flour in a second, and breadcrumbs in a third. I sliced the eggplant into approximately half inch slices.



The eggplant went from the egg mixture, to the flour mixture, to the breadcrumbs (my hands got extremely messy but it was kind of fun) and then they dried on a cookie rack for a half hour. I then heated some olive oil up in my skillet:



They cooked for a few minutes and then were flipped:



Absolutely delicious! Crisp and buttery on the outside, creamy on the inside--and they reminded me how much I like eggplant. And they were really fast! A great side dish and a really great idea if you have an eggplant (and eggplant plant?) in your garden (I'm talking to you, Rachel!).