Sushi!

Made these California rolls the other night! They were pretty good, for a California roll, better than the ones I've had at restaurants. The recipe is here: http://theclothesmakethegirl.blogspot.com/2010/07/riceless-soy-free-sushi-domo-arigato.html

Crockpot jambalaya

A fairly quick crockpot soup/stew, from the CFSCC blog...

1. Chop 1 large onion and 1 bell pepper, and saute them with 3 minced cloves of garlic. Put this mixture in your crockpot.
2. Brown 2 chicken breasts, chop into chomp-sized bits, and add to the pot.  You'll also need to cook and chop up some sausage to add--this time, I used half a bag of the loose sausage from our pig.  I think it was about 2 sausages worth. (This sausage is so salty that I didn't add any other salt to the recipe! You may need to if your sausage is more...sedate.)
3. Add 4 c chicken broth, a can of diced tomatoes (I drained some of the liquid), and a tablespoon or so of Cajun seasoning (cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika).
4. Cook this on low for 4 hours.
5. Finally, add 1 lb of cooked shrimp (I bought raw ones and sauteed them), 1 c of spinach, and 1 head's worth of cauliflower rice.  Cook it long enough for the spinach to be droopy and everything to be hot--I think I did another hour or so, but you could put it on high instead.

It came out good!  Again I think I skimped on the seasonings and I feel like it needs one more flavor... I'm not sure what.  I'm going to have to compare some other jambalaya recipes.  Also, next time I'll use chicken thighs instead of breasts since I think they'll dry out less in the crockpot.

Beef braised in coconut milk

I made this beef braised in coconut milk and was thoroughly impressed!  It came out tender and flavorful, although I think next time I might actually increase the seasonings some.  It mostly tasted like coconut and beef--delicious, but the other flavors didn't really come through.

1. Preheat the oven to 275, and cut a ~3 lb beef chuck roast into six or so pieces.  Rub them with salt and brown them well in coconut oil in a big (oven safe) Dutch oven.  You'll want to do them in batches, and reserve them on a plate to the side.  I also took a lime out of the fridge now so it would be at room temperature for later juicing.
2. Drop the heat on the Dutch oven to medium and add a chopped onion, 2 minced cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of freshly grated ginger, the zest of one lime, and 2 tablespoons of curry paste.  Saute this for a few minutes to partially cook the onion, scraping the beefy bits off the bottom of the pan.  Then, add a can of coconut milk, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons of Thai fish sauce.  Now, you put all your beef (and any juices) back in the pot, cover it up, and put it in the oven.  It took mine 3 hours to get to falling-apart tender.
3. Pull the pieces of beef out and put them on a cutting board to cool slightly.  Meanwhile, put the pot over medium heat and add a chopped bell pepper; simmer for a few minutes to cook it.  Add the juice of that lime, 2 chopped scallions, and 1/4 c of basil cut into thin ribbons.  Chop or shred the beef into bite size pieces and add them back in!

We made cauliflower rice and served it over that--it was perfect.  I''ll definitely be making this again!

Thanksgiving 2010 menu

We usually have a few friends over for Thanksgiving and cook a big meal.  This year, we did it all paleo with dairy!  The menu was:

Appetizers:
* Marinated olives
* Crudite and shrimp with green goddess dip
* Parrano cheese with grape jam (really good!)

Main course:
* Brined turkey
* Mixed mushroom and tarragon gravy

Sides:
* Bourbon walnut sweet potatoes
* Cranberry sauce in port wine with cinnamon
* Smoked paprika broccolini with almonds
* Cauliflower and mushroom stuffing

Dessert:
* Pumpkin pie
* Flourless chocolate cake

Everything came out really good!  We ended up with very few leftovers, and lots of people went back for seconds, which made me happy. :)  It was definitely the best turkey we've ever done--brining is the way to go.  I even had one guest tell me it was the best Thanksgiving food he'd ever had.

Pork spare ribs in the crockpotribs

Ingredients;

• 2 racks of pork spare ribs
• a can of diced tomatoes
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 chopped onion
• ~3/4 tablespoon anchovy paste
• ~1.5 tablespoon soy sauce
• ~2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• ~1/2 tsp green chile paste
• 1 tblsp tomato paste
• salt and pepper

I put all this in the crockpot for 8 hours on low.  The flavors came out pretty good!  However, it really didn't need to be in there for 8 hours. Maybe 4 or 6 next time! 

Turned roasted chicken

This is my go-to roast chicken recipe.  The cooking method is from my Joy of Cooking, but the vegetables and herbs vary with what I have on hand.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken
• Aromatic vegetables
• Herbs
• Butter
• Salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees!
2. I prep the stuffing first, so I chop all my vegetables coarsely and toss them in a bowl with some of the herbs, salt, and pepper.  This time I used an onion, a carrot, and a stalk of celery, and three cloves of garlic that I smashed with the side of my knife.  For herbs I used dried basil, oregano, and thyme.
3. To prep the chicken, rinse it and pat it dry with paper towels (and take out the bag of organs, little plastic pop-up thermometer, etc).
4. Next, stuff the cavity of the chicken with the vegetable mix.  This time I tied the legs together with cotton twine to help hold it in better!
5. Liberally salt the chicken all over the outside.  Sprinkle it with pepper and your herbs too.  Finally, brush the chicken with 2-3 tablespoons of melted butter.
6. Set the chicken on its side (that is, with a leg up) in a v-shaped rack in a roasting pan or something that will catch drips.  This goes in the oven for 25 minutes for the first 4 pounds, plus 3 minutes per additional pound.  Then take the chicken out and turn it so the other leg is up, and put it back in for the same amount of time. Finally, turn it breast side up and finish cooking it--another 15-30 minutes, or until the thigh is 170-175 degrees.

Today I put a whole butternut squash in the oven with the chicken, just punctured in a few places to keep it from exploding.  It was good just mashed with a fork with a little olive oil, alongside the chicken!  Later we ended up roasting the extra vegetables that didn't fit along, with the vegetables from inside the chicken (doubtless contracting dire salmonella) and tossing them with some loose Italian sausage.  Also delicious!

Prosciutto wrapped pot roast

Prosciutto wrapped pot roast

Bored with pot roast - I was looking for a new twist.

Everyone said that the house smelled fantastic -- and a lot like corned beef.

Ingredients:

2.5 pound whole beef eye round roast

2 medium onions

1 celery stalk

garlic - chopped (as much as you like)

1/2 bell pepper - I used orange - very high in vitamin C

Olive oil

Veggies - as you like. I used a pound of carrots, a turnip and threw in a package of frozen carrots and broccoli for extra veggies.

8 cups of chicken stock - or beef, whatever you have

Red wine

Steak rub - Salt, pepper, garlic, paprika

8 oz prosciutto

Basil, thyme, bay leaf

Chop onions and saute in Dutch Oven with a couple tablespoons of olive oil.

Chop the bell pepper and add to pan.

Add salt and pepper

Rub the Beef with the steak rub all over -- a good coating.

Lay the prosciutto over the top and wrap it over the ends..... You could tie it - but it all falls apart if it is done right anyway.....

Now layer garlic onto the prosciutto

Lay the beef into the Dutch Oven

Add the broth

Add the bay leaf

Cook for 3-4 hours on low

Add 1/2 cup red wine, chopped turnip, carrots and broccoli and simmer for another hour.

Yum!