Pasta Fazool!

Dean Martin had a pop hit in the early 1950's that became his signature song. In 1987 Norman Jewison used the song repeatedly in his hit movie, Moonstruck. The song to which I refer is, "That's Amore."

In that song, one line reads, "When the stars make you drool just like pasta fazool,
That's amore."  

Pasta fazool is Sicilian slang for  pasta e fagioli, an Italian farm wife soup that features both beans and pasta. Often, the soup is prepared as a meatless dish, but the version I will post in this blog entry is decidedly full of chicken.

Ingredients

Four chicken thighs
Two small onions diced
Two ribs celery rough chopped
One large carrot sliced in bite size pieces
Four baby bella mushrooms chopped
28 ounce can San Marzano tomatoes
19 ounce can cannelini beans
Double handful baby spinach
2/3 cup dry ditalini or other small pasta
Five garlic cloves sliced
Six cups chicken stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
salt and pepper

Secret Ingredient 

2 inch cube Romano cheese rind

Method

Season and brown the chicken thighs.

Add all the other ingredients except the spinach and pasta to a slow cooker. Crush the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Submerge the browned thighs in the raw soup.

Set the slow cooker to low and simmer for six to eight hours. After cooking, taste test the soup and add salt as needed. Once well seasoned, remove the skin and bones from the chicken thighs and discard. Tear the meat into bite size chunks and return to the crock. Add the spinach and the pasta and continue to simmer until the pasta is al dente, about 20 to 30 minutes more.

Serve with crusty bread and a simple salad.

Enchilada Casserole (Mexican Lasagna)

As I have focused the last two posts on Latino flavors, I thought I would change pace - not.

You start with this:

From this point you make a Rick Bayless style Pico de Gallo. You dice the onion and rinse it well in cold water to remove the sting and burp. Seed, pith, and dice the Serranos (1 or 2 depending on heat preference) Next you seed and dice the tomatoes. I always throw the seed bundles in a strainer and strain the tasty juice back into the salsa. Crush a clove of garlic and mince it very finely. Add two generous pinches of salt and quarter teaspoon of the chili powder. Juice the lemon. Mince a small double handful of the cilantro and combine everything.

Once you have made the Pico de Gallo, use a small amount to make guacamole.

Use the guacamole to sustain you as you prepare the rest.

Make the filling:

Ingredients

1/2 onion, diced

1 pound ground chuck

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

salt to taste

1 clove garlic, minced

1 can corn, drained

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup Pico de Gallo

Olive Oil

Method

Fry the ground beef and onions, with the spices, in a non stick skillet until the meat is brown and the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and fry another two minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the beans and corn, the salt, and the Pico de Gallo.

Next we assemble the casserole.

More Ingredients

18 corn tortillas, cut in half (Do not use flour tortillas. They turn gummy in this casserole.)
1 large can mild red enchilada sauce.
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded.

Method

Coat the bottom of a greased 9 X 13 baking dish with enchilada sauce.
Use 12 pieces of tortilla to cover the sauce on the bottom of the dish.
Place 1/2 the filling on the tortillas. Sprinkle a handful of the cheese on the filling.
Working in the opposite direction, layer another 12 pieces of tortilla over the first layer of filling.
Add the rest of the filling and another handful of the cheese.
Add one more layer of tortillas, again alternating the direction you lay them.
Cover the dish with the remaining enchilada sauce.
Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the surface.

Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes.
Let rest 10 minutes before cutting and spooning the results to bowls. I promise you will love this.

Travel and freezing:
I have never done it but I bet the dish can be assembled and frozen for later thawing and baking. I know it travels well in an insulated carrier for reheating.

Family Classic - The Sequel

Mexican Surprise

When I ask my lovely wife about something that happened when the children were little, quite often her response is simple. She will tell me, "That was the 80's. I don't remember the 80's." However, one evening in the 80's has become memorable.

One Tuesday or Thursday evening, she picked up the girls from after school care and arrived home to discover the refrigerator and pantry were nearly bare. Children become really grumpy if they don't eat, so she took what she found and went to work. She used frozen pre-made hamburger patties, taco seasoning, rice, salsa, and Velveeta to make a one pot meal. When the girls asked, "What are we having for dinner?" she answered,"It's a surprise." When I got home from rugby practice I asked what was left from dinner. She gave me the same answer.  It was really good.

Over the last thirty years we have collaborated to change the recipe to something a bit more elegant, but it remains a one pot comfort food that everyone likes.

Ingredients

1 and 1/3 cups of uncooked basmati rice

1 pound ground beef

one can drained corn

one can drained and rinsed black beans

one large onion diced

one small or half of a large jalapeno diced

1 cup mild chunky jar salsa

2 teaspoon high quality chili powder

1 Tablespoon ground cumin

2 large pinches of salt

2 cups water

2 Tablespoons olive oil

Velveeta or Queso

Method

In a dutch oven over medium heat saute the onion and jalapeno in olive oil with the spices added. When the onion is nearly translucent, add the ground beef and continue to cook until the meat is browned. Add 1/2 cup of water and continue to cook until water evaporates.

Add the rice and continue to cook until the rice begins to look chalky. Add the salt and the salsa and stir to combine. Cook for two or three minutes until the steam begins to rise, then add the water.

Bring the mixture to the boil, reduce the heat to simmer and cover the dutch oven. Simmer for 20 minutes. Leave the pot covered and turn off the heat. Allow the dish to rest at least 20 minutes. If no queso is available, slice Velveeta in thin slices and scatter over the casserole to melt before serving. If queso is available, serve the Surprise and pass the queso separately.

Variation: If you need to take a potluck dish and it needs to be vegetarian, make this recipe without the ground beef. Transfer it to a preheated slow cooker for the simmer stage, add the cheese, and switch the setting to warm. Call it Cheesy Salsa Rice.

A Family Classic

Bless their hearts, my mother's side of the family was interesting. My grandmother had two sisters and a brother that survived to adulthood. They were Cantwells from the Fort Smith/Jenny Lind area of Arkansas. At different times in the 1940's my grandmother and both her sisters moved to El Paso, Texas. Eventually, both of my mother's sisters moved to Texas as well.

That circumstance meant that family vacations involved two day road trips from Tulsa to El Paso in my father's Dodge. It also meant the visits were loud and chaotic. I first met and grew to love Eberle during those visits. Eberle was my mother's aunt and actually the one who primarily raised her. Somehow she was Mer Mer to me and she always seemed to have time for me, even during the circus of the family gatherings.

When she first showed me this recipe, I had to drag a chair to the stove to watch. Yes, I have fiddled with it since then, but what I will show you here has all the basics she showed me. My mother, my sisters, all of my cousins, and all of our children make their own version of this dish.

One last bit to explain the importance of this recipe in our family. When Nancy and I lived in London, we would ask visitors from the states to smuggle in the ingredients we could not find in England. Who knew Velveeta and mild green chilies would be so hard to find there?

Queso

Ingredients

one 2 pound brick of Velveeta Queso Blanco or Original, cubed into about 32 pieces

one onion, diced small

one small jalapeno or 1/2 large jalapeno, seeded, pithed, and diced small

one 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes

one small tin chopped mild green chilies

one rounded 1/4 teaspoon high quality chili powder
salt to taste
2 Tablespoons olive oil

Method

In a large, heavy bottom sauce pan over medium low heat, saute the onion with the jalapeno and chili powder in the olive oil until the onions turn translucent. Add the green chilies and the tomatoes and the large pinch of salt. Bring the mixture to the boil and add 4 or 5 of the cheese cubes. Stir frequently as the cheese melts to avoid scorching the cheese.

As each addition of cheese melts add the next and continue to stir frequently. As soon as the last cheese cubes are added and melted, remove the queso from the heat. To store, cover the surface with cling film to prevent a skin from forming.

These are good examples of spice to use. The chipotle is the hot one.

There is no substitute

This is the mix just before you start adding the cheese.

Properly cooked, you should be able to recognize all the different flavors.

I believe if you try this version, you will never again use rotel. If you want more heat, use the chipotle spice and more jalapeno. It will shame any rotel based heat from cayenne.

For a Super Bowl dip that will make the neighbors talk, fry two pounds of chorizo, drain the fat, and add the cooked meat to the queso.

Family + Thanksgiving = Compromises

As usual when you gather more than three of my family, food compromises become necessary.  However, this leads to deeper questions.

"Oh, you've decided to eat paleo? Great! Now I must change what I fix and serve? Why?"

"You are cleansing this month? Great! You want me to avoid __(fill in the blank according to trend)__? Sure, no problem ...  not."

Ah, but you love them so you try to accommodate. I want to share a little recipe I think you will enjoy.

Start with a quantity of Brussels Sprouts. Peel off the dead leaves (brown or yellow). Without cutting off the root, halve the sprout longways with a kitchen knife. Put half flat side down and shave thin slices from the top toward the bottom and discard the root end. Repeat until all the roots are chopped in thin strips.

Next you chunk mushrooms in small bite size pieces.

Halve the white part of a leek long ways an then slice quarter inch half rings.

Here is where the compromise that triggered the post comes into play. The best way to finish this dish would be to slice 3 strips of bacon in quarter inch pieces, slow fry those to barely crisp and then throw in the vegetables and continue cooking until done. Tonight we will forego the bacon and substitute butter.

Note: A great variation is to add pecan pieces with the vegetables.

Seriously Fall in the Ozarks

As I write, the sky outside is blue but scattered dark gray clouds are thick enough to dim the sunlight as they race overhead. When I awoke this morning, the temperature was close to freezing. Several of my social media friends reported seeing snowflakes. Fortunately for Nancy and I, Arkansas lies far enough South that we are not affected by the first winter storm in the Midwest.

Earlier this week, I thawed a frozen duck I found at the supermarket. Here in rural Arkansas, these sometimes show up near Thanksgiving, and I took advantage of that fact. When it thawed, I filleted the breasts from the bird and detached the leg quarters. On a domestic United States duck, that left little worth eating on the bird carcass.

I seared the breasts for a week night dinner.

The carcass went into a stock pot that I simmered for about 12 hours over the space of two days. The legs and thighs were headed for fat to confit them when I read a persuasive blog post on cassoulet.

Thank you www.seriouseats.com.

I decided to experiment and try the way written on the post instead of the way I was taught at Le Cordon Bleu, London.

In keeping with the French farmer origins, I collected what I had or could get. That meant no artisinal garlic charcuterie. I used kielbasa instead. Salt pork, the duck legs and thighs, and some frozen pork cutlets out of the freezer were selected for the other meats.

For the beans, I used what I had, a combination of Great Northerns and Cranberries.

This morning I prepped everything and started to build the casserole.

First I browned the meats.

 I sauteed the onion in the dutch oven I used to brown the meat and added a heaping tablespoon of tomato paste to the onions. I added the beans the aromatics, the head of garlic, and a spice satchel that contained thyme, bay leaf, a few cloves, and about a teaspoon of a spice blend from Penzy's that they label bouquet garni.

To this I added 5 cups of duck stock I had strained and de-fatted. I brought the beans and extras to a simmer and covered it to cook for 45 minutes. I tested at that point and the beans were nearly done. I removed the carrot, celery, and spice bundle. I added the meats and enough stock to mostly cover everything and put the dutch oven in a 275 degree oven, uncovered. At 2 hours I began breaking the crust every 30 minutes and adding water as necessary.

This is the 2 and 1/2 hours in the oven picture.

After five hours in the oven, the crust had darkened and I reduced the oven temperature to below 200 to hold the casserole for dinner.

Amazing flavors.

A Story and a Recipe

Al Saab owned and operated the best steakhouse/speakeasy in Tulsa. He was Lebanese and his place catered to Federal judges, oil and gas men, and very high class fallen women. He was a close friend and client of my father. You had to enter his place through the kitchen and if he didn’t approve, you didn’t get in. He fell in love with Nancy the first time he met her and cried whenever we went to his place. We never paid a check, always left with a wrapped side of ribs, and when he closed the place he gave two people the recipe to his tabouli, my father and Nancy.

When Nancy was pregnant, instead of pickles or ice cream cravings, she asked for tabouli so often I was worried the babies would look like Al.

Note: This is a salad. The parsley should dominate the wheat. This means oil and lemon juice are vital to balance the flavors, but neither should dominate the other and neither should dominate the parsley and wheat.

Serves 25 ice cream scoops or 10 full salads.

Ingredients

2 to 4 large bunches of parsley, chopped fine by knife (flat leaf preferred but curly acceptable and cheaper)

1 pound cracked wheat (bulgur)
1 sweet pepper, seeded and chopped in .25” dice (Use yellow pepper for a good color contrast)

2 ripe beefsteak or 4 to 6 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped to .25” dice (save the juice and add to the salad after straining)

Optional: 1 cucumber, seeded and diced to .25” dice

1 large or 2 small bunches green or spring onions, sliced in .25” rings

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 Tablespoons fresh chopped mint

1 to 2 teaspoons salt
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
Approximately 6 or 7 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 6 to 8 lemons

Method

Soak the bulgur in very hot water in a separate bowl until soft.

Combine chopped parsley, tomato, tomato juice, sweet pepper, cucumber, onion, mint, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
Add 5 tablespoons of olive oil to the combined vegetable and mix well. Vegetables should be well coated in oil.
Add black pepper generously and 2 teaspoons of salt to vegetables and mix well.
Squeeze bulgur dry by hand and add to vegetables when cool. Mix well.
Juice lemons and add juice from 6 to the mix. Taste. Adjust oil first, then lemon juice, then salt.

Chill and serve.

Fall + Football = Chili

The combination of damp and chill air with overexcited announcers proclaiming every run, interception, or pass completion the equal of the second coming means one thing to me. It is time to make a serious batch of chili.

In one way, I am almost fearful to write this post. Everyone has an opinion on chili. You can broach the topic in a crowd and suddenly hear the merits of deer meat versus ground chuck, beans versus no beans, heat versus spice, beer or no beer ... and on and on. So, I will start by confessing that I do not think this recipe will suit many. It is work, it violates several cherished beliefs held by most people, and the finished product will never sell in a restaurant - it just doesn't look right. The only thing positive to say about this recipe is that it tastes the way all chili should taste - but rarely does.

Ingredients

4 pounds boneless chuck roast, sinew and fat chunks removed, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
2 onions, diced
2 jalapenos, pith and seeds removed, minced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
one 15 ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes
16 ounces pinto beans, soaked overnight
16 ounces beef stock
16 ounces lager beer
one strip thick sliced bacon, diced
2 rounded Tablespoons cumin powder
1 rounded Tablespoon chili powder
1 rounded Tablespoon ground Ancho chili powder
1 rounded teaspoon oregano
1 rounded teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
3 Tablespoons corn meal
salt and pepper to taste
cooking oil as needed

Method

Fry the bacon to brown and crisp in 1 teaspoon of cooking oil. Remove the bacon to the dutch oven.
Place the soaked beans on top of the bacon in the dutch oven.

 
Add the tomatoes with juice to the dutch oven. Add the cocoa powder and the oregano. Salt and pepper the bean mix.
Working in small batches, using as little cooking oil as possible, brown the cubed beef. Make sure the first side is dark brown. As each batch finishes, put the meat in the pot. Add a tiny amount of oil and brown the next small batch of meat. Repeat until all the meat has been browned and placed in the pot.
Add a bit more oil to the skillet and saute the onions and jalapeno until translucent. Add the spices and garlic to the onion and continue to cook until the spice has become very fragrant. Scrape the onion mix into the pot and place the skillet back on the heat. When it reheats, use the beer to deglaze the skillet and pour the beer and brown bits residue into the pot.
Add the stock until it barely covers the mixture.

 
Cover the dutch oven and place in a 325 degree oven for 2 to 3 hours. Half way through the cook time, taste and adjust the salt and spices.
The chili is done when the meat chunks are tender and easily fall apart.
Alternatively, a large slow cooker set for low for 8 hours does an excellent job.
If you desire a darker chili, use kitchen bouquet to make it so. If the corn meal has not thickened the chili sufficiently, mix a rounded teaspoon of corn starch with 3 Tablespoons of water and add the slurry to the chili. Continue to cook until the chili thickens.

I have always preferred my chili over spaghetti or macaroni and topped with shredded cheddar cheese.