Recipes
Curried Potatoes
Here's a recipe for some spicy potatoes. If you like a little more heat add some hot sauce!
Baby Potatoes
1 tablespoon cumin seed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
Cut
potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes. In a large pan, sauté the cumin seeds in
the sunflower oil for 2 minutes, or until golden.
Add the minced garlic
and onion and cook until soft.
Add the potatoes, chicken broth, and the
spices and cook on medium low heat, stirring occasionally.
Continue to
cook, adding small amounts of water from time to time to keep the
potatoes from sticking, until potatoes are tender. Cook 2-3 minutes
more, until the outsides of the potatoes are slightly crispy and golden
brown.
Quick Pickled Beets
These
pickled beets are ready in a snap after you have cooked the beets. I
tend to cook a lot of beets at once and eat some with my meal and then
pickle some. These will keep in the fridge for a week.
2# beets, cooked, peeled, and cut into wedges
1/4 c minced scallions
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp oil
3 Tbsp vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
fresh black pepper
Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small sauce pan and heat
gently. Toss with the warm beets and the scallions. Chill before
serving. Even better the next day.
Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions
A
very simple, rich, delicious sauce adapted from Marcela Hazan’s
Essentials of Italian Cooking. Serves 4 as a main course; makes enough
sauce to lightly coat most of a pound of spaghetti.
1 quart tomato puree
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste
Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan (it fit just
right in a 3-quart) over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer then
lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45
minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes. Stir
occasionally. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste and
keep warm while you prepare your pasta.
Serve with spaghetti, with or without grated parmesan cheese.
Ginger Garlic Savoy Cabbage
I love cooking up savoy cabbages as a side dish and pairing it with
pork chops. You could add some red pepper flakes and onions, or even
some hot pepper relish to spice it up!
1 head savoy cabbage
2 tbs light olive oil or sesame oil
1 tbs minced garlic
salt and pepper
1 1/4 tbs ginger, minced
Juice of 1 lime
Heat wok or large skilled to medium high heat, wait until the oil is
hot. Add cabbage and stir fry until cabbage just starts to wilt. Add
garlic, salt and pepper and cook 1 minute. Add ginger and cook 1
minute. Drizzle with lime juice and serve.
Chili
The
recipe below calls for beef but if you prefer a vegetarian chili simply
omit the beef. You can also substitute a number of meats such as stew
beef, ground pork, turkey or veal. Chili is also one of those dishes you
can add other veggies and ingredients to very easily. I like to add
diced carrots (cook like potatoes), frozen corn (add at end) and pickled
jalapenos (add to taste) to mine at home. A good friend of mine swears
by adding chocolate to her chili to give it a rich flavor. Have some
fun!
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 lb ground beef
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 Tbs chili powder (paprika, cumin, cayenne, oregano, garlic powder)
28 oz diced tomatoes
1 jar tomato puree
1 package frozen sweet peppers, thawed and chopped
1 1/2 lb (6 c cooked) light red kidney beans, cooked with broth
3 c (3-4 med sized) potatoes, diced
Heat
the oil in a soup pot set over medium heat. Add the ground beef,
garlic, and onion. Cook, stirring to crumble the ground beef, until beef
is no longer pink. Drain off any excess grease. Season with salt,
pepper, nutmeg, and chili powder. Add the tomatoes, puree, peppers,
cooked light red kidney beans and broth and uncooked potatoes. Cover and
simmer over medium-low heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Season
as desired.
Penne Alla Vodka
Another tasty and easy way to use your tomato puree.
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, chopped
Salt and black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper, or more as desired
1 jar tomato puree
1 pound penne or other tubular cut pasta
1/4 cup vodka
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp butter
1 cup grated parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a
large saucepan over medium-high heat. When it's hot, add the onion and
garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally,
until the onion is soft, about 10 minutes. Add the crushed red pepper
and tomatoes, adjust the heat so the mixture simmers steadily, and cook,
stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
When the water comes to a boil, salt it generously and add the pasta.
Add the vodka to the tomato mixture, and continue cooking until thick
and saucy, another 10 to 15 minutes. Stir the cream and butter into the
tomato sauce, and turn off the heat.
When the pasta is al dente scoop about a cup of it's cooking liquid out
of the pot, and then drain the pasta. Toss the pasta with the sauce,
adding the reserved cooking liquid as needed to thin out the sauce. Add
the parmesan, toss again, and serve hot garnished with more parmesan.
Salmon Burgers
If you finely grind part
of the salmon, it will bind the rest, which can be coarsely chopped to
retain its moisture during cooking. The two-step grinding process means
that those flavorings that you want minced fine, like garlic or ginger,
can go in with the first batch of salmon; those that should be left
coarse, like onion or fresh herbs, can go in with the rest. This recipe
comes from the New York Times.
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless salmon
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 shallots, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 cup coarse bread crumbs
1 tablespoon capers, drained
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
Lemon wedges
Tabasco sauce
Cut the salmon into large
chunks, and put about a quarter of it into the container of a food
processor, along with the mustard. Turn the machine on, and let it run
-- stopping to scrape down the sides if necessary -- until the mixture
becomes pasty.
Add the shallots and the
remaining salmon, and pulse the machine on and off until the fish is
chopped and well combined with the puree. No piece should be larger than
a quarter inch or so; be careful not make the mixture too fine.
Scrape the mixture into a
bowl, and by hand, stir in the bread crumbs, capers and some salt and
pepper. Shape into four burgers. (You can cover and refrigerate the
burgers for a few hours at this point.)
Place the butter or oil in a
12-inch nonstick skillet, and turn the heat to medium-high. When the
butter foam subsides or the oil is hot, cook the burgers for 2 to 3
minutes a side, turning once. Alternatively, you can grill them: let
them firm up on the first side, grilling about 4 minutes, before turning
over and finishing for just another minute or two. To check for
doneness, make a small cut and peek inside. Be careful not to overcook.
Serve on a bed of greens or on buns or by themselves, with lemon wedges
and Tabasco or any dressing you like.
Pork Chops with Curried Apple-Onion Sauce
I love pork chops with apples. This sauce is divine!
4 8-ounce pork chops (each 1 inch thick)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large apple, peeled, cored, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons honey mustard
1 teaspoon curry powder
Sprinkle pork with 1/2 teaspoon thyme, 1/2 teaspoon marjoram, salt and
pepper. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork
and cook until no longer pink inside, about 5 minutes per side.
Transfer pork to plate; tent with foil to keep warm. Reserve drippings
in skillet.
Add apple, onion and garlic to drippings in skillet and sauté over
medium-high heat 2 minutes. Add chicken broth, wine, cream, mustard,
curry powder and remaining 1/2 teaspoon thyme and 1/2 teaspoon marjoram.
Boil until sauce thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Divide pork among
plates. Pour sauce over and serve.
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