With the holiday season in full swing, and winter all settled in, comfort food becomes the style of the day. I have a bit of time off work right now, so I'm try to catch up on all sorts of things that have been neglected, including this blog. I'm also trying to seek out recipes I haven't tried before in an effort to use up some of the frozen foods I have in my deep freeze.
This evening's dish, is Chicken Cacciatora (I've also seen it spelled Cacciatore). I looked through several books and it appears, that like so many recipes, this one has numerous version. Two distince version reign - a non-tomato, white wine based version which seems to be from Northern Italy and a soutern version that I have to presume is southern Italy.
I've provided the way I prepared the recipe below, so I won't go into detail here. I opted for a version with tomatoes, and took some liberties based on the various recipes I gandered at. It's a lovely dish that smells great cooking, and as it simmers fills your house withe warmth in its own right. The taste is incredible - with tangy tomatos, a slight heat, and moist chicken.
I served over homemade tagiatelle which was an extra special treat.
Chicken Cacciatora
2 tsp olive oil
5-6 boneless, skinless, chicken thighs
1/2 red pepper diced
1/2 large onion diced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
28 oz can San Marzano tomaotes
Fresh ground pepper
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp red pepper flakes (or less for less heat)
2 tsp sugar
Heat the oil on the cooktop in a medium-size pot or casserole dish. Add the chicken and saute for 5-10 minutes until browned. Add the red pepper, onion and mushroom and saute until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add the wine and saute 5 minutes.
Add the stock and tomatoes (if using whole tomatoes, crush them with your hand). Add the seasonsings and let simmer for 30-60 minutes.
Ever since I was small, macaroni and cheese has been one of my favourite dishes. I'm sure as a child, my mom and my babysitter (who made our lunches), must have grown tired of always making Kraft Dinner as that was my mac of choice.
Growing up my pallette expanded and I learned how to make baked macaroni and cheese. Although delicious, my first intro to it was rather bland, but that's how I liked it. Today I still love macaroni and cheese, but love trying different styles. Tonight's variation involves sharpness, spiciness, and most importantly baconess.
This was my second foray using my Kitchenaid pasta press. I used the same methodology as last time, but aimed to keep the dough a bit drier - definitely an improvement for the machine. A few more lessons learned. 1) when cutting the pasta doing with a quick, single slide of the blade. At first I was doing two quick cuts (forward and back) but this ended up sealing the ends of the pasta. 2) When doing the single cut going forward, be sure not to leave the dull side of the blade in too far as it will cramp the extruding pasta.
While I boiled the water for the pasta I prepared my cheese mac sauce. I diced a shallot and sautteed it in a good chunk of butter. You need a good chunk as this will be used for a roux. Once softened, I added flour and pepper (no salt only because I had used salted butter) and stirred to make a roux. Then I added milk and kept over a medium-low heat to thicken. I finished with a blend of sharp British cheddar, chevre, and parmesan cheeses, hot pepper flakes, and diced, well cooked bacon. For looks and a crunchiness I topped with buttered bread crumbs and a bit more cheese.
This smelled terrific baking. The taste was great. The sauce was super creamy and had a sharpness that seemed to pick up the flavours of each cheese. The bacon added flavour but didn't overwhelm. The heat was subtle, I think I would up it a little next time. And the bread crumb topping added a nice texture to the mix.
Pasta Dough
2 cups flour
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp water
Place the flour into a mixer bowl. In a separate cup mix the eggs, oil and water. Slowly pour into flour while mixing with the paddle attachment. When it starts to pull together, switch to a dough attachment. If its too dry, add 1 tsp of water at a time until it forms a smooth ball, but not too tacky. Let stand in a covered bowl for at least 20 minutes.
Mac and Cheese
4 cups cooked macaroni
1/4 cup butter
1 large shallot, small dice
3 tbsp flour
Several good grinds of fresh cracked pepper
3 cups milk
1cup grated cheddar
1/4 cup chevre, in small pieces
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/4 cup well cooked bacon, diced
1 tsp hot red pepper flakes
2 tbsp margarine or butter
1/4 cup bread crumbs
Melt the butter in a large pot. Add the shallot and saute until soft. Add the flour and pepper and stir until bubbly and the flour cooks a bit. Add the milk slowly while stirring (you don't want clumps). Once near boiling and thickened, remove from heat and add cheeses, bacon and red pepper flakes and stir until cheese is melted. Add the macaroni and stir again. Top with bread crumbs that have been mixed with the melted margarine and a bit nore cheese.
Bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes until bubbly and browned.
I was travelling (again) this past week and had the opportunity to watch a bunch of podcasts on my new IPad (love it). One of the podcasts I watched was a Cook's Illustrated one for a rolled pork loin with an apple stuffing. I'm not much for the fruit type stuffings, but I was entrigued by their technique for rolling and stuffing a pork loin, so I deciced to give it a whirl.
I used a small pork loin as there was just two of us for dinner this eve. I cut it just as the Cook's podcast showed - starting 1/2 inch paralellel to the cutting board and then stopping short of the other end before cutting another 1/2 inch back. (You're probably best to watch the podcast as this isn't the best description). The picture below is after cutting, but before doing some slight pounding, under plastic wrap to even it out.
I then made a bacon based stuffing. I sauteed the bacon with an onion until just getting a bit crisp. I added thyme, sage, and majoram and stirred until fragrant. I then added savory bread crumbs (you could use any type of cubed bread here, but ideally a bit stale and dry) and chicken stock to moisten.
I spread the stuffing onto the flattened pork loin, rolled and tied it at 3/4" intervals. I had leftover stuffing so I put it in the botton of my roasting dish for the roast to cook on.
The roast was amazing. And it looked really impressive. The pork really took to the savory flavours but maintained its own distinct meaty flavour. The stuffing was very spicy and savory which was appropraite for this type of dish. I served with roasted potatoes and yams and steamed peas.
A wonderful fall supper.
Savory Stuffed Pork Loin
2 lb pork loin roast, butterflied and pounded to even 1/2" thickness
Stuffing:
8 strips bacon, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp marjoram
1 tsp sage
3-4 cups chunky bread crumbs (smash a bit if too large)
1/2-1 cup chicken stock to moisten
Preheat oven to 320F.
In a large pot sautee the bacon and onion until just turning crisp. If more than 1/4 cup fat, drain off excess. Add the spices and stir until just fragrant. Take off heat. Add the bread crumbs and mix. Add enough chicken stock to moisten, but not soak and stir again.
Place a layer of stuffing over the flattened pork loin. Roll and tire with butchers string at 3/4" intervals.
Place the remaining stuffing in a roasting dish and place the roast on top. Cook at 320F for 1 - 1/2 hours until the internal temerature is 160F. You may have to place foil over the stuffing or remove it if it gets too browned.
This is our latest gadget/appliance - the Technivorm coffee machine.
You see, our former coffee machine expired this past weekend. It had been acting up (aka the lights would go on, but nothing would happen) during the past week so my husband began researching options.
Our big thing is a good cup of coffee. We don't need bells and whistles - no timer, no grinder, no extras - just coffee. As long as we get a good cup of coffee we're not opposed to those things, but we're not interested in them for gimmicks sake.
The Technivorm is all about good coffee. It is hand made in the Netherlands. It has copper piping so it heats propertly and accurately to 196C each time. Even a 26 year old model still maintains this temperature- as an experiement while our past coffee maker was still working we checked the coffee temeprature and it struggled to reach 176C. The Technivorm brews a full pot in under 9 minutes (our first try was 6 minutes). And it is the only one that Cooks' llustrated (my mentor, my go to) testing competes with French Press.
I am converted. I am a Technivorm groupie.
You know I love Mexican food, especially if its spicy. After having learned several dishes from my girlfriends, I figured it was time to venture out and try a variation on my own. As usual, I had a craving. I wanted Mexican. I wanted spicy. I wanted chipotle.
I started by heating some chicken stock (handily leftover from pressure cooking the chicken) spiked with a bit of cumin. I added about 1/2 can of processed chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. That's it. That was my sauce.
I made two layers of sauce then chicken then tortillas (real ones from Mexico, baked in the oven to get a bit crispy). Topped with grated marble cheese and baked to heat through.
This picture looks a lot like my other enchilada pictures, but it really is very different. BTW, that's romano bean refried beans on the side.
While in San Francisco this summer I finally purchased the Kitchenaid pasta press that I have been admiring for months. This is not to be confused with the pasta roller set, or the pasta extruder set that doubles as a meat grinder (I have this set and the meat grinder works, but the pasta part is not good at all). This is a whole new thing. It's been out for less than a year and for most of that time was only available at Williams Sonoma. Now it can be found elsewhere, including at C.A. Paradis in Ottawa, but I'm not seeing it widespread yet.
The cool thing about this gadget is that it truly can make pasta with hollow middles like macaroni, rigatoni etc. As a huge fan of homemade pasta, it was a natural that I had to have this.
I used my standard egg pasta recipe. I love this recipe as it comes from my husband's grandmother's (who passed many years ago so I never got to meet her) repertoire of recipes, which I've modified for a stand mixer. I think it is so cool as she lived on the prairies, but managed to make the most of all the resouces there. She grew such things as garlic during a time when in that area it only came in powder format at the grocery and cultivated her own poppy seeds for delicious breads and rolls. She also made her own home made pasta which my husband remembers fondly as she would lay bed sheets around the house and the three boys (this was before the other three were born) would all go to help roll and cut the strands. I think she was both old-school and ahead of her time. I wish I could have met her.
Back to the gadget. You don't have to roll the pasta, you simply drop small balls of the dough into the extruder. It does almost all of the rest by pressing it through. You do have to use the cutter to lop off the size of pasta that you want.
My first try worked out not too bad. I think I could have made my pasta bit drier, but the experiement was successful. More practice is required (I can't complain about though as I get to eat the results) - but at first blush, I'm thrilled with my new toy.
I topped with a Sunday Gravy made in the pressure cooker. The details on the Sunday Gravy will soon be posted at Smoke Under Pressure.
Pasta Dough (scalable)
4 medium eggs beaten
1 tsp oil
2 cups flour
Mix the eggs and oil together in a measuring cup or small bowl. Into the bowl of a standing mixer add the flour. Using the paddle attachment slowly add the egg/oil mixture until just mixed. If too dry add water a tsp at a time. Switch to the dough attachment and knead the dough for 5-10 minutes until smooth.
Let stand for 20 minutes (this reduces elasticity) in a covered bowl before using.
Mmmmm Steak. As Homer Simpson would say. Or my husband for that matter.
Being a prairie girl at heart, I love steak. Or at least I usually do. Lately I find myself not enjoying it quite as much, so when my husband requested steak for dinner, I had to find some sort of middle ground on it as I just wasn't up for a another New York steak (although deep inside I know this is blasphemy).
My compromise or happy medium was a steak kabob. I found some lovely top sirloin at the grocery on sale. I was hoping to digress on some revealing top sirloin facts here, but a quick google search informed me that the top sirloin is above the bottom sirloin on a cow. Somehow, I think I could have figured that out. Nonetheless, it was perfect for this recipe.
I cubed the sirloin and marinaded it in a soy-based marinade. I'm lucky to have a vacuum packed marinader so only needed to do this for about 40 minutes. I then skewered the beef and grilled 7 minutes per side (two sides only, not all four) on a 400F grill.
The result was amazing. Right up there with Not Your Average Joes (but that's another post) steak tips. A perfect medium-rare, tender and great flavour. A new household recipe staple.
Steak Kabobs
Marinade:
1 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sherry
1/4 cup olive oil
2-4 cloves garlic minced
1 stalk rosemary
2-3 medium sized top sirloin steaks, in large cubes
4 kabob skewers (soaked if using wooden)
Mix all the marinade ingredients together and add meat. Let marinade 4 hours or 40 minutes if able to vacuum. Divide meat onto 4 skewers. Heat your grill to 400F and grill skewers for 7 minutes per side (two sides only).
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