CONFESSION: Chicken soup is reserved only for when I’m sick. Much like 7-up and flat coca-cola, chicken soup just tastes like being sick to me when I’m healthy. I feel pretty much the same for all chicken broth-based soups. Conversely, when I’m not feeling well, there’s nothing better.

I prefer to make this with a whole chicken, making my own stock, but sometimes I just don’t have the time. Shortcut Wife Soup is actually quite easy if you’ve got the chicken stock to start with. I love the Kirkland Chicken Stock that we buy from Costco by the case. It’s not overly salty like Swanson’s, and has a richer flavor. The trick to it is seasoning it to your tastes. I prefer mine very heavy on the herbs, not so much with the salt, but again, I don’t really measure spices much, but this is how I made Wife Soup… this time around, anyway.

INGREDIENTS:

• Two chicken breasts (or one full split breast)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 medium-large carrots, diced
• 1 large potato, diced (seeing a theme here?)
• 1/2 small cabbage, chopped
• 8 cloves of garlic — yes, I said eight — crushed. Keep three or four separate.
• Ground Sage (a couple pinches)
• French Thyme (a couple pinches)
• Rosemary (yup, a couple pinches)
• Seasoned Salt (I prefer Penzey’s 4S Seasoned Salt) and Pepper to taste
• Fresh Parsley, chopped. I probably use about 1/4 cup. I love the stuff in this soup
• 1 Bay Leaf
• 64 oz. (2 cartons) of Chicken Stock
• Kluski Egg Noodles (if you can find them) or other egg noodles (I used No Yolks this time)

Put about 1 tbsp EVOO in the bottom of your soup pan. Add all but 3-4 of the crushed garlic cloves and the diced onion. Sauté until soft, then add the carrots and potatoes. Sprinkle with the ground sage and sauté for a couple minutes. Add one container of broth and the rest of the dried herbs and bring to a boil.

While this is going, dice the chicken breasts and toss with seasoned salt, pepper and some rosemary. Heat another tsbp of EVOO in a sauté pan an add the garlic when hot. Cook until it is a little soft but not browned and add the chicken. Cook until the outside of the chicken is browned slightly and add the chicken, herbs and oil to the soup base. Lower heat.

Add the second carton of chicken stock, the bay leaf and parsley. Add the cabbage and let simmer for 30 minutes, tasting frequently and adjusting the seasonings to your taste.

This is even better after the first night, but it’s really yummy right away.

CONFESSION: I really want a Mexican grandmother. I make outstanding Mexican food, if I do say so myself. I’m incredibly comfortable with the flavor profiles, but there are some dishes — some of my favorite dishes — that I just can’t tackle. Chiles rellenos, stuffed peppers, and tamales, are the ones best taught, I figure, by a nice Mexican grandmother.

Don’t let the looks of the above dish deceive you. Even though this was absolutely delicious, it’s actually kind of a failure. The batter barely stuck to the peppers and they exploded all over the place. I was barely able to form this one into something that looked appetizing.

But, as I said, it was delicious, despite it’s questionable success. For Meatless Monday I stuffed the pepper with soy chorizo — all the flavor of chorizo with a LOT less grease and fat. I served it up with a cheese and green chile tamale from Trader Joe’s and some meatless Mexican rice.

One of the things I’m really loving about Meatless Mondays is how little I miss the meat in these meals. This felt hearty and meaty.

Also, if anybody’s got a favorite chiles rellenos recipe to share, throw it my way. Or, y’know, if you have a Mexican grandmother, I’d totally pay for an afternoon-long cooking class.

I had a lot of smoked salmon that I wanted to try to use, and when I saw smoked salmon risotto as an option for using it I jumped at the chance! QUICK TIP: Make sure you use a high quality broth or stock to make your risotto! I know now that the last time I tried to make risotto, the reason it failed was because I used a vegetable broth that had a horrible flavor when it concentrated, so this time I used regular water for the rice to absorb.  Additionally, I loaded this up with diced mirepoix (carrots, onion and celery). I waited until the risotto was done before adding the smoked salmon.

I love smoked salmon, so this was absolutely delicious but the flavor ends up being really strong. It’s not a date night meal for sure, but it’s super delicious.

That’s why I took a chance when grilling the steak for this meal, and it made a really big difference! I just grilled it on my Mario Batalli grill pan, since I don’t have the luxury of a nice outdoor barbecue.

This was also my first time trying Archer Farms’ Basil Pesto Cream Sauce, Target’s new house brand of “gourmet” sauces and food products. And the verdict is… meh? This has sadly been the case for every Archer Farms product I’ve tried, and that makes me incredibly sad. They look so promising, with their pretty packaging and exotic flavors, but so far everything I’ve had has been bland as hell until I doctored it up. This sauce was still just cream sauce — barely any basil flavor — even after I added garlic, a few cubes of Dorot Frozen Basil, fresh tomatoes and peppers and shredded parmesan. The steak was well-seasoned, which balanced it out, and it was a yummy dish overall, but I like my basil cream sauce to be overpowering with the flavors of basil and garlic.

In fact, the inspiration for this dish, Bertolli’s Steak Rigatoni & Portobello Mushrooms frozen prepared meal (picked up for a couple dollars on super-sale + coupon), had far more flavor than Target’s jarred sauce. I think I’ve officially sworn off Archer Farms’ sauces, which is just too bad. There’s too much good stuff out there to keep wasting my time with something that doesn’t work.

]]> http://www.shortcutchef.com/archives/451/feed 5 http://www.shortcutchef.com/archives/411 http://www.shortcutchef.com/archives/411#comments Fri, 16 Apr 2010 23:58:25 +0000 Tiara Lynn http://www.shortcutchef.com/?p=411 CONFESSION: By stereotypical “Mom’s home cooking” standards, I overseason everything. At least, that’s what it seems like when I read recipes in church and family cookbooks. I need a lot of flavor in my food and I don’t use much salt at all, so I compensate for that by “overdoing it” on the herbs. I must be doing something right because everyone loves my cooking, but I always double, triple and even quadruple the amount of herbs, spices and especially garlic in most recipes. Don’t be afraid to overseason! Troubleshooting your mishaps is a great way to learn how to cook.

If you’re just learning to cook, write this recipe down. If you’re trying to impress a dinner party full of friends or a date, write this down. It’s brilliant.

Okay, it’s not brilliant, but it’s easy and seriously, everybody loves it. Chicken cacciatore is one of the first fancypants recipes I ever made and one of the things that convinced me that I might actually be good at this cooking thing.

So remember the baby bottles of wine I told you about? The ones that cost about $1 apiece at my local grocery store? Well, they’re back, this time with a yummy cabernet sauvignon.

You can use any red wine, and if you’re really into wine (I’m not), go ahead and buy a fancier bottle. But this will do the trick nicely, I promise you.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 14oz of stewed or diced tomatoes. (I prefer no-salt added so I can have more control over the seasoning)
• 1 jar of spaghetti sauce (Classico Florentine’s my favorite)
  
• 4lb chicken parts. (Bone-in breasts are great, but if you’re looking for cheap this works great with drumsticks or thighs)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced (use whatever veggies you like. Carrots are great in this dish too)
• 4 large cloves of garlic, crushed
• Generous amounts of Italian Herbs, salt and pepper to taste. (I will never tell you how much to spice something. Just remember that the flavor will intensify as the sauce reduces, so beware of over-salting)
• 1 mini bottle of cabernet sauvignon
• 1 tube of prepared polenta. My favorite is San Gennaro, and many grocery stores carry this. Scared of polenta? Serve this over noodles…chicken.
  

Season your chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Drizzle about 2 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the bottom of a high-walled sauté pan and turn the heat on medium. Give the oil a minute or two to heat up, then add the raw onion, garlic and vegetables. Sauté until the onions are translucent and the vegetables begin to soften. Place the chicken parts skin-down in the pan amongst the veggies and cook until the skin is browned. If you’re using drumsticks, brown them all around.

Pour the little bottle of wine over the chicken and sauté for 2 minutes before adding the tomatoes and spaghetti sauce. Sprinkle generously with Italian herbs…

QUICK TIP: Basil’s hard to screw up. Oregano’s easy to screw up. When in doubt, be generous with basil and take it slow with the oregano. Too much oregano will make your sauce bitter. If that happens, try adding some tomato paste to your sauce. The sweetness of the tomato will help balance it out. Also, salt’s about the easiest thing to screw up, and most shortcut dishes (because they start with canned veg or sauce) don’t require any extra salt. [Follow the cut for the rest of the recipe]

Anyway, back to the recipe. Turn the heat to low and cover your pan, leaving the lid a bit off-kilter to allow for some steam to escape. After 15 minutes, check, stir everything and flip your chicken. Repeat this once. When you repeat this a third time, remove the lid entirely. Your chicken should be cooked enough by now to start tasting your sauce. Season as needed. After another 15 minutes, the sauce should be plenty thick, super flavorful and the chicken will be cooked through.

If it’s not? Remove the chicken and turn the heat on high, stirring often, which will encourage the sauce to reduce.

So about the polenta… Slice your polenta into 1/4″ thick slices. If you’ve got a grill pan, oil it and heat it up. If not, just use a regular frying pan with a little bit of olive oil. Grill or sauté until browned, then flip it over. A few slices creates a great bed for this dish and it’s so much more fun than regular pasta!

Curses! I hate when I forget to take a photograph of the completed meal, and this chicken makhani (Indian Butter Chicken) was absolutely freaking phenomenal. It was, without question, one of the most amazing meals I’ve made at home. And yet, no photos. But I have pics of the biryani, which was also fantastic.

CONFESSION: You don’t want to know how long I’ve had this biryani paste. Seriously. I’ve been terrified of it for awhile. Patak’s branding has changed, possibly twice, since this label design. I’m taking the term “non-perishable food item” to new heights. This paste was actually a part of someone’s freecycle pantry cleanout when they were moving, and I got a bunch of new curry pastes to try. They’ve all been good, but I’ve been a little afraid of the biryani. Still kind of am, to be honest, but I nailed it this time because I cut the amount of biryani paste in half of what’s recommended.

I used the recipe on the jar… sort of. This is what I did.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups basmati rice, rinsed 2 or 3 times
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup frozen corn
• 1/4 cup frozen sweet peas
• 2 cans (14oz) cherry tomatoes with juice (you can use diced tomatoes; I just got a bunch of cans of cherry tomatoes on sale for like 35¢ apiece at our Italian grocer)
• 4 cups warm water
• 2 tablespoons biryani paste (the recipe recommends this for a single batch; I used it for a double batch for a lighter flavor)

Preheat oven to 425ºF.

Sauté your vegetables in a saucepan with a little olive oil or butter until the onion is clear. Add the biryani paste and combine.

In a casserole dish, add the drained rice, water, vegetables with curry paste, and your tomatoes and combine until well-mixed. Cover with foil and place the casserole dish in the oven. Bake for 50 minutes to an hour, checking to see if the rice is cooked. You may want to stir halfway through.

I served this with chicken makhani made with Kitchens of India’s Curry Paste for Butter Chicken, which, with the addition of a little half & half to add some creaminess, is perfect when prepared according to package directions. Just sensational, and definitely restaurant quality Indian for when we’re trying to save our pennies.

CONFESSION: I buy too many vegetables. Like way too many. Way more than we can eat, and we eat a lot of produce. Oh, I have good intentions, and yet it’s embarrassing how much veg we throw away. This is an especially bad problem when I’m cooking for the week and I know all the remaining veggies are likely just going to end up in the trash.

Also, when I cook for the week I occasionally get tired of the same ingredients. This particular week I had eggplant leftover from my stir-fry, and carrots, spinach and peppers left in the fridge, and I simply wasn’t in the mood for a chunky pasta sauce. But then I had a stroke of genius. (Okay, it wasn’t that great, but still…)

I puréed all of them. I sautéed all of the veggies I had leftover from the week with olive oil, two cubes of Dorot Frozen Basil from Trader Joe’s (oh, how I love the stuff). I then took my beautiful Kitchen Aid Immersion Blender and puréed it all right in the pot. I added the jarred spaghetti sauce and voilá!! The flavor was unbelievable.

I ended up with half a bag of mostaccioli and half a bag of bowties, so I made that and served it up with some Veal Parmigiana (have a looksee for my easy recipe). Absolutely dynamite, and a great new way to both add extra veggies to my menu and to use up leftovers. Brilliant!!

When I made my Shrimp Scampi a couple weeks ago I knew I’d be craving jambalaya come Mardi Gras, and while I was too busy the week of Fat Tuesday to make one of my signature dishes, I was happy to have the shrimp stock I made conveniently frozen and ready to add to this dish. I didn’t want to use my beautiful jumbo shrimp in this dish, but the flavor of the shrimp was still intense!!

Whenever Woodmans has a sale on Daisy Brand Chicken Sausage I always stock up to freeze it, especially when it’s the Andouille Smoked Sauage. Perfectly spiced with the lightness of chicken sausage — seriously, does it get any better?

Here’s how tonight’s Jambalaya came together so you can try it for yourself. Want a shortcut version? Try my Fat Cat Tuesday Jambalaya from the archives!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups seafood stock, chicken broth or water
• 1 Knorr Chipotle Bouillon Cube (a bit of powdered chipotle or chili powder works too); leave out if you don’t want your jambalaya spicy)
• Juice from 1 can of tomatoes
• 1 cup brown rice

Start the broth, juice and bouillon on a back burner. When boiling, add the rice and reduce heat to simmer. Cover and let this go while you get the rest going. Pay attention to when you started this!

• 2 Links Andouille Chicken Sausage, diced (a regular smoked sausage works too)
• 1 chicken breast, diced
• 1/2 medium onion or one small onion, chopped
• 1 red or green pepper, diced
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced (or 1 tbsp jarred garlic)
• 1/2 cup Trader Joe’s Roasted Corn
• 1 can tomatoes (add the juice to the rice)
• Penzey’s Cajun Seasoning (generously, to taste)
• Dash of Penzey’s Gumbo Filé.

Add the onion and garlic to a deep sauté pan (I love my Pampered Chef Flat-bottomed Wok for this) with a little bit of olive oil and sauté until the onions start to sweat. Toss in the chicken breast and sausage and a few shakes of Cajun Seasoning and cook until the chicken is white on the outside.

Add the tomatoes and some more seasoning and toss until everything is coated. Add the rice and the cooking liquid and toss to combine. Reduce heat to low and cover, checking to stir and taste every 10 minutes. Add more cajun seasoning to taste, a little each time.

You’ll want the rice to go about a total of 45 minutes, so continue cooking until your rice has hit 45 minutes.  When it’s nearly done, add the roasted corn.

CONFESSION: I love cookbooks. Like LOVE cookbooks, even though I rarely use the recipes as described. I like browsing through for fun, getting ideas, learning new techniques I can apply elsewhere. Sure, I use the internet to find recipes on occasion, but my first stop is almost always my shelf of cookbooks. And that’s where I found this recipe.

Looks pretty foul, doesn’t it? If you don’t eat Indian food regularly I’m sure it does, but after the discovery of an adorable little Indian grocer I needed to try to make my own version of one of my favorite Indian dishes. QUICK TIP: Don’t make substitutions when cooking a cuisine you’re not experienced with. Since I’m still learning the subtleties of cooking Indian food, this was a recipe I needed to follow to the letter. Which I didn’t. Which is why it was kind of meh, but I’m going to try it again. Moral of the story: Don’t replace the tomatoes with tomato paste. It won’t work.

This (very slightly modified) recipe came from The Best Ever Indian by Brian Wilson, which has a thousand and one delicious things I’m DYING to try. It’s a beautiful book and I recommend it highly.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 bag fresh spinach leaves (about 1/lb)
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil (I used considerably less, but I don’t think that had an effect it)
• 8 oz paneer, cubed (Indian cottage cheese—if you don’t have it, you can use chicken as well if you brown it first)
• 1 sweet onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ginger paste (I use The Ginger People ginger paste… YUM)
• 7 oz (about half a can) canned tomatoes, drained (yeah… I skipped this part because I lacked the ingredients and used tomato paste instead. Don’t skip it.)
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
• *Penzey’s Garam Masala to taste
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 stick butter

*I found the recipe pretty bland as far as spice with these teensy amounts, so I seasoned the heck out of it with Garam Masala curry powder.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the spinach leaves and blanch for 4–5 minutes. Drain well and reserve some broth. Add the tomatoes and, using a hand blender (I use the KitchenAid Immersion Blender given to me by my friend Angela) or food processor, puree the spinach.

Heat the oil in a skillet and add the paneer, tossing frequently until lightly browned. Remove and drain on a paper towel.

Add the onion to the same skillet and cook until softened. Add the ginger paste and cook, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes. Add the spinach, spices, lemon juice and butter and cook, stirring constantly. If mixture’s too dry, add a little of the reserved broth from blanching the spinach.

The intensity of the flavor will increase overnight, but let it sit at least 15 minutes to let the flavors meld together.

Would I make this again? Absolutely. That said, I still think the Palak Paneer from Kitchens of India is far superior, and also cheaper to make.

CONFESSION: My secret to my chili isn’t shortcut at all. In fact, it’s a gigantic pain, but it makes it so much better. I grind my own very lean meat.

From there it’s hard to say. My chili’s never really the same twice, though I follow the same steps. Brown the meat with plenty of onions and garlic and lots of Penzey’s chili powder, some cumin and chipotle pepper, and plenty of canned tomatoes. Add diced poblano peppers for spice and simmer on very low heat for several hours. I serve it with diced white onion, sour cream and shredded cheese and have been told more than once it’s the best around. I don’t know about that, but it’s good stuff.

But seriously, if you have the means, grind your own meat. We grind chicken, turkey and beef with our KitchenAid Food Grinder Attachment, and it really makes all the difference.