World Cup Salute to the USA

I did not do an American recipe as I didn't want to jinx our men. But now that their World Cup 2010 appearance has entered into the history books, it's time to salute them. Great job men. You rocked it right up to the last second. This dish is for you!

What is a truly American dish? This is a much more difficult question to answer than I originally thought. Being a nation of immigrants, most of our traditional foods have roots in another country. If you don't believe me, check out the American cooking suggestions at Epicurious and read the comments. 

After some searching, I settled on making Jambalaya and corn bread. Is this a truly American dinner? Heck, I don't know. But it sounds good so I'm operating under the threat of a potential yellow card.

Andouille and Chicken Jambalaya

If you're looking for a Jambalaya recipe who would you turn to but Emeril. I found this recipe at emerils.com. Emeril's recipe serves 12. I cut it in half. I don't need 10 servings of Jambalaya lurking in the back of the refridgerator planning my demise.

The ingredients: rice, chicken, andouille sausage, chicken, onion, pepper, cayenne and bay leaves. Yes, I know those aren't andouille sausages. Due to a run on andouille at Whole Foods, I settled for spicy Italian sausage.

First heat a splash of vegetable oil in a dutch oven. Then add onions, bell peppers, a teaspoon of salt and a half of teaspoon of cayenne. Emeril says to use a cast iron dutch oven. I think what he really means is a Le Creuset dutch oven. He has one in every color. I bet the people at Le Creuset give him one every time he uses one on t.v. I would love a Le Creuset dutch oven. But I'd have to make the choice of buying the oven or buying food. Food wins every time. I used my good old aluminum dutch oven that my Mom gave me years ago. 

Yes, this is more than a half teaspoon of cayenne. I wanted it a little hotter. 

Brown the onions and peppers until they are carmamelized. The add the sliced sausage and cook for about 10 minutes.

Cut the chicken into 1 inch pieces, season with some salt and cayenne and add to the pot.

Brown the chicken for 10 minutes. Then stir in the rice. Add water and cover. Cook over medium heat for 30-35 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit in the covered pan for another 2-3 minutes. The lift the lid and let that spicy sweet steam greet your nose. It smells divine. Toss some chopped green onions on top and dinner is served.

The original recipe is at the bottom of this page.

Jalapeño Cornbread

I love cornbread. I would eat it at every meal if I could. My recipe file contains a number of different recipes. I use whatever one fits my mood at the moment. Today was definitely a jalapeño cornbread day. I have no idea where I originally got this recipe. If it is from you, let me know so I can give you credit. You deserve it. This stuff is ridiculous.

Ingredients: Corn meal, whole wheat flour, white flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, eggs, pepper, frozen corn, creamed corn, sour cream, eggs and diced jalapeños.

Mix the wet ingredients, corn, creamed corn and the jalapeños and the dry ingredients separately.

Then slowly add the wet mixture to the dry mixture. My t-shirt is not dirty. I can't seem to wash a measuring cup without splashing water all over myself.

Stir ingredients until just moist. Don't over stir. Pour into a greased 9X9 baking dish.

Bake for 30-35 minutes at 400 until a knife comes out clean.This cornbread is very moist. It's almost like eating a muffin. One that's loaded with jalapeños.

And here's our finished American meal.

Ok, that doesn't look all that appetizing. I have to work on the lighting in my kitchen. And my garnishing. And my choice of plates. But I don't have to work on my cooking. This was fabulous!

Andouille and Chicken Jambalaya

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 cups chopped onions

1 cup chopped bell peppers

3 teaspoons salt

1 1/4 teaspoons cayenne

1 pound andouille, chorizo, or other smoked sausage, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch slices

1 1/2 pounds boneless white and dark chicken meat, cut into 1-inch cubes

3 bay leaves

3 cups medium-grain white rice

6 cups water

1 cup chopped green onions

Heat the oil in a large cast-iron Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions, bell peppers, 2 teaspoons of the salt, and 1 teaspoon of the cayenne. Stirring often, brown the vegetables for about 20 minutes, or until they are caramelized and dark brown in color. Scrape the bottom and sides of the pot to loosen any browned particles. Add the sausage and cook, stirring often for 10 to 15 minutes, scraping the bottom and sides of the pot to loosen any browned particles.
 
Season the chicken with the remaining 1 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/4 teaspoon cayenne. Add the chicken and the bay leaves to the pot. Brown the chicken for 8 to 10 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pot to loosen any browned particles.
 
Add the rice and stir for 2 to 3 minutes to coat evenly. Add the water, stir to combine, and cover. Cook over medium heat for 30 to 35 minutes, without stirring, or until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed. Remove the pot from the heat and let stand, covered, for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the bay leaves.
 
Stir in the green onions and serve.
 
Yield: 10 to 12 servings

Jalapeño Corn Bread 

1 c. yellow cornmeal

¾ c. all purpose flour

¼ c. whole wheat four

1 t. baking powder

¾ t. salt

½ t. baking soda

Black pepper to taste

1 c. cream style corn

½ c. corn kernels

½ c. sour lean

½ c. milk

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 t.  packed brown sugar

2 minced jalapeno peppers

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Butter an 8-inch square baking pan.
2. Toss dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl
3. In another bowl, stir the creamed corn and remaining ingredients together until smooth. 
4. Add half the liquid mixture to the dry mixture stirring until just blended. Add remaining liquid mixture, stirring again until just blended.
5. Poor batter into prepared pan.
6. Bake until top is golden brown and knife inserted in center comes out clean.  About 25 minutes.
7. Cools slightly in pan before cutting into squares.

Your reward for reading all the way to the end.

Dutch Oven Porn.

World Cup salute to Algeria

Yes, the US outplayed Algeria all match. But you have to appreciate a team that kept fighting right to the end. So today's food salute goes out to Algeria.

Most of the recipes I found in my research on Algerian food had couscous as the first item. I personally love couscous. It's so versatile. It's great as a cold salad or a hot side dish. However, making couscous didn't seem like much of a challenge so I did a little more research and found a recipe for El Ham Lahou which apparently translates as Sweet Lamb for Ramadan. It's a dish often eaten to break the fast during Ramadan. The recipe looked simple enough and all the ingredients were locally available. And best yet, it was eaten with couscous.

I admit that I'm not a lamb fan. It's not the taste as much as it is the memory of the little lambs I adopted when I was a kid.  I named them Brandy and Sunshine - it was the 60's after all. I've never been able to enjoy lamb since. Same thing with veal. However even though I had a pet pig as a kid, I've always loved bacon. I'm a big hypocrite.

So, today I faced my hypocrisy and cooked lamb. All because of Algeria.

The ingredients for this recipe are: lamb, butter, sugar, orange juice, prunes, raisins, almonds, salt and an apple. Actually it was supposed to be a pear, but after finding the pears rock hard at four grocery stores I settled on using an apple. The couscous is there because, well, it just sneaked in the picture.

First, melt 3 T. of better in a pan.

Next add the lamb and brown over a low heat. About 5 minutes.

The original recipe did not call for salt on the meat, but I salted it anyhow. Old habits are hard to break.

Next add 1/2 t. of cinnamon. 

Add three cups of water. Notice my canning jar measuring vessel. I really do own a glass measuring cup. Unfortunately it was trapped in the dishwasher. A canning jar works just as well.

And 1/4 c. of sugar. Or four tablespoons if you can't find your 1/4 c. measuring cup. Let this mixture cook over low heat for 40 minutes.

Notice the well used pan. This pan is a work horse and it looks like it.

After 40 minutes, add the raisins and prunes.

Then add the almonds. I chopped them. The original recipe didn't specify if the almonds should be whole, slivered or sliced. We bought whole, but once I looked at them it seemed that perhaps slivered would have been a better idea. I settled for roughly chopping them.

And, add the peeled and diced apple or pear.

Let the mixture simmer for another 15 minutes.

Then add 1/4 c. orange juice and stir in. The sauce will be fairly thick by this point and the orange juice will thin it out slightly.

And serve with buttered couscous.

This was absolutely wonderful. Sweet, but not overly so. It was ready to eat in less than an hour. I think I'll add a little cayenne for some spice next time I make it - and there will definitely be a next time.

Thank you Algeria!

El Ham Lahlou 

(Sweet Lamb For Ramadan)

Ingredients

·  2 1/2lbs lamb, cubed

·  3 T butter

·  1/2 t. ground cinnamon

·  3 cups water

·  1/4 cup sugar

·  15 prunes, soaked in water for one hour and then drained

·  2 T. raisins

·  2 T. almonds

·  1 pear, peeled and cubed

·  1/4 cup orange juice

Instructions

Melt the butter in a pan, add the lamb and saute over low heat for 5 minutes. Add the water, sugar and cinnamon and mix well. Cook in moderate heat for about 40 minutes. Add prunes, raisins, almonds and pear. Simmer for 15 more minutes. Add orange juice, mix well and serve.

Margarita’s International Recipes

http://www.marga.org/food/int/algeria/lamb.html

The World Cup Salute to Mexico

I know you thought I'd come back from Rome and start cooking pasta and pizza. Never fear. I have dozens of new pasta and pizza recipes to try. For now I am pasta-ed and pizza-ed out. They will have to wait for another week or two.


One of the things that inspired me in Rome was World Cup Soccer. As a melting pot of humanity, the entire city was World Cup crazed. Everyone was talking football. The cab drivers were listening to the games, the bars and restaurants were filled with fans, the one television at Casa Lasalle was permanently tuned to the games.


On our last night in Rome, Mary and I were having dinner at a lovely restaurant on Piazza Navona. Suddenly a wild cheer went up from a little bar across the Piazza. Waiters ran from the restaurants surrounding the Piazza to the little bar to see who had scored. Picture men in white waiters jackets dodging street performers, artists and jet lagged tourists as they ran full speed across the Piazza.

So, today on my first day home I'm watching football. After watching Mexico play Uruguay this morning, I decided to do a few days of World Cup cooking. While Mexico lost to Uruguay, both teams advanced.

I had no Uruguay recipes, so I decided to do some research. According to Wikipedia:

"Due to its strong Italian tradition, all the famous Italian pasta dishes are found in Uruguay: ravioli, spaghetti,lasagna, tortellini, fettuccine, cannelloni, fusilli, agnolotti, tagliatelle, capellini,vermicelli, penne rigate, fagioloni,cellentani, rotini, bucatini, farfalle and the traditional gnocchi. Although the pasta can be served with a lot of sauces, there is one special sauce that was created by Uruguayans. The Caruso Sauce is a pasta sauce made from double cream, meat extract, onions, ham and mushrooms. It is very popular with sorrentinos and agnolotti. There is also a huge variety of pizza, as well as calzone, fugazzetas, figazzas, fainás, and cheese fainá."

I guess I'll salute Uruguay when I'm back to cooking pasta and pizza. Today's country of choice is Mexico. This is Mexican food from an American kitchen, so don't get twisted about the authenticity factor. Just sit back and pretend I know what I'm doing.

Salsa Verde

Let's start with the classic salsa verde. This is the miracle sauce. It makes so many dishes better and is wonderful by itself with taco chips. It's also ridiculously easy.

The ingredients: tomatillos, jalapeño, cilantro, lime and garlic. What are tomatillos you ask? They look like green tomatoes only they are coved in a papery husk.

Here's a better shot of the tomatillos.

The first thing you do is remove the husks. They pull right off.

Next you need to wash them. They feel sticky. Hold them under luke warm water and scrub them a bit. The stickiness washes away.

Next roast the tomatillos and one jalapeño. I put them on an old cookie sheet that I keep around just for this purpose. Then I put them under the broiler until they start to turn brown.

This is the remaining two tomatillos and the jalapeño. 

Drop the roasted tomatillos and jalapeño into a food processor. Be sure to pour any juice on the pan into the food processor. Add one clove of garlic and a bunch of cilantro. 

Then turn that bad boy on and let it blend all that goodness into a puree. 

Next you will want to add some lime. It serves two purposes. It adds a nice flavor and it helps to keep the sauce from turning brown. Notice that I'm rolling the lime before I cut it to loosen up the juice a bit.

Ahhhh, at last. A juicy lime.

And here is the beautiful finished product in all its spicy, limey goodness. 

You could stop right here and grab a corn chip and dig in. However, I want to show you how to make the best guacamole on earth using this beautiful green salsa.

Guacamole with Salsa Verde

You start with avocado and salsa verde. If you have an onion, you could add that as well. I, unfortunately didn't have one.

Cut the avocados in half and remove the pit. I usually just stick the tip of my knife into the pit and it comes right out. Except on the third avocado when I managed to stick the knife into my hand. Notice how I'm holding the knife and the avocado to give the camera a good view.  It's a recipe for disaster. Don't even think about doing it this way if you need an opposable thumb.

Scoop out the avocado.

Mash it slightly. I like my guac a little chunky. Note the towel. Always have one handy for avocado pit removal accidents.

Now the secret part. Mix in about 1/4 cup of the salsa verde. More if you dare. Don't you love my fashion choice for today's cooking lesson. We have a strict "no pictures of anything but the hands" rule. But apparently someone thinks rules are for other people.

Dip in a chip and enjoy. Don't worry about it turning brown. The acid in the salsa verde will prevent that.

Carnitas Tacos

Still with me? I hope so because this is only going to get better. Next on the menu is carnitas tacos.


The ingredients: pork shoulder, onion, Mexican oregano, salt and pepper. Yes this is what happened to the onion for the guacamole.

First, mix the spices: 2 t. salt, 2 t. black pepper and 2 t. Mexican oregano.

Cut up the meat in 1 1/2 inch pieces. Remove the large pieces of fat.

Toss the meat pieces with the spices. You don't have to stick your finger out. I just do that to look dainty. Or something like that.

Put in in a crock pot.

This is what 2 lbs of pork shoulder looks like when it's cut up and most of the fat removed.

Add one onion cut into quarters. Don't worry about making them pretty. You're going to remove them when the cooking is done. They are just there to flavor the meat.

Put the crock pot on high and let it cook for 4-5 hours. Be prepared for strangers to come knocking on your door as the delicious fragrance from that crock pot fills the air.


When it is done, slightly shred the meat, and put it on a warm corn tortilla with a slice of avocado, a slice of red pepper, a sprig of cilantro and a drizzle of salsa verde. Serve with lime wedges and rice and beans. Of course, I like a little sour cream too.

What's not to love?

And, here's a free endorsement. Zatarans makes the best beans and rice. Actually any of their side dishes is wonderful. And quick.


Slow Cooked Carnitas Tacos (Bon Appétit | April 2008)

2 pounds boneless country-style pork ribs or pork shoulder (Boston butt), cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

2 teaspoons dried oregano (preferably Mexican)

1 large onion, cut into 4 pieces

1 avocado, halved, pitted, sliced

Fresh cilantro sprigs

Corn tortillas

Salsa Verde


Toss pork in bowl of slow cooker with salt, black pepper, and dried oregano to coat. Place onion pieces atop pork. Cover slow cooker and cook pork on low setting until meat is very tender and falling apart, about 6 hours.

Using slotted spoon, transfer pork to cutting board. Discard onion pieces. Using fingers, shred pork; transfer carnitas to platter. Place avocado slices, cilantro sprigs, and sliced red bell peppers, if desired, alongside. Wrap corn tortillas in damp kitchen towel; microwave until warm, about 1 minute. Serve carnitas with warm tortillas and tomatillo salsa.