Chicken alla Cacciatore

I’ve always wanted to make cacciatore. This is a “hunter-style” Italian stew which is traditionally made using rabbit. Today, however, chicken is more commonly used because most Americans find rabbits cute and furry (I do too, but I’ll probably still eat it). This recipe¹ calls for red wine, and I used a Pinot Noir because of its “medium-body” and “fruitiness.” At least this is what I was told when buying the wine. The recipe came out great. So good that I made it twice, back to back! (Well, it was also because I bought two whole organic, free-range chickens that were on a two-for-one sale, and I couldn’t think of what to do with the other chicken.)

Since wet mushrooms tend to quickly get slimy, some people don’t believe in washing mushrooms. However, chef Jacques Pepin recommends that you always wash them to get rid of the dirt, but do so just before you’re ready to cook them.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken, about 3-3½ lbs and cut into 8 pieces
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 6 oz Portobello mushrooms
• 4-6 cloves garlic, minced
• About 1½ Tablespoon floor
• 1½ cups red wine
• ½ cup chicken stock
• 14½ oz can diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme, minced
• 2 teaspoons fresh sage, minced

Instructions:

Clean and dry the chicken pieces with paper towel. Heat oil over medium high heat in a cast iron dutch oven and season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. When the oil is hot, brown the chicken skin side down (don’t overcrowd the pan). Remove browned chicken pieces and set aside.

Remove excess oil and leave enough to fry onions. Wash mushrooms and cut into ¾ inch cubes. Add onion and mushroom, along with some salt, and fry until well brown (6-8 minutes). Add garlic and fry until fragrant. Add floor and stir constantly for about a minute, then add the wine and stir to eliminate any lumps. Add stock, tomatoes, and thyme and bring to a boil. Taste for seasoning and add enough salt. At this point, the sauce should taste slightly tangy but it will mellow out during cooking. Return browned chicken pieces to the pot and and bring to boil. Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes. Add sage after cooking is finished, and serve.

¹This recipe was borrowed from cooksillustrated.com.

Rice with Chicken (Arroz con Pollo)

I’ve always wanted to make “Rice with Chicken”, and after looking at a few recipes online, I got the gist of things and decided to give it a try. This is one of those dishes where most (usually) Hispanic families have their own recipe. One of the versions which I referenced can be found here. Almost every culture has some variation of a Pilaf – rice cooked with meat or vegetables. In south Asia and the Middle East, there is Biryani; in Spain and other parts of Europe, there is Paella; and in Guyana and other parts of the Caribbean, there is something we call “Cookup.” This is rice and beans with various meats (salted beef, pork, chicken…) cooked in coconut milk, and it is often served with fried yellow plantains. My mother has somehow perfected this dish! I’m not sure what she does and how she does it, but she makes the best Cookup ever (I know I just disappointed my dad, but if he tasted it, he would change his mind).

So here is the recipe. This dish starts off with a marinade for the chicken made of ground cumin, ground coriander, and garlic. I have whole cumin and coriander seeds which I lightly roasted before grinding into a powder. Since roasting cumin gives it a stronger, smoky flavor, I usually use less cumin and more coriander for dishes requiring a more subtle flavor from the spices. You should also include achiote (annatto) powder in the marinade to give it an authentic flavor and color. I couldn’t find this anywhere, so I used saffron instead (which I added when cooking the rice). Even thought it is optional, adding beer to further cook the chicken does give a really good flavor.

Ingredients:

• one whole chicken (about 3 pounds), cut into large pieces
• ½ tbs ground cumin
• 1 tbs ground coriander
• 10 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 medium sized onion, chopped
• 4 tomatoes, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• ½ cup green olives
• 1 cup beer
• 3 cups rice
• pinch of saffron
• 4 cups water or broth
• Cilantro for granish

Instructions:

Salt and pepper the chicken pieces. Crush about 8 cloves of garlic, and add to cumin and coriander to from a thick paste for the marinade. Rub over pieces of chicken and set aside. Chop the remaining garlic, the onion, tomatoes, bell-pepper and olives.

Heat oil in a large pan, brown the chicken (in batches if necessary) and then set aside. To the remaining oil, add the onions, garlic and bell-pepper. Cook until soften, and return the chicken to the pan. Add the tomatoes and cook for a while (until chicken is mostly done). Add beer, and cook until most of the liquid is gone.

Add the rice, water (or broth), saffron and olives. Cook until rice is done. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Notes:

One thing I initially didn’t like about this recipe is that it came out slightly bitter, and this was primarily because of the olives. The flavor was better the next day, and I even enjoyed the light bitterness. The next time I make it, I probably will add something sweeter, like green peas, instead of olives.

Bread, Butter, and Honey

Some of my Romanian friends told me that bread, butter and honey was among their favorite things to eat. I am used to hearing of bread, butter and jelly, and I’ve never though of replacing the jelly with honey. I gave it a try, and must say, WOW! This seemingly simple combination of three ingredients is perfect – honey and butter complement each other nicely. It goes well with a cup of coffee (black, with no sugar), and makes a great breakfast or snack.

Pasta with Pesto

Adam invited me to dinner last Friday. He was making pizza – everything from scratch – so I decided to bring a pasta dish. This is a recipe from Micah which has evolved over time. It’s a delicious, easy to prepare meal which takes very little time (no more than 15 minutes) to make. The main ingredients are pesto and pasta. Pesto can almost always be found in the super market, usually in jars in the pasta sauce isle, but if they have the freshly made pesto -Wegman’s always do – then it’s better to get that. I use radiatore pasta for this dish, also called pasta nuggets, but you can use any type of pasta that’s easy to pick up with a fork. Sausages are added to this dish, but only something that will complement the fresh taste of the pesto. I won’t suggest using any strong, smokey flavored sausage, but something milder like chicken or turkey sausage. I also like this a little garlicky and spicy, so I saute the sausages with garlic and red pepper flakes. When I made this dish for Celeste, she suggested adding sundried tomatoes. Now I usually add both sundried tomatoes and roasted bell pepper when I can find them.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb pasta nuggets (radiatore), or something similar
• 1-1.5 cup pesto
• 1lb sausage, preferably chicken
• 1 cup of sundried tomatoes + roasted bell pepper
• 3 cloves garlic
• grated Parmesan cheese
• salt, pepper, red pepper flakes

Instructions:

Bring a pot of water to boil, along with some salt, to cook the pasta (follow the instructions on the package). While waiting for the water to boil, cut the sausages into bite sizes pieces, and finely chop the garlic. Heat a frying pan large enough to hold the sausages and the pasta, and when hot add some oil (less if you’re using a non stick pan, or if your sausage is fatty). Add the sausages and fry until brown.

While you’re waiting for the sausage to brown, cook the pasta. After the sausages are finished, add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook the garlic to your liking. Add the sundried tomatoes and bell-pepper to the sausages (make sure things are cut into bite size pieces), then turn down the stove to keep warm.

Finish cooking the pasta to al-dente. Drain, then immediately add to the sausages. Mix well, add the pesto and grated Parmesan cheese (as much as you like). You may also also add some extra virgin olive oil if you like, provided things are not too oily already.

Chorizo and Garbanzo Beans

I decided to make this dish after seeing the recipe in a book (Fresh Spanish). This dish is very simple, fairly popular online, and this version takes less than 20 minutes to cook. Chorizo is a Spanish sausage that can be quite expensive if it’s imported, but it has a nice smokey, spicy flavor, and it might be worth it to get the more authentic stuff. This is what I used for this dish and I did like the flavor a lot, but the next time, I’ll try the local Chorizo for a comparison. I used canned Garbanzo beans (chickpeas), but some people think it’s worth it to buy the dry chickpeas, soak them overnight, and then boil them for about 2 hours until they get tender. I didn’t have time to do this, but when I am completely satisfied with my modifications to the recipe, I’ll give this a try.

Ingredients:

• chorizo (about 1/2 lb)
• Garbanzo beans (Chickpeas), 19 oz can, drained and rinsed
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2-3 medium sized tomatoes
• parsley, coarsely chopped

Instructions:

Chop the chorizo whichever way you like, but preferably into pieces you can pick up with a fork. Add a little oil in a pan (if the pan is non-stick), and saute the chorizo. Since the sausage will render an unknown amount of fat, it’s best to add more oil if need after adding the sausage. When the sausage is cooked to your satisfaction, add the onions and garlic, and cook until the onion are translucent.

Add the Garbanzo beans, and mix well. Shortly after, add the tomatoes and parsley, can briefly cook until the tomatoes warm through.

Notes:
I may try using less chorizo and adding ham (Spaniards love ham!) along with some spinach. Variations of sausages also seem like a good idea. I could use Andouille sausage, or some other type of spicy smoked sausage, or a mixture of different types of sausages.

Guylás

For this new year,  I want to learn how to cook a variety of dishes and this blog is where I post my recipes.  The first dish is Guylás (Hungarian Goulash). I’ve made this a few times before, but in the more traditional way without mushrooms and bell-pepper. I did like the way it came out this time, and will cook it like this again. Serve it in a bowl with a few dollops of sour cream and a few slices of bread.

Ingredients:

• beef (I used about 1.6 lbs chuck roast)
• 4 strips of thick sliced bacon
• 3 medium sized onions
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• beef bullion cubes
• about 3.5 teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika
• 2 medium sized potatoes
• 6 oz sliced Portabella mushrooms
• 1 bell pepper

Instructions:

Cut the beef into cubes, coarsely chop the bacon, and slice the onions. Add the bacon to a hot cast-iron dutch oven to release the fat. If more fat is needed to fry the onions, add some vegetable oil.

Fry the onion until soft, and then add the tomato paste and let it fry for a little. Add the beef with some salt to taste and mix everything well. Let the beef fry a little and then add enough hot water to cover everything.

Add the paprika and bullion cubes, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until beef start to become tender. (To check tenderness, remove a piece of meat and try cutting it with a fork.)

While simmering, cut each potato into 8 pieces and coarsely chop the bell pepper. After beef is about tender, add the potatoes and mushroom (wash just before adding). If there is too much liquid, cook uncovered until the potatoes start to soften. Add the bell pepper and cook until the sauce has the desired thickness.

Notes:

I used organic grass-fed beef, and form now on, that’s all I’ll use. It may be more expensive, but not only does it taste better, it’s also much healthier.

To make a more traditional guylás, leave out the mushrooms and bell pepper, and use lard instead of bacon. I’ve never done this with lard, but I bet it taste pretty good.