Cooking in a Römertopf (Clay Cooker)

My eldest daughter is turning 25 this week, so I gave her a Römertopf plus a couple of smoked chickens for her birthday. To our family, Sunday afternoon isn't complete without the aroma of a smoked chicken or roast coming from the oven -- at least in the cold season (which feels like most of the year, given we still have several feet of snow on the ground right now!).

Here are some recipes I translated for her from the french pamphlet inside -- who knows why they were not in German or English? But I had fun, and only had to look up 1 word! I found it funny how many of them were "Borealkraut-style" in that they gave no quantities at all!

To me, cooking in the Römertopf is the epitomy of simple home-cooking. The ingredients are nothing fancy, but the rich flavor comes from the slow cooking/steaming that intensifies in the the juices.
I've taken to picking half a dozen organic chickens at a time when I'm at Costco, which I brine (1 c each of salt and sugar dissolved in 1 qt water) and smoke. I vacuum-pack and freeze them, then take out a chicken midweek to thaw out in the frig. It's good for at least 2 meals-- we eat Roast Chicken on Sunday, then I cook the carcass into stock and serve chicken and dumplings mid-week (but I have to hide the left-overs in the frig so my husband eat them all)...

French Onion soup

6 big onions

2 cloves garlic

30 ml butter

1 ml dried thyme

310 ml beef stock

250 ml white wine

salt, pepper

6 slices french bread

250 ml freshly grated parmesan

250 ml grated swiss cheese

Soak clay cooker for 15 min. Meanwhile, sauté the onions in butter (or oil). Place in clay cooker, cold oven, and heat for approx 1 hr at 200C, checking and stirring onions occasionally, until nicely browned. Add thyme, beef stock and wine, and return to oven for another hour. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Before serving, toast the bread, place over soup with grated cheese and return uncovered to oven at 230C for 10 minutes, then increase to 290, broiling until cheese is bubbling, around 2 minutes.

Roast Beef

1 roast (your preference of cut, approx 1.5 kg)

salt, pepper

potatoes

onions

carrots

parsley

bay leaf

red wine, optional

Soak the cooker. Salt and pepper the roast. Place in cooker, together with all the other ingredients around it. Cover and place in cold oven. Bake at 250C for 40-90minutes, depending on cut and desired doneness.

Römertopf Meatloaf

450 g ground beef

250 g bread crumbs

250 ml milk

1 egg

25 ml dried onion powder

24 ml tomato paste

15 ml horseradish

5 ml salt

5 ml pepper

potatoes (optional)

Soak the cooker. Mix all the ingredients. Shape into loaf and place into the cooker. Cover and place in cold oven at 230C for 75 min. It’s good to place cut potatoes under or around the loaf to absorb the juices.

Country Roasted Chicken

1 chicken (approx 1.5 kg)

salt, pepper

1 onion

parsley

celery leaves

butter (optional)

thyme

white wine (optional)

vegetables cut small (potatoes, carrots, onions, etc)

Soak the cooker. Clean the chicken, and fill the cavity with onion, celery, salt, pepper.

Place in cooker and optionally rub with butter. Add vegetables and wine, as desired.

Cover, place in cold oven and bake approx 85 minutes at 230C.

If desiring a crust on the chicken, remove vegetables and juices (for gravy) and return to oven uncovered until browned as desired.

Potpourri of savory vegetables

Zuccini, tomatoes, onions

Salt, pepper

Parmesan cheese

Soak cooker. Peel and cut vegetables (not too small). Put all ingredients in cooker, cover, and place into cold oven. Cook at 230 C for approx 30 minutes – cooking time depends on size and quantity of vegetables.

Baked Fish Fillets

900 g fish fillets (fresh or previoulsy frozen)

mustard

lemon juice

salt, pepper

paprika

fresh chives, chopped

Soak the cooker. Spread mustard over fish fillet and place in cooker, and sprinkle remaining ingredients over them. Cover and place in cold oven, bake at 230C for 30-40 minutes until fish is done.

Baked apples

6 medium apples

butter

sugar

cinnamon

raisins

pecans, chopped

125 ml white wine

15 ml rum essence

Soak the cooker. Mix sugar, cinnamon, raisins and pecan in a bowl for filling. Wash and core the apples (don’t peel). Spread butter on apples and place in cooker. Place filling in each cavity. Pour in wine and rum essence. Cover and place in cold oven and bake at 230C for approximately 30 minutes until apples are tender. Serve with the delicious juice.

(My mom's variation “Apfel im Schlafrock” or Apple in evening robe: encase each apple in phyllo dough and bake on sheet. Serve with whipped cream -- it was our favorite dessert when I was growing up!)

Recipes for Alaskan Barley

This week our CSA box contains Alaskan-grown barley!
Here are some recipes, thanks to Glacier Valley CSA.

The barley is naturally hull-less, which is handy, since it doesn’t have to be hulled in a grain mill. Just use the barley as you would use pearl barley, but I don’t think it will get quite as creamy as pearl barley does. You can cook it up and use it in place of rice or other grains, adding it to soups or muffins, for example. Arthur made a beef & barley soup out of it, and said it turned out great! I don’t have a recipe for that, but I have used it successfully in breakfast porridge. (Recipe for the porridge follows.)

Here’s a couple of basic ways of cooking it, as if you were going to eat it in place of brown rice, for example:
Cook 1 cup of barley in 3 cups of water, (and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, if desired). You’ll need to bring it to a boil, and then cover and simmer it for 1 1/2 hours, or until tender, to get it fully cooked. If you soak it overnight, you can cut the cooking time down—but I’m not sure by how much. (Sorry.)

Another way to cook it is to simmer it (covered) in plenty of water, as if you were cooking pasta, until it’s tender (probably about 90 minutes), and then drain it. Put it back in the hot pot and cover it to let the remaining moisture absorb into the grains.


barley & apricot porridge
I like this breakfast porridge with barley, inspired by a recipe from Mollie Katzen’s breakfast cookbook: Sunlight Café. Her recipe is for a traditional Turkish dish called Anooshavoor.

½ cup barley
1 cup water, plus more as needed
1 ½ cups apple juice
¼ teaspoon cardamom (or 6 cardamom pods)
¼ teaspoon salt
10 or more dried apricots, sliced
1 tablespoon honey, or more to taste
-----------
optional toppings:
milk, soymilk, or yogurt
toasted almonds, chopped
more honey

1. Combine the barley and water and apple juice in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer, add the salt and cardamom, and let cook, covered, over low heat for about 1 ½ hours, or maybe more, stirring occasionally and adding more water as necessary to keep the porridge a bit soupy.
2. When the barley is tender, check the consistency. If you want the porridge soupier, add more apple juice. Add the apricots and honey, stir, remove from the heat and cover the pot. Let stand for 10 minutes to let the apricots soften and blend into the barley.
3. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature. Top with your choice of milk, almonds, and more honey.

Borealkitchen's Beef Barley Soup
Our family often eats soup in the winter. This one is simple but satisfying -- great for preparing ahead and putting in the crockpot for a busy day. It makes a meal with some hearty wholegrain bread and a salad. The key is to use home-made beef stock from scratch (my recipe here) -- after defatting, it keeps well in the freezer.
Note: can easily make this without meat pieces, only stock

beef (round or other) -cut into small pieces
stock
barley (if not pre-soaked, allow well over 2 hrs until cooked!)
carrots
celery
onion
other rootcrops as desired (turnips, potatoes)
bay leaf
salt, pepper

Cajun Shepherd's Pie with Very Hot Sauce

Cajun food does not always have to be super spicy. This is a good example: the pie itself is not especially spicy, but the sauce is, and so everybody can control the hotness of their own portion.

This favorite family recipe comes from Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen, and it makes good company food. I like to make the 4 different parts ahead, assemble it, then throw it in the oven when company arrives.

Part 1: Meatloaf
2 pounds ground meat (usually beef, but could use 1/4-1/2 ground pork, turkey, moose, etc -- note that the leaner the meats are, the drier it will be, so may want to add some other fats)
1-2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 c bread crumbs
oil for sauteing veggies:
1/2+ c each onion, celery, bell peppers
1 T+ minced garlic
1/4 c milk (regular, evaporated or half-half)
seasoning (leave out the spicier stuff if desire it mild):
1 T Worcester sauce
Tabasco or other hot sauce, cayenne pepper (I usually leave these out, as the sauce has them too)
1 T each black and white pepper
3/4 ground cumin
1 t dried thyme leaves
1 t salt (or 1.5)

Saute the veggies, let cool slightly, then mix all the ingredients (I use my hands!)
Bake in 13x9" pan for 30 min, uncovered. Drain any liquid and set aside (I de-fat this and use when making the sauce). If not proceeding with next steps, cover meatloaf and store in cool place.

Part 2: Vegetable layer
olive oil for sauteing
1.5 c carrots, julienned
1 c onion, sliced
1-2 c summer squash, julienned
ok to substitute other veggies, such as green beans.
seasoning:
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1/4 t each garlic and onion powder

Saute everything, in batches as needed, and pile on top of meatloaf

Part 3: Mashed potatoes
2 pounds potatoes, boiled
1/2 c milk (regular, evaporated or half-half)
1-2 T butter (optional)
1 t each salt and pepper (mix or white and black pepper is great for potatoes!)

Part 4: Cajun Very Hot Sauce
1/2 c each onions, bell peppers, celery
1/4 c minced jalapeno peppers
1 t minced garlic
1-2 c stock (or water, also use de-fatted dripping from meatloaf) Note that the original recipe calls for 3 c stock, but then boils it back down.
1/4 c oil (I use light olive oil that can handle the heat)
1/4 c flour
seasoning:
3/4 t ground red pepper (cayenne, or for milder, use Hungarian Paprika)
1/2 t each black and white pepper
Tabasco sauce or other hot sauce, as desired (I use SriRatcha)
Bay leaf

First make a light-brown roux. Using a whisk, mix flour (little at a time) into hot oil, stirring constantly until desired color is reached (approx 2-3 min). Add vegetables and seasoning (I switch to a spatula here), and cook until veggies are softened. Slowly add stock (watch for splashing! -- best to remove pot from heat, add liquid, then reheat to thicken, simmering on low for 10-15 minutes).

Assemble parts 1,2,3 and bake for 20-30 min or until thoroughly hot (this depends on how warm things were when assembled). Serve with VHS (Very Hot Sauce) as you would a "gravy".

Colorful Holiday Menu

A holiday feast has to have all the major colors represented:

Brown: Smoked Turkey and it's yummy gravy
Yellow: mashed potatoes
Orange: Sweet Potato and Orange casserole
Red and Pink: cranberry sauces (3 kinds - see recipes here, incl. a Pepto-Bismol-colored dish!)
Green: Brussels Sprouts or broccoli
Blue-purple: Blaukraut (German red cabbage which turns purple)
White: King crab
Black: caviar -see below

and for New Year, it's a Southern tradition to serve Black-eyed peas for Good Luck.
I've made Hopping John before, but this year we'll need to try:

Texas Caviar (Black-eyed peas)
(Recipe by Mark Walther (a.k.a. Waldo, a real Texan!)

1 lb frozen or fresh blackeyed peas
(or if you have to 2 cans rinsed)

...1 small jar chopped Pimentos
1 11oz can White Shoepeg Corn
(Green Giant makes this, it may be a regional item, try and find if you can, otherwise "Nibblets" will probably work or if you are lucky enough to have some fresh frozen sweet corn. Shoepeg is a young, small kernel sweet corn)

Finely dice the following:
1/2 cup diced green or red bell pepper
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1 large fresh Jalepeno pepper (seeded) or the equivalent in canned.
(it is easier to control the "heat" if you use the canned, just keep adding till it gets to where you like it)

Cook blackeyed peas according to package instructions, drain and place in a medium bowl and add the chopped ingredients, corn and pimentos.

On the stove combine the following ingredients in a pan:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup balsamic vinegar
3 TBS sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Stir to dissolve sugar and bring to a boil and cool.

When cool pour over vegetables and marinate 2 to 3 hours (or overnight) in the refrigerator. Serve as a side or with Chips for an appetizer.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, Y'ALL!

Sauerbraten

Does a German have a good recipe for Sauerbraten?
Is the Pope catholic?

I was asked recently for my recipe, and this is a Sabbath meal from the Jewish Festival Cookbook by Fannie Engle and Gertrude Blair.

SAUERBRATEN (literally sour roast)
4 lbs brisket or chuck
4 bay leaves
6 cloves
1 large onion, sliced
1 tsp salt
2 c vinegar
2 c water
1/4 c chicken fat (I substitute a vegetable oil)
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c raisins (optional)
2 T Einbrenn (Browned flour, see recipe below)
4-6 gingersnaps, crumbled

1.) Use meat whole or sliced into serving sizes. Simmer next 5 ingredients (thru water) and pour over meat. Store in a cool place overnight (in the old days, tougher meats required several days).
2.) Drain sauce from meat and save. Also, replace onion with a fresh one.
3.) Brown the meat in fat.
4.) Heat the sauce from step 2 and add brown sugar and raisins.
5.) Pour sauce over the meat (I use a Roemertopf. Could use a crockpot too). Cover.
6.) Simmer (stovetop) or oven (300F) for 2-3 hrs, until meat can easily be broken with a fork.
Make sure there is enough liquid --add more water if needed.
6.) When done, transfer meat to serving dish while making gravy:
Skim any extra fat from sauce, then thicken with einbrenn (mixed first with a little water). Add gingerbread crumbs, and stir until gravy is rich and creamy. Pour gravy over meat.

EINBRENN (browned flour for making gravies)
Spread a thin layer of flour on a shallow baking pan for oven method, or heavy frying pan (I use my largest cast-iron) for stovetop method. Keep stirring to keep from scorching.
I make enough for future use -- stores well in a glass jar.
Note that Einbrenn has less thickening power than regular flour, so need to use slightly more than you may be used to...

Fall special-occasion Meat Pie Recipe

I haven't posted a decent menu in quite a while.
Yes, I'm still cooking, and there's been a great variety of fall produce in our CSA box. Tonight we had a very special dinner guest: the prodigal daughter Kitchensister has returned!
(disclaimer: the photo is from last T-giving: no snow yet!!!)

Special-Occasion Cajun Meat-n-veggie Pie
Roasted baby taters w/ herbs du Provence
Roasted yams
Kale with proscuitto and honey
German Carrot salad

The RECIPE
The pie is my variation on Paul Prudhomme's "Paulette's Wonderful Meat Pie" -- it's an unusual recipe in that it calls for grated potatoes in the meat filling, and is topped by a white (dairy) topping. I use less meat & more veggies, but it still feels rich & tasty! It's about the yummiest dish I know that uses ground meat.
This is not a dinner you can throw together in a hurry. Although it's not complicated, there are LOTS of ingredients, and you gotta start early in the day.
I make the pie crust and filling well ahead of dinner (maybe even right after breakfast) -- then all I have to do later is assemble and bake.

Pie crust
1.3 c flour
3 T sugar
3/4 t salt
1/4 c butter
1 egg, beaten
3 T milk
Refrigerate dough, then roll out and freeze in pie tin.

Meat and Veggie filling
1 # ground beef, buffalo, moose, wallaby or whatever
(original recipe called for more meat, combo of beef and pork)
tons of veggies:
onions
garlic
celery
green or red bell pepper
several potatoes, carrots, turnips or other root crops, grated finely
spice mix: salt, pepper, paprika, thyme, basil (make it spicy, if desired, by adding cayenne?)
liquid as needed (water or stock)

Cook the ground meat. Drain if too fatty. Set aside.
Saute onion, celery and peppers, in batches, in a little olive oil. Add spices and meat.
Add grated root crops, together with enough (but not too much!) liquid to allow them to cook, simmering on low heat. Make sure liquid is mostly evaporated/absorbed by the potatoes before removing from stove. Let this mixture cool down completely.
Hint: might want to drain the filling, using a sieve. This is the only "tricky" part of this recipe -- watch out or the pie will be "soggy".

Topping:
Combination of cream cheese and plain (greek) yoghurt
Warm cream cheese slightly until you can stir this into a smooth paste --thin w/ milk if needed.
Add spices: salt, pepper, thyme (thanks, Susitna Cafe!)

Preheat oven. About 1 hour before planning to serve dinner, take out frozen pie crust, add filling and spread the topping. Bake 45-55 min, checking after about 30 min and protecting pie crust edges with shield or alu foil.

Roasted baby potatoes
Just toss them w/ oil, salt and herbs. It's so easy!!!!

Kale with proscuitto and honey
variation from a recipe in Glacier Grist

big bunch of kale, tough stems removed, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
proscuitto ham, chopped
2 T honey
1 T vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Parboil kale for a few minutes (approx.5) -that helps take the bitterness out of them, which kale can have late in the growing season. In the spring, I might just saute them right with the onions.
Other than the parboiling, this saute goes together real quick!

Pastel de Choclo (Chilean Corn Pie)

This is a family favorite, a main dish from my youth in Chile. The word choclo is a "chilenismo" for maize or corn, probably a native indian word. The word pastel means cake, but pie would be a better translation. There are many savory-sweet pastels in Latin American cooking: the combination of sweet (sugar, raisins) and savory (meat, olives, etc) is unusual to the American or European palate, but it works!
Best made with fresh corn, frozen sweet corn works quite well and makes it a relatively easy meal if you have food processor. Since American corn is plenty sweet, I leave out the added sugar, and my family prefers if I skip the raisins that are traditionally mixed into the meat.

Pastel de Choclo
The meat part:
1 # ground beef (I use 1/2 # ground beef plus 1 can of black beans)
1 onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic
2-3 T cumin
1 t+ paprika or chile powder, to taste
salt, pepper
optional (traditional): 1/2 c raisins, black olives, sliced hardboiled egg

Cook meat, and drain liquid if needed. Add spices to taste. Spread in the bottom of a wide casserole dish, cover with corn topping, and bake until topping is browned slightly (approx. 3o-40 min)
The corn topping:
3-4 c corn kernels
1 egg
traditional: sugar, evaporated milk to taste

In my childhood, I remember many hours were spent grating the kernels directly from the cobs around harvest time. Now I just defrost the corn, and process into a paste together with an egg and some milk (if needed).

Rock'in Moroccan Stew, doubled

While researching recipes for dehydrated foods for backpacking, I came across a blog dedicated to cooking for the trail -- backpackingchef, where among many useful tips about processing and dehydrating veggies, fruit, even meat, I also found this recipe for Moroccan Root Stew.

I've modified it slightly to fit my needs, including what to do with the rich stock.

Step 1 (Stew for Dehydrator)
teensy bit of olive oil
onions, chopped
garlic, minced
jalapeno or other pepper, minced (depending on how hot you like it)
curry powder
cumin powder
cinnamon
1 can diced tomatoes
stock, as needed
root vegetable, cut in cubes of 1 inch or so: parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, carrots, beets, etc.
sweet potato or yam (cubed) -- stay away from potatoes, as they don't rehydrate well
optional: chickpeas or lentils

Saute first few ingredients until translucent, add spices, then rest of ingredients. Barely cover veggies with liquid, and cook until just softened. Let cool, then drain thru sieve. Save the stock!
Place root veggies in dehydrator (best if not touching much), and dry overnight.

When dry, package in ziploc bag, and add:
raisins or apricots
candied orange peels
dried jerky beef, chopped finely (optional)
Separately, package couscous (approx 1/2c per person)

Step 2 (Stew for home consumption)
generous amount of olive oil
onions, chopped
garlic, minced
celery, chopped
cubed meat, such as beef or lamb
stock from step 1
potatoes and/or Yams, cubed
carrots and other veggies that hold up well in stew, such as corn
optional: raisins, chickpeas
water or additional stock as needed
Sri Ratcha or other hot sauce, as desired
Oranges (see this recipe from Epicurean.com)
parsley, mint

Saute veggies and meat in olive oil. Add stock and vegetables, and cook until everything is done. This stew does well in crockpot or simmering on stove for flavors to blend.
Serve over couscous or with flat bread.

Step 3 (meal on the trail)
You can start re-hydrating stew with cold water, roughly 1 c water per cup of dried ingredients.
Or heat water, fix couscous first, then cook stew for about 1o minutes, add couscous and let sit another 10+ minutes until thickened (keep warm by keeping lidded and wrapped with something so it won't cool down).

Antibiotics in Factory Farmed Animals

Why eat less meat?

There's a bumper sticker I see around occasionally, which reads

PETA People for the Eating of Tasty Animals

(For my German relatives, let me spell out that PETA originally stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which is the most vocal Animal Rights Advocacy group in the US.)

Besides Animal Rights issues (and despite how tasty meat can be), there are good reasons to eat less of them, and to me one of the main argument is that it's wasteful to raise meat -- both in the sense that productive land that could be used to raise vegetables, but also that it's inefficient to grow grains and corn for the purpose of feeding to livestock... But there is further trouble!

A study by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that in the United States, 70 percent of antibiotics are used to feed healthy livestock, with 14 percent more used to treat sick livestock. Only about 16 percent are used to treat humans and their pets, the study found.

More antibiotics are fed to livestock in North Carolina alone than are given to humans in the entire United States, according to the peer-reviewed Medical Clinics of North America. It concluded that antibiotics in livestock feed were “a major component” in the rise of antibiotic resistance.

Kristof concludes his piece quoting a former president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, Dr. Martin J. Blaser, as agreeing that agricultural use of antibiotics produces cheaper meat. But he says the price may be an enormous toll in human health.

“You could have very lethal pandemics,” he said. “We’re brewing some perfect storms.”

Cooking up a mess of Cajun greens

My men LOVED dinner tonight, praising it as the best batch ever made -- so I'm trying to write down what I did: a little bit of this, and a dash of that...
Originally this dish, called simply FLANKS AND GREENS, came from Paul Prudhomme "Fork in the Road" cookbook, which is a whole lot healthier than his earlier works. His recipe calls for Flank Steak, but you can substitute other beef cuts, or probably other meats as well (moose, anyone?). It's very much a dish along the lines of a meal featuring the vegetables with just a small amount of meat for protein and flavor, without the meat being the central attraction.

Prep-work is the name of the game here -- lots of work goes into getting all the ingredients ready, but it cooks up super fast. Sometimes I make a double batch of meat, and freeze it without any greens, then cook it w/ fresh greens after thawing out (which makes it a super fast meal!)

I slice the meat REALLY thinly, against the grain (stir-fry style) , and work the spice mix into the meat before cooking it. I don't use much meat -- one steak feeds the 4 of us easily.
The spice mix:
1 T cumin seeds, whole
1 t each black and white pepper corns
dried mexican pepper, such as chipotle or poblano
1/2 t mustard seeds
--grind all these in a spice grinder.
1 t each garlic and onion powder
1-2 t thyme
1 t Hungarian paprika
1+ t salt (if that's not enough, add more salt at the end when tasting finished product)
Work this spice mix into the meat slices. Set aside.
also need flour for thickening
optional: Tabasco sauce or other hot sauce (I serve this at the table, esp. if I don't make it very spicy on account of whimpier diners, such as daughters and sometimes myself!)

Vegetables
1-2 onions, chopped
2+ cloves garlic, chopped
1 T+ jalapenos, chopped (fresh or canned)
1 bunch mustard greens
1 bunch red chard or beet greens
1 bunch kale or collard greens
1 bunch spinach
optional: other bitter greens, such as endives, sorrel, dandelion greens

Prepare all veggies ahead of time: wash and remove tough stems of greens. Chop or rip leaves into smaller pieces (don't bother drying the greens in a salad spinner -- you will need that extra moisture when cooking).

Heat oil in pan and saute onions. Add garlic and jalas. Add meat & spice mix. Cook until the meat is no longer pink. Make a roux by adding flour (for thickening) and water as needed.
Once there is a good brown roux, start adding the greens (whatever amount fits, starting with the toughest first, usually kale or collards) and cover with lid, checking occasionally until the greens have cooked down and there's room for the next batch.

Serve over rice. This dish is rich and dark -- not exactly pretty to look at, but tasty and VERY healthy!

picture credit: http://www.motherearthnews.com

Eating less meat

When I was young, I was a vegetarian for many years. Like many young people, I used to think in "black and white" terms: meat was bad, vegetables were good. I had read Frances Moore Lappe's book "Diet for a Small Planet" my first year in college (having just moved to the US after living in a developing country, I was aghast at the waste and conspicuous consumption) -- I became convinced that meat production was a waste of our planet's scarce agricultural resources. By the time I had children I started eating meat again -- in fact I craved it when I was pregnant!

I didn't give all that much thought to how food was raised as I was busy raising and feeding my growing family -- I was thinking less about the environment and more about cooking well-balanced meals and avoiding junk food! But it does turn out that meat production can be very wasteful indeed, and is perhaps becoming more so than when Lappe's book was first written! I'm now coming back around to thinking about those issue again. A big turning point for me was reading Michael Pollen's In Defense of Food and Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

As I've been learning more about where our food comes from, I find I don't care to eat industrially-produced meat, and the alternative (organic, local, wild) is much more difficult and expensive to come by. I have friends here in Alaska who will only eat meat they hunted or caught themselves -- but alas, hubby is not "into" hunting, and our freezer is already out of salmon fillets. ASIDE: in many parts of Alaska, churches and other non-profit organization have volunteers who will process road-killed moose, and the meat is donated to food banks (plus the volunteers get a cut -maybe I need to sign up in order to get some "church moose"?) -- since it is illegal for the driver of the vehicle to simply take home the moose they ran over! EOD, End of Digression.
I'm realizing more and more that not all meat (or eggs and dairy for that matter) is bad -- rather, it can vary greatly. For example, cows are naturally grass-eaters, but in an effort to grow beef faster and faster, they are now fed a diet of mostly corn (which is difficult for them to digest) and thus cattle are given lots of hormones and antibiotics. These are showing up in our drinking water! DNA analysis shows that between corn-fed hamburgers and HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) that's used heavily in processed foods and sodas, Americans are starting to have a food signature that's mostly corn (an interesting movie to see is King Corn)!
The implications of how food is raised have huge impacts not only on the nutritional food value of our food, but on the health of our planet as well. So I'm finding myself eating less and less meat. I'm not a vegetarian, and I do think it's natural for humans to eat meat -- evolutionarily we're omnivores after all -- but yet, I feel less and less like eating industrially-produced meat.

This past year our family has been eating more vegetables, legumes and whole grains, due in part to getting a weekly CSA box full of fresh organic produce! And I must say that I feel healthier and even have lost some of that 40+something weight gain (without even trying -- I certainly am not the "dieting" type (more on that topic on my post Diet is a 4-letter word).

But really, how much meat do we really need to eat? Humans certainly can and do thrive on a mostly vegetarian diet. I admit that while I enjoy a good cut of meat, I find myself less willing to buy what's for sale at the grocery store. Right now I'm reading an interesting book by Nicolette Hahn Niman called Rightous Porkchop (Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms). The more I learn about the food industry, the more I want to get away from industrially-produced meat. I stand there in the grocery store and wonder: did this meat come from a CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) where animals are kept in horrible conditions, standing knee-deep in their own excriments while being fattened on corn products and kept from getting sick only by heavy administration of antibiotics? Were these eggs laid by chickens crammed into barns by the thousands, unable to walk even a few steps? Did the bacon come from pigs produced in a giant warehouse operation that produces more wastewater pollution than a small city?

I do recommend the movie Food, Inc (Santa brought me that for Christmas), which does a good job of reporting on food issues without being overly sensational. It makes a really good point about how we vote on food issues every time we're at the checkout stand of the the grocery store -- as our food purchases get scanned, we VOTE with our dollars: for example, as organic products are making more and more gains in the US/World market, industry is starting to pay attention! Within the last few years, our family has switched first to organic milk, then many of our vegetables, chicken and now also beef. And of course we do love eating our Alaskan Wild salmon!

I'm still working on figuring out eggs -- there are a few with the label "organic" and many more with the less meaningful label "natural". Some brands advertise they're antibiotic and additive-free, vegetarian-fed (= no animal by-products), and even cage-free. But does "cage-free" mean they really get to roam the farmyard, or did they get an itty-bitty "yard" attached to a giant facility that very few of the chickens can even get to? Vegetarian feed is better than ground up recycled dead chicks, but then again, eating bugs is actually an important and normal part of a chicken's diet...
Ideally I'd like to raise our own chickens, but I'm worried about the wildlife factor here: would raising backyard poultry act as an attractant to the many bears (black and brown) that occasionally roam our neighborhood? I wish I could find a good local source of eggs that don't cost an arm and a (chicken)-leg! These last few years I've been buying Wilcoxfarms Omega-3 eggs available at Costco (chickens that are fed grass-based diets do lay eggs that are higher in beneficial omega-3 fatty acids) -- but it's still part of a huge factory-style operation (I think?!) -- but then again, one step at a time: at least they're not as bad as some of the other industrial producers out there...

So here I am, puzzled. I go grocery-shopping (and vote!) every week, and I want to do what's best for my family and for my planet. My boys/men certainly do like their spicy food and meat, while my daughters and I would be happy eating mostly vegetarian. So the compromise I'm making is that I try to cook more and more with organic/local produce, and while I do cook with meat several times a week, I use smaller quantities than I used to. For example, I might use sausage more as a spice than a main ingredient, or make stir-fry or curry with more vegetables than meat. I've learned a couple of things over the last few years:

• change seems easier when it's gradual.
• if I cook too "healthy" and lean, then they eat more snacks/junkfood inbetween meals.
• I am the queen of the kitchen:)
• they will eat what I cook --an awesome power, I know -- and I'll try not to let that get to my head!

Photo credits:
Meat from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons
Eggs from http://www.zetafarms.com

How to make one chicken stretch for a week

Our family recently rented the DVD of Food, Inc.
An excellent movie -- I highly recommend watching it! Much of it is based on Michael Pollen's work (In Defense of Food and Omnivore's Dilemma) and Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation.

Our family has been switching over to organic food more and more, as we learn more about where our food comes from, and as we see that yes indeed, we afford it! At first glance, going organic seems to cost significantly more, but I'd say that as we're doing this we're not going bankrupt, and not only are we eating healthier, but also we consume less bad stuff.
Take meat, for one. We just don't need to eat all that much. We're not vegetarians, but we're buying better meat and stretching it further. We still get plenty of protein -- such as from legumes, etc... AND THEY ARE CHEAP!
My daughter and I have been splitting the Costco 2-pack of whole organic chicken every couple of weeks (comes to about $10 per chicken). She roasts hers whole and then gets a week's worth of chicken-enriched meals out of that.
My approach is to divide & conquer: I plan several meals around it.
First you gotta actually CUT the bird up, and like many women my generation, that's something I never officially learned. Most women I know buy meat all cut up -- if the recipe calls for chicken breasts, well, they go and buy chicken breasts neatly wrapped with plastic on a styrofoam tray.

I learned to cut a whole chicken from my mother-in-law (#2), when I was a bride in her 30's!
I'm sure she was appalled that I did not know how to do this, but she was a kind woman, and patiently showed me. I'm grateful, for not only did I learn how to save money (Hubby and I were poor graduate students, and buying whole chickens sure is cheaper!), but it also taught me not to be afraid of dealing with bird's anatomy.
Aside: This skill came in later when we moved to Alaska, and in the first week a grouse flew into our window killing itself -- I called hubby at work, and he said "Great, let's have it for dinner!" And I did indeed cook it. I've even learned to fillet fish, but that's another story, and takes way more skill than cutting up a bird. (EOD, End of Digression)

So back to the whole chicken sitting on my cutting board (plastic, not the wooden one!).
First, I make sure I have a sharp knife! And my hands are very clean (trim those fingernails).

I remove the skin, and harvest the 2 breasts (Images from Food,Inc of commercial chickens run thru my head -- breeding for large breasts has gotten so extreme that the poor chickens can hardly take a few steps! Good thing they haven't bred us womenfolk for larger breasts! EOD)
I save the 2 breasts for a meal (it used to be I felt a need to serve each family member one chicken breast each, but I found that those 2 breasts feed the 4 of us just fine!)

Next I remove the leg-thigh ensemble. It does involve finding the joint and cutting through that -- after a bit of twisting till it "pops". Not difficult, just do it. Those 2 legs go into another dinner -- often I will bake those in a casserole with grains (such as rice) and lots of veggies. Once cooked, the dark meat just slides right off...

Now it's time to attack the carcass. I get rid of as much of the skin as I can (if needed, use a papertowel to grab the skin --this really helps when pulling it off the legs). Then I try to find all the meat that's left: using my fingers mostly plus a small knife, I harvest what I can. All those small pieces will go into the first dinner of this chicken -- something ethnic perhaps, like stir-fry, indian curry, Thai Tom Ka Kai, or filling for a Mexican burrito. Again, by stretching this meager assembly of meat with lots & lots of veggies, we get the flavor and protein, but not the heaviness of big chunks of meat.

Last, the chicken carcass (and don't forget the neck and other innards that came in the little bag) goes into the big stockpot. I also add any onion & celery "butts" I may have laying around in the frig, or any sad-looking turnips, carrots from the back of the produce drawer.
I let the stock go for several hours. Often I do the chicken butchering in the morning between when kids have gone to school & I need to get ready for work, and leave the stock cooking on LOW -- I prefer not to have to deal with the butchering in the late afternoon when it's time to cook dinner. Everybody is too hungry, grumpy, etc to wait around for me to do this...
I find it helps me tremendously to plan ahead -- the key to eating less processed food is using fresher ingredients, but they do require prepping...
Remember to clean counters & tools, and make sure the cutting board gets scrubbed, bleached and/or goes thru the dishwasher.

Anyway, the stock is poured into jars, placed in the frig, and defatted. I use the stock in so many recipes -- for example, boil bulghar wheat or quinoa with stock instead of plain water, or use it as stock in a mostly vegetable-based soup.

So here is a sample menu for a week
MON: stir-fry chicken w/ loads of veggies, or Chicken tacos/enchiladas
TUES: White Bean soup, made with chicken stock
WED: Rice, broccoli and Drumstick casserole
THURS: Bulghar pilaf with lots of veggies, plus oven-roasted squash & root crops
FRI: Cajun breaded chicken breasts, rice, and vegetable side dish
SAT: Pizza night - build your own (left-over chicken goes well on pizza)

Pork Tenderloin

Tonight we tried a new recipe that turned out scrumptious delicious!
Last week my hero (husband) did the shopping, and came home with a smoking deal on pork tenderloin, and I, never having cooked such a beast before, consulted the Oracle "Google" by typing in: pork tenderloin. And since I have a half-dozen jars of homemade apricot jam in the pantry,which did not do the "jam" thing (did not "gel"), this recipe was a perfect choice!

Recipe from the website http://allrecipes.com
My only adjustment was to use less BBQ sauce, only about 1 Tablespoon.

Chili Rubbed Pork Tenderloin With Apricot Ginger Glaze

• 2 (1 pound) pork tenderloins, trimmed
• Spice Rub:
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Glaze:
• 1 1/2 cups apricot preserves
• 1/2 cup barbecue sauce
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 1 lime, juiced

1. Place chili powder, garlic powder, sugar, salt and pepper in a jar; shake to blend. Rub spice mixture onto pork tenderloins. Cover tenderloins and refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours.
2. Prior to grilling, melt apricot preserves in saucepan over medium heat. Remove pan from the heat and stir in remaining glaze ingredients. Place half of the glaze in a serving bowl and hold for service.
3. Prepare grill at medium-high heat. Grill pork tenderloins for 15-20 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 160 degrees F. on an instant-read thermometer.
4. When approximately 4 minutes of cook time remains, brush the pork tenderloins with the apricot glaze remaining in the pan. Cook for 2 minutes, turn the pork tenderloins and brush glaze on other side. Cook for an additional 2 minutes. Remove pork from the grill and let set for about 5 minutes before slicing. Serve with reserved glaze.

The British Isles

This week's theme seems to be evolving into the cuisine of the British Isles. We have a ton of potatoes (after finishing our own harvest of red potatoes, I stocked up with a big sack of Valley-grown, organic, absolutely delicious "German Butterballs"). There's lots of cabbage around, of course, and there have been repeated calls for Bubble & Squeak, a British dish that combines potatoes and cabbage.
I had to promise the Prof that there would be no Haggis, but maybe Bangers and Mash..?

We started with corned beef on Sunday. From the left-overs, I made a family favorite: Gimme-More-Pie, my own invention, and named by a bunch of kids calling "Gimme more pie" at the dinner table several years ago...

Gimme More Pie
any good piecrust, doubled, so there's a top too!
left-over meat, cut into small pieces (roast beef or corned beef)
left-over vegetables, cut up (carrots, potatoes, other firm vegetables)
left-over gravy
onions, spices (garlic & onion powder, thyme, etc), salt & pepper

If I don't have enough left-overs to put into the pie, I add more as I cook this!
Saute onions, add vegetables and meat, spices, and gravy (if necessary, I cheat and use a gravy mix). Taste, and add spices as needed or desired. Let filling cool.
Prebake piecrust, if desired.
Fill pie and cover with extra crust. Cut slits for steam to escape (if you want to get fancy, cut our shapes with cookie cutter). Bake at 375 Fahrenheit until crust is done (approx 35-45 min).

Other main dish pies that come to mind are Shephard's Pie -- similar idea, but replace the topping with mashed potatoes (sometimes cheese is added).

Yorkshire Pudding
Bread-like accompaniment for British main meals. These are made from a batter similar to pancake batter (flour, eggs, milk) and cooked in hot grease or meat drippings. It really is very similar to what Americans call Popovers.
My recipe is:
1 cup flour
1 c milk
3 eggs, beaten
optional: grated cheese, such as Parmesan
salt
melted butter for muffin tins

Bake 1/2 hour in hot oven (400 F), no peeking!

Irish Stew
An Irish stew would have beef (or mutton) and lots of root crops: potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, turnips, etc.
Making stew is so easy, and so satisfying -- use good stock (see here for my post on homemade), and don't forget the bay leaves!

Irish Soda Bread
Soda Bread recipe from Recipesource.com

3      cups          Unbleached white flour
2      teaspoons     Baking powder
2      cups          Raisins
1      teaspoon      Baking soda
1                    Egg
1/2  teaspoon      Salt
1/2  cup           Honey
12      tablespoons   (1 1/2 sticks) sweet butter, cold
1      cup           Buttermilk

Makes 1 large loaf.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift the flour, baking powder, soda and salt into a large mixing bowl. Cut
the butter into small pieces and add.  Cut it into the flour with a pastry
blender until the mixture is the size of peas. Add the raisins and toss to
distribute evenly, using two forks.

Beat the egg in another bowl until very frothy.  Beat in the honey. When
it is well blended, beat in the buttermilk.

Gradually pour the liquids into the flour, tossing all the while with a
fork so the mixture gets evenly moistened.  Continue tossing lightly with
two forks until the batter comes together; it doesn't have to be completely
mixed and should be very rough and lumpy.

Butter a heavy skillet or casserole, 10 to 11 inches in diameter and 2 to
3 inches deep.  Round is the traditional shape.  Spoon batter out into the
pan and push it gently to fill the pan.  It can mound up somewhat in the
middle.  Bake at 350 F about an hour or until the middle is set. Cut out a
piece to test if necessary.

Cut into wedges and serve warm from the pan.

The Garden Way Bread Book From the collection of Jim Vorheis

Goulash and Paprikash

These are dishes of Hungarian origin, but Germans are fond of their Goulash and Paprikash dishes -- it's probably one of the more spicy ("sharf") dishes in a typical German housewife's repertoire, albeit not by cajun standards!

Goulash is typically made from beef, and does not contain much, if any tomato sauce. Rather, it's pieces of beef in a rich dark brown gravy generously spiced with paprika powder and other spices. Goulash can be made either as a soup or thick stew.
Paprikash, on the other hand, which can be made with chicken or even mushrooms, is reddish-pink from the addition of heavy cream or sour cream. Both dishes are often served with noodles -- I like to serve them over homemade spaetzle (click here for my recipe).

Beef Goulash
1-2 onions, finely chopped
oil or lard
2 pounds cubed beef
several cloves of garlic, minced
3+ T paprika powder
chili powder (to taste)
1 t thyme
beef stock or water, to cover
2-3 bay leaves
caraway seed (optional)
salt, pepper
root vegetables (carrots, turnips, potatoes)
oil and flour for making a roux, if desired
tad of tomato paste, if desired
wine or wine vinegar, if desired

Saute onions and set aside. Brown the beef in hot oil. Add spices, onions, garlic and cook for a few more minutes, then cover with stock or water. Add bay leaves, and caraway seed (crush first) if desired. Let cook on low for several hours --a crockpot is ideal.
In the last hour, add root vegetables -- potatoes especially will help thicken the stew.
If desired, make a dark roux to thicken. Taste and adjust hot spices, salt and pepper.


Chicken Paprikash
whole chicken, cut up
(alternatively 4 chicken breasts, cubed)
oil
spice rub for chicken:
1 tsp each salt, onion powder, thyme
1/2 tsp each garlic powder, basil, black and white pepper
2 onions, chopped
2 green peppers
1/4 c paprika powder
1 c tomato sauce or tomato paste and chicken stock
1/2 c sour cream or heavy cream

Rub the chicken with spice mix, then saute in oil until browned. Add vegetables and cook until translucent. Add remaining ingredients -- be sure to control the level of liquids by either not adding too much water, or evaporating by longer cooking.
Immediately before serving, fold in the cream.

Ethiopian dinner

The final meal of African week featured Ethiopia: what a rich cuisine!
I wish we could take our children to an Ethiopian restaurant, but alas,
there are none in Alaska!
Instead, I made a pathetic attempt at cooking us an Ethiopian meal --
I admit that I cheated and did not actually make my own spiced butter and
Berbere sauce! But still, son judged it the best meal of Africa week. Meanwhile,
hubby felt it could have been spicier (do I hear an echo somewhere?)...
All recipes are from www.recipesource.com

Ethiopian Lamb with Cardamon

3    Cups          Thinly Sliced Onions
1/2  Cup           Spiced Butter -- * See Note
2    Lbs           Lean Lamb -- Cut In 3/4″ Cubes
1/4  Cup           Berbere Sauce -- * See Note
1/4  Tsp           Ground Cumin
1    Tsp           Freshly Ground Cardamon Seeds
1    Tsp           Grated Fresh Ginger
2    Cloves        Garlic -- Crushed
1/2  Tsp           Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1/2  Cup           Dry Red Wine
1    Cup           Water
                 Salt To Taste

Heat a large frying pan and saute the onion in 1 tbs of the butter,
covered, until very tender. Use low heat so that the onion and butter are
not browned. Remove from the pan and set aside.  Heat the pan again and
brown the lamb over high heat with another tbsp of the butter.  Set meat
aside.  Place the sauteed onions along with the remaining butter in a
heavy 6 quart saucepan. add the Berbere sauce, cumin, cardamon, ginger,
garlic, black pepper and wine. Bring to a simmer and add the lamb.  Bring
to a simmer again and add the water. Cook, covered, until the lamb is
very tender, about 50 minutes, stirring several times.  If the sauce is
not thick enough, cook uncovered for a few minutes to reduce and thicken.
Add salt to taste prior to serving.


Injera (Ethiopian Flat Bread)

 1-3/4 c  flour
   1/2 c  self-rising flour
   1/4 c  whole wheat Flour
     1 pk dry yeast
 2-1/2 c  warm water
   1/2 ts baking soda
   1/2 ts salt

 Combine the flours and yeast in a ceramic or glass bowl.
 Add the warm water and mix into a fairly thin, smooth batter.
 Let the mixture sit for three full days at room temperature.
 Stir the mixture once a day.  It will bubble and rise.
 When you are ready to make the injera, add the baking soda and
 salt and let the batter sit for 10-15 minutes.

 Heat a small, nonstick 9″ skillet.
 When a drop of water bounces on the pan's surface, take about 1/3
 cup of the batter and pour it in the skillet quickly, all at once.
 Swirl the pan so that the entire bottom is evenly coated, then
 return to heat.
 The injera is cooked only on one side and the bottom should not
 brown.
 When the moisture has evaporated and lots of “eyes” appear on the
 surface, remove the injera.
 Let each injera cool and then stack them as you go along.
 If the first injera is undercooked, try using less of the
 mixture, perhaps 1/4 cup, and maybe cook it a bit longer.
 Be sure not to overcook it. Injera should be soft and pliable so
 that it can be rolled or folded, like a crepe.

Here's another version, without yeast, which uses Club Soda!
INJERA (flat bread)
     4 c  self rising flour
     1 c  whole wheat flour
     1 ts baking powder
     2 c  club soda
          Serves 6-8


Spiced Collard Greens with Cheese
2    Cloves        Garlic -- Chopped
1/4  Cup           Spiced Butter -- * See Note
1/4  Tsp           Freshly Ground Cardamon Seeds
                Salt And Freshly Ground Pepper -- To Taste
1      Lb          Dry Curd Cottage Cheese -- Or Farmer's Cheese
2      Lb          Collard Greens, Stems Discarded -- Leaves Chopped
1/2  Cup           Water
1/2  Tsp           Cayenne
1/2  Tsp           Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1    Tsp           Crushed Garlic
1/4  Cup           Spiced Butter -- * See Note
3    Tbsp          Coarsely Chopped Yellow Onion
                 salt to taste

Cheese:  saute the garlic in the spiced butter for a few minutes. Add the
cardamon, salt and pepper.  Remove from the burner and allow to cool.
Stir this mixture into the cheese.

Greens:  cook the collard greens covered in a 4 quart saucepan along with
about 1/2 cup water.  Add the cayenne, black pepper, garlic, spiced
butter and chopped onion.  Cook covered until the greens collapse.  All
the greens to cool a bit and salt to taste.

To serve:  Drain the greens a bit and place on a platter or on Injera
bread (recipe included in this set). Spoon the cheese over the greens and
serve.  Alternate: mix the greens and cheese together before placing on
the platter or bread.  Either way is delicious.


 Niter Kebbeh (Spiced Clarified Butter)

     1 lb Unsalted butter
   1/4 c  Chopped onions
     2    Cloves garlic, pressed
     2 ts Fresh gingerroot, grated
   1/2 ts Turmeric
     4    Cardamom seeds, crushed
     1    Cinnamon stick
     2    Cloves
   1/8 ts Nutmeg
   1/4 ts Ground fenugreek seeds
     1 tb Fresh basil
          - or 1 teaspoon dried basil

 In a small saucepan, gradually melt the butter and bring it to
 bubbling. When the top is covered with foam, add the other
 ingredients and reduce the heat to a simmer.  Gently simmer,
 uncovered, on low heat.  After about 45 to 60 minutes, when the
 surface becomes transparent and the milk solids are on the bottom,
 pour the liquid through a cheesecloth into a heat resistant
 container.  Discard the spices and solids.

 Covered tightly and stored in the refrigerator, Niter Kebbeh will
 keep for up to 2 months.


Berbere Sauce
  2      Tsp           Cumin Seed
  4                    Whole Cloves
    1/2  Tsp           Cardamon Seeds
    1/2  Tsp           Black Peppercorns
    1/4  Tsp           Whole Allspice
  1      Tsp           Whole Fenugreek Seeds
    1/2  Cup           Dried Onion Flakes
  3      Oz            Red New Mexican Chiles -- Stemmed And Seeded
  3      Small         Dried Long Hot Red Chiles -- Seeded
    1/2  Tsp           Ground Ginger
    1/2  Tsp           Freshly Ground Nutmeg
    1/4  Tsp           Ground Turmeric
  1      Tsp           Garlic Powder
  2      Tsp           Salt
    1/2  Cup           Salad Or Peanut Oil
    1/2  Cup           Dry Red Wine
                       Cayenne to taste

Yield: 1 1/4 cups

Mix together the cumin, cloves, cardamon, black peppercorns, allspice and
fenugreek seeds.  Place in a small frying pan over medium heat. Stir
constantly until they release their fragrance, about 1-2 minutes.  Do not
burn or discolor the seeds. Cool completely.

Combine the toasted spices and all the other ingredients except the oil
and wine in a spice grinder or electric coffee grinder in several batches
(I use the coffee grinder) and grind to fine consistency.  Place the
spice blend in a bowl and add the oil and wine.  Add cayenne to taste
(Jeff starts with 1 tsp and adds more as necessary). Stir until thick and
store in a covered plastic container in the refrigerator.

Cooking my way across Africa...

Today we criss-crossed Africa, culinarily speaking.

Senegalese Chicken Yassa
1/4 c  fresh lemon juice
4 onions -- thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper -- to taste
1/8  teaspoon      fresh habanero* -- minced
1 habanero*  pricked with a fork
1/4  cup plus 1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 chicken (2 1/2-3 1/2 lbs) -- cut in serving pieces
1/2  cup pimiento-stuffed olives
4 carrots, scraped and -- thinly sliced
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard

*or other hot chile pepper, to taste
In a large nonreactive bowl, prepare a marinade with the
lemon juice, onions, salt, pepper, the  1/8 teaspoon
minced chili and  1/4 cup of the peanut oil. Place the
chicken pieces in the marinade, making sure they are all
well covered, and allow them to marinate for at least 2
hours in the refrigerator.

Preheat the broiler. Remove the chicken pieces, reserving
the marinade, and place them in a shallow roasting pan.
Broil them until they are lightly browned on both sides.
Remove the onions from the marinade. Cook them slowly in
the remaining 1 tables poon oil in a flameproof 3-quart
casserole or dutch oven until tender and translucent. Add
the remaining marinade and heat through.

When the liquid is thoroughly heated, add the broiled
chicken pieces, the pricked chili, the olives, carrots,
mustard and 1/2 cup water. Stir to mix well, then bring
the yassa slowly to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for
about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
Serve hot over white rice.

Next, Couscous.
There are literally thousands of couscous recipes out there! What is it?
"a wonderful, versatile pasta, made of tiny grains of dough that are
steamed. It hails from Morocco and northern Algeria, and is a staple
throughout North Africa. It can be served as a breakfast cereal,
dressed as a salad, and sweetened for a dessert. But in it's most
common use, it accompanies a stew or savory sauce, much as rice does in
other cultures. Most couscous is made of wheat flour, but there are
varieties made of barley, corn, and even ground acorn meal."
(quoted from www.ochef.com)

Orange-flavored couscous w/ pecans
1 c  Coarsely chopped pecans, lightly toasted
1    Onion; chopped
2 c  Orange juice
3    Cinnamon sticks
5    Cloves, whole
1 pn Turmeric
1 pn Ground red pepper
1/4 ts Salt
2 c  Couscous
1/2 c  Raisins (more if desired)

Malawi-style Green Beans
from Marlena Spieler's Hot&Spicy
1 T oil
1 onion, chopped
5 small hot chilis, chopped
1/2 t curry powder
1 # green beans
1 c tomato sauce
1/2 c peanut butter

Saute first 4 ingredients,
then cover with Tomato sauce until beans are tender.
Stir in PB and salt to taste.


CRITIQUE of my cooking of this meal:
I marinated the chicken this morning before work, then BBQ'd it for dinner.
Although I feared it would be way too tart, it turned out surprisingly good.
Everybody chewed happily on the bones!
The couscous was a success: mild, slightly sweet from the fruit, and bright orange!
The beans ended up overcooked, and the sauce was too overpowering -- a smaller
quantity of sauce would have been plenty -- but the surprising combination of
peanut butter, tomatoes and spices did work.

Altogether, a successful meal.
For my sanity's sake, I need to note that this was a tad too ambitious after a full
day at work -- not that anything was particularly difficult, but I found myself rushed:
constantly checking my laptop (scrolling around inefficiently), searching for spices
in the cupboard, and trying to find counter space in a less-than-uncluttered kitchen!..

Never let your meat loaf...

I just made a surprisingly delicious meatloaf today, a recipe from South Africa.

Meatloaf & mashed potatoes brings memories from childhood for many -- it's the ultimate comfort or "womb" food, but sometimes meatloaves are so bland that they have gotten a bad rap! When done well, they can be very rewarding -- who knows how many a spouse was won with superior meatloaf-baking skills?!?

THE MEAT: it needs to be fatty enough -- in fact, I've seen recipes that call for adding bacon grease! I like to use a combination of meats. Sometimes I use both ground beef (on the lean side) plus 1/3 ground pork or even pork sausage in Cajun recipes (pork is less lean, but adds great flavor).
Today I used 1 pound lean organic beef and 1/3 lean ground turkey, but I also added some extra virgin olive oil, because when the meat is too lean, the meatloaf suffers -- I figure healthy olive oil beats bad animal cholesterol any day.

THE CARBS: Next, most recipes call for some sort of bread or else potatoes. Some call for bread crumbs or saltine crackers, others have you soak bread slices in milk. Potatoes can be added in the form of freshly grated raw potatoes, or even instant mashed potato flakes. The idea is to add something to lighten up the heaviness of the meat, and also serve as a repository for the juices and fats!

THE LIQUIDS: Most recipes also call for milk and/or egg -again, that lightens the loaf to keep it from being a meat brick! Many call for tomato juice or ketchup, others for broth, some for wine or beer...

THE VEGGIES: Besides onions, there's a lot you can add: celery, carrots, spinach -- go for it: hide away lots of goodies (what they don't see won't bother them)!
THE SPICES: Here comes the fun part! Salt & pepper, of course, but also Worcester sauce, Tabasco or other chili sauces, etc. Take a look at some of the unusual ingredients in the recipes below!

Today I made Bobotie, a meat loaf recipe from South Africa, and the family actually like it!
I was worried a little, since it's full of unusual ingredients, such as raisins (Son: "Mom, I'm not sure raisins belong in meat loaf?") --but everybody agreed it was a great recipe -- maybe next time I'll chop the raisins into smaller pieces...

Before I give you the recipe, here's what Wikipedia has to say about it's origins:

• Bobotie is a South African dish consisting of spiced minced meat baked with an egg-based topping. The recipe probably originates from the Dutch East India Company colonies in Batavia, with the name derived from the Indonesian Bobotok. It is also made with curry powder leaving it with a slight "tang". It is often served with Sambal.

  It is a dish of some antiquity: it has certainly been known in the Cape of Good Hope since the 17th century, when it was made with a mixture of mutton and pork. Today it is much more likely to be made with beef or lamb, although pork lends the dish extra moistness. Early recipes incorporated ginger, marjoram and lemon rind; the introduction of curry powder has simplified the recipe somewhat but the basic concept remains the same. Some recipes also call for chopped onions to be added to the mixture. Traditionally, bobotie incorporates dried fruit like raisins or sultanas, but the sweetness that they lend is not to everybody's taste. It is often garnished with walnuts, chutney and bananas.

  Although not particularly spicy, the dish incorporates a variety of flavours that can add complexity. For example, the dried fruit (usually apricots and raisins/sultanas) contrasts the curry flavouring very nicely. The texture of the dish is also complex, with the baked egg mixture topping complementing the milk-soaked bread which adds moisture to the dish.

South-African Bobotie (Meatloaf w/ curry and dried fruit)

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 medium onions, minced
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 2 slices thick-sliced bread, soaked in milk
  
• 1/2 cup raisins, dates, or dried apricots
  
• 1 teaspoon apricot jam
• 1 tablespoon hot chutney
• 1/2 tablespoon curry powder
• 1/2-1 tablespoon chilisauce (such as Sri Ratcha)
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Topping: 1 large egg
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 bay leaf

Squeeze milk from soaked bread and set aside. Mix all ingredients on list before egg.
Saute onions, mix all ingredients, and bake for 1 hr in loaf pan. Pour off juices & set aside (I defat it and later used it for gravy).
Topping: mix reserved milk, egg, salt and pour over loaf w/ bay leaf. Bake another 25 min.
NOTE: this did not work out well for me in the loaf pan because the meat had shrunk! Instead I ended up with more of the milk custard on the side than on top ... Although this custard is part of the authentic recipe, I feel the meatloaf would do just fine without it:)

Here's another version of bobotie (from www.recipesource.com):

3 tbsp. butter or margarine
1 1/2 c. chopped onion
2 c. fresh bread crumbs
1/2 c. milk
3 lbs. chuck beef, ground 3 times
1 egg
1 to 2 tbsp. curry powder
2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. plum jam
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 c. ground blanched almonds
3 bay leaves
2 lemons, sliced
Lemon leaves
2 pimento strips

Start heating oven to 350 degrees.  In a small skillet, melt
butter; add onion and saute until golden.  Soak bread crumbs in
milk.  Thoroughly combine chuck, egg, onion, curry powder, salt,
plum jam, lemon juice and almonds.  Also bread crumb mixture.  In
the bottom of a ungreased 10 inch pie plate or round baking dish,
lay bay leaves.  On top, arrange the meat mixture, patting it with a
fork.  Leave about an inch between mixture and edge of dish or
plate.  Bake 1 hour; then drain off any excess liquid.  Serve with
lemon slices and leaves arrange as a border around the edge of the
meat: lemon slices touching with leaves placed under slices where
they meet.  Take a lemon slice, cut half way, twist it and place on
top with pimento strips running under the twist of the lemon.  Serve
in wedges.

Next, let's look what they do in Greece (from recipesource.com):
Greek Meatloaf

  1 lb Ground beef chuck
  1 lb Ground lamb
  2 lg Eggs
  1 c  Fresh bread crumbs
  2    Bunches green onions, minced
  4 oz Feta cheese, finely crumbled
1/4 c  Minced fresh parsley
  1 T  Dried mint leaves
  2 T  Olive oil
  1 T  Red wine vinegar
  2    Garlic cloves, minced
1/2 t  Salt
1/4 t  Ground black pepper

The following will seem boring after all that...

Last, but not least, here's how Germans make meatloaf:
Falscher Hase (literally "Mock Hare")
1 lb ground beef
1/2 lb each ground pork and veal
2 rolls soaked in milk, excess squeezed out
1 onion, finely chopped
fresh parsley, minced
2 T butter
1 egg
grated rind of 1/2 lemon
salt, pepper
optional spices: basil, nutmeg or ginger
Instead, some german cooks use anchovy paste or ground herring here!
another option: 1 hardboiled egg
flour for dusting meatloaf
3 T butter, lard or bacon grease
approx 1 c water or broth
slice of rye bread
sliced onions and carrots
1/2 c cream
2 t cornstarch dissolved in water

Saute onions in 2 T butter. Mix all ingredients up to spices. Shape loaf and dust with flour. Optionally, place a hardboiled egg in the middle -- looks cool when meatloaf is served!

Heat fat in stew pot or small Dutch oven (mine is cast iron, can go into oven). When hot, gently add meat loaf and brown on all sides, which takes about 8-10 minutes. Add the sliced veggies around the loaf, add enough water to cover the bottom. Cover and bring to boil, then reduce heat & simmer for 1 hr on stove top (alternatively, place in oven). Baste the meat loaf with the pan juices from time to time, adding more water as needed.
After 1 hr, spoon cream over loaf and braise for another 20-30min. If desired, brown it in the oven, uncovered.
Remove meatloaf, and collect pan juices. Defat them, add water if needed, season with salt & pepper, and heat it back up. Bind sauce with cornstarch, and add more cream if desired (but don't bring to a boil!)

NOT JUST MEATLOAVES: I actually enhance hamburgers for the grill by mixing in bread, and adding onions & spices. In fact, Kofta Kebobs, which are Middle Eastern meat patties, have a similar list of ingredients. Here's a link to my post on Kofta Kebobs.

Kofta-kabobs & variations

My husband (the Swede who must have been Cajun in a previous life as much as he likes complex and spicy foods) reminded me of a wonderful recipe book that I have not consulted in a long time, and he specifically requested I make Kofta kabobs. He claims to have made these in his younger days...

Now compared to the rather boring fare of plain hamburgers (which I admit I don't especially like) , this is a dish worthy of ground meat!

This is a great little recipe book featuring "unique innovative recipes from the world's fiery cuisines", where you'll find something from just about every continent. I'm having fun re-discovering this little gem, and will likely be cooking more dishes featured in there.



Kofta Kabobs (Middle Eastern meatballs or patties)
From Marlena Spieler's "Hot and Spicy".

1 pound ground beef or lamb
1-2 slices bread, soaked and squeezed dry (or breadcrumbs, leftover rice, etc)
3-5 cloves garlic,chopped
2 T plain yoghurt
1 t cumin
1 t paprika
1 t Middle Eastern spicemix or curry powder
pinch of cardamon or turmeric
1 t tomato paste
1 t hot salsa
salt & pepper to taste
additional suggestion: fresh herbs like parsley, chives

Mix all up, and fry, broil or grill (on skewers as in picture above). Traditionally served in pita bread with yoghurt, cucumbers, raw onions and tomatoes.

Variation: Kofta-filled stuffed potatoes
Boil or steam whole potato until tender yet firm. Hollow out, and fill with meat mixture. Bake for approx 30 minutes at 375 F -- check that meat is cooked throughout.

Left-over roast of mutton

For Easter dinner, we had a lamb roast -- but on account of our youngest guest who arrived with her favorite stuffed purple "lambie", we just said we were having "mutton" for dinner, and despite a few slip-ups by the adults "pass the lamb/er mutton", Little One never questioned the origin of the roast at the table.

Having leftover meat is one of those things where I'm in need of inspiration. And a few years ago I stumbled upon this set of recipes -- the first based on a real dish, the second entirely my creation.


Miner's or Cornish Pasties
(pronounced with a soft "a")
from Chef Paul Prudhomme's Seasoned America, based on the recipes from Cornish miners who settled Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
ASIDE: I also found a much simpler recipe for Finnish Miner's Pasties (Lihapastaejat) in Beatrice Ojakangas The Great Scandinavian Baking Book. She tells how miner's wives would bake these fresh in the morning with beef, potatoes and onions at one end, and apple filling at the other end for dessert. The traditional recipe calls for the potatoes to be sliced and added raw, but it also works to use cooked.
I make this with leftover corned beef or whatever I have at hand, and I prepare all the steps ahead, until assembly time. These also make great lunches!

Seasoning mix: 1 teaspoon each salt, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, basil, black pepper.
optional, add ground savory.
(I found that was more than I ended up using, but was able to use it easily in other cooking)
Dough:
2 c flour
1 t seasoning mix
6 T butter
7-8 T cold water

Use pastry cutter, or Cuisinart to mix dough. Form ball and refrigerate 1 hour.

Filling:
up to 1 pound meat (lean, chopped very finely), or left-over roast or corned beef
seasoning mix, to taste
2 c onions, chopped
1 c celery, chopped
1-2 c turnips, finely sliced
fresh garlic
potatoes, sliced thinly

If using raw meat, sprinkle it with seasoning mix, and work in by hand.
Heat oil and saute vegetables, add meat, more seasoning if desired. Add small amounts of water as needed. Let it cool completely (frig) before assembling pasties.

Assembly:
Divide dough into 5 balls and roll out (circa 9 " diameter). Place filling (plus raw potato slices, if using) onto half, fold over (after brushing edge with water to help seal), crimp the edges.
Optionally, brush with egg-wash (scramble an egg with 1-2 T water), and bake for about 1 hr at 350 F.

Gimme-more Mutton Pie
Same idea, invented by moi, named by the huz & kids!

Dough:
2 c unbleached white flour
1/2 c whole wheat
1 stick butter (cold, cut into pieces) = 8 T
1/2 c cold water, about
salt

I use the cuisinart: first use pulse setting until get crumbly mix, then slowly drizzle water while blade is running. Mix into ball and refrigerate in waxpaper for 1 hr. Roll out dough, top and bottom.
Prebake bottom for 10-15 min, using pieweights.

Filling:
Same idea as Miner's pasties above. Any good leftovers can be used that way. If ingredients are very dry, add some gravy. You can also grate a raw potato into the filling to help absorb liquids if too moist!

Assemble pie, cut shapes or slits into top to let steam escape.
Bake for 45 min-1hr.