Chicken with red wine and mushrooms

This is a sneaker recipe. Goes together in a flash, no messing while it cooks, and the results are great. For those who don't like red-wine tinted chicken, use white wine... Don't put oil in the pan and don't grease it. It isn't necessary and will just make your sauce greasy.

1 whole chicken, 3 - 4 pounds, cleaned well.
1 large onion, sliced very thin.
1/2 pound portobello mushrooms, sliced.
4 garlic cloves, mashed.
3 tablespoon crushed dry oregano
1 cup dry red wine

Preheat oven to 375.
In a heavy dutch oven with lid, layer the onions, then the mushrooms, scatter on the garlic and oregano. Place chicken, breast side up, on top and pour the wine over all.

Put the d.o. on the cooktop on low to start heating the contents up. After 15 to 30 minutes, turn chicken over. Cover.

When oven is ready, place covered d.o. on middle rack. Don't remove the cover for 90 minutes then check chicken for doneness. If necessary, recover and return pot to oven.

When chicken is done remove it, placing on serving dish. Cover and let rest.

Return the pan to the cooktop, simmer remaining sauce down to desired consistency. Skim any fat. Serve beside the chicken.

Autumn is here

It's noticeably cooler, leaves are cascading, spreading color across the grass. Geese practicing their precision formation, crying in the wind. Winter is coming.

This time of year is also canning time. For the next 10 days, it's tomato heaven around here. Am doing 12 quarts at a time in the water bath. It takes a while for them to cook down so it's possible to stage the process and be able to accomplish other things while they cook.

Here are some photos:



The tomatoes seem to be an heirloom variety called Oxheart. They are almost solid meat and cook up beautifully.



These are almost ready to go. The foam is changing color, turning darker, and they have thickened considerably.


The finished product. The fruit kept its color with no added ingredients, salt or anything else.

I have the last 30 pounds of maters on the stove, cooking. The first two batches were around 25 pounds and the extra 5 was just enough that I had to get a second stock pot for the excess. I am "guesstimating" that I might get as many as 16 quarts from this batch. Have another 2 bushel coming this week so will continue with this. She offered another 4 bushel in the weeks to come and I may take her up on it. (We need around 124 quarts of tomatoes to get us through winter as we use a LOT of them.) 100 pounds of tomatoes for $40 is one hell of a deal and well worth the money.

Have spoken to a number of people over the last week who can't imagine doing anything like canning tomatoes. "Why don't you just buy them? It's a lot easier." Well, yeah, I suppose it is but I get something from doing this. Not just wonderful, fresh-tasting produce in the depths of winter but some kind of personal satisfaction. Like many home canners, I take pride in the fact that I can do this, do it well, and do it quickly. (I also take just pride in the fact that over the 30+ years I have been doing this I have had only about 5 jars that didn't seal and only one that broke in the pressure canner.)

I started quite young, learning the process, in my mother's kitchen. Back then, if you didn't grow it and put it up yourself you were likely to get darned hungry by the end of winter. We did tomatoes, beans, beets, froze corn, made jelly... all that kind of old-timey stuff. Mom didn't really enjoy the process, though. It was a matter of survival and it had to be done. Dad liked it better than Mom and he ended up being drafted on weekends.

Have finished the pickling, too. We don't use a lot of pickles and, since nobody but me eats sauerkraut, I don't bother with that. We don't use a lot of jams or jellies so I don't bother with that, either. It's as cost efficient to just buy the stuff at Aldi's.

Chicken Vesuvio

Another standby. This is a slightly simplified version which works nicely for me when it's been a busy day. Or when I'm totally disgusted with the world.
This will serve around 4 people as a main.

4 1/2 pound chicken, quartered and backbone removed
salt/pepper
1 T dry oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
olive oil, as needed for browning
2 pounds russet potatoes, each cut into 6ths.

6 large garlic cloves, peeled and quartered
1/2 tsp (minimum) red pepper flakes
1/2 c (as needed) chicken broth

1 C frozen peas, thawed
fresh parsley, chopped for garnish

Oven to 450.
Salt and pepper chicken pieces. Sprinkle oregano and garlic powder on chicken.
Heat oil in heavy braising pan.
Saute potatoes until golden brown.
Remove potatoes, add chicken to braising pan and brown on all sides. (I put bacon weights on the chicken to make sure all the skn gets browned.) Add cloves garlic and red pepper, stir until aroma is released.
Return potatoes to pan. Remove pan from heat and stir in broth. Return pan to heat and bring to boil.

Cover pot tightly, move to oven and bake until chicken is fully cooked. Add peas to pot, recover and cook for around 5 minutes until peas are done.

Serve, garnished with peas, potatoes and parsley. Pour sauce around chicken on plates.

Good stuff.

Since I discovered that there were no potatoes in the house, I ended up using canned new potatoes. This made it necessary to change things around a bit. I browned the chicken first, then deglazed the pan with a little chicken broth. Cooked that down and added the canned taters. Browned them up nicely and set them aside. Added a little more chicken broth and the garlic cloves and pepper flakes. Stirred until aroma was released and removed the garlic. (Since my chicken was about 1/2 again as large as called for I figured the cooking time would need to be lengthened so I increased the amount of broth to 1 cup.) Put the broth in the pan, brought it to a boil, added the chicken pieces and stuck the garlic down into the broth around the meat. Covered it and put it in a 425 degree oven for an hour. Removed the pan, added the browned potatoes, recovered and returned to the oven for 30 minutes. Pulled the pan partway out of the oven, lifted lid and dumped in the peas. Slid cover back on and let cook for another 10 minutes.
Removed pan from oven, put chicken on a platter, peas and potatoes in bowls and set them aside under a towel. Returned the pan to the cooktop and cooked and stirred the sauce down to a 1/2 cup.
The intensity of flavor we got using this variation we found to be a real "wow" factor.

Stuffed peppers

Although green peppers are becoming scarce around here, we did dig up enough to make a batch of stuffed peppers a couple of nights ago.
We don't use the Standard Stuffing for them, either. This one is MUCH better and has a definite Greek flavor. Bulghur works a lot better than rice, too.

Greek-inspired stuffing for peppers

8 large green peppers, cleaned, tops reserved
1/2 cup bulghur, soaked
1/2 cup Greek olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh spearmint, chopped
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup mizithra cheese, cut into 1/8 inch cubes
1 pound ground beef, browned, drained and crumbled (you can leave this out if you want)
pepper
salt
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup olive oil
pepper to taste

Parboil the peppers for 8 minutes or until they are turning color.
Remove, drain and set in a 13 x 9 casserole.
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Put about 1/8 teaspoon sugar in the bottom of each.
Mix the first 11 ingredients well. Fill each pepper with the combination. Replace top.
Combine the last 3 ingredients and pour around peppers.

Bake for 90 minutes, check and turn pan.
Bake for another 30 minutes or until peppers are blackened and pierce easily.
Turn off oven and allow peppers to cool some.

Serve with a nice bread an a green salad.

These will reheat nicely in the microwave, too.

That chipotle marinade

My concern in a previous post about the new marinade recipe I am trying today are valid. To my taste, it is one-dimensional and lacks verve and brightness. The impression is nothing but heat from the chipotles.

I have added one cup of chopped, seeded heirloom tomatoes, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 tsp salt and 1 tablespoon sugar. It is simmering on the stove and I will use an immersion blender to mix when the tomatoes are done.

At that point, I may choose to do some more fiddling around with it. If I had orange juice I might try some of that, or perhaps dark syrup or molasses?More cumin will go in, as well and some garlic. The recipe was described as having depth and subtlety but it really doesn't.

We don't care much for sweet sauces so don't want to overdo the sugars but what I have added so far has made a difference.

Finally gave up and put in cider vinegar, ketchup and salad mustard. Better a typical sauce than a non-typical one that just doesn't work. It tasted OK but was too much trouble to pull together. Won't make that one again.

Dinner this evening is...

chipotle marinated round steak.

Yes. Round steak. I am hoping that by cooking it slowly, very very slowly, it won't turn into shoe leather. The recipe would be much better using something else, like sirloin but as I haven't tried this particular marinade/mop before and if it turns out we don't like it I won't feel like I have wasted a lovely sirloin.

It's a simple marinade. Chipotles in adobo, oil, cumin, cilantro, garlic, onion, paprika... that's it. I suspect that it could use a dash of lime juice or perhaps some lemon zest but we will see.*

Using a tip I found on another food blog for baked potatoes. (Kalofagas post from July 31, 2008) Slicing the taters almost all the way through, pouring melted butter over then sprinkling with Montreal Steak seasoning mix, wrap in foil and bake. Will report on the results of this experiment tomorrow. Think I may go looking for some sweet corn. Maybe when Himself goes to pick up the trailer I will go along and we will hunt for some corn.


Ingredients

# 2 tablespoons oil
# 1 onion , medium diced
# 4 chipotle chiles in adobo , cut up
# 2 cups chopped tomatoes
# 1/2 cup water or tomato juice
# 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro , chopped
# 1 lemon, zest of

Directions
Heat oil in large pan and soften the onions slowly until translucent.
Add the tomatoes, chipotles and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer slowly until reduced a bit.
Remove pan from heat and let cool.
Using either a standard blender or a stick blender, puree the cooled sauce.
Add lemon zest and cilantro.

Curried Beef Kabobs

This is a recipe that my late father found in a magazine or somewhere over 30 years ago. It's a tradition in our family and I think I need to make it again.

A quick tip is to use boiling onions rather than hunks of cut-up onion. They hold together much better. Blanching the peppers allows them to cook more evenly on the grill and they will caramelize without burning. Use a good quality curry. We like Sunbird but it is your choice.

Cooking time will vary but please remember to figure in the overnight marination period. This allows plenty of time for the meat to soak up the marinade and it will give a tough cut a start at being more tender.

Curry Beef Kabobs

Serves 8, 16 skewers

meat
· 4-6 lbs beef, trimmed to 1-inch cubes
marinade
· 12 ounces beer
· 1/4 canola oil
· 1 medium onion, diced
· 4 teaspoons curry powder, to taste
· 1 tablespoon minced ginger
· 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
· 1 lb round steak, 1 inch cubes
vegetables
· 5 bell peppers, red and green cleaned halves
· 1 1/2 lbs white pearl onions, parboiled and peeled
· 1 1/2 roma tomatoes, quartered
sauce
· 1 cup beer
· 1/4 vegetable oil
· 1 medium onion, pureed
· 4 teaspoons curry powder, to taste
· 1 tablespoon ginger, pureed
· 1/2 teaspoon garlic, pureed

Directions

Day 1:
Measure beer without a head.
Mix with remaining ingredients, excepting meat and vegetables.
Pour marinade over beef in sealable container. Refrigerate overnight.
Day 2:
If you wish, the vegetables can all be prepped the day before and kept in the refrigerator until it's time to assemble the kebabs.
Bring large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add halved peppers. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the red peppers begin to lose their skins. Plunge in cold water to stop the cooking. Remove when cool, drain well and cut into 3 pieces for each half pepper. Remove skin from 14 red pepper pieces. Set all aside.
Dump meat and marinade into a colander over a saucepan. Rinse lightly to remove chunks of marinade. Remove meat and pat dry. Set aside.
To the marinade add sauce ingredients (except for beer): oil, curry, pureed onion, garlic and ginger. Bring to a boil, boil for 5 minutes. You may skim if you wish, I usually don't. Reduce heat and add the beer. Stir well and simmer until reduced to the point where the sauce will stick to the meat and vegetables while cooking.
Preheat grill to 300 degrees.
Assemble kebabs in whatever order you wish. I do a piece of red pepper with skin, onion, meat, tomato, onion meat, etc and end up with a piece of tomato, skin out.
(Putting the pepper and tomato on the ends of the kebabs helps to hold the whole thing together on the grill.).
Place loaded skewers on preheated grill, turn every 10 minutes or so, brushing frequently with the sauce.
15. When the meat is firm and the tomatoes are soft and starting to blacken, give the kebabs a good brushing with the sauce and turn the heat to high for a short period of time. This will finish the caramelizing of the glaze and the veggies will be lovely, done through and slightly crispy on the outside.
Remove from grill, serve with anything you want.



I wish that photo were clearer, darn it. The recipe is so good that it deserves a better image.

Marinated mozzarella

This is so easy to make and the results are so delicious that it's worth finding mozzarella fresca for it. Every time I make this, I'm lucky if there is enough for bruschetta left after the nibblers are done.

For your eating pleasure:

Marinated Mozzarella
15 min. prep

SERVES 6
· 1/2 lb mozzarella, cut in tiny cubes
· 3 tablespoons olive oil
· 3 sun-dried tomatoes, slivered
· 1 teaspoon thyme
· 1 teaspoon oregano
· 1 teaspoon basil
· 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
· 1/4 teaspoon chili pepper flakes
Combine and toss. The longer this is allowed to set, the better the flavor is.


The original recipe is from Recipezaar, contributing member is swiz58.