Author Archives: Cheff
Avocado and Prawn Cocktail and Roasted Baby Potatoes with Romesco Sauce
From our “Around the World in Eight Courses” dinner comes the first two recipes from our tapas platter:
Avocado and Prawn Cocktail
Ingredients:
1 large avocados
5 oz. chopped prawns
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 scallion
1 clove garlic
Kosher salt
1.5 oz heavy cream
1.5 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
Preparation:
Peel the prawns and remove the heads. Season the bodies and fry in the oil. (The heads can be used to make the stock).
Peel the avocados, remove the pits and crush the flesh with the chopped spring onion, the peeled and finely chopped garlic, the olive oil and the cream to form a velvety smooth purée. Season to taste.
Drop a dollop of the avocado mix onto the platter and top with one shrimp (or the other way around.
Roasted Baby Potatoes with Romesco Sauce
Ingredients:
- 3 ounces whole blanched almonds
- 2 roasted red peppers
- 1 small garlic clove
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/8 teaspoon smoked hot paprika
- 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar or red-wine vinegar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 pound small red and yellow potatoes
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread almonds in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet; toast in oven until lightly golden and fragrant, 7 to 8 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool 15 minutes.
- Raise oven to 375 degrees. In a food processor, combine almonds, garlic, roasted red peppers, 3/4 teaspoon salt, paprika, mint, and vinegar. Process to a coarse paste, about 1 minute. With machine running, add 1 tablespoon oil in a slow, steady stream until sauce is smooth. Transfer sauce to a small bowl, and set aside.
- Place potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet, and toss with remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Roast in oven until skins are slightly crisp and potatoes are tender, shaking pan once to turn potatoes, 20 to 30 minutes. Serve hot with sauce on the side.
Meyer Lemon Marmalade
E posted a photo on her Pinterest page suggesting that Meyer lemon marmalade 
is one of her favorite things, even as she spread a wonderful Trader Joe’s rendition of orange marmalade on her rosemary-olive-oil bread from Thom’s. Given that whatever E thinks is a “favorite thing” ought to be made a reality, I decided to make a batch of the jelled gold for her. Not a marmalade fan myself, I needed to learn how marmalade is made, and I discovered how simple it is.
So off to market I go, ISO ripe Meyer lemons. The good news is that I knew just where to find them–at John and Ethel Stoner’s little stand in the middle of our local jewel, the Lancaster Central Market.
The Meyer lemon, in case you’re not familiar with it, is rounder than a true lemon. The skin is fragrant and thin, colored a deep yellow with a slight orange tint when ripe. Meyer lemons have a sweeter, less acidic flavor than the more common supermarket lemon varieties. The Meyer lemon is commonly grown in China in garden pots as an ornamental tree. It became popular as a food item in the United States after being rediscovered by chefs such as Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in San Francisco at the end of the 1990s, and even more so when Martha Stewart began featuring them in her recipes.
Citrus marmalades are basically reductions of the fruit, water, and sugar, cooked slowly until the sugars begin to caramelize. Orange marmalade has been a staple of British and American breakfasts for generations, certainly around here. So the idea of Meyer lemon marmalade seemed like such a natural for us, given E’s sudden “pinterest” in the stuff and my constant desire to please her with surprising cooking choices.
Ergo Meyer lemon marmalade. Sweet, tart, and tasty, it’s wonderful on English muffins and any good artisan bread you can imagine.
Here’s my take:
Meyer Lemon Marmalade
Ingredients:
6 Meyer lemons (about 1 1/2 pounds)
4 cups water
4 cups sugar
Preparation:
Quarter the lemons and separate the seeds (save the seeds!). Remove the ends and slice the lemons as thinly as possible, and reslice any larger bits of lemon rind to small pieces. Place all the lemon seeds in a cheesecloth bag and tie off the ends. Combine the lemon slices, the seed bag, and water in a large non-reactive pot, stir to mix well, cover and allow to stand at room temperature for 24 hours. (I used an enamel-coated cast-iron pot–Le Creuset–but you could also use a stainless-steel pot. I actually have a favorite stainless-steel pot I will use in the future,
a $15.00 gem from Ikea. It holds five quarts, and has quart- and liter- markings etched ON THE INSIDE OF THE POT: BRILLIANT! This feature will work you your amazing advantage for this recipe, as you will see).
After the lemons have rested in the water for 24 hours, remove the seed bag and bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer slowly until the mixture is reduced to 4 cups (or 1 quart! See why the inside-the-pot etchings on the Ikea pot are so terrific for this recipe?). Add the sugar to the lemons, stir well to dissolve the sugar, and boil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally and skimming off any foam that develops, for 15-20 minutes, until a teaspoonful of the marmalade dropped on a cold plate gels (you can skip this test if you wish, it really works).
In the meantime, prepare six 1/2-pint jars for canning: wash and rinse the jars, lids, and rings, set them in a large pot of water and bring to a boil; allow the jars to simmer at a slow boil for 30 minutes, then turn the fire off under the pot.
When the marmalade is ready, ladle hot marmalade into the hot jars to within 1/4 inch of the rim, wipe the rim of the jar with a damp towel, and seal the jars with the hot lids and rings. Set the jars back into the hot water, bring to a boil, cover the pot and boil the jars for ten minutes, then turn off the heat, remove the cover, and allow to rest in the hot water five minutes more. Using jar tongs, transfer the jars to a wire rack and allow the marmalade to cool completely, then rest unmoved for twenty-four hours. Check to ensure that the lids have popped inward and the jars have sealed. If any jars haven’t popped, refrigerate them and use immediately. The sealed jars will keep in a cool, dark place for 1 year.
Next batch I’ll make will include 1 teaspoon of finely chopped fresh rosemary.
Just sayin’.
“As Good As Risotto” Israeli Couscous and Peas and Parmesan
Life on the run.
You get it; I know you do.
If you’re like me, however, you still refuse to succumb to the lure of mac & cheese from a box for dinner. I simply refuse.
The kids are annoyed at me all the time, because I cook. I want dinner, with the whole family sitting around the dinner table, to be something that they remember when they grow up and have kids of their own. I want them to be healthy. I want them to be interested in trying new things. I want them to appreciate the effort that E and I put into giving them the best daily experience they can have, whether they appreciate it now, or later, or maybe never, but I truly don’t think that last will come to pass.
Sure, occasionally, dinner can be baked beans from a can and browned hot dogs on white bread, on a day when L has mid-terms and chorus rehearsal and a voice lesson; and M has after-school enrichment and swim practice and an evening hockey game; and E has a meeting at eight am in Elizabethtown and a lunch meeting with a donor downtown and a planning session for the golf tournament at five pm in New Holland; and I’m driving up and down 501 four times in an afternoon and I’m on call for jury duty in Philadelphia; and … and … and …
I know you all can relate.
Still, the kids deserve a home-cooked meal, even if they don’t think they deserve it and only want mac & cheese and chocolate milk for dinner.
And I do love to cook.
So in that spirit, and with lots to do, I still wanted to conjure up something that looked like–and felt like–effort.
What resulted was a dinner of baked (turkey) ham pinned with whole cloves and slathered with brown sugar and Dijon mustard, cooked over a water bath of ginger beer and liquid smoke (took five minutes to prepare, then 75 minutes in a 325-degree oven); fresh green beans (trimmed and sauteed in olive oil and sliced almonds–took more time than the turkey ham by about three minutes); and something inspired by a recipe I found on the Internet–Israeli couscous with peas. This one sounds like a production, but actually it was amazingly simple and garnered applause and demands for seconds. Will wonders never cease?
The Israeli couscous product was–in my mind, anyway–as good as risotto, and so simple that you need to try it. Took me all of six minutes of effort and 15 minutes start to finish, with the most amazing result.
Want to make risotto without the muss and the fuss?
Israeli Couscous With Peas and Parmesan
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil or unsalted butter
2 cups pearl couscous
1 1/2 cups frozen peas (or freshly shelled in season–even better)
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (the stuff in the bag in the dairy aisle–excellent product for cooking)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Preparation:
1. Heat the oil or butter in a medium-sized heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the couscous and cook, stirring constantly, until it starts to brown; 3-5 minutes.
2. Add the peas and broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until the broth is absorbed and the couscous is tender; 10-12 minutes.
3. Add the salt and pepper, stir well, then add the Parmesan cheese and stir constantly until the cheese is melted and fully incorporated.
Garnish with a little chopped parsley and serve immediately.
Bacon-Maple Slow-Cooker Baked Beans
Got a hankering for baked beans.
Sure, it’s cute watching Jay Bush and his golden retriever Duke, who seems to be on a mission to sell the secret recipe, like any capitalist dog would be. Makes you want some beans. Or a golden retriever. Makes me want neither. Bush’s Beans are probably a perfectly fine product, but I’ve always been a B&M kind of guy, and I’m not particularly fond of dogs, although I’ve grown to love my wild and crazy German shorthaired pointers, Argos and Maggie (Argos, I should point out, has no interest in selling any of my recipes; he has a one-track agenda, which is to eat everything I cook. Maggie, on the other hand, would sell my recipes in a heartbeat if she thought she could turn a profit; she’s probably the most dedicated capitalist in the family).
But I digress (I hate when I do that).
I was reading someplace recently that some kid’s favorite food was baked-bean sandwiches–homemade baked beans on fresh homemade bread–and I got to thinking about that. Could that be nature’s perfect food? The writer was recounting how such sandwiches ignited his love of all things food and how they inspired him to become a chef. It started, he says, because he couldn’t find a pile of baked beans anywhere near as good as the scratch batches his grandmother made for him. I can relate. I was raised on the cooking of a wonderful woman who came from the Piedmont of Virginia, where home-grown pork and chickens and corn and cabbages and greens were on the table every day. She made her baked beans (and everything else) from scratch, and the tale of baked-bean sandwiches massaged a longing in me I hadn’t felt in quite a while.
Consequently, I got a hankering for baked beans.
Lily Jones was not available to make me beans, and I’ve never really worked up a recipe of my own. So I decided to do some research, find a recipe to start with, and then make it my own. Something hearty, flavorful, bold, and memorable.
I must have read 500 recipes. What I kept coming back to was a fabulous website chock full of recipes that use beer as the principal ingredient. Beer! That’s the ticket! But not just any beer. It needed to be thick, dark, malty, nutty–hair-raising. I found a recipe that resonated, and then kept reading, comparing each next one I found to the one that sang to me, and not one measured up.
And then, I made the beans. Incredible. Salved my hankering, my wife, the remarkable Ellen, followed up with a honey-Hefeweisen boule made with a locally brewed winter wheat beer, and voila! Baked-bean sandwiches for the Gods.
Next, I had to make the recipe my own. The recipe on the website is perfect as is. But it’s not mine, alas, and I thought I could improve it. Guess what: I couldn’t. It’s perfect as is. The only thing I did change was to use turkey bacon (we don’t eat much pork around here) cooked in two teaspoons of extra-virgin olive oil; and instead of a smoky porter I used Sierra Nevada Coffee Stout.
Try this if you want perfect beans. And if you want a perfect bean sandwich, make the bread, too. It’s almost as simple to make as the beans–no kneading, just rest and love.
Slow Cooker Maple Bacon Beer Baked Beans
Ingredients:
- ½ pound Great Northern beans
- ½ lbs Navy beans
- 4 strips thick cut bacon (I used turkey bacon)
- 1 large sweet onion, chopped
- 3 tablespoons full-flavor molasses
- ¼ cup real maple syrup
- 2 cups smoked porter beer (I used Sierra Nevada Coffee Stout)
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon liquid smoke
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 3 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon fine ground white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
Preparation:
- Place the beans in a large pot with 3 cups of water. Cover and bring the pot to a boil, and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and soak for 8-12 hours; overnight is good. Rinse with cold water and drain.
- Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium high heat, remove bacon from pan. Add the onions to the bacon grease, cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Chop the bacon.
- Add the bacon, onions, drained beans and remaining ingredients to a slow cooker. Cook for 8 hours on low, stirring once or twice during cooking. If beans are still firm after 8-10 hours, turn to high and cook for an additional 2 hours.
And now the bread:
Honey Hefeweizen Boule Loaf
Ingredients:
- 4 ¼ (19 wt oz) cups all-purpose flour
- 1 package (2 ¼ tsp) rapid rise yeast
- ¼ cup honey
- pinch salt
- 12 ounces wheat beer*
- egg wash (1 egg, 1 teaspoon water, beaten)
Preparation:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook add the flour and yeast, mix to combine.
- Heat the beer to between 120 and 130F degrees.
- Add the beer and the honey to the flour, beat on high until dough gathers around the hook and is no longer sticky, about 6 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Place a baking stone in the oven, preheat for 30 minutes prior to baking.
- Once the dough has risen, place a bread peel (or a sheet of parchment paper) on a flat surface, cover in cornmeal or semolina flour. Grab the dough in your heads, folding it into itself gently a few times, then form into a tight ball. Place on the peel (or parchment paper), allowing to rise for about 30 minutes.
- Brush the top with egg wash, slash an “X” on top of the loaf using a sharp knife.
- Transfer the dough to the pizza stone using either the peel or by simply placing the parchment paper on top of the heated stone (if you don’t own a bread stone, just place the parchment on top of a baking sheet and set that into the oven when you are ready to bake).
- Bake at 400 until top is a dark golden brown and makes a hollow “thump” sound when tapped, about 30 minutes.
- Allow to cool slightly before slicing.
Notes
*This recipe is for a very low IBU (low hop) beer. If all you have is a pale ale, IPA or hoppy wheat, use 3/4 cup beer and 3/4 cup hot water or the beer taste will be overpowering.
And to Jackie Dodd, “The Beeroness,” I offer a toast: Jackie (wwwthebeeroness.com), you’ve won my heart. Or more accurately, my appetite.
Slow-Cooker Thai Chicken Soup
I don’t know if it’s fair to call this “Ellen’s Favorite Soup,” because there are an awful lot of soups that she likes.
But let’s just say this, and let the evidence stand for itself: She made a batch of this soup a few weeks ago, and I had a second bowl for dinner, leaving none for leftovers the following day. She was really steamed. She doesn’t get steamed very often, and even when she does, she rarely shows it. But leaving her no Thai chicken soup? I certainly won’t let THAT happen again.
So what is this liquid gold that gets her gussie all bundled up in a batch? The ingredient list alone is enough to make a foodie swoon: red curry paste, peanut butter, coconut milk, fresh ginger, brown sugar, fish sauce. Wow! My taste buds are shifting into overdrive even as I type this. It’s a darn good thing that there’s a batch on the kitchen counter as we speak. Smells fabulous. Mix those ingredients together with the rest of the list, and you have a dish made for the Gods.
Well, the gods of Thailand, anyway.
And to boot, because it’s a slow-cooker thing, the whole pot can be thrown together in just minutes, you can leave the house for the day, and come home to the dancing fragrance of this wonderful batch of creaminess filling the kitchen with the aromas of Southeast Asia.
That’s a good thing.
So here’s the scoop on this scoopable:
Slow-Cooker Thai Chicken Soup
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons red curry paste
2 12-ounce cans coconut milk
2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
1 ½ pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1 ½” pieces
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into ¼” slices
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 heaping tablespoon fresh ginger, finely minced
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
Cilantro for garnish
Chopped peanuts for garnish
2 cups cooked white rice
Preparation:
- Mix the curry paste, coconut milk, chicken stock, fish sauce, brown sugar, and peanut butter in a 4-6-quart slow-cooker bowl. Place the chicken breast, onion, red bell pepper in the crock, cover and cook for 4 hours on high or seven hours on low.
- Add the peas and cook for ½ hour longer. Stir in the lime juice, serve in heavy bowls garnished with freshly chopped cilantro and peanuts and a bowl of white rice. The rice can be added to the soup at the table. Or not.
Linguine with Shrimp and Caramelized Lemons
This recipe started out in the New York Times. It was published in a column by Melissa Clark, the Times terrific food writer. I made it a couple of times and liked what I tasted, but decided, as I often do, that it needed a boost to suit my palate. The original recipe didn’t include shrimp, and you can make it without the shrimp, but I like the added protein. Try it with scallops, or with chicken, grilled first and then shredded.
Ingredients:
- 4 lemons
- 1/2 pound linguine (for this recipe I don’t use whole-wheat pasta, but rather regular semolina linguine.)
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, more for drizzling
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, more as needed
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes, more to taste
- 1 pound medium shrimp (36-41), peeled and deveined
- ⅔ cup Parmegiano-Reggiano cheese, more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup celery leaves, coarsely chopped
- ⅓ cup parsley, coarsely chopped
- 1 teaspoons capers
Preparation:
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Finely zest 2 of the lemons and set aside. Trim the tops and bottoms off the other 2 lemons and cut lengthwise into quarters; remove seeds. Thinly slice the quarters crosswise into triangles. Blanch the lemon pieces in the boiling water for 2 minutes, then transfer with a slotted spoon to a dish towel. Blot dry.
- In the boiling water, add pasta and cook until just barely al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water.
- Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over high heat. Add the dried lemon pieces and season with 1 teaspoon salt and 2 teaspoons sugar. Cook, stirring constantly until the lemons are caramelized and lightly browned, 8-10 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
- Melt the butter with the remaining oil in the pan over medium heat. Add the red pepper flakes and lemon zest, and cook until fragrant. Add the shrimp and stir-fry until they just begin to turn pink. Whisk in the reserved pasta water.
- Lower the heat an toss in pasta, juice of 1 lemon, cheese, pepper and the remaining salt. Cook until pasta is well coated with sauce. Add the caramelized lemon, capers, and the celery leaves and parsley. Taste and add sugar, salt, or pepper, to your taste preference. Serve, topped with a drizzle of oil, more cheese if you like, and a sprinkle of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Spicy Red Lentil, Tomato, and Kale Soup
November is soup month. The vegetables in the garden are done and picked, the herbs are in the garage drying, and the weather is turning cool. This week we are committed to making soups for the week’s suppers, and Ellen has found a batch of wonderful flavors to mix and match to keep the variety coming and the family bellies warm and cozy. This post will highlight the soups I’m making today, while the Eagles fly on my kitchen toy, the HP Touchsmart TV/computer.
I started this morning with the slow cooker:
Slow Cooker Thai Chicken Soup
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons red curry Paste
2 12-ounce cans unsweetened coconut milk
2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons chunky peanut butter
1/2 yellow bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1/2 orange bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 heaping tablespoon grated fresh ginger, minced
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
cilantro for garnish
Preparation:
1. Mix the curry paste, coconut milk, chicken stock, fish sauce, brown sugarf, and peanut butter in the crock of a slow cooker. Place the chicken breast, bell pepper, onion, and ginger in the pot, stir to mix, cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.
2. Add in the peas and cook another 1/2 hour. Stir in the lime juice and serve with chopped cilantro and white rice.
Spicy Red Lentil, Tomato, and Kale Soup
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon coconut oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 sweet onion, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
1 bay leaf
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
14-ounce can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
6 cups vegetable stock
1 cup red lentils
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (I used white balsamic vinegar)
2 cups torn kale leaves
Preparation:
1. In a large pot, saute the onion and garlic in coconut oil for 5-6 minutes, until soft but not browned. Ad the celery and saute 5 more minutes.
2. Stir in the bay leaf and the spices (cumin, chili powder, coriander, paprika, and cayenne). You can add half the spices now and the rest, to taste, later if you choose. I used them all here. The flavors marry better if they all cook for the whole time.
3. Stir in the tomatoes, broth, and lentils. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes, until the lentils are tender and fluffy.
4. Stir in the kale and season to taste, adding more spices if you wish.
Serve immediately or you can freeze this soup for later.
Shrimp and Corn Chowder
Ingredients:
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
3 stalks celery, thinly sliced
2 bunches of scallions, chopped
3 cups frozen diced potatoes
3 cups frozen corn
3 sprigs thyme
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 quart low-fat milk
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
Paprika for sprinkle garnish
Preparation:
1. Melt the butter in a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Stir in the celery, scallions, potatoes, and corn. Ad the thyme, bay leaves, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and a few grinds of pepper and cook, stirring, for three minutes. Stir in the flour until incorporated, about 2 minutes. Add the milk, then cover and bring to a boil. Uncover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and gently simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 6 minutes. Remove from the heat. Discard the thyme sprigs and bay leaves.
2. Transfer half the soup to the blender and puree until smooth, then return to the pot. Return to a simmer over medium heat. Stir in the shrimp and cook until opaque, about 4 minutes. Season with salt. Divide among bowls and sprinkle with paprika.
Serve immediately.
Tomato-Basil Soup with Garlic Croutons
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion (1 medium)
3 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 28-ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup low-fat cream cheese (Neufchatel), cut into cubes
2 cups 1% low-fat milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
12 slices french baguette, 1/2-inch slices.
Olive oil cooking spray
1 garlic clove, halved
1 ounce shredded Asiago cheese
Preparation:
1. Preheat broiler to high
2. Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute for 3 minutes. Add garlic and saute another minute. Add basil and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Add the cream cheese and stir until melted. Put the mixture in a blender and puree until smooth. Return to pan, stir in milk, salt, and pepper. Return to medium-high; cook 2 minutes.
3. Place the bread slices on a baking sheet. Lightly coat with olive oil spray; broil 1 minute. Rub the garlic halves over the toasted side, turn the bread, top with Asiago, and broil 1 minute more.
Serve the soup with the crouton rounds atop the soup.
Ellen’s Chili-party Chili
It’s taken me years to accept a harsh reality: 
for popular consumption, Ellen’s chili-party chili is better than mine. Now I still swear by my own Tex-Mex Tequila-mole-beanless chili, but the truth is, my version is simply not for everyone–it’s an acquired taste, and one has to be a real fan of the Tex-Mex style of chili, but for the larger audience, hers is way better than any of the chili recipes I have in my holster. And so, I have spent the day preparing a big batch of Ellen’s chili-party chili, in advance of our annual open house soup and chili party, which, you may already know, is scheduled for the Sunday between Christmas and New Years day. This year will be our fourth (almost) annual party, and if you’re reading this and you’re in the vicinity that weekend, you’re invited. If you haven’t found the way here yet, be advised that it will go on with or without you, although we’d love to see you. We make three soups and a chili. This years selections will include our usual and most favoritest soup, Ellen and Babs’ Hearty Chicken Chowder (https://jeffskitchen.net/2012/10/07/ellen-and-babs-hearty-chicken-chowder/); one vegetarian or vegan selection; and one kid-friendly soup; and one chili–we alternate years between a red chili and a white chili; this year’s selection being Ellen’s Chili-party Chili. The vegetarian selection and the kid-friendly selections have yet to be determined, but will be soon.
We are often asked for the recipes for our productions; all are homemade and from personal favorite recipes. They are always posted here. For the party we will produce something in the vicinity of 50 gallons of soup and chili, and you may just come and enjoy. A kiss for the chefs is all that is necessary for you to bring, but bring your family and your appetite. This is a fun event, sitting a few days after Christmas, when most folks are either out of town or are tired of leftovers or looking for something else to do rather than cook again. This is your weekend off. Let us cook for you Sunday night.
Forthwith, allow me to present to you the recipe for Ellen’s fabulous presentation, of which I just completed 2 gallons, and there will be more to come.
Ellen’s Chili-Party Chili
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups chopped onions
1 whole head of garlic, peeled and cloves chopped.
1 32-oz jar medium (or mild) red salsa
3 pounds ground beef, turkey, or a combination of both
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 4-ounce can chopped green chilis
4 tablespoons ground cumin
4 tablespoons dried or 1 tablespoon freshly chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons ground coriander
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon chipotle chili powder (optional)
3 12-oz cans Yuengling lager beer (dark beer, ale, IPAs or other beers optional, at your pleasure)
4 28-oz cans or 1 #10 can whole tomatoes, crushed (Cento San Marzanos are my favorite)
7 cans dark red kidney beans
Preparation:
Heat the olive oil in a very large pot over medium-high heat–this recipe is a big one; makes 2 gallons. Add the onions and garlic and saute until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the ground meat and continue to saute until completely browned. Add the salsa, stir well, turn the heat down to medium-low, and simmer 10 minutes. Add the salt, pepper, chilis, beer, and spices, stir well and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the tomatoes and beans, stir well, and simmer for another hour, stirring occasionally.
Serve with sour cream, chopped scallions, shredded jack or cheddar cheese, and red Tabasco Sauce.
We will have all these and more
Turkey Sausage Cassoulet
Cassoulet.
It’s a French-cooking standard, made from an assortment of duck, lamb, and goose sausages and white beans, cooked in a wine and brandy reduction, then baked in the oven until the flavors marry into a wonderful, fragrant stew.
We don’t do exotic sausages; the ingredients here in Lancaster are available but expensive, fatty–much too fatty for our diets–and a little gamy for teen-age girls. So we’ve adjusted, using turkey sausage, a readily available commodity, and created a hearty Sunday evening meal perfect for the fall season, when temperatures are beginning to drop, the herbs in the garden are mature and full of flavor, the tomatoes are at their zenith, and football is on TV, keeping me company as I cook.
What could be more rib-sticking on an autumn Sunday afternoon than a nice, rich cassoulet.
I took this recipe from an old edition of the Cooking Light cookbook and adjusted it to on-hand ingredients and available time. One of the interesting things I did, and I would do it again, is to substitute Irish whiskey for cognac, and I did it for two reasons: 1) I wanted to see what it would taste like; and 2) I’m fresh out of cognac. I could substitute brandy, but the only brandy I have in the house is an incredible Austrian brandy that I don’t have very much of, and is too good for cooking.
Here’s the recipe for tonight’s production, Turkey Sausage Cassoulet:
Ingredients:
2 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 pounds turkey sausage, cut into 1-inch slices
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrot
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup Irish whiskey
2 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
2 15-oz cans cannellini (white) beans
1 15-oz can black beans
2 bay leaves
2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
dash ground cloves
1 4-oz piece of French baguette
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
Heat a large dutch oven over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil, swirl to coat, and add the sausage pieces; cook, stirring constantly for 8 minutes, until the pieces are lightly browned; remove from pan to a bowl and set aside. Add 1 tablespoons olive oil and add the onions, celery, carrots, garlic, salt, and pepper and cook about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, scraping up the brown bits from the pan as you do.
Add the wine and whiskey, stir to remove the remaining brown bits from the bottom of the pan and cook until the alcohol is mostly evaporated, about 10 minutes.
Add the broth, thyme, beans, bay leaves, tomatoes, and cloves to the vegetable mixture, return the sausage to the pan and stir well to combine all the ingredients. Remove from heat, discard the bay leaves, and place in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
Place the baguette in a food processor and whizz to make bread crumbs. Heat a large non-stick pan; add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon olive oil and bread crumbs to the pan and toast, tossing to brown lightly. Sprinkle over the cassoulet and bake for another 10 minutes.
Serve with a good red wine and the remaining baguette to soak up the sauces.
Enjoy!
Orange Teriyaki Flank Steak and Sweet Potato Fries
I wrote once in my column about Ellen’s little tin box. It’s magical. 
Chock full of recipes from so many years of collecting. She got the box at Hershey Chocolate World when she was in high school (not really that long ago), and in the ensuing years collected recipes from magazines and newspapers and various other sources, including many of her mother’s recipes, which she wrote down on 3×5 cards. It features recipes like “porcupine meatballs,” and “shake-and-bake chicken,” and “Mrs. Fuller’s soup,” and “Chowning Tavern’s Brunswick stew,” and corn pudding, and…and…and…on and on and on. As I said, it’s magic! Many of the recipes have become part of our current dinner rotation, and I fell in love with her over the meat loaf recipe (romantic, huh?). The meat loaf is so good that I have abandoned my mother’s recipe and my own recipe, and even the Epicure Market’s recipe, because the one in the tin box is perfect.
That said, I’m going to give you a simple one, a favorite around here, one that gets requested over and over again, and now that I’ve discovered the Char-Broil infrared grill, it’s a 10-minute breeze and a serious winner. I tend to want my beef done simply–salt and pepper and a little garlic and butter–but this one, a large steak grilled and sliced to serve, just wants a wonderful marinade. This one is it. Simple and elegant, tasty and memorable. If you crave a beef supper with a little zing, try this one. Serve it with a simple cold salad and some oven roasted sweet-potato fries. Fantastic!
Grilled Teriyaki Flank Steak (or London Broil)
Ingredients:
2- to 3-pound flank steak or London Broil
1/2 cup Teriyaki sauce
1/4 cup dry sherry
1 tablespoon fresh orange zest
1 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons freshly ground ginger
Preparation:
Combine all the ingredients in a pan large and deep enough to allow the steak to lie flat and to hold the marinade and the steak.
Deeply pierce both sides of the steak with a fork, at 1-inch intervals. Place the steak in the marinade, allow to rest for 1/2 hour, then turn. Turn the steak every hour, marinating for at least four hours, but no more than eight.
Prepare a charcoal grill, allowing the charcoal to turn white, and resting under half the cooking grate; or preheat one burner of a gas grill for 10 minutes.
Allow the steak to come to room temperature before grilling. Place the steak directly over the hot coals or the burner for five minutes, turn and repeat on the other side. Then move the steak off the direct heat and continue cooking another five to seven minutes for medium-rare steak–or minutes longer if you prefer your steak more done–until the steak reaches 140 degrees internal temperature measured with an instant-read thermometer. Remove the steak from the grill, tent loosely with aluminum foil, and allow to rest 10-15 minutes before slicing.
Slice the steak across the grain and serve with small bowls of Teriyaki sauce for dipping.
Perfect Oven-roasted Sweet Potato Fries
Ingredients:
1-2 large sweet potatoes
1/2 tablespoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Cut the ends off the potatoes, then slice them into 1/2-inch slices. Turn the potatoes to stack the slices, then slice them into 1/2-inch slices again, to make half-inch by half-inch potato sticks. Place them in a mixing bowl, add the salt, pepper, garlic, and olive oil and toss to coat well.
Lay the fries in a single layer on foil-lined baking sheets (use more than one baking sheet if necessary. Don’t stack the potato fries.
Bake for 15 minutes, remove from the oven, turn over, and bake for 10 – 15 minutes more. They are done when they begin to brown and crisp. Serve with the steak, and a dipping sauce of your choice or ketchup or ranch dressing.
Cheffzilla’s Kitchen 