Rhubarb. It’s one of the most maligned and misunderstood vegetables in the garden. A showy, broad-leafed, and colorful addition to a home garden, it remains, nevertheless, a vegetable that draws scrunched-up faces from adults and children alike. And, likely, memories of an oh-so-gooey strawberry-rhubarb pie, loaded with sugar and cornstarch and topped with a soggy crust. Edible in the right setting, but all-in-all, pretty bland.

I want to celebrate rhubarb’s tart taste, not disguise it. And as the days grow warmer, the kitchen grows hotter. So we grill. Grilling and summer go together like…uh…meat and fruit.

Meat and fruit? Yin and Yang. I love to find sweet and tangy sauces and glazes to brush onto grilled roasts, so I recently experimented with a recipe for rhubarb chutney, used as a cooking glaze for grilled pork. Chutney, if you aren’t familiar with it, is a blend of fruits, spices, and an acidic preservative–usually vinegar or citrus juice. Because rhubarb is at its seasonal peak right now, a tangy glaze for a grilled roast feels exactly right. And, you can get it at almost any farm market or roadside stand.

Try this grilled pork tenderloin with rhubarb chutney. Make the chutney a day ahead so the flavors have time to marry; it will take about 30 minutes, start to finish.

Rhubarb Chutney:
1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon peeled fresh ginger, minced (Or, keep a jar in your refrigerator to make life easier!)
2 cloves fresh minced garlic
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper (or try chipotle chile pepper)
4 cups 1/2-inch cubes fresh rhubarb (about 1-1/2 pounds)
1/2 cup (generous) chopped red onion
1/3 cup dried cranberries, dried tart cherries, or chopped dried apricots (about 2 ounces)

The day before serving, combine the first 9 ingredients (sugar thru red pepper) in a heavy 2-quart saucepan. Bring to simmer over low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the rhubarb, onion and dried fruit; increase heat to medium-high and cook and stir until the rhubarb is tender and the mixture begins to thicken, 7 to 10 minutes. Cool completely. Cover and chill overnight, then bring it to room temperature before using, and separate into two containers, one for basting and one for the dinner table.

Pork Tenderloin:
2 pork tenderloins (about 1-1/2 pounds total), trimmed
2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
Fresh cilantro sprigs (optional)

Brine:

1 gallon water

1 cup kosher salt

1/2 cup light brown sugar

10 whole peppercorns

First thing in the morning on the day you want to serve the dish, make the brine in a container large enough to hold the meat, and stir until the salt and sugar dissolve. Place the pork in the brine, cover and refrigerate until cooking time.

In the afternoon, preheat the grill. While the grill heats, remove the pork from the brine, and pat dry. Discard the brine. Rub the tenderloins with cumin, salt and pepper. Heat the oil in large heavy skillet over high heat, then add the pork and brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Transfer to the grill, and brush the pork with some of the chutney. Close the grill lid and roast, turn the meat once and brush with more chutney, about 15-20 minutes, until a thermometer reads 155-degrees internal temperature. Remove the tenderloins from the grill and wrap in heavy foil for 10-15 minutes. Slice into medallions, serve over roasted-garlic couscous, garnish with cilantro sprigs, and serve the remaining chutney as a condiment.

Since I’m married to a woman who steadfastly refuses to eat mammals, we substitute turkey tenderloin for the pork and grill it until the internal temperature reads 175 degrees, about 20-30 minutes, then wrap it loosely in foil for 10-15 minutes. The rhubarb chutney also works well as an accompaniment to chicken, duck or lamb. Try it the next day on a sandwich made with the leftovers for an added treat.

Okay, here’s another chili recipe. I seem to be in a chili state of mind right now, and before I’m through, I may exhaust the forms of chili I create.  My personal favorite is a Tex-Mex-style chili with no beans and shredded beef with beer and tequila and about five different kinds of peppers.
But that’s not what this one is about.
This here is chili my family likes to eat–the rest of my family is of the female persuasion, two-thirds of whom are under twelve. And while my incredible partner will on occasion partake of spicy food, she actually prefers to opt for flavor over heat.  And, I learned years ago from my cooking mentor, a grisly, old Filipino chef of remarkable skills and talent beyond description, any fool can make food blazing hot. That takes no skill, only lots of hot peppers and an oversize ego. Only a great cook can make very hot food that tastes even better than it burns.
So with that in mind, here’s a chili that is gently spicy, but that my young daughters could still eat. After all, what’s the point of making food for dinner that no one will eat?

TURKEY AND BLACK BEAN CHILI

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 1/2 pounds 93/7 ground turkey
6 cloves garlic, minced fine
2 medium sweet (like Vidalia) onions, chopped medium
2 Tbsp. chili powder
2 Tbsp. ground cumin
2 Tbsp. Mexican oregano
2 Tbsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp fine-ground white pepper
8 oz. mild salsa
8 oz. medium salsa
1 bottle Mexican beer
4 oz. good tequila (NEVER, EVER USE CHEAP SPIRITS IN COOKING)
2 pounds skinned, diced tomatoes (I use fresh San Marzano tomatoes I grow and freeze. This equals 2 16-oz. cans)
4 1-pound cans black beans, one mashed completely to a paste.

1 4-ounce can diced green chiles
Fresh cilantro for garnish

Procedure:
1.  Heat an enamel-coated heavy pot over medium-high heat about seven minutes, add half each oil, then
immediately add 4 cloves garlic. Stir until the garlic JUST begins to brown.
2.  Add the turkey and saute until all the pink is gone, using a cooking spoon to chop the turkey to bits as it cooks.
Then drain the meat while you…
3.  Add the rest of the oil and the onions. Reduce the heat to medium and saute the onions until they begin to
soften, about 5-6 minutes. Then add the chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and black and white pepper. Saute
another 3-4 minutes, incorporating the spices into the onions.  Add back the ground meat and mix well.
4.  Add the beer and the tequila to the pot, reduce the heat and simmer until the liquid is reduced by 2/3.
5.  Add both salsas to the pot. Here is one place where you can adjust the heat more to your liking: If you like your
chili hotter, use all medium, or half medium/half hot, or all hot, or all mild, whichever you wish. It’s a good place
to adjust the heat without affecting the flavor. If you try to add cayenne pepper or hot sauce here, you’ll louse
up the flavor.  Be careful at this point.  Blend the ingredients well.
6.  Add the tomatoes and the whole beans and simmer for 30 minutes.  Then add the mashed beans, mix well and
simmer another 30 minutes.
Adjust your salt and pepper to taste.  Garnish the chili in a serving bowl or crock with fresh-chopped cilantro.
Serve with bowls of salsa, chips, shredded cheese (pepper-jack is an excellent choice), sour cream, chopped
scallions, saltines, or any other garnish of your choice.

I find that placing bowls of different salsas on the table is an excellent way to give folks choices of heat in their
chili.  It is my opinion that everyone’s taste in chili differs, and it serves a cook better to give his or her guests
a choice rather than imposing one level of heat to everyone.  The point is to have people enjoy the taste of the
food, not to ooh and ahh your ability to burn their insides.

I haven’t yet put up a chili recipe. I don’t have one that I love enough to stick with, but rather make it up as I go along. I almost always put a bottle of Mexican beer, a few ounces of tequila, and a couple of tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa in my chilis.

But I found this recipe on a website dedicated to the late crime novelist, John D. MacDonald, whose Travis McGee series I am currently in the middle of reading. For those who are interested, MacDonald’s Travis McGee is about the best serial character I’ve run across in mystery fiction–I’ve come to like him more than Spenser or Jesse Stone, Robert B. Parker’s crime heroes.  If you’re interested, check out http://www.home.earthlink.net/~rufener/, and read through the site. If you like hard-boiled crime fiction, this is some of the best.

Travis McGee’s best friend and next-boat-berth neighbor is Meyer, a renowned economist and goldmine of knowledge and insight. With these two characters, the author manages to find a way to say whatever he wants about humankind and the state of the world.

When the urge came upon Meyer he would create a pot of his famous tears-and-gasps-inducing house specialty. It was said to be never the same twice, and not for the faint of palate. Since MacDonald gave us neither a recipe nor helpful hints, we’ll have to make some reasonable assumptions, just as Meyer himself would do in other situations when there were knowledge gaps to be plugged with logical guesses.

There are many versions of Proper Chili, depending on which fanatic is holding forth. Meyer’s chili philosophy would probably favor the relaxed and practical approach – concoct something plentiful and tasty from cheap available ingredients. Never mind those chili-competition semi-pros with their theological arguments over The Current Culinarily Correct Ingredients, such as: “are beans permissible?”, “are tomatoes taboo?”, or, “must the meat be hand cut instead of ground?” and so on.

We are not sure how Chili Con Carne originated, but of the several theories, here is the one that would probably sound right to Meyer. On those long-ago cattle drives to the distant railhead, there would be a chuckwagon with a Mexican cook. They’d select one of the animals and butcher it to feed the crew. Then they would eat their way through the carcass day after day. As the better parts were consumed, the remainder got covered with herbs and spices to keep the flies off and prevent mold. Nearing the end of the trail, there would be just funny little ends of meat left, and of course dried beans and onions and chiles, and all of this went into the pot to make the final meals.

Here is the sort of recipe Meyer might have carried around in his head, ready to be put to use in the galley of his cabin cruiser. First, get out a big pot with a lid. It ought to be heavy cast-iron for both browning and simmering, and ideally the iron should be porcelain-coated. The coating prevents rust while the chili rests overnight, as all good chilis should, to mellow the flavors. If there is room on the galley stove for a second pot, you can cook your own beans and add them whenever they’re done, otherwise canned ones will have to do. Now for the formula (all measurements are casual).

3-3-3-3 CHILI (serves 9-12)

Brown in oil or baconfat 
3 lbs. ground or chopped meat (any kind)
3 largish onions, chopped

Add the following and simmer for about 2-1/2 hours: 
3 lbs. tomatoes (fresh or canned, including juice)
3 lbs. canned beans, pinto or red, drained (or cook 1 lb dry beans)
1, 2 or 3 hot chiles, chopped – for normal, hot, or Meyer-strength
1/3 cup regular chili powder mixture (e.g. Gebhardts or Grandmas)
1 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon paprika (adds color)
2 commercial bay leaves, or 1 wild one

any optional ingredients (see list)
and of course, salt and pepper

 

(Here are some optional ingredients) 
2 or 3 chopped bell peppers, preferably red (highly recommended)
substitute V-8 juice or bloody mary mix for some of the tomatoes
1 or 2 carrots, peeled and shredded
1 or 2 big stalks celery, chopped
raw Mexican-style chorizo
beer or wine for thinning
cornmeal for thickening
vinegar and sugar for more tang

After cooking, refrigerate overnight, remove hardened fat, and reheat.

Before serving, stir in and cook 2 minutes longer:
4 cloves garlic, pressed
1 bunch cilantro, chopped (optional)

Chili is good with toasted garlic bread or warm tortillas. It’s even better with guacamole accompanied by veggie dippers and corn chips.

WARNING: Do not use kidney beans or tomato soup! These are the trademark of the school cafeteria cook! Also, for the customers who don’t think it’s fiery enough, set out Mexican hot sauce, not Tabasco.

Tomatoes

One of the funny, ironic things about cooking and gardening is that some of the best stuff you can grow in the summer and early autumn makes for wonderful–but out of season–soups and stews that are best made in January and February.  To this end, we have taken to growing more tomatoes than we could possibly use in the summertime, and freezing them for use all winter. I grow several varieties, some heirloom, some production-grade, and some eating and slicing tomatoes.  Last year we grew Amish Paste and Brandywine red heirlooms, several Roma plants, One Better Boy (famous as the legendary “Jersey” tomatoes, and a couple of grape tomato varieties.

Our plan for this is to pick tomatoes every day, and when we have enough to fill a 9×13 roasting pan, we make a batch for the freezer.  We do it on an outdoor grill whenever possible. To do this, preheat the grill to 350 degrees; wash and stem the tomatoes; place them in the pan, stem side down, cut a small “X” in the end pointing up, place a couple of sprigs of fresh basil on the tomatoes, and spray them lightly with olive oil spray.  Roast the tomatoes uncovered on a covered grill for 45 minutes, then cover them with foil and allow them to cool to the touch. When cool, pour off any standing water from the pan, being careful not to pour off any tomato juice. Remove the skins from the pan and toss them in the compost pile, and bag the tomatoes in 1-qt. freezer-type ziplock bags, about 1 pound per bag (you ought to get three to four bags from each pan of roasted tomatoes), and place them in the freezer.

The recipe for this post is for an absolutely amazing spicy tomato bisque that will stick to your imagination for weeks after you’ve made it and eaten it.  You’ll need two big pots, but the result is well worth the cleaning time.  Here goes:

SPICY TOMATO BISQUE
Ingredients:
2 pounds fresh or home-frozen tomatoes
1 medium sweet onion
1 Tbsp. good imported paprika (I use Hungarian, but Spanish Paprika is also wonderful. Just use a really good one).
2 Tbsp. lightly-salted butter
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
1 tsp. ground allspice
2 tsp. Kosher salt
1/2 tsp. fine-ground white pepper
2 tsp finely chopped fresh basil
1 cup light cream
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 cup shredded pepper-jack cheese
freshly toasted croutons
fresh chives chopped fine for garnish

Procedure:
1.  SLOWLY (!) caramelize the onion and Paprika in the salted butter until they are soft and deeply golden brown.
2.  While the onions are cooking, strain the tomatoes through a food mill to remove the seeds.
3.  Add  the tomatoes, bay leaf, brown sugar, allspice, salt, pepper, and basil to the onions, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until all the flavors marry, about 25 to 30 minutes, and then turn the heat off and remove the bay leaf.
4.  In a second pot, melt the unsalted butter, then add the flour to make a roux, stirring constantly until the mixture just barely begins to brown.  Add the cream and milk, mix well, and bring to a simmer. Add the tomato soup to the bubbling roux and stir well until the soup begins to thicken.
5.  Ladle the soup in heavy stoneware mugs or bowls, top with a generous helping of pepper jack cheese, cover the cheese with five or six croutons, top the whole thing with a pinch of fresh chives, and serve immediately with a nice hot loaf of artisan bread.

This is a memorable soup that you will want to make over and over again, and is best using your own tomatoes. If you are going to use store-bought tomatoes, don’t use just one variety.  Mix up some Italian plum and big slicing tomatoes for the soup.  If you are going to use store-bought tomatoes, roast them first a day ahead or early in the day, and make sure to remove the skins.  This is a lot of work, and is why I use my own roasted tomatoes.

This recipe will also be memorable with canned tomatoes IF you use San Marzano tomatoes.  I’ve spoken of them before. They should be the only canned tomatoes you buy.

Try this recipe if you’re looking to make soup on a cold winter Sunday.

Sauteed-Spinach

Kids won’t eat their vegetables? Mine wouldn’t.  Not my 26-year-old, not my 10-going-on-30-year-old, not my nine, either.   What to do?

The answer came to me in the form of a challenge. When I was working as a line chef in the market in South Beach, the boss came in one day and challenged each one of us to come up with a totally new dish, unlike anything we’d been serving. One chef came up with completely new take on mac and cheese, another produced a remarkable hot-sour soup, and a third produced a recipe for Polynesian chicken that is still one of the faves in the market today, 35 years later (I’ll put that one up another time. I served it at my church when we made a welcoming dinner for the new ministers).

But I digress.

Vegetables.  Ewwww……

What I produced was a sautéed spinach dish that had tons of garlic, a red-sauce reduction, prosciutto, fresh oregano, and Parmesan cheese, and the result was spectacular.  I experimented at home, and kept working the recipe until my son, a devoted PB&J’er, not only ate a whole plateful, but asked for more, and requested that I put it in the regular rotation at home.  A success!

It’s easy to make, and uses ingredients you likely have at home already. Except the spinach and the prosciutto.  I’ve kept working the recipe, because good prosciutto is expensive and cheap prosciutto isn’t worth the price it commands. I’ve made it with pancetta, hickory-smoked bacon, back bacon, Canadian bacon—even turkey bacon.  I find that to me it tastes best with pancetta, but I have found that turkey bacon is actually a pretty good substitution.  And since we don’t eat mammals around here anymore, turkey bacon is the condiment du jour  Also, because really good Parmesan is more valuable than oil these days, I’ve come to accept and use the shredded Parmesan cheese sold in bags in the refrigerator section. The package says 100% Parmesan. Really?

But if you really want to discover what the true gold tastes like, make it once with the true ingredients listed here—Parmesano Reggiano,  pancetta or prosciutto, lightly chopped fresh oregano (you do grow your own herbs, don’t you?  Why not?  It’s too easy not to).

Here’s the scoop:

South Beach Spinach Milanese

Ingredients:

1 lb. fresh (and I mean FRESH!!) spinach, stemmed and deveined
1 slice pancetta or 2 thin slices prosciutto, chopped fine
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 Tbsp. olive oil (use good oil for this recipe PLEASE!)
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh oregano (or 2 tsp dried)
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil (or 2 tsp. dried)
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley (or 2 tsp. dried)
2 red plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup shredded Parmesano Reggiano

Procedure:
1.  Buy your spinach from a farm market. Thank goodness for the Stoners at Central Market.  Wash it at least twice.
2.  Make sure the spinach is as dry as possible. I wrap it in lots of paper towels and keep it in the fridge for 2 hours.
3.  Chop the spinach leaves to about three-inch square pieces. Set aside.
4.  Heat a wok or large heavy saute’ pan, add just a pinch of olive oil and the chopped pancetta, saute until crisp.
5.  Add the rest of the olive oil and the garlic, saute the garlic for 30 seconds, then add the herbs. Saute 30 seconds more.
6.  Add the chopped tomatoes to the pan and stir-fry just until the tomato moisture is reduced  away.
7.  Add the spinach to the mixture and toss well to coat with the ingredients already in the pan.
DON’T OVER COOK THE SPINACH HERE. ALL IT NEEDS TO DO IS WILT AND GET COATED WITH THE SAUCE.
8.  Grind in some fresh black pepper, then add 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese and stir quickly to melt the cheese.

Plate the spinach and sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.
Serve this immediately.  And sit back and watch.

ShrimpPadThai

One of my very favorite foods is Pad Thai.  I buy a small container for lunch every time I go to Central Market in downtown Lancaster.  It’s a wonderful comfort food for me, sweet, salty, a little bit spicy–it just makes me feel warm all over.  So, I’ve been searching high and low for an easy, make-at-home Pad Thai, and I think I’ve found it, thanks to a couple of different versions featured at different times on the Food Network.  What I’ve done here is synthesized three different versions into one that, when I made it the other night for dinner, elicited rave reviews from the harshest food critics I know–my children.
The key to whipping up marvelous Pad Thai–it takes only minutes to assemble, assuming you have the necessary ingredients laying around–is preparation and planning.   If you have everything on hand, you could actually create a pretty good Pad Thai on the spur of the moment, but if you want it to be spectacular, plan ahead. Know on Sunday that you’d like to have it for dinner on Friday night, and do the advance work on a schedule.  The advance work takes only minutes at a time, but the end result is well worth the effort, and your eaters will devour the end product.
Pad Thai is a dish you can make over and over again, and family will never tire of it (unless it becomes an every night thing; and that might be a problem of its own), but to do so means having a few key ingredients in the cupboard:  rice noodles, rice vinegar, Chinese five-spice powder, fish sauce, and tamarind paste (all available at any Asian market); and extra-firm tofu (not the silken kind).  These are things I like to have around anyway (except the tamarind paste, which I can pick up when I need it at a local market).  And bean sprouts.  Bean sprouts can be problematic if purchased in grocery stores, so by planning ahead, you can actually grow your own in a jar.  That’s part of the magic of this dish.  At the end of this post, I’ll add the instructions for growing your own sprouts.  Again, worth the effort.

This is going to look like a lot of stuff and a lot of work, but it’s really not. The whole dish will come together in a few minutes once the ingredients are set up and ready.

Here’s the Pad Thai recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
4 oz. medium-thick rice noodles
2 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. sugar (if you can find it, try palm sugar)
2 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. fish sauce
1 oz. tamarind paste (optional, but it makes a wonderful difference in the flavor)
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. peanut oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten with a pinch of kosher salt
1 lb. peeled, deveined shrimp (I like 26-31 shrimp for this dish)
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
4 cloves garlic, chopped fine
2 shallots, sliced thin (optional, but a wonderful addition)
6 oz. marinated extra-firm tofu, cubed (recipe follows, along with the bean sprouts instructions)
4 scallions, including the white parts, chopped on a bias
3/4 cup mung bean sprouts
1 Tbsp sesame seed oil
1/3 cup chopped salted peanuts
lime wedges
chopped fresh cilantro

PROCEDURE:
In the morning:  Wrap  the tofu in a tea towel and place in an 8-inch cake pan, cover with a plate, and place a 5-pound weight on top of the plate (a bag of sugar? A bag of flour? If you use one of these, seal it in a plastic bag first). Refrigerate until you are ready to start cooking.

1.  Marinate the tofu (see instructions below).
2.  Place the tamarind paste in a cup and cover with 3/4 cup boiling water, and set aside a while.
3.  Combine the fish sauce, sugar, and vinegar in a bowl and whisk until the sugar dissolves.
4.  Put the noodles in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Soak for 25-30 minutes.  Drain and set aside.
5.  Press the tamarind paste through a fine-mesh strainer, add to the sauce and blend well.
6.  Heat a wok or large saute pan over high heat without oil
7.  When the pan is hot, add 1 tbsp. peanut oil, immediately stir fry the shrimp until just pink. Remove and keep warm.
8.  Add another Tbsp. oil, and 2/3 of the scallion, garlic, shallots, and pepper flakes, and stir rapidly for 30 seconds.
9.  Add the eggs and scramble until they just begin to set.
10. Add the following ingredients, in order, and toss once or twice to mix:  tofu, sauce, noodles, and then mix well.
11. Add the shrimp back in, and half the chopped peanuts.
12. Add the bean sprouts and sesame oil, stir once, and turn off the heat.
13. Pour into a serving dish or prepare to serve right in the cooking pan.
14. Sprinkle the top with the remaining scallion and peanuts, serve immediately with lime wedges and chopped cilantro. For an interesting variation, add 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil to the dish before serving, and skip the cilantro.

You can also use up stuff from the vegetable drawer.  When I made it, I added bias-cut sugar-snap peas and some shredded carrot at the same time I put the shrimp back in the pan.

Enjoy!!!

MARINATED TOFU
You can use tofu right out of the package, but drain it first. This way is better:
30 minutes before you need to use the tofu, place the pressed tofu in a 2-cup  container. Combine 1 1/2 cups dark soy sauce and 1 tsp. five-spice powder, and pour over the tofu. Cover and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Remove from the bowl and chop into cubes (or matchsticks).

MAKE YOUR OWN BEAN SPROUTS
This is so simple it hurts. It takes about 4 days, so if you plan to use sprouts in the Pad Thai, plan ahead, but use them fresh and use them all.  Keep an empty, cleaned 1 qt. mayonnaise jar for sprouting, along with a 8×8 piece of cheesecloth or wash a piece of pantyhose.
Thoroughly wash 1/3 cup of mung beans (available at health-food stores and some Asian markets) in cold water until the water runs clear.  Then place in the jar with 16 oz. of warm–but not hot–water. Soak overnight, for 8-12 hours, drain thoroughly. Cover the jar with 2 layers of cheesecloth or the piece of pantyhose and a rubber band. Set the jar on its side, shake a little bit to distribute the seeds evenly in the jar, and set aside out of the way, in reasonably low light but not in the dark.  Every 12 hours or so, add 2 cups of cool water to the jar, slosh it around a little bit, and then drain the water out thoroughly. This little procedure will take about five minutes, but fresh bean sprouts are worth the effort.  In somewhere between three and five days, your sprouts will be ready, depending on the temperature in your house and how big or small you like the sprouts. If you are planning the Pad Thai for Friday dinner, I suggest starting the sprouts on Sunday night.  If they get to the size you want before you are ready to cook, remove them from the jar, drain thoroughly on paper towels, wrap them up in fresh paper towels, and store them in the vegetable drawer of your fridge until you are ready to use them.
Wash the jar well and keep it handy for the next time.

I’ve got a salad. It’s a pasta salad. It’s an incredible pasta salad. It’s a cold pasta salad with spinach and feta cheese, and it’s maybe the best cold pasta salad you’ve ever eaten (well maybe next to the cold sesame noodle salad I call “Vicki’s Noodles”, found way back earlier on this blog.  In the meantime, this is the easiest salad I’ve ever made–I always make it when someone tells me to “bring a side dish,” and every time I make it, the bowl comes home empty. I made it again on the Fourth of July for a family picnic we hosted (or should I say, my sweet A hosted–it was entirely her idea), and I swear I caught someone licking the bowl.  Try this one on if you’re looking for something quick and sensational:

Ingredients:
1 bag (8 oz.) baby spinach leaves or 1/2 pound good fresh spinach, stems removed
1 lb. cheese tortellini
8 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup dark balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (use the good stuff for this recipe)
1 tsp freshly-ground black pepper

Procedure:

1.  Prepare the tortellini as directed on the package. Immediately submerse the cooked pasta in ice water and let it bathe at least a half hour. Drain the tortellini and let it sit in the colander until the pasta is really dry.
2.  Wash and rinse the spinach copiously until ALL the sand is gone unless you’ve purchased fresh spinach from Elmer’s stand at Central Market (Elmer’s spinach is always clean and fresh, but l still wash the spinach again). For this recipe, I use a bag of pre-washed baby spinach leaves, and I am thoroughly satisfied.
3. IMMEDIATELY BEFORE SERVING (I mean this!!!), place the tortellini and spinach in a very large bowl, add the crumbled feta cheese and toss well to mix.
4.  Add the balsamic vinegar and black pepper (I’m addicted to good, freshly ground black pepper, so I use more than the recipe calls for) and toss again to coat the salad.
5.  Then add the olive oil and toss again, to coat everything beautifully.
6.  Serve immediately, and then stand out of the way. You might get knocked down in the rush.

This is a chili recipe I often use to enter chili-cook-off contests.  It’s a bit different than what you normally think of as chili, but it’s every bit a chili recipe.  It’s loaded with chiles, chili powder, cumin, and cilantro, and it’s surprisingly good for a chili with no tomatoes.  Imagine, a white chili that is spicy and robust, and goes great with beer or root beer or lemonade or tequila or whatever beverage you favor.  Try this.  You’ll love it.

Ingredients:
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite-sized chunks
3 15.5-oz cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
16 oz. chicken or vegetable broth
2 4.5 oz. cans chopped green chiles
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
4 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander
¾ teaspoon dried oregano

1 Tbsp hot chili powder 1 teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground white pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves]
¼ teaspoon ground Cayenne pepper

Preparation:
1.    Sauté onions and garlic in oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat.  Add chicken and brown, 5 minutes.

2.    Add the remaining ingredients and cook on lowest temperature 4-6 hours.  Uncover and cook 1 hour longer, stirring occasionally.

This recipe is mildly spicy.  If you want to “kick it up a notch,” double the cumin, sub hot chili powder for regular chili powder, and double the green chiles.  And/or add Tabasco Green Jalapeno sauce to taste.

You’ve got to try this one.

We have a load of tomatoes in our freezer, tomatoes we grew last season.  I’ve talked before about keeping tomatoes, and in a day or two, because of a change in my writing schedule, I will do a discourse on tomatoes.  Suffice it to say that the following recipe will be better if you make this with a sauce you make yourself from tomatoes you grew yourself. Come back for that discussion in a day or two.       But for the moment, here’s a story:       I came home from work the other day, and the house smelled absolutely incredible.  It was like there was a barbecue party going on, which I knew couldn’t be the case, since it was about 50 degrees outside, and we really don’t party much anyway.  To my delight, I discovered that the wonderful fragrance assaulting me was that I was in the presence of something special–pulled barbecue sandwiches, something we hadn’t done before, and wasn’t I thrilled!  Well the reality of the sandwiches was even better than the promise when I hit the door.      To my additional delight, thanks to the good folks at EatingWell.com, these sandwiches were even healthy (especially if you skip the bread, but served on really good artisan rolls, one just has to do the sandwich.  And even better, you make this one in the crock pot. Just dump the ingredients in the pot, turn the knob to low, and go to work. What you come home to will warm your heart (and your throat and belly if you make it spicy).  You could even substitute pork for the chicken if you want to go all the way to barbecue heaven, but if you do, make plenty and invite friends. You’ll win hearts with this one.

Here’s what you need:

1   8-oz. can tomato sauce

2. 4-oz. can chopped green chiles, drained

3   Tbsp. cider vinegar

2   Tbsp. honey

1 Tbsp. smoked paprika

1 Tbsp sweet paprika

1   Tbsp. tomato paste

1   Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

2 Tbsp. Liquid Smoke

2  tsp. dry mustard

2  tsp. ground chipotle chili (you can get this at most better grocery stores)

1   tsp. kosher salt

3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat

1 small onion, chopped fine

3 clove garlic, minced

Here’s what you do:

1.  Stir the first 11 ingredients (tomato sauce through salt) in a large slow-cooker pot until smooth.

2.  Add chicken, onion, and garlic, stir to combine.

3.  Cover the pot and cook on low until the chicken can be pulled apart easily (about 5 -6 hours).

4.  Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and shred with forks.

5.  Return the chicken to the sauce, stir well, rest, covered, 30-60 minutes (important).

6. Serve over hard rolls with Tequila-lime slaw, on or beside the BBQ. * See note…⬇️

Per serving, this is only (get this!!!) 184 calories per serving and only 8 grams of carbs (not counting the bread). This represents just 1/2 serving of carbs. Eat well!

Source:  EatingWell.com

NOTE: https://jeffskitchen.net/2019/06/16/tequila-lime-and-cilantro-cole-slaw/