Lamb Chops

This idea came from a really old Gourmet or Bon Appetit magazine.  I have a file folder full of recipes I've cut out of newspapers and magazines over the years.  Every now and again I go through it and throw out the ones I know I will never cook.  This one has been there for a while, so I thought I may as well make it!  And I'm rather glad I did!

The recipe itself is really simple - 1/3 cup rinsed capers, zest of 1 orange, and a couple cloves of garlic all chopped together, placed on top of the chop, and then cooked.

The original recipe called for making the topping, putting it on one side of the chop, and then frying it - topping down - in a non-stick skillet.   Since I don't own a non-stick skillet (other than my egg pan) I thought it might be better to top them, brown the bottom in the skillet, and then finish them off under the broiler.

It worked rather well.

As soon as they went into the oven, the house started smelling of orange.  It was great.  And the flavors went perfectly with the medium-rare lamb.

Two new recipes in two days!  I think I may have to grill tomorrow...  I cleaned the grill yesterday for the first time in far too long - take apart and completely clean the interior clean - and it's calling for something fun!

Stay tuned...


Fancy Baked Potatoes

I was perusing the latest issue of Cooking Light magazine the other day and saw several recipes with potatoes.  Potatoes are fun, versatile, good for you... and I tend to cook them the same 4 ways all of the time.  One in particular caught my eye - Cajun-Stuffed Potatoes.  I had some andouille sausage in the 'fridge that needed cooking.  Cajun potatoes was just the side I was looking for.

Of course I changed the recipe around completely, so, while it had its roots in Cooking Light, the end result was what I had at home.  That's fairly typical of most of my cooking.  I get an idea somewhere and then rework it according to what's in the 'fridge or cupboards - or what I'm in the mood for.  With a few notable exceptions, I just don't follow recipes well.

Here's the Cooking Light recipe with my changes at the end...

Cooking Light Cajun-Stuffed Potatoes

Ingredients

  • 6 medium Yukon gold or small baking potatoes (about 3 pounds)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion
  • 3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
  • 3/4 cup (6 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
  • 2 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
  • 1 1/2 pounds frozen cooked crawfish meat, thawed

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Pierce potatoes with a fork; brush with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Bake at 450° for 50 minutes or until tender. Remove potatoes from oven; cool slightly. Cut potatoes in half lengthwise, and scoop pulp out of skins, leaving a 1/4-inch-thick shell. Place pulp in a large bowl; coarsely mash pulp.

3. Preheat broiler to high.

4. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add remaining 5 teaspoons oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion, bell pepper, and celery to pan; sauté for 4 minutes. Add garlic and next 4 ingredients (through red pepper); sauté 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add cheese, butter, and herbs, stirring until smooth.

5. Stir cheese mixture and crawfish into potato pulp. Place 1/2 cup crawfish mixture in each potato shell. Arrange stuffed potatoes on a baking sheet. Broil for 5 minutes or until browned.

First thing was I only baked two potatoes, so I adjusted all of the ingredients, accordingly.

I used frozen, pre-cooked langostino in place of the crayfish and a combination of shredded cheddar and parmesan cheeses in place of the reduced fat cream cheese.  I used red bell pepper instead of green, and omitted the onion powder and the oregano.  I used cayenne pepper and only used a dash.  A shot of Tabasco would have been good, in hindsight.

They really came out good!  They were not overpowering in flavor, which was nice.  They were rich and flavorful and complimented the andouille and chicken saute without competing with it.

The lesson, here, is that you don't need to have every single thing in a recipe or follow one exactly to have a great outcome.

I see a few more variations on a theme in our future...

 


Stuffed Cabbage

I have mentioned on more than one occasion that Victor is not a fan of cooked cabbage, so imagine my surprise when he told me he was making me Stuffed Cabbage for dinner tonight!  He said it was his thank you for my painting the bathroom while he was in Dallas.

I really do enjoy coming up with little projects when he travels - especially since he really doesn't travel all that much - but to be treated with a dish he normally wouldn't go near is above  and beyond the call of marriage.  That, boys and girls, is love!

The recipe he found was from The Barefoot Contessa.  Ina is a fun cook and we can usually count on liking what she does.  This recipe really had it all - a sweet-and-savory perfectly-balanced sauce of tomatoes, red wine vinegar, brown sugar, and raisins with a mildly-seasoned beef and rice filling.  Victor's addition was a bit of red pepper flakes to add a bit of heat.

Stuffed Cabbage

Ina Garten

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons good olive oil
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
  • 2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes and their juice
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 large head Savoy or green cabbage, including outer leaves

For the filling:

  • 2 1/2 pounds ground chuck
  • 3 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onions
  • 1/2 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 cup uncooked white rice
  • 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

For the sauce, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onions, and cook over medium-low heat for 8 minutes, until the onions are translucent. Add the tomatoes, vinegar, brown sugar, raisins, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Remove the entire core of the cabbage with a paring knife. Immerse the head of cabbage in the boiling water for a few minutes, peeling off each leaf with tongs as soon as it s flexible. Set the leaves aside. Depending on the size of each leaf, you will need at least 14 leaves.

For the filling, in a large bowl, combine the ground chuck, eggs, onion, breadcrumbs, rice, thyme, salt, and pepper. Add 1 cup of the sauce to the meat mixture and mix lightly with a fork.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

To assemble, place 1 cup of the sauce in the bottom of a large Dutch oven. Remove the hard triangular rib from the base of each cabbage leaf with a small paring knife. Place 1/3 to 1/2 cup of filling in an oval shape near the rib edge of each leaf and roll up toward the outer edge, tucking the sides in as you roll. Place half the cabbage rolls, seam sides down, over the sauce. Add more sauce and more cabbage rolls alternately until you ve placed all the cabbage rolls in the pot. Pour the remaining sauce over the cabbage rolls. Cover the dish tightly with the lid and bake for 1 hour or until the meat is cooked and the rice is tender. Serve hot.

It was just the perfect meal.  I ate two of them and then sopped up every last drop of sauce with a slice of rustic Italian bread.  I could have easily been sated with one, but it was so good I had to go for it.

Just delish.

But as good as it was, what was even more fun was watching Victor eat it and actually enjoy it!

Will wonders ever cease?  We certainly hope not!


Bachelor Meals

I really do hate just cooking for myself.  it's just not a lot of fun.  And with Victor in Dallas for a week, the urge to live on hot dogs and chili burgers is ever-present.  I decided I needed to come up with something quick and easy to head off the bad habits.

So...  when I got home yesterday, I cooked up a vat of vegetable beef soup.  Definitely enough to keep me going for a few days.  Healthy, reasonably low-calorie, and really chock full of vegetables.  And...  since Victor isn't here, I was able to chop up a head of cabbage and add that to it.  I love cabbage, but, sadly, Victor does not.  Fortunately, he has other redeeming values...  But, really...  he doesn't like (cooked) cabbage.

Oh well.

The soup has been perfect since I've been spending time with the bathroom renovation.  Just paint and a bit of redecorating, but it's amazing the amount of time it takes...  The actual painting wasn't bad, it's all the detail work.  I even broke down and painted the linen closet - which meant emptying it out, going through everything, seeing what should be tossed...I refinished the old wood wall cabinet and the wood shelf.  I have a vision for the shelf, but I'm just not clever enough to make what I want.  I'll find it one of these days.

And then there's the rest of the decorations - or trying to find what I had in mind.  Since we have a 1950 ranch home with 1950 bathroom tile, I thought kinda going with a '50s theme would be fun.  Well...  It probably would if I could find the right stuff for the walls.  Alas, I haven't had a lot of luck.  My original goal was to have it 100% complete by Friday night when Victor got home.  I now think that it can be a work-in-progress and we'll just find things as we go along.

It's fresh, clean, and uncluttered.  That's not a bad thing...

Before

After

Notice how the color of the tile has changed since the green is gone...


The Last Supper

Victor leaves for Dallas tomorrow morning.  That means my bad-habit-bachelor-eating will probably commence right about the time the plane is taxiing down the runway.

It's tradition.  Victor leaves town, I eat chili dogs.

Okay... to be fair, I don't only eat chili dogs, but my diet does seem to suffer a bit when he's gone.  It's just not as much fun just cooking for myself as it is for the two of us.  I take the path of least resistance - and dirty dishes.

So to commemorate our last decent meal together, Victor cooked up a wicked-good shrimp scampi. Wicked-Good.

Scampi is not an overly- difficult dish to prepare.  The biggest thing is just not overcooking the shrimp.

Tonight, he started off by lightly sauteing the shrimp in a bit of olive oil and garlic.  When it was about 3/4 cooked, he pulled it out of the pan.  Into the pan went some mushrooms, and then white wine, peas, and a healthy pinch of crushed red pepper flakes.  When the peas were heated through, he added a pat of butter to smooth out the sauce, and then added the shrimp to finish cooking.  A minute later, he served it over rice.

Probably 10 minutes, start-to-finish.  The rice took longer to cook than the main plate.

It really was good.  Extra large shrimp, wine, mushrooms...   And juuuuust spicy enough.  How could it be bad?!?

At least this time around I'll be eating homemade chili and not something out of a can.  I made a big batch a few weeks ago and froze a bunch in anticipation of the trip.  And since I'm not taking time off work to do wild projects around the house, I'll actually have access to more than just hot dogs.

Like ice cream.


A Simple Stir Fry

My thought process was to make a bit of a pepper steak for dinner.  I had a couple of red peppers that needed using up and had pulled a piece of round steak out to thaw before work...  When I opened the cupboard to start dinner, I saw a bottle of Wegmans Asian Sauce.  I had picked it up a while ago without any real plans for it.  Pepper Steak became a Stir Fry.  It seemed like the perfect no-brainer meal.

I thin-sliced the round steak and sauteed it with celery, carrots, red peppers, mushrooms... and then went in about a half-bottle of the sauce.  It wasn't bad...  It just wasn't all that great.  It really lacked spice.  I should have added some sambal oelek to it - but I didn't.  Since there's still a half-bottle in the 'fridge, I'll know better for next time.

The ingredients are good - no artificial garbage and no high fructose corn syrup  - but as I find with almost all bottled sauces, they're made for a much meeker consumer.  I rather like bold flavors and lots of heat and spice, and don't like it when there's an abundance of sweet without an abundance of savory.

It's usually easier just to throw something together than to spend the time doctoring up a bottle of something, but who knows...  maybe I'll give it another shot.


Stuffed Pork Chops and Rice-A-Roni

Okay...  It wasn't the real San Francisco Treat® Rice-A-Roni®.  It was a Faux Roni.  I'm the only San Francisco treat in our house.

And while the Faux Roni was good, the real stars of the show were the pork chop.  They were real goodies!

For the stuffing, I sauteed a shallot in a drizzle of olive oil.  Next went a couple of chopped mushrooms.  When they were browned, I added a splash of red wine - literally a splash - and then a few handfuls of arugula. After it all cooked down, I pulled it off the heat and added a handful of grated parmesan cheese.

I slit 2 one-inch-thick pork chops and made pockets.  Into the pockets went the stuffing.  They went into the oven at 350° for 20 minutes.

It was a great combination.

I added a bit of pepper to the filling but didn't need any salt.  I also stuffed them more than I really needed to, but it was worth it.  It really went well with the chop.

For the Fax Roni I sauteed a half-cup of orzo and a half-cup of rice in a bit of butter.  I added a bit of garlic powder, salt & Pepper, and then about a cup and a half of chicken broth, brought it to a boil, and then simmered it for about 20 minutes.

Just like mama used to make.

 


Tulips in the Garden...

Tulips in the garden

Tulips in the Park

But the Tulips I like best

Are the Two Lips in the dark.

I don't remember the first time I heard my father say that little ditty, but I do know that I heard it so many times - along with his dozen or so of other corny jokes and sayings - that when there are but a few dozen brain cells left in this poor old head, they will be the ones taking up the space.

Seriously.  I can't look at tulips without thinking of it.  I can't get into an elevator without thinking of his midget joke.  Or see a keg of beer and not think of his light beer story.

And now, when you look at tulips, you'll probably remember that you heard the silliest little rhyme about them...

Pop lives on...

I was thinking of Pop earlier toady when I kinda flashed back on Valentine's Days of my youth.  To say that my father spoiled my mother would be a bit of an understatement.  When she got up on Valentine's Day, there would be a pile of gifts awaiting her on the kitchen table.  See's chocolates, flowers, a new outfit or two (my father bought a lot of my mothers clothes.  He had impeccable taste when it came to what she would like and what looked good on her.)  Her birthday, Mother's Day, their Anniversary... Mountains of gifts and sappy cards signed "RJ."  Of course she saved every one...

They had their differences and they had their rocky moments, but my father appreciated her and knew how hard she worked keeping the house and six kids together while he was gone for his 24 hour fire department shifts and then off at his second job - because being a San Francisco Fire Fighter alone wouldn't pay the bills.

A pile of gifts was only fitting - and he had as much fun buying them and we had as much fun watching her open them as she did. And he kept it up for the remainder of their 53 year marriage.

It's funny the things you remember.

It's also funny the habits you pick up.  We finally had to call a gift-moratorium a few years ago because we were doing the same thing to each other.  When we each bought the exact same ice cream maker - color, brand, and style - one Christmas (after stating no single-use appliances) we knew it was time to stop.

So while the urge is still there to buy out the store, a couple dozen tulips with a ditty by Pop, and a nice dinner is more in keeping with reality.

And a nice dinner, it was.

Pork tenderloin, twice-baked sweet potatoes, and brussels sprouts.

I sliced the tenderloin into six steaks and marinated them in buttermilk, garlic, salt and pepper.  I then breaded them with panko breadcrumbs and fried them in a bit of olive oil.

The twice-baked sweets were really good.  After baking them, I scooped them out and mixed the potato with a bit of sour cream, cheddar cheese, and bacon bits.  Back into the oven they went for about 15 minutes.

The brussels sprouts just got a bit of butter, salt, and pepper.

Fun memories, a yummy dinner, and more of last night's cake later for dessert with the best guy on the planet.

I'd say it was a successful Valentine's Day.


Pear Pecan Buttermilk Upside Down Cake

This cake has an interesting history.  Unfortunately, I don't remember it, very well.

I got the original recipe from a woman I worked with - somewhere.  I remember her, I just don't remember where it was we worked.  Her name is escaping me but I can see her face.  She worked in payroll/accounting.

I just don't remember which payroll/accounting office.  It's not exactly surprising, I guess.  In trying to narrow it down, I realized I have worked for 11 different companies since 1976 when I first started with Hyatt.  (I'm not counting the 9 jobs I had prior to that - or my military service...)

That's quite a few jobs - and it gets even crazier when you realize how many hotels 14 of those years accounted for.  All over the USofA.  I dealt with a lot of Payroll Departments.

And I just remembered.  The Westin Indianapolis.  The last hotel I ever worked for.  She brought the cake in for something - a birthday, something, and I got the recipe.  She had made it in a 9"x13" pan but said she made it as a layer cake, as well and as a pineapple upside down cake.  At least, I think so.  When I first remember looking at the recipe, I had scribbled illegible notes all over it - the kind of notes that only make sense that instant you put them to paper.  The moment you look up, the meaning is gone.

I have played with the recipe a bit over the years.  I've made it as an 8" layer cake and as a 9"x13" cake.  I've made it as a single-layer 10" cake.

Today was as an upside down cake.

But not just any ol' pineapple upside down cake.  Something different.

The cake itself is extremely tender and light - as one would expect from buttermilk - and I wanted a light topping to go along with it.  I had a single pear and I had just bought pecans.  The concept was there.

I also thought brown sugar was more overpowering than I was looking for, today, although it would have been a fine alternative to the white sugar I used.  I also didn't add any additional spices to the topping - this time.

The cake, itself, is just so good I don't think you could screw it up with any topping.

Pear Pecan Buttermilk Upside Down Cake

  • 1 1/2 cubes butter
  • 2 1/3 cups cake flour
  • 1 1/3 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tbsp Cointreau
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup pecans, chopped
  • 1 pear, cubed
  • 1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter 10" pan. Line with parchment and butter parchment.

Mix pecans, pear cubes and sugar.  Sprinkle onto bottom of pan.

Sift dry ingredients. Cream butter and sugar until light. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla and Cointreau.

Mix in flour and buttermilk in three additions.  Spread over pears and pecans. (Batter is thick.)

Bake about 1 hour, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool about 10 minutes in pan and then remove to plate.  Cool completely.

I'm going to have to keep this one towards the top of the recipe pile.  I forgot how much I like it - and how easy it is to make!

And I think next time a coconutty topping like from a German's Chocolate Cake might really be good.

So many desserts, so little time...


Monday Mash-Up

I have been remiss in my blogging.  All of these pictures of all of these meals have been languishing away on a camera chip.

That just won't do!

I've been channeling my energies into a couple of other websites, designing one and working on a re-design of another.  It's fun, but it can keep me away from the other fun stuff if I don't watch myself.

It certainly hasn't kept me from cooking, though.

The above picture is really thick pork chops.  I bought a whole loin and cut thick chops, a roast, and some pieces for a carne asada or pozole.  Vacuum-sealed and into the freezer.   I ♥ my vacuum sealer.

The chops were marinated in white wine (Pino Grigio) and a bit of olive oil, garlic, and Greek oregano.  I browned themn in a skillet and then into a 350° oven for about 20 minutes.

The potatoes were cut in half, rubbed with olive oil, garlic, and paprika and went into the same oven - also for 20 minutes.

Real good.

Friday saw a small filet roast with more oven-roasted potatoes.  But these potatoes had a twist - a cheesy twist.

After the potatoes were done - roasted at 350° with olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper for 20 minutes - I placed them in a bowl and mixed in chunks of Cambozola cheese until it was melted and the potatoes were cheesy-gooey!  Oh yum.

Cambozola is a blue brie, for all intents and purposes.  It's name is a combination of Camembert and Gorgonzola.  It is a rich, triple-cream cheese with a silky texture and a mild blue flavor.  Oh yum, indeed.

Today's lunch was a simple sandwich; ham, turkey, bacon, fontina cheese, and arugula on whole wheat.  I would have loved a thick slice of tomato on it but...  I rarely buy tomatoes this time of year and I most definitely will not buy a Florida tomato.  I read Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit . You should, too.  It is an excellent book.

But I digress...

After lunch, I baked another loaf of bread and then put a pot roast on to simmer.

I really like the rye, buckwheat, and white flour combination of this dough.  I'll be making more of this, for sure.

And it was the perfect vehicle to sop up the gravy from tonight's Pot Roast!

This is by far, the easiest pot roast in the known universe.  Brown your roast, add 1 chopped onion, brown it with a couple of cloves of minced garlic, add 1 cup of red wine (I used a very nice Merlot,)  and then add a quart of roasted red pepper and tomato soup.  Cover and simmer a couple of hours.  45 minutes before serving, add potatoes, carrots,, and celery.  Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper, as required.

Seriously easy.  And seriously good.

And just because we were dessertless, after taking the bread out of the oven I made a buttermilk cake.

If it tastes half as good as it looks, I'll be really pleased.


Veal, Mushroom, and Red Pepper Goulash

I've been home for a couple of days with another cold.  Ugh.  While it doesn't seem to be as nasty as the last one, it's just good manners to not go to work and spread it amongst the co-workers.

I've been a good boy and have been drinking my liquids and eating lots of homemade chicken soup.  LOTS of homemade chicken soup. Feed a cold, feed a fever, I always say.

Tonight, I needed something other than chicken soup.

I had some veal stew meat so I went looking for something a bit different.  I stopped by the Epicurious web site and found a recipe for a veal, mushroom, and red pepper goulash.  I had the ingredients, so I thought I'd give it a try.

For those of you who have never been to Epicurious, the comments on the recipes are worth the visit, alone.  Some of the most obnoxious and pretentious "cooks" in the world feel it their duty to let the rest of the world know just how wonderful they are.  I especially like people who go on about how they made a dish completely different that the recipe - used different ingredients, cooking methods, you name it - and then state that the recipe sucked and they will never make it again.  HELLO?!?  You didn't make it in the first place!  Or rate a recipe with one fork - their equivalent of "star" - without ever making the recipe at all, because real Hungarian Goulash would never have a tablespoon of tomato paste in it! Really. (The recipe never stated it was "Hungarian.")

And, of course the "...Since my boyfriend is a chef, he suggested that I use boudon blanc sausage ..." or in a classic Beef Wellington recipe "If you wish to lighten it up a bit, use phyllo dough instead of puff pastry ..."  Uh...  if you're worried about those four calories in your slice of Beef Wellington, perhaps you should make something else?!?  In my not so humble opinion, classic recipes should be made as intended.

This particular recipe had its share of detractors, but it looked good and I had the ingredients on hand.  I wasn't leaving the house.

One of the things that really caught me was the introduction where the author said they always served it with egg noodles mixed with sour cream and dill!  I was fairly enthralled with that idea.  In all my years of cooking, I don't think I ever tossed egg noodles with sour cream before topping it with something.

And after doing it tonight, I see many more dishes where I will use the idea!  It was really yummy!

Veal, Mushroom, and Red Pepper Goulash

Gourmet | October 2000

We like this stew with egg noodles (12 ounces of dried pasta), cooked and tossed with two tablespoons of reduced-fat sour cream and a quarter cup of chopped fresh dill.

Yield: Makes 6 servings

Active Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 2 1/4 hr

ingredients

  • 1/2 oz dried mushrooms
  • 2 1/2 cups hot water
  • 1 1/4 lb boneless veal shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 3 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1 large onion, halved and sliced lengthwise 1/4 inch thick
  • 2 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika
  • 1 teaspoon tomato paste
  • 2 red bell peppers
  • 1 lb fresh cremini mushrooms, trimmed and halved (quartered if large)

preparation

Soak dried mushrooms in hot water until softened, about 30 minutes.

Remove mushrooms from liquid, reserving it, and rinse mushrooms. Squeeze out excess moisture and coarsely chop. Pour reserved liquid through a paper towel–lined sieve into a bowl to remove grit. Return mushrooms to liquid.

Pat veal dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a 4- to 5-quart heavy pot over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then brown veal in batches. Transfer as browned to a bowl.

Add 1 teaspoon oil and onion to pot and cook over moderately low heat, stirring frequently, until softened. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in flour and paprika and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Whisk in soaked mushrooms with liquid, scraping up any brown bits, and tomato paste, then bring to a simmer, whisking. Add veal with any juices.

Cover and simmer over low heat until veal is tender, about 1 1/4 hours.

While meat is simmering, lay peppers on their sides on racks of gas burners and turn flames on high. Roast peppers, turning with tongs, until skins are blistered and blackened in spots, 4 to 5 minutes. (Or cut sides from peppers, discarding seeds and stems, and broil, skin sides up, on rack of a broiler pan about 2 inches from heat.)

Transfer peppers to a bowl, cover, and cool. Peel and seed peppers and cut into 1-inch pieces.

Heat remaining teaspoon oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté mushrooms with salt and pepper to taste, stirring occasionally, until browned and tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir into stew with bell peppers and salt and pepper to taste and gently simmer goulash 10 minutes to blend flavors.

Serve over noodles.

Cooks' note:

•Goulash, like all stews, will taste even better if made 1 day ahead. Cool uncovered, then chill, covered. Reheat gently before serving.

My change to the above recipe was to use a jar of roasted red peppers instead of roasting my own.  I know, I know... but it's what I had.  I'm sick, remember?!?

It came out great even with my substitution and the noodles with sour cream and dill?!?  Yumlicious!

 


Super Bowl Chili

I would love to know how many vats of chili are being made today.  Chili and Super Bowl just seem to go together - even if you're not feeding a crowd.

And we're definitely not feeding a crowd today.  The game just starts too damned late on the east coast for me to even think about a party.  By 7:00pm on a Sunday night, I want everyone going home.  I probably would be feeling a bit differently if San Francisco had made it, but a 7:00pm kick-off is still too late even for a game I'd be excited about.

My vote is for a 1pm Pacific/4pm Eastern start.  But that ain't happening this year.

And while I'm totally ho-hum on the two teams playing, I'm even more down on Indianapolis.  I can't stand the place.  I opened the Westin Hotel there circa 1989 and I tell ya, the city was one of the most racist, bigoted,  and intolerant places I have ever lived.  It just sucked.  It's the kind of place that promotes "Family Values" while having skanky strip clubs on every other corner.  Not to mention the anti-gay married politicians getting caught in their pay-for-gay trysts... (ooops!)

But I digress...

Chili.  I love it.  I even like canned chili.  I tend to live on chili dogs and chili burgers when Victor has to travel for business.  (My otherwise relatively-good eating habits go straight down the tube when I'm left on my own...)  I figured if I made a huge vat o'chili today, I could freeze some and live off it when he travels to Dallas in a couple of weeks.

I don't use a recipe when making chili - I just make chili.  This batch started off with a pound of small red beans that I soaked overnight and cooked this morning.

Into another pot went 2 chopped onions, 1 yellow bell pepper, 3 chopped jalapeño peppers, and 2 cloves of minced garlic.  Then went in cumin and chili powder.  Cumin and chili powder both really need to be cooked to get rid of the otherwise "raw" flavor they can impart.

Next went in the ground beef.  When it was cooked, I added 1 jar of Sofrito sauce, 2 large cans of tomato sauce, 1 can of diced tomatoes with green chilis and a small can of green chilis.  I added some chipotle powder, salt and pepper, and Mexican oregano and let it all simmer.  When the beans were cooked, I added them to the pot and let everything simmer for about an hour.

Heaping bowls were topped with shredded cheddar and dollops of sour cream.

We have chips and dips and other junky foods for later today.

Not to mention more chili, of course!

And, if the game is boring, there's always 31 Days of Oscar on TCM...