Burritos: Rainy Day Comfort Food

Potato & pepper & onion burritos are my idea of a rainy-day comfort food. A tropical storm is wending its way into Southern New England and I stared at the rain whilst clicking my little City of Wonder buildings, I thought of tortillas and cheese.

Perfect for lunch or dinner.

This is precisely how I made it because I used what I had on-hand, but you can modify it however you need: just eyeball the food you have and do what you can!

Ingredients:
- 1 16oz bag of sliced green, yellow and red peppers (still frozen)
- 1 12oz bag of diced onions (still frozen)
- 10 fingerling potatoes
- tortillas
- cheddar cheese, shredded
- olive oil
- 2 tbsp chipotle spice powder from Tupperware
- sour cream

1) I turned the burner to somewhat high heat (7 of 10) and put some olive oil in the pan, just enough to coat.
2) I poured the frozen veggies in, broke them up a bit with a spoon and left them to cook.
3) I washed and poked the potatoes and put them into the microwave to cook.
4) I stirred the peppers & onions, added the chipotle spice powder and played City of Wonder, because I'm completely addicted to this latest Disney Facebook game.
5) After about ten minutes the peppers & onions were starting to caramelize and were hitting the edge of what I'd call burnt-on-the-bottom. Love it, because that reminds me of what it's like when you get fajitas at a restaurant.
6) I cut up the cooked potatoes into bite-size pieces and stirred them into the pepper mixture.
7) I put a cast iron pan onto another burner, turned the heat to 5 (of 10) and when it was warm, I laid a tortilla in it.
8) When the tortilla was warm, I turned it over and liberally spread the cheese over it.
9) I waited until the cheese was mostly melted and took the tortilla out of the pan and put it into a plate.
10) I then spooned the pepper & potato mixture into the center of the tortilla and spooned sour cream over the top. I folded the tortilla simply (both sides up over each other into a roll) and it was done.

And it was SOOO good.

Dinner: Glazed Carrots, Braised Lentils & Olive Oil Dumplings

For tonight's dinner I selected:

Balsamic-Garlic Glazed Carrots
Braised Lentils with Parsnips
Griddled Olive Oil Salt Rolls (which I turned into dumplings)

Ingredients

Balsamic-Garlic Carrots - balsamic vinegar, carrots, minced garlic

Braised Lentils - my dish included red lentils, olive oil, chopped sweet onion, chopped fresh mushrooms, diced celery, diced parsnips, sherry, water, bay leaf, salt & pepper

Griddled Olive Oil Salt Rolls - flour, olive oil, baking powder, salt + water


Good stuff. I didn't see the "cup of water" in the olive oil rolls recipe and I thought it was dry so I added more olive oil. Turns out I was missing the water part of the recipe, which was not in the ingredient list but instead in the instructions. I totally missed it. I shaped the dough as best I could into patties and put them to grill in a pan of hot olive oil, but I could quickly see that wasn't ever going to happen. So, I gingerly picked them up and put them into the lentil mixture as dumplings. Quite good - the olive oil flavor. Love it.

Angelhair...and breadcrumbs!

Once I saw Giada de Laurentiis made a dish with spaghetti, roasted peppers and breadcrumbs. I had made it myself with penne and really liked it.

I was starving tonight, so I decided to make a variation. I put some angelhair pasta on to boil and then took out a frying pan. I chopped a sweet onion and set that to sauté in some olive oil. Then I opened up an 8oz can of Hunts tomato sauce (a backup!) and poured that in. I then covered the lot with what was probably a 1/2 cup of seasoned bread crumbs and two handfuls of grated parmagiano reggiano.

When the angelhair was finished, I scooped that into the frying pan mixture and gently stirred it all together.

At some point, I will take this same recipe, mix it together with my homemade sauce, put it into a pie dish, top it with mozzarella and bake it in the oven. This is fantastic...

How to fix up Near East's Creamy Parmesan with White Rice & Pearled Wheat

Near East makes a box mix called "Creative Grains: Creamy Parmesan with White Rice and Pearled Wheat". Normally I love it on its own, but tonight I wanted to kick it up a notch.

I took my Le Creuset 2 quart pot out of the frozen undercabinet and put it on low to warm up to room temp. Then I turned it up to high. (This is a thirty year old stove: high will be too high for your modern stove - use medium.) I drizzled extra virgin olive oil in it and let that heat up...

I took a big sweet onion (one more of the Walla Wallas) and chopped that roughly and tossed it into the oil.

I took a red pepper out of the fridge, seeded and chopped it and tossed that in.

I put a tablespoon of minced fridge-garlic in.

I put a teaspoon of minced fridge-ginger in. (Note, that was a LOT of ginger flavor. I would put a 1/2 teaspoon in next time.)

I let it sauté a bit and then raised my eyebrows a few times and reached for the toasted sesame oil. I drizzled that lightly over the sauteeing veggies.

I then squinted at the bright orange pot and scooped a couple of tablespoons of Hoisin sauce into the mix.

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble.

I pulled out a can of chicken broth and put that in, and brought it up to a simmer.

I opened the box and poured in the rice and wheat. I mixed it all together.

Then I thought to toss in a small snack-size package of mini-baby carrots. Yes, they have preemie baby carrots.

I then pulled out a crossword puzzle and waited for the mixture to boil. I then turned it down to medium and let it simmer steadily. A Strong Simmer.

And it cooked. And I filled out my puzzle. And it cooked. I stirred it a few times, despite dire warnings on ze box. And I filled out my puzzle. And it cooked.

Twenty minutes later, I stirred in the parmesan seasonings packet and a healthy helping of grated parmagiano reggiano.

OH YEAH!! Perfect for this freezing winter evening.

Really strong on the ginger, but luckily I like ginger. I'll hold back a bit next time.

Spring Pork Stew...in a snowstorm...

I was determined to deny winter its power on this blizzard of an evening. So, I decided to make an old favorite that I made quite often in Florida but never in Nayaug: a spring pork stew. Spring because of the plethora of vegetables.

I set a pot to warming on high. My mother's 28 year old electric Jenn-Air takes a while to warm up its burners. I drizzled once around the pot with extra virgin olive oil.

Chopped a big sweet onion - I believe this was a Walla Walla, can't remember - and tossed it in.

Tossed in a tablespoon of minced fridge-garlic.

Tossed in two ribs of celery, chopped.

Tossed in three medium potatoes, chopped.

Tossed in about 12 baby carrots, chopped.

Tossed in one yellow pepper, seeded and chopped.

Tossed in two zucchini (here's the especially spring part), chopped.

I had a box of organic chicken broth from Whole Foods, so I started pouring it in bit by bit to let the vegetables steam.

I pulled the leftover pork roast out of the fridge and warmed that up for two minutes in the microwave. This is an old microwave - two minutes does just enough to leave the meat cold but make it pliable.

I then trimmed it of every ounce of fat and chopped the rest into bite-size pieces. Tossed those into the pot.

Poured the rest of the chicken broth into the pot. Added a cup of water. Put the lid on. Let it simmer.

At some point I added a tablespoon of italian seasoning and a packet of Sazón. I added sea salt (Celtic gray) and a healthy dose of white pepper.

I let it simmer some more, checking the potatoes for doneness.

Then I grabbed the box o' tapioca and measured out a scant half cup. Poured that in, mixed it all up. Presto! Stew! Just the right thickness.

And, five minutes later, we were done. Ladled it into soup bowls. Had I thought of this ahead of time, I would have made bread. Such is life...

Scalloped Potatoes Au Gratin & Chicken Stuffed with Cranberry-Walnut Goat Cheese

It's a good thing I don't like food. You know how that is...

When I emerged from the basement, intent on dinner, I was lugging with me the bottom of my Le Creuset casserole. I refused to leave it upstairs lest it get attacked by metal utensils.

I put the dish in the oven and turned the oven onto 300F convection bake.

Pulled six potatoes out, washed them, poked them and put them into the microwave to partially cook. I was looking for a 3/4 cooked potato.

Then I turned to the stove. I grabbed a small saucepan and melted some butter in it. Threw in some flour to make a roux. Poured in some milk after the flour had cooked, warmed that up and then snagged every half-empty bag o' shredded cheese in the fridge. Mozzarella, Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack. I also grabbed the block of parmagiano reggiano. Pour the cheeses in there and then used the cheese cutter to cut myself some hunkage of the mother cheese. Left that to warm up and meld flavorage together...

Turned to the potatoes. Sliced a few. Took the dish out of the oven and ladled some of the cheese sauce into it. I like a nice crispy bottom, see...

Started layering the potatoes into the dish. Actually, I layered all of the potatoes into the dish and then ladled the rest of the cheese sauce over it.

Put the dish back into the oven and set the oven on 400F convention bake.

I then turned to the chicken:

At lunch on Friday, I picked up an exceedingly delicious container of goat cheese mixed with dried cranberries and walnuts and loved all over by some honey. Thinking about what I paid for it, next time I will buy a big ole block of goat cheese and mix the rest at in at home. But, that aside...

I took my All-Clad saute pan, set it to low on the stove and brushed some olive oil in the bottom.

I took some plain chicken breasts and pounded them out to the dulcet tones of Lyle Lovett telling everyone to kiss his ass, with his pony and boat and all.

I put a mound of goat-cheese-mixture into each chicken breast and rolled up the chicken.

I dipped each rolled chicken breast into a bowl of bread crumbs moistened with some melted butter.

I put each chicken breast into the saute pan.

At this point the potato dish was getting nice brownage on top. Lovely. I put the saute pan into the oven and turned the head down to 375F.

I then set a whole stack of baby carrots to bubbling with a mixture of chicken stock, massive amounts of ginger and a 1/2 cup of maple syrup.

Ten minutes later, I took the potato dish out of the oven and let it sit.

Twenty minutes later, I took the chicken out of the oven.


I put the potatoes and carrots on the plates. Then I turned to the chicken pan -- and picked it up with my right hand. Burned it badly. So, I got no pictures of dinner.

That said, when I emerged quite a while later (having conquered the pain somewhat), dinner was quite fantastic. I highly recommend it.

Spur of the Moment Risotto

I was feeling the need to eat something healthy today, so I decided to make a modified risotto. This is the first time I've taken pictures while I was cooking! I'm using the new Pentax Optio A40 that I picked up from Woot.

The finished product:

From The Nayaug Kitchen

It was fantastic - just what I needed.



So, what'd I do?

First, I brought out a deep but small saucepan and set some olive oil and a drizzle of sesame oil to warming. On my old stove in Florida, it would have been medium heat. On this ancient stove in CT, it's on high.

From The Nayaug Kitchen

Then, I grabbed two decent-size shallots and sliced them. I didn't bother dicing them or chopping them into small pieces. I then put the shallots into the pot to saute.

From The Nayaug Kitchen

When the shallots had sauteed for a bit, I started putting in chicken broth. I ultimately used two cans of salt-free Swanson's broth. You can pretty much use anything.

From The Nayaug Kitchen

I put one cup of Jasmine rice into the mixture and started it bubbling away. I added broth when it needed it.

From The Nayaug Kitchen

Toward the end, I added in about 1/3 cup of grated parmesan cheese and 1 can of peas:

From The Nayaug Kitchen

I then stirred in some Celtic sea salt and ground some Grains of Paradise over the mixture. If I'd had lemon, I would have added it.


And, once again:

From The Nayaug Kitchen

NY Strip Steaks

Dad brought home NY Strip Steaks. I marinated them in balsamic vinegar + olive oil, seasoned with a little Montreal Steak Seasoning. Seared them on high for a few minutes on the first side; seared for a few minutes on the second side; turned the heat down to medium and put a pat of butter on each steak. When the butter was melted, the steaks were done. We like them well-done around here. Perfect - moist, tender, tasty. Oh yeah...

I chopped some shallots and sauteed them with corn. Seasoned the mixture with an Italian spice mix.

Baked potatoes.

'Twas good.

Hamburger, Corn & Potatoes...

I didn't grow up calling it Shepherd's Pie. My Mom called it something French when she wasn't calling it "hamburger, corn and potatoes."

Tonight's version:
- browned ground beef, seasoned with a packet of Sazón.
- sweet niblet corn from a can with a green giant on the side
- mashed potatoes

For the mashed potatoes, I cut up some white-skinned generic taters. Left the skins on because my hands don't do the peeling thing. Boiled them.

Then, for seasoning: Kelp flakes w/cayenne. Cumin. Celtic Sea Salt. Ground black pepper. Whole Grain Dijon Mustard. Three chopped scallions. Yum! I like my mashed potatoes with flavor... and my folks don't like garlic, otherwise you'd see garlic in that list.

Preheated the oven to 375F.

Hamburger in the bottom of the casserole.
Corn next.
Mashed potatoes next.

Aluminum foil over all, into the oven for 30 minutes.

Sweet & Sour Kielbasa

okay, for today's Sunday afternoon dinner: Sweet & Sour Kielbasa

- I use smoked sausage instead of kielbasa because I like it more and the only kielbasa I really like is the homemade-by-a-Polish-grandmother kind...

Ingredients:
1.5lbs of smoked sausage (amount optional)
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 green pepper
1 orange pepper
1 Vidalia onion (or Empire, or Walla Walla, etc. SWEET.)
2 stalks of bok choy
2 stalks of celery
2 10oz jars of LaChoy Sweet & Sour sauce. Not making my own sauce today.

Warm oven to 350F.
Chop the veggies into bite-size pieces.
Slice the sausage into bite-size pieces.

a) boil smoked sausage until it's thoroughly warm
b) empty pot, set aside sausage in a casserole dish
c) in pot, put a bit of olive oil and all of the vegetables; saute until mostly cooked
d) combine veggies & sausage & sweet and sour sauce into casserole dish
e) bake @ 350F for 30 minutes or so

I have no pineapple today, otherwise I'd add that, too.

Got this recipe from a friend of mine at work. Most excellent.

The Ultimate Tomato Sauce

There are lots of ultimate tomato sauces. I make different varieties with the same core ingredients.

First, unless you're using fresh-grown tomatoes, ya gotta buy Muir Glen.

Today's sauce:
- 8oz sliced cremini mushrooms
- 8oz sliced shitake mushrooms
- a handful of chopped morel mushrooms
- 1 28oz can of Muir Glen Diced Fire Roasted tomatoes (the whole can)
- 1 28oz can of Muir Glen Crushed tomatoes with basil (the whole can)
- six chopped shallots
- 1 chopped Vidalia onion

Put a smidge o' extra virgin olive oil into your six quart saucier.
Pour in the shallots-n-onions.

I was forced to leave out garlic because my folks don't like it. Grr. So, I snuck it in via garlic powder. That came later.

Saute for a bit.

Pour in the mushrooms. Add a pat o' butter. Saute for a bit.

Add the tomatoes. Saute for a bit.

Let's see.

I went out to the deck garden and snipped off three marjoram twigs, two twigs of thyme and a handful of parsley. Put all of the leaves in and stirred them up. Added garlic powder. Added celtic sea salt and ground pepper. Added a small handful of sugar. Swirled a bit of balsamic vinegar in there just to be a showoff.

Cook and cook and cook on low heat to your heart's content. If you have a newer stove that cycles on and cycles off, cook on medium-low heat. My parents have an old-style stove that can boil water on low if you don't watch the thing.

Today I added meatballs to the sauce. I used ground sirloin, some tomato sauce, breadcrumbs, chopped vidalias, salt, pepper, italian seasonings and a mite o' ketchup. Baked the balls in the oven to get them crispy and then added them to the sauce.

It was so good it was unreal.

Grilled Cheese

Tonight I went to the deck garden and snipped off of a bunch of not-so-baby lettuce and a bunch of flat Italian parsley. Washed it up and dried it in a paper towel.

Mom cut up the big tomato-basil cheddar block into slices and we made grilled cheeses with the baby lettuces. Very, very good.

Lunch & Dinner, Part 2

Lunch - the mashed potatoes and meatloaf were great. The celery root was great but I didn't have enough of it to enhance the flavor. And the potatoes were smashed, not mashed. Came out awesome. The seasoning combination I used was such that the cold (s)mashed potatoes actually taste good and have flavor. Or maybe the celery root affected things more than I thought.

Dinner:
a) cut chicken breasts into strips
b) coated them in a basil pesto
c) coated them in breadcrumbs
d) baked them in the oven

I made a quick tomato sauce with Muir Glen Fire Roasted tomatoes with chopped Vidalia onions and a smoodge of tomato paste.

I didn't like the golden beets. They weren't as sweet as I would have liked. I didn't end up roasting them. But, my folks liked them.

Dessert was a blackberry and apple cobbler. My first attempt at making a cobbler. Fantastic flavor. Needed to cook it a bit more in the middle (this convection oven thing stymies me), but it was perfect otherwise. I want to do that with strawberries. Lots of strawberries.

Oh, and french bread.

So, I'm happy with it. And once my Dad got over the green chicken, he was good.

Chicken Francese, my style

Tonight I switched to a Chicken Francese. Made my own version of the sauce -- butter, olive oil, a touch of flour, a touch of tapioca, some wine, the juice of a lemon, a bit of sugar and a splash of balsamic vinegar. I also added in mushrooms and at the last minute, a chopped bunch of fresh parsley.

Seasoned the flour for the chicken with pepper and powdered coriander.

I steamed fresh broccoli in chicken broth seasoned with garlic and lemon and we had a red-lettuce salad on the side.

Outstanding. The sauce came out fantastic. Loved it. Fresh greens. Fresh herbs. Lovely. Just lovely.

Sausage & Peppers

Tonight for dinner I picked up some garlic & onion chicken sausage. I'll saute that with Vidalia onions and three bell peppers cut into strips. This afternoon I'm going to pick up a red pepper, a yellow and a green.

We have some lettuce in house and a cucumber, so that'll go as well.

Scalloped Mac & Cheese

Made a killer mac-n-cheese last night. I think this is because I was making a baked scallop casserole, and I only belated realized that it was mac-n-cheese with scallops. Perhaps this is the key. This is the first good mac-n-cheese that I have made in a very long time. So many batches ruined.

- 1 container bleu brie & peppercorn cheese spread from Highland Park
- milk to mix with the cheese spread to thin it out
- 1 block of extra sharp cheddar
- 1 box of pipette-shaped pasta (half shell, half elbow)
- 1 stack of Keebler crackers, crushed
- bits of butter
- 1/2 lb of bay scallops

I put the pasta on to boil and preheated the oven to 350F.
Then I put the cheese spread in a bowl, poured milk over it and whisked it until it was foamy and the cheese was relatively broken up.
Then I chopped up the cheese block into cubes.
Then I put the crackers into a ziploc bag and crushed them.
I took out a 9" x 13" casserole pan and sprayed it with olive oil.
Drained the pasta, put it into the pan.
Poured in the cheese liquid.
Put in the cheese blocks.
Turned and stirred and coated the pasta.
Drained and rinsed the scallops.
Put those into the pasta and turned and folded it.
Poured the crackers on top.
Dabbed with bits o' butter.
Put aluminum foil over the top & cooked for 20 minutes.
Took the foil off and cooked for 10 more minutes, broiled the last few to get crunchy bits on top.

Yankee Pot Roast

Made the recipe for Yankee Pot Roast that I found here. It's cooking on the stove now, actually, and it smells fantastic. I used a Pinot Noir and that smell mixed with the thyme and the beef broth is incredible.

I also put in a handful of "baby" carrots (not the real thing but the ones made from adult carrots), two parsnips and three celery ribs. I had some leftover minced onion from meatloaf yesterday, so I put a tablespoon of that in. I also put in a good healthy teaspoon of minced garlic.

Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes

Last night's menu:
- meatloaf
- mashed potatoes
- sauteed spinach
- Banoffee Pie, previously mentioned in this blog

1. I used the KitchenAid mixer with the flat beater to mix up four sirloin hamburgers, breadcrumbs, a healthy helping of Muir Glen crushed fire roasted tomatoes, one minced onion and a tablespoon or so of Italian herbage. I put it all in a loaf pan and cooked that on 400F for about 85 minutes.
2. I diced up six potatoes and boiled them until they were mash-worthy. Mom seasoned them and we used the KitchenAid mixer with the flat beater to do the rest.
3. I put a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil into a saute pan and added some minced garlic to that. Sauteed that on medium for a few minutes and then I added some chicken broth to thepan. I then then started adding spinach and in no time at all it was wilted.

I made the Banoffee Pie and it was more like pie soup. Something's missing from the recipe, perhaps something like "cook the sweetened condensed milk until it's jelled" or something. It was also incredibly over-sweet. Not that it wasn't good, but it couldn't be sliced and even one dessert bowlful made one sick. The best part was that I learned how to make homemade whipped cream: whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla. Dad was pretty shocked that I didn't use Cool Whip.

Eggplant Casserole Acadiana

Eggplant Casserole Acadiana Recipe: Recipes: Food Network

Oh my gosh this sound incredible. I'll bet my Mom would actually eat eggplant this way.

Roasted Chicken with Cranberry Stuffing

Made my first roasted chicken today - it came out brilliantly! The chicken was superbly moist and was falling right off the bone. The cranberry stuffing was moist and flavorful and just right.

First, I used the Tupperware Roaster. It's blue and I got it in 2002 or so. It's Tupperware, but it goes right into the oven.

Ingredients:
a 6.75lb chicken
a bag of dried cranberries (not sweetened), about 10oz or so
what was left of a two-days-old Italian bread loaf
chicken broth
two packets of Garlic and Herb Mrs Dash
a handful of olive oil
small onion & celery stalk

1. I preheated the oven to 400F and put the convection fan on.
2. I chopped a small onion and one celery stalk and set them to saute in a little olive oil. In retrospect, I could have used chicken broth.
3. I put the dried cranberries into a medium size bowl and pour some chicken broth over them.
4. I tore the bread into small pieces, maybe an inch x inch. I didn't have patience to tear smaller pieces.
5. I put the bread pieces into the cranberries and mixed with my hands.
6. I poured chicken broth over all to wet down everything. I mixed further with my hands. (You want it pretty pulpy - this moisture will keep the breast meat moist.)
7. I put the bread-and-cranberry mixture into the microwave to get it hot. I cooked one minute on high and then stirred the mixture and then cooked another minute. I then mixed in the celery and onion.
8. I the chicken out of the fridge and removed the chicken's gizzards and tossed them.
9. I rinsed the chicken in water.
10. I scooped a little of the stuffing into the cavity of the chicken, but not much.
11. I used my fingers and a small knife to separate the breast skin from the breast meat.
12. I stuffed the rest of the stuffing under the breast skin.
13. I tore open the two packets of Mrs Dash and sprinkled them over the top of the chicken.
14. I poured some olive oil into my palm and smeared it all over the top of the chicken.
15. I put the chicken, uncovered, into the pot and into the oven for 30 minutes. The skin got all brown and crispy. We didn't eat it, but it was nice to look at.
16. I covered up the chicken with the Roaster cover and reduced the heat to 350F. It then cooked for another hour and fifteen minutes (this particular bird).

In the meantime, I made mashed potatoes on the stove and a batch of brownies from a box mix in the other oven. Woohoo! A brilliant fall dinner. The cranberries were spectacular.