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The Film of the Week

The WORD of the Week

Matthew 3:7-10

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Stupid Fact of the Week

There was only one civilian casualty during the three-day Battle of Gettysburg

11 November, 2007

Oh, So Good Stew!

Again, I didn't come up with the name. The internet did.

3 Lb. stew meat, cut into bite sized pieces
2 Large onions, chopped
2 Cloves garlic, minced
1 T. Worcestershire Sauce
1/3 C. dry red wine
1/3 C. all purpose flour
2 T. sugar
1 Tsp. dried thyme
1/4 Tsp. black pepper
4 Cups beef broth
1 12 oz. Beer
3-4 Lg. potatoes, cubed 1-1/2 inch
4-5 Lg. carrots, sliced 1/2 in thick
2 C. coarsely chopped cabbage
3/4 C. coarsely chopped celery
2 Bay leaves
Salt

Combine the meat, onions, garlic, and Worcestershire in large pot. (No, you do not brown the meat first.) Cover and cook over med. heat for 30 minutes. Uncover and stir often until the liquid evaporates. Add wine and stir to release browned bits. Mix flour, sugar, thyme and pepper with one cup broth and stir to a smooth consistency. Add to pot along with the remaining 3 cups of broth. Add beer, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, celery and bay leaves. Cover and simmer until meat in very tender and vegetables are cooked. Season to taste with salt. Enjoy!

ROCKEL's notes:
~ The directions are a bit loose, but it's a stew, if all else fails throw everything together and let it stew.
~ As you've already discovered (unless you're reading this post in reverse order), this is just your basic "Meat and Potatoes/Veggies" stew. It's relatively simple and quite delicious, so I gave it relatively high marks.
~ I used sweet onions. They were delicious.
~ I love Worcestershire sauce so I added a bit more than suggested. It definitely worked.
~ I used a Pinot Noir for my red wine. Not my first choice in a cooking wine, but I so rarely cook with wine that I figured for 1/3 of a cup I could just buy a bottle of wine (on sale for 5 bucks) that I wouldn't mind drinking. Either way, the result was delicious, so... win, win.
~ Of all the things not to have, John and I have no (white) sugar in our kitchen. I, of course, assumed we did (why wouldn't we?) and didn't purchase any when I went to the store pre-cooking. As I didn't feel like returning to the store, I used some brown sugar that I had bought for a previous cooking escapade. I cut the amount to about 1-1.5 T because I wasn't sure how it would effect the flavor. It was fine.
~ I used Guinness for my beer. I already had some in house because of the birthday and, well, it's Guinness, why wouldn't you use it? It was delicious.
~ I'm a big fan of cabbage in stew. I upped my cabbage to about 3 c. It still could have been much more.

Labels: ***, recipes

posted by Rockel @ 7:57 PM 0 comments

28 October, 2007

Anti-Seafood Jambalaya

recipe taken from the interwebs

(6 servings)

2 tablespoons oil
3/4 lb smoked garlic sausage, sliced
3/4 lb boneless chicken, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons garlic
1 teaspoon thyme
salt
cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups brown rice
2 (10 ounce) cans low sodium chicken broth
1 (14 3/4 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
3 scallions, sliced

+ In a soup pot, heat 1 tbsp oil. Add sausage and chicken and cook until brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer the mix to a large bowl.

+ In the same pot, heat remaining oil and add celery, onion, and bell pepper. Cook about 5 minutes.
+ Add bay leaves, garlic, thyme, salt and cayenne pepper, cook 2 minutes longer.

+ Return sausage mix to the pot, add uncooked rice, broth, and tomatoes. Bring mix to a boil and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer, covered, 20 minutes. Cook until rice is tender about 10 minutes longer and remove bay leaves.

+ Sprinkle with scallions and serve.

Rockel's NOTES:
~ I doubled this recipe and it just fit into a 6qt. stock pot (to give you an idea of what size pot you'll need).
~ I found a couple of the can sizes didn't align with what I was finding at the store. I used 2 (since I doubled it) 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes and roughly two and a half (again, double recipe) 14 oz. cans Chicken Broth.
~ I also used half smoked turkey sausage and half beef sausage since they were on sale. Delicious.
~ There are no measurements for the salt and cayenne pepper which upset me a bit. I'm a huge fan of cayenne pepper, but didn't want to overdo it so I played it pretty cautiously (especially since I was doubling it and anything I added already looked massive) and the flavor of the end product suffered for it. It's still really great, I just wish (since the spice is what makes a good Jambalaya) they would have been more specific (this is why it's only getting three stars).

Labels: ***, recipes

posted by Rockel @ 6:09 PM 0 comments

26 October, 2007

Southeast Asian Curried Vegetable Stew

contributed by Wanderingshadow. As appears in "Joy of Cooking."

1 T. Veggie Oil
1 1/2 cumin seeds*
1/2 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1-1" piece fresh ginger, peeled and quartered
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1-2 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded
1 t. ground turmeric
2 T. water
1-14 oz can unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 c. stock (chicken or veggie, depending on preference)
1 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾" cubes
3 c. broccoli stems and florets
1-10 1/2 oz package firm tofu, or 8 oz tempeh, cut into ¾" cubes
1 tomato
3 T. lime juice
2 T. water
2 T. all purpose flour
1/2 -1 t. chili paste**
salt and ground black pepper
lots of hot rice/cous-cous/quinoa/grain of choice
fresh cilantro and chopped cashews***

- Heat the oil and add the cumin seeds. Cook, stirring, for about 1-2 minutes.
- Process in a food processor/blender: onion, ginger, garlic, jalapenos, turmeric, and water. Add this to the cumin seeds and cook over med-low heat for 3-5 minutes.
- Stir in: coconut milk, stock, and sweet potatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for about 8 minutes.
- Stir in broccoli and tofu/tempeh. Simmer about 10 minutes, or until the broccoli is tender.
- Add and bring to a boil: the tomato.
- Combine and stir in: lime juice, water, and flour. Boil, stirring, until thickened, about 1 minute.
- Stir in chili paste, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Hot grain of choice on a serving platter/indiv plates, stew stuff over that, and then top with cilantro and cashews, or not, depending on preference.

Wanderingshadow's NOTES:
* I used ground cumin cause I didn't have the seeds. It worked.
** I don't know what chili paste is…I don't think I actually added this…
*** I didn't use either of these, and it worked out
+ I'm sure this could be meat-ified if desired...I bet you could add shredded cooked chicken (salt-pepper 2 skinless boneless breasts, fry in some oil about 5ish minutes a side before starting anything else) at the end. In fact, I think I did that...it was tasty.

Labels: recipes, untested

posted by Rockel @ 9:38 AM 0 comments

23 October, 2007

Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew

contributed by Wanderingshadow. As appears in "Joy of Cooking."

- 1/4 c. peanut oil*
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 red or green bell pepper, chopped
- 1 fresh jalapeno or Serrano pepper, seeded and minced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 packed T. minced peeled fresh ginger
- 1 T. chili powder
- 1 t. ground cumin
- 1/2 t. red pepper flakes
- 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 ½ “ pieces
- 1/3 c. tomato paste**
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 2 small zucchini (1” in diameter) trimmed and sliced
- 1/2 c. peanut butter, chunky or smooth, preferably unsalted***

+ Heat oil, then add the onion and peppers, and cook until veggies are tender but not brown, + about 7-10 minutes.
+ Add garlic and ginger, cook another 2-3 minutes.
+ Stir in the chili powder, cumin, and red pepper flakes, cook ~ 1 minute.
+ Add sweet potatoes, tomato paste, and salt and pepper to taste.
+ Add enough water to barely cover the veggies and mix well.
+ Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 45 mins, stirring occasionally.
(if you wanted to add meat, during this time would be where you cook your 12 oz ground beef or turkey in 1 t. oil, then set it aside till the 45 mins is up, then add.)
+ Add the zucchini**** and cook another 15 mins.
+ Stir 1 c. of the stewing liquid into the peanut butter in a separate bowl until smooth, then add to the pot. Mix well and cook another 15 minutes.
+ Season with Black pepper and salt to taste.
+ Serve with hot rice or couscous. Quinoa would work really well too.

Wanderingshadow's Notes:
* I used Canola. I bet peanut would help, but whatever. It was tasty with canola
** I just used 1 whole can. It may be ½ c. instead of 1/3. I can live with that.
*** Chunky is the way to go. Then you get little bits of peanuts, and that’s cool. Whole Foods has unsalted PB. I bet other places do as well, but Whole Foods is awesome.
**** I added a squash as well. It worked. I bet other tasty veggies would too…thinking eggplant, maybe some other stuff…

Labels: ****, recipes

posted by Rockel @ 10:53 AM 1 comments

21 October, 2007

Mom's Seafood Pasta Salad for a Crowd

Alright, this isn't my mom's seafood pasta salad for a crowd, that's just the name of the dish as listed on the internets here.

INGREDIENTS
1 (32 ounce) package dried small pasta shells
4 stalks celery, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
1/2 (16 ounce) bottle French dressing
1/2 (16 ounce) bottle thousand island dressing
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 (6 ounce) cans water packed tuna, drained and flaked
2 (6 ounce) cans tiny shrimp, drained

DIRECTIONS
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.

In a large bowl, toss together cooked pasta, celery and green onions. Mix in French dressing, thousand island dressing and mayonnaise. Fold in tuna and shrimp. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 3 hours.

Labels: **, recipes

posted by Rockel @ 7:43 PM 1 comments

13 October, 2007

Chicken Madras

(serves 4)

Ingredients:

- 4 Chicken Breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 large Onions, finely chopped
- 4 cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
- 1 (14oz) can Tomato Puree
- 2 tsp. ground Cayenne Pepper
- 3 tsp. Garam Masala
- 1 tsp. ground Cumin
- 1 tsp. ground Turmeric
- 8 Cardommon Pods
- 1/2 tsp. ground Ginger
- 1/2 tsp. ground Coriander
- juice of 1/2 a Lemon

Directions:

+ In a large frying pan that has a lid, pour a liberal amount of cooking oil and set on a burner on medium heat. Add the Onions to the oil and cook until they start to brown slightly.

+ Add the Garlic, ground Cayenne Pepper, and Garam Masala and stir for 2-3 minutes.

+ Add the ground Cumin, ground Turmeric, ground Ginger, and ground Coriander and stir in for about 30 seconds.

+ Add the Chicken and stir until the chicken is cooked through.

+ Dilute the Tomato Puree down 1:1 with water and add the seeds from the 8 Cardommon pods. Add this mixture to the frying pan and stir.

+ Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally (if the sauce starts to stick to the pan add some water)

+ Remove the lid and squeeze the juice of half a Lemon into the pan along with a pinch of salt, stir and let simmer uncovered for 10-15 minutes.

+ Serve.

ROCKEL's notes:

~ This thing has got a pretty awesome kick, so be ready for it.
~ If you think you have too much Onion, it's just right.
~ The only ingredients that will be tough to find are the Garam Masala and Cardammon Pods, which can be found at an Indian Market or Spice Shop.
~ Finding ground Cardammon can be slightly easier, though it will lead to a less authentic taste. Substitute 1/8-1/4 tsp. ground Cardammon for the Cardammon seeds.
~ Fresh Ginger is (obviously) the way to go, but if I'm in a pinch, I'll get the crap in a jar.
~ The directions call for you to completely cook the chicken and then let it sit in the hot sauce for about 45 minutes. This can lead to overcooked, tough chicken, which is no good. What I like to do is sear the chicken in a separate pan before I add it to the mix and then immediately add the tomato puree mixture and simmer for 30 minutes. The searing helps keep the chicken moist, and the ensuing 45 minutes of simmering ensure the chicken is cooked completely, though still edible.
~ After the 30-minute simmer session, when I'm squeezing in the Lemon juice, I like to pour in a little Coconut milk, too. It gives you a creamier sauce, while still remaining authentic, and confuses your taste buds cuz they're like "ooh, creamy goodness," then, "holy crap, whoo, it's still hot." Good stuff.
~ Enjoy.

Labels: ****, recipes

posted by Rockel @ 7:14 PM 0 comments

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