Today is Super Bowl Sunday and one of the traditions is to have chili on Super Bowl Sunday. Because our oldest child is mostly a vegetarian, I decided to make both beef chili and vegetarian chili. The beef chili was a traditional Chili Con Carne. About 24 years ago I won the chili contest at our neighborhood grocery store using the following, and every time I make chili I vary ever so slightly from it. The secret ingredient is definitely the teaspoon of cinnamon:
Chili Con Carne
1 pound lean ground beef
2 15-oz cans red kidney beans
1 medium onion
4-5 cloves of garlic
1 15-oz can tomato sauce
2 teapoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce or cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste (I usually don't need this)
Using a little cooking oil or olive oil, saute ground beef, onion, and garlic until cooked. Add kidney beans and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Add chili powder, cinnamon, and hot sauce or cayenne pepper. Simmer for another 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Add salt and pepper if needed.
Top with parmesan cheese, shredded cheddar, and/or sour cream if desired.
The vegetarian version substitutes the ground beef with mushrooms, green peppers, and diced tomatoes. This time I used sliced white button mushrooms and canned diced tomatoes.
The other red bean dish I made today was a traditional Cantonese red bean dessert soup. A friend who recently spent several months working in Beijing was over for dinner this past week. He mentioned that every morning, he buys red bean porridge from a street vendor for breakfast. That inspired me to make the red bean dessert soup. I didn't have lotus seeds but had dried orange peel. Here's the recipe. It was an interesting harmony and an interesting contrast to have a Chinese dessert made with small red beans and a Tex-Mex American dessert made with the largest of the red beans on the same day.
Here is the red bean soup recipe:
Red Bean Dessert Soup
1 cup small red beans (Azuki beans), soaked overnight and then drained
1/4 cup lotus seeds (optional)
1 dried orange or tangerine peel (optional)
6 cups water
6 tablespoons brown sugar
Boil the water. Add the red beans, lotus seeds, and orange peel. Bring to a boil again and simmer for 1.5 hours. Add brown sugar (may need more or less brown sugar depending on how much water has boiled off.) The beans should be very tender and the consistency of the soup should be thick.
Sunday, February 06, 2011
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
VV Birthday Weekend--Dim Sum, Pizza, Cupcakes, Pancakes, and Chinese Bakery
Our third child turned twelve over the past weekend. For this momentous occasion, we had a grand weekend planned. VV's a precocious child who did most of the planning, including deciding on who to invite, choosing which goodie bag items and which pinata to order from Birthday Express, and deciding on a schedule for the sleepover party. I only supplemented with the before-party and after-party entertainment. So here is rundown of how everything went.
Early in January, VV picked out a SpongeBob pinata, a Mario Kart goodie box, and the items to go in the goodie box from the Birthday Express catalog, www.birthdayexpress.com. She also decided on which four girls from her class to invite. That small number means that everyone can stay in her room, or spill over to her younger brother's room (which is connected to hers.) She also decided on the pick up and drop off times (drop off early evening Saturday and pick up before noon Sunday.) I sent out Evites to the moms and also ordered the Birthday Express items.
On Friday, the day before the party, VV emailed me her proposed detail schedule for the party and also a list of additional supplies for the cupcake decoration. Here's the schedule:
5 pm Drop off
5-6 pm Rock band game
6 pm Ice-skating (there's a rink nearby with $6 skate rentals)
7 pm Pizza and cupcake decorations
Sunday morning
8 am Pinata
9 am Breakfast at a local pancake house
10 am Birthday cake (from a Chinatown bakery)
11 am Pick up
We stuck pretty close to this ambitious schedule schedule. On Saturday morning I took VV to dim sum in Chinatown and then picked up the cake, which I ordered the day before. Our children like cakes from Chinese bakeries because they use whipped cream rather than icing to frost the cake, use canned or fresh fruit for toppings and fillings, and the cake itself is a lot less sweet than American bakery cakes. After picking up the cake, we went to Target to get the ingredients and supplies for making the cupcakes and decorating them, as well as snacks and drinks for use during the sleepover, and ingredients for making the pizza dinner (Boboli crust, pizza sauce, pepperoni, mozzarella, and pineapple for the exotic taste of our oldest daughter.)
In the afternoon, before the guests arrived, VV and I baked 25 vanilla and 25 chocolate cupcakes. Then everything went according to plan. Guests arrived and played a video game (Rock Band) for a while and then we went ice-skating. Most of the girls were not very experienced with skating but they had fun anyway. There was a little scare with a college student falling on the ice because of a seizure. Fortunately the ambulance came quickly. Hopefully he will recover quickly.
After we came home, we made three pizzas-- two with pepperoni and cheese, and the last one with pineapple tidbits on one half and black olives and mushrooms on the other half for the few non-pepperoni eaters. Then after pizza, we decorated cupcakes according to instructions on Pup Cakes from Hello, Cupcake (http://www.amazon.com/Hello-Cupcake-Irresistibly-Playful-Creations/dp/0618829253).
Of course even though the official bedtime was announced at around 9:30 pm, the girls stayed up giggling and talking in their rooms for hours. At 8:00 am, I carefully duck-taped the SpongBob pinata to the side of the stairs with the help of our youngest child. Then the girls had fun tugging at the pinata strings (it's a pull string pinata), and even more fun gathering the candy that came pouring down.
The pancake restaurant close to our house is popular on the weekends, and we were lucky to have gotten there right around 9 am. Shortly after our party of 8 were seated, the line begins to form. We enjoyed our breakfasts and were reasonably stuffed when we got home. So imagine my surprise that after about an hour of playing on the Kinnect, the girls were ready for the birthday cake! I guess it's great when you have the metabolism of a preteen instead of the metabolism of a 40-something.
So we did it! Everything on VV's proposed schedule were accomplished by the time the parents came to pick the girls up between 11 and 11:30 am. Then we had our own after-party, just the four children and me, at the local bowling place. There is a Cantonese saying my dad is fond of, which translates into "even using up all the sauce on the rice", or roughly "down to the last drop". And that seems to sum up the weekend exactly.
Early in January, VV picked out a SpongeBob pinata, a Mario Kart goodie box, and the items to go in the goodie box from the Birthday Express catalog, www.birthdayexpress.com. She also decided on which four girls from her class to invite. That small number means that everyone can stay in her room, or spill over to her younger brother's room (which is connected to hers.) She also decided on the pick up and drop off times (drop off early evening Saturday and pick up before noon Sunday.) I sent out Evites to the moms and also ordered the Birthday Express items.
On Friday, the day before the party, VV emailed me her proposed detail schedule for the party and also a list of additional supplies for the cupcake decoration. Here's the schedule:
5 pm Drop off
5-6 pm Rock band game
6 pm Ice-skating (there's a rink nearby with $6 skate rentals)
7 pm Pizza and cupcake decorations
Sunday morning
8 am Pinata
9 am Breakfast at a local pancake house
10 am Birthday cake (from a Chinatown bakery)
11 am Pick up
We stuck pretty close to this ambitious schedule schedule. On Saturday morning I took VV to dim sum in Chinatown and then picked up the cake, which I ordered the day before. Our children like cakes from Chinese bakeries because they use whipped cream rather than icing to frost the cake, use canned or fresh fruit for toppings and fillings, and the cake itself is a lot less sweet than American bakery cakes. After picking up the cake, we went to Target to get the ingredients and supplies for making the cupcakes and decorating them, as well as snacks and drinks for use during the sleepover, and ingredients for making the pizza dinner (Boboli crust, pizza sauce, pepperoni, mozzarella, and pineapple for the exotic taste of our oldest daughter.)
In the afternoon, before the guests arrived, VV and I baked 25 vanilla and 25 chocolate cupcakes. Then everything went according to plan. Guests arrived and played a video game (Rock Band) for a while and then we went ice-skating. Most of the girls were not very experienced with skating but they had fun anyway. There was a little scare with a college student falling on the ice because of a seizure. Fortunately the ambulance came quickly. Hopefully he will recover quickly.
After we came home, we made three pizzas-- two with pepperoni and cheese, and the last one with pineapple tidbits on one half and black olives and mushrooms on the other half for the few non-pepperoni eaters. Then after pizza, we decorated cupcakes according to instructions on Pup Cakes from Hello, Cupcake (http://www.amazon.com/Hello-Cupcake-Irresistibly-Playful-Creations/dp/0618829253).
Of course even though the official bedtime was announced at around 9:30 pm, the girls stayed up giggling and talking in their rooms for hours. At 8:00 am, I carefully duck-taped the SpongBob pinata to the side of the stairs with the help of our youngest child. Then the girls had fun tugging at the pinata strings (it's a pull string pinata), and even more fun gathering the candy that came pouring down.
The pancake restaurant close to our house is popular on the weekends, and we were lucky to have gotten there right around 9 am. Shortly after our party of 8 were seated, the line begins to form. We enjoyed our breakfasts and were reasonably stuffed when we got home. So imagine my surprise that after about an hour of playing on the Kinnect, the girls were ready for the birthday cake! I guess it's great when you have the metabolism of a preteen instead of the metabolism of a 40-something.
So we did it! Everything on VV's proposed schedule were accomplished by the time the parents came to pick the girls up between 11 and 11:30 am. Then we had our own after-party, just the four children and me, at the local bowling place. There is a Cantonese saying my dad is fond of, which translates into "even using up all the sauce on the rice", or roughly "down to the last drop". And that seems to sum up the weekend exactly.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Restaurant Review: Vermillion
Vermillion (10 West Hubbard Street, Chicago, IL 60654, 312-527-4060) is Chef Maneet Chauhan's restaurant. The Chicago restaurant is the flagship; there is another Vermillion in Manhattan, NYC, NY. Chef Chauhan competed in the Next Iron Chef Season 3 and lost in the middle of the season. With the many accolades both the Manhattan and Chicago restaurants have received and Chef Chuhan's Iron Chef fame, accented by the bright red background of the restaurant's website, I was expecting to be bowled over by its vivaciousness.
We made an early evening reservation and arrived to find a quiet restaurant (probably because it was early in the evening). Everthing was impeccably decorated, but quiet and subdued, quite different from what I had imagined. The website boasts of a bold red antique bar that dominates the lounge but I hardly noticed the bar coming in. The rest of the restaurant was as advertised, airy with translucent silver and raw silk drapes. Rather than bold and vivacious, the atmosphere is actually calm and soft atmosphere with light touches of rich accent.
The menu was on the small side, about 12 appetizer items, a separate 10-course degustation menu, about 4 or 5 Latin-Indian fusion courses, 3 "Heat" items (traditional Indian), and another 4 or 5 "Truckstop" items (again traditionally Indian, but more casual fare). My husband picked the Tandoori Skirt Steak and I picked the Shrimp Paella, which actually comes with both shrimp and mussels. Exquisitely plated, the portions were smaller than expected. Neither entree, however, managed to bowl us over. The skirt steak comes with a delightful little jicama citrus salad and a mint-cucumber dressing, which were the highlights. The two fried plantain chips were nice touches as well. The steak itself was unremarkably seasoned, neither Latin-tasting, nor Indian-tasting, and frankly didn't seem to have much salt or spice at all. The paella, though attractive in presentatio,n was strangely imbalanced in taste. The Indian rice poha was attractively yellowed by Turmeric, and nicely moistened by the pearl onions cooked with the rice. But the ancho tequilla marinade did not work for me at all. The ancho chiles were overpowering in heat, and then a strange sour taste that I could not quite place followed. It wasn't until I read the menu again that I discovered that the rice was marinated in ancho tequillia, and it dawned on me that the sour taste was lime from the tequilla!
The highlight of the evening was dessert. We chose to share the three-piece immoderation plate, which came with a nice smooth mango cardamon flan interestingly flavored with pink peppercorn accompanied by an exquisite coconut foam. Here the Indian flavor of cardamon worked very nicely with the Latin flavor of coconut and of course mango is a key ingredient in both cuisines. The middle of the plate was a rice dark chocolate molten cake, with an orange-blueberry sorbet lightly flavored by masala and chili. Another surprisingly nice combination. The chili highlighted rather than overpowered the rich but bittersweet taste, yielding a sophisticatedly textured dessert. Having two nice desserts under our belts (literally), we were surprised to find the third dessert to be even more excellent. The warm plantain cake was very nicely flavored with anise, moalsses, brown sugar, and turmeric. And what we thought was a pudding was actually banana ice cream and traditional Indian shirkhand (strained yogurt). All these different warm flavors were nicely balanced, yielding a warm and comfortable taste but very complex at the same time.
Overall, I rate the restaurant good but not excellent. The atmosphere was calm and sophisticated. The dinner dishes did not win us over, but maybe we'll try some other dishes another time. The desserts, though, were success stories of Latin-Indian fusion, blending rarely seen spices and ingredients in the most harmonious ways.
Beyond the food, as I was reviewing the restaurant's website, I discovered the underlying story of a remarkable woman entrepreneur. Owner Rohini Dey is a PhD economist, who has worked at both the World Bank and McKinsey, and is young and beautiful as well. Read her profile at Financial Times:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/75ff3456-6ce0-11de-af56-00144feabdc0.htmlGourmet#axzz1Bs5vHuSe
With such a talented and driver leader at the helm, I would watch for more success stories from Vermillion in the future.
We made an early evening reservation and arrived to find a quiet restaurant (probably because it was early in the evening). Everthing was impeccably decorated, but quiet and subdued, quite different from what I had imagined. The website boasts of a bold red antique bar that dominates the lounge but I hardly noticed the bar coming in. The rest of the restaurant was as advertised, airy with translucent silver and raw silk drapes. Rather than bold and vivacious, the atmosphere is actually calm and soft atmosphere with light touches of rich accent.
The menu was on the small side, about 12 appetizer items, a separate 10-course degustation menu, about 4 or 5 Latin-Indian fusion courses, 3 "Heat" items (traditional Indian), and another 4 or 5 "Truckstop" items (again traditionally Indian, but more casual fare). My husband picked the Tandoori Skirt Steak and I picked the Shrimp Paella, which actually comes with both shrimp and mussels. Exquisitely plated, the portions were smaller than expected. Neither entree, however, managed to bowl us over. The skirt steak comes with a delightful little jicama citrus salad and a mint-cucumber dressing, which were the highlights. The two fried plantain chips were nice touches as well. The steak itself was unremarkably seasoned, neither Latin-tasting, nor Indian-tasting, and frankly didn't seem to have much salt or spice at all. The paella, though attractive in presentatio,n was strangely imbalanced in taste. The Indian rice poha was attractively yellowed by Turmeric, and nicely moistened by the pearl onions cooked with the rice. But the ancho tequilla marinade did not work for me at all. The ancho chiles were overpowering in heat, and then a strange sour taste that I could not quite place followed. It wasn't until I read the menu again that I discovered that the rice was marinated in ancho tequillia, and it dawned on me that the sour taste was lime from the tequilla!
The highlight of the evening was dessert. We chose to share the three-piece immoderation plate, which came with a nice smooth mango cardamon flan interestingly flavored with pink peppercorn accompanied by an exquisite coconut foam. Here the Indian flavor of cardamon worked very nicely with the Latin flavor of coconut and of course mango is a key ingredient in both cuisines. The middle of the plate was a rice dark chocolate molten cake, with an orange-blueberry sorbet lightly flavored by masala and chili. Another surprisingly nice combination. The chili highlighted rather than overpowered the rich but bittersweet taste, yielding a sophisticatedly textured dessert. Having two nice desserts under our belts (literally), we were surprised to find the third dessert to be even more excellent. The warm plantain cake was very nicely flavored with anise, moalsses, brown sugar, and turmeric. And what we thought was a pudding was actually banana ice cream and traditional Indian shirkhand (strained yogurt). All these different warm flavors were nicely balanced, yielding a warm and comfortable taste but very complex at the same time.
Overall, I rate the restaurant good but not excellent. The atmosphere was calm and sophisticated. The dinner dishes did not win us over, but maybe we'll try some other dishes another time. The desserts, though, were success stories of Latin-Indian fusion, blending rarely seen spices and ingredients in the most harmonious ways.
Beyond the food, as I was reviewing the restaurant's website, I discovered the underlying story of a remarkable woman entrepreneur. Owner Rohini Dey is a PhD economist, who has worked at both the World Bank and McKinsey, and is young and beautiful as well. Read her profile at Financial Times:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/75ff3456-6ce0-11de-af56-00144feabdc0.htmlGourmet#axzz1Bs5vHuSe
With such a talented and driver leader at the helm, I would watch for more success stories from Vermillion in the future.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Cooking for a crowd
When Tom and I were resident heads almost 20 years ago, we used to cook for large groups all the time. The University of Chicago organizes residential units into "houses". Smaller buildings are sometimes just one house, but larger building were divided into houses that run from 30 to a little over 100 students each, with most houses running around 60 students. These days houses are larger, average about 80-100 students. Each house has a single resident head or a resident head couple, and at least one RA (formally titled Assistant Resident Head, rather than Resident Assistant). We had 60 students in our house, so cooking for 30-60 students was a regular occurrence.
Since we moved out of the dorms in the late 90's, we haven't hosted many large parties at home. There were some church dinners, but then the church we attended at the time was smaller, so church dinners were only 30 people occasions, at the most. The church we are attending now has at least 150 people attending its Sunday worship service. Last month, after one such Sunday, I had the job of providing the "family dinner".
I took a Mostaccioli Casserole recipe from Cooks.com and multiplied everything by 6. So here's how I made enough baked mostaccoli to feed 100 people. I asked the congregation to bring the sides (those with last names A-L bring a salad or vegetable side dish, and those with last names M-Z bring a bread or dessert). I also made one special mostaccioli with mushrooms instead of sausage; one with sausage and no cheese; and one with mushrooms as well as no cheese.
Baked Mostaccioli for 100
modified from Cooks.com
15 lbs. Italian sausage
60 cups of Spaghetti sauce (a 24 oz bottle of Spaghetti sauce is about 2.5 cups)
7.5 cups water
7.5 cups of Parmesan cheese
15 lb Mozarella cheese
15 lb Mostaccioli (or any small dry pasta like penne, rotini, etc)
This works best if you cook about 3 lbs of pasta at a time in a stock pot. While the pasta is cooking, cut up the Italian sausage and brown in a very large pan. Put cooked sausage, the spaghetti sauce and the water in a big pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the Parmesan cheese to thicken the sauce.
The assembly is fun, very similar to assembling lasagnas. In a 13" by 9" foil pan layer one cup sauce, then one layer of pasta, then two cups of sauce, and two cups of mozarella on top of the sauce. Repeat with a layer of pasta, a layer of sauce, and a layer of mozarella. Bake each pan for 30-40 minutes until heated through and enjoy.
Since we moved out of the dorms in the late 90's, we haven't hosted many large parties at home. There were some church dinners, but then the church we attended at the time was smaller, so church dinners were only 30 people occasions, at the most. The church we are attending now has at least 150 people attending its Sunday worship service. Last month, after one such Sunday, I had the job of providing the "family dinner".
I took a Mostaccioli Casserole recipe from Cooks.com and multiplied everything by 6. So here's how I made enough baked mostaccoli to feed 100 people. I asked the congregation to bring the sides (those with last names A-L bring a salad or vegetable side dish, and those with last names M-Z bring a bread or dessert). I also made one special mostaccioli with mushrooms instead of sausage; one with sausage and no cheese; and one with mushrooms as well as no cheese.
Baked Mostaccioli for 100
modified from Cooks.com
15 lbs. Italian sausage
60 cups of Spaghetti sauce (a 24 oz bottle of Spaghetti sauce is about 2.5 cups)
7.5 cups water
7.5 cups of Parmesan cheese
15 lb Mozarella cheese
15 lb Mostaccioli (or any small dry pasta like penne, rotini, etc)
This works best if you cook about 3 lbs of pasta at a time in a stock pot. While the pasta is cooking, cut up the Italian sausage and brown in a very large pan. Put cooked sausage, the spaghetti sauce and the water in a big pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the Parmesan cheese to thicken the sauce.
The assembly is fun, very similar to assembling lasagnas. In a 13" by 9" foil pan layer one cup sauce, then one layer of pasta, then two cups of sauce, and two cups of mozarella on top of the sauce. Repeat with a layer of pasta, a layer of sauce, and a layer of mozarella. Bake each pan for 30-40 minutes until heated through and enjoy.
Sunday, January 02, 2011
New Year Pork Roast
Yesterday was a quiet a home New Year's day with white chili at home because New Year's Eve was a big food fest at a friend's home, with wonderful Argentinian food. Today we had friends over after church so we can have a proper New Year's Day celebration (albeit one day late). In order to speed up the cooking, I started the rice and beans in the Chinese rice cooker with chicken broth and also put the pork roast in the slow cooker with just a little water and a little soy sauce. We left home for about 1.5 hours for church and then I rubbed the pork with the spice mixture and put some of the liquid from the crockpot in the roast pan and finished the pork by roasting in the oven for another hour. In the mean time, I finished the Hopping John and quickly sauteed the broccoli and wild mushrooms. Here are the recipes:
Pork Roast
1st step in crockpot:
3.5 lb pork loin roast
2 Tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
1 cup water
Put 1 cup of water in the bottom of a 6 qt crockpot (I used an oval-shaped crockpot so I didn't have to cut the roast). Carefully place pork roast inside the crockpot. Spoon soy sauce over the roast, trying to cover as evenly as possible. Turn crockpot on high.
2nd step in oven (after 1.5 hours in crockpot):
1 teaspoon each dried thyme, rosemary, basil, coriander, fennel
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
Put partially cooked pork roast in roast pan . Mix dried herbs and pepper. Use a food processor if desired for a smoother consistency. Rub herb mixture onto pork roast. Mix olive oil and soy sauce. Pour over the pork roast. Add as much of the liquid from the crock post to cover the bottom of the roast pan as possible. Roast in 375 degree oven for about an hour (until center temperature registers 155 degrees).
Hopping John
1st step in rice cooker:
3 cups long grain rice
1 can (15 oz) black-eyed peas
2 chicken bullion cubes
6 cups water
Put all the ingredients in rice cooker and cook according to instructions. Rice will be pretty sticky. Can reduce amount of water for a grainier, less sticky consistency.
2nd step on stove top:
3 cups chopped celery
1 small onion
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Cooked rice and beans mixture from step 1
Heat oil in 4 quart saucepan or dutch oven. Saute celery and onion until soft. Add cooked rice and bean mixture. Stir to mix well.
Broccoli and wild mushrooms
2 broccoli crowns, cut in stir-fry size pieces
8 oz. mixed wild mushrooms
1 cup water
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
Put water in frying pan. Cook broccoli in the water. Cover frying pan and cook broccoli until soft. Remove lid. Add mushrooms. Cook until everything is tender. Season with the soy sauce.
Pork Roast
1st step in crockpot:
3.5 lb pork loin roast
2 Tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
1 cup water
Put 1 cup of water in the bottom of a 6 qt crockpot (I used an oval-shaped crockpot so I didn't have to cut the roast). Carefully place pork roast inside the crockpot. Spoon soy sauce over the roast, trying to cover as evenly as possible. Turn crockpot on high.
2nd step in oven (after 1.5 hours in crockpot):
1 teaspoon each dried thyme, rosemary, basil, coriander, fennel
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
Put partially cooked pork roast in roast pan . Mix dried herbs and pepper. Use a food processor if desired for a smoother consistency. Rub herb mixture onto pork roast. Mix olive oil and soy sauce. Pour over the pork roast. Add as much of the liquid from the crock post to cover the bottom of the roast pan as possible. Roast in 375 degree oven for about an hour (until center temperature registers 155 degrees).
Hopping John
1st step in rice cooker:
3 cups long grain rice
1 can (15 oz) black-eyed peas
2 chicken bullion cubes
6 cups water
Put all the ingredients in rice cooker and cook according to instructions. Rice will be pretty sticky. Can reduce amount of water for a grainier, less sticky consistency.
2nd step on stove top:
3 cups chopped celery
1 small onion
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Cooked rice and beans mixture from step 1
Heat oil in 4 quart saucepan or dutch oven. Saute celery and onion until soft. Add cooked rice and bean mixture. Stir to mix well.
Broccoli and wild mushrooms
2 broccoli crowns, cut in stir-fry size pieces
8 oz. mixed wild mushrooms
1 cup water
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
Put water in frying pan. Cook broccoli in the water. Cover frying pan and cook broccoli until soft. Remove lid. Add mushrooms. Cook until everything is tender. Season with the soy sauce.
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Shut down, level up, restart!
It's another new year, full of resolutions, hopes, and dreams. I decided to dust off this old blog, dormant since early 2007, and restart with a fresh new look.
This blog will mostly be devoted to food and cooking, and restaurant reviews as well. And there will be a separate blog for my other interests.
Here is a recipe I just shared on Facebook for white chili. Basically any white bean can be used with this chili. Using canned beans and ground meat saves time, but shredded or chopped turkey and chicken would work too. For a spicier version, consider adding green chiles or more cayenne pepper.
Easy White Chili
1 medium onions chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound ground turkey (can also use ground chicken or turkey and chicken chopped into small pieces)
2 cans (15 oz each) garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained (can also use white navy beans or other white beans)
2 cups chicken broth or turkey broth
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
cayenne pepper, to taste
sour cream and/or shredded Monterey Jack cheese to thicken
chopped fresh parsley or cilantro
In a medium saucepan, saute onion and turkey until turkey is cooked. Add beans and broth, bring to boil. Add cumin, oregano, rosemary, pepper, lower heat and let simmer for at least 20 minutes or until flavors are well blended. Add sour cream and/or Monterey Jack cheese to thicken chili a little (I only had mozzarella at home and used that instead). If desired, add more shredded cheese on top and chopped parsley to garnish. Serve warm with tortillas or bread.
This blog will mostly be devoted to food and cooking, and restaurant reviews as well. And there will be a separate blog for my other interests.
Here is a recipe I just shared on Facebook for white chili. Basically any white bean can be used with this chili. Using canned beans and ground meat saves time, but shredded or chopped turkey and chicken would work too. For a spicier version, consider adding green chiles or more cayenne pepper.
Easy White Chili
1 medium onions chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound ground turkey (can also use ground chicken or turkey and chicken chopped into small pieces)
2 cans (15 oz each) garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained (can also use white navy beans or other white beans)
2 cups chicken broth or turkey broth
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
cayenne pepper, to taste
sour cream and/or shredded Monterey Jack cheese to thicken
chopped fresh parsley or cilantro
In a medium saucepan, saute onion and turkey until turkey is cooked. Add beans and broth, bring to boil. Add cumin, oregano, rosemary, pepper, lower heat and let simmer for at least 20 minutes or until flavors are well blended. Add sour cream and/or Monterey Jack cheese to thicken chili a little (I only had mozzarella at home and used that instead). If desired, add more shredded cheese on top and chopped parsley to garnish. Serve warm with tortillas or bread.
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