Easy Elegant Potatoes

 While wrapping Christmas presents this year, I tuned into America's Test Kitchen, and caught them making these gorgeous potatoes. The words they used to describe them was Spanish, and I have no idea what it actually was -- but I put these potatoes together that night and they really are quite lovely.

2 lb. Yukon Gold potatoes peeled and sliced about 1/4" thick

1 medium onion sliced

Salt

3 T. Olive oil

1/2 c. white wine

Combine potatoes, onions, olive oil and salt in a bowl, mix well to cover (don't be afraid of the salt, be liberal in its use)

Transfer to a 8x10 baking dish, cover tightly with foil and bake for 45 minutes in 450 degree oven.

After 45 minutes, remove foil and pour wine onto potatotes. Return the pan with foil on top (but no longer tightly sealed) to oven for another 15 minutes

Voila! Easy Elegant Potatoes.

Delicious Homemade Clam Chowder

 As part of my ongoing pledge to make more soup, I found an absolutely delicious (and really easy) recipe for Clam Chowder the other week. I improvised with a few of the ingredients and think it was a winner. 

Diced Pancetta

2 celery ribs, diced

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

3 small potatoes peeled and cubed

1 c. chicken stock

1 bottle (8 oz) clam juice

1/4 t. pepper

1/4 t. thyme

1/3 c. flour

2 c. half and half

2 cans undrained chopped clams

Cook pancetta over medium heat until crisp. Remove to paper towels to drain.

Saute celery and onion in drippings until tender. Add garlic; cook a minute longer. Stir in potatoes, chicken stock, clam juice, pepper and thyme. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until potatoes are tender (15-20 minutes)

In a small bowl combine flour and 1 c. half and half until smooth. Gradually stir into soup, bring to a boil, cook and stir until thickened. 1-2 minutes

Stir in clams, pancetta and remaining half and half. Heat through and serve.

Rigatoni with Eggplant and Sausage

 My husband made this dish one night when I was absolutely exhausted and didn't want to cook. He'd seen Bobby Flay on the Today show, and thought he'd give it a go. It was absolutely delicious. Will certainly add to the rotation.

Basic Tomato Sauce

EVOO

1/2 onion chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

28 oz can peeled wole tomatoes 

2 T. chopped fresh basil

2 T. chopped fresh parsley

pinch of sugar

Pasta

1/2 eggplant, peeled and cut into 1" chunks

1/4 c. + EVOO

Rigatoni

3 links Italian sausage (or pancetta would be great too) meat released from casing

1/4 c. red wine

1/4 sour cream

1 t. oregano

1 1/2 T. chopped fresh basil

basic tomato sauce (above)

For the sauce

Heat oil in a saucepan, cook onions until softened (5 minutes). Add garlic for about 1 minute until fragrant. Add tomatoes and their juices and cook on low for about 45 minutes.

Use a potato masher to break tomatoes apart as they cook.

Stir in parsley and basil and use immediately or freeze for up to 1 month.

For the Pasta

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and place rack in the middle of the oven

Line a sheet pan with foil, and spray with non-stick spray

Place the eggplant on the sheet pan in a single layer, drizzle olive oil on top, season with salt and pepper, place in pre-heated oven for 30 minutes

Meanwhile, bring a big pot of well salted water to a boil. And cook Rigatoni for 2 minutes less than package instructions (7 to 9 minutes). Reserve one cup of pasta water when the pasta is done.

While the pasta cooks, use a sauté pan to heat oil and cook the sausage. When sausage is done, remove from the pan. 

Add wine to the pan and reduce by half. Then add the tomato sauce and cook for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add sausage and eggplant. Let simmer for 2-3 minutes. 

Reduce heat and add pasta and sour cream. Stir to combine. Add pasta water to get the desired consistency. Stir in herbs.

ENJOY!

Rice Salad

 

I have no idea why, but when dreaming up this week's menu I found myself craving rice salad. I had taken a cooking class years and years ago where we made rice salad, and it just seemed like the perfect summer side dish. The 2022 version was absolutely delicious -- I think the most ingenious part was when it called for cooking the pancetta in the oil from the sundried tomato jar.

I used our favorite Gazebo Room Dressing instead of making anything. It was so good.

1 c. uncooked Basmati rice

8 oz. pancetta

1 orange pepper chopped

1/2 cucumber chopped

1/2 red onion chopped

8 sundried tomatoes chopped

3/4 c. grape tomatoes quartered

Kalamata olives

5 T. Gazebo Room dressing

Cook rice according to package directions, when done, transfer to a large bowl and let cool.

Saute pancetta in 1 or 2 T. of oil from the sundried tomatoes, let cool on a paper towel

Chop all the pepper, cucumber, onion, and and tomatoes, combine with olives in a bowl

Combine with rice and add pancetta. Add dressing and herbs. Mix well.

ENJOY

Peruvian Grill-Roasted Chicken

This is definately a Saturday or Sunday meal, but so worth the effort. Unfortunately I tried to make this on a Wednesday and we ate at about 9:30 pm. I took the leftovers to work the next day and it was delicious! I thought I could get away with minced garlic, but my gourmet daughter insisted on grating the garlic. I also didn't follow the smoking instructions -- I tried to soak a cedar plank and put the chicken on top, which caught fire. I'll try to actually follow the real instructions next time. These are the instructions for gas grilling.The most delicious part of this is the dipping sauce -- must make the dipping sauce.

1 12 oz. can of beer, divided

1 T. finely grated garlic

2 T. lime juice

2 T. soy sauce

2 t. table salt

2 t. yellow mustard

1 t. pepper

1 t. dried thyme

1 t. ground cumin

1 whole chicken

1 c. wood chips

1 13x9 disposable aluminum roasting pan

Whisk 1/2 c. beer, garlic, lime juice, soy sauce, salt, mustard, pepper, thyme, and cumin together in liquid measuring cup. Refrigerate remaining beer, still in can, until ready to grill. Using your fingers or handle of wooden spoon, gently loosen skin covering chicken breast and leg quarters. Using your paring knife poke 10 to 15 holes in fat deposits on skin of back. Tuck wingtips underneath chicken.

Place chicken in bowl with cavity end facing up Slowly pour marinade between skin and meat and rub marinade inside cavity, outside skin and under skin to distribute. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours, turning chicken halfway through marinating.

Using a large piece of heavy duty aluminum foil, wrap wood chips in 8 x 4 1/2 inch foil pocket. Make sure chips do not poke holes in packet. Cut 2 evenly spaced 2-inch slits in top of packet.

Place beer can in a large shallow pan (I use a cake pan) Spray can all over with Pam (or whatever non-stick spray you have). Slide chicken over can so drumsticks reach down to bottom of can and chicken stands upright. Set aside at room temperature until grill is ready.

Remove cooking grate and place wood hip packet directly on one of the outside burners. Set grate in place, turn all burners to high; cover and heat grill until hot and wood hips are smoking, about 15 minutes. Turn 2 outside burners to medium and turn off center burner. (The goal is to maintain grill temperature at 350 degrees -- for me that means low)

Put chicken with can to center of cooking grate with wings facing outer burners at 3 and 9 o'clock. Cover grill and ook for 15 minutes. Using tongs and wad of paper towels, rotate bird 90 degrees so wings are at 6 and 12 o'clock. Continue cooking and turning chicken at 15 minute intervals until thickest part of thigh registers 170 degrees, (can take 1 hour to 1 1/4 hour)

With a wad of paper towels in each hand, transfer chicken and can to clean bowl (or pie pan) and let rest for 15 minutes. Don't toss the paper towels, use them to remove the chicken off the can of beer and onto a cutting board.

Serve with Peruvian Yellow Chile Sauce

1/2 c. mayonnaise

1 jalapeno chile, stemmed, seeded and chopped coarse

5 T. minced fresh cilantro

2 T. grated cotija cheese

2 T. lime juice

1 garlic clove, minced

Combine all ingredients in the blender and process until smooth (about 1 minute).

Sheet Pan Greek Chicken Thighs

I think a miracle occurred yesterday afternoon. One minute, we had no idea what to make for dinner, the next I was pulling stuff out of the refrigerator and we had a delicious meal on our hands. Ladies and gentleman, I give you Sheet Pan Greek Chicken Thighs

Marinade:

• 1/2 c. olive oil
• juice of one lemon
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 2 t. oregano
• 1 t. thyme (I was forced to use tarragon, we were out of thyme)
• 1 t. salt
• pepper to taste

Throw 5 or 6 bone-in/skin attached chicken thighs a gallon bag with the marinade, seal the bag and turn a few times then let rest for 30 minutes.

Set the oven to 425 degrees.

Cover a sheet pan with aluminum foil

Prepare veggies:

• Bell pepper
• Grape tomatoes
• Sweet potato
• onion

Chop everything a pretty uniform size. 

When the chicken is done marinating arrange it on the sheet pan.

Put the veggies in the bag and massage them around to cover in marinade

Pour veggies and marinade onto the sheet pan and pop it into the oven for 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes sprinkle chicken and veggies with:

• crumbled Feta cheese
• pitted Kalamata olives

Return to the 425 degree oven for another 10-15 minutes

Remove from oven when chicken registers 165 degrees. Let sit for about 5 minutes before serving.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

We have been through the ringer at our house -- COVID, the flu, work from home, back to the office. I have completely lost track of meal planning and any organization I ever had. We are downright European at this point -- and by that I mean going to the store every day, or worse, several times a day, and buying just what we need to get through the night's meal.

On Sunday, for some reason, we all agreed that soup would be a good idea. And while I do have some great recipes for soup here on the blog, I wanted to try something new. Ta Da! Broccoli Cheddar Soup!

Here's the deal

4 T. butter

4 T. flour

1/2 onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 or 2 carrots grated

1 large head of broccoli cut into small florets

2 c. chicken stock

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 t. paprika

2 c. half and half

8 oz. medium or sharp cheddar grated

 

Melt the butter in your soup pot. 

Add onions and saute until tender (about 5 minutes). 

After the onions are soft and translucent, add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute more. 

Mix in the flour and heat over medium until the mixture turns golden brown (about 3 minutes)

Add veggies (carrots and broccoli), salt and pepper, paprika and chicken stock. Mix well.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low to allow veggies to cook (about 15 minutes)

Once veggies are softened and cooked through, add half and half and cheddar cheese.

Stir until cheese is melted.