Baby Food

While I *did* make the following 2 recipes into baby food, they are really appropriate for adult eating. I simply made 2 pots and made one w/out seasoning and ground it up in the baby food grinder. The other was perfectly seasoned for grown-ups.

Bree's Lentil Tomato Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 1/3 cups water
2 1/3 cups dried lentils
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 (14 1/2-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
light sour cream (optional)
shredded cheese (optional)

1. Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion; saute for 3 minutes or until tender. Add the turmeric and the next 6 ingredients (turmeric through garlic); saute for 1 minute. Add water and next 4 ingredients (water through diced tomatoes); bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer 1 hour.

2. Reserve 2 cups lentil mixture. Place half of remaining mixture in blender; process until smooth. Pour pureed soup into a large bowl. Repeat procedure with other half of remaining mixture. Stir in reserved 2 cups lentil mixture. Garnish with sour cream and cheese if desired.

Sometimes I don't even grind some up if I am lazy. Sometimes I make this less soupy and serve over rice. You can leave out the turmeric if you don't have it, maybe up the cumin.

Conor thought it was great, even though to me his tasted awful since it had no seasoning, not even salt and pepper.

Chicken Stew

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 large onion, diced
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon cumin
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 28-ounce can (or 2 14-ounce cans) diced tomatoes
1-cup (or more) chicken broth
assorted diced veggies, such as carrots, peas, corn
1 can of beans - kidney, pinto, black, cannellini, chickpea
salt and pepper

Heat the butter in a large, deep skillet or dutch oven over medium heat. When melted, add the onion and cumin and cook until soft, 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add the chicken and brown on both sides, about 5-6 minutes per side. Add the canned tomatoes, broth, veggies, and beans. Season with salt and pepper to your liking. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low and simmer until tomatoes are soft.

Add enough broth or a combination of broth and water until you get the consistency you desire. You can make it watery and more like soup, or thick. I make it on the thick side and serve over wild rice. (those 90-second stick in the microwave wild rice pouches are really good)

Again, for the baby I made it soupy and without seasoning. Instead of diced carrots, one time I added some carrots I had already pureed for him and he didn't like. It just added to the sauce of the stew. I ground it up in both the food processor and the food mill and he LOVED it.

When I make the variation with cumin and chili powder, kidney beans, and corn, it makes a kind of Southwestern stew. You can take this in any direction you want with the veggies and seasoning - Italian, Indian, etc. Curried with chickpeas over couscous or basmati rice would be really tasty!

Chcken Friiiiied Steak

What is more Texan - more deep down-home cooking - than chicken fried steak? It never occurred to me to try and make my own, but then I saw an episode of Good Eats and I changed my mind.

We bought 2 butt roasts at Costco for about $13 and I had a horrible experience with the first one, not realizing how tough a piece of meat it is. Thankfully before I butchered the second I saw Alton Brown's episode called "Cubing Around".

The meat was so flavorful. I was frankly pretty amazed by the outcome, especially because at many points in the preparation I had considerable skepticism. The breading tends to want to slide off, either before or during the frying, but it all worked out in the end. Our roast made nice little tidy pieces about 3 inches in diameter. A couple of these, veggies, and a baked tater and I felt like I was at a fancy rest-ahh-rant - like Luby's!

Chicken Fried Steak

2 pounds beef bottom round, trimmed of excess fat
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 whole eggs, beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Cut the meat with the grain into 1/2-inch thick slices. Season each piece on both sides with the salt and pepper. Place the flour into a pie pan. Place the eggs into a separate pie pan. Dredge the meat on both sides in the flour. Tenderize the meat, using a needling device, until each slice is 1/4-inch thick. Once tenderized, dredge the meat again in the flour, followed by the egg and finally in the flour again. Repeat with all the pieces of meat. Place the meat onto a plate and allow it to sit for 10 to 15 minutes before cooking.

Place enough of the vegetable oil to cover the bottom of a 12-inch slope-sided skillet and set over medium-high heat. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the meat in batches, being careful not to overcrowd the pan. Cook each piece on both sides until golden brown, approximately 4 minutes per side. Remove the steaks to a wire rack set in a half sheet pan and place into the oven. Repeat until all of the meat is browned.

Add the remaining vegetable oil, or at least 1 tablespoon, to the pan. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of the flour left over from the dredging. Add the chicken broth and deglaze the pan. Whisk until the gravy comes to a boil and begins to thicken. Add the milk and thyme and whisk until the gravy coats the back of a spoon, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Season to taste, with more salt and pepper, if needed. Serve the gravy over the steaks.

A note - I didn't feel like buying a "needling device". I understand the purpose - make the meat more tender. So I poked the meat on both sides, first one direction, then the other, with a fork. I could definitely tell a difference in the slices where I was a little more diligent in my poking - much more tender meat.

Chicken Paillard

A paillard is simply a piece of meat pounded so that it is one even thickness. You will recognize the "paillard" if you've had schnitzel or chicken fried steak. Wiener Schnitzel is just veal pounded thin, breaded, and fried. I believe we had Wiener Schnitzel in Vienna on our honeymoon, though we weren't overly impressed by it. In fact, I probably had none considering veal grosses me out.

Over on this side of the pond, a paillard is used mainly so you can cook stuff quickly. A normal chicken breast would probably take 12-14 minutes in my kitchen to cook, but these took about 3 minutes per side. Last week I made paillard but couldn't find my grill pan so they were cooked in a regular nonstick skillet. I can tell you the grilled version is FAR superior.

These received very little treatment, just a brushing of olive oil, salt, and pepper. I went a little heavy on the pepper, and they were a little spicy when done.

You can use a lot of things to pound the meat thin - DO NOT use the pointy side of one of those meat mallets. Ever. For anything. They'll just tear up your meat. One of the things that basically looks like a metal disk with a handle on top work well. You need one that has enough heft that when you come down on the meat it actually does something. You can improvise with a rolling pin, but the problem is that it's so large that the end gets a lot more pressure than the middle, and you end up bashing the heck out of the meat and getting holes in it. If you're using a rolling pin, come down lightly and from not a high distance and use the middle of the pin, not the end.

I have this one, which was a wedding gift. I think I would prefer to have this one in the upper right - they call it a pounder.

Pound your meat out between 2 pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper to about a 1/4 inch thickness. Brush with oil and season with salt, pepper, and whatever other seasonings you want. A brush of dijon mustard would be nice, sprinkled with some dried thyme.

Heat your grill pan over high heat. Using tongs place your paillard in the pan. It will stick - don't worry about it! At some point, it will start to release (after some nice grill marks are placed) and you can turn it 45 degrees if you want to get nice marks. Cook for about 3-4 minutes. Turn over and do the same to the other side. Remove from pan and let sit for about 5 minutes before serving.

Serve with mashed potatoes, salad, pasta, or any vegetable you like. A nice easy, healthful meal.

Indian Butter Chicken

I am not sure why this is called "Butter Chicken" but after looking at some recipes on the internet it seems to be fairly common. This can also be called "Indian Chicken in Tomato Cream Sauce". I am quite fond of the cream and tomato combo, as this is what I usually do in the last few minutes of my marinara. Not too much that the cream takes over, but just a tablespoon or two to really mellow it out.

This recipe is courtesy of the "Sara's Secrets" show on Food TV. I am pretty sure once upon a time I went looking for recipes with garam masala because I love it bunches and would like to incorporate it more into our meals. You can buy it already prepared (the McCormick brand is pretty good) or make your own. Because it changes from family to family (masala means "mixture" and garam means "warm") I'm sure you'll find 101 recipes on the internet for it.

Spice Blend:
1 tablespoon garam masala seasoning
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Sauce:
3 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice
1 skinless rotisserie chicken, boned out and pulled into 1 1/2 by 1/2-inch chunks
1 (10-ounce) box frozen peas, placed in a colander and run under hot water to thaw
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Hot basmati rice, for serving
Pita bread, warmed according to package directions, for serving

To make the spice blend: Stir the ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

To make the sauce: Melt the butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until the pieces just begin to turn gold, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, tomato paste and spice blend, and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly to prevent burning. The spices will be fragrant. Add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes and stir will. Add the chicken pieces, spoon the sauce over the top and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to low and cook, uncovered, until the chicken is warmed through and the sauce is flavorful, about 10 minutes. Stir frequently. Remove the chicken to a serving dish and cover to keep warm.

Shake any excess water from the peas. Add the peas and cream to the sauce in the pan, stir well and heat through. Do not boil. Spoon the sauce over the chicken. Serve with rice and warmed pita bread.

Variation: If you prefer shreds of chicken to whole pieces, remove the skin from the chicken and pull the meat into large chunks by hand. Add to the pan along with the garlic, tomato paste and spice blend. Cook for 3 minutes and then add the tomato sauce and continue with the recipe. Serve over basmati rice.

I used the rotisserie chicken because I was lazy and tired. Next time I'll just saute some boneless skinless breast pieces and use those. Because I used shreds of chicken, the chicken was more incorporated into the sauce than it being a chicken vs sauce thing. Next time I'll probably omit the peas and do potatoes and carrots.

Saucy!

Much as I wanted to just come home and have a bowl of cereal for dinner tonight, I forced myself to cook the boneless, skinless chicken breasts defrosting in the refrigerator. What easier way than a simple saute, with a sauce made in the same pan.

The technique for making a simple pan sauce is easy - saute a savory ingredient or herb in the pan drippings (or fond, as it is often called), add a savory liquid, let it thicken, then add a finish, if so desired. You start by sauteing your chicken on high heat in olive oil, vegetable oil, or a butter and oil combo. You can even do this in stages, as I did, as I had 4 rather large breasts, and only 2 fit in the pan. Get a really good sear on the chicken on both sides, and you'll notice that some brown bits form in the pan. This is the fond, and the basis of a really good sauce.

Once done with the chicken, you'll want to add some savories - finely choppen onion, shallot, green onions, or garlic. Sage is also good to add now - it may crackle in the pan as it "fries". I had sauteed some minced garlic in my olive oil just prior to adding the chicken. Be careful about garlic, I only let mine saute for about 30 seconds, as it can get brown fast and brown = bitter. I minced a shallot, and added it to the pan, where the reamaining oil softened the shallot. You only want to cook your savories until just soft.

Next you add your savory liquid - chicken broth, vegetable broth, white wine, red wine, lemon juice are the usual players. Today I added a half a can of low sodium chicken broth and the juice of a lemon. I think the broth comes to about a half cup. Measurements really are not important. Then you let that boil away, scraping up the brown bits until it gets thickened and you have a syrupy but pourable sauce. Then quickly finish the sauce, if desired. Butter and cream are standard. I added 2 teaspoons of butter and it thickened the sauce slightly and gave it a nice creamy finish. I also added a scant teaspoon of cream. Now is the time to finish with fresh herbs as well, as you they will lose the note of freshness if they cook too long. Capers are popular to add to a lemon sauce as well, though I would skip the cream.

I poured the sauce over my chicken and garnished with some chopped green onion tops. Parsley would also be great.

I added some saffron rice with chopped green onion whites and a simple salad and dinner was done. (and would feed me for the next 2 nights as well)

Friday Night Panko Fest

Panko...Japanese bread crumbs. They are light and fluffy and kind of make a tapping sound against each other. I finally bought some at the store last week so when I was faced with an evening stretch alone at home and time to make a bigger dinner, I decided to experiment.

A quick googling on the 'Net yielded chicken and onions. Onion rings! I looove onion rings, but I hate the grease that goes along with them, especially on my current low-fat health diet. Correction, I love onion rings when they are done well, not when the coating doesn't stick to the onion and falls off in globs. So I grabbed some chicken breasts at the store and went home excited to getting to the experimentin'.

The technique that I used to bread the chicken and onion could be used with really any surface you want to have a crispy, light, coating. You need to dry the food with a little flour, then dunk in something sticky so that the crumbs will stick, then dunk in the crumbs. What I found is that if you are dunking in the crumbs, the crumbs will inevitably get wet with the sticky solution and won't be usable. So alternate in small batches, don't just dump out all your crumbs you'll need at once. The other alternative which worked well, was to do the flouring and crumb-ing in a paper bag, shaking the food. This coated everything really well and the sticky stuff didn't leach all over everything.

Baked Onion Rings

2 egg whites
all purpose flour for coating
salt and pepper
2 small or 1 large onion, cut into rings
Japanese Panko bread crumbs, about 1 cup

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Lightly beat the egg whites in a pie plate or other flat, wide dish. In another bowl, add the flour. Add salt and pepper to the flour to your liking, or some seasoned salt, herbs, etc. In another flat, wide dish add the crumbs. Alternatively, use 2 small plain brown paper bags and add the flour to one and the crumbs to the other. Flour the onion rings, then dunk in the egg whites, letting the excess drip off. Coat in bread crumbs and lay on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake for around 10-15 minutes, turn over, and bake again until they are to desired brown color.

Panko-Crusted Dijon Chicken

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts
2 egg yolks (or 2 eggs - I had yolks from the above whites)
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
all-purpose flour for dusting
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
Japanese Panko bread crumbs, about 2 cups

Lightly beat the eggs in a bowl and add the Dijon mustard. Mix well. Add the flour to a wide, shallow dish and add the Parmesan cheese. Add any other seasonings and salt and pepper as desired. Add Panko crumbs to another shallow dish. Alternate coating the chicken breasts with flour, then the egg mixture, then the crumbs, pressing the crumbs into the chicken. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees F for 20-30 minutes or until the juices run clear and internal temperature reads 160 degrees F. Add a shaving of Parmesan on top, if desired.