Frickin Open Range Fricassee

So I've been a bit tardy at updating this. I'm sorry. Really I am, for the 1 or two folks that read it.

I've had a run in with my town that has been consuming a lot of my time lately. Apparently you are not allowed to have someone *sister-in-law* sleep in your basement. Sure safety is a factor, but I grew up sleeping and practically living in my basement. WTF gives?! An annonymous caller tipped off the town, which I can only assume is a nosy neighbor. Next house...middle of the woods.

Any way. So this is back a few nights ago. I had some chicken drum sticks, legs, whatever you want to call them, defrosting, and the prospect of grilling them with some pre-processed sauce did not seem too appealing. So I went hunting though the pantry rack and found the following.

1 Jar of medium heat salsa
Russet Potatoes
Onions
Garlic
Celery (found them in the fridge)
Wild Rice
Pepper
Smoked Paprika
Cumin

So I do know a fricassee is generally poultry in a light sauce or a reduction of a light liquid, but I'll call my creations what I want to darn it :)

So here is what you do.

Bust out your largest cast iron skillet, put some butter or oil in the bottom and let it get nice and hot.
Pre-heat your oven to 325 now too.

While that thermo reaction is happening, chop very roughly the onions, celery, and mash and chop the garlic. Also cut the potatoes length wise, and then lengthwise again to get long quarters, and then slice them on the bias to get two small slices of potato. I used 4 potatos.

Drop all of this into the cast iron skillet. If you don't have a spalsh/spatter guard, I highly suggest you go down to Ikea and get one on the cheap. Let the saute for 2-3 minutes or until the onions get nice and carmelized. Nows a good time to hit this with some pepper and paprika. While your doing this, coat the chicken in a LIGHT dusting of flour. Then remove everything from the skillet and brown your chicken on all sides. (hit each side with a dash or so of cumin and a few healthy grinds of pepper) Figure 1 minute worth with the heat on high for each side. Then when the legs are browned, toss everything back into the pan, and let it cook a 2-3 more minutes to let the vegitation mingle with the fat of the chicken.

Now crack open the salsa, add it in, let everyone get nice and comfortable in there, feel free to add some wine here if you want. You don't want to. But I did. You should too. =)

Now, cover with aluminum foil, and put it in the middle of your oven for 30-45 minutes or until the chicken isn't bleeding anymore near the bone, or the temp of the meat hits 170 ish.

I served this with the wild rice, (follow the directions on the package!) and some frenched string beans with butter.

Swiss The Steak!

Swiss Steak...mmm.

Have you ever walked past the beef section in the grocery store and came across a small section of Styrofoam trays with a slab of meat on it that looked like Freddie Kruger went to town on it? I'm sure you have, and for those of you who haven't, here is what it looks like.

So what do you do to make delicious tasty, melty (is that a word) swiss steak? It's easy:

Dredge the meat in flour. Then in a heavy (dutch oven preferably) pot, brown the meat on both sides. Remove them after browned to rest. Preheat your oven to 325. Then toss in one onion sliced, 2-3 celery stalks roughly chopped, 1-3 cloves of garlic (depends on how garlicy you want the sauce), season with pepper, and let them cook for a bit.

Now crack open a can of peeled, or diced tomatoes, a small can of tomato sauce and after 4-5 minutes of cooking, toss them into the pot (carefully, don't wanna get tomato sauce all over the place). Next add a cup and a half of any liquid that is flavorful. Just do yourself a favor and don't use water. There isn't a point to it. It brings nothing but dilutes the sauce. In this instance I used a Scandinavian red wine and augmented it with 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar. Stir this up. Then put in the meat that is resting, cover, and put in your 325 degree oven for 2 hours....yes 2 hours.

I served this over garlic and sage mashed potatoes, and some corn.

To Stew, or not to Stew?

So after getting some insight on making a stew, by not stewing (strange as it sounds), but instead by using a method called braising, I decided to make a stew, by stewing. Stay with me here.

I had some beef cubes in the freezer that I defrosted over night, and early this morning tossed them into my waiting and trusty crock pot. I then added the standard mirepoix, halved and quartered white mushrooms (washed please), pepper, basil, parsley, a carton of vegetable stock, and 2 large bay leaves. I put it on low at 7:00am I got home at 6:30pm, threw in half a bag (8oz or so) of plain old barley, let it cook on low for another 30 minutes, and consumed. Very simple, and very tasty might I add.

Did I mention I cut everything up the night before so in the morning all I had to do, was wake up, throw the ingredients in, turn the pot on, cover it, and go to work?

Weekend Update

So a malignant Saturday ebbed into Sunday and we were bored. We decided we needed to do something with the 20 lbs of apples we got while apple picking on Saturday, so it got me going on my apple sauce.

Peel 20 apples, Macintosh if you have them (they cook faster and their fibers break down a lot easier), core and slice and toss in a tall pot with some acidulated water (lemon and or lime juice, I toss in the spent citrus as well, this keeps them from turning brown). After you get them all peeled and sliced, drain out most of the water and leave enough for the apples to slosh around in, and take out the citrus remains. Turn the fire or electric on low, and let it sit. Meanwhile....

I then make a simple syrup bolstered with some cranberry juice, and add it to the pot (now simmering). In the past I have tried many variations on this, but the best one to date is still adding a cup of brotherhood red wine from the brotherhood winery in upstate NY. It brings a nice earthy, woody background to the apple sauce. (it aslo makes a nice rosy color).

At this point also, toss in 2 sticks of Cassia (cinnamon commonly found in supermarkets). And add 1 cup of light brown sugar. Stir this up, leave the heat on low, and let it go for 15 minutes, stir, and repeat. How long? Well it depends on how you like your sauce. Chunky apple sauce fans need only wait 2-3 hours, those who like a silkier texture, let it go for up to 6 hours. Or for the lazy folks, hit it with a stick blender after 2-3 hours. You won't get the same texture, but you'll be close.

This is for a sweeter sauce, if you like the natural flavor, use 1/4 cup white granulated sugar instead of the light brown sugar.

But the fun didn't stop here. No!

I wanted fish so I went shopping, I got some flounder fillets and a chest full of Sandy Hook cams caught my eye, so I grabbed a bakers dozen for lunch.

Dinner consisted of,

Red Bliss Potatoes roasted with a whole head of garlic and a whole onion.

Just chop everything up, toss it into a ceramic baking dish, and let it go for 30-40 minutes, covered half that time with aluminum foil to prevent burning things too badly. Remember we want roasted, not charcoal.

Toasted Sesame Asparagus.

Simplest thing ever! Trim off the woody part of the asparagus, then just drop them into a pan with toasted sesame oil and butter, cook on low until the shoots turn a bright green, take off the heat and serve.

The fish was the easiest. Melt butter in a non - non - stick pan with lemon zest and lemon juice, on medium low heat. Then add the fish, boost the heat to medium, crack some pepper, and toss in some nice basil or parsley, turn the fish after 90 seconds, or until the edges turn a paper shade of white, cook on the opposite side for 40-60 seconds, and turn it out of the pan and onto the plate. (A spatula would destroy the fish) This went very nicely with a loaf of artisan bread (store bought) and a Vidal Blanc white.

Kristin baked two pies, can you guess what one of them was? In any case, that was dessert.

I do hope you try at least the apple sauce out. Even with store bought apples, you'll get good results.

Goulash

So it appears as if it is time again for another installment. It's been a bit since I last did any cooking. I have been blessed with a few free dinners over most of the week (The Amex appreciates free dinners in return for a small grocery bill the following week).

So for a quick dinner, especially when your not feeling all that creative and you are very hungry, here is my grandmothers Goulash. (Click for a Wiki article) Yes this isn't really goulash, I grew up calling it that.

Get yourself a 12 inch straight side saute pan. Get some butter or oil your choice here. Roughly chop an onion, you can be as rough or as fine as you want, but for a heartier dish, chop them in at least half inch pieces. Let them get soft, but not to the carmelization stage. Toss in 3 cloves of garlic and continue to cook.

Now is a great time to set some water up to boil for the pasta element.

Next add a pound or so of ground beef, veal, or pork. Let this brown up amongst the onions and garlic. Add a few cracks of fresh pepper now too.

Next your going to add 2 cans of peeled whole tomatoes, that you will promptly slice in quarters after you add them to the pot. You want the juices and seeds to mingle in with everything. Add some fresh basil here.

After the meat is browned and mostly cooked through, you should now have boiling water, add your choice of pasta, but i would stay away from any kind of long pasta, try elbows or for a fancier appearance use bow ties.

Next add a small can of tomato sauce. You know the little 50 cent cans?

By now the pasta is done (Feel free to let it under cook a bit so the pasta doesn't get too soft and gooey for the leftovers the next day or so). Add it in to the rest of the food and fold the meat tomatoes and everything else. Yes I did say fold.

Add another can of tomato sauce, fold some more, cover and walk away for 5 minutes. Then stir again. You may need another can of sauce, but hold off for a bit until you see that the pasta absorbed all of the sauce.

After 15 minutes or so of covered cooking on low heat, you can serve as everything has gotten thick. Serve with sugar, fresh pepper, and some bread.

Shopping List:
1lb. Ground Beef, Veal, or Pork, your choice!
1 large yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
oil or butter (or BOTH!)
1 lb. pasta
2 12oz cans of peeled whole tomatos
2 6 oz cans of tomato sauce (not the marinara kind)
Fresh Pepper
Fresh (or dried) basil