recipe: tea soup

I am home sick today, complete with the migraine, fever, body aches, congestion, the whole nine. The old adage about curing a cold with chicken soup I cannot attest to, but I do know that cooking does make me feel better. I took a look in the cupboard and decided to throw together this recipe that included a bunch of those home remedy ideas.

tea bags (i used both chai spiced black tea & English breakfast tea)
water
onion
bell pepper
celery
cilantro
garlic
ginger
flour
oil
ground cayenne pepper
kale (or other dark leafy green)
snap pea pods
mushroom (i used shitakke)
teryiaki sauce (or soy sauce)
lime juice
stock pot

Combine the flour and oil in the stock pot and begin a roux over low heat, allow it to darken to at a brick color.
Finely dice the onion, bell pepper and celery (reserve the celery leaves), garlic and if you are using fresh ginger that as well.
Add the diced veggies to the stock pot and allow them to soften over low heat until the onions become translucent, do not induce browning and allow the flavors to fully meld to form the base.
Add the water and stir the roux into it. Add the tea bags. Bring the water up to a boil and down to a simmer to allow the roux to begin to thicken the water and start the steeping process for the tea.
Season with the cayenne pepper if you want a little extra depth to the flavor of the soup, but do not over season as it’s not supposed to be spicy.
Chop the kale, cut the snap pea pods to bite size if they are large pods, julienne the mushrooms.
Allow the mixture to simmer about 10 minutes.
Add a 3:1 ratio of the teryiaki sauce and lime juice.
Add the rest of the veggies and allow them to cook until tender, introducing the dark greens first and working backwards to the mushrooms.
Finish with the chopped celery leaves and the cilantro.

recipe: the inexpensive one skillet dish

So, in this crappy economy, I am as conscience as ever as to how much things cost. I’ve been cooking on a sublimely tight budget for many years on some tight time lines. I am a strong believer you can cook inexpensively and healthy and quickly given the right understanding. This meal as noted costs about $12 and for a single person would feed them about 3-4 meals or a small family for a night, it cooks in about 30-40 minutes total (prep to table) and is a balance of flavors with healthy elements. The origins of this meal were actually to prove a point to two friends, one who claimed to hate spinach (and other dark leafy greens, where I used collards this time) and another who had a disdain for seafood. Both adored the final version (and both also helped inspire previously variants of a previously noted Mac & Cheese variant also using these elements)

There are plenty of ways to recreate this base dish, including substituting the tuna with ground meat (or I’ve used flounder, cod, catfish and tilapia at different times or even veggie crumble), the collard with other veggies (often, I do a version with mixed frozen veggies, other dark leafy greens also work too), the rice with pasta, etc. The base veggies (onion, celery, peppers as the trinity can be done as the miraquiox replacing the peppers with carrots, shredded work best) should be done slow to let them get soft and sweet as a nice base flavor. The okra will help thicken this into a nice consistency. Personally, I’m not an okra fan, but a friend got me into using it more often, and though other thickeners can be substituted as well, I do prefer the okra in dishes like this because of how they meld into the dish flavor wise. I’ve also done versions of this with cheese and baked it after the initial cook to give it a nice crusty top too. This dish, or variants of it can also be used as a side dish rather than a main casserole type dish, but that’s for you to figure out!

onion
pepper
celery
garlic
chipotle pepper
diced tomato
canned tuna
brown rice
black beans
collard greens
okra
small amount of olive oil
water (or veggie stock)
house seasoning
large skillet

Mix the rice and olive oil in the skillet and begin to saute
Dice the onion, celery, peppers and garlic
As the rice begins to become translucent add the onion, celery, peppers and garlic and over low heat and sweat the veggies until the onions become translucent, the rice begins to lightly toast and the flavors meld
Drain the tomato and tuna and reserve the liquids
Add the tomato, chopped chipolte and chopped okra, seasoning and allow to continue to sweat to combine flavors
Add the water (or stock), re-season as necessary, combine thoroughly cover and simmer over medium heat 3/4 of the recommended cooking time for the rice
As the rice begins to soften almost to the point of serving, add the black beans, collard greens and re-season as necessary, cover and continue to simmer
Combine again and allow to rest for the remaining liquid to thicken and serve

By my calculation, last month’s costs at average for the three different stores in walking distance from my apt in N. NJ the costs are below… It is not necessary to use the entire amount of some of these, but I didn’t prorate the costs for the post based on the amount used and total shopping trip for this recipe was under 38.00. For example, I only used a couple of stalks of the head of celery, 2 chipolte pepper from the can, 1/2 cup brown rice from the bag, 2 tbsp of oil, a few tbsp of the house seasoning, 1/2 bag of the other veggies at most, etc…

onion 1 lb chopped frozen bag 1.50 or 1 yellow fresh for 1.29
pepper 1lb chopped frozen bag 1.50 or 1 bell pepper fresh for 1.29
celery 1.79/head
garlic 1.29 fresh or a 32 oz minced container for 8.99
diced tomato 14.5 oz can 1.20
canned tuna 10 oz can 2.00
brown rice 1.5 lb bag 2.50
black beans 0.50 14.5 oz can
collard greens 1 lb chopped frozen bag 1.50
okra 1 lb chopped frozen bag 1.50
olive oil 750 ml bottle 7.99
chipolte peppers 4.5 oz canned in adobe 2.99
water (free – if you make your own stock, that’s pretty close to free too)
house seasoning 3 oz shouldn’t cost more than 3-4.00 to make

Recipe: Cottage Pie

I’ve always been a huge fan of craftily prepared pub food – real pub food not the double deep fryer that some bars call an after-hours kitchen. After a couple of trips to “Irish Pubs” that left me somewhat flat on the food front I was craving one of those faves from the menu. Traditionally, Shepherds Pie is a lamb based dish and Cottage Pie is the beef version that in many American kitchens receives the misnomer Shepard’s Pie. None the less, apart from the protein component, they are essentially the same dish, cobbled together from leftovers.

Many recipes of American Shepard’s Pie call for ground or minced beef. This can certainly work, but so can stewed beef (which is what I used) or other beef leftovers. I’ll also note, in advance, this is my version of cooking it, not an attempt at recreating something authentic, so take some of the suggestions as being a loose interpretation of the original. I took a couple of liberties in the recipe strictly because it is a leftover meal and these were some of the leftovers I had on hand to work with.

beef
yellow onion
garlic
russet potatoes (or other high starch variety)
milk
egg
water
flour
butter
beef stock (about 1/2 cup per lb of meat)
carrots
peas
whole small pearl onions
* other veggies
skillet
stock pot
mixing bowl
oven safe deep sided dish (such as corningware)

* in my case, i used celery, bell pepper and cabbage greens

Preheat oven to 350
Coarsely dice the potato, carrots, yellow onion, garlic and any other veggies you need to dice
Begin a blond roux in the skillet by combining equal parts flour and butter and allowing them to come together over medium heat and keep the mixture regularly stirred, do not allow it to burn
Place the potato in a stock pot of water and bring to a boil.
As the potato cooks also blanch the carrots, whole pearl onions and any *other raw veggies you have that might need blanching (do not overcook them)
Once the carrots and *other veggies are blanched set them aside, it is good to chill them in ice water to stop the cooking process if you have the opportunity
Add the diced yellow onion and garlic to the skillet and begin to brown them while working the roux
Add the beef to the skillet, combine with the other elements and allow to begin to brown
Once the beef has taken to the heat, slowly add some beef stock and combine, allow the mixture to come to a boil and then back it off to a low simmer
While the skillet reduces the potato should be finished cooking, remove from the water (but retain the water) and allow to cool slightly
Place the potato in the mixing bowl and add the milk and begin to mash, add the egg during the mashing process and combine thoroughly but do not overwork the mixture
Set the mashed potato aside
Add some of the starchy water to the meat as necessary to achieve the right consistency. the meat and sauce should be thick and rich, not soupy and not dry.
Transfer the meat to the corning dish, then layer the veggies and then top with the mashed potato
Cover with the grated cheese and bake for 30-45 min depending on the size of the dish till it is warmed through and the cheese browns
Let stand 5 minutes or so to set and serve

RECIPE: Porto-American Charise-Saffron Rice

It’s probably true that most people cook that which they know best and derive recipes that originate from their youth which probably includes a lot of Americanized cultural references. For me, I (eric doormouse) grew up with intersperced elements of Iberian, specifically Portuguese cuisine, and there’s still a soft spot for those recipes in my cooking. I am by no means versed in the subtilites of this cooking, but thanks to my proximity to the Iron Bound section of Newark, I am blessed with large neighborhoods of Portuguese from which to enjoy meals in.

I would venture a guess, many of the ingredents I take for granted I know them the way I do, but they are not as exotic as they might seem… The saffron itself is one of the more expensive spices you can cook with being derived from the crocus flower. It is very common in Iberian cooking but shows up in Italian and other traditional Mediterrean as well as in middle-Eastern and across the Indian subcontinent among other places. It produces a wonderful yellow color and a grassy fragrance when steeped and comes as threads produced from the flowers as well as in powdered form and is used generally for flavoring grains and sauces (you can buy fake “yellow rice” in packets as a cheap substitute)… The chorizo (in Portuguese chouriço or charise when spoken in American slang) is a wonderful pork sausage flavored with smoked red peppers, paprika and garlic. It comes cured or fresh, though, the cured version is more typical (and for me comes jam packed with memories along with the flavor).

Rice Part
saffron
rice (traditional is long grain white, but brown works too)
olive oil
water
stock (chicken or veggie)
skillet
cooling dish

boil water and then add the saffron, turn off heat, cover and allow to steep
drizzle oil in the skillet and allow to being to warm, add the rice, combine till all the rice is covered and simmer until the rice becomes translucent – do not brown rice or burn butter
add the saffron steeped water with the saffron and a 2:1 stock to water mixture to the rice
bring to a boil, back it down to a very low simmer, cover and allow to cook until rice is tender and the water is absorbed
remove from heat and allow to cool in cooling dish

The Dish
onion
garlic
Chroizo sausage (or Linguiça or a hot Italian-American sausage also works)
collard greens (other dark leafy greens can be used as a substitute)
hot pepper (piri piri would be perfect, but a good frutescens chilis or other hot peppers would work, chipolte are what I used in this recipe)
oilive oil
coriander
cillantro
saffron
port wine
black pepper
skillet

place the choriso, sliced pepper, onion and garlic in the skillet and allow to begin to lightly brown with a little olive oil as necessary
once it begins to brown add the rice to the dish, season with coriander, cillantro, saffron, black pepper
once the rice begins to sear / fry add the shredded Collard greens
add the port wine, do not allow the wine to flame up if possible, just let it get absorbed into the ingreds and provide a liquid base to the meal
let the greens wilt, reseason as necessary
reduce heat and let the flavors meld

serve over whole collard greens in a bowl, I like coarsley chopped flat leaf parsely and Azores cheeses or a dry goat’s milk cheese to serve with it if you can find them along with a thick crusty bread on the side. The dish should not be really heavily spicy but rather a nice round flavor with a lot of bold charactor to it when complete, if it is too “hot” the cheese will help balance the flavors.