Red Red: West African black-eyed pea stew

  • 1 thinly sliced yellow onion
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 2 stemmed, seeded, thinly sliced jalapenos
  • 3 ounces fresh ginger cut into chunks
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoon curry powder
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 4 drained and rinsed cans of black-eyed peas
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 pint halved cherry tomatoes
  1. In a large Dutch oven over medium / medium-high, cook onion in the coconut oil until beginning to brown (~5 minutes.)
  2. Stir in the jalapeños, the ginger, the tomato paste, the curry powder, and the chili powder.  Cook for about a minute.
  3. Stir in the black-eyed peas, the soy sauce, the tomatoes, and 1.5 cups water.  Bring to a simmer, lower heat to maintain simmer, and cook uncovered for ~20 minutes until slightly thickened (stir once in a while, obviously.)
  4. Discard ginger, add salt as desired.
  5. Eat it.

Coconut sticky rice with mango(e)s

I got the coconut rice recipe here:

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/coconut-milk-sticky-rice-with-mangoes-233842

I used the Thai-style sticky-rice steamer:

Palm sugar usually comes in domes of various sizes; it is hard to estimate what 3/4 cup would be; I was probably a bit shy of that, but I don’t like super-sweet things anyways, so I thought it was alright.

Bon appetit!

Lemon Cheesecake Mousse

A mousse! And a non-chocolate version at that! It was delicious. I did double the graham cracker base, as our cups were larger than suggested.

Ingredients

Crust
3/4 cup crushed graham crackers (6 full sheets)
2 Tbsp (26g) granulated sugar
3 Tbsp (42g) butter, melted

Mousse
2 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 Tbsp water
1 1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin powder
1 1/2 cups (355ml) heavy cream
1 cup (110g) powdered sugar, divided
12 oz (340g) cream cheese, softened
1 (10 oz) jar lemon curd
Sweetened whipped cream for garnish (optional)

Instructions
In a mixing bowl whisk together graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Pour in butter and stir until evenly moistened. Divide mixture among 8 – 12 dessert cups and lightly press into an even layer, set aside.

Pour lemon juice and water into a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin evenly over top, let rest 5 minutes. Meanwhile, whip heavy cream in a medium mixing bowl until soft peaks form. Add in 1/3 cup of the powdered sugar and whip until stiff (but not lumpy) peaks form (shake cream from beaters, no need to clean). In a separate large mixing bowl whip cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Mix lemon curd and remaining 2/3 cup powdered sugar into cream cheese mixture.

Heat rested gelatin mixture in the microwave on high power for 30 seconds. Whisk for 1 minute to thoroughly dissolve gelatin, then let cool 3 minutes (no longer or it may start to set then you could end up with little lumps in the mousse). While mixing cream cheese mixture with hand mixer, slowly pour in gelatin mixture then blend until thoroughly combined. Gently fold 1/3 of the whipped cream mixture into the cream cheese mixture to lighten, then add remaining whipped cream and gently fold until combined. Spoon or pipe mixture into dessert cups over graham cracker layer. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours (or up to 1 day ahead if desired) to set. Garnish as desired. Serve cold.

Wild Rice Hotdish

Ingredients

5 tablespoons butter
1/2 large onion, diced
2 garlic clove, minced or pressed
2/3 cup uncooked wild rice blend, rinsed
1 pound broccoli
1/4 teaspoon ground mustard powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
4 ounces cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, add onion garlic, and salt and pepper to taste and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add rice to onion and garlic, and cook for 1 minute, then add 1 1/3 cups water. Bring mixture to a simmer, then reduce heat to lowest temperature and cook with the lid on for about 60 minutes (or whatever amount of time is suggested on your package of rice). If you’d like a rice cooker to do this for you, transfer onions, water and rice to the machine and set the machine.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Peel broccoli stems and dice them into large chunks. Cut florets into 1-inch pieces. Cook in boiling, well-salted water for 2 to 3 minutes, then drain.
You can use this same pan to make the cheese sauce.

Melt remaining 3 tablespoons butter in pan over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add the mustard powder, cayenne, and flour and whisk until combined, cooking the butter-flour mixture for 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly drizzle in milk, whisking constantly, then add the broth. Bring to a simmer and cook mixture at a simmer, stirring the whole time, until sauce is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

Remove pan from heat and stir in 1/2 of  the grated cheese until melted (reserving the other half to sprinkle over the top later). Add salt and pepper to taste.

Combine cooked wild rice blend, broccoli, and cheese sauce in a 2-quart baking dish or a 9-inch oven-safe skillet. Sprinkle remaining cheese over top. Bake casserole for 10 to 15 minutes, until the sauce is bubbly, then run mixture under the broiler until cheese is toasty on top.

Eggnog Ice Cream

This one was pretty simple and unimaginative. I poured a carton of store-bought egg \nog into our Kitchenaid ice cream maker and let it run.

The ice cream turned out a bit on the hard side, which made it difficult to scoop, and it wasn’t very creamy. It also wasn’t quite sweet enough; some added sugar would have helped. If I try this again, I would probably make a batch of eggnog from scratch, going heavy on the nutmeg and adding extra sugar.

Massaman Curry Chicken Pot Pie

I’ve never made a pot pie before, but I’ve been wanting to for quite a while. Not to make it too easy on myself, I decided to make up my own recipe for the filling. So this recipe was two experiments in one.

Pastry

I used the all-butter Pâte Brisée recipe from this site. I cut the butter into about 1/4″ cubes – much smaller chunks than shown in the recipe, and probably more work than was necessary. I stored the butter chunks in the freezer while I was preparing everything else. The dough came together quickly in the food processor, though at the time I was worried that I’d added a bit too much water. In the end, it turned out very buttery, crisp, and flaky.

Filling

  • about 2 cups each of carrots and potatoes, 1/2 inch dice
  • about 1 cup of frozen peas
  • 3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into small chunks
  • 14 ounce can of coconut milk
  • 4 ounce can of massaman curry paste

I cooked the curry paste in half the coconut milk for about 5 minutes, then added the chicken and the rest of the coconut milk. After cooking for a couple more minutes I added the carrots and potatoes and cooked until the vegetables were tender. I then added the frozen peas and continued to cook until they were hot.

Crab, Fennel, & Orange Salad

INGREDIENTS
1 bulb of fennel
3 oranges
4 fresh sprigs of mint
1 ripe avocado
1 fresh poblano chili
½ lb crabmeat, from sustainable sources
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons orange juice

METHOD
Trim the fennel, then thinly slice (mandolin if you have one) and place in a bowl of iced water.
Peel and slice oranges, then arrange on a platter.
Pick and tear the mint leaves, destone the avocado, then slice and scoop out the flesh. Finely dice the chili.
Stir together in a bowl.
Mix the remaining orange juice with the oil. Season generously with sea salt and black pepper, then drizzle over the salad. Serve at once.

Beef Pot Roast & Veggies

I’ve never made pot roast before!

3 pounds chuck roast
spice rub: salt, black pepper, allspice, smoked paprika, & Kona coffee rub.
1 cup (box) chicken-ginger, bone broth
28 ounces fire roasted tomatoes
1 celery stick, sliced very fine
5 cloves garlic
quartered red onion
1/2 cup red wine (McManus Petite Syrah)
1/2 tablespoon chopped, fresh marjoram
1 teaspoon dried rosemary

6 red potatoes
2 sweet onions
16 ounces mushrooms
salt, pepper, olive oil

Rub the spices all over the roast. Brown in a frying pan on all sides. Get it nice and brown and crusty. Put the quartered onion in the bottom of the slow cooker. Roast on top. Mix and put the rest of the ingredients in slow cooker. Cook on slow for 6+ hours.  We made a gravy from the liquid after pulling the roast.

Quarter the potatoes and mix with pepper, salt, and olive oil.
Bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour.
Stir at about the halfway point.

Dice up the onions, slice up the mushrooms.
Caramelize the onions, and add in the mushrooms at the end to cook and brown.

Serve everything together. Eat delicious foods.