Recipes – Page 11 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

A Cold Night’s Soup

Brrr! Although we are not digging out of miles of snow and ice, the cold snap is hitting us here where I live. Frost on the windows in the morning and waking to a 55 degree house remind us (a bit!) how other people in other climes live.

Tonight, the idea of a salad left me feeling cold – ugh! Soup sounded good, so soup for supper it became. Leftovers and a few vegetables here and there, and this is what we have.

California Cold Night Soup

Olive oil
1 large white onion, chopped fine
3-5 minced cloves fresh garlic
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 zucchini, diced
5 tomatillos, diced
2 cooked chicken breasts, diced
Basil, oregano, ancho chili powder, pepper, salt
1 T tomato paste
1/2 c. Italian parsley, chopped
1 qt. low sodium chicken broth (like from Trader Joe’s)

Add 1-2 T oil to large kettle. Add onions and garlic; saute till it begins to caramelize a bit. Add the vegetables; continue to cook. Add herbs, tomato paste, parsley and chicken. Cook a bit longer, then add chicken broth. Simmer about 20 minutes.

Balance flavor with a bit of lemon juice to taste.

Serve with a garnish of parmesan cheese curls.

Crockpot

Whenever I think of crockpots for cooking, I always imagine there will be a big, soupy mess of overcooked food and soggy vegetables. Not appealing.

My first crockpot was all one piece, which meant cleaning it was a chore – avoiding total submersion in water to clean off all the scum and debris that dripped out from under the glass lid. It was also a hideous color and had a cheap feel to it. The cord was a “safety cord,” so short you had to unplug it to check the mess blurping away inside.

Since then, while the concept has remained the same, construction has improved considerably. The cooking pot can come out of the heating element. Well, duh! It oughta, like this one above, which is very similar to mine.

I always wondered who designed the original crockpot – someone who was cheap? Someone who had servants who did their bidding? Someone whose mom or wife did all the cleanup, as a good woman should? These things were ridiculously poor in design, but clever in concept. The fact that the pot could not be removed was my big issue.

Since the days of yore, crockpot cookery, also known as slow cooking, has come a long way. Recipes are not just icky stews, but include all sorts kinds, from soups, to main courses, and desserts.

The other day I found a recipe for Cuban pulled pork, traditionally slow-cooked on the stovetop with citrus. Someone mentioned they had cooked it all day long on low, in their crockpot, so I decided to do it. The result was fantastic because all I did was cook the pork, not make an soupy mess to serve for dinner.

Crockpot Pulled Pork (or, What I Did)

Step 1

3-4 lbs. pork tenderloin
1 orange, quartered
1 qt. chicken broth, low sodium
2 large onions, quartered
lots of garlic cloves, peeled and left whole (I used about 6)
cumin
2 T. peppercorns

Note: Before doing anything, you may want to brown the tenderloin in a pan. I didn’t, because the crockpot method I looked at did not say to do so; I think it might add to the final flavor.

Pierce tenderloin and place whole garlic cloves inside. Place all ingredients into crockpot. Pour in chicken broth.

Place crockpot on low, cook 6-10 hours.

Step 2

1 onion, finely diced
cumin
pepper
salt
chili pepper or other hot pepper powder, flakes

Take pork out of crockpot; pull off any peppercorns. Place into bowl, and using 2 forks, shred meat.

In frying pan, add 1-2 T. olive oil; sautee onion until soft and translucent, or caramelized if you prefer. Set aside in a bowl.

Add more oil to pan. Add shredded pork; stir fry the meat until it is a bit dry and maybe beginning to brown a bit on the tips of the meat. Season with suggested spices, or whatever you prefer. Return sauteed onion to pan, heat a bit more.

Serve with black beans, rice or fried plantains. We also had some shredded jack-white cheddar, salsa, sour cream, fresh cilantro, and a green salad. Additionally, we used fresh limes to squeeze over the meat. It is also good for burritos, tacos, or gussying up with barbecue sauce – but I expect how I would cook it would be a bit differently if barbecued pork was my final goal.

Beast Stew & Dumplings

Cold weather, wet weather, snowy weather all bring out the hibernation instincts. Cup of cocoa, hot toddy, fireplace, a good book. Comfort food, too, which for a lot of us is in the form of stews with dumplings, or hearty soups with crusty bread. My little brother asked for a stew recipe . . . he’s in Wisconsin, watching the Packer’s game on a dark and gloomy day. Here, in California, we have had rain and it is chilly in the mid-50s. So, here is what my brother will be cooking up – and what I decided to do after talking to him!

Sauteeing Onions and Herbs in Dutch Oven

Beast Stew with Dumplings

1 1/2 – 2 pounds cubed meat (I use chuck roast, but regular beef stew meat, pork, or lamb work very well)
1 pint black beer
1 pint water
4-6 onions
potatoes
carrots
garlic ground up with different herbs. I used coriander, ancho powder, sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley, marjoram, peppercorns
2-3 T tomato paste

Preheat oven to 325 F if you want a long, slow cook. Or, plan on cooking time of about 2-3 hours if done stove top. You might also try this in a crock pot, but before you start, be sure to brown the onions and meat for best flavor.

Brown meat in heavy dutch oven with lid in olive oil. Remove from pan. Brown onions – a bit of caramelization is nice. Grind up herbs and garlic, add to pan, sauté a bit. Return meat to pan. Add beer and water, cover, bring to simmer. Add tomato paste, stir in to dissolve. Continue to cook on stove or place in oven. Check liquid status periodically to keep from scorching. Be sure to put the lid on the pot!

On stove top, after about 2 hours – when meat is tender and begins to fall apart – add potatoes and carrots; continue to cook until vegetables reach desired stage of done-ness. Allow about 20 minutes for dumplings before serving.

After about 4 hours in the oven, add quartered russet potatoes. 30 minutes after that, add coarsely cut carrots. Continue to cook about another hour in the oven, then remove and place on stove top to finish with the dumplings. Bring to simmer on stove.

Dumplings

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 T butter
2 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt
2/3 c. milk, cream, or kefir

Mix together flour, powder and salt. Cut butter into flour mixture. Stir in liquid just enough to mix ingredients together. Drop by tablespoon onto simmering stew. Cook 10 minutes with the pot lid off, then 10 minutes more with the lid on. Note: I find that a thinner liquid stirs in better than the thickness of cream or kefir (or sour cream), so it is not a bad idea to thin any of them with a bit of water.

Persimmons, i

I love the color of persimmons – bright orange fruits silhouetted against the sharp blue of the autumn sky. These are the hachiya variety, and when you buy them in the store, they are hard. As they ripen, they become blacker and squishy.

Honestly, I bought these with photographs as my primary thought, but in the back of my mind, ah! persimmon bread! And now, having photographed them, my current thought – before turning them into bread – is to paint them. And so I shall, later on. Right now, though, on to photographing them.

The photo shoot took place on the south side of the house, with the sun rising from the east. No clouds, just a bit of wind. Above is the set up – you can see the directional cast of the shadow. Light was quite contrasty. The camera shoot involved about 100 or so images (ah, the glories of digital photography!), at all f/ stops and exposures, with a polarizing filter and without. Add to that, some with flash and some without; some with filtered flash, some without.

The final images here were done with a filtered flash, using f/32 and 1/60 second for exposure. Post processing was done to clean up spots in the background in the paper, as well as to clean up a few flaws on the fruit. Color was adjusted to some degree, with the final photo given a slightly warm setting to give an impression of reflected light from the fruits, or from a bit of a glowing evening light.

I pulled on compositional elements in painting – three items, three directions. I also cropped the photo at one point to create a different image, using the two persimmons on the right. However, the last picture, supposed to suggest an evening glow bombs now that I think about it! The reason is because the tint of the background is too consistent – certainly not something one would paint! So, in the final analysis, the ones with the white background are more pleasing to me, and so is the black and white one below.

Final Image in Black & White with Contrast Enhancements

I expect I will do something in sumi-e with these persimmons in the next few days, with and without color. I need to pick up that paint brush!

Blackberry Plum Pie

Summer is the time of lovely fruit, and the time for pie. This is a kitchen sink pie – not enough of any one fruit to make a pie. So, 2 kinds of plums – black and sugar – and a whole bunch of blackberries.

Prepare to make thy pie!

Preheat oven to 450 F for a metal pan; 425 F for a glass pan. Make pie crust first. While it chills in the refrigerator, prepare the fruit.

Pie Crust – makes two 9” crusts
2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
2 T. sugar
7 T. cold butter (100 g)
6-7 T. cold water

Cut butter into small dice. Place in bowl with flour, sugar, salt. Cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Add 6 T. cold water; mix well with fork but do not overblend. If it seems a bit dry, add 1-2 T. more, 1-2 t. at a time. You may also use a food processor to make the dough, just be sure not to over process once you add the cold water.

Gather together into a ball. Wrap with plastic wrap and let rest in refrigerator while you chop fruit – about 30-60 minutes is fine.

Pie Filling

4-5 cups of fruit, clean, washed, picked over. This pie was about 3 c. plums and 2 c. blackberries.
Juice of 1/2 lemon – about 1T.
1/4 – 1/2 c. sugar (some of the plums were a bit tart)
2-3 t. Chinese Five Spice form Penzey’s (China cassia cinnamon, star anise, anise seed, ginger and cloves)
3 T. small tapioca
2 T. flour
1 T. butter – to dot fruit when it is in the pie dish, before the second crust is added.

Chop fruit. Stir in with all other ingredients to set up and meld flavors.

After you have finished with the fruit, take the pie dough out of the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature about 10 minutes. Cut in half, with one side slightly larger for the bottom crust. Roll out crust, place in pie pan. Place fruit into pan. Dot with butter. Roll out second crust, place on top. Roll edges over or under to seal pie. Crimp with fingers or flatten with fork. Slash top crust for ventilation.

Bake pie at 450 (425) for 10-12 minutes, then drop oven temperate to 350 F (for metal pan) or 325 F (for glass pan) for another 45 – 60 minutes, or until crust is done. Remove from oven, cool.