recipe weekend
Nov. 4th, 2017 07:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkit1) Something I've cooked recently:
Soup and stew weather is gloriously here, yay! Last weekend I made an autumnal white bean stew with escarole and sausage.
1-1.5 lb small white beans (I used peruano beans), soaked overnight
About 1 lb smoked ham shank
Salt
A generous pinch of dried sage or some fresh sage leaves
1 large onion, chopped
2 medium yellow crookneck squash or other summer squash, cut into thick half-moons
1 fairly large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
A good double handful of peeled butternut squash chunks
About 1 lb garlicky fresh sausage, removed from its casing
6 or more garlic cloves, minced
1 large head escarole, cut into strips and carefully washed in several changes of water
About 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
Drain the soaked beans and put them in a pan with the ham shank, water to cover, sage, and about half a teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for about an hour.
Cook the onion and squash in olive oil or other fat of your choice until the vegetables soften and the onion is translucent. Add to the beans along with the sweet potato and butternut squash and simmer for about another hour. Remove the ham shank, let cool, and separate the meat from the bones, fat, and skin. Return the meat to the pot.
Brown the sausage in the same pan you cooked the onions in. Drain off any excess fat, add the garlic and cook for about a minute until the garlic is fragrant, then add to the beans. Add the escarole strips and simmer until the escarole is tender. Add a bit of vinegar as needed to correct the flavor, as the broth will be somewhat sweet. Serve with a little olive oil drizzled over.
I know that flavorwise this seems all over the place, but it turned out well. The butternut squash and sweet potato add a nice sweetness, and the sausage harmonizes everything and holds the dish together.
A few days ago I bought a 1 lb bag of frozen mixed seafood (squid, octopus, mussels, and shrimp) because it was on clearance. Today I used it in something I'm calling Seafood and Chickpea Stew with Spanish Flavors:
1 lb live mussels in their shells
About 3/4 cup of white wine
2-3 ounces Spanish-style chorizo, cut into small dice
1 large onion, cut into smallish dice
1 yellow bell pepper (capsicum) cut into smallish dice
1 green bell pepper, same
About 2 tablespoons tomato paste
8 cloves of garlic, minced
2 14.5 ounce/411 gram tins of diced tomatoes, preferably unsalted
About 2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 bay leaf
About 1/2 teaspoon smoked hot Spanish paprika
16 ounces frozen mixed seafood, separated (see below)
More white wine, to taste
A few thyme sprigs
About 1/2 cup of pitted oil-cured olives
Sort through the mussels and discard any dead ones. (They're dead if they're open and they don't close when you press on their shells. It's also a good idea hold each mussel flat between your hands and try to push the shell open--dead mussels will fall apart.) Debeard the mussels as necessary and give them a good wash. Put the mussels and white wine in a pot, cover, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook until all the mussels have opened. Take the mussels out of the pot, remove them from their shells, and refrigerate. Strain the liquid from the pot through several layers of cheesecloth and reserve.
Cook the chorizo, onion, and bell peppers in some olive oil in fairly large pot until the vegetables soften and become fragrant. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the tomato paste and cook for another minute or two. Add the two tins of tomatoes, the bay leaf, the paprika, and the chickpeas.
Separate your seafood, adding to the pot anything that will benefit from long cooking (squid and octopus, pretty much) and keeping the rest in the fridge for later. Add enough water to keep the stew from being too thick, bring the stew to a boil, then simmer for about an hour or until the seafood is tender. About halfway through, add the thyme and the olives, taste for acid and sweetness, and add more wine if you like. (I used a different, sweeter wine at this point, because the stew needed a little sweetness and I suddenly remembered I had a half-full bottle of sweet white wine that had been sitting in my fridge for literally months. After checking to make sure it hadn't turned gross, I glugged in about 3/4 cup and poured the rest down the drain.)
When the long-cooking seafood is ready, add the rest of the frozen seafood and cook for a few minutes. Add the reserved mussels and cook just until they're heated through. Serve with some olive oil drizzled on top and some nice crusty bread.
Notes: This was completely improvised and so obviously could be changed. But I urge you not to leave out the olives. The brininess and umami of the olives complements the seafood in the most amazing way. The live mussels could be left out if you don't want to faff about with them, but in that case you might want to add some good quality canned or jarred clam juice + wine to replace the mussel broth. If you do, definitely use unsalted tomatoes, and check for saltiness before you add the olives. Also, you could add some chopped parsley at the end. I meant to, but then I forgot.
If I may be forgiven for saying it myself: this stew is really, really yummy.
I haven't baked much, but last weekend I did make my favorite apple cake. I've eaten about a quarter of it and the rest is in the freezer, awaiting the hour of need.
2) Something I have concrete plans to cook in the near future:
Today, to go with the stew, I bought a loaf of bread with herbes de provence. I forgot, if indeed I ever knew, that "herbes de provence" in the US includes lavender. Yes, lavender-flavored bread. Imagine my surprise. Now, I do actually like lavender, although not in bread and not with seafood stew, so I'm hoping to salvage the bread by turning it into a bread pudding with a lavender caramel sauce.
3) Something I'm vaguely thinking about cooking someday: US Thanksgiving is less than three weeks away (how did this happen?) so I should probably decide if I'm going to cook anything, and if so, what. I might make a savoury pie the weekend before and freeze it, or I might decide to repeat last year and buy a frozen lasagne--because, to be honest, I tremendously enjoyed doing nothing on Thanksgiving but resting up in preparation for Black Friday.
Soup and stew weather is gloriously here, yay! Last weekend I made an autumnal white bean stew with escarole and sausage.
1-1.5 lb small white beans (I used peruano beans), soaked overnight
About 1 lb smoked ham shank
Salt
A generous pinch of dried sage or some fresh sage leaves
1 large onion, chopped
2 medium yellow crookneck squash or other summer squash, cut into thick half-moons
1 fairly large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
A good double handful of peeled butternut squash chunks
About 1 lb garlicky fresh sausage, removed from its casing
6 or more garlic cloves, minced
1 large head escarole, cut into strips and carefully washed in several changes of water
About 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
Drain the soaked beans and put them in a pan with the ham shank, water to cover, sage, and about half a teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for about an hour.
Cook the onion and squash in olive oil or other fat of your choice until the vegetables soften and the onion is translucent. Add to the beans along with the sweet potato and butternut squash and simmer for about another hour. Remove the ham shank, let cool, and separate the meat from the bones, fat, and skin. Return the meat to the pot.
Brown the sausage in the same pan you cooked the onions in. Drain off any excess fat, add the garlic and cook for about a minute until the garlic is fragrant, then add to the beans. Add the escarole strips and simmer until the escarole is tender. Add a bit of vinegar as needed to correct the flavor, as the broth will be somewhat sweet. Serve with a little olive oil drizzled over.
I know that flavorwise this seems all over the place, but it turned out well. The butternut squash and sweet potato add a nice sweetness, and the sausage harmonizes everything and holds the dish together.
A few days ago I bought a 1 lb bag of frozen mixed seafood (squid, octopus, mussels, and shrimp) because it was on clearance. Today I used it in something I'm calling Seafood and Chickpea Stew with Spanish Flavors:
1 lb live mussels in their shells
About 3/4 cup of white wine
2-3 ounces Spanish-style chorizo, cut into small dice
1 large onion, cut into smallish dice
1 yellow bell pepper (capsicum) cut into smallish dice
1 green bell pepper, same
About 2 tablespoons tomato paste
8 cloves of garlic, minced
2 14.5 ounce/411 gram tins of diced tomatoes, preferably unsalted
About 2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 bay leaf
About 1/2 teaspoon smoked hot Spanish paprika
16 ounces frozen mixed seafood, separated (see below)
More white wine, to taste
A few thyme sprigs
About 1/2 cup of pitted oil-cured olives
Sort through the mussels and discard any dead ones. (They're dead if they're open and they don't close when you press on their shells. It's also a good idea hold each mussel flat between your hands and try to push the shell open--dead mussels will fall apart.) Debeard the mussels as necessary and give them a good wash. Put the mussels and white wine in a pot, cover, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook until all the mussels have opened. Take the mussels out of the pot, remove them from their shells, and refrigerate. Strain the liquid from the pot through several layers of cheesecloth and reserve.
Cook the chorizo, onion, and bell peppers in some olive oil in fairly large pot until the vegetables soften and become fragrant. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the tomato paste and cook for another minute or two. Add the two tins of tomatoes, the bay leaf, the paprika, and the chickpeas.
Separate your seafood, adding to the pot anything that will benefit from long cooking (squid and octopus, pretty much) and keeping the rest in the fridge for later. Add enough water to keep the stew from being too thick, bring the stew to a boil, then simmer for about an hour or until the seafood is tender. About halfway through, add the thyme and the olives, taste for acid and sweetness, and add more wine if you like. (I used a different, sweeter wine at this point, because the stew needed a little sweetness and I suddenly remembered I had a half-full bottle of sweet white wine that had been sitting in my fridge for literally months. After checking to make sure it hadn't turned gross, I glugged in about 3/4 cup and poured the rest down the drain.)
When the long-cooking seafood is ready, add the rest of the frozen seafood and cook for a few minutes. Add the reserved mussels and cook just until they're heated through. Serve with some olive oil drizzled on top and some nice crusty bread.
Notes: This was completely improvised and so obviously could be changed. But I urge you not to leave out the olives. The brininess and umami of the olives complements the seafood in the most amazing way. The live mussels could be left out if you don't want to faff about with them, but in that case you might want to add some good quality canned or jarred clam juice + wine to replace the mussel broth. If you do, definitely use unsalted tomatoes, and check for saltiness before you add the olives. Also, you could add some chopped parsley at the end. I meant to, but then I forgot.
If I may be forgiven for saying it myself: this stew is really, really yummy.
I haven't baked much, but last weekend I did make my favorite apple cake. I've eaten about a quarter of it and the rest is in the freezer, awaiting the hour of need.
2) Something I have concrete plans to cook in the near future:
Today, to go with the stew, I bought a loaf of bread with herbes de provence. I forgot, if indeed I ever knew, that "herbes de provence" in the US includes lavender. Yes, lavender-flavored bread. Imagine my surprise. Now, I do actually like lavender, although not in bread and not with seafood stew, so I'm hoping to salvage the bread by turning it into a bread pudding with a lavender caramel sauce.
3) Something I'm vaguely thinking about cooking someday: US Thanksgiving is less than three weeks away (how did this happen?) so I should probably decide if I'm going to cook anything, and if so, what. I might make a savoury pie the weekend before and freeze it, or I might decide to repeat last year and buy a frozen lasagne--because, to be honest, I tremendously enjoyed doing nothing on Thanksgiving but resting up in preparation for Black Friday.
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Date: 2017-11-05 03:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-05 01:52 pm (UTC)