Satisfying the hunter within

It really does seem the ultimate irony for someone as squeamish as me to be cooking a dish with 'hunter' in the title. I still have nightmares about the time my husband and I decided to venture out of our comfort zone and cook a partridge in our oven. The bird proceeded to bleed all over the oven, so much so that it dripped out. It was like a scene from a horror movie, and needless to say, did little for my appetite. When buying meat, I now stay well WITHIN my comfort zone and like my meat to be packed in plastic wrap and styrofoam and not to resemble in the slightest, the animal/bird from whence it came. Yes, I'm squeamish. I am not the kind of cook who joints her own chickens and does creative things with giblets. No thank you!

Fortunately, despite the name, this dish requires no such ghastly bloody activity. Chicken Cacciatore (literally translated as 'hunter's chicken) has many forms, but all are called thus because they are supposed to encapsulate the kind of rustic one pot dish that a hunter out in the field (doing ghastly bloody things, no doubt) would rustle up for him/herself. Since we are still somewhat in post-holiday purge mode, I sought out a recipe in a  book I clearly bought at this time of year called The Healthy Slow Cooker Cookbook, published by the American Heart Association. I have to confess, I have had mixed results from the pages within - some of the recipes I have tried have been boringly bland, even if no doubt healthier for the lack of seasoning within. I am now a bit more careful about the recipes I choose to try from this book - opting for those which have some stronger, richer flavors in there, even they are skimpy on the salt and fat. This one is no exception - chosen because it is finished off with balsamic vinegar, which I predicted, rightly as it turned out, would add a richness to the dish, even without any wine (and minimal salt in the dish). The resulting dish has the advantage of making one feel virtuous for having eschewed those unhealthier ingredients, which, given the excesses of the former consumed during the month of December, is no bad thing! (It also helps one justify drinking a glass alongside the meal!) I also added a little more garlic and herbs than called for in the original, to give it some more zing on the taste-buds.



Healthy Chicken Cacciatore
Serves 6

8 oz mushrooms, quartered
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup fat-free, low sodium, chicken broth
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of visible fat
1 6oz can tomato paste/puree
1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup shredded fresh basil
wholegrain pasta to serve

1. Place the mushrooms, tomatoes, onion, celery, carrots, broth, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and bay leaf in the slow cooker and stir to combine. Add the chicken thighs, and spoon some of the sauce over them.
2. Cook on low for 6-7 hours (or high for 3-3 1/2 hours), or until chicken is cooked through.
3. Stir together the tomato paste and balsamic vinegar and stir into the slow cooker. Stir in half the fresh basil. Change heat setting to high, if necessary, and continue to cook for 15 minutes more.
4. Serve over pasta with the rest of the basil sprinkled over the top.

Trying to warm up

Ah, the trials of becoming a namby-pamby Californian, doomed to shiver uncontrollably at any temperature dipping below 60 degrees Fahrenheit! I even found myself - shock-horror - complaining about the rain this week. Me, a tried and tested Brit, who has climbed Scottish mountains in downpours a Californian would struggle to find words to describe, and probably resort to something like ‘hurricane’, thereby verbally capturing but a small percentage of the unpleasantness of the conditions, particularly when atop a large granite mountain with no cover for miles.

Anyway, I digress! Suffice to say, it is winter, and my mental image of what winter entails now involves fewer puffy down jackets and more casual debates with my child about possibly wearing long trousers to school, before I give up and let him wear his usual shorts. And since I clearly do not have my son’s constitution, and am still shivering even with long trousers, the question is how to warm up. I could, on the one hand, continue my holiday diet of kettle chips, great cheese, lots of wine and copious quantities of chocolate. That would doubtless add to my layers, and therefore insulating capacity, in one way, but I am looking for...err... perhaps a slightly less permanent solution. And the one I have come up with is soup (and fuzzy socks, but that is a conversation for different blog!)

This week’s soup was a hit with all the family, which is rare enough around here. I think the reason (apart from it being delicious and made by their beloved wife/mother of course), is that it has both pasta and beans in it, so is satisfying, even to carb-guzzling teenage boys. And I served it with some crusty bread, which, future daughter-in-law candidates should note, is the way to most boys’ hearts. A good focaccia or ciabatta, and they are yours, hook line and sinker. Moreover, the pasta in question is, in my version, orzo, which has the advantage of being able to pass for rice in appearance, thereby not alerting youngest son to the presence of pasta in his bowl. Yes, I am dastardly in my deception.

The recipe itself comes from a book I bought on a whim years ago called Veggie Feasts by Louise Pickford, which has languished at the back of my cupboard. It isn’t a bad book, per se, but having got my purchase home, there weren’t really many things I was desperate to try. Having tried this though, and enjoyed it, I may find myself reaching for it more often.

Pasta and Bean Soup with Basil Oil

2 TBSP olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 ½ TBSP chopped fresh rosemary

3 14 oz cans diced tomatoes

32 fl oz vegetable stock/broth

2 14 oz cans white beans (e.g. cannellini beans), drained and rinsed

6 oz dried orzo

salt and black pepper

grated parmesan to serve

For Basil oil:

1 ½ oz basil leaves

7 fl oz olive oil

1.     Heat olive oil in a large saucepan, add onion, garlic and rosemary and cook over a low heat, stirring frequently, until onion is softened.

2.     Stir in the tomatoes, stock, beans and some salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes.

3.     Add orzo, return to the boil, and continue to simmer for a further 10 minutes until pasta is al dente.

4.     Meanwhile make the basil oil: Place basil leaves and olive oil in the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth.

5.     To serve, ladle soup into bowls and top with a drizzle of basil oil and grated parmesan.

Can you heal me now?

The family are being attacked by some kind of bug this week. Sigh. I guess it is the season for all things bacterial and viral to wreak havoc. One high-point to the week was this soup though, which I would like to suggest has healing powers, not because I have any medical training or, any of that, what do you call it.... proof, but rather because it is extremely yummy and slipped down sore throats with delicious ease. I definitely felt better, for a while at least! The fact that it was easy peasy to make (particularly if you buy ready chopped/shredded vegetables) was a bonus, given that standing over a hot stove is not exactly a desirable activity when under the weather.

I adapted the recipe from one in The Great American Slow Cooker Book by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarborough, undoubtedly one of my favorite go-to books when I reach for my crock-pot. My only critique is that it doesn't have any pictures :-( My tweaks to the original were predominantly aimed at making it a more substantial dish - I find that if I'm serving a soup for dinner, it needs to have something filling in it. If there is one thing I can't stand it is whines of 'But I'm starving!" at bedtime. Fortunately the addition of garbanzo beans did the trick admirably.

In this house, we all love ginger, including when there is enough of it to lend a distinct heat to a dish, as well as a subtle spicy flavor. If you and yours are less enamored with ginger's warming ways, then by all means reduce the quantity I used.

Vegetable 'Penicillin'
Serves 8

10 cups vegetable broth
3 cups small cauliflower florets (if you're cutting up a head, this is about one head)
3 cups shredded green cabbage
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup shredded/grated peeled sweet potato
1 cup chopped ripe tomatoes (don't bother to skin them)
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup grated fresh ginger root (you don't need to peel it!)
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp dried oregano
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 15oz cans garbanzo beans (chick peas), drained and rinsed

1. Put all the ingredients except the garbanzo beans into the slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on high for 3.5 hours, or low for 5.5 hours, then add the garbanzo beans.
3. Cook for a further half hour, by which time the cauliflower and cabbage should be perfectly cooked.

Red defends its rep

You may have noticed that this week I have posted two recipes containing red meat. Shock horror! Sadly, I feel the need to defend this, lest I am accused of trying to spread cancer, given the recent statements on red meat from the World Health Organization (in case you've been sleeping under a rock over the past two weeks, see here). Although processed meats were given a category 1 rating (i.e. defined as carcinogenic to humans, and in the same category as tobacco products, no less), red meat was given a category 2A rating, which is defined as 'probably carcinogenic to humans'.

Whilst I am all for respected bodies issuing important and valuable health information, I think this designation is far from helpful to anyone attempting to eat a healthy and balanced diet. Firstly, what does 'probably' mean? Secondly, who is at risk: those eating ANY red meat EVER? those eating red meat all day every day? those eating red meat once a week? There is not enough information to allow anyone to make a reasonable decision as to their future eating habits. Additional statements from the WHO also fail to clarify. For example, how about this choice paragraph:

Eating red meat has not yet been established as a cause of cancer. However, if the reported associations were proven to be causal, the Global Burden of Disease Project has estimated that diets high in red meat could be responsible for 50 000 cancer deaths per year worldwide.

Marvelous. Thanks for that. 

And then, just a confuse us all more, there was a flurry of articles extolling the virtues of eating red meat and describing it as "good for your health" (e.g. this one)

So what is a foodie to do, the next time a craving for a filet mignon comes along? Indulge and feel virtuous, walk way and feel virtuous, or run screaming for the hills and stay hungry?

I'd like to propose a radical option: moderation. Yup, as far as media attention goes, I don't expect this to attract much. It isn't exactly sexy, is it? And the newspapers and 140 character Twitter addicts tend to prefer their facts in black or white, rather than the gray implied by moderation. Perhaps we ought to at least consider embracing a more boring stance however., if only based on experience. Every time we designate a food as 'evil' and curse it for 'killing us all', we end up weakening those pronouncements significantly, and having to significantly modify our views - look what happened to fat, which was once the worst thing you could possibly put in your mouth, period, only to be re-analyzed and categorized into 'good fats' and 'bad fats', the first of which we should apparently actively seek out. The same is true more recently of carbohydrates. Today's evils appear to be sugar and red and processed meats. I wonder what we will be saying about those in the next 10-20 years. 

In the face of such uncertainty, I feel that the only sensible course to chart is to permit oneself good food, but in full knowledge of the dangers of over-indulgence, in anything. That goes for French fries, as much as it goes for steak. I'm not going to give up red meat (or bacon for that matter), bread, sugar or butter. However, I'm not going to base my entire diet on any or all of them either. After all, there IS significant evidence of the value of eating more fruits and vegetables, and I need to leave room on my plate for those!

OK, soapbox moment over... if for no other reason that I need to get up to throw away the Halloween candy wrappers I have accumulated. Yes, I blog about red meat WHILST consuming sugar. I have no shame.

Now down to business - the red meat in question is beef, and this is the best crockpot pot-roast recipe I have come across for a long while, rendering a cheaper cut of beef succulent and tender AND highlighting some of the beautiful fall veggies that are now gracing the grocery shelves. 

Chipotle-Coffee Pot Roast
Serves 6
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Slow cooker special edition

2 1/2lb beef roast (I used a round roast, but chuck roast would be good too)
1 TBSP instant espresso powder
2 tsp ground chipotle chile pepper
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp canola/sunflower oil
3 large parsnips, peeled and sliced into 1/2" rounds
2 large red onions, sliced
3 TBSP tomato paste/puree
2 TBSP balsamic vinegar
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz shredded Brussels Sprouts
1 3/4 cup low sodium beef broth/stock
1 1/2 TBSP cornstarch

1. Trim fat from meat.
2. Mix together the coffee powder, chile pepper and salt. Then sprinkle evenly over meat and rub into the meat with your fingers.
3. In a large skillet, over medium-high heat, brown the meat on all sides.
4. Place the parsnips, red onion, tomato paste, vinegar and garlic in the slow cooker stoneware and mix together. Place the meat on top, and then sprinkle the Brussels Sprouts around it. Pour over the broth/stock.
5. Cook on low for 8-9 hours (or high for 4-5 hours).
6. Transfer meat to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm.
7. Spoon out some of the liquid from the slow cooker and mix with cornstarch. Pour mixture back into the slow cooker and stir together. Heat on high for 10 minutes until slightly thickened.
8. To serve, slice the meat, and place on top of the vegetables on a serving platter. Pour remaining sauce over the top, or serve in a jug/pitcher.

Ole!

As you may have realized by now, my culinary adventures involve more than a little travel, and although the results might not be authentic, I can verify through extensive testing (the fussy palates I live with, are definitely the equivalent of a sizable, and picky, focus group!) that they taste delicious.

This time, we head for sunny Mediterranean climes, which, as the first rains of the promised El Nino season fall outside, is no bad thing. As with many of my favorite dishes, this one has a touch of spice, a hint of heat, a smidgeon of warmth on the palate, but not so much as to scare those less adventurous in the spice department.

It's quick to prepare and relatively labor-free as it bubbles away on the stove. This is fortunate, as it leaves me plenty of time to go in search of the fuzzy slippers I clearly 'tidied away' at the end of last winter, and persuade the dogs that, whether or not there is cold water falling from the sky, they still need to go outside to pee, and no, that doe-eyed look is not going to persuade me otherwise :-)

Spanish Rice Bake
Adapted from Allrecipes.com
Serves 6

1lb lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes
2-3 cups beef broth
3/4 cup uncooked white long grain rice
1/2 cup sweet chile sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 15 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (coriander leaves)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C)
2. In a large skillet (with a lid), brown the beef over medium-high heat, breaking it up as you go. Add onion, green pepper, tomatoes, 1 1/2 cups of broth, rice, chile sauce, salt, brown sugar, cumin, Worcestershire sauce and black pepper to the skillet and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, turn heat down low and simmer.
3. Continue to simmer for around 30 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes. If the pot seems to be going dry, you can put more stock in, and also put the lid on to stop liquid from evaporating so quickly.
4. As soon as the rice is tender, transfer the contents of the skillet to a 10" square baking dish (or equivalent). Sprinkle with the cheese.
5. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and starting to turn golden.
6. Sprinkle with fresh cilantro to serve.

In praise of prosciutto

I have always been a somewhat squeamish diner. As much as I love food, there are certain things that scare the pants off me. One of my most frightening experiences was going for Dim Sum at a renowned eatery in Hong Kong whilst on honeymoon. No one spoke English, which meant that you just had to pick items from the carts moving between the tables, piloted by servers shouting in very loud (but completely incomprehensible to me) Cantonese. They could have been shouting anything: "Get your deep fried cricket larvae soaked in cows' blood here!" "Tasty domestic cat feces marinated in malt vinegar on a nest of goat's hair!" Seriously, it was entirely possible I was being offered monkey brains, as all the doughy balls of what was clearly a sought-after selection of local delicacies looked exactly the same. Fortunately, it was one of those moments when I realized I had married the right man, as he gladly (and possibly too enthusiastically at times for my rising level of nausea to bear) bit into every one, before declaring "Oh yes, that is completely bland pork and carrots, you can eat that!" or more ominously, "Oh no, you DEFINITELY don't want that one...!", and eagerly scarfing down the rest of the offending 'ball of horror.'

One of the things that scares me is raw meat. I think it is in part a texture thing, since there is a distinct slipperiness that I associate with a steak that might, to a less squeamish palate, seem deliciously rare and juicy. Yes, I am the one who orders her filet 'well done' and gets the dirty arrogant looks from snobby servers in the finer establishments. My eldest son has thankfully inherited his dietary courage from his father, and will gladly order monkfish tartare and chow down with glee, while his mother gags next to him, and tries not to think about food poisoning. My daughter has, less fortunately for her, inherited my lack of bravery when it comes to uncooked meat, and is thus doomed for a lifetime of filthy or confused looks from steak aficionados. The jury is out on youngest son, as it should be on someone who doesn't like pasta and (deliberately) mixes lemon curd and nutella in a sandwich. His weirdness is of unknown provenance.

One exception that my daughter and I make in the raw meat stakes is prosciutto. To be fair, I may have neglected to tell her that it isn't cooked, and as a trusting soul, with obviously misplaced faith in her mother's protective tendencies, she clearly hasn't googled it yet. For me, it is because it is prosciutto - it is luscious, salty, hammy, and ultimately delicious. And yet, if you do google it, it seems almost worse than eating raw meat, since it isn't just straight from the pig, it is air-cured. What? The process is probably a tad more complex, but I have visions of them leaving strips of carved meat out on a sunny patio for a few days to 'air' before packing them up and selling them to unsuspecting recovering fear-mongerers like myself. Sheesh Google! Knowledge is overrated! But yet, as with the power of bacon to prevent many an animal lover from becoming vegetarian, the taste of prosciutto has the power to kill my usual resolve to cook the heck out of all forms of meat. Ignorance is, in some cases, no bad thing. (But don't tell my children I said that...)

This recipe highlights prosciutto by making it a topping on a delicious bed of creamy risotto. Far from an afterthought, this renders the prosciutto a salty foil to the creamy, cheesy pillow on which it lies. So pour yourself a glass of something full-bodied, switch off google and enjoy, safe in your own relative ignorance :-)

Sage, Mozzarella and Prosciutto Risotto
Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine
Serves 6

42 fluid ounces of chicken stock/broth
1 TBSP salted butter
1 1/2 TBSP olive oil
1 1/2 cups finely chopped leek
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 1/4 cups arborio rice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
3/4 cup dry white wine
grated zest of one lemon
3 TBSP finely chopped fresh sage
1 TBSP lemon juice, plus more to taste
6 oz chopped fresh mozzarella (low moisture works best)
4 oz prosciutto, chopped

1. Bring the chicken stock to a simmer and keep it warm over a low heat.
2. Meanwhile, melt the butter with the olive oil over a medium heat in a separate large pan. Add the leek and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the leek is softened.
3. Add the rice, salt and pepper and continue to cook, stirring, for one minute. Then pour in the wine, reduce the heat to low, and let the mixture simmer until the liquid is almost evaporated.
4. Begin adding the broth, a ladle-ful at a time, letting each portion of broth almost evaporate, before adding more. You will need to stir the mixture frequently at this point, to determine when it needs more broth, and also to stop it sticking to the bottom of the pan.
5. After about 20 minutes, you should be just about out of broth, and if you taste it, the rice should be cooked (not soggy, slightly al dente). At this point, stir in the sage, lemon zest and juice, and taste to see if you want to add more juice.
6. Remove from the heat, quickly stir in the cubed mozzarella and then spoon immediately on to plates (if you wait too long, the mozzarella becomes very stringy and it is impossible to get it out of the pan without leaving strings of cheese all over the kitchen!).
7. Top with the prosciutto and serve straight away with a green salad.

The mind is like a parachute...

No, I haven't completely lost the plot, this is the first half of a quotation from the wise Charlie Chan, Chinese Detective. The full quotation is as follows:

"The mind if like a parachute; it only works when it is open."

Never a truer word was spoken. And where food is concerned, there are some deep-seated fears and habits which take some effort to overcome. When you do overcome them though, and open your mind to something out of your comfort zone, you are often generously rewarded!

The inspiration for this post is a conversation I had with a friend yesterday, and the deep-seated fear in question is not of a particular ingredient or flavor, but rather a method of cooking. My friend mentioned that she is loathe to use her slow cooker because she doesn't like the idea of having food bubbling away for 8 hours, when she can put together a dinner in half an hour anyway. Hmmmm... Don't get me wrong, I love me a half-hour dinner, but I also LOVE my slow cooker, so this is a dish designed to win over the doubters! And win them over it will, by showing that not only can the crockpot create a wonderful main dish, in need only of a few sides and perhaps some carbohydrate to soak it up, but sometimes, the slow cooker can do ALL the work, with just 15 minutes of prep time thrown in of a morning. Ha! Beat that!

This recipe is a great example of just that kind of slow cooker winner, since it has some great filling grains in there (pearl barley), some hearty beef, which is the meat I think most benefits from the slow cooker, as even the cheapest cuts become lusciously tender, and plenty of vegetables. All you need do to accompany this, is cut some crusty bread up, so that those around the table can mop up the juicy goodness in their bowls.

So come on - open your mind, embrace simplicity, dust off the slow cooker, and let it bubble :-)

Crockpot Irish Stew
Adapted from Family Fresh Meals
Serves 6

1.5-2lbs stew beef, trimmed of fat and cubed
1 14 oz can low-sodium diced tomatoes
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
2 cups carrots cut into 1/2" pieces
2 cups frozen pearl onions, thawed
3/4 cup pearl barley
5 cups beef broth
1 tsp salt
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 tsp fresh chopped sage (or 1/2 tsp dried)
1 tsp fresh chopped thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried)
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 bunch Lacinato/Green Kale, stems removed, leaves rolled up and finely sliced

1. Combine all the ingredients in the slow cooker except for the kale.
2. Mix well, cover and cook on LOW for 7 1/2 hours.
3. Add the sliced kale and continue to cook on LOW for a further 1/2 hour.