Pinto Bean and Hen Soup

I came up with the idea for this very, very, very, very easy soup several years ago. It was a dark and cold winter's night and I was scouring the kitchen for something to flavor some pinto beans in my slow cooker when I came up with this idea.

Pinto Bean and Hen Soup

1 frozen Cornish Game Hen
1/2 bag of dried Pinto Beans, washed and picked
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves of garlic, crushed

Mix all the ingredients together in the slow cooker. Cover with water and let cook for 8 hours on low.

After 8 hours, carefully lift the hen out and allow it to cool for a bit. Remove the skin and pick the meat off the bones. The meat is very tender at this point and should shred easily. Add the meat back to the soup and eat with crackers or hot buttered cornbread.

Note: I've tried this with chicken thighs and chicken breasts but the meat is so much more tender when you use a hen.

Knitted Teddy Bear Hat Pattern

I am deviating a little today to post a knitting pattern that I created this week. Last winter was our first in Denver and it was C.O.L.D. And I do mean COLD. It was so cold the that even the Canadian geese were complaining and quacking about moving on to Mexico.

(Note: The hat is Batman approved. Batman even paused in his rescue of dirty laundry to pose in his Teddy Bear Hat.)

I found tons of cute hats on ravelry.com but none that would satisfy the following requirements in one pattern:

1. Must be sufficiently adorable and babyish looking.
2. Must be funny enough to embarrass him in high school.
3. Must have ear flaps.
4. Must be worsted weight because I wanted to finish in a few days time.

I think I achieved all of this with my Teddy Bear Hat.

For extra warmth, I am planning to sew some fleece around the inside.

Teddy Bear Hat (pattern by Toni)

Finished hat is approximately 19" and fits my two year old.

Materials:
100 yards of worsted weight yarn (I used Madeline Tosh DK Superwash Merino in Fig)
One set of US 7 double points
One US 7 circular (you could knit the whole hat on the DPN's. I just didn't want to do so.)
One US 8 circular
One stitch marker
Tapestry needle for finishing

Gauge:
20-22 sts over four inches

Using larger needle to keep CO from being too tight, CO 95 sts.

K1, P1 around. Join into a round by knitting the last st and 1 st together. This makes a nice and smooth join. Place marker.

Switch to smaller needles and knit the remaining 94 sts in K1, P1 rib for 3".

Purl the next round. (This purl row will give better definition to the fold.)

Knit the next round and continue knitting in St St for 4 inches from Purl row.

Begin Decreases:

Round 1: *K10, K2tog* around. Knit any remaining sts on this row and all subsequent odd rows.

Round 2 and all even rounds: Knit

Round 3: *K9, K2tog* around

Round 5: *K8, K2tog* around

Round 7: *K7, K2tog* around

Round 9: *K6, K2tog* around

Round 11: *K5, K2tog* around

Round 13: *K4, K2tog* around

Round 15: *K3, K2tog* around

Round 17: *K2, K2tog* around

Round 19: *K1, K2tog* around

Round 20: K2tog around

Draw yarn through remaining 8 sts and pull tight.

Weave in end.

Ear Flaps:

To determine where to place ear flaps, I laid my hat down flat and placed coil-less safety pins where I thought they should go. In other words, I eyeballed it.

Fold hat up at Purl row.

Pick up and knit 12 st with RS facing you.
K 9 rows in St St.
Row 10: Dec 1 sts on each end.
Row 11: Purl
Repeats rows 10 and 11 until 3 sts remain.

Use these 3 sts to knit a 12" i-cord. BO.

Repeat on other side for second ear flap.

Teddy Bear Ears:

Lie hat flat and decide where you want your ears.

I placed mine 3 sts down from the crown of hat.

Pick up and knit 12 sts - picking up through the entire stitch, otherwise it will make a hole.

Knit 7 rows in St St.

*On next even row, dec 1 st at each end. Purl next row.*

Repeat those two rows (bet * and *) until 6 sts remain on needle.

On next RS row, *Inc 1 st on each end of needle. Purl following row. *

Repeat those two rows (bet * and *) until 12 sts are on needle.

Bind off.

Sew back of ear onto hat and then sew up the sides.

Weave in the ends.

Keema Matar

I am in love with this dish. I am so in love with it that I want to marry it, except that I am already married. Well, that and I like having an attractive husband and as my father would say about this dish, "I've thrown up better looking things than that."

But he eats Twinkies dipped in catsup so what does he know?

This dish is minced beef or lamb with peas and mint. It sounded like a really bad idea when my husband first asked me to make it. I was of the opinion that mint is strictly for chocolate, ice cream, and bourbon, not freaky meat dishes. But I decided to try it anyway.

And that was just the beginning of the rest of my life.

I serve Keema Matar with plain yogurt (Horizon Cream Top is my new favorite) and naan bread that we buy at the Indian grocery, but you could serve it with basmati rice or Hunza rice.

Keema Matar (Collected from trial and error with several different recipes)

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 two inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 1/2 pounds ground beef, lamb, or a mix of both
10 baby carrots cut into quarters
1/2 cup of green peas
1 tablespoon chopped mint (I use dried)
a generous handful of chopped cilantro


In a deep pan heat the oil over medium heat.

Add the onions and ginger and fry until onions are slightly golden.

Add the garlic, turmeric, ground coriander and salt. Fry for a minute or so.

Add the sliced tomatoes and fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly so the spices do not burn.

Add the minced meat and carrots. Brown the meat, breaking up any lumps. This takes about 10 minutes and also breaks your tomatoes into tiny pieces.

(At this point try not to faint from delight at the great smell coming out of your pot.)

Add the fresh cilantro and mint. You can also add a diced fresh green chili now if you like spicier foods. We have a toddler so I skip the heat.

Voila! Keema Matar! It's so easy and quick that it has become our go-to busy night dinner.

Nobody's Gruel

Gruel has a really bad reputation. It sounds like something that is a mixture of pig slop and horse puckey that you could use for Spackle. In literature and movies, we feel sorry for kids like the young Jane Eyre and poor little Oliver Twist because they are so starving they're willing to eat gruel but can't even get more of that horrible mess.

But thanks to my friend Susan, Super-Mommy to Thom-O and Sugar Magnolia, I have discovered that I love gruel. Gruel is nothing more than real oatmeal. "Real" meaning not the rolled oats two minutes in the microwave stuff that comes in an envelope with a ton of weird powder at the bottom. No, real oatmeal is that stuff that is teeny little bouncy, pearly, and shiny whole grain. When it is cooked properly it is chewy and nutty tasting and is a great breakfast.

I make mine on Sunday night and then microwave it all week long. It's really good enough to serve as a bread-pudding type of dessert if you add enough brown sugar - not that I would do that...very often.

We have a large gigantic ridiculously over sized slow cooker because some chick at a party once told my then-single husband that slow cookers are great as long as you don't buy a small one. So he went out looking for the largest slow cooker available. I think it is probably big enough to feed China and still have leftovers, so you might need to adjust this recipe to your cooker.

Here's a funny thing I noticed recently about buying steel-cut oats. If I buy the McCann's Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal it costs about $9 per can at Whole Foods. But if I buy the Whole Foods brand of organic steel-cut oats it is $3 per can. Why? I have no idea because I haven't opened my can of Whole Foods brand yet. Just something to ponder.

Obviously you can add any fruit that you want to this as long as it is a dried or hard fruit. Bananas would not do well in the slow cooker for 8 hours but apples do fine. Nuts are best added after cooking.


Slow Cooker Real Oats Oatmeal (Collected from trial and error)

2 cups steel-cut oats
8 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon of apple pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped dried apricot
2 apples, peeled and chopped
1 cup raisins

Some slow cookers need to be sprayed with non-stick spray first. I've found that if I use enough water mine does not.

Mix all ingredients into slow cooker. Give a stir. Set on low heat and cook for 8 hours. Keep in mind that I have added one cup of water for every hour that I plan to cook the oatmeal. So if you want to let your slow cooker do its thing for more than 8 hours (i.e. you're sleeping in) add another cup of water for each extra hour.

In the morning, wake up starving because you have smelled this goodness cooking all night. Don't stop to pee or brush your teeth. Just head straight for the slow cooker and dish up some oatmeal. Add milk or cream (to thin), some banana slices and a few chopped walnuts. Eat.

Oh and be sure to drink plenty of water all day long because real oatmeal is packed with fiber. Without tons of water you might find yourself in an uncomfortable situation later.

Before.

Cheese Buttons

Cheese Buttons are a great party nibble. They are small enough to tote around on a cocktail napkin with a green-apple-tini or a fancy umbrella-laced drink, easy to make, unusually delicious, and will make your guests think you are a very talented gourmet who spent forever slaving in the kitchen.

In reality, we never have parties and I just make these for us to keep in a cookie jar to nibble on at will. I don't even like martini's apple or otherwise; but IF you are the type to have parties with martinis and fancy umbrella drinks, cheese buttons would look nice with your spread.

I make mine in the food processor and doing so creates a light, smooth dough. The texture would be more rustic without a food processor, but I believe they would still taste great.

Remember that you can easily change quantities in this recipe.

Be careful not to "whiz" (the scientific term) the dough for too long in your food processor. You want to whiz it long enough to form a lump of dough. If you keep whizzing it after that lump forms the dough will get hot, melting the butter and cheese and creaming everything together. Then it is a mess to work with. So be careful.

Cheese Buttons (Collected and adapted from Southern Living - I think)

1 small package extra sharp shredded cheddar cheese (2 1/2 to 3 cups)
1 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 stick of butter (margarine isn't great but is okay. It makes a different texture and taste)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whiz together all of the ingredients in your food processor. When a lump of dough forms in the bowl it is ready. The lump should form in about a minute. If it doesn't then you need to add a tiny bit more flour. Do so a LITTLE at a time until the lump of dough forms.

Drop rounded teaspoon-full balls onto a greased cookie sheet (or use non-stick aluminum foil). Do not press flat. Bake for 10 minutes. They will stay a yellow-orange color when baked so don't wait for them to turn brown. Brown cheese buttons are like yellow snow - yucky to eat.

Gobhi Alu

I always get this name wrong. It is one of my husbands favorites so I make it a lot but I can never quite remember the name. Golbi or Gobhi? Alu Gobhi? Gobhi Alu? Does it really matter? I don't think my poor pronunciation and spelling makes much of a difference to the taste. So forget about it and eat!

Gobhi Alu is another one of those easy to make dishes and is best served with Basmati rice or Hunza rice. It's best to make this in a stockpot unless you just have a really big skillet with a tight lid. I now make mine in my brand new, beautiful, awesomely worthwhile Le Creuset French Oven that my husband bought me at the Le Creuset outlet in Golden, Colorado for a quarter of the retail price. The retail store sells seconds but I can't see anything wrong with my pot. It's red and perfect.

A note about spices: I buy my spices at the Indian or Middle Eastern grocery store. Shan is the brand I typically buy because that is the brand my husband grew up with and I feel like I can trust it. Usually these spices come in bags so I save mayonnaise, spaghetti sauce, jelly and other jars and use those to store my spices. I just cut the label out of the bag and tape it to the jar.

A lot of Indian cooking calls for garlic and ginger. I usually buy garlic/ginger paste at the Indian grocery, as do a lot of Indian cooks. In this recipe I use my paste but you can certainly use fresh ingredients. Just vary according to your own tastes.

Usually in Indian dishes you "fry" some of the spices lightly before adding all of your other ingredients. This awakens the spices and gets their oils going. It also makes your kitchen smell better than a Yankee Candle.

Sometimes when I taste this dish during cooking I decide it needs more of one spice or another. The great thing about Indian cooking is that you can add more of whatever you want. So feel free to be heavy or light-handed with any of these spices.

Gobhi Alu (Collected from youtube videos and my readings on Indian cooking)

1 head of cauliflower chopped into big pieces (it's going to cook down)
2 potatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons garlic/ginger paste
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon red chili powder
2 teaspoons coriander powder
1 teaspoon dry mango powder (also called amchur - a unique almost bitter spice)
1/2 teaspoon garam masala (Target's Archer Farms is my favorite brand)
Cilantro to garnish

Heat the oil in your pan over medium heat. Add cumin seeds, turmeric powder and garlic ginger paste. When the cumin seeds start to pop add cauliflower, potatoes and salt. Cover but stir regularly. Cook until the potatoes start to get soft. At that point add the rest of the spices and turn the heat down to low. Let this cook for an additional 10 minutes. Garnish with cilantro.

You can add the powdered spices earlier but know that doing so will make your dish more likely to burn if you don't keep up the stirring. Also if you do this you might need to add a little chicken broth or water. This would change the taste a bit but it would still be great.

Easy Chick-Peasy Hummus

Hummus is delicious and it is so easy to make. In fact, the hardest part of making hummus is cleaning up the food processor when you are finished. This is especially true if you have the same KitchenAid food processor as me. The blade tends to get food stuck underneath and is a pain in the patoot to clean. But, it is still my favorite kitchen gadget.

So hummus is super easy to make and you can be very creative with your ingredients. I make it in a big batch and then my husband takes it to work all week long and I snack on it whenever I walk by the refrigerator. Because our refrigerator isn't on the main path to anywhere I have to purposefully walk by the refrigerator in order to snack, but that's neither here nor there. Except that it is there. And the hummus is really good.

I make my hummus with tons of garlic and cumin. You could go light on either of these and even eliminate the cumin altogether. You could also make this hummus with black beans instead of chickpeas. Tahini paste is essential to hummus and is made from sesame seeds. You can buy it at Whole Foods or an international market. The inital cost is often higher than buying store-bought hummus but it takes me about 3 months to go through a jar and I typically make hummus one to two times a week. I paid $5.99 for the last jar at a Middle Eastern grocery store. It is usually a bit higher at Whole Foods.

Hummus (Collected from a bunch of different ideas added together to make this one)

3 cans of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon minced garlic or as many cloves as you want
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1-2 tablespoons ground cumin
3 tablespoons tahini paste
Olive or sunflower oil
Fresh cilantro

Mince your garlic in the food processor, if it isn't already minced. Add chickpeas, lemon juice, cumin, salt, and tahini paste and mince. When a paste begins to form open the food chute on your food processor and slowly add your oil. When your hummus is nice and smooth you have added enough oil. Be careful not to add too much oil because you can always place a little on top when you serve it. This is how it is served in Middle Eastern restaurants. Garnish with a bit of fresh cilantro.

Punjabi Chhole Revised

Last night I was searching for something quick and easy to make for dinner when I came across a chick pea curry spice packet from Arora Creations called Punjabi Chhole that had been in the cabinet for a few months. We eat a lot of chick peas in our house so I knew that this curry with some Hunza rice would make a perfect meal.

Many people wrongly assume that curry is a spice and that all curries taste the same. This is not accurate at all. I am not sure how my Pakistani husband would describe a curry, but to me a curry is sort of like a pot of beans with a lot of juice that you can serve with cornbread to sop up all the juices. That is exactly how most people in the world eat curries, only with naan bread instead of cornbread and all sorts of vegetables, meat and spices instead of just boiled beans.

You can certainly make your own spice mixes for curries and I like to do that but it does take a little time. I will post more about these later because I think it is fun to do a little experimenting with spices.

The coolest thing about this spice packet is that it is from Arora Creations and they are an organic company. So, I probably do not have to worry about having scary stuff in what I am feeding my family.

I did not follow the instructions listed in the link above because I was feeling lazy, but it still got two thumbs up from Ishtiaq and Liam even sampled a little with his spaghetti.

Punjabi Chhole (Collected and Revised from Arora Creations Spice Packet)

3 cans of chick peas (garbanzo beans are the same thing)
1 packet of Punjabi Chhole spice mix
1 pint of cherry tomatoes, cut in halves
1 can of chicken broth
1 bunch of cilantro, or to taste
1 small onion, or to taste
salt
pepper
olive oil

Drain and rinse your chick peas. Over medium heat, add a dash of olive oil to a non-stick skillet and when heated, add the chick peas and onion. Let that cook a few minutes and then add the spice packet. At this point I added salt and pepper but you can omit it since there is probably some of both in the spice packet. Let the spices and the chickpeas cook a bit over medium heat. Spices in Indian cooking need to bloom on the heat for a bit to fully release their flavors.

When you are ready, or at least after about a minute, add the chicken broth and tomatoes. Lower the heat and let this simmer for about 8-10 minutes, adding water or more chicken broth if necessary. You will want a gravy with this so don't let it get dry. Add the fresh cilantro.

Eat with basmati rice (like Hunza rice from my lamb chops post) or flat bread.

More Than Quiche Lorraine

I love quiche. It is so easy to make and you can put nearly anything in it, making it a perfect dish for those Old Mother Hubbard days when the cupboard is mostly bare. Today I woke up wanting to make a quiche and while I was considering what to put in it I realized that all I really had was some frozen asparagus stalks that I had saved to flavor soups and stews, some goat cheese crumbles, a jar of Parmesan cheese (the real stuff, not the powdered stuff), onions, two tomatoes from my patio, garlic from a jar, and carrots. So this is what I used.


I think that all quiche needs a green vegetable, onions, garlic, carrot and cheese. Because Ishtiaq is Muslim, we don't eat pork meaning bacon is not an option for us. Bacon is probably the most popular quiche ingredient in the world but it isn't necessary as long as you have something else salty and savory to take its place. If you look at quiche recipes you will see that they vary widely in ingredients, measurements, and cook times. This recipe is influenced by my reading of many different recipes and then just inventing one that is easy for me. You truly can put whatever you want in quiche.

In regards to eggs and milk, we get our eggs from a local farmer and they are really strong. So I only use about four. I've seen recipes that call for six but that's too many for us. Also, I find that quiche is better is you use a mix of heavy whipping cream and milk. I keep heavy cream on hand because my son really likes scrambled eggs and adding a dash to the eggs before scrambling makes them nice, light and fluffy. You could certainly use Eggbeaters and milk instead of cream. Again, quiche is really forgiving and versatile.

I use a store-bought, deep dish pie crust because I am terrible at making them. Recently I was visiting Boot Hill in Dodge City, Kansas and an old woman who runs a gift shop there told me that the tricks to a great pie crust are vinegar and ice cubes. Maybe so but I am currently content to let the nice people at the grocery store provide me with my pie crusts.

My ingredients are going to be estimates only because I just tend to dump things into my pan and bowls during preparation. Don't let that throw you because exactness also isn't necessary when making quiche.


Quiche Bercha (Collected from Lots of Different Places)

Remember that all of these ingredient measurements are to taste.

4 large eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream (heavy whipping cream is heavy cream)
3/4 cup of milk
2 ounces of goat cheese crumbles
1/3 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon of chopped garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
8-9 cranks of black pepper from the pepper mill
1/4 teaspoon of Tabasco sauce
1/4 cup of asparagus, diced
3 cherry tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup carrots, diced
1 very small onion
A few splashes of chicken broth (optional)
1 deep dish pie crust
Olive oil


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a skillet heat olive oil and add carrots. Add salt and pepper. Cook until slightly soft, add asparagus and onion. Cook until all vegetables are soft and add garlic. During the cooking process I like to splash in a little chicken broth to keep my vegetables from getting too brown. This also deepens the flavor.

While vegetables are cooking, place pie crust on a cookie sheet for support and to catch bubble-overs while baking. To pie crust add the cheeses, tomatoes, and, when cooked, the vegetables.

In a bowl mix Tabasco sauce, eggs, milk, and cream. Mix well and pour over the things in the pie crust.

Bake until set. Mine took about 25 minutes to bake. It is set when it no longer jiggles. Quiche needs to sit before cutting for about 15 minutes at the very least or it will fall apart. My husband usually cannot wait that long so we cut our after about five minutes and eat it as a casserole instead of a pie. But it's quiche! You can do what you want!


(I am still figuring out how to get photos set into these blog posts so figure my poor layouts.)

How To Make Southern Fried Chicken

This week my son and I are visiting my parents in Mississippi. I've always loved fried anything but I have never been good at frying. My fried foods always come out greasy or soggy or underdone or burnt or so funky looking no one is willing to try them. Frying is truly an art form and to do it right you have to be taught by a Master. So, I got Mama to show me what to do.

Mama's ingredients aren't measured so I am going to guess at these measurements. It seems like exact measurements aren't really necessary anyway. It's the frying process itself that makes the chicken great so you could add whatever spices suit your tastes. Also, you could use any chicken parts that you like best. I like thighs and Liam likes legs because they have a "handle". The frying process will be the same for whatever parts you use.

Peanut oil works best because it "fries hotter", which I think means it doesn't burn at a very high temperature. On this day we didn't have any peanut oil so we used canola oil. When I was a kid, Mama used Crisco, but now I only use my Crisco for make-up removal and moisturizing (my skin is really dry). One tip for buying peanut oil, which can be a little pricey at Walmart and other fancy stores, is to go to a Middle Eastern or Indian grocer. Peanut oil and even nice, rich and dark olive oil is much cheaper in these places.

Iron skillets brown the chicken best but sometimes Mama fries her chicken in a stew pot, as it is deeper than a skillet the oil will cover more of the chicken.

Typically Mama gets breast pieces, de-bones them and cuts them into strips. We eat those strips at room temperature on Christmas with sausage balls, Pancho's cheese dip, home made biscuits, and spinach dip with Ruffles for the vegetable in lieu of a fancy A-Christmas-Carol-type of meal.

Southern Fried Chicken (collected from Mama)

1 package of thighs, skinned
1 package of legs, skinned
1 egg
1 cup of milk
2 cups of flour
2 tablespoons of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper
1 cast iron skillet
2 large tall tupperware bowls
Canola oil

Wash and dry your chicken on paper towels.

Mix the egg and milk together in one of your tall bowls. Put as much chicken as will fit into your bowl and let it soak while you mix your other ingredients and prep your pan. Mama says you can soak it for up to an hour before you cook your chicken. It helps to flavor and tenderize the meat.

Mix the flour, salt, and pepper (spices to taste, obviously) in the other bowl.

Prep your pan by putting the oil in the skillet about 1/4 deep, maybe a little less. The oil is going to bubble and move. Too much oil will cause it to overflow when the frying gets good and going. So be careful not to add too much.

To begin with, heat over medium-high heat. When oil starts to "dance" a little it is hot enough.

For this part you need one of your hands to be the "wet hand" and the other hand the "dry hand". Remove a piece of chicken from the milk and egg wash with your wet hand and put it in the flour with your dry hand. Coat the chicken in the flour. It isn't necessary to make the flour coating super thick. There will be more flour clinging to the chicken than you realize. So don't worry it to death in the flour.

Turn the temperature down to medium. Shake off the excess flour and gently place the chicken in the oil. If you do not hear a sizzle then the oil isn't hot enough, meaning you need to wait until you do hear the sizzle before adding more chicken to the pan. This will probably take about 20 seconds. If your oil isn't hot enough the batter will soak up all the oil and your chicken will be greasy. So watch this step carefully.

Your oil should be about 1/2 way up the side of your chicken.

At this point, you've just added cold chicken to hot oil which reduces your oil temperature a bit. Even so, leave the chicken on medium heat. Do not give in to temptation to turn your heat back up. It will quickly get hot again and if you had turned up the temperature you would have burned the outside of the chicken before you noticed it was burning.

We put our chicken in the oil at 5:17 and at 5:23 it was ready to turn. You have to watch for the browning on the sides of the chicken. Do not touch the chicken once you put it in the oil, or you will start knocking off the breading. Leave it alone and let it cook. Your chicken might not cook in this amount of time and time isn't the right factor to judge by when it should be turned. I was just making a note of the length of time our chicken needed. Watch carefully for that browning on the edges. When it looks crispy and brown, you can turn it over. When the second side appears crispy and brown you can turn it over again, but try not to mess with it too much. Give it time to cook and don't lift it up out of the pan to check it every minute.

The chicken is done when it has dark brown spots in some places and lighter brown in others. Remember that it is hot and when you take it out of the oil it is going to continue cooking a bit. Also, note that when you take it out of the oil and put it on a newspaper and paper towel-lined cookie sheet the chicken will have an oily sheen to it. This will disappear in a minute so do not be tempted to blot it off.
If you were worried about fat you wouldn't be eating fried chicken, so leave it be.

After frying up the first pan full you will notice that your oil is filled with cloudy gunk. This is the excess flour from your chicken and it will burn. So you need to pour off the oil into a heat proof dish and get that gunk out of the bottom of your pan. Add some fresh oil and then the pour in some of the old, hot oil trying to make sure you don't accidentally dump the gunk back in the pan. If you don't get that gunk out, your chicken will be black and yucky on the outside and a bright pink salmonella party on the inside.

(Try not to notice the coupon in the background of the picture above for Jack Pirtle's Fried Chicken http://www.jackpirtleschicken.com/ .)

After you fry up all your chicken you will certainly want some gravy to go on top of your mashed potatoes or rice and biscuits. Gravy is easy, easy to make.

Brown Gravy (collected from my Mama)

Pan drippings and gunk
A little flour
water or chicken broth (I prefer chicken broth)

Pour off the excess oil and add back all that gunk. Get it hot and add two tablespoons of flour, more or less, to the pan drippings. Using a flat wooden or metal spoon scrape that flour and gunk around the pan until it turns a medium brown color (incidentally, what you are doing is called making a "roux" in fancy cooking circles). Watch it carefully or it will burn before you know it. When it is nicely browned, add a little chicken broth or water until you have as much gravy as you want. If it seems a little thin just keep scraping it around the pan until it thickens up.

Congratulations! You just made Southern Fried Chicken!

After you eat, you will look like this:

Chicken with 40 Cloves...my way

My house is about to be empty for a week with my husband at a conference and the Monster and I at my parent's home in Mississippi. So, I took the night off from cooking. Actually, that's not completely accurate. I stuffed leftovers in the oven from last night for Ishtiaq (DH), fed Liam a Gerber Toddler Meal, and then made myself a frozen Tostino's pizza with anchovies added. I just adore anchovies! Sigh.

Since I made the Garlic Chicken Legs the other night I thought I should post the recipe that inspired the legs. It's called Chicken with 40 Cloves and, oddly it is one of my toddler's favorites. The finished product is very garlicky, rich and hugely satisfying. The garlic turns sweet with a little bite after all that baking and is useful for the whole week in other dishes. Or, if you have poor will-power like me, you can spread a clove or two on a piece of toast and devour it standing at the stove.

Chicken with 40 Cloves (Collected from Cook's Illustrated)

1 whole chicken (I prefer skin on)
1/4 cup kosher salt
2 cups water, boiling

Brine the Bird: Dissolve kosher salt in boiling water. Take chicken and put it in a stockpot that has a lid. Add enough water to cover the chicken and let sit in refrigerator for 4-8 hours. The salt will not make the chicken salty, I promise! Instead, it will tenderize and deepen the flavor of the bird. Try not to exceed 8 hours. Doing so will make the cooked chicken mushy.

3/4 cup Vermouth
3/4 cup chicken broth
About 3 heads of garlic, skinned with the cloves left intact (meaning don't pound them with your knife to make the cloves pop out)
A brined chicken
salt (yes salt - remember the brining doesn't make the bird salty)
pepper
olive oil

Put your chicken in a roasting pan. Stuff it full of the garlic and don't forget to tuck some in the wings and legs. Pour your vermouth, chicken broth and olive oil over the stuffed chicken. Cover with salt and pepper to taste. Bake on 350 for 1 hour or until done. Sometimes my chicken takes up to an hour and a half. I just bake it until the juices run clear when pierced.

I usually serve this with Hunza rice and green beans. Green beans are just about the only vegetable I can consistently talk my son into eating. The beans are great if you bake them along with the chicken. Just open a can or two, drain them and dump them into the pan. No need to use fresh unless you're just an over-achiever.

Leftovers taste fabulous in a "stir-fry" the next day.

Put the chicken, garlic and rice in a non-stick skillet over medium heat and when it all gets nice and hot add a little chicken broth to keep the rice from drying out. When everything looks heated, make a well in the center of your pan and add a beaten egg. Stir it around slowly to incorporate the egg.

Enjoy! Next time I cook this I will post a picture.

My toddler has decided that I have been on the computer long enough so I cannot spell and grammar check right now. :)

My Favorite Meal

Lamb chops are absolutely my favorite dinner food. Having only had them for the first time about three years ago, it did not take me long to develop a deep and intense love for these succulent little bits of savory meat and bone. I always serve them with corn on the cob baked with spices because the baked spices provide a nice little "dip" for the lamb. Tonight I also made a tabbouleh salad, which my husband loves served with tangy plain yogurt.


Baked Corn on the Cob (Collected from somewhere but I cannot recall where)

This dish only works with fresh corn on the cob. Frozen is just too mushy even when completely thawed out first.

4 ears of fresh corn
1 stick of melted or margarine, or olive oil
2 tablespoons or more of ground cumin
1 teaspoon kosher salt (I like the crunch of kosher salt but table salt would work just as well)
1 or 2 tablespoons chopped or minced garlic
1 handful of fresh cilantro (dried works fine too)
A sprinkle of red pepper flakes, if desired
Fresh cracked pepper
Aluminum foil

To be honest I don't really measure my ingredients when making this corn. We like lots of spices so that we can dip our lamb. I use quite a bit and the measurements provided here are only estimates. You should wrap each ear in an individual foil packet for best results. When I am out of foil or being lazy I do make this in a covered baking dish but you must add a little water if doing so or the corn and spices will dry out.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In individual foil packets place one ear of corn. Pour some butter or oil over the corn and roll it around to wet it. Be generous with the butter or oil. You need it to keep the spices moist while baking. Add the spices to taste. Bake for about an hour depending on your oven. My current oven takes one hour but my previous oven took about 45 minutes. (It was a beautiful shiny convection oven that we had to leave behind when we moved to Denver. I was very sad.) I've never tried this on the grill but I bet it would be a great.


Lamb Chops or Rack of Lamb (Collected and adapted from The Joy of Cooking)

Lamb chops and rack of lamb seem to be exactly the same thing to me. I'm no lamb expert but it seems that lamb chops are just the already separated rack of lamb. The best lamb is the New Zealand or Australian lamb that you can buy in places like Fresh Market. It is unbelievably tender and less fatty than some other lamb. It is also quite pricey. We only buy Halal meat (Halal is to Islam what Kosher meat is to Jews) and the market that we buy from sells American lamb.

If you by a rack of lamb here is how you prepare it. Open what is usually an incredibly difficult to manage package without slicing off your finger. Pull out the rack and put it on the counter. On one side of the rack there should be this thick white THING. That is called the "fell" and you have to cut it off. So slide your knife under it and slice of off. It should cut away pretty simply. There will be sections of it still left near the bones and it is best to try and get it off because it tastes kind of waxy. But, it still will not ruin the taste if you can't get it all. Don't worry; just try not to eat that part.

If you buy lamb chops there is very little that needs to be done. Sometimes you might have to trim a little fat but a good butcher will have already done so. Our local halal market has cute and flirty teenagers running the butcher's counter. They've probably never cooked so much as a Hot Pocket so I doubt they know to trim off the extra fat.

I like to use my iron skillet because we like a little crunchiness on the edges of the meat. True lamb connoisseurs would be appalled by what I am about to say but here's the truth - we don't like our lamb rare or even medium rare, we like it nice and well done and crunchy.

So, over medium heat melt 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. The butter is for taste and the olive oil can take the high heat. Place the lamb chops gently in the pan and add salt and pepper. Cook on each side for 4-8 minutes depending on how well done you want your lamb. Sometimes our market gives us very thick chops and they need at least 10 minutes on each side. Just cook them until the juice is no longer red. Easy, right?


Tabbouleh Salad (Collected from various different sources and then adapted to fit my needs)

This is a great side dish topped with plain yogurt. The yogurt provides a nice creamy tang to the sharp and deep herb and lemon flavors in this dish. I make it up on Sundays and then my husband takes it to work all week long.

2 bunches of fresh cilantro, chopped or cut with kitchen shears,
2 bunches of parsley, chopped or cut with kitchen shears
3 cucumbers, sliced into bite-sized pieces
5 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup of bulgur wheat
1 cup water
a pinch of dried mint
2 tablespoons of olive oil
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

Bulgur wheat is kind of like couscous but the two are not very interchangeable. I buy mine in the bulk food section of Whole Foods. I've never had any luck finding it at Target or Walmart.

You must seed the tomatoes or the salad will be watery. To do this, I just slice my tomatoes and then scoop out the seeds with a soup spoon.

In a small saucepan, boil the water. When you get a good boil add the bulgur wheat and remove from heat. Cover and let sit while you make up the rest of the salad.

In a small bowl, mix together the olive oil, salt, lemon juice, and mint. Taste it. It should taste sharp, very lemony and salty.

In a larger bowl, add in the cucumber, tomatoes, parsley, and cilantro. Mix in the bulgur wheat and add the dressing. Mix together well and serve topped with plain yogurt.

I decided that my blog needed a picture or two so the above image is how my dinner looked. It might not be the purtiest thing in a dress but it tasted great.

Dinner with a Stomach Bug.

Today wasn't a bad day but it also wasn't a great day. Yesterday around noon I came down with a stomach bug. After spending the night groaning in agony and generally not sleeping, my toddler decided that it was time for me to get out of bed at 5:45 a.m. Like most days I was able to bribe him to stay in bed a little longer with some Handy Manny, Imagination Movers, and The Wiggles chased with a sippy cup of milk and some snuggling. Our day was spent in some general attitude of sleepiness and laziness. For lunch I decided to feed Liam a nutritious box of Goldfish crackers and more milk. Because of all this, I knew that dinner needed to be healthy but easy. So here is what I cooked:

Garlic Chicken Legs (Collected from Chicken with 40 Cloves from Cook's Illustrated)
2 lbs skinless chicken legs
Minced garlic from a jar, several spoonfuls
Fresh cilantro, to taste
Kosher salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
A dab of olive oil

Wash chicken and place in a baking dish with the dab of olive oil. Liberally sprinkle with garlic, cilantro, salt and pepper. For a little kick you could also add chili pepper but we have a toddler...
Cover and bake slowly on 350 for about an hour and 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.

Roasted Chick Peas (Collected from a 30 Minute Meal show by Rachel Ray)
3 cans of chickpeas, rinsed, drained and dried on a kitchen towel
2 spoonfuls of Pickled garlic (like you get from an olive bar) or garlic pickle (like you get in an Indian restaurant), chopped
2 handfuls Fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
kosher salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
olive oil, just enough to coat pan

Don't be tempted to skip the rinsing and drying of the chickpeas. They will be mushy on the inside if you do so. Heat a little bit of olive oil on medium, add chickpeas and stir to coat in the oil. Add salt and pepper. I like kosher salt because it adds to the crunchiness of the finished chickpeas, but table salt will work fine. For that same reason, I like fresh cracked pepper. After about 20 minutes of occasional stirring the chickpeas will turn brownish and start to look dried out. At this point you can keep browning and drying them to make "chickpea chips" or go ahead and add your spoonfuls of garlic/garlic pickle and fresh cilantro. Typically, I use garlic pickle because we always have it in the house but both taste great.


Hunza Rice (Collected from my Sanobar Aman, my sweet Mother-in-Law)
Wash and drain a cup or so of dried Basmati rice
In the bottom of a rice cooker add the following:
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/4 teaspoon table salt
5-6 whole cloves
1 teaspoon black cardamom
Pepper, to taste (Husbeast prefers whole peppercorns, but toddlers can't eat that)

Add the rice and then fill the cooker slowly with water. To measure your water correctly, insert your finger in the pot so that you gently touch the top of the rice. When the water level reaches the first knuckle of your pointer finger, you have enough. Cook until your rice cooker says it's done. You can just as easily cook this in a pot but cover your lid in a clean dishcloth while cooking to absorb the steam. This will keep your rice from being sticky and make it the more flaky kind of rice that you get in an Indian restaurant.


Leftover Green Beans (my own fabulous creation)
Open can, boil.
Wait 24 hours then microwave

Enjoy!