Bison Chili

Fall is starting to make its presence known; even in these temperate parts we're having intermittent showers and gusty winds. Around this time one of my favorite comfort dishes is chili. The problem is, it's usually chili prepared by someone else because I'm usually too squeamish to cook with any uncooked meat besides bacon. So I decided to get over that today by cooking my own chili. This chili, based off a recipe I got from allrecipes but heavily modified, contains, not one, not two, but THREE ingredients I've never cooked with before. Pretty crazy huh? I've pointed them out in the pictures below. This recipe also uses beer, so I picked up a smoked porter from Stone Brewing Company. This brew has a smoky aroma, and is rich and sweet in flavor with a rather dry finish.

Unfamiliar ingredient #1: Lard!

1 tbsp lard
1 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 head of garlic or 6-7 cloves, minced
1 orange bell pepper, chopped
1 lb cubed beef/bison stew meat or ground meat
1 lb sausage (I used a smoked jalapeno bison sausage)
2 slices bacon, cut into inch-long pieces
1 28 oz can tomato sauce
1 14.5 oz can diced tomato
3-4 dried chipotle peppers, chopped
1 cup chicken broth
6-8 oz dark beer, such as a doppelbock, porter, or stout
2-3 dashes Red Rooster or other hot sauce
2 tbsp dried oregano
1-1.5 tsp black pepper
1 oz dark chocolate

Unfamiliar ingredient #2: Bison!

Start by heating your lard, or any fat of your choice, in a large stockpot. Add your chopped onion, garlic, and bell pepper and cook through until onion is transparent. Then add your ground meat and bacon. If your sausage is uncooked, add it at this time as well, otherwise, you can add it with everything else. Cook until meat is evenly browned (bacon may take a while longer to curl, but you'll give it lots of time later).

Unfamiliar ingredient #3: Chipotle!

Once meat is ready, add everything else. Simmer for 1-2 hours and serve hot!

I didn't include a picture of the chili itself, because all chili more or less looks the same.

Mulligatawny Soup/Stew

Alright, so I actually cooked this flavorful dish way back in July, but I got too caught up in other business to post. I made some changes to the original recipe, which I found on allrecipes.com, so hopefully I can remember everything I did.

This dish comes originally from South India, where it was loved by British sailors. Mulligatawny actually comes from two words — mulliga thhani — meaning "pepper water," referring more to its spicy flavor rather than its ingredients, which don't contain pepper at all (though the recipe does have chile peppers). By some stroke of genius or luck (more likely the latter), I happened to make a fantastic mulligatawny soup. The balance between spices was great, and though it was perhaps a tad salty it was unnoticeable when eaten with bread. Pictures to follow.

1 tbsp coconut oil
1 onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp preserved ginger (I used sweet sushi ginger)
2 green chile peppers, chopped
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 c fresh cilantro, chopped
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric (curiously I've never seen unground turmeric)
4 cardamom pods, bruised
1 tbsp lime juice
1 carrot, chopped
1 apple, chopped
3 small white potatoes or 1 large, diced (remember to boil 15 mins in saltwater first, or this could become tedious!)
1 c red lentils (masoor)
8 c chicken broth
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp tamarind concentrate or jelly
1 can coconut milk (14.5 or 16 oz)

The great thing about this recipe is that you can do it all in one stockpot, so you don't end up with a lot of cleaning to do. I started by boiling my potatoes for about 15 minutes in salted water. The potatoes I used were rather small, so I didn't bother with peeling them; you can if you prefer. After removing the potatoes and draining and rinsing the pot, return to heat, this time adding the coconut oil, onion, garlic, ginger, chile peppers, dry spices, and lime juice, and sautéing until the onion is just starting to brown uniformly. At this point I know you'll feel tempted to lean in and savor the aroma from the spices, so I should warn you: do not, repeat, DO NOT stick your face directly over the pot. Aside from the steam being scalding hot, the intense spice aroma could well knock you out. As you learned in chemistry, just waft the steam in your general direction — you'll get a pretty good idea of how your spice blend is.

Once the onions are lightly browned, add the carrot, potato, apple, red lentils, and chicken broth. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the veggies/fruit are tender. At this point you have an option: you can either blend this mix in a food processor for a soup, or not for a stew. I just kept mine as stew so I wouldn't have to clean my blender as well. After this, add the tamarind, lemon juice, coconut milk, and fresh cilantro, and stir until heated through (just under a gentle boil). Ladle out and serve hot!

Rajma (OMG Indian food!)

Alright, so I promised Preeyanka I would share my attempted forays into Indian food, so this was my trial at Rajma, based on two recipes:

Rajma - Red Kidney Bean Curry: I literally found this by typing "kidney beans indian food"

Smitten Kitchen: Red kidney bean curry: I loveeeee this website. It all looks so fancy with beautiful photography, but she did some shots to show what her kitchen actually looks like, and its tiny! I love the non-pretentiousness of this website.

Okay, so my prep came in three parts: my bases, my spices, and my wine.

My bases of course were onion, garlic, kidney beans, and tomatoes.

Spices were turmeric, cumin, cayenne, black pepper, and I threw in some anise extract into the food mix at a certain point bc I've heard anise seeds can replace cumin seeds and I didn't have either but I had anise extract bc I love licorice (nom nom).

As I'm sure you can tell, I have developed a bit of a wino habit this summer, and this has become a prime focus of any meal or gathering. Hmmm so delicious!

A little background on this wine: I had heard of riojas a few times before (mind you, anything I say 'before' just means sometime along this summer, when I started paying attention to wines) and had been under the impression that this was a type of red wine. Quite the contrary! Its actually a region in Spain, and it does indeed make mostly reds, so that's what it is known for, but it makes a few whites too! So when I stopped by my favorite wine shop The Wine Thief (perfect name, no?) and saw this baby, I had to try it. The people who work at this place are excellent, and I've rarely tried one of their recommendations without liking it. This guy had the employee's approval, and after trying it, it definitely had mine also. So good! (and yes, I agree that Indian food is probably better with reds, but its been waaaaayyy too humid in CT to touch reds, looking forward to the winter though)

Okay okay, so back to the food.

Basically I sauted the onions, then added the garlic, and a minute later all the other spices. I didn't have the tomato sauce that the smitten kitchen recipe mentioned, and I had already accidently drained the kidney beans, so I just used both the tomatoes and tomato juice from the canned tomatoes. It worked out pretty well. After everything's together, let it sit for 10 min boiling, and then I smashed some kidney beans onto the sides of the pot, which really helped thicken things for me. I also made a side of simple white rice to serve over. In the future I'll have to learn how to make naan, and then I'll be set for life! The end products:

and of course

Ladies and gentlemen, another success in the single kitchen of moi.

frittata experiment

So after a long hiatus, I am returning to the food-blogginess. I have a few lined up to eventually be added here, but for now I'll start with tonight's dinner. Let me lay out my day:

In the AM I was motivated about work, but then lost that motivation. On my way out the door, my landlady was moving out and had several boxes of old LPs and offered to let me search through them and take any I wanted. SCORE! She had amazing stuff, and I even made her keep the original MJ Thriller and Beatles records, you can't toss that stuff. Definitely a mood booster. ...Then I got to lab. BOOORRING plus stupid people. My friend mentioned wanting to go shopping, which I've had in my mind for a while now but I don't like shopping by myself. So post boring crappy stupid-people labness on a saturday, this was the rest of my day: shopping. home. dinner. wine. old movie. AWESOMENESS.

So lets talk about dinner. First of all, the important stuff:

Wine accompaniment: Chardonnay Steel American Table Wine by Gouveia Vineyards
local winery in Wallingford, CT, SUPER CUTE, had a lovely picnic there a few weeks back.


Movie accompaniment: Noble House, starring Pierce Brosnan
Based on the book by James Clavell anything by him is AMAZZZZINGGG. I've read everything except Whirlwind. Best book: Shogun, first-book recommendation: Taipan.

Okay, so now for dinner: my experiment at spinach frittata, a la the following basic recipe: Spinach Frittata Simply Recipes

I love both this website (simply recipes) and Smitten Kitchen for most of my starter recipes.

Basically I approached this as "what veggies do I have?" + eggs/cheese.
#1: veggies
I had spinach (obviously), mushrooms, and tomatoes (you choose if its a veggie/fruit), also the requisite onion and garlic. I love both onion and garlic, by the way. This has been a total discovery in this past year,but they are SO DELICIOUS. o.m.g.
The rest was eggs, milk, I used gouda cheese and since i didn't have a grater, I cut it into small pieces and melted it for 30 seconds in the microwave.

So I think the three-way prep that the recipe mentions is important. Separetly, prep:
#1: cook spinach in 1/4 cup water until its

wilted, take it off the heat and drain, set aside.
#2: (for me melt the cheese cubes and then..) mix cheese, eggs, and milk, and add salt and pepper to taste. set aside.
#3: In a baking pan (I don't have a skillet that is oven-safe) I sauted the onions, then added the garlic for one minute, then the mushrooms and wilted spinach for a few more minutes, and lastly the tomatoes for a

bit.
After your veggies are patially cooked (depending on how well done yo

u want them in the end), then add the cheese mixture and smoothen everything out. Let this cook a little while on the stove until partially solidified. Then, magic!


Move it into the oven, preheated at 400. Let this go for 15 minutes, then take it out and let it cool. When done, the cheese/egg covering should have the same consistency as scr

ambled eggs.


Apologies for my crappy pictures due to crappy lighting in my kitchen. But still, a lovely ending:

Almenta with Cooked Endive Salad

I've just been getting over a bout of the cold, so I figured I'd celebrate by getting back into cooking and putting the more successful dishes up on here, since it's been a while anyways. Today, I'm making an endive and greens salad with almenta (c). Yup, I just copyrighted that. It's polenta made with almond meal instead of cornmeal. I have no idea how it's going to turn out, but I figure its worth the experimentation. The original recipe is from the Anheuser-Busch cookbook, "Great Food, Great Beer." The latter part of that title is questionable, but the food is quite delicious.

Almenta and Endives (serves 2-3)

3 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, thinly-sliced
3-4 endives, chopped
2 c spinach
1/3 c dried cranberries
1/4 tsp salt
1 c almond meal
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 c vegetable broth
1 c milk
1/2 c Parmesan cheese, grated/shredded
4 tsp pine nuts

For the almenta, start by lightly toasting your pine nuts. You'll know they're ready by the smell. Next, heat the olive oil. Add the thinly-sliced garlic, then the endive, then the spinach. Give a minute or two after adding each ingredient for the oil to draw out the flavors. Stir in the salt and the dried cranberries, then cover and simmer on low heat for about five minutes before removing from heat.

In a small saucepan, combine the almond meal and red pepper flakes over medium-high heat. Next, add the vegetable stock and milk, keeping the mixture from clumping with a whisk. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for ten minutes. It is important to note that, though a watched pot may not boil, an unwatched pot always boils over. Be vigilant. After the mix boils down to a thicker consistency, stir in the cheese. Remove from heat.

In a bowl, fill about halfway with the almenta, then spoon in as much of the endives mix as you desire. Top with pine nuts and enjoy!

If Monks Had Cafes...

Finals are over, a year of grad school is complete. What better way to relax and de-stress than with a fine ale, no?

Monk's Cafe Flemish Red Ale, known elsewhere in the world as Bios Vlaamse Bourgogne, comes to us from the last operating brewery in Meetjesland, Belgium, the Brouwerij Van Steenberge, brewer of such well-known ales as Gulden Draak and Augustijn.

The Flemish Red ale is a Flanders farmhouse style which originated in the 19th century, when farmers would brew beer on the side to supplement their produce and meat. The majority of the beer was drunk within the home — since most everyone brewed their own beer, there was little outside market to be exploited. Since wheat was readily available, it was a common ingredient in these ales. Herbs and spices were routinely added for extra flavor.

This particular ale itself is a beautiful, reddish-brown hue. Citrus, vanilla, and pear notes on the nose give way to a mild acid astringency. The initial flavors are reminiscent of dry cider, with apple, pear, vanilla, cinnamon, and clove, with a creamy mouthfeel. There is an acidic twang in the aftertaste, but the beer is not nearly as sour as one would expect from a Flemish farmhouse ale. It is absolutely one of the most delicious ales I've tasted, and its relatively low alcohol content make it enjoyable at any time. Pair it with a fruity dessert like fruit tarts, fruit cheesecakes, and puddings, or with summer salads with oranges or strawberries.

Banana Bread

Abstract:

This is my mom’s recipe, mostly. She has a secret ingredient which makes hers even better which I did not have, and hence it is not included in this recipe. I made a loaf earlier this week, and my co-workers ate all of it, demanding more. But now the number of coworkers at my office has dropped precipitously, so I needn’t worry about that anymore. Oh yea, its really easy.

Doesn’t that look loafly.

Prep:
Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease a 13x9” baking dish or two loaf pans.

Materials:

Dry ingredients: 2 cups Flour 2 cups Sugar 1 tsp. Baking Powder 1 tsp. Baking Soda	A legend would only make this post dry.
Don’t have a mixer? I won’t b lend you mine.	Wet ingredients: 4 eggs 1 cup oil 3 bananas (note: the bananas look ripe and bruised. Ripe bananas taste sweeter)

Methods:

1. Blend wet ingredients (do not blend to death)
2. Combine dry ingredients in a big bowl
3. Pour wet into the dry ingredients and mix with your hands. note: I hope your hands are clean. Don’t whip it up too much, we don’t want the baking soda reaction to start too early.
4. Pour mix into pan
5. Bake 325°F for ~45min

 I won’t lend you my hand either.

Conclusion:

This stuff is really good. I made two batches in one week, and it disappears fast. The top tastes wonderful, and it is a staple in my dessert diet. :)

I hope things pan out…