Santa Fe Green Chili with Pork

December 7, 2014 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

I haven’t blogged for a couple of weeks. I’ve been busy with the holidays and I had my 87 year old father visiting for a couple of wonderful weeks around Thanksgiving. My husband was bragging my blog up to my dad and my dad asked if I got paid for writing my recipes on the computer. I told him no, but one day my blog may make me famous. To which my dad replied, what good is being famous if you don’t make any money. Yup! Ever the practical Finn.

So the possibility of fame is the lead in to this particular blog entry. I entered a Chili Cookoff that was held today. I decided to make my Santa Fe Green Chili with pork. I call it my Santa Fe Chili because I purchased the green chili powder that I use in this recipe on one of our visits to Santa Fe. This is one of my favorite chili recipes! And a lot of the chili tasters also liked it. I’m proud to say I placed second in the competition. Hope you’ll like it too.

Chili, like many other soups, tastes best the second day. If possible I would recommend preparing it the day before you plan to eat it. In this particular recipe there is a notable positive difference with the flavors and heat the second day.

Ingredients:

2 pounds good lean ground pork

1 large onion diced

3-4 cloves of garlic minced

3-4 poblano peppers roasted, peeled and rough chopped

1-2 seeded and diced jalapeño pepper(s)

1 can mild green chilies diced

6 cups chicken broth

1 quart diced tomatoes

3 T dried oregano

1 T dried green chili powder

1 T cumin

salt to taste

2 cans cannellini beans drained and rinsed

2 15-oz cans yellow or white hominy drained and rinsed

1/4 cup (or more to taste) of fresh cilantro chopped

On top of your gas range or in your oven roast the peppers. Once the peppers have a good char put them in a bowl and cover with Saran Wrap until they are cool enough to peel and dice.

In a large heavy kettle cook the pork, onions and garlic until the pork is no longer pink.

I like to to strain out any grease after cooking and then return the meat and onions to the kettle.

Add the diced poblano peppers, jalapeños, and mild green chilies.

Add the oregano, cumin, green chili powder, and salt to taste. Stir in the chicken broth and diced tomatoes. Drain and rinse the beans and hominy and add to the kettle.

Bring the chili to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes.

Allow the chili to cool down and refrigerate overnight.

On the second day slowly heat the chili over medium heat. Chop the cilantro and stir into the chili.

Serve with fresh grated pepper jack cheese, thinly sliced green onions, and a little sour cream. Chili goes great with a nice slice of buttermilk cornbread. Cornbread recipe was previously blogged.

Thanks to all the folks at the chili Cookoff today who voted for my Santa Fe Green Chili! You gave me a brief moment of fame, a cookbook and a great apron!

Barbecued Beef Brisket

November 18, 2014February 13, 2016 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

I had a beautiful beef brisket from my organic farm and decided that would make a perfect Monday night dinner. My dad is spending a couple of weeks with us and he is pretty much a meat and potatoes kind of guy. I make a rub for my brisket, sear all sides and then make a wet sauce that has a little bit of a kick.

A friend once told me that her daughter and son-in-law were gourmet cooks and I asked her what exactly that meant. She said gourmet cooking means smaller portions on larger plates. There is a little truth to that I think. I looked up gourmet in the dictionary and one definition was “a connoisseur of fine food and drink”. A gourmand can also mean “one who enjoys food in great quantities or even a gluttonous eater”. It’s all subject to interpretation. I consider my brisket fine food and the IPA I enjoyed with it fine drink. And we are all pretty full if that constitutes gluttonous eating. You be the judge. But if someone asked me I would call our dinner tonight “plain home cooking”. Barbecued brisket, smashed potatoes and butter roasted carrots…it’s what was for dinner tonight.

Start out with a nice beef brisket.

Rub ingredients:

1/4 cup paprika

1 T chili powder

1 T cumin

1 T brown sugar

1 T kosher salt

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

fresh ground black pepper

With a little whisk or a fork thoroughly mix all of the rub ingredients together in a bowl. Rub spice mix on all sides of the meat.

Heat 2 T of olive oil in a heavy skillet or Dutch oven and sear all sides of the meat.

Preheat your oven to 325. Now you’re ready to make the barbecue sauce.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups ketchup (I always use Brooks)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup chopped onion (or more if you like)

3 T cider vinegar

3 T Worcestershire

2 chipotles in adobo sauce finely chopped (or more if you like)

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp black pepper

Chop your onion and chipotle peppers.

Combine all of the sauce ingredients and whisk together to combine.

Pour the sauce over your beautifully seared brisket, put the cover on your Dutch oven, and put it in the oven for approximately four hours.

You will want to flip the brisket over from one side to the other a couple times during the cooking process. Once it’s done remove it to a platter and let it rest a few minutes before slicing it against the grain. Serve with the barbecue sauce. We all had seconds!

If you’d rather be less “gourmet” you could make really awesome barbecued brisket sandwiches and serve them with chips and cole slaw or a little potato salad.

Citrus Vinegarette

November 17, 2014November 18, 2014 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

A friend generously shared some salmon with us that he caught on a charter in Lake Michigan and I decided to cook it for dinner tonight. I prepared it very simply. I always soak fish in milk for 30 minutes or so. I dried the fish off, tossed it in a zip lock bag with a little flour, cornmeal, and lemon pepper and pan fried it in a cast iron skillet with a little canola oil and butter. Fish cooks very quickly so make sure the other components of your dinner are near ready when you start cooking your fish. But this post is about the citrus Vinegarette that I decided would be light, refreshing and would add a little interest to the salmon.

Vinegarette Ingredients:

1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice

1 T honey

1 medium shallot minced

2 T fresh parsley chopped

5 T olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Combine the orange, lemon and lime juices in a small sauce pan and simmer until reduced by half.

Pour the citrus reduction into a bowl to cool. Meanwhile, mince the shallot and parsley.

Once the the reduction has cooled whisk in the honey, shallots and parsley and salt and pepper.

Slowly pour in the olive oil while whisking.

Drizzle a tablespoon of the Vinegarette over each piece of salmon and put the Vinegarette on the table so you can add more if desired.

Oven roasted potatoes, Brussels sprouts and pan fried salmon with citrus Vinegarette. It’s what was for dinner.

Any left over Vinegarette will be great served as a dressing for salad.

Rigatoni with Goat Cheese, Sausage and Summer Squash

November 11, 2014 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

This pasta dish has few ingredients but the flavor combination is perfect. The goat cheese and spicy sausage give this dish a very rich grown up taste. It’s a dish that will impress guests when served with some good bread and a nice crisp salad. I have made this a couple of times and it’s received rave reviews. And if there are leftovers they reheat nicely.

Ingredients:

1 pound dried rigatoni noodles

3 T olive oil

1 pound hot Italian sausage

1/3 cup thinly sliced shallots

3-4 cloves of garlic minced

4 zucchini and/or yellow summer squash diced

6 oz goat cheese crumbled

1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

1/4 cup asiago cheese shredded

Cook pasta according to package instructions.

In a heavy skillet heat 1 T of olive oil. Remove the casings and break up sausage and cook over medium heat until no longer pink.

Remove the sausage to a strainer over a plate and allow the fat to drain off. Remove most of the fat from the skillet. Add 2 T of olive oil and and cook the shallots and garlic over medium low heat until tender, 1-2 minutes.

Increase the heat a little and add the cubed squash and cook 3-5 minutes. Add the sausage back into the skillet and keep warm.

Set aside 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta and stir into the sausage, squash mixture. Over medium heat toss the pasta and sausage. Add the pasta water a little at a time…continue adding to keep the pasta moist. Heat for 3-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the goat cheese and parsley. Toss until the cheese melts and coats the rigatoni. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with the grated asiago.

Voila! It’s that simple. Isn’t that a beautiful dish! I served this and a red pasta dish together. Always trying to make sure there is something for everyone. Everyone choose BOTH dishes.

You could use penne pasta for this recipe if that’s what you have on hand. I think the next time I make this I will add some mushrooms along with the squash. Both of my pasta dishes had generous amounts of garlic. No vampires in our house! But you can rein the garlic back if you’d like. I always consider recipes, particularly for savory dishes, as a template that invites us to make modifications and personalize the dish.

Rigatoni with goat cheese, it’s what was for dinner last night AND tonight.

Split Pea Soup

November 9, 2014 / featherheadlady / 2 Comments

Split pea soup is something you either really like or you want no part of. It’s a soup I really like. I usually make mine with pork hocks but have made it with a ham bone. I remember my mother making pea soup and it remains one of my dad’s favorites. I’ve ordered pea soup in restaurants and been disappointed…either the soup is so thick you can eat it with a fork or watered down and tasteless. I also like mine with croutons or a slice of good bread. I’ve never been a soup and crackers person and especially am not a crackers in my soup person. Split pea soup. It’s what was for dinner tonight.

Ingredients

Pork hock or ham bone

8 cups water

16 oz package split green peas (sorted and rinsed well)

3-4 cloves of garlic minced

1 large onion diced

3-4 carrots peeled and diced

2-3 stalks of celery diced

1/2 sweet red pepper diced

4-5 small gold potatoes diced

3 cups diced tomatoes

salt and pepper to taste

In a large heavy kettle put your pork hock (or ham bone) and water over high heat and bring to a boil. Once it starts to boil turn heat down to low and simmer for about 2 hours. Add the split peas and minced garlic and simmer for 1 hour. Remove the hock to a platter and add all of the diced vegetables.

I had orange, purple and yellow carrots so I used one of each. But ordinary orange carrots would be fine.

Remove the meat from the bone. My organic farm has awesome, meaty pork hocks.

Stir the meat and the tomatoes into the soup and continue to simmer for 30 minutes until all of the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

I made some croutons for our soup with some day or two old sour dough bread that I had. I lightly buttered a few slices, sprinkled on a little garlic salt, and grated a little Parmesan cheese on top.

Cube and spread out on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the croutons in the oven another 15-20 minutes.

Ladle some soup into a bowl and enjoy.

This soup is like many soups that taste better the second day. This soup will also thicken up. If it becomes too thick thin it out with a little chicken or vegetable broth.

Shepherds Pie (aka White Trash Supper)

November 4, 2014 / featherheadlady / 1 Comment

This is is a dish I’ve been making for years and we always called it “White Trash Supper”. Everyone loves the two major components in this dish…mashed potatoes and ground beef (or lamb or pork or a combination of ground meats). I take back saying everyone loves mashed potatoes. I happen to know several people who don’t like potatoes at all and one who just does not like mashed potatoes. So this would suit 95% of the people I might cook for. This is traditional British pub food. Not spicy. Not fancy. Just a very simple comforting dish. Kids like it. Grown ups like it. Picky eaters like it. In this recipe I’ve added a few more vegetables (which picky eaters might want to cross off the ingredients list). This is another recipe that works well with whatever you have on hand in the fridge. There are two components… the potato and the beef.

Potato

2 pounds of potatoes peeled, diced and rinsed

2 cloves garlic (optional)

1/3 cup half and half

4 T butter

1 egg yolk

salt and pepper to taste

Put the potatoes and garlic in a sauce pan with water, cover and bring to a boil. Uncover and simmer over medium low heat until the potatoes are tender for mashing. In the meantime start working on the base.

Meat

2 T olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

2 leeks sliced thin, white and pale green part only

2 cloves garlic

2 carrots peeled and small diced

1 cup mushrooms chopped

1 pound ground meat (beef, lamb, or pork)

2 T tomato paste

2 T flour

1 cup beef, chicken or mushroom broth

+ 1/2 cup of the water the potatoes were cooked in

1 T Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup frozen corn

Prep all of your vegetables.

In a large heavy skillet heat the oil. Sauté the onion, leeks and carrots over medium heat for 4-5 minutes.

Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook for 1-2 more minutes.

Add the ground meat and cook until no longer pink.

Add the herbs and salt and pepper to taste.

Sprinkle the flour over the meat mixture and stir until incorporated. Add the tomato paste, the broth and the potato water and simmer stirring frequently until mixture thickens. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce. Stir in the peas and corn. Remove from heat.

Put the meat mixture into an 8×11″ casserole dish or evenly distribute into 4 individual serving casserolettes. I used the single serving oven proof dishes.

Your potatoes should be done. Drain off the remaining water and put in a bowl for mashing. In the potato pot, over low heat, melt the butter and warm the half n half.

Add warmed butter and half n half, the egg yolk and salt and pepper to taste to the potatoes and mash. I used my hand mixer and whipped the potatoes. I rarely whip potatoes because my daughter has always preferred them smashed by hand. But she isn’t here for dinner. If she were I’d be using my masher. Once you’ve mashed or whipped your potatoes you have the top layer for your pie. Spread it out to the edges of the dish like you’d do if you were icing a cake. I sprinkled the top with a little paprika.

Bake on a baking sheet covered with foil or parchment paper in case of bubbling over messing up your oven incidents. Bake for 25 minutes until potatoes are golden.

Enjoy this simple, hearty dish with a little salad and bread and butter. I enjoyed an adult beverage with mine and pretended I was in a British pub.

I sometimes kick up the mashed potatoes a bit with some prepared horseradish but I didn’t have any today. You can also add a little cheese. If your family dislikes peas or corn you can substitute other vegetables. Also, I made a cup of broth from Mushroom Better than Bouillon but you could use chicken or beef broth.

Potato and Corn Chowder with Ham

October 31, 2014 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

Soups are a favorite of mine to make and to eat especially as the weather starts getting cold. I had ham left over from last night and not a lot of time so this was a perfect soup to make. One of my favorite soups since childhood contained many of the same ingredients as my potato chowder but instead of ham it had fish. We called it “kala mojakka” (Finnish for fish soup). Sometimes the only parts of the fish the soup contained were the heads but they gave the best flavor to the broth. This from the days when nothing edible went to waste. To me, any soup was “mojakka”. My grandmother made it best.

Potato and Corn Chowder with Ham. It’s what was for dinner tonight.

2 stalks of celery

2 leeks (white and pale green portion only)

1/2 sweet red or orange bell pepper

1/2 large sweet onion

3-4 cloves of garlic

4 T butter

2 T flour

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups diced potatoes (redskins or Yukon)

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn

4 cups chicken broth

1 cup diced ham

1 cup half and half

Rough chop onion, celery, pepper and leeks.

Dice the potatoes and rinse well. (I prefer not to peel the potatoes.)

In a Dutch oven or heavy kettle melt the butter and sauté the vegetables (onions, celery, pepper and leeks) over medium heat until they are tender, 5 minutes or so.

Thin slice the garlic and add to the sautéing vegetables.

After adding the garlic sauté another minute. Add in the flour and stir until incorporated with the vegetables. Stir in the broth, the diced potatoes, the cayenne pepper and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Add corn, diced ham and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in one cup of half and half.

Continue to simmer until thoroughly heated.

Ladle into bowls. Garnish with a little shredded sharp cheddar cheese and some fresh parsley.

Enjoy! I told you it was easy and not very time consuming at all. Once again this is a recipe that can be modified based on personal preference or just based on what you have on hand. The soup is excellent with no meat or you can substitute sausage. Cook the sausage ahead of time and put on paper towel to “degrease.” Add the sausage near the end of the recipe in place of the ham.

I like to serve this soup with homemade croutons but I had no bread. Crackers had to do tonight. I have two bowls of leftover soup. It’s what will be for lunch tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow I can make some good bread to go with it. Maybe.

Scalloped Potatoes with Cheese

October 30, 2014 / featherheadlady / 2 Comments

Scalloped potatoes are one of my favorite comfort foods. They are one of my dad’s favorites too but he likes his “cheeseless,” probably because that’s the way my mother made them. If I made a ham a day or two earlier I would have cubed the ham and mixed it in with the potatoes but I’m cooking both the ham and the scalloped potatoes today. So they are served side by side. Scalloped potatoes and ham. It’s what’s for dinner tonight.

There are dozens and dozens of different ways to prepare scalloped potatoes. I’ve made them several different ways myself. But I like them with a lot of onions and a little cheese. Not so much cheese you’d mistake them for au gratin potatoes but just enough cheese to make them a little richer and creamier. You can make any modifications based on your personal tastes.

When I was in high school I took Home Economics. I took Home Economics because I was a girl. It was the class where I learned to outline textbooks. I believe outlining to be a skill with no real life purpose that I’m aware of. However, all of us learned to make a white sauce. Now that is a skill with a real life purpose. It’s enabled me to make great Mac and cheese, pasta sauces, gravies, and, of course, scalloped potatoes. Mrs. Little, my Home Ec teacher, would be proud of me for remembering the white sauce.

Scalloped Potatoes with Cheese

2 pounds small potatoes

1 large sweet onion sliced thin

9 T butter divided

6 T flour

4 cups milk

1 cup grated cheese (I used 1/2 cup smoked Gouda, 1/2 cup gruyere)

1 tsp dry mustard

5-6 fresh sage leaves (optional)

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

Preheat your oven to 400.

Scrub your potatoes and slice them thin. I use a mandolin so the potato slices are uniform thickness. I also prefer not to peel them. Rinse the potatoes thoroughly after slicing and drain well.

Thin slice the onion. For some reason I have trouble slicing onions on a mandolin so I just use a sharp knife.

Melt 6 T of the butter in a heavy deep skillet. Whisk in the flour and a couple of the sage leaves that have been thin sliced. Whisk for a minute or two.

Slowly add the 4 cups of milk continuing to whisk. Whisk in the ground mustard and continue to whisk until the sauce begins to thicken.

Use 1 T of the butter and grease a large casserole dish. Layer half the potatoes first, half the onions, sprinkle one half cup of the cheeses and half the sauce. Repeat.

Melt the last 2 T of butter in a skillet. Pulse your fresh bread crumbs with a few fresh sage leaves and fresh thyme. Toast on top of the stove tossing until lightly toasted. Sprinkle on top of the potatoes.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 30 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender and the top is golden brown.

Allow the potatoes to sit for about 5 minutes are taking them from the oven. I served mine with sliced ham, steamed broccoli and some spiced apple slices.

Use whatever cheeses are your favorites. If you prefer, omit the sage and thyme. Perhaps try some basil and/or parsley. Or go herb-less. Enjoy. It’s not fancy but you will find it comforting food.

Angel Hair Pasta with Oven Roasted Tomatoes

October 27, 2014 / featherheadlady / 1 Comment

This weekend we had very special friends visit from out of town. Pasta dishes are always favorites with them so I decided to make pasta two ways. Two ways that were both new recipe interpretations for me which is only a safe thing to do if your guests love you unconditionally. One pasta was a red dish, the other was white. One was meatless, the other had sausage. Both of them turned out very well. I’m going to share the meatless red here. Angel hair pasta with oven roasted tomatoes…it’s what was for dinner and again for lunch the next day.

This recipe is only something you’ll want to try if you will be home all afternoon and if you love the smell of roasting garlic and tomato. Everyone who walked in that afternoon commented on the strong aroma of garlic. You could roast the tomatoes without the garlic but the flavor would not be the same. The first part of this dish is the time consuming part…not a lot of work, just time.

Get ready to roast your tomatoes. Preheat the oven to 350 with the racks in the top third of the oven. I combined different kinds of tomatoes…Romas, beefsteak, and small heirloom tomatoes.

Slice the romas and the beefsteaks. Leave the cherry/grape tomatoes whole. Put the tomatoes in a large bowl, add 1/2 cup of olive oil and toss the tomatoes to coat. Spread them out in a single layer on jelly roll pans. Peel and smash a dozen or so cloves of garlic and distribute between the two pans of tomatoes. Lightly salt. Turn the oven down to 225 and put the tomatoes in. Roast them for six hours switching the position of the pans after three hours.

I told you this process was not at all difficult. It won’t take long and the garlic aromas will begin to permeate the kitchen. These tomatoes are so yummy. You won’t ever want to buy sundried, jarred tomatoes again. Throw the garlic away. It will be tough. The flavors have married the tomatoes and olive oil.

Now for the pasta sauce.

3 cups of oven roasted tomatoes (rough chop slices)

2-3 cloves of garlic thin sliced

5-6 anchovy filets

2 T olive oil

1 tsp crushed red pepper

2 T tomato paste

1 pint jar diced tomatoes

20 or so kalamata olives coarsely chopped

10 or so large green olives coarsely chopped

3 T capers

fresh grated asiago cheese

Bring salted water to a boil in a large pot and cook pasta according to package instructions.

Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet. Briefly sauté the garlic slices. Add the anchovy filets and sauté until they melt into the oil. Add the pepper flakes and tomato paste. Add the chopped tomatoes, the olives and capers, and the oven roasted tomatoes. Simmer until thoroughly heated.

Combine the sauce and pasta and toss. Add a half cup or so of the pasta water if necessary. Top with fresh grated asiago cheese. Serve with a tossed salad and some crusty bread.

If you have more than three cups of oven roasted tomatoes there are any number of uses for them in addition to just eating them straight up. They would be great in an omelet, on a sandwich, in a salad. I used the tomatoes I had left tonight when I roasted a pork loin with Brussels sprouts and baby Yukon gold potatoes. I added them to the vegetables when the cook time was almost up.

Oxtail Soup

October 20, 2014December 5, 2014 / featherheadlady / 3 Comments

It’s soup weather! Soup is one of the ultimate comfort foods. It’s what you’re supposed to eat when you’re not feeling well. It makes your house smell good. It’s something you can add the leftovers from your refrigerator to. Soup recipes are fun to modify to suit your personal tastes. Add this vegetable. Don’t add this one. I had some nice looking oxtails from my favorite organic farm and decided they were the perfect beginning for a pot of soup. It’s what was for dinner last night. And it’s probably what’s for dinner tomorrow night.

Oxtails – about 2 pounds

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup flour

salt and pepper

2 T tomato paste

1 large onion rough diced

2 stalks celery rough diced

5-6 garlic cloves

1 quart diced tomatoes

4 cups beef or mushroom broth

2 bay leaves

1 tsp thyme

2 carrots thin sliced

1 cup diced potatoes

1 medium rutabaga peeled and diced

1 cup fresh green beans cut in 1 inch pieces

Heat olive oil in a heavy kettle. Add flour and salt and pepper and oxtails to a zip lock bag and shake to coat. Brown meat on all sides, remove and set aside.

Add onion, garlic, and celery to the kettle and cook for 3-5 minutes over medium heat. Stir in tomato paste.

Add tomatoes, broth, bay leaves, thyme and fresh ground pepper and salt. Return the oxtails to the pan. Simmer for 3-3 1/2 hours. Remove oxtails and add carrots, potatoes, rutabaga, and beans. Additional celery and onion if you’d like.

Remove the meat from the bones and add that back into the soup. Oxtails are not very meaty but they provide a great flavor to the soup. Simmer for approximately 1 hour until the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve up with some crusty bread and you have a perfect hearty dinner. I didn’t have any good bread so I made baking powder biscuits but crusty bread or rolls would have been better.

You can add other root vegetables to this soup like turnips or parsnips. If you add fresh or frozen peas add them toward the end of the cooking process.

TIP: So many recipes call for 1 or 2 tablespoons of tomato paste. I open cans of tomato paste, put them in the freezer for about an hour, open the other end and push the tomato paste out. I slice the paste and put each section into a zip lock snack bag. I always have tomato paste handy.