Category: recipes

Chicken With Green Dumplings

~ cafebedouin

Based on the recipe from Bill Neal’s Southern Cooking. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1985. Pgs. 114, 117-118.

Chicken

  • 1 chicken weighing 4 pounds (1800 g), poached
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 3 ribs of celery, chopped
  • 1/8 teaspoon of pepper flakes
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon of thyme
  • 2 teaspoons of salt
  • 12 whole black peppercorns
  • 2 quarts (2 liters) of water

Wash the chicken and drain in colander. Combine the onion. celery and red pepper flakes, bay leaves, thyme salt, peppercorns and water in a stockpot. Bring to boil. Add chicken. Return to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for 90 minutes. When skin pulls from the joints, you are finished. Pull chicken from broth. Save broth. Wait for chicken to cool. Remove meat from bones.

Sauce

  • 8 tablespoons of fat, chicken fat or butter
  • 1 cup (118 ml) chopped onion
  • 2 cups (275 ml) chopped fresh mushrooms
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 9 tablespoons of flour
  • 6 cups of chicken stock
  • 1/2 cup of heavy cream
  • Salt and pepper
  • 12 drops of hot sauce (optional)

Heat the fat over medium heat. Add onions. When onions are translucent, add mushrooms. Cook until moisture evaporates, about 7 minutes. Stir in garlice and cook for 2 minutes. Make a roux by adding the flour all at once and stir for continuously for 3 minutes. The flour will turn the color of mushrooms.

Pour in stock and cream. Stir continuously for 15 minutes. Roughly chop the chicken meat, add it to the stock, and cook for 15 more minutes. Season with salt pepper and hot sauce.

Dumplings

  • 1 1/2 cups (244 g) flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 teaspoon of sugar
  • 1 egg well beaten, with enough milk to equal 7/8 of a cup (205 ml)
  • 2 tablespoons of chopped, fresh basil
  • 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
  • 4 tablespoons of chopped scallions

Stir flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together, Make well in center and add egg/milk mixture. If too wet add flour. If too dry, add a few drops of milk. Dough should be sticky but not wet. Fold in herbs and scallions. Drop by the spoonfuls into the broth. Dumplings can be very close together. Cover tightly, annd reduce heat so liquid bubbles but is not boiling. Close and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.

To serve, put sauce in the center of a large serving platter and garnish with dumplings. Or, just scoop some in a bowl.

Valentine’s Cookies

~ cafebedouin

Over-the-top chocolate chip, oatmeal cookies.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups, all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon, baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup light (or dark) brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons, vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 3/4 sweet shredded coconut, firmly packed
  • 1/2 cup, toasted nut of choice, such as pecans or cashews
  • 1 cup, semisweet chocolate chips
  • 3/4 cup, white chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup, toffee chips and/or golden raisins
  • 2 1/2 cups, old-fashioned rolled oats

Equipment

  • 2 baking sheets
  • parchment paper
  • standing mixer
  • 3 mixing bowls
  • long wooden spoon
  • tablespoon
  • spatula
  • wire rack for cooling
  • air-tight containers

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F (177C).
  2. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
  3. In mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
  4. Add vanilla.
  5. Add eggs and beat until blended, about a minute.
  6. Add flour, 3 tablespoons at a time.
  7. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.
  8. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper, with 1 inch separating them.
  9. Bake for 12 minutes (chewy) to 14 minutes (crisp).
  10. Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removing to oven, then transfer to wire rack.
  11. Once cool, put in an air-tight container.

Cranberry Chutney

~ cafebedouin

My wife’s cranberry chutney recipe that she makes for Thanksgiving. I’ll add a picture after she makes it.

Ingredients

  • 4 cups of fresh cranberries, picked over and washed
  • 2 cups of sugar (or to taste)
  • 2 cups of water
  • 1 large navel orange
  • 1 teaspoon peeled and grated fresh ginger

Preparation

  1. Combine cranberries, sugar, water in a medium saucepan and turn the heat to medium-low.
  2. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the berries are broken. Roughly 20-30 minutes.
  3. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the entire zest (of skin) of the orange.
  4. Cut the orange zest into small pieces and set aside.
  5. Remove the white pith from the outside of the orange.
  6. Separate the orange into sections.
  7. Remove pithy parts from the inside of the orange.
  8. Combine the orange sections, zest and grated ginger in a blender or food processor.
  9. Blend on medium-high for about 1-2 minutes.
  10. Combine the blended mixture from food processor into saucepan with cranberries.
  11. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 15-20 minutes.
  12. Transfer cranberries to a bowl, cool, then chill until ready to serve.

Guacamole

~ cafebedouin

Note: I’ll add pictures after I make this today.

Ingredients

  • Fresh hot chilies, such as Thai, serranoes or jalapeñoes
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1/2 medium white onion, finely chopped (~1/3 cup)
  • 6 oz. (1 medium or 2 plum) fresh tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup of coarsely chopped cilantro
  • 3 medium-large avocados
  • salt
  • juice of 1 lime
  • slices of radish for garnish
  • corn oil
  • corn tortillas

Preparation of Guacamole

  1. Roast chiles, garlic and tomatoes in small, ungreased skillet over medium heat, turning every minute until softened (5-10 minutes)
  2. Remove chili stems, garlic skins and blackened parts of tomatoes,
  3. Mash chilies, garlic into a coarse puree, using a mortar.
  4. Cut tomatoes into small bits
  5. Rise onion in a strainer under cool water, shake off excess water.
  6. Add onion, tomato and chili/garlic puree and stir.
  7. Cut the avocadoes in half, remove pit, score the avocado by cutting half inch lines to the skin using a paring knife.
  8. Scope out the avocado into the bowl with onion and chili/garlic.
  9. Stir avocado into the mixture, but don’t overdo it. Keep it chunky!
  10. Add salt and lime to taste, more lime makes it less spicy.
  11. Garnish with cilantro and radish.
  12. Set aside for flavors to mix while making chips.

Preparation of Fresh Tortilla Chips

  • Heat corn oil over medium heat in medium sauce pan
  • Cut store-bought tortillas into 6 pieces per torilla
  • Fry chips to a golden brown
  • Place chips in a paper towel lined, large bowl.
  • Best to have people eat chips as you make them.

Notes

  • You can use store bought chips. But, frying them yourself is much better.
  • It’s important not to over-mash guacamole. Over-mashed guacamole is what most people serve, and it is inferior.
  • Recipe is based on the classic guacamole recipe in Mexico: One Plate At A Time by Rick Bayless, pg. 4.

Plantains With Jammy Tomatoes and Eggs

~ cafebedouin

“Plantains are nutrient-rich starches that can sweeten as they cook, and, in many parts of the world, they find their way into the best stews and porridges. This recipe is based on “tomato eggs,” a dish popular in Lagos, Nigeria, and across West Africa. Tomato eggs can be made with yams or plantains, and here, firm yellow plantains work best because they hold their shape and texture while absorbing the flavors of the surrounding stew. It’s a perfect meal for days when you want something hot but not too heavy or filling. Any herbs you have on hand will work well, and the dish can be made vegan by substituting medium-firm or soft tofu for the eggs.”

-Yewande Komolafe, “Plantains With Jammy Tomatoes and Eggs.” The New York Times. August 7, 2021.

Saving for future reference.

A Tale of Two Briskets

~ cafebedouin

“The one on the left is a crowd-pleaser, one you could comfortably serve to goys. But the one on the right is the one I grew up with.”

-Hillary Busis, “A Tale of Two Briskets.” AndSmallPortions.com. December 7, 2015

Nonnie’s brisket vs. high-end cookbook recipe. I’ve never cooked brisket, but one thing I notice is the Lipton onion soup packet is also used in the vegetarian meatloaf recipe. Bookmarking this for the future.

Thanksgiving Double Stock

~ cafebedouin

“…I prefer to make what is known as a double stock—in culinary-school terms, a fortified stock, or, Frenchily, a consommé, which classically refers to a clarification of the broth, and perhaps also the meat of more than one species. Whatever name you assign to it, the preparation can be summed up like this: when making stock, use stock as a base instead of water. The result is the most magnificently rich liquid, a concentrated essence of the sort that makes people sink, at first slurp, into a sighing surrender.”

-Helen Rosner, “Thanksgiving Double Stock.” The New Yorker. November 11, 2018.