Jambalaya

I have this recipe for jambalaya from a Frugal Gourmet cookbook Bruce's uncle gave us years ago. It is very involved and takes pretty much all afternoon to make, as it guides you through making stock and everything. I've modified it through the years, it still takes a bit of time, but is more of a weekend meal when you have time to let things simmer.

Jambalaya

2 tbsp cooking oil
1 onion
2 pieces of celery
½ green pepper
½ red pepper
2 cloves garlic
5 green onions
3 large tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1 tbsp dried parsley (or 1/4 cup fresh)
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
salt and pepper to taste
1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce
3 cups chicken stock
1 lb sausage
2 cups cooked chicken
1 cup ham
1 cup uncooked rice

Chop vegetables into 2cm pieces. Heat oil; add onion, peppers, celery and garlic and sauté until tender. Add green onions and tomatoes and cook until soft. Add tomato paste and spices, heat through, then add 2 cups stock and simmer this gravy for 15 minutes to an hour. Meanwhile, cut sausage into bite size pieces and brown in a frying pan. Discard grease, place sausage into gravy. Deglaze the frying pan with the remaining stock and pour into gravy. Add rice, chicken and ham and simmer 20-25 minutes until the rice is cooked. Stir occasionally and you may have to add a little more stock or water to finish the rice.


This is a great winter meal, very hardy. If you had leftover sausages, it would save you that step.

Ganache

I was reviewing older posts and saw that I said I would post a recipe for a ganache icing. Ganache, for those of you who haven't discovered its silky marvelousness, is simply cream and chocolate. The proportions vary, depending on what you want to do with it. And if you add butter, you have truffles.

You need to start with the best dark chocolate you can get your hands on, and use heavy (whipping) cream.

12 ounces dark chocolate
1 1/4 cups cream

chop the chocolate into small pieces (less than 1 inch). Melt in the microwave at 30-50% power, checking every minute or so (don't scorch it!),it doesn't have to be completely melted. Heat the cream in a saucepan just until it simmers. Pour the cream over the chocolate, let sit for 2-3 minutes, then stir gently. It will take some time for it to come together, just keep stirring. If there are still chunks of unmelted chocolate after 10 minutes, zap it for a minute (med low power). You can pour it over your cake at this time, or let it cool until it thickens and is of a spreadable consistency. You can do this over ice water, stirring constantly, or in the fridge, stirring occasionlly.

You can also make a whipped ganache that is a bit lighter by using:
8 ounces of chocolate
2 cups of cream.

Refrigerate for at least 6 hours, then whip until it starts to thicken. Once it starts to thicken, it sets up quickly, so have your cake ready to ice.

Both of these make enough to ice a 8 or 9 inch layer cake. You can use the first one for a chocolate fondue.

Southwest Quinoa Salad

I am horrible at posting, obviously, but I finally have some inspiration. I just finished experimenting with a couple of recipes for a Southwest inspired quinoa salad. Quinoa is a grain that is being touted as the next great thing and is pronounced "keen-wa". It is an ancient grain and has protein in it, so it's great for vegetarians/vegans. My recipe does have some sour cream, but it could be omitted if you don't do dairy. It also should be gluten free, but I'm no expert on that. I plan to serve it tonight with some leftover chicken.

Southwest Quinoa Salad


- 1 cup of quinoa, soaked and rinsed
- 1/3 cup frozen corn (or fresh off the cob)
- 1/3 cup canned black beans -rinsed
- 2 chopped tomatoes
- 3 chopped green onions
- 3/4 cup chopped red, yellow and/or green peppers
- Sour cream-lime dressing
- one ripe avocado, chopped

Boil the quinoa with 2 cups of water for about 15 minutes, until all the water is absorbed. Let sit in the pot for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork. In a frying pan on high heat, heat the corn for 2-3 minutes to get it sort of "roasted", then lower the heat and add the black beans. When quinoa is ready, pour it into a bowl with the corn and beans, add the vegetables, dressing, and serve with chopped avocado (if you don’t mix it into the whole salad, the salad keeps better)

Sour cream-Lime Dressing

- juice of one lime
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1-2 tbsp fresh cilantro, finely minced
- 2 tablespoonfuls of sour cream
- dash of ground chipotle pepper (or other hot pepper) –to taste

Whisk all ingredients together and mix with salad.

Turkey Crepes

I was looking for ideas to use up leftover turkey from Thanksgiving and remembered my son mentioning he wanted to try crepes. So I combined a couple of recipes and came up with this turkey crepes.

Crepe batter:
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups milk
2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Beat eggs in a large bowl. Gradually add dry ingredients alternately with milk and oil. Beat until smooth.

Heat a medium frying pan (I use a Teflon pan so I don't have to grease it) over medium heat. Add about 1/4 cup batter to hot pan, swirling to spread a thin layer over entire pan. Allow to cook until lightly browned (will be cooked through), then flip to brown other side for a few seconds. Layer with wax paper so they don't stick together while you are making the filling.

Turkey filling

1/4 cup chopped onion
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
bit of red pepper, finely chopped
1 clove garlic
1 cup sour cream
2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 cups leftover turkey (or chicken)
parsley, oregano and/or basil to taste
ground black pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
spinach leaves

Fry onion, celery, red pepper and garlic in oil until tender. Stir flour into sour cream and add to vegetables. Stir in broth and cook until thickened and bubbly. Add turkey, cheese and seasonings.

Build the crepes: lay a crepe on a plate with the browned side down. Lay some spinach leaves in the middle in a line, then spoon some of the turkey/sauce mixture on top. Fold one side over, tuck in and roll so the seam is down. Repeat with remaining crepes and filling.

You could use this filling with tortillas and save the effort of making crepes. And you can add other veggies (I used corn tonight as well), or omit or change the cheese for a different taste.

My kids took some of the leftover crepes and spread them with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, then fried an apple with some cinnamon and made dessert crepes.

Sugar Cookies

This is a recipe from a package of cookie cutters I bought a few years ago. It is from a famous woman who had a TV show, magazine, books and many other lines of business (she spent some time in jail for insider trading).

1 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour and baking soda and mix until combined. It will be quite stiff, use your hands if you have to. Roll on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Refrigerate for 15 minutes, then bake at 325F for 10-12 minutes.

The refrigeration step is very important. If you don't do it, the cookies will spread and not look at all like the shapes you cut. You can decorate these cookies with icing, or just serve them naked. I have a modest collection of cutters, so I can make cookies for various holidays.

Guacomole

I love this simple recipe for Guacamole. We serve it with tortilla chips as an appetizer, but will use it with the main course, if there is any left over. It's tasty on a burger or with pork.

1 ripe avocado
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1/4 lime's juice
about 1/3 cup finely chopped red pepper, tomato and onion
about 2 tbsp sour cream

mash the avocado and mix with everything else.

To tell if the avocado is ripe, it should be dark green and yield just slightly when gently squeezed. If it is black or really soft, it probably is over ripe. When you cut it, the flesh should be green. The easiest way to cut it (I find), is to slice it to the pit vertically all the way around, then give it a twist and it separates. Then I get the pit out by pushing the edge of a sharp knife right into the pit (just a bit in), then twisting it. You have to be careful getting the pit off the knife. I use a spoon to scoop the flesh out of the skins, it usually comes out in one piece if it is ripe.

Blueberry Muffins

I love summer, when the fruit and berries are a reasonable price. I got a big container of blueberries the other day, but realized today I can't eat them fast enough, so I'm making muffins. This recipe is not overly sweet, nor cake-like as many bought muffins are. It makes a dozen regular size, or 2 dozen mini muffins.

1 3/4 cups flour (I use half whole wheat and half white)
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil (canola or corn)
1 cup fresh (or frozen) blueberries

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix wet ingredients separately, then add all at once to dry. Mix just until combined (never over-mix quick bread batters, they get tough). Stir in blueberries. Fill muffin cups (greased or lined with paper baking cups) 2/3 full. Bake at 400F for 18-20 minutes for full size or 10-12 for mini.

This is easily doubled, which I did today, and they freeze well.