Charcoal

This Isn’t Your Mom’s Slow Cooker

Life is busy, so busy in fact that I sometimes don’t have the time to update my food blog!  The problem with life being too busy (besides the stress, sleep deprivation and such) is that people often turn to “fast” food for dinner because they are too busy or too tired.  Or perhaps you have to work all day (shout out to Kristie and Cherry!) and just want to come home to a nice warm, ready-to-eat meal.

(Voice over loudspeaker) Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce… (drum roll)…

The Slow Cooker!!!!!!!  (crowd goes wild with applause!)

 You may be breaking out in hives right now, recalling all of those heavy, coagulated meals your mother or grandmother used to make in a crock pot but I’m not your mother and it’s 2010!

While I do love the slow cooker for some yummy stew, there are many other things to make in one aside from beef stroganoff. 

Bonus:  If your slow cooker has a removable insert (I recommend this version), you can assemble the meal the night before and refrigerate, then pull out in the morning, place in slow cooker, turn on and go on with your day.

One of my FAVORITE things to make is a 40 Clove Garlic Chicken and yes, this is a perfect thing to slow cook.  I’m sure you’ve seen similar recipes but here is my version of it (can also be made in the oven using a different approach).

Slow Cooker Version:

My 40 Clove Garlic Roasted Chicken

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken (choose size based on your slow cooker remembering there will be 3 cups of liquid with it in slow cooker)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon Florida Sunshine Spice Blend(found at Spice & Tea Exchange in Winter Park A-MAZ-BOUCHE) You can also use sea salt and pepper
2 fresh parsley sprigs (sprig =  branch)
1/2 cup shallots, minced
40 garlic cloves, unpeeled (from 3 to 4 heads of garlic)
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup dry white wine (chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, pinot gris)  
2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth or chicken stock
1/3 cup Niçoise Olives 
French bread, optional accompaniment

Directions:

Turn your slow cooker on to low setting (if you will be gone for 6 hrs or more) or high setting (if you will be gone only 2 -4 hours).  Add a single layer of garlic cloves to bottom of slow cooker.

Season chicken with Florida Sunshine Spice Blend.  Brush with 2 tablespoons olive oil, then brown on both sides in a wide fry pan or skillet over high heat, approximately 2 minutes each side.  Be careful not to tear skin.  Transfer to slow cooker.  Add parsley, shallots, remaining garlic and celery.  Pour ½ cup dry white wine and chicken broth/stock over chicken.  Cover with lid.

Cook on low for 7-8 hrs (internal temperature should read 180 degrees) or on high for 3 1/2 to 4 hours (internal temperature should read 180 degrees). 

Before removing chicken, add Niçoise olives and let cook for 15 minutes.  Remove the chicken from the slow cooker and let rest for 10 minutes before carving and serving.   Skim fat off top of juices.  Serve chicken in shallow bowls, spoon the pan juices and whole garlic cloves over each portion of chicken, and pass the remaining juices and garlic tableside with French bread for dipping.

Oven Version:

My 40 Clove of Garlic Chicken (for the oven)

Ingredients:

1  whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces (ask the butcher do for you)

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon Florida Sunshine Spice Blend (from Spice & Tea Exchange, Winter Park)  A-MAZ-BOUCHE!

2 fresh parsley sprigs (a branch)

1 fresh rosemary sprig (a branch)

40 garlic cloves, peeled (from 3 to 4 heads of garlic-you can purchase peeled)

1  cup chopped celery

1/2 cup dry white wine (chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, pinot gris)

French bread, optional accompaniment

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Season chicken with Florida Sunshine Spice Blend.  Toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil and brown on both sides in a wide fry pan or skillet over high heat, approximately 2 minutes each side.  Be careful not to tear skin.  Add parsley, rosemary, garlic and celery, and then pour ½ cup dry white wine over chicken.  Cover with lid.

Wrap skillet handle with aluminum foil, place in oven and bake covered for 1 ½ hours.  Remove the chicken from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before serving. Spoon the pan juices and whole garlic cloves over each portion of chicken, and pass the remaining juices and garlic tableside with French bread for dipping.

Want to make something a little more exotic in your slow cooker?

Try my Slow Cooker Lamb Shank with Lemon, Dill, Feta, and Orzo

Ingredients:

4 lamb shanks (about 4 1/2 pounds)

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups cucumber, chopped

2/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth

4 dill sprigs plus 1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped dill

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 small lemon, thinly sliced, and seeds picked out

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/4 green, pitted olives, chopped

Cooked orzo, left on warm setting of burner, for serving (you can substitute with brown rice)

Directions:

Season the lamb shanks with salt and pepper and dust with the flour, shaking off any excess. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil until glossy looking over moderately high heat. Cook the lamb shanks, in batches if necessary, until browned all over, about 10 minutes. Transfer the shanks to a slow cooker. Add the chicken broth, dill sprigs, cucumber, garlic, onion and lemon. Cover and cook on high until the lamb is tender, about 4 hours.  (NOTE- If you will be away for longer, cook on low heat and double cooking time, so 8 hrs for this)

Take cooked orzo and stir in chopped olives.  Transfer the shanks to shallow bowls and keep warm. Skim the fat from the cooking juices. Add in 1/2 tablespoon of the chopped dill and the lemon juice.  Salt and pepper the juices (if needed) to taste. Spoon the juices along with the shallots, cucumber and lemon over the lamb shanks. Sprinkle with the feta and the remaining tablespoon of chopped dill and serve with orzo.

Let’s have some fungi tonight!

I LOVE mushrooms (Kristin H this post is not for you)!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!  I’m talking the legal kind people… baked, sauteed, fried, pureed, raw… all put the fun in fungi! 

So here is a little recipe, from me to you, with another recipe for Creamy Sage Butter Polenta.  Hugs.

Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms

Ingredients:

·       Three to four large portobello mushrooms

·       1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

·       1 teaspoon rosemary leaves, plus one 3-inch sprig of rosemary

·       Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

·       3 lamb sausage links (or chorizo, or turkey sausage)*

·       1 spanish yellow onion, minced (enter mini food processor here)

·       3 tablespoons fine bread crumbs

·       6 ounces fresh crumbled goat cheese (Publix brand actually really good)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°.   In a bowl, toss the mushrooms with 3 tablespoons of the oil and the rosemary leaves and season with salt and pepper. Transfer the mushrooms to a baking sheet, rounded sides down.

In a medium skillet, heat remaining oil.  Add the rosemary sprig and cook over moderately high heat until the leaves are crisp, 30 seconds. Drain on paper towels, and then strip off the leaves. Pour off all but 1 teaspoon of the rosemary oil.  Add sausage links turning over until all sides brown and sausage fully cooked, approximately 10 minutes.  Remove sausage links, add onion and saute until clear (3 minutes).  Dice cooked sausage and combine onion, sausage, rosemary and goat cheese in bowl until mixed. 

Spoon sausage mixture into middle of portabello mushrooms, sprinkle with bread crumbs.  Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until edges of mushrooms are crisp.

Tips:

Serve this with Creamy Sage Polenta (Have ingredients ready so you can make this while mushrooms are baking)

Ingredients

·       1 quart water

·       Salt

·       1 cup coarse yellow polenta (not instant)

·       3 tablespoons unsalted butter

·       4 sage leaves

·       1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

·       Freshly ground pepper

Directions

·       In a large saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add salt to the water, then slowly whisk in the polenta. Cover the saucepan and cook over moderate heat, whisking often, until the polenta is very thick and creamy, about 45 minutes.

·       Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, cook the butter over moderate heat until starting to brown, about 3 minutes. Add the sage leaves to the saucepan and fry until crisp, about 1 minute. Discard the sage leaves and set the butter aside.

·       Stir the sage butter and grated cheese into the polenta. Season with salt and pepper and serve hot.

So Flankin Good…

I always like to keep flank steak on hand in my freezer, it thaws out quickly and cooks up quickly.  You serve it with grilled veggies, brown rice and you have a healthy but fast meal!  You can actually make the marinade pour it and the flank steak into a freezer bag and freeze until you are ready to make it.  Simply thaw it out and cook as directed below.

Here is a little recipe I created:

Pineapple Soy Flank Steak

Ingredients

1.      ½ cup soy sauce

2.     2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3.     ½ cup brown sugar

4.    1 cup pineapple juice

5.     ½ teaspoon dried minced garlic

6.    ½ teaspoon Butcher’s Rub (found at Spice Exchange on Park Avenue)

7.     One 2 1/2-pound flank steak

8.    Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

1.      In a blender, combine the soy sauce through Butcher’s rub and puree until smooth. In a large glass or ceramic dish, pour the marinade over the steak. Let stand for 30 minutes.

2.     Heat a grill pan. Season the steak with salt and pepper. Grill over moderately high heat, turning once, until medium, about 8 minutes per side. Transfer the steak to a board and let stand for 10 minutes.   

3.     Take marinade and pour into small sauce pan.  Boil allowing it to thicken into a gravy (you can add a tablespoon of cornstarch or flour mixed with 3 tablespoons water and pour into marinade to thicken).  Remove from heat.

4.    Slice the steak, transfer to plates, top with gravy and serve.

Freezing Temps Call for Comfort Food

I ABSOLUTELY love cold weather not just for the layers of clothing, boots, hats and scarves but for the stick-to-your-ribs cooking that it inspires me to create.

So here is my Easy Turkey Meatloaf Recipe which calls for you to pull out a portion of the turkey mixture and make into meatballs to freeze for another quick and easy meal.

Enjoy!

Melixa’s Easy Meatloaf

Ingredients

• 1  (15-ounce) can tomato, no salt added sauce, divided
• 1 1/2  pounds  ground turkey
• 1/4  pound  ground round
• 2/3  cup  original bread crumbs
• 1/2  cup  minced fresh onion
• 1 cup minced celery
• 1/2 cup minced green pepper
• 2  tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1  large egg, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.  Heat olive oil in large skillet on medium heat.  Add garlic, onion, celery and green pepper.  Saute for 5 minutes stirring occassionally (onions will become clear, edges of peppers will brown slightly).  Set aside and let cool a bit.

Combine 1 cup tomato sauce, turkey, and next 8 ingredients (turkey through egg including sauteed veggies) in a large bowl, and stir until well-blended.

Take 1 ½ cups of meat mixture out of bowl and set aside (this will be made into meatballs and frozen for another meal). 

Place turkey mixture in an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan (or any square glass or ceramic pan) coated with cooking spray. Shape it into what looks like a loaf of bread.  This is best done using your hands.  Brush remaining tomato sauce over top. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 5 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes. Remove meat loaf from pan. Cut into 12 slices.

Meatballs:

Using 1 ½ tablespoons at a time from remaining mixture, roll turkey mixture into meatballs.  Place in plastic container lined with wax paper.  Continue until all mixture used; cover each layer of meatballs with wax paper.  Seal container.  Freeze.  (See Tomato and Meatballs Recipe)

Understatement of the Year

To say I’ve been busy lately is the understatement of the year but don’t worry, it hasn’t kept me from coming up with recipes.  It has however kept me from uploading them to this blog but don’t worry, you’ll see some this week just in time for your Thanksgiving planning.  Right now, I’m working on a cornbread stuffing that bakes in roasted poblano peppers.  Stay tuned!

Grilled Mission Figs with Fresh Vanilla Cream

This is a SUPER easy dessert that can easily be done in a toaster oven if you don’t have the oven already going.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE FIGS!!!!

  I chose Mission figs for this recipe but any will do.

Ingredients:

8 Mission figs, stemmed and halved

1 tablespoon of butter, melted

1 teaspoon of raw sugar

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1 cup whipping cream

Place the figs in a small glass or ceramic baking dish (or on a toaster oven tray wrapped in foil).

Mix together butter and sugar and spoon over figs until coated evenly.  Bake these bad boys for 15 minutes, remove from baking dish and place in bowl making sure to transfer the butter sauce.  Place in fridge to cool while dinner is served.  You’ll top it off with a quick vanilla cream

Now, listen up people, there are two things I don’t mess around about and that is shoes, and vanilla extract.  Don’t be a cheapscape and buy imitation vanilla.  BUY THE REAL DEAL, it makes a HUGE difference.  It’s like the difference between Made in China shoes and shoes Made in Italy.

 I mean it!

Now in a small bowl, combine whipping cream and vanilla extract and whip it up furiously (just think of the last person who cut you off in traffic) until it becomes a light and fluffy cream.  Place in fridge until ready to use.

Yes, I was busted sampling the goods.

Now simply pull those figs out of the fridge, spoon into a dish and top with vanilla cream.

Delicious! 

Roasted Vegetables

This is a great dish for any meal but I made it with my Chicken, Wild Mushrooms and Garlic (right now your garlic should be roasting…)

So here goes, while the garlic is roasting for your the above-referenced chicken dish, clean and chop the vegetables for this dish.  It is fun to have someone with you providing entertainment. 

While I was doing my prep, my friend Marco was the entertainment for me in the kitchen with her Whoopi Goldberg shadow puppet (at least it looks like Whoopi to me).  Yes Marco is a she and it is her made up name… at least one of the ones we use.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of beets, peeled and cubed

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped coarsely

1/2 green pepper, chopped

1/2 yellow pepper, chopped

6 red creamer potatoes, scrubbed and cubed (skins intact)

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a 9 x 13 pan, drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Add beets and toss to coat evenly.  Place in oven and roast for 30 minutes.  While the beets are roasting, now is a good time to start on the Grilled Figs with Fresh Vanilla Cream… Now on to a commercial break, psst that means click here.

Okay we are back. 

Pull out those roasted beets, add the remaining vegetables, and season with salt and pepper.  I recommend 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt.  Toss them all together to coat everything with some olive oil and spread the salty, peppery love.  Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

The results…

  Now back to our regularly scheduled programming of Chicken, Wild Mushrooms and Garlic.

A few tips to make things easier

Here are just a few ways to make cooking easier, some require some advanced prep but in the end, when you are cooking, you’ll be glad you did.

Garlic:  There are two approaches I use, the second more often than the first. 

Approach # 1:  When chopping fresh garlic, I always coat the knife blade with olive oil (or just spray with cooking spray) so that as I am mincing or chopping, it doesn’t stick to the knife.  This little trick makes the chopping and mincing infinately easier and quicker.

Approach # 2:  My favorite thing to have on hand in the freezer is pureed garlic and it’s very simple to make.

In a small food processor, combine one head of garlic (peeled), 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, and fresh oregano (optional).  Mince garlic, making sure to push down garlic with spoon off sides, until it forms a creamy puree.  Place in airtight plastic container (I save empty seasoning bottles), top with wax paper and seal with lid.

1 teaspoon equals 1 garlic clove.  Simply remove from freezer and let thaw out to room temperature or place in microwave for 5 seconds to soften.

Ginger:  There is nothing like a little fresh ginger to add loads of flavor to any dish.  However, they can be a pain to peel and slice since it tends to be a stringy root. 

So, after cleaning and thoroughly drying your ginger root, wrap it in wax paper, place in a ziploc freezer bag and freeze.  Then when a recipe calls for it, simply peel and slice off what you need easily.

Eggs:  To prevent egg shells from cracking, add a pinch of salt to the water when hard-boiling

Onions:  White onions are the worst offenders for tears so before you cut into the onion, bite down on a toothpick.  It will keep you from tearing up.  Or breathe through your mouth, the enzymes released upon cutting bother the delicate membranes of the nose causing your eyes to water.

Fresh Herbs:  Personally, I like to use fresh herbs whenever possible, problem is they go bad quickly.  For herbs liike parsley, basil and cilantro, I simply place the bouquet of herbs into a small jar with water (like a green flower arrangment) then cover with a small plastic bag (the ones from the produce section work).  This will keep your parsley, basil and cilantro lasting for a long time.  For more woody herbs like oregano and tarragon, after washing and allowing them to dry thoroughly, I wrap them in wax paper and place in a crisper drawer extending their life for several weeks.

Vegetables:  I am a big fan of shopping for veggies at your local farmer’s market.  Not only does it support local commerce (which means your money stays in your community) the vegetables are picked at their peak so you get the best flavor.  Plus, you get a wider selection of seasonal, often hard to find produce.  Where’s the tip you ask?  Purchase enough of your favorite veggies (especially in season ones) and then when you are cutting them up for your favorite recipe simply slice the rest so that you can freeze them.  Keep in mind that certain produce (ie mushrooms, lettuce, etc) don’t thaw well but since they are always abundant and grow year round, that’s ok.

Freezing fresh veggies:  Bring a medium saucepan of water to a rolling boil.   Fill a large mixing bowl with cold water and ice.  Toss chopped veggies into boiling water for 2 minutes then remove and place in ice cold water (this process is called blanching).  Remove immediately and place on dry cookie sheet.  Allow the veggies to dry and then wrap in wax paper, place in freezer bags and freeze.  These will keep 6 to 8 months and allows you to eat seasonal veggies year round.

Tomatoes:  Anyone that knows me knows I love tomatoes!  I love making my own sauces, salsas, sundried tomatoes, etc.  Partially drying them and freezing them keeps them fresh and are a quick go-to for sauces and homemade chilli. 

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees.  Take several pounds of your favorite tomato (for this I prefer heirloom and roma), wash then slice them in half, vertically.  Place them in a shallow glass or ceramic dish, drizzle with olive oil, tablespoon of kosher salt, and fresh cracked pepper to taste.  I like to add some fresh herbs as well like oregano, thyme, cumin, and tarragon so I make several batches each using a different herb (be sure to label their storage containers).  Bake in the oven for 2 -3 hours until they are about half of their liquid has evaporated.  Transfer to an airtight container, top with wax paper and seal with lid. 

I use the cumin seasoned tomatoes for beef, veal, lamb or turkey chili.  The other “flavors” I use to make sauces, chop and top of chicken or fish, or make hearty soups.