Sunday Brunch With The New York Times - Mexican Chorizo and Sweet Potato Hash with Avocado and Fried Egg

I adore hash, of all kinds. Classic corned beef, roast beef, chicken and even all veggie hash. Two of my favorite hash recipes are from Emeril Lagasse: Smoked Salmon Potato Hash with Poached Eggs and Caviar, and Smoked Duck Hash with Poached Eggs and Woodland Cream, which is a wild mushroom cream sauce. They are Special Occasion hashes, requiring special ordering in the case of the smoked duck. (D'Artagnan Gourmet Foods is a good but expensive source.) Indulgent and deserving of more than a few Mimosas.

This one grabbed my eye with its Southwestern slant, and topping of Mexican cheese and avocado. We all may want to extra-indulge in avocados while we can: a tripling of demand over the past three decades and the drought in California are squeezing supplies. And I only recently discovered Avocado Toast! Drat!

I sliced up some strawberries and bananas to go along with it. And yes, Cranberry-Orange Mimosas will be involved.

Mangia!


Mexican Chorizo and Sweet Potato Hash
Adapted from My Daily Morsel

Ingredients:

4 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

3 tbsp olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 pound chorizo, casings removed (I went with half chorizo, half linguica)

2 poblano chiles, seeded and chopped

2 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped

2 shallots, chopped
1 tbsp cumin

3 cups baby spinach leaves

¼ cup chopped cilantro leaves

4 fried eggs

1 cup crumbled asadero or queso fresco cheese

1 avocado, peeled, pitted and thinly sliced

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Toss the sweet potatoes with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and arrange in an even layer on a large rimmed baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for 40 to 45 minutes, until tender and golden brown.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chorizo and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until cooked through. Add the poblano chiles, bell peppers, and shallots, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Stir in the spinach, cilantro, and butter and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until the spinach is wilted. Stir in the sweet potatoes.

To serve, transfer the hash to plates. Place 1 fried egg over each plate and top with the cheese and avocado slices.

Anne Burrell's Braised Chicken with Tomatillos and Jalapenos

She's a Food Goddess, not necessarily
a Hair Goddess.

I love Anne Burrell. I think she's a cooking Goddess, and I love her nattering on, her mini skirts and her funny Cookie Monster noises. Brown food tastes good! Not really sure about her new hairdo, the Side Elvis? But she can cook. Boy, can she cook.

I ran across this recipe when I was preparing the Quinoa and Squash dish of late. I surfed around for tomatillo recipes that were not the usual suspects, and landed on this one.

I served it with warm tortillas and a black bean salad with tomatoes and green onions, seasoned with a little chile powder or Tajin, cumin and lime juice.

Mangia!

Braised Chicken with Tomatillos and Jalapenos and Lime Cream

Adapted from Anne Burrell

Chicken:

8 tomatillos, husked

2 jalapenos

Extra-virgin olive oil

4 chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat and skin

4 chicken legs

Kosher salt

1 large Spanish onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice

5 cloves garlic, smashed and finely chopped

2 cups chicken stock

2 limes, zested and juiced

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus a few more leaves for garnish

Lime Sour Cream:

1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt (don't tell Anne!)

2 limes, zested and juiced

The Tortilla Factory's Lime Green Chile corn tortillas

Directions

For the tomatillos: Preheat the grill.

Place the tomatillos and jalapenos on the grill and cook until the skins char and blister, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the tomatillos and jalapenos from the grill and let cool.

For the chicken: Coat a large, wide straight-sided saute pan with olive oil and bring to medium-high heat. Sprinkle the chicken generously with salt. Add the chicken legs and thighs, skin-side down, to the hot pan. Brown the chicken well on all sides. Remove from the pan and reserve.

Ditch the excess fat from the pan and add a few drops of new oil. Add the onions, season with salt and cook until the onions are very soft and aromatic, 7 to 8 minutes.

While the onions are cooking, coarsely chop the tomatillos and reserve. Chop the jalapenos into 1/4-inch dice and reserve with the tomatillos. If you want to tone down the heat, remove the seeds from the jalapenos before chopping.

Add the garlic to the pan with the onions and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the reserved tomatillos and jalapenos. Stir to combine and add the chicken stock, lime juice and zest. Taste and season with salt if needed (it probably will).

Return the chicken to the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for 15 minutes.

Remove the lid and let cook for 15 more minutes. This will allow the stock to reduce. Taste for seasoning and adjust if needed.

For the sour cream: Combine the sour cream with the lime zest and juice and reserve.

Remove the chicken from the pan and stir in the cilantro.

Spoon the sauce over the chicken, sprinkle with cilantro leaves and serve with the lime sour cream.

Spicy Lamb and Lentils with Herbs - A Quick and Tasty Workweek Meal

I don't sort recipes by type; I just leave them lying about by post date. Why? Hush! Here's the big secret: no one reads this blog except me, Colonel Mustard and sometimes La Torpille Rose. So what? I enjoy it, and that's all that matters!

But if I did sort recipes, I believe lamb would featured most prominently in the directory. Can't go for too long without cooking up some baby sheep. And remember: sheep are dumb. I saw this recipe the other day and knew it had to be tried. It has a Mediterranean feel, an earthiness from the lentils and a freshness from the herbs. I doubled the spices.

Mangia!


Spicy Lamb and Lentils with Herbs
Epicurious

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 pound ground lamb

Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 1/2 cups cooked brown or French green lentils (from 1 cup dried)

1/2 English hothouse cucumber, chopped

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus leaves for serving

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, plus leaves for serving

3/4 cup plain whole-milk Greek yogurt

Flatbread and lemon wedges (for serving)

PREPARATION

Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high. Season lamb with salt and pepper and arrange in pan in an even patty about 1/4" thick. Cook, pressing occasionally to help meat make contact with pan, until underside is browned and very crisp, about 5 minutes. Carefully turn, pouring off excess fat (reserve), and cook until other side is crisp, about 5 minutes.

Break up lamb into small pieces. Mix in garlic, red pepper flakes, and cumin. Cook, stirring occasionally, until spices are fragrant and lamb is cooked through but still juicy, about 2 minutes. Transfer lamb mixture to a bowl with a slotted spoon.

Place lentils and 2 tablespoons of reserved fat in same skillet, season with salt and pepper, and cook, tossing occasionally, until lentils start to brown and crisp, 5–8 minutes. Return lamb to skillet and toss to combine and warm through. Remove from heat and stir in cucumber, cilantro, and parsley.

Spoon yogurt onto plates and top with lamb mixture, then some more cilantro and parsley. Serve with flatbread and lemon wedges.

Beefy Comfort Food! With Noodles! Slow-cooker Paprika Beef Goulash

The slow cooker was still out on the counter in the aftermath of the Quinoa Squash preparation, and it helped to inspire this next dish. I had an old Better Homes and Gardens Slow-cooker cookbook, and among the offerings was a recipe for Goulash. I am not sure what happened to the book. It did date back to the time with the boring boyfriend who watched TV. All. The. Time. It may have reminded me of him, and may therefore been donated in one of my periodic attempts to purge Excess Stuff.

But I remember the savory Hungarian goulash recipe, with lots of paprika and caraway seeds and finished with sour cream. I found the recipe on line. I actually add the sour cream, or in this case, half sour cream/half yogurt, in at the end rather than using it as a topping.

And of course, being a slow-cooker dish, I was able to shove everything in the pot in the morning and go on with my day until it came time to finish with the last few steps. God bless the person who invented the Crock Pot. Who was that, by the way?

The Naxon Utilities Corporation of Chicago, under the leadership of Irving Naxon, developed the Naxon Beanery All-Purpose Cooker. Naxon was inspired by a story his Jewish grandmother told about how back in her native Lithuanian shtetl, her mother made a stew called cholent, which took several hours to cook in an oven.^[2] The Rival Company bought Naxon in 1970 and reintroduced it under the Crock-Pot name in 1971. Slow cookers achieved popularity in the US during the 1970s when many women began to work outside the home. They could start dinner cooking in the morning before going to work and finish preparing the meal in the evening when they came home. In 1974, Rival introduced removable stoneware inserts making the appliance easier to clean. The brand now belongs toSunbeam Products, a subsidiary of Jarden Corporation. Other brands of this appliance include Hamilton Beach, West Bend Housewares, GE, Magic Chef, KitchenAid, Cuisinart, and former American Electric Corporation.

Thank you, Shill for the Slow-cooker industry! Cholent is good. I should make it sometime.

I served this with a green salad. Mangia!

Paprika Beef Goulash
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds beef stew meat

4 medium carrots, bias-cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices

2 medium onions, thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/4 cups beef broth

1 6 ounce can tomato paste

1 1/2 tbsp Hungarian paprika

1 tsp finely shredded lemon peel

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp caraway seeds

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 bay leaf

1 red or green sweet pepper, cut into bite-size strips
2/3 cup Dairy sour cream or yogurt (I went half and half)

Hot cooked noodles

Hungarian paprika (optional)

Directions

In a 3-1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker, combine meat, carrots, onions, and garlic. In a small bowl, combine broth, tomato paste, the 1 tablespoon paprika, the lemon peel, salt, caraway seeds, black pepper, and bay leaf. Stir into vegetable and meat mixture in cooker.

Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 8 to 9 hours or on high-heat setting for 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours.

If using low-heat setting, turn to high-heat setting. Stir in sweet pepper strips. Cover and cook for 30 minutes more. Discard bay leaf. Mix in sour cream or yogurt. Serve with hot cooked noodles. If desired, sprinkle with additional paprika.

Grandma's Garden and The Summer of Unending Zucchini - Slow-Cooker Quinoa-Summer Squash Casserole

Growing up, we lived only a few miles away from my Dad's Mom. My grandparents had a really big lot and one fall, we all went over there and started working on creating a garden. It was laid out in three sections, making a sort of U-shape in the backyard. Along the rear property line, there were sunflowers. One patch had tomatoes, and I can't remember what else was there because I stumbled upon some big gross tomato worms early on and never wanted to go near them again. (What an idiot! Your own tomato plot? Heaven!) One patch had other various assorted veggies including corn, and the third plot was sort of the melon patch.

I remember some pumpkins in the melon patch, and spaghetti squash, which we all thought was really, really cool. But then there was the zucchini.

The zucchini took over, and there were zukes as far as the eye could see. And following the bounty from Nature was the bounty from Grandma's kitchen. The Summer of Zucchini was filled with more uses for zucchini than Bubba had for shrimp. We had stuffed zukes, zucchini bread, zucchini jam, you name it. We were so bloody sick of zucchini within a few weeks. We pooped green the whole time. It has taken years for me to get over it.

But I am over it, and back to loving all squashes, even zucchini. Here's a somewhat healthy dish with quinoa and lots of veggies, including tomatillos. Love, love, love tomatillos. Saw an Anne Burrell recipe for Braised Chicken with Tomatillos and Jalapenos. I'll do that one soon!

Mangia!

Slow-Cooker Quinoa-Summer Squash Casserole
Adapted from Eating Well

• 16 ounces tomatillos, husked, rinsed and chopped
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, chopped
• 1 poblano or bell pepper, chopped
• ½ cup finely chopped white onion
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 cup crumbled cotija or feta cheese, divided
• 2 pounds small yellow summer squash, cut into ¼-inch slices (I went with half summer squash, half zucchini. Yes, I am over it now.)
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
• 
  

Directions: Combine tomatillos, tomatoes, pepper, onion, lime juice and salt in a medium bowl. Coat a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Layer quinoa, ⅓ cup cheese and all of the squash in the slow cooker. Top with another ⅓ cup cheese. Spread the tomatillo mixture on top, but don’t stir the ingredients together. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours. Serve sprinkled with oregano and the remaining ⅓ cup cheese.

Gotta Use Up The Miso - Mid-week Easy Recipe - Coriander Chicken Thighs with Miso-Glazed Vegetables

The horror of a poorly-managed fridge inventory! Well, it's been a bit busy around here as of late, what with getting ready for Colonel Mustard's (permanent) arrival in town. But there, staring me in the face was white miso with a Best Before date of April 16 2015. Must use!

Miso is so wonderful. It's a umami bomb, pure complex savory taste. Here's some wonderful things to do with miso:

10 Ways to Use Miso in Recipes, courtesy Care2 Healthy Living, (notes by moi):

1. Use light colored miso as a dairy substitute in place of milk, butter, and salt in creamed soups.

2. Puree with tofu and lemon juice in place of sour cream.

3. Blend light miso with vinegar, olive oil and herbs for salad dressing. (Makes great slaw)

4. Use unpasteurized miso in marinades to help tenderize animal protein and break down vegetable fiber. (Very good with chicken and pork)

5. Use the dark rice or barley miso, thinned with cooking water, as a sauce for water sauteed root vegetables or winter squash. (They completely lost me on this one...)

6. Use dark miso in a vegetable-bean casserole to supply plenty of high quality protein. (Really gives a meat-like depth to veggie dishes)

7. Make cheese for pizza and wraps with yellow miso and firm tofu. (Not sure about this one....)

8. Make a spread using white miso, peanut butter and apple juice to thin. (I use this as a dip for Granny Smith apples)

9. Make a pate with tofu, garlic, white miso, tahini, lemon juice and dulse flakes.

10. Add miso to dipping sauce for spring rolls, norimake rolls or raw vegetables.

 And then there's this yummy dish. I served this with good sourdough bread.

Mangia! 

CORIANDER CHICKEN THIGHS WITH MISO-GLAZED ROOT VEGETABLES
Adapted from Epicurious

8 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (about 2 1/2 pounds) (Go ahead, eat the skin. It comes out so yummy, spicy and crispy!)

4 tablespoons vegetable oil (such as grapeseed), divided

1 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt, divided

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided

1 tablespoon ground coriander
3 tablespoons white or yellow miso paste
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons honey

1 pound total carrots, parsnips, and/or celery root, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces (I went parsnips, because parsnips!!)

3/4 pound small-to-medium golden or red beets with fresh greens, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch wedges, greens reserved

3/4 pound small-to-medium turnips with fresh greens, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch wedges, greens reserved (I have never seen turnips with greens at regular stores, so passed on this part)

3 medium leeks, washed well, root trimmed, cut crosswise into 1-inch rounds

6 garlic cloves, unpeeled

1 lime, cut into wedges

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 400°F. Set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. In a large bowl, pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Add 1 tablespoon oil and toss to coat. Season chicken all over with 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and coriander. Rub in seasoning and set aside at room temperature.

In a large bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons oil, miso paste, vinegar, soy sauce, honey, and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Add vegetables and garlic cloves to the bowl and toss to coat. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet, place on the upper rack of the oven, and roast until softened and browned, 40 to 45 minutes, tossing a few times during roasting. Peel garlic and discard skins.

Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with 1 tablespoon oil. Once hot, add half the chicken thighs skin side down. Cook until skin is golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from skillet and place skin side up on a second rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining chicken thighs, reserving skillet with fat after cooking. Transfer baking sheet to lower rack of oven and roast until the chicken's internal temperature reaches 165°F, 12 to 15 minutes more.

Discard stems from reserved beet and turnip greens; wash and roughly chop the leaves. Pour out all but 2 teaspoons of oil from the skillet and place the pan over medium-high heat. Add the greens to the pan with 2 tablespoons water and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook, tossing, until wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer roasted vegetables to a serving bowl, add the sautéed greens, and toss to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve chicken thighs with vegetables and lime wedges.

Bah Ram Ewe, To Your (Secular) Easter Be True - Olive-stuffed Leg of Lamb

Ah, Easter. The time of chocolate bunnies and Peeps! The chocolate bunny tie-in with Easter is of course, according to Eddie Izzard, because the brown of the chocolate symbolizes the brown wood of the cross. Right.....

But then there's Peeps. They are utterly without a tie-in to the religious reasons for the Easter celebration. The disciples did not have pink and yellow marshmallow next to the money changers' table. But aren't they fun? Let's celebrate them!

Peepton Abbey

The annual dioramas are always a hoot. Here are some special ones!

Spinal Peep. Where's Stonehenge???

The Village Peeps

And then there's this one, in tribute to the stupidest marketing campaign for a pharmaceutical ever, as Colonel Mustard deems it:

Cialis for Peeps

They are so yummy, especially when you slit open the package and let them get a little stale. La Torpille Rose taught me that trick.

I don't celebrate Easter, but it is a great excuse for making a really big ham or other huge chunk of meat. And of course, eating Peeps. And Cadbury Mini-eggs. I'm going with a menu of olive and anchovy-stuffed boneless leg of lamb, roasted fingerling potatoes with garlic and parsley and a Green Goddess salad. You'll probably have extra dressing. It goes well on the taters.

I was even going to attempt a pineapple upside down cake, but that seemed too ambitious, particularly since I don't bake that often. For another time, perhaps?

Mangia!

Olive-Stuffed Leg Of Lamb

Courtesy: Bon Appetit

Ingredients

1 shallot, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

½ cup pine nuts

½ cup pitted Kalamata olives

¼ cup drained oil-packed anchovies

¼ cup finely grated lemon zest

¼ cup mint leaves

¼ cup parsley leaves

2 tablespoons thyme leaves

½ cup olive oil, plus more

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 3–4-pound piece butterflied boneless leg of lamb

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425°. Finely chop shallot, garlic, nuts, olives, anchovies, lemon zest, mint, parsley, and thyme in a food processor. With motor running, stream in ½ cup oil; process until blended. Season stuffing with salt and pepper.

Ready for the oven!

Unfold lamb on a cutting board and season with salt and pepper. Spread stuffing over top; roll up lamb from left to right. Position seam side down and tie closed with kitchen twine at 1 ½" intervals crosswise, then once lengthwise. Transfer to a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet; drizzle with oil.

Roast until lamb is starting to brown, 30–40 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325° and continue to roast until a thermometer inserted into thickest part registers 125°, 35–45 minutes longer. Remove lamb from oven and tent with foil; let rest 15–20 minutes. Slice and serve.

Do Ahead: Lamb can be stuffed and tied 1 day ahead; cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before roasting.

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Garlic and Parsley

1 ½ lb fingerling potatoes, sliced in half lengthwise

6 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus for sheet pan

½ cup chopped Italian parsley

Salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and place a baking sheet inside to heat.

Add potatoes  and garlic to a medium bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Remove sheet pan from oven, lightly coat with olive oil, and pour potatoes onto pan. Place potatoes in oven . Roast for 20 to 25 minutes, turning them over halfway through, or until crispy on outside and tender on inside. Remove from oven, add to a serving platter and sprinkle with parsley.

Green Goddess Salad

Adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients

2 scallions, finely chopped

¼ cup fresh tarragon leaves with tender stems

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 clove garlic, chopped

¼ cup olive oil

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons plain yogurt

1 avocado, cut into ¼-inch slices, divided

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 head butter lettuce, leaves separated and torn
3 heads Belgian endive, sliced thinly (I found lovely red endives today!)
2 cups baby spinach

1 cup sliced yellow and red grape tomatoes

3 green onions, sliced

Purée scallions, tarragon, chives, cilantro, parsley, oil, vinegar, yogurt, and one-fourth of avocado in a food processor until smooth. Thin dressing with water, adding a little at a time, until similar in consistency to heavy cream; season with salt and pepper.

Arrange lettuce on a platter; drizzle with half of dressing and season with salt and pepper. Top with remaining avocado, green onions and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle or dot with remaining dressing. If the dressing is too thick to drizzle, thin it with a little water. I like to keep it on the thick side and dot.