Today to break my fast (which you can read more about here), I decided to try my hand at a delicious vegetable soup. It consisted of:
It totally fit the bill, and I was licking the bowl afterwards it was so good!
Check out the full recipe here!
Tonights dinner was sliced and fried chicken thighs, or what I like to call Chicken Basletta. It was fried up and placed on a rice field with a few tomatoes to garnish the dish.
Of course extra virgin olive oil is added to the pan.
I sliced up the chicken thighs, and spiced it up with basil, tarragon, curry powder, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, tumeric, and cumin. I vary the amounts depending on my moods, but always go heavy on the tarragon and sesame seeds. This time, due to the balsilica influence, I went heavy on the basil as well. Also, to this basilica chicken, I added two slices of onion and two cloves of garlic.
During this whole process, the rice has already boiled and left to simmer so they will be done at the same time.
When the chicken is about 3/4 done, I then add chopped mushrooms (2 large ones), a chopped carrot, and a cup of broken up broccoli, and let this fry with the chicken.
After this fries for a little longer, and everything is almost done now, I chop up a tomato into cubes and add them to the frying number. I left a few slices to garnish the dish at the end, which I flavored with sea salt and black pepper. This simmers for a little while longer, and is ready to be served.. maybe with a glass of pinot noir?
I would love to hear how it turns out for you, and if you have any suggestions on how to give this dish some extra life!
Served tonight on my camping gear was a portobello explosion. I managed to do it all on my pint sized pots designed for compactness, and not for extravagances like I think my cooking is!
To begin the ordeal, rice goes into pot to bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 min (yes I have white jasmine rice) with equal amounts of water to rice, rinse the rice a few times before to get rid of some of the shells etc.
I can’t help taking a few seconds to contemplate the logic of wasting water to rinse rice….. hmm… Is this the fight I should start?
Wash the vegetables chosen for this gourmet delight, which are portobello mushrooms, green pepper, tomato, onion, and garlic.
Portos are sliced into equal slices, tomatoes are diced into chunks, onions are chopped into small bits, as is the garlic and green peppers.
Put the portos into the frying pan, with some butter for extra taste, I used extra virgin olive oil and put the heat on medium. Add the onions and garlic shortly after, or even at the same time.
I used some ground ginger, coriander, and poppy seeds, which I add now.
After this has fried for a short while add the green peppers to give them a little softening and finally the tomatoes at the very end to warm them up a little. I like my tomatoes to stay fresh still in my dishes.
As the frying finalizes, it should be timed perfect with the rice, and both should come to fruition at nearly the same time.
Love to hear how this turns out for you, and remember to eat with chop sticks!
Tonights dinner was what I call Chicken au de Rouge, and yes, I do think I’m fancy because I put a French twist to the title. It consisted of fried chicken with a red tomato paste on a bed of spaghetti. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and its a recipe I stole from my girl Sare, but she’s nice like that and doesn’t mind sharing a bit.
Ingredients:
Spices:
To start off with, get some water boiling for the spaghetti. While your waiting for this, I emptied two cans of tomato paste (little small ones) into a pot, and put the heat on very low, leaving it to simmer. I added about 2 cans of water to this mix over time, stirring the entire sauce constantly. Take 3 cloves of garlic, mash them up into a paste, and add this to the sauce. Also, take about a tablespoon of basil, tablespoon of oregano, and two cloves and add them to the sauce to give it flavor. Don’t be afraid to go crazy on these spices for you cannot have to much. Stir it lots. At this point I put a lid, very loosely and crooked, on top of the paste, just to keep the pot from spitting out the paste all over, not to keep the steam it at all, in fact, you want to let it breathe. Stir this frequently to keep the paste from burning on the bottom of the pot.
By now, the water should be boiled, put the spaghetti in there, and keep it boiling. I don’t use salt in the water, but do as you choose.
Turn on the chicken now. I spiced it with some sesame seeds, poppy seeds, paprika, and some ground coriander seed, along with a splash of extra virgin olive oil to keep the texture nice and juicy and non-stick. Stir occassionally.
Take the time now to cut up your vegetables. I cut my onions first, so I could put them into the chicken right away to get them roasted a little. I used half a red pepper, half an orange pepper, 4 mushrooms, 2 slices of onion, and 1 carrot.
I wait until the chicken is just about finished cooking, that is, there is no more pink showing on the chicken. I stir the chicken occasionally, so when it gets to the point of almost done, there is only about 1 or 2 chickens that have a slight bit of undone (pink) to them. Flip those pieces showing pink so they cook, wait about 2 minutes, and then at this point add all the veges to the mix, and cover the pan with a big lid to let it steam cook for a few minutes.
The spaghetti should probably be done by this time, so strain that and set it to the side.
When the chicken mix has been steaming for a few minutes, remove the lid, and pour the tomato sauce (that you’ve been stirring constantly!) into the chicken and vegetable mix.
At this point, I don’t like to let it cook for to long with the sauce in there, I like each thing to keep its own taste, and I like my veges to be a bit hard. I keep the heat on low, so the sauce doesn’t spit everywhere, and let it simmer for a couple of minutes, until I get to hungry to wait any longer, and then serve!
As you can see, I added some cucumber slices, and red & orange pepper slices to add some gourmet appeal. I’m trying to remember the old axiom: “Appearance is everything.” Its a long and slow battle trying to make dishes pretty.
I’d love to hear if you make this, see any pictures, and how you liked it if you try. Any suggestions on how to change the recipe?
So tonights dinner consisted of my own rendition of a Jambalaya. It was amazingly delicious, quite possibly from the sausage juices, more great meat found at Devicks Ranch.
To start off, I put the rice on as usual. 1:1.5 rice:water combination. For myself, it takes about 1/3 a cup to make enough rice.
Then, I chopped up the sausage into little slices, and put them in the frying pan, which I turned on at the same time the rice came to a boil, turning the rice down as low as it goes after it came to a boil.
Then, I chopped up my garlic and onion, putting them in as quick as possible with the sausage, allowing them infuse their flavor into the sausage.
At this time, get a little water boiling below a steamer for the peas or corn to come.
While waiting for the frying, chop up a carrot(1), mushrooms (4), and red pepper (1). Wait until the last 5 minutes to put these vegetables into the frying pan with the sausage. When all the vegetables are in the pan, put a lid onto it for a few minutes to steam the carrots and red-pepper a little, to reduce the crunch just a tid bit! 🙂
At the same time the chopped veges go into the pan, put the green peas (1/2 cup) or corn on to steam for a few minutes.
When all things seem done, pour the rice and peas into the frying pan with the rest of the Jambalaya; mix it around getting the rice soaked in the sausage fat! Yum. And presto!
Hope you all enjoy, more great food ideas can be found at Exercise and Mind! Let me know how it turns out; I’d love to hear.