Mighty Green Pork Soup

It's raining and I wanted to make this:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2011/01/pork-soup-part-one.html?m=1
But as usual I don't have the ingredients. So I made a similar soup.

INGREDIENTS (in crock pot)
- about two cups chopped and browned pork

(I browned mine in my Le Creuset cast iron skillet with two parts canola oil to one part walnut oil, adding fresh ground pepper and minced garlic while it fried)
- 32 ounces Kitchen Basics unsalted vegetable stock
- 16 ounces Pacific foods Organic butternut squash soup
- 36 ounces water
- 2 tablespoons parsley
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 1/2 cups frozen greenbeans

- 1 can Great Northern Beans
- 1 crown fresh broccoli
- 1/4 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup frozen corn

Pork soup (part one)

My mother-in-law brought us some smoked pork chops, which my husband cooked and cubed while I was at work last night. Instead of serving them as a heat and eat kind of meal, I opted to make a crock pot soup. 

I started with some jarred minced garlic (which I normally avoid because it just tastes funky to me). It came out too fast and I ended up with too much. Then I added a swirl of extra virgin olive oil and maybe 2 cups of diced smoked pork chops. 

While they simmered, I added some sliced potatoes from a can of whole potatoes that I took the time to cut myself. Then I added "fresh dill" from my freezer-- about 2 teaspoons. Next came some organic vegetable broth (which by the end of my base will be 32 ounces worth). I put about a half teaspoon cumin and a half teaspoon fresh ground four color pepper.

To empty the fridge, I dumped about 2 cups leftover cooked vegetables into the pot with the rest of the broth. This was primary some sort of soybean (mukiname?) and green beans with a few slivered carrots.

So, the ingredients in the pot now: 
- diced smoked pork chops
- extra virgin olive oil
- minced garlic
- cumin
- dill
- four color pepper
- potatoes
- green beans
- mukiname? (not endamame, other soybeans)

Hoping to get some white beans and creamed corn and maybe other broth... We'll see...

Crock pot mystery chicken

Last night we had a cheese platter for dinner, using the biscuits I made. We had some havarti dill, extra sharp new York cheddar, Meunster and tomato-basil Feta, plus ring bologna, fresh blueberries and some dates.

For dinner tonight I have placed 2 chicken breasts and about 2 cups fresh snap peas in the crock pot with about 2.5 cups veggie stock and 1 cup mango coconut pepper sauce.

Soup and Matzo

My husband came home the other day with a box of Matzo. Today for lunch, I took a can of cheapo vegetable soup and dressed it up. Added a cup or so of soup vegetables, about 1/2 cup peas, 1 cup french cut green beans. Diluted with the requisite can of water AND added about a cup of beef vegetable stock from the roast last week. Yes, I freeze everything.

The original soup came from Aldi.

The Intimidating Round Roast

Uggh.

I am faced with a three pound bottom round roast that, thus far, has kicked my ass.

Let me preface this tale.

For most of my adult life, I have been a vegetarian. I probably spent eight years as such. I even spent about six months as a vegan. I do not like to cook meat. I do not feel meat is a daily necessity. I think it general Americans consume too much meat, and too much processed foods, and too much flat out junk. As this blog documents, I do eat meat.

It started toward the end of my pregnancy with the occasional turkey sandwich. I was on a gestational diabetes diet and after several months of eating protein six times a day, the vegetarian options were starting to get old.

Then, when my daughter was 18-months old, I got a high stress job and starting craving bacon cheeseburgers, even though I hate bacon. So once or twice a month I would eat one.

But all this time, I ate vegetarian at home. And occasionally I'd eat a tuna sandwich. I took vegan cooking courses. And, thanks to the gestational diabetes diet, I was very cognizant of mixing our foods to get protein, calcium, green veggies, orange veggies, fruit, etc. That's when my husband starting calling me the nutrition nazi.

I ventured into cooking some meat while working on the manuscript of my second (yet unpublished) novel. I had the main character cooking. And he's French. And they eat anything they can catch. In order to make the scenes work in the novel, I had to test the recipes. So I did. And I tried to put myself in my main character's shoes. And that's how, even today, I force myself to cook meat.

Now, someone I know who is concerned about us brought me some pork and a three-pound bottom round roast that he found on sale. (A $14 roast for $6) He read my blog entry about my last trip to Wegmans and I guess he feared we were too poor to buy meat (due to my recent unemployment).

I called my mother-in-law and asked how to cook it. She said put it in the crockpot with liquid and carrots. I thought I could handle that.

So my daughter peeled carrots, I got some water and some Wegmans vegetable stock, and the roast was WAY too big for the crock pot.

A facebook poll of my friends led to me cutting it. I added a cup of water and a cup of stock and a hearty few grinds of garlic salt. IT FILLED THE CROCK POT. No room for carrots. I sliced them and put them in my skillet, with stock and water, thinking about 30-40 minutes before dinner, I'll put some meat in there and roast in in the oven.

This better taste damn good. Because it took an hour to get this far.

Kitchen Alchemy: Beef Stew

I am making something that resembles beouf bourgogne... I chopped the stew meet and dusted with flour, four color organic peppercorns, and sea salt. I'm browning them with a touch of olive oil, a touch of the petit sirah (on sale for $5 at the liquor store) and a touch of French brandy.

The vegetable stock has been reduced by half, and lots of herbs added. In the absence of a true bouquet garni, I have added a variety of fresh herbs from the freezer and dried herbs. Dill, sage, rosemary, oregano, garlic pepper.

My husband has chopped a mound of potatoes and carrots, which one the beef had browned, I put in the beef juice in the skillet and moved the beef into the vegetable stock. I added some olive oil, some wine. I poured the rest of the wine bottle in with the beef, and then filled it half way with water and poured that over the vegetables in the skillet.

I let them cook for five or ten minutes in this mix before I incorporate them into the stew. Then I mix everything up, put it on medium and wait. My husband has chopped some fresh broccoli and cauliflower, which makes it more beef vegetable stew than beef burgundy, but it need to be used...

These vegetables will be added much later, closer to eating time.

Previous versions:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2009/07/beef-burgundy.html

http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2009/01/boeuf-bourgogne.html

Starting chili

We got about a foot of snow... okay, it's probably more like eight or so inches. But that makes me want something hot and stew-like. Beef bourgogne would be fabulous, but working with what I have on hand, it looks like chili. And if I can gather the ingredients, I'd like to make the kind with cornbread dumplings...

If this link works, it should take you to my previous chili recipes:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/search/label/chili
If not the link in the labels below for chili should help...

But let's see today...

• about a tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• about one and a half cups browned hamburger crumbles from the freezer
• one clove garlic coarsely chopped
• about 3/4 teaspoon Indian chili powder
• about one teaspoon pizza and pasta seasoning
  

That's sizzling in the pan. I added:

• almost two cups Wegmans vegetable stock

As I wait for that to boil, I'm debating between Hunts Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes or the cheap Italian style from Aldi... I'm thinking fire-roasted.

• One can Hunts Fire Roasted tomatoes

Waiting for that to boil. I'm going to boil it for about 10 minutes to reduce some of the vegetable stock. Then I'll simmer covered for about an hour. I added:

• one tablespoon cocoa powder
• about a half teaspoon four color organic peppercorns

I let it cook for about 30 minutes and seeing how it reduced down, I added:

• 1 cup thai broth (also Wegmans, I had it in the freezer)
  

Perusing my chili recipes, I'm thinking this calls for:

• one can (15.5 ounces) light red kidney beans
• one can dark red kidney beans

(I'm out of black. I love black beans.) I'm still debating whether to add corn and/or pineapple. It all depends on the flavor.

Well, my goal is always to make chili that has a nice flavor but isn't too spicy for the child. I usually only succeed in making either bland chili or five-alarm chili. Today, it seems like this concoction is three-alarm chili. So I added:

• 20 ounces crushed pineapple (minus a couple ounces for the tortoise)

Smells and looks great.

Pork with black beans, egg noodles and broccoli

I had a craving for something different... A long time ago, my mother (Mimi) mentioned something about how good for you black beans are and she made a pork, black beans and egg noodle dish in beef broth that was pretty good.

I thought I'd make my own spin on it.

I started with two small crowns of broccoli, chopped into bite-size pieces.

In my Le Creuset skillet, I placed the following:

• Several tablespoons lemon juice
• one tablespoon butter
• Several tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 of one large clove garlic, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon four color pepper

I cooked this for a few seconds and then placed the raw broccoli in the skillet and cooked it in the sauce. I sprinkled it heartily with It's a Dilly Seasoning (probably about two teaspoons, it came out fast) Don't cook too long. Want to leave it crispy.

I removed the broccoli from the pan. Then, I began a new sauce, the same, but more:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• less than 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• the other 1/2 of the large clove garlic, sliced

My husband sliced two thick boneless pork chops into stir-fry like pieces. I sprinkled them directly with the four-color pepper and added them to the pan. Cook about five minutes on each side, on low side of medium.

Meanwhile, cook one pound egg noodles. Open one can black beans. Rinse well.

Add broccoli and beans to finished pork, in skillet. Drain egg noodles. Add to skillet.

Finish with about 16 ounces vegetable stock. I use Wegmans. Let simmer in skillet until hot.

I thought this was fabulous.

Beef Burgundy

My recipe for beef burgundy should come up if you click French. It might be listed as "beouf bourgogne."

I've decided to make this for lunch. It's 90 degrees and humid, but I've been dying for this for days. Hence, why I'm making it for lunch and not dinner. It's hot.

I have never made this dish with a good wine. I've never been able to justify buying a good bottle of wine and pouring it into a skillet. But now that I think about it, if I pay $6 for 2 bottles of cooking wine, I could probably find a nice American red that would work for the same cost.

I have some beef cubes from a local farm in the skillet. I cut them small, because 1. I have a small child and this saves interruptions to my meal later and 2. I believe meat should accent the meal, not be central to it.

I cooked the meat slowly with chives from my garden and a few drops olive oil. As the meat cooked, I added some red cooking wine. And topped the meat with four-color pepper, freshly ground.

I poured more wine, a whole lot of vegetable stock and whisked in two tablespoons flour. That was tricky because I let it get too hot before I added the flour so it was a booger to get the lumps out. My daughter peeled five carrots for me, so I chopped them and added them. I'll let them bubble for a bit on medium before I transfer the whole thing to the big stew pot.

The original recipe for beef burgundy calls for a bouquet garni, which wikipedia defines as such:
"There is no generic recipe for bouquet garni, but most recipes include parsley, thyme and bay leaf. Depending on the recipe, the bouquet garni may include basil, burnet, thyme, chervil, rosemary, peppercorns, savory and tarragon. Sometimes vegetables such as carrot, celery (leaves or stem), celeriac, leek, onion and parsley root are also included in the bouquet.

Sometimes, the bouquet is not bound with string, and its ingredients are filled into a small sachet, a net, or even a tea strainer instead. Traditionally, the aromatics are bound within leek leaves, though a coffee filter and butcher twine can be used instead of leek leaves."

Today, I'm using some herbs from my garden, probably parsley, oregano, a hint of basil and maybe some lemon thyme.

After the stew simmers a while (about three hours) I'll taste the broth and dilute/add wine as needed.

BTW: I've decided never to use cooking wine again. It's real wine or nothing from now on, because the cooking wine is too salty to get the balance of flavor and salt... it either tastes super salty or like nothing.