I absolutely love Cuban picadillo. It's a completely simple meal of ground beef seasoned well, with olives and raisins being the most characteristic ingredients. Usually, it's served over rice, and with some nice fried plaintains... yum! You see, I love the combination of sweet and salt in food, and the raisins with olives and seasoned beef, plus sweet, sticky plaintains, make me want to melt. But, I think that this is not part of the taste preference of all cultures, and certainly not of all people. My Israeli boyfriend is on the other end of the spectrum with the salty sweet combo. In his head, salt never even sits on the same plate as sweet. So, meat and raisins were not going to get eaten by anyone except me in this crowd. But, I badly wanted picadillo, or something similar.
In the end, I made a version without raisins, spiced it up even further, kept lots of olives and then made it a little middle eastern by topping with fresh yoghurt (from the lebanese deli around the corner) and lemon.
For any interested vegetarians (hint, hint) I think this would work equally well with veggie crumbles.
Middle Eastern Picadillo
1 pound ground beef (or veggie crumbles)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, diced
4 roma tomatoes, chopped
4 tablespoons chopped green olives
1 jalapeno, deseeded and chopped
2 tsp steak seasoning
1 tsp dried thyme
salt
canola oil
2 tbsp fresh yoghurt per serving
1 lemon, cut into wedges
Heat oil in medium saucepan. Saute onions until soft and then add garlic and jalapenos.
Add ground beef with thyme and steak seasoning and begin to brown. Once mostly brown, add tomatoes (with all seeds) and olives. Cover and let simmer until tomatoes are soft.
Serve warm over rice with a couple dollops of fresh yoghurt and a lemon wedge to squeeze over the top.
Pretty easy and yummy.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Feta- Apple chicken
So, there was a teensy-weensy little competition at the university that I work at, done like our version of the Iron Chef, and held by the catering company that runs our food service. Different departments and student groups competed and... we won! There were basic ingredients that we had to choose from and the rules were that we had to use chicken, and we got extra points for using shrimp.
We decided to go ahead and use the shrimp as an appetizer, and just make a shrimp cocktail. I had to make the cocktail sauce from scratch, so therein lies the challenge.
The feta I had to beg and plead for as it wasn't included in the original list of ingredients... but there was absolutely no cheese and how is one supposed to stuff a chicken breast without cheese?
Without further ado, here is the award winning recipe:
Feta-Apple-Walnut Stuffed Chicken Breast
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup feta cheese
1 apple (cored, halved, and sliced - any variety except Red Delicious)
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
wooden skewers
olive oil
salt
pepper
Preheat oven to about 400 degrees Farenheit.
Place each chicken breast between two sheets of plastic cling wrap and pound with mallet or random heavy object in kitchen until thin, while avioding placing holes in the meat.
Season chicken with salt and pepper.
Place roughly 2 tbsp of feta, 1 tbsp walnuts and three to four slices of apple slightly askew of the center in each breast. Roll up and secure with skewer.
Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium flame. Place all four chicken breasts in saucepan, turning once, so that they are browned on both sides.
Remove chicken breast from heat once brown and place, on baking sheet or tray, in oven for about 15- 20 minutes.
TA-DAH! Award won.
Also just in case there's no cocktail sauce in the house and there needs to be in a hurry:
Cocktail Sauce
2/3 cup ketchup
juice of 1 lemon
3- 4 teaspoons of hot sauce
Combine and chill.
We decided to go ahead and use the shrimp as an appetizer, and just make a shrimp cocktail. I had to make the cocktail sauce from scratch, so therein lies the challenge.
The feta I had to beg and plead for as it wasn't included in the original list of ingredients... but there was absolutely no cheese and how is one supposed to stuff a chicken breast without cheese?
Without further ado, here is the award winning recipe:
Feta-Apple-Walnut Stuffed Chicken Breast
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup feta cheese
1 apple (cored, halved, and sliced - any variety except Red Delicious)
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
wooden skewers
olive oil
salt
pepper
Preheat oven to about 400 degrees Farenheit.
Place each chicken breast between two sheets of plastic cling wrap and pound with mallet or random heavy object in kitchen until thin, while avioding placing holes in the meat.
Season chicken with salt and pepper.
Place roughly 2 tbsp of feta, 1 tbsp walnuts and three to four slices of apple slightly askew of the center in each breast. Roll up and secure with skewer.
Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium flame. Place all four chicken breasts in saucepan, turning once, so that they are browned on both sides.
Remove chicken breast from heat once brown and place, on baking sheet or tray, in oven for about 15- 20 minutes.
TA-DAH! Award won.
Also just in case there's no cocktail sauce in the house and there needs to be in a hurry:
Cocktail Sauce
2/3 cup ketchup
juice of 1 lemon
3- 4 teaspoons of hot sauce
Combine and chill.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Lentil Soup and Dumplings
First, I have to apologise for the legume craziness on this blog at the moment. We eat a lot of them, but probably less than anybody would think if they read these two little entries.
Anyway, the Israeli boyfriend is pretty obsessed with lentils and its finally getting just slightly chilly enough in St Louis for soup... so there you have it folks! The only problem was that I had never made lentil soup before. So I resorted to my usual plan in these cases and looked it up on the internets, combined found recipes, and added my own stuff. And suddenly there was West Indian- fusion lentil soup in my kitchen. I must admit that the b/f insists that my soup is too thick to be soup and should be called lentil stew, but I insist this is part of the whole fusion thing, as we West Indians don't make anything that resembles what true soup is called in other countries. We like a thick stew looking dish, that we call soup. I should also mention that this mislabelling I was accused of didn't stop him having seconds or eating it again for lunch and dinner today.
Lentil Soup
1 1/2 cups dried lentils
1 onion (diced)
4-5 cloves garlic (diced)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp red pepper flakes
3- 4 oz salt pork (optional for veggies)
2 medium carrots (chopped)
1/2 small butternut squash (cubed)
Bouillon cube (whatever flavor you prefer)
5- 6 cups water
vegetable oil
salt and black pepper to taste
Heat oil in large pot over medium flame. Add onions, cumin and red pepper flakes. Saute onion until soft. Add garlic and salt pork and saute until you can really smell garlic, but don't let it burn.
Throw in lentils, carrots, squash, bouillon and water, and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to break up bouillon. Turn heat down low and continue to simmer for about an hour to ninety minutes. Check on it and add more water if necessary.
Dumplings
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup milk
3- 4 cups chicken broth (or veggie broth)
Combine dry ingredients. Cut in shortening and milk to form stiff dough.
Place chicken broth over medium flame and bring to rolling boil. Drop the dough by tablespoons into the broth. Allow to boil for 5 to 7 minutes.
When the dumplings are all done, you can either drop the finished products in the lentil soup (which is my preferred method, but it does thicken the soup up a bit), or you can put them in the bottoms of individual bowls and then spoon soup over them.
Anyway, the Israeli boyfriend is pretty obsessed with lentils and its finally getting just slightly chilly enough in St Louis for soup... so there you have it folks! The only problem was that I had never made lentil soup before. So I resorted to my usual plan in these cases and looked it up on the internets, combined found recipes, and added my own stuff. And suddenly there was West Indian- fusion lentil soup in my kitchen. I must admit that the b/f insists that my soup is too thick to be soup and should be called lentil stew, but I insist this is part of the whole fusion thing, as we West Indians don't make anything that resembles what true soup is called in other countries. We like a thick stew looking dish, that we call soup. I should also mention that this mislabelling I was accused of didn't stop him having seconds or eating it again for lunch and dinner today.
Lentil Soup
1 1/2 cups dried lentils
1 onion (diced)
4-5 cloves garlic (diced)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp red pepper flakes
3- 4 oz salt pork (optional for veggies)
2 medium carrots (chopped)
1/2 small butternut squash (cubed)
Bouillon cube (whatever flavor you prefer)
5- 6 cups water
vegetable oil
salt and black pepper to taste
Heat oil in large pot over medium flame. Add onions, cumin and red pepper flakes. Saute onion until soft. Add garlic and salt pork and saute until you can really smell garlic, but don't let it burn.
Throw in lentils, carrots, squash, bouillon and water, and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to break up bouillon. Turn heat down low and continue to simmer for about an hour to ninety minutes. Check on it and add more water if necessary.
Dumplings
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup milk
3- 4 cups chicken broth (or veggie broth)
Combine dry ingredients. Cut in shortening and milk to form stiff dough.
Place chicken broth over medium flame and bring to rolling boil. Drop the dough by tablespoons into the broth. Allow to boil for 5 to 7 minutes.
When the dumplings are all done, you can either drop the finished products in the lentil soup (which is my preferred method, but it does thicken the soup up a bit), or you can put them in the bottoms of individual bowls and then spoon soup over them.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Black Beans and Rice
This blog is really a response to a blog that was created by my friend Angie, by my suggestion.
Angie and I lived together for a year in a gorgeous, ground-floor apartment in the Loop, in St Louis. We shared cooking responsiblities pretty often, and picked up little tips and tricks from each other. We threw little dinner parties, and pigged out on the couch by ourselves too. Food was at the center of a lot of the good times in our apartment.
Today, I'm still living in the Loop, with my wonderful boyfriend, but Angie has moved on to Charlotte, North Carolina. The new arrangment has seriously reduced our chances of sharing a kitchen. However, the wonders of the Internet allow us to send our recipes and thoughts back and forth, all from the safety and comfort of our own little homes. And so, we blog.
I'm from the Caribbean, so beans and rice, or peas and rice, for us are the basic beginnings of a meal. So, I also make them the place to begin my blog.
At home, nearly every meal is served with rice, and there's usually some kind of legume as well. Typically, in Trinidad, the beans are cooked separately from the rice and then poured over the rice for eating. Except pigeon peas! For some reason these can be cooked separately, or in a pelau (browned chicken, beef, peas and rice) or just peas and rice.
But when a Trinidadian only has black beans and don't feel like washing too many dishes, she gives in to Cuba and throws everything in one pot.
1 small onion (diced)
1 can Ro-tel tomatoes and green chiles
2 bay leaves
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp red pepper flakes
vegetable or canola oil
2-3 oz of salt pork/ pigtail (optional)
1 can black beans
1 cup white rice
salt to taste
Get out a medium size pot and put it on a medium flame. Pour a bit of the cooking oil into the pot and let it heat up a bit. Then, throw in the onion, garlic, bay leaves and red pepper, and cook until onion is soft. Add the salt pork and give a quick stir.
Add the can of Ro-tel tomatoes, with most of the juices in the can, and bring to a simmer. Once the contents of the pot are again heated through, throw in the black beans, only somewhat drained and not rinsed. Let the pot come to a boil again.
Now, add the rice, and 3/4 to 1 cup of water, depending on how much liquid you've already got working. Simmer, covered, at a low heat, for 20- 25 minutes.
For a complete meal, serve with grilled chicken, and/or fried plantains.
Angie and I lived together for a year in a gorgeous, ground-floor apartment in the Loop, in St Louis. We shared cooking responsiblities pretty often, and picked up little tips and tricks from each other. We threw little dinner parties, and pigged out on the couch by ourselves too. Food was at the center of a lot of the good times in our apartment.
Today, I'm still living in the Loop, with my wonderful boyfriend, but Angie has moved on to Charlotte, North Carolina. The new arrangment has seriously reduced our chances of sharing a kitchen. However, the wonders of the Internet allow us to send our recipes and thoughts back and forth, all from the safety and comfort of our own little homes. And so, we blog.
I'm from the Caribbean, so beans and rice, or peas and rice, for us are the basic beginnings of a meal. So, I also make them the place to begin my blog.
At home, nearly every meal is served with rice, and there's usually some kind of legume as well. Typically, in Trinidad, the beans are cooked separately from the rice and then poured over the rice for eating. Except pigeon peas! For some reason these can be cooked separately, or in a pelau (browned chicken, beef, peas and rice) or just peas and rice.
But when a Trinidadian only has black beans and don't feel like washing too many dishes, she gives in to Cuba and throws everything in one pot.
1 small onion (diced)
1 can Ro-tel tomatoes and green chiles
2 bay leaves
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp red pepper flakes
vegetable or canola oil
2-3 oz of salt pork/ pigtail (optional)
1 can black beans
1 cup white rice
salt to taste
Get out a medium size pot and put it on a medium flame. Pour a bit of the cooking oil into the pot and let it heat up a bit. Then, throw in the onion, garlic, bay leaves and red pepper, and cook until onion is soft. Add the salt pork and give a quick stir.
Add the can of Ro-tel tomatoes, with most of the juices in the can, and bring to a simmer. Once the contents of the pot are again heated through, throw in the black beans, only somewhat drained and not rinsed. Let the pot come to a boil again.
Now, add the rice, and 3/4 to 1 cup of water, depending on how much liquid you've already got working. Simmer, covered, at a low heat, for 20- 25 minutes.
For a complete meal, serve with grilled chicken, and/or fried plantains.
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