Woznation

This meal is legit.  The shepards pie and lasagna have been loose adaptations, but not this jumbalaya.  Probably because I took all my cues from Emeril’s Recipe.  This is phil’s current favorite meal, so I figured I better figure out what Im actually doing so we can continue to enjoy it for years to come.

As an aside, writing out these recipes has been so much fun for me.  It takes a lot longer to make a meal since I have all the measuring cups out and Im taking pictures along the way, but Im also constantly surprising myself: ‘I put a whole CUP of onions in this thing?’.  Ive always eye-balled things, so once I actually chop things up and measure them out, its never what I would have thought in my head.  Hence why this little project is so important!

Without further ado, Jumbalaya:

Sausage, chicken, scallops, chicken stock, rice, onion, green pepper, celery, garlic, crushed tomatoes.  With spices:

[I really have to get a better camera.  My kitchen is so dark!  Whenever I use a flash everything comes out so bright, but if I dont use the flash, everything is so blurry.  Ill work on it.]

I use andouille sausage, chicken breast, and scallops in this recipe.  But Ive had varying luck with finding scallops and andouille.  So I have used chorizo sausage and shrimp before.  Though I highly recommend the andouille and scallops if they are available.  I start by browning up 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the sausage.  Even though the sausage is already cooked, it renders off some fat and helps infuse the whole dish with the andouille flavor:

As that browns, I cut up the chicken and scallops into bite sized pieces and toss them in 1 teaspoon of creole seasoning.  I used 1 large chicken breast and 1/4 lb of scallops:

Ew. Raw meat.  So after the andouille is browned up – remove the pieces with tongs and set aside on a plate.  Then brown the chicken on all sides and remove to the plate.

Dont worry about the chicken being cooked all the way through, it will finish cooking later.  Just get some nice color (maybe a minute or 2 each side, tops) and then remove.  Then add your scallops.  Now, these cook so fast and will also finish cooking later.  So they are really going in the pan to get a nice quick sear – then get them out so they dont over cook.

Then you will have a nice plate of meat:

Warning.  The sausage will taunt you while you prepare everything else.  Depending on how hungry I am, it could be half gone by the time we are ready to add it back to the dish.

So lets deal with the veggies.  Onion, green pepper and celery are known as ‘the trinity’ in creole cooking.  And garlic is known as ‘ the pope’.  Coincidentally, there is a restaurant down the street called ‘trinity and the pope.’ A nickel for anyone who can guess the type of cuisine they serve.  For this recipe, I use a scant cup of diced onion, a heaping cup of chopped green pepper, and about 1/2 cup of diced celery.  I get the onion going first.

Depending on how much oil you have left from browning all your meats, you may need to add a little extra at this point, but probably not too much.  The onions will cook for 3-4 minutes, then you can add your green pepper and celery.

Then cook 3-4 minutes more.  You can add a little salt at this point to help the veggie release some water.  But its already probably pretty salty from the creole seasoning left behind from your meats, so dont dump in the salt blindly.  Taste, taste, taste.  After the veggies have cooked down, add a big ol’ pile of garlic.

This was 4 cloves, or about 3 tablespoons.  Once that is nice a fragrant,  add 1/2 cup – 3/4 cup of crushed tomatoes, 3/4 cups of brown rice, 1/8 tsp of oregano, 2 bay leaves and a pinch of cayenne pepper.  The cayenne is optional based on how spicy you like things.  You can always add it later if you’re afraid of going overboard.

My crushed tomatoes were frozen, so I chiseled out what I needed.  Thats why they look so weird.  Also, feel free to use chopped or diced tomatoes.  Phil doesnt love big chunks of tomato, so I always get the crushed – but I cant see why the form of tomato would make a huge difference.  So mix that all together and cook maybe 1-2 minutes (to defrost the tomatoes, in my case) and toast the rice a little bit.  Then add your chicken stock and 1/2 teaspoon of worcestershire sauce.

I am using a whole grain brown rice (not instant).  So this requires a fair amount of chicken stock and a longer cooking time.  But if you have a quick cooking rice, use that.  Just pay attention to the liquid required on the back of the box and dont pay attention to my measurements.  The only thing is, since you are simmering this uncovered, you will most likey need at least 50% more liquid to cook the rice all the way through.  For my .75 cups of uncooked rice, I used 2.5 to 2.75 cups of chicken stock (back of the box originally recommended a 2-1 ratio).

So I brought the liquid up to a boil, then reduced down to a simmer for 25 – 30 minutes. (And tried my darndest to not eat all the andouille in the mean time…).  This is a good time to taste what you got going on though, and decide if you want it spicier or saltier.  I added a second dash of cayenne and a 1/4 teaspoon of extra creole at this point. Once your rice is almost done,  you can add your plate of meat back to the pan and remove your bay leaves.

Cook all together for the last 5-10 minutes until the rice is all the way done and your chicken and scallops have finished cooking.  And the final product will be amazing.

Confession.  This meal only served 2 portions that given night.  We usually at least get dinner and then some leftovers, but it was just too darn good!  If I was having people over, I would double this recipe and make it in a big stock pot.  I think a double recipe could serve 6 people.  But maybe thats wishful thinking!

Here is any easy copy/paste version of the recipe:

Ingredients:

.5 lbs of chicken breast

.25 lbs of scallops

.333 lbs of andouille sausage

1 tsp (plus more to taste) creole seasoning

1 cup onion

1 cup green pepper

.5 cups of celery

3 tablespoons of garlic

.5 – .75 cups of crushed tomatoes

.75 cups cups of whole grain brown rice

2 bay leaves

1/8 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce

pinch cayenne

2.5  – 2.75 cups of chicken stock

salt and pepper to taste

One at a time, brown andouille sausage, bite sized chicken, and scallops in large pan and remove to plate.  Set aside.  Add diced onion and a little bit more oil (as needed) to pan and saute 3-4 minutes.  Add green pepper and celery and cook 3-4 minutes longer.  Add garlic and cook for 1 additional minute.  Next add rice, tomatoes, bay leaves, oregano, and cayenne.  Cook together for 1-2 minutes then add your chicken stock and worcestershire sauce (Pay attention to the type of rice you are using. Follow instructions on back of box, but you will need slightly more liquid).  Bring everything up to boil, then reduce down to simmer and cook uncovered.  In my case, this was 25 – 30 minutes.  But could be much less depending on brand of rice.  Lastly, add meat back to mixture and remove bay leaves. Cook until meat is done all the way through and rice is soft (5-10 minutes).  Nom. Nom. Nom.

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This meal was actually the motivation behind cataloging my recipes.   Its one of our favorites and Phil decided he wanted to make it for his family when he was back in Bloomington a few years ago and asked me how.  And I had NO CLUE what to tell him. ‘Ummm…some carrots, celery, peas.  Then some chicken stock?  Top with mashed potatoes and cheese, then bake it for awhile’.  If you can imagine, it did not turn out well.  And I decided I should start writing down my recipes.  Welllll, finally 2 years later, I am getting around to it.

Now, there are a million different variations of this meal.  I do not think I have made it the same was twice.  We use to eat this with a pound of ground turkey in the mix, but have slowly scaled back the meat over the years and we now eat this without any meat at all.  (However, its still not technically vegetarian since I use chicken stock and worcestershire sauce.  But feel free to use vegetable stock and omit the sauce if you want to go vegetarian.  And just leave off the cheese to make it completely vegan!)  The peas and cheese add quite a bit of protein, but feel free to use some chicken or ground turkey to add a little more heft to it, if you please.

Now, I’ll warn you – this recipe is a bit demanding.  You are going to chop, peel, shred and mix.  It takes about 35-40 mins of work, then you bake for 20-25 mins.  So this probably isnt a quick meal you whip up when you get home after a long day.  But it is delicious and a quintessential comfort meal if you have the time.

Here is what I used:

 

And 4 things I forgot in the first photo:

So I first get started on my potatoes.  I use 2 large baking potatoes -peel and chop them in large chunks

These large chunks filled about 4 cup fulls.  Then I toss them in some water on the stove top and turn up to high heat.  I also ‘half-cover’ them.  This helps keep in some heat, but wont cause your pot to bubble/foam over when the potatoes really get cooking.

 

Then I get started on the vegetables.  I diced up half a large onion (~1 cup), 3-4 carrots (~1.25 cups), and 3-4 celery stalks (~1 cup).

Then toss those all in a large skillet to saute over medium heat for 5-6 minutes.  (Fun fact:  any time you use the combination of these 3 vegetables its known as a ‘mirepoix’).  Add a little salt and pepper.  Im using store bought stock this time, so I was careful on my salt.

 

While the potatoes and mirepoix are cooking, I shredded up about 4oz of block cheese.  This yielded about 1 cup of shredded cheese to be used as a topping later.  freshly shredded cheese does not add any advantage in this meal, if I had preshredded cheese in my fridge, I would have happily used it in this case.)

 

After the veggies have softened up, add 3- 4 cloves of minced garlic (~3 tablespoons) and cook a minute longer.  Then you are going to add about 2 tablespoons of flour.  This is going to mix with the olive oil from your saute and create a roux.  It will temporarily put a film on your veggies, but thats okay for now. It will mix in with the stock soon enough.

 

Cook for about 3 minutes, until the flour has mixed in well with all the left over oil.  Then add in 1 cup of chicken stock and 1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce.

 

See how creamy the mixture looks.  Thats the roux at work.  It thickens up the chicken stock so it not as watery.  Dont forget the worcestershire:

 

Now bring the mixture up to boil, then cover and knock the heat down to a low simmer for 15-20 minutes.

 

Now back to the potatoes.  They should be about ready now, so go ahead and drain them and then put them back in the same pot.

 

Totally missed the action shot on that one.  [C’mon motorola – whoever programed this droid x camera ap only used a 1/1000 of a second shudder speed.  Its not a polaroid.  I know some other camera phones that ‘just work’.]

 

Anywho.  To the potatoes, add 1/2 cups of milk, 1.5 tablespoons of butter, 1/2 tsp of garlic powder, 1/2 tsp of onion powder, 1/2 tsp of salt and a pinch of pepper.  Then mix all together until creamy.  Side note – you can use any mashed potato recipe you want, but make sure its a pretty thick mix.  It needs to stand on top of the veggies and not melt in.

 

 

Woo.  Finally got that action shot.  Your potatoes are ready to go.  Once your veggies have simmered and cooked together for 15 – 20 minutes, uncover and add 1/2 cup frozen corn and 1/2 cup of frozen peas.

 

Stir together and put into 8×8 baking dish.

Then add the potatoes on top.  I put big globs of potatoes down, then carefully spread them out in a single layer.

 

Then top with cheeeeeeese:

 

Bake at 350 for 20 – 25 minutes and it will be a hot mess (in a good way).  Voila:

 

As you can see, its a pretty soupy mixture.  This is how we like it.  But if youd like it thicker, add less chicken stock or more ‘filling’ for the bottom layer.  Enjoy!

 

Here is any easy copy/paste version of the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 large baking potatoes (~4 cups of large chunks)

.5 cups of milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp of onion powder

1/2 tsp of garlic powder

1.5 tablespoons of butter

1 cup onion

1.25 cup of carrot

1 cup celery

3 tablespoons garlic

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup chicken stock

1 tablespoon worcestershire

1/2 cup frozen corn

1/2 cup frozen peas

1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

 

For mashed potatoes:  Peel and chop 2 large baking potatoes and add to water on stove top.  Boil for 15 – 20 minutes until tender. Drain and put back into pot.  Add 1/2 cup of milk, 1.5 tablespoons butter, 1/2 tsp of garlic powder, 1/2 tsp of onion powder, 1/2 tsp of salt and a dash of pepper.  Beat with mixer until creamy.  Set aside.

 

For filling:  dice 1 cup onion, 1.25 cups of carrot, and 1 cup celery.  Saute for 5-6 minutes on medium heat.  add salt and pepper to taste.  Add 3 tablespoons of minced garlic and cook for 1 minute longer.  Add 2 tablespoons of flour, cook 2-3 minutes until well combine.  Add 1 cup of chicken stock and 1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce.  Bring to boil, then cover and drop to a low simmer for 15 – 20 minutes.  Uncover and add 1/2 cup of frozen corn and 1/2 cup of frozen peas.  Mix together.

 

Add filling to bottom of 8×8 baking dish.  Top with mashed potatoes and spread out to a single layer.  Top with cheese and bake, uncovered, for 20 – 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

 

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This is not the best lasagna you’ve ever had.  If an Italian grandmother came across this post, she would cry.  (I sure know how to sell a recipe, don’t I?)  However, this IS a very healthful meal and a nice all-in-one dinner.  You got your whole grains, yours veggies, and your dairy (protein).  Plus, I feel like lasagna gets a bad rap as being a ‘fussy’ pasta dish, so I hope to show its really not that bad.  But if you are looking to impress your boss or mother-in-law, Id go find a recipe with some whole-milk ricotta and sausage, because this is just my ‘every day’  lasagna.

Here is what I used:

I had fresh spinach, mushrooms, garlic, onion, bottle of tomato-based sauce, whole wheat noodles, cottage cheese, and mozzarella cheese.  The only thing missing from this picture is a pinch of red pepper flake.  I also really like green pepper in my vegetarian lasagna, but I was out.

Begin by bringing a large pot of water to boil.  And preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Then get to chopping your veggies:

I started with half a large onion (~.75 cups) and 3 mushrooms ( ~.25 cups ) This was a comically small amount of mushrooms, I usually add more like .5 to .75 cups, but I only had a few left in the fridge.  Anyway, let those guys saute together for 5-6 minutes until nice and soft.  I added a little salt and pepper about half way to help them along.

In the last minute, add the 3 minced garlic cloves (~2 tablespoons) and a pinch (~1/8 tsp) of red pepper flake.  By this time your water should be about ready, so lets add the pasta.  Now, maybe someone can enlighten me, is there a ‘lasagna pan’?  Seriously.  A pan made for the exact size of lasagna noodles?  Because I feel like in all the cooking shows, the pasta seems to fit in perfect lines and layers every time.  But I have normal sized pans – 13×9, 9×9, 8×8.   And my lasagna noodles do not fit nicely into these pans.  So this is what I do.  Since this is a smaller recipe for lasagna, I use about 9 lasagna noodles in a 9×9 pan.  And I go ahead and snap the noodles in half before dropping them in the water.

I had tried boiling them in tact, then removing them and cutting off the last few inches to make them fit into my pan in a uniform manner. But I have found that just snapping them prior to boiling and overlapping them tastes equally delicious.  So dont worry too much about the length.  It will work no matter what.

Lets get back to the veggies.  You’ll next want to add your spinach.  I had 2 cups of fresh spinach.  It looks like a lot when you first add it, but it wilts down in just a few minutes:

Its barely any!  In fact, I sometimes used frozen spinach in this recipe.  One frozen 10 oz box equals like 12 cups of fresh spinach.  So feel free to make it as spinachy as you like.  But if you use the frozen spinach just make sure you defrost it in the microwave and squeeze out all the extra water before adding it at this step.  Your veggies are basically ready at this point, you can set them aside til you are ready to layer.

As you saw earlier, I am using cottage cheese and mozzarella in this recipe, in contrast to a more traditional ricotta.  There are some lower fat ricottas, but Im really not a fan.  So in order to keep this leaner, I opt for different cheeses all together.  I use 1 cup of low fat cottage cheese and 1 cup low fat shredded mozzarella.

Once your lasagna has reached a nice flexible state, but NOT cooked all the way through, you are ready to start layering. (Similar to the mac and cheese post, your pasta will finish cooking in the oven, so you do not want it to be done before you get it in there, or else it can get really mushy).  So our layers are going to be: sauce, pasta, cheese, veggies, repeat.  Here we go:

I use about .25 cups of sauce on the bottom initially, then your pasta, then half of the cheese, half of the veggies, and about .75 cups of sauce.  Then you start over with your noodles again.  Notice though, that with the next layer of pasta I layered it in a perpendicular fashion to the first layer.  This helps you cut the lasagna out when you are done.  If all the layers are facing the same way it can slip and slide all over the place.

I only have 3 layers of pasta in this recipe (2 layers of veggie/cheese).  Add another .25 cups of sauce on top of your last layer of pasta to help keep it moist in the oven.  Cover with foil and back at 350 for about 30 minutes.

You could also freeze the lasagna, or put it in the fridge for the next day if you choose to (prior to baking).  If you simply put it in the fridge, you might want to bake at 350 for around 45 mins the next day.  If you freeze, you will want to bake for an hour to an hour 20 minutes.  Regardless, in the last 15 minutes of cooking you have the option of removing the foil and sprinkling with extra cheese to brown up on top, if you wish.  Since this is my attempt at a healthier pasta dish, I usually just sprinkle a bit of parmesan on after its done.

Not too shabby, huh?  Im no italian grandmother, but this was a darn good thursday night meal.

Here is any easy copy/paste version of the recipe:

Ingredients:

.75 cups onion

.25 – .5 cups of mushroom

2 cups of fresh spinach

2 tablespoons of garlic

1/8 tsp of red pepper flake

1 cup shredded mozzarella

1 cup cottage cheese

2 cups tomato based sauce (marinara)

9 lasagna noodles

parmesan (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bring large pot of water to a boil; cook 9 lasagna noodles al dente.  Chop up onion and mushroom, saute for 5-6 minutes until soft.  Add minced garlic cloves and red pepper flake, cook for another minute longer.  Wilt in 2 cups (or more) of fresh spinach.  Mix together mozzarella and cottage cheese. Begin layering lasagna.  Add .25 cups of sauce to bottom of 9×9 baking dish, then a layer of pasta, then half of the cheese mixture, then half of the veggie mixture, followed by another .75 cups of sauce.  Repeat.  This time, place lasagna noodles perpendicular to first layer, then add second half of cheese, last of the veggies, and another .75 cups of sauce.  Place last layer of noodles and top with additional .25 cups of sauce.  Cover and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

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Phil is in Yuma, AZ until next Friday – so Im going to try and keep myself busy with this blog.  We generally try to eat somewhat healthy in this house but somehow macaroni and cheese has made it onto a weekly rotation.  What can I say, baby likes cheese and carbs.  I do use lowfat dairy and enriched pasta to *try* and make it a bit better than traditional recipes, but lets face it, this aint a salad.

Heres what we’ll need:

Pasta, flour, butter, garlic, onion powder, paprika, dijon mustard, milk and lots of cheeeeeeese.

So get some water on the stove and bring to a boil.

You’ll also want to throw about 2.5 tablespoons of butter into a sauce pan on low heat to start melting.  Now, take about 3 cloves of garlic and give them a smash to get them out of the paper.  Then throw them into your melting butter.  This is where its going to start smelling really good.

Butter and garlic.  Yum.  Let the garlic infuse the butter for a few minutes, then remove the garlic cloves – but dont thrown them out yet!!  Put them in your baking dish, we’ll use them later.

Now you’re going to make a roux.  Which sounds fancy, but is just fat and flour together.  Add 2.5 tablespoons of flour to your melted butter.  It will make a bit of a paste.

Let this cook together for 2-3 minutes or ‘until it smells like pie crust’.  I have no idea where I heard that tip, but it works for me.  Oh yeah, at some point you’re going to want to throw your pasta into the boiling water.

I use about .75 lbs of pasta.  If you like a really saucy mac and cheese, you might only want to use half a pound; If you like a more casserole style mac and cheese, you can use a a full pound.  But .75 lbs seems juuuuuuust right to me.  So now that your roux is ready, you will pour in your 2 cups of milk.

Stir or whisk rapidly while you add the milk, it will help make sure you break up any lumps in the roux.  Keep stirring often and the roux will thicken up the milk to create a nice bechamel sauce.  The milk and roux should cook about 3-4 minutes on low-medium heat (Low fat dairy doesnt handle heat as well as, say, cream.  So be careful with your heat – you dont want to scald the milk.  Heating low fat dairy at too high of a heat can cause a grainy sauce).

Ive heard that a bechamel should ‘coat the back of a spoon.’  Id say thats pretty good for using fat free milk?  Now you are ready to start adding your cheese.  I have about 8 oz of shredded cheese, total.  Or one standard block of cheese from the grocery store.  This yields about 2.25 cups of shredded cheese.  Actually, for this batch of mac and cheese I have about 6 oz of cheddar and 2 oz of mozzarella.  You can use any combination you want. Sometimes I even throw in a little blue cheese if Im feeling crazy. Though I always like to add at least a little bit of mozzarella, because nothing else I have found give me the stringyness I like in the sauce.  I add about 1.75 cups of shredded cheese to the bechamel, reserving about .5 cups to sprinkle on top before putting it in the oven.

Melt in the cheese and cook sauce, stirring often, 3-4 minutes.  Also, I highly recommend buying blocks of cheese and shredding them yourselves.  The pre-shredded cheese in the store has a coating to prevent it from all clumping together and it really hinders the cheese from melting in nicely to the sauce.   So roll up those sleeves and shred some cheese.  I have a helper in case I drop any:

Also make sure you check your pasta at some point.  You want to cook it pretty al dente because it will finish cooking in the cheese sauce in the oven.  I think my pasta box said 10 – 12 minutes, but I only cooked it 8 mins before taking it off and draining.  It still had a lot of bite to it, but I assure you it wont when you take it out of the oven.  So lets prepare the baking dish!  I havent forgot about that garlic.  Take that buttery garlic and use it to grease up your baking dish.  It will help add extra garlic flavor, too.

You can throw away your garlic now.

Youre almost done, I promise.  You just want to add a few more things to that sauce to make it extra yummy.  I add about 1/8 tsp of paprika, 1/4 tsp of onion powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of dijon mustard.  Notice I havent even mentioned salt, yet?!  Thats because you dont even want to touch the stuff until this point.  The cheese and mustard will add quite a bit of salt – so wait until all of that is added before you taste and decide if you want any more.

Yes, even with all that cheese, its a pretty ‘white’ sauce.  There is no yellow 5 dye in there!  Once you stir in your spices, pour all that delicious sauce into your drained pasta.

See the stringyness!!!  Now pour the whole thing into your garlic-butter-greased baking dish and top with the last .5 cups of cheese.

Now throw it in a 350 degree oven for like 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly on top.

Just so you know, my mac and cheese made it about 8 minutes in the oven before I decided to take it out to eat it.

I would say this recipe could serve about 4 people.  Or 1 hungry pregnant lady.  Either/Or.

Here is any easy copy/paste version of the recipe:

Ingredients:

.75 pounds of short cut pasta

2 cups of milk

8 oz ( ~2.25 cups) of cheese, any combination of cheddar, mozzarella, blue, parmesan, gruyere, fontina….

2.5 tablespoons of butter

2.5 tablespoons of flour

3 cloves of garlic

1/8 tsp of paprika

1/4 tsp of onion powder

1/2 tsp of dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bring large pot of water to a boil; cook .75 lbs of pasta al dente, drain.  Melt 2.5 tablespoons of butter in sauce pan over low adding 3 smashed cloves of garlic to infuse.  Remove garlic after 2 minutes.  Use garlic to grease 8×8 baking dish.  Add 2.5 tablespoons of flour to melted butter and cook together for 2-3 minutes to create a roux.  Whisk in 2 cups of milk and cook over low heat for 3-4 minutes.  Add in 1.75 cups of cheese, stirring occasionally, until all cheese is incorporated, about 3-4 minutes.   Add in paprika, onion powder, and dijon.  Pour cheese sauce over drained pasta and stir until well combined.  Pour mac and cheese into baking dish and top with reserved .5 cups of cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is melted and bubbly, about 20 minutes.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! Chinese (or lunar) new years that is.  We have not cleaned the house, painted anything red, resolved any debts or had a fancy dinner,  but we did make dumplings!!!!  This is the year of the rabbit; according to http://www.c-c-c.org – the chinese cultural center of san fransisco:

“People born in the Year of the Rabbit are articulate, talented, and ambitious. They are virtuous, reserved, and have excellent taste. Rabbit people are admired, trusted, and are often financially lucky. They are fond of gossip but are tactful and generally kind. Rabbit people seldom lose their temper. They are clever at business and being conscientious, never back out of a contract. They would make good gamblers for they have the uncanny gift of choosing the right thing. However, they seldom gamble, as they are conservative and wise.”

So our child will be good at gambling but wont gamble?!?!  I dont think phil and I will stand for that.

Anyway.  Lets make some dumplings.  Here is our cast of characters:

We got pork, eggs, scallions, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and wonton wrappers.  In contrast to many recipes out there, I am using cooked pork.  Many other pork dumpling recipes call for uncooked, ground pork  but this past weekend I cooked up a 7.5 lb pork shoulder and have needed to use up the leftovers.  So cooked pork it is.  I had about 2 cups of packed pull pork.  So go ahead and throw that into a food processor.  Next, chop up 2 scallions (about 2 tablespoons).  I usually only use the bottom 2/3 of a scallion and discard the very ends.

Dont worry too much about how small you chop them – you’re going to blend this filling to smithereens anyway.  So throw in those scallions along with 2 cloves of garlic (about 2 teaspoons).  Next add about 1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger.  I have one large piece of ginger that I keep in the freezer.  Whenever I need ginger – I peel off the skin with a potato peeler and use a microplane to shave off the amount I need.

If you do not have fresh ginger and want to use dried ginger, DO NOT USE 1 teaspoon.  Fresh ginger and dried ginger are totally different beasts.  I would only use like 1/8 of a teaspoon of dried ginger, tops.  Lastly, add your wet ingredients:  2 egg whites, 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon of soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil.  Now everyone is in the pool:

Now let ‘er rip!  Action shot!!

So now that the filling is ready, you are ready to assemble the dumplings.  Im using won-ton wrappers found in the refrigerated section of the grocery store near the produce.  If you’re feeling particularly hardcore – you could make your own dough for wrappers.  I was not feeling hardcore tonight.  I was feeling cheap and easy. So first I set up my steamer.  I do not have a bamboo steamer, but my normal veggie steamer seems to work just fine.

[Yikes. I need to clean my stove top.]  Next, I set up a little assembling area and got to work. Put about a teaspoon of filling in the middle of the won-ton wrapper.  Using your finger, brush all sides of the won-ton with water.  Fold up opposite edges on both sides to form a 4 cornered pouch, making sure you seal all sides tightly together.

Woo!  Nice job.  Now do that like 40 more times.  Yeah, its kind of a pain in the ass, but its relatively easy and goes fast – especially if you have a hungry helper.  In fact, I usually cook in batches, so as soon as I have a few ready to go, I start steaming.  So make sure you have your steamer going and there is a low boil going on underneath your steaming basket – and then put a few dumplings down and cover.

See the steam starting to fill in?  (No?)  Steam for 4-5 minutes.  This is slightly less time than other recipes call for, because, again, you are using cooked pork.  So really, all that needs cooking are the egg whites.  After a few minutes of steamin you are done!

I serve these with some sort of asian inspired dipping sauce.  Usually soy, with a splash of rice wine vinegar, few drops of sesame oil and some chopped scallions.  Or whatever asian bottle we have in the fridge.  But they are perfectly delicious as is.  So there you go.  Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Here is any easy copy/paste version of the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked pulled pork

2 tablespoons scallion

2 teaspoons garlic

1 teaspoon fresh ground ginger (or 1/8 teaspoon dried ginger)

2 egg whites

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

40-50 won-ton wrappers

Pulse first 7 ingredients in a food processor until well combined.  Place 1 teaspoon of filling into center of won-ton wrapper.  Brush all sides of won-ton wrapper with water.  Fold all corners together to form a pouch, making sure to stick all the corners together tightly together.  Place dumplings, in batches, into steamer.  Do not crowd – you do not want them touching each other or they will stick together!  Cover and steam 4-5 minutes.  Done!

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Im finally going to post a recipe!  I think Ive said previously – Im hoping to use this blog as a way to catalog recipes that I make often.  Ive never really kept track of measurements or cooking time, which has lead to a considerable amount of variance between batches (‘considerable amount of variance’?  Yeah, I use these phrases in every day life.)  So Im finally going to start writing these things down so that I can have some uniformity in my recipes.  And, once the baby arrives, phil can refer to the blog and make all our favorite meals when I have my hands full!! Win. Win.

So without further ado, White Chicken Chili.  I actually make this more soup-like since I use this for lunches throughout the week, but really the only difference between soup and chili is the amount of stock you put in.  Here is the list of characters:

Except the picture above is missing chicken, garlic and sour cream (this is my first recipe post, its not going to be perfect).  You’ll also need these:

First, heat up a bit of olive oil in a big soup pot.  Then chop half a large onion ( ~1 cup), 1 large pepper or 2 smaller peppers of any color (~1.25 cups, I only had green but yellow and orange peppers are great in this, too), a few baby bella mushrooms (~.25 cup), and 2 large cloves of garlic (~3 tablespoons) – and throw them all into the pot.

I just chop and toss them in as I go.  The picture above was taken right before adding the mushrooms.  Next, I add my spices.  I always salt and pepper as I go along, but in addition to that I add 2 teaspoons of cumin, 1 teaspoon of oregano, and a few shakes (start with 1/8 of a teaspoon) of ground red pepper/cayenne pepper.  Side note – if you are using store bought stock, be careful on the amount of salt you add at this step – because the store bought stock will add a lot on its own.

MMmmmm. Its starting to smell good. I promise.  Now you’re going to add your beans and fire roasted chilies.  For the 2 4 oz cans of fire roasted chilies, open and drain them.  Then toss them right in.

Then drain AND rinse the can of beans.  They are packed in a salty, kind of funky (in a bad way) liquid.  So rinse ’em good. Then toss them right in.

Now we’re ready to add the stock.  Like I said earlier, if you’re making chili – you’ll probably only want around 5 cups of stock.  But since I make this more soup like, I use 9-10 cups.

Now I bring it up to a boil, then cover it and knock it down to a simmer for like 20 mins to finish cooking the veggies and mesh all the flavors.  This would be an excellent time to give your wife a foot rub.  You know, while you wait for the flavors to mesh.  After 20 mins you can turn off the heat and add the cooked chicken (~1.5 cups), corn (~.5 cups), and sour cream (~.25 cups).  The sour cream helps ‘whiten’ the chicken chili, you could also use cream or half & half to achieve this.

You’re done!  I’d taste it one more time to make sure it has enough salt/pepper/cayenne to your liking, but other than that it should be pretty darn delicious.

Here is any easy copy/paste version of the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup onion

1.25 – 1.5 cup sweet peppers (green, yellow, orange work best for the ‘white’ part of this chili)

.25 cups of mushrooms

3 tablespoons minced garlic

1 can white beans (cannelini, navy, anything you want)

2 cans fire roasted chilies (4 oz each)

5 cups of chicken stock (or 10 cups for more soup like)

1.5 cups cooked chicken

.5 cups frozen corn

.25 cups sour cream

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon of oregano

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

salt and pepper to taste

(wow that ingredients list seems kind long when you write it all out, huh?)  Anyway…

Sautee onions, sweet peppers, mushrooms, and garlic until soft and fragrant.  Add spices to taste (careful on that salt if you’re using store bought stock!).  Drain fire roasted chilies, add to pot.  Drain and rinse beans, add to pot.  Add 5 cups of stock for chili-like meal, or 10 cups stock for soup-like meal.  Bring to boil, cover, then lower to simmer for 20 mins.  Take off heat and add cooked chicken and frozen corn.  Stir in sour cream. Done!

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