Chicken and Bean Stew (EP)

• 4 pounds meaty chicken bones and parts (including backs and necks and, if available, gizzards and hearts)
• 1 pound (about 2 1/3 cups) navy beans, picked over and rinsed
• 2 medium onions (about 12 ounces), each studded with 3 whole cloves
• 3 medium to large carrots, peeled
• 1 celery stalk [Oops, didn't have it.  Recipes use so little celery and I didn't check to see if mine had gone bad before shopping; it had.]
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 4 bay leaves
• 8 cups cold water
• 1 cup canned diced tomatoes
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped (2 teaspoons)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

"Mise en place" at the outset of me starting to cook the stew.  In the pot, there's the beans, onions, carrots, salt, thyme, bay leaves and water.

I was sort of freaking out about buying chicken backs.  When I needed to buy them for ramen I found them at the Charles Street Savenor's, but apparently they don't carry them anymore.  Mckinnon's in Davis (another go-to meat shop) also didn't have them.  Super 88: nope.  But I did read that chicken wings could be used although the ones I saw in Allston looked way sketchy.

At Symphony's Whole Foods, I spend a while wondering if I was really willing to spend $16 on chicken wings when one of the employees pulled some backs from the depths of the freezer.  Total meat cost: $4

Simmer all this for 1 1/2 hours and pour the mixture into a roasting pan to cool.  Pick the meat from the bones and coarsely chop the vegetables.

Peeling a thoroughly cooked onion: Difficult.

Throw it all back in the pot (Yeah, $4 in chicken bones provides a sufficient amount of meat for the stew) and then add the 3 last ingredients.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Right after I poured the stew out to cool, I tasted one of the beans and thought it tasted exquisite (even with the missing celery stalk).  Did I think the stew was exquisite?  No, but I thought it was very, very good.  It's great in its simplicity, but not fun to eat 6 servings of.

That, I admit, could be applied to even awesome things.

Salt Cod with Potatoes and Olives (EP)

• 1 pound salt cod
• 2-3 medium red potatoes (1 pound total)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces (2 cups) [Um, really?]
• 6 scallions, trimmed (leaving some green) and minced (about 3/4 cup)
• 1 small onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (2 tablespoons)
• 1/2 cup dry sherry or dry Madeira
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup mixed olives (kalamata, green, oil-cured, etc.), rinsed in cold water, pitted if desired
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

I soaked the salt cod or bacalao in just under a day in two changes of cold water.  I then blanched the fix in more clean water for 6 minutes before flaking and trying to pick through the fish.

Mise en place.

Simmering the potatoes until tender.

Add everything but the olives and parsley and cook over low heat for 10 minutes.

The dish was interesting enough and I dig this leaner turn from the heavy French food I've generally encountered so far.  This is my first time working with salt cod though I didn't but the nice kind.  I quickly noticed that I had indeed missed a few bones and it bugs me.  I still have some in the fridge at the moment though I ran out of the potatoes (which are laid on the bottom of the dish and the fish mixture spooned on top) so I think I might just toss the remainder.

I had some curly parsley this time around (I bought this for the sherry chicken dish I recently made since they didn't have my preferred flat parsley), but while avoiding bones, the herb proved quite distracting.

Mushroom Sherry Chicken (BRW)

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 chicken, 3 to 4 pounds, cut into serving pieces, or 2 1/2 to 3 pounds chicken parts, trimmed of excess fat
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, trimmed and sliced
• 1 cup dry sherry
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves

Mise en place.  I did much of it while browning the chicken.  Note some browned chicken.

Here's a picture.

Cook vegetables until softened and lightly browned.

Add sherry and chicken back in and simmer until chicken is tender.  Unfortunately before I could had to pack up and head over to Brighton where Eric S lives and carry on over there.

I probably would've been able to finish the dish if I hadn't forgotten to buy mushrooms at Whole Foods and then spend a hour looking for the new Harvest Co-Op in the neighborhood when it could hardly be any closer to me than it is.

The chicken accompanied by a bit of mini baguette (also from Whole Foods) and perhaps the first appearance on my blog of food made by someone who doesn't cook professionally in Chicago.  Gotta love the Israeli salad.  Also the chicken, cumin, lima bean, and rice dish I recently shared on Facebook.

So Eric loved the dish (And who wouldn't love it if I invaded their kitchens and cooked them dinner?), but I, as always, thought it was just okay.  I felt the pressure to finish the dish since it took me until rather late to show up with an unfinished dish.  The thighs could've been more tender, but I dunno if that would've wowed me.

Apple-Pork Ragu with Papardelle (GK)

• 1 teaspoon olived oil
• 12 ounces ground pork
• 2 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 2 Honeycrisp apples, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices [I subbed some Pink Ladies]
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• One 15-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, smashed by hand or chopped
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 pound dried papardelle [I used a box of ziti I had since in the forward to the recipe Stephanie Izard says that it's fine to use a pasta that might catch some bits of pork or apple]
• 2 tablespoons brined capers
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil
• Coarse salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Mise en place.

Browning the ground pork though admittedly there was very little browning well after the suggested five minutes.  I was afraid of drying the ground meat up.  This ragu isn't really a seriously braised or stewed affair.

Browning the bacon.  Still working off the stuff I made in september.

Add onions and garlic and sweat them until onions are translucent.  Um, two minutes ain't going to do it, but as it was with the pork, it was getting there.

Add the apples and wine.  Reduce the wine by 3/4's.

Add tomatoes, broth, and browned pork and simmer, partially covered for fifteen minutes.

The dish struck me as quite sweet when I had it right after completing the dish, but it mellowed out nicely after refrigeration.  The flavors of the dish are not complicated, but they were fine enough here.  I'm surprised Stephanie Izard didn't throw some fish sauce in here as well when it dominates the rest of her cookbook.

Braised Shoulder Lamb Chops with Figs and North African Spices (NBR)

• 1/3 cup stemmed dried figs
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 4 shoulder lamb chops, about 3/4 inch thick, trimmed of excess fat
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped fine
• 2 small garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press
• 1 teaspoon ground corainder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon groun cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 cup diced tomatoes, with their juice
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

Mise en place.

Browning the lamb.

Cook onion until softened.

Add garlic and spices and cook until fragrant.  Then add reserved soaking liquid from the figs.

They needed to be soaked in warm water for 30 minutes.  Indeed I didn't see any actual instructions to add the figs into the pan at any point.

So I added them in with the tomatoes, honey, and the lamb chops for a final simmer.

I practiced cutting carrots on the bias in order to make glazed carrots for the first time and couscous takes no effort at all.
The dish was quite sweet but the spices were definitely interesting.  I dug the addition of the figs.  Eating the still dried leftovers are less interesting.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (NBR)

Carrot Cake

• 2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound carrots (6 to 7 medium), peeled
• 1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed (3 1/2 ounces) light brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups safflower, canola, or vegetable oil [I used grapeseed]
• 1 1/2 cups toasted chopped pecans or walnuts

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softeened but still cool
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) confectioners' sugar

Mise en place.

Grating carrots in my new food processor.  When I tried using my old food processor after making mortadella, it just wouldn't budge.  I had never been able to full clean that machine and the mortadella was that last straw.  I'm not going to have the same problem with my new Cuisinart machine.

Process the sugars and egg together until frothy and combined.

Gradually add in the oil.

Combine the two until there are no more streaks of butter.  Spread into a 13 by 9 pan.

The pan I know is somewhat smaller than that.  I'll eventually buy one of these I swear.

Bake until a toothpick or skewer inserted into center comes out clean.  After I cut it I realized that some areas had not baked fully.

Ingredients for the frosting.

The finished frosted cake.  Everyone thought it was delicious, and I liked how easy it was.

Sadly, I was doing a bit of overindulging that night and threw up much of this afterwards.  I hope to be back at eating carrot cake sometime in the future.  It's long been one of my favorite desserts even though I don't eat much dessert.