Chicken & Dumplings

 I had Bob buy that rotisserie chicken yesterday. I made enchiladas with half of the meat. To view that  recipe, click here. Tonight's Chicken & Dumplings utilizes the other half of the meat and the carcass. This recipe took me all afternoon to complete and was worth every minute.

I boiled the carcass with all the vegetables that I had that were starting to dry out or look tired. I love that this is a great way to clear out the crisper drawers of stuff that I had just hanging around. I didn't bother to peel anything. I threw in bendy carrots, celery (that was way past its prime), half of a sweet potato. I let it cook down for about 3 hours. 

I strained it out and I was left with some fantastic looking broth. 

This is only the first part of this recipe. Congrats, you're advancing to level 2.

I wanted to do these two recipes to show how economical it can be to buy a rotisserie chicken, especially if you are feeding just 2 people. My sister always jokes with me because I'm not usually one who takes all this time to do things. I usually have several things going on at once. Anyhow, I was watching a YouTube video last night on how to make your food budget stretch and I got to thinking about just how much food is simply thrown away. It's appalling, if you think about it. So, I was determined to get every cent's worth from that rotisserie chicken. 

We just so happened to get our first storm of the year today. I don't think I'd really call it much of a storm, though. There was a bit of thunder and lightening and it did pour down rain a few times. I have to admire the grit of these two fishermen. They were dedicated there on the opposite bank of the river.

I salute them!

The next half of this recipe starts out by boiling the reserved chicken meat and whatever veg you like in the chicken stock that you just made.
There's no right or wrong way to do this because taste is subjective.
I used onion, garlic, celery, carrots and a parsnip. I thought I had another sweet potato, but it was purple and I didn't think that would look so nice. I wouldn't care but I knew I was going to take photos of this for this blog post and purple...not so much.

I let this come up to a boil with everything in it and cook until everything was soft enough to mush against the roof of your mouth with your tongue. 

This is sure comforting on a rainy day, I do have to say!

Chicken & Dumplings


1/2 of the meat from a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket
The carcass of the chicken
Any vegetables that you want to sacrifice to the stock pot
Enough water to cover
Salt and pepper, to taste

Boil all this together in a large pot and strain the solids out and throw those away. Put the rest back into a pot. Add the chopped meat, chopped vegetables, like celery, carrot, onion, garlic and parsnips. Add as many or as little vegetables as you like.
To that, add salt and pepper, to taste, 1-1/2 teaspoons Penzey's Bouquet Garni spice blend, 1 teaspoon dried parsley and some chopped fresh rosemary, optional. I grow it, so I always have it on hand.  Bring all to a rolling boil, lower heat to low and simmer until the vegetables are very soft. Add 3/4 cup of heavy cream to the soup.
Make dumpling dough.

Dumpling dough:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon dried parsley

Mix all ingredients together until a dough forms. Drop by spoonfuls into liquid. Cover, cook about 20 minutes or until dough is cooked through.

*Please not that I am not compensated by Penzey's Spices. I just really like their products and use a ton of them.

Thai-Inspired Red Coconut Curry Shrimp over Coconut Rice

 My husband gets started on some extensive dental work on Tuesday. He will be having all of his top teeth pulled. Granted, he's already lost most of them, but the rest will be going. When he had radiation treatment for throat cancer, over a decade ago, his teeth were trashed. He needs to get dentures. So, for several months, after getting his bottom teeth pulled out, which will be a few weeks after he gets the top ones done, he will not have any teeth at all to chew with. He needs to get dentures because he can't eat many foods. He has scar tissue in his throat and there is a dead muscle in there. It doesn't work. Anyhow, if food isn't chewed up really well, it hangs up on that spot and it chokes him and, sometimes, I've had to really whack him on the back to get it up. It's scary to go through and eating certain things for dinner gives me anxiety because I do not like to see that happen. Let's not even go there with Bob actually going through it. Yes, it's happened a few times at restaurants, too. He's learned to not order his favorite, which is steak. He knows that he can't eat anything like Chinese sweet and sour pork or chicken. He has trouble with spinach and greens. Tortillas and a gas station corn dog have made him choke. The poor guy!

Anyhow, that's the back story on how this recipe came about.
We both love Asian food. I think we could dine on Asian flavors for weeks on end and never tire of it. While Bob tends to favor Korean, I lean bit more toward Thai cuisine. We both like coconut curry, if it's not too spicy. So, I came up with a complete main dish that only uses 1 can of coconut milk, 1/2 a pound of shrimp, uses up a few summer squash, doesn't result in a gallon of leftovers and it's not spicy because, if it is, Bob can't eat it.
This is a huge win in my book. I do not have room in my fridge for leftovers and I'm not a huge fan of zucchini, or summer squash. I like winter squash just fine, but zucchini...yeah...not so much. I find summer squash to be just tolerable. Now, if you take that summer squash and put in a red coconut curry squash, that's going to pique my interest.

Here's how I did it. First, wash and chop all your ingredients. Make sure everything is prepped. Once you start, you do not have time to put everything on hold to chop up the next thing. Chop the veggies. Peel the shrimp. Thank me later. You're welcome. 

Veggies prepped beforehand.

Start the rice after you prep the veggies and shrimp. You'll have 20 minutes to cook the curry. If you don't have a rice cooker (I am not endorsing this brand. It's just a cheapie that I picked up on Amazon for under $20 and it does the trick because the burners, on my RV stove, burn too hot to cook rice on them), just use a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Either way, rice cooker or pan, it's going to take 20 minutes.

Saute the veggies in a hot skillet in a tablespoon of avocado oil until zucchini start to get a bit of color and the onion is softer, but not mush. 

Now's the time that you'll want to have already prepped those shrimp. I do pull the shells completely off. I don't leave the tail sections on. I actually don't really like it when the tail section of the shell is left on. It's annoying to me. 

You've already used 1/2 of a can of coconut milk in the rice, so this is when you use the other half of the can. First, you add red curry paste, fish sauce and some brown sugar. This would also be where you could add in a spice element, if you want, like however many Thai birds-eye chili peppers it takes for you to light yourself on fire, if you're into that! I skip them because of Bob. If it was just for me, I'd add 2 or 3 in. You could also just use crushed red pepper flakes or you could use a jalapeno pepper. There's many options out there. Pick the one that's right for you.
Did that sound like a commercial or what?

Once all the curry paste, coconut milk, and what have you meld together into a  homogeneous pool of yum, toss in the shrimp and keep stirring them around until they curl up and turn pink. This is very important. Do not overcook the shrimp. Overcooked shrimp is absolutely nasty and not even worth eating. Once they turn opaque, take the pan off the heat.
By this time, your rice should be done.
Also, by this time, your entire RV will be filled with a very lovely coconut scent...with the faintest hint of fish sauce.
Make sure to run an exhaust fan.
Whatever you do, DO NOT sniff the contents of a bottle of fish sauce.
I promise that it tastes nothing like it smells.

This was delicious. There were no leftovers at all because (mic drop) I actually created a recipe for TWO PEOPLE!
Thai-Inspired Red Coconut Curry Shrimp over Coconut Basmati Rice (yes, I know that they usually eat Jasmine rice, but I have basmati...deal with it). Delicious!


Serves 2

Coconut Basmati Rice

7 ounces (half a can) of coconut milk
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 cup basmati rice

If you're cooking in a rice cooker, add all the ingredients and cook for 20 minutes. If you're cooking in a saucepan, bring all ingredients, except the rice, up to a boil. Add rice, stir. Lower heat to as low as your stove will go. Pop a tight-fitting lid onto the pan. Cook for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before opening lid to fluff the rice.


Thai-Inspired Red Coconut Curry Shrimp

1/2 pound large shrimp, peeled and cleaned.
1 tablespoon avocado oil
1/2 can coconut milk
1/2 of a medium-sized Walla Walla sweet onion, chopped (use 1/4 of the onion if it's a big one, like I had)
1 small zucchini, chopped
1 small yellow summer squash, chopped
1-2 tablespoons red curry paste
1/2 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
and
Make a cornstarch slurry using 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water. You may or may not need this.

Prep all vegetables and shrimp in advance.
Heat skillet or wok over high heat. Add onions and cook, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes before adding in all the squash (zukes and yellow squash) all at once. Continue to cook and stir for about 4-5 more minutes or until squash starts to get a bit golden in color and onion is soft but not mushy.
Add in red curry paste, cook for about 30 seconds, add fish sauce, brown sugar and coconut milk. Stir to combine curry paste into coconut milk. Once it's thoroughly blended in, add shrimp and cook, stirring, for another 3-4 minutes. If your sauce is too loose, bind it by slowly drizzling in the cornstarch slurry until it's the right consistency. I like mine a bit on the thinner side so that it will permeate the rice. If you want a thicker sauce, use the entire amount and it should tighten up enough to sit on top of the rice. It's a matter of preference.

Harvest Refrigerator Pickles

Yesterday, I decided to do a bit of harvesting out of the garden. I wanted to make some room to grow some more beets for a fall crop. Now, I grow beets exclusively in a black tote. It's 2x4 feet, but it's deep. I do not put any sort of filler in the bottom. I use it for root vegetables. Upon looking at my beets, I saw that I had taken them about as far as I could and it was time to pull most of them. I grew three different types this year: Golden and Chioggia, both of which, I bought the seeds from Baker Creek. I also grew a new variety, which I obtained in a seed trade called Yellow Mangel. They are the longer yellow ones. I also thinned out some of the Longue Rouge Sang carrots (Baker Creek) and some of the bigger onions.

Golden beets from Baker Creek. These are always a favorite and a huge hit with us.

 

Chioggia beets from Baker Creek. This was a new variety for me this year as I tend to stick with the Golden variety exclusively. I am sure glad that I branched out! These have a really cool white bullseye pattern inside. They are pretty stunning to look at.

I opted to boil the beets to loosen the skins. The thing when cooking beets is that, yes, you want to rinse the majority of the dirt off of them, but you want to leave an inch or two of the greens and the long roots on them, otherwise they will bleed the color onto everything.

I managed to fit them all into one pot, thankfully!

I knew I wasn't going to have quite enough veggies to fill my half-gallon Mason pickle jar, so I peeled up 3 carrots that I had in the fridge.

The carrots and onions are packed raw into the jar. I do not cook them first. If I did that, the texture would be gross. I did not peel the Longue Rouge Sang carrots, either. I just scrubbed them well.

When the beets were fork tender, I drained them and then let them soak in cold water in the sink to cool enough to be able to comfortably handle them.

Then I started slicing the beets up and layering everything into the jar.

It's quite pretty to look at. Behind the jar are 2 dozen farm eggs that were a bonus for Bob helping out one of the old volunteers from Fences For Fido. That is a great organization that puts up fences for dogs for people who qualify.

You bring the brine up to a boil.

Those are pink peppercorns. Pink peppercorns are interesting. They are not a member of the pepper family. They are actually a member of the cashew family. They impart a delicate taste and it's hard to describe it. You'll have to try them...try them on a bit of vanilla ice cream. I'm not even kidding!

All set! I use a wooden chopstick and poke it down in several spots to make sure there are no air bubbles and to work the peppercorns and mustard seed down to the bottom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

•                                              
  

 

•                             

Harvest Refrigerator Pickles

Enough veggies to fill a half-gallon container (I used beets, carrots and onions. If you use beets, make sure to peel them first before slicing)
1-1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1-1/2 cups water
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
4-5 whole cloves
1-1/2 teaspoons pink peppercorns

Pack veggies into the jar.
Meanwhile, bring all the ingredients, except for the pink peppercorns, to a boil and stir until sugar and salt have dissolved.
Add pink peppercorns to the top of the jar on the veggies.
Pour hot brine over the veggies and use a wooden chopstick to make sure there are there are no air bubbles and to disperse the peppercorns and mustard seeds to the bottom of the jar.
Let cool.
Seal and refrigerate.
This will last up to 4 weeks in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Brizola Sto Fourno

 Every delicious dinner starts with an idea. It's been raining pretty much the entire weekend here. The upside is that I don't need to water my garden, the downside is that I had to put a towel over my head and shoulders to go out and pick our salad greens yesterday. It was a warm rain, so I'm okay with that. I love growing my own lettuces. You just cannot begin to find these types or varieties in a store and you'd be hard pressed (or, at least, I would be) to even find them at a farmers market. I have Red Romaine, Sword, Buttercrunch and Drunk Woman Frizzy Head. 

Last night's meal started out with some potatoes that I needed to use up.
I had Bob run into the little market up in Castle Rock on Friday as I needed some yogurt and milk. He came home with some really nice looking bone-in pork chops. In a couple of days, he'll be getting all of his top teeth pulled out (when he had radiation treatment for cancer, 11 years ago, it wiped out his teeth), so whatever Bob wants to eat, I'll fix it for him. I get to decide the style, however.
I found a recipe that I talked to my sister, Ginger, about and we both agreed that it sounded unusual to us...but it was just too unusual to not make it. I did cut the recipe in half. Click here to view the recipe.

As with any recipe that is really delicious, it starts out with some potatoes. 

Here is the "unusual" part. You soak parchment paper in water. Yep. You read that right. You soak 2 large pieces of parchment paper in water. Get it wet. Swish it around. Let it soak for a few minutes. 

After you get done playing around with the parchment paper in the water, wring it out. Next, drape it over your baking sheet and cut up your potatoes. You could use Yukon Gold or a nice red skinned variety. It doesn't really matter.

The potatoes get seasoned with some chopped garlic, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Then you drizzle over some lemon juice (this is a Greek dish, after all!) and...

some white wine. I used a nice 2016 sauvignon blanc from right here in Washington state. We do tend to have some pretty spectacular wines produced from this state. 

After you add the wine, you cover the potatoes with the second piece of soaked parchment paper and seal it up. Then it goes into a 350-degree oven for around 40 minutes. Check it after 30 minutes because it really depends on your oven.

While the potatoes are in their lemony wine sauna, put some grill marks on your pork chops via a grill pan. Do not cook through. Remove from the pan and set aside.

After 30-45 minutes, pull the potatoes out of the oven, open the parchment sauna and...

stick the chops in on top of the potatoes. Reseal it and stick it back in for another 15 minutes or so. 

It doesn't get much better for a Sunday family dinner.

Asian Chili Oil...As Promised

I promised everyone on Facebook that if they would help me get this blog up to 20 followers, I'd cut loose with my chili garlic oil recipe. This recipe is something that I keep in my fridge at all times because I drizzle it on everything. I do not buy chili oil from the store. Making my own tastes so much better. I start out by toasting some sesame seeds over low heat until they start to turn brown and get a nutty flavor. As a matter of fact, since it's raining out, today would be a good day to simply toast up a batch of sesame seeds to just have on hand.

Here are the aromatics that will get infused into the oil. It is not simply chilis, oil and garlic. Nope. There's much more flavor in there. Let's talk about some of these aromatics.
First, there are Szechuan peppercorns. What these do is give your tongue a numbing sensation. I use them quite often when cooking spicy Asian dishes and they are something that I always have on hand.
I also use green cardamom pods. These are optional, as are the whole cloves. You don't have to add them, but since I have them on hand, why not? The rest of the must have aromatics are star anise, a stick of cinnamon and a couple of bay leaves.

This was the ingredient that I was waiting on. I order it from Amazon because there are no supermarkets, in my area, that carry gochugaru. Gochugaru is Korean red pepper flakes. These are delicious.

You use any neutral flavored oil. I chose to use avocado oil.

The aromatics, along with a couple of scallions and a couple cloves of smashed garlic get infused into the oil, over super low heat for as long as it takes for the onion and garlic to get quite brown. It can take up to an hour.
After that, you pour the oil through a strainer to strain out all of the aromatics leaving you with just the flavored oil.
Pour the oil very slowly over the gochugaru in a heat proof container (I use a stainless bowl) as it will bubble up. After that, stir in the toasted sesame seeds and sea salt to taste.

Store in the refrigerator. This oil will last up to 6 months when properly stored.

Asian Chili Oil

1-1/2 cups avocado oil (or any other neutral flavored oil, like canola or vegetable)
4 whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon Szechuan peppercorns
5 green cardamom pods
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
2 scallions, white parts only
2 cloves garlic, smashed
3/4 cup gochugaru
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon French grey salt (or whatever salt you like)

Combine the first 9 ingredients in a heavy bottomed saucepan and cook, over very low heat, until the garlic and scallions are quite brown and fragrant.
In the meantime, add the gochugaru into a heat proof bowl. Measure out the salt and sesame seeds into a small bowl and set aside.
Once the oil has been fully infused and is very fragrant, pour S-L-O-W-L-Y through a fine mesh strainer over the top of the gochugaru. This will bubble up very vigorously. Once you've poured all of the oil in, add in the sesame seeds and salt. Stir well (I use a chopstick for this). Cool to room temperature, pour into a container with a tight-fitting lid and store in the refrigerator for up to 6 months. Use whenever you need a kick of chili flavor.
 

Maangchi's Galbi Grilled Ribs With Green Onion Salad Side Dish

 I'm hoping that Maangchi will like another one of my posts on Twitter. It makes my entire day when she does. I can't help it, though. She has so many great recipes that just appeal to me.

Last night, I made 2 of Maangchi's recipes. Bob was not able to partake of kimchi or the green onion salad, so I eyeballed the onion salad to make enough for just one person. It was spicy and delicious and it completely hit the spot with me. I plan on using the superfluous kimchi in another Maangchi recipe. I haven't made kimchi yet because I have very limited refrigerator space and, living in a fifth wheel, I just really don't want either my indoor, or my outdoor kitchens smelling like it. So, I simply had Bob pick up a jar that was alive with all the good stuff that kimchi has in it. I plan on using the rest of the kimchi to make another Maangchi recipe and then I think I'll move onto a different type of cuisine for a while.
I'm just trying to use stuff up. 

I grow green onions out in my raised beds. I did quite the thinning on them. They are huge! I planted over 300 and I've been able to share with a few of the neighbors, which is cool. I've even shared onions with Ginger (you'll see her commenting every now and then on here...she's my younger sister). Anyhow, you can't have a green onion salad side dish without green onions.
Both recipes have scallions in them.

The Galbi Ribs start out with short ribs. You do not want the flanken style for this, you want the meatiest short ribs you can find. Unfortunately, these were the best that the store had and, at $7.99 per pound, I feel we paid for bones. You can't win them all. Soak these in cold water and pat dry. 

Next, you cut the meat out, so that it makes as long of a strip as you possibly can. These get sprinkled with sesame oil, sugar, salt, scallion and chopped garlic.
Here's where I make a confession. I forgot to add the garlic until just before I cooked these. It happens. You'll want to pat/smack all these ingredients into the meat and then roll them back up...

like this.
Put them in the fridge for a couple of hours to marinate.
In the meantime, make the Green Onion Salad side dish. 

This salad usually gets put into the lettuce/perilla leaf bundles along with the Galbi. Click here and scroll down for the recipe.
I could eat this salad every single day. I'm not thinking that my stomach will thank me, but my taste buds sure would!

These ribs are best cooked over charcoal, but I used my grill pan. You unroll them and start searing. 

Let them get some crispy edges. Just keep turning them back and forth. 

Then use scissors to cut up into bite-sized pieces. Let those cook until there's no longer any pink on the outside of the meat. After this is when you, traditionally, set out a plate of lettuce or perilla (or both) leaves, some ssamjang, slices of raw garlic and some Green Onion Salad.
Bob is going to be starting to get some extensive dental work done, so, hopefully, when that is all over, he will be able to eat one of these bundles. 

So, this is how we enjoyed these delicious Maangchi recipes last night.

Thanks, Maangchi!