Avgolemono Soup (my way)

When we lived on the East side of Baltimore, our favorite late dinner was the thick, bottom of the pot Avgolemono soup at the legendary Ikaros restaurant on Eastern Avenue. Since moving to the suburbs, we don't get there as often as we'd like so I turned to the cookbook I got one year at the Greek Festival at the Greek Orthodox cathedral. But being me, the laborious stock making, egg separating process was no match for my laziness and this recipe was born.

Ingredients:

2 Lemons

4 Eggs

3 cups Chicken stock (canned or home-made)

1 Carrot

1-2 cups Cooked rice

1-2 cups Cooked chicken (e.g., leftover rotisserie chicken)

Salt & pepper (to taste)

Directions:

1. Put chicken stock on to BOIL and then REDUCE to a simmer.
   
2. GRATE the carrot and CUBE the chicken.
   
3. ZEST both lemons and then JUICE them.
   
4. BEAT the eggs in a large bowl until they are foamy.
   
5. ADD the lemon juice and half the lemon zest and beat to combine.
   
6. ADD ~½ cup of the hot stock to the eggs SLOWLY and BEAT as you ADD it.
   
7. REPEAT with another ½ cup of stock.
   
8. ADD the egg/lemon/stock mixture to the simmering stock.
   
9. DO NOT BOIL SOUP AFTER THIS POINT!
   
10. ADD chicken, rice, and carrot to the soup and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
    
11. After the soup has simmered for a while, taste the soup and add salt, pepper, and additional lemon zest as needed.
    

This soup must be served with hot, crusty bread or rolls and plenty of butter.

This recipe is very forgiving. The critical part is the beaten eggs with lemon juice, tempered with the hot stock. Once you get that part done, the rest is up for interpretation. The original Ikaros soup doesn't actually have the carrot but our next favorite Greek restaurant (Dmitri's on Frederick Road in Catonsville) makes it that way and we like it. Many places use orzo instead of rice. In an attempt to make us appear "healthy" I stopped buying white rice and I always seem to have leftover brown rice pilaf in the fridge, which works really well. The first time I made this it was a desperation dinner made with canned stock, leftover Thanksgiving turkey, wild rice pilaf, and RealLemon bottled lemon juice. It was delicious.

NOTE: If you are lucky enough to have some leftover, you probably want to add some more stock before you put it in the fridge. Otherwise it will seize up and assume the consistency of wallpaper paste.

Perfection is in the eye of the beholder…

This week's pathetic attempt at housework involves sorting through the five bookshelves of cookbooks (plus the piles on top and stacks on the floor) trying to figure out if I can get rid of any of them. I was going strong until I got to the retro ones, you know, the ones with the pictures that are so awful they are great. At that point the train came off the housework tracks and I found myself totally engrossed in the food of my ancestors, the boomers. Case in point, "Perfection Salad" from Better Homes and Gardens, Jiffy Cooking, c. 1967.

At first glance, it doesn't look too scary. Until you read the recipe that is…

Yes, that's lemon jell-o with sauerkraut, green onions, and pimento. Give it a minute to sink in. Yep, jell-0 with sauerkraut. WTF were they smoking in the BHG test kitchens when they came up with that one. Was it some kind of sick revenge fantasy for housewives to get back at their oppressor husbands and children? A cunning communist plot? We may never know.

But what we do know is, using kitchen shears to snip the sauerkraut into bite-sized pieces in the can is a handy time saver.

Anniversary Chili Rellenos

Chili Rellenos Stuffed with Grits

The inspiration for this recipe was an article about "Light Mexican Dinners". I went ahead and screwed that up by adding the bacon and cheese. You are welcome.

Ingredients:

2 to 4	Mild Peppers (poblano, pasilla, Anaheim)
	Olive Oil
2 slices	Bacon
½ cup	Frozen Corn
1 cup	Chicken Stock
1 tsp	Garlic Powder
2 dashes	Hot Sauce
¼ tsp	Salt
1 tsp	Fresh Ground Pepper
½ cup	Quick Grits
1 cup	Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Directions:

1. SLICE peppers in half and remove seeds and internal ribs.
   
2. BROIL peppers on HI on a lightly greased baking sheet for 2-3 minutes on each side until they start to blister.
   
3. SET peppers aside to cool.
   
4. CHOP bacon into small pieces and put in saucepan to RENDER.
   
5. When bacon pieces are crispy, REMOVE bacon with slotted spoon and SET aside.
   
6. ROAST frozen corn in hot bacon grease.
   
7. When corn is browned on one side, REMOVE from oil and SET aside with bacon.
   
8. ADD the chicken stock to the hot pan.
   
9. ADD garlic powder, salt, pepper, and hot sauce (adjusting for your personal taste but remembering that plain grits are really boring).
   
10. When the stock comes to a boil, ADD the grits.
    
11. STIR constantly until the grits start to set up (a minute or so).
    
12. If your grits are too loose (you want them thick enough to hold their shape when you stuff the peppers), ADD more grits. If the grits are too stiff, ADD some water.
    
13. Once they are the proper consistency, TAKE the grits off the heat and ADD ¾ of a cup of the cheese.
    
14. STIR vigorously to combine.
    
15. FILL each pepper half with grits. (see note below about leftover grits)
    
16. SPRINKLE filled peppers with the remaining shredded cheese.
    
17. BROIL on HI just until the cheese is bubbly.
    

Depending on the size of the peppers you use, you will undoubtedly have left over grits. This is not a problem. Spread the leftovers into a flat container and stick them in the fridge. Come the next weekend morning, cut them into hash brown-sized rectangles, dust with flour, and fry them up in hot oil. Perfect for mopping up runny yolks (according to my husband who actually eats his eggs with runny yolks).

Total Pot Roast Domination

I basically used the same recipe I use to make my beef stew adapted to pot roast. Here's what I did.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
   
2. Take the meat out of the package and season it well with salt and pepper on both sides. Let rest while you prep everything else.
   
3. In a big dutch oven, cook up 3 slices of bacon, sliced into small pieces.
   
4. Once the bacon is crisped up, take it out and throw the meat in. leave it alone until it has developed a nice sear, then flip it and do the same on the other side.
   
5. Once it is good and browned all over, take the meat out and throw in some big chunks of onion (I actually used shallot b/c that's what I had), carrot, celery, a whole head of garlic (peeled in individual cloves), some more salt, a handful of whole black peppercorns, some dried thyme and some fresh sage leftover from Thanksgiving that really needed to be used up.
   
6. Give the veggies a few minutes to get going, then toss in whatever leftover red wine you happen to have. In this case, I had about a cup and a half of some nice Greek Demestica red.
   
7. Let the wine work on all the stuff on the bottom of the pan and scrape up what doesn't come up on its own.
   
8. Put the meat back in (with all the juices that have accumulated on the plate).
   
9. Pour on one carton of good, low sodium beef stock and enough water to cover the meat.
   
10. Bring it to a full boil on the stove then cover it and chuck it in the oven for 2.5 hours.
    
11. After 2.5 hours goes by, take the pot out and put the meat on a plate so you can decant the liquid to a bowl and strain out all the solids.
    
12. Put the strained liquid back on the stove and put the meat back in. I threw some sliced mushrooms in for flavor at that point.
    
13. Leave it on a low simmer while you make the potatoes/carrots/whatever you want to go with the meat.
    
14. I had some of those tiny Yukon golds, which I either cut in thirds or halves, and some sliced cremini mushrooms. I cranked the oven up to 350 degrees and threw them in a roasting pan with some olive oil and a few good spoonfuls of the strained jus. I guess it took about 15-20 minutes for them to brown.
    
15. Serve the meat and veg in bowls with plenty of the reduced jus to moisten it up.
    

That was it. It really couldn't have been simpler.

Husband declares, "Best peanut butter cookies ever!"

While cleaning out the fridge last week, I discovered that we had three almost full jars of peanut butter in the fridge. That fact combined with the arctic cold front hanging over the Mid-Atlantic made Peanut Butter Cookies pretty much inevitable today. I was bored with the same ones I have been making for 30 years so I scoured the web for a new recipe. I found a few that looked interesting so I combined them into this:

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Yields: ~3 Dozen

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar, packed

3/4 cup white sugar

1 1/4 cup peanut butter, chunky

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

---

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 cup quick cooking oatmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cream the butter, sugars, and peanut butter together until smooth. Add the vanilla and then the eggs, one at a time until well incorporated. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, oats, and cinnamon together. Add dry ingredients to wet slowly, until mixed well.

Spoon by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheet. Mark tops of cookies with standard peanut butter cookie fork cross.

Bake for 12-17 minutes until bottoms just start to turn golden brown.

Embracing Chickentarianism

Since Mark got laid off our insane habit of eating 2 or 3 meals out a day, every day, has come to an end but I am still completely unmotivated to actually "cook" anything during the week. What's a girl to do? Buy a rotisserie chicken, of course! It is amazing what you can do with a whole chicken. I thought about buying one of those "101 things to do with a rotisserie chicken" cookbooks but I still haven't run out of ideas. Here are just a few of the things I have made lately:

1. Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
   
   1. Strip all the meat off the chicken and throw it in a pan with some BBQ sauce. Heat it up and slap it on hamburger buns. Or hot dog buns. Or leftover naan…
      
   2. This is an excellent way to disguise dark meat from people who claim they don't like it.
      
2. Chicken Tetrazzini
   
   1. Sauté some mushrooms, make a béchamel, boil whatever pasta you have, mix it all together in a baking dish with whatever chicken you picked off the carcass, slap some breadcrumbs on the top and you've got casserole heaven.
      
3. Chicken Chana Masala
   
   1. An international "can of this, can of that" recipe. Rinse a can of chickpeas and chuck it in a pan. Throw in a can of diced or stewed tomatoes. Add a bunch of your favorite Indian spices (I love Penzey's Rogan Josh Seasoning) and a bunch of cut up chicken. Let it sauté until the tomatoes break down a little.
      
   2. I once found myself completely out of chickpeas and made this with a can of black-eyed peas instead. Still terrific.
      
4. Greek Cous Cous Pilaf
   
   1. This one is based on having some leftover grilled veggies in the fridge also. It originated with some excellent grilled zucchini I made when it was at its peak one summer. Make a pot of cous cous (I like whole wheat cous cous because I can pretend it is healthy) with chicken stock and a little lemon juice. Let the cous cous cool a little and throw in the grilled veggies, cut up chicken, and some chunks of feta cheese.
      
   2. I make boatloads of this in the summer and eat it right out of the Gladware every night until it is gone.
      
5. Quinoa Pilaf
   
   1. This is a variation on the cous cous recipe I had to invent because my husband hates cous cous. Last time I made it, I had half a bag of spinach that was on its last legs so I chopped that up and threw it in the hot quinoa as soon as I pulled it off the stove, along with the feta cheese and chicken. Quinoa's good but nothing beats cous cous for its 5-minute prep time.
      
6. Chicken Pot Pies
   
   1. My tiny kit house has no central AC. The oven goes off as of Mother's Day and does not come back on until Halloween. The official Halloween meal is idiot chicken pot pies.
      
   2. Unroll a sheet of pie crust and cut it in quarters. Fit each quarter into a muffin tin, leaving the excess hanging out. Add some cut up chicken and some frozen veggies. Pour in chicken gravy (the kind in a jar will work) and then fold over the excess. It so doesn't have to be anything close to perfect. Bake then until they are done.
      
7. Quiche
   
   1. My quiche recipe is as follows:
      
      1. 4 eggs
         
      2. 1.5 cups of some combination of milk and half and half
         
      3. 1 cup or so of the cheese that needs to be eaten most urgently
         
      4. Whatever leftover vegetable matter is in the fridge and is about to go bad
         
      5. Whatever leftover protein is in the fridge and is about to go bad
         
   2. This week we are having Chicken and Mushroom quiche with a combination of smoked mozzarella, fontina, and something else I didn't remember buying but was pretty tasty
      
8. The most holy sacrament in chickentarianism is not to waste any part of the chicken. Every Sunday night, no matter what I make, The bones get broken up and thrown in a pot with whatever aromatics I happen to have and some salt and pepper to make a fresh batch of stock. Of all the great things you can make with a rotisserie chicken, great stock is one of the best. Don't forget to scrape in the chicken jelly from the bottom of the container!