Barrett’s Black Bean Cakes

The Chef sent me this recipe months ago, and it stalled out in my Inbox because black beans – or beans of any kind, really – often bore the crap out of me.

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But the more I started looking at it, the more intrigued I became. The Mexican seasonings, the chorizo, and the suggestion that you serve it alongside quail – arguably the most adorable and delectable of tiny game birds – finally changed my mind.

The Chef also mentioned this is one of his favorite recipes from the CIA Cookbook, and whether that means “Central Intelligence Agency” or “Culinary Institute of America” to you, it’s pretty badass either way.

1 lb dried black beans
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup chorizo sausage
2/3 cup yellow onion, diced medium
2 tbsp garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, stemmed, seeded, and minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 1/2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup cornmeal

1. Soak bean overnight in enough cold water to cover them by 3 inches.
2. Drain beans, place in a pot, and add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until beans are tender, about 45 minutes. Drain.
3. Cook the chorizo over medium heat in a saute pan until the fat is rendered and the chorizo is slightly crispy.  Add onions, garlic and jalapeno, and saute until golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes.
4. Add the cumin and chili powder and saute until fragrant. Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool.
5. Combine beans, chorizo mixture, egg, cilantro, lime juice and salt.  Mix well, mashing some of the beans to help keep the cake together.
6. Form the mixture into 16 cakes, about 2 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick. Dust the cakes lightly with cornmeal.
7. Preheat nonstick skillet to medium heat. Cook the cakes until heat through, about 4 to 6 minutes.  The Chef says you’re gonna have to work in batches here, so be prepared to move quickly.

Serve these immediately (because these suckers are best hot), preferably with grilled quail and Coffee BBQ Sauce.

Provencal Chicken

As RipleyPickles mentioned, fall is in the air.  Down here in NOLA that means it is a cool high 80’s/low 90’s, so I think a nice comfort chicken dish is needed.  Provencal Chicken has all the right ingredients- shallots, butter, wine, rosemary, and garlic.  Unless you serve this chicken raw, it is impossible to ruin.  This is easy, delicious, and will impress any dinner guests.   This recipe comes from Pierre Franey’s “Cooking In France.”
Chef’s note:  the secret to making this the perfect chicken dish is cooking the chicken skin-side down for at least ten minutes.  The crispiness is key.  As always, using homemade chicken broth changes a dish completely and is highly recommended. -ts

3-4 pound chicken cut in pieces (ask your butcher to chop it) or use 2 pound chicken pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1/2 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup chicken broth

1. Season chicken pieces on both sides liberally with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat in heavy skillet large enough to hold pieces comfortably until butter foam has subsided. Add chicken pieces skin-side down and cook undisturbed until skin is crisp and golden brown, about 10 minutes.
2. Turn chicken pieces over and add garlic and rosemary to skillet. Continue to cook for 10 more minutes.
3. Remove chicken to rest and carefully remove all but a few tablespoons of fat from skillet. Add shallots and cook for 30 seconds, then add wine and chicken broth. Scrape up pan juices from surface and reduce sauce by half
4. Return chicken pieces to pan skin-side up and cook, covered, until chicken is cooked through. Add remaining tablespoon of butter to skillet to finish sauce. Serve chicken immediately with sauce draped around it.

Red Wine Braised Short Ribs

Good news nummies – not only is it Friday, but my delusions of fall have finally become reality! It’s cool and crisp and it reminds me of my Uncle Stewart’s tailgate: Hot Damn and brown-sugar-hand-stirred-some-other-long-string-of-words-I-can’t remember BBQ sauce (recipe still pending release) will make you forget that you’re about to watch the Tigers get trounced. Again.

Anyway, another thing fall reminds me of is short ribs. Luckily, Morg passed this recipe along to me last week. And she didn’t even wait until she finished eating it to send it over, so it must be cray-mazing. (I watched a lot of Project Runway last night, so I’m talking like a cranky, mid-30s drama queen. Please forgive.)

From Morg:
“This recipe calls for a tagine (which we randomly have) but I hadn’t ‘seasoned’ the tagine (a three hour process) so I just used my dutch oven, which every chef needs. I’m obsessed with mine. I digress. This is a great meal for a Sunday or a holiday because it requires some hours on the stove, but it’s so worth it. And it leaves a nice smell floating through the house all day long. I served this over homemade mashed potatoes (recipe linked to from the Williams-Sonoma recipe for the ribs). Very simple. And I used the KitchenAid mixer instead of mashing by hand.”

One look through the ingredient list, and I was sold. I might suggest using one of The Chef’s variations of mashed potatoes, but I could be biased, so whatever blows your skirt up. Either way, an all-day simmering situation makes my mouth water. And it makes me want to say – like an Akin at a tailgate – HOT DAMN HELL YES.

3 tbsp olive oil
3 3/4 lb. bone-in beef short ribs (6 to 8 pieces)
salt & pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 celery stalk, 1/4-inch dice
2 carrots, 1/4-inch dice
3/4 cup shallot, fine dice
1 tbsp minced garlic
3 tbsp tomato paste
3/4 tsp Aleppo chili, crushed
1 bay leaf
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
1/2 cup beef broth
3/4 cup red wine
1 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

1. Soak a tagine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Place the tagine on a diffuser over medium-high heat and warm 1 tbsp of the olive oil.
2. Season the short ribs on all sides with salt and pepper. Dredge the ribs in the flour until evenly coated, shaking off the excess. Add half of the ribs to the tagine and sear until well browned on all sides, about 10 minutes total; transfer to a plate. Repeat with 1 tbsp of the olive oil and the remaining ribs.
3. Reduce the heat to medium and warm the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the celery, carrots and shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the Aleppo chili, bay leaf, thyme, broth, wine, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Return the ribs to the tagine.
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook, turning the ribs occasionally, until the meat is tender, 4.5 to 5 hours.
5. Garnish the ribs with the parsley and serve immediately with mashed potatoes. Serves 4.

Roasted Veggie Stock

How about this beautiful autumn weather, nummy? It’s balmy and breezy and cool and simply delightful outside, no?

Actually, no; it is not. It’s going to be 88 degrees in Nashville this afternoon, and I just spent my lunch hour  sweating through my long-sleeved shirt on the Calypso patio, so we Southerners still have a ways to go, as they say.

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Nonetheless, it was 67 degrees when I left the house this morning and we even managed to cook out last night without me throwing up from the humidity. Also, we’ve gotten to watch The Vols play football – and actually win, no less – two Saturdays in a row, so I say it’s fall, dad-gummit.

In that vein, we’re gonna kick things off with a roasted veggie stock that can serve as the base for any seasonal soup you like. Roasting the veggies is super easy but will give you much more depth of flavor* than just doing a basic broth, so don’t go cutting corners.

8 oz of mushrooms
2 carrots, medium dice
8 garlic cloves, peeled
2 onions, medium dice
1 celery stalk, small dice
4 sprigs of thyme

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Coat all veggies in oil and roast on sheet pan for 1 hour.
3. Remove veggies to a stockpot, then deglaze the hot roasting pan by adding 1 cup of water.
4. Scrape up any browned bits, then add the liquid to the post along with 6 cups of cold water and the thyme sprigs.
5. Simmer gently uncovered for 1 hour. Strain and store. Or use immediately to make The Chef’s Tortilla Soup. Easy and delish.

*Depth of flavor is my one bit of pretentious kitchen-speak for this post. We may have been out of the blogging game for a while, but that doesn’t mean the Cooking Channel hasn’t been playing on an obnoxious loop in the background of our lives the whole time. Osmosis, baby,

French Onion Soup

The Chef made this a few nights ago out of the Beef Broth he created last week, and it was a clean, brothy version of the classic. Topping this with some cracked black pepper and french bread that has been toasted with gruyere or provolone on top will make you feel positively French. But not in the stinky beret-wearing way.

——

6 sweet yellow onions, thinly sliced

tablespoon of olive oil

4 cups of beef broth

1 tablespoon of fresh thyme

2 tablespoons of brandy

salt and pepper to taste
—–

1. Cook onions in olive oil over medium low heat in a large Dutch oven for about one hour. You want the onions to be very caramelized so be patient.
2. Once caramelized, add brandy. Cook until brandy evaporates.
3. Add broth and thyme. Simmer for 30 minutes.
4. Season with salt and pepper to taste and top with melted gruyere or provolone cheese and croutons. As usual, this is even better the day after.

Barrett’s Basic Beef Broth

My love affair with broth is almost as well-documented (and maligned) as my common law marriage to pickle juice, so this post is a foregone conclusion. The Chef made this just the other day “for fun” (a reason I obviously gave him crap for but secretly was super pleased with).

He points out that the 24-hour cooking time provides the added bonus of making the house smell amazing, and that is definitely true. Plus it freezes well, so he suggests you make a, shall we say, “boat”load? Sure. Boatload. Make that much.

5 lbs of beef bones
5 celery stalks, roughly chopped
2 large red onion, roughly chopped
4 carrots, roughly chopped
handful of thyme sprigs
water

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Place bones and veggies on a sheet pan. Rub with oil and roast until golden brown (about 30 minutes).
3. Place bones and veggies in a large pot. Cover with water (at least 4 quarts). Add thyme and simmer for 24 hours.
4. Strain.
5. Make something awesome with it. Obviously I suggest soup. Or just drinking it with a straw. Whichev.

Mushroom Ragout over Creamy Polenta

I have never tasted this one, but I love mushrooms and The Chef billed this recipe as “insane.” I’m assuming he means “insanely good” rather than Charlie Sheen insane, however I would totally enjoy it either way.

BTdubs, “ragout” just means “main dish stew.” The French always manage to make things sound so complicated.

1 cup shallots, halved and thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 tbsp olive oil
2 8 oz pkgs sliced baby portabello mushrooms (you can use button also if you prefer)
2 3.5 oz pkgs fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
1 ⁄2 cup port wine
1 cup chicken broth
1 ⁄4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
4 tbsp butter
11⁄2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
3 ⁄4 tsp salt
1 ⁄2 tsp pepper
freshly shaved Parmesan cheese
fresh thyme sprigs for garnish
Creamy Polenta

1. Sauté shallots and garlic in hot oil in a large skillet over medium heat for 2 minutes.
2. Increase heat to medium-high, add mushrooms, and cook, stirring constantly, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in wine; cook 2 minutes.
3. Stir in broth and next 5 ingredients. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 5 minutes or until slightly thickened.
4. Serve over Creamy Polenta with shaved Parmesan cheese. Garnish with thyme sprigs if desired.

Shrimp Stock

I have a confession to make: I don’t make stock. I have once or twice, but it’s not a habit, and I definitely don’t make it as much as someone who eats soup for 2 out of every 3 meals should.

That stops now. I don’t generally make New Years’ Resolutions or give up anything for Lent (because I know I’ll inevitably fail at both – what’s that saying… You can’t fail if you don’t try? That’s right kids, adopt that one early.), but I’m gonna do it right the next time. And you should too because this stuff is magical when added to Barrett’s Shrimp ‘n Grits.

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
3 cups of uncooked shrimp shells (which means you can use the peeled shrimp for some other nummy goodness such as Peg’s Destin Shrimp)
2 small onions, chopped
2 small carrots, chopped
2 celery stalk,s chopped
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
4 thyme sprigs
6 cups of cold water
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
splash of white wine

1. Heat oil in medium stockpot over medium high heat.  Add shrimp, onions, carrots and celery. Cook until the shrimp shells are bright pink, about 15 minutes.
2. Once the shells are cooked add the tomato paste.  Add water, bay leaf, peppercorns, and thyme sprigs.  Bring almost to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer gently for 20 minutes.
3. Strain in to a container. Let cool.  This recipe makes 3 cups, which seems like a lot, but you can freeze it up to 6 months.

Chinese Dumpling Soup

We made this last night for Paul’s 72nd birfday, and it was 100% delish. I even stepped up my grommet level and poured the excess broth from the bowls back into my tupperware to keep. Nat and Molly then told me they can’t wait to come visit me when I’m old because if I’m doing creepy stuff like that now I’ll probably hit record high levels of insane in my old age. Moral of the story: this broth is the shiz, it’s super easy, and it’s even better the day after, so make some.

8 cups low-sodium chicken or mushroom broth
1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and julienned or cut into match sticks
1 tablespoon soy sauce, preferably dark
1/4 cup Shaohsing rice cooking wine or pale dry sherry (I used white wine and it was a totally acceptable sub)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar/or 2 tablespoons black vinegar
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
Pinch of salt
2 carrots, thinly sliced on the bias- about 1 cup
24 frozen Chinese dumplings, pork, shrimp, or 1 pound package
3 scallions (white and green parts), thinly sliced
4 cups bag baby spinach
chopped cilantro (optional)
Asian chili paste (optional)

1. Put the broth, ginger, soy, wine, vinegar, sesame oil, sugar and salt in a soup pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Adjust the heat so the broth simmers and cooks to lightly flavor with ginger, about 10-15-minutes.
2. Add the carrots, and simmer until tender and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Just before serving, add the dumplings, cook for 3 minutes, stir in the scallions and spinach and cook until the greens wilt, about 1 minute. Divide among warm bowls and serve. Serve with chili sauce on the side if desired.

This recipe is from The Food Network. We used less spinach than called for and made extra broth because I am a soup-addict, so portion accordingly. We also had to go to the Pet Store (see Freshrita post if you don’t know what I’m talking about) to get dumplings, but it was well worth it. Cabbage, pork & mushroom dumplings are never a bad idea.

Spicy Tomato Rice (“Red Rice”)

Dot gave me The Lee Brothers Southern Cookbook for Christmas a few years ago and, as sometimes happens when you get cookbooks (or enormous soup pots or aprons) very often, it hasn’t gotten its fair share of airtime.

So yesterday I did what any rational 28-year-old woman would do: I threw a hissy fit and insisted we incorporate it into our dinner despite the fact we already had plenty of food and we had no idea whether or not it would be good.

As is seldom the case, my age-inappropriate behavior  paid off. This dish had a lot of flavor yet was not difficult to make (though I did read the recipe 10+ times because my mind was only working at half-speed yesterday). I think The Chef dosed it with some extra red pepper flakes which gave it great heat.

I’d even be willing to stake RipleyPickles’ name on this one because I totally don’t care about rice, but this was legitimately nummy. I’m thinking next time we amp it up with andouille and take it to main-dish status.

4 slices bacon, cut into small dice (kitchen shears make this process much easier)
1 yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1.5 cups long-grain rice
2.5 cups chicken broth
28-oz. can stewed tomatoes
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (+ more if ya nasty)
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt & pepper
Cavendar’s or Tony Chachere’s to taste (because my tastebuds are completely whacked by MSG-goodness, so season at your own risk)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a food processor puree tomatoes, crushed red pepper flakes, paprika and seasoning. Set aside.
3. In a large skillet fry bacon, remove with slotted spoon and set aside.
4. Saute onion and garlic in bacon fat over medium heat until soft. Add rice and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add 2 cups broth and mix.
5. Add tomato mixture to skillet and bring to a boil then reduce and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes.
6. Make sure rice is still slightly “soupy” (add extra broth if necessary), and transfer to oven. Bake for 25 minutes or until liquid has been absorbed.
7. Stir in bacon and serve. Nummo.