Roasted Tomato and Black Bean Soup

I found this recipe in Readers Digest (11/2009). It is from Ellie Krieger's So Easy: Luscious, Healthy Recipes for Every Meal of the Week.

7 medium tomatoes, quartered
1 large onion, cut into large pieces
3 garlic cloves peeled
2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
5 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 (15.5 oz) cans black beans (low sodium)
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp Tabasco Sauce
1/4 cup non fat sour cream
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Preheat oven to 375F. Toss tomatoes, onion, and garlic with oil, 1/2t salt, 1/4t pepper in a large bowl, then transfer to baking sheet. Roast until garlic has softened, onions have browned, and tomatoes have collapsed, 40 minutes, stirring once after 20 minutes.

Transfer roasted vegetable mixture to a 4 quart saucepan. Add broth, beans, cumin, chili powder, and remaining s&p. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and blend until smooth with immersion blender. Stir in hot sauce. Garnish each serving with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cilantro.

Pulled Pork on the Gas Grill

The Patriots season opener was yesterday and I wanted to make some tailgate style food to watch the game with but didn't want to heat up the house. I thought I would try to do a pulled pork on the grill and it came out great. The trick is to cook with low indirect heat for a long time (about 3 hours) and to properly season the meat.

I use a Boston Butt for this dish (it's from the shoulder). Either bone in or boneless is fine.

3-4 pound Boston Butt Roast

Spice Rub:

2 tablespoons Paprika
2 tablespoons Dark Brown Sugar

1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1 teaspoon Dry Mustard

1 teaspoon Onion Powder

2 teaspoons Kosher Salt

1 teaspoon Chili Powder

Mix the spice rub ingredients and rub onto all surfaces of the roast. Let the roast sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile prepare the grill for indirect cooking. Basically light just one burner and close the lid to preheat the grill. Place the roast on the grill making sure it not over the flame and close the lid. The temperature of the grill with the lid closed should be about 275 - 300. Let the pork cook for about 1 1/2 hours. Make sure you monitor to make sure that the dripping fat does not flare up. If you are doing it right there should be very little smoke. After the initial cooking transfer the roast to a foil pan, baste with vinegar based BBQ sauce (recipe follows) and cover tightly with foil. Place back on indirect heat, cover grill and cook for another 1 1/2 hours). The pork will be done when you poke it with a fork and it shreds easily. Remove pork from grill and let rest, covered, for 20 - 30 minutes. Using 2 forks shred the pork. Toss the pulled pork with a bit more of the BBQ sauce to season. Serve on your favorite roll or by itself with more BBQ sauce on the side.

Mid–South Carolina Mustard Sauce

Makes about 2½ cups

1 cup cider vinegar

1 cup vegetable oil

6 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons honey

4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

Ground black pepper

Mix all of the ingredients, including black pepper to taste, together in a medium bowl. (The sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for several days.)

Ginger Chicken with Broccoli

This is one of my regular during the week go to recipes. It's easy and quick to make and it scratches my "Chinese food" itch while sparing the excess calories and sodium. This will make about 4 servings.

1# boneless, skinless chicken breast - 1" cubes
1 T sesame oil
1 T soy sauce
1 T rice wine vinegar
2 clove garlic minced
1 T fresh ginger, minced
Fresh ground pepper to taste

Combine the above ingrediants and let marinate for at least 30 minutes

Vegetables:
1 large onion - 1"dice
6 oz fresh mushrooms - sliced
2 carrots - peeled and sliced on angle
2 celery stalks - sliced on angle
1 # broccoli - florrets left whole and stens sliced on angle
2 cloves garlic - minced
1 T fresh ginger - minced
1 thai red chili pepper - sliced (thin red pepper, very hot)
1 T black bean paste
Sesame oil
Cooking spray
Brown Rice

Heat wok. Hit with cooking spray. Add chicken chunks with slotted spoon in a single layer on bottom of wok, reserve marinade. Allow to sear for 1 minute and then begin to stir fry. Cook chicken until browned well, remove from wok and keep warm.
Add sesame oil to wok. Add onion, cook 1 minute, add celery, carrot & mushrooms. Keep the heat high and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, and pepper and cook 1 minute. Add broccoli florettes and stems, fry 2 minutes. Add chicken back to wok with black bean paste and reserved marinade. Stir fry until all is incorperated.

Serve over brown rice.

Guido Olives

I made these for Thanksgiving this year and they were a hit. I got this recipe from the Food Networks Guy Fieri.

Ingredients
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup garlic cloves, cut in halves
1/4 red onion, julienned
1/4 red bell pepper, julienned
2 fresh rosemary sprigs, cut in 1/2
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
1 teaspoon peppercorns
1 cup large Spanish olives
1/2 cup black olives, seeded
1/2 cup kalamata or jumbo gaeta olives, seeded
1/4 cup whole pepperoncini
1/2 cup baby carrots
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Directions
In a medium saute pan over medium-low heat, add the olive oil, garlic, onions, red bell peppers, rosemary, chili flakes, and peppercorns. Let saute for 10 minutes.
Add olives, pepperoncini, carrots and vinegar, stir and simmer for 10 minutes over low heat. Serve warm.

Turkey Stock

Just like every year I was able to take the turkey carcass home from my folks Thanksgiving feast. Mom usually makes a 30 pound bird so this is an enormous carcass. I did something different this year and used my 7 quart crock pot to make the stock and am glad I did. I will never make this stock any other way. It came out perfectly.

Trim all of the usable meat off of the carcass (save for the soup you will want to make with this stock). Remove and discard all visible fat and skin. Place bones in crock pot, cover with cold water. Add a chopped onion, 2 chopped celery stalks, a chopped carrot, 3 bay leaves, and 1 TBSP whole peppercorns. Cover, set crock pot to high and cook for 6-7 hours. Strain stock and cool. When cool stock should be gelatinous. I usually remove the thin layer of fat on the top.

This freezes very well. This is the type of stock you want to have around when someone in the house has a cold or flu. Steve says that if you feed this stock to a person on their death bed than they will live another ten years. Enjoy it.

Chicken Tikka Masala

My friend Colleen asked that I post this recipe. I made it for a pot luck dinner with an Indian cuisine theme. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com and it came out great. I did not do anything to spare the calories (I used the heavy cream).

INGREDIENTS
1 cup yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
4 teaspoons salt, or to taste
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
4 long skewers

1 tablespoon butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
3 teaspoons salt, or to taste
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro


DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, 2 teaspoons cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, ginger, and 4 teaspoons salt. Stir in chicken, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat a grill for high heat.
Lightly oil the grill grate. Thread chicken onto skewers, and discard marinade. Grill until juices run clear, about 5 minutes on each side.
Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. Season with 2 teaspoons cumin, paprika, and 3 teaspoons salt. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes. Add grilled chicken, and simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter, and garnish with fresh cilantro.

Beef Bourguignon

I fired up the crock pot again this morning with this classic. Like beef stew, use a tougher cut of meat such as chuck or bottom round.

I make this in my 7 quart crock pot.

Trim 4 pounds of stew beef into 1 inch cubes. Get rid of visible fat.

Mix 1 cup of flour with several grinds of black pepper, 2 tsp. thyme, 2 tsp. granulated garlic, 2 tsp. paprika.

Heat 1/4 cup vegetable oil in a large skillet. Working in batches (this morning I did 4 batches in a 10 inch skillet) dredge beef in flour and place in skillet. Allow beef to sear for at least 1 minute on all sides. You should be developing a nice brown color. Transfer to crock pot and do next batch. Add more oil if needed. Do not overcrowd the skillet as you will not get the proper sear and the meat will "juice out".

When all the meat is cooked add 2 pounds of peeled pearl onions and 2 12 ounce packages of fresh mushrooms (sliced in half) to the skillet and saute for 2 minutes. Transfer to crock pot.

Deglaze the skillet with 1 bottle of red wine (Burgundy, Cabernet). Bring to a boil and add to crock pot. Add 3 cups of beef stock to crock pot. Add 4 cloves of garlic, diced, 2 tsp. thyme and 4 bay leaves. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours (more or less). Dish is done when the beef is very tender.

When finished cooking you can eat as is but I like to transfer most of the juice to a sauce pan and reduce (by 1/3) on the stove to concentrate the flavor. I also like to skim any fat that floats to the top. Then I add the reduced defatted juice back to the beef.

Tonight I am serving this with whole wheat egg noodles. Enjoy.