Beef Chili wtih Kidney Beans

My new favorite cookbook is The New Best Recipe from the editor's of Cook's Illustrated. It may not be for everybody, since it lacks any colorful food photos, but I love the extended explanations of the process undertaken to find all of their "best" recipes. Their directions are extremely detailed and clear and it's a great reference for those wanting to learn cooking techniques, from basic to fairly advanced.

This chili recipe came out wonderfully and was even better the next day!

Beef Chili with Kidney Beans
Recipe Courtesy of The New Best Recipe from the editor's of Cook's Illustrated

Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients...

2 tablespoons vegetable or corn oil
2 medium onions, chopped fine
1 medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
6 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 pounds 85 percent lean ground beef
2 (15 ounce) cans dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (28-ounce) can tomato puree
Salt
2 limes, cut into wedges

Directions...

1. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add the onions, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, pepper flakes, oregano, and cayenne and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high and add half the beef. Cook, breaking up the chunks with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink and just beginning to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the remaining beef and cook, breaking up the chunks with the wooden spoon, until no longer pink, 3 to 4 minutes.

2. Add the beans, tomatoes, tomato puree, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, and stirring occasionally, for 1 hour. Remove the cover and continue to simmer 1 hour longer, stirring occasionally (if the chili begins to stick to the bottom of the pot, stir in 1/2 cup water and continue to simmer), until the beef is tender and the chili is dark, rich, and slightly thickened. Adjust the seasonsing with additional salt to taste. Serve with he lime wedges and condiments, if desired.

**I garnished with cheddar cheese, scallions, and sour cream. Delicious!

Baked Pastina Casserole

It's time for some much-needed updating! I've been doing plenty of cooking, but have found that I'm a little lazy about updating...

This dish is from Giada's Everyday Pasta cookbook. It turned out well and is definitely a nice week-night go-to meal. It was also great as left-overs!

Baked Pastina Casserole
Recipe Courtesy of Giada DeLaurentiis from Everyday Pasta

Ingredients...

1 cup pastina (or any small pasta - I used fusilli/corkscrews)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup cubed chicken breast (1-inch cubes)
1/2 cup diced onion (about 1/2 small onion)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut in small pieces, plus more for buttering the baking dish

Directions...

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees farenheit

Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Drain the pasta and transfer to a large mixing bowl.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes. Add the onion and garlic, stirring to combine, and cook until the onion is soft and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes more. Add the chicken mixture to the bowl with the drained pasta, then add the canned tomatoes and their juice, mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.

Butter an 8x8x2-inch baking dish and spread the pasta in the prepared dish. In a small bowl, mix together the bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the top of the pasta. Dot the top with small bits of butter. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Angel Hair Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

Well, it's been over a month since I've posted! I haven't done a ton of cooking in the last month. December is a crazy month for me at work and that in combination with holiday shopping hasn't left me with much time. But now that I've had a bit of vacation, I'm ready to go again!

This recipe comes from Everyday Pasta by Giada DeLaurentiis, a book which I received from my husband for Christmas. It has a lot of great looking recipes and I intend cook each one of them at some point. I chose this recipe first because it looked fairly simple and I had just gone to Trader Joe's and picked up some goat cheese. By the way, if you have a Trader Joe's near you and you're as frustrated with I am at the prices of specialty cheeses at your local grocery store, you must visit! I got a 10 oz log of goat cheese for about $3.50. Normally, I pay that much for 5 oz at my regular grocery store. Unfortunately, the closest Trader Joe's isn't convenient enough for a weekly visit, so it's a special treat for me to make a visit! Anyway, this dish turned out to be really delicious. It will definitely be making another appearance at our dinner table.

Angel Hair Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Goat Cheese
Recipe courtesy of: Everyday Pasta by Giada DeLaurentiis

Ingredients...

• 1 (10 oz) jar sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, chopped (oil reserved)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 pound angel hair pasta
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3-4 ounces soft fresh goat cheese, coarsely crumbled

Directions...

Heat three tablespoons of the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the wine and chopped sun-dried tomatoes and simmer until the liquid reduces by half, about 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Add the pasta and parsley to the tomato mixture and toss to coat, adding some of the reserved pasta water to moisten. Season the pasta with salt and pepper. Mound the pasta in bowls, sprinkle with the goat cheese, and serve.

Potato Leek Soup

This is one of my husband's favorite recipes and a really nice creamy soup for a chilly fall evening. I have to say that cleaning and chopping the leeks is not really my favorite thing, but I suffer through it for the sake of this delicious meal!

I did make a couple of changes to this recipe. Instead of using the "bouquet garni" I used ground black pepper, and dried herbs. I suppose if you didn't want little specks in your white soup, you could go for Emeril's technique, but I didn't care. Also, I left out the white pepper because I didn't have any and I also left out the cream. Once you blend the soup, I think it's creamy enough without.

Potato and Leek Soup
Recipe courtesy of Emeril Lagasse/Food Network

Ingredients...

• 1 large or 2 small leeks, about 1 pound
• 2 bay leaves
• 20 black peppercorns
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 strips bacon, chopped
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1 to 1 1/4 pounds russet potatoes, diced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup creme fraiche or heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons snipped chives

Directions...

Trim the green portions of the leek and, using 2 of the largest and longest leaves, make a bouquet garni by folding the 2 leaves around the bay leaves, peppercorns and thyme. Tie into a package-shaped bundle with kitchen twine and set aside. (Alternately, tie 2 leek leaves, bay leaves, peppercorns and thyme together in a piece of cheesecloth.)

Using a sharp knife, halve the white part of the leek lengthwise and rinse well under cold running water to rid the leek of any sand. Slice thinly crosswise and set aside.

In a large soup pot over medium heat, melt the butter and add the bacon. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is very soft and has rendered most of its fat. Add the chopped leeks and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Add the reserved bouquet garni, chicken stock, potatoes, salt and white pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are falling apart and the soup is very flavorful.

Remove the bouquet garni and, working in batches, puree the soup in a food processor or blender. (Alternately, if you own an immersion blender, puree the soup directly in the pot.) Stir in the creme fraiche and adjust the seasoning, if necessary. Serve immediately, with some of the snipped chives sprinkled over the top of each bowl of soup.

Pesto Tomato Pizza

As I think I've mentioned before, Friday nights is pizza night at our place. Nine times out of ten we made Hawaiian pizza, but every once in a while I try to change it up. This pizza was a little heavy due to the very oily store-bought pesto, but still tasted quite delicious! It would probably be better with homemade if you can get your hands on any decent basil this time of year.


Pesto Tomato Pizza
Recipe courtesy of me and the hubby

Ingredients...

• pizza dough
  
• fresh mozzarella cheese
• pesto sauce
• 1/2 red onion
• 2 tomatoes

Directions...

Roll out pizza dough and precook in a cookie sheet for about 15 minutes at 375 degrees. Spread pesto sauce across crust, top with sliced tomatoes, chopped red onion, and sliced mozzarella cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and starting to brown.

Chicken Enchiladas with Chili Gravy

I really like enchiladas, but I've been wanting to try a different sauce than the tomato based kind. I got this recipe from another blog, Smells Like Home, and thought it looked yummy! I really loved the shredded chicken mixture sooo much better than ground beef. Although the chili sauce was a nice change, I think it ended up being maybe a little too much chili powder for my liking. I might experiment with the flavors a little more next time and tone it down a bit.

Chicken Enchiladas with Chili Gravy
Recipe Courtesy of Tara from "Smells Like Home"

Ingredients...

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• 1/2 a green bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups chili gravy (recipe follows)
• 4 flour tortillas **I used 5 and had plenty of filling**
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions...

1. Preheat oven to 350. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
2. Add onion and peppers and cook for about 5 min. Add shredded chicken and stir. Add salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Remove from pan and set aside. Using the same pan, make the chili gravy as follows.

Chili Gravy

Ingredients...

• 1/4 cup lard **I used vegetable oil**
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1-1/2 tsp powdered garlic
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano (Mexican oregano is preferred if it’s available)
• 2 T chili powder (either homemade or a dark brand such as Gebhardt’s or Whole Foods or McCormick)
• 2 cups chicken broth (or water)
  

Directions...

1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the flour and continue stirring for 3 to 4 minutes, or until it makes a light brown roux.
2. Add all the dry ingredients and continue to cook for 1 minute, constantly stirring and blending ingredients. Add chicken broth or water, mixing and stirring until the sauce thickens. Turn heat to low and let sauce simmer for 15 minutes. **It took about 8 minutes for me** Add water to adjust the thickness. Makes 2 cups.
3. Once the chili gravy is done, add 1/2 a cup to the chicken mixture and stir. Spoon the chicken mixture into the flour tortilla shells and roll up. Spread another half cup of the sauce in the bottom of a baking dish and place the rolled tortillas in the dish. Top with the remaining cup of sauce and shredded cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 20-25 min. **I served with some sour cream**

Menu Planning 11/18-11/24

Sunday

Lunch - Leftovers
Dinner - Grilled Tuna and Cheese, Green Beans

Monday

Broiled Tilapia
Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Tuesday

Chicken in a mushroom pan sauce
Sauteed baby spinach

Wednesday-Friday

At Parents' for Thanksgiving

Saturday

Left-overs or Pasta