crucible of ennui

Thank sweet baby jesus Cat went back to school today.

Don’t get me wrong, I am so lucky to be able to hang with my babygirl. She is so freaky cool - she has a llama named Schnitzel and speaks her own language. We we play games, she always gets to be the princess and I get to be the evil queen with nasty intent (woohoo!!). I get to do all kinds of fun things I never got to do as a kid - Shrinky Dinks, Sea Monkeys, and MouseTrap. Wow. We colored, played video games, watched all kinds of movies and cartoons, jumped rope, and on and on and on.

I think she was starting to get fed up with me. She shouted “HOORAY” Friday night when I reminded her she was back to school in a few days. Hooray indeed.

Enough with the bitching, here’s a cookie recipe.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups finely chopped pecans or walnuts
1/4 cup sugar
1 butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla

Powdered sugar

Heat oven to 325°F. Throw it all into your mixer EXCEPT the powdered sugar. Beat at low speed, scrape that bowl, mixity-mix.

Here’s the key to these - they have to be bite-sized. NO BIGGER THAN 2 SMALL BITES! Why? Because these are so f’n light and crispy, they crumble under the slightest pressure. So - get an appropriate sized amount of dough and roll into a ball. Place 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 18 to 25 minutes or until very lightly browned.

Cool 5 minutes; roll in powdered sugar while still warm. THEN LET THEM COOL COMPLETELY!!! and roll them again in more powdered sugar.

Each batch makes 60ish cookies. I had to make 5 batches of these for Christmas this year. They go that fast. Quick make them now!

I love the divinely simple. My chicken pot pie is just that. So stupid easy for the stellar results you get. Seriously. I get requests for these at the holidays and if I have a special dinner planned - this is always an option. I’m amazed every time I make one and am tempted to add some spice or herb, but resist the urge. Why mess with perfection. This recipe can be tweaked according to the preferences of the diners - which is why I rock out loud.

6 tablespoons butter - DO IT
1 cup onions
1/2 cup celery
Salt & Pepper to taste
NOTE: I add in a dash of cayenne pepper to lift it up a bit. It doesn’t even add heat, just flavor…
6 tablespoons flour
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup half and half
2 cups potatoes - mashed, diced, sweet, idaho, red, whatevs.
1 cup peas
1 cup carrots
2 cups chicken (or turkey)
2 tablespoons parsley
1 pie crust - make it easy on yourself; get a Pillsbury one from the fridge case.

Before you start - let’s make this as easy as possible. I like to use those little tiny smasher potatoes. They cook quickly and that’s the point of my cooking. I buy a pre-roasted chicken from the deli. I don’t have time to roast my own chicken… and most of the time it’s cheaper to buy it cooked from the store. Peas and carrots - I buy a bag of frozen diced combined and throw in two cups - easy peasy lemon squeezy. And the pie crust - again, get one from the refrigerator case, the come two to a box (which is important for effect later).

Okies. I like to start in a HUGE m-f’n stainless steel skillet. Melt butter, throw in onions and celery. Note: here is where you can start to customize your recipe. My husband hates celery - I leave it out and throw in a cup of mushrooms. Pretty much the key here is to add the veggies that need to be sautéed a bit.

Add salt and pepper. I use kosher salt and fresh ground pepper cause I’m a cooking snob and look down on table salt and pre-ground pepper (what a bitch). Hate Cayenne? Add some rosemary - I’ve been dying to do this, but the man isn’t too fond of an overpowering rosemary flavor. Maybe sage or thyme… all I’m sayin’ is… add the herb so the flavor can develop while the roux cooks/gets some color. Add that flour and cook on medium stirring when it looks like it needs to be stirred.

The rest goes QUICKLY - so make sure everything is cut and ready to throw in at this point. Whisk in 2 cups chicken stock. It thickens up pretty quickly, so turn the heat down to medium (if it isn’t already). When it gets nice and thick (mmmmm), add in the half and half. Stir until this thickens too.

Once you have soupy perfection - throw the rest of everything in. Potatoes, chicken, veggies, parsley. Stir until all smooth and perfect. Pour into a casserole. I don’t bother with a bottom crust. Bottom crusts are for amateurs who feel they have to make up for something with extra crust. Whatevs.

Unroll one of the crusts and make pretty on top. Cut some vent holes.

EXTRA CREDIT: take a cookie cutter to the other crust and cut out some pretty shapes and lay them on the other crust. It looks like you went to crazy effort and you can play it up.

Serve and bask in the glory.

Cat: Mommy, dinner is extra yummy tonight. It feels like it’s giving my tongue kisses.

Okay - I think the sauce recipe I posted earlier wasn’t exactly correct. This time this is exactly how I made it. When I was done I had four 4-gallon bags of sauce to use, freeze or wrestle in.

3 cans of crushed tomatoes. The cans I mean are the HUGE 6lb 6oz cans you buy at a warehouse or Smart & Final.
1 x-large onion. like the size of a newborn head. Dice it up.
4 cloves garlic
1 lb each ground beef and ground pork
2 tbsp each parsley and basil
2 tsp worcester sauce
10 drops tabasco
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Let me just copy and paste the instructions:

If you like mushrooms, decide how much you want in your sauce, then at the very beginning add them to the oil and start browning them just before you add the onions. Remember not to over cook the onions - just till they turn translucent. So - olive oil, onions, garlic - sauté until translucent. Then add the rest of everything, stir and simmer.

If you’re looking to make a meat sauce - decide how heavy a meat sauce you want. I grew up with heavy meat sauces. The kind that held the spoon suspended upright in the pot. This is a great way to use leftover chicken or steak. Before you put your sauce pot on the stove take your meat and begin slicing it very thin with the grain. Then cut it into strips, about 1 inch long and 1/4 inch thick. Place in sauce pot with olive oil and cook until everything just gets done. Then add the rest of the oil, onions and garlic. Then the rest of the ingredients and simmer simmer simmer. Like overnight kinda simmer. I usually start this in the evening so it can become fabulous overnight.

That’s it. And it was perfect.

I took off a Monday early in December and went to Christina’s house to make meatballs. When we were done I think the final count was 180. I used mine for Christmas dinner this year. I made a lasagna and had sauce and meatballs on the side.

Then I rocked out with some mad baking skillz and made Pecan Tassies, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, and Russian Tea Cakes.  You know I usually suck at baking, right?  As Nana would say, the worm has turned. Or maybe it was just a Christmas miracle.

Before I get to the soup, Catherine is sick. Babylove has the flu and is feeling pretty low. She goes between the living room and her room resting and reading and watching a movie or two.

Peggy inspired me with her lentil soup and I dug around and realized I had everything to make my own so here goes.

1 lb lentils - I ended up using greenish ones.
8 cups liquid - I used 4 cups beef stock, 4 cups water
16 oz diced crushed smashed pureed whatever tomatoes
1 medium onion chopped
1 cup carrots - I had a bag of julienned carrots left over and just chopped them up a bit
BACON!!! okay… use anywhere from 2 slices (wimp) to 6 slices of BACON!!!
3 tbsp parsley
2 tbsp wine vinegar
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp pepper
1 clove garlic - minced
2 1/2 tsp salt - I didn’t add salt since I used beef stock. If you use all water, add the salt

Saweet - lentils don’t need to be soaked beforehand so rinse them and throw them into the crock pot. Yep. Crock pot. Add liquid, tomatoes, BACON!!!, everything else.

I’m going for 4 hours on high. I may add an additional 2 hours on medium/low if it needs it. So far it smells pretty good. I had some cheddar topped sourdough in the freezer that I pulled out.

I hope this works and Cat eats a bit. She hasn’t eaten today. She’s been able to keep her fluid intake up and everything, but she’s sick. And Mongo won’t leave her side. He’s such a good and loyal boy.

December always starts out with Tamale Weekend and it was totally the best ever this year. My favorite tamales were Peg’s Poblano chile, corn and cheese one. Second were my green chile chicken tamales. I still have a few left to enjoy later this month. I horde them, like precious nuts to a greedy squirrel.

This year I felt pretty confident we knew what we were doing.

This Green Chile & Shredded Chicken filling could be used for burritos or soft tacos or taco salad (you see where I’m going with this…) And the recipe is stupid easy. You know I’m lazy and found a way to do this with minimal effort.

4 cups shredded chicken
6 tablespoons chili powder
4 tablespoons chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cilantro
1 small can chopped green chiles or 1/2 cup

Seriously - pick up 2 roasted chickens from the deli area at the market. Pick them chicken, shred that meat and you will have 4 cups shredded chicken. Mix all ingredients well and set aside. The filling can be made 2 to 3 days ahead and kept in the refrigerator. The flavor is amazing.

I think my favorite part of Tamale Day is the working women dynamic. The stories and jokes fly, loud cackling. Women being women. I think that next year I’m going to give up manning the stove and work more on assembly. I may have control issues with it, so I’m going to step back and let someone else go for it.

I love feeling the masa in my hands and wrapping the tamales. I always wrap mine con amore (and a little bit of spite).

I’ve said it before, but the Armenian deli in my office building makes the absolutely best Red Lentil Soup. Today since it’s raining and cold, I decided to treat myself and get lunch upstairs. Each bite, I sit and try to separate out flavors in hopes of recreating the soup at home. It’s just too perfect… flavor, texture, everything.

I bought some lentils at the store this week. They’re not red, kinda greenish. I’m thinking of starting with chicken broth, spices and some roasted red peppers. Make finish it off with a little heavy cream.

I’m hoping for something wonderful. But since I’m improvising, it may be disasterous.

I’m excited about the tamales on the menu for this year’s big day!!

Sweet Red Chile Chicken
Green Chile and Shredded Pork
Spicy Shredded Beef
Green Chile and Shredded Chicken
Sweet Corn, Poblano Chile and Cheese

The for sweet tamales we have:

Dried Cherry, Pecan and Bitter Chocolate
Pineapple
Pumpkin, Raisin and Nut

It’s going to be a busy day.

BTW - while slicing onions for this, I cut the tip of my finger off. I hope my bitter flesh compliments the flavor of BACON!!!

Corn Chowder with BACON!!!

8 cups (2 lbs-ish) frozen corn kernels, thawed
3 cups chicken broth
6 slices BACON!!! Heck. Make it 12. Cook the whole freakin’ package. What do I care?
1 onion, chopped fine
2 lbs russet potatoes, peeled, cubed into 1/2 inch
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp fresh thyme, minced - if all you have is dried - go with 1/4 tsp.
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
salt & pepper

Puree 4 cups corn and 2 cups broth until smoove. Fry that BACON!!! until crisp. Remove to paper towels. Cook onion and potatoes in BACON!!! fat until onion is softened.

Whisk in pureed corn mixture, cream, thyme, cayenne and remaining broth. Simmer until potatoes are tender. Stir in remaining corn and cook until corn is heated. Season and serve with BACON!!! on top.

One skillet. No foolies.

1 package Italian sausage (like five sausages)
1 onion diced fine
1-2 red bell peppers
8 oz penne pasta (like 2 1/2 cups dry)
3 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup white wine
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz broccoli cut up into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup parmesean cheese
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp fresh chopped basil

In a pretty big skillet cook the sausage, casings removed. Once browned, remove from skillet to drain. Cook onions and peppers in sausage fat until softened. Throw in the dry pasta to toast a bit with the veggies for a few minutes. Add garlic and pepper flakes, stir a few times. Add wine, broth and cream. Cover and bring to a boil. Stir and bring to a simmer until pasta just starts to soften (like 8-10 minutes). Arrange broccoli on top of everything and cover. Cook until pasta is done (probably another 8-10 minutes). Off heat stir in parmesean cheese, vinegar, basil and sausage. Throw in a bowl and serve.

Done. One pan clean-up.