Iron Chef Extension

Congratulations to everyone who submitted a recipe for the first Iron Chef Challenge. Iron Chef Camille, Iron Chef Lena, and Iron Chef Kevin all deserve a round of applause for their fantastic cuisine creations.

Today was the last day to get in your recipes for Battle Potato. However, I am going to be the first to break my own rule and turn my recipe in late. Haha. It's good to be a moderator! Granted, I've already started my recipe but it's a 24 hour project and won't be completed until tomorrow. So, for those Iron Chefs who still want to submit for Battle Potato, you can have until the end of the weekend to submit your recipe and I'm going to shift the timing for future challenges so that they can end on a weekend instead of weeknight for those chef's whose weekday schedules are a little tight. (Not that I have any excuse right now!)

Gnocchi with Venetian Sauce

Greetings,

Potatoes were an interesting choice. I had fun trying to figure out what I could do that was simple, but all from scratch. In general I try to cook with the freshet ingredients as possible. I think it makes the dishes that much better.

When I first started to make gnocchi I thought it was going to be difficult. It is really very simple. As a side note, the dough doesn't keep very well after you make it. I tried. Oops.

As far a sauce goes, I don't use store bought any more. It is too easy to make your own, and more fun. This sauce is best served the day you make it, but my other red sauces you can freeze. Well, enough talk here it is.

Gnocchi with Venetian Sauce

2 Medium Sized Russet Potatoes

¼ cup flour

Pinch Nutmeg

Bring pot of water to a boil. Scrub potatoes and boil until fork tender, around 30-45 min. Drain, peel and put the potatoes into a large bowl, careful their hot. Make sure you get all the skin and discolored pieces out otherwise your gnocchi will look odd. Stir in the flour and the nutmeg. You are going for an easy to handle dough. However, too much flour will render the potatoes tasteless. Kneed the dough on a lightly floured surface for a couple of minutes. Break off a small piece and roll into a cylinder. Cut it into 1 inch pieces. If you want you can roll the pieces on the back of a fork to get the lines, but it will not effect the flavor. Place the pieces on wax paper until ready to cook.

In the meantime bring another pot of water to boil. There should be enough water for the gnocchi to swim and not touch the others. When boiling, drop a few bits of gnocchi into the water. They will cook faster than you think. Leave them in the water for about a minute after they have risen to the surface. Scoop out with a slotted spoon onto plates.

Sauce:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tbls butter

4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped

1 large shallot, finely chopped

Crushed Red Pepper to taste

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup veggie stock

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (I use Muir Glen)

Handful fresh basil, rolled and sliced

Heat a sauté pan with 2-3 tbls olive oil and the butter over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds. Add red pepper flakes and shallots. Saute for 2-3 minutes. Add wine and reduce by half, about 2 minutes. Add stock and tomatoes. Saute until sauce is as thick as you desire, 3-5 minutes or so.

Spoon sauce over gnocchi and top with basil, fresh ground black pepper, kosher salt, and fresh Parmesan cheese.

Slainte,

Kevin

Hearty and Heart Healthy

Yesterday was a dismal dreary day with lots of rain and a freezing cold house with a heater on the fritz. It made for perfect timing to try out this new soup recipe I've been meaning to get to for a couple of weeks now. I got everything started around 4:30 so by the time Don walked in the house around 5:00 he got hit with all of the awesome aromas of the smoky bacon, caramelized onions, roasted chicken, and reduced port broth. Served along side some garlicky lemon steamed broccoli spears and the fresh banana bread I baked that day, this meal really hit the spot. Healthy though it is, do not be fooled. The wild rice in this recipe makes it more filling than you can possibly imagine. And it was a very nice and subtle change to have a chicken soup recipe with a red wine base for once. This is definitely going in the folder of make again recipes. I can't wait to have the leftovers for lunch today. Additionally, I have enough leftover meat from the roast chicken I bought for this that I can use it to make my barbecue chicken pizza recipe again tonight. Hooray for double duty meals!

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup




6 cups water
2 cups uncooked wild rice
3 thick-cut bacon slices, chopped (about 3 ounces)
5 cups thinly sliced red onion (about 1 large)
1/4 cup port or other sweet red wine
6 cups Brown Chicken Stock
3 cups shredded roasted chicken breast (about 1 pound)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Bring 6 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan, and stir in wild rice. Reduce heat; simmer, partially covered, 35 minutes or until rice is tender. Drain and set aside.

Place bacon in an 8-quart stockpot over medium heat. Cook 10 minutes or until bacon begins to crisp, stirring frequently. Add onion; increase heat to medium-high. Cook 10 minutes or until golden brown, stirring frequently. Add port, and simmer 8 minutes or until port evaporates. Add stock; simmer 5 minutes. Stir in rice, chicken, and remaining ingredients, and simmer 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 1/4 cups)

CALORIES 345 (24% from fat); FAT 9.3g (sat 3.1g,mono 3.8g,poly 1.6g); PROTEIN 27.5g; CHOLESTEROL 63mg; CALCIUM 36mg; SODIUM 283mg; FIBER 3.9g; IRON 1.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 37g

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2003

Brown and Mushy

Question: What's brown and mushy and has spots all over?
Answer: An overripe banana.

One of the many things I admire about my friend Katy is her economical and spontaneous creativity in the kitchen for creating pantry recipes (a.k.a. using up items she already has on hand.) While I am great at hunting for recipes and good at following a plan, I am terrible at letting leftover items go to waste that do not have a pre-designated purpose. So I am very proud of myself this week for taking three rotten bananas and turning them into the ultimate treat -- Banana Bread -- instead of throwing them in the trash like I normally would.

Below is the quick and simple recipe I followed courtesy of Simply Recipes. The banana bread made a delicious accompaniment to the soup I served for dinner last night and a nice breakfast treat this morning served with hot coffee. Next time I think I will add some chopped walnuts for a little extra crunch.

Banana Bread

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Simply Recipes http://www.simplyrecipes.com

Potatoe & onion soup

As soon as Cindy mentioned her Iron Chef challenge, I had two thoughts - she has waaaay too much free time ;) and secondly, the much happier one - I can do that and I know exactly what I'm cooking!

Since I'm lucky enough to go through the Swedish school system when home-economics actually included the textbook including lots of quick and easy recipes for two, this recipe is from my home-economics book. About 30 minutes from beginning to end.

Potatoe & Onion Soup

Ingredients
1/2 leek or 1 yellow onion
1/2 tbs margarine or butter
3 medium size potatoes
2 cups of water
1 bullion cube (I use Knorr's vegetarian bullion cube).
salt (optional)
pepper (optional)
2 tbs cut parsley or leek for decoration (optional)

• Peel and rinse the potatoes; clean and rinse the leek. Cut into thin slices.
• Melt the margarine in a pot (about 3 quarts size).
• Fry the onion in the melted margarine (just for a little bit so that the onion is soft).
• Add potatoes, water, bullion cube, stir and bring to a boil.
• Turn down the heat and allow the soup to simmer for about 15 minutes under lid.
• When the soup is done, add salt and pepper to taste, whisk the soup to break up the potatoes.
• Decorate with either parsley or leek (optional).

This has been a staple recipe for me ever since I moved out of the college dorms, so by now I just eyeball this ... if I have too much potatoes, I just add more water. I always use yellow onion, I'd like it better that way.

Tonight I just used half a yellow onion and four potatoes and it turned out great. I always skip the salt, but always add a little pepper to spice it up. I'm pretty sure it would be OK to substitute the water and the bullion cube with two cups of chicken broth, but I have never tried that. Added bonus, leftovers taste great for lunch the next day.

Easy Chicken Dinner

Tonight I meet your challenge, Cindy! I have used to potatoes in tonight's dinner. I'll admit, it's not a new recipe but it's one of my favorites. The bonus is it's easy, super healthy, and makes the house smell oh so good.

I volunteered for a KCTS fund drive a few years ago with my Mom and Dad, and they had a huge pile of cookbooks on clearance sale! I picked up a few, including "Healthy Cooking For Two" and there are some amazing recipes in there, enough for just 2 people should you have limited food or are single and don't want leftovers for 4 nights. The following is probably one of my top 3 picks from the entire book simply because it's so easy and tastes so good. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Chicken Dinner in a Pocket

Ingredients:

aluminum foil
2 boneless chicken breasts halves, skinned
1 medium potato, sliced (approx. 6oz)
4 slices onion (which I left out)
2 small carrots, sliced
1/8 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/8 teaspoon salt
dash black pepper
dash Louisiana Hot Sauce (which I leave out)

Using 2 layers, make 2 stacks of aluminum foil large enough to wrap ingredients and fold over. Place 1 breast on each stack of foil; divide potato, onion, carrots, dill, salt, pepper, and hot sauce evenly between the 2 stacks (I eyeball the seasonings). Bring sides of 1 sheet of foil up around the chicken and vegetables folding over to seal. Then bring sheet of foil up in opposite direction, folding over to seal. Repeat for second dinner. When ready to cook, preheat grill*. Reduce flame to medium-high; place on hot grill about 6 inches from coals, grill for about 25 minutes, turn and continue to cook about 20 minutes or until chicken and vegetables are tender.

*Can be baked in a 400-degree oven for 45-50 minutes.

Yield: 2 servings

1 serving contains:

Cal: 238kc Prot: 29g Fat: 3g Carb: 22g Fiber: 4g Chol: 73mg Sodium: 239mg

No citrus for this cook!

Since this is a cooking and thus food based blog, I shall spare the details. But be warned that my future recipes, at least for the next month, will be citrus free. This includes no tomatoes, limes, lemons, onions (I can only have them if they are well cooked), and I'm also supposed to avoid chocolate and caffeine...hah! One list at at time folks.

I must say I didn't realize that tomatoes are in practically every pre-cooked fast-food at the grocery store so this will be a challenge. This leaves out most foods where I get my natural vitamin C plus most Mexican and Italian dishes - my favorite kinds! Alas, I will be challenged in my tiny-kitchen to come up with non-tummy-abrasive dishes that are still tasty.

Stay tuned!