Heat It Up, but Don’t Lose Your Cool: Summer Chili

In my family’s house, summer chili usually refers to putting on the air conditioning. Alright, that was a groaner. But you learn to love it – chili in the summer I mean. Chili might have a reputation to show up on your table during bone-chillingly cold winter nights, where you need food to stick to your sides and keep you warm. Yet, with such a variety of ways to make chili why confine it to one season? Can’t one still enjoy the standard culmination of tomatoes, beans, beef and chili powder in the summer? I say, yes.

Tonight’s chili featured a special guest, orzo. And not just any orzo, but Parpardelle’s Southwestern Orzo, which incorporated Indian maize, black bean and chili flavors in the orzo.

Once I finally brought it to the table, I was salivating like a hungry dog waiting for a juicy bone. I’ve watched and stirred it over a smoldering burner for hours. Now that it’s in front of me, it’s like majesty in a bowl: bottom layer lined with orzo, on top is a mountain of chunky chili, followed by finely shredded cheddar cheese and sprinkled with cilantro. My spoon is buzzing in my hand, like a spaceship ready for takeoff. It crashes in the chili, but returns to home base with an amazing crew. Chili powder and cumin are the first to land on my taste buds, making way for the burst of juicy tomato. Then I am greeted by the heartier, filler characters: beans, beef and orzo. My mouth is happily getting to know everyone, when a warm undertone slips in: cayenne pepper. The heat it delivers is slight, not the kind to set your mouth on fire, but enough to rosy your cheeks. Now that’s a complete guest list.

Whether it’s your Fourth of July party, or just a neighborhood get-together, don’t cross chili off the list of possibilities.

Beef and Bean Chili with Orzo

Ingredients:

3 cans [28 oz] whole, peeled tomatoes, diced

1 lb ground beef

1 large onion, diced

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

½ green pepper, diced

About ¼ cup chili powder

About 1 tsp cumin

About 1 tsp cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper

1 can [15 oz] kidney beans

1 can [15 oz] plain baked beans

Instructions:

1. Dice tomatoes, cutting out pits and skins. Put into large pot over medium low heat.

2. Brown hamburger in skillet over medium high heat.

3. Drain off grease/fat into glass container. Place meat on newspaper and paper towels to soak up any remaining grease/fat.

4. Dice onions and peppers, mince garlic. Cook in same skillet over medium high heat until onions have turned translucent.

5. Add meat back in. Season with chili powder, cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper. [Make sure you taste!]

6. Add meat mixture into pot of tomatoes, along with the two cans of beans.

7. Cook for about 3 hours, or until thickened, over low to medium low heat, stirring at least every 30 minutes.

8. Chili should turn out thickened and chunky.

9. Can be stored overnight in fridge. Once served you can add anything from cheddar cheese, cilantro, saltine crackers, sour cream, orzo, spaghetti, or rice to it – it’s all delicious in its own unique way.

One Reason to Be a Jerk: Mexican Lime Beef Jerky

It’s like a thinly sliced, dried, portable steak. Once I perfect this recipe it shall be a staple for camping and hiking adventures to come [or maybe just cheap dates? hehe]. Either way this chewy, salty meat packs a punch and makes you work for your lunch.

I used this recipe from my June 2010 Food and Wine, which I did happen to enjoy, but it didn’t have that packaged appeal. For once, I wanted that! With so many recipes and variations, it seems that jerky is an art of trial and error. So I will try more attempts, using different methods and such, and will report back once I’m there.

Mexican Lime Jerky [Food and Wine June 2010]

Ingredients:

2 large jalapenos, halved, 1 seeded

1 c fresh lime juice

32 oz light Mexican beer [I used Corona]

½ c soy sauce

Coarse salt, for sprinkling before drying

Instructions:

1. Take about 2 lbs trimmed beef top round or bottom round, about 1½ in thick, and cut into ¼ in-thick slices, either with or against the grain.

2. In a mini food processor, puree the seeded jalapeno with ¼ c lime juice. Transfer puree into large bowl, stir in beer, soy sauce and unseeded jalapeno and remaining ¾ c lime juice.

3. Add beef to marinade; stir well to coat each slice.

4. Cover and refrigerate for 6 to 8 hours.

5. Preheat oven to 200˚.

6. Set 3 large wire racks on top of 3 large rimmed baking sheets.

7. Remove beef from marinade and pat dry.

8. Arrange beef on the racks, about ¼ in apart.

9. Sprinkle with coarse salt.

10. Bake for 4 hours or until jerky is firm and almost completely dry but still chewy.

11. Let cool completely. Store in airtight container in fridge for us to 6 weeks.

Makes about ¾ lb.

Put on the Green Light: St. Patrick's Day Dinner

[From Last Night]

I know it’s only Sunday, March 14^th, but for those of us with busy schedules or class until six on Wednesdays, St. Patty’s Day dinner has to come early. Don’t worry, I’ll still be wearing green on March 17^th, but the Corned Beef and Cabbage and Champ couldn’t wait.

Let’s face it, there is not much more Irish than Corned Beef Brisket…oh wait. It didn’t actually originate in Ireland. The closest relation in Irish traditional cooking is a Bacon Joint and Cabbage [which is more like Canadian bacon or even ham]. It seems our Irish-American ancestors swapped a pig for a cow mostly due to financial reasons, but it remains a favorite edible associate of St. Patty’s Day celebrations in the U.S.

The recipe we used this weekend was excellent for a Sunday dinner. When making this Corned Beef and Cabbage recipe, allow a few hours for the beef to reach the desired tenderness [each pound takes about an hour to cook]. It is the easiest way to cook corned beef because you don’t need to constantly monitor it. Slow cooking the beef allowed us to leave it simmering away on the stove while we enjoyed some wonderful, warm sunshine. Finally! It took the spirit of good ol’ St. Patrick to shove the cold and clouds away for the day.

Then, today I used some of leftover corned beef to make a simple Cheddar and Corned Beef Sandwich along with some apple sauce and a Samoa Girl Scout Cookie. So that’s at least two meals out of that corned beef yet!

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Ingredients:

3 lbs corned beef brisket [came with spice packet, if not would recommend mustard seeds, salt, pepper – simple seasonings]

1 head of cabbage

5 carrots, peeled and sliced

Instructions:

1. Place brisket in Dutch oven. Cover with water. Add the spice packet [or your own blend].

2. Cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer.

3. Simmer about 50-60 min per pound, or until tender.

4. Add carrots and cabbage. Cook for about 15 more min, until tender.

5. Drain water.

6. Take out brisket, let rest on cutting board.

7. Cut across grain into slices.

**Recommend dipping the beef in Dijon mustard!

Champ

Ingredients:

1 lb potatoes, peeled and chopped into pieces

1 cup scallions [green onions], sliced

1 cup milk/cream

Butter, salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Boil potatoes until tender.

2. In small saucepan, simmer milk and scallions until thickens a bit.

3. Mash potatoes with beaters.

4. Separate scallions; add all. Then slowly pour in milk as it’s blended.

5. Heap potatoes on plate, put dollop of butter in center to dip potatoes.

Overall, the dinner is a classic, if not entirely traditional, Irish feast. My last recommendation would be a loaf of soda bread to accompany this delicious meal. Hope this helps you with your St. Patrick’s Day plan!

P.S. – My Cheddar and Corned Beef Sandwich recipe from today was very good, and again pretty simple. Makes for a hearty and tasty lunchtime experience.

Cheddar and Corned Beef Sandwich

Ingredients:

2 slices wheat bread

Sliced corned beef, cold

Sliced cheddar cheese

Sautéed onions, about 5-6 slices

Dijon mustard, about 2 t

Instructions:

1. Sautee onions in olive oil over medium heat until tender.

2. Place beef and onions on one slice of bread; cheese on the other.

3. Toast in either toaster oven or oven for about 3-5 minutes.

4. Spread mustard on cheese side.

5. Fold together, nom.

Don’t Make a Burger Blunder! Cook It All at Once

It’s midterm week and I signed up for four shifts of work this week…all in a row. Monday, I had 10 minutes between class and work. What resulted? Peanut butter and jelly toast and a glass of milk, an apple in tote as I hauled it to work; so my apologies for not keeping up with the blog. In all honesty, I haven’t been making anything of real merit anyway. Until today!

Tuesday, an unloved weekday for most, allows me the greater afternoon to prepare foodstuffs. I had about a half pound of ground beef in the fridge, and knowing that this week would be a scramble for finding time for food, I decided to cook all of it at once and then refrigerate it. When I need it I just throw it into a frying pan with a few teaspoons of water and vwahlah! Instant beef! Okay, so it’s not actually miracle grow ground beef, but as long as you use it within the week it should stay fresh enough to add to rice, pasta, couscous or potatoes.

So today, I wanted to see how it worked out with some couscous and boiled carrots. And it worked out quite well. With the added tart of lemon juice and saltiness of seasonings, it was one heap of tastytasty. It’s a pretty straight forward dish and you could easily add frozen peas, broccoli, chicken etc to this dish to switch it up. Play with the spices, make it your own. It’s a quick and easy meal though, and that’s why I liked it.

Couscous with Ground Beef and Carrots

Ingredients:

A little more than ½ c homemade chicken broth

½ c couscous

1 T butter

Salt and pepper

1 t lemon juice

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 t lemon juice

Dash of salt

1 c ground beef

½ onion, finely chopped

½ clove garlic, minced

½ t garlic powder

Instructions:

1. In a large frying pan, cook ground beef over medium heat until no longer pink, drain off grease. Remove beef and place on paper towel to soak up any extra fat. Sprinkle with salt and garlic powder.

2. Add in onions and garlic to the frying pan, cook until onions are translucent. Add beef back in, heat until warm.

3. Boil chicken broth in small saucepan for about 5 min [re-measure at the end of boiling, if not enough for ½ c, add water]. Cook couscous according to package instructions.

4. In another saucepan, boil water over high heat. Put carrot slices in, boil for about 5 min until tender; remove from heat.

5. Add lemon juice and salt to carrots.

6. Add butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper to couscous.

7. Mix all ingredients together, serve.

Makes one large serving. NOMS: 8

Stew-pendous

Mondays and Wednesdays are killer class schedule days. When it’s all said and done, I am in class until 6pm, with only about a 2 hour break in between. Jealous yet? Didn’t think so. By the end of the day, I come home tired and hungry, hoping that the magic food fairy has left me something quick, easy and delicious on the stove. It’s Week 4 of cooking at college, and I am beginning to lose faith in her “supernatural abilities”.

Yesterday, I decided to take preparation matters into my own hands and have something pop right out of the oven on my return. It was a 5 hour stew! Well, it actually turned out to be more of a 4 hour stew because I made a little less. Regardless, it was one of those warm winter meals that invites you to the table, and then sticks with you all night. With adequate planning, this meal is simple and savory. The few adjustments I made to the stew were that I added a clove of garlic – my rational: when have I added garlic and not had it come out better? [haha] The original recipe called for an entire can of both soups, and I kept that, although I cut down on all other ingredients. I like my stew a little more soupy. [Also, what do you do with half a can of cream of celery soup?] Also, 225 degrees may seem very low, even lower than most recipes online would call for, but since I was leaving my soup completely unattended I wanted it at a very low temperature so that the liquid wouldn’t all burn off or burn the dormitory down. [I feel like paying for damages would offset my budget a bit.] Sounds like a lot of modifications, and yes, some of them were more or less victims of circumstance, but this stew came out absolutely delicious.

…Maybe the little kitchen fairy was watching over my food after all :)

5 Hour Stew

Ingredients:

½ - 1 lb. stew beef, raw
2 med potatoes, peeled, in chunks
4 carrots, peeled and quartered
1 onions - thick chunks
1 clove garlic, diced
½ c frozen peas, cooked in ¼ c of water
1 can tomato soup
1 can cream of celery soup
Instructions:

1. Peel and cut up vegetables and meat.

2. Mix all in dutch oven.

3. Bake at 225 (yes, low temp) for 4-5 hours.

Makes about 5 cups of stew. NOMS: 8.5

Careful With Your Coriander

Coriander. Yeah, it is probably one of those random spices your family has in the back of the spice rack. But I think now is the time for it to share a little front shelf space.

Now for a little biography of Mr. Coriander:

A) Great references! He was a featured spice in Sanskrit writings and the Bible, first appearance being circa 5000 B.C. Its big debut in America was 1670.

B) Is amiable: Its unique taste is a cross between lemon and sage, but it’s light and mild in nature. Favorite playmates: ginger, cumin, curry, turmeric.

C) Family Lineage: technically, coriander is made from the seeds of a cilantro plant. However, do not mistake one for the other! They are more like siblings, not twins, thus cannot be used interchangeably.

D) Ethnicity: Anywhere from southern Europe to northern Africa to southwestern Asia.

It’s Tuesday, and it’s been a slow day. So I thought I might spice it up by challenging myself to create something with this oddball, coriander. Many internet and cookbook suggestions were for flavoring soups, stews, and sausages, making meat rubs and marinades, and even…desserts? Strange. Anyway, working with what was in the pantry and fridge, I was relatively limited: hamburger, rice, carrots, and zucchini – yes, it has been a while since the last grocery store trip. In the end, I decided to employ some soy sauce, lemon juice, cumin and cayenne pepper to the above in the creation of a Cumin-Coriander Burger with Coriander, Zucchini and Carrot Rice Dish. The lemon juice helped to bring out the coriander flavor in the rice dish and the cumin was a nice compliment to the coriander in the burgers. Not sure what “type” of food you would consider this, but I think of it as maybe more Middle Eastern, southern Asia.

Cumin-Coriander Burgers

Ingredients:

1/3 lb ground beef

¼ t ground coriander

1/8 t ground cumin

1/8 t ground cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper, pinch

Instructions:

1. Put beef in bowl. Add spices.

2. Mix with hands. Form patties

3. Cook in skillet for about 5 min per side.

Coriander, Zucchini and Carrot Rice Dish

Ingredients:

¼ c rice

½ c chicken broth

1 T olive oil

½ c zucchini, shredded [about ½ of one zucchini]

½ c carrot, shredded [about 1 large carrot]

¼ c onion, diced

1 clove garlic

2 t lemon juice

2 t soy sauce

¼ t ground coriander

1/8 t cayenne pepper

Instructions:

1. Put rice and broth in small saucepan, bring to boil. Cover. Let cook for 12-15 min, until fluffy.

2. In skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat.

3. Add in zucchini, carrot, onion and garlic. Sautee vegetables until cooked.

4. Add in lemon juice, soy sauce, coriander, and cayenne. Keep hot.

5. Mix vegetable mix with rice, serve. **Be careful with over-salting at the table, as the soy sauce is quite salty.

“Holy Guacamole! That’s One Bad-Ass Burger! It Might Even Be Takin’ the Bacon…”

Some may consider setting the bar too high too early on a disservice for things to come, but with cooking, it’s near impossible to eat your way to the very top with a single dish. There is always something else to make you salivate. Savor your culinary pinnacles. Involving nearly all of your senses, these food fantasies will be some of your most vivid memories.

You might be wondering how a burger could climb its way to becoming an ultimate belly bomb. Well, you could grill me with questions, or try it for yourself. Fact is that this was no ordinary burger. This burger was the creation of my favorite fellow chef-mate, and was a burger with the works. Stacked at least six inches high, this defined deliciously messy eating. With the first bite, you hear the clear crunch of crispy bacon and toasted bun. Second bite: globs of melted cheese encapsulate a juicy meaty burger, encrusted with a slightly salty exterior. Third bite: the smell of tart lime and ripe avocado greet your nose, while your tongue is refreshed with a cool guacamole sauce, all of which are accented by a bite of spicy pepper and a tasty fried onion ring. And those are just your first three bites; there are many more to follow.

My taste buds were torn between packing my cheeks with burger bliss and leisurely enjoying the mouthfuls of flavors that kept drizzling down my face. Paired with Refried Beans on the side, this southwestern-style burger meal was well worth the 30 minutes of cooking and cost of $10 per plate. However, this isn’t the kind of meal you want to eat on-the-go, nor is it a meal you want to enjoy alone. It’s a meal where you sit for a good while in silence; your conversation is only mutual smiles and "mmms". Afterward, you settle in for a post-dinner nap. No matter what you ate that day, it’s as if your stomach restarts and somehow you have room to eat and savor every bite of this burger.

Backyard burgers will never be the same.

Recommendations: seed the chilies/peppers to lessen the spiciness; make the guacamole prior to eating to allow the flavors to embolden; try other cheeses on the burger such as Pepper Jack; and if possible, grill burgers over charcoal or hickory chips.

Bacon Guacamole Cheeseburger

Guacamole

Ingredients:

2 ripe avocados, chopped

½ red onion, diced

Juice from 2 limes

2 Serrano chilis or 1 jalapeno pepper, minced

Salt and pepper

¼ c fresh cilantro, chopped

1 tomato, seeded and chopped

¼ c sour cream ***Part of guacamole sauce***

Instructions:

1. Peel and chop avocados, onion, and chilies/peppers. Put into bowl.

2. Slice limes in half, use fork to extract juice from limes. Do this over the bowl of veggies.

3. With potato masher or fork, mash the avocados.

4. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add cilantro. Continue to mash until desired consistency is reached.

5. Add chopped tomato. Mix. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Put in fridge.

6. Allow flavors to culminate in fridge for as long as desired.

7. Before serving, mix with ¼ cup of sour cream to create the sauce.

Burgers

Ingredients:

1 lb ground chuck [the higher fat content, the more tasty it becomes!]

1 t salt

1 t pepper

1/8 t cumin

¼ t chili powder

3 slices of Colby Jack Cheese

Onion, 1 slice – about 6 rings

2 T flour

6 strips of bacon

3 Kaiser rolls, sliced

4 leaves of Cilantro

Instructions:

1. Mix together first five ingredients in large size mixing bowl.

2. Work the meat in hands until conglomerates and becomes tenderized.

3. Form into 3 balls, press into patty shape with hands. Lightly salt the burgers.

4. In skillet, heat about 1 T olive oil.

5. Put flour in bowl. Coat onion rings in flour. Add to skillet, cook until tender with a crispy exterior. Remove from skillet.

6. Add bacon to skillet. Fry until nearly crispy, take off heat. ***the bacon will continue to cook even after you take it out of the pan, so by taking it out just a bit early helps you achieve the perfect crispiness!***

7. Drain off bacon grease, but SAVE at least 2 TABLESPOONS in skillet. Keep grease hot.

8. In another skillet/frying pan, throw a few pinches of salt onto the pan and then cook burgers. About 5 min per side.

9. Put rolls into bacon grease and fry them for about 2-3 min, until crispy.

10. Add cheese to burgers, let melt.

11. Plate. Bottom roll, burger, onion rings, guacamole sauce, bacon, cilantro. Put the top roll to the side until ready to be ravenously eaten.

Refried Beans

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil

¼ c onion, chopped

½ clove garlic, diced

2 cans [15 oz.] black beans, DO NOT DRAIN

½ c cheese [Queso Fresca or cheddar]

Instructions:

1. Heat olive oil in saucepot. Sautee onions until translucent, about 5 min.

2. Throw in garlic, brown for about 1 min.

3. Add first can of black beans. Bring to a boil.

4. Once some of the liquid has boiled off, add the next can. Allow some of the liquid to boil off this as well.

5. Mash with potato masher, spoon, or my personal favorite, the can of beans itself until your mixture reaches desired consistency.

6. Add cheese to help thicken the mix. Continue to mash the beans.

7. Serve alongside your favorite Mexican meal.