If it fits, I cooks – A year of Dutch oven recipes

October 19, 2019

Springing into fall with super soup

I set out this week to make a soup. This is partially weather-related and mostly due to the fact that I had a head cold for about half the week and wanted my cozy hot comfort food.

The recipe that stood out most to me was a light spring soup called a brodo. But this is fall, dammit. Of course, I’m sure it’s possible still to find asparagus in the grocery store, either fresh or frozen, but it just didn’t feel right.

Brodo ingredients, sans broth. Isn’t it ironic, don’t ya think?

Also, because this soup had some cream and gnocchi, I thought it’d work as a fall dish.

So, I did some swapping and some additions, and boy, did I make a good, and pretty easy soup. The biggest difficulty was that I made my own broth. However, it’s not entirely necessary, and stupid me, I had some broth in the freezer that I realized to late. So, good reminder to make broth way ahead of time and freeze it, but yeah, try to remember it’s there when needed. Or, just buy some high-quality broth.

To fully fall this soup, I changed asparagus for Brussels sprouts and added bacon. It wasn’t even that many changes, but it sure felt perfect for autumn.

Here’s what I did, adapting from my Soup Nights cookbook (one of too many/not enough soup cookbooks I own):

Ingredients

2 T. vegetable oil
1 lb. Brussels sprouts, sliced
8 c. vegetable or chicken broth (store bought or pre-made)
⅓ c. heavy cream
4 to 5 oz. blue cheese crumbles, divided
4 t. cornstarch
4 t. tap water
16 oz. pre-made potato gnocchi
Salt and pepper, to taste
Cayenne pepper, to taste (I like it spicy so I used closer to 1 t. but very taste dependent and a little goes a long way)
1 to 1 ½ bunches green onions, sliced, to taste
8 slices bacon, cooked to package directions, for serving
Chives, to taste, for serving

Directions

In a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, add the oil and then the Brussels sprouts. Cook until softened and starting to brown. Add the vegetable broth and heat to boiling.

Meanwhile, mix together the blue cheese and heavy cream in a small bowl. Once the broth is boiling, add the cheese and cream mixture.

In the same bowl (or separately), mix together the corn starch and water, and then add that mixture to the soup mixture. Stir often for about 3 minutes until the soup begins to thicken.

Add the salt and pepper, cayenne, green onions, and the gnocchi, cooking another 3 to 5 minutes until the pre-made gnocchi is cooked through. Season more, as needed.

Ladle soup into bowls, serve with cooked bacon, any additional blue cheese crumbles as desired, and chives, and enjoy!

October 11, 2019

Decadence defined

Mistakes were made in the creation of this week’s recipe, but because it all turned out to be fine in the end, I’ll parrot the great Bob Ross in saying that it was a happy little accident.

Since my sweetie was out of town for the week, I didn’t want to make any hefty meal that I’d have to eat all on my own. That’s kind of a challenge when it comes to making things in a Dutch oven.

So, I thought a safe thing to make might be bread. Sure, it’d make a lot but it’d be easier to freeze and share. Even better, I found a recipe for dinner rolls in my Cook It In Your Dutch Oven cookbook so I could make mini-sized bites.

But I didn’t need dinner rolls for light solo dinners. Breakfast rolls sounded better.

This is where things went off the rails. I started looking in another cookbook for sweet breads, decided on cinnamon rolls, saw a recipe for bacon maple bread, and then amended my plan to make bacon maple cinnamon rolls.

A quick Google search confirmed that I wasn’t the only one who’d had this idea so there was a good chance my idea wasn’t totally crazy.

I tracked down a cinnamon roll recipe I made a few years ago and then updated it to what I thought would work for my tastes. The Googled recipes also offered some hints but I wanted to do it my way.

It was a little difficult to fit in my Dutch oven, and the center did not hold as it baked, but it hardly mattered once I tasted it.

It turned out to be about the most deliciously decadent thing I’ve made. And totally inappropriate for me to eat all by myself.

Thank goodness my sweetie is back to share them tomorrow.

Bacon maple cinnamon rolls. So decadent.

Here’s how I made the happy little accidents:

Ingredients

For the dough

1 c. warm milk
1 stick butter
½ c. sugar
2 ½ t. active dry yeast (or one package)
1 egg
2 t. salt
4-5 c. all-purpose flour

For the cinnamon center

1 stick butter, softened
3 t. cinnamon
4 T. brown sugar
4-5 T. maple syrup
10 slices bacon, cooked, cooled, and chopped
½ c. chopped pecans (pecan chips, if available)

For (optional) cream cheese topping

4 T. butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 T. maple syrup
½ t. vanilla
¾ c. powdered sugar
1 t. ground cardamom (optional)
½ c. pecans, for topping (optional)

Directions

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and add the milk. Heat the milk to just warm but not too hot so it doesn’t destroy the yeast. Add the sugar and yeast to the butter and milk mixture. Let activate for about 15 minutes.

Add the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the remaining dough ingredients. Add flour until a dough forms, and then knead for 5 to 10 minutes until springy and smooth, adding flour as necessary.

Shape into a round, place back in bowl and cover. Let rise for about 2 hours. (I opted to do this over two week nights, so I refrigerated the dough after this rise, and then let warm back up for about an hour after getting home the next night; also possible to do once its in roll form in the Dutch oven.)

Meanwhile, mix together the cinnamon center ingredients. In a small bowl, stir together butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, and maple syrup. Prepare the bacon and pecans, if not already ready. Prepare the Dutch oven by making a foil sling by folding in half to long sheets of aluminum foil, so you have 2 long, roughly 7 inch sheets. Place sheets perpendicular to each other, like a lowercase t, and carefully smooth down into the bowl. Spray with a little bit of oil.

When the dough is ready, roll out into about an 18 inch by 9 inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Spread with the cinnamon mixture, and then place the bacon pieces and pecan pieces on top.

Roll the coated dough along the long end into a log. Cut into about 14 even pieces. Turn and place the pieces in the Dutch oven, starting with the outside adding about 9 to 10 pieces along the edges and then placing the remaining rolls in the center.

Cover and let rise for about an hour to an hour and a half. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Once dough has risen, uncover and place the rolls in the oven, and bake for about 20 to 30 minutes until golden on top.

Meanwhile, mix together the ingredients of the cream cheese topping, if using. Let rolls cool for at least 5 minutes but while still warm, add the frosting, and then cool a little longer before enjoying!

October 5, 2019

Lazy, lovely layered lasagna

I was scrolling through Twitter one fine day keeping up on the shitshow that is our current American political system when I was distracted by something not actually terrible, an Epicurious video.

The short clip I watched without sound was a recipe for slow-cooker lasagna. I thought it sounded amazing, except, you know, I wanted to make it in my Dutch oven.

Now, I’ve made lasagna a lot and I have a couple of favorites, so instead of watching the video again, I just sort of guessed/remembered/assumed what I should do to put together my own dish.

Except for the fact that I did a terrible job of evenly distributing my filling, the lasagna was amazing. I mean, most times I make lasagna, there’s too many noodles to fit but this time, oof, I really distributed poorly for the layers. But all was not lost. I just made sure to take from the better filled areas and the less filled areas and made it work.

However, if you, dear reader, try the same, be sure to go light on the filling as you roll up the noodles.

Now, having made lasagna a few different ways during my time, starting with the traditional-ish, I have to say my favorite is still actually the sheet pan recipe because I like my lasagna crispy. But if you really like the saucy bits, this one is for you. And either way, good lasagna is good lasagna, so this was quite good.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

1 box lasagna noodles, cooked to package directions
32 oz. jar of arrabbiata sauce, or red pasta sauce to your liking
1 (15 oz.) tub ricotta
3 c. mozzarella, shredded, divided
1 c. Parmesan cheese, shredded, divided
4 oz. feta, crumbled
1 egg
1 (10 oz.) box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
10 oz. marinated artichokes, chopped
½ T. basil, chopped
½ T. dried oregano
½ T. dried rosemary
1 t. red pepper flakes, optional
Pepper, to taste

Directions

Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together the ricotta, 1 c. mozzarella, ⅓ c. Parmesan, egg, spinach, artichokes, and the herbs and spices, until well mixed. EVENLY spread the mixture onto about 14 lasagna noodles, more if necessary, and roll the noodles lengthwise.

Poor about ¼ of the sauce onto the bottom of a Dutch oven. Add about half the rolled noodles to the Dutch oven; sprinkle with 1 c. mozzarella, ⅓ c. Parmesan, and half the feta, and about half the remaining sauce. Place the remainder of the rolled noodles on top, and then top with the remaining sauce, and cheeses.

Cover the Dutch oven and bake for about 30 minutes; remove from heat and bake another about 20 to 30 minutes until the cheese is browned on top. Let cool slightly, and enjoy!

September 28, 2019

You do udon

I’m slowly getting back into the groove of things since being back from vacation. I imagined it would be quicker but exhaustion got the better of me as did the daily grind.

So I decided to start back up with the kind of weeknight dinner that takes little effort and barely follows a recipe. I went with udon noodles with chicken and broccoli, or the more vague “Asian noodles,” which was the not-the-most-culturally-sensitive Google search I did to get the vague idea of ingredients for a sauce.

That blog post, like my own, makes clear that this recipe can be adapted to anyone’s tastes. Don’t like broccoli? Try carrots or spinach or a combination of veggies. Want to add peppers? Go ahead. Don’t want chicken or are vegetarian? Skip it or add tofu.

The same is essentially true of the sauce. I went heavy on the sesame oil because I love it and I have it. I also added a bunch of ginger (from a jar because I was lazy) that wasn’t in the recipe; I just like a lot of ginger. I skipped out on the cilantro to save my sweetie, but I think it would have been pretty tasty as an addition.

That’s to say, you do udon.

To hurry things along, I cooked the udon separately while I prepared the chicken, vegetables, and sauce, but if you’re in no rush and want this to be a one-pot dish, you can cook the noodles in the Dutch oven and leave to drain while preparing the rest of the dish.

I still want more; it disappeared too fast.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

14 oz. udon noodles, cooked to package directions
1 lb. chicken, sliced or chopped
3 c. broccoli (or about one grocery store package with 2 to 3 heads), chopped
1 bunch green onions, white and light green parts sliced
⅓ to ½ c. soy sauce (less sodium is good)
¼ c. toasted sesame oil
1 ½ T. ginger, minced (I used the jar stuff)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T. rice vinegar
Sambal oelek (chili paste), or Sriracha, to taste (I used about ½ T.)
3 T. sesame seeds
Vegetable oil, for sauteing

Directions

Heat the oil in the Dutch oven over medium heat, and saute the chicken until mostly cooked through before adding the broccoli and green onions, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, mix together the soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, rice vinegar, and sambal oelek or sriracha, and stir to combine.

Once the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are cooked to desired consistency, turn off stove top and add the sauce. Stir to combine and then add the cooked noodles, and continue stirring. Remove from heat and add the sesame seeds, stirring again. Taste and add more soy sauce or sesame oil as desired, and enjoy!

September 20, 2019September 20, 2019

Cooking class in absentia

As I mull over what dishes I ate on my recent Portugal vacation — and there were so many and such good food — that I can make in my Dutch oven, I thought I’d share a recipe from an exotic vacation that I didn’t get to go on. So we can be in the same boat for this week.

The best part about not getting to go on an international trip with my family is that they’ll bring back and share the recipes from their cooking class.

So, when my mom got back from her eastern European vacation last year, I got a PDF of the Hungarian dinner they had one night. Perfect since I’ve always wanted to make chicken paprikash.

I’d say it was almost like being there … but obviously not. Still, it was great to be able to try authentic food without leaving the house (other than to get groceries). Mom even was kind enough to buy extra paprika and send me some, so I had plenty on hand for the paprikash and an extra side dish (the Hungarian salsa!) I decided to make.

The paprikash was a delight. It was a little too saucy for me, but the chicken was slightly spicy and extra creamy, as I expected and hoped, and the really ugly dumplings I made based on the recipe to go with the chicken turned out good if incredibly ugly.

All in all, it was a good substitute for being there and a chance to enjoy some authentic Hungarian food without a lot of effort or the airfare. Now, you can too.

So much paprika (and sour cream). So good.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

For the paprikash

2 large onions, chopped
4 T. oil
4 t. salt (I probably used less!)
1 t. ground pepper (I probably used more!)
5 t. paprika powder (I split the mixture between smoky and spicy, but you do you)
~10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (the recipe calls for 6 bone-in legs but I like boneless)
12 oz. sour cream
1 T. flour
Water

For the nokedli (dumplings)

(or use egg noodles or similar if feeling lazy)

~1 c. flour
3 eggs
1 t. Salt
Water, as necessary (if mixture is dry)

Directions

Heat the oil in the Dutch oven over medium heat, add the onions, and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Take off heat and add salt, pepper, and paprika. Add about ½ c. water to keep the powder from burning. Place mixture back on heat, add the chicken, and pour water on top until just covered. Cover and cook on medium heat for about 1 hour until the chicken is cooked through (can probably check earlier if using boneless — I think I did about 35 minutes). Meanwhile, mix the flour and sour cream together.

Once the chicken is cooked through, stir in the sour cream mixture. Bring to a boil again.

Meanwhile, prepare the dumplings by bringing a separate pot of water to a boil. In a medium bowl, mix together the eggs, flour, and salt, and adding water if necessary until a hard dough forms. Tear dough pieces and place in the boiling water, removing pieces as they float and are cooked through. Serve the chicken (and the sauce) with the nokedli, and enjoy!

September 6, 2019September 6, 2019

Be a doll and make this dal ASAP

Some years ago, my sweetie got this delightful cookbook called “Flavors of India” that includes a ton of delicious, simple, and vegetarian Indian dishes. It was a household staple for years, particularly because it made healthy *and* cheap food that lasted for days.

Then, it got destroyed.

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, it wasn’t lost forever. My sweetie got another copy and we’ve continued to use that one (and keep it safe) for many more years now, and it’s still as much of a treasure.

One of my favorites — but one I hadn’t yet made myself — is dal-dhokali, or toor dal (lentils) with chick-pea flour dumplings. It’s also, dare I say, vegan, so it’s mostly healthy (there’s some oil in the dumplings) but still very flavorful.

It’s not necessarily a quick weeknight meal but it is a lot of passive time so put on a movie favorite or catch up on your podcasts while you make this simple dish.

It looks like sludge, it tastes like awesome.

Here’s what I did, following the recipe other than increasing the spice amounts:

Ingredients

For the dal

1 c. toor dal (split pigeon peas), or any dried split pea or lentil if toor dal is hard to find in your area
10 c. water (yes, it sounds like a lot, but it’s works)
1 ½ t. salt
1 t. turmeric
1 t. coriander powder
1 t. cumin
½ T. grated ginger
1 T. tamarind concentrate, or if it’s hard to find in your area, the cookbook suggests using a tablespoon of lemon juice and a teaspoon of sugar in its pace (which given its tart/sour flavor, it seems appropriate)
1 large tomato, chopped
1 T. oil
1 T. black mustard seeds
4 whole cloves
2 dried hot peppers, I used chile de arbol
Cooked rice, for serving

For the dumplings

¼ c. chick pea flour (besan)
¼ c. whole wheat flour
1 T. oil, plus more for mixing
¼ t. salt
2 pinches cayenne
5 to 7 t. water, more as needed to make dough

Directions

Wash and rinse the dal, rubbing it in your hands to remove the oily coating, while bringing the Dutch oven full of the 10 c. water to a boil with the salt.

Once the water is boiling, add the dal and return to a boil over high heat. Reduce to medium-high, and cook the dal uncovered for 10 minutes. Then, reduce heat and cook, covered, for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, make the dumplings. Mix together the two flours with your hands; add the salt, cayenne, and vegetable oil. Crumble the mixture together in your hands. Add 5 t. of water and continue to mix with your hands or a fork until a dough begins to form, adding more water a teaspoon at a time as necessary. Imagine making a pie crust and get it to that consistency. Once ready, set aside.

After the 30 minutes has passed, add the spices, ginger, and tamarind (or substitute) to the dal mixture, and simmer another 10 minutes, uncovered, while you roll out the dumpling dough.

To ready the dough, use oil instead of flour to keep the mixture from sticking. Add a small amount to your hands and knead for a few minutes in your hands until smooth. Add small amounts of oil to the rolling surface and rolling pin, and begin to roll out the dough, again, like a pie crust. Roll until thin like a plate (how the cookbook describes it), about ¼ inch. Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut into 1 inch squares.

Add the dough a few at a time, to ensure they do not stick together, and stir to separate.

Add the tomato, and continue to simmer while preparing the final spice addition.

In a small saucepan or frying pan, heat a tablespoon of oil, and add the mustard seeds, whole cloves, and hot pepper (broken into pieces). As the oil heats, the mustard seeds will pop. Once they stop popping, about 1 to 2 minutes later, remove from heat, and dump the contents (with the oil) to the Dutch oven.

Stir the dal mixture together a few more times, and then cover the Dutch oven once more, and cook for another 20 minutes on low heat, stirring about every 5 minutes so that the dumplings do not stick. Once the dumplings are softened, serve with rice, and enjoy!

August 30, 2019

Bread and bourbon for the holiday

I was looking for a nice and light dessert to make for this holiday weekend, and instead came up with one of the heavier things I could have selected. I couldn’t help it. I was inspired by last week’s recipe and its abundant use of bread in the Dutch oven.

You guessed it, I made a bread pudding.

Bourbon pecan bread pudding ingredients.

Even better, it has bourbon and pecans, two of my favorite dessert ingredients. I’m a sucker for a bourbon pecan pie every Thanksgiving, so I couldn’t resist.

The recipe also gave me a good excuse to track down where I could find challah in Ames, and an opportunity to learn that the average loaf of bread is equal to one pound. (The recipe called for a pound, and I had no idea how to guess the weight of a loaf; turns out it’s pretty easy to find.)

It all turned out perfectly, and bonus, I got a whole bunch of mostly egg white scrambled eggs as the recipe called for a ton of only egg yolks.

Bread pudding so good it’ll make you challah!

Here’s what I did, mostly following the recipe in my Cook It In Your Dutch Oven cookbook:

Ingredients

Bread pudding

1 loaf/1 lb. challah bread chopped or torn into 1 in. chunks (preferably slightly staled)
9 egg yolks
2 ½ c. whole milk
2 ½ c. heavy cream
¾ c. brown sugar, packed, plus 2 T., divided
½ c. bourbon
1 T. vanilla
¾ t. salt
½ t. cardamom (optional)
½ c. pecans, chopped

Sauce

7 T. heavy cream
½ c. brown sugar, packed
2 ½ T. butter
2 T. bourbon

Directions

In the Dutch oven, mix together the bread pudding ingredients: milk, cream, egg yolks, ¾ c. brown sugar, bourbon, vanilla, salt, and cardamom, if using. Stir until sugar is dissolved and mixture is well combined. Fold in the bread chunks, and let sit for about 30 minutes to let the bread absorb the milk-egg mixture (stirring halfway through).

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

After the half-hour, top the mixture with the pecans and sprinkle on the 2 T. brown sugar. Bake in the oven, uncovered, until center is set, about 50 to 70 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the sauce by melting the remaining sugar with the 7 T. heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently. Once the mixture boils, remove from heat, and add the butter and bourbon. Stir to combine.

When the pudding is ready, let cool slightly, stir the sauce mixture again, serve with sauce, and enjoy! Happy Labor Day weekend!!

August 24, 2019

Christinia’s first cooking class

One thing that has become a staple of vacationing with my mom’s side of the family is taking a cooking class. Though I was not there, I will not soon forget the pictures my mom sent of my Polish maternal grandma learning to make sushi.

We’re nothing if not adventurous.

Pappa al pomodoro ingredients. Decidedly not sushi.

As I’m about to embark on a girls trip with my mom and aunt to a new foreign land, including a cooking class of course, I’m reminded again of the first time our family’s first time taking a class. The poor souls who had to wrangle about 10 of our clan did not have an easy task, especially as the wine flowed freely.

But 12 years later, I still make the recipes that we learned that day, and I still remember the wines that we tasted. Thankfully for the purposes of this blog, the recipe I make most often, pappa al pomodoro, (and was also one of the first dishes I shared with my sweetheart whom I’ll be missing dearly), can be made in a Dutch oven.

I haven’t made many changes over the years. Why mess with this Italian classic?

BRB, there’s more in the fridge right now.

Here’s what I did on my most recent venture:

Ingredients

4 ½ lbs. tomatoes
2 leeks, sliced
1 garlic bulb, about 20 cloves, peeled minced
1-2 packages fresh basil, chopped
Red chili flakes, to taste (about 2 pinches is what I use)
1 loaf bread, preferably stale
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Directions

Peel the tomatoes — my method is to cut a cross in the bottom and put them in boiling water for a minute or less before transferring them to an ice bath. (I didn’t say it was easy, just a way to use tomatoes!) Then, chop roughly and use a food processor or blender to puree the tomatoes.

Separately, in a large Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat and then add the leeks and cook for about 5 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and pepper flakes and cook for about another 1 minute.

Add the tomato puree to the Dutch oven, and bring to a boil. Cover and cook for about an hour. Add the chopped basil and salt and pepper to taste.

Continue to cook for about another half-hour. When the tomatoes are cooked, chop or tear off pieces of bread and place in the soup until it is thickened to taste. (I used about ⅔ of a small French loaf.)

Ladle the soup into bowls and top with additional olive oil and salt and pepper, if desired, and enjoy!

Programming note: I will be traveling, mostly out of the country, for the next few Fridays, BUT I will still be keeping my blogs updated as I worked in advance to ensure I kept up with posting weekly. However, if any technical difficulties or best laid plans do not work out and I go without posting, please be understanding and know that I’ll fix anything when I return.

August 17, 2019August 18, 2019

Chicken curry a perfect weeknight dinner

Like many of my recipes, this one was given to me by my mother, has been among my staples for years, and has been endlessly adapted until the original recipe is more of a suggestion than a specific direction.

So, I figured this year was the perfect time to write out what I actually do to make chicken curry versus what the recipe I use calls for.

Chicken (and vegetable) curry ingredients.

I started adapting this one from the start out of necessity. I was poor and prefer chicken breasts, but the original calls for 3 pounds of chicken meat. Maybe I could have afforded that if I bought a whole chicken but as it was, I wanted to make a meal that lasted for days, and I was more likely to eat a boneless dinner.

So, I halved the amount of meat and then substituted in vegetables.

Now that I can afford 3 pounds of meat, it still seems excessive. So, I still make it with a mix of meat and vegetables. My list of vegetables changes but I like cauliflower and carrots with curry, even though they’re not usually my favorites. Peas and peppers rounded out the list this time, but anything works.

I also probably end up adding more than 1 ½ lbs. of vegetables because I don’t quite measure what goes in. I just eyeball it, including in the suggested amounts below.

Otherwise, I tweak a few other things from “The Curry Book” recipe my mom Xeroxed many years ago for me to enjoy.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

4 T. unsalted butter (or ghee, if you have on hand)
1 medium onion, halved and sliced
3 T. minced ginger
1 T. minced garlic
1 ½ lb. chicken breast, chopped into bite-size chunks
2 c. cauliflower, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 c. sugar snap peas (or just frozen peas)
3 T. curry powder
½ T. ground cumin
2 t. ground coriander
Salt and pepper, to taste
⅔ c. plain yogurt
2 T. lemon juice
Scallions, optional for serving
Cilantro, optional for serving

Directions

Heat the Dutch oven on the stove over medium heat, and add the butter. Add the onion, cauliflower, carrot, and bell pepper, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until just starting to soften. Add the chicken and cook until mostly cooked through. Add peas, ginger, and garlic and cook another minute.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the curry powder, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, yogurt, and lemon juice, and stir until well mixed. Scrape the yogurt mixture into the Dutch oven, and toss to combine.

Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook stirring occasionally, for about 30 to 35 minutes until chicken is cooked through and the flavor has combined. Serve on rice, with scallions or cilantro if desired, and enjoy!

August 9, 2019

Don’t be a drip, make this beef recipe

I don’t often say this, but thank God for air conditioning. I’m cold-blooded by nature so if I’m just sitting and the A/C is on, I’m under a blanket or wrapped in a cardigan.

But this week’s recipe called for the oven to be on for about 5 hours, and I’m pretty grateful that I did not have to heat an already scorching house.

Even though the drip beef I made (based on a Pioneer Woman recipe my sweetie came across) warmed the house for one day, the best part about it is that we didn’t turn on the oven for the next several days as we made our way through the leftovers.

The microwave and toaster took care of reheating our many, many drip beef sandwiches.

The Pioneer Woman recipe gave two different ways to make this but there wasn’t a question in my mind that I’d be making the one with pepperoncinis. Even better that it was with loaded with Italian herbs as well.

I did, however, snag the sliced onions from the other recipe and add them to this one. It was not particularly noticeable but I was still glad for the little bit of onion flavor added.

The recipe was really easy, put together in less than 5 minutes, and checked only occasionally over the hours it sat in the oven. The hardest part was using forks to shred the beef, but with the A/C on, for me, it wasn’t too bad to stick my face over the Dutch oven. Besides, if done right, the meat should shred with very little effort.

I’m not usually a big beef person but this was a treat. We finished the 3 pounds we made in a few short days. Amazing.

Here’s what I did, tweaking the recipe slightly:

Ingredients

2.5 to 4 lbs. beef chuck roast
4 T. butter
1 onion, halved and thickly sliced
2 c. beef broth
1 T. dried basil
1 T. dried oregano
1 T. dried thyme
¾ T. dried rosemary
Pepper, to taste
16 oz. jar pepperoncinis, with juices
Deli rolls, toasted (for serving)
Cheese slices (provolone worked well), optional (for serving)

Directions

Heat the oven to 275 degrees. Meanwhile, over medium heat, melt the butter on the stove and then add the onion slices. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes until just starting to brown.

Turn off stovetop. Add the remaining ingredients to the Dutch oven, except the rolls and cheese if using.

Cover and bake in the oven for 5 to 6 hours until the meat is very tender and starting to fall apart. If it’s not yet tender, keep cooking at 30-minute intervals until tender.

Remove from oven and shred meat with two forks, leaving no large chunks. Serve immediately or keep warm on the stovetop until ready to eat, and enjoy as sammies.