Had dinner with some old friends last night at the tapas place Cafe Tu Tu Tango in Orlando, wherein Husband was entranced by the Sopa de Leon (a chorizo, chicken and chickpea soup), so today’s side project was cobbling together a reasonable facsimilie.   And here it is:

• 8 oz chorizo sausage
• chicken breast, cooked and shredded
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 1 can chickpeas, drained
• 1 32 oz can chicken stock
• 2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained
• yellow corn tortilla chips

Put oil in saucepan on medium high heat and cook chorizo 2 minutes.

Add onion, garlic and celery, sautee until onion is soft.

Add stock, tomatoes, chickpeas and chicken.  Add salt, pepper to taste and a pinch of sugar.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.

Thoroughly crush about three handfuls of tortilla chips and stir into the soup.  Let simmer for another 10 minutes then serve.

Hamburger Buns

Ingredients:

• 5 cups all purpose flour
• 2 pkgs dry yeast
• 1 cup milk
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp salt

Stir together 2 cups flour and the yeast. In a separate bowl, heat milk, water, oil, sugar and salt to lukewarm in microwave.   Add all at once to the flour mixture, and beat until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Mix in enough flour to make a soft dough, 2 to 3 cups.  Mix well.  Dust a flat surface with flour, turn dough out onto floured surface, and let rest under bowl for about 10 minutes.

Shape dough into 12 slightly flat balls, and place on greased baking sheet to rise until doubled in size.

Bake in a preheated 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) oven for 12 to 15 minutes.

They were fantastic.  Firm textured outside, good crumb inside.  And they stood up to a cheese-leaking 1/2lb patty with no trouble at all.

Ingredients:

• 2 14oz cans of diced tomatoes
• 1 lb whatever tomatoes you have lying about on counter or in your freezer

• 1 small onion, finely chopped (or if your husband is allergic to them, as mine is (*sob), 4 tbsp dehydrated onions)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

• 1 8oz can tomato sauce
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup milk
• 1 pint light cream

Method:

In a heavy, deep saucepan (I love my Calphalon for this), saute the onion in the butter until golden and fragrant. Add the tomatoes and all the dry stuff.   Realize you’ve told Husband to pick up TWO cans of tomatoes instead of THREE.  Raid the freezer for the array of cherry and plum tomatoes you put away back when the tomato plants were actually producing, and not blighted sticks. (If your non-can tomatoes are rock-hard frozen like mine, don’t even bother cutting or peeling – because you can’t – just fish the skins out of the soup after the simmering is all done and before blending.)

Simmer for about 25-30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so. Be doing something else, and pretty much forget about the tomato mixture for a bit, until it simmers down and loses most of the liquid.  Say “shit” and fish about in the pantry for chicken stock.  Add 2 cups.

Remove the pot from the heat, fish out the bay leaf, and attack the soup with your stick blender (carefully, dammit, it’s hot). You’re aiming for a pretty fine texture, bisque should have a smooth mouthfeel.  Then add the milk and cream.  Taste.  Realize it’s now too thin and go back to the pantry for more tomatoey flavor.  Add 1 8oz can of tomato sauce.

Return the pot to the heat and bring the soup back to “hot,” stirring constantly so Nothing Bad Happens.

Taste and smack yourself for not using chicken stock before now.

This is fine with the volunteer tomato, who inexplicably is putting out orange fruit:

I would have bet good money on its parentage being the grocery store vine tomatoes, and it may yet be, no guarantee those things will seed true.  Whatever, they’re all destined for a big pot of ranchero sauce this week.  *drool*

Here’s the paprika pepper drying operation:

Yeah, it’s slow, but it works.

Here are the myriad red bell peppers and tomatoes that have A) fallen off, B) been harvested early to prevent splitting due to excess rain, and/or C) rescued from wilt-stricken plants…

…of which the body count now stands at THREE thank you.  I believe I can trace the infection from the purchase of a jalapeno plant from Target’s garden section.  And I’m *really* pissed off about it, as you may well imagine, especially seeing as how the red bell plants in that box also appear to be wilting.  *fume*

Look back up there at that crazy sausage-shaped tomato…that’s a Striped Roma and is it not the most gorgeous thing you’ve ever seen?  The orange is sort of iridescent, sparkly in the sunshine.  I think they need to sacrifice themselves to my ranchero sauce, too!

–

Husband and I were on the way to Lowe’s this morning (I swear they need to paint a parking space there for us), talking about what to have for dinner, when it hit me that we had, out in the garden, absolutely everything required to make beef stock (well, except the beef).  We added beef necks to the grocery list and today became Stock-Making Day.

First was the harvest of 9 lbs of bunching onions, shallots, scallions, leeks and cipollini onions, and 3 lbs of celery.  Then the cleaning of same, which I have to tell you, would better be effected outside with the assistance of the local fire department.  I believe I have permanently stopped up the right side of the sink at this point.

I had a picture of the onion harvest – 9lbs of crazy green stalks sticking out of my blue bucket is quite the sight – but my dang camera got a little confused and that image is lost forever.

Trust me, it was cool.

Here’s the celery harvest:

And the leftover celery/onions headed for the freezer until the next Stock-Making Day:

Into the roasting pan went the beef necks, shallots, onions, leeks, cipollini onions, white/orange and purple carrots, a goodly dash of olive oil to keep things from sticking, and an entire bulb of gorgeous garlic, smashed and peeled.

That roasted at 450 degrees for 30 minutes (turning a couple of times).

We pulled it out, nicely burning my thumb in the process, transferred everything to a stock pot, then deglazed the pan with 2 cups of water and poured that lovely goodness into the stock pot too.

On top of that went 3 bay leaves, 12 cups of water, a goodly handful of the freshly harvested celery (imprecision is not really a problem in stock making), a handful of fresh thyme from the garden, a tbsp or so of  black peppercorns, tsp or so of kosher salt, and about 8 of my baby black plum tomatoes. Use whatever you have on hand…parsnips, potatoes, other things that do not start with “p”…

Interlude to Allow for the Waxing Rhapsodic on the Wonder of Black Tomatoes: This is our first year growing any black tomatoes, and I’m just astonished at the depth of flavor they have.  Very low acid, wonderful sweetness, but still a great tomato flavor.  These are on my list to grow every year from now on.

So, all that good stuff is in the pot and simmering away right now…

…after which it’ll be refrigerated overnight, the congealed fat peeled off, and the stock poured into the nearest mold-type thinger we can find (ice cube trays work great) and frozen until needed.

The only downside to this stock-making business is you spend all day smelling the amazing aromas coming from the stock pot but it’s not for eating.  Yet, anyway.

Go on…guess.

1 cup would be the correct answer.

Seems paltry for a fruit this size, but this is one of those super-mega pumpkins, the kind that people grow for massive size instead of flavor, shape and/or seed production.  If we grow pumpkins again (and that’s a BIG old “if”), we’ll aim for a more backyard-friendly size and a more eating-friendly variety.

Can’t say it hasn’t been interesting though.  And the compost pile is going to be hella rich in iron, zinc and phosphorus.

Meanwhile, Husband is happy with his roasted seeds.

Be…I’b hoding by dose.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Start by boiling the seeds in salted water, this will both flavor them and ensure a nice crunch after they’re roasted.  Use 1 cup and 1 tbsp of kosher salt per 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds.  Bring it all to a boil then let simmer for 10 minutes.

Coat a sheet pan with a couple of tbsp of olive oil, and add seeds in a single layer.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 15 to 20 minutes, until brown and crispy.  Use a spatula and turn them every 5 minutes or so.  Let them cool before serving.

No vegetables, just nuts.  Just nuts?  Yes, just the nuts.

 Conveying this point to the inevitable Mandarin-speakers has been something of an adventure, so I’m always on the lookout for a recipe we can make at home.  This one was pretty dang tasty…

Ingredients

• 4lbs chicken breast, cubed
• 1 cup cashews
• 1 small onion, chopped small

Marinade

• 1 tsp baking soda
• 5 tsp corn starch
• 3 tbsp rice wine

Sauce

• 4 tbsp oyster sauce
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 4 tbsp water
• 3 dashes white pepper
• 4 tsp sugar
• 4 tbsp rice wine
• salt to taste

Start by “marinating” the chicken pieces in just the baking soda for 15 minutes.  (This makes for that silky texture you get in Chinee food.)  Rinse the chicken thoroughly then add the corn starch/rice wine mixture and let marinate for another 15 minutes.

Mix the sauce ingredients together and set aside.

Heat up your wok pan with 2 tbsp cooking oil and fry the chicken until the surface is white, then remove from the pan.

Add another tbsp of oil and saute the onion until soft, then add the cashews.  Stir them around a bit, then add the chicken and sauce.  

Simmer, stirring often, until the chicken is cooked through.  Serve with rice or noodles.

I have craved ranchero sauce ever since we left the beach.  Since tonight’s dinner was deemed to be tacos, and I utterly despise the packaged seasoning we usually use, I decided to whap together a batch of ranchero sauce instead.  

Ranchero Sauce

Ingredients

• 4 tomatoes
• 1 white onion
• 1 jalapeno
• the holy trinity (kosher salt, peper, garlic powder)

Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water, then shock them in icy water, yes, all in the name of peeling off the skins.  Dice them as you prefer, fine or rough.  

Finely dice the jalapeno and the white onion.  Sautee these in olive oil with a healthy couple of pinches of kosher salt, as much black pepper as you can stand, and a tbsp or two of garlic powder.  When the onions become transparent, add the diced tomatoes.

Now, to render an actual ranchero sauce, I’d say cook this for about an hour.  However, if you’re starving, the family is already at table, and you can’t stop licking the spoon with which you’re stirring, go on and serve some of that up when the tomatoes get soft (about 15 minutes at a fast simmer).  You can always cook it on down to sauce consistency later.

I had mine atop holy trinity/olive oil-sauteed chicken in taco shells with sour cream and shredded lettuce, and it was divine.  I imagine you could serve it atop just about anything you liked…meatloaf, green beans, etc.  

Just one more data point in the case for Simple is Best.

UPDATE:  Can’t. Stop. Eating. The. Sauce.

Using Christine Ferber’s Mes Confitures as for theory and baseline (though I will NEVER be comfortable with “open kettle” processing unless we’re eating it immediately), I started with a 3.5 lb bag of golden delicious apples.  Cut those in quarters (removing *only* the stems, leave seeds and skin on), and boiled them up for about half an hour in around 5 cups of water.  Then discovered I did not have a chinois, and after checking in on Amazon discovered I sure as hell wasn’t paying 40 bucks for one.  Instead I used our Oxo colander placed over a large mixing bowl, and pressed the fruit with the back of a spoon.  Then I gathered up the fruit pulp in a piece of damp cheesecloth, closed at the top with a twist tie, and hung it on our handy banana stand over the bowl overnight, so every bit of apple-y goodness could finish dripping out.
 

Expensive tools, unitaskers…a Jedi needs not these things.

This morning I strained out 4 1/4 cups of the juice and set that to boil with 4 2/3 cups of white sugar, the juice of one lemon and 1/4 tsp of lemon zest.  While that was climbing up to 221 degrees, I sterilized the pint jelly jars (this recipe fills FOUR with 1/2″ to 1″ headspace) and fittings in the big processing pot.  This is where an electric kettle comes in mighty handy, by the way.  By adding already-boiling water to the pot you’re reducing the amount of time it takes to get the whole enchilada boiling.

The leftover mixture seems to indicate the correct consistency was achieved, without the additional pectin I totally didn’t have on hand and was terrified I’d actually need.  So, woo!
 

I ladeled the pretty syrup into the four jars, capped them finger tight and stuck them in their water bath, processed them at a rolling boil for about 15 minutes.  Now they’re sitting on the counter, cooling, and awaiting their labels.
 

I know there is still room for failure, but about a minute after being set on the counter to cool, all four jars went “pop” as their seals tightened.  I choose to take that as a good sign, dammit.

There are a BILLYUN madeleine recipes out there, people.  Refrigerate 3 hours, eggs at room temperature, dance naked in the moonlight to ensure the perfect, er, “hump”….  The list goes on and on.  I read a half-dozen variations this morning, and went with the following, which is a bastardization of this one, this one and this one.

Madeleines

(Makes 24)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) SALTED butter, melted and cooled, plus additional for brushing molds
• 1 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350.

Melt the 1 1/2 sticks of butter first, in a heavy glass measuring cup if you have it.  Heat in 30 second intervals in your microwave on high (a little less than 1 minute does it).  Set that aside to cool.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.

Beat the eggs in your stand mixer on high speed (or with a hand mixer) until they’re light and foamy, about a minute.  Add the vanilla.  Slowly add the granulated sugar, still beating at high speed, and continue to beat until the mixture is tripled in volume, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, folding gently with a spatula until just incorporated.  Do the same with the next third and the final third.  (Folding gently prevents the loss of all that air you beat into the eggs.)  Then fold in the zest and the melted/cooled butter.

Melt 1/2 stick butter in the microwave, about 30 seconds.  Use a brush (my favorite is this silicone one) to thoroughly coat the molds in the pan, be sure to get the edges as the cakes will swell a good bit and will stick there otherwise. 

Spoon rounded tablespoons into each mold, aiming for about 2/3 full.  Bake for about 10-12 minutes, until the edges are golden.

Turn the finished pan out on a wire rack.  Either dust with powdered sugar or glaze as you like.

Lemon Glaze

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp water

Whisk together in a bowl, drizzle over cooled cakes.

These are thin buttery cookies that are generally sandwiched together with ganache:
 

And make no mistake, they’re completely delicious this way, but I had in mind something a little different:

An approximation of Pepperidge Farm’s Geneva cookie, except this one is done with semi-sweet chocolate and crushed almonds.  

Melt 1 cup of semi-sweet chips with 1 tsp of shortening, microwave until goopy (1 to 2 minutes).  Dip cookies (or spread lightly with a knife/spatula) then sprinkle with crushed almonds.

Either way they’re absolutely delicious.  The cookie has a texture somewhere between a regular sugar cookie and shortbread and I can see using it in endless different ways.