spicy turkey chili & bacon zucchini cornbread

Posted on November 18, 2011 by hilary924

it’s chilly in dc. time for some chili!

sorry. couldn’t resist. but good night, it is cold here today. completely unacceptable.

this chili would be the opposite of that. healthy AND tasty. and if you have a half-eaten can of chipotle from last week’s chicken, you’re in luck.

little known fact – not only was i born in texas, i spent my fair share of time at chili-cook-offs. i’m pretty sure i was wearing gingham, cause my mom knows what’s what.

but really, chili is my dad’s thing. this is one of two culinary gifts from my father, the mad scientist. the first is peanut butter on waffles with pancake syrup. i have yet to be able to convince anyone of the amazingness of that combination, so maybe you have to grow up with it?

anyway. that man is serious about his chili. he got his recipe down to a very precise combination of spices. when i asked him for it a while back, he asserted that the ratios require that you create a very large quantity of chili spice, making it useless for the home cook. pre-katrina, his local nola restaurant used his crazy spice mix, and i think he used to give baggies of it away to the worthy few.

not screwing around here folks, not screwing around.

anyway, we’re moving ahead without you here, dad, with what i’m sure would be a pretty solid contender for the blue ribbon.

tomatoes. green chile and chipotle chilies. white beans. freshly ground cumin. hard to go wrong here.

and hey, look! i grew those peppers! last gasp of summer, there you go.

this chili is seriously good. it is nicely spicy and smoky from the chipotle and paprika, has a brightness from the green chile and tomatoes. the ground turkey gives it heft without heaviness. and the white beans, especially on day two, are just pillowy soft. i caught the somm fishing them out of the leftovers, the sneak!

and . . . because i can’t leave well enough alone, i also made cornbread. the sweetness balances the chili’s spice, and the smoky bacon brings it all together.

the zucchini? well, i was just intrigued to see if it would turn out as a proper cornbread or more like a quick bread. happily, this is a true cornbread, maybe just a tad moister, with lots of green goodness tucked inside.

this is a hearty bread, between the whole wheat flour, bacon and zucchini.

it also has buttermilk – and i cheated and added a bit of lemon juice to milk for a DIY solution – and browned butter. yum.

i baked it in a cast-iron skillet coated with the bacon (ok it was pancetta, but how girly girly does zucchini pancetta cornbread sound!!) drippings so it was infused with bacon flavor.

legit.

Spicy Turkey Chili

Adapted from Epicurious

2 canned whole chipotle chilies in adobo, finely chopped or pureed with a little water
2 18-ounce cans tomatoes, whole or diced (you may not use them all)
1 large onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon smoky Spanish paprika
2 pounds ground turkey
1 cup chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
two 4-ounce cans mild green chilies, drained and chopped
2 teaspoons cornmeal
1 can white beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
sour cream
Shredded cheese

Warm oil in a large pot. Add onions and garlic and saute for a few minutes until softened and fragrant. Add cumin and paprika and cook for another minute or so. Add the turkey and cook until no longer pink.

Add the chipotles, broth, seasonings, and tomatoes. Let simmer for about an hour. Add more broth if it gets too thick. Then add your bell pepper and green chiles and cornmeal and simmer for half an hour. Then add your beans. Continue to add more broth or tomatoes to keep the consistency as you like it.

Discard bay leaf. Serve with cilantro, sour cream and cheese on top.

This keeps well for a few days in the fridge.

Bacon Zucchini Cornbread

Adapted from Epicurious

6 slices (or more!) of bacon
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large zucchini (about 10 ounces)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup medium-grind cornmeal

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan until it gets a nutty brown, about 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl and let cool before adding eggs and buttermilk.

While butter is cooling, you can:

Crisp your bacon in an oven-safe skillet (cast iron will work really well, but you can use any type, or just use a baking pan greased with your bacon drippings). Remove and roughly chop bacon. Swirl drippings around to coat pan, discard excess.

Cut a few thin slices from your zucchini and reserve; shred the rest with a grater or cuisinart. Add to bowl with butter mixture and stir until well blended.

Mix the flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda and cornmeal into a large bowl.

Add zucchini mixture; fold just to blend (mixture will be very thick).

Transfer batter to skillet and decorate with your saved zucchini slices.

Bake bread until golden and a tester inserted into center comes out clean, 30-40 minutes.

Eat with lots of butter and chili!

corn, tomato & zucchini pie

Posted on August 9, 2011 by hilary924

isn’t corn just wonderful? it really is one of my favorite foods. i love that corn can go either sweet or savory – or both, hitting that salty-sweet combo that just sings to me. like peanut butter or kettle corn or flaky sea salt on brownies.

last year, we went to san francisco for my (and a friends!) birthday and had dinner one night at a swanky restaurant with corn-themed dessert. it was a crazy landscape of a dessert. literally. it had “soil” and little plants and all kinds of amazing corn-based delights and i think i just planted my face into it and hoped the somm and friend were enjoying some other dessert menu item.

i’m not a good sharer.

at least when it comes to dessert. i’m totally happy to share this recipe – which is savory despite that long corn-dessert aside. homemade corn ice cream is sooooo on my summer wish list.

this corn “pie” delivers the essence of corn in all it’s summer glory. it’s rich but light, and the sweet corn is perfectly complemented by the crispy, cheesey topping and herbal notes from the basil and thyme.

plus it couldn’t be easier.

cut the kernels off your corn. i like to do it in a bowl. it keeps the kernels from going everywhere.

use your knife skills to matchstick some zucchini. this is not my best effort. but, to be honest, i put this bad boy together post happy hour on a friday. anything more advanced than take out or a bowl of cereal was winning.

throw it together in a pie dish with herbs, salt & pepper and some melted butter.

pretty.

layer on some tomatoes.

red and yellow. gorgeous.

finish it off with bread crumbs and parmesan.

bake until brown and crispy. nom nom.

Corn, Tomato & Zucchini Pie

Adapted from Epicurious

3 ears of corn worth of corn kernels
1-2 medium zucchini, cut into matchstick pieces
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh basil and/or thyme
2 tablespoons melted butter
3 vine-ripened tomatoes, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs, Panko-type are best
2 tablespoons olive oil – I used basil-flavored, yum

Preheat the oven to 375°. In a 9-inch pie dish, combine the corn, zucchini, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, the herbs, and the melted butter, tossing to coat the vegetables. Cover the vegetables with the tomatoes. Sprinkle with the remaining salt and pepper.

In a small bowl, combine the cheese and the bread crumbs. Sprinkle the mixture over the tomatoes and drizzle with the olive oil. Bake the pie for 30 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling. Remove it from the oven, and let it stand for 5 minutes before serving.

life-changing zucchini soup

Posted on July 25, 2011 by hilary924

perhaps you are asking yourself, why on god's green earth would anyone be making soup – and we are talking hot soup here, not chilled refreshing gazpacho – not only in the middle of summer, but in the middle of the worst heat wave this country has seen in a long, long time?

well, i didn't leave the house yesterday. the somm and i cranked up the ac, lowered the blinds, settled our tushes into the couch and took shelter.

i didn't even go to the gym. its getting serious.

but back to the soup. a friend sent me the recipe. i thanked her. i was close to moving on. i'm not a soup person. my mom – she is all about the soup. soup just doesn't always get it done for me.

then my friend sent a one sentence email: the zucchini soup will change your life.

talk about getting serious. i'm in!

we're going to start with some onions.

diced onion is going to get up close and personal with more butter and olive oil than i usually use (sorry honey!) and some thyme and bay. i took a picture, frankly it didn't look as appetizing as it smelled. butter. mmm.

add your chunked zucchini and chicken stock. i used some homemade stock from the freezer. the sommelier came that much closer to finding the ice cream sandwiches.

once it's all cooked up together, you blend it up. you know, in your blender. or use one of those fancy immersion blender wands. i don't have one, although some kind person did buy me one for my wedding. i had registered for it and everything. i thought it might inspire me to make soup. i had visions of sharing soup recipes with my mother. then it arrived and i looked at it and realized that, really, i'm not a soup person. i returned it and put the money towards filling out my pots and pans set. my sincere apologies. but seriously, i'm using the hell out of those pots and pans.

soup therapy session over! time for the croutons! you're going to need lots of basil.

i keep mine in a vase. with my flowers.

god, i love the woman who sells the flowers at my farmers market. she puts basil IN THE ARRANGEMENTS sometimes. purple basil – do you see it back there? love. it. so does manchego. check him out surveying his domain.

moments after this photo was taken, he started gnawing on the flower arrangements.

anyway. i saved the basil from the gatito. and let me pass along this advice: do not skip the croutons. they are buttery, basily cubes of goodness.

let them get all brown and toasty.

so good. i am that much closer to being a soup person.

and mom – you should try this soup. here's the recipe!

Zucchini Soup with Basil Croutons

from Food & Wine Magazine

SOUP

3 tbs butter
3 tbs olive oil
3 celery ribs, peeled and diced (I didn't have celery. I didn't miss it.)
1 medium onion, minced (I may have subbed extra onion for the missing celery. But I can never tell what a "medium" onion is supposed to be.)
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp chopped thyme leaves
1 1/2 lb zucchini (F&W said to use little guys, I used two big dudes. Eh.)
3 cups chicken stock
Salt & Pepper
More basil

In a large heavy saucepan, melt the butter in the olive oil. Add the celery, onion, bay leaf and thyme and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft, about 20 minutes. Increase the heat to moderate. Stir in the zucchini and stock, season with salt and pepper and simmer the soup until the zucchini is soft, about 10 minutes. Discard the bay leaf.

CROUTONS

2 tbs butter
1/3 cup basil leaves, finely chopped
2 cups-ish country bread, cut into 1/2 ince dice
Salt & Pepper

In a large skillet, melt the butter over moderately high heat. Stir in the chopped basil, then add the bread cubes and toss to coat with the butter. Season the bread cubes with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes, or until the bread cubes are lightly toasted and crispy. Transfer to a plate.

ALL TOGETHER NOW

Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender until smooth. This is important – soup expand when it gets hot and blended. Leave a little air hole at the top of your blender. Enough for steam, not enough to splatter soup everywhere. You'll be sad.

Return the soup to the saucepan and reheat gently. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with the croutons and basil leaves and serve.

freestyle ratatouille

Posted on July 21, 2011 by hilary924

there are two veggie dishes that just scream summer to me. they are also two dishes that are super fun to say. ratatouille! succotash!

today, we're talking ratatouille.

everyone in america now knows what ratatouille is thanks to this adorable mouse.

both ratatouille and succotash make excellent use of the veggies that are at their prime in summer. for ratatouille, this means tomatoes. eggplants. squash. sweet peppers. basil and other herbs.

you can't really see it, but there's a super pretty purple and white striped eggplant in that pile. remember when that pile was bigger?

there's that eggplant! and a very uncharacteristically curious cat.

some people (ahem julia child) have lots of rules about ratatouille. sauteing the various vegetable separately to maintain their vegetal integrity. that just sounds like a lot of cleaning for this servantless chef. and while thomas keller's perfectly composed little dish of ratatouille for said movie looked delectable, i just can't be bothered on a weeknight. i like my ratatouille peasant style, stewy and infused with the taste of summer.

so, here goes some freestyle ratatouille. i'm not even going to give you a real recipe. first. chop your veggies. you know what you like. i like more tomato than sweet pepper. i like lots of garlic and a nice big onion. i like a 1:1ish ratio of eggplant and zucchini.

heat some oil. sweat out your onions. add your garlic. add your tomatoes. let it hang out and get a little mushy. then add your eggplant and zucchini. hit it with some salt and pepper, and some chopped herbs – i like basil and thyme. cover and let it melt together. melt it at much as you like. want your veggies to have a bit of bite? add them in stages. or be all julia child and sear them in a separate pan and then add to your tomato. i won't judge. too much.

this is what last night's ratatouille looked like:

don't judge these knife skills. it's all going to come together. what will bring it together? red wine vinegar.

there are a couple of things that i've learned that have made me a better cook. 1) salt your food. think you've added enough? add another pinch. do it. 2) acid. acid does amazing things for food. a squeeze of lemon, a squirt of vinegar, will brighten up most dishes. professional chefs know how to use acid. home cooks usually don't. red wine vinegar will bring your ratatouille together.

but, a little goat cheese wouldn't hurt. some more basil. maybe some french bread? red wine?

yum.

and what's better than a plate of ratatouille? ratatouille on pizza.

whole wheat crust, mozzarella, more of that goat cheese, maybe some chicken sausage. layer on some more summer veggies.

(please note that the farmer's market was not harmed in the addition of vegetables to this pizza, they were kindly donated by friends who then helped consume the results. unlike my sad underacheivers, their deck garden is going gangbusters. something about watering and fertilizing? sigh.)

bake it up.

mmm. need to feel more virtuous? add some kale salad. dinner's on!

Ratatouille

Saute onions and garlic. Add chopped tomatoes. Add chopped eggplant, zucchini, bell pepers, basil and thyme. Simmer until it reaches the desired consistency. Add a few splashes of red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper. Maybe some red pepper flakes if you're feeling spicy.

Pizza Dough

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar (or honey!)
1 tsp yeast.
1 cup cold water

Mix flours, salt, sugar, and yeast. Add cold water and stir/knead until it forms a ball and comes away from the sides of the bowl. Oil a clean bowl. Let the dough hang out in the oiled bowl, tightly covered. At least 2-4 hours, but all day is good too if you're like me and can't wait to eat until 10 pm on a work night and thus must make dough in the morning as a part of a losing battle to being on time for work. When you get home, knead it a couple of times with more flour, then let it rest under a clean dish towel. This recipe makes a LOT of dough. But whatever you don't use will keep in the fridge for a day or two.

Kale Salad

This one is just chopped kale with a TON of feta and a simple dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. It was inspired by the marginally fancier Dinner: A Love Story recipe here.

Manchego's Kitchen

it's his kitchen. i just cook here.

Category Archives: Summer Squash

spicy turkey chili & bacon zucchini cornbread

corn, tomato & zucchini pie

life-changing zucchini soup

freestyle ratatouille