Chicken and Leek Stroganoff

Cooking food from scratch — that's what I like to do. Although I haven't been good at keeping things fresh lately...but small steps will help me get back into my cooking groove.

I recently found my groove when I picked up this cookbook. After flipping through it I immediately felt inspired and ready to get back into the game. Jamie Oliver is our real-life Ratatouille's Gusteau "Anyone can cook!" His recipes are easy and fresh = healthy. I don't think I'll be rifling through cookbooks for awhile dreaming of the perfect dinner...this cookbook will do.

My first recipe was for Chicken and Leek Stroganoff and we loved it...I've made it twice actually (it's so easy to prepare).

 

What You'll Need

sea salt

1/4 cup long grain or basmati rice (I used basmati)
1 large leek

a big handful of crimini or oyster mushrooms (I used pre-sliced white mushrooms)

2 chicken breasts
olive oil

a pat of butter

a glass of white wine

freshly ground black pepper

a bunch of fresh parsley

1 3/4 cups heavy cream

1 lemon (I tried both lime and lemon and found that lime added a better flavor)


What To Do

1. Pour boiling water from the kettle into a 2 quart saucepan, place on a high heat and add a pinch of sea salt. Add your rice, bring back to a boil, then turn the heat down slightly. Cook for the length of time given in the instructions on the package.
2. Cut both ends off the leek, quarter lengthwise, slice across thinly, then wash well under running water. Slice the mushrooms. Slice the chicken breasts into little finger-size pieces.
3. Put a large frying pan on a high heat and add a good lug of olive oil and a pat of butter. Add the leek to the pan with the white wine, a small glass of water, and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Let it bubble away for 5 minutes, covered loosely with a piece of aluminum foil. Meanwhile, finely chop the parsley, stalks and all. Remove the foil and add the chicken strips, most of the parsley, the cream, and the mushrooms. Stir, bring back to a boil, then turn the heat down to medium and simmer for 10 minutes. 
4. Drain your rice. Just before serving, cut your lemon in half and squeeze the juice of one half into the stroganoff. Season to taste.
5. Spoon some rice onto each plate and top with the stroganoff. Scatter with the rest of the chopped parsley. Serve with the other lemon half, cut into wedges.

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Roasted eggplants with spring onions

We grew eggplants for the very first time this year -- in a five-gallon bucket! The plant itself is beautiful, with its broad, purple-veined leaves, and we've been amazed at how much our little plant, with only five gallons of soil to sustain its roots, can produce.

an eggplant blossom in July

Here's a dish we recently prepared with the bounty of our modest container garden. It's a variation on a recipe from Best-Ever Curry Cookbook by Mridula Baljekar. I've modified the original version to allow for Asian eggplants. I also substituted olive oil for vegetable oil, yellow mustard seeds for black, and some random kind of hot pepper growing in my backyard for the red chili pepper.

Served over brown jasmine rice, it was delicious and nourishing.

Roasted eggplants with spring onions

Serves 4

Brown jasmine rice

2 large eggplants (or 5 of the small, long Asian variety)

3 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 tsp. yellow mustard seeds

1 large bunch spring onions (bigger is actually better in this case), finely sliced

4 oz. button mushrooms, halved

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 fresh red chili (or equivalent amount of any hot pepper you have on hand)

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. ground coriander

1/4 tsp. ground turmeric

1 tsp. salt

14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro, plus a few extra sprigs to garnish

*Note: brown jasmine rice takes a while (40-45 minutes) to cook, so you might want to start the rice ahead of the rest of the dish*

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place eggplants on a baking sheet and brush with 2 Tbsp. of the oil. Prick each one with a fork, then roast until soft (about 15 minutes for the small Asian variety; 30-35 minutes for large conventional eggplants).

2. Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil and the mustard seeds in a large skillet for about 2 minutes on medium-high heat (the seeds may start to splutter). Add the onions, mushrooms, garlic, and chili pepper, and stir fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the tomatoes, lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

3. While the tomatoes are simmering, cut the eggplants in half and scoop out the soft flesh into a bowl. Mash the flesh with a fork.

4. Add the eggplant flesh to the pan with the chopped cilantro. Bring to a boil and simmer for five minutes until the sauce thickens. Serve over brown jasmine rice, garnished with cilantro.

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Spanish Rice

I can not tell you how many times I have made this recipe since I discovered it, but it's probably averaging about once every 10 days. We love it that much! And of course I can't follow a recipe to save my life (even when making it for the first time). The cumin and corn are my additions and the finished product is much better for it. And I always have, always will make them with with Wildtree fajitas! It's a perfect combination. (The photo was taken when I used leftover rice and added grilled chicken and cheese to make a burrito.)

Spanish Rice

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. Wildtree grapeseed oil
1 cup uncooked white rice
1/2 green pepper, diced
1 onion, chopped
2 cups water/chicken broth
1 (10 oz.) can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1-2 tsp. chili powder (I only use about 3/4 tsp. and it's too spicy for me.)
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt (optional)
1 small can of corn

How to Make It:
1) Heat oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. Saute rice, onion, and green pepper until veggies are crisp tender and rice is slightly browned.
2) Stir in water or broth and tomatoes. Season with cumin, salt, and chili powder. Cover, and simmer, for 25 minutes until liquid is mostly absorbed. Stir in corn and cook another 5 minutes until rice is done and liquid is absorbed.

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Vietnam Fried Rice

This recipe is originally from the More with Less cookbook and a favorite dish in our house. I always have the ingredients on hand so it's an easy fix to the it's-4:00-and-I-need-to-make-something-for-dinner problem. If you so chose, you can make it meat-free. After having made this many, many times, I am posting it the way I like to make it, which includes doubling the soy sauce mixture.

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp. olive oil
3/4-1 lb. meat (beef, chicken pork, and/or shrimp), chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 cups cooked/leftover rice
2 cups frozen, mixed veggies (I precook them in the microwave until crisp, tender.)
2 eggs, beaten (I partially scramble in a separate pan.)

How to Make It:

1) Heat oil in wok. Stir fry meat, onion, and garlic until meat is done. (Do not drain.) Prepare salt, pepper, sugar, and soy sauce in separate bowl; mix well, then add to meat in skillet. Continue to stir fry for another minute.
2) Add cooked rice. Stir fry for 5 minutes. Add veggies, mixing well. Add scrambled egg and stir fry for another 1-2 minutes.

Serve with salad and fruit and this will feed 4-6 people.

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Wild Rice with Dried Fruit

Once upon a time, I was reading a magazine - probably Reader's Digest? - and saw an advertisement for raisins. I like raisins, to be sure, but I don't particularly notice advertisements for them. This one, however, grabbed my attention by including a recipe that looked appealing to me. So I tried it out on my family one evening in late November 2005, and we all liked it so much that I included it in our big family Christmas dinner that year. Since then, I've made it numerous times, and I continue to enjoy it so much that I'm tempted to give it my All-Time Favorite Rice Award. The best part about it is the dried fruit and the sweetness that brings to the dish. Sweet is always good, in my book. ;)

What You Need

2 tbsp. butter

1/2 c. chopped onion

1/2 c. sliced celery

1/2 c. chopped pecans

1 tsp. or cube chicken bouillon

2 1/4 c. water

1 pkg. (6 oz.) long grain & wild rice mix

1 c. raisins and dried cherries (I prefer about half and half raisins and sour cherries, but really, this would be delicious with a number of different combinations of dried fruit)

What You Do

Melt butter in a medium saucepan or skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, and pecans. Cook 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add bouillon, water, rice mix and seasoning packet, and dried fruit. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer 25 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.

Happy dining!

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.

~ Voltaire

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