congregamus-ruining-food

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Chicken in Creamy Sun-Dried Tomatoes Sauce with Mushrooms

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts if they're too big, maybe use 3 chicken breasts for 4 people

1.5 tsp sea salt

1 tsp black pepper

1.5 tsp oregano

1 tsp paprika

3 tbsps olive oil extra virgin

4 garlic cloves add more if you love garlic

2 cups sliced white mushrooms about 10 ozs

⅔ cup sun dried tomatoes

0.5 cup white wine

1 cup heavy cream

3 tbsps crumbled feta cheese adjust this ingredient to your taste

3 tbsps chopped fresh parsley I love Italian parsley or flat leaf parsley for this recipe

Directions:

Mix salt, pepper, oregano and paprika into a blend. Season chicken breasts on both sides really well.

Heat the skillet in medium heat and add olive oil. Add chicken when oil is hot and cook on both sides about 5-6 minutes per side (if using chicken cutlets I'd do 4 minutes per side). Remove chicken from skillet and place it on a plate and cover it.

Add minced garlic and mushrooms to skillet. Saute really well for about a minute or so, flip the mushrooms and after another minute remove them from pan and place them over the chicken in the plate.

Add sun dried tomatoes to pan, use their oil too. Let the sun dried tomatoes start to sizzle. Then add the white wine to deglaze the skillet, leave it for few seconds so the alcohol evaporates. Stir well and then add heavy cream.

Lower the heat and let the sauce simmer. Then add the chicken and mushrooms back in, try to nestle everything into the sauce, don't pile them up. Add couple of tablespoons of fresh parsley. Let cook together for few minutes in low heat. Check for salt and pepper and adjust to taste.

Towards the end top off with feta cheese (adjust amount to taste) and the remaining fresh parsley.

Serve over rice, pasta or even steamed veggies. I love to have a small side salad with this dish. Enjoy:)

[congregamus-ruining-food]

[congregamus-ruining-food]

If I wasn't in the kitchen today, I was in the store. Jesus Factory #2 has a social thing tomorrow night. "Sunday in the Park with Lyric." It's just a picnic, but I love to do a picnic, so I've gone and done a little too much. But maybe it's just enough since I'm ersatz "host"?

Anyway, I was giving John options about breakfast earlier, and then I stopped myself, saying, "It's not like I run a restaurant or anything," and John replied, "You kind of do..."

Which is to say that it's all very different than it was six years ago when I moved out to Albany Park. One of my goals was to learn how to be in the kitchen without a panic attack, which I seem to have done. Sometimes the food is even really good. But I don't count on it. Perhaps most importantly, I don't consider the day ruined if what comes out of the kitchen is simply edible. It has been a long road here, but I'm glad we made it to "quotidian." I am finally a product of "ordinary time," and I approve of it.

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[congregamus-ruining-food]

Easy Skillet Breakfast Potatoes

Ingredients

 1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes

 2 tablespoons butter

 2 tablespoons olive oil

 pinch of cayenne

 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

 optional: rosemary, thyme, garlic clove

Directions:

POTATOES: Peel and quarter the potatoes. Place prepared quartered potatoes on a microwave-safe plate and zap for 3 1/2-4 1/2 minutes covered with a microwave lid. Insert a knife into the thickest part of the potato, the knife should go through with some resistance. Let potatoes cool to room temperature. You can also refrigerate the potatoes once cooled and use the next day. Just dice the potatoes up into roughly 1/2 inch pieces before you add them to the skillet. They chop up easier if they've had a chance to hang out in the refrigerator.

COOK: Using a 12-inch skillet or larger, place the butter, olive oil, and if using the rosemary, thyme, and 1 smashed garlic clove into a large skillet over medium-high heat. Allow the butter to melt and the olive oil to heat through. When the herbs start popping and sizzling, remove them and the garlic clove, discard. Add the potatoes in a single layer, season with a generous pinch of salt and pepper, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, and smoked paprika, toss to coat evenly. Cook the potatoes for a total of 8-10 minute, flipping and tossing them every 2-3 minutes to ensure even browning. Taste for seasonings and adjust to preference. Serve immediately.

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[congregamus-ruining-food]

How did southern food come into being? The early cooking of southern food was primarily done by blacks, men and women. In the home, in hotels, in boarding houses, on boats, on trains, and at the White House. Cooking is hard and demanding. It was then, and it still is now. What began as hard work became creative work. There is something about the South that stimulates creativity in people, be they black or white writers, artists, cooks, builders, or primitives that pass away without knowing they were talented. It is also interesting to note that the South developed the only cuisine in this country. Living in a rural setting is inspiring: Birds, the quiet, flowers, trees, gardens, fields, music, love, sunshine, rain, and the smells of the earth all play a part in the world of creativity. It has nothing to do with reading or writing. Many of those cooks could not read or write.

I grew up among people who worked together, traded seed, borrowed setting hens if their own were late setting. Early hatched chickens were like a prize. Neighbors  would compete to see who would serve the first spring chickens pan-sautéed. The first spring greens, lettuce,scallions in a vinegar dressing with salt, pepper, and sugar– no oil. They shared favors of all kinds, joined in when it came to planting or harvesting a crop, wheat threshing, hog butchering, and cutting ice on the ponds to store for the summer in the community icehouse.

I grew up noticing the food feasts, picnics, church revival dinners with long white tablecloths. Families put out warm fried chicken, braised leg of mutton, thin slices of boiled Virginia ham. Green beans cooked in pork stock, beets in a vinaigrette sauce. English peas in cream. Baked tomatoes with crusty squares of bread on top. Fragrant corn pudding. Potato salad with a boiled dressing. Watermelon and cantaloupe pickles and relishes, preserves and jellies, and iced tea.

So many great souls have passed off the scene. The world has changed. We are now faced with picking up the pieces and trying to put them into shape, document them so the present-day young generation can see what southern food was like. The foundation on which it rested was pure ingredients, open-pollinated seed – planted and replanted for generations – natural fertilizers. We grew the seeds of what we ate, we worked with love and care.

What is Southern? by Edna Lewis

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As I mentioned earlier, I'm doing "Super Bowl" food for my household as the feast to accompany the RPDR finale, that gladiatorial Circus Maximus of homosexual streaming entertainment.

I am excited to share what I've prepared with Ioannes. (I'm following this recipe but using vegetarian rather than vegan ingredients for things like mayo and cheese.) I didn't make my mayo from scratch, but I did do the rest of the sauces: the burger sauce, a garlic ranch, and a marinara-adjacent dipping sauce to serve along with the Tonino's® brand cheese pizza rolls — the only thing on "game day" that can satisfy "my hungry guys" lol.

Re: cooked onions, see below — I gave up after 35 minutes. They always outlast my patience, but this is a decent nod towards legit caramelization.

[congregamus-ruining-food]

Mediterranean Chick Pea Salad

Ingredients

2 (15-ounce cans) chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 large cucumber, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

¼ cup red onion, diced

4-5 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

¼ cup finely chopped parsley

Salt, pepper, dill, oregano, Za'atar spice blend (to taste)

Lemon vinaigrette

If you don't know how to make a vinaigrette, I use Jacques Pepin's recipe as my baseline. Dice the shallots to death, press extra garlic, and add lots of extra lemon to this. You'll love it.

Hope this goes well for you when you give it a try, @c4bl3fl4m3. If you like protein-heavy dishes, and you're not a vegetarian, I also added some rotisserie chicken this week, too.

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In 2010, the open‐data activist Waldo Jaquith decided to make a cheeseburger from scratch, using only agrarian methods. He and his wife had just built a home in the woods of Virginia, where they raised chickens and tended to an extensive vegetable garden. Flush with pride in his self-sufficiency, Jaquith outlined the steps required: bake buns, mince beef, make cheese, harvest lettuce, tomatoes, and onion. Then he realized that he wasn’t nearly committed enough. To really make a cheeseburger from scratch, he would also need to plant, harvest, and grind his own wheat, and raise at least two cows, one for the dairy and another to be slaughtered for the meat. At this point, Jaquith gave up. The problem wasn’t labor but timing. His tomatoes were in season in late summer, his lettuce ready to harvest in spring and fall. According to the seasonal, pre-refrigeration calendar he was trying to follow, Jaquith would have needed to make his cheese in the springtime, after his dairy cow had given birth: her calf would be slaughtered for the rennet, and the milk intended to feed it repurposed. But the cow that provided his beef wouldn’t be killed until the autumn, when the weather started to get cold. If Jaquith turned the tomatoes into ketchup and aged his cheese in a cellar for six months, until the meat, lettuce, and wheat bun were ready, he could maybe, possibly, make a cheeseburger from scratch. But practically speaking, he concluded, “the cheeseburger couldn’t have existed until nearly a century ago.”

Refrigeration (a.k.a. the cold chain) gave us new foods, but it also led to selecting and altering foods — the prime example being the lifeless tomato — to favor ones that can survive the process. This is a cool (HA!) article.

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Reblog to give a trans woman a delicious Cuban sandwich

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Prepping Tinga de pollo for a couple of quick, satisfying dinners this week and an "everything but the kitchen sink" pasta salad for lunches on Wednesday and Thursday.

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Instant Pot Butter Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup basmati rice

¼ cup unsalted butter

½ sweet onion, diced

1 small red bell pepper, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

1 ½ teaspoons garam masala

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon ground cumin

¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, optional

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 (14.5-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

½ cup chicken stock

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks

½ cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

DIRECTIONS:

In a large saucepan of 2 cups water, cook rice according to package instructions; set aside.

Set a 6-qt Instant Pot® to the high saute setting. Add butter, onion and bell pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 3-5 minutes. Stir in garlic, ginger, garam masala, turmeric, paprika, cumin and cayenne pepper, if using, until fragrant, about 1 minute; season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Stir in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken stock and chicken.

Select manual setting; adjust pressure to high, and set time for 10 minutes. When finished cooking, quick-release pressure according to manufacturer’s directions.

In a small bowl, whisk together heavy cream and flour; set aside.

Select high sauté setting. Stir in heavy cream mixture and cook, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir in cilantro; season with salt and pepper, to taste.

[congregamus-ruining-food]

Tomato Lentil Soup

INGREDIENTS:

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 yellow onion

3 carrots

2 cloves garlic

1 russet potato (about 1 lb.)

2 Tbsp tomato paste

2 15oz. cans stewed tomatoes

1 cup brown lentils

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp dried basil

½ tsp dried oregano

¼ tsp freshly cracked black pepper

4 cups vegetable broth

2 Tbsp soy sauce

DIRECTIONS:

Dice the onion, mince the garlic, and slice the carrots (I like smaller pieces for this recipe, so I do a quarter round slice). Add the onion, garlic, carrots, and olive oil to a large soup pot and sauté over medium heat until the oniosn are soft. While the vegetables are cooking, peel and dice the potato into ½-inch cubes.

Add the tomato paste and continue to sauté for 2-3 minutes, or until the tomato paste begins to coat the bottom of the pot.

Add the cubed potato, stewed tomatoes (with juices), lentils, paprika, basil, oregano, pepper, and vegetable broth to the pot. Stir to combine.

Place a lid on top and allow the soup to come up to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to low and let the soup simmer for about 40 minutes or until the lentils are super tender and have begun to break down slightly (this helps thicken the soup).

Add the soy sauce to the soup, then give it a taste and adjust the salt if needed (the total amount will depend on the salt content of your vegetable broth). Serve hot with crusty bread for dipping.