Curried Chicken and Banana Stew

(from Dave DeWitt's 1,001 Best Hot and Spicy Recipes)

Oh, I'm excited about this one. For Christmas, my parents got Joef the above cookbook. He was, of course, thrilled. I gave them a "thank you" through (comically) gritted teeth. But sure enough, the first recipe we tried from the book was a total hit all around.

I loved this - it's an East African stew, apparently, with Indian influences (curry and coconut). It was also pretty easy - I'd probably save it for weekends, but it's really easy enough to make during the week, too. DeWitt gives it a heat scale of medium, which I found accurate. I wasn't sure about the banana the first night, but it absorbed the flavor of the stew when we ate it as leftovers, and really, it works with the dish if you're up for something different. Also, peanut oil must have a really low flashpoint, because that stuff bubbles like crazy.

I made the whole recipe, and ate it (gladly) for the next two-three days. You're gonna need a REALLY big pot.

3-4 lb chicken drumsticks
3 tbsp peanut oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 cup onion, chopped
2 cups celery, chopped
2.5 tbsp hot Madras curry powder (I could only find mild, but I compensated by buying extra hot chile - see below)
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp ground red chile (I used extra hot, powdered - see above)
2 cups tomato, chopped
1 cup shredded coconut
6 cups chicken broth
2 slightly under-ripe bananas, peeled and sliced

In a large, heavy pot, brown the chicken in the oil over medium-high heat (watch that oil, it pops!). Do it in batches if needed. Set the chicken aside.

Saute the garlic, onion, and celery in the remaining oil for about a minute, then add the curry powder, salt, black pepper, and red chile and saute for another minute.

Add the chicken back to the pot with the vegetables, along with the tomato, coconut, and chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 40 minutes.

Remove the drumsticks from the pot and remove the meat from the bones. Add the meat back to the pot. Add the bananas and simmer for about 10 minutes. I served it over rice.

Oh, and the Naga Jolokia made a guest appearance. Although I used such a small pinch of it that I think most of it just dispersed into the air. But still!

Braised Pork Chops with Sage and Tomatoes

(adapted from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking)

Marcella. Let me explain. As I've said many a time before, everything my parents cook is phenomenal. I've rarely seen them use cookbooks. But when they did, it was Marcella. Frequently when I'd come home from school and ask my dad what he was making for dinner, all he'd have to say was, "Marcella!" - and we were pretty much guaranteed a knock-out meal. I think the name of her cookbook really sums it up - Marcella Hazan is the essential classic Italian cook, at least in my book. I have honestly been pining for her cookbook. So when my dad offered an extra copy he had on hand, I snatched it up.

This book seriously has everything. And I want to make it all. I started with these pork chops, and was not disappointed.

1 tbsp butter
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 pork loin chops (pat dry)
Flour spread on a plate
3-4 fresh sage leaves
Salt
Ground black pepper
3/4 cup canned Italian plum tomatoes, cut up with their juice

In a large rimmed saute pan, heat the butter and oil over medium-high. When the foam from the butter starts to subside, dust each chop with flour on both sides, shaking off the excess, and slip them into the pan with the sage. Brown the chops on each side (1-2 minutes per side).

Add salt and some pepper along with the tomatoes and their juice. Turn the heat to low and cover the plan with the lid slightly ajar. Cook for about 20 minutes (up to 60, per Marcella, but we didn't have the patience), turning occasionally, until the meat is cooked and tender. Done!

Mexican Feast, Part 4: Red Chile-Braised Chicken with Potatoes and Greens

(adapted from Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen)

Finally, the final course! This was really quite different from anything I've made before, so I was a little unsure of how it was going to turn out. Plus, at this point, I'd been cooking for over five hours, so it was getting a little sloppy. Let's just say the walls got their fair share of ancho seasoning.

It turned out pretty dang tasty, and made for good leftovers, too. Kind of sweet and smoky, less spicy than the shrimp. Make sure you have a good-sized pot - my dutch oven did the job, but it was a little tight. Add more water if you feel yours is getting dry - I added a cup, which is included below. This serves four; once again, it involves making a seasoning paste that you then use in the recipe.

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 smallish chicken (3lbs), quartered (I had no idea how to do this - found the linked video useful. I didn't use the carcass.)
1 medium white onion, sliced into strips
1 cup Essential Sweet-and-Spicy Ancho Seasoning Paste:
8 garlic cloves, unpeeled
4 oz dried ancho chiles, stemmed
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp ground cumin
Scant 1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 2/3 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 tbsp cider vinegar
8 small boiling potatoes (try the red-skin ones), quartered
4 cups sliced collard greens
Salt, about 1 1/4 tsp
1 cup water or more if needed

Start by heating the oil in a 4-6 quart pot over medium-high. Brown the chicken in a single layer (in batches if needed), browning on all sides. Remove the chicken to a plate, add the onion and fry until soft and browned, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

To make the seasoning paste, roast the unpeeled garlic on a skillet over medium, turning from time to time until it starts to blacken in spots. Cool and peel. While the garlic is roasting, toast the chiles as well, pressing into the skillet and flipping. In a small bowl, cover the chiles with hot water and let them rehydrate for about 15-30 minutes. Stir from time to time, then drain.

Combine the oregano, black pepper, cumin, and cloves in a blender along with the chiles, garlic, and 2/3 cup of the broth. Blend to a smooth puree. Press through a mesh strainer into a bowl.

Bring your original pot to medium-high and when it's hot, add the ancho chile seasoning. Cook, stirring until it gets thicker and darker, about 5 minutes. Then stir in the remaining 2 cups broth and the vinegar. Simmer for about 15 minutes.

Add the chicken legs and thighs and the potatoes to the sauce. Partially cover and simmer over medium-low for about 15 minutes, then stir in the greens and add the chicken breasts. Add your cup of water if it's dry. Partially cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked, about 20 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken onto a serving plate, then bring the sauce and veggies to a boil over medium and reduce, if necessary, for about 5 minutes. Season with salt.

Pour the sauce and veggies over and around the chicken, then do the same with the onion. Serve with rice (probably sacrilege, but hey, we liked it).

Mexican Feast, Part 3: Classic Red Tomato Rice

(adapted from Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen)

If you're going to make the Roasted Tomato-Jalapeno Salsa from earlier in this series, you might as well make this rice along with it (or vice versa). Just double the salsa recipe from 2 cups to 4 cups, and use 2 of those cups for this rice. We ate this rice with the main chicken dish (Part 4!).

The original recipe calls for baking the rice, which I'm sure would be great. Unfortunately, I didn't have an ovenproof, lidded saucepan - so I just cooked it on the stovetop, much like I would regular rice. And it turned out just fine. Here's how it goes:

2 cups Roasted Tomato-Jalapeno Salsa
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups medium grain rice
1 1/2 cups chicken broth or water
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro, chopped

Make your salsa. In a saucepan/pot, heat the olive oil over medium, then add the rice and cook for about five minutes while stirring. Add the salsa right to the rice, then add the broth and 1 tsp salt. Bring to a boil, then turn to low and cover until the liquid evaporates and the rice is cooked, about 25 minutes. Sprinkle in the cilantro, fluff, and serve.

Mexican Feast, Part 2: Chipotle Shrimp

(from Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen)

The second course we served for our Mexican Feast, along with the chips and salsa, was Chipotle Shrimp, which tided us over till I finished making the chicken...erm, a few hours later. I love these shrimp - I've made them a few times before, and they are great - pop-in-your-mouth smoky-spicy.

This is really two recipes in one: first, the Essential Sweet-and-Smoky (ah, there's the adjective combo I was looking for) Chipotle Seasoning Salsa, and then the Chipotle Shrimp, which calls for that seasoning. The seasoning makes a lot of leftovers (it makes 1 1/4 cups, and you only use 2-4 spoonfuls in the shrimp themselves), which can be stored in the fridge and used for other things (added to wine for mussels, added to dips, etc.) - although truth be told, I've never done any of that. Missed opportunity!

Let's start with the Chipotle Seasoning:
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp molasses
Vegetable oil to a depth of 1/4 inch, for frying
4 oz dried chipotle chiles (Bayless prefers the red moritas, but I always use - because I can only find - the brown mecos), stemmed
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 tsp salt

In a medium saucepan, measure 1 1/4 cups of water, add the sugar and molasses, bring to a boil, remove from heat and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Set a skillet with the vegetable oil over medium heat, and when the oil gets hot (before it starts to smoke), add half the chiles. Stir and coat in oil until they start to smell spicy; some will puff up - cook for about 2 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to scoop them out of the oil and drop them into the sweet water and stir. Do the same with the rest of the chiles.

Pour off most of the oil in the pan, leaving a thin layer. Return to medium heat and cook the garlic, stirring until golden - about 4 minutes. Add to the chiles. Pour the chile mixture into a blender (with the water) and puree.

Return the same skillet to medium-high. When it's hot, add all of the chile puree to the pan. Stir, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently. It will be very thick and will blacken and be shiny on top when it's ready. Season with salt if you want. Set aside.

Chipotle Shrimp
6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 small white onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 medium tomato
3/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 tbsp olive oil
2-4 tbsp Essential Sweet-and-Smoky Chipotle Seasoning Salsa (see above)
1/2 tsp salt
2 lbs (about 50) medium-large uncooked shrimp, deveined and peeled, but with final joint and tails kept on

Roast the garlic cloves on an ungreased skilled over medium until they blacken in spots. If you have a large enough skillet, you can simultaneously roast the onion by placing it in a square of aluminum foil and putting that on the skillet as well. Let it brown and soften, turning as needed. While this is going on, roast the tomatoes on a baking sheet below a broiler until the skin blackens; flip and allow the opposite side to blacken as well, then remove from the oven and let cool before removing the skin. Let the garlic cool and remove its skin, too.

Combine all of the roasted ingredients in a blender along with the pepper, cloves, and 1/4 cup water. Puree.

Heat the oil over medium-high in a very large skillet. When the skillet is hot enough to make a drop of the puree sizzle, add the puree all at once and stir for several minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and keep cooking and stirring another 5 minutes or so. Now, stir in your Chipotle Seasoning Sauce a tablespoon at a time until they reach the heat you want (I used 3 heaping tablespoons). Remove from heat; add salt if needed.

Once your shrimp are prepped, return the sauce to medium-high and stir into the sauce until the shrimp are cooked, about 3-4 minutes. The sauce will coat the shrimp. Serve and enjoy!

Rick Bayless Mexican Feast, Part 1: Roasted Tomato-Jalapeno Salsa

(from Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen)

Back in college, our friend Joseph treated us to a Mexican feast inspired by chef Rick Bayless. Over five years later, I still remember that meal. It was delicious, different, and I left fantastically stuffed.

Since then, I've made a couple things from the Mexican Kitchen cookbook - specifically, the Chipotle Shrimp and the Roasted Tomato-Jalapeno Salsa. But I hadn't really done much more than that - every recipe in the book looks amazing, but I will say that they're not exactly the kind of recipes that you just pick up and decide to make after work. So when we had our friends Steve and Johnna over for dinner last night, I decided to test out a few more.

The meal was great - even if we ended up eating the final course after 10:30pm. We started with the tried-and-true salsa and shrimp, and then...hours later...had Classic Red Tomato Rice (which uses the same salsa) and Red-Chile Braised Chicken with Potatoes and Greens.

I'll do this post in four installments, one for each dish. Note that if you were making this salsa and the tomato rice, you'd just double the salsa recipe and use half (2 cups) for the rice. Also, if you were making all the dishes at once, you could roast five tomatoes and about 20 cloves of unpeeled garlic, to save time (which I clearly did not).

So, for starters: Roasted Tomato-Jalapeno Salsa! (2 cups)

2 medium-large round tomatoes
2 large fresh jalapeno chiles
3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 small white onion, very finely chopped and rinsed/drained
1/3 cup loosely packed cilantro, chopped
1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar (optional)

You start by roasting the tomatoes, jalapenos, and unpeeled garlic. Place the tomatoes on a baking sheet right below a very hot oven broiler. Roast until the skins begin to blacken, then flip and roast until the other side does the same. In the meantime, place the jalapenos and the garlic on a frying pan or skillet over medium. Turn them occasionally until both are blackened in spots.

In the meantime, place the chopped onion, cilantro, and cider vinegar in a bowl.

Remove the tomatoes from the oven and let cool with the jalapenos and the garlic, then remove the skin from the tomatoes, the peels from the garlic, and the stems from the jalapenos.

Combine the jalapenos and garlic in a food processor and 1/4 tsp of the salt until they make a coarse paste. Transfer into a blender and add the tomatoes. (You could do it all in the blender, but the garlic and jalapenos get broken down better in the smaller food processor, at least mine.)

Pour the tomato mixture into your bowl with the onion, stir, and add the remaining 1/4 tsp salt. Let it sit and cool for awhile (you can put it in the fridge), then serve with tortilla chips!

The La Piccina Cucina COOKBOOK is Here!

In celebration of La Piccina Cucina's 100th recipe, I bring to you La Piccina Cucina: Home Recipes from an Amateur Cook and Professional Food-Lover - the cookbook!

Where can you get your paws on this hot ticket item? Just go to: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1917730 to order your copy from Blurb.com!

Yes, I'm actually serious. La Piccina Cucina: Home Recipes from an Amateur Cook and Professional Food-Lover is a compilation of original and family recipes from the La Piccina Cucina blog. Inside you'll find almost a year's worth of breakfasts, sandwiches, appetizers, sides, salads, dinners, desserts, drinks, pastas, and more pastas - all with simple ingredients and simple instructions for any home cook to follow.

I acknowledge that the cost is a tad high - that's the result of the Blurb base cost. At the same time, it does contain over 40 of your (or at least my) favorite La Piccina Cucina recipes! And I've gotta say - it turned out really nice, and I'm excited about it. Take a look!

Red Clam Sauce: 100th Recipe!

By an admittedly rough estimate, La Piccina Cucina has hit 100 recipes since the first post in March 2010! That ain't half bad, if you ask me! What graces the 100th recipe spot? Another Popolizio family favorite - red clam sauce. As with most Popolizio recipes, wonderfully simple ingredients and process yield a delicious result.

I'm kind of surprised with myself that I haven't posted this one yet. The recipe is basically the same as white clam sauce, with tomatoes added. Now that I think of it, it does omit the butter and the white wine (which are technically optional, anyway), although I suppose you could keep those in for fun.

And here it is, your (drumroll) 100th recipe!
3/4 lb linguine or spaghetti rigati
3-5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
Olive oil
2 medium tomatoes, chopped and lightly salted
1 can minced clams (keep the juice)
1 can chopped clams (keep the juice)
Salt to taste
Pinch of parsley, for garnish

Start the water boiling for your pasta and cook. In the meantime, pour a couple tablespoons of olive oil into a pan and add your garlic; heat over medium-high for a couple of minutes (don't let the garlic burn). Add your tomatoes and let those cook down for a few minutes, then add your clam juice from the two cans. Bring it to a boil if it's not already there, then reduce heat to low and simmer. It should be ready pretty soon after the pasta is done - make sure the tomatoes have started to break down. A few minutes before you're ready to serve, stir in the clams and continue to cook for a few minutes over low heat. Pour your drained pasta right into the pan while still on low, toss, garnish with parsley, then serve.

Bloody Marys with Homemade Pepper Vodka

Continuing - in a way - the theme of burning alcohol, a wonderful thing that Joef discovered a few years ago is how to make our own pepper-infused vodka. While he's cajoled or tricked a few people over the years into taking it as a shot, it's best in a Bloody Mary. Therefore, here are two recipes in one post: first, the pepper vodka, and second, the resultant Bloody Mary.

For the vodka:
1.75 liter vodka (Smirnoff is fine: a plastic bottle is actually better than glass)
2 jalapenos
2 serrano peppers
2 habaneros

Cut the tops off the peppers. Place them in vodka bottle. If needed, slice them lengthwise so they fit into the mouth of the bottle. Squeeze the bottle a few times so that the vodka seeps into the soft parts of the peppers. Let sit at least two days; five is best - the longer it sits, the spicier it will get.

And then, the payoff. For one Bloody Mary:
3 oz homemade pepper vodka
4 oz tomato juice
3-4 splashes soy sauce
2 splashes Worcestershire sauce
2 dashes celery salt
1 pinch black pepper
5 dashes dill
Juice of one lemon wedge

Shake in a cocktail shaker with ice, then pour contents (including ice) into glass. Repeat!

Cherries Jubilee

I realize I'm a little behind on my posts - still catching up with the holidays. More than a week after New Year's Eve, here's a traditional Hatton New Year's Eve recipe: Cherries Jubilee. This recipe comes from Joef's mom, and Joef made it for friends this year while we were staying at a cabin in New York. Not only is this delicious - you set it...wait for it...on FIRE! A great way to ring in the new year.

Serve over ice cream, with hot fudge (Indian Ghost Pepper optional). Serves 6-8.

1 can pitted dark sweet cherries, drained and with liquid reserved
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp grated orange peel
Drambuie

In a small saucepan, combine the reserved cherry liquid, sugar and cornstarch, then cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in orange peel and pitted cherries. Warm the Drambuie in a separate saucepan over low-medium heat.

Place the mixture in a flat casserole dish or chafing dish. Pour the warmed Drambuie directly onto the cherries and light immediately before serving over ice cream.

La Piccina Dishcloth

I've gotta share this fantastic dishcloth that my Aunt Wendy hand-made me for Christmas. Brand merchandise? This is getting real!

Christmas 2010

It was a wonderful Christmas this year. Joef and I headed back to my ole homestead in Oak Park to spend six days with my mom and dad. Joef's parents joined us, there were jigsaw puzzles and wonderful gifts, we decorated the tree, I went to a couple food-tastings for my best friend's wedding, I re-learned how to drive stick, we started training for Tough Mudder, and we were surrounded by wonderful friends and family.

And then there was the food. I don't have any recipes to share - yet - as I didn't do any of the cooking. But I wanted to put up a few photos in tribute to the real cooks of the family: Ma and Pa Popolizio. No wonder I like this stuff so much!

Orrechiette with Broccoli Rabe and Sausage

Seafood Salad

Spaghetti with Shrimp, Scallops, and Calamari

Baked Cod with Potatoes

Great-Grandma's Kuchen

Rolled Veal Breast with Pancetta and Rosemary

Lasagna (with Homemade Noodles)



Happy New Year, everyone! I love you, Mama and Daddy!