1 Tbsp olive oil
2 carrots, cut in chunks
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
Heat oil in a dutch oven. Add veggies and saute for five minutes.
2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 lbs. polish or smoked sausage, cut into 1/2″ slices
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Add to pot, and cook for 2 minutes.
6 yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
3 cups chicken broth
Add to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
What all pot roast wishes it could be. Kumy loves this.
5 lbs. chuck or round roast or whatever you use for pot roast
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
Heat oil in a dutch oven. Add meat and brown it all over. Remove from pan.
2 carrots, halved and chopped into 2-3″ sections
1 large yellow onion, chopped
Heat a little more oil in the pan. Add carrots and onions and cook for 2-3 minutes.
3 cups dry red wine
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
beef stock
one large tomato, diced or 1 can chopped tomatoes with juice
1 Tbsp parsley
6 peppercorns
3 cloves
4 allspice berries
1 tsp thyme
3 cloves garlic
Add all else to pot and cover with foil and a lid. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 325 and cook for 2 – 3 hours.
Remove meat, cover with foil and let rest.
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp cold water
Strain the veggies out of the pot, and stir in a cornstarch slurry of cornstarch and cold water. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until gravy thickens. Check seasonings and add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve roast beef with gravy, strained veggies and roasted potatoes. So delish!
My Mom always added quartered potatoes to her pot roast, and you can do that, too.
Nebraska City is home to Arbor Day Farm and Morton Orchards, which is famous for their apples. We love their apple butter, which Lied Lodge uses with sauteed apples to make amazing oatmeal. This recipes comes as close to their delicious apple butter as we’ve been able to get. Tart apples are great for this, but we often use a blend of whatever is looking good. Maya and I first made this on 9-24-08.
enough apples to make 9 cups crushed apples or apple sauce
5 cups sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup apple cider
Peel and quarter apples. Cook with cider until soft. Add everything else, and cook for one hour on low heat. Pour into sterilized jars and process as usual. Sweet, spicy and a little tart – it is so good.
Barely any notes with this recipe – must have been improvising. Dated August, 2008
2 chicken breasts
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
Sprinkle spices over chicken and saute in olive oil for 10 minutes.
1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
1 whole jalapeno pepper, sides slit, but not actually open
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
Add all to chicken in pan, and cook together until the chicken is done, I suppose.
Serve over white rice with peas. (Make rice with chicken stock instead of water, and add fresh or frozen peas.)
I have no idea where this recipe came from – or what culture it represents or anything. It may be that I just had a lot of cashews to use up. Anyway, my note was “yum” so that’s a good sign.
2 cups rice, rinsed (we use Basmati)
2 tsp kosher salt
3 7/8 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
3/4 cup chopped cashews
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
1 tsp chopped jalapeno pepper, or 1 chipotle pepper, chopped
2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1 1/2 cup yoghurt
1 tsp salt
Make rice with water and 2 tsp salt.
In a frying pan, saute onion and belle pepper. Add mustard seeds and ginger and cook for a couple of minutes. The add nuts and Jalapeno or chipotle pepper. Cook for a couple more minutes and remove from heat.
Gently blend in the rice, and the then the yoghurt.
My extended family always gets together for a potluck on Christmas Eve. 20 years ago, we decided that it would be fun to choose a different country each time and have everyone try cooking recipes from that country. The year we chose Brazil was really outstanding and the first time I made Feijoada. That was also the year of our fabled introduction to the national drink of Brazil, Caiparinha’s, which is another story altogether. This dish is a very simplified version, but we love it.
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp dried thyme
Saute together for 10 minutes.
4 cans black beans, rinsed and drained or 1 lb. black beans, soaked and cooked the night before
1 lb. kielbasa sausage, cut into small bite-sized pieces
2 cups of chicken broth
2 chipotle peppers, chopped fine
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 bay leaves.
Add all to onions, and cook on low heat for 25 minutes.
Serve on white rice, garnished with diced fresh parsley
We often try to do something fun for Christmas gifts for family members, so the kids can give gifts to their aunts, uncles, grandparents and special friends. We’ve done soup mixes, muffin mixes and various other things, but this was one of our favorites – hot cocoa mix in mason jars, and it is a slight variation on Alton Brown’s recipe. We mixed up giant batches in a huge bowl and created a real assembly line and the kitchen was full of a kind of sweet,white haze. But it’s fun to keep on hand all winter long.
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/4 good cocoa
4 1/2 cups powdered milk
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cornstarch
1 pinch cayenne pepper
Mix all together and keep in an airtight container. To make cocoa, just add 3 Tbsp mix to a mug with hot water.
Just made this last night for dinner with friends. It was easy and delicious -plus you just let it marinate until it’s ready to cook. So you can hang out with your friends instead of messing around in the kitchen. What more can you ask?
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 1/2 Tbsp vinegar (I used cider vinegar.)
1 Tbsp Sriracha Sauce (use less if you don’t like it too spicy)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp fresh ginger, grated, or 1/4 tsp ginger powder
1 tbsp Sesame Oil (Check the Asian section of the grocery store.)
2 large Salmon fillets
Mix glaze ingredients and pour into a large baking dish (I used a big rectangular pyrex dish, but you can also use a big, flat baking pan.)
Rinse fish, and shake off as much water as possible. Lay the fish skin side up in the glaze, so the actual fish meat is in the glaze. Lift it up from both sides to be sure it’s all in contact with the glaze. Let marinate at least 20 minutes.
Flip the fillets back over (skin side down now) and bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes, until the fish just flakes with a fork. This is also a great fish for grilling.
Remove from pan and drizzle glaze from the pan over the fish with a spoon.
The glaze is also good on chicken. I served this last night with Brown Butter Potatoes, and a spinach and strawberry salad. Love it when the plate is so full of color!
Caitlin made this amazing Pesto tonight and since I’ve never made Pesto, I asked her to write down the recipe. She said she makes it a lot and always tweaks the recipe based on what she has on hand. The price of pine nuts has always scared me away from making Pesto, so I’m delighted that you can use any nuts! This one was a doozy – thanks for sharing it!
1 handful of basil
1 handful of cilantro
4 cloves fresh garlic
1 cup mixed nuts – any nuts
1/2 to 1 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup parmesan
big pinch of salt
lots of freshly ground black pepper
Pour all in the bowl of a food processor. Blend until you get a consistency you like. Add more salt to taste.
Put on everything and enjoy! (We had it on “Some Enchanted Crackers” from Trader Joe’s which has somehow morphed into “Magic Crackers.” They’re good and the Pesto is delish!)
Ali made a batch right after Caitlin to use up odds and ends in the fridge, and promised me his recipe, too. I’ll add his recipe here and you can try both.
This make a nice big salad, and is really good for potlucks and block parties.
Salad:
1 head of iceberg or romaine lettuce, chopped
1/2 cup sweet peas, fresh or frozen
1 cup corn, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup diced zucchini or yellow squash
1/2 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced fresh tomato
1/2 cup diced cucumber
1/8 cup diced radish
Mix together in a large bowl, and spread out on a large, flat platter.
Dressing:
2 Tbsp fresh parsley
1 Tbsp fresh chives
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup mayo
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
splash of apple cider
Buzz together the parsley, chives and garlic in a food processor or grind them together in a mortar and pestle. Add mayo, buttermilk, salt, pepper and splash of vinegar and buzz again. Gently stir in blue cheese.
Just before serving, drizzle dressing over salad on platter. Serve extra dressing in a pitcher on the table.
Little Brown Cookbook 