Category: Gluten-free

Spanish Tortilla with Bell Pepper

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First made this on March 27, 2010 and noted that it was great for a Sunday brunch.

1/3 package of turkey or real bacon, sliced into 1″ pieces
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 red bell pepper
1 onions
1 lb. yukon gold potatoes
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp tabasco or other hot sauce
8 eggs
2 tsp fresh parsley, chopped

Preheat oven to 375. Slice pepper, onion and potatoes into 1/2″ thick slices.

Heat oil in a large oven proof frying pan. Add bacon, peppers and onion and saute for several minutes until the bacon is cooked and the onions are soft and translucent. Add potatoes,cover and cook on low heat for 15 minutes, stirring every now and then. Remove from heat.

Beat eggs with salt, pepper and hot sauce. Pour eggs over potatoes and sprinkle with parsley. Bake 15 minutes and serve warm. Delish.

Easy Fajitas

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1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts and thighs, cut thin

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp chipotle pepper powder (can use more if you like it spicier)
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp olive oil

4 red, yellow or green peppers, thinly sliced
1 yellow onion, cut into thin strips
1 red onion, cut into thin strips

Tortillas
Sour Cream
Salsa
Fresh Limes
Guacamole

Mix all spices, cornstarch and water in a medium bowl. Add in chicken, peppers and onions and stir to coat thoroughly. (You can use any kind of pepper or onion – it’s just fun to use different colors.)

Heat more olive oil in a large frying pan. Add everything and saute on pretty high heat for several minutes, until the chicken is cooked and the peppers and onions are soft and starting to brown a bit. You can grill it – which is more traditional, but the chipotle pepper lends a nice smokey flavor even if you just pan fry it.

Serve it with warm tortillas, with fresh lime juice squeezed over it. Top with sour cream, salsa, and guacamole.

Kumy’s Hindu Aloo (Potatoes)

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This is a wonderful, tangy, spicy golden potato dish with fresh cilantro and jalapenos. Really quick and amazingly good – one of Kumy’s specialties.

Kumy’s auntie, Shirin Auntie was an especially good cook, and such a lovely person. So was her husband, Chotu Uncle, and I miss them. (Story about them below.)  She taught Kumy how to make this dish.

When I asked him about the name, he said Shirin Auntie grew up in Bombay and learned this vegan dish from  a Hindu neighbor.  Aloo means potato, and anyone who has had these potatoes says they are “Kamal!”  (Amazing!)

4 medium potatoes, scrubbed and cubed in 1″ cubes (we like Yukon Gold)
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
fresh ginger, peeled with a spoon and sliced very thinly (about 1.5 tsp)
3/4 tsp mustard seed
1/2 tsp cumin seed
1 jalapeno, sliced in half, seeds removed
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
2 lemons, juiced
4 jalapenos, held by stem, and cut twice from bottom
1 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Boil potatoes in salted water until they are soft. Drain and squeeze lemon juice over them. Heat oil in a frying pan, and add garlic, ginger and mustard seed, frying for 2 minutes. Add cumin seed, 1 sliced jalapeno, turmeric and salt and saute for just a few moments. Add the boiled potatoes and lemon juice and stir gently. You want to blend everything nicely without crushing the potatoes. Take the 4 jalapenos which have been partially cut and gently push them into the potatoes. Garnish with the cilantro. Serve with extra lemon juice.

Chotu Uncle and Shirin Auntie lived in a house with a beautiful garden – filled with beautiful plants in enormous sizes, and they loved cats and kept one as a pet, which was quite unusual. I always loved visiting them and seeing their garden.  

Later, they moved into a very nice apartment in the Royal Apartments.  One of my favorite memories was when they’d left the laundry room window open one day, and a mother bird began to build her nest just inside the window.  

They were so enchanted that they let her build the nest and raise her babies there – watching the progress with bated breathed, and tip-toeing in and out so as not to disturb them.  How could you not love someone like that?

Vanna’s Steak and Onions

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My friend Vanna is my dream cook – everything she makes comes out perfect and delicious whether it’s Pho or fried chicken or a dessert. She comes from a family of wonderful cooks and we look forward to the block party every year, just to see what Vanna’s bringing! I wrote this recipe down very quickly and with cryptic instructions, but it was delicious.

1 Tbsp olive oil
2 lbs. of steak
2 Tbsp Oyster sauce
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 chopped onions

Mix sauces, salt, pepper and garlic and marinade steak in it for at least 10 minutes. Heat butter and oil in a big skillet. Add steak and brown for several minutes, turning over half way. Add chopped onions and cook until brown. Add any leftover marinade and cook for a minute or two. If the sauces get too dry, just add a little water.

Oaxacan Rice & Beans

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Made this for the 2009 block party.  It’s a good dish for a picnic or outdoor gathering, because it’s good warm or at room temperature.

1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 4 oz. can diced green chillies
1 jalapeno, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp olive oil

Heat oil in a medium-sized pan. Saute veggies for 7-8 minutes or until carrots and onions are softened.

1 cup rice, washed and drained
2 1/4 cups chicken broth (use veggie broth for a vegan version)
1 tsp salt
1 cup fresh green beans, cut into 1″ diagonal slices (frozen is fine, too.)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained.

Add rice to the veggie mix and cook 3-4 minutes. Add salt and chicken stock, cover and reduce heat. Cook 15 minutes. Add in green beans and black beans, cover and cook another 7-8 minutes. Remove from heat and blend gently.

Grilled Teriyaki Chicken

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I am a huge fan of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, but this recipe really benefits from the flavor and fat from the skin – so I just use regular chicken thighs.

1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp soy sauce (check label for gluten)
4 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
2 Tbsp grated ginger
1/4 tsp kosher salt (optional – there’s a lot of soy sauce in there!)
1/2 tsp black pepper
8 chicken thighs (with skin and bone in)

Mix everything and marinate the chicken thighs in it for at least 20 minutes. It helps if you loosen the skin a bit to let the glaze soak into the meat. Place chicken and glaze on a baking pan, and bake at 425 for 25 minutes. Take a spoon and baste the chicken halfway through with any remaining marinade.

Serve with white rice and Asian Cabbage Slaw.

Corned Beef Hash

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April, 2009

1 large, corned beef brisket, thoroughly cooked and cut into bite size pieces
1 bag frozen hashed brown potatoes (or real potatoes – see note below.)
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp black pepper
generous splash or Worcestershire sauce
1 squirt of yellow mustard (maybe 1/2 – 1 tsp?)
3 Tbsp olive oil

Saute onions, pepper and garlic in a little oil, until onions are soft and translucent. Heat olive oil in your largest frying pan. Add veggies and everything else to a large bowl and blend gently.

Scoop the mix into the hot oil in the frying pan. Gently even out the potatoes with a spoon. (You may not be able to get everything in – so if you have to – just do a second batch.)

Let hash cook five minutes without stirring. Then turn and saute another five minutes. If in doubt – cook longer. I just turn it in sections, so don’t worry if it starts to break apart.

Give a final sprinkle of salt and pepper and serve. Yum.

If you want to use real potatoes, you can. Just use 4-5 yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1/2″ thick slices, and boiled in salted water until they are almost all the way cooked through. Drain them well, dice them up and add them to the mix.

Sausage, Bean & Kale Soup

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Lots of stains on this page, and notes scribbled in above and below the recipe, so you know it’s one of our favorite soups!  I probably make this soup more often than any other.

1 1/2 cup dried calico beans (a mix you buy), soaked in 6 cups water
or 2 cans black beans, and one can of kidney beans, rinsed and drained.

3/4 cup chopped turkey or real ham – (can skip if  you don’t have it – just add more sausage)
8 oz. sausage, halved and cut into 1/2″ pieces
4 slices turkey or real bacon, chopped into 3/4″ pieces
1 Tbsp butter
1 1/2 cup chopped celery
1 1/2 cup chopped carrots
1 1/2 cup chopped leeks
4-5 cups chicken stock
2 Tbsp fresh, snipped rosemary or 2 tsp dried
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 bay leave
3 cups kale, rough chopped

Rinse beans and soak over night or simmer them for four hours. (If using canned beans, just rinse and drain them.)

Melt butter in a large pot. Add meats and cook 10 minutes, them remove. Add veggies and cook 10 minutes. Add meat back in, add beans, spices and chicken stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for an hour. Just before serving, add the kale and cook 2 minutes more. Check salt and pepper.

My notes say: Delish to have on a winter night with hot baguettes, Good to have with Mummy and Pappa. Most tellingly: If using canned beans, only use kidney and black beans. (I think there was an unfortunate incident with garbanzo beans.)

Maya’s Strawberry-Banana Yogurt Smoothi

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Maya wrote this recipe down on February 16th, 2009 when she was just 10 years old.  It was President’s Day, so maybe she was home from school.  She and Samir used to make smoothies very often, and I’d often later find a mysterious colorful liquid in a glass in the refrigerator.  Somehow it’s hard to make just one glass of smoothie!

1 banana
6 ice cubes
3 big frozen strawberries
2 giant spoonfuls of strawberry yogurt
dash milk

Add banana and strawberry and yogurt. Mix. If thick add milk and ice.

(Note from Mom – I think she cut up the bananas, and used a buzzwand to blend. I am pretty sure you add the ice no matter what and only thin it with milk. The underlines are in her original recipe.)

Louisa’s Puerto Rican Chicken & Rice Stew

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My friend Louisa introduced us to this amazing stew at their Winter Solstice Party, and it was love at first bite.

Louisa and her husband Bill have a wonderful tradition:  they host a Winter Solstice Party that’s a potluck dinner, with food that represents the sun: round, hot, yellow or somehow sun-related.  (One year our friend Josh brought home-made sushi, which worked since it was food from the land of the rising sun!)  It’s always fun to think of a dish that reminds us of the sun and to see what everyone else brings.

They ask everyone to come around sunset and to bring a candle for a candle exchange.  Their house is only lit with candles and the light of the fire in the fireplace, and it’s cozy and warm. It’s a really wonderful tradition and a chance to catch up with friends and to reflect that even on the longest night, the sun will rise again.

Anyway, I asked Louisa for her recipe, which she was kind enough to share.  It makes a lot and is one of our family’s favorites.

2 tsp garlic, crushed
2 tsp fresh oregano, or 1 tsp dried
1 tsp each cumin, salt, black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
3 boneless, skinless chicken breast sections, cut into bite size pieces
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
4 oz. turkey ham or bacon, or real ham or bacon, diced
1 can diced tomatoes with juice
2 cups rice, washed (I use basmati)
6 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup fresh or frozen green peas
1/4 cup green olives, halved
1 Tbsp capers

Mix garlic and spices, and rub into chicken. Heat half the olive oil in a big dutch oven, and brown chicken (about 10 minutes.) Remove from pan.

Add more olive oil, and saute onion and green pepper for 5 minutes. Add ham and tomatoes and cook 5 more minutes. Add chicken back in and simmer 20 minutes.

Add rice and stir, then add stock and stir to combine. Bring stock just to the boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for about 17 minutes. Add cheese, peas, olives and capers, and cook 5 more minutes.

It’s meant to be soupy, so you’ll need to serve it in bowls. So good. Thanks, Louisa!