Ok, so, the last week or so in my kitchen:
Chicken Tetrazzini (a la Aunt Leah)
Not my aunt. It’s from an America’s Test Kitchen book called Cook’s County - Best Lost Suppers that I picked up for the price of shipping.
Possibly the most complicated recipe I’ve made so far but still not really that hard and (in that way things seem to do) was delicious after a day or two in the fridge. You cook a pound of spaghetti til al dente, drain it, toss it with oil then set aside. Coat some boneless chicken breasts with salt and pepper and cook in a dutch oven until golden brown on both sides, then set those aside on a plate. Add more oil to the dutch oven, cook some mushrooms with salt until they’re released their juices. Chop an onion and a green pepper, add those and cook a while longer. Stir in some flour and cook that for another minute. Add a couple cups of chicken broth and half-and-half and whisk those in. Add the chicken back in, bring to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes more (until the chicken is cooked through, basically). Pull the chicken back out, shred it, put it back in along with the spaghetti, a couple cups each of Colby Jack and sharp cheddar, a six ounce can of pitted black olives (I missed that they were supposed to be chopped), and a half-cup of jarred roasted red peppers. Pour all that into a 13x9 baking dish, stick it on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.
Black Bean Chili
From America’s Test Kitchen’s Best Mexican Recipes book.
You chop up a pound or so of mushrooms in a food processor, and set them aside for a moment while you toast mustard and cumin seeds in a dutch oven. Then you add the mushrooms, a chopped onion and some oil to the dutch oven and cover. Cook that way for about five minutes, take the cover off, stir a bit and cook down for another 5-10. Add minced garlic and chipotle pepper in adobo, cook til fragrant. Add a bunch of chili powder (like 3 tbsps) and stir that for another minute. Then you add a couple cups of vegetable broth, an equal amount of water, a pound of dried black beans (not soaked), some brown sugar, a couple bay leaves and a little bit of baking soda. Bring to a simmer, cover it, put it in the oven on 325 for an hour. Take it back out, add a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes and two chopped red bell peppers (hence the internal-mold pepper. whee.), Stir that in, cover again and return to the oven for an hour. You’re meant to garnish with fresh cilantro and serve with lime wedges. I didn’t bother but I imagine it’s a nice addition. I’d also like to try sour cream on it.
And finally, Salmagundi Bake, from the Best Lost Suppers book I mentioned above.
Grease an 11x7 baking dish (I only had my 13x9, so used that) and spread about 3/4ths of a cup of long-grain white rice over the bottom. It looks like a super thin coating but man, rice bulks up when you cook it.Then you set it aside. Meanwhile, you heat up some vegetable oil in a dutch oven (you see what I mean about ATK loving the dutch oven) until shimmering, chop up an onion and a green bell pepper and add them with some salt to the dutch oven. Cook until softened (5-7 minutes). Add chili powder, cumin, coriander and black pepper and cook for another couple minutes. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds longer. Add a pound of ground beef (85/15), and cook that (breaking up clumps) until no longer pink. Add two 8 oz cans of tomato sauce, a cup and a half of thawed frozen corn, and a cup of chicken broth, bring to a simmer and then pour the whole mixture over the rice. Cover it with foil, set the pan on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet, and bake for 35-40 minutes at 375. Nothing terribly fancy, but it’s yummy and meaty and quite straightforward. The original recipe they modified used bacon, but they couldn’t get the rice texture and crisp bacon both, so they went with the rice. You could always add it separately.
