SHRIMP

I love shrimp.

Love, love, love, love, love... you get the picture. See, here's the picture:


Now aren't those pretty?
It's Sort-of Shrimp Curry. I got my idea from a recipe, but then decided... to do my own thang. Been doin' that a lately.

Bekki's Lazy Curry

Make some rice. If you have a smart rice cooker (small appliance, NOT skilled sous-chef), use chicken broth for about a third of the liquid needed, coconut milk for another third, and water for the last bit. Makes fabulous rice that actually has some nutrient value

Once that's going, slice half an onion, thinly. Get that going in hot coconut oil, over medium heat. Mince/chop 3 cloves of garlic, press another 2 cloves, and grate about an inch of ginger. When the onions are soft, add the chopped garlic, and stir for a minute. Literally. Watch the clock or count or something. Don't burn the garlic.
Add the pressed garlic and the ginger, stir, and add half a cup of chicken broth. If it's the piddly storebought kind, you'll probably want to add at least 3/4 cup, and reduce it down. Blech. Anyway, now add about half a cup of coconut milk. Depends how liquidy you want it.

Let that simmer for a few minutes. Then add about a cup of peas... still frozen is ok... but then you'll want to make sure stuff is simmering again before adding your shrimp. And, yes, that's the next step... plop 'em on in. Peeled, even take the tail off. Have them ready to eat. (If you are using rather large shrimp, more than a bite, cut them up first.)

Simmer until the shrimp are done... they'll let you know... they're cool like that. They turn pink and curl up. Magic!

Cooking with wine

A.k.a... my kitchen smells REALLY good right now!
I love cooking with wine. It really brings out the flavors in food, and that's not just a snooty foodie opinion. It's fact, in the case of tomatoes, at least. I'd love to link to corroborating evidence, but you'll just have to trust me.

Tonight we had spaghetti (Tinkyada, of course), meatballs in marinara, and steamed green beans with butter and salt. Umma-num! And of course a few glasses of wine. Tonight's was Serengeti 2004 Pinotage, which also went in the marinara. I love Pinotage... it is dark and fruity without being cloying or harsh. I don't like Cabernets or some of the other, age-worthy snob wines. They're harsh in the mouth... unless you've been cellaring, them, apparently. I don't have a cellar. I ate mine on the drive home. *wink*

Anyone else think my dinner looks like it has a face? The green beans are the smile...

Bekki’s Best Marinara

Adapted from someone else’s… made it my own... never make it the same way twice.
Serves 4-6, freezes well

INGREDIENTS:

• Bacon fat (or bacon to produce said fat)

• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped

• ½ cup wine (or about 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar)

• 1 yellow onion, finely diced

• 1 28-oz can tomatoes, diced, whole, crushed, whatever

• 3 T tomato paste

• 4 T chopped fresh parsley (1 heaping T dried)

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• 3 shakes red pepper flakes (1 small pinch)

• freshly ground black pepper

PREPARATION:

1. Sauté onion and garlic in bacon fat until soft. Deglaze the pan with wine or vinegar, reduce a bit if using wine.

2. Combine half the tomatoes, herbs, and seasonings in blender with the sautéed aromatics. Process until smooth and return to saucepan.

3. Process remaining tomatoes, add to saucepan.

4. Simmer for about 30 minutes

The meatballs were also homemade... a few weeks ago. I love making extras of those, to have on hand. I made mine with grassfed ground beef, an egg, some Worcestershire, fresh ground pepper, Parmesan (because I was experimenting with my dairy allergy), and gluten-free bread crumbs. Very tasty and very easy. I didn't even bake/fry them before freezing... just flash-froze on a plate and then put in a baggie.

Stir-fry

Stir-fry is SO forgiving. Even when you can't find the "right" ingredients.


I was going to use some cubed beef that I chopped and marinated about a week ago. Except... I couldn't find it in the freezer. Oops.
I remember putting it in the freezer.
I even remember labeling it... painstakingly... as it always is these days. Did I use soy? Did I use citrus? I have to know later. I have to almost write the entire recipe on the plastic baggie.

And yet, it wasn't there.

So... I used shredded beef, from a roast way back in September. I made a sauce with soy (tamari, to be gluten-free) sauce, the juice of a lemon, about 4 cloves of a garlic, smashed, about an eighth a cup of Worcestershire, and a bit of water and cornstarch (to thicken). Other than that, I sliced and sauteed half an onion, half a red bell pepper, about half a carton of button mushrooms, two stalks of celery, and one smallish bunch of bok choy. I would have done the bok choy separately, but I had a cranky almost-three-year-old on my hands. You do what you can do, ya know?

I put it together with a bit of previously-undercooked steak and the "shredded beef" I found in the freezer. I put it over The Usual Rice*. It was very tasty.

* The Usual Rice is, usually, made with somewhat approximate parts of coconut milk, chicken broth, and 'rice water'. Rice water is... the water skimmed off almost-done Tinkyada brown rice pasta. Because... it makes the rice somewhat stickier. And because... brown rice is better than white rice, but my kids hate brown rice. So this way I get some nutrition into them. Ha ha.

Iron Chef Mom!

That's what I am... I am Iron Chef Mom. "Mom" counts as a cuisine, I think. It summates what I do better than any other single word I can come up with at the moment. I dare any professional chef to create healthy, tasty meals from Whatever's In The Fridge while mediating sibling disputes, holding a crying (angry, not limply hugging) preschooler, stepping around half-melted ice cubes, and (oftentimes) watching a really interesting football game.

Tonight's secret ingredient was Leftover Roast Chicken with Paprika. Bonus points for also using up the leftover snack-tray veggies from New Year's Eve. I also had a lot of hummus left from New Year's Eve. I wielded my google-fu and found that there are such dishes as Chicken and Hummus, so my gears began to crank.

Ingredients:
3-4 tablespoons fat of your choice (bacon, coconut, AND butter this time)
about 1 carrot, cut into sticks, and then into dices
about 1 celery stalk, done the same
1/2 an onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 handfuls fresh raw broccoli, cut into bite-size pieces
leftover chicken (in our case it was the breasts and wings)
about 1/4 cup prepared hummus
about 1/4 cup white wine or vermouth
about 3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cilantro
2 shakes red pepper flakes (one pinch)
sea salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat the oil/butter in a large skillet (with a lid) over medium heat. Add carrot, celery, onion, and pepper, and cook until starting to soften. Add garlic and cook another minute or two. Toss in the chicken (in bite-size pieces). Add seasonings to hummus, and stir in the wine and broth. Pour into skillet and stir to coat. Add broccoli on top (to steam a bit). When "sauce" begins to boil, reduce heat to lowish, smack on the lid, and simmer for about 20-30 minutes.


Serve over rice, garnished with more hummus, paprika, and parsley. Really... ok, you don't have to get fancy schmancy with it, but... more hummus and paprika really make it taste goooood.

Geek Sweeps?

I think it must be Geek Sweeps Week. I've just watched Alton Brown get "stranded" on a tropical island and now there's a MythBusters marathon with the theme of "supersized myths." I'm in heaven.

We ate our proscribed lucky meal last night...

Collards and onions in bacon fat, vermouth, and chicken broth, with some leftover smoked pork... and rice with coconut milk and chicken broth... and blackeyed peas (from a can, I confess) warmed in chicken broth. Healthy, wealthy, and happy... that's what our new year will be.
Yumm-o.

Today was Leftover Day. Because we have a fridge full of fabulous leftovers. Lunch was potato skins, onion dip, veggies, hummus, shrimp, and cocktail sauce. Dip whatever you like into whatever you like. Delicious.

Dinner was...I don't really know what to call it. Like so many wonderful meals, it was born of leftovers, with a little new stuff added. In our house, with the microwave used only by The Grill-Master (Grill-Geek, Geek, whichever) for his Jimmy Dean breakfast sammiches, leftovers aren't a way to save on cooking time or dirty dishes. They are simply something one uses to ensure no good food is wasted. So... I cooked up another mess o' greens (my biggest pan is too small for a true "mess," so some of last night's greens had to wait) with bacon fat and onions and vermouth and chicken broth, and cooked some rice pasta shells. The main event was some of the Solstice Roast Beast, with it's resulting gelatinous broth, and a sploosh of crushed tomatoes. Then I decided to toss them all in a bowl together. I'm guessing it's sort of Italian.

The Year of the... ?

According to my family and many of my friends, 2007 was The Year of The Suck. And not in any sort of risque or good way.

So, here's to hoping 2008 is the Year of Something Better.

In that spirit, I'm back to blogging. I have a new Acer Aspire (never, ever buy a Gateway a.k.a. eMachines) and a need to talk to myself, so...

Our New Year's Eve appetizer spread. I like to say we had "tapas" but I fear that anytime potato chips are involved, one is not classy enough to be having tapas.
From the top left: Energ-G brand "Seattle" crackers (gluten-and-everything-free) and Havarti, fresh-caught wild Gulf shrimp cocktail (missing the cocktail sauce as of photo time, because Kentucky was still playing football and The Grill-Geek is the designated Cocktail Sauce Maker and a rabid, blue-blooded UK fan), Roasted Garlic Potato Skins, veggies with Really Onion Dip, prosciutto-wrapped cantaloupe (what IS the attraction with that?) and "quickles" with White Bean Hummus. (Tip... make the onion dip first, so you don't have to wash the food processor, then you get a bit of oniony goodness in your hummus.)

Brunch this morning signals the end of the holiday feasting. Thank gods. I'm partied out. I love feasting, but my heart wasn't in it this year.

Ham, re-baked with butter and white pepper, mini smoked salmon and Havarti frittatas, and fruit salad with toasted pistachios and walnuts and a rum-coconut sauce. The top right of the photo shows one of the fabulous chocolate muffins I made last night, on the Little Guy's plate. Brunch was also accompanied by glasses of Barefoot Chardonnay "champagne." Delicious.

Let's see... recipes...

GFCF Chocolate Almond Muffins
Makes 10-12 muffins.

Mix together thoroughly in a large bowl:
• 1 cup almond flour
• ½ cup coconut flour
• ½ cup arrowroot (I used 1/4 cup arrowroot and 1/4 cup potato starch)
• 4 Tbs cocoa, sifted
• 1 tsp baking soda, sifted
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar, sifted
• pinch of Celtic sea salt

Beat together:
• 4 oz coconut oil (or butter), melted
• 4 Tbs rapadura
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup mashed banana

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix. Let sit for a few minutes.
The batter should be quite thick, or it will take forever to cook. If it seems too thin, add some extra nut flour or arrowroot.
Spoon mixture into silicone muffin pan & bake for about 30 mins at 300F. (Silicone is a godsend for gluten-free baking!)

I added about 1/2 a cup of everything-free mini chocolate chips before spooning into the muffin pan.

These are the single bestest gluten-free thing I have baked so far. They taste exactly like the Hershey's Cocoa Tin Chocolate Cake I used to be semi-famous for. Fabulous.

Mini Frittatas
(based loosely on a recipe by Giada de Laurentis)

4 large eggs
1/4 cup almond milk (use real, if you have it, or even cream)
sea salt and pepper to taste (white or black pepper)
2 ounces smoked salmon, crumbled
no idea how much Havarti, crumbled
1 teaspoons parsley

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Whisk the eggs, almond milk, pepper, salt, and parsley in a large bowl to blend well. Spoon or pour into silicon muffin pan. Should almost-fill 6 of the cups. Drop in cheese and smoked salmon. Bake until the egg mixture puffs and is just set in the center, about 15-20 minutes. Using a fork, loosen the frittatas from the muffin cups and slide the frittatas onto a platter (or your own plate). Serve (eat) immediately.

Premature Celebration

I called it too soon. I thought my computer woes were over.

Nope.

'Twould seem my hardware likes neither Ubuntu nor Windows. I just can't win. I'm contemplating using my laptop for skeet shooting, but not until I replace it somehow.

Maybe I shouldn't replace it. Maybe I should embrace the fact that technology hates me and turn Luddite.

Hmmm... this will require some research into just how barbaric Luddites were... I think I'll google it.