The Crock Pot Strikes Again

Another night another crock pot dish. Things have been pretty busy around here and with no oven it's nice to get dinner sorted early in the day and just have to wait for it to cook.
There are many slow cooker macaroni and cheese recipes out there but most call for cooking the noodles first. If I'm going to do that I might as well just stir up the sauce too. Part of the appeal of the crock pot is very few dishes to clean. A one pot cooker. Hence the popularity.
So I forged boldly ahead and dumped uncooked macaroni -- I used Italian Gemelli (8 oz) instead of more popular elbows, 1 can condensed milk, 1 1/2 cups milk, 2 eggs (beaten and mixed with the milked), S&P, and grated cheese -- lots of grated cheese.  I used about 3 1/2 cups of cheese mixed into the pasta and then sprinkled the rest on top. Cooking on low keeps the egg custard from separating while the noodles simmer to cheesy tenderness.
I love my crock pot.

My Take On Bittman's Ribs

It's not fancy or hip or probably acceptable to the ever growing food elite, but I love my crock pot -- especially since our oven has, well, expired. I love that with very little preparation I can have something for dinner bubbling on the counter (no need to clog up the stove top).  And, there are a myriad of cuts that benefit from hours of braising at a low temperature -- the crock pot is perfect for holding temperature steady without danger of burning or drying out. Tonight's long cooking specialty is boneless short ribs.
There are some cooks and chefs who's recipes I trust and some I steer away from. Ina Garten -- too much mayonnaise. Bobby Flay -- his flavors just aren't that interesting to me. I can't even think about looking at recipe form Paula Dean or (shudder) Sandra Lee. But, I never find fault with Mark Bittman.
Bittman is one of America's great cooks. He has been called America's best home cook and his consistently solid ideas and recipes are a great place to start looking when I'm ready to start cooking.
His short ribs simmer for hours in a sauce of chiles, red wine, and coffee -- flavors James loves. I knew this one would be a hit.
I started by browning the well seasoned meat in a hot pan with olive oil. I put the meat into the crock pot. With the pan on low I tossed in a chopped onion, 3 chopped cloves of garlic, a dried chile d'arbol and a pimiente d' espellette (not what Bittman uses but it's what I had and they are both flavorful pods). After about 15 minutes the onion was soft and ready to add in the liquid. I poured in 1 cup of strong coffee and 1 cup of red wine. With the heat on high I reduced the liquid by half and poured everything over the meat in the crock pot along with a pinch of cinnamon and about 2 TB of brown sugar. Eight hours on low and this fairly fuss-free dinner was ready to serve with buttery mashed potatoes and sautéed green beans -- direct from our garden.
"This is really good honey," James said between bites. "Hold onto this one."

Sunday Harvest

In our Southern California gardens of years past I would boldly plant my tomatoes at the end of February and by August I'd already have eaten endless fresh garden salads and already put up several jars for winter stews and sauces. Here in our more Northern locale I timidly put out my young tomatoes in early May and we are just now starting to get big juicy fruits from those vines.
Today I harvested several Black Krim, a variety I've tried to grow before with not much success, Sebastopol Cherries ( local variety I'd never heard of so I had to try some out), Snow White, an outstandingly flavorful yellow-white cherry, and one lone Julia Child, a beautiful pinkish red namesake.
While I was bringing in vegetables I gathered up fanciful striped Dragon Langerie beans, Italian yellow wax beans, Romano beans (or some cross there of) and romantically named Signora della Campagna -- a lady from the country, light green tinged with delicate purple stripes. From the far side of the garden I picked several yellow and green zephyr squash, a couple cocozelle zucchini and one lone Rondo di Parigi, way past it's prime baseball size. Not to forget a couple lemon and Persian cucumbers. And just a few of the Sebastopol Gravenstein apples James picked off our backyard tree this morning. Tomorrow I will can those apple slices for mid winter pies and remember a summer day in our new Northern garden.

Just What The Doctor Ordered

James has been a bit under the weather lately. His doctor actually prescribed -- along with some pharmaceutical and I'm sure less effective treatments -- chicken soup. Who am I to argue with medical science?

Saved By Trader Joe's

My kitchen looks like hurricane Isaac came barreling through. I'm in the midst of several apple preserving projects (more on that later) and every surface is covered with juice draining, jars and lids, and fruit being washed. Doesn't leave much room for dinner. Mercifully I remembered a package of arugula and parmesan ravioli tucked away in the freezer. All I had to do was boil water and toss the pillowing pasta in a pan sauce of olive oil, garlic, butter, prosciutto, and -- because we harvested French fingerlings today, crisp mini quarters of savory potatoes.

A Little Help From The Crock Pot

I usually make ribs in the oven -- that is when the grill isn't set up. We still haven't rolled out the bar-b-que at the new place. Now that our oven is "on the fritz" as they say (don't know why) I'm looking for other ways to get dinner on the table. Today I piled pork spare ribs in the slow cooker with a mound of chopped onions underneath and a dousing of homemade barbeque sauce on top. I could have made it easy on myself and bought a bottle of sauce but I just couldn't do it. Instead I whipped up what I hear is Oklahoma style sauce -- or at least so says the recipe from Chicago chef Rick Bayless' family's restaurant, Hickory House. The sauce couldn't be easier. I mixed together 2 cups of ketchup, 2/3 cup brown sugar, 4 chopped cloves of garlic, 1/4 cup worcestershire sauce, 3 TB white vinegar, 1 tsp New Mexico chili powder, 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp dried thyme and about 3/4 tsp of black pepper into a saucepan and brought the mixture to a boil. After about 10 minutes cooking time (because I knew it would cook more with the ribs) I poured the sauce into the crock pot and set it to cook on low, covered. A mere 8 hours later James was enjoying ribs that literally fell off the bone with a tangy homemade sauce.

Apples Keep Pork Chops Company

We have a lot of apples. We share them with the deer and the neighboring cattle but we still have more than enough to eat out of hand. They start to show up in the darnedest places. Tonight I used up a bit of our apple bounty in this quick one skillet dish of pork chops with apples and onions, adapted from a Lucinda Scala Quinn recipe. I started by searing the seasoned chops on both sides in a hot skillet glistening with olive oil. I set the chops aside and added 1 sliced onion and 3 cored and sliced apples along with 2 TB of butter to the skillet and let the mixture soften (and just start to caramelize) for about 10 minutes. Next I poured in 1 cup of red wine and placed the chops in the skillet surrounded by the liquid which I let simmer for about another 10 minute, turning the chops halfway through. I plated the chops and boiled the skillet just a few minutes longer to reduce the sauce.
Next to James' chops I laid down a field of fresh picked, quickly sautéed collard greens favored with garlic and chili peppers.
We have a full garden. We have a lot of collards.