Kale & Bratwurst (Grun Kohl)

I get funny looks when I head to the checkout stand with loads of Kale. It's good, really! While I've seen recipes for sauteed kale that sound good, we "braise" it in a pressure cooker. We've tried using a slow cooker instead, but for some reason it just doesn't come out right. Cooking it for a long time over really low heat just seems to leach out all the flavor before it's tender. Like most greens, it benefits greatly from being cooked with pork fat of some sort. Even though this is a sausage dish, we still throw in a slice of bacon.

• 5 bunches of Kale


• 6 Smoked Brats (Saag's are good)


• Steel cut oats


• 1 slice of bacon, diced


• 1 onion, diced


• Vodka or white wine


• Crystal Sauce


• Water

1. Wilt the kale in batches in a big pot (can do some in the pressure cooker too--this is just to get the kale to fit in the pressure cooker)


2. Render bacon in a pressure cooker


3. Add kale


4. Add onion and sausage


5. Add oats


6. Add water, vodka (or wine), a few dashes of Crystal Sauce, and ~1 tsp of salt


7. Pressure cook for ~25 minutes


8. Open, reduce to desired consistency, and season to taste

Roast Chicken Breast & Garlic Aioli with Asparagus

• Chicken breast w/skin


• Minced garlic (mini-cuisinart)


• EV Olive Oil


• Mayo


• Lemon


• Asparagus

1. Trim excess skin & fat from chicken and season with salt, pimenton, and pepper


2. Brown chicken


3. Roast for 10 minutes in a 425 degree oven


4. Gently nuke garlic in olive oil


5. Mix mayo, garlic, oil, lemon juice, salt & pepper for aioli and chill slightly


6. Add trimmed asparagus to boiling (salted, acidulated) water, cover, and remove from heat. Let sit for 3 minutes & strain.
   
7. Slice chicken and serve with aioli and asparagus.

Chinese Wok-In: Hot & Sour Soup and Chicken & Snow Pea Stir Fry

Hot & Sour Soup

• Diced Fresh Shitake


• Lily Buds


• Sliced bamboo shoots


• Wood Ear Mushrooms (Black Fungus)


• Tofu


• Egg


• Chicken stock


• Sesame Oil & Hot Chile Oil


• Rice wine vinegar


• White pepper

1. Saute shitake in peanut oil


2. Add chicken stock/water


3. Add fungus, lily buds, & bamboo shoots


4. Season with dark soy, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, hot chile oil


5. Simmer


6. Add tofu & season to taste with white pepper, vinegar, etc.

Chicken & Snow Peas

• Sliced chicken breast


• Snow peas


• Fresh water chestnuts, sliced


• Minced fresh ginger


• Sliced garlic


• Chili sauce


• Peanut oil

1. Stir-fry chicken in peanut oil


2. Add aromatics


3. Add veggies


4. Finish with Chili sauce

Paella

There are as many versions of this dish as there are chefs. We tend towards a Valencia style with shellfish and chicken. Tonight, we used some really nice Louisiana shrimp from Whole Foods, live mussels and clams, and a couple chicken drumsticks. We usually add a green veggie--peas or french or italian beans. Along with the traditional saffron, we add some smoked paprika (pimenton) and some diced piquillo peppers for extra flavor. Tom's version always includes some diced onion, minced garlic, tomato sauce, and fresh parsley as well.

Process:

1. 
   Shell & butterfly the shrimp & make "chicken shrimp stock" -- boil the shells with the shrimp stock + 1 cup water. Strain and add saffron & pimenton and bring back to a boil.
   


2. Season chicken legs w/salt & pepper


3. Saute the chicken legs & offload.
   
   
4. Saute the rice & offload.



5. Saute veggies (onion, garlic, piquillo parsley)



6. Add tomato sauce



7. Add wine, stock mixture.



8. Add mussels



9. Add clams



10. Cover & offload when open



11. Add rice



12. Add peas



13. Cover & bring to a boil



14. Add chicken legs



15. Cover & simmer to finish cooking rice & legs



16. Add shrimp



17. Add clams & mussels



18. Add some parsley



19. Turn off heat, cover with newspaper, and let sit for 20 minutes



20. Serve & garnish with parsley

Chicos Soup & Pork in Coloradito Sauce

Tom's second experiment with chicos--dried green "dent" corn. Most commonly (only?) used in Southwestern cooking, a few chicos add a lot of great corn flavor and have a nice chewy texture. You can mail order them from the Santa Fe School of Cooking.

We had leftover Coloradito sauce from the last go-round, so we had a great "mother" sauce to work with. It was pretty thick and a bit "corny", so we thinned it out a bit and added pork-friendly cumin and jalapeno, which were intentionally left out of the original coloradito sauce (but they're awesome with pork).

We ate the soup while we were waiting for the pork to cook. Was yummy, but the sour cream broke a bit as you ate it--might be inclined to mix sour cream or cream in instead of garnishing with it the next time.

Caldo de Chicos:

• 2 cups Stock


• 1/2 diced onion


• 2 poblanos, cut into 1" pieces


• Minced garlic


• Sliced mushrooms


• Sliced baby zucchini


• Chopped cilantro


• Diced tomato


• Soaked chicos


• Oregano & Cumin


• Sour Cream

1. Add stock, onion, garlic, chiles, sqash, chicos, and tomato to pot.


2. Season with salt, pepper, oregano & cumin.


3. Simmer


4. Finish with onion & cilantro


5. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

Pork in Coloradito Sauce

• Coloradito Sauce


• Ground Chimayo Chile, cumin, "bloomed" in water


• Diced Jalapeno


• Minced Garlic


• Pork "tri-tip", cut into pieces & season with salt & pepper


• White wine


• Honey

1. Brown pork in pressure cooker


2. Add galic & jalapeno


3. Add bloomed chimayo


4. Add wine


5. Add coloradito sauce


6. Pressure cook for ~20 mins


7. Reduce to desired consistency


8. Finish with a little honey & serve

Spicy Broccoli Beef

One of the things we picked up at the Farmer's market this week was a nice-looking bunch of broccoli--gotta like those cruciferous veggies. :-)

1. 3/4 lb beef, cubed (we used london broil)


2. Broccolli cut into pieces & blanch


3. Mix sauce ingredients in a bowl: chicken broth, mushroom soy, black bean chile sauce, hunan sauce, sesame oil


4. Stir-fry beef in peanut oil & offload


5. Add aromatics: , minced ginger, green garlic, jalapeno


6. Add sauce

Tapas: White Beans y Catalonia and Salmon in Chimayo Cream Sauce

It's salmon season again! Picked up some fresh local salmon from the farmer's market at Santana Row. The fish vendor there is super nice & always has something good. The market was smaller than usual because of the impending rain, but we still scored some nice green garlic, broccoli, and (of course) the fresh salmon. (Some alder-smoked salmon followed us home, too--not quite as good as Grandpa Al's, but it's the best I've ever found for sale.) Both were "tail" pieces, which is always my preference. A bit less fat and definitely fewer bones. Grandpa Al always says the cheek pieces are the best, which are pretty much the antithesis...but also really good. Just depends on what you're looking for & what you're doing with it.

White Beans y Catalonia

1. Saute mushrooms & offload


2. Saute sliced Catalonia sausage


3. Add white beans & sliced green garlic


4. Add mushrooms back to pan & add white wine


5. Season with pepper to taste


6. Simmer covered


7. Serve in a cazeula

Salmon

1. Lightly toast some ground chimayo chile in a saucier, add some white wine & chicken broth, and then simmer to rehydrate the chile


2. Remove the skin from the salmon filets, season with salt & pepper, spray with olive oil, and grill. No mesquite-grilling happening tonight, it's still raining so we resorted to the electric "pannini press"
3. 
   
4. Finish the sauce with sour cream & season to taste


5.