Stuffed Peppers Risotto

This was really yummy! And a super easy, quick way to prepare the peppers!

ingredients

1/2 cup uncooked Arborio or long grain white rice
1-1/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
4 small or 2 large sweet peppers
Salt and ground black pepper
3 oz. Parmesan or Romano cheese
1 cup 1-inch pieces asparagus or fresh broccoli florets
1 cup cubed cooked chicken
2 tsp. snipped fresh tarragon or oregano or 1/2 tsp. dried tarragon or oregano, crushed
1/4 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup pine nuts or chopped walnuts, toasted, if desired

directions

For filling, in a 2-quart saucepan combine rice and broth; bring to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, cut tops off small peppers, or halve large peppers lengthwise. Remove membranes and seeds. In a 4-quart Dutch oven immerse peppers in boiling water oven for 3 minutes. Remove; drain, cut sides down, on paper towels. Place in a serving dish cut side up. Sprinkle lightly with salt and black pepper; set aside.
With a vegetable peeler, shave 1 ounce of the Parmesan in thin strips; set aside. Finely shred or grate the remaining Parmesan; set aside. Stir asparagus or broccoli, chicken, and herb into rice. Cover and cook 5 minutes more. Stir in whipping cream, shredded or grated cheese, and nuts. Spoon filling into peppers. Top with shaved cheese. Makes 4 servings.

Thai Coconut Curry REMIX

Since I seem to be the only one posting, and I do rotate my recipes on a regular basis, I made this again because its so good... I didn't have sweet potato, but i put a carrot sliced lengthwise and topped it with chives.

Moroccan Couscous

I love Moroccan Couscous. It is one dish i go completely nuts for, but had never tried to make it. It's actually like a stew with morrocan spices, served over couscous with hot sauce. Pretty basic, but exploding flavor! The best part is, you can play around with the ingredients.
This made 6 servings
Ingredients:
4 skinless chicken thighs
4 merguez sausages
2 coarsely chopped bell peppers
2 coarsely chopped zucchini
1 chopped onion
2 chopped medium tomatoes
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
2 tbsp ras el hanout spice mix
1 cube dehydrated beef broth
2 cups water
salt/pepper
1 bunch cilantro
1 3/4 cup cooked thin grained couscous
Directions:
1. In the crock pot put everything except the couscous, sausages and cilantro and cook for 6-8 hours on low.
2. An hour before serving, grill the sausages (if you're using them) in a frying pan.
3. Serve over couscous sprinkled with chopped cilantro and harissa sauce.

Merguez sausages are hard to find in the US, but they are not absolutely necessary for this dish. The point is to have at least 2 different meats. I used chicken, but use pieces of lamb, goat, and beef as well. For the veggies, the traditional way is to use carrots and turnips, too, but I didn't have any. I was very happy with the way mine came out!

Saucisson, Radishes, and Boudin

I went to the farmer's market today... I couldn't help myself.. I had to post the local food that non-French think French are so wierd for! This first picture is the Saucisson (French Salami) that I got for 6 for 10€. Here are the flavors from left to right:
Duck, Wild Boar, Bull, Ostrich, Hot Chile, and Deer or Stag

Radishes... I love these radishes! They are not the same type as the American round fat ones, and don't taste the same. I put a little spread (country crock style) and sprinkled a bit of salt.. delicious nutritious hor d'oeuvres. Expensive, though. for the little plate you see behind my hand, 2€. I'm going to grow my own.

Another wonder of French cuisine.. Boudin Noir (blood sausage). It was recently the foire aux boudins (blood sausage fair) and so many butchers were exposing their home made boudins. I had to have a taste, and I can say I've never tasted better Boudin than this! It didn't have an odd irony aftertaste like the kind you buy from the grocery store. If you forget what it's made of...

And accompany it with home fries or mashed potatoes, it melts in your mouth and explodes with flavor! Very good! I was surprised. Also, for 1/2 kg (for 6 portions) I only paid 4€, which is a better deal than you can get at a grocery store!
Vive the local Farmer's Market!!

This weekend I didn't cook much, but I planted my own cilantro, parsley, basil, thyme, rosemary, mint, and cayenne peppers in the garden. I hope something will grow out of all that!

Cauliflower au Gratin

This is my mother's recipe that I grew up eating, and since I was recently craving cauliflower, I decided to try it. It is also the first time I've used my pressure cooker as a steamer, which is rather amazing and fast. Steamed vegetables are much healthier than boiled, because they keep all their nutrients inside them instead of letting them out into the water they are cooked in and that you throw out.
Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower
7-8 peeled potatoes
2 1/2 cups Béchamel sauce
Parsley
salt/pepper
shredded swiss
Directions:
1. Steam or boil your potatoes and cauliflower. Do this however you want. I used the little basket with a bit of water in my pressure cooker. I cooked the potatoes for 5 minutes, and then I added the cauliflower for 5 minutes. If you don't have a pressure cooker or a vegetable steamer, boil your potatoes on the stove, and steam your cauliflower in a bowl of water in the microwave.
2. Make your Béchamel. Don't forget to season it well with salt and pepper, a handful of shredded swiss cheese, and maybe a little fresh parsley.
3. In a baking dish, put your cooked potatoes and cauliflower, cut into pieces, and pour the béchamel sauce so everything is nicely coated.
4. Top with more shredded cheese, and pop into the oven at 380F for 40 minutes.

Serve as a dish or side dish with pork chops or whatever you want. I had some fig saucisson I had to finish (forget it, you will never find such a thing in the US), but the next day I did it with a pork cutlet..mmmm.

This makes a lot. I froze a portion. It also gives you gas, but it's very good.

Tongue in Tomato Pickle Sauce

Here's something you'll never hear in the US:

"Honey, guess what? I found some nice looking pork tongues for only $2 a pair today at the market!! Isn't that such a good deal?"

But alas, those are the exact (translated) words that came out of my mouth the other day when I found a fabulous pair of pork tongues for only 1.80 Euros. I love cow tongue.. it is tender and delicious, but also quite pricy. Pork tongue is smaller, but I discovered, just as tasty and way cheaper! Seriously, I'm from the US, so I know what you're thinking, (gross, right?) but you are so wrong! It is really good, and if you slice it length-wise, it loses all its tongue-ish aspect, and just becomes a delicious slice of meat for the people you serve it to. The recipe I made is the one you could typically find in a restaurant, and I was really proud of how it came out. It takes a long time, but worth it!

Serves 4
Ingredients:

2 pork tongues or 1 beef tongue

2 quarts beef stock

2 celery stalks

4 mini pickles, sliced (or a small handful of sliced pickle)

1 1/2 tbsp butter or margarine

1 tbsp flour

2 tbsp vinegar

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup tomato puree*

red pepper flakes

fresh ground pepper

Directions:

1. In a large pot, place your 2 tongues, celery stalks, and beef stock and simmer covered for 1 hour.

2. Take out the tongues, and peel off the skin. This is the only strange part.. you gotta take the rough taste buds off, man.

3. Put the tongues back in, and simmer for another hour or so. Or throw them in the crock pot with the broth and leave on all day.
4. In a sauce pan, melt the margarine and whisk in the flour.

5. Take off the heat, and whisk in the wine, 1/2 cup of the broth from your tongue pot, tomato puree, vinegar, and pickles, and then heat for 5 minutes. Add red pepper flakes and fresh ground pepper to the sauce.

6. Slice the tongues length wise like you would a roast beef and spoon on the sauce.

Serve with pasta (cooked in the broth) or home fries. I saved the broth for soup later on.

FYI the hub gives this one 2 tongues up! haha!

* To make your own tomato puree (like I did) boil 3 medium tomatoes whole in water. When the skin starts to split, take them out of the water, and peel off the skin. The pulp is now crushable with a fork.. that's tomato puree!!

Tartiflette

Ahh the Tartiflette...
I hesitated for a long time before posting this recipe because I wasn't sure we could find the right cheese in the US. My mother confirmed that you can find it at Trader Joe's, so I'm now happily posting it! This is a recipe from the Savoye region in France (Alps) with Reblochon cheese, but that I tweaked because I like the way Raclette cheese melts.
Serves 5-6 people
Ingredients:
15 peeled cooked potatoes
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 chopped onion
3-4 chopped cloves garlic
1 pack bacon with most of the fat cut off and chopped into pieces
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 lb Raclette cheese
some heavy cream
Directions:
1. In a deep sautée pan, cook the bacon pieces a few minutes until they start rendering.
2. Add the onion, garlic, and thyme, and brown a bit.
3. Add the white wine and cook for 5-7 minutes.
4. Add the cooked potatoes and with a masher, crush them and mix them well into the mixture and let cook for 5 minutes with the cover on. It doesn't need to be creamy mashed potatoes, its actually more tasty if there are chunks.

5. In a baking dish, layer half your potato mixture, then some heavy cream, and a layer of Raclette cheese. You can go heavy on the cheese, but I didn't have enough to do that, but do it!
6. Repeat the layers and pop into the oven for 40 minutes at 400F or more if the cheese isn't golden whan you look at it.

Serve with salad and be impressed at how good a cook you are!
The leftovers are even better, as always ;)
To make typical French salad dressing, there is nothing easier:
2 tbsp EVOO
1 1/2 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp mustard (optional)
some chopped shallots or baby onions (optional)
salt/pepper/parsley
then put this mixture at the bottom of the big salad bowl, salad on top, and then toss away and serve

Goat Cheese and Tomato Quiche

This is my first quiche, and it came out really good. Usually, Eric handles the quiche. I started eating before I remembered to take a picture, but it was seriously good. Plus, if you make this in the US, your guests will think you are so refined because you know how to make quiche. Here, I got, "you've never made quiche before? wierd." Anyway, its easy, tasty, and you can invent your own!
Ingredients:
1 pie crust in dough form
1 log of goat cheese, sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
2 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp mustard
1 small handful chopped cilantro
dash of salt/pepper
Directions:
1. In a pie tin (ok I didn't have one, so I did it in my lasagna dish) place the dough and attack it a little with a fork. Pop it in the oven for 5 minutes on 380F.
2. Take your pie "crust dough" out of the oven and spread some mustard along the bottom.

3. Lay your tomato and goat cheese slices in some sort of order.
4. In a mixing bowl, whip your eggs and cream, and add your cilantro and dash of salt and pepper.

5. Pour the mixture into your doughy crust and pop into the oven for 20 minutes or so or until it starts to look golden.

Pat yourself on the back, you made QUICHE!
For the record, cilantro was my addition. French are generally unaware of the goodness of cilantro, and how well it mixes with tomato and cheese!

Thai Red Coconut Curry

I love Thai Curry! This one is really good. It can feed 4-5 people, and it has a bunch of veggies in it too. I stole if from the slow cooker Goddess.
Ingredients:
- 1 can coconut milk or coconut cream
- 1 T soy sauce
- 1 T red chili paste
- 1 T fish sauce
- 2 inch chunk fresh ginger, grated
- 1 lb pork in chunks (or 6 skinless chicken thighs)
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1-2 bell pepper in big chunks
- 2-4 zucchinis in big chunks (or an eggplant)
- 1 sweet potato
Garnish:
lemon or lime wedges
chopped cilantro
Directions:
1. Mix the coconut cream, chili paste, fish sauce and soy sauce in the bottom of your crock pot.
2. Add the meat and coat it with your mixture.
3. Put all your chopped veggies on top without mixing them into the sauce.. they will nicely steam without desintegrating and cook on low for 6-7 hours.
4. Serve over rice with chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lemon or lime.

You can substitute other veggies or other meat. I personally prefer it with pork, but its good with chicken too.

Veal or Pork Blanquette

This is a typical French dish you can eat at any typical French restaurant. I, however, had never officially eaten one, and there is this cream commercial that comes on all the time where they make this dish and it made my mouth water... and when I read that it is a dish that is supposed to cook on low for a loong time, it made me even happier, because i just threw it all in the crock pot! Well, no, this actually needs a little bit of prep before and after the crock cooking, but still, it's so ridiculously delicious!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs pork or veal meat cut into thick chunks
1 cube (rectangle) dehydrated chicken stock (knorr is good)
5 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
1 chopped onion
2 cloves pushed into a piece of onion
1 can mushrooms (or use fresh)
1 stick of celery cut into chunks
2 bay leaves
1 piece of rosemary (mine was still on the branch, but use 1-2 tsp)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup water
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
Right before serving ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg yolk
juice from 1 lemon
Wow this is a lot of ingredients, and I had all this on hand without purposefully planning ahead? I'm proud of me!
Directions:
1. On the stove, brown your meat in the butter, and then sprinkle flour so that the meat is well coated.
2. Transfer all ingredients (except the cream, egg yolk, and lemon juice) into the crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
3. 15 minutes before serving, in a bowl, whisk your heavy cream, egg yolk and lemon juice together, then stir into the crock pot.
4. Taste to see if it needs salt/pepper, and serve over rice or fettuccine!

I used pork instead of veal because I'm a cheapass, and it was really good. I've heard that it is just as good with turkey chunks too. If it is too watery, leave the lid open on the crock for a little while. The heavy cream here has the same consistency as light sour cream, so the sauce came out thicker than it might with a "heavy whipping cream." This meal probably cost me less than 5€ and it was enough to feed 4 very very hungry people..and it ROCKS!