dutch oven bliss

ah, my enameled dutch oven, how do i love thee? let me count the ways... i love thee for keeping my oil temperature stable while i fry things, i love thee for not letting the oil splatter the entire kitchen while i fry things, i love thee for browning meat beautifully then popping right into the oven to finish, i love thee for pot pies and shepard's pie! i could wax eloquent for hours on this subject, i really could. i feel i need to come to the defense of good, old fashioned, sturdy cookware. do i own a non stick skillet? heck yes, i wouldn't live with out it. do i also own, and use, a cast iron skillet? yep. both indispensable for what they are good at. when confronted with the sight of my $50.00 6 quart 15 pound dutch my sister in law, with raised eyebrows, quipped "i hope it's worth it." oh, it is, it is. for one thing there are so many meals that can be made in ONE POT in it, for real. am i the only one that has read those 'one pot' recipes with high hopes only to discover that, well you saute something in a skillet, and you boil something in a pasta pot, and you have to brown meat somehow, but THEN you pile everything in this 'one pot' for long enough to melt some cheese or something, so some how they feel okay about scamming you? ha, i say. pish. get a good dutch oven and your life will be forever changed. on to the finer points, to enamel or not to enamel? well, it depends on how you want to use it. if you intend to take it camping or go all frontier with it and stick it straight into coals to cook with it, i'd say go for un- enameled, and look for a nice long handle. if you intend to use it more in the home, and would like to roast chickens in it get a larger, coated one. it comes down to taste really, but if you go for raw cast iron be prepared to care for it. scrub it with salt, season it with grease and oil, store it correctly, and for pitys sake, don't stick it in the dish washer. be kind to it, and it will pay you back ten fold.

what is bok choy anyway?

so, what is that stuff hiding in your "chicken and assorted vegetables" that tastes a bit like radish and a bit like, well, water? it's bok choy my friend and you should become better acquainted. in the store it looks a bit like a rhubarb ran off with a swiss chard, bright white stalks and dark greens. in the wok i've learned to divide and conquer, slice it all up, separate the stalk from the leaves. add the stalks first with your other veggies that require a bit more cooking and the leaves at the end, when everything else is almost done. it's great with ginger, the radishy taste really likes fresh ginger for some reason, and it's good all by it's self or with a mixed stir fry. then there's our little buddy, baby bok choy. to tell the truth it's almost a completely different veggie, small bright spring green bundles of tender leaves. my favorite thing to do with a baby bok choy is cut it in half length wise and sear it on my griddle with a smidge of oil and a sprinkle of salt. fresh ginger would not go amiss here either, but i find it has plenty of flavor on it's own. just don't over cook it, big or baby, it becomes a somewhat slimy mess. this is not all that hard to avoid, keep an eye on the leaves, they should just start to wilt when it's done. so, steam some rice, pour some voinger, and enjoy!

chicken cordon... cottage

alrighty, this one is so easy it's almost silly to blog it. so it turns out i'm brewing thing three right now, and being 6 weeks pregnant is not fun for me. my precious food tends to turn on me in a serious way for the first 4 months or so. my solution? a dinner i hardly have to touch in it's raw elements so that i will still want to eat it by the time it hits the table. the basic staple here: IQF chicken breasts. literally Individually Quickly Frozen. i can grab as many as i need, throw them in a pan and cook from frozen if i need to. these were partially thawed, for the record. preheat the oven to 375, place the chicken in a baking pan (glass is favorite) in a single layer, brush a little dijon mustard on each breast, top with sliced ham, then finish with a slice of swiss cheese. cover with foil and bake for about 35-40 minutes, depending on if they're still on the frozen side or not. et vio la, chicken that any decent french chef would be ashamed of: and yet, quite tasty.

vegetable modesty and nutrition

you may have noticed that i rarely write "peeled" carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, etc. there is a reason for this. it is largely agreed that the bulk of the nutrients that make veggies so good for you are in the skins. also they add texture and flavor to what you're cooking, besides which by the time you're done dicing, cooking, and otherwise obliterating your ingredients, a littel carrot skin doesn't stand out. so, go a head let your veggies keep their clothes on, it'll serve you well. personally i like my mashed potatoes better when i leave the skin on about half of the potatoes during the cooking process, and so does my husband. for tougher items like tomato skin, dice the raw fruit smaller so the pieces that survive will be easier to deal with. go ahead and scrub your carrots, just be sure to leave the skin on, there's alot of good stuff in there. if you want to serve an extra pretty side dish of glazed carrots, go ahead and peel away, but remember you can save those peelings along with the tops and tips to make broth for soup. and by the way "baby" carrots are just chunks of big carrots that have been tumbled to remove the skin and soften the cut edges. it's a scam and a misnomer, don't let them fool you.

soup bar

we love having people over for dinner here at the cottage, and since we have a large family, it tends to be a crowd. the most affordable way i've found to feed everybody is: soup. it helps that we love soup anyway but it's also easy to make, and pretty darn tasty. plus you can make something fairly simple and easily dress it up. recently we had a card night and i made leek and potato soup, served up next to toppings. fried bacon bits, shredded cheddar, parmesan, green onions, and a pepper grinder and we were set to go. everyone got to make their own combinations and everyone got full, a win win for card night at the cottage. i also like to make squash soup which is good with everything from olive oil to nutmeg on top. another fun thing to try is an old fashioned soup tureen, i have two that both came from local thrift stores for less than $15 each. try it out, you could start a tradition!

butternut squash soup

okay, i realize this has become the hip thing to make. you know why? cause it's super good! also, pretty darn easy. i know if you've ever wrestled a hard squash before you're skeptical right now, but stick with me. the trick is to start by baking the squash whole. wrap it up in foil and stick it in the oven at 350 for about two hours. if you want to, turn it once halfway through. if you don't, no big deal. let it cool. you can now stick it in the refrigerator, still whole and wrapped, for up to oh, say, three days before you get around to dealing with it. i warn you it will leak some sweet squashy goodness so put it in a pan or bag. dice our usual soup starters: onion, celery, carrot, a bit of garlic. saute them in butter (alot of it) until they're soft with salt and pepper. remember, you're seasoning the whole pot of soup here, a good rule of thumb is to sprinkle an even layer of seasonings over the vegetables right when you put them in. peel, seed, and chop the squash. don't worry about the size of the chunks, it'll fall apart in the soup. add the squash to the pot, stir it up and let it sit and brown a bit. a few minutes should do it, it has a pretty good amount of natural sugar in it. add either fresh chopped sage or dry rubbed sage to taste, don't be afraid to go to town with it. stir this all up and pour in some chicken broth, white wine (chardonnay or sauv. blanc), or water depending on taste, enough to cover the veggies and squash, and sprinkle in some powdered ginger, about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon depending on how spicy you want it. simmer for about 45 minutes or until everything is soft and incorporated, let cool for just a few minutes. then if you want to, blend in the blender or with an immersion blender in the pot. add cream, half and half, or milk until you've got the consistency you want. personally i like to add pasta at this point that i boil ahead of time, little cheese tortellini are great in this soup!

cottage geese

you know when you get those bright ideas? the ones that are so bright you are inexorably drawn to them like a moth to a flame? yes, well, i had one of those. last Christmas as i was standing in front of the freezer case looking at the price of geese, around $80 each, i thought: how hard can it be to raise geese? i can raise my own, spread out the cost, and get fresh meat! a win, win, win situation! i know you're already laughing at me, yuck it up. i can take it. my first clue should have been that each gosling was $12.99. i knew that geese were mean. i knew they weren't bright. what i didn't know was that they are the most perverse, clumsy, idiotic creatures ever created. or that they could destroy a respectable vegetable garden in one day when left unattended. i am also learning that their favorite place to poop is a freshly hosed front walk, and they innately know whom they can chase without earning a smart kick in the chest and whom they cannot. have you ever seen a goose trip on it's own feet? i have. it almost makes this whole thing worth it. i now laughingly look back on those first weeks when i was explaining their presence in the yard and people were telling me "don't name them" or "don't feed them by hand" so that i wouldn't get attached and therefore not be able to go through with the butchering. HA! the trouble now is going to be not killing the cusses until Christmas....