Thug Kitchen Roasted Tomato Soup

Hey All,

So its been a productive afternoon.  Got the fridge and pantry ready to go for the week ahead, mixed up the yogurt/dill sauce for the kebobs and prepared this roasted tomato soup from Thug Kitchen.

OK, so Thug Kitchen is this foul mouthed no-nonsense blog I also found via facebook.  The language is completely NSFW, but their recipes and ideas are founded in reality and make good food.

Here's the gist of the recipe.  I should note, this is way fresher and tastes more like summer than canned soup.  I really wish I would have made this one when the weather was colder.  Served with a salad and some grilled cheese sandwiches, this should be a winner.


1 28 ounce can of plain, peeled whole tomatoes (get one that is low on sodium, if it matters to you, check that label)
3 teaspoons of olive oil
4-5 cloves of garlic (still in their skin)
1 medium russet potato
1/2 a small head of cauliflower (about 1/3 pounds)
1/2 a medium yellow onion
1 tablespoon of diced fresh rosemary (if you need to use dried, use only 1 teaspoon)
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 1/2-3 cups vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste

Drain and roast to tomatoes for 30 minutes at 325F.  I used pan spray instead of messing around with the mess of oil.  I've recently rediscovered the joy of pan spray.  Gosh it sure is handy.

Roasting the garlic and getting it out of its skin is a pain, so I'd say smack the clove with the side of a knife (thanks Anne Burrell for that fun technique), chop it up and roast it when you add the potato and cauliflower and roast for another 40 minutes.  I ended up bumping the temperature to 375F for the last 10 minutes to get some color on them.

I also just warmed the herbs with the leftover tomato juice with a bullion cube topped up to 3 cups total liquid.

Also, pay attention to what your blender is doing.  If it does like mine, it will cavitate, blending the daylights out of the stuff on the bottom and not touching the stuff on top.  Go slow and get that stuff smooth.

Now its sitting in the pot in the fridge, patiently waiting to be warmed through for dinner later this week :)

Pancakes and baked pasta

Hey All,

So a little while ago, I discovered a great place for breakfast called Penny Ann's Cafe.  The write up in the Salt Lake Tribune had me curious to try their sour cream pancakes.  Needless to say they were delicious.  Unfortunately, as all good dining establishments do, they have since experienced out of control growth in their client base and getting in for breakfast requires 45+ minutes of wait time.  There is one thing that makes me crazy when I'm hungry:  waiting to be seated and get food.  So I ventured out into the intrawebs to see if I could find a recipe for their delicious pancakes.

Lo and behold, I found this delicious recipe from Land O' Lakes.  Its a close enough facsimile that I am no longer willing to wait 45+ minutes for a meal.

Its a striaght forward pancake batter, with all ingredients just mixed together in a bowl and then fried by 1/4 cupfuls:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup Land O Lakes® Milk

1/2 cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)

1 Land O Lakes® All-Natural Egg, slightly beaten

2 tablespoons sugar (I use 1.5, as 2 makes them brown quicker than I'd like)

2 tablespoons Land O Lakes® Butter, melted  (I use 2T vegetable oil instead, because well, melting butter is a hassle, even with a microwave)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

 

The texture on these is very unique, light, fluffy, but having a perfect chew to them.  Here's a picture, I think you'll see what I mean:

 

The next recipe is another one of those that came up on facebook.  I think it was a recipegirl post.  It is so good, that it actually prompted a bit of recipe sharing at the office, so here's the excerpt from the email I circulated:

Here's the pasta recipe, notes included.  If you are lazy, like me, any old precooked pasta should work.

Sausage & Spinach Bake

1/2 Cup Grated Pecorino Romano (I used a good parmesan)
8 oz Ricotta
8oz Mozarella, shredded
14 oz mild Italian Sausage (I just used 1lb. breakfast sausage in the tube)
12 oz Rigatoni (undercooked by 4 min, so 7 min works well around here)
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
10 oz frozen spinach (thawed and wrung to remove excess moisture, I suspect the wringing isn't necessary if you like a saucier pasta)
4 cups Marinara (I had some leftovers in a jar from Costco and a bit of not-sure-what brand in the freezer)

Mix together the Pecorino Romano, Ricotta, and mozarella, reserving some mozarella for sprinkling on the top.  Set aside.

Bring oil to med-high heat and brown sausage and garlic, taking care not to get too hot so you don't burn the garlic (I have a tendency to cook hot and scorch my garlic which tastes rather awful, except in Asian cooking).  Reduce heat.  Drain if necessary, add marinara and noodles, coat and warm.

Layer 1/2 of pasta mixture into a large baking dish, then 1/2 cheese mixture, spinach, 1/2 cheese mixture, and last 1/2 pasta mixture.  I thought of it as a lazy lasagne.

Top with reserved mozarella.

At this point it will refrigerate or freeze well, uncooked.

Bake in 375F oven covered for 20 min, then uncovered until bubbly and browned on top (about 20 more min).

I hope you enjoy!  The first time we made this it, we had it with a full bodied carmenere and it was amazing.

Hey, since you know pasta, do you know any easy gnocchi recipes?  Its one of my faves, but I have yet to try making my own.

 

Speaking of gnocchi, anyone got a good recipe?  I love it, but I've been striking out.  I really should just call my Father-In-Law, I suspect he has a good recipe.

Back to cooking, Salsa Chicken, Huevos con pollo

Hey All,

Wow, it looks like I didn't make a single entry in 2013.  That's a dirty shame, as I've had lots of great recipes come my way.  I'm going to try and start recapping all of these, so I can find them easily and ya'll can enjoy them.

So first up is a Salsa Chicken that my friend Lou posted on facebook.  As I was making it, I was skeptical, but this is one of the best slow-cooker meals I've had in a long while.

Salsa Chicken

I put this one together the night before, it will keep well for a few days in the fridge if you want to plan well ahead.  I'm going to just list these ingredients in the order they layer into the slow cooker.....except for the sour cream, it all goes in, cooks on low for ~8 hours, then turned to warm.  Just before serving, shred the chicken and stir in the sour cream.

2 lb boneless skinless chicken, I used thighs since they cost considerably less.
2 T taco seasoning
1 C Salsa
1 C diced onion
1/2 C diced celery
1/2 C shredded carrot
1 C diced tomato
1/2 C water
3 T sour cream

We served this for dinner with rice last night.  It was tasty!

Since we had a good sized freezer container full, we decided to make Huevos this morning.  You can do this with just about any chili that has good flavor....its a personal favorite the morning after a good chili type dish.

Pour the chili into a skillet and heat over medium heat until it starts to bubble.  Reduce the heat to low.

 Next, create a well in the chili, liquid will seep back in, just have the meat pushed out of the way.

 Next drop an egg in the well.  We did 4 to feed 2 of us.  If you are using fresh eggs, crack them into a dish first, that way if an egg is bad, you don't ruin the whole dish.  This is an unfortunate thing we've learned a couple of times over.

 Cover and let warm for about 4 minutes and the eggs will be perfectly poached.  Remove it from the heat until ready to plate.

 In this case, I had a leftover crepe, tortilla, and potato roll....YUMMY!

I'll likely write more over the weekend, I've been collecting lots of great recipes and have 4 in the works to get out for us all to enjoy!

I'm Not Dead Yet....Often I wish I were....

Hey All,

As I've implied, I'm not dead, yet.....I suspect my overseer's will take care of that.  That's not to say I haven't had some amazing food lately, I just wish I didn't have to do the damn dishes....LOL!

So:


A)  Not dead, yet....

B)  I do have some really good recipes, just not many pictures after getting chastized about my photographs.....