Hearty One-Skillet Meal

This dish has become a favorite, recently. It's a variation of a recipe from the Food Wishes channel on YouTube. There, Chef John presents it as an oven-roasted, open skillet that's started on the stove top. I discovered that I liked it better when I finished it, covered, and all on the stove top, no oven. It depends on how you like it. In the oven, it's finished crispy and caramelized, my version is moist and tender, with some caramelization on the meat. And it's also a bit easier.

To keep it simple, go ahead and watch the Food Wishes recipe linked above, it's only seven-and-a-half minutes, as most of Chef John's presentations are brief and practical. Then I'll list what I do that's different.

1. I use a 12-inch Cook's Standard stainless steel fry pan with dome lid (available on Amazon). It could be prepared in a cast iron or non-stick skillet, but it won't develop a flavorful fond.

2. On MEDIUM, start with hot oil or fat (chicken, bacon, lard, whatever) in the pan. Add the chicken thighs skin side UP in the center of the pan, then add any uncooked (fresh, not smoked) sausage¹ around the thighs.
3. Let that meat brown, uncovered, on one side while cutting up the peppers, onions and potatoes².
4. Turn all the browning meat over, thighs skin DOWN. Add any cooked (smoked) sausage then distribute the veggies, keeping the meat on the bottom of the pan to maximize browning.
5. I season liberally with Lawry's, black pepper, granulated garlic, marjoram, sage, summer savory, parsley and a little rosemary and basil. A bay leaf is optional, but it's not a flavor I like. And a little cayenne, if I'm using sweet (non-spicy) peppers.
6. Brown 5 minutes on MEDIUM.
7. COVER, turn to LOW for 40 minutes.
8. Serve    
                
¹ I've used fresh and smoked kielbasa, bratwurst, hot links, andouille, both sweet and hot Italian sausages and cut-up country-style ribs, usually in combinations of two types. The rib meat didn't bring enough flavor whereas the chicken seems to absorb it. The sausage is easier to manage if I wait to cut it up until after cooking.

² I prefer the poblano (aka, ancho) peppers from my small hydroponic garden, but I've also used red bell peppers and canned diced green chiles. I've discovered that I can never have too much onion and it's nearly the same with potatoes. But maybe that's just me.

;^)

Sugar- Free at last!

For many years, I figured that the perceived differences in the typical cooking and table sugars in the U.S. were primarily a result of color profiling that had its roots in the apartheid policies of former South African regimes, in the caste system of the Indian subcontinent, or in the so-called Jim Crow practices in America. I reckoned that brown sugars were simply looked down upon because of their color, and bigotry often led them to react by becoming hardened.

Imagine my surprise upon learning that, in the vast majority of commercial products available in America, all three sugars—white, light brown, and dark brown—are simply refined white sugar, with the latter two having different amounts of molasses added back. While the sugar refining process does pass through dark and light brown stages as the molasses are removed, commercial producers prefer to add precise amounts of molasses back to the white sugar to help assure consistent products. Turns out bigotry, apartheid, and castes having nothing to do with it. Go figure.

Sugar beets in cultivation

What's more, the reason brown sugars can become hardened is because the moisture in the molasses syrup that has been added can evaporate, leaving the sugar crystals as a solid, self-adherent mass. However, if you're desperate, there are some temporary remedies to rock-hard brown sugar, which I'll get to later.

Harvested sugar beets

Sugar cane in the field

Cut cane, ready for the rolling mill

Most sugar in the U.S. is refined from sugar cane and sugar beets. Those, and many other plants, produce a sugar called sucrose. According to one source (realbakingwithrose.com), light brown sugar is usually 3.5% molasses, while dark brown has about 6.5% molasses added back to the refined white sugar product.

There are some obvious and some not-so-obvious differences in the various sugars. Most apparent are color and taste, both of which can show up in baked products. Molasses also brings some slight acidic features as well as more moisture. This can contribute to a bit more rise in a baked cookie, while light brown and white sugar will see successively more spread to the cookie, according to Serious Eats.

Finally, Professor's House suggests putting a half-pound of hardened brown sugar, covered with two wet (not dripping) paper towels, in a microwave-safe bowl sealed with plastic wrap. Nuke it for a couple minutes or so, then use a fork to stir and separate the sugar (CAUTION: sugar can stay very hot for an extended period). They suggest that the treated sugar not be stored but used immediately. Sweet!

;^)

Gazpacho, Cold or Hot

This recipe is so easy, I'm mad at myself for not thinking of it years ago.

Ingredients

- Chunky Salsa. I use Safeway Select Southwest Salsa, Hot. The more vegetables in the salsa, the better. As an example, the Safeway salsa has tomatoes, Jalapeno Peppers, Green Chili Peppers, Red Bell Peppers, Green Bell Peppers, Black Beans, Corn, Onions, and Garlic, besides the usual herbs and spices like Cilantro, Basil and Oregano.

- Vegetable Juice Cocktail, like V8© , though there are usually store or generic brands that I find very comparable

Preparation

- Combine the Salsa and the Vegetable Juice in a 1:5 ratio (adjust the ratio to taste).

- To serve cold, the soup should be thoroughly chilled in the refrigerator. To serve hot ... do I really need to explain this?

- Can be garnished with sour cream, avocado slices, cucumber slices, tortilla chips, crackers, shredded cheese, boiled egg slices or your favorite whatever—or no garnish at all.

;^)

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Easy Homemade Chicken Soup or Chicken n' Dumplings

Photo**

This chicken soup is so easy, I’m going to list all of the measurments in metric, just so you feel like you’ve done something special.

Ingredients

- 1 Whole Deli-roasted Chicken from the grocery store (day-old is good, if the price is marked down) NOTE 1: Roasted chicken, not fried. NOTE 2: Turns out, counting chickens is the same whether in imperial or metric systems. Go figure.

- 2 Liters Water

- Noodles, pasta or dumplings of your choice, amount by personal preference (I like a lot.) Try angel hair pasta broken into 2 cm pieces.

- (Optional) Mirepoix (chopped onion, celery and carrots)  As much or as little as you want, for both color and flavor. NOTE: Mirepoix (MEER-pwah) is the fancy-schmancy French cuisine name for this basic flavor combo, traditionally, two parts onions, one part carrots, and one part celery.

Preparation

- Drop the chicken in a large pot. (Add mirepoix)

- Cover with water (use more water as necessary).

- Bring to a boil and then simmer one hour, covered.

Kroger's roast chicken.

- Remove chicken and taste the broth, add salt, pepper or spices to taste. NOTE: Usually these deli-roasted birds are so heavily salted and spiced that no further seasoning is needed. If you think it needs more spice, try adding some poultry seasoning.

- Bring the broth to a boil and add your pasta, noodles or dumplings, cook according to their directions.

- While the noodles are cooking, carefully (it’ll be HOT) break apart the chicken and pull the meat into bite-sized chunks. Use two forks if the chicken’s too hot to touch.

- Add the meat back to the broth.

- Serve

Variations

Chicken and dumplings**

Chicken Vegetable Soup
- Add some mixed frozen or canned veggies to the broth with the noodles.
Chicken and Dumplings
- Including mirepoix and/or other vegetables, especially carrots and onions, is common.
- Stir in a little roux (you can always add more) to thicken the finished broth. (Presto! Broth becomes stew.)
- Cut refrigerator biscuits into bite-sized pieces, drop on top of simmering stew.
- Cover and simmer about 20-25 minutes.
- Pull the chicken into chunks, add back to finished stew.

;^)

Roux

A roux (roo) is a basic thickener for soups, stews, gravies and sauces.

A roux-based sauce.**

Ingredients

Equal parts, by weight (you can estimate)

- Flour

- Fat (butter, margarine, vegetable oil, animal fat, e.g., bacon grease or lard)

Preparation

- Heat the fat over medium-low until it is a liquid. If you’re using butter, cook it slowly until the bubbling stops.

- Stir in the flour, blending until smooth.

- Continue stirring over medium heat until the raw flour taste is gone, usually 3-5 minutes.

- The longer you cook a roux the darker it gets, imparting more color and flavor to the intended dish. Sometimes you want a roux to be white, sometimes darker.

- Add to intended sauce, soup, stew, gravy, stirring briskly into the dish to avoid lumps, then bring the whatever to a high simmer until thickening occurs, usually just a minute or two. It’s best to use a whisk and not to add to a very hot item. The more you add, the thicker it gets; best to start with just a little

A sure sign of a profes-

sional cook: the ability to
hold hot objects, bare-

handed, with impunity.

Variations

- Cowboy roux (also called a white wash) Blend equal parts flour and water, add as above. Since the flour is raw going into the final dish, it must be cooked longer than when adding a standard roux, usually at least five minutes. Taste test to be sure.

- Cornstarch (corn flour), used in lesser amounts when mixed with water, blends easier, doesn’t have a raw flour taste to worry about, and can impart a bit of shine to the finished product.

;^)