Susie-Q Stew

I was having lunch with a friend the other day and she was describing this southwestern dish she likes to make and it just sounded so good I had to try it. Love the flavors! This is a keeper!

CHICKEN WITH TOMATILLOS, POTATOES, JALAPENOS AND FRESH
HERBS

1 medium onion, chopped
12 medium tomatillos (cleaned) and quartered
4-5 medium red potatoes (skin on) and quartered
boneless skinless chicken thighs (one package 6-8), cut into chunks

1 cup loosely packed cilantro
pickled jalapenos

Heat oven to 400 degrees

Spread the onion over the bottom of an oven proof Dutch oven. Sprinkle with salt. Continue with layers of the chicken thighs, cilantro, tomatillos, potatoes, sprinkling a teeny bit of salt over each layer before moving on to the next.

Scatter 1/4 cup sliced canned pickled jalapenos (nacho slices work too) over the whole thing, then drizzle on 2 T jalapeno packing juice. Next time I will use more jalapenos as we like spicy!

Set the lid in place and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the lid and bake 15 to 20 minutes longer to reduce the juices. Spoon directly from the pot onto
plates.   

   

Like Bacon and Bleu Cheese? Read On!

Warm Salad of Savoy Cabbage, Bacon, and Pears

Cook 4 slices of bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towels and reserve. Remove all but 2 T of fat from pan.

Add 6 cups of sliced savoy cabbage and a sliced red onion and sauté for 4 minutes.

Whisk together 2 T cider vinegar, 2 T olive oil, and a 1 t Dijon mustard in a large bowl.

Add cabbage mixture and 1 thinly sliced pear. Toss well and season. Top with 2 T bleu cheese and crumbled bacon.

Rainy Day Pot Roast

 

 

 

When it's a rainy, dreary day, there's nothing like a yummy pot roast baking slow and low in your oven all afternoon. How luxurious to sit by the fire and read letting the house fill with those enticing aromas. 

 

There is no pot roast recipe better than this one. It's a variation on Laurie Colwin's recipe for Pot Roast from her wonderful book Home Cooking.

Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients:

• 5 lb. beef chuck roast
• 1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 red bell peppers, sliced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 carrot, sliced
• 1 cup red wine OR beef stock
• 15 oz. can tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. dried marjoram leaves
• Carrots. peeled and cut in 1/3s and small white and red potatoes

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Heat olive oil in heavy pan over medium high heat. Sprinkle roast with paprika and brown, about 15 minutes total. Place in Dutch oven or any large oven proof casserole dish with a lid and add bell peppers, onions, carrot, and garlic. In the same skillet used to brown roast, add wine or beef stock, tomato sauce, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, and salt, scraping to loosen any brown bits; add pepper and marjoram. Pour over the meat and vegetables and cover. Bake in a 300 degree oven for 4-5 hours. I planned on four hours. I added the carrots when the roast still had about an hour and 1/2 to bake, and I added the potatoes with one hour to bake.

When the pot roast is tender, remove and cover it with foil to keep warm. Remove the large pieces of carrot and potatoes and cover to keep warm. I have an immersion blender and I just stuck that in the pan juices and well cooked peppers, onions and carrot and whirled it all up in to a great gravy. If you don't have one of those handy devices, you can use a food processor. You might want to add some more salt to the gravy--try just a little, taste and then add slowly. The gravy is good, so you don't want to ruin it with too much salt. Slice the pot roast and spoon the gravy over it.

This gives us plenty of leftovers! Cook once, eat twice :-)

Breakfast for Dinner!

Isn't it interesting how you can have just a little leftover something in the fridge and it can be the catalyst for an entirely different dish? So, I had leftover roasted veggies and I thought why not heat them up and use them as a bed for a sunny side up egg, heat up some Canadian bacon, sauté some frozen hash browns and voila, Breakfast for Dinner is born! Totally yummy!