One of my favorite blogs is The Bitten Word, namely because they are just as obsessed with food magazines as I am.  They are in the middle of their 2013 Cover-to-Cover Challenge, and I was happy to sign up.

The night before our “assignments” came out, I glanced through the Bon Appetit issue they were using, and noticed the magazine had named its Dish of the Year.  I flipped to the page, double-checked the page number, turned to the next page, flipped back again, and decided that yes, Bon Appetit had actually named Lamb Tartare its Dish of the Year.  I shook my head and hoped that wasn’t the dish I was assigned.

So I had to laugh when it was.  A quick trip to Central Market provided everything I needed, including a pricey rack of lamb and preserved lemons, two ingredients I had never before considered buying.

The recipe was very easy: Chop and mix. The dog supervised.

One egg yolk later, we had this:

Two of us tried it while the other two looked on nervously.  How did it taste?  Pretty darn good.  The flavor of the lamb was clean and the other ingredients did not overwhelm it.  It tasted remarkably fresh.  Even the mint, which I am not normally a fan of, was a great fit.  The best comment came from Matt, who said, “None of the flavors in there repulse me.”  On a normal night, I would not appreciate that, but I was happy enough that he tried it!

However, it also tasted quite good the next day when I cooked it up for brunch.  I will leave the tartare making to the experts.

This is one of our favorite recipes and I realized the other day I still haven’t posted it here. Time to change that! This recipe is barely adapted from Allrecipes.

1 pound hot Italian sausage, casings removed
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 cups beef broth
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup red wine
1-28 oz can diced tomatoes, diced
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/2 tablespoon packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1-8 ounce can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups sliced zucchini
9 ounces fresh tortellini pasta
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions
1) In a 5 quart Dutch oven, brown sausage. Remove sausage and drain, reserving 1 tablespoon of the drippings.

2) Saute onions and garlic in drippings. Stir in beef broth, water, wine, tomatoes, carrots, basil, oregano, tomato sauce, and sausage. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Skim fat from the soup.

3) Stir in zucchini and parsley. Simmer covered for 30 minutes. Add tortellini during the last 10 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese on top of each serving.

What wonderful meatballs! They melt in your mouth with just the right amount of spice and whiskey! I did make them a bit larger and still got twenty from a pound of meat. I also used ground beef and ground pork from Tony’s. Yumm-o!

Dad and I had this a few weeks back and it was very good. I also made the Mexican rice on the next page to go with it. I don’t remember any changes to either recipe.

After being sick for almost an entire week, I was craving something home style and delicious. I decided to make Chicken Spaghetti but didn’t have any cream soups (I don’t particularly care for them, so I don’t keep them on hand). After looking up some recipes, I decided to create my own.  What developed was a semi-spicy Southwest style Chicken Spaghetti. The panko spread on top of the dish gave it a nice color and crunch.  It was tasty and easy. I’m excited because I froze half of it for a quick meal later. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

Season-All or Lawry’s seasoned salt

1-2 Tbsp olive oil

8 oz dry spaghetti or angel hair pasta

1/2 bell pepper (whatever color you prefer), chopped

1 stalk celery, diced

1 medium onion, diced

1/4 cup butter, plus 1 tbsp (5 tbsp total)

1/4 cup flour

2 cups chicken stock

1 cup milk

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp oregano

1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 can Rotel Tomatoes, drained

2 1/2 cups grated cheddar

1 cup panko bread crumbs

kosher salt and pepper

Directions:

Season chicken with seasoned salt or kosher salt and pepper.  Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken until done.  Meanwhile, cook spaghetti to al dente in a large pot of salted water. Drain spaghetti and return to pot; add chicken to the pot. In the same skillet used for the chicken, add 1 tbsp olive oil if needed.  Cook vegetables until crisp-tender in juices from chicken.  Add chili powder, cayenne and oregano and salt and pepper to taste.  In a small sauce pot, heat butter over medium-low.   Add flour and cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes. Slowly add chicken broth and milk, stirring or whisking to combine.  Cook over medium heat until thick, about 4-5 minutes.  When sauce had thickened, stir in 1 1/2 cups of cheese. Melt 1 tbsp butter in a small dish, mix in Panko bread crumbs.

Add vegetables and drained Rotel tomatoes to the stock pot already containing spaghetti and chicken.  Pour in the sauce, stirring to combine.  Spread mixture into a greased 9×13 glass baking dish, or two smaller dishes, if you wish to freeze half for later.  Spread remaining cheddar cheese and Panko bread crumbs over the top.  Bake at 400 for 20 minutes until cheese is melted and bread crumbs are browned. Enjoy!

Do I get bonus points for being the first to post about a recipe? 🙂 Um, this was awesome.  Seriously, you should make it (she says that in her book and blog, so I figured I would too!).  We really liked this, but I did make a few tweaks…

First, the recipe calls for 5-7lbs pork butt.  It would take Will and me about a year to eat 7 lbs of pork. Okay, not really, but it would take a long time.  So, I did a 3lb pork butt and halved the rest of the recipe.

Secondly, I did a little less than 1/2 of a can of chipotles in adobo. I was not feeling super well and did not want it to be too hot on account of my stomach.  She says in the book that it’s sinus clearing spicy, and while I enjoy that on occasion, I wasn’t in the mood for too hot.  It was the perfect amount of spicy!  Enough to burn your tongue a bit but not be BYA (ask Matt) status! 😉

Third, I cooked it in a crock pot.  The shame of my kitchen outfitting is that I do not own a big pot that can go in the oven.  I need and want one, it just hasn’t happened yet. And I LOVE my crock pot.  In fact, the crock pot was so easy, I would do it that way even if I had a pot!  I did not get the dark color she talked about, but the flavor was incredible and meat juicy…

When I was at the grocery store, I looked up the recipe to see the amount of meat (or what half would be) on the PW website and I saw this coleslaw that she made with it…I made that also, well, half of it, and served the meat on buns.  SO GOOD.  Here’s the slaw recipe for your convenience.  (Please make this too!).

Ingredients:

• 1/2 head Cabbage, Sliced Thin
• 1/2 head Purple Cabbage, Sliced Thin
• 1 whole Jalapeno, Halved Lengthwise And Thinly Sliced
• 1/2 cup Whole Milk
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon White Vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• 2 cups Cilantro Leaves, Barely Chopped

Directions:

Combine shredded cabbage and sliced jalapenos in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix milk, mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, salt, and cayenne. Pour over cabbage. Toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate two hours.

Before serving, toss in cilantro leaves.

Ingredients:
6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 c. flour
1/2 t. salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
3 T. butter
1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, with liquid
1/2 c. water
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. distilled white vinegar
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. salt
2 t. chili powder
1 t. ground mustard
1/2 t. celery seed
1 clove garlic, minces
1/8 t. hot pepper sauce

Directions:
1. In a shallow dish or bowl, combine flour, 1/2 t. salt and black pepper. Coat chicken breasts with flour mixture. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat, and brown chicken on all sides. Remove from skillet, and drain on paper towels.
2. In the same skillet, combine the tomatoes, water, brown sugar, vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. Season with salt, chili powder, mustard, celery seed, garlic and hot pepper sauce. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and return chicken to skillet. Cover, and simmer for 35-40 minutes, or until chicken is tender, no longer pink and juices run clear.

3 1/2 slices white bread, torn into pieces
1/2 c. pine nuts, lightly toasted
2 T. yellow cornmeal
2 T. fresh parsley
1 1/2 t. chopped garlic
1 1/2 t. finely chopped fresh sage or 1/2 t. dried sage
1/2 t. cayenne
1/4 t. salt
1 T. egg white
3 T. Dijon mustard
1 1/2 t. water
8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves or thighs (about 2 lbs. total)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease large baking pan. In food processor, combine bread, toasted pine nuts, cornmeal, parsley, garlic, sage, cayenne, and salt. Process to fine crumbs. Add egg white and pulse 3-4 times. Transfer to shallow dish. In small bowl, combine mustard and water. Spread evenly over chicken. Roll chicken in bread mixture and press to coat evenly. Arrange in prepared pan. Bake until coating is crisp and browned, about 30 minutes.

I thought I posted this, but I can’t find it on here anywhere.  Matt loves this dish, and it is quite delicious, especially with rice.  I suggested it for dinner tonight and the response was, “OHHH, YEAH!”

Mongolian Beef
From Noshings

Sauce:
1/2 c. water
1/3 c. low sodium soy sauce
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 – 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 lb. flank steak or cube steak, thinly sliced crosswise
1/4 c. cornstarch
2 T canola oil
1/2 tsp. grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 large green onions, sliced
2 c. broccoli, chopped and cooked until crisp tender
Rice, for serving

Whisk together the first four ingredients in a small bowl.  Set aside for sauce.  Blot meat dry with a paper towel.  Evenly coat meat with cornstarch.  In a large skillet, saute the meat in oil over medium-high heat until cooked through.  Remove from skillet and set aside.  (This may need to be done in batches so that meat sits in a single layer in the pan.)

In the same pan, add 1 tablespoon oil if needed, and add the garlic, green onions and ginger.  Saute for 1 minute.  Add the sauce to the pan and cook until the sauce begins to boil and sugar is dissolved.  Add meat and broccoli and cook until sauce thickens, 3-5 minutes.  Serve over rice.

Serves 3.

Nothing fancy about this recipe, just tastiness.  I took leftovers to work for lunch, and it was delicious.

Sausage and Rice Stuffed Peppers
Everyday Food, September 2011

The rice and sausage mixture can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated in an airtight container until needed.

1/2 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed (I used hot)
1 zucchini, diced small
1 medium yellow onion, diced small
1 garlic clove, minced
coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 ounce Parmesan, grated (1/4 cup)
4 cups cooked long-grain rice
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
4 large bell peppers (any color), halved lengthwise, seeds and ribs removed

1. Preheat oven to 400.  In  large skillet, cook sausage, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until browned, 5 minutes.  With a slotted spoon, transfer sausage to medium bowl, leaving fat in skillet.  (If sausage is especially lean, add 1 tsp oil.)  Add zucchini, onion and garlic to skillet, season with salt and pepper, and cook until vegetables are tender, 8 minutes.

2.  Add zucchini mixture to bowl with sausage, along with Parmesan and rice; stir to combine and season with salt and pepper.  Brush a rimmed baking dish with oil and arrange bell peppers, cut side up, on sheet.  Divide rice mixture among peppers and top with breadcrumbs.  Bake until breadcrumbs are browned and peppers are tender, about 30 minutes.  Serve warm.