Swiss Chard with Bacon & Raisins

As I write this, Hurricane Sandy is bearing down on the Atlantic seaboard.  Luckily I'd braved the ridiculous Morton Williams line situation yesterday, as hundreds of New Yorkers scrambled to make what was probably their first grocery run in months.  Amateurs ;)  With a little planning, though, I'm ready to eat well for the next few days.  Assuming the power stays on, otherwise all bets are off...

Who better to wait out the storm with than Rachel Ray?  I dogeared this one in her book since Swiss chard is apparently a pretty healthy fall-seasonal vegetable, and it's got fruit and meat too!

The Recipe

1/8 pound pancetta or bacon (two slices, which I obviously doubled), chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1+ pound Swiss chard, stems removed and chopped (um, now re-reading it calls for red Swiss chard? oops!)
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 container (14 oz) chicken broth
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

It all proceeds pretty logically: Heat the pancetta/bacon in a pan with olive oil, add onions and cook until bacon is crispy and onions are soft (funny how that works).  Then add the chard in bunches until it wilts.  Stir in the raisins and add the broth (and nutmeg if you've got it).  Boil the liquid and simmer until greens are soft and no longer bitter, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Notes

So I already posted some notes above.  Just by doing a Google image search, I don't think red chard makes a big difference, which is reassuring.  In fact, it looks like the main difference is in the stem color, which mostly doesn't make it into the dish anyway.  I also neglected to pick up broth of any kind in my last-minute preparations, so I subbed in salt water with a splash of whiskey as per wise, wise Internet folks.  The final product was salty but still very tasty!

Billie Bubba Shrimp

This peppery dish is a riff on an official Bubba Gump shrimp recipe and it is best to make said dish while listening to Billie Holiday--hence the name.

(serves 2-3)

INGREDIENTS:

For the broth:

• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon Cajun spice
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 8 ounces clam juice
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar

For the shrimp:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 baguette (optional)
• 1 cup cooked white rice (optional)
• Lemon wedges (optional)

RECIPE:

For the broth:
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter, and in the melted butter cook black pepper, Cajun seasoning, and garlic, about 5 minutes. Add bouillon cube, clam juice, Worcestershire sauce, and sugar. Bring to a boil then turn down the heat to low until ready to serve.

For the shrimp:
In a large saute pan melt butter. Add Worcestershire, black pepper, Cajun seasoning, garlic and shrimp. Cook shrimp quickly, approximately 2 minutes. Combine shrimp and broth. Serve with bread or rice and lemon, whatever you'd like.

NOTES: "Creole" seasoning has the same spices as "cajun," so feel free to use that...and you could probably throw in some collard greens in at the end for a more nutritionally-complete meal...

Tuna Marinara with Ravioli

Speaking of "domestic goddesses," how about Rachel Ray?  On a whim, I dug back into one of her 30-minute meals cookbooks for this recipe.  More to come...  Anyway, I subtitle this one "dinner from cans."

1 package (12-16 oz) ravioli
1 can (6 oz) tuna
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 onion, finely chopped
3-4 tbsp olives, chopped
1 can (15 oz) crushed tomatoes
parsley &/or basil garnish

Cook the ravioli to al dente.  Meanwhile, heat a skillet (medium), add olive oil, then garlic, then tuna (drained).  Break up the tuna, then add the onion and cook for 3-5 minutes.  Then add olives and tomatoes and simmer for a few minutes.  By now, the ravioli should be done; in it goes.  Mix, garnish and serve.

When I think of it, I try not to over-season dishes.  This one, I dunno, maybe was missing a little something?  So next time I'd add a little more salt and pepper at key moments.  Otherwise, there's a decent bit of chopping to get started, but Rachel probably has the timing about right.

Broiled Salmon with Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

Coming to you from the domestic goddess who is Gwyneth Paltrow, I present the greatest way to cook salmon EVER...(pic coming soon!!)

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons mirin
3 tbsp honey
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon peeled and finely grated ginger
2 sprigs fresh cilantro
4 6 oz. salmon fillets, skin discarded
1 tbsp finely minced fresh chives

Combine the soy sauce, mirin, honey, water, ginger and cilantro in a small saucepan over high heat. Once it boils, turn heat to low and let simmer for 2 minutes.  Remove saucepan from heat and let sauce cool down.  Once it's cool, pour into large bowl or plastic bag and add salmon.  Marinate in the fridge for at least an hour, up to overnight.

When you're ready to eat, preheat the broiler.  Put the salmon on a heavy baking sheet with whatever sauce adheres to it and broil until cooked to your liking, around 10 minutes.  While it's cooking, put extra sauce into clean saucepan, bring to a boil and let it reduce.  To serve, drizzle the salmon with the extra sauce and sprinkle some chives on top.

NOTES:  I am lazy--therefore I buy jars of pre-grated ginger.  I'm a fan of really seeing and tasting the ginger in each bite, so I probably double the amount.  I always forget the cilantro and I don't think the dish suffers for it.  The chives are, in my opinion, more necessary.  I cannot express how good this sauce is--as it cooks is gets all caramelized and gooey (makes pan cleanup a B*TCH if you cook it too long FYI) I want to try it on chicken and eggplant soon...

Chicken Piccata

Here at Cannibal Stew, we apparently like our chicken (tastes like chicken?).  Well, here's another one, courtesy of a friend of a sister, I think...  Chicken piccata, though of uncertain translation, is basically a breaded chicken cutlet with a lemon-butter-white wine-caper sauce.  A little more elaborate as a chicken entree, but reasonable and rewarding!

The Recipe

6-10 medium-sized chicken breasts or thighs (skinless/boneless)
bread crumbs
1-2 cloves garlic
2-3 lemons
3/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup capers
olive oil, butter, salt & pepper

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper, and coat with bread crumbs.  Heat a few tbsps of oil over medium high and add garlic.  Next you cook the chicken in single layers and cook for about 3 minutes per side.  Once it's all done, it goes into baking dishes.  Sprinkle the zest of a lemon over the top and set aside while you whip up the sauce.  Without cleaning your pan, add lemon juice and white wine, then a tbsp butter and the capers.  Scrape/stir and heat for a few minutes, then pour over the chicken and cook at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Notes

Well, I'm not a classy enough guy to just have some white wine lying around, so I subbed in a splash of the Chardonnay of beers: Stella Artois.  I was a little worried, but as soon as I tasted the sauce I realized there were no ill effects.  Whatever you use, you'll want a generous amount of that sauce.  I also thought my chicken (thighs) might be a little smaller than the recipe calls for, so I left them in the oven for more like 15 mintues, which was probably the very bottom end of doneness...  I was too lazy to make pasta, so here's the finished product on a bed of greens:

Sweet Potato Hash

Got to give credit for the idea here and here, but basically just sort of winged it this weekend.  Grating three sweet potatoes was a bit of work, but one or two would be much more manageable and still plenty of grub.  Here's my usual for a hearty breakfast for myself - scale up as needed:

1 medium sweet potato, grated
1 small-to-medium onion, chopped
1/4 pound bacon (four slices), chopped
Optional ingredients - garlic, peppers, mushrooms, anything else

First, fry up your bacon until it's just starting to crisp up.  In go the onions until they're soft and brown; add your other ingredients around here as well.  Then, drop in the sweet potatoes and mix it all up.  Cook about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sweet potato is cooked through.  From that point, doneness is up to you - soft, a little crusty, charred, somewhere in the middle.

Here's a nice tasteful serving of the first try, which used fancy wild boar bacon: