Chili Mac

Allergies and intolerances SUCK! But they don't have to stop you from eating ridiculously creamy, cheesy, comforting fare.

Case in point, CHILI MAC! From the amazing Allergy-Free and Easy Cooking by Cybele Pascal.

INGREDIENTS:

-1 tbsp plus 1 1/2 tsp olive oil
-1 cup diced yellow onion
-2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
-1 tbsp chili powder
-1/4 tsp smoked Spanish paprika
-1 tsp ground cumin
-1 lb. ground beef, bison, or dark meat turkey
-1 tbsp brown sugar
-salt
-2 cups water
-1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
-8 ounces gluten-free elbow macaroni
-2/3 cup shredded Daiya vegan pepperjack
-2/3 cup shredded Daiya vegan cheddar
-2/3 cup shredded Daiya vegan mozzerella
-freshly ground pepper


DIRECTIONS:

-Preheat the broiler on high.

-Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy, oven-safe pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes, until slightly softened.

-Add the spices and cook, stirring, for 1 minute more, until aromatic.

-Add the meat and cook, stirring often, for 4 minutes or until no longer pink, breaking it up into a small crumble. Sprinkle with the brown sugar and 1/4 tsp of salt, stir, and cook for 1 minute more.

-Add the water and tomato sauce, increase the heat to medium-high, add the pasta, and stir well. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium again. Simmer, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until the pasta is al dente. Meanwhile, toss together the three cheeses. Add 1 cup of the cheese mixture to the pasta. Stir, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir well. Top with the remaining cup of cheese. Broil 6 inches from the heat source for about 5 minutes, until the cheese has melted and is just starting to brown. Watch carefully so they don't burn. Let rest for a few minutes.

-DEVOUR MERCILESSLY.

Crockpot Flank Steak

Cannibal Stew's first corporate sponsor!

It's always nice when work overlaps and gives you something nice for your personal life.  Browsing Bank of America's social media properties for a project, I took note of a link to some money-saving crockpot recipes, and bookmarked them for a closer look later.  Here's the first one...

Recipe

3 lbs flank steak, each steak cut into thirds (if necessary - I overlooked this part with my one steak)
1 1/2 c broth
1/4 c sherry (or apple cider) vinegar
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp cumin
salt & pepper
extras: tortillas, cilantro, jalapeno, rice, couscous, etc.

Do the crockpot thing: combine it all.  The meat should be submerged or close to it, so get the veggies and stuff out from under if necessary.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.  Shred the meat (let it sit 10 minutes first if you can) and serve.

Notes

It seems a pity to eat flank steak not from the grill, but no regrets about this one.  The recipe says the cut has a "meaty" flavor, which, well, how could it not be meaty?  (They also describe the whole dish
as "fragrant.")  But yeah, the flank steak really was good (if on the expensive side).

I got distracted and forgot to prep anything else to go with, so I enjoyed it as a paleo stew-type dish.  Very good, but I'd try it as tacos or over rice or, as per a reader comment on the original, couscous, which sounds even better...

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Hash

Came across an intriguing website, and decided to start off with a twist on one of my favorites: sweet potato hash with black beans.

Recipe

1 sweet potato, cubed
1 onion, diced
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp brown sugar (or maple syrup)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
2 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper

Heat the butter over medium with the onions and brown sugar until caramelized and deep brown.  Add the garlic, cumin, and chili for another couple minutes, then remove.  Next, heat the olive oil and tenderize/brown the sweet potatoes, five-ish minutes?  Lower the heat, stir the onions back in, and add the black beans.  Cook together until warm, some five minutes.  Season with salt & pepper, and serve!

Notes

The usual sweet potato hash gets a lot of its goodness from bacon grease.  No pork fat this time, but lots of seasonings to make up for it.  It's nice that you use cubed sweet potato (instead of grated) so the pieces brown nicely - it didn't take much longer to cook.  The full can of beans gave me a much less balanced final product than the pictures on the website - more like a black bean dish with some chunks of sweet potato.  And my gooey beans made the picture less appealing than theirs, but still a very rich, delicious breakfast (with some leftovers - so no need to add eggs like they recommend).

Addendum: I don't know why I didn't think of this immediately, but what about combining the hash recipes - starting this one with bacon?  Yes, do it.

Sausage & Mushroom Pasta Skillet

Well, it wasn't the most productive summer for the blog, between travel and other stuffs.  I did get excited about one dutch oven chicken recipe, but it was a bit of a letdown.  So July was a washout...  Getting back in the groove, this Serious Eats recipe looked pretty serious...

Recipe

1/2 lb Italian sausage (hot or mild (but go with hot)), removed from casings
1/2 lb pasta, rotini or similar ridged
1 lb mushrooms, chopped (they recommend mixed but Portabellos were great on their own)
1 c Panko bread crumbs
6 oz Parmesan cheese, grated
2 small shallots, minced (or just an onion)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 parsley leaves, chopped
2 tbsp chives, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 1/2 tbsp flour
2 c broth (they say chicken, I used veggie)
1 c heavy cream
salt & pepper

Combine the bread crumbs, 1/3 of the cheese, half the parsley & chives, 1/4 shallot, 1/4 garlic, and the olive oil, and mix together with some salt & pepper.

Melt the butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium high, and brown the sausage, breaking it up.  Set aside, leaving fat in the skillet.

Next you cook the mushrooms in the skillet until well browned.  Probably a little after that starts, put in your pasta.  OK back to the skillet.  Stir in the garlic and shallot for a minute, then stir in the soy sauce and lemon juice, then the flour.  Next, add the broth and simmer a couple minutes until it starts to thicken.  Stir in the cheese, parsley, chives, and sausage, and season with some salt and pepper.  Your pasta should be done and drained by now.  Add it too.

Top your skillet mixture with the bread crumbs.  Pop it in the oven about 10" under the broiler until golden brown, probably just a few minutes with some rotating.  Remove and eat.

Notes

That's a lot of ingredients...  I about halved everything, and left out some of the green herbs.
If that missed some flavors, I made up for it with a lot of cheese and generous (by my standards) salting and peppering.  It's a delicious, super-rich pasta.  In addition to the cheese, you've also got the butter/olive oil/other fats going - and cooked into those mushrooms.  Really good.  It's a bit extravagant for a pasta dish, but worth it when the occasion arises.  It proved to be championship-caliber carb loading for me :)

Skillet Crispy-Skin Chicken Thighs

"Oh jeez!" you sigh. "If ONLY I knew how to PERFECTLY cook bone-in chicken thighs in such a way that would keep them moist but crisp the skin up to high heaven!"

WELL SIGH NO MORE!

INGREDIENTS:

-however many bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs you want

-canola oil or bacon grease, whatever your oil of choice is

-seasonings you like! Maybe some leeks or onions...

DIRECTIONS:

-IF YOU WANT, marinate your chicken thighs in oil and spices...I did canola oil, salt, pepper, garlic, red pepper, and leeks...

-PREHEAT OVEN to 475 degrees.

-Heat a good amount of oil in the skillet over high heat until oil is hot but not smoking.

-Plop them chicken pieces SKIN DOWN onto the skillet. Leave alone for about 2 minutes.

-LOWER HEAT to MEDIUM and occasionally rearrange chicken until fat renders and the skin is a GOLDEN BROWN, about 12 minutes. 

-TRANSFER SKILLET TO OVEN, about 13 minutes. 

-FLIP CHICKEN and leave in for another 5 minutes.

-Let sit for a bit.

DONE!

NOTES:

-The pieces just look SO FANCY when they're done, but it is really quite a simple process.  

-It takes a little bit of practice to make sure you don't rip off any of the skin or leave it on the skillet...I find the first two minutes at high heat are crucial--DON'T MOVE THEM THEN! A good spatula is a must.

-Obviously, you can throw any veggies you want in to cook with the chicken...sweet potatoes come out INSANELY good...all crispy and soaked in chicken fat.