Christine's 2006 Countown, Part 1

Man oh man. Food this year was so tasty. Like Erin, I tend to make a lot of new recipes rather than rely on the old familiars, but the ones I do go back to are worth it.

10. Garlic Citrus Roasted Chicken from the Food Network

9. Dark Chocolate Flourless Cake, with or without orange zest.

Google that title and if you find a recipe that calls for something like 1 c. chocolate, 1 c. butter, 2 or 3 eggs, some sugar, and 2 T. flour, you found my recipe. It's like a big brownie but better. People will crave this after you make it once. Good to bring to red wine tastings.

8. Black Bean and Turkey Chili, with Erin's Hot and Slow Mac and Cheese

I serve this at least once every two months. I served it to friends who helped us move. I serve it to friends who crave pepper. I serve it to my parents and brother. And somedays, I really do make it just for me and my husband. What chicken soup is to other people, this is to me. Unless I'm really sick, and then it's "Lentil Soup for the Sick," somewhere in these archives.

7. Black Bean Soup

An embarassingly easy soup recipe. I timed myself once, and I can make this in ten minutes. After hundreds of times to practice.

2 cans black beans

Mash one can, in blender or with hand mixer or with a spoon in a bowl, and drain and rinse the other.

1 onion
lots of minced garlic

Saute in olive oil in a Dutch oven or large, deep skillet.

Add at least 1 T. chili powder, 1 t. cumin, some cayenne, salt and pepper.

Add 1 can diced tomatoes, with or without green chiles.

Add 1 can corn kernels. Does it smell good yet? Season some more if you want.

Add beans, whole and mashed. Stir, simmer, so on. Add fresh cilantro at the end if you have it, or corn chips and cheese, or sour cream. Or Fritos when desperate.

I also make this in the crock pot, stopping after the sauteed onions and garlic and dumping the rest in the crock, cooking on low all day or on high for three hours.

6. Hoppin' John and cornbread

Erin and I got in an argument one afternoon about Hoppin' John and whose recipe was superior. After going through our recipes out loud, we realized the only difference was adding corn or not. Really.

I like mine slow-cooked with dry black-eyed peas all day, with green peppers, and sometimes with corn, sometimes not. While it's great with cornbread, it's also good with rice.

HOPPIN' JOHN of Missouri
2 c. dry black-eyed peas

Soak overnight in water to cover 3 inches. Drain and rinse in morning.

Saute in olive oil: 1 chopped onion, lots of garlic, maybe celery, definitely green bell pepper. Add to crock pot.

Add beans to crock and stir. Add 1 bay leaf, 1 t. Worchestshire sauce, salt and pepper and cayenne. Add 1 can diced tomatoes, with or without green chiles. Add corn if you're from South Carolina.

Have lots of vegetarian or chicken broth on hand, and add until beans are just covered--probably four cups or more. Cook at least 4 hours on high or 6 or 8 on low.

Erin's Top Ten Cooking Countdown of 2006 (1/2)

In the spirit of unnecessary end-of-the-year countdowns, I've decided to post my top ten recipes of 2006, and to continue the obnoxious trend, I'm going to do it in two parts! These aren't necessarily the best meals that I've made this year, but rather the go-to recipes that I have made in excess of three times in the past 12 months. (And yes, making something that many times is quite remarkable for me.)

I urge you to post the same. And impress your friends, neighbors, and postmen with these tasty (I'm resisting the urge to use the cliche of treats here) menu items.


10.) Christy Salad

This is easily the best salad around, and sadly I can take no credit for it. It's all the lovely Christy Scheuer.

The trick is Christy's special dressing which consists of

1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup basalmic vinegar

Infuse garlic in olive oil for approx. 30 minutes. Mix with basalmic before serving.

For said salad, I recommend Romaine lettuce, some sort of fresh fruit (I've used pears, apples, cranberries, and strawberries), some sort of nut (pecan, walnut, almond), and some sort of soft crumbled cheese (feta and blue cheese work best). Toss with dressing, salt, and pepper. Serve. Note that any variation (roasted red peppers or dried cranberries instead of fruit, cubed havarti instead of feta, etc) is equally excellent. Serve as a side or sear some salmon and serve on top with roasted orange peppers and cilantro. Whatever. Your guests will totally marvel that you made your own dressing. And that it rocks as hard as it does.

9.) Simple Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm not a huge sweets fan, but a good chocolate chip cookie never treats me wrong. While I love cookies that are 80% butter, I can't actually bring myself to eat them. This recipe makes fluffy cookies that still have a nice crunch to them. The below recipe is my patented Lazy-Man's food processor version. Great for last minute baking.

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips, or chunks

Preheat oven to 375. Place butter and both sugars in the food processor. Process until blended. Add eggs, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Repeat. Add flour. Process until forms a solid ball. Remove from food processor and add chips. Spoon dough onto greased cookie sheet about two inches apart. Bake for approx 12 minutes or until done. Cool. Eat with cold glass of vanilla soy milk. (Because it's tastier than that cow crap.)

8.) Erin's Slow-Cooker Split Pea Soup

This was my favorite pre-game meal in my hockey days. It somehow manages to be both light and stick to the ribs. I recommend the slow-cooker method, but you can always do it over the stoves as long as you soak your peas overnight. (Or do a quick-soak in the morning.)

In a slow cooker combine:

1 lb dried split peas
2 quarts chicken stock
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
3 bay leaves
2 tbp marjoram
salt & pepper to taste

Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve with sour cream and grated cheddar cheese. (This last part is a necessity for the mashed-potatoes-as-supper feel of the meal.) Heats up excellently and, as per most things, can be frozen for later tastiness.

7.) Erin's Hot and Slow Mac & Cheese


8 oz. maracaroni (cooked and drained)
1 tall can evaporated milk
1½ cups milk
3 cups shredded sharp cheese
1/4 cup blue cheese
¼ cup margarine
2 eggs
5 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tbp cayenne pepper
1 tbp crushed red pepper
1 tbp black pepper
1 tbp salt
1 tbp paprika
1 tbp dried parsley
1 tbp onion powder


Mix all ingredients together. Put into crock pot. Cut several thin slices of sharp cheese and place on top. Cook 3 to 4 hours on low.

Note: You can substitue sharp cheddar for any cheese lying around. Also, don't skimp on the pepper. It's what makes it so magical.

6.) French Coconut Pie

Paula Dean's recipe is a staple. Partially because I always have everything around the house. Partially because it's amazingly buttery and delicious. (I mean Tiffany was a convert to coconut from this dish alone!) Sure it's not the prettiest or fanciest pie around, but who bitches about pie? No one.



Keep posted for recipes numbers five through one, coming soon to a blog near you. In the meanwhile, kiddies, keep that spice rack filled and those recreations of leftovers a'goin'! (Might I recommend this for cranberries and mashed potatoes and this for turkey?) Until next time, this is Erin E. saying goodnight and good duck.

I made up a recipe!

And honestly I shouldn't be so surprised. This kind of thing does happen incidentally, or often, but usually these spontaneous recipes are not so complex. For example, I "made this up":
cook oatmeal with soymilk in microwave;
add golden raisins and cinnamon;
eat.

But last night was a night of culinary genius.

FIG SPREAD WITH PEPPERED WINE
(to be eaten on baguette, toasted, and topped with Gorgonzola)--makes about 1-3/4 cups


1-1/2 c. red wine with low tannins, like Pepperwood Grove Zinfadel

Put wine in a medium saucepan and start heating over medium heat.

Using a tea ball or piece of cheesecloth, make a spice bag:
24 peppercorns
2 green cardamom pods
1" piece of ginger root, cut into two
whole zest of 1 lemon, not grated off but sliced

Add spice bag/s (or ball/s) to saucepan; let wine continue to simmer. (The pepper and lemon are most important. You could probably leave the others out.)

At your leisure, add:
10 oz. dried figs, like Black Mission, stemmed and cut in half

After all the figs are added, bring to a boil, then simmer and cover for 20 minutes, until figs are easily pierced with a fork.

Let cool enough to handle, then puree in a food processor completely. Add fresh lemon juice (remember the zested one?) if need be.

I suggest adding no sugar at all, but if desired, add 3 T. brown sugar to the simmering wine early on. Also, if you have almost enough wine but not quite enough, you can add a little water to top it off.

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I have one 8 oz. jar in my fridge, and one half-eaten bowl at my friend's place, post-party. It should keep a month in the fridge.

Damn I'm good.