2 Carrots, diced
1 Onion, diced
1 Shallot, diced
4 red potatoes, chopped

In stockpot, add onions and cook until translucent. Add shallots and garlic until golden. Add carrot, potatoes, and generous sprinkling of salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes.

Remove stock from refrigerator, skim fat form surface with a spoon and also pour through a strainer. Bring soup to a boil and add in chicken and veggies. Cook another 2 minutes. Serve with noodles and sprinkle with fresh parsley.

Also adapted from: chatN’chow

Here it is! Chicken soup to fix those cold winter days. Or just cool, rainy, foggy days… I added egg noodles to my soup but my mom makes my favorite chicken noodle soup noodles. They’re very simple, but are made from scratch. She starts them in the morning and sets them out to dry for the rest of the day, then cooks them at night like normal noodles before the soup is ready. They’re just so scrumptious.

I don’t know the exact quantities, but I do know that they’re comprised of flour, eggs, water, and a bit of salt. In other words, teensy dumplings! It’s the best!

Chop:
2 Carrots
1 Onion
1 Shallot
2 Stalks celery
3 chunks of ginger

Rinse a couple pounds chicken parts (bones in!) Place chicken in a large pot with veggies.

Add:
1 handful fresh parsley
1/2 lemon
6 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper

Add enough cool water to cover, bring to a boil and simmer low for 3 hours.

After 3 hours, remove solids, remove everything BUT the chicken. Allow broth to cool and refrigerate or freeze. When chicken is cool, pull apart with fingers, remove bones.

Adapted from: chatN’chow

This is an amazing soup stock. I mean look at all those colors too! (I’m including the actual soup recipe/ingredients in the next post.)

1 TB olive oil
3 TB butter
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped (yellow or red are great!)
1 cup arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
4-5 cups chicken stock, heated
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
salt and pepper
4 lamb chops

Rinse lamchops and pat dry. Salt them generously and set aside for about 20 minutes.

Add olive oil and 2 TB butter to a skillet, cook until translucent. Add garlic until fragrant. Add rice to pan and stir, toast for 2-3 minutes. Add white wine carefully. Stir until absorbed.

Add 1/4 cup of stock every 2 minutes for about 20 minutes. Taste when stock is nearly done. You don’t want chewy rice so continue to cook until soft. Turn off heat and add 1 TB of butter. Melt and stir in parmesan cheese. Set aside.

Rinse chops again, pat dry, and do NOT salt again. Only pepper.

Heat skillet over med-high/high before adding butter. Watch carefully. Add 2 TB butter and wait for butter to melt and sizzle. Add chops to pan, sear for 2 minutes per side. Flip once and make sure they brown.

(Lamb will be medium-rare.)

Adapted from: Tokyo Terrace

I lovelove lamb. And I love risotto. This is one of the easiest things to make during the work week. Lately I’ve been defaulting to risottos for something easy to prepare.

I can’t remember how many times I’ve made this recipe. You’ll notice that the above link is a little different. I have made that version before, with the spinach. It was really good. The other thing, is that I’ve been salting my meats beforehand too. I find that I like it better that way. I tend to undersalt so this method helps me salt correctly. Plus it’s supposed to tenderize too. Enjoy!

3 globe tomatoes (small, from a bunch)
1 huge heirloom tomato
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (I forget what kind I used but it was some fancy stuff from Whole Foods)
Salt, pepper & red pepper flakes
knob of butter

(This part I got from the other recipe.) Bring some water to a boil and have a bowl of icewater ready on the side. When the water is boiling place your tomatoes in for 15-30 sec depending on the size. You might want to do them in batches. Remove and immediately place in the icewater. With a paring knife (or really anything good for peeling) gently peel the skins off your tomatoes. Then cut your skinned tomatoes in half and scoop out the seeds with a spoon or your fingers.

Heat the oil so that it’s very warm. Be careful that it doesn’t get too hot so that you don’t splatter yourself when you drop in the tomato chunks. Drop them in and cook for a couple minutes. Add in some red pepper flakes and salt & pepper, to taste.

After your tomatoes are soft, take a potato smasher to them. They can be as chunky or smooth as you’d like. Then cook your sauce for 20-25 minutes. After that you can add your butter or choose to add different ingredients. I added butter to thicken my sauce a bit and add flavor. I also gave my sauce a dash of basil.

Alright so I was going to take a photo of my pizza last night but I got lazy and ate it too fast. Typical.

But! What I really wanted to talk about is tomato sauce! I swear I will never again buy another jar of (pasta) sauce from a grocery store. Tomato paste, though, is super handy.

The last time I made sauce-based pizza I used Barilla (probably oregano or something simple) but my problem was that the sauce got really watery after it was done cooking. I couldn’t figure that one out. So I decided this time to make my own sauce. I did use a recipe for inspiration but I just used it for guidelines.

And! It wasn’t watery on my pizza!

Edit: Don’t add butter if you plan on saving your sauce. After heating my sauce the next day the oil/etc seemed to have separated from the tomatoes. I’m not sure but it could have been the oil and butter combination. Or that homemade sauce doesn’t keep?

2 pounds of pork shoulder/butt (it’ll reduce)
1 tablespoon of paprika
A pinch of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of onion powder
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup of low sodium chicken stock
2 bay leaves

In a small bowl, add the paprika, onion powder, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Using your hands, rub the mixture on all sides of the pork. Set to marinate in the fridge for an hour. (I’ve actually omitted marinating before too.)

Preheat your oven to 220 F. Place the pork in a stockpot. Pour the chicken stock around the pork and add the bay leaves. Cover and cook for 4-5 hours, until the pork is fork tender. Flake the pork using a fork or your fingers.

Adapted from: Chocolate Shavings

I’m making this right now. Please don’t judge my loved-but-clearly-burned pot.

I bought this pork on a whim (and despite the fact that I had an amazing pulled pork sandwich at Farmerbrown last night) because it was cheap. I wanted to make those banh mi sandwiches again (without chicken) and I wanted to find an alternative to shrimp for that awesome spicy lentil recipe also. Ahem… someone is allergic to shellfish… So I decided that a simple pulled pork would probably suit both of those recipes. Sans the bbq sauce.

Because I never make a recipe by the book, right? Let you know how it turns out!

Much later:
I wanted to show you how beautiful this pork is. And I wanted to lift it onto this plate in one piece. Sadly, you can see that wasn’t possible. Which, is actually awesome. We’re talking pulled pork so soft that it pulls itself apart. Yeah. I know. Silly.

It’s delicious. Try this recipe. I can’t wait to use it in tomorrows dinner!

2 C chicken or duck stock
3 pinches saffron (threads)
duck legs/breast (about 2 lbs)
1 medium onions, chopped
(note: I used pinches of the below spices)
ground cumin
ground cinnamon
ground coriander
ground ginger
ground cayenne
ground nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tbsp fresh cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for sauteing
Juice from lemons

Preheat your oven to 375 F. Warm up the stock, and add in the saffron, leaving it to steep. Remove all external fat and skin from the duck. Roast the duck for about 20-30 minutes (or until juices run clear), remove and let cool, and shred with a fork.

Saute the onion in olive oil until golden. Remove the onion from the pan and transfer it to a bowl. Mix in the shredded duck, spices, and cilantro, and set aside.

Whisk the flour and olive oil together in the saucepan and cook over medium heat until it is nice and thick. Add the saffron-steeped stock and whisk.

Raise the oven to 500 F. Roll out pie dough (frozen or fresh) fairly thin and line your pot pie tins/cups. Fill with meat mixture and squeeze some lemon juice on top. Poke a few holes.

When you put the pie in the oven, lower the heat to 425 F. Bake until top crust is golden, about 25 minutes. Rotate, reduce the heat to 375 F, and bake an additional 30-35 minutes until done.

Adapted from: Gothamist

Whoa. This is my new favorite – in a long time. The flavors. The colors. Duck.

So there I was the other night, at Whole Foods, checking out their tasty meats and I remembered they stocked duck parts in a section nearby. I really didn’t need to buy a whole duck as much as I would have loved to. Let’s face it, duck is the best. I picked up a little packet of two duck legs (a little under 1lb, for $6!) and pondered what to do with it. I figured I could just bake it in the oven with a nice rub, some potatoes maybe.

And then there I was, standing in the frozen section, nearby, staring at a small box of chicken pot pie, thinking how delicious that would taste right now. I’m not usually one to eat specific foods during specific seasons, I don’t judge, but lately the weather here has been feeling like late fall. Must be all this fog.

And then it hit me. Duck. Pot pie. I think my brain made my stomach swoon.

You really ought to try this recipe. Sure it sounds like a lot of spices but I’m sure you’ve got them lying around the kitchen. Want to know how I cheated this time? Firstly, I didn’t really measure the spices since I was only making about 2 servings. Secondly, I didn’t bother to make the pie crust in the recipe. Which, I would have liked to, but making a recipe for the first time usually takes me longer than normal.

Buy frozen pie crust. Doesn’t matter if it comes in small tins or large tins. The other grocery store I went to barely carries anything good so all I could find was tiny pie crusts. I ended up combining 3 of them and rolling them out myself. All you really need to do is throw some flour down (don’t forget to flour your rolling pin) and keep rolling until you’re satisfied with the thickness.

I also would have liked some decent-size ramekins but this red one was all I could find. It worked out okay though. The crust inside was nicely browned.

Also, do what the recipe says with the leftover fat/skin of the duck (yes you have to skin it, and no it isn’t difficult). I have some duck fat/stock sitting in my fridge and I so can’t wait to make some duck fat fries!