improvising, december without an oven

I've mentioned often that I am not a baker. It's not that I can't bake. It's just that baking is neither where my interest nor talent lies. But baker or not, I do use my oven a lot. I should rephrase that; I did use my oven a lot. Our oven has been performing badly for months, and only just before Thanksgiving (with 20+ people expecting a beautiful roast turkey to come out of my oven) did I realize why. It was heating a little, very little, with no air circulation, and this is a convection oven. Yikes! I had thrown out two different oven thermometers recently thinking they were not working. Apparently, they were working just fine; it was the oven that had gone south. 

To make matters worse, if that were possible, and as it turns out is possible, my oven is not that easy to service. It's not very old, but it's also not very common, so it's taken weeks to get someone to agree to look at it, and we still are up in the air about actually knowing if it can be fixed. So here we are in December, more family dinners, the dream of my (once a year only) holiday baking and a chance to use some newly acquired almond and coconut flour recipes, and of course, we do need to eat!  This time of year, at least in our house, eating implies roasting. I roast beets, sweet potatoes, squash of all denominations, onions, garlic, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, turnips, carrots, and meats galore. That is I would if I had an oven. Again, Yikes!

In reality, I guess I sort of have an oven. The clock works. The broiler works. And given 3 or 4 hours with the oven set at 450F, the temperature will get almost up to 300. Of course, there are hot spots you wouldn't believe, and I'm not running this stinking oven around the clock. 

Broiling meat is an option. It means using cuts of meats we don't often eat, those that will cook quickly enough to not be burned to a crisp on the outside. I like slow roasting or braising, especially when it's cold, so I usually focus on bigger pieces of meat and dense vegetables.

These chicken legs are a rarity in my kitchen. I bought a package yesterday, partly because they were on sale at our natural foods store, and partly because the kids like them. My plan was to toss them in the freezer. Of course, I had hoped, silly me, that our appliance repair duo would get the thing up and running when they were back out yesterday. That didn't happen, it had been a long day, and I had nothing planned for dinner. We decided on broiled chicken legs and gluten-free Dutch apple pie, another food that rarely makes it into our house. A weird dinner for sure.

chicken legs, seasoned and ready for the broiler

I seasoned the chicken directly on a baking sheet with Frontier Herbs savory seasoning mix, Spice Hunter Chef's Blend, sea salt, and a bit of olive oil. Coconut oil would be better for baking. I was being lazy. The seasoned chicken was in the broiler, set on low,  about 20 minutes. I turned it regularly as it browned.

ready to eat, simple and very good

This was a serious lazy cook's meal after a busy day. We didn't even add a vegetable, though sweet potatoes would be great, as would steamed broccoli. Dessert, which we have maybe 3 times a year, was a store-bought apple pie. This is a first. I virtually never buy anything ready-made. It was almost completely grain free (a bit of rice starch) and sweetened naturally without sugar. GK was less than fond of it, but he eats this kind of stuff more often, way more often, than I. It's been over a year since I ate anything calling itself a pie.



Mine is the sad little piece alone on the plate. His is 3 times the size and loaded with whipped cream. 



I have to share a recent breakfast, note my computer keyboard in the background. More about my versions of Paleo breakfasts soon. These shrimp, by the way, are available frozen from Wellness meats. They're from the US west coast, safe, and responsibly caught.

scampi for breakfast

the whole30, day twenty-seven

Did I just write 27? Yes! Yes! Yes! While I may not be making any radical changes at the end of thirty days, it will, nonetheless have been thirty days. Not that I'm excited or anything.

When I have food ready to go, mornings are so easy. I know I've mentioned this before, but overstating it seems impossible and repetition is almost demanded. This morning I grabbed the container pictured below and an apple and was on my way.

Last night I grilled a rib-eye steak on the stove using a Le Creuset grill pan.  GK was having bean soup, and my planned vegetable soup had not quite materialized. I was at a loss for what to cook, as I'd planned on the veggie soup and hadn't made it. He asked, "Don't you have a hunk of meat you can cook?" He loves to give me a tongue-in-cheek bad time about my meat consumption, partly, I'm sure, because I prefer it rare, and he prefers it on someone else's plate. I did have meat, though, hard as a rock in the freezer. I am almost ashamed to say that I pulled it from the freezer, added a bit of Kosher salt, and laid it still frozen on the heating grill pan. As it started to thaw a bit, I sprinkled a bit of dried garlic and ground some black pepper over the top. It cooked surprisingly well given my less than careful preparation. I kept the heat lower than I normally would to grill a steak and let it thaw as it cooked. The outside caramelized nicely with dark grill marks as the interior stayed rare, though heated through. While it cooked, I threw (almost literally) a halved zucchini sprinkled with sea salt on the grill pan along side it. I had a rather nice dinner with plenty of leftovers for breakfast and lunch today.


rare steak and grilled zucchini packed for lunch

Remembering how unlikely I am to want to start a slow-cooking process when I get home from work, I also tossed half an onion, a dash of cider vinegar, a quart or two of water, and what was left of my roast chicken in the crock pot. The only tricky part is that GK is going to turn it on this morning, and I do not dare insult him by calling to see if he remembered.


soon to be chicken soup

When I get home, hopefully, I'll just need to strain the broth and add it to a few sauteed vegetables. I'm looking forward to it. And when I wake up tomorrow, it will be Day 28.

slow-cooked marinara sauce with a chicken option

For years one of my favorite pastimes was simmering a large pot of marinara sauce, sometimes two, on the stove. I'd end up with jar upon jar of rich, thick sauce for the freezer. Though in recent years, I've cut way back on my use of tomatoes, there's something comforting about the slow simmer of that sauce. The house just smells wonderful all day, which, of course, is one of my favorite things about slow-cooking and braising.

Though I used large, heavy pots for the fun of it, a crock pot works beautifully, too. The crock pot also has the advantage of needing much less attention during the long cooking process. This sauce goes together so quickly that you could even start it before work and come home wondering if you're in an Italian restaurant.

2  large yellow or white onions, sliced or chopped
5  cloves garlic, chopped
1 or 2 carrots, finely diced
1 pound mushrooms, sliced (canned will work here in a pinch)
2 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
2 to 4 tablespoons Italian seasoning blend*, preferably one with red pepper flakes
2  15 ounce cans diced tomatoes
2  28 ounce cans tomato sauce**
sea salt and pepper

• Brown onions and carrots in oil in a large saute pan.
• Stir in mushrooms and brown slightly.
• Add garlic and cook another minute or so.
• Pour onion mix into crock pot and add seasonings, tomatoes, and tomato sauce. 
• Stir in 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper to start.
• Cook on low for at least 8 hours. The long, slow cooking is what creates a rich sauce.
• Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.

*a combination of dried or fresh herbs such as basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and parsley with a pinch of red pepper flakes can be used if you prefer.
**whole tomatoes may be substituted for tomato sauce, resulting in a lighter, though still tasty, sauce.

This sauce can be used as is over spaghetti squash or pasta, or it can be the basis of any number of dishes.

For a quick and easy chicken dish, one of my all-time favorites, add chicken pieces of your choice (I like thighs for this) to the uncooked sauce before beginning the 8 hour cook time. The chicken cooks with the sauce and comes out tender and moist, as it adds more depth to the sauce.

Freeze leftovers for quick dinners on weekdays.

who needs wheat?

Sometimes now when I look at older recipes, both mine and those of others, I am dumbfounded at how often we add gluten when it doesn't even add to the dish, certainly not substantially. The same holds true with dairy and soy, though I'm still holding fast to my right to whine where heavy cream and luscious cheeses are concerned. I'm thinking of this today partly because I'm reviewing dozens of my own chicken dishes and partly, too, because I recently read a comment from a newly diagnosed young mother who is cooking separate meals for her family and looking for better options.

When I look at my old notes---I don't often write recipes per se, at least not for my own use---I notice wheat flour and bread crumbs in most dishes. Few, if any, of these need the wheat. It was just always our go to grain. It was just there. It almost feels quaint now and a little foolish that I never questioned it. It would not have occurred to me that breading didn't have to be wheat or that gravy didn't have to start wit a wheat flour roux. Of course, I was familiar with corn meal or arrowroot or corn starch for these uses, but they never seemed adequate, and I never thought of any as good substitutes. Still, that was then, this is now, and I'm delighted to see that wheat is almost always replaceable with something, often something better.

For many, many dishes, sweet rice flour makes a beautiful sauce or gravy. It can even be used as you would wheat flour to make a roux with oil, pan drippings, or butter if you can use it. If you haven't tried sweet rice flour, you're in for a pleasant surprise. It is milled from short-grained, sticky rice, so it's more glutinous than that from long grained rice, making perfect as a thickener.

One way to use sweet rice flour when preparing crock pot dishes that adds a good deal of flavor is to dredge the meat in the flour and then brown it in small batches. Chicken pieces are especially good this way. Though they can be tossed into the crock pot raw with good results, coating the pieces in rice flour and browning first by sauteeing them on the stove in oil is worth the extra effort. When using whole chickens, sprinkling the rice flour over them before placing in the crock pot also works well. Whole chickens will usually brown nicely on their own in the crock pot.

With almost any recipe, you can mix the spices, herbs, salt, and pepper with the rice flour first and then use this mix to coat your chicken pieces before browning. Any unused seasoned flour should be added to the crock pot to flavor and thicken the dish.

Chicken Chile Verde is quick and easy in the crock pot. This dish can be made more or less firey by adjusting the quantity of hot peppers. Remember to check them when your cutting them if using fresh jalapeno or serrano  peppers. The heat varies so much from one to another that some may taste like bell peppers and others set your mouth on fire. I usually cut off the stem and touch the stem end, the part headed for the compost bucket, to my tongue. Do NOT do this if you are particularly sensitive to to hot and spicy foods. If you're really in a hurry, skip the browning step and layer all ingredients in crock pot. Browning adds to the flavor, but the dish is still very good without it. This recipe can easily be doubled. Note, too, that by leaving out the rice flour, which is in the dish to thicken primarily, this fits into a Paleo plan.

• 1 onion, sliced or diced
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 cans, about 8 ounces, of mild whole or diced chiles
• 1 15 ounce can tomatillos, drain most of the liquid
• 2 to 4 serrano or jalapeno chiles, or a few tablespoons canned
• 4 ounces chicken broth
• 2 ounces sweet rice flour
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 to 3 tablespoons oil
• 8 chicken thighs, cut in eighths (boneless, skinless thighs make it easier)

1. Mix rice flour with dried herbs, salt & pepper. Add chicken pieces and mix well to coat.
2. Brown onions and chicken pieces in a small amount of oil.
3. Place chiles, garlic, and tomatillos in crock pot with any leftover flour mixture. Add browned chicken and onions.
4. Pour broth evenly over top.
5. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.
6. Check seasoning, add more salt and pepper if desired.

This is great served with rice, gluten-free tortillas, noodles, mashed cauliflower, or spaghetti squash.
Add a garnish of avocado slices, finely sliced green onions, and sour cream (if dairy works for you.)

More crock pot recipes to come.

slow-cooked chicken

I love so many things about the return of fall, and though the temperatures where I live do not give us a hint, at least the calendar does. One of my favorite methods of cooking, one that fits right into the mood of autumn, is braising---braising almost anything. Roasting runs a close second, I must admit, and more on that very soon.



sauteed vegetables add flavor to lots of braised dishes

Braising fills the house with wonderful aromas for hours and hours. It's my favorite thing to do on slow weekend days as the temperatures begin to drop. Almost as nice, and better for working weekdays, is the crock pot. I remember when crock pots, like fondue sets, were the stuff of jokes about overdone and never used wedding presents. Thankfully, both have had quite the comeback in recent years. Many recipes can easily go back and forth, from stovetop to crock pot or even into the oven depending on what we want to do at the time.

Carrie, at Ginger Lemon Girl, recently asked in a FaceBook post about people's favorite chicken recipes for the crock pot. Carrie bakes a lot, and I love to read her recipes and posts, as well as enjoy all her pictures of great food, though I, myself, am not much of a baker. But, now she's really speaking my language. Rather than fill her page with a miriad of chicken recipes and ideas, I decided to include them here.

So many chickens, so little time. What's not to like about chicken in the crock pot? It's versitle, it's inexpensive, it's quick, it's easy. Oh yeah, sometimes it's really dry. Chicken breasts will tend to dry out because they cook much more quickly since they have less fat within the muscle. For some it's a hard sell, but I recommend trying chicken thighs instead of breasts when cooking individual pieces in the crock pot. This applies to most braised and roasted recipes, as well. Stop grimmacing; try them at least once. Whole chickens also work well with attention to timing, as do whole legs.

 

Many of my recipes begin with diced onions and sliced mushrooms, too many my daughter would surely contend.




Crock Pot Chicken Methodology
A basic crock pot method is much more valuable than an individual recipe because, once mastered, it becomes dozens upon dozens of different dishes. One need only change an ingredient or two or three, and the dish is completely tranformed. We'll start with that and go on to many, many possibilities. Most will include vegetables with the chicken. If you have time to saute them before adding them to the crock pot, you'll enjoy additional depth of flavor. If not, they're still darned good.

I use a fairly large crock pot usually, though this method is completely adaptable to almost any size, except maybe the gravy boat or the mini crock.

Basic Crock Pot Chicken

1/2 to 1 cup onions, sliced or chopped
3 or 4 garlic cloves, whole, sliced, or chopped
2 carrots, thickly sliced
8 ounces mushrooms, thickly sliced
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon leaves
2 to 3 tablespoons oil (only if you saute vegetables first)
4 to 8 ounces chicken broth, I use Pacific
8 chicken thighs or 1 whole chicken
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
sea salt
black pepper
2 to 3 tablespoons sweet rice flour (completely optional.)

If you plan to saute vegetables, do this first in a few tablespoons of olive oil or chicken fat. Coconut oil would also work well here. This step is optional but fun and rewarding if you have the time.

• Layer ingredients in the crockpot: vegetables first, sprinkle with rice flour if using, add chicken, then tarragon, salt, pepper, and broth. About the rice flour, while I love the way it thickens a dish like this, I don't use grains anymore. I'm still playing with other thickeners but haven't zeroed in on anything.
• TaDa! Cover and cook. At low heat this should take from 6 to 8 hours. At high heat, four hours should be plenty.

Remember that crock pot temperatures and cooking speeds vary tremendously, so if you know how yours heats, let your experience lead you where time and temp are concerned.

As in any dish, if you know you don't like an ingredient, say tarragon leaves, don't use them. Substitute an herb you do like, thyme is one of my favorites, or leave it out entirely. It'll still be great. My next post will include many, many options for chicken, including chile verde and an Italian-style  with spicy tomato sauce.