Jack is Cooking a Peanut Butter Rice Casserole Thing

Posted on January 13, 2010 by jackiscooking under carrot, coconut milk, garlic, ginger, green onions, milk, peanut butter, red pepper, rice, sweet potato

Well Hello Internet!

tonight for dinner, i have made a delicious Rice Casserole thing. im not really sure what you would call it. but its got rice, and vegetables, and peanut butter in it, and its really really good! the other really awesome thing about this is that it all happens in one pot, or pan, so the cleanup is very minimal.

Heres what i used:
2 tablespoons oil
2 green onions
1 cup of rice
1/2 cup of stock
1 slice of ham (totally optional)
1/2 to 1 whole red pepper
2/3 cup of milk (you can also use coconut milk, which makes this even more delicious)
2-4 cloves garlic
2 inches of ginger
1/2 teaspoon sriracha sauce
salt
3 tablespoons of peanut butter
1 small can of chopped tomato
1 large sweet potato, or a few small ones
1 carrot
baby bok choy

heres everything all chopped up and ready to go:

so the first step, is to mix the peanut butter, the milk, the garlic, and the sriracha sauce together in a bowl.

then in the casserole pan (or dutch oven)

put the oil. then the onions. then the rice:

then add the stock:

lay the slice of ham on top of this. ( i recommend slicing some holes in the ham so that the milk mixture while incorporate with the rice mixture below) on top of the ham put the peppers and the ginger:

Pour the milk and PB mixture over this. then put the carrot, the tomato, and then sweet potato over that:

Finally, put the Bok Choy over everything, and drizzle some spicy sesame oil on it:

Cover with tinfoil and bake in the oven at 450° for 45 minutes

take out and enjoy!

keep the leftovers in the fridge. its even better the next day!

mmm mmm delicious.

Jack is Cooking Pork Chops

Posted on December 8, 2009 by jackiscooking under bread, butter, cheese, eggs, flour, garlic, green beans, milk, paprika, pork chops

Well Hello Internet!

So last night i somehow had the motivation to get up and make some dinner. nothing fancy, but boy was it good! i made breaded pork chops

heres what i used

2 pork chops ( from Herondale Farm of course!)

bread crumbs

paprika

parsley

one egg

also

some french cut beans

cheddar cheese

milk

a little bit of flour

garlic

So First i took the bread crumbs and mixed them with a little paprika and some parsley.

then i took the pork chops and dipped them in the egg, and then in the bread crumbs, and then because i like them extra breaded, i put them back in the egg, and then back in the bread crumbs. that’s easy right?

heres what they looked like

Then i took the chops, and i heated some olive oil in a pan. i cooked them for like 1-2 minutes on each side. then i put them in the oven at 350 for another 20 minutes.

In the meantime, i put a little butter in that pan (some of the oil had been soaked up by the chops)

i sauteed some garlic. then i added the french cut beans. i let those cook for a couple minutes over low/medium heat. once they were cooked i put a little bit of flour in the pan to start a roux. i added maybe half a cup of milk, and some grated cheddar cheese.

This made a nice side dish to the pork chops and added a little bit of green.

heres both together! sorry for a lack of pictures this time.

mmm mmm delicious

Jack is Cooking Thanksgiving Leftover Empanadillas

Posted on November 28, 2009 by jackiscooking under chipotle, empanada, empanadillas, garlic, green onions, green pepper, ham, paprika, red pepper, saffron, Thanksgiving, turkey

Well Hello Internet!

As always, there is leftovers from thanksgiving, and normally i take all these different things and i make a big turkey pot pie out of them. However this year we had LOTS of leftovers, and after picking for 2 days, and countless sandwiches, i decided that the pie i was going to make needed to not taste like thanksgiving anymore, because everybody was pretty bored of it by now!

So i decided to make Empanadillas (which are a kind of Tapas) out of the leftovers, and the greatest part is, that pretty much all the ingredients are from the leftovers, with only 2 added ingredients!

Heres what i used:

Leftover Roasted Peppers, and Asparagus

Leftover Turkey, and Ham (we had a ham also for thanksgiving this year)

This isn’t a leftover: one small chopped onion

You will also need:

some garlic

2 tomatoes (or canned diced tomatoes- i used some leftover homemade tomato sauce)

paprika

saffron

chipotle powder

lemon

salt and pepper

puff pastry

1 egg plus some water

olive oil

So i sauteed the onion in the olive oil until the onion was soft

Then i added the paprika (about 1-2 teaspoons), and a couple of strands of saffron.

Then i added the tomatoes. i covered the pan and cooked over low heat for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, i mixed in the turkey, ham, and roasted peppers into the mix. this i left uncovered and cooked for another 10 minutes or so, to let all the tomato-ey goodness soak into the turkey.

i decided it needed a little kick so i put in a tiny bit of chipotle powder, and squeezed some lemon juice in.

Then i cut circles out of the puff pastry dough (i used the frozen stuff. puff pastry takes forever to make!) i put 1 or 2 tablespoons of filling on the circles.

Folded them over and crimped them with a fork. Then i brushed them with my egg wash. The egg wash is just one egg, with a little water mixed in. This makes the pastry nice and golden when it cooks.

baked them for 20 minutes at 350°

heres how they turned out!

These things are ridiculously delicious, easy to make, and much more interesting than the classic leftover pot pie!

mmmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Pasta with Garlic and French Cut Beans

Posted on November 25, 2009 by jackiscooking under cheese, garlic, green beans, pasta, pepper, salt

Well Hello Internet!

On this day before the Feast that thanksgiving is, i have a quick pasta dish to share with you!

i’m sure this has a fancy name, but i don’t know what it is. its delicious though, and really easy to make!

Here’s what you’ll need:

Pasta (any kind will do)

Garlic (2 or 3 cloves)

French Cut Beans (or peas, or any green vegetable. broccoli is good with this too!)

olive oil

salt and pepper

so i cooked the pasta, and i sauteed the beans with garlic olive oil and salt and pepper

when the pasta was done i tossed it in with the beans and garlic

then i put some cheese on top!

mmm mmm delicious!!

Jack is Cooking with a Tajine

Posted on November 19, 2009 by jackiscooking under almonds, Buttercup Squash, chicken, garlic, olive oil, raisins, shallots

Well Hello Internet!

This post has been sitting in my computer waiting for some attention for quite a while now, but finally here it is! Two weekends ago i made a semi-traditional Moroccan dish using my Mom’s Tajine.

Tajines are pretty awesome. Heres what wikipedia has to say about them:

A tagine or tajine (pronounced /tɑːˈʒiːn/; Arabic: طاجين, pronounced [tˁaːdʒiːn]) is a type of dish found in the North African cuisines of Algeria, Morocco, andTunisia, which is named after the special pot in which it is cooked. A similar dish, known as Tavvas, is found in the cuisine of Cyprus. The traditional tagine pot is formed entirely of a heavy clay which is sometimes painted or glazed. It consists of two parts; a base unit which is flat and circular with low sides, and a large cone or dome-shaped cover that rests inside the base during cooking. The cover is so designed to promote the return of all condensation to the bottom. With the cover removed, the base can be taken to the table for serving.

here’s what it looks like:

Anyways, i made a buttercup squash Tajine (but you can use any kind of winter squash. i LOVE winter squash!) for the most part this dish is really easy to make. If you don’t have a Tajine, you can make the same thing in a casserole dish, but it will come out differently because of the lack of the magic cone shaped top.

To accompany this Tajine, i also made some chicken. i’ll talk about that in a bit.

so heres what you’ll need:
For the Tajine:
squash (of any winter variety)
whole cloves of garlic (a whole bunch)
shallots (depending on the size maybe 5 or 6) also whole.
olive oil
harrisa paste
honey
almonds
raisins
saffron (optional)

For the Chicken:
Chicken split breast (i recommend Herondale Farm chicken!)
yogurt (2 cups)
onions
whatever spices you want

So First i chopped up the squash (well i didn’t, but somebody did! haha)
and we peeled the shallots and the garlic

* update! * it has been pointed out to me that credit is due! Roland, chopped up the garlic and the shallots!
and Julie cut up the Squash! haha. always give credit where credit is due! i knew i didn’t chop that stuff up…

Then i took the Chicken, and marinated it in the yogurt along with some onions i had sauteed along with some indian spices that i don’t know the name of. i will try to find out the name and update this post!! so yeah, take the sauteed onions and mix it with the yogurt and let the chicken sit in it for maybe 30 minutes:

Now for the Tajine!
first take a couple good dregs of olive oil and start cooking the shallots and garlic over a medium heat.

once they are getting a little soft add in 1/3 cup of almonds, and 1/3 cup of raisins. Cook for 5 minutes.

Next add in the squash and get it coated in the oil. (ALSO! put the chicken (yogurt and everything!) in a baking dish, and bake it in the oven at 375° for about 30 minutes )

After the Squash has been added its time to spice the dish up. The only thing that is complicated about this dish is finding Harissa Paste. this basically makes up the Tajine flavor. (WARNING) this stuff is MAD spicy!!!, so dont use too much. i used 2 teaspoons, i could have used a little more but not a whole lot. so throw that in, along with 2 tablespoons of honey.

The Harissa Paste and the honey will melt into the oil. toss everything around so everything is nicely coated in the oil. Then add some water to the pot. just enough to cover the entire bottom of the pan, but you don’t want everything swimming in it. This is going to steam everything