Cooking with LMNO

[LMNO]

Variations on a theme: Chicken and Cannellini bean soup with Kale.

Hey, I never said I was innovative, did I?

I think you know how this all starts:

Kale.  Chop it, wash it.


Onion.  Slice it.


Garlic.  Mince it.


Chicken thighs.  Bite size chunks.


Season the chicken chunks with salt, and this stuff.  I know, it feels like cheating to me, too. 


Here are some other things you'll need:













Okay.  Brown the chicken in a bit of olive oil.


Remove, and add the pepper flakes and the bay leaf. Reduce heat.


After 30 seconds or so, add the onion. Brown.


Add garlic.


Deglaze with the wine.  Scrape the bottom of the pot to get the fond up.


Dump the kale in.


Return the chicken, add the beans and the tomato.


Add stock until you like the consistency. Add the nam pla, and the thyme.  Simmer for half an hour to let the flavors mingle.  After 20 minutes, add the vinegar.


Serve with parmesan cheese, and the chopped parsley.

[Triple Zero]

yummy!

btw LMNO, your camera should have a "macro" setting for taking sharp pics of stuff that is really small/close. often, it's the button with a little flower icon next to it.

[LMNO]

It's my iPhone.  It has one setting.







And that setting is "Awesome".

[LMNO]

Ok, time for something simple.

The culprits:


Oh, this too:


The subjects:

(Liberally salt and pepper the meat.)


So.  Turn on the broiler, and heat a skillet on high.  When really hot, add some vegetable oil, and put in the meat.


Sear for about 3 minutes on a side.  It should be brown & crusty.


Remove and let sit. Deglaze pan with red wine (get that fond.  Get it!).


Turn off the heat, and add the butter and horseradish.


When melted, add a few shots of Worcestershire sauce.  Stir.


Meanwhile, trim tough ends off the asparagus, and season with olive oil and salt.


Place under the broiler for 6 minutes, or until you get a light char.


See? Like I said, easy.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

That looks fan-fucking-tastic, and reminds me that I WAS going to go to the store and get beef and broccoli for dinner tonight, but now it's snowing again and the youngest has a fever, so I guess it's bean soup tonight.

[LMNO]

Ain't nothing wrong with Bean Soup. 

I make a pretty good Cuban Black Bean soup, incidentally.

[LMNO]

A little something called "Grillade and Grits".

Meat.  Something like chuck, that can stand up to long cooking times.  Season with salt and garlic powder.


Sear it in bacon fat (of course).  Remove.


Sautee bell pepper, onion and garlic.  Remove.


Make a roux.  Equal parts fat and flour; low heat; constant stirring.  Slowly add beef stock. 


Return meat and veggies, then add this stuff.  Cover, and let simmer for an hour.


(That's some fresh tomatoes, by the way)






After an hour, start up the grits.  Boiling water, add grits.  Stir.


Grate some cheddar cheese. Add when grits starts to thicken, along with some minced Serrano pepper.



Chop up parsley, add to Grillade.


When grits have thickened up, plate that sucker.

[East Coast Hustle]

that's a page straight outta my playbook, pairing braised red meat with cheesy spicy grits. I heartily approve!

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

I do soemthing similar except I use pepperjack cheese in the grits. 

[LMNO]

Well, there was a nice price on Chanterelle mushrooms.  And we had some chicken breast left over from the last time we roasted a bird.  What to do?

Well, clean and slice the mushrooms.


Slice garlic, and mince shallot.


Wash & mince parsley.


Chop up that chicken!


Looks like we found some pasta, as well... I can see where this is going.


Here is a scintillating shot of butter melting in a pan.


Toss in the mushrooms, pinch of salt, sauté briefly, remove.


Add chicken, salt & pepper, brown, remove.


Lower heat, sauté shallot.


Add garlic.


Deglaze with wine.


Add some chicken stock, bring to a simmer.  Reduce slightly. Add chunks of butter and stir until a light sauce is made.


Dump in cooked pasta, mushroom, and chicken.  Toss to combine.


Serve with parsley, parmesan, and ground pepper.

[Jenne]

Yum--simple and lovely.  I did a weird casserole with our leftover chicken (my kids are odd, they beg to go to the dentist and have casseroles!  Guess they tire of being kids who only go to the dentist periodically and eat anything-but-1960's bad WASP food!).  I took one box of Rice a Roni Mexican rice, one box of Zatarain's Jumbalaya rice mix, combined them with a family size can of cream of chicken, put the shredded leftover chicken on top of that, and crushed cheez-its over it.  CLASSIC!  And baked it til bubbly underneath--kids adored it.  We also had artichokes.

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

LMNO you just made one of my kid's favorites, they call it fried spaghetti.  Which is basically spaghetti in a butter-wine sauce with whatever leftover meat and veggies I have in the fridge. 

Looks awesome.  Those were some lovely mushrooms.  Good fungi is hard to find in STL. 

[LMNO]

(not even remotely) Spanish (but at least it has) Rice (in it).

I'm wondering if you guys even need the pics of the ingredients anymore.  Well, here they are anyway:


And this, as well.


Brown some ground meat with chili powder. Remove.   


Lower heat, soften onions with cumin & salt.


Add jalapeño.


Add garlic.


Deglaze with red wine.


Add rice.


Add twice as much stock as rice, tomatoes & nam pla.


Add bay leaf & oregano


Return meat.  Cover and simmer for an hour, or until rice is done.


Add string beans & lime juice, and cover until beans are tender, approx 10 minutes.


Serve with hot sauce, etc.

[Kai]

Yum! Also, easy. I could make this tonight if I wanted, just missing nam pla.

[LMNO]

Worcestershire sauce would work, too.  Or any savory sort of add-on.  Maybe even mushrooms.