Good Morning GUSenergizerbunnies! Finished an intensive work week and glided into a fun busy weekend. Woke up early on Saturday and put on the old A.M. yoga tape which is the easiest of the set. Then coffee and started a beef chili -- I know, it is a goofy time of year but Atkins called for another protein that wasn't eggs and bacon every day. It came out great.
Then off to walk to the grocery store and hit the farmers' market on the way back. Yikes! I bought massive sized radishes -- they looked like beets, swiss chard and red, yellow and green tomatoes. The nice ladies at the swiss chard/tomato table gave me recipes for the chard and green tomatoes -- even though I've fried tomatoes since I was a kid.
From the farmers' market I walked to TJ Maxx and found they had gotten in again a $5 knife. Shockingly, it is the sharpest knife I have. My others are Henckles. I originally bought one for my little buddy since I was teaching him how to cook. It looked relative harmless with its star studded blue blade and yellow handle. So happy I tested it first -- almost took off my frigging finger. So I bought another chef's knife and paring knife -- both have plastic sheeths.
Then, a rare thing happened, I started thinking and thinking and said to myself, "gchaucer2 -- there's more knives in that store." So back I go (on foot) to the store and buy 5 more. I figure I needed a set for the lake, a set to travel to places where I cook and they have dreadful knives, and one for my opera buddy. My opera buddy is a brilliant cook, has a very well appointed kitchen, but dull knives. I'm not good at sharpening.
Then home to check the chili, make an eggplant lasagna and wash 7 million pots, pans and utensils. Oh, I forgot -- I got a load of laundry out too. Amazing way to exercise, plan meals and hopefully lose some weight even though I'm in the terrible plateau zone.
Finished the chili and the eggplant lasagna, packaged it up in some in the fridge, some in the freezer. More yoga (almost frigging killed me) and weights. Then lazy time and off to bed.
I'm finishing this intro up on Sunday -- woke up late, which is unusual -- got on the scale and it said I gained 2.5 pounds since yesterday. Now, somethings fooked up here so rather than be discouraged, I'm putting the scale away and will check in once a week. Nobody but a million pound hot dog contest eater can gain 2.5 pounds in one day especially after the day I had. I'm obsessing right? right? Ok, enough about me, let's talk about youz guys. What do you think about me? :-D
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To me, chili is the culinary masterpiece of the food universe. There are as many chili recipes as there are humans who are serious about making chili -- and even some non-Texans. I've made it with ground beef and beans (oh horror, Lone Star snobs), vegetarian with kidney beans or multiple beans and for the first time with stew beef and no beans. What they all have in common is a long slow cook. I don't make mine in a crock pot, although that method is perfectly acceptable and seemingly more sane. I cook either on the stove top or in a low oven after a couple of hours on the stove top.
Seasoning is a matter of choice, but chili is chili so it has to have some degree of heat. I'm sharing mine so I lightened up a titch on the hotness. Shockingly enough, I had one little hot red pepper (the round kind) and one jalepeno from my massive (har!) plantation on the porch. Peppers aren't doing well here. They were ripe and I was ready. That's all I used other than the chili powder. The chili came out with a very nice afterburn.
Another thing I find necessary for chili and stews is a soffritto, also known as a batutto or a mirpoix in France. The soffritto consists of finely chopped onion, celery and carrot at an approximate 2:1:1 ration. It is the Mediterranean holy trinity. The Louisiana holy trinity is onions, bell peppers and celery. I add larger pieces of sliced bell pepper to the chili later. If you have a food processor, that is the best way to get a fine chop on the carrots and celery. I slice the onions by hand, otherwise they get too wet in the food processor.
Because I'm on the Atkins diet, I didn't dredge the beef cubes in flour and sear off first. Since the beef cooks forever, it is moist, but if you want to take the time, dry the beef and dredge in flour (put flour in paper bag dump some cubes in and shake. Knock off any excess four). Put olive oil in heavy bottom pan and sear all sides. Remove and use the pan for your soffritto.
gchaucer2's Beef Chili
Make a soffritto of one onion, 2 carrots and 3 ribs of celery. Add diced garlic (3 to 5 cloves depending on your love of garlic).
Coat the bottom of a heavy pot like a large dutch oven with olive oil and heat. Add the soffritto and saute about 5 minutes. Don't overcook. Add the beef -- brown it up a bit if you didn't do so earlier.
Add 2 cans of either diced or crushed tomatoes.
Add sliced bell pepper, sliced fresh jalapeno or other hot pepper -- shoot for the light side because you can add heat later. Add chili powder (homemade or a good brand from the store) about 5-6 tablespoons to start. You can adjust to taste either less or more. Add a few pinches of salt. As the chili cooks down the salt will intensify so you can wait to adjust for salt near the end. I also add about a heaping tsp. of cumin seed. Sounds weird but I love the flavor.
Stir well and set on medium high heat to get to a boil. Lower heat to low and cover for a few hours. Stir occasionally because you know you want to look at it. Cook at least 6 hours on the stove top or overnight in a 250 degree oven. Uncover about 2 hours before finish to cook the sauce down.
Serve with shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream.
gchaucer2's Eggplant Lasagna
Sauce
Start with a soffrito plus diced garlic. Make sure the garlic doesn't brown.
Add 2 cans of crushed tomatoes (I used diced but had to cook longer and mash down and it still was a titch watery).
Add a tablespoon each of dried oregano and dried basil. Add fresh hot pepper to taste or 1/2 tsp more or less of dried red pepper to taste. I added a special dried chipotle flakes from Temecula Olive Oil Company. They pack a wallop so I only used about a quarter of a tsp. They can also be used in chili.
Because this sauce is for a lasagna, I didn't add any bell peppers.
Cook down for about 2 hours.
Slice eggplant either lengthwise or in rounds. You can salt and place in a colander for an hour then rinse and dry if you don't like the bitterness. I like it.
Either grill the eggplant if you have a stovetop grill or outdoor grill to lightly charred. You can also broil briefly in the oven. Don't overcook.
Shred about 1 pound of whole milk mozzarella -- again cheese to taste. Grate about a cup of parmesan.
Use one of those square pyrex dishes or something similar.
Place some sauce to coat the bottom. Place a layer of ricotta, some mozzarella and grated parm and top with some sauce. Repeat and then top with layer of eggplant and sauce. Top with mozz.
Cook in 350 degree oven for 40 minutes until bubbling. Put aluminum foil under your dish to avoid dripping. Remove and let set for 10 minutes.
Easy Eye of Round
3 pound eye of round. Room temperature and dry it. Salt and pepper the outside.
Heat oven to 500 degrees. Place roast on cooking rack or one of those wire cookie cooler offer things and place it in a sided cookie sheet.
Cook in oven four minutes per pound and then shut the oven off. Leave in the oven for 2 1/2 hours. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR.
The roast will come out slightly pink on the inside and slice beautifully hot or cold. It is melt in the mouth tender.
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