Deviled Egg Potato Salad (Leftovers)

Not for Dad. Serves 4-6.

4-5 medium potatoes
2 hard boiled eggs, diced + 2 hard boiled egg yolks
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1-2 celery stalks, sliced
1-2 dill pickles, minced
2 tsp pickle juice
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp ground yellow mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
salt & pepper to taste

Wash potatoes well, remove sprouts and blemishes, and either peel or don’t peel them. Cut potatoes into bite size or larger cubes. Place potatoes in a large pot, and fill with water 2 inches higher than the highest potato. Cook covered or uncovered 20-40 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain well.

Rinse potatoes with cool water, drain well, and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together mayonnaise, hard boiled egg yolks, celery, pickles, pickle juice, dijon mustard, dry mustard, salt, paprika, and optional salt & pepper to taste. Be sure to crush the egg yolks to make them smooth. It should taste on the salty side. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.

Add potato and egg pieces to the dressing and mix well. Chill for 20-30 minutes to let the flavors settle.

If you’re wanting a picnic salad, you really shouldn’t use eggs.

I use a full teaspoon of salt, plus 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, so that I don’t have to salt and pepper my salad on my plate. Most people will probably be fine with just 1/2 tsp of salt, though.

Spinach and Strawberry Salad

1/2 pound fresh baby spinach
1/2 cup toasted almond slivers
1/2 cup thinly sliced strawberries
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 green onion, finely chopped

dressing *
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Alternatively, I hear this is really good with pre-made raspberry vinaigrette.

Serves 4.

What a crisp, summer, fresh, wonderful salad!

I mixed up the salad and then drizzled the dressing on top. I put a full 1/2 cup sugar in the dressing, but it was just way too sweet for me. Next time, I’ll chop it in half and add to taste.

I’m glad I didn’t mix the dressing in with the salad… It makes 4 bowls of salad, but the dressing makes enough for 8-12 bowls, depending on how liberal you are with dressing. I’ll definitely adjust that for next time, too.

Bulgur Chicken Salad

Adapted from Clean Eating Magazine (March/April 2010).

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or cubed
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup fine-grain bulgur wheat
1/4 cup almond slivers, toasted
1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped (optional)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp ground cumin or to taste
salt and pepper to taste

In a small saucepan, bring chicken broth to a boil. Place bulgur in a small-medium bowl. Add chicken broth to bulgur and let set for 5-10 minutes, until most or all of the broth has been absorbed.

In a medium bowl, mix together oil, lemon juice, and seasonings. Add shredded chicken, and mix well to coat. Add almonds and mint, toss to coat. Add bulgur and mix well.

Serve cold or room temperature.

Brunswick Stew

The 2010 April Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den. She chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make Brunswick Stew. Wolf chose recipes for her challenge from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, and from the Callaway, Virginia Ruritan Club.

I’ve halved the recipe and all but butchered the rest of it. My changes are mostly in italics. For the original recipe, please visit the Wolf’s Den.

Adapted from “The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-Be Southerners” by Matt Lee and Ted Lee

2 lb chicken (I used 2 pounds of t-bone steaks)
1/2 lb rabbit, quartered (I used 1/2 pound of homemade sausage)
4-6 slices bacon, roughly chopped
6 cups chicken broth or stock (I used beef broth)
1 lb potatoes
1 1/2 cups canned or soaked navy beans, drained
1 large onion
1 large tomato
1 large celery stalk
1 carrot
2 serrano peppers
1 1/2 tsps sea salt, and to taste
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
3 Tbsp lemon juice
tabasco sauce to taste

1-In the largest stockpot you have, preferably a 10-12 qt or even a Dutch Oven if you’re lucky enough to have one, fry the bacon over medium-high heat until it just starts to crisp. Transfer to a large bowl, and set aside. Reserve most of the bacon fat in your pan, and with the pan on the burner, add in the chiles. Toast the chiles until they just start to smell good, or make your nose tingle, about a minute. Remove to bowl with the bacon. (I removed the bacon, but I added my onions at this time and sauteed them until golden brown. Then I added my peppers and proceeded to step 2 without removing anything else from the pot.)

2- Season liberally both sides of the rabbit and chicken pieces with sea salt and pepper. Place the rabbit pieces in the pot and sear off all sides possible. You just want to brown them, not cook them completely. Remove to bowl with bacon and chiles, add more bacon fat if needed, or other oil of your choice, then add in chicken pieces, again, browning all sides nicely. Remember not to crowd your pieces, especially if you have a narrow bottomed pot. Put the chicken in the bowl with the bacon, chiles and rabbit. Set it aside. (I did not remove anything from the pot.)

3- Add 2 cups of your chicken broth or stock to the pan and basically deglaze the pan, making sure to get all the goodness cooked onto the bottom. The stock will become a nice rich dark color and start smelling good. Bring it up to a boil and let it boil away until reduced by at least half. (Here’s where I transferred everything to my pre-warmed crockpot and set it to “High”.) Add your remaining stock, the bay leaves, celery, potatoes, chicken, rabbit, bacon, chiles and any liquid that may have gathered at the bottom of the bowl they were resting in. Bring the pot back up to a low boil/high simmer, over medium/high heat. Reduce heat to low and cover, remember to stir every 15 minutes, give or take, to thoroughly meld the flavors. Simmer, on low, for approximately 1 ½ hours. The stock may become a yellow tinge with pieces of chicken or rabbit floating up, the celery will be very limp, as will the chiles. (Instead of playing the waiting game, I just dumped everything into my crockpot, including all the remaining vegetables, closed the lid and let it sit for 4 hours on high. I added the lemon juice, vinegar, and some super yummy chipotle tabasco just before serving.)

(Optional 4- If you used meat with bones, complete this step) With a pair of tongs, remove the chicken and rabbit pieces to a colander over the bowl you used earlier. Be careful, as by this time, the meats will be very tender and may start falling apart. After you’ve allowed the meat to cool enough to handle, carefully remove all the meat from the bones, shredding it as you go. Return the meat to the pot, throwing away the bones.

4- Add in your carrots, and stir gently, allowing it to come back to a slow simmer. Simmer gently, uncovered, for at least 25 minutes, or until the carrots have started to soften.

5- Add in your onion, beans, and tomatoes. As you add the tomatoes, carefully crush them up. Simmer for another 30 minutes, stirring every so often until the stew has reduced slightly, and onions, and beans are tender. Remove from heat and add in vinegar, lemon juice, stir to blend in well. Season to taste with sea salt, pepper, and Tabasco sauce if desired.

6- You can either serve immediately or refrigerate for 24 hours, which makes the flavors meld more and makes the overall stew even better. Serve hot, either on its own, or with a side of corn bread, over steamed white rice, with any braised greens as a side.

For my broth, I did a slight variation of the optional Sunday Chicken Broth recipe provided in the challenge. Instead of using chicken bones, I used beef bones! Sunday Beef Broth!

This was a very different tasting stew from what I’m used to, even with my own personal touches. There seemed to be a very high acid content, which was startlingly good to me (not normally a fan of sour).

The optional recipe from the April 2010 DC Challenge.

From “The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-Be Southerners” by Matt Lee and Ted Lee

Makes about 1 quart (4 cups or 919.68 grams or 32.303 oz)
Estimated Time- 1 ¼ hours

Bones and trimmings, but not giblets, of one 3 ½- 4 ½ lb (1594.32-2049.84 grams or 56-72 oz) chicken, or 12-14 oz / 341.64-398.58 grams / approx. 2 cups chicken bones and trimmings
1 large onion, trimmed, peeled, quartered
6 large stems fresh flat leaf parsley
1 stalk celery, cut into 2” lengths
2 large bay leaves
5 cups / 1149.6 grams / 40.379 oz cold water
1 cup / 229.92 grams / 8.076oz crisp dry white wine
Salt and pepper to taste

Place bones/trimmings in medium stockpot and add onion, parsley, celery and bay leaves. Add wine and water, liquid should cover all ingredients, if not, add more until it does. Bring to vigorous simmer over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer gently for roughly 45 minutes to an hour, skimming any scum or fat that comes to the surface.

Strain broth into bowl through fine mesh strainer. Discard the solids. Measure what you are left with, if not planning to further reduce, then salt and pepper to taste.

Store in tightly sealed container in refrigerator until the remaining fat congeals on the top. Remove the fat, and unless not using within 2 days, keep tightly sealed in the refrigerator. Otherwise, freeze, and it will keep for upwards of a month.

I used t-bones and fat scraps from my steaks and 1/2 cup sherry instead of a full cup of wine.

Almost Turkish Piyaz

Adapted from Burcu’s Antalya Bean Salad (Antalya Usulü Piyaz) on Almost Turkish Recipes.

2 cups of cooked northern beans
1/2 onion, cut finely in half-moons
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
1 Tbsp crushed pepper
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced or diced

Dressing:
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic, minced

Mix together dressing ingredients, set aside.

In a small bowl, knead onion slices with 1 tsp salt. Rinse and drain.

In a medium large bowl, mix together beans and onions. Stir in dressing, coat well. Fold in parsley and eggs. Sprinkle with crushed red peppers.

Serve chilled or room temperature.

Tabouli

Adapted from Holy Land Brand’s website.

2 cups dry bulgur wheat
2 cups very hot water
1 cucumber, chopped and blotted with paper towel
1-3 small tomatoes, chopped
3 green onions, finely chopped
2 cups fresh chopped parsley
1 clove garlic, minced

Dressing:
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon pepper, or to taste
2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

In a small bowl, mix together dressing ingredients, set aside.

Soak the wheat in the hot water until the water is absorbed, about 30 minutes. Drain any excess water, if necessary, and squeeze dry.

Combine the salad ingredients, including wheat, in a large bowl. Gently stir dressing into the salad.

Serve chilled or at room temperature. Makes about 8 cups, 12 to 16 servings.

This made a whole lot of salad. We ate it for almost 4 days, with lots of help from friends, in pita bread with other assorted yummies. I’ll definitely be halving this recipe in the future (I don’t think quartering it will work very easily).

Beef Stew before stewing

It all depends on the size of your crock-pot. I use the larger amounts now because I have a 5 quart Rival crock-pot!

1-2 pounds of beef, any style cut, chopped into 1″ to 2″ cubes
3-4 potatoes, quartered
2-3 carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
1-2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon Sambal Oelek
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1 teaspoon yellow mustard seed
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
salt to taste

Place into crock-pot in this order:
garlic
Sambal Oelek
celery
onions
beef
remaining seasonings except salt
potatoes
carrots

Fill crock-pot with water until just below the vegetables – or to the tops of the vegetables. Cook on high for 1 hour, then simmer for 4 to 6 hours. Alternatively, just let it simmer 8 to 10 hours. Salt to taste just before serving.

Caution! Sambal Oelek is HOT HOT HOT!

I normally use a normal spoon to dish out my Sambal Oelek, and I use one heaping and a half scoop, which is about the equivalent of 1 tablespoon. That’s about as warm as I like it. Some chili isn’t that hot. Just use caution.

I start my crock-pot at 9:30am, and it simmers until 6pm. I don’t use any thickeners, but if you like your stew thick, definitely add some potato or cornstarch just before serving.

Before!

It’s not just for St. Patrick’s Day! Cabbage is really good for you!

1-2 pounds of corned beef
1/2 head of cabbage
3 large potatoes
1-2 carrots
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
black pepper
2 cups of water

The corned beef seasons everything on its own, really. DO NOT ADD SALT.

Cut the corned beef into halves. Chop all vegetables down to size (somewhere between a large gumball and your fist, it’s your preference, really).

Place into crock-pot in this order:
meat
water
seasonings
onion
potatoes
carrots
cabbage

After! (Although we'd already eaten some.. *cough*.. just couldn't wait..)

Cook on high for 1 hour, then turn to low for 6-8 hours more. I normally start my crock-pot at 10am, and then turn it down at noon for dinner by 5pm. If I want to eat at 6pm, I turn it down at 11am. Check on it around 2pm and make sure the water level is almost the same height or the exact same height as your vegetables; add more water if necessary.

Garnishes add a unique flavor to every bowl.

2-3 chicken breasts
2 cans of chicken broth
2-3 tomatoes
2 poblanos
4-6 cloves of garlic
1 medium onion
1 shallot
juice from one lime or half a lemon
handful of chopped cilantro
1 bay leaf
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp oregano
2 or more tsp NM or CA red chili
1 or more tsp chipotle (for smoky flavor)

garnish with
lime wedges
sliced avocado
cilantro
green onions
cheese
sour cream

8 or more small corn tortillas
1/2 c vegetable oil
alternatively, you can use corn tortilla chips out of the bag

Boil chicken breasts in just enough water to cover them until just cooked. Let cool, but do not drain.

Puree tomato, poblanos, garlic, onion, shallot and juice.

Chop or shred chicken breasts. Combine chicken, leftover water, tomato mix, chicken broth and seasonings in a pot or crock-pot. Bring just to a boil and simmer for one hour.

To prepare your own tortilla strips, slice tortillas in vertical strips 1/4 or 1/2 inch wide. Brown lightly in hot oil, drain on paper towels or in a metal colander.

I used my crock-pot, and I cooked it on high from 2pm to 6pm… but I think I could have had the same results in a pot on the stove for an hour. I didn’t puree my vegetables, either. It was more like stew, so next time, I’m definitely pureeing. New Mexico or California chili powder doesn’t add a lot of heat, but it does add a lot of flavor. You can leave them out or substitute cayenne to make it hotter or normal chili powder to change the flavor. Or leave them all out… I’m sure it’ll still taste good. I squeezed in a lime wedge into my own bowl to get the exact taste I was looking for.

Some people add corn or black beans. I’m not a fan, as I like my soup to be just chicken and tortillas.