First of all, you don't have to use black rice. I just happened to see a giant bag of it at Costco and decided to try it. It looks really pretty (if you compare them in your brain to shiny black pebbles instead of bugs) and it tastes sweeter and nuttier than regular white rice. Don't follow the water amounts on the bag though, I noticed that it needed the standard 2 cups water to 1 cup rice just like any other kind, but you do need to cook it for 30 minutes like it says, I didn't add anything fancy to the rice, just salt and butter at the end.
Now to the chicken. I use chicken thighs- they cook quickly and they stay moist no matter what. If you absolutely insist on using chicken breast (because you're a weirdo like my husband) then at least use the breast with the bone and skin still on. I'm yawning just thinking about chicken breast. For this recipe, you want 8-10 chicken thighs (two per person).
Season the thighs first with:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 heaping tablespoon (or more) of dried herb, I used thyme, but you can do sage or marjoram, or whatever strikes your fancy.
The peach sauce:
2 cups of fresh peaches, peeled, pitted and chopped
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup Muscat wine (Moscato) cheap stuff is fine
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or white pepper
1 tablespoon of cornstarch diluted in a little bit of water
Bring the ingredients to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes.
To cook everything in order:
-Preheat the oven to 375 for the chicken.
-Get your peach sauce going on the stove.
-Start the water boiling for the rice.
-Put the seasoned chicken in a roasting pan in the oven.
-Pour your rice into the boiling water, cover, turn down to simmer and set your timer for 30 minutes.
-At the end of that time, pour peach sauce over the top of the chicken and put the chicken back in the oven another 15 minutes.
-After pouring the sauce on the chicken, turn the heat off of the rice and let it sit there covered until the chicken is done.
Serve the chicken with the buttered and salted rice and lots of the pan juices poured over the top.
Obviously you could serve white wine with this, but a cold beer and biscuits would be good too.
My lovely neighbor very generously gave me a HUGE bag of fresh figs from her giant fig tree, and they were sweet and delicious. I ate ten or fifteen, but the thing is with fresh figs is that they get squishy very quickly, and sometimes if you have a lot of them getting ripe at the same time, you just can't eat them quickly enough.
Obviously you can make jam, but they are really good in breads and meat dishes too.
Ingredients:
5 spicy Italian or Spanish sausages, cut in half
10 large fresh figs, whole
1 large sweet onion, chopped roughly into fairly large pieces
1/2 cup chopped fennel bulb
1 bunch small baby carrots, or 4 large carrots chopped into 2 inch pieces (if you don't like cooked carrots substitute sweet potato or Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed into small pieces)
2 tablespoons fresh chopped rosemary
1 teaspoon dried orange peel (or zest about half a fresh orange)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt(or more)
1/2 cup fruity red wine OR if the figs are not very sweet use a ruby port
2 tablespoons olive oil
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle a large roasting pan with one tablespoon of oil, then arrange all of the fruit, veggies and sausages in the pan, then pour the wine over everything, then the other tablespoon of olive oil, and then sprinkle over the spices.
Roast in the oven for about 30-35 minutes. You can dish out the sausage and carrots first, then mash up the figs and onions into the juices before serving over the top. This serves about four people, and would pair nicely with an arugula salad and a nice Tempranillo wine like Black Hat from Scribner Bend.
Ingredients:
4-5 medium sized yellow summer squash
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup olive oil (or more)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper pepper
2 cups of your favorite meat sauce recipe (or just add cooked ground beef, a whisper of cinnamon and extra oregano to a jar of tomato sauce if you're feeling lazy)
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup shredded or crumbled sharp cheese (any kind)
Topping:
1 pinch of nutmeg
1 cup of whole milk
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pinch white pepper
1 egg
1 dash Tabasco
Slice the yellow squash lengthwise into three or four flattish pieces each, depending on how fat they are. I would say you want them about a 1/4 inch thick.
Coat the slices with the flour and fry them in about 1/4 cup of medium-high hot olive oil, in a non-stick pan. When they are brown on both sides (about a minute per side if the oil is hot enough) remove them from the pan to a paper towel to drain. I had to cook them in two batches, using my biggest frying pan.
When they come out of the pan, salt and pepper them well. You might need to add more oil for the second round, but if you don't want to waste this much expensive olive oil on frying, mix it half and half with some other oil like corn oil.
Yeah, mine is GMO corn oil, but corn oil is delicious. When they come out with organic corn oil at the grocery store (I'm looking at you, Whole Foods), I'll be the first to buy it.
Layer the bottom of a 9x9 inch casserole dish, the square kind works well, with some of the squash slices, trying to cover evenly. Spread about a third of the meat sauce on top and sprinkle with a third of the cheese and basil. Do this two more times, but leave yourself like a 1/2 inch of room at the top (squish things down if you have to) because you're going to a put some white sauce on top.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, fry up the tablespoon of butter and flour, stirring it with a whisk. (I use rounded tablespoons here actually). Add a pinch of salt and white pepper as well as a very tiny pinch of nutmeg (optional) and a dash of Tabasco. Pour the milk in slowly, whisking the whole time. Whisk frequently as it cooks, you know, like making gravy, and then when it looks thickened (it doesn't take long) take it off the heat and very quickly whisk in a beaten egg. Pour over the top of your squash dish and bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until the top gets some brown spots on it.
The picture up there is actually taken of a leftover piece, I love eating this cold.
Serves 4
Cold. Rain, Wind.
One hundred year old house with minimal insulation.
Arizona transplant must get warm.
Solution: chili con carne with homemade tortillas.
For flour tortillas:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (make sure your baking powder isn't ancient)
2 tablespoons lard (yes, lard)
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup water
Rub the lard and butter into the dry ingredients with your hands until it looks all crumbly. Add the water and mix up until you have a ball of dough. Let this hang out for ten minutes while you heat up a very lightly oiled-rubbed smallish pan over medium heat (cast iron is good if you have it).
Tear off pieces of the dough, however big you want, and roll them out as thin as you can. Cook them by laying them one at a time in the hot pan for about thirty seconds to one minute on each side. You only want a few tiny flecks of golden brown on them, you don't want them to get crispy (or do you?).
For the chili:
2 pounds of either ground beef or finely chopped beef
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 slice of bacon, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 sweet red bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup of your favorite hot chili powder, I like Grandma's hot chili, but sadly it's been discontinued
4 dried Gaujillo chiles (in the Mexican spice section at the grocery store) ground fine (I use an old coffee grinder)
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon good cocoa powder
1 tablespoon honey, or agave syrup, or brown sugar
Enough water, stock or beer to cover the meat
In a medium sized pot, heat the olive oil and bacon to medium high, then add the meat along with all of the spices and chopped veggies and brown it all well. Cover with liquid and bring up to a bubble. Simmer covered for at least an hour. If you have time, I really recommend adding a few cups more liquid and cooking for two or three hours, or throwing it in your crock pot on low all day.
Serve with a lot of grated sharp cheddar cheese or queso fresco, this helps "cool" the chili, it's pretty spicy. I recommend wrapping your tortillas in foil and warming them up before serving- or you can get all fancy-schmancy and toast them in a pan with butter.
I would serve a crisp cold lager with this, or a very cold bottle of Coca-Cola.
p.s. Tomatoes aren't terrible in chili or anything. The chili police aren't going to arrest you. If you wanted to take the leftovers and mix them with a can of diced tomatoes or tomato sauce and more beer and a pinch of cinnamon and serve it over rice, well then go right ahead and Godspeed.
