Sauerkraut Hotdish

Hey folks, it's been a while since anyone updated, so I thought I'd share a quick and easy recipe that's been a staple of my family for years: sauerkraut hotdish. Now, anyone who's not from the North Star State may not be familiar with the term hotdish. No, it doesn't have anything to do with a sizzling platter, it's just our way of saying casserole.

I'm not sure how popular casseroles are outside of the upper midwest, but back at the homestead, they're everywhere! So much so that my home ec class in high school had an entire unit on making them, where I learned the four parts of a casser- erm, hotdish. Of course, that was 12 or so years ago, so I forget exactly what the parts are, but I do know beyond a doubt that there's four of them! Probably something like:

-starch (rice, pasta, potatoes, etc.)
-binder (cheese, cream of X soup, sauce, etc.)
-meat
-vegetable

The typical way to make a hotdish is to blend the four parts together, add an optional topping (bread crumbs, cheese, etc.) and bake for about an hour. As you can see, the possibilities are pretty much limitless as far as experimentation goes.

Anyway, sauerkraut hotdish is wonderfully simple, consisting of:

-1 package wide egg (or eggless) noodles (10-16 oz, I think)
-1 lb sausage of your choice
-1 8 oz can sauerkraut
-black pepper to taste

Boil the pasta, cook the sausage (if necessary), then combine it all together! If the pasta has gotten cold you can reheat it on the stove or in the oven.

Now, I realize that this may not academically qualify as a hotdish (no binder, no baking, and sauerkraut kind of stretches the limit of the term vegetable), but I don't care. That's just what it's called, and anyone who disagrees with me can go make me a ham sandwich! If you're really hankering for a saucy hotdish, I suppose a light cream or cheese sauce can't do any harm.

Traditionally, the sausage used was homemade by my dad and his brothers -- it was a loose (no casing) ground-pork-based sausage with some mild seasonings and plenty of liquid smoke. In lieu of the good stuff, you can use I think pretty much any sausage you want. Most recently I used kielbasa, and it turned out great. Oh, and don't let the sauerkraut scare you off -- the rest of the dish dilutes the strong flavors that turn most people off of it. If you're still worried, try starting with 4 oz and adding more if necessary.

An Italian in Asia

So, I've been told that you can't have pasta everyday! Blasphemy, I know, but we'll humor them. Today's recipe is an Asian inspired stir fry, with a colorful mixture of vegetables and some delicious beef on the side. I served it over some rice, but Asian noodles could be substituted if desired.

So, lets get started:
RICE:

• 1 cup rice
• 3-4 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 cups water (just under the 2 c line, actually)

Put the vinegar and oil in the pan, add the rice and stir it around. Heat it on medium high heat for ~1 minute, then add the water. Stir, cover, and reduce heat to low. Let it cook until most of the water is absorbed. (It should still be steaming, but you shouldn't see any liquid bubbling around, and the rice will appear moist.)

VEGGIES

• Vegetable Oil
• Toasted Sesame Oil
• 3 Cloves Garlic - Crushed
  
• 2/3 small onion (the rest of the onion will be used later)
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp dried basil leaves
• 2/3 lb Chopped asparagus
  
• 1 1/2 cup diced carrots
• 2 handfuls frozen green beans
• 1 large handful frozen mixed chopped peppers
• Soy Sauce
• Rice Vinegar
• Sesame Seeds
• Sriracha, cayenne pepper, and black pepper to taste

1) In a large sauce pan, saute the garlic, onion, and basil in the mixture of oils (~3:1 vegetable:sesame).
2) Once the onion is translucent, add the vegetables and saute in the mixture.
3) Add enough soy sauce to almost cover the veggies.
4) Add in a few splashes of rice vinegar, the sesame seeds, Sriracha and peppers.
5) Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

BEEF

• Vegetable and sesame oil
  
• 1 medium piece of steak, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic - crushed
• the rest of the onion from previously
• 1-2 tsp. ground ginger
• Soy Sauce
• Rice Vinegar
• Sesame Seeds
• Sriracha

1) In the mixture of oils, saute the garlic, onion, sesame seeds and ginger.
2) Make sure the oil is really hot, and add the steak.
3) Once the steak has browned, add the soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sriracha
4) Boil until the sauce has thickened.

And that's it! Take a deep breath and serve the veggies and beef over the rice. Enjoy!

Weekend sauces

One of my most common culinary experimentations is whipping up some sauce to put on sandwiches. The other night, we were having salmon burgers (breaded, frozen -- basically a fancier Filet'o'Fish). I wanted to zip things up a little, so I whipped up a creamy mustard-dill sauce to put on it:

some mayo
dried mustard (a generous amount)
a pinch of saffron threads, crushed
dried dill
black pepper
a few drops (or more) of lemon juice
a touch of horseradish
salt (optional)

I thought it added the perfect complement to the sandwich, especially with the arugula, tomato and yellow bell pepper slices that were also added. My wife declined to have any, as she doesn't care for horseradish (I thought I could sneak it by her, but her heightened sensory perceptions were far too sharp to allow that!). But I'm sure she would have agreed, right honey?

Also this weekend, I was let in on the recipe for the Heins family super-secret Easter ham sauce. Now, it's well-known in my family that the big secret behind the secret sauce is that there is, in fact, no standard recipe, but I wasn't really aware of the exact ingredients until yesterday. So at the risk of being left out of the collective wills of my relatives, here's the low-down:

Throw a glug or two of corn syrup into a sauce pan. Add some brown sugar and/or maple syrup and heat on low, stirring until dissolved. Add your favorite mustard a couple of squirts (or spoonfuls) at a time until the sweet-sour ratio is to your liking. Dry mustard and a dash of white wine vinegar can be used in a pinch. If you want, a sprinkle of cloves or nutmeg finishes the sauce nicely.

Chili or Why France Needs More Heat...

So I made chili last weekend with friends. I love chili, I like to serve it with cheese and tortilla chips (and sometimes with guac too, as you can see). The chili was very tasty, but not hot enough, the green chilis they have here are not like those used in southwest (nor south-asian) cooking... se la vie. On the bright side, in France I can enjoy my chili with a nice Cote de Rhone for about 1/4 of what one would spend in the states. Its not a bad pairing either, as you need something round and full to stand up to the chili.

Here is my preferred chili method:

Saute (or roast) peppers and onions in olive oil, with some whole cumin seeds. Add spices and garlic when the peppers and onions are a bit charred/browned. Add canned chopped tomatoes (with all the liquid) and a bit of rice. Cooking it this way makes the rice soak up the tomato and spices. Then add the canned beans, simmer for a few more minutes and I usually season to taste with salt, cider vinegar and molasses. I don't usually use much molasses (or vinegar), but it adds a special flavor. The chilis and spices are key. Poblanos or Anaheim peppers are both peppers that are not too spicy, like a more delicious bell pepper, if you can find them. Once again dried ancho pepper is sweet and a bit smokey, and mild. Habaneros are super spice, but are also delicious, with a tropical citrus flavor. These are my three favorite peppers.

Trifecta Chili

2 - 8 oz cans black beans

2 - 8 oz cans tomatoes

1/2 cup rice

1 large onion

1 red bell pepper

1-2 poblano peppers (or 1 green bell pepper and 1 small hot pepper)

1 habanero (seed unless your mouth is made of asbestos)

3 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons canola or olive oil

1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds

2 tablespoons ground coriander

2 tablespoons ancho pepper (or chili powder)

1/2 teaspoon oregano

soy sauce, cider vinegar, and molasses to taste

Pine Nut Caution

The risotto from a few days ago seems to have given me a mild case of Pine Mouth, where everything I eat has a slightly bitter aftertaste. Looking around at some blog comments, it seems like there's been a spate of complaints recently about the pine nuts from Trader Joe's, which is where I bought mine.

The cause hasn't been determined yet, but it doesn't appear to be related to pesticides or contaminants, and the effect seems to disappear after a few days. Not everyone is affected, either -- my wife ate the risotto and is doing fine. It seems to stem from certain strains of nuts that come from China or Korea, so I'm definitely sticking with nuts with European origins in the future.

Ancho chili and Fennel

So this post might seem lame because I'm not going to really say anything new. But last night I had the same "drunken french-lentil soup" as mentioned previously. It was so hearty, rich and delicious that I would probably now label it as my favorite soup of all time. I think the ancho chili powder and the sauteed fennel and carrot are really what make the flavor so complex and satisfying. They now sell ancho pepper in most supermarkets, you should go out and buy some, it will make everything you make taste better. Its not very hot at all, rather, it has a rich, deep sweet, slightly smokey flavor. You can use it anywhere you would you use paprika or chili-powder.

So this time I added garlic and 1/4 teaspoon whole fennel seeds to the sautéing process, and added 2 diced potatoes with the lentils. All very good additions, the potato was good with the lentils. We had fresh Ciabatta and good olive oil and pepper with the soup. It may seem strange to say this about soup, but it was one of the best meals I've had this year.

Two Posts in a Day!?

That's like... totally tubular, man!

Anyway, risotto. I had made a simplified version of it once before, but Andrew's post certainly piqued my interest in giving it another try. I enjoy very much savory grain-based dishes, particularly when they include some form of fat: macaroni and cheese, fried rice, pad thai, couscous, etc. Risotto seemed a logical choice.

Andrew covered the preparation pretty well, so I won't go into that too much. For the stock I used 1 can of chicken broth combined with a prepared cube of vegetable bullion. I also added a couple tablespoons of mirin -- sweetened Japanese cooking sake to give it a bit of a sweet flavor. After sauteing the onions for a couple of minutes, I added chopped portobello mushrooms as the main veggie, plus some julienned carrots (OK, baby carrots) to add a little color, some raw pine nuts, and a clove of minced garlic. Then, in turn, the risotto, the white wine, and finally some dried dill and savory. The final ingredient before adding the stock was to throw a few chopped scallions in there -- again, mainly for color as the flavor had cooked out of them by the time it was finished.

Andrew didn't specify which part of the lemon should be used, so I added the juice and zest of about 1/4 of one, as well as some fresh ground lemon-pepper (available at Trader Joe's for $2!). I admit I was a bit skeptical as to how the lemon flavor would fit in with the rest of the dish, but it was actually quite good! I shall never doubt you again, Andrew! For the dairy, I split the difference between the cheese and cream by adding about 1/2 cup each of parmesan and cream cheese, with a little milk to loosen the consistency up a bit.

Overall, I'd deem it a success! While chowing down, it struck me that some water chestnuts would have fit in quite well with their crispiness, so perhaps I will try that next time, see how it goes.