cooking @ home

Archive for the ‘Quick & Easy’ Category

©2008 Harry Kenney

Funny how there are some dishes I’ve created and made for a long time, yet, seven months into this cooking site, realize there are still one’s I haven’t included here. This is one of them (til now). I stumbled into this one of those times when I had salsa left over from a party. You see, I do enjoy tortilla chips and salsa as a nice alternate to the usual potato chip and dip. Thing is, in the days after the party I just don’t feel like eating salsa and chips solo. So I need to come up with something to do with that jar. Several years ago after one party I also found I had forgotten to serve the second half of the shrimp I’d bought. (There was still plenty of food and no one at the party knew or missed it though.) … In short. Boom. Came this recipe.

I know the name seems a tad corny coming from me. No, I swear I’m not turning “Rachel” on you. I promise never to call things in between soup and stew “stoop”. And no, I don’t think any male, no matter how brimming with nor how deficient of testosterone should ever have the word “Yum-o!” come from his lips either. So that’s not happening. So the choice was, call this was I call it around the house as my shorthand “Sorta Jambalaya” or name it something more long-winded like “Chicken and Shrimp in Spicy Tomato Spanich Rice”. The latter is accurate but doesn’t roll off the tounge as well. The first is reluctantly a tad cutsy, but it does convey the concept quickly.

Ok, now you’re asking, where am I going. I’m gourmet one minute, regular the next and now straight out of home ec class. Nope, they’re all me. Have you forgotten my Steak Quesadilla or my Pizza Burger Mac recipes? Shame on you! Remember this is “cooking at home”. And I’ve said it before, you can cook gourmet or home ec and/or anything in between at home. You can use all expensive and fresh ingredients and some exotic ones, or you can take a few boxes of off the shelf stuff and make a meal too. Obviously you (and I) don’t always want to make a many ingredient meal. And there’s always something about doing it fast. Provided (big if here) the taste goes with it. And here it does.

What? You want to try me on one more item? You say I’m big on trying to do things authentic and this isn’t very authentic a recipe, that is in the traditional sense of being true to a region and it’s history. That’s correct it is not. And it is also correct that I am big into history and traditional things. But again, I’m not limited to them nor bound by them. Look at my tropical fruit salsa I made just the other day; it’s somewhat fusion even though there is a true Mexican dish that’s equivalent. But, here’s the thing — I always point that out to you. How about my Pancetta-Wrapped Margarita Shrimp? The bacon is from Italy, the liquor from Mexico. Definie fusion. Notice I never once called it an Italian nor a Mexican dish because it isn’t either one.

Matter of fact, the aforementioned steak quesadilla recipe I have here. It’s 100% American. And it’s 50% Mexican. Ok, what do I mean by that? In the US that is a quesadilla. And in many parts of Mexico that is also a quesadilla. But in the southern parts of Mexico they actually make quesadillas the same way Italians make calzones, they fold over the tortilla with the filling inside, crimp it and overlap the dough on the one side to close it, and then deep fry it. So my way is not wrong, but there is another way too.

Finally about tradition. What gets my goat, annoys me to no end is when a recipe passes something off as traditional and it isn’t. When you read my artilces and these “forwards” to each recipe, I say to you, this is how it’s done, or this is one way how it’s done in such-and-such land. Or I will say, they would put this in to be authentic, but I’m leaving it out. I tell you, this recipe or that recipe is or is not traditional. As I’ve said before I’m neither traditionalist nor fusionist, I am what I am at the moment. Most importantly I tell you what that dish is. And here I tell you this is not real jambalaya, it’s “sorta”. And now you know another reason why I called this dish by that name.

Wait? Aren’t I going to give you a history lesson on jambalaya? Naw. I’ll wait until I do the traditional recipe for that. It will be more germane then. Meanwhile, enjoy this simple, and compartively quick dish which will remind you a lot of jambalaya. Oh, there is one Rachel Ray thing about this dish besides the nomenclature — You can make this in 30 minutes or less!

Sorta Jambalaya
©2008 Harry Kenney

1 box Spanish Rice (I like Goya’s) that makes 2.5 cups rice at final
15.5 oz jar spicy tomato salsa with jalapenos (pick your heat level, I used to do “mild”, now I do “medium”)
1 pound of chicken (I use boneless chicken breast)
1/2 pound 31-40 count shrimp, uncooked, devaned, shell totally off, ends included

You can start with precooked chicken, which I already had on hand. Alternately you can also use a rotisserie chicken from the market. Or you can easily cook the chicken right now.

Begin rice preparation as on box, boiling water in a large stock pot or dutch oven.

If cooking chicken with the meal, cut into chunks, toss into largest frying pan you have (12-13″ preferred) with cooking oil on medium-high heat. Brown slightly on all sides, don’t overcook. Take out of pan.

Into same pan, add more oil and cook shrimp, roughly two minutes or less per side. Reserve and let cool. Cut each shrimp into thirds. Add back to pan with chicken, warm up and stir. Add in jar of salsa to frying pan on medium heat, let cook together about 5-10 minutes with lid on. At this point rice should be done.

Add rice to frying pan (if frying pan is too small, then, instead add contents of pan to stock pot or dutch oven, whichever works best). Mix together on low heat for about three or four minutes with lid on. Serve. Makes roughly 8 servings.

©2008 Harry Kenney

Several different types of fish have gotten somewhat popular in the last few years and can now easily be found at your local fish monger or at the fresh seafood section of your local supermarket. Among these is one with the very cool sounding name of mahi-mahi. So what is mahi mahi? (The name by the way can be two words or a single hyphenated one from what I’ve found.)

Obviously the name conjures up the tropical Pacific, specifically Hawaii. And indeed the name is Hawaiian, meaning “strong-strong” as this fish can really put up a fight when on the end of a fishing line. Despite the name however, this fish can be found and caught in many places besides the deep South Pacific, also in the Caribbean, the west coast of South America and Southeast Asia; and it is in these areas the commercial fisherman go for. That said, in less abundance more recreational fisherman have caught them in the Arabian Sea and even in the Atlantic from New Jersey down to Florida.

So where did this fish come from so all of a sudden? It didn’t actually. You recall the dolphin fish of the 90s? This is the same puppy, er, uh, fish. I always thought calling a fish a dolphin (which we know is a mammal) was very stupid and needlessly confusing. Evidently so did everyone else. Especially when this fish when alive or freshly caught is a spectacular bright green and yellow. The color fades, so you won’t see green on the skin of the fish you’ve purchased at the store, more silver and black, though if you look closely at the one photo here, you will see the specks of yellow. You’ll notice on the fleshy side the pink with little specks of red. That’s a good indicator you have mahi-mahi.

Why is it so popular? Taste it and you’ll find out. It is one very delicious fish. Very firm, large flakes, a nice subtle sweet taste. Because of this I suspect it could take a nice marinade or glaze. That said though, my favorite way to cook fish is the most simple way, grilled and with few spices or flavorings. So, this is a very super simple recipe. In keeping with it’s most famous of origins I paired it with a nice tropical fruit salsa and laid it on a bed of yellow rice with a side of grilled fresh asparagus. Ah, the simple things in life.

Let me be a tad erudite and a tad hokey then and wish you the Hawaiian form of “bon appetit” — it actaully means literally (in plural form) “Let’s eat!” — E ‘ai ka-kou!

Grilled Mahi-Mahi with Lime
©2008 Harry Kenney

2 fillets mahi-mahi, about one pound
juice of half a lime
salt
pepper
vegetable oil

Get your outside grill or inside cast-iron grill hot and ready.

Score the skin side with a sharp knife in a diamond pattern to make crispy. Liberally apply and rub both sides with cooking oil. Season both sides, though predominantly the flesh side, with salt, pepper and lime juice.

Place on hot grill skin side down first for about three minutes. Turn, grill fleshy side for two to three minutes. One more turn and one more minute of grilling the skin side again.

Done. Serve with or without skin. Note this works great with the skin, but there are two long thick membranes about a quarter inch thick and roughly as long as the fish that will need removing.

Makes two to three servings.

©2008 Harry Kenney

I love salmon. I try to have it at least once every month. What can you say about something that is healthy and fresh and yet something about it’s texture, it’s thickness reminds one of a steak in so many ways. Yes, silly as it sounds, in many ways I think of it as a “steak of the seas”.

Often I prepare it in the most simple and pure of ways: salt, pepper, little oil to help it cook, and maybe a twist of fresh lemon. Period. Sometimes, like now, I like to vary it with a sweet and tangy glaze. No matter what ingredients I add though, there’s only one way to cook salmon, in my opinion: Grilled.

I know, Oven isn’t bad, broiler with a fish this oily is a fire hazard, alas. And poaching? Well, poaching is probably fine but — truely, I’m more of a crunchy crust person I have to admit and not a big poaching fan at all. In the end, there’s nothing like grilled. Outdoor especially over hot charcoal; that’s the best. But when that’s not to be had, especially here in the Northeast part of the US in January, there’s always the trusty stand-by. The two-burner cast iron grill.

If you don’t have one. Get one. Now seriously how often have you heard me say that about anything? Correct. I don’t think I ever have. There’s just some things that are indispensible and not substituable. Wait you say, what about those frying pans that have the raised grill bar thingys in them? Nope. They don’t go high enough. There is no where for the fat to drain, so you are still going to be frying things in their own oils, not true grilling at all.

What about those electric grills? How about those George Forman grills? Although I haven’t actually tried them, from what I can see they probably work alright. I guess if I had a choice between the frying pan and an electric grill I would go with the latter. But a choice between a grill over the fire and a grill running alternating electrical current, gimme the stove and the cast iron anyday. Call me caveman. Call me purist. But it I can’t have my outdoor brikets, it’s indoor stove grill.

Now I have to give a big doff of the hat here to master grillsman and Iron Chef, Bobby Flay. First, this glaze definitely originates from his delicious brown sugar and mustard glaze. Hey, if I borrow or heavily base something on some else’s I tell you! Natch, I had to mess with it some and made significant changes and additions that while you could compare and no doubt tell his glaze was the “parent”, this is related yet different enough to be it’s “child”.

Another thing I about this recipe is I followed something else Bobby said on one of his shows about his personal preference when grilling salmon, that sometimes he eats the skin, and sometimes he takes it off. It depends on if he is able to get it to a certain level of crispiness. When he does, he eats it, when it’s for whatever reason not happening for him, he takes it off.

Now, I’ve always taken it off. Or to be more precise, when I’ve bought it before it was (not sure which one, but) a different type of salmon, cut into thick rectangular “steaks” and without skin. This time, I ended up getting CoHo Salmon, and instead of a steak it was the long filet. And it came with skin. Thick black and silver skin. My first thought was, ugg, take the skin off. But then I thought of what Chef Flay said, and thought, hell, I will definitely give that a try and proceed similarily, if it worked, awesome, if it didn’t work, I’ll take the skin off.

And as someone who’s been doing his best to perfect crispy skin on poultry, I managed to my delight to pull this one off as well. Yummy, crispy skin attached to a light, delicate, moist fish. You’re definitely going to enjoy this one.

Usually my photos speak for themselves, so other than the mouse-over little notes that pop up, I don’t have captions, and I rarely ever any special “notes”, but this time is an exception, so …

Important notes about the photos. The first photo of the raw fish, skin side up shows (at least it shows on the one on the right) the cross-hatched scoring I did to both. This is necessary to help achieve the crunch and crispness. Also, in the second photo of the cooking fish with the skin side up there are two notes. First, the black you see is not burn; it is the color of the skin of the coho which is silver in places and black in others. The second important note is this is the first turn of the fish, not the second, so this is only stage one of the crispy skin. And look how good it looks already.

Grilled Salmon Fillets with Crispy Skin and Asian-Fusion Glaze
©2008 Harry Kenney

2 coho salmon filets, 6-8 ounces each
olive oil
salt
pepper

glaze:

4 tbsps dijon
3 tbsps soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp finely ground ginger or ginger powder
1/4 tsp sesame seed oil
2 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil
1 tsp garlic powder
3 tbsps light brown sugar
2 tbsps honey
salt
pepper

First, put all the ingredients together mentioned and create your glaze. Next, get your grill (outdoor preferably, or indoor preferably a cast-iron double burner grill or an electric one) ready and turn on to high heat.

Take your filets, score the skin on back both horizontally and vertically to make squares or a cross-hatch pattern. Rub olive oil on both sides. Season the front flesh part as you normally would with salt and pepper. When seasoning the skin side, use two to three times more salt than normally.

Put oil over your hot grill and immediately slap down your fillets skin side down. Leave about a minute more than you normally would, checking the underside occasionally to ensure cooking and browning but not burning. After about four or five minutes and right before you are ready to turn, liberally brush on the glaze all over the flesh side, then turn that over so it faces the grill.

You should see some very nice crispness on the now skin top side. Leave the flesh part down for another two-to-three minutes. Do not over cook this. Give a light brush of the glaze on the skin and turn over again. Now with the topside up, again liberally brush the glaze all over the flesh. After a minute or so more, take off of grill and serve.

Depending on how hungry your guests are this can serve two. But I found the pieces rather large and was able to feed four and still considered these nice sized servings. Myself I served this with steamed Italian flat green beans with minced onions and a helping of wild rice on the side.

©2008 Harry Kenney

So how do I follow up a recipe on prime rib? Why, this way. Am I crazy? Like a fox. How can I top prime rib? How does a successful recording artist top a monster selling album? The same way. You don’t. You go different. And that’s the thing here at cooking @ home …. It’s home cooking. And that runs the gamet. Or at least it should. You might see on this page prime rib and stuffed mushrooms, but you might also see french fries and meatloaf and beef stew.

Home cooking doesn’t have to be “plebian” for lack of a better word. It can be (although I have problems with this word too) “gourmet”. On the same note it doesn’t have to be all gourmet either. It’s all of it. Why? Because that’s exactly what cooking at home means. You — and I — are doing this at home, and we might have hot dogs and soup one day and filet mignon with a panna cotta dessert the following. Same person cooking, same kitchen. We can and we should do what we want, and that is from simple everyday meals up to five-star dining. At home. And on that note …

I am a bread eater. One of those who’s always loved bread and butter with a meal. (Mind you, in this circumstance I actually mean spreadable margarine). Just always loved “the sauce” or “the gravy” and I’ve always enjoyed scooping up, sopping or just plain having along side a pasta dish or a stew, bread and butter or roll and butter. Maybe that’s a working man’s blue collar thing? I have no idea.

That said though, there was a very trendy, way ahead of it’s time salad place in Reading Terminal Market in Center City Philadelphia about 15 years ago or more. I was working down there and would often go to “the salad lady” for my lunch. Imagine someone who was making pasta and rice salads before you ever heard of such things. Seriously. What is now more or less “average” fare that can be gotten at a fancy super market deli section, when The Salad Lady’s place was there in the Market, it was relatively unique.

I bring this up because she always gave away slices of different homemade breads (yes buttered, and in her case it meant real butter, btw) with every salad meal (provided you wanted it of course). So, ok, I guess she was the Salad and Bread Lady then. Point is, if she was ahead of her time — and she was — accompanying bread with a salad was in a way “chi-chi” …. And you can’t be chi-chi and blue collar at the same time, can you?

Which brings me back to my quickie garlic bread. Because I get such enjoyment at having bread — and garlic bread especially — and mine especially because it is rarely “just garlic” — my garlic bread is always garlic and cheese bread — I like to have it often. And to me, the oven or the broiler is just too much work. Mostly because if you take your eye off of it for a moment, wham, it’s burnt.

This is ovenless, broiler-less garlic bread, using two of my favorite cooking tools that folks so under use — the toaster and the microwave. Basically, I make mine as though I had a toaster oven (which I don’t). Why do it this way? It’s quick. Is it that much quicker than the oven? Hmm. Probably not in one way. But then the difference to me between four minutes and (when you include pre-heating, twelve minutes … Let’s put it this way, it’s not a lot of time difference but it is still three times faster.

Most importantly I can see what’s happening. There’s a greater amount of control, partly due to the incremental stages I have set up and the fact that things will automatically shut off at those stages. It’s essentially, no-fail. Whereas with the broiler method (and to a slightly lesser extent the oven method), should you misjudge by as little as half-a-minute, you can turn broiler garlic bread into blackened garbage. So you went frantic and you wasted 12 minutes while holding up dinner. Plus, if you still want it, you have to redo from scratch again, while the rest of your meal goes cold. Which means you probably will not bother to redo your smouldering garlic bread afterall.

Since this dish is basically an extra side to my main meal, it means I’m already running around the kitchen doing the last minute cooking and setting up to serve stuff when I’m making this. And at that time it’s very easy to forget something in a broiler. My way, things don’t get out of control. Plus it’s four minutes. Mind you this even works if you’re in a pinch with white bread toasted and put into the microwave, but natch, rolls are ten times better.

So, all of this said, I do it this way pretty much to have it more often. Would I serve this to a bunch of guests? Probably not. Two reasons, one, the oven or broiler is going to be better, by far — but with the caveat that you keep a very close eye to it and really watch it. Second, my toaster meets microwave works because it’s for one or two people. You cannot fit more than two atop the toaster nor in the microwave at a time. With guests, even if its a total of four people, you can fit the bread onto a baking sheet easily. So easily you could make garlic bread for six or even 12 people at one time in the oven (maybe 6 in the broiler). The question then is would I do it this quickie way for guests? No firstly because it’s impossible, but also if were it somehow possible (as though I had a giant toaster oven or five toasters plugged together or whatever sillyness you can think of) I’d still do it in the broiler because if would be better, and they are guests and I want to serve them the very best and it would be worth the effort. In fact for a bunch of folks, it would be simpler making them all at once too. The dynamics in that respect would have changed.

But for everyday, for having it often, for the taste and the three times faster and the no-fail, won’t burn, control of it. Yep I like my quickie garlic and cheese bread just fine. Hope you do too!

Quick Cheese and Garlic Bread
©2008 Harry Kenney

two long rolls, preferrably Italian
margarine
garlic powder
grated parmegan

Cut or open the rolls, place a top the toaster as though it were a grill. First we’ll toast the bottom of it. Now, no matter what setting or numbers are on your slider or knobs, think of them in fifths or percentages. Put your settings at 20% of what it should be. Place down the slots to turn the sides on and toast the bottom. When it pops up, turn the inside of the rolls to face down, put on another 40% (a total of 60%) dark and again push down the two slots. When they pop up, check the roll. If it’s getting toasted move it over an inch, if it’s still fairly white, leave where they are, now push the slider or knob to 100% darkness.

Have a paper tower ready in front of or next to the toaster. When the toaster pops the third time, take off the rolls, crust down, and butter them. Now liberally sprinkle on garlic powder to taste. Do the same if you wish with grated parmegan. You see the paper towel has a few functions, to catch the excess seasonings, to transport the rolls to and from the microwave as well as to serve as a bed that will stop the roll from getting soggy in the microwave. Now, place them in the microwave for about 45-55 seconds on high (based on an 1100 watt microwave, longer if you have a less powerful 600-800 microwave). When done, serve with your meal.

You might recall I mentioned before that one of my earliest “dishes” I ever made was simply baking some chicken breasts in the oven and five minutes before they done pouring creamy Italian dressing over them. It was simple and delicious. Well, if that was the first-ever dish I made back in my teens. Then this one here would no doubt be my second one. And likewise is both super simple and delicious. And as you see, one that stood the test of time and that I still make today.

You’ll also see one of the key components in this is liquor. Yes, I do love my liquor — when cooking. Why? It’s an ingredient. It’s very flavorful. Remember extracts, vanilla extract and the rest also come from liquor, and they are likewise very potent tastes, that is,they pack a lot of flavor in a very small, concentrated amount.

So, you’re going to ask me what’s the children’s version of this? Or you might be wondering can you give this to children? In which case you’re probably actually asking one of the most-asked questions when it comes to cooking with alcochol: how much actually stays in the dish and how much is actually burnt off? While prevailing wisdom and tales handed down throughout the years say most of the liquor is cooked off immediately, it turns out that’s somewhere between an old wife’s tale and an urban myth.

Here then, from the USDA, are the actual facts on alcohol or liquor burn off during cooking:

Ok, so back to one of the first questions, can I give this to children? Your call. What does your family do? In Europe, and we Americans often think first of France and Italy, children drink wine and such while quite young and it’s socially-acceptable. Here in “the States” in the past generation such things have been considered a no-no. Although (and I say this with no proof, pun intended) that there’s a more calming down of late as this is not the worse thing in the world, in other words, I think it’s becoming slowy more socially-acceptable. But then in private in the home with family such things always were more accepted. The upshot (no pun this time) is it’s a family thing dependent upon house to house, family to family. So I leave it up to you.

And finally to the last question: Substitutions for liquor in this particular dish? And, as writing compresses time, it’s taken me a while to think up something. For the very reason I said, alcohol like extract packs a ton of flavor in a small amount of volume. I’m thinking you could try nectar. Hit the Spanish section of your supermarket and grab one of the fruit nectars in a can made by Goya. That would probably be the best. Juice? Juice is so watered down. If you have a can of apricots, the syrup would work better than juice (and less than nectar or liquor). All I can say is two things, if you really must, and secondly, taste it for yourself and see if it works. I’m guessing it’s passable as a children’s topping with juice, maybe Maybe a teaspoon of corn syrup and juice. It needs something not only for flavor it needs something to give it body.

Let’s go with nectar first. Juice or syrup combined with a small amount (teaspoon, maybe) of corn syrup is probably second. That said, I’ve never tried it either of those ways and since I’m not America’s Test Kitchen I probably won’t. Let me know, seriously, how either or both of those works out. And if you’ve come up with a different or better substitute.

Hot Apple Topping over Ice Cream
©2007 Harry Kenney

1 apple, peeled, sliced into thin chunks
butter
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup Apricot brandy (or peach schnapps or apple schnapps)
   (non-alcoholic substitutes: nectar, syrup or juice plus tsp corn syrup)
ice cream, preferrably vanilla

Into a small sauce pan on medium heat place in butter, let it melt and add apple slices. Turn and cook until softened. Add sugar and cinnamon. Cook a bit longer. Remove pan away from heat, add in liquor, place pan back on heat another minute or so. When apples are softened but not limp, and there’s a thin sauce, it’s done. Spoon atop ice cream and serve immediately before ice cream melts. Makes two servings.

Ok, this is a super easy recipe and a great one for turning that holiday turkey into a delicious leftover dish. The recipe is simple, and there isn’t much to say even as a preamble, believe it or not. I have maybe two items to mention. First, this is one of those recipes where it’s difficult to separate the sauce from the rest of the dish as they basically come together as one. Therefore I’m just following the natural flow and present them together as one.

Second, at this very moment in time I’m just so very tired of turkey … I even want to just get this recipe published and out of the way so I don’t have to think about or even look at turkey for a few weeks. That is just me in the wake of Thanksgiving. In a few weeks I’ll actually be debating do I want ham or turkey again for Christmas. And if it turns out to be the latter, I’ll definitely be looking up — I do that, you know — my own recipe here to make it again.

Turkey and Mushrooms on Fettucini
©2007 Harry Kenney

3 cups of turkey, pulled into pieces
1 cup chopped portabello mushrooms (can substitute other mushrooms)
4 slices pancetta (can substitute bacon)
1 cup frozen peas
3 fresh plum tomatoes, chopped
4-5 tbsps Marsala
8 oz heavy cream, and 4 oz milk
(can substitute these for 12 oz of light cream or half-and-half)
1/3 cup grated parmegan
salt
pepper
garlic powder
1 box Fetuccini (I like the green and “white” mix)
olive oil, extra virgin

Boil water and add fettucini. Meanwhile, on medium-heat, oil in pan, then mushrooms, then pancetta, season, then add dairy, then wine, season again, reduce slightly (this will be a light and thin sauce), then add cheese, then turkey, finally peas and tomatoes last three minutes. Remove from heat. Take the al dente fettucini and dump that in, mix, and serve. Makes about 8 servings.

I’m certain I’m not the first one to notice, but I must ask anyway. Exactly who was it and when that decided half of all Italian foods must begin with the letter “P”? Hey, even if you start typing “Italian food” in the Google toolbar one of the suggestions it offers is “starting with P”, and that’s based on the popular searches — so it’s not just me!

Oddly enough Google’s first 100 results never once listed a single page that actually corresponds to the search. It did find a bizarre reference to “P. Diddy’s Pasta” which you don’t want to know about …. Can you say time for another algorithm tune-up, Big G? I mean, wow, you couldn’t even match 1 in 100 to your own toolbar suggestion? That’s just sad. But enough of SEO and let’s get back to eating.

And so, since someone has to do it, at least in part … pancetta, prosciutto, polenta, pepperoni, pasta, provolone, panna cotta, Parmigiano Reggiano, Pecorino romano, panettone and the big one, pizza … to name a few. Seriously though, and I’m sure you knew this already, the “joke” is when you do find a long and exhaustive list of Italian food names, what you find is exactly what any intelligent person would expect: the percentage of names starting with a “P” is actually very small.

So it’s always seemed interesting the “coincidence”, for lack of a better word, that many of the most delicious and more well-known Italian dishes in the English language just happen by circumstance to be that way.

What’s way more important and to the point is, to paraphrase Shakespeare, an Italian food by any other name would taste as delicious. And so, here is a delicious sandwich to enjoy. If it’s not Italian, it’s definitely Italian-American to be sure. And yes, a three-”P”er in fact. You’ve love it on your pizza, and you’ve probably enjoyed had it with cheese and crackers, now to make it the main centerpiece of your lunch, pepperoni that is, with peppers and provolone.

A couple of quick thoughts and notes. First, of course here I am bringing you this sandwich, and from a city known for it’s great sandwiches, the hoagie, the Philadelphia cheesesteak and a strong Italian-American community, well it’s just very fitting. I just figured if the sausage and pepper sandwich is well-known then hey this makes a nice twist on the concept.

Next, note, here is yet another a recipe where the microwave comes nicely in play: both in giving a quick heat to the sauce and the very important melting of the cheese into the roll. What would we do without that appliance? Gotta love the ol’ “nuker”.

Oh, and I have to one big note of warning for you: Do use a larger plate than the one I have in my photograph. I hadn’t had this sandwich in a while, and forgot how this one comes under the heading of “delicious and messy”. Naturally after I took the photo, I dug right in and was suddenly reminded of this fact, in a rather messy way. So, use a large plate and bring several napkins with you. Trust me, it’s worth it!

Pepperoni, Peppers and Provolone Sandwich
©2007 Harry Kenney

1/4 medium yellow onion, thin slices
1/4 large green bell pepper, thin slices
18-24 pepperoni slices
six-inch long roll, preferably Italian steak roll
three slices provolone
4 hefty tbsps spaghetti sauce
olive oil

On low flame, put in onions into small pan, sweat and brown slightly. Take out. Do same with bells. Take out. Blot both if you wish with paper towel. Put in pepperoni, same as before. Take out, definitely blot excess oils.

Place Italian roll on a paper towel to prevent sweating, open up, place across two sides, three overlapping slices of pepperoni. Place in microwave 15-25 seconds to melt. Remove. Place in microwave spaghetti sauce in dish, cover on top with paper towel to prevent splattering. Heat up for about 15-20 seconds. Remove.

Place 3/4s of the sauce up and down both sides of open sandwich. Pile on peppers and onions evenly. Likewise pepperoni. Take remaining 1/4 of sauce and place atop each. Fold and eat.

Here’s another side — one I did for Thanksgiving — and yet another “odd” root vegetable. Now, depending upon where you live, you’re saying “that’s not at all odd; we have it all the time”. Here in the Northeastern United States, well, common as it is at the market during the winter, it’s also one of those vegetables most people tend to pass up when they’re shopping. Often for the same reason as they might a rutabaga or the various winter squashes, simply because they are both unsure of what it is and of how to cook it. (But then that’s why you come here to find out, isn’t it?)

While the recipe itself is one of the simplest and shortest, there does need to be a some-what extended backstory here. You see, not only is this vegetable very much confused with at least two other veggies, but to make matters worse, depending upon what country you live in, they all have different names. And, of course, to compound things still further these differing names all confuse each other, meaning the same veggie called one thing in one place, that same name refers to a totally different vegetable in yet another place.

In fact, I won’t even try to do this myself when Wikipedia has done such a good job with it, so, taking advantage of the Creative Commons usage, let me just plop down their table right here for you. I’ve altered the one row which deals with the turnip to stand out more.

Ok, we’re cool then. This recipe is about the turnip. The real turnip. The one sometimes referred to as a white turnip. (I also refer to it this way myself as I think it lessens the possible mixup.) And even though it is mostly white (where as a rutabaga or swede is yellow), there is also some purple on the turnip as you see in the photo where it has gotten extra sunlight.

Now that we have the name and the color down, there is one final slightly confusing thing you should know, and that is it can be found at the market in one of three shapes or forms. Sometimes you will see turnips either with the long tail root still attached, or with both the long tail root and the green crown of leaves on it, or, as they just happened to come where I bought them, pretty much round with what seems to be a nub on them, where all the excess has been taken off and looking more like an odd potato.

Whew! Are we through all that? Yes. So basically, in this particular case I treated the turnip much as I would a potato. That said, one thing to note is turnips can really hold water well. I’m talking about the same way chopped spinish does, where you have to not just drain but “smoosh” it or press it really well to get all the water out. Make sure you do this else your dish will not come out as well. So, to quickly recap, you boil it much like a potato for mashing, then drain it extra well as you would with spinach, and enjoy the unique and delicious taste.

White Turnip Mash
©2007 Harry Kenney

2 pounds turnips
butter
salt
pepper

Peel the turnips (may be easier with a knife than a peeler) and cut into chunks. Toss into boiling water. After about 20 minutes or when a fork can go through them with some ease, remove and drain thoroughly. Very thoroughly. Place in large bowl and mash as you would potatoes. Add butter, salt and pepper to taste and serve. Makes roughly four servings.

If you’re coming here for leftover turkey recipes, sorry. I work in “real time” like you. What does that mean? Well, it means beginning today I’ll start putting up recipes for what I had for Thanksgiving. But wait, shouldn’t I have put them up last week or the week before, you might be asking. You know, back when you were interested in such things. Like, before Thanksgiving? Well, as I said, I do what you do; I work in “real time”.

Again, what does that mean? It means I’m not the Food Network. I’m not even PBS. I don’t get paid for this. I am not given money by someone to go purchase a mess of food and cooking it all up weeks ahead of time. And then who would eat it all? My vast kitchen or network staff? You know, the one’s I don’t have. So that is why I don’t have things ahead of time. Because I am just like you. Average everyday person making meals on and for the days I’m going to eat them.

There is good news though. If you come by and read this a year from now, then I’m ahead of the game. There will be this nice archive area of what I did last time (this time, that is) that will work out. Besides that, come on, admit it. Today, or tomorrow, sure, you might be sick of looking at turkey. But Christmas is coming and you know — unless you’re doing ham or goose or something — you’ll be back looking for turkey recipes. And this time, I will be early and have it all here waiting for you. You might be here right now for that, who knows.

Ok, remember that butternut squash from the other day? Well I finally got around to the other one I showed you, the acorn squash. So did this taste like the other? Nope. This actually tastes something like a pumpkin to me. Not quite. I sure wouldn’t say interchangeable. But I would say, very reminiscent of pumpkin. I know of a few different recipes for acorn squash. It’s one of those interesting ingredients you put such-and-such with it and it’s more a savory dish. Or you can put something else to it and emphasize it’s sweeter flavors. And the latter is precisely what I did this time. It made a nice counterpoint to the rest of the foods on my Thanksgiving plate too.

Btw, unlike the butternut squash, this was not difficult at all to cut. Wham, right down the middle. You’ll see in the photo I went slightly off-center, but that’s not a biggie. Peeling wasn’t a problem as I waited to scoop it out after it was cooked. One more thing, you’ll notice I’ve again used that unsung cooking tool and appliance known as the microwave. Why? First, off it works just fine in it, that’s why. Second question you might ask is, if I was putting it under the oven broiler anyhow, why not do it completely with the oven? Easy answer: the first stage of this would have taken 45 minutes in the oven. It took 11 in the microwave. To do the identical thing. And when have you ever known me to recommend anything that takes four times longer with zero increase in taste benefit? Never.

So, do enjoy. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised and not only add this to your Thanksgiving or Christmas meal, but it’s such a quick and easy meal to prepare you might have it a lot more often. You never know but even the kids could enjoy this. Plus it’s a totally natural vegetarian dish. Now that’s what I call win-win-win.

Broiled Ginger-Apricot Acorn Squash
©2007 Harry Kenney

1 average acorn squash
butter (or margarine)
apricot jam (or preserves)
ground ginger (or regular, grated)
salt
pepper

Take an acorn squash, half it vertically. Place in a microwavable dish that can both accomodate both halves and also about 1/4 to 1/3 inch of water. Place halves face down into the water. With a fork, make two piercings on the outside skin of each (to prevent any exploding). Place in microwave. For an 1100 watt microwave, it will take about 11 minutes. For a more underpowered one of 6-700 watts probably closer to 14 minutes.

If you’re making several squashes, then opt for the oven instead, 350°F, laying them on a baking sheet, add a little bit of water if you wish, same thing, poke holes and put face down. This will take roughly 45 minutes, but keep checking as oven times will differ.

When done, place face up on a baking sheet (for oven version, turn over, remove any water). Lightly butter the rim and the inside. Also, again, lightly dust with ginger. Lightly spoon apricot jam everywhere on the inside too. Finally, a little salt and pepper. (The key to this everything with this recipe is lightly). Place under broiler for 5-10 minutes until browned.

Although this looks very nice the way it is, the skin is quite mushy, so I would not serve it this way (even though it’s tempting). Best to spoon out of skin, mix it up well with fork, and serve. One medium squash makes two servings.

This began as one of my experiment meals a good decade or longer ago. You go to restaurants, you see various veggies in the rice. Get a box of Rice-a-roni, little carrots or peas in the rice. So, what the heck, one night way back when, I put two dishes together, spinach and rice. They tasted good, looked great together. My mother and step-father Dave who I was cooking for enjoyed it a lot, as did I.

Can’t say it was great, but it was darn good. As time went on I started to mess with it more — aka, perfect it. Adding raw onion was too bitey. Dave thought it was an improvement though. Mom and I didn’t. Then again, Dave could smother so much horseradish sauce on a hot dog you couldn’t see the hot dog.

Eventually, it came to what you see below, with onion nicely cooked in butter and parmesan cheese added. It’s literally funny how much this super-simple combination of basically four ingredients can taste so good and yet it does. I almost forgot to add it here, as, whatever the reason, haven’t made it in a good six months. Maybe it’s because it’s turned Fall that it came back to my mind. Something about it yells robust and warming and soothing.

In any event, it makes a beautiful side. Trust me, once you’ve had this you will make it again and again. Great alongside a starch, though naturally with all the rice in it, this really should be the starch on the plate. I feel like I should write more, but there’s nothing else to say except: it’s true, sometimes simple is best.

Spinach and Rice
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:

6 cups of cooked white long-grained rice (follow box directions)
16 oz cooked frozen chopped spinach (steam or light boil, and do reserve the water when draining)
one onion, diced and browned (preferably in margarine or butter, not oil)
3-4 oz grated parmesan

season to taste:

salt
pepper
died basil
dried oregano
garlic powder (optional and if use, use sparingly)

Boil the rice, lightly brown the onion, cook and drain the spinach, mix with big spoon in pot thoroughly, add spices, stir thoroughly, add parmesan, stir well. When adding parmesan, do to taste and texture, that is, go for the taste you want, but as it also dries out the mix, add 1/8 cups of spinach water to it, keep adding cheese and water as required to get taste and good consistency. When have those where you desire them, one more taste for seasoning (you may have watered that down while adding the water and cheese) so season more as needed, serve. Makes enough for 8-10 servings.

I needed a side for my oven BBQ brisket. Yeah I had little baked potatoes and some fresh coleslaw, but I still wanted something warm and flavorful and that was (for lack of better words) very “veggie”. I also wanted something more “regional” … in this case, southern or western or southwestern. It just seemed like that would go right with my indoor BBQ meal.

Now last week there were quite a few things I had bought for my BBQ party that I never made it out to the table. Why is that, you may ask? A combination of my being too ambitious, wanting to make too much food than was necessary, as well as for various reasons six people, three couples basically, had to bale out because of sickness or previous commitments. So there just wasn’t the impetuous to cook twice the amount of food for half the amount of people.

In short, I had these wonderful sweet yellow corn cobs in the freezer (Now, don’t knock frozen. When the Iron Chef makes Frozen Peas a secret ingredient, and various other frozen veggies are used by even five star chefs, frozen doesn’t deserve a bad knock, necessarily.) Ok, so here I was doing a Texas-style BBQ dish and I had corn. Only natural thing to do was stay in the same general area and go Southwestern.

Just as I had made my brisket in the oven. Here I was going to treat my frying pan more like a grill and “grill” (obviously the technical term here is actually in the title, pan roast) some corn and toss in some more regional ingredients and spices. I never tried this one before and I was happy with the success, the taste of it, this one is definitely going to be a oft-cooked dish in this house from now on!

Two thangs (yes, I said thangs), one, if you think this meal based on the ingredients is going to be hot, you’re wrong. It’s spiced but not spicy and actually a tad sweet. So no reason to be faint of heart, try it out. And secondly, considering this recipe I’ll jump right over giving any kind of “bon appetites” and just say instead: pull up a seat and chow down, amigos!

Southwestern Pan-Roasted Corn Vegetable Medley
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:

4 small cobs or 2 large ones, kernels cut off
14 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup of diced tomatoes, drained (no can juice)
1/2 of a medium red onion, chunks, (or one whole small one)

season to taste:

cilantro
chilli powder
garlic powder
onion powder
salt
pepper
half-lime, juice

Roast the kernels in a pan on medium-high heat with a little vegetable or peanut oil. Don’t make it too oily as you want more of a “grill” thing than a “fry” thing going here. That said you do want a lot of movement of the food in the pan (like a stir-fry). Do though add oil now and then as needed as pan will burn it off and corn may soak some up. Add seasonings. Do want to see darkening of the yellow. A touch of brown. You do not ever want to see black or “burn” on your corn. If you do, it’s either too hot, or more than likely you are not moving the pan around enough or moving the corn with a spoon enough.

After a few minutes add the onion. And a little more oil. After another couple minutes, constantly stirring or flipping the pan, add the beans and tomatoes, more oil, a second helping of all the seasonings. Turn down to medium heat. After a few minutes, juice of half a lime. Wait another half minute for that to mix in and burn a little off. Serve. Makes enough for about four people.

Just the other day I was talking to a neighbor who I had given this recipe to a couple months back, and she told me hers didn’t taste at all as good as mine, and then detailed the problems she had. So, while (for once) I didn’t make any mistakes, I’ll share hers with you so you don’t get the chance to make them yourself.

First, she took everything out of the can, including that gunky “reminants” that’s left in the bottom of cans of beans. Also she didn’t know to wash them well first. So that took something away from the taste. It was apparently much worse the next day when she decided to take some to work for lunch: she had put the dressing, feta and salad altogether.

Nope, can’t do that. Not only must you keep them in separate containers in the refrigerator. But even for a lunch even for just a few hours, you’ll need to take them into work as three separate items and always “assemble” them fresh.

Just wanted to add, I’ve had this once or twice as a “three beaner” (when my very annoying supermarket was out of the Italian beans), and while it’s not bad, I just love the Italian green beans; they really make the difference in this dish. Make it “come alive” in your mouth. Sure, you can substitute regular green beans if you want, but while they are close, they are still just not the same, not as much taste. Btw, in case you never heard of them, they are also known as Romano beans, Italian string beans, flat Italian green beans, and flat beans. And officially they are described as “flat, wide snap beans”.

I am definitely an ominvore (meat and veggie eater), leaning more towards the carnivore rather than the herbivore side, Even so, I really do love this salad. There is something, somehow “meaty” in eating beans that really surprises me. Dunno, maybe something in me recognizes the high-levels of protein. Needlesstosay this is one very healthy, and yet somehow hearty meal, that’s as delicious to look at as it is to taste.

Mediterranean Four Bean Salad
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:

19 oz can garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas)
19 oz can red kidney beans
19 oz can black beans
10 oz. italian green beans, frozen, steamed crisp
1 large red onion, large chop
4-6 scallions, green and white parts, chopped
2 cucumbers (peeled, deseeded, chunks)
1 yellow or orange bell pepper, julianned (optional)
olives, green or black, to your taste (optional)
three roma (plum) totmatos, chunks (optional)

seasonings, to taste:

basil
oregano
mint (optional)
garlic powder
salt
pepper

1 cup italian dressing
2 tbsps fresh lime juice
feta cheese (optional)

Take a little more than half of a one-pound bag of frozen Italian green beans, steam about three minutes, put into cold ice bath to stop cooking (also known as blanching). With each can of beans, empty into large strainer and wash under cold water for about half a minute, then add to large bowl. Add Italian beans, oniones, cucumbers. Add tomatoes and olives. (optional) Season once with listed seasonings. Toss using clean hands. Add more, toss again. To the cup of Italian dressing add 2 tbsps of fresh lime juice and mix. Serve with crumbled feta cheese on top. Makes about six portions.