green peppers stuffed with broccoli and rice.

Usually stuffed peppers contain some sort of meat, this time a cheesy rice with broccoli filling was used.

Other stuffed pepper recipes:

https://pmetro.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/stuffed-peppers/

https://pmetro.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/stuffed-peppers-2/

Prep the broccoli (and garlic ! of course)

I chose to steam instead of saute.

I usually zap the peppers in the microwave a bit to soften them up.

cut off the top and remove the seeds and ribs (but you knew that!)

as you would prepare some rice, use stock instead water for a kick of flavor.

Prepare a bechamel sauce (butter and flour with milk or for a rich sauce evaporated milk), seasoned as you would prefer.

add the broccoli mixture to the sauce.

mix in the rice

Add some grated cheese, in this case Parmesan to complete the stuffing.

in a baking dish big enough for the peppers, fill the peppers carefully and put them in the dish.

need some bread crumbs ? I chopped up some pretzels for the topping

Into the oven they go ….

run up the broiler after the peppers are hot and bubbly to get the brown crunchy top.

Curry chicken

Adapted from Chatelaine.com

The original recipe calls for chicken thighs , I have some small chicken breast pieces available.

As I have accumulated some canned coconut milk, I found a recipe that used ingredients that I had on hand.

Sauté onions in skillet with oil and a good amount of curry powder.

Add the chicken and stir to coat. Salt as necessary.

Add coconut milk, potatoes, carrots. Cover and simmer a while. Uncover and finish cooking till the sauce reduces to your liking, add the peas and seasonings.

Warm through.

Serve over rice.

A good technic for cooking ,utilizing coconut milk , a tasty dish.

sweet & hot rice

with the addition of raisins, and cardamon seeds, and dried hot pepper flakes, this rice give the sweetness and fire at the same time.

amounts are to your preference….
cover the bottom of the cooking vessel  with chopped leeks
add the rice (one cup)
add the liquid (two cups)
consisting of
vegetable broth
ginger garlic paste *
cardamon  seeds, about 5 pods, broken open
a dash of curry powder
a dash of cinnamon
a dash of smoked dried hot peppers.
dual stage microwave cook 10 minutes full, 10 minutes 1/2 power
when complete fluff, and stir in chopped raisins and nuts.

*in a small food processor, fill the bowl with good sized pieces of ginger and garlic, I buy extra to store for future recipes. (of course peel both). I eyeballed about equal amounts of both, add a small amount of vegetable oil. Process and slowly add more oil till the grinding produces a paste. Store in a small mason jar container and refrigerate. I chose the vegetable oil for neutrality versus olive oil. Much more efficient than buying either ginger and/or garlic paste from the market.

 

 

Roasted Chicken Thigh with Thai Salad

Time on the grille this weekend, soy sauce based several hour marinade* chicken thighs, slow roasted.

Parsnips, elephant garlic, cauliflower, not  shown, leeks which was the best with the crispy outer leaves and tender center.

*soy sauce, ginger, vinegar, sugar, 5 spice powder, oil etc.

 some of the grilled veggies from above were an appetizer..

a few grilled orange slices added

now a weeknight meal , some of the sliced chicken on bread, along with greens and salad.

The baking of bread continues of course.

The salad was made by one of my daughters, a lot of dicing involved.

from:

http://hostthetoast.com/thai-cashew-coconut-rice-ginger-peanut-sauce/

I made some additional peanut sauce with some substitutions and an addition, that is hot red pepper flakes !

It made it on the thick side and can be used as a dipping sauce.

It’s a change to incorporate nuts and coconut into my daily diet, IMO nuts, (peanuts, walnuts, etc. including peanut butter) is a super food.

 You can tell by the price of walnuts , cashews etc.

Other kitchen outtakes…

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Sort of a working night to get posting done , one of the freak occurrence of connection and device  problems, possibly modem, router, or cable problems intermittently. Plus another screen replacement for the mobile device, when these are cracked, almost impossible to use and a botched Imessage implementation. Thanks in advance for stopping by.

 

 

 

 

 

Pork Fried Rice

Easter dinner (yet to be posted), left us with leftovers, one of the advantages of hosting dinner is that when cooking a meal that you don’t often have , you allow for extra, both for giving out “take out ” containers to guests and having leftovers available during the week.

Diced pork from a crown roast was sauteed to brown and reserved. Add one cup of rice to a heavy skillet along with a bit of oil and shallots. Stir to coat rice and cook shallot slightly.

With heat at high, add 2 cups broth, stock or whatever to skillet. Let the mixture boil uncovered about 5 minutes till most of the broth dissipates. Sprinkle soy sauce over rice mixture till your satisfied with the taste and color. I add a bit of dried red pepper flakes here.

Depending with the type of rice continue cooking over low heat a few more minutes or shut the flame down and cover. Go do something else for about 15 minutes.

I just put the diced pork on a plate and plated the rice over it.

Perhaps if i wasn’t so hungry I would have added some celery and onions.
Served with a White House Honey Porter
https://peabodypico.wordpress.com/2016/03/27/64-white-house-honey-porter/

Roasted veggie risotto

Rice …. I could be a rice a holic ( only if my spell checker lets me!)

Just be satisfied with a bowl of rice?  .. Well not exactly..

I’ve made rice several ways and a risotto method can be quick and leaves some room for additions.

By eye about 1 and 1/2 cups of rice to about double the amount of broth.

Have the broth brought up to a boil and simmering before you get started.

  
  
Some dice roasted veggies , here onion, fennel, garlic and carrot , ready to go.

A bit of butter to the pan and toss the rice till coated and sauté for a couple of minutes.

Usually here you add finely  diced onion, but veggies will be added later.

Also you don’t have to use aborio rice to get decent results. I use usually what ever I have on the shelve.

  
Have the pan at medium high heat… And add the broth, be aware that it may steam up a spatter somewhat…

I add a bit less than half the broth.

  
The basic risotto lesson….STIR , that’s all…

  
I keep it a medium high heat , not to boil the hell out of it, you want the rice to absorb the water, not evaporate it.

  
When most of the broth is absorbed… Add more, you’ll want to divi up the remainder of the simmering broth when adding to the rice for about 2 or 3 additions. STIR…  repeat the process with the remaining broth.

  
Once all the broth has been added or your rice is close to the consistency you enjoy, add the veggies.

  
Stir and heat through, and now the final and best step , add grated cheese (again by eye) usually Romano or Parmesan OFF HEAT. ….and STIR….

  
Plate it up !

  
MMMMMM…… Work shirt approved!

X  

Risotto with mung beans

Cooking up the usual till I tried this.

Right! sounds like a strange combination but it worked….

Picking items off the shelve from the pantry ,aborio rice and a package of mung beans, ended up with this delicious combination.

Gage the rice/bean ratio to your liking.

However you decide to make your risotto, I sautéed some onion and garlic , fine dice of course, add the rice and continue. Just before adding the simmering stock, in this case chicken , with chicken fat, throw in some dried mung beans, add the stock in increments, stirring, stirring and stirring.

My finish  is on the creamy side, off heat add grated Parmesan and Romano ..

Plate up.