Sausage and broccoli with pasta

WOW ! I haven’t had pasta, dried, that is in so long.

I’ve made the recipe before but this time less the sweet red pepper and a few substitutions so it’s a repeat of a former posting.

Mis en place early in the day, the salsicciotti was ready in the fridge, just a slight twist to make them smaller than the full size.

Here the recipe with a thanks to Nick Stellino I couldn’t find this recipe online recently. The one I have was printed out.

3 tbl extra virgin olive oil

1 and 1/2 lbs of sweet or spicy sausage

4 garlic cloves, course cut

1 red onion , medium dice

2 red peppers diced

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 cup white wine

3/4 lb of broccoli florets, cut to 1 inch pieces

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

3 tbl softened butter

3 tbl pecorino or romano cheese.

As you can see I didn’t cut them apart so they sprung back to full size for some.

Add the garlic, some family members may be opening the windows and activating the whole house fan to exhaust to the wonderful aroma!

Course white onions added

Nicely browned with the dried red pepper flakes

Looks like a lot of broccoli but it will cook down.

After the 30 minute simmer ,add the butter and cheese.

Plated, real good !

cooking with coconut milk (chicken)

One of the ingredients I’ve been slowly  incorporating into recipes is coconut milk. From Thai grilled shrimp to this,  it uses some similar elements for a different take on chicken. As the story goes there are probably more ways to cook chicken than anything else.

First step, thawing out and thin slicing some boneless chicken breast, many in the freezer at this time.

Thin cut chicken breast

chicken fillets with spice paste

Next using Thai spice paste, rub the chicken and stack the fillets, let stand for about an hour, I find that this is a quick acting spice paste so a meal can be prepared with a shorter lead time than an overnight marinate.

ground hot pepper, allspice,cloves, cassia bark star anise,celery seed, fenugreek, ginger and turmeric in center.

Free hand a spice pallet, here cinnamon, fenugreek, allspice, peppercorns, ground hot smoked pepper, whole peppercorns and the like. One of my attempts at assembling a combination. Researching some recipes revels that the ingredients are often dictated by what was locally grown and available at the time even depending on the weather and harvest conditions and may be influenced by religion. I opened the spice closet.

 

toasting or sputtering the whole spices

Heat a small amount of oil and flash or sputter the spices quickly, add the sliced onions ,sliced lemongrass and a bit of water to prevent burning.

quickly add the slice onion and lemongrass.

Cook the onion and spice mixture several minutes , add water along the way if necessary till translucent. remove to a plate.

pan fry quickly the chicken breast till just done

Yes the breast are huge!  This was slicing from only one piece.  When all are browned, return to the pan.

Add the coconut milk, grated turmeric and ginger and several tomatoes along with the previously cooked onions and lemon grass.

Mix slightly, cover and simmer till heated through. Taste and adjust spices. I was surprised ! The coconut milk evened out all the spices, taste was more than I expected even a bit of heat with the sweetness of the coconut milk.

plated it up with rice and cool cucumbers.

The chicken was fork tender, not overcooked. A pleasant alternative to conventional chicken gravy,  a lighter sweeter taste.

 

Braised boneless pork ribs with barley and mung beans

A tasty meal, brown the pork ribs throughly in oil, add sliced white onion, grated turmeric root, several small fresh  tomato and ground pepper(s) a pinch of curry  spices. Also added some oregano, and thyme.

When everything is fragrant, and the onion wilted, add hot stock to the pan, simmer covered. Add additional hot stock during the process if necessary. Just before the pork is tender, again,  bring up the level of the liquid, add the barley and mung bean (a dried packaged mix), cover simmer 10 minutes, move from the flame, keep covered for about 10 more minutes. Serve. The barley tender, the mung bean firm.

What was left in the pan after serving………

Salsa

Skip the store bought version , get creative with ingredients on hand.

   
 

Roasted Veggies with barley

   Too simple…
Prepare barley

1 cup barley to 2 1/2 cup water
While the barley simmers, cut and dice vegetables.
Fennel
White onion
Green onion
Garlic
Carrot
I used a almost a whole fennel, including some of the stems diced like celery.

Medium dice on the bulb, and some of the fennel tips.
White onion, medium dice.
Green onions, medium dice, both the white portion and green stems.
Carrots cut to similar size.
Toss with salt, pepper, oil, a bit of rosemary.

Cut a piece of parchment paper about double the size of the baking sheet. Center the parchment paper on the baking sheet, add the veggies and fold and seal the paper, all edges to enclose the veggies.
Bake in a moderate oven for about an hour.

The fennel is very flavorable with the accompanying veggies , no other seasonings were needed.

Serve over barley.

The texture of the veggies were just right, not mushy, not too crisp.

With added broth, would be a good soup.