Smoky, Sweet and Satisfying

I love a good pulled chicken or pulled pork sandwich. It’s warm, flavorful comfort food. I found this recipe for a quick barbecue pulled chicken sandwich that looked tempting. As I read through the recipe, though, the quantities didn’t sound quite right, so I made a number of adjustments. Cole slaw is a traditional accompaniment and while I do like cole slaw, I wanted something that would be as sweet and smoky as the sandwich itself. So I went with roasted sweet potatoes with smoked paprika. It’s a different smoky-sweet, but one that complements the smoky-sweet of the barbecue sauce very well.

Barbecue Pulled Chicken Sandwiches (4 servings)

• 6 tbsp. ketchup
• 2 tbsp. cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ tsp. ground ginger
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, butterflied and cut in half
• 4 sandwich rolls, sliced and toasted

1. Combine all the ingredients except the rolls in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Shred the chicken with two forks and return to the sauce. Cook over medium-high until heated through, 1-2 minutes.
3. Spoon chicken onto the toasted rolls.

Sweet Potatoes Roasted with Smoked Paprika (4 servings)

• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• ½ tsp. smoked paprika
• ½ tsp. kosher salt

1. Preheat the oven to 450°.
2. Toss the sweet potato wedges with the oil, smoked paprika and salt. Arrange the wedges in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, turning after 10 minutes.

Cream of Spinach Soup

I’m always amazed at how terrific a vegetable soup can be. There are a lot of ways you can really fancy up a cream of vegetable soup but I like mine relatively unadorned so the flavor of the vegetable is the star. Cream of spinach soup is also visually rewarding with its gorgeous green color. A bowl this with a hunk of crusty bread and an apple or pear for dessert may be just a simple meal, but it certainly is a satisfying one.
Cream of Spinach Soup (6 servings)

• 1 onion, chopped
• ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 large potato, peeled and diced
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 20 oz. spinach, rinsed and tough stems removed
• 1 cup light cream

1. Heat the olive oil in a soup pot. Add the onions and sauté until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the nutmeg and potatoes and sauté 3 minutes.
2. Add the chicken stock. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender, about 20-25 minutes. Add the spinach, cover, and cook another 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Purée the soup. Add the cream and gently heat on low.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

A recipe for Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing has been sitting in my “inspiration” folder for quite awhile now. The rainy and chilly weekend called out for a warm salad and the idea of roasted sweet potatoes and a bacon dressing sounded cozy and delicious so I tried it out. There are a lot of flavors in this recipe but they harmonize really well.

The original recipe just serves the roasted vegetables over a bed of baby spinach. I decided to mix it all together so that the spinach wilts and everything is incorporated together and I really like it that way. I even ate leftovers warm; I just popped it into the microwave for 20 or 30 seconds, just enough to take the chill off but not enough to heat it completely. I used cider vinegar instead of red wine vinegar but I’m not sure it really makes that much of a difference. This is my ever-so-slightly changed version.


Roasted Sweet Potato Salad (4 to 6 servings)

• 3 large sweet potatoes
• 2 large onions
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed
• 2 tsbp. olive oil
• ½ tsp. plus extra to tasted freshly ground black pepper
• 4 oz. bacon
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 tbsp. orange juice (about ½ an orange)
• 2 tbsp. honey
• 6 oz. baby spinach

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes. Peel and cut onions in eight pieces. Toss the sweet potatoes and onions with olive oil, garlic, and ½ tsp. pepper. Arrange sweet potatoes and onions on a lightly oiled, aluminum foil-lined baking sheet. Bake, stirring occasionally, for 40-45 minutes until the vegetables are tender and lightly brown.
3. Cook bacon slices in a large skillet until crisp. Remove the bacon and drain on paper towels, reserving 1 tbsp. drippings in the skillet. Add the vinegar, orange juice, honey, and pepper to the skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring until thoroughly heated. Crumble the bacon and stir it into the dressing.
4. Put the spinach in a large bowl. Add the roasted sweet potatoes and onions. Pour the bacon dressing over the top and stir gently to combine until the spinach wilts.

Honey-Mustard Chicken Salad

I love chicken salad; it’s so versatile. So easy to make and there almost endless variations. This time I made a honey-mustard chicken salad with almonds and tomatoes. Often, honey-mustard recipes go too heavy on both the honey and mustard for an overpowering combination of too sharp and too sweet. Here the honey and mustard are subtle; you can taste them but you can also taste the chicken itself. The toasted almonds add a nice crunch that complements the other flavors.


Honey-Mustard Chicken Salad (6 servings)

• 2 oz. sliced almonds
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp. whole grain mustard
• 2 tsp. honey
• 2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• 2 tomatoes, seeded and diced
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Put the almond slices in a small skillet and toast over medium heat, stirring frequently, until lightly browned. Remove from the heat and cool.
2. Whisk together the mayonnaise, mustards, honey, and pepper.
3. Put the chicken, tomatoes, and almonds in a large bowl. Add the mayonnaise mixture and mix gently to combine.
4. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend.

Roasted Red Cabbage

A recipe for barley and beef soup from Cooking Light magazine caught my fancy this weekend. But I’ve been craving vegetables and wanted to add a side dish. Usually when this happens I gravitate toward green veggies but the red cabbage looked amazing at the store. It’s deep purple color looked luscious. I wanted to try something different, so I roasted the red cabbage, which worked really well. The outer leaves get crispy, the cabbage is cooked but still has a nice crunch, and the flavor is wonderful. The nutty sweetness of the cabbage complemented the beefiness of the soup and my craving was satisfied.


Roasted Red Cabbage (4 servings)

• 1 head red cabbage
• Olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Cut the cabbage into 1-inch slices then cut each slice in half, leaving the core intact. Place the cabbage on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, tossing gently to coat. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Roast 10-12 minutes. Turn the cabbage and roast another 10-12 minutes.

Pumpkin Quiche with Pancetta, Parmesan, and Thyme

Pumpkin again! This time I thought I would make a quiche with pumpkin, pancetta, Parmesan cheese, and fresh thyme. Not only did it work really well – the pumpkin helps give it a velvety custard consistency – the flavors were intense. This is a fairly strong dish; one small slice with a light salad on the side makes for a very satisfying meal.

The pumpkin works well with the strong flavors but I would like to make this again to try a more subtle version for comparison. My thought is to mellow the sharpness by replacing the Parmesan cheese with sweeter, creamier goat cheese and to perhaps eliminate the thyme altogether.

Pumpkin Quiche (makes one 9” quiche)

• Pie crust
• 1 tsp. olive oil plus extra to grease pan
• 4 oz. pancetta, chopped
• 2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks
• 1 15-oz. can pumpkin
• 1 ½ cups light cream
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tsp. fresh thyme
  Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Brush a quiche or pie pan with olive oil. Roll the pie crust until it is 12” across. Put the pastry it in a the pan. Press some foil into the middle so it won’t puff. Bake for 10 minutes. Discard the foil.
2. Heat the olive oil. Add the pancetta and sauté until crisp, 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat and drain.
3. Turn the oven down to 375°. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, pumpkin, and cream together. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, pancetta, thyme, and black pepper. Ladle the egg mixture into the pastry. Bake until nicely browned, about 30 minutes.
   

Feijoada (Brazilian Black Bean Stew)

Feijoada (Brazilian black bean stew) is one of my favorite dishes of all time. I hadn’t made it in a very long time and since Sunday promised to be a lazy, rainy day, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for a long-simmering stew.

This is a simple, peasant-y dish that contains only a few simple ingredients but is absolutely delicious. And it’s one of those dishes that gets even better the next day. I usually use kielbasa for the sausage but this time I decided to try linguiça and that worked really well, too.

Don’t be tempted to use canned beans as a shortcut. I’m not against canned beans – in fact I use them quite often – but they simply do not work for this dish (I’ve tried). It really is worth the time to soak the dried beans overnight and then simmer the stew all afternoon.

Feijoada (8 servings)

• 1 lb. dried black beans
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed
• ¾ lb. boneless pork loin ribs, cut into ¾-inch cubes
• ¾ lb. linguiça or kielbasa, sliced
• 5 cups water
• salt to taste
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cups white or Basmati rice, cooked

1. Put the beans in a large bowl and pick through them, removing any bad ones. Place enough cold water in the bowl to cover the beans by an inch and soak overnight.
2. Drain the beans and rinse them thoroughly.
3. Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the onions and garlic and sauté for 3-5 minutes. Add the pork and sausage and cook, stirring, about 10 minutes.
4. Add the beans, water, salt, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 4 hours. If the stew is too watery, puree 2-3 cups of the beans, then stir back into the stew.
5. Serve with the rice.