The Food - Picadillo

Picadillo - This happens to be gluten free

I think this might have originally been in the New York Times, but I think I saw it being prepared on the Today show - but I'm not sure. 

It is easy to make and delicious.

When I saw it being made on TV it reminded me of some wonderful tamales we had in Roatan, an island off of Honduras, several years ago.  I think these spices were what the tamales were seasoned with - but the meat in the tamales was chicken. 

I used garlic stuffed green olives and canned, crushed tomatoes.  I used 1/2 lb. of regular chorizo from our local grocery store.  I did not use capers.

"Picadillo is one of the great dishes of the Cuban diaspora: a soft, fragrant stew of ground beef and tomatoes, with raisins added for sweetness and olives for salt. Versions of it exist across the Caribbean and into Latin America. This one combines ground beef with intensely seasoned dried Spanish chorizo in a sofrito of onions, garlic and tomatoes, and scents it with red-wine vinegar, cinnamon and cumin, along with bay leaves and pinches of ground cloves and nutmeg. For the olives you may experiment with fancy and plain, but rigorous testing here suggests the use of pimento-stuffed green olives is the best practice. A scattering of capers would be welcome as well."

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Ingredients

·         2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

·         2 medium-size yellow onions, peeled and chopped

·         2 ounces dried chorizo, diced

·         4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

·         1 ½ pounds ground beef

·         Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

·         4 ripe tomatoes, chopped, or one 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, drained and crushed

·         2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar

·         1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

·         2 teaspoons ground cumin

·         2 bay leaves

·         Pinch of ground cloves

·         Pinch of nutmeg

·         ⅔ cup raisins

·         ⅔ cup pitted stuffed olives.

Preparation

1.     Put the olive oil in a large, heavy pan set over a medium-high flame, and heat until it begins to shimmer. Add onions, chorizo and garlic, stir to combine and cook until the onions have started to soften, approximately 10 minutes.

2.     Add the ground beef, and allow it to brown, crumbling the meat with a fork as it does. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

3.     Add tomatoes, vinegar, cinnamon, cumin, bay leaves, cloves and nutmeg and stir to combine. Lower the heat, and let the stew simmer, covered, for approximately 30 minutes.

4.     Uncover the pan, and add the raisins and the olives. Allow the stew to cook for another 15 minutes or so, then serve, accompanied by white rice.

The Food - Two New Noodly Dishes For Fall

Spaghetti with Mushroom and Tomato Sauce

Serves 4
Use a spoon to scrape the dark brown gills from the portobellos.

Ingredients

1 ounce dried mixed Italian mushrooms, rinsed well

• 1 cup water 


• 8  ounces pancetta, cut into 1/2-inch pieces


• 1/2 pound portobello mushrooms (2 large), stems and gills removed and discarded, caps cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 1 1/2 cups) (see note)


• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil


• 4 medium garlic cloves, peeled and sliced thin


• 1 tablespoon tomato paste


• 2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary leaves 


• 5 whole vine-ripened tomatoes, cut into chunks 


• Table salt and ground black pepper


• 1 pound spaghetti


• Grated Romano, for serving  

Instruction

1.  Place porcini and water in small heat-safe bowl; cover with 1 cup boiling water.   Let stand until mushrooms soften, about 10 minutes. Lift mushrooms from water with fork and finely chop. Strain water through fine-mesh strainer lined with large coffee filter into medium bowl. Set aside mushrooms and water.
   2. Heat pancetta in 12-inch skillet over medium heat; cook, stirring occasionally, until rendered and crisp, 7 to 10 minutes. Add portobellos, chopped porcini, olive oil, garlic, tomato paste, and rosemary; cook, stirring occasionally, until all liquid has evaporated and tomato paste starts to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Add reserved mushroom water, crushed tomatoes, and their juices; increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until thickened, 15 to 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
   3. While sauce simmers, bring 4 quarts water to boil in large Dutch oven. Add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta; cook until al dente. Drain pasta, reserving ½ cup cooking water, and return to pot. Add sauce to pasta and toss to combine. Adjust consistency with reserved pasta water and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve, passing Pecorino separately.

The above recipe came from America's Test Kitchen, but I made a few minor changes to accommodate my ingredients and methods.  It is absolutely delicious!  It is a great way to showcase great fresh tomatoes as well as fall mushrooms. 

Thai-Style Stir-Fried Noodles with Pork and Broccolini

Serves 4

The flat pad thai–style rice noodles that are used in this recipe can be found in the Asian foods section of most supermarkets. If you can’t find broccolini, you can substitute an equal amount of conventional broccoli, but be sure to trim and peel the stalks before cutting.

Ingredients

• Chile Vinegar

• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 1 serrano chile, stemmed and sliced into thin rings

• Stir-Fry

• 2 (6-ounce) boneless pork chops 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 8 ounces (1/4-inch-wide) rice noodles
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 2  teaspoon molasses
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced thin
• 3 large eggs
• 10 ounces broccolini, florets cut into 1-inch pieces, stalks cut on bias into 1/2-inch pieces (5 cups)

Instructions

1. FOR THE CHILE VINEGAR: Combine vinegar and serrano in bowl. Let stand at room temperature for at least 15 minutes.2. FOR THE STIR-FRY: Combine chicken with 2 tablespoons water and baking soda in bowl. Let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Rinse chicken in cold water and drain well.
   
   3. Bring 6 cups water to boil. Place noodles in large bowl. Pour boiling water over noodles. Stir, then soak until noodles are almost tender, about 8 minutes, stirring once halfway through soak. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain well and toss with 2 teaspoons oil.
   4. Whisk oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, molasses, and fish sauce together in bowl.
   5. Heat 2 teaspoons oil and garlic in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat, stirring occasionally, until garlic is deep golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Add chicken and 2 tablespoons sauce mixture, toss to coat, and spread chicken into even layer. Cook, without stirring, until chicken begins to brown, 1 to 1½ minutes. Using tongs, flip chicken and cook, without stirring, until second side begins to brown, 1 to 1½ minutes. Push chicken to 1 side of skillet. Add 2 teaspoons oil to cleared side of skillet. Add eggs to clearing. Using rubber spatula, stir eggs gently and cook until set but still wet. Stir eggs into chicken and continue to cook, breaking up large pieces of egg, until eggs are fully cooked, 30 to 60 seconds. Transfer chicken mixture to bowl.
   6. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in now-empty skillet until smoking. Add broccolini and 2 tablespoons sauce and toss to coat. Cover skillet and cook for 2 minutes, stirring once halfway through cooking. Remove lid and continue to cook until broccolini is crisp and very brown in spots, 2 to 3 minutes, stirring once halfway through cooking. Transfer broccolini to bowl with chicken mixture.
   7. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in now-empty skillet until smoking. Add half of noodles and 2 tablespoons sauce and toss to coat. Cook until noodles are starting to brown in spots, about 2 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking. Transfer noodles to bowl with chicken mixture. Repeat with remaining 2 teaspoons oil, noodles, and sauce. When second batch of noodles is cooked, add contents of bowl back to skillet and toss to combine. Cook, without stirring, until everything is warmed through, 1 to 1½ minutes. Transfer to platter and serve immediately, passing chile vinegar separately.

This recipe is also from America's Test Kitchen, and is a super way to use fresh broccolini from the garden.  I changed a couple of ingredients to use what I had on hand.