Daily Archives: November 21, 2009

Cider Braised Chicken and Cabbage

21 Saturday Nov 2009

Posted by in Dinner, Entree, Recipe

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This is a hearty, flavorful roasted chicken dish inspired from the Irish Pub Cookbook. The chicken comes out extremely tender and savory, thanks to the beer and delicious roasted vegetables. Excellent served over mashed potatoes. (*Indicates CSA vegetable.)

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/3 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
  • Freshly ground salt and pepper
  • 2 large bone-in chicken halves, skin on (about 2 lbs.)
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 4-5 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 medium apples, unpeeled and diced*
  • 1/2 cup golden raisins
  • 2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsely
  • 1 tbsp dried rosemary
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1/2 head shredded cabbage*
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • 1 cup Irish cider, or other beer (such as a belgian ale)

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Season raw chicken with salt and pepper, on both sides. Dredge chicken in flour, shaking off excess.
  2. In a large skillet over medium heat, warm oil. Add the chicken in batches and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned. Transfer chicken to a plate, and set aside.
  3. In a large ovenproof baking dish, combine garlic through cabbage. Toss with 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Add chicken pieces, covering with vegetables. Pour the chicken stock and cider over meat and vegetables.
  4. Cover with foil and bake for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, or until chicken is tender.
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Capitol Cooking Club – Inaugural Feast

21 Saturday Nov 2009

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Within a few months of moving to the DC area, my friend and fellow foodie, Kelly, organized a cooking club – not to be confused with dinner club. Back in Seattle, Kelly gathered with friends once a month to cook a delicious meal featuring locally produced ingredients together – to learn from each other and enjoy each other’s company. Luckily, she was easily convinced to start a DC version of this fantastic monthly event. Unfortunately, I was sick and missed in the DC Inaugural Feast, however, here’s Kelly’s version of the night’s FEASTivities:

November 20, 2009 – the big kick off of our Capitol Cooking Club!

We prepared and feasted on a Thanksgiving themed dinner featuring homemade hummus, beet and bitter green salad, two different flavors of pot pie, and freshly fried apple cider donuts.

For an appetizer we made roasted pumpkin hummus in advance so we had something to snack on while we cook, go to this link for the recipe. We served the hummus with pita bread, celery, and crackers. This hummus packs a big kick fueled by cayenne pepper complemented by a touch of cinnamon. You can definitely taste the pumpkin whereas the chickpeas served to provide some thickness to the dip. The pumpkin was picked at the Homestead Farms in Poolesville, MD. The spices were selected at The Glut Food Co-op in Mt. Rainier, MD.

We prepared a lovely shaved beet and bitter greens salad with garlic balsamic vinaigrette from Gourmet magazine. This was a delightful salad, quite simple actually. We substituted the garlic balasmic vinaigrette with a organge juice and mustard reduction balsamic vinaigrette instead. It might be livened up a bit by adding some feta or shaved Parmesan cheese.

For the main course we made two different types of vegetarian pot pies. The first was Kim’s recipe, which can be made with any seasonal root vegetables, tubers, or other such veggies. The Havarti dill cheese roux was amazing and we could smell the delicious aroma escaping from the oven as it cooked. This pot pie was slightly sweet and creamy, a creative variation on this traditional dish.

Our second Thanksgiving pot pie from Vegetarian Times won the grand prize in the magazine’s Thanksgiving recipe contest, and was certainly a winner with us. This pot pie tasted just like traditional turkey pot pie, only made with mouth-watering tofu. We decided not to use a plastic bag to form the crust as this seems a bit laborious to us and instead stuck with rolling it out on a board. The crust was perfectly flaky and buttery.

As we completed our main course we sat for a moment to let everything settle. Then excitement about the dessert built up and we returned to the kitchen to make apple cider donuts. These were amazing!

We started by making some traditionally shaped donuts and quickly turned to making donut holes which were more easily rolled and held their shape. Using paper bags we completed the donuts in either a cinnamon and sugar or powered sugar coating. Delicious! These will definitely be made again – perhaps we’ll experiment with beer batter next time.

-Kelly

Thanksgiving Vegetable Pot Pie

21 Saturday Nov 2009

Posted by in Entree, Recipe, Vegetarian

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Created by Adrianne Dickson and featured in Vegetarian Times, November 2009

INGREDIENTS

Filling

  • 2 medium potatoes, diced (2 cups)
  • 2 large carrots, sliced (1 cup)
  • 3 Tbs olive oil, divided
  • 1 16oz. pkg. firm tofu, drained and cute into cubes
  • ¼ cup plus 2 tbs. San-J Tamair Soy Sauce, divided
  • ½ tsp. granulated garlic, divided
  • ½ tsp. cayenne pepper, divided
  • 2 cups sliced button mushrooms
  • 1 large onion, diced (2 cups)
  • 1 cup chopped broccoli florets
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
  • ½ cup plain soymilk
  • 3 Tbs. red wine
  • 1 Tbs. chopped fresh thyme
  • 1 Tbs. chopped fresh sage
  • 1 tsp. hoisin sauce
  • ½ tsp. vegan Worcestershire sauce

Crust

  • 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • ½ cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening
  • 1 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
  • 1 tsp. chopped fresh sage

DIRECTIONS

  1. To make Filling: Cook potatoes and carrots in large pot of boiling salted water 10 minutes, or until just tender. Drain, and set aside.
  2. Heat 1 Tbs. oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add tofu, and cook 5 minutes, or until tofu begins to brown. Stir in 2 Tbs. tamari, ¼ tsp. granulated garlic, and 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper, and cook until all liquid has evaporated.
  3. Heat 1 Tbs. oil in skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add mushrooms, and cook 2 minutes. Add onion, broccoli, and garlic, and sauté 6 to 7 minutes, or until onions begin to soften.
  4. Push veggies to side of Dutch oven. Add remaining 1 Tbs. oil to bottom of pot. Stir flour into oil with fork to make roux; stiff until smooth. Stir roux into vegetables.
  5. Stir broth into vegetables. Once gravy is smooth, add tofu, potatoes, carrots, soymilk, remaining ¼ cup tamari, and wine. Stir gently, then add thyme, sage, hoisin sauce, Worcestershire sauce, remaining 1/8 tsp. cayenne. Remove from heat, and set aside, or transfer vegetables to large casserole dish.
  6. To make Crust: Preheat oven to 375oF. Mix together flour, salt, and shortening with fork or pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Stir in up to 4 Tbs. Cold water, if necessary, for dough to stick together. Gently knead rosemary and sage into dough, and shape dough into ball. Place dough ball in plastic bag, and push out from center of ball to shape dough to size of Dutch oven or casserole dish. Remove dough from bag, and lay over vegetable filling in Dutch oven or casserole dish. Poke holes in dough to allow steam to escape. Bake 45 minutes, or until Crust is golden brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

NUTRITION INFORMATION

Per serving (1 slice): 394 Calories, 12 G Protein; 22 G Total Fat (6 G Sat Fat), 36 G Carbohydrates, <1 mg Cholesterol, 978 mg Sodium; 4 G Fiber; 5 G Sugars