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| Wee manti - Turkish bite-sized dumplings with yogurt sauce and paprika butter - Photo by Wasabi Prime |
Showing posts with label yogurt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yogurt. Show all posts
Monday, October 20, 2014
UnRecipe: To Manti!
Stupid/Nerdy Movie Reference Moment: that part in The Golden Child, where Eddie Murphy is performing all these different trials to earn the right to wield some mystical knife, so that he can save the Golden Child from a demonic captor (who also happens to be on Game of Thrones, as Tywin Lannister). I'm not making this up, People Who Were Born in/after the 1980s -- this movie exists. And it's wonderful. And in typical Eddie Murphy fashion, he's throwing humorous quips as he avoids Indiana Jones-like death traps, complaining that the trials are being run by famed game show host, Monty Hall. On one of the last trials, Murphy raises a glass of water and says: To Monty! And that long, stupid anecdote is how we get to Turkish dumplings, aka, manti. Sorry I'm a dork.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
OMG a Recipe: Meatless... Wednesday?
Happy Meatless Wednesday! Doesn't quite have the same ring to it as Meatless Monday, does it? Of course, the point is not to embrace vegetarianism specifically for Monday, but to pick at least one day out of the week to eat your greens and curb your animal consumption. And it's not just for consideration for food with a face, but on a larger planetary scale, given the fact that livestock requires a considerable amount of resources, something we all agree are in finite supply. By cutting back the demand, it reduces not only the draw on the planet's resources, it makes makes the notion of smaller farms a more attainable goal, so that when we do eat meat, they're raised in better, healthier conditions, which positively affects the eater, ie, us. This isn't some pie-in-the-sky, hippie-dippy idea, it's sound advice to consider, but the reason I'm doing a Meatless Wednesday post is because I think the key to any goal-oriented diet is very simple: Planning. So note to self: you have several days to get inspired over what you'll be eating this upcoming Monday, and I hope this is it!
Vegetarian isn't a bad word, despite Anthony Bourdain's railings, rants and wailings. Agreed, I'm not going to just sit in an ashram and eat birdseed until I stumble upon Nirvana or the blood sugar crash of the century, but I don't see any issue with choosing ingredients for a meal that didn't once roam or swim the earth, prior to making its way into my kitchen. I'm the first person to say we were inducted into the Cult of High Protein Diets, where if there wasn't something meaty on the plate, it wasn't something worth eating. But one can't subsist on bacon and steaks alone, sorry to burst your Man-Dream Bubble. I will say embracing a love of eating meat and making it a point to get more protein in my diet was a good thing -- if anything, I learned how unbalanced my meals were, prior to the change, having meals of too much refined carbohydrates like pasta and bread. But a pendulum swings both ways -- I've had meals where you're in a food coma, stricken with the dreaded meat-sweats, wondering why your pores are weeping bacon grease. Middle ground, let's find that, shall we?
Going meatless for one day out of the week isn't such a chore -- you've probably done it many times, just not realizing it. Some oatmeal for breakfast, a simple salad for lunch and maybe a cheese pizza or grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup for dinner -- not a face on any of those foods. Granted, not vegan, but nobody's perfect. The biggest challenge for going meatless is choosing the right balance of ingredients so you're not just eating grilled cheese sandwiches and French fries, as tempting as that sounds. I've been relying on beans and whole grains like quinoa and pearled barley. I've pretty much changed over to brown rice, only getting short grain white rice once in a while if I'm making the marvelous thing that is Spam Musubi -- gotta have sticky rice. The problem with a lot of classic American and European dishes is that they're built on the notion of an omnivorous meal. By taking out the meat, you cripple the dish considerably -- roast chicken and vegetables is a little lackluster with just roasted vegetables. So I get inspiration from other places, specifically Indian, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine. Indian food, especially, as vegetarianism is a way of life, and their dishes are so rich with flavor and spices, you could put cardboard in a marvelous curry sauce and it would taste like a dream. Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine is similar in that their seasonings are intense and they use a lot of citrus and garlic to heighten flavors. The enjoyment of a meal is not focused solely on the ingredient, but how it's prepared and the way flavors are manipulated.
So this led to my Marvelous Meatless Monday Meal that I'm Sharing on a Wednesday: chickpea and quinoa patties topped with a minted yogurt and cucumber sauce, served with salad greens and toasted pearl barley mixed with roasted vegetables. This is not the sadface herbed pasta primavera that gets served to the one vegetarian from standard restaurant menus. This is the dish you want to eat, you crave it because of what it is, and not what it's missing.
The "meat" of the dish is of course the chickpea and quinoa patties, inspired by falafel, a traditional Middle Eastern style of chickpea or bean-based fritter. This version is fairly simple, with the addition of quinoa to add more protein and a nice bite, as chickpeas can be quite creamy when mashed. I used some cornmeal as well, mostly for added texture, plus it gives it a little sweetness as well. I used an egg to bind, but if you're making this vegan-friendly, consider adding a little tahini paste to help tighten the mix and make it easier to form into their shape. I made these as little patties, versus little round meatballs. It's easier to pan-fry and they cook faster with the widened surface area. I topped them with plain yogurt mixed with citrus zest and juice, chopped cucumber and shredded mint, but the patties are delicious on their own, you don't really need anything, as I was snacking on them plain, without complaint.
The side dish of toasted barley with roasted vegetables was inspired by a One Night Only Dinner with Chef Josh Henderson, where barley was cooked, and then toasted in the oven to give it a little extra crunch. That was a great touch, and the method stayed fully locked in my mind. I roasted a mix of vegetables -- squash, broccoli, whatever I had available. I cooked the barley on the stovetop and let it cool and chill before spreading it on a baking sheet and letting the broiler crisp it up a little. I put everything together with a light drizzle of olive oil and some salt and pepper. Very simple, the seasonings can vary, as can the vegetables, but the key was the cooked and toasted barley. It's a more nutrient-rich alternative to pasta and it will give you that sated, full feeling more than brown rice. I admit, I was never much of a barley-eater, it was something I'd find in soups or stews as a filler, but it's really delicious as a side dish, and the way its texture can be played with, it makes for a fun ingredient to work with.
I'm sharing the chickpea fritter recipe, as the barley and yogurt sauce are pretty self-explanatory -- when you buy barley in a bag, it will come with basic cooking ingredients, and I trust you to figure out which vegetables you wish to roast. This should be a dish of your favorite vegetables so that you get excited about this meal and not feel like it's your civic responsibility. It's dinner, not jury duty.
Chickpea and Quinoa Fritters
(servings vary on how large or small you want to make 'em)
Ingredients
1 can of chickpeas (15 oz)
1 cup of cooked quinoa (follow the preparation on the box or bag)
2 tablespoons of cornmeal
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
vegetable oil to pan-fry
(Optional seasonings to add - if you don't have them, it's fine to leave out)
2 teaspoons dried dill
1 teaspoon dried mint
1 teaspoon sumac
1 teaspoon turmeric (mostly for color - gives it a nice golden color)
Take all ingredients and mash in a bowl - a potato masher works well to crush the chickpeas into a soft paste. Once mashed, place in refrigerator to cool and set for at least an hour.Take the mixture and separate into the portion size you want and form into patties.
When ready to cook, take a large frying pan, preheat it to medium and drizzle the bottom with a tablespoon or two of vegetable oil to coat. Carefully place the formed patties into the oil, and cook in batches so that the pan isn't overcrowded. The medium heat will give the patties a nice, crispy outer toasting and gently cook the inside, but not burn the patties. You want a nice crust, which will help keep the patty shape, as it will still be more delicate than a meat patty. Cook on both sides and set finished patties on paper towels to drain before serving.
They can be served with a yogurt sauce or enjoyed on their own. If made into larger patties, they can be a vegetarian option for a hamburger.
 |
| The delicious meal where you won't miss a thing, especially flavor - Photo by Wasabi Prime |
Going meatless for one day out of the week isn't such a chore -- you've probably done it many times, just not realizing it. Some oatmeal for breakfast, a simple salad for lunch and maybe a cheese pizza or grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup for dinner -- not a face on any of those foods. Granted, not vegan, but nobody's perfect. The biggest challenge for going meatless is choosing the right balance of ingredients so you're not just eating grilled cheese sandwiches and French fries, as tempting as that sounds. I've been relying on beans and whole grains like quinoa and pearled barley. I've pretty much changed over to brown rice, only getting short grain white rice once in a while if I'm making the marvelous thing that is Spam Musubi -- gotta have sticky rice. The problem with a lot of classic American and European dishes is that they're built on the notion of an omnivorous meal. By taking out the meat, you cripple the dish considerably -- roast chicken and vegetables is a little lackluster with just roasted vegetables. So I get inspiration from other places, specifically Indian, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine. Indian food, especially, as vegetarianism is a way of life, and their dishes are so rich with flavor and spices, you could put cardboard in a marvelous curry sauce and it would taste like a dream. Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine is similar in that their seasonings are intense and they use a lot of citrus and garlic to heighten flavors. The enjoyment of a meal is not focused solely on the ingredient, but how it's prepared and the way flavors are manipulated.
 |
| Don't fear your vegetables, they are your friends! - Photos by Wasabi Prime |
The "meat" of the dish is of course the chickpea and quinoa patties, inspired by falafel, a traditional Middle Eastern style of chickpea or bean-based fritter. This version is fairly simple, with the addition of quinoa to add more protein and a nice bite, as chickpeas can be quite creamy when mashed. I used some cornmeal as well, mostly for added texture, plus it gives it a little sweetness as well. I used an egg to bind, but if you're making this vegan-friendly, consider adding a little tahini paste to help tighten the mix and make it easier to form into their shape. I made these as little patties, versus little round meatballs. It's easier to pan-fry and they cook faster with the widened surface area. I topped them with plain yogurt mixed with citrus zest and juice, chopped cucumber and shredded mint, but the patties are delicious on their own, you don't really need anything, as I was snacking on them plain, without complaint.
 |
| Chickpeas, quinoa and seasonings ready for HULK SMASH - Photo by Wasabi Prime |
 |
| Celebrate the season and try new ingredients you've never used before - Photos by Wasabi Prime |
Chickpea and Quinoa Fritters
(servings vary on how large or small you want to make 'em)
Ingredients
1 can of chickpeas (15 oz)
1 cup of cooked quinoa (follow the preparation on the box or bag)
2 tablespoons of cornmeal
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
vegetable oil to pan-fry
(Optional seasonings to add - if you don't have them, it's fine to leave out)
2 teaspoons dried dill
1 teaspoon dried mint
1 teaspoon sumac
1 teaspoon turmeric (mostly for color - gives it a nice golden color)
Take all ingredients and mash in a bowl - a potato masher works well to crush the chickpeas into a soft paste. Once mashed, place in refrigerator to cool and set for at least an hour.Take the mixture and separate into the portion size you want and form into patties.
When ready to cook, take a large frying pan, preheat it to medium and drizzle the bottom with a tablespoon or two of vegetable oil to coat. Carefully place the formed patties into the oil, and cook in batches so that the pan isn't overcrowded. The medium heat will give the patties a nice, crispy outer toasting and gently cook the inside, but not burn the patties. You want a nice crust, which will help keep the patty shape, as it will still be more delicate than a meat patty. Cook on both sides and set finished patties on paper towels to drain before serving.
They can be served with a yogurt sauce or enjoyed on their own. If made into larger patties, they can be a vegetarian option for a hamburger.
Monday, February 27, 2012
OMG a Recipe: A Waffle-y Big Adventure
I blame the punchy buzz of morning coffee for doing a post mash-up about waffles and a 1995 Hugh Grant/Alan Rickman movie called An Awfully Big Adventure. It makes for a somewhat pun-ny post title, and maybe one could argue these Spiced Waffles with Greek Yogurt and Apple Compote have sweetness cut with a bit of tart sourness -- much like the movie -- but that would be really stretching relevancy, no? Meh... let's just continue on this waffle-y bad pun.
I actually put together this breakfast combo a while back, when family was in town last spring. Call them vintage waffles. I meant to post the recipe sooner, but if you write a blog, you know how life happens, posts back up, and then you find yourself trying to make this stuff look freshy-fresh when you know you made this thing like, a year ago. But it doesn't mean it's bad, quite the contrary, as I was reminded I should make these again when there's a brunch needing to be had. I wanted to make an apple pie-inspired of waffle, substituting Greek yogurt for ice cream. You could make it more dessert-like and used whipped cream, but the goal behind this particular breakfast combination was to balance a little bit of health with treat-value. The waffles are made from whole wheat and oat flour; there's still eggs and butter in it, so it's not totally health-conscious, but I tried to keep the sugar content low, knowing it would be topped with fruit. I prefer using a Belgian waffle iron -- I love the big-toothed grid, leaving larger spots for other flavors to seep in -- but any ol' waffle iron would do. You could make these as pancakes, the conversion is included in the recipe below, but come on -- drag that waffle iron out. It's lonely. It needs to feel useful, no matter how much of a pain it is to clean. And that's the thing about waffles -- you make it in large batches, so that's why it's great to feed a small group you're entertaining on a Sunday.
The movie you shouldn't see while entertaining guests is the post's namesake -- An Awfully Big Adventure. I linked the preview if you want to get a peek, but let me assure you, the charming preview was the exact opposite of what the story was. It was marketed as a clever comedy, and I got roped in by the perennial charms of Alan Rickman. Frankly, I was a little scarred for life after seeing it. I know it was years ago when I rented it on Ye Olde VHS format, but to this day, I still have a little bit of a beef with this movie. It went from slightly melancholic British comedy to "whoa, things got super-dark, super-fast," leaving you with the feeling that maybe you should make some warm and toasty waffles with a comforting apple compote to calm your disturbed nerves. Or make a really stiff drink, repeat as necessary. It wasn't a bad movie, the performances were all very solid and the story was quite compelling, but dangit, I was expecting something sweet and got the equivalent of a punch in the face. But at least I got to use it as a play on words for a waffle post; build those bridges one carb at a time.
Spiced Waffle Mix
Dry Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oat flour (oatmeal ground up in food processor
to flour consistency)
2 tbsp sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
2 tbsp pumpkin spice powder
Wet Ingredients:
2 cups water or milk
2 large eggs
6 tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
This mix can be used for pancakes if you don’t have a waffle iron, just reduce the butter/oil amount to 4 tablespoons.
You can also mix the dry ingredients ahead of time to always have a pancake/waffle mix handy for future use, and then add the wet ingredients when you’re ready to prepare them.
To make the waffles, sift all the dry ingredients together in one bowl. In a separate bowl, combine all the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. Slowly drizzle the wet ingredients in with the dry, mixing until just incorporated – it’s OK if there’s a few lumps in the mix. Do not over mix or the waffles will be tough.
Spiced Apple Compote
3 small Granny Smith apples, skinned, cored and diced
4 tablespoons of butter
½ cup of sugar
2 tsp of vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp grated nutmeg
In a sauté pan, heat to medium high and melt butter. Add in the sugar and stir until the sugar melts down and begins to caramelize into a light brown. Add the diced apples and continue to stir, cooking down the apples, releasing most of their liquid and becoming soft and almost translucent. When the apples are fully cooked down, resembling the filling in an apple pie, add the vanilla extract, cinnamon and nutmeg, mixing well. Turn off the heat and serve compote immediately over waffles or pancakes, or refrigerate and reheat until ready to serve.
This is also good served with plain yogurt. You can serve the compote spooned over a dollop of Greek style yogurt, on top of the spiced waffle for a sweet breakfast.
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| I waffle for homemade waffles - Photo by Wasabi Prime |
The movie you shouldn't see while entertaining guests is the post's namesake -- An Awfully Big Adventure. I linked the preview if you want to get a peek, but let me assure you, the charming preview was the exact opposite of what the story was. It was marketed as a clever comedy, and I got roped in by the perennial charms of Alan Rickman. Frankly, I was a little scarred for life after seeing it. I know it was years ago when I rented it on Ye Olde VHS format, but to this day, I still have a little bit of a beef with this movie. It went from slightly melancholic British comedy to "whoa, things got super-dark, super-fast," leaving you with the feeling that maybe you should make some warm and toasty waffles with a comforting apple compote to calm your disturbed nerves. Or make a really stiff drink, repeat as necessary. It wasn't a bad movie, the performances were all very solid and the story was quite compelling, but dangit, I was expecting something sweet and got the equivalent of a punch in the face. But at least I got to use it as a play on words for a waffle post; build those bridges one carb at a time.
 |
| How breakfast feels like dessert - Photos by Wasabi Prime |
Dry Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oat flour (oatmeal ground up in food processor
to flour consistency)
2 tbsp sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
2 tbsp pumpkin spice powder
Wet Ingredients:
2 cups water or milk
2 large eggs
6 tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
This mix can be used for pancakes if you don’t have a waffle iron, just reduce the butter/oil amount to 4 tablespoons.
You can also mix the dry ingredients ahead of time to always have a pancake/waffle mix handy for future use, and then add the wet ingredients when you’re ready to prepare them.
To make the waffles, sift all the dry ingredients together in one bowl. In a separate bowl, combine all the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. Slowly drizzle the wet ingredients in with the dry, mixing until just incorporated – it’s OK if there’s a few lumps in the mix. Do not over mix or the waffles will be tough.
Spiced Apple Compote
3 small Granny Smith apples, skinned, cored and diced
4 tablespoons of butter
½ cup of sugar
2 tsp of vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp grated nutmeg
In a sauté pan, heat to medium high and melt butter. Add in the sugar and stir until the sugar melts down and begins to caramelize into a light brown. Add the diced apples and continue to stir, cooking down the apples, releasing most of their liquid and becoming soft and almost translucent. When the apples are fully cooked down, resembling the filling in an apple pie, add the vanilla extract, cinnamon and nutmeg, mixing well. Turn off the heat and serve compote immediately over waffles or pancakes, or refrigerate and reheat until ready to serve.
This is also good served with plain yogurt. You can serve the compote spooned over a dollop of Greek style yogurt, on top of the spiced waffle for a sweet breakfast.
Monday, April 18, 2011
UnRecipe: Chicken Soup for a Hot Mess of a Soul
It happens. You're doing a million and one things, going at a million and two miles and hour, not enough sleep and the only fluid intake is coffee. Getting one's health on? EPIC FAIL. So inevitably, you start feeling run-down and the flu comes in to "sweep the leg," amping the productivity of snot rockets to Eleven. What else can you do, but go into Sick Food Mode.
This was actually a while back when I got sick, it's just taken me this-freakin'-long to post about it. I had been traveling, sharing many germs with many strangers on a long flight, so it was no surprise when I developed a cough and head to toe body aches that endured for over a week and a half. Despite the nasty punishment of a cold, I sometimes wonder if it's also karma's way of intentionally putting up barriers to keep you from running yourself completely into the ground. I managed to catch up on movies and totally throw Mr. Wasabi's Netflix recommendation list into an estrogen-fueled calamity with selections that included Bright Star, Young Victoria and The Duchess. Mwah-hah-haaaaaaaah!
It's interesting to see what you end up craving when you're not feeling well. Aside from massive amounts of hot lemon ginger tea, the main thing I was craving was food that didn't require a lot of effort to prepare. I had the odd hankering for something sweet, so I took to eating an entire freaking bag of Kamuela Gourmet granola, which was full of big chunks of oats, nuts and seeds, sprinkled heavily with cinnamon, mixed in with plain yogurt. I wish I had a website to order more of this granola, as it was addictively good -- it was one of the things I brought back from Hawaii. Strangely, the bag had no website! I also had a bag of passionfruit or lilikoi shortbread from my absolute favorite cookie company, Kelly Boy's. Another small, local company who makes great product and frustratingly has no website, but if you're in Hawaii and are in a Longs Drugs store, they usually sell it there. My favorite is the Peanut Braddah cookies, which are peanut butter cookies so massive, it's literally a handprint on it to give it that crosshatch design. Kelly Boy's cookies are super crumbly and rarely survive the trip home intact, so you always wind up with almost a cup's worth of crumbs, which are just as tasty sprinkled on plain yogurt or ice cream. I never let one bit of those cookies go to waste when I have them!
Generally when people feel under the weather, the go-to food is chicken soup. When I started feeling well enough to putter around the kitchen, I had the basics to make a simple soup -- chicken broth, chicken breasts, carrots, onion, peas and sweet potatoes -- but I wanted something heartier. I had it in my NyQuil-addled brain to make sort of a shepherd's pie version of a chicken stew, topping it with thin slices of the sweet potato, versus the traditional mashed potatoes. At the time, the dish had sensible potential, and despite my adherence to the cold medication's warning not to operate heavy machinery, they should probably include a suggestion not to come up with wacky meal ideas. Not that the resulting dish was bad, by any means. I made a basic chicken and vegetable stew, cooking everything in a pot, but I think I added too much chicken broth towards the end, assuming the oven would just magically "make up the difference" somehow, reducing it to a thick gravy. I poured the runny stew into a casserole dish, covered it with seasoned slices of sweet potato, and into the oven it went to bake off. When the potato slice topping was cooked and crisped, I tried using a spatula to cut out a portion of the casserole, but I had to switch to a ladle, as it was essentially a baked stew. I poured it into a bowl and ate it with a spoon, and to be perfectly honest, it hit the spot. Heartier than a soup, but something you could savor with a spoon. Make all the comments you want, comparing it to the annoyingly-named "stoup" that Rachael Ray calls her soup/stew concoctions, but I have to say, this chicken soup for my hot mess of a soul was delicious, and by the time all the leftovers were gone, I was feeling better enough to get back to my workaholic ways. Winner!
 |
| Dr. Indy says: I prescribe lots of rest and snuggling the dog in between naps - Photo by Wasabi Prime |
This was actually a while back when I got sick, it's just taken me this-freakin'-long to post about it. I had been traveling, sharing many germs with many strangers on a long flight, so it was no surprise when I developed a cough and head to toe body aches that endured for over a week and a half. Despite the nasty punishment of a cold, I sometimes wonder if it's also karma's way of intentionally putting up barriers to keep you from running yourself completely into the ground. I managed to catch up on movies and totally throw Mr. Wasabi's Netflix recommendation list into an estrogen-fueled calamity with selections that included Bright Star, Young Victoria and The Duchess. Mwah-hah-haaaaaaaah!
It's interesting to see what you end up craving when you're not feeling well. Aside from massive amounts of hot lemon ginger tea, the main thing I was craving was food that didn't require a lot of effort to prepare. I had the odd hankering for something sweet, so I took to eating an entire freaking bag of Kamuela Gourmet granola, which was full of big chunks of oats, nuts and seeds, sprinkled heavily with cinnamon, mixed in with plain yogurt. I wish I had a website to order more of this granola, as it was addictively good -- it was one of the things I brought back from Hawaii. Strangely, the bag had no website! I also had a bag of passionfruit or lilikoi shortbread from my absolute favorite cookie company, Kelly Boy's. Another small, local company who makes great product and frustratingly has no website, but if you're in Hawaii and are in a Longs Drugs store, they usually sell it there. My favorite is the Peanut Braddah cookies, which are peanut butter cookies so massive, it's literally a handprint on it to give it that crosshatch design. Kelly Boy's cookies are super crumbly and rarely survive the trip home intact, so you always wind up with almost a cup's worth of crumbs, which are just as tasty sprinkled on plain yogurt or ice cream. I never let one bit of those cookies go to waste when I have them!
 |
| Best food to enjoy while sick -- no preparation, plenty of flavor! - Photos by Wasabi Prime |
Generally when people feel under the weather, the go-to food is chicken soup. When I started feeling well enough to putter around the kitchen, I had the basics to make a simple soup -- chicken broth, chicken breasts, carrots, onion, peas and sweet potatoes -- but I wanted something heartier. I had it in my NyQuil-addled brain to make sort of a shepherd's pie version of a chicken stew, topping it with thin slices of the sweet potato, versus the traditional mashed potatoes. At the time, the dish had sensible potential, and despite my adherence to the cold medication's warning not to operate heavy machinery, they should probably include a suggestion not to come up with wacky meal ideas. Not that the resulting dish was bad, by any means. I made a basic chicken and vegetable stew, cooking everything in a pot, but I think I added too much chicken broth towards the end, assuming the oven would just magically "make up the difference" somehow, reducing it to a thick gravy. I poured the runny stew into a casserole dish, covered it with seasoned slices of sweet potato, and into the oven it went to bake off. When the potato slice topping was cooked and crisped, I tried using a spatula to cut out a portion of the casserole, but I had to switch to a ladle, as it was essentially a baked stew. I poured it into a bowl and ate it with a spoon, and to be perfectly honest, it hit the spot. Heartier than a soup, but something you could savor with a spoon. Make all the comments you want, comparing it to the annoyingly-named "stoup" that Rachael Ray calls her soup/stew concoctions, but I have to say, this chicken soup for my hot mess of a soul was delicious, and by the time all the leftovers were gone, I was feeling better enough to get back to my workaholic ways. Winner!
 |
| Chicken soupy-stew for the sickened soul - Photos by Wasabi Prime |
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