Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Creole Lamb Shanks

Recipe Source: Fitzmorris, Tom.  Tom Fitzmorris' New Orleans Food.  Stewart Tabori & Chang, New York, 2010 pp. 190 - 1.

The first time I went to New York City I dined with my now-husband at a restaurant called Molyvos.  It's probably still there - it's been ages since I've been for anything but Thanksgiving dinner.  Anyway, I had a dish called youvetsi, which involved slow-cooked marinated lamb shanks.  I fell in love with it.  I still get cravings for it.  That's not important right now.  The only reason I'm mentioning it right now is because that was the first time I'd ever encountered lamb shanks.  To this day they are my favorite cut of lamb.  Yes, yes, I like lamb roasted, and grilled.  I like lamb chops.  I like ground lamb.  I like leg of lamb, I like lamb steaks.  I like all sorts of lamb.  But there is no cut of lamb that I like better than or even as much as lamb shanks.  As lamb goes, they're some of the more affordable cuts.  This may be because lamb shanks are mostly connective tissue and require long, slow cooking in order to reach their full potential.  Whatever, I don't care, I love them and I'm always happy to find a new and different use for them.

This is one of those new and different uses.  It's a low-and-slow recipe like youvetsi, but it is flavored very differently from my Greek favorite.  According to the source it's a popular daily special in New Orleans restaurants.  I've never been to New Orleans and the chances that I'll ever make it down there are minimal so maybe someone with more direct experience can confirm that statement.  I can't find my notes from this cook, which dates to the day the Patriots made it into the Super Bowl.  I think I can remember most of the changes I made though.  I reduced the olive oil on general principles.  I omitted the salt because my guests that day were very sensitive to salt.  I replaced it with chili powder because, well, just because.  I substituted parsnips for carrots because carrots are the Devil's food and not in a good chocolate way.  I increased the celery mostly to use it up and get it out of my fridge.  I increased the garlic because garlic is good for you.  I increased the marjoram, which I used fresh, and I increased the rosemary as well.  The orange was a blood orange.  The wine was not Gewurztraminer, but it was white.

This recipe was very well-received by my guests, my husband and by me.  I could have wished that it was less well-received by the guests.  Then I could have sneaked into the kitchen late at night and finished off the leftovers when no one could see me.  (I'm not in the habit of doing that, the recipe was just that good.)  It also made the kitchen very inviting on a cold, dreary, soggy day.

Creole Lamb Shanks (serves 4; approx. cost per serving not available.)

4 lamb shanks

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 onions, chunked

2 massive parsnips, cut into thick coins

8 celery stalks, cut into pieces

15 cloves garlic, crushed

2 bay leaves

4 sprigs fresh marjoram, leaves only, finely chopped

3 sprigs fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1 blood orange, cut into eighths

1 1/2 cups white wine, plus more for the cook if desired

Equipment:

• Large oven safe skillet or roasting pan
• Large, deep skillet

1. Preheat your oven to 350°.
2. Heat the oil in the skillet.
3. Season the lamb shanks and brown on all sides.  Remove the pan from heat and reserve.
4. Transfer the shanks to the roasting pan.  Add all the other ingredients except for the wine.
5. Add the wine to the skillet in which you browned the shanks.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Whisk constantly to dissolve the pan bits - these have a fancy culinary term and are very important.
6. Boil 2 minutes, then pour over the lamb shanks.
7. Add water, if necessary, to bring the liquid about 1/3 of the way up the sides of the shanks.  Cover and roast 90 minutes.
8. Turn the shanks every 30 minutes.
9. After 90 minutes remove the cover.  Turn the shanks and roast, uncovered, another 30 minutes.
10. Continue to cook uncovered until the meat is falling off the bone when lightly touched with a fork.
11. Serve and enjoy.

Recipe: Turkey and Bean Chili

Recipe Source: Bonom, David.  "Food: Recipes."  Better Homes and Gardens October 2011 p. 180

Okay, I cannot think for the life of me where this photo might be.  I guess that's what I get for waiting so long to write up the recipes!  I knew I wanted to make this recipe as soon as I read through this issue of Better Homes and Gardens. Unfortunately for me, it kept being put off.  Then I did make it and at the last minute we decided to go out instead, so I froze it.  Whatever.  We did eat it.... eventually.  And we took a picture of it because I remember talking about taking its picture.  The picture is not on my phone and it is not on my computer.  I'm sorry but I just can't find it.  I'm not going to let it go to waste just because I can't dig up the recipe though.  This was a great chili and you deserve to know about it, even if you can't see what it's supposed to look like.  That's okay.  Chili isn't really very pretty anyway.

I made some changes to this recipe.  I used ground turkey instead of ground beef as part of my attempt to lighten my recipes.  I added 6 serranos to the 4 jalapenos called for in the original - we were only supposed to be eating this amongst ourselves so I felt free to go to town.  Then we brought it over to a friend's house.  I had run out of cumin - shocking but true - so I substituted ground coriander.  I also added one teaspoon of ground turmeric because I really, really like it.  I increased the beans because they'd been taking up a lot of space in my freezer and they just had to go - this meant using frozen white kidney beans instead of canned beans, but that's not a big deal.  In fact it's probably healthier because I froze the beans myself so they had nothing but beans going in with them - no salt or whatever.  I increased the garlic.  While the original called for jarred tomato sauce I just can't stomach that stuff, so I used some tomato juice I had on hand instead.  We omitted the corn chips on general principles.

Like I said, I really enjoyed this dish and I think my guests did too.  Sorry you can't see it, but your imagination can probably make up the difference.  Some of my Texan friends may object to the use of beans in chili (or turmeric, for that matter.)  I'm sorry.  The beans add fiber and flavor while the turmeric adds turmeric.  All of these things felt necessary, but if it's any consolation at least I'm not presenting it as authentic Texas chili.

Turkey and Bean Chili (serves 8; approx. cost per serving not available)

2 pounds ground turkey

2 onions, chopped

10 garlic cloves, minced

4 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped

6 serrano chiles, finely chopped

2 tablespoons hot chili powder

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

32 ounces tomato juice

45 ounces frozen cooked white kidney beans, thawed

1 ounce dark chocolate chips

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Equipment:

• Dutch oven

1. Brown the turkey in the Dutch oven.
2. Add the onions, garlic and peppers.  There should be enough fat to cook them without burning but turkey can be pretty lean.  If you need to you can add about a tablespoon of olive oil.  Either way, cook until almost tender.
3. Add the spices.  Cook until fragrant.
4. Add the juice.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium-low.  Cover and simmer 10 minutes.
5. Add the beans and return to a simmer.  If you want to mash some of the beans as called for in the original go ahead; I didn't bother.
6. Cook 5 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and add chocolate.  Stir until melted.
8. Add the cilantro and serve.

Recipe: Halibut Chowder

Recipe Source: King, Shirley.  Williams-Sonoma Fish.  Simon & Schuster, New York, 2002 p. 14

It's funny how some things get ground into your psyche.  I hail from upstate New York.  Geographically it's a lot more like New England than downstate, but it is still 100% New York.  The language is New York.  The sports teams are all New York - I see more Yankee hats there than I do in Manhattan - and the attitude is New York.  You would think, therefore, that it would be the Manhattan version of chowder that would be pre-eminent there.  You would be wrong.  I didn't even know that more than one type of fish chowder existed until I was well into my twenties and living in New England.  By that point the New England version of fish chowder had become canonical for me, and I can't think of the Manhattan variety without a shudder.  (I strongly suspect I would prefer it if I didn't know it was supposed to be chowder, but there you go.)  Of course, I also grew up in a Southern Italian family where the combination of dairy and fish was always kind of viewed with suspicion at best, but somehow these concerns were laid aside for Chowder.

Now, I love chowder but I really have to be extremely careful about where I buy it.  Traditionally chowder is made with bacon.  Not all manufacturers make chowder with bacon, but that's the traditional recipe and omitting it kind of makes for a vastly inferior product.  Also, the tendency toward food allergies is supposed to be inherited.  (How this explains me when no on in my family has a food allergy I don't know.)  The pediatrician therefore wants us to hold off on introducing certain common allergens until she's older.  One of those common allergens is shellfish.  I've usually seen chowder as clam chowder.  Clams are shellfish.  I'm trying to avoid cooking with things that my daughter cannot eat, since she often wants to try our food.  That means I've had to hold off on making my own chowder... until now.  I finally found a chowder recipe that wasn't written for shellfish!  And it had been lurking in my library the whole time!  I just had to go with it.

I made a few changes, of course.  I used beef bacon instead of regular bacon.  This increased the cost per serving but kept me from dying so I'd call that a win.  Halibut was cheaper than cod that week so that's what I used.  I didn't have seafood stock - they didn't have it at the grocery store that week, and clam juice is expensive.  I used vegetable stock that I already had on hand.  I wound up having to freeze it and serve it at a later date but that was okay.  I knew I'd done well when I smelled it.  "Smells right," I said to myself.  When I tasted it I was beyond delighted.  It tasted exactly like I wanted it to taste.  It was also very filling - we didn't need any side dishes, not even bread.

Halibut Chowder (serves 4; approx. $6.02/serving)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 package beef bacon, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons whole wheat flour

1 cup half-and-half

1 1/2 cups milk

2 cups vegetable stock

1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup water

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

3/4 pound small potatoes, diced

1 lb halibut fillet

Equipment:

• Large, deep saucepan
• Slotted spoon

1. Heat the oil in the saucepan.
2. Add the bacon.  Fry until crisp.
3. Evacuate the bacon with the slotted spoon and set aside.  If your bacon is very fatty (which, frankly, is the nature of bacon) pour off all but two tablespoons.  Mine was not terribly fatty so I skipped this step.
4. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and saute until soft.
5. Add the flour.  Cook for 30 seconds.
6. Add the half-and-half, milk and stock.  Bring slowly to a boil.
7. Reduce the heat to low.  Stir in the cornstarch mixture.
8. Mix well, then simmer 1 minute.  Season to taste.
9. Add the potatoes.  Simmer, uncovered, until nearly tender.
10. Add the fish and the bacon.  Cook until the fish is thoroughly cooked.  This shouldn't take long.
11. Serve.  Wallow in the deliciousness.  Go ahead.  You know you want to.

Recipe: Chocolate Pecan Pie

Recipe Source: The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion.  The Countryman Press, Woodstock, 2003 p. 448

Pecan pie is something my paternal grandmother made.  She didn't make it often.  Traditional pecan pie is very, very sweet and as it turns out her sweet tooth, like mine, was a little stunted.  She made pecan pie at Thanksgiving.  She didn't make it every Thanksgiving, but if she was going to make it she was going to make it then.  Her antecedents, at least some of them, were Southern and pecan pie is a very Southern thing.

I want to like pecan pie.  I like tree nuts.  The thing is, I'm not into super-sweet foods and in traditional pecan pie the pecans are more or less a garnish for a sugar filling.  My husband loves pecan pie, although he insists on mispronouncing the word.  This year we hosted Thanksgiving at our house and that seemed like a perfect opportunity to give him the pecan pie he loves.  I wanted to change it up a little, though.  I wanted to make it something I would enjoy too, something that was a little less sickly-sweet and involved chocolate.  That's where this recipe comes in.

According to the original this would traditionally be served on Derby Day - the Kentucky Derby, for those who are not into horse racing and don't live in the American South.  (I wouldn't have known if not for the recipe notes, not being a fan of horse racing myself.)  I made a few changes of course.  The pie crust I used was a whole-wheat version of our traditional family recipe.  I used raw sugar, which doesn't sound like it should make much of a difference but believe me it does.  I used whole wheat flour for the filling as well.  My chocolate chips were more chocolate chunks and they were of the dark chocolate variety.  Bourbon became Irish whiskey.  We had both on hand but the bourbon we had on hand was a little too high-end to use in baking.  I garnished with a whipped cream I flavored with rosewater, for no other reason than the fact that I love rosewater and dearly wanted some that day.

I actually wound up having to make this pie twice, which is why it is included in the Fail Files even though it turned out perfectly both times.  You see, I made it the night before Thanksgiving.  To keep it away from the dog and cats I put it in the oven overnight.  The next morning, before drinking my coffee, I preheated the oven for the bread I was baking.  I did check the oven but apparently I'd pushed the pie fairly far back.  This left me with a cinder of a pie.  Fortunately I always make extra pastry dough and I was able to whip off a new pie easily.

I liked this pie.  My friends liked this pie.  I'm reasonably certain that my in-laws liked this pie.  My husband, however, said he would have liked this pie if he hadn't been expecting a traditional pie.  Oh well.  That's what he gets for pronouncing pecan wrong :)

Chocolate Pecan Pie (serves 8; approx. $1.48/serving)

1 single-crust pie crust - mine was whole wheat but use whatever works for you

2 eggs

7 ounces raw sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 ounces whole wheat flour

8 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

6 ounces dark chocolate chunks

4 ounces chopped toasted pecans

1 tablespoon Irish whiskey (plus a little for the cook if you're so inclined)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Rosewater whipped cream to garnish (optional, not included in cost per serving)

Equipment:

• Stand mixer with paddle attachment
• Pie plate

1. Preheat your oven to 375.
2. Line your pie plate with the pie crust.
3. Beat the eggs in the stand mixer on high speed until "light and lemon colored."  You'll know what that means when you see it.
4. Add in the sugar gradually.  Beat until thoroughly incorporated.
5. Reduce speed to low.  Add the salt, flour and melted butter.
6. Stir in the chocolate chips, pecans, whiskey and vanilla.
7. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and trim the edges.
8. Bake until golden, about 45 minutes.
9. Serve, garnished with the whipped cream if you're feeling fancy.

Recipe: Vegan Jambalaya

Recipe Source: The Moosewood Collective.  Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant.  Simon and Schuster/Fireside, New York, 1990 pp. 622 - 3.

One of my favorite restaurants is The Border Cafe.  It's a Harvard Square institution, although they've branched out into some of the northern suburbs.  I'm not sufficiently knowledgeable about either Cajun, Creole or Mexican cooking to pass judgement on the authenticity of their fare.  What I do know is that their food is delicious and very, very affordable.  You can eat darned well for under $10 if you don't drink, and there aren't a lot of places in the greater Boston area that can still make that claim.  One of the things I've always loved from this place is the jambalaya side dish.  In fact, I've even been known to just go in and order the jambalaya side dish and a cup of soup.  It was one of my favorite foods for a very long time - until I got pregnant and became allergic to pork.  I continue to be allergic to pork even though my daughter was born close to two years ago and that means that the Border's jambalaya is strictly off-limits.  That doesn't mean I don't crave it, though.  I do.  I dream about it on a regular basis.  I've tried to re-create it a few times, not terribly successfully, but it was the memory of that dish that led me to serve this dish at my Thanksgiving dinner.

This is not the Border's jambalaya.  It bears no resemblance to that tasty treat save the name.  It is, however, a delicious stew that is easily made ahead of time and reheated.  I wanted to have a substantial side dish that our lone vegetarian could consume as a main dish.  I also wanted okra.  Ordinarily I try to avoid okra all that often because the Spouse doesn't like it.  Neither do most of my friends.  My father-in-law, however, shares my enthusiasm for the vegetable and is more than willing to give me an excuse to serve it.  It was very entertaining to sit there and listen to other guests say, "Ooo - make sure I get some of that okra!"  (I will also point out that my father-in-law actually picked the okra out of the stew and just ate that, since he was qite full by the time this made its appearance.)  

I did make some changes.  I increased the onion, using one very large brown onion and one red onion.  I did this because I like onions and I read somewhere that they help you sleep.  I increased the garlic on general principles.  I omitted the thyme because we didn't have any.  I increased the basil.  I included oregano.  I added a teaspoon of chipotle powder to give a little of that smoky flavor that I missed, I increased the cayenne, and I added a quarter teaspoon of allspice and an eighth teaspoon of cloves because they were in front of me and the spirit so moved me.  This dish was a big hit and I'm sure I'll be making it again.

Vegan jambalaya (serves 8; approx. $1.73/serving)

7 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 brown onion, chopped

1 red onion, chopped

5 garlic cloves, crushed

2 bay leaves

4 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

1 head celery, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 orange bell pepper, chopped

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 28-oz can diced tomatoes

10 ounces frozen okra

3 cups water

1 teaspoon chipotle chile powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/3 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 bunch fresh parsley, finely chopped

4 scallions, chopped

Equipment:

• Large saucepan
• Medium saucepan

1. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in the large saucepan.
2. Add the onions, garlic and bay leaves.  Saute until softened and translucent.
3. Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in the medium saucepan.
4. Add the flour and whisk to form a smooth paste.  Continue to cook, stirring near-constantly and managing the heat carefully, until the roux is nutty and brown.  Do not let it burn.
5. In the meantime, add the carrots, celery, bell peppers, basil and oregano to the large saucepan.  Cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Add the tomatoes with their juices, okra, remaining spices and water.  Bring to a boil.
7. Cover and simmer about 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
8. Stir the roux into the large saucepan.  Simmer over low heat 10 minutes.  Don't let it scorch - stir from time to time.
9. Serve, sprinkled with the parsley and scallions.

Recipe: Apples and Onions

I've always thought of this dish as a kind of quintessentially American dish.  I'm sure it didn't originate here.  I'm sure it originated someplace east of here where some impoverished North-West European housewife had some apples and some onion and some fat.  It's the kind of thing that is really just too simple, too "peasant-y", to be considered for inclusion in the historical cookbooks that have come down to us today.  (After all, the average peasant found literacy to be a challenge before the modern era, and a useless challenge at that.)  I remember seeing a recipe for this dish in a cookbook aimed at children attempting to re-create the recipes from the great westward migration of the nineteenth century.  It was sourced to upstate New York, although I can't remember which part of my terra mater it claimed to represent.  Most of the other folks that have mentioned it within my hearing have been Mainers.  (Granted, most of the folks I get to talk food with are from Maine.  Don't introduce logic.)

Anyway, it's a super-simple dish, perfect for this time of year.  There are four ingredients if you count salt - some folks don't - and nothing fancy to do in terms of preparation.  I didn't even peel the apples in the hopes of helping them hold together.  All you really need is a big skillet and some heat.

I was very pleased with the results of this dish.  I made a real effort not to over-cook the apples - I wanted fried apples, not applesauce.  I tried to use enough butter to give a sense of richness (and keep the onions from burning) without making it excessively fatty.  Olive oil I think would have worked just as well, but the traditions from which I gleaned this recipe don't tend to use olive oil.  They use butter and lard, and of course lard is right out for me.  When I asked my husband which dish was his favorite of all the ones we had he was very emphatic.  "That one," he said, pointing at the apples.

Apples and Onions (serves 4; approx. $1.00/serving)

6 cooking apples, cored and sliced

3 tablespoons butter

2 red onions, sliced

Pinch kosher salt

Equipment:

• Large skillet

1. Melt the butter very gently in the skillet.
2. Add the onions with a pinch of kosher salt.  Gently sweat the onions until they are softened.
3. Add the apples and increase the heat just a tad.  Saute until the apples are tender but not falling apart.
4. Serve.

Recipe: Salt Potatoes with Broccoli and Chard Stalks

I came up with this side dish to bring to our friends' place for the impromptu dinner party during the heat wave. I definitely wanted to use the salt potatoes; they're a precious commodity and I didn't want them to go to waste, but we hadn't been eating at home very often due to my husband's work schedule and neither of us needs to be eating potatoes all that often anyway. The broccoli was leftover, a victim of that same tendency that threatened to waste the potatoes. It was almost, but not quite, past its prime and if I didn't use it right away it was going to be wasted. The chard stalks were left over from the chard and squash dish I've previously posted.

I really enjoyed this dish, but I strongly suspected I would. After all, it contained many of my favorite things: broccoli, salt potatoes, cumin, garlic. I have to admit that I could not stop eating the potatoes. Every time I passed the bowl I would find myself reaching out and grabbing a little potato. If you cannot find salt potatoes (because you don't live in Central New York), try using very small new potatoes and boiling them in regular salt; use more salt than could possibly be good for you because that's how they're made.

Salt Potatoes with Broccoli and Chard Stalks (serves 4; approx. $0.66/serving)

1 recipe Salt Potatoes, sans butter

1 bunch broccoli, spears and florets, both chopped

1 bunch chard, stalks only, chopped

8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon cumin

Water, about ¼ to ½ cup

Equipment:

• Large bowl
• Large sauté pan with lid

1. Prepare the salt potatoes according to the recipe, but omit the parts with the butter.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in the sauté pan.
3. Add the garlic with a pinch of kosher salt. (A very small pinch is appropriate here.)
4. Sauté the garlic about 30 seconds. Add the cumin.
5. Sauté the garlic until it is just threatening to brown.
6. Add the garlic and chard stalks. Toss in the pan until the vegetables are coated in the cumin and oil.
7. Add the water and clamp the lid down tightly. Cook until the broccoli is tender, about 7 or 8 minutes depending on how small your pieces of broccoli are.
8. Combine the broccoli mixture with the potatoes in the large bowl.
9. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe: Smoked Duck Gumbo

Recipe Source: Fitzmorris, Tom. New Orleans Food. Stewart, Tabori & Chang, New York, 2010 pp. 73 – 4.

You all know already that I hit a kind of creative wall for a while there, at least in terms of cookery. My attempt to lose weight has kind of restricted some of the things I can make, and I've gotten very, very tired of most of the cookbooks in my collection. In case you haven't heard, the Borders chain of bookstores is shuttering a huge volume of stores and the one near my house was in the recent round of cuts. This meant that they put their books on deep discount. I went in and hit the cookbook section looking for new and different flavors and this was one of the books I picked up.

As a young girl I desperately wanted to visit New Orleans. This desire sprung up in me long before I read any Anne Rice books so that's not why I wanted to go; I think it was the result of a youthful bout of Francophilia. Anyway, I never went. My dad – quite rightly – pointed out that the low elevation and high humidity were extremely conductive to my greatest allergic nemesis: mold. My uncle, who visited New Orleans as often as he could before his illness, concurred. I would not, they both insisted, be able to enjoy the delights of this legendary city. I would spend the whole time in my hotel room sniffling and snotting and struggling to breathe, if I didn't just drop dead upon getting off the plane. That was before Hurricane Katrina hit and the levees broke, of course. Maybe someday, if I can get my allergies sufficiently under control, I can make it down there. Even after the disaster that was Katrina, the city still has a powerful pull for me.

The food culture of New Orleans is just fascinating. It's not like traditional American Southern cooking, although there are commonalities. There's the strong French influence, of course, but it's tempered by Caribbean cultures, African cultures, native cultures. It's unique, entirely its own. And it is beautiful.

I made a few changes to this dish, of course. If you have a copy of this book you will of course notice the first change: duck for chicken. I don't much care for chicken. I like duck. I have no idea if a real Louisiana cook would ever make this dish with duck, but it's what I like so I used it. Now, duck is a fatty creature. I decided that instead of letting the fat gum up my soup and harden my arteries, I would render out as much of the fat as I could…. In the smoker! I got my husband to cook it up on the Big Green Egg with just a little salt and pepper to season it. Since the duck was cooked already I was able to reduce my stovetop time considerably. I could probably have reduced the water as a result, but I didn't. I used the rendered duck fat and the duck fat trimmings instead of vegetable oil for the roux, and I used a lot less of it too. I increased the onions because onions are super healthy. I increased the garlic, added some chili peppers on general principles and used an orange bell pepper instead of a red because orange bell peppers have more beta-carotene. I debated serving an additional vegetable dish with this, but I was feeling lazy and just added some celery and tomatoes instead. (The tomatoes were a necessity. I'd used some of them in the stew earlier in the week, and the plastic container I had the leftover canned tomatoes in fell out of the fridge and broke. I didn't want to waste the tomatoes so in they went.) The andouille I used was a chicken andouille and I feel that it's a perfectly adequate substitute.

I loved this dish. I simply loved it. It was satisfying and delicious. My husband also loved it. Try it for yourself sometime and see what you think.

Smoked Duck Gumbo (serves 8; approx. $3.75/serving)

1 duck

½ cup flour

2 onions, chopped

1 orange bell pepper, chopped

5 garlic cloves, crushed

5 celery stalks, chopped

21 ounces diced canned tomatoes, drained

A small handful of fresh cilantro sprigs, chopped

12 cups water

Kosher salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 pound chicken andouille sausage, chopped

2 scallions, chopped

1 cup brown rice, cooked

Equipment:

• Dutch oven or really large saucepan
• Big Green Egg or other smoker, with a drip pan

1. Prepare your Egg for indirect cooking and pre-heat to 275 ̊. A drip pan is absolutely essential.
2. Poke a few holes in the duck skin to let the duck fat render out.
3. Smoke slowly until the duck's internal temperature comes up to about 160. This took a few hours for us and it cannot be rushed. You can, however, do this a day or so ahead of time if you want.
4. When the duck is done, remove it from the smoker, tent with foil and let it rest.
5. Remove the skin from the duck. If there is any remaining fat on the duck, trim it off with a knife and reserve it for the roux. Cut the duck meat into pieces. Set aside.
6. Put about ¼ cup of the duck's fat into the saucepan and melt it over medium heat. Monitor your heat carefully, as animal fat tends to have a lower smoke point than vegetable fat and smells quite awful when burned.
7. When the fat is melted, add the flour and whisk constantly to combine. You are now making a roux.
8. Stir the roux constantly and cook until the roux has darkened as much as you dare allow. Be careful here. They don't call this "Cajun Napalm" for nothing! The original recipe calls for this to be a very dark roux, but I decided to go with a medium roux just to be on the safe side.
9. Reduce heat. Add the onions, bell pepper, garlic and cilantro. Sauté until the onions begin to brown.
10. Add the duck to the pot with the remaining ingredients up to the thyme. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about ½ hour.
11. Add the sausage. Simmer another ½ hour.
12. Put the rice in the bottom of your serving vessel. Pour the gumbo on top of the rice.
13. Scatter the chopped scallions over the top and serve.

Recipe: Seafood Chili

Recipe Source: Mmmm…Casseroles. Parragon Books, Bath, 2010 p. 130

Casseroles are kind of a mystery to me. I realize that they're a stereotype of American and Western cookery, but they were never part of my culinary tradition. Not that I knew of, anyway. Casseroles were a kind of bad joke that happened at friends' houses at holidays. Half-insane aunts used to bring them to peoples' houses for dinner and everyone would groan and surreptitiously feed it to the dog, who would refuse to touch it. As I got older I continued to hear scary things about casseroles, things that involved hot dogs and canned tuna and absurd amounts of mayonnaise. Then I went to a friend's house for dinner and she was serving tuna noodle casserole.

I liked it. I loved it. I was shocked and astonished, both that something I'd snickered at for so long was actually so good and that my hostess kept apologizing for the delectable dish before me. It was a great idea, a wonderful make-ahead dish that was both healthy and delicious. It was not long after this delight that I found this book in Costco. The price was right, so I picked it up and learned an awful lot about casserole. As it turns out, all kinds of things count as casseroles.

I made a few changes to this chili, as usual. I omitted the monkfish because I couldn't get any, so I increased the scallops and shrimp accordingly. I omitted the lime because of a brain cramp. I increased both the garlic and the chilies, because I had chilies to spare and I like lots of garlic. Finally, I used Lemony Vegetable Broth instead of fish stock because that's what I keep on hand.

I made this well ahead of time and froze it. The freezing and reheating didn't seem to have a negative effect on the finished dish, which we both thoroughly enjoyed.

Seafood Chili (serves 4; approx. $8.15/serving)

1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp

1 pound scallops

2 tablespoons chili powder (I like "X-Tra Hot"; you might not.)

1 tablespoon ground cumin

3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

6 garlic cloves, crushed

3 Serrano chilies, finely chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 yellow bell pepper, chopped

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon Aleppo pepper

1 ½ cups Lemony Vegetable Broth

1 14-oz can diced fire-roasted tomatoes

1 14-oz can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Kosher salt to taste

Equipment:

• Bowl
• Large Dutch oven

1. Combine the shrimp, scallops, ¼ teaspoon chili powder, ¼ teaspoon cumin, 1 tablespoon cilantro, 3 garlic cloves, 2 chilies and 1 tablespoon olive oil in the bowl. Set aside for up to one hour.
2. Heat the remaining oil in the Dutch oven.
3. Add the onion, remaining garlic, remaining chili and the bell peppers with a pinch of kosher salt. Cook over low heat until softened.
4. Add the remaining spices. Cook another 5 minutes or so.
5. Add the broth and tomatoes. Partially cover and simmer 25 minutes.
6. Add the beans and fish to the dish. Cover and cook 10 minutes.
7. Sprinkle with the remaining cilantro and serve.

Recipe: Pasta with Yogurt and Garlic Sauce

Every year my husband and I go on "vacation" to a big camping event out in the wilds of Western Pennsylvania. This isn't camping like I grew up camping. Our tent is bigger than my old apartment and contains a formal dining table, chandelier and four-post bed. And there is no, absolutely no, solitude here. No quiet walks in the woods, no invigorating hikes up the side of a mountain. No, it's a gigantic cow field and you're there with between ten and fifteen thousand of your closest friends. It's essentially a temporary small city, complete with not one but two "downtown" areas separated by a large busy road. Both "downtowns" have food court type areas.

Now, the eating establishments in this little temporary city are not fancy by any stretch of the imagination. If your camp (think of it as a house) has the right infrastructure you can make your own meals and have them be better and healthier than you could get elsewhere. And we do, believe me. We bring our Big Green Egg with us, we've got a camp stove, and we've got a lot of talented and enthusiastic cooks in camp. No one goes hungry. But sometimes you don't have time to prepare an elaborate meal. Sometimes you're out and about around lunch time and you just need something quick. One of the kiosks on the nearer side to our camp is a place that serves various types of food in a bread bowl. And I have a confession to make: I love their chicken and pasta in garlic sauce. This dish is inspired by them.

It's not identical. I skipped the chicken. I know for a fact that they use sour cream, but I've always found sour cream to be kind of repulsive. I used Greek yogurt for this and I definitely liked that a little better. As I was making this, I also found myself thinking about a lot of the Afghan pasta dishes I've made, which seem very similar.

Try this some night when you're in a rush, or when your kitchen is still too hot to make an elaborate cooked sauce. My husband saved the sauce and ate it with bread for several days afterward.

Pasta with Yogurt and Garlic Sauce (serves 6; approx. $1.20/serving)

1 box whole-wheat pasta

1 32-oz container nonfat Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper

½ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon ground coriander

10 garlic cloves, crushed

Equipment:

• Outside of the normal pasta-making equipment, nothing special is needed. You can mix the sauce right in the yogurt container. However, you may find it easier to mi the sauce in a bowl.

1. Prepare the pasta according to the instructions on the box.
2. Combine the remaining ingredients in the bowl. Mix very well.
3. To serve, spoon a little sauce on the bottom of the bowl. Pile the pasta on top and then spoon a little more sauce on top. If you have any sauce left over, save it and use it as a dip.