Category: Featured Recipes

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Glazed Carrots

When I looked for some kind of vegetable to serve with our leftover pork the other day, all I found was a bag of carrots. I don’t usually think about cooking carrots, but since I didn’t have anything else, they had to do.  I wanted to make something fast and easy, so I reached for Cook’s Illustrated Quick Recipe Cookbook.   To my delight, this recipe produces tender carrots with a sweet, bright flavor.  I used yellow, orange and red carrots, so they looked impressive as well.

I now see carrots in a new light.  Of course I’ll be making glazed carrots again soon, but now I’m on a mission to find new ways to prepare carrots.  Please share your favorite recipes.

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Glazed Carrots

Prep Time20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons sugar divided
  • 1 pound carrots about 6 medium, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick on the bias
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter cut in small pieces
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Bring broth, salt, and 1 tablespoon sugar to boil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet. Add carrots, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, covered, for about 5 minutes, until the carrots are almost tender when poked with the tip of a paring knife. Uncover, increase heat to high, and cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid has reduced to about 2 tablespoons, about 1 to 2 minutes.
  • Add butter and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar to the skillet. Toss to coat and cook, stirring frequently, until the carrots are tender and the glaze is light gold, about 3 minutes. Off heat, add lemon juice and toss to coat. Season to taste with freshly ground pepper. Serve immediately.

Notes

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated.
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Lime BBQ Pork Tenderloin

This is one of our favorite recipes. It’s super easy if you whip up the marinade in the morning and then just leave it in the fridge all day. Then it just takes a few minutes on the BBQ. This was inspired by Sarah Foster’s Casual Cooking, a truly great cookbook. Her version, though, uses orange zest and juice. It turns out, I don’t like orange as a flavor. But since the recipe was nearly perfect in every other respect, we switched to lime which gave it an amazing, almost Jamaican jerk flavor. We often double the sauce to have extra. When tenderloins come in a pack of 2, freeze one in the marinade, and it’s ready to go as soon as it thaws.

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Lime BBQ Pork Tenderloin

Simple BBQ pork tenderloin
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time35 minutes
Servings: 4 -6

Ingredients

  • 1 pork tenderloin usually ~2 lbs
  • 1 cup BBQ Sauce can be store bought, but we often use homemade
  • 2 limes zested and juiced
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 cloves garlic minced

Instructions

  • Whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl. Rinse the pork, pat it dry, and drop it into a ziplock with the sauce. Leave it sit for an hour or overnight.
  • Grill the pork on the barbecue, turning every 6 to 7 minutes. Total cooking time usually takes about 20 minutes total. Boil the remaining marinade to use as a sauce, if desired. Allow to rest for a few minutes, then slice and serve.

 

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Ramen Noodle Soup

I know what you’re thinking: “You’re actually posting a recipe for ramen?”

Wait!  Don’t stop reading:  this recipe simmers up into something extraordinary.  We’re going to throw that little flavor packet away and give this ramen some serious taste and belly-filling capacity.

Get ready to go ramen gourmet.   You know you wanna.

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Ramen Noodle Soup

Total Time40 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 14.5- ounce cans low sodium chicken broth
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup mirin or dry sherry
  • 1 2- inch piece of fresh ginger cut into several pieces and smashed
  • 6 garlic cloves lightly crushed with skins on
  • 2 whole star anise pods
  • 4 dried shiitake mushrooms rinsed
  • 2 carrots peeled and chopped
  • 2 sticks celery chopped
  • 1 8- ounce can sliced water chestnuts strained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup snap peas
  • 12 ounces cooked chicken cut into small cubes
  • 3 3- ounce packages of ramen noodles flavor packets discarded, noodles broken as desired
  • 4 medium scallions sliced thinly
  • toasted sesame oil to taste

Instructions

  • Bring broth, water, soy sauce, mirin (or sherry), ginger, garlic, star anise, and mushrooms to boil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain broth over a large bowl and return the strained broth to the pot. Remove mushrooms from the strainer and slice them thinly and add them back to the broth. Discard remaining solids.
  • Add carrots and bring broth to a simmer over medium high heat. When carrots are nearly tender, add celery, water chestnuts, snap peas, and chicken along with the noodles. Cook, stirring frequently until the noodles soften, about 3 minutes. Serve immediately, drizzling each bowl with sesame oil and garnishing with scallions.

Notes

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated. If desired, prepare the broth ahead of time and store it in an airtight container up to two days.
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Pan-Fried Abalone

Abalone is one of those ridiculously simple things to cook:  bread it, fry it, eat it.  But it seemed worthwhile  to write a recipe down.  After all, I haven’t cooked it in 15 years, so my skills can get rusty.

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Pan fried abalone

Ingredients

  • Abalone
  • Milk
  • Flour
  • Egg
  • Panko Breadcrumbs
  • Olive oil

Instructions

  • Slice the abalone into steaks approximately 1/4" thick. Soak slices in milk while you wait.
  • Beat the snot out of the abalone. I like to use the flat of the abalone iron so it gives a nice smacking sound. Eventually the meat relaxes. If you beat it more, it will fall apart.
  • Pat the slices dry, dust with flour, dredge with egg, and pat with breadcrumbs.
  • Fry in olive oil briefly. Don't overcook.
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Tortilla Soup

Our only copy of the recipe for this warm, comforting, downright delicious soup is a photocopy of a print-out of an email that my niece Katja sent to my mom.  It’s crumpled and soup-splattered and nearly impossible to locate when we need it.  Last time we made tortilla soup, I was on the verge of texting my niece for the recipe when I found it tucked inside my copy of The Bread Bible.  Now that I’m sharing it, we won’t ever have to scramble to find it again.

Both my mom and niece make this recipe on the stove, but we usually simmer it all day long in the slow cooker.  During last week’s dinner emergency, we pressure cooked it and had dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes.  I challenge anyone to find a fourth way to prepare this awesome recipe.  Bring it, people.

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Tortilla Soup

Adapted from Katja Vassilev's recipe. Serves 12.

Ingredients

  • 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 15- ounce cans diced tomatoes
  • 1 4- ounce can diced green chiles
  • 1 28- ounce can green enchilada sauce
  • 2 cups frozen corn
  • 2 15- ounce cans black beans drained and rinsed
  • 1 medium onion diced
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 jalapeno minced
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Mexican oregano
  • 3 corn tortillas roughly chopped or torn into 1-inch pieces
  • 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro coarsely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Garnishes:

  • diced avocado
  • lime wedges
  • sour cream
  • shredded cheddar cheese
  • toasted tortilla strips or tortilla chips

Instructions

  • Place all ingredients except cilantro and lime juice in a slow cooker, large saucepan, or pressure cooker. To prepare in a slow cooker, simmer on high for 4-to-6 hours or on low for 8-to-10 hours. For stove-top cooking, simmer on low for about 2 hours. To use a pressure cooker, bring to pressure and then cook for about 15 minutes.
  • Remove chicken and shred. Return shredded meat to the pot with cilantro and lime juice. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve with garnishes as desired.