Chicken lentil stew with paprika and gochujang

Today I was craving paprikash, a dish common in Prekmurje, the part of Slovenia where I come from. It is a simple stew that uses paprika as a key spice, and some cream to get more smoothness and richness. But I was facing a challenge: I was not able to use dairy. I also wanted to increase the amount of fiber, which is rather non-existent in the traditional variety of the dish. I also wanted to use up some bean-cooking liquid that I had in the fridge.

To the fridge I went, and came back with onion (yes, I keep it in the fridge so that I don't cry when I cut it), celery, and shiitake mushrooms, which were also asking to be cooked. For the spices I reached for smoked paprika, dry thyme, dry marjoram, and gochujang for additional sweetness and a hint of heat. For fiber, I washed and soaked red lentils. The freezer contributed our thick tomato sauce.

This is what the dish looked like when I started to cook, and I am sad I didn't take a photo of the plating. We ate it with steel cut oats, cooked in almond milk, and finished with a bit of miso, and we also paired the stew with some raw sauerkraut, straight from a jar. One of the best suppers we have had in a while - so good that it needs to be recorded.

Ingredients

• 3 TBS or so olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 5 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 cups (approximately) mushrooms, roughly chopped or whole if they are very small
• Optional: 1/2 of medium delicata squash (or any other squash), in 1/4 inch sized pieces
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup red lentils, washed well
• 2 cups tomato sauce. Ours is quite thick
• 1/3 cup smoked paprika, approximately
• 1 tsp try thyme, approxmately
• 1 tsp dry marjaron, approximately
• 1 tsp gochujang, approximately, can be replaced with another chili, but be mindful of the level of heat
• 1-2 cups saved bean cooking liquid, or chicken broth, or vegetable broth
• 5 chicken drumsticks, skinless. 
• Bone-in or boneless hicken thighs would also do fine, but be mindful of the fat.
• If you use chicken breast, you have to adjust cooking time for the meat, so that the breast does no come out dry. I would stew the res of the ingredients for about 10-15 minutes, and then add cubed chicken breasts until cooked through, 5 minutes, maybe a bit longer.
• salt and pepper to taste
• Optional: 1 TBS cornstarch

Method

1. Pick a suitable pot: A saute pan is ideal here. I used a hybrid wok, but I would likely not use a carbon steel vessel to avoid the tomato sauce affecting seasoning.
2. Heat the oil in the pan on medium heat, then add the onions, celery, and squash if using. Also add a small pinch of salt to help the vegetables release the liquids. Sauté on medium, stir ocassionally.
3. When the vegetables soften a bit, add the garlic and the mushrooms, another small pinch of salt, and sauté on medium heat without the lid until the vegetables soften up a bit.
4. Add the paprika stir the spices into the vegetables, and sauté for a minute or so to release the aroma. 
5. Season the drumsticks with salt and lay them on top of vegetables.
6. Now add the lentils, tomato sauce, broth, marjoram, thyme, and gochugaru. stir well, but keep the chicken drumstick laying flat. The liquids should cover the chicken about 1/2 way up.
7. Bring to simmer and cook covered for 20 minutes.
8. Turn the chicken pieces and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.
9. If you want to thicken the sauce, add the cornstarch to a bowl and add a bit of cold water, 1/4 cup or so. Stir well to remove any starch lumps - you got slurry. Immediately add the slurry to the pot, stir well, bring the sauce back to simmer and simmer for a minute or two for the sauce to thicken.
10. Eat.

Brussels sprout steamed and sauteed

I always liked Brussels sprouts. I guess because when I learned of that vegetable, I was already cooking for myself and knew, that overcooking a green vegetable is a recipe for unpleasant bitterness. When we started using electric pressure cookers AKA Instant Pot, Brussels sprouts became much harder to overcook, hence easier to cook. 

When I tried roasting Brussels sprouts, looking for that deep caramelization, they always turned too dry for my taste. So one day I got an idea: Steam them in a pressure cooker, then saute on a hot pan using avocado oil, and a touch of salt. Magic did happen, and the long awaited Brussels sprouts, caramelized and moist have appeared!

Ingredients

• Brussels sprouts. cleaned, stems trimmed. Quantity - they need to fit comfortably in one layer on your pan.
• 2-3 TBS high smoking point oil such as avocado oil
• a pinch of salt

Procedure

1. Add a cup of water into your Instant pot (or any other pressure cooker)
2. Place Brussels sprouts in a steamer basket, and into the Instant Pot
3. Cook for 2 minutes on high pressure, with immediate steam release
4. Take the steamer basket out of the Instant Pot, and let sit on the counter so that the Brussels sprouts dry a little
5. Heat the oil on a carbon steel pan, or a wok on a medium to medium low heat. Any pan that retains the heat well will do, cast iron or a hight-quality stainless steel pan. Non-stick will yield sub-par caramelization.
6. When the oil is hot, add the Brussels sprouts. Be careful of oil splatter, especially if the Brissels sprouts are still wet. Springle a moderate pinch of salt over the Brussels sprouts.
7. Saute: Leave the Brussels sprouts alone for a couple of minutes, so that the bottom gets some color. Then move them around and turn periodically, but leave the Brussels sprouts alone for a minute in between to achieve caramelization.
1. If you are using a wok, play with the heat and the amount of movement of the Brussels sprouts. I prefer lower heat to give caramelization the time to take place, but high heat is fun too.
8. When the Brussesls sprouts look sufficiently caramelized on the outside, remove them from the pan, and enjoy them either on their own, or as a part of a meal.

A healthy salad dressing template

Growing up, there was no concept of a salad dressing as I understand it today. Salads were simpler, too, just greens, or tomatoes, maybe shredded cabbage. One would add some oil, some vinegar, and a pinch of salt on top of the greens, toss it up, and the salad was done.

We were missing out on a lot. An emulsion lightly coating greens or other vegetables does elevate the salad game substantially. My problem is that I am not a big fan of purchased dressings. Just looking at the list of ingredients tends to cool me off, and, frankly, I am yet to find a store-bought dressing that I really like. Not that I looked super hard, because a dressing is so trivial to make - in seconds for the most trivial version. I almost always make dressing a salad bowl, only as much as I need for this particular salad. I add all the ingredients to an empty bowl, whisk them quickly to get an emulsion, and then add and toss vegetables or greens, nuts, raisins, fresh fruit, whatever the daily inspiration calls for.

My a-hah dressing moment was when I realized that a salad dressing can be a great vehicle for consuming all sorts of "healthy" oil - flax seed oil and hemp oil come to mind first. After that T wondered what else I could add to the dressing and I realized that miso, with all of its umami and emulsifying property would be a great addition. Shortly, a template emerged, making it easy for me to both adjust and experiment.

Notes

The list of ingredients is very loose - one needs some oil, some acid, some emulsifier. Once this is in place, there tons of opportunities to play and see what works for you.

The classic ratio of oil to vinegar (or lemon juice) is 3 parts of oil to one part of vinegar. Miso is a powerful emulsifier, and so is ground garlic, so one can experiment with using much less oil. These days it is known that consuming fat is essential for human health but it is nice to have options and play.

Ingredients:

• Oils: I use olive or pumpkin seed oil as the base and add flax seed oil, hemp oil, and often a touch of sesame oil. With sesame oil one needs to watch so that it does not overpower other ingredients.
• Acid: I tend to use apple cider vinegar and lemon juice in roughly 1:1 ratio. Note that lemon adds more acidity. Any other vinegar would work, or lime juice - experiment and see what you like.
• Emulsifiers: I usually go with a 1/2 to 1 TBS of Dijon mustard, and about the same quantity of miso paste. 
• Grated garlic and ginger: I usually grate one (or more) clove of garlic and about the same quantity of fresh ginger. Sometimes I use more of one or another. I always use a fine microplane grater like this one, anything coarser defeats the purpose.
• Spices: salt can be omitted if using miso, freshly ground black pepper is classic. Additional options include cumin, coriander, ground thyme, ground rosemary, cayene pepper, gochugaru - you can ruj your imagination wild. I usually go light with spices.
• Fresh herbs: Anything you have you can chop up and try: thyme, marjoram, oregano, tarragon, basil, chives... Give it a shot and see what you like.

Method

1. Add all the ingredients to a mixing bowl.
2. Whisk until you get an emulsion. 
1. Add more oil or emulsifiers if the dressing is too runny, and whisk some more.
3. Taste and correct with any of the ingredients, and whisk some more.

Once you have the dressing, add your greens and/or vegetables, nuts, fruit etc to the mixing bowls and toss so that the salad ingredients are coated lightly.

If you want to make more dressing ahead, you can add all the ingredients to a mason jar. Close the jar with the lid and shake vigorously to get an emulsion. Use what you need, and store the rest in the same closed jar in a refridgerator. Shake again before using the next time.

How to boil eggs

I am writing this post simply as a record of most amazing find of Kenji Lopez Alt, as posted in his YouTube video. I found his method to work perfectly and it is also one of the least messy methods I have encountered. The eggs are delicious. Here is the salient quote:

"The best, fastest, easiest-to-peel, and most energy efficient method I've found is to boil an inch or so of water in the bottom of a saucepan or wok. Add the eggs straight from your fridge (the water doesn't need to cover them). Cover with a lid and boil/steam them 3 minutes for extremely soft, 4-5 minutes for soft, 6-7 minutes for medium, and 9-12 minutes for hard. Let them cool naturally or in an ice bath."

Watch the video and listen to Kenji as he watches water boil.

Chocolate soufflés, finally living up to expectations

There are a few dishes that simply seem to give me trouble what I try them initially, and then takes me a while to move them into my comfort zone. Crepes was a particularly bad example, where for years and years I had an aversion against making the batter. Once I finally made up my mind that I would conquer crepes, I quickly got to a point where I can make many variations, different flours, different liquids, different fats, with or without eggs. Now I make crepes when I need something quick and easy - as I should. There really were no reasons for the insecurity, apart from me being a human being.

Chocolate soufflés is in a similar category, though it is different. I can make a killer dessert and savory soufflés and it is another quick and easy yet impressive part of the repertoire. Making a really good chocolate soufflés, with deep chocolate flavor, properly moist on the inside yet not undercooked, that has been a challenge. I think I succeeded once, did not record the recipe, and was not able to recreate the magic.

When this year's wedding anniversary came along, I wanted to make something without wheat, with limited sugar, yet supremely impressive. My mind again wondered towards the chocolate soufflés, and I decided to give it a shot. If it failed, I knew that Jasna would be appreciative of my effort, and that I would have no problems making something else instead. 

I did another search for chocolate soufflés recipe and found one that looked extremely promising. I did what I do very very rarely - I followed the recipe to the T. Well, I did use chocolate chips despite the warning they would result in an inferior results - but I did use very high quality chocolate, so I was not all that worried. I also used a bit less sugar for the meringue. From experience I knew that would work well.

The recipe worked! The result was pretty much perfect in every possible way. The texture, the taste, the look - everything was spot on. I wish I took more care in taking the picture, the actual result was way more impressive.

Key lessons:

The recipe taught me a new trick. Chill the batter in the fridge for up to an hour before baking the souffles. That results in a bit denser batter that is supposed to help the soufflés rise a bit taller. Given how heavy the batter was from the chocolate base, I was quite happy with the rising. It definitely rose more than the cheese soufflés that I made in the past, but less than my version of Kaserschmarren. I also liked it that the batter felt more solid and that I worried less about deflating it when I was loading the ramekins.

The recipe said that the batter could be in the fridge for up to 3 days, but that one should add one minute to the baking time if the batter was in the fridge for more than an hour.

The batter was denser after being chilled

The second lesson was to run a finger or a spatula around the rim of the ramekin to make a groove, with the intention to help the soufflés rise straight up instead of out. I have never experienced soufflés rising anywhere but up, but I'll take any insurance I can get.

See a little groove around the rim, maybe it should have been deeper 😃

Finally, the recipe calls for lowering the oven temperature after putting the soufflés in. The high initial temperature is to help with the soufflés rising up, and the lower temperature afterwards is to help with with soufflés being cooked evenly. I think this was a big deal and it helped with the soufflés being cooked yet nicely moist on the inside.

Does this qualify as trivial food?

Well... this recipe needs the precision that goes beyond what I would normally qualify as trivial food. But I am recording it anyway. The recipe really is not hard to follow, the techniques do not need up-front practice, and the result is so good it is worth paying a bit more attention in the process.

Ingredients:

• 60g unsalted butter, preferably at room temperature
• 110g semi sweet very good quality chocolate, either cut into chunks or chocolate chips or wafers
• 3 eggs separated, at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla
• a small pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp creme of tartar
• 2 TBS sugar
• softened unsalted butter and about 1 tsp sugar or as needed for covering the ramekins

Method:

1. Separate the eggs. They will get to the room temperature while one is melting chocolate.
   
2. Prepare four remekins:
1. Butter the entire inside of each ramekin generously with unsalted butter. I use my fingers, some like melting the butter and use a brush.
2. Add about 1 tsp of sugar into a ramekin, shake it to cover the bottom, and then tilt and rotate a ramekin to cover the side walls. You can use the next ramekin to catch the excess sugar.
3. Repeat this for all 4 ramekins. 
3. Make the batter:
1. In a double boiler melt the chocolate and the butter. Mix well while the chocolate is melting.
2. Let the chocolate stand and cool for a few minutes to avoid cooking the yolk in the next step.
3. After a few minutes, mix egg yolks, vanilla, and a pinch of salt into the chocolate mixture.
4. Add cream of tartar and egg whites into a very clean large bowl, preferably a copper bowl that will help with egg whites get more volume.
5. Beat egg whites to a soft peak.
6. In three portions, while beating egg whites in between, add the 2 TBS of sugar to the egg whites and continue to beat them until the volume increases even more and you get a stiff meringue. It will take about 2 minutes to get the meringue, do not go much longer.
7. Add the meringue to the melted chocolate mixture. This is best done in 3 steps, gently folding the meringue into the chocolate, preserving as many air bubbles as possible. Take your time here.
8. Cover the bowl of the batter with a lid or with wrap, and place it into a fridge.
4. Turn the oven to 400F and wait until the over reaches the temperature.
5. Fill the ramekins with the batter, using 1/4 of the batter per ramekin.
6. Smooth out the top the batter and make a groove around the rim to help the soufflés expand up and not sideways.
7. Gently place the 4 ramekins on a baking sheet, and place the baking sheet in the oven.
8. Reduce the oven temperature immediately to 375F.
9. Bake for 13-14 minutes. The center should just bare jiggle when you tap the baking sheet. If the batter was in the fridge for more than an hour, add one minute to the baking time. My batter was in the fridge for about an hour and the soufflés was done after 14 minutes.
10. Take out of the oven immediately and serve before the soufflés deflates. 
1. If any soufflés is not eaten right away, it stays good in the fridge for a few days, covered it plastic wrap. Reheating it in a microwave, for about 20-30 seconds works very well.
11. The soufflés can be eaten as is, or with a dollop of whipped cream, or with sauce such as creme anglaise or, what I did, umeshu ganache.

Ganache with wine

Back in the day, I used to make chocolate truffles around Christmas, and bring boxes of it to work, much to delight of my co-workers. It was a rather easy but messy affair, until I learned that one could sous vide and pipe the ganache from a plastic bag, making is a no-mess event!

My ganaches were always rather thick, I never used it as a sauce. As flavorings, I would stick to the classics - coffee, liquer, maybe sour cream. I never even imagined one could go a bit more adventurous and use wine for flavoring, and use ganache as a chocolate sauce. That was until I was making chocolate soufflés and along the way found a recipe for ganache with red wine. Of course I had to try it, just that I didn't have any red wide handy, but I did have umeshu, Japanese sour plum wine. I tried that and wow, what an eye opener - hence recording it here. I used it as sauce for chocolate soufflés, but I can imagine tons of other applications. I think next I'll try it a filling for my crepes!

Deceptively boring look for such an explosive flavor

Ingredients:

• 180 ml heavy cream
• 180 ml wine. I used umeshu, the original recipe calls for red wine such as merlot or pinot noir
• 2 TBS cocoa powder (the original recipe calls for 1.5 TBS)
• a small pinch of salt (1/8 tsp)
• 100g sugar (I want to try to cut it down, especially with the sweet wine such as umeshu)
• 225 g best quality semi sweet chocolate, chopped roughly or in wafers/chips
• 60 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

Method:

1. In a small pan, mix the sugar, the cocoa powder, and salt, then whisk in the heavy cream and the wine
2. On a medium or medium low heat bring to simmer, then simmer slowly for 5-6 minutes. Stir occasionally.
3. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the chocolate and the butter. Taste and add more salt if needed.
4. Wait for a few minutes before using it as thin ganache / sauce. In a fridge, it will thicken and can be used as a spread, e.g. for icing a cake.

Ratatouille in a heat wave

 I have been craving ratatouille and once the summer and the fresh vegetables arrived, it was time to make it. My real craving was actually for confit byaldi, where vegetables are baked ever so slowly until they become unbearably tasty. 

Heating up the ratatouille, the day after

So... I got the vegetables, I forgot to buy tomatoes, and suddenly we had a heat wave. Our AC cannot keep us as is, so running an oven for hours was not an option. The craving, however, refused to dissipate, so I started to think what to do. I didn't want to simply make a stove-top ratatouille. It's tasty for sure, but it can't hold a candle to confit byaldi. How do I cook vegetables more slowly then, was the question. I remembered that my Instant Pot had a slow cooker function, and I verified that I could set the cooking temperature - the low setting was at 185F, exactly the temperature used for cooking vegetables in sous vide. In comparison to cooking in the oven, the slow cooker option would sacrifice evaporation that intensifies the flavors, but at least the vegetables would cook at the right temperature that should make the dish quite tasty. 

I gave it a shot, and the result was quite good on the first day, and outright excellent the second day - not uncommon for such dishes. It is quite a find, especially in a hot summer when one really doesn't want to add extra heat to the house.

I still want to make confit byaldi - it has been several years since I made it several times, and all I have are a good looking picture and a memory of unbelievable intensity of flavors. I hope I remember to record what I do so that the next time I don't have to look for a recipe.

Confit byaldi

Ingredients:

• 2 cups home made tomato sauce
• Optional: 1 TBS miso
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped finely
• 1-2 lb cored sweet peppers, sliced thinly. I was lucky to get corno di toro.
• 2 medium sized zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch pieces
• 1/2 of sizeable eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch pieces
• salt to taste
• olive oil, a few TBS, enought to generously cover the bottom of the instant pot
• a few thyme sprigs

Method:

1. Cut all the vegetables and the onion
2. Set Instant pot to saute at medium heat, add the oil, and wait for the pot to indicate the temperature was reached
3. Add the chopped onion and a pinch of salt. Stir and sautee until the onion becomes translucent.
4. Add the sliced peppers, another small pinch of salt, and sautee the mixture until the peppers soften slightly.
5. Add the tomato sauce, thyme, and, if using, miso. Stir well and wait for the mixture to come to boil.
6. Add the zucchini and eggplant, mix well and, using a cooking spoon, level the top of the vegetable mixture.
7. Cancel the saute function, set the Instant pot to "slow cook", and choose low temperature. Set the cooking time to 4-6 hours (I only had 4 hours, so that was what I used) and start the cooking.
8. Cover the Instant Pot, either with a glass lid if you have it, or use the usual pressure-cooking lid, but set the valve on ventilation
9. After 4 hours (or 6 or whatever time you set), check for seasoning and add more salt if needed. 
10. Eat right away and/or store in the fridge overnight, in a covered dish. Reheated ratatouille definitely improves upon the fresh one.

Meatballs I always hoped for

I always found meatballs somewhat of a letdown. After hoping for a taste explosion from these deliciously looking morsels, my experience is that the flavor tends to be somewhat flat and plain. Maybe with an exception of Indian koftas or Swedish meatballs, and even there it seems the sauce takes most of the credit for the taste. Well, I can definitely claim a letdown for meatballs I had made - they had been in an OK-but-nothing-special category. 

Recently he store across the street has been carrying really excellent ground venison. Super lean, organic, grass fed, whet else could one ask for. I wanted to use the venison in a Thai curry, so I started to look for recipes, I found one that looked appealing, and it was definitely an inspiration for what I actually ended up doing. Basically, I ended up throwing a kitchen sink of Asian tricks at the meatball, finally getting the texture and the flavor I wanted. I can easily see replacing asian spices with other combinations, for example sage and cumin work really nicely and have a super pungent flavor I like  in my food.

That recipe also opened my eyes that one does not finish the meatballs in the sauce, which is something that was seared in my mind from how meatballs in tomato sauce were made when I was growing up. In reality, one can sear the meatballs in a pan, and then finish them in the oven. A large carbon steel roaster or paella pan surely helps here, so that one can work in one batch without overcrowding the pan:

 Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground meat. I used venison.
• 1-2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 - 1 tsp baking soda
• 1-2 tsp granulated garlic
• 4 TBS oat flakes, ground in a food processor. Bread crumbs would work, too.
• 1 TBS gochugaru (korean dried chillies, mild and sweet flavor)
• 1-2 TBS soy sauce
• 1-2 TBS fish sauce
• 1-2 TBS sesame oil
• 1 smal to medium onion, chopped finely
• a pinch of salt
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 TBS finely chopped or grated ginger
• olive oil

Method:

1. If the meat was vacuum packed, unpack it and let it rest for 10 minutes at room temperature
2. Preheat the oven to 350F.
3. Heat some oil in a skillet at a medium-low to medium heat. Fry onions with a pinch of salt, until the onions soften and start changing color
4. Add the chopped garlic and ginger. Fry for 30 seconds. Place the mixture in a bowl and let it cool for a minute.
5. Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl. mix all the ingredients well
6. Make 16 meatballs, or whatever size you like. Note, the cooking time may vary with the size of meatballs.
7. Optional but useful: Let sit for 10 minutes
8. In an oven-safe large pan, heat some oil at a medium heat. Brown meatballs on all sides, or at least two sides, if you have a hard time having the meatballs stand on a side. Do this in batches if needed.
9. Return all meatballs to the pan if you used several batches, and finish them in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Adjust the time if you have many more or fewer meatballs than the 16 used in this recipe.
10. The meatballs are done when cooked through. Test by cutting through a meatball and check that it is no longer pink inside.

 Notes:

• You can finish meatballs in a sauce. 
• You can cook the fully cooked meatballs some more in a sauce. 
• Pink ground meat can be hazardous for your health. Bacteria grows on the meat surface, this is why steaks are OK to cook and eat rare. In ground meat, the bacteria gets mixed into the meat, so ground meat should be cooked through.