Sauteed Brussel Sprouts with Bacon and Garlic

1 lb. brussel sprouts, halved
6 slices bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
1 red onion, sliced
1 to 8 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 cup chicken broth
olive oil
sea salt and pepper to taste

Cover a large saute pan with a light coating of olive oil.  Carmelize onions nad garlic in the pan.  Add brussel sprouts and saute for a few minutes.  Add chicken broth and cover to allow the brussel sprouts to steam for about 3 minutes.  Season and place the cooked brussel sprouts into a bowl and top with crumbled bacon.

Taco Soup

Taco Soup is the perfect end to a nice cold, rainy day.  But it is not necessary to wait for the opportunity for it to be cold and raining.  Any day is perfect, especailly after a long days work and being pressed for time.  One can't believe how quick it is to prepare this meal.  The best part of this colorful, and tasty soup is that everyone at the table can customize their serving with add-ins of their choice. And it's simple to pull together, especially if you use precooked chicken.

Much like a taco you will need many ingredients with the exception of having to fry taco shells.  This is a great meal to prepare with left over taco meat, or leftover rotisserie chicken. In our case, it is always that we just want to have taco soup.  You can start with home made chicken or vegetable broth, or in a pinch use your favorite gluten-free store bought broth.  I like to use ground chicken or leftover rotisserie chicken, chopped tomatoes, grated cheese, sliced avocadoes, chopped onions, cilantro, sour cream, salsa and gluten-free tortilla chips.  I will often add in a can of organic corn kernels, and a can of softened organic whole pinto beans.  If used in combination corn and bean carbohydrates can be considered a protein.  This adds texture and protein if you decide to make it meatless.

Taco Soup  For the soup:

4 skinless chicken thighs or breast
(about 1 1/2 pounds) or equal amount
of ground meat
1 can (14.5 ounces) reduced-sodium
chicken broth
1onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 can organic corn kernels, drained
1 can organic pinto beans, drained
coarse sea salt to taste


For garnish:
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese or ceddar cheese (5 ounces)
4 large scallions, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)
1 jalapeño chile, diced (with seeds for more heat)
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced
1/4 cup cilantro sprigs
1 tomato, chopped
1 Lime, cut in wedges sour cream
salsa
 
In a large soup pot, combine the broth, corn, tomatoes, and salsa. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for approximately 10 to 15 minutes.



Just before you are ready to eat, slice the avocado and sprinkle it with lime juice. Place the add-ins in bowls on the table. Diners can fill a bowl with the ingredients of their choice, then ladle on the hot soup.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.

 

 

Julia Child's Coq au Vin

About a month ago, I had the pleasure of seeing a fantastic movie entitled "Julie and Julia".  This movie was based on the lives of JuliaChild and a blogger, Julie Powell, that took on the project of making EVERY recipe from the Julia Child's cook book, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", 565 recipes in 365 days.  Who-o-o!  Even I need to take a day off now and again.  The movie was very witty, insightful, and for a fellow foodie, extremely inspirational.  I dare to say that it was absolutely yummy!  The two women made me proud to be a foodie, and validated my own journey with food.  Who better to understand a foodie then another foodie?  It also gave me a much better picture of who Julia Child really was and why she became such an important American icon.  She was well traveled, intelligent, charming, and oh so funny.  She had a great outlook not only on cooking but on life itself, and I admire her perserverance.  Fellow Blogger, Julie Powell was also funny and showed great perseverance as well.  I myself look at the many dishes that Julie tried to create from the cook book and would not have even bothered.  But she was on a mission.  As for aspics, enough horrible things cannot be said about them.  I am pretty confident that I would have skipped that chapter all together, but not Julie.

Growing up I remember Julia Child as this hugely tall lady who performed a cooking show on t.v.  She seemed to me to have a strangely pitched voice, but appeared to have a great sense of humor, especially in the kitchen.  I loved Dan Akeroids imitation of her on Saturday Night Live, but that was about the extent of my knowledge of Julia Child.  My mother never used cook books, and she rarely if ever watched cooking shows on t.v.  The t.v. was reserved for her novellas (soap operas), and who could teach a pro (my mom) what she needed to know about cooking Puerto Rican food anyway?

 

I must tell you that in order to view this movie, please make sure that you do it on a full tummy.  If nothing else, it is sure to make you crave French Food, or at the very least, food in general.  After viewing the movie I had this strong desire to go home immediately and start cooking and baking.  Unfortunately it was about 10:00 p.m. in the evening and it was hotter than hot here in Sacramento so this was completely out of the question.  Oh dreadt!  What to do, what to do?!  I had to wait.  Unfortunately, patience is certainly not one of my virtues.

While I admit that I knew Julia Child had wrtitten cook books, I had never seen any of them.  Nevertheless, ever since I saw the movie I have wanted to delve into Julia Child's first cook book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", but can't seem to find a copy on the shelves at the library and I am on a waiting list and am about 100th in line for my request of said book.  My strict policy is that I never purchase a cook book unless I have viewed it from the library first or gotten personal receommendations of it from family or friends.  No sense in purchasing a cook book one will never use.  God forbid! 

The two recipes from the movie that stood out for me were:  Coq au Vin, and the other is Boeuf Burginguon.  At the time it was too hot in Sacramento to even consider making those dishes, so I decided to wait until the weather cooled off a bit.  Today is quite pleasant and I am settling in to my fall stews, soups, and roasting.  Nothing says cozy and home than the succulent aromas of a nice roast, roasting in the oven or a stew or soup simmering on the stove.  Those are the fond memories that I have of my childhood home, and I want to recreate that for my family.

As I was researching information on this dish I happened upon a bit of history on it.  I discovered that the word coq literally translated means rooster in French.  So this recipe is rooster in wine?  This dish was originally considered peasant food because the farmers would take a rooster that was too old to do much of anything else on the farm and cook it.  In the old days they would use whatever was on hand, you know the old addage of making due with what you have?  Because the rooster was old, chances are that the meat would be very tough, therefore they would cook it long and slow in wine and herbs to help make it nice and tender, not to mask its flavor.  The red wine in the recipe was used mainly to allow the acids to help break down the old meat of the rooster.  Since I couldn't find a rooster, of course I really didn't try looking, I used some organic free range chicken parts.

I must admit that 3/4 of the way through this recipe I had my doubts that this recipe was worth its lengthy and drawn out effort.  I will say that I felt great admiration for Julia Child because I knew in her day that each of the steps she requires in the recipe were an absolute must, as they did not have the advantage of frozen pearl onions (already peeled), There was no air conditioning, or microwaves, etc.  She laboriously worked at each dish she created and her only reward was her husband's fond remarks.  Making this dish helped me to feel one with Julia, even if just for a moment. 

Once we tasted that tender, succulent and heady flavor I knew it was worth every step.  From the braised onions to the sauteed mushrooms.  Fortunately I did not have to kill the rooster or even have to cut a whole chicken into parts.  The sauce was thick, and rich, and the chicken just melted in your mouth.  Even my husband who is not much of an onion person loved the braised pearl onions.  The mushrooms were absolutely perfect!  The meat, the mushrooms, the onions and the sauce just skated across the entire surface of our tongues teasing each and every taste buds and delighting them!!  The coq au vin went very nicely served over Tinkyada fettucine noodles.  Traditionally it is served over egg wide noodles and I am as of yet still on the search for the perfect tasting and textured gluten-free egg wide noodles.  I also slightly altered this recipe to make it gluten-free by using the Featherlight flour mix in place of the all purpose flour called for in the recipe.  Mixing it with the butter to make a paste worked out exquisitely.  No lumps in this sauce!  I also had the benefit of using a store bought chicken broth, rather than having had to make it from scratch.  And I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that as a Puerto Rican I had to add more garlic to this recipe, a whole lot more.  But you can be the judge of how much garlic you want to go into this dish!  As always have fun and let your creativity guide you.

Julia Child's Coq au Vin

From the kitchen of Julia Child
Servings: 4
Difficulty: Moderate
Cook Time: 30-60 min
Legendary chef Julia Child appeared on "Good Morning America" on May 11, 1995, with her Ragout of Chicken and Coq au Vin recipes.
Coq au Vin is chicken in red wine with small braised onions, mushrooms, and lardons of pork - an elaboration on the far more elementary preceding ragout, coq au vin involves more hand work since you have lardons of bacon to prepare for the special flavor they give to the sauce. Then there is the traditional garnish of small braised onions and sautéed mushrooms. This combination makes a wonderfully satisfying dish, and a fine one for company.

Ingredients
• 1/2 cup lardons (4 ounces -- 1-by-1/4-inch strips of blanched slab bacon or salt pork - see Special Note below)
• 2 1/2 to 3 pounds frying chicken parts
• 2 tbs. butter
• 1 tbs. olive oil (or good cooking oil)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 or 2 large cloves of garlic, pureed
• 1 imported bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp or so thyme
• 1 large ripe red unpeeled tomato, chopped, (or 1/3 cup canned Italian plum tomatoes)
• 3 cups young red wine (Zinfandel, Macon or Chianti type)
• 1 cup chicken stock (or more)
• Beurre manie, for the sauce (1 1/2 tbs. each Featherlight flour mix softened butter blended to a paste)
• Fresh parsley sprigs (or chopped parsley)
• 1/3 cup good brandy (optional)
• 12 to 16 small brown-braised white onions
• 3 cups fresh mushrooms, trimmed, quartered and sautéed

Cooking Directions

Before browning the chicken, sauté the blanched bacon or salt pork and remove to a side dish, leaving the fat in the pan. Brown the chicken in the pork fat, adding a little olive oil, if needed. Flame the chicken with the brandy, if you wish -- it does give its own special flavor, besides being fun to do. After browning the chicken, uncover pan, pour in the cognac. Flambé by igniting with a lighted match. Let flame a minute, swirling pan by its handle to burn off alcohol; extinguish with pan cover. Then proceed to simmer the chicken in the wine, stock, tomatoes and seasoning as directed in the master recipe.

While the chicken is cooking, prepare the Brown-Braised Onions and the Mushrooms.

Brown-Braised Onions:

12 to 24 small white onions, peeled (or double the amount if you want to use tiny frozen peeled raw onions)*

1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt to taste

* If neither frozen nor fresh pearl onions are available, substitute one large onion cut into 1/2-inch pieces. (Do not use jarred pearl onions, which will turn mushy and disintegrate into the sauce.)
If peeling your own pearl onions drop onions into boiling water, bring water back to the boil, and let boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and drain. Cool onions in ice water. Shave off the two ends (root and stem ends) of each onion, peel carefully, and pierce a deep cross in the root end with a small knife (to keep onions whole during cooking).

In a large frying pan over medium heat, heat the olive oil, add parboiled onions, and toss for several minutes until lightly browned (this will be a patchy brown). Add water to halfway up onions and add 1/4 to1/2 teaspoon salt. Cover pan and simmer slowly for 25 to 30 minutes or until onions are tender when pierce with a knife.

NOTE: Onions may be cooked in advance, set aside, then reheated when needed. Season to taste just before serving.

Mushrooms:
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, washed, well dried, left whole if small, sliced or quartered if large

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

Prepare mushrooms. In a large frying pan over medium heat, heat butter and olive oil; when bubbling hot, toss in mushrooms and saute over high heat for 4 to 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from heat.

NOTE: Mushrooms may be cooked in advance, set aside, then reheated when needed. Season to taste just before serving.

Finishing the dish. Strain, degrease, and finish the sauce, also as described. Strew the braised onions and sautéed mushrooms over the chicken, baste with the sauce, and simmer a few minutes, basting, to rewarm the chicken and to blend flavors.

Special note: To blanch bacon or salt pork: When you use bacon or salt pork in cooking, you want to remove its salt as well as its smoky flavor, which would permeate the rest of the food. To do so, you blanch it -- meaning, you drop it into a saucepan of cold water to cover it by 2 to 3 inches, bring it to the boil, and simmer 5 to 8 minutes; the drain, refresh in cold water, and pat dry in paper towels.

Scalloped Potatoes

Being Celiac we have to become really creative with our dishes.  Not to mention the fact, that both my daughter and I absolutely hate monotony.  We crave variety.  So I not only work diligently on my main courses, but strive for amazing side dishes to boot.  For our needs, I must keep in mind budget friendly items, as well as being inventive, creative, while still being tasty and with a spectacular texture.  Sounds like a great deal of work, but not really.  Because I know what my family likes and I love to cook.  I also love to experiment with recipes which helps to break up the monotony.  Today I am putting a bit of a spin on an old classic and I am making it gluten-free.  Today's side dish is Scalloped Potatoes.  My family loves potatoes and they love cheese.  Combine those two together and you have a masterpiece.  This is a simple recipe that takes a few minutes to prep and then I can put it in the oven while I am helping Autumn with her home work, or prepping the rest of the meal.  We love to make this dish when we are going to a potluck, and for family dinners around Christmas or Easter.  Everyone raves about these potatoes and are so impressed with them.  If they only knew.... For those of you who make scalloped potatoes from a box mix, you will notice that it may cut your time down in half, but it also considerably cuts your nutritional value.  You increase your sodium and you are essentially eating styrafoam like potato slices.  Trust me, I know.  I used to make these very same boxed potatoes and not think twice about it.  After having to go gluten-free,  boxed potatoes and boxed rice were one of the first things on the chopping block.  But I am very glad for the change!  It is so interesting what we condition ourselves to eat.  When we made the change we opened up not only our taste buds, but our whole world to the endless possibilities and we are so grateful for the more delicious and nutritious foods that we now create.  Take the little extra time to make them from scratch and you will be well rewarded.  The texture and flavor is to die for.  The potatoes are tender, creamy, and cheesy with a hint of crispness on the edges.  And always remember that when you make a homemade dish you are the one in control of how much fat, sodium, sugar, etc. that goes into your recipe. 

For substitutions you can replace the milk in this dish with chicken broth, or vegetable stock, or any milk, butter and cheese substitute you normally use.  You can slice the potaotes by hand but I love using my handy-dandy mandoline.  On the mandoline, potato slices are sliced evenly so your potaotes cook more rapidly.  I go for the thinner slice on this recipe to cut down on the bake time.  You can heat the milk on the stove or in a glass measuring cup in your microwave.  Last but not least, leftovers of these potatoes are fantastic.  My husband and my daughter love to take them in their lunch boxes even though they receive jealous glares from those eating the same old mundane sandwich day after day.

 
Scalloped Potatoes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
•4 cups thinly sliced potatoes, about 6 to 8 medium potatoes
•4 tablespoons Featherlight flour mix
•1 teaspoon salt
•1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
•6 tablespoons butter
•3 cups scalded milk
•1 cup shredded cheese
Preparation:

In a buttered 2-quart baking dish, place a layer of about 1/3 of the potatoes. In a cup or small bowl, combine flour with salt and pepper. Sprinkle about half of the flour mixture over the potatoes; repeat with another layer of potatoes and the flour mixture and top with remaining potato slices. Dot with butter then pour hot milk over potatoes. Cover and bake at 375° for 45 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle cheese over the top. Return to the oven and bake, uncovered, for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, or until scalloped potatoes are tender and cheese has melted. Scalloped potatoes serves 6 to 8.