Food Lush

White Bean and Pumpkin Stew Recipe

Editor's note: For our last week at Food Lush, I've asked the writers to share both a favorite post by another writer, from over the last three years, and a favorite post of their own. You'll see these posts linked to at the top of their new post for the week. Enjoy a stroll down Lush memory lane!

By Dani

As everybody has said, it's really, really hard to pick a favorite Food Lush post, so I'm going to go with my gut and what I'm enjoying this week: Tara C.'s Zuppa di Anglio Fresco has been fighting off cold winds and germs for me lately, and I love it.

For me, I have to pick Tell Me: Starbucks vs. Indie Coffee - a topic that is oddly close to my heart. It's also a post that recalls one of the things I have loved about Food Lush: that it's a place to relive travels, bounce around ideas, debate the merits of food-related issues and try new things. Thank you for being a part of that, and letting me be a member of the team that played here every week.

***

Now, I want to share with you a stew recipe that has been a staple for me this winter - it's sweet, salty, hearty - and a perfect use for leftover ham. It's adapted from a recipe is Campfire Cookery (an excellent cookbook in its own right!)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb of dried beans (I used Great Northern white beans, but anything will do)
• 1 lb. or so of fresh pumpkin, cubed (butternut squash also works)
• 1/2 lb. of ham or pancetta, chopped
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• 1 cinnamon stick
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Soak beans overnight, or simmer for about an hour before making the rest of the stew. Once the beans are softened, place all ingredients in a Crock-Pot with two quarts of fresh water or broth, and let cook for about eight hours. (The longer it simmers, the better it is!) Serve with crusty bread and a sprinkle of brown sugar and nutmeg on top.

(The finished product and cookbook. Photo by me.)

Mother's Restaurant, New Orleans

by Tara

Have you ever had the World's Best Ham? You're missing out. I had some the other day.*

At The Blathering I went on a "ham date" with some lovely ladies to Mother's Restaurant, a delightfully hole-in-the-wall restaurant on Restaurant Row in New Orleans, LA.

I ordered the Famous Ferdi Special because it is famous. And also because I wasn't sure what debris was and I was feeling adventurous (it's the stuff that falls off the meat while it's roasting). So I had a Po' Boy sandwich of the World's Best Ham, plus roast beef, debris, and gravy. The bread had creole and yellow mustard, and I added tabasco. So good. SO good. (I got the 2/3 size and couldn't finish it.)

Then I also ordered some fries and it was a huge order and I barely ate any because my sandwich was so good. They were also good, though!

I didn't try the World's Best Bloody Mary, but Maura said that it was, indeed, very good.

Photos by me. Of delicious food. Right before I inhaled it.

*"You did it! Congratulations! World's best [ham]! Great job, everybody! It's great to be here." -Buddy the Elf

Have you ever eaten the World's Best Anything?

The Wednesday Chef's Amazing Pork Chops

by Elissa

I hope you all read Luisa Weiss's terrific blog, The Wednesday Chef. It has everything that I love about food blogs: great recipes, mouthwatering photographs, and excellent writing. I've been a regular reader for years now, and Luisa has never steered me wrong in the kitchen. Recently, she taught me an easy and delicious way to make pork chops.

This recipe solved my problems with dry, blank pork chops. The amazing thing? The recipe only has 3 ingredients: coarse salt, pork chops, and lemon. Go read what Luisa has to say--she explains the method (and the recipe's Italian provenance) much better than I could. But if you are looking to spiff up your pork chops with a recipe that's as simple as possible, you need to try it.

On a related note, if you like food memoirs you should definitely check out Luisa's book: My Berlin Kitchen. It's a really good read and includes lots of original recipes.

Easy Crock Pot Beer Brats

by Jess M

This time of year always has me yearning for some nice, heavy, delicious German food. And some nice, heavy, delicious German beer to go with it. So, with football on the TV (Baltimore Ravens!), I wanted something easy and fairly hands-off. I didn’t want to spend my Sunday standing over a pot frying schnitzel.

Last week we made Cook’s Country’s Slow-Cooker Beer Brats. The recipe is pretty simple and doesn’t require a whole lot of prep work. Onions and brats go in the crock pot with a simple mustard mixture and beer. At the end you remove the brats and heat up some sauerkraut. The Test Kitchen recommends you use a light-bodied American lager, but we used a heavier Marzen beer for fuller flavor.

After 4 hours on high, by halftime we were enjoying brats with sauerkraut and mustard and a side of soft pretzels.

(Photo from: Cook's Country)

Your New Favorite Slow Cooker Recipe

By Ariel

See, I warned you I'd be posting more slow cooker recipes!  This one. I can't even tell you the magic. It has three ingredients. Do I even need to tell you it came form Pinterest? No? Alright then, I won't. Behold Crock-pot Ranch Pork chops:

The only thing I changed was to add a couple cloves of crushed garlic and pepper. This dish was simple and fantastic, and is absolutely perfect if you're looking for easy comfort food. I've made this once a week for the past month and am considering trying it with chicken the next go-around. I honestly can't think of a way to improve on it, so I'll let you be the judge. Did I mention the three ingredients part?  

I promise I'll talk about something other than slow cooking next time. Maybe.

Paleo Slow-Cooker Italian Meatballs

by Tara

I love meatballs (not a euphemism). They make a great snack or appetizer, are perfect for little hands so the whole family can eat them, are very versatile and can be made for almost any cuisine, and are easy to make. I also love my slow-cooker. I've been seeing this recipe pinned all over Pinterest, and I thought I'd try to change it up and make it Paleo. The resulting dish was delicious!

Paleo Slow-Cooker Italian Meatballs

Ingredients:
-2 lbs ground pork (or 2 lbs Italian sausage and skip the seasoning blend next on the list)
-4 tablespoons Italian Sausage Seasoning (I used a recipe from Well-Fed by Melissa Joulwan, but you can make or buy your own spice blend)
-1/4 cup almond meal/flour
-1/4 cup almond milk
-1 onion, chopped
-1 jar marinara sauce (or a batch of homemade sauce)
-Nonstick spray 

Directions:
1. Spray down the inside of your slow-cooker.
2. Cover bottom of dish with chopped onion.
3. Mix together pork, seasoning (or squish up your Italian sausage), almond meal, and almond milk with your hands.
4. Form meatballs by hand and place in crockpot (this will make more than one layer).*
5. Pour marinara sauce over the meatballs.
6. Cook on low 6-8 hours.
7. Serve meatballs over veggies or on their own (or over pasta if you aren't paleo).

*The easiest way I've found to make meatballs is to dampen your hands, measure out a level tablespoon of meat, and form it into a ball. If you're OCD like me, this makes your meatballs all uniform size.

Delicious, y'all. I made my own marinara sauce and even though it wasn't award-winning the meatballs made up for it.

Do you have a go-to meatball recipe?

 

 

Oven Magic: Baby Back Ribs

by Elissa

I love ribs but generally only eat them at restaurants (or at my in-laws: my father-in-law makes great ribs). Until recently I had never tried cooking them at home, but last weekend I decided to give it a shot. I remember reading this article by food science expert Harold McGee, in which he explains that the oven is the ideal place to cook ribs because you can get the low, even heat that makes the ribs tender and keeps the meat moist.  McGee's recipe (which bears the Smitten Kitchen stamp of approval), involves rubbing pork spareribs with a mix of brown sugar, salt, and spices and cooking in a 200-degree oven for four hours, followed by another two hours at 175 degrees. Then you use the juices from the ribs to make a quick sauce.

The only snag in my plan to make this recipe was that my grocery store did not have spareribs. But the guy at the meat counter told me I could substitute baby back ribs and could maybe even reduce the cooking time because baby back ribs are a bit more tender than spareribs. Here are the results of my experiment:

I was very pleased with the results. My modifications to the recipe are below. Although it took a few hours to cook, preparation was very simple, and the ribs were meltingly tender and delicious. My modifications are below--I omitted the cloves and cinnamon because that just sounded off to me. One rack of baby back ribs comfortably served two adults and one preschooler.

1 1/2 lb rack of baby back ribs
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons paprika
1 tsp (scant) kosher salt
3/4 tsp. garlic powder

For the sauce:

1 Tb. bourbon
3/4 tsp. smoked Spanish Paprika
1 Tb. cider vinegar

Rub the sugar, salt, paprika, and garlic powder over the ribs. Wrap the ribs tightly in foil and put ribs meat-side down on a rack in a baking sheet. Bake at 200 degrees for 3 hours. Reduce the heat to 175 and bake for another hour or so (check tenderness after one hour). When done, carefully open packet and pour juices into a saucepan. Add bourbon and boil until reduced by half. Add smoked paprika and vinegar and taste to see if the sauce needs more salt, sugar, or vinegar. Serve ribs with sauce. 

Udon Noodles

By Natalie

I have recently discovered Udon noodles. Am I way behind on the times? You can't find them everywhere, like at say Wal-Mart. But, at Central Market there are several varieties to choose from. They almost seem a little bit like Ramen, which by the way I do not like. Ramen did not sustain me through college, unlike my brother.

Last week I made Five Spice Pork & Veggies with Udon Noodles. This recipe was very easy and really delicious.

This week I plan on making Drunken Noodles. I know I'm behind the times on this one. I've never had Drunken Noodles before. I'm excited to try them!

Do you cook with Udon noodles? What are your favorite recipes?

photo credit: me!

Blackening Seasoning: Big on Flavor, Not on Calories

By Caitlin

Okay! Brisk clap!

Well thank god THAT'S over. 

And by "that," I mean the trainwreck of crappy eating and too much drinking that's been going on, oh, about since the Halloween candy was out. Like everyone else in the world, I am now back into a healthy eating situation blah blah exercise blah blah my pants are too tight. 

I'm generally not one to lament the lack of tasty, healthy, low-cal whole foods out there, but like anyone I often have a hard time coming up with new and exciting ways to put them together. So what better way than crowd sourcing? I'm going to share with you one of my favorite ways of getting in a lot of flavor for not a lot of calories, and in return, tell me: What healthy stuff are you eating these days?

One of my favorite ways to spice up (no pun intended) a savory meal is to blacken the protein. There are many variations of it, but blackening seasoning can generally be made from a few simple herbs and spices that you probably have in your cabinet. Here is one version, and you can find others here and here. Most versions seem to have cayenne, thyme, paprika, salt, black pepper, garlic and onion powders in common.

I've had blackened chicken, salmon, and shrimp, and I'm sure it would also be great on tofu, pork, beef, turkey, and other types of fish. Once your blackening is prepped and ready to go, use it to coat your protein. If the protein is a little dry and it's not sticking, rub with a bit of olive oil to help it stick. You can grill it, pan sear it (cast iron adds an extra nice layer of flavor), or broil it. Versatility!

A few ideas for ways to eat your blackened protein:

- Make a ceasar vinaigrette, toss with romaine, a little strong Parmesan Reggiano (adds a lot of flavor, and you don't need much), and service with chicken, shrimp, or salmon. 

I'm ignorning those delicious homemade croutons and you should, too. 

- Check out this great list of vinaigrettes to get some more salad inspiration. How about blackened chicken with strawberries, feta, spinach, and strawberry vinaigrette? Or a southwest inspired salad with blackened beef, black beans, avocado, corn, greens and a little lime-cilantro vinaigrette?

- Serve with a fruit salsa and cilantro-lime rice or quinoa.

Blackened salmon, tropical fruit salsa, salad.

- A "burrito bowl" with brown rice, black beans, tomatoes, peppers, and salsa.

- Put it in a sandwich and pile it with veggies and even some hummus. 

- The shrimp are especially good with polenta or grits, and your favorite veggies.

 

Okay, your turn! What are your favorite healthy meals lately?  

PS - My favorite breakfast is still oatmeal with fruit and nut butters: protein, fiber, and whole grains a million different ways. There are some great healthy meal ideas in the comments of this post.

All photos: Me.

Feeding a Holiday Crowd: Pork Rib Roast

by Elissa

Not to brag, but my husband made an amazing dinner the other night. It featured a cut of meat that I had never attempted to cook before: a pork rib roast. It requires some work from the butcher, as the backbone (or chine) is removed and the rib bones are frenched, but the meat counter at our local Whole Foods was happy to do it for us. Here's what it looked like before cooking:

The recipe he used was super-simple: halve 4 apples and put them cut-side down in the bottom of a large roasting pan. Season the pork with salt and pepper, add a little white wine and water to the pan, and roast at 375 until the pork reaches an internal temp of 145 (about 1 and 1/4 hours). Here's the finished product:

He served it with a gremolata that featured parsley, rosemary and lemon zest. Delicious! The roast yielded 8 large pork chops, and it really was pretty easy to put together. I am hopeful that he will agree to make it again when we're visiting my family over the holidays, as I know it will be a big hit.