Another Crock-Pot delight

Recipe: spiced braised beef with sweet potatoes
Courtesy of Real Simple magazine
www.realsimple.com/slowcooker

Tip: This dish actually seemed to have a better taste and consistency the day after it was cooked. It was a little liquid-y right from the Crock-Pot, but it seemed to set overnight. The flavor is unique and really good served over the couscous!

Serves: 6

1 1/2 lbs. beef chuck, cut into chunks
2 sweet potatoes (about 1 lb), cut into 1/2-inch thick half-moons
1 28-oz can whole peeled tomatoes
1 large red onion, cut into wedges
1/2 cup dried apricots
2 t ground cumin
2 t ground ginger
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t cayenne pepper
Kosher salt
1 10-oz. box couscous
1 15-oz. can chickpeas, rinsed
2 c baby spinach
1/4 c chopped, roasted almonds

• In a 4 to 6 quart slow cooker, combine the beef, potatoes, tomatoes (and their juices), onion, apricots, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, cayenne, 3/4 t salt, and 1/2 c water.
• Cook, covered, until the meat is tender, on high for 4-5 hours, or on low for 7-8 hours.
• Ten minutes before serving, prepare the couscous according to the package directions.
• Add the chickpeas to the slow cooker and cook until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the spinach. Serve with the couscous and sprinkle with the almonds.
  

The beef chuck can take a little while to cut, so plan for this in the time. Otherwise all the preparation goes pretty quickly!

Na's Pasta

Okay, so Jason & I are obsessed with the TV show "Diner's, Drive-ins & Dives" on the Food Network. And the one time, they featured this tiny little hole-in-the-wall bar called "Nadine's" which is in the South Side - just a couple blocks from me!

So one day back in January, when he had just returned from a trip & we both had the whole frozen-Pittsburgh-weekday off, we went there for lunch. It's SUCH a small place and you actually eat at the bar. But they had the "famous" Na's Pasta...and it was DELISH.

I later googled it and saw they posted the receipe on the website! So I made it for Jason & Gittler over a week ago, the night before Jason left for Chicago for two weeks. I wanted to try and do something COMPLETELY on my own with NO HELP from him & I wouldn't even let him in the kitchen, even tho I did use Gittler to help me pour some of the contents into the baking pan.

Now... this receipe "serves 4-6"... but what they really mean is a small army. This receipe made two big casserole dishes worth of food. It was INSANE how much we had left. It could EASILY have fed 10+ people, especially once you factored in bread/garlic bread/breadsticks etc. Jason even froze one of the casserole dishes' worth of food... we'll see how that turned out in a couple weeks. ha!

But I must warn you... this is a VERY filling/manly meal. Jason & his roomate LOVED it and I really enjoyed it... but its definitely EXTREMELY filling. lol It's a "man's dish" that's for sure.

And I even made Jason run out mid-prep to buy a REALLY large, deep pan, because his were just too small. Though, Im sure you'd be fine if you cut the receipe in half.

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds bulk hot Italian sausage (I only used 1lb)
3 slices (1-inch thick) salami
3 slices (1-inch thick) capicolla
3 tomatoes, diced
1 onion
3 red peppers
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 pounds trio pasta (3 different pastas)
3 cups marinara sauce
Asiago cheese, for garnish
Garlic bread or Italian butter bread, for serving

Directions
Saute hot Italian sausage and drain off all of the fat. Cut the salami and capicolla into small cubes and dice the tomatoes. Chop the onion and peppers. Add sausage, salami, capicolla, tomatoes, onion and red peppers to the saute pan and mix well. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook the pasta in boiling water until al dente. Drain and set aside.

In a large oven-safe dish, add all ingredients together including pasta and marinara sauce and cover. Bake for 30 minutes. (I mixed all of it in J's large pot, because there was just so much I new I couldn't mix it all in the pan)

Plate and top with fresh Asiago cheese. Serve with garlic bread or Italian butter bread.

(Note: I have no idea how long this receipe took from start to finish. I was SO worried about screwing it up and not being able to prove J wrong, that I took my time & was very careful with EVERY step I did. I want to say it took about an hour & a half though, from start to finish.)

Saucy, Spicy, and Special favorites

Here are some recent faves you may enjoy!

1. This recipe reminded Ashley and I of her dad because he always cooks things that are SAUCY:

Saucy Baked Chicken

serves 6

6 chicken cutlets

1 medium onion, sliced

8 oz sliced white mushrooms

1/4 c olive-oil

1.5 cups chicken broth

4 tbsp all-purpose flour

2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1.5 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Pour oil into large baking pan (like a brownie pan). Add chicken, onion, and mushrooms, turning to coat with oil. Bake 5 minutes (uncovered); turn chicken over and stir vegetables. Bake an additional 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in medium bowl, whisk flour into chicken broth. Add vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper, stirring well.

3. When chicken has cooked for total 10 minutes, add broth mixture to pan, cover with foil and bake 10 minutes. Remove foil; stir vegetables and bake, uncovered, until sauce bubbles and is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.

4. Heat broiler. Turn chicken over. Place pan 6 inches from heat and broil until chicken just starts to turn golden, about 3-5 minutes.

Jamie's Notes:

- I just realized now as I copied the recipe that it calls for chicken "cutlets" I don't know exactly what that means, but I've just used chicken breasts. I've made this a couple times with 2 and 3 pieces of chicken. I just eyeballed the ammount of onions and mushrooms depending on how much chicken I used, and halved the sauce.

-This is SOO tasty. It's a little annoying with having to pull it out of the oven several times, but it's very simple. Takes a total of maybe 30 minutes. Very good with green beans and Andrea's potatoes!

2. SPICY is Matt's favorite description of food, and this recipe is delicious, and I'm not even a huge spicy fan. Honestly so stinkin good. It's a long list of ingredients, but it makes 3 parts- the rice, the salsa, and the shrimp.

Beer Braised Shrimp with Louisiana Salsa and Rice

serves 6

prep time: 20 mins

cook time : 3o mins

4 cloves garlic, grated or finely chopped (on tv the grated it)

6 to 8 small ribs celery, chopped

1 large or 2 medium green bell peppers, seeded and chopped

1 medium-large red onion, chopped

2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme, finely chopped

4 tbsp butter

1.5 cups enriched white rice

2.5 cups chicken stock

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 red jalapeno chile peppers, very thinly sliced (I omitted this)

1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, heirloom multi colored, red or yellow, halved (i omitted this also, which lost a lot of the pretty color of the dish, but we dont like tomatoes)

2 limes

2 tbsp evoo

2 lbs large shrimp, deveined, tail on

1 tbsp seafood seasoning (Old Bay, remember, I have a spare of this)

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/4 c hot sauce

1 bottle beer (pale ale)

3 tbsp butter

1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced on an angle.

Directions:

In a medium bowl combine the garlic, celery, peppers, onions, and thyme. (You're going to use this for the rice and the salsa)

Rice: Heat a medium pot with 1 tbsp butter over medium head. Add about 1/3 of the vegetables to the pot, saute 2 to 3 minutes. Add rice and toss around for 1 to 2 minutes more. Stir in the chicken stock and cover pot, bring to a boil. Simmer rice 15 to 18 minutes until tender, fluff with fork and season with salt and pepper. (*See note!!)

Salsa: Combine remaining vegetables with red chile peppers and tomatoes and dress with the juice of 1 lime. Season with a little salt. Set aside/put in fridge.

Shrimp: Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high to high heat. Add shrimp and season with seafood seasoning, Worcestershire and hot sauce. Toss shrimp for about 2 minutes then add beer, reduce heat to simmer and braise 5 to 6 minutes. Cut butter into small bits and melt into sauce then add in scallions. Squeeze the juice of 1 lime over teh pan.

Serve the shrimp over the rice and top with salsa.

Jamie's Notes:

-Rice: I severely burned this the first time I made it. I think it was the pot, but I also did not reduce the heat as the rice simmered because it didn't say "reduce heat to simmer." Well, reduce the heat to simmer. Otherwise the bottom will turn black!

-Salsa, as I said in the ingredient list, we omitted the jalapeno chile pepper and the tomatoes, but including them is much more pretty. The thyme really makes it amazing.

-Shrimp: When we added the seafood seasoning, worchestershire sauce and the hot sauce, we were coughing because of how strong the flavor/spices was. If this happens to you, don't be alarmed, it's not so spicy you can't eat it. Just the initial blast of seasoning is a lot.

-I halved this recipe which made the shopping list a lot more managable. It was plenty for Matt and I, but if it is for more than 2 of you, you may want to do a little more than half.

-good with green beans.

3. The Snow-Day SPECIAL! This is a crockpot recipe but is not very conducive for working schedules. It only cooks for 3-4 hours. So this is either a weekend meal, or something to make on a snowday, like I did on Monday when we were snowed in!

Pizza-in-a-Pot

makes 6-8 servings

1.5 lbs ground beef, or bulk Italian sausage

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

half a box rigatoni, cooked

7-oz jar sliced mushrooms, drained

3 oz. sliced peperoni

16-oz jar pizza sauce

10 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded

10 oz cheddar cheese, shredded

1. Brown ground beef with onions. Drain.

2. Layer half of each of the following, in the order given: ground beef and onions, green pepper, noodles, mushrooms, pepperoni, pizza sauce, cheddar chese, and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers.

3. Cover. Cook on Low 3-4 hours.

Jamie's Notes:

-Keep the rigatoni covered with sauce so they don't become dry and crunchy.

- All the measurements (1.5 lbs ground beef, 7 oz jar of sliced mushrooms, 3 oz pepperoni, 16 oz jar pizza sauce, and 10 oz of the cheeses) is NOT what I found in the store. I used 1lb ground beef, a 4 oz jar of mushrooms (more than enough, but I'm not a huge mushroom fan) I bought a little package of pepporoni and just used about half... the pizza sauce I found was only 14 oz and the cheeses were only 8 oz. I don't know if that bothers you girls, but I can't stand it! But I made do with what I found. I am learning the art of "eye-balling" and it worked out just right!

Bon Appetite!