Category: Dutch Oven

Green Chile White Chili.

Published on by KellyInTheKitchen4 Comments

Say this 5 times fast: red leather, yellow leather. Kind of hard, isn’t it? Now try this: green chile white chili. A lot easier. You have now mastered step 1 of any recipe: being able to say its name. Congratulations. Here’s some more good news: there are only 3 real steps in this recipe, and once its done, the longer this chili sits in the fridge, the deeper and richer the flavors are. So make a big pot and have some for dinner, and then save the rest in the fridge for a week’s worth of awesome chile chili lunches. Green chile white chili, green chile white chili…

INGREDIENTS

1 onion, chopped
olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp tomato paste
2 cans green chiles, diced
3 cans white beans (pinto, great northern, etc.)
4-6 cups water, broth, or stock
salt and pepper to taste
optional garnishes: sour cream, cheese, lime juice, green onion

DIRECTIONS

In a Dutch oven or other large pot, saute the onions in olive oil until translucent. Then add the garlic, oregano, cumin, and tomato paste. Stir and cook 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.

Pour in the green chiles, beans, and water/broth/stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for an hour, uncovered.

Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper. That’s all! Probably one of my easiest recipes.

Top your big ol’ bowl with shredded cheese or sour cream, a squirt of lime juice, and a sprinkling of chopped green onion. Yummy.

Silent Black Bean and Chorizo Soup.

Published on by KellyInTheKitchen2 Comments

Beans, beans
The musical fruit
The more you eat,
The more you toot…

Beans. They taste great and are so good for you, but sometimes, ahem, they make you regret eating them. I ate a lot of beans in college, and because I loved my roommates, I worked long and hard to figure out a way to prepare beans so that they would no longer be the “musical fruit” of the children’s rhyme. When I finally was successful in producing an indigestion-free bean, I named them “silent black beans”—they were musical no more! This black bean and chorizo soup is a variant on my original Silent Black Bean Soup; the chorizo is such an amazing addition that I’m not sure I’ll ever make the original version again! So prepare your beans using my tested and roommate-approved method and enjoy a bowl of silent black bean soup, secure in the knowledge that “the more soup you eat, the better you feel, so eat your beans at every meal”…silently, of course.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup dry black beans
4 cups water
1 tbsp vinegar
chicken stock (optional)
2 bay leaves
2 Mexican chorizo sausages
1/2 onion, diced
3 stalks celery, washed and sliced
2 carrots, washed, peeled, and sliced
3/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp pepper

DIRECTIONS

First, the beans – these need to be prepared a day in advance. Pour the dry beans into a large bowl and cover with water. Pour in the vinegar, mix it around a bit, and let the beans sit for 18-24 hours. The water will gradually turn a purply wine color.

Once the beans have soaked, rinse them thoroughly under cold water. Then place them in a Dutch oven or other large pot and cover them with water. Bring to a boil and boil for two minutes.

After two minutes of boiling, remove beans from heat, drain completely, and rinse again under water. Pour beans back into the pan and cover with two inches of water or chicken stock. Add bay leaves and bring back to a boil.

Turn down to a steady simmer (or even a low boil) and cover.

Meanwhile, add a splash of oil to a saute pan over medium heat and add the chorizo. Cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and done. Remove from pan, leaving some of the juices behind to cook the veggies.

Place onions, celery, and carrots into the pan with the chorizo fat, and stir. Cook until all the veggies are softened. Remove from heat.

Now we start assembling the soup. Add the cooked veggies to the bean pot, along with the cumin, cayenne, red pepper flakes, and pepper. Continue to cook until the beans are tender; this took me at least 2 hours of cooking.

Once the beans are tender, remove the bay leaves. If you want, you can puree the soup at this point. I like to puree most of it, with a bit of chunkiness remaining, for texture.

Finally, stir in the chorizo you set aside earlier.

Serve hot and garnish with parsley or cilantro, sour cream, and maybe a few crumbled up tortilla chips. And let me know if you’re brave enough to eat this before a date!

Poule au Pot.

Published on by KellyInTheKitchen1 Comment

Sunday didn’t start out rainy. I woke up at 9:30, and despite feeling a bit low-energy, I grabbed my yoga bag (which I somehow had the foresight to pack the night before) and headed out the door to get my butt kicked for an intense hour and a half. By the time I left the studio, it had become overcast, and a cool, late summer rain was falling. As I walked an umbrella-less mile back to my apartment, I realized it was the perfect weather for that rare and elusive treat: light comfort food. In other words, it was time to make poule au pot! I first saw this peasant’s poached chicken and vegetable dish being prepared on one of my favorite cooking shows, Laura Calder’s French Food at Home. It’s incredibly easy and serves up all beautiful and mellow, with buttery flavors that make you think it’s more indulgent than it is. Since the chicken and veggies are poached, you not only have a very healthy dish on your hands, you’ve also got a whole bonus pot-ful of super-flavorful chicken broth leftover, to do with as you wish. And as for the chicken, I serve it in a pool of hot broth with the veggies and a little pile of quinoa on the side, but let me tell you, it is perfect for chicken salad too. Whatever you do with it, poule au pot has all the warming and homey power of comfort food, with none of the greasy richness. This is the magic of chicken in a pot–what’s not to love?

INGREDIENTS

1 whole chicken
2 bay leaves
5 whole cloves garlic, skin on
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
salt and pepper to taste
3 turnips, halved
2 parsnips, peeled and cut to about the size of the turnips
3 carrots, peeled and cut to match the parsnips
3 celery stalks, cleaned and cut in two
2 leeks, sliced longways, halved shortways, and washed (I find it’s easier to cut leeks first, then wash them after)
1 onion, quartered (Laura Calder suggests pearl onions, but I didn’t have any)

DIRECTIONS

Place the chicken in a deep pot, breast-side up. Fill the pot with water until it covers the chicken. Add the bay leaves and garlic and bring to a boil. Skim the foam off the surface of the water every few minutes.

After the foam has stopped forming, add the thyme, rosemary, sage, parsley, tarragon, and salt and pepper. Cook on a low boil for 30 minutes.

After 30 minute have passed, flip the chicken over so that the breast side is down. Turn the heat down slightly and cook another 10 minutes.

Next, add the turnips, parsnips, and carrots. Cook for 10 minutes.

Then add the celery and onion. Cook 5 minutes.

Finally, add the leeks to the pot. Cook 5 minutes.

That’s all! After a total of 60 minutes of chicken-poaching, with the veggies staggered so that they’re all just perfectly fork-tender, you’ve got an efficiently glorious dish that will make you pat yourself on the back a few times. My, you’re a good chef. Now eat some chicken.

Potato and Lentil Curry.

Published on by KellyInTheKitchen2 Comments

This weekend, my little sister came down to the city for the night to have a sleepover at my new apartment. We walked around my neighborhood and then had an amazing dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant. Indian is one of our favorite types of foods, ever since we first tried it on a trip to London. I’m always meaning to cook it at home more often, because homemade Indian tends to be inexpensive and relatively easy—if you already have all the right spices, that is. This dish was a breeze because the ingredients are really easy to keep around all the time, and it’s a healthy lunch that will travel well to work. Maybe next time my sister comes to spend the night, I’ll save us our $50 and make our own Indian feast!

UPDATE: I tried replacing the potatoes with sweet potatoes and it was just as good. Yum.

INGREDIENTS

1 medium onion, chopped
olive oil
1/8 tsp turmeric
1/8 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp paprika
red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 small potatoes (about 2 1/2 cups), scrubbed and cubed
3/4 cup lentils, rinsed
1 1/2 cups stock

DIRECTIONS

In a Dutch oven or other large pot, heat olive oil and add onions. Sweat for 2 minutes, stir in the spices, and cook until onions are softened.

Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Then stir in the potatoes and cook about 5 minutes.

Stir in the lentils and stock and bring to a boil. Simmer with the lid on until the lentils are tender and the potatoes are soft.

Garnish with fresh parsley. Serve over rice or with garlic naan and a dollop of sour cream.

Spicy “White” Chili.

Published on by KellyInTheKitchen11 Comments

I always keep 2 cans of chickpeas in the house, so that I can make hummus whenever I want. Last week, I bought 2 cans of chickpeas at the grocery store, and last night, I tried to make hummus with them. I opened the first can and started to pour out the liquid, and one of the “chickpeas” fell into the sink, looking very little like a chickpea. That’s when I read the label. I had purchased 2 cans of “great northern beans,” whatever those are, by accident. So I did what all normal Millennials do: I googled them. Apparently, great northern beans are a mild type of white bean, so in the interest of “waste not, want not,” I decided to cut my hummus-losses and make this “white” chili (it ceases to be white as soon as the paprika goes in), to bring to work for lunch this week. What a lucky mistake I made that day at the grocery store–and what an awesome chili!

INGREDIENTS

2 tbsp butter, divided
1/2 white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 cup flour (I used all-purpose, but use potato flour for gluten-free chili)
2 1/2 cups cups stock, divided (I used homemade chicken stock)
1/4 jalapeño, minced
3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp hot paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 can great northern beans, drained
bay leaf
sour cream and parsley for garnish
*Parmesan rind, optional

DIRECTIONS

In a skillet over medium heat, melt half the butter and cook the onions and garlic until soft.

In a Dutch oven or other large pot, melt the rest of the butter over medium low heat and whisk in flour. Whisking constantly, cook roux for 2-3 minutes, until it turns slightly darker in color.

Stir in the onions and garlic, and gradually stir in 1 1/2 cups of stock, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes until thickened.

When the stock has thickened, stir in the spices.

Then add the jalapeño.

Then stir in the beans and throw in your bay leaf. *If you’re feeling fancy (and happen to have a Parmesan rind on hand), toss it into the chili now. Simmer for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove bay leaf and Parmesan rind, garnish with sour cream and chopped parsley, and serve. This recipe doubles (or triples) very well, so make as much as you want!

Coq au Vin.

Published on by KellyInTheKitchenLeave a comment

Coq au vin, unlike revenge, is a dish best served hot. It’s a classic in French cuisine, with tender, fall-off-the-bone chicken in a rich, savory wine sauce with a hint of tomato, speckled with mushrooms and shallots and bacon. These flavors are just amazing! It’s a perfect dish for dinner parties, but this time, I’ve made it to have for lunch at work during the week. Lucky me. Totally impressive but actually very simple to execute, this recipe is definitely one worth mastering.

INGREDIENTS

3 lb chicken (I used 4 legs and 2 breasts)
salt and pepper to taste
1 pad butter
olive oil
4 strips bacon, cut into small strips or lardons
3 shallots, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
8 oz. mushrooms, rough chop
1 cup stock, plush a splash (I used homemade chicken stock)
1 cup white wine (I used Chardonnay)
1/2 cup canned crushed tomato
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp flour (thicken with potato flour for a gluten-free sauce)
chopped parsley for garnish

DIRECTIONS

Rinse and pat dry chicken, then season with salt and pepper.

Heat butter and olive oil in Dutch oven or other large soup pot. Working in batches, brown chicken on all sides and then transfer to a plate.

In the same pot, cook the bacon. When the bacon is crisp, add shallots and garlic and cook until soft.

In a separate pan, saute mushrooms in olive oil until soft. Set aside.

Deglaze the chicken pot with a splash or two of stock and stir.

Then place chicken back in the pot. Pour wine and the rest of the stock over the chicken and add mushrooms, crushed tomato, and bay leaves. Cover pot with lid and simmer for half an hour.

When chicken is fork-tender, remove from pot. Remove the bay leaves at this point, too. Place half a cup of the sauce into a small bowl and stir flour into it with a fork. Bring the pot of sauce/gravy to a low boil and whisk the flour-thickened portion into it. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Spoon sauce over chicken and serve with rice or potatoes, and garnish with parsley. Makes for luscious leftovers too!