WorshipJunky - Recipes
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Moving
I'm not going to post any new entries here. I'm moving my posting of recipe entries to my main blog.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Canned Tuna Cerviche
Originally posted 28-Jul-2003, I couldn't get a permanent link to this, so posting it again.
Canned Tuna Cerviche
Had this while I was in Costa Rica, and I mentioned it on my Fusion Worship - Costa Rica 2003 blog. This recipe is close to what I had in Costa Rica. Not many ingredients... so experiment! The following makes quite a bit. It can easily be cut in half.
4 Tomatoes
4 Limes
2 cans tuna (the "normal" size, not the real big ones)
The leaves of 1/3 a bunch of cilantro
1 tsp kosher salt (to start)
Pepper to taste
Prepare the tomatoes. For less of a "tomatoe juice" flavor, use Roma tomatoes. You can also dice them, salt them, and then place them in a collander and let them sit for a little while. This will drain some of the juice (I always do this for Brushette).
Put tomatoes in a bowl, drain tuna and combine with tomates. Squeeze lime juice on to the mixture. Chop the cilantro and add salt and pepper to taste.
You can serve this on bread, but in Costa Rica we ate it on Saltine crackers.
Is much faster than "normal" cerviche, which is usually made with raw fish. You don't have to wait for it to "cure" and you don't have to be worried about the fish being raw.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Chicken Piccada - Recipe
Made this tonight. Very easy, very quick, tasted great. Pretty simple concept, I think I'll try the same approach but with other non-cream based sauces - maybe white wine, oragne juice and orange peal; or another would be chicken stock, shallots and leaks. Yum.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Jambalaya
I was out in DC the weekend before last, and ate at my friends house, Dan and Rhonda Gregory. They always have us over when we are out there on business. They made Jambalya and it was really great. Dan emailed me the recipie and I made it last night. It was awesome. So here it is:
1 small box Uncle bens converted rice - 1 1/2 cups if you don't get a 'small' box
1 can beef broth - 10.75oz
1 can french onion soup - 10.75oz
~1lb fresh mushrooms (~2-3 cups chopped)
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 12oz can tomatoe paste (optional)
1 lb smoked sausage
1-2 lbs chicken and/or shrimp
1 stick butter
2 tbs minced garlic
1 cup chopped green onion
1 bay leaf
~1/2 tsp cayenne pepper to taste
~1/2 tsp black pepper to taste
~1/2 tsp basil
(optional) tabasco
(optional) salt
(optional) jalepenos
Under-Cook shrimp or chicken (it's going to cook some more in the oven).
I always do chicken and I season it before I grill it with garlic powered, black pepper, 1/4 tsp of the cayenne pepper, and seasoned salt. I try to leave the chicken pink in the middle.
Cut everything (sausage, chicken, shrimp, mushrooms) in to bite-size pieces.
Dump everything into a 9x13 pirex dish and put into a preheated 350 oven for 1.5 hours. Stir everything 1/2 way through.
You'll add the remaining 1/4 tsp cayenne - so you end up using 1/2tsp total.
I've never added tabasco or jalepenos to mine... it just doesn't sound
that good to me. I like to add Bruce's Hot Sauce on when I eat it...
it's kinda one of those sweetfire type of sauces.
----
That's Dan's recipe. I added the tomatoe paste, because we've always had it with more of a tomatoe base. Dan's is more of a beef base - also very good - so try it both ways! Also, I used a bigger can (probably 14oz) of tomatoe sauce, because I didn't read the recipe that well - and just added the size can I had. :) Spicyness is an individual thing and for our family 1/2tsp of cayenne was just right - just right for me, a little hot for Tina (but edible) and a little mild for Tina. Also, Dan said to cook it for 1 hour, but I ended up at about 1.5 hours. Not sure if that was altitude, the extra liquid I had added or what. The liquid should be mostly gone and the rice should be cook through - just keep testing every 10 minutes or so after an hour.
I took Dan literally and grilled the chicken outside on the grill. This works great from a "messyness" point of view, because you don't cook anything in the kitchen. Just cut everything up, put it in the baking dish and mix it around. Maybe 30 minutes prep - max.
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Crockpot: Chicken ala King (and Chicken Soup)
Tina and I have been pretty much splitting dinner duty lately, but I don't get home until 6:00 or 6:30 - which is a little late for us to start dinner. So I've been making things in the crock-pot. This worked well for dinner and then soup for lunch the next day.
7 boneless/skinless chicken breasts - individual
2 carrots sliced thin (and quarter on the thick end)
2 stalk celery sliced thin (and 1/2 on the thick end)
2 medium onions sliced in about 3rd and each slice pie-cut in 6ths
2 teaspoons minced garlic (from a jar - probably about 4 cloves)
2 14 oz cans chicken broth
2 cans cream of chicken soup
Noodles
Put the chickn in the bottom of the slow cooker - and season.
Add onion, carrots, celery and the chicken stock. It won't cover it.
Cook on low all day
Right before dinner, prepare the noodles (a little more than you need for dinner). Remove veggies, set aside. Remove chicken, set aside. Remove the broth and set aside.
Dice (about 1/2 inch to 1 inch cubes) 5 of the chicken breasts. Put back in crock pot. Add 2/3 of the veggies.
Thin the soup with the chicken broth till a thick gravy. Micro-wave till hot. Pour over chicken mixture, stir and let heat for a few minutes till hot enough. Can also add some microwaved peas (so they are hot and don't cool the mixture).
Serve over noodles. Makes enough for 4 with some left-overs - so probably 4 to 6 servings.
Dice remaining two breasts, mix with remaining veggies, and add enough broth to make soup. The broth is well flavored at this point - so might as well use it for soup! You can also add left-over noodles and any other cooked veggies you might want to add.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Leftover Roast "Spaghetti"
Had the roast in the previous post on Monday night, so what to do with the left-overs on Tuesday? There were about 4 slices of roast left, and about 2 cups of the veggies (which were pretty soft) when packed into a container. We had a spaghetti squash (because we are attempting the South Beach Diet again and so are staying away from pasta for a while) - so... make "spaghetti" for dinner!
Slices of left-over roast, stripped and cut into 1/2" by 1" strips
Left over veggies, cubed if any are large
One jar pasta sauce - your favorite brand
One 12oz can diced tomatoes
One 12oz can tomatoe sauce
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp basil
Note: 12 oz... or maybe it is 14 or 16. You know, the "normal" size can, not the tiny one, not the larger one.
Put all ingredients into a slow cooker. The previous nights ingredients were already seasoned, and the meat has garlic in it, so not too much seasoning is needed. The pasta sauce (I used a garlic one) already has seasoning. The extra oregano/basil is to help offset the tomatoes/sauce which have no seasoning.
Slow cook all day on low.
About 1.5 hours before dinner, slice squash in 1/2, scoop out seeds, salt and pepper it, place cut side down and cook for 1.5 hours at 350.
Scoop out squash in "strings", treat as noodles and cover with sauce.
This turned out very good and was really easy given the roast from the night before. Maybe about 15 minutes of prep time to chop some of the eggplant, etc. which was large, throw everything in the crock pot, and cut the squash (so Tina didn't have to cut it later when she put it in the oven).
The left-over roast worked really well, because without thinking about it, I used all veggies that would be great in a sauce! (There wasn't that much cabbage left, and what was there was fairly soft, so it wasn't like sauce with big chunks of cabbage in it.)
Roast with Fall Veggies
I'm mostly posting this because of the next recipe I'll be posting.
1 Roast - about 3 to 4 lbs.
Cabbage
Onion
1/2 Yellow, Red, Orange Bell Pepper
Eggplant
Zuchinni Squash
Yellow Squash
Mushrooms
4 cloves garlic sliced
Savory Salt
Pepper
Make some slits in the top of the roast, put your finger in them to kind of open them up a bit, and insert a slice of garlic in each one. The hole has to be just big enough to insert the garlic. I really like garlic, so I like using 4 cloves.
Put a rack in a baking pan, add enough water so it is just below the rack (you don't want the meat in the water) and add roast.
Cover the top of the roast with savory salt. I'm not sure how much, but if you use savory salt quite a bit, you'll know. Add pepper to taste.
Place some onion and bell pepper strips on top of the roast, then place the rest of the onion and peppers, along with the cabbage, around the roast.
Cook at 350 for 3 hours, covered.
Remove from oven, drain off excess liquid. Add in squash, mushrooms and eggplant, recover and cook about another hour (until those veggies are done). Remove cover and turn up to 400 and cook another 30 minutes, if you like your veggies and roast a little brown.
Remove from oven, let sit for a few minutes, then slice the roast across the grain. Its good to slice it so that there is some garlic in every slice. Yum!
Green bell pepper will work, we just happened to have a sale on colored bell peppers at a local store, so I used them.
Friday, August 26, 2005
Tarragon Roasted Chicken
I made this a little over a week ago Tuesday. Tina wanted baked chicken, and that was just to plain for me - seeing as I go off early and had the time to cook. So I threw this together - using techniques that are common for me. Since then a few people asked for the recipe; so I'm posting it. Although I don't have exact measurements! The following are guesses... I'll try to pay attention and update the next time I make this. I'm walking through it a bit more than normal, because I'm not sure of the experience level of the person cooking.
Should take about an hour from start to finish.
This is going to be a baked chicken in the oven, with "roast" type veggies and a white tarragon cream sauce.
4 Chicken breasts - WITH skin. They can be boneless - or with the bones. Up to you.
4 Carrots
4 Celery stalks
1 Large White Onion
8 Mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
1 Cup Chicken Stock
1 Stick Butter
1/4 C white wine (optional)
1/4 C flour
1 pint 1/2 and 1/2
Tarragon - fresh is best, but if not a tablespoon or so (we'll figure it out below)
2 Tablespoons Sugar
I did not prep any of this... I just started making it and it came out of the oven about an hour later. You can prep some of this - but the following will be explained in a "make as you go" manner.
Get the chicken going
Turn on the broiler.
Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. "Lift up the skin" - reach your hand under the skin and break it loose (so it is like a pocket) but still attached on most sides.
Get 4 thin slices of butter and cut them in 1/2.
Slice 2 cloves of garlic
Slide two of the pieces of butter and about 1/4 of the garlic under the skin. Add in about 1/4 tsp of dried tarragon or a "sprig" of fresh... probably 3 leaves or so.
Put this on a cookie sheet covered in tinfoil (a pan that is good size but has an edge).
Mist with some olive oil (if you have a mister) or just brush some on.
Slide under the broiler for a few minutes until the skin gets golden.
Carrots
We aren't big carrot fans - unless they are a little sweet. If you are cool with straight carrots, think this would be too sweet, or just don't feel like messing with it, you can skip the cooking part that follows
Put about... a Tablespoon of butter in a skillet and turn it on fairly high - the butter should melt while you are doing the next step, but not start browning.
Peel carrots and cut them in 1/4s. Toss in melted butter and sprinkle with a few tablespoons of sugar and toss (shake the skillet back and forth) to coat the carrots with sugary butter. Now just let cook while you are preping the rest of the veggies. They are nice if they get sort of golden brown... just don't burn them.
Mushrooms
I don't like mushrooms that are just roasted, they dry out too much. But I love mushrooms. So... sautee them first!
Clean the mushrooms
Put about 1/4 stick of butter in a sauce pan (you'll use it later for the sauce). On medium high.
Add the mushrooms and start sauteeing them.
Add some seasoned salt (or plain salt) and pepper. Add a dash of the white wine.
Let them sautee for a few minutes.
If you haven't already done so - check the chicken? If it is getting brown, take it out and set aside. Also check the carrots - shake them a bit - they probably aren't done yet.
Other veggies
Clean and prep the other veggies.
Celery - cut each stalk in 3 or 4 pieces
Cut the onion in wedges.
Get ready to roast
By now the chicken should be brown enough, and the carrots should be done. Everything is coming together. If you haven't already done so, get the chicken out.
The chicken should be in a pan large enough to fit the chicken and the veggies. I use a restauraunt "1/2 bake pan". As I said earlier, I think a cookie sheet will work. A 9 1/2 x 13 is deep enough, but maybe not enough space. But if that's all you've got... should be fine.
The chicken should not be touching. Add in all the veggies, just spreading them around. Make sure they aren't too overlapped (so they all get brown) and around the chicken (so it picks up some flavor). This should be onion, carrots, celery and mushrooms. Just remove the carrots and mushrooms from their pans with a slotted spoon. You'll want to save the mushroom "sauce".
Mist with some more olive oil (optional - but it should give them nice color, some flavor, and keep them from drying out too much) and sprinkle with a bit of kosher salt and pepper.
Throw this back in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes you can pull it out and stick a thick part of the brest with a knife. If the juice comes out clear it should be done...
Sauce
Now you've gotten everything in the oven and your prep area is probably a mess - 'cuz you were throwing carrots into a pan, gettting mushrooms going, and all the time not trying to burn your chicken. But is all in the oven now and you've got 30 minutes till its done. So... pour yourself a glass of that white wine you've already opened and clean up. Once you are done with that, start the sauce.
Add in the rest of the butter (should be around 1/2 a stick or so) to the mushroom "sauce" in the sauce pan. If you don't like mushrooms and skipped that step - thats ok. The mushroom sauce just adds a little flavor, because it already has the mushroom bits, salt & pepper and wine in it. Good place to start. If not, just melt the remaining butter.
Once its melted, you are going to make a rue. (I've got a link on another recpie to that - if you need to know what that is). Basically you'll get the butter melted, then add in 1/4 cup of flour and whisk it pretty good. Let it cook for a few minutes. You want it smooth and you want it cooked some so that it cooks some of the "flour" taste out of it. So it doesn't just take like buttery flour! You'll cook this for a few minutes, stiring the entire time, and then start adding in the 1/2 and 1/2. Do this slowly If you add it all in at once, you'll probably end up with 1/2 and 1/2 with chunks of floury butter floating in it. You want it smooth. So add a little, whisk it, add some more, whisk it, etc. When you first add the liquid it will get pretty thick. You want to add/stir until it is a thick paste. You can then add in a 1/4 white wine (or so... - maybe less) and whisk that. At this point it is probably still too thick (it will thicken even more as it cooks) so you can add a little chick broth. The wine and chicken broth flavor it, the 1/2 and 1/2 gives it richness. (You can actually skip the 1/2 and 1/2 and use more chicken broth if you want).
Add in some white pepper... 1/2 teaspoon(?),
some normal pepper ... 1/2 teaspoon(?)
some seasoned salt or kosher salt (to taste - it will already be somewhat salty)
and... some tarragon. Probably a 1/2 teaspoon to a teaspoon of dry, or a few sprigs of leaves chopped up.
The sauce will develope the flavor (and thickness) as it cooks. The above should have taken about 5 minutes - so you probably have about 15 minutes (depending on how long it took you to clean up) left. Turn the sauce down about as low as you can get it, and about every 5 minutes stir it and taste it. If it doesn't have much tarragon flavor and you want a little more - and more. Not too much, but adjust seasoning after its cooked for a bit.
When there is a few minutes left, test if the sauce is hot and not too thick. If necessary turn up the heat a little and add a little more chicken broth. At the end it should be a nice creamy sauce.
Plate It!
Family style or individual? Can serve family style on a platter, but I'll assume indivdual.
Take chicken out of the oven. Slice the chicken off of the bone and arrange on a plate. Arrange about 1/4 of each veggie around it. Then pour some sauce over the chicken. Just depends on how creamy you like things. I pretty much covered mine. Taking it off the bone makes it easy to cut/eat. Leaving the crisp skin on gives it some nice contrast (to the sauce) and also keeps the tarragon and garlic moist and in contact with the chicken.
That's it! You could do the same thing with a platter. Arrange the chicken in the middle, surround it with the veggies, and cover it with sauce. Finish it by garnishing with a few tarragon sprigs and put any remaining sauce in a gravy boat, for those that like extra.
Enjoy - and if someone reads this, drop me a comment on how it turned out. Or if something isn't clear - just let me know and I'll update. (Man... I'm getting hungry. :) )
