okra n tomato

Hey there, I'll admit that have far more recipes in my queue than I should.  Perhaps I'll go plant the free time tree.

To beat a perhaps nearly dead horse ... as with all things recipe I originally started this based on a different variation and found myself using this version in most cases when I find fresh okra ... so take this with a shot of tequila and make it your own.

Things:

2 medium bowls to hold prepped stuff

1 large-ish strainer for prep

Things to prep veggies (cutting board, hands, knife, etc)

9-10" skillet, 2-3" deep with lid

Ingredients:

1 leek, roots and all

5-6 cloves o garlic

1 lb fresh okra (20-30 medium to large pieces)

5-6 ripe heirloom tomatoes

1 8 oz can diced tomatoes (low sodium preferred, 2 cans if no fresh tomatoes)

1/2 cup dry-ish white wine, typically I'll use chardonnay, although I have used Sauvignon Blanc (just avoid anything toooooo sweet)

1 cup (plus) chicken stock

1 tbsp coarse seal salt

1 tbsp coarse ground black pepper

1 tbsp coconut oil

Prep:

Fresh tomatoes: rinse and place in bottom of strainer

The leek: cut an inch or so up from the roots and discard the root section.  Cut an inch or so from the green tips and discard the tips.  From bottom to top cut the leek in half.  Rinse each section and remove sand and whatever else the leek brought with it from the farm.  Place rinsed sections in strainer.

Garlic: peel and mince and place into prep bowl

Leeks: cut all sections across (perpendicular to) the first cut, making short ribbons of  1/16" (really narrow) in width and place in prep bowl with garlic.

Fresh tomatoes: cut into 1/4 wedges and place into second prep bowl

Okra: Rinse and place in strainer.  Using two - three similar length pieces, cut the tips and caps off and discard.  Cut the remaining sections into no more than 1/2" pieces and place in prep bowl with tomatoes.

To cook:

• Heat skillet on med/med-high heat for 2-3 minutes until drops of water skim across and evaporate quickly.
• Add oil, after 30 seconds coat surface of skillet with oil
• Add leeks and garlic, stir once or twice and cook for 3-4 minutes
• Add wine and let it come to a simmer and reduce until nearly all fluid is gone
• Add okra and all tomatoes (these could be prepped during the previous few steps)
• Add salt and pepper
• Add stock and stir together (note: the okra and tomatoes should not be submerged, but nearly covered with fluid)
• Once simmering, cover and reduce heat to low, as you want a very gentle simmer 
• After 30 minutes uncover, stir and check fluid level, if reduced by more than half, it's cooking too fast, reduce heat and cover.
• Optimally after 60 minutes you have reduced the fluid level by half.  From here, it is your decision on when its done.  I typically simmer for 90 minutes.

Naturally you'll want to let is cool breifly before serving.  This can (based on spice additions) be served along side any number of things, or as a stand alone veggie stew.  

Cheers!

Mema's fried chicken

A few years ago I was shown this recipe by Mema (Joan's paternal grandmother).  It was one of those classic, "no add more, add more ... more still, yeah that tastes almost right" type cooking lessons.  The only real variation is that I coat the chicken bits in a bowl, as opposed to shaking them in a paper bag.

Items you'll need:

One (or more) 11"x16"x3" (large) electric skillet with lid (or at least a 3" deep skillet)
One clean sink
One large stainless bowl (or previously mentioned sink, for chicken prepping)
One large stainless bowl (batter mixing and chicken coating)
One large plate (battered chicken transfer)
Two pair tongs (tong A and tong B)
One large spatula or flat edged device for shortening retrieval
One pair kitchen shears
One large platter
One paper towel roll or drying rack

Ingredients:

All purpose flour: 6 cups
Salt, fine grain: (salt A) 1/4 cup plus (salt B) 3-6 tablespoons
Ground black pepper, fine grain: (pepper A) 1/4 cup plus (pepper B) 3-6 tablespoons
Chicken: legs, thighs: bone in skin on.  Usually two "family packs" of each: approximately 20 total thighs and 28-32 legs 
Salt, coarse grain: 3/4 cup
Vegetable shortening: two 3 lb containers

To make:


Prep the chicken:

• Add chicken to sink.  Obviously if you have more chicken than sink, do this step in stages.  Effectively you are looking for excessive skin or feathers that made it through processing.  Remove by hand or with shears as necessary.
• Rinse the piece of bird and place it in a large stainless bowl.
• Repeat until all chicken parts prepped.
• Add 3/4 cup of salt, coarse grain over the chicken.
• Toss until all the parts have some salt on them.
• Wash your hands.

Mix the batter:

• Mix the flour, pepper A and salt A together in a large stainless bowl.  
• Add salt B and pepper B to taste one teaspoon at a time, it should taste a bit peppery, then salty as opposed to flour-y first.

Heat the skillet:

• Turn the skillet on and set to the highest heat setting.
• Add approximately 3/4 of the 3 lb container of shortening.  There should be approximately 1/3" or 1 cm of heated shortening in the skillet after it comes to temperature.

 Toss the chicken in the batter:

• Using tong A coat three to four pieces of chicken at a time in the large bowl of batter: gently roll and toss batter over a chicken part using tong A.
• Once chicken is lightly coated with batter, place onto the transfer plate.
• I typically have 3-4 thighs and 6 legs in one skillet batch.  You only want to batter as much chicken as you will be frying in a batch.

Get to frying:

• Gently place each piece into skillet, using tong A.
• There should be minimal space between the pieces, no large gaps.
• Cover the skillet.
• Place tong A onto transfer plate and set near battering area.
• Find tong B.
• After ten or so minutes, using tong B flip one of the pieces over.  
• Is it golden in color, maybe even starting to look light brown?  Great, flip to the other side.  Repeat for other parts in the skillet.
• Is it not golden at all, still looking like not much has happened?  Great, put it back down on the side it started on.
• Cover the skillet.
• Wait five or so minutes.
• Check again, starting to get something yellow, heading toward golden maybe even light brown?  Great, flip over and repeat for other parts.
• Cover the skillet.
• After another ten minutes or so, using tong B check the color on the side just facing down.  Is it golden in color, approaching some deeper brown and caramel near the contact area of the skillet?  Great, the skin should be nearing brown throughout with a deep caramel color on the contact areas.  

Skin crispiness is up for debate.  Some like a really crispy skin with a deep brown color, some like slightly less than that, etc.  You can adjust timing to your preference as you practice.

Resting the fried bird:

• Once you have reached your desired level of caramelization, using tong B lift the chicken, let drain for a moment over the skillet, and place onto the paper towel covered platter (or drying rack) to rest.
• Continue to remove the parts as they finish.
• Wait until all pieces of a batch are done before adding more chicken to the skillet!

Carrying on:

• Once you have a batch resting, check the shortening level.  Is it reduced by more than half?
• Yes. Add a few scoops until the depth is closer to where you began. Then carry on.
• No. Carry on.
• Using tong A batter another batch of chicken and place onto the transfer plate.
• Add chicken to skillet with tong A, set tong A onto the transfer plate and set aside.
• Cover the skillet.
• Wait ten minutes, then using tong B, check for color.
• Carry on until you are out of chicken parts or anything else you want to fry as you have a hot skillet and oil (mmmm okra).

Here is where house rules apply: according to legend, very few people got to have any chicken in Mema's house until all of the chicken was complete and rested.  Naturally though, a cook or three had to taste along the way to ensure quality control.

A few final thoughts: I typically keep the batter mixture in a container in the freezer for use the next time.  Your call on this step, otherwise I do not save the fat for further use.  Some make gravy :).

Chicken, veggies and kale soup

You will need:

7 quart stock pot and lid
Oil (coconut or olive): 2 tablespoons
Chicken stock: 12 cups approximately
Chicken: (from stock)
Kale: one bunch (the leaves should be crisp)
Leek: one (the stalk should be firm and the leaves crisp)
Squash: two medium sized
Potatoes: two medium sized (typically I use reds)
Carrots: two to three
Salt: 1 tablespoon
Pepper: 1 tablespoon

To make:

Use the basic chicken stock recipe making the following additions:

• Kale stems and bits: after rinsing and gently straining or drying each leaf remove the main leaf from the large stem of each kale branch.  Save the leaves for prepping later.  Add the stems and any less than optimal leaves to the stock when you add the other veggies.
• Leek tips and outer layers: I typically cut approximately 3-4 cm from the base and tips of the leek and add to the stock.  I then run a knife the length of the leek so that you can pull the separate layers apart (this needs to be done regardless in order to rinse, as odds of sand being in there somewhere are high).  Take the rinsed outer layer or two and add to the stock, saving the rest to prep for the soup.
• Squash: cut 3-4 cm off of the ends of the rinsed squash for the stock.  The remaining squash will be prepped for the soup.

Veggie prep:

• Kale: After removing the stems, I roll a few leaves together.  Slice the kale "cigar" into 2-3 mm sections then cross cut once or twice.  Effectively you don't want long ribbons, you want smaller cross sections.
• Leek: Ensure that you have rinsed the entire leek to remove sand.  Take one half and place the cut side down.  Slice the leek into 1-2 mm sections and repeat with the other side.
• Squash: Cube into 2-3 cm pieces.
• Potatoes: Cube into 2-3 cm pieces.
• Carrots: Depending on the size (girth) of the carrot, you want them about the same size as the squash and carrots.

Assembly and cooking:

• Heat the pot over medium heat.  Add the oil to coat the base.
• Add the leeks, salt and pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Stir once or twice.
• Add the squash, potatoes and carrots.
• Add the stock, stir and bring to a simmer.
• Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
• Add the chicken and kale, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

After turing the heat off, let the soup rest for about thirty minutes before serving.  

Enjoy and cheers

Lets start with stock

After discussions with a number of folks over the past couple of years, I am taking the strong encouragement and starting to write with respect to food again.  At the same time I encourage feedback from you internet; so should you try something and it work or you try something and you hate it or you think that blue is a great color feel free to let me know.

In lots and lots of things I'll add stock, at times to my own demise.  It is a great way to use lots of parts of things that you would normally throw out and you'll be surprised that a little good stock goes a long way to delivering big flavor in any dish.

As with all things "recipe" I will not claim to have created any of the basic techniques and flavors that I describe.  I am simply documenting what and how I did something.  Hopefully you can translate it and make it your own, then share it with others.  Now, onto the food ...

Stock is effectively the fluid left after simmering something for a really long time.  Any number of parts of things can go in for any number of reasons.  Below you will find a basic chicken stock that I use.  Over time I'll add variations on the theme.

Things you'll need:

Large bowl or casserole dish for prepping chicken
4 chicken leg quarters (legs and thighs, bone in and skin on)
Salt: 2 tablespoons
Pepper: 2 tablespoons

7 quart (or larger) stock pot and lid
Oil: 2-3 tablespoon
Water: 18 total cups: (2 to deglaze and 16 over the top of the stuff)
Onion: one medium, chopped in half
Carrots: three medium, cut into thirds
Celery: one small bunch, chopped into thirds
Garlic: one medium head, chopped in half
Bay leaves: 2-3

To make:

• In the large bowl or dish add the chicken, salt and pepper
• Ensure the seasoning coats all sides of the chicken
• Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour
• Prep the veggies
• Bring the stock pot up to a medium heat
• Add the oil and coat the bottom of the pot
• Add two of the chicken quarters, skin side down  
• After about 90 seconds check them as you should start to see some browning and flip them over for another 90 or so seconds
• Remove the two "cooked" quarters and caramelize the other two quarters
• Once the second set is complete, remove the quarters and add 2 cups warm water
• After about 30 seconds stir to remove anything sticking to the pot
• Add the veggies and bay leaves
• Add the chicken
• Add the remaining 16 cups (4 quarts) water
• Bring to a simmer and nearly cover: the lid should not completely cover the pot
• After 2 hours (stirring every so often), check the chicken
• If the bone pulls clear of the not bone, your done
• If the bone does not pull clear of the other stuff, keep simmering
• Let cool, uncovered for at least an hour

To strain:

I have a large stainless steel bowl and large mesh strainer.  I then pour the stock into the strainer, set into the bowl.  Once I remove the strainer I then retrieve the chicken for use in lots of ways.  Should you not have the same set up you can use a slotted spoon to get most of the bits out.

There really isn't too much to a basic stock, other than time.  As previously mentioned, I vary this stock base nearly every time I make it, yet the ingredients listed above are nearly always included (sans chicken).

Cheers!