Hurry-up chili

I don’t about ya’ll but this recession is beating the living daylights out of me. And nowhere is it more evident than in my kitchen. Because that’s where I am all the time now.

Do I feel bad about all the restaurants out there losing business right now? Yes, I do. I want to be their business so badly. But it’s hard to justify spending $15 for lunch when the ingredients for Hurry-Up Chili cost just $14.53 and makes enough to feed the Counselor and myself for three days. And that’s with the organic ground chuck that I now feel compelled to purchase even in my reduced financial state. I will say that I actually happened to have everything except the beef, crushed tomatoes and kidney beans already in my pantry. So that’s like getting free ingredients.

This is Hurry-Up Chili because it literally takes a half hour to make.

The chili is full of flavor, but it’s not terribly spicy. If you want a little kick, add some hot sauce. And if you’re wondering why I add unsweetened baking chocolate to chili, as you well might, it adds a depth of flavor to the pot. If you don’t have any around, don’t go out and buy some just for this recipe. We are, after all, in a recession.

Hurry-Up Chili

2 pounds ground chuck

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

2 15.5-ounce cans kidney beans

2 tablespoons minced dried onion

½ teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons salt

3 teaspoons chile powder

2 teaspoons ancho chile powder

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 ½ teaspoons cumin

½ square unsweetened baking chocolate

Brown meat in a large pot over medium-high heat until crispy brown bits begin to develop and the grease has been completely absorbed into the meat. Add the remaining ingredients. Simmer about 20 minutes.

Giada’s Italian-style grilled steak

So I am thumbing through my People magazine yesterday. I am devoted to People magazine, although it is starting to lose some of its luster because there are now way too many stories about ordinary people losing weight. I don’t want to read about ordinary folks in People magazine, especially if they are on a diet. I want to read about deranged celebrities trashing hotel rooms and the preparations for Prince William’s wedding.

However, I turn to page 103 and see right there a recipe from Giada de Laurentiis for rib-eye steaks with smoky arrabiata sauce. And it says that the recipe is one of the reasons Giada’s husband asked her to marry him. Really? Steak with what amounts to spaghetti sauce? Is that even a good idea?

But I trust Giada de Laurentiis. I have two of her cookbooks and she has never steered me wrong. In fact, a few of her recipes are now a regular part of my repertoire. I cannot live without her lemon spaghetti and her marinara sauce is the basis for my award-winning (at least in my house) spaghetti sauce.

It’s been cold and drizzly here and all of us in Middle Tennessee are slightly more than a  little depressed so I decided to splurge and get some steak and just see how well this recipe works out.

Oh, my God. I rarely invoke the Almighty’s name when it comes to food, but this steak and arrabiata sauce is unbelievably delicious! I mean we barely got some on a plate because we were so busy just dipping the slices of steak into the sauce pot. I just don’t know what else to say. It was that good.

The sauce recipe makes more sauce than you’ll need for the steak, unless you are tempted to just drink it (as we were). But the leftover sauce would be just dandy with some pasta or on a homemade pizza. Or chilled as a cocktail with a little vodka. OK. Maybe not the last one.

 

Giada’s Rib-Eye Steaks with Smoky Arrabiata Sauce

1 3-inch serrano pepper

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 small onion, coarsely chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

1 tablespoon capers, drained, rinsed and coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon sugar

2 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika

1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning

2 one-pound ribeye steaks, each about 1-inch thick

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Remove stem and half the seeds from pepper; coarsely chop. Pulse pepper and next 7 ingredients in a food processor until mixture is chunky. Bring tomato mixture to a boil over medium heat; reduce heat and simmer 25 minutes or until thickened. Salt to taste. Cover and keep warm.

Heat grill pan or skillet over medium-high heat or preheat grill to 350-400 degrees. Drizzle each side of steak with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill 5-6 minutes on each side for medium-rare. Cover steaks and let stand 5 minutes. Slice steaks across the grain into ¼-inch slices and serve with sauce.

Cheater’s casserole

My son, Noah, got very lucky when he entered high school. He found forever friends. And I got lucky, too, because they’re all adventurous eaters and they like my food.

Think about this. Noah was a freshmen when he met Anna (at the top of the photo), who was a senior; Linda (next one down), who was a junior; and Evie, a sophomore. (That’s Anna’s friend, Daniel, at the bottom – visiting from New York City). What are the odds that upper classmen in high school would allow a freshmen to infiltrate their ranks? Four years later, they are still fast friends although life has taken them to different corners of the country. Anna is an aspiring actress in New York, Linda is studying at Tulane and Evie is an art major at Warren Wilson outside Asheville. Noah is, of course, at the University of Tennessee leaning toward a major in business administration (much to the delight of his mother who still cannot do percentages).

Food. I’m getting to the food. So it’s Christmas break and everyone’s home. “Mom,” Noah says one day. “Can Evie come to supper?” Of course, she can. “And Anna might come, too.” That’s fine. Somehow I conveniently forget that Anna is bringing Daniel and that – how did I miss this? – Linda is coming, too. All of them. In an hour.

So I resort to the cheater’s casserole. It’s quick. It’s tasty. And it involves Velveeta, as so many truly outstanding casseroles do. I made up this recipe a few years ago under similar circumstances. If I were a professional culinary person, I would say I “developed” the recipe. But when you see what’s in it, you’ll understand why that would be too grand a description.

It just consists of two boxes of Velveeta Shells and Cheese, ground chuck, a can of diced tomatoes and a few special flourishes. I cannot express to you how good this stuff is.

By the way, reading a food story about the guilty pleasures of chefs on the Huffington Post made me feel so much better about my love of Velveeta. Do you know what Wylie Dufresne’s guilty pleasure is? American Cheese! And what is American cheese at its core? Velveeta, of course.

Cheater’s  casserole

2 boxes Velveeta Shells and Cheese

1 pound ground chuck

2 tablespoons dried onion

1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

½ cup panko bread crumbs

Prepare shells and cheese according to package directions. Brown ground chuck well, until parts of it brown. Drain excess grease and add dried onion and tomatoes. Mix with the shells and cheese. Add the smoked paprika. Put in a casserole dish and top with dried bread crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Smoked paprika

Q. You have such a vast knowledge of foods, spices etc.  Why not throw in an occasional blog on the items used in cooking.  For instance, I did not know paprika had different flavors.  Thought it was used as a garnish on deviled eggs, chicken salad, etc.

I’d like to say that this question came from one of my many legions of readers that I have not yet met, but it came from Terrell. Terrell has a very sophisticated palette for a Georgia boy raised on cornbread and cream gravy. And he is completely forgiven about not knowing about paprika in any other application than deviled eggs. Paprika is practically required for the well-dressed deviled egg in the South.

So, Terrell, there are three kinds of paprika that I know about. There’s the kind you put on deviled eggs which I think has practically no taste at all on its own. There’s Hungarian paprika, which ranges from mild to hot depending on what dried pepper it’s made from.  And then there’s my new spice boyfriend, smoked paprika.

I discovered smoked paprika a few years ago when a cousin gave me some for Christmas. An odd Christmas gift, I thought at the time. But when I opened the can and took a sniff it took my breath away. It as a deep, complex smokiness that adds just a back note of intense flavor. I use it in my spaghetti sauce. I use it in stews and pinto beans. A little goes a long way so start with just a quarter teaspoon or so. Remember, you can always add but you can’t take away. Then taste and adjust the seasoning.

The first smoked paprika was imported but now you can find it in the spice rack at the grocery store.

This recipe is from Avalon Wine in Oregon. It originally called for morels, which are extremely fancy and expensive and which I have not found anywhere in Middle Tennessee. Anything that involves cream, mushrooms, shrimp and smoked paprika is a good thing.

Shrimp in Mushroom Cream Sauce with Smoked Paprika

4 tbsp butter, divided

1 lb. extra large shrimp, shelled and de-veined

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

1 cup cream

1 tbsp smoked paprika

1 clove garlic, minced or pressed

1/2 cup dry white wine

8 chives, diced finely

Directions:

1. In a sauté pan over medium high heat, add 2 tablespoons butter and shrimp.

2. Cook shrimp for approximately 2 minutes per side, or until opaque. Add garlic at the very last moment, careful not to overcook the garlic. Remove and reserve.

3. Add remaining butter and mushrooms to pan and sauté over medium high heat for 5 minutes, or until slightly condensed.

4. Add white wine and stir to loosen up any browned bits. Add cream and paprika. Let reduce for 5 minutes or until sauce thickens, then add back shrimp. Cook for 2 more minutes, then serve. Sprinkle with chopped chives.

Serves 4

Inspired by Elizabeth Baird’s recipe from the Surreal Gourmet

Velveeta Part 2 and a Glass of Wine

So I’m sitting here with a glass of red wine and 20 minutes before supper has to be ready in order for me to watch the premiere of the new season of Hell’s Kitchen. I’m not going to fib – it’s been a day. At the Community Resource Center, my sidekick Betsy and I sorted boxes and boxes of really great gift items donated to us by a major retailer. Then we had to shlep them to the storage room because the free giveaway is next week and these items are not part of it (Christmas is coming!).

Last night, Noah asked if he could have friends for supper. Of course, I said! Then I got up this morning and the refrigerater was BARE. I mean there wasn’t a leftover anything, a raw ingredient anything, nothing. This is what happens when Noah comes home with two friends at 10 p.m. and they’re hungry.

So I had a choice on the way home. Go to the grocery store for ingredients for an ambitious meal (my normal mode) or go to the grocery store and buy, uh, Velveeta Shells and Cheese. Velveeta Shells and Cheese is a sinfully bad (and by that I mean good) product, loaded with all kinds of things you shouldn’t be eating. I can’t even pronounce the names of some of them. How about oleoresin paprika? What is that.

But here’s what I make in a flash. Make the shells and cheese according to the package directions. Brown a pound of ground chuck (it must be chuck, 80/20 lean to fat). Really brown it so there are crispy dark brown splotches throughout the meat. Salt and pepper as it cooks. Then mix one can of diced tomatoes, drained really well, with the shells and ground beef. Throw in a dash of smoked paprika (that’s the key – it’s an umami thing), about a tablespoon of dried oregano, and more salt and pepper. Put in a casserole dish and top with grated Cheddar cheese. Bake it for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. It’s really good. And after another glass of wine, it will be really, really good.

So, Hell’s Kitchen starts in 40 minutes. Sometimes I wonder if I could make it in a kitchen with Gordon Ramsey yelling at me all the time and calling me a stupid cow. Probably not. I cry too easily. He’d like that about me.