David's standard black beans

 Just thought I'd record my standard black bean recipe.

Finely mince 1/4 to 1/2 red onion (depending on how many beans)

Saute in ~1 Tbsp olive oil for 5 or 7 minutes until starting to turn color.

Add 1-2 clove minced garlic + 1 minced chili from a can of chili in adobo sauce + 1 tsp adobo sauce and cook another minute or so.

Add black beans and a splash of chicken broth.

Simmer for a few minutes.  Add 1/8 - 1/4 tsp cumin and 1/8 - 1/4 tsp salt.  Simmer a bit more.

Mash 1/4 to 1/2 of the beans and stir to incorporate.  Turn off heat and cover to let all the flavors meld.

Indian mushroom & bell pepper fry

 This was surprising and good!

I used ~1.5 - 2 cups red and green bell pep in bigish pieces + 1 package mushrooms (sliced fatly).

Fried about 1/2 yellow onion, added 1 Tbsp garlic, + 1 tsp cumin seeds and curry leaves

Stir-fried bell pep on high, added mushroom a bit later, then added a chopped nice fresh tomato.  

Finished with salt, turmric and the black pepper/fennel mix (1 tsp black pepper, 1/4 - 1/2 tsp fennel, all ground together).

Delicious!

original recipe:  https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/mushroom-pepper-fry-easy-mushroom-recipes/

Chicken Tikka Masala

 Really really great.  Followed this recipe.

We used 1.5 lbs boneless, skinless thighs.  I slashed them (but kept them whole) for the marinating.  We only marinated for 1 hour (would have preferred longer, but this worked), and then grilled on super high, two sides, leaving them slightly underdone to finish in the sauce.

For the sauce, I didn't add a full 1 tsp salt; be careful not to over-salt.  I only used a scant 1/4 cup cream and that was fine.

It also would have been great with just the grilled chicken and no sauce.

Chipotle honey chicken tacos (NYT)

 Made this today.  Very good!  would make again.  We used 3 chili's in adobo sauce.  Maria thought it was good, a  little spicy.  David thought not quite spicy enough.

Really nice with the fresh corn tortillas, though!

Garlic shrimp and espinacas con garbanzos

Two nicely paried dishes for a great dinner!  

The shrimp recipe is page 169 of Smitten Keepers.  [recipe to follow].

Espinacas con garbanzos recipe is here (we made a few changes, so the as-cooked version is below).

shrimp recipe (as we cooked it)

14 large shrimp with shell on (7 each).  I thawed and soaked them in milk for 30 min, then rinsed.

Toss thawed shrimp in 3 Tbsp white wine (we used Josh pinot grigio) and season with salt and pepper.

Heat on med-high (6 out of 10 on our burner), 3-4 Tbsp butter (cut into 1 Tbsp pats) in large skillet.

Add 4-6 cloves chopped garlic

Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp smoked paprika

Pour in shrimp + wine mixture.

Cook 5 minutes, flipping at 2.5 min  [ really not longer! if needed add a little more wine or water at the end to prevent garlic from browning too much ]

Turn off the heat, pour over juice from 1/2 lemon.  Finish with chopped flat leaf parsley.

Serve immediately with crusty bread.

So good!

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Espinacas con Garbanzo

Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil over low heat (2 out of 10 for us).  Add 1/4 - 1/2 onion finely chopped.  Cook 4-5 min until a few are starting to gold around the edges.  Add 4 chopped garlic cloves and cook 3-4 min longer.  We want almost everything to be lightly (not darkly) golden.  

Optionally, add 1 heaping tsp tomato paste in the last 2 min.

Add 1/2 cup tomato puree (we use canned TJ), 1/4 tsp smoked paprika, 1/8 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp cumin, and salt to taste (at least 1/2 tsp).  Stir everything together and add 1 cans worth rinsed and drained chickpeas.  If there's not enough liquid, add a splash of pinot grigio or broth or water until it's the right consistency for you.  We really liked it with the wine this time around.  Simmer a few minutes.

Add a few big handfuls of fresh spinach (~2 cups) and stir until they shrink.  If making before the shrimp dish, wait to add the spinach until the shrimp is off.

 

Serve right away.  Feel free to keep adding small amounts of liquid to get the consistency right.

Pasta with mushroom and sausage (morels this time)

 Maria brought almost 1/2 lbs of morels from the famrer's market.  I followed this recipe but stopped before the baking part.  Very delicious!

Prep the morels

Cut in half, agitated in cold water, removed to a baking sheet and salted heavily.  After 1-2 hours, rinsed in cold water, and then let dry for another 1-2 hours.

Pasta sauce

Browned bulk chicken sausage in oil, removed.

In dry pan over medium high heat, cooked mushrooms (morels + some button mushrooms cut into largish pieces).  After water released, add 1-2 Tbsp olive oil.  Cooked on low for 10 minutes to brown.

Added 1/4 cup minced shallot + 2 minced garlic cloves + 2 Tbsp butter.  Cooked for 2-3 min.

Added 1 Tbsp lemon juice + 1 Tbsp soy sauce.

Added ~2 Tbsp flour, sprinkled around and stirred.

Whisked in ~2 C chicken stock (homemade) and 1C heavy cream.

Simmered on low ~2 min until thickened.

Added ??? some amount of grated parmesan.

Put frozen green peas and chopped sausage back in.  Added about 1/4 chopped flat leaf parsley.

Delicous!

Picnic pesto sandwich

 This is an assembly sandwich that can be made in larger quantities (or smaller ones!)

Veg version, all from TJ's:

• jar roasted red pepper
• herb slab foccacia x 2
• genova pesto (from the refrigerated section)
• fresh pre-sliced mozzerella
• [optional] pre-marinated pesto chicken, sliced on the bias [air-fry for 6 min per side @ 400 F ]

Spread pesto on bread.  Layer roasted red pepper, fresh mozz, and optionally chicken.