Sausage, Lentil and Kale Stew

Hello again!

We have now made this dish several times and are ready to share it with you. We were originally inspired by this recipe. For this stew, though, we throw precise measurements to the wind! You can vary the amounts of any of the ingredients based on your tastes. Here is our ingredient list with baseline measurements:

Olive oil - enough to cover bottom of pan  for browning
Sweet Italian Sausage - 1.3 pounds, or the equivalent of 3 large links
1-2 medium Onions - chopped
2-4 Celery stalks - sliced
2-4 large Carrots - halved and sliced
4-6 cloves Garlic - minced
Red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper
1-2 cups Lentils, rinsed
2-4 bay leaves
28 oz can of crushed tomatoes, or whole tomatoes that you can squeeze into smaller chunks
4-6 cups water
salt and black pepper to taste
4-6 cups Kale, cut into bite size pieces
Pecorino Romono cheese - grated to finish

Heat the olive oil in a large pot on medium heat. We like to use our 9qt round dutch oven. Once the oil is hot, add the sausage meat (no casings) and break it up with a spatula or wooden spoon. Heat the meat until it begins to brown, about 5 mins. Next, add the onion, celery, carrot, garlic, some salt and red pepper flakes or cayenne. Stir and cook another 5 minutes or so.

Add the lentils, bay leaves, tomatoes and water. Add half of the water first, stir and see how it looks. Add as much of the remaining water as you need, but not so much that it becomes watery. One of the first few times we made this, we thought it was too watery. You'll want a bit of a broth though because you'll be adding the kale at the end and you don't want it too thick so that you can't stir in the kale. Go with your gut on this one. You can always add a bit of water later on. Add the salt and pepper to taste and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 40 minutes. Taste to make sure flavors are right and that the lentils are cooked through. Then add the kale, stir and cook only a few minutes to soften the greens.

Divide into bowls and serve with a sprinkling of pecorino romano cheese. The original recipe suggested heating up some oil with garlic and drizzling on top. This is a lovely suggestion, but not necessary. We did this for the original serve, but when we ate the leftovers, we skipped this step out of laziness. So, you decide!

Again, you can adjust the ingredients to your liking. Or add something new to make the recipe your own!

Happy eating!
-The Hungry Horse

Fish Tacos and Grilled Shrimp

It's hard to find great fish tacos in the Midwest, so we took it upon ourselves to make our own! We began by marinating the fish in a lime, cilantro, jalapeno concoction. It sat for about an hour while I prepped the rest of the meal, but next time I would leave it for longer. We used Tilapia, but these would turn out great with any flaky white fish.



While the fish sat in the marinade, we prepared the accouterments: cabbage slaw and guacamole. I like my cabbage slaw to be tangy and not overly creamy. We used shredded red cabbage, red onion, cilantro, lime, jalapeno, and a dab of sour cream. We didn't follow any recipe exactly, but it was something similar to this.

 

Cabbage slaw

 I think guacamole is best when it's simple. Here, I mashed up:

1 avocado

1 diced tomato

1/4 cup or so chopped red onion

chopped cilantro

juice from 1/2 lime

chopped jalapeno

2 cloves chopped garlic

salt



We grilled up some shrimp as an appetizer. They were easy to prepare and tasted delicious. It was as easy as brushing a bit of melted butter onto the shrimp, sprinkling with a bit of Lawry's Seasoned Salt and plopping them onto the grill.

Here we have a grill shot with both our shrimp and fish:

Next time I would grill the fish without so much marinade on there. Preferably, putting the fish directly on the grill, but we were worried that it would flake apart. The shrimp turn pink when they are cooked enough, and you can start to see some grill marks. The whole process was quick and easy and everything turned out really flavorful. We ate the tacos in mini tortillas with a bit of slaw and guac on top. This is definitely a meal to be made again and again!

Prosciutto and Melon

As an appetizer to our Cacio e Pepe, I served a light appetizer of Prosciutto and Honeydew Melon.

You really can't get much simpler than this, so I won't belittle your intelligence by writing out a recipe. The only tip I have is to choose quality, fresh ingredients. We used a Honeydew melon, thinly sliced Prosciutto and aged balsamic vinegar. We really love this vinegar. It is sweet and thick. We use it on berries or drizzled onto a caprese salad. We're almost finished with the bottle, and are interested to try new vinegars of the same type. Leave us a comment if you have any suggestions!

Some other recipes I looked up used fresh mint or Parmesan cheese. I don't think this is necessary if you have quality ingredients, but what the hay, go ahead and try whatever you think would work! You can also use Cantaloupe. Here's an interesting tip on choosing your Prosciutto.

Cacio e Pepe

I've recently stumbled upon several recipes for Cacio e Pepe. A dish that seems so simple it looks like you don't need a recipe for it. I often make butter/olive oil noodles and sprinkle with cheese and pepper. After delving into some of the recipes, I found that a few subtle tricks can make an otherwise plain dish pretty powerful.

I found these recipes helpful. 1 2 3 4

This is how we ended up making it:

1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh cracked pepper
2 cups freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
Spaghetti - enough for 4 servings
Kosher Salt

Boil 3 quarts salted water for the pasta. Cook until al dente. I cooked ours for 8-9 mins. Drain, reserving 1.5 cups pasta water for the sauce.

We heated the olive oil in our trusty cast iron skillet on medium high heat. A few minutes should do the trick. Toss in the pepper, and stand back!

Pepper and Olive Oil

The addition causes the oil to pop a bit. Let the pepper infuse the oil for a minute or two. Next, add 1 cup of the reserved pasta water and really stand back!

Steamy!

You might want to turn on the hood fan. Ours was crackling and steamy for a few minutes. Let boil for a few minutes longer. I was afraid it was going to be too watery, so I let it boil longer than it needed to and ended up pouring more pasta water in at the end.

Next, add your pasta and toss it around to coat it with the sauce. Gently fold in or toss the cheese. Some commenters on the recipes listed above had a problem with clumpy cheese. I think the trick is freshly grated and finely grated cheese. I added the cheese slowly in three additions and it did not clump at all.

I turned the heat off while I was mixing the cheese in. I let it sit in the warm pan while tossing for a few minutes to make sure the cheese melted and the pasta was coated evenly. This is when i added about 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water to make it easier to toss. I also sprinkled with a little salt. Not much is necessary, but obviously, use as much or as little as you'd like.

Plate, sprinkle with some extra cheese if you wish, and eat! It was flavorful without being overpowering. I think cooking the pepper in the oil first really brings out the flavor and allows the pepper flavor to evenly coat the pasta.

A Cup of Jo added some lemon to her dish, which I think would complement the flavors nicely. Next time I will add some lemon juice and zest to see how it fits. I will also try this dish with butter, or a butter/oil mixture, rather than  just using olive oil.

Overall, it is a simple dish and an easy way to spice up a meal with ingredients you already have in your arsenal!

Marinated Greek Lamb Chops and Roasted Brussel Sprouts

The last time we were at the grocery store we saw some beautiful lamb chops. We decided that we'd get them and figure out how to cook them later. When the day came to cook them, our decision came down to either a Greek-style marinade, or a recipe involving a crust. Because we felt like a lighter dish, we decided that we'd do the Greek-style marinade. Greek Lamb Chop recipes may have variations, but we didn't find many in our research. Every recipe has four major ingredients: oil, lemon juice, oregano and garlic (and salt/pepper). Most recipes call for using 8 chops, but we made due with 6 big ones. The recipe is very simple:

1/3 cup of oil
1/2 cup of fresh oregano (or a tablespoon of dried oregano)
6 chopped garlic cloves
The juice from 2 lemons
Salt and Pepper

Mix them all up, and pour over the chops:

We put them in a baking dish to marinade, but you can use a bag too. We marinated about four hours, turning the chops occasionally.

The chops cook pretty quickly once you get them in the broiler, so before we got to cooking the chops, our next step was preparing the brussel sprouts. I have no idea how to tell you how many brussel sprouts we had (two handfuls?), but it doesn't matter--the recipe is the same regardless of the amount. We halve them, put them in a baking pan, cover them in oil, salt and pepper:

Cook for 30-35 minutes in an oven pre-heated to 400 degrees, stirring occasionally. When we took them out we drizzled some balsamic vinegar over the sprouts:

Time to cook the chops! Transfer the chops to the broiler pan, and drizzle a little of the marinade over them. The recipes we saw called for 3 minutes in the broiler for medium rare chops. We wanted them cooked a little more, and had them in for about 5-6 minutes on each side (also, we had big chops, so they don't cook as quickly). Take out the chops, plate and serve!

(and put on music, pour some wine, and light candles):

Glorious Grapefruit!

I'm sitting at my desk, feeling the first hunger pang of the early afternoon when I realize I have a beautiful pink grapefruit within my reach. My first inclination is to get a good whiff of the unpeeled fruit. The smell reminds me of my grandmother who lived in Arizona. She had all kinds of citrus fruits dangling just outside her doorstep. What a dream! This took me on a little tangential daydream about visiting her when I was young...

Aside from the reminiscing, the scent also seemed to alert my senses and have a calming effect. This fruit has so many beneficial qualities. This website was very informative, so have a look around for yourself.

My grapefruit. From here via here.

Aside from the nutritional aspects, the essential oil in the peel has it's own powerful properties. I find that the scent uplifts my mood and makes me more alert. It also has sanitizing properties. I mix a few drops of the oil with water into a spritzer bottle to use as an air freshener. It can also be combined with tea tree oil or peppermint oil to be used as a counter cleaner, or yoga mat spray.

Indeed, I must confess, I scratched the surface of the peel to find fresh grapefruit oil, and I may have dabbed a bit on my wrists as a perfume. The oil can be irritating to the skin, so use caution.

I use the Aura Cacia essential oil. It can be purchased at Whole Foods, or online practically anywhere. I've also been using a rose hip oil on my face at night, and I've been mixing in a drop or two of the Grapefruit oil and the Bergamot oil in the palm of my hand before applying to the face.

Also, don't forget to zest your citrus fruits before eating them. I often use lemon zest on roasted veggies and in cupcakes and icings. I'm thinking there will be a grapefruit zest recipe in our near future!

nom nom nom!

Lime-Marinated Flank Steak

Tonight we made lime-marinated flank steak. It's a quick and simple recipe. For a 1 pound flank steak, you need the following ingredients for your marinade:

The juice from one lime

1/4 cup of olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground corriander

1 tsp garlic powder or a few garlic cloves

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Whisk all the ingredients together and put them in a plastic bag with the steak to marinate. We've been told that the acid in the lime juice breaks down the muscle fibers (or something) in the steak, making it extra tender and juicy.

We marinated for about 2 hours because (a) we are hungry like horses and (b) we just got home from work and wanted to eat before midnight. Ideally, we think the marinade works best at 3 or more hours.

Flank steak is easy to cook in a cast iron skillet. We did about five minutes on each side, and voila! Easy-peasy lime-marinated flank steak.