The Chili of Champions

Looking at the blog posts from this month, I realized that it’s pretty much all noodle dishes and squishy comfort foods – since we’ve been getting up close and personal with the polar vortex AGAIN, that’s not likely to change soon. This is the most absolutely interminable winter I can ever remember, and I’m not just saying that because some part of me has been injured or broken or immobilized since the first snowfall. 

But into even the gloomiest of seasons some sunshine must appear! Yes indeedy, I WON the chili cook-off at church. This was not at all a given, because these people can seriously cook; and while David has used this recipe several times in the past and won, I never have. It was time. I was due.

Once upon a time I was an absolute devotee of Cooking Light magazine (and I still check their annual cookbook when I’m looking for menus, inspiration, and quick dinner ideas. I’d absolutely recommend a subscription to anyone), which is where this recipe originated. I’ve adapted it a bit for my own personal taste, which mostly means taming down the heat a bit – and I have the straw sombrero to prove this is a winner!

Champion Chili

1 lb. chorizo sausage, casings removed

2 pound stew beef, cut into 1-inch pieces

2-3 large onions, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced  

1 can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (you won’t use the whole thing)

1 8 oz. can tomato puree  

3 teaspoons sugar

Salt to taste

3 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa

2 teaspoon ground coriander

2 teaspoon dried oregano

2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 cup red wine (I used one of those teeny little grocery store bottles of Merlot – they often sell them in large bins stuck in random spots, or in 4-packs, and I keep them on hand for cooking on the off chance that we don’t have an open bottle of wine)

A big splash of fresh lime juice (the original recipe calls for ¼ cup, which seems about right)

1 28 oz carton of beef broth

1 28 oz can of whole tomatoes

3 tablespoons masa harina

2  15 oz cans pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1  15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

Heat a large splash of olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the chorizo to the pan and brown; remove from the pan. Working in batches, brown the stew beef and remove it from the pan when it is well browned.  Add the onion and garlic to pan and sauté until the onions are well-browned, 5 minutes or more.

Remove 3 chiles from the can and chop them. Add the meats, chiles, a big dollop of the adobo sauce from the can, the tomato puree, sugar, cocoa, and spices to the pan and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes. Add the wine, lime juice, and beef broth.  Use kitchen shears to chop up the whole tomatoes (do this while they’re still in the can – it’s a lot less mess) and add the entire can to the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for an hour. 

Check the seasonings. It should be a teeny bit hotter than you want the end result to be, since the remaining ingredients will mellow it out a bit. Stir in the masa harina. Add the beans, return to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat. Simmer another 30-45 minutes. Check the seasonings again and adjust as you see fit. Revel in the sweet taste of victory.

Don't Cry For Me, Argentina - OK, Brazil. Or Portugal. Feijoada for Cowardly Americans.

I love an excuse for comfort food as much as the next person, but I'm getting pretty darn sick of winter by now. What?! Another 3-5 inches of snow?! I'm beginning to run out of ideas, and had to dig into the Comfort Food Archives for tonight's dinner - another former favorite that we've somehow forgotten about (I blame all the Ginger Chicken)(and now are you wondering if there really *is* a Comfort Food Archive?).

Feijoada is a black bean and meat stew, another one of those dishes that originated with poor people desperate to find something filling to eat. It traditionally it includes such tastiness as pig's feet and ears - which makes me glad that these recipes evolve over time and can be adapted for modern tastes. I'm not particularly concerned about authenticity anyway, because it's cold and snowy and I spent all morning cleaning the house and mostly I just want to throw something into a pot and ignore it for a while. And I want to have lots of leftovers for lunches. There are about a zillion different versions of this, but as per usual I'm going with Mark Bittman's interpretation, which has ingredients that are easy to find and not scary to eat (unless you're a vegetarian, in which case living in my house would make you very sad indeed).

While this recipe is perfectly good with canned beans, it's nice to soak and cook dried ones (assuming you have them on hand and can spare the time, or aren't afraid of your pressure cooker). Beans that you've cooked yourself can hold up to more handling and are all-around less smushy; not a big deal in this particular dish, but sometimes it really does make a difference. It's also much cheaper to cook your own, since canned beans will cost you at least twice as much.

This is one of those dishes that feeds a crowd - as written it will easily fill up 8-10 hungry people

Fake Feijoada 

about 1 1/2 lb. dried black beans, soaked and cooked, or roughly 8 cups canned beans (figure on a cup and a half per can)
2 cups broth or water
1 generous tablespoon cumin
1 large orange
1 lb. sweet italian sausage, cut into chunks
1 lb. pork butt (or other fatty cut - chops are usually too lean), cut into 1-inch chunks
2 large onions, chopped
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup orange juice
salt and pepper

Heat the beans and stock in a large pot with the cumin and some salt and pepper. Peel the orange and put the peel in with the beans.

In a large skillet over medium heat, brown the sausage chunks on all sides (don't worry if they're not cooked all the way through). Add to the pot with the beans. Brown the pork in the same skillet, then add to the beans.

In the same skillet, cook the onions until they're soft, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, cook another minute or two, and add to the beans. (The original recipe calls for adding a chopped red bell pepper with the onions, which is very pretty and tasty but will poison my husband. Alas.)

Turn the heat up to high and add the wine to the skillet, stirring and scraping any bits that stuck to the pan, until the wine is reduced by half. Add to the beans. Stir in the orange juice and add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over rice. Chop up the orange sections and use them for garnish, unless you've realized you forgot to buy orange juice this week, in which case you can use it for the juice in the recipe.

Overambitious Sunday #2: Swedish Meatballs with Egg Noodles

I have to admit to being a little bit in love with the idea of a big sit-down Sunday dinner. Our weekends are busy enough, often enough, that Sunday dinner often looks like the rest of the week, but I do appreciate those times when I can spend a little extra time in the kitchen making a bigger deal out of it. Anna's been sick and the boys were off at winter camp, so we spent a lot of time lounging around watching Brendan Fraser movies and making poor nutritional choices this weekend (she's noticeably improved today, so clearly this is a good strategy for whatever ails you). The pent-up energy translated itself into this dinner, rather than laundry or anything on my To-Do list. 

Our family loves anything resembling a meatball or fritter, so these are a big hit. There are two keys essential to Meatball Success: (1) buy a box of disposable rubber gloves at the hardware store and keep them in the kitchen, because smooshing raw meat is just gross; and (2) make a big batch so you can put some in the freezer for an emergency weeknight dinner. Making 4 pounds of meatballs really isn't twice as much work as making 2 pounds; grab a beer and sit down at the table with someone you want to visit with, and all those little meatballs will practically roll themselves. Our record is 16 pounds, which is far too much and translates into more beers than is probably good for you.  

This particular recipe has gone in and out of fashion a few times, but I was wandering through my recipe file today and it sounded just right for a cold winter night. We've been serving it over rice for the last couple of years - and that absolutely doesn't work. Based on the success of last week's fresh rice noodle experiment, I thought that fresh GF egg noodles were called for (bless the internet! I don't know how I used to cook without it). Halfway through, I realized that this was a stupid choice for a person with a rotator cuff injury. You would think that the memory of last week's extremely painful stir-fry would have stuck with me, but no..... 

It was worth it - there's nothing like egg noodles to soak up the extra sauce (if you're not eating GF, by all means by a bag of pre-made noodles). We froze half the meatballs, then everyone had seconds so I'm not sure what's for lunch tomorrow. I don't think fresh noodles are ever going to be a weeknight pick, but it made for an excellent Sunday dinner. 

Swedish Meatballs with Fresh Egg Noodles 

GF Egg Noodles 

1/2 c. tapioca flour 

1/2 c. + 3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt

4 tsp xanthan gum

3-4 eggs 

1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil 

Meatballs 

1 cup bread crumbs (grind up some GF bread in your food processor, if you have any around - the resulting bread crumbs are vastly superior to anything you'll find at the grocery store)

1/2 cup onion, grated or pureed extremely fine in the food processor 

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 lb. ground pork

1/2 lb. ground chicken or veal

water 

oil for frying 

Sauce 

2 cups beef stock

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp cornstarch (substitute potato starch if you're avoiding corn) 

Whisk the dry ingredients for the noodles in a medium bowl. Whisk 3 of the eggs and the oil together in a small bowl, then pour into the dry ingredients. WARNING: this is going to look unbelievably horrible as you start to mix it together (use your hands, it's easier). If it's very dry and crumbly, add the fourth egg; you might need another tablespoon or so of the cornstarch. Let it sit for a couple of minutes, then turn it out onto a well-floured surface and start kneading (I used about a tablespoon of rice flour). At this point, the dough will look gloppy and chunky and slimy - hang in there. As you knead it, the dough will get smooth and much easier to work. 

Divide the dough into thirds, then roll each piece out on a well-floured surface (I used a tablespoon of rice flour for each batch). You want the dough to get as thin as you can possibly make it; I could see the grain of my giant wooden cutting board towards the end of the rolling time. When it's as thin as you can get it, use a knife or a pizza cutter to cut it into noodles. Wish that you hadn't donated that pasta maker to the church rummage sale a few years ago. Put the noodles on a plate and roll out the next piece of dough (a bench scraper or very thin spatula is very helpful here). Put a large pot of water on to boil and heat the oven to 375. 

Put the bread crumbs and spices for the meatballs into a large bowl. Add the ground meat and mix very well with your hands, adding a few tablespoons of water as you go. The original recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups of water but a lot depends on your bread crumbs; if you're using the fine, dry, powdery ones from the grocery store, you'll use less water than you will if you've made your own fresh ones. Shape the meat mixture into 1-inch balls. 

Heat several tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Brown the meatballs very well on all sides, then put in a baking pan; you might need to do this in batches. When all the meatballs are browned, put the baking dish into the oven to finish cooking for about 10 minutes. 

In the same skillet, combine the beef stock, Dijon mustard, and cornstarch. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Pour over the meatballs in the oven (I turned the oven off at this point). 

Put the egg noodles into the boiling water a few at a time; they won't stick together but you don't want huge clumps. After about 3 minutes, start to check the noodles for doneness; recipes I've seen have called for anything from 3-12 minutes cooking time, so go with whatever suits your own taste. Ours took about 4 minutes. Drain the noodles and serve with the meatballs and sauce. Don't count on leftovers. 

Spicy Rice Noodles with Pork (except they're not spicy)

My rule of thumb for eating is "don't eat food pretending to be other food." This is actually pretty easy to follow and doesn't rule out most of the things that I like to eat anyway. For instance: Tofurkey is out. Diced tofu in an Asian dish is in. Chicken McNuggets are out. Fried chicken is in. (Heh heh heh - gotta love any dietary rule that includes fried chicken). 

I've tried to extend this to gluten-free cooking as much as possible. Rather than messing around with substitutions, which only make me notice the differences/deficiencies, I try to find recipes that don't call for gluten-containing ingredients in the first place, or gluten-free versions of ingredients in which you're not going to notice the difference. Tamari is a great example of this - is anyone going to be able to tell it from regular soy sauce? Probably not. Is anyone going to say that gluten-free bread is just as delicious and virtually indistinguishable from an loaf of wheat-containing French bread? Never in this lifetime. So swapping out a gluten-free flour blend on the aforementioned fried chicken works for me, because the coating is a relatively minor part of the recipe. I just don't notice the difference. I think a lot of people who are struggling with eliminating gluten from their diets end up feeling sad when the GF version of a favorite food just doesn't measure up to the regular version and all they taste is the difference. It's like someone handing you an RC Cola when you asked for a Coke.   

It would be an understatement to point out this has been an uphill battle with GF cooking. And I do talk about substitutions fairly often, because completely changing over to a never-meant-to-contain-David's-list-of-forbidden-foods diet would hugely limit our options. In the past 4 or 5 years, we've found 2 GF versions of favorite foods that we all prefer to the wheat-containing version: pretzels and spaghetti. 

We did a side-by-side comparison of spaghetti last year; I made a box of GF spaghetti and a box of wheat spaghetti, and Anna and I tried them both. Hands-down, the GF spaghetti was far tastier. The wheat version was nothing more than a vehicle for the sauce, which seems like sort of a wasted opportunity. 

So knowing that I love GF spaghetti: what is it with me and rice noodle recipes these days?

I came across this recipe last week - it's an oldie but goodie, something that we used to make all the time and stopped for no apparent reason. I've made it twice in the last 8 days and the kids ate thirds, so I think it's going to make it back into the regular rotation. I haven't tried it with the fresh rice noodles, as the dried work just fine for this, but that would be a good variation in the unlikely event that  I decide ladna is no longer my favorite noodle dish. Aside from the basil these are all ingredients I'm likely to have on hand; if your house actually receives sunlight at any point during the day and you can grow herbs in your kitchen (not that I'm jealous or anything....) this dinner alone is justification for growing basil. You can have this on the table in well under half an hour - the amount of time required to bring the water to a boil is the longest part of this recipe. 

I'm realizing how many of my favorite recipes come from How to Cook Everything. I've added "meet Mark Bittman" to my bucket list. 

Spicy Pork Noodles 

1 package fettucine-width dried rice noodles

2 tablespoons peanut or canola oil

1 tablespoon (or more!) minced garlic

1/2 lb. ground pork (any ground meat will work but this is my favorite)

1 tablespoon gluten-free tamari or soy sauce

2 tablespoons fish sauce 

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1/2 - 3/4 cup basil leaves, shredded

Soak the rice noodles in warm water to soften OR boil according to the package directions, which takes the same amount of time but feels faster. Drain, rinse, and toss with 1 tablespoon of the oil (do *not* forget this part. Seriously.) 

Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over medium heat, then add the garlic and stir for about a minute (if you want these to be spicy Spicy Pork Noodles, add 5-6 dried red chiles the pan too). Add the meat and cook, stirring to break up any large pieces. 

When the meat is cooked through, add the tamari, fish sauce, and sugar and stir to combine. Add the rice noodles and stir until the noodles are completely coated with the sauce. Add the rice vinegar and basil, give it another good stir, and serve. 

More Comfort Food: Ladna with Fresh Rice Noodles

I've mentioned previously that I miss Thai food since going gluten-free; gluten has a way of sneaking into all sorts of unexpected places, so even asking about the ingredients doesn't help much, and label-reading is pointless unless I learn Chinese. With all of the snow and ridiculously cold  weather we've been having, comfort food is definitely called for - and ladna is outstanding comfort food.

Our cookbook collection is pretty extensive and includes a gorgeous and eminently readable Asian cookbook called Hot Sour Salty Sweet. It's as much a photographer's travel journal as it is a cookbook; you could easily leave it on the coffee table for visitors to browse through if you were that sort of person (or could see the top of your coffee table, which I cannot at this exact point in time). I made the pho recipe from this book a few years back and managed to give myself a pretty significant steam burn, so I've been happy just to browse the pages periodically, feeling vaguely guilty that my children have been deprived of the experience of being woken up by a water buffalo and boating up the river in Chiang Mai to celebrate Karen New Year.

I've been meaning to make ladna for years. I wish I'd gotten around to it before the Gluten Fairy smacked us all with her evil magic wand, but I'm finding that there really are workarounds for so many things. Thing #1: dao jiao, which is fermented soybean paste with - you guessed it! - wheat. I ended up with genmai miso, which is made with soy and brown rice. I had been looking for hatcho miso, which the miso experts on the Internet claimed was a closer substitute - but I was already at a store that had the other kind, and let's be honest here: I don't actually know the difference. It's the culinary equivalent of throwing the extra parts in the glove compartment  Thing #2: the wheat used to make the fresh rice noodles available at our nearby Asian grocery. Solution: Make my own, which was not nearly as intimidating as it sounded.

Not swiped from the internet - I remembered to take a picture!

It helped that I was perfectly willing to make a dish that nobody else in the house liked - more for me! David has never been a ladna fan, and the kids are hit or miss these days, so I even make a second dinner for everyone else so I could eat all the ladna myself if it didn't turn out well (don't be impressed, it was a casserole that took 90 seconds to throw together). Alas, it was delicious. Nobody ate the casserole and there is only a tiny little container of leftovers, which I've already staked my claim to.

If you're a vegetarian, you could skip the pork, use vegetable broth, and use a vegetarian fish sauce. There are plenty of recipes out there if you can't find it at the store.

Adapted from Hot Sour Salty Sweet: a Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. This is an amazing and beautiful book.

Ladna 

1 batch fresh rice noodles (or 2 lbs., if you're buying them), cut into 3/4-inch thick noodles (or substitute 1 lb. dried rice noodles, which isn't nearly as good)
peanut or vegetable oil
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 lb boneless pork, thinly sliced across the grain (they recommend pork butt; I used a boneless chop)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 head bok choy, cut into lengthwise into 1/4-inch spears
1 tablespoon genmai miso
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce (Squid brand is gluten-free)
1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 1/4 cups mildly flavored broth (recommended) or water
1 tablespoon cornstarch, dissolved in 3 tablespoons water

NOTE: As with any stir-frying, I highly recommend getting all your ingredients ready in advance. Have everything in small bowls next to the stove and this will go very, very quickly and easily.

Combine the sugar, miso, soy sauce, fish sauce, and rice vinegar in a small bowl.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok and swirl to coat. When the wok is very hot, throw in half the noodles and stir-fry about 2 minutes, pressing them against the side of the wok to cook. Empty the noodles onto a platter or large serving bowl and repeat with the rest of the noodles.

Heat another tablespoon of oil in the wok. Stir-fry the garlic until it starts to change color, about 15 seconds. Add the pork and a pinch of sugar and stir-fry about 1 minute, until the meat has all changed color. Add the bok choy and stir-fry until they turn bright green, which should only take a couple of minutes. Remember at this point that people with rotator cuff injuries probably shouldn't be stir-frying.

Add the miso/soy sauce/etc. mixture and stir to combine everything. Add the broth and the cornstarch slurry, stir, and put a cover on the wok for about a minute - long enough for the sauce to come to a boil. Remove the lid and simmer, stirring occasionally, for another 2-3 minutes, until the sauce has thickened a bit.

Pour the meat, greens, and sauce over the noodles. Season generously with white pepper and serve.

Fresh rice noodles 

1 cup rice flour (use the kind you get at Asian markets, not Bob's Red Mill or whatever is at your regular grocery store. It's not ground finely enough and everything you make will be gritty. Trust me.)
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup tapioca flour
2 1/4 cups water

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl, making sure you've whisked out all the lumps. Cover the batter and let it rest at 30 minutes and up to 2 hours. It will be very watery.

When you're ready to make the noodles, pour a little peanut oil onto a cookie sheet and set it next to your work area on the stove. Oil a plate and set it next to the cookie sheet.

Heat a non-stick 8-inch skillet over medium-low heat. When the pan is hot, whisk the batter, then pour 1/4 cup batter into the pan. Tip the pan a little if needed to make sure the batter covers the bottom evenly, then put a lid on the pan and let it cook for 45 seconds. Make sure the lid doesn't drip on the noodle when you lift it off.

I used a spatula and a pair of wooden tongs to lift the noodle out of the pan and place it *top side down* on the oiled cookie sheet. Whisk the batter and start another noodle. When the noodle on the cookie sheet is cool enough to handle, flip it over so the other side is coated with oil (you'll probably need to add more oil before you're done). Stack the cooked noodles on the oiled plate.

Continue until all the batter is used. If your batter is cooking the instant it hits the pan, turn the heat down a little bit. If the top of the noodle is still pasty when you take the lid off, put the lid back on and cook it for a few more seconds. Once you get the heat right and get into the rhythm of this, it goes very, very quickly.

These noodles will keep in the fridge, well-wrapped, for about 2 days.