Apricot Berbere Chicken and Veggies

Apricot Berbere Chicken and Veggies
With Salad and Millet pilaf

Berbere apparently means "hot" in Amharic.  They aren't lying.  The Ethiopian chili and fennel mixture makes a delicious - and hot - spice package.

I decided to cut the heat by mixing North African cuisine with East African.  The mix produced a delicious and remarkably easy cuisine.

Ingredients
1/4 lb Dried Unsweetened Apricots
Water
3 Chicken Leg Quarters
5 Carrots
1.5 lbs Asparagus

Marinade
4 Tbsp berbere spice
2 tbsp unsweetened Apricot preserves
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

Instructions
1. Boil tea kettle of water
2. Cut Apricots in half and put in a bowl
3. Pour boiling water over the apricots and set aside
4. Cut Leg Quarters into leg and thigh put into large mixing bowl
5. Add chopped carrots and asparagus
6. Whisk together marinade (I like to do this right in the measuring cup)
7. Once the apricots have softened put in with chicken and veggies.
8.  Pour marinade over the chicken and veggies.  Take a large spoon and stir so that everything is coated in the berbere mix.
9.  Place in Roasting Pan and put in the fridge.  Marinade for 5 hours.
10. Bake for 50 min - 1 hour at 375F.

Berbere

mmm.....berbere

Fennel Black IPA Pulled Chicken: Slow Cooker Tuesday

Pulled chicken with Potatoes and Brussels sprouts

Tuesday is Urvi's and my crock pot night.  This week I tried something a little different.  Based on the beer can chicken.

Fennel Black IPA Pulled Chicken is a new favorite that will be added to the rotation.

Crock Pot Chicken
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breats
- 3 tbsp roasted fennel seed
- tbsp salt
- tbsp pepper
- 1/2 cup homemade veggie broth
- 12 oz can of Back in Black Black IPA
- 2 tbsp olive oil

1. put the chicken in the slow cooker on low
2. add oil and spices
3. stir around until chicken is coated
4. add broth and beer
5. slow cook on low for 6 hours

Hefeweizen Gravy
Based on my hefe/witte gravy I do for Carbonades.  I wanted it to be earthier to match the fennel so I used buckwheat flour.

- 3 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp buckwheat flour
- tbsp salt
- tbsp pepper
- bottle of Konig Ludwig Weiss

1. melt butter and flour on medium
2. add salt and pepper
3. turn down to low
4. mix in half a bottle of beer stirring until gravy
5. drink other half of bottle

Jerk Steak and Mango Salsa

Jerk Steak on a bed of Mango Salsa -
served with roasted potatoes in a curry-cheese sauce

Dating back a number of years I have a dish I call Caribbean Chicken.  Well, in our meat farm share, Urvi and I got a nice 3/4 lb cut of a marbled chuck steak.  Chuck is one of my favorites to marinade and I figured Caribbean Steak would be in order.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find guava juice - the main ingredient of the Caribbean marinade.  So I went with a New Englander's winter version of a jerk marinade.

Jerk Rub
- Jamaican Yellow Curry Powder
- Garlic Powder
- Allspice
- Ground Cloves
- Black pepper
- Celery Salt

Marinade
-  1/2 red onion -chopped
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup of apple cider
- habenero sauce

Slice the steak in half
dredge in mixed rub
drop into marinade
marinade for 24 hours

Mango Tomato Salsa

1/2 red onion - chopped
1/2 mango - chopped
3 tomatoes - chopped
1 pkg of orange Badia sazon
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
sauce

mix together
let sit for 1 to 24 hours

Kotopoulo Stifatho: Crockpot Tuesday

Stifatho is a dish that the Ionian Islands love to make.  Usually it is made with rabbit or hare.  Here I tried to recreate the Rabbit Stifatho by using Chicken.  Stewed in the slow cooker for 6 hours and served with a Greek Salad of tomatoes, onions and cucumbers

1 whole chicken - cut up into breasts, thighs and legs
2 tbsp oil
3 small-medium onions
12 oz of baby bella mushrooms stemmed and halved
6 oz of Malbec
1 1/2 cups of veggie broth
14 oz can of crushed tomatoes
oregano
celery salt
black pepper
3 cloves of garlic


Put it into slow cooker
cook on low for 6 hours

Polar Vortex Stew: New England Beef and Barley Slow Cooker Stew

Winter is here and there's a polar vortex out there.  I run to and from track practice on Tuesdays.  So, it's late when I get home and I was going to be cold.

So I planned ahead and made crock pot stew.

2 lbs of beef stew meat in 1/2 - 1 inch cubes
3 medium potatoes - chopped
4 medium carrots - chopped
2 medium onions - chopped
1 cup pearled barley
7 cups of homemade veggie broth
1/2 glass of merlot
2 bottles of Wolaver's Organic Brown Ale
1 tbsp of sage
1 tbsp of thyme
1 tbsp of rosemary
1 clove of garlic crushed
salt
pepper

put everything in the crock pot
put on low for 8 hours
serve with marble rye

Brunch Bomb

For years I made my Brunch Bomb as a hangover recovery and later as a post long run meal.  But now as Urvi and I are eating healthier I have tried to change some things out.

Makes 1 Jesse Sized Brunch Bomb
1/2 large Idaho potato - cut in 6 slices
1 millet burger patty
2 eggs
1 oz Vegan "havarti"
salsa
2 tbsp greek yogurt
cajun seasoning

Preheat oven to 350.

Place potato slices in ovenware.  Cooking spray and cajun seasoning on each side.  Bake for 30 minutes.

After 15 minutes of baking in a pan fry two eggs and reheat millet patty in same pan.  remove from heat and place slices of harvarti on top of eggs and patty, cover to melt.

On plate stack: first potato slices then millet patty broken in three or four pieces, then eggs then salsa and yogurt.

BOOM! You got a brunch bomb.  Add a porter or stout and you have a good long run recovery meal.

Uzbek Plov

This is a recipe I've been working on for months and I think I have it down now.  My version of a Central Asian pilaf.

1.5 lb meat (I've used chicken, pork, beef and lamb)

1 pear - cored and sliced into 1/8ths

3 ribs celery - chopped

3 carrots - chopped

2 medium onions - chopped

2 cups of veggies - chopped (I buy whats in season and on sale so I've used zucchini, asparagus, broccoli, etc.)

2 hard boiled eggs - sliced into 1/4s

1/2 cup of brown rice

1/2 cup of quinoa

1/2 cup of millet

1/2 cup of amaranth

4 cups of veggie browth

2 tbsp sage

2 tbsp of thyme

2 tbsp turmeric

2 tbsp cumin

salt

pepper

- in large pilaf or paella pan brown the meat with the pear

- remove the pear and reserve

- add celery, carrots and onion to meat and stirfry

- add "veggies" and half of spices and continue stir fry

- Then top the stir fry with grains

- add veggie broth and remainder of spices spices 

- bring to a boil

- reduce heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes

- put onto serving plate, top with egg and pear slices.

- I like to eat it with yogurt and siracha