Today I'm trying a recipe from Vanilla Garlic. Serves 6

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons peanut oil, divided
• 2 pounds chicken thighs, boneless
• 1 large onion, halved and sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 cup freshly grated ginger
• 1 14-oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 lemon, thinly sliced, rind and all
• 1 cup green olives (go high end on these)
• 1 cup chopped Medjool dates, chopped, pits discarded
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 cup chicken broth

Method

1. Place 3 tablespoons of the peanut oil in a large stock pot over medium high heat. Working in batches sear the chicken thighs until golden brown and set aside.
2. Add the rest of the peanut oil, onions, and garlic. Cook until the onions begin to sear a bit and take some color. Reduce heat to medium. Add the cardamom, coriander, cinnamon, turmeric, salt, black pepper, and ginger and cook for about thirty seconds. Add the rest of the ingredients and be sure to scrape up the goodness at the bottom of the pot.
3. Bring to a boil, then simmer and cover for about 45 to 60 minutes. Serve over rice.

The flavor of this stew is unique. The lemon rind particularly gives it a flavor I hadn't expected. Tasty. I'd serve it to company.

Today I'm trying a recipe found at SimplyRecipes.com.

The Rub:

• 4 Tbsp chili powder
• 1 Tbsp kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 teaspoon ground oregano
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• Scant pinch of ground cloves

The roast:

• 3 1/2 pound boneless pork shoulder roast
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Method:

1. Whisk together the rub ingredients in a small bowl.
2. If the roast is tied up with butcher string, untie it. Pat the roast dry with paper towels. Rub the spice mix into the roast all over, reserving any leftover spice mix for later. Marinate in the rub at least one hour or overnight.
3. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan on medium high heat. (If you are using a slow cooker with a removable container that can be used on the stovetop, use that, otherwise use a separate pan.) Place the roast in the pan and brown on all sides.
4. Place the roast in a slow cooker, and add any reserved spice rub. Cook on the low setting for 6 to 10 hours, until the pork is fall apart tender.
5. Remove the roast from the slow cooker and place on a cutting board. Cut into large chunks. Then use two forks to pull the meat apart into bite sized shreds. Return the shreds to the slow cooker and toss to coat with the juice from the roast.

Today I'm trying a recipe I found at SimplyRecipes.com.

Ingredients

• 2 large yellow onions, chopped, (3 cups)
• 3 Tbsp canola oil
• 5 Tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 1/2 pound walnut halves (about 2 cups)
• 3 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs and/or breasts, trimmed of excess fat, cut into medium size pieces, patted dry and salted
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon\ turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Salt

Method

1. First toast the walnuts by spreading them out in a single layer in baking rimmed baking sheet, and toast at 350°F in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Once toasted, remove from heat and allow to cool. Once cool enough to handle, pulse in a food processor or blender until finely ground.
2. In a large pan, heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Pat the chicken pieces dry again and place the chicken pieces in the pan, working in batches if necessary to not crowd the pan, and cook until golden brown on all sides. Sprinkle the chicken with salt while they are cooking.
3. Use a slotted spoon or tongs to remove the chicken from the pan, set aside. Add a tablespoon of oil to the pan. Add chopped onions to the pan and sauté until translucent, stirring on occasion to release the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
4. Return the chicken pieces to the pan with the onions. Pour 2 cups of chicken stock over the chicken and onions. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
5. Stir in the ground walnuts, pomegranate molasses, sugar, and spices. Cover and cook on very low heat for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes or so to prevent the walnuts from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
6. Remove from heat and adjust sugar/salt to taste. At this point the chicken should be fall apart tender.
7. Garnish with pomegranate seeds. Serve over saffron rice pilaf or other favorite rice.

This recipe turned out pretty good the first time I tried it.

Notes:

• I found the pomegranate molasses at Whole Foods for less than $5, but I bet you could get it cheaper at a Middle Eastern grocery store.
• If you use powdered bouillon or caldo powder for the chicken broth, don't add salt at the beginning.
• You don't want the oil to get too deep in the browning stage. Browning works better if the pan has just a trace of oil on it.

Feb 17: I ended up eating this stuff for a week solid. The taste never palled.

I was wanting to make a variation on picadillo without the potato to have a lower carb count. Here's what I used:

• 2 lbs. hamburger
• 1 small head of cauliflower, chopped
• 1 tbsp; ground chipotle
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 huge cloves of garlic, sliced
• 2 cups of chicken broth
• 4.25 oz. can of chopped black olives

Fry the burger and onions together with the ground chipotle. Add the garlic. Throw in the cauliflower and barely enough broth to cover the mess. Once it was all done, I added the olives.

Next time I think I'll try a tablespooon of ground chipotle and a teaspon of ground cumin.

Pretty tasty. Next time I'll try green olives.

I wanted to try making a tri-tip roast. This is what I picked up at Fry's:

Here are the instructions from the back:

For the dry rub I took about half a teaspoon of black peppercorns and ground them in a mortar. Then I mixed about the same amount of salt in. Added some garlic powder and sprinkled in some ground chipotle. I rubbed it all over the roast. Popped it into the oven at 425° for 10 minutes, then 300° for 35 minutes since I didn't have a digital thermometer to check the temp.

This three pounder needed more like 50 minutes at 300°. The onions really didn't cook enough to become sweet at the low temperature.

The raw flavor of the peppercorns was a bit too much. Next time use a smaller amount of preground pepper.

The meat itself turned out quite decently.

The other day I bought a pork loin at Fry's. The instructions on the back, IIRC, was to bake it at 350° for 90 minutes. I did so on a pyrex baking dish over a bed of onions. It turned out great. Tender, moist, tasty. I was astonished it could be so good. It affirmed the idea that pork is the easiest and most versatile meat.

I'm trying to return to a mostly animal product diet, but really I don't know much about just buying chunks of meat, so today at Food City I purchased some think beef chuck steaks. The package came with three thin-sliced steaks. I prepared one by broiling it for seven minutes in the oven on a broiler pan. I lightly sprinkled it with salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Came out pretty decent. The meat is not particularly tender, but certainly sliced as thin as it was that was no problem. I attach the label below so I can remember what I bought.

Used this polenta recipe today. Adequate. I couldn't find Bob's Red Mill Corn Grits, so I used rough corn flour. Turned out fine. Added a cup of grated cheddar. When I've steamed polenta before, it worked better. No chance of burning. This version had to be stirred all the time.

Tonight's dinner included a vegetarian, so I decided to pick up some of those curry bars to make a curry. The local stores didn't have them, so instead I picked up a jar of Patak's Mild Curry. Here's what I did.

Ingredients

• One large russet potato
• One large carrot
• One large bell pepper, chopped very large
• One big handful of frozen peas
• One 400 ml bottle of Patak's Original Mild Curry
• One quarter cup of TVP rehydrated with one quarter cup of boiling water.

Procedure

1. Peel the potato and carrot. Cut large. Simmer in water till fork tender. Remove from water. Drain.
2. Pour some olive oil in a pan. Briefly stir fry bell pepper and peas.
3. Add carrots, potato, TVP and curry sauce to the pan.
4. Heat till warm and serve.

Tasty stuff, though not my favorite curry of all time. There were people at the table with Celiac disease, so we tested the curry sauce for gluten with a gluten testing kit. Turned out to be gluten free, despite the fact that it is no longer listed so on the company's website. The three people with Celiac ate the curry and enjoyed it.

Once again I'm returning to a recipe I found at Simply Recipes. Here's today's variation.

Ingredients

• Two 27-oz cans of El Mexicano canned whole tomatillos
• Garlic, 8 cloves
• Pork shoulder, 2 lbs
• Olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• Chicken stock, 2.5 cups
• One cup of diced, canned green chiles
• 1.5 tsp of oregano
• Salt, pepper

Procedure

1. Cut pork into chunks. Salt and pepper generously. Brown in small batches in Dutch oven with olive oil. Put aside.
2. Broil five unpeeled cloves of garlic. Remove from oven. Peel.
3. Put chopped onions and three cloves of raw garlic in frying pan. Fry till soft.
4. Drain the cans of tomatillos. Reserve the brine.
5. Put tomatillos through blender with broiled garlic. Pour into Dutch oven. Add meat, chicken stock, oregano and green chiles. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat so that it simmers/slow boils uncovered for three hours or until pork is fork tender.
6. As necessary, heat up remaining brine and add to Dutch to maintain liquid. If you cook only three hours, you probably won't need it. If longer, you might.

This is the first green chile experiment I've been really happy with. The secret, it appears, is in the canned tomatillos, which are in a spiced brine that gives a fruity savoriness to the recipe that using fresh tomatillos simply doesn't. The word "brine" is potentially deceptive. It has very little salt, although it tastes as though there is some vinegar in it.