Caldo gallego

Great soup from Galicia, in northwestern Spain. Usually calls for a variety of meats, but I used what I had on hand. Ended up a little heavy on the meat and light on the beans. But this still remains one of my favorites soups. Oh, and the homemade crusty bread was pretty good too.

1/4 pound dried white beans, presoaked (next time increase to 1/2 pound)
10 cups chicken stock (low salt or no salt)
1 ham hock
1 small onion, sliced
1 pound, approx., smoked pork neck bones (next time use something else)
4 small potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 1/2 cups chopped Swiss chard
freshly ground pepper

Simmer beans, stock, onion and meats, covered, in a large pot for approximately 1 1/2 hours, until beans are done. Add potatoes, chard and pepper, cook for about 20 minutes longer. Remove meat from bones and add back to the pot.

Pinchos morunos

1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound boneless pork loin, cut in 1-inch cubes

Combine all ingredients except the pork and pour into a plastic freezer bag. Add pork, seal bag and squish together so all pork pieces are coated with marinade. Refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Remove pork from marinade and thread onto skewers. Grill over hot charcoal fire or under a broiler, turning once, until meat is just cooked but still juicy, about 10 minutes.

Fun with Frugality 2: Chicken

I’ve taken to buying whole chickens, which I either break down myself or roast whole to use the meat for various dishes. The latest, which we roasted, gave us these meals:
1. Jambalaya (using ½ pound assorted white and dark meat).
2. Burritos (diced white meat).
3. Chicken pot pie (white and dark mixed).
4. Used bones for stock, which went into jambalaya and a pot of beans.

Fun with Frugality 1: Ham

We bought a 10-pound ham last week and had a lot of fun thinking of things to do with it. Here’s a partial list.
1. Traditional ham dinner (with scalloped potatoes).
2. Stir-fried with veggies and tossed with noodles for a sort of pseudo chow mein.
3. Mac and cheese with ham and peas.
4. Jambalaya (chicken, andouille and ham).
5. Assorted sandwiches.
6. Still saving the bone for red beans and rice.

This is lovely

Salad Parador

I confess that I’m not sure about the concept of a warm salad. Why not just call it a vegetable side dish? Be that as it may, this was absolutely delicious. Part of that no doubt due to the fresh chard from my garden. I adapted this recipe from All Around the World Cookbook, by Sheila Lukins.

My changes: I used frozen haricots verts, a vine-ripened tomato (since I didn’t have any cherry tomatoes), and oil-marinated olives instead of brine-marinated.

Technically, the salad is supposed to be assembled on each individual plate, with greens first, then chard stems and beans, then tomatoes and shrimp and topped off by the olives. But since I live in a household of two and a half, I quartered the recipe and just ended up tossing everything together at the end and – yes – serving it as a side dish.

½ pound Swiss chard
extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic (about 1 clove)
2 oz. haricots verts (frozen)
kosher salt and course ground black pepper to taste
1 ripe tomato, seeds removed and roughly chopped
¼ pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ tsp dried thyme
2 ½ tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp black olives (oil marinated, pitted and sliced into slivers)

Cut the stems from the leaves of Swiss chard. Slice the stems on the diagonal ½ inch thick. Cut the leaves into ¼-inch-thick slivers.

Heat a small amount of olive oil (1 tsp or so) in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook about 1 minute. Add the Swiss chard stems and sauté to soften slightly, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Heat some more olive oil in the skillet and add the haricots verts. Cook over medium heat until crisp-tender, shaking the pan occasionally for even cooking, about 4 minutes. Add the beans to the Swiss chard stems and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Heat some more olive oil in the skillet and add the tomatoes, shrimp, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium heat, shaking the skilled and turning the shrimp once or twice, until the shrimp are cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer to bowl and set aside.

Heat a little more oil in the skilled and add the Swiss chard leaves. Sauté, stirring constantly, until nicely wilted but still slightly crunchy, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Toss the leaves with the balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper.

Combine chard leaves with stems, beans, tomatoes, shrimp and olives.

Leftover Fishcakes

from The Illustrated Kitchen Bible
10 oz. leftover snapper, flaked
1 cup mashed potatoes
2 scallions, minced
2 tbsp chopped parsley
grated zest and juice of ½ lemon
½ tsp Dijon mustard
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg, beaten
¾ cup dried bread crumbs
½ cup vegetable oil

Mix flaked fish, mashed potato, scallions, parsley, lemon zest and juice, and mustard together in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

Divide the mixture into 12 cakes. Place the flour in a small dish, the beaten egg in another, and the bread crumbs in a third dish. Roll each fishcake in the flour, then dip into the egg, and coat with the bread crumbs.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. In batches, add the cakes and cook about 5 minutes, turning once, until golden brown. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Serve hot.

Comments: Not bad, but a little bland. I used snapper instead of the smoked haddock called for in the recipe. Also didn’t have scallions or fresh parsley on hand so I had to make do with dried.