MMMMM Brunch

Beautiful Carved Wood Gate/Door

It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon
men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that
emanates from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews
a weary spirit.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

Faux Gumbo

This Dish was a bit of an experiment. I like paella and gumbos and dished similar to that so I thought I would try a faux copy with chicken, plus I found a packet of paella spice I was dieing to try. it turned out very flavorful and the chicken was tender and yummy and the family loved it, that is always a big bonus with a meal.

a package of chicken legs and thighs (how ever many it takes to feed your family)
flour
salt and pepper
oil for browning
1 poblano pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
5 to 10 mushrooms, sliced or chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 to 2 large cans stewed tomatoes with juice
paella packet of seasoning
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper
1.5 cups rice


Wash and dry the chicken. Add flour salt and pepper to a shallow bowl. Heat a large cast iron pan over medium high heat. Once pan is hot add oil. dredge the chicken in the flour and place the chicken in the hot oil (laying away from you). brown the chicken on all sides and remove from pan and set on a plate and set aside. keep the pan on the fire but turn it down to a medium to medium low heat. remove all but 2 tablespoons of the oil.


add into the hot pan the chopped vegetable and cook them covered until they are soft, uncover, turn up the heat a little and saute until there is a little browning on the veggies and add the paste, cook for a few more seconds so that the paste darkens a little.

Return the chicken and all it's juices to the pan and add the tomatoes and seasoning and rice, cover and cook until the rice is done, stirring occasionally. If there is not enough liquid from the tomatoes feel free to add a cup or two of chicken stock, water or even a little white wine.

Roasted Cauliflower

For the new year, just like half of the world, I am going to try to eat a healthier diet, exercise more and try to loss a few pounds that have found their way onto my body. So with that said my first post if 2010 is roasted cauliflower. Roasted cauliflower is one of my favorite veggie dishes and I add a little nutrition and flavor punch with diced red peppers and onions.

Preheat oven to 400F

cut a head of cauliflower into little bit size florets.
chop a red bell pepper into a small dice
chop a small onion into a small dice
3 tablespoons olive oil
course sea salt
fresh cracked pepper

place all ingredients in a bowl and toss to coat with oil. Pour the vegetables into a cast iron pan (cast iron gives a better browning) and bake the cauliflower in the oven for about 20 to 30 minutes or until it is browned slightly and tender, be sure to stir the cauliflower ever 10 minutes or so.

By no means is this only way we make cauliflower in our house, my daughter loves hers steamed and one day I make cauliflower with a nice cheese sauce baked in the oven and she took one bit looked up at me with a look on her face and said "mom please don't make this with the uky sauce again" LOL she is such a purest.

North African Lamb Stew

A few years ago I tried my first North African dish when I met my fellow food blogger and now good friend Warda over at 64 sq ft Kitchen. She served several wonderful spiced salads (vegetable dished) and a lamb soup called Harira. The Harira was wonderful so wonderful my then 3 year old daughter took the soup from me and ate it up. I have had a few lamb dished at Warda's home and now that I am living in Mexico and I am so far from her I have to try to make these dishes on my own. While mine are not nearly as tasty as Warda's I do think that my ability to cook her Algerian dished are coming along and are in their own right tasty.

For Christmas Eve I wanted to make a lamb dish, I wanted something hardy but flavorful like Warda would make so I followed two of her recipes to come up with a lamb (mutton) stew where I combined her Harira recipe and her Lamb and Vegetable Stew recipe and came up with a great and flavorful dish of my own.


2 pounds boned lamb leg or shoulder
4 onions, halved and each stuck with a clove
5 carrots, quartered
4 potatoes, quartered
4 zucchini, quartered
3 stalks celery, cut into 4 sections each
2 large tomatoes, quartered
2 cups chickpeas
5 to 8 cups water or stock
Cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cumin
one bunch cilantro, tied
2 tablespoons tomato paste
a pinch saffron
salt and pepper
oil

Cut the lamb into large chunks and brown in a hot pan with some oil. once the meat is brown add in the tomato paste and stir. Add in the vegetables and spices and stir then add in the the water then the rest of the ingredients except the chickpeas. cook stirring occasionally until the carrots are tender, about an hour, adding the chickpeas and removing the cilantro bunch in the last 15 minutes of cooking. I served this with couscous that I made following Warda's directions but with a makeshift couscous steaming pot and pita bread.

Mystery Fruit #4

Guanabana

not much to say, didnot like this one either. Guess I am just an up north girl who love fresh apples and pears and peaches