Orange Fudge

Plain and simple I love fudge, but given the calories involved I make it once a year and give most of it away as gifts.

Earlier this year I discovered at Surfas an interesting product, orange oil. Not an extract or "flavoring" but oil obtained by squeezing oranges. Its called Boyajian Orange Oil and can be found HERE. The stuff has a warning label "use sparingly" and that I did, as one taste obtained from the tip of my finger was extremely orangey.

Rather than re-invent the wheel I opted to start with my favorite fudge recipe, "Stupid Easy Fudge" and added flavor from there. I've known for some time that citrus and chocolate play together well in ones mouth (ever have a chocolate dipped orange slice?) so the idea to make an Orange Fudge wasn't completely out of the blue, but had as basis in real world flavors. I used zest as well as the oil so I would have texture, visual clues and of course a true orange taste.

It worked really, really well in my not so humble opinion.

Orange Fudge

• 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate
• 6 oz bittersweet chocolate (I used a Valrhona 66% cacao)
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• zest of one orange divided
• 1/4 t orange oil

Chop the bittersweet and semi-sweet chocolate and add to mixing bowl. Add 1/2 of the orange zest and the orange oil. Add sweetened condensed milk. Heat in microwave 1 minute and stir, if not enough to melt all of the chocolate zap again in 30 second increments.

When smooth transfer to a plastic wrap (cling film?) lined dish. Smooth over and sprinkle remaining zest over the top of the fudge. Carefully pull the plastic wrap over the top of the fudge and lightly press to seal the orange zest into the fudge. Chill overnight before cutting.

Happy Thanksgiving and a recipe for dressing too!

So when it comes to Thanksgiving and the other holidays I stay pretty true to tradition and include the usual turkey, stuffing and the rest of the goodies.

I got hooked on Ina Garten's "Herb Roasted Turkey" Breast a few years ago and its a staple. Why? Well its is absolutely phenomenal to start and there is no carcass left to deal with the day after (no one in my house 'cept me is a dark meat eater). For cranberry sauce I absolutely love Nigella's "Redder than Red" cranberry sauce...who knew a shot of cherry brandy could do so much for a simple sauce.

Years ago, 21 to be precise as a wedding gift my dear friend in Minnesota sent me a wild rice cook book and there I got hooked on the stuff. Cranberry, wild rice are a perfect combo fresh from the northern swamps and quite tasty together. I got the wild idea I don't know how many years ago to include cooked wild rice in my stuffing. It with cranberry give the stuffing a nice nutty and tart taste all at the same time.

Wild rice is an aquatic grass native to the Northern US and has a nice nutty flavor and slightly chewy texture when cooked right. You do have to cook it longer than regular rice to get through the thick hull. Under cook it and its like chewing on gravel, something you really don't want in stuffing. The age of the rice and how long it was roasted affects cooking time and how much water it needs to cook properly. Pay close attention to the directions on this one.

Wild Rice and Cranberry Stuffing

1 12 oz box seasoned stuffing mix

1 can chicken broth

1/2 c wild rice

1/2 c dried cranberry

1 c chopped celery

1 c chopped onion

1 t sage, divided

1 T garlic - minced

1/2 c butter (1 stick)

1 egg

Salt

Pepper

Place broth, wild rice and 1/2 t sage in sauce pot. Bring to boil then reduce heat to barely a simmer. Simmer 1 hour covered, stirring occasionally. Add additional water if the rice absorbs too much and starts to look dry. At the end of the hour, turn off the heat and allow the rice to steep another hour until cool. (I usually make the rice the day before the stuffing). Strain out the rice reserving what cooking liquid is left.

Dice the celery and onion. Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium-high heat until butter starts to sizzle. Add the onion, celery and 1/2 sage. Salt and pepper to taste. Saute until onion is translucent, add garlic and cook one minute longer.

In large mixing bowl add dry stuffing mix. Add cooled drained wild rice and cranberry and toss lightly. Add onion mixture and toss lightly again. Take reserved cooking liquid and enough water to measure 2 cups. Stir egg into the cooking mixture then pour evenly over stuffing mixture. Toss lightly until evenly moistened.

Use as stuffing or pour into large casserole dish and bake 1 hour at 325F

Arroz Caldo

Every nation and culture has its version of chicken soup. In the Philippines it is called "Arroz Caldo" and I got the base recipe from my friend Caroline Paras who made it one day earlier this week to help her get over a cold. (See every nation uses chicken soup to get over the common cold too...or its just great comfort food).

In her recipe it called for less liquid with the notation to add more liquid if it got too thick. Well it got too thick very quickly so I monitored how much extra stock I needed for the soup and it was substantial. The stock listed in my recipe is what I actually used and it probably could have used a bit more liquid at the end as that rice sure absorbs it all fast!

In the area of garnish I deviated and instead of using lemon as a "garnish" I added it too the soup direct to give it an extra zip of flavor. That little bit of acid and lemon really played well with the ginger in the soup and will continue to incorporate it in the base soup instead of using as just a garnish. Its that good with it.

In terms of garnish I used simple chopped green onion as was listed in the recipe from Caroline. I think the next time I make this soup, which will be very soon, I'll include chopped cilantro with the green onion. Probably straying a bit from what the Philippine version would call for as a garnish, but it would be quite tasty with the ginger and lemon.

Arroz Caldo

• approx 1 ½ lbs chicken thigh, cut into 1"cubes
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 knobs of ginger peeled, chopped 1/4" inches (about 2 tablespoons)
• 4 cloves of garlic (chopped roughly)
• 1 onion (chopped)
• 2 cups of sweet or jasmine rice (uncooked)
• 1 quart of chicken stock (fat free, sodium free)
• 2 tablespoons patis (fish sauce)
• salt and pepper to taste
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• optional:
• green onions, chopped
• roasted or fried garlic pieces
• boiled eggs
• calamansi juice

In a dutch oven, heat oil. Add chicken pieces. Brown on one side. When pieces are ready to flip, add garlic, onions and ginger and sauteed until chicken pieces are browned.

Add rice. Give a quick toss. Add chicken stock and patis. Bring to a boil, stirring the rice and chicken mixture. Lower heat to simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover. Every so often, stir the pot so rice does not stick to the bottom and to check for the tenderness of rice. If the mixture becomes too thick, add more chicken stock or water.

When rice is very tender, serve. Garnish with green onions, roasted garlic pieces, boiled eggs. Add calamansi juice as an option to add more flavor.

Spicy Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Love, love, love me some butternut squash soup. Its such a versatile gourd you can't help but come up with a hundred iterations of the basic soup.

This time around I took a cue from Ina Garten and roasted the squash. I found that it concentrated the flavor nicely plus took on a nice roasted flavor as some of the flesh caramelized.

To continue with the smokey roasted theme I used chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. They brought on some nice heat as well as a hint of smoke that played nice nice with the butternut squash.

Finally, I have finally gotten it through my head to season at each step of the process as its so much easier to "get it right" when you do it that way rather than try to do an entire batch at the end. Funny how that works, but there is little left to do salt wise at the end if you do it as you go along and you don't have to worry about over salting either.

Spice Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

• approx 4 lb butternut squash
• 1 c chopped onion
• 1 c chopped carrot
• 1T chopped garlic
• 2 chipotle peppers packed in adobo
• 1 t adobo sauce
• 3 14 oz cans chicken broth
• salt
• pepper
• olive oil

Split the butternut squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds. Lightly drizzle with olive oil and add 1t salt to each half. Add 1/4 t fresh ground black pepper to each half. Place on baking sheet and bake in 325F oven for one hour and test for doneness. (It took 1hour 20 minutes to test done for me tonight). It will pierce with a fork with no resistance when done. Cool and scoop out flesh into a bowl.

Add 1T olive oil to sauce pot. Add carrots and onion. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium heat until onion is translucent. Stirring occasionally to cook evenly. Add chipotle peppers and adobo sauce. Add garlic and stir in cooking for 1 minute longer.

Put onion mixture in blender with 1 can broth. Run on puree until smooth and return to sauce pan. Add 1/2 of squash to blender with 1 can broth, puree and add to onion mixture in sauce pan. Repeat with remaining squash and can of broth. Over low heat bring to simmer.

Serve hot with a garnish of thinly sliced hot peppers and cilantro. (If you are one of those who can't deal with cilantro you can use flat leaf parsley).

Honey Mustard Salmon over couscous

Salmon. A go to food source rich in omega 3's and something 4/5 in my house will eat for dinner without a snivel or grumble. I keep bags of the Costco frozen fillets in my freezer for those last minute dinners where the day got away from me and I needed to get something on the table fast.

Couscous is one of those stupid easy food stuffs that makes a perfect side with no effort. If you can bring water to a boil you can make couscous. I use chicken stock for a bit more flavor, but you can use water if you don't have a can of stock handy. Add some herbage or other green matter to the couscous before you put the lid on to let it steep and you are set with an easy side.

The salmon does take a little bit of prep, not much and a few minutes to marinade in the dry rub. Even then you have it ready in no time as the fillets don't need that much time in the marinade, say 10-15 minutes at most.

Honey Mustard Salmon

4 Salmon fillets

onion salt

pepper

2 t dill weed

4 T honey mustard

olive oil

butter

Pat salmon fillets dry. Add Onion salt and pepper to own taste preference. Use 1/4 teaspoon dill weed per salmon side. Cover with plastic wrap and let marinade for 10-15 minutes.

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon each of olive oil and butter. When butter sizzles add the salmon fillets. Cook on first side about 4-5 minutes. Turn over and spread 1 tablespoon honey mustard on each fillet. Cook another 4-5 minutes or until the salmon flakes easily.

Serve over bed of couscous or herbed rice.

Black Bean Chipotle Chili

I've had this can of chipotle chili's in adobo sauce hanging around for a bit as I picked it up for making this kick butt shrimp dish.

With cooler than normal, outright Novemberish weather the last few days I decided I wanted to make chili and experiment a bit with the chipotle.

Chipotle is a smoked dried ripe jalapeno. When packed in adobo sauce it becomes soft again. As it is a ripe jalapeno to start with it is higher in natural sugars, slightly sweeter than the green variety. As it was smoke dried it imparts this wonderful smokey flavor to the dish. Not a bad combo to work with in the kitchen when it comes to chili makin'.

The amount of chipotle you add to the chili determines the heat. If you want a mild tang go with fewer, if you want full on burn where your ears burn and you break into a cold sweat add more. I strongly recommend you sample a bit of the chipotle BEFORE you get all crazy and add it to your other ingredients as there is no going back once in. Seriously...the burn sneaks up on you once you get past the smokey sweetness of the chipotle.

Black Bean Chipotle Chili

• 1.5 lbs ground beef (I use coarse ground chuck)
• olive oil
• 1 onion - chopped
• 1 T garlic - minced
• 2-6 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 1 T chili powder
• 1 can diced tomato
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 can beef broth
• 1/2 t black pepper
• bay leaf
• 1 T oregano
• 1 T cilantro
• salt

In large sauce pot add enough olive oil to coat bottom of pan. Over medium high heat crumble in the ground beef. Cook until well browned. Add onion, cook about 5 minutes longer until onion is translucent. Add garlic and stir in cooking 1 minute.

Add remaining ingredients. Check for salt and season to taste.

Reduce heat and simmer 1 hour with cover ajar to allow some steam to escape and the chili to cook down concentrating flavors.

Serve with sour cream and shredded cheese as garnish.

Beer Braised Short Ribs version 2

Quite a while back I posted a recipe for beer braised short ribs that was quite tasty, this version is even tastier.

The crock pot is a life saver when it comes to braising low and slow. Especially on a hot day as it emits very little heat compared to stove top or oven braising. It may take longer but that's fine when you are in no hurry or have stuff to do at the normal time one needs to be preparing dinner.

This version I cheated to move the depth of flavor. I suppose I could have made my own stock and onion soup for the base, but why bother when you sometimes can use "store bought" to make it easier on yourself. I mean, surely Martha Stewart takes short cuts when no one is looking AND there are plenty of others out there who do and aren't ashamed of them. Count me in with the latter group.

Beer Braised Short Ribs

• 3 1/2-4 lbs beef boneless beef short ribs
• 1 onion - diced
• 2 T minced garlic
• 3 bay leaf
• 1 12 oz bottle beer
• 1 can beef broth
• 1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix
• 1 14 oz can diced tomato
• 1 t pepper
• 1 t salt
• 4T corn starch
• 1/2 c water

Cut short ribs into serving piece size. Season with salt and pepper. Heat heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil and brown ribs in batches searing all sides well...about 3-4 minutes per side. Put each seared beef into crock pot as you finish each batch.

When you are done searing the ribs add onion to skillet and brown off scraping up the browned bits from the pan bottom. When onions are translucent, about 5-7 minutes add garlic and cook 1 minute longer, stirring constantly so as not to burn garlic. Add bottle of beer and scrape up all remaining brown bits from bottom of pan. Stir in onion soup mix until dissolved and pour over the seared ribs in the crock pot. Toss gently until all is well distributed.

Add can of undrained tomatoes and beef broth to the crock pot. Cover and simmer on low 6-8 hours. Just before serving test seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed. Mix corn starch and water and pour into the crock pot stirring constantly until it begins to thicken and create a "gravy".