Cooking with Saffron

I've been curious about the ever elusive, expensive saffron for a long time. I'm a huge fan of the Food Network and I've heard about it so much but never used it in my own cooking. Part of that reason being that it's so expensive, but I love how in Croatia you can find so many different sizes of packaging to buy spices in. I saw a small package of saffron in the supermarket for about 5 kuna (a little less than $1) so I knew this was the perfect time to try to cook with it. I'd heard so many times that you only need a pinch to make it go far, so I was really excited to try it!  I found this recipe that had relatively few ingredients (all of which I had on hand!) and it seemed to really make saffron the star of the meal, which is exactly what I was going for.

Saffron Chicken with Parsley and Lemon

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (thighs would be great too!)
1 large onion cut in lengthwise slivers
1 Tbs sunflower oil
1 tsp. butter (optional, but it adds a lot of flavor)
pinch saffron (about 1/4 tsp. or less)
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 1/2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1 red bell pepper (optional)
1 green bell pepper (optional)

Cut the chicken into cube/bite sized shapes.  Peel the onions and cut into lengthwise slivers and chop parsley.

Use a heavy frying pan which is not too large and has a tight-fitting lid.  Heat the olive oil and butter, then brown the chicken quickly over medium-high heat.  (Don't let it cook long enough that the outside starts to get hard.  The chicken does not need to be cooked through.)

Remove chicken to a plate, add onion, and brown over very low heat until edges of onion pieces are turning golden, about 12-15 minutes.  Remove browned onions to another plate. Add chicken back to pan, and cover with onions.  Heat chicken stock, add saffron and stir to dissolve, then pour over chicken and onions. Simmer on very low heat with pan covered 30-45 minutes.

Add chopped parsley, lemon juice, and a tiny bit of additional water if needed, and simmer 15 minutes more. At this point, I added my chopped red and green bell peppers but next time I make this, I would omit, just because the flavors are already so good without it. Or I would roast the peppers first to give the flavor more depth. Serve hot, over rice. I added a pinch of saffron to my rice's cooking water so not only was my rice infused with the flavor of the saffron, but it was also a beautiful yellow color!

Hungry Man Meal!

I love having variety in the meals I make. Since I'm still a relatively new cook, there are a ton of things that I have never made yet and I just love to experiment. Making new things keeps cooking exciting for me and the best thing in the world is when I'm making something new and tasting it along the way and it tastes like the best thing I ever made. Yesterday was one of those days.

For a while, we were eating Asian inspired meals almost everyday. After we became obsessed with Thai take-out in the States in May, I spent the summer recreating those flavors in almost every meal. Now it seems, I'm getting really into comfort food. But it's winter, so I guess that's exactly what's supposed to happen! 

We got this really great ground beef and I wanted to try something new with it so I searched the internet for what to make and everything kept pointing me towards Salisbury Steak. I was hoping to try to make my own meatloaf sometime soon so I figured this would be a great way to make a Salisbury Steak/Mini-Meatloaf meal that would be hearty for my hungry man. I scoured the internet, reading reviews on every recipe I found and finally found the one I wanted. It's originally from the Sokolowski University Inn and is apparently from a Polish Kitchen episode, so no wonder I was drawn to it and inspired by it! It was a little daunting to see how long it would take to make it all, especially since I was really hungry after work, but for me, I'd rather make something that will taste excellent, rather than just so so. The extra time made it so worth it!

 

Here's what I used:

• 1 large onion (minced)
• 4 cloves garlic (minced)
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup (approximately) parsley
• bunch of sage
• 350g (about 2 1/2 cups) cooked and diced button mushrooms
• 2 Tbs flour
• 2 cups beef stock
• 2 dried bay leaves (to simmer in the beef stock)
• salt and pepper (as preferred)

Directions

Saute onions (reserve about 2 tablespoons for gravy) for about 10 minutes, until they start to caramelize 1 tablespoon butter, then add garlic and half of your mushrooms to the pan and saute for another 5 minutes.  Set aside to cool. Mix beef with cooled onion mixture, eggs, bread crumbs, parsley, sage and mushrooms. Form into 4 patties and saute in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter until golden brown on both sides and set aside. In saucepan melt 2 ounces of butter and add flour and cook over low heat for 1 minute until wet sand consistency. Begin to add beef stock 1/3 at a time whisking and bringing to simmer each time making sure there are no lumps. I added the remaining onions and a bit of minced garlic at this point. Then, add mushrooms and simmer for 1/2 hour. Place patties in a roasting pan and pour gravy over patties and bake in a preheated 375 degree (190 degrees C) oven for 45 minutes.

 

Since we don't have a deep roasting pan, I used about half of the gravy on the mini-meatloafs that went into the oven. I roasted the veggies, broccoli and cauliflower, on the same pan. The sauce was so good, I couldn't stop tasting it so I made the executive decision to add more beef stock, a bit more flour to thicken it more, and made more gravy so we could pour it over the egg noodles that I served it with. 

 

The gravy was so amazing, T-Slav and I both wanted to drink it up. It's amazing what you can do with the same 3 pans but that's what we've got and I'm making it work. This is definitely something I'll make again and I think my Mom would be proud! 

  

 

 

Chili for a Chilly Day ;)

  

When I was little, we didn't eat a lot of junk food or fast food or anything like that, but the one thing that everyone in my family really loved were the Southwest Taco Salads from Wendy's. That was the one fast food item that my parents let us have once in a while and we all loved it! I remember when I came home after the year in Germany, my parents and sis picked me up in D.C. and we stopped to get the Southwest Taco Salad along the way home. The salad has a new name now at Wendy's, I believe, but it's basically a salad with chili on top. YUM!

Since nothing warms you up on a cold and dreary winter day like warm, hearty chili, I decided to make a batch of it when I realized I had almost all the ingredients that could make a delicious chili at home already. Here's what I had:

1 Onion
5 Cloves of Garlic
500g Tomato Puree
2 Tbs Tomato Paste
3 Tbs Chili Powder
1 Tbs Red Pepper Flakes
2 Fresh Tomatoes, chopped
1 Can of Black Beans
*Secret Ingredients*
A dash of hot madras curry powder
A pinch of cinnamon

First, I sauteed the onion for a few minutes (the onions are super strong in Croatia), then added the minced garlic for a bit longer. Then, I added the chili powder and red pepper flakes and mixed it up within the garlic and onion. Next, went in the chopped fresh tomatoes and I sauteed them too. I added the tomato paste to the whole mix. It smelled amazing already! After another couple minutes, I poured in the tomato puree and let the whole pot simmer together. At this point, I threw in the 2 secret ingredients. I almost forgot to put the beans in, which I had rinsed and drained but I put them in then and let it all simmer away happily together.

I got this amazing ciabatta bread from the bakery to use for my Thanksgiving stuffing but I couldn't resist cutting a few slices of it to enjoy with the chili. T and I also used the chili as dip with some chips! If I had had sour cream or some kind of cheese at home, I would have put those on top too but this was delicious as it was!