Category: Food

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Leftovers Recipe: Chicken Ramen Noodle Soup

Dinner Saturday night included two whole can chickens. We had a small amount of meat left and all those bones–perfect for us to make a rich chicken stock for a Sunday supper of chicken ramen noodle soup. I follow the basic recipe for making chicken stock and use a crockpot. The soup could not be more simple: make noodles; heat chicken stock and simmer with chopped bok choy for a few minutes; add leftover chicken; add cooked noodles; serve; enjoy.

Yesterday:
Beer can chicken

Leftovers:
1-2 cups of chicken

Today’s Leftovers Meal:
Chicken Ramen Noodle Soup with Fresh Chicken Stock

Chicken Stock
Remains of a cooked whole chicken
2 bay leaves
Handful of whole peppercorns
3 crushed cloves of garlic
Half an onion
1 carrot
1 celery sprig
1 tbs. fresh rosemary
Filtered water (enough to cover chicken)
Sriracha hot chili sauce, to taste
Cook in crockpot on high for 2 hours. Let sit and skim fat from top with a spoon. Strain broth with a cheesecloth and serve immediately or transfer to a glass jar or bowl and refrigerate for use later in the week.

Chicken Ramen Noodle Soup
Chicken stock
Chicken
Ramen noodles
Bok choy
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook noodles and drain. Simmer chicken stock and add bok choy to blanch. Add chicken and cooked noodles. Serve. 

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Leftovers Recipe: Italian Mashed Potato Pancakes

Most people love the day after Thanksgiving for turkey sandwiches. I like the potato pancakes. Our family makes what we call Italian mashed potato pancakes, from a recipe we got from my grandmother. The pan-fried pancakes are made from leftover mashed potatoes, Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs, chopped fresh Italian parsley, an egg, grated parmesan cheese. When I was growing up, we had them whenever there were leftover mashed potatoes (never let good food go to waste!) and mom put ketchup on the plate for me and my brother so we could dip warm pancakes in the cool ketchup, much like the way we used maple syrup on breakfast pancakes—it’s still comfort food for me.

I called Mom for the recipe recently and she gave me the ingredients listed above. Measurements? I improvised. Truth is, it depends on the amount of mashed potatoes you’re starting with. What I did is approximated below; you can scale according to your own amount of leftovers.

Yesterday:
Thanksgiving dinner

Leftovers:
Mashed potatoes

Today’s Leftovers Meal:
Italian Potato Pancakes

Italian Potato Pancakes
4 cups of mashed potatoes
2 cups of Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
Olive oil for pan frying
Ketchup

Blend ingredients in a bowl. Heat olive oil in frying pan while you form pancakes. Pan fry on medium heat. Add additional oil if needed. Serve and enjoy (ketchup optional).

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Mmmmm, Meatballs: Family Recipe

My grandmother loved to tell the story about how I loved meatballs when I was a baby. She told me I would eat little pieces of meatballs while seated in my high chair. This much is certain: the meatballs were delicious, so why wouldn’t I devour them? My great-grandmother was an Italian immigrant who came to Brooklyn with traditions and recipes she passed down to her family, and I subsequently grew up with Sunday suppers that almost always included one dish made with a rich, red sauce. Mmmm, marinara. The Sunday morning smell of onions and garlic and olive oil in a pot on the stove? Anticipation. Add tomatoes and cook it slowly for hours? That’s home.

Spaghetti and meatballs were a staple for us. Sundays during autumn also meant that meals were planned around NFL football game times. This Sunday, I made meatballs for the evening game (go Giants!). I won’t print the entire recipe here because my meatball-making involves seeing and feeling the mixture (it feels like it needs more egg or it looks like it wants more breadcrumbs…). But these are my ingredients: ground beef, breadcrumbs, eggs, chopped garlic, chopped Italian basil, chopped Italian parsley, parmesan cheese, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. I mix it in a glass bowl with a wood spoon and make sure it’s combined but a little gooey, then gently form balls of the mixture—not packing, only loosely forming—and delicately drop the meatballs into the pot of simmering red sauce. As my Aunt Stef says, you want the meatballs to feel like they’re going to fall apart when you put them into the pot; this makes the meatballs tender, not tough. I let them cook in the sauce slowly, for an hour or so. Then it’s time to serve and devour them.
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Yard Sale Gem: American Woman’s Cookbook




Dad picked this up at a yard sale for me: “The American Woman’s Cookbook” by Ruth Berolzheimer (1941). The cover is held on by tape, but it’s in otherwise great condition. Not surprisingly, I have been entertained by the dated material (certainly the section on “Entertaining Without a Maid” was good for a chuckle) and also a bit surprised by some of the recipes (see “Opposum Roast”). I plan to skip the recipe for braised calf’s brains with oysters and all the others for opposum, squirrel, reindeer, and pigeon (potted pigeon, pigeon pie, AND pigeon and mushroom stew). But the classic buttermilk waffles, chocolate cream pie, and pan broiled steak look mighty fine and there are some useful charts (like the one pictured on cuts of beef) and how-to instructions on basic cooking techniques that stand the test of time.

Song in my head since getting the book: “American Woman” by the Guess Who (obviously); I like the Jimi Hendrix version but I could not find any good YouTube videos for that.
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Seasonal Delivery: Mallomars

One of my family’s mottos is this: Food is love. Credit goes to my late grandmother; “Mangi mangi! Food is love,” she’d say. This comes to mind often. Today I recited it like a mantra each time I popped a Mallomar cookie in my mouth. The annual package from Mom and Dad was delivered today with boxes of the cookies from the East Coast, where the cookies are made available in September–after the long, hot summer and when the cookies are least likely to melt on shelves. I decided to mix vanilla bean gelato with a Mallomar. Love, indeed.
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Soda Can Chicken on the Grill



Mr. MVP gives a spin to the traditional “beer can chicken” recipe by using a ginger ale can instead of beer. We also pour out half the soda to make room for sprigs of fresh herbs from the garden. (One time we went for a real ginger kick and added fresh chopped ginger to the can.)

The chicken we get comes from the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market — organic and free range from a Santa Barbara farm.

The bird is salted and chilled a few hours, then brought to room temperature before it’s placed on the can and seasoned with spices (paprika, cumin, chili powder).

Finally, it’s grilled to perfection on the Weber (with 100% natural hard wood charcoal briquettes) over direct heat. Juices are captured in the pie pan and then reduced in a sauce pan on the stove with some of the skin for a little drizzle on the chicken when it’s served. Yum.

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Grilled Peaches with Ice Cream


Easiest dessert for a summer BBQ! Credit goes to Kristine, who served up this deliciousness.

Grilled Peaches with Ice Cream

Ingredients:
Peaches
Vanilla ice cream
Honey

Instructions:
Grill halved peaches, until softened.
Drizzle honey on peaches.
Fill pit holes with scoops of vanilla ice cream.
Enjoy.

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July 4th Dessert: Baked Apples a la Mode

With too many guests expected for the July 4th BBQ, I decided against an apple pie. But apple pie is so traditional for the holiday and thinking about it made me want it, so I went with a spin on the classic: baked apples a la mode.

Ingredients:

6 apples

1/2 cup raw agave nectar

2 tbsp. cinnamon

Juice of 2 limes

1 box vanilla wafer cookies

Vanilla ice cream

Instructions:

Peel and slice apples.

Toss apples with agave nectar, cinnamon and lime juice.

Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees, or until apples are soft (not mushy), stirring occasionally.

Serve with ice cream and top with crumbled vanilla wafer cookies on top.

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Go Lakers: Laker Baker Potatoes

I get potatoes and root vegetables from Weiser Family Farms at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market. This week, there was an obvious choice: the zebra-like yellow and purple potatoes, otherwise known as “Laker Bakers.” (I usually roast them or make home fries.) Go Lakers!

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Staple: Heirloom Tomato Bruschetta

For a friend’s birthday dinner last week, I was asked to bring bruschetta–simple and easy. But I wanted spectacular, so I used heirloom tomatoes.

Heirloom Tomato Bruschetta

Ingredients:

French bread baguette

4-5 ripe heirloom tomatoes

One red onion

2-3 garlic cloves

Handful of basil leaves

Olive oil

Fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Other fresh herbs optional (I use lemon verbena)

Preparation:

Chop tomatoes, separating the tomato chunks from the seeds (most of the seeds, anyway).

Chop red onion.

Toss tomatoes, onion, basil in bowl and dress with olive oil and lemon juice (2 parts olive oil to one part lemon juice). Add sea salt and fresh black pepper. Chill 15 minutes or more.

Drizzle slices of a baguette with olive oil and grill or toast. While still warm, rub toast pieces with halved garlic cloves.

Top toast pieces with the tomato mixture before serving. Top with extra pieces of basil (and lemon verbena).