Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Slow Cooker Moroccan Chicken

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Slow Cooker Moroccan Chicken

♫ Would you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh express ♪

Moroccan chicken, my favorite! Chicken thighs, rubbed in more spices than you would ever think you could use at once, cooked until tender with olives and lemons.

This is a slow cooker riff off our popular tagine recipe. Boneless skinless chicken thighs are sprinkled with paprika, ginger, cumin, coriander, and more, placed on a bed of chopped onions, and slow cooked with green olives, lemon slices, and raisins until fork tender.

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Friday, November 27, 2015

Near & Far: Recipes Inspired by Home & Travel

101 Cookbooks
Near & Far: Recipes Inspired by Home & Travel

One of the reasons you write a cookbook is to share what you love about cooking with others. It's a feeling, as an author, you hope is infectious. Most of you know by now, I have a new cookbook coming out this week (it will also be published in the U.K., Australia, and Canada in October). It's my first book in four years, and I've chronicled the process here, here, here, and here. Correspondingly, I've been thinking a lot about the fact that this book will be making its way into the broader world (the one beyond my kitchen and experiences) starting now. And a few weeks back, as the advances went out, I was reminded that we are entering one of my favorite phases. It's when the tables flip, and I begin to see what you do with the book. At first, I thought it would make sense to do one last preview of Near & Far today - show shots of some of the spreads, and recipes. But as photos and write-ups started popping up around the internet, I began to think it would be more interesting to share some of those, and share them in some sort of ongoing fashion.

If you end up cooking from Near & Far please post pics or links and tag them. This way I won't miss them - I check #nearandfarcookbook & @heidijswanson on Instagram most often. I love seeing these recipes make the jump into your kitchens. Again, thank you all so much for your support and enthusiasm - I'm so incredibly excited to see what you do with the book. Also(!) deep gratitude to FOOD52 for including Near & Far on their list of Best New Fall Books, and Epicurious for including N+F as one of Four New Cookbooks to Cook from This Fall. THANK YOU! xo -h

- Aran (Cannelle et Vanille) made the Red Lentil Hummus and posted this beauty shot here:
Preview

- Signature Beth Kirby (Local Milk) magic posted here:
Preview

- Thank you Suzanne Hall (brilliant editor of The Chalkboard Mag) - love this shot. Posted here: Preview

- Tara O'Brady (Seven Spoons) wrote these generous words & chose a recipe that earns the most good will from my favorite seven-year-old:
Preview

- Love this late-summer shot in Adele's kitchen (Voices of Industry) - posted here: Preview

- Beautiful hand-lettering in the new issue of Chickpea Magazine - posted here: Preview

- There's an unusual Farro Salad in the book, and it is flat-out one of the best recipes I've included. Love seeing it get some early attention via Kevin Masse: Preview

- And another beautiful example of the Farro Salad via Bruce Cole (Edible San Francisco): Preview

- Love seeing the Whole Wheat Waffles on the Sprouted Kitchen table (xo Sara & Hugh!) - posted here: Preview

And(!) this beautiful take on the Brown Sugar Tofu & Mushroom Spring Rolls on the Sprouted Kitchen site.

http://www.sproutedkitchen.com/home/2015/9/3/brown-sugar-tofu-mushroom-spring-rolls

- This spread from the Japan chapter as seen via Nathan (Kinfolk) posted here:
Preview

- David Lebovitz took on one of my favorite recipes from the India chapter. It's a spicy corn preparation called Vaghareli Makai. xo David!
Preview

- Megan (A Sweet Spoonful) & Sam (Neversink) made the Cucumber Salad for a weekend lunch.
Preview

More to come soon, I'm in the process of wrangling the next round! xo -h

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Turkey Black Bean Quinoa Bake

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Turkey Black Bean Quinoa Bake

With great power comes great responsibility. At least that’s what I tell myself about turkey leftovers.

Whoever cooks the turkey gets to keep the leftovers, right? Whoever has the extra turkey meat gets to decide what to do with it (at least that’s how it works around here). High expectations, people. That’s where the responsibility part of the power comes in. Whatever you do with the leftovers, it better be good.

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Turkey Tetrazzini

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Turkey Tetrazzini

Turkey leftovers anyone? Try this American classic turkey casserole—Turkey Tetrazzini—a hearty pasta bake that includes sautéed mushrooms, a cheesy creamy sauce, leftover turkey peas, and egg noodles.

Tetrazzini is thought to have been originated in San Francisco, named after a famous opera singer of the early 1900s—Luisa Tetrazzini—who lived there for many years.

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Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Turkey Tortilla Soup

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Turkey Tortilla Soup

Do you like tortilla soup? It’s one of the easiest soups to make from scratch. You start by frying strips of corn tortillas in a little oil until crispy, then use that same tortilla-infused oil to sauté onions as you start to build the soup. The flavor is fabulous!

It’s usually made with chicken, but we can just as easily make this soup with leftover shredded turkey. If you have homemade turkey stock? Even better.

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Monday, November 23, 2015

How to Make Gravy

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How to Make Gravy

There are lots of ways to make gravy from a roast. Some can get rather complicated. What we do is simple. You can easily build a luscious, lip smacking gravy from the pan drippings!

As soon as the roast is done cooking, we remove it to a cutting board to rest. While the roast is resting, we place the roasting pan and all of the drippings it contains on the stovetop and start making the gravy.

We’ll use either cornstarch or flour to thicken the gravy, the process is similar for both.

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Pumpkin Spice Sweet Potatoes (Yams)

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Pumpkin Spice Sweet Potatoes (Yams)

Mashed sweet potatoes or garnet yams can always be found on our holiday or Thanksgiving table. Most often we make a double or triple recipe because everyone wants the leftovers! Usually we just bake them, scrape out the insides, and mash with some butter and brown sugar.

Here’s the thing with sweet potatoes, they pair beautifully with oranges and holiday spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg.

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Mom’s Roast Turkey

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Mom’s Roast Turkey

When it comes to holiday cooking, my father and I spend weeks deciding who is making the various side dishes, but when it comes to roasting the turkey, there’s no discussion. Of course that task falls to my mother. Why? True, she has cooked our Thanksgiving turkey for over 50 years, so she knows what she’s doing. But the real reason is that her roast turkey is always perfectly done, the breast never dried out, but tender and full of flavor.

How does she do it? She cooks the turkey breast-side down. While the turkey roasts, the juices fall down towards the breast, resulting in the most succulent meat. The breast is also more protected from the heat, which helps keep it getting too dried out. She also uses a meat thermometer to take out any guess work of when the turkey is done.

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Saturday, November 21, 2015

Turkey Chili (with Leftover Turkey)

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Turkey Chili (with Leftover Turkey)

Is there anything better than a hot bowl of chili on a cold day? Here’s a favorite recipe from the archives that I recently remade, in preparation for the turkey leftovers we expect to have after Thanksgiving. With kidney beans, tomato, bell pepper, garlic and loads of spices, this chili terrific with shredded turkey meat (especially the dark meat!)

You could also easily make it with cooked shredded chicken if no turkey leftovers are available. Serve it loaded high with shredded cheese and diced onions, and better still, cornbread.

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Friday, November 20, 2015

Pumpkin Cheesecake

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Pumpkin Cheesecake

Move over pumpkin pie, and say hello to pumpkin cheesecake! If you really truly want to impress your guests this holiday season, I recommend this cheesecake. Tall and proud like a classic New York style version, this one has a pumpkin cream cheese filling with a splash of bourbon, all sitting atop a pecan graham cracker crust.

And if that wasn’t enough, we bathe it with homemade caramel sauce and whipped cream.

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Thursday, November 19, 2015

At The Studio: Dragonfruit Vodka Tonic

101 Cookbooks
At The Studio: Dragonfruit Vodka Tonic

We don't have an elaborate kitchen at the QUITOKEETO studio. There's a sink, a single induction burner, a huge silver champagne bucket (that floods brilliantly with water and ice-packs for "refrigeration"), a stack of cutting boards, and as you can imagine, no shortage of knives. Preparations there tend to be simple, and components are shuttled from home, more often than not, in Mason Jars. Correspondingly, I often find myself thinking that these are exactly the type of recipes that are helpful to people - silly simple, but interesting, and easy to pull together for work, picnics, potlucks, or when you're in a guest kitchen. For us, typically, it's some sort of lunch, but on occasion we'll mix a drink on a Friday, to close out the week. Like this stunner - a dragonfruit vodka tonic. I thought it might be interesting to drop dried dragon fruit into vodka in the morning, let it infuse throughout the day, and use it to mix vodka tonics - finishing with a splash of effervescent kombucha. Cheers! And to find dried dragonfruit, try your local natural foods store in the superfoods section, or poke around online. I posted the recipe here.

Dragonfruit Vodka Tonic Recipe
Dragonfruit Vodka Tonic Recipe

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Saturday, November 14, 2015

Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Shallots

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Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Shallots

Every year I consider it my civic duty to create a brussels sprouts recipe that my father will actually eat. Every family has one, right? A sprouts-a-phobe?

No? Well consider yourself blessed. I guess we’re lucky that my dad is the only one who will roll his eyes when he sees the green orbs set before him. Oddly he claims to like the brussels sprouts recipes I’ve made for him, which makes his stated aversion seem even weirder.

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Thursday, November 12, 2015

Chard and Prosciutto Stuffed Turkey Breast

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Chard and Prosciutto Stuffed Turkey Breast

Just because it’s Thanksgiving doesn’t mean you have to roast a whole turkey. If you are only hosting a few people for dinner and you don’t want weeks of leftovers, you can just roast a turkey breast! (You can also make it in less than half the time of a whole turkey.)

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Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Magic Ancho Chile Relish

101 Cookbooks
Magic Ancho Chile Relish

I have a couple of announcements before we dive into today's recipe. First! It feels a bit surreal, but there are only two weeks until Near & Far is released. And, related to the release, there are a number of events in the works. The first will be held on my home turf at CAMINO on 9/17 - there are a handful of seats left (and already so many of my favorite people in one room!) - can't wait to celebrate with each of you! For a full (evolving) list of events & signings you can check this page. On the recipe front, this chile relish has been a staple this summer. It's the sort of thing you can grab to slather on all sorts of simple, quick preparations to add a bit of magic and flavor. It adds depth, raisiny-chile flavor, color, and dimension. You can serve it as written, or separate the chile from the chile oil to serve. I'll list all the ways I've used it down below. Enjoy!

Magic Ancho Chile RelishMagic Ancho Chile RelishMagic Ancho Chile Relish

- Breakfast taco: I do something like the five-minute breakfast taco I wrote about on this page, but finished with a hit of the chile relish.

- Special beans: Heat a splash of olive oil in a saucepan, toss in a big handful of shredded kale, saute, stir in some cooked beans (I've been using Santa Maria Pinquito beans all week), and finish by stirring in a big dollop of the chile relish.

- Nori wrap: Had this for dinner last night. Spread some coconut brown rice across a sheet of nori, top with some cooked beans, add sliced avocado, some of the chile relish, and some crispy fried shallots, or toasted almonds (something crunchy).

- Tempeh: Steam some tempeh, and while that is happening, combine a big dollop of the chile relish with a with a splash of shoyu to slather on the tempeh. This was easy & tasty!

- Chile Creme Fraiche - simply swirl chile relish lazily into a small bowl of creme fraiche to use as a condiment or accent.

- And this is how I like to do beans & rice.

Hope this provides some inspiration. If you make the relish, let me know what you do with it - either in the comments, or tag it on Instagram (@heidijswanson or #101cookbooks) so I don't miss it. xo h


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