Recipes

Creole Split Pea Soup with Andouille Sausage

November 16, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

After making a good pork roast it’s always great to use the leftovers in a soup. A great way to use the bone from a pork shoulder (or ham hock) is making pea soup. A few years ago I visited New Orleans and I was taken with the flavors they used in their soups and seafood so I decided to try a creole inspired pea soup. I started with a base of onion, garlic, celery, green pepper, and carrots which sauteed in butter until soft. Then I added some creole spices like thyme, sage, oregano, paprika, dried sassafras, and cayenne pepper. The andouille sausage was my favorite twist on the traditional pea soup. The sausage was delicious and had great sweet and spicy flavors.

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Nutella Pumpkin Bread

November 12, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

If you like pumpkin and chocolate you just might like this recipe which combines two great flavors into one delicious bread. The bread is also seasoned with nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger which produces amazing aromas in the kitchen as the bread bakes. The chocolate hazelnut flavor from the nutella and the pumpkin puree mixes well together, creating an excellent fall bread recipe. I mixed the batter well, resulting in a dark brown batter. Another option is to fold in the nutella at the end, creating a swirl of chocolate in the middle.

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Cuban Pulled Pork Tacos with Red Cabbage and Jicama Slaw

November 6, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

My high opinion of pulled pork and pork shoulder was further validated by this recipe for Cuban pulled pork tacos. Making good pulled pork is always a very simple formula: wet rub + dry rub + marinate + several hours in an oven = fork tender, juicy pulled pork. The flavor profile of this recipe is sweet and spicy, which comes from the cuban dry rub and fresh orange and lime juices. The red cabbage and jicama slaw added more sweet heat along with some texture and crunch. The chipotle mayonnaise was surprising as I had never eaten mayo with a taco before but the results were great nonetheless. The mayo is super easy to throw together as all it requires is mixing mayo and a few tablespoons of pureed chiles in adobo sauce with a little lime juice. I topped the tacos with sour cream and chopped cilantro.

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Red Cabbage and Jicama Slaw

November 5, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

This slaw was a great accompaniment to the Cuban pulled pork tacos. The slaw was sweet and a little spicy which worked well with the sweet and spicy flavors of the pulled pork. Jicama has the same texture and similar taste to watercress but has an earthier flavor to it. Since I had only eaten jicama in restaurants and ignored it in the grocery aisle, it was fun to test out a new item in the kitchen. The slaw was tasty and easy to throw together since all it takes is grating the ingredients in a bowl and adding a little juice and spices.

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Pumpkin Soup with Pancetta and Sage

November 4, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

This soup is surprisingly easy to throw together and it creates such a delicious aroma in your house! The smell of pancetta and sage slow cooking for hours is how I think a kitchen should smell when it’s cold and damp during the Fall season. You could easily use canned pumpkin or make the pumpkin puree yourself with this soup. Also, substituting any kind of tasty winter squash would work well with this recipe. After dicing up the veggies and pan frying the onion and pancetta, you can sit back as the soup simmers for several hours on low heat. I garnished the soup with a little crispy fried sage and toasted pumpkin seeds.

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Chipotle Lentil and Bean Chili

October 30, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

October and November, in my opinion, are the best months for soups and chilis. I can’t really get enough of a warm bowl of something tasty during these months. Since I had quite a few leftover ingredients from other meals (e.g. lentils, beans, tomato sauce, cilantro, etc) I figured I should try creating a chili out of what I had sitting around. I kept looking around for more things to throw in and noticed I had some frozen green peppers and jalapenos, so I cut them up and threw them in too. I was very happy with how the chili turned out! This chili does not need an ounce of meat as it is packed with protein from the lentils, kidney beans, and pinto beans. The ground chipotle chilis were great and gave it a more smoky, aromatic flavor. I garnished the chili with sour cream and cilantro, but yogurt would be a good substitute for the sour cream.

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Roasted Moroccan Chicken with Preserved Lemons

October 24, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

This is one of those recipes I make every 2-3 weeks because I can’t stop making it. I actually get cravings for the preserved lemons that taste just like lemon candy. This recipe is so tasty due to all the layers of flavor that come from the curry spice blend, preserved lemon, and Harissa (a Moroccan red chili paste.) Since the chicken is marinated overnight and roasted in the oven for several hours the chicken always turns out tender and juicy. For side dishes, I like to pair the chicken with Moroccan roasted potatoes and curried orange couscous.

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Roasted Moroccan Potatoes

October 23, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

Since I already tried Moroccan couscous I thought it would be nice to try something different. I decided on roasted potatoes and they turned out very nicely. They went great with the Roasted Moroccan chicken and had very good flavor. The honey mellows and contrasts with the spicy harissa and lemon juice. The honey also caramelizes the potatoes and the result is a crispy, golden outside. The only downside is that honey has the tendency of sticking to the pan so use a generous amount of olive oil and turn the potatoes every 12-15 minutes or so. To get the potatoes extra crispy on the outside I sometimes turn the oven to the broil setting the last 3 minutes of baking.

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Chicken Noodle Soup

October 20, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

It was a bit cold and rainy this past week and I wanted something warm and comforting for dinner. Since I had a whole chicken in my freezer, I thought making chicken noodle soup would be a great meal on these cold and damp Fall days. Making chicken noodle soup only requires humble ingredients and a simple cooking process, yet it yields such delicious flavors! You just can’t go wrong with home made chicken noodle soup. The one thing that was slightly disappointing was that I could not find Reames Egg noodles at my grocery store. Instead I opted for the curly egg noodles which were great but not as good as the thick, slightly doughy, egg noodles. It was not too much of a loss though since this soup turned out great anyways. I learned of a new trick to making chicken noodle soup which was adding a 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric to the broth. I really liked how it made the broth pop with color and the flavor of the turmeric was a nice addition to a traditional recipe.

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Pomegranate and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

October 16, 2011 by The Partial Ingredients

I was excited to try this recipe because I had never tried baking with pomegranates before. Pomegranates are so tasty on their own but it was even better with butter, sugar, and chocolate. The pomegranate arils were a nice pop of color in the white cookie, and the flavor of the pomegranate could still be tasted when the arils burst in your mouth. My cookies were a little bit crumbly and soft so next time I will chill the dough before baking. This recipe will be great for the upcoming holidays and I could see this becoming a regular, annual cookie recipe!

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