Me and the boys: July 2013

Friday, July 19, 2013

Tuscan White Beans

This week I have been reading A Thousand Days in Tuscany: A bittersweet adventure.

The jury is still out on the book for me. It is very descriptively written...filling my mind with scenes and food imagery. At the end of every chapter, there is a recipe.

About a third of the way through, I found a recipe for some Tuscan white beans. In the book and the subsequent recipe, they cook the beans in a bottle in the ashes of a wood fire all day. However, that basically will never happen in my lifetime here. I love to cook, but I'm not that dedicated to the authenticity of the whole thing.

But, after reading through it, I figured out a way that I could make it work with some changes to their recipe and some changes to the cooking method.

I made it today and the smell in the house was flat out amazing. The beans were part of tonight's dinner and they frankly blew me away. The ingredients were so simple, but the flavor was outstanding.

I served the beans over some Italian bread...torn into chunks...and had some prosciutto to go with the whole Italian theme in my head.

Tuscan White Beans

1 lb dried beans
water
2 teaspoons salt
few grinds of pepper
1 tablespoon rosemary
1 teaspoon sage
4 cloves of garlic crushed
1 cup olive oil
1-1/2 cup white wine

Start by soaking the beans. I use the quick-soak method ....cover with cold water, cover pot, bring to a boil, turn off, leave covered for 1 hour, drain, rinse. Or, you could cover with water and soak overnight.

After the beans are presoaked, put in pan and cover with fresh water. I use a pressure cooker for this. With the pressure cooker, you lock the lid on, bring it to pressure, reduce heat, cook for 10 minutes, release the pressure, drain, and the beans are ready to season. If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can put in any pan, cover with water and cook covered for an hour or so until the beans are tender. Both ways work equally well, the pressure cooker is just super quick.

I then put the beans in my slow cooker; added the salt, pepper, rosemary, sage, garlic, white wine, and olive oil; and cooked on high for 4 hours. And done!!!!!

If you don't have a slow cooker, you could just drain the beans (again); add in the seasonings, wine, and olive oil; add in 2 cups of water (you'll need more moisture cooking on a stovetop); and cook covered on the stove top for 1-1/2 hours.

Simple ingredients.....amazing taste.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Homemade Chicken Stock in a Slow Cooker

I use my slow cooker for TONS of things. One of the really cool things I found is that you can use it to make homemade chicken stock.

It’s super easy to do and the difference is amazing. While I certainly don’t use homemade chicken stock for everything, it’s a really nice thing to be able to do with leftovers and it really ups the recipe results when I do.

Last week I made some using the leftovers from a store-bought rotisserie chicken that I had picked up for a quick dinner.

Clean most of the meat off the chicken. Save the bones. If you can’t/don’t want to do the stock right away, put the bones in a bag in the freezer until you are ready.

Put in slow cooker. Add a peeled and quartered onion, 2 or 3 peeled carrots, and some peeled garlic cloves. I can’t stand celery, so it’s never in my house, but you can add a few stalks of that too. Cover with water.

Cover slow cooker and cook on low for 6—8 hours. It will look something like the photo below. Note the difference in the deeper color to the liquid and the "cooked" look to the vegetables, etc.

When done, cool just until you can handle the crock insert. Strain the liquid. I line my colander with paper towels (see below) and slowly pour it through.

I stop occasionally to discard the solids that stop the liquid from flowing through. Replace the paper towels and re-strain a second time.

At this point, you can chill the whole container to skim the fat off the top, or just leave it in. As you can see, there isn't a ton of fat in it. Just that small rim at the top.

Add salt to taste. Super important. Will taste horrible without adding salt.

The color of homemade stock is amazing. Just look at that photo above and the one below. It looks NOTHING like the watery yellow stuff that comes from the can, cube, or powder. And the flavor is above compare.

I divide it up into small bags with 1 cup in each bag and freeze it. Then when I need some for a sauce or recipe, I just thaw it and use.

Try it.....you'll be impressed with your cooking prowess.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Local Fun Things to Do

In the last several weeks, school has ended.

This is the first year that my little guy was in school full-day…5 days a week. I have MISSED him terribly. So, the last several weeks, we have been bonding again. Snuggling, holding hands, playing games, etc.

But, I don’t want to just let his summer slip by without having a ton of fun. To that end, I came up with a list of local free or low cost activities for us to do. After I did, I saw a list going around of 50 fun things to do in Philly. There is some overlap between my own list and their….but I swear I didn't copy. I came up with more than 30 things on my own.

Some of the things I have chosen, are based on a few memberships that I have. When I pick a membership, I look at the cost and what the reciprocal memberships are. A perfect example of this is the Delaware Museum of Natural History. They offer reciprocals at 4 VERY local places that we would have a good time at…including the “dinosaur” museum in Philly. Make sure you read the fine print. Does the reciprocal membership offer free admission or do you have to pay 50% of the entrance fee. Are there any restrictions like day of the week or the distance from the reciprocal museum to the residence on your ID? Are you limited to number of children you can bring? Because I have an only child and I usually am watching one of my friend’s children, I always add a second child on when I fill out the membership. That way I’m not charged for the favor I am doing my friend…but we’re still having fun.