I'd Rather Cook

Author Archives: Anne Freestone

• Smoky Chipotle Salsa – Food and Teambuilding

  Posted at 11:11 am by Anne Freestone

  Oct 24th

  

  Jump to Recipe

  The story behind this salsa is tied to my final years in the workforce. In April of 2019, I retired from a 28 plus year career with Whirlpool Corporation. Working there got me involved in many interesting projects with great people from all over the world. I also enjoyed great benefits – not the least of which was the employee discount (which the company generously still grants me as a retiree). This has allowed me to fill my home with the world’s best appliance brands, including KitchenAid small appliances. My KitchenAid food processor figures large in this recipe.

  I have always loved the kind of salsa you get in Mexican restaurants – the fresh, finely chopped kind. I have never been a fan of the chunky, cooked type you get in jars. So, as usual, I wondered if I could create my own version at home.

  I knew that to get that fine chop in any reasonable time frame would require my food processor. I made a few trials using fresh jalepenos, serranos, etc, but somehow the flavor lacked the depth I was looking for. Then I remembered those cans of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in the Mexican aisle. Chipotles are dried, smoked jalepenos, and the adobo sauce is tangy and slightly sweet. I wondered how that would play in a salsa instead of a fresh hot pepper.

  It turned out great – but I’d made such a big batch I (double the recipe below) that I knew it would take us forever to eat at home. So I took it to work.

  The timing was right because it was during what we accountants refer to as “closing”. This is the period of time during which we make adjustments to “close” the books and produce financial statements. It takes place during the first few days of the month following the month being closed. It was also the time when we generally worked the most overtime, and, in order to “ease the pain”, it was common for people to bring in food to keep the team’s motivation up.

  The remarkable thing about this salsa is that it appealed to a very diverse group of tastes. It has some heat, which is great for hot sauce lovers like me, but even the non heat lovers in our group liked it. It became known at work as “Closing Salsa”, and before I knew it, I was bringing a big batch and a couple bags of tortilla chips in every first day of closing. This was a team tradition for several years until I retired.

  Note that since vegetables vary in size, you my have to adjust seasonings and amounts. And another very important thing – don’t skip the sugar – it’s essential to get all the flavors in balance. Also, the flavors won’t fully settle until the salsa has been refrigerated for awhile, so you may have to adjust slightly after that.

  Anyway, that’s the backstory of this recipe. Hopefully it will be a hit with your team, as well.

  

  Print Recipe

  Smoky Chipotle Salsa

  Prep Time20 mins

  Total Time20 mins

  Servings: 8

  Author: Anne Freestone

  Equipment

  • food processor

  Ingredients

  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 4 green onions
  • 1/2 medium white onion
  • 1/2 red bell pepper
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp lime juice
  • 1/2 chipotle pepper in adobo
  • 3-4 large roma tomatoes (or 4-5 small)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper

  Instructions

  • Peel garlic and cut white onion, green onions and red pepper into large pieces. Place in food processor and process until finely chopped.
  • Add sugar, lime juice and chipotle pepper in adobe. Cut tomatoes into large pieces and add. Process until finely chopped.
  • Add salt and pepper and process. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
  • Chill before serving.

  Rate this

  Posted in Appetizer, Mexican | Tagged anne freestone, appetizer, chipotle, chipotle in adobo, food processor, KitchenAid, restuarant style salsa, salsa, Whirlpool

• Sour Cream Apple Walnut Pie – A Taste of Fall in Michigan’s Fruit Belt

  Posted at 1:29 pm by Anne Freestone

  Oct 16th

  

  Jump to Recipe

  I am fortunate enough to live in what is known as the “fruit belt” of Michigan. Scientists consider my corner of southwest Michigan as the most productive fruit growing environment not just in the state, not just in North America, but in the world. The climate is moderated by our close proximity to Lake Michigan, by what is referred to as “lake effect.” This phenomenon keeps the area warmer in winter, and cooler in summer, and increases rainfall. The climate and the geography — the rolling terrain, the soil — are perfect for growing high quality grapes, peaches, apples and any number of other fruits.

  October is prime time for apples, and, since I live right in the midst of many orchards, I have easy access to the very best and very freshest of the harvest.

  For many years I made a very good, straightforward and simple double crust apple pie. But this time I wanted to try something a bit different. So, after researching many recipes, I settled on a version incorporating sour cream, walnuts and a brown sugar topping. I think it’s a real winner – the sour cream adds a richness that plays well with the tartness of the apples, and the walnuts and the topping adds crunch.

  When selecting apples for this (or any apple pie, for that matter), you need to choose a tart, crisp variety. While Red or Yellow Delicious or Honey Crisps are great for fresh eating, they make for a very bland pie. My go to standby is the McIntosh, but a Jonathan is also a great pie apple.

  Note that the pie shell should be frozen before you fill it and bake – this helps ensure that the crust doesn’t get burned. Also note that this is baked in two stages – first without the topping, then the topping is added and for the second stage.

  Enjoy!

  

  Print Recipe

  Sour Cream Apple Walnut Pie

  Prep Time30 mins

  Cook Time45 mins

  Cooling time1 hr

  Total Time2 hrs 15 mins

  Servings: 8

  Author: Anne Freestone

  Ingredients

  Topping

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup butter, cut into small cubes
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon

  Pie

  • 1 9 inch pie shell, frozen before filling
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 4 cups apples (about 4 large)
  • 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

  Instructions

  • Mix topping ingredients in a small bowl using a pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse pebbles. Set aside in refrigerator until needed.
    
  • Mix sour cream, egg, sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla in large bowl.
    
  • Peel the apples and slice into pieces about 1/4 inch thick. As you slice each apple, add to the bowl with the sour cream mixture and stir to coat apples so that they won’t turn brown. Add the walnuts to the mixture and stir.
    
  • Place apple mixture in frozen pie shell, and bake in 400° oven for 25 minutes
    
  • After 25 minutes of baking, remove pie from oven and top with topping mixture. Return to oven and bake at 400° for an additional 20 minutes. Let cool one hour before cutting.
    

  Rate this

  Posted in Dessert | Tagged anne freestone, apple, apple pie, dessert, walnut

• What’s a Habanada? (Not Habanero, Habanada)

  Posted at 10:16 am by Anne Freestone

  Oct 7th

  

  2019 was not a good gardening season in West Michigan. First we had a very wet, cold spring – the cold weather reached deep into May. Then we had a hot, largely dry summer. This meant most of us had to plant our vegetable gardens twice, and water profusely. Then, at least at my house, just when I got things up and coddled along a bit in June, what seemed like the entire rabbit population of Allegan County decapitated most everything.

  Plans are already in motion for next year to move the main garden closer to the house, away from critter hiding brush (and within range of my .22), and also to put in an electric fence. But in the meantime, I am left with what few survivors I have.

  Those survivors were mainly the tomatoes, herbs and peppers that I grow in planters on my south facing deck. (Rabbits don’t usually climb steps).

  One of the new peppers I tried this year was a Habanada, just because the description in the catalogue intrigued me – a heatless habanero!

  Now let me state right here that I am not afraid of hot peppers. I love hot sauce, and firmly believe that there’s hardly anything it doesn’t improve. I grow serranos every year.

  But since habaneros are so insanely hot, one goes a really, really long way. I would probably only be able to find use for maybe a half dozen in total – so why grow a plant that would produce 30 or 40 plus? But habaneros have, in addition to their heat, a unique, fruity, almost melon like flavor – so I thought that a heatless version that let that flavor shine through would be interesting to try.

  I was not aware of the background of this pepper until I started looking for recipe ideas, but its back story is pretty interesting.

  The Habanada was created by a Cornell University plant breeder named Michael Mazourek, who created it as part of his doctoral research. He got the idea when he found a unique heatless pepper whose genetics were very different from the sweet peppers like bells. Its genetics were more like hot peppers, but it had somehow lost whatever made it spicy.

  This original pepper tasted kind of bad, so he cross-pollinated it with a habanero, and after a couple generations he was left with a pepper with the aromatic qualities of a habanero, but minus the heat. This was around 2007, but the Habanada has only been known beyond academia in the last few years.

  Today, access to Habanadas is pretty much limited to chefs – they are sold to restaurants through distributor Baldor Foods, who gets them from Ark Foods, which, last I checked, was the only commercial grower. So, if you want to try them, you can either hope to find them in a restaurant, or do like I did, and grow your own. Most of the major seed and plant catalogues have them available.

  So what’s it like? I can truly say that it really does taste fruity, pretty much melon like, as advertised. It’s really quite surprising – unlike any other pepper I’ve had. The flavor is intense enough to really be called aromatic.

  So what do you do with them? I’ve tried halving them, filling them with some burata cheese, topping with bacon crumbles and baking till the cheese melts. This seemed to complement the fruity flavor quite well. I would also imagine that given their melon flavor, they would pair well with prosciutto (think prosciutto and melon). I’ve also sauteed them in butter with shallots. I’ve also heard of some chefs doing Habanada sherbets and jellies. I will probably have another 20-30 or so of these to use yet, so I’ll continue to try to come up with ideas.

  Hopefully this unique little pepper will become better known and more widely available. In the meantime, if you have a chance to sample and/or grow some, do it!

  Rate this

  Posted in Garden, Ingredients | Tagged anne freestone, habanada, habanada pepper

• Game Day Dry Rubbed Wings – Are You Ready For Some Football?

  Posted at 12:13 pm by Anne Freestone

  Sep 25th

  

  Jump to Recipe

  It’s football season, and what could be better than some chicken wings to go with your beer as you watch the game? Ever wonder how wings got to be one of the foods most associated with American football?

  Well, according to the National Chicken Council, it really begins with the invention of Buffalo Wings back in 1964. The story goes that one of the co-owners of the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, Teressa Bellissimo, cooked leftover wings in hot sauce as a late-night snack for her son and his friends.  They guys liked them so much that the wings were put on the menu the next day.  The “Buffalo Wings” were an instant hit with the locals.

  So then the guy who sold hot sauce to the bar went on the road with the owners’ son to promote the wings and sell his hot sauce, and hot wings gradually caught on with restaurant operators around the country. 

  
  After that, the correlation of wings to American football was all timing.

  In the 1980s, U.S. consumers started preferring boneless-skinless breast meat, and wings became an inexpensive byproduct for chicken producers.  Restaurants and bars then realized they could make money off of the cheaply obtained wings, and that the spicy sauce made people drink more beer, further enhancing their bottom line.

  Shortly after that, in the 1990s, sports bars with multiple TVs and satellite dishes were becoming more and more common. And, since the most popular sporting event to watch with friends in bars is football, wings were forever bonded to football.

  So, then, on to my version.

  These are not Buffalo style wings (though I love those, too), but rather a dry rubbed baked version, which makes them a bit less messy and easier to prepare than the deep fried and sauced types.

  These have been tested by my husand, and also our 24 year old son (back home with us for awhile while he completes his clinicals for physical therapy school) and a couple of his PT classmates who came over to watch football on our bigscreen. So, these have been approved by actual people watching actual football and drinking actual beer, which to me is the highest endorsement for a chicken wing.

  A couple of notes – please be sure to use smoked paprika, or the result will just not be the same. (Yes, I know I’m obsessed with the stuff, but it really does make a difference). As you make the rub, be sure to note the shift from tablespoons to teaspoons in the recipe, so you get the intended ratios of spices.

  As for the wings, in this recipe I am referencing complete wings, which I break down into drumettes and flats myself with kitchen shears. So, 20 complete wings will result in 40 separate pieces. If you don’t want the work of breaking the wings down, you can obtain them already broken down (usually in the frozen section in bags) for an upcharge. Also note that you don’t have to use all of the rub made here for the 20 wings – just use enough to color them up, and save the rest for another batch of wings.

  Finally, it is important to bake these wings on a rack, so that they are not sitting in their own grease and getting soggy. Put the rack on a foil lined cookie sheet, spray the rack with non stick, and you are good to go with easy cleanup.

  Serve with your favorite dipping sauce – for us, it’s ranch (none of that stinky blue cheese is allowed in my house), but if that’s what you like, go for it. Enjoy!

  

  Print Recipe

  Game Day Dry Rubbed Wings

  Prep Time20 mins

  Cook Time45 mins

  Total Time1 hr 5 mins

  Servings: 4

  Author: Anne Freestone

  Ingredients

  • 20 chicken wings, cut into drumettes and flats, or 40 pieces
  • 2 tbsp vegatable oil, or enough to coat wings
  • 1 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tbsp fine kosher salt
  • 1 tbsp light brown sugar
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp chipotle chili powder
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tsp dried mustard
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/4 tsp dried thyme

  Instructions

  • Combine all dry ingredients and mix well.
    
  • Place wing pieces in a large bowl with vegatable oil, and mix to coat.
  • Sprinkle rub mix onto wings gradually, mixing to coat, until the wings are just nicely colored up, as pictured. (The amount of rub in this recipe will coat more than the 20 wings or 40 pieces, so don’t use it all at once).
    
  • Place wings, not touching each other, on non stick sprayed rack placed on a foil lined cookie sheet. Bake at 400° for 40-45 minutes, until nicely browned.
    

  Rate this

  Posted in Appetizer | Tagged anne freestone, dry rubbed wings, game day wings, oven baked wings

• Huevos Rancheros – I Love the Smell of Hot Sauce in the Morning

  Posted at 12:45 pm by Anne Freestone

  Sep 17th

  

  Jump to Recipe

  I love Mexican food. I’ll take good Mexican food just about anytime I can get it, including breakfast. Huevos rancheros (literally “ranch eggs”) is an iconic dish that originated as mid-morning fare on Mexican ranches. Traditionally, the basic dish consists of fried eggs served on lightly fried tortillas, topped with, originally, a salsa fresca (pico de gallo). Common accompaniments included refried beans, rice, and guacamole. As the dish spread beyond Mexico, most versions evolved to use pureed chili sauce instead of the salsa fresca, and have added other items such as cheese, sour cream, etc.

  And that chili sauce is what led me to this recipe. Interestingly, I never had huevos rancheros until I made them myself. But what I did have was a southwest style omlette made by one of those chain restaurants known for breakfast. It had the most incredibly smoky, warm sauce on it, and it was heavenly. Of course they decided to take it off the menu after several months, much to my (and to many others’) chagrin, according to the wait staff.

  I could tell that the primary smoky note I was tasting was probably chipotle in adobo. So I set out to research sauce recipes, and soon realized that looking for sauce recipes connected to huevos rancheros was the way to go. After looking at many versions, I finally found inspiration from a recipe by the fabulous gentlemen at How to Feed a Loon. I tweaked the seasonings somewhat and used tomato sauce instead of diced tomatoes, but I have to give them credit for the basics of this recipe. Then, since I had the sauce, I figured why not try making huevos rancheros?

  So, here it is…the basic recipe for huevos rancheros, along with the recipe for ranchero sauce and also a recipe for refried beans, if you care to make your own. I will say that this is something that I never try to do all from scratch, all at once – I will make the ranchero sauce and the beans a couple of days ahead, and reheat those before I cook the eggs, and then assemble.

  Do note that the sauce is geared to my heat preference – to me, it’s not fiery but just a pleasant lingering warmth. However, keep in mind that I am a woman who has won a few hot sauce eating contests, so you may want to start more slowly with the serrano and chipotle until you figure out what works for you.

  

  Print Recipe

  Huevos Rancheros

  Prep Time20 mins

  Cook Time10 mins

  Total Time20 mins

  Servings: 4

  Author: Anne Freestone

  Ingredients

  • 2 cups ranchero sauce (recipe follows)
  • Vegetable oil, for frying
  • 8 Tortillas (I prefer flour, but you can use corn)
  • 8 large eggs
  • 2 cups refried beans (recipe follows if you want to make your own).
  • 1/2 cup queso fresco

  Instructions

  • Warm the ranchero sauce and the beans in separate saucepans (or use microwave).
  • Heat a small amount of oil in a fry pan, and crisp the tortillas – this will only take a few seconds. A flour tortilla will puff up slightly. Drain on paper towels.
  • Add a bit more oil to the pan, and fry the eggs, basting with oil to set the tops.
  • Place two tortillas on each plate, spread a spoonful of beans over each tortilla, and top each with an egg.
  • Spoon 1/4 to 1/2 cup ranchero sauce over the eggs, and top with crumbled queso fresco.

  Print Recipe

  Ranchero Sauce

  Prep Time10 mins

  Cook Time20 mins

  Servings: 6

  Author: Anne Freestone

  Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 small serrano pepper, diced, seeds and membranes removed
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, diced
  • 1 chiplotle pepper canned in adobo sauce, diced
  • 2 15 oz cans tomato sauce
  • 1 tsp adobo sauce from canned chipotles
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • salt, to taste
  • black pepper, to taste

  Instructions

  • Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, then add the serrano, onion, garlic and chopped chipotle and cook until softened.
  • Add tomato sauce, adobo sauce, chili powder and cumin to saucepan, and bring to a boil.
  • Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring frequently, until reduced by about 25%.
  • Add salt and pepper to taste.

  

  Print Recipe

  Refried Beans

  Prep Time1 hr

  Cook Time1 hr

  Total Time2 hrs

  Servings: 6

  Author: Anne Freestone

  Ingredients

  • 1 lb dried pinto beans
  • water
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2-4 tbsp pork lard, bacon fat, or olive oil (pork lard is the most authentic and gives the best flavor!)
  • ground cumin, to taste
  • salt, to taste
  • black pepper, to taste

  Instructions

  • Rinse beans, place in pot and soak overnight. Or use quick soak method – cover with water, bring to a boil, cover and let sit for one hour.
  • Drain beans. Cover with fresh water, add bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, or until beans are soft. (Watch as beans simmer and add more water if needed). Remove bay leaf and drain, reserving about a cup of the liquid.
  • Heat lard, fat or oil in large frying pan, and saute onions and garlic until translucent.
  • Add beans to pan, and mash with a potato masher them as you cook them, adding some of the reserved liquid if they are getting too dry. Season to taste with cumin, salt and pepper.

  Rate this

  Posted in Breakfast, Mexican | Tagged anne freestone, huevos rancheros, ranchero sauce, refried beans

• Church Cookbooks – End of an Era

  Posted at 4:09 pm by Anne Freestone

  Sep 9th

  

  I was going through some of my cookbooks the other day, and found this gem. This is where I obtained what is now my “signature” (at least within our family) green bean casserole, one based on a sour cream sauce and bacon, that has been a staple for Freestone family gatherings for probably 25 years.

  This cookbook represents a largely extinct breed – the church cookbook. These were, for many years, complied by churches as fundraisers – a committee would be formed, recipes gathered from the congregation, and all would be typed up and sent to a publishing company. The company would then usually just photograph the pages as is, make printing plates from that, and print and assemble the pages into books with plastic ring bindings.

  And then they would be sold, hopefully raising more money than the publishing cost. These cookbooks were favorite bridal shower gifts back in the day – and from the handwritten inscription inside the cover, it looks like this was given to me by one of my husband’s aunts at a shower approximately three weeks prior to our wedding in 1991.

  

  I haven’t looked at this cookbook in quite a few years, the green bean recipe having long since been committed to memory and feel, but I decided to more or less read through it the other day. It gave a glimpse into an era of cooking that in today’s fashion of farm to table and fine dining may be sniffed at as “unsophisticated”, but also shows a charming ingenuity and creativity.

  First of all, there is the copious use of prepackaged ingredients – not only canned beans and corn, etc., but lots of canned soups. I mean, a LOT of canned soup – cream of mushroom, cream of celery, cream of chicken – just about any creamed soup you can think of – sometimes two or even three types within one dish. And the jello…used for salads, desserts, you name it – along with its constant companions cream cheese and Cool Whip.

  And then there’s recipes that make you go, “what the…?” – e.g., Pinto Bean Pie and Refried Bean Cake. You have to have some serious imagination to come up with those – not to mention probably being a pretty good salesperson (or good liar) in order to get your family to try them.

  Now, you have to remember that since this cookbook was published in 1990, many of the venerable church ladies who put this together would have been mostly drawing on dishes created perhaps twenty to thirty years prior. And that was, at least in the Midwest, the era of casseroles. (I counted no less than six tuna casserole recipes!) You have to understand that this was a time before cooking channels, before the internet, before you could order prepackaged meal kits, before you could pay someone to shop for and deliver your groceries.

  You had to do it all yourself – and even if a woman didn’t have employment outside the home, she had to take care of the kids, do laundry (including ironing – not much was wrinkle free back then), clean, do the shopping. She also probably served on committees that ran the church, school, clubs, etc. And if she was employed outside the home, she was usually responsible for the cooking, anyway – that’s just the way it was back then. So getting a hot dinner prepared in an hour or so each evening in an era before microwaves were common was a challenge, and you’d take any help you could get.

  Not that there aeren’t representations of more, shall we say, elevated cooking in here- there are some competition winning dishes that sound pretty good – pecan rice, pork florentine, Grand Marnier Souffle – and that look to be accomplished more or less from scratch. But then again, there’s also a Beef Wellington using refrigerated crescent roll dough from a tube. (But Beef Wellington, as a concept, just never made sense to me anyway, even if you do use handmade puff pastry).

  I think what resounds with me most of all, though, is the obvious caring within the pages – the caring of a congregation putting together a book to support their church, and no doubt the joy of sharing some dishes that they were proud of, many of which were probably passed down in their families over many years. As I flip through the pages, I see that Aunt Jane took the time to place handwritten notes next to recipes she had tried and that were her family’s favorites.

  And then there’s the recipe for Burnt Sugar Cake – accredited to Aunt Jane, but that she is sure to notate as coming from her mother in law and my husband’s grandmother, Virginia Freestone, boiled frosting and all – talk about hardcore old school!

  

  I have a feeling I’m going to be making this one.

  Rate this

  Posted in Cooking Discussions | Tagged anne freestone, church cookbooks, old school cooking

• Black Bean Chorizo Soup – Microbrewery + Rachael Ray = Recipe

  Posted at 2:58 pm by Anne Freestone

  Sep 1st

  

  Jump to Recipe

  You might ask how this soup has anything to do with beer, as you will notice it has no beer in it. Well, as I mentioned in my How I Got Cooking post, going to restaurants is, for me, primarily about finding inspiration for dishes. So it was with this soup.

  About fifteen or so years ago, we were visiting New Holland Brewing (Holland, Michigan’s first microbrewery) for some of their stellar beer and a meal (they do a great job with their restaurant, too). I noticed they had an intriguing chili on the menu that night that was based on black beans and chorizo (no doubt it was made with one of their beers, as well). It was delicious, and I immediately made plans to try to create my own version.

  Before I could get around to experimenting with said chili recipe, I happened to be thumbing through one of my Rachael Ray cookbooks. (Rachael is another one of my primary inspirations – I love her philosophy that quick to prepare meals don’t have to be boring. I probably consult her cookbooks for ideas at least as much as Joy of Cooking). I came across her recipe for Black Bean “Stoup” (a sort of cross between a soup and a stew). It sounded great as is, but then I remembered that chili I had recently. What if I did a soup that was kind of a cross between the two?

  

  And so my black bean chorizo soup was born. I have tweaked it over the years, and it makes a pretty regular appearance at lunch at our house.

  Now, some notes about the recipe. It was kind of difficult for me to quantify the spices, since, for most of my cooking (outside of baking), I abandoned measuring years ago. I pretty much cook “from the hip” these days. So definitely begin cautiously, especially with the chili powders, until you find your happy place.

  Also, please be sure to use smoked paprika. Regular paprika will not produce anywhere near the depth of flavor. (I probably need to seek help for my obsessive love of this spice, but humor me here.)

  About the chorizo – this recipe uses Mexican chorizo. (There are two types of chorizo, Mexican, which is the raw fresh version, and Spanish, the smoked type.) They are very different and not interchangeable. Also, when it comes to Mexican chorizo, you may have to experiment to find your favorite brand – like all sausage, even the same types don’t taste the same from brand to brand. My personal favorite is “El Popular”.

  This recipe also introduces one of my favorite cooking hacks – bouillon cubes. Whenever you have a recipe calling for bouillon or stock, you can use bouillon cubes and water – the usual ratio is one cube per cup of water. (I use four here as there is liquid in addition to the water from the tomatoes and beans). In this case, you don’t even have to boil the cubes in water separately – just add them and the water to the rest of the ingredients, and they will dissolve and incorporate as you boil and stir.

  Finally, the proportions of beans, meat and vegetables here are what I’ve come to prefer over the years. Soup, like chili, is a very personal thing, and the dish won’t “fail” if you want to use more chorizo, or more beans, etc. Do not, however, skip the step of sauteing the vegetables in the spices before adding to the rest of the soup. It really makes a difference in flavor development.

  Enjoy!

  

  Print Recipe

  Black Bean Chorizo Soup

  Prep Time25 mins

  Cook Time20 mins

  Total Time45 mins

  Author: Anne Freestone

  Ingredients

  • 3/4 to 1 pound mexican chorizo
  • 2 stalks celery, chopped
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 small white or yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 jalepeno or serrano pepper, seeds removed, finely chopped. (Remove more of the membranes if you want less heat).
  • 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 15 oz can petite diced tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 15 oz cans black beans
  • 4 beef boullion cubes
  • 2 to 3 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 to 2 tsp chipotle chili powder
  • 1 to 2 tsp ancho chili powder
  • 3 cups water

  Instructions

  • Brown chorizo in a fry pan over medium heat, remove with slotted spoon and place in a soup pot. Retain the drippings from the chorizo in the fry pan.
    
  • While chorizo is browning, chop the celery, bell pepper, onion, jalepeno/serrano and garlic.
  • Drain the liquid from the diced canned tomatoes into the soup pot with the browned chorizo.
  • Add olive oil to chorizo drippings in fry pan, then add chopped vegetables and diced tomatoes. Add smoked paprika, chipotle and ancho chili powders and saute until vegetables begin to soften.
    
  • Drain one can of black beans, discarding liquid. Add to soup pot. Add the other can of black beans, undrained, to the soup pot. Add beef boullion cubes to soup pot.
    
  • Add sauted vegetable mixture to the soup pot, then add the water.
    
  • Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally about 20 minutes, until vegetables are soft.

  Rate this

  Posted in Soup | Tagged anne freestone, black bean, chorizo, soup

• Quiche Lorraine – Not Too Cliche

  Posted at 3:46 pm by Anne Freestone

  Aug 30th

  

  Jump to Recipe

  This is one of those dishes with an interesting history in its development and people’s attitude toward it. I had assumed that the origin was purely French, but it turns out it’s not that simple.

  Quiche actually has its origins in the medieval kingdom of Lothringen, under German rule. This area was later renamed Lorraine by the French. The word ‘quiche’ comes from the German ‘Kuchen’, meaning cake. 

  The first quiche Lorraine was an open pie with a bottom crust of bread dough, and a filling of an egg and cream custard with smoked bacon. Cheese was added later, along with the crust changing to either pie dough or puff pastry. Then at some point, onion was added, which turns out is actually more traditional than the leeks that I and some others use.

  Quiche became popular in England sometime after the Second World War, and in the U.S. during the 1950s.  However, in the 1980s, that era of Trivial Pursuit and wine coolers, it became considered kind of a “chick thing”, not to be eaten by real men, as the saying went. It was definitely a dish associated with yuppies (I should know, I was one back then), and not everybody understood it. (Legend has it that my father in law once saw it on a menu and asked the waitress what the “quickie” was. This was before I joined the family, but this is the story my husband claims his sister told him. I’ll have to ask my sister in law to verify that.)

  Now, however, the cliche surrounding quiche seems to have faded, and just about anybody will eat it, given that it’s a dish you can put just about anything in. For me, the Lorraine will always be number one, because, well, it has bacon. (Need I say more?) There are many versions out there, mostly varying in the ratios of eggs vs milk/cream, and whether onions or leeks are used.

  This is the version I’ve come up with. You’ll notice that I specify a prebaked pie shell, in order to keep this recipe more straightforward. At some point, I may get into a pastry post, but in the meantime, there are plenty of good pie pastry recipes out there in the blogosphere. And there’s not a thing wrong with using a good quality frozen or refrigerated pie shell, either, if you’re short on time and/or patience. Heck, quiche is actually perfectly acceptable without a crust, if you have carb or gluten issues. Just grease up your baking dish so it won’t stick, and watch the time – it may bake quicker.

  So here it is, in all its rich glory. This makes a lovely brunch dish when served with fresh fruit, or even a light dinner along with a green salad.

  

  Print Recipe

  Quiche Lorraine

  Prep Time40 mins

  Cook Time30 mins

  Cooling time1 hr 30 mins

  Total Time2 hrs 40 mins

  Servings: 8

  Author: Anne Freestone

  Ingredients

  • 1 prebaked pie crust, 9″ deep dish
  • 1/2 pound bacon, diced
  • 2 leeks, diced, white and light green parts
  • 1 small bunch fresh thyme, about 5 or 6 stems, leaves stripped from stems
  • salt, to taste
  • white pepper, to taste
  • 2 oz gruyere cheese, shredded
  • 2 oz swiss cheese, shredded
  • 2 whole eggs
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup whole milk

  Instructions

  Crust

  • Prebake pie shell according to instructions
    

  Filling

  • Preheat oven to 375°
  • Dice bacon and saute on medium high heat until just short of crisp. Remove from pan to drain and cool, reserving about 2 tablespoons of bacon grease in pan.
    
  • Split and wash leeks to remove grit. Dice white and green parts and add to pan in which you have reserved a couple tablespoons of the bacon grease. Add thyme leaves and salt and white pepper to taste. Saute over medium heat until leeks are just starting to become translucent. Remove leek mixture from pan and cool.
    
  • Shred gruyere and swiss cheeses in food processor or box grater
    
  • Whisk eggs and egg yolk in bowl, add heavy cream and milk, along with cheeses, cooled leek mixture and cooled bacon, mix thoroughly. Pour into prebaked pie shell. Place on cookie sheet in center of oven.
    
  • Bake at 375° for about 30 minutes until center is set and top is golden brown.
    
  • Let cool and serve at room temperature.

  Rate this

  Posted in Breakfast, Brunch | Tagged anne freestone, bacon, brunch, gruyere cheese, leeks, quiche, quiche lorraine, swiss cheese

• How I Got Cooking…

  Posted at 2:49 pm by Anne Freestone

  Aug 27th

  When it comes to being a cook, I’m actually rather an unlikely candidate. I would venture to say that the majority of people who end up not only being decent cooks, but actually liking to cook, come by it via the time honored tradition of learning from their mother. (Not to be sexist or anything, but for people my age it was usually your mom that did the cooking. I know things are different now).

  Not so with me. My mother was not a good cook. Worse still, she was one of those bad cooks who have no idea how bad they are. There was, in particular, a quite horrific meatloaf she made once a week that my oldest brother and I referred to years later as having “a scab” on the outside. So I grew up thinking I disliked a lot of foods, when in actuality I’d never had them prepared properly.

  I don’t really know when I got interested in cooking – I did the cooking after I got married, but it certainly wasn’t something that I looked forward to. It may have started when I happened across a used copy of the sixth edition of Joy of Cooking (published in 1975 and the last to be edited by Marion Rombauer Becker, daughter of its original author, Irma Rombauer). This book’s wealth of information on ingredients and techniques, as well as recipes, delivered in a marvelous anecdotal style (that was lost in later editions) is what I think first showed me that food could be interesting. Honestly, if you can get your hands on a 1975 edition of Joy of Cooking, do it – granted some information is outdated after almost 45 years, but the majority of it still holds true and it’s just a fun book to read.

  

  I think what really got me going was all the cooking shows that have proliferated in the last fifteen to twenty years. When I was growing up, the only cooking show of any note was “The Galloping Gourmet”, which I can barely remember since I was a very small child when it was on. What I do remember was Graham Kerr using lots of butter, drinking wine while he cooked and ending every show by leading a tittering house frau out of the audience to share whatever he’d just prepared. I certainly wasn’t old enough to comprehend the cooking angle, but I was amused by the faces he made when he tasted his dishes.

  But now we have entire channels dedicated to food and cooking – not only the more traditional instructional shows, but cooking competitions, world traveling chefs exploring foods of different countries and cultures – you name it. I guess I wonder how anyone would NOT be interested in cooking these days.

  Which brings me to another subject – foodies. Which, if we define it as someone who spends a lot of time researching and patronizing the hottest restaurants, is definitely something I am not. I am a cook. I actually get more enjoyment from cooking than eating, period. Weird, I know. But I’m fascinated with the process of cooking and creating dishes. When I do eat out, it’s more about getting inspiration for dishes, and I’m usually plotting on the way home how to recreate what I’ve just had and put my spin on it. Fine dining leaves me rather cold – it’s probably my lower middle class Polish Catholic upbringing, but it makes me uncomfortable dropping a hundred dollars for a meal. Not to say there’s anything wrong with that if you like it, but my joy comes from mastering a new dish myself.

  So that’s a bit about me and where I’m coming from in the food and cooking arena. I’d like to hear some of your stories of how you got interested in cooking – who and what inspired you, etc. Meanwhile, I’ll be setting about planning the first posts where we really get down to business and do some actual cooking.

  Rate this

  Posted in Cooking Discussions | Tagged anne freestone, Galloping Gourmet, Joy of Cooking

• Search for:

• Recent Posts

  • Lavender Lemonade – Herbal Twist on a Classic
  • Cream of Asparagus Soup and the Accidental Harvest
  • Cinnamon Rolls, Gardening and Other Therapies Amid Coronavirus Chaos
  • Spicy Red Chili – Breaking Bland
  • Potato Bacon Leek Soup – Cold Weather Favorite

• Categories

  • Dinner (4)
  • Garden (3)
  • Breakfast (3)
  • Mexican (3)
  • Cooking Discussions (3)
  • Soup (3)
  • Brunch (3)
  • Italian (3)
  • Appetizer (2)
  • Lunch (2)