My Auntie Marie from the west of Ireland can only be described as a free spirit. She is one of the most caring, loving, generous people I know. She has always been young at heart. As a child I always remembered looking at her differently to other aunts and uncles. I always saw her as being cooler, edgier and more in touch with the real world than the others.

Auntie Marie used to send a package of gifts to my family every Christmas. There would be so much excitement when the package arrived. It was the only present we were allowed to open on Christmas eve. Marie would seem to know exactly what we wanted – somehow she would get an insight into what toy, game or practical joke that would interest us. She had an insight into our personalities that the others would never see.

As a mark of respect to my Auntie Marie, I decided to return the favour. She mentioned a couple of years ago that she was interested in the Internet. I was explaining to her that the Internet was like a giant encyclopedia with access to information on everything imaginable. I asked her what she would like me to look up for her. She paused for a second or two and then mentioned that a friend of hers was raving about how Vinegar was such a useful product.
So there and then I googled it for her and came across a book called Vinegar – 1001 Practical Uses by Margaret Briggs. I had it delivered to her house as a surprise and when it arrived she immediately called me to thank me for the gift. This made her day – week even. She was over the moon.

I’ve kept up the tradition and to date I’ve bought her a book on the uses of Honey and more recently a book on the uses of Onions & Garlic by the same author. She sent me the following humorous text message two Weeks ago when she received the Onion & garlic book;

Guess what! I got a lovely prezzie from a secret Santa today – a book about onions and garlic. Now I have  vinegar, honey and onion books so I am thinking of giving talks on what I have learned from them. I may need an accountant so be ready for a call. I am really thankful to Santa and his helper – I think [boyfriend] is his name. Love and kisses to Santa and [boyfriend] xx

We went to a movie and had Thai food yesterday.  The themes in that movie are still with me today like you cannot believe.  They just are.  Because what happened in that movie I was talking about happened to my husband.  I have thought about writing it, and I might. As a novel.

Today I have decided, since I didn’t fix a traditional Christmas dinner that I will make an old standby thing he likes a lot.  Don’t read if you are a vegetarian because it involves chicken.

I’m going to make chicken with roast potatoes and onions — here is how — and I always serve honeyed carrots with this.  It is a winter meal.

I have a giant cast iron pan I bought years ago.  It is so big around that you cannot believe it and quite heavy too. It’s a giant frying pan made by Lodge Cast Iron.  I think it is 20 inches?  But here is a picture of it! (Or a similar pan).

You need a whole chicken preferably a free range if possible.

Wash and salt the cavity.  Place in the center of the pan and surround with Yukon Gold potatoes that you have peeled, and cut into quarters or halves if small.  Take two onions and peel and quarter them and tuck around the potatoes.  I like to use sprigs of rosemary — I have it growing outside on the patio– take about six or seven big 7″ sprigs and lay these on top.  It takes about three hours at 350-375 degrees.

Start to baste about halfway along, or after an hour.  The potatoes will be done when they are golden and the onions will carmelize down with the rosemary into something very good.

For the carrots — I take a bunch, wash and peel, then cut into sticks.  Boil just to blanch and soften them — but they should be crisp and bright orange.  Then drain off the water and add butter and honey — you decide on the amount.  I use about half a stick and a huge few tablespoons of honey.  Reheat and toss the carrots around in this.

Winter comfort food — that comes from the English/Irish tradition but, passed through a French lens, I suppose.

Anyway.  That Movie “Up in the Air” says it all.  When that happened to him, I left too.

I worked with types just like that.

I’m looking at my gardening books and my cookbooks.  I like to make pottery and art.  I never wanted to spend all those years in such a crummy corporation as the one I worked for.  So, when the Clooney character is talking about backpacks that resonated, mucho.

What backpack are you carrying?

Or have you carried?

Better yet what do you want in your backpack?

My old backpack carried other people.

In my new backpack I don’t want to have to do that again.

I really don’t.  What I want is land and poetic solitude.  This exists along the long coast here, for miles.  Miles and miles.

I hope you have a good weekend, post-Christmas.

One of the biggest things people search for are those quiche recipes I did! LOL!

Maybe I should do simple little cookbooks…

Easy.

xxoo!

ps:  Lodge is a great American pan company.  I love cast iron pans.  They make the best ones and they did not pay me to say that.  Lodge pans are the best!  I have owned them for years.  They are the only pans I would buy made from cast iron, ever.

Serves: 4 people
Prep time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 1 hour

This year my family and I are celebrating Christmas at home with each other. Regularly we would meet up with the other members of our extended family and make one big dinner. But this year we stayed in. So to make it a little extra special I decided to make something different, other than the traditional seafood dinner we always have on Christmas eve and made a very spiced up chickpea soup.  This soup has so many Christmasy spices that it will have your house smelling festive for the whole day.

For anyone who knows me, you know that I really hate soup. But chickpea soup is one of my favourites and it was QUITE simple to make. Anyone can do it.

Here it is!

Christmas Chickpea Soup

What you’ll need:

1 can of chickpeas (rinsed well)
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of chicken broth
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp thyme
1 tbs paprika
1 large carrot
1 large bok choy
1 large onion
5-6 cloves of garlic smashed
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp ground red pepper (spicy)
1/2 cup of creme
2 tsp cornstarch
Salt
Pepper

How to:

1. Take a large pot and add your olive oil. Warm it up on low heat. Chop up your onion and smash your cloves (Do not dice them). Toss your onion and cloves into the pot and sautee them until they become translucent.

2. Once your onions are done pour in your one can of chicken broth and let it come to a simmer.  Once the broth with the onions and garlic have simmered add your one can of tomatoes and your spieces (Thyme, Cayenne, Cinnamon, Pepper, Paprika). Cover and let it boil for 5 mins.

3. Take your drained and rinsed chickpeas and pour them into the blender. Add your cream and cornstarch and puree. Take the pureed chickpeas and pour it into the pot. Stir constantly until the soup starts to boil.

*Note: If you do not stir until boiling point the cornstarch in the chickpeas will start to make balls in your soup and burn at the bottom of the pot*

4. Cut up your carrot, bok choy (Leaves only) into sizes you prefer. Pour it into the soup and let it cook for about 15 mins.

5. Taste after a while. If soup is too bland add salt and pepper. If soup is too watery add some more corn starch and stir.

Delicious! This is what mine looked like! Festive colours!

All done and ready to eat!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE: FROM OPERATION KITCHEN!

A couple of days ago I was hunting up a recipe to use up some sweet potatoes I had laying around. I felt suddenly sick of the baked sweet potato fries I’d been making with them, and needed something different. I ran across this recipe, for which I only needed to purchase goat cheese. It reminded me a bit of the flavor combination of some sweet potato burritos I used to make (back when I was eating things like white flour tortillas and melted cheddar and sour cream), that I loved. This is honestly just as tasty, only quite a bit healthier. And, boy, did it make my house smell good.

Note: The original recipe called for ground Chipotle pepper, but I couldn’t find that. I used some ground New Mexico chili pepper I had on hand instead. I don’t know what difference it might have made, but it was quite good, so I’ll use that from now on.

Here is the recipe I used, adapted from Family Style Food:

2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 medium red onion, quartered, then thinly sliced
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground chili pepper
3 medium sweet potatoes, diced to make about 4 cups
water or stock
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 14 oz can black beans (undrained)
1 14 oz can pinto beans (undrained)
crumbled goat cheese to taste

Heat the oil in a stockpot or other large pan over medium heat. Dump in the onion and cook several minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and beginning to brown. Add the salt and garlic and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute. Add the cumin, coriander, paprika, pepper, and ground chili pepper. Stir well. Add the potatoes, stir again, and cover with enough water or stock (I just used water) to cover the potatoes. Cover the pot and continue to cook over medium heat just until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Pour in the beans, syrup, and mustard. Stir to combine. Bring back to a simmer and continue to cook – uncovered this time – another 10 minutes or so, to let the flavors meld nicely.

Ladle into bowls and sprinkle crumbled goat cheese over the top of each serving. Would also be good with a dollop of nonfat plain yogurt, I think.

So, so good. You’ve gotta try it. Thank you to Karen at Family Style Food. I’ll be making this again and again.

Mike's Barley & Carrot Soup/Stew

Green Garden Salad

So now, we’re getting ready to head out for Midnight Mass (10pm) at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. tonight. You have to have a ticket to get into the mass and I didn’t schedule ahead of time, so hopefully we’ll be able to get tickets tonight.?!?!

Both a little stuffed from lunch… we ate around 3pm because we had muffins and croissants this morning.

Lunch was a great Green Garden Salad… Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Onions and left over Soup Mike’s Barley & Carrot Soup.

Green Garden Salad:
Baby Green Lettuce
Spinach
Orange Bell Pepper
Green Onions
Celery
Carrots
Tomato
Asparagus

Grilled Sweet Potatoes & Onions:
Sweet Potatoes
Onions
Olive Oil

Mike’s Barley & Carrot Soup:
Barley
Potato
Garlic
White Beans
Carrots
Lentils
Cabbage
Onions

The no cry onion solution.

Some may tell you:
-cut under water or running water (moderate success, but you get wet onions)
-whistle (it blows away the chemicals, weak success)

But the no fail solution is…
… to wear goggles

Serious. It works every time. Even if your DB thinks you are a plonker.

I have sensitive eyes and I can cut onions like a demon when I wear my swimming googles. The smarting chemicals can’t reach your eyes.

Science note: it is a complex sulphur molecule that breaks down into hydrogen sulphide, sulphur dioxide and sulphuric acid. Prechilling the onion will also lessen the effect as the enzyme which starts breaking down the sulphur compound is relatively inactive at low temps.

So, this past Monday night was the first Monday I really had a chance to cook since coming back from Japan. That meant it was my first Meatless Monday in a long time. After watching an episode of “Mexico: One Plate at a Time” with Rick Bayless that featured Chiles Rellenos I was inspired. Renowned chef from Mexico City, Ricardo Muñoz-Zurita, demonstrated his plantain stuffed ancho chile. I couldn’t find the recipe online, so I thought I’d improvise on that a bit.

First, I roasted some ripe plantains at 400 degrees for about a half hour. While they were roasting I blistered the skin on 4 poblano chiles directly on my stove top burners. I kept turning them so the entire surface was charred. Then I set them in a bowl and covered them with plastic to cool in their own steam for about a half hour.

I sautéed some onions and garlic in olive oil then added the roasted plantain (I diced them first). Once they plantains carmelized a little I added some chili powder, salt, pepper, and about a half cup of orange juice. I covered it and let everything soften for 7 minutes. Once the plantains were soft enough to mash I turned off the heat and kept them covered.

While they were covered and cooling I carefully peeled the skin off the poblanos and then cut a slit up along one side of each. Without tearing the chiles, I pulled out all of the seeds and the ribs along the inside. Once I was finished with that I stuffed them with the mashed plantains. I cooked them at 400 for another 12 minutes.

While they were in the oven I sautéed some green onions and one diced serrano chile, seeds removed. Then I added a drained can of black beans and dumped in a quarter cup of water. I brought that up to a boil, let the water evaporate, seasoned with salt and pepper, then turned off the heat.

To serve, I put one pepper on each plate next to an arugula salad with tomatoes. I covered the pepper with the black bean salsa and then topped everything with cilantro and crumbled ricotta salata cheese. White rice on the side of course.

In the Catholic Religion, fish is the meal of choice on Christmas Eve, primarily Cod.  The Feast of Seven fishes ( in Italian- the vigilia di magro- a Catholic prohibition of consumption of meat) is a very Italian-specific tradition, an extravaganza of fish; different preparations and recipes.  I love fish so much I could have a Feast of Seven Fishes EVERY DAY! 

So I started with an Americanized version, with a side of wilted spinach with onions and garlic (one of my fav’s) and the fish was served on a bed of pureed squash.  It was very delicious!!! 

First up, I took a big piece of cod, and rubbed it with, yep you guessed it- my favorite all-purpose seafood seasoning, Old Bay. 

Cod prepping for baking

While that was put into a 350 degree oven, I cheated and put 2 ten oz. packages of cooked frozen squash in the microwave for 9 minutes.  I’m not a big lover of the microwave, but I wanted to get off the stove top.  Next up I browned up some onions and garlic in olive oil on the stove top.  I seasoned it with Old Bay to tie the flavors together.  Once browned nicely, I then dumped a ten oz bag of cleaned raw spinach on top just long enough to make the spinach leaves wilted and nice and green (don’t let it over-cook and get brown-bleecch : ) 

Once the fish has been in the oven roughly twenty-twenty-five-ish minutes (depends on size and thickness of your fish-once its falling apart easily with a fork and opaque in color, you’re good to go), take it out.  Plate it up, and you’re good to go!  Mine looked like this: 

Squash with Christmas Eve Fish

Spinach and Christmas Eve Fish

and tasted FABULOUS!!  The way the spinach and fish all ties in together with the Old Bay flavoring, plus the sweet, light flavor and consistency of the squash goes so good with it.  This is just a PERFECT  light, low-maintenence and delicious meal to enjoy on Christmas Eve with your family.  And it’s sp quick with such minimal cleanup that it’ll leave you with PLENTY of time to finish up wrapping those gifts.  ; – )

Maybe my ticket was called, when I indulged in some Sherbet Friday night at the movies.?? Or did it start earlier than that, when I was dipping into the Whipped Topping with my Fresh Fruit Desserts???

Anyway you cut it, I’m laid up with back pain making getting around slower than usual.:( And it also means, I’m not hitting the Pilates Gym (since Thursday) getting my usual cardio workout and physical exercise. So eating has somewhat fallen by the wayside.:(

Mike and I have been making some hearty soups to eat, to help beat the colder temperatures and I’ve been tossing my Green Salads. We’re using all the Vegetables and goodies we’re buying at the Costco and Giants Grocery Store, but it’s the extras that are getting me down.

Monday night, I indulged in a bowl of Strawberry Ice Cream.
Sunday afternoon, I indulged in a block of Hershey’s Chocolate with Nuts and a spoonful of Peanut Butter. This was a repeated snack from Saturday Night. I just had the urge for chocolate (and there’s a reason why!)
In addition to all these indulgences I’ve also been over doing it on the Whole Wheat Bread and taking extra servings of all these great soups.

Mike’s Minestrone (Vegetable) Soup:
He called it Minestrone Soup with out the noodles. I didn’t make either, so I’m just going to list the ingredients.
Cabbage
Carrots
Parsnips
Yellow Onions
Spinach
Zucchini
Squash
Tomato Paste
Diced Tomatoes

Mike’s Barley & Carrot Soup:
He actually told me he got the idea to make this soup after he read my Raw Recipe Cook Book. After reading the Lentils & Barley Soup Recipe and the Carrot Soup Recipe he made this version.
Barley
Potato
Garlic
White Beans
Carrots
Lentils
Onions
Cabbage

Combine all ingredients in a sealed glass or plastic container to
marinate. Refrigerate at least two hours or preferably overnight.
Stir or shake occasionally to evenly coat. One hour before serving,
stir in cilantro. Serve on a bed of torn lettuce of your choice.
Garnish with quartered cherry tomatoes, Thai bird peppers and
cilantro sprigs.
http://www.recipesource.com/main-dishes/meat/pork/spam/gingered-salad1.html

The onion starts arrived from Dixondale Farms a few days ago, so I’ve been anxious to get them in the garden.  The raised beds on the side of my house had been resting since I pulled up the peppers and tomatoes before the first freeze, about a month ago.  Today I amended the soil with some worm castings, may favorite soil amendment,  raked them in, then loosened the soil with the rake.  I poked holes for the onions using a wooden stake, meant for marking herbs, because it was pointed and just laying around.  No fancy tools here.  Then I planted about 50 onions, composed of 3 short day varieties.  Not all of them will make it, some, especially the red variety, in my experience, will bolt (go to seed).  When that happens, a rigid stalk shoots up from the middle and forms a bulb at the end.  I’ll post their progress as time goes on, and post pictures of the bolted ones as well.

Baby onions

Christmas tree sugar cookies from Jalillah's Cookies. Photo copyright 2009 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Woohoo, they’re here! Exams are over, the kids are on break, and the neighborhoods are alight with festive decorations. But I bet you haven’t finished your holiday shopping yet, have you? Best head on down to your Fremont Sunday Market, where we’ve got everything you need, from the presents to put under the tree to the food for your holiday table. To that end, let’s start at the finish with these colorful holiday sugar cookies from Jalillah’s Cookies (above).

Sweet, colorful winter squash from Full Circle Farm. Photo copyright 2009 by Zachary D. Lyons.

What holiday dinner is complete without some delicious winter squash. Full Circle Farm has a wide variety of winter squash for you to roast, soup, stew, sauté, or whatever you like to do best with it.

Goat milk gouda (left) and aged Jersey milk cheddar from Silver Spring Creamery. Photo copyright 2009 by Zachary D. Lyons.

In this blessed season, let us not forget those immortal words of Monty Python: “Blessed are the cheese makers.” Silver Springs Creamery makes cheese from goat and Jersey cow milk, with styles that range from gouda that ain’t badda to a brilliant aged cheddar.

Red onions from Anselmo Farm. Photo copyright 2009 by Zachary D. Lyons.

And don’t forget that red onion from Anselmo Farm to go with your lox and bagel brunch on Christmas morning. (I am just assuming everyone has bagels on Christmas morning, right?)

There's always four fresh flavors of soup at Got Soup? Photo copyright 2009 by Zachary D. Lyons.

You’ll be doing a lot of cooking over the next couple of weeks. Why not leave one or two meals to our friends at Got Soup? They make four fresh flavors of soup every week and freeze them in quart containers. All you have to do is heat them and serve, perhaps with some fresh bread from Jalillah’s Cookies.

Cameo apples from ACMA Orchards. Photo copyright 2009 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Be it for eating fresh or for making pies, crumbles or sauces, ACMA Orchards has plenty of apples and pears for all your holiday needs, like these cameo apples.

Chopped up six onions.
Oh, the tears! But wept with joy
when I sipped the soup.

I was in the fight of my life tonight, but it was worth it and I think I at least can claim a draw. Ya’ll know who Thomas Keller is, yes? He’s the most respected chef in the world. He runs a restaurant in Napa Valley called the French Laundry and even the most egotistic gourmets drool over his food. He wrote a book with French Laundry recipes in it and I checked it out of the library just to see. My Lord, I couldn’t make even one of those recipes.

BUT. He has now written a book for home cooks called Ad Hoc at Home. I am pretty sure I’m getting it for Christmas because Mark asked me twice how to spell Thomas Keller’s name. The other day I was listening to a podcast of the Splendid Table and there was Thomas Keller explaining how to make Potato Hash with Bacon and Melted Onions. Skillet potatoes! I know how to do that. Well, apparently I do not.

I got the recipe off the website and decided to give it a go tonight, minus the bacon because I was already going to fry some sausages for supper. I’m linking to it here because it is three pages long. For skillet potatoes!

The first thing I did was make the melted onions. These things are so worth the effort, but it takes about an hour and I had not budgeted my time very well. It was already 6:30 and I had a long way to go. I could just see Thomas Keller sneering at me. Rookie. So I pressed on.

The next thing is the potatoes and I learned a trick here. To get these perfect little half-inch cubes the recipe calls for Keller tells you to square off the potato and then cut the cubes. I’ll use this trick over and over.

So once you get the potatoes all diced up you have to cook them in oil. Thomas Keller says that they should be “tender and a rich golden brown.” They were tender. They were not a rich golden brown. He also says to line a baking sheet with paper towels and put a drying rack on top to put the potatoes on after they’re done. I did this, but apparently my drying rack is not up to T.K. standards because the potatoes just fell through the rack. Ditched the rack. I can feel T.K. sneering at me again, but I am but a humble home cook and I’m doing the best I can.

The next thing is to brown the potatoes in the grease from the bacon you have rendered if you followed the whole recipe. But I have T.K. beat here. I already have bacon grease because all good Southern cooks have a jar of it sitting around. The final step is adding thyme, salt and pepper.

It is now almost eight at night and I am exhausted trying to keep up with Thomas Keller. But I have to tell you, the potatoes were absolutely delicious. Here’s what I like about chefs like Thomas Keller who take the time to write a book for home cooks. Thomas Keller expects that we can do this. He knows that he’s asking a lot of us. Or maybe he doesn’t. But he doesn’t cut corners or give us stupid recipes for turkey burgers or ground beef slop. Tonight, I felt as though I’d stretched a bit as a cook.

I have grease stains all over my turtleneck. The cats are picking up stray potato cubes from the kitchen floor. But I went toe-to-toe with Thomas Keller and I didn’t blink.

While perusing The Pioneer Woman food blog, which is one of the best food blogs around in my opinion, I came across a recipe for braised short ribs served over a creamy polenta.  The pictures looked amazing and the recipes simple, so I though I’d give it a try.

Polenta is a very basic recipe from Italy- just water, cornmeal, and some salt.  I’ve made it once before and it was quite a hassle, with different pots of boiling water and cornmeal that had to be constantly mixed for well over an hour.  Very messy and tiring.  The polenta turned out alright, but there was too much of it and it quickly became stale and gross.  From what I’ve gathered, I think I made it in the more “authentic” manner- but after learning of this quicker method, there’s no way I’ll go authentic again.  It’s a 15-minute process during which you add cornmeal to boiling water, give it a few stirs, add some salt, butter, and cheese, and voila!  Mine turned out great, and really, how could it not with such an easy recipe.   There are many different ways to eat polenta once its been cooked; fried polenta is quite good, and it can be grilled as well.  For this meal it acts as more as a soak-up-the-juices mashed potato substitute.

Creamy polenta: from The Pioneer Woman blog:

Ingredients

• 1 cup Yellow Cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 4 ounces, weight Goat Cheese

Preparation Instructions

Bring 4 1/2 cups water to a boil.

Add cornmeal to the water in a thin stream, whisking constantly to avoid lumps.

Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 15 minutes, adding salt and extra tablespoons of water as needed.

When polenta is done, stir in butter and goat cheese. Check seasonings, and add salt to taste.

_______________________________________________________________

The most important thing to remember when making braised short ribs, is that they must be braised!  I made this mistake, not realizing that the ribs needed to cook in the oven for almost 3 hours… Of course I didn’t take that into account, and since no one wanted to eat at midnight, the photos you are seeing are of reheated short ribs and polenta from the second night.  My stupidity might have been a blessing in disguise, however, as the meat had another 24 hours to get nice and tender and really become infused with all the great flavors in the pot.  If you are looking for a new way to cook beef and have a lot of time on your hands, I highly recommend this dish (with or without the polenta).  Suffice it to say, though, that I would not be cooking short ribs if I weren’t at home- they are a bit pricey.  But go for it anyways, its worth it!  For a fall-off-the-bone experience, here ya go:

Ingredients

• 8 whole Beef Short Ribs
• Kosher Salt & Pepper To Taste
• ¼ cups All-purpose Flour
• 6 pieces Pancetta, Diced
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Diced
• 3 whole Carrots, Diced
• 2 whole Shallots, Peeled And Finely Minced
• 2 cups Red Or White Wine
• 2 cups Beef Or Chicken Broth (enough To Almost Cover Ribs)
• 2 sprigs Thyme
• 2 sprigs Rosemary

Preparation Instructions

Salt and pepper ribs, then dredge in flour. Set aside.

In a large dutch oven, cook pancetta over medium heat until complete crispy and all fat is rendered. Remove pancetta and set aside. Do not discard grease.

Add olive oil to pan with the pancetta grease, and raise heat to high. Brown ribs on all sides, about 45 seconds per side. Remove ribs and set aside. Turn heat to medium.

Add onions, carrots, and shallots to pan and cook for 2 minutes. Pour in wine and scrape bottom of pan to release all the flavorful bits of glory. Bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes.

Add broth, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Taste and add more salt if needed. Add ribs to the liquid; they should be almost completely submerged. Add thyme and rosemary sprigs (whole) to the liquid.

Put on the lid and place into the oven. Cook at 350 for 2 hours, then reduce heat to 325 and cook for an additional 30 to 45 minutes. Ribs should be fork-tender and falling off the bone. Remove pan from oven and allow to sit for at least 20 minutes, lid on, before serving. At the last minute, skim fat off the top of the liquid. (Can also refrigerate mixture, then remove solid fat from the top.)

Serve 2 ribs on bed of creamy polenta, spooning a little juice over the top.

I make chicken for almost every Friday night and seek out a new recipe, each week.  This week, hubby offered to make the chicken if I would select the recipe.  Good deal to take.  I asked him what he wanted and he said a “stir-fry”.   Great, I love them.  I told him to pick out a generic cookbook and I would find a recipe.  Do you know the danger there is in asking a man to pick out a cookbook when he does not know Florence Tyler from Pillsbury?   I am not sure which was his first choice but it could have been Dorie’s or another without chicken recipes.  It did not take that long to get a Taste of Home annual.  It took me only a minute to find THE RECIPE.  It is appropriately called. Chicken Stir-Fry.  How could I go wrong?

The moment, I saw, it called for ginger and soy sauce,  I knew, I was in safe territory.  The next clue, I had, this would be a success was the vegetables, in the recipe.  He did a fantastic job.  It tasted slightly oriental and with a lovely rice dish, I had previously made, we had a great combination.

Chicken Stir-Fry   adapted from the 1997 Taste of Home Annual Recipes.

He Did it Himself Chicken 

2 cutlets, halved

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon ginger (dried)

2 tablespoons Canola oil

1/2 bag of frozen stir fry veggies (cauliflower, carrots, broccoli)

1 small onion, cut into small wedges

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 cup vegetable broth

Cut chicken into one half strips.

Place into a resealable plastic bag.

Add cornstarch to chicken in bag and shake to coat.

Combine soy sauce and ginger and add to plastic bag.  Shake well.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes

Remove from refrigerator.

In a large skillet, heat two tablespoons of oil.

Stir-fry chicken  until no longer pink, about three to five minutes.

Remove and keep warm.

Add remaining oil and stir-fry the vegetables for t minutes or until crisp tender.

Add vegetable broth (or chicken broth)

Return chicken to pan and cook and stir until thickened.

Enjoy.  I did.