Basil Pesto

Yes, this recipe is yet another slight variation of existing ones.  But this worked out about was well as any basil pesto I have made.  So I wanted to record what I did that was different.

The key differences were

1. I blanched the garlic in the pasta water, removing a lot of the sharpness of raw garlic
2. I cooked the pasta in a moderate pot of water, allowing me to get "thick" salted pasta water which I added to the pesto
3. I assumed the basil was not the dominant driver of the flavors, but the cheese and garlic were.

Basil leaves washed and dried

(Optional) Basil stems and other non-leaf bits

3-5 cloves of garlic, smashed and de-skinned

Salt

Parmesan or Romano or equiv cheese, grated or strips.  2-4 oz.

EVOO

Nuts (walnuts, pine nuts, pecans, or what have you)

Pasta

1. Bring less water than you would normally use to a boil.  Salt as needed.  (I used a lot of salt)
2. Blanche the garlic for 45-90 seconds.  (I put it in a "scooper utensil with holes")
3. Add pasta to the water and cook.  The water does not have to be boiling the whole time, but I like to keep the water above say 200F (near boiling at the very least)
4. Cook pasta until ala dente.  The water may get very thick and "slimy".
5. If convenient, add the basil stems and other bits to the pasta water such that they do not get dispersed (say via a cheese cloth or via being pinned between two utensils)
6. In a food processor, add the basil leaves, garlic, salt, cheese, EVOO
7. Pulse until all large bits are chopped, then blend until a smooth puree.
8. Toast nuts
9. Add nuts to the food processor and pulse.
10. Remove some of the pasta water to the pesto and blend.
11. Drain pasta.
12. Add pesto to the pasta in a bowl.  Eat.

Shrimp, corn, sausage chowder (dairy free)

This worked out amazingly well.  A bit of a shocker given how similar recipes I've made that have been good but not great.  As usual, I was making this up as I went along so the quantities are mere guidelines.

There was no dairy added.

1 qt Chicken Stock (I used the Costco carton, was a quart, hence this quantity)
5-9 Yukon Gold or Similar Gold potatoes
1 large onion
Olive Oil or some other Vegetable oil
Shrimp  (I used roughly a 1 pound of "old" frozen small shrimp)
Sausage (I used 4 links of a Smoked Beef Sausage Costco had for Passover)
1 or 2 cans of corn
(Optional) Flour and butter roux

1. Boil chicken stock in a "big pot"
2. Season the stock as desired with salt and cayenne.
3. Cube potatoes into small pieces (say 1/4 to 1/2")
4. Boil potatoes in stock until mostly done (say 20 min or 10 min in a pressure cooker)
5. Cut up onion into small pieces
6. Saute onion over med heat in 1-2 Tbsp of oil until almost soft
7. When potatoes are nearly done, add onions to stock + potatoes
8. Chop sausage into pieces and fry rendering most of its fat.  Remove fat, via paper towels.
9. Add sausage to the stock.
10. Open can(s) of corn and dump into the stock with none/some/all of the corn juice.
11. Meanwhile defrost the shrimp.  Drain.  Add to the stock.  This should occur near the end
12. (Optional) Melt butter and add flour and salt to make a roux.  Cook so the flour is not raw.  Add to the stock.

Italian mashed potatoes with garlic, EVOO and seasoning.

I've been intrigued by olive oil based mashed potatoes.  I've had the super simple, yet super delicious olives, olive oil, salt and potatoes recipe, but I was stuck without olives the other day (yes, shame on me).  So I came up with a yet another ad-hoc special that ended up working out really well.  It was based on the idea of olive oil, garlic, italian seasoning and hot pepper flakes.

The respective amounts of each ingredient are up to you, since I was making it up as I went along.  But the end result was pretty tasty.  I do fry the garlic in EVOO at low heat so if you have a "frying" EVOO use that.

Italian mashed potatoes

Potatoes.  Say 5 lbs of russet.
Italian seasoning.  Say 1 Tbsp.
Frying EVOO.   Something not too "good".
Drizzling EVOO.   Something good.
Garlic.  Say 1-2 heads.  Or whatever hits your fancy.
Hot pepper flakes.
Milk or half/half.  Say 1/2 cup.
Butter.  Say 1/2 a stick.
Salt and pepper.

1.  If you will eat the skins, scrub the potatoes gently.  Otherwise peel them.  Cut potatoes into 1" to 2" pieces.  I had gigantic russets so I cut them into fourths.  I'm lazy so I left the skins on.
2.  Boil a big pot of water.  Salt as desired.  I like salt, so I am generous.  Add potatoes and cook until they are tender.  The skins will start to peel off on a few pieces when done.  While the potatoes cook do steps 3, 4 and 5.
3.  While potatoes are cooking, smash as much garlic as you want and mince into coarse pieces.  (If you just wanted to smash and not mince, that would be fine with me.)  I used 1.5 heads of garlic for my recipe.
4.  In a frying pan, heat up the frying EVOO (or whatever oil you want), the garlic, some italian seasoning and the hot pepper flakes.  Stir on medium low for 1-2 minutes.  The garlic should not brown at all, but should become aromatic.
5. (Optional) Heat some milk or half-and-half with some butter in the microwave until the butter is melted.
6.  When potatoes are done, mash or rice them while hot.  Add the EVOO, garlic, seasoning mixture and the milk/butter mixture.  Add salt and pepper taste.  Add any of the drizzling EVOO.  Gently fold everything to mix.  Too much mixing while stiffen the potatoes giving a gluey texture, which I personally do not like.
7.  Serve.

Hot black beans with ancho and habenero chilles

There are many black bean with ancho chile recipes online, but this one is simpler to make, because (i) I use chiles and ot much else for flavoring, and (ii) I'm lazier than others.

1 lb of black beans
    the Rancho Gordo Midnight black beans cost ~$6 but are much creamier than normal ones
2-6 dried ancho chiles
1-4 habenero peppers (or any other hot pepper you want)
(optional)
salt
garlic

This recipe is quite ad hoc, so feel free to vary times and amounts as desired.  The key points are:

1. Black beans cook in 75-120 minutes.
2. Rehydrate the ancho chiles by cooking them with the beans - they will start to break up after 60-90 minutes.
3. Hot chiles lose their heat the longer they are cooked, so add them later for more heat.  I've been adding them too early (45-60 minutes of cook time) giving me beans less hot than I want.

1) Clean and pick through the beans if you wish.   Rehydrate beans by either (a) soaking for 8+ hours or (b) a "quick" soak.  To do (b), cover beans with water, bring to a boil, then immediately turn off the heat, cover and let sit for an hour.

2) Optional - rinse off the ancho chiles.   Optional - at the end of the rehydration process, put the ancho chiles into the bean water, to start rehydrating them.

3) Place beans in a pot and cover with a bit of extra water - some people use new water, others the soaking water.  Add salt as desired.   Add the ancho chiles, stems and seeds and all.  (I've added them directly from package).  Simmer for 60-120 minutes until done, but do (4) before that.

4) About 15-30 minutes before beans are done, wash hot chiles.  Optionally remove stems, seeds and membranes.  There's no need to chop them up as they will break down in the beans.  Place hot chiles in the black beans.

5) When done, stir up beans to break up the peppers and distribute somewhat more evenly.  Remove pepper stems if present.  Enjoy.

Ginger honey sweet potatoes

This is a simple but delicious variation on the holiday yams or sweet potatoes. I wanted to use maple syrup but didn't have any, so I used honey instead and they turned out amazingly well. The honey and ginger worked together beautifully; brown sugar would not have been as good; maple syrup might have been this good, but it is not clear.

As usual, feel free to alter the proportions and the technique since I just made this up along the way. I used the very common garnet yams with the bright orange flesh.

The basic idea: partially cook the yams. Deskin. Add some ginger, either finely minced or juiced, honey and optionally some butter. Bake.

Ginger Honey Yams

6 yams
1 moderate knob of ginger, peeled and chopped (see below)
3-6 Tbs of honey
2 oz of butter (optional)

Partially cook yams until soft. (I cut them in half and microwaved them for roughly 10-12 minutes in 3 minute batches.) Remove the skin and put in a baking dish. Either mince the ginger very finely or put it through a garlic press (which is what I did) and add to the yams. Add honey and butter to taste to the yams. Mix.

Bake at 300 or 350 until the top starts to turn brown and get crunchy, around 30-60 minutes.

Lentil salad with oil and vinegar

I've started making this cold (or room temperature) lentil salad. My wife who isn't much of a lentil fan, likes this. When I made this a week ago, I skipped the mirepoix and just used water. It worked very well. I also prefer french lentils which have a slightly earthier taste and remain firmer than other green or brown lentils. Don't use dahl lentils as I think these will be too mushy.

(Optional) Mirepoix of onions, carrots and celery with olive oil.
2 cups french lentils, rinsed and sorted.
5 cups of liquid, water is fine, or a broth.
Extra virgin olive oil
Vinegar, preferably white or red/white wine or even cider
Salt and pepper

Rinse the lentils and remove anything you don't want to eat, like sand.
Finely chop the mirepoix and fry it in olive oil over med-high heat until mostly soft. Add the lentils and the liquid. Simmer until cooked, but not mushy, about 45 minutes (?) for french lentils and 35 minutes (?) less for other lentils. There should not be much water left. If there is excess liquid, ladle most of it away.

Mix or shake or wisk olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Stir into the lentils while they are still warm. Taste. I use slightly more oil than vinegar, but it is easy to add more of either to the lentils to suit your preference.

Optionally dress this up with cherry tomatoes and/or some goat cheese. Also, I think green olives might go well with this too, but I haven't tried this.

Simple ways to add some zing

I've tried these ideas out over the past several months. All are super simple but really spice up things.

A chimichurri (dipping sauce) for steak

I wanted to provide something interesting, deeply flavorful and spicy for guests. And it had to be quick. This worked like a champ.

Chopped olives (kalamata, green, or whatever you have)
Chopped jalapenos en escabeche (pickled jalapenos w/ onions, carrots)
Extra virgin olive oil as desired

Mix.

I used roughly equal parts olives and jalapenos, but adjust freely.
The jalapenos can be found in the mexican section of most stores now and a little goes a long way.

Zingy corned beef

Before cooking the vegetables add one or two (or more!) whole jalapenos en escabeche to the corned beef cooking water. I added two peppers before cooking the cabbage and it was noticeably spicy in a nice way. My wife almost found it too spicy.

Note that the corned beef and the potatoes won't pick up too much of this flavor. Also new red potatoes are ideal for corned beef. Much better than russets or yellow potatoes, in my opinion.

A broccoli marinade

2 parts soy sauce (Our aged La Choy bottle was a bit thick which was perfect)
2 parts olive oil
1 part rice vinegar (or some slightly sweet acidic vinegar, but not balsamic)

Mix. Drizzle or brush onto steamed broccoli.