Chicken Hearts with Fresh Salsa

Sorry about the overly long hiatus, everyone. It was a hectic last semester of college for me, but I'm out now and living in Texas. Have been cooking a lot lately since I don't have a job and have little else to do, so might start working on my backlog of recipe photos.

This one doesn't really have a recipe, as I kind of made it up as I went along. In my search for cheap food I discovered that you can buy a package of chicken hearts for $.89/lb. My first thought: $.89/lb.!; my second thought: CHICKEN HEARTS??? I looked around on the internet for advice on how to use them. Quite a few people said to marinate them and grill them on a skewer. Most people said to feed them to your dogs.

The main piece of advice was that they're slightly chewy. I attempted to counteract this (as well as the whole "omg I'm eating hearts!" effect) by quartering them (or, rather, making my fiance do it). Then I marinated them in lemon juice, soy sauce, and a little sugar with some chopped jalapeños.

They look kind of funky when they're raw. Kind of sickly grey. Actually they look that way when they're cooked, too, but at that point you can try to excuse it as the color of a nice, caramelized sauce. Which it was. It helps that I fried them in a bit of leftover bacon fat, too. (I never throw out good bacon fat. Waste not, want not, etc.)


I served it on top of brown rice cooked with chunks of carrots (because I wanted another vegetable but didn't feel like doing anything involved) with a fresh salsa of chopped tomato, red onion, jalapeño, lemon juice, and a little salt.



Also some fresh bread, using the easiest no-knead recipe I have ever come across, aptly titled "Really easy-to-make bread." I don't have a bread pan at the moment, so I just added enough extra flour to make the dough stiff enough to hold its shape on a sheet pan.


Now, in all honesty, the point of the salsa was to disguise the taste and texture of the chicken hearts, but believe me when I say that they were actually good! The lemon permeated the meat so strongly that any funky flavor that might have existed went away, and (due to the size of the pieces as well as the lemon, perhaps) the chewiness was hardly perceptible, and the texture and strong meaty flavor blended very well with the bright spiciness of the salsa.

Altogether (not including the bread) it cost about $4.50 for two generous servings, and that was only because the tomatoes were a whopping $1.99/lb. But hey, if I can get decent meat for $.89/lb, I can afford to buy tomatoes. Win/win right there.

Lentil Shepherd's Pie (with bacon!)

I bought some bacon on sale yesterday and was debating what to do with it. Clearly the answer is to add it to a vegetarian version of shepherd's pie!

It was a good experiment.



You'll need:

• 3 slices bacon (I used thick cut; you'll need a couple more slices if it's thin)
• 2 carrots
• 1/2 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1/2 tsp. ground sage
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 1 1/4 c. lentils
• 2 c. water
• 1/4 c. red wine
• 1 c. frozen peas
  
• 5 large potatoes
• 1 6-0z. container plain yogurt

Not pictured: milk and nutritional yeast or Parmesan cheese (optional).

First, peel and cut the potatoes and boil until soft. You don't really need a picture of that, do you?



Next, chop the carrots, onions, and garlic.



Cut the bacon into small strips and fry until cooked but not crispy.



Add the vegetables and cook until the onions start to get translucent.



Then stir in the tomato paste and spices.



Add the lentils, wine, and water; bring to a boil, then simmer until lentils are tender. (Add a little more water if you need to.)

When the lentils are cooked, stir in the peas and cook a few minutes until they're heated.

Meanwhile, mash the potatoes with the yogurt and a little milk. The yogurt was originally just because I had forgotten to buy butter, but it actually worked amazingly well, keeping the potatoes moist and delicious.



Pour the lentils in a pan, followed by the potatoes. I didn't have a pan of the right size, so I divided the mixture between two loaf pans. Top with nutritional yeast or Parmesan cheese if you like, and bake for about half an hour at 375^o until the top is nice and browned.

I like a little gravy on my shepherd's pie, so I improvised a simple gravy to go with this recipe: whisk together 2 tbsp. flour, 1 1/2 tbsp. soy sauce, and 1 tbsp. tomato paste, then whisk in 1 c. water and add two large pinches of vegetable bouillon powder and cook until thickened.



It was yummy.

Lentils and Peas

This is a nice hearty vegan dish for the winter months. Easy and quick to make!



Our cast of ingredients today includes carrots, frozen peas, red lentils, garlic, red pepper flake, soy sauce, and oil.

The sesame oil is just because I found it in the back of the fridge, lonely and abandoned, and decided someone should use it for something. You can use whatever you want.

The red lentils are very important, because they're split and have no skins. Ordinary brown lentils have the skin on, and if you cook that with sodium it gets tough and takes forever to cook. You could probably manage with brown lentils by extending the cooking time and waiting to add the soy sauce until they're almost done, but trust me, this is better.

Speaking of sodium, this is low sodium soy sauce, because that's what my mother buys. It's nasty. Don't use it.



As an experiment, I also decided to add some ground ginger and onion. It's not essential, but I rather like it. (Fresh ginger would be even awesomer, but I only buy that when I get to the Asian food market where it's $.99/lb.; otherwise it's too expensive to bother.)



Chop the carrots. I used three, but if yours aren't obnoxiously huge like mine, you might want four or even five. The carrots add a nice sweetness and texture.



Chop half the onion and about three cloves of garlic. You could use a bit more garlic--I was being cautious because of the onion.



Sautee the onion and garlic in a little oil.





Add the carrots and then the lentils. Stir it around.





Add 2 cups of water, 1/4 c. soy sauce, 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes, and 1 tsp. ginger. If it starts to dry up you can add a little more water, but remember that the peas will add liquid when they thaw, so if you want a nice stew consistency you should leave it a bit dry.



Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer for about half an hour, stirring as often as you remember. Stir in the peas and cook until they thaw.

(I forgot to stir and it burned to the bottom. Don't be like me.)

If it seems too thin, let it sit for a few minutes and it will thicken up. This makes about four servings.

To review:

- 1 tbsp. oil
- 1 c. red lentils
- 3-4 carrots, chopped
- 1/2 an onion, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp. red pepper flake
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 2-2.5 c. water
- 1/4 c. soy sauce
- 1 box frozen peas

Sautee onion and garlic in oil. Add carrots and lentils; stir. Add water, soy sauce, and spices and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for about half an hour, until lentils are soft. Stir in frozen peas; let heat through.

http://www.website-hit-counters.com

Spinach Risotto

The first time I tried making risotto was a few months ago, when I found a nice-sized container of arborio rice on sale. And wow, is it delicious. The starch content of the rice makes it rich and creamy without any added cream (although added cream is nice, I won't lie). If you don't have any, Cook's Thesaurus suggests short-grain white rice (sushi rice) or pearl barley (which sounds really interesting; I should try that sometime). Frozen spinach is a staple of my diet and I'm always looking for new things to do with it, so I tweaked this recipe a bit and it came out beautifully.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 medium-large red onion
• 8 cups water
• 2 Knorr vegetable bouillon cubes
• 1/3 c. cooking sherry (or whatever wine you have laying around)
• 2 c. arborio rice
• 2 10-oz. packages frozen spinach
• 1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3253/2754201117_9df251b7f4.jpg?v=0

Chop the onion. Cry.

Saute the onion in the olive oil.

Bring the water to a boil with the bouillon cubes. (I watered down the broth so it wouldn't be too salty, but I probably could have added another half cube to no ill effect.) Keep the broth covered on low heat while you're cooking the rice.

Add the rice to the onions and stir until it's coated with oil. Try not to let it burn while you're taking pictures.

Add the sherry, then add the hot broth one ladle at a time, stirring until it's mostly absorbed before adding the next ladle. This is a long and tedious process, so drag your computer into the kitchen and watch cheesy TV shows.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3001/2755033100_7752af7b10.jpg?v=0

Doesn't that look lovely?

When the rice is almost done (you might not need all the broth), add the spinach. You can stand there scraping little bits off the frozen blocks as they thaw, or you can let it thaw beforehand, which might be the better choice.

Not quite done, but look at all that green! This is why I love spinach. It turns things pretty colors.

When you're done playing with the frozen spinach blocks, stir in the Parmesan cheese. Serve with more Parmesan cheese on top.

Serves four, but you won't want to share.

(Originally posted to Cheap Cooking on August 11, 2008.)

http://www.website-hit-counters.com

Tuna Fritters

I'm still working on the huge bunch of scallions from the last post; even after this dish I've still got a good dozen. But these were so good that I might even make them again.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/3 c. chopped scallion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 2 c. frozen corn
• 2 cans tuna, drained
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp. oil
• 1/3 c. milk

Rinse the corn under hot water until it thaws. Drain well.

Mix all ingredients together. (With a spoon, not a whisk. I don't know what I was thinking in this picture.)

It should have the consistency of a wet tuna salad. I was envisioning something more like a pancake batter with chunks in it, but this worked way better.

Drop spoonfuls into hot oil. This works better if your stove doesn't lean to one side so all the oil pools in one little spot in the pan.

Fry about 3 minutes per side, until nice and golden brown. Drain on paper towels, or just don't use as much oil as I did in the first place.

Yummy with some baked beans. The garlic and spiciness and the texture of the corn overpower the taste and texture of the tuna, so if you're not a big fan of canned tuna but find you've stocked up because it's $1 a can, this is a good dish for you.

Note: one clove of garlic ended up being a lot, so cut down or just use a little garlic powder if you prefer; but don't cut down on the green onions. I know it seems like a lot but they really make the dish, in flavor and in color.

(Originally posted to Cheap Cooking on August 1, 2008.)

Cheddar Scallion Biscuits with Garlic Butter

I came upon a large bunch of red scallions at the farmer's market last week for cheap and am desperately trying to use all of them up--there were at least 20 in the whole bunch, and some of them were pretty huge. Here's one of my projects. Look for more later tonight, if the experiment is a success.

My basic biscuit recipe (or, I should say, my family's basic biscuit recipe) is quick simple: 2 cups flour, 4 tsp. baking powder, pinch salt, 1/4 cup Crisco, 3/4 cup milk. You can add lots of fun things to that, like cheese and, of course, scallions.

Chop your scallions. I used the two largest scallions in the bunch, which turned out about 1/4 cup of the red ("white") parts, chopped fine, and 1/2 cup of the green parts, sliced thinly. The consensus of the taste testers (read: me and my brother) was that I could have used more onion. Maybe half again that much.

UPDATE: I made them again and used somewhere between 3/4 and 1 cup of scallion, which worked beautifully.

Grate 4 oz. sharp cheddar cheese (1 cup grated).

Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

Work in the Crisco with a fork until it's nice and crumbly. This will make your biscuits flaky and delicious.

Add the scallions, cheese, and milk and mix it all together. You'll probably need your hands for this, but don't work the dough too much, or your biscuits will get tough.

Drop the biscuits onto a lightly greased cookie sheet in 10 roughly-shaped balls.

I love the red color; it just adds some more character.

Bake for 12 minutes at 425 degrees.

In the meantime, melt 2 tbsp. butter with 1/2 tsp. garlic powder. (I used margarine because we were, sadly, out of butter.)

Brush the tops of the biscuits with the garlic butter, then bake for 3 more minutes until nice and brown on top.

(Originally posted to Cheap Cooking on August 1, 2008.)