Chicken in Catalan Ratatouille

So, as you may or may not know... chicken is my least favorite meat. I don't know why - since it seems to be everyone favorite meat. The default when you do not know what to cook. But for me, chicken takes the most effort. I think because it doesn't have a strong flavor.  could be? maybe?  Or perhaps, I'm just ornery and do not want to like what everyone else apparently loves.  Probably, the later.  *grin*

Well, I made this chicken dish and took some into work to give to a friend who LOVES chicken.  I took enough for her to share with her hubby... but she said it was so good she ate it all. I think that is the best part about cooking - the joy that people have in eating what I make.

So, a bit about this recipe. I have a cookbook I bought at Costco, after we came from Spain the first time around. We had loved the food and I saw this cookbook. For $10, how could I go wrong? And, it's a great buy. So far everything I've made from it has been wonderful - and for the most part I follow the recipe. sort-of.

The book is called: The Food of Spain

Now how can one go wrong with that? And, it has little stories about the food. Which I always find fun and interesting. This dish, is from Catalan. Hence, the alternate name for it Chicken in Catalan Ratatouille. Apparently, the Catalans say it is from Samfaina/Valencian. 

Both Catalan and Valencian food is considered Mediterranean cuisine. The food is based on a mixture of vegetables and meats - like paella - which are slow cooked to bring out the flavors. With Spain having both the European and the Moorish influences, the food is rich, warm and tasty - which is especially great as winter is coming to the Midwest. 

That being said - if you want the original recipe - go buy the book. ;)  They did have zucchini in this recipe that I didn't have at the time - but I would probably add it in for the next go.  Or another green vegetable.  As colors go, this one is very pretty - especially when you do the yellow bell peppers. Which always seem so bright and happy to me. 

Chicken in Samfaina sauce

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces*
1/4 cup butter 
2 large onions, chopped
1 small eggplant, peeled and cut into bite sized cubes
3 cloves garlic (I think there might have been more), crushed / minced
2 large bell peppers, cut into cubes (different colors is nice)
14 oz chopped tomatoes (puree of tomatoes works too)
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons chopped oregano and parsley
1/2 cup white wine

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Officially, you are suppose to brown the pieces - but I'm always too lazy.

Heat butter in a nice sized, deep frying pan/skillet. Add onions, cook for about 10 min until softened. Add garlic, eggplant and bell peppers. Cook for another 10 min or so.

Add wine and deglaze the pan (pulling up the brown bits). Add tomatoes, bay leaf, herbs. Add chicken. Bring to a boil - and then turn down to a simmer over low heat. Cook covered for about 45 min. Or until chicken is cooked and eggplant has softened / disappeared (depending on how small you chopped up the eggplant. I did really small so that the BF wouldn't find it. )

*note: I cut up the chicken legs into 2 parts at the joint, leaving them on the bone. The breast pieces, I cut up into four large cubes. While they will not cook exactly the same time, the breast pieces will cook a bit faster than the legs - the amount of liquid in the dish will keep everything nice and moist.

Pork Braised in Cream

I have discovered that pork braised in milk / cream is incredibly tasty. May not be the best looking meal - but OMG so yummy.

I had grown up eating pork which is tenderized using vinegar and is also tasty but there is a acidity to it that sometimes I'm not in the mood for.   But with milk, the meat is tender and no acidity. A win/win.


So, here is one of the recipes I have for pork braised in milk/cream.  Since it's the one in the picture... it seemed like a good choice. no? :P

Pork Chops Braised in Tomato Cream with Mushrooms

• 2 pork chops 
• 1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped (canned are fine, Roma or caprese) 
• 1/2 cup dry white wine 
• 1/4 cup porcini (which I didn't have so I used fresh Shiitake) 
• 1/2 cup button mushrooms (or baby portabella)
• 1 - 2 tablespoons butter
• salt
• pepper

In a nice sized pan, melt the butter and brown the pork chops.   Once the chops have a nice brown to them,  add the white wine to deglaze the pan.  Let the wine simmer for a minute or so, add the tomatoes, cream, porcini mushrooms, salt and pepper.    Simmer, covered (with a slight gap to let the steam out) for 45 minutes.  Turn the chops a few times during the 45 minutes. 

About 10 minutes before your timer goes off for the chops, saute the button mushrooms in a pan with some butter.  Check the chops, they should be tender.  If so, add the sauteed mushrooms to the pan and simmer uncovered for 5-7 minutes so that the flavors meld.  If the meat isn't tender, continue to braise until ready.  Check on salt and pepper.  Serve.

Pulled Beef Short Ribs

ok, ok, ok... I don't know why I've been making such time intensive meals the last few days.  But, I had a taste for short ribs.  And, all the recipes I have had carrots in them.   One thing we didn't have are carrots.  Apparently, I've been on a carrot kick and the BF is somewhat sick of them.  So, I was banned from buying carrots this weekend at the farmer's market.  *grin*

We did have onions, beer and lemons.  OMG - this ended up SO good!  But, it is a LOT of work compared with other beef short rib recipes.  I use two different pans for this. 1) cast iron skillet to brown up the ribs and 2) cast iron Dutch oven for the braising - but if you don't want the extra clean up you can do it all in the Dutch oven.

Also, you can break this out into multiple days which we ended up doing by accident.  I didn't realize that separating the meat and bone would make so much of a difference in both taste and ease of eating.  Although, I'm sure you can figure out the later when you have the short rib still on the bone.  If your doing this all in one day, it will take about 5 or 6 hours.

Beer Braised Pulled Short Ribs

• 3 pounds beef short ribs
• 1 good porter - I highly recommend Bell's
• 1 really large onion (or two normal sized ones) - sliced thinly
• 2 garlic - sliced thinly
• 3 thick slices of lemon
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 celery stick - chopped roughly
• parsley (if you have fresh great! you just need a few sprigs - if not - about 3-4 tbsp dry)
• chicken stock or water - enough to cover the short ribs well (approximately 3 cups)
• bacon fat - enough to brown up the beef and saute the onions

Preheat oven to 300 F.

Salt and pepper the beef and brown in a pan. I use two different pans for this, a fry pan to brown the beef and a dutch oven to braise the ribs. If you choose to use only the dutch oven, then pull out the beef and set it on the side and then saute the onions.  Otherwise, heat up the dutch oven while the meat is browning and saute the onions.

Add garlic to the onions and stir it for about a minute.  Add beer to onions and garlic mixture, cook down a bit (about 5 min).  Add beef and bring liquid to a soft boil/simmer.

Place pot in the oven for 2 hrs.  And, if you are like me and working from home - back to work you go. Otherwise - do whatever you would normally do for the next 2 hours. TV anyone? 

Pull it out of the oven and let it cool to room temperature so that you can handle the meat.  You can even pull the meat out and place it on a separate plate to cool.

When you can easily hold the meat in your hands - remove the gristle and bones. Place the meat in one container, the bones in another and the gristle in the garbage. If you are doing this over multiple days, place the meat in the fridge.  

Put the bones into the dutch oven with the juices/liquid that has been there from the braising
simmer/low boil the bones and liquid until liquid is 1/2 to 3/4 gone (this is a few hours - depending upon how high you have the heat).

Strain the liquid and add the meat which you have either pulled by hand or you can pull with a fork
cook until liquid is all gone.

Now you can do this in many stages over a few days and it will taste better for it.  The lemon isn't overwhelming - but it does make the house smell lemony.  Which is a good thing, no? ;)

I really need to get a new camera so I can take pictures of the food... but that is on hold for a bit.  So, I'll just put up random images unless the BF is sweet and takes a picture of the meal.