I’ve been looking through my photos to add images to our photo library. I have to say 2013 has been a specifically beautiful year! Here are some highlights- all of these photos are now available to use in your books from our free photo library!
I’ve seen variations of this recipe in several people’s book, and have always been skeptical. If you’re up for something new, then like me, be ready to have your world rocked: Norene Gilletz’s recipe from Gourmania.com will make you a believer.
Ingredients
3 onions, sliced
4 1/2 to 5 lb. beef brisket, well-trimmed
4 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt & pepper, to taste
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tbsp. paprika
1/4 cup apricot jam
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 cup diet cola (use regular cola if you can’t find diet)
Preparation Instructions
1. Spray a large roasting pan with non-stick spray. Place onions in pan; place brisket on top of onions. Rub meat on all sides with garlic, seasonings, jam and lemon juice. Pour cola over and around brisket. Marinate for an hour at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat oven to 325°F. Cook covered. Allow 45 minutes per lb. as the cooking time, until meat is fork tender. Uncover meat for the last hour and baste it occasionally. Remove from oven and cool completely. Refrigerate overnight, if possible. Discard hardened fat which congeals on the surface. Slice brisket thinly across the grain, trimming away any fat. Reheat slices in the defatted pan juices.
Yield: 12 servings. Reheats and/or freezes well.
The recipe comes from Healthy Helpings by Norene Gilletz (formerly published as MealLeaniYumm!)
This is one of those recipes that I often make, but never with an actual recipe! It’s a no-fail favorite with friends and family!
Ingredients
8 oz (1 package) sliced mushrooms- cremini works best!
50g pancetta- diced
10 pearl onions
1 tsp butter
1 tsp fresh thyme
2 tbsp butter
9 chicken thighs
1/4 cup flour
1 bottle red wine
Preparation Instructions
Melt 1 tsp butter in a heavy bottom pan. Brown mushrooms, pancetta and pearl onions. Remove from heat. Dredge chicken in flour. Brown in additional butter. Add fresh thyme. Return mushrooms, pancetta and onion to the pan. Add wine. Turn heat down and simmer 1 hour, or until chicken is cooked through and soft.
Although it’s not the traditional way to serve it, I love serving Coq-au-vin on cheesy egg noodles. I find Gruyere or Emmenthal cheese has the best flavor to accompany the sauce, but swiss cheese works just as well!
My french grandmother made the very best “couscous” in the world. She would work for days preparing everything, slowly steaming the semolina before rubbing it with butter between her fingers. I’m not sure she would approve of my slow cooker adaptation of her recipe! But why spent 10 hours doing something when you can get it done in 30 minutes with equally delicious results?!
Ingredients
1 chicken, cut up into pieces, or two breasts, two legs, bone in
2 lamb shoulder chops
2 tblsp olive oil
1 leek, whites only, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 carrot, peeled cut into large chunks
2 turnips, peeled and cut into quarters
2 zucchini, cut into large chunks
1 1/2 cups of chicken broth
1 small can of chick peas
1 tblsp and 2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cloves
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation Instructions
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet. Brown chicken and lamb and then place in slow cooker.
In the same skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the leeks, garlic, carrots and turnips. Fry for about five minutes. Add spices, continue to cook while stirring 5 minutes.
Add broth, stir, and pour contents into slow cooker.
Set slow cooker on high for 4 hours. After 2 hours, open slow cooker and add zucchini and chick peas.
Serve on a bed of cousous (I prepare it by placing it in a shallow bowl and pouring hot water over top, letting it sit then fluffing it with a fork. A dash of with “Harrissa” spice (if you can find it, otherwise chili powder would work) on top is delicious!
I added red wine and black olives to this stew-like pasta sauce to crank up the fullness of the flavor, but my kids loved it too!
Ingredients
2 large beef or veal shanks
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup red wine
2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves, or 1/2 tsp dried
32 oz or 1 quart of canned crushed tomates (I used the home-made sauce I made this summer in this video!)
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation Instructions
Roughly chop the onion and garlic. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet. Brown the onion and garlic, about 3-5 minutes, until translucent. Add the shanks and brown on both sides (about 3 minutes a side). Add red wine and cook 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce and seasoning. Transfer to slow cooker. Cook on high heat for 6 hours. Remove the shanks and shred the meat. Return to sauce.
(I ended up refrigerating the sauce for a couple of days, and it only got more delicious!).
These amazing food processor latkaes literally take 5 minutes to whip up! And their chopped-up texture make them distinctly hash-brown like! Thanks to Norene Gilletz of Gourmania for sharing this traditional Hanukkah dish! It’s from her Book, the NEW Food Processor Bible. It’s simply delicious- we had them for lunch the other day with a green salad and loads of home made applesauce to dip!
Ingredients
4 medium potatoes peeled or scrubbed (or substitute Purple Sweeties)
1 medium onion
2 eggs (or 1 egg plus 2 egg whites)
1/3 cup flour or matzo meal
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 Tbsp oil (plus more as needed for frying latkes)
Preparation Instructions
Cut potatoes in chunks and onion in half. Place in processor with eggs. Process on the Steel Blade until pureed, 20 to 30 seconds. Add remaining ingredients except oil; process a few seconds longer to blend into a smooth mixture.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Drop potato mixture into hot oil by large spoonfuls to form pancakes; brown well on both sides. Drain well on paper towels. Add additional oil to pan as needed. Stir batter before cooking each new batch. Latkes can be placed on a parchment-lined baking sheet and kept warm in a 250 degree F oven.
(To bake latkes instead of frying, place oven racks on lowest and middle positions in oven. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Drop potato mixture by spoonfuls onto well-oiled baking sheets; flatten slightly. Bake 10 minutes, until bottoms are browned and crispy. Turn latkes over. Transfer pan from upper rack to lower rack and vice versa. Bake 8 to 10 minutes longer.)
Yield: about 2 dozen or 5 dozen miniatures. Freezes well.
We’ve started working our way through our HUGE database of shared recipes. We really had no idea, when we asked people who were building their family cookbooks if they wanted to share some of their recipes, that so many would. When we launched the new site, we went back through our 9 years of archives and found over 30,000 recipes! It’s a big job, but we’re putting them up, one at a time (OK, 50 at a time!).
Today’s recipes include Cola Chicken (yes, it’s what you think it is!), Cajun Linguini, Low Country Boil and Congo Bars. And that’s just a few of them! Head on over to our recipe tab and take a look.
I used to live in Little Italy. In early September, the back alleys would turn red with tomato seeds and skins running down the sewers. It didn’t take me long to befriend the nonnas in their garage kitchens and learn the ropes myself. This week-end, we canned two bushels of tomatoes, and ended up with about 60 jars of sauce. If you’re curious about home canning, tomatoes are an easy starting place, delicious, and oh so satisfying. Here’s how:
Last night was one of those perfect late summer evenings, when the air starts to chill, and you stay up just a little longer than you should, chatting with old friends, wrapped in a blanket, while the cool night falls around you. I was celebrating a milestone birthday with a garden party for 40 people. I took a photo to remember the moment.
On the menu was a buffet of mustard, garlic and rosemary rubbed tenderloin, spinach and feta streudel, grilled eggplant parmesan, roasted baby potatoes and kale ceasar salad. It was delicious. Recipes and photos will follow in the next week!
This recipe is perfect alongside Chicken Marvelosa. It comes from our friend Norene Gilletz’s book Norene’s Healthy Kitchen (Whitecap books), and is the ideal side dish to serve at a family gathering. Roasting brings out the natural sweetness of the carrots, or add a dash of honey for the High Holidays.
Ingredients
1 large onion, sliced
2 lb (1 kg) carrots, peeled and cut in 2-inch lengths
3 to 4 cloves garlic (about 3 to 4 tsp minced)
2 to 3 Tbsp olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preparation Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray a 9- × 13-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Place the onion, carrots, and garlic in the prepared baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste; mix well. For best results, the carrots should be in a single layer in the dish.
3. Roast, uncovered, for 45 to 60 minutes or until golden and tender, stirring the carrots occasionally. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Yield: 6 servings. Keeps for up to 2 days in the refrigerator; reheats well. Don’t freeze.
Find variations on the recipe here. Thanks Norene!
