Delishytown

Saute 1 chopped shallot in a little olive oil. Add chopped fresh rainbow chard to the pan and cook for 3 or 4 minutes till soft. Season with a little salt and pepper. Peel and chop 1 large tangerine or orange. Serve the cooked chard and tangerine pieces over wild rice.  Yum!

The cinnamon and nutmeg are what make this chili “Cincinnati” style. It’s also a Cincinnati tradition to serve chili on spaghetti noodles instead of elbow macaroni, adding cheddar cheese and chopped raw onions as a garnish. It’s pretty much up to you the way you serve this chili. My Dad likes to serve his chili on corn tortillas with cheese on top. My friend Liza uses those small bags of Fritos, opens them and puts the chili right in there and calls it Frito Pie.

In a large chili pot, brown 1lb ground turkey in 2 tblsp olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.  Set meat aside in a drainer to drain off any fat. Add another splash olive oil to the pan and saute 1 small chopped onion, 2 med carrots diced, 2 celery stalked diced. Cook till softened and fragrant.

Meanwhile turn the broiler to high and char the skin of 1 red bell pepper, halved, stem and seeds removed. Once the skin of the pepper is blackened, remove it to a plate or bowl and cover with another plate to steam. After about 5 minutes the skin should peel off easily. Chop the pepper into a large dice. Add to the chili pot.

Now add the meat back to the pot of sauteed veggies and crush 2 or 3 garlic cloves into the pot. Add 1 large (28 oz.) can whole peeled tomatoes, 1 small can tomato sauce (15 oz.) 1 bottle of beer, 1 rinsed* can black beans, & 1 rinsed*  can kidney beans.

* When you open the cans of beans, you’ll see that the liquid is separated into clear on top and gritty towards the middle and bottom. I always add 1/8 to 1/4 cup of the clear bean liquid from the top of the can into the chili pot. This helps the stew thicken up nicely. Rinse away the rest of the gritty liquid using a mesh strainer.

Season with salt, pepper 1/4 tsp Chipotle or Ancho chili powder (you can add more later, to taste. The flavor and heat do grow as the pot simmers.) 1/2 tsp sweet paprika, 1/8 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 to 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg, (about  half of one whole nutmeg). If you don’t have whole nutmeg to grate, just use 1/4 tsp of ground nutmeg.

Bring the pit up to a simmer and taste. Does it need salt? Pepper? A little more heat from chili powder? Add a small amount of extra spice at a time. It’s easy to add a little more salt or chili powder, but impossible to take any away without doing a whole second batch. I know, been there.

Boil salted water and cook macaroni according to package directions. Make sure to stop cooking when the pasta is still al dente, adding the broccoli just at the end of cooking so that it blanches for a minute. Drain. Place the noodles and broccoli in a buttered  baking dish. The pasta and broccoli will continue to cook as you bake them with the sauce.

In a saucepan, combine 1 tablespoon flour in 1 tablespoon butter and let them bubble for a minute till the flour cooks. Add 1 cup milk, and a bit of freshly ground pepper. Whisk to eliminate any lumps. When this bechamel sauce thickens,  pour it over the cooked pasta and broccoli. Add freshly grated cheddar and parmesan cheeses and toss.

Top this casserole with a mixture of bread crumbs combined with 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp olive oil, and a shake of salt. The olive oil will toast the bread crumbs as the casserole bakes.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Start your hard boiled eggs a pot of *cold* water. I’ve heard it’s important to start them in cold because it makes them easier to peel at the end. Why?  Science.

Upon making this recipe today, 4 of the eggs were very easy to peel and two were not so easy. I’ve also heard that the older the eggs are, the easier they are to peel. Super fresh eggs are hard to peel. I wonder why. Biology nerds please chime in as to why.

Here’s my favorite dish! We started making these when I was a kid in the 70’s. Back then, food like this was exotic. And you had never heard of “fresh cilantro” yet.

Chop 1 small onion  and saute in olive oil. Add ground turkey meat and crumble it around, browning all sides of the meat.

While the meat is cooking, add 2 crushed garlic cloves, salt, pepper, 1/4 tsp chili powder, paprika, dry basil, chopped fresh cilantro and let all of this brown together with the meat.

Once the meat is cooked, de-glaze the pan with a 1/2 cup of beer, wine, water, or chicken stock. Just pour it right over the meat. Let the liquid in the pan simmer till it evaporates away, most of the way. You still want the meat mixture to be juicy, but not too watery. You know, like at a taco place.

Serve these tacos on soft or crunchy taco shells with chopped lettuce, tomato, salsa, sour cream and grated cheddar cheese. Use your favorite jar salsa or make the salsa in the recipe above.  You can substitute plain yogurt for the sour cream if you don’t want extra calories.