Baked Apples

3 of your favorite cooking apples
3 tablespoons butter
3 cinnamon sticks
1 handful pistachio nuts (or any kind you have on hand)
1 and 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 handful raisins
1 cup maple syrup or grappa

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove apple cores (I use a pumpkin carving knife, but if you have a corer, even better!). Place the apples in an ovenproof dish.
Divide the butter into thirds and push into the core of each apple. Push a cinnamon stick through the center of each apple. Sprinkle each apple with nuts, sugar, and raisins. Pour the the topping of your choice over the apples.
Bake for 30 minutes, basting the apples occasionally with the juices from the dish. Make sure the apples are soft when tested with a skewer before removing from the oven.
These make a delicious, seasonal, snack or dessert. Why not try this for breakfast with sides of oatmeal and bacon strips?

Pulao With Fried Onions and Spiced Chicken

This recipe requires a few spices you may not already have on hand, but they would be great additions to your spice cabinet, so why not? Feel free to substitute ingredients if you need to (for instance,I forgot to purchase tomato paste and used ketchup instead)-there is already so much flavor,no one will notice. The definition of "spiced" in this recipe is flavor, not heat. Enjoy!

4 cups chicken stock
4 table spoons vegetable oil
6 cardamom pods
2 cinnamon sticks
3 cloves
8 black peppercorns, crushed
1 and 1/2 cups basmati rice
2 handfuls cilantro leaves
1 large onion, finely sliced or diced
2 teaspoon curry paste or powder
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
3 skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
toppings: plain yogurt and mango chutney, to serve

Heat the chicken stock in a small saucepan until it is simmering. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet or saucepan. Add the cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and crushed peppercorns and fry for a minute. Reduce heat to low, add the rice, and stir constantly for one minute. Add the heated stock and a pinch of salt to the rice and bring everything to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat until rice is cooked (about 15 minutes). Let rice cool a bit, then stir in the cilantro.
Heat two tablespoons of the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion. Increase the heat when onion becomes soft, and fry until it becomes dark brown. Add onion to the rice, stir.
Mix the curry, tomato paste, and yogurt in a medium bowl. Add chicken strips and mix thoroughly with the paste.
Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan. Cook the chicken on high heat until almost black in patches.
Serve chicken over the rice, topped with plain yogurt and mango chutney.

stew

after i added the ingredients to the water

a bay leaf fell in the bouillon. was it a sign from mom to add a little bit more of each? i did

before ingredients are added

i like this base in particular


i never salt until the very very end

keep it chunky

when it comes to stew or most soups, for that matter, I have never followed a recipe.
stew or soup by nature should be something that is spontaneous.
I do follow, however, moms stew recipe as I remember it from a girl watching her make it in the kitchen ,if I have left anything out, please let me know. this will be a play by play. so the general ingredients for me are stew meat or a steak. a large russet potato, celery, onion garlic and beef broth. I keep with the kiss philosophy when it comes to stew. keep it simple silly.

I chop up my beef, trying to get rid of all the little fat parts, I like them in bite sized chunks.
in a bowl I add about a cup of flour a cup of seasoned breadcrumbs (mom used flour, I added the bread crumbs) sea salt, and white pepper. I usually use a bag and dump the meat into the bag and make sure it is all coated by kneading the pieces with my fingers. as I am doing this, i add enough Olive oil to brown the meat. letting it get hot (med to high) on the stove in a nice wok style pan. when it is hot, I add the dredged meat and let it cook for about 4 minutes before I turn it. this way everything is nice and brown and the meat juices are all sealed in. if there is a little of the flour mixture left over, dump it in the pan, or at least a handful for good measure...
while the stew meat is browning, I chop up celery , garlic and onion. I take the browned meat off and put it in a bowl, the same bowl I mixed the flower with. I then add a tiny bit more olive oil and add this to slightly sauté. while this is sautéing, I add spices of thyme, rosemary, Italian and herbs de Provence. i add a pinch of each. then I fill a pot with water and let it get hot. then I add some beef stock to buff out the water and give it some beef flavor. I keep it rather thin so that I can touch it up later if I need to. about a big generous spoonful. while this is heating I cut up carrot and a potato, country style. then I add everything to the water and turn it to low. right away the water should have a little color to it from the flour off the stew. add about three or four bay leaves. you can take those out later.
then I turn it way down and let it cook for about 3-4 hours. when it is done you will know because the meat will be tender. don't worry about anything else but how tender the meat is. it should come apart in your mouth. if it doesn't, it is not done. the longer the better. sometimes, if I did not add enough meat, the mixture will still be a tad thin (my mom made a boisterous stew), I will then make a little rue of better then bouillon stock and flour about a tablespoon of each, and stir that in to buff it out a little.

the house smells yummy. I like to serve with bread. mom used to serve this over rice, but Paul doesn't like it that way. he just like to eat it as soup. of course, my father would eat anything over rice, Hawaiian style. anyway, if you have the chance to try it, please let me know what you think. i will try to post a pic when it is all done.

stew , 2nd step...

this is after about a half hour, uncovered, on medium heat. you can see how much it cooked down from the line on the pot. then i added it to the super simmer for very minimal heat for the next hour or two. i will test the meat then.

don't forget to stir every so often, and unstick the bottom of the stew pot.

and i cover the pot with a titled lid so that it can breath and steam off and thicken a bit.

give yourself 2.5 or 3 hours for this to be done all the way, depending upon how many ingredients & water are added. it varies depending upon how much you want to make. time is the teacher here.

french onion soup

Ingredients:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
6 onions (about 3 pounds), sliced
6 garlic cloves, sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine ( i have made this without wine and almost liked it better)
3 cups canned low-salt chicken broth ( i sometimes use Better then bullion)
3 cups canned beef broth ( better then bullion comes in so many flavors now..)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
4 sourdough bread slices, toasted ( or chele's bread)
1 cup grated Swiss cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Preparation :
Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté until very tender and brown, about 45 minutes. low heat. emphasis on the very tender.
i like to add some flour to the rue as if making gravy and it really buffs out the soup... but make sure the onions are transparent. if you don't you will feel it later. ..
Add wine and simmer until reduced to glaze, about 3 minutes. or don't add wine and skip this step. Stir in chicken broth, beef broth and mustard. Simmer 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. i use white pepper (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Refrigerate. Return soup to simmer before continuing.)
Preheat broiler. Ladle soup into broiler proof bowls. Top each with slice of toast and grated cheeses. Broil until cheeses melt and bubble. i seldom have the patience to put it in the oven. i have done both. it is just as good if you pop it in the microwave if you are starving.