Making Biscuits

Good biscuits and good cornbread are the hallmark of a good Southern cook.  Biscuits are a versatile bread in that they can be used for any meal.  For breakfast, they are great with sausage gravy or as a sausage and egg breakfast sandwich.  At supper time a hot biscuit with butter works with just about any meal.  They are good eaten cold for lunch either as a side or part of a sandwich.  Of course, they are great with any meal when smeared with jam, jelly, or preserves.


Biscuit making seems to mystify some people so they never try making them.  This is a sad state to be in.  I have a couple of different biscuit recipes I use depending on mood or which ingredients I have in the refrigerator.  The one I make the most are just biscuits the other is a buttermilk biscuit.


Way back in 1999, I belonged to Muzzleloading Rifle email group, the sort of thing that evolved to today's message boards.  One of the discussions turned to quick breads in relation to reenacting the 18th Century and then turned to quick breads in general.  One of the posters stated that he'd always considered it a failing as a Southern man that he could not make a good biscuit.  He then shared a recipe he said he got from the side of a bag of flour.  It only has 2 ingredients.  Even better, these biscuits rise up light and fluffy.

Biscuits hot from the oven.  These were pressed to about 1/2 inch thick.

Biscuits


2 cups self-rising flour
2 cups heavy cream, aka whipping cream


Put the flour in a bowl.  Pour in 1 cup of heavy cream and stir to combine.  Start adding the remaining heavy cream and stirring until you get a soft dough.  The dough may be slightly shaggy but not sticky.  Turn out dough onto a floured surface.  Knead 4 - 6 times.  Press or roll out till it is 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick.  Cut out biscuits, I like a 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter, and place on a baking sheet not touching each other.  Bake 10 - 15 minutes at 425F until desired doneness.  I generally go 12 minutes.  Remove from oven and enjoy.

Sausage and Egg Biscuit with Pomegranate.

When cutting biscuits, don't twist the cutter as it may cause the biscuit to rise unevenly.


If you don't keep self-rising flour at the house, never fear, you can make your own.  All it takes is for each cup of all purpose flour you add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt and mix.  This is how I usually do it since we don't keep self-rising flour around except for rare occasions.


Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon fine salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 stick)

1 cup cold buttermilk

Place the butter in the freezer for 10 - 20 minutes.  Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk together to blend and aerate.  Shred the frozen butter into the bowl using a box grater.  Toss with a fork to coat all the butter pieces with flour.  Put the bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes.  Remove from freezer and use a pastry cutter or two knives to further reduce the size of the butter pieces.  Add the buttermilk and stir until you have a moist shaggy dough.  Turn the dough out onto a generously floured work surface and flour the top of the dough.  Press or roll the dough out to about 1 inch thick.  Cut out biscuits using a 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter.  Place the biscuits on a parchment paper lined baking sheet so that they are not touching.  Gather remaining dough into a ball and repeat the process.  You should get 8 - 10 biscuits.  Bake at 425F for 12 - 15 minutes until golden brown.

While the biscuits from the first recipe turn out soft and fluffy, the buttermilk biscuits have a nice crust.  The parchment paper will keep them from sticking to the baking sheet as the butter melts and cooks into the bottom of the biscuit and it makes clean up a lot easier.

Both recipes do well with sausage gravy or as sausage and biscuits.  They also do well as an accompaniment to a fried chicken dinner.  I do prefer the buttermilk biscuit to eat as a cold biscuit.

Give these recipes a try and let me know which you prefer.  Remember, making a good biscuit will garner you much praise for the quality of your meal.

Uncle T 

Pressure Cooker Sausage and Kale Soup

Have I mentioned that I really like my electric pressure cooker?  While there are some things that a long slow cook is to be preferred, some meals are just as good when using this quick method.  Dried beans come to mind as something that is just as good when pressure cooked.  Soups turn out very well also.  To that end, I've been thinking about soups to try in the pressure cooker.

Sausage and Kale Soup ready to serve

I was searching soups recipes and came across a list of soups that had pasta and one of them was sausage and kale.  The picture looked good so I started looking at sausage and kale soup recipes.  Seems most of them call for potatoes rather than pasta but I wanted to include pasta.  That was as much for the pasta as it was the chance to cook pasta in the pressure cooker.  Another change from other recipes was the use of dried beans instead of opening a can or two.  I also noticed that most recipes called for sweet Italian sausage and the rest for some sort of smoked sausage.  I used some of my home made hot Italian sausage.


The soup was cooked in two sessions with the two sessions totaling only 25 minutes.  Making the meat balls was the longest bit of prep work for this meal.  I used my small portion scoop, a #70 scoop,  to make the meat balls a consistent size.  After the meat balls were made they were lightly browned using the sear function on the pressure cooker.  Nothing like only having one pot to clean up after supper.


 Sausage and Kale Soup (Changes listed after the instructions)


1 lb hot Italian sausage
8 oz Rigatoni
1.5 cups dried great northern beans
4 - 6 cups chopped Kale, stems removed
2 quarts chicken broth
2 Tbs Italian seasoning
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt


Make meat balls out of the sausage, approximately 1/2 oz each.  Lightly brown in the pressure cooker.  Pour in the chicken broth, dried beans, and pasta.  Add the salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning and stir to mix.  Put the lid on, making sure the valve is set to pressure cook, and set timer for 15 minutes.  After timer goes off, release the steam.  Add the kale to the cooker and stir to fully incorporate.  Put lid back on and pressure cook for another 10 minutes.  When done, manually release steam again and serve.

A bowl full of goodness

Changes I'll make next time I make this include upping the amount of chicken broth to 3 quarts, waiting to put in the pasta, and just letting the hot soup wilt the kale rather than pressure cooking it.  It needs more chicken broth because I underestimated how much would be soaked up by the beans and pasta as they cooked.  I would do the meat, broth, and beans for 15 minutes, then add the pasta for the final 10 minutes.


Doing the dried beans this way yielded beans that were fully cooked but were still firm.  For something like this you don't want them cooked to mush like you would if you were just cooking a pot of white beans to eat with sausage and cornbread.


If you have the time to make it, some fresh hot crusty bread would go good with this soup.  It is not necessary though.

Simply Ming Pressure Cooker Review

For some time I'd been thinking about getting an electric pressure cooker.  After all, pressure cooking speeds the cooking process and that can be a good thing.  The hold up on getting one came down to a couple of things, one being that most didn't seem versatile enough and the second being I didn't like the controls being on the side.

We had gotten a new slow cooker and found we didn't like it because the sides got too hot.  Then, while channel surfing I saw Chef Ming on HSN.  I do like watching the chefs on the shopping networks for some reason and Chef Ming was talking about his electric pressure cooker so I decided to watch.  I called the good wife into the room to check it out.  In the end, I went online and ordered it from HSN.  It is no longer on HSN's web site but it can be found on Amazon.  My good wife's sister recently bought one through Amazon.

The Simply Ming Pressure Cooker has several functions and I've used them all.  Best of all, the control panel is at the bottom and faces up so it is easy to see and use.  You can use it as a pressure cooker, slow cooker, a steamer, keep food warm until ready to eat, and it has a sear function.  It comes with a measuring cup for rice and a rice scoop for after it is done.  When I placed the order it also came with 50 recipe cards.  While some of them sound good, many have ingredients that even I don't keep around and the preparation instructions are lacking in completeness and are not for the pressure cooker.

The pressure cooker function was the first one I tried.  I used it to make hot wings.  Our usual way of making them had been putting them in the oven to cook then toss them in my home made buffalo style sauce.  From frozen, it takes 45 minutes to cook the wings this way.  With the pressure cooker, they are done in 20 minutes once it gets to temperature.  The pressure does make them a bit soft, so I do a quick toss in flour and fry them then toss in the sauce.  I also end up with a cup or so of chicken broth that gets frozen for later use in soups.

18 frozen chicken wings ready to go.

The second use of the pressure cooker was for rice.  I had some sushi rice for making kimbop so I used that since Minute Rice was the only other rice we had on hand.  Now, I just buy any long grain rice.  To pressure cook rice, use the included measuring cup then add water to the line marked on the cooker that corresponds with the number of cups of rice you put in.  Rice is done with 6 minutes on the timer.

The next function tested was the slow cooker and delay setting.  To test that, I made my version of stuffed cabbage leaves in a tomato sauce.  That was written about here, Cabbage Rolls.  I made them up the evening before and set the pot in the refrigerator.  I put it in the cooker in the morning before I left for work and set the delay to start the cooking a little before I got home.  It was cooking merrily away when I got home and it finished when I expected.

Stuffed Cabbage ready to cook

The sear function was done in conjunction with another slow cooker meal.  I made venison rouladon for supper.  The rouladon were seared in batches then stacked in the pot and slow cooked.  Being able to sear in the pressure cooker meant one less thing to wash after supper.  That recipe was written about here, Venison Rouladen.

The only function that hasn't been used repeatedly is the steamer function.  The reason being that we don't steam vegetables very often.  Contrary to my Southern roots I don't cook my vegetables to death and we're not afraid of a bit oil or butter to help carry seasonings on the vegetables.  The pressure cooker comes with a small rack to keep what you are steaming above the liquid.

Another benefit of the pressure cooker has come in the form of broths.  I processed 8 bone in pork butts for sausage and as usual saved the shoulder blades to cook for broth.  I fit all 8 in the pressure cooker, added a coffee cup worth of water, then pressure cooked them for 40 minutes.  The bits of meat were soft and tasteless after that time so all the goodness had been squeezed out to make the broth.  The resulting broth was used to make Pork Belly Soup.  It was a far cry from the old way of covering the bones with water and slowly simmering to get the same effect then having to reduce the water to concentrate the flavor.


A quick word about clean up, it's fast and easy.  The non-stick coating is amazing.  We've not found anything that couldn't be cleaned up simply by wiping with a paper towel.  We still use soap and water to be safe but the inside is clean when we do it.



I am quite pleased with my Simply Ming Pressure Cooker and would recommend it for anyone that was looking to get an electric pressure cooker.  At 6 quarts capacity it can handle most anything you want to cook.

Uncle T

Red Wine Pasta

It seems this is a pretty big thing.  My good wife and son were talking about it this past weekend because his beloved had liked a recipe.  I had missed that somehow and got them to tell me about it.  After that it was up to Google and I found lots of recipes.  I also got our son to send me the link to the recipe his beloved had found.  In the end, I combined bits of other recipes and added my own twist to come up with a great supper.


Most of the recipes I found involve nothing more than the pasta, typically spaghetti, along with red wine, shallots, and garlic.  They also tended to be intended for side dishes.  I came across a couple that added nuts and/or Feta cheese or goat cheese.  I found one where they added pancetta to the mix.  The one with pancetta said it could be eaten by itself or used as a side dish.


If I was going to have the big pot for the pasta and the big skillet on the stove I didn't want to have to make something else to go along with the pasta.  So what does Uncle T do, he adds more stuff.  For my version you include pancetta, mushrooms, and asparagus.

A skillet full of goodness

A couple of things to note, you can use either a box of pasta or a recipe of fresh pasta for this.  I used fresh fettuccini using the recipe in this post, Pasta Recipe.  The second thing, use a wine you'd like to drink.  After all, you'll have some left over and there is no need to let it go to waste.  Most of the recipes I found called for a Zinfandel or a Cabernet Sauvignon.  I used an Australian Merlot.


So without further ado, here it is.


Red Wine Pasta


1 lb spaghetti or fettuccini, boxed or fresh
4 oz thick cut pancetta, diced
1 shallot, minced
4 - 6 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 lb asparagus, cut in bite size pieces
1 bottle red wine
2 Tbs butter
olive oil
salt
pepper
Italian seasoning


Heat skillet over medium/medium high heat and add diced pancetta.  Cook until slightly crispy and remove from skillet.   Put the shallot and garlic in the skillet with the grease rendered from the pancetta.  Cook until the shallot is translucent then add the asparagus.  Stir the asparagus and cook until slightly under done and remove from skillet.  If there is not enough of the pancetta grease left add a bit of olive oil and dump in the mushrooms.  Add salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to taste.  Cook the mushrooms till they are lightly brown on the bottom then turn and brown the other side.  Add the pancetta and asparagus with the shallot and garlic back to the skillet.  Pour in 1/3 of the bottle of wine.  Bring to a simmer.  Time cooking your pasta so it is almost done at the same time you add the wine to the skillet.  When the wine is at a simmer, remove the pasta from the pot and put into the skillet.  Once all the pasta is in the skillet start turning it to get it all in the wine.  Add the butter to help thicken the sauce.  Once the wine has been cooked into the pasta and the pasta is al dente it is done.  Plate and top with cheese.  Eat and enjoy.

Red Wine Pasta plated up and ready for cheese

This would go well with some good Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese.  I didn't have any of those on hand so I used a blend that contains Parmesan, Asiago,

Red Wine Pasta with cheese

This dish or a variant of it will definitely become part of the rotation.  It is too quick and tasty for it to not be.  If you can't find thick pancetta you could dice some slab bacon and come close to the same effect.  If you are in the mood for pasta with a twist give this a try.  If you do, let me know what you think.


Uncle T

Grilled Beets and Turmip Patties

For some reason, this post has been languishing in my Draft file.  Obviously it is from late Spring, but the recipes can be used year round since the ingredients can be found year round. 

Since the beets did well in our Fall garden last year we put out more for this year's Spring garden.  I tend to sow a bit heavier than advised because when I thin them out we have beet greens for salads.  So most suppers on our Fast Days have been salads from our garden and some sort of protein source.  What we were looking forward to was the beets being large enough to grill.  Well, that time finally came.

Fresh pulled beets.  This is about half the crop, the rest need another week.

One of the advantages of living on the coast is being able to get fresh seafood at a reasonable cost.  It's even better when I have access to seafood at wholesale costs.  A few months back, we bought a whole fresh salmon at the wholesaler.  After it was filleted out, one side was cut into portions that would make a meal for use and the other side was kept whole to smoke.  All that was not for immediate use went into the vacuum bags and then the freezer.  One of those portions is what got grilled to go with the grilled beets.

Salmon and beets right off the grill.

We are looking at making space for this season's canned goods so I decided to make use of some canned turnips from the fall.  The canned turnips are very soft so I figured mashed turnips or something made with them would be good.  Thus, fried turnip patties were born.

Fried turnip patties hot from the skillet.

For the grilled beets, slice 1/2 inch thick, toss with enough olive oil to coat them, sprinkle with a little kosher salt and grind or two of black pepper.  Once that is done they are ready for the grill.  Grill over direct heat, about medium high on a gas grill, for 5 minutes then turn and cook another 5 minutes or until they reach your desired level of doneness.  The beets have great flavor with a bit of smokiness added to the beet flavor.  The salt and pepper compliment the sweetness of the beet and the texture is soft enough to easily cut with a fork but still firm enough to stick a fork in to pick it up and not be mushy when you put it in your mouth.


The salmon was simply seasoned with kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper.  The aluminum foil was sprayed with a nonstick spray to keep the skin from sticking.  It went on the grill over direct heat, about medium on the gas grill, and went until it was done, about 10 minutes in this case.  I prefer my salmon a bit less done than this was but it was still juicy, tender, and flavorful.


The turnip patties were a bit of an experiment.  A quick Google for turnip patties only got me recipes for Chinese turnip pancakes and the like.  So I decided to do similar to a potato patty made from left over mashed potatoes. 

A fine supper of grilled salmon, grilled beets, and fried turnip patties.

Fried Turnip Patties


1 pint canned turnips, drained
1/4 cup flour
1 egg
2 good pinches, about1 tsp, kosher salt
6 grinds, about 1/2 tsp, ground black pepper
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbs each, minced Marjoram, Oregano, Cilantro
3 Tbs butter, for frying


Squeeze all the liquid from the turnips and put in a bowl and mash.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.  Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.  When it's hot, drop the turnip mix in small portions.  I used a #20 portion scoop that is about 2.5 oz.  Fry until the bottom is brown then flip and fry the other side till it's brown.  Using the #20 scoop this made 5 patties.


Grilled salmon is fairly common but I hope you'll try both the grilled beets and the turnip patties.  It was so good and filling that we didn't eat any popcorn that evening while we watched a movie.


Uncle T

Chicken Parmesan Pizza

This started off as a "what do I do now" kind of thing.  I'd made chicken strips on Friday night to have as breakfast and lunch while hunting on Saturday.  Unfortunately, as I was walking in to the hunting area I slipped on a small downed tree trunk going up a hill and slightly pulled a back muscle trying to keep from falling.  After all, it's no fun falling with a climbing tree stand strapped to your back while carrying your rifle.  I decided to forego the evening hunt because sitting in the tree stand in the cold was causing my back to twinge more and more.  Thus, no need to eat the chicken strips for lunch.


A word about the chicken strips.  These are quick and easy and better than the frozen ones with the advantage of being able to season them according to your taste.  I cut the breast in half lengthwise though they could be cut into thirds for a thinner chicken strip.  I sprinkle hot Hungarian paprika on the bone side of the breast then roll the pieces in my seasoned flour.  I typically roll them in the flour twice after they've sat for a bit for a thicker coating.  A quick fry in a skillet and they are done.

Fried Chicken Strips

The drive home gave me time to contemplate what to do for supper.  I was wondering if I could use the chicken strips in some fashion and the realization that we'd not had pizza in a while hit me.  So, from an accident came the chance to experiment and produce Chicken Parmesan Pizza.


I used the recipe for 10 minute pizza crust that I've talked about before.  Here's the post with the link to the pizza dough recipe,  Chicken Pizza.  As before, I prefer to make one large pizza rather than two smaller pizzas.  I really like this recipe for a quick pizza.

Fresh crust ready to build

Before I started on the crust, I got some marinara sauce started.  My basic sauce is some good canned tomatoes pureed then seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, and Italian seasoning.  Give it a good stir and bring to a simmer.  The garlic can be either garlic powder or a few cloves of garlic pureed at the same time as the tomatoes.  This is a good all around sauce for pizza, dipping fried mozzarella sticks, or as the base for spaghetti sauce.

Chicken on the pizza

The chicken strips were sliced crossways about 1/4 inch thick.  Once the marinara sauce was on the pizza dough, the chicken was arranged to give the best coverage.  The chicken then got a generous sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese topped by shredded Mozzarella cheese.  Then it was in the oven on the pizza stone.

Ready for the oven

From start to finish this probably only took about 30 minutes or so.  If you choose to use a jar sauce you could cut that down by 5 to 10 minutes.  In regards to oven clean up I used parchment paper on the pizza peel instead of the usual corn meal.  The good wife had cleaned the oven prior to Thanksgiving so am trying to keep it clean for as long as possible.

Chicken Parmesan Pizza hot from the oven

If you like pizza, homemade is the way to go.  30 minutes start to finish beats any commercial pizza place any day.  Even if you get it delivered you'll be eating pizza sooner than you would if you ordered it.  With this pizza dough recipe and some basic ingredients from your pantry you can have hot fresh pizza made according to your preference.


Give this a try and let me know what you think.


Uncle T

Pork Chops with Hot Pepper Jelly and Orzo Mediterranean

A few weeks ago, a neighbor gave us a jar of hot pepper jelly.  She'd made a big batch for a nephew and then found this last jar.  It has good heat to go with the sweetness.  The plan was use it on some ribs but I kept forgetting about it. 

The pork chops were grilled to almost done then had a thick layer of the jelly smeared on them.  The pork chops got the usual pregrilling treatment, a sprinkle of salt and pepper with a dash of whiskey to add some flavor.  There are two keys to good pork.  The first is to use just enough seasoning to enhance the flavor of the pork but not overwhelm it.  The second is to not over cook the pork.  Pork is well cooked at 145 F and thus will stay moist and flavorful.

The Orzo Mediterranean came about last week as a way to use some of the tomatoes from the garden.  It comes together easily.  While we ate it hot,  the good wife and I both thought it would do well as a cold dish/salad.  I call is Mediterranean because ingredients come from all over the Mediterranean.  Last week we had it with Thessaly sausage and boiled okra.  Thessaly sausage is a lamb sausage from northern Greece.  Our was actually mutton since it was made from Rainbow the Ram.

Orzo Mediterranean, Boiled Okra, and Thessaly Sausage

Orzo Mediterranean

Orzo,
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 medium onion, diced
8 oz Feta cheese
2 - 3 oz olive oil
salt
pepper
Lebanese 7 spice
fennel seed
1 1/2 T Basil, minced
1 T Sage, minced
1 T Marjoram, minced
1 T Greek Oregano, minced

Cook orzo according to package directions or until desired doneness.  Pour olive oil in skillet and turn to medium heat.  Add the garlic and onions to the olive oil and sautee until translucent.  Add the tomatoes and mushrooms and continue to sautee.  Season to taste with salt, pepper, fennel seed, and the 7 spice.  When the orzo is done, use a strainer spoon to take out of the water and put into the skillet.  Once all the orzo is in the skillet, stir to mix everything up.  Keep stirring and simmering until a thickened sauce forms, you may need to add a bit more olive oil.  After it has come together, taste and adjust seasoning.  Add the fresh herbs (Basil, Sage, Marjoram, Greek Oregano) and stir.  Top with the Feta cheese and stir to combine.  Serve and enjoy.

Orzo Mediterranean, Pork Chop with Hot Pepper Jelly, Boiled Okra

The Lebanese 7 spice is probably the same a generic Arabic 7 spice and can be found in any store carrying Middle Eastern spices and foods.  I call it Lebanese because the store I get it and my olive oil from is owned and run by a Lebanese family.  There is familly still in Lebanon overseeing the olive groves and running the olive oil processing plant.

As you see, a little experimentation in the kitchen yields some excellent results.  I hope you give this recipe a try and do some experimentation of your own.

Uncle T

Pressure Cooker Black Beans and Roasted Chicken Tacos with Kohlrabi Slaw

Boy, that title is a mouthful.  Oh well, it can't be helped since I want to be able to find things by looking at the titles.


I was trying to figure out what to have for supper using the leftover roast chicken from the other night.  One idea was just straight leftovers from that meal plus some extras thrown in and the other was chicken tacos and black beans.  Obviously the chicken tacos won out.  Once tacos were settled on then came the question of what to put in them with the chicken.  Having two Kohlrabi left I decided to improvise a slaw for the tacos to give some crunch and some added texture.


For the black beans I used some of the dry beans from our garden this year.  I'll save the canned ones for making a black bean hummus.  Since this was decided on last minute that meant I'd get to play with my electric pressure cooker.  I tried a new seasoning mix with this batch and I believe this will now be the go to recipe for us.


I also had the choice of either using store bought flour tortillas or making tortillas with masa.   Oh by the way, I don't have a tortilla press.  Given the time that the black  beans would take I elected to make the tortillas.  Making them myself meant they'd be fresh and they'd be smaller and more like what you'd get from a street vendor.  I used a recipe from Chef Rick Bayless.  I would prefer corn tortillas over flour tortillas for this application.


In the end, the good wife and I each ate two servings of everything.  Needless to say, we skipped having popcorn last night.  Yes, the black beans especially were that good.


Pressure Cooker Black Beans


2 cups dry Black Beans
4 - 6 oz bacon
1 medium onion
1 - 2 tsp salt
1 - 2 tsp pepper
1 - 2 tsp roasted ground cumin
6 cups water
2 Tbs oil


Put oil in pressure cooker and turn on sear function to get hot.  Cut bacon into thin match sticks.  Add to the pressure cooker.  Finely dice the onion and add to pressure cooker once the bacon has started to render and brown a bit.  Stir the onion and bacon together and cook till the onion starts to turn translucent.  Add the salt, pepper, and cumin and stir.  Add the 2 cups black beans and stir.  Put in the water and put the lid on the pressure cooker.  Program the pressure cooking function for 45 minutes.  Once the timer goes off, release pressure according to the manufacturer's instructions.  Stir well and serve.  They can be garnished with cilantro if desired.


I used part of a package of ends and pieces from slicing my last batch of bacon but any good bacon will work.  The 6 cups of water makes a fair bit of broth so if you don't want quite as much reduce it to 5 cups.

Kohlrabi slaw

 Kohlrabi Slaw


2 Kohlrabi
1 medium carrot
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar

Shred the kohlrabi and the carrot.  Put in a bowl and add the salt and pepper.  Mix well.  Add the olive oil and apple cider vinegar and mix well.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

The apple cider vinegar was made in my kitchen at the end of last year's cider.  I should probably do a post about that since the flavor is better than what is commercially available.  Apple cider vinegar is easy to do and would be a good into to home fermentation.  Plus, a tablespoon or two added to a glass of water makes a tasty drink.

Tortillas


1 3/4 cup masa harina

1 cup plus 2 Tbs hot tap water

Put both in a bowl and mix till a smooth dough is formed.  Let sit for 15 minutes.  Divide into 15 pieces and form into balls.  Flatten to 1/8 inch thick with tortilla press.  Cook on griddle.  Put on a towel and cover to hold till all are cooked. 

The best griddle is one that covers two burners on the stove but two skillets can be used also.  Turn one burner on medium and the other on medium high.  After you remove the tortilla from the press put it on the side that is on medium.  Let it cook for 30 seconds.  Flip it and move to the medium high side.  Cook till brown spots appear.  Flip and cook the other side till brown spots appear.

As I said previously, I don't have a tortilla press.  I put a square of plastic wrap on my cutting board, put a masa ball in the center, covered it with another square of plastic wrap, then flattened it with a cake pan.  If it wasn't quite thin enough I finished it with a rolling pin.

To build the tacos, start by laying two of the tortillas on a plate slightly over-lapping.  Put a good layer of Kohlrabi slaw down the middle.  Then top it with chopped roast chicken.  Serve with a bowl of Black Beans.

Black beans with Roasted Chicken Tacos

I hope you give these a try.  Black Beans are easy to find and they an excellent source of protein, vitamins, and dietary fiber not to mention they are quite tasty.  If you do give these a try let me know what you think.

Uncle T