Extra Schmaltz!

 A colleague at work posted this stew one day as an easy quick-to-make recipe, and I kind of dismissed it as not looking that flavorful. I happened to have the ingredients for it a little while later, and was surprised how good it is.  I also think it shows off the strengths of the Instant Pot, since mom recently got one. You can use these techniques for anything. I use the "pressure cook just the beef" technique all the time.  It's also very easy to keep the ingredients in the freezer - I usually keep some stew beef stored, and daikon radishes are so huge I will cut the whole radish up and store the extra in the freezer also. So if you make this once, it's easy to make another round later.   The recipe is based primarily on the recipes from Maangchi  and from here . It's normally served with rice. How you combine the rice with the soup is kind of a choose-your-own-adventure situation. You could do noodles too for a true one-pot meal, but beware the red spl...

 Well it's been a mere 5 years, two children, and a pandemic since I posted! Part of what has been stopping me (other than life itself) is that I tried to create a standalone blog at extraschmaltz.com instead of Blogger, but I haven't been able to figure out how to get the technology working like I want it to. The Blogger site lacks the features I want, but at least we know how to use it. Alas... Anyway, here is a true family classic that we have somehow never posted: savory egg kugel. It was a staple growing up vegetarian--protein, fat, and carbs. Easy, fast, and filling. 1 bag wide egg noodles 6 eggs 1/2 stick butter, melted salt and pepper Boil the noodles in well salted water. Beat the eggs and melted butter together. Drain the noodles and let them cool a bit before you mix in the eggs so that they don't immediately cook. Stir the egg mixture into the noodles and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Spray a casserole dish with non-stick spray and dump the mixture into...

I love this recipe in late summer, when the farmer's markets are full of Japanese eggplants and Thai basil. It's a sweet, gooey, savory treat that's as spicy as you want to make it and I love eggplant far too much. You can use normal European eggplant too in a pinch.   Serve on white rice.      Ingredients 1-2 eggplants depending on size, in thin slices (Japanese and European work fine, Thai would be weird) 1 red bell pepper (cut into small squares) 4 cloves garlic (smashed and roughly chopped) Thai chilis, to taste (minced) Small quantity of shallots or onions (thin sliced, optional, I like the sweet they provide) Protein of your choice, pre-cooked - I've been liking baked tofu, but chicken or pork work well Thai basil (to taste), remove the bigger stems and chop roughly.  Sauce 4 Tbsp soy sauce 1 Tbsp brown sugar (+palm sugar if available) 1 tsp dark vinegar, or white vinegar 2 Tbsp fish sauce  Optional: 1 Tbsp corn starch dissolved in 2 Tbsp co...

 This is the style of rice pudding that mom would make us growing up. It's a great way to use that small bit of leftover rice that's too little for fried rice or whatever. It's also really, really easy to make. The secret for maximum deliciousness is to err on the side of using less rice, or to add a bit more milk and egg to compensate if you add a bit too much rice.  It's all about that cross-section of custard on top and dense sweet rice on the bottom. Ingredients 1-1.5 c. cooked white rice, but less is better 2 c. milk, or increase if you have more rice 2/3 c. sugar (part brown sugar makes it extra tasty) 1/4 c. raisins or to taste 5 eggs 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1/4 tsp. cinnamon (honestly I just shake and eyeball this)  Preparation Grease an casserole dish. Preheat oven to 350.  Beat the eggs in a big bowl, then add literally everything else and whomp thoroughly.  Pour into the casserole dish, and cook probably about an hour or longer - it takes more tim...

 There's a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant on State Street in Madison, Wisconsin called Mediterranean Cafe. They have a combination of a small fixed menu (falafel, shawarma) and daily specials. My absolute favorite daily special was their Chicken Apricot Pie: a delicious casserole-square of creamy bechamel, sweet-tart apricot something, chicken and bulgur, served with yellow rice and a salad. The best part of the cafe is that everything is hot and pre-made, so you often would get your food before you found your table.  I've wanted to re-create this dish for years, but I've been going basically off of decades-old memories and vibes. I've had a Word doc (pre-Google docs ubiquity) going with multiple versions of it. The biggest breakthrough I had was stalking their Yelp page to find pictures of the dish, which helped me realize that it doesn't have a crust, it just has bulgur to soak up excess liquid.  The dish has a few parts: You're mixing cooked chicken with s...

For various reasons, Melanie likes ground turkey more than ground beef, and so I've been making turkey meatballs a lot. Obviously the problem with turkey is that it can be really dry since it's so lean, but one day we made a random hippy turkey burger recipe and it taught us the he secret to making ground turkey not be gross: ground mushrooms!  If you grind up the mushrooms and mix them in, they kind of cook away but keep whatever you're cooking moist and give that umami flavor that's also missing from turkey. People who don't like mushrooms won't notice their presence at all unless they're specifically looking for them. This recipe is also designed to cook up really really quickly - you can have these done in the time it takes you to boil the water for the noodles. The spices are loosely based on Lillian's meatball recipe but only use dry spices for convenience. They still come out a little dry, but especially with a wetter sauce (marinara, vodka, etc....

For Christmas, I got Melanie a copy of a cookbook by her favorite author, Martha Rose Shulman, entitled Ready When You Are: A compendium of one-dish meals since I tend to prefer one dish meals anyway. We've been in a bit of a cooking rut, and so it's nice to have some new inspiration. This dish is originally written for dried beans, and I've simplified it a bit too, so I don't feel too bad reposting it. It's super delicious - we had some leftover ziti that it went perfectly on, but I also think it could be awesome with garlic bread.  It's also nice because it's a good way to use sage - we have an extremely robust sage plant in our garden, so I even had some fresh(ish) sage as the recipe called for. It doesn't taste too sage-tacular though, it's really subtle and just part of the deliciousness. The sausage will make difference in the flavor here, we use Hillshire Farm Turkish kielbasa because Melanie really likes it, but a good porky Italian sausage ...

This dish (sometimes called lagman) is part of Sogd cuisine, food from what we call "the 'stans", in the general region of The Silk Road. The recipe is from one of my most prized possessions: a self-published cookbook from our tour guides in Tajikistan. Characteristics of this cuisine are various noodles and dumplings, rice dishes, lamb and beef, and lots and lots of herbs. This dish is traditionally made with hand-pulled noodles, but a reasonable substitution is dried bucatini. I recommend cooking the meat in a pressure cooker or insta-pot for tenderness & time saving. This makes enough for two people. Double for more. Noodles: 1/2 lb. bucatini, cooked in well salted water Sauce: 2 Tbsp. oil 1/2 lb. ground lamb or beef 1 clove garlic, minced 1 onion, sliced thin 1 cup shredded cabbage 1 turnip, peeled and cubed 1-2 Roma tomatoes, diced 1 red bell pepper, diced 2-4 c. water or broth salt and pepper to taste Garnish: 2 Tbsp. parsley, minced 2 Tbsp...

This is an adaptation of the recipe for Ternera con Guisantes  from the amazing tome " A Mediterranean Feast " by Clifford Wright. Given that veal is all but impossible to find, I switched it to beef. We used a sirloin roast that was part of the quarter beef we bought, but I think it would also be good with a chuck roast. I made this version crockpot or Instapot friendly, which is more convenient for most. It yields a wonderfully spiced roast with not a ton of effort. We used a sirloin roast of some kind from the quarter of beef we bought, but I don't know specifically which cut. I don't think it matters much for a slow-cooked dish like this. We served it with risotto, which was a great combo. We devoured it too quickly to take a photo, though! Ingredients One 3 lb. beef roast, tied One bag of frozen baby peas Parsley to garnish Sofrito 3 Tbsp. olive oil 2 large ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped fine 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 bay leaf 1/2 tsp. dried thyme...

We make this really easy recipe often enough that it's worth posting. It's chicken in a simple sauce, often served on a tostada with refried beans and whatever tasty toppings you want (esp. avocado and cotija cheese). A local restaurant near us has this style of chicken as one of their standard meat options, and it's supposedly their specialty. I personally think this recipe produces something very, very close to the same. The adobo peppers tend to be a bit spicy for some eaters - one way to moderate this is to alter how much of the sauce you mix with the shredded chicken. I also suggest making a double version of this recipe and reserving some sauce - that way, next time you want to make it, you just throw sauce on chicken and you're done. You can use raw chicken, or you can use the sauce to cleverly use leftover poultry from other meals (this actually might make turkey edible). The recipe below is adapted from the recipe here , in turn adapted from the Minimali...

I can't believe I didn't post this after we had it at an amazing real Oktoberfest event that we were fortunate to be invited to in Bavaria. It is very simple, and based on this recipe . Unlike American coleslaw, this one is blanched, so it has a softer texture and is more easily digested. It is very simple, and I have had it requested several times for potlucks. It is a lot easier to make if you have some kind of mandoline. Vegetables 1 head of green cabbage 3 qts. boiling water + 2 Tbsp. salt 1 small white onion Dressing 6 Tbsp. white wine vinegar 3 Tbsp. sunflower oil 1 Tbsp. caraway seeds 2 tsp. sugar 2 tsp. salt, to taste 1 tsp. white pepper Instructions Boil the water in a large stockpot and add the 2 Tbsp. salt. Remove several of the outer layers of the cabbage. Cut the cabbage into 4 wedges, and cut out the cores. Shred the entire head of cabbage very fine. I recommend using a mandoline or shredder--I have one like this , and I actually use it se...

Too many peppers! Well, it's that time again! Those peppers you have nurtured all summer, waiting for them to turn a seductive shade of red (or deep green) are coming in fast. Here on the prairie, we seem to have skipped our warm intro to fall, and landed smack dab in the middle of dank, misty rain. Buckets of peppers (and tomatoes) line our kitchen floor, waiting to be turned into something we can enjoy in the deep, dark winter months. One solution is PICKLED PEPPERS ,  a favorite of my youth. My Yiddish grandmother with my mother alongside her would fill gallon jars with these mouth-watering delights, and most years my brother and I could not keep our hands off them for the full time. I am honored to have my mother's hand-written recipe, in her lovely Catholic school handwriting. It is a little dim from time, so I have transcribed it in detail: Cook peppers (roast)* on top of stove over flame (till black all over) Dunk in water and peel (or put in plastic bag w...

Apparently it's been 11 years since I last posted a stuffed peppers recipe ! I am posting a new one, which a) is a different style, and b) I think is more delicious. My previous recipe was more of a Turkish style. This is based on Das Original DDR Kochbuch , which we purchased in Weimar, Germany.  I have added some spice to what would have been a rather stodgy recipe. This is great to make if you are practically drowning in peppers from the garden, as we are at this time of year. We used about 12 peppers of varying sizes, mostly small. If you are using store-bought peppers, 6 will probably do. Before. Note: some extra peppers were placed in my massive Dutch oven as spacers (and not filled with rice).  Bonus picture of Violet's favorite game that she invented--pepper tops! They say "Helloooo!" and jump around a lot. Melt-in-your-mouth taste of summer. Preheat oven to 400° F Filling 6-10 green bell peppers 2 Tbsp. olive oil 2 Tbsp. butter 2 c. coo...

This recipe based upon one from the grand tome "A Mediterranean Feast". It is the rarest of the rare: a true half-hour meal. Great for the tired, the desperate, the hungry. The original recipe calls for a 6-7 ounce can of tuna, but the largest I found was 5 ounces, and that worked fine. You could double to 10 oz tuna if you want it more meaty. Pictured with a simple salad of arugula + spinach, tomato, tossed with salt, olive oil, and balsamic. Recipe 1 lb. farfalle (bow tie noodles) 1 5 oz. can tuna packed in olive oil (do not drain) Handful of fresh parsley leaves, lightly chopped 1/4-1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil 1/3 c. freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese Freshly ground black pepper Salt to taste Salt the pasta water generously, and bring to a boil. Boil for the time listed on the box. Drain. Empty the tuna, including the olive oil it was packed in, into a large bowl. Add the parsley leaves. Dump in the noodles and toss. Add olive oil to your liking,...

This recipe comes from my friend Marisa, who shares a love of pickled things. It is very simple and does double-duty as hearty, but also somehow refreshing due to the tangy kraut. In my recipe I used some winter savory and chervil from my garden, which I have included on the blog just to annoy Alex, because I know he loves obscure ingredients. The recipe will be just fine without them, though (or try experimenting with other herbs!). 1 ring kielbasa 1 large can or jar of sauerkraut, drained 1 large onion, sliced 2 carrots (optional, for color), peeled and sliced 6-8 small white potatoes 2-3 qts chicken broth 2 Tbsp. butter 2 Tbsp. winter savory, leaves only 1 handful chervil fronds 1 tsp. white pepper 1 pinch of nutmeg Place the kielbasa on the grill (or in a hot frying pan) for a few minutes to get some color around the edges, then slice. Meanwhile, saute the onion in some butter in a Dutch oven until they begin to soften. Rinse the sauerkraut, maybe 30 seconds if you...

This is a simple and hearty meal; basically a stovetop version of mac'n'cheese, but with a northern Italian style. Keep this one in mind for summer when you have zucchini to use up! 1 lb penne rigate Generous salt for pasta water 3 small zucchini, sliced into thin strips (about 3 c.) 1 clove garlic,* 5 oz sharp provolone, grated 2 c. milk 4 Tbps. butter, divided 1 Tbsp. flour *The garlic step is optional, and a little bit fussy, but gives you more flavor Slice the zucchini into strips about 2" long and 1/4" wide. Make a roux by heating 1 Tbsp. of the butter in a small saucepan until bubbling, and adding the flour, whisking until smooth and bubbling. Add the milk and bring to a bare simmer, whisking until it thickens ~5 minutes. Stir in the cheese until melted. Set aside. Boil the pasta in generously salted water and cook until al dente . Do not drain--try to time this to coincide with finishing the zucchini. *Fussy garlic step: heat the remaining b...

It am sure it is no coincidence that the last blog post is about the same age as Zayn and Violet! Tonight I find myself with a lull in the toddler fray to post this lovely dish we had in San Sebastian, Spain. This recipe is adapted from  The Basque Table . The original recipe calls for Biscayne sauce, but that is a pain to make and it says you can substitute paprika. I used  La Dalia agridulce smoked paprika . Delicious and simple: a true 30-minute-meal. 1/3 c. olive oil 1 large onion, diced 2 green peppers, sliced into strips 4-5 Yukon gold potatoes, cut into large-ish bite sized pieces 1-2 Tbsp. smoked paprika 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 Tbsp. tomato paste 1 lb. ahi tuna, cut into bite-sized pieces 3-4 c. chicken broth salt to taste Heat the oil in a cast iron pot. Add the onions and saute 5 minutes until starting to become translucent. Add the pepper strips and cook for 3 minutes. Add the smoked paprika, garlic, and tomato paste and stir to combine,...

This is one of our summer favorites. It's derived from a recipe by Isa Moskowitz, I think from the book "Isa Does It." She's a vegan, and so we've made this carniverous, removed some hippy stuff (agave nectar, really?),  changed some ingredients (originally calls for radishes, which I guess is a way to use radishes.) and doubled the amount of sauce As long as you're grilling the chicken, I strongly recommend you also grill some baby bok choy because it is delicious and would go well on the side. Ingredients Salad 2 grilled chicken breasts (just keep this simple, the sauce is strong), chopped into small thin slices 1 14oz package of rice noodles, I prefer the ones that are one width up from the thinner pad thai noodles, cooked, clipped with scissors 2-3 carrots, sliced into thin carrot sticks 3 persian cucumbers, cut into thin sticks 1 bag/container of salad green mix Dressing 1 c. smooth peanut butter 3 cloves garlic 2/3 c. water ...

Somehow we don't have a recipe for these on the blog, and they're one of my favorites. Think of them as operation icebox muffins - that old apple way too soft to eat? Got a can of pinneaple around? Bam, you probably have what you need for these. I'm also putting this online because the recipe I'm using is printed out and I'm afraid I'll lose it since it turns out fabulously every time. The veggies/fruits in the recipe are subject to what you have and your whims. Personally, I think the pinneaple and coconut are essential to the recipe, and we like the raisins a lot. Otherwise, you can tinker - I've replaced the apple with ripe pear to great effect, I've added a peach, and you can play around further. Ingredients Dry 2 1/4 c. white flour (don't mess with whole wheat, these have plenty of fiber) 1 1/4 c. sugar (don't short this or they'll taste way too healthy. The fruit doesn't make them too sweet either) 2-3 tsp. cinnamon ...

I made this last night and it turned out fantastically - I wasn't going to post it since it was a bit improvised, but we haven't had a post in a while. I was going for a cross between (American) Chinese and Korean flavors. This is really easy to make, and doesn't even involve chopping an onion. It's pretty similar to galbi jjim in some ways, but again, a lot easier. Ingredients 1 large (2-3#) beef roast, preferably something with a bit of fat (I used bottom round) 4 carrots, cut into thick circles 1 medium purple turnip, peeled and cut into medium chunks. Daikon radish would work just fine too, it's harder to get around here. Sauce: 3/4 c. soy sauce 1/4 c. water 4 cloves garlic 1-2" of ginger root, peeled and sliced 1 tablespoon rice vinegar 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 1 tablespoon rice wine/dry sherry 1 tsp sesame oil 2 heaping tablespoons brown sugar 1 tsp (or more) ground black pepper dried chinese chilis to taste (...