Chicken Stew with Bombadil

Bombadil was back in town, along with some other friends, so I made some stew for everyone.  It turned out pretty decent, but the Bombadil show definitely stole the night.  

Ingredients:

• Ground Chicken
• Celery
• Onion
• Potatoes
• Tomatoes
• Quinoa
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Black Beans
• Roasted Red Pepper
• Chicken Stock
• Apple Cider
• Cane Sugar
• Celery Salt
• Garlic Salt
• Black Pepper
• White Pepper
• Red Pepper
• Paprika
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Thyme
• Cloves

Procedure:

    To make this, I used the basic procedure for any stew: throw a bunch of stuff in a pot and hope for the best.  I browned the chicken with the onions and celery in a separate pan, and roasted a red pepper on a burner, but other than that, everything just went in the pot and simmered for about an hour and a half.

Resulting Deliciousness:

    I give this about a B-.  It was definitely tasty, and healthy, and the flavors were decently layered and went together well.  However, I was a little disappointed with the combination of textures.  It would have been better to cut the potatoes and cauliflower smaller.  If I was less lazy, it would have been really good to steam the cauliflower separately, put it in a blender with some butter or olive oil, then add it to the stew.  That would have smoothed things out and thickened the broth nicely.  Also, I burnt it a little.  I noticed quick and didn't stir up the burnt stuff on the bottom, so it wasn't ruined and most people couldn't tell.  All in all, it was good, and gave me some good ideas, but fell a little short of the bar I set for myself.

Chicken Cacciatori

From Dinner with Bombadil and Paleface!

Last week, Bombadil and Paleface played at The Red and the Black in DC. The show was fantastic! While they were in town, they crashed at my place. I made them a pretty solid dinner:

Ingredients:

• Rice Pasta

• Chicken Cacciatore Sauce
  
• Pre-made regular pasta sauce, can't remember what kind
  
• Ground chicken
  
• Onion
  
• Green pepper
  
• Celery
  
• Spices to taste - salt, pepper, oregeno, garlic salt, basil

• Quinoa Pilaf
• Red quinoa
  
• Frozen vegetables
  
• Garlic
  
• Salt
  
• Pepper
  
• Oregano
  
• Basil

• Side salad
• Bag of pre-mixed salad
  
• Black olives
  
• Buffalo mozzarella
  
• Tomatoes
  
• Olive oil
  
• Balsamic vinegar reduction (leftover from my spare rib dinner)

Procedure:

I started by caramelizing the onion, green pepper, and celery in some olive oil and spices. I added the ground chicken to that, then the store bought pasta sauce. That was left to simmer while everything else was made.

The quinoa pilaf was about the same as I've made in several other posts. I just added frozen vegetables and some seasoning to the quinoa while it cooked. This is very simple, tasty, and healthy. It goes with just about anything.

The salad was just a pre-mixed bag to which I added a couple tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and olives. I used olive oil and my balsamic vinegar reduction for the dressing. For the reduction I added sugar, honey, and a bay leaf to about a cup of balsamic vinegar and let it simmer for 20-30 minutes. That went really well on the quinoa too.

Resulting Deliciousness:

The dinner hit the spot. It provided some good fuel for the show the next night. Make sure to go see Bombadil or Paleface if they're playing near you!