127 Irish Car Bombs

My piping hand is tired!

Veggie Beef Soup and Sweet Skillet Cornbread

I don't care what anyone says: Sweet cornbread is food. Savory cornbread is ew.

The soup really isn't this thick; this was cold leftovers in a bowl for the sake of photography. Viva el arte.

Veggie Beef Soup (adapted from, well, me)

1 lb. stew beef, cut in 1-inch chunks
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
2 tbsp. flour
1/2 cup red wine
4 cups beef broth

1 cup water
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes seasoned with oregano, garlic, and basil, undrained
1 16 oz. bag frozen mixed vegetables
Salt and pepper

Dredge beef in flour, salt, and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium high heat. In three batches, brown the meat in the olive oil (just long enough to brown the outside; they don't have to be cooked through). Remove meat to a bowl; set aside.

Add additional olive oil to pot, if necessary. Sweat onion and celery in pot for about 5 minutes, stirring to get brown bits off the bottom of the pot. Stir in 2 tbsp. of the seasoned flour and cook for 1 minute. Stir in wine, beef broth, water, tomatoes, beef, and vegetables. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 1 1/2 hours. Season with salt and pepper to taste.


Cornbread (little bits of about 5 different recipes)
1 cup flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
3 tbsp. dark brown sugar (light works, too)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 tbsp. lemon juice/vinegar with enough milk to make 1 cup)
4 tbsp. melted butter

Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9-inch or 10-inch cast iron skillet.

Whisk together all the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and buttermilk; barely stir into the dry ingredients. Add melted butter and stir gently just until combined. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Stuffed Chicken Thighs

I'm about to post photos that I'm ashamed of. (Not that kind.) (...this time.)


Stuffed Chicken Thighs

3 tbsp. olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
6 campari tomatoes, seeded and roughly chopped (or enough of another variety tomato to yield about 1 1/2 cups chopped tomato)
Salt and pepper
8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
10-15 basil leaves
6 oz. mozzarella cheese, grated
1 1/3 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
Olive oil

Heat olive oil over medium-low heat in a medium skillet. Add garlic and cook gently for about 5 minutes (do not let the garlic brown). Add tomatoes and increase heat to medium high; cook, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes have cooked down and have taken on a jam-like consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Speaking of crappy pictures...

(wince)

Let's pretend that never happened.

Lay a chicken thigh on a flat surface. Lay a basil leaf on the meat (or two leaves, if you think they're small). Spread about 1 tablespoon of the tomato mixture on the basil. Sprinkle about 1 tbsp. of cheese on the tomato mixture. Roll up, sealing as well as possible, and coat with bread crumbs. Lay in a lightly greased 8x8 pan. Repeat with remaining chicken.



(Have you ever noticed that raw chicken just does not photograph well? and you'll notice by the end of this post that the chicken ended up in a different pan; this one was too big. whoops.)

Drizzle lightly with olive oil and top with the leftover cheese, if you're feeling frisky. Just make sure your chicken isn't too close to your top burner when you bake them at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.

I would make this again, at least that tomato mixture (YUM). But next time, I think I might chop the basil finely and add it to the tomato mixture after it's cooked (and in that case, probably only about 2 tbsp. total chopped basil). I wasn't crazy about the big pieces of basil in the chicken, personally. I'd also use a sharper cheese.

Rice Pudding

Nothing about this post is even remotely appealing to me.

What a way to start a recipe post, huh?

I hate rice. I will eat rice if it's smothered with something delicious and international. And even then, I'd rather lick a plate clean of all kinds of goo than have the deliciousness taken up by rice. The smell of rice cooking makes me think of dogs, and the texture of it between my teeth makes me think of organisms that I won't write about here. You're welcome.

But I find myself surrounded by a bunch of weirdo rice pudding lovers, and I've never actually made rice pudding before. So I figured, hey... it's still gross.

This recipe was interesting because, unlike many others I saw, it doesn't require eggs; I guess the starch in the rice provides all the thickening power. I made this partially for a person who isn't a huge fan of spices; if not for that, I might have cooked the pudding with a cinnamon stick floating around in it, then fished it out at the end. I might do that next time (next time? psh).

Rice Pudding (adapted from the recipe at America's Test Kitchen, which I cannot link to because it's a paid site that I didn't pay for, but that's another story.)

1 cup medium-grain white rice

1 pinch salt

4 cups 2% milk

1 cup cream (not heavy whipping cream)

1/3 plus 2 tbsp. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla (I used vanilla bean paste)

Another pinch or two of salt

Cinnamon, nutmeg, or whatever else

Combine the rice, pinch of salt, and 2 cups of water in a medium-large pot. Cover and cook until all liquid is absorbed, about 25 minutes.

Stir in the milk, cream, and sugar. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture begins to boil. Turn heat down to maintain simmer and cook, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens, about 15 minutes. When mixture is fairly thickened, turn heat down to low and continue cooking, stirring more frequently, until mixture thickens further, maybe another 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Add pinches of salt as needed. Season with cinnamon, nutmeg, or whatever else.

Pastitsio

Pastitsio, adapted from Everyday Food (http://www.pbs.org/everydayfood/recipes/pastitsio.html)

Topping:
6 tbsp. butter
1/3 cup flour
3 cups milk
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

Filling:

2 lbs. ground beef

2 medium onions, chopped

3/4 cup red wine

6 oz. tomato paste

2 cups beef broth

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 lb. penne pasta, cooked and drained (I used elbows because that's what we had)


To make topping: Melt butter and add flour. Whisk and cook for about a minute, then add milk slowly, whisking until no lumps remain. Cook over medium high heat, stirring frequently, until thickened. Remove from heat; stir in cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a large skillet, cook beef until it begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Add chopped onion and cook another 5 minutes. Drain some of the fat, if necessary. Add wine and cook until liquid is cooked away, about 6-8 minutes.

Add tomato paste, broth, cinnamon, salt and pepper; cook until thickened, about 10-15 minutes. Stir in cooked pasta, then transfer to a 9x13 baking dish. Spread topping on top, and bake at 375 degrees for about 35-45 minutes or until topping is slightly browned in spots (more brown than the picture above.. haha.. whoops).