iu eats @ home

Bratwurst with Apples, Sauerkraut, and Caraway

I really love fall food. And one pot meals. There's something really comforting about hot broth, veggies, and meat all in one bowl when the weather starts to get chilly. And around midterms, the last thing in the world I want to do is orchestrate a multi-course meal and clean up a sinkful of pots and pans. 

My first cookbook that I ever bought was British food writer Lindsey Bareham's Just One Pot. It is exactly what it sounds like: a book full of one-pot meals, with a pretty significant vegetarian section and the other chapters arranged by the main protein (pork, lamb, chicken, fish, beef). Her recipes are really easy and great for students, who are often short on time, money, and kitchen space. The first recipe of hers that I tried was a Spanish stew of lamb, chickpeas, spinach and tomatoes the first week I moved into my on-campus apartment. It was dead easy, and my roommate thought I was some kind of mad scientist super chef because the results were so good. 

Anyways, that lamb has very little to do with this recipe, other than the one-pot meal will save your life. You'll save money by not ordering pizza again, stretch meager portions of meats, and you can tackle your Symbolic Logic homework while dinner simmers away on the stove. By the time you need a study break, dinner is ready.

Sausage is FANTASTIC for one pot meals, because it is:

1. cheap
2. flavorful 
3. cooks really fast 

I will feature very many sausage recipes here because I believe in its powers. This particular sausage skillet is based on Brown County Meats pork bratwurst. They're the guys at the Farmers' Market grilling up spicy Cajun sausage and breakfast sausage "meat candy." All their meat is hormone free and humanely raised, and they blend up their sausage in small batches. Best part is that the sausages are about $4 a pound, or $1 per sausage.

Run by the Musgrave Orchard stand and pick up some of their jonathan and gala apples, then swing by the Bloomingfoods Near West store behind the market for some refrigerated sauerkraut (I like Bubbie's Sauerkraut because it has a really nice texture and flavor and the only ingredients are cabbage, salt, and water). Add an onion, some garlic, some thyme, and some caraway seed, and dinner is practically done.

If you want this to be extra special, and you are old enough to do so and don't live in the dorms, pick up a bottle of Upland's Amber Ale while you're out and about. If not, plain chicken stock or apple cider will do fine.

Bratwurst with Apples, Sauerkraut, and Caraway

• 1 pound (4) pork bratwurst
• 1 tablespoon olive oil  
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 medium onion, peeled, halved, and thinly sliced 
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped 
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves 
• 3 medium apples, a mixture of tart (Jonathan) and sweet (Gala), cut away from the core and sliced thinly
• half a 25 oz jar of refrigerated sauerkraut, such as Bubbie's, rinsed and drained  
• 1 heaped teaspoon caraway seeds  
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup Upland amber ale, or beer of your choice, or apple cider*  
• 1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard (such as Sierra Nevada's Porter mustard, available at Sahara Mart)
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 
• 1 cup chicken stock 
• 1 teaspoon sugar 
• salt and pepper, to taste 

Heat a pan large enough to accommodate all ingredients over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and butter and heat until butter melts and foams. Add the sausages and cook each side for about 3 minutes or until nicely browned. Remove sausages, let them cool, and cut them into halves or fourths. 

Meanwhile, in the same pan as the sausages, add the sliced onions and a generous pinch of salt and lower the heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and translucent. Add the garlic, thyme, and caraway seeds and cook for another 3 minutes. 

Add the apples, sauerkraut, cider vinegar, chicken stock, mustard, and beer (or apple cider) and bring to a boil. If using beer, add 1 teaspoon of sugar. If using cider, do not add the sugar or your dish will be too sweet. Stir to combine all ingredients, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. Let cook for 30 minutes, or until the sausages are cooked through and the sauce has thickened slightly. 

Taste the sauce and add salt or apple cider vinegar to your liking. Serve with bread and spicy mustard.

Chicken Thighs in Salsa Verde

I will be the first to admit that this picture looks gross. But I wanted to show the texture of the finished sauce after it has been blended. Please believe me when I say that this is delicious, you should try it, and I promise it is really impressive for being no work at all.

One of my very favorite vegetables are tomatillos, which look a lot like tiny green tomatoes in paper lantern husks. They are inedible raw (or at least I would not want to eat them that way), but when you cook them they melt down and make a thick, almost creamy sauce. They are tart and refreshing, and go really, really well with chicken. 

If you've ever been to a Mexican restaurant, chances are you've seen salsa verde, which is just salsa made with tomatillos instead of tomatoes. It is a cinch to make, although a little time consuming, but you can always double the recipe and freeze half of it for later. Just make sure that you let it cool completely and put it into single-serving, freezer safe containers (like Gladware or Tupperware). 

Another thing I love about this recipe is that it uses chicken thighs, which are always significantly cheaper than chicken breast and in my opinion, much tastier. My favorite chicken is from Schacht Farm, run by Matt and Mandy Corry right here in Bloomington, over by the Speedway. The Corrys raise their chickens on pasture, not in cages, and you can definitely taste the difference. The meat is much richer and more dense and has a pronounced flavor all its own and worth every penny of the $5.00 a pound (about 4 thighs per pound, which equals 2 servings). The thighs get a nice bake in the oven in the tomatillo sauce, helping the flavors meld and giving the chicken meat time to tenderize and stew.

Chicken Thighs with Salsa Verde

Serves 4 People, or 2 College Guys

• 1 pound fresh tomatillos, husked and rinsed
• 1 medium onion, peeled and cut into fourths 
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled 
• 2 poblano peppers (dark green, medium sized peppers), stemmed, seeded and cut into big chunks
• 1 jalapeno pepper, halved and seeded if you want a less spicy sauce 
• olive oil 
• large pinch of salt 
• 1 cup chicken stock 
• 2 tablespoons olive oil 
• juice of two limes 
• 2 pounds (about 8) chicken thighs 
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped 

Preheat the broiler on your oven. Put all of the ingredients other than the chicken stock and lime juice on a large baking sheet or casserole pan and toss to mix well. Put on the top rack of your oven, closest to the broiler unit, and broil until the tomatillos have burst and are juicy and the peppers and onions are beginning to char (about 15 minutes, but check on them every 5 minutes because some broilers are hotter than others). 

Let cool for about 10 minutes, then put all of the ingredients in a blender with the remaining ingredients (olive oil, chicken stock, lime juice). Pulse to incorporate everything, then blend until the mixture resembles that in the picture (nice and thick and saucy and well blended). Taste the sauce and add more salt or lime juice if you think it needs it. 

Now for the chicken.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Take the chicken thighs and sprinkle them on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat an oven-safe skillet over medium high heat, coat the pan with olive oil (not extra virgin), and brown the chicken thighs (cook for about 5 minutes on each side before flipping, being careful not to crowd the pan). This will help brown the skin and cook them a little so they don't spend so much time in the oven. If you need to cook them in batches, put the browned chicken thighs on a plate while you cook the rest of them.

Put all the browned thighs back in the skillet and top them with the salsa verde. Make sure your pan is small enough that the sauce completely coats the chicken. If it doesn't, you can add a little bit more chicken stock (the sauce will reduce in the oven, so adding more liquid won't hurt). Put the skillet in the oven and bake the mixture for about 30 minutes, or until the chicken thighs are cooked through.

Top with fresh chopped cilantro and serve with a lime wedge.

Okra and Olive Salad

My, I love okra. I feel that I might be alone in this. A lot of people HATE okra because, when cooked, it gets fairly slimy. Okra contains natural thickeners called mucilages (yuuuummmm) that to some people taste exactly how they sound. BUT they only leak this substance when the pod is cut or cooked, so when eaten raw you get all of okra's crunchy, vegetal goodness without any of the.. well.. you know.

Coming from Tennessee, my previous experiences with okra were limited to the corn-crusted and deep fried variety. I was going through my mom's issue of Cooking Light Magazine when I found this recipe for a marinated okra salad. It is seriously addictive. I love garlic and olives, and the okra in this recipe is deliciously crunchy. It is great to have around since it keeps for a week or so and tastes better the longer it sits in your fridge.

For the recipe, I use the garlic marinated kalamata olives from Sahara Mart, which is right down the street from my apartment. When you are shopping for okra, look late in the growing season (July and August.. okra is a warm-weather plant and if your t-shirt doesn't stick to your back after 20 minutes outside, okra won't be growing) for pods that are no longer than your thumb and free of any black spots. Use them quickly once you buy them since they hate the fridge and will start deteriorating quickly without anything to preserve them. 

Lemon-Macerated Okra and Oil

• 3 cups small okra pods
• 1/2 cup kalamata olives 
• 1 teaspoon lemon rind* 
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper 
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 
• 2 bay leaves 
• 2 thyme sprigs 

Combine all ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag, and seal. Marinate in refrigerator 48 to 72 hours, turning occasionally. Strain the okra mixture through a sieve over a bowl, discarding marinate.

*My favorite tool for this job is a microplane zester, which comes in handy for grating lemons, hard cheeses like parm, and whole spices like nutmeg. Since it does zest so finely, it makes it a lot easier to get the tasty peel off citrus fruits without any of the bitter white pith underneath. Make sure that when you do pick out lemons for zesting that you either buy organic lemons or give conventional lemons a thorough scrubbing. Many of them have chemicals and wax on the outside to help them stay pretty.

Tomato Salad with Tarragon and Capriole Chevre

This summer I signed up for a CSA, short for community sponsored agriculture. A CSA is more or less afarmshare. You "invest" in a local farm (there are several around here that offer different kinds ofCSAs, including Musgrave Orchardand Old Growth, which is the one I signed up for) by writing a check for the season in advance, and then every week you pick up a bag full of whatever is growing on the farm. Lately I have been getting lots of peppers, basil, summer squash, green beans, some leaf lettuces, melons, and TONS of tomatoes.

Before I came to Bloomington, I hated tomatoes. The texture completely grossed me out - squishy, mealy, seedy. Blech. I can't remember the exact time that I became converted, but I am pretty confident that sandwiches were a part of my tomato conversion. Layered between bread, they became benign. Especially with cheese. 

Slowly I became a tomato convert. It wasn't that I got used to the offputting texture of supermarket tomatoes. I finally tried a fresh, local tomato. Not all tomatoes are created equal. Most of the specimens in the store are from California and Mexico, meaning that they are picked underripe, gassed with ethylene to make them red, packed up and shipped across the country. Hence the mealy, nasty texture and lackluster flavor.

In contrast, most local tomatoes are picked hours (maybe 12 or 14, but still hours) before they get to market. They are picked riper than the ones in the supermarket, meaning that they carry more natural sugars and have a more succulent texture than ones shipped across the country. You must know what to look for, though, since some vendors at the Farmers Market still pick slightly underripe tomatoes for the same reasons that supermarkets stock them (they are firmer, hold up to transportation better, and have less superficial imperfections).

I learned how to shop for a perfect tomato: look for a brightly colored specimen that feels heavy and juicy. Stay away from pink looking tomatoes (unless they are a pink heirloom variety, in which case, pink is good) or ones that feel overly firm or light for their size. Now one of my very favorite lunches is a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich with some fresh herbs layered between the cheese and the tomato.

Finding myself ever short on time these days, and incredibly hungry after skipping breakfast, I decided to whip up a really fast salad with the contents of my fridge and pantry. The dish that came to mind is a breadless version of my standby, a tomato cheese sandwich with herbs. Some of you might recognize it as a Caprese salad, the classic of sliced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, only with goat cheese instead of mozz.

• one large heirloom tomato, sliced into thick rounds
• some Capriole goat cheese, crumbled or sliced into rounds
• fresh tarragon (or basil), scattered or sliced into ribbons
• salt and pepper 
• extra virgin olive oil 
• half a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar (optional)  

Layer all the ingredients in the order listed on a pretty plate. Let it sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes (or however long you can wait). Dig in with a knife and a fork. If you have a slice or hunk of bread about, the juices left on the plate after the salad sits for a bit make for a great dipping sauce. 

Tabouleh 2 Ways

Most of us in this country are familiar with "tabouli," a usually mushy salad of tired parsley, tomato, and onion in copious amounts of a cous-cous like grain called bulgur. And, speaking as someone who grew up eating the real deal, which is a bright parsley salad in a refreshing lemony dressing, most "tabouli" you get here sucks. Real bad.

The real deal is called tabouleh (tah-boo-lehy) and is 90 percent fresh vegetable. It depends wholly on the quality of the ingredients. You need TONS of fresh Italian (flatleaf) parsley. To that you add fresh onion, mint, a little bit of jalepeno, ripe tomatoes, and a little bit of bulgur (seriously, half a cup tops). The whole dish is tossed with a lemon and olive oil dressing and served ASAP. It should never sit for too long or it will be soggy and tired. Little bits of parsley will and should get stuck in your teeth.

However delicious, I will be the first to admit that tabouleh is not a stand-alone lunch salad. It is meant to be served with other things, and is especially delicious with grilled lamb chops or kebabs. Prepping all the parsley for tabouleh is also quite time-consuming (but not that bad if you set up a work area on the couch and pick parsley leaves to Law and Order - or whatever you're into). So I understand why in the States "tabouli" is mostly bulgur (but never couscous -- I don't understand nor believe in this salad being made with pasta), as it is cheaper, easier to prepare, and more filling. It also holds MUCH better in the fridge and can serve as both a side dish or a main salad-type meal.

That said, I have a favorite tabouleh recipe, and I will admit that it is not one that I learned from the Arab side of my family. It's from May S. Bsisu's fabulous book The Arab Table and seems like a little bit of a beast the first time you make it. But once you get the hang of the procedure, learn the ratios, and gain a little bit of confidence with your salad-making abilities, it becomes second nature and you can feel free to fudge around with the ratios - add more tomatoes, less onion, leave out the pepper, add cucumber, etc... Her one caveat - and I will repeat this - is do not alter the dressing. She is correct in saying that it is the perfect proportion of rich olive oil and tart lemon juice.

Cold Tabouleh Salad

• 1/2 pound yellow onions, finely chopped, or 6 green onions, white and light green parts, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup fine bulgur (or more if desired), picked over and rinsed 
• 1 pound tomatoes, finely chopped 
• 6 packed cups chopped fresh parsley 
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh mint leaves 
• 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped jalapeno pepper  

 Dressing for Cold Salad

•  3/4 cup fresh lemon juice, or more to taste
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil 
• 1 tablespoon salt, or more to taste 

 Combine the onions and black pepper in a bowl, and mix together with your fingers until well incorporated. Add the bulgur, tomatoes, parsley, mint, and jalapeno, and toss. In a glass mason jar, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, and salt. Screw the lid on and shake vigorously. Unscrew the lid and pour the dressing over the salad. Mix well until all the ingredients are coated with the dressing. Taste and add more lemon juice or salt if desired.

To make ahead of time (up to 12 hours), combine all of the ingredients other than the dressing in a serving container (I like the glass casserole dishes with plastic covers that Pyrex makes). Make the dressing when you are ready to serve the salad (extra virgin olive oil solidifies if you put it in the fridge) and dress it no more than 20 minutes ahead of time.  

My recipe for a "hot tabouli," which can be eaten hot as a side dish or cold as an entree salad, is also adapted from an Arab Table recipe for a side dish of bulgur and tomatoes.

Hot Tabouli

• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• About 4 large tomatoes, chopped with juices reserved
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon (or one small cinnamon stick)
• 1 cup fine bulgur
• ¾ cups water
• Salt and fresh ground pepper
• Small bunch of flatleaf parsley, chopped
• About 10 mint leaves, chopped
• Lemon wedges, to garnish

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and pinch of salt and cook, stirring often, until onions are soft and translucent. Add chopped tomatoes with juices and cook until they soften slightly, about 2 minutes. Add allspice, cinnamon, and bulgur and toss to coat bulgur with tomato mixture. Add water and cook about 2 more minutes. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Let the bulgur steam for about 6 minutes, then remove the lid and fluff. Cover, and let sit for another 4 minutes, or until the grains have absorbed all of the liquid.

To serve, season the dish to your liking with salt and pepper. Add the chopped herbs, and serve with a squeeze of lemon juice.

BLT with Basil Aioli

Everyone knows what a BLT is. It might possibly be the best sandwich in the world, if for nothing but its simplicity. Bacon. Lettuce. Tomato. There are two more components for a perfect BLT - mayonnaise and bread.

The trick with simplicity is quality. In such a straightforward sandwich, if any of your components are lackluster, the end result will be lackluster. Crappy tomatoes? The DEATH of a BLT sandwich. Icky lettuce? No thanks. Leave it off. And most importantly, the bacon. You must have good bacon. Thick, beautiful bacon. My favorite is from Fiedler Farms. They offer two types: Nitrite free bacon, which has no added preservatives, or the original, which uses nitrites to further preserve the bacon. I prefer the second because I think the texture is better, but to each his own.

The tomato is equally as important. It must be ripe. It must NEVER see the inside of a refrigerator. Refrigeration does wacky things with how a tomato ripens and contributes to a pretty awful, mealy texture. Find a nice, big, pretty tomato from the Farmers' Market. Bonus points for an heirloom tomato

The lettuce is really up to you. You could use a crunchy, refreshing lettuce such as buttercrunch or romaine, a peppery green like arugula, or baby lettuces from a salad mix. It is really up to you. As is the bread you choose. My only plea is that you do not, do not, use sliced supermarket whitebread. It is mushy and will fall apart under the heft of a well constructed sandwich. Baguettes are fine. Sliced wheatbread is fine. Really, anything but whitebread.

And lastly, the mayonnaise. Plain mayo is fine, but in the height of summer, with so much fragrant basil growing abundantly and so many farmers practically giving the stuff away, why not take the simple sandwich to the next level? An aioli is a garlicky mayo, and it lends itself creativity. Tomatoes and basil are sort of best friends, and if you have a mini food processor (which you should - they make life easy), basil mayo is one of those impressive little tricks that will spice up a wide range of goodies (and is a delicious dipping sauce for oven roasted potatoes).

Basil Aioli

1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 small garlic clove, chopped
about 10 big basil leaves, roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
fresh ground pepper
small squeeze lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a small food processor. Pulse until basil is incorporated, which you will know happened when the mayo turns a pretty mint green. Taste. Adjust seasoning.

BLT
4 slices thick cut bacon
1 tomato, sliced
a couple leaves lettuce
2 tablespoons basil aioli
2 slices bread

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Put bacon slices into skillet while it is still warming up. It will start to sizzle and render fat slowly for about 3 minutes before it begins to crisp. You can use this time to prepare the rest of the ingredients, or if you so choose, throw the bread into the toaster for a few minutes. When the bacon begins to crisp, turn it over with tongs. Repeat this process until it is cooked to your liking. Remove the bacon from the skillet with tongs and put the slices on a plate covered with a paper towel to drain. Make sure that the slices are flat or putting them on your sandwich will be difficult indeed. Slather your bread slices with the aioli. I like to put the lettuce directly down on the aioli so it stays put. Then follow with the bacon. Finally, the tomato and the other slice of bread.

Sit down to eat with a plate and a napkin. I never said this was a neat sandwich. I said it was an easy, good sandwich.