Chicken and Mashed Potaters

I have a great butcher in my neighbourhood. Apart from the complete lack of pork and inexpensive fish, they are pretty much the best. They get some amazing chicken from a local farmer just outside the city. It has way more flavour than anything I've had from the supermarket. They cut up whole chickens there, so the thighs (my favourite part of the chicken) end up with a bit of spine in them, and that means delicious marrow to eat later.

I tried a different marinade than the traditional buttermilk, thinking the beer and yogurt would act the same way to tenderize the chicken. I patted them dry, coated them in barbeque sauce and cornmeal, and baked the thighs for 50 minutes at 350 in the oven. I grilled the drumsticks in my George Foreman grill for 30 minutes. They both turned out really well.

Mashed potatoes needed a bit of a kick, so I caramelized some onions and bacon to add. Instead of butter, I added the chicken drippings from the baked thighs and a few dashes of hot sauce. I will have a hard time going back to regular potatoes. These have raised the bar quite significantly. Next time I'll make them with cauliflower instead of potatoes to help with the nutrition factor.

Here is a picture of Ian eating with super fast, ninja-like hands. His plate was full when I raised the camera; It must have been really tasty.

Minestrone Soup

1lb lean ground pork
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion
2 carrots
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 head broccoli, stem peeled and chopped with small florets separated
1 can tomatoes
3 small potatoes
1 jalapeno pepper, split down the middle but otherwise whole
6 cups water
1 tsp dried dill
1 tsp tumeric
1 cup dried pasta
salt & pepper
parmesan cheese, fresh grated

Brown pork in olive oil, add vegetables, tomatoes, and water. Save broccoli heads for a bit later as they will go mushy but chop up the core of the stems and put them in. Add dried dill and turmeric. Simmer for 20 minutes or until veggies have only a little bite to them. Add broccoli heads and 1 cup pasta and simmer until pasta is done. Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese, eat & enjoy. It should get better overnight.

This was pretty good but not great. Next time I could use chicken stock instead of water, and definitely no potatoes along with the noodles. One or the other. Fresh herbs such as a thyme bouquet would have enhanced the flavour and complexity of the broth. Add parmesan rinds to the broth to give it body and flavour. Brown the pork more, and caramelize the onions. Butter would have tasted better than olive oil but isn't has healthy. The broccoli got a bit mushy despite adding it at the end, so did the pasta (would have happened overnight anyways). Put them in after you turn off the heat instead of simmering through. That might preserve a better texture. I was in a bit of a rush this time, but those steps would have made a great soup. I like my soup really thick, without much broth at all. Stew like. If you want lots of broth, add more water. For a tasty vegetarian dish, omit meat and use vegetable stock.

Other ingredients that would have worked:
Butternut squash, cauliflower, zuccini, beet greens, spinach, roasted red or orange bell pepper, celery, white wine, sausage, rice instead of pasta, beans, pretty much any meat or produce you have in your fridge it seems.

*Update*
Ladypants has advised that I was too critical, that this soup is delicious, and that I really should have not added the potatoes. Next day magic! Also, this:

Fish Cakes

5 small to medium sized potatoes, 1" cubed
1lb boneless cod filet, 1" cubed
1/6 spanish onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic
1/2 red pepper
1 cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp whole grain dijon mustard
2 Tbsp cream
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 C bread crumbs
2 Tbsp flour to coat
salt and pepper to taste
Butter for frying

Boil potatoes. When they are almost tender add fish. Lightly saute onion, garlic & peppers.

Drain when potatoes are tender and add to a bowl. Add sauted vegetables to the bowl and mash together. Add mustard, cream, mix lightly. Add lemon juice and bread crumbs. Mix until even distribution.

Form into patties (mine were about 4" in diameter), coat in seasoned flour. Fry in butter. Flip when patties are a bit browner than this picture. These turned out to be like pancakes where the first batch (pictured) didn't brown as nicely as the rest.

Serve with sliced avocado and yogurt. Eat & enjoy.

These fish cakes turned out really tasty, but not at all fishy. Neither I nor Ladypants could pick it out at all, so next time I'd use more fish. so they aren't really fish cakes, more fried mashed potato awesomeness. Crunchy on the outside, creamy in the middle with a nice texture from the red peppers. They tasted great with the perfectly ripe avocado and the tang of the yogurt. I was surprised to find myself full after only three. They also quelled the caffeine shakes leftover from this afternoon's tasting session. Win, win, win!

Jalapeno spinach macaroni and cheese

2 1/2 C Uncooked macaroni or other short hollow pasta
1/4 C Butter
1 Tbsp Flour
1 1/4 C milk, cream or mixture of the two
125 g Gorgonzola or other creamy blue cheese
125 g Old cheddar
2 Cloves of garlic
1 Jalapeno pepper, minced (remove the seeds if you want to reduce the spiciness)
Large handful of baby spinach
Salt & Pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil pasta in heavily salted water as instructed on the package. Melt butter in pan, add flour and stir until creamy. Add milk/cream and stir until fully incorporated. Add cheeses, garlic, and minced jalapeno pepper, stirring often. When melted, add spinach to wilt down, still stirring often. If the sauce is too thick, add some pasta water.  Season to taste. Mix pasta and sauce, put in cassarole dish and top with freshly grated parmesan cheese. Bake for 20 minutes. Broil until Parmesan layer turns golden brown.

Rich, creamy, flavourful, spicy, and satisfying. A great dinner unless you are on a diet. The sauce is quick and can be made in about the time it takes the pasta to cook. If you make this, I'd be interested to know in the comments how you liked it, any changes/substitutions you made, and how they worked out. I'm looking forward to leftovers.

*Update*
To make this healthier you could use quinoa instead of pasta and add a higher proportion of vegetables. Any combination of broccoli, cauliflour, red bell pepper, zuccini and white kidney beans would be my choices.