Recipe corner: Crockpot shredded chicken

Wow, it's been a while since anyone has posted.  We don't post much about our lives these days.  But this is still a great place to post family recipes.

Lately we've been making this in the crockpot.  It is incredibly simple, quite versatile, and entirely delicious.

Crockpot Shredded Chicken

Take a pound or two of boneless skinless chicken thighs, frozen or unfrozen, anywhere from 1 to 3 lbs, give or take a little.  Put this in the crockpot.

Dump in some tomatoes.  We usually have roasted tomatoes in the freezer so that's what we use.  We'll dump in a baggie of them (pint size, usually, though it's fine to use more or less).  If not, probably a few regular tomatoes or cherry tomatoes would work, if their flavor was good.  Or a can of diced tomatoes, juice and all.  It's probably entire optional if you don't have any tomatoes around at all or if you don't like tomatoes.  There's enough liquid already in the chicken thighs.

Cover and cook on low for 6-12 hours -- towards the higher end for larger quantities and frozen thighs/tomatoes, towards the lower end for smaller quantities and non-frozen thighs/tomatoes.  An hour on high equals two hours on low, and we do sometimes start these on high if the thighs are frozen.  Or we use interludes on high if we're short on time.

When the chicken is tender and falls apart easily, it's done.  Then, put the chicken in a bowl and shred it (a fork or two forks are very helpful for this).  It doesn't have to be 100% shredded -- do it to your preferred texture.  Add enough juice from the crockpot to keep the shredded chicken moist but not soggy.  Season to taste.  We usually add salt and garlic powder, maybe some pepper and a bit of either lime juice or cider vinegar.  We keep it pretty simple so that it will pair well with different kinds of sauces.

If there's still liquid left in the crockpot, turn it into a sauce.  This can probably be done in the crockpot but we usually do it on the stove.  Mix a bit of the liquid with some flour to make a slurry.  Mix the slurry in with the rest of the liquid (that is now in a pot on the stove).  Add seasonings to taste.  We usually take this in a southwestern-ish direction, with salt, garlic powder, a small sploot of lime juice or cider vinegar, ground chiles or chili powder or both, and a pinch of cumin.  But it can go in any direction you prefer.  Bring the sauce to a boil so that it thickens to your liking.  (This means approximately 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour per cup of liquid, usually.)

If there's not enough liquid left to make a sauce, maybe add it to the shredded chicken anyway and hope the chicken doesn't absorb so much that it gets soggy.

We will usually serve the chicken (plus or minus any sauce) as part of a meal with flatbreads or tortillas or rice, or as sandwiches with added barbeque sauce.  Add other condiments and sides to make it as satisfying as you like.  We're fond of red onion pickles, for example.

Small amounts of leftovers that might not be enough for a full second meal make an excellent filling for empanadas or bourekas or turnovers.  Or use it as part of making fried rice or a pilaf or soup or anything else you do with small quantities of leftover meat.

Yes, I know that there are food safety concerns about starting frozen stuff in a crockpot, for fear that the internal temperatures will be in the danger zone for too long.  However, the meat cooks for a long while after the temperatures are hot enough to kill any germs (165F and above).  We don't trust raw chicken anyway, danger zone or not, given the vagaries of the modern food industry.    Also, if I'm going to be home, I run the crockpot on high for a few hours to increase the temps as quickly as possible, whether the chicken is frozen or not.  If I'm not home I don't worry about it, of course -- it'll do fine on low since I might not be home for 10-12 hours anyway.  Defrosting the chicken before cooking is yet another option for people who are sensitive to these things and/or worried.

Although chicken breasts can be used, they're more likely to dry out and get stringy with the long cooking.  Chicken with skin and bones can be used, but deboning would be a pain and you'd have to decide how to handle the soggy skin plus the extra fat in the pan.  I'm sure other types of poultry would work well, too.

This grew out of some of the family's existing recipes for things like pulled pork and shredded brisket.

Recipe corner: Sauces for Fish

 We use various different sauces when baking fish.  They all evolve and get tweaked over the years.  I'm listing a few of them so we don't lose them.  They can be used as marinades for a little while before cooking in addition to being dumped on the fish just before cooking.  I often reserve some of the sauce to use to baste the fish during the last few minutes of cooking so the sauce doesn't puddle up and get burned.

Honey-Mustard-Soy

I found the original recipe in one of those magazine-ish things that come in the mail and that have articles that are really elaborate advertisements for expensive kitchen remodels, combined with straight-up advertisements from kitchen-remodeling-related businesses.

The original recipe calls for 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons mustard, and 2 tablespoons maple syrup, to be mixed and poured over 2 salmon filets (I assume roughly 1.5 to 2 lbs fish total?) which are then grilled.

I switched the maple syrup to honey.  I use Grey Poupon Country Dijon Mustard because I like using dijon for this rather than hot-dog mustard and that's what I usually have lying around.  I use the Japanese-style soy sauces from the grocery store because I think its stronger flavor works well for this -- Kikkoman, for example.  And I use honey because I usually have it around, while I rarely have maple syrup as a pantry staple these days.

So... that means my personal version is a 1:1:1 ratio of soy sauce, mustard, and honey.

If you're eating less than a pound of salmon, it works fine to mix 1 tablespoon of each rather than 2 tablespoons.  I usually do that, in fact.

I spread it over the salmon and then bake as usual.  If I have way more sauce and it starts to puddle up, I reserve the excess sauce and spread it on the salmon during the last 3-5 minutes of baking.

I suspect that this sauce would work for many kinds of fish, not just salmon and steelhead.  It might also work pretty well on chicken though I haven't tried that yet.

"As usual" for salmon means anywhere from around 15-20 minutes at 325F to 10-12 minutes at 400-425F.  The lower temperature takes longer but is more forgiving if you're worried about over-cooking the fish or burning a sauce.

Teriyaki-ish

The above recipe led to this variation.  It has a somewhat Asian-ish flavor.  I usually use it on salmon though it might work well for other kinds of fish.

1 tablespoon each of honey and soy sauce, with a bit of sesame oil and some minced ginger (we've been using a tube of ginger puree that a family member found in the grocery store).  I don't really measure the sesame oil and ginger, sorry, but the two of them together are roughly 1 tablespoon, or I might even use 1 tablespoon sesame oil and then add a sploot of ginger.   Yes, the sesame oil is likely to lose some flavor if the oven is too hot for too long.  Make more sauce (with the same ratios) if making more than a pound or so of fish.

Spread/pour it over your fish and bake as usual.  Or marinate for a little while and then bake.  We usually use this with salmon or steelhead, but it would probably work well for all kinds of fish and maybe chicken.

I often save some sauce back to add to the fish during the last few minutes of cooking.

Adding a bit of minced garlic would only add to the yumminess.  Or add a bit of garlic powder to the sauce.

Ideas and Speculations

I wonder how this 1:1:1 concept could be extended.  Maybe shift it back towards the soy-honey-orange idea that's already a recipe on this blog?  If so, maybe use orange juice or orange juice concentrate for one of the ingredients.  Keep the soy sauce, and maybe add a bit of honey or sesame oil.  The ginger puree would probably be good.  I am going back and forth on whether mustard would work well.

The basic concept seems to be soy sauce (savory/salty), sweet stuff (honey or maple syrup or maybe a fruit juice), and something flavorful that may act as a binder (mustard, sesame oil + ginger).  You could probably substitute wine for the soy sauce (probably white or rose) and that alone would be pretty good (wine, honey, mustard).  What other ingredients might work as part of a triad? Jam or jelly? Ketchup or barbeque sauce or steak sauce? Horseradish sauce? Olive oil? Pesto? Flavored vinegars? Other fruit juices?  Hmmm...

Lemon cream sauce with mustard

This is from something I found online.  I posted about it here, but now, as requested, I'll put it on this blog so we can find it more easily.

It is based on this recipe, though a previous version of the website.  (When we first round the recipe, I'm pretty sure it was old-style, no blinking bits and random videos and zillions of silly photos before getting to the recipe.  And it was on the 'net WAY earlier than the 2019/2020 that the link claims for it.  I probably used a version from 2016 or early 2017.  The recipe seems to be the same, as does the person who posted it, but the surrounding stuff is a little different.)

This is a good recipe for using up small quantities of cream.  As usual, any kind of cream can be used, not just heavy cream.

It works great with tilapia and probably other mild fish.  It wasn't as good when we tried it with chicken.

This makes a lot of sauce as it cooks, which is great to mix with grains and starchy things such as rice or wild rice or freekeh or couscous, etc.

The basic recipe/technique:

Melt a half stick of butter (1/4 cup, 4 Tablespoons, 2 oz.) in the microwave.  It doesn't have to be all melted, just really soft and close to melting.  Add 1/4 cup cream, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, some minced garlic (or garlic powder), salt and pepper, and about 1.5 tablespoons of lemon juice.  (I usually use 1/2 of a lemon if I'm using fresh lemon juice, even if it ends up being a bit more than 1.5 tablespoons.  Canned lemon juice works, too.)  Mix it all up.

Put a few tilapia filets (or any kind of mild-flavored fish) in a greased pan.  Pour the sauce over the fish.  Add some diced scallions or shallots or bits of onion if desired.  The amount of fish isn't too important -- anywhere from about a half pound to two pounds, depending on the ratio of fish to sauce you want to generate.

Bake at 390F (give or take a bit) until it's done, about 10-15 minutes depending on how much fish and how thick the filets are.

The sauce can taste fairly sharp depending on how much lemon juice and mustard is added.  I usually use Dijon country mustard because I like the strong mustard flavor and the included mustard seeds.

The amounts again:

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup cream

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1.5 tablespoons lemon juice

salt, pepper, and garlic to taste

optional finely-diced onion or shallot or scallions

Recipe corner: Hummus

 Here is the recipe we usually use for hummus.  It's extremely similar to every other recipe out there.

Hummus

1 can chickpeas (the 15 ounce size -- see notes below)

3 tablespoons lemon juice

3 tablespoons tahini

1/2 teaspoon garlic (usually 1-2 cloves max)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cumin

olive oil (garnish)

cayenne (garnish)

Ingredient Notes:

Chickpeas...  I usually make this with no advance planning.  Therefore, cans of already-cooked chickpeas are very convenient.  I use the 15-or-so ounce size can, which I think is about 1.5 cups of cooked chickpeas.  Checking online, I see that this is about equal to 3/4 to 1 cup of dried chickpeas if you want to start from that.  I'm sure this hummus is even better if you cook the chickpeas yourself.  You can use the ratios above to increase/decrease the other ingredients if you're starting with some other quantity besides 1/5 cups chickpeas

Garlic...  You can use fresh-minced garlic cloves, minced garlic in jars or pureed garlic from tubes, or garlic powder, etc.  If using raw garlic, beware of using too much.  It's pretty potent stuff.  I don't measure too precisely.  The 1/2 teaspoon measurement above is more of a guideline and reminder not to overwhelm the hummus with the harshness and heat of excessive raw garlic.

Lemon juice...  I usually don't have fresh lemons on hand, so canned lemon juice works perfectly well.  The flavor is slightly different.  Three tablespoons is roughly the amount of juice from one lemon, depending on the size and juiciness of the lemon.

Seasonings...  salt and pepper to taste.  Use a little more or less cumin as you prefer, but use the 1/2 teaspoon as a rough guideline.  I sometimes add a small sploot of olive oil to the hummus and sometimes only drizzle it on top.

Instructions:

If you are using a can of chickpeas, drain the can, saving the liquid.  Rinse the drained chickpeas.

Put the drained chickpeas into the food processor with the rest of the ingredients.  Whir it up, adding some of the reserved liquid, until it's pureed to your favorite consistency.  (the rest of the can's liquid will not be used, so do with it what you will)  If you don't have a food processor, you can puree it in a blender, smash it up with a fork or potato masher or ricer, push the chickpeas through a food mill, etc.

Scoop the hummus into a container.  Drizzle a little olive oil on top and sprinkle with cayenne.  Many recipes call for other things to be sprinkled on top, too, such as oregano or sesame seeds or za'atar.

Serve at room temperature or chilled.  Store it in the refrigerator, covered, where it will keep pretty well for up to a week or so.

This goes well with flatbreads and as part of a Mediterranean-influenced meal.  It's also good with vegetables, crackers, rolls, couscous, other pasta, or anything else you want to experiment with.

Sweet and Sour chicken

 Sweet and sour chicken. This recipe is based on the one from
The Thousand recipe Chinese cookbook by Gloria Blay Miller. ISBN 0-517-20160-7

This is the best sweet and sour that I have had -- significantly better than most restaurant sweet and sours.

 

Sauce:

1) 3/4ths cup water

2) 1/2 cup sugar

3) 1/2 cup vinegar (I use rice wine vinegar, can also use apple cider vinegar)

4)  1 tablespoon cornstarch

5) 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce

6) 1/4 cup water

7) (optional) either 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring or 2 tablespoons tomato sauce (for color)

Boil 3/4th cup water and add sugar. Stir until dissolved, then add vinegar and bring back to boil. 

While boiling, blend cornstarch, soy sauce, and 1/4 cup cold water.

Dump blended mixture into sugar/vinegar/water mixture and reduce temp to low. 

Main part of sweet and sour:

1) 1-2lbs chicken, cubed

2) other stir fry veggies

    a) pineapple

    b) pepper

    c) onion

    d) carrot

    e) garlic+ginger

3) 2 eggs

4) a bunch of corn starch 

5) lots of veg. oil

chop everything. Then, stir fry all vegetables, leaving the chicken until the end. Put veggies in a separate bowl (put in a warming oven if you have an oven safe bowl). 

Fill wok with a few inches of oil to deep fat fry the chicken and heat to aprox 350-400 degrees -- just prior to the smoke point.

Dunk chicken cube into egg, then corn starch, then the oil. Cook until it floats or is golden brown. Then remove from oil and put into bowl with other veggies. Repeat until all chicken is cooked. 

Bring sauce back to a broil and mix into the chicken and veggies.

Serve with rice. This goes quite well with beer. 

Enjoy!

Roasted Lamb Shanks and Flatbread

 This is a recipe that I've made several times. I completely made up the lamb, but the flatbread are the King Arthur's flatbreads, with some adaptations. (recipe here: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/skillet-flatbreads-recipe ). I enjoy using hummus with the flatbread and making little sandwich things.

I tend to get around 1.5 pounds of lamb (one shank per person), and it is enough for some leftovers. You could probably get away with 4 shanks for 5 people.  I get the lamb from a local grocery store called Haggens, but any nice meat market should have it.

 

The lamb requires some sort of covered roasting pot. I use a shallow 10" cast iron with a lid. 

 

1) Preheat oven to 300

2) Put some olive oil in the pan.  

3) Cover lamb shanks with Salt, Pepper, Garlic, Thyme, and Rosemary. 

4) Cook for 2-3 hours and let it sit for 10-15 minutes after it is cooked. 

(The lamb releases lots of fat, so gravy is a good option!)

I start the flatbreads about 20 minutes before I pull the lamb out of the oven. I cook them in a 12" cast iron, but you can use any skillet. 

Flatbread recipe:

1) 3 cups flour

2) 1.5 teaspoons salt

3) 2 teaspoons baking powder

4) some garlic

5) Some thyme

6) 1 cup ice water

7) 2-3 tablespoons olive oil

Mix all dry ingredients. Then add oil. Then add water and mix. The dough should be moist but not sticky. 

Wrap it in plastic wrap and let it sit for 10 minutes.  

Add lots of oil to the pan. You want it to be about the same depth as the flatbread; not so it covers the flatbread, but so it just comes up to the top of the flatbread. The stove should be on a medium heat

Divide the dough into 12ish blobs and roll them out. I make them about 8" in diameter or about a quarter of an inch thick.  

Cook them one at a time until they smell done. They should be golden brown on both sides. Add oil to the pan as needed. (note, this can smoke a lot -- add oil when it starts smoking, or turn heat down a bit)

Dry on paper towels and transfer to serving platter. 

Serve this meal with roasted broccoli and a nice red wine. 

Enjoy!

Recipe Corner: Zucchini Potato Pancakes

We found this recipe on the 'net in a couple of different forms.  I'm adding it to our blog so we don't lose it.

I have seen this recipe in several places.  When I first made it, I interpolated between the versions on My Kitchen in the Rockies and My Columbian Recipes.  There is no special reason why I used those two except that they were the ones I stumbled across first.  Both of the blogs say that the original recipe came from the Joy the Baker Cookbook.  There is a recipe for zucchini pancakes, no potato added, on Joy the Baker's website if one wants to see the ur-recipe.  Which apparently was inspired by yet another person!  I love how cooking is so collaborative, with food concepts being adapted by so many different people.


Zucchini Potato Pancakes

2 cups peeled and grated potato
2 cups grated zucchini (or any kind of summer squash)
1/4 cup onion, finely diced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
oil (for sauteing, about 2-4 tablespoons total over the whole recipe)

Mix the grated squash and potatoes with 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Put it in a colander to drain for about 10 minutes, and then squeeze out the excess liquid.

Meanwhile, saute the diced onions in a bit of oil until they are translucent.  Add the garlic, saute another minute, then set aside.

Break the eggs, beat them slightly to mix well, then add the flour, baking powder, and another 1/2 tsp. salt.  Add the two veggie mixtures (onion with garlic, and the shredded veggies) and mix well.

Heat more oil in a pan.  Add blobs of the veggie/egg mix.  Flatten them a bit with a fork or spatula.  Cook over medium-high heat, flipping when the edges turn brown, until they are crisp on both sides.  These are not deep-fried; they are merely sauteed.

This made 12 pancakes.  The amount per blob was more than a tablespoon (as specified on one blog), somewhat less than 1/4 cup (as specified on another blog).  So about 2-3 tablespoons batter per pancake, more or less.

Serve immediately with any desired sauces or condiments.

The original recipes say that these are best the day they are made.  They can be kept warm in a 200 F oven if necessary.  If there are leftovers, store in the refrigerator and reheat in a lightly oiled saute pan the next day.


We served these with hummus.  I can see a lot of other sauces or condiments being useful -- all kinds of salsas, baba ghanoush, many kinds of chutneys, ketchup or chili sauce or shrimp cocktail sauce, potsticker dipping sauce, yogurt or sour cream or creme fraiche, etc.

The ratio of potato to zucchini can be adjusted to fit the size of your potatoes and zucchinis.  I also believe that the total quantity of grated veggies is somewhat flexible, though of course not infinitely flexible.  Summer squash of any sort can be substituted for the zucchini.  I suspect that other vegetables can be added to the mix.  The pancakes can be made somewhat bigger or smaller.  Various herbs or spices can be added to the batter.  And so on.

One medium-large baking potato is about 2 cups.  One medium or two smaller summer squash is about equal to 2 cups.  In case you need to know.

I wonder how these would taste being rolled in pita bread, with vegetables and tahini or tzatziki or hummus, as some mad variation on a falafel.

One blog recommends them as part of a menu which includes smoked salmon and herbed cream cheese.  Another recommends sour cream or creme fraiche, with a dusting of cumin and paprika.

This is a versatile recipe as well as being a nice way to use up the rapidly accumulating squash from the garden.

Recipe Corner: Cherry Liqueur

An old favorite, put on the blog so we don't lose the recipe.

Cherry Liqueur aka Cherry Schnapps

2 lbs. cherries
2 cups sugar
4 cups vodka (or 2-1/2 cups brandy and 1-1/2 cups vodka)

Wash and stem the fruit, then cut open each cherry to expose the pit.  Put cherries in a large, clean jar.  Cover with sugar, stirring well to cover all the fruit.  Let it sit for 3-4 hours.  Then, stir in the booze until the sugar is mostly dissolved.  Seal and store in a cool, dark place for 2-3 months, stirring or shaking occasionally to enhance flavor extraction.

For the cherries, use the best-flavored ones you can find.  For the past few years, we've found big, black sweet cherries at the farmer's markets.  The shnapps ends up being deep red in color.  If you use yellow cherries, the color is more brown/golden.  I'm pretty sure this would taste good with pie cherries if you have access to those.

You're cutting them open a bit so the innards can mix well with the booze.  If you don't have time to let the cherries sit or get the sugar dissolved, don't worry about it.  The long, slow soak with occasional stirring will do the job.

You can strain out the cherries or leave them in until the jar is empty.  We usually leave them in.  When the jar is empty, I take out the cherries, pit them, and freeze the brandied cherries.  Or, if you need a few brandied cherries, eat them whenever you want.


This is highly medicinal, of course!  It's approximately the same thing as kirschwasser, one of those sweet fruit brandies that my parents used as an Old Country cough/cold remedy.


The same basic recipe idea can be used for lots of other kinds of fruit, such as raspberries or blackberries.  Also, if you prefer to pit the cherries instead of adding the pits to the liqueur, that's fine, too.