Main Course

Jicama Is a Fiber-Rich Powerhouse
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Jicama Is a Fiber-Rich Powerhouse

As you may know we belong to Misfits which has been great help during these times. * If you decide to try use this code we both get a discount. COOKWME-FG1DCQ and when I saw the Jicama as a choice this week In grabbed it. It had been awhile since we discovered so i tried the ole faithful slaw and then tried chips and fries. I recently had made sweet potato chips so figure what the heck.

Jicama (HEE-kah-ma), sometimes referred to as yam bean, Mexican turnip, or Mexican potato, is an edible root vegetable native to Mexico.

The vines of the jicama plant can grow up to 20 feet in length, but the leaves and seeds are actually toxic. The root is the only edible portion of the entire plant—the tough brown skin that gives way to juicy, white flesh on the inside. The flavor is sweet and starchy—think of a cross between a water chestnut and an apple.

Many call jicama a superfood, equating it with kale, acai berries, and quinoa. Jicama, along with sunchokes, packs a prebiotic called inulin, a big contributor to a healthier gut. In addition, jicama is rich in Vitamin C and Vitamin A. Lastly, jicama is naturally low in calories, making it a smart starchy substitute for those watching their weight.

Salad or slaw depending on what you want to call it

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 large jicama (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled, then julienned or cubed (easiest to work with if you cut the jicama in half first)
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced
  • 1/2 yellow bell pepper, finely diced
  • 1/2 green bell pepper, finely diced
  • 1/2 cup chopped red onion
  • 1/2 a large cucumber, seeded, chopped (optional)
  • 1 navel orange, peel cut away, sliced crosswise, then each round quartered
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1/3 cup lime juice
  • Pinch of cayenne
  • Pinch of paprika
  • Salt

How

Toss together the jicama, bell peppers, red onion, cucumber, orange, and cilantro in a large serving bowl.

Pour lime juice over all. Sprinkle with a pinch of cayenne and paprika. Season generously with salt.

2 Let sit a half an hour before serving.

Fries and Chips

Tried these in oven and Air-Fryer watch closely they will burn quickly

Air-Fryer
Oven
Air-Fryer

These are best served warm but did reheat nicely. You won’t get them super crispy but they good.

Ingredients

  • 16 ounces Jicama, peeled and cut into medium sized fries (1 pound)
  • 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
  • 1 tablespoon Fresh Lime Juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon Salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon Chipotle Chili Powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon Onion Powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon Paprika
  • How
  • Preheat oven to 400°F.
  • In a small bowl, combine spices. Gently toss the jicama fries with the oil and lime juice, then sprinkle with the spice blend.
  • Spread fries evenly on a baking sheet and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until fries are golden.
  • Serve immediately – they taste best hot out of the oven. 

Air-Fryer

same as above but watch closely and I turned half way through both methods. Oh the oven I made on a rack and used convection

First Pandemic Visitors
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First Pandemic Visitors

I’m back, healthy and cooking. It has been awhile, but I really did not stop just hid in the house like most others these days. Being a senior, I decided to take a break from the outside world work on the house, garden and have been volunteering for some Presidential and Senate campaigns. So, if you are getting those text asking who you might be voting for or are you registered before you hit delete or ignore it could be me asking the question be nice.  Anyway, the other day we had Mike and Gail over for the first time since they became engaged. I cooked up a meal that was pretty good if I do not say so myself.

BBQ Vegetable kebabs of, yellow (summer) squash, zucchini, mushrooms, Onions yellow and, red bell pepper.

Teriyaki Steak tips from Dom’s the Patriots version is better in our opinion although these melted in your mouth. These I simply put on skewers and BBQed until done.

Herb rubbed Flank Steak see here this is one of our favorite recipes. I will add I have learned to rub off the marinade with paper towel and overnight marinating to 24 hours works best.

BBQ Corn- I soaked the corn in husk all day but I am sure 1 hour would work. Then BBQ on the grill for about 15 minutes. We were fighting a threat of a horrendous thunderstorm, SO Lyn took the husk off and wrapped in tin foil. Oh, the storm did happen we soon had a river in the road in front of the house, and it lasted for hours the storm and the river. It ahs been years since we saw storm to that extent.  

Here are a few corn you might like Roasted Corn Salad,  Local Corn, Ginger, Corn Chicken Soup

Anyway, after a little discussion and the fact that we all had been symptom free and Gail who is back to work was tested negative a few days before, that masks were not needed. Thank goodness it is hard to drink wine with a mask. Wine and cooking are just a natural thing to me. Was a great evening.

Well look at that I’m babbling something my family expects from me.

Enjoy your summer and remember to check to make sure you are registered to vote it’s easy it takes seconds click below. Encourage your friends and family to double check.

Pan Fried Pork Chops With Juniper and Rosemary
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Pan Fried Pork Chops With Juniper and Rosemary

Up front this would work better with bone in, and fresh rosemary but you have to do with what you have because running out to the grocery store to pick up one or two things thing is a tough decision these days, especially for seniors.

This week has been a pork week from sausage patties with our breakfast for supper last night to tonight’s 30 Minute Pork Piccata. See ther is the What’s for syndrom and its only 9:30 AM.

I had two boneless pork chops in the freezer from Butcher Box and since our last anniversary in Maine where I had Brined pork chop and have been playing with this to duplicate. Came close but not there yet. Anyway

I tried this with what I had, I should have cut the chops in half to make thinner but it still came out Ok. This is definitely a work in progress for me and can’t wait for my herb garden to start to flourish.

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 Bone-In Pork Chops, About 1/2 Inch Thick
  • 1/2 Cup of Extra Virgin Olive OIl
  • 2 Tablespoons Juniper Berries
  • 1 Tablespoon Black Peppercorns
  • 2 Tablespoons Chopped Fresh Rosemary Note: I had to use dried so I heated in oil first, fresh would be so much better
  • Sea Salt

How

  1. Use the back of a knife to crush the juniper berries and peppercorns.
  2. In a heavy skillet, heat the olive oil over medium high heat along with the juniper berries, rosemary, and peppercorns until lightly smoking, then fry the chops for turning every minute, until no longer pink. 5-6 minutes estimated time.
  3. Sprinkle with sea salt, and serve immediately.

BTW left over made great pork rollup for Lunch the next day.

Cod in tomato sauce with potatoes and Olives
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Cod in tomato sauce with potatoes and Olives

Pappa Russo Style
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Half a roasted chicken with Broccoli puffs.

Just another quick meal, we got in the habit of buying roasted chickens from Whole foods when they are on sale for $5.99 cutting in half and Food Savering, there that word again, freezing.

This makes for a quick meal and leftovers for salads and sandwiches.

Quick Chicken Parm from the gut.
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Quick Chicken Parm from the gut.

We braved the outside world Sunday armed with mask, bloves and bottle of purell and went to Whole foods during senior hours. Beside the better quality products we get a kick out of being carded. There was a line so we waited a proper 6 feet apart. I was surprised to see a few people without masks perhaps they were survivors and had anti bodies. While there, we grabbed some air chilled boneless chicken breast and also a package of bone in. Yesterday while food savering, is that a word we have a Food Saver and use it, we agreed on chicken parm for dinner.

I did the Pan-fried Chicken Cutlets then put sauce on bottom of pan, placed the cutlets spread mozzarella cheese then sauce (left over from ragu but did not have sausage in it) spinkeled so grated parmigiano. cover with tin foil. I out in refrigerator since it was still early afternoon. When i took out I placed in preheated oven at 350 degree and cooked fro about 15 minutes. removed foil and place slices of provolone cheese back in oven until melted.

This is always a good go to comfort meal that is really easy.

Served with Wine
Breakfast Sausage Ragu cooking from the gut.
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Breakfast Sausage Ragu cooking from the gut.

We took advantage of a special that Butcher Box was offering bacon and breakfast sausage. My son had recommended the bacon so I figured what the heck. Now with the pandemic you have to make do with what you have. The first thing we had to do is figure out if it had maple syrup in it. Mike never got the sausage so he did not know but suggested smell it. Not a bad idea so I opened the package and smelt away and it did not. Good thing is I still had my sense of smell and taste, if you know what I mean. I cooked a tiny pattie just to make sure and the nose did not fail me. Anyway Lyn made her sauce and I cooked the sausage etc. It was a mild breakfast sausage and I added some Italian seasoning while browning. When browning I like to flatten it and let brown flip then start to crumble, rather than start to crumble as soon as you put in pan. In my opinion it produces a moister browned meat.

I added green pepper, mushroom, spring onion after the meat was browned cooked for a minute then added some of Lyn’s sauce

Cooked the pasta and served.

We did have salad on the side

All in all it came out pretty good for a cook from the gut meal. I think the mildness of the sausage made it possible.

Brisket in Sweet-and-Sour Sauce
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Brisket in Sweet-and-Sour Sauce

My brother kept asking me about my mom’s brisket recipe enough where I started to want one. I had a brisket from Butcher Box in the freezer so I grabbed and defrosted. Instead of making it Mom’s style brown, saute onions, add mixture of ketchup, yellow mustarts, horseradish and simmer for hours. I decided at Lyn’s request to try a sweet and sour recipe. However, I did not have ginger ale or coke and unfortunately being a senior I was not going to run out to the grocery store just for ginger ale. I happen to have root beer and said what the heck i have Root Beer BBQ Sauce it can’t hurt to try.

INGREDIENTS
• 1 first-cut brisket, 6 to 7 pounds, rinsed and patted thoroughly dry
• 1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
• 1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled, cut into chunks
• 6 large cloves garlic
• 1 cup ketchup
• ½ cup dry red wine
• ¼ cup cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon coarsely ground pepper, or to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 ½ cups Coca-Cola or ginger ale I did not have either so I used Root Beer which I had used for my Root Beer BBQ Sauce


How
Let meat stand at room temperature for 45 minutes before cooking. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Place everything but the soda, olive oil and brisket into a food processor, and process with steel blade until smooth. Pour the mixture into a large bowl and whisk in soda and olive oil.
Place brisket, fat side up, into a heavy baking pan just large enough to hold it, and pour sauce over it. Cover tightly with double layer of tin foil and bake for 3 hours. Turn brisket over, cover pan, and bake 2 to 3 hours more or until fork-tender. Cool, cover brisket and refrigerate overnight in cooking pan.
The next day, transfer brisket to a cutting board, cut off fat and slice with a sharp knife against grain, to desired thickness. Set meat aside. Remove any congealed fat from sauce and bring to a boil on top of stove.
Optional, since we smelt it all day and could not stand, let cool and trim off the fat then slice against the grain. Although I always find the next day produces a better piece of meat.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Taste sauce to see if it needs reducing. If so, boil it down for a few minutes or as needed. Return meat to sauce and warm in oven for 20 minutes. Serve warm.

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Much Simpler menu this year, only Lyn and Me.

Normally we host about 20 friends and family but with the way things are this year it was just Lyn and I so as the title mentions was much easier than usual on me. We decided on Ravioli Puttanesca and Lyn made lemon meringue without the pie crust. both were great. Usually we would make soup, brisket, lasagna, ravs, chicken cutlets, chicken piccata, pasta, meatballs and sauce, and other stuff.

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Quick Goulash with what I had

As I mentioned Lyn is fasting this week and I get to make what I want. I decided to make American Goulash and discovered that I did not a can of diced tomatoes and did not feel like opening a large can of ground tomatoes. So I ad libbed. I also used smoked paprika.

What I did was mix ketchup with the chicken broth and diced what little I had of cherry tomatoes left from Misfit Market. I had chopped green peppers and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Was a good supper and lunch today. Lyn was mad she kept complaining it smelts so good.

Right now I’m waiting for Charlie Baker to give an pandemic update and all that is on screen is his sign person who is looking very nervous walking back and forth and I think talking to himself.