In the chaotic kitchen of a recipe developer, you get a food blog called FoodMayhem.
I'm Jessica, an Asian-American, born and raised in NYC, and that's Lon, my Jewish, white husband. While professionally trained as a French culinary- and pastry chef, many of FoodMayhem recipes are my attempt to preserve and share authentic Chinese and Taiwanese recipes learned from my mom. We don't eat Chinese food every day, so you'll get a little bit of anything we find delicious enough to share: from our Eastern European side; recipes and techniques learned from my restaurant days; restaurant reviews, food travel tips; and a few other juicy bits along the way. Welcome to FoodMayhem!
This black bean soup benefits from being made a day ahead so that the flavors can really come together. It’s always great to have these kind of recipes around because sometimes you want to get some of the cooking out of the way early, so you don’t have to rush day of.
What’s better than barbecue sauce? Two barbecue sauces! In continuing our Pulled Pork fest, I made two more barbecue sauces. The first is a nice and spicy sauce that features molasses and heat. The second is a super basic sauce, similar to one my mom used to make for chicken.
If the weather is not enough to let you know it’s Fall, the farmer’s market will. Every other stand has a beautiful selection of fall veggies, including many types of squash. After laughing about how some pumpkins were bigger than Ice (our dog); I picked up a butternut and a delicata. My goal was to make a glowing orange, fall soup that could shine above the rest, something to really get people excited about squash soup.
Jessica and I LOVE the finished product. It is perfect, seriously. The spice and fall flavors combine perfectly, this soup will make you feel warmed for the cool weather. While eating it, Jessica said she could imagine herself sitting in a log cabin, by a fire, drinking this soup.
Unsquashed Squash Soup
~ approximately 10 cups
Ingredients
I’ve been waiting till the temperatures cooled a bit, before using the lentils (Lentejas) in our Despana Basket. The advantage of jarred lentils, over dried, is that you don’t have to rehydrate them. That’s why I call it a Quick Lentil Soup; it’s relatively faster and easier.
It’s taken us a while to go through all the fabulous meats in our basket, but we’re finally down to the last one, Slachichon, a dry cured sausage. It’s delicious eaten as is, similar to salami, just thinly slice it, and have a glass of wine, maybe some cheese, ahh…I decided to throw some into the soup for extra flavor.
Quick Lentil Soup
1. In a large dutch oven, heat the salchichon on high heat until it gives off fat, about 2 minutes.
2. Add leeks, carrots, onion, and stir until softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Add chicken broth and lentils and bring to a boil.
4. Turn down to a simmer and cook covered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
I didn’t realize until I opened this jar of Pimientos, from our Despana Basket, that it was packed in olive oil. I normally buy the ones jarred with brine. The olive oil does add a bit of flavor and the fat coats your tongue nicely if eaten alone. I’m not sure it makes a big difference when cooked in a rice dish. It certainly doesn’t hurt though.
I wanted to make a quick one-pot meal tonight, having stood all day, and just not in the mood for experimenting. Lon just came in from the pouring rain, completely soaked, and I wanted something comforting, guaranteed to warm him up. Well, this dish worked, a cheaper and easier version of Paella, because these are the ingredients I had. We finished the whole thing, which was really meant to be dinner and his lunch for tomorrow.
Quick Chicken Chorizo Rice
~3 servings
1. Heat oil in a 11″ skillet (2 1/2″ deep) over medium high heat. Add onions & cook until starting to soften, about 2 minutes.
2. Add chicken. Season with salt and pepper and stir until the outsides of the chicken pieces are cooked, about 2min.
3. Add chorizo and stir for another 2minutes.
4. Add pimientos and rice, stirring until rice is coated with oil and pan juices.
5. Stir in two cups of chicken broth and bring to boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook covered until liquid is absorbed, about 12 minutes.
6. Stir in frozen peas, which will cook in less than a minute.
7. Remove the rice dish to a serving platter and toss tomatoes on top.
