Kicked-Up Paprikash

Let's be honest here--I cook not only to feed myself, but because I love hearing the compliments of my friends and family when I cook for them (humility be darned). My number-one customer, of course, is my husband--so when he demands that I post a recipe to the blog because he loves it so much, I listen.

Paprikash, while a visually striking dish, is not exactly the most photogenic. The color of the sauce--bright red-orange--is pretty one-note, and the yogurt in the sauce adds a sheen that doesn't show well on camera. The buttered caraway noodles look oddly plain, and the chunks of tender meat are hidden by that five-alarm sauce. But the flavor--kicked up by at LEAST a quarter-cup of Hungarian spicy paprika (I had to journey all the way to Budapest to buy big bags of it, but you can certainly find large portion-sizes at gourmet food stores), red bell pepper, and plain greek yogurt--is unique and soul-satisfying in the way only stews with noodles can be. If you're a ghoulash-lover, or a fan of rich beef stews chock-full of root veggies, this one's for you.


My doctor-ed up recipe includes much more paprika, and I swapped out chicken for pork in this version, since I was in a traditionalist mood. So traditionalist, even, that we had this with a bottle of that classic Hungarian wine, Egri Bikaver. Like most stews, Paprikash tastes even better on the days after which it's made, so save some for a ridiculously satisfying midday meal.

Serve the paprikash with buttered caraway noodles: simply toss al-dente cooked egg noodles with a couple tablespoons of salted butter and a generous sprinkling of caraway seeds. If you don't have salted butter, use unsalted and add salt to taste.

Pork Paprikash
Adapted--quite freely--from Cooking Light

1 tbsp oil
1-2 lbs pork (use a style good for stewing, like pork shoulder or boneless country-style ribs) or chicken tenders, cut into chunks
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper (about 1 medium)
minced garlic, to taste (I also threw in several cloves of smashed garlic--not very traditional, though)
1/4-1/2 cup whipping cream, 2% fat plain greek yogurt, or sour cream, depending on how you're feeling
4 tbsp (if you're a newbie) to 1/2 cup Hungarian spicy paprika
1 tbsp tomato paste (get the kind in a tube, next to the pasta at the grocery)
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
1/4 tsp black pepper

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add pork or chicken; cook 5 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Remove from pan, and keep warm.

Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Return meat to pan. Stir in your choice of dairy and remaining ingredients; cover and simmer minutes or until meat is done and sauce is slightly thick. If you are using pork, you may wish to simmer the sauce for 20-30 minutes more to get a more tender texture.

Asian Cold-Eze

This recipe for Chicken Soup with Jasmine Rice and Ginger, from Food and Wine: an Entire Year of Recipes 2006, is the perfect remedy for anything that ails you. Chris recently came down with a case of the stomach flu, and he was able to keep this down better than saltines! The chicken broth and rice provide low-stress nourishment, and the ginger helps alleviate any nausea. The recipe requires very little work or prep--just a bit of time on the stove.

Don't be scared of the fish sauce--it may stink a bit, but you won't notice it (in a bad way!) in the broth. The Three Crabs brand is fantastic, and can be had at any asian or international grocery.

Instead of poaching individual chicken breasts, I prefer to just buy a rotisserie chicken and shred the meat. If you'd prefer to prepare the meat yourself, take 1-2 chicken breasts and poach them in a bit of water or broth, then let them cool and shred the meat.





4 servings

1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp jasmine rice, rinsed if necessary
4 cups water
One 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled (you can do this easily with the edge of a spoon)
3 cups of chicken stock, preferably low-sodium and organic
1 tbsp Asian fish sauce
Pinch each salt and sugar
1/2-1 cup shredded cooked chicken
2 scallions, thinly sliced crosswise
2 tbsp coarsely chopped cilantro

1. In a medium saucepan, cover the rice with the water. Bring the rice to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the rice is tender and porridge-like, about 25 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, cut the piece of peeled ginger into matchsticks: thinly slice the ginger crosswise into coins, then stack the slices. Cut the slices lengthwise into thin slivers.

3. Add the chicken stock, fish sauce, salt and sugar to the rice, bring the soup to a simmer and continue cooking over low heat for 10 minutes. Stir in half of the ginger slivers and simmer the soup for 10 minutes longer.

4. Ladle the chicken soup into shallow bowls and garnish with the shredded chicken, sliced scallions, chopped cilantro, and the remaining slivered ginger. Serve at once.

Make ahead: The recipe can be made through Step 3 and refrigerated overnight. When reheating the soup, add extra stock to adjust the consistency.

Lazy Girl's Indian

So, faithful reader, at this point you probably think that:

1. Kari is a lush.
2. Kari spends hours cooking EVERY NIGHT. Totally not my style.

As I sit here sipping my chocolate martini (martini purists, I don't wanna hear it!)...I can't deny #1. Alcohol + food = heaven.

However, with regard to #2, that isn't really true...I have lots of "short-cut" recipes that I use on weekdays, that require maybe 5-10 minutes of prep, and then maybe 5-10 minutes of puttering in the kitchen. Really easy, stress-free cooking.

The key to tasty, quick, luxurious meals? Knowing when prepared/frozen foods work, and when they don't. Frozen peas, baguettes, and blueberries work well; frozen strawberries and oily dishes, not so much. In the same vein, Rao's jarred pasta sauces are preservative-free, all-natural, and probably more delicious than anything I can prepare, but other brands--Progresso, Contadina, even Emeril's--just don't cut it. That's not to say that I don't use fresh blueberries in season, or that I don't make my own raw tomato sauce in the summer, but rather that there is a time and a place for frozen and prepared foods.

Indian cuisine, to me, is one of those places. Most people--except, perhaps, my good friend Ivan, who prepares vegetarian Indian cuisine like a native Punjabi--consider Indian food to be quite the undertaking, due to the number of exotic items and spices involved, as well as the time often taken to simmer sauces to an appropriate level of tastiness. Chris and I *love* Indian food, but we 1) can't afford to eat out all the time and 2) like to restrict our level of ghee consumption.

That's where Shere Khan and Geeta's prepared Indian jarred sauces come in. Chock-full of fresh-tasting onions, tomatoes, garlic, spices, and chilis, these sauces reduce hours of cooking to a simple pop-and-pour. They're also incredibly low in sodium and fat, because there's no ghee involved (at maximum, there's a bit of coconut that adds a little fat). Both brands are available at Cost Plus WorldMarket (sensing a trend, here?) and they're pretty economical (~5 bucks a jar).

There's no set recipe for this kind of cooking (although I've indicated some generalities below), but usually it involves browning some meat, adding the sauce to the pan, then adding the desired vegetables for some gentle steam-cooking. These sauces are excellent for vegetarians as well--just add more of the green stuff to your liking to replace the meat. Let the sauce, meat, and veggies simmer for a bit while the basmati rice finishes cooking, pop open a Kingfisher, and voila!--your healthy, spicy, impressively complex-tasting dinner is done in 25 minutes flat, rice cooking time included.

Beverage Note: We had this with Cline's Ancient Vines Zinfandel, perhaps my favorite red under $20.

Chicken breast, frozen peas, and canned chickpeas simmer away happily.

Try this concoction on simple coconut rice--you won't regret it.

Ingredients for 3-4 servings (alter at will)
About 3/4-1 pound of meat (chicken, lamb, etc), preferably organic, cut into bite-size chunks
2-3 cups of vegetables (canned chickpeas, frozen peas, cauliflower, eggplant, broccoli, potatoes, spinach, etc), made bite-size
1 can reduced-fat coconut milk
2 cups of rice, preferably long grain (basmati or jasmine)

Start the rice going--I love my cuckoo rice cooker, but it's perfectly acceptable and traditional to do it over a proper flame! Add the rice, coconut milk, and water to the pot (If using long-grain rice, use about 1.5 cups of liquid to every cup of rice; if using medium-grain, do a little more than 1 cup liquid to 1 cup rice. 1 can of coconut milk is a little less than 2 cups). If desired, add a little salt to the rice.

Brown the meat in a nonstick pan with a little oil over medium to medium-high heat (the Geeta's brand of sauces comes with a packet of spices to brown the meat in. So use those, if you're using Geeta's). If using eggplant, saute that at the same time as the meat. Lower the flame and add the jar of sauce. If using potatoes, add those now and let the sauce simmer for 5 minutes before adding more veggies. Add the remaining veggies, and let simmer til it is cooked to your liking.

Plate the rice, and spoon the Indian goodness over. That's it. Enjoy!

When Supereasy, (Sorta)healthy, and Superyummy Collide

I arrived home on Tuesday to a humongous package on my doorstep, which held my new, GLORIOUS KitchenAid Artisan standing mixer (an engagement present from my extraordinarily generous future parents-in-law!!). It had been a stressful day--I'd just finished an afternoon of briefings--and I knew nothing would calm me down like cooking up a storm. I started with a delicious chicken stirfry from The Breath of a Wok and a delicious bottle of Virginia rose from Chester Gap Cellars, but I felt an intense need to use my brand-new mixer before the night was out.

I had three sticky-ripe bananas on my kitchen counter, so I knew I wanted to use those; my friend Lauren had sent me a "Classic Banana Bread" recipe from Cooking Light just a week or so earlier, and that sounded like the perfect thing. The recipe itself is low-fat and pretty low-cal, but I added chocolate chips so that probably sinned it up a bit!! The bread was ridiculously delicious--soft, moist, and full of intense banana flavor. It also kept very well for about two days (at the end of which we had gobbled up the entire loaf!!). The baking prep was pretty much nonexistent--it was probably 10-15 minutes from the time I started mashing up the bananas to when the loaf was happily baking in the oven.


2 cups all-purpose flour (per Lauren, whole wheat pastry flour would also work well here)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt (I used Greek yogurt, and that was just fine)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
chocolate chips (optional)
Cooking spray (I like Pam for baking!)

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

3. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Stir in chocolate chips, if using. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Yield: 1 loaf, 14 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

CALORIES 187 (21% from fat); FAT 4.3g (sat 2.4g,mono 1.2g,poly 0.3g); IRON 1mg; CHOLESTEROL 40mg; CALCIUM 20mg; CARBOHYDRATE 34.4g; SODIUM 198mg; PROTEIN 3.3g; FIBER 1.1g

Ridiculously Yummy Summery Soup

What comes to mind when you think of minestrone soup? Chunks of too-soft carrots, potatoes, and peas? Globules of starchy, overcooked pasta? A salty broth, perhaps with a tomatoe-y tang?

Now turn your conception of minestrone around 180 degrees, and TRY THIS SOUP. This version of minestrone--featured in a 2007 article in LA Times that was recently published as an "encore"--includes lots of summer vegetables in a parmesan-scented vegetarian broth (the whole soup can be made vegan, even), and is topped with an incredibly flavorful garlic-and-parsley pistou. I made the soup as a tribute to the summer diet gods, but it has turned into a new obsession. I'll be making it again this weekend!

Note: I topped the soup with shredded parmesan, and then a dollop of pistou. The parmesan really adds a level of unparalleled flavor. I also substituted/added several things in the recipe, and I'll note those substitutions below.



Summer minestrone with parsley pistou

Total time: About 1 hour, 40 minutes

Servings: 6 to 8

Note: From test kitchen director Donna Deane. Save the rinds from Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to add to the soup pot. It gives added flavor and substance to this vegetarian soup.

3/4 cup olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, diced into 1/2-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
1 bulb fennel, cored and cut into 1/4-inch-thick strips
6 cloves minced garlic, divided (I used more garlic)
2 large tomatoes, cored, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (canned would also work here)
2 (2-inch) pieces Parmigiano-Reggiano rind
21/4 teaspoons salt, divided
3/8 teaspoon white pepper, divided
2 cups parsley leaves
1 yellow squash, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
1 zucchini squash, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
2 cups green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces (I'm not wild about green beans, so I used more squash instead)
1/2 cup tube pasta (such as tubetti), cooked according to package directions, about 8 minutes and drained (I subbed yukon gold potatoes, cut in 1/2 inch dice. let the chunks simmer for 25 minutes)

1. Heat one-fourth cup of the oil in a large pot over high heat until hot. Add the onion, and reduce the heat to medium. Sauté the onion until it begins to brown around the edges, about 5 minutes. Stir in the fennel and continue to sauté until the fennel is tender and just begins to brown around the edges, about 5 more minutes. Stir in 2 cloves of the minced garlic during the last minute of sautéing.

2. Add the tomatoes and 6 cups water. Stir in the cheese rinds, 2 teaspoons of the salt and one-fourth teaspoon pepper. Bring the soup to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and then cover and simmer 20 minutes. (Put the potatoes in after 5 minutes of simmering time so that they get 25 minutes total of cooking time)

3. While the soup is cooking, prepare the pistou. Purée the parsley and the remaining minced garlic cloves in a food processor. Add the remaining one-fourth teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper. With the motor running, drizzle in the remaining olive oil until emulsified. Set aside.

4. Add the squash and the beans to the pot, and continue to simmer until the beans are just cooked, about 10 minutes. Remove the Parmesan rinds from the soup, and stir in the cooked pasta. Ladle the soup into large flat bowls. Spoon a dollop of pistou onto each serving. Serve immediately.

Each serving: 251 calories; 3 grams protein; 15 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams fiber; 21 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 685 mg. sodium.

Healthy Wintery Comfort Food

I'm intensely grumpy today. Messy house + upcoming microecon midterm do not make for a happy Kari. My day was noticeably improved, however, by this low-fat dish of shredded butternut squash, tomatoes, shallots, garlic, red pepper flakes, and penne--heavy on the veggies. I'm still grumpy, but dinner + a glass of vinho verde improved my mood significantly!

This recipe is from Mark Bittman's recent NYT article on "rethinking pasta"--upping the amount of sauce, and decreasing the amount of pasta, which you can find here. Sometimes I find Bittman's recipes to be boring and/or untasty (and yet his compendium is one of the best cookbooks out there), but this one hit the spot.

Pasta With Winter Squash and Tomatoes

Salt and pepper

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1/4 cup sliced shallots

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste

2 cups chopped tomatoes

1 1/2 to 2 pounds peeled, cubed or shredded butternut or other winter squash, about 5 cups

1/2 pound cut pasta, like ziti or penne

Freshly chopped parsley or Parmesan for garnish.

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Put olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, shallots and pepper flakes and cook for about a minute; add tomatoes and squash, and cook with some salt and pepper.

2. When squash is tender — about 10 minutes for shreds, 15 or so for small cubes — cook pasta until it is tender. Combine sauce and pasta, and serve, garnished with parsley or Parmesan.

Yield: 4 servings.