Can I just tell you how delicious this yellow mole is, and how grateful we should be that Rick Bayless exists to tell us hopeless gringos how to make such things? You really, really must make this. Besides being absolutely delectable, it’s a great use for frozen green beans! Heavens! This version turned out especially well because I used fresh, extra fatty chicken broth. I’m sure it’s still good and will do less damage to your arteries if you skim your stock. Warning: four guajillo chiles (pictured below) were too much for me. Two were too few. So, um, use three, or to taste?

Chicken with Yellow Mole (paraphrased and ever-so-slightly adapted from Rick Bayless’s Mexican Everyday)

3 dried guajillo chiles, stemmed and torn into several pieces
1 pint roasted tomatoes
1/2 small white onion
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 t. ground cumin
4 c. fresh chicken broth
2 T. canola oil
2 c. cooked chicken (if you’re making broth, bingo! you’ve got chicken!)
1 T masa harina, or coarse cornmeal in a pinch
2 c. green beans (frozen are fine)
2 large or 4 small Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1″ pieces
Salt
Cilantro

1) Combine the torn chiles, tomatoes, onion, garlic, cumin, and 1 cup of the stock in a blender. Puree until smooth.

2) Heat up the oil in a large, heavy pot. Add the tomato-chili mixture and cook until it looks like a thick paste. Rick says it takes about 5 minutes; I needed closer to 20. Maybe that’s because I’m using about twice the tomatoes that he recommends. In any case, dragging a spoon through the mixture should leave a track.

3) Whisk the masa harina or cornmeal into the remaining stock, then add that to the chile-tomato mixture. Bring to a boil and simmer until it starts to get thick. Add the cooked chicken (ideally shredded), the green beans, and the potatoes. Cook until the potatoes are tender, then taste and adjust the seasonings.

Serve with warm tortillas. Hint: if it’s too spicy, eat it with yogurt. This gets better and better as it sits in the fridge, though I doubt it will last that long.

This is a fairly basic salt cod stew from Simon and Inés Ortega’s wonderful 1080 Recipes. If you haven’t seen this book and are curious about what Spaniards eat at home (as opposed to in tapas bars), you’ve got to check it out.  Part of what I love about it is that the translation to English is pretty much limited to language and measurements—I can think of few things less likely to appear in an American cookbook than “Lambs’ feet fritters” or “Pickled Partridges.” Other recipes, though, are eminently doable and made for improvisation. I was very, very happy with this recipe. The stew turned out sort of like a Spanish bouillabaisse, or maybe a thin Manhattan chowder, and the cooked salt cod ends up with a texture not unlike lobster.

Salt cod may be a bit hard to come by in certain parts of the country, but I’ve had good luck finding it in ethnic groceries, urban supermarkets, and Philadelphia’s Italian Market. Unless you’ve made your own salt cod, no points here for seasonal or local, but the rest of the ingredients are more virtuous.

Salt Cod Stew (paraphrased and lightly adapted from 1080 Recipes)

1 lb or package of boneless salt cod
2 T olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pint home-canned tomatoes or roasted tomatoes
springs of bouquet garni herbs: lavender, thyme, parsley, and a bay leaf
2 lbs potatoes, in thick slices
6 c. fish stock (optional)
pinch of saffron
handful chopped parsley

1) The night before you make the stew, start soaking the salt cod in a tray or dish. Change the water at least four times—the more you change the water, the less salty it will be.

2) Cook the onions in the oil in a soup pot for about five minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and stir 30 seconds more. Add the tomatoes and their juices and cook another 5 minutes. Add about 6 cups of water or fish stock, the herbs (except the saffron), and the potatoes. Bring to a boil, turn the heat down, and start simmering.

3) Meanwhile, crush the saffron in a small bowl, then dissolve it in a bit of the hot stock. Add the mixture to the pot and simmer about 20 minutes.

4) Cut the salt cod in about 1″ pieces, removing any stray bones. Transfer to the soup pot and cook another 10 minutes. Taste for seasoning—it most likely won’t need salt, but a little pepper is nice. Throw in some chopped parsley for garnish.

I can’t think of any reason why you shouldn’t be able to make this in the crock pot, except that it might get too salty if you didn’t soak the salt cod properly. If anyone has tried that successfully, please let me know!

At this point it’s a little late to be pulling leftover turkey out of the fridge (I made a backup turkey on Sunday, so I’m still in the clear), but this recipe will work perfectly well with frozen cooked turkey. My version jumps off from a Rick Bayless version published in Reader’s Digest (I know! I know! But it’s still Rick Bayless), but adds a jar of homemade tomatillo sauce, since I’ve got a whole bunch of them just sitting in my basement waiting to be eaten. Depending on how many people you’re cooking for, it might make leftovers. I haven’t tried it, but I suspect pipian sauce would make a *spectacular* version of chilaquiles.

Turkey in Pipian Sauce

1 c. unsalted pumpkin seeds
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic
12 sprigs cilantro
1 half-pint jar homemade salsa verde/tomatillo sauce
1 T olive oil or canola oil
3 c. turkey or chicken broth
4 c. cooked turkey, cut into pieces or shredded

1) Toast the pumpkin seeds in a heavy skillet (see picture). Let them toast for quite awhile, until they’re quite brown and popping.

2) Combine the pumpkin seeds, the onion, the garlic, the cilantro, and the jar of tomatillo sauce in a blender. Puree.

3) Heat the oil in a large skillet or pan (say, the one you just roasted the pumpkin seeds in). Add the sauce and 1 c. of stock. Bring to a boil and cook until it’s reduced by about a third (this will depend on the size your pan). Add the remaining 2 c. of stock and cook another 10 minutes.

4) Here’s the judgment part. Figure out how much turkey you want to add and how much sauce you want for that turkey. For 4 c. turkey, you only need about half of the sauce. Put the other half in a jar and store in the refrigerator for later use. Add the turkey to the remaining sauce and cook gently until heated through. About 15 minutes should do it.

OR

5) Toss your turkey with the sauce into a crockpot and cook on low for 4–6 hours. Theoretically, you could use raw turkey, in which case you’d want it on low for 10–12 hours.

Serve with warm tortillas.

My potluck guests scarfed it down before I could get a picture, so you’ll have to use your imagination.

Crockpot Chili with Sweet Pepper Salsa

2 c. dried kidney beans or 4 cups cooked
1 medium onion, chopped
2 T mild chili powder
4 cloves garlic, pressed
1 jar of homemade pepper salsa
a few dried peppers (your choice)
1 small handful of dehydrated tomatoes
1/4 c. bulgar

1. If using dried beans, cook them in the pressure cooker. I find you need about 9 minutes at 15 lbs. pressure for unsoaked beans, but 5 minutes should be plenty if you plan ahead and soak them.

2. Combine everything in the crockpot. Stir well.

3. Cook on low for 6–10 hours, adding water occasionally if necessary.

I love my chili with mac and cheese, but the folks on Twitter tell me this is weird. What do you put on yours?

Now, you may ask, what do I do with these berries? For starters, you can just eat them. They also make really lovely winter fruit compotes when combined with dried apricots. But personally, I love them in meat stews.

Beef Stew with Dried Fruit

2 lbs beef stew meat
1 c red wine
salt and pepper
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
1 medium onion, chopped
1 T olive oil
1 c combined dried fruit (cherries, apples, apricots, and/or prunes)
About 2 c. of assorted stew vegetables, chopped (carrots, turnips, parsnips, etc.)
1 T cornstarch (optional)

1) At least an hour or up to 12 hours before cooking, season the meat with salt and pepper and marinate in the wine. Nestle the thyme sprigs in the meat.

2) Saute the onion in the oil in your pressure cooker (using it as a pot) for a few minutes, until translucent. Add the meat and the juices (including the wine and the thyme). Add another cup of water. Screw on and lock the lid. Cook at 15 pounds of pressure for 8 minutes, then release the pressure quickly. (For refreshers on pressure cooking, see this post.)

3) CAREFULLY open the lid and add the dried fruit and chopped vegetables. Put the lid back on. Bring back up to pressure and cook 2 minutes more, then release the pressure quickly.

4) CAREFULLY open the lid. Now you’re going to use the pressure cooker like a big pot again. Bring the mixture back up to a boil and cook until the liquid is reduced to the consistency that you like. If you prefer, mix up a little bit of cornstarch in a couple of tablespoons of cold water and add that to the pot.

I like to eat this over couscous, but it would work equally well with polenta or rice if you’re gluten free. It’s also a terrific way to eat venison. Just cook it a little longer (more like 15 minutes in the first round) to make sure that it gets tender.

Chickpea and Spinach Stew (in the pressure cooker)

(All amounts are approximate.)

1 1/2 c. dried chickpeas, soaked overnight (if using canned or previously cooked, you’ll need 2–3 cups)
2 T or so olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4–6 cloves garlic, cut into hunks
2 T paprika (or less of a more flavorful smoked Spanish paprika)
salt
about 1 c. of chopped parsley, divided into two
10 whole peppercorns
1/2 t. dried thyme, or 1 T fresh
red pepper flakes, to taste
1 pt jar canned tomatoes and their juice (if using store-bought, use 15 oz)
6 c. chicken or vegetable stock
1–2 bunches spinach, to taste
1/2 a preserved lemon, or to taste, chopped

1) Using your pressure cooker as a cooking pot, start sauteing the onion in the oil. Meanwhile, grind the garlic, salt, half the parsley, and the paprika into a paste in a mortar and pestle, like this:

If you’ve never done this before, here’s a tip: start by putting the salt on the garlic. It creates additional grit to help break down the garlic.

2) Stir the paste, peppercorns, pepper flakes, and thyme into the onions. Cook one minute. (If you’re adding additional vegetables, like carrots or celery, you should add them now, too.)

3) Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, and stock. Screw on the lid, lock it, and bring the pressure cooker up to pressure. Cook for 12 minutes at pressure. (For a refresher on pressure cooker basics, see this post.) Let the pressure drop of its own accord.

4) Are the chickpeas done? If not, bring it up to pressure again and cook for a couple of minutes more. Otherwise go on to the next step.

5) Add the spinach, torn into pieces as big or as small as you like them. Cook until it’s wilted. If there’s too much liquid and you don’t mind limp spinach, cook more; if it’s on the dry side, add more stock.

6) Freshen it up with the preserved lemon and the parsley and serve.

This is less a “recipe” than a conglomeration of internet advice, including surprisingly good cooking instructions from Wikipedia. Is there anything Wikipedia can’t answer?

Crockpot Bigos

1 head cabbage, shredded
1 large onion, chopped
1 carrot (or more, if you have them), chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pound bacon, cut into small pieces
1 lb pork steaks, cut into chunks
1 lb hot sausage or kielbasa, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper, as you see fit

1) Fry the bacon for a few minutes. Don’t cook it until it’s done; you just want to release enough fat to saute the onions. Then saute the onions and garlic just until the onions are translucent. Transfer to a crockpot.

2) Add the following, in order, to the crockpot: carrot, cabbage, remaining meat and cabbage. Tuck the bay leaf in there somewhere.

3) Cook on high 6-8 hours. You’ll need to stir it a few times to work the cabbage down.

Serve with potatoes (gluten free!) or egg noodles (not gluten free).

Lessons Learned…

It’s not entirely clear that it was appropriate to put this much food in the crockpot. That’s a whole lot of raw meat up there, just sitting there while the slow cooker heats up. This is why I used high: I got scared. But then, because I didn’t trust it, I opened the lid several times to try to stir in the meats, which sort of defeats the purpose of the crockpot. If you’re working with a similarly sized crockpot and cabbage, you might want to saute the cabbage a bit, just so that it fits more easily into the crockpot. In the end, no one got food poisoning and it tasted fantastic, but if I were to make this again I’d probably dump it all in my giant pressure cooker, add a couple of cups of water, and cook it at pressure 12 minutes or so. I bet it’s just as delicious, and certainly not as worrisome.

The other lesson is more reassuring. Note that I did not brown the sausage or the pork shoulder, and it still tasted great. Save yourself the trouble and just toss it in.