Confident Kitchen

Ingredients
2 Tbsp butter
4 cups thinly sliced leeks, white and light green parts only
4 cups chicken broth
2 large russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 cups ham, diced
1/4 cup cream or half and half (optional)
Salt to taste
3 Tbsp fresh parsley, chives or dill, chopped

Directions
1 Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks, cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add broth, potatoes and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium high heat.

2 Reduce heat; cover and simmer 25 minutes or until vegetables are very tender. Using a blender or food processor, working in batches, process until smooth.

3 Stir in diced ham and if desired, cream. Season to taste with salt. Garnish with parsley, chives or dill.

Serves 6.

New picture added 04/01/07:

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2 large bell peppers (1 red, 1 yellow), seeded and cut into 1/4-inch-thick strips
4 flame-grilled meatless burgers, cut into 1/2-inch strips
1 large Vidalia onion, sliced
2 jalapeño or serrano chiles, seeded and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
2 Tbs. olive oil 2 to 3 tsp. fajita spice mix
2 Tbs. fresh lime juice

1. Preheat baking sheet in 450F oven. Cut four 20-inch sheets of heavy-duty foil.

2. Toss all ingredients in bowl. Spoon 1/4 mixture on one half of foil sheet. Fold foil over, and crimp edges to seal. Repeat with remaining ingredients and foil.

3. Set packets on heated baking sheet. Reduce oven to 400F. Bake 30 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. (Pierce packet with knife to test.) Let stand 5 minutes.

4. To serve: place packets on plates, slit tops, and fold back foil.

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Mix. Use as needed.

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Chicken
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 broiler-fryer chicken, about 2 1/2-3 pounds, cut into serving pieces, or 2 1/2 to 3 pounds of chicken thighs or breasts, bone-in, with skin on, rinsed and patted dry
1/2 cup of flour for dredging
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Paprika

Rice
2 tablespoons olive oil (can use up to 1/4 cup)
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups of medium or long-grain white rice
3 cups* chicken stock
1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste or 1 cup of diced fresh or cooked tomatoes, strained
Pinch of oregano
1 teaspoon salt

*Check the instructions on the rice package for the proportions of liquid to rice. They can range from 1:1 to 2:1. If your rice calls for 2 cups of water for every cup of rice, then for this recipe, use 4 cups of stock for 2 cups of rice.

Directions

1 Heat 3 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet (a skillet that has a cover) on medium high heat. Put the flour in a wide bowl, mix in a generous sprinkling of salt, pepper, and paprika. Dredge the chicken pieces lightly in the flour mixture and put in the pan to brown. (You can skip the flour dredging part if you want. It just makes a nicer coating for the chicken.) Cook a few minutes on each side, just enough so that the chicken has browned. Use a slotted spoon to remove from pan and set aside.

2 Add the rice to the pan to brown. Add a little more olive oil if necessary. Stir first to coat the rice with the olive oil in the pan. Then don’t stir too much or you will prevent it from browning. Let it brown and then stir a little to let more of it brown. Then add the onion and garlic. Cook the onion, garlic and rice mixture, stirring frequently, until the onions have softened, about 4 minutes.

3 Place the chicken pieces, skin-side up, on top of the rice. In a separate bowl, mix together the stock, tomato, salt, and oregano. Pour the stock mixture over the rice and chicken. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to low, and cover. Let cook for 20-25 minutes, depending on the type of rice and the instructions on the rice package, until the rice and chicken are done. Fluff the rice with a fork. If you want you can sprinkle with some peas. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 4-6.

From Elise.com

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I’ve been craving beans lately and decided in indulge.  I found this recipe here, but modified it a little.

3/4 Vidalia or otherwise sweet onion
2 cans small red beans
1/4 cup white wine
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 teapoon powdered thyme
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
1-2 tablespoons Cayenne chile powder
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon chipotle (goes a loooong way)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons fresh parsley (chopped)
8-12 button mushrooms (quartered)
1 cup white rice
Leave as is for vegetarian or pick your meat of choice.
Serves 4

I start by caramelizing the onions in a cast iron skillet. Once the onions are done, de-glaze the pan with white wine. Coarsely chop the onions and add them to a large pot holding the two cans of small red beans with their liquid on low heat. Also, place the pan de-glazing into the pot of red beans. As the beans are heating, take a potato masher and crush just a few of the beans in the pot to make for variety of texture. Then start seasoning the beans and onions with the sage, thyme, two crushed garlic cloves, chile powder, paprika chipotle flakes, salt, pepper, bay leaves and sugar. Stir the beans and evenly mix in the spices then quarter the mushrooms and add those into the bean mixture. Heat on medium heat until mushrooms are cooked then ladle over the cooked rice (two cups water per cup of rice and cook until tender) and eat or place beans in refrigerator over night to let the flavors mix.
**Notes:  Instead of serving immediately, I let the beans simmer for an hour.  I also used 2 teaspoons of 90,000 cayenne instead of 1-2 Tablespoons, but it still came out incredibly spicy.  I had to add sour cream to mine.  I also sauteed prawns in 2 Tablespoons of butter and 2 teaspoons of Creole Seasoning.  It was very tasty.  The only thing else that I would change would be the amount of brown sugar.  4 Tablespoons is too many.  I would cut it down to 1, maybe 2 Tablespoons.

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2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3/4 cup butter, melted
2 cups granulated sugar, divided use
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
5 large eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided use
2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup granulated sugar

1. Combine graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and 1/2 cup sugar and press into the bottom of a spring form pan; set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 300°F (150°C).
In a separate medium bowl, combine cream cheese with eggs, adding one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add 1 cup sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; blend well. Pour gently into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour; remove from oven.
3. Topping: Meanwhile, beat together sour cream, 1/2 cup sugar and remaining vanilla. Gently spread over hot cheesecake immediately after removing from oven. Return cheesecake to the oven and bake an additional 5 minutes. Cool at room temperature; refrigerate overnight before removing from pan.

Makes 12 servings.

**Notes:  I used about 2/3 of this recipe to make a small heart-shaped cheesecake for Valentine’s day and another 6 inch one just for fun.  No pictures yet.  They aren’t that pretty.  I have a word of advice for anyone who wants to make a cheesecake:  make sure the cream cheese is fully room temperature.  The number one problem with cheesecakes is the very real possibility of the batter turning “lumpy”.  There is nothing you can do, or so says the Internet.  As a virgin cheesecake baker, I decided to trust my instincts.  I pushed as much of the batter through my trusty mesh colander as possible.  It was enough for my two smaller cheesecake pans.  If you’re hoping for a larger pan full of tasty cheesecake, I recommend waiting for the cream cheese to reach room temperature.

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