It is that time of year. The temperature is dropping, the leaves are turning, and I start listening to music I deem appropriate for fall. I also get kinda giddy sometimes and enjoy doing work on the couch rather than at my desk. Fall has arrived officially in my mind. A slow wonderful process to winter! This new season also makes me want to make classic comfort food. I want root vegetables, hearty greens, dense breads, all of which are consumed warm.
I also want one pot dishes. One of my favourites is chili. My Mom decided to make chili on Sunday so I immediately knew how I wanted to modify it. Just before she added the ground beef. I scooped up some chili to make this Cheddar Chili Cornbread Pasta Bake from How Sweet It Is. It first caught my eye on edible perspective and I knew I would make it one day. That day was Sunday. It is a really simple recipe that was perfect for my first comfort food dish of the season.
1. Grease a casserole dish.
2. Add pasta.
3. Add chili.
4. Add cheddar.
5. Top with corn bread batter.
6. Bake according to cornbread directions. Some time will have to be added to the baking time.
I would definitely make this dish again. But next time I would make some changes.
1. Less pasta, a lot less pasta. I found after baking it was too pasta heavy when really I wanted more chili.
2. More chili, with more liquid. Adding to the note above, more liquid in the chili would have made a more saucy consistency.
3. Add only 1/2 of corn bread batter. I added a bit more and it was just too much.
4. Add less jalapeno to the cornbread, if at all. I found that it was just too spicy, and was too much with the spice I added to the chili. I only added 2 jalapenos even though it called for 3!
Other than those changes, it was a great dish which is perfect for this time of year. You can expect more recipes of this type in the coming weeks.
To all you Ontarians out there, I hope you voted today!
Showing posts with label cornbread. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cornbread. Show all posts
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Monday, October 18, 2010
I've been busy but not too busy to cook!
Looking at my photo albums in iPhoto today made me realize how much I have cooked lately. I have been pretty busy with school and when I come home I am usually starving. Anything that slows down the time it takes for me to eat (aka. taking pictures/writing down quantities) has been cut from the routine. This week is equally busy so I will make this post relatively quick. Showing some pictures of my latest creations and either a link to a recipe, or a quick recap of what I did.
A while back my Nonna made me a pasta dish with no sauce, and was dressed with some olive oil and canned clams. I LOVED it! I made it once after that and then totally forgot about the potential of canned clams. They went on sale at the grocery store a couple weeks back and I remembered how much I loved them. I sauted up some garlic, chili pepper, onions, mushrooms, and broccoli, and then added the drained canned clams. Once all the veggies were tender and the calms were hot, I added some cooked rice noodles and tossed until mixed well. Any noodle would work well here but I liked the tenderness of the rice noodle.




A while back my Nonna made me a pasta dish with no sauce, and was dressed with some olive oil and canned clams. I LOVED it! I made it once after that and then totally forgot about the potential of canned clams. They went on sale at the grocery store a couple weeks back and I remembered how much I loved them. I sauted up some garlic, chili pepper, onions, mushrooms, and broccoli, and then added the drained canned clams. Once all the veggies were tender and the calms were hot, I added some cooked rice noodles and tossed until mixed well. Any noodle would work well here but I liked the tenderness of the rice noodle.
One night a couple weeks ago I knew I wanted to use up some lentils so I did the usual search on Google Reader. I came across this recipe for a Vegetable Pie With Cornbread Topping from Seasonal Ontario Foods blog. I made some substitutions with vegetables I had on hand and I was a little disappointed. I definitely didn't like the pepper and I could have done without the eggplant (my substitution for zucchini). I liked the combination of the cornbread with the lentils (mostly because I LOVE) however and see a lot of potential in this one! I think next time I would use my personal favourite cornbread recipe.
I have been big into making baked fries lately. I make them about once a week, with sweet potato or regular potatoes. I love changing up the flavours using different spices to toss the taters in olive oil with, but one of my favourites is this flavour combination by Dani Spies, Spiced Sweet Potato Wedges With a Garlic Yogurt Dip.
On the weekend of Thanksgiving I found stewing lamb at the grocery store. Now I love lamb! It is by far my favourite meat. The best peice of lamb that every graced my lips came straight from a pot of sauce my Tatone was making. So I knew for sure I was cooking this lamb in some tomato sauce. I cut off as much of the lamb from the bone as I could. I then browned the lamb, as well as the bones with meat still on it, in a sauce pan, and then added onion and chopped portabello mushrooms. Once the veggies were cooked I poured on the strained tomatoes, added some basil, oregano, garlic powder, and 2 bay leaves. I let this simmer for about 45 minutes covered, and then allowed to reduce for another 15-20 minutes. I served it over cooked spaghetti squash, a great alternative to spaghetti! The sauce was delicious becuase you could taste the flavour of the lamb in each bite.
I am off to Montreal next week :) but I will be sure to write a real post before then. I bought myself an artichoke on the weekend and I am going to find out how to use it.
Labels:
clams,
cornbread,
fries,
lamb,
lentils,
rice pasta,
spaghetti squash,
sweet potato,
tomato sauce,
vegan option,
vegetarian,
yogurt dip
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