Whip It Up weekend

One of my objectives during this Whip It Up period has been to try out recipes that I could potentially use once the school year starts, and our schedules are more taxed because of the volleyball season. Last year, I was caught unaware by the sudden increase in activity, but I intend to be prepared this year, and that’s why my dinner selections for the challenge have been a little heavier than typical summer fare. I’m looking for meals to produce leftovers that are fast and easy, in addition to candidates for making ahead and freezing or using my slow cooker. If there are any suggestions out there, I would love to see them.

Over the weekend, I tested two recipes in this vein The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook because, apparently, all I am about is pitching this cookbook. Detailed descriptions are below, but the moral of the story is: Make the skillet chili mac tonight! And if you have six spare hours, make the chicken cacciatore!

(Oh, and Moral #2 is that meat is not exactly photogenic. Ahem.)

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When it comes to looks and sophistication, this chili mac will not score any points. It’s not a meal for impressing mothers-in-law or appeasing a discerning palette; however, what it lacks in refinement it makes up for in ease, taste, and quality of leftovers.

Method: Remember the penne with chicken and broccoli that I cooked to death because I missed the memo that the pasta was supposed to soften in the sauce? This chili mac is in the same family of recipes, and I did not make the same mistake twice. Hurrah! Instead, I made a mess of my preparations and neglected to read the procedure properly, and the result was a messy kitchen, an encrusted pan, and a flustered cook, none of which was the fault of the recipe. In helpful notes, however, I substituted ground turkey for the beef, as the recipe suggests, and we did not notice one bit.

Taste: How can you go wrong with pasta, chili, and cheese? You can’t! The dish tasted great, thanks to the chili powder and cumin, and the cheese oozed through the pasta. We ate steaming bowls of chili mac hot off the stove, which meant the sauce was roughly the temperature of molten lava. I don’t mind scorching the roof of my mouth, but JG opted to start with his salad. It was one of those meals that I wanted to just eat and never stop, but we restrained ourselves, and I packed up three lunches’ worth of leftovers. So far, they have warmed up very nicely, and I can’t wait to eat the last portion this afternoon.

Repeat appearance: I will definitely, absolutely, certainly, redundantly make this dish again. It gives me my chili fix without six hours of simmering in the crock pot, and the preparation is fairly simple, if one does not make silly mistakes like I did. Using turkey instead of beef made us feel a bit more virtuous in the nutrition department without giving up on taste. Next time, I will throw together a batch of corn bread to go with it because, you know, what it really needed was more carbs. Heh.

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For this week’s theme, old favorites, I chose a recipe for chicken cacciatore because that was one of my most-loved meals when I grew up. My mom, the Make It From Scratch Queen, made a really delicious version, and I have never tried it for myself. The ATK rendition here uses a slow cooker, which made me think it would not be labor-intensive, but — hoo boy! — that was not the case at all.

Method: I trust the ATK implicitly, and I don’t think that any of the steps here were superfluous, despite the mountain of dishes they created and the hours spent on my feet. The straight-forward, though involved, process had what felt like twelve hundred steps, not to mention the strong reminder that I am still a huge wimp when it comes to a hot pan of oil and placing meat into it. JG said that I used too much oil in the pan, which made for a lot of spattering, and that is a straight shot to panic for me. I intend to face my fear eventually, but I will wait until the weather is cool enough for me to cook in clothing that is more substantial than bare feet, shorts, and a tank top, thank you very much. Two hours elapsed while I prepared the ingredients for their four-hour simmer, and then I spent another half an hour after that finishing the sauce. By the time I had turned on the crock pot to low and collapsed on the couch, I was already doubtful that the final dish would be worth it.

Taste: I laid out the chicken on a platter and draped it with sauce, served myself a portion alongside a scoop of pasta, and took a bite. Oh, my. The chicken was flavorful and tender. The sauce had a mellow roundness of red wine with the hearty vegetables throughout. It was nothing like my mom’s marinara-based cacciatore, which was slightly disappointing, but this was fantastic and comforting.

Repeat appearance: Sigh. Maybe. I might do it again if JG and I worked together on the chopping and the chicken-browning, because it was really good. I just can’t get past what I consider to be a huge amount of prep time. If I’m going to be in the kitchen for two hours, I figure that I should have something to show for it, other than four hours of waiting. Even then, I used up so many pots and pans before I served anything! I also like my slow-cooker meals to be the type that I can assemble the night before, keep in the fridge, and turn on before I go to work, and four hours of simmering will not fit the bill. I’m torn because the end result was delicious, but I can’t bring myself to be excited to make it again. On the bright side, this recipe produced about a gallon of sauce, so I froze a container of it for the future. I figure that I can grill some chicken, make some pasta, and throw together a quick, fake chicken cacciatore.

Skillet Chili Mac
America’s Test Kitchen

Serves: 4-6
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes (includes 20 minutes simmering time)

For a lighter dish, substitute ground turkey for the ground beef. You can substitute Monterey Jack cheese for some or all of the Colby. If you want to spice things up, add 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes along with the chili powder, or serve with Tabasco.

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 pound (85 percent lean) ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped medium
• 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped medium
• Salt
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 8 ounces macaroni (2 cups)
• 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 15-ounce can tomato puree
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• Pepper
• 8 ounces Colby cheese, shredded (2 cups)

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the beef and cook, breaking up the pieces with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Drain the beef through a fine-mesh strainer, discarding the fat.

2. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil to the skillet and return to medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the onion, bell pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes.

3. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, and cumin and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Stir in the macaroni, tomatoes with their juice, tomato puree, water, brown sugar, and drained beef. Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender, about 20 minutes.

4. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle the Colby evenly over the top, cover, and let sit off the heat until the cheese melts, about 3 minutes.

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Slow-Cooker Chicken Cacciatore
America’s Test Kitchen

Serves: 6
Advance Prep Time: 1 hour
Slow-Cooker Time: 4 hours

Cremini mushrooms (aka baby bellas) are available in most supermarkets. If you cannot find them, substitute 1 1/4 pounds portobello mushroom caps, each cut into 8 wedges. Jarred roasted red peppers are sold in jars of different sizes. One 12-ounce jar is enough for this recipe.

• 6 bone-in, skin-on split chicken breasts (10-12 ounces each), or 12 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (6-8 ounces each), trimmed
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 pounds cremini mushrooms, quartered
• 2 onions, halved and sliced thin [I only used one]
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 cups dry red wine
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed thoroughly and chopped fine [I omitted these]
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme or 2 teaspoons dried
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups jarred roasted red peppers, rinsed and cut into 1-inch strips
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

1. Dry the chicken with paper towels, then season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown half of the chicken on both sides, about 10 minutes, then add to the slow cooker. (Remove the browned skin if using chicken thighs.) Return the skillet to medium-high heat and repeat with 2 more teaspoons oil and the remaining chicken. Discard any fat left in the skillet.

2. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons oil to the empty skillet and heat over medium heat until shimmering. Add the cremini mushrooms, onions, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook until the mushrooms are brown, 10-15 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 15 seconds. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and reserve.

3. Add the wine to the skillet and return to medium heat, scraping up any browned bits. Simmer until reduced by half, about 5 minutes, then pour into the slow cooker.

4. Add the tomatoes, 1 1/2 cups of the broth, the porcini mushrooms, thyme, bay leaves, and red pepper flakes to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low until the chicken is tender, about 4 hours.

5. Transfer the chicken to a large serving dish and tent loosely with foil. Set the slow cooker to high. Whisk the flour and the remaining 1/2 cup broth until smooth, then stir into the slow cooker. Cover and continue to cook until the sauce is thickened and no longer tastes of flour, 15-30 minutes longer.

6. Discard the bay leaves. Stir the reserved mushroom mixture and roasted red peppers into the slow cooker and heat through, about 5 minutes. Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the vegetables and some of the sauce over the chicken and serve, passing remaining sauce separately.