Cumin grilled cheese for soup

I was inspired by a grilled cheese and soup recipe in Stir by Barbara Lynch and wanted to pair a similar grilled cheese with my chipotle squash soup.  It's a great lunch or light dinner. I also want to make mini ones with shots of soup (inspired by Barbara Lynch) for a party. So crunchy and tasty.

Ingredients:
Bread, very thinly sliced and ideally long so it can sit on top of a bowl of soup
Butter (1 tbsp for 3 sandwiches)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
thin slices of monterey jack cheese
a sprinkle of pecorino romano

Chicken Chili

When it's a beautiful day like today, chili may be the last thing on your mind. However, while feeling last week's cold, dreary, end-of-winter blues I thought a rich bowl of chili might warm the cockles of my sun-starved heart. I do enjoy a beefy, greasy chili once in a while, but this chili is healthy, even though it tastes sinful. I took lots of pictures to go with the steps--it's easy and spicy and hearty and everyone who tasted it seemed to love it.

Ingredients
1 can dark red kidney beans and 1 can of blackbeans (use any beans you like) drained and rinsed
1 package of ground chicken (you can also use turkey, but I think chicken has more flavor)
1 1/2 onions (I used a combination of yellow and white, but just yellow works too) chopped
3 cloves of garlic (gives it a good kick) finely minced
1 can whole tomatoes (crushed my sticking your hand in the can and squeezing them, or however you like to crush them)
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 red bell pepper roughly chopped
1 green bell pepper roughly chopped
cumin
coriander
chili powder
paprika
hot pepper flakes

I got everything ready before I started cooking because often I'm supposed to stir something for 2 minutes and then quickly add something else, but I find it's not ready and I'm making a huge mess trying to chop an onion while searing a pork chop and measuring water--so, chop/drain/get out all the ingredients first to make your life easier.

First, heat up some oil in a skillet. Then add about 2/3 of the onion and about 2 teaspoons of coriander, cumin, paprika, and chili powder and about a half tsp of hot chili flakes. (It helped release the flavor if you rub them between your hands before you put them in the skillet.)

Mix this all together and saute until the onion begins to soften and then add half of the garlic, stirring until fragrant. Once you smell the garlic, add the chicken. Separate the chicken with your spoon while it sautees and cook until it is browned.

Once the chicken is uniformly browned, but not overcooked (it will continue to cook in the chili), add sald and pepper to taste, and then put it into a bowl.

Next, add the remaining onions and peppers into the pot with a little oil and the same mix of spices as before. Sautee them until they get a little soft, then add the tomato paste and mix until all the vegetables are coated. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Now pour the contents of the skillet, and the chicken, into a large pot and mix them together. Then add both the canned tomatoes and their juices to the pot, along with the same mix of spices as before, along with the remaining garlic. (It helps if it's mashed into a paste with a little salt.) Stir this all together and bring it to a boil. Bring it down to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until it thickens up a little. Then season to taste with salt and pepper and add as many hot pepper flakes or cayenne as you like to give it heat.

I like to garnish it with a few pieces of extra sharp chedder. The bright peppers give it a great freshness. Also, this makes a lot of chili, so either serve it up at a dinner or save whatever you don't eat in your freezer for a cold day.

Good luck!

Gourmet Fries

Other than steak frites or truffle fries, french fries can seem out of place on a dinner party plate. I was watching Martha Stewart the other day and Ben Ford--son of Harrison Ford--made polenta fries. Polenta is so versatile because if you flatten it out and chill it, it becomes a blank canvas. You can cut it into shapes, grill it, braise it, fry it, sear it... They turned them into fries. I was making a simple dinner for Jamie and needed another element to make it enough food, and I happened to have some polenta in my pantry, so I tried them.

It couldn't have been easier. I mixed 1 cup of milk with 1 cup of chicken stock (from bouillon cubes I had in my kitchen) and brought it to a boil. Then I whisked in 3/4 cup of polenta with a pinch of salt and stirred it until the polenta pulled away from the sides--about 3 minutes. Then I grated in some Pecorino Romano cheese (which I prefer to Parmesan, but use whatever you like.)

I put some parchment paper over a cutting board and spread the polenta on top. Then I wet my hands and pushed the polenta into a rough rectangle about half an inch thick and threw it into the fridge.
Once it chilled--about an hour and a half--I cut it into 1/2 inch wide and about 4 inch tall strips. I heated some ghee (clarified butter) and olive oil in a skillet--you can use regular butter. While it was heating up, I rolled the polenta strips in flour seasoned with salt, pepper, chilli powder and cumin. I put them in the skillet and cooked them for about 20 seconds on each side, or until they got a little brown on each side. Then I took them out, drained them on a towel, and doused them with salt.

They were crispy and delicious, and I have a little flat polenta left over so they might be on the menu again tonight.

This was more than enough for 2, but if you're making it for 4-6, I'd say double the recipe.