North African Vegetable Stew

Still pretty busy, but Ox asked for this one specifically, so I present one of my favorite vegetable dishes thus far.

North African Vegetable Stew

Serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 cups loosely packed parsley sprigs
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon paprika
1 ¼ cups reduced sodium chicken broth
1 lb. small new potatoes, unpeeled
3 medium carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 small turnips, peeled and quartered
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 package (10 ounces) frozen baby lima beans
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped green olives
2 garlic cloves, minced

Heat oil in a large heavy pot or nonreactive Dutch oven over medium heat until hot. Add onions and cook 8 to 10 minutes or until golden, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, in a blender or food processor, combine parsley, lemon juice, paprika, and ¼ cup of broth. Process until almost smooth.

Add parsley mixture to onions and mix well. Add potatoes, carrots, turnips, salt, pepper, and remaining cup of broth. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook 30 to 35 minutes, or until potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally.

Add beans, olives, and garlic; stir to mix. Cover; cook an additional 8 to 10 minutes or until beans are tender. If desired, garnish with additional chopped parsley.

Source: The Best of Cooking Pleasures, Vol. 1 © 2001 Cooking Club Of America

Notes form the Hare

This is very good served with rice – you could also serve with couscous.

When I made it the first time, I used vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.

Fillet of Beef in Red Wine Mushroom Sauce

Hello, Ox again. This is a dish with several variations I've made different times. If fillets are too expensive, a good roast of size can be used, steaks of good thickness, and your imagination all work well with this. It is good with and without the red wine. In serving, some good red wine is very tasty such as Asti Spumanti Cold Duck, my favorite! The wine has just a little sweetness to it and the sparkle of the wine just adds to the main course.

Main Course: Fillet of Beef in Red Wine Mushroom Sauce

6 - 8 beef fillets
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. paprika
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup dry red wine (optional)
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 - 2 Tbsp. flour
1 cup beef broth

Rub fillets with salt, pepper and paprika. Heat skillet to medium-high heat and cook fillets for 4 - 5 minutes per side or until desired doneness is achieved. Remove steaks and place them on a plate and cover to keep them warm. Heat oil in the skillet and saute onion, garlic and mushrooms until tender. Add wine, Worcestershire sauce, flour and beef broth and simmer for several minutes until mixture thickens. Stir the mixture while heating to keep the flour from forming lumps. Pour over fillets and serve. If you prefer not to use alcohol in your cooking you may omit it here and add 1/2 cup more beef broth instead. The Skinny: Leave out the red wine and use low fat beef broth. Baby New Potatoes with Chive Vinaigrette 2 pounds baby new potatoes, washed thoroughly 1/3 cup olive oil 1/3 cup red wine vinegar 1 Tbsp. fresh chives 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 tsp. ground cumin 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper In a medium saucepan, boil potatoes until tender. Drain off water. Combine olive oil, vinegar, chives, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper in a cruet and shake well. Pour over potatoes just before serving.

The Skinny: This dish is already healthful because you are using vinaigrette rather than butter.

Garlic Goat Cheese and Herb Crostini

Hi! It's OX!

Yeah, I know this doesn't sound really good, but sometimes, when you just need to throw an appetizer out there this is really good. And if you're fasting for Lent, these are really great snacks, unless, of course, you've given up dairy.


Garlic Goat Cheese and Herb Crostini

1 baguette cut in 1/2 -inch slices
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese 2 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, minced
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup assorted fresh herbs finely chopped (rosemary, parsley, cilantro, dill and thyme are some that work well. You may choose others and adjust the taste to your liking).

Place baguette slices on ungreased baking dish and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Meanwhile, place remaining ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Remove baguette slices from the oven and spread mixture on each slice. Return to the oven and bake for another 10 - 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

The Skinny: Goat cheese is lower in fat than most other cheeses and you are also using olive oil which is supposed to be good for you.

Note: Instead of olive oil you can use different vegetable oils and they work almost as good. If you're an Eastern Orthodox Christian, you know what I'm talking about - Lenten fasting.

A quick note from Hare

My day job is taking up more time than normal at the moment, so I’m not sure how many recipes I’ll be posting for the next little while. Things will get back to a slightly more regular update schedule soon, I hope.

Pork Tenderloin with the Secret Cheddar Onion Ring Crust

Hello all, Ox here, have tried a variation of this recipe before and have found it ummmmmm delicious. Not tried this one though. If you try and you like it, please, let us know how it turned out. If you played with the recipe and did something different I would LOVE to know about that and how it turned out! Sorry for the weird posting of the thing, but the format just didn't want to cooperate with me today.


Pork Tenderloin with the Secret Cheddar Onion Ring Crust

1 cup crushed crackers (You choose the flavor of your favorite cracker.) 1-1/2 cups crushed cheddar-flavored fried onion rings (O & C is one brand or the regular flavor will work fine.)
(I didn't put these in the processor. I just sort of rough-smashed them.) 1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 1 pork tenderloin 3 Tbl Dijon mustard 1 large egg, beaten Olive oil spray

Mix your crushed crackers and smashed onion rings together on a large flat surface. Mix your parsley and your Parmesan on another flat surface. Beat your egg and pour it on a dinner plate. Spread the tenderloin all over with the mustard. This is going to be a slippery job, but pick up your mustard-coated tenderloin and roll it in your beaten egg. Then roll it in the cracker crumbs/onion crumbs and then the Parmesan/parsley mixture. Pat the mixtures into the tenderloin gently, coaxing the stuff to adhere. You can go back and forth a couple of times to get as much as possible of the stuff to stick as you can. When you've gotten as much as you can of the crunchy stuff and the cheese to stick, spray the whole thing with olive oil and put in your roasting pan. Roast at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes until your roasting thermometer reaches 165 to 170 degrees. This will leave the meat slightly pink and still moist inside. Let the meat rest for 5 to 10 minutes outside of the oven before you slice it. Carefully take it out of the roasting pan and be sure to slice it with a very sharp knife. Slice in one-half to one-inch slices. The crust will tend to slide off, so be careful. If it does come off in parts, don't be dismayed. It still tastes great and, if you serve with mashed potatoes, you can just sort of stir the bits of coating around and it mixes into the potatoes just fine. This dish serves two and doubles very easily. If you want to serve six you might be able to get away with two tenderloins, depending on how large they are and how large a portion of meat you want to serve. Enjoy!

Cranberry Chicken

I love chicken.

It’s one of my favorite foods. I’m particularly fond of fried chicken, but a really good baked chicken is always a tasty treat.

I also happen to love cranberry sauce, and cranberries in general. SO you can imagine what I thought of a recipe that combines both chicken and cranberry sauce

Cranberry Chicken

Serves 4

1 can (8 ounces) whole berry cranberry sauce
½ cup Russian salad dressing
1 tablespoon dried minced onions
½ teaspoon garlic salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 pounds of chicken

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a mixing bowl, stir together the cranberry sauce, salad dressing, onion, garlic salt, and pepper.

Rinse the chicken and pat dry with a paper towel. Place chicken pieces in a baking dish. Pour cranberry mixture over the chicken

Bake uncovered for 45 to 50 minutes or until the chicken is tender and no longer pink. Transfer chicken to platter. Skim the fat from the juices, then spoon the juices over the chicken.

Source: What’s For Dinner? From Better Homes and Gardens Books © 1995

Notes from the Hare

I haven’t played with this recipe very much – I like it too much as it is.

Russian dressing can be devilishly hard to find – if anyone knows of a good substitute I’ve like to hear about it.