This is how I cook: I open up the refrigerator or pantry and say, “What’s here?” If there are enough building blocks to create a meal along the lines of something I’ve cooked before and enjoyed, problem solved.

This approach leads to occasional accidental delights (but mostly just decent supper food). Here are two that happened in my kitchen in the past month. See if you’re similarly inspired to experiment. 😉

Chicken Orzo-tore

I’ve been making chicken cacciatore since I started cooking (a few days after I got married), but I learned the recipe by watching my dad make it countless times for supper. It was easy, relatively quick, and cheap – all qualities that my dad prized in his culinary endeavors

Recipe: Dad’s Chicken Cacciatore

But the other day, as I eyed a small bag of orzo pasta I’d picked up at Trader Joe’s, I had an epiphany: What If I swapped out the rice I usually serve alongside cacciatore, and used the orzo instead?

The verdict: Delicious! I cooked the orzo pasta on the side and then throw the cooked orzo into the pot of cacciatore once it came out of the oven. However, I’m wondering if I should have cooked the orzo straight into the cacciatore so it would pick up more of those flavors. Dunno. May try that next time.

Post Pork-Roast Beef Stew

So last month, I made the most incredible pork roast thanks to this recipe from an Upstate cook:

Balsamic Beer-Braised Pork Roast, from She Wears Many Hats

It’s an amazing recipe. So easy; so incredibly flavorful.

I make two changes from her recipe. The first, I use rendered bacon fat (cook a couple pieces, pull out the bacon, use it for something else) to sear the pork roast in the first step. The additional smokiness of a high quality bacon adds incomparable depth of flavor. Goes without saying that you need to be using a good bacon here; I keep Trader Joe’s applewood smoked bacon in the frig at all times.

Second, once the pork roast had been seared but before adding the cooking liquid (beer et al), I deglaze the pan with some bourbon or sherry. Sometimes a little of both, in succession. Scrape up the brown bits and let the meat soak up some of the alcohol before continuing. Again, it’s a layer of flavor that makes a difference in the end.

When you’re done (follow the recipe), you have pork that just falls apart and shreds with no effort at all. It’s incredible as pulled pork sandwiches; you need no additional BBQ sauce.

But then…. there’s more magic to be had in the pot! You’ll need your favorite beef stew recipe – look it up on the Internet and pick up some cheap “stew beef” at the store on your next grocery run, along with carrots, potatoes, onion, celery, a box of beef broth, and either rice or big noodles or barley or whatever.

Let the drippings cool until the fat congeals on top. Stop being squeamish; this is part of life when cooking with meat. Scrape off and discard as much of the solid fat as you can, leaving behind the beer-broth and bits of pork from the earlier recipe.

Heat what’s left on medium in your Dutch oven till it’s going pretty hard and throw in all your chopped vegetables. If you did too good a job of removing fat, you might need to add a wee bit of olive oil or butter here.  Meanwhile, brown your beef chunks in a skillet on the side and throw them in with the vegetables once they get brown on all sides. (The extra work is worth it – I promise.)  Add your broth and seasonings, and throw the whole pot into the oven for an hour or more, till the potatoes are completely done and the beef is tender.

If you’re going to add rice or noodles it might be easier to cook those on the stovetop and then add them at the end.

The result: Your beef stew will have this magical depth of flavor, a savory-ness that I can’t ever get when I just “make beef stew,” no matter what seasonings I add. The leftovers from the pork bring so many good flavors to the party, but nothing clashes with the traditional beef stew vibe.

I’m committed now to always making the pork recipe before I make a regular beef stew. I’m not sure I can go back to the old way…. 😉

This has been a much-requested recipe, so I’ll share a version of it here.  It’s a little hard to follow because honestly I don’t use a lot of measurements, and I can’t even tell you a “typical” set of spices.  You’ll have to figure that out for yourself based on what you like as flavors.

But I will say that, made well, this recipe beats nearly every bowl of shrimp & grits you will ever find.  So invest in high-quality meat and spices, and break out the cream and butter.  And stone-ground grits. Do not EVEN think of making this with some crappy store-bought dried grit crap.

Also, don’t tell me “I hate grits. They’re gross and I refuse to eat them” until you’ve made them THIS WAY.  Then, if you still hatethem, you are wrong but we can remain friends. 🙂

RameyLady’s Shrimp and Grits Recipe
Serves 4. Scale up or down as needed.

THE GRITS – start these first.
1 cup stone ground, local grits (like Timms Mill) – follow package directions re: sifting or rinsing
4 cups chicken stock
1 stick of butter
1 tsp salt
1-2 cups of cream, half & half, or whole milk
1/2 cup of shredded cheese (your choice, optional)
salt, pepper, perhaps some seasonings (to taste)

To make the grits:
In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan that’s large enough for the grits not to bubble over, combine the broth and butter over medium heat to bring to a boil.  Stir in 1 cup of stone ground uncooked grits and reduce heat to medium-low.  You want the grits to bubble and cook, but they turn into a nuclear meltdown of bubbling 3rd degree burn material if you let them get too hot.  Stir & cook carefully for 15 minutes, then pour in 1/2 cup of cream (or milk or half & half or whatever combo of those you’d like) and stir well.  Add a little salt -not too much — and fresh-ground pepper, plus any additional seasonings you’d prefer. Reduce heat a bit – you want the grits to bubble slowly but not so fast that they splutter.  As the grits continue to cook over the next 25-40 minutes, add cream a couple more times, about 1/2 cup at a time, until the grits are cooked through, not “gritty,” and thickened to your preference.  Just before serving, add the cheese, stir through until melted, and check to see if you need any additional salt.

THE SHRIMP PART
Start this once the grits are in their first cooking phase.

1-2 lb fresh shrimp, peeled, deveined
4-5 sliced of very high quality bacon, diced
optional: 1 lb high-quality andouille sausage
olive oil, butter, salt, pepper, seasonings – as needed
garlic cloves – diced or use a press
cream sherry — about 1 cup total
1 onion, diced
1-2 bell peppers, diced
several fresh summer tomatoes, diced
dried thyme & basil
about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of cream or half n half (or whole milk)
about 2 T cornstarch

To make the shrimp gravy:
As you work through each stage of the dish, as it cooks, you can chop the ingredients for the next stage.

Stage 1:  Prepare shrimp (peel, etc) and season to taste. I use a little salt & pepper and some favorite spice blends, including a little bit of heat.  Dice the bacon and if you’re using sausage, prep that as well.   Add the bacon to a large wide pan OR tall cooking pot (large enough to hold 4 quarts of liquid – that way you won’t get spattered) over medium heat to render fat and flavor.  After the bacon is 80% cooked through, add some fresh garlic to the pan and star.  Arrange the shrimp over the bottom of the pan in an even layer. If you have too much shrimp to cook all in one batch, split into two batches (and split the bacon and garlic as well, since you’ll want to cook each batch fresh.)  Flip the shrimp after about 60 seconds and cook on the other side till the shrimp are BARELY done. Pour a couple tablespoons of sherry into the pan and stir. Cook for about 30 seconds, then remove everything from the pan into a glass dish and keep warm — pour everything in the pan out and reserve all juices.

(If making two batches of shrimp, reduce pan heat a little and start with some fresh bacon.)

You can wipe the pan if you want. I usually don’t.

Stage 2:  Add the rest of the chopped bacon. If you’re using sausage, add it to the pan here.   Let the bacon render some fat, then add either 1 tsp of butter or a couple tsp of olive oil to the pan.  Add 1-2 T fresh chopped garlic. Stir. Add the diced onion, cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the chopped bell pepper and cook for 5 minutes, until pepper is almost but not quite as done as you like. You should also season the vegetables – at least throw in some dried basil and thyme, about 1 T of each.    Turn heat up to medium and pour a good half cup of sherry (up to 1 cup)  into the pan.  Stir well and then allow the sherry to reduce by half, which will take several minutes of boiling.

Stage 3:  After the sherry has reduced down, add the diced fresh summer tomatoes. Whether you include the seeds is up to you; I don’t get too fussy here. Just chop the tomatoes & throw them in. Add another round of seasoning, like basil.  In a bowl or measuring cup, measure 1.5 cups of milk/cream/half & half.  Add 2 T of cornstarch.  Stir vigorously with a fork until every bit of cornstarch is dissolved.  Slowly pour the cream into your pan, stirring as it hits the warm vegetable-sherry mixture.  Turn up heat a little past high and allow to boil until the cream begins to thicken (because of the corn starch).

Return the shrimp and their juices to the pan at this point and check your grits.  You can safely “hold” either part of the dish on low heat until the other is done, but don’t add the shrimp into its pan until you know you’re within 5 min of eating. (Overcooked shrimp is gummy and gross.)

Serve by ladling 1/2 cup or more of grits into the bottom of a wide flat bowl, then top with about a cup of the shrimp mixture.

You really don’t need anything else with this dish – it covers all the bases. 🙂   It pairs very well with beer or wine.  I prefer a warm red, but white wine drinkers can find something crisp and lemony.

Enjoy! 🙂