Gumbo Z'herbes

I saw the original recipe in the May 2013 issue of Food & Wine magazine.  It's a meat 'n' greens stew, and takes advantage of all the tasty spring greens hitting the markets (or coming up in your garden) at this time of year.  As a stew, you can make it in advance very nicely...the first time I tried this recipe, I cooked it fully in the morning and put it in the crockpot to keep warm until we got home that night.  It also freezes beautifully.

Btw, "z'herbes" is shortening of "fines herbes"...a mix of fragrant, flavorful green herbs such as tarragon, rosemary, thyme, parsley, lavender and so on.  It's pronounced "zayrb", if you're a French linguistics nerd like me ;)

The OR calls for particular amounts of particular greens and particular amounts of particular cuts of pork...I think of it more as guidelines ;)  I LOVE that I can throw in that half a head of cabbage that's left after making cabbage 3 different ways for a regular side dish, the rest of the collard greens left over after making sausage-stuffed collards, the nubbin of romaine lettuce left over from 2 salads.  Use turnip greens, beet greens, mustard greens, chard, kale, spinach, collards, spring mix, romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce...about 3 lbs. of whatever is green in your fridge or garden.

And you can throw in handfuls of oddball greens like carrot tops (if you get carrots with the frondy greens still attached), second-year parsley (oddly, my parsley survived our winter and is coming back up and preparing to bolt as biennial plants do), watercress or arugula that you scavenge out of your early garden.

Clockwise from left: Ham hock, chopped hamsteak
with thyme, andouille

I'm also using up the last of our locally-raised hog.  When you buy a whole animal like that, you wind up with...well...weird bits.  Bacon ends.  Bony sirloin roasts.  Smoked hambones.  Tiny pork chops that are too little to serve by themselves.  I'm throwing all that stuff in this stew.  You can use fresh pork shoulder or loin, smoked pork, sausage links (andouille is traditional, and is the only thing I've bought special for this stew), ham hocks, hamsteak, chopped ham, neck bones...about 3 lbs. total.

When you chop up all those greens, it's a LOT.  You'll need an 8 quart or larger pot.  And then you only add 2 quarts of water to that pile.  It seems like too little.  It's not.  Trust me.  The greens cook down and give off their own liquid to make a flavorful broth that the stew is built on.  You do not want too much water here.  Here's how to tell if your tiny amount of water is boiling when you can't see it under a mess o' greens...put the pot lid on, turn the heat to high, and when there's condensation on the underside of the lid, you're good to go.

Lastly, the OR calls for file powder which I don't keep in my pantry.  File is a flavoring as well as thickening ingredient.  I add extra flour to compensate for the lack of file.  Use 2 tbsp flour instead of 4 tbsp and 1 1/2 tsp file powder if you want.  You can always add some beurre manie at the end if your stew seems too watery.

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Honey Beer Chicken

Adapted from Cooking Light.

Delicious!  And freezable!  I'm starting to make and freeze meal kits in preparation for the arrival of Kiddo #3 and this one is on the list.  I made a kit of this recipe for my husband to make for dinner one night that I worked late...he said it was easy to make, easy to follow and tasted great.  So it's even husband-proof ;)

My grocery store had 4 lb. bags of frozen chicken breasts on sale, so I'm making two kits of this recipe along with 4 kits of gumbo.  If you wanted not to have extra of anything hanging around (like 4 oz. of beer out of a 12 oz. bottle), plan to make 3 honey beer chicken kits.  Fortunately, I have a willing volunteer to take care of the extra for me today (the aforementioned test cook/Dear Husband).

Btw, I completely spaced out and didn't take a *single* photograph of this dish, any of the 3 opportunities I've had.  Go see the Cooking Light site for a beautifully food-styled picture.

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Phyllo Wrapped Salmon

A little pastry makes everything more delicious.  So does a little dijon mustard.  And butter.

The idea for this dish is not mine, but I've been making them for so many years that I no longer have the original recipe to attribute to.  It took me some time to work up the guts to try this recipe in the first place.  I was afraid of working with phyllo dough.  So many recipes that use it give caution after caution...handle it gently lest it break...work quickly lest it dry out...keep it covered at all times with a damp towel...brush lightly...fold carefully...it just seemed like a food product that was more trouble than it was worth.  Boy, was I wrong! 

First of all, phyllo is not hard to work with.  It may tear a bit...that's OK.  It may get a bit dry as you work...that's OK.  You don't really need to be working at super-speed or with damp towels or anything like that.  Most preparations using phyllo involve brushing oil or butter between the layers and as we  know, butter fixes everything.  It works as a glue to hold the phyllo sheets in place, it patches tears, it moisturizes dry dough.  You and your phyllo will be A-OK. 

Where to get phyllo?  If you're really bonkers, you can make it yourself (I most emphatically do not).  It comes frozen, usually in the area where frozen pies and Cool Whip live (usually next to the puff pastry).  You'll need to put it in the fridge overnight or on the counter for about 4 hours before it's workable.  The brand I buy comes in 1 lb. boxes which contain two plastic-sealed tubes of rolled phyllo sheets.  You'll only need one tube for this recipe.  You can use the 2nd tube to make more of this recipe or make some genuine Greek goodies like spanakopita (spinach and cheese pies), teropita (like spanakopita, but without the spinach) or baklava. 

If you make these ahead to freeze, you will need to be attentive to wrapping them very, very well in plastic wrap.  In prepping them to cook immediately, you don't need to worry so much about the phyllo drying out, but for longer storage, drying does become a problem.  I wrap each packet individually in plastic wrap before putting them in a larger ziptop bag to make very sure they're protected.  And then of course, when you bake them off, a healthy brush of oil or butter goes a long way toward correcting any freezer dehydration they may have suffered.


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