On smudged up recipes

JAN: Recently I took on a herculean task: I sorted through all the zillions of recipes in my file folders, armored them in plastic protectors, and organized them in a loose leaf binder.

I hate organizational tasks, so this was really a tedious sacrifice of time for me, but while I was doing it, I noticed that I’d linger over the icky, butter or gravy smudged recipes the longest.


And what was that about?? Fond feelings for my sloppy cooking?

Or maybe it’s because the spotless recipes signify a good concept that doesn’t apply to me. Messy means tried and true. Messy means real life.

So here are two of my messiest, most loved winter recipes.

Chicken Artichoke Stew:

3 lbs. broiler fryer cut in pieces, or three pounds skinless breasts cut into bite size pieces.

1 med-sized onion chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper

2 to three cloves of fresh garlic minced or pressed

1 large can (16 ounces) crushed tomatoes.

1 8-ounce can diced tomatoes.

small can of tomato paste

1 tablespoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons honey

1 package frozen articholes thawed and chopped or a large can of articoke hearts quartered.

2 to three carrots peeled and chopped into small slices

1/2 lemon squeezed.

Sautee onions and garlic in a Dutch Oven or Stewpot in olive oi. Add childen and brown on both sides. Add all the rest of the ingredients except the squeezed lemon and artichokes and cook for forty five minutes to an hour on medium or medium low. Add artichokes and cook ten minutes more. Add lemon and take off the heat. Serve over pasta or rice or serve as a stew with a loaf of French bread.

Hot Ham in a crockpot

I'm not a big ham fan. I buy it once or twice a year because I need the ham bone for pea soup and I can never find one. So I buy the smallest but-end fully cooked ham I can find and take three quarters of the meat off of it. Probably a pound or two.

Then I take a crockpot (or you can use a dutch oven) and sprinkle olive oil on the bottom.

I peel and slice four to six potatoes, and slice three carrots. I slice a bulb of fennel (you can use celery instead) and chop half an onion (1/2 cup). For fun, I like to add two jalapeno peppers (optional) I layer this on the bottom of the crockpot, sprinking with salt, peppper and a mixture of 1/4 cup olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter.

I cut the ham into medium sized hunks and put that on top. I mix two tsp. of brown sugar into ten ounces of low fat chicken broth and add to the concoction. In a crockpot, I cook it on high for four to five hours. In a Dutch Oven, I'd cook it on medium low for an hour or so. Ten minutes before serving, I add a half cup of light sour cream and I serve with sour dough bread. It's amazingly delicious -- even if you don't like ham!

Anyone else have an messy, winter recipes to share ?