Stroganoff

Ingredients

  • .75 lb ground beef or Flank Steak chopped in 1/4″ cubes
  • .5 pounds sliced mushrooms (Crimini or White Button preffered)
  • 1/2 onion or 2 shallots
  • 8oz crème fraîche
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • 1 lb noodles (we use farfalle generally)
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • Red pepper flake to taste (optional)
  • Cornstarch

Tools

  • One large stockpot
  • One large saucier or saute pan

Method

  • Season the beef with salt and pepper, and if desired, red pepper flake, set aside
  • Chop the onions and mushrooms and put them in a bowl
  • Brown the beef with oil in pan
  • When the beef has been browned, add more oil and the mushrooms and onions
  • Saute the mushrooms until they are about half the original size, around 3 minutes
  • Start your noodle water to boil
  • Add the beef broth, this should barely cover the mixture in the pan
  • Bring to a boil over medium heat and the reduce heat to low. Cover and leave on heat
  • Prepare noodles per package instructions
  • About one minute before noodles are done, put 1.5 tbps of cornstarch in a small bowl with 2 tbps of water, stir
  • Stir this mixture into your broth to thicken it up. It does not need to be gravy thick
  • Drain your pasta
  • While pasta is draining, add crème fraîche and stir until completely incorperated
  • Add sauce to noodle pan, then noodles, stir and leave set for around 3 mintues
  • Enjoy! We usually add some fresh grated romano to the top

Chile Verde

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs Chicken or Pork Loin or Butt
  • 1.5 lbs tomatillos
  • 2 green bell peppers
  • 2 jalepenos
  • 2 serranos
  • 2 yellow chile peppers
  • 1 large white onion
  • 2 tbsp crushed garlic
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Tools

  • One large dutch oven or instant pot
  • One large stockpot
  • Blender
  • Strainer (optional)

Method

  • An alternative to making this sauce is to make a batch of my Picante Verde and use that
  • Chop your meat into 1″ cubes, season with salt and pepper
  • Brown the meat in your dutch oven or another pan in batches.
  • If you are using the dutch oven, remove one batch and set aside in a bowl, if you are using another pan, put all cooked meat into your dutch oven or instant pot
  • While browning your meat, cut the onion and peppers in half, deseed your peppers, and peel your tomatillos
  • Boil all of your vegetables in the large stockpot until tomatillos are done (about 8 minutes of a rolling boil)
  • Take all of the vegetables and place in blender, add in ~1tbsp of salt as well as the 2 tbsp of crushed garlic to the blender
  • Blend until smooth, this may take a few batches
  • Optionally, strain your sauce mixture to remove seeds. This does not impact flavor as much as appearance and I hardly ever do it
  • Add the sauce to your meat. If using instant pot, put on stew setting for 1.5 hours. If using dutch oven, cook on low for at least 3 hours
  • Serve over rice and our homemade beans, or put in burritos or even over scrambled eggs

Chicken Pot Pie

This pie is one of our favorites because it is fun – it involves the whole family to make the filling and crust. This picture features a rough puff pastry pie crust courtesy of Woks of Life – check it out here: https://thewoksoflife.com/easy-rough-puff-pastry/.

We have also successfully made this pie with a gluten-free pie crust and vodka pie crust. It works with just about everything, although our favorite is the rough puff, as it provides a lot of flakey layers to complement the savory flavor of the filling.

This filling recipe is probably going to leave you with some leftovers, just stick them in a chicken soup or eat them in a bowl.

Ingredients

For the Filling

  • 1.5 lbs chicken cut into 3/4″ cubes
  • 1.5 cups celery chopped into 3/4″ pieces
  • 1.5 cups carrot cut into 3/4″ pieces
  • 1 cup finely chopped sweet onion
  • 2 tbsp salt
  • 1 tbsp pepper
  • 1 tsp basil
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp red pepper flake (optional)
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1-1-1/2 cups chicken stock (we usually use Better than Bullion to make it)
  • 2-3 tbsp corn starch mixed in equal parts water

For the Pie Crust (if you are using your own recipe or buying crust, disregard)

Tools

  • One large saucier pan with lid
  • One 12″ pie pan
  • One large cutting board or pastry mat
  • One large rolling pin

Method

For the filling

  • Cut your meat, season with salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and pepper flake if using
  • Cut your veggies, setting the onions apart from the celery and carrots
  • Heat your saucier pan to medium-low, add oil or butter to cover the bottom of the pan
  • Put your onions in the pan, sautéing for 1-3 minutes until slightly translucent
  • Put your chicken in the pan and brown on all sides. This might take a while as there is a lot of chicken
  • Add your other veggies and cook for 2 minutes
  • Add your chicken stock and bring to a simmer. You only want enough stock to almost cover your filling. Too much and your pie will be soggy, you want 1/4″ of your filling to poke out from the stock
  • Simmer for 5 minutes, bring pan to low
  • Add your cream and mix
  • Add corn starch mixture a little at a time and thicken the sauce. You want a very thick sauce, so make it a bit thicker than a normal gravy
  • Simmer for a couple more minutes, and set aside while you work on your dough