Tapioca with Cranberries

Tapioca Pudding.

For a long time those words made me think of two things: old British nursery stories and gelatinous snacks in my summer-camp lunch bag. So whatever possessed me to make some at home, I do not know, but I was possessed and we did and what a revelation.

Mostly milk, light on the sugar, and easy to make, it’s a great base for lots of flavors or savored on its own.

We just use the recipe on the box and I've found that stationing a kid-chef at the stove for the part that requires "stirring constantly"  is a great way to include them in the dinner prep while I'm doing something else.

Since the pudding has to chill after cooking, we dish it out into small servings and stash those in the fridge while we eat.  By the time the dishes are done, they're ready.

Cranberries are a great complement and our quick sauce is simple:

Combine in a non-reactive saucepan 1 bag of cranberries (washed and any soft ones discarded) with 1/2 cup water and 1/3 cup sugar.  Stir occasionally and cook until the berries have popped, about 10 minutes.  You can reduce the liquid further by continuing to cook a few minutes longer.  Good seasonings include cinnamon, cardamon, orange or lemon.

A couple of spoonfulls of cranberry sauce livens up poultry or pork dishes as well as granola, yogurt and....tapioca!

Falafel Chicken

Today was an uninspiring kind of day.  Rainy and busy, I pulled out of the office parking lot late, two kids at home and a pitifully empty refrigerator.  So I did what any normal person does when faced with a dinner emergency.  I called one of my sisters.

"What's for dinner?"

"Your house or mine?" (we live several states apart)

"Mine.  There's nothing in the pantry, and I've got about 20 minutes to shop, go!"
She thought for a moment then spoke these magical words: "Falafel Chicken!"

I took a few mental notes, dashed between the drizzles to pick up milk, chicken thighs and falafel mix and headed home.

My son tossed together some butternut squash chunks (worth buying pre-chunked!) while my daughter measured out and mixed up tabouleh salad.

I dipped the chicken thighs in egg, turned them over in the falafel mix and put them in a non-stick pan with some hot olive oil.  About 5 or 6 minutes per side and they were done.

The chicken stayed very moist but the crust was flavorful and crunchy.  We had a little cranberry sauce on the side and it provided a nice tart, bright note to the dinner.

Falafel chicken is something I never would have thought of, but it just skyrocketed to the top of my easy-weeknight-dinner list!  Thanks Krissy!

Now if only we were close enough to share the dishes....

Turnips

Remember those baby turnips from the farmer's market I mentioned last time?

I had eaten perfect baby turnips last year in a little restaurant off an alley near Place Vosges in Paris and they were just about this size.  Why not recreate that moment, never mind the lack of rough-hewn stone walls, old wood, creaky floors and the haughty insistence of the host that we really needed a reservation but, since we were so early he'd see what he could do..., I opened Mastering the Art... and we were off!  It couldn't have been simpler.  We chopped the greens off, trimmed the tops and bottoms and washed them up.

No peeling, no blanching (because they were so small), they went right into the pot with enough chicken broth to nearly cover them and some butter (don't tell Julia, but I used 1/4 her recommended amount!)

They simmered for about 20 minutes, I cut them into halves and put them in little dishes: voila!

We ate them with a salad topped with the cranberry-shitake chicken mix and olive-oil drizzled avocados.  I was hoping the kids would hold true to stereotypes and dislike the turnips but they gobbled them up.  Sweet, tangy, buttery and brothy - they were delicious!  A grind of pepper suited me, but they didn't need anything else.

Bon Appétit!

Mushroom-Cranberry Chicken Wraps

We went to an outdoor concert this weekend and I wanted to make something we could put in a wrap, then use another way for dinner on Sunday.  Inspired by a similar recipe, we created this chicken saute. 

Slice three chicken breasts into 1 inch strips and season lightly with pepper and salt.

Saute in a non-stick pan, lighly sprayed with canola oil.

When the meat has cooked through, remove from the pan.  Deglaze with 2 TB of white wine or a flavorful vinegar (balsamic or brown rice, for example), add 6-8 fresh shitake mushrooms (sliced into thin ribbons) and a scant 1/4 cup dried cranberries. 

Cook over medium-low heat until the mushrooms are done, about 6 minutes.  Mix the chicken back in.

We took some whole-wheat flour wraps and added mayo and lots of lettuce, the chicken mix and wrapped them up.

After the concert, we found some amazing little turnips at the farmer's market - but we'll save those for tomorrow's post!