Cooking with Mumu: [Update] There are 5 new posts in "Simply Recipes"

Simply Recipes

Here is the Simply Recipes update for cookingwithmumu@gmail.com

Chicken Cutlets with Caper Sauce
Perfect Cheesecake
Quick Beef Stew with Mushrooms and White Beans
Roasted Baby Carrots
Feijoada, Brazilian Black Bean Stew

There are 5 new posts in "Simply Recipes"

Chicken Cutlets with Caper Sauce

Sometimes, especially after the holidays, all you want is a light, good meal. "Light" as in you're trying to cut back, and "good" as in, can we make it taste good even though it's light? This chicken cutlet recipe, with a caper shallot sauce, is just that, flavorful, filling, and won't weigh you down. The idea for it came from my friend Peg Poswall, who is simply brilliant in the kitchen. It's sort of like a chicken piccata, but without the breading, and it is served with fresh arugula, thinly sliced fennel, and shaved Parmesan. Great for lunch or a simple dinner.

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Perfect Cheesecake

It takes a bit of hubris to describe a recipe as "perfect", especially for a recipe such as cheesecake, for which so many have their own personal favorite. But, this is simply the best, most wonderful cheesecake I have ever had, and have ever made. It is based on a master recipe, from the master of baking herself, Dorie Greenspan. My young friend Audrey (15) and I made this particular cake twice together, with me documenting the steps. I've made it on my own a couple of times, and I think Audrey has made it so many times she's lost count. She's changed it ever so slightly from Dorie's base recipe, including keeping the graham cracker crust at the bottom instead of up the sides of the cake, and finishing with a sour cream topping and a raspberry sauce.

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Quick Beef Stew with Mushrooms and White Beans

Hmm. "Quick stew" is somewhat of an oxymoron isn't it? Most stews are braised in plenty of liquid for long slow cooking. This stew is barely "stewed", and the main reason it comes together so quickly is that you are using top sirloin for the beef, a much more tender cut of beef than chuck, which is what is usually used in stews and requires long slow cooking to become tender. This recipe is updated from one I posted several years ago, with slight modifications to extract more flavor from the ingredients given the short cooking time. The revised stew has passed the parent approval test, with two thumbs up from both mom and dad. Enjoy!

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Roasted Baby Carrots

Updated, from the recipe archive. First posted 2005. I'm going through my archives the next few weeks and updating the photos and sometimes the recipes for many of the older recipes on the site. So, if you didn't catch them the first time around, I present them to you anew. ~Elise

This has to be one of the easiest ways to prepare roasted carrots. The method of preparation comes from my friend Suzanne. She uses the "Nantes" French carrots from Trader Joe's or the bunched baby carrots at Whole Foods, but any small carrot (4-5 inches long) will do. You usually find them with their greens still on. (Note that the "baby" carrots to which I refer here are not the small pill-capsule-shaped carrots that one gets in a big bag to serve as snacks for kids.) The carrots are simply tossed together with sliced red onions, fresh rosemary, olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and then roasted until all are nicely caramelized.

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Feijoada, Brazilian Black Bean Stew

Hank introduced me to this Brazilian black bean stew a couple months ago and I couldn't stop eating it. It is outstanding. And perfect for the chilly weather we're having these days. ~Elise

This is another of those big, hearty, meat-and-bean stews that seem to be the national dish of one country or another. In this case, the country is Brazil and the stew is feijoada (fay-ZHWA-dah). Feijoada has as many versions as there are cooks, but in Brazil it almost always has black beans and always has a mixture of salted, smoked and fresh meats.

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