Rustic Sausage, Potato & Tomato Goulash

Recipe based on what I had around, plus creativity by ChatGPT, tweaked a fair bit for the real world.

Ingredients: 

1 lb small red potatoes, quartered
6–8 oz sausage, sliced or crumbled
2 slices bacon, cubed
1 medium white onion, sliced
1 small purple/red onion, sliced
3 medium ripe tomatoes, cubed
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup chicken broth, made from concentrate
2 T (or so) olive oil or butter
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp fresh oregano or thyme
½ tsp black pepper
Salt, to taste
Some cheese for on top 

Instructions:

 1. Par-cook the potatoes.
Put the quartered potatoes in a large skillet with about ½ cup water and a pinch of salt. Cover and simmer for 8–10 minutes, until they're just becoming tender. Drain any remaining water.

2. Brown the sausage.
Add a little olive oil, bacon and sausage to the skillet over medium-high heat. Cook until nicely browned. If you're using ham, add it during the last couple of minutes.

3. Get the onions really good.
Add the white and purple onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until they're soft and beginning to caramelize.

3½. Before the onions are done, add the garlic to soften and begin to brown.

4. Add the potatoes and seasonings.
Add the potatoes, paprika, oregano or thyme, black pepper, and a little salt. Toss everything together and let it cook undisturbed for a couple of minutes at a time so the potatoes develop brown, crispy edges.

5. Add tomatoes.
Stir in the the chopped tomatoes. Cook for 3–4 minutes, letting them start breaking down.

6. Make it saucy.
Pour in ½ cup chicken broth. Scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Let everything simmer uncovered for 7–10 minutes, until the broth and tomato juices reduce into a thick sauce. 

7. Serve with shredded cheese on top, and with toast beside.


Review:

○ Definitely a starting point. And it used the veggies I had on hand! I asked for hearty, and it qualifies for that. 

○ Definitely not amazing as is. Onions need to be cubed smaller. Spices need to be tweaked. Meat needs to be improved. Be careful not to over-cook sausage, bacon, onions or garlic. Not sure what to do with the tomatoes; not sure how much they add.

Options: 
•  Add eggs. Make two wells in the mixture and crack an egg into each. Cover the skillet and cook for 4–6 minutes, depending on how runny you like your yolks. Take it off the heat while the yolks are still slightly softer than you want; they'll continue cooking from the residual heat. 

• Replace the sausage with bite-size chunks of ham or steak: this really wants hearty meat in it; the little bit of sausage was inferior. And increase the bacon.

• Consider stirring a little thickening agent into the broth before adding it. (Maybe not when adding the eggs.)

Sugar Free Chocolate Ice Cream

(Not completely free of sugar; just no sugar added as an ingredient.)

1/3 cup powdered baking chocolate.

1/3 cup powdered stevia sweetener.

2 cups half & half

1 cup whole milk

1 TBSP vanilla

½ of a Lindt 70% dark chocolate bar, chopped

2 oz walnuts, chopped

Run it through the ice cream maker.

Result: pretty good chocolate flavor, but it freezes rock hard. Gotta work on that. 

Low Carb Coconut (or Almond) Tortillas / Chapatis

INGREDIENTS
(Ten tortillas or so)

½   cup coconut flour (or almond flour)

6    large Eggs

1¼ cup unsweetened almond milk (or any milk)

¾   tsp salt (optional)
  

INGREDIENTS
(six or seven tortillas or so)

⅓  cup coconut flour (or almond flour)

4   large Eggs

¾  cup unsweetened almond milk (or any milk)

Salt (to taste)
  
OPTIONAL:
Herbs and spices of your choice.

INSTRUCTIONS

In a large bowl, whisk all ingredients together until smooth. Let the batter sit for a minute or two to account for the natural thickening caused by coconut flour. The batter should be very runny right before cooking - it should pour easily (add more almond milk and eggs in equal proportions if needed to achieve this).

  

Heat a small skillet (about 8" diameter) over medium to medium-high heat and grease lightly (use oil of choice or an oil mister). Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto the skillet and immediately tilt in different directions to evenly distribute. You can fill in the sides with a little more batter if needed.

Cook, covered with a lid, until the edges are golden and you see bubbles forming in the middle. The edges will curl inward when you lift the lid (about 1-2 minutes). Flip over, cover again, and cook until browned on the other side (1-2 more minutes). Repeat until the batter is used up.

Comment: Meh. Needs more refining.
 

First Sourdough Bread

TRADITIONAL SOURDOUGH BREAD

Here’s a good theory. This is what it's supposed to be like. 

Ingredients:

2 1/3 cups fresh sourdough starter

3 1/3 cup flour

1 to 1 1/2 cups water

Scant tablespoon salt

Instructions:

Mix sourdough starter, flour, and salt together. Add 1 cup water, then more as needed to make a moist bread dough.

Knead dough until it passes the “window pane test.” That is, a small piece of dough will stretch between four fingers thin enough to allow light to pass through without breaking.

Split the dough in half. Shape each half into a loaf.

Place in a loaf pan (9 x 5 x 3 inches), proofing basket, or on a board. Cover lightly with a towel and proof 4-24 hours. While a second proofing period is not required, if desired, punch dough down after 4-12 hours, reshape, and proof again.

Slice an X shape in the top of the loaf with a very sharp knife or razor blade to allow the loaf to expand during baking without splitting in unexpected places.

Bake at 400°F for 30-60 minutes, depending on loaf size, or until the internal temperature reaches 190° to 210°F.

Use an instant-read thermometer inserted into the bottom or side of the loaf.

Cool before slicing.

Here’s my first real-world experience with Sourdough:

Ingredients:

A big batch of fresh sourdough starter (this was pretty moist).

Lots more flour: a couple of cups at least.

1 to 1½  TBSP water

Oops. Forgot the salt. Need to remember the salt.

Instructions:

Mix sourdough starter and a cup or two of flour together in a blender with a bread hook. Add a tiny bit of water because everybody knows you add water to a dough.

Knead dough and keep adding flour trying to thicken the dough. It kept getting thicker, but never formed the ball I’m used to; this was stickier than oobleck.

Split the dough in half. Shape each half into a loaf.

I used a loaf pan; buttered the pan lightly. Not going to do that again. I covered the sticky dough with plastic wrap and let it rise on the warm back porch for 10+ hours. It raised nicely, but when I removed the plastic wrap, it tore the top off the loaf, and the remainder fell an inch or so.

I baked at 375°F for 40 minutes, one at a time, in the toaster oven. Sprinkled some flour on the second one. Didn’t help.

Results: Meh. I wasn’t impressed. The flavor surely needed the salt, and the crust (all sides) was rock hard while the inside was kind of spongy. Came out of the pan nicely, though.

Next time:

• Remember the Salt.
• Don't chicken out on adding flour and water: work pretty hard to get this to “bread consistency.”
• Forget the loaf pan. Use a flat tray: shred bread.
• Bake it hotter. 425° - 450°. Maybe bake in the barbecue.
• Use some whole wheat or rye flour. White is boring. 

Butternut Squash Fettuccine Alfredo

Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients:

- 3 cups diced butternut squash (about half a squash)

- 1 cup of vegetable stock.

- Butter (4 Tbsp.)

- One small onion (1 cup diced)

- Rosemary (1 Tbsp.)

- Sage (1 Tbsp.)

- Low-fat Milk (4 cups)

- Parmesan (1 cup, plus more for topping)

- Brown Sugar (2 Tbsp.)

- Nutmeg (1/4 tsp)

- Salt and pepper (to taste)

- Water (2 cups)

- Fettuccine noodles (1 16oz box)

Directions:

Melt 4 Tbsp. of butter. Add 1 cup of diced onion, 1 Tbsp. of Rosemary and 1 Tbsp. of Sage. Cook for 3 minutes on medium heat until onions soften. Then cook on medium-high heat until the butter begins to brown (be careful not to burn it). Add in 3 cups of diced butternut squash and 1 cup of vegetable stock, stir, then cover and cook for 15 minutes (until butternut squash is softened).

Uncover and mash with a potato masher until you’ve squished all the squash. Add 2 cups of milk and stir. Then, add 1 cup of Parmesan and stir. Add 2 Tbsp. of brown sugar, 1/4 tsp. of nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste and stir until well blended.

You can either cook your pasta beforehand in the pot and set it aside, or cook it in the sauce! Break fettuccine noodles in half and place in the sauce. Carefully cover the noodles with sauce. Then, pour in 2 more cups of milk and 2 cups of water and stir. (Add more water, if needed, to smooth out the sauce.) Stir the pasta continuously (to make sure it doesn’t burn on the bottom of the pot) and cook for 15-20 minutes (or until pasta has reached desired texture)

From  http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-butternut-squash-fettucine-alfredo-238127