Swedish Meatballs

Swedish meatballs? Ja sure you betcha. I love 'em. It's another favorite comfort food for fall. This recipe was developed by my wife Kim and is a goodie. The gravy is full of good, hearty flavor and so are the meatballs. I love lots of gravy; you can't ever have too much gravy. Oh, and you can easily make this dish 'a shore' or at sea. Uff da. What a supper. Ja sure you betcha. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

• 1 can chicken broth
• 1 can vegetable broth
• 1 T fish sauce
• 3 slices bread (heels work best)
• 1 C milk
• 3/4 lb hamburger
• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 C yellow onion, chopped fine
• 5 T butter
• 3 T parsley, chopped
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t paprika
• 1/2 t grated lemon peel
• 1/4 t ground nutmeg
• 1/8 t ground allspice
• 1/3 C bread crumbs
• 1/2 C flour

Instructions:
Using a small pan over medium heat, saute onion in 1 T butter until soft. Set aside.

Mix bread slices & 1/2 C milk. Once bread has soaked up milk, drain to remove extra milk from bread and return extra milk to milk container for this recipe. Set milk soaked bread aside.

Heat a pot with chicken and vegetable broth and fish sauce over medium heat. Do not bring to a boil, but keep broth at just below a boil.

Mix hamburger & ground pork together, add eggs, parsley, spices, sauteed onions, and bread soaked in milk and mix well. Add bread crumbs and continue to mix. Make meat balls that are about 2" in size. Drop meatballs in hot broth and cook for 3-5 minutes. Heat a large frying pan with high sides over medium heat with 3 T butter. Remove meatballs from broth and pan fry meatballs until lightly browned on all sides. Set aside cooked meatballs.

In frying pan that just fried meatballs add 1 T of butter and flour to make a roux. Stir flour and butter (and pan drippings) together until smooth. Add hot broth to roux to make a gravy, stirring almost constantly. To get the desired gravy consistency (not too thick) add milk and mix well. Next add the meatballs to the gravy and cook for another 3-5 minutes.

Cook 3 C of egg noodles. When ready, place cooked noodles down, then top with meatballs and gravy, and serve. Top with any left over chopped parsley. Enjoy.

Filipino Chicken Curry

I love curries and I came across this interesting variety. I suspect what makes it different from Indian or Thai curries is that fish sauce is used; otherwise it is similar to many other golden curries that I have made. Golden curries often have potatoes and other vegetables in them. This dish has celery and bell peppers maybe that too adds to it being a Filipino curry. It is a very tasty and comforting curry - great on cold, rainy days. As a lot of my recipes this is a 'one-pot-dish,' quick, easy to make, and full of flavor. It'll fill your house (or boat) with many wonderful scents and everybody will wonder what's cooking. This curry is a family favorite now.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 T vegetable oil
• 3-4 medium sized Yukon Gold or Yellow Finn potatoes, cut up into small pieces
• 3-4 chicken thighs
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 yellow onion, cut up
• 1 T fish sauce
• 3 T curry powder
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 C water
• 1 green, yellow or red bell pepper, cut up
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 can coconut milk
• Optional - fresh cut up basil leaves
• Optional - Sriracha red chili sauce

Instructions:
In a dutch oven or heavy pot using medium high heat, fry potatoes with 2 T of vegetable oil. Potatoes should be partially browned but not too soft. Remove potatoes from pot and set aside.

In the same pot that cooked the potatoes, heat 1 T of vegetable oil to hot, and quickly brown chicken thighs for about 3-5 minutes. Don't worry if bits of chicken stick to the bottom of the pot, this will be part of the flavor. Next add the chopped onions to the chicken, stir to mix and continue cooking until onions are soft and barely starting to brown. Add garlic to chicken and onions, mix well, and cook for another minute. Add the fish sauce and curry powder and cook for another 2 minutes. Next add the cup of water, celery, previously cooked potatoes, and bell pepper. Cover and simmer for 3 minutes until the vegetables are just starting to get soft. Taste and add salt & pepper if needed. Next add the can of coconut milk, stir until mixed well, lower heat and cook for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

For additional flavor you can add cut up fresh basil leaves when you add the coconut milk. And, some might like it hotter, so you can serve it with some Sriracha red chili sauce.

Remove from heat and serve hot. Can be served by itself or over some steamed rice. Enjoy.

Canadian Caesar

In Canada a Caesar is not a salad but a wonderfully refreshing alcohol drink. Many lazy afternoons at anchor were made even more enjoyable with this great zesty and refreshing drink. It's made with Clamato juice and that is a requirement. No Clamato, no caesar. Canadian Clamato is a bit different that what you'll find in the US. It has anchovy extract in addition to clam juice which gives it a bit more of a "kick." However, US Clamato is fine too. The caesar is a favorite on the MV Independence.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 oz. of vodka
• 6-8 oz. of Clamato juice
• 1/2 tsp of A-1 sauce
• 1/4 tsp of lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp of Tabasco sauce (or to taste)
• Dash of cajun seasoning (to taste)
• Pickled asparagus or green beans as a garnish

Instructions:

Lots of ice Pour Clamato juice, A-1 sauce, lemon juice, Tabasco sauce into a tall glass. Mix well with a long spoon. Then add vodka and stir again. Add cajun seasoning to taste. Fill a glass with ice, add pickled garnish and pour caesar over ice. Enjoy. A caesar goes great with fresh steamed shrimp or cracked crab.

Too Easy Split Pea Soup

This soup is just too easy - really. It takes absolutely no skill to make. It just takes time. The result is a thick, rich, tasty soup.

Ingredients

• 1 smoked ham hock, with bone or without
• 1 16 oz. bag of green split peas
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 2 celery stalks, sliced
• 1/2 medium yellow, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 t dried parsley (or 1/4 C chopped fresh)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 T salt
• 1/2 t black pepper
• 6 C water

Put all dry ingredients in a crock pot in layers, do not mix. Add water. Adjust crock pot heat to low and cook for 6-8 hours. Just before serving pull out the ham hock and remove the bone. Break up the meat and return to soup. Stir well and serve. It's all that easy - too easy.

If you don't have a crock pot, put all the ingredients on top of a stove over very low heat. One suggestion made a long ago at a dock pot luck was put the pot on top of the engine manifold while running - just make sure it doesn't tip over.

Green Curry Chicken

I love green curry. Some think it is hard to make, but really is quite easy. The trick is in making the green chili paste. Making green chili paste really can't be made on the boat, but you can make it in advance at home and bring it to the boat or wherever you might be.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 green jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 t white vinegar
• 3-4 large chicken thighs with bone & skin
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 T freshly grated ginger
• 1 t ground coriander
• 1 t ground cumin
• 1/2 t ground tumeric
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
• 1 can chicken broth
• 2 T fish sauce
• 1/2 C fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 C sliced bell pepper
• 1 t lime juice
• 2 cans coconut milk

Green chili paste:
Place jalapeno peppers and vinegar in food processor and process until peppers are a fine paste. Wear gloves and be very careful not to get any in your eyes.

Green curry:
Using a heavy pot, heat oil until almost smoking over high heat and add chicken thighs. Brown chicken thighs turning often for about 5 minutes. Don't worry if chicken skin or other parts stick to bottom of pot. Remove chicken from pot and set aside. Next add chopped onion and cook until onion is browned on edges about 5-7 minutes. Add 2 T green chili paste (more if you like it hotter), garlic, ginger, spices, and stir fry for 1 minute. Return chicken to pot and mix well with ingredients. Add chicken broth, reduce heat to low and let cook covered for 30-40 minutes. You may need to add some water if too mix gets too thick. Finally, add the fresh basil, fish sauce, sliced peppers, lime juice, coconut milk and mix well. Let this cook uncovered for another 20-30 minutes over low heat. This will reduce and thicken your chicken green curry. Pick out the chicken thighs, remove the meat from the bone, and put the chicken meat back into the curry.

Serve over fresh cooked basmati rice.

Serves 4. Preparation time: 15 minutes. Total time: 90 minutes.

Jalapeno-Sunflower Seed Pesto

This recipe is from my cookbook, "Independence Recipes."

This recipe sounds spicy, but by adding the cream it takes the spicy heat out of the jalapeno so you can enjoy the subtle flavors. It's a rich dish so cut the richness with a glass of red wine or some spirits.

It was invented during a stormy fall boat trip out to McMicken Island here in South Puget Sound. I wanted something spicy, hearty, and with plenty of flavor. When served it was greeted with rave reviews - a bunch of hungry guys who just finished scuba diving. I have made it many times again and always seem to get good reviews from it. It's definitely a different take on pesto.

Pesto:

• 1-2 fresh jalapeno chilis, seeded and finely chopped
• 1/3 C toasted sunflower seeds
• 1 1/4 C fresh parsley
• 1 1/2 C fresh cilantro
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 C olive oil

Main dish:

• 1 C of jalapeno-sunflower seed pesto
• 3/4 lb. of mild or sweet Italian sausage
• 1 C heavy cream
• 2 C cheese totellini or tortelloni
• Olive oil
• 1/4 C red wine
• Parmesan cheese, grated for topping
• Sunflower seeds as garnish

Make pesto:
In food processor, chop above ingredients with half of quantity of olive oil. Then add remaining half of olive oil and blend until ingredients are finely mixed. Do not overblend.

Main dish:
Add small amount of olive oil (less than 1 tsp) to a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add Italian sausages and cook sausages 10-15 minutes turning occasionally. Use tongs instead of a fork to turn sausages since a fork pricks the sausages letting out the juices. Deglaze sausages by adding red wine, turn heat down to simmer, and cover for 5 minutes. Remove sausages from pan and slice thinly. Reserve pan along with drippings.

Meanwhile boil salted water and add tortellini. Reduce heat and cook tortelli according to instructions or when tortellini is done. Drain water and drizzle olive oil over cooked tortellini to keep them from sticking.

Return sliced sausages to pan they were cooked in, increase heat to medium. Add pesto and mix well. Next add heavy cream and stir continuously until mixture is heated and reduced by one third or more. Do not burn!

To serve, arrange tortellini in bowls or plates, and pour heated sausage, pesto, cream sauce over tortellini. Top with parmesan cheese and some extra sunflower seeds.

Serves 4. Prep time: 15 minutes. Total time: about 1 hour.

Cajun Lentil Soup

This is a nice, easy and flavorful soup to make for those cold, winter days. The earthy favors of the lentils goes nicely with the toasted fennel. The vegetables give the soup a very savory flavor, and the Cajun spices and Andouille sausage give it that nice "kick."

Cajun seasoning:

• ¼ t Cayenne Pepper
• ¼ t White Pepper, ground
• 1 t Thyme, ground
• 1 t salt
• ½ t black pepper, ground
• ½ t onion powder

Ingredients:

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 C sliced Andouille sausage (about 2 small links)
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• ½ large green pepper, diced
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 C sliced okra
• 1 C lentils
• 3 C chicken broth
• 2 C water
• 1 T fennel seeds
• 1 T Cajun seasoning
• ¼ C fresh cilantro, chopped

Heat a small frying pan over high heat and toast fennel seeds for about 1 minute, stirring frequently. Set toasted fennel seeds aside. Make Cajun seasoning by mixing the spices together. Add toasted fennel seeds to seasoning.

Heat oil in large pot oven over medium high heat. Add sliced Andouille sausage and sauté until sausage just begins to brown, about 1 minute. Then add the ‘holy trinity’ of vegetables – onion, celery, and green pepper. Sauté vegetables with sausage until vegetables become soft about 2-3 minutes. Next, add chicken broth, water, lentils, chopped tomato, chopped okra, and spices. Reduce heat to low, mix ingredients well and let simmer for 30 – 40 minutes or until lentils are soft. Add chopped cilantro, mix well and let cook for another 2-3 minutes. Ladle into bowls and serve with plenty of Louisiana Hot sauce.

Note: Could also be served over hot steamed rice.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Total time: 1 hour