It's OK to be Chicken

Sometimes you need something easy, filling, and inexpensive.  This is that thing.  I usually make it the night before but it is good the same day as well.

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches (crockpot)

3 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 large yellow onion, cut in half then sliced
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
About 1/3 bottle of barbecue sauce of your choice

Add chicken to crock, sprinkle on some salt and pepper. Add onions, garlic, and sauce. Mix around. Cook on low 7-8 hours. Drain liquid, shred chicken, add rest of bottle of barbecue sauce. Leave on low for a bit for the shredded chicken to soak up the sauce. Serve on buns.

Feeling Saucy

I didn't know what to do for dinner and remembered I have a bunch of canned tomatoes to use, and I had pasta in the cupboard. I wanted to use some zucchini because that sounded tasty. So I made up this pasta sauce and am proud to say it was really tasty.

Italian Sausage and Zucchini Sauce

1 italian sausage link, casing removed
5 small cremini mushrooms
2 medium sized zucchini
1 onion
3-4 cloves garlic
2 cans diced tomatoes, pureed
salt
pepper
oregano
basil
italian seasoning

I took one italian sausage out of its casing and browned it on high heat and broke it up. I just wanted a really nice browning on the outside. I didn't want a meaty sauce, just some nice flavor. Removed that and then browned the mushrooms. I didn't add any oil, just let them soak up whatever was left from that little bit of sausage and then put them in the bowl with the sausage. I then threw in the zucchini chunks on high heat to get a little bit of color on them, not to cook them. Removed them to the bowl. Sauteed the onion and a pinch of red pepper flakes and a pinch of salt in olive oil until they were soft, added the garlic and let that go for a minute or so. Added back the sausage, mushrooms, and zucchini and put in the tomatoes. Seasoned with pepper, salt, dried oregano, dried basil, and some italian seasoning. Brought it up to a boil and then let simmer for around 30 minutes. Tossed with most of a pound of farfalle and some pasta water and let the pasta finish the last minute or two of cooking in there. Served with Parmesan cheese.

Snausage 'n Nonions

I did not take any pictures but we had some tasty Italian sausage with peppers and onions recently.

I browned four Italian sausages very well and set aside. I sauteed most of a large Walla Walla onion (yay they are in season!), a yellow pepper, an orange pepper until starting to soften, threw in a few cloves of sliced garlic. Deglazed with a little beer, added some italian seasoning, dried basil, salt, pepper, and a can of crushed tomatoes.

Sliced sausage and added it to the mix, covered and let simmer for around 20 or 30 minutes. We ate it on outdoor rolls but it was pretty sloppy. Would be good over pasta, too, or just by itself with some french bread for juice sopping.

Playing Ketchup

 

A few years ago my husband and I were waiting to catch a bus to Eugene and we were hungry.  There is a restaurant in between the train station and the bus station that seems way too nice to be in that area.  We ordered their parmesan fries and they came with the tastiest condiment.  Roasted Red Pepper Ketchup.  I asked if they knew what was in there and honestly I cannot remember at this point if they knew anything, but I had to have this at home.  I made this a while back but found the recipe recently.  It was so good.  I threw it together based on other ketchup recipes I saw around the web.  It was excellent on burgers, garden burgers, oven fries, you name it. 

 

Roasted Red Pepper Ketchup

2 red peppers
head of garlic
red pepper flakes
~ 1 lb. tomatoes (I had 1.6 lbs. on the vine with stem and seeds still intact. I figure once those were gone it was close)
small yellow onion
2 Tbs. tomato paste
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1/4-1/3 C. red wine vinegar
2 tsp. worcestershire sauce
21 seasoning salute (salt free seasoning mix from Trader Joe's)
salt
sriracha (optional)

Roast peppers. For this I put the peppers a couple of inches away from the broiler and let each side blister and blacken before I turned it to the next side. When all sides are blistered and blackened, put in a plastic bag and close and let steam and cool down. Remove skin and seeds from peppers.

Roast garlic, tomatoes, and onion. I put these all in at the same time and took out the onion at about 25 minutes. Preheat oven to 350. Quarter tomatoes and remove seeds. Quarter onion. Lightly oil a baking sheet and place veggies on it to roast. Chop off top of garlic head to expose cloves. Remove excess skin. Lightly coat in oil and shake red pepper flakes over the top of it. I probably used around 1/2 - 1/4 tsp. Wrap head in foil and put in oven with the baking sheet. Remove onion before it starts browning too much. I had the tomatoes and garlic in for around 45 minutes and then turned off the heat and let them sit while I went to the store to get olive oil.

Puree peppers, tomato, onion, and garlic. I used around 2 tbs. garlic and most of the onion. Add tomato paste, brown sugar, red wine vinegar, worcestershire, seasoning (I used three shakes), and salt (I used probably around 2 tsp. of kosher salt). Add sriracha ( I used about 7-10 drops). Bring to boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or so. Adjust vinegar, sugar, and salt to achieve a sweet but tangy flavor. I also cooled this down before we ate it because I didn't want it warm, more around room temp.