Category Archives: Main Dishes

Karl’s Cajun Jambalaya

In the 1970’s I was working for a diving company based in Belle Chasse, LA. I have been thinking about that time lately (it probably has something to do with Lent and Mardi Gras). I can’t think about N’Orl’ns (one word) without thinking about the food. For two years I lived off of Muffulettas, Shrimp Etouffee, boiled crawfish, and Jambalaya.  I have had a sudden desire for the flavor. Louisiana food generally falls into two main cuisines Creole and Cajun, which roughly corresponds to city and country. 

Karl's Cajun Jambalaya

Karl’s Cajun Jambalaya

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Filed under Main Dishes, Pork, Poultry, Seafood

Karl’s Stone Soup with Bread Dumplings

When your refrigerator and freezer are getting cluttered with bits and pieces, it is time to make Stone Soup. This is not entirely in the spirit of the story, but Stone Soup sounds so much better and classier than; “What is in the refrigerator soup?”

Karl's Stone Soup with Bread Dumplings

Karl’s Stone Soup with Bread Dumplings

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Karl’s Fried Tofu and Baby Bok Choy with Pan Fried Noodles

Jan has put up with my meat eating for 35 years now (30 of them in the married state as of this month). She considers herself a born again carnivore, but she still misses being a vegetarian. Since she let me have lamb on Easter, I planned on a tofu stir fry for dinner tonight. Eilene, however, had some friend over and so I had to add some things to what I was planning to make to have enough for two adults and three hungry teen-aged girls. They must have liked it because they cleaned it down to the last noodle and scrap of vegetable.

[no picture, it disappeared too fast]

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Filed under Main Dishes, Vegetarian MD

Karl’s Greek Barbecued Lamb

This Sunday is Easter, and around our house this means barbecues lamb and barbecued lamb means Greek. The combined flavors of garlic, lemon and herbs are always a big favorite. I decided to have Greek mushrooms, rice pilaf, and spanakopita rolls to go with the lamb and Jan made a lemon bundt cake for dessert. It has been a long 40 days and I am looking forward to the end of Lent.

Karl's Greek Barbecued Lamb

Karl’s Greek Barbecued Lamb

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Filed under Main Dishes, Pork

Karl’s Moroccan Oxtail Tajine

Adapted from a recipe by Mamatkamal El Mary K

This week is Chris’ Birthday. Myr is taking him out for steak on Saturday, so she wants something heavy on the vegetables. Jan really liked the Chicken Cassablanca I made last week, so she wants a North African tajine (tu-jeen). I have some French green lentils that I have wanted to try out (A Taste of History idea). Chris (who just landed from a trip to Germany) got in the last word, he wants oxtails. This I can work with.

Karl’s Moroccan Oxtail Tajine

Karl’s Moroccan Oxtail Tajine

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Filed under Beef, Main Dishes, Stews

Miriam’s Cream of Mushroom Soup

Many people associate cream of mushroom with Campbell’s-assisted casseroles.
20130324-160732.jpg I did not grow up with these, so got to discover them as an adult (along with butter and cream). But that handy concentrated glop, even diluted, is nothing like cream of mushroom from scratch. I even convinced Chris of this fact, with this recipe. It’s loosely adapted from 500 Greatest-Ever Vegetarian Recipes‘ wild mushroom soup.

Miriam’s Cream of Mushroom Soup

Miriam’s Cream of Mushroom Soup

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Filed under Soups, Vegetarian MD

Karl’s Roasted Salmon with Leeks

It is St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow, and no one in this household likes what is sold as “corned beef” in the supermarkets (I understand that if you can find Italian corned beef it is much closer to the original). In fact, except for Chris, my son-in-law whose family is from Boston, we do not favor “boiled dinners” (everything thrown into the same pot and boiled). For us the classic Irish main dish is the Salmon of Knowledge.

St. Patrick's Day Dinner

St. Patrick’s Day Dinner

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Filed under Main Dishes, Seafood

Karl’s Chicken Casablanca Soup

Eilene was sick today so I plan on Chicken soup. Originally I was going to go with my usual French chicken noodle soup and then I noticed the bag of Mandarin oranges on the counter.  I had bought these thinking they were Cuties, but they were not as easy to peel.  As a result, they were just sitting on the counter getting old.

Karl's Chickem Casablanca Soup

Karl’s Chickem Casablanca Soup

I went on the Internet looking for some kind of “orange juice chicken soup.” There were surprisingly few hits and fewer that looked appealing or what I had in mind. One that was close was a Moroccan soup that used orange juice.  I looked up several Moroccan chicken soups and the spices blends and ingredients that made them Moroccan. Picking and choosing and using what I had on hand I came up with this recipe.

Note after dinner: This was a fantastic combination of flavors. Spicy with being hot. It may seem that there is a lot of spice for a dish this size, but it was perfect. The Mandarin orange juice worked as a secret ingredient (the soup did not taste “orange-y,” but you would have missed it if it was not there). Finally the bulgur thickened the soup just the right amount without turning it into a pasty stew.

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Karl’s Uyghur Lamb Samsa (Baked Samosa)

This recipe comes from a memory of a taste and  of a Mongolian? Chef (from the banner behind him I think it is Inner Mongolia).

Karl’s Uyghur Lamb Samsa (Baked Samosa)

Karl’s Uyghur Lamb Samsa

Yesterday I made Uzbek samsa, a baked dough filled with spinach, and it reminded Jan of the Uyghur lamb samsa we had in Kashgar in 1988. I know the name Uyghur looks frightening to American sensibilities, but it is pronounced “Way-ger.” We were taking our vacation, from teaching English to the Chinese, to the far west of China. There were almost no foreigners in China during those months so, except for a few stray Canadians and Australians, we had Xinjiang pretty much to ourselves (not counting several million locals). The locals assumed that we were Canadians, except for the one who thought I was a Russian and the woman who came up to Jan and started chatting her up in Uyghur. She could have easily passed in the Mexican embroidered dress and the Russian babushka she was wearing.

Jan and Miriam at the Kashgar Market

Jan and Miriam
(in blue – age 4)
at the Kashgar Market

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Filed under Lamb, Main Dishes

Karl’s Samsa with Spinach and Paneer (Baked Samosa)

Adapted from a World Cook recipe

Today I was surfing the web looking for a new idea, some recipe, some country’s food I had not yet tried to make.  I stumbled upon World Cook, a site out of the Netherlands with recipes from 133 countries (currently there are officially 196 countries total). It does not purport to be comprehensive, some countries have many recipes, others only a single one. You can search by country, ingredient, and day of the year. Many of the recipes have a bit of cultural background added to them if they are associated with a particular holiday. The site is also a bit of a travel log of their family’s visits to places away from home.

I spent hours exploring the site and it had an odd quirk. Whenever you select a recipe to look at, a second unrelated recipe appeared on the same page. For example the page for the Uzbekistan Samsa recipe also had one for Tomato Soup.  One recipe would lead you to another, and another, and another. It became addictive to see where it all would lead. I finally chose the samsa recipe, but the original Uzbek recipe was a bit boring.  The dough was OK, but the filling was just spinach and onions.  I was going to have to spice this recipe up.

Karl's Samsa with Spinach and Paneer (baked samosa)

Karl’s Samsa with Spinach and Paneer
(baked samosa)

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Filed under Main Dishes, Vegetarian MD