QUICK DELICIOUS PICADILLO, which can stand on its own maybe served with rice and even beans - also makes classically toothsome filling for empanadas.

Picadillo - contributed by Tamara - I've made many versions, but I think this one is the best.

1 1/4 pounds ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup beer
~2 or more cups drained canned chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/4 teaspoons ground coriander
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 pound baking potatoes (about 2), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup quartered and pitted green olives

In a large frying pan, cook the ground beef until it
is no longer pink. Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic and cook,
stirring occasionally, until starting to soften, about 3 minutes.

Stir in the beer, tomatoes, tomato paste, cumin, coriander, salt,
black pepper, and Tabasco sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat
and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large nonstick frying pan,heat the oil over moderately
high heat. Add the potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until
golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes.
Add the potatoes, raisins, and olives to the meat mixture. Cook,
covered, until the potatoes are just done, about 10 minutes longer.

ONE OF A MILLION RECIPES FOR GNOCCHIS (ÑOQUIS)

You think these are so tricky, but I realized that these can't be all that hard when I saw a teenager on an Argentine soap opera throwing them together without even looking. (Eve will remember her name - the one in rehab on PH??) Makes 72 – maybe for 3 or 4?

(Recipe has been improved by Lena's testing during Christmas dinner)

What you need:

• 1 ½ lbs russet (Idaho) potatoes, smallish
• around 1 cp. flour
• salt and pepper
• 1 cp. frozen chopped spinach, steamed quickly and then squeezed very dry.
• 1 egg yolk
• Grated parmesan
• ¼ lb. fresh mozzarella (optional)

for the sauce:

• ½ onion, sliced
• large clove garlic, chopped
• ½ large can tomatoes, whirred in processor

What you do:

In large, oven-proof saucepan, saute onion in good amount of olive oil until starting to brown. Add garlic, and then the tomatoes. Simmer about 20 min. until sauce-like – add salt and pepper and small pat of butter. Keep on a low flame.

Set large pot of water to boil – then add a big pinch of salt. In another pot, simmer potatoes in water to cover until cooked through - 15 min? Keep the simmer low, and watch them - try not to let the skins split because you don't want much water to get inside. (Lena recommends baking them instead to avoid that problem.) Drain and cool slightly. Peel and put through potato ricer or food mill into large bowl and let cool somewhat.  

Add the spinach, egg yolk, and about 1 tsp salt and some pepper and lightly stir it together.  Sprinkle about 3/4 cp. flour over and mush together with your hands until just combined. If it needs it, add the rest of the flour gradually – dough should be soft and only slightly sticky - knead lightly. With your hands, roll about 1/3 of the dough into 1/2” cylinder on a lightly floured counter, and with a sharp knife, cut pieces ¾” long – should be around 24. Roll them around a bit in the flour on the counter, and then stick your finger in the middle to make a little dent. When each one is done, put on a lightly floured plate, and don't let them touch! When they're all there, toss them in the boiling salted water and start stirring right away, though gently. Wait until they rise to the top, and then leave them no longer than 10 seconds. Lift out with sieve and drop into the sauce. Do the same with the rest of the dough - 2 more times.

Stir gnocchis gently in the sauce - and throw in some chopped fresh herbs (basil, oregano) if you have any. Sprinkle generously with parmesan and slivers of mozzarella, and slide under broiler until top browns slightly.

ARROZ CON CAMARONES

Developed after watching Tachita throw things in the blender

This has no claim to being even close to authentically Mexican, but it does have some roots there, as does our family. Tachita was my Mexican aunt’s cook, famous for her memorably redolent stuffed cheese, and perhaps some day we will investigate this.

What you need: 1 large can of diced tomatoes (Whole Foods has the best and amazingly the cheapest); 1 small onion; 1 or 2 jalapeños; 2 cloves garlic; 1 1/2 cps. white rice (just the plain medium grain, nothing fancy); maybe some chicken broth or bouillon; 2 lbs. uncooked shrimp, peeled and washed; a lime or two; cilantro would be nice

What you do: first make the sauce - whirl the garlic, onion, jalapeño (1 without the seeds if you want to avoid hotness, and 2 with them if you want to scorch, or somewhere in between), and canned tomatoes (added in that order more or less) in a blender or food processor until pureed. Heat some olive oil in a wide pan on the stove, and when it’s hot, pour in the puree, and simmer in a lively way for about 10 minutes; add salt and pepper to taste and leave everything in the pan. Then make the rice - pour about 1/2 cup of that sauce into a saucepan and heat; add the rice and stir it around for a few minutes; add 3 cps. of water or stock (and some salt if you use water) and bring to a boil; turn the heat down and keep at a low simmer, covered, about 25 minutes until the rice is done; turn off the heat and fluff it up with a spoon; keep covered so it stays warm. The shrimp - in the wide saucepan where hopefully you still have the sauce, heat it up again until it boils, and throw in the shrimp; cook for about 5 minutes until they are all pink and just cooked through; squeeze a little lime juice on top and salt to taste. Throw some chopped cilantro on both the rice and the shrimp and serve together, optimally with some savory and soupy black beans and fresh corn tortillas. (Pittsburgh became truly civilized when Reyna Foods started making these available daily.) This serves 4.

CURATIVE INDIAN SOUP WITH RED LENTILS AND VEGETABLES (by Jesse)

This blog is already a bit soup-heavy, but come on - it's winter! Also, this is contributed by Jesse who has been a soup lover from the time he could hold a spoon.

It’s really simple, doesn’t take long to make, and somehow cures people of colds.

10 cups of chicken stock (i just use 5 knorr bouillon cubes in ten cups of water); 1 1/2 cups red lentils; 1 small onion, diced; 1 bag of spinach, washed and chopped; 2 baking potatoes, peeled and cubed; mushrooms, roughly chopped; 2-4 inches chopped ginger; 4-6 cloves garlic; vegetable oil (optional: and a little sesame oil); yogurt; mint leaves, chopped; crushed black pepper; sugar; light cream
spices (amounts are to taste, and while all four are good to have, the only one you really need is the curry powder; i would say the ratio here is 2:2:1:1): hot curry powder; cumin; fenugreek; turmeric

1. in a stockpot, simmer the potatoes and the lentils in the stock until both are soft and break easily with a fork.
2. meanwhile, cover the bottom of another equally large pot with oil. over low-medium heat, cook the onions, ginger, garlic, spices, sugar, and pepper (and mushrooms if you’re adding them). stir occasionally.
3. once the potatoes/lentils have softened enough and the onions are translucent, combine the two by pouring the first pot into the second. stir. add spinach and cover. cook on medium heat for at least 10 minutes. mash some of the potatoes with a fork and stir. add spices/sugar/pepper/salt to taste. add a little cream if desired.
4. in a separate bowl, mix the yogurt and mint leaves. serve the soup in bowls with a dollop of the yogurt/mint in the center. serves 6ish.

Adding this because this blog looks so sad with no photos and I have no food ones yet. So here I am with my running group at dawn last week over an incandescent Pittsburgh seen from Troy Hill. Reid says we look weird but it was 17 degrees!

PASTA, WITH ITALIAN SAUSAGE THIS TIME

Molto semplice!

• 1 can diced tomatoes (large) - puree in food processor or blender
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 links Italian hot or sweet (your pick) sausage, taken out of the casing (I get these at Parma - the best!)
• 1/4 cp. of red wine (optional)
• salt, red pepper flakes
• 1 lb. of pasta
• grated parmesan - to taste
• chopped parsley - also to taste 

What you do: In about 3 TB of olive oil, saute the pepper and onion in a large saucepan until somewhat soft. Add the garlic and saute another half minute. Take out of saucepan and put aside. Put in the sausage and cook until no longer pink. Pour off excess oil in pan (depending on the sausage - some have a lot.) Now add the sauteed vegetables, the pureed tomato, the wine if you want, and salt and red pepper flakes to taste and simmer for around 20 minutes until it’s a bit thicker. Voila!

You’ll be cooking the pasta on the side, of course. This is good for about a pound of little chunky ones, like ziti. Combine with the sauce and heat gently together for about 5 minutes, so that the flavor gets absorbed. Grate some parmesan over the top and sprinkle with chopped parsley (mainly for color - still important.)

PASTA WITH SMOKED SALMON AND OTHER THINGS

Once provided this for pre-marathon carbo-packing

 For 4:

• 1 lb. pasta
• 8 oz. smoked salmon, cut into smallish pieces
• 1 cp. frozen peas, defrosted
• 1 lb. small boiling potatoes cut into cubes
• 4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 red pepper, sliced 
• (optional: 1 jalapeno very thinly sliced and with seeds/ribs removed - check for hotness, though)
• 1 clove minced garlic
• grated rind of one lemon 

Put the potato cubes in a saucepan of water with some salt and simmer until tender.  Then drain.   Set the water to boil for the pasta, and when it bubbles, add a tsp. of salt.  Add the pasta and stir.  Saute the onion and peppers in olive oil until quite tender and a little browned.  Turn off the heat and add the garlic and lemon rind.
Before draining the pasta, collect about a cup of the hot cooking water in a coffee cup and keep aside.  Now drain the pasta, put in a large bowl or pot (preferably a heated one) and immediately add everything else, including the saved water.  Add salt and pepper to taste, and let sit about 5 minutes in a warm oven before serving, so that everything melds together.

THE CURE: CHICKEN SOUP

Basic Jewish chicken soup

(Best if you can do this a day or so ahead of serving. So admittedly this isn’t something you can do after work, but it is SO wonderful to have it waiting for you in the refrigerator or freezer, at which point it’s only a half hour away from eating.)

What you need: it is really important what kind of chicken you get - best is a stewing chicken from the farmer’s market (although this isn’t kosher unless it is a pretty religious Jewish farmer) but a kosher soup chicken will also do. If you can’t, well, go ahead with any old chicken, it will still be great. Also you need: 2 large carrots, 2 large parsnips, 1 medium onion, 3 ribs and some leaves of celery, some parsley stems if you have any - and for afterwards: thin or medium noodles, more carrots, and some butternut squash.

What you do: Wash the chicken and put it in a large pot. Add water to completely cover it, and put it on to boil. Watch it, and just when it starts to boil, turn the heat down to simmer, and skim any of the brown stuff off the top of the water. Then add the onion, carrots, parsnips, celery and parsley and bring to a slow simmer. After about an hour pull off a piece of chicken to check to see how tender it is - sometimes the stewing chicken takes at least 2 and a half hours. When it’s really falling apart, take out the chicken and remove the meat and save it separately. If the broth isn’t completely delicious at this point, you can put the carcass back and simmer for a while longer, or simply cook it down to make it more concentrated.  When it is as tasty as you want, you can strain it. VERY IMPORTANT: Put a sieve over another large pot and pour the soup through to strain it. (I once poured all the soup down the drain.) Press down to get every drop of nectar-like soup, and discard what's left in the sieve. Now is the time, if you can, to cool and refrigerate the broth and chicken separately - and once it’s cool, skim off the fat from the top.

Now to serve (this is fast): Peel another carrot and also some butternut squash and slice into pieces. Add it to the strained broth and simmer until they’re cooked (about 20 minutes.) This adds more taste and also are nice to have in the soup. Cook the noodles separately (if you cook them in the soup they’ll absorb most of it - very sad! - I also did that once.) Then add them to the soup along with the chicken meat , heat everything together, and serve. (Maybe a little chopped parsley or dill also, and you just might need some more salt.)

You can fool around with this in a million ways, but this one is the classic.

PILLOWS OF LOVE

(Named by Shaina) I once worked in a bakery which featured these little puffs of exquisiteness that remind me of the old fashioned Italian cookie trays (except that they are not pink and green.)

PILLOWS OF LOVE ALMOND MACAROONS

• 1 lb. (weigh it) almond paste (here they sell it at PennMac in a small plastic container) 
• 3/4 cp. sugar
• 3/4 cp. confectioner’s sugar 
• 4 egg whites
• whole or slivered almonds for garnishing

Really the best way to combine these is in a food processor - just buzz it until it is all perfectly smooth with no lumps. But probably an electric mixer will be fine.  The rest is so simple: preheat oven to 350; line a cookie sheet with parchment paper; drop teaspoonfuls of the creamy paste on it about 2” apart; center an almond in the middle; bake for about 10 minutes until just slightly golden on top. Cool and pop into your mouth. I never counted how many this makes, but a lot - you can halve the recipe with no problem if you want less, but that’s unlikely. You can also add green or red food coloring to make them more like the ones you can get at Moio’s.