Red Spread

 

This was a very lucky strike for me. So, here I am following the guidelines to remain at home during the coronavirus outbreak, which leaves me way too much time to get goofy ideas and give them a try.

I had a couple of tomatoes on the vine that were about to die of old age, and somehow in the last few months and especially in the last few days I have gotten the never-waste-food thing on steroids. I thought I might puree them, but then they would just sit in my fridge and go bad as tomato goo because I only use that in one recipe.

Then I had my brainwave. I added some stuff to the puree and cooked it down to a paste. I just used it as the “T” in my BLT and it is spectacular! Here’s how to do it:

Red Spread

2 medium ripe (very) vine-ripened tomatoes
1 red chili pepper
1 teaspoon garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Put tomatoes, chili pepper, garlic, salt, and olive oil into a food processor and puree. If you want it a little less spicy (he gasped, grasping his pearls) you can de-seed the pepper.

Put the puree into a small pan and cook over medium low heat until all visible liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat and allow to cool for five minutes or so. Add the lemon juice.

Spread it on something and praise my name!

Yes, that’s a White Claw with lunch. Pedestrian judgements have never concerned me.

Avgolemono Soup: An Instant Pot Story

Doug and I are currently learning Greek, and as I counsel my Gaelic students, cultural enrichment activities are a great way to keep your language learning holistic. I have always loved Avgolemono soup, so decided to learn to make it in my Instant Pot.

I read lots of recipes and only a few had any vegetables in them, but I wanted to scale the rice back, so added them to my version for a sense of bounty.

Avgolemono Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 stalk celery

1 carrot

1 bunch scallions

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

8 cups chicken stock

6 boneless skinless chicken thighs

1/3 cup uncooked white rice

2 large bay leaves

3 lemons

3 eggs

Chop the vegetables. Add the olive oil to the Instant Pot and use the sauté function to begin cooking them. After about 4 minutes, add the garlic, salt, and pepper and cook for another minute.

Add the chicken stock and thighs, rice, and bay leaves. Set the Instant Pot to 12 minutes at high pressure. 

While the chicken is cooking, juice the lemons and beat them into the eggs until frothy. 

When complete, do a quick release, but be careful. That thick stock / rice may shoot up out of your release valve a little. Remove the bay leaves and discard. Remove the chicken thighs and set them aside to shred with two forks.

While the broth is still very hot, ladle about 1 1/2 cups into a measuring cup. Very slowly add it in small amounts to the egg and lemon mixture while mixing it continuously. This raises the temperature of the egg slowly enough that it will cook without forming any curds. It’s called tempering and apparently it’s a basic cooking skill that I had not acquired yet. Check!

Add the egg and lemon sauce to the pot, shred the chicken and return it to the pot as well.

Important: Once the egg is in the soup, don’t let it boil again, or your hard work tempering the egg will be for NOTHING.

Enjoy, Darlings!

Sauté

Add stock, thighs, rice, and bay leaves

Ready to temper the egg / lemon sauce

Take your time to get a good result

Shred the chicken and re-add

Perfect for a day in with Yaya