One Pot Meals

Gumbo is an easy, great food to make. It does, however, take time. It's a lot like the curry recipe on this site. There's not much to it, if you do it right, but it takes a long time to make. Just like the curry is all about the onions, the gumbo is all about the roux.

A roux is nothing more than flour and fat cooked together. In this case, it's flour and vegetable oil. You can use peanut oil, but I didn't have any for this recipe. This is the #1 most important ingredient in your gumbo, so don't mess it up.

Luckily, there is a fool-proof way to make roux. Traditionally, roux was made by putting flour and oil in a pan, and stirring like hell for about 20 minutes. This is very time consuming, but it works. However, the roux is very easy to burn, and burnt roux is good for only 1 thing. Throwing away.

That said, here's my gumbo recipe (the ingredients are in the order they are used):

I was looking for some comfort food last night, after a day of beer making (2 batches fermenting at the moment...). This seemed like the perfect way to use some of the potatoes and shredded cheese I had laying around.

6 Potatoes (I used the small white kind)
1 Pint of whole milk
2 Tbs butter
Salt and Pepper
3 C Shredded Cheddar cheese
Salt and Pepper
Non-stick spray

This is similar to my other recipe, but with more cheese, and less other stuff.

Chop the potatoes into chunks, and grease a pan. I used a large cast iron pan with a lid. Put a layer of potatoes, a layer of cheese (about 1/4 of the cheese per layer), some salt, and some pepper. When the pan is full, top it with some cheese, pour the milk over it, and stick it in the oven at 450 degrees with a lid on it. After about 30 minutes, when the potatoes are done, take off the lid and cook for another 25 minutes or so, until it dries out a little and the cheese on top is browned.

Simple Pasta and Shrimp recipe.

1 Large tomato
1 Pound of shrimp (shell on)
5 Cloves of garlic
10-15 Kalamata olives
5 Cloves roasted garlic
1 Roasted red pepper
1 Pound of dry pasta (Eliche, Tortiglioni, Spirali)
1 Tbsp Old Bay
1/4 Cup of milk
1 Tbsp flour
1 Bay leaf
2 Tbsp butter

Peel the shrimp, and put the shells in a pot. Add enough water to cover them by about an inch, and put it on the stove to boil. Add the old bay, bay leaf, and raw garlic (I leave it in the papery shell). After it boils, simmer until it's reduced to the tops of the shells, and strain it back into the pot

1 can rinsed chick peas
med-large tomato, chopped into chunks
1 large onion chopped
3 cloves garlic
3 tsp ginger powder (or paste)
1 tsp Turmeric (halidi)
1 tbsp Garam Masala (available in most big grocerys now...)
1 tsp Ground Coriander
2 tsp Salt, to taste
1 tsp cumin

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pot, and fry the onions. Fry until they are soft, over about medium heat, stirring often so they don't burn. After about 10 minutes, add the ginger, garlic, and fry for about 3 minutes.

Then, add the tomato, and the rest of the spices. Fry this for about 5 more minutes, and dump in the chick peas. Add a few ounces of water, maybe 6 or 8, to start a nice gravy. Bring this to a boil, then lower to a simmer for about 30-90 minutes, until the gravy is your desired thickness.

If the gravy is not thick enough, simmer some more, and stir in a little bit of cornmeal to thicken. Serve hot with rice, or naan, or pocketless pita bread.

If you want it hotter, add some chili peppers when you add the ginger/garlic.

Basic Quiche:
6 Eggs
1 Cup of cream
1/2 to 3/4 Cup of milk
1 Deep dish pie crust (I used a friozen one)
1 Cup of shredded cheese (Cheddar, or anything, really)
1/4 Cup of ricotta cheese

Filling:
You can use just about anything for the filling. I pretty much threw in whatever was left in the fridge. Here's what I used: