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I am a believer in dry beans. You can find these at pretty much any market. Soak them overnight in cold water, and when you awake the next morning, drain and rinse them and make something new. For me, it was coming up with a hearty bean soup that I could bring to work and have a healthy, and hearty meal to keep me going. This is my take on a chorizo and mixed bean soup. It serves a lot, can be made in a slow cooker if you wanted, and is a perfect meal for lunch or dinner. Heck, maybe even breakfast!

Let’s get started.

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

• 1 lb mixed beans, dried
• 3 ribs of celery, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 5 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 3 links of chorizo, thick sliced
• 1 link of venison sausage, thick sliced (optional)
• 4 cups of vegetable stock
• 2 cups of water
• 1 whole bay leaf
• Salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste
• 1 whole baguette

Begin by soaking the beans in cool water, overnight. The following morning, drain and rinse the beans, and set aside.

Heat a soup pot on medium heat. Add in the sliced sausages, and brown on all sides, about 12 minutes. The sausage will release some fat, and this is what we will cook our vegetables in. After they have browned,  add in the carrots, onions, celery, and garlic, and give a good stir. Let the vegetables begin to sweat, about 8 minutes. Stirring every now and then.

Add in the stock and water, give a good stir. Give a good pinch of salt and pepper to the mix, and toss in the bay leave. Let this come to a simmer, cover, and let it cook for 2 1/2 hours.

Give the soup a taste, and adjust any seasoning. That’s it. How easy was that for a pretty healthy meal?

When you are ready to serve, slice off a good nub of the baguette. Ladle in a generous amount of the bean soup, and eat with the bread. The result is a creamy textures from the beans, a bit of spice that balances that with the chorizo, and just a good old dunking element with the bread. Not only that, but now you have lunch and dinner throughout the week! Enjoy.

Serve with some nice crusty bread.

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(Serves 2)

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 6 thin slices of Gruyère cheese
• 8 thin slices of Black Forest Ham
• 1 cup of grated Gruyère cheese
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard
• 4 slices of thick cut French sandwich loaf
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

Begin by making the béchamel sauce. Get two saucepans, and heat one on a medium low heat, and the other on medium heat. To the pan on medium, low heat, add the milk, and let it get warm. To the other pan, add the two tablespoons of butter, and let it melt down and begin to bubble a bit. Add the flour to the butter, and mix it very well to incorporate the two. Continue whisking for about two minutes, being careful not to let the flour mixture brown. Slowly add in the warm milk, and continue whisking until you everything is nice and smooth. You will whisk this for about 8-10 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Add in the salt, nutmeg, and the parmesan cheese. Give a good mix, then remove it from the heat until it is ready to be used.

Next, get a large skillet going on the stove, and bring that to a medium heat. Butter four slices of the bread, and lay them into the skillet, butter side down. The goal here is to get them nice and golden brown, without burning them. As they begin to cook, add a tablespoon of butter to two pieces of the bread. Lay down three slices of Gruyère cheese on top of the mustard, then top each with four slices of the black forest ham. Let them continue cooking on the skillet, lifting to peak every couple of minutes, until the have reached that golden brown color, and have a crunchy exterior.

Now for the assembly.

Get your broiler going on 475 degrees.

Add the slices of toasted bread to a baking sheet. Place the toasted bread on top of the bread with the mustard, cheese, and ham. Now take the bechamel sauce and generously spread it all of the top of each sandwich. Take half a cup of the Gruyère cheese and add that to the top of the bechamel sauce.

Place this under the broiler until the cheese is nice and bubbly and everything is warmed through, roughly 4-6 minutes.

Remove the sandwiches from the broiler, and place on a serving plate. Dig in!

This one is super delicious and has not left my mind since I last made it. It has that sort of impact. Trust me.

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See, these are poppers on steroids. Well, not really, but they are wrapped in delicious pork. These game time appetizers will get your family and friends talking. When they are fully cooked, and plated, the questions will pour out. There is some mystery behind these, and not only that, but a lot of great flavor.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

• 8 whole jalapeno peppers, seeds and stems removed
• 6 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup of colby jack cheese, shredded
• pinch of salt
• pinch of pepper
• 2 chipotle peppers, seeds removed, chopped
• 1 tbsp chipotle adobo sauce
• 1/4 tsp granulated garlic
• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 egg, beaten (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups of panko bread crumbs
• Cooking Spray

Start by getting all of your ingredients ready. To a small bowl, add the cream cheese, colby jack cheese, salt, pepper, chopped chipotle peppers, and the adobo sauce. Give this a really good mix to incorporate all of the flavors. Set this aside.

As you can see by the photo, I have this really cool jalapeno pepper corer. This corer came with a purchase I had made in the past, and really proves useful for seeding jalapeno peppers. So once you have the seeds removed, cut them in half as noted in the photo below.

Take the cream cheese mixture and stuff it inside of the jalapeno peppers. Repeat until the peppers are filled.

Add the beaten egg to one small bowl, and the panko breadcrumbs to another bowl.

Take the ground pork, enough to flatten in the palm of your hand, and enough that you think would lightly cover the jalapeno pepper. Using your hands, wrap the pork around the pepper, shaping into an egg shape, until it is fully covered. Repeat until all peppers are covered.

Add the pork egg to the egg wash, then over to the panko breadcrumbs.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Spray your baking sheet with the cooking spray, or lightly coat with some oil. Add the coated armadillo eggs to the baking sheet and place in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes or until the breadcrumbs turn a very light golden brown.

When the are fully cooked, remove them from the oven and let them cool for about five minutes before plating.

Now you can eat these two ways. Once with your hands, or the other with fork and knife. Biting into them yields the wall of pork, then you are hit with the great texture of the pepper. A nice heat level to them is quickly balanced by the smoky cream cheese. Something new for your to try in 2012. You could also deep fry these until a darker golden brown, but regardless of how you do it, you do get a nice crunch from the panko breadcrumbs.

Hope you enjoy!

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If you have never had, nor heard of pozole, it is basically a Mexican soup that has this wonderful corn, and is loaded with super tender pork, a simple stock (in this case a red stock), and is garnished with shredded cabbage, thinly sliced radish, and fresh cilantro. It is a soup to be reckoned with. In a nutshell, it is just plain awesome.

So lets get started on making this wonderful pozole rojo. Rojo by the way means red in Spanish.

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

• 2 lbs of pork shoulder, cut into 2 inch cubes
• 6 Guajillo chile peppers, stems and seeds removed
• 4 Chile de Arbol peppers, stems and seeds removed
• 2 cups of boiling water
• 2 large, white onions, diced
• 1 head of garlic, thinly sliced
• 12 cups of water
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1 tbsp Mexican oregano, crushed with your fingers
• 30 oz can of Hominy, or Mexican corn, drained
• 1 lime, quartered
• 10 radishes, thinly sliced
• 3 cups of green cabbage, thinly shredded
• Fresh cilantro
• Fresh Jalapeno peppers, seeds removed, sliced (optional)
• Tortilla chips or fresh corn tortillas (optional)

Begin by hydrating the peppers. Add the chile peppers to the two cups of boiling water, cover, and set aside for about 30 minutes.

Next, add the pork to your soup pot. Cover with the 12 cups of water, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium. During this time, start skimming the brown foam that comes to the top of your stock, and start discarding that. Continue this process until you no longer have those impurities. Continue cooking the pork for about 2 1/2 hours, until the meat is super tender. Once the meat is cooked, remove the meat with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl. Let the meat cool so that you can handle it with your fingers.

Once the chiles have rehydrated, add them to a blender with about 1 cup of the water that they were hydrating in. Add the two cups of chicken stock to the blender, along with the salt, pepper, and garlic.  Blend until you have a very smooth mixture.

If you have a mesh strainer, now is the time to use it. Your goal is to add the blended chile mixture through the strainer, just in case there are any portions of the flesh from the chile peppers. Strain that directly into the pork stock and give a good stir. You now have the beginnings of your red stock, the rojo in pozole rojo. Give yourself a pat on the back, and carry onward.

Once the meat is cooled, tear it up into manageable bite size pieces and add it to the stock. Toss in the diced onions, as well as the strained hominy. Give it a good stir, bring it to a simmer, cover and let it cook for an additional two hours.

Once the soup is cooked, give a couple of good ladles of the soup into your bowl, and top with the jalapeno slices, radishes, cabbage, cilantro, and lime. Not all of it, just generous serving of each.

To eat, well,  you can probably figure this one out. Get your spoon and tortilla chip ready. Mix the cabbage into the soup, along with some of the radishes and cilantro, and dig in. Every bite is amazing. Tender bites of delicious pork pairs ever so nicely with the subtle heat of the stock. Then you can the tender bites of hominy and the crunchiness of the cabbage and radish. Wow! Comfort in every bite. This batch of pozole can be eaten of the course of a few days, and gets better every day.

Classic, comforting, and truly Mexican, this pozole rojo is worth making. Trust me.

Shortly after the kids ran madly from the school bus, returning home from school, they rushed into the house with excitement knowing that they were going to Rocky Rococo. Rocky Rococo, I think, is a midwestern pizza joint, where in the past, they served up some fairly descent pizza. It was not thin crust, or deep dish, but it was a pizza unlike no other. It was, in my opinion a Sicilian style pizza. I remember it being good.

When we arrived, three people were in the very large restaurant (not a good sign on a Thursday night at 6pm), and we ordered from the somewhat, hectic manager. My eyes looked upward at their menu, and as my kids rattled off what they wanted (cheese, cheese and pepperoni x2), I decided I would go with the classic cheese and sausage. That cheese and sausage is what I remembered the last time I had Rocky Rococo’s.

The fierce intensity of making these pizzas was beginning to annoy me. I like to watch people in the kitchen cooking my food, so don’t get me wrong. What was so stressful about making four pizzas that arrive in rectangular boxes, a box design that was totally out of style? These are not enormous, single serving slices. No clue, but about twenty minutes later, our pizzas arrived. By the way, no one else had arrived to order since that time.

My first bite. Gnarly, and not in a good way. 20 minutes? Stress upon taking my order, and panic on knowing how to cook a classic? Not impressed. But as I talked about the day with my kids (the best part of the meal), they were not phased about how unpleasant I was, and furthermore, my oldest asked if he could have another ‘square’. My time is precious with my kids, so as the good father that I am, I went back to the stressed out manager and asked for another slice of cheese and pepperoni slice, or rectangle,or whatever shape, only hoping that I was not going to have to wait another 20 minutes for a slice of pizza!

With that experience, I decided that I will never go back to that Rocky Rococo. I’m sorry to say that, as after all it is an establishment that I would like to support in my neighborhood.  A classic joint with some history, but I’m sorry, your pizza did not cut it. Hence why I decided to make my own, and I will not call it Rocky Rococo style pizza, but instead a Sicilian style pizza.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

• My pizza dough, or  about 2 lbs of pre-made pizza dough
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp dried oregano, pinched with your fingers
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• 15 oz can of tomato sauce
• 3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
• Pepperoni slices to cover, leaving 1 inch gaps
• Fresh Italian sausage, pinched, casings removed (optional)
• Sardines, flaked (optional)
• 1/2 cup red onion (diced), optional
• Black olives, sliced, optional
• Grated parmesan cheese, optional
• Your favorite pizza ingredients, optional

My kids are still, believe it or not, in the basic pizza eating style. They like either cheese, cheese and sausage, or cheese and pepperoni. I will focus on a 50/50 cheese and sausage/cheese and pepperoni, but as the man that I am, I recommend the red onion, sardines, and olives. You know what you like, so go for it. Just stick with the dough and process, and you should be good to go.

Begin by making the dough. Let it rise. It takes a few hours, so take that into consideration, or make the dough the night before, let it get to a good warmth and let the yeast do its thing.  Take in the smells. Nothing better than a kitchen that smells like yeasty dough!

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees, fahrenheit.

So you have the dough. Lightly flour it, very lightly. Take a large sheet tray, or at least 18×13, if not larger. Add the olive oil to the the sheet tray, and make sure the base is coated. Take your risen dough and place into the center of the tray. Begin massaging the dough, attempting to stretch the dough, without tearing it, to the edges of the sheet tray. Do your best.

Once you think you’ve done your best without tearing, shower it with the salt, pepper, and oregano. Cover the sheet tray and let it rise another hour, or so.

Once the dough rises a bit more, add the sauce, and gently spread all over the dough, lightly, not too heavy.

Add the mozzarella cheese, coating the sauce, then add your favorite ingredients. I was down for simple pepperoni, and sausage.

Place in a preheated oven for  about 35 minutes. What you are looking for is golden, crispy edges, a nice melted and golden cheese  crust in the center, and well, something better than Rocky Rococo’s.

Once cooked, take the sheet pan out of the oven and let it rest for about ten minutes for slicing into it.

Cut into long rectangular shapes and enjoy.

I’ve made this about four different times, and every time it delivers a crunch exterior with a fluffy interior, only to be enjoyed with your favorite toppings. Not only that, but you make a whole sheet of pizza for dirt cheap! I think I walked out of Rocky Rococo’s paying something like thirty dollars. Mine, about eleven dollars, and a much better experience. Enjoy.

By the way, my kids are just excited when they see the sheet pan of pizza, I think, more than they saw the stressed out manager, and the solo boxes of pizza.

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As the Christmas meal often stems around a bone in, spiral ham (which I love), I decided to surprise the family with something new. I wanted them to experience a whole new dish, and something that is elegant in its own right. The porchetta.  Days prior to the holiday feast, I began preparing the porchetta. A bit labor intensive, and time consuming, the end result is nothing but spectacular.

Lets get started.

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

• 11 lb pork belly, thick skin in tact
• 6 sprigs of fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup of sage, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup of fresh thyme, chopped
• 2 tbsp toasted fennel, ground
• 3 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp cracked black pepper
• 2 heads of garlic, minced
• olive oil
• 15 slices of pancetta, thinly sliced
• 4 lb pork shoulder, butter flied
• Additional Salt, pepper, chopped rosemary, thyme, sage
• 3 large carrots
• 3 celery ribs
• 3 cups of chicken stock
• butcher’s twine

Begin by cutting the meat side of the pork belly into crisscross incisions being careful not to cut through the skin. Do this for the whole pork belly.

Add the minced garlic, and herbs to a bowl. Drizzle enough olive oil until it just becomes wet. Set aside.

Generously season the pork belly with salt and pepper. Take the garlic and herb mixture and begin massaging it into the pork belly, making sure you get into all of the scoring of the meat. Roll, and securely wrap it in plastic wrap. Place this in the refrigerator for 3 days.

To the pork shoulder, season with some salt, pepper, and the additional herbs, just enough to lightly coat. Lay down the pancetta on a flat surface, making it a blanket for your pork shoulder. Add the shoulder to the pancetta, and carefully roll into place. Place in a large plastic bag, seal, and refrigerate for 3 days.

When you are ready to prepare the porchetta, take the shoulder and belly from the refrigerator and let them come to room temperature. Unroll the pork belly. To the top of the pork belly, add the pork shoulder, making sure everything is nice and snug. Roll the porchetta, lengthwise, into a roll. Take your kitchen twine and begin securing the porchetta.

Now what you end up with is a pretty darn long pork roll. My guess is that it will be too long for your roasting pan, so what I did is simply cut the porchetta in half and roasting them in two separate roasting pans. With that said, to the bottom of your roasting pan, add the carrots and the celery stalks, laying the porchetta, skin side up, on top of the vegetables. Drizzle a bit of olive oil onto the skin and massage it all over the skin. Season with a bit more salt.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

Lay your roasting pan in the preheated oven, and cook for roughly 45 minutes. Take in the smell, it’s amazing. After this time, begin basting the top of the skin with the pan juices every 30-40 minutes.

Your total cook time for the porchetta will be roughly 4 hours.  After this time, remove the porchetta from the oven and onto your cutting board. Let this rest for about 20 minutes so that all of the juices distribute throughout the porchetta.

Remove the butcher’s twine and discard. With a serrated knife, or better yet if you have an electric knife, begin slicing through the crisp pork skin, then through the succulent pork. Cut into rounds if you can. Plate on a large serving dish for your guests.

A layer of crisp pork fat, then a wonderful blend of herbs and pancetta, followed by succulent pork shoulder, every bite is succulent and extremely delicious. This porchetta was the perfect meal to serve lots of people, inexpensive compared to most other holiday meals, and I had plenty of leftovers for some really killer sandwiches.

Let’s get started.

Serves 4

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

• 1 1/2 cup of masa harina
• 1 1/2 cup of warm water
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 1/2 cup of Deli ham, thinly sliced and chopped, per arepa
• 1/4 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese, per arepa
• Your favorite hot sauce

Begin by adding the masa harina and salt to a small mixing bowl, and mix it around with your fingers. Next add the water, and begin mixing, and kneading until the dough comes together. Continue kneading the dough until it forms a smooth dough, and no longer is sticky. At this point in time you can add a bit more masa harina if it is too sticky, or a bit more water if it is too dry. You basically want to form a medium sized ball that you can flatten down a bit, about a 1/2 inch thick by the width of your palm, approximately 3 inches.

Continue this process until you have formed all of the arepas.

Next, heat a large cast iron skillet on medium heat. The goal is to use a heavy skillet that can retain really good heat. Add the oil and swirl it in the pan. Add the arepas to the heated oil and let them cook for 4 minutes on each side. You want a golden exterior on both sides.

During this time, preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

When the arepas as golden on each side, add them to a baking sheet and place in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, remove the baking sheet from the oven.

With a sharp knife, make an incision in the side of the arepa, cutting through the arepa, making an opening. The goal is to not slice this all of the way through, just a nice incision that will allow you to stuff them with the ham and cheese.

If you notice the knife is doughy, much like you would see when you pull a knife from cooking a cake or bread, place them back into the oven for another 5 minutes or so.

Next, stuff a bit of the cheese inside of the arepa, then some ham, then more cheese on the top of the ham. Place them back into the oven for another 5 minutes or until the cheese is nice and melted.

When you are ready to serve, plate them, and serve with a simple salad and a nice drizzle of hot sauce.

The end result is nothing but awesomeness. You have a crunchy exterior with a soft interior, the fresh aroma from the masa, and with the melted cheese and ham, well, you know where I’m going.  Give them a shot, and I hope you enjoy.

Note: I also served these with roasted chicken, cheese, and guacamole, but once again the creations are endless as to what you put inside of them.

A torta ahogada is a particular type of Mexican sandwich that is derived from Guadalajara, but can be found, or sought after in other Mexican cities. Typically, the sandwich can be fully submerged in a chili sauce made from chili de arbol, and depending on the the amount of chilies, the sauce can get rather spicy, very much how I like it. When you think of a fully submerged sandwich, you might think like I do, probably not the best way to eat a sandwich, so instead, I simply ladle on a bunch of the sauce in the interior, giving a better approach to eat the sandwich.

As the sauce has a bunch of ingredients, this sandwich is worth making and is great for a party. It is not only fun to make, but it is also a seriously great sandwich to eat.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients for the Carnitas: [Print this Recipe]

• 2 1/2 lbs of pork shoulder, cut into large cubes
• 1 orange, juiced
• 2 limes, juiced
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• water

Add these ingredients to a bowl, giving a good mix and let marinate for at least 30 minutes.

During this time, begin making the sauce for the ahogada.

Ingredients for the Sauce:

• 20 chile de arbol, stems and seeds removed
• 1/2 cup of cider vinegar
• 3 Roma tomatoes, quartered, pulp removed
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 white onion, roughly chopped
• small pinch of ground cloves
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup of fresh cilantro, leaves and stems
• 1/2 cup of water

Place all of your ingredients in a food processor and pulse until you have a smooth sauce. Feel free to strain the sauce through a fine mesh strainer if you prefer to remove any of the solids. I prefer to leave some of the texture in the sauce. Set aside.

Ingredients for making the sandwich:

• Hard rolls, like an Italian hard roll or a French Batard (You want a hard exterior and a soft interior)
• Pickled red onions (for a quicker pickle, you can add sliced onions to orange juice, with a couple of bay leaves for about two hours)
• Avocado, sliced (optional)

To cook the carnitas, add the marinated pork and the marinade to a heavy pot. Pour in water to just cover the top of the pork. Cover, turn the heat on medium, then uncover in 2 hours. Turn up the heat and reduce all of the liquid, stirring along the way. Continue to cook the pork, getting the exterior a bit browned and crisp. Once the liquid is dissolved, turn off the heat, and poke a fork into it. The pork should fall apart. Resist to try the pork, as you might eat a lot of it!

To make the sandwich, slice your bread lengthwise, making a nice pocket. Do not slice all of the way through.

Stuff the carnitas into the pocket, and pour on the sauce. Top with pickled onions and dig in.

Three words. Nothing like it. Hope you enjoy.

Later that night, he returned a very happy kid. He had his Yankees shirt on, along with some fancy sunglasses, and as he began talking about how cool the stadium was. He was probably just as excited to talk about the Chinese restaurant they had lunch at, and even said he had wonton soup, and that it was the best soup ever!

Now our cousin knows good food, and he knows good Chinese food. A connoisseur of dim sum, and have been a big city native, I knew my kid probably had some of the best Chinese food in New York City.

For the last couple of years, my son reminds me of that time. Not so much of the Yankees, as I think I lured him back into being a Milwaukee Brewers fan, but of the time where he had the wontons, and that was my cue to make him my version, of what I think is a great wonton soup.

We have all had wonton soup, and we pretty much all love it. A nice broth with tender, savory dumplings floating in the broth. I personally really enjoy the soup, and it is one of those items on a Chinese menu that is always ordered. I’ve investigated various broths and dumplings and was determined to make my own this past weekend, and well, my son, he ate the majority of the soup.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients: (Serves 6) [Print this Recipe]

• 1 lb of ground pork, 2 tbsp reserved for stock
• 1/4 tsp dark sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup of green onions, finely sliced
• 1/2 tsp corn starch
• 12-18 wonton wrappers, approximately
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tbsp water
• Steamer
• 7 cups of homemade chicken stock, approximately

Begin by adding the pork, sesame oil, fish sauce, white pepper, salt, half of the green onions, and corn starch to a mixing bowl, and do just that, mix. Make sure all of the ingredients have incorporated.

To a smaller bowl, beat the egg, and add the water, and mix.

To make your wonton, lay a wrapper out onto a plate, or in your hand. Add about a tablespoon or less of the mixture into the middle of the wrapper. Lightly brush some of the egg wash along the perimeter of the wrapper. Fold one corner of the wrapper to the opposite side, and pinch to secure. Take the other corner, and do the same, then give it a slight twist.

Repeat this process until the pork mixture is done.

Next get a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add the dumplings to a parchment paper lined steamer. Place the steamer to the top of the boiling water, cover, and let these steam for about 10 minutes.

During this time, get the chicken stock into a large pot and bring it to a boil, and toss in the ground pork.   Cook the broth for about 5 minutes, or until the ground pork is fully cooked, then remove the pork with a slotted spoon and discard. Toss in the remaining sliced green onions. When the wontons are cooked, add them to the chicken stock, turn off the heat, and let them sit in the broth for about 5 minutes before serving.

To serve, ladle some of the broth, and a few of the dumplings in each bowl.

I think I scored as both my wife, and dumpling loving son genuinely told me that it was probably better than the Chinese restaurant in New York. My son said my broth was better than the place in New York, and the dumpling was a tie. I think I came out a winner on this one. I hope you enjoy.

If you have never had Spanish chorizo, this is the perfect opportunity. It is unlike a Mexican chorizo, and this Spanish type is full of paprika and other spices, and has a bit of a spicy tone to it. A slight fat content makes this sausage perfect for sautéing and with the combination of a couple of simple vegetables will really get you thinking more about Spanish chorizo.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

• 2 Spanish sausage links, sliced about 1/2 inch thin
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced and diced, seeds removed
• 20 oz can of cannellini beans, drained
• 1 cup of chicken stock
• 1/2 loaf of rustic French bread, sliced and toasted

Begin by heating a pot on medium heat. Add in your sliced chorizo and cook for about 5-7 minutes. Depending on the amount of fat cooked off from the sausage, strain, but reserve about one tablespoon. Add in your onion and garlic, and give a good stir. Cook for another five minutes on medium heat.

Toss in your red bell peppers, cook for a few minutes until it begins to soften, then add in the white beans and chicken stock. Give this a good stir, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for about 45 minutes.

During this time, place your bread under the broiler, and toast. When it is nice and toasted, rub a clove of garlic over the top, and set the bread aside.

When you are ready to serve, add the beans and chorizo mixture to a small bowl, and wedge some of the toasted bread into the dish.

The fun thing about this dish is not only its simplicity, as well as flavor, but also using the bread as one of your utensils. Hope you enjoy.