Mushroom-Shrimp Ajvar Stroganoff

25oz. mixed mushrooms
1 red bell pepper
1 purple onion
5-6 cloves garlic
4T butter

fresh ground black pepper

Slice, chop, or mince everything and combine in a 4 quart pot. Cover and cook on low heat for 30 minutes, stirring often.

By now, the juices have been coaxed out of the vegetables by the heat.  Pour or ladle out, and set aside, 8oz. to make the sauce later. Turn up the heat, stir and continue to cook until the liquid is almost gone and everything's nicely brown or translucent.

8oz. of Ajvar-type sauce
10oz. Red Argentinean shrimp - cut in thirds
a nice splash of Fig Balsamic vinegar
8oz. of the cooking liquid
4-8oz. pre-cooked pasta

Add the first 3 ingredients to the pot. Bring to a low simmer and maintain a couple minutes, add the pasta, stir, cover and turn off the heat. I discovered Ajvar in an International Market several years ago. I bought jars from several different sources. Most are more red than mine due to the amount of red bell pepper. I went through those 6 or 7 jars quickly. I then researched and ordered a case of a brand that sounded good, half the jars were hot and the others mild. It wasn't good. I decided I'll make my own. 

Ajvar has an interesting history. It's use and variations can be traced back to many countries. 

At some point, I may try roasting the peppers first, but for now, this was fun, quick and has great flavor combine with all the above. . .Lin

Langostino-Trout with Butter Garlic Pepper Pasta

There are times, especially during this pandemic, I've found myself perfectly comfortable just staying at home, for long stretches of time.  As much as I love grocery shopping, that's also been excluded and I've been challenged to create interesting dishes with what I have on hand.

Having just come home a week ago from 10 days in Arizona, with a 400 mile road trip on either end getting to, and bringing my dogs home from, the dog sitter, I have yet to shop, and don't want to for another couple days. It's fun to see what can be created with just things on hand I wouldn't normally put together.

I had that amazing Minnesota Lake Trout yesterday, and I knew I had Langostino in the freezer.  My first instinct would be to make these into a chowder, but I don't have cream or celery, so that option's out.

Lately I've been craving Angel Hair Pasta, so I've decided to run with that for another one-of-a-kind, empty-the-pantry-and-'fridge inspired dish.

1/2 lg. Vidalia onion
6 big cloves of garlic
2 med. carrots
2-4T single source EVOO
1/2c mild & 1/2c hot Ajvar sauce
1/2-1c water
meat from one cooked trout

12-20oz. frozen langostino thawed
2-5T butter
1/2c chopped onion
Old Bay Seasoning

1/4c drained-rinsed capers
10oz. jar mushrooms - drained
2/3c sliced kalamata olives
1-2T fresh chopped dill
juice of 1 lemon
2T lobster flavor Better Than Bouillon
smokey salt  and chipotle seasoning

Chop the onion, garlic and carrots and sauté in the olive oil until slightly brown and the onion is translucent.  Add the Ajvar and water.  Simmer this, covered, for half an hour then add the meat of the trout.  Meanwhile, sauté the langostino in a little of the butter, over medium-high heat. As it simmers, drain off the liquid into the pot of fish sauce.  Add more butter and increase the heat, cooking until the pan is almost dry and the langostino are nicely browned.

Combine these now, with the sauce, over low heat. Bring this to a low simmer and add the last group of ingredients, simmering an additional 5 minutes.  Serve over angel hair, spaghetti or linguini pasta. . .Lin

Ajvar-Simmered Sliced Beef and Zucchini

2/3# thin sliced beef

2T EVOO
2T aged dark balsamic vinegar
1/2 lg. purple onion - chopped
2 lg. stalks celery - sliced
2 med. zucchini - cubed

Heat the oil, add a small amount of the onion that's been more finely chopped, with the beef. Stir fry this for a couple minutes over medium heat. Add the vinegar and keep cooking and stirring until the beef browns and begins to stick to the pot.

Using 1c of beef or vegetable broth, a little at a time, deglaze the pan.  Let it brown again, and repeat the process several times. Add the rest of the vegetables, 1/2c of Ajvar sauce. Stir, cover and simmer on low 30 minutes. Stir well, check the flavors and add anything needed. I did not add any of the salt shown. Good browning and deglazing often eliminates the need for that! Simmer on low heat another 20 minutes.

At this point it seemed the flavor needed a bit of a boost but I couldn't place just what would do it. Then I realized it needed something warm, sweet and savory. I added 1t pumpkin pie spice (!) and it was perfect!

This turned out so well. The meat was tender and full of flavor, and the vegetables were just right. Don't be afraid to try mixing sweet and savory. Sometimes that crossover is just what's needed! . .Lin

BIG Ajvar Meatballs

1½# lean ground beef

1# mild pork sausage

1 lg. onion - chopped

1c quick cook oats

1c Ajvar pepper sauce

2 lg. eggs

1t salt

1t black and red pepper

1t Penzey's Shallot Pepper

This started out as meatloaves.  Then as I was thinking of the people I often cook for, after having thawed the beef and pork, I realized none of them are crazy about meatloaf!  I also found myself mixing the ingredients, singing an old song from the early 1950's. . ."One Meatball"  That's when this morphed into BIG meatballs, that I can freeze and keep, or give away just a few at a time, rather than a whole meatloaf.  Bake these at 350° for 45-60 minutes.

Adding in the approximate weight of all the ingredients, these meatballs each weigh between 3-4oz.  I'll freeze them, then take out one or possibly two, at a time.  Heat them and serve over pasta, with sauce, or just chop them up and have them with vegetables for a quick and easy dinner.  Good pasta or vegetables,  sometimes all you need for dinner is One Meatball! . . . Lin

Rice, Beans and Greens

Rice and Beans

3c cooked, or canned, black beans

⅔c black, red, brown rice blend

1 sm.-med. yellow onion

2 celery stalks

1-2T butter

2t fresh ground seasoned salt

1⅓c water

⅓c mild ajvar

1T turbinado sugar

1-2t garlic & herb spice

1-2T vegetable soup base

I was in Tucson, AZ in May.  In our travels, we went to an old fort - now a great area with shops and a restaurant.  At one shop I found some beans that were originally grown in that area by indigenous Native American tribes.  What a find!  Dry, they have a variegated black-dark grey-light grey color.  Sort of like a brindled dogs coat!  They're larger than regular black beans.  I rinsed, then boiled them for a few minutes.  Removed the pot from the heat, covered and let it stand several hours.  I repeated this process three times, draining, rinsing and using fresh cold water each time.  The last time I added 1t baking soda to the water once it boiled and stirred that in.  It's supposed to break down the gasses in the beans and make them easier to digest.  They turned out well.  I made these one day and did the rest the next.

In a 2 quart saucepan, saute' the rice, chopped onion and celery in the butter.  Grind the seasoned salt over this as it begins to simmer.  Stir and saute' 5-10 minutes.  It'll begin to brown a bit and have a wonderful popcorn scent!  At the end, you can start to add the water to keep it from sticking.  Pour in all the water, the ajvar, sugar, seasoning, and soup base.  The rice was really stubborn!  It simmered on low heat at least an hour and was still chewy.  Once it's done the way you like, gently stir in the beans, make sure they're heated through completely and serve. . .Lin

Butter Lime Kale with Onion

small bunch of light green kale

½ lg. white onion

1-2T butter

½ lime - juice

½-1t good quality lemon pepper
~ salt should not be the first ingredient ~

I've never seen this type of kale!  I got it at our Community Garden, at a church near me, and it was just beautiful!  I snipped the stems and put it in water, like a bouquet, for a couple days.  Used some in a gazpacho I made and saved the rest for this.

Finely chop the stems, then slice the leaves a couple times, lengthwise.  Cross cut them into thin strips.  Combine with the chopped onion and butter over medium heat, stirring to keep everything from sticking.  When the onion is translucent and the kale starts to wilt, add the lime juice and lemon pepper.  Stir, cover and let it steam on a lower heat setting.  Serve with the rice and beans and warm, buttered cornbread muffin tops.  Dill pickles are always good too.  Mmmm! . . . Lin

Albanian-Indian-Italian Chunky Red Sauce

4oz. mushrooms

1-2T Tuscan oil

½c dry white wine

5 lg. cloves garlic

8oz. mixed olives ~

~ and sun-dried tomatoes

3-4oz. tomato pesto

¾c mild Ajvar
1T sugar

1 18oz. pkg. RANA pasta

Saute' the washed, sliced, paper towel-dried mushrooms in the oil for a few minutes until they shrink a bit.  Add the wine, chopped garlic, olives and tomatoes.  Stir in the pesto, Ajvar and sugar.  Cover and bring all this to a simmer for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat.  Stir in the coconut cream, cover and set aside.

Meanwhile, cook the RANA pasta according to package directions, or just a little less, then drain.  This chunky sauce would also work well with penne, fettuccine or linguine, or even as a lasagna sauce.  Put half the drained pasta-of-your-choice, into a 2qt. casserole dish.  Pour and spoon half the sauce over the pasta.  Repeat this layer, sprinkle with grated cheese if you want, then bake, uncovered for 15 minutes at 375°.  Turn the broiler to low and put the casserole directly under the heat source for just a few minutes to bubble-brown, and crisp the top.  Keep an eye on it though, it'll go from perfect to burnt in no time.  Serve alone, or with a green salad. . .Lin

Chicken-Mushroom Stew

1½-2# chicken breast meat

2-3T Tuscan flavored olive oil

fresh ground lemon pepper

fresh ground garlic sea salt

12-16oz. sliced mushrooms

½c dry white wine

Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and combine with the ingredients in this group.  Simmer, covered, on low heat 45-60 minutes.  Add the following:

¼-½c Ajvar eggplant pepper sauce

¼-½c Sun-Dried tomato pesto

At this point, you can continue on with the remaining ingredients, or refrigerate overnight to develop the flavors, then add to the pot:

5 sm. red potatoes - each cut in 4-6 pieces

3 med. carrots - sliced in chunks

Simmer everything together another 45-60 minutes after adding the potatoes and carrots.  The scent of this cooking is just the best.  Mmmmm!  Scoop out into big bowls.  This is such a perfect cold weather stew! . . . Lin

Herby Tomato-Pepper Cream Soup

1 lg. carrot

2 stalks celery

4 lg. cloves garlic

1 med. white onion
1T fig balsamic vinegar
1T fresh ground garlic salt
1t-1T fresh ground pepper

1-2T coconut oil

28oz. San Marzano* tomatoes

1c Ajvar sauce

1t sugar

1t-1T crushed dried cilantro
~1t Italian seasonings~optional
~½t ground rosemary~optional

4-8oz. AROY-D coconut milk

Chop, then saute' the first group of vegetables, until translucent and lightly browned.  Once it starts sizzling, add about a cup of water, cover and simmer 20 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and Ajvar. (San Marzano* tomatoes are a longer, thinner version of a Roma tomato.  They're grown near Naples, Italy in the Valle del Sarno, in the volcanic ash soil of Mt. Vesuvius.  Many people prefer these for their superior flavor and can tell the difference between San Marzano tomatoes and any others.  I'm apparently not one of them.  To me they taste just like any other canned tomato.)  Simmer a half hour, then taste and make any changes needed in the flavor.  Add water, or whatever herbs or seasonings are needed until the broth tastes flavorful.


If you like a thick-chunky, herby, tomato soup, stop now.  Otherwise, use your immersion blender to make the soup smooth and then, just before serving, add the coconut milk.  I tried it both ways and I'm not sure which I liked better.  The first was more pure in its tomato-herb flavor.  The second, with the coconut milk, croutons, gorgonzola crumbles and pretzel chips, is reminiscent of grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup!  Both were really good. . .Lin

Ajvar Cabbage with Spaghetti Squash

1 med. spaghetti squash

Cut in half, scoop out the seeds, place face down on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.  Pour a little water over the squash halves then bake 45 minutes at 375° - flip over, slit each half lengthwise through the squash, and set aside.

1-2T butter

3 cloves garlic minced

1 sm. - med. chopped onion

fresh ground pepper

fresh ground garlic salt

1T aged balsamic vinegar

¾ lg. or 1 med. green cabbage

1c cooking liquid

1c ajvar

1T sugar

4oz. coconut milk - optional

Saute' the next group of ingredients until the onion is a little translucent.  Add the cabbage and liquid.  You can use water, vegetable broth, adding a little white wine for part of it.  Today I made a big pot of Jasmine Green Tea and thought, maybe that would be worth a try!  Be creative!  You never know when something odd will become a favorite cooking trick!  Cover and simmer this for 20-30 minutes, then add the spaghetti squash, ajvar, sugar (and coconut milk).  Stir, reduce heat, cover and simmer another 15 minutes.

You could add chopped nuts, pine nuts, a ½c panko bread crumbs at the very end, as well as a sprinkle of grated parmesan just before serving. . .Lin

Cashew-Vegetable "Spaghetti"

1 med. spaghetti squash

1 med. onion - chopped

3-4 lg. cloves garlic - minced

⅔c cashews - whole or pieces

1T Tuscan flavored olive oil

4-6oz. liquid*

1c Ajvar 

Put the squash in a 9x9" glass pan.  Poke it several times with a fork, making sure it goes in at least half way.  Microwave on 70% power for 15-20 minutes.  Let cool.  Meanwhile, sauté the onion, garlic and cashews in the oil until the cashews are browning and the onions are translucent.  When this is simmering and snapping, add about half of the liquid.  I'd recommend *beer or white wine, but you could also use vegetable broth or even water.  When the sauce starts to bubble again, add the remaining liquid, and finally the Ajvar.  Stir and bring back to a simmer.

When the squash is cooled, cut it in half, lengthwise and carefully, scoop out the center area containing the seeds.  Once the seeds; and associated stringiness; are gone, scrape the 'spaghetti' out of the squash shell, into the 9x9" glass pan.  Spread the sauce over the spaghetti and bake 20 minutes at 350° or microwave at 70% power for 15 minutes.  Serve as is or sprinkle with grated cheese. . .Lin

International Potato Corn Pepper Chowder

3 big cobs of cooked frozen multi-colored corn - from Vietnam

4 BEAUTIFUL small red potatoes - from Wisconsin

1 lg. green pepper - from Super One Foods in Duluth, MN

1 perfect onion - from Vadalia, Georgia

1 HUGE carrot - from Bolthouse Farms - Bakersfield, CA

2c frozen skinny green beans - from Aldi Grocery Store - Superior, WI

Ajvar - YUMMY eggplant, pepper, vegetable base - from Bulgaria
1-2c really good dry white wine

13 gorgeous garlic cloves - from somewhere in the Midwest

2T instant chicken soup base - from Orrington Farms in St. Louis, MO

This cooked, frozen, Vietnamese corn, known as Indian Corn here, is very starchy and not as flavorful or tender as what we 'ugly' Americans are used to in this country.  I've decided to use it and create a recipe around it anyway, for the learning and cultural experience of it.  😉

Cut the corn off the cobs, break them in half and put the cobs into a 5qt. pot.  Add just enough water to barely cover all of them.  Simmer on a low-medium bubble for an hour or so, then remove from the heat to cool.

Sauté the cut-off corn with the chopped potatoes, green pepper, onion and carrot together in a big non-stick pan with some flavored olive oil and butter.  Try to get a bit of a browning and char on everything.  Add a little white wine, then toss in the chopped green beans.  Combine the corn cob water and 10oz. of the Ajvar and mix with the simmering vegetables.  Simmer everything together another half hour, adding more oil, butter or wine as needed.  Scrape the corn cobs, removing all the creamy corn germ, and add it to the pot.  This will thicken the soup.  Add this and the finely chopped garlic to the chowder.  Simmer awhile again, then check the seasonings, adding a couple tablespoons of instant chicken soup base, more water or white wine.  Simmer another 20 minutes or so.

I had more fun making this big pot of soup than anything I can remember in ages!! 😃 Except for those great Smoked Goat Chops!!  

Sometimes it's just a really Great Cooking Adventure to take the time to work with some different ingredients and see what evolves!  Today, I'm really glad I did! Mmmmm this is really good soup! . . . Lin

Serbian Eggplant Surprise

3 Japanese eggplants

2 big carrots

1 med. onion

1 very lg. purple shallot

½ lg. parsley root

5-8 lg. cloves of garlic

½c Italian or Tuscan seasoned olive oil

Parsley Root - Who Knew??

¼c good quality aged balsamic vinegar

1T Rosemary Seasoning *

1T good quality dried Greek oregano

1¼# finely cubed beef

1 19oz. jar of Spicy Ajvar

1 14oz. can of coconut milk

½c Vodka and ½c (water, milk, cream)

cooked pasta or mashed potatoes

Cut the first five vegetables, in small to medium size chunks, into a large bowl.  Add the minced garlic, oil and vinegar, toss to coat and let stand to marinate 20 minutes or so, while browning the beef in a heavy pot with a little of the seasoned oil or butter.  After marinating, put the vegetables on a parchment paper-lined jelly-roll pan with 1" sides.  Roast at 400° for 30-45 minutes until they're slightly drier than when they started and looking well caramelized.  

*Add to the browned chopped beef, stirring gently, then, I added about ⅔ of a jar of the Ajvar and ½ a can of coconut milk.  Stir and simmer this gently until it's bubbling well.  Adjust the flavors and amounts of Ajvar and coconut milk to make a nice rich sauce.  The Vodka was a really good flavor enhancer as well as good to thin the sauce, with the water, which is what I used, to make it more saucy than "gloppy."  Serve it chunky as it is now, *or use an immersion blender to combine all the vegetables, Ajvar and coconut milk SEPARATELY from the meat, and make it smooth.  After it's blended, add it to the meat.

Serve over a 'starch' - either mashed potatoes or pasta.  At this point you could also put the starch in the bottom of a buttered pan, cover with meat and sauce, sprinkle with a layer of Italian bread crumbs mixed with grated parmesan cheese and chopped parsley, and baked 20 minutes or so.  Lots of fun options with this one.

As always, I wish for you to . . .
Be Creative and have a Happy Cooking Day. . . 😊. . .Lin