Pizza Beans

 

A family favorite from: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/weeknight-beans-on-toast

To make this a superfast meal, I use a giant jar of spaghetti sauce (my favorite for this is the big jars of Victoria marinara from Costco) in lieu of the crushed tomatoes. No need to cook it down.

For the beans:

2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 lb. sweet or hot Italian sausage, casings removed

3 thinly sliced garlic cloves

½ tsp. dried oregano

¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes

3 tsp. kosher salt, divided, plus more

1 5-oz. package baby spinach, coarsely chopped

2 15.5-oz. cans white beans, rinsed

fresh parsely (optional)

For the garlic bread:

1 stick butter

1/4 C grated parmesan

1/2- 1 tsp garlic powder

1 TBSP dried parsley flakes

1 loaf italian or french bread or a baguette

1. Step 1

   Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or high-sided skillet over medium-high. Add sausage and press down on it with a heatproof rubber spatula to flatten slightly. Cook, undisturbed, until browned underneath, about 4 minutes. Turn sausage over and cook, undisturbed, until browned on the other side, about 3 minutes. Break up sausage into bite-size pieces with spatula.
   
   Add sliced garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes (if using) and cook, stirring, until garlic is beginning to get golden around the edges, about 1 minute.
   
   Carefully add tomatoes (beware of splatter!), then 2½ tsp. salt and 1 cup water. Bring sauce to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced, 10–12 minutes. 
   OR 
   Add the jar of marinara sauce
   
   Mix in spinach and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Add beans and cook until warmed through, about 3 minutes. Taste ragù and season with more salt if needed.

   Step 2

   Meanwhile, heat broiler. Cut your loaf of bread in half lengthwise, or into slices. Soften butter in the microwave. Mix in cheese, garlic powder, and parsley. Spread butter mixture generously over the bread. 

   Step 3

   Arrange bread on a  baking sheet and broil until golden brown, about 1-2 minutes. 

   Step 4

   Divide toast among plates. Ladle a generous amount of ragù over and top with extra Parmesan and fresh parsley, if you want.

   Step 5

   Do Ahead: Ragù can be made 3 days ahead. Let cool; cover and chill. Reheat over medium-low.

Mom's Roasted Costco Chicken Soup

 

Mom’s Roasted Costco Chicken Soup

This is a long and fairly complicated recipe, but makes two huge meals or more.

These directions are for egg free and GLUTEN FREE chicken and rice soup, but I LOVE this soup with fat, German spaetzle dumpling/noodles.  I like Bechtle brand.

To make the soup, I first roast a Costco chicken a second time with lots of root vegetables: the leftovers go into the soup.

 

Here is a shopping list

1. Costco chicken

2 large onions

Celery (I use about 5 stalks)

Jar of chicken Better Than Bouillon 

Carrots (1-2 lb of nubbies or more)

1-2 lbs small new potatoes 

2 yams or sweet potatoes 

1 large apple

Butter

Rice or noodles

First reroast the chicken and veggies:

 

Take the elastic off the chicken 

Slice I onion:put half on bottom of big soup pan (at least 8 deep x 12” across) on top of olive oil or butter. This helps insulate the chicken and keep it from overcooking on the bottom.  Peel and core apple and put chunks of apple and onion inside the chicken.  Save the peels for the broth.

Cut potatoes and sweet potatoes in half and surround the chicken. Dump carrots on top. Put 1/2 cup hot water in Costco chicken bag to dissolve juices and gelatin in bag and pour that over chicken and veggies. 

Put lid on pan

Roast at least 3 hours at 325 degrees (or 5 hrs at 300)

When ready, carefully lift everything out of pan: chicken will practically fall apart. 

To make gravy, put onions and apples from the stuffed chicken in a blender, along with all pan juices. Add 1-2 cups hot water into pan to get drippings. Add that to blender along with 1/2 peeled cooked sweet potato Add I tbsp corn starch for each cup of gravy makings. Blend well and pour back into the pan the chicken was roasted in and cook until thickened.

Serve.

 

 Now to make the soup: 

 

Strip all the leftover meat off the roasted chicken.  Keep all the bones, skin, etc to make broth.

Next step is to put the entire carcase, skin, etc of the roasted chicken in the pot you roasted it in and made gravy in: you don't even need to wash it first.

You can add things like the tops of the celery, or potato skins or old carrots or old apples to the broth. Cover with water.

Simmer the bones, etc for at least 3 hours or more.

Using a sieve or strainer, pour the broth into a clean bowl or pot.  Throw away all the bones, skin, boiled veggie parts, etc.  I put them all in a plastic grocery bag to keep the trash neater and lessen the probability of some animal trying to get into the trash.

Chop up the 2nd onion and as much celery as you want in the soup. In the soup pan, melt 2 tbsp butter or olive oil and cook the celery and onion in the fat until it is translucent.

Next,  add the broth you made to the onion and celery and at least 1 cup of uncooked rice  (or noodles) to the broth and simmer.  When the rice (or noodles) is tender, chop up all the leftover veggies and as much chicken as you want. Add meat, veggies and leftover gravy to the soup and simmer for about 1/2 hour, adding water if needed.  Now test for flavor: if you want more flavor, add Chicken flavor Better than Bouillion one tablespoon at a time until the soup tastes good.  Add freshly ground pepper to taste.

Enjoy.