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Leena Cooks: Gluten-Free Turkey Gravy

Leena Cooks: Gluten Free Turkey Gravy

She asked and I created! A gluten-free recipe for my sister in law.

A few years back, my sister in law started getting really sick. Everything she ate seemed to go right through her, and she lost a lot of weight for an already skinny person. After a lot of testing, they discovered she was a celiac who was allergic to gluten. Gluten is a protein that is commonly found in wheat and other cereals made into flour. It is what helps give bread it’s structure, and apparently, what makes celiacs sick. And after reading my food blog, she realized that a lot of foods she loves have gluten in them. Boo.

So in honor of her, and the upcoming holiday dinner we are going to make together, I am on a mission to research and find delicious and uncomplicated gluten-free recipes. Today’s recipe: gluten-free turkey gravy made with pureed roasted vegetables.Recipe and photos after the jump.

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December 14th, 2011
Posted in Gluten-free, gravy, Holidays, Leena Cooks, Main, Mains, Poultry, Recipes | 2 Comments »

Leena Cooks: Three Meat Chipotle Chili

Leena Cooks: Three Meat Chipotle Chili

My three meat chipotle chili, inspired by a chili cook-off recipe and a recipe from the book Chili Nation!

Man, I am so glad I had my latest chili cook-off. As a cook, it is easy to get stuck in your own ways and your regular recipes, so it is always a blessing to have as many cooking inspirations as I did from my cook-off. I mean, I actually WANT to make a vegetarian chili! Hell hath frozen over, folks.

One of the cook-off prizes was a book written by Jane and Michael Stern called Chili Nation, featuring regional chili recipes from all 50 states. My friend Matt made a killer beef chili with chipotle and chunks of beef stew meat, and it inspired me to try something similar. I found the “Serious Capital Punishment Chili” from the District of Columbia (also the International Chili Society’s top winner in it’s 1980 cook off), which not only had cubes of beef round and chipotle in it, but also hints of dark chocolate and two kinds of ground meat in it. I made a few adjustments to the recipe, and hot damn. I got probably my favorite new chili of the year. Possibly even the decade. It has a few different textures of meat, which makes it really hearty, and a delicious, almost addictive heat and smoky flavor to it from the chipotle.

I did a search on my blog and for a bitch that talks a lot about chili, I sure as hell don’t have that many chili recipes on here. Time to make up for that. The recipe and photos for Leena’s three meat chipotle chili after the jump.

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December 7th, 2011
Posted in Beef, chili, Leena Cooks, Main, Meat, Pork, Recipes | Comments Off

Leena Cooks: Food Porn Daily: The Cookbook’s Chorizo Bistro Salad!

Leena Cooks: Food Porn Daily: The Cookbooks Chorizo Bistro Salad!

Chorizo and caramelized mushroom bistro salad with poached egg from Food Porn Daily: The Cookbook

I am not really one to follow a recipe. I always start off with the best intentions to, but soon I realize I am missing an ingredient or have a better ingredient/idea/method in mind than the author of the recipe, and all hell breaks out. Sure, I may end up with a delicious dish, but who knows what mysterious, tasty delights the actual recipe held?

So when my gal Amanda over at Food Porn Daily published her first cookbook, I figured once, JUST ONCE, I could try to follow a recipe. I picked her chorizo bistro salad with caramelized crimini mushrooms, poached eggs and sherry vinaigrette…and I pretty much followed her entire recipe, save for some avocado I threw in at the last moment (old habits die hard…and avocados rock).

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January 10th, 2011
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Posted in Leena Cooks, Main, Mains, Meat, Pork, Soup/Salad, Vegetables | Comments Off

Leena Cooks: Spicy Chicken Tikka Masala

Leena Cooks: Spicy Chicken Tikka Masala

Cook's Illustrated's spicy chicken tikka masala recipe with my fake garlic naan (pita bread brushed with garlic butter and lighly toasted in the oven). So good.

If you’ve ever eaten Indian food in a country outside of India, odds are you’ve tried chicken tikka masala. It’s a slightly spicy, slightly sweet and creamy tomato curry with chunks of yogurt-marinated chicken, and if legend is correct, it is about as authentically Indian as 7-11.

Britain has claimed it as it’s true national dish, Glasglow thinks it comes from a tried and true Scottish recipe, and a few believe it originated in Punjab in the 1950s.  Authenticity aside, CTM is a delicious dish I couldn’t wait to tackle.

The recipe and food porn a-plenty after the jump.

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December 6th, 2010
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Posted in Leena Cooks, Main, Mains, Meat, Poultry | Comments Off

Amuse bouche: East Carolina Mop Sauce

In East Carolina, also known as low country, African slaves of Scottish settlers started American barbecue, and their sauce, used as a basting sauce during cooking and as a finishing sauce at the table, was made from simply vinegar, black and hot pepper flakes. This sauce was meant to penetrate the meat and really flavor it, unlike mustard and ketchup or tomato-based sauces, which tend to sit on top like a condiment.

Source: A Taxonomy of American Barbecue Sauces

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Amuse Bouche: Noun. Etymology: French: literally, entertains the mouth. A small, complimentary appetizer served at the beginning of a meal to awaken the taste buds. Leena Eats definition: a quick shot of gastronomic knowledge for the brain.

~LTG!

August 24th, 2010
Posted in amuse bouche, BBQ | Comments Off

Amuse bouche: South Carolina Mustard Sauce

This sauce tends to be thin, made with yellow mustard. vinegar and spices.

Source: A Taxonomy of American Barbecue Sauces

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Amuse Bouche: Noun. Etymology: French: literally, entertains the mouth. A small, complimentary appetizer served at the beginning of a meal to awaken the taste buds. Leena Eats definition: a quick shot of gastronomic knowledge for the brain.

~LTG!

August 24th, 2010
Posted in amuse bouche, BBQ | Comments Off

Leena Cooks: The Perfect BBQ Main: Charcoal Smoked Pork Chops with homemade bbq sauce

Leena Cooks: The Perfect BBQ Main: Charcoal Smoked Pork Chops with homemade bbq sauce

Check out these bad boys: Niman ranch charcoal smoked pork chops (a pound each!) with homemade bbq sauce.

When I was young, a pork chop equaled a very thin patty of tough pork coated in shake and bake. I hated it.

This pork chop? I do not hate. I LURVE this pork chop.

I would like to institute a national day in honor of this beautiful piece of pork, but I can’t, so please, instead, enjoy the food porn and recipe.

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August 23rd, 2010
Posted in BBQ, Leena Cooks, Main, Mains, Meat, Pork | Comments Off

Leena Cooks n Cans: The Perfect BBQ Appetizer- Tomato Basil Jam

Leena Cooks n Cans: The Perfect BBQ Appetizer Tomato Basil Jam

The makings of a great tomato basil jam. Makes a killer summer bbq appetizer!

Leena Cooks n Cans: The Perfect BBQ Appetizer Tomato Basil Jam Welcome to the August Tigress Can Jam, topic: TOMATOES!!

By now, most of you know that I am participating in a year-long canning group hosted by Tigress over at Tigress in a Jam. The rules are simple. Each month, someone picks an ingredient, and everyone has a few weeks to create something with that ingredient, can it using a water bath canner, and post it on their blogs. Here’s the run down of the past seven months:

January: Citrus- I made blood orange port marmalade

February: Carrots- I made a gajar ki chutney with caramelized shallots

March: Alliums- I made an onion, apple ale relish

April: Herbs- I made a strawberry rhubarb rosemary jam

May: Rhubarb- I made a spiced rhubarb jam June:

Berries- I made my famous Chinese 5 spice pickled cherries

July: Cucurbits- I made 5 different pickles and relishes: spicy garlic dill cucumber slices, bread and butta cucumber slices, bbq zucchini relish, spicy garlic dill cucumber relish, and Indian cucumber relish

And here we are in August. I have been dying to make this since the herb challenge, but tomatoes weren’t in season back then. Now they are, and here it is: my tomato basil jam. Not only is it delicious on its own, but it makes the perfect easy bbq appetizer- just top a cracker with your favorite cheese (I used goat cheese and marinated mozzarella) and finish with the tomato basil jam. The combination of salty and sweet is ridiculously addictive and perfect to awaken the taste buds for the rest of a kick-ass bbq.

More food porn and the recipe after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

August 16th, 2010
Posted in Appetizers, BBQ, Canning, Condiments, Jam, Leena Cooks, Savory | 14 Comments »

Leena Cooks: The Perfect BBQ side dish- Swiss Chard salad with pickled cherries

Leena Cooks: The Perfect BBQ side dish Swiss Chard salad with pickled cherries

Swiss chard: from stalk to cold sweet and sour salad!

This month on Leena Eats,  I’m featuring the dishes I think go into the perfect bbq. Today’s recipe is a side dish, and one of my favorite: cold swiss chard salad with pickled cherries. I’ve always admired swiss chard’s rainbow-colored stalks, and I was stoked to find a recipe that makes it tastes like it looks–like a sweet and sour rainbow. And when it comes to hosting bbqs, you want a side dish that you can make in advance (check), that doesn’t need to be heated and can contrast with the hot food you are grilling up (check), and that can compliment your food (check).

The recipe and more food porn after the jump.

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August 9th, 2010
Posted in BBQ, Leena Cooks, Side dish, Soup/Salad | Comments Off

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