Chicken and Garlic

This recipe is absurdly easy and extremely good. I haven't included onion when I cooked it, so I can vouch for it being great without them. The hardest parts are:

• Already having a bottle of vermouth
• Believing that the foil part matters (I think what's happening is that the vermouth steam is gathering, spreading, and merging the flavors, and the foil keeps the steam circulating tightly)
• Believing it can be this simple

Added thought: is there another meat and flavor combination that would like being steamed with something alcoholic this way?

Covid-19 Homecare Preparations

"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."

I'm working, as carefully as I can, on being ready to handle all but the worst of the menacing illness at home. With the burden our hospitals, we are likely to need to do more to nurse one another and ourselves if this hits.

Here comes what I've got so far. I'm aiming for science-based approaches, but not settling for planning to have professionals show me how when it hits. Send more ideas if you've got them.

Medications in stock, plus a tool
Tylenol for fever (not ibuprofen because of starting worries about how it works in troubled lungs, with a plan to pay close attention to not letting the fever get very strong because I kind of believe Chris Cuomo that it saps the will to fight).

Guafenesin for loosening congestion It's the active ingredient in Mucinex, and I choose a version without a cough suppressant added.

Dextromethorphan for cough suppression (planning to take quite rarely because the cough is a path to getting stuff out of lungs)

Trioral rehydration salts: a powder to add to water that restores the big things your body loses, which are salts and sugars. It fits WHO recommendations and it aligns with a doctor friend's advice when one of you was unwell at her house. Gatorade works the same way, but this adds fewer other ingredients on top of the needed ingredients.

A thermometer for knowing your temperature yourself and alerting medical folks.

Health boosting steps now
The wretched virus is most dangerous if it gets a grip on our lungs. Here's what I'm going to become a harder target for the nasty invaders.

Walking more for improved endurance and practice with drawing in air. Beau goes out with podcasts, while I mostly stay inside with news or The West Wing.

Breathing exercises, following this video, up to the point where the doctor is unclear about how to do the lying prone (on your stomach) part. For me, these are a bit taxing, and I'm hoping that doing them now several times a day can change that a bit and get me a bit stronger. More confidently, I think if I understand them and am no longer puzzled about how to do them now, it will be easy to use them if I'm ill.

Nutritional supplements. I'm taking an ordinary multivitamin, plus a slow-release iron tablet because I'm prone to anemia and anemia is prone to leave me breathing heavily after small efforts, plus vitamin C to support metabolizing the iron. All young persons related to me: my mom also gets anemic, and this may run in the family, so I recommend at least a multivitamin with the iron. I've seen references to zinc but haven't gotten confident about trusting that advice, so I'm settling for "hey, my multivitamin has a modest amount of that."

Something old, something new
Steam. In case of a challenging cough, consider letting the shower turns the place into a steam room, and staying there for, say, half an hour. This is an idea from my mom, more aggressive than a humidifier in the room. (Humidifiers can be good, but I'm not good at maintaining them).

Postural drainage is the other approach I will apply if anyone here gets ill, starting from this description. I've seen multiple websites with versions of this, and I think it's way clearer than the video I shared above about the thing to do while prone. This is also about helping one's lungs clear by not spending all one's rest time in one position, and a bit about raising the lowest parts of your lungs higher than your wind pipe for a while.

Food in case
If the people in your house take turns being sick, you can take turns offering each other help getting food you can manage. If you go down together, that's tougher. To give us some lead time, I've stocked extra:

• Frozen juice
• Ginger ale
• Saltines
• Canned soup
• Chicken broth

I hear I should also add:

• Pedialyte popsicles

With many delivery services backed up, I recommend also thinking about which friends you could ask for help to restock if you need more.

Not alone
For ordinary colds, there's no reason to tell a neighbor, a friend who lives near by, a clergy member, or (ahem) a parent or child. You have a pretty good idea of the limits on how bad it gets.

Our current enemy is a different matter. Accounts from survivors and those who cared for those who didn't make it suggest the lung difficulties can kick in rather fast and decisions to pursue hospital care can turn urgent quite suddenly.

Accordingly, I plan to let a family circle, plus several neighbors, know pretty much at the first sniffle, and then check in daily. I recommend a similar plan for all and sundry. For certain persons who know who they are, "recommend" can be accurately replaced by something like "insist on". Having each other is one of our strengths, and we need to use that strength for this struggle

"We will get through this, and we will get through it together."

Beef Stew In Progress

I'm still figuring this out, but aiming for it to have as big a place in as any winter meat-based dishing my cooking rotation.

Ingredients
2 pounds stew beef
2 pound russet potatoes
1 pound carrots
1/2 pound mushrooms
six cloves of garlic
1 large onion (not a sweet one)
1 bottle of Belgian Stout
A tablespoon of Better than Bouillion chicken
1/3 cup flour
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil

Tools
Big skillet (smaller will work but take longer)
Slow cooker
Cooking tongs
Eight hours to spend on something really good.

Steps
Combine flour, a teaspoon of salt, and a good sprinkling of pepper in a bowl. Stir, and add pepper if you can't see any.

In batches, toss the beef pieces around in the flour until all sides are covered, then shake so the extra comes off, put those pieces in another container, and repeat until everything is floured.

Coat the bottom of the skillet with olive oil and heat over medium heat until you smell the oil and can feel the heat when you hold your hand an inch above the surface.

Put a bunch of beef in, making sure the pieces are half an inch apart.

Now you're going to do two sets things at once.

The meat you'll flip after three minutes, then move to the crockpot after three more, then start a new batch and continue until it's all done.

Meanwhile, you'll peel the carrots, cut them into thick coins, cut the onion into pieces about the same size,  cut the mushrooms in thick slices, peel the garlic cloves, and slice them pretty thin (or if your slices seem thicker, cut them crossways a couple of times).

When the last batch of meat is done, take the pan off the stove for a minute or two to cool a bit. Add some more olive oil, so it's more than just a coating--like two or three coatings worth. Put the pan back on the heat, set lower than for the meat.

Add the carrots. You want them to sweat in the oil for about five minutes, flipping them once in the middle. You aren't aiming for them to brown: you're softening them and making the flavor richer.

While that's happening, finish the onion/mushroom/garlic steps if any are still waiting.

Gently move the carrots to the dish that used to hold the meat waiting to cook, trying to leave nearly all the oil.

Add the onions to the pan and repeat the process.

Add the mushrooms to the pan and repeat again--but when they've been cooking for four minutes, add the garlic and do a lot of stirring.

When the mushrooms have had their five minutes and the garlic has had one minute, tip the whole pan over the slow cooker so everything drops in at once.  Then add all the other vegetables.

Mix the better than bouillon with a cup of hot water and pour it into the crockpot.

Add the ale to the crockpot and then add a tablespoon of salt.

Stir every thing until the meat and vegetables are all mixed up.

Add a bit more hot water, enough for the meat and veg to be almost/not quite covered. You should see little islands above the lake.

Put the lid on the crockpot, plug it in, turn it on, and set it on high.

After an hour and a half, wash the potatoes and cut them into pieces that are roughly as big as you can put in your mouth happily without cutting them again. (You can peel the potatoes if you really want to. I wouldn't)

Put some three or four cups water on to boil.

When the stew has been cooking for two hours, add the potatoes to the crockpot, stir so that they're all mixed up with everything else, and then add boiling water to almost/not quite cover the meat and veg again.

Cook for another four hours, stirring only a couple of times.  Then test a piece of carrot and a piece of potatoes to see if they have the right texture. Right means "the way you like carrots and potatoes in your stew." If not, cook for half an hour and check again, repeating until you like what you find.

If you like your stew broth to have some thickness, now you can make that happen.  Put two tablespoons of flour in a cup, add four tablespoons of water, and mix them together really well with a fork. Add some not all of that to the crockpot and stir thoroughly for about a minute. Stop if you like the texture, or repeat the adding-and-stirring until you do. Be sure to give it a full minute so you can see how much thickness it adds.

When you like the stew, unplug the crockpot, put some in bowls, add some pepper and eat.

(If you put the pepper in while cooking, the potatoes will absorb it all. This wisdom is a gift from Uncle Paul. Use it.)

When the crockpot has had an hour or so to cool, you can move the crock to the fridge.

Chicken with a LOT of Garlic

This is James Beard's recipe, cut in half and without the hassle of fresh parsley.

INGREDIENTS

8 chicken thighs (the kind with bones and skin)

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 celery ribs

1 teaspoons dried tarragon

1/3 cup dry vermouth

1 teaspoon salt

A little freshly ground black pepper

A little  nutmeg

20 garlic cloves

French bread (or something else crusty)

NEEDED EQUIPMENT

Dutch oven or heavy casserole with a tight fitting lid

Aluminum foil.

STEPS

Preheat oven to 375.

Peel the garlic cloves (you’re going to use them whole).

Cut the celery into thin half moons, and put it on the bottom of the dutch oven.

Put the tarragon on top of the celery.

Dry off the chicken.

Put the oil in a shallow dish and turn the chicken in the oil to coat on all sides. 

Put the chicken in the casserole, ideally in a single layer.

Sprinkle the chicken with the salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Sprinkle the garlic over the chicken, spreading it out kind of evenly.

Pour the vermouth over everything.

Put a piece of foil over the chicken and press it down as a tight cover. Put the lid on the casserole.

Cook for an hour and a half and serve hot from the pot.

Spread the garlic on pieces of the bread, like it was butter.

Chicken and Dumplings (Bisquick version)

Equipment:
Dutch oven, knife, peeler, and cutting board

Ingredients: 
Five or six pieces of chicken with bones and skin (thighs are extra easy, others work)
Two cups Bisquick
2/3 cup milk
Cooking oil (olive is good, others work)

Two carrots
Two stalks of celery
One small onion
Some mushrooms (four big or eight little)
Two teaspoons chicken "Better than Bouillon"

The last five ingredients are all flavor-improvers. Do use some. Don't feel you need to use all.

Steps
Peel the carrot and cut into half inch coins
Rinse the celery and cut into half inch half-moons
Quarter the onion, peel it, and cut into half inch chunks
Brush off the mushrooms (a paper towel is fine), and cut into chunks a bit bigger than the others

Put enough oil in the dutch oven to make a kind of thick layer on the bottom (not more than a quarter inch, but more than you'd do for many other kinds of oil cooking)
Warm the oil over medium heat until you smell it or feel the heat when you hold your hand over it

Add all the vegetables and lower the heat some
Stir once, then stir about once a minute for five minutes

Added note: this whole thing with the vegetables in the oil for five minutes over low heat is called "sweating," and it really ups the flavor they add to the recipe. You want the vegetable to look kind of soft and kind of translucent, but you don't much want anything to turn brown.

Add the Better than Bouillon" and enough water to cover everything
Bring to a boil over high heat

Add the chicken, pushing the vegetables around so the chicken mostly ends up on the bottom
Add enough water to have almost everything covered, but with little islands of meat and veg showing
Bring to a boil again, then turn the heat way down and cover
Cook covered over low heat for 20 minutes

Uncover the dutch oven
Make sure you're seeing both islands of meat and puddles of broth
If you're not, add a little water or spoon out some of the broth

Pour the milk on top of the Bisquick.
Stir rapidly until it's a soft batter with some lumps, but no dry stuff on the sides or bottom
Spoon large tablespoons of the batter onto puddles of broth

Cover the pot and cook over low heat for ten minutes
Uncover the pot and cook over low heat for ten more

Variations:
1. If you're tired or busy, you can put your flavoring stuff cold into the pot with the chicken, and pour boiling water over it all so you see the little islands, and take up the directions where they say "Bring to a boil again." It won't taste as good as the slower way, but it'll taste better than lots of things you could eat when you're not up for big cooking.

2. If you don't have a dutch oven, you can do all the vegetable stuff in a skillet, then dump it into a wide soup pot, and take up the directions where they say "Add the Better than Bouillon."  (Part of the joy of a dutch oven is the ability to move from the hot oil step to the lots of liquid step.)

3. Of course you can use bouillon cubes instead of the Better than stuff.  Of course you can use chicken broth from a can or a box or your freezer instead of the Better than stuff and the water. Of course.

4. Got minced garlic? Want to use it? Throw a tablespoon or so into the pot in the last minute of sweating the vegetables.

Paprika Chicken Thighs

This family favorite is from my first cookbook, modified to kick up the flavor and simplify the eating. It is also easy to double and cook for a crowd

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter (one full or two half-size sticks)
3 pounds of chicken thighs with bones and skin
1/3 cup of flour
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon salt
some ground pepper

Steps
Preheat oven to 425.

Cut the butter up into big chunks and drop into a 9 x 12 baking pan. Stick the pan in the oven for five minutes to melt the butter most of the way, without letting it start turning brown.

Pat the chicken dry with paper towels.

Mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl.

Take the butter pan out of the oven.

In pairs, toss the thighs round in the flour mixture until all sides are covered, and then place them skin side down in the butter pan.  Repeat until all the thighs are in the pan.

Cook at 425 for 30 minutes.

Turn the thighs skin side up and cook for 15 minutes.

Remember that the liquid in the bottom of the pan is butter with great flavor.  Use it on rice or noodles for added fun.

Angel Hair Pasta with Gruyere and Parmigiano

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups milk (ideally whole or with a bit of cream added to low fat) 

1 or 2 shallots
1/4 pound or so of mushrooms
3 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 tablespoons flour
4 or 5 ounces of gruyere
1 or 2 ounces of parmigiano 
Salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste
8 ounces angel hair pasta

Where the quantities are flexible above, exact amounts don't matter much. Get the approximate scale right, and it'll be good.

Steps

 Put the milk in a measuring cup and microwave on high for a minute and a half.

Start your pasta water on its way to boiling.

 

Put one tablespoon of butter in a large non-stick pan over low-medium heat.

Mince the shallots, aiming for about a quarter cup.

Swirl or brush the butter around the pan, and add the shallots.

Slice the mushrooms about a quarter inch thick, and then cut smaller ones in half and larger ones in thirds.

Add the mushrooms to the pan, and stir everything around.

Grate the cheese while stirring the shallots and mushrooms occasionally. Aim for a full cup of cheese, at least 3/4 Gruyere.

Push the shallots and mushrooms to one side of the pan and add two more tablespoons of butter.

When the butter has melted and started to foam, add the flour, a double pinch of salt, roughly the same amount of grated pepper, and a single pinch of nutmeg.

Mix the flour quickly into the butter and keep stirring rapidly for about a minute. Include the vegetables in the stirring because they're hiding butter.

Add a third of that warm milk and stir rapidly into everything else. Repeat two more times, and stir until it's the consistency of melted ice cream throughout.

Turn off the heat but leave the pan on the burner. Dump in the cheese and stir it around a little. Then leave it to melt quietly.

Put the pasta in the water, and do what you need to stirring gently to loosen the nests.

Drain the pasta when it's cooked.

Turn the heat back on beneath the sauce, and stir quickly to be sure the cheese is fully blended in.  Watch for steam to rise off the pan a bit, using that as your sign that it will be happily warm-hot when you start eating.  Don't let it boil.

Remove from sauce from heat and combine with the pasta.  My pan was big enough to dump the pasta right in. Putting both in a bowl would also work.

Taste and consider adding more pepper.

Note
This is basically macaroni and cheese using William-Sonoma's Easy Peasy kid-oriented recipe, but with subtler ingredients. At Molly and Jim's wedding buffet, the pasta had both cheese and mushrooms, and this is my first use of that inspiration.