Portuguese Linguica Stew

Before I got married I wasn't great about eating green vegetables. I would eat a salad when I went out to eat, but rarely anything else unless it was a holiday. After I met my husband I discovered that while he hated fruit he loved vegetables. The vegetables I was used to eating were salad, broccoli and asparagus and not much else. My husband on the other hand loved greens. I had never had a lot of exposure to greens and honestly knew nothing about them. So my husband bought mustard greens and I attempted to prepare them. The first time was a semi disaster. The greens lacked a lot of taste and I didn't know to take out the tough stem. However, after a few more tries I discovered that I not only loved greens I was good at preparing them. Now I buy greens at least once a week and use them in a variety of recipes. A couple of months back I bought a large amount of linguica sausage on clearance. I searched around the web for recipes and came across a delicious looking one for Portuguese Linguica Stew, combining linguica and collard greens.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 15 minutes of prep and 45 minutes of cooking time and makes 4-6 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store and made no recipe modifications. Make sure to remove all the tough stems from the collard greens or they will not cook all the way through in 10 minutes. Plus they taste much better without the stems. The great thing about this stew is that it requires very little salting. The linguica sausage naturally salts the broth and I found that I didn't have to add any additional salt. I did heat the stew slightly longer than the suggested ten minutes after adding the collard greens. I wanted to make sure all the flavors came out fully and that the greens weren't still tough. I followed the remainder of the recipe as stated.

I love how this recipe doesn't require any stock for cooking. Instead the water is turned into a delicious stock from the sausage and vegetables. The collard greens are colorful and flavorful, providing a nice addition to the stew. My two boys really liked this recipe. The stew is not overly spicy, it has a slight kick from the crushed red pepper, but not enough for my two boys not to enjoy it. My husband and I really enjoyed the flavor in this soup and I ate the leftovers the next day for lunch. The stew was even better the next day after sitting in the fridge. Overall, a great way to use greens in a flavorful stew.

For this recipe go to Portuguese Linguica Stew.

Martha Stewart Living Chicken and Chorizo Paella

When my second son began eating table foods, I started trying to introduce both of my sons to a large variety of foods. They have had just about every type of meat, vegetable, fruit and cheese that can be found in my area, in addition to foods that friends and family have shipped from other areas. Some they have fallen in love with and some they have not been thrilled with, but they have been pretty good with at least trying all of them. I have attempted making paella recipes  a number of times and the results have been okay, not great. The June issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine had a recipe for Chicken and Chorizo Paella, which looked simple and I hoped would be a great paella recipe to share with my family.

There are 13 ingredients in this recipe (including salt and pepper). I made a couple of substitutions, the first being with the type of rice. I already had jasmine rice in my pantry, so I used what was available. Second, I had bought a number of packages of linguica when I found in on clearance and froze it, so I substituted the linguica for the chorizo called for in the recipe. The linguica is milder sausage, which is more child friendly for my household. Finally, I used regular paprika, not smoked Spanish. I keep a pretty strict budget and paying to special order one spice for a recipe, isn't something I can justify. However, I did buy new saffron. Saffron is expensive, but lasts a significant amount of time and adds a necessary flavor to a number of dishes. The total time including prep, took approximately an hour and 20 minutes. I did not use a paella pan, but rather my favorite oven-proof skillet.

This dish turned out better than any of the previous paella recipes I have tried. My two sons loved this recipe so much that they ate 5 of the 8 pieces of chicken over the course of the two days following the meal. Additionally, everyone in my family agreed that the best part of the dish was the rice. The chicken cooks on top, leaving the rice with a delicious flavor, that even my two boys went back time and time again to the fridge for leftovers. This is definitely a family friendly recipe, which I will be making again in the future.

For the recipe go to Martha Stewart Living Chicken and Chorizo Paella .