The holiday season is my favorite time of year; I love the decorations, giving presents and most of all receiving presents! Also special for me are my family’s holiday traditions. This is the only time of year that we break out certain recipes like French-Canadian Meat Pie (Tourtiere), meat stuffing, Christmas Crepes and (thank god) my mom’s favorite date cookies. She insists on making these cookies every year and is the only one who eats them because frankly they are nasty, and I am seriously hoping that she takes the recipe with her to the grave someday.
I am not a baker; even though recently I was told that I have a tart tongue (and surprisingly it wasn’t a reference to my sweetness like a fruit tart). Sure I can produce the occasional cookie and pie but please do not ask me to bake a cake or batch of brownies. When it comes to baking I always say why make it yourself when there are perfectly good ones at the store. So if you really want those date cookies you need to see my mom for the recipe.
About five years ago I took over the making of our Christmas meat pies from my grandmother; a task I didn’t know was so involved. A few weeks before the holiday I got together all of the ingredients listed on the card from my mother’s recipe box entitled “Mom’s Meat Pie” and set to work. I spent the entire day cooking the filling and rolling out the dough to be rewarded with two beautiful pies. On Christmas night I proudly served them to the family and was told that they tasted wrong. How could that be, I followed the recipe to a tee. When I showed my grandmother the recipe card she said that it was not her meat pie. My mother had someone else’s recipe and I had slaved over a hot stove all day to create some other family’s traditional Christmas meat pie. I’m sure you can imagine my irritation.
So the next year when I was ready to try again I called my grandmother and had her personally give me the recipe before I began. What I got from her was very vague: two parts ground beef to one part ground pork, diced celery softened in butter, salt, pepper and poultry seasoning to taste, a few potatoes mashed plain and pie crusts. She told me to call her if I had any questions; sure I had questions, what were the exact amounts of the ingredients. First I diced up four stalks of celery very small and sautéed them in butter until they were soft, then added four pounds of ground beef and two pounds of ground pork. Let me tell you, before you stir around this much meat you might want to lift some weights, my arm was killing me from all that stirring. Now grandma said to season this to taste and let it cook for a few hours; no wonder this is done once a year, how tedious. After three hours I boiled four small potatoes, mashed them without any milk or butter and muscled them into the meat mixture. Woo Hoo more than half way done! This year I had that Pillsbury pie dough that you just unroll and place into the pie plate because there was no way I was making dough from scratch again. (Come to find out Grandma uses this product also, how shocking). So I went to work putting together my pies, all four of them and then baked them at 350 degrees for about thirty-five to forty minutes. They turned out beautiful and now all I had to do was freeze them and wait until Christmas.
On Christmas Eve I brought them home from the store freezer and could only fit two of them in the fridge, so my father told me to put the other two on the screened in porch, he assured me that they would be okay. Come morning I discovered that overnight some critters had broken through the screen and had their own holiday feast on my pies, great advice dad. Oh was I hot, all that hard work just to feed some dirty little critters. (To this day I despise critters of all varieties). Later that day when we served the remaining pies I was once again told that something was a bit off about them. Two years, two strikes.
Over the next year I did some CSIing and figured out that what was different about my pies is that I used a leaner ground beef than my grandmother. See, she got her ground beef from the grocery store so it wasn’t as lean as what I got from my parent’s store; but there was no way I was going to the grocery store for the meat, I don’t like inferior meat plus I got it for free from my dad. The third year I made the pies I explained this to the family and the complaining stopped. (It could also have been due to the Bite Me I carved into the crust). My version of the family traditional meat pie was just a bit healthier for us.
We also serve a meat stuffing, this though is made for Thanksgiving dinner, thank god because I really don’t care for turkey. The ingredients and process are the same as the meat pies except you add a few more potatoes and obviously omit the piecrust. Luckily my cousin Kelley has taken over this tradition because I don’t think that I could stand doing it twice a year.
Christmas morning is my favorite time of the day because we share breakfast with the neighbors, a tradition that my father started amazingly enough. The star of our breakfast is the Christmas Crepes, an item my best friend SC insists on having. She says that it wouldn’t be Christmas without them, but has yet to ask for the recipe, hmm wonder why. This tradition is done solely by my mother; she spends a whole day making the crepes because you have to do them one at a time, and we are serving around 30 people. The beautiful thing about this recipe is that you can buy crepe mix in the store and just follow the box directions, but I’ll give you the recipe anyway. First of all you need to get that credit card back from your guy and get a crepe pan; they are way easier to do with the special pan. So, to make the batter, mix up one cup each of water and milk, four eggs, two tablespoons of melted butter, and a half-teaspoon of salt. In a separate bowl make a well into two cups of flour; then pour your milk mixture into it and whisk until smooth. There can be absolutely no lumps in this batter. Once your shiny new crepe pan is hot spray it with a non-stick spray and coat the pan with two tablespoons of the crepe batter, you need to swirl it around the pan to get a nice thin crepe. Just like when you make pancakes flip the crepe when bubbles appear; when done move on to the next one.
The rest of this recipe is a piece of cake to do compared to the actual crepe making. To make the filling combine two beaten eggs, one softened package of cream cheese, one cup of cottage cheese, a quarter cup of sugar, and one teaspoon of vanilla. Once this is smooth, spoon about one and a half teaspoons across each crepe, roll them up and place in a baking dish. Cover the dish to prevent browning the crepes and bake at 350 degrees for about twenty minutes. While these cook make the topping; start by draining a large can of pineapple tidbits into a measuring cup to which you need to add enough orange juice to equal one and a quarter cups. Next mix up a quarter cup of sugar, and two tablespoons of cornstarch in a saucepan; add the juice mixture and cook until thickened, then remove from the heat and stir in one and a half cups of sliced strawberries, the reserved pineapple, and half a cup of drained mandarin oranges. Pour this fruit sauce over the crepes and watch them disappear.
I’m sure that everyone has a family tradition that is more work than they care to do, but when you think about it going through all that work keeps you connected to your heritage. I am very proud to be French-Canadian and no more so than when I am standing in front of that huge pot as I’m sure my great grandmother did in her Quebec kitchen. Of course my stove is fueled by gas, not wood and I don’t have a houseful of kids pulling on my apron strings, thank god! Oh, just so you know, my family’s meat pie recipe is traditional not gourmet and not everyone is going to like it. I hope that everyone enjoys their holiday and all the great food that goes along with the festivities.
Bergeron Family Tourtiere
3 Tblsp Butter
4 Stalks Celery diced
4 lbs. Ground Beef
2 lbs. Ground Pork
Salt, Pepper & Poultry Seasoning
4 small potatoes
4 pieces premade piecrusts
Over medium low heat sauté celery in the butter, add meats and sauté until browned and completely broken down. Add seasonings to your tastes. Boil the potatoes and mash with a remaining butter, add to the meat mixture and fully incorporate. Divide mixture between two piecrusts and top with the remaining crusts. Cut vents in top, brush with egg wash and bake at 350° for 35 minutes.
Racine Christmas Crepes
1-cup water
1-cup milk
4 eggs
2 Tblsp melted butter
½ tsp salt
2 cups flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1 cup cottage cheese
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 20oz can pineapple tidbit, undrained
¼ cup sugar
2 Tblsp cornstarch
1 ½ cups strawberries
½ cup mandarin oranges
Orange juice
Mix first 5 ingredients together and then pour into the flour, mix until smooth. Cook the crepes one at a time and in 2 Tlbsp increments. Combine the next 5 ingredients into a filing and spoon 1 ½ tsp of it into each cooled crepe, roll them up and place in a baking dish. Bake covered at 350° for 20 minutes. Drain can of pineapple into a measuring cup and add enough orange juice to make 1-¼ cups of liquid. Add sugar and cornstarch and cook over medium heat until thickened. Add fruit and mix well, serve over the crepes.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Dump The Chump
There comes a point in every girl's life when she wakes up, rolls over and says “what am I doing with this guy!” Usually he is the stereotypical fun yet bad boy; you know who he is, has no serious career ambitions, drives a POC (piece of crap) vehicle that you are embarrassed to be seen in and still calls his mom’s house home. Admit it you have dated this guy probably because you were bored at the time and looking for a little fun, but eventually you came to the realization that you had to dump the chump! Now there are a multitude of ways you can get rid of this leach, the easiest being to change your locks, phone number, hair color and routines. But this could turn your little dumped friend into an amateur stalker. And that looses its charm in a few days and then you are filing for either a restraining order or a pistol permit. (Both are a lot of paperwork for one little loser and not your intended resolution to this situation). So let’s try a kinder gentler approach by serving Mr. To-be-dumped a meal over which it can be explained that even though it was fun, for a few days, its time to move on to bigger (bank accounts) and better (dressed) things.
Once you have made up your mind to kick this guy to the curb you need the perfect menu for his last supper. Keep in mind that this is someone that you once had at least a few feelings for so you don’t want to poison him; at least I hope you don’t. Plus you will be eating this meal also. But there is a fine line you have to walk because you really don’t want to put too much effort into the dinner; I mean you are dumping this dude, right? So keep things light and easy and maybe a tiny bit sweet. Let’s hope that the sweet will take the sting out of the whole dumping process and you don’t find all of your personal quirks posted on Twitter.
Begin the meal with a salad; combining the sweet elements I mentioned with some tart ones, remember bittersweet is your goal. Plus making a salad is easy and there are an infinite amount of combinations you can come up with. Here is a recipe for Spinach & Melon Ball Salad. Start by opening a bag of triple-washed baby spinach and dump it into a large salad bowl with half each of thinly sliced red onion and green pepper and about one and a half cups of melon balls, like watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew. In a separate bowl whisk together a quarter cup of red wine vinegar, two tablespoons honey, two teaspoons each of olive oil and lime juice and one teaspoon each of poppy seeds and crushed mint leaves. This salad has it all, nutritional value, sweetness, tang and the possibility of making the chump fail his next drug test.
Or you can try the tarter Mixed Greens with Apple Salad. Start by whisking a quarter cup olive oil, two tablespoons red wine vinegar, half a finely chopped shallot, salt and pepper right in the salad bowl. Add three thinly sliced celery stalks and one thinly sliced crisp apple to the dressing and toss to coat. Once this is done toss in about four cups of mixed greens, toss and sprinkle with toasted pumpkin seed kernels. I really like the addition of either seeds or nuts to my salads; they give a bit of crunch that is a nice change.
Now you ask, what do I serve for the main course? Well that’s easy, sandwiches! See they are yummy, but easy enough that you don’t expend too much energy on this yahoo. But make it seem a bit special by turning them into Paninis.
First here is a Sweet Cherry-Cheese Panini. Start by sautéing half a thinly sliced red onion with a quarter teaspoon of dried thyme until caramelized. Once this is accomplished stir in one-teaspoon Balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper, cook for a minute or so and then remove from the heat. Mix the cooled off onion mixture with a quarter cup of pitted and chopped fresh sweet cherries. In another bowl combine half a package of cream cheese and about two ounces of goat cheese until well blended. Spread the cheese mixture onto two slices of Italian bread, top with the cherry mixture and then two other slices of bread. Heat up a grill pan and place the sandwiches on it pressing them with a heavy pan, once golden brown flip and repeat the process. This sandwich is sweet, tangy, creamy and crunchy. And a plus is that it is not too heavy as to make Mr. To-be-dumped too full and lethargic; because the point of all this is to get him out of your house!
Another sweet and tangy Panini is made with chicken and fig jam. I make this sandwich on Ciabatta bread, which is crusty and chewy. Begin by combining one tablespoon of butter with two tablespoons of goat cheese until well blended. Spread the cheese mixture on two slices of the Ciabatta and top with some sliced grilled chicken breast, a little fresh baby spinach, salt and pepper. On the other slice of bread spread a nice thick layer of the fig jam, and press the sandwiches on a hot grill pan until golden brown.
I seriously wouldn’t waste my time making dessert for someone I don’t want to stay the night; however I might have something hidden just for me to enjoy after the carnage. Personally I think that the recipes shared here sugar coat the demise of a relationship enough, he doesn’t need anything else from you. Life is short girls don’t waste too much of your precious time on mediocrity and dump the chump. Oh, and don’t spend too much time worrying about his delicate emotions because he can always cry on his mom’s shoulder. The way I have come to think about this type of guy is that he was an accessory to match the outfit you were wearing at that particular time. You wouldn’t feel bad about tossing all that fake costume jewelry in the Goodwill bin; so why would you stress over recycling the man-boy chump?
Spinach & Melon Ball Salad
1 bag Triple washed baby spinach
½ Red onion, thinly sliced
½ Green pepper, thinly sliced
1 ½ cups Assorted melon balls
¼ cup Red wine vinegar
2 Tlbsp Honey
2 tsp. Olive oil
2 tsp. Lime juice
1 tsp. Poppy seeds
1 tsp. Mint leaves, crushed
Fill a bowl with the first 4 ingredients. In a separate bowl whisk together the remaining ingredients and toss with the salad.
Mixed Greens with Apple Salad
¼ cup Olive oil
2 Tlbsp Red wine vinegar
½ Shallot, finely chopped
Salt & pepper
3 stalks Celery, thinly sliced
1 Apple, thinly sliced
4 cups Mixed greens
¼ cup Toasted pumpkin seed kernels
In the bottom of a large bowl whisk together the first 4 ingredients. Toss the remaining ingredients with the dressing and serve.
Sweet Cherry-Cheese Panini
½ Red onion, thinly sliced
¼ tsp. Dried thyme
1 tsp. Balsamic
Salt & pepper
¼ cup Sweet cherries, pitted & chopped
½ pkg. Cream cheese, softened
2 oz. Goat cheese, softened
4 slices Italian bread
Sauté the onion and thyme in olive oil until caramelized, add the vinegar, salt and pepper, remove from heat and cool. Add cherries to onion mixture. Combine the cheeses well, spread onto two sliced of the bread, spoon the onion mixture on top and cover with the remaining bread. Press grill the sandwich until golden brown on each side.
Figgie Chicken Panini
4 slices Ciabatta bread
1 Tlbsp Butter
2 Tlbsp Goat cheese
½ lb. Grilled chicken breast, sliced
Small amt Baby spinach leaves
2 Tlbsp Fig jam
Combine the butter and cheese well and spread onto two slices of bread. Top with chicken and spinach and spread the jam onto the remaining slices of bread. Press grill until golden brown.
Once you have made up your mind to kick this guy to the curb you need the perfect menu for his last supper. Keep in mind that this is someone that you once had at least a few feelings for so you don’t want to poison him; at least I hope you don’t. Plus you will be eating this meal also. But there is a fine line you have to walk because you really don’t want to put too much effort into the dinner; I mean you are dumping this dude, right? So keep things light and easy and maybe a tiny bit sweet. Let’s hope that the sweet will take the sting out of the whole dumping process and you don’t find all of your personal quirks posted on Twitter.
Begin the meal with a salad; combining the sweet elements I mentioned with some tart ones, remember bittersweet is your goal. Plus making a salad is easy and there are an infinite amount of combinations you can come up with. Here is a recipe for Spinach & Melon Ball Salad. Start by opening a bag of triple-washed baby spinach and dump it into a large salad bowl with half each of thinly sliced red onion and green pepper and about one and a half cups of melon balls, like watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew. In a separate bowl whisk together a quarter cup of red wine vinegar, two tablespoons honey, two teaspoons each of olive oil and lime juice and one teaspoon each of poppy seeds and crushed mint leaves. This salad has it all, nutritional value, sweetness, tang and the possibility of making the chump fail his next drug test.
Or you can try the tarter Mixed Greens with Apple Salad. Start by whisking a quarter cup olive oil, two tablespoons red wine vinegar, half a finely chopped shallot, salt and pepper right in the salad bowl. Add three thinly sliced celery stalks and one thinly sliced crisp apple to the dressing and toss to coat. Once this is done toss in about four cups of mixed greens, toss and sprinkle with toasted pumpkin seed kernels. I really like the addition of either seeds or nuts to my salads; they give a bit of crunch that is a nice change.
Now you ask, what do I serve for the main course? Well that’s easy, sandwiches! See they are yummy, but easy enough that you don’t expend too much energy on this yahoo. But make it seem a bit special by turning them into Paninis.
First here is a Sweet Cherry-Cheese Panini. Start by sautéing half a thinly sliced red onion with a quarter teaspoon of dried thyme until caramelized. Once this is accomplished stir in one-teaspoon Balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper, cook for a minute or so and then remove from the heat. Mix the cooled off onion mixture with a quarter cup of pitted and chopped fresh sweet cherries. In another bowl combine half a package of cream cheese and about two ounces of goat cheese until well blended. Spread the cheese mixture onto two slices of Italian bread, top with the cherry mixture and then two other slices of bread. Heat up a grill pan and place the sandwiches on it pressing them with a heavy pan, once golden brown flip and repeat the process. This sandwich is sweet, tangy, creamy and crunchy. And a plus is that it is not too heavy as to make Mr. To-be-dumped too full and lethargic; because the point of all this is to get him out of your house!
Another sweet and tangy Panini is made with chicken and fig jam. I make this sandwich on Ciabatta bread, which is crusty and chewy. Begin by combining one tablespoon of butter with two tablespoons of goat cheese until well blended. Spread the cheese mixture on two slices of the Ciabatta and top with some sliced grilled chicken breast, a little fresh baby spinach, salt and pepper. On the other slice of bread spread a nice thick layer of the fig jam, and press the sandwiches on a hot grill pan until golden brown.
I seriously wouldn’t waste my time making dessert for someone I don’t want to stay the night; however I might have something hidden just for me to enjoy after the carnage. Personally I think that the recipes shared here sugar coat the demise of a relationship enough, he doesn’t need anything else from you. Life is short girls don’t waste too much of your precious time on mediocrity and dump the chump. Oh, and don’t spend too much time worrying about his delicate emotions because he can always cry on his mom’s shoulder. The way I have come to think about this type of guy is that he was an accessory to match the outfit you were wearing at that particular time. You wouldn’t feel bad about tossing all that fake costume jewelry in the Goodwill bin; so why would you stress over recycling the man-boy chump?
Spinach & Melon Ball Salad
1 bag Triple washed baby spinach
½ Red onion, thinly sliced
½ Green pepper, thinly sliced
1 ½ cups Assorted melon balls
¼ cup Red wine vinegar
2 Tlbsp Honey
2 tsp. Olive oil
2 tsp. Lime juice
1 tsp. Poppy seeds
1 tsp. Mint leaves, crushed
Fill a bowl with the first 4 ingredients. In a separate bowl whisk together the remaining ingredients and toss with the salad.
Mixed Greens with Apple Salad
¼ cup Olive oil
2 Tlbsp Red wine vinegar
½ Shallot, finely chopped
Salt & pepper
3 stalks Celery, thinly sliced
1 Apple, thinly sliced
4 cups Mixed greens
¼ cup Toasted pumpkin seed kernels
In the bottom of a large bowl whisk together the first 4 ingredients. Toss the remaining ingredients with the dressing and serve.
Sweet Cherry-Cheese Panini
½ Red onion, thinly sliced
¼ tsp. Dried thyme
1 tsp. Balsamic
Salt & pepper
¼ cup Sweet cherries, pitted & chopped
½ pkg. Cream cheese, softened
2 oz. Goat cheese, softened
4 slices Italian bread
Sauté the onion and thyme in olive oil until caramelized, add the vinegar, salt and pepper, remove from heat and cool. Add cherries to onion mixture. Combine the cheeses well, spread onto two sliced of the bread, spoon the onion mixture on top and cover with the remaining bread. Press grill the sandwich until golden brown on each side.
Figgie Chicken Panini
4 slices Ciabatta bread
1 Tlbsp Butter
2 Tlbsp Goat cheese
½ lb. Grilled chicken breast, sliced
Small amt Baby spinach leaves
2 Tlbsp Fig jam
Combine the butter and cheese well and spread onto two slices of bread. Top with chicken and spinach and spread the jam onto the remaining slices of bread. Press grill until golden brown.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Sweet and Tipsy
Admittedly I am not a very big drinker; to be honest no one in my family really is. (Surprisingly when my uncle owns one of Western Massachusetts’s hottest bars). But every once and a while I like to pour myself a cocktail, sit back and relax. So what do I like when I do imbibe? Well I like things sweet, not overly strong, out of the ordinary and served up in my princess embossed martini glass. So here is a list of my current favorites.
Chocolate Covered Pomegranate
Pour one shot of dark chocolate liqueur into a martini glass and top with pomegranate juice. Honestly this drink looks disgusting, it has a nasty reddish brown color; but it tastes fabulous. You can substitute cherry juice to make a Chocolate Covered Cherry.
Cherry Martini
Pour one shot of clementine vodka into a martini glass and top with cherry juice.
Strawberry Cosmopolitan
In a shaker pour one shot of strawberry vodka, a splash of Cointreau, and a decent amount of cranberry juice. Pour into a martini glass and finish with a wedge of lime.
Flirtini
Pour one shot each of citrus flavored vodka and pineapple juice into a martini glass, top with champagne. Serve this when you have a group of friends over otherwise your champagne will go flat.
Naughty Schoolgirl (from Cosmopolitan magazine)
In a shaker pour one and a half shots of raspberry vodka, half a shot of simple syrup and a splash of sour mix. Pour half of this into a martini glass and top with club soda, garnish with a lollipop. This makes two drinks so either share or drink both to be really naughty.
PB&J-tini
Pour one shot of Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur) into a martini glass and top with grape juice. Once again this drink is not the most appetizing of colors.
Princess-tini
Pour one shot each of clementine vodka, orange juice and pineapple juice into a martini glass. Top with lemon-lime soda.
Bellini with a Kick
Pour one shot of peach or apricot schnapps into a champagne glass and top with your favorite champagne.
Pomegranate Fizz
Fill a champagne glass about a third of the way with pomegranate juice and top with Prosecco.
Vanilla Dark and Stormy
In a tall glass filled with ice pour one shot of dark rum, one shot of vanilla vodka and top with ginger beer. Squeeze a lime in for a little citrus kick.
Pineapple Mojito
In a tall glass filled with ice pour one and a half shots of pineapple rum and two and a half shots of store-bought Mojito mix, top with club soda. Mix some diced fresh pineapple through the drink. I know that this is cheating, but if you think that I am going to muddle all of the ingredients the way bartenders do you are crazy.
I have also been known to enjoy a glass of wine; but like my mixed drinks I like them to be sweet. I am currently a fan of Rieslings and Moscato varieties. But I will choose champagne or Prosecco over wine any day. (To keep the fizz, place a spoon handle into the bottle when storing in the refrigerator.) Also if you are planning on buying me a shot when out at a bar, remember there is no substitute for Patron Silver.
Chocolate Covered Pomegranate
Pour one shot of dark chocolate liqueur into a martini glass and top with pomegranate juice. Honestly this drink looks disgusting, it has a nasty reddish brown color; but it tastes fabulous. You can substitute cherry juice to make a Chocolate Covered Cherry.
Cherry Martini
Pour one shot of clementine vodka into a martini glass and top with cherry juice.
Strawberry Cosmopolitan
In a shaker pour one shot of strawberry vodka, a splash of Cointreau, and a decent amount of cranberry juice. Pour into a martini glass and finish with a wedge of lime.
Flirtini
Pour one shot each of citrus flavored vodka and pineapple juice into a martini glass, top with champagne. Serve this when you have a group of friends over otherwise your champagne will go flat.
Naughty Schoolgirl (from Cosmopolitan magazine)
In a shaker pour one and a half shots of raspberry vodka, half a shot of simple syrup and a splash of sour mix. Pour half of this into a martini glass and top with club soda, garnish with a lollipop. This makes two drinks so either share or drink both to be really naughty.
PB&J-tini
Pour one shot of Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur) into a martini glass and top with grape juice. Once again this drink is not the most appetizing of colors.
Princess-tini
Pour one shot each of clementine vodka, orange juice and pineapple juice into a martini glass. Top with lemon-lime soda.
Bellini with a Kick
Pour one shot of peach or apricot schnapps into a champagne glass and top with your favorite champagne.
Pomegranate Fizz
Fill a champagne glass about a third of the way with pomegranate juice and top with Prosecco.
Vanilla Dark and Stormy
In a tall glass filled with ice pour one shot of dark rum, one shot of vanilla vodka and top with ginger beer. Squeeze a lime in for a little citrus kick.
Pineapple Mojito
In a tall glass filled with ice pour one and a half shots of pineapple rum and two and a half shots of store-bought Mojito mix, top with club soda. Mix some diced fresh pineapple through the drink. I know that this is cheating, but if you think that I am going to muddle all of the ingredients the way bartenders do you are crazy.
I have also been known to enjoy a glass of wine; but like my mixed drinks I like them to be sweet. I am currently a fan of Rieslings and Moscato varieties. But I will choose champagne or Prosecco over wine any day. (To keep the fizz, place a spoon handle into the bottle when storing in the refrigerator.) Also if you are planning on buying me a shot when out at a bar, remember there is no substitute for Patron Silver.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Thanks For What?!
Okay so I am going to just come out with it and say what no one does…Thanksgiving is a crock! Well at least for me it is. See I work that holiday then have to get into my car and drive across the state to eat dinner late while my family watches me waiting to wash my plate. This is all after I have sat in Turnpike traffic and have a nice case of road rage, a great feeling on a holiday. Plus I am not a fan of turkey; well not at least in it’s whole original form. Me, I like my turkey either ground or from the deli. This might all stem from the fact that for years my aunt held Thanksgiving dinner and…well…ugh I’ll just say it; she served dried out turkey! Plus I think pumpkin pie is just nasty, and I must not be very American (another story in itself) because I think apple pie is boring. Plus what do you do on this holiday? Everyone eats then the men disappear into a room to monopolize the TV watching sports and the women clean up, now what is there to celebrate about that?
This is not to say that I don’t like all the flavors of Thanksgiving in general, but I have had to come up with creative ways to ingest them, because hell will freeze over before I put a turkey in my oven. Now I am a stuffing freak, bread or meat; and I love cranberry sauce. (Now that I had a break from it after my sister made me eat two cans of it in two days.) And then there is my grandmother’s Chocolate Lush. Ahh Chocolate Lush just typing it makes my mouth water; but alas even though I can give you the recipe it will not be as good as hers is. (Almost everyone in the family has tried to make it with sad results.) And never, never try to make this in a lighter version, it just doesn’t taste good at all!
First I will start with a meatloaf recipe that brings together all of the flavors of Thanksgiving in a form that I can easily make one any day; and I call it Thanksgiving Meatloaf. (Really original, but if you can come up with a better name let me know.) Begin by combining a one pound of ground turkey, one egg, two tablespoons of Dijon mustard, half a cup of breadcrumbs, one diced celery stalk, one diced onion, one small diced apple and two teaspoons of poultry seasoning. Mix this all well and spoon half of it into a loaf pan, top with cheddar cheese and then cover the cheese layer with the remaining turkey mixture. Bake this at 350 degrees for between thirty and forty minutes; do not over bake because you don’t want dried out meatloaf. While the loaf is baking mix together half a cup of whole berry cranberry sauce, three tablespoons of sour cream and two tablespoons of dried chives. Once the meatloaf is done serve the sauce drizzled over it for perfectly balanced results. This meatloaf tasted like a mix of turkey and stuffing, oh so good!
Next I want to share one of my favorite meals, which I actually make a lot during the holiday season. This is a recipe for open-faced turkey sandwiched with all the trimmings. Beware you will dirty every pan you own and then some to make this meal; but that’s why we have dishwashers, right? Start with making some homemade applesauce from four pealed apples of any variety you like which you cook down with a splash of lemon juice, two tablespoons of sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Once the apples have cooked down into mush stir in around a half of a can of whole berry cranberry sauce and let this simmer away until ready to serve. In pan number two boil three fairly good sized diced sweet potatoes until soft and falling apart. Drain these and return them to the pan to mash them up with a splash of half and half, two tablespoons of butter, half a teaspoon of cinnamon, salt and pepper. Moving on to pan number three for the stuffing to end all stuffings. Begin by removing some store bought maple flavored uncooked sausage from their casings and sautéing them in a little olive oil. Dice up two stalks of celery, one small onion and half of an apple and add that to the pan, sauté until soft before adding a teaspoon of poultry seasoning. Add about a cup of bagged cubed breadcrumbs and enough chicken broth to moisten everything to your desired consistency. Remove the stuffing from the pan and keep warm so that you can make gravy without dirtying another pan. Begin by melting down two tablespoons of butter and then add two tablespoons of flour. Cook this for a few minutes so that it does not taste like wallpaper paste before you add two cups of chicken broth and whisk until thickened. Season this with a teaspoon of poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Now add some thick slices of deli turkey breast to the gravy to heat it up while you toast up some slices of whole grain bread. (You can use white bread if you really want to but I wouldn’t be caught dead putting a slice of Wonder bread in my mouth). Okay so now to assemble this fantabulous meal place the slice of toast in the center of the plate, cover with the warmed up turkey, spoon out some sweet potato and stuffing around the sandwich and drizzle gravy over everything. Don’t forget about the cran-apple sauce. This recipe makes a ton of food, but you will need the energy to tackle the dishes piled up in your sink; plus the stuffing is good the next morning with eggs and you can pour the leftover cran-apple sauce over ice cream.
Chocolate Lush has been a holiday staple in my family for as long as I can remember, made from my grandmother’s recipe. Well at least she had us fooled for about twenty years that it was her recipe; come to find out that the original recipe was given to her by her sister. This is pretty much the only dessert I eat on the holidays and there are never any leftovers, plenty of nasty pumpkin pie but no Lush. Okay so here it is good luck making this and if you need any feedback just bring me a bit for quality control. Begin by mixing with a fork one and a half sticks of softened butter with one and a half cups of flour and half a cup of walnuts. Press this mixture into a nine by thirteen inch pan and bake it at 350 degrees for twenty-five minutes. Remove it from the oven and let it cool completely. Beat together one eight-ounce package of cream cheese until smooth before adding one cup of confectioners sugar; once again beat until smooth. Gently fold in one cup of Cool Whip and spread the mixture on top of the browned crust evenly. Mix together two packages of instant chocolate pudding with three cups of cold whole milk until thickened. Spoon the pudding on top of the cheese mixture and then top that with the remaining Cool Whip in the container. Sprinkle the top with a few walnuts and chill well. I have heard that people make this dish with lemon pudding instead of chocolate but have yet to see or taste it, so as far as I am concerned that is an urban cooking myth.
This year I have to wait until Christmas to get my Chocolate Lush fix as I am forgoing the road rage drive to eat by myself to spend the holiday with my boyfriend’s family. It is going to be tough missing the Lush but I think that I can make it another month; at least I hope I can.
Thanksgiving Meatloaf
1 lb. Ground turkey
1 Egg
2 Tlbsp Dijon mustard
½ cup Breadcrumbs
1 stalk Celery, diced
1 sm Onion, diced
1 sm Apple, diced
2 tsp. Poultry seasoning
½ bag Shredded cheddar cheese
½ cup Whole berry cranberry sauce
3 Tlbsp. Sour cream
2 Tlbsp Chives, chopped
Combine the first eight ingredients well and transfer half of it into a loaf pan. Cover with the cheese and top that with the remaining meat mixture. Bake at 350° for 30-40 minutes. Combine the cranberry sauce, sour cream and chives into a sauce to drizzle over the meatloaf before serving.
Cran-apple Sauce
4 med. Apples, pealed and diced
1 Tlbsp. Lemon juice
2 Tlbsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Cinnamon
½ can Whole berry cranberry sauce
Combine the first four ingredients in a pot and cook over low heat until broken down. Add cranberry sauce and combine well, simmer until ready to serve.
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
3 med. Sweet potatoes, pealed and diced
¼ cup Half and Half
2 Tlbsp. Butter
½ tsp. Cinnamon
Salt & pepper
Put the potatoes into a pot of cold water, bring to a boil and cook until soft. Drain and add the remaining ingredients to the pot, mash well.
Maple Sausage Stuffing
1 pkg. Maple flavored uncooked breakfast sausage
2 stalks Celery, diced
1 sm Onion, diced
½ Apple, diced
1 tsp. Poultry seasoning
1 cup Cubed breadcrumbs
¾ cup Chicken broth
Remove the sausage from it’s casing and sauté over medium heat. Add the vegetables, apples and poultry seasoning and cook until soft. Stir in the breadcrumbs and moisten with the chicken broth.
Almost Instant Gravy and Turkey
2 Tlbsp. Butter
2 Tlbsp. Flour
2 cups Chicken broth
1 tsp. Poultry seasoning
Salt & pepper
Deli turkey, sliced thick
Melt the butter and stir in flour, cook for a few minutes. Whisk in the chicken broth and seasoning, bring to a boil and let thicken. Submerge the turkey in the gravy and warm through. Serve over toast.
Grandma’s Chocolate Lush
1 ½ sticks Butter, softened
1 ½ cups Flour
½ cup Walnuts, chopped
1 8-oz. Pkg. Cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup Confectioner’s sugar
1 tub Cool Whip
2 pkgs. Instant chocolate pudding
3 cups Cold milk
With a fork mix together the butter, flour and nuts. Press into a 9x13” pan and bake at 350° for 25 minutes, until browned. Beat cream cheese until smooth, add sugar and beat again. Fold in 1 cup of the Cool Whip and smooth over the cooled crust. Beat the pudding packets and milk until thickened. Smooth the pudding over the cream cheese, cover with the remaining Cool Whip. Sprinkle with some more nuts and chill well.
This is not to say that I don’t like all the flavors of Thanksgiving in general, but I have had to come up with creative ways to ingest them, because hell will freeze over before I put a turkey in my oven. Now I am a stuffing freak, bread or meat; and I love cranberry sauce. (Now that I had a break from it after my sister made me eat two cans of it in two days.) And then there is my grandmother’s Chocolate Lush. Ahh Chocolate Lush just typing it makes my mouth water; but alas even though I can give you the recipe it will not be as good as hers is. (Almost everyone in the family has tried to make it with sad results.) And never, never try to make this in a lighter version, it just doesn’t taste good at all!
First I will start with a meatloaf recipe that brings together all of the flavors of Thanksgiving in a form that I can easily make one any day; and I call it Thanksgiving Meatloaf. (Really original, but if you can come up with a better name let me know.) Begin by combining a one pound of ground turkey, one egg, two tablespoons of Dijon mustard, half a cup of breadcrumbs, one diced celery stalk, one diced onion, one small diced apple and two teaspoons of poultry seasoning. Mix this all well and spoon half of it into a loaf pan, top with cheddar cheese and then cover the cheese layer with the remaining turkey mixture. Bake this at 350 degrees for between thirty and forty minutes; do not over bake because you don’t want dried out meatloaf. While the loaf is baking mix together half a cup of whole berry cranberry sauce, three tablespoons of sour cream and two tablespoons of dried chives. Once the meatloaf is done serve the sauce drizzled over it for perfectly balanced results. This meatloaf tasted like a mix of turkey and stuffing, oh so good!
Next I want to share one of my favorite meals, which I actually make a lot during the holiday season. This is a recipe for open-faced turkey sandwiched with all the trimmings. Beware you will dirty every pan you own and then some to make this meal; but that’s why we have dishwashers, right? Start with making some homemade applesauce from four pealed apples of any variety you like which you cook down with a splash of lemon juice, two tablespoons of sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Once the apples have cooked down into mush stir in around a half of a can of whole berry cranberry sauce and let this simmer away until ready to serve. In pan number two boil three fairly good sized diced sweet potatoes until soft and falling apart. Drain these and return them to the pan to mash them up with a splash of half and half, two tablespoons of butter, half a teaspoon of cinnamon, salt and pepper. Moving on to pan number three for the stuffing to end all stuffings. Begin by removing some store bought maple flavored uncooked sausage from their casings and sautéing them in a little olive oil. Dice up two stalks of celery, one small onion and half of an apple and add that to the pan, sauté until soft before adding a teaspoon of poultry seasoning. Add about a cup of bagged cubed breadcrumbs and enough chicken broth to moisten everything to your desired consistency. Remove the stuffing from the pan and keep warm so that you can make gravy without dirtying another pan. Begin by melting down two tablespoons of butter and then add two tablespoons of flour. Cook this for a few minutes so that it does not taste like wallpaper paste before you add two cups of chicken broth and whisk until thickened. Season this with a teaspoon of poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Now add some thick slices of deli turkey breast to the gravy to heat it up while you toast up some slices of whole grain bread. (You can use white bread if you really want to but I wouldn’t be caught dead putting a slice of Wonder bread in my mouth). Okay so now to assemble this fantabulous meal place the slice of toast in the center of the plate, cover with the warmed up turkey, spoon out some sweet potato and stuffing around the sandwich and drizzle gravy over everything. Don’t forget about the cran-apple sauce. This recipe makes a ton of food, but you will need the energy to tackle the dishes piled up in your sink; plus the stuffing is good the next morning with eggs and you can pour the leftover cran-apple sauce over ice cream.
Chocolate Lush has been a holiday staple in my family for as long as I can remember, made from my grandmother’s recipe. Well at least she had us fooled for about twenty years that it was her recipe; come to find out that the original recipe was given to her by her sister. This is pretty much the only dessert I eat on the holidays and there are never any leftovers, plenty of nasty pumpkin pie but no Lush. Okay so here it is good luck making this and if you need any feedback just bring me a bit for quality control. Begin by mixing with a fork one and a half sticks of softened butter with one and a half cups of flour and half a cup of walnuts. Press this mixture into a nine by thirteen inch pan and bake it at 350 degrees for twenty-five minutes. Remove it from the oven and let it cool completely. Beat together one eight-ounce package of cream cheese until smooth before adding one cup of confectioners sugar; once again beat until smooth. Gently fold in one cup of Cool Whip and spread the mixture on top of the browned crust evenly. Mix together two packages of instant chocolate pudding with three cups of cold whole milk until thickened. Spoon the pudding on top of the cheese mixture and then top that with the remaining Cool Whip in the container. Sprinkle the top with a few walnuts and chill well. I have heard that people make this dish with lemon pudding instead of chocolate but have yet to see or taste it, so as far as I am concerned that is an urban cooking myth.
This year I have to wait until Christmas to get my Chocolate Lush fix as I am forgoing the road rage drive to eat by myself to spend the holiday with my boyfriend’s family. It is going to be tough missing the Lush but I think that I can make it another month; at least I hope I can.
Thanksgiving Meatloaf
1 lb. Ground turkey
1 Egg
2 Tlbsp Dijon mustard
½ cup Breadcrumbs
1 stalk Celery, diced
1 sm Onion, diced
1 sm Apple, diced
2 tsp. Poultry seasoning
½ bag Shredded cheddar cheese
½ cup Whole berry cranberry sauce
3 Tlbsp. Sour cream
2 Tlbsp Chives, chopped
Combine the first eight ingredients well and transfer half of it into a loaf pan. Cover with the cheese and top that with the remaining meat mixture. Bake at 350° for 30-40 minutes. Combine the cranberry sauce, sour cream and chives into a sauce to drizzle over the meatloaf before serving.
Cran-apple Sauce
4 med. Apples, pealed and diced
1 Tlbsp. Lemon juice
2 Tlbsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Cinnamon
½ can Whole berry cranberry sauce
Combine the first four ingredients in a pot and cook over low heat until broken down. Add cranberry sauce and combine well, simmer until ready to serve.
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
3 med. Sweet potatoes, pealed and diced
¼ cup Half and Half
2 Tlbsp. Butter
½ tsp. Cinnamon
Salt & pepper
Put the potatoes into a pot of cold water, bring to a boil and cook until soft. Drain and add the remaining ingredients to the pot, mash well.
Maple Sausage Stuffing
1 pkg. Maple flavored uncooked breakfast sausage
2 stalks Celery, diced
1 sm Onion, diced
½ Apple, diced
1 tsp. Poultry seasoning
1 cup Cubed breadcrumbs
¾ cup Chicken broth
Remove the sausage from it’s casing and sauté over medium heat. Add the vegetables, apples and poultry seasoning and cook until soft. Stir in the breadcrumbs and moisten with the chicken broth.
Almost Instant Gravy and Turkey
2 Tlbsp. Butter
2 Tlbsp. Flour
2 cups Chicken broth
1 tsp. Poultry seasoning
Salt & pepper
Deli turkey, sliced thick
Melt the butter and stir in flour, cook for a few minutes. Whisk in the chicken broth and seasoning, bring to a boil and let thicken. Submerge the turkey in the gravy and warm through. Serve over toast.
Grandma’s Chocolate Lush
1 ½ sticks Butter, softened
1 ½ cups Flour
½ cup Walnuts, chopped
1 8-oz. Pkg. Cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup Confectioner’s sugar
1 tub Cool Whip
2 pkgs. Instant chocolate pudding
3 cups Cold milk
With a fork mix together the butter, flour and nuts. Press into a 9x13” pan and bake at 350° for 25 minutes, until browned. Beat cream cheese until smooth, add sugar and beat again. Fold in 1 cup of the Cool Whip and smooth over the cooled crust. Beat the pudding packets and milk until thickened. Smooth the pudding over the cream cheese, cover with the remaining Cool Whip. Sprinkle with some more nuts and chill well.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Perfect Fall Dinner
I had to share this recipe and it is not like me to just fly off the cuff and write without research and drafts, but I just had to put this up immediately. I made Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash for my grandfather and I tonight. Begin by halving the acorn squash and cleaning out the seeds and stringy stuff, drizzle olive oil over it and sprinkle it with kosher salt. Bake this cut side down at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, flip them over and cook 15 more minutes or until the flesh is tender. While waiting for the squash to cook brown up enough sweet Italian sausage and ground beef to equal a half of a pound, add half a chopped onion and cook until softened. Pour in about a forth of a cup of Sherry and cook until the liquid is absorbed, then add about half a box of defrosted frozen spinach and mix well. remove this from the heat and add about three Fourths of a cup of bread crumbs and a little under a half cup of Parmesan cheese. This mixture is spooned into the squash halves topped with an Italian blend of shredded cheese and broiled a few minutes until the cheese is golden brown. Serve this drizzled with a little Balsamic vinegar and enjoy.
Now my grandfather is a little bit of a picky eater and he cleaned his plate even after he heard me say that there was spinach in the stuffing. There actually is enough stuffing for about four small squash halves or two large ones. I really enjoyed this meal.
Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash
2 small Acorn Squash, halved and seeded
Olive oil
Kosher salt
1/2 lb Sweet Italian sausage
1/2 small Onion, chopped
1/4 cup Sherry
1/2 box Frozen spinach, defrosted
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
At 425 degrees bake the squash halves that are drizzled with oil and salted for 15 minutes cut side down, flip over and bake 15 minutes more. Brown sausage on the stove top add onions and cook until softened. Add sherry and cook until absorbed. Add spinach and mix well. Remove from heat, add bread crumbs and cheese. Fill each of the halves with the sausage mixture. top with a little shredded cheese and broil a few minutes to brown cheese. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and serve.
Now my grandfather is a little bit of a picky eater and he cleaned his plate even after he heard me say that there was spinach in the stuffing. There actually is enough stuffing for about four small squash halves or two large ones. I really enjoyed this meal.
Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash
2 small Acorn Squash, halved and seeded
Olive oil
Kosher salt
1/2 lb Sweet Italian sausage
1/2 small Onion, chopped
1/4 cup Sherry
1/2 box Frozen spinach, defrosted
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
At 425 degrees bake the squash halves that are drizzled with oil and salted for 15 minutes cut side down, flip over and bake 15 minutes more. Brown sausage on the stove top add onions and cook until softened. Add sherry and cook until absorbed. Add spinach and mix well. Remove from heat, add bread crumbs and cheese. Fill each of the halves with the sausage mixture. top with a little shredded cheese and broil a few minutes to brown cheese. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and serve.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Charmed Childhood Favorites
Ok, ok I’ll admit it I had a charmed childhood. I grew up in an upper middle class suburban town, with a nice house, swimming pool, great friends, and a stable family life. The part that, to this day, is most important to me is how close our neighborhood is; I consider these people my family. There was an open door policy to all of us kids, everyone was always welcome at anytime. I don’t know anyone else who has this kind of closeness with his or her neighbors; and I still consider Chester Road to be my home, even though I own my own house in another town.
Now I am not going to sit here and tell you that my mother and my friend’s mothers are culinary inspirations to me, far from it! (My mom’s Chop Suey and Mrs. C.’s Green Bean Surprise Casserole, not so good.) But I will say that these women can bake like there is no tomorrow; and have a few recipes that I remember fondly and have recreated over the years. So this is for my mom and my second mom, Mrs. C., I amped up your recipes and I hope that you don’t ground me for it.
Growing up we ate a lot of chicken done a million different ways, roasted, baked, grilled and fried. We knew it was fried chicken night when my mom would take out the avocado green electric frying pan. Party in the kitchen! These days I avoid fried chicken like the plague; I love it but it is so bad for you. That is the beauty thing about Shake and Bake, all the flavor of fried chicken without the fat. But we can do better than plain old store bought Shake and Bake. I have come up with Zingy Ranch Baked Chicken. Begin by taking your bone-in skin-on chicken pieces and marinating them in a quarter cup of lemon juice for about fifteen minutes. This step will make your chicken juicier and give it a bright flavor. Make sure to turn the pieces frequently so that all of the parts are coated. While this is going on combine one cup of breadcrumbs and one package of dry ranch salad dressing mix in a large resealable bag. Remove the chicken from the juice and place them in the bag one at a time and shake it like a saltshaker! Bake the chicken at 350 degrees for about forty minutes; make sure the juices run clear to tell if it is done. I like to eat this chicken with a little honey drizzled over it to add a layer of sweetness to it’s tang.
Serve the chicken, or anything for that matter, with my mom’s Rice Stuffing. Start this by melting one stick of butter in a pot. My mom has cut down the amount of butter lately and believe me you notice the difference. Anyway, sauté one medium chopped onion in the butter until soft and then add one cup of brown rice. (I counteract the high fat content with a high fiber ingredient. And no matter what you tell me I will continue to believe this!) Sauté this rice and onion until slightly browned then add two and a half cups of water, two chicken bouillon cubes and two tablespoons of lemon juice. Reduce the heat to simmer, cover and let it go for about a half hour or until all the liquid is absorbed. This is by far the best rice I have ever eaten and I only pull it out occasionally because I can eat the crap out of it!
My mom had a recipe that was super simple to make and packed quiet the flavor punch, Sweet and Sour Kielbasa. Start by dicing a small onion and green pepper and sauté them until soft, add one diced reduced fat kielbasa and cook until browned. Add one fourteen-ounce can of fire roasted tomatoes and simmer for a few minutes. In a separate bowl combine half a teaspoon of ground dried ginger, one-tablespoon rice wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, one tablespoon cornstarch, one teaspoon hot sauce and half a cup of apricot preserves. Add this sauce to the kielbasa and bring to a boil to thicken. You can serve this over either brown rice or pasta. I prefer pasta and just so you know I only eat whole-wheat pasta these days. Trust me you will not notice a difference in taste, but it is so much healthier because of the added fiber.
Now my family might have been in the restaurant business when I was a kid, but my mom did not run her kitchen like one; if we didn’t like what she was serving we could make ourselves a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Recently I found a recipe for Peanut Butter and Jelly Chicken, which may sound gross but is really quite fantastic. Begin by combining one ten ounce jar of seedless raspberry jelly with ½ cup peanut butter, quarter cup raspberry vinegar, a few dashes of hot sauce and a dash of salt. Place four pieces of chicken in the bowl and toss around to coat completely, marinate the chicken between one hour and overnight. Bake this concoction in a baking dish for about forty-five minutes or until the juices run clear. The combination of sweet, sour and nutty is so intoxicating that you will find yourself making this often.
Mrs. C. had a recipe that she shared with my mom that to this day is one of my favorite quick dinners, Hamburger Stroganoff. Now a days I use thinly sliced steak instead of the hamburger to give it a more sophisticated feel. Begin by browning one pound of the sliced steak with two cloves of minced garlic and one small-diced onion. Once everything is browned and softened add one eight-ounce can of sliced mushrooms, salt, pepper and two tablespoons of flour. Make sure to coat everything evenly with the flour and cook for about five minutes. Add one can of cream of mushroom soup and simmer for ten minutes more. Finally fold in one cup of reduced fat sour cream and heat through, serve this over egg noodles. This recipe is easy to adjust if you are feeding a crowd, as Mrs. C. would sometimes have to do when her three kids showed up with their friends at dinnertime. I will admit that I would find out which house was having the better dinner before going home.
My mother liked to entertain and I remember fondly an appetizer that has since been retired due to its unhealthiness, Spinach Squares. Begin by beating three eggs until golden and then add one cup each of flour and milk, one teaspoon each of salt and baking powder and a pinch of nutmeg, mix this until well combined. Fold in one pound of shredded cheddar cheese, two packages of frozen spinach (drained and squeezed dry), and half an onion diced. Spoon this into a nine by thirteen baking dish that is well buttered and bake at 350 degrees for forty-five minutes. This was actually my introduction to spinach and I still love the vegetable in all of its forms; but those cheesy squares will always hold a special place in my stomach!
The thing that I truly love about food is that it has an amazing way of connecting it’s self to your memories and instantly bring you back to those times. Every time I eat fried seafood I think about all those summers I spent vacationing at Hampton Beach, and I smile because those were some of the best summers of my life. Back when I could eat fresh fruit without having my tongue swell up I remember sitting in the blueberry patches eating handfuls of the berries that we were supposed to bring home to our mothers, oops. Everyone has at least one fond food memory and every once in a while you should bring that recipe out and enjoy being transported back to that simple happy time.
Zingy Ranch Chicken
4 Pieces bone-in chicken
¼ cup Lemon Juice
1-cup Breadcrumbs
1 pkg Ranch salad dressing seasoning
Marinate the chicken in the juice for 15 minutes. Combine the breadcrumbs and salad dressing seasoning in a resealable bag. Shake the chicken pieces one at a time in the bag until well coated and bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until the juices run clear.
Rice Stuffing
1 stick Butter
1 medium Onion, diced
1 cup Brown rice
2 ½ cups Water
2 Chicken Bouillon cubes
2 Tlbsp. Lemon juice
Melt butter in pot, add onion and cook until softened. Add rice and sauté until browned. Add remaining ingredients, cover and simmer about half hour or until all liquid is absorbed.
Sweet and Sour Kielbasa
1 small Onion, diced
1 small Pepper, diced
1 pkg Reduced fat Kielbasa, cut up
1 14 oz can Fire roasted tomatoes
½ tsp. Ground dried ginger
1 Tlbsp Rice wine vinegar
1 Tlbsp Soy sauce
1 Tlbsp Cornstarch
1 tsp. Hot sauce
½ cup Apricot preserves
Sauté the onion, pepper and kielbasa until softened and browned, add tomatoes and simmer. In separate bowl combine the remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour this over the meat mixture and bring to a boil to thicken. Serve over pasta or rice.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Chicken
4 pieces Bone-in chicken
1 10 oz. Jar Seedless raspberry jelly
½ cup Peanut Butter
¼ cup Raspberry vinegar
2 dashes Hot sauce
dash Salt
Combine all of the ingredients except the chicken and mix until smooth. Marinate the chicken in this mixture for at least one hour. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until the juices run clear.
Sliced Beef Stroganoff
1 lb. Steak sliced thin
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1 small Onion, diced
1 8 oz.Can Sliced Mushrooms
2 Tlbsp Flour
Salt and Pepper
1 can Cream of mushroom soup
1 cup Reduced fat sour cream
Sauté the steak, garlic and onion until browned and softened, add mushrooms, flour, salt and pepper and coat evenly, cook 5 minutes. Stir in the sop and simmer for 10 minutes. Fold in the sour cream and heat through. Serve over egg noodles.
Spinach Squares
3 Eggs
1 cup Milk
1 cup Flour
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking powder
Pinch Nutmeg
1 lb. Cheddar cheese, shredded
2 pkg. Frozen spinach, drained and squeezed dry
½ Onion, diced
Beat the eggs until golden and add milk, flour, salt, nutmeg and baking powder. Fold in the remaining ingredients and spoon into a buttered 9x13-baking dish and bake at 350° for 45 minutes.
Now I am not going to sit here and tell you that my mother and my friend’s mothers are culinary inspirations to me, far from it! (My mom’s Chop Suey and Mrs. C.’s Green Bean Surprise Casserole, not so good.) But I will say that these women can bake like there is no tomorrow; and have a few recipes that I remember fondly and have recreated over the years. So this is for my mom and my second mom, Mrs. C., I amped up your recipes and I hope that you don’t ground me for it.
Growing up we ate a lot of chicken done a million different ways, roasted, baked, grilled and fried. We knew it was fried chicken night when my mom would take out the avocado green electric frying pan. Party in the kitchen! These days I avoid fried chicken like the plague; I love it but it is so bad for you. That is the beauty thing about Shake and Bake, all the flavor of fried chicken without the fat. But we can do better than plain old store bought Shake and Bake. I have come up with Zingy Ranch Baked Chicken. Begin by taking your bone-in skin-on chicken pieces and marinating them in a quarter cup of lemon juice for about fifteen minutes. This step will make your chicken juicier and give it a bright flavor. Make sure to turn the pieces frequently so that all of the parts are coated. While this is going on combine one cup of breadcrumbs and one package of dry ranch salad dressing mix in a large resealable bag. Remove the chicken from the juice and place them in the bag one at a time and shake it like a saltshaker! Bake the chicken at 350 degrees for about forty minutes; make sure the juices run clear to tell if it is done. I like to eat this chicken with a little honey drizzled over it to add a layer of sweetness to it’s tang.
Serve the chicken, or anything for that matter, with my mom’s Rice Stuffing. Start this by melting one stick of butter in a pot. My mom has cut down the amount of butter lately and believe me you notice the difference. Anyway, sauté one medium chopped onion in the butter until soft and then add one cup of brown rice. (I counteract the high fat content with a high fiber ingredient. And no matter what you tell me I will continue to believe this!) Sauté this rice and onion until slightly browned then add two and a half cups of water, two chicken bouillon cubes and two tablespoons of lemon juice. Reduce the heat to simmer, cover and let it go for about a half hour or until all the liquid is absorbed. This is by far the best rice I have ever eaten and I only pull it out occasionally because I can eat the crap out of it!
My mom had a recipe that was super simple to make and packed quiet the flavor punch, Sweet and Sour Kielbasa. Start by dicing a small onion and green pepper and sauté them until soft, add one diced reduced fat kielbasa and cook until browned. Add one fourteen-ounce can of fire roasted tomatoes and simmer for a few minutes. In a separate bowl combine half a teaspoon of ground dried ginger, one-tablespoon rice wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, one tablespoon cornstarch, one teaspoon hot sauce and half a cup of apricot preserves. Add this sauce to the kielbasa and bring to a boil to thicken. You can serve this over either brown rice or pasta. I prefer pasta and just so you know I only eat whole-wheat pasta these days. Trust me you will not notice a difference in taste, but it is so much healthier because of the added fiber.
Now my family might have been in the restaurant business when I was a kid, but my mom did not run her kitchen like one; if we didn’t like what she was serving we could make ourselves a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Recently I found a recipe for Peanut Butter and Jelly Chicken, which may sound gross but is really quite fantastic. Begin by combining one ten ounce jar of seedless raspberry jelly with ½ cup peanut butter, quarter cup raspberry vinegar, a few dashes of hot sauce and a dash of salt. Place four pieces of chicken in the bowl and toss around to coat completely, marinate the chicken between one hour and overnight. Bake this concoction in a baking dish for about forty-five minutes or until the juices run clear. The combination of sweet, sour and nutty is so intoxicating that you will find yourself making this often.
Mrs. C. had a recipe that she shared with my mom that to this day is one of my favorite quick dinners, Hamburger Stroganoff. Now a days I use thinly sliced steak instead of the hamburger to give it a more sophisticated feel. Begin by browning one pound of the sliced steak with two cloves of minced garlic and one small-diced onion. Once everything is browned and softened add one eight-ounce can of sliced mushrooms, salt, pepper and two tablespoons of flour. Make sure to coat everything evenly with the flour and cook for about five minutes. Add one can of cream of mushroom soup and simmer for ten minutes more. Finally fold in one cup of reduced fat sour cream and heat through, serve this over egg noodles. This recipe is easy to adjust if you are feeding a crowd, as Mrs. C. would sometimes have to do when her three kids showed up with their friends at dinnertime. I will admit that I would find out which house was having the better dinner before going home.
My mother liked to entertain and I remember fondly an appetizer that has since been retired due to its unhealthiness, Spinach Squares. Begin by beating three eggs until golden and then add one cup each of flour and milk, one teaspoon each of salt and baking powder and a pinch of nutmeg, mix this until well combined. Fold in one pound of shredded cheddar cheese, two packages of frozen spinach (drained and squeezed dry), and half an onion diced. Spoon this into a nine by thirteen baking dish that is well buttered and bake at 350 degrees for forty-five minutes. This was actually my introduction to spinach and I still love the vegetable in all of its forms; but those cheesy squares will always hold a special place in my stomach!
The thing that I truly love about food is that it has an amazing way of connecting it’s self to your memories and instantly bring you back to those times. Every time I eat fried seafood I think about all those summers I spent vacationing at Hampton Beach, and I smile because those were some of the best summers of my life. Back when I could eat fresh fruit without having my tongue swell up I remember sitting in the blueberry patches eating handfuls of the berries that we were supposed to bring home to our mothers, oops. Everyone has at least one fond food memory and every once in a while you should bring that recipe out and enjoy being transported back to that simple happy time.
Zingy Ranch Chicken
4 Pieces bone-in chicken
¼ cup Lemon Juice
1-cup Breadcrumbs
1 pkg Ranch salad dressing seasoning
Marinate the chicken in the juice for 15 minutes. Combine the breadcrumbs and salad dressing seasoning in a resealable bag. Shake the chicken pieces one at a time in the bag until well coated and bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until the juices run clear.
Rice Stuffing
1 stick Butter
1 medium Onion, diced
1 cup Brown rice
2 ½ cups Water
2 Chicken Bouillon cubes
2 Tlbsp. Lemon juice
Melt butter in pot, add onion and cook until softened. Add rice and sauté until browned. Add remaining ingredients, cover and simmer about half hour or until all liquid is absorbed.
Sweet and Sour Kielbasa
1 small Onion, diced
1 small Pepper, diced
1 pkg Reduced fat Kielbasa, cut up
1 14 oz can Fire roasted tomatoes
½ tsp. Ground dried ginger
1 Tlbsp Rice wine vinegar
1 Tlbsp Soy sauce
1 Tlbsp Cornstarch
1 tsp. Hot sauce
½ cup Apricot preserves
Sauté the onion, pepper and kielbasa until softened and browned, add tomatoes and simmer. In separate bowl combine the remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour this over the meat mixture and bring to a boil to thicken. Serve over pasta or rice.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Chicken
4 pieces Bone-in chicken
1 10 oz. Jar Seedless raspberry jelly
½ cup Peanut Butter
¼ cup Raspberry vinegar
2 dashes Hot sauce
dash Salt
Combine all of the ingredients except the chicken and mix until smooth. Marinate the chicken in this mixture for at least one hour. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until the juices run clear.
Sliced Beef Stroganoff
1 lb. Steak sliced thin
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1 small Onion, diced
1 8 oz.Can Sliced Mushrooms
2 Tlbsp Flour
Salt and Pepper
1 can Cream of mushroom soup
1 cup Reduced fat sour cream
Sauté the steak, garlic and onion until browned and softened, add mushrooms, flour, salt and pepper and coat evenly, cook 5 minutes. Stir in the sop and simmer for 10 minutes. Fold in the sour cream and heat through. Serve over egg noodles.
Spinach Squares
3 Eggs
1 cup Milk
1 cup Flour
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking powder
Pinch Nutmeg
1 lb. Cheddar cheese, shredded
2 pkg. Frozen spinach, drained and squeezed dry
½ Onion, diced
Beat the eggs until golden and add milk, flour, salt, nutmeg and baking powder. Fold in the remaining ingredients and spoon into a buttered 9x13-baking dish and bake at 350° for 45 minutes.
Monday, October 19, 2009
I Love to Cook
I love to cook. Frankly there are only a few other things that I enjoy more than being in my kitchen, and those things are all done in another room of my house. (Now stop it, I was talking about sleeping and making my bed, wink wink, nudge nudge). Just a few of my favorite things are sharing meals with close friends and family and getting compliments on my culinary prowess. Now I am by no means a professionally trained chef; I just use food as my creative outlet like some people use paint or clay. And since my family owns a grocery store I constantly hear people say, “What am I going to make for dinner?” There have been days that I have had to listen to that question at least fifteen times! (Amazingly the same person uttered enough this phrase repeatedly). So I decided to take the time to share some recipes, ideas and techniques that I have learned over the years.
Before I get to the fun stuff there are some basics that need to be discussed. I’m sure that you have heard the old saying cleanliness is next to godliness; well I apply this to my kitchen. First of all it is easier to work on a clean and uncluttered space, and secondly, who really wants to eat anything that came out of a kitchen covered in dust, pet hair, assorted junk and remnants of the previous meal. Thirdly, you wouldn’t want to eat at a restaurant that has failed its board of health visit repeatedly; so why keep your kitchen in disarray?
Now don’t think that there is nothing on my counters, I keep my everyday items and a few show pieces (like the cappuccino machine that has been used once in six years but looks oh so chic) out at all times. My everyday items are olive oil, salt and pepper. Let’s start with the olive oil, which one should you use? If you watch the FoodNetwork you will notice that they constantly bestow the virtues of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. So what do I use? Honestly, whatever Costco has in a huge container available. I generally only use olive oil in the cooking process so it really doesn’t matter which one I use. But if you want to use is as a condiment or for dipping you might want to consider spending a little more on a fancy, schmancy bottle of what people in the industry call boutique oil. Other than that you can use whatever you want Extra Virgin, Virgin or Light it really doesn’t matter. Moving on to the salt and pepper; all I suggest is that the pepper is coarse ground and that the salt is either kosher or sea salt because they hold up better during the cooking process.
Growing up my mother had a fully stocked spice cabinet; I mean she had everything, even things like arrowroot and mace. (I have mace, but I use it as a weapon not a spice). So what exactly are these spices used in? Well I’ll tell you, not much because they are still in her cabinet twenty years later. You really don’t need to go out and buy everything in the grocery store spice aisle, just the basics. If the day comes that you need something exotic do what I do, steal it from your mom’s cabinet or check with a friend. And as for that six month shelf life that all the pros live by forget it they just want you to go out and spend more money on their products. Plus my mom still uses the twenty year old spices and she hasn’t killed anyone yet. Seriously though, spices may lose some of their potency over time but all you have to do is adjust the measurement up a bit.
The last things I want to mention are cooking implements. Now I will fully admit that when it comes to my cookware I am a snob; in my opinion the more expensive knives and pans are better. My mom taught both my sister and I that you get what you pay for, and I have always found this to be true. My favorite kitchen tool is my knife; if you have a good quality knife you really don’t need any of those nifty gadgets from Pampered Chef, except the jar opener. And you really don’t need everything in those overpriced knife blocks; just get a seven-inch chef’s or Santuku knife, paring knife and serrated bread knife. (I personally love Wüstof knives). The only other knives that you will need are some high quality steak knives, everything else is just gravy. Also make sure that the knives are sharpened a couple times a year, a dull knife will hurt you more than a sharp one. You can get this done at a small kitchen store for just a few dollars but you will be amazed at the difference a sharp knife makes. You can protect the sharpness of your knife by never ever putting it in the dishwasher or throwing it in the sink; also avoid using acrylic or glass cutting boards, they are the kiss of death for a knife’s sharpness. Oh and make sure that there are screwdrivers handy in the kitchen so that some uninformed guy doesn’t use your hundred dollar knife to tighten a screw. Don’t laugh this very thing happened to my sister.
On to pots and pans; once again there is no need to buy the whole set because sauce pans and skillets should be made of different materials. I have a six piece All-Clad stainless set and on a regular basis I use one sauce pan. Now don’t get me wrong I love them, they look so shiny and professional in the cabinet. The reasons that I don’t use them all are because usually I don’t need the larger pots and I really don’t like the sauté pans because their heat is inconsistent and honestly they are a pain to clean if you burn something. About a year ago I received an old cast-iron skillet from a friend and I LOVE IT. The heat is evenly distributed, it can go in the oven, it cleans with just a few swipes of a sponge and doubles as a fantastic weapon in the event of a break-in. Now if there is a nonstick pan anywhere in your house immediately stop reading and throw it out! These pans are not actually nonstick, every time I used one I still had to coat it with oil or butter; and furthermore if there is so much as one scratch in the “nonstick” surface you might as well call it a night because that coating is cancerous. (Just the kind of pan I want to cook in). If you make a lot of soups and stews invest in a Dutch oven from Le Creuset, these are enamel covered cast-iron pots. (See above for their attributes). Warning! You might go into sticker shock with this item, but remember, it will pretty much last forever and most of the high quality brands carry a lifetime guarantee, so worth it in the long run. Now if you really can’t afford the Le Creuset version you can find a comparable Dutch oven at Target made by Chefmate for around forty dollars.
Okay, so now that we discussed the basics I will give you some time to get your husband or boyfriend’s credit card and update your kitchen. (Psst there is a new William Sonoma at the Holyoke Mall). Have fun shopping.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Restaurant Favorites
During these unstable economic times many people are tightening their belts and eliminating luxuries and extras from their lives; and one of the cut backs involves retail outlets and restaurants. Personally I dine out significantly less, especially at run of the mill restaurants. Seriously why should I pay ten to twenty dollars plus tax and tip for a meal I can make at home for less money and with better ingredients. Plus there are some restaurants out there that have kitchens staffed with “cooks” that have absolutely no culinary training. This is too bad for their patrons who are the ones to suffer from dishes prepared in unimaginative and inconsistent ways. I feel that to have a truly great kitchen you have to staff it with people who love experimenting with food. That is what makes their meals so fabulous; they truly care about the food they send out to each patron.
But really, why should you give up all of your favorite restaurant fare, I didn’t. What I have been doing instead is to make my restaurant favorites at home; and trust me you can do a better job than most of the kitchen staff out there. Anyone can follow a recipe but when you are cooking for yourself and loved ones you tend to put a bit more effort into the final product. Give these recipes a try, none of them are hard and you might surprise yourself.
I want to start off with something restaurants use mostly as a special, Prime Rib. First of all a prime rib is nothing more than a big ribeye (club) steak that is baked. And honestly it is cheaper for you to buy a prime rib instead of steaks for however many you need to serve. Now if you order this out at a restaurant nine times out of ten it is seasoned with salt and pepper and served with a simple Au Jus. You can do so much better than that! Begin by purchasing your meat and remember that choice is better than select (which a lot of restaurants use), and just so you know, a three to four pound prime rib will serve six to eight people; I did it and had leftovers. I know it doesn’t sound like much but I am assuming you are serving sides with the meat. Let the meat rest at room temperature because cold meat will seize up and turn out tough. Next pull out or borrow a food processor and puree five garlic cloves, a half-cup each of prepared horseradish, salt and olive oil 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary and a fourth of a cup of freshly ground black pepper. Take this paste and schemer it all over your meat, and then bake it at 350 degrees for and hour and a half to two hours. Once again let the meat sit for a few minutes so that the juices can redistribute. Both my friend TW and I made this for Christmas and our families thought that we were rockstars. Warning: if you are watching your sodium cut back on the salt because the crust is kind of salty, but seriously yummy.
If you don’t groove on horseradish substitute a half-cup of Dijon mustard for it. Or if that still isn’t your thing season the meat with Montreal Steak Seasoning and then cut small pockets in the uncooked meat and fill them with smashed garlic cloves. But the lesson I am trying to get by you is that Prime Rib should not be reserved for special occasions only, it really isn’t that expensive and super simple to make at home.
Another restaurant favorite is Shrimp Scampi, which is insanely easy to make. Start by melting two tablespoons of butter in a skillet, add two minced cloves of garlic and sauté for a minute. Next add about a fourth of a cup of either vermouth or white wine, and a tablespoon or so of lemon juice. Once this is warmed through add one and a half pounds of uncooked, peeled, deveined shrimp and cook just until the shrimp turns pink and begins to curl up. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in a fourth of a teaspoon of lemon zest. I serve this over pasta, traditionally linguini is used but I actually prefer short pastas like penne. If you want to up the wow factor on this dish and make it “Bistro-Style” just add a handful of halved grape tomatoes and a teaspoon of capes. This is a meal that I make on a regular basis because it is quick, easy and I always have the ingredients on hand.
A staple menu item at any decent Italian restaurant is Chicken Piccata; and if you can make the Shrimp Scampi then you can make this. I found a recipe that amps up the flavor of this dish by adding Parmesan cheese. Before I give you the recipe I want to mention that a few years ago I bought a wedge of real Parmesan cheese and after trying it decided to never go back to the junk in the cardboard shaker. It costs more but is so worth it, and you can use less cheese because the flavor is so intense. Start by dipping four boneless, skinless pounded out chicken breasts in first flour, then two scrambled egg whites, and then into freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Cook them in olive oil over medium heat until a deep golden color, about ten minutes. In the same pan you cooked the chicken in add two cloves of minced garlic and a quarter cup of capers. If you don’t have nonpareilles capers you should give them a rough chop because the larger ones can be a bit much if left whole. Cook this for about two minutes and add half a cup of white wine and bring to a simmer. Next stir in half a cup of chicken broth, two tablespoons of butter, half a box of drained frozen spinach and the juice of one lemon. Heat this through and then serve over the chicken breasts and your favorite cut of pasta.
Finally I want to share a steakhouse specialty, steak with herbed butter. The addition of an herbed butter, or even bleu cheese, gives the beef a velvety finish and extra flavor. To make the herbed butter take four tablespoons of unsalted softened butter, one and a half tablespoons chopped fresh chives or scallions, one tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, one tablespoon of lemon juice and salt and pepper. It doesn’t matter what kind of steak you cook, just spread the butter onto the cooked meat and let it melt. Also a traditional steakhouse dish is Creamed Spinach. I actually love spinach and this dish is something that I make as a treat. Make a roux from three tablespoons of butter and a quarter cup of flour, and cook this for a minute or two before you add two and a half cups of milk, two teaspoons of salt and a half-teaspoon of nutmeg. Bring this to a boil, whisking until it thickens and then remove from the heat. In a deep skillet cook two pounds of fresh chopped spinach with a pinch of salt until wilted. Mix the thickened sauce into the spinach and enjoy.
Basically I am trying to get you to believe in yourself as a cook, anyone can cook, all you need to do is read the recipe and put in some effort. Restaurant owners want you to think that you can’t do what they do in the kitchen, bull, it is not hard and as I said most of the time the people in restaurant kitchens are no more qualified than you to do their job. So pick your favorite restaurant dish, find a recipe and make it. I’m sure that you will surprise yourself and find that you can do it! And why don’t I put my money where my mouth is? Because I am really not interested in getting out of my current position and into the “service industry”, besides working in a commercial kitchen makes you smell terrible and sweat, and there is nothing worse than smelling like a sweaty French fry. No thank you I will stick to my own kitchen cooking for family and friends. The most important ingredient in any meal is love, which I try to put into every meal that comes out of my kitchen. (Hey at least I have never given anyone food poisoning, that’s something to be proud of).
The Best Prime Rib
3-4 lb. Prime Rib
5 Garlic Cloves
½ Cup Prepared Horseradish or Dijon Mustard
½ Cup Kosher Salt ½ Cup Olive Oil
¼ Cup Black Pepper, freshly ground
2 Sprigs Fresh Rosemary leaves
In a food processor blend all the ingredients, then spread all over the meat that has come to room temperature. Bake at 350° for 1 ½ to 2 hours.
Shrimp Scampi
2 Tblsp Butter
2 Garlic Cloves, minced
¼ Cup Vermouth or White Wine
1 Tblsp Lemon juice
1 ½ Lbs. Shrimp, uncooked & shelled
¼ Tsp. Lemon zest
Sauté the garlic in butter until soft, add the vermouth and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Add shrimp and cook until pink and curled, stir in the lemon zest. Serve over pasta.
Parmesan Chicken Piccata
4 Boneless Chicken Breasts
1 Cup Flour, seasoned with salt & pepper
2 Egg whites, scrambled
1 Cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
2 Garlic Cloves, minced
¼ Cup Capers
½ Cup White Wine
½ Cup Chicken Broth
2 Tblsp Butter
½ Box Frozen Spinach, defrosted
1 Lemon, juiced
Dredge the chicken in flour, egg whites, and Parmesan cheese. Sauté until golden brown, 5 minutes each side, remove from pan. Sauté garlic and capers in the same pan, add wine and cook for 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until hot. Serve with pasta.
Herbed Butter for Steak
4 Tblsp Unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ Tblsp Chives or Scallions, chopped
1 Tblsp Parsley, chopped
1 Tblsp Lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
Mix all of the ingredients until well blended and serve on top of a cooked steak.
Creamed Spinach
3 Tblsp Butter
¼ Cup Flour
2 ½ Cups Milk
2 Tsp. Salt
½ Tsp. Nutmeg
2 Cups Fresh Spinach
Melt butter in a skillet, whisk in flour to make a roux. Add milk, salt and nutmeg, bring to a boil and let thicken. In a separate pan sauté spinach until wilted and then fold the thickened sauce in to it.
But really, why should you give up all of your favorite restaurant fare, I didn’t. What I have been doing instead is to make my restaurant favorites at home; and trust me you can do a better job than most of the kitchen staff out there. Anyone can follow a recipe but when you are cooking for yourself and loved ones you tend to put a bit more effort into the final product. Give these recipes a try, none of them are hard and you might surprise yourself.
I want to start off with something restaurants use mostly as a special, Prime Rib. First of all a prime rib is nothing more than a big ribeye (club) steak that is baked. And honestly it is cheaper for you to buy a prime rib instead of steaks for however many you need to serve. Now if you order this out at a restaurant nine times out of ten it is seasoned with salt and pepper and served with a simple Au Jus. You can do so much better than that! Begin by purchasing your meat and remember that choice is better than select (which a lot of restaurants use), and just so you know, a three to four pound prime rib will serve six to eight people; I did it and had leftovers. I know it doesn’t sound like much but I am assuming you are serving sides with the meat. Let the meat rest at room temperature because cold meat will seize up and turn out tough. Next pull out or borrow a food processor and puree five garlic cloves, a half-cup each of prepared horseradish, salt and olive oil 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary and a fourth of a cup of freshly ground black pepper. Take this paste and schemer it all over your meat, and then bake it at 350 degrees for and hour and a half to two hours. Once again let the meat sit for a few minutes so that the juices can redistribute. Both my friend TW and I made this for Christmas and our families thought that we were rockstars. Warning: if you are watching your sodium cut back on the salt because the crust is kind of salty, but seriously yummy.
If you don’t groove on horseradish substitute a half-cup of Dijon mustard for it. Or if that still isn’t your thing season the meat with Montreal Steak Seasoning and then cut small pockets in the uncooked meat and fill them with smashed garlic cloves. But the lesson I am trying to get by you is that Prime Rib should not be reserved for special occasions only, it really isn’t that expensive and super simple to make at home.
Another restaurant favorite is Shrimp Scampi, which is insanely easy to make. Start by melting two tablespoons of butter in a skillet, add two minced cloves of garlic and sauté for a minute. Next add about a fourth of a cup of either vermouth or white wine, and a tablespoon or so of lemon juice. Once this is warmed through add one and a half pounds of uncooked, peeled, deveined shrimp and cook just until the shrimp turns pink and begins to curl up. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in a fourth of a teaspoon of lemon zest. I serve this over pasta, traditionally linguini is used but I actually prefer short pastas like penne. If you want to up the wow factor on this dish and make it “Bistro-Style” just add a handful of halved grape tomatoes and a teaspoon of capes. This is a meal that I make on a regular basis because it is quick, easy and I always have the ingredients on hand.
A staple menu item at any decent Italian restaurant is Chicken Piccata; and if you can make the Shrimp Scampi then you can make this. I found a recipe that amps up the flavor of this dish by adding Parmesan cheese. Before I give you the recipe I want to mention that a few years ago I bought a wedge of real Parmesan cheese and after trying it decided to never go back to the junk in the cardboard shaker. It costs more but is so worth it, and you can use less cheese because the flavor is so intense. Start by dipping four boneless, skinless pounded out chicken breasts in first flour, then two scrambled egg whites, and then into freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Cook them in olive oil over medium heat until a deep golden color, about ten minutes. In the same pan you cooked the chicken in add two cloves of minced garlic and a quarter cup of capers. If you don’t have nonpareilles capers you should give them a rough chop because the larger ones can be a bit much if left whole. Cook this for about two minutes and add half a cup of white wine and bring to a simmer. Next stir in half a cup of chicken broth, two tablespoons of butter, half a box of drained frozen spinach and the juice of one lemon. Heat this through and then serve over the chicken breasts and your favorite cut of pasta.
Finally I want to share a steakhouse specialty, steak with herbed butter. The addition of an herbed butter, or even bleu cheese, gives the beef a velvety finish and extra flavor. To make the herbed butter take four tablespoons of unsalted softened butter, one and a half tablespoons chopped fresh chives or scallions, one tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, one tablespoon of lemon juice and salt and pepper. It doesn’t matter what kind of steak you cook, just spread the butter onto the cooked meat and let it melt. Also a traditional steakhouse dish is Creamed Spinach. I actually love spinach and this dish is something that I make as a treat. Make a roux from three tablespoons of butter and a quarter cup of flour, and cook this for a minute or two before you add two and a half cups of milk, two teaspoons of salt and a half-teaspoon of nutmeg. Bring this to a boil, whisking until it thickens and then remove from the heat. In a deep skillet cook two pounds of fresh chopped spinach with a pinch of salt until wilted. Mix the thickened sauce into the spinach and enjoy.
Basically I am trying to get you to believe in yourself as a cook, anyone can cook, all you need to do is read the recipe and put in some effort. Restaurant owners want you to think that you can’t do what they do in the kitchen, bull, it is not hard and as I said most of the time the people in restaurant kitchens are no more qualified than you to do their job. So pick your favorite restaurant dish, find a recipe and make it. I’m sure that you will surprise yourself and find that you can do it! And why don’t I put my money where my mouth is? Because I am really not interested in getting out of my current position and into the “service industry”, besides working in a commercial kitchen makes you smell terrible and sweat, and there is nothing worse than smelling like a sweaty French fry. No thank you I will stick to my own kitchen cooking for family and friends. The most important ingredient in any meal is love, which I try to put into every meal that comes out of my kitchen. (Hey at least I have never given anyone food poisoning, that’s something to be proud of).
The Best Prime Rib
3-4 lb. Prime Rib
5 Garlic Cloves
½ Cup Prepared Horseradish or Dijon Mustard
½ Cup Kosher Salt ½ Cup Olive Oil
¼ Cup Black Pepper, freshly ground
2 Sprigs Fresh Rosemary leaves
In a food processor blend all the ingredients, then spread all over the meat that has come to room temperature. Bake at 350° for 1 ½ to 2 hours.
Shrimp Scampi
2 Tblsp Butter
2 Garlic Cloves, minced
¼ Cup Vermouth or White Wine
1 Tblsp Lemon juice
1 ½ Lbs. Shrimp, uncooked & shelled
¼ Tsp. Lemon zest
Sauté the garlic in butter until soft, add the vermouth and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Add shrimp and cook until pink and curled, stir in the lemon zest. Serve over pasta.
Parmesan Chicken Piccata
4 Boneless Chicken Breasts
1 Cup Flour, seasoned with salt & pepper
2 Egg whites, scrambled
1 Cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
2 Garlic Cloves, minced
¼ Cup Capers
½ Cup White Wine
½ Cup Chicken Broth
2 Tblsp Butter
½ Box Frozen Spinach, defrosted
1 Lemon, juiced
Dredge the chicken in flour, egg whites, and Parmesan cheese. Sauté until golden brown, 5 minutes each side, remove from pan. Sauté garlic and capers in the same pan, add wine and cook for 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until hot. Serve with pasta.
Herbed Butter for Steak
4 Tblsp Unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ Tblsp Chives or Scallions, chopped
1 Tblsp Parsley, chopped
1 Tblsp Lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
Mix all of the ingredients until well blended and serve on top of a cooked steak.
Creamed Spinach
3 Tblsp Butter
¼ Cup Flour
2 ½ Cups Milk
2 Tsp. Salt
½ Tsp. Nutmeg
2 Cups Fresh Spinach
Melt butter in a skillet, whisk in flour to make a roux. Add milk, salt and nutmeg, bring to a boil and let thicken. In a separate pan sauté spinach until wilted and then fold the thickened sauce in to it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
