Panettone French Toast

 

Breakfast is served.

Okay...  breakfast is actually over, and there are no leftovers.  Sorry.

Panettone French Toast (if you use Italian bread, is it still French toast?!?) for breakfast this morning with real maple syrup, along with some Niman Ranch bacon.  Steaming hot coffee.

The bread is so rich and flavorful that the batter doesn't need anything other than eggs and milk.

Later today is football and chili dogs.

I can't wait!


Chow Fun

 

Victor decided to do a chicken stirfry tonight - and am I ever glad that he did.  What a fun, flavorful dinner!  It was a total clean out the refrigerator dish that could never be quite replicated, but that's okay.  I have a picture... :)

The basic was a boneless chicken breast, thin-sliced carrots and celery, cauliflower, broccoli, sliced baby bella mushrooms, Italian green beans, pineapple chunks, and cashews.  The sauce was Moores Teriyaki sauce and chili paste.  The less-than-authentic noodles were fettuccini.

It was just the perfect combination of flavors and textures.  My stomach is really smiling, tonight!

Tomorrow is going to be some fun football food.

Stay tuned.


Black Bean Chili

 

The weather today called for hot, spicy chili.  I answered.

I love chili, but don't really make it all that much.  With just the two of us eating it, it just doesn't make sense to cook those big ol' pots of yore - and for me, it's not that easy to make a small pot.  I did succeed today, though, in making just enough for dinner, and for chili dogs on Sunday while we watch The Eagles beat Arizona.

Tonight's chili was ready in an hour.

  • 8 oz beef, cubed
  • 1/2 white onion, chopped
  • 1 can (8oz) tomato sauce
  • 1/4 cup Sofrito sauce
  • 2 tbsp chipotle sauce
  • 1/2 tsp ground Guamanian Boonie Pepper
  • 3 cans Cuban-style black beans

Top with:

  • chopped white onion
  • sour cream
  • shredded cheese

Brown the onion and beef, add tomato sauce, sofrito sauce, and chipotle sauce.  Add chili pepper.  Heat through.  add bean and simmer.
Top with sour cream, cheese, and onions.  Serve with Oyster crackers.

It was just spicy enough, and the perfect meal for a frigid day.


Another Panini

It's a mere 21 or so days after Christmas and I'm already in a rut - a panini rut.  I think !'ve made five, six... maybe seven of them since getting the panini maker from Santa.  I just love 'em!  It combines my two favorite food groups - sandwiches and toast.  I'm in heaven!

Tonight's sandwich started with chicken breasts that were pounded and then breaded in - get this - crushed wasabi peas! Yep.  And they were really good!  A customer told me today that she uses them on salmon.  What an idea!

The bread was a new ciabatta bread we're carrying, and the filling was vidalia relish, mixed Italian cheeses, roasted red peppers, and sun-dried tomatoes.

Perfectly gooey and good.

Time to start thinking about the next one...


Ziti and Zucchini

I had a craving for fried zucchini - what can I say?  I don't think I've had it in years.  It was on every menu everywhere in the 70's and 80's - and then disappeared.

I just flouerd, dipped in egg, and then dipped in panko breadcrumbs mixed with a bit of Italian seasoning.  It was yum.

The ziti was in a simple meat sauce.  Ground beef, onion, garlic, oregano, basil, a bit of rosemary... a can of crushed tomatoes... It was pretty good, too.


Spiced Beef Cornbread Cobbler

 

 

I thawed some burger yesterday, but didn't want any of my basic burger dishes.  I hit epicurious.com and found this:

Spiced Beef Corn Bread Cobbler

  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1 pound ground beef chuck
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1 (14- to 15-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice
  • 2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/3 cup whole milk
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 ounces coarsely grated sharp Cheddar (1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons)

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly oil a 9 1/2-inch (6-cup capacity) pie plate.

Cook onion in 2 tablespoons oil in a deep 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until edges are golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add beef and cook, breaking up large lumps, until no longer pink, 4 to 5 minutes. Add sugar, spices, and 1 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add tomatoes with juice and briskly simmer, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced to about 1/4 cup, 8 to 10 minutes.

While beef simmers, whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together milk, egg, and remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a small bowl, then stir into cornmeal mixture until just combined. Fold in 1/2 cup cheese.

Spoon cooked spiced beef into pie plate with a slotted spoon, reserving juices in skillet. Skim off and discard fat from juices if desired, then pour juices over beef in pie plate.

Spoon 4 mounds of corn bread batter over beef, then sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons cheese over batter. Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted into center of corn bread comes out clean, 15 to 25 minutes.

Serve cobbler warm.

It was actually pretty good!  I used a quarter teaspoon of some really great Guamanian hot pepper we got from Marie's nephew, Jay, and it was juuuuust this side of fire.  It was most excellent!

beef-pie-2

 

It took a lot of willpower not to keep going back for more - and more - and more!  perfect comfort food on a cold night!


Leftover Soup

Leftover... Repurposed... whatever the name, the meaning is the same.  And what a better way to deal with leftovers than to repurpose them into soup?  It's definitely a great winter food fest and exactly what I did tonight.

I had about 3 cups of turkey stock from last Tuesday's roasted turkey breast.  I had about 2 cups of pot pie filling left from Friday's pot pies (that were made - in part - with gravy that was left over from a roasted chicken made back on December 30th.)  I had my basics covered.

I sauteed a diced onion in a bit of olive oil, thenm added one diced boneless, skinless chicken breast.  (I didn't have any more turkey.  The last went to sandwiches yesterday whilst watching the game.)

I added 2 tablespoons of Thai Yellow Curry Paste, the broth, a can of diced tomatoes in juice, and a can of coconut milk.  Next, a cup of uncooked brown rice.  Finally, I added the leftover pot pie filling and let the rice cook and the soup simmer.

I was going for a variation of Mulligatawny Soup.  I had the flavor profile down.  The ingredients were all going to be pulled together with the curry paste and the coconut milk, so I could add just about anything I wanted.  Adding a strong base is a great way to pull a few otherwise disconcordant foods together.

I just let it simmer as the rice broke down a bit and added yet another layer of creaminess.

I added a dollup of sour cream more for the picture than the soup, itself.  it was rich enough without it, and - unlike my Mulligatawny - it was made without any heavy cream!

We ate it with more of Victor's great French bread from yesterday.

Yum.


Pasta and Homemade Bread

 

 

What a day!  The Eagle's beat the Giants, Christmas is finally put away, the basement is (in the process of) getting organized, and the smell of fresh-baked bread is wafting through the house.  Do I lead a charmed life, or what?!?

Victor made James Beard's French-Style Bread today.  It is quick and easy - and ever-so tasty!

James Beard's French-Style Bread

  • 1 pkg dry yeast
  • 1 tbsp  sugar
  • 2 cups wWarm water (100-115 deg.)
  • 1 tbsp  salt
  • 5 cups  flour
  • 3 tbsp  cornmeal
  • 1 egg white mixed with 1 tbsp cold water

Combine the yeast with sugar and warm water in a large bowl and allow to proof. Mix the salt with the flour and add to the yeast mixture, a cup at a time, until you have a stiff dough. Remove to a lightly floured board and knead until no longer sticky, about 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary. Place in a buttered bowl and turn to coat the surface with butter.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk..1 1/2-2 hrs.

Punch down the dough. Turn out on a floured board and shape into two long, French bread-style loaves. Place on a baking sheet that has been   sprinkled with the cornmeal, but NOT buttered. Slash the tops of the loaves diagonally in two or three places with a single edge razor blade or sharp knife, brush the loaves with the egg white wash. Place in a COLD oven, set the temperature at 400 degrees, and bake 35 minutes, or until well browned and hollow sounding when the tops are tapped.

It's one of those recipes that comes out perfect, every time.  Victor added sesame seeds today which really added to the enjoyment!

While I was basking in the glory of the Eagle's win (and updating a website for a client) Victor was back in the kitchen making dinner.

 

Penne pasta with langostino, broccoli, and oil-cured black olives in a garlic butter sauce with lots of parmesan cheese!  Simple fare with all the flavors complimenting one another.  It was the perfect choice for a cold winter night.  And the bread went perfectly with it.

dinner-pasta

Dessert is going to be something with pears and puff pastry.  I can't wait!

 

And here it is!  Thin slices of pear, dotted with butter, sprinkled with brown sugar, and wrapped in puff pastry.  A simple egg wash and turbinado sugar sprinkled on top, it was baked at 425° for 15 minutes.

pear-puff-pastry

Life is definitely good!


Pork Chops and Pears

I didn't realize just how often I make this dish until I went to upload the picture.  I have quite a few variations on a theme, here!  It is such a quick and easy dinner that I can get it on the table in under 30 minutes.  It's also fancy enough to be a company dish!  Ya gotta love it!

This is Lidia's recipe.  I usually tweak things around a bit, and it's dinner for two, not four.  She's a lot more exacting than I am...

Lidia’s Pork Chops with Pears and Caramelized Red Onions

  • 2 cups balsamic vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 6 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 4 center-cut pork rib chops, each about 12 ounces and 1 1/4 inches thick
  • 1 large red onion, cut into 8 wedges
  • Salt
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • 2 ripe but firm Bosc pears, peeled, cored and each cut into 8 wedges
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons honey

In a small saucepan, bring balsamic vinegar to a boil over high heat. Adjust the heat to a gentle boil and boil until the vinegar is syrupy and reduced to about 1/3 cup. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet with a flameproof handle over medium-high heat. Whack garlic cloves with the flat side of a knife and scatter over oil. Cook, shaking the skillet, until brown, about 2 minutes. Lay the pork chops in and cook until the underside is browned, about 6 minutes. Remove and reserve the garlic cloves if they become more than deep golden brown before the chops are fully browned.

Turn the chops, tuck the onion wedges into the pan and continue cooking until the second side of the chops is browned, about 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. About halfway through browning the second side, tuck the pear wedges in between the chops.

Stir the red wine vinegar and honey together in a small bowl, until the honey is dissolved. Pour the mixture into the skillet and bring to a vigorous boil. Return the garlic cloves to the skillet if you have removed them. Place the skillet in the oven and roast until onions and pears are tender and the juices from the pork are a rich, syrupy dark brown, about 30 minutes. Once or twice during roasting, turn the chops and redistribute the onions and pears. Handle the skillet carefully — it will be extremely hot.

Remove skillet from the oven. Place a chop in the center of each warmed serving plate. Check the seasoning of the onion-pear mixture, adding salt and pepper if necessary. Spoon the pears, onion and pan juices around the chops. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar reduction around the edge of the plate.

Makes 4 servings.

So tonight I used a really fun Lingonberry vinegar I bought at Ikea.  And I used red pears - unpeeled.  (Like I'm going to peel pears...)  And the balsamic reduction was just a drizzle of really good 15 year old balsamic.  It really was fun flavors.  That's pretty much the beauty of Lidia's style of cooking - a few really good ingredients speaking for themselves.

30 minutes.  I have to admit I was lazy and didn't cook brown rice tonight.  Oh well.  I ate all of my spinach, though.  Actually, I cleaned my plate.   I almost took a picture of that, but decided that would be silly and I really didn't need to go quite over the top.  Tonight.  Who knows what tomorrow might bring!


Turkey Pot Pie

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

Downright cold, that is.  The weather folks are finally predicting a bit of snow tomorrow.  That means warming foods.  And Turkey Pot Pie definitely fit the bill tonight.

The turkey from a couple of days ago was calling my name...  Turkey leftovers can be a lot of fun or they can be mediocre, at best.  I've done both.  I wasn't sure what I was going to make, but I wanted it to fit the weather outside.  Pot Pies did just that.

And they were easy enough to make - a bit of a clean out the refrigerator dish.  I sauteed a half onion with a handful of diced mushrooms, 3 diced carrots, and a couple of stalks of celery.  Then one potato, peeled and cubed.

I added about 3 cups of chicken broth and about a cup of leftover turkey gravy.  I let it simmer until the veggies were almost done, then added a cup of frozen peas and a couple of cups of cubed turkey.

I thickened it all with a beurre manié and ladled it into ovenproof bowls and covered with a round of puff pastry.  Yes, I could have made a lovely pie crust topping, but...  I had puff pastry in the freezer and I was feeling lazy.  Besides, truth be known, I rarely make pie crusts any more.  We have such a good one at work.....

Into a 425° oven for 15 minutes and dinner was served!

It was really, really good.  And really, really hot!  Even my asbestos-mouth was feeling the heat!  Victor finally just took his all out of the bowl right onto the plate.

But it was worth every burnt taste bud!  It was even worth the baked-on bowls that may come clean one of these days.

Not sure what tomorrow's dinner is going to be, but Sunday's is Turkey Soup!

cupcake-1

And... then we had dessert.

I have said more times than I can remember that I want to east seasonally, I want to eat locally, when possible, and strawberries in January are wrong.  So...  I bought strawberries in January.  They came up from Florida and really do taste good.

Victor had made cupcakes the other night as part of our "If it's portioned properly we might eat a bit less" plan and sliced with just a drizzle of brandy and a teaspoon of sugar, they were perfect.  A dollop of  crème fraîche and dessert was served.

And I bought strawberries in January...


Empanadas especial

 

Empanada basically means "to wrap in bread" and that's pretty much what I did tonight.  A simple dough, a simple filling, simply fried.  A simple dinner, indeed! There are as many "traditional" fillings as there are countries where empanadas can be found, so that pretty much left me free to create my own.  I had leftover turkey in the 'fridge, so it was pretty automatic that turkey was going to be a main ingredient! I found the dough recipe online...

Empanada Dough

* 3 cups flour (plus a little more for kneading)
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup cold water
* 1 egg
* 1 egg white
* 1 teaspoon vinegar
* 3 tablespoons shortening (I use lard)

Preparation:
1. In a bowl, beat the water, egg, egg white and vinegar together. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the 3 cups of flour and salt.
3. Cut the shortening into the flour mix with a pastry blender or two butter knives. Make a well in the center of the flour mix and pour the liquid ingredients from the first bowl into the center.
4. Mix the wet and dry ingredients with a fork until it becomes stiff.
5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead it just until all the flour is incorporated and the dough is smooth.
6. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, but never more than 24 hours.

The Filling

  • 1 cup diced cooked turkey
  • 1/2 jar Happy Hal's Black Bean Bruschetta
  • 1/4 cup chipotle sauce
  • 1/2 cup diced roasted red pepper
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix.  That's it.  Really. To make empanadas, take dough and divide into 10 pieces.  Roll into balls and then roll out to about 6" circles.  Fill with a couple of tablespoons of filling.  Fold over and crimp edges with a fork to seal. Fry in a bit of hot oil until browned.

These were really a lot of fun - and the filling was about as non-traditional as you can get.  It's okay, though, because eating is supposed to be about fun and flavors, not rigid rules.  Granted, if I were making these for someone from a country where they are native, I would probably be a bit more exacting, but this is me, Victor, and the stuff already in the house.  The food police are not coming over, tonight. I can tell that I'm getting older...  Once upon a time, I would have insisted that everything be exact, that ingredients all be authentic.  I would have driven myself (and everyone around me) crazy. Not any more.  Food Fun.  Fun Food.

The rice was brown jasmine rice that I added a couple of tablespoons of sofrito sauce to the cooking water.  Not exactly traditional, either, but dayum, it was good! A smiling stomach and leftovers for lunches. Life is good!


Turkey

I was doing the weekly shopping yesterday and lo and behold, the local grocery store was selling bone-in whole turkey breasts for 59¢ a pound!  All-natural, minimally processed, not full of crap, fresh breasts.  I bought two - one for the oven and one for the freezer.  For less than 10 bucks I have LOTS of dinners, lunches, sandwiches, and snacks!

We postponed a dinner date with a friend tonight because of the icy weather, so into the oven this little guy went!  8 pounds of joy!

I've cooked a bazillion turkeys in my life and always just eyeballed them, did the poke, the leg-movement, the clear-running juices and usually ended up with a pretty good bird... but ever since I got my first digital thermometer some 10 years ago, I rely on it.  And I have had perfect turkeys every time!

Rule number one is NOT to overcook them!  Those websites and places that say to cook the bird to 180° are a sure recipe for failure.  You are guaranteed a dried-out bird.  No two ways about it.  If you pull the bird out of the oven at 155° and let it sit for at least 15 minutes, it will continue cooking to 165° and you will have a perfect, moist turkey - every time!

So time to start working on some new turkey recipes.  We have lots!