Comfort Foods
It's cold outside. I want comfort food!
I've been working away on a dear friends new website, so writing about food has been secondary to getting the website published. But since it's almost ready to go... Here's two days worth of Comfort Food Dinners!
Today was an easy one. I put a big ol' chicken in a pot this morning, filled it with water and turned on the heat. While I was working away, so was the chicken - making a rich broth and fall-apart-tender bird.
I drained and strained the broth and skimmed the fat.
In a new, clean pan (Victor was in the kitchen cleaning up after me!!) I used the fat with some flour to make a roux. Added enough broth to make a medium-thick sauce. I added salt, pepper, garlic, and poultry seasoning and then noticed about a half-cup of heavy cream in the fridge. In that went, too.
Victor cut up celery, carrots, a potato, and we threw in frozen peas. I thought it still needed a bit more stuff, so I cooked up a handful of noodles. It was another clean out the fridge meal.
As that was all simmering, I made a pie crust:
Julia's Food Processor Pie Crust
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 1 stick (1/4 lb.) butter, cut up
- 3 tbsp. grapeseed oil
- 1 tsp. salt
Blend flour, butter, oil and salt in food processor until crumbly. Add 1/4 cup of cold water and pulse until mixed.
This is super easy, just don't over-mix! I usually wrap in plastic and refrigerated for about 30 minutes.
I made it as a double crust pot pie and have to admit that we both were bad and went back for seconds!
Last night was another clean out the refrigerator dinner - beef vegetable soup.
I browned off some cubed beef and added beef broth.
Into the broth went the odds and ends in the vegetable bin - pea shoots, cauliflower, carrots, green beans, celery, plus a can of beans, a handful of rice, a handful of barley, a handful of small shell pasta, some mushrooms...
I added a bit of salt and pepper and some herbs d'Provence.
I had seconds of it, also!
Hot soups, stews, and casseroles. The only things I like about this weather.....
Christmas Fruitcake
The picture is just not doing this justice. This really looks so much better in person - and wow! Does it ever taste good!
I'm a little late making the fruitcakes this year. Usually they're done by late October and definitely before Thanksgiving. But since I'm less than 2 weeks past "Stir-Up Sunday" - the traditional day of making fruitcakes in Britain - I'm not too concerned.
I went hunting for a new recipe this year. I've tired of the Apricot Macadamia Fruitcake I've made for the past 20-odd years and while the cakes I made last year were okay, they were just okay. I wanted something better.
I didn't find a recipe I really like, so I found one I knew I could reinvent.
It worked.
The 2009 Fruitcake
- 5 cups golden raisins
- 4 cups dark raisins
- 3 cups dried currants
- 5 cups chopped glacéed fruits
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup dark rum
- 1 tbsp Lyle's Golden Syrup
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 4 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 lb unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 cups (packed) dark brown sugar
- 10 large eggs
- 3 cups pecans
Mix dried fruits in large bowl. Heat water and rum and pour over fruit. Mix well. Mix in syrup and baking soda. Let stand until fruit mixture absorbs liquid, stirring often, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 325°. Butter 9 full-sized loaf pans.
Sift flour, baking powder,and salt into medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Beat in eggs 1 at a time.
Add flour. Mix until just blended.
Mix batter and fruit mixture. Divide mixture among pans. Cover pans with foil.
Bake at 325° about 1 1/2 hours. Reduce oven temperature to 275°and continue to bake covered until tester comes out clean but slightly moist, about 30 minutes longer.
Transfer pans to cooling rack. Remove foil and drizzle about a tablespoon (or more) rum on each cake while hot.
Wrap and store in a cool place, adding more rum weekly.
I actually had Lyle's Golden Syrup (available at Wegmans) but if you don't, use a light molasses. I also resisted using any other spices and I'm really glad I did. The flavors worked perfectly and will only improve with age - and a bit more rum!
Chicken Mole Verde
This may be the least traditional mole ever created - but, dayum, it was good!
I started off with a jar of Doña Maria Mole Verde and a couple of chicken breasts. I had first thought I would just make the sauce (add a quart of broth to the jar of sauce) and serve it over the chicken but then I thought I'd rather have it served over rice.
I diced and then sauteed the chicken, added the sauce, and then added some frozen corn. And then some canned beans. And half a bag of frozen spinach. And a small can of sliced black olives. And some leftover rice from the night before.
I couldn't help myself - it became a clean out the kitchen obsession! What else could I put in this simmering pot?!? I almost put in some cheese (I had both Spanish blue and Philly cream) but finally realized I had done enough for one pot.
What started out as a simple sauce over a chicken breast became a thick and hearty stew. It was amazingly good!
It's one I won't be replicating any time soon, but it really does show the versatility of the Doña Maria sauces. They're like $1.99 - I always have a couple in the cabinet for those lazy whatever nights.
Yum.
Pork Chops and Repurposed Cranberry Sauce
'Tis the Season to See Red! And Green!
While we have gone through most of the Thanksgiving leftovers, there was a goodly amount of Cranberry Blackberry Sauce that was just asking to be reworked into another meal. I answered the plea tonight!
The original sauce was actually pretty basic:
Cranberry Blackberry Sauce
- 1 bag cranberries
- 1 cup blackberries
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup sherry
In a heavy saucepan combine the cranberries, blackberries, sugar,water, and the sherry. Simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, or until the cranberries have burst and the sauce is thickened. Cool and refrigerate.
As I said, pretty basic.
Tonight, I heated about a cup of the sauce, added a heaping tablespoon of grainy Dijon mustard, and used it as a sauce over pork chops!
The pork chops were thick-cut, browned in a skillet and then finished in a hot oven. I added salt and pepper. That was it.
The simple pork chops went perfectly with the sweet and tangy sauce.
Buttered asparagus and a wild rice and brown rice mixture finished off the plate. For the rice, I sauteed a shallot, added a half-cup of wild rice and a half-cup of whole grain brown rice along with 2 cups of chicken broth. Simmered for 45 minutes.
Victor made a rustic pear tart that we all ate before I could get a picture.
Suffice to say, it was really good!
Burgers, Brasiole, and a New Look
Lots of things have been happening around here.
We're still eating well, still managing not to gain weight (although the weight-loss has slowed to a trickle) and I finally have gotten ALL of the recipes into one place! What a chore!
The recipes were actually on 5 different subsites. Updating anything was a huge chore. I knew it had to be done, but I just kept putting on another band-aid. I've been avoiding this for years. Really.
No more.
The look itself is going to be tweaked a bit more. I don't really like the header picture all that much, but it's okay for now. And everything can now be reached from the navigation bars along the top. All of the recipes are at your fingertips!
And in going through every single recipe, I was amazed at how many I had forgotten about and how many are really, really good! I'm thinking that in January, I may just do a month of recipes from the site a la Julie and Julia!
So...
The photo up there?!? It's a stuffed burger. Stuffed with spinach, chevre, and roasted red pepper. A bit of S&P and garlic powder. That's it. Mashed potatoes, and cauliflower baked in the oven with a bit of butter and parmesan cheese.
This is what we had last night...
Brasiole and rigatoni. The brasiole was left over from our Food Fest a couple of weeks ago. Vacuum Sealer bags are a good thing.
So... take some time to visit some of the other recipes on the site. You may just find your next favorite dish!
Turkey Soup
I really do think that one of the best parts of Thanksgiving is several days later when the Turkey Soup is made.
Since we didn't host this year, we had to cook a turkey on Friday just to get a carcass to make the soup!
Turkey, celery, carrots, green beans, and potatoes. That was it. Very basic. And very good.
We actually have been cooking since getting back from DC, but I just haven't been posting much - I'm working on yet another update to the recipe site.
I know, I know... The LAST time was supposed to be the last time, but... I'm finally breaking down and redoing every page and every recipe. I have put too many band-aids on the site over the years and it is time to just bite the bullet and make it one cohesive site rather than the six it currently is.
Wish me luck! I'm going to need it!
Simply Steak
I bought a whole eye of the round the other day. It was a good price and will keep us in beef for a while. They usually have some good flavor, but are not always the most tender cut of meat. I like them for stew meat, swiss steak - things I'm going to braise - although a center-cut roast usually cooks up pretty well, also. Steaks can be iffy.
We lucked out, tonight!
Food Saver at the ready, I cut one roast, four thick steaks, and a goodly amount of stew beef. I vacuum-sealed everything but tonights dinner, and into the now-full freezer it went. I often wonder how I can go from empty to full in such a short amount of time! And then I remember little things like making homemade sausage, the extra brasiole, the two pork loins, the frozen fairytale pumpkin, pasta sauce, the last of the summer tomatoes, and all those chicken breasts... Have I ever mentioned how much I like my Food Saver?!?
But I digress...
The steaks tonight were simplicity; salt and pepper and a hot skillet.
When they were about 3/4 cooked, I added a handful of mushrooms. I pulled the steaks out, cooked the mushrooms a bit more and then added some red wine. It cooked down quickly, and I added some mushroom broth. Scraped up the yummy bits, and then added a pinch of cornstarch to thicken.
Served with mashed potatoes and broccoli.
Simplicity, indeed.
Chicken with a Champagne and Truffle Sauce
Don't ya just love it when you have house guests who bring you $699.99/lb French Truffles? What to do, what to do, what to do?!?
I must admit it is a dilemma I have never before experienced. I have never owned real, fresh black French truffles in my life. Ever. Hell - even the hotels I used to work in usually used canned peels and pieces. I have eaten my share of truffles over the years - thin shavings on salads, in fabulous sauces over ridiculously tender cuts of beef, with foie gras, and even in scrambled eggs. I have never cooked with them at home. Ever.
This is a new culinary experience for me. I'm loving it!
So tonight I decided we would start simple - with a champagne and truffle sauce thickened with egg yolk. (That early French training back in my misspent youth actually comes in handy now and again.)
We have those four gorgeous truffles and, while that is way too much for one meal for two, the rice they were stored in would make a perfect side dish. (An excellent way to store truffles is buried in rice - it absorbs any moisture and also infuses the rice!) I took the cup of rice it arrived in and set it aside for dinner. I then took arborio rice and put it in a mason jar with the truffles and vacuum-sealed it and put it in the coldest part of the refrigerator. I see a truffle risotto in our future!
Tonight was about simple flavors. The only spices I used were salt and pepper - I wanted the flavors to stand independent of one another and not compete with other flavors.
Chicken with Champagne and Truffle Sauce
- 2 chicken breasts
- flour for dredging
- olive oil and butter for frying
- 1 large shallot, minced
- 2 oz mushrooms, chopped
- 2 cups champagne (a split works perfectly)
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/2 black truffle, julienned
- salt and pepper
Dredge chicken in flour and set aside. Heat oil and butter in saute pan and brown on both sides. Remove chicken to plate.
In same pan, saute shallot and mushrooms. Add champagne and bring to boil. Add chicken, cover, and simmer until chicken is done - about 15 minutes.
Remove chicken and set aside to keep warm.
Lightly beat egg yolks in small bowl. Add a bit of the hot cooking liquid to temper them, and then add back to the pan. Stir and simmer until thickened.
Strain into a small saucepan and add truffles. Simmer to infuse flavors. Taste and add salt and pepper, as desired.
Serve over chicken.
The rice was made with the infused rice and 2 cups of mushroom broth. It came out perfect. Absolutely perfect.
As did the chicken and sauce. The combination of champagne and truffles was perfect. The dry wine and the rich earthiness of the truffles just went really well together. It really worked. And yesterday while we were talking about how we all usually eschew single-use kitchen gadgets, I found our French green bean cutter. They don't get much more single-use than that. So... I had to make French cut green beans, as well. Simply steamed with salt, pepper, and butter.
I'm really pleased that my first experience went so well. It has definitely given me the confidence and motivation to go forward!
In going through one of my Julia Child cookbooks, I found a recipe for a Madeira Truffle Sauce.
I'm thinking tenderloin of beef and turned potatoes.
And I'm thinking what wonderful friends we have.....
Repurposing with a Purpose
On Monday when I was making the sausage, I also made a pheasant dish based on a recipe from Lidia Bastianich. The concept was hers. The ingredients were what we had in the house. I got the pheasants from a customer at work. 4 birds - just the breast/back - all cleaned and ready to go.
I love pheasant but it is not the most tender bird out there. It likes a nice braising... So that's what I did.
There was a goodly amount left over, and, while I originally planned to vacuum-seal it and freeze it, I didn't.
Time to reuse it. Mexican-style.
The original dish was simmered in tomatoes - and that was a perfect start for tonight's fajitas! It didn't take much at all to rework into a spicy ancho chili filling. Peppers and onions on the side, southwestern-spiced black rice, beans, cheese, and handmade (not by me!) tortillas. (While I have a friend who accuses me of growing the corn to grind for my own tortillas, that's not entirely true. I have never ground corn - that I can recall!)
Anyway...
No actual recipes because everything was thrown together from what was here - and not likely to be anywhere else!
Not sure what tomorrow will bring, but Saturday is going to be Boston Clam Chowder.
Stay tuned...
Homemade Italian Sausage
We have friends coming down to visit with us theis weekend - which means I've been busy planning meals. Yes, I always do think in terms of food. It's a blessing and a curse.
My first thoughts were pretty grandiose - and rather silly. Cooking is a lot of fun, but I really don't need to be spending every minute they're here in the kitchen! So we scaled back - a bit. Except for Sunday.
Victor is going to cook "Sunday Dinner".
Sunday Dinner is the old gathering of the entire family and having pasta and meatballs and sausages and brasiole and salad and garlic bread and antipasto platters and all that stuff. The nice thing is most of it can be prepared in advance, so no one will be spending the entire day in the kitchen!
With a couple of ideas in mind, I was off to the grocery store today to see what was freshest and bestest. I knew I wanted to pick up some Italian sausage, but when I was in the butcher area, I noticed sausage casings! And then I noticed pork shoulders for 89¢ a pound! I decided to make Italian sausage!
Almost 10 pounds of pork for $8.78. Time to break out the grinder!
The spices were pretty basic - fennel, garlic, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, paprika, and salt and pepper. I don't really have quantities, because I added some, then cooked up a bit to see how it was, tweaked them a bit, added a bit more...
When stuffing the casings, I did two stupid things; I overstuffed them, and used the wrong stuffer attachment. I used the small tube and I should have used the large. If I had used the right tube in the first place, I doubt they would have been overstuffed. Oh well.
When I opened the box with the sausage attachment, there was only the one tube there, and I really didn't think anything about it. But when I was stuffing them, it was really a lot more work that I remembered from the last time I did it. I was pressing more, it was taking longer...
When I was finally done and cleaning up, the proverbial light bulb went off and I looked at the tube and knew it was wrong. I did a drawer search and found the right one with the baking supplies. Too late for this batch, but it's back in the correct box for the next time.
And the sausages are are going to be vacuum-packed in just a few moments.
It's going to be a fun dinner!
Brussels Sprouts, Part Three
I did say that buying that stalk of brussels sprouts was going to be a commitment.
Today's Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms in a Mustard and Cheese Sauce came about because I decided I wanted a side of macaroni and cheese for dinner tonight. I had tasted a couple of new cheeses - Kerrygold Dubliner with Ale and a German Rhine Mountain cheese. Opposite ends of the spectrum - perfect to blend for Mac and Cheese!
My mother made the best macaroni and cheese. She would save up all of her little odds and ends bits of cheese and create these rich, creamy concoctions that were out of this world. We never - ever - had the boxed stuff (and I still have never bought a box, myself).
So... I started with1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup flour. Cooked it together and added about 3 cups of milk to make a medium white sauce. I put about a cup of sauce aside for the brussels sprouts and continued on...
To the Mac and Cheese sauce, I added a couple of ounces of the Dubliner, a couple ounces of the German cheese, and, because it was in the 'fridge, a cup of ricotta cheese. salt, pepper, a bit of garlic powder, splash or worcestershire sauce and a shot of tabasco.
I cooked the macaroni separately (elbow macaroni, just like mommy used to make) and then mixed the sauce with the cooked macaroni, put it into a buttered casserole with buttered panko breadcrumbs on top. 350° for about 35 minutes.
As soon as it was in the oven, I did the brussels sprouts.
I sliced them in half and sauteed them with the mushrooms in a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper. When they were just lightly browning, I added a half-cup of white wine and cooked it down.
To the white sauce, I added maybe a half-cup of the cheese sauce, and a very generous spoonful of dijon mustard.
Mixed in the brussels sprouts and mushrooms, placed it all in a buttered casserole, and baked them for about 30 minutes.
It ended up being a very white plate.
I browned the pork chops and then put them in the oven with everything else for about 20 minutes. They actually were overcooked and dry. Oh well. they tasted fine dipped in the mustard sauce!
More Brussels Sprouts
It's Day Two of the Great Brussels Sprouts Marathon!
Tonight, I shredded them, fried them, and then mixed them with caramelized shallots. I could have made a meal of these, alone!
Shredded Brussels Sprouts and Shallots
- 2 tbsp butter
- 4 shallots, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 lb brussels sprouts
- olive oil
- 1/2 cup water
- salt and pepper
Add butter to skillet and saute shallots until soft and lightly browned. Add vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir until browned and glazed. Set aside.
Halve brussels sprouts lengthwise. Cut lengthwise into thin slices. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add sprouts and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Saute until lightly browned. Add 1/2 cup water and continue cooking until most of water evaporates.
Add reserved shallots, mix well, and enjoy!
They were so easy and just really rocked. It's going to be hard to top this one!
The rest of the dinner was pretty good, too - if I do say so, m'self!
I oven-roasted a sweet potato with a huge apple, walnuts, and maple syrup. (The maple syrup was for you, Ruth! I almost did brown sugar and you popped right into my mind and said "Maple syrup will be better". You were right!)
I just cubed the sweet potato and the apple, mixed them with a bit of olive oil and maple syrup, sprinkled in the walnuts, salt, and pepper, and then baked, covered, in a 400° oven for about 35 minutes.
The chicken breast was even easier - browned in olive oil and then into the oven to finish (along with the sweets). The sauce was lingonberry jam mixed with hot German mustard.
Now... can I actually do a third day of Brussels Sprouts?!?
We'll see tomorrow...