Pasta in 15 Minutes
Dinner tonight was a snap. I had picked up some port0bello ravioli at work the other day and decided tonight was the night for 'em. It's a bit wet and chilly outside. Definitely a pasta night!
Set the water on to boil and chopped up 2 shallots, half a green pepper, a handful of mushrooms, and tossed them into a skillet with a bit of garlic and olive oil. Cooked them down for a few minutes and then added 4 fairly small yellow and orange tomatoes I had on the counter. A bit of salt and pepper and a bit of Italian seasoning, and the sauce was ready.
I put the cooked ravioli into the pan with the sauce for a few minutes to finish them off and then onto the plate. A shredding of fresh parmesan cheese finished it off.
Fresh food in 15 minutes, start to finish. It doesn't get any better...
Beef Braised in Guinness
St Patrick's Day... I have a few vague memories of the last time I actually went out on St Patrick's Day. Well over 20 years ago, I was in San Francisco, had just opened up a Westin Hotel, and we had a banquet captain named Sean Hennigan who had just transferred there from Chicago. I showed him how San Francisco celebrates the day - and night... Somehow, we survived...
Fast forward to this weekend...
My cousin, Tom and his lovely wife Barb were in town from Omaha for a conference. They had limited time because of 2 functions they had to attend. After almost 6 years, my schedule had just changed a few weeks ago and I was now working Saturday. I did a quick “I need to leave early on Saturday” plea with work (no problem!!) and made plans to meet at 3:30 at an Irish Pub a few blocks from their hotel.
What we didn’t plan for was it being March 15th - 2 days before St Patrick’s Day. Every college kid and their Italian roommate had put on their green and were packing the city’s three Irish bars. So much for a quiet cocktail and conversation. We ended up at the Bellevue (Park Hyatt) and spent a lot of money for quieter surroundings. It was worth it!
St Paddy's Day was a fun one in my youth, but - let's face it - I ain't no youth, anymore. Today, I'm more apt to want to enjoy a nice dinner than a noisy, crowded bar with beer being spilled on me. Growing older is a good think...
So... we invited Victor's mom over and I made Beef Braised in Guinness.
We came up with this recipe years ago. It's a great dish for parties, because it can be doubled, tripled, or quintupled with ease. It was definitely a huge hit when we had Pop's cousin's from Omaha over for St. Paddy's dinner years ago. They still talk about it! I also brought it in to UCSF one year and it became a staple on the Moffitt Cafe menu for St Paddy's Day. It's a refreshing change from Corned Beef and Cabbage!
Beef Braised in Guinness
- 2 pounds beef steak, cut in pieces
- 3 medium onions, sliced
- 1 pound carrots, sliced into sticks
- all-purpose flour
- Salt and pepper
- Garlic powder
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp fresh basil, minced
- 1 bottle Guinness
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 cup beef broth
Cut the meat into serving sizes. Pound them to tenderize and for a uniform thickness. Peel the onions and slice. Peel the carrots and slice them into sticks. Place the flour in a dish and mix in 1 tsp of salt, pepper, and a bit of garlic powder. Heat the butter in a sautè pan, add the onions and cook until soft. Transfer them to a large, shallow, greased ovenproof dish.
Dredge the pieces of meat in the seasoned flour and brown. Remove as they are cooked and place on top of the onions in a single layer. Arrange the carrots around them. Add a little more butter to the pan and stir in the seasoned flour to make a roux.
Cook for a minute or two, stirring constantly and scraping up all the browned bits then add the Guinness. Allow to boil for a minute or two, then add the basil, honey and the broth. Return to a boil and pour over the meat. Cover the dish and bake at 325° for 90 minutes.
I made up a pot of mashed potatoes and dinner was served.
Light-years away from those noisy bars, but somehow, even more satisfying...
Potage Français D'Oignon
J'aime le potage! Thin soups, thick soups, as a side, as a meal. Serve me a bowl of homemade soup and I'm a happy boy.
I especially like soups because they're so easy to make and (depending upon the soup) use up all the bits and pieces of whatever I have left over or lying around the fridge or kitchen. Just about anything goes.
Late this morning I was at the grocery store and saw a huge display of onions. Big onions. 2 lbs for $3.00. (Who would have ever thought THAT was inexpensive?!?) So I bought about 8 pounds...
I sliced them up, put a half pound of butter into the pot, added the onions, and let them slowly start cooking. Slowly. Slow is key to properly caramelized onions. I came back into the kitchen every 15 minutes or so, stirred the pot a bit and then went away. They can't be rushed.
After several hours, they started looking like this. Almost there. They had cooked down to about a third of their former volume. Rich caramelized color, and the scent wafting through the house had me going crazy! I knew it was going to be a good batch!
And I was right. It was GREAT!
A Simple Sandwich
I can't believe how maligned bread has become. I love bread in all its many guises - from crusty baguettes to focaccia, beer bread to soda bread, flat bread to Italian pane. Even squishy white bread has its place for a Thanksgiving turkey sandwich.
But... it seems folks just don't appreciate bread anymore. Bread has somehow become evil. It is responsible for weight-gain everywhere. It is to be avoided at all cost - and then eaten only if it is whole wheat. Then it's okay. Granted, whole wheat bread has more nutrients, but if you're going to make a sandwich, your nutrients can come from your filling, and the bread can be something to compliment - not compete. Bread itself is not evil. And breads made with white flour can be extremely good.
Which brings me to tonight's dinner...
I had cooked a pork loin the other night and had a goodly amount left over. I hadn't any real thought in mind when I cooked it - I just knew there would be leftovers and at least one meal I didn't have to think much about. That was tonight. Pork Sandwiches on Focaccia.
OMG! I did good!
I sliced the focaccia in half and on the bottom I layered roasted red and yellow peppers and then topped with sliced pork loin. I sauteed about 6oz of mushrooms with a small onion in roasted garlic butter that Victor had made a few days ago. (Oven-roasted garlic cloves cooled and then mixed into slightly softened butter. Use for everything!!)
They went onto the top half, topped with sliced yellow and orange tomatoes and then covered with sliced Iberico Cheese. Onto a sheet pan and into the oven until everything was hot, and the cheese soft and gooey.
With the help of a big ol' spatula, I got the top half onto the bottom half, cut it into quarters, and Voila! Dinner was served!
I had some curly fries in the freezer, and they were baked off and served on the side.
20 minutes start-to-finish. And it was a mighty fine dinner.
Sunday Morning Breakfast
Breakfast is one of my most favorite meals because it can be just about anything. It can be sweet, it can be savory... it can be light and nutritious, it can be heavy and fat-laden. Of course, my all-time favorite is the latter.
And the best breakfast of all is Sunday Breakfast. There's just something about a big ol' breakfast on the day of rest that appeals to my inner-sloth.
For the past 6 years, I have worked on Sunday. I made Sunday Breakfast at work for the crew while Victor was home. Cooking Sunday Breakfast alone is just not as much fun. Sunday Breakfast needs to be shared. So imagine my delight when a schedule change happened and I found myself actually off on Sunday! Hallelujah! Now I get to cook Sunday Breakfast at home!
Have you ever noticed how many pans one needs to cook breakfast? And what a huge mess it makes? It's all coming back to me.....
The potato pan, the sausage pan, the egg pan... The toast, the jam and jelly, the coffee... It's unbelievable. And timing! It's almost as bad as trying to get Thanksgiving dinner on the table! Totally crazy. And I didn't even cook pancakes!
I know that we won't be able to keep up this sort of pace for long. Once the nice weather arrives I'll be wanting lighter fare - and fresh fruits and yogurt and such on the back porch will be perfect. But for now... I'll indulge - and it's worth every calorie and gram of fat.
And I'm thinking that there's that recipe for Danish Pastry I haven't made in forever...
Fearless Flyer Dinner
A hot plate and an easy bake oven. That's what we have to work with. But with those primative tools, we pulled off a dinner for 68 people in the store!
What a blast!
A little background...
Four or five times a year, the company sends out the Fearless Flyer loaded with scores of fun products being highlighted. And four or five times a year we have put together a "Flyer Tasting" for the crew. We take 40 or so items from the flyer, cook them up and have them available for the crew to taste. It gives them an idea of what the products are so they can (hopefully, anyway) offer an intelligent opinion when asked by a customer.
The down-side to tasting so many items at once is they tend to blur after a while. Which sauce did I like a lot?!? Do I even remember tasting that chicken?!? It can get overwhelming, sometimes.
But not this time. This time, we did a bit of a sit-down dinner. Tables of 8, cloth napkins, china, and glassware. Hors d'oeuvres passed by full-time staff... A real dinner. Cooked on a hot plate.
We started off with assorted cheeses, salmon pinwheels, curried chicken satays, crudite with dips, breads with tapenades... Silver trays, crystal bowls...
On the table were bottles of S Pellegrino, Blu Italy, and red and white Ariel wines, garlic flatbreads and olive tapenade. The guests were served salad - organic "A Salad to Remember" - a spring mix with pine nuts, feta, dried cherries and figs, and a pomegranate dressing.
The buffet tables were set up with Beef Bourguignon, Scallops and Mushrooms in a white wine butter sauce, and vegetarian Beef Strip Stirfry with a Black Pepper Sauce, Sweet Potato Frittes, Rice Pilaf, and White and Green Asparagus with Pistachios.
The dessert table included Chocolate Lava Cakes and Coffee and Chocolate Mousse.
Did I mention we did this with a hot plate and an easy-bake oven?!?
What a great time we had - and proof that you don't need a $100,000.00 kitchen to put out a great meal. A hot plate and a good attitude will work just fine. (Although i really wouldn't mind a real stove and a real oven.....)
Chipotle Chicken Sandwiches
I was in the mood for a sandwich tonight.
Last week I picked up about a dozen chicken breasts at the farmers market. I brought 'em home and - in packs of two - marinated, sealed, and froze them. I did several different marinades... Apple Cinnamon BBQ, White Wine, Lemon and French Herbs, Marsala and Italian Herbs, a Spicy Chili paste Asian, and a spicy Tequila Chipotle.
Tonight was Spicy Chipotle!
I brought home some rolls from work and toasted them slightly. I made a spicy mayo with mayonnaise, chipotle powder and lime zest and juice. A sliced up a ripe tomato and separated some lettuce leaves... Grilled the chicken breasts and added a couple of slices of havarti cheese. (It may be 10 degrees outside but that doesn't stop me from firing up the grill!)
In the meantime, I sliced up one big potato, slathered it in olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic and placed them on the grill.
In 20 minutes I had dinner on the table. The flavors worked great together. It was spicy hot, but the lime really helped to cool it down. They were also nice and sloppy. The last few bites, especially, were finger-lickers with everything sliding around just as it should.
I'm looking forward to trying the others.....
Self-Rising Flour
I've gone all my life without using self-rising flour. Until today, that is...
A while back a great couple I know gave me a recipe for a quick beer bread. Really easy. Very basic. As is typical with me, I get a recipe, and then file it away for weeks or months, and then finally decide to make it.
I'm making a pot of Mulligatawny Soup today and thought that the beer bread would be good with it. That, and there's actually beer in the house from the party last Saturday. (The Asinine Socialist Pennsylvania Liquor Laws force one to go to a 'beer distributor' to purchase beer - by the case only. No single bottle or 6-pack sales allowed. That, somehow, promotes responsible drinking. Needless to say, we don't often have beer in the house.) But I digress...
I have beer in the house. I don't drink it, often, so I might as well cook with it, right?!?
First thing I did was pull out the recipe and notice that it calls for self-rising flour. Now... I can make my own self-rising flour (2 tbsp baking powder and 2 tsp salt per pound of four) but I also just got my first issue of Gourmet magazine (a freebie from Amazon.com) and it's all about Southern cooking - and lots of the recipes call for self-rising flour. So, during my weekly shopping trek today, I bought some.
I must admit I am intrigued! I've gone from never, ever having it in the house to seeing how many recipes I can now use it with. Thank goodness it's wintertime! the oven is going to be going full-tilt-boogie!
Cook Books Galore
We donated several hundred cookbooks to our local library book sale last year. The books were literally just collecting dust downstairs. We kept about a dozen of them - Lidia, Julia Child... more classic than trendy. figuring we might actually use a few books if they were upstairs, rather than a lot of books stored downstairs. It was a wise choice.
I've been really good. I haven't bought a cookbook in several years. Once upon a time I bought then constantly - hence the several hundred we donated - but I just didn't use them enough to justify buying more just to have them collect more dust before giving them away, again.
Santa, (and Leah and Ross) this year, decided I had been too good for too long and brought two new books into the house. The first, from Santa, is a fun book titled Celtic Folklore Cooking. Just my kind of book! Not only is it full of fun recipes, it has great stories to go along with them! It lists what foods to eat with which holiday and delves into the history behind them.
My first recipe of the new year is Chicken with Almond Rice - a dish that is associated with several holidays, including Yule and New Year's Eve. (I'm less than 24 hours late...)
Chicken With Almond Rice
- 1 cup uncooked rice
- 1 chicken, cut in pieces (I'm using breasts - it's what I had in the freezer.)
- 1/2 cup ground blanched almonds
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp cardamom
- 3 tbsp slivered almonds lightly browned in butter
Rinse rice in water; drain. Cover with cold water and leave to soak. In another pan, cover the chicken pieces with salted water and let simmer over low heat for one hour. Skim off the fat and measure 3 cups of the water into a separate saucepan. Add the ground almonds to the liquid and let steep about 10 to 15 minutes. drain the rice and cook it in the broth until tender. Remove the skin and bones from the chicken and cut into bite-sized pieces. Add chicken to the rice mixture along with the butter, sugar, ginger, salt, and cardamom. Cover and cook over low heat about 15 minutes, or until meat is thoroughly heated. To serve, garnish with the slivered almonds.
The second book is already a favorite of mine!
The Philadelphia Italian Market Cookbook - a Christmas present from Leah and Ross who just bought a house within walking distance of the market - is not only a great cookbook, but it's a fantastic history of South Philadelphia! It's loaded with fun food and stories about the Italians from the first immigrants to the neighborhood today! It's especially fun for me since I'm not from here. This is all new. I see many great meals coming soon!
Oh... and I was on the Barnes and Noble website looking for post-holiday cheapies and ended up with two more cookbooks - 100 Great Risottos and 100 Great Tapas.
Winter... Risotto... Yum...
Crab Fritters
Mike's done it, again! He has the uncanny knack of knowing just when I'm brain-dead but need to update the blog! And he takes great pictures, too! His Crab Fritters sound fantastic! Methinks I'll be making them really soon!
Crab Fritters
Mike Amason
The rural South of the early 20th century was never known for haute cuisine. Money was limited most of the year, and cooks were constrained to find new and creative ways to use the few ingredients that were available to them. There was always flour and corn meal, and breads of all types really were the “staff of life”. Most women baked a couple of times a week, but every meal saw a quick bread of some type – cornbread, biscuits, hoecakes, hushpuppies, and, when the garden was producing, corn fritters.
A fritter is as simple to make as it is delicious. It’s essence is nothing more than a pancake with onion, corn and black pepper added (canned corn will work, but fresh kernels scraped from the cob turns this into food for the gods), and the result is a far greater delight than the sum of its parts.
These have been updated, “citified” if you will, by the addition of a few ingredients, and the product is suitable for entertaining the pickiest company. Serve with a good fish chowder, seafood gumbo, or vegetable soup.
I use a cast iron skillet for these and wipe it with oil between batches, but a nonstick frying pan will work just fine. These are fried, but they are not greasy.
Serves: 6-8 Can be made ahead and reheated, but do not freeze well.
Ingredients:
- 16 oz can whole kernel corn, drained, or two large ears fresh corn, kernels cut and cob scraped
- 1 pound claw crab meat
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- two green onions, chopped with tops
- ½ stalk celery, finely chopped
- 2 to 3 sprigs fresh parsely, chopped
- 1-1/2 tsp Black pepper
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 eggs, beaten
- ½ cup half-and-half or whipping cream
- ¼ cup white wine
- 1-1/2 cups self-rising flour
Put crab meat, chopped vegetables, spices, and liquid ingredients into a large bowl and stir to mix well and coat everything with milk and eggs mixture. Stir in flour just before cooking.
Drop spoonfuls of batter onto a nonstick frying pan or lightly greased skillet or griddle and cook 3-4 minutes until bubbles rise to the top of the batter and bottom is brown. Turn them over to finish cooking. Serve hot or cold.
Chicken with Leeks
I stopped by the Farmer's Market this afternoon after my Saturday workout. And after the 45 minutes of steam room and jacuzzi that followed. The steam and jacuzzi are my reward to my protesting muscles after their workout. I like it. too. Quiet, peaceful, relaxing... I just kinda melt. It's great. But I digress...
I headed over to the bank after to make a quick deposit, and the Farmer's Market is 20 feet away. Saturday and Shopping usually do not mix for me, but I was in the neighborhood - literally.
I really didn't need anything, but I did want to see what was available, and maybe pick up a few rolls for sandwiches. Walking by one of the two main produce stands, I spied a leek. Not just any old leek, mind you, but a 24" (at least) beauty that was all "white and pale green part.' It was perfect. 99 cents. Sold. I had no idea what I was going to make for dinner, but that leek was going to play an integral part.
I picked up a few rolls, some German Bologna and then stopping by to say HI to my friend Michael, I spied a great Santa in his display. It was a cast iron door stop that just screamed "take me home." Not only was the price right, Michael gave me an additional discount (it's his store, afterall!) and happily home I went.
Off to check recipes, I came across one from Gourmet Magazine a few years back:
Braised Chicken Breasts on Creamy Leeks
- 2 lb medium leeks (white and pale green parts only)
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 1/2 lb total)
- 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup dry white wine
- 1/3 cup chicken broth
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
Halve leeks lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces.
Pat chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil and 1/2 tablespoon butter in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then brown chicken on both sides, about 4 minutes total. Transfer to a plate.
Add wine to skillet and deglaze by boiling over high heat, stirring and scraping up brown bits, until reduced to about 2 tablespoons, 1 to 2 minutes. Add leeks and remaining 2 tablespoons butter and salt and pepper to taste, then simmer over moderately low heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until leeks are wilted, about 10 minutes. Stir in broth.
Top leeks with chicken breasts and juices from plate, then gently simmer over low heat, covered, until leeks are tender and chicken is just cooked through, about 8 minutes .
Transfer chicken breasts to a plate. Add cream to skillet and boil over high heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, 1 to 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve chicken on top of leeks.
Okay. That was their recipe. I changed it just a bit.
I floured the chicken breasts, used 1/2 cup wine and 1/2 cup broth and omitted the heavy cream altogether, and served the leeks on top, rather than beneath, the chicken breast.Otherwise, followed the recipe fairly closely.
I steamed some asparagus and made a brown rice dish by sauteing a bit of green onion, celery, garlic and mushrooms in a bit of olive oil, added 1 cup of water and 1 cup of chicken broth and 1 cup of brown rice. Cooked for 40 minutes. Dash of S&P.
My stomach is smiling, we have a new Santa, my muscles aren't aching quite as much as they were, and we're supposed to get snow tomorrow.
Life is good.
Chicken Soup for the Soul
I was at the farmer's market Wednesday to order my 32+ pound Thanksgiving Turkey, and picked up a stewing hen while I was there. There is just nothing more flavorful than soup or stew made with a stewing hen.
Into the pot the bird went with carrots, celery, onions, garlic, bay leaves, and about 3/4 bottle of white wine I've been using for cooking. I simmered it all day Wednesday and Wednesday evening, strained the broth and removed the chicken. After cooling, they both went into the 'fridge.
Yesterday afternoon, the fun began - clean out the 'fridge! The broth went into the pot along with celery, carrots, fresh peas, green beans, 2 different leftover cooked brown rices, chopped up mustard greens, and a bag of tortolini - and a goodly amount of chicken. (There's at least one - if not two - other meals from the chicken!)
It was sooooo good! Really rich, chicken flavor and lots of good vegetables. I almost licked the bowl. And the garlic bread was the perfect accompaniment.
