Stuffed Peppers
When we were shopping Monday, the idea of stuffed peppers came up. We saw a couple of great peppers, nice flat bottoms so they would stand up... Perfect peppers.
Well... wouldn't you know that the perfect peppers stood up perfectly in the 'fridge, stood up perfectly in the pan, stood up perfectly in the oven, and refused to stand up once I took them out of the oven. Standing up perfectly in the pan. Falling over on the plate.
Go figure.
But standing up or falling over, they were pretty good.
Stuffed peppers are one of those dishes I never use a recipe for - and I don't think I have ever made them remotely the same way twice. I've stuffed them with raw meat and uncooked rice, cooked meat and uncooked rice, raw meat and cooked rice, meat and breadcrumbs, chunked vegetables, with rice without rice, brown rice white rice, gound beef ground pork ground lamb, and various combinatiuons of the above.
They always seem to come out just fine, no matter what I do to them.
Tonight was a mixture of ground pork, ground beef, onion, and cooked rice. And leftover pasta sauce and grated cheese.
Stuffed Peppers
- 2 bell peppers
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 1/3 lb ground beef
- 1/3 lb ground pork
- 1 cup cooked rice
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp sage
- 2 cups pasta sauce
- 1/2 cup shredded romano cheese
- salt and pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 350°. Slice off top of bell pepper and remove seeds and membranes.
Saute onion until translucent. Add beef and pork and cook through. Add rice and mix well. Add seasonings, 1/2 cup pasta sauce and about 1/4 cup grated cheese. Mix well and stuff into peppers.
Put remaining 1 1/2 cups sauce in baking dish. Add peppers and cover with foil.
Bake for 1 hour.
This is a "play-with-it" recipe. Have fun. Cut the peppers in half if they're really big. You'll probably have better luck getting them to lie flat. Put lots of cheese on top and stick them under the broiler to finish.
Go crazy!
Turkey Club
What do you do when you have turkey and are not quite in the mood for turkey a la king or turkey tetrazzini?!?
Make a Turkey Club!
I really love a good clubhouse sandwich, but rarely order one out anymore because it seems they're all made with turkey roll. If I want lunch-meat, I'll buy lunch-meat. A Turkey Club should be made with hand-carved fresh-roasted turkey. And thick-sliced bacon. And fresh ripe tomatoes. Crisp iceberg lettuce. Mayonnaise. Toast.
As basic as basic can be. There really is no big trick. A couple of good, quality ingredients make for a fantastic sandwich.
And I do have to admit that these were pretty good sandwiches.Neither of us cleaned our plates, but we did a good job trying!
And those sweet potatoes?!?
Even better than last night!
Turkey Dinner
A perfectly drismal day. Dreary, dismal, cold, rain... Perfect for a quick shopping trip and back home. Well... not that quick of a shopping trip. Victor went shopping with me, today!
I do the majority of the grocery shopping. I also do most of the cooking. It's one of those divisions-of-labor that couples consciously or unconsciously make. Victor does the laundry. I always have clean clothes, he always has a hot meal. It works for us.
But when the two of us are in a store together?!? Uh-oh...
We tend to encourage the other to buy things and spend money. I'm bad enough on my own - but with the two of us?!? You want Sicilian Blood Orange Marmalade? It costs $12.99 so you're not going to buy it? Go get a jar. It will be our one extravagance this trip.
Sold. We'll add it to the collection of fabulous foods we need to eat one of these days.
So while I was shopping the store with my Wegmans iPhone app grocery list (arranged by aisle and department, thankyouverymuch!!!) Victor was perusing the Italian dinnerware. Fortunately (or unfortunately) the only one he liked was open stock for a dinner plate, salad plate, and soup bowl for $185.00, give or take... Since we would need 4 of each to match our numerous other sets of 4 of each, we decided we really didn't have a place to put them. Or the $740.00 plus tax. They were nice plates. Just not that nice.
Back to that iPhone app for a moment... It's marketing genius. Search for products, add them to your list, bring up past register receipts and click on items to add to your list... And the final saved list is grouped by aisle and department. It's a tech-junkie's paradise. I found several items that I knew I would be needing soon for the holidays and picked them up today. I had no idea they even carried the stuff until I went through the list. Marketing genius.
Because the app drew me over to the meat section to get suet for my Christmas puddings, I espied a fresh turkey breast. Dinner tonight, sandwiches, a big pot of turkey soup... a lot of meals can be made from one of those. Sold.
I have to admit I restrained myself a lot with this. Turkey can often just take on a life of its own... Dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, vegetables, gravy, cranberry sauce... Craziness can (usually does) ensue. Tonight, I made turkey, sweet potatoes, peas and gravy. That's all.
It was more than enough!
The sweet potatoes were the star tonight.
I peeled and sliced the potatoes and put them into a big bowl with a half-cup of flour. Coated them well.
Meanwhile, I took 6 tbsp butter, 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, a half-teaspoon of cinnamon, and a half-teaspoon of ginger, and placed it in a small saucepan and brought it all to a boil.
I took the floured potatoes, placed them in a buttered pie plate and drizzled the sauce over them, covered the plate with foil, and baked at 350° for an hour.
They were really good.
They made enough for 6 people, easily, so we'll be enjoying them for another day or two.
Drismal outside, fun inside.
Life is good.
Pansotti with Fresh Tomato Sauce
Several weeks ago, Victor made Pansotti con salsa di noci for his Monday Pasta. The recipe made quite a bit of the pasta, so into the freezer it went - until tonight.
Victor had made tomato sauce a couple of days ago from the horde of tomatoes we've harvested and I was in the mood for EyeTalian. A dinner was born.
I had about a half-pound of mushrooms and about the same amount of filet tips, so I sauteed them off in a bit of olive oil and garlic, added a couple of cups of the fresh tomato sauce, a couple of ounces of grated grana padano, and a pinch of fresh herbs. I cooked off the frozen pansotti, tossed everything together and sliced up some of yesterday's bread.
It was a treat not to really have to cook, but have a fresh-made dinner.
So to celebrate not really having to do anything, I made a Bananas Foster Bread from Cooking Light Magazine.
Pumpkin Soup
Mmmmm... Soup..... I've been dreaming about soup for weeks, now. It's what happens to me towards the end of every season - I start thinking about the foods that are coming up. Soups and stews and casseroles are on the horizon. Even more fresh-baked breads... These are some of my most favorite foods - mainly because they generally don't take recipes or cook books to create. They tend to just come together with things in the kitchen. That's not to say that recipes are out for the next few months, but soups, stews, and the like are pretty instinctive for me. Probably comes from being from a large family. But I do find them to be the easiest things to make. Seriously, they're pretty hard to screw up.
So tonight's dinner was brought to us by that big ol' pumpkin I cooked up yesterday. I have pumpkin for days in the 'fridge. I'll probably freeze some of it tomorrow - but I do have a couple of ideas to ponder first...
The soup tonight was based upon a recipe we created at work many moons ago.
Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 pork tenderloin, cubed
- 3 cups pumpkin puree
- 2 cups chunk pumpkin, cooked
- 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp chipotle powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- salt and pepper, to taste
- sour cream for topping
Saute onion until translucent. Add cubed pork tenderloin and lightly brown. Add spices and cook about a minute.
Add pumpkin puree, cream, and broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer.
Add black beans and cubed pumpkin and heat through.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream.
It's rich, thick, and creamy, without being heavy. It's also really simple and lends itself to many different variations. You can add curry powder instead of the chipotle, coconut milk instead of the cream.
Use chicken or beef - or neither and make it vegetarian with the addition of vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. Throw in some other vegetables.
It's the beauty of the season - anything goes!
Cinderella Pumpkin
I picked up a big ol' Cinderella Pumpkin today. Big.
The Cinderella Pumpkin is a Vin Rouge D' Etampes - an heirloom pumpkin from France. They have a deep orange-red skin and are slightly ribbed and flat. And they taste fantastic! Naturally sweet without being sweet, if you know what I mean. Great for eating because they're meaty and not totally full of water.
I didn't think to take a picture of this beautiful pumpkin until after I had cut it open. What can I say... I'm not always the brightest color in the crayon box. But they really are cool-looking. Did I mention they taste fantastic?
I cut it up, peeled half of it and cut it into cubes. The other half I roasted skin-on. 4 sheet-pans of pumpkin went into the ovens at 425° for about 25 minutes.
With all this pumpkin around, it was a no-brainer to figure pumpkin was going to play a role in tonight's dinner.
We had 7 Hungarian peppers from the back yard that needed eating, so I seeded and sliced them, and then sauteed them with a small chopped onion.
Next into the skillet went a cut-up boneless, skinless chicken breast and then a pinch of salt, pepper, and cumin.
I added about a cup and a half of pumpkin puree and maybe 2 cups of cubed pumpkin.
Mixed it all together and served it over whole-grain black rice.
A classic fall flavor tweaked with mildly-hot peppers and served over rice. It worked on a variety of levels. I tried to play off the minimalist recipe creation we've been experiencing with the Monday Italian Pasta dishes. This was an easy one to let go on its own... the peppers added the balance to the pumpkin and the cumin - just a dash - brought the two flavors together. It actually would have worked just fine without the chicken and could easily become a vegetarian or vegan dish.
I'm psyched. We're gonna have pumpkin around for a while. And when this one is gone, I have a Fairytale Pumpkin to cook up, next.
I love fall. Now... if the weather would just cooperate.....
Beef Stew and Fresh-Baked Bread
The weather was wet and chilly all day long. Perfect for a pot of stew and a loaf of bread. I've been craving a stew for a while now, but the weather just wasn't cooperating. It finaly did, today.
My recipe for stew is pretty basic - beef, potatoes, onions carrots and celery. Garlic powder, a splash of red wine, beef broth... I don't go too crazy when I'm making plain ol' comfort-food stew. No recipe. I just throw the stuff in the pot .
My mom used coffee in her stew. It made for a really rich broth. Back in those days, we had a coffee pot going in the house 24/7. Someone was always brewing or drinking a cup. It was easy to add - it was always available.
I tend to eschew the coffee in favor of a cup of red wine, although if there's coffee in the pot, I'll always throw it in. It really does add flavor and you don't taste "coffee" when you do it.
And I made more bread.
This egg white recipe really rocks!
It is crusty-crunchy, soft and chewy. It's my favorite of the no-knead breads I've tried thus far! And it is so simple. It's adding 3 egg whites in the measuring cup to make 3 cups total of liquid, following the basic recipe, and brushing the bread with an additional egg white before going into the oven.
It is seriously good!
Pizza
There haven't been many posts the last few days, but it's not because we haven't been cooking. It's because we've been cooking a lot for friends visiting from Seattle - and I'd rather cook and talk with friends around the table for hours than get up and make a blog post.
Selfish, I know, but... it's all about me, right?!?
The pizza dough is pretty much the recipe I used to make when I worked at Pirro's 40+ years ago, except I use olive oil. It's hard to believe I was hand-spinning pizza back in 1968. Time certainly flies when you're having fun.
Pizza Dough
- 1 1/2 cups warm water (100º to 105º)
- 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 4 cups “00” flour or unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- olive oil for bowl
Sprinkle yeast over warm water in bowl of mixer fitted with dough hook. Let proof about 5 minutes.
Mix together flour and salt. Add to yeast mixture. Mix on low speed about 4 minutes or until dough forms a coarse ball. Stop mixer and cover bowl with a towel. Let dough rest about 5 minutes, then remove towel and continue mixing another 2 minutes or so.
Lightly oil a large bowl. Form dough into a ball, transfer to bowl and turn to lightly coat with oil. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes, then refrigerate overnight.
Punch down dough, re-roll, and return to bowl. Tightly cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.
Divide dough into 2 pieces; shape pieces into balls and place on a lightly floured work surface. Loosely cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rise at warm room temperature until doubled, about 2 hours.
I actually made two pizzas. One with pepperoni, above, and another with sundried tomato pesto that Victor made a while back, and assorted veggies; green and yellow zucchini, red bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms... and both of them were made with fresh buffalo mozzarella and some pecorino romano sprinkled on top.
Homemade pizza and good friends.
It doesn't get much better.
Chicken and Chorizo
The calendar is saying one more day to Fall. The thermometer is saying it's definitely still Summer.
So out to the grill we go.
A couple of chorizo sausages, a chicken breast, onion, and red pepper put onto a skewer. How easy is that?
And last night's rice mixed with a can of black beans and a can of chopped green chiles.
Seriously simple.
Tri-Tip and Stuffed Tomatoes
Three's Company!
We have a friend spending the night which always means a little extra twist on dinner. Barb is the first of two weeks of friends visiting. It's really going to be a fun time around the house. LOTS of food, of course. It's what we do.
Which brings us right back to tonight...
We started with a tri-tip roast I cooked on the grill. I did a dry rub with smoked paprika, Hungarian paprika, cumin, garlic, Mozambique Peri-Peri spice - a fiery hot pepper blend - and salt and pepper. I liberally coated the tri-tip and onto the grill it went.
Meanwhile, I oven roasted some potatoes and then, when they were done, coated them with a mixture of 2 tbsp melted butter mixed with 1 tablespoon whole grain Dijon mustard.
And the tomatoes...
I started by hollowing out three tomatoes from the garden.
I had an orange cauliflower so I took maybe a cup and a half of florets and steamed them until mushy. I mashed them and then mixed in a teaspoon of butter, salt, pepper, and maybe an ounce of smoked cheddar cheese.
I filled the tomatoes and topped them with buttered bread crumbs. Into the oven for 15 minutes at 350°.
It really was a simple meal with just a couple of easy twists.
And right now there's peanut butter chocolate chip ice cream being made.
I love having friends over...
BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
It's the chicken that keeps on giving - and it hasn't finished, yet!
Tonight was a gooey, cheesy, smoky, spicy chicken sandwich. Really messy. And really good.
I started off by sauteing a small onion along with a bell pepper and a clove of garlic. When it was all pretty well cooked, I added a chopped tomato from the garden and about a cup of BBQ sauce. (Gates Kansas City BBQ Sauce, to be exact.)
Into the simmering sauce I added a couple cups of shredded chicken and heated it all through.
Onto rolls it went with smoked cheddar on top. I popped it under the broiler to melt the cheese and dinner was served. With fries.
It really was a messy sandwich. It was perfect, though. I ate it over the fries and all the cheesy gooey filling that slid out went onto them. I had chickeny cheese fries with dinner!
And I used lots of napkins.
Creamy Chicken and Mashed Potatoes
I'm trying to rush fall, a bit. I'm ready for the fall foods. Grocery stores are all set up with butternut and acorn squash, gourds have appeared. Mother Nature is taking her time. It was sunny and 78° today. Actually, it was perfect weather. I'm not complaining. Really. I just want to make a pot of soup.
Yesterday, I boiled a whole chicken. I got a gallon of great broth for a few future projects and a full chicken for a few meals. Tonight, I took a bit of that chicken, a bit of that broth, a few mushrooms and some fried hot peppers and a dolop of mascarpone and made a creamy - and ever-so-slightly-spicy - chicken that I served atop mashed potatoes.
It was just the ultimate in comfort foods. Something my mother would have put together to feed the lot of us back in the day.
I hate to admit it, but I actually cleaned that plate.
It was really good.