Archive for August, 2007
Now that football season has kicked off, Friday night is sandwich night at our house. Sandwiches are a quick and easy way for me to get the kids fed and out the door by 5:30 pm. I thought we’d try this “Kentucky specialty served at restaurants around the country.” All I can say is - disappointment. I like an open-faced sandwich but this one was pretty bland. Kind of like eating gravy toast - filling but nothing to rave about.
Louisville Hot Brown
Food Editor’s Hometown Favorites Cookbook
4 T Butter
1 small Onion, chopped
4 T Flour
2 c Milk
½ tsp Salt
¼ tsp White Pepper
¼ c shredded Cheddar Cheese
¼ c grated Parmesan Cheese
8 slices trimmed Toast
Cooked chicken or turkey breast, sliced (about 3-4 oz per sandwich)
Crisp-fried bacon, crumbled (about 2 slices per sandwich)
4 oz Mushroom slices, sauteed
Melt 1 T of butter in a saucepan. Saute mushrooms. Remove from pan with slotted spoon and set aside. Add 3 T of butter to pan. Saute onion in butter until transparent. Add flour; mix well. Stir in milk, salt and pepper; whisk until smooth. Cook over medium heat until sauce thickens, stirring occasionally. Add Cheddar cheese and Parmesan cheese; continue heating until cheeses are melted and blended with sauce. Remove sauce from heat.
Put 1 slice of toast in each of four oven-proof individual serving dishes. Top each piece of toast with slices of chicken or turkey. Cut remaining toast slices diagonally and place 2 triangles alongside each sandwich. Ladle cheese sauce equally over all four sandwiches.
Place dishes under broiler until sauce begins to bubble, about 2 minutes. Garnish with crumbled bacon and sauteed mushroom slices. Serve immediately.
Makes 4 sandwiches
This dish will be joining our fall menu lineup as a regular. Quick, tasty and filling.
Four-Pepper Pork
Pillsbury Classic Cookbook
1 T Cooking Oil
1 lb boneless Pork, cut into 2x½x½-inch strips
2 medium Onions, sliced , separated into rings
1 clove Garlic, minced
1 (14½ oz) can Beef Broth
1 Green Pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 Red Pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 Yellow Pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 Jalepeno Chile Peppers, seeded, cut crosswise into small rings
¼ cup Tomato Paste
3 tsp Chili powder
½ tsp Salt
1 Bay Leaf
¼ cup Water
2 T Flour
3 cups hot cooked Rice
Heat oil in Dutch oven or large saucepan over medium-high heat until hot. Add pork, onions and garlic; cook and stir 4 to 5 minutes or until pork is no longer pink.
Add broth, bell peppers, chile peppers, tomato paste, chili powders, salt and bay leaf; stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 5 to 10 minutes or until peppers are crisp-tender, stirring occassionally.
In a small jar or bowl with a lid, combine water and flour; shake well to blend. Gradually add to hot mixture, stirring constantly. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Remove bay leaf. Serve over rice.
Serves 6.
Even though this recipe comes from a cookbook called “Quick and Easy Cooking” the quick part is misleading. This dish takes 50 minutes to prepare and cook but it is worth it. Everyone loved the beef. I’ve made similar dishes before but the sauce in this dish is delicious.
The recipe calls for Port, a type of sweet red wine that I don’t keep on hand. Whenever a recipe calls for a type of liquor you don’t normally drink, you can stop at the liquor store and pick up a miniature bottle. That way you don’t waste an entire bottle of liquor. Another option is to just substitute any kind of sweet red wine that you do have on hand. This recipe already calls for a red wine, so the Port is intended to provide a slightly different flavor. I didn’t want to open 2 different bottles of wine just to get 1 tablespoon, so another substitution is concord grape juice (with a dash of lime juice) or cranberry juice (with a dash of lemon juice). I used the cranberry juice substitution for the port in this recipe.
This dish goes very well with boiled & buttered potatoes and a green vegetable like broccoli.
Beef Strips in Red Wine
Creative Cuisine Quick & Easy Cooking
3 T Butter
1 T Vegetable Oil
4 oz Mushrooms, sliced
1 medium Onion, chopped
2 T All-Purpose Flour
Salt
Pepper
1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
1 1/2 lb Beef Round Steak, cut into thin strips
1 clove Garlic, crushed
1 T Port
1/2 cup Beef Stock
1/2 cup Red Wine
Heat butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms; saute 2 miutes. Remove cooked mushrooms with a slotted spoon; set aside. Add onion to skillet; saute 4 minutes, stiring once or twice. Remove cooked onion with a slotted spoon; set aside.
In a plastic bag, combine flour, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Add beef, shake to coat. Shake excess flour from beef; add to fat remaining in skillet. Saute 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Stir in cooked mushrooms, cooked onions, garlic, port, stock and wine; bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to low. Cover pan; simmer 25 minutes.
Makes 4 servings
I thought this meal was destined to fail before I even started cooking it. I couldn’t find any vermicelli nests at any of my local markets. They also don’t carry fresh fennel.
I decided to use regular vermicelli noodles and to use small individual casserole dishes to simulate the “nests”. A little online research revealed that fennel seed (crushed) and celery could be substituted for the fresh fennel. Unfortunately I didn’t pick up any celery at the store. A little more research led to the discovery that yellow squash goes well with fennel. So I substituted 1 tsp fennel seed and 1 cup of finely diced yellow squash for the fennel called for in this recipe. You could also substitute cucumber or zucchini and it would be very tasty.
Pretty much everyone liked this meal. Steve thought the noodles needed more butter or oil and Violet wasn’t thrilled with the vegetable topping but she did like the noodles and meatballs. It has a very interesting (but tasty) flavor. I wouldn’t make this every week but I think it will be an occasional addition to our menu.
Meatballs in Pasta Nests
Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook
1 lb ground Veal or Lean Beef
1 slightly beaten Egg
1/4 cup Bread Crumbs
1 tsp dried sage, crushed
3 large cloves Garlic, minced
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
6 dried Vermicelli Nests*
2 T snipped Fennel tops*
1 cup Fennel Bulbs, finely diced*
2 T finely shredded Lemon Peel
1 cup Onion, finely diced
1 cup Carrots, finely diced
1/3 cup fresh flat-leaf Parsely, snipped
For the meatballs, in a large bowl combine egg, bread crumbs, sage, garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Add ground meat; mix well. Form the mixture into 36 meatballs about 1 inch in size.
In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add meatballs, cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until meat is no longer pink, turning to brown all sides. Remove meatballs, reserving drippings in skillet. Cover meatballs and keep warm.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the vermicelli nests according to the package directions. Add 2 tablespoons of Fennel tops and 1 tablespoon of Lemon peel to the cooking water. Carefully remove nests to a colander to drain. Cover pasta and keep warm.
Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to drippings in skillet used for meatballs. Add chopped onion, fennel bulb, carrots and salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring frequently, over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in parsley and remaining 1 tablespoon of lemon peel.
To serve, place pasta nests on serving plates. Spoon meatballs into nests. Spoon vegetable topping over meatballs and pasta.
*I made substitutions for these ingredients
I really wanted this dish to turn out well. I liked the idea of a chicken/rice skillet meal made with broth rather than one of those creamy soups. I also liked the fact that this is a quick cooking recipe. Desperation Dinners promises dinner in 20 minutes flat. Alas, it was not a big hit.
I’m pretty sure Steve hated it. Something about his comment “Jesus, why’d you have to ruin it by putting in green olives?” tipped me off. There were other green olive haters at the table too. Violet picked out everything that even remotely looked green. She had quite a pile on the side of her plate at the end of the meal. Another comment was that the dish was bland - except for the green olives, of course, which ruined everything. Only April liked it - because it was bland.
I may try this dish again (without the green olives) with a few changes. I think replacing the diced tomatoes with Mexican style diced tomatoes might help spice it up a little. Maybe a few extra green chiles as well.
FYI, Steve’s not a big fan of minute rice so I doubled the chicken broth and used regular rice. The rice was cooked perfectly. Too bad it tasted of green olive juice.
Chicken Ole
Desperation Dinners
4 skinless, boneless Chicken breast halves, fresh or frozen
2 tsp Olive Oil
1 extra-large Onion (1 1/2 c chopped)
2 large Green Bell Peppers
1 can (14 3/4 oz) fat-free Chicken Broth
1/2 c White Wine
1 can (14 3/4 oz) diced Tomatoes
2 1/2 c “instant” (5-minute) Rice
1/2 c sliced Pimiento-stuffed Green Olives
1/2 c frozen Green Peas
1 1/2 tsp bottled minced Garlic
2 Bay Leaves
1 tsp dried Oregano
1/2 tsp ground Cumin
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
If the chicken is frozen, run it under hot water so you can remove any packaging. Place the chicken on a microwave-safe plate and microwave 3 minutes, uncovered, on high, to begin defrosting.
Meanwhile, heat the oil, over medium heat, in an extra-deep 12-in nonstick skillet that has a lid. Peel and coarsely chop the onion, adding it to the skillet as you chop.
Cut each breast into 3 strips about an inch wide, then add the chicken (fresh or partially defrosted) to the skillet and raise the heat to high. Cover the skillet and cook while seeding the bell peppers and cutting them into 1-inch wide strips. Cut the strips crosswise in half, and add the peppers to the skillet all at once.
Add the broth and wine. Cover the skillet and bring the liquid to a boil. Meanwhile, drain the tomatoes. Keeping the pan covered as much as possible, add the drained tomatoes, rice, olives, peas, garlic, bay leaves, oregano, cumin, salt, and pepper. Stir well.
Cook at a rolling boil until the rice is tender, 5 minutes more. Remove the bay leaves, stir well and serve.
Serves 4 generously
