Shepherd’s Pie with Califlower-Tomato Salad

“Surprise, surprise, surprise” (as Gomer Pyle would say) this turned out great.  Who knew?  I modified the classic ‘Shepherd’s Pie’ and we loved it.

Before the Mashed Potatoes

Shepherd’s Pie – Ingredients:  mashed potatoes (from last night – I put in sour cream and half & half), 1 egg yolk, 2 lbs. ground sirloin, chopped onion, sliced button mushrooms (optional), grilled corn cut off the cob (from last night, too – optional), 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce (or what you like), butter and flour for thickening, salt and pepper, chopped fresh parsley leaves, 1 tsp of paprika (whatever kind you like, I used smokey), frozen peas, sliced carrots and broth or water as needed.

 Directions:  Cook meat, onion, carrots, mushrooms until browned and softened.  Season with salt and pepper (feel free to add whatever spices/herbs you like; i.e. thyme, crushed red pepper, etc.)  In separate skillet melt butter and stir in flour.  Add Worcestershire sauce and broth to make gravy.  Combine gravy into meat and vegy’s.  Stir in peas and corn (if using.)  Taste and adjust as needed.  Add to casserole dish.  Mix egg yoke with mashed potatoes.  Top casserole meat mixture with mashed potatoes and paprika.

Broil in oven and add parsley for garnish.  Pretty and tasty.

 Cauliflower-Tomato Salad Ingredients:  Cauliflower separated into florets, chopped tomato, chopped parsley, chopped scallions, garlic salt, pepper, olive oil, preserved lemon slices (optional).

Directions:  Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate.  This is really crunchy and good.  Great for summer.  Option – add lemon/lime juice or vinegar to taste.

Easy Calzone

This is so fun and easy.  Everyone can participate.  I use it like a galette, empty the frig meal!  For this I use a Pillsbury pie crust as the bread.  If you’re a baker, by all means, use your favorite pie crust recipe.  I made an Italian flavored calzone this time.

  

For the filling:  Cheeses – ricotta, parmesan and mozzarella cheeses (or whatever you have on hand.)   Meats – Canadian bacon and pepperoni.  Vegetables – chopped scallions, mushrooms and olives.  Herbs and spices – crushed red pepper, Italian seasoning and garlic.  Two eggs.

Set out the pie crust and thaw to room temperature.  Cut up and sauté the meat, vegetables and spices/herbs in a pan (using olive oil).  Combined the cheeses with one egg.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Mix remaining egg in bowl.

Next, put parchment paper on a cookie sheet and unroll the pie crust.  Fold the cheese and meat mixture together until combined.  It should be thick, not juicy.  Place on half of the pie crust, making sure to leave an inch or two around the edge.  Fold the other half of the crust over and crimp edges with fork to seal.  Brush with beaten egg.  Bake at 450 degrees until lightly browned.

Let rest 5-10 minutes.  To serve, heat a jar of prepared pizza sauce and serve on the side.  Eat until you can’t eat anymore!

Lemon/Mustard Chicken with Green Noodles and Glazed Carrots – Fun and Tastey!

Thought I was having Gracie (my 4-year-old granddaughter) come spend the night, but she was under the weather.  Whaaa.  So, guess I’ll have to make regular dinner.  I had planned on pizza or a “stick” dinner (fish sticks), however a short walk to the freezer will clue me in on tonight’s experiment.  Looks like chicken.  So let’s see what I can do.

I saw a cooking show that Anne B. did on lemon/mustard chicken, so I guess I’ll mix it up!  ha  Also, I was watching “The Chew” the other day, and they had a really cool lady on who had made healthy green mac and cheese!  So, let’s get started.  Then, needing another side, I looked up carrots (because obviously I have carrots in the frig) and found and interesting recipe from Alton Brown on the Foodnetwork.com website.  Here’s how I’m working this one …

Chicken Ingredients:  Dijon mustard (about a cup), 2-4 Meyer lemons (I used regular lemons, but am a real fan of the Meyer lemon), 1 whole chicken (cut up), fresh rosemary (chopped), crushed red pepper (to taste), olive oil and salt.

 

Green Noodles Ingredients:  Egg noodles (half a package), a bunch of fresh spinach, 1 shallot, 1 clove garlic, salt, olive oil, a 1/4 c of heavy cream and store-bought alfredo sauce.  Peas or broccoli optional, if you really want to “go green.”

Glazed Carrots Ingredients:  1 pound carrots (approximately 7 medium, peeled and cut on the bias 1/4-inch thick), 2 TBS butter, pinch of salt, 1 cup good-quality ginger ale, 1/2 tsp chili powder (I used a Cajun spice I put together recently), 1 TBS chopped fresh parsley leaves.

Chicken Directions:  First, I pulled together the marinade for the chicken.  Then, I cut up the chicken and salt (halved – you could of course use already cut up pieces of your preference).  Brush the marinade on the skin side and let set for 2 hours or so (I refrigerate, and then set out about 30 minutes before time to grill).  Time to grill.  First, skin side down; making nice grill marks.  Then changing directions to show off (10 and 2 o’clock).  Brush underside with marinade.  Turn chicken, and shut grill cover, as necessary to finish.  Make sure you cook to 165 degrees.  If you need to, can finish cooking in 375 degree oven.  Let rest before serving.

Green Noodle Directions:  This is really cool.  I love the idea of making something healthy out of something tasty.  I cleaned and cooked the fresh spinach in shallot and garlic with a pinch of salt.  I cooked down until all the water was remove and the spinach was wilted.  Next, put 1/4-1/2 cup cream in blender with the spinach and blend.  Cook noodles in salted water.  Blanch or microwave peas/broccoli if you choose.  Pour jarred alfredo sauce into pan.  Add green spinach/cream mixture and combine.  Add veggies.  Bring to temperature and ready to add noodles.  Yum and good for you.

Glazed Carrots Directions:  Over medium heat, combine carrots, butter, sale and ginger ale.  Cover and bring to a simmer.  Once simmering, remove the lid, stir and reduce the heat to low.  Cover again and cook for 5 minutes.  Remove the lid, add the chili powder and increase the heat to high.  Cook, tossing occasionally, until the ginger ale is reduced to a glaze, approximately 4-5 minutes.  Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Senate Bean Soup – or Wonderful Navy Beans

Gary and I are having beans with cornbread, green onions and sliced cheddar cheese for dinner.  I am using the Senate Bean recipe as a base for my beans.  I had a ham bone in the freezer from Easter, so I’m using that instead of the ham hock.  Actually, I don’t think I have ever seen a “ham hock” at the grocery store.    Also, I’m cooking the entire bag of dried beans.  Sometimes I soak overnight, sometimes I use the method in the following recipe, both work.  I used chicken pieces (from the freezer) to make my broth, you can absolutely use store-bought broth.  Since I’m serving with Mom’s cornbread, no croutons will be required.  I put cheese and chopped chilies in the bread, yum!  Whatever bean leftovers we have, I’ll drain and puree into a dip for later!)  Always thinking!

This Senate Bean Soup came from the CIA Book of Soups.  It’s a truly wonderful soup.

“According to legend, this soup was frequently found on the menu at the U.S. Senate dining room.  When the weather became hot, it was discontinued.  There was such an outcry, however, that it soon reappeared.  Just to be certain that they would never be without their favorite soup again, the Senate actually passed a bill requiring that it be offered every day that the dining hall was open.”

Soup Ingredients:  1 1/4 cups dry navy beans, 2 TBS olive oil, 2 carrots (finely diced about 3/4 cup), 2 celery stalks (finely diced about 1 cup), 1 garlic clove, finely minced, 1/2 medium onion finely diced (about 3/4 cup), 1 quart chicken or vegetable broth, 1 smoked ham hock, 1 yellow or white potato (peeled and diced), sachet:3-4 whole black peppercorns and 1 whole clove enclosed in a large teaball or tied in a cheesecloth pouch, salt to taste, ground white pepper to taste, tabasco sauce to taste and 1 cup garlic croutons to serve.

Soup Directions:  sort through the beans, discarding any stones or bad beans.  Place the beans in a large pot and pour in enough water to over by at least 3 inches.  Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat.  Cover and soak for 1 hour.  Drain the beans, rinse in cold water and set aside.

Heat the oil in a soup pot over moderate heat.  Add the carrots, celery, garlic and onion.  Cook over low to medium heat until the garlic has a sweet aroma and the onions are a light golden brown, about 5 minutes.

Add the beans, broth and ham hock.  If necessary, add enough water to cover the beans by about 1 inch.  Bring to a simmer, cover and cook 1 hour.

Add the potatoes are tender enough to mash easily, about 30 minutes.  Remove the ham hock from the soup.  When it is cool enough to handle easily, pull the lean meat away from the bone and dice.  Reserve the meat.

Puree about half of the soup, until smooth.  Return to the pot.  If necessary, thin the soup with additional broth.  Season with the salt, pepper and Tabasco sauce.  Serve in heated bowls or cups, garnished with the diced ham and croutons.

Brunch Galette – Good and Easy

 I love to make this when we go to the lake, or have overnight guests.  It’s so versatile and easy.  You can serve warm or room temperature.  The kids call it a breakfast pizza, since they can grab a piece and go.  This can be made of ingredients you have on hand (HoH)!

Ingredients:  I use Pillsbury pie crust.  They come two to a box, located in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.  (You could make your own, if you prefer.)  Eggs, vegetables (your choice; I used green onions, broccoli, asparagus and tomato), cheese (whatever you HoH, I used cheddar and provolone), spices/herbs (whatever you prefer … crushed red pepper-optional, black pepper, salt, garlic powder, paprika, etc.) and meat (again, whatever you like, I used Canadian bacon and ground sirloin–from the hamburgers we had for supper last night!)  I use parchment paper on a cookie sheet for no cleanup!

Directions:  Remove pie crust from box and let come to room temperature.  Beat 3 eggs in a medium size bowl.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Lightly sauté the onions, vegetables and spices.  Cool, add to egg mixture and combine.  Add shredded cheese and mix together.

Put parchment paper on cookie sheet, unroll pastry dough onto parchment paper.  Pour fixings onto the center of the dough.  Spread to about 2 inches of edge.  Fold edges up over the filling.  Garnish with more cheese or tomato.  I brush a light egg wash over the pastry to brown.  Bake at 450 degrees (or whatever dough directions suggest.)  It takes about 20 minutes.  Remove from oven a let set up about 5-10 minutes.  Cut and enjoy!  I usually serve with sliced tomatoes or fruit.

 Options:  There are so many variations to a galette.  I’ve made with ham, broccoli and cheese – sausage, onion, bell peppers and cheese – leftover lunch meat – all veggies – not to mention fruit (of course you have to add cornstarch and sugar for the sweet versions) – BBQ chicken – even hot dogs.  This is one you can really go crazy with.  Also fun to get the kids involved, let them pick the ingredients!  Enjoy.

Coq Au Vin – “Co-Co Van” (that’s really how you say it)

 This is an amazing dish.  I took Hubert Keller’s recipe and modified it.  (I really love him, just from TV, but you can tell he’s amazing!)  You can go online and get his really awesome recipe.  I don’t seem to be able to follow anyone’s recipe (to the letter, I mean); so, here’s how I did it.  BTW (by the way), Gary gave it a 9.9!  Never in 21 years has he done that!  So maybe you should try this one!  A really good dish, and not that difficult.  Just need to plan ahead.  Here goes:

Ingredients:  1 whole chicken (cut into 8 pieces, skin on), 3 carrots (peeled and roughly chopped), 3 stalks of celery (roughly chopped), 5 cloves of garlic (peeled), 2 bay leaves (fresh, if possible), 2 sprigs of thyme (I used what I have in the garden … lemon thyme), 2 sprigs of parsley, 1 bottle of Pinot Noir (I used a cab that was on sale at Kroger’s), 1 tsp salt (right….), 1/2 tsp pepper (ditto), 5 pieces of bacon ( cut into 1/2 inch pieces), 1 cup flour, extra grape seed oil ( as needed), 1/2 pound (or so) of button mushrooms, 1 TBS olive oil, 3 TBS tomato paste (I used the entire can, and it worked awesome), 2 cups chicken stock (I make chicken stock from the back of the chicken used in this recipe, use amount you need to make it work), 2 TBS butter, salt/pepper to taste, cornstarch as necessary to thicken, chives or chopped scallions for garnish. — sounds like a lot, but man is it worth it!

Directions:  Chop your chicken, carrots, celery, onion and garlic.  Put in a large bowl.  Tie the bay leaves, thyme and parsley together with twine, and add to bowl.  Pour the wine over the chicken and vegetables so that they are completely covered, and refrigerate for 24 hours.  Time passes …

 Place the bacon in a large casserole dish (I used a dutch oven) and cook over medium high heat until crisp.  Remove the bacon to a paper towel to drain, and reserve.  Add the mushrooms to the pan, and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until just slightly ender.  Remove from fat and set aside.  Time to get the bowl of chicken and veggie’s from the frig.

 Remove the chicken pieces from the wine, and pat dry.  Dredge lightly in flour and place in pan with bacon fat, skin side down, until well-browned (I needed to add more oil).  Strain the vegetables from the wine, reserving the liquid.  Sear in bacon fat for about 5 minutes.  Add tomato paste (I used the entire can).  Add the chicken back to the pot and pour the marinating liquid over the chicken and vegetables.  Add the chicken stock, making sure that all meat and vegetables are completely submerged in liquid.  Bring to a simmer and cook 45 minutes to an hour.

 Remove the chicken from the pan, and set aside.  Strain out the vegetables from the liquid, and set aside.  Return the cooking liquid to the pan and reduce by half, 5-10 minutes (or until thickened).

Meanwhile, place the butter, pearl onions, brown sugar, 1/2 cup water, salt and pepper in a 10″ skillet and bring to a simmer.  Cover and simmer 10 minutes, or until tender.  In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and 1/4 cup water.  When the sauce has finished reducing, whisk in the cornstarch mixture 1 TBS at a time until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. (I skipped these steps and just added the butter to pot.) 

 Place the chicken, vegetables, mushrooms, bacon and pearl onions back in the sauce and serve.  Top with chopped chives (I used chopped green onions.)  I served with egg noodles.  Best chicken ever!

Crab Boil

Crab Boil Fixings

We love crab at my house.  Since we really don’t have access to “fresh” seafood, we buy frozen.  Once in a while we catch a good sale on crab and buy, buy, buy.  A crab boil is so easy and fun.  When planning a crab boil, include any type of seafood/sausage/vegetables you like into the boil.  To flavor the water we use “Louisiana” crawfish and crab boil; then add lots of salt, garlic and lemons to the water.  Get it to a rolling boil.

Here we are adding artichokes, potatoes and corn.  Sometimes I add shrimp and or sausage as well.  Add the items which need to cook longer, in first (i.e. corn, potatoes, artichokes, etc.)  Then boil, baby, boil!  While this is cooking, I make a lemon/garlic butter sauce for dipping.

Next put everything in a large bowl and bring to the table!  I put newspaper on the table, a roll of paper towels, paper plates, nut crackers, forks and Cajun seasoning or cayenne paper.  Don’t forget the beer!  Have a ball eating until you are stuffed.  Clean-up is so easy.  Wrap up the newspaper and take to the trash!  No muss, no fuss.

Fried Flat Chicken

Chicken, Gravy and Artichokes

Growing up we had a lot of fried chicken.  Mom used and egg-wash and flour.  It was great.  I’ve modified her recipe a tad.  Let me know what you think.

 After rinsing and patting dry my boneless, skinless chicken, I cut into large medallions and pound between sheets of wax paper.  Season with salt and pepper (you can add whatever spices or herbs you like at this point, i.e. thyme, pepper flakes, etc.)  Then dredge in flour (shake it off), egg wash, then into the Panko bread crumbs.  I love these bread crumbs, they make your chicken so crunchy! And fry, baby fry.

Really good dinner.  Chicken with gravy, corn, grilled pineapple with blueberries and a baked potato!  Not too bad, huh?

Leftover Steak Soup – Ymmm

Premium Steak Soup

After a weekend at the lake, we came home with leftover grilled steak.  I never really like leftover steak, it’s usually tough and blaaaaaah.  I found a great recipe from the “tastofhome” site.

Only made a few changes, like adding grilled corn, left from our weekend, and chipotle powder for some heat.   I also substituted oregano for the marjoram.  The steak was very tender, and the vegetables were not overcooked or mushy.  This soup is a winner.  Very hardy and full of flavor.  Gary and I actually argued about who would get the leftovers for lunch!  He won.

Salt and Herb Roasted Whole Fish – REALLY!

Salt-covered Fish

Can’t believe I did this.  I’ve seen it many times on cooking shows, but have been wary of trying it until now.  Anyway, while shopping a couple of weeks ago at Costco, I bought some whole black bass.  Gary asked, “what are you going to do with those?”  I don’t usually cook whole fish.  Then last night, he found out!  I felt adventurous and pulled up a recipe from “Food Network”, courtesy of Anne Burrell.

I was really apprehensive about encasing the fish in a “salt dome.”  (Gary’s a salt snob.)  Not to be detoured by that, I moved forward.  It was a lot of fun to do, but kind of a mess.  When Gary got home and saw these two mounds of browned salt, and began the traditional rolling-of-the-eyes, big!  Ha…

 During the “attack of the dome” (aka breaking the salt from around the fish), salt went hither and yon; over cabinets onto the floor, behind the cutting board and so forth.  (Next time, I’ll remedy this problem.)

Now the fish is exposed, and I’m thinking … ok Anne, come and remove these filets!  ha  So, being as gentle as possible, I removed the lemons and thyme from inside the cavity and began to peel back the skin.  Pretty easy.  Pulling the filets from the backbone was not hard, but does take some skill.  I have not perfected this skill, as of yet, so our filets were … let’s just say, not in one piece.  (Babyfoodish.)  It was easy to pull out the backbone after the first filet was removed, to get to the back piece of fish.

The results were fabulous!  We both were amazed at how mild, moist and flaky the fish was.  Not too salty, great flavor.  I even got a “high five!”  I really need to work on presentation!