Main Dishes

Sheet-Pan Quesadillas

/ featherheadlady / Leave a comment

I’m sure I’m not the only one, but I am hooked on Instagram reels. Some people love Pinterest, I love Instagram reels. This is a “reel” recipe that I thought would be a perfect way to make quesadillas for a group of people. I made a couple modification and, second time around, will make a couple more modifications. The construction is really easy with very basic ingredients. On Saturday nights we have a group of friends, twelve folks if everyone is able to join, and we play trivial pursuit or sing karaoke or gather around a bonfire. And we eat very well. Our group first began getting together during the pandemic, and we started out sharing finger foods. Everyone brings something to pass. The finger foods soon evolved into full fledged meals. We call ourselves the Saturday Nighters. The pandemic will be long gone and our group will still be getting together on Saturday nights.

To make these quesadillas you’ll need to have two jelly roll pans measuring approximately 18×13. The first pan to assemble the quesadillas, and the second to weight it down while it bakes. I also used my cast iron fry pan for additional weight while it baked.

Ingredients:

8 – 10 large tortillas (Burrito size)

2 T olive oil

1 medium onion chopped

1 sweet pepper chopped

Meat from a rotisserie chicken shredded (my shredded chicken weighed out at 1.5 pounds)

1 can black beans

1 cup frozen corn

1 1/2 tsp chili powder

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

3 cups of shredded cheese (cheddar, jack, or a combination of both)

Heat the olive oil over medium heat and sauté the onions and peppers until tender, about 5 minutes.

Rinse the beans and the corn. In a large bowl stir together the shredded chicken, beans, corn, and sautéed onion and peppers.

Measure out the seasonings and stir into the chicken mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Preheat your oven to 425. Line the first jelly roll pan with parchment paper, and spray with Pam. Put 2 tortillas in the center of the sheet pan and put down 6 additional tortillas half in, half out of the pan.

Spread the chicken and vegetable mixture evenly over the tortillas.

Sprinkle the cheese over the meat and vegetable mixture.

Put two tortillas over the filling in the center of the pan and fold the other six tortillas over.

Spray the bottom of the second pan with Pam and place that pan on top of the tortillas. Bake for 15 minutes with the pan on top. Remove the second pan and bake an additional 5 minutes until the top is a light golden brown. Remove from the oven to a cutting surface. Allow the quesadilla to cool for a few minutes before cutting.

Put out dishes of your favorite quesadilla toppings and dig in. I served ours with a red chunky salsa, a spicy salsa verde, jalapeños, and guacamole. Sour cream, black olives, sliced green onions, and additional cheese would also be great add ons.

NOTE. The next time I make these I will increase the quantity of onions and peppers, sauté a little fresh jalapeño in with the other peppers, and add cilantro to the mix. You could also substitute pinto beans or refried beans for the black beans.

For a vegetarian variation beans, cheese, and vegetables would be very satisfying.

The recipe recommended a 20 minute bake with the top pan on and 5 minutes without. I would reduce the initial bake time to 15 minutes. You can see from the picture that my tortillas were a little extra crispy. You could also sprinkle on a little additional shredded cheese for the last 5 minute bake.

Cheesy Cabbage Gratin

/ featherheadlady / Leave a comment

One of the food magazines that I subscribe to is Cuisine at Home. It’s a magazine that has consistently good recipes, easy to follow instructions, and great pictures. The latest issue is full of “comfort foods.” We love cabbage and the September/October issue has several cabbage recipes including a chocolate cake with cabbage and this cheesy cabbage gratin. I haven’t tried the chocolate cake with cabbage but I’ve made this gratin recipe twice since this magazine came in the mail. The first time I made it we had it with polish sausage. Most recently we made it a vegetarian meal with sliced tomatoes and corn on the cob.

There is red, white and green cabbage. Cabbage is closely related to broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. Generally a head of cabbage is between one to two pounds. The perfect size for this recipe. I have a crock full of shredded cabbage right now that is working it’s way to sauerkraut. Each of the heads of cabbage I shredded for the kraut weighed between ten and twelve pounds. In the heat of summer cabbages can grow quite large…the largest recorded weighed in at a little over 138 pounds. You could make a lot of cabbage gratin with that!! Cabbage is a good source of dietary fiber and Vitamin K and C. It is economical and there are countless ways to prepare cabbage…stewing, frying, braising, pickling, fermenting. There are lots of great soup recipes that call for cabbage. If you like cabbage and bacon and cheese you will thoroughly enjoy this dish regardless of what you serve up on the side.

Ingredients:

1 head of green cabbage

2 T olive oil

Salt and pepper

6 strips of bacon diced

1 cup sliced leeks

1 T minced garlic

1 T AP flour

1 3/4 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 cup shredded gruyere cheese

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

2 T lemon juice

2 T chopped fresh thyme

Ingredients for the Topping

1 T olive oil

3/4 cups fresh bread crumbs

1/2 cup shredded gruyere

1/4 cup grated parmesan

1 tsp minced lemon zest

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Peel off the tough outer layers of cabbage and cut the cabbage into eight wedges. The instructions recommended leaving the core intact to help the wedges hold together while roasting. I removed the core before roasting and had no problem. Place the wedges on the baking sheet, drizzle with the oil and season with salt and pepper.

Roast for 40-45 minutes until the cabbage is tender and the edges are golden.

While your cabbage is roasting cook your diced bacon in a heavy skillet over medium heat until the bacon is crisp. Remove the bacon to a plate lined with paper towel.

Add the leeks to the skillet with the bacon drippings and cook over medium heat until they are softened. Stir in the garlic and the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for one minute.

Stir in the cream and broth and bring to a simmer. Cook until the mixture begins to thicken, 6-8 minutes.

Off heat, stir in the bacon, gruyere, parmesan and lemon juice.

Set the cheese sauce aside and prepare the bread crumb topping. Heat 1 T olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the bread crumbs until they begin to toast up and transfer them to a bowl to cool for about 5 minutes.

Once the bread crumbs have cooled, stir in the cheeses and lemon zest.

Now you’re ready to assemble the gratin. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Arrange the cabbage in the dish, cut side down. Pour the cheese sauce over the cabbage wedges and sprinkle with the bread crumb topping.

Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes until bubbly and the crumb topping has browned.

Serve hot as side dish to pork loin, chops or sausage or as the main dish. Maybe even as a Thanksgiving side dish. Enjoy!

NOTE: I save crusts and odds and ends of stale bread In the refrigerator, grind them in my food processor and freeze them in zip lock bags. The bread doesn’t go to waste and they’re perfect for recipes like this one.

Pork Meatballs Asian Style

/ featherheadlady / Leave a comment

Since this pandemic has had us sheltering at home, most of us are doing a lot more cooking than usual.  And, if you’re like me, you keep trying to come up with new dishes to break the monotony.  Unless, of course, monotony is what you actually prefer.  I do know people who could easily survive on pizza or burgers or Mac and cheese as a steady diet. Yesterday I had a pound of ground pork thawed and was trying to think of something different to make for dinner.  I was talking to my daughter and she shared this recipe which they had recently made.  Based on what was available in my fridge and pantry I modified the recipe a bit, and I’m sharing my own take.  This was a quick and easy dish to prepare and packed a lot of flavor.  We devoured all but 4-5 meatballs!

Meatball Ingredients:

1 pound of ground pork

2-3 green onions finely sliced

1 inch of fresh ginger grated

1-2 cloves of garlic grated

3/4 cup of fresh bread crumbs

Add all of the ingredients to the pork.

Before you start mixing the meatball ingredients, cover a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.  Mix well and shape into 12-14 meatballs.  Place the meatballs on one end of the baking sheet.

Cut vegetables of your choosing into bite size pieces.  A generous 2 to 3 cups.  I used broccoli florets, sweet peppers, mushrooms, and pea pods.

Toss the vegetables in a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil or olive oil and put them on the other end of the baking sheet.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  While the oven is preheating prepare your sauce.

Sauce Ingredients:

1 T toasted sesame oil

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup orange juice

3 T hoisin sauce

3 T honey

2 T rice vinegar

1 tsp crushed red pepper (more or less based on personal preference)

Measure out all of your ingredients in a medium size heavy saucepan.

Bring the sauce to a boil over medium heat and keep it at a slow boil for 8-10 minutes until it is reduced by about a third.   Remove from the heat.

While your sauce is cooking, put the meatballs and vegetables in the oven and cook for about 15 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through.  At this point, ladle about a third to half of the sauce over the meatballs and return them to the oven for another 3-4 minutes.

Serve the meatballs, vegetables and sauce over rice.  I used brown rice with quinoa, but use your favorite rice.  I garnished ours with thin sliced radishes, green onion, and cilantro.

NOTE:  The original recipe called for ground chicken or turkey but I really liked the ground pork.  I think that beef might be too heavy for this dish but, as with all recipes, it’s all about personal preference.

You can use vegetables of your choosing; zucchini or summer squash, onion, green beans.  I did not have low sodium soy sauce so I did not add any additional salt and none was necessary.

Use garnishes of your choice including sesame seeds or a little fresh basil.  It all makes a beautiful plate of food.  Enjoy.

Empanadas

/ featherheadlady / Leave a comment

 

It occurred to me, as I was making the empanadas today, the last couple of weeks have been an ethnic diversity palooza in my kitchen.  I made a Moroccan chicken tagine with apricots and olives, Asian inspired sticky ginger sesame chicken meatballs, Mexican tostadas with my friend’s pickled pigs feet sauce, a Vietnamese shrimp spring roll bowl with sweet chili mango sauce, Italian chicken parmesan with linguine and marinara, Polish pierogis with polish sausage and cabbage, and Jewish penicillin, chicken soup with matzo balls.  It’s all been good.  A couple recipes were better than others.  But good just the same.  It makes cooking and mealtime much more interesting when you experiment and try new dishes.  A couple weeks ago I got new kitchen gadgets that made pierogis and empanadas more fun to make…a crimper and a roller that cuts the dough into perfectly sized discs to fit the crimper.  The gadgets are the real reason I was inspired to make the empanadas today.  I have a few packages of pierogis in my freezer.  Now I will have a few bags of empanadas in my freezer.  The recipe for the empanadas comes from America’s Test Kitchen, special collector’s edition, The Best Mexican Recipes.  There are a lot of great recipes in that magazine.

Dough ingredients:

3 3/4 cups AP flour (18 3/4 oz.)

1 T sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

12 T unsalted, chilled butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 1/4 cups ice water

2 T olive oil

Process the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor until combined.  Scatter the butter in the processor over the flour mixture and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl.  Add 1/4 cup of water at a time, stirring after each addition.  You may not need to use all of the water.  Once the dough sticks together, turn out onto a clean, dry work surface and gently press into a cohesive ball.  Divide the dough into two discs, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for one hour.  Let the chilled dough sit out on the counter for a few minutes before rolling.

While the dough is chilling, prepare the filling.  I made a vegetarian filling with corn, peppers, and cheese.

Filling Ingredients:

2 T unsalted butter

1 poblano pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped fine

3 whole canned mild green chilis chopped fine

3 green onions, whites minced and greens sliced thin

1 small mild orange pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped fine

2 cloves of garlic minced

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

salt and pepper

3/4 cup frozen corn thawed

1/2 cup fresh cilantro chopped

6 oz shredded Jack cheese

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat and cook the peppers and scallion whites until softened and lightly browned.

Stir in the garlic and the spices and cook another 30 seconds until fragrant.

Stir in the corn and remove from the heat.  Put the corn, pepper mixture in a bowl and refrigerate until completely cool.

While that’s chilling, slice the scallion greens, cilantro, and grate the Jack cheese.  Once cool, mix all of the ingredients together and now you’re ready to start rolling your dough.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut discs with a biscuit cutter, a glass, or, if you’re fortunate enough to have one of these rollers, roll on.

Fill each circle with 1 T of filling.  Brush the edges of the dough with water to help ensure a good seal.  Fold the dough over and crimp the edges with the tines of a fork.  Or, if you’re fortunate enough to have a crimper, crimp on.

Transfer the empanadas to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Brush each with olive oil.

Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden brown.

Allow to cool and enjoy!

NOTE:  The filling options are endless.  There is a beef and cheese filling in the magazine and many, many more recipes on line.  The empanadas freeze well.  Put them in the freezer on a cookie sheet until frozen and then transfer them to zip lock freezer bags.  Bake them a few extra minutes if they’ve come out of the freezer.  Serve them as is or with salsa or Mexican crema.

Tostadas

/ featherheadlady / Leave a comment

My good friend Cathy makes the very best authentic Mexican dishes.  It’s what she has been cooking all of her life.  One of my favorites are her tostadas.  So good!  Of course she makes her own tortillas, which I only attempted once and failed miserably at.  It’s much easier to buy them at the grocery.  I’ve always wanted to try making her tostadas (with store bought tortillas) and finally asked me her to share her recipe with me.  Just like McDonalds has a recipe for special sauce, she does as well.  The secret ingredient in her sauce is pickled pigs feet.  An ingredient not easily found where I live.  Several stores later I hit the jackpot and now I know where to go.

I looked up tostada and it means “toasted” in Spanish.  Tostadas are made with tortillas that have been deep fried or toasted, usually corn tortillas.  They used to be made from tortillas that  were no longer fresh enough to be used for tacos, but took on a new life when they were fried.  Maybe that’s also how corn chips and nachos originated.  Tostadas can be made with any of the toppings you might use for tacos.  One locale in Mexico is famous for pizza sized tostadas called tlayudo which are topped with fried grasshoppers.

Because tostadas are made on fried tortillas they are somewhat fragile so you will want a base that is pasty enough to hold the other toppings in place.

Ingredients:

Tortillas (I used flour because that’s what I had on hand)

Vegetable oil for frying

Chorizo

Pinto beans

Onion

Cheese (I used a sharp cheddar)

Diced tomatoes

Pickled pigs feet

Oregano and garlic powder to taste

Heat your oil in a heavy skillet and deep fry the tortillas.  Drain on paper towel.

Add a little oil to a skillet and cook the chorizo with diced onions until the meat is no longer pink.  The chorizo I get is a little spicy and seasoned well so I did not add any additional spice.  If I were using ground beef or pork I would add cumin, chili powder, and oregano along with salt and pepper to taste.

Drain the beans and add to the onion and meat mixture.  Allow them to cook together and then mash the beans.  If necessary, add a little broth to keep the meat and beans from drying out.

While that’s cooking, dice up the jar of pickled pigs feet taking care to remove any bones.  I dumped the contents of the jar into my mesh strainer allowing the liquid to drain off and worked from there.

Purée the tomatoes in a blender or food processor.  I think I made a mistake here and added the pickled pigs feet to the blender along with the tomatoes.  I should have just blended the tomatoes and stirred in the finely diced pigs feet.  It made the color of the sauce a little off putting.  However I don’t think it changed the flavor profile.  Add oregano and garlic powder to taste.

Shred your cheese.  You can use cheese that you purchase already shredded, but I think when you shred it yourself it melts better and actually has more flavor.

Now you’re ready to assemble your  tostadas.  The first layer is your meat and bean mixture.  Then the sauce.

Choose whatever toppings you want to add and then cheese.

I put the assembled tostada in the microwave for 30 seconds to melt the cheese a little.  I served ours with avocado, lettuce and a little lime.

I don’t know what is proper, using your hands or silverware.  We used silverware.  They were excellent eaten with a knife and fork but might taste better using your hands!  Even the “I won’t eat pickled pigs feet folk” will like them.  It is a special sauce.  The ingredients can be the cook’s secret.  Thank you Cathy for sharing.  Enjoy your tostadas with a cold beer.  Cheers.

NOTE:  Use any toppings you like.  Diced tomatoes, guacamole, sour cream, jalapeños, diced onion.  You’re only limited by your imagination.

Eggplant Parmesan Bowl

/ featherheadlady / Leave a comment

I’ve had fun fixing meals lately that are layered in a bowl.  Probably a bit of a fad thing but I’ve found several combinations that we like.  I usually use a variety of vegetables, a protein, and sometimes a sauce of some kind.  When I’m cooking for just the two of us, I serve our food restaurant style.  Saves on serving dishes and seems easier all around.  With the “bowl meals” sometimes the base is couscous, or quinoa, or rice.  In this recipe the base is polenta.  My friend Jane came across this recipe today and texted it to me.  She thought it was something I would like.   I happened to have all the ingredients.  At our house we love polenta.  We love eggplant.  And we love anything with tomatoes.  I make eggplant Parmesan fairly often and usually serve it with pasta.   This recipe changed things up a little from traditional eggplant Parmesan.  I modified the recipe as I prepared the dish tonight but felt it needed to be changed up just a bit more.  My ingredient list incorporates my changes.  I felt it needed more sauciness and more seasoning in the cheese/breadcrumb mixture.  But we loved it and had second helpings.

The recipe called for canned cherry tomatoes.  I have personally never seen canned cherry tomatoes but they did give a pro tip for substituting fresh cherry tomatoes.  The recipe called for 1 pint of fresh cherry tomatoes, 2 T tomato paste and 2 T of water simmered together until the tomatoes begin to wilt.  I recommend doubling the amount of tomatoes to 2 pints and doubling the water to 1/4 cup.  Two tablespoons of tomato paste is plenty.  I almost always buy small heirloom tomatoes and those worked just fine.

Ingredients:

2 (13.5 oz) cans of cherry tomatoes OR the fresh tomatoe substitute above

2 T fresh basil leaves

1 tsp fresh oregano leaves

1 T each of dried basil and oregano

1 tsp garlic powder

3 T kosher salt, divided

fresh ground pepper

1-2 eggplants cut into 1 inch rounds

4 T olive oil, divided

1 cup panko

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Unless you find canned cherry tomatoes prepare your fresh tomatoes over medium heat in a heavy skillet.  Simmer until the tomatoes start to wilt or burst.

Once your tomatoes are ready stir in the fresh herbs and the garlic powder and transfer them to a casserole dish.

Cut your eggplant into 1 inch thick rounds and nestle them in among the tomatoes.

Generously brush the eggplant with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until the eggplant rounds are tender.  While the casserole is in the oven toss the panko, cheeses, salt, and dried herbs together with  2 T of olive oil in a medium bowl.

Also, while the eggplant rounds are cooking, prepare your polenta and keep it warm for serving.  Once the eggplant is tender, remove it from the oven and top each round with the cheese breadcrumb mixture.  Return the casserole to the oven and bake until the topping is a golden brown.

“Bowl” up and serve!  A spoonful of polenta, an eggplant round, and a spoonful of sauce.  Serve with fresh grated Parmesan.  If you follow the recipe with my modifications you will have more sauce in your bowl than shown below.

Enjoy this take on eggplant Parmesan.

NOTE:  While tonight is the first time I’ve made this, I think you could cook down whole or diced tomatoes, vs the cherry tomatoes, and get pretty much the same flavor profile.  A little chiffonade of fresh basil would look great on this dish.  I should have thought of that before I took my photos and we devoured our bowls.

Meat Pie

/ featherheadlady / 2 Comments

Some time ago, I’m not sure where, I came across a recipe for meat pies and tucked it away along with the hundreds of other recipes I plan on making one day.  Today was the day for meat pies.  The weather is getting colder and comfort foods like this are extra appealing.  The ingredients are very basic and the dish comes together quickly, especially if you use pre-made pie crust.  However, it’s Sunday and I had lots of time, so I used my favorite King Arthur recipe for pie crust which I’ll also share here.  I made two pies and shared one with our neighbors.  She has been down with a cold or flu and no one feels like cooking when they’re sick.  He doesn’t like vegetables so this dish was perfect for sharing.

First the crust.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups AP flour (10.5 oz)

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

10 T cold unsalted butter, cubed

6-10 T ice water

The beauty of this recipe is that you make it in your stand mixer. I’ve made crust recipes in my food processor before but this works perfectly every time.  Measure out your flour, salt and shortening and put it into the bowl of your stand mixer.  Use the beater attachment and mix until you have an even crumble.

Add the butter and mix until there is an uneven crumble.  You still want to be able to see little chunks of butter.

Once the butter is mixed in and while the mixer is running slowly add the ice water until the mixture starts forming large clumps.  Stop adding water and stop the mixer.  If the clumps hold together restart the mixer and add just enough additional water to make the crust come together in one ball without any crumbs.  You’re done mixing.  Remove the dough to your work surface and divide it into two discs.  Wrap each disc in wax paper or parchment paper and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

One of the tricks I learned from King Arthur that makes so much sense is to make one larger and one smaller disc.  The larger disc for the bottom crust, the smaller one for the top.

Now that the crust is made and chilling you’re ready to prepare the meat mixture.

Ingredients:

2 pounds lean ground beef

1 pound ground pork

1 large sweet onion diced

2 T butter

4-5 russet potatoes boiled

2 T poultry seasoning

1/2 tsp ground cloves

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Peel, cut and rinse potatoes.  Cover with cold salted water, bring to a boil and simmer until potatoes are fork tender.

While the potatoes are cooking rough chop the onions.  Heat butter in a large heavy skillet and cook the onion just until it is translucent..

Add the pork and beef to the skillet with the onion and, over medium heat, cook until the meat is no longer pink.  Drain off excess fat but leave a little for flavor.

Season the meat with the poultry seasoning, cloves, and salt and pepper to taste.

Rice the potatoes (or mash) without any butter or cream.  Stir in just enough of the potato to bind the meat together.

Looks like cheese, but it’s just riced potatoes.  Now it’s time to roll out your pie crust.  The filling recipe makes 2 pies.  Put half of the meat mixture in each pie.

Roll out the top crust and cut vent slits.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.  Slice and serve.

I served ours with steamed broccoli and a salad.  And catsup of course.

Meat pie is definitely a good comfort food for cold days and I will make it again.  The leftovers should reheat well and it may even taste better the second day than the first.

NOTE:  When I first read the recipe I thought the spice combo of poultry seasoning and ground cloves with a beef and pork dish was odd.  But it actually worked well.  However, you could change that up and use Italian seasoning and serve with a side of marinara or Mexican seasoning with a side of fresh salsa.  Endless possibilities.  I preferred using catsup with this recipe but you could make a gravy or barbecue sauce if that would be more to your liking.

As an aside, for years I always cooked potatoes in a pot with the lid on.  Awhile back someone told me potatoes should be simmered in a kettle with the lid off.  I googled it, because that’s what we all do now, and sure enough, the instructions for boiling potatoes say lid off.  My potatoes have always tasted fine but occasionally, I make an effort to do it the proper way now.

 

 

Chicken Cacciatore

/ featherheadlady / Leave a comment

I recently took a long weekend road trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with two girlfriends to see the Fall colors and just enjoy each other’s company.  While we were in Marquette we decided to go to dinner at an Italian restaurant that seems to be very popular.  We got there at 5:00 on a Friday night and got one of the last available tables.  We thought, wow….this is a good sign!  We ordered cocktails while we looked at the menu and those were excellent.  One of us had a frozen strawberry daiquiri and two of us had margaritas on the rocks.  One of us ordered the meat ravioli and two of us ordered the chicken cacciatore.  Two of us would be sorely disappointed!  The cacciatore entree included a salad and garlic bread for about $15.  Pasta was an add-on for a little over $4.  The salads were good.  Cold and crisp iceberg lettuce with a couple olives, pepperoni, and tomato and a nice house vinaigrette.

After the salads it was all downhill.  The chicken cacciatore consisted of two small pieces of breast meat, served in a Corning ware dish, SWIMMING in what tasted like an unseasoned can of Hunts tomato sauce.  My apologies to Hunts.  No flavor whatsoever.  This is how appealing it looked!!

Seriously the worst Italian meal I’ve ever had.  I was glad that I ordered the side of pasta because I only ate one of the small pieces of dry chicken.  No one came around with fresh grated Parmesan cheese or cracked pepper…there was a shaker of the  cheese that comes in the green can and a pepper shaker on the table.  For a place that is considered an upscale Italian restaurant Olive Garden would put them to shame, and I am not an Olive Garden fan.  The good news about this horrible meal is that I was inspired to make chicken cacciatore as soon as I got home.  I’ve always made chicken cacciatore with lots of vegetables and seasoning and chicken on the bone and I’m in good company because so do Lidia and Giada.

Ingredients:

One whole chicken cut up

2 T olive oil

1 large onion rough chopped

2 sweet bell peppers rough chopped

sliced mushrooms

4-5 cloves of garlic chopped

4 slices of thick bacon diced

1/2 cup red wine to deglaze the pan

2 pints of canned diced tomatoes

1 pint of tomato sauce

2 T dried basil

2 T dried oregano

salt and pepper to taste

Pasta of your choosing

Fresh grated Parmesan or Asiago and fresh basil for serving

Preheat the oven to 325.  Cut the chicken into pieces (or just purchase a chicken that’s already been cut up).  Season the chicken with salt and pepper.  Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a dutch oven and brown the chicken pieces on each side.

Set the chicken aside on a platter and add the bacon and vegetables to the pan.

Cook the vegetables until they are tender and most of the fat has been rendered from the bacon.  Deglaze the pan with the red wine, add the dried basil and oregano, and the tomatoes and sauce.

Return the chicken to the Dutch oven,  Cover and bake for approximately 2 hours.

Once you remove the pot from the oven allow it to rest while you prepare your pasta.  My favorites are spaghetti or angel hair but any pasta will do.  Remove the chicken to a platter and add the hot pasta to the sauce.  Serve with fresh grated cheese and thin sliced fresh basil.  The chicken will be fall off the bone tender and the combination of the vegetables and seasoning result in a tasty sauce.

 

As much as I like going out to dinner, sometimes my own cooking just tastes so much better.

NOTE:  Perfect pairings for this dinner are a cold, crisp salad and garlic bread.  The restaurant had that part correct.

Cooking the cacciatore with skin on, bone in chicken makes the dish ever so much tastier.  However, if I were to make it with boneless, skinless chicken I would use dark meat.

This dish would also be wonderful served with polenta.

Pizza Burgers

/ featherheadlady / Leave a comment

For sentimental reasons I decided to try this recipe.  A good friend, who sadly is no longer with us, used to make this recipe for pizza burgers and they were a big hit with her family.  Almost every time her grandson came to visit she would make them.  Her boyfriend used to help her.   He’s wanted to replicate her recipe so I made them for him the other night.  If you’re a food snob you might stop reading as soon as you see the ingredients.  For sure my husband is a food snob.  He made up his mind he wouldn’t like them even before he tasted them.  And to tell the truth, I didn’t want to like them either.  But I did.  It is beyond amazing to me that this combination of ingredients tastes JUST LIKE PIZZA.  It reminds me a little of the lady in the grocery line who saw my Christmas baking partner buying the ingredients for our chocolate fudge.   She said her mother made the best fudge (according to her) using Velvetta cheese.  I have no sentimental reason to try that recipe so that will probably never happen!  But it exists out there on the internet if anyone is interested.  Proceed to pizza burgers.  The recipe is not complicated at all and comes together quickly.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 can SPAM

1 block longhorn cheese (I used 8 oz of Colby jack)

1 half jar original Ragu spaghetti sauce

onion powder, garlic powder, and oregano to taste

Preheat your oven to 425.

In a heavy skillet over medium high heat brown the ground beef.

While the meat is browning shred the cheese and the SPAM.

Once the meat is browned put the meat in a mesh colander to drain off excess grease. Return the ground beef to the skillet over low heat.  Season to taste with onion powder, garlic powder, and oregano.  Add the SPAM and cheese and stir until everything is incorporated and the cheese is melted.

Stir in about half of the 24 oz jar of Ragu spaghetti sauce just until the meat mixture is moistened.  You don’t want it quite as juicy as a sloppy Joe.  Remove from the heat.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  (I used a pizza pan because these are, after all, pizza burgers)!!  Put hamburger buns on the baking sheet and spoon prepared meat mixture on the buns.  There should be enough for 8-12 sandwiches.

Bake for approximately 10 minutes.  You can serve them open faced or with a topper.  Your call.  Keep an open mind and enjoy!

I only made up 4 sandwiches on slider buns for sampling purposes and gave the rest of the pizza burger filling to our friend.

NOTE:  While not difficult, I think the SPAM would be a little easier to grate if it had been in the freezer for a tad bit before grating.  My friend’s recipe called for a “block” of longhorn cheese.  Not having any idea how much was in a “block” or being able to find cheese labeled “longhorn” I used 8 oz of Colbyjack.  I did not add any salt.  It has been a really really long time since I’ve had SPAM but I was sure that would add enough salt to the recipe.

To kick this up a bit you could add a couple slices of pepperoni or perhaps a little slice of mozzarella cheese to each burger before baking.   But before you modify, please taste!

 

 

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

/ featherheadlady / Leave a comment

For quite some time I’ve wanted to experiment with a cauliflower pizza crust.  I was intrigued.  My favorite pizzas have a thin crust.  I’ve never liked a lot of “bread” with my pizza so this is perfect.  And no carbs.  At home I usually make my own flour and yeast crust and I must admit, this took a little more effort.  Perhaps mostly because I’d never made it before.  But I think it was worth the effort and I will definitely make it again in the future.  The flavor was great.  The crust browned nicely on the bottom.  And between my husband and I, we ate the entire pizza!!  So I say that is a positive endorsement.

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese (not from a can)

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs lightly beaten

Remove the core and stems from the cauliflower and cut into medium size pieces.  Process the cauliflower in a food processor until it looks like rice.

Bring a couple inches of water to a boil in a good size pot.  Put the riced cauliflower in a steamer, cover the pot, and steam for 15 minutes.  While the cauliflower is steaming preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Whisk your eggs and measure out the cheeses and seasonings.

Once your cauliflower has steamed, dump it on a clean dish towel to cool.  Once it has cooled use the towel to wring as much moisture as possible from the cauliflower.

Once the cauliflower has cooled and you’ve wrung as much liquid out as possible add it to a mixing bowl along with the egg, cheeses, and seasonings.  Mix thoroughly.

Line a pizza pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Spread the crust ingredients out with your hands in a circle or square, whatever you prefer.  Spread it pretty thin.  I was worried it was too thin but it was not.

Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove the crust from the oven and add whatever toppings you choose.

I used leftover homemade marinara sauce with additional pizza spices added, sausage that I browned, peppers, tomato, and onion.  Increase the oven temperature to 425.

Bake the dressed pizza crust until the cheese is brown and bubbly, about 15-20 minutes.

Seriously,  Isn’t that a beautiful pizza!!  I make a round pizza and cut it into squares.  Anyway you cut it, enjoy.  With a little less guilt than flour crust.

NOTE:  I have no idea how leftovers would keep as we didn’t have any.  If you have a cauliflower hater in your circle or even a vegetable hater in general, don’t tell them what it is.  They’ll never know.