Chicken Piccata

February 3, 2015 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

Chicken cooked in a sauce of lemon, parsley and butter. And, in my interpretation, a few other ingredients. Yesterday was a snowy winter day and even though we weren’t snowed in, today was a great stay at home day watching cooking shows and HGTV. I had taken a chicken breast out of the freezer and was inspired to make the piccata because of a dish I saw prepared on The Chew today. On the Chew the chicken was marinaded in lemon juice, grilled and then topped with a mixture of parsley, garlic, capers, and olive oil. Sounded wonderful.

Ingredients:

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts sliced thin

2 T olive oil

4 T butter, divided

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest

3/4 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup capers rinsed and chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic sliced thin

1/4 cup parsley chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium high heat. Once the oil has heated add 1 T of butter to the skillet. Dredge the chicken in the flour or put in a zip lock bag and shake to coat. Cook the chicken a couple minutes per side and set aside on a platter. Continue until all of the chicken has been lightly browned. You don’t want to over cook the chicken.

Once the chicken is done add the chicken broth, lemon juice, capers, 1T of lemon zest, garlic, and parsley to the skillet.

Scrape up any browned bits in the skillet and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the chicken back into the skillet and simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove the chicken to a platter or casserole dish. Add the remaining 3T of butter to the sauce and pour over the chicken.

I served the chicken with quinoa cooked in chicken broth with a bit of garlic and kale cooked with dried cherries. Proved to be a great combination of tastes! It’s what was for dinner tonight.

NOTE: It’s easiest to thin slice your chicken breasts if they are still slightly frozen.

Sweet n Sour Stuffed Cabbage

January 31, 2015January 31, 2015 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

Sweet n sour cabbage rolls, smashed new potatoes and homemade applesauce. It’s what was for dinner. I think my actual favorite thing about this dish is the cabbage and sauerkraut “gravy” that you cook the cabbage rolls in. I’m thinking that all of the leftovers would make an awesome pot of soup for the next day. This is another dish that I did in the pressure cooker but you could do this on the stovetop and finish it in the oven or even a crockpot and it would be every bit as good. What makes this recipe for cabbage rolls a little unique is the addition of sauerkraut And balsamic vinegar to the mix. See what you think.

Ingredients:

large head of green cabbage

1 pound or so of ground beef, pork or lamb

1 large sweet onion divided

salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1 cup cooked long grain white or brown rice

1 large egg

fresh mint chopped

2 T canola oil

2 cups fresh (refrigerated) sauerkraut

1 can tomato sauce

1 pint stewed tomatoes

1/2 cup chicken broth or stock

2 T balsamic vinegar

3 T granulated sugar

Carefully separate the large outer leaves of the cabbage and dip each leaf in a pot of simmering, salted water to soften. This will make the cabbage leaves much easier to work with. Chop the remainder of the cabbage and set aside.

Combine the ground meat, rice, salt and pepper to taste, 1/2 cup of finely chopped onion, egg, and mint.

Mix well with your hands and shape into 7 or 8 “footballs”.

Put one of the ovals on the core end of the cabbage leaf. Begin rolling it up folding in the sides to make a neat package.

Put the cabbage rolls seam side down on a plate and set aside.

Heat the oil in the pressure cooker over medium heat. Rough chop the rest of the onion and add the onion and chopped cabbage to the hot oil. Sauté for a few minutes to soften.

Add the sauerkraut, tomatoes, tomato sauce, stock, vinegar and sugar and stir together. I didnt have fresh sauerkraut and substitued canned.

Arrange the cabbage rolls in the sauce. Lock the lid and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. Release the pressure naturally.

Serve the cabbage rolls with some of the sauce.

NOTE: A cabbage roll is a savory entree that you can stuff with a variety of ingredients. Instead of rice you could use barley or quinoa. You can add mushrooms or other vegetables to the stuffing. Cabbage rolls are part of the traditional cuisine of many European and Balkan countries. In Finland they are known as kaalikääryle. I don’t ever remember eating these as a child but apparently in Finland cabbage rolls are baked in the oven and are brushed with dark syrup. The syrup glaze is made with bacon, dark corn syrup, and tomato paste. I may have to try that next time. And of course they served them with fresh lingonberries or lingonberry jam.

Mac and Cheese

January 20, 2015January 20, 2015 / featherheadlady / 4 Comments

Mac and cheese. It’s the ultimate comfort food. We all remember loving the neon orange stuff we made from the box when we were kids. Truth be known, many of us grown ups have whipped up a box and eaten it right out of the pot. One of our family’s favorite Mac and cheese stories involves a father, daughter dinner while I was out of town for work. Dad boiled the elbow macaroni to perfection and added the contents of the powdered cheese packet and the butter. What he forgot to do was drain the water from the pasta. Comfort food.

My Mac and cheese never tastes the same twice because I love mixing up the cheeses. But I always remember to drain the pasta.

Ingredients:

1 onion diced (about a cup)

6 T of butter

4 T flour

4 cups 2% or whole milk

2 T franks hot sauce

2 tsp dry mustard

fresh grated nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

4 cups of grated cheese; 3 or 4 varieties…you choose

14-16 oz box of pasta…you choose…cooked al dente per package instructions

Preheat your oven to 375.

In a heavy kettle or Dutch oven melt the butter. Add the diced onion and sauté over medium heat until tender but not browned. I had some poblano pepper left from another recipe so today I added that as well.

Once the onions are tender add the flour and make the roux. Cook for a minute or two stirring constantly.

Begin slowly adding the milk and continue stirring until it begins to thicken. Add the franks, the dry mustard, and salt and pepper.

Once the mixture has thickened begin adding the cheese a handful at a time and stir until the cheese is melted. Add another handful and so on until all of the cheese has been incorporated. Today I used a sharp Vermont cheddar, asiago, and fontina. I usually like using a bit of smoky cheese like a smoked Gouda but no smoked cheese in my cheese drawer.

Grate some fresh nutmeg into the cheese mixture.

Drain, but do not rinse, your pasta. Save a cup of the pasta water in case you need to add some liquid. Add the pasta to the cheese sauce, stir and pour into a lightly greased casserole dish.

Find some bread in your fridge and use your food processor to make some bread crumbs. Today I had some challah so I used that and added some fresh parsley in the food processor. Melt a couple tablespoons of butter in a skillet and toast the bread crumbs a bit. Sprinkle the crumbs over the Mac and cheese.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until bubbly and the top has crisped up and browned a bit.

Enjoy as a side dish or as a meal in itself. Great with greens, broccoli or fresh green beans.

I grew up in a rural area in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and attended a small school. We used to enjoy hearty homemade hot lunches that were really very good. Fridays were tuna casserole (not my fav), Mac and cheese or Welsh Rarebit days. The hot lunch version of Welsh Rarebit was very similar to this Mac and cheese recipe minus the pasta. The cheese sauce was served over toasted white bread that had been cubed. It was one of my favorites.

Enjoy the Mac and cheese. It’s what’s for dinner.

Cabbage and Sausage Bake

January 17, 2015January 17, 2015 / featherheadlady / 1 Comment

We all like one pan dinners with simple, very basic ingredients. This is a hardy meal that makes a great supper on a cold winter night. Easy to prepare and only one pan to wash! Preheat the oven to 375.

Ingredients:

1 head of cabbage

dozen or so new potatoes

6 slices thick bacon

2 cups (one large) yellow onion sliced thin

Polish sausage, kielbasa or bratwurst

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups chicken stock

Dice the bacon and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

I did everything in my roaster. Thin slice the onion. I used a mandolin but I good knife will work fine. Add the onion to the bacon and drippings and cook over medium heat until the onion is tender.

Once the onions are tender set them aside and sear the sausages to brown them up a bit.

While the sausages are browning up wash your potatoes. Cut the cabbage in half, then into quarters. Core the cabbage and cut each quarter in half again.

Remove the browned sausage from the roaster and turn off the flame. Arrange the cabbage wedges in the roaster rounded side down.

Arrange the potatoes around the cabbage.

Add the browned sausage.

Add the onions and bacon as well as the drippings. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the broth over everything and cover the pan tightly with foil.

Bake for 90 minutes. Let it sit covered for 15 minutes after you remove it from the oven before serving.

Serve with steamed fresh green beans or broccoli and some nice crusty bread. And, of course, some spicy mustard.

Cabbage and sausage bake. It’s what was for supper. My dad would have enjoyed sharing this supper with us.

NOTE: If you prefer a tomato taste substitute a can of diced or fire roasted tomatoes and one cup V-8 juice or tomato juice for the chicken stock.

Ring Bologna Bake – Käyrämakkarahe

January 9, 2015January 9, 2015 / featherheadlady / 7 Comments

Yup. That’s a ring bologna. It’s not my personal ring bologna and I’m not actually going to cook it but I’m going to tell you about ring bologna. It’s the crowning glory of one of my Dad’s favorite dinners. He calls it Finnish tube steak. You take a ring bologna, just like the one in the picture. Make a slit in the top all the way around. You put it in the oven at 350 for about 15-20 minutes and watch for it to begin to split open. Fill the opening with brown sugar and catsup and bake for another 15-20 minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes and a can of green beans or corn. I grew up in a family of 5 kids; me and 4 brothers. We had this quite frequently for dinner along with the potatoes and canned vegetables. I don’t know if my mother made two of them at a time or if all 7 of us shared the one Finnish tube steak. When my dad visited last summer I bought the best quality ring bologna I could find and made this for him. He was a happy man!

Since I’m not actually cooking one right now I had to get on line to find pictures and I discovered that ring bologna actually has it’s own Facebook page!

I’m not sure what the relationship is between the Green Bay Packers and ring bologna but this is ring bologna’s Facebook picture. I apologize to all the Lion fans in my family for this picture.

The other day I was reading through a Finnish cookbook by Beatrice Ojakangas and came across a couple paragraphs about ring bologna. She says, “Ring bologna is as popular in Finland as wienies are in the United States. The Finns have many ways to cook it. They cut it into pieces and cook it over a campfire as we cook wienies. A crowning touch to a sauna party in Finland is to roast ring bologna pieces over the hot sauna stove and eat the pieces with hot mustard. With these, one drinks kalja or olut (beer). Finns do not put the meat into bread as we do with weenies.”

Apparently the brown sugar and catsup bake is the Americanization of Finnish ring bologna.

In July of 1969 I traveled to Finland with my mummu (grandmother) and aunt and uncle. It was my grandmothers first visit back to her homeland in nearly 40 years. We spent a couple of weeks traveling the country and visiting family and friends. I had a vague recollection of the sauna/ring bologna experience so I got my “Air Travel Diary” out and read through the “places and events visited”.

July 13, 1969 we were in Kauhajoki visiting my grandfather’s relatives where I wrote, “He has a real nice home where we went to the sauna. The sauna had four rooms. First room was for undressing. Then you walked through the shower room and then into the hot sauna room. You suds up good and then back to the shower room to rinse off. Then you go into the sitting room before you dress and cook sauna bologna over a fire place.” There was no mention in my journal about beer but the adults may have imbibed. For non-Finnish readers unfamiliar with Finnish sauna practices I’ll elaborate on that another day.

I’ve been having long morning conversations with my dad and we get on these off the wall topics like ring bologna. While looking for suitable pictures I came across a Ring Bologna in the Crockpot recipe. Dad asked me to write it down and send it to him. He wants me to write it twice so he can mail a copy to a fellow Finn who loves ring bologna as much as my Dad does. If I ever make it I promise to blog about it. In the meantime get on line and check it out…there is a whole ring bologna culture out there!

Lemon and Garlic Chicken ala Pressure Cooker

January 6, 2015 / featherheadlady / 2 Comments

Can you imagine cooking an entire chicken in 15 minutes that is moist and fall off the bone tender and has a delicious sauce? It’s that easy in my electric pressure cooker. The beauty of this pressure cooker is that you can brown, boil, simmer and keep food warm. One pan to wash and it’s easy to clean. If you don’t have a pressure cooker you can surely prepare this recipe using a roaster in your oven. Use a meat thermometer to make sure your chicken reaches 165F. I used to be a little frightened of pressure cookers…some of you might be as well. Afraid it would start rocking on the stove and the top would blow off leaving dinner on the ceiling. Trust me, the new electric model is easy to use, safe, and not the least bit scary.

Though I love the combination of garlic and lemon I was a little concerned that the flavors might be too strong but they were not. The sauce had a nice citrus tang but was not overpowering. Good balance. I think you’ll like it.

Ingredients:

1 roasting chicken cut into pieces (I saved the back for broth)

kosher salt to taste

3 T canola or olive oil

5-6 cloves of garlic sliced

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp oregano

1/2 cup vermouth or dry white wine

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup chicken stock

Fresh parsley chopped

Generously salt chicken pieces and heat oil in the pressure cooker. Add the chicken, a few pieces at a time, and brown on both sides. Remove browned pieces to a platter. While your chicken is browning squeeze your lemons and slice your garlic.

Add the garlic, oregano and red pepper flakes to the hot oil and cook for about 1 minute until garlic becomes fragrant.

Add lemon juice, vermouth and stock to the pot and arrange the chicken in the liquid.

Lock the lid and cook at high pressure for 15 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally. Remove the chicken to a serving platter. Bring the sauce to a boil and stir in chopped parsley. If you wish you can thicken the juices with a little flour or corn starch. Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve.

While the chicken was cooking I decided to prepare some smashed cauliflower for a side. An easy, tasty side.

Ingredients:

1 large head cauliflower cleaned and cut up

3-4 garlic cloves (I know, no vampires in our house!)

1-2 cups chicken stock or broth

1/2 cup Romano cheese shredded

1/2 cup Le Gruyere cheese shredded

2-3 green onions thin sliced

salt and pepper (white pepper if you have it) to taste

2 T butter

Cook cauliflower and garlic cloves in the chicken broth until the cauliflower is fork tender. Drain off the broth holding a little back to add in while smashing. Add butter to the cauliflower and begin mashing with an ordinary potato masher until the consistency of mashed potatoes. Add some of the broth if necessary. Add the shredded cheese, salt and pepper to taste and green onions stirring well. This is one of my favorite sides!

I was always taught to use contrasting colors on your plate and white and white are a bit off putting. So I added a sizable sprig of parsley (good for getting rid of garlic breath after dinner) and some cranberry relish which I think is a must have for any poultry dish.

And then there was color.

Lemon and garlic chicken with smashed cauliflower. It’s what’s for dinner tonight. And tomorrow night.

NOTE: My lemons were particularly juicy and 2 of them made a little over 3/4 cup of juice. I put the extra juice in a small zip lock snack bag and freeze it for a time when I have no fresh lemons on hand.

And seriously, parsley IS a good breath freshener.

Spiral Veggie Pie

January 4, 2015 / featherheadlady / 2 Comments

A few weeks ago a friend posted a recipe for a veggie spiral that looked beautiful and challenging. I love making meatless dishes and decided to try a modified version of the recipe. In the making of this dish I decided I need a new mandolin. Mine didn’t seem to cut the veggies as thin as they should have been and I had to use a wide peeler for the sweet potatoes and carrots.

Preheat oven to 375.

Ingredients:

2-3 yellow squash

2-3 zucchini

2 small eggplants

2 carrots

2 sweet potatoes

4 oz cream cheese at room temperature

1/2 cup sour cream

2 T Dijon mustard

fresh sage leaves

salt and pepper

olive oil

single pie crust

Prepare your pie crust.

Using a mandolin (or wide peeler) thin slice the vegetables. Do not peel the vegetables; the skins add color to the dish.

Using a hand mixer beat cream cheese, sour cream, and Dijon mustard until smooth.

Spread cream cheese mixture in the pie shell. Sprinkle with chiffonaded sage leaves.

Begin rolling the veggies, skin side up, in a spiral alternating the colors. Continue until you reach the ends of the dish.

Drizzle with olive oil and season with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.

Cool for 5 minutes, slice and enjoy.

Great served with a salad and bread. It’s a beautiful dish in its own right that’s fun to prepare. A perfect vegetarian dish or a side for a meat dish.

Beef Short Ribs Asian Style

January 3, 2015 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

I’ve been on holiday, so to speak, but I’m back to cooking and baking and blogging!

Last year I asked for and received an electric pressure cooker for Christmas. Like a lot of kitchen appliances I used it a lot at first and hadn’t taken it out for awhile. While we were visiting our daughter and her boyfriend over Christmas they reminded me how awesome this electric pressure cooker is and I remembered why I asked for it in the first place. It was late and we hadn’t planned on what was for dinner that night. They took a soup bone out of the freezer…yes, the freezer… put the frozen bone, some vegetables, broth and spices into the pressure cooker and in less than an hour we had truly awesome, tasty soup. Just before serving they added some cooked kale and gnocchi and garnished the soup with Parmesan. How great to be able to prepare great food with complex flavors in no time at all when you’ve worked all day.

Sometimes we can learn things from our kids! When I came home the pressure cooker was put back in service.

Tonight I made beef short ribs Asian style with rice and stir fried vegetables. The pressure cooker is easy to use and makes the meat fall off the bone tender.

Ingredients:

Beef short ribs, approximately 3-4 pounds with bone in

kosher salt and course ground pepper to taste

3 T olive oil

5-6 garlic cloves minced

1 T fresh grated ginger

1/4 cup soy salt

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

1/4 cup catsup (or 2 T tomato paste)

1 1/2 cups beef broth

2 T cornstarch

1/4 cup water or broth

Heat 2 T of the olive oil in the pressure cooker. Generously salt and pepper the ribs, add to the pressure cooker and brown. Transfer them to a plate as they get done.

Heat the remaining 1 T of oil and add the garlic, ginger, soy sauce, hoisin, catsup, and broth to the pot.

Stir to blend. Return the browned meat to the pot. Lock the lid and cook at high pressure for 25 minutes.

Release the pressure naturally. Remove the lid tilting it away from you to avoid escaping steam. Skim off any excess fat from the top of the sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil. Whisk the 2 T of corn starch into the water or broth and add to the sauce stirring until it’s thickened. Cover and keep on the warm setting until ready to serve.

While the ribs are cooking prepare the rice of your choice (jasmine, brown, long grain white).

Choose some of your favorite vegetables and do a quick stir fry. I used carrots, celery, onion, red pepper, pea pods, and broccoli.

Heat 2 T olive or sesame oil in a wok or heavy skillet. Cook your vegetables until tender crisp.

Plate your food. First the rice topped with the vegetables and short ribs. Ladle the sauce over the dish. I garnished with green onion, basil, and sesame seeds.

Short ribs with rice, stir fried veggies, and a rich, tasty sauce. It’s what was for dinner tonight.

NOTE: When I buy ginger I peel it, cut it into several pieces and freeze it in zip lock bags. I always have fresh ginger and it grates easily when frozen.

Pizza

December 19, 2014 / featherheadlady / 3 Comments

Almost everyone loves pizza! Hot pizza or cold pizza, deep dish or thin crust, lots of cheese or lots of sauce, meat lovers or veggie, white or red. There are so many variations, pizza can make almost everyone happy. You can divide the dough into small balls and roll out little individual pizzas. Let everyone choose their own toppings; a particularly fun thing to do with kids. Pizza. It’s what’s for dinner.

Pizza night starts with the crust.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups tepid water

2 1/4 tsp dry yeast

1/2 tsp salt

1 T olive oil

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp each dried oregano and basil (optional)

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Place tepid water in a bowl and mix in yeast and salt. Add the olive oil. Add 1 1/2 cups of flour, garlic, and herbs and stir with a wooden spoon. Add remaining flour and knead for five minutes until you have a smooth dough. Grease a bowl and allow the dough to rise until doubled in size, approximately an hour.

Divide dough in half or in smaller portions if making small, individual pizzas. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface.

Preheat the oven to 450.

Once you roll the dough out place on a lightly greased pizza pan. Fold the edges over, lightly rub down with olive oil and pre-bake for approximately ten minutes. This helps to keep the crust from getting soggy.

Now we are ready to top the pizza. There are many prepared sauces that you might like or you can use fire roasted tomatoes, a little olive oil, and some herbs.

Blend the tomatoes, 1 T of olive oil and herbs to taste. Spread the sauce on your pre-baked crust.

Choose your favorite toppings. Tonight I’m using onions, peppers, artichoke hearts, portabella mushrooms, tomatoes and some organic pepperoni.

Spread the toppings.

I used romano cheese and fresh mozzarella. Grate the hard cheese over the toppings and distribute slices of mozzarella.

Bake for approximately 25 minutes until cheese is golden brown and bubbly. Enjoy this thing of beauty with a cold beer, soda, a nice wine or a glass of milk.

Like I mentioned earlier there are countless pizza toppings for every taste. Sausage, bacon, ham, pepperoni. Spinach, fresh basil leaves, arugula. Sweet peppers, banana peppers, peppadews, green olives, kalamata olives, black olives. Mushrooms, fresh tomatoes, roasted garlic, artichokes, asparagus, zucchini. And pineapple…my least favorite topping. Love it in an upside down cake but leave it off my pizza.

Mozzarella is the most common of pizza cheeses but provolone, feta, Parmesan, Romano, asiago, goat cheese, even Gorgonzola are great options. Different cheeses pair well with different veggies and meats. Most grocery deli sections and frozen food aisles have countless types and brands of pizzas. If you don’t have time to make a pizza from scratch doctor a grocery pizza up with fresh toppings and extra cheese to make it your own.

Note: The crust recipe makes enough for 2 large pizzas. If you only plan to make one, freeze half the dough BEFORE you let it rise. Divide the dough and place half in a zip lock freezer bag. When you’re ready to make a second pizza let it thaw/rise and your ready for pizza #2.

Boiled Dinner

December 15, 2014 / featherheadlady / 2 Comments

Boiled dinner is comfort food. It’s not glamorous or gourmet dining. It’s a dinner my grandmother used to make with pork chops or pork steaks. She probably didn’t put any vegetables or tomatoes in because my grandfather was a meat and potatoes kind of guy. I’m going to make our boiled dinner with Polish sausage. This dish is one of my dad’s favorites and I’m wishing he was here with us to enjoy it. A very simple dish to prepare in one pot. It’s a dish that is flexible and can accommodate to what’s in your fridge or what’s not in your fridge. I’ll give you the basics.

Ingredients:

2 T olive oil

1 medium head of cabbage

1 large onion

3 carrots

2 stalks of celery

5-6 redskin potatoes

3-4 cloves of garlic minced

2 tsp caraway seeds

salt and pepper to taste

1 pound Polish sausage

1 pint stewed tomatoes

4 cups chicken broth

Rough chop the onion, celery and carrots. Heat olive oil in a heavy kettle and sweat the vegetables for 3 minutes or so. Mince the garlic cloves and add to the kettle.

Rough chop the potatoes and rinse them. Add to the other vegetables in the kettle.

Core and rough chop the cabbage and add to the kettle.

Cut the sausage into 1 inch pieces and add to the kettle. Add the caraway seed and salt and pepper to taste. Add tomatoes and chicken broth. Cover the kettle and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Reduce heat. Simmer over low heat for 2 hours or so. Occasionally give it a stir.

Ladle into soup dishes, add a small pat of butter and enjoy with some good bread.

So that’s a boiled dinner. You could substitute pork chops or pork steaks. Cube them and let them cook in the broth. If you prefer andouille or a mild Italian sausage that will work. If you want more vegetables add green beans, parsnips, rutabaga, or turnips.

It’s what’s for dinner.

The Finnish Dish

Cooking in Michigan with Ruth

Main Dishes

Chicken Piccata

Sweet n Sour Stuffed Cabbage

Mac and Cheese

Cabbage and Sausage Bake

Ring Bologna Bake – Käyrämakkarahe

Lemon and Garlic Chicken ala Pressure Cooker

Spiral Veggie Pie

Beef Short Ribs Asian Style

Pizza

Boiled Dinner