Andouille Sausage, Tomatoes and Rice

September 23, 2015 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

Andouilli is a smoked sausage made from pork and seasoned with garlic, peppers, onion, and seasonings. A little spicy. It’s very common in Louisiana Creole cuisine. The organic meat market where I purchase all of my meat makes an especially good andouilli.

One pot dishes are always a treat after a long day when you don’t have a lot of time to put a homemade meal on the table. This is a tasty dish that’s a little kicked up (you can kick it up a little more if you’d like). Some of the kick comes from the andouilli sausage. You can prep and cook this dish in less than an hour. A little bit of New Orleans on your table and only one pan to wash.

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil

1 medium onion rough chopped

1 cup rough chopped pepper (I used an orange bell pepper and a poblano)

3-4 cloves of garlic minced

4 links adouille sausage (a little under one pound)

1 cup long grain rice, uncooked

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp coarse ground black pepper

1 tsp oregano

1 bay leaf

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 pint diced tomatoes

1 T tomato pastee

1 T Franks Hot Sauce

Heat the olive oil in a heavy fry pan or Dutch oven. Dice the onion and peppers, mince the garlic and slice the sausage links. Saute for about 5 minutes.

Measure out the spices and add to the sausage and vegetables along with the rice.

Stir and saute for 1-2 minutes. Add the chicken broth, tomato paste, tomatoes and Franks.

Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 25 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the pan to stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Stir and serve.

I served it with some steamed asparagus and a wedge of buttermilk cornbread. I’ve always been a little wimpy about spice but my palate is adjusting. I loved this dish.

If you’d like, you can add some shrimp to this dish. After the first 20 minutes of simmering, stir in the shrimp, cover, and continue cooking for 5 more minutes.

NOTE: I have mentioned this before but recipes always call for one or two tablespoons of tomato paste. I open both ends of a small can of tomato paste and put the can in the freezer for an hour or so. Once the paste has firmed up push it out of the can, slice it and freeze individual slices in snack bags. You always have just the right amount of tomato paste at the ready.

Southern Style Green Beans

September 22, 2015 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

Might not be the healthiest green beans but they are really yummy. Good things happen when you add bacon to things. My daughter always says, evereything is better with butter and bacon. I think I agree. I got this recipe from an old friend who no longer speaks to me. Glad she shared the recipe before she stopped talking to me. There are loads of fresh green beans available right now and this makes a perfect side to almost any main dish.

Ingredients:

1 pound fresh green beans cut into 2-3 inch pieces

4 slices of bacon diced

1 medium sweet onion diced

1 T reserved bacon drippings

2 tsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/2 cup water

1 T brown sugar

1 T cider vinegar

Steam green beans just until tender. If you have someone in your family who likes their green beans overcooked, keep steaming until you consider them done. Cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Drain and reserve about 1 T of bacon drippings.

Cook diced onion in the reserved drippings until tender but not browned.

Whisk together cornstarch, salt, mustard and water. Stir into the onions and simmer until thickened. Happens quickly.

Stir in brown sugar and vinegar.

Add the steamed green beans and heat thoroughly.

Top with bacon bits and serve immediately.

I served the green beans with lightly breaded and baked lake trout but these would be excellent with pork chops, meat loaf, fried chicken.

NOTE: My mother always saved bacon drippings in a metal container that said
“GREASE” on it. She kept it in the cupboard, unrefrigerated. It had a kind of basting brush in the container and she would brush the top of fresh baked bread with it, grease baking casseroles, etc. All of the savory dishes we use PAM for she used her container of bacon grease. And we all lived to tell about it. I still save bacon drippings and use them frequently to saute onions and other veggies. However, I keep my bacon drippings in the refrigerator.

Salsa

September 21, 2015September 21, 2015 / featherheadlady / 1 Comment

I’ve been doing a lot of canning this last month. I did a bushel of beets (now pickled) and a bushel of cucumbers (now bread and butter and dill pickles).

I put up 2 1/2 bushels of tomatoes. Some just plain diced tomatoes, some stewed tomatoes, and, this year, salsa. Nothing is better than a winter of making chili or tomatoe sauce or soup with tomatoes that you canned yourself. And we enjoy a lot of tomato dishes. Salsa was a new experiment this year and, if I say so myself, it turned out quite well.

Ingredients:

15 cups diced tomatoes

1 each red, yellow and orange pepper small diced

1/2 each of a red, white, and sweet yellow onion small diced

3 jalapeno peppers seeded and small diced (use the seeds if you like a spicier salsa)

2 serrano peppers seeded and small diced

2 anaheim peppers seeded and small diced

1 1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 T salt

Core the tomatoes, put them in boiling water for 2-3 minutes to split and loosen the skin and transfer them to an ice water bath.

Peel and dice the tomatoes.

Wash, core and dice the peppers and peel and dice the onions.

Combine the tomatoes and onion and pepper mix in a heavy, non-aluminum kettle. Add the salt and vinegar and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes stirring occastionlly.

Put the salsa in sterilized pint jars leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Wipe the rim of the jar with a clean cloth. Put the a lid on each jar and process in a hot water bath canner for 25 minutes.

Remove jars from the water bath, place on a heavy towel and allow to cool. Wait 24 hours and test each jar to be sure it has sealed by pressing down on the lid.

The “heat” level may increase over time. I like medium salsa. If you like yours hotter don’t seed the peppers and/or add additional hot peppers. We ate some of the salsa while it was still warm on tortilla chips and later on tacos. It was great! I haven’t tried this yet but I’m thinking a jar of this salsa would be a perfect addition to a pot of chili.

Pork Tenderloin

September 21, 2015September 21, 2015 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

Pork tenderloin is one of our favorite pork dishes. It’s relatively easy to prepare and, when done properly, is extremely tender. The small loins I get from my favorite organic market are perfect for the two of us with a little left over. It tastes awesome cold and thin sliced the next day. I’m always happy when no one requests additional seasoning or sauce. None was necessary for this dish.

Ingredients:

Pork loin (mine was a little over one pound)

1 red bell pepper sliced thin

1 sweet yellow onion sliced thin

1 cup baby portabellas rough chopped

3-4 cloves of garlic sliced thin

1 T rosemary

1 T thyme

1 T course ground pepper

1 T course sea salt or kosher salt

2 T olive oil

Preheat oven to 325.

Slice onion and pepper and rough chop mushrooms. Heat 1 T oil in a cast iron pan or dutch oven. Cook vegetables over medium heat until tender. About 5 minutes.

Slice garlic cloves. Combine rosemary, thyme, pepper and salt and mix together.

Add garlic to the other vegetables and cook until fragrant. Another minute or so. Remove vegetables to a plate. Rub the pork loin with the other tablespoon of oil and coat both sides of the loin with the spice mix. Heat the skillet over high heat and sear the loin on both sides.

Remove the loin from the pan and return the vegetables to the skillet. Place the loin atop the vegetables and put the pan in the oven. Heat to 160 degrees.

Remove from the oven and allow the meat to rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Slice and serve on top of a generous spoonful of the vegetables.

I served the pork loin with potatoes mashed with goat cheese and fresh spinach wilted with garlic and red pepper flakes. The pork is also excellent served with smashed sweet potatoes. Enjoy! We did.

Chicken Cacciatore

September 9, 2015 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

I recently picked up a Step by Step Italian Recipes magazine by America’s Test Kitchen and came upon a recipe for Chicken Cacciatore. Prepared the proper Italian way. I’ve made Chicken Cacciatore for years and years but a bit differently than the Test Kitchens. So I thought I’d try their recipe to see which we liked better. I’m always about changing things up.

Ingredients:

6-8 bone in chicken thighs (I used 2 thighs, 2 legs)

salt and pepper

1 tsp olive oil

1 onion chopped

3 portobello mushroom caps cubed (I used baby Bellas)

4 garlic cloves

1 1/2 T AP flour

1 1/2 cups dry red wine

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes drained

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 Parmesan cheese rind

2 tsp minced fresh thyme and 2 tsp minced fresh sage (I used basil)

Heat oil in a Dutch oven to shimmering. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and cook, skin side down, until browned. About 4 minutes per side.

Remove the chicken to a plate and drain off all but about a tablespoon of the drippings. Add the vegetables and cook over medium heat stirring occasionally until the vegetables are tender. (I also added a sweet orange bell pepper.). Season with salt.

Add minced garlic and cook another minute until fragrant. Stir in the flour and cook for one minute stirring constantly.

Add the wine scraping up browned bits. Stir in tomatoes and broth. Season with salt and pepper.

Remove the skin from the chicken and submerge the chicken into the gravy as well as the Parmesan rind. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer 45-60 minutes.

Discard the rind before serving. Taste the gravy and season to taste. Serve over the pasta of your choosing.

I served it over spaghetti with grated asiago. It was good. But the consensus at our house was the not-authentic cacciatore is better. Sorry Test Kitchen.

Cook the chicken the same as referenced above. The way I’ve always made the gravy for cacciatore begins with dicing 5-6 slices of bacon. I cook the bacon until most of the fat is rendered but the bacon isn’t crisp. Drain off most of the fat and cook the vegetables (mushrooms, onion, and peppers) until tender. Add the garlic and basil. Cook until fragrant. Stir in 1 T of tomato paste. Stir in 1/2 cup of dry red wine scraping up any browned bits. Stir in 1 quart of tomatoes. Add the bacon, Parmesan rind, and submerge the chicken into the gravy. Cook 45-60 minutes. Serve over the pasta of your choosing.

You see the difference. A lot more tomato, a lot less wine. And bacon. My daughter says everything is better with bacon. And in this recipe I agree.

Try it both ways. Try it somewhere in between. Cooking is all about experimenting with recipes until you find something that tastes great to you.

Let me know what you think.

Succotash Reinvented

September 9, 2015 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

Succotash consists primarily of sweet corn and Lima beans. Mostly Lima beans. Frequently when we would visit my mother-in-law she would say, “I made your favorite! Lima beans.” But Lima beans really are not a favorite at our house. We’ve been out of town for several days and I was looking in the fridge for something to make for a side dish. I had a few ears of fresh corn from a cookout we had before we left, a poblano pepper, and some asparagus so I decided to reinvent succotash to suit our palates.

Ingredients:

4 ears of fresh corn cut off the cob

1 bunch of asparagus spears chopped

1 poblano pepper seeded and rough chopped

1/2 cup of red onion rough chopped

good drizzle of olive oil

salt and coarse black pepper to taste

Preheat your broiler.

Toss all of the ingredients together and spread out on a baking sheet covered in foil. Drizzle with olive oil and add a generous amount of cracked pepper and salt to taste.

Broil for 15-20 minutes stirring a couple times. Cook until you have a little char on the vegetables.

Keep warm in the oven until ready to serve. Tonight we had smoked pork chops, smashed cauliflower and the succotash.

The succotash would be good with red or orange bell peppers, fresh green beans, or, if you like, Lima beans. Enjoy.

Stuffed Meatloaf

August 20, 2015 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

I haven’t made a stuffed meatloaf in a long time. You can stuff it with any combination of veggies and cheeses based on your personal favorites. I decided to stuff mine with caramelized onions, oven roasted tomatoes and cheese. How can that combo not be good!! I had some very special friends coming for dinner and decided this was a bit of sophisticated twist on a homey comfort dish.

First I sliced and roasted several Roma tomatoes. Lay the tomato slices out on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil, scatter some smashed garlic cloves and salt to taste. Put in a 225 degree oven for approximately 5 hours.

Grate approximately 1 cup of cheese. I used asiago and Parmesan.

Next, slice a large yellow sweet onion and caramelize it over medium heat in olive oil.

Meatloaf Ingredients:

1 pound of ground pork

1 pound of ground beef

1 cup bread crumbs

2 eggs

2 T Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup fresh minced parsley

3 or 4 cloves of garlic minced

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 350.

Put all of the ingredients in a large bowl and, using your hands, mix together.

On a piece of parchment paper shape the meat mixture into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Top with the tomatoes and onion and sprinkle with cheese.

Using the parchment paper roll the meatloaf jelly roll style and place in a large baking dish.

Meat Loaf Topping Ingredients:

1 cup catsup

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/4 cup brown sugar

Whisk together.

Pour the sauce over the meatloaf and bake for approximately one hour. Allow it to rest 5-10 minutes before slicing.

I served it with oven roasted Brussels sprouts and new potatoes. Would also be great with smashed potatoes, corn on the cob… any sides you would typically serve with meatloaf.

Painted Pinecones

August 17, 2015August 17, 2015 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

I’ve seen these painted pine cones everywhere. On Pinterest and on Facebook. A very crafty young lady I know had them on her Facebook page which is where I first saw them. Thanks Stephanie! So I decided to make some of these wanna be zinnias for myself. When I was in the Upper Peninsula for a music festival I picked up a small bag full of the squat pine cones for painting.

I bought inexpensive paints and brushes, covered a work area and started painting. I have to admit it was tedious. Very tedious. Some of the paint colors did not cover well like the golds and lavenders and they required multiple coats. I was wishing I had a friend to paint these with while drinking adult beverages but I persevered and finished the pine cones I had.

The paint I chose was flat or matte, whatever the correct term is for dull. So I got a can of gloss clear coat, placed the cones on an egg carton and sprayed them. I did three coats total. I liked them much better.

I first arranged them in a wooden bowl. But a friend’s daughter suggested a cylindrical glass container and I had just the thing.

I like them a lot in my candle holder. Thanks Stacey. It could use a few more cones but I’m over the painting mess. I may just spray some natural cones and mix them in.

Tomato and Cheese Tart

August 17, 2015 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

I have taken a bit of a hiatus from blogging. Not from cooking and baking. But from blogging. My father was visiting for a couple of weeks and I made a lot of very basic meals that he really likes. Potatoes in various forms, pork chops, baked ring bologna, fish, spaghetti and meatballs. And I didn’t blog those dishes. I also spent quite a bit of time recently in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with my dad and cooking in his kitchen is quite challenging. No good chefs knives, an electric stove, and odds and ends of cookware…never exactly what you’re looking for. You need to be cautious of expiration dates and the spice cabinet has salt, pepper, garlic, Lawrys, cinnamon sticks that should only be used for art projects, and a huge jar of mustard seed. Actually I SHOULD blog from his house because cooking there is more of a challenge but there is also no internet. Now I’m back home and back to experimenting with recipes as well as blogging old favorites. In a recent issue of one of my many cooking magazines I found a recipe for a Tomato, Bacon, and Gruyere Tart. I first made this as a savory breakfast dish for guests and later made it as a dinner dish with the help of a friend. Both times I modified the recipe. More modifications the second time. But both times it was absolutely yummy. Both times I doubled the recipe and made two tarts. The ingredients listed are for two tarts.

Ingredients:

2 thawed Puff Pastry sheets

1/2 pound bacon cooked crisp, drained and crumbled

2 cups shredded gruyere cheese

1 cup shredded asiago cheese

3 thin sliced heirloom tomatoes

1/2-1/4 cup diced onion

1/2 cup chopped baby portabella mushrooms

1/2 cup thin sliced fresh basil

salt and pepper to taste

1 egg beaten with 1 tsp of water for brushing the pastry

(The second time I made it I added the onions and mushrooms.)

Preheat your oven to 400.

Roll out the pastry sheets on a lightly floured surface into approximately a 10″x14″ rectangle and transfer to a backing sheet lined with parchment paper.

Shred the cheeses.

Leaving a couple inch border on each side sprinkle each sheet with half of the cheeses. Top with the crumbled bacon, onion, and mushrooms.

Using a sharp knife or mandolin slice the tomatoes thinly. If you are using heirlooms alternate colors.

Fold the long sides over and cut small vents. Fold the short ends a little and pinch them together. Brush with the egg wash.

Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy every bite. We did!!

When I served this for breakfast we has toasted cinnamon bread and fresh fruit.

This recipe is only limited by your imagination. You can change up the cheeses and add other veggies like thin sliced summer squash, artichokes, spinach or kale. I think I’m going to make it with gruyere and blue cheese next time.

Refrigerator Voyeur

July 25, 2015July 29, 2015 / featherheadlady / Leave a comment

Several years ago we were at an outdoor party, I think celebrating someone’s retirement. We were all gathered round in the backyard eating snacks and drinking adult beverages when one of the female guests went into the house to use the necessary room. We saw her turn on the light and she obviously used the toilet because for a minute or two she was out of view. Then some of us pretended not to watched as she went over to the sink and proceeded to open the medicine cabinet. She removed a couple items for closer evaluation and then put them back where she found them. She closed the medicine cabinet and bent down. We assume to look through the vanity drawers. The light went out and in a moment she was back outdoors with the rest of us. No one spoke a word to the medicine cabinet voyeur about what several of us had witnessed and chuckled quietly about.

When I go to visit my dad I am a refrigerator voyeur. Someone needs to be. Checking for expiration dates or foods that are penicillin material. Perhaps I’m not an adequate refrigerator peeping Tom because on one visit my nieces found some very very old milk in the back of the refrigerator. They asked me what they should do with it and I said pour it down the toilet. “Aunt Featherheadlady,” they said, “it won’t come out of the carton.” Well that says it all.

I’m always curious about what people in front of or behind me have in their shopping carts. Do they make meals from scratch? Bake a lot? Buy organic? Eat gluten free? Vegetarian or vegan? Junk food junkies? Do they have lots of children? Eat alone? Maybe I’ll start taking pictures of the content of people’s shopping carts and try to draw conclusions about their lives. I guess I’m just as nosy as the lady who combed through that medicine cabinet.

I thought I’d share a few of my refrigerator shelves with you. Most of these things I consider necessities for cooking savory dishes. I have specific places for specific things. When my husband is rummaging through the fridge I ask him what he’s looking for. Because I know where almost everything is in there. Almost everything.

Shelf #1

Sweet relish for making tartar sauce. Some people use it as a stand alone condiment but I do not.

Dijon mustard for making salad dressing, potato salad, deviled eggs, barbecue sauce, and for smearing on sandwiches or burgers.

Chipotle hot sauce??? Where did that come from?

Anchovy filets and paste for making pasta sauces and Caesar salad dressing.

Hoisin sauce for stir-fry or dipping sauces.

Horseradish for making cocktail sauce, bloody Mary’s, dipping sauce for beef brisket, or kicking up the deviled eggs a bit.

Shelf #2

Fish sauce for stir-fry, marinades, Asian vinaigrette.

Sriracha chili sauce for dipping sauces, glaze.

Franks red hot for so many things…macaroni and cheese, potato salad, bloody Mary’s, tacos, barbecue sauce…

A1 sauce for foods I cook that my husband thinks are dry or insufficiently seasoned.

Worcestershire sauce…Lea and Perrins…for so many things. (I think it’s wrong to take the paper off the bottle.) It has vinegar, molasses, sugar, onion, garlic, cloves, chili pepper extract and anchovies. Genius.

Shelf #3

Chili pepper for kicking up chili, dips, salsa, guacamole. A little goes a long way.

Toasted sesame oil for marinades, stir-fried dishes, rice noodles. A little goes a long way.

Soy sauce for stir-fry, marinades, sushi. Like Worcestershire and Franks, soy sauce is a necessity.

Lemon oil which is great for fish dishes and salad dressings.

Saigon sizzle stir-fry sauce when you want a good, not much extra effort, dinner in the wok.

That’s the left side of my refrigerator door. My cooking necessities. The other side has things like buttermilk, brooks tangy catsup, dark chocolate syrup, jalapeño peppers, lots of butter, mayonnaise, maple syrup, and a big container of Pepto Bismol.

Another time I’ll invite you into my cheese drawer.