Friday, December 17, 2010

Recipes from "Heat n' Serve" blog

When I set out to make these recipes, the main idea was to do anything that would help heat the house, since we were not using our heat at the time, due to our air handler's odd behavior and fears of a possible fire. So I chose to bake chicken and potatoes in the oven to help generate some heat. So along with the extra warmth, we got a bonus of some delicious, roasted food that was quite simple to throw together!

Roast Chicken Thighs

*Since there is just my husband and I, we can cook in small amounts. A family of 4 will wish to either have 4-6 thighs or roast a whole chicken.

2-chicken thighs, with the bone and skin on
assorted seasonings (any you like. I used kosher salt, pepper, Lawry's Poultry Seasoning,
Thyme & a little granulated garlic)
Olive oil (and a drop of canola oil to "oil" the baking dish with)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Pat chicken pieces dry and lay, skin-side up, in oiled baking dish. Rub a bit of olive oil around each piece then season as you like. Bake, uncovered, about 45-50 minutes.


Scalloped-Gratin Potatoes

2 medium-sized white potatoes, peeled and sliced (rather thin slices, like 1/8" wide)
small amount chicken broth
small amount half n' half or milk (if desired) *I did not use this, but it is common with scalloped
potatoes).
Grated cheese, your choice (suggested: Fontina or Mexican cheese blend, can also be cheddar...
your choice).
A couple pats butter, cut up
Assorted seasonings: Lawry's seasoning salt, white pepper, chives. (Whatever you like).
Drop of canola oil (to "oil" baking dish)

Place sliced potatoes in a small baking dish. (You can increase the potatoes, ingredients & dish, depending on how many people you are feeding). Pour in broth (and a bit of milk, if using), not too much, just till you can see it when you look down into the potatoes. Put in the cheeses and seasonings and toss around. Lay on the cut up pats of butter. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. You can either put this in the oven uncovered the whole time, or loosely cover it with foil at first, then remove part-way. This time I covered it loosely till partway ('cause I did not want to darken the cheese too much), but I'd added a little too much broth, and this would have probably completely boiled down nicely had I left it uncovered the whole time, allowing evaporation. You will have to be the judge. The other option is you leave it uncovered the whole time, then the last 15 minutes, sprinkle the cheeses on. Enjoy!

*We enjoyed this was some Smoking Loon Chardonnay.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Crème Brûlée Cheesecake

To Make The Crust:

  • 2 cups of finely crushed Vanilla Wafer crumbs
  • 3 Tbs of Granulated Sugar
  • 7-8 Tbs of Unsalted Butter, melted
Place your oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375F

Then in a medium bowl, stir together the vanilla wafer crumbs and 3 Tbs. granulated sugar. Mix in the melted butter until the crumbs are evenly moist and clump together slightly. Transfer the mixture to a 9-inch springform pan and press evenly onto the bottom and about 2 inches up the sides of the pan (to press, use plastic wrap or a flat-bottom measuring cup). Bake until the crust is  slightly darkened about 9 to 12 minutes. Let the pan cool on a rack.

Lower the oven temperature to 300°F.

Cheesecake:
  • 3- 8 ounce packages of cream cheese, softened to room temperature
  • 8 ounces of mascarpone
  • 2 Tbs of all-purpose flour
  • Pinch of table salt
  • 1 1/4 cups of granulated sugar
  • 1 Tbs of pure vanilla abstract
  • 4 Large Eggs, @ room temperature
  • 2 Tbs granulated sugar
In a stand mixer beat the cream cheese, mascarpone, flour, and a pinch of table salt on medium speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently, until very smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Make sure the cheese has no lumps.

Add the 1-1/4 cups granulated sugar and continue beating until well blended and smooth.


Add the vanilla and beat until blended, about 30 seconds. Add the eggs one at a time, beating just until blended. (Don’t overbeat once the eggs have been added or the cheesecake will puff too much and crack as it cools.) Pour the filling into the cooled crust and smooth the top.

Bake at 300°F until the center jiggles like Jell-O when nudged, 55 to 65 minutes. The cake will be slightly puffed around the edges, and the center will still look moist. Set on a rack and cool completely. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 8 hours and up to 3 days.
Unclasp and remove the side of the springform pan and run a long, thin metal spatula under the bottom crust of the cheesecake. Carefully slide the cake onto a flat serving plate.



Sprinkle the 2 Tbs. granulated sugar evenly over the top of the cheesecake and slowly pass a hand-held kitchen torch over the sugar until melted and caramelized.

To cut, run a thin knife under hot water, wipe it dry, and cut the cake into slices, heating and wiping the knife after every slice.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Recipes for a "Leaner" Christmas!

Baked Tilapia with Sage-Butter Sauce (served with steamed blue potatoes & carrots and spinach salads)

for 2 people (multiply recipe as needed)

2-Tilapia filets
asst'd seasonings (such as lemon-pepper, Old Bay, Lawry's Seasoning Salt, etc.)
drizzle olive oil

Spray or coat a glass baking dish with canola oil. Lay fish filets in it and season (not too heavily, but don't be too "light", either). Drizzle with a little olive oil over each filet. Preheat oven to 350. Put, uncovered, in oven and bake till done (anywhere from 15-25 minutes--you be the judge!).

Butter sauce: Clip a few leaves of fresh sage. Chop them and add them to a few (3-4) pats of melted butter and stir around. Add a pinch of kosher salt and stir around. When ready to plate meal, spoon sage-butter sauce over both the fish and whole roasted potatoes.

Steamed Potatoes & carrots: *You should start steaming these before you bake the fish. You will have to be the judge of of when they are done to your liking. I used a large pot with a lid and put a steamer "basket" on the inside, filling water up to the basket. I steamed a total of 8 blue potatoes (4 apiece) along with some diagonal slivers of 1 peeled fresh carrot. Just steam until they are tender to your liking and a fork easily pierces them.

Spinach Salad: Put fresh baby spinach leaves in a bowl. Add slices of 1-2 hard-boiled eggs, diced/sliced tomato, bacon bits and croutons. *Of course, all of these toppings are optional, you can omit any of them and add what you like. Use the salad dressing of your choice.

*This meal paired with M'enage 'a Trois Chardonnay 2007.



"Moussaka Stacks" based on a recipe in "How to Roast a Lamb" by Michael Psilakis

We had a hunk of pork in the freezer (a shoulder or ham). We seasoned it with kosher salt and black pepper and seared the pork in a pot with some olive oil. Take out the pork and put on a platter. To the pot, add: 4-5 cloves chopped garlic, 1-2 stalks chopped celery and a chopped carrot. Saute' till the veggies start to become soft. Add around 1/4 cup of tomato paste and stir around. Add a cup of dry red wine to the pan and stir around. Then add a couple Tbsp red wine vinegar. Allow the wine/vinegar to nearly cook away. Add about 2 tsp dried Oregano (preferably Greek), 2 tbsp Dijon mustard, a few sprigs of thyme, around 2 sprigs of rosemary and some water (a couple quarts?). You will have to adjust water and seasonings as you see fit...I never really cook specifically to a recipe. Return pork to the pot, bring to boil, reduce temp and simmer under a partly covered lid. Simmer till meat is tender. somewhere around 2 hours?... Transfer the meat and any veggies to a platter. Reduce pan juices over high heat till thickened and swirl in a garlic puree' with fresh herbs. Drizzle over pork, along with a drizzle of olive oil THIS is the pork I use to make the "Moussaka Stack".
Moussaka Stack: Peel & thinly slice (preferably on a mandoline) 1 white potato and 2 Japanese-style or a slimmer style eggplant (like "Hansel & Gretyl"). Blanch the potato disks in salted, boiling water for about a minute, then immediately remove and "shock" in an ice water bath. Season eggplant slices with salt & pepper and dust lightly with cinnamon. (I like to pour a small amount of cinnamon in my hand, then dump the cinnamon back in the container. Then "dust off" the residual cinnamon from my palm onto the eggplant slices). Saute' the eggplant in olive oil. Drain and set aside. Roll out fresh pasta sheets (made with about 2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 2 room temp eggs and around 1 1/2 tbsp water) to their thinnest setting on a manual pasta machine roller. Cut out circles (anywhere from 3-4" across). Boil briefly in salted water till they rise to the surface. (*Using the above measurements, you will be left with a lot more pasta than needed for this recipe. You can use the remainder to make lasagna or cannelloni with fresh pasta, or you can use the "cutter" attachment to cut strands of spaghetti or fettucini from it for other dishes). Make a "bechamel sauce". Put a few pats of putter in a pan (3-4), melt down, add some flour (1/8 a cup?). Stir around a bit to get rid of any "raw flour" taste. Add some warmed milk (around 1 cup or more?) and stir well. Add in a pinch of ground nutmeg, a couple pinches ground white pepper, 1/2 tsp kosher salt and a faint "dusting" of cinnamon (I'd suggest pouring some in your hand, pouring it back into the bottle, then "dusting" the remainder off your palm into the sauce).
Place a spoonful of bechamel sauce on each plate, speading into a circle around 3" in diameter. Top with a fresh pasta disk, some sliced eggplant & potato, and a spoonful of braised pork. Repeat with another layer just as the first. Repeat again with a third layer, finishing with a final spoonful of the bechamel sauce. Top with some fresh parsley leaves. Serve!
To go-with: Steamed asparagus spears and a bottle of Faustino VII Rioja. Also, I made some homemade goat cheese biscuits that paired very well!
Goat cheese biscuits: These are a "drop" style biscuit, not the kind you cut out. Go outside and clip a handful of fresh chives if you have them. Then cut them into 1/4" pieces to place in the dough. Mix your dry ingredients: About 2 cups Unbleached, All-Purpose flour, 1 tbsp sugar, 3 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp ground white pepper, 1/8-1/4 tsp dried lemon peel (Or fresh lemon zest, your choice), and 1/8 tsp granulated garlic (or use 1/4 tsp minced garlic). Don't forget to add your freshly chopped chives. Now mix in your "fat". Normally you'd use shortening, but I did not have any, so I substituted regular butter. Usually you'd use 1/2 cup shortening (1/2 cup butter would be a full stick, 8 Tbsp). Since I was also incorporating goat cheese, I figured I could cut down on the amount of butter; after all, the goat cheese would provide additional fat. So I used about 6 Tbsp. butter. Then I mixed in about 3/4 cup or so of crumbled fresh goat cheese. I love Laura Chenel goat cheese, that is THE BEST!! Mild and luscious enough to spread thickly on bread and eat...no offensive odors or off-putting tastes. After opening, as it sits in the fridge a little while (a week or slightly longer), the odor/taste can become slightly stronger...at THAT time, it is PERFECT for these biscuits! Anyhow, "cut" the butter and goat cheese into the flour mixture until very crumbly. Then add 1 cup of milk (skim is fine). Mix around. Grease a pan. Use an ice cream scoop to "scoop out" balls of the loose "drop" biscuit dough. Put on baking sheet and bake at 450 degrees (preheated oven) for around 10-12 minutes. I placed my biscuits on the lowest rack. After removing from the oven, push the biscuits off the baking pan onto a rack or counter and let cool. Yummy!


Chicken "Bryan" (serves 2; adjust as needed)

I've tried to "duplicate" this recipe from Carrabas. Theirs is grilled over oak wood, which I've done, and it is very tasty! This particular time, I opted to go the "easier" route and just 'bread' and sautee' it. I lightly pounded one skinless/boneless chicken breast and cut it in half. Then I lightly breaded each piece with a mix of cornmeal, Italian breadcrumbs and Lawry's Poultry Seasoning. Then I panfried them in olive oil. Once done, they were topped with rounds of goat cheese (Laura Chenel is the best!), some sliced, rehydrated sundried tomatoes, drizzled over with some lemon-butter sauce (lemon juice with some melted butter), then topped with freshly sliced basil leaves. They were served alongside an already-made lemon-herb risotto, using short-grain (or Aborio) rice. I used around 1/3 cup for us. You will need to adjust as needed. Sautee' the raw rice in a blend of olive oil and a pat of butter. Stir around. Add a splash of dry white wine and stir around. Have some chicken broth ready to go...add some freshly squeezed lemon juice (to taste). Start pouring some of the broth/juice mix into the rice and stir around. Keep stirring and wait for it to absorb most, then add more. Keep stirring and adding till the rice is at the consistency you prefer. Add some kosher salt (if needed) and ground white pepper, along with various herbs such as thyme, tarragon & chives. Plate the dish along with some sweet sugar snap peas. Yum! These are great served with Meridian Chardonnay.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Easy Veggie-Goat Cheese Pasta

1 cup steamed/grilled/sautee'd veggies of your choice (in this case, I used grilled yellow summer squash and zucchini)
olive oil (1-2 tbsp)
minced garlic (1/2 -1 tsp)
dried minced onion (about 1/2-1 tsp)
dried basil (a couple dashes)
dried red pepper flakes (a couple dashes)
a pinch of kosher salt (if needed)
1/4 -1/2 cup diced tomato
1/2 cup crumbled fresh goat cheese
*optional: 1/2 cup tomato sauce with meat (beef and italian sausage)
Enough penne pasta for 2 people (about 1/2 box)

Heat olive oil in pan, then sautee' veggies, garlic, minced onion, basil, red pepper flakes, and a pinch of salt ( if needed). Stir in diced tomato and *optional tomato sauce with meat. You will need to increase/decrease diced tomatoes/tomato sauce with meat depending on your prefrence for sauce-to-pasta ratio. Boil enough pasta for 2 people (you will have to adjust recipe/other ingredients for more people). Add some salt to boiling pasta for flavor and to reduce stickiness. Drain and put hot-cooked pasta in with sauce, crumble on goat cheese and stir in. Serve with hot rolls or garlic toasts. Can also serve a salad to go along if you like. *Suggested wine: a semi-light Spanish red wine like Faustino VII Rioja. You can also try: Chianti, Zinfandel, Shiraz or Merlot. Light some candles and enjoy!

Monday, November 22, 2010

A "Floribbean Turkey"

A Floribbean Turkey

This recipe was inspired by the "Cuban Thanksgiving Turkey" recipe in "Miami Spice" by Steven Raichlen. This is a GREAT book that I strongly suggest you purchase if you would like to indulge in truly-Floridean/Florribean cuisine.

1 11-12-0z turkey (brined)


1/2 head (several cloves) garlic
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
1 tbsp salt
about 1 tsp black pepper
Other spice blends (optional)

Canola oil, with a pat or two of butter melted in (optional)


Thaw the turkey. The day before you plan to make it, "brine" the thawed turkey in a solution of water and kosher salt (at minimum). You can also add other spices, like whole peppercorns. The next day, drain the turkey, rinse and pat dry. Make a paste of the garlic, salt and lime juice (the best way is to mash with a pestel and mortar). Add the cumin and oregano and mix. Loosen the skin all over the turkey breast and spread a lot of the paste underneath it. Reserve at least 1/3 of the herb and lime mix for the top. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Oil the turkey all over (on the top and down the sides) with canola oil. The best approach is to use your fingertips to spread it all over. Afterward, spread the remaining herb and lime mix over the turkey. At this point, you can also add other seasonings to the skin. I added "Lawry's Perfect Blend Seasoning and Rub for Chicken & Poultry", "Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning" and "Goya Adobo All-Purpose Seasoning", which are optional. Cover semi-loosely with foil. Add a small amount of water to the pan for moisture (maybe 1/2-3/4 cup water?). Roast for around 2 hours. Baste the turkey. Turn the heat up to 350 degrees. At this point, you need to watch your turkey, depnding on size and elements. In this particular case, with a turkey just under 12 pounds, I loosened and half-moved the foil off (moreso leaving it over the breasts, which will tend to dry out quicker) for an hour. After that (at the end), turn the oven up to to 400 degrees and remove the foil and finish roasting the turkey for 15-30 minutes. You will have to keep an eye on it, every turkey and oven is a little different. When done, transfer to a platter and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before carving. Enjoy!

SIDES: Along with this turkey we served mashed sweet potatoes and green beans. To make: Peel, cut up and boil a 2-4 sweet potatoes (based on how many people you are feeding...a couple smallish ones for us fed two people). After boiling till soft, drain and mash with a pat of butter and a tbsp of mayonnaise. You can also add a tbsp of brown sugar and some cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and a pinch of white pepper, if you want. For our dinner, we only had the mashed sweet potatoes with a pat of butter, mayo and a pinch of white pepper. We steamed the fresh green beans and then while hot, added a pat of butter and a pinch of "Lawry's Seasoned Salt".

We served our turkey dinner with "Pepper Grove Pinot Noir".

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

"Surf N' Turf" at Home

Surf N' Turf at Home (for Two)

1 medium-sized boneless NY strip steak, cut in half equally
olive oil, salt & pepper or "steak seasoning"
2 lobster tails

Grill the steak over hot coals and oak wood (or Mesquite, your preference). Grill very briefly, depending on the heat of the fire. I find that steaks that are "medium-rare" (hot pink on the inside) taste best. You want to get a good sear on the outside while not overcooking the inside! You need a nice hot fire. Coat each steak with olive oil and seasonings and set over a hot/medium-hot fire. After a few minutes (maybe 3-5, depending on the heat), season the other sides of the steaks and flip over, cook for 2-4 minutes longer. All this depends on thickness and the heat of the fire. It is not an exact science, but that is partly what makes it fun! I find if you press on the center of the meat with tongs, if it feels sort of like the 'fleshy' part between your thumb and forefinger, it is probably at optimal temp (I like mine medium-rare.....seared on the outside and still quite red on the inside! Seems to be the most tasty!). You have to play around and experiment with it, especially since wood fire temperatures differ, as well as outside temperatures and thicknesses of steak. This is part of the fun!
Cut down the middle (on the belly) of the lobster (to allow for the flesh to expand). Oil the lobster tails and place on the grill, shell-side down. As the tails turn red, flip over and cook very briefly on the "belly" side. Slather with butter & serve.

For the Sautee'd Mushrooms

I sautee'd a few sliced white button mushrooms with a few slices red onion in olive oil/butter. I tend to prefer sweet onion, so you could try that instead of red. But you can also use whatever you have on hand, like I did. Partway through sauteeing, add a small splash of any dry white wine, then continue to sautee'. Season mildly with kosher salt and pepper. When done sauteeing, add a pat of real butter and stir around.

For the "Luscious "Cheese Sauce

Most steak preparations will call for blue cheese, and I will admit, I LOVE blue cheese, especially with steak! But on this particular night, I did not have a wedge of blue cheese. I substituted what I thought was the next most logicle cheese that I had on-hand...FETA!! Feta has an 'assertiveness' to it that can serve just as well. And it came out quite good!

Heat about 1/4 cup or so of heavy whipping cream in a saucepan. Add lots of coarsely cracked black pepper! Stir and stir as it thickens. Then add a narrow slice of Feta (or Blue cheese), crumbled, and stir to melt. Keep stirring until you see the sauce form as you like. Taste for seasoning. I also added fresh-cut, minced chives from my garden. If you prefer, you can add freeze-dried chives, minced dried onions, or just leave the sauce as-is. At the end, when you take it off the stove, add a pat or two of real butter and stir around.

After grilling the steaks, spoon some of the cheese sauce over them, followed by the mushrooms. Enjoy!!


** If you want, you can accompany them like we did: I made garlic mashed potatoes (for both of us, I peeled & boiled 3 medium-sized white potates with a tbsp. minced garlic. Then I mashed them with a couple pats butter and a tbsp. real mayonnaise, a splash of half n' half). We also grilled a packet of yellow squash, zucchini & vidalia onion (sliced and wrapped in foil along with olive oil, minced garlic, kosher salt & black pepper). Yum!

Optional Krab-Stuffed Mushroom Appetizer**

6 medium-sized whole button mushrooms, (wiped & de-stemmed)
Small amount of Krab, about 6 tbsp (broken up into smaller flakes)
1/2 cup thin-shredded cheddar
1/2 cup (or so) real mayonnaise
1/8 (or so) tsp dried dill weed (you don't want excessive dill, but a good amount can be quite
quite tasteful).
1/4 cup Italian-style breadcrumbs

Mix the filling ingredients together. Stuff into hollow of de-stemmed mushrooms (pile on!). Set in baking pan (sometimes I even set mine on a sheet on the Non-Stick Reynolds Foil in the toaster oven) at about 350 degrees. Watch them until the filling browns on top real well, like 10 minutes or so?

Enjoy!!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Steamed / Grilled Kielbasa and Veggies

This is a dish that you can throw together to suit your tastes.
  • 1 lb of Polish kielbasa
  • 1 zucchini
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 yellow squash
  • 1 broccoli
  • garlic powder
  • grilling spices
  • pepper
Slice the kielbasa into round slices about 1/4 inch thick. Slice zucchini and squash into round thin slices, about 1/8 thick at most.  Slice the red bell pepper into long strips.  Cut the broccoli stems into short florets.

Take mixture of veggies and kielbasa and stir together, adding some spices, pepper and garlic to taste.  

Then put into the steamer until the veggies and meat are steamed through*.

Sprinkle on Parmesan Cheese and some Three-Cheddar cheese to your liking and serve.

Tonight's meal was tossed in Angel Hair Pasta.  Just one of the many ways you can make this dish to suit your tastes!!  Delicious!

(Okay, I am no food photographer...and I know you're supposed to "Stage" the food...but I literally thought to take the pic with my cell phone while I was cooking it. So....here you go!)

*You can chose to grill the mixture after steaming to bring out some additional flavors.  This is delicious, but optional. 

**Also, you can add and remove the veggies in the above list, to suit your tastes.  For example, you may chose to add onions and chili pepper to the steamer for a spicier dish.

Monday, August 9, 2010

3-Cheese Manicotti

  • 1 lb of sausage
  • 1 pkg of Manicotti Shells
  • 8 oz of Ricotta Cheese (whole milk)
  • 8oz of Cottage Cheese
  • 1/4 of Parmesan Cheese
  • 6 oz of 3 Cheddar blend Cheese
  • 6 oz of Mozzarella Cheese
  • 2 cups of Spaghetti Sauce
  • 1 Cup of Water
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.  Spray the bottom of a 13 x 9 with cooking spray and take 1/4 of spaghetti sauce and spread on the bottom of the pan just enough to cover the surface.

Cook the sausage thoroughly and drain.  In a bowl, blend the cheeses and sausage together.

Stuff  the cheese mixture into the Manicotti shells raw and place them in the pan.

Microwave 1 cup of water for 2 minutes and add to the remaining spaghetti sauce and stir.   Pour spaghetti sauce over the shells and cover evenly.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil and cook for 50 minutes.  Shells will cook in the covered dish and the sauce will not be thin at the end.

*For more flavor, fine chop baby spinach and parsley and add to cheese mixture for taste.

**If cooking for adults, try serving this dish with an Italian Merlot.

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