Dinner tonight was kind of fancy. (Jan 30,2011

We had shrimp and stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer, twice baked potatoes and Steak Diane. I forgot to take a picture of the garlic bread.

Jan 27th, 2011

I made meatloaf again last night. I used the same recipe as on Nov. 29 th except I left out the ketchup. I roasted small white potatoes with the meat loaf and after an hour they were still raw so I finished them in the pressure cooker for 10 minutes, mashed them with the skins, added butter, cream, salt and pepper and a little fat drained from the  meat loaf. Made a brown gravy with a combination of a brown gravy package mix, beef base. butter, flour and water.  I also made yellow squash by cutting it in chunks, put them in a baking dish, microwaved it for about 5 minutes, then adding salt, an egg and enough cream to coat, topped with buttered  bread crumbs and added to the oven for the last 25 minutes to cook along with the meat loaf.

Dinner tonight, Jan 20, 2011. Norm's Chili

Norm's Chili 

1 lb hamburger 

1 lb. ground pork          OR 1 pkg chorizo, no pork

1 onion, finely chopped 

8 oz tomato sauce 

1 Tbs. sugar  OR  2 T. sugar

1 Tbs. chili powder  or to taste

1 ounce red wine vinegar 

1 C. picante sauce 

1 bay leaf 

1/2 to 1 tsp. salt 

1 T. paprika 

1 can red beans, not drained -Optionial See note following

1/2 tsp. pepper 

1/4 tsp. cumin 

1/4 tsp. cayenne 

1 bottle beer 

1-2 ounces cocoa powder 

dash or two Tabasco 

       Optional          1/4C ketchup

Saute meat, when almost done, add onions and garlic. When onions are tender, add rest or ingredients. Cover and simmer 1 hour. Remove lid and let cook down if necessary. Refrigerate overnight and remove fat and reheat. 

Note: if desired.... 

If cooked without beans, serve them and grated raw onion on the side as a garnish. 

For parties, I like to make a chili bar with chili, no beans and let people add any of the following.

Chili toppings

soda crackers,

corn chips 

thin sliced radishes

thinly sliced green onions 

sour cream 

diced fresh jalapeno 

green olives, halved 

chopped white onions,

small dice tomato 

fresh lime wedges 

grated cheddar cheese

salsas/pico de galo

grated monterey jack 

diced avocados

pinto beans 

shaker bottle of red pepper flakes

tosted baguette slices 

Tabasco sauce

cilantro leaves

Dinner Sunday Jan 16, 2011

Cassandra and Charles chased me out of the kitchen. They are doing it tonight. Son is making hamburger patties and cutting potatoes for fries. Cassie is cooking everything and making a pasta salad.

Dinner Jan. 14, 2011

Dinner tonight was Tilapia, steamed brussles sprouts with butter, salt and pepper and a baby greens salad with peperonici, green olives and mozzarella cheese.

We all thought the talapia recipe was a keeper.

I didn't take any pictures today. 

• 4 tilapia fillets, about 1 1/2 to 2 pounds
• 2 tablespoons light mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons honey Dijon mustard or Dijon mustard
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
• Dash pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

Heat oven to 400°. Lightly grease a large shallow baking dish or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine the mayonnaise and mustard; rub the mixture over the tilapia fillets.

In a food processor, combine the panko and fine bread crumbs, paprika, parsley, pepper, onion powder, and salt. Pulse 4 to 6 times to combine. Pour bread crumb mixture into a wide, shallow bowl. Dip the coated fillets in the mixture, turning to coat both sides.

Arrange the coated fillets in the prepared baking dish.

Bake the fish fillets for 15 to 18 minutes, or until fish is cooked through. The time depends on thickness of the fillets. Fish will flake easily with a fork when done.

Carefully remove the fillets to plates with a spatula.
Serves 4.

Note I drizzled melted butter over the filet after they came out of the oven, and served it with not nottatar sauce.  I did not have any sweet chili sauce for the nottatar sauce so I used Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce so I guess you can call it Not Nottatar sauce.

 NOTTARTAR SAUCE

1 C. Mayo

2 Tbs red sweet Chili sauce or A-1

1/4 C. sweet pickle relish

2-3 Tbs. horseradish

Jan13 Dinner

Son made shrimp, garlic toast and spaghetti. I made Alfredo sauce. I was out of cream and used evaporated milk instead. After I added the cheese, I looked away for a minute or two and the sauce boiled making the sauce grainy.  We ate it anyway. LOL No pictures today.

Jan 12, 2011:Breast of Chicken Martini style with cream of asparagus soup

This is a family favorite.

Breast of Chicken, Martini-Style

This recipe for breast of chicken, martini-style, is from "Two Meatballs in the Italian Kitchen," the cookbook by chefs Pino Luongo and Mark Srausman.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4.

• Coarse salt

• 8 ounces green beans or haricots verts, trimmed

• 4 carrots, cut into thin strips, about 2 inches long

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6 ounces each), tendons removed

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

• 3 large eggs, beaten

• 1 1/3 cups freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

• 2 cups safflower or corn oil

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

• 3/4 cup dry white wine

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Prepare an ice-water bath; set aside. Add carrots to boiling water and cook until tender-crisp, about 3 minutes. Drain and transfer vegetables to ice-water bath to cool. Drain and set aside. Repeat process with green beans.

3. Place each chicken breast half between two sheets of plastic wrap on a cutting board. Using the flat side of a meat mallet or the back of a skillet, pound chicken breasts until they are 3/8 inch thick.

4. Remove chicken from plastic wrap; season with salt and pepper. Place flour, eggs, and cheese each in separate large, shallow dishes. Coat each chicken breast half evenly with flour, shaking off any excess. Then di !p in egg, followed by cheese to coat.

5. Heat oil in a deep large skillet over medium-high heat. When oil is very hot, reduce heat to medium and, working in batches, add chicken. Cook chicken, turning once, until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Repeat process with remaining chicken, allowing oil to reheat between batches.

6. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add lemon juice and wine; stir to combine. Pour butter mixture into the bottom of a large baking dish. Arrange chicken in baking dish and top each with an equal amount of beans and carrots. Brush some of the butter mixture over the chicken and vegetables and transfer baking dish to oven. Cook until vegetables begin to brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven and serve immediately.

First published October 2007

Copyright 2007 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cream of asparagus soup has not set measurements. I simmered a double handful of asparagus stems in chicken broth for about 45 minutes, discarded them and saved the broth. I sauteed mushrooms and onions in butter until soft, added them to the broth and the asparagus tips and a cup or so of cream.  Simmered until the tips were soft, added salt and pepper to taste, about a tablespoon of butter and two egg yolks and heated without boiling until soup was thickened

Jan 9, 2011 Asian BBQ Brisket

The Chiefs lost the play-off game.  At least we will eat well.  Joanne, a good friend in NJ sent me a recipe from Wegmans. I didn't have all the ingredients, so I made some variations.





  This is the basic marinade in which the brisket sat in the refrigerator over night and then was roasted in the oven at 275º for 8 hours.  I covered it during the last 30 minutes, then let it sit out of the oven 20 minutes before slicing. It is extremely tasty, moist and tender.

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 cups Wegmans Ketchup
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup fresh ginger, peeled, finely diced
2 Tbsp Tuong Ot Toi Viet-nam Chili Garlic Sauce (International Foods)
1/2 tsp sesame oil
Juice of 1 lemon, (2-3 Tbsp)

I made the sauce with the following variations: Cut ingredients in half,  ended up with about 15 ounces of sauce. Rice vinegar instead of lemon juice, Asian Hot Pepper Paste + garlic instead of the Viet-Nam sauce and I added zest of one small orange and the juice of one small orange and some seasoned salt. 

Heat on stove to dissolve sugar, cool, add 1/4 can of lager beer- I use Sapporo.  Cut a diamond pattern in fat layer on brisket.  Put brisket in roasting pan, pour marinade over the brisket, cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight. Next day, remove plastic, bring to simmer on stovetop, place in oven preheated to 275º for 7 hours. During the last hour baste a couple times with pan juices. Remove from oven, let rest 20 minutes, slice across the grain and pour a little pan juice over brisket.  Optional : sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

Korean Chicken Wings dinner Jan 6 2011

Son and his SO made dinner tonight. These wings and rice are son's and the salad and asparagus are Cassie's 

Korean-style Crispy Chicken Wings with  Ginger Glaze

We used a family size package of chicken wings, separated at the joints with the wing tip discarded and frozen for use later to make stock.  You can use a bag of frozen "party" wings if you don't want to cut up the wings yourself.
1 medium onion, finely minced
3 minced garlic cloves
1-inch piece of ginger finely grated
2 beaten eggs... more or less to make the batter a good consistency, not too pasty
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 Cup cornstarch
1/2 Cup all purpose flour


GLAZE
2-inch piece of ginger, peeled, thinly sliced
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup light corn syrup ( or use dark if you have medium or light brown sugar)
2 tablespoons shoyu  (soy sauce)
1 tsp. red pepper flakes or to taste

Bring water, sugar, soy and ginger to a rolling boil in small sauce pan.  Boil 15 minutes (may do this while frying chicken). Lower heat to medium and add corn syrup.  Cook until thicken and syrupy - about soft ball stage.  It will coat the spoon. Remove ginger, set aside. It will thicken more as it cools

Oil for frying

Heat oil to 350º in cast iron chicken fryer or similar pan. Combine minced onion, garlic, ginger, egg(s), salt and pepper in large bowl.  Add chicken wings; toss to coat. Add flour and cornstarch to chicken mixture and coat well.  Mixture on wings will be sticky.

Fry chicken wings in batches 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove to wire rack and continue until all wings are fried.  If not ready to serve immediately, allow to cool on wire rack.

When ready to serve Increase oil to about 375º and add back chicken to crisp up and brown more, about 3 or 4 more minutes.

Drizzle glaze over wings and toss to coat.  May be served immediately or if desired, place on foil lined baking sheet and place in 350º oven to dry and set the glaze.

Cassie's salad is spring mix, lemon juice, black olives, parmesan cheese and tomatoes

Asparagus was steamed with salt and pepper, lemon juice and dill. Yum to both of them!

Dinner/sandwich rolls

I made dinner rolls with a Challah recipe I got from Chuck Love.


I made the recipe then divided it into roll size and baked it for 20 minutes at 400º.  The instant read thermometer should read 190º internally give or take around 10 degrees.

CHALLAH

Here's the basic recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 pkt dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp)

• 5 C bread flour - all purpose will do (unbleached) - You may need more or less

• 1/4 C sugar

• 2 tsp salt

• 1/2 /cup butter (or margarine) room temp

• 1 C hot water (120F) - optional pinch of saffron

• 3 large whole eggs

• 1 egg white

• 1 egg yolk (from the above egg) beaten, mixed with 2 Tbs sugar and 1 tsp cold water

• Optional - poppy seeds

Method:

Prepare a 1/2 sheet pan with a Silpat, parchment paper, or cooking spray.

If using the saffron (to add color to the dough), let it steep in the warm water until the water turns orange (about 10 minutes).

In a stand mixer bowl, combine the yeast, 2 C of flour, sugar, salt and butter (or margarine).

With mixer on medium speed, add the hot water and beat with the flat beater for about 2 minutes, scrape the bowl occasionally.

Add the eggs and the egg white (not the reserved yolk mixed with sugar and water).

The batter will be thick. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes.

Change to the dough hook.

Continue to add flour, adding about 1 C at a time until the dough is no longer sticky.

If the dough is still moist, add a little flour at a time until the dough cleans the sides of the mixer bowl.

Knead by hard or in mixer with dough hook for 10 minutes.

Place dough in a large greased bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled - about 1 hour.

After it has doubled, punch down and hand knead out the bubbles.

Follow the braiding recipe and shape a 6 braid Challah.

Brush the shaped loaf with the egg yolk / sugar glaze. (If using the poppy seed, sprinkle on now).

Allow the loaf the rise, uncovered until doubled - about 1 hour.

While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 400F

Bake until the loaf is shiny brown, about 40 to 60 minutes.

Test with a toothpick. It should come out clean and dry. 

The loaf is fragile, so be careful and place on a cooling rack.

*This recipe is meant for 2 loaves but I made it into one. 

That loaf is 20" long and 6" to 8" high.

If you don't need one that big, make 2 smaller ones

__________________

Chuck Love

Late lunch Jan 3, 2011

I tired improvising today and combined Potatoes O'Brien with smoked beef sausage, corn, red pepper flakes and tomatoes.  Disregard the noodles. I don't know what I was thinking to put noodles and potatoes together. I mean I think Ive seen that with some Italian and German dishes but it was not a great combo.  At least not to me, not today. I ended up tossing the noodles out.

Note:  Next time I do a sausage saute, try the sausage and all other ingredient together except do some potato pancakes instead of adding them in with the sausage.

To the following recipe I added the sausage, corn, red pepper flakes, canned whole tomatoes, drained, seeded and torn up, and some red pepper flakes.

O'Brien Potatoes

Ingredients

2/3 cup minced onion

1/3 cup minced green bell pepper

1/3 cup drained and minced bottled pimiento

1/3 to 1/2 cup olive or canola oil

4 Idaho potatoes, peeled and diced

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

In a large skillet cook the onion, green pepper and pimiento in 2 tablespoons of the oil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened. Transfer vegetables to a bowl. In the skillet heat the remaining oil over moderately high heat until hot and add the potatoes. Saute, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes, or until tender and crisp. Stir in the vegetable mixture and correct seasoning. Heat over moderately low heat until hot and serve.