A Hectic Fall

I haven't posted in ages but I have lots to post.  It's just been a crazy couple of months, and not a fun kind of crazy.  I have some great pictures of my daughter's Twilight party and some super yummy recipes from Thanksgiving and a couple of pictures.  I was too busy enjoying my food to remember to take a lot of pictures.  I promise I'll be back to share all of this as soon as possible! I hope!

I had a food epiphany!

This is all that is left of my "epiphany". I fully intended to have a picture of the dish straight out of the oven, but we were so hungry and it was SO good, that it was gone before I knew it. In fact, my husband ate the last bit of chicken that was originally in this, for breakfast!
This is all I get for lunch.


So what was this "epiphany"? As I was walking out the door from work, it hit! Usually the "what's for dinner tonight" question leaves me stumped at this time of day, but not yesterday. It hit me like a bolt of lightening. Chicken breasts! Cheese! Sauce! It all rumbled around in my head and wavered between salsa and marinara, but definitely provolone. I tried to work it all around what I had at home, but then I thought of at least three things I needed to buy at the store, so next thing I know I find myself walking around the grocery store in some kind of possessed daze. First I stopped by the gourmet cheese section. I see sliced smoked fontina. Not something I recommend you buy if you're on a budget (which I am), but I went for it. I was not in control at this moment. I know I originally planned provolone, and I waffled for several seconds. The fontina was a dollar more then the provolone, but both were expensive. I usually consider buying presliced cheese a waste of money, but I'm a working mom and I needed to cut corners somewhere. (I was slightly panicked when I found sliced provolone in the "low end" cheese section for half the price. I let the dizzy spell pass and kept the fontina.

Then I headed for the veggie section. I needed tomatoes to go in the salad I planned to make. I needed to use up my head of lettuce and I had just bought marinated artichokes at a discount grocery place that I was itching to use. Then I saw the mushrooms. I tried to stop myself. "You don't need mushrooms! You have canned ones at home" But I did it. My hand reached out uncontrollably and grabbed the button mushrooms, and then a English cucumber.

Then the sauce. I finally settled on marinara. I perused the almost endless varieties of spaghetti sauce and settled on a cheep can of hunts and decided to soup it up. Next I grabbed a can of "rolled anchovie's" a jar of capers and a jar of pitted calamat olives. There goes the budget! And home I went.

I started the sauce first. I poured the whole can of Hunts spaghetti sauce into a sauce pan and prceeded to create my witches brew. I added a little over half a can of the anchovies. My husband ate the rest of the can. About a third cup of the pitted calamatas and several tablespoons of capers. A can of button mushrooms, then I chopped up a big handfull of fresh basil and grabbed fresh oregano, thyme and rosemary and chopped up several teaspoons of each and tossed them in. I didn't put in ANY salt. There was plenty already in the ingredients. I let this sauce simmer for about an hour. Man did the house smell good!

Next I pulled out the frozen chicken breasts and thawed them. I thought I had 4 but only had 2. Fortunately, this was rich and filling enough that that was enough. Once thawed I sliced them in half, but leaving them "hinged". I placed a slice of fontina in each. Then I took th fresh mushrooms and sauted them in butter, garlic and a pinch of kosher salt. I spooned that on top of the cheese. Then I wrapped the chicken breasts in prosciuto that I had bought at the discount grocery place and put them in a baking dish. I spooned my "souped up sauce" over the top and placed it in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

While that cooked I proceeded to nag my husband to make the salad. He just makes a better one then me, and he made a salad that was yummy enough for me to eat some for breakfast this morning. Especially with those marinated artichokes!

Besides the nagging I cooked up some corkscrew pasta. While that boiled I sauted some chopped garlic in olive oil. when the pasta was done I tossed that with the pasta and mixed in some freshly shredded parmesan. I dished the parmesan noodles on the dishes and topped with the chicken (which I sliced each stuffed breast into 3 pieces) and sauce. My husband and I had salad on the side and the girls ate raw sugar snap peas. It was delicious!

One of my better food epiphanies!
Here are some of the ingredients I used:

You could take this recipe and turn it a million different directions. Next time I think I'll lean towards the Mexican side, and reduce the sodium. How would you do it? I bet my friend Annie Oakie could take this to a whole new level, and it wouldn't surprise me to hear that okra and mayonaise were involved, and it would be DELISH!
Bon Appetite

Using up leftovers

I had a half head of napa cabbage and some leftover sausage in my fridge last night and I was wondering what the heck I was going to make for dinner after spending the last five hours peeling and coring apples for apple pie filling and apple chutney. Well, here's what I came up with:
It was yummy!
Cabbage and Potato Soup

• 2 or 3 tblsp olive oil


• 1/2 head napa cabbage thinly sliced


• 3 large potatoes sliced in 1/4 inch pieces, peel on


• 1/2 lb cooked pork sausage (I used Gourmet Signature roasted red bell pepper and carmelized onion sausage)


• 1 can black eyed peas drained and rinsed


• 1 small yellow onion thinly sliced


• 4 cloves garlic chopped


• 5 cups chicken stock


• 1 tbsp Mexican oregano


• 1 tsp dried marjoram


• 2 tsp dried thyme
• pinch of allspice
  


• Parmesan cheese

1. Heat olive oil


2. Add chopped potatoes and large pinch of salt and cook on medium high covered until softened, about 8 minutes. Stir occasionally.


3. Stir in onion and garlic. Cook until onion starts to turn clear.


4. Add stock, canned black eyed peas, cooked sausage and spices. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.


5. Stir in chopped cabbage and cook until it has softened, about 10 more minutes.


6. Salt to taste. You'll need more or less depending on whether you used homemade or canned stock.


7. Serve up topped with Parmesan cheese.


8. This is a hearty soup and is great with some crusty bread. It makes great leftovers, as we found it tasted even better the next day.

Cabbage Potato Soup @ Group Recipes

The Devil In The Kitchen

I just finished reading Devil In The Kitchen. It was a fast easy read, not a lot of eloquent language, in fact quite a bit of foul language, that you could almost hear his Leed's accent as you read it. What I enjoyed most about the book was learning about the incredible passion, devotion, and stamina this man had for the kitchen and for food. He was the first British chef and the youngest to win 3 Michelin stars and the only to return them. It's a fun read, a bit of name dropping, including Gordon Ramsey who worked under Marco, and it seems a lot of apologies and explanations for things along the way. The great treasure in the back of the reprint I got are several of Marco's recipes. I'm really thinking of attempting the Pig's Trotters. Yummmmm!

Offal

I've found a new favorite web site
Offal Good.com

Written by Chris Cosentino, a chef at
Incanto in San Francisco.

As you can see by what he's holding in his hands here, he's all about cooking offal. Actually, what he is about, and I think this is really cool, is using the whole animal. No waste. He's also about humane farming of these animals as well. So, now that we're venturing into our own world of raising animals for food, I find this guy to be a real inspiration. I would like to follow his credo; no waste. I'd like to show respect to the animals we are raising for food, by using all that I can to feed us. That's how my parents grew up, and I'm thankful that I have the opportunity to try to live that way and teach my children to respect the animals that feed them and to feel a connection to their food. When they get that hamburger at McDonalds, they'll be able to picture the cow it came from, unlike so many Americans who don't have a damn clue.
We've recently slaughtered a pig, and we will get our first chance to try cooking/eating offal soon, starting with the heart. So let's hope Chris will have a good recipe and some how to's posted for our adventure into the world of offal

Dem Bones

The other day I was walking through our local Ray's Food Place and discovered this:


All I could think was, "too cool!" I could roast my own marrow bones. Yes! My fantasy is to make them taste like the roasted marrow I had at Restaurant 301 for our anniversary a couple of years ago. I've loved marrow since I was a child, and my father and I would fight over the marrow in the bone on the round steaks mom would cook up about 3 nights a week, or so it seemed. The roasted marrow at 301 brought back a lot of childhood memories. The chef took this way beyond that little bit of round steak marrow though. The texture was buttery and a great contrast to the crunchy toast it was meant to be spread on, and the flavor was simple and smoky. It was paired with a dry rose, which was perfect with the smoky flavor.

But, having never cooked marrow bones before, I wasn't sure what to do. In searching for a recipe I discovered that Anthony Bourdain's death row meal would be Fergus Henderson's roasted marrow and parsley salad. ( He likes to play this game where he asks you what your death row meal would be). Well I just happened to find that very recipe on line.

So here is Fergus Henderson's recipe, and I hope I can make it good enough to be worth declaring as a death row meal

* 12 x 7-8cm pieces of middle veal marrowbone a healthy bunch of flat-leaf parsley, picked from its stems
* 2 shallots, peeled and very thinly sliced
* 1 modest handful of capers (extra-fine if possible)

Dressing

* juice of one lemon
* extra virgin olive oil
* a pinch of sea salt and pepper
* a good supply of toast
* coarse sea salt

Method

Put the bone marrow in an ovenproof frying pan and place in a hot oven. The roasting process should take about 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the bone. You are looking for the marrow to be loose and giving, but not melted away, which it will do if left too long (traditionally, the ends would be covered to prevent any seepage, but I like the colouring and crispness at the end).

Meanwhile, lightly chop your parsley, just enough to discipline it, mix it with the shallots and capers, and at the last moment, dress.

Here is a dish that should not be completely seasoned before leaving the kitchen ... A last-minute seasoning ... by the actual eater ... especially in the case of coarse sea salt, gives texture and uplift at the moment of eating. My approach is to scrape the marrow from the bone on to the toast and season with coarse sea salt. Then a pinch of parsley salad on top of this and eat. Of course, once you have your pile of bones, salad, toast and salt, it is "liberty hall".

Serves: 4

This recipe is taken from Nose to Tail Eating by Fergus Henderson. Published by Bloomsbury and distributed in Australia by Allen & Unwin. $45 (HB).

And hopefully it will taste as good as this looks:

Nevada Joshie's Sun Baked Zucchini

All Right! I think if I were having a contest, Nevada Joshie would win for most unique, and most resourceful recipe ever! Keep your eye's open for more unique resourceful and fun recipes from Nevada Joshie!

Nevada Joshie's Sun Baked Zucchini

30 lbs of zucchini whole

Take 30 lbs of zucchini to work.I forgot this part, sorry Nevada Joshie...Find an unlocked co-workers car and arrange the zucchini on the dash board. Leave in place until the co-worker finds them

I'm looking forward to the Floorboard Bluegills and the (I believe it was called) Hubcap Shrimp. You go Nevada Joshie!!!!

Need Zucchini Recipes

HELP!!!!! I need zucchini recipes. Our Zucchini plant won't stop and my kids are getting sick of the things. I need some creative recipes that my kids will eat (they're pretty adventurous). Please skip the zucchini bread recipe, unless it's something real different. I'm kind of tired of zucchini bread.

Kitchen knife lessons

Dinner tonight is Chicken & Orzo Salad with Three Cheeses YUM! So while I cook, here's a little lesson for you to use in the kitchen:

First Post

Welcome!
This page is going to be about every aspect of food you can think of. Tonight, I'm starting simple. What's for dinner.

Dinner is steamed broccoli (why ruin the flavor with anything else) Baked beans (Bush's is the best if you don't feel like making your own) and BBQ'd chicken legs covered in my made up dry rub......lets see I put sage, thyme, celery salt, garlic powder, allspice, coriander and salt and pepper on it. I'll let you know how it all comes out. The troops are hollering for me!