This was my attempt at a "Gourmet" Grilled Cheese sandwich. I think it turned out really good. You be the judge.

Ingredients:

2 slices of a hearty Oat bread
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 TBS butter, softened
1 and 1/2 TBS Feta cheese crumbles
1/8 cup diced sun dried tomato
3 or 4 very thin slices of shallots or red onion
1/2 cup fresh spinach
2 TBS olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste


---Butter the bread while you heat a large skillet. Once you can feel heat coming off the skillet, when your hand is 4 inches above the bottom of the skillet, then add olive oil to coat the bottom of pan before adding the two pieces of bread, side by side.
--- Add the mozzarella cheese and feta cheese to each slice of bread.
---Add fresh spinach and salt and pepper to one slice of bread.
 ---Add sun dried tomato and sliced shallots to other slice of bread. ---Let grill for about 30 seconds separately then carefully put the sun dried tomato/shallot slice of bread onto the the other slice of bread. Press down with your spatula.  Once both sides of bread are nicely browned and the cheese is melted, then remove and slice on the diagonal. Serve immediately.

Sorry there is no picture for this post. I have a picture, but it's not wanting to load. My cooking partner in crime and I recreated this dish, almost from memory. The last time I had made this dish was many years ago and had lost the recipe. My husband really likes this dish and is very happy that I've been able to recreate it. I hope you enjoy it as much as he does.
My Chicken Cacciatore
serves 4-6 

6 chicken thighs, excess skin removed and patted dry
2 cans (14 1/2 oz. cans) fire roasted tomatoes
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
1 med. to large onion, roughly chopped
1 bell pepper (any color), roughly chopped
2/3 cup kalamata olives, roughly chopped
1/2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
6 oz. cremini (baby portobellas), roughly chopped
2 TBS minced garlic, or more to taste
1 cup chianti or other dry red wine
1 1/2 cups beef stock
3 TBS olive oil
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
6 fresh sage leaves, sliced
1 cup very hot water
Salt and pepper, to taste

--- Put porcini mushrooms in a medium sized bowl or measuring cup. Add the cup of hot water and soak until softened. Remove from water and chop. Reserve soaking liquid.
--- Add oil to large, heavy bottomed soup pot or dutch oven and heat over medium high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper.  Brown chicken on both sides and in batches if necessary. Remove from the dutch oven and set aside.
--- Pour off excess oil, leaving approximately 2 TBS oil in the bottom of the pan. Add onions, bell pepper and mushrooms. Saute for 3 minutes. Add minced garlic and saute for an additional minute, stirring to keep garlic from burning.
--- Add the wine and the porcini soaking liquid. Scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan.
--- Add the kalamata olives and stir well.
--- Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and beef stock. Give the sauce a really good stir, making sure the tomato paste melts completely.
--- Add the basil, oregano and sage to the sauce.
--- Return the chicken to the pot and cover. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
--- After 30 minutes of simmering time, pull the lid off the pot and taste. Adjust seasoning to taste.  Serve over pasta shape of your choice.

Portuguese Kale Soup

Perfect for a cold winter night.

This is my version of a Portuguese kale soup, or Caldo Verde.  I make no claims that this is an authentic Portuguese recipe, because I had to go with what was available at my local grocer.

However, this soup is dead easy to make, filling, soul warming on a cold winter night and tastes even better the next day. Oh, it freezes well too.

This recipe makes a large pot of soup that can serve up to 8 people, easily. If you are single, please don't let that stop you from trying this dish. Like I said, it freezes well, so you could just freeze your left overs. But don't be surprised if you don't have as many leftover servings as you first thought you would have. I made this for dinner last night and my husband had 4 servings!

My Portuguese Kale Soup
serves 6-8



3 or 4 TBS olive oil
8 cups  chicken broth
1 pkg (2 links)   kielbasa or smoked sausage, cut into bite size pieces*
1 med. onion, diced
1 TBS minced garlic
2 cans (13 ozs or so) great northern or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
6 med. russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks (at least 1" square approx.)
1 1/2 to 2 cups fresh Kale leaves, de-stemmed and cut into slender ribbons
Salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

Optional: 2 tsp chicken bouillon if you want to bump up the chicken flavor


--Heat olive oil in a large heavy bottomed soup pot over medium high heat. Add onion and stir briefly. Add kielbasa or smoked sausage. When meat starts to brown, add garlic and stir. Allow to cook for just a minute before adding the remaining ingredients. Reduce heat to low and allow to cook until potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.  Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

Serve hot with some crusty bread.



 

 *Dried Spanish chorizo is the traditional sausage used for this soup, but is unavailable in my area.















 

A New Pasta Sauce

Tonight, I thought I'd try making a new and slightly different pasta sauce. This sauce was inspired by a "Shepherd's Sauce" recipe in a Lidia Bastianich cookbook. Starting with her recipe, I added my own little twist which I think turned out well.

My Shepherd's Sauce

serves 6-8 

2lb sweet Italian sausage, bulk or removed from casing
1 med. yellow onion, diced
1 6oz. can tomato paste
1 Tbs. minced garlic
1  15oz. package of part skim milk ricotta cheese
2 tsp. dried basil
1 dozen fresh basil leaves, shredded
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups water


---Brown the sausage in a large heavy bottom pot. Drain most of the grease and then add the diced onion. Stir around and allow to cook for a minute. Add the garlic and stir.
--Add the tomato paste and stir well, cooking for 30 seconds or so. Next add the entire package of ricotta cheese and stir well. Everything will look very thick; don't panic, it's supposed to look that way. Now add the water (white wine or chicken broth can be substituted for the water) and stir. Turn the heat down to a simmer.
--Add the dried basil, salt and pepper. Allow to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes and taste. Adjust seasoning. Five minutes before serving, add the shredded fresh basil.

Serve this sauce over rigatoni and top with some grated Parmesan cheese.

Chicken Tandoori Spiced Stir Fry

     This dish was created with the hope of winning a recipe contest sponsored by Hellman's Mayonnaise. I normally don't use mayonnaise when I cook, so this was a big challenge for me.
 I think it turned out well and I hope you enjoy it too.

Chicken Tandoori Spiced Stir Fry


serves 4

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips

For the first marinade:
1 1/2 Tbs. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. cayennne pepper, optional
Salt to taste

For the second marinade:
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup Hellman's Mayonnaise with Olive Oil
1 Tbs. minced garlic
1 Tbs. ginger paste (easily found in jars at Indian grocery stores)
1 tsp. Garam masala (a spice mix also found at Indian grocery stores)
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1/4 tsp. cardamom powder
Red food coloring, just a few drops and completely optional
Salt to taste


Vegetable for stir fry:

1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced thin on the diagonal
1 cup of green cabbage ribbons, about 1/2 in. wide
12 or so fresh okra pods, cut into 1/4 in rounds
2 tsp. minced garlic
3 Tbs. peanut oil

3 sliced green onions, as garnish


---For the first marinade, mix the lemon juice, salt and optional cayenne in a medium sized bowl. Add the sliced chicken pieces and stir well. Allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes to an hour.
---For the second marinade, mix together all of the ingredients in a medium to large bowl. Transfer the chicken strips from the first bowl to the second marinade. Cover and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for another hour or more.
---While chicken is marinating, prepare vegetables for stir fry. When everything is ready, place a wok on medium high heat. Add oil to wok and allow to heat. Place half the chicken in the hot wok and stir frequently. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate and place remaining half of chicken in wok and cook just like the first half. Stir frequently to prevent burning. Remove chicken to plate with the rest of the chicken.
---Wipe any excess yogurt out of wok after removing chicken. This will prevent burning. Place wok back onto heat and add remaining peanut oil. Allow to heat for 30 seconds to a minute. Add chopped onion. Stir fry for a minute or two before adding okra and minced garlic. Stir rapidly to allow the okra mucilage to cook out and dry up a bit. Add the carrots and the cabbage. Stir some more and allow to cook for another minute or two before adding the chicken back to the wok. Mix well and allow to cook for another 5 minutes or so.
---If things look like they are trying to stick or burn, turn the heat down a bit and add a couple splashes of water. Stir well. Serve immediately and garnish with green onions.

Chicken with Poblanos & Cream

Chicken with Poblanos & Cream

This recipe is inspired by the one in 'Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen' cookbook (page 324). I left out a few of his ingredients, simply because I didn't have them on hand and some of my measurements are guesstimates...but it still turned out really well.

Serves 4-6

4 to 6 - chicken breasts, boneless & skinless
2 - medium onions, peeled and sliced
6 oz. (or so)- sliced fresh mushrooms, baby portabellas work great
4 - fresh poblano peppers
3/4 cup - fresh cilantro (coriander) leaves, washed and chopped
3 TBS - olive oil
1 TBS - minced fresh garlic (or more to taste)
1/2 tsp - dried oregano
3/4 tsp - dried thyme
Salt to taste
1 pint (16 oz) - heavy whipping cream or half-n-half (if using half-n-half, add some sour cream to help thicken the sauce)
1 cup - water (approximately)

~~ Roast the poblano peppers over an open flame or under the broiler, turning occasionally, until skin is charred on all sides. Place peppers in a large bowl and cover tightly with aluminum foil or plastic wrap. Let sit for 5 minutes or so. At this time, the peppers should be easy to peel. Peel the skin off the peppers and remove the stem and seeds. Rinse briefly under cool water to finish removing the seeds and left over bits of the skin. Slice the peppers in strips and set aside.

~~ In a medium sized sauce pan, preferably with a heavy bottom, heat about half the oil over medium high heat and then add the sliced onion. Stir around and cook until slightly browned. Add the garlic, oregano and thyme. Stir for 1 minute or so. Add the pepper strips and heat through. If it looks like things are cooking too fast at this point, add a little of the water and turn the heat down a bit.

~~ At this point, you can scoop out some of the pepper/onion mixture and set it aside for garnish. Add about half of the cream to your sauce pan now, along with the chopped cilantro and maybe a small pinch of salt. Let simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Now pour sauce mixture into a blender, cover loosely and blend smooth. If you don't have a blender you can use a food processor or a stick/immersion blender. At this point you need to taste the sauce to check for seasoning. You may need to add a pinch of salt at this point. If the sauce is too spicey for you, add some more cream or sour cream (or even a tiny pinch of sugar) to tone down the heat level. Stir well and set aside.

~~ Turn the oven on to 350 degrees F. Wash and dry the chicken breast with a paper towel. Lightly salt the chicken on all sides. In a large skillet, heat the remainder of the oil and add the chicken. Brown the chicken on all sides. You may have to do this in batches. When the chicken breasts are browned, put them in the bottom of a glass baking dish, making sure not to crowd them too much. Add the mushrooms to the hot skillet and saute until soft. You can add a splash of water to the pan, if it seems too dry. Pour the cooked mushrooms over top of the chicken. Now pour the sauce over the chicken as well. Cover the dish, tightly, with aluminum foil and bake for 30-35 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. When serving the chicken you can garnish it with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cilantro and some of the reserved onion/pepper mixture.

Enjoy!

All American Cheeseburger!

(Sorry about the picture. I can't figure out how to rotate it so that you can see it the way I took it.)

Today's recipe is dedicated to a British friend who is craving an "Authentic American Burger." I hope he likes this and I hope you do too.

Cheeseburgers

serves 2

• 1/2 lb ground beef chuck, 85% lean-15% fat ratio
• 2 TBS softened butter
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 TBS Worcestshire sauce
• 2 tsp garlic powder (optional)
• Fresh ground black pepper, to taste 
• 3 TBS cooking oil of your choice (I used a 50/50 mix of olive oil and bacon grease) 

  Mix all ingredients well in a medium sized bowl. Once mixed together, divide meat mixture in half and roll each half in your hands to make a ball.  Flatten each ball to desired thickness on a plate and season once more with salt and pepper.
    Over medium heat, place a heavy bottomed skillet (a.k.a. frying pan for those of you across the pond) and add your cooking oil. When the pan is good and hot, gently add the burger patties. The oil and grease will pop and sputter, so be careful. Cook for about 8-10 minutes, flipping the burgers only once or twice. One minute before removing burgers from pan, add a slice of your choice of cheese (I like cheddar or swiss). Once cheese has melted lightly, remove burgers to a paper towel lined plate to rest.

To Serve

     On a separate plate, assemble your burger accessoriess: sliced onion, sliced tomato, dill pickle slices, lettuce and of course the all important hamburger bun. Place burger on bottom half of bun and top with your choice of the accessories. I like to use onion, pickle, lettuce and a small dollop of tomato ketchup.

    The final accessory that I like to add for a true American experience is a nice cold milkshake.

Strawberry Milkshake

• 1/2 cup milk
• 4 scoops strawberry ice cream
• 4 or 5 fresh strawberries, sliced
• Dollop of whipped cream

  Place strawberries, ice cream and milk in a blender and blend for one minute. Pour into a tall glass, garnish with a dollop of whipped cream and a couple of strawberry slices.
*If you want a thicker milkshake, just increase the amount of ice cream.

Again, sorry about the picture.