I’m back!!!!!!!!!!

I’ve been on hiatus for a few weeks as I took a cooking class and my work world changed a lot requiring more of my attention, but this dish was so tasty and I was so impressed with myself I had to post.

First let me come clean, I’m NOT a fan of boneless skinless chicken breast.  To me, it’s tasteless.   However it seemed like a good choice for the idea that was percolating in my head after receiving samples of Pretzel Crisps. You could do this with pork or even veal just as easily.

Pretzels make me think of Germany which makes me think of mustard and schnitzel.  Most people have heard of Wiener Schnitzel which traditionally meant pounded breaded fried veal scallops until the hot dog chain took its name!  Pork and veal are the most common “schnitzel meats” but in the states we love chicken.  Since Pretzel Crisps have re-thought the idea of the pretzel, I decided to rethink schnitzel.

This dinner was VERY popular at my house with everyone cleaning their plate (though to be honest I did have to argue with teen age son to get him to eat the spinach)

Pretzel Crisp Chicken Schnitzel with White Wine Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients:

3 Chicken Breasts (boneless skinless)
flour for dredging
1/3 cup whole grain mustard
2 cups Pretzel Crisps (ground into crumbs using food processor)
4T vegetable oil

Directions:

Pound chicken breasts to 1/4 inch thickness.  Dredge in flour, rub mustard on both sides and coat with Pretzel Crisp crumbs. Add oil to pan and cook over medium heat.  Drain all but 2 Tablespoons of fat from the pan.

Mushroom Wine Sauce

Ingredients:
8 0z sliced mushrooms
3T flour
1 Cup dry white wine
2 T whole grain mustard
1 Cup chicken stock

Directions:
Saute mushrooms in same pan as chicken.  Add flour and cook for 2 minutes.  De-Glaze pan with white wine.  Stir in mustard and chicken stock.  Reduce to desired consistency add salt and pepper to taste (but be careful with the salt because the Pretzel Crisps are salty)

Hope you enjoy this as much as we did!  The best part of this dinner was it only took about a half hour to make and it was so flavorful

Cheers!

This photo landed me my first number 1 slot on FoodBuzz — thanks to my loving husband.  The first attempt at this recipe was the most photogenic.  But I needed to make it a few times and tweak the recipe before I was ready to post it.  My family are troopers (or they just like this dish that much, to be honest it’s amazingly good cold weather food)

A couple notes.  I’ve taken to using turkey stock instead of chicken stock in almost all of my dishes.  Its flavor is bolder and richer than chicken this flavor is obviously imparted into whatever dish you make.  One of my attempts at Paprika Chicken relied exclusively on chicken stock (home made of course) it was, in comparison, like a ghost of a dish I knew I could create a whisper of the wonderful flavors I’d tasted in the past.

I also experimented with bone in chicken thighs and boneless chicken thighs.  (If you are starting to think about using boneless skinless breast meat stop it right now.  This dish is already low on fat and you’ll make it terrible.  Go back two spaces and start again.)  Typically I always prefer to cook meat on the bone for flavor and moisture, but in this case it’s simply too hard to eat it when you are done.  Someone (probably me) is going to end up shooting a chicken thigh right out of their bowl onto the floor.  Plus the smaller boneless pieces pick up more flour and therefore more flavor.

My last little tidbit don’t overfill the pan before you put it in the oven or you will have one heck of a mess to clean up.  After the first time I started  lining the rack with foil.  This is not 5 star pretty food, this is hearty home cooking and it’s gonna spill!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Biscuit Topping

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
4 Tbsp cold butter cut into cubes
1/2 Cup sour cream
1/2 Cup Turkey Stock

Place dry ingredients into bowl of food processor and pulse to combine.  Add butter and pulse to form crumb texture.  Whisk together sour cream and stock, drizzle over the top, pulse food processor until dough comes together.  Set aside.

Smokey Paprika Chicken

2 pounds skinless boneless chicken thighs cut into two inch pieces
flour for dredging
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large white onion finely diced (I used the food processor)
1 large red bell pepper finely diced
3 Tbs flour
2 minced garlic cloves
2 Tbsp Smoked Hungarian Paprika
1 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 cup sour cream blended with 1/2 cup turkey stock*** See Note
1 cup Turkey Stock
more ground pepper.

Working in batches over medium high heat,brown the chicken pieces on both sides, set aside in a shallow dish tented with foil.  Add the onions and peppers cook until softened (about 5 – 7 minutes)  Add flour and cook for another 3 – 4 minutes.  Add paprika, garlic and caraway seeds, stir to combine and cook 2 – 3 minutes.  Return chicken to the pan, add mixture of sour cream and stock, then add stock.  Stir and bring to a boil.  Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary.

Spoon biscuit dough on top of pan I used a 2 oz scoop to keep them even.  Place on the middle rack in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Turn off the oven, turn the broiler on and cook for 2 more minutes to brown the biscuits.

Serve with extra sour cream!

The biscuits are incredibly tender which I think is what makes this dish so good.  I love Chicken Paprikash but by putting these biscuits on top it became a favorite in my book.  And the biscuit topping could be added to any stew!

*** NOTE: you must must must blend the sour cream with the broth until smooth.  otherwise it’s very likely to curdle when it hits the pan, blending prevents this.

We had this with several wines, some white and some red.  My favorite was the beaujolais nouveau.  It was light and fruity which complimented the smokey flavor.

I really hope you make this, it was FANTASTIC.

Until next time, cheers!

4VN4TJQ4QH32

Before Tyler (17) moved in with us he told me he wanted to cook his “special” burgers for Bill and I.  We had extensive conversations about how much he liked making burgers.  Being new to the stepmom thing and especially new to the teenage boy thing.  I decided to order the “Build a Better Burger” cookbook for him as a surprise.  I had it delivered to his mom’s house overnight.  I was excited we might be able to find some common ground.  5 days later when I asked if he received it, he said “Yeah, why did you send that to me?”  :SIGH:

I did not learn.  I wanted to, however sometimes I can be what I prefer to describe as “strong willed” or “enthusiastic” but my family calls “stubborn” and occasionally they use the very unkind phrase “hard-headed.”

When Tyler arrived he asked about making his “special” burgers for us every day.  Unfortunately his method required grilling and his arrival coincided with the brutal cycle of afternoon storms that are common for Central Florida in late summer.  Finally the day arrived.  We gathered the ingredients and started to work.  His recipe for a burger was ground beef with a salty store bought sauce, soy sauce, salt and stuffed with hoop cheese.  I’ve never seen a kid so excited, or tasted a burger so SALTY.  But to Ty, it was heaven on a plate so we smiled, praised him and ate ours.  Later I secretly threw out that awful sauce only to be caught.  “HEY!  Why’s my sauce in the garbage?” :SIGH:

Tyler’s dinner menu repertoire has done a 180 since he moved here.  He’s done well to adapt.  Now, he likes Brussels sprouts, he cheerfully consumed my attempt at Chicken Tiki Marsala (bad recipe, going to have to try that again), he ADORES my baked macaroni and cheese.  But much to my dismay, he insists on hating lamb.  I just discovered that I can cook lamb at home (as opposed to only being able to order it in a restaurant) .   I love lamb, I want to have it once or twice a week.  :SIGH:

What to do, what to do???

Hide it in a burger, that’s what.  And keep my opinions to myself when he slathers it with ketchup.  That’s what!

Last night I made lamb burgers and Tzatziki sauce with grilled eggplant.  You may notice the lack of photo.  That’s to protect you.  They were UGLY.  and I do mean UGLY.  But for every degree of ugly, there were two degrees of yummy as proved by the clean plate of a 17 year old self professed lamb hater.  Perhaps I can get him to eat the chop next time if I use the same spices.

Lamb burgers:
1 pound ground lamb
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1 clove fresh garlic minced
3 turns fresh ground black pepper
healthy pinch of kosher salt

Mix the spices and meat together gently and then let it rest at room temperature for about a half hour.  Form into 3 patties and cook over medium high heat for 7 minutes or until done through.  Unlike beef, the lamb will not dry out if cooked to well done.  I used our Cuisinart indoor grill and it took about 7 minutes to cook.

For the eggplant I sliced it about a quarter inch thick, salted it and put it in a colander with a weight to remove the liquid.  Then I brushed it with olive oil and also put it on the Cuisinart indoor grill — hence the ugly factor.  I would suggest you either saute the eggplant in oil over high heat or use a real grill.  The Cuisanart didn’t get hot enough, the eggplant stuck, tore, steamed rather than grilled ….. you know the drill :SIGH:

Tzatziki Sauce
7 oz Greek yogurt
1 small cucumber seeded and grated
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp lemon juice

*note:  Tzatziki sauce traditionally includes mint which I have an aversion to so I omit it.  If you like it add 1 tsp dried mint.

After grating the cucumber spread it on paper towels and blot out all the moisture you can.  Otherwise your sauce will be watery.

Chuck everything into the food processor, give it a whirl, taste it and salt it.  Refrigerate for one hour before using.

I layered one slice eggplant, 1 slice roasted red pepper, one lamb patty, a dab of Tzatziki sauce and feta cheese on the burger.

MMMMM – no leftovers and I sort of wished I had cooked Tyler something different so we could have eaten his.  That’s the trouble with expanding kids pallets, then they want to eat your food!

So back to the question, is a Burger just a Burger?  No.  Burgers are more than the flavorless fatty meat puck that McDonald’s has purveyed for years.  Burgers are comfort; they are a bonding experience; and they can be a vehicle for introducing new flavors.  We still haven’t come clean and told Ty it was a lamb burger.  He knew something was up — but he was happy to eat it.

About two years ago I was in the Le Creuset outlet with my family looking at this exact Swissmar Raclette with the granite top and seriously pondering purchasing it.  I remember it being priced at close to $200 and it was right after Christmas so even though I wanted it, I was hemming and hawing.  As I danced around in front of the delightful device well healed hooligans in their smug cashmere sweaters bombarded the store told me how much fun it would be how much they loved their unit and then bought the last one in the store.  THE NERVE!  I was a bit heartbroken.

While I never forgot that moment (obviously I’m the kind of person that lets things go easily), I didn’t go on a mission to get a Raclette.  That is until I saw a post from Salty Seattle about her Raclette Party.  My obsession went into overdrive and I had to buy one.  After much research and price comparison I bought the Swissmar KF-77045 – it’s the granite top with the red base. Overstock.com had great prices.

When it arrived, I was ill-prepared to “play’ with my new toy (read: I had a poorly stocked pantry); but I couldn’t contain my excitement.  At 4:00 in the afternoon when the UPS man dropped off my prize I stopped everything and boiled potatoes and melted cheddar cheese over them in the trays.  Bill and Tyler were in love,  there was something about watching the cheese slowly melt, then bubble and then crisp up that was memorizing.  We each cleaned our plates and looked about for more, but sadly for now, this gooey snack would have to do.

Then, on a trip to the market, I found Raclette cheese, little smokies, dried red wine sausage, lamb chops and a thin sirloin (Tyler is not a huge fan of lamb, but that’s another post in which I attempt to convert him).  We stopped by our French pastry shop and picked up a loaf of just out of the oven bread and a couple of pastry treats that didn’t last long enough to photograph.

With much officiousness, I cleared the table, put the grill in the center and fired it up (you know I had no idea what I was doing right?  But someone had to be in charge).  With the granite top they recommend at least 15 minutes for it to heat up (or you can heat it in your oven, but because that method sounds like an amazing way to get a trip to the burn ward;  I just put it on the appliance, turned it on and kept my distance.)

I had marinated four of the cutest lamb chops and one small sirloin in olive oil and a paste of fresh parsley, fresh oregano, basil and roasted garlic.  I boiled some baby potatoes, and set up my fondu tray with smokies, cornichons, bread, and potatoes.

We started with the bigger pieces of meat on the top.  There was MUCH less smoke than I anticipated which is a good thing.

Bill and I sipped wine while we tried to keep Tyler from burning himself on the grill.  For some reason he only wanted the pieces farthest away from him!

We each cooked our cheese to our liking — Tyler couldn’t wait, he wanted his as soon as it was melted.  Somehow we talked him out of taking it straight from the pan and into his mouth, thereby preventing what would have been a very painful burn!  I cooked mine until it was bubbled, brown and crisp.  Almost like a chip and Bill had his somewhere in between.

We had a lot of fun having dinner this way and can’t wait to do it again.  I’m sure that we’ll use it at least once during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

What did we drink?  I was conflicted, we had red meat that would be lovely with red wine, but that cheese was meant to be eaten with a dry riesling.  However if you read anything I write you know red wine reigns supreme at our house — so.  Seven Artisans Meritage joined our little party.

Next time, I would put down a table cloth that I don’t mind getting some splatters on to protect the table.  I was surprised at how easy it was to clean the granite cooktop.  It was very browned when we were done.  We let it cool and I thought I was going to need to soak it overnight to clean it, the food and browning easily slid off.  Very easy to use.

Au Revoir!

Chilaquiles is a Mexican comfort food dish, occasionally even a hangover cure, and sometimes a way to use up leftovers.  I LOVE IT!  I intentionally chose an soft focus photo because casseroles are inherently out of focus — which is part of their attraction.

I posted a recipe for chilaquiles back in April.  For that recipe I used chicken, salsa verde and chorizo.  This time around I had the turkey from the stock hanging out and some dried ancho chili peppers so I made a rojo sauce and then threw together (because that’s all you do, you throw it together and pop it in the oven) the casserole.  It was indeed a hit.

Salsa Rojo (This could even be called “enchilada sauce”)

1 pint homemade chicken stock (cheat if you must, but your sauce will suffer)
4 dried ancho chilies
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp Tomato paste
1 sprig fresh oregano (leaves only) or 1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
1 bay leaf
salt

Combine ingredients in a heavy saucepan over low heat.  Walk away.  Allow to simmer for at least two hours.  The brittle peppers should be soft.  Remove bay leaf.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Open the peppers and scrape the soft flesh (and seeds) into blender, add the remaining liquid and puree.  Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary (I added some additional cumin at this stage)

Return to pot and simmer until desired thickness.

Turkey Chilaquiles

3 Cups cooked shredded turkey
1lb tortilla chips (flour or corn – your choice)
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
3 Cups Salsa Rojo
1 small can sliced black olives

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Layer a 9×13 pan with 1/2 of turkey, 1/2 chips, 1/2 salsa rojo, repeat with remaining ingredients, top with olives and bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Enjoy

First and foremost before anyone thinks I have developed mad food photography skills, this picture is lifted — or borrowed from Williams Sonoma.  I feel fine about this because it links back to their Steak au Poivre Sauce.

Williams Sonoma has been offering free cooking classes every Sunday.  I went to a couple of them fully expecting to have them use these classes as an opportunity to sell their wares.  That was fine by me because I also went with the intention of picking up some stainless steel saute pans I’ve been coveting and they give you a discount for attending the class.  I did not however expect to buy any finished sauces or seasonings.  If you read my blog, you know I am passionately against sauce in a jar ….  I guess the old adage never say never applies here …

Tyler, Bill’s 17 year old is an avid fan of steak; all things beef really.  Tyler wanted to take the class so I thought I’d tag along and get my pans (you get a 10% discount on anything related to the class).  I chatted with the store manager while Tyler took notes.  I’m an accomplished cook! I didn’t think I had much to learn on a class that relied on sauce in a jar.  I did learn something; I learned that I had to get a jar of that sauce!

We all have our nights when we don’t want to cook — this is the perfect answer.  Rub this sauce (it’s really more of a marinade) on your steaks (we used NY Strips) and let them rest for at least a half hour.  Then either grill them outside or cook them on a smoking hot grill pan (it’s still so hot in Florida I went for the grill pan — but the smoke was more than I had anticipated so consider yourself warned).  I  pre-heated a cast iron grill pan (8 on my electric range) and cooked 3/4 inch thick NY strips about 6 minutes per side for a perfect medium rare.
Since I was cheating with the steaks, I made cream of mushroom soup from scratch.  This was incredibly worth it, but time consuming.  Over the weekend Bill took me to see Julie & Julia (I know, I don’ t like to rush into things).  I cried the entire movie — why I don’t know; but it made me cry!  The good news is that the tears lead to inspiration and I decided to tackle one of her recipes, Cream of mushroom soup.  Below is my version.  I’d never argue with Julia (or Julie) but the great thing about cooking in your kitchen is you adapt to your own tastes and based simply on the recipe this soup was not achieving it’s flavor potential.

Cream of Mushroom Soup (Click here for printable recipe)

6 Tbs butter separated
1/2 onion diced  (you are going to strain this out later so no points for neatness)
3 Tbs flour
About 1 1/2 quarts chicken stock (preferably homemade, but store bought will work, be careful with salt)
2 pounds mushrooms stemmed, caps sliced thin (I used cremini  and a few oyster but pick your favorite, keep stems separate from caps)
1/4 cup Marsala wine
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup cream
salt and pepper to taste

Over medium low heat cook onions in 3 Tbs butter until soft (less than 10 minutes).  Meanwhile bring stock to boil.  After onions are softened, stir in flour and cook for 3 – 4 minutes.  Off heat whisk boiling stock into onions, add mushroom stems and cook on a low simmer for about 20 minutes.

In a separate pan, heat remaining 3 Tbs butter over medium heat until it foams and then the foam subsides.  Add sliced mushroom caps and Marsala wine (this is my addition)  and season the mushrooms.  Put a lid on the pan and cook until soft, about 8 – 10 minutes.

Strain soup-base of stock, onion and mushroom caps. pressing to get all the juices.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together the egg yolks and cream.  Slowly, by spoonfuls, whisk in hot soup base.  Don’t do this too fast or  your eggs will scramble instead of thickening the soup.  Once you have about half the mixture you should be fine to return it all to the saucepan.  Then add the mushroom caps and any liquids released by cooking to the soup base.  Return to medium low heat and cook for a few minutes to thicken.  Do not let it come to a simmer, you could still get scrambled eggs and to go through that at this point would be heartbreaking.

So, what did we drink with it you ask? The Sly Dog Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon that Bill and I love!  The picture below is a link to their website.

One other thought I want to leave you with!  I recently discovered the art of “White”  Really cool, funky art with attitude.  The image below will take you to his site.

This dinner started with chicken that I had to cook because it had been hanging out in the fridge for a couple days.  I had some spinach I wanted to use and I had bought Fava Beans which I’ve never cooked before.  I poked around looking for an exciting Chicken recipe (and yes! There is such a thing!)  I found several lemon chicken recipes that looked super sweet, I am not a fan of sweet dinners.  I eventually found a couple that relied on garlic – and I added my spin with the spinach and oregano.  The spinach added nutrition, fiber and color to what was otherwise a very beige plate of food.  I’ve never eaten a fava bean so I made them as a side dish to an already full meal, that way we could try them without any pressure.

Dinner took a while to make but it turned out spectacular.  Our teenage son, who often refuses to eat, went back for seconds.  He thought he was going to get by with pushing the the spinach around his plate rather than eating it — but it wasn’t hard to convince him to.   He absolutely loved the fava beans, in fact we all did it was the first thing we tried and we finished our portions before going on to the rest of the meal.

When you read the recipe for the chicken,  you are going to think that it’s too much garlic.  The garlic really mellows out during cooking and becomes very sweet.  Early on when learning to cook someone told me to always add garlic late so that you don’t over cook it.  I think that they were a fan of the sharp spicy garlic flavor (and I am too – in moderation) but when gently coaxed, garlic becomes mild and adds a sweet buttery flavor.

I like to be transported when I eat — I’m not sure where this meal took us, I don’t think it was traditional anything, but it was still a comfortable, satisfying journey.

Lemony Garlic Chicken  (click here for printable link)

8 chicken thighs bone in, skin on

1 cup flour seasoned with salt and pepper

Olive oil to cover pan (about 1/8 inch)

2 onions sliced thin

1/2 cup minced garlic

zest and juice of one large or two small lemons

2 Cups Chicken Broth

1 sprig fresh oregano (or 1tsp dried)

1 Bag baby spinach

1lb angel hair pasta

Parmesan for garnish

Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees

Dredge chicken in flour and set aside.  Chop Onions and prepare garlic while chicken is resting.  I used the food processor for both.  Slicing disc for the onions and the blade attachment for the garlic, I streamed about 2T olive oil in with the processor running so it formed a paste.

Heat a pan with olive oil until almost smoking, add the chicken and thoroughly brown.  (maybe 3 – 4 minutes per side).  Season the chicken again while cooking, when browned remove from the pan and set aside.

Add onions to the pan and cook until transparent — if you get some color that’s OK, but you may need to lower the heat, the goal is to soften them and get that yummy onion flavor throughout the oil, not to caramelize.  After about three minutes add the garlic and stir.  Let this cook for about one minute and add the lemon juice.  Be sure to scrape up any brown bits from the pan.  Add the chicken stock and oregano sprig nestle chicken in the pan.  When it’s reached a simmer put a tight lid on the pan and move it to the oven for 20 minutes.

After removing the chicken from the oven, stir the spinach into the pan and replace the lid.  The heat will cook the spinach. *Note, this makes a pretty thin sauce.  I liked it and felt the texture complimented the light flavors and light pasta really well.  If you prefer thicker sauce you could remove the chicken, onions and spinach from the pan and reduce the sauce to the desired consistency.

Serve atop angel hair pasta and garnish with Parmesan cheese.

Fava Beans  (Click Here for Printable Recipe)

1 lb fava beans

2 slices bacon diced small (or pancetta if you have it)

1/2 onion diced fine

1 clove minced garlic

Remove fava beans from their outside shell and blanch in salted water for about 3 minutes, immerse in ice water and using a small knife or your fingernail remove the outer skin.  (according to other recipes I read you can skip this step and the skins will come off in the pan, but that sounded gross to me so I removed them prior to sauteing.

Heat a 10 inch skillet over medium heat.  Render the bacon fat and add the onion and garlic.  Cook until soft.  Add the fava beans, season with salt and pepper and saute for about 15 minutes.

As you can see from the photo — we paired this with a nice sauvignon blanc.

I’m off to wine again!  Cheers!

]]> http://www.whineaux.com/2009/10/05/garlic-lemon-chicken-with-fresh-spinach-and-fava-beans/feed/ 6 http://www.whineaux.com/2009/09/22/boeuf-daube-provencal-style-beef-stew/ http://www.whineaux.com/2009/09/22/boeuf-daube-provencal-style-beef-stew/#comments Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:37:44 +0000 dawn http://www.whineaux.com/?p=192

Beef Daube

There are as many recipes for Boeuf Daube as there are for meatloaf.  This is comfort food at it’s best.  All the flavors meld together the meat melts in your mouth and the noodles absorb the sauce.   I looked at several French Cookbooks and took elements from many of them to create my version of Boeuf Daube.  I have to admit, I was originally inspired by the recipe in the Editor’s Letter from this month’s Cooking Light.  For the record — I promptly added bacon thereby eliminating any claims to “light” eating but making my taste buds EXTREMELY happy!  There were almost zero leftovers from this meal; which is a huge statement to how much it was enjoyed as I typically cook as if the entire neighborhood may stop by at any second.

One of my pet peeves with cooking channels is they never admit when things go wrong.  Well, when Whineaux’s play with fire, sometimes the results are amusing.  There’s a video at the end of the post with my out-take.  It’s rated “R” for explosions and language.  Grab a glass of wine and laugh at the girl trying to get on The Darwin Awards List.

Whineaux’s Boeuf Daube (Click for printable version)

2T vegetable oil (you can use olive oil but it has a low smoke point and strong flavor)
1 Diced onion
12 cloves crushed garlic
4 slices bacon (slicked thin)
1 (2 pound) roast cut into 1 – 2 inch cubes.
1/2 cup cognac or brandy
1 cup carrots (cut them into big chunks or they will fall apart, roughly 3 – 4 carrots)
2 T tomato paste
1 package sliced cremini mushrooms
1 14 1/2 oz can diced tomoatoes
1 Cup red wine (I used Merlot)
bouquet garni – (1 sprig rosemary, 3 sprigs flat leaf parsely, 1 bay leaf, 2 tsp marjoram wrapped in cheesecloth so they can easily be removed)

Preheat Oven to 300 degrees

In a large Dutch Oven over medium heat, saute the bacon until crispy, remove and set aside

Lower heat to medium low, add vegetable oil as needed and slowly saute the onion and garlic until soft, but not browned remove from pan with slotted spoon and set aside.

Increase heat to medium high.  Working in batches, brown the beef on all sides (about 5 minutes each)

Off the heat (especially if you are using a gas stove) add brandy or cognac to deglaze pan.  Scrape up any frond from the bottom  of the pan.  Use a long lighter to burn off the alcohol (make sure your hair is pulled up and your face is not directly over the pot, please see video for what not to do)  Add remaining ingredients, stir, put a lid on the pot and put it in the oven for 2 1/2 hours.

Traditionally this is served with mashed potatoes or egg noodles, rice or cous cous would also be tasty.

And now for the outtake:

Disclaimer:  No actual Whineauxs were injured during the making of this dish.

Like all of us, I try to make healthy food choices.  I don’t eat junk food,  I select fresh local ingredients over frozen or processed food.  My eating destinations are locally owned and operated restaurants.  I’d NEVER even think to go to a Harley Davidson dealership for a lunch … In fact I didn’t even know they had cafes.

Imagine my surprise when I received a press release from Harley Davidson touting Chef Travis Taylor’s new state farm menu.  I almost hit delete, except it included a recipe for a corn dog casserole.  Corn dogs are indeed my guilty pleasure (I like to pretend I only have one but … that’s another post).  But they have to be made fresh I can taste freezer from a mile away and I DO NOT LIKE IT.  The biggest down side of fresh corn dogs is that they are deep fried and therefore so greasy I usually cannot finish one.  Chef Taylor’s casserole has all the flavors of a corn dog and none of the deep frying.  I received the message while traveling for business and I had to wait until I was back to make it.

It was super easy to make and took about 20 minutes of active cooking time.  The sage and celery brought a grown-up distinction while staying true to the childhood corn dog memory.  Pre-browning the hot dogs helped release some of the fat.  You could easily use turkey hot dogs and reduce the fat further.  I used Hebrew National because they don’t have by-products.

Depending on how many people in your family I think you could easily cut this in half.  We ate leftovers and still ended up tossing some.  But it was a family hit that is sure to return to the table and I’m absolutely considering a trip to a Motor Cafe to try the rest of the state farm menu which features funnel cakes and cheese curds.

For a printable Recipe click here

This time of year my herb garden goes crazy thanks to lots of rain and lots of sun.  My Basil plants become a small forest if I don’t stay on top of them.  It seems like a terrible waste to  grow the herbs but not use them.  So — I decided to make pesto.

What started out as a quick and simple meal to help me regain control of my herb garden was deemed one of our favorite meals.  I made a fresh basil pesto cream sauce, sauteed chicken in bacon fat, and added some crisp bacon to the plate.  As we’d been out running errands all day I used store bought fresh pasta instead of making my own, but next time I will be making my pasta because this sauce is too good to diminish with store bought pasta.  (that said, the fresh pasta was perfectly fine if you are not a nutcase like me)

At the end of making this, I realized that it was truly a 30 minute meal — with little or no planning.  I can make Rachel Ray meals in 30 minutes, but usually that’s only if I gather and prep the ingredients before I start cooking (and the timer).  In this case I remember looking at the clock and it was 7:03 as I started the pesto in the food processor and 7:27 when I was putting dinner on the plate.  Before that I had only started the pasta water and the pine nuts.

Fettuccine with Pesto Cream:

1 Cup Fresh Basil Leaves
2 Cloves Fresh Garlic grated (If you are using pre-peeled cloves you may want 3)
1/2 Cup pine nuts toasted in olive oil
Pinch Kosher Salt
Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
3/4 cup olive oil
1 Cup Heavy Cream
1 package fresh fettuccine from the store or 1 pound homemade pasta.

Toast pine nuts in olive oil over medium heat on stove top.  Let them brown but not burn.  A word of caution, they very quickly transition from toasted to burned so this is not the time to multitask.  It takes about 4 -6 minutes total and you’ll want to toss them so they cook evenly.  Start them in a cold pan with cold olive oil; this way the oil is also infused with the pine nut flavor.  After toasting remove them from the pan and put them on a plate to cool.

Put Basil leaves in food processor, use a micro plane or garlic press to mince the garlic.  [This is one time I don't like to trust the food processor -- this is essentially a raw sauce so you don't want to get a large chunk of garlic.]  Add the Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and pulse the food processor a few times to mix everything up, add the pine nuts and pulse food processor to mix.  Scrape the sides of the bowl, and replace lid, turn food processor on and stream in olive oil until the sauce starts to come together. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.  (Note, the cream and the pasta will mute the flavor some so a tiny bit extra salt is a good idea)

In a shallow saute pan heat the cream over medium low heat and reduce by a third.  Let it cool a bit  while you make the chicken.

Sauteed Chicken:

4 strips thick cut smoked bacon or pancetta
4 bone-in skin on Chicken Thighs
Salt and pepper to taste
Splash white wine.

In a large saute pan render bacon until crispy over medium high heat, remove from the pan and drain over paper towels. Reserve fat in pan.

Pat chicken dry and season on both sides.  Put chicken in the hot pan skin side down and cook until deeply browned, about 8 minutes per side, Temperature near the bone should register 155 – 160 degrees. Remove from pan and drain.

Meanwhile cook Fettuccine according to package directions drain and return to stock pot.

Combine the pesto paste with warm cream (if you do this while the cream is hot you’ll turn the basil black — it’s fine to eat but not as pretty).  Toss with pasta in the stock pot.

We had a tempranillo with this.  The wine was a lighter representation of the wine, dry with berry cherry and vanilla flavors.  Not a lot of earth but nice acidity that cut the richness of the pasta cream sauce.