Eating Dinner With My Family

This is a whole new way to imagine ground beef.  We have all seen hamburger steak in restaurants, but they are burgers sans a bun.  Not this!  As I sit here with my arteries clogging, (only saved from certain coronary by the red wine:), I still wish I could eat more.  The sauce was unbelievable. The token salad I served it with in no way made this dinner healthy; however, this is a worthy occasional indulgence.  It is from Julia Child's iconic cookbook, (click post title for a link to the book) and being French there is no lack of butter and cream.  For a starch, I made a half box of shells I had in the pantry and, since a stick of butter in the entree didn't seem like enough, (ahem) I made a compound butter.  I was flipping through my tome of sauces by James Peterson,  and Colbert Butter jumped off the page at me. (Yes, I am a fan of his!)  It made sense to make it too because it is maitre d' butter with the addition of a be...

Well this one will not be made again.  It wasn't horrible, but not really great.  I didn't really change it much.  I did add a bit more zucchini, and I didn't weigh the prosciutto, so it might have been a little less becasue it was really thinly sliced.  Other than that, I followed it to a t. I would have liked more prosciutto, more cheese and more veggies to the amount of pasta. My husband also suggested that the zucchini would have been better grated and thrown in at the end.  That way you would get some in every bite.  I think that would have saved the dish, but none of us wanted to make it a second time.  I put all of the meat and cheese on our four plates and still had half of the pasta leftover without any on it. (except for the cheese added during the cooking)  The cheese also seemed to clump up.  Maybe it was because I grated it on my microplane grater, but I love the light fluffy texture when you use it as a topping....

Well after last night's veritable orgy of fat, I was feeling like something light.  Being Wednesday, our soccer/ steak salad night, I thought even that sounds too heavy.  Thinking of the ingredients in our salad, I was trying to find substitutes that would feel less heavy.  Once I thought of feta for the blue cheese, I knew I wanted to do a Greek salad with chicken on it. I googled a Greek: salad, marinade and chicken.  I found a few different recipes. I found out that exactly what what I was thinking in terms of ingredients for the salad and the dressing was what the recipes called for.  I did get the marinade and the precise measurements for the dressing from food.com. I was quite pleased with the results.  Grilled Chicken Greek Salad Salad 4    thin chicken cutlets 8 c  of mixed greens 2    medium tomatoes chopped 1    cucumber,peeled, seeded and chopped 1/2    red pepper,seed...

OH MY!!  There aren't enough expletives to emphasize how much we were digging this sauce!  It is a Julia Child recipe I have been wanting to try, and I had leftover ham from last night's strata, so I figured I would try it out.  The sauce is to unbelievably amazing!  My husband raved about it so much and wanted to have it again, he said it would work with any meat.  While I agree, I think that the sauteed ham donated a lot of flavor to the sauce, and I don't think it would be exactly the same with another meat.  I served it with rice, spinach braised in ham stock, and sauteed mushrooms.  I used beef stock and the port, as they were what I had on hand.  It was an all round favorite. Sautéed Ham Slices—cream And Madiera Sauce 2 1/2    to 3 lbs of cooked ham sliced ¼ inch thick 2 T  butter 1 T  oil 3 T  flour 2 T  minced shallots or green onions 1 c  very good ham stock,white  or brown stock, ...

Well I had way to much good cheese left over after last night's pizza, so I decided to look for some recipes that use either Gouda or Fontina.  I find this one that uses Gouda.  Bonus, is that a stale baguette I happen to have will work in place of the bread in the recipe.  That is the only deviation i made from the recipe.  Not only was this really tasty, but it is an amazing way to use up bread and leftovers.  You can alter the ingredients however you want as long as you keep the bread to egg to milk ratio. Just an fyi here, I have seen these made with eggbeaters.  I think that would work, but cleaning up on them is a pain if you don't use extra butter to grease the pan, so don't do it for the calories;) Ham And Cheese Strata 8    large eggs 1 1/2 c  milk 1/2 t  salt 1/2 t  freshly ground pepper 4 c  Italian bread cubes (1 inch) 6    ounces Virginia ham,cut into 1/2-inch dice (...

Well, I had bought pizza dough for last night's leftovers, but realized I could use up the French bread instead, so tonight we are having some pizzas I have been wanting to try.  I have  to say they were pretty yummy. I thought I would not love the salad with  apples on the pizza,  but it was really delicious.  I did a few things differently.  I didn't make the dough for the Fontina one; I worked thyme into the dough I bought from the bakery.  I also crushed up the tomatoes in the Gouda pizza.  I would have been OK with whole, but my husband isn't a fan, so when they came out of the oven, I mushed them up a bit with a wooden spoon.  I also didn't make individual pizzas, just two big ones. (less time consuming) Oh and I used olive oil in place of the grapeseed.  I wasn't buying an expensive bottle of oil I don't have any uses for. Fontina, Prosciutto And Caramelized Onion Pizzas        ...

Well there are too many leftovers in the house, so I am making French bread pizzas.  I made a garlic, Parmesan cream sauce out of the oil, fat and garlic that was left in the pan after dinner was done last night.  I heated it in a small pan and added a tbsp or so of flour.  After I cooked the roux a bit, I added some whole milk until the sauce was the right consistency.  I wanted it a bit on the thick side.  I added about 3/4 cup of Parmesan and then when it melted, added salt and hot sauce (instead of pepper). Then I shredded sup some of the leftover chicken.  Built the pizzas with the sauce, chicken and mozzarella, and baked them in the oven at 350 degrees for about ten minutes, and then I put the broil on for just a minute or two to brown a bit on the top.  I also made one with some of the leftover butternut squash I had roasted.  I pureed that with some milk to thin it and topped it with the mozzarella and some of the left over beans.  I ...

Alton Brown never dissapoints us with his recipes, but this one is one of the best.  It is one of those meals that always  makes everyone so happy.  My husband is the one who makes this dish.  (hacking up the whole chicken gives me the willies:}) Other than the breaking down the chicken, and the time peeling the garlic, it requires nothing but time.  The garlic does take a while, so on nights we are short on time, like this one, I get the peeled cloves in the refrigerated produce section.  They are not as good as the ones you peel yourself, but sometimes you need to take a bit of a shortcut.  Tonight, we are going out to eat and making this for my MIL and her husband and the kids.  It is one of the boy's favorties.  We didn't get a picture because it wasn't done when we left for dinner.  It was served with a baguette and a simple salad. 40 Cloves And A Chicken Recipe 1    whole chicken (broiler/fryer) cut into 8 pieces...

Well, as I don't care for catfish, I used talapia.  These were pretty good.  I happen to prefer my husband's fried  fish recipe.  The cornmeal made it too coarse for my liking.  The remoulade was tasty, but I think I would have liked some heat.  Despite all that, we enjoyed it quite a bit.  Catfish Po'boys With Pickle Remoulade  8 Servings        Pickle Remoulade 1 c  mayonnaise 1/4 c  minced celery 1    small shallot,minced 1    garlic clove,minced 2 T  Creole mustard 2 T  sweet pickle relish 2 T  chopped drained capers 2 T  chopped flat-leaf parsley        Po'boys 1 c  cornmeal 1 c  panko (Japanese bread crumbs),crushed 1/2 c  all-purpose flour,plus more for dusting 1 t  salt 1/2 t  cayenne pepper 1/2 t  garlic powder 1/2 t  onion powder 1/4 t  dried thyme 1/4 t...

Well the boy asked for crab legs tonight. I so wanted to get them for him, but at $10.99 a pound, I wasn't going to make them the entire dinner.  SO, since it is soccer night, and our traditional soccer night meal has been grilled steak salad, I decided to do both.  We made the salad and I got a couple of clusters for him. (we helped:)  In retrospect, the steak was pretty pricey too, but I know it was much less than I would have spent on the crab. With the leftover steak, he will be having steak and eggs for breakfast.  Best thing about the meal, which made the extra I spent on the crab totally worth it, was to see the grinning gusto with which the boy ate his crab!  I would have spent millions on that.

Not the prettiest looking dish, but is is a healthy way to get a good amount of veggies into the kids, and it's vegetarian.  I got the dish from a friend, but I have no idea how much of it is my additions.  Other than the peeling and chopping, it is labor free, and often in my house, my husband will do it because the has better knife skills.  Roasted Veggie Enchiladas  1/2    a butternut squash peeled and cubed (large chunks) 1    large onion 1    -3 bell peppers (variety of color is nice) 1    bulb (yes bulb not clove) of garlic peeled Beans of some sort (I heat and season a can of black beans        Over low heat while the veggies are cooking Make sure they aren't full of liquid or the        enchiladas will be watery) Cream cheese and shredded cheese of choice (jack and cheddar are good) Tortillas 2 cn of Green (if you can find it) e...

Well I saw that it was national pasta day in one of my daily emailed recipes, so I dug this one out of my to try file. WOW! The cards were so stacked against me liking this dish. I'm not a the biggest fan of pork. I really don't like seeing certain meats raw (pork & chicken). Proportionally, there was too much meat to pasta. Too little sauce and cheese to the too much meat was also making me leery. I picked this recipe out for the carnivorous males in the family. I figured it would be pretty tasty as it was a F & W staff favorite. Well, holy cow! It was freakin' awesome! It was not too labor intensive either. It was a long process, but mostly inactive so not too difficult. I'm thinking that for the days one is short on time, a crock pot might even be an alternative after the reduction of the wine. I halved the recipe and there was still plenty for 8 servings, so despite the fact that the full recipe says for eight, so not true. It is so good, you ...

Well the end result was tasty, but I had some issues. First of all, it took much longer for the meat to be cooked then the recipe said.  Perhaps my chicken wasn't thin enough, but it was pretty thin.  Because I cooked it longer the sauce became a tad salty. (definitely use the low sodium broth)  All in all delicious.  Everyone loved it.  It is not that hard to make either. I served it with a salad and some pasta shells.  The sauce was simple.  I melted a couple of tablespoons of butter in a pan, and sauteed some onions in it.  Then I added a couple tablespoons of flour and cooked the roux for a few minutes.  Add milk (and minced garlic) and cook until the right consistency, then add freshly grated parm, salt, and pepper. Chicken Saltimbocca 4    six-ounce skinless,boneless chicken breast halves, butterfled Salt and freshly ground pepper 8    large sage leaves 4    thin slices prosci...

Well, in the aftermath of the fridge going kaput, the second fridge in the garage now has a stuffed full freezer that I have been quietly ignoring.  I decided that tonight I am going in.  Since the husband will be working, I figured it would be a good time to use up some of the leftover portions of frozen proteins in there.  I find about a third of a bag of bay scallops.  Perfect!  I am going to just wing it and use up some things that need to be used and be done with it, and hope all turns out alright.  It was good; nothing to say WOW over but tasty.  I fried up a couple slices of bacon.  When they were crisp and had rendered a good bit of fat, I took them out and cooked the scallops in the drippings.  (make sure they are dry when going in the fat)  Over almost high heat, I cooked them for two minutes, stirred the up, and cooked for two more minutes.  Then I removed them using a slotted spoon and cooked 2 zucchini and an onion, thi...

I made this for the boys because the girls and I were going to a wine tasting and this dish has a variable cooking time. That way they could eat whenever they were ready.  I recommend cooking it at least an hour.  I think the meat becomes more tender.  The hardest part about making this is pounding out the meat.  Getting it thin is important.  It helps make the rolling easier and it cooks better. Other than that, the dish is really easy despite the fact it looks "fancy."  You can always play with the fillings too, but then it wouldn't be a Braciole but a roulade:).  To keep it easy on me, I gave them a baguette with butter and a salad (that they didn't eat) as sides. Braciole 3 c  tomato sauce 1 1/4 c  flavored croutons 1/3 c  grated Parmesan  2    eggs 1 T  chopped fresh parsley 1 T  chopped fresh oregano 1 t  finely chopped rosemary 1 t  finely chopped thyme 1 ea garlic 1 lb...

I enjoyed this but not as much as I expected.  We are big scallion fans here, but while it wasn't bad, we were just like meh.  We are deleting it. The next day, it was less tasty. Orecchiette With Sautéed Greens And Scallion Sauce 3/4 lb orecchiette pasta 4 T  unsalted butter 1 bn of scallions,thinly sliced 3    garlic cloves,thinly sliced 3/4 c  dry white wine Salt and freshly ground pepper 2 T  extra-virgin olive oil One 5-ounce bag of baby arugula 6    large Swiss chard leaves stems and central ribs -discarded, leaves 1/4 c  mascarpone cheese [Note: Our Pairing Suggestion   For these orecchiette, Chris Blanchard suggests pouring a Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley in France, which has a lightly grassy zestiness, such as a Pouilly-Fumé or a  Sancerre.   ] 1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the orecchiette until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water....

Omg!  This is a good one.  The original recipe included a spicy black bean recipe. I made my own recipe instead (see 9/22/11 )  The original recipe also only called for pork, beans, tortillas and salsa.  We added all the other things.  I think they were necessary.  I also doubled everything but the peppers.  It was spicy, but not too spicy.  This is going into the favorites! Soft Pork Tacos  3/4 c  low-sodium chicken broth  1    head of garlic,cloves peeled and thinly sliced  1    medium onion,finely chopped  1    habanero chile,seeded and minced  1    large serrano chile,seeded and minced  1    bay leaf  1/2 t  ground cumin  Salt and freshly ground pepper   One 1-pound pork loin roast trimmed of excess fat   Flour Tortillas, diced tomatoes, diced onion, shredded lettuce, chopped cilantro, hot sauce or...

I made almost no changes to this.  The only thing I did differently was I used the broiler rather than a grill and I had skinless salmon,  It was good.  I wasn't totally blown away but it was fresh and different.  With it, we had orzo that I tossed with some leftover mustard butter and cream and a simple salad.  Grilled Salmon With Cilantro-Pecan Pesto     1/3 c  pecans,chopped   2 1/2 c  lightly packed cilantro     1/3 c  freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese     1/4 c  chicken stock or low-sodium broth       1 T  sherry vinegar     1/4 c  extra-virgin olive oil            Salt and freshly ground pepper            Four 6- to 7-ounce salmon fillets,with skin [Note:  .  The nutty, herbal pesto makes salmon, already ...

Picture taken by flashlight! Well tonight's dinner was an adventure to say the least!  In the middle of sauteing the chard, the power kept flickering.  It continued to do so until the sauce making stage where it completely went out.  I make about 1.5 of the recipe, or as I said to my husband when the power started flickering, one and a half a$$ed!  It was cold but tasty.  I personally am not a big fan of tarragon, but it was subtle enough for me. The best part of the meal was the rice.  I just put 1 c. rice in my rice steamer with chicken stock instead of water, and a 1/2 cup of golden raisins along with about a tablespoon of soy sauce and about 1.5 tbsp of unsalted butter.  Cooked it in the steamer and when it was done, added chopped walnuts.  Yum!  We ate by candlelight which made up for the cool temp of the food:) Sauteed Tilapia Over Swiss Chard With Tarragon Butter       1    Tbs. extra-virg...

I wanted something different, so I looked up different recipes until I found these.  We happen to love middle eastern flavors and these were pretty tasty. I have to say that some of the food we have had from nice restaurants and friends of this ancestry have been much better, but all in all a pretty solid dinner.  The chicken was really, really tasty.  We marinated it for a day and a half and it was really flavorful, however the harissa stole the show!  WOW! Bulgar Salad With Lightly Roasted Vegetables 6 Servings 2 c  coarse Bulgar,rinsed 2 c  hot water 1    medium zucchini,cut into 1/4-inch dice 1    medium carrot,cut into 1/4-inch dice 1    small red onion,cut into 1/4-inch dice 1/2    red bell pepper,cut into 1/4-inch dice 1/4 c  extra-virgin olive oil Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 T  tomato paste 1/4 c  fresh lemon juice 1/2    medium cucumbe...

Well despite the fact that I have hundreds (literally) of recipes in the to try file, I went looking around for something else. I found this.  I loved the sauce.  It was a bit spicy, but not so much for me. I did have to change it a bit. I thought the recipe called for very thinly cut pork chops, but it overcooked a bit even though I reduced the cooking time. I had a Korean cooking wine I had used in place of a Chinese wine before. (The local Oriental market leans towards Korean ingredients)  However, since it is the main ingredient in the sauce, and I'm not totally familiar with how it would taste as the main ingredient, I used half mirin as well. (I think all mirin would work too)  I think it worked really well.  I used the a garlic chili sauce. (the kind you mind in the ethnic section of your local market)  I think using chili flakes (I'm assuming the...

The new fridge arrived today! (Whoo Hoo!)  It was a soccer night, so I make a steak salad, but I made a new one.  My only divergence from the recipe was I used about half the meat.  It was delish!  I like my salad a bit more but it is pretty close!  I made garlic bread out of last night's leftover baguette! Grilled-Steak And Arugula Salad With Mustard Caper Vinaigrette 1 1/2 lb sirloin steak,about 1 inch thick  6 T  olive oil  Salt  Fresh-ground black pepper  1 lb arugula,leaves washed and torn in half (about 2  2 c  halved cherry tomatoes (about 3/4 pound) 1 1/2 t  Dijon mustard 1/2 t  anchovy paste 1 T  red- or white-wine vinegar  2 T  drained capers 1.Light the grill or heat the broiler. Coat the steak with 1 tablespoon of the oil. Sprinkle the steak with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Grill or broil the steak for 5 minutes. Turn the meat and cook to your taste, about 5 mi...

This recipe is based on the Colombia Restaurant's 1905 salad.  My MIL's sister turned us on to the recipe.  I had eaten the salad before and really liked it, but it was early in the "learning to cook" stage, so I had no idea of what went into it even though it is made table side.  It is quick, easy and totally tasty.  A very substantial salad   The Colombia's 1905 Salad Salad Ingredients  Ham, diced  Swiss Cheese, diced  Green Olives, sliced  Romaine Lettuce, Torn  Tomatoes, chopped Dressing Ingredients   Lemon   Worcestershire Sauce   Some brine from the green olives   2    -3 cloves of garlic chopped   olive oil [Note: This is the salad mixture.  The amounts you want are based on the # of people eating.  Remember the quality of the ingredients will be important because of its simplicity  The dressing should be made at least a half an hour ahead of time, to a...

Well tonight's is a bit of a pantry raid.  I had the frozen shrimp that needed to be used and a lemon and the pasta.  Thought I had garlic, but it was gone so I had a quick grocery run.  I am still so over the fridge thing:/  It is still a tasty meal.   Shrimp Scampi With Linguini 1 lb linguini 4 T  butter 4 T  extra virgin olive oil,plus more for drizzling 1    large shallot,finely diced 5 ea garlic,sliced Pinch red pepper flakes optional 20    Shrimp (large),about 1 pound, peeled and deveined Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/2 c  dry white wine 1    lemon,juiced 1/4 c  finely chopped parsley leaves [Note: Use a Marborough Sauvgion Blanc ] For the pasta, put a large pot of water on the stove to boil. When it has come to the boil, add a couple of tablespoons of salt and the linguini. Stir to make sure the pasta separates; cover. When the water returns to a boil...

Ok, this is my Husband's recipe, and as I am writing this, he is still undecided as to wether or not it is a family secret recipe.  I don't know what to tell him.  It is that good, but I hate keeping secrets.  (the non-fish taco kind:)  It started out as a Cooking Light recipe, but we intervened and fattened it up so it is no longer a 'light' dish.  It originally was a ham and swiss stromboli; my brilliant husband added salami and cream cheese.  (I know I can say that much as of yet lol)  I don't cook this one ever.  First of all, the recipe hasn't been written down yet. Secondly, I am not the baker/ dough maker of the family.  (along with not being the fryer either)  It is delicious, often requested and ever so fattening!  It is not a quick or easy recipe, but not too taxing either.   (espically since I never make it!) Well I think I have an answer on wether or not this is a public recipe, it is going to be a someda...