Breakfast for Dinner

This week I am a bachelor. The wife has travelled East for Spring Break to visit her 95 year old mother.

So, what does a bachelor do? He cooks.

But cooking for one can be so dull and unexciting. After all, who is there to applaud?

This afternoon I decided to make a simple dish and size it down to one dinner and a little bit of leftovers for a later lunch. Better yet, the dish will use some leftovers from before Nancy left, sweet Italian sausage links.

I shopped and then I gathered ingredients.

Ingredients

1 link sweet Italian sausage, cooked and sliced in rings

1 large white mushroom, sliced

1/2 yellow onion, sliced in half rings

1/4 cup minced parsley

1/3 cup shredded mild cheddar jack cheese

three eggs

2 Tablespoons milk

2 Tablespoons EVOO

salt and pepper to taste

Method

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Add a large pinch of salt and a small pinch of pepper to the eggs and whisk with a fork. Add the milk and whisk until blended

Add the cheese and parsley and whisk once more.

In a oven safe, non stick skillet, saute the mushrooms and onions until soft and beginning to brown. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and the cooked sausage rings. Continue to saute until all ingredients are well heated.

Whisk the egg mixture and add it to the skillet.

Use a wooden spoon to mix the cooking egg and the skillet contents. Swirl the skillet to even the ingredients and place the skillet on the middle rack of the heated oven. Bake 15 to 18 minutes, until the frittata is firm, hot, and sliceable.

Serve with salsa to garnish and a side of home fries, tots, or other potatoes.

Walleye Chowder

Walleye are native to the Ozarks and back in the day were called jack salmon for reasons beyond understanding. When the Corps of Engineers dammed the White, Ouachita, and Little Red rivers for flood control and electrical generation, they also created wonderful fisheries in which walleye have thrived. To keep the populations  at catchable levels Arkansas stocks the lakes to supplement any natural reproduction.

For those of us who both fish and cook, these facts create a wonderful opportunity to prepare fresh fish of the highest quality. Not that you have to catch fish yourself to enjoy this chowder recipe. You can substitute halibut, cod, hake, or any firm white fish other than tilapia. Don't you dare use tilapia for anything.

Ingredients

1 pound walleye filets, chunked into 2" cubes

1 pound golden potatoes with skin on, sliced in 1/4 inch half moons

White parts of 1 leek, sliced in half rings

1 onion, diced

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 small carrot, shredded

2 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch julienne

1 8 oz. bottle clam juice

1 rounded Tablespoon flour

1 cup half and half

1 cup of cream

2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

salt and pepper to taste

sriracha to taste

1 Tablespoon EVOO

Method

Brown the bacon slices in the bottom of a dutch oven in the oil.

Remove and reserve the bacon.

Gently saute the onion, carrot, and leeks in the residual fat.

Add the spices and flour and continue to cook for 1 minute while stirring.

Add the garlic and cook while stirring another minute.

Add the clam juice and use it to deglaze the pot.

Add the bacon back to the pot.

Add the half and half, the cream, and the potatoes and simmer until the dary taste has disappeared and the potatoes are done, and the soup has thickened.

Add the fish and cook with minimal stirring until the fish is done through.

Serve with fresh baked bread and  pan roasted asparagus.

Drive By Sauce #1

Horseradish Sauce

This is a dead simple sauce that complements roasted or grilled beef. You will not believe how good this tastes, and the great part is that it takes 2 minutes, three if the horseradish jar is new and fights you over opening it. 

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons prepared hot horseradish

1 squirt Sriracha sauce

1/4 cup heavy cream

large pinch of kosher salt 

Method

Mix the ingredients and refrigerate to allow the sauce to thicken. Taste and adjust the salt and Sriracha.

Tip

At service, guard the bowl to prevent those who would lick the bowl from embarrassing you.

It Does Not Have To Be Sunday Pot Roast

This is an example of the kind of dish that uses simple ingredients and a particular method to create something with complex flavors and hearty appeal. Any beef eater knows pot roast, and even my mother had "the" recipe. What follows will be my suggested recipe, but, of course, it draws upon several sources.  Think of it as Pioneer Woman crossed with Julia Childs.

Ingredients

One 3 to 5 pound chuck roast

One large or two medium onions, peeled and halved, with sten and end removed

Two large peeled carrots

6 to 8 red potatoes, skin on and halved

1/2 cup dry red wine

1 rounded tablespoon tomato paste

1 quart beef stock

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 Tablespoon Herbs de Provence

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees and place the rack low middle.

Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven to the smoke point. While it heats salt and pepper the chuck roast generously. Sear both sides of the roast to dark brown and remove the roast to a plate.

In the oil and beef fat, brown the onion and carrots. In the picture below, the vegetables are only part way browned. 

When the vegetables are well caramelized but not yet cooked, add the tomato paste and smear it to cook through. Next add the red wine to deglaze the pan and cook it until it thickens nearly to paste. Add 2 cups of the beef stock and lay the roast on the carrots. Arrange the onions on the side. Add the herbs, the bay leaves, and the Worcestershire sauce. Add enough additional beef stock to bring the fluid level halfway up the sides of the beef.

Bring the dish to a boil, cover the pot and place it in the oven. Depending on the roast size, cook time will be 4 to 6 hours. The roast is done when a fork slides easily into the meat at all locations. 

No, I did not forget the potatoes. Approximately 1 hour before the estimated finish time, add the potatoes into the jus. That way they will cook, but not become mushy.

To prepare this dish on a work day, the night before you follow the directions as far as deglazing the pan and add all of the ingredients other than the roast. Then in the morning, pour the vegetables and fluid in a slow cooker and add the roast, adjust the fluid level and set the cooker to low. As soon as you arrive home, add the potatoes and serve with strained jus when they are done.

Cannelloni Florentine with Puttanesca Sauce

In Facebook land, I have written about cannelloni three times. One time I wrote of a sausage sauce based on Marcella Hazen's five ingredient sauce. Another time, I described a Chicken Florentine with a cheesy mushroom bechamel sauce. The third was a gluten and carb free version using long slices of zucchini to replace the noodles. That is the beauty of cannelloni - you roll up a cheesy stuffing that contains whatever you wish and then you sauce it how you please before baking.  Somewhere out there someone (Not Me) makes a smoked oyster and pineapple variation.

This version will present the regular roll ups but will utilized a sauce that tends to the puttanesca side

This recipe prepares 14 roll up tubes in a 13 X 9 pan and 4 tubes in a side dish.

Sauce Ingredients:

One small onion diced fine (around one cup)

4 ounces baby portabella mushrooms diced small (around two cups)

28 ounce can whole San Marzano tomatoes

One 15 ounce cans tomato sauce

One 12 can tomato juice

1 head garlic, peeled and minced.

½ cup dry red wine (optional)

1 Tablespoon sun-dried tomato paste

2 to 3 Tablespoons minced fresh herbs (Oregano, Marjoram, or Basil, or combination)*

A full pinch of red pepper flakes*

2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 rounded tablespoons capers

1/4 to 1/3 cup sliced kalamata olives

3 inch stripe of anchovie paste (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

*You may use a rounded Tablespoon or more of Italian seasoning if fresh herbs are not available. Some seasoning blends, such as Cento and King Arthur Pizza Seasoning include crushed red pepper flakes. If so, adjust the size of the pinch of red pepper flakes listed in the recipe.

Pasta and Stuffing Ingredients:

18 pieces Oven Ready (no boil) lasagne pasta

Two 15 ounce tubs of ricotta (whole or part skim)

8 ounces shredded mozzarella

4 ounces grated Parmesan

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 package (8 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, chopped and squeezed dry

3 Tablespoons minced parsley

4 grinds black pepper

Pinch of salt

Pinch fresh grated nutmeg

Sauce Preparation:

Put the olive oil in the bottom of a heavy large saucepan. Add the onion and stir to coat. Turn on the heat to medium. When the onion begins to sizzle and cook, add the mushroom evenly over the onion. Do not stir. This allows the mushroom to begin cooking without soaking up all the oil.

When the mushroom begins to soften and to give up its juices, stir and continue cooking until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms soft.

Add the tomato paste and stir in. Cook another minute. Add the olives, capers, garlic and herbs. If using the anchovy paste it goes in here. When the mixture becomes very fragrant, add the red wine and cook an additional minute. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato juice. Stir well and simmer for 30 minutes to an hour.

Stuffing Preparation:

Mix all ingredients except the pasta. (Wasn’t that difficult?)

Roll Construction:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Use a tea kettle to heat water just to boiling and pour a little over an inch in the bottom of a 13 X 9 baking dish. One by one add 18 no boil lasagna sheets. Jiggle and use a fork to make sure they do not stick together. When the sheets have become flexible, remove them from the water and arrange in a single layer on dry kitchen towels. 

Use a large trigger ice cream scoop (doser) or a large spoon to put a ¼ cup amount of stuffing on each. 

Use the remainder to even out.

With the short side of the sheets facing you, spread the mixture evenly from the close end toward the other, but leave about two inches uncovered on the far end. Roll the sheets away from you and use the uncovered pasta to seal the tube.

Put 1 and ½ cups of sauce in the bottom of the dried out 13 X 9 pan. Spread the sauce evenly. 

Arrange 14 tubes, seam side down, in that pan. In the back up pan pour enough of the sauce to coat the bottom. Put the remaining 4 tubes seam side down in that pan. Cover all tubes with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle the surface well with Parmesan.

Cover with foil and bake the large pan 45 minutes. Pull the small pan out five minutes early. Remove the foil and let stand 15 minutes before serving with additional grated Parmesan.

Note:

Either pan may be frozen before or after baking. If frozen before baking, thaw well before inserting in a hot oven.

Cheesy Broccoli and Cauliflower Casserole

The original recipe for this came from a Bon Appetite, maybe thirteen years ago? I have made it so often I no longer need to look it up, and, like stew, each time is a little different. If you internet search I am sure you can find the original and you could compare it to this. It's all good.

Ingredients

1 head cauliflower

2 medium heads broccoli

5 ounces baby spinach

1/2 onion, diced small

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 Tablespoons butter

1/4 cup flour

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth

1 cup half and half or milk

1 cup reserved vegetable cooking water

1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1 double handful shredded Italian Five cheeses

1 cup Panko

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

spray olive oil

salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Remove the florets of cauliflower and broccoli from the stems, dividing the larger pieces into bite size pieces. Keep the two vegetables separate.

In a large pot (I use a dutch oven) bring 5 cups of heavily salted water to a rolling boil. Cook the cauliflower to crisp tender and remove from the pot with a spider. Place the vegetable in ice water to stop the cooking. Bring the water back to the boil and cook the broccoli identically and chill it as well.

Bring the water back to the boil. Put the spinach in the water and use the spider to dunk it until it wilts. Remove the spinach and turn off the heat under the water. By now the water will be tinged green. Reserve 2 cups of the liquid and pour the rest away. Put the dutch oven back on the stove and when the residual heat in the pot dries it, add the butter and turn the heat back on to medium low.

When the butter melts and begins to bubble, add the onion and stir until the onions turn translucent, 2 or 3 minutes. Add the garlic, flour, and nutmeg and stir as you cook the roux for three minutes. Add a large pinch of salt and and pepper. Add the chicken stock and stir as the mixture begins to boil. Add the dairy and continue to stir. Add one cup of the reserved cooking water and stir as the sauce comes to the boil. Add the Italian 5 cheeses and stir until the cheese has melted. If the sauce is tight, add more of the reserved cooking water. Taste test and adjust the salt if necessary. Turn off the heat.

Spray grease a 9 X 13 casserole. Add the cauliflower, broccoli, and spinach into the sauce and mix well. Turn the mixture out into the greased casserole. Mix the Panko and Parmesan together and thoroughly cover the top of the vegetables. Use spray olive oil to dampen the breadcrumb mixture.

At this step you can cover the casserole and hold it, refrigerated, for up to 48 hours.

Place the uncovered casserole on the middle shelf of the heated oven and bake until the bread crumbs begin to brown and the sauce is bubbling, 45 minutes to an hour.

Tuscan Chicken in an Italian Cheese and Garlic Cream Sauce

My previous post hailed from Provence. This post comes from the internet. I saw a recipe post for a creamy Tuscan chicken. The idea struck me a wonderful, but the recipe was boring and based upon short cuts. That caused me to do a little workup for a full flavor version. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did cooking it.

Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, each cut in half*

1 small onion, diced

5 to 6 ounces of picked and stemmed fresh spinach

1/4 cup each shredded mozzarella, 5 cheese Italian bland, and grated Parmesan

6 petals of oil packed sun-dried tomatoes, julienned, with 2 Tablespoons of the oil 

1 rounded Tablespoon of capers

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup thin sliced mushrooms

1 pint cream

1 to 2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning (I used the Penzy's Tuscan Sunset)

salt and pepper

Method

In a heavy bottomed saute pan, heat the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes just to the smoking stage. Generously season the chicken breasts and brown them on both sides. Do not attempt to fully cook the breast pieces. Remove the chicken and tent it with foil. Do not clean or empty the pan.

Reduce the heat to medium low and saute the onion and mushrooms until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic, seasoning, tomatoes, and capers. Cook another 1 to 2 minutes until the mixture knocks you down with aroma. Add the cream and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and add the spinach and cheeses. Stir frequently as the spinach wilts and the cheeses melt.

Return the chicken breast to the sauce, with any juices, and spoon sauce onto the chicken. Simmer until the sauce thickens and the breasts have no pink in the interior. (FDA says 165 degrees)

Serve over noodles, rotini, or orzo.

* This dish would be better with thigh meat, but breast was what I had.