Best eggplant ever

So, eggplant is labor intensive. But for some reason I planted it. Now I have to cook it.

First, I washed and peeled the eggplant. Then I thinly sliced it and laid the cutlets on tea towels. I lightly lightly salted them, sprinkled them with garlic powder and Italian seasoning. I covered them with another tea towel and piled the tea towel with cookbooks and Le Creuset cookware.

Two hours later, I breaded them with egg and a mixture of my leftover crumbs-- bread crumbs, bagel crumbs, goldfish crumbs and everything pretzel chip crumbs.

Then I fried them in lots of oil.

Meanwhile, I browned some ground sausage. Added peppers and tomatoes also from my garden. And no salt added tomato sauce. And Italian seasoning.

Layered eggplant with the sauce to fill the casserole dish. Baked at 350 for an hour.

Mommy's meatballs

• 1/2 cup mixed Italian vegetables, smashed
• about 1 cup hamburger
• about 3/4 cup cheddar cheese cubes
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs from homemade bread
• 3 small cloves roasted garlic
• 6 ounces tomato paste
  

Smoosh vegetables and garlic with pastry blender. Add all ingredients except cheese. When everything is mixed, fold in cheese.

I'm going to fry them in the Le Creuset skillet in the extra virgin olive oil from Forks Mediterranean Deli.

Okay, so I based this on a recipe from about.com and I noticed it didn't include egg. My meatballs don't appear to be binding. I don't know if it's because I'm frying them and turning them too much or because of the egg. Or because of some of my strange ingredients.

I finally smashed them all and added the sauce to the frying pan and let it all simmer into meat sauce.

Ravioli with gouda and broccoli

This recipe was designed to use up holiday leftovers from my husband's work party, primarily ham and some smoked gouda.

I started with some steam-in-the-bag just picked broccoli cuts from Wegmans, which honestly, disappointed me a tad because of the number of stems in the bag. With those prepared and about 12 large cheese ravioli cooking, I got my Le Creuset skillet and began concocting a sauce.

First, I melted four tablespoons butter, then added the broccoli, hearty sprinkles of garlic pepper, and sprinkled breadcrumbs over the broccoli. I let that sizzle a few minutes (like two). I added about 3/4 cup soy milk and 1 heaping teaspoon flour, working very carefully to keep the flour away from the broccoli until I got the butter milk and flour incorporated. I added about 3/4 cup tiny pieces of ham. Then I also added about 1/4 cup of small chunks of gouda. After that melted, I set the sauce aside and, with drippings still in the pan, added about two teaspoons extra virgin olive oil to the skillet. Then I fried the ravioli over low heat and sprinkled them with another 1/2 cup finely grated smoked gouda.

Then I returned the sauce to the pan, stirred it all up, and added another 1/4 cup finely grated smoked gouda. And served. It was fantastic.

Cauliflower Spinach Gratin

Ah, Wegmans... This week we're making Wegman's Cauliflower Spinach Gratin again. Once again, I deviated from the recipe (I don't use their Alfredo sauce but make my own sauce with basil, heavy cream, organic ranch dip mix, and butter).

Fresh cauliflower, about 8 ounces of frozen chopped spinach...

I added about 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg to the top of the gratin and added some romano cheese and garlic powder to the breadcrumbs.

And of course, today I baked it in my Le Creuset skillet.

The original post for the gratin is here:

http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2009/11/steak-au-poivre-with-cauliflower.html

or click on Wegmans or cauliflower.

Italian Potato Casserole?

So I'm experimenting with hot lunch today.

I'm layering some sliced potatoes in the bottom of a hot skillet (with a decent amount of extra virgin olive oil). My plan is to fry them as crispy as possible, then layer Aldi's steam-in-bag Italian blend vegetables in sauce (season choice? I think that's the brand name). I will thaw two Morningstar vegeterian sausage patties and crumple into veggies. Then I will mix some bread crumbs, pasta and pizza seasoning, romano cheese, four color peppercorns and basil with a tablespoon of butter and drop those on top and heat in oven.

Right now, I've got the skillet heating, sliced potatoes in the microwave (we pre-cut potatoes in different shapes and freeze) and the steam-in-bag vegetables cooked. The oven is preheating to 400.

Okay, so for those who like an actual recipe:

• 2 morningstar vegetarian breakfast patties
• 1 bag Italian blend steam-in-bag vegetables (Aldi, Season's Choice, with some sort of tomato/olive oil sauce)
• About 2 cups sliced potatoes
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon basil
• 2 teaspoons pizza and pasta seasoning
• 1 teaspoon four color peppercorn fresh-ground pepper
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
• 3 tablespoons romano cheese, grated
• 1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook vegetables and sausage patties. Also precook potatoes a tad. Mine were frozen and I thawed them in the microwave and drained liquid. Crumble sausage patties in preparation. Pour several tablespoons extra virgin olive oil in large skillet. Heat, on low. Add a nice layer of potatoes, with a second layer to fill in the thin spots. Increase heat to medium. Cook until potatoes start to change color and absorb oil. Should look like starting to brown.

Add vegetables over top, spread with spatula. Reduce heat to low. In bowl, combine spices, romano and breadcrumbs. Add butter and blend with fingers.

Add crumbles of sausage across the vegetables. Then, with a spoon, sprinkle breadcrumb mix across the top of everything. Cook at 400, in entire skillet, 15-20 minutes...

Hopefully this is edible when I'm done...

Steak au poivre with cauliflower-spinach gratin

For dinner tonight, I wanted to make another meal in my Le Creuset skillet. I opted for steak au poivre, but I'll tell you, the cut of steak I picked (a huge sirloin of 2 pounds I bought for $10) had way too much fat for my liking and I ended up cooking it medium-rare when I really don't like my meat with 'red.'

The menu:
Appetizer: dates
The meal: Steak au poivre with cauliflower-spinach gratin, with bread leftover from last night's Italian dinner with family
The wine: a French Cabernet Sauvignon, selected by a French friend

First, for an appetizer, I sliced some whole dates to get the pits out and arranged two dates on each bread plate like a flower.

Steak au poivre (Steak with pepper)
from the Internet (I no longer have the source)

• 4 (3/4 to 1 inch thick) boneless top-loin (strip) steaks 8-10 ounces each
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt (I use iodized sea salt)
• 2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns (I use organic four color peppercorns)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I use canola)
• 1/3 cup finely cut shallots (I substitute fresh chives and tonight I omitted them completely, but I thought it was detrimental to the gravy.)
• 1/2 stick butter, cut into four pieces of one tablespoon each
• 1/2 cup cognac or other brandy
• 3/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Pat steaks dry and season both sides with salt. Gently crush peppercorns using the bottom of a heavy skillet and press pepper evenly into both sides of meat.

Heat a 12-inch cast iron skillet over moderately high heat until hot (about three minutes). Add oil. Swirl evenly. Sauté steaks in two batches, turning over once. About six minutes for medium-rare.

Transfer steaks to heatproof platter. Place in oven to keep warm.

Drain fat from skillet. Add shallots and half the butter to the skillet and cook the shallots over moderately high heat, scraping, until shallots are well-browned all over.

Add cognac. (It may ignite!) Boil, stirring, until liquid is reduced to a glaze, 2 to 3 minutes. Add cream and any meat juices from the platter. Boil, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced by half. Add remaining butter and cook over low heat until incorporated. Serve sauce with steaks.

The gratin is an adaption from a recipe that appeared in Wegmans magazine.

Cauliflower and Spinach gratin:

• 1 head cauliflower, stemmed and cut into nice serving pieces
• 10 ounces spinach (I used 1 package frozen chopped spinach, heated and drained)
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
  
• Italian seasoning
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 cup shredded mozzerella
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Combine the cauliflower, the spinach, the milk, the cream, the seasonings, and the mozzerella and half the breadcrumbs. Grease 13 x 9 pan. Add mixture to pan. Cook for 20 minutes at 350. Stir. Cook another 20 minutes. Combine remaining bread crumbs with olive oil. Sprinkle on gratin and return to oven for a final 15 minutes.

Crabbiless Crab Patties

This recipe comes from The Imus Ranch Cookbook. That particular cookbook considers itself vegan because they raise their own chickens and therefore have a comfort with eggs. If you are truly vegan, this recipe will not appeal to you.

For the everyday eater, this is a fabulous way to use up those zucchini from the garden, especially the big ones that may not longer be tender.

I will be making a version tonight that includes lemon-pepper cheese from the farm.

Crabiless Crab Cakes
By Deirdre Imus
From The Imus Ranch cookbook

2 cups grated zucchini (whether or not you skin it first is a personal preference)
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
3/4 cup soy or regular cheddar cheese (I have reduced this in the past)
1/2 cup finely diced red onion (I skip or replace with some chives or with a clove of garlic)
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons vegan (soy) or regular mayo
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce (I use soy sauce)
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup olive oil (for frying)

Combine everything but the oil in a big bowl, form into patties and fry. They suggest these amounts make six cakes. Cook over medium heat seven to ten minutes per side.

Thursday, July 23... Two days after the original post... I finally got the ingredients assembled to make this. That huge zucchini made about 13 cups grated zucchini. I froze about 5 cups in one bag, four in another and kept the remaining for a double batch of the crabbiless patties.

My ingredients
4.5 cups grated zucchini
3 cups Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
3/4 cup sheddar sharp cheddar
1/2 cup parmesan
1/4 lemon cheese spread from the farm
2 farm fresh brown eggs
2 teaspoons brown mustard
4 tablespoons safflower mayo
2 teaspoons reduced sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon fresh grated four color pepper
2 teaspoons It's a Dilly
a random spattering of fresh chives

I got 11 patties yield. I layered five on paper towels to help absorb the moisture, covered with wax paper, another paper towel and then another five. I repeated one more time with the last lone pattie and then covered and placed in fridge until ready to cook.

Too much moisture and too rapid heat with make zucchini hash out of your patties. So cook carefully.

Greenbean Caesar

I harvested about a pound of greenbeans from my garden. I started making greenbean caesar, but then we also had nachos. (Odd combo, I know, but we just got home from the park and we need to get food in someone's belly so we can get her in the tub.)

We used a special hot bean dip, mango salsa and cheddar cheese for the nachos. They were so good no one wanted any greenbeans so I think I'll wrap them up and serve with dinner tomorrow. I have jury duty so who knows if I'll be home in time to cook.

The original recipe came from the recipe software Darrell bought me for my old Mac Performa... ten years ago.

Greenbean Ceasar:
1.5 pounds fresh greenbeans or two 9-ounce packages frozen
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used EV olive)
1 tablespoon wine vinegar (red works, so does balsamic, so does apple cider in a pinch, and today I tried champagne. Fabulous, especially since my family detests a strong vinegar flavor)
1 tablespoon minced onion (I skip, though I may try fresh chives instead)
1/4 teaspoon salt (I skip)
1/8 teaspoon pepper (I use my grinder with my four-color peppercorns and I don't measure)
1 clove garlic, pressed

Topping
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons grated parmesan*
1 tablespoon butter or margarine*

Paprika

* To make this recipe vegan, I skip the cheese and the butter.

Cook beans to desired crispness. Then toss with all the other ingredients, except the topping. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put beans in oven safe dish. Combine topping ingredients and mix with fingers to form "crumbs." (I often skip this and just sprinkle whatever I want on top, including other seasonings.) Sprinkle over beans. Add paprika to top if desired. Bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

Chicken à la diable

The last few days have been a blur of unexciting food. Hamburger-helper style pasta, broccoli-cheese omelet wraps, breakfast of Bob's Red Mill hot cereal. Snack of canned pineapple and graham crackers with peanut butter.

I was surfing the 'net this morning thinking I would make something with that nice organic chicken breast my husband bought last week. So I did some random searches and ended up on about.com's French cooking area. Chicken Veronique sounded interesting, but I don't have grapes... I technically don't have the ingredients for this either, but I'm going to wing it.

Big surprise, eh?
(As a side note: Last night my husband went to the store and spent $20. The tortoise needed greens. I may stop later today because I'm dying for Crôque Monsieur... though I don't think Giant carries Grûyere...)

From about.com:
Chicken à la diable
"Spicy deviled chicken is breaded and then fried in butter for an amazing taste explosion. The secret to its mildly fiery flavor: mustard and cayenne."
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:

* 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
* ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 2 eggs, beaten
* 6 boneless chicken breast halves, cut in half lengthwise
* ¾ cup dry breadcrumbs
* 3 tablespoons butter

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Melt the butter in a roasting pan. In a small bowl, mix together the mustard and cayenne pepper. Brush the mustard onto the chicken, and then dip the chicken in eggs and dredge in the breadcrumbs. Arrange the chicken breasts in the roasting pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, turning once. Serve immediately.

Makes 6 servings.

Okay, where's the frying?
Hmmm....
Let's see what I can do with this...

Angel's ethnically-confused chicken
So... I cut the chicken breasts in three slices each because they seemed thick.
I made a sauce of 1 tablespoon soy mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard and 1 tablespoon saffron-ginger-mango Indian dipping sauce.
I slathered the chicken with this strange concoction.
I mixed my homemade breadcrumbs (which some are breadcrumbs and others are more like tiny croutons) with parsley about 3:1. (Three being breadcrumbs.)
I rolled the chicken in the crumbs and arranged in my biggest pyrex dish.
And now I'm baking at 400 degrees for 2o minutes and then flipping and baking some more.

I plan to serve with greenbeans. I think I have a new favorite way to serve greenbeens. I cooked them in the microwave, poured a drizzle of olive oil on them and fried them on high until kind of crisp.

Note: I would cut the mustard for the sauce on this chicken in half next time. The family devoured a pound of chicken in about ten minutes so I suppose it was yummy...

Broccoli Meatballs

Since I went to the store today and we have a selection of food available, I let the child select tonight's fare. She picked spaghetti and meatballs. I don't think I've ever made meatballs, but that does not dissuade me.

I opened up my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook (can't go wrong with Betty for the good old American meat staples). Spaghetti and meatballs is on page 227. Of course, I had to adapt it.

The process is simple: mix all ingredients, shape into 1.5 inch balls and bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. The yield of Betty's recipe is 20. Mine is about 17.

Betty's Meatballs
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 egg

Angel's broccoli meatballs
3/4 pound ground beef
1 cup fresh broccoli, cut small and cooked lightly
1/2 cup homemade breadcrumbs
about 1/8 cup ketchup
about 1/8 cup creamy Italian salad dressing (plus an extra squirt for good measure)
1/2 salt
1/2 four color pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon pizza and pasta seasoning
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon honey
1 egg

At a preliminary taste test, 20 minutes in, the meatballs taste good. They weren't the color I would have liked, so I put them in for five more minutes... and the bottoms caramelized.

Chicken Nuggets with Broccoli

I made a special lunch today since I plan on running away to a special French dinner tonight, so hubby and daughter will have nachos for dinner (a great option when it's 90 degrees).

So, we had some leftover chicken tenders (four) so I cut them into thirds and cooked them in some canola oil, butter and sprinkled on some of my organic rainbow peppercorns. I added two thin slices of garlic. While they cooked, I took some of my homemade breadcrumbs, added the rainbow pepper, garlic powder and my pizza and pasta seasoning. Then I rolled the hot chicken in it. I fried the chicken again. (Yeah, this isn't low-fat.)

Then I sauteed some broccoli in a little oil with about a teaspoon of butter and sprinkled garlic powder on it (I was too tired and hungry to slice fresh). Then, I served with a side of ranch dressing (my ranch was spiked with Frank's Red Hot Sauce) and a dollop of lavender honey in another side. That was fabulous on the chicken.

But I also served some leftover peanut butter and graham crackers leftover from my lunch Friday (which also tasted incredible with the honey.)

And for dessert... a watermelon.

Curried fried veggies

I'm probably going to make Morningstar chk'n patties or nuggets to accompany this... but I have broccoli, carrots and cauliflower cooking now. I mixed some curry powder (amount based on the smell) with breadcrumbs and plan to roll the veggies in the mix and fry them. We'll see how it turns out...

Wow... another culinary coup. ;-)

To try this at home:

Angel's curried fried vegs

1. Cook your vegetables, but not too soft. I used about 2-3 cups of frozen cauliflower, carrots, and broccoli.

2. Mix about 3/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs, two tablespoons curry powder, and two tablespoons garlic powder.

3. Roll veggies in the crumbs, the moisture from cooking should help them stick.

4. Heat canola oil in skillet. I used about a 12 inch skillet and used a layer of oil about 1/2 inch thick. That's pretty generous for me.

5. Drop coated veggies in hot oil and fry until crispy and darker. I drained mine on paper towels before serving.

photo caption: Morningstar buffalo chicken wings, commercial spinach dip (for the nuggets) and Angel's curried-fried veggies.

Hamburger-stuffed bread

A long time ago, my husband found a recipe database software for $9 and it came with "10,000 recipes." The software was Soft Key Home Gourmet and it no longer worked with Mac OS 9, so this is going back a few years... But hamburger stuffed bread was one of the recipes I discovered in that program. A variation is zucchini stuffed with sausage. I used my homemade bread, and I saved the bread torn from the inside to make my own breadcrumbs. In addition, I served mine open-faced whereas in the original recipe these meat-filled boats have lids. On to the recipe...

The original recipe:

Hamburger Stuffed Bread

1 loaf French bread (unsliced)

1 pound ground beef *

1/2 green pepper diced

1 can cheddar cheese soup

3 slices American cheese

2 cups bread crumbs

1 tablespoon Worcestershire

1/2 cup celery, diced

salt and pepper to taste

1. Brown hamburger. Drain. Add celery, green pepper, salt, pepper, Worcestershire, and soup. Simmer for five minutes.

2. Slice a lid lengthwise off the bread and hollow the inside. (Save guts to make breadcrumbs later.) 

3. Remove meat mixture from heat. Stir in breadcrumbs.

4. Place hollowed out bread on sheet of aluminum foil (on cookie sheet). Fill with meat mixture. Top with cheese. Replace lid. Wrap in foil.

5. Bake 10 minutes at 325 degrees.

Now, if you want the filling cheesy and gooey, cut the breadcrumbs down to 1 cup. If you want to make it funky and add fun and more nutrition, this is the meal as featured in the photo:

Hamburger/Veggie/Cheetos Stuffed Bread:

Alter ingredients list as follows:

Homemade Baguette

About a 1/2 pound ground beef

several cups frozen California blend (cauliflower, carrots and broccoli)

1 can broccoli cheese soup

Several ounces ultra sharp cheddar

2 cups crushed cheetos (leftover from broccoli with cheetos)

About 2 teaspoons reduced sodium soy sauce

garlic pepper, sea salt and four pepper blend to taste

Shannon Day One: Garlic French Bread Veggie Pizzas

For dinner last night, we threw together a plain old spaghetti. Then my girlfriend Shannon finally arrived around 11 p.m. With everyone else in bed, we shared glasses of Chartreuse (which she thought tasted heavily and solely like pine) and had our own private Christmas. It was lovely.

 This morning, my daughter went with my other friend Gayle to a Christmas tree composting event. They had a great time and got hot chocolate, hot dogs and lunch at Panera Bread. Shannon had suggested pizza for dinner, and offered to treat. 

We're in the middle of a mild storm (though the roads have frozen) and Shann has gone to visit her grandmother. I figure since she's out visiting family, the least I can do is cook a meal. We'll save the pizza for a day when we're cavorting and shopping all day. But pizza remains the inspiration. I took a loaf of my homemade French bread from the freezer and plan to make garlic bread vegetable pizzas. 

Today's ranch-cream sauce started with a tablespoon or so of butter, a couple tablespoons of light cream, a handful of fresh parsley, a couple tablespoons of olive oil, basil, Italian seasoning, about 1/4 cup of grated parmesan, some sprinkles of organic ranch mix and sliced garlic. I cooked all the vegetables in this sauce and spooned them onto the bread. Topped with cheddar. The garlic bread on the bottom, the vegetables in ranch-cream sauce in the middle and grated cheddar melted to join them. Shannon enjoyed and appreciated the complexity of flavors.

What makes this extra exciting is that I took Gayle's advice and started saving a baggy in the freezer for breadcrumbs.

Oh, and tonight I plan on making a garlic-ranch-cream sauce for the pizzas. That's different from the previous ones... Click on the pizza link below for more details.

Breadcrumbs, part two

Gayle has sent the instructions for the breadcrumbs. Apparently, crusts go uneaten in her house most of the time. Here's a lesson for those crust-cutting moms: make them into breadcrumbs. Gayle says she lets her crusts sit out a day or two before she whizzes them through the food processor. Then she lets them sit another day or two before putting them in Tupperware. If not completely dry, they mold. Some people bake the bread, which probably could be done before or after putting them through the food processor, which would alleviate the mold issue.

Gayle also said she got a BRICK, yes a BRICK, of yeast and put it in the freezer. I need one of those!

Breadcrumbs

My friend Gayle sent me an email today, suggesting that I discuss breadcrumbs in my blog.

"Can you believe people buy them?" she typed.

And I hang my head in shame and admit that I buy them. It never occurred to me to make breadcrumbs. I've made croutons. But breadcrumbs?

She specifically mentioned garlic cheese bread she had ground into crumbs and stashed in the freezer for a future Italian extravaganza. But she said she keeps all her bread this way... stale odds and ends, I imagine. And she said she often guts some of her rolls when making a sandwich since they give you too much anyway. She said pitas don't work. But bagels do. I always knew saltines and Ritz crackers substitute for breadcrumbs in a pinch... But saving stale bread... This house doesn't have stale bread.

But if it does, I'll make breadcrumbs. But what do I do then? Lay out the bread to get staler? When do I grind? How do I grind? I have emailed an SOS to Gayle. We'll see.