More soup weather last weekend

Saturday and Sunday were two of the coldest weather days we have had in Kansas City in years.  In fact,  Sunday was the third coldest day of all-time for December 18th.  I know that if you live in Minnesota our -6 degrees doesn't sound so bad, but that just doesn't happen here.  I knew the cold weather was coming so I went out early Saturday morning, before it got too cold, and bought all of the ingredients for a couple kinds of soup.  I have written about my love of homemade soup before, but when the weather gets really cold, soup is pretty tough to beat.  The temperature started to drop about 10:00 AM Saturday morning and just kept getting worse all day and into Sunday.  I spent most of Saturday afternoon making two kinds of soup.  It was nice and warm in the kitchen and when you live in a condo someone else does the snow shoveling, so I was right where I wanted to be.

The first soup I made is called Plaza III Steak Soup.  The recipe came from a cookbook called Kansas City Cuisine.  The book was first published in 1990 and is a sampling of KC restaurants and their recipes.  The authors are Shifra Stein and Karen Adler.  The Plaza III is an old line steak house that is still in business in the same location as it was in 1990 and this is their recipe.  This makes a very thick beefy soup that is quite rich and filling.  I actually made a double recipe.  

Plaza III Steak Soup

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

4 TBSP butter
1/4 Cup flour
2- 10 Oz. cans beef consomme'
1/4 Cup diced carrots
1/4 Cup diced celery
1/4 Cup diced onion
1/2 Cup chopped canned tomatoes
3/4 tsps Kitchen Bouquet
1 beef bouillon cube
1/4 tsps black pepper
5 Oz. frozen mixed vegetables
1/2 pound ground beef steak - browned and drained

Preparation:

Place butter in a soup pot over low heat and melt without allowing butter to brown.  Add flour and stir to form a roux.  Cook the mixture for three minutes over medium heat without browning, stirring constantly.  Add consomme' to the roux and stir until smooth and slightly thickened.  Bring to a full boil.

Add the fresh vegetables, tomatoes, and seasonings and allow to return to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are just barely tender (20 to 30 minutes).  Add frozen vegetables and the browned ground steak.  Simmer an additional 15 to 20 minutes until everything is heated through and the flavors have blended.  

My next soup was chicken noodle.  I have never really had a recipe for chicken noodle soup, but I have been making it for a long time. This is what I do and it always turns out to be quite tasty. Sometimes I start with the turkey carcass from Thanksgiving or Boil a whole chicken, but lately I have been buying a roasted chicken and using the meat in the soup and the bones to make my broth.  It is a pretty easy way to get a real tasty broth.  Experiment a little and see what you like.  


Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

For Stock

1- whole roasted chicken - I like the ones from Costco
1-large carrot- peeled and sliced thinly
1-stalk celery - diced
1/2 large onion - diced
several fresh sage leaves - chopped
leaves from several thyme sprigs - chopped
leaves from  several tarragon sprigs - chopped
2-3 quarts water- enough to cover chicken bones in a pot
3 chicken bouillon cubes

For Soup

2 carrots peeled and sliced
1 stalk celery diced
1/2 large onion diced
1 TBSP chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 32Oz. boxes reduced salt chicken broth
1 lb. extra wide noodles

Preparation:

Remove skin from roast chicken and discard.  Remove meat from bones and cut into 1/2" dice.  Set meat aside.  Place chicken bones, the first sliced carrot, celery and half onion in a 4 Qt. pot.  Add two to three quarts water, the three bouillon cubes and the chopped sage, thyme and tarragon.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat and simmer for one hour.  Pour contents of the pot through a strainer into a larger soup pot.  Discard all of the contents of the strainer.  You will have about two quarts of homemade stock in the bottom of your large soup pot.  Add the 2 sliced carrots, the diced celery and diced onion to the pot, along with the parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Supplement your homemade stock with as much of the boxed chicken broth as you need to fill the large soup pot to about 2/3 full.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes, until vegetables are just beginning to get tender.  Bring pot back to a boil and add roasted chicken pieces and as many noodles as you like.  I like thick soup, so I use a whole pound of noodles in a large soup pot, but you may want to start with half a pound and see what you think. You can always add a few more.  Cook noodles in the boiling soup per package directions for time.  Don't overcook the noodles.  Reduce heat to low and season soup with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve immediately.  You can substitute rice for noodles if you prefer chicken rice soup.  Feel free to add any other vegetables you desire too.  I just happen to like the old standard trinity of carrot, onion and celery.  If you want to freeze some of the soup, remove the amount you want to freeze from the pot before you add the noodles. Then when you thaw the soup to reheat, add the noodles.  I think that works better than reheating frozen noodles.  Experiment.  It will be fun.  

Seafood Pasta and Roasted asparagus salad

Jan volunteers at Children's Mercy Hospital on Friday afternoons and it was too cold for me to play golf, so I did a little cooking 
today.  Here is what our dinner looked like:

I think it is very attractive and it was tasty too.  I had no recipes.  I just improvised but remembered what I did, so I am sharing it with you.  

Seafood Pasta

Ingredients: (serves four)

1 Lb. - thick spaghetti or linguine
1 stick (8 TBSP ) butter
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 Shallot - finely diced
6 cloves garlic - finely diced
1 cup dry white wine - I used a good Chardonnay
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
8 fresh sage leaves - finely chopped
Leaves from several sprigs of thyme-finely chopped
1 Lb. Shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 Lb. Mussels, scrubbed 
12 Little-neck clams, scrubbed and soaked in cold water 
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Boil pasta al dente per package directions.  While pasta is cooking, melt the butter over a low flame in a large skillet with a lid.  Add the olive oil to the melted butter.  Saute the garlic and shallot in the garlic and butter until they are tender and translucent.  Add the wine, parsley, sage and thyme  to the pan.  Increase heat to medium. Add clams to the pan and cover. After four or five minutes add the mussels to the pan and cover.  When the mussels and clams just start to open add the shrimp.  Cover and cook until all of the mussels and clams are open and the shrimp are pink and tender.  Do not overcook the seafood !!  Discard any clams or mussels that don't open.  In the meantime, drain the pasta and sprinkle it with a little extra virgin olive oil.  Put a portion of spaghetti in a pasta dish and ladle a generous amount of the seafood and the white wine and butter sauce over the pasta.  Serve with crusty bread and chardonnay.  One thing to remember, when cooking with wine, "If you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it".  I never use cooking wine from the grocery store.  When making this dish, I used a cup of the same chardonnay in the sauce that I was serving with the dinner.  

Roasted Asparagus Salad

Ingredients:

I Lb. Fresh asparagus, trimmed
3 mini multi colored peppers - cut into rings 
1 TBSP minced garlic
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
Coarse ground sea salt
4 cups spring green salad mix
1 small jar artichoke hearts
Block of Parmesan Reggiano Cheese to shave
Garlic Expressions Salad Dressing or any vinaigrette

Preparation:

An hour or two prior to serving, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place asparagus in a glass baking dish.  Toss with the minced garlic, the pepper rings and the olive oil.  Roast at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until asparagus is crisp tender.  Remove from oven and sprinkle lightly with the coarse ground sea salt.  Set aside to cool.  

When ready to serve, put about a cup of greens on each of four salad plates.  Top with several spears of the roasted asparagus and peppers.  Add a few leaves of artichoke heart.  Shave some of the parmesan reggiano over the salad and drizzle with the dressing.  I love the Garlic Expressions salad dressing which is available in most grocery stores, but if you can't find that, just mix up a simple vinaigrette using 2 parts olive oil and one part balsamic vinegar.    

Rolled Oven Omelet

We are just getting back in the groove after spending Thanksgiving week in Hilton Head with our entire family.  All three of our kids, their spouses and our six grandchildren shared a big house near the beach for the week.  There was lots of cooking, lots of food and lots of fun.  I even celebrated my birthday while we were all together. It doesn't get much better than that. 

We spent this week getting caught up on laundry, restocking the kitchen at home and doing the Christmas decorations.  Decorating for Christmas brought to mind some of the great times we have had celebrating that special holiday and some of the meals we have shared.  I always enjoy doing a special breakfast for a big crowd and this recipe is always a crowd pleaser.  We got the recipe a few years back from one of Jan's school friends.  It is very easy to make and you can do two or three versions for a big group.  Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

6 Eggs
3/4 cup flour
3 TBSP butter - melted
11/2 cups milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Suggested Fillings:

Ham, chives and Swiss Cheese

Cooked and crumbled bacon, tomato, and sauteed onion with cheddar cheese

Cooked and crumbled sausage and green chilis with Monterrey Jack cheese

Sauteed mushrooms and brie cheese

Preparation:

Preheat oven to  350 degrees.  Line a large jelly roll pan with aluminum foil.  Spray the foil well with cooking spray.  Whisk together eggs, flour, butter and milk.  Season with salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture into foil lined pan.  Sprinkle with fillings of your choice except cheese.  

Bake for 18 minutes, or until omelet puffs and eggs are set. Remove from oven and sprinkle with cheese of your choice.  Using a spatula and the foil as aids, roll the omelet into a log.  Transfer to a platter and sprinkle the top with additional cheese, chives, parsley, etc.  Serve by cutting the log into slices.  

Seafood Lasagna

As you can tell from some prior posts, I love seafood and this seafood lasagna is one of my favorites.  I developed this recipe by starting with a basic recipe that came from Paula Deen.  The end result is unique enough that I think I can call it my own recipe.  I have made it using the "no-boil" lasagna noodles as well as the old fashioned kind that you cook first.  I prefer the type that require boiling before use.  They are easier to trim to the right size and I think taste better and have nicer texture.  This recipe will serve twelve people, but if you don't need that much lasagna you can do 3/4 of the quantities and it will work fine.  

Ingredients:

18 Lasagna noodles
41/2 TBSP unsalted butter
1 Small onion, finely chopped
3 Cloves garlic, minced
41/2 TBSP all purpose flour
33/4 Cups half and half
11/2 Cups Grated Romano cheese
3/4 tsps salt
3/8 tsps black pepper
2 TBSP chopped parsley
1 TBSP chopped tarragon
1 Lb bay scallops
1 Lb medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
8 OZ. canned crab meat
3/4 Cup grated Parmesan cheese
pinch of nutmeg

Preparation:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray a lasagna pan with vegetable oil cooking spray.  

In a large pot of boiling water cook the lasagna noodles per package directions.  Drain and lay out on wax paper until ready to use.

Melt the butter in a large heavy skillet.  Add the chopped onion and saute' over low heat until very tender.  Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so, until the garlic is translucent.  Turn heat to medium low and stir in the flour with a whisk, then gradually add the half and half a little at a time, allowing the sauce to thicken slightly before you add more of the half and half.  When the sauce has thickened to the consistency of whipping cream, add the Romano cheese and stir well.  Add the salt, pepper, parsley, nutmeg and tarragon and stir well again.  Add the scallops and cook for three to four minutes.  Add the shrimp and cook just until the shrimp turn pink.  Turn off the heat and stir in the loose crab meat. The canned crab is already cooked.  

Using some of the sauce without including any of the seafood, put about three TBSP on the bottom of the pan.  Now cover the bottom of the pan with four of the cooked noodles, laying them side by side.  Spoon about 1/4 of the seafood sauce mixture over the noodles and spread evenly.  Layer four more noodles and again ladle the seafood sauce over the noodles.  Repeat again with four more noodles and sauce.  Cover with the final four noodles and spoon sauce over the noodles, without including any seafood in the sauce used for the top layer of noodles.  Tuck in any loose edges of noodle and top the entire dish with Parmesan cheese.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, uncovered, until hot and bubbly.  Allow to sit for ten minutes before serving.  Enjoy with a green salad and chardonnay.  

Brunch at Succotash

I love to go out for brunch after church on Sunday morning.  Our service gets over at 11:30, so we have a brunch for lunch.  My favorite spot is the Genessee Royale.  I wrote about it a little while back.  Right up there on the top 5 list, probably in second place, is Succotash.  This funky spot is located at 26th and Holmes in midtown Kansas City.  I think it is fair to call Succotash a hangout for young counter-culture people.  Let me just say that Jan and I generally stand out in the crowd, especially when we go in our "church" clothes.  Both the staff and the crowd tend toward lots of ink and piercings.  All of that said, the staff is super friendly and the service is excellent.  Generally on Saturday and Sunday there is at least a thirty minute wait to get in, but there is a big urn of coffee sitting right outside the door.  We have also discovered that if we volunteer to sit at the counter, we can usually get right in.

Succotash is only open for breakfast and lunch.  They close at 2:00 PM on Monday and Tuesday and at 3:00 PM the rest of the week. While the menu may not be quite as extensive as an East Coast Greek diner, it does run for several pages.  They have a host of vegetarian and vegan options as well as gluten free entrees like gluten free pancakes.  Just in the Pancake section of the menu there are ten options ranging from plain pancakes, to wild blueberry and pigs in a blanket, to my personal favorite, Swedish pancakes. With the diet, I had to skip those today, but Jan couldn't pass them up. This delightful dish consists of four very light and fluffy Swedish pancakes, each folded in two and stuffed with lingonberries.  They are dusted with a little powdered sugar and served with two eggs cooked to order and two slices of what I consider to be the best bacon in Kansas City.   Believe me, this dish is worth the trip !

If you have a BIG appetite, you can go with the Burrito of Love; scrambled eggs, cheddar and bacon wrapped in an over-sized buttermilk pancake.  And if you have an even BIGGER appetite there is the Sumo Wrestler; three eggs, bacon, roasted red peppers, onions, home fries and cheddar all wrapped in a giant pancake and topped with sausage gravy.  Eat that and you get your name on the wall.

I was looking for something with fewer calories today and went for a salmon wrap.  It was two scrambled eggs with caramelized onions and wrapped in a spinach wrap with smoked salmon, goat cheese and fresh spinach.  It was delicious and a little less like dessert than Jan's Swedish pancakes.  

Other options range from slow roasted pork hash to Monte Cristo sandwiches to crab claw omelets.  

You get the picture.  All fresh squeezed juices, lots of options for the vegan and vegetarian and a host of options to please almost any taste.  An eclectic crowd as well as an eclectic menu.  If you are up to an inner city adventure and happen to be in Kansas City, give it a try.  Succotash is well worth it.  

Grandpa is on a diet

For my few faithful readers you will have noticed that I haven't posted any recipes or blogs for about a month.  That period of time coincides directly with my latest effort to lose weight.  I have struggled with weight all of my life and having wine and cooking as hobbies aren't particularly helpful.  Watch the chefs on TV and you will generally see them expand as the years go by.  I call it the Chef's disease.

I have been recording everything I have eaten for the last 32 days and am trying very hard to keep my calorie count below 1800 calories per day.  That isn't  much for a big guy, so you can see perhaps, why my enthusiasm for food writing has been dampened somewhat.  The good news is, the weight is starting to come off. Oh well, life must go on and I still love food and wine, so I will get back at it starting now.  I just need to learn to use a little moderation.

One of my favorite restaurants in the Hilton Head area has always been Sigler's.  Jan actually hosted my 60th birthday there.  Sad to say that was more than ten years ago.  Owner and executive chef Michael Sigler opened his restaurant in Bluffton in 1996 and it has been going strong ever since. Michael has been recognized as "One of America's Outstanding Chefs" by the National Chef's Registry and has also been featured in "Bon Appetit" magazine.  Here is Michael's family recipe for oyster souffle.  This makes a great side dish on the Thanksgiving table.

Ingredients:

1 Pint - shucked oysters in their juices
Crumbled Saltine crackers - as needed
Italian seasoned bread crumbs - as needed
Grated Parmesan cheese - as needed
Salt and Black Pepper to taste
Butter and whole milk - as needed

Preparation:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a two quart casserole dish. Layer a thin layer of the crumbled saltine crackers in the bottom of the casserole. Top with a thin layer of oysters and their juice.  Add salt and pepper to taste and a light dusting of parmesan cheese.  Dot with butter.  Moisten a little with whole milk.   Repeat layers until all of the oysters are used.  Top final layer with butter and the Italian seasoned bread crumbs.

Bake in the 350 degree oven for 45 minutes to one hour.  Let stand for 10-15 minutes before serving.  

Pear, roasted Beet and Blue Cheese Salad

A few years ago I had a salad in some restaurant that I have long since forgotten.  I thought it was delicious and so I came home and created this recipe.  I made it tonight and enjoyed in once again.  It isn't the kind of salad that you would want for an entire dinner but it is really good as a first course or side salad.  The first few times I made it, I roasted the beets and made the honey mustard dressing from scratch, but since then I have discovered that Costco has roasted whole beets in a shrink-wrap container, that are as good as any you can roast yourself .  I also now use over the counter honey mustard dressing.  I like Cardini's.  If you don't have a Costco nearby, almost any cookbook will tell you how to roast beets.  It isn't hard to do, but getting the skin off is a little messy and I recommend wearing rubber gloves or you will have red stains all over your hands.  And If you decide to make your own honey mustard dressing, I like the recipe in the good old Betty Crocker cookbook.  Here is what the salad looks like: (click on the picture and you will get a larger version)

It is very simple to make, especially if you can find the pre-roasted beets.  Give it a try.

Ingredients for four:

2 cups Spring Greens
2-3 Whole roasted beets - rolled on paper towel to absorb liquid and diced into a 3/8" dice
2 Pears - peeled, quartered and cut into 3/8" dice
Small Piece Maytag or other similar Blue Cheese - cut into 1/2" dice
Candied Walnuts (available in most grocery stores)
Cardini's Honey Mustard Dressing

Preparation:

Distribute a thin layer of greens on each of four salad plates.  Starting on one side of the plate mound a few pieces of diced beet.  Next mound a few pieces of diced pear adjacent to the beets.  Now add a few cubes of the Blue Cheese.  Starting from the other side of the plate, mound another few pieces of beet and then pear, so that you meet at the blue cheese in the middle of the plate. Sprinkle with some of the candied walnuts.   Drizzle with the Honey Mustard dressing and you are done.  The result is unique, beautiful and tasty.  I had a glass of buttery chardonnay with the salad and it went together nicely.  Enjoy !!

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter Sauce

Every couple of years I get really hungry for this great ravioli recipe so I devote a day to putting together a batch and freezing the raviolis.  We can then pull them out a few at a time, and enjoy the great flavor.  I like to use this ravioli as a first course in a larger meal, so about three or four raviolis makes a serving.  I ended up with 42 three inch raviolis.

About halfway through the process I remembered why I only do this every couple of years.  It is very labor intensive, and I don't even make the pasta sheets from scratch.  There is an Italian eatery and deli not far from us called Cupini's.  They have been featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives on the Food Network.  I call them the day before I want to make the ravioli and order about two pounds of pasta sheets.  They  make them overnight and I pick them up the next day.  When we lived in South Carolina and there were no Italian Delis around, I made the raviolis once using wanton wrappers. The taste was great but the wantons are a little thin.   That makes stuffing and handling them a very delicate task.  The texture wasn't quite right for ravioli either.

While I was at Cupini's picking up the pasta sheets, I noticed that they had butternut squash ravioli in their freezer.  As I was drawing to a close with production of this latest batch, I was wondering just what their raviolis tasted like and thinking that before I make them again I should really give the Cupini's variety a try.  If they are good and I expect they are, I could use them and just do the sage brown butter sauce.  I am getting to the age where I love labor saving devices.

I got this recipe from the Food Network website about eight years ago.  It may still be on the website, but I am using the copy I printed out in 2008.  I have made several alterations to the recipe. They do not attribute the recipe to a specific chef, so I can't do that either.  The recipe says that the prep time is 40 min. with inactive prep time of 4 hr and 15 min.  I am not sure what inactive prep time is, but I am pretty sure I was active for the duration. Here is the recipe.  The taste is terrific.  If you have the stamina, give it a try.

Ingredients:

For ravioli:
1 small to medium butternut squash (I bought a 2 LB. box of cubed squash at Costco)
2 TBSP dark molasses
2 TBSP unsalted butter
2 tsps balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
2 TBSP freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/4 tsps ground cinnamon
1/4 tsps ground nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 Lbs pasta sheets
flour - for dusting board

For Sage Brown Butter Sauce:
8 TBSP sweet butter
8 fresh sage leaves - chiffonaded
2 oz. parmesan for grating
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate for grating

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cut squash in half and scrape out the seeds.  Using 1 TBSP molasses, rub the cut sides and cavity of the squash till coated.  If you buy the cubed squash, toss it in the molasses. Season with salt and pepper.  Place cut side down on a roasting pan and cook in the oven until very soft, about 1 hour.  Less if you use the cubed squash.  Let cool to room temperature and scoop out the flesh into the bowl of a food processor.  Puree squash until smooth, then spread on a baking sheet and return to the 375 degree oven to dry, about ten minutes.  The consistency will be like mashed potatoes.  Scrape into a large mixing bowl.  Heat the unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium heat until it melts and just starts to brown.  Immediately remove from heat and add the remaining 1 TBSP of molasses and the balsamic vinegar.  Add to the squash in the mixing bowl along with the mascarpone, the grated parmesan, the cinnamon and the nutmeg.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and mix well.  Cover and refrigerate 4 hours or up to two days.  Here is the filling after sitting in the fridge overnight:

To fill raviolis, lay out a sheet of pasta on a lightly floured board.  Cut into circles with a 3" or 31/2" pastry cutter.  Put 1 TBSP of filling in the center of half of the rounds using either a pastry bag or a small spoon.  Leave about a half inch border all around the filling.

Moisten the border of a round with water.  I used a pastry brush for this.  Lay a second round on top and press down on the outside edges with your fingers.  I like to then go around the entire edge with a small fork and make sure the edges are really sealed.  This keeps the filling from oozing out when you boil the raviolis.  Repeat until you run out of pasta rounds or filling.

Lay filled raviolis out to dry on a lightly floured board or a baking sheet.  Lightly dust the tops with flour. To cook, boil in salted water until tender, about three to five minutes depending on the thickness of your pasta.  If you want to freeze the raviolis, line a container with waxed paper and put in a single layer of raviolis.  Cover with more wax paper and lay in another layer of raviolis.  Repeat process until all of the ravioli are in the container.  Cover with a tight sealing lid and freeze.

Make the sage brown butter sauce while you are cooking the raviolis.  Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium low heat.  Add the sage and cook until the butter foams and starts to brown.  Add a couple of teaspoons of water from the pasta pot to the butter sauce.  Remove from heat and add drained raviolis to the butter sauce and swirl to coat the pasta.  To serve put a portion of ravioli into a pasta dish and finish with a generous grating of parmesan cheese and bittersweet chocolate.  You will have a beautiful and savory dish, with great flavor.  Enjoy !!

Pan-Roasted Chicken with Warm Farro Salad (October 2016 Food and Wine Magazine)

Typically I Blog about recipes that I have had for years.  You know, the tried and true favorites.  But last night I took a couple of chicken leg and thigh quarters out of the freezer.  This morning I was thumbing through the October Food and Wine magazine and I ran across this recipe for pan-roasted chicken with warm farro salad.  I thought it sounded good and decided to try it tonight.  It called for a whole chicken but I knew we didn't need that for the two of us, so I just used the chicken we had and made everything else according to the recipe.  We have quite a bit of leftover farro salad, but believe me it will get used.  Jan and I both thought the entire recipe turned out to be really delicious.  The chicken was crispy on the outside and the meat was very moist.  The farro and vegetable salad was really tasty and I think quite healthy, as well as very visually attractive.  If I were going to make this recipe for four I would just do four of the leg and thigh quarters instead of the whole chicken. The leg and thigh quarters are much more likely to be moist and tender than the breast. 

I try not to get stale as a cook so this is an example of a brand new recipe that I tried and love.

Ingredients:

One 4 Lb. whole chicken, backbone removed and cut into two halves, or alternatively use four leg and thigh quarters, skin on.

5 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and pepper

2 TBSP unsalted butter

3 sage sprigs

1/2 Lb. small (not baby) carrots

1 Lb. mixed mushrooms, chopped 

11/2 cups farro

1 TBSP fresh lemon juice, plus wedges for serving

1/2 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts

Chopped parsley for garnish   

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.  Set racks in the middle and the lower third of the oven.  Rub the chicken with two TBSP of the olive oil and season with the salt and pepper.  In a large cast iron skillet, melt the butter.  Add the sage sprigs, then add the chicken, skin side down, and cook over moderately high heat until golden brown, about 5-6 minutes.  Turn the chicken over and roast in the middle of the oven for about 40 minutes, basting occasionally, until cooked through.  Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let rest for ten minutes.  Reserve the pan juices, but discard the sage.  

While the chicken is cooking, on a rimmed baking sheet, toss the carrots and the mushrooms with the remaining three TBSP of olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Roast the vegetables on the lower rack of the oven until golden and tender, about twenty minutes.  Let cool slightly and then slice the carrots.  Transfer the carrots and mushrooms to a large bowl.  

Meanwhile, in a medium sauce pan of salted boiling water, cook the farro until al dente, 15 - 20 minutes.  Drain well.  Add the farro to the vegetables along with the lemon juice, half of the hazelnuts and half a cup of the reserved chicken pan juices; mix well. Transfer to plates.  Top with the remaining hazelnuts.  Place a portion of the chicken on top of the farro salad and garnish the dish with the chopped parsley.  Serve with Chateauneuf-Du-Pape.   Alternatively a cheaper wine choice could be Oregon Pinot Noir. I think you will find this to be a great one dish meal.   

Spaghetti with Asparagus, Prosciutto, Smoked Mozzarella and Basil

I have had this recipe for a number of years and it remains as one of my favorite pasta dishes.  I think I originally saw Giada DeLaurentiis make it on Television.  My recipe is on two yellow steno sheets written in pencil.  It must have been what I had close at hand at the time I saw the show.  At any rate, I probably made the recipe for the first time 15 years ago and have used it over and  over.  Give it a try.  I think you will find the salty flavor of the prosciutto and the smoky mozzarella blend nicely with the fresh basil and the pasta.  It really is a one dish meal in that it contains protein, vegetable, and starch.

Ingredients:

1 Lb. Fresh Asparagus - cut into 1" pieces on the diagonal
1 Lb. Thick Spaghetti
4 Cloves Garlic - minced
Extra Virgin Olive oil
6 Oz. Prosciutto di Parma - cut into thin ribbons
6 Oz. Smoked Mozzarella - cut into 3/8" cubes
1 Bunch Fresh Basil - Chiffonade into ribbons
Salt and Pepper

Preparation:

Fill a medium mixing bowl with water and ice.  Set aside.  In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, bring to a boil enough water to parboil the asparagus. Add asparagus to the boiling water and cook for about a minute and a half.  Do not overcook.  Remove asparagus from the boiling water and plunge into the ice bath.  This will stop the asparagus from cooking further and set the beautiful green color.  Drain asparagus and dry on paper towels.  Cook pasta per package directions.  While pasta is cooking, heat about three tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet.  Saute the garlic in the oil until translucent and tender.  Add the parboiled asparagus to the skillet and season with salt and pepper.  Drain cooked pasta, reserving a couple tablespoons of the pasta water.  Add cooked pasta and the reserved pasta water to the skillet.  Turn heat to low. Toss pasta and asparagus to mix thoroughly.  Add Prosciutto, Smoked Mozzarella and Basil to the skillet and toss thoroughly again.  Leave on heat just until the cheese starts to melt.  Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.   I like to turn the whole skillet onto a large platter to pass and serve but feel free to put into individual pasta dishes if that is your preference.  I like to serve with ciabatta bread and a good Italian red wine.

Fall is the time for home-made soups

Now that we know our family and friends in South Carolina are safe, I can turn back to doing a little more blogging.  Some of them had minor damage to homes, but everybody is healthy and back home. That was the important part.  They were all out of their homes for 5-6 days and some returned home to no electricity.  I think by last night that was remedied, and now they can set out to the difficult task of clean-up.

Today was the first day that has really felt like fall in Kansas City.  The high temp was fifty-nine degrees and tomorrow morning it is supposed to be thirty-nine.  The trees are just starting to turn and it is time for some home-made soup.  Last night I had a meeting at 5:30 PM that went until about 7:30.  I got home to find that Jan had made a big pot of Cabbage soup.  I know that cabbage is not a favorite of some, but don't knock it till you have tried this delightful soup.  Jan found the recipe in Taste of Home.  It came from a woman named Nancy Stevens in Morrison, Illinois. It is really simple to make and at 80 calories per serving is a dieter's delight.  Serve with some crusty bread and a glass of creamy chardonnay and I know you will love it. ( You saved all those calories with the soup so the wine and bread are OK.)

Another of my favorite fall recipes is Parmesan Broth with Swiss Chard and White Beans. This is a deeply satisfying soup that can compete with chicken noodle as a fall/winter cure-all. This recipe comes from Sara Jenkins of Porsena and Porchetta restaurant in New York.  I got it out of a newspaper a number of years ago and have made it often, both as a first course for a formal dinner or as a main course for a simple soup supper.

Cabbage Soup

Ingredients:

1 medium head cabbage - chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
8 cups water
1 tsps beef bouillon granules
1 TBSP salt
2 tsps black pepper
11/2 Lbs. ground beef - browned and drained
2 15 oz. cans tomato sauce
1 TBSP brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup

Preparation:

In a stockpot, cook the cabbage, celery and onion in the water until tender.  Add bouillon, salt, pepper, browned ground beef and tomato sauce.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in brown sugar and ketchup;  simmer another 10 minutes to allow flavors to blend.

Parmesan Broth with Swiss Chard and White Beans

Ingredients:

8 cups chicken stock
8 Oz.  parmesan rinds
1 clove garlic - smashed
2 TBSP olive oil
1 dried red chili - crushed
4 cups loosely packed Swiss chard - stems removed and leaves cut into thin ribbons
2 cups canned cannellini beans
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsps lemon zest
Baguette- sliced and drizzled with olive oil and toasted in the oven

Preparation:

Over low heat steep the chicken stock with the parmesan rinds for about 45 minutes, until the rinds are very soft.  Strain the liquid and reserve.  Throw away what remains of the rinds.  In a heavy bottomed soup-pot, saute' the garlic in the olive oil until the garlic just starts to turn golden.  Add the crushed red chili.  Add the Swiss chard ribbons and stir to coat with the olive oil.  Add the reserved strained chicken stock and the cannellini beans and bring to a simmer.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and add the lemon zest.  To serve, ladle soup over a slice of toasted baguette and drizzle with olive oil.  The lemon zest in the soup really makes the soup pair nicely with a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.  The citrus flavor of the wine and the very subtle citrus in the soup are a great match.

Hint:  To clean the Swiss chard wash each leaf thoroughly under running water and lay out to dry on paper towels.  Lay one stalk at a time on a cutting board and run a sharp knife along each side of the center rib.  Throw away the ribs and you will have two leave halves remaining.  After all of the ribs have been removed lay 5-6 leave halves on top of one another and roll up tightly on the long axis, so that the roll resembles a short cigar.  Using your sharp knife, cut across the rolled up leaves.  This technique is called chiffonade.  Chiffonade is the french word meaning ribbons.  I like to make my cuts somewhere around 1/4" .  You will end up with a pile of very thin long ribbons of chard.  I generally cut the ribbons up a little so that they are not so long they are difficult to eat when put into the soup.

Low Country Dining

We got back from South Carolina on Tuesday afternoon and on Wednesday morning I left for a quick two day golf trip with my buddies.  Got home from that trip late this afternoon and maybe now I can get a chance to catch up and talk a little about the seafood we had while in the beautiful low country.

As a quick aside, the day after we got home, the South Carolina governor ordered an evacuation of the entire SC coastal region.  Our son and his wife and our grandson left Thursday and our good friends at Callawassie Island all appear to be safe now too.  We are very happy they are all out of harm's way, but now we are hoping and praying that they won't have major property damage.

While in SC we ate almost all of our meals out and we went on a seafood binge.  The shrimp, flounder, and oysters were all fresh, although the oysters won't be local for a month or two.  On Saturday I had a Shrimp Po Boy for lunch and a seafood platter for dinner.  The seafood platter was all local and had shrimp, whiting and fish cakes, and some hush puppies of course.  All the fish was local and delicious.  The shrimp in the lunch Po Boy were cooked perfectly.  Not overcooking is always the key with shrimp and they should pop when you bite into them.

Sunday morning we had a delicious brunch at our kids house and then for Sunday evening we went to the Callawassie Island club, where I had fish and chips.  Monday we spent most of the day on Hilton Head and had lunch at the Boat House, a delightful seaside restaurant that has been there for years.  I started lunch with a really nice seafood chowder, that had clams, shrimp and fish in a thick cream base. 

The chowder was followed by a flounder almondine.  It was a local flounder fillet that was dipped in an egg batter and sauteed.  It was topped with a brown butter sauce and toasted almonds.  I wasn't crazy about the egg batter.  I thought it overpowered the fish and made it taste a little like french toast, but I certainly didn't send it back. 

Jan had a fried oyster Po Boy, that she loved.  Hard to see the oysters in the picture but they had a very light breading and were fried to perfection. The sandwich was accompanied by really good waffle cut sweet potato fries.  

Monday evening we went to the May River Grill in Bluffton with some good friends. Jan and I both had crispy scored flounder.  This is a low country specialty.  The flounder is cross hatched with scoring down to the bones.  It is then flash fried in a big skillet, just enough to make the skin crisp. Typically it is then topped with a sauce of some sort and finished off in the oven.  In this case the sauce was a Thai red chili sauce.  A more common example is finished with an apricot sauce.  No matter the sauce, the result is always delicious.  Each little piece, defined by the scoring, lifts off of the bones easily and makes a tasty bite with a crisp outer layer over the top of the moist and tender flesh of the flounder.  It doesn't get much better than that.  If you are ever in the low country be sure to try the crisp scored flounder.  I think the best I have ever had was at the Old Pink House in Savannah.  

We get good seafood in Kansas City.  It is flown in daily, but it just isn't quite the same as when you can sit in a restaurant and see the shrimp boats offshore and know that in a few hours their catch will be on a local plate.  

Simple but Tasty

We are leaving tomorrow morning for South Carolina.  We have a 6:00 AM flight.  We need to be at the airport at 5:00 AM which means we need to leave home at 4:15 AM.  UGH!!  I think that means we need to get up at 3;15 AM.  The things I will do to get free tickets!  That was the only way we could go for 25,000 miles each, but what the heck, we're retired.  We will go to bed tonight at around 8:00 PM.  If there was ever a night when we needed a simple but tasty dinner it was tonight.  Here was what I came up with.

A simple salad of fresh greens, with home-grown tomatoes and toasted pumpkin seeds, dressed with garlic vinaigrette, parsley new potatoes and grilled filet mignon.  The entire menu took less than 20 minutes to prepare and another twenty minutes to cook.  The result was restaurant quality.  You don't always need to spend hours on prep to have a result that is delicious and beautiful.  I think everyone who reads this post can come up with a similar meal, so I won't bother to post recipes. 

I am really excited to get to the low country.  We will get to see our son and daughter-in -law, as well as our beautiful two and a half year old grandson Shane. We will also get to have some of the best fresh seafood in  the country.  I plan to eat fish and shrimp and maybe even some May River oysters. I promise I will take some pictures and Blog about all of the great seafood.  This is just a quick trip and I will be back on line shortly.

Cooked Red Cabbage

Keeping in the spirit of fall, today's post is my recipe for cooked red cabbage.  It has gotten cooler in Kansas City and last night I felt like doing a fall menu.  We had roasted pork tenderloin, homemade apple sauce, dumplings and this cabbage.  The beautiful red color livens up any plate and I love the flavor.  I originally got this recipe from a friend, but have modified it to the point of it now being my own recipe.  The two biggest changes to the original were the addition of bacon and sauteed onion. Those two additions really kick the flavor up a notch.  I know some people don't like cooked cabbage, but I think if you give this a try with some roasted pork or even bratwurst, you might change your mind.

Ingredients:

4-5 slices bacon - chopped
1/4 of a large onion - finely chopped
1 medium to large head cabbage, trimmed, cored and wedges sliced into thin ribbons(red or green cabbage as you prefer)
1/2 stick (4 TBSP) butter
1 Cup chicken stock
1/3 Cup apple cider vinegar
1 TBSP whole caraway seeds
Freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt to taste

Preparation:

Heat a large (12-14") deep sided skillet over medium heat.  Fry bacon pieces until almost crisp.  Add the onion and saute in the bacon drippings until translucent and tender.  Add butter and when bubbling, add cabbage.  Use a tongs and toss the cabbage until it is well coated with the melted butter and the bacon and onion are evenly distributed through the cabbage.  Increase heat and wilt cabbage. Reduce heat and add chicken stock, vinegar and caraway seeds.  Cook until the liquid is mostly evaporated.  Cover and reduce heat to low, to hold until time to serve.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. Not much salt is required because of the bacon. This is a great accompaniment to pork, brats, or sauerbraten.  Serve with a cold beer and enjoy.

Cream of Mushroom Soup (bisque)

We are back in town for a few days before leaving on our next trip, so I will post some recipes before we leave again.  The trip to Michigan was delightful.  Seeing our daughter's family is always fun and the weather was superb.  We played a golf course we hadn't played before.  It sat in the hills above Little Traverse Bay, just outside of Petosky.  The views were breathtaking.  The golf a little less so, but fun at any rate.

I love thick creamy soups like chowders and bisque's.  On our trip, I had some great seafood chowder at the Pier, an old standby restaurant in Harbor Springs.  It was recently remodeled and was as beautiful inside as was the view to the water outside. While having lunch we had a conversation on the meaning of chowder vs. bisque.  Chowder is a rich soup typically containing fish, clams or corn with potatoes and onions.  Bisque is a rich creamy soup typically made with shellfish like lobster or shrimp but can eliminate the seafood altogether and be made from pureed vegetables.  Chowder trends to be chunky and bisque tends to be smooth.  What really sets bisque apart form soup is the addition of cream and wine, so I think we can call  this soup either bisque or soup.  Use whichever you prefer, but I think you will find it tasty no matter what you call it.

I started with a basic recipe that I found online, but altered it to the point where I think it is fair to say this is my recipe for Cream of Mushroom soup.  The recipe makes four servings, but I think if you were serving the soup as a first course with a full meal, you may be able to get at least six servings out of it.

Ingredients:

5 TBSP unsalted butter
1/2 of a medium onion - diced
2 Cloves garlic-minced
2 LBS crimini mushrooms- thinly sliced ( sometimes sold as baby bella mushrooms)
1/2 tsps dry thyme leaves
1/4 tsps dry tarragon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper - to taste
1/3 cup cream Sherry
3 TBSP all purpose flour
31/2 Cups low salt chicken broth, reserving 1/2 Cup
1/2 Cup heavy cream
1/2 Cup sour cream

Preparation:

In a heavy bottomed soup pot, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the onions and garlic and cook until tender and translucent.  Add the sliced mushrooms, thyme, tarragon and salt and pepper, cooking until all of the liquid from the mushrooms evaporates.  Add the Sherry and cook until the liquid is evaporated.  Remove 1/2 cup of the mushrooms and set aside to be used later as garnish.  Stir in the flour and cook for 2- 3 minutes.  Add 3 cups of the chicken broth.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to scrape up the frond left in the pan from the mushrooms.  Puree soup using an immersion blender or transfer soup to a blender and puree until smooth.  Return soup to the soup pot.  Bring to a low simmer and whisk in the cream.  Add reserved chicken broth as needed to bring to desired consistency.  Adjust seasoning to taste.  Lower heat and whisk in 1/4 cup of the sour cream.  Keep the soup warm, but do not simmer or boil.  Serve soup garnished with reserved cooked mushrooms and a dollop of the remaining sour cream.  We enjoyed this soup last night as a first course, that proceeded roasted chicken with broccolini and oven roasted fingerling potatoes.

On Vacation

We are headed out for a week in Northern Michigan, so there won't be any new posts for a while.

Our daughter and her husband have a condo at Boyne mountain and we are meeting them there for the weekend.  Then Jan and I are staying for a couple of days of golf after they go back home. We will get to see our three granddaughters and spend some good quality time with them, as well as get to take in the beautiful fall scenery of Northern Michigan. We did the same trip last year and had a wonderful time.

There is a great little shop just up the road from Boyne that smokes local fish.  I will be bringing home some Lake Michigan smoked trout and some white fish pate.  Both are delicious.  Some of the smoked salmon will also be our appetizer for a family meal while we are there.  Then to continue with the fall mood, we are planning to make a dinner that features a new beef brisket recipe that Jan clipped out of the Kansas City Star recently.  I have previously posted another recipe for brisket, but thought I would share this as well.  It just seems that brisket or a pork roast go with fall. Pair either of those with some mashed potatoes, and a fall vegetable and if you aren't already in the mood for fall you will be soon.  Then of course, you have to top off the dinner with an apple dessert like apple crisp or apple strudel or apple pie, with a little scoop of ice cream.  Sounds good doesn't it ?

I don't normally post recipes that I haven't made before, but this seems pretty straight-forward and I think the recipe sounds tasty, so we can all try it at the same time.  It is called Adelle's Barbecue Brisket.

Ingredients: (8 to 10 servings)

1 12 Oz. bottle ketchup
1/4 Cup Worcestershire sauce
2 TBSP Liquid Smoke
1 tsps. chili powder
1/4 Cup brown sugar
1/8 tsps. black pepper
1 (4-LB) beef brisket - flat cut

Preparation:

In a small bowl, make marinade by whisking ketchup, Worcestershire Sauce, Liquid Smoke, chili powder, brown sugar and pepper together.  Place brisket in a large plastic bag, pour in marinade and seal the bag.  Marinate the brisket in the fridge overnight or for at least 6 hours.

Pre-heat oven to 275 degrees.  Place brisket in a  9"x 13" baking pan and pour marinade contents over the entire brisket.  Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil and braise in the oven for 2 hours.  Take pan out of oven, remove foil and turn brisket over.  Replace foil on pan and braise for another two hours or until an instant read thermometer reads 165 degrees.

Remove from oven and allow to rest for ten minutes before slicing across the grain.

Arugula, Pear and Asiago Salad

This recipe came from a gourmet group that we were in many years ago.  I think the host may have gotten the recipe from a website called Fine Dinings. The website features gourmet recipes and tips for entertaining.  At any rate this is a tasty salad that we often serve in a martini glass.  With the salad piled high in the martini glass and a bread-stick used as a swizzle, it makes an elegant presentation.

Ingredients: (8 servings)

8 cups baby arugula, cleaned and trimmed
1-2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 Pear, peeled cored and sliced (sometimes, depending on size, we use more than one pear)
1/4 Cup Grated Asiago cheese
3 TBSP toasted walnuts- coarsely chopped

Preparation:

In a large bowl toss the arugula with the olive oil to coat.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Place the tossed arugula on 8 individual salad plates, piling as high as you can in the middle of the plate. Alternatively, use martini glasses for a more dramatic presentation. Arrange pear slices on the arugula and top with the grated Asiago and toasted walnuts.  Serve this with a crisp Pinot Grigio for a very elegant and refreshing salad course.

Southern Fried Corn

Chef Joe Randall is a fifty year veteran of the culinary and hospitality industries. He is known as the Dean of Southern Cooking.  When we lived in the Hilton Head area he hosted a cooking show on one of the Savannah TV stations.  He is a nationally recognized chef and since 2002 has run a cooking school in Savannah.   Jan and a few other ladies attended one of his classes and this is a one of the recipes she brought home from that class.  Chef Joe is not into health food and if that is your thing don't try this recipe, but if you want some really good corn to go with seafood or steaks, give it a try. It goes especially well with crab cakes.

Ingredients:

6 ears  fresh sweet corn (Substitute frozen if  fresh corn is not available )
2 Slices  country bacon, finely diced
1 small onion diced
1 small green pepper,diced ( I often substitute red pepper as I like the flavor better)
Salt to taste
1/2 tsps. black pepper
1/4 tsps cayenne pepper

Preparation:

With a sharp knife cut down the middle of the cob through each row of kernels into a bowl.  Scrape the milky juice from the cob into the bowl.

In a skillet heat to medium high heat and fry the bacon until almost done.  Stir in onion, green pepper and corn.  Allow to cook for 10-12 minutes.  Season with salt, pepper and cayenne.  Stir and cook until almost dry.

Spaghetti Carbonara with Shriimp

Normally on a Friday I would be playing golf, but we woke up this morning to a drizzle and a forecast for heavy rain.  The heavy rain never materialized, but that forecast has been pushed to tonight.  Never the less, no golf today, so I used the day to do the shopping and some early preparation for a dinner party we are having tomorrow night.  Here is the menu for tomorrow night:

Appetizer

Fresh Figs, Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Wrapped with Prosciutto, & Drizzled with Spiced Honey

Salad

Cucumber and Watermelon Salad with Fresh Mint

Main

Grilled Fennel and Sage Rubbed Pork Tenderloin

Spinach Gratin

Smashed and Roasted Garlic Red Potatoes

Dessert

Mango Sorbet with Fresh Berries

The pork and spinach gratin have both been featured on Grandpa Cooks in the past.  The other recipes may show up later.  Tomorrow will be a lot less stressful, since I had today to do some prep.  My pork tenderloins have been cleaned and trussed.  The rub has been made and is waiting to be applied about a half hour prior to putting on the grill.  The spinach gratin is made and in the fridge. It just needs to be put in the oven 20 minutes prior to serving.  Tomorrow there won't be much to do and I will be able to focus on our guests.  That is the best way to entertain.  

This is all a long winded way to lead up to what we had for dinner tonight.  Today when I was out shopping I bought a pound of fresh wild caught shrimp.  I thought I would come up with something to have for dinner after I was done with the prep for tomorrow night.  I was thumbing through my recipe collection when I ran across a recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara.  A high school buddy and old team-mate, Jude Rolfes, had sent me his recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara and I thought that sounded really good.  Carbonara is a Roman dish that is generally based on bacon, eggs, cheese and pasta.  The problem was, I had the shrimp I wanted to use while they were fresh.  I decided to modify Jude's recipe and substitute the shrimp for most of the bacon.  The outcome was really tasty and I think quite beautiful.  Thanks Jude !!  Here is what the resulting dish looked like:

Ingredients:

3 Slices Bacon - chopped 

1 Pound Shrimp - peeled and deveined 

Four cloves garlic - minced

12 Ounces thin Spaghetti

4 Large Eggs

1 Cup fined grated Parmesan cheese

6 TBSP butter - melted

1/2 Cup chopped parsley

1 Cup frozen peas

Freshly ground pepper

Preparation:

In a large skillet, over medium heat, cook the bacon until almost crisp.  Add the garlic and saute until the garlic is translucent.  Add the shrimp and cook until just pink on one side.  Turn and cook until pink on the other side.  By this time the bacon should be crisp.  Using a slotted spoon, remove the contents of the skillet to a plate with paper towels and let the shrimp and bacon drain.  

In the meantime, cook the pasta to al dente, per the package directions.  

While the pasta is cooking, crack the eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk until frothy.  Add the grated cheese.  Mix well and then add the parsley and melted butter.  Stir well again.

When the pasta is done drain it and return it to the pot in which you cooked it.   Add the egg mixture to the the pasta and stir well.  Add the peas and the shrimp and bacon mixture and the fresh ground pepper to taste.  Toss and turn out onto a platter.  The warm pasta will cook the egg and cheese mixture.  If you don't want to use shrimp or prefer "original" carbonara, use 16 slices of bacon instead of three and eliminate the shrimp.  Salute !! and Thanks again Jude.  

Roasted Winter Vegetables with Romesco Sauce

I was at the Farmer's Market Saturday and noticed that the fall vegetables are starting to come in.  There were lots of squash, leeks, cauliflower and other root type vegetables.  This brought to mind one of my favorite recipes for the fall.  I love to make Romesco sauce and serve it with roasted winter vegetables.  I top it off with either slices of grilled pork tenderloin or pan seared fish like halibut or grouper.  Romesco sauce originated in Spain and was made by the fishermen to eat with fish, but in addition to going well with seafood it is also good with pork or vegetables.  For the roasted vegetables I like to use a combination of cauliflower, leeks, sweet potatoes and spinach.  Here are the recipes:

Romesco Sauce (serves eight)(original from ask.com)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup blanched almond slivers
20 Hazelnuts
2 Garlic bulbs
2 Slices stale bread
4 Ripe roma tomatoes - quartered
4 Large roasted red peppers
2 Cups extra virgin olive oil
1 Cup red wine vinegar
1/2 tsps. red pepper flakes
Salt

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Rub excess dry skin off of the garlic bulbs and place them on a baking sheet.  Drizzle with a little olive oil and roast the garlic for about twenty minutes or until the bulb is soft to the touch.  When garlic is done remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Place almonds and hazelnuts into a food processor and process until finely ground.

Coat the bottom of a fry pan with extra virgin olive oil  and fry the bread slices on both sides until they are brown.  Remove from pan and set aside to cool.

Quarter tomatoes and sauté them in the same frying pan, adding more oil if needed.  Sauté  for 4-5 minutes.  Remove pan from heat.

Tear bread into pieces and place in the food processor with the nuts.  Process again until the bread is finely crumbed.  Add the sautéed tomatoes.  Squeeze the roasted garlic out of the skins onto a plate.  Drain the roasted red peppers.  Put garlic and peppers into the processor with the other ingredients and process until ingredients are a thick puree.

Leave processor running and slowly drizzle in the oil and vinegar.  Season with salt and the red pepper flakes.  It will take quite a bit of salt. 

You can make this sauce a couple hours ahead of time and let it sit on the counter at room temperature. 

Roasted Winter Vegetables (serves eight)

Ingredients:

4 Sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced in half from end to end.  Each half then sliced into 1/4 " thick half moon shapes. 
4 Leeks - white part only sliced into 1/4" rounds
1 head cauliflower - separated into florets
2 bags baby spinach
Extra Virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation:

Pre heat oven to 425 degrees.  Put sweet potatoes, leeks and cauliflower florets into a large bowl.  Drizzle liberally with extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.  Stir with a large wooden spoon to insure all vegetables are coated with oil and seasoning.  Spread vegetables on a baking sheet with sides and bake for 20-30 minutes, until vegetables are tender and the cauliflower is browning on the edges.  While vegetables are roasting, put a large skillet on medium heat.  Add a couple TBSP of olive oil and wilt the spinach.  Cook until tender.  Season with salt and pepper. 

To serve, place a ladle full (about 1/2 cup) of Romesco sauce in the bottom of a pasta bowl.  Spoon a serving of the roasted vegetables over the Romesco sauce.  With a tongs add a little of the wilted spinach into the vegetable serving.  Top with slices of grilled pork tenderloin or a nice seared piece of fish.  Drizzle the meat with a little more sauce and enjoy !!

Simple White Chicken Chili

Fall is fast approaching and it will soon be time for Football and Chili.   This recipe is one I have had for a long time.  I think it originally came from a newspaper in whatever place we were living when I got the recipe, but it is very simple, really tasty and a little change from the standard red chili with beef.

Ingredients:

1 box (32 Oz) Chicken Stock
3 14.5 Oz Cans White Beans - undrained
5 Cups Cooked Chicken, skinned and cut into bite sized pieces
    (A Costco rotisserie chicken works great)
1 16 Oz jar salsa - If you like Chili mild use mild salsa.  To kick it up use medium or hot.
1 8 Oz block Pepperjack cheese - grated
2 tsps. ground cumin
2 garlic cloves - minced
Black or white pepper to taste
1/2 Cup- finely crushed corn chips - this is an optional thickener
Sour Cream
Green onion tops - sliced
Corn chips

Preparation:

Place all ingredients except corn chips in a crock-pot and cook on high until the cheese is well incorporated.  When chili is ready add the finely crushed corn chips and let simmer for ten minutes to thicken.  Serve with  a bowl of sour cream, some sliced green onion tops and corn chips as garnishes. This is so simple to make that I often serve it as a second choice when I make chili.  I make a batch of regular chili and then put together a batch of this while the other chili is simmering.

Potato Gratin, with Apples, Cabbage and Boursin

Today Jan and I were shopping in Pryde's of Westport.  We were actually looking for a tablecloth, but being in the store reminded me of this recipe. The owner of the store had the recipe in a local KC magazine a couple of years ago.  I made it for Christmas dinner that year and the whole family loved it.  The original recipe made a huge batch.  I have cut the recipe in half here and it still serves 6-8 people easily. 

Pryde's is one of the best kitchen/ cooking stores I have ever been in and their inventory is amazing.  If you need it for cooking they have it.  It is a one of a kind place and unique in a lot of ways.  The building itself is funky, with lots of different levels and little rooms here and there, which makes it fun to look around every corner just to see what is there.  If you are ever in KC don't miss the chance to check out Pryde's. 

This recipe is a fall-weather -perfect casserole.  Adding the apples and cabbage in with the potatoes gives it a unique and flavorful twist.  I hope you will give it a try.  If you need to serve a crowd, you can just double all ingredients and bake in a larger (10 x 15") casserole. 

Ingredients:

2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
1 - 5 Oz. Package Boursin with Herbs
3 - Lbs. Yukon Gold or Red Potatoes, unpeeled, scrubbed and sliced thin
                     (a mandolin makes this a whole lot easier)
1 - Vidalia Onion, sliced thin and sautéed to golden brown in butter
1 - Granny Smith Apple, Peeled and sliced thin
1/4 head Green Cabbage, sliced thin
1/2 Cup Italian Breadcrumbs
1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan
11/2 TBSP Chopped Fresh Parsley
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees.  Butter a deep 9"x13" casserole dish.  Stir Heavy Cream and Boursin cheese together in a heavy saucepan over medium heat until the cheese is melted.  Set aside.  Layer half of the potatoes, slightly overlapping in the casserole,  Top with half of the onion, cabbage and apple.  Season with salt and pepper and pour half of the cream and cheese mixture over the vegetables. 

Repeat another layer with the remaining potatoes, onion, cabbage and apples.  Season again and pour the remaining cream and Boursin cheese mixture over the top.  Top with the bread crumbs and grated parmesan.  Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove foil and bake until golden brown and tender, about another 15 minutes.  Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve. 

Pasta e Fagioli

It is still quite warm in Kansas City, but fall is fast approaching.  One of my favorite things to do in the fall is make a hearty soup and have it with a salad and some nice bread for dinner.  Accompany that with a glass of really nice wine and it doesn't get any better than that.

Mario Carrate was a food broker in New York city and his father had an Italian restaurant on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx.  We took Italian cooking classes from Mario way back in the early 80's.  All of his recipes were hand written and passed out to the class one by one.  It was a hands on class and we got to eat whatever we cooked at the end of class.  This recipe for pasta e fagioli, meaning pasta and beans, is one of my favorites from Mario.  As with a lot of Italian recipes this dish originated with the working class as an inexpensive one dish meal.  It is very tasty and filling.

Ingredients:(Serves 4)

1 TBSP olive oil
1 - 16 Oz. can un-drained cannellini beans
1/4 Lb.  dittalini or other short pasta
4 Oz. Pancetta (Italian Bacon) - chopped
1 medium onion - chopped
1 clove garlic - chopped
1 celery stalk - chopped
1 carrot - grated
1 pinch of chopped parsley
1 pinch rosemary - choopped
1 to 11/2 can chicken broth

Preparation:

Heat olive oil in a soup pot.  Add the pancetta, onion, garlic, celery, carrot and rosemary.  Sauté for about ten minutes, or until vegetables are soft.  Add the chicken broth and simmer for around 30 minutes.  On another burner cook the pasta per package directions.  Drain pasta.  Add pasta and cannellini beans to broth.  If too thick add more chicken broth.  Simmer for about ten minutes and serve with grated parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil on the top of each bowl. 

Meat Confusion

As I watch grocery store adds on TV and read them in the newspaper I am continually amazed at all the various names the retailers come up with to make their meat sound better than the next guy's.  Last night I saw an add for choice reserve beef.  That is a made up marketing label.  The one that really gets me is Black Angus Certified as if the type of steer makes any difference as to the quality of the meat.

Here is the real lowdown on meat inspection and quality grading in the United States.  Most of this content comes directly from the USDA Website or the NOAA website when we talk about seafood. In this context we will talk about meat being beef, lamb and pork.  We will also talk a bit about poultry and seafood.  By law, all meat (beef, lamb and pork) sold in the United States is inspected by the federal government for safety.  The same is true for poultry.  This includes meat produced outside of the US.  These inspections are done by the Food Safety and Inspection Service, a branch of the United States Department of Agriculture.  These inspections insure that the meat or poultry products are safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged.  Since these inspections are required by law, they are paid for by the Federal Government.

The USDA also offers quality grading for meat and poultry.  Quality grading takes place after the Federal inspection for safety and is done by the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service. This grading for quality is voluntary and is therefore paid for by the meat or poultry producer/processor.  It is fair to say that almost all meat and poultry sold at retail outlets goes through this quality grading process. Here are the quality grading systems for each type of meat and poultry:

Beef
Beef is graded as a whole carcass in two ways.  There is a yield grade which tells the processer the percent of usable lean meat on the carcass.  The yield grading is pretty much irrelevant to the consumer.  The quality grades which indicate tenderness, juiciness and flavor are what is important to understand.  For beef the key indicator of quality is the fat marbling in the meat.  The grading system is as follows, going from best to worst in terms of quality.  There are eight grades of quality for beef.

Prime:  Is produced from young, well-fed beef cattle.  It has abundant marbling and is generally sold in restaurants and hotels, though it can be found in some retail stores.  Prime roasts and steaks are excellent for dry-heat cooking like grilling, roasting or broiling.  Prime represents a very small percentage of all beef produced.

Choice:  Is high quality but has less marbling than prime.  Choice roasts and steaks from the loin and rib will be very tender, juicy, and flavorful and are, like prime, suited to dry-heat cooking.  Many of the less tender cuts, such as those from the rump, round, and chuck, can also be cooked with dry heat if they are not overcooked.  These cuts will be most tender though if braised - meaning cooked with a small amount of liquid in a pan with a tight fitting lid.  This is the most common grade of beef found in the average retail store. 

Select:  Is very uniform in quality and normally leaner than the higher grades.  It is fairly tender, but because it has less marbling, it may lack some of the juiciness and flavor of the higher grades.  Only tender cuts like the loin, rib and sirloin should be cooked with dry heat.  Other cuts should be marinated before cooking or braised to obtain maximum tenderness and flavor.  You may find select grade in retail outlets, but I do not buy it. 

 Standard and Commercial Grades:  Are frequently sold as ungraded or store brand meat.  Avoid them.

Utility, Cutter and Canner grades:  Are seldom sold at retail, but are typically used to make ground beef or other processed products.

If you go to a retail store meat counter and ask them for choice quality beef and they do not know what you are talking about, go somewhere else. I have actually run into "butchers" at some chain grocery stores who don't have a clue about the quality grades of meat.  They are basically there to sell and wrap what is in the counter. 

Veal:
There are five grades of veal.  They are Prime, Choice, Good, Standard and Utility.  Prime and Choice are more flavorful than the lower grades.  Because of the young age of the animals, the meat will be a light grayish-pink, fairly firm, and velvety.  The bones are small, soft and quite red.  Cuts such as chops can be cooked by the dry heat method. 

Lamb:
There are five grades for lamb,  Normally only two grades are found at retail- Prime and Choice.  Lower grades of lamb- Good, Utility and Cull are seldom marked with the grade.  Lamb is produced from animals that are less than a year old.  Since the quality of lamb varies according to the age of the animal it is advisable to buy lamb that has been USDA graded as either Prime or Choice.  Prime is very high in tenderness, juiciness and flavor.  Choice has slightly less marbling than prime, but is still very high quality meat. 

Pork:
Pork is not quality graded by the USDA as it is generally produced from young animals that have been fed  to produce more uniformly tender meat.  Appearance is important in buying fresh pork.  Look for cuts that have a relatively small amount of fat over the outside and with meat that is firm and pink in color. 

Poultry:
The USDA quality grades for poultry are A, B and C.  Grade A is the highest quality and is the only grade likely to be seen at retail outlets.  This grade indicates that the poultry is virtually free from defects such as bruises, discolorations, and feathers.  Bone-in products have no broken bones.  For whole birds and parts with the skin on there are no tears in the skin or exposed flesh that could dry out during cooking.  There should also be a good covering of fat under the skin. 
Grades B and C are generally used in products that are processed further such as being chopped or ground.

Seafood:
Unlike meat and poultry, seafood is not required to be inspected by the Federal government.  Seafood is still largely wild caught and as such would be difficult to regulate.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) oversees fisheries management in the United States and the EPA and the USDA also have authority to limit the sale of fish from  waters that are deemed to be hazardous, such as in the event of an oil spill.  NOAA does offer a voluntary quality inspection program for seafood and as with meat and poultry it is paid for by the producer/processor.  The top quality grade for seafood is U.S. Grade A. If you can find a retailer who has graded seafood then use them.  There is more variety in seafood and it is the most difficult to transport and maintain of all the meat products, so to some extent you are on your own when buying seafood. 

Here are some simple guidelines from the NOAA website.  They recommend that you not decide what seafood to buy until you get to the seafood counter.  Try to select what appears to be the freshest thing in the counter and then plan your menu around that type of seafood.  Here is how to tell if seafood is fresh:

1. When purchasing whole fish or fillets, look for firm flesh.  If you press the fish with your finger and it leaves an indentation, it is not the highest quality.  Also look for shiny flesh.  Dull flesh may mean that the fish is old.

2.  Check to make sure there is no darkening around the edges of the fish or brown or yellowish discoloration, especially if these areas appear dry or mushy.  If you are still uncertain about how fresh the fish is, ask to have it rinsed under cold water and then smell it.  Fresh fish should have no fishy or ammonia smell.

3.  Live clams, oysters and mussels may have slightly gaping shells and should close tightly when tapped.  If not, the shellfish may be dead and should be discarded.  Live crabs and lobsters should show leg movement. Refrigeration may slow down movement, but there should still be some.
  
Use any fresh seafood within two days of bringing it home.  If you elect to use frozen seafood always thaw it in the fridge.  Thawing at temperatures above 40 degrees causes excessive drip loss and adversely affects taste, texture and aroma.

I hope this has been helpful in sorting through all of the marketing and adds when it comes to buying meat and seafood.  Ask questions and go to another place to buy if you don't get good answers.  You will be happier in the long run.