Holidays | onedadskitchen

More Thanksgiving Day Sides: Creamed Pearl Onions and Roasted Brussels Sprouts

There seems to be an endless supply of Thanksgiving side dish possibilities. There are so many great Fall vegetables that you can use in so many different ways that the combinations you can come up with can help you to tailor your meal to fit whatever likes you may have or whoever may be coming over for dinner on that day. In my trail run dinner that I made for Michelle’s birthday, I made a lot of side dishes this year so I could try different things. One of her absolute favorites is one that often gets overlooked on the dinner table – creamed pearl onions. I actually got this very simple recipe from chef Thomas Keller and with just a few ingredients, you can have this dish made easily.

Creamed Pearl Onions

2 cups peeled pearl onions

2 cups chicken stock

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2/3 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon minced chives

Combine the pearl onions, chicken stock, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Simmer the mixture until all the liquid has evaporated and the onions are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Add the heavy cream and cook until the cream has thickened. Stir in the chives and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste before serving.

It is very easy to make and you can do this while your turkey is resting so you can get it ready easily or you can even make it the day before and just lightly simmer it on the stove to heat it through. You get a nice, thick creamy sauce with the great flavor of the pearl onions. If you can get frozen pearl onions, you can save yourself the aggravation of having to peel the onions yourself. I couldn’t find any frozen onions, so I did buy the fresh ones, but there is an easy way to peel them. Simply place the onions in two cups of boiling water for 2 or three minutes. Remove the onions to an ice water bath or cold water bath to cool them off when you strain them off the stove. Once they are cool enough to the touch, simply cut off the root end of the onion and give the onion a gentle squeeze and it will pop right out of the skin. It still takes some time to do all of them, but it is a lot easier than trying to peel the paper off of all those tiny onions.

I also made a simple Brussels sprouts recipe. Even though sprouts may get a bad rap, we love them in our house and they make a great Fall or holiday side dish. And nothing seems to be better than some roasted Brussels sprouts with a little bit of bacon to add some flavor. This quick recipe is from chef Marcus Samuelsson.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Maple Bacon

1 pound Brussels sprouts, bottom trimmed and cut in half lengthwise

1 ounce maple syrup

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 ounce olive oil

4 ounces bacon, cut into quarters in strips

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the Brussels sprouts in the olive oil, salt, peppers and smoked paprika.Place the Brussels sprouts on a baking sheet and roast until they are browned and cooked through, about 15 minutes.

In a medium skillet over medium heat, fry the bacon until it is crispy, about 5 minutes. Drain the bacon of the fat and toss it with the maple syrup and the roasted Brussels sprouts. Finish the dish with a pat of butter over the top or just serve immediately.

Again, you can roast the Brussels sprouts a day ahead of time, like I did, and while the turkey rests before carving simply place them in the oven to warm them through with any other side dishes you are also warming to save yourself some time. The maple flavor along with the smokiness of the bacon and the paprika make this a fantastic side dish. If you want to try to keep it lighter and vegetarian, you can simply omit the bacon and roast the Brussels sprouts alone on a baking sheet or even in a cast iron pan and make them that way.

Unfortunately, I had so many side dishes when I made everything that there were a few things I forgot to take pictures of in all the rush to get things on the table. Sorry about that, but the pearl onions and Brussels sprouts got away from me. I do have pictures of the next 2 sides I will be posting tomorrow though.

That’s all I have for today. Keep checking back for some more holiday recipes and ideas. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

2 Comments

Posted by MikeG on November 16, 2013 in Cooking, Holidays, Produce, Side Dishes, Vegetables

Tags: Brussels sprouts, creamed pearl onions, Marcus Samuelsson, pearl onions, roasted Brussels sprouts, roasted Brussels sprouts with maple bacon, Thanksgiving side dishes, Thomas Keller

Another Great Holiday Appetizer – Meatball Sliders

15 Nov

There are some things you may not think of as a great holiday appetizer unless you just happen to have everything fall into place as far as ingredients and what you have on hand. This was one of those recipes for me. I had some meatballs on hand already that I had made and frozen, so it really just became a matter of putting them together with the rolls and some cheese and we were all set. Now, if you wanted to make this recipe ahead of time and use it for a holiday appetizer, it is certainly easy to do. This is the meatball recipe that I use most often, but you could easily use any meatball recipe you prefer or even use some frozen meatballs you may have on hand to make things even easier.

Meatball Sliders

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 medium carrot, roughly chopped

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

6 cloves garlic

1 cup fresh parsley leaves

1 pound ground beef

1 pound ground pork

2 large eggs

1 cup Italian-style breadcrumbs

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

2 28-ounce cans tomato puree

2 large sprigs basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Slider rolls

Brush a baking sheet with olive oil. Pulse the celery, carrot, onion, garlic and parsley in a food processor to make a paste. Transfer half of the vegetable paste to a bowl; add the ground beef, ground pork, eggs, breadcrumbs, 1 cup of the Parmesan cheese and 1 teaspoon of salt and mix with your hands until it is just combined. Form the mixture into about 24 two-inch meatballs; transfer the meatballs to the prepared baking sheet. Bake the meatballs until they are firm but not cooked all the way through, about 10 minutes.

To make the sauce, heat 3 tablespoons of the olive in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the remaining vegetable paste and cook, stirring occasionally, until it looks dry, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato puree; rinse each can with 1 cup of water and add it to the pot. Stir in the basil, oregano and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Bring the sauce to a simmer, then add the meatballs and simmer until the sauce thickens and the meatballs are cooked through, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the basil.

Place 1 or 2 meatballs and sauce inside each of the slider rolls and top each with mozzarella cheese. Serve.

It is a very simple recipe to put together and the sliders were devoured when I made them in no time at all. You could easily do the same thing with sausage and peppers if you had some on hand or wanted to make some ahead of time and then simply re-heat the sausage and peppers and put them into slider rolls. For me, it was just a matter of warming he meatballs and sauce on the stove top for about 5 to 10 minutes just to heat them through and then assemble the sliders.

That’s all I have for today. Keep checking back as there is plenty more along the way leading up to Thanksgiving. I have lots of side dishes to share, some desserts, breads and even things to do with leftovers. Keep checking back to see what is next. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on November 15, 2013 in Appetizers, Beef, Cooking, Dinner, Holidays, Sandwiches

Tags: meatball sandwiches, meatball sliders, sliders, Thanksgiving appetizers

An Easy Holiday Appetizer – Broccoli Dip in a Bread Bowl

14 Nov

You want to try to remember to have some appetizers on hand for your holiday or Thanksgiving meal to keep everyone happy before the big meal comes out. There are lots of things that you can do that are easy, like making a simple antipasto platter, some shrimp cocktail, crackers and cheese or even just some onion dip and chips. One thing that can be a little different and look fancy is this recipe I got from Cook’s Country for broccoli dip in a bread bowl. It is really easy to make and you can make the dip a day or two in advance and then just put it all together right before you serve it.

Broccoli Dip in a Bread Bowl

12 ounces broccoli, florets cut into 1-inch pieces, stalks peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2/3 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons minced shallot

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2/3 cup whole Greek yogurt

1 (8-inch) round bread (whatever type you like)

Combine the broccoli stalks and 1 tablespoon of water in a bowl. Cover the bowl and microwave it until the stalks are tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer the stalks to a colander, rinse under cold water, and drain thoroughly. Transfer the stalks to a clean dish towel and pat dry. Combine the broccoli florets and 1 tablespoon of water in the same now-empty bowl. Cover the florets and microwave until just tender, about 3 minutes.Transfer the florets to a colander, rinse them under cold water and allow them to drain thoroughly. Transfer the florets to a clean dish towel and pat them dry. Keep the stalks and the florets separate.

Combine the stalks, mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, shallot, garlic, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper in a food processor and process until the mixture is finely ground, about 30 seconds., scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the florets and pulse until the florets are finely chopped, about 4 pulses. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, stir in the Greek yogurt, and refrigerate the dip for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.

Using a paring knife, cut into the top of the loaf of bread at a 45-degree angle, about 1 1/2 inches from the edge. Continue to slice around the bread at a 45-degree angle in approximately a 5-inch circle. Remove the cut top of the bread and cut it into bite size pieces. Make vertical slices through the perimeter of the bread bowl at 1 1/2-inch intervals, stopping just shy of the bottom crust. Transfer the broccoli dip to the bread bowl. Serve, using bread pieces and crudites to dip.

I did make one slight change to the recipe itself. Instead of using mayonnaise I used some sour cream and I think it came out just fine. The slices into the bread bowl allow people to pull out pieces of the bread to dip into the dip itself. The goal is that you won’t actually have anything leftover from the whole set up, though I did have some extra broccoli dip left that did not fit into the bread bowl, so we have been able to have that with some cut-up vegetables like carrots, celery, peppers and the like. I think you could also easily substitute spinach for the broccoli in this if you prefer to have a spinach dip to serve. In either case, I really liked the texture thanks to the yogurt and the flavor of the broccoli and shallots was great. You really do need to blanch the broccoli for this to work out well. Raw broccoli would be too woody and I think frozen broccoli is just too mushy to use.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for some more recipes. There’s still lots to come that you can use to help plan your Thanksgiving. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on November 14, 2013 in Appetizers, Cooking, Holidays, Snacks, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Tags: Bread Bowl, broccoli dip, broccoli dip in a bread bowl, broccoli florets, Cook's Country, Thanksgiving appetizers

What’s a Turkey Without Stuffing? Apple, Sage and Sausage Stuffing

12 Nov

One of my favorite parts of the Thanksgiving meal has always been the stuffing. Even the famous Stove Stop stuffing has its place, but if you have a little bit of time and want something that tastes a whole lot better, then take the effort to make the stuffing yourself. it is not as tough as you think it may be to make one and you can even do it a day ahead of time and just warm it up in the oven to save yourself some time. There are a lot of recipes out there for stuffing and have a few favorites of my own, but I tried a new one this weekend when I made roast turkey for Michelle’s birthday. Like the turkey, this one also came from Saveur Magazine and is for a very simple apple, sage and sausage stuffing.

Apple, Sage and Sausage Stuffing

8 tablespoons butter

3 ribs celery, chopped

1 onion, chopped

4 pork sausages, casings removed

3 apples, peeled and chopped

1 loaf white bread, crust cut off, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and toasted (about 8 cups)

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage

2 cups chicken stock

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the celery and the onion, Cook until the vegetables are soft, about 15 minutes. Add the sausage and cook, using a wooden spoon to break the sausage into small pieces, until browned, about 5 minutes. Add the apples and continue cooking until the apples are soft, about 5 to 7 minutes more. Stir in the bread crumbs and the sage; add the chicken stock and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Stuff the stuffing into the turkey cavity, if you wish and roast the turkey according to plans or instructions. Take the remaining stuffing and place it in a baking dish and bake until it is golden on top, about 20 to 25 minutes.

I personally did not put any stuffing in the turkey. I have never been a big fan of stuffing that way and it makes the turkey have to cook even longer and the turkey does not always roast evenly with the stuffing inside it. If you are going to stuff the bird, you want to make sure that any stuffing you use is cooked already. If you want to make this stuffing ahead of time, instead of putting it right into the oven after mixing everything in, place the stuffing in a baking dish, cover it with foil and refrigerate it until the next day. Then, when you take the turkey out to rest, you can place it in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes to cook and heat up. You’ll want to take the aluminum foil off the dish so the bread crumbs crisp up nicely. You may also need to add a little bit of moisture back into the stuffing because the bread will have absorbed a lot of it. I did not add any in and the stuffing tasted just fine, but it depends on how you like it. I loved the mix of the apples and sausage with the bread and the sage added just the right touch to the dish. I think it would be really good if you used a challah bread with this stuffing as well.

That’s all I have for today. Keep checking back for some more recipes that will be great for Thanksgiving. There’s lots more to come. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on November 12, 2013 in Cooking, Dinner, Holidays, Sausage, Side Dishes, Turkey

Tags: apple sage and sausage stuffing, Saveur magazine, stuffing recipe, Thanksgiving stuffing, Thanksgiving turkey stuffing recipe

The Perfect Roast Turkey? It Seems Pretty Darn Close

11 Nov

It seems like there are dozens of different ways to make your Thanksgiving turkey and hundreds of different recipes out there to suit whatever need, ingredients or things you may want to try when it comes to the turkey. For me, roasting a turkey doesn’t get much better. Since I am not hosting Thanksgiving this year, Michelle decided she would like to have a turkey dinner to help celebrate her birthday this past weekend. Now I didn’t really need a recipe to make the turkey, but I came across this method from Saveur Magazine that professed to make the perfect roast turkey, so I figured I would give it a try to see how it worked out.

Perfect Roast Turkey and Gravy

1 13-14 pound fresh turkey

2 tablespoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 cups homemade chicken or turkey broth

3/4 cup dry white wine or dry vermouth

2 tablespoons brandy

4 tablespoons fat from the roasting liquid or butter

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

4 cups warm turkey or chicken broth

Remove the giblets from the turkey and refrigerate them for a later use. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels. Sprinkle the kosher salt and black pepper liberally all over the turkey, spreading a little in the turkey cavity and being sure to season the back, breasts and thighs. Arrange the turkey on a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate, uncovered (this will help to dry out the skin, giving you a crisper skin during the roasting) for one to two days.

Remove the turkey from the refrigerator about two hours before roasting to take the chill off the bird. This will help it to cook more evenly. Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Tuck the turkey wings behind the neck and tie the tips of the drumsticks together with kitchen twine. Arrange the turkey breast side up on a rack set in a sturdy roasting pan. Pour 1 1/2 cups of the turkey or chicken broth into the bottom of the pan and slide the turkey into the oven, immediately lowering the heat to 350 degrees. Let the turkey roast for 2 1/2 to 3 hours total, rotating the pan after about 1 1/4 hours. Meanwhile, combine the remaining broth with the giblets in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer gently, partially covered, until the giblets are tender, about 45 minutes. Remove the giblets, saving them to add to the gravy later, and keep the broth warm.

Baste the turkey by spooning pan drippings over the breasts every 45 minutes. If you notice the breasts or drumsticks getting too dark, cover them loosely with aluminum foil during the last 30 to 45 minutes of roasting. The turkey should cook at a rate of about 13 minutes per pound. To check the doneness, pierce the meaty part of thigh with a sharp knife and check that the juices run mostly clear with only a trace of pink. Don’t wait for them to become perfectly clear; this may br a sign that the turkey is already overdone. To double-check yourself, insert an instant-read thermometer into the thigh, being careful not to hit the bone; it should read 170 degrees.

When the turkey is done, grab both sides of the roasting rack with oven mitts to lift and tilt the turkey and let the juices pour from the cavity into the pan. Set the turkey aside, tenting it very loosely with foil, to rest for at least 30 minutes while you make the gravy. Pour all the liquid from the roasting pan into a heatproof bowl or 1-quart measuring cup and set it aside. Set the roasting pan over 2 burners at medium-high heat and add the white wine or vermouth and the brandy. Bring to a boil, scraping with a wooden spoon to dissolve any cooked-on bits and return the reserved liquid to the roasting pan. Boil, stirring often, until the liquid is reduced to nearly half, about 8 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside.

Once the liquid from the roasting pan has settled, spoon off and transfer the surface fat to a medium saucepan to make a roux for your gravy. If you can get 4 tablespoons of fat from the surface, use that; if not, you can make up the difference by using some butter. Heat the fat over medium-low heat and whisk in 1/3 cup of flour until it is smooth. Cook for about 4 minutes, until the roux is a light amber color, and then gradually whisk in the reserved pan drippings. Bring the mixture to a simmer and slowly whisk in 4 cups of the warmed broth. Let the gravy simmer and thicken, whisking occasionally, for about 15 minutes (or longer if you want a thicker gravy). For a hearty giblet gravy, finely chop the neck meat along with the gizzard and the heart and stir it into the finished gravy. Season the gravy with salt and pepper to taste and keep the gravy warm while you carve the turkey.

I don’t know if this is the perfect roast turkey, but I have to say if it isn’t it’s pretty darn close. I had never salted the turkey like this before, but it did seem to help the bird when it came to retaining moisture and juice and it wasn’t too salty, though we did find that you don’t really need to add much salt, if any at all, to the gravy because the pan drippings had plenty. The bird was perfectly browned and moist and the gravy was wonderful. Saveur does provide a method for making your own turkey broth ahead of time using turkey parts that you can buy, but I didn’t do this and just used chicken stock that I had instead and I think it turned out fine. I think you could certainly substitute store-bought chicken or turkey broth to save you some time if you don’t want to make your own turkey broth.

That’s all I have for today. I have lots of other recipes that are perfect for Thanksgiving as I made a lot of side dishes to go along with this turkey, so check back all week for some great ideas on ways to make turnip casserole, Brussels sprouts, maple glazed carrots, sausage, apple and sage stuffing, creamed pearl onions, some great appetizers like broccoli dip in a bowl and meatball sliders and a lemon layer cake I made for dessert. Check back and see what comes up next. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on November 11, 2013 in Cooking, Dinner, Gravy, Holidays, Poultry, Turkey

Tags: perfect roast turkey dinner, roast turkey, roast turkey and gravy, roasting a turkey, Saveur, Saveur magazine, Thanksgiving roast turkey and gravy, Thanksgiving turkey, Thanksgiving turkey recipe, turkey broth, turkey gravy

Holiday Potluck Recipes – Photo Gallery | SAVEUR

10 Nov

Holiday Potluck Recipes – Photo Gallery | SAVEUR.

If you are traveling to someone else’s home for Thanksgiving and are looking for something to bring to contribute to the meal, Saveur has made it easy for you by providing these 50 holiday potluck recipes. They are easy to make, favorites for many and can be transported without a lot of trouble. Check it out! I’ll have some great recipes I to share this week of things I tried for Michelle’s birthday dinner this weekend, so check back for those. Have a great day!

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Posted by MikeG on November 10, 2013 in Cooking, Cooking Websites, Holidays

Tags: 50 holiday potluck recipes, 50 recipes for bringing a dish to someone's home, 50 Thanksgiving potluck recipes, Holiday Potluck Recipes, Saveur, Thanksgiving recipes

Thanksgiving Planning: Baked Ginger Sweet Potatoes and Mashed Butternut Squash

04 Nov

Since I won’t be cooking the actual Thanksgiving meal myself this year, I thought I would get the month started early and try to make a bunch of Thanksgiving side dishes all month long so you have some new things to choose and try for your Thanksgiving meal this year. I recently made two side dishes that would be perfect to use for Thanksgiving. The first is a very simple baked ginger sweet potatoes dish that I got from Chow.com. it is very simple to make, with a wonderful glaze that adds some great flavor to the potatoes.

Baked Ginger Sweet Potatoes

3/4 cup apricot preserves

1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (from 1 medium orange)

3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon peeled and grated fresh ginger

1 tablespoon kosher salt

4 pounds medium sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch rounds

Heat the oven to 425 degrees and arrange an oven rack in the middle position of the oven.

Place the apricot preserves, orange juice, butter, ginger and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and cook until the butter and the preserves are melted and smooth, about 6 minutes.

Place the sweet potatoes in a large bowl and drizzle them with about 1/3 of the apricot mixture, and, using your hands, toss the potatoes to coat them well with the mixture. Shingle the slices in a 13-by-9-inch baking dish. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes.

Remove the baking dish from the oven and remove the aluminum foil. Drizzle the potatoes with another 1/3 of the apricot mixture and bake the potatoes uncovered for 10 minutes. Drizzle the potatoes again with the remaining 1/3 of the apricot mixture and bake uncovered until the sweet potatoes are tender and the glaze has thickened, about 10 minutes more. Transfer the baking dish to a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

The sweetness of the potatoes is enhanced even more by the apricot preserves and orange juice and the ginger adds a nice little bite of spice to the dish. It’s a great tasting dish that goes well not just with your Thanksgiving meal but with any weeknight meal of something like chicken or pork chops.

The second side dish I had made recently is another orange vegetable that is perfect for your Thanksgiving table. It is a very simple mashed butternut squash recipe that I got from Cook’s Country that has a great earthy flavor thanks to the spices it uses in the recipe.

Mashed Butternut Squash

4 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Salt and pepper

4 tablespoons butter

2 apples, peeled and shredded (about 2 cups)

1 onion, chopped fine

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 tablespoons maple syrup

Adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the squash, vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper in a bowl. Spread the squash out evenly on the prepared baking sheet. Roast the squash until it is tender and starting to brown, about 40 to 50 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through the roasting process.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add the apples, onion, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt and cook, covered, until the apples are soft, about 5 minutes. Uncover the pot and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples and onion are golden brown, about 5 to 7 minutes longer. Add the garlic, cumin, coriander, cinnamon and cayenne pepper and cook until the mixture is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat, cover and set the pot aside while the squash finishes roasting.

Add the roasted squash and maple syrup to the Dutch oven with the apple mixture. Mash the mixture with a potato masher until it is mostly smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

The mashed squash has great consistency and flavor and will go well with your turkey and other side dishes if you want to make something a little bit different. The apples really help to add some great depth of flavor to the dish and the maple syrup just gives it a final touch that we all really enjoyed. I actually served this with the slow cooker pepper pork chops I made the other night and the whole meal was fantastic.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for some more recipes. I have lots more ideas for your Thanksgiving side dishes, a good turkey recipe, a wonderful lemon cake I making for Michelle’s birthday, a great burger recipe we tried yesterday, some simple battered shrimp and a whole lot more. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

2 Comments

Posted by MikeG on November 4, 2013 in Cooking, Holidays, Potatoes, Side Dishes, Vegetables

Tags: baked ginger sweet potatoes, Chow.com, Cook's Country, mashed butternut squash, sweet potatoes, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving meal, Thanksgiving side dishes

101 Recipes for July 4th, from Burgers and Steaks to Chicken and Pies: BA Daily: Bon Appétit

01 Jul

101 Recipes for July 4th, from Burgers and Steaks to Chicken and Pies: BA Daily: Bon Appétit.

With Independence Day coming on Thursday, if you are playing to have a party or a cookout of any kind, Bon Appetit has given 101 ideas for recipes that cover everything you could possibly need for a great July 4th event. You are sure to find some great ideas here, so check it out!

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Posted by MikeG on July 1, 2013 in Cooking, Cooking Websites, Grilling, Holidays, Picnic Fare

Tags: 101 recipes for July 4th, bon appetit, july 4th grilling ideas, july 4th party ideas, july 4th picnic ideas

Fine Food for Father’s Day, Part 1 – Strip Steak with Brandied Mushrooms and Sweet Potatoes

17 Jun

Father’s Day dinner is always treat. Michelle and Sean get to do all the cooking and I get to pick out what I would like to have for dinner. I picked something simple this year since it was just the 3 of us. Michelle had picked up some New York strip steaks and we had some other things around the house that could make for a simple yet elegant meal. We thought about using the grill, but the weather was kind of iffy at the time we were eating dinner so we thought on the safe side we would just do it inside. The recipe for the steaks comes from Tyler Florence.

New York Strip Steak with Brandied Mushrooms and Fresh Thyme

4 New York strip steaks, each about 1 1/2 inches thick
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds mushrooms, trimmed, brushed clean with the towel and stemmed
Leaves from 2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup brandy
1/2 cup heavy cream

Remove the steaks from the refrigerator and allow them to come to room temperature. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until smoking. Sprinkle the steaks all over with salt and pepper. Put the steaks in the pan and cook, turning to brown all sides completely, until medium-rare, about 8 to 10 minutes depending on how thick the steaks are. Remove the steaks to a platter with tongs and cover loosely with a tent of aluminum foil to keep the meat warm while you make the sauce.

Put the sauté pan back over medium-high heat and add 1/4 cup olive oil. When the oil is smoking, add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, about 10 minutes, until golden brown. Add the thyme and the garlic, and season well with salt and pepper. Toss a few more times to cook the garlic, then dump the mushrooms out onto a platter. Take the pan off the heat, add the brandy, return the pan to the heat, and cook until almost evaporated. Add the cream and cook that down to 2 to 3 minutes until reduced by about one half and thickened. Return the mushrooms to the pan with whatever juices have collected on the platter and simmer the entire thing another 2 minutes until thickened again. Season with salt and pepper. Slice the steaks thin against the grain. Taste the sauce for salt and pepper and serve.

I loved the mushrooms sauce that came with the steaks. The steaks were cooked perfectly and the sauce added just the right amount of flavor with the mushrooms and the brandy. We did not have to pounds of mushrooms on hand, so we actually ended up about halving the recipe and cut down the amount of olive oil used to about 2 tablespoons and cut the brandy down to about 1/8 of a cup and the heavy cream to about one-fourth.

Besides making some corn on the cob to go with the steaks, we also used a recipe from Bobby Flay of the Food Network for grilled sweet potatoes with lime and cilantro. Even though we didn’t actually grill the potatoes, I think they still came out pretty nicely for indoor cooking. It’s very easy to make this recipe and takes next in no time at all.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Lime and Cilantro

3 sweet potatoes, unpeeled
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 cup canola oil
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

To par-cook the potatoes, place the potatoes in a large pot of water and boil until fork tender, about 8 minutes. Allow the potatoes to cool completely. Slice each potato lengthwise into eighths.

Preheat the grill to medium or place a cast-iron grill pan over medium heat. Mix 1 tablespoon of salt, the lime zest and the cayenne pepper in a small bowl and set aside.

Brush the potato wedges with the oil and season well with salt and pepper. Grill the potatoes until they are golden brown on all sides (including the skin) and just cooked through, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes per side. Transfer the potatoes to a platter and immediately season with the salt mixture and sprinkle with cilantro.

We simply made the potatoes in the cast-iron pan instead of dragging the grill pan out and I think they turned out just as well. Par-cooking them is really necessary here because you want to make sure the potatoes are going to be cooked all the way through when you make them this way. If you just put them in raw, they are not going to be done in one to 2 minutes and will burn. I really liked the mixture of the lime and the salt with the cayenne pepper; it really help to bring out the flavor of the potatoes and I actually used some of the salt on my piece of corn on the cob as well.

That’s all there is for today. Next time I will post the recipe Michelle used to make banana cream pie for dessert for Father’s Day. I can tell you it was pretty darn good and I really enjoyed it. Check back for that one as well as some of the recipes that I have done recently and plan to post on the blog. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on June 17, 2013 in Beef, Cooking, Dinner, Grilling, Holidays, Potatoes, Sauce, Vegetables

Tags: Bobby Flay, brandied mushrooms, food network, grilled sweet potatoes, grilled sweet potatoes with lime and cilantro, new york strip, New York strip steaks, Tyler Florence

An Easy, Healthy Father’s Day Menu | Devour The Blog: Cooking Channel’s Recipe and Food Blog

11 Jun

An Easy, Healthy Father’s Day Menu | Devour The Blog: Cooking Channel’s Recipe and Food Blog.

For healthier alternative on Father’s Day. try this menu from the Cooking Channel. It has some great ideas for using the grill and getting a great meal without all of the fat and calories that may come with some other choices. This menu shows you can still have a very tasty meal and eat healthy too. Check it out!