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Category Archives: One Pot Meals

Who Needs Take Out? Homemade Mu Shu Chicken

As much as we all love Chinese takeout, let’s face it – it can get expensive if you eat it too often and there are times that even when you get food from your favorite takeout place that the meal seems less than inspiring when you eat it. With that in mind, why not try to make some of your favorite meals right at home? Very often they are a lot easier to do than you think and even with all of the ingredients may cost less than what it would cost to get it from a takeout place. When I saw this Guy Fieri recipe for Mu Shu chicken, I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off since it involves making your Chinese pancakes, which are basically like crepes. As intimidating as the thought was, the reality seemed much easier and I wanted to give it a try.

Mu Shu Chicken

1/3 cup hoisin sauce, plus more for serving
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons mirin
1 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons peeled and minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, sliced
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 red pepper, seeded, membrane removed, julienned
1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1/2 medium head green cabbage, finely shredded
1/2 medium head purple cabbage, finely shredded
1/2 cup julienned carrots
1 cup sliced button mushrooms
1/4 cup shaved bamboo shoots, drained
1/4 cup sliced water chestnuts, drained
4 eggs, beaten
2 recipes Chinese Crepes, recipe follows
3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, optional
1 small bunch scallions, finely sliced, optional
Fresh cilantro leaves, for serving, optional
Sriracha, for serving, optional
For the Chinese Crepes:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
2 eggs

For the Mu Shu chicken: Whisk the hoisin, soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil, garlic and ginger in a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add the sliced chicken thighs and toss them to coat them evenly with the marinade. Marinate the chicken, covered, at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes.

Once 5 minutes of marinating time remains, heat a large skillet over high heat and add 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil to heat. Using a slotted spoon, strain the chicken and add it to the very hot skillet. Cook, allowing the chicken to brown, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes. Add the red bell pepper and the onion slices, allowing them to soften, and cook for another minute. Next, add the cabbages and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, until just browning, about 2 minutes. Push the chicken and vegetables to the side of the skillet and stir in the mushrooms, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts. Remove the skillet from the heat and set it aside, keeping the contents warm.

Place a nonstick skillet over medium heat and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add the beaten eggs to the skillet, allowing them to scramble, about 2 to 3 minutes. Once cooked, break up the eggs with a rubber spatula and add them to the chicken. Toss the mixture to combine.

Spread about 1 tablespoon of hoisin sauce on each Chinese Crepes. Top with some mu shu chicken, sesame seeds and scallions. Add the cilantro leaves if desired. Roll up the crepe and serve with Sriracha if desired.

For the Chinese Crepes

:
In a medium glass mixing bowl, whisk the flours, salt, 1 cup of water, the sesame oil and the eggs; the batter should be smooth and free of lumps.

Heat a 8-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Very lightly coat the skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Ladle in 1/4 cup of the batter. Gently rotate the skillet for a few seconds, swirling the batter to create a thin, even layer over the bottom. Cook the pancake until the underside is pale and just firmed up, about 1 minute.

Flip the pancake over and cook for another 30 seconds. Remove it from the skillet and transfer it to a plate and cover with a kitchen towel. Continue with the rest of the batter until all the pancakes have been made. Keep the pancakes warm until ready to serve.

This was a very tasty dish that was easy to make. Granted, there are a lot of ingredients involved and you need to leave yourself some time for some prep work to get everything together and ready to go so you can just cook. This is what you should do for every stir fry dish anyway because the actual cooking time is pretty small, usually smaller than the prep time. The taste of the sauce is fantastic and really adds to the chicken and there are tons of great vegetables in this dish. The crunch from the cabbage and the water chestnuts go great with the carrots and mushrooms and the chicken. As for the crepes, they were not hard to make at all. I only tore one in making them, and it was the first one I made. After that, I got the hang of it and make sure you let it cook the full minute before you try to flip it to make sure it flips nicely. Guy actually adds some sliced scallions to his crepes while they cook but I left them out this time since I was just trying to get them cooked successfully. I think they came out well and everyone seemed to enjoy them. I would definitely try making this one again.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another great recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on February 26, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Poultry, Vegetables

Tags: Chinese crepes, Guy Fieri, Guy Fieri mu shu chicken, mu shu chicken, mu shu chicken stir fry

Martha My Dear – Martha Stewart’s Braised Chicken Thighs with Winter Vegetables

21 Feb

When I was looking for something to do recently with some of the chicken thighs that I had purchased, I was searching around for a new recipe and I came across this one from Martha Stewart. I don’t use a lot of her recipes very often but this one fit in perfectly with what I wanted to make and actually made use of the exact ingredients I wanted to use. I had some cabbage on hand along with some apples and I wanted to try to find a way to incorporate it all into my meal. This recipe, for braised chicken thighs with winter vegetables, is the perfect one pot meal to get everything done in one pan for easy clean up while still having great flavor.

Braised Chicken Thighs with Winter Vegetables

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

4 skinless chicken thighs (about 2 pounds), patted dry

Salt and ground black pepper

3 slices bacon, diced medium

4 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled

1 onion, cut into 3/4-inch wedges

1 russet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

4 carrots, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/4 small green cabbage, cored and thick ribs removed, cut into 1/2-inch strips

1 apple, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 cups chicken broth

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large ovenproof pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and cook until they are browned on both sides, about 8 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate. Reduce the heat to medium and add the bacon and garlic. Cook until the bacon fat is rendered, about 5 minutes. Add the onion, potato and carrots and season the vegetables with salt and pepper. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and stir in the cabbage, apple, red pepper flakes, chicken broth and Dijon mustard. Add the chicken thighs, nestling them into the vegetables and return the pan to the oven. Bake the chicken and vegetables until the chicken is cooked through and an instant-read thermometer inserted into one of the chicken thighs registers 165 degrees, about 20 to 25 minutes. Stir the vegetables halfway through the cooking time to ensure they cook evenly.

The great thing about this meal, besides that it is all in one dish, is the great flavors that all work together in this one. You get a touch of smokiness from the bacon to go along with the great flavors from all of the vegetables, especially the cabbage. The apple also adds a nice tartness to the meal as well and you get just a hint of heat from the red pepper flakes. Best of all is you do not have to make any other side dishes to go along with the meal and you only have one pan to clean when everything is done. I don’t make enough use of cabbage and it is one of favorite vegetables so I hope to be using more of it in more recipes. In fact I just bought a red cabbage and a green cabbage today and have a plan to try a Mu Shu Chicken meal this weekend, so we’ll see how it goes. Anyway, this one was certainly a winner and you could just as easily do this with chicken drumsticks or breasts if you wanted to, though if you use bone-in breasts you may need to alter your cooking time slightly.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. There’s still lots of good stuff to come. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on February 21, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Poultry, Vegetables

Tags: braised chicken thighs, braised chicken thighs with winter vegetables, cabbage, chicken thighs, Martha Stewart, one pot meals, winter vegetables

A Quick Week Night Meal – Stir-Fried Beef with Onions and Ginger

13 Feb

As I have written about before, I make a lot of stir fry dinners. They are a great way to do an easy weeknight meal in a flash and you can use just about any ingredients you happen to have on hand to make a good combination for a meal. All you need after that is some rice and you can have your dinner on the table in under 30 minutes if you time everything right. You can even make things easier for yourself if you want and keep a bag of frozen sir fry vegetables around just for such an occasion. For this recipe, which I got from Mark Bittman, I used a company of some fresh with some frozen even though his original recipe doesn’t really call for any vegetables at all. it is a quick beef stir fry with onions and ginger that you can make yourself and will taste better than any takeout that you can get that will cost you even more. I did alter his original recipe by marinating the beef for a bit first. I was using a London broil and wanted to break it down some and impart some flavor, so that is what I did. You can always just use the beef on its own if you prefer and ignore my marinating instructions.

Stir-Fried Beef with Onions and Ginger

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons lemon juice

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup red wine

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon honey

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 to 2 1/2 pounds top round London broil or flank steak

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large or 3 medium onions, thinly sliced
2 cups fresh or frozen vegetables, cut to bite size

1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon minced or grated fresh ginger
1/2 cup beef or chicken stock or water
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce or soy sauce

To marinade the beef, mix together all of the ingredients except for the meat. Place the meat in a shallow dish and cover it with the marinade. Cover the meat with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours but no more than 24 hours.

Remove the meat from the refrigerator and bring it to room temperature before cooking.

Slice the beef as thinly as you can, across the grain. It’s easier if you freeze it for 15 to 30 minutes first. Cut the slices into bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside.
Heat a large skillet over high heat until it smokes, 3 to 4 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and the onions. Stir immediately, then stir every 30 seconds or so until the onions soften and begin to char slightly, 4 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle the onions with salt and pepper, then remove them; keep the heat high.

Add 1/2 tablespoon of oil to the pan and then add the vegetables. Cook, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are heated through and crisp-tender, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the vegetables from the pan and set them aside.
Add the remaining oil to the pan, then the garlic and 1 tablespoon of the ginger; stir and immediately add the beef. Stir immediately, then stir every 20 seconds or so until it loses its color, just a minute or two longer; stir in the onions and the vegetables. Add the stock, hoisin, and remaining teaspoon of ginger; let some of the liquid bubble away and serve immediately, over rice.

The nice thing about this recipe is that you can make it all very quickly and it tastes fantastic. if you don’t want to use beef, you can just as easily use pork, chicken or shrimp or even just make all vegetables if that is what you prefer. You will still get great flavor from the sauce to help things along. I make about one stir fry a week because it is so easy and very often just use whatever leftover protein I have along with some leftover vegetables and put together a sauce of whatever I feel like having that night.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for some more recipes. If you are in the middle of this blizzard like we are, stay warm and safe. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on February 13, 2014 in Beef, Cooking, Dinner, One Pot Meals

Tags: beef stir fry, mark bittman, stir fried beef, stir fry recipes, stir-fried beef with onions and ginger

Keeping it Basic with Baked Ziti

07 Feb

Although I myself am not a pasta eater, Michelle and Sean both love pasta so we do have it around the house and often make some favorite classic pasta dishes. Two of their favorites of course are lasagna and baked ziti. For me, I would rather have a sausage and peppers hero any night of the week than have baked ziti, but far be it from me to begrudge them something that they both really love. I am sure just like with lasagna, everyone has their own tried and true family recipe when it comes to making baked ziti and when we make it here, we pretty much just stick to the basics.

Baked Ziti

1 pound ziti pasta

Salt and pepper

1 pound ricotta cheese

11/2 cups Parmesan cheese, grated

2 tablespoons olive oil

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 (28-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (14,5-ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1 teaspoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon cornstarch

1 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 cups (8 ounces) mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Add the ziti and 1 tablespoon of salt and cook, stirring often, until the pasta begins to soften but is not yet cooked all the way through, about 5 to 7 minutes. Drain the pasta and leave it in the colander.

Meanwhile, whisk the ricotta cheese and the Parmesan cheese together in a medium bowl and set it aside. Heat the olive oil and the minced garlic in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until the garlic turns golden but not brown, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and oregano and bring the mixture to a simmer and then cook until it is thickened, about 10 minutes. Off the heat, stir in 1/2 cup of the chopped basil and the sugar and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Stir the cornstarch and heavy cream together in a small bowl and transfer it to the now-empty large pot you used for the pasta and set it over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook until it is thickened, about 3 to 4 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the ricotta cheese mixture, 1 cup of the tomato sauce and 3/4 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Add the pasta to this sauce and toss to combine it all well.

Transfer the pasta to a 13 x 9 inch baking dish and spread the remaining tomato sauce evenly over the top. Sprinkle the top with the remaining 3/4 cup of mozzarella cheese and the remaining 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil that has been sprayed with a nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and continue to bake until the cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes longer. Cool the baked ziti for about 15 minutes, then sprinkle with the remaining chopped basil before serving.

Sometimes Michelle does put meat in the ziti and when she does she uses about a half pound of ground beef that has been sautéed until it is browned with the garlic and the tomato sauce mixture and then mixes it in. Baked ziti is a great dish to make when you are having a party or serving a buffet style meal because it goes a long way and everyone likes it. It is also something you can easily put together and take to a pot luck dinner or a party. Of course, you can easily just serve it at home as well for dinner with a nice side salad and maybe some garlic bread.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. I have made some good things recently to try out so there’s always plenty more to come. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on February 7, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Pasta, Vegetarian

Tags: baked ziti, baked ziti recipe, one pot meal

When it’s This Cold, Part 2 – This Time It’s Soup – Alton Brown’s Lentil Soup

25 Jan

It is still freezing cold here in New York and today it is snowing again. It seemed even colder yesterday and the day before that. It would be nice if we got a little bit of a break in the weather and I cannot wait for winter to be over already. For now, we’ll just have to deal with it and that means more warm and hearty meals. Yesterday it was the bean stew recipe, today it is a recipe for lentil soup. Again, I was going for soup recipes that were quick and easy and didn’t need all day to cook or prepare. I found this one from Alton Brown for a simple lentil soup and I wanted to give it a try.

Alton Brown’s Lentil Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup finely chopped carrot

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 pound lentils, picked and rinsed

1 cup peeled and chopped tomatoes

2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground grains of paradise

Place the olive oil into a large Dutch oven and set it over medium heat. Once the pot is hot, add the onion, carrot, celery and kosher salt and sweat the vegetables until the onions are translucent, about 6 to 7 minutes. Add the lentils, chopped tomatoes, chicken or vegetable broth, coriander, cumin and grains of paradise and stir the mixture until it is well combined. Increase the heat to high and bring the mixture just to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot and cook the soup at a low simmer until the lentils are tender, about 35 to 40 minutes. Using a stick blender, puree the soup to your preferred consistency and serve.

Just a few points about this recipe. First, you are probably wondering what the heck grains of paradise is. I love Alton Brown, but he can make use of some unusual and really hard to find ingredients sometimes. Grains of paradise is a spice from West Africa that is very much like a mix of pepper, cardamom and coriander. For the amount needed for this recipe, I couldn’t see myself going out and buying it since it can be quite expensive and the odds are pretty good I would not be able to find it locally anyway. Instead, I looked around on the Internet and saw that as a substitute many people use freshly ground black pepper or cardamom. I decided to go with the black pepper myself and just used that. Also, this time of year the tomatoes in this area are not very good, so I simply substituted a cup of canned diced tomatoes instead and I think they worked out just fine anyway. You also want to make sure that you pick over your lentils before you use them. Most of the time there is no issue at all, but rinsing and picking over them just to check for pebbles and such is always a good idea when you are using dried beans like this. Nothing spoils a meal faster than getting a rock in your soup. As for the soup itself, I love lentil soup and this one had a nice flavor from the coriander and the cumin. It was very filling and hit the spot and took no time at all to make. I made some cream biscuits to go along with the meal and we were all good to go with leftovers for another day.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. until then, enjoy the rest of your day, keep staying warm, and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on January 25, 2014 in Biscuits, Cooking, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Soups & Stews, Vegetarian

Tags: Alton Brown, Alton Brown's lentil soup, grains of paradise, lentil soup, lentils, soup recipes

When It’s This Cold, It Has to Be Soup or Stew. This Time It’s Stew…

24 Jan

Yikes it has been crazy cold here the last few days. I get up and start working at about 5:30 AM and for the last few days it has been zero or less outside when I get up. it has been so cold I have been using fingerless gloves while I type in the morning just to keep my hands warm! Anyway, when the weather is this cold all you want to eat is something warm and hearty, and for us that means soup or stew. I found this recipe from Giada De Laurentiis of the Food Network about a week ago and it seemed perfect to make when it was this frosty outside. it is for a cannellini and sausage stew. The recipe is easy, it uses easy ingredients and you can have the whole thing done in about 35 or 40 minutes, so you can’t ask for a meal much better than that!

Cannellini and Sausage Stew

Vegetable oil cooking spray

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 medium fennel bulbs, outer layers removed, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

One 28-ounce can diced tomatoes

One 15-ounce can cannellini beans

One 10-ounce bunch kale, center rib removed, leaves chopped into 1/2-inch pieces

1 cup chicken broth

4 turkey or chicken Italian sausage links

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a grill pan with the vegetable oil cooking spray.

In a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the fennel bulbs, onion and 1 teaspoon of the kosher salt. Cook, stirring constantly, until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes plus the juices, the cannellini beans, the kale and the chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a boil and then cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid and transfer the pot to the oven. Cook the stew until the vegetables are tender and the kale has wilted, about 25 to 30 minutes.

While the stew is cooking, place the grill pan over medium-high heat. Add the sausages to the grill pan and cook, turning occasionally, until the sausages are cooked through, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool the sausages and cut them into 1/2-inch thick slices and set them aside,

Remove the pot from the oven and add the cooked sausage slices to the stew. Season the stew with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt. Spoon the stew into bowls and serve.

I did make a few minor changes to the recipe. Instead of using kale, I had spinach on hand and used that instead. I actually prefer the flavor of spinach to the kale and I think it worked just as well in the stew, so the choice is yours as to which you like better. Giada also puts in 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, which I left out. My family is not too big on the heat so I didn’t see the need to put the flakes in, but if you like the stew a little hot (and I think it would be good with some heat) I think you could put it in or even use hot sausage instead of regular sausage. I loved the flavor you got from the mix of the beans, sausage and spinach and the tomatoes and broth added just enough liquid to the mix. The fennel gave the whole dish a great flavor too. I will definitely be making this one again.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. I actually have a soup recipe I am making tonight that I’ll be happy to share. It’s Alton Brown’s take on lentil soup and it smells pretty darn good right now. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day, try to stay warm and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on January 24, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Sausage, Soups & Stews

Tags: bean and sausage stew, cannellini bean and sausage stew, cannellini beans, food network, giada de laurentiis, sausage, sausage stew

Another Soup (Sans Picture) – French Onion Soup

20 Jan

It really bothers me now when I make something and forget to take a picture of it. It doesn’t happen nearly as often as it did when I first started the blog, but it still happens on occasion. It’s easy when you caught up in cooking and trying to get the meal on the table and you’re talking about homework, what happened at school, work or anything else going on and sometimes by the time I remember there is nothing left to take a picture of. Such is the case when I made French onion soup not that long ago. French onion soup is a personal favorite of Michelle’s and there are lots of recipes out there for it, but this one from America’s Test Kitchen is our personal favorite. It takes longer to cook, but it is so worth it to get the deep, rich onion flavor that you get from cooking the onions this way.

French Onion Soup

3 tablespoons butter, cut into 3 pieces
6 large yellow onions (about 4 pounds), halved and cut pole to pole into 1/4-inch-thick slices
Table salt
2 cups water, plus extra for deglazing
1/2 cup dry sherry
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups beef broth
6 sprigs fresh thyme, tied with kitchen twine
1 bay leaf
Ground black pepper
1 small baguette, cut into 1/2-inch slices
8 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese (about 2 1/2 cups)

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees. Generously spray the inside of a heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray. Place the butter in the pot and add the onions and 1 teaspoon of salt. Cook, covered, for 1 hour (the onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume). Remove the pot from the oven and stir the onions, scraping the bottom and sides of the pot. Return the pot to the oven with the lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until the onions are very soft and golden brown, about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours longer, stirring the onions and scraping the bottom and sides of the pot after 1 hour.

Carefully remove the pot from the oven and place it over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle the pot, cook the onions, stirring frequently and scraping the bottom and the sides of pot, until the liquid evaporates and the onions brown, about 15 to 20 minutes, reducing the heat to medium if the onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the pot bottom is coated with dark crust, about 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary. Scrape any fond that collects on the spoon back into the onions. Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping the pot bottom to loosen the crust, and cook until the water evaporates and the pot bottom has formed another dark crust, about 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat the process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until the onions are very dark brown. Stir in the sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until the sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the chicken and beef broths, 2 cups of water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on the bottom and sides of the pot. Increase the heat to high and bring the mixture to simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove and discard the herbs, then season with salt and pepper.

While the soup simmers, arrange the baguette slices in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake in a 400-degree oven until the bread is dry, crisp, and golden at the edges, about 10 minutes. Set the bread aside.

To serve, adjust an oven rack 6 inches from the broiler element and heat the broiler. Set individual broiler-safe crocks on a baking sheet and fill each with about 1 3/4 cups of soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with the Gruyère cheese. Broil the soup until the cheese is melted and bubbly around the edges, about 3 to 5 minutes. Let the soup cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Admittedly, making the onions this way is a much longer process than some other recipes but I think the flavor you get out of them is worth it. I have had French onion soup before where you can tell the onions were not cooked long enough and taste bitter. That won’t happen with this recipe. You want to make sure that the crocks you use are safe for the broiler to avoid any broken glass in the oven. You could also do all of this in advance if you want to use the soup for a dinner party. The soup will actually have better flavor if it sits for a day or two. You then just need to put it in the crocks under the broiler with the bread and cheese to finish it off. I used homemade broth in mine because I had some around, but if you want to use store-bought it will work just as well here. The flavor for this one is coming mostly from the onions.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe, and I promise to have a picture of it for sure. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

3 Comments

Posted by MikeG on January 20, 2014 in Appetizers, Cooking, Dinner, Holidays, One Pot Meals, Soups & Stews, Vegetables

Tags: America's Test Kitchen French onion soup, americas test kitchen, french onion soup, French onion soup recipe, Gruyère cheese

Leftover to Warm Your Heart (and Stomach) – Turkey Rice Soup

19 Jan

The weather keeps fluctuating around here from unseasonably warm to bitter cold and then back again. It’s amazing that we haven’t all come down with lots of colds yet this winter and the weather really does seem to affect the way I want to cook. On a nice day you feel like having something like ribs or burgers or some chicken and then on the cold days we want soups and stews. Luckily, I try to cook larger meals with the intent that we will get many meals out of the leftovers. Such is the case when I made some turkey recently and then made stock with the leftover carcass and we used the leftover meat to make some nice turkey rice soup. The rice adds a nice heartiness to the dish and you can use all your leftovers or frozen vegetables to help flavor the soup and make the cooking even easier than ever.

Turkey Rice Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, white and light green parts halved lengthwise, sliced thin crosswise
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 pound cooked turkey meat, white and dark meat, chopped
6 cups turkey or chicken broth
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
2 carrots, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and sliced ¼ inch thick
1/2 cup white rice
Salt and pepper
1 cup frozen peas
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the onion leeks carrots and celery and cook until just beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the turkey meat and heat the meat through until it is beginning to brown, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the contents from the Dutch oven to a separate bowl and set it aside.

Wipe out the now-empty Dutch oven with paper towels and heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the white rice and cook, stirring frequently, until the edges of the rice become translucent, about 2 minutes.Add the turkey mixture back to the Dutch oven and heat through for about 1 minute. Add the turkey or chicken broth and 1 teaspoon of salt and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low add the thyme and bay leaves and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until the rice is tender, about 12 to 14 minutes. Stir in the frozen peas and cook until they are heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

You can just as easily do this with leftover chicken instead of turkey or even with a rotisserie chicken that you can pick up at the store to save you some effort. The great thing about using a rotisserie chicken is that you can then use that carcass to make your own stock and get the great flavor from that. It doesn’t even have to cook all day; you really only need to add some onion, celery and carrot with the carcass and a bay leaf and let it cook for about 30 minutes and you can have flavorful stock. Other leftover veggies will work in this soup as well if you want and I added some leftover green beans we had. Sauteing the rice briefly does make a difference here as it helps to keep the rice firm by firming the starches before you add the liquid so the rice will not bloat. it makes for a great quick dinner you can do any night of the week and get good flavor from your leftovers.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another new recipe. There’s still lots of good stuff to come, including a lamb recipe, a quick turkey breast recipe, baked ziti, a couple of different wings to try, skillet pizza and more. until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

2 Comments

Posted by MikeG on January 19, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, Leftovers, One Pot Meals, Poultry, Soups & Stews, Turkey

Tags: leftovers, one pot meals, turkey meat, turkey rice soup, using leftovers for turkey rice soup

Bend Over Backwards for Some Brussels Sprout Pizza

16 Jan

Admittedly, this seems like an out of the ordinary pizza, and I guess it is, but once you try it you will see just how delicious it can be. Making your own pizza at home is a pretty easy thing to do and costs a lot less than going to your local pizza place or getting delivery pizza, and you get to control the ingredients that go into it. You can make your own pizza dough, as I do often, or you can buy pre-made dough at most grocery stores and it is pretty inexpensive. This recipe is from Bon Appetit and is perfect for those who want a vegetarian pizza or those who like a pizza without any tomato sauce.

Brussels Sprouts Pizza

2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for brushing and drizzling

1 large onion, thinly sliced

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed, leaves removed

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

All-purpose flour, for dusting

1 store-bought pizza dough or Food Processor Pizza Dough

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion has softened and turned golden, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the Brussels sprouts, chopped garlic, and crushed red pepper flakes and cook until the Brussels sprouts are wilted, about 5 minutes. Season the mixture with salt and pepper, remove the skillet from the heat and set it aside.

Lightly flour a rimmed baking sheet and stretch the pizza dough to the edges of the baking sheet. Lightly brush the dough with some olive oil and season the dough with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Top the dough with 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese, then the Brussels sprouts mixture followed by the remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese.

Bake the pizza until the dough is crisp and the cheese is melted, about 8 to 12 minutes. Allow the pizza to cool for 5 minutes before cutting. Serve the pizza drizzled with some more olive oil.

I think this pizza had great flavor to it. The Brussels sprouts and onions went together perfectly and the red pepper flakes just gave the whole pizza a hint of heat. You could always leave the crushed red pepper flakes out of the dish completely if you did not want any heat to it. I personally enjoyed it, but Michelle and Sean both said they would just as soon leave it out. I also made a plain cheese pizza to go along with this one and I am glad I did since there was none left of this particular pie. I was surprised Sean liked it so much since Brussels sprouts aren’t always high on everyone’s list, let alone a 13-year old, but he really liked it. I’ll definitely have to keep this one on hand because it is great to make if you need a vegetarian meal or just a pizza with no sauce.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

4 Comments

Posted by MikeG on January 16, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Pizza, Vegetarian

Tags: bon appetit, Brussels sprouts, Brussels sprouts pizza, food processor pizza dough, homemade pizza dough, pizza dough, vegetarian pizza

Stick to Your Ribs Beef and Barley Soup

15 Jan

This may be my absolute favorite soup. Beef and barley soup offers up everything I like about a soup. Rich, hearty stock, flavor meat and vegetables and the barley just seems to pull it all together to make a fantastic meal overall. We made a batch of this soup a week or so ago and froze leftovers just so we could have it again another time. I actually made my own beef stock to make this one using the prime rib bones I had from the holidays so the stock had even better flavor and I didn’t need to follow the stock recipe that is included in this recipe from America’s Test Kitchen. If you don’t have your own beef stock, try making this one because it will help add a good depth of flavor to the stock beyond what you get from any store-bought stock.

Beef and Barley Soup

For the Stock:

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

1 pound white mushrooms, trimmed and quartered

1 large onion, chopped

1 pound 85 percent lean ground beef

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 cup dry red wine

8 cups water

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped

1 large celery rib, chopped

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons salt

2 bay leaves

For the Soup:

1 pound sirloin steak tips, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, trimmed and sliced 1/2-inch thick

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup dry red wine

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

1/2 cup pearl barley

3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 celery ribs, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

To prepare the stock, heat 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add the mushrooms and the chopped onion. Cook, stirring often, until the onion is browned and a golden brown fond has formed on the bottom of the pot, about 8 to 12 minutes. Stir in the ground beef and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon until the meat is no longer pink, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook until it is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the red wine, scraping up any browned bits, and cook until it is nearly evaporated, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the 8 cups of water, the chopped carrot, celery, soy sauce, salt and bay leaves and bring the mixture to a boil. Cover and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook, skimming as needed, until the stock tastes rich and flavorful, about 1 1/2 hours. Strain the stock through a fine mesh strainer and discard the solids. Allow the stock to settle for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the fat from the stock by skimming with a wide, shallow spoon or using a fat separator. Set the stock aside.

To prepare the soup, pat the sirloin steak tips dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add half of the meat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is well browned, about 5 to 7 minutes, reducing the heat if the pot is beginning to scorch. transfer the browned meat to a medium bowl and repeat the process with 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil and the remaining beef. transfer the second batch of browned meat to the bowl. Add 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil to the now-empty Dutch oven and heat over medium heat until it is shimmering. Add the cremini mushrooms and the chopped onion and cook until they are softened, about 7 to 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic clove and the thyme and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the all-purpose flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in the red wine, scraping up any browned bits and cook until the wine is nearly evaporated, about 1 minute.

Stir in the reserved beef stock, the drained diced tomatoes, carrots, celery, pearl barley, bay leaves and the meat along with any accumulated meat juices in the bowl. Bring the mixture to a boil then cover, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook until the meat, barley and vegetables are tender, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Off the heat, remove the bay leaves. Stir in the fresh minced parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste before serving.

A couple of quick notes about the recipe. If you don’t want to cook with the red wine, leave it out or substitute water or extra beef stock. You might lose a bit of flavor but not that much. I used plain white mushrooms instead of cremini because I can’t always get cremini around here. even if you don’t really like mushrooms, they really do add some great flavor to this soup so you should try to keep them in. Michelle doesn’t like to eat mushrooms, but we still use them for the flavor and she eats around them. You also want to make sure you cut everything to uniform sizes so it all cooks evenly. One thing to know about any leftovers or if you are cooking this ahead of time – barley will keep absorbing liquid as it sits, so be prepared for that. It’s best to eat this the same day you make it or know you will have to add stock when you re-heat and the barley will be a bit bloated. Other than that, this is a great filling soup that everyone seems to enjoy and it is one of my favorites every time.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then,enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!