Brussels Sprout Gratin

Nothing like oven roasting Brussels sprouts to fill the house with a rich food aroma.  I needed to come up with a recipe that would feed 25 as a side dish, and survive a 1 hour trip down the freeway.  I decided to make a gratin out of roasted Brussels sprouts and cover them with a Béchamel sauce, since sauce will cover a multitude of sins.

I have adjusted quantities by 1/4th, so the following should be plenty to serve 6 –8 as a side dish.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs Brussels sprouts, washed, trimmed, outer leaves removed and cut in half.
• 1 medium sized onion roughly cut into 3/4” pieces
• 4 pieces of thick cut bacon, cut into 1/2” strips
• 1 TBs butter
• 1 TBs flour
• 1 cup of milk
• Heavy cream
• Salt and pepper
• Dried Thyme
• Cayenne pepper
• Truffle oil (optional)
• Grated parmesan
• Panko bread crumbs                                       
• Olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar

Spread out halved sprouts on a foil covered baking sheet with the cut sides up.   Whisk together a 1/4 cup olive oil and 1 TBs balsamic vinegar and drizzle over sprouts.  Salt and pepper and sprinkle by hand with a little thyme (go easy on the thyme).  Add cut onions to the pan.  Drizzle with some more oil and vinegar.

Roast in a preheated 400 degree oven on the center rack for about 40 minutes turning every 10- -15 minutes until caramelized but not burned.

Meanwhile, in a heavy bottom dutch oven, fry bacon strips in a little oil until slightly crispy.  Remove to a plate with paper towels.  Wipe out excess oil from dutch oven.

Start the béchamel sauce before the sprouts go in the oven since it takes about an hour to complete.  Using two heavy bottom sauce pans, make a roux from the butter and flour and cook gently for about 10 minutes.  Make sure it doesn’t brown.  While the roux is cooking, heat the milk in the other sauce pan until steaming.  Pour the milk into the hot roux and whisk briskly until smooth.  Simmer the sauce on low , skim and stir frequently to keep it from scalding.  Stir in a couple ounces of cream at the very end to finish and simmer for another 5 minutes or so.  Adding a couple drops of truffle oil at a time and a pinch of cayenne, season to taste.

Remove sprout and onion mixture from the oven. Spread bacon pieces over the pan and sprinkle liberally with grated parmesan cheese.  Spoon gently into the dutch oven, pour the sauce over.  Sprinkle the top with a combination of Panko and parmesan.  Bake uncovered in a 350 degree oven until bubbling and topping is slightly browned.

Roux ready for the hot milk

8 lbs of sprouts and onions starting to roast

Finished sprouts, onions, bacon, parmesan (melted now) before adding sauce and topping

Shepherd’s Pie

I’ll start off with a disclaimer.  My goal was to end up with a dish that tasted like beef pot pie (of the genre of my chicken pot pie), but was topped with mashed potatoes instead of pastry.  It didn’t turn out that way, but it was critically acclaimed by the eaters and I continue to make it again and again.

Note that this is pot and pan intensive. I usually try to limit dirty dishes to as minimalist as possible, but there really isn’t a decent way to cut corners on this dish. All I can say is, it’s worth it.

Serves 6+

Takes close to 2 hours from clean counter start to getting it in the oven if cooking at a “measured pace”.  So allow ~3 hours after baking and resting until eating.

[Updated 12/2023 and 3/2024]

Ingredients:

• 1+ lbs ground lamb (my preference) <OR> about 1.5 lbs of lamb or beef stew meat trimmed well and 3/4” cubed
• 1 qt beef broth
• 2 celery stalks chopped
• 1 medium onion roughly chopped
• 2 carrots cut into 1/2” pieces
• 3/4 cup of green beans cut into 1” pieces (frozen peas could be substituted)
• 1/2 medium parsnip cut into 1/2” pieces
• 1/3 rutabega cut up into 1/2” pieces
• 3 large russet potatoes
• ~ 6 cremini mushrooms chopped
• 5-6 cloves of garlic - 3 chopped for vegetable mix and 2 for mashed potatoes
• salt and pepper
• thyme
• curry
• cayenne pepper
• butter
• milk
• flour
• corn starch
• olive or avacado oil
• Panko
• grated parmesan

In a heavy bottom dutch oven like a le creuset, brown cubed meat salt and peppered in batches in light oil .  Keep heat high enough not to stew but not high enough to burn fond.  <OR> if using ground meat, don’t brown, just cook and fully render fat. Remove meat to a plate or bowl with paper towels to absorb grease.

Remove excess grease from pot, and sauté onions and celery.  Add garlic at end for about 30 seconds.

Add back meat and any juices, add other vegetables (except for potatoes).  Add enough broth to just cover.  Add seasonings to taste *.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and simmer uncovered for about 1 hour or until vegetables are soft.  (* I don’t usually measure seasonings since they are so variable to the underlying food and to individual taste.  I’ll add what feels like maybe 75% of what will be needed, then taste several times as it cooks, adding more if necessary.)

Meanwhile, peel potatoes and cut for boiling.  Boil with a couple cloves of garlic, and mash* and reserve in covered pot to stay warm.  (A normal mash, with butter and salt and pepper and milk to taste, etc.)

Prepare a roux of flour and butter, about 3 TBs each when meat and vegetables are done simmering.  Strain broth into a sauce pan and bring to a simmer.  Reserve beef and vegetable mixture in baking dish or Dutch oven and keep warm in oven.  Separately whisk together 1TBs cornstarch and 1/4 cup of milk.

Pour hot broth slowly into roux and whisk into a gravy.  Be judicious as to how much of the broth you use, you may not need all of it.  Simmer to thicken about 10 minutes while stirring.  Add cornstarch mixture slowly while whisking until consistency is pretty thick. (Note I use both thickening techniques to get it as thick as needed so the end result is not soupy.)

Preheat oven to 325.  Pour gravy over beef and vegetable mix in a baking pan.  Add mashed potatoes to top in a thick layer.  Sprinkle some Panko and then some grated Parmesan over the top and some fresh ground pepper.  Cook in oven until bubbling and Panko is lightly browned - about 30 minutes (turn on broiler last couple minutes to brown if needed)

Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes then serve.

 

 

Chicken with Red Wine and Rice

Kind of boring title, but that is where I started with this recipe.  I wanted to make something similar to chicken marsala but different.  I bought some chicken thighs at the store this week and needed to use them before Thanksgiving.  So I synthesized a couple recipes into what follows. Served it with steamed broccoli.  No pictures, since I didn’t anticipate blogging it, but I needed to remember what I did since it was so good.

Ingredients:

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs  (The local QFC was very low on chicken, all the refer case space being taken up by various forms of Turkey and ham for the holiday.  So I actually deboned and skinned some regular thighs.  Added 20 minutes to the deal.)
• Basmati rice (about 1 cup dry would work well for 3-4 servings)
• 1 whole regular onion thinly sliced
• about 1/3 bottle decent red wine  (Gascon Malbec was wine of choice tonight)
• 1 Qt chicken broth
• Thyme (about 1/2 + tsp)
• Salt and pepper
• Minced garlic (about 2 cloves worth)
• Olive oil

Brown chicken in a heavy bottom dutch oven over medium to medium high heat in olive oil in batches.  Remove to a plate.

Sauté onions on medium to medium low heat in same pot.  When soft and slightly browned (about 10 minutes), add garlic and sauté for another one to two minutes.  Add chicken on top of onions and garlic and any juices from the plate.  Add red wine and bring to low simmer, add enough chicken stock to just barely cover the chicken.  Cover and simmer for about 30 – 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, prep rice and any side dishes so they will finish about 5-10 minutes after chicken is done.  I used basmati rice cooked with chicken broth.

When chicken is done, and about 10 minutes before side dishes are done, remove chicken and most of the onions to a platter with a slotted spoon, cover with foil and keep warm in a 175 degree preheated oven.

With lid removed, simmer liquid in pot to reduce to about 1/2 original.

Serve on warm plates by putting chicken and onions on bed of rice with reduced liquid on top.

Turned out so good that Jeannine, Nicole and I devoured all six chicken thighs with no leftovers.

Pork Tenderloin “make it up as you go” Clay Pot

Have done pork tenderloin in a clay pot several times, but this time was the most successful by far in the taste department.  Just kind of made it up as I went.  Clay Pot cooking for the uninitiated uses a 2 part clay pot that you soak in water, put the food in, place in a cold even and then cook so that the food steams and cooks.   While the clay pot produces wonderfully tender food, this recipe could be done in a Le Creuset or other dutch oven.  Serves 2-4 depending upon size.  Prep time 30 minutes, cook time 60 minutes.  If using a clay pot, soak per manufacturers instructions first.

Ingredients:

• One large or two small pork tenderloins cut into halves and trimmed of silverskin and other “goobers”.
• 4-5 red potatoes sliced thinly
• 1 large or 2 medium onions sliced thinly
• 2 tart (like granny smith) apples peeled and sliced
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• thyme
• parsley flakes or fresh italian parsley

Sauté onion in olive oil until translucent and soft in a heavy bottom pot.  If not using a clay pot, use the dutch oven you are going to finish in.  Remove onion to a plate or dish.
Turn up heat and brown pieces of salt and peppered pork tenderloin.  Only do one or two pieces at a time to prevent them from stewing.  Remove to a plate or dish.  (these should be browned but not cooked, use high enough heat to brown well, but not burn.)

In clay pot (or dutch oven) assemble as follows:

• about half the onions on the bottom of the pot
• about 1/3 the apple slices
• pork with a sprinkling of thyme and parsley
• the rest of the onions
• then layer apples, potatoes, salt and pepper, thyme, parsley and repeat
• carefully pour in chicken broth on the side to keep from washing away seasoning and add the apple cider vinegar

Cook at 425 for 50 – 60 minutes until done.  (Note:  clay pots go in a cold oven.)

Clay pot out of the oven after cooking with lid removed.  Pork, onions and apples are buried underneath the potatoes.


Plated food.  Steamed broccoli was accompaniment:

Indiana Jones and the Grains of Paradise

Well it could have been a movie…
I wanted to make a lentil soup, so I checked out one of my favorite sources for reliable recipes, Alton Brown of the Food Network.  He had what looked like a great basic recipe that had good reviews here.  It had an interesting ingredient however: grains of paradise.  After doing quite a bit of online research to see where I could find this mysterious and exotic sounding spice locally (vs. going to Pike Place Market Spice Merchants), I found it at the Sea Salt Superstore in Lynnwood which has lots of specialty salts, peppers and spices.
Long story short, the soup was wonderful and easy to make.  The GOP’s, frankly were a non-event.  Since the minimum quantity I ordered far exceeded what the recipe called for, I kept adding and adding to see if I could actually taste the spice.  Pretty much like mild pepper if you ask me though freshly ground it has a very interesting and intriguing aroma.  Good thing is, you don’t need it for this recipe. Variations could include curry for sure.

• 2 TBs olive oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
• 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 lb lentils picked and rinsed ( I used multi-colored to add interest)
• 1 cup peeled and chopped tomatoes (I used canned)
• 2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground coriander (I used the pre-ground spice)
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground toasted cumin (I used the pre-ground spice and didn’t toast it)
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground grains of paradise (see notes above)

Sweat onions, carrots, celery in the olive oil with the salt in heavy bottom stock pot until translucent and soft.   Add lentils, tomatoes, broth, spices and stir to combine.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cover until lentils are tender, around 30-40 minutes.  Using a stick blender, puree to your preferred consistency.  Serve immediately.
[Made this tonight sans the tomatoes (since I had none), using 1/2 the broth and lentil ratio to full quantities of veggies.  Added some red pepper to the finely chopped veggies at the beginning and used the following spice ratio:  1/4 tsp each of coriander, cumin, curry.  Was quite good ]

Updated Go To Lentil Soup March 2020

• Avocado oil 
• 1lb ground mild italian sausage - either bulk or remove casings.  Can use chicken sausage too
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
• 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• salt to taste
• 1 cup+ lentils picked and rinsed - current fav is small green lentils from PCC bulk food section
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes
• 2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
• Cumin to taste (~ 2 TSP)
• Curry powder to taste (~2 TSP)
• Harrissa paste to taste (1/2 TSP depending on heat level)

Brown sausage, remove to bowl
Saute veggies
Add everything back to pot
Simmer 30-45 minutes
Stick blend to desired consistency

Can add Kale too

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Had this rough idea in the brain for a long time and finally got around to trying it out.  Basically made it up as I went, aided by what I had on hand.  The end result was quite tasty and I would definitely make again.  Can be adapted for vegetarian by switching the broth.  When all was said and done, it was really pretty easy.  45 – 60 minutes to roast the squash and about 15 more minutes to finish it off.  Serves 4 first course.

• 1 medium 2-3 lb butternut squash
• 1/2 large onion finely chopped
• 1-2 stalks celery finely chopped
• 1 Tbs minced fresh ginger root
• olive oil
• 1 Qt  Chicken (or Vegetable broth)
• Curry
• Chinese Five spice
• Salt and Pepper
• 3 TBs cream or half and half to finish

Cut squash in half, remove seeds, coat lightly with olive oil and put on a foil covered pan.  Roast loosely covered with foil at 425 for 30 minutes.  Remove cover and roast another 15 – 30 minutes until fork tender.

Meanwhile…  finely chop vegetables and sauté in heavy bottom soup pot on medium low heat in olive oil until translucent and tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.  Add about 3/4 of the broth and bring to a simmer for another 15 minutes or so while squash is cooking.

Remove squash from oven when done, let cool a little for easier handling, and scoop out flesh from skin.  Add roasted squash flesh to simmering broth.

With stick blender, puree soup until smooth.  Add some of the remaining broth if necessary to get desired consistency.  Season with Curry (1-2 tsp to taste), Chinese Five spice (1/4 tsp + to taste), salt and pepper.  Let sit for 5 – 10 minutes on low heat until flavors meld, then finish with the cream and serve immediately.

Fall Wild Mushroom Soup

One of my favorite soups, but one that has to wait until mushrooms are plentiful and cheap.  This recipe is actually a combination of two of James Petersons recipes from his “Splendid Soups” book with very little modification.

Made this tonight since the Thriftway had wild chanterelles on sale for 4.99/lb.  These were obviously wild harvested since they had a lot of pine needles in them.

This soup comes together quite quickly at the end, so I would recommend prepping everything beforehand in prep bowls before starting, otherwise something is going to get overdone while waiting for prep.

Serves 4

Soup Base (Mushroom Veloute)

• 1 medium sized onion finely chopped (about 1 cup)
• 4 TBs unsalted butter
• 1 TBs olive oil
• 3 TBs all-purpose flour
• 1 QT chicken stock
• 1/2 Cup Madeira or DRY sherry (don’t be tempted to sub cream sherry)
• 1 lb +/- cremini mushrooms cleaned and roughly chopped
• 1/4 lb chanterelles cleaned and roughly chopped **
• 1/4 lb portabellos cleaned and roughly chopped **
• 1 TBs dried porcini mushrooms **
• 1/2 cup cream or half and half
• salt and pepper

Garnish

• Sliced portabello and sectioned chanterelle mushrooms.  Enough for 2-3 pieces each for each serving (4)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

** Chanterelles and portabellos are both used for the garnish.  Base total amount of mushrooms on combined requirement.  Use the stems and sides and unattractive parts for the soup base, reserve the good parts for garnish.  Other wild mushrooms can be added/subbed for more interest.  Fresh porcinis can be used instead of dried but they are usually very expensive.

Start the the dried porcinis soaking in the Madeira or dry sherry.  If you have neither you can use dry vermouth in a pinch like I did tonight.  These need about 20 minutes so time accordingly.

Prep the rest of the ingredients, making sure you have some good looking slices of the exotic mushrooms for garnish.  Keep these dry.

Prepare a veloute by sautéing the chopped onion in the butter and olive oil.  Sauté on medium heat until translucent stirring almost constantly to keep from any browning, about 10 minutes.  Add flour and sauté another 5 minutes to cook out the starchy flavor.

Add the broth and prorcinis and Madiera, bring to low simmer for about 5 minutes.  Add the roughly chopped mushrooms reserving those for the garnish.  Using an immersion blender, blend up all the mushrooms until smooth.  Reduce heat and add cream or half and half.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Keep hot but not simmering.  (Note that you aren’t “cooking” the blended mushrooms, the soup base is done at this point.)

In a medium hot pan with olive oil, brown the garnish sliced mushrooms, turning once.  Make sure the pan is hot before adding mushrooms and not to crowd the pan so the mushrooms brown and not stew.  Do in batches if necessary.  Season with salt and pepper.  Reserve to a hot plate.

Serve soup in bowls immediately, garnished with the browned mushrooms.

(The original recipe called for adding a persillade to the browning mushrooms for the garnish.  A persillade is a mixture of minced shallot, garlic and parsley.  You will see this in the pictures below.  I didn’t feel this added anything to the soup, was very hard to keep from burning and added a level of complexity at the end that was a pain.)

The Thriftway was having an “open house” sale today (guess they didn’t want to call it a Veterans Day sale) and part of the deal was 4 bottles of wine for 15% off.  Got some 2008 Corvidae Rook (made by Owen Roe) which is a wonderful sub $15 CMS red blend.

****************************

Mushrooms prepped and ready

Sautéed onions ready for the flour

After the flour was incorporated and sautéed for another 5 minutes

The dried porcinis soaking in the booze

Veloute with mushrooms ready for stick blending

After the blending

Garnish mushrooms with persillade

Ready to eat!

Fall “What’s in the Refer” Soup

This soup turned out better than expected, so I’ll record it here for possible duplication at a future time…

• 4 mild italian sausages cut into 1/2” rounds
• 1 medium yellow onion roughly chopped
• 1 large carrot roughly chopped
• 1/2 parsnip roughly chopped
• 1 large celery stalk roughly chopped
• 1 qt chicken broth
• 1/4 – 1/3 lb small penne pasta
• 1 can red kidney beans drained and rinsed
• Bay leaf
• Italian seasoning
• Salt and pepper

Brown sausage in olive oil in a heavy bottom dutch oven.  Remove to a plate.  Adjust heat and saute onion and celery until soft and translucent in the same pot.  Add carrots and parsnip and saute for another 5 minutes.  Add sausage back and saute another few minutes.

Add chicken broth, bayleaf and about 1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and low simmer covered for about 30 minutes until vegetables are nice and soft.

Uncover, bring back to a low boil and add pasta and kidney beans.  Simmer for about 10 minutes until pasta is done, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

14 Hands Hot to Trot red blend was a nice wine to accompany this soup as was a crusty italian bread.

Corn Chowder

Another soup that benefitted from the immersion blender.

• About 6 – 8 pieces of thick sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4” strips.
• Can of corn – not drained
• 1 qt chicken stock
• 1 cup each finely chopped onion
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup each finely chopped
• onion
• celery
• carrot
• red or yellow or orange peppers
• 2-3 medium white potatoes 1/2” cubed
• 1/4 cup cream
• salt, freshly ground pepper, tobasco to taste

In a heavy bottom stock pot or dutch oven, cook bacon in a tablespoon or two of olive oil until well cooked.  Remove to a plate with paper towel.

In remaining bacon grease (should be around 2 TBs, if not add olive oil), saute chopped vegetables until soft and translucent and cooked down, about 15 minutes.  Add bacon back and saute for a couple more minutes.  Add stock, corn and potatoes to pot, bring to a boil then simmer for about 45 minutes until potatoes are soft.

Use immersion blender selectively - just enough to add some body to the chowder without eliminating all the texture and color.  Probably just a few seconds in a couple different parts of the pot.

Add cream and seasonings to taste.

Roasted Vegetable Soup with Chorizo

This soup can be made with or without the Chorizo, and if you want a vegetarian version, use vegetable stock instead of chicken.   Beets in the roasted veggies adds a wonderful color to the end product.

• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• Curry powder
• Salt and fresh ground pepper
• Cayenne pepper
• Roasted vegetables per last post (I didn’t use squash or potatoes for the soup).
• Ground chorizo sausage (optional)
• 1 qt quality prepared or homemade vegetable or chicken broth

Start vegetables roasting.  Meanwhile saute chopped onion and celery in olive oil in a heavy dutch oven or stock pot large enough to hold finished soup.  When onion and celery are soft and translucent, add stock and low simmer while vegetables are roasting.

Brown/cook chorizo in a separate pan.  remove to plate with paper towels to drain.

When vegetables are done roasting, add to stock and blend to desired consistency with immersion blender.  Add salt, fresh ground pepper, curry, cayenne to taste.   Chorizo can be added to whole pot or individually to bowls when serving.

 

Roasted Vegetables

I have become a huge fan of oven roasted vegetables, after being introduced to them by my nieces.  The sweet carmelized flavors, the wonderful smell in the house, the simplicity, and the “fallness” of the dish cant be beat.  Recipe below:

1-2 cups each vegetables cut into similar size chunks so everything gets done about the same time.  Not too small or they will burn.  Scrubbed but not peeled unless otherwise noted.  Onion can be cut into quarters or eighths and then broken up.  Leave out what you don’t like, pump up what you do.

• Yellow or sweet onion
• Parsnip (use about 1:2 ratio to other vegetables vs. 1:1)
• Carrots
• Red Potatoes
• Yellow/orange/red peppers
• Squash (peeled and cubed)  (if using, segregate on baking pan and cover with foil for half the time.)
• Beets (peeled and cubed)
• Yam or Rutabega

Put cut veggies in a bowl and mix with a 5:1 ratio of olive oil to basalmic vinegar until well coated but not swimming.  Salt and fresh ground pepper.

Spread out on a rimmed baking sheet covered with foil in a single layer.  Roast in pre-heated oven at 425 for about 45 minutes until soft and carmelized, turning once or twice.

Thai Curry Chicken Skewers and Peanut Sauce

It’s all about the sauce.  Really.  The chicken is just something to put the sauce on so you don’t have to spoon it into your mouth by itself and look weird.

Outside of a restaurant, I have rarely had decent peanut sauce, including several store bought whose labels held such promise.  However, recently at Jeannine’s sister (Wendy’s) house, we had some very good peanut sauce and chicken skewers.  So, I decided to tackle this meal.

Wendy’s recipe came from here:  Allrecipes.com

While I was in search of a good peanut sauce (which her’s was), I wasn’t willing to make it really complicated or use a bunch of one-time expensive ingredients.  So I kept looking because I didn’t want to add cooking the sauce, peanut oil, fish sauce, and coconut milk to the mix, none of which I had.

Based on reviews and my own armchair ingredient assessments, I settled on a different sauce recipe from Allrecipes.com by Jeramyn Feucht, and a chicken marinade recipe from Tyler Florence of Food Network fame.  See below for these recipes including my modifications.

Meal timeline.

The chicken should sit in the marinade for at least 2 hours - maybe 3.  The peanut sauce can be made in 15 minutes, but I think the flavors tend to blend and intensify a bit with time, so I suggest making it at the same time you put the chicken in the marinade and then refrigerate it until mealtime.

Curry Chicken Skewers

I used two large boneless skinless chicken breasts.  What comes in a single “packet” of Costco’s multi-packs.  I washed, dried, trimmed and cut these into about  2” long by 3/4” thick strips.  You have to take the thickest part of the breast and butterfly it.  This ended up making 9 skewers with 3 pieces each on them.  3 skewers was sufficient for dinner for each of us.

MARINADE

Mix the following ingredients together and thoroughly coat chicken in a baking dish, cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours turning every hour.  (Note I bumped up the ratio of seasonings to yogurt from the original recipe, and the curry flavor is still subtle but present.)

• 12oz (two small 6 oz containers) plain yogurt
• 2 TBS freshly minced or grated ginger
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 TBS curry powder

COOKING

Soak some wooden skewers for 30 minutes or more in water, then after marinating the chicken, put on skewers.  Cook slowly on a medium to low grill, turning 2X (a pannini press would work too).  Chicken should be browned on the outside but not overcooked.  Check with tongs and once the chicken loses its resiliency to a squeeze with the tongs, it is usually done.

Remove to a warmed platter, cover and serve with sauce.

Peanut Sauce

Mix all the ingredients below together adjusting the oil and spices to personal taste.  I doubled the original recipe (reflected in quantities below) and did some adjusting of ratios based upon other reviewers and my taste testing.  I have to confess that I didn’t use a measuring device for any of this but just “eyeballed” it.

• 1/4 to 1/3 cup honey to taste.  If you heat the honey a little in the microwave (like 20 seconds) it helps when mixing.
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter.  (I used Adams “no-stir” which has NO sugar added.  If sweetened, it could affect your honey quantity)
• 5 TBS soy sauce  (I ended up adding some additional to taste)
• 2 TBS rice vinegar (don’t substitute any other type of vinegar)
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 TBS sesame oil (adjust up to taste, a little goes a long way)
• 1 TBS minced garlic
• 2 TBS grated fresh ginger root (I peeled and minced mine per original recipe, but Jeannine and I both felt that even a fine mince was too “chunky” for the sauce)
• 1 TBS Sriracha sauce (Asian red chili and garlic sauce) adjust up to taste
• Juice from 1/4 fresh lime

The vinegar and lime balance the sweetness of the peanut butter and honey.  Adjust each at the end to get the taste you desire.  Adding extra oil will adjust the “viscosity” of the sauce.  The oil quantities listed above result in a fairly thick but not oily sauce.  Adjust soy sauce and Sriracha sauce to taste.

Serve with Basmati rice and a veggie of choice.

Post Easter Au Gratin

Nothing like potatoes au gratin to go with leftover Easter ham.  I don’t think I have ever made an au gratin before, so I approached it as usual, searched online for common recipe themes and stuff that sounded good then synthesized something.  Below is the result, which actually came out quite tasty.  I don’t think I would change a thing.

• 2 large russet potatoes
• 1 yellow onion
• 1.25 cups milk
• 2 TB butter
• 2 TB flour
• about 3 – 4 ounces of grated or shredded parmesan.  The real stuff if possible, this makes a big difference in flavor.  Results in about 2/3 cup +/- of shredded.
• Panko bread crumbs
• salt and pepper

Start by peeling and thinly slice the russets.  Let soak in a bowl of fairly heavily salted water while doing everything else.  Thinly slice the onion and sauté until soft in olive oil or butter.  Prepare a medium sized covered casserole with cooking spray.

Make a white sauce with the butter, flour and milk *.  Add the grated cheese and stir until smooth and melted.  Pepper to taste.

Drain and remove excess water from potato slices.  Layer potatoes, onions, sauce, overlapping the potato slices by about half a slice.  Lightly pepper each layer.  Should come out to about 4 layers.  End with sauce on top of last layer of potatoes.

Bake covered in a preheated 425 degree oven for about 45 – 50 minutes until potatoes are done when checked with a meat fork.  Sprinkle top with Panko and put back in oven uncovered for a few minutes until brown.  (If you have finely grated parmesan, you can add this to the Panko too).  Remove from oven and let rest for at least 5 minutes.

* I make my white sauce by making a white roux then adding hot milk to the roux while stirring constantly.  Microwaving the milk in a Pyrex measuring cup saves another pot and burner.

Below is a bad picture of finished au gratin resting before being devoured.

Cheap and Tasty

Blogging takes a lot of time.  And there are so many other really good blogs out there that have nice pictures where you can tell the blogger has invested a lot of quality time into.  So I haven’t made an entry in a long time being busy and feeling inadequate.  In the interval, there has been grilled halibut, burgers, rib roasts, salmon and asparagus risotto, basmati rice with various accoutrements, plus good wines, bad wines, familiar wines, etc.

What to do with a package of 5 fresh sweet pork sausages from Trader Joes (grand total of $3.97).  I took 2 of them, pan steamed them in a little olive oil and about 1/4 cup chicken broth, then took the lid off to brown them a bit.  Added a peeled and cubed gala apple and some grape tomatoes, put the lid back on for awhile.

During the ever present, “meanwhile” you find in most recipes, I cooked some penne pasta and steamed some broccoli. Added the al dente pasta to the sausage pan with the cover off and cooked down the remaining liquid while the broccoli finished its “broccolizing”.  Salt and pepper to taste, and voila, a colorful, cheap and tasty dish for two.  All for probably about $2 per serving.  

Swiss Steak

This recipe came from the Food Network’s, Alton Brown, here:  Swiss Steak

Swiss steak that I have had in the past has kind of been a modified stroganoff on either noodles or rice or mashed potatoes.  This recipe didn’t specify “how” to eat it, but the family had it on mountains of mashed potatoes, which was delicious since you end up with lots of wonderful thick sauce.

I made a couple of modifications to the recipe of course, mostly in the meat department.  My version is below.

Ingredients

~3 pounds (before trimming) of chuck steak or roast
salt 
black pepper 
all-purpose flour
vegetable oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced (or equivalent pre-minced)
2 stalks celery, chopped about 1/4” thick
1- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1/4 cup red wine

Directions

Trim the meat fairly meticulously of fat and connective tissue and cut into roughly 1/2” thick by 1”x1.5” pieces.  (This takes awhile with chuck, but the resulting flavor and tenderness using this meat is amazing.)  Season meat liberally with salt and pepper.  Dredge in flour.  The original recipe calls for using a “needling” tenderizer at this step.  (I used a Jaccard meat tenderizer  which we happen to have, but I think you could probably pound the meat with a tenderizer or maybe even skip this step since the chuck comes out so tender.)  After tenderizing, dredge again in flour.

Select a dutch oven like Le Crueset that is large enough to hold all the finished ingredients in about half it’s volume.  This will cook covered in the oven for a couple hours as the final step.

In the dutch oven you selected, over medium to medium-high heat cook the meat in small batches in a thin layer of oil, turning once, to brown.  Meat will not be cooked all the way through.  Remove batches to a plate with paper towel to absorb excess oil.  You may need to add more oil in the process, make sure it is shimmering up to heat before adding meat.  Make sure not to burn the bits on the bottom of the pan.

Add more oil if necessary and sauté the onions and celery until soft.  Add the garlic at the end without browning it.  Deglaze pan with a little red wine.  Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk together.  Add meat back in and make sure liquid just covers the meat, if not, add some more beef broth.

Cover the pot and place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 2 hours.  Test seasoning for salt and pepper and serve over mashed potatoes.

I served this with green beans butter steamed with onions and bacon:

Trim and cut fresh green beans to serve 6.  Chop about 1/2 of an onion.  Chop up about 2-3 slices of bacon.  Cook the bacon in a little bit of olive oil in a large non-stick fry pan that you can cover.  Add the onions when the bacon is almost cooked.  Sauté onions until soft.  Add beans and about a tablespoon of butter plus a little cayenne pepper to taste (dash or two) and generous salt and pepper.  Saute for a couple minutes to coat beans, add about 1/4 cup + of chicken broth and cover.  Turn down heat to a simmer and cook until beans are done.  Uncover and reduce remaining liquid to almost gone. 

Classic Pot Roast (and stew) Master Recipe

Updated 12/2016 and again 12/2022 with recent refinements and modifications.

This is a "master recipe" that I have worked on using a lot of input from various Cooks Magazine recipes. The smell in the house as it is finishing up is quite intoxicating. I am making some now to eat tomorrow, and at 8:00pm after already having eaten, it smells so good I want to devour it now.

Chuck roast is the king of pot roasts. When braised in liquid for several hours, it comes out falling apart tender with great flavor, and you can sometimes find it on sale for under $4.00 a pound (2016, not so in 2022). There is lots of information out there on what types of roasts to choose for what type of cooking, so I won't go into that here. Just trust the chuck for pot roasts and stew!  (2016 update:  I have found that grass fed quality roasts from retailers like PCC or Whole Foods really do make a difference in taste.)

Buy more meat than you think you need, since leftovers are awesome. Around ½ - 3/4 lb per person. The following general quantities are geared around a 3 lb roast or 2lbs of stew meat.

In a large dutch oven that is big enough for everything to fit in with at least an inch of room below the top brown/sear the roast in some high temp oil like Avacado oil. Roast should be dry and seasoned liberally with salt and pepper before searing. Spray or brush with some oil on the meat first to hold the seasoning on.  Sear on all sides holding upright with tongs if necessary. Adjust heat while searing to keep from burning fond. Remove roast when browned to a plate and cover with foil.

Sauté about 3 cups mirepoix until soft.  Then add at least ½ bottle of decent red wine. Turn up the heat and deglaze the pan and reduce the wine to 1/3 or 1/2.  With heat still up, add a 32 oz box/can of prepared beef broth; half a 6oz small can of tomato paste, and either about 3 inches of anchovy paste out of the tube or about 4-5 minced anchovies (these are optional, but nicely enhances the beefiness of the broth and resulting gravy. This ingredient was from Cooks Mag.) Also optional, add about 2 tablespoons chopped dried porcini mushrooms and a packet or two of Savory Choice beef broth concentrate. Add a couple bay leaves, some juniper berries if you have them and a little bit of thyme if you want.   Blend together and add the meat and any juices back to the pot.  Liquid should just cover the meat.

Cover dutch oven and put in a 285 - 300 degree oven for at least 3 hours. (Tip: foil the bottom side of the lid and you won't have to clean off a layer of thick dark goo later.) Roast should be close to done at this point. Taste test the broth and add salt and pepper if required. Add cut up red potatoes and large chunks of carrots and optionally a small parsnip for about another 90 minutes of cooking until vegetables are nice and soft. Mushrooms and fresh green beans can be used too. Liquid should just cover everything.

When done, remove meat and vegetables and any solids to a warm serving dish and keep warm and covered. Add a little of the cooking liquid so it doesn't dry out while making the gravy.

Strain the cooking liquid into a separate sauce pan and keep on low heat.  Preparing a roux in the Dutch oven. Add the hot simmering liquid to roux slowly whisking into a luxurious gravy. Don't add roux to broth or use cool broth unless you want lumpy gravy. (This gravy, made from a butter roux and the cooking liquid that started out with wine and beef broth, enhanced by the cooking of the roast and vegetables, is like liquid gold. You will want to drink it straight and go to heaven, which you may, since it will probably clog your arteries, but you will die happy.)

Modifications for Stew:

• For stew meat, unless your butcher has high quality, well trimmed chuck stew meat, the best approach is to buy a chuck roast and trim it meticulously and cut it up yourself.  This takes probably an extra 30 minutes but the quality of the stew meat is so much better and your guests won't get that "chewy piece".  I tend to make my stew meat pieces 1/2 to 1/3 the size of what comes typically in the store.
• When browning the meat, brown in batches so you are just barely covering the bottom of the pan or it will stew instead of brown.  (I know this is supposed to be stew...)
• Cut the vegetables a little smaller more appropriate for a stew and soup spoon.
• Eliminate the gravy step and serve straight from pot.

A Test Run at Feta Dressing

Brier Pizza (formerly Neapolis) has always had a house feta salad dressing that is the dressing of choice when dining there, both for salads and dipping your pizza crust in (a culinary habit the kids introduced us to). The recipe isn't given out, but a former cook told me there were "5 ingredients". A bottle costs $6 which we have indulged in more than a couple times, but I wanted to be able to replicate it at home. The following is attempt number 1, which came out pretty close I think. With some further testing and the tweaking, I think it would be "close enough". This recipe I can't take full credit for, as it was the one that looked closest from a variety of web recipes. The original recipe called for garlic powder which I substituted, and oregano which I eliminated.

[I am also with this post experimenting with a different posting method, using MS Word's Publish function. The last post was very painful to format, and the addition of the pictures dufured everything up, eliciting more than a couple of choice words.]

Ingredients:

• 1 cup mayonnaise
  
• ½ cup sour cream
  
• 4 teaspoon white vinegar
  
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  
• 1 minced garlic clove
  
• 2 oz. crumbled feta cheese
  
• 1 to 2 tablespoons milk
  

Directions

Combine mayonnaise, sour cream and feta cheese in food processor. Process while adding vinegar. Add garlic and process, then add seasonings to taste. Add milk last until desired thickness is achieved. Best to let sit for a few hours before serving.

*** February 16, 2010 Update

I made a full batch today with the blender (for the above post I made a test ½ batch and blended it by hand). I wouldn't modify the ingredients but the directions I would. I used the blender to first thoroughly crumble the feta to a fine bread crumb like consistency. Then I added the mayo and sour cream. This worked well at eliminating some of the lumpiness I had in my test batch, but more feta than I wanted stayed at the bottom of blender after everything was done. I think next time I will crumble the feta fine in a dry blender, then take it out into a ramekin or small bowl. Then blend the mayo, sour cream and some milk before adding in the feta.

The other thing I will note is that the dressing got much thicker after a day in the refrigerator, so adding a bit of extra milk up front and letting it sit seems to be called for.

On quantity, the above recipe will make a little bit more than will fit in the typical 12oz salad dressing bottle.

Home Made Taco Seasoning Mix

Another web recipe mash-up. Taco mix not in the pouch. I have never been a big fan of the taco seasoning packets. The taste ends up too processed and the taco meat too runny. This recipe you can play with to taste how you like it, and in its native form, tastes pretty good. In the 2 times I have made it so far, I have not been precise with the measurements, and skipped the onion powder since I didn't have any on hand. Sautéed onions with the ground beef seems like a better way.

Beer and tacos are natural buddies, and 1554 Enlightened Black Ale by New Belgium (of Fat Tire fame) went down good.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1. In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Add 2 -3 TBS of mix to 1lb of cooked ground beef. (Extra seasoning can be stored in an airtight container. )
2. After meat is seasoned, add 2 tsp cornstarch to 2/3 cup of water and add to meat and seasoning mixture.

Nicole's Birthday Dinner

Per Nicole's request, for her Birthday dinner, we had steak risotto and individual chocolate souffles with mint infused custard sauce. The chocolate souffles were ones that I had made a number of years ago after attending a Jerry Traunfeld cooking class (of Herbfarm fame). They are really quite amazing but require an organized approach and result in a lot of dirty dishes. If made at the same time as the accompanying custard sauce (which you pour into them when you eat them) it is a lot going on. Michelle did the souffles tonight (and did a outstanding job) while I did the custard sauce which made things much more manageable, though we were at times competing for stove top and dishes. You can make the custard sauce 1-5 days ahead which might be a good idea.

 

The risotto I have made numerous times and used Julia Child's "no stir" technique, which I always use now. This is outlined in her The Way to Cook book, but really is just the classic method, but with no stirring and the lid on.

 

Beef Risotto with Steak

 

Serve risotto on hot plates when done, don't let it sit and get gluey. If timing is off, add more broth before it sticks.

 

Use a heavy pot like Le Creuset

• Mince 1 large shallot and saute in butter and/or olive oil until translucent
• Add 1 cup of risotto (arborio) rice and saute with onion for a few minutes
• Add 1/4 cup dry white wine or vermouth until cooked down
• Add a little less than 1 quart hot (simmering) beef broth and stir well, cover pot and low simmer for about 20-30 minutes. Reserve remaining broth to finish at end
• When almost done to proper risotto consistency (spreads when spooned on a plate) add the mushrooms, beef, seasoning (salt, pepper, and rosemary if you want), plus about 1/2 cup grated parmeson and the reserved broth. Stir, and simmer until correct consistency.

Beef

• About 3/4 lb steak or more cubed into 1" cubes (they will shrink to bite size). Tender steak that will stand up to the risotto process. I use tri-tip or new york or rib eye.
• Spread on a foil covered baking pan with separation between pieces.
• Season well with salt and pepper
• Place under hot broiler until browned
• Let stand until ready to be added to risotto above, use juices in mushrooms below

Mushrooms

• Saute sliced cremini mushrooms in medium hot pan with butter and/or olive oil. Do in batches if your pan is not big enough for all mushrooms to fit in single layer with a little space. Pan should be hot so shrooms brown and not stew.
• When lightly browned, add about 1/4 cup or more red wine and let reduce for about 5 minutes.
• Add beef juices from above and a little of the reserved beef broth and reduce for another about 5 minutes. Time so that the mushrooms and resulting sauce are just done when it is time to add them to the risotto.

Green Beans

 

I was out of burners tonight when making the risotto since I had mushrooms, broth and the risotto all going. So I decided to bake the green beans. They took longer than I had figured, and probably would have been better prepared in a butter saute/steam frying pan.

• Fresh cut and trimmed green beans
• Half to 3/4 onion, chopped, sauted in butter and/or olive oil
• 1/4 cup chicken broth +/-
• Seasoning (salt and pepper, italian or other seasoning of choice

I put everything in a covered casserole and baked at 350 for about 30 minutes until beans are done. Could have used some butter, or bacon, or something but were pretty good. If had been done in a pan, I would have reduced the broth at the end.

 

Chocolate Souffle (from the Herbfarm Cookbook by Jerry Traunfeld c 2000)

• Prepare 6 (6 oz) straight sided ramekins with soft butter bottom and insides completely. Use fine sugar then to coat buttered interiors.
• Melt 10oz of high quality bittersweet chocolate (like sharfenberger) that has been broken or chopped coarsly with 4 tablespoons of unsalted buter in a bowl or small pot over boiling water.
• Beat 6 egg whites (yolks get used in custard sauce below) until they begin to rise then add 1/2 cup fine or superfine sugar until you get sagging peaks. Don't overbeat.
• Fold 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate in a bowl until smooth and completely incorporated. Then gently fold in the rest until just no streaks of white remain.
• Pour the resulting stiff mixture into the prepared ramekins making sure to not get any drips on the sides of the dishes until about 1/4 from the top. (If the souffle bakes onto any unbuttered surface at the top of the dish it will stick and prevent it from rising straight up)
• Bake souffles in a preheated 400 degree oven in a water bath (like creme broule) for about 20 - 25 minutes, or until the souffles have risen about an inch. In the space of 1 minute you can go from perfect to a bit burned on top so watch them carefully at the end.

Serve immediately with the custard sauce below. To eat, poke a hole in the top, pour in the sauce and enjoy!

 

Infused Custard Sauce (from the Herbfarm Cookbook by Jerry Traunfeld c 2000)

 

Infuse 2 cups of whole milk with fresh herb of choice like mint, fresh bay, rosemary, etc. by bringing milk just to a boil, adding the fresh herbs (about 3-4 tablespoons of mint leaves for example), pushing them down and covering the pot and removing from heat. Let stand covered for 30 minutes.

• Heat 6 lightly beaten egg yolks in a bowl over boiling water until about 90 - 100 degrees.
• Meanwhile, strain infused milk, mix in 1/2 cup sugar, and reheat on medium until just boiling.
• When just boiling, remove from heat and whisk into the heated egg yolks by pouring the milk mixture into the yolks slowly while whisking constantly but gently.
• Continue to stir the sauce for about 30 seconds. Sauce should come up to 175 - 180 degrees. (If for some reason the sauce doesn't thicken and come up temp, heat over boiling water. Don't heat sauce above 180 degrees unless you want scrambled eggs.)

Souffle mix

going into the oven before adding water to the pan

 

 

 

a little overdone

Prepare to eat!

Home Made Pizza

I wanted to be able to make a scratch pizza sauce for not much more work than opening a jar of Ragu, but have it taste like it didn't come out of a jar, or even better, have it taste like I wanted it to. This is consistent with a recent theme I am on of eliminating as many processed foods as possible.

So, I did the requisite research and voila, the recipe below.

For crust, we used Wendy's recent crust recipe, which I like, but halved it for a single pizza. Jeannine would like it a little thicker, so next time we might vary quantities. One day I will "par-bake" the crust before putting on the sauce to see if it avoids the little bit of "soggy bottom" that usually occurs.

This sauce recipe intrigued me since you really only need a can of tomato paste and your spice cabinet at its simplist. Tomato paste usually doesn't have any other ingredients than tomatos. If you have fresh spices, all the better.

Wine of the night: Kamiak 2007 Rock Lake Red blend. The old Kamiak stocks are being depleted and this is their new blend. I think I like it a little better than the old stuff which was good. $10+ reliable red blend that has no bad habits.

Crust (Wendy's recipe makes two pizzas):

Combine 1cup warm water, 1/4 tsp sugar, and 1 package dry yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes.

Combine 2-3/4 cups flour and 1 tsp salt. Then mix with 1-1/2 TB olive oil and yeast mixture. Add flour as needed until mixture is smooth and not tacky when squeezed. Kneed dough 4-5 times.

Put dough lump smooth side up in medium bowl that has been brushed or sprayed with olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warmed (off) oven for about 40 minutes or until doubled.

Remove from oven, punch down, divide in two and let rest for about 10 minutes before stretching dough into pans.

Sauce

(1) 6 oz can of tomato paste
(2) cans of water
2+ TB minced onion
2 minced garlic cloves or equivalent of pre-minced
2+ TB Italian seasoning to taste or equivalent of Oregeno, Rosemary, Basil
Dash of red pepper flakes
½ tsp pepper
Dash of red pepper flakes
½ tsp basalmic vinegar
½ tsp sugar + to taste
½ TB butter
3 TB grated parmesan

Saute on low minced onion in olive oil, add garlic at end
Add all other ingredients except parmesan and simmer to combine flavors
Turn off heat and add grated parmesan. Let cool before putting on dough.
(optionally added a little anchovie paste to sauce)

Chicken Pot Pie

Jeannine has always raved about Honey Bear Bakery's Chicken Pot Pie in Lake Forest Park's Third Place.  We finally decided that their secret ingredient was curry.  So, using my usual method of looking at a bunch of different recipes in cook books and online, then combining what I liked, I came up with the following recipe below.  I don't do pastry or dough.  So Jeannine made her famous pie crust to go on top, which is one of the best parts of Chicken Pot Pie

My rating, 8-9 out of 10.  Flavor was nice and refined, didn't have that "Hungry Man" canned flavor.  Cooking process was a little more work than preferred, but not too bad.  Cost, pretty minimal.

Wine of the night: Jade Mountain Red Table Wine 2007. Around $10 from Cost Plus.  Jade Mountain made a fabulous Syrah for around $10 that sold out quickly.  Everyone I know who had some wishes they could get more.  This blend isn't as good as the Syrah, but it is an ok red table wine for that price. I have had better at this price point, but I would buy again. 

Chicken Pot Pie
January 27, 2010
Arne Berger

Makes 4 servings

Filling Ingredients:

1 lb +/- of boneless skinless chicken breast cubed

Vegetables diced to similar size ~3/8
• Potatoes (3 small white peeled – not Yukon gold)
• Parsnip (1 medium peeled) {optional, sub more potatoes}
• Carrots (about half as much as combined potatoes and parsnip after dice)
• Frozen peas (a little less than carrots. Add at very end)
• 1 small/med yellow onion chopped and sautéed in same pot after meat in olive oil for about 5 minutes

23 oz good quality chicken broth (Swansons or home made)

Mix following spices in rough quantities in small bowl or ramekin. Adjust quantities as necessary/desired.
• Celery salt ¼ tsp
• Garlic Powder ¼ tsp
• Poultry seasoning ¼ tsp
• Salt and Pepper ½ tsp each
• Curry powder ½ tsp +/- to taste
• Cayenne pepper - dash
• Parsley 1 TBS – add at end

Directions:
Heat broth in a pot to a simmer/low boil and add carrots and parsnip. Low boil about 15 minutes and then add potatoes. Cook until vegetables are almost done. Add browned chicken and sautéed onions. Finish cooking until vegetables are soft and chicken is cooked through. Don’t overcook the chicken. {Note: cooking this way reduces the broth and also flavors the vegetables}

Meanwhile, lightly season cubed chicken with salt and pepper and brown in a heavy pot in olive oil on med/med-high heat (chicken will not be cooked all the way through) set aside. Sautee onions in pot after chicken on med-low heat.

Make a roux in the same heavy pot used for the chicken and onions with about 2-3 TBs of butter and flour each. When roux is ready, strain vegetable/chicken mixture reserving solids. Add hot strained broth slowly to roux constantly stirring to form a gravy. In a separate bowl, whisk together 1 tbs cornstarch and about ¾ cup cream or milk. Add to simmering gravy until desired thickness.

At this point, add spice mixture to gravy a little at a time to taste, stirring and tasting until well seasoned (seasoning is for both gravy and vegetable/chicken mixture so it should be pretty heavily seasoned)

Add reserved chicken and vegetables and also frozen peas. Mix and keep on low heat until thoroughly warmed. Add to prepared baking dishes and top with pie crust of choice. Bake until crust is browned and filling is hot.

First Post

Figured I would use a blog to record successful (and maybe not so successful) adventures in cooking and mini-wine reviews.  My current priorities that will color my blogs are:  Wine in the sub $20 range that is decent (sub $10 good stuff is the holy grail). Recipes are ones that contain a minimum of processed foods, are relatively inexpensive, readily available, and not process intensive.  (i.e no aspics, no 2 day reduction sauces, no mongolian Yak livers, etc.)

Let the games begin.

Update 2023> After 13 years, our tastes in wine have changed significantly as well as inflation, so this blog is now just food, no wine.