Baked Garlic Shrimp

Ingredients:   Serves 4

• 12 ounces shrimp, raw, deveined, peeled, no tails
• 1 Tb Olive Oil
• 2 Tb butter, unsalted
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 1/4 onion, diced
• 2-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375

Place the Olive Oil, butter, onions and garlic in an ungreased 11″x7″x1 1/2″ glass baking dish. Cook for 5 minutes in the preheated oven. Add shrimp, season with the salt and black pepper and toss well. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top, bake for 15 minutes until the shrimp is pink and the cheese in melted.

Suggestions: Serve over a bed of “No Yolks” Noodles with Pesto Sauce & Tomatoes.

 

Butter seasoned with Garlic & Parsley

Ingredients:

• 4 Tb unsalted butter, softened
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 Tb parsley, finely chopped
• 1/4 tsp garlic salt (this is a loose measurement)
• parchment paper

Mix all the ingredients together, place on parchment paper and gently shape in a rectangle or bar shape. Roll the parchment paper around the bar of seasoned butter, folding the edges closed. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using.

Suggestions: Try this butter on Beef Pot Roast slices, Steaks, Burgers, Baked Potatoes, Parmesan Garlic Mashed Potatoes or using when making scrambled eggs or sauteing vegetables.

 

Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 6 Idaho Potatoes, peeled and quartered (about 2 lbs)
• 8 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 Tb parsley, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan Cheese
• 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

In a stock pot heat the water and salt to a boil. Add the potatoes and garlic, cover, heat to boiling again. Once at a boil reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are soft. Drain the potatoes, return them to the pot and gently stir over low heat to dry them. In a large bowl, hand mash the potatoes and garlic. Add the parsley, Parmesan Cheese and Extra Virgin Olive Oil and beat with an electric beater until they are fluffy. Season with salt and pepper, serve.

Suggestions: How about putting a slice of Butter seasoned with Garlic & Parsley atop of these potatoes? Or brown gravy? Try using these as a base when plating a meat dish. They make great fried potato cakes.

 

Beef Pot Roast – a basic, traditional recipe

For quite some time now I have been searching for a  traditional and basic Beef Pot Roast recipe. For most of my life I have just cooked it in my crock pot. Yes it turns out tender and juicy, but something was missing. I longed for the smells that filled the house when my mother cooked it in the oven, before the days of crock pots. I have tried many recipes from many people. From everyday home cooks like myself to recipes from published and famous chefs and cooks. None of them have turned out the way I was hoping and many just had to many steps and ingredients. So Sunday I decided to go back to the basics. What spices were in my mother’s cupboard? What spices do I like? In those questions I found the answer. So here is my recipe for a basic, traditional Beef Pot Roast.

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 – 3 pound beef rump roast, no bone, fat trimmed
• 1/3 cup flour
• 3 tsp all meat seasoning (I love mine from “The Old Fashioned Butcher Shoppe”)
• 2 Tb unsalted butter
• 2 Tb vegetable oil
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 carrot, diced (optional)
• 1 cup chicken broth (I prefer chicken over beef, but use beef if you prefer)
• 1 Tb Worcestershire Sauce

Preheat oven 325

Combine the flour and seasoning until well blended. If your roast has a string netting, remove it. Dry the roast with a paper towel then sprinkle the seasoned flour all over the meat, pat it down, set aside. Heat a roasting pan that has a lid and is able to go from the stove top to the oven over medium-high heat. Once it is good and hot add the vegetable oil and butter. When the butter is melted lay your roast in the pan and proceed to lightly brown all sides. Generally mine took about 1 minute on each side. Make sure you sear all sides and ends of the roast, we are trying to lock in the juices. Remove the roast from the pan and set aside. Add the onions and carrots and saute them until the onions start to brown along the edges. Add the garlic, stir and once it becomes fragrant (which happens very quickly) add the broth and Worcestershire Sauce, simmer for about 3 minutes stirring with a whisk or wooden spoon to de-glaze the pan. Add the beef roast back into the pot, cover and place in the oven. (The liquid should be about 1/2″ high on the meat, if needed add more broth or water) Bake for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until moist, tender and juices are running clear. Remove from the oven and let sit with lid on for at least 15 minutes. Slice and serve, don’t forget to serve the onions atop of the meat.

Suggestions: Make sure your roast is fully defrosted.  I served mine on a bed of Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes and Butter seasoned with Garlic & Parsley. Think about freezing the leftovers to use later in taquitos, tamales, enchiladas and nachos.

 

What, my temperatures didn’t work for you?

I was speaking with my son this morning and he mentioned my temperatures on my recipes I have given him don’t work, really? So I had to think about it  and  realized he cooks on a gas stove where as I cook on an electric stove. He uses beautiful Al-Clad cookware where as I use everything but the kitchen sink.

So to everyone keep this in mind when you are using anyone’s recipes. I prefer cooking on gas, it’s more reliable, heats more thoroughly, but unfortunately not an option for us. I love cooking with Al-Clad equipment but I only have a few pieces. Wish I had given some to myself when I gave them to my son and his lovely bride.

He asked me about soaking his pans when things stick, of course I reminded him “USE REAL BUTTER”, but surely that’s not going to happen. Again I reminded him to purchase “Bar Keeper’s Friend” …. and here is why everyone should have this under the kitchen sink.

When using my broiling pan I generally line the bottom with foil, and spray to top portion with “PAM Spray”. This spray works just fine to keep food from sticking, but I have noticed it leaves a sticky residue on my pan. This residue is really hard to remove. Finally we were introduced to using “Bar Keepers Friend” and we love it. Pick some up at your grocery store, they all carry it. Take a look a my before and after pictures, it really is incredible stuff. It works great on your glass baking dishes also. Well I’m off now to make Chili Cheese Dogs for dinner and a Coconut Tart for dessert. Wish me well, see you all on Monday.

 

Chipotle Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:   1 dozen enchiladas

• 4 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on (2 lbs)
• 1 Tb all-purpose meat seasoning, (I get mine from “The Old Fashioned Butcher Shoppe”
• 1 Tb Cumin
• 1 tsp Mexican Oregano
• 1 tsp Thyme
• 4 Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce, diced
• 1 cup chicken broth, (mine is made from “Das Dutchman Essenhaus Chicken Base”
• 1 dozen corn tortillas, softened
• 1 1/4 cups of my “Red Enchilada Sauce” or store-bought enchilada sauce
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mexican cheese
• 3 green onions, sliced
• spinach and parsley (optional for garnishing)

Rub chicken thighs with all the seasonings, place in a gallon ziplock bag, add the Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce, mix well and let marinate in refrigerator for at least 2 hours. I marinate them overnight. Using a crock pot, add the marinated chicken thighs, pour the chicken broth over them. Cook on high until cooked thoroughly. (Approximately 4 hours on high stirring once, or all day on low no need to stir) When finished the meat should fall off the bone. Place a strainer over a large bowl, pour the contents of the crock pot into the strainer so that the stock created in the Chipotle Chicken drains from the chicken. Remove and discard bones and skin but reserve 1 1/2 cups of the stock created in the crock pot if you are making my “Red Enchilada Sauce”.

Preheat oven 350. Grease a 11″ x 7″ x 1 1/2″ glass baking dish, add 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce along the bottom. (you won’t see this in the pictures because we like are enchiladas on the drier side) Place a tablespoon or so of the Chipotle Chicken off-center in the soft corn tortilla. Roll the tortilla and place them next to each other in the baking dish. When all twelve are in the pan, pour 1 cup of enchilada sauce over the top, covering each one of them. Sprinkle with the mexican cheese and bake for 25 minutes until thoroughly heated. It should be bubbling and cheese melted. Top with the green onions and serve.

Suggestions: I like to serve my enchiladas over a bed of shredded spinach tossed with chopped parsley. To make this meal easier try making it ahead of time, assemble, freeze, then just defrost and bake.

 

Red Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients: Makes 4 cups of a cool enchilada sauce with a hint of spice.

• 2 dried Ancho Chiles
• 2 dried Pasilla Chiles
• 1 dried New Mexico Chile
• 4 Tb butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 Tb flour
• 1 @ 15oz can tomato sauce
• 1 1/2 cups chile water
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock, or the stock from making Chipotle Chicken, or Carnitas
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp Mexican Oregano
• 2 tsp cocoa powder sweetened

Remove the stems of the chiles, cut them open and remove the seeds. Place the chiles in a medium saucepan and just cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes until the peppers are completely softened. Remove chiles from the water, reserve 1 1/2 cups of the chile water for the sauce. Scrap the inside of the chile and set aside, (I use a butter knife to do this). Discard the skins as they have a bitter taste.

In a large skillet over medium heat melt the butter. Add the onions and garlic, saute until the onions are soft. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and garlic in the skillet. Cook until the mixture lightly browns. Whisk in tomato sauce, chile water and stock. Increase the heat to medium-high and continually whisk until the sauce thickens. (If you’re having a problem getting the sauce to thicken after about 5 minutes add a cornstarch mixture. 1 tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup cold water, then whisked into the sauce mixture.) Once thickened, remove from heat add the chiles, cumin, Mexican Oregano and cocoa powder and stir well. Using a food processor, puree the mixture until smooth. Season with salt if needed. The enchilada sauce is now ready for use or let it cool and freeze in gallon or quart size ziplock freezer bags.

Suggestions: Make a double batch and freeze in quart size, ziplock freezer bags. This recipe is suitable for the entire family but if you are desiring a spicier sauce try adding a roasted Habanero Pepper to the mix.

 

Turkey Soup (Leftover Delight)

So you have leftover “Quick & Easy Vegetable Soup”, leftover “Persian Saffron Rice” and maybe some leftover turkey, ham or chicken in the freezer. How about turning your Vegetable Soup into a Turkey Soup and serving it over Rice? That’s what I did here.

I picked the meat off of out leftover Thanksgiving Turkey legs that I had stored in the freezer. I put the frozen leftovers of my “Quick & Easy Vegetable Soup” in a large stock pot and add the shredded turkey. Over medium heat I brought the ingredients to a simmer. Turned the heat down to low and continued to keep hot until I had re-warmed my leftover “Persian Saffron Rice” Now I am very lucky as I have Vintage Anchor Hocking Microware that warms food in the microwave without changing their texture or taste. Once the rice was warmed I then topped it with the newly combined Turkey Soup and dinner was served.

Well we didn’t finish off the newly combined Turkey Soup so I froze the remaining amount. The weather turned colder and we wanted a quick bowl of soup. Hey I have a couple bowls of Turkey Soup in the freezer.

In a medium sauce pan over medium-low heat I brought the frozen leftover Turkey Soup to a simmer, turned the heat down to low until I was ready to serve. I served this soup with our family recipe for “Native American Fry Bread” which are basically like whole wheat tortillas. It was perfect to warm us on this afternoon.

 

Fresh Spinach Pesto Chicken Salad

Ingredients: yields 2 salads

• 1 cup “Pesto Chicken Salad”
• 2 cups approx, fresh spinach, torn in pieces
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, diced
• ranch dressing (or dressing of your choice)

Add everything except the ranch dressing, toss well, put into your serving dish. Drizzle with ranch dressing and serve.

Suggestions: Try adding chopped raisins and walnuts to this salad. It’s a pleasant summer tasting salad on a winter’s day.

 

Pesto Chicken Panini

Ingredients: yields 2 Paninis

• 2 cups of my recipe for “Pesto Chicken Salad”
• 2 @ 6″ inch hardy Hoagie Rolls, or your bread of choice
• sliced Mozzarella cheese
• fresh Spinach leaves, washed, dried and trimmed
• Olive Oil

Heat your Panini Press. Brush Olive Oil over all side of the Hoagie Rolls. Spread the Pesto Chicken Salad on the bottom half. Layer with the Spinach leaves, then top with the slices of Mozzarella cheese. Place top on and cook in your Panini Press until the top is crispy and marked.

Suggestions: I love to serve this sandwich along side a hot bowl of Homemade Creamed Tomato Soup.