Category: Entrees

OK, so I used Manwich canned sauce (tons of sodium and high fructose corn syrup) to make these, but Boy and Girl LOVE these. To make them a bit healthier, I used bison (VERY low fat) meat from my in-laws’ farm (my in-laws don’t raise them, but have an arrangement with the producer to re-sell it), added a can of organic pinto beans (drained and rinsed to get rid of the excess salt) and served them on mini whole wheat dinner rolls, to cut the portion size. Add a salad and it turns into something pretty healthy. Bison meat (same as buffalo, I think?) is really healthy, but we do find it to be a tad “gamey” to eat on it’s own. It’s OK, though, if it’s going in a tomato sauce or will be pretty heavily seasoned. Hubby made some great ravioli with it for Christmas Eve dinner, but I forgot to take a photo – DRAT!

The potatoes were some of the leftover boiled fingerlings from Christmas dinner (before they got smashed, buttered, parsleyed and horseradish creme fraiched). I cut them into chunks, heated some olive oil in a pan over high heat, added the potatoes and cooked them on high, tossing/turning every few minutes, until they were crusty and browned all over. Then, I set the potatoes aside in the serving dish, added a tiny bit more oil to the pan and added 2 minced garlic cloves and about 1/4 cup finely chopped onion and sauteed those until soft, then added the potatoes back in (I was afraid that if I sauteed the onion and garlic with the potatoes, that they would get too brown and bitter before the potatoes were done).

This dinner was a big hit with Boy and Girl!

I apologize for this horrible photo – guess my camera skills were off tonight!

We had my little brother and his wife over for dinner tonight and made this short rib recipe from Epicurious. These were SO delicious and flavorful and really not too much trouble to make. There’s a little chopping and a little time browning the ribs then sauteing and simmering the sauce ingredients on the stove, but then the ribs cook for 2 and 1/2 hours, so you’re free to fiddle around with the rest of your side dishes. We made Smashed Fingerling Potatoes with Horseradish Creme Fraiche to go with them – a recipe from the December 2006 issue of Fine Cooking. I love that magazine and that particular issue is a really great one. I’m going to make a Slow-Roasted Prime Rib recipe from the same issue for our Christmas Day lunch and the potatoes were so good, I’m going to make them again for Christmas. Here’s an excerpt from the article. I don’t want to risk any copyright issues, but I’ll tell you the basic instructions for the potatoes, without giving away any “secrets”:

Boil fingerling potatoes (the ones that I found were a mix of different potatoes, like Red Bliss and Blue and Baby Yukon Golds) until tender when poked with a fork (the recipe says use water, but I used chicken stock). Drain the liquid off – reserving a little bit of it. Smash each potato, individually, with a spatula or wooden spoon, just to smush it a little and break the skin. Put a little butter and chopped parsley on the potatoes after they’re smashed, using a little of the cooking liquid, if necessary. For the horseradish cream, blend 1 Tbsp. of prepared horseradish sauce with each 1/4 cup of creme fraiche that you would like to use. Top each serving of potatoes with a dollop of the creme fraiche.

Little Brother made a WONDERFUL, rich, gooey Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie for dessert – I’ll have to get his recipe!

Chicken Marsala has been one of our favorite meals for a long time, but a friend who is a culinary school graduate taught me this great technique for making the portion sizes smaller and making the pieces cook more evenly. I used to just cook a whole chicken breast for each of us (one for Boy and Girl to share) and then be frustrated when we had so much half-eaten chicken left over. I think that when they are in smaller, flat pieces like this, they’re called a paillard, but I’m not positive about that. Anyway, I love this technique and use it every time I’m frying chicken and even sometimes when I’m marinating it to throw on the grill. Now I can actually feed my whole family (two adults, one 9-yr old and one 11-yr old) with one chicken breast – definitely a much more reasonable portion size!

Chicken Marsala

3 boneless (split) skinless chicken breasts
1 medium sized shallot
1/2 pound white button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup marsala wine (NOT “cooking wine”, which is salty and chemical-y tasting)
2 cups good quality chicken stock
dry, unseasoned bread crumbs (about 2 – 3 cups)
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
salt, to taste
pepper (optional) to taste
1 tsp. chopped fresh (or 1/2 tsp. dried) rosemary
1 stick butter (you won’t need it all)
1/2 cup olive oil (you won’t need it all)

Get everything ready: Put flour, egg/milk (whisked together) and breadcrumbs each in a separate bowl. Preheat oven (to 250 degrees) or warming drawer (medium-high).

Cut each piece of chicken (with the “grain”) into 3 or 4 “chicken fingers”.

Gently pound each “finger” with the flat side of a meat tenderizing mallet, until it is a uniform thickness.

Repeat cutting and pounding for remaining chicken breasts. Gently sprinkle each chicken “paillard” with salt and pepper, if desired.

Lightly coat each piece of chicken with flour, then dip in egg/milk mixture to coat, then roll in breadcrumbs until completely covered.

Repeat with remaining pieces of chicken.

Finely chop the shallot.

Heat 2 Tbsp. butter and 2 Tbsp. olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until bubbly.

All shallots and saute until softened.

Add mushrooms and cook until softened.

Pour cooked mushrooms and shallots out into a bowl and set aside, reserving as much of the oil/butter in the pan as you can. Add more butter and oil to the pan until you have enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Heat over medium-high until melted and bubbly.

Add crumb-coated chicken to skillet and fry, being careful not to crowd the pieces. Adjust heat and add more butter/oil, as necessary. Watch pieces carefully; turn them over and cook the other sides. Remove chicken from pan as pieces are completely cooked and set aside on a large platter.

Repeat with remaining pieces of chicken until all pieces are cooked through and crumb coating is browned on both sides. Place platter of cooked chicken in heated oven or warming drawer. Lower heat on pan.

Add marsala slowly and carefully to pan (it may sizzle, bubble and splatter!), stirring gently to scrape browned bits off bottom. Slowly raise hit and simmer until wine has reduced and thickened.

Slowly add chicken stock, continuing to simmer, stirring, until sauce is thickened.

When sauce has thickened to ALMOST serving consistency, add mushroom/shallot mixture back to pan, sprinkle in rosemary and stir to combine. Pour over warm chicken on platter and serve.

This is adapted from a recipe that we learned at a Whole Foods Market cooking class. When we prepared this in class, it was served over homemade ravioli stuffed with spinach, ricotta and parmesan. It was delicious, but was a little bit too rich, with cheese in both the ravioli and the sauce, so I served this over plain pasta. In this version, I switched half-and-half for heavy cream and cut the amount a little bit. I also used dry-pack tomatoes, instead of oil-packed.

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Cream Sauce

20 sun-dried tomatoes (dry-packed), soaked in warm water for 5 – 10 minutes to soften
(You could also substitute 2 or 3 of the tomatoes with smoke-dried tomatoes, for an extra flavor “punch”. Using ALL smoke-drieds in this recipe would be too strong a flavor, but a couple adds a great taste.)
4 cloves garlic
about 1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
2 – 3 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup half-and-half
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
(you may substitute the appropriate amount – probably less – of another fresh herb here, if you prefer – basil would be good, or oregano)

Place the sun-dried tomatoes (drained), garlic, parmesan cheese and nuts in a food processor or blender and puree until uniformly chopped. Add half of the olive oil and about 3/4 cup of the chicken stock. Puree until the pesto is smooth, adding more oil or stock, if necessary. Pour the pesto into a medium-sized saucepan. Add the cream and enough additional chicken stock to reach your desired consistency. Bring to a gentle boil, then add salt and pepper. Simmer, slowly, about 5 minutes, adding more stock, if necessary. Remove from heat and stir in fresh chopped parsley. Serve over pasta of your choice.

This is enough sauce for 1 lb. of pasta (we used gemelli, or “twins”), with about 1 cup left over for another use. If you like your pasta really “saucy”, then go ahead and use the whole batch. This would be great with a little sliced, grilled chicken mixed in. I also may try spreading some of the sauce on chicken breasts before baking. This would also be a GREAT sauce for a baked pasta dish (ziti, etc.), although I would not do lasagna with it, since it might be too rich once the ricotta is added into the equation.

This is another great recipe from the new Cooking Light cookbook. The recipe is on Cooking Light’s website and is REALLY easy.

I marinated the steak beforehand in a prepackaged marinade (Simply Organic Grilling Seasons Steak Marinade) that has salt, onion, garlic, pepper, thyme, tarragon and bay leaf in it; it just requires the addition of water, oil and vinegar. I wasn’t sure that Boy and Girl would eat the cilantro pesto, so I wanted the steak to have a little flavor of its own.

The pesto was REALLY yummy: tangy, lime-y and a great complement to the steak. I think that this pesto could be used for other things, too – on chicken, in a taco, on top of eggs, maybe mixed into rice. We would definitely make this again.

It just hit me that we’re eating a lot of red meat lately…..maybe fish tomorrow. Hubby’s not a big seafood fan, but he’ll be out of town tomorrow, so……..

Grilled Brined Pork Loin Chops

I adapted this recipe from a pre-packaged brine mix that I bought on vacation once. After I came home and used the mix, I couldn’t find a place to buy it anymore, so I had to “wing it”. Brining really does make a huge difference, especially with pork, and makes your meat very flavorful and juicy.

8 thinly-sliced pork loin chops
3 Tbsp. kosher salt
8 whole peppercorns
1 tsp. brown sugar
1 prune, coarsely chopped
1 or 2 coarsely chopped “baby” carrots
1 minced garlic clove
2 Tbsp. coarsely chopped celery
2 Tbsp. coarsely chopped onion
2 dried apple slices, coarsely chopped

Mix all ingredients, except pork chops, with 6 cups cool water. Stir well until salt is dissolved. Soak porkchops in salt solution, refrigerated, for 24 hours (I use a Ziploc bag). Remove from brine, discarding brine. Rinse chops and pat dry. Grill (or broil, if you prefer). Yummy.

A quick, easy lunch (we were still full from frittatas until about 2:00!). This looks kind of weird in the photo, but they were actually pretty good!

Open-faced Reuben Sandwich Melts

2 slices rye bread (I like the kind with caraway seeds)
1/2 cup sauerkraut
4 or 5 slices corned beef
2 slices baby Swiss cheese
3 Tbsp. ketchup
3 Tbsp. mayonnaise
prepared horseradish to taste (1 or 2 Tbsp.)
3 Tbsp. sweet pickle relish

Mix together ketchup, mayo, horseradish and relish (this is just basically Thousand Island with a little kick). Spread a generous amount on one side of each slice of bread. Next, top each slice of bread with corned beef, then sauerkraut, then Swiss cheese. Bake at 300 degrees, watching closely (I use my toaster oven), until meat is warmed through, bread is toasted and cheese is melted, about 3 to 5 minutes. Serves 2.