Sabbatical

To my (few but) loyal blog followers....

I love the whole idea of a blog and my intent in beginning this was to try and demonstrate that you CAN cook a decent meal for your family while having a busy life....and I think I "started" to do that... however, I was trying to do the blog at the same time as finishing my family cookbook, work full time, have two teenage children and be a somewhat decent wife to my husband....I realized that what was NOT getting done was the cookbook.  I am probably over half way complete with putting down our family favorites, many of my Mom, Grandmother and Great Aunt's recipes and what has become our family favorites in a format that I could print in a relatively small quantity and give to family members, new neices, new (soon to be) daughter-in-laws etc.  SO... I have decided to suspend the blog...not quit but take about 6 months to spend my free time heads down with testing and finishing the cookbook process.  My goal is to get it published in some form before summer is over (my real goal is July 4th but that may be ambitious). 

So...thanks for checking in with me on this...and if you are interested in recieving a copy of the cookbook, send me a comment and I'll put you down for one - trust me it won't rival Martha Stewart but it will be filled with great recipes that I know work every time....and perhaps a little bit of family history surrounding the recipe.  My daughter Jenny named it..."Pass the plate and share the love".  Let me know if you want a copy, and I'll be back blogging (and hopefully taking better pictures than currently) in a few months.

Good cooking to you all...
Frances

Scallops in Sage Cream

Another busy week around our house with a wonderful birthday party for my Mom (85^th) in the middle.  I made a resolution to try and blog more – honestly I’m doing the cooking it is just getting time to sit down and write about it!  We did have a couple of meals I tried this week that while they were certainly edible, were not “blog worthy”….that is the term my kids have coined when they like a meal well enough for me to include it.  The week was not a total loss on the food front -  we started off last Sunday night with a magnificent pasta dish I will tell you about below.  When every person at the table gave me either an “outstanding” “awesome” “delicious” or “amazing” I think it qualifies as blog worthy!  I am also going to try later this week to include a couple of new things we tried over the holidays that went over well – they are certainly not limited to Christmas or New Years entertaining. 

Scallops in Sage Cream

1-1/2 lbs sea scallops

¼ tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

3 Tbsp olive oil, divided

½ cup chopped shallots

¾ cup heavy whipping cream

6 fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced

Hot cooked pasta

Sprinkle scallops with salt and pepper.  In a large skillet, sauté scallops in 2 Tbsp oil for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes on each side or until firm and opaque.  Remove and keep warm.  In the same skillet, sauté shallots in remaining oil until tender.  Add cream; bring to a boil.  Cook and stir for 30 seconds or until slightly thickened.

Return scallops to the pan heat through.  Stir in sage.  Serve over hot pasta (we used fettuccini).

NOTES:  This is absolutely a recipe where you need to have all of your ingredients prepped and ready by the stove.  Also, if you can’t find fresh sage, make this another time…it is mandatory.  A note on scallops – buy the frozen if you can’t find fresh.  They worked just fine here.  This is absolutely delicious and easy to prepare.  If you are entertaining with this, I'd just have everybody bring their drink into the kitchen because it's only about 10 minutes to prepare and needs to be eaten soon after.

Hot Soup!

I hope wherever you are it is warmer than where I am.  Atlanta has had this amazing stretch of arctic like weather…and we don’t deal with it well.  I have not gotten my morning walk in for over a week due to temperatures in the teens.  I’m hoping for warmer air soon.

In the winter I usually have a soup dinner every week to 10 days.  I think there are a variety of benefits – its easy; its usually economical; it gets my kids eating vegetables they might not eat if served individually and it just feels good!  I’ve done two soups recently that both turned out well and I have them below.  The Chicken Corn Chowder easily made enough for two meals or to freeze.  The tomato was just right for 4 full bowls along with some crusty rolls.  I would recommend them both and I think you will enjoy.  If you have someone at your house that doesn’t like Blue Cheese – try the  tomato soup anyway….it really just gives it a nice flavor and I used a mild blue.  You could not really distinguish the taste.  I love blue cheese and would actually go for a stronger variety of blue next time.

Cheddar, Chicken and Corn Chowder

3 slices bacon, diced

1 cup chopped onion

½ green bell pepper, chopped (I used red)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

3 cups chicken stock

1-1/2 cups unpeeled cubed red potatoes (about 2 medium)

1-1/2 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 cups milk

2 cups cubed cooked chicken

1 cup seeded, peeled chopped tomato

½ cup grated cheddar cheese

¾ teaspoon salt (I used more)

Freshly ground pepper to taste

In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp.  Transfer bacon to a plate leaving 1-tablespoon drippings in Dutch oven.  Add onion, bell pepper and garlic and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes.  Add stock and potatoes and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes  Stir in the corn.

In a bowl, blend flour and milk.  Stir into soup.  Increase heat to medium-high and stir until thickened, about 5 minutes.  Reduce heat to medium-low and add chicken, reserved bacon, tomato, cheese, salt and pepper.  Simmer uncovered until flavors are blended and cheese is melted, about 15 minutes longer

This was published in “The Big book of Soups and Stews”

Spicy Tomato and Blue Cheese Soup


"Michael Symon's Live To Cook" by Michael Symon

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:


2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium red onion, finely chopped


Kosher salt


4 garlic cloves, sliced


1 28-oz can San Marzano tomatoes, with their juice


1 1/2 cups Chicken Stock


3/4 cups heavy cream


2 tablespoons sriracha sauce


1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves


1/2 cup Roth Kase Buttermilk Blue cheese ( I could not find and used a mild, creamy blue)

Heat the olive oil in a 4-quart pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion and a three-fingered pinch of salt and sweat for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to sweat for 2 more minutes. Add the tomatoes, their juice and the stock and bring to a simmer. (I added a little more salt here too). Add the cream, sriracha sauce, and oregano and simmer for 45 minutes.

Pour the soup into a blender, add the blue cheese, and blend until smooth, working in batches if needed.

Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean pot, taste, adjust the seasoning if necessary, and reheat to serve. The soup will keep, covered in the refrigerator, for a few days.

If you are like me and didn’t know what Sriracha sauce was, it is a spicy Asian sauce, similar to Tabasco.  I could not find it (but am still looking after I read the great reviews online so I’ll keep you posted), therefore I used Texas Pete which I had in the cabinet. 

Both of my kids and Greg l loved this soup …. It will definitely go into the “soup rotation”… I hope you enjoy.

Gingerbread Cake with Stout Buttercream

Twas the night before Christmas Eve....

I won’t try to rhyme, but my mother in law was arriving this night, and I had invited my Mom over for dinner also.  I knew I wanted something lighter than what we would be eating for the next few days, so I bought some fresh tilapia for supper.  I made a coating out of crushed pecans (very finely chopped in the food processor to look almost like flour), panko breadcrumbs and shredded Parmesan cheese.  I then dipped the fish in melted butter and then in the breadcrumb mixture.  It only took about 4-5 minutes under the broiler (watch very carefully – the pecans can and will burn)  If you are concerned, you may want to just bake them for about 10 minutes at 375 and then check for doneness.

We had this with rice, and roasted asparagus and it was delicious.  I think with any fresh white fish (snapper, catfish etc) this would be quick and easy.

For dessert, I had wanted to try this cake for some time and thought this would be a good night to do so.  It is from “The Best of Southern Living” magazine that I picked up in the grocery one day – it has so many pages turned down it looks like it is the only cookbook I have (ha!).  The cake was wonderful.  So moist and the stout beer flavors brought out the spiciness of the Gingerbread…I would absolutely do this again.  Using a gingerbread mix cuts your time down to almost nothing.   It is almost a week later, and it is still very moist and good.

Gingerbread cake with Stout Buttercream

Ingredients

•               2  (14.5-oz.) packages gingerbread cake mix

•               2 large eggs

•               2 3/4  cups  stout beer, at room temperature, divided

•               1/2  cup  butter, softened

•               1  (16-oz.) package powdered sugar

•               Garnishes: toasted pecans, rosemary sprigs

Preparation

1. Stir together gingerbread cake mix, eggs, and 2 1/2 cups stout beer in a large bowl until combined. Pour batter evenly into 2 lightly greased 8-inch square pans.

2. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on a wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and let cool on wire rack 1 hour or until completely cool.

3. Beat softened butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar and remaining 1/4 cup stout beer, beating until blended after each addition. Beat 1 minute or until light and fluffy.

4. Spread stout buttercream between layers and on top of cake. Garnish, if desired.

Pot Roast and Rainy Days

December 28, 2009

 Whew!  Somewhere between Thanksgiving and this week, things started moving too fast!  We had a wonderful and Blessed Christmas surrounded by family and friends…exactly as you want it to be.  But if I am going to be completely honest, I’m just a touch glad to have all the busyness behind me.  This “week between” is always a great week,  - quiet and calm compared to the past month. We did a ton of eating and I apologize for the lack of blog posts….I’m going to try and catch up over the next couple of weeks, so please check back often.

The first catch up is a wonderful pot roast that I made on a very cold and rainy day.  Really one of those days where you hope you can do everything to avoid leaving the house.  In a moment of brilliance (those are few and far between), I remembered I had a pot roast in the freezer and a crock-pot that was probably lonely!

I don’t remember a lot of pot roast dinners growing up.  My Mom  probably knew the title “Yankee Pot Roast” and that was enough to deter her from making them.  I love a good pot roast, but I prefer to NOT have all of the vegetables you normally find in the pot roast cook with it.  I find that by the end of the cooking, the carrots, onions potatoes and whatever you put in tastes just like the roast and has lost all flavor and texture.  So I like this Southern Living recipe (from a wonderful cookbook called “Southern Living Homestyle Cookbook” which is actually titled, Beef with Red Wine Sauce.

Beef with Red Wine Sauce; Roasted Vegetables

3 lb boneless chuck roast, cut into one-inch pieces (I left it whole)

1 medium onion, sliced

1 lb fresh mushrooms, halved

1 package brown gravy mix (1.61 oz)

1 can beef broth (10.5 oz)

1 cup red wine

2 Tbsp tomato paste

1 bay leaf

Hot cooked noodles or rice

Place the first 3 ingredients into a slow cooker.  Whisk together the gravy mix and next 3 ingredients; pour evenly over beef and vegetables.  Add bay leaf.  Cover and cook on High for 6 hours; Discard bay leave and serve.

For the vegetables, I went back to my favorite method of roasting.  I took whatever I had on hand, chopped them into evenly sized pieces and drizzled a nice bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and in this case McCormick Steak Seasoning (I love this spice mix and it is absolutely great on many things besides steak).  The veggies then went into a hot oven (375-400) for about 20-25 minutes.    I just shake the pan around once in the middle to make sure all of the vegetables get nicely browned.  These have a wonderful crunch on the outside and keep their delicious flavor.  I then plate them along with the roast.

Philly Cheese Stuffed Garlic Bread

Hey Y’all,


First an apology for being so long in posting. We have been on an absolute whirlwind of activity since before Thanksgiving. Between family gatherings, wrestling tournaments all over the State, Business parties and receptions not to mention two kids in the middle of final exams I’m ready for a break!
We have managed to squeeze in a few family dinners in the midst of all the craziness and I will try to catch up soon on the posts.

Thanksgiving was wonderful – I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful family and not just are they nice folks, we really (really) enjoy being with each other. We had a fabulous meal (the turkey was perfect as always) and great fun and I did notice a few empty wine bottles in the recycling the next day! Our sons fiancé’s family joined us for dessert and made it even more special. I hope you all enjoyed the day and found time to take a breather when it was over.

In case anybody had a “boo-boo” in the cooking process, don’t worry - it happens to everybody. Remember that amazing upside down apple pie? Well I made it again, and it came out of the oven like a cover of a magazine. I let it cool the required 10 minutes, and then took my oven mitts (and luckily I was over a clean cookie sheet), flipped it. Well, you would have thought it was possessed by the devil, it jumped out of my mitts and landed in about 15 pieces on the cookie sheet….A few choice words uttered by me later we had “Apple Caramel Pecan crumble”…. UGH!

I saw the recipe above in the Rachael Ray magazine a couple of months ago, and I have to say, I only give it a “C”. However I am including it because with a couple of small changes I think it could be an “A”. We had a friend of my daughters over the night I made it and we really didn’t have enough food for 5, even with a salad on the side. (We are all pretty good eaters though).. I think when I do this again I would increase the amounts just a bit, and rather than serve it in one round bread loaf, I would find some decent size hard rolls (may be even small sub rolls) and fill them as individual servings. The meat filling was very tasty, just not easy to cut into servings and plate.  I am publishing it here as it was written.  If you are cooking for 2-4 people it would be fine - if more than that, I'd just bump up the ingredients a bit (or perhaps add some sauteed mushrooms) and try it in smaller indiviudal rolls.



Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Garlic Bread:

•1 1-pound loaf peasant bread


•1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), divided

•2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

•1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

•1 pound onions, thinly sliced

•1 pound sirloin steak or sirloin tips, very thinly sliced

•Salt and pepper

•1/4 cup dry red wine

•8 slices provolone cheese

PreparationPre-heat the oven to 375°F.

Slice off the top half-inch of the bread and reserve. Scoop out the insides of the loaf so that the shell is about a half-inch thick. Cut the scooped bread into cubes.

In a large skillet, heat 6 tablespoons EVOO over medium heat. Add the garlic and rosemary and cook for 2 minutes. Place the bread shell on a baking sheet and brush the inside with some of the seasoned oil.
Add 3 cups of bread cubes to the skillet with the remaining seasoned EVOO and toss to coat. Transfer the cubes to the baking sheet, scattering them around the bread shell. Place the reserved bread top on the baking sheet, cut side up. Bake until everything's brown and toasted, 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in the same skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons EVOO over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring until golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and reserve. Add the steak to the skillet and cook for 4 minutes; season with salt and pepper. Add the wine and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the reserved onions.
Spoon half of the steak-onion mixture into the toasted bread bowl. Top with half of the cheese, then half of the croutons. Layer with the remaining steak-onion mixture, croutons and cheese.
Bake until the cheese has melted, 3-5 minutes. Top with the bread lid. Slice into wedges and serve.

Thanksgiving...BBQ Turkey

I love all holiday's, but Thanksgiving is really at the top.  The entire day revolves around food, and family….how awesome is that? We usually host Thanksgiving with my Mom taking Christmas Eve and my Sister does Christmas day. That way, we spread the responsibility (read that as housecleaning) and no one family has to drive too much. Since both my Mom and Sister are great cooks, we also spread the assignments. We each bring a couple of side dishes and an appetizer. It really makes things easier and must less stressful so we can all enjoy the day more. The menu usually changes year to year with a couple of old family favorites and a few new dishes that we want to try. The one thing that does not change is the turkey preparation. Years ago (I mean like 40 years ago), my Mom found a recipe for bar-b-que sauce that was really different…no ketchup, not much vinegar, but a great spice mix. It is a somewhat thin sauce. Well it worked well on chicken and so one year my Dad decided to try it on the turkey. The next thing you know, he found an old hypodermic needle – now this was so long ago, that the needle he found we think was from a veterinary supply and was glass! So he would suck up the BBQ sauce into the needle and inject the turkey, all while basting the turkey also and cooking it on the grill on low heat. This was his show….and he enjoyed it. I have the greatest memories of him proudly lifting the cover on the grill to display this gorgeous bird as everybody arrived. About 10 years ago, Dad turned the turkey duty over to Greg…who clearly had the grill part down pat. We found stainless steel injection needles and then realized that we could do the BBQ sauce in the microwave and cut down on the time significantly. Then, about 6 years ago I read a long article about how to brine food. In it was a recipe for brined Turkey that soaks for 3 days in Bourbon, Maple Syrup, Water and pickling spice. That was it – the only thing that could add to our turkey…the brined, bbq’d injected bird was and is the best…there is no improving on this. I think we would have family mutiny if we tried…so here is the recipe and if you feel so inclined give it a shot.  I'll post a picture after Thursday!

I hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving…remember, it’s not all about the china matching, or the centerpiece being Martha Stewart worthy…it’s about being together and being thankful…..

Brined Turkey

Three days before Thanksgiving, put the thawed, cleaned turkey (without gizzards etc) into a clean large kitchen trash bag (no perfumes or odors).

In a large bowl, mix 2 cups pure maple syrup
2 cups bourbon
2 Tbsp pickling spice

Stir these together until the syrup has incorporated into the liquid. Pour over the turkey and then add cold water to cover the turkey. Place the first bag inside another one (in case of leakage), Place the turkey in a large cooler and fill with ice. Check on the turkey a couple of times a day, turning it over in the bag. You will need to replace the ice every day also.


On Thanksgiving morning, remove the turkey and discard the liquid. Let it come to room temperature. Clean any remaining pickling spice off and pat dry the turkey. Cover with a dry rub if wanted, and inject all over with the Collins Family BBQ sauce. Do not baste with the sauce yet as it will burn. Place on a BBQ grill over low, indirect heat for 2-5 hours based upon the size of the bird. In the last 60-90 minutes, baste with additional BBQ sauce. We make a separate batch of the sauce to serve alongside the bird.

Collins Family BBQ Sauce

In a microwave safe bowl add:

½ cup butter
¼ cup sugar
2 Tbsp flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
¼ t dry mustard
¼ t pepper
1/3 c apple cider vinegar
2 T Worcestershire
Dash Tabasco
3 Tbs hot water



Put in microwave and heat for 1 minute, stir, heat for additional 1 minute stir and continue heating and stirring every minute for 5-6 minutes or until thick.

This sauce is exceptional on chicken or turkey. If you do not use fresh ground pepper, you can use a turkey injector and put it throughout the inside the bird as well as basting. Fresh ground pepper is too thick to go through the injector. For a large turkey, you will need to double or triple the amount above.