Chicken Caccaitora Version 1

In the cookbook, La Cucina, the Regional Cooking of Italy, there are 3 recipes for Chicken Caccaitora. This is the first recipe of the three recipes.

Pollo All Cacciatora 1, Hunter-Style Chicken 1. This is from the Piemonte region.

Ingredient-

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2/3 cup sliced onions

1 lb. carrots, sliced

1 celery stalk, sliced

3 1/2 lbs chicken, cut in pieces

1/2 lb ripe plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped

Chicken Broth, if necessary

Salt and Pepper

Method-
Heat half the olive oil in a large pan and add the onions, carrots and celery.  When they have taken on color, remove them and set aside.

Put the chicken in the pan with the remaining olive oil and when the pieces  have colored, add the white wine. When the wine has evaporated, add the tomatoes and reserved vegetables. Continue cooking at low heat about 40 minutes., adding a little broth if necessar. Adjust for salt and pepper.

It Must Be Autumn. Mom's Baked Macaroni

Yes, it is that time of year. No, not pumpkin. Baked Macaroni time! Not just any Baked Macaroni. My Mom's Baked Macaroni. Honestly, this is the only recipe you need. You can use whatever pasta you have. You can use whatever cheese you have. You just have to make it with love. 

My Mom's Baked Macaroni Recipe.

Boil 1/2 pound elbow macaroni.
Grease Pyrex loaf pan.
Alternate layers of macaroni and sliced American cheese starting with the macaroni.
Break and beat 3 eggs and pour over macaroni. Fill the baking dish with milk to almost cover macaroni.
Top with bread crumbs, and parsley. Bake 350 degrees until set, usually about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Slow Cooker Short Ribs

I have mentioned the magazine that Delish.com puts out. In the latest issue, I have 14 pages folded down. This was one of them. The sauce was delicious and the vegetables and the meat were packed with flavor. This received rave reviews. Click here for the recipe on Delish.com. I cut the recipe in half and had enough for the two of us. Wish there were leftovers!

 

Grilled Pork Chops and a Birthday Girl!

Perfect weather for grilled pork chops. Marinated the center cut, bone-in pork chops in a mixture of 2 tbsp. Olive oil, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 tsp brown sugar, 1 tbsp soy sauce, salt, and pepper.

Some sauteed spinach and roasted potatoes.

Today is Lucy's Birthday! 13!!!! I had to make her something special for dinner. She loves air fryer salmon. I only brushed the salmon with olive oil before air frying it.

Preheat air fryer to 390˚. Place dried salmon on parchment paper. Brush with olive oil. 

Place parchment into preheated air fryer. 10 minutes. That's it. Test for doneness by sticking a fork into the thickest part of the fillet and twisting gently. It should flake easily. Remove the fish from the basket immediately or it will continue to cook.

All of the salmon was not for Lucy, but she will have a little snack over the next couple of days. I will be eating most of it as the protein in my salad for lunch. You see, it is a win win for both her and I.

 

Creamy Parmesan Tomato Tortellini Soup

I follow the Delish cooking site online. Now they have a magazine. This month's issue has 13 folded-down pages!

And as the magazine connects with the website I found the recipe on their site.
Click here to try it!

Dinner received rave reviews. It was easy to prepare and came together in no time. Yes, this will be put in our Autumn/Winter recipe rotation.

Its is Time for Sauce

This is my Mom's recipe. I used ground beef, pork ribs, sausage and added meatballs that I made in the air fryer. I am not saying this just because I made the sauce, but it was so delicious. The flavors were perfect, the meat melted in your mouth. Just as I remember my Mom's sauce. Super happy that I have 4 more portions in the freezer.

Game Day Chili

The 2020 Football season is upon us. 

How about those Saints!! 

I know it is only week one, but still! 

Chili was on the menu tonight. 

Slow cooker chili. 

Easy peasy chili.

Ingredients-

1 pounds lean ground beef 
1 onion, chopped 
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
1(14-ounce) cans red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14-1/2-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 1/2 oz Lindt Cherry Chili 70% Cacao

Method-

Cook first 4 ingredients in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring until beef crumbles and is no longer pink; drain. Place mixture in 5-quart slow cooker; stir in beans and remaining ingredients. Cook on HIGH 3 to 4 hours or on LOW 5 to 6 hours. 

Wow. I am sure it was the chocolate that gave it that delicious flavor. 

Three Words - Air Fryer Salmon

I am not sure who was more excited about tonight's dinner. Chris, who only had to grill his porterhouse steak and the corn from Cole's Farm. Moi, who absolutely loved this dinner. Or Lucy, who also absolutely loved this dinner.

Air Fyer Salmon is the new house Salmon recipe. I googled Air Fyrer Salmon and found a recipe on CookingLight.com.

Measure the paper first, cutting it just a little smaller than the size of your basket and leaving longer sides, which will help you lift the salmon out of the basket easily.

Preheat air fryer to 390˚. Place dried salmon on parchment paper. Brush with olive oil. Season with parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Place parchment into preheated air fryer. 10 minutes. That's it. Test for doneness by sticking a fork into the thickest part of the fillet and twisting gently. It should flake easily. Remove the fish from the basket immediately or it will continue to cook.

Perfect flavor. Perfectly cooked. Flaky texture. Perfect.

Picked up a bottle of wine to go with dinner. Nice choice!

Did I mention that Lucy loved this dinner? Her piece was the one with no seasonings.

Week Two

Well, I have still not regained the use of my left arm. But we have been eating quite well this week.

We started Sunday night. I tried Instacart for grocery delivery this week, no way could I try to load the conveyer belt with groceries at the checkout. Loved Instacart. The person texted me if things on my list were not available, I could get used to this.

Anyway, I had her pick up Fried Chicken. It is just the perfect comfort food for me.

Monday we had Burgers that were purchased at Fresh Market. I managed to make Annies Macaroni and Cheese as the side dish. Starting of slow…

If we have burgers on Monday why not have Hot Dogs on Tuesday.

And the week keeps getting better! Pat's King of Steaks Sandwiches.

Thursday we had a different Zuppardi's Pizza, 

Mozzarella with Fresh Tomato with White Sauce. 

Two thumbs up for this one!!

Take out Friday! This time we picked up from Quattros in Guilford. This is one of our go-to Italian restaurants. We had an order of Clams Casino and I had the Gnocchi which is the lightest Gnocchi I have ever had. They are like little clouds of air in tomato sauce. Chris opted for the Bolognese, which is always spot on.

No Friday Night Baking again….

Moving on to Saturday night. Started off with
a Cosmopolitan while dinner was on the grill. 

We picked up Bone-in sirloin steaks at Roberts. 

Chris got the temp perfect!!!! Some of Coles Corn rounded out the meal. 

And we opened a bottle of red to enjoy, which we did, with the steaks.

What has been up with the weather this summer? Seriously. Rain, Rain, and More Rain. And let's not forget the humidity. It was a pretty miserable summer weather-wise. Tonight was no exception. We were going to do burgers on the grill, but the pouring rain had us pulling out the air fryers.

Now about those burgers. Bacon Cheddar and Cheese Stuffed Burgers. I found this recipe on PlaysWellWithButter. I believe we may have a new "House Burger". 

Here is the recipe for 4 1/4 lb burgers. I was able to make the burgers… slowly coming back into the kitchen. 

Does anyone else have a problem with keeping the cheese on the burger when you use the air fryer?

Ingredients-

3 slices bacon

1 pound 85% lean ground beef

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Method-

Par cook the bacon: Add the bacon to a skillet over medium heat (on the stove, not the grill). Cook 2-3 minutes per side until the bacon begins to render, but is not totally crispy. The goal is to par-cook the bacon since it’ll finish cooking in the stuffed burger patties. Remove from the heat. Once cool enough to handle, finely chop into small pieces.

Form the bacon cheddar stuffed burger patties: Add the chopped bacon to a bowl with the ground beef, shredded cheddar, Worcestershire, & ground black pepper. Using your hands, combine the mixture until the bacon and cheddar are evenly dispersed. Be careful not to overmix. Using a burger press or mold, form into 4 equally sized burger patties.

Labor Day!!! The Baked BBQ Chicken and the last of the Coles Farm Stand Corn.

We picked up 2 bone-in chicken breasts and basted them with Guy Fieri BBQ sauce and baked at 375˚ for one hour. I think we could have shared one of the breasts. I do not remember Chicken breasts being quite so large when I was little.

So I did do some cooking this weekend, not a lot. I made a recipe for Summer Bolognese from Bon Appetit for during the week and I air-fried tofu and zucchini for my lunch this week.

Hoping to be back in the kitchen at full capacity later this week. I have to say Chris did a fine job at the helm. The dinners were delicious and I did enjoy not having to do dishes!!!!