Beef Stew with Cannellini Beans and Sage

Just a simple and delicious beef stew recipe. I made this yesterday so tonight Chris just had to heat it up and add the beans. Simple cooking. The recipe is from Every Night Italian and the recipe can be found at this link.

Italian Stuffed Artichokes and The Patty Melt

Something for me and something for Chris on tonight's menu.

The Artichokes recipe is from Food Blogga.  Sorry about the quality of this photo. I can not believe I only took one photo! The stuffing is very similar to my mom's. I did not have pine nuts in the house so they were omitted. And I thing next time I will use regular canned chopped olives. I know that is what my mom used. Click here to try this amazing recipe.

About that Patty Melt. I can not think of a better recipe for a cold, very cold Sunday evening. The meat and onions and cheese add up to a most delicious type of dinner. I am trying to cook healthier this year but I think this is one of those "exception" recipes. Delicious but probably not something you should make too often! The recipe is from Bon Appetit. Click Here for the recipe.

And what the heck is this? Well tomorrow a co-worker is returning to work after a couple of weeks off for medical reasons. I wanted to welcome her back with one of her favorite things, Nutella. So I found a recipe for a Nutella Swirl Bread. OMG! So darn easy and so amazingly delicious!* Here is the recipe. It is from the Laura in the Kitchen blog and it is amazing!

* - Yes this post was written on Monday, January 12. I brought the bread to work today and it disappeared very quickly!

Sausage and Radicchio Risotto

Tonight we had Sausage and Radicchio Risotto from Luca Manfé's My Italian Kitchen. Wow! I watch Hells Kitchen all the time and risotto is one of the dishes that always resulted in someone to be called a "donkey" by Chef Ramsey. Yes I was a little nervous making this. And it is time consuming. You actually have to stand there and stir for at least 20 minutes. Well I solved the standing there for 20 minutes problem. The solution was to hold an Absolute Vodka and Soda while stirring. Worked out perfectly. By the time I finished my cocktail the risotta was cooked perfectly. Or as Chef Ramsey would say, "Spot On!"

Pork Medallions with Wine and Herb Gravy

I found the recipe for tonight's dinner online. Pork Loin with Wine and Herb Gravy.  I am not sure how I came upon the site seasonsandsuppers.ca but if you have time you should visit it. I know I will be visiting again. Back to dinner. I had all the ingredients in the house. I worked from home today so I thought I would be able to pull this off without having to serve dinner too late. Well of course I had to work longer than usual, 45 minutes, so I had to make an change in the recipe. I cut the pork loin into medallions. This reduced the cooking time by a lot! I had dinner on the table by 6:45! And it was delicious. And using only one tenderloin, and cutting the ingredients in 1/2 there was just enough for the two of us.

This morning it was snowing. I was glad I picked today to work from home. When it snows I like to bake bread. Actually I like to bake bread all the time but on a snowy day it just seems like the right thing to do. I made English Muffins for tomorrow's breakfast. Oh they look so good!

Chicken Pot Pie

Another wordless Wednesday. But if you want to make try this recipe click here!

And yes those are heart shaped crust cut-outs around the edges of the pie. 

Roasted Zucchini and Eggplant Lasagna

Do we have another meatless meal that got 2 thumbs up? Yes we do! I think the roasting of the vegetables added a lot of flavor to the dish. This dinner was from The  Make-Ahead Cook. We have enough for another meal. So I guess this would be classified as a cooking for 2 meal.

My version of Roasted Zucchini and Eggplant Lasagna, from The  Make-Ahead Cook.

Ingredients-
1 1/2 lbs zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/2 lbs eggplants, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper
1 onion, chopped fine
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
12 no-boil lasagna noodles
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded (2 cups)
3 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (1 1/2 cups)



Method-
Grease two rimmed baking sheets. Adjust oven racks to lower middle and upper middle positions and heat oven to 400 deg F.

Toss zucchini and eggplant with 3 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper. Spread on baking sheets and bake, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden brown, 35-45 minutes; set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 tbsp oil in large saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes with their juice, bring to simmer and cook until flavors blend, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in basil and salt and pepper, to taste. Let cool to room temperature, about 45 minutes. You should have about 7 cups of sauce -

Spread 1 cup cooled sauce on bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Lay 3 noodles in dish, spread one-quarter of cooled vegetables over noodles, and top with 1 cup sauce. Sprinkle 2/3 cup mozzarella and 1/2 cup Parmesan over sauce.
Lay remaining 3 noodles in dish and top with remaining vegetable and 1 cup s

Wrap dish tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate lasagna, and the remaining sauce, for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 deg F. Unwrap dish and spread reserved sauce over top. Cover dish tightly with greased aluminum foil and bake lasagna until hot throughout and bubbling around edges, about 45 minutes. Remove foil, sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan an bake, uncovered, until cheese is melted and begins to brown, about 10 minutes.

Let cool ten minutes, and serve.

French Onion & Beef Strudel and Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup

 

The food we had tonight was cooked yesterday and Chris had to heat it up when he got home. That is how we roll. I have bit of a commute so to prepare dinner when I get home would result in eating at 8 or 9 o'clock, which is too close to bed time!

I have been making this French Onion and Beef Strudel since March of 1994. I found the recipe in one of those cookbooks that they sold at the check out counter. The original recipe calls for an 8 ounce can of Crescent Rolls. I had Phyllo dough in the freezer so I used that instead. The results, well lets just say there is only a little left over.

Ingredients-
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white onions, thinly sliced
6 ounces beef sirloin, sliced 1/8-inch thick
1 teaspoon flour
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup beef broth
1 (8 ounce) can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

Method -
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a small bowl combine mozzarella cheese and 1/4 Parmesan cheese. Set aside.
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions. Cook and stir until the onions are a rich, golden-brown color. Remove onions with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving dripping in pan.
Add beef to skillet. Cook and stir until evenly browned; 2-3 minutes. Return onions and any juice to skillet. Add flour, brown sugar, cumin, salt, pepper, and beef broth. Cook and stir (scraping bottom of pan) for 5 minutes or until almost all the liquid is absorbed.
Grease a cookie sheet. Separate crescent rolls into 8 triangles. Slightly overlap long sides of 2 triangles together to make one large triangle; press to seal. Repeat until you have 4 large triangles. Place triangles in a row, all pointing the same direction and overlapping, on the cookie sheet. Press to seal. Spoon onion mixture down the center in 1-1/2“ wide strip, leaving about 1” at top and bottom. Sprinkle with the cheese mixture. Bring side points of crescent rolls over the filling to create a braid-like appearance. seal ends. Sprinkle with 2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until deep golden brown.

And there was the Tomato Soup, I always am afraid we might not have enough for dinner (this is something I inherited from my Mom!). The recipe was from The Complete Cooking For Two Cookbook. This was perfect with strudel and I have a portion leftover for lunch. I only made a couple of changes in the original recipe. I left out the garlic and chives.

My version of Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup, from The Complete Cooking For Two Cookbook.

Ingredients -
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion chopped
1 (28-oz) cam whole peeled tomatoes
2 slices of Italian bread, crusts removed, torn into small pieces
2 tsp. brown sugar
1/1 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp brandy
Salt and pepper

Method -
Heat 1 tbsp oil in medium saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and their juice and mash with potato masher unil no pieces are large than 2 inches.
Stir in bread and sugar, bring to simmer, and cook until bread is saturated and starts to break down, about 5 minutes. Process soup using immersion blender or regular blender with remaining 1 tbsp oil until smooth, about 2 minutes. Return soup to saucepan.
Stir in broth and brand and bring to brief simmer. Adjust soup consistency with extra broth as needed. Season with salt and pepper.

Pane Cotto

Today would have been my Mom's 94th birthday. I thought of her all day as I was doing my cooking. And boy did I do some cooking. A large pot of meat sauce. Chicken Pot Pie. Zucchini and Eggplant Lasagna. Beef Strudel. Tomato Soup. And I made a pot of chicken broth from the carcasses of some roasted chickens I had in the freezer. I used a recipe from What's Cooking America. I ended up with 7 cups of broth. Not bad. Now doing all this cooking is not hard. Yes it is time consuming but I know I am putting a home cooked meal on the table every night. What is hard? Cleaning up.

Cooking is easy, it's the cleaning up that is hard.

Besides all the things I listed above I still made something different for dinner. Pane Cotto. Escarole, bread and I added chicken. This is true comfort food.

This recipe was from the New Haven Register, April 15, 2009. It is from Jo Farricielli of East Haven, CT.

Pane Cotto
Ingredients -
1/2 loaf Italian bread, cubed; bread can be day-old, stale or fresh
1/2 sliced onion
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
4 - 6 cups of cooked Escarole and Beans, recipe follows

Method-
Coat 9- by 13-inch casserole or baking dish with cooking spray. Spread enough cubed bread to cover bottom of a 9- by 13-inch casserole or baking dish. Saute onion in olive oil until onions are golden and slightly caramelized. Spoon this mixture over the bread. Then cover with the Escarole and Beans.
Sprinkle top generously with grated Parmesan and mozzarella and bake in a preheated 350- degree oven for 20 minutes. Move to upper shelf in oven, and broil for 5 minutes, until cheese is slightly browned. Makes 6 generous servings.

Escarole and Beans
Ingredients - 
1 large head of escarole
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 cup cooked cannellini or pea beans, canned or freshly cooked
Salt and pepper

Method-
Wash escarole. Remove core, cut leaves and boil in about 2 cups of salted water until it cooks down and is completely tender. Remove from heat; reserve liquid. Lightly saute garlic in olive oil. Add cooked beans, escarole along with enough liquid to make the mixture slightly soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook together on top of stove for 20 minutes. This can Be made ahead of time, eaten as is with fresh Italian bread or made into Pane Cotto.

Chicken and Rice

From The Complete Cooking For Two Cookbook we have Chicken and Rice. The recipe called for chicken thighs. The chicken thighs at the store were very sad looking so I opted for 2 bone-in breasts. I cut the breasts in half and then followed the recipe. Even though this was cooking for 2 we still had leftovers!

Chicken and Rice, from The Complete Cooking For Two Cookbook.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup long-grain white rice
salt and pepper
4 (5- to 7- ounce) bone-in chicken thighs, trimmed
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped fine
2 garlic cloves, minced (I didn't use this)
3/4 tsp minced fresh thyme or 1/8 tsp dried
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Method
1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine 3/4 cup broth, rice and 1/4 tsp salt in bowl. Cover and microwave until rice is softened and most of the liquid is absorbed, 6 to 8 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, pat chicken dry with the paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in medium ovensafe saucepan over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown chicken well, about 5 minutes per side; transfer to plate.
3. Pour off all but 1 tsp fat from saucepan. Add onion and 1/4 salt and cook over medium-low heat until soften and lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup broth and wine, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in parcooked rice, breaking up any large clumps, and bring to simmer. Place browned chicken skin side up on rice, cover (Use ovensafe cover for the pot), and bake until rice is cooked through and the chicken registers 175 degrees, about 25 minutes.
4. Using potholders (saucepan handle will be hot), remove saucepan from oven. transfer chicken to serving platter and tent chicken loosely with aluminum foil. Fluff rice with fork, cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with rice.

Lentil and Kale Soup

Happy New Year! Let's start the new year off with a good breakfast. A frittatta using up some roasted potatoes, some zucchini and cherry tomatoes along with bacon and cheddar cheese.

We had sandwiches made on No Knead Sandwich Bread. I made this Monday and added whole wheat flour and flax seeds to the dough. It was delicious!

Dinner was a pot of Lentil and Kale Soup. Yeah that is Tuscan Kale, I love Bishop's! They have the best produce around. And I had some chicken in the freezer from the last time I made broth. And yes those are hot dogs you see in the soup. Starting off the new year by cleaning out the freezer.  This soup was so nourishing and delicious. I am sure it is because of the homemade broth.