Last recipe served in Virginia

This is the last real meal that I am going to cook in VA. Tonight’s dinner is pea soup and steamed buns. I heard about this on Martha’s radio show. It is called Engagement Chicken. It comes from Glamour Magazine’s “100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know“cookbook. I love roast chicken. I could say it is my favorite meal. This was very easy. I added roasted potatoes and mixed veggies from the freezer. I have whittled the freezers and the pantry down and the rest will be donated to the food pantry.
Roast Chicken, serves 2-4
Ingredients:
1 (4#) chicken
½ C freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 whole lemons
1T coarse salt
½ t freshly ground pepper
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with rack set in upper third.
2. Remove giblets from chicken and rinse chicken inside and out with cold water. Set chicken, cavity-side down, in a colander to drain for 2 minutes. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and place breast-side down in a medium roasting pan fitted with a rack; pour lemon juice all over chicken, inside and out. Season chicken, inside and out, with salt and pepper. (If you do not have a rack, scrunch up a bunch of aluminum foil to raise the chicken off the floor of the roasting pan)
3. Pierce whole lemons three times with the tines of a fork; place pierced lemons inside cavity. Using kitchen twine, truss chicken to enclose. Transfer roasting pan to oven and reduce temperature to 350 degrees; roast for 15 minutes.
4. Remove roasting pan from oven and, using tongs or two wooden spoons, turn chicken breast-side up. Return chicken to oven and cook until a thermometer inserted into the thigh reaches 180 degrees and juices run clear when thigh is pierced with a fork, 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.
5. Let chicken stand 15 minutes before carving. Transfer carved chicken to a serving platter and pour juices from roasting pan over chicken.
The word from Glamour is that they got hundreds of letters from women saying that their boyfriends popped the question after eating this chicken.
Moving to TN.  Taking about a week off from cooking.  Have to pack the pots and pans.

Chicken and Mushroom Quesadilla

Still cleaning out that freezer and tonight was the last of the chicken breasts and corn tortillas. I have a new cookbook called” Now Eat this! Diet” by Rocco Dispirito. It is a whole diet plan but I just made his Chicken and Mushroom Quesadilla to use up ingredients. I did not exactly follow the recipe but used it as a guide line. My corn tortillas were very small so I made 4 instead of 2. I also served some guacamole and chips so we have one left over. I added red pepper to the recipe to use it up. Supposed to serve 4. I really believe 4 is right. I had one, Jim had 2 and we have one left over.
Ingredients:
Nonstick cooking spray
1# sliced white button mushrooms
Salt
Pepper
1 T finely chopped shallots
2 T chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
4 (9”) low-cab tortillas, I used 8, 6”.
6 oz. shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
7 oz, cooked shredded skinless breast meat (2 breasts)
1 C jarred tomatillo salsa
Directions:
1. Heat a large nonstick sauté pan over medium heat. When hot, remove it from the stove just while you coat it with cooking spray. Add mushrooms and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook the mushrooms until they are tender, about 6-8 minutes. I also added the shallot and the red pepper at this point. Stir in the parsley at the end. I also added the shredded chicken and the salsa to the mushrooms.
2. I heated my grille over two burners.
3. Lay the tortillas on a work surface. Divided the cheddar cheese between the tortillas.( He used 2 I used 4) Scatter the remaining ingredients that you mixed together on the top and season with salt and pepper. Top with the remaining tortillas.
4. When the grille is hot, spray with the cooking spray. Add the tortillas to the grille. This is very hard. I can’t imagine what it would be like with bigger ones. Cook for about 4 minutes and turn. Flip (good luck) and cook an additional 4 minutes.
They were good, but the tortillas were a little tough.

Fun and Easy Sunday Supper with friends

Saturday night our friends had a dinner party for us. Mike and Linda are great cooks, and dinner did not disappoint. Our appetizers were brochette and a beef tips dish. I am getting the recipes for you and me. The pasta course was to die for and from Lidia’s Family Table cookbook. It is Ziti with onions, Fennel & Sausage. You can get the recipe on epicurious.com or foodblogsearch.com. This was followed by a chicken and asparagus dish and finally heavenly light cheese cake.


Last night we had friends over that have moved with us from PA to CA and back to VA. They claim they will not be moving to TN. The dinner was to celebrate Livermore Wines. We lived in Pleasanton and they lived in Livermore while in CA. But all wine in the area is considered the Livermore Valley. The three were Ivan Tamas,1992, Murrieta’s Well, 1993, and Westover, 1995 All were Cabernet Sauvignon, but Murrieta’s Well calls theirs Vendimia Red. We rated Murrieta’s Well the best. However as we noted, no one was spitting any wine out.

We started the evening with sushi and potstickers that I bought at Wegman’s. We had a white Italian wine from Vianza with that. The first course I made from Sunset Magazine.
Asparagus and teleme tart. Serves 4-6 and very easy.
Ingredients:
1 sheet refrigerated pie dough
8 oz of teleme cheese or whole milk mozzarella (not fresh or water-packed)
I# asparagus trim ends and cut into 3 ½” pieces. Mine were very thick so I also sliced in half, additionally I would recommend that if your asparagus is thick to peel it. )
Pepper
½ t EVOO
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Unroll the sheet of pie dough and fold in half. Roll into a 6 by 16 ½” rectangle. Fit into a 4 by 14” rectangular tart pan. Press against sides and roll over the top with a rolling pin. Prick bottom of crust with a fork and bake until golden, 10-15 minutes. (Tart can be made in a 9” round tart pan; don’t roll out dough, can cut asparagus to fit.) Quite frankly the reason I made this is I had the pan and probably have not used since living in PA.
2. Line the tart with the cheese cut in thin slices. Toss the asparagus with EVOO and arrange crosswise over cheese, tightly packed. Bake until cheese melts, 15 minutes. Sprinkle generously with pepper.
3. Cool slightly and serve.
I made it earlier and baked while we were having the appetizers.
For the main course we had torranados that Jim grilled with Penzeys Chicago Seasoning and Wegman’s béarnaise finishing butter. I accompanied this with Julia Childs Epinards A La Basquaise. This is a gratin of Spinach and sliced Potatoes with Anchovies. Serves 6
Ingredients:
½ cup of grated Swiss cheese + 1/3 C
3 Cups spinach braised in stock
1# boiling potatoes
2T mashed anchovies or 1 T anchovy paste
4 T softened butter + 2T melted butter
1/8 t pepper
3 T white bread crumbs
Directions:
1. Julia recommends fresh spinach but I used 2 bags of frozen spinach thawed. I then braised it until dry in beef stock. I then put it in a towel and squeezed all the extra moisture out. To the spinach add ½ C grated Swiss cheese.
2. Peel the potatoes and cut them into slices 1/8” thick. Boil them in salted water for 5 minutes or until tender, but they hold together. Drain.
3. Lightly butter a 2” deep and 9” diameter baking dish.
4. Mix the anchovies, softened butter and pepper together in a bowl.
5. Spread half of the potatoes in the bottom of the baking dish. Cover with half of the anchovy mixture and half of the spinach. Repeat with the remaining potatoes, anchovy mixture, and spinach.
6. Mix the remaining cheese and bread crumbs together. Spread the cheese and bread crumbs over the top of the casserole. Pour on the melted butter.
7. About 30 minutes before serving, place in upper third of a preheated 375 degree oven to heat through thoroughly and brown the tip nicely.
I also made this earlier in the day and was able to enjoy my dinner party. Kathy brought a wonderful brownie type dessert. It was chocolate so we enjoyed red wine and chocolate, a favorite introduced to us by the Concannon Winery on Valentine’s day.

Quiche

Two weeks to closing. Jim is back from TN. We had Julia Child’s quiche tonight with a few abbreviations of my own. It is the best quiche I have ever tasted.
Ingredients:
3 oz Roquefort
6 oz, cream cheese or cottage cheese (I used Gruyere and goat cheese for the Roquefort and used the remaining Parmesan cheese (unknown quantity) when I measured the cottage cheese.
2 T softened butter
2 T whipping cream
2 eggs
Salt and white pepper
I added:
¾# cooked asparagus and 1 cooked red pepper (These were in my freezer)
Cayenne pepper to taste (I used ½ t salt and 1/8 t of cayenne and black pepper)
½ T minced fresh chives or ½ t minced green onion tops (I used a small amount of white onion)
An 8” partially cooked pastry shell placed on a baking sheet
Directions:
1. Blend the cheese, butter, and cream with a fork, then beat in the eggs.
2. Season to taste and stir in the onion. I then chopped the red pepper and the asparagus while I was Par cooking the pastry.
3. I used a premade Pillsbury pastry. I put it is a quiche pan and baked at 400 degrees for 9 minutes.
4. Then I filled the shell and reduced the heat to 375 degrees and baked for 25 minutes.
I let it cool for 10 minutes and then served with a Blue Slate Riesling Kabinett. This is probably the best quiche I have ever made. I am sure it would be equally as good if you followed the recipe exactly. Julia considers quiche an appetizer. So it serves 6. Jim and I had it for dinner and it was fine.  We are still eating out of the pantry and freezer and refrigerator.  Jim said tonight that he has to use more of the  expensive poop bags for Max as we have no grocery bags. 

Annie's mac and cheese, Mexican style

I was alone last night, Jim is in TN.  Felt like Mexican food, but not doing a lot of work.  Looked in the cupboard and found Annie's mac and cheese and stewed tomatoes.  Annie's Mac and Cheese is posibably the worst in the world.  Jim bought a boat full thinking it was Kraft at Costco.  Kraft mac and chees is his got to meal when he is alone.  In the refrigerator I found Salsa Con Queso and Salsa Verde.  I boiled the macaroni for 12 minutes and drained.  I heated up the tomatoes and added the fake cheese to the tomatoes instead of milk as directed.  When it was disolved I added 1/2 C salsa con Queso and 2T salsa verde.  Added in the macaroni and cooked to warm the pasta up.  If was easy and very tasty.  I will not pretend this was a gourmet meal, but it filled the bill last night, fast, easy and tasted Mexican.

Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken Thighs and Pickled Peaches

Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken Thighs, 446 calories from Cooking Light, serves 4. I served with a salad of spring greens, blueberries with light Raspberry vinaigrette. I also served pickled peaches that I made from Gourmet magazine, August 1905. I did not die, so I must have been very good at canning at one time.
Chicken Ingredients:
2 t garlic powder
2 t chili powder
1 t salt
1 t ground cumin
1 t paprika
½ t ground red pepper
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
Cooking spray
6 T honey
2 t cider vinegar
Directions:
1. Preheat the broiler. (We used the grille instead of the broiler.)
2. Combine first 6 ingredients in a large resealable plastic bag. Add chicken and toss to coat. I did this early in the day and put the thighs back in the refrigerator.
3. Combine honey and vinegar in a small bowl, stirring well.
4. Jim grilled about 5-6 minutes per side brushing with the honey mixture.
This was very easy to cut down for 2 people. Jim was too light on the basting.
Pickled Peaches
Makes 6 pints
Gourmet says they are great with ham or fried chicken. They also go well with ice cream.
Ingredients:
1 (1000-mg) vitamin C tablet to prevent discoloration, crushed into powder
6 ½ C cold water
24 firm-ripe small peaches (6-7 #)
2 ½ C sugar
1 ¼ C distilled white vinegar
4 t pickling spice
¼ t kosher salt
Special Equipment: 6 1-pt) canning jars with lids and screw bands; a boiling water canner, or a deep 10-12 qt pot plus a flat metal rack; an instant-read thermometer
Directions:
1. Dissolve vitamin C powder in 6 cups of water in a large bowl.
2. Cut a shallow x in bottom of each peach with a sharp paring knife and blanch in 4 batches in a 5-6 Qt pot of billing water for 10-15 seconds. Transfer with a slotted spoon to the large bowl of cold water and let stand until cool enough to handle.
3. Peel peaches, then halve lengthwise and pit. Add peaches to acidulated (vitamin C added) water and let stand 10 minutes, and then drain well in a colander.
4. Toss peaches with sugar in a 6 qt. wide heavy pot and chill, covered, at least8 to 12 hours.
5. Sterilize jars and lids: Wash jars, lids, and screw bands in hot soapy water, then rinse well. (If you have a sterilize cycle on your dishwasher use that and you can skip boiling the jars and lids.) If not you have to boil the jars water and boil 10 minutes and heat the lids to 180 degrees.
Cook and can Peaches:
1. Add vinegar, spice, salt, and remaining ½ C water to peaches, and bring to a boil over moderate heat, skimming off foam. Reduce heat and simmer until peaches are barely tender, about 3 minutes.
2. Remove jars and lids from water or dishwasher and transfer to a clean kitchen towel. Divide peaches among jars using a slotted spoon.
3. Return peach-cooking liquid to a boil, and then pour into jars, leaving ¼” of space at top.
4. Run a thin knife between peaches and sides of jars to eliminate air bubbles
Seal and process jars:
1. Wipe off rims of filled jars with a dampened kitchen towel, and then firmly screw on lids with screw bands. Put sealed jars on rack in canner andadd enough hot water to cover jars by 2”.
2. Bring to a boil and boil the jars for 20 minutes. Transfer the jars with tongs to a towel-lined surface to cool. Jars will seal as they cool. (if you hear a ping, that signals that the vacuum formed at the top of the jar has made the lid concave)
3. After jars have cooled 12 to 24 hours, press center of each lid to check that it’s concave, then remove screw band and try to lift off lid with your fingertips. If you can’t, the lid has a good seal. Store in a cool dry place up to 6 months. Promptly put any jars that haven’t sealed in the refrigerator and use them first.
Yes this is a lot of trouble, but the peaches are delicious. I bet these days you could vacuum seal the peaches and freeze. I am going to try that this summer. That is why I told you all about the peaches as I will not see my Gourmet magazines again until we move into our new house. Anyway dinner was good.

Boursin Creamed Spinach

My writing will be rather sporadic for a while. We have sold our house and we are moving to TN from VA. We are still eating out of the freezer, but as Jim has taken all my special oils and liquid condiments that were open to TN, I have almost nothing left to cook with. Before he left we had barbecued chicken with Boursin Creamed Spinach from Cuisine At Home Magazine.
Ingredients For the spinach filling:
½ C diced onion
1T unsalted butter
2 T all-purpose flour
1 C Milk
½ C heavy cream
1 pkg. Boursin Garlic & Fine Herbs Cheese (5.2 oz)
1 pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry of excess moisture (10 oz.)
2 T grated Parmesan
1 t minced lemon zest
Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and ground nutmeg to taste
For the Crumb Topping
2/3 C Panko bread crumbs
1T unsalted butter, melted
1T EVOO
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat a shallow 2 C baking dish with non stick spray; set aside.
2. Sauté onion in 1T butter in a saucepan over medium heat until soft, 5 min.
3. Add flour and stir to coat onion, about 1 minute.
4. Gradually whish milk and cream into onion mixture, stirring constantly to prevent lumps. Simmer sauce one minute.
5. Stir in Boursin, a little at a time, until cheese is melted and sauce is smooth. Remove saucepan from heat.
6. Add spinach, Parmesan, zest and seasonings. Transfer spinach mixture to a prepared baking dish.
7. Combine crumbs, 1 T butter, oil salt and pepper. Top spinach with crumbs, pressing them to adhere. (Dish may be covered and chilled at this point to be baked later.) Place dish on a baking sheet; bake until crumbs are golden and sauce is bubbly, 20-25 minutes.
This dish was very tasty and crunchy at the same time.

Un-Fried Catfish

We have been in TN. Found a house to rent until ours is built, set up bank accounts and transferred the contents of our bank box to a bank in TN. Today our moving company delivered boxes for us to pack as much as we want to. I am really looking forward to leaving VA. Unless you are absolutely brain dead, never ever move into a 55 and older community with an HOA.
Still in Rosie’s Cookbook and made her catfish for apparently the second time. She thinks it tastes just like fried with 1/3 calories and 1/6th the fat. If you used blackening seasoning in your regular friend catfish, you would probably agree. We had it with the rest of sauerkraut Pierogi I had frozen; still eating out of the freezer, preparing for the move.
Ingredients:
Vegetable oil cooking spray
¼ C cornmeal
1 t dried thyme
1 t dried basil
½ t garlic powder
½ t lemon pepper
4 t blackening seasoning
Four 4 oz catfish fillets
½ t paprika
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray the vegetable oil over the baking sheet 3 times to coat. I lined my baking sheet with non stick aluminum foil.
2. Put cornmeal, thyme, and basil on a large plate and mix well.
3. Mix the garlic powder, lemon pepper and blackening seasoning together and sprinkle evenly on the 4 fillets. Then coat the fillets with the cornmeal mixture and transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Dust each fillet with 1/8 t of the paprika. Coat the catfish fillets lightly with the cooking spray.
4. Place the baking sheet on the bottom shelf of the oven. Bake for 20 minutes and reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for about 5 minutes more until the crust is golden and fish flakes easily.
I thought her baking time was too long and reduced the time to a total of 20 minutes. I like my version where I use EVOO and sauté better, but this does reduce the fat.