Rotisserie Chicken and Acorn Squash with Apples

This is our first night back from a great visit to Malibu and Santa Barbara, CA.  The fresh fruit and vegetables are to die for.  I had a glass of water at a restaurant with a cucumber in it.  It was so good.  I asked if they pre-prepared the water with cucumbers and they said no.  I doubt that our dead cucumbers would flavor water here.  At Emilio’s, I had gnocchi dish with fava beans.   I have not had a fava bean since leaving CA years ago.  I cannot understand why they are not everywhere.

Tonight I made rotisserie chicken and an acorn squash dish from Penzeys.  I make the stuffing up each time I make it.  

Rotisserie Chicken

Ingredients:

Tarragon

Garlic

Lemons

Rosemary

Salt and pepper

Directions:

1.       Wash and dry the chicken.  Salt and pepper the cavity.  I then stuff it with herbs, lemon and garlic.  I used orange EVOO on the outside of the chicken and salt and peppered it. 

2.       Truss and skewer the chicken on the turnspit and hold in place with the prongs.  Jim set the  fire on high and we roasted a 4# chicken for 1 ½ hours. 

It was moist and very flavorful.    

I thought this squash dish would be better than it was.  My really good squash dish recipe is in a box somewhere. This serves 4.  The great thing is it is easy to divide in half.   

Acorn Squash with Apples

Ingredients:

2 small acorn squash

½ C melted butter, divided

¼ C dark brown sugar

2 C peeled and chopped apples

1-2 t minced orange peel

¼ C raisins

1/8 t ground nutmeg

¼ t cinnamon.

Directions:

1.       Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cut each squash in half and remove seeds.  Place the halves in a baking dish sprayed with Pam, cut side down and bake for 40 minutes. 

2.       Combine half the melted butter in a dish with the brown sugar and mix well. 

3.       In a separate bowl, combine the remaining melted butter, chopped apples, orange peel, raisins, nutmeg and cinnamon.  Stir to blend.

4.       Remove squash from the oven and turn the halves so the cut side is up. 

5.       Prick the surface of the squash with a fork and then brush the cut surface with the butter/brown sugar mixture, pouring any extra into the halves. 

6.       Fill each half with the apple mixture.

7.       Place the filled squash halves in the oven and bake an additional 30minutes. 

The apples and raisins seemed to overwhelm the squash flavor.  Jim served a Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve merlot, Sonoma County, 2008.  It was great with the meal. 

We are getting close to Halloween.   I know that 2 young children live across the street.  We bought candy and I will be very dis appointed if we do not get trick or treaters. 

Cream of Celery Root Soup with Pears and Blue Cheese + Pigs in a Blanket

This is the best soup ever.  It was hard to find celery root around here, but we persevered and found it.  I got the recipe out of the Costco Connection magazine.  Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 ½ # celery root, peeled and chopped

3 fresh Bartlett or Bosc pears, cored and chopped, plus one more for garnish

4 T minced fresh chives

4 C low-sodium chicken broth

Salt and pepper

2 oz blue cheese, crumbled, at room temperature

Directions:

1.       Place celery root, pears, chives and chicken broth in a large pot over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. 

2.       Cover, reduce the heat and simmer until the celery root is tender, about 15 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3.       Carefully transfer soup to a blender and puree until smooth.  (I use an immersion blender to avoid this step.)

4.       Pour the hot soup into bowls and garnish with the crumbled blue cheese and chopped pear. 

With this I served a version of Pigs in a Blanket.   It is from a new cookbook called Basic to Brilliant, Y’all by Virginia Willis.  This was not as great as I thought it would be.  I thought the mustard seeds on the pastry would add more taste than they did. 

Ingredients:

1- 14oz oz box store-bought puff pastry

All purpose flour for rolling out

1 large egg

1 T water

6 fully cooked andouille sausage

2T yellow mustard seeds

2 T very fine yellow cornmeal

Creole mustard, for serving

Directions:

1.       Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone baking liner or parchment paper.

2.       Place the puff pastry on a lightly floured work surface.  Sprinkle the pastry with a little flour and roll out to a thickness of 1/8”.  Brush away any excess flour and trim the edges to form a 12” square. 

3.       Slice in half horizontally, then again in thirds to make six 4/6 “rectangles. 

4.       In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and water.  Brush the rectangles with the egg wash. 

5.       Put 1 cooked sausage along the long edge of the rectangle and roll up the pastry around the sausage and press the edge to seal.  The ends will stick out. 

6.       Place on prepared pan and continue to roll up the remaining sausages.  Refrigerate until firm and chilled, about 30 minutes or overnight.  Refrigerate the egg wash if keeping overnight. 

7.       Combine the mustard seeds and the cornmeal in a shallow dish.  Working with 1 roll at a time, brush the outside of the pastry all over with the reserved egg wash.  Roll in the seed-cornmeal mixture, and then place on the prepared baking sheet.  Finish all the sausages.  Return to the refrigerator and chill until firm.

8.       Bake until rich and brown on the bottom about 10 minutes.  Turn and brown some more until the pastry looks done.  Mine took 20 more minutes total and I turned every 10-5-5 minutes.

You can also cut each sausage into 6 pieces and bake flat if serving as a hors d’orves.  The brilliant part of this is to put on a wooden skewer and serve with mustard for dipping.  We were just doing dinner.   I think I am really going to like this cookbook.    

Escarole Salad with Provolone, warm white beans and Prosicutto Crisps

I got this salad out of USA weekend.  It was excellent.

Ingredients:

4T EVOO

3 oz. prosciutto cut into small dice (I used pancetta)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 can, 15oz, cannellini beans, not drained

1 head of escarole or romaine, halved, cored, chopped, washed

½ red bell pepper, stemmed, cored, seeded and cut into short thin strips

¼ large red onion, thinly sliced

16 pitted kalamata olives, coarsely chopped (about 1/3 C) Jim does not like olives so I added mushrooms

3 oz provolone, cheese diced

½ T wine vinegar

Directions:

1.       Heat 1 T EVOO in a small skillet over medium heat.  Add prosciutto and cook, stiring frequently until crisp and darkened in color, about 5 minutes.  Remove with a slotted spoon.  Add garlic to the skillet; sauté until golden, just seconds.  Add beans and their liquid; simmer until heated through and juices reduced slightly, a couple of minutes.  (Since I used pancetta, I did not use the oil and cooked the garlic, mushrooms and beans in with the pancetta after it rendered it’s fat.)

2.       Meanwhile, mix escarole, pepper, onion, olives and cheese in a large bowl.  Drizzle in remaining EVOO and add a sprinkling of salt and pepper.  Toss to coat and add the red wine vinegar.  Toss again and add the bean mixture.

3.       Taste and adjust seasonings.  I used a T of the vinegar.  If you used proscuitto, sprinkle on top.

Serves 4  

Seafood Tortilla Lasagna

I did not like last night’s dinner, but Jim did, so I will add it to the blog.   It might have been that the fish was not flaky enough.  This recipe comes from Penzeys catalogue.  It serves 8-12, and yes we have leftovers. 

Ingredients:

1 12 oz jar picante sauce or salsa (I used salsa from Costco, Mango with Peach)

1 ½ # halibut or other white fish (I used Tilapia)

1 t granulated garlic powder

4T EVOO

1/3 C flour

1 ¾ C chicken broth

½ C half & half, cream or 2% milk

1/8 t cayenne pepper

10-15 tortillas

2-3 C shredded cheese (cheddar, Colby or Mexican blend)

Directions:

1.       Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

2.       Place sauce or salsa in a blender and puree until smooth.

3.       Cut the fish into roughly 1” cubes.  Heat 2 T EVOO in a large, heavy skillet.  Add the halibut and garlic and cook until the halibut is opaque.  Remove the fish from the pan and set aside.

4.       Add 2 T EVOO to the pan.  Add the flour and stir continuously to make a smooth paste.  Add the broth a bit at a time and stir until thickened.  Reduce the heat to low and add the cream, cayenne and the pureed salsa.  Cook until heated through. 

5.       Spray a 9x12 pan with the cooking spray and spread a layer of sauce.  Top the sauce with a layer of tortillas and then the fish.  Repeat with another layer and top with cheese.  Bake at 375 for 30 – 35 minutes. 

I served with a simple salad of lettuce.  You can see that depending on the sauce or the fish this recipe could have many different flavors.  Also the originator of the recipe is from Alaska.  Interesting that she used grangulated garlic.  I bet if you do not have grandulated garlic that one clove fresh would be the substitute.     

Ancho-marinated skirt steak with warm black bean salad

I have been asked how I do it with my hip being so bad.  Well on really bad days we either eat simple or out of the freezer.  Tuesday we finished the lasagna that I made when Sandy and Dave were here.  I served it with a spinach salad that had croutons and hard boiled very fresh eggs from Pam’s chickens.  Tuesday I was on the verge of killing, so we had microwaved broccoli, the Idaho brand of instant mashed potatoes with 4 cheeses and cod with Penzeys seafood spice on it, baked in the oven.   Nothing much to write home about, but the meals were good and good for you.   Today I am better so we are having a hopefully wonderful meal.  The beef is marinating and I have all the dicing and chopping done.  I got this out of Sunset magazine.  This morning I noticed that it serves 6 with a 1 ½ # skirt steak, mine weighed 2.5# so I called Jo and Dave to come over.  Ingredients:

½ C Syrah or other dry red wine

½ C red wine vinegar, divided

6T EVOO, divided

2 T minced garlic, divided

1 T plus 1 t pepper

2 t kosher salt, divided

2 t ground cumin, divided

2 T chopped fresh oregano leaves (I used died, 1/3 less, 2 t)

1 T ground dried ancho chilies or chili powder

1 skirt steak, 1 ½ #.  (Sometimes called flank or tri-tip, depending where you live) 

2 fresh poblano chilies

1 large sweet onion, chopped

3 cans black beans, (15 oz each) drained and rinsed

1 large red pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into ½” chunks

1 ½ C cherry tomatoes, halved

About 3 green onions, sliced (including green tops)

¼ C chopped fresh cilantro

I hope you are still with me after that list of ingredients.

Directions:

1.       Either early in the day or the night before combine ¼ C vinegar, wine, and EVOO with 1T garlic and pepper, 1 t slat and cumin, the oregano and chile power in a resealable plastic food bag.  Rinse and dry the steak and add to the bag, seal and turn to coat.  Chill at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.   

2.       Preheat broiler.  Halve, stem, and seed the poblano.  Lay skin side up on a baking sheet and broil 4” from heat until well charred, 6-7 minutes.  I did mine on top of non-stick aluminum foil and after broiling I gathered up the ends of the foil to create a pocket for the peppers to steam.  Let stand 10 minutes, peel and coarsely chop.  One caution, I did not think they were that hoot, they are, wear rubber gloves.  I just rubbed my nose and it is burning. 

3.       Heat the outdoor grill to high (450-500)

4.       In a large frying pan over medium-high heat sauté onion and remaining 1T garlic in 2T EVOO until soft, about 5 minutes.  Stir in beans and remaining 1/4C vinegar and 1 t each pepper, salt, and cumin; turn heat to low. 

5.       Oil the grill well.  Lift steak from marinade (discard marinade) and grill, turning once, until browned on both sides but still pink in the center 7-10 minutes total.  Transfer to a board and let rest at least 5 minutes. 

6.       Meanwhile, add poblanos, red pepper, tomatoes, 3 green onions, and cilantro to bean mixture, and stir occasionally until warm.  Slice steak on the diagonal across the grain and serve on warm bean salad.  Garnish with more green onions if you like.

I made corn bread to go with the meal.  I have made all kinds of cornbread recipes, but I find my mother’s recipe the best.   She was the original semi-homemade person.

Ingredients:

1 box of Jiffy cornbread mix

1 large egg

1 small can of creamed corn. 

Directions:

1.       Mix in a bowl and pour in a 9x9 pan.  Bake according to pkg. directions. 

I added a few jalapenos to go with this recipe.  Well, we all liked it.  The beef was excellent and it all had a little heat, but not too much.   Jim served Crozes Hermitage, 2003. There is a note on the back of the bottle that he bought it for $11.59 at total wine, but no date. 

For dessert, Jo brought jam cake that I am just beginning to hear about.  It was very good.  I bought a cookbook from the Nashbille Loveless Cafe and have seen a recipe in there.  So much to learn.  A good time was had by all.  Jim is cleaning up the dishes as I complete the blog.  I love having dish help.     

Buffalo Chicken Thighs with Celery and Blue Cheese Salad

I have not been able to access my blog for days.  Something is wrong in my computer.  We finally figured out after spending hours with AOL help and Goggle help that they are no help.  Believe it or not I can access my blog through Jim’s computer. 

Sunday we again went to the great brunch at our club.  We were too full to eat the rest of the day.  Yesterday I made the following.  It comes from Martha’s Everyday Food. It was delicious.  Serves 4
Ingredients:

4 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs

Coarse salt and ground pepper

1 ¼ t cayenne pepper

2 T mayonnaise (I used low fat)

5 T white-wine vinegar

3 oz blue cheese crumbled, about ¾ C

3 large celery stalks, cut into ¼” pieces

1 head romaine lettuce, cut into 1/2” pieces

2T unsalted butter

Directions:

1.       Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

2.       Place chicken, skin side up on a rimmed baking sheet and season with salt and pepper and ½ t cayenne.   Cook until skin is golden and crisp and chicken is cooked through, 20 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through.

3.       Meanwhile in a large salad bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, 2T vinegar, and half the blue cheese.  Add celery and romaine, season with salt and pepper and toss to combine.   Sprinkle salad with remaining blue cheese.

4.       In the microwave, melt butter with ¾ t cayenne.  Whisk in 3T vinegar; season with salt and pepper.  Drizzle chicken with the butter mixture.  Serve with the salad.

I used 3 large chicken thighs for the 2 of us.   I boiled some new potatoes and we put the extra butter sauce on them.    

No Cream Creamy Corn Soup and Pork Chops

Saturday I had plenty of time so I made soup to go with our meal. I did not exactly follow the recipe as they wanted you to grill the veggies. I kind of winged it, but it tasted great. I got this out of the Sunday USA magazine Sept. 2-4,2011

Ingredients:

4C frozen corn, divided

1 large onion, peeled and sliced very thick

½ red bell pepper, stemmed and seeded

1 # new potatoes, halved

Salt and pepper

4 slices of bacon, chopped

1 t dried thyme leaves

1 QT chicken broth

2 T chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Warm a large soup kettle and add the bacon. Cook to mostly done to render the bacon. Add the onions, red bell pepper, ½ the corn and potatoes. Cook in the bacon grease.

2. Meanwhile grind the other 2 cups of corn in the food processor. Add some of the chicken broth. Then add it to the soup pan with the remaining broth, herbs, salt and pepper.

3. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.

I made this early in the day so I turned it off and then reheated for dinner. It says serves 6-8; as a whole dinner, maybe just 4. It was a very good and easy soup.

The main course came from Sunset Magazine. It was Cider-Brined Pork Chops with Sautéed Apples. I am not going to type the whole thing as you can go to the Sunset Magazine web site. Go to recipes and type in the title and it will come up for you. I know, as I could not find it in my magazines and looked it up on line. You have to start the day before, brining the chops, but it is easy and very good.

Cedar-planked Salmon with Crab and Citrus beurre blanc

Jo came to dinner last night as Dave is off deer hunting. I know she likes salmon so Jim and I cooked salmon on a cedar plank. It is served with a Citus beurre blanc. I did not particularly like the sauce, but Jim and Jo did. This recipe is from Sunset Magazine. I served it with flax rice from Costco and asparagus.
Ingredients:
4 pieces of salmon fillet 6-8 oz each and at least 2” wide
1T EVOO
2 T paprika-based BBQ rub (Penzeys 3000)
1T butter
8oz Dungeness crab
Directions:
1. Soak a 1/2 “cedar plank in warm water at least 1 hour.
2. Preheat the grille and place the board in the grille to warm.
3. Cook the salmon on medium heat for 15 minutes.
4. Melt the butter in a medium frying pan and add the crab to warm.
5. Top each piece of salmon with the crab and drizzle with the beurre blanc.
Citrus beurre blanc
Ingredients:
2 ½ T dry white wine
1 T each lemon, lime and orange juice
1 ½ T minced shallots
¼ C heavy cream
Salt
Pepper
4 T butter
Directions:
1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the first 6 ingredients. Bring to a boil and reduce by half.
2. Reduce the heat to low and whisk in the butter, 1 T at a time.
3. Serve immediately

Apple, Bacon and Cheddar Bread Pudding

Tonight’s recipe came to me from my sister-in-law from her daughter-in-law would found it on a Betty Crocker wed site. I have made many of these breakfast pudding meals over the years, but I cannot remember one with fruit in it. Michelle took this to a breakfast tailgate party for a Purdue football game. I decided to make this for dinner tonight as we don’t go to football games. I changed it up a little as it was dinner. I also cut it in half for just Jim and I.
Ingredients:
3T butter
3 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and coarsely chopped 3C (I never use GS apples)
3T packed brown sugar
4 C cubed firm bread (I used whole wheat)
1 # bacon, cooked and chopped (I used Andouille sausage)
2C shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (8 oz)
2 ½ C milk
1 t ground mustard
2 t Worcestershire sauce
¼ t salt
1/8 t pepper
5 eggs
Directions:
1. Grease a 2 qt. casserole. In a 10” skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Cook apples in butter 2-3 minutes stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender. Stir in brown sugar; reduce heat to low. Cook 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until apples are tender.
2. Layer half each of the bread, bacon, apples and cheese in casserole. Repeat with remaining bread, bacon, apples and cheese.
3. Mix all remaining ingredients; pour over cheese. Cover tightly and refrigerate at least 2 hours but no longer than 24 hours.
4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake uncovered 40-45 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before serving
12 servings
I am going to serve this for breakfast sometime when we have overnight guests. It was a very easy dinner.

Baked Acorn Squash

Well, I should never have done as much as I did on Monday. I was in so much pain on Tuesday that I did not want to get out of bed. Jim ordered Chinese for dinner. Tonight we had last night’s dinner. We were just having boneless pork chops; I put Penzeys Barbeque 3000 on them. Unfortunately Jim overcooked them, so I had him eat them. We had left over Chinese to complete the meal.  This recipe comes from Williams Sonoma, Get Well.  I did accompany the pork chops with a great baked squash dish.
Ingredients:
Acorn squash, 2
EVOO 2 T
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Brown sugar, ¼ C firmly packed
Lemon juice, 1 ½ T
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with non-stick foil.
3. With a sharp knife, cut each squash in half longwise and scoop out seeks.
4. Cut each half into 1” wedges and place on a baking sheet.
5. Toss with EVOO to coat.
6. Spread evenly on sheet, cut side down.
7. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
8. Bake for 15 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and sprinkle with brown sugar. Return to oven and continue to baking until squash is tender and sugar has melted and begun to caramelize, about 10 minutes.
10. Drizzle squash with lemon juice and use a wide spatula to transfer wedges to a platter.
This recipe brought back childhood memories with fewer calories. My Aunt Tina planted Acorn Squash one year and had a plentiful amount. She came up with a recipe that had butter, brown sugar, and who knows what then invited the hundreds of brothers, sisters,, nieces and nephews over for squash dinner. I have flash backs of memory of the day. She was the sister of my mother who knew how to create fun event, even with squash. Too bad I am not more like her.

Shrimp & Grits

This recipe came from Bon Appetite. The chefs Preston and Ginger Madson gave it to the magazine. It serves 4 and takes forever plus a lot of pots. Jim thought it was delicious until he saw the mess to clean up. Luckily I was doing pretty well today, but I now have a very swollen ankle. Poor bionic left leg gets a lot of use these days. the jalapeno added just enough heat. 
Grits Ingredients:
1 C yellow grits (not instant) I use Anson Mills
1 C grated sharp white cheddar
1 T unsalted butter
1 jalapeno, seeded, diced (I use that that is in a jar in the grocery as I find that unless you are in CA, the jalapeno in the store looses it’s punch.)
¼ C heavy cream
Kosher salt and pepper
Grits Directions:
1. Anson Mills grits must be soaked to decrease the cooking time, so instead of bringing 3 C water to a simmer and gradually whisking in grits, I soaked them most of the day in the 3 C of water. I brought them to a boil stirring constantly and then turned to low and covered fro 1 hour.
2. About every 15 minutes I checked them and added about ¾ C more water to get them creamy and tender.
3. Stir in cheese, butter, and jalapeno, then cream. Season with salt and pepper. I used 1 t salt. Keep warm.
Shrimp Ingredients:
1/3- ½” Tasso, andouille sausage or bacon. I used andouille.
1 T vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1 T butter
1# large shrimp, peeled, deveined
¼ C beer
¼ C low-salt chicken stock
Shrimp Directions:
1. Heat a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add sausage, sauté until fat begin to render, about 5 minutes. I used andouille and the oil as it has no fat.
2. Add garlic and 1 T butter; stir until butter melts.
3. Add shrimp. When garlic begins to brown, ad beer and chicken stock.
4. Simmer until shrimp is cooked through, about 2 minutes.
5. Remove and set aside
Egg Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 T butter
1T tarragon chopped for garnish
Egg Directions:
1. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat.
2. Add 1 T butter and swirl to melt and cover bottom of pan.
3. Crack eggs into pan and cook until whites are set, but yolks remain runny, about 3 minutes.
Assembly:
1. Divide grits among 4 bowls, forming a well in the center.
2. Spoon shrimp mixture into the center of grits.
3. Top with egg.
4. Sprinkle tarragon over and serve.

Homemade Red Hot Sauce

We were in Indiana for a long weekend. Today’s recipe comes from Emeril Lagassee. I found it on the internet. I will not be able to tell how it tastes for two weeks as it has to set in the refrigerator that long for the flavor to develop. I plan to use it to make chicken wings.
Ingredients:
20 Serrano chilies, stemmed and cut crosswise into 1/8” slices
1 ½ T minced garlic
¾ C thinly sliced onions
¾ t salt
1 t vegetable oil
2 C water
1 C distilled white vinegar
Directions:
1. Combine the peppers, garlic, onions, salt and oil in a non-reactive saucepan over high heat. Sauté for 3 minutes then add water. Continue cooking for about 20 minutes (mine took 30) or until pepper are very soft and almost all of the liquid has evaporate. Be sure this is one in a very well-ventilated area. When stirring and bending over pot, do not breathe.
2. Remove from heat and allow to seep until mixture comes to room temperature.
3. In a food processor, puree the mixture for 15 seconds, or until smooth. With the food processor running, add the vinegar through the feed tube in a steady stream.
4. Taste and season with more salt, if necessary. (They have to be kidding. I would like to actually taste again.)
5. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve and then transfer to a sterilized pint jar or bottle and secure with an airtight lid.
6. Refrigerate. Let age at least 2 weeks before using. Can be stored for up to 6 months.
I made a double recipe, but it was not quite a quart.