Boof Bore-gihn-nyon.

Not just one, but TWO missed Thursday dinner features? What am I doing to you people! I'm a terrible friend I know. I have still been cooking, still been documenting, but my work life has been such lately that I've been going to bed or sitting dumbly on the couch shortly after arriving home. So, today will have to be the "Friday" dinner feature. I promise though...it will melt your knees straight into your toes.


This comes from my Gooseberry Patch Slow-Cooker Recipes cookbook, although I can tell you right now that even though it stays in the crock pot for 8 to 10 hours, you're going to need at least an hour or two to get it prepped in the morning. This is a great Saturday or Sunday adventure...definitely not a weeknight adventure. For sure.


This recipe is a crock pot version of Julia Child's infamous Boeuf Bourguignon that Scott has been begging me to make since seeing the movie Julie & Julia. And woah nelly. Just. Woah. Wait till you try it, you'll understand, but first read the recipe and you'll get a glimmer.


Company Beef Bourguignon


Ingredients:
3lbs boneless beef round steak, cubed (Julia Child recommends 2-inch cubes...mine were more like 1-inch)
6 slices bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled, drippings reserved
1 onion, sliced
1 cup baby carrots
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
10-1/2oz can beef broth
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
16-oz pkg sliced mushrooms
1 tbsp oil
15-oz jar pearl onions, drained
1/2 cup Burgundy wine or beef broth (I used Marsala, for better or for worse)


Directions:
Brown beef cubes in reserved bacon drippings; place in a slow cooker. Add onion, carrots, salt and pepper to skillet; stir in flour. Add broth and tomato paste; mix well and pour over beef. Sprinkle bacon, garlic and herbs over beef. Cover and cook on low setting for 8 to 10 hours. One hour before serving, saute mushrooms in oil; add to slow cooker along with pearl onions and wine or broth. Discard bay leaf. Makes 4 to 6 servings.


Simple, right?


In case the magnitude of the "wooahhh nelly" of this recipe didn't sink in to you, let's break it down.


Exhibit A: HUGE hunk'o'beef. I finally made this recipe because our grocery store had all beef round 50% off....which was certainly good enough for me!

 Cube it up.

 Hello, bacon. Have I told you lately that I love you?

 Crisp it up.

 Alright, hold onto your socks, here's where it gets greasy good. See all that liquid, that you're browning the meat in? That would be bacon grease.

 Julia Child recommended browning it in small batches, which worked out well since you have to rotate each piece a bit to get all sides browned. My little pattern was to get one batch going, then flip it, move it to the other side of the pan, then start the next batch, which produced beautiful beefy-multicolored pan.

For the whole pattern, I had a little system set up like this. I was putting the beef straight into the crock pot, and since it was a bit drippy, I just covered my burner/stovetop with wax paper to make for easy clean-up later. You don't exactly want bacon/beef grease dripping onto your burners. Hmm.

 I also didn't crumble my bacon, because I was feeling lazy. Oh well.

 So you finish up the beef. And believe it or not, there's still more bacon grease left. But we can't let it go to waste! So let's saute the veggies in it. (Don't deny it, your toes just curled a little.) This is right after adding the flour.

 You can't really tell from this photo, but by this point, the broth has thickened up quite nicely. Make sure you don't cook your veggies to death, since this will be in the crock pot all day.

 The whole ensemble in the crock pot, with the grease of six pieces of bacon, and, oh wait, six pieces of bacon. (Drool.)

 I never pass up an opportunity to photograph sauteeing mushrooms. Yum.

 Because I've been a loser the past few days, I may or may not have forgotten to photograph the final steps and the finished product the day we ate it. However, this is the next day when I ate leftovers. And truth: TEN TIMES better the next day. Whew.

Verdict:
A firm, resounding WOAH NELLY. If you need comfort food, this is pretty much the definition. And despite the prep time in the morning, clean-up was actually pretty easy. 


A few tips:

• Keep in mind your ingredients. Beef...bacon...broth...wine... We won't go into too much detail, but I highly recommend taking some Pepto or some such thing before eating. For everyone's safety.
• The pearl onions were an awesome touch, but for me, way too strong after only cooking for an hour. Scott and Christian liked them, but I couldn't eat them until the next day. I daresay I'd add them at the beginning of the cook time, or halfway through. 
• This recipe just screams for a nice little loaf of bread to sop up the juices. Too good to go to waste!
• And if it wasn't obvious enough, if you're on a diet, stay FAR far away from this recipe. Yowsa.

And that's that. If you haven't gained five pounds just from reading this, I highly recommend making this as soon as possible. Especially if your weather is anything like ours today - cold and majorly rainy. Eesh.

Happy...Friday!

Redneck Risotto

I wanted to share this recipe with you as one of my, erm, less delicious attempts at cooking. I'm sharing it because I feel like it has potential, but there's one key ingredient that was my stumbling block, and I feel like someone might be able to give me advice that would make this better?


What's that ingredient?


Grits.


This may seem odd, since I was born in Georgia and raised in North Carolina...but we just didn't eat grits in our house. I blame it on my parents being born and raised in Connecticut, so even though we lived in the South, we weren't really genuine, sweet tea dripping out your veins Southerners. 


Here's the recipe, from the 1998 Southern Living Annual Recipes cookbook. This particular recipe was contributed by Chef Jimmy Sneed in Richmond, Virginia. I apologize right now Jimmy for not doing justice to your recipe.


Redneck Risotto


Ingredients:
6 1/2 cups chicken broth, divided
2 cups uncooked stone-ground white grits
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 (3.5 oz) packages shiitake mushrooms
3/4 pound spicy Italian sausage
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 shallots, peeled and diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese


Directions:
Bring 6 1/4 cups chicken broth to a boil in a large Dutch oven. Gradually add grits, stirring constantly; cover, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 1 hour or until creamy. Stir in butter; remove from heat.


Remove and discard mushroom stems; slice caps.


Remove sausage casings, and cube sausage; brown sausage in a skillet over medium-high heat, stirring often. Drain on paper towels. Wipe skillet clean.


Saute sliced mushrooms, garlic, and shallot in hot oil in skillet 1 minute. Add remaining 1/4 cup chicken broth; remove from heat.


Stir together grits, sausage, mushroom mixture, pepper, and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Yields 6 servings.


Sounds delicious right? I was so excited to try this recipe. Stupid, evil grits. Here's my progress through the recipe.

This may have been my first mistake. The only options of grits I could find were these and instant. Hmm.

Peeling sausage casings isn't for the faint of heart.

Now, if you know anything about grits, I'm assuming you can tell where I went wrong, right here. My grits weren't creamy - they were actually quite stiff and moldable. I think I overcooked them? Someone help me out here.

I used Baby Bella mushrooms, since I couldn't find Shiitakes.

Stirring the sausage into the grits.

This portion of the recipe smelled like heaven. I should have just left it out, mixed it with the sausage and had it over rice or something. Hmm...

Final product: doesn't look so bad?

Since the flavors of the other ingredients smelled and tasted just fine, I'm 99.9% sure that my trouble was with the grits. I can imagine them smooth and creamy (like shrimp and grits...YUM), in which case this recipe would probably be one of my favorites. But since my grits were more similar to rubber than food, Scott and I wound up powering through this meal, and throwing away the precious leftovers, which I hate doing. 


So I've shared one of my failures with you, now would some precious Southerner explain to me the delicate art of cooking grits? Pretty please?


Happy Thursday!

Wok Wok Wok

I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. I just love saying the word Wok.


Wok wok wok.


ANYWAYS.


I'm glad to see you've made it to Thursday...Friday is so close I can taste it!


I have absolutely NO clue where I got today's Dinner Feature recipe from. I just found a photocopied page of a cookbook with only page numbers, and some sort of spiral binding and no identifying marks. Hmm. So, if you read this and you realize this is your recipe, CLAIM it because it's wonderful!


Thus, with no further ado...


Shrimp and Peas in Wok
(clever title, no?)

Ingredients:
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp salt
1 tsp honey
1 tsp ground ginger
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp Tamari soy sauce
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 cup peanut oil
1/2 lb (8 oz) fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen peas, thawed
1/4 cup green onion, minced
1 bag (1 lb 4 oz) frozen cleaned shrimp, thawed, or 1lb fresh shrimp, peeled, deveined
hot cooked brown rice


Directions:
Combine cornstarch, salt, honey and ginger. Blend in chicken broth, soy sauce, and garlic.


Preheat wok or skillet about 3 minutes. Add oil and continue heating over high heat. Add mushrooms, stir-fry 1 minute. Add peas and onions. Stir-fry 2 minutes. Add shrimp. Cook and stir until shrimp are pink and firm, about 3 minutes.


Stir chicken broth mixture to blend. Add to shrimp mixture and cook and stir until sauce is thickened and clear. Serve over rice. Makes 4 servings.


I was in a bit of a picture-taking mood this time around, so I hope you're feeling tolerant.


I buy peas in huge bulk bags because we're a pea-eating family, especially when I'm a vegetable snob and don't really enjoy many frozen or canned veggies, which becomes an issue in the winter when fresh produce isn't peeking out of every corner. It's a problem, and I'm coming to grips with it. So this is me, measuring out my 10 oz of peas.

Frozen shrimp (also purchased in bulk) are not quite as pretty to weigh out.

This is what happens when you drink strong wine while you're cooking (and waiting for your rice to cook). Hmm.

Yummy ingredients. I used baby portobello mushrooms (our grocery store calls them "Baby Bellas", and I also doubled the quantity of green onions.

So, I've always been a weeee bit afraid of heating oil over "high" temperatures. So I turned mine up to about medium and then gradually raised it up. I'm sure it's a cooking no-no, but until I can go to culinary school and learn how to not make things explode or give me severe burns...that's my method.


This looks lovely cooking, doesn't it?

My shrimpies, cleaned, thawed, and ready to go.

For some reason I couldn't get a clear photo of the sauce, but it was icky looking anyway so I think it's for the best.

Simmering down that sauce. By the way, at this point your kitchen is going to smell like heaven. I'm just saying.

Note: most brown rice takes at least 45 minutes to cook, and a stir fry with delicate ingredients like this generally doesn't cook longer than a few minutes, so be sure to plan ahead and get your rice going right away.


Also, because I used lower temperatures, mine took longer than 2 or 3 minutes to cook. I kind of just kept an eye on everything and made sure it wasn't getting too mushy. It takes probably at least 10 minutes (for me anyway) to reduce the sauce, so take that into account when you're doing the intial cook of the veggies.


Final product over rice!

I bet you wish you could taste it!

Verdict:
This will definitely be added to my list of go-to recipes. The ingredients list is a piece of cake - most of it I already had on hand. Scott and I BOTH had two helpings (I know I know, shame on me) and I also had it for lunch the next day. I should note that three people at work commented on how good it smelled being heated in the microwave, if you weren't convinced you should make it already.


Try this recipe. Your taste buds will thank you. (And your tummy too, since it's low-fat! Although not necessarily low-sodium, if we're covering all the health bases.)


Happy Thursday!

Portobellos Wrapped in Goodness

What's that? Wrapped in goodness?? Oh yes, yes that's right.


So, I was browsing through my cookbook in a section that I don't normally browse in. "Beans, Rice, & Grains". Which I usually tend to avoid because it just seems boorrrinng. However, this picture caught my eye.

Courtesy of the amazing Better Homes & Gardens

Which can also be found here, with a nice printable recipe too. Because good things do happen sometimes.


And hooo-boy does that look amazing. So, I decided to try it! Aren't you excited?


Portobello Wrap with White Bean-Chili Spread


Ingredients:
4 portobello mushroom caps, stems and gills removed
1/4 cup bottled Italian salad dressing
1 19-oz can white kidney beans (cannellini), drained and rinsed
2 cloves garlic, quartered
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups fresh baby spinach
1 tbsp bottled Italian salad dressing
4 8-inch garlic-herb, spinach, or plain flour tortillas
4 ounces goat cheese (chevre), crumbled, or 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (4 ounces)


Directions:
1. Brush portobello mushrooms on both sides with the 1/4 cup dressing. Let stand for 15 minutes.


So, naturally this was the one time my grocery store didn't have full-size portobello caps, so I went ahead and bought them pre-sliced.

To remove the gills, just take a spoon and gently scrape them away. It's fun...and a little bit messy.

Nice and clean-scraped.

Mmm...marinating mushrooms. YUM.

Meanwhile, in a food processor combine beans, garlic, olive oil, chili powder, and salt. cover and process until nearly smooth; set aside.

White Bean-Chili Spread goodness. 

2. Toss spinach with the 1 tablespoon salad dressing; set aside.

3. Preheat broiler. Place mushrooms on the unheated rack of the broiler pan. Broil 4 inches from heat for 6 to 8 minutes, turning mushrooms over halfway through broiling. Slice mushrooms into strips.


Cooking them pre-sliced didn't seem to do too much harm, and I did still slice them up thinner to fit better in the wraps. Tasty!

4. Spread about one-third of the bean puree evenly over each flour tortilla. Top the bean puree layer with warm mushroom slices, spinach mixture, and cheese. Roll up each tortilla around fillings. Place wraps, seam side down, on plates.


* A little secret...we're carnivores, and this is a vegetarian recipe. I would have been fine with just the mushrooms and beans, but to keep Scott happy, I added some chopped up chicken I had leftover from roasting a chicken. I imagine you could add most any meat - sliced up steak would probably be good too.

All rolled up and ready to eat. 


Verdict:
I was initially worried about the quantity of chili powder involved in this. I'm usually a pretty big wimp when it comes to spicy food, but I decided to be brave and use the full amount. In the end, I'm glad I did!  It's not spicy at all, and just has a really rich, creamy flavor that blends well with the Italian dressing and mushrooms. And the best part, it's healthy too! The bean-chili spread seems like something that you could make other sandwiches with, or might even be good on tacos.


Oh, and Scott loved it too, so it's man-approved. I highly recommend this recipe for something light and healthy when you need a break from typically heavy winter foods.


Aren't you glad you found out about Portobellos wrapped in goodness??


Happy Thursday!

Chicken + Cheese Spread = Drool

Every now and then I get a hankering for something delicious and cheesy, but unfortunately I have a notoriously sensitive stomach and can only handle a little bit. I've learned to concentrate my cheesy goodness into lower-fat options so that I don't keel over.


Today was one of those cheesy-goodness-craving days so thus, I let myself loose in the kitchen. And this Thursday's Dinner Feature is the result, which I'm proud to say is my own experimental recipe. Woop woop!


Cheese-Spread Chicken Roll-Ups


Ingredients:
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/3 cup crushed pretzels
2 oz cream cheese (I used the low-fat Neufchatel cheese), softened
1/2 tbsp dried chives
1/2 tsp garlic powder
plain bread crumbs


Directions:
Place chicken breasts between wax paper, and pound to about 1-inch (or thinner) thickness using a meat mallet (or in my case, a rolling pin).


Meanwhile, mix pretzels, cream cheese, chives, and garlic powder in a small mixing bowl.


Spread cheese mixture onto flattened chicken breasts, then roll-up, securing with tooth picks. Try to make sure the rolls are all roughly the same size. Gently roll chicken rolls in breadcrumbs, then arrange on a baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until cooked through (180 degrees is the standard).


I served our chicken with lightly buttered peas and Chicken Rice-A-Roni. Yep, I'm not ashamed to admit it. I have at least five more boxes of Rice-A-Roni in our pantry too. I think it wound up being a delicious combination.

I just think chives are beautiful, don't you?

"And then I'LL SMASH IT WITH A HAMMER!!!" (Name that movie!)

Nothing like raw chicken to whet your appetite.

I had used frozen chicken breasts which for some reason are never as evenly-shaped
or pretty, so mine were a little irregular. Always start rolling from the narrower end.

Nice and thin.

Roll 'em up cowboy! 

It helps if you pinch slightly as you go.

Secure with toothpicks (and please don't forget to REMOVE the toothpicks before eating!)

Roll in bread crumbs... 

Arrange on the baking sheet. (Which mine is naturally lined in...who can finish the sentence? Oh yes. Foil. You're ALL correct. Good for you!)

Post-baking goodness.

Cheesy-goodness chicken, peas, and rice. 

Verdict:
Scott rated it two helpings, with a very happy grin and lots of head-nods. My stomach was extremely happy, and I probably would have gone for seconds too if I wasn't attempting another one of those...diet...things...ahem. I'd say two thumbs up!


Tricks of the Trade:
I pretty much showed all the tricks of the trade as I worked through the recipe, but I did leave out one thing. The reason I named it Cheese-Spread Chicken Roll-Ups is because the cheese mixture could easily be spread onto crackers or toast for an amazingly delicious treat. So, if you wanted to kill two birds with one stone, double the cheese portion of the recipe and divide it out into a separate container before you begin layering it on the chicken. Voila! - instant appetizer that will be a great hit at your next party.

Happy Thursday!