Entree – Page 14 – Rosemary and the Goat

Chicken Dijon with Parsley Mashed Potatoes

Colonel Sanders move over, this isn’t KFC fried.

Years ago after having my first son, I started working part time at KFC in Louisville, KY. Now I wasn’t slinging hash at one of the storefronts, I worked in the marketing department at the KFC headquarters. I would see the Colonel himself walking the hallways and on occasion our department would get a call and someone was asked to come down and do a tasting of new recipes. I remember sitting in a little stall and someone would push a plate of chicken through a window and I was to taste and answer questions about the product. What a job!

On another occasion we ate at his restaurant, (Claudia Sanders Dinner House) out in Shelbyville, KY. I remember the food being served family style not at all like the KFC you would go in and grab a bucket of chicken to go. Everything here was served family style and I remember feeling like I was sitting in someone’s home. The restaurant burned in 1999 and it has been rebuilt, I think, losing some of its charm. On the particular evening we were there, as we were leaving, The Colonel came to his back porch and waved to the guests leaving his restaurant; I thought that was so cool. It didn’t take much to excite me in those days.

I eventually gave up that job in the marketing department at KFC but never forgot the memories of working there and seeing all the beautiful antiques in the building and occasionally running into The Colonel.

April 13, 2013 By Sherry

Entree/ Fish/Seafood

Salmon with Bread Crumb Crust and Dill Sauce

I absolutely love any type of fish, cooked any way.

We were in Austin a few weeks ago and I was out shopping with my daughter. She accused me of being a shopaholic. (She was kidding, of course.) That is so not right; I hate shopping. I won’t buy anything unless I know exactly how I’m going to use it or where I’m going to put it. But when we were at Crate and Barrel I saw these cute little glass pitchers that kind of looked like gravy boats and I knew EXACTLY how I was going to use them. Now, I wished I had bought 6 instead of just two.

I’ve had this salmon recipe I wanted to try for quite some time and this time it did not involve my husband cranking up either the gas grill or the Kamoto Joe smoker. I could do it myself and I have to say, it turned out delicious. I had the salmon in the freezer that I had purchased on sale and all the other ingredients just waiting to turn a plain piece of salmon into some special.

Some day I would like to catch my own salmon, reel it in, not clean it, and cook it the same day it’s cooked. I know it would be wonderful. But, until then, I will have to just buy my fish at the local market. We always have a great variety of salmon to choose from and this piece just happened to be on sale so I bought a bunch, portioned it off and vacuumed packed it for the freezer.

March 14, 2013 By Sherry

Entree/ Pork

Country Pork Chops with Mushroom Sauce

Oink, Oink, Oink, I love pork.

We love pork and when it comes to cooking anything on the grill it is either pork, chicken or fish more often than beef; and of course when it comes to bar-b-q pork always wins.

Don’t you just love making comfort foods in the colder months. Most of you still have several months before the hot summer months are here and then you’re not wanting to heat your house with your ovens. I love the warmth that my oven puts off in the winter when I’m either baking bread or just have something yummy in the oven for dinner. We are in the low 70’s here today but this was still a comforting meal for a cool day. (Just wait until tomorrow and we will be down in the 40’s.)

Growing up, my mother would make the best fried pork chops, just the right amount of breading, browned to perfection and the coating did not separate from the meat. There would always be creamy mashed potatoes and of course peppered milk gravy made from the pan drippings. And, the best part of having these pork chops was getting to gnaw the meat off the bones when we finished the pork chop. Honestly, I could have eaten just a plate full of bones they were so good. One problem with ordering pork chops in a restaurant is that you wouldn’t dare pick up a bone and give it a good chew; maybe order a doggie bag and take them home for a snack the next day. You could always say you have a dog eagerly waiting at home.

(To make this a carb friendly meal: — dust your pork chops with almond flour instead of all purpose flour. For thickening the sauce use whatever you usually use instead of flour; like arrowroot. The potatoes can be substituted with either more mushrooms or some yellow squash.)

If you have a favorite pork recipe, please leave a comment below (under the three small pictures at the bottom). I’m always looking for new ways to do pork even though I have so many recipes I haven’t even tried yet.

Chops get a dredge in seasoned flour.

I mixed about a tablespoon butter with the olive oil and browned the chops 2-3 minutes on each side.

After removing the chops from the skillet add in the onions and saute for 2-3 minutes then toss in the crushed garlic clove for 1 minute more.

Put the chops on bottom top with the onions and I added potatoes. Cover with foil and bake.

While the chops are baking I make my carrot flowers. The bigger round the carrots the better. You will need a channel tool to make these.

Make 4-5 channels with the tool down the length of the carrot cutting as deep as you can.

Cut into about 1/4″ slices and there you have it — carrot flowers. I knew you would want to know how I made these once you saw them in the picture with the chops.

Making the sauce. The original recipe said to put the flour and water in a jar and shaking it. Everyone knows you should never do that because you will end up with a raw taste to your sauce/gravy.

Sour cream and mushrooms get added to the finished sauce.

Finished chops. You can add your sauce to cover or do what I did and Added the sauce after I had plated each chop.

Doesn’t the broccoli and carrot flowers make a great side dish. I steamed the carrots first, then the broccoli, then add a little butter and mixed them together with a little salt and pepper.

Country Pork Chops with Mushroom Sauce

(adapted from recipe at food.com) (I halved the recipe using 3 chops)

Ingredients

8 pork chop (1 1/2-inch thick), center cut
1/2 c. flour
3 Tbsp. oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups onion (2 medium) sliced ⅛-inch
10 ½ ounces canned chicken broth
¼ teaspoon ground thyme
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
2 Tbsp. shortening or oil
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon pepper
2 cups mushroom (8 ounces) sliced ¼-inch fresh
potatoes optional
1-8 oz. container sour cream or use light.

Instructions

Heat the oven to 350°.
Put the flour in a pie plate and dredge each pork chop until all sides are covered.
Heat the oil in a 10" heavy skillet and brown pork chops over medium high heat (1-2 minutes per side.) Remove chops from pan and add in the sliced onions and 1 clove minced garlic and stir for 2-3 minutes.
Season chops with salt and pepper to taste; place chops in a 13 x 9" baking dish and cover with sautéed onions.
To the pan drippings add chicken broth, thyme and garlic powder; stir, deglazing the bits from the bottom of the skillet. Pour this mixture over the pork chops and onions. If you are using new potatoes or cubed potatoes, add them now. If you are mashing potatoes start them the last 30 minutes of baking time on the pork chops.
Cover with foil; bake for 60-70 minutes or until tender. Place on serving platter; keep warm.
In a 10" skillet heat 2 tablespoons of oil and add your flour and stir for a few minutes to brown a little. You want to get the raw flour taste out. Pour liquid from baking pan into 10" skillet. Cook over medium heat until mixture just comes to a boil (1 to 2 minutes). Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the mushrooms and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat to low.
Stir in the sour cream and continue to cook, stirring constantly until heated through (1 to 2 minutes). Serve gravy over pork chop.
Serve with some good mashed potatoes (or mashed cauliflower) and carrot flowers.

February 18, 2013 By Sherry

Entree/ Fish/Seafood

Redfish Imperial

Trout, Tilapia, snapper or even grouper can become imperial.

I love taking cooking classes and the time we spent at the New Orleans Cooking Experience in New Orleans was the highlight of the trip for me and my daughter; and Chiqui Collier was our instructor for the day.

This trip was a couple of years ag0 but I never forget cooking classes no matter when they are. I was recently searching for the Bananas Foster Napoleon recipe that my daughter and I had made while there and came across another recipe we prepared the same day that was delicious — this Redfish Imperial; and another recipe that we made that day was the best Bar-B-Q Shrimp I have ever eaten.

I’m on the search for a cooking class somewhere in the US. If you know of a good one, let me know (please leave comment below). I’ve read about a couple of B&B’s in Napa that have weekend classes. I think it would be great to just get on a plane some weekend and go off to a cooking class. It would be even greater if I could come back home and teach that class in my own kitchen. Now that’s an idea; I could fly someplace, US, France, Italy, any country, take a class, and then return home and teach those recipes to people in my own kitchen until I fly off for another weekend and cook again. What the life that would be. I have even a better idea. Wouldn’t it be really cool to find a class someplace that readers of this blog could get together and go for a weekend class; a blog weekend. I would vote for Napa.

February 11, 2013 By Sherry

Entree/ Poultry

Sweet and Sour Dinosaurs

Ok, so your laughing.

Ok, ok, so I was stretching for something to do with these dinosaurs. At Christmas time, while shopping at Sam’s club, I was trying to buy some of my grandsons’ favorites. I knew they both ate chicken nuggets and I thought how cute these little dinos would be.

As it turned out they might have eaten two and here I am with a dino-size box of chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs. What is a GRAN to do but come up with something to use them for after the wee little ones have gone back home. I thought of Cobb Salad, which I did, then maybe Chicken Dino Parmesan. Now, that’s an easy one; put the dinos in a pan and top with a good jar of pasta sauce, cover with cheese and then bake in oven. I don’t intend to give you that recipe and call it an original GRAN recipe; you can figure that one out.

You’ve heard the saying if given a lemon, make lemonade. Well, when you have a whole box of dinosaurs — make Sweet and Sour Dinos.

So, that is what I did with the nuggets and I will share the sauce recipe with you. Don’t feel like you have to buy the nuggets to make it. You could use real chicken breast, cut in small pieces and either bread and fry or just sauté in skillet and then add to the sweet and Sour Sauce.

This recipe is really all about the sweet and sour sauce recipe and you can use it with chicken, pork or shrimp. I hope you like this recipe; I thought it was a cute idea and believe me I thought of those little boys while eating the different shaped dines. Now what am I going to do with all those Goldfish and juice boxes I bought?

February 6, 2013 By Sherry

Appetizers/ HotApp/ Morning Foods/ Pork

Rosemary Brown Sugar Bacon Twist

Need something special for your brunch? Only three ingredients!

This is by far the easiest recipe I have ever made (Rosemary and The Goat comes in second.) with the fewest ingredients.Go figure, I use to say I like recipes with lots of ingredients which yield lots of taste and flavors; but this recipe just goes to show you that great things come from small beginnings.

Do you know there are entire blogs that are devoted to bacon. Is there anything better than the smell of bacon and the sizzling sound of it cooking to make you want to jump out of bed in the morning. Did you know there are bacon flavored beers, vodkas, candy bars with bacon bits, chocolate covered bacon (now that sounds good), bacon toothpaste (that sounds like a little too much bacon even for me), bacon mayonnaise, and the list goes on and on and on.

When it comes to bacon I will try just about anything that has the cured meat as one of the ingredients. Turkey bacon is not a favorite of mine. If you can find uncured bacon, then you have pork belly and I think this is even better than bacon. Fry it up, salt it because it hasn’t been cured and it is the Cinderella of bacon. Canada has Canadian Bacon, Pancetta is Italy’s version of bacon, all the dieters have turkey bacon (they can keep it), and the Irish have back bacon.

Bacon has such an addictive taste; it is hard to just eat one piece, kind of like potato chips. Have you tried caramel popcorn with bacon added at the last stirring; it’s great.

I’ve seen lots of bacon twist recipes and they all have the brown sugar; but most of the recipes have cinnamon and other sweet type spices. I decided to use the rosemary because I think it pairs nicely with the brown sugar and the bacon. Now these would really be good with a glass of wine or beer or just for your weekend brunch.

One more thing before I get on to the recipe; my son, Paul, made a compound bacon butter at Christmas to put on top of our steaks. I’ve been thinking of doing a blog on different compound butters that can be made and kept in the freezer; so stay tuned because that may be coming in the near future.

February 2, 2013 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta

Brussel Sprouts, Chestnuts and Whole Wheat Pasta

Healthy pasta for dinner tonight.

While rummaging through my refrigerator the other day I came up with something interesting ingredients – a partial bag of Brussels sprouts from Christmas (yes they were still good), 1/2 a jar of steamed chestnuts that were left from a yummy Brussels sprout dish that had some sauteed butternut squash added to it, and oh, this partial tub of marscapone (you can use a soft cream cheese if you don’t have marscapone). My grandson, Milo loves cream cheese on his turkey sandwiches. Go figure. He’s a pretty persnickety eater. But he loves his cream cheese and turkey sandwiches. I remember when he called once (age 3) and said “Gran, I like cream cheese now”. Isn’t it just so cute; just about anything the grandsons say if is is preceded with “Gran” just makes me smile.

I love hearing the grandsons say “Gran”. (Two out of the four can talk.) Little Oliver (from Chicago) was so surprised by the snowman pretzel sticks I sent back with their Christmas gifts. He ate so many of these while visiting over Christmas and when I was packing up everything to mail back, there were a couple still staring at me from a glass I had them standing up in. So after falling out of his chair at the dinner table one night, mom gave him a snowman pretzel. She took a picture of him saying “Thanks, Gran, and then a big Ta-duh as he shows the pretzel to the camera.

I think I have finally purged the house of all the sweet things that were made for the holidays that were never eaten. So to come up with some healthy ingredients while cleaning out the refrigerator and pantry was exciting.

The bacon does not have to be used, of course, in this recipe if you want to go meatless; I just like the taste that it brings to the dish.
Continue Reading…

January 8, 2013 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta/ Poultry

King Ranch Pasta

Who doesn’t like the flavors of King Ranch!

I’ve always thought I made absolutely the best King Ranch casserole out there.

When we first moved to Texas and I started catering for some of the local companies and I had request for King Ranch casserole. I’d never heard of King Ranch casserole and didn’t realize that it was named after one of the largest ranches in the world and it’s here in Texas.

So, I set about trying to find what I thought would be the perfect recipe. I never found just one and ended up merging several recipes together to come up with what I thought was the perfect sauce. The addition of spices and spinach to the sauce makes this a favorite with King Ranch lovers.

My family never liked casseroles and I cannot believe that in 20 years of catering, I never made the casserole for my family.

I’ve decided to turn my casserole into King Ranch Pasta. NOT a casserole but a creamy mixture of chicken, spices and sauce mixed with pasta and baked in an oven for 30 minutes. If you want to make the casserole with tortilla, see below for those instructions.

Since Thanksgiving is fast approaching, think of this recipe when you have a lot of left over turkey staring back at you from the refrigerator.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Souffled French Onion Soup — If you love French Onion Soup you will love this one topped with a cheese soufflé. Believe it or not, the soufflé does not fall while you are eating the soup.

November 22, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Game/ Pork

A Very Good Cassoulet

This was fantastic and so good on a cold winter night.

I was hoping to try this in France last Spring but there were so many other things to try and I had already made this a couple of times so it didn’t bother me that it wasn’t on my list of “tried things” while there.

Did you grow up (or still do) eating white beans in a bowl with a big chunk of corn bread on the side (please don’t say sweet cornbread) with maybe some chow chow to add to your beans. We did and they were the best beans you could possibly hope for at the time. A few years ago, my dad showed my husband how he had started making beans. He would soak the beans over night and then he would put the beans in a pot (he used a pressure cooker) with a couple of country style ribs (or backbone depending on where you live) and a ham hock.

Then along came Cassoulet (new to me). A word I had heard but never paid much attention to. I had never had the dish before our French Country Feast a few years ago. It was fantastic. A cassoulet is a stew made with white beans, sausage, duck confit, sometimes lamb, ham hocks and ham bone. Now, how could that not be an out of this world dish.

This recipe may take hours in the making but it will well be worth it in the end. I would either serve my mother’s cornbread recipe or a crusty French bread with this. There are so many recipes on the Internet for cassoulet and methods of making it. I would suggest reading a few before trying this recipe. In the end though, how can you mess up beans and a bunch of different kinds of meat. The end results will be great, no matter what you put in it.

BLAST FROM THE PAST — Fried Eggplant Chips with Honey Drizzle was an appetizer we had in Seville, Spain. Very delicious. I was excited to see that 2,600 people have looked at this recipe. Back in March I had 1,600 views — WOW. I really get excited when I think how many people just happen to find a recipe of mine through a google search.

November 13, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta/ Side dish

Pasta with Purple Cauliflower and Walnut Cream Sauce

What a beautiful dish and my favorite color — purple.

Purple is absolutely my favorite color; throw in some lime green and you have the colors of our wedding 43 years ago and I still love those colors. Throw in a little pink and a whole lot of black and that’s the color of my closet. Hey, and it looks like purple is suppose to be a HOT color for fall. At least, my color is in style even though my clothes are not.

I was thumbing through some of my old food magazines the other day and saw a recipe for cauliflower and carrot pickles. Now, I can’t say that made me want to jump up and go buy some purple cauliflower to pickle but I did want to try to come up with a dish using this beautiful purple vegetable. I almost made this purple cauliflower and carrot dish but decided it was too boring because all I was going to do was steam the vegetables, mix them together and throw in some toasted sunflower seeds. Then I decided that a pasta dish would be perfect for fall and a walnut cream sauce with Rosemary, sage, and thyme just the thing to hold it together.

So when I saw this purple cauliflower at the market the other day I had to buy it. This purple wasn’t going to hang in my closet, it was going to be eaten. I have always thought of cauliflower as a boring vegetable; but since making my Cauliflower Mash with Kale and this recipe, I have changed my views on this beautiful versatile vegetable which can be steamed, mashed, roasted with some olive oil, fried and served raw in a salad. What more could you ask for in a vegetable.

October 31, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Sandwiches

English Muffin BLT Sandwich

BLT with a Twist on a homemade English muffin.

(I had second knee replacement done on Monday, 1st. and before that I was busy trying to get some things made while I’m recouping on the couch/bed. Hope you enjoy the things coming up in the next few weeks. See below for what’s coming.)

I love making bread and I have made everything from naan to French bread, but have never made an English muffin. So, when I was thinking about making this sandwich, I thought, why not make the English muffins from scratch. I think they were a success and hope you will try them soon.

The days of pbj’s and grilled cheeses have long been gone from our house and we don’t often eat sandwiches unless of course they are pulled pork sandwiches, which I do have to repeat, for the gazillionth time, my husband makes the best.

I do on occasion have to omit that I crave a bologna sandwich with either mustard or mayo and a pile of potato chips crushed into the sandwich (that is the way my sister likes to make a sandwich — and it does add a nice crunch) or a liver cheese or brunsweigher sandwich on white bread and mustard. I know those are probably two of the worst kinds of lunch meat and bread available to mankind but what can I say, I like them AND it isn’t a sandwich that I would eat often. Just don’t tell me I can never have one.

October 3, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Poultry

Chicken Fingers from Mitzi’s

Who doesn’t love chicken fingers and with a dipping sauce – just incredible.

So you want to know who Mitzi is. Well I have no idea but I came across a recipe in Saveur magazine not long ago and it was from Mitzi’s Restaurant in Winnipeg, Canada. Now I might just have to go up there sometime and try these in person.

Don’t you just love it when a restaurant has a favorite menu item that all the locals and visiting tourist rave about and then they ACTUALLY share that recipe. I can’t say I was into sharing recipes when I catered because I really didn’t want anyone being able to make some of the things I did for parties. BUT, I have a new lease on things and that is, why not share them and then people may pass my blog on to other friends and family members .

Mitzi’s is a 33 year old Chinese restaurant and I read that they added the chicken fingers to the menu in 1988 for the kids. Do you remember the chicken nuggets we use to buy for our kids. I’ve seen dinosaurs shaped, stars, teddy bears, and even one nugget shaped liked George Washington that went for $8,100 in an auction (came from a McDonald’s). I don’t know about you but anything that has a shape to it must have all kinds of stuff in it that we do not want to eat. I would bet any chicken fingers on a menu is going to be made of whole chicken and no fillers or anything in there that we can’t pronounce. I really don’t think that can be said for any “nuggets” on the market.

If you want to recreate the excitement of eating a chicken nugget or fingers or even want a good finger licking piece of chicken, try this recipe and then thank Mitzi’s for sharing it.

August 25, 2012 By Sherry

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