Entree – Page 15 – Rosemary and the Goat

Aloo Bainsan (Eggplant and Potato)

My first Indian dish.

Normally I have an endless flow of ideas for recipes to blog. This time though, I found myself staring at white and graffiti eggplants (I bought because they were so darn cute), one potato and a Serrano pepper and thinking what could I possibly make with this. So I did what I do best and I googled the ingredients. One of the first recipes that caught my attention was a Eggplant and Potato Curry recipe from Food & Wine magazine and my first thought was that I could do better than that. So I dug a little deeper and found this wonderful video from Manjula’s Kitchen (Indian vegetarian recipes).

Don’t you just love YouTube. I use it for anything I don’t know how to make and watching Manjula do this recipe I just knew it was going to be good. (One of these days I’m going to YouTube knee replacement surgery and see exactly what was done to my knee.)

August 5, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Fish/Seafood/ Salads

Shrimp Louie Salad

Another summer salad.

(Knee update: I really thought I would be back to cooking up a storm by now but this rehab on the new knee is taking longer than I though and I’m so glad that I cooked like a mad scientist before surgery so I would have some new things to post.)

On any trip to Chicago I’m always going to come back with ideas for a new recipe or two to try.

We recently returned from seeing our son and his family. Piece Brewery & Pizzeria will always be on our list of places to go and we did eat there the first night. Their large pizzas is the size of a full sheet pan if you know what that is and we did our best trying to finish it off. We had dinner one night at Leopold where we had some delicious fried veal sweetbreads served with honey cornbread and mustard gravy, a rabbit and duck rillette with Kriek Jelly (making this soon), and the most wonderful chocolate pave that I will also attempt to make the next time I need a great little dessert.

For brunch on Sunday, we went to Mindy’s Hot Chocolate and as always I’m looking around the menu for something other than eggs. There were a lot of different things on the menu like lamb and scalloped potato bake, brioche French toasts with rhubarb and lime curd whipped cream, and the warm doughnut strips coated with cinnamon sugar and house made raspberry preserves were fantastic. Check out their menu for some ideas of your own. Mindy recently won the James beard award for 2012.

I settled on the Shrimp Louie Salad with baby head lettuce, grilled shrimp, avocado, crumbled farm egg, chopped bacon and Louie dressing. I’ve decided to add some baby cucumbers and some sweet grape tomatoes to the mix. I shredded my head lettuce along with a little shredded romaine for additional contrast of color. All I can say is it turned out scrumptious and why had I never heard of a Shrimp Louis Salad.

July 26, 2012 By Sherry

Beef/Veal/ Entree/ Sandwiches

The Humble Sloppy Joes

Not your ordinary sloppy joe.

I found myself this morning making biscuits just the way my mother did — make them from scratch, pat them out about 1″ thick, cut with a biscuit cutter and THEN melt some bacon fat on the pan that I’m going to bake the biscuits on; and then if all that bacon fat isn’t enough, you put a biscuit on top of the fat and then flip it over so both surfaces (bottom and top) of the biscuit is coated with the delicious salty fat. Then, and only then, do you bake them in the oven. Now, that is a biscuit.

I think we all have recipes that were family favorites whether it is a simple biscuit, sandwich or something that takes hours or even days to prepare.

Who hasn’t had a Sloppy Joe at some time in their life. No one, I don’t think. I was never a fan of the canned Sloppy Joe mixes that one can buy and mix with some cooked hamburger meat and call it a sandwich or the ones that were served to us in our school cafeterias that were nothing more than cooked hamburger and ketchup.

A while back, we were at my sister’s house and she made a huge pot of OUR favorite cooked sandwich filling and that brought back memories of this little overlooked sandwich that I have not made in years and made the same way our mother and grandmother use to make them. Serve on a soft hamburger bun, a pile of potato chips and some pickles and you will have the best Sloppy Joe you have put in your mouth.

So, here it is in all it’s glory. A pretty simple sandwich with a surprise ingredient which is Chicken Gumbo Soup. I have no idea where this recipe came from as we have been making it this way since the 50’s and with the same Campbell’s Chicken Gumbo Soup. I think the soup adds more texture and taste with the little bits of rice and okra that’s part of the soup.

July 16, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Fish/Seafood

Grown-Up Parmesan Fish Sticks

Any fish is a hit in this house.

When I was growing up (I keep asking myself, am I there yet?) seems like our family ate a lot of fish. My dad was the best fisherman around and whether it was catfish, crappie, an occasional turtle (not fish of course) or a big platter of frog legs (again not fish but came out of the water), we had plenty of it and my mother knew just how to make it finger licking good. Her catfish was always in cornmeal and the crappie were always dipped in egg then flour and fried until it was “fluffy” as my daughter still calls it today and of course the other things like frog and turtle were done to perfection as well. One day I will do a frog leg post because I have a hilarious story to tell.

Our mother was a stay at home mom and was always there for us. (I have a twin sister so you will probably always here me refer to myself as “we”, “us”, or “our” — that’s just the way it is.) She cooked lunch for our dad almost everyday and had something on the table just in time for him to walk through the door in the evening and say “What’s for dinner?”. Believe it or not, on occasion, she would pull out a package of Gordon’s Fish sticks for my sister and me and our little brother. Wow, can you believe those little sticks have been around since 1849. Now I never really think of these as “real food” because no telling what goes into a package (any brand) of fish stick; read the label the next time you are in a grocery, you will be surprised at the ingredients. Maybe you were one of those kids that were forced to eat fish sticks in the lunchroom on Fridays during lent and you still have a bad taste in your mouth just thinking about those little sticks all covered with ketchup .

These homemade fish sticks are made from fresh sliced fish (not minced) and all the ingredients can be pronouned. Now it is up to you whether you fry them or bake them.

July 7, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Pork

Wok’n Noodles

Wok’n around Paris on a rainy day.

For some reason, I love taking pictures of signs and windows/doors. When we were in Spain a couple of years ago I took a lot of pictures of these beautiful white formal dresses I kept seeing in windows. Some looked like wedding dresses and some like formals. They just really spoke to me and said, “take a picture of me”. Not six months after that my daughter got engaged — maybe that was a “sign”. In Paris I took pictures of stores named “Terry” (my sister) and “Paul” (my son).

This is a picture I took from the top of a bus on our first day in Paris back in March. I just knew I was going to have to come up with a good noodle recipe after seeing the name of this restaurant. I’m always getting inspiration from all sorts of places.

Our only rainy day in Paris was the first day we arrived, and it was a steady drizzle. We were not going to let that stop us from getting out, and we decided to do one of the open double decker buses. We stayed on the top through all the drizzle and enjoyed the view and sites. Then at one of the stops right there on the corner was this little place called “Wok’n Noodles”. A blog post was in the making. I immediately thought of “Wok Around the Clock” (Bill Haley and his Comets), then “I’m Wok’n” (by Fats Domino), “Wok Like A Man” (Four Seasons), and finally “Wok Like An Egyptian” (Bangles). Weren’t those great woking songs.

So, I thought, why can’t I come up with a Wok’n Noodle dish that is absolutely “rocking” and one that I think you will enjoy.

June 5, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Pizza

Tomato Phyllo Pizza

Have a pizza craving but not much time?

(We had pizza once while in Paris and I have to say I was not impressed. After a day of seeing so many museums, we were just too tired to track down one of our restaurants that we were going to try while there so we decided on pizza. It was a local place and it was just so-so.)

Do you ever have a pizza craving and don’t want to take the time to make a homemade crust? That is if you make homemade crust. Then, this recipe is for you, no using scissors to cut open that prepared pizza dough or crack that can on the counter to unroll some pizza dough but you simply open the thawed package of phyllo dough and you instantly have your crust and it is much better. This is definitely a light, thin and flaky/crispy type crust

When I first got married a good pizza to me was a Chef Boyardee pizza mix, a pound of hamburger meat and I actually tried to jazz up the crust by adding some Italian seasoning to the crust mix. Then one day, some years ago I decided to make my own crust and I never used that mix again.

What is a pizza anyway but a “crust” of some sort, rolled thin or not, slapped with some sauce or not and baked in the oven. French bread, pita, crescent rolls, naan…. anything can really make a crust for a pizza. The Greeks spread their pitas with oils and herbs and cheese — pizza. The Romans took a sheet of dough, topped with cheese and honey and bay leaves — pizza. A Calzone and stromboli are similar to pizza but the dough is rolled around the filling. In America we have deep dish, traditional, Chicago Style, California style, white pizza (no red sauce), thin/cracker crust and now this phyllo crust. Our toppings or unlimited. One I posted here a while back is a favorite now and that is a Shrimp and White Bean Pizza. Yummmm.

I remember when we lived in Ft. Madison, Iowa we had a Happy Joe’s Pizza Parlor. They had a taco pizza which was a regular hamburger or sausage pizza and when it came out of the oven they covered it with shredded lettuce and tomato and served it with taco sauce and it was delicious. It’s been over 20 years since I have had that pizza and I may try it again soon.

I made this pizza to take to a friend’s house one night. She was making spaghetti and meatballs and I had planned to make this for the blog that day so I took it to her house as an appetizer. It was perfect; a light crispy crust, fresh tomatoes and feta and it made a perfect first course to her spaghetti. It would also make a nice lunch with a salad. I’m anxious to try out different toppings using this phyllo crust.

April 11, 2012 By Sherry

Appetizers/ Entree/ Game/ HotApp

Duck Confit

So you say, “what is duck confit” and what are you going to do with it.

I tried to anticipate what we might be eating and tried a few French recipes. I’m sure I will be taking a lot of food pictures and I will post some of our favorite places and meals when we return.

In just a few more hours and we will be boarding our plane for France. A week in Paris and a week in Provence I’m sure the trip is going to be wonderful with breathtaking scenery, new experiences and lots of wonderful food. I am sure that we will be seeing duck confit on all the menus; so I decided to make it before our trip then I can compare my version to theirs.

I tried to anticipate what we might be eating while there and tried a few French recipes before going. I’m sure I will be taking a lot of food pictures while there an

Duck confit is a French dish made with the leg/thigh of the duck and it is prepared in a century-old process that consists of salt curing the duck legs and then poaching slowly submerged in its own fat for hours.

The duck legs are rubbed with garlic, herbs (thyme) and salt (I love using thyme because my herb garden is full of it), then refrigerated 36-48 hours. After rinsing off the salt and herbs the meat is slowly poached for 6-8 hours and the meat and fat are removed from the bone. After the meat has cooled it can be put into a container and submerged in the fat. A sealed jar of duck confit can be refrigerated for up to six months or longer. You need to top the meat in the jar with at least 1″ of fat.

One weekend when we were in Austin visiting our kids, my son was chopping up some duck legs that he had confitted (if that is a word). Anyway, my grandson, Milo, who was only two at the time stood on his chair, watching his dad cook and ate a whole pile of chopped duck legs.

My duck legs were not easily found; I looked all over Houston for duck legs and finally found them at Central market (by phone) but at $6.99 lb. So, what I love most about the internet is that after searching just a little while, no driving, traffic, or gas involved, I found the duck legs at Maple Leaf Farms at $2.99 for 12 oz. leg/thigh. So I ordered six. Why not order more than I needed since I had to pay shipping anyway and on top of that I found a promo code for $5.00 off. So I ordered 6 legs for $25 and that included shipping. I search for promo codes on EVERYTHING I order off the internet. Usually one can be found for a percentage off, free shipping or at least $5.00 off. In this case I got $5.00 off so, what a deal; now I don’t have to drive into Houston. So if you need a promo code, just Google promo code for…. (whatever) and you may have to look through a couple of sites before you find one that works.

I did find whole duck at this Asian market in Houston ,BUT, the frozen and fresh ducks had their heads and feet still on and I just couldn’t bring myself to buying them; they kind of gave me the heebe geebies to look at them. I know I have eaten tripe, lamb fries, tongue and different organ meats that most people wouldn’t think of eating but there was just something about seeing the head and legs/feet still on the duck all curled up in the package made me shiver just to think of it.

March 16, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Game

Fig Basted Cornish Hens

Oh, what good things come from cleaning my refrigerator.

So today I decided that it was time to clean my refrigerator. I don’t know about you, but I tend to find food hiding away under or behind things that I don’t even remember buying. I found a couple of swiveled up lemons, a really mushy tomato, some bottles of stuff that should have been thrown away months ago except for the fact that they calling to me every day “use me”…. and I kept telling myself one day I was going to use them. Well, that day never came; so today I filled my trash can right before a hungry garbage truck pulled up to my curb.

But, tucked away in all this refrigerated garbage, I found a nice jar of fig preserves, one perfect lemon, some soy sauce and I knew I could come up with something to make with those ingredients and I also found two Cornish hens in my freezer — so dinner in the making.

March 3, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta/ Side dish

Zucchini Pasta with Pine Nuts

Want a healthier pasta recipe?

Again, I find myself sitting around trying to dream up a new recipe. While in Austin last weekend for our grandson’s birthday I was 2 days into the South Beach diet. It’s easy for me to get started on any new diet because I tend to obsess over what to cook and make. If someone likes to cook, then any diet should be easy, it’s a challenge for me to take something boring and make it more delicious.

Seems like everyone is always looking for a healthier way to prepare recipes. This can probably be made even healthier than I made it, so feel free to change up any of the ingredients. My daughter makes julienned zucchini all the time in place of pasta. I just wanted to add a little whole wheat pasta for some texture.

For our Christmas dinner this year we made mashed potatoes mixed with sauteed kale and onions. So, I’m sitting over the weekend thinking how good those potatoes were and maybe I could try doing a cauliflower mash and add the kale and onions to that mixture instead of mashed potatoes. I’m doing that this week and will post the results if they are worth mentioning.

Back to the weekend and the dieting. Well, I blew the diet and it was worth it. My son made about 7-8 different kinds of homemade pizza and a beautiful Mickey Mouse Birthday cake. (Remember the train wreck cake from last year?) I was only two days into the diet so why not just wait until Tuesday to restart.

So, before I get back into “the diet” why not try a healthier pasta dish. The third week of this diet allows for some whole wheat pasta. Here’s what I decided to do. Since whole wheat pasta is suppose to be so good for you, I cooked a very small amount of pasta and then julienned 3 zucchini which I sauteed along with some garlic. A few toasted pine nuts were added along with some Parmesan cheese and some parsley out of my herb garden. I drizzled in a little browned butter but that could easily be changed to olive oil. (I used four tablespoons of butter; but two probably would have been plenty.)

January 25, 2012 By Sherry

Beef/Veal/ Entree/ Salads

Thai Steak Salad

I’m a copycat but it’s worth it for this recipe.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Christmas came and went so fast and the New Year is here, and everyone is wanting to cut calories and food intake.

What are your New Year’s resolutions? Well when it comes to food I would like to do one vegetarian meal a week, fish at least 2 times a week (baked or pan fried), a main dish salad at least once a week, and then try and fill in the other days with healthier meals made with chicken and some pork. I think having salad is a perfect start to the new year.

What is it about a salad that is so refreshing even if it is loaded with tons of ingredients? I don’t know but I think most people feel like they are watching their calories when eating salad and that’s not always true.

A couple of years ago I gave up buying all those creamy prepared salad dressings and now whip up any type of vinaigrette at a moments notice. As long as you have olive oil, vinegar (some balsamic also), some Dijon mustard or other types of mustard and seasoning, you can whip up a dressing almost as quick as you can grab for that high fat store bought dressing that might still be in your refrigerator.

I don’t really think about the calories when I’m making a salad at home. I’m just thinking I can make one thing and not doing a protein, sides, etc., etc. Even though this salad has a long list of ingredients, you can prep everything early in the day and then just throw it together for your evening meal. For a salad with few ingredients and big taste, I posted the Bitter Green Salad with Yuzu dressing from our Hawaiian feast a few weeks ago.

My sister has always loved Houston’s Restaurant Evil Jungle Thai Salad. I have yet to taste it but I take her word that it is a delicious salad and she says it’s her most favorite restaurant salad.

So I started googling their recipe and came up with several copycat recipes. I’m sticking with the dressing recipe but added more garlic (or course) and for the salad, I omitted the noodles just because I didn’t think I would like noodles in a salad. I also added oranges instead of mango (I eat enough mango as it is), added the fresh ginger, jalapenos, the avocado and the savoy cabbage along with a mixture of lettuce. I browned my sesame seeds (not in their recipe) and the peanuts in a dry skillet which really adds a nice toasty taste to the salad. I think I changed enough ingredients in this salad to call it my own but I would have to say the Evil Thai Steak Salad from Houston’s Restaurant was definitely my inspiration.

While visiting in Chicago before Christmas, we made this one night at our son and daughter-in-law’s house, and we all enjoyed it along with some fresh crusty French bread and some Cambozola cheese.

January 4, 2012 By Sherry

Appetizers/ Entree/ Fish/Seafood/ HotApp

Hawaiian Coconut Shrimp w/ Orange Marmalade Sauce

Delicious coconut shrimp from Hawaiian feast night.

I’ve blogged a coconut shrimp recipe before but this is a little different and one of the recipes from our Hawaiian feast on Thanksgiving weekend.

My first recipe was coated in an almond meal which can be pretty expensive to buy. This recipe has some Cajun seasoning (I used Tony’s) and hot sauce which spices it up a bit.

For my course on feast night I did three coconut shrimp per plate and then a little puddle of the orange marmalade dipping sauce. I have made orange marmalade before so I knew that part of my course was going to be easy. In fact, I did the orange marmalade a week before. The recipe for the orange marmalade just called for one orange but I used four because I wanted some extra jars of marmalade in my pantry for this winter.

One thing about making the orange marmalade though is it will only be as good as your oranges. I used Texas oranges when I made mine and they had a lot of seeds to pick out and they were not as orange color on the inside as I would have liked them to be. Look for naval oranges and I don’t think you can go wrong. I have been wanting to try blood oranges for this recipe; the color would be beautiful for a sauce or on your toast, scones or morning bagel. OR, even easier, just buy a good orange marmalade.

I think this would be a nice little appetizer to do during the Christmas holidays.

December 16, 2011 By Sherry

Entree/ Game

Game Hens with Tangerine Sauce

I love these little birds, they are so cute sitting on a plate.

Lovely! Is that a word that can be related to food? I don’t know but these were beautiful.

Cool weather has come to Texas and it is making me want to cook, and what could be better than the aroma some type of poultry roasting in the oven filling the house.

What is it about those cute little cornish game hens that appeal to me? I have no idea but they look so darn cute on your plate and, hey, you get the whole thing all to yourself. Considering these little birds are normally $2.50-$3.00 each, I think this makes an economical meal and a ★★★★ recipe. Although, after eating one I feel like I have plowed the back 40. They are a lot of work to eat for so little meat. The little bitty legs and wings with an ounce of meat! This sauce and rub would be just as good on chicken breast. I wouldn’t use boneless breast and I would try to find breast with the wing attached. They make for a much prettier presentation than a boneless skinless breast. And besides, boneless chicken breast have no taste what so ever.

A cornish game hen is not a game bird but actually a type of domestic chicken. It can be either male or female and even though they command a higher price, they have a short growing span of 28-30 days unlike a chicken which takes about 45 days from hatch to your plate. I have never seen them fresh so look for them in your freezer section.

I’ve had this recipe laying around in my files for awhile and decided to start digging out some of those recipes and doing more cooking indoors since my husband cooked so much through the summer with his new Kamodo Joe smoker. I guess it is my turn to cook. There’s not a thing I would change in this recipe; it was very good and there was enough sauce for 4 cornish hens.

November 20, 2011 By Sherry

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