Addressing the Dressing aka Stuffing

Bread Cubes for Beyond Basic Bread Stuffing

I like to use several different types of bread when I make stuffing; a complementary trio is one third good quality white bread, one third whole wheat bread and one third cornbread. It gives the stuffing a distinctly unusual flavor and a non-mushy texture. This is a good basic stuffing recipe; you can successfully add fillers like cranberries, apples, sausage, chestnuts, oysters and mushrooms. Baking the stuffing in a casserole dish or inside the bird is a matter of personal preference.

Helpful to know: My preferred chicken broth is Imagine Organic Free Range Chicken Broth. Bread stuffing can be prepared in advance, but allow to come to room temperature before heating.

Beyond Basic mixture

½ cup (1 stick) butter

3 cups celery, chopped (leaves are optional but if used, should be included in the 3 cups)

1½ cups white onion, chopped

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon paprika

Several grindings fresh black pepper

1 cup chicken broth

½ cup fresh parsley, minced

Preheat oven to 350°. In a medium pot over moderate heat, melt butter; add celery and onion and sauté for about 5-7 minutes or until fork tender. Remove from heat; add salt, paprika, black pepper, chicken broth and parsley; stir to combine.

Bread Stuffing

15 cups bread, cut into bite size cubes

Canola oil for casserole dish

Place bread cubes in a large bowl; toss with Beyond Basic (celery/onion/broth) mixture and transfer to a lightly oiled 4-quart casserole dish. Bake covered in a 350° oven for about 30 minutes, remove cover and bake an additional 15 minutes. Yield: 12-15 servings.

Delicious recipe gives reason for craving Brussels Sprouts

Lemon Butter Brussels Sprout Sauerkraut-Style

The first memory I have of Brussels sprouts appearing on a dinner plate was in my late teens. My mother introduced them around Thanksgiving and served them alongside stuffed pork chops and sweet potatoes. Not only was the combination seasonal, colorful and complementing, the Brussels sprouts were cooked and seasoned to perfection. Her recipe, she told us, couldn’t be simpler, after steaming the miniature green cabbages until fork tender, my mother tossed them with brown butter (butter she had slightly browned over a medium flame) sprouts were coated with the butter and seasoned with salt. The result was yummy. Many years later, I thought how clever my mother to introduce her mature brood of five a sophisticated vegetable when our palates could appreciate them. Brussels sprouts were the accompaniment to many of our dinners through the duration of their season beginning in the fall and throughout the winter months.

Selecting, Storing, Preparing

Brussels sprouts grow in a spiral pattern on robust two to three foot stalks; each stalk depending on height yields about 20-30 sprouts. Farmers’ markets and some grocery stores sell Brussels sprouts attached to the stalk. While this is my favorite way to buy them and certainly the freshest, they are more commonly sold after they have been cut from the stalk. When selecting, chose firm, small, compact sprouts that are a vivid sage green, avoid any sprouts with yellowed leaves. For uniform cooking, select sprouts that are equal in size. Wash and prepare sprouts just before cooking. Fresh sprouts will keep refrigerated in a perforated bag for 5 or more days. 

The secret to great tasting Brussels sprouts is in the cooking; they are best cooked until just fork tender. When perfectly cooked these sage green nuggets have a slightly sweet, nutty flavor. To prepare for cooking, soak sprouts in a bowl of tepid water for about 10 minutes. Rinse and trim stem end. To ensure even cooking, cut an X about a ¼-inch deep into the remaining base of each sprout. Brussels can be boiled, braised, roasted or steamed, to retain the most nutrients and for maximum cooking results they are best steamed. Cooking times vary depending on size, cook for about 5-10 minutes, careful not to overcook, after 5 minutes, check every few minutes.

Lemon Butter Brussels Sprouts - Sauerkraut-Style

Hopefully I have influenced you (if you’ve gotten this far, I have dutifully done my Brussels sprout convincing) to be a fan of sprouts or at least willing to try this recipe. My husband Nick is the official taste tester for the recipes I create, this recipe is among his favorite.

½ cup butter, (1 stick)

2 packages or 1½ pounds Brussels sprouts (about 2 dozen)

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons lemon peel, finely grated

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

To prepare sauerkraut-style Brussels sprouts, remove stem, cut in half lengthwise, thinly slice each half widthwise. In a large pan, melt butter over moderate heat, add Brussels sprouts and salt, stir to evenly coat sprouts with butter. Cover, reduce heat to medium low and cook for 5- 10 minutes or until nearly fork tender, stirring occasionally. Add lemon peel and juice, stir, cover and cook an additional 2-5 minutes or until just tender. Season with pepper. Serves 6.

Brussels sprouts are a tempting side to baked chicken, stuffed pork chops, pork tenderloin and braised short ribs and if your don’t serve sauerkraut with turkey on Thanksgiving, (a tradition among many) Brussels sprouts make a colorful and unique addition to this holiday meal.

Creamy Noodles with Spinach

Comfort food extraordinaire! I served this to friends who came for dinner last night and they loved it! I served it alongside marinated skirt steak, sauteed mushrooms and broiled tomatoes. We were a happy foursome!

Helpful to know: You can use pancetta instead of Canadian bacon with nearly the same flavor results. This crowd-pleasing side dish complements pork, chicken, fish and beef, but it’s also delicious without any accompaniments! Cook the noodles while you’re preparing the creamy sauce.   This dish is best served immediately. 

1 tablespoons canola oil

1 slice Canadian bacon, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed

½ cup mascarpone cheese

¼ cup heavy cream

Pinch ground nutmeg

½ cup spinach, cooked and chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet heat canola oil over medium-high heat, cook Canadian bacon for a few minutes or until lightly browned. Reduce heat to medium low and add crushed garlic and cook for about 1 minute or until fragrant. Add mascarpone, cream and nutmeg, whisk until smooth and well combined. Add cooked spinach, stir to combine and season with salt and pepper.

3 cups raw egg noodles

In a large pot, cook egg noodles in boiling salted water according to package directions. Drain noodles and immediately add to creamy sauce, stir until well combined and heated through. Serve immediately. Yield: 4 servings. 

Asparagus with Crispy-Fried Shallots and Brown Butter Breadcrumbs

Despite cold temperatures hovering around 30 degrees outside, it is officially spring and asparagus, one of this season's garden glories is being harvested right now. I relish this time of year, mostly because it marks the beginning of a long food harvest full of fresh ingredients I love to prepare and eat.

I typically don't adorn fresh asparagus spears, with a lot of other ingredients, rather I allow the flavor to stand on their own, but the other night I prepared this and served it with lamb chops. Fork tender spears were the perfect compliment for the crispy-fried shallots and the carrot disks added a beautiful contrasting color.

If you're not a fan of lamb, this would be a lovely springtime side dish to accompany fish or chicken.

Helpful to know: Asparagus stalks should be rounded; look for firm stems with deep green or purplish closed tips. The thickness of asparagus spears is a matter of preference and will determine the amount of cooking time; I prefer medium size spears. Use asparagus within 1-2 days of purchasing.

Asparagus with Crispy-Fried Shallots and Brown Butter Breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons butter

1 small shallot, (about ¼ cup) thinly sliced

¼ cup breadcrumbs

1 bunch asparagus spears, cooked until fork tender

1 cup carrot disks, cooked until tender

In a medium skillet over moderate heat, melt butter. Saute shallots until tender, add breadcrumbs and cook stirring constantly, cook until chestnut brown. Evenly distribute shallot/breadcrumb mixture and carrots over asparagus spears. Yield: 4 servings.

Cheatin' Chicken with Mushroom and Robiola Cheese Polenta Pie

We call it cheatin' chicken because all that is required is to eat it! It's a whole chicken that is seasoned and cooked to perfection. I'm partial to the chickens Whole Foods Market sells ... poultry producers must meet very strict program standards for which I advocate. You can pick up a cheatin' chicken near the prepared food section. We discovered a batch comes out in the late afternoon, just in time to get it home and enjoy it warm. Last night we enjoyed our cheatin' chicken with my recipe for Mushroom and Robiola Cheese Polenta Pie (pictured) one of Nick's favorite side dishes. The ingredients, (polenta, mushrooms and creamy robiola) complement the chicken perfectly.

Here's the other thing I love about cheatin' chicken, today I'm going to submerge what's left of it in a pot of boiling water along with a lot of celery, carrots and onion. It will make a delicious stock for the cheatin' chicken and dumpling soup I'm preparing for tonights dinner.

If you're not familiar, robiola (pronounced roh-bee-OL-lah) cheese is a soft, moist and very flavorful brie-like melting cheese that gives this dish its’ decadent flavor and creamy texture. Originating in northern Italy, robiola is starting to rival gorgonzola as that country’s most famous cheese. This pie is extremely versatile; pair it with chicken, fish or beef and serve it at breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. If you happen to have any leftovers, wedges of pie are delicious when topped with a poached egg.

Helpful to know: I highly recommend using Imagine Organic Free Range Chicken Broth for the pie crust. Stand back when adding the cornmeal to the boiling broth as the mixture will splatter. For those of you who don’t know it, you have just made polenta (the combination of a liquid with cornmeal.) Robiola cheese can be found in specialty cheese shops or Whole Foods Market nationwide.

Polenta

4 cups (1 quart) chicken broth

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup yellow cornmeal

Canola oil for pie plate

Heat chicken broth in a large pot (a deep pot works great) over moderately high heat and bring to a gentle boil. Stir in salt. Reduce heat and slowly add cornmeal, whisking (using the sturdy kind, not the flexible) constantly. Reduce heat to low and cook, whisking occasionally, for 15-20 minutes or until thickened; remove from heat, transfer and evenly spread cornmeal mixture into a lightly oiled pie plate.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Mushroom and Robiola Cheese Topping

2 tablespoons butter

1 pound white mushrooms, chopped

2 tablespoons cooking sherry

½ teaspoon salt

Fresh ground pepper to taste

¼ pound robiola cheese, cubed

In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat, add mushrooms and sauté until mushrooms are light brown; season with sherry, salt and pepper to taste. Top cornmeal mixture with mushroom mixture and robiola cheese cubes; bake for 45 minutes. Set oven temperature to Broil and lightly brown cheese. Cut into 8 wedges and serve immediately. Yield: 8 servings.

Macaroni and Cheese and Barely Wilted Zucchini with Warm Walnut Dressing

There are oodles of recipes (and secrets for success) for macaroni and cheese. Choose the recipe you've enjoyed over the years or one you've been hankering to prepare and incorporate some of my unique ideas for a great tasting macaroni and cheese. I like to use different types of pasta, last night I used casarecce (cah-sah-rech-ee) pasta, it looks a bit like a slightly twisted scroll. It’s great to use for macaroni and cheese because the pasta grabs the creamy, cheesy goodness perfectly. While this dish ranks at the top of the charts in the comfort food category, often it can be bland, to up the ante, I use a variety of cheeses and I dissolve a vegetable cube (Rapunzel is bursting with veggie flavor) to the liquid part. Pesto crumbs (see September 6^th post) give additional flavor and a fabulous crunch. To compliment the entrée, serve with my recipe for wilted zucchini and warm walnut dressing.

Barely Wilted Zucchini with Warm Walnut Dressing

Warm dressing barely wilts this prolific summer, autumn vegetable in a way that is so appealing. The key to its success is to serve it immediately after tossing the warm dressing with the vegetables.

Tidbits for perfection: You can cut and assemble the zucchini salad in advance, prepare the warm walnut dressing just prior to serving.

Zucchini Salad

2 medium zucchini, room temperature, unpeeled and cut into thin julienne strips

1 cup pepper, (red, yellow, orange or purple) room temperature, cut into thin julienne strips

2 medium shallots, room temperature, thinly sliced

In a large bowl, toss zucchini with pepper and shallots.

Warm Walnut Dressing

⅓ cup canola oil

½ cup walnuts, chopped

2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

In a sauté pan over medium heat, heat canola oil and sauté walnuts for about 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently (you may need to adjust heat to a lower temperature) so as not to burn the walnuts. Remove from heat and stir in vinegar (stand back, it will splatter) and sugar. Season with salt and pepper. Pour warm dressing over zucchini/pepper/shallots and toss to evenly coat. Serve immediately. Yield: 4 servings.

Pumpkin with Honey and Yogurt Sauce

Many of you know I serve on the board of The American Institute of Wine & Food. AIWF is an educational organization devoted to promoting health and well-being through the pleasure of great food and drink. The organization was founded in 1981 by late food and wine experts, Julia Child, Robert Mondavi and Robert Graff.

AIWF supports Days of Taste, a fantastic program that teaches school children about real food, where it is grown and how it is produced … part of the goal is to appreciate fresh food and what it’s intended to taste like. Days of Taste is an interactive series that brings chefs and farmers into fourth and fifth grade classrooms to teach students about the importance of farm fresh food. It begins at the farm and ends at the table.

To support the funds needed for this worthy endeavor, AIWF hosts many educational food and wine related events throughout the year in a variety of venues. The events are created and accomplished by a program committee that meets (round robin) once a month. Last night was our turn to host. We all contribute by bringing a dish and a bottle of wine.

While we were sipping wine and waiting for the appetizer to arrive, I thought I would offer an amuse-bouche (uh-MYUZ-boosh) … a single bite-sized hors d’oeuvre – the term is French, translation – “mouth amuser!” I was eager to share and receive feedback, (who better to get an opinion than from food enthusiasts) as Nick and I had been taste-testing my pumpkin creation for the last few days.

The dish is rather simplistic; tender pumpkin gets lightly dressed with honey and doused with yogurt sauce. What did committee members think? They loved it! After the “mouth amuser” we enjoyed crostini slathered with roasted red pepper hummus. We sat down to a spinach salad, Fresh Tomato and Cheddar Pie (September 16^th post) and my recipe for A Maize Zing Corn Pudding, (posted on August 17^th) and for dessert we enjoyed carrot cake. By candle light we savored great food, wine and friendship for a good cause.

Pumpkin with Honey and Yogurt Sauce

Tidbits for perfection: Be careful cutting pumpkin, (you might need more than kitchen tools) the skin is hard. It didn’t take a minute to realize my largest and best knife wasn’t going to cut it, (literally) so I placed the pumpkin in the kitchen sink, anchored it in the drain, jimmied a chisel into the skin and hammered the chisel until the pumpkin broke in half. The process made me think about Tom Hanks in the movie Cast Away when he was trying to break open a coconut!

You can also serve as a first course or side dish, allow one quarter pumpkin per person. The temperature of the pumpkin is important, to keep it warm, place it in a pot fitted with a steamer and simmer until serving time.

Pumpkin

1 small pumpkin, quartered, seeds removed

Sugar

Preheat oven to 400°. Place pumpkin quarters on rimmed baking sheet, sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until fork tender. When cool enough to handle, carefully remove skin.

Yogurt Sauce

Two 6-ounce containers plain yogurt

2 tablespoons garlic, minced

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon dried coriander

In a medium bowl, combine yogurt, garlic, lemon juice and coriander.

Honey

To prepare for serving, transfer pumpkin wedges to 4 rimmed serving plates. Drizzle with honey and top with yogurt sauce. Garnish with fresh parsley sprigs if desired.

A Maize Zing Corn Pudding and Trivia

I’ve been decobbing a lot lately, it’s the nature of the season! Here is some corn trivia I found rather amazing. Each ear of corn has about 600 kernels arranged in bands of 14-16. One bushel of corn contains a total of about 90,000 kernels and there is one strand of silk for each kernel! Something to think about while you’re de-cobbing.

Warning, this A Maize Zing Corn Pudding is extremely popular. Guests invariably return for seconds and sometimes thirds. I recommend doubling the recipe if you’re entertaining hearty eaters! Mr. Fabulous can eat the whole thing in one sitting and still stay thin! If your not feeding hearty eaters, you can halve the recipe with great results. 

4 eggs, room temperature

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

6 tablespoons sugar

1½ teaspoons salt

1½ cups milk

4 cups fresh cooked corn

Canola oil for casserole dish

6 tablespoons butter, cut into chunks

Preheat oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, add flour and whisk until well incorporated. Add sugar, salt and milk; stir in corn, pour into a greased casserole dish to accommodate. Dot the top with chunks of butter. Bake for 45 minutes, then set oven to Broil and top brown. Yield: 8 servings