This tip comes from The Main on the food channel. If a recipe calls for milk substitute buttermilk instead. Buttermilk adds more flavour and richness than milk with an almost lemony flavour to give that little bit extra.
Bon Appétit!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
A few days ago just a day and a half after the American Thanksgiving I read a comment on Twitter where the person was so sick of eating turkey. At the time this really rubbed me the wrong way especially so close after a day of giving thanks for the many blessings in life. Everyone who cooks has to deal with left-overs. It's just a given. Left-overs are a blessing because it means you have enough food that you won't go hungry like so many do world wide. A frugal home cook embraces left-overs knowing they become budget stretching meals. It's true that left-overs are not always glamorous eating when they are presented the same way three or four nights in a row. The trick therefore becomes not serving them the same way until they are used up.
My husband was fortunate to win a large package of 8 pork chops in a raffle at a recent community social. Saturday night I made oven baked pork chops in mushroom sauce that gave a new twist on an old family favourite. Sunday night we warmed up 2 of the pork chops with sauce served with hot buttered broad egg noodles and salad. Monday afternoon I cut the meat from the bone of the remaining 4 pork chops thinking I would turn it into a chowder. Then another idea came to mind which was to make a pork pot pie that would allow me to continue working on another project while the meal cooked.
Pork Pot Pie
Pot pie is an easy way to use up any stew-like dish. The crust can be a pastry type crust (eg. pie pastry, puff pastry) or simply a topping of bisquits. The bisquit topping can be made using a bisquit batter mix (preferable) or refigerator bisquit dough. Bisquit dough can easily be made with a homemade or commercially made baking mix.
While I wanted to use up the left-over pork chops and some of the left-over niblet corn I din't want the resulting meal to be a total repeat of the original. Pictured is the pork pot pie in the deep dish 2.6 L casserole dish. I used a bisquit batter seasoned with garlic salt and cheddar cheese for the topping.
Method: Spoon half the meat mixture into the casserole dish. Place a layer of corn on top then the rest of the meat mixture. Pour 3 cups of homemade or commercially made baking mix into a mixing bowl. Stir in 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese and about 1 tsp of garlic salt. Pour in enough milk to make a thick, spoonable batter. Spoon the batter over the meat mixture spreading to cover. Bake at 180ºC/350ºF until meat mixture is bubbly and bisquit topping comes clean in the center when poked with a toothpick and is golden brown.
Bon Appétit!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
The unfortunate side effect to the H1N1 flu outbreak initially being called swine flu is the misconception that the virus is transmitted through pork meat. This has caused the price of pork to plummet dramatically in many areas and forced some pork farmers out of business. As a result it is now quite easy for the frugal shopper to find pork cuts as low as $1 per pound making this an ideal time to stock-up on pork products.
Pork chops
Throughout the holiday season we attend several fund raising socials that usually include a meal. These types of events are always a lot of fun while providing support the various communities involved. Quite often there is a door prize and raffle tickets are sold for an opportunity to win various donated prizes. Kudos to the various volunteers and those donating prizes for making these types of events possible.
Last Friday we enjoyed a fish fry social. As always their perch and pickerel were fried to perfection! Various packages of meat were raffled off after the meal. My husband won a large package of pork chops! So that was a nice surprise :)
There is just something about pairing pork with creamy mushroom sauce such a comfort food. This time I put a new spin on an old family favourite. At the same time I tried using a tip from one of the Chef Michael Smith on Food Network Canada. The tip was to layer flavours of the same meat but in different forms to develop depth in flavour. Ideally you should aim for 3 layers. I used bacon grease to sauté the mushroom quarters and to sear the the pork chops to add another layer of pork to the meal. I also used pork stock to deglaze the fry pan after searing the pork chops.
The meal consisted of pork chopes baked in mushroom sauce but instead of using just milk to create the sauce I used half buttermilk. Buttermilk is acidic so works as a tenderizer resulting in melt-in-your-mouth tenderness. The pork chops were served with sautéed mushroom quarters, left-over rustic potatoes and home frozen corn niblets. That is home made sweet butter on the corn. It was a nice comfort meal on a cool, grey and rainy autumn day.
Baking Method for Pork Chops in Mushroom Sauce: Heat a stainless steel fry pan with about 2 tbsp of bacon grease on high. Sear pork chops on both sides and place them in a glass casserole dish. Deglaze the pan with a little pork stock. Pour the resulting liquid over the pork chops and set pan aside. Pour 2 cans of condensed mushroom soup into a mixing bowl. Whisk in 1 can whole milk and ¾ can buttermilk. Pour the soup mixture over the meat. Cover with lid or tin foil. Bake at 180ºC/350ºF until soup bubbles. Adjust the lid to cover ¾ of the casserole dish and continue baking until sauce is reduced to desired consistency. Remove lid and continue baking until the edges are golden. Remove from oven.
Bon Appétit!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
This week's Frugal Kitchens 101 topic is water. Water is the universal solvent so it is no surprise that water plays a huge role in cooking. Fresh water is taken for granted with the only time missing it is if the main water supply is shut off for even a short period of time. Water is something we simply just assume is always going to be available. As useful as water is for cooking it presents a few problems but first let's consider the benefits.
Benefits: The biggest benefit to using water is it is in most cases a very inexpensive ingredient. It's abundant and easily used to cook foods in or stretch sauces.
Problems:
I am always watching for new recipes to try. Many food products include a recipe on the label mainly are a marketing ploy to get you to buy their product. If you like the recipe then chances are very good you will buy their product again. The Monster Cookie recipe was printed on the inside of a Grassland Butter carton. Had I not been paying attention I would have missed it!
Monster Cookies
What I found interesting about this cookie recipe is there was no flour. I thought it might be a typo but decided to try them anyway. I modified the recipe to make a half batch as well as changing weights into cups. This ended up being a wise decision as the half batch made 5 dozen cookies!
The cookies came out quite lovely! I think they are ideal for gift giving. I used the and if you are in Canada you can substitute the M&M®s with Holiday Mix M&M®Smarties®. For those outside of Canada Smarties® are candy coated milk chocolate candies very similar to M&M®s. I do think this recipe could easily be adapted to a gift in the jar if you don't have time to bake.
Monster Cookies
source: modified from Grassland Butter carton
3 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½c butter
1¼c brown sugar
1 c granulated sugar
1½ c peanut butter
4½c oatmeal
½ c chocolate chips
½c M&M candies
Place the first 6 ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on medium until well mixed. Mix in the oatmeal. Remove bowl from stand mixer. Stir in the chocolate chips and candies. Drop teaspoon size portions on Silpat® lined cookie sheet. Bake on convection at 163ºC/325ºF [normal bake - 180ºC/350ºF] until golden brown.
Bon Appétit!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Any Canadian living within an hour drive of the US border has more than likely heard the term turkey run. Now why would that be interesting? The simple reason is in Canada the turkey prices are regulated so getting any kind of a bargain is very difficult. This week one Canadian grocery store has turkeys on for 99¢ per pound which is a fantastic Canadian price. However due to the US Thanksgiving yesterday turkeys were on for as cheap as 29¢ per pound at some US grocery stores making a turkey run even with the price of gas well worth it!
We did our turkey run on Wednesday. Kroger had turkeys on for 49¢ per pound with an additional $10 purchase with a limit of one per customer with their store card. We shopped separately and each of us used our store cards so we were allowed 2 turkeys coming in a $10.86 and $10.39. Our next stop was a grocery store where turkeys were on for 29¢ per pound, limit one per customer with an additional $25 purchase. My husband insisted we get a turkey each even though I tried to tell him we didn't have room in the freezers for 4 turkeys. We paid $5.37 and $5.68 for the turkeys here. The total spent including the extra groceries and the 4 turkeys was $110.53. Considering the turkeys will give a yield of at least 28 L of stock and at today's sale price for stock of $1.63/500 ml would cost $91.28 it's easy to see how a turkey run saves considerably!
Turkey Dinner
As I told my husband we didn't have room for 4 turkeys in the freezers. He had alteriour motives though claiming he wanted his Thanksgiving feast Thursday night. I reminded him he wasn't American and he had had his Thanksgiving feast on our Canadian Thankgiving to which he responded with those puppy dog eyes and a bit of a pout so one turkey was put in the sink to thaw overnight.
Thawing Method: Place plug in sink then put the turkey in the sink. Place two t-towels over the bird and fill to almost covering the bird with cold water. Let sit overnight. The next morning remove the bird from the sink. Remove packaging and prepare for roasting.
I've talked about how I roast turkeys so there is nothing really new there and I've talked about how I make stuffing as well using homemade poultry seasoning. What is a bit different is the gravy and potatoes. I find corn starch makes a nicer textured gravy than flour does with a lot fewer lumps.
Gravy Method: Pour any liquid from the roasting pan into a large sauce pan. Deglaze the roasting pan and pour that through a strainer into the liquid. Make a slurry using about 2 tbsp cornstarch and enough buttermilk to make the slurry pourable. Bring the resulting mixture to a slow boil. Stir in about ¼tsp browning. Slowly pour in the slurry while stirring constantly. Let thicken while stirring then remove from heat.
Rustic Potatoes: Wash and cut unpeeled potatoes into bite sized pieces. Steam until tender. Place potatoes in bowl of stand mixer. Pour in about ½ cup buttermilk. Add about 1 c sour cream, a tbsp butter, 8 oz cream cheese and 2 tbsp roasted garlic. Beat on low to mix well but don't over beat.
Bon Appétit!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
Larger cuts of meat with bone in and whole birds (duck, turkey, goose) are often served during the holiday season. All of the bones are ideal for making stocks but there may not be time to do so. After the meat or bird has served, debone then pop the carcass into the freezer. Once the holidays are over remove the bones from the freezer and make your stock as normal.
Bon Appétit!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
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