Hubby's Weekend Cooking

I have often mentioned on this blog my husband's wonderful cooking skills. He makes one of the best burgers you will ever taste but his real signature dish is his breaded pork chops! This past weekend he decided to take over the kitchen! Here's what he came up with.

Rib Roast

Thursday morning I was rummaging through one of the chest freezers holding our new supply of organic, hormone free beef. I wanted ground beef but as I was looking for that I spotted a rib roast that somehow had two corners torn. This does happen with bulk meat purchases from time to time with the transporting from the abattoir to home freezer. It was hot and humid not really nice roast weather day so I put the roast into the refrigerator to thaw.

Saturday my husband wrapped the roast tightly and cooked it on the grill. At the same time he cooked potatoes seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper then wrapped in foil on the grill. The side vegetables were cauliflower with a little butter and nutmeg, sliced tomatoes and cucumber quarters. It was a lovely meal that kept most of the prep heat out of the house.

Breakfast

Yes I know breakfast is the most important meal of the day but I have to admit that during the week we very seldom eat breakfast especially a cooked one. I'm quite happy with a bit of homemade yogurt with my coffee or latte while my husband occasionally enjoys a toasted bagel. When we are on vacation or on the weekends we make up for it by having a hot breakfast.

There were left over potatoes from Saturday's roast dinner and half a ream of frozen bacon left from the omelet made the weekend before. In true frugal fashion he fried the bacon on the indoor griddle then set it aside to warm the potatoes. When the potatoes were warmed though he put the eggs on while I made the toast. Once plated we sat eating and chit chatting while watching the beauty of the water.

Barbeque Rib Roast Pizza

The rib roast dinner on Saturday had been an unplanned meal. It was a larger roast as well so there were left overs. Saturday night as we watched a bit of television a commercial for a steak pizza came on. That became the inspiration for a different way to use up some of the rib roast.

I put in a batch of pizza dough just after 3 PM. With the heat and humidity the proofing went a bit quicker than expected. My husband took it from there. Instead of a tomato pizza sauce he used Diana Sauce® for the sauce. After spreading a even layer of Diana Sauce® he layered on thin slices of the roast beef and chopped onions then topped with mozzarella cheese. This mouthwatering pizza tasted every bit as good as it looked! What a wonderful and unique way to use up roast beef!

Indoor Grilling

One of the first things we bought as newlyweds was a charcoal outdoor grill. Shortly after that a small tabletop hibachi joined our outdoor cooking equipment. The problem with both was could not be used indoors so we went without grilling during the cold winter months. Let me tell you that first barbeque of the season was very much anticipated! A few years later we bought our first propane outdoor grill that saw a considerable amount of year round use. We are a bit more refined now using a natural gas grill as well as charcoal and wood for cooking outdoors. I've posted several times on this blog how I use my outdoor grill as an oven and that we grill outdoors year round.

Grilling outdoors is not as pleasant during a snow or thunderstorm! I was very excited when I found my first indoor grill and oh how I wish I had taken a picture of it! It was about the diameter of a large, round slow cooker and made of ceramic. An inner cone shaped insert sat on the rim. A couple of cups of water was poured into the cone insert to help control smoke. The open burner went on top followed by a small grill. Unfortunately the water did not control the smoke so we had to open the kitchen window and disable the smoke alarms but we were at least able to grill indoors during inclement weather. The other downside was the small cooking surface so we had to grill in batches. Fast forward to recent years and indoor grilling has taken on a whole new meaning!

Chicken Medallions

We currently have two indoor grills. One is a removable cartridge for our Jenn-Air® downdraft range and the other is a tabletop model made by Charlescraft. My indoor grill of choice is the cartridge for my range. It consists of a 2000 W burner, drip pan and 2 coated grates. The drip pan has a small drainage hole that allows any juices to flow though to a removable drip pitcher under the stove. The high velocity, filtered downdraft system (white grate cover at top) virtually eliminates any smoking issues! It has a large surface area for grilling as well. The temperature can easily be adjusted.

Pictured are grilled chicken medallions I made a few months ago. Surprisingly this grill cartridge sees more use for grilling vegetables and breads than it does for meats. It gives lovely grill marks with consistent results. However, there are times that the countertop indoor grill comes in handy.

CounterCraft Grill

A countertop indoor grill is especially suitable for those living in apartments where other types of grills are not allowed. We bought the tabletop model at a closing out sale for Eaton's. At the time it was expensive at $79 despite being on sale at 50% off so I don't have the heart to get rid of it. It has about half of the cooking surface as the Jenn-Air® grill cartridge and it takes up counter space during use but it does a fairly decent job. The base is deep enough to hold a couple of cups of water to reduce smoking. There is a small side griddle to keep food warm. It's supposed to function as a griddle but it doesn't! There is a detachable splatter shield to protect your walls as well. The real downside to this particular grill and most countertop grills is there is only one temperature. However, most of the parts are dishwasher safe.

Round Steak

Pictured is the marinated (herbs & garlic) round steak we grilled on Monday. As a side I cut up left over baked potatoes and warmed them as well using the small side griddle. The small simple side salad was topped with mashed avocado rather than salad dressing.

Using an indoor grill even if the grilling temperature can be adjusted has it's limitations. Unlike an outdoor grill, indoor grills do not have cooler spots. The food is grilled using direct heat only for the entire grill surface making them unsuitable for cooking more than one type of food at a time. This can be overcome to some degree if the indoor grill temperature can be adjusted. In this case you can grill the meat first, reduce the temperature then grill the vegetable. Design limitations of indoor grills simply do not permit cooking foil wrapped potatoes or foil packets. Indoor grills cannot be used for low, slow grilling nor can they be used with foil smoking packets. Some smoke is to be expected when using any indoor grill so do take that into consideration. Minimize this problem by grilling lean cuts of meats. Avoid chicken with the skin on, sausages and any cut of meat with a strip of fat on it. Despite the limitations an indoor grill is a worthwhile addition to your kitchen appliance collection!

Yummy Dinner! White Pizza

One of the nicest things about the internet is we can easily keep in touch with our kids. Sharing pictures of what we made for dinner has become a favourite activity. They are all talented cooks! A couple of days ago I received pictures along with the recipes for a white pizza made by one of our kids. I immediately called to ask if I could blog about it. Even though I knew there wouldn't be a problem sharing this wonderful pizza with my readers, I still asked. (Thanks for sharing both, sweetie!)

My best pizza dough has both beer and sugar as ingredients something the kids are avoiding as much as possible with the grandbaby. We occasionally use alcohol as an ingredient when cooking however despite claims that the alcohol burns off during the cooking process, that is false! There is a handy alcohol burn off chart here. Even though there isn't a lot of alcohol left in the food there is still some and that needs to be considered when serving the dish to children or those who for whatever reason choose to abstain from alcohol. We have both family and friends that abstain so I make two versions of the same dish, one with alcohol. So do consider do the same if you cook with alcohol. Food like wine jelly or jams made with alcohol should be well labeled as they tend to have a fairly high alcohol content.

White Pizza

The kids have been raving about the following pizza dough that they accidentally stumbled upon. According to them "Hands-down, one of the best pizzas we have ever had! The dough is so fluffy and good that we are making calzones out of it tonight." The kids said that even though the dough contained cornmeal it was not gritty. Using chicken and broccoli is a lovely combination. The Alfredo sauce was homemade as well.

It looks so mouthwatering that I have this recipe on the top of my next to try recipes! The dough was made in a breadmachine but you can easily make it using the KitchenAid® stand mixer. Simply mix the dry ingredients together in the stand mixer bowl then stir the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl and slowly pour into the dry while mixing on speed 2. Adjust flour if needed so the dough leaves the side of the mixing bowl. Knead on speed 2 until smooth and elastic.

Cornmeal Pizza Dough

1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup olive oil
3 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup medium-grind yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons SAF yeast or 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Combine ingredients and follow your manufacturers directions for your bread machine.


White Pizza
- dough as prepared above
- slice mushrooms and broccoli and cook together (no seasoning)
- cook chicken with no seasoning
- spread Alfredo sauce on bottom
- add broccoli and mushroom mixture
- add chicken
- sprinkle garlic pepper on top
- top with shredded mozzarella cheese

Please Note: Photo and instructions are ©b1 (one of Garden Gnome's kids who is looking at the possibility of changing careers to become a professional chef in the next few years).

Spaghetti with Roasted Tomato Sauce

When I'm canning seasonal produce like tomato products, the first thing I worry about is whether I've canned enough. The reason being is I want enough of that particular product to last until the next season or about a year. So when I tell someone I just finished canning 48 jars of roasted tomato sauce often the first question is "What are you going to do with that many jars?" Consider though that this amount would work out to four pints per month, roughly one per week. In reality I aim for the hundred mark for the roasted tomato sauce. The method for making and canning roasted tomato sauce can be found in the archives here.

The question of what to do with some home preserved foods is a common one. It comes up over and over. The trick to home preserving especially canning is to know what your family eating habits are. Yes, 32 jars of homemade dill pickles look wonderful and they are cheap but will you use that many jars in one year? So start with the end in mind always having some idea of how you are later going to use the product. Always adjust the amount preserved to reflect your family's needs. Many of the recipes I post use one or more home preserved foods. I'm going to try posting more ways to use up your home preserved foods

Spaghetti with Roasted Tomato Sauce

Spaghetti with roasted tomato sauce is one of my fast foods. It is very inexpensive, filling and can easily be made in 15 minutes. To borrow one of Rachel Ray's phrases, "how good is that?" It is meatless but I like to sprinkle a little fresh Parmesan cheese on top. Without the cheese the meal is vegetarian.

There are no real measurements for this meal so it can be adjusted for the number of people being served. I used:

1 pint roasted tomato sauce
2 handfuls fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp butter or olive oil
1/2 medium chopped onion
4 sprigs fresh parsley
about 6 pieces fresh chives
about 3-inch diameter spaghetti
splash of olive oil
a good pinch of sea salt
2 tbsp fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Bring water to a boil in a large sauce pan. At the same time, slice the mushrooms and sauté in butter or olive oil frypan. Chop the onions and cut the chives into small pieces. Add a splash of olive oil, salt and pasta to the water. Heat sauce in small saucepan. Remove mushrooms from heat. Cook pasta until el dente then drain. Place pasta on plate and top with sauce, onions, chives, mushrooms and Parmesan cheese (if desired). Garnish with fresh parsley.
Serves 4

Lasagne

We are doing a road trip late this afternoon to visit the kids and new grandbaby so I decided to take a lasagne.

My lasagnes are based on two things, lots of cheese and my homemade meat sauce that was shown in an earlier blog entry. Because I'm playing with cheeses at the moment, this lasage has the following cheeses: emmentale, asaigo, parmesan reggiano, extra sharp cheddar, mild cheddar and fresh mozzarella.

This picture was taken just before the final layer. You will notice this lasagne is not made in a traditional lasagne pan but that is for a reason. I used a large disposable roasting pan and since I only had oval ones on hand that had to do. The reason I decided to do this is I wanted lots of left-overs for the kids. They need a break with a new baby and lasagne freezes and re-heats nicely so it is the perfect meal to take.

My method for lasagne is layer of sauce, layer of cheese, layer of noodles. Cheeses may vary and normally the first layer has a light topping of cottage cheese on it but I was out and wasn't going to drive to town for cottage cheese! I also often add a layer of spinach or swiss chard but not today. Once all the layers are in place as seen here, I add a final layer of grated cheeses. Since we are traveling two and a half hours I decided to cover with parchment paper then tin foil. It will go into a hot/cold insulated bag then cooked when we get there for a later dinner. My husband thought I should cook it here then put into the bag for transport but I really think that is just too iffy.

If I'm not too much into grandma mode, I'll post a picture of the lasagne cut when we get back. This is a very short trip but we wanted to see the kids before we fly out on the sixteenth and this was the best weekend. I'll likely be back up there this coming week as he goes back to work so an extra pair of helping hands might come in handy.

Garden Gnome
© 2007

PS. I promise the blog will get back to normal shortly just as soon as things settle down a bit.

Quiche

At this busy time of year it is nice to have quick to make, homemade meals. Quiche is one such meal especially if you use prepared ahead ingredients from your freezer or canning stores. Recipes for my favourite pie crust and quiche filling follow.

My Favourite Pie Crust

This is my absolute favourite pie crust! I this recipe for anything requiring a pastry crust. It cannot be beat for deep dish recipes. While I prefer to make it fresh most times, I have frozen several for those busy times. There are three ways to freeze: leave in a ball and vacuum seal; roll out and form into sheets, freeze individually then stack divided with wax paper and put into a zipper freezer bag; or roll out, put into tin foil pie plates. I should mention that the original recipe was the one my mom used and I modified it years ago for flakier results. The recipe is enough for a 9 inch two crust pie. Oh and I like to simplify where I can so use an easy almost no clean-up method for rolling out the dough.

Favourite Pie Crust
Source: my mom, modified by me

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp sea salt
2/3 cup shortening
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
4 - 6 tbsp ice water

Combine flour and salt then cut in shortening and butter. Add 1 tbsp ice water at a time. Mix until all flour is moistened and dough almost cleans side of bowl. Divide dough into two balls and shape into a flattened rounds. Place the one round on parchment paper. Cover with another sheet of parchment paper. Roll dough two inches larger than inverted pie pan. Remove top piece of parchment. Place inverted pie pan in centre of the dough then slowly flip bottom parchment paper with crust into pie pan. Repeat for a two crust pie inverting onto filled pie or for one crust pie make two pies or freeze the remainder.

Broccoli Quiche

Quiche is simply a comfort food and trust me "real men" do eat quiche. I got the original recipe for this quiche several years ago from a girlfriend who did not include a source. The original recipe called for a purchased frozen pie shell, dried parmesan cheese, regular ground pepper, regular salt, dried oregano, butter, and soft bread crumbs as well as being topped with a ring of tomatoes. Well, I simply could not leave this recipe as is so I used it as a base for my own recipe. The recipe will give enough filling for one deep dish quiche and one small crustless quiche for the low carbers. I should mention that this quiche gets my family's five star rating!

This recipe re-heats nicely in the microwave. It freezes nicely too. Simply let cool but be sure no family members are around for sneaked taste tests! Once cooled freeze either whole or in individual servings on a cookie sheet then vacuum seal.

Broccoli Quiche

1 9" raw pie crust in deep dish pie pan
1 lg onion, chopped and sauteed until just translucent
1 1/4 c sauteed fresh mushrooms (can substitute frozen sauteed or homecanned pieces)
1 1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 - 3/4 tsp powdered pepper
3/4 tsp dried oregano (double if using fresh)
2 c 2% milk
2 c lightly steamed broccoli
12 slices bacon, sliced crosswise and cooked
8 oz package cream cheese
1 c fresh grated parmesan cheese
6 eggs
3/4 c bread crumbs (either fresh or dry)

Preheat oven to 425ºF. Prepare vegetables and let cool. Grate parmesan cheese and set aside. Blend remaining ingredients together. Stir in vegetables and parmesan cheese. Fill pie shell and small baking dish with quiche filling. Bake at 425ºF for 10 minutes then reduce heat to 350ºF and bake until a knife inserted in centre comes out clean.

Notes: The crustless quiche will take less time to bake but can go into the oven at the same time just remove it when a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. For a nice variation try substituting steamed asparagus pieces for the broccoli.

Enjoy,

Garden Gnome