Baked Wings and Potatoes

I have always loved chicken wings! Hubby on the other hand used to pick on me for eating them, he would tell me I was wasting my time trying to get enough meat off them to make a meal out of, they had no taste….etc, etc. He could go on and on about how he saw no reason to even bother with them, as far as he was concerned you should just throw them away. Fast forward and about 5 or so years ago I happened to have some wings from a roast chicken sitting on my plate and he grabbed one of them and proceeded to eat it ………………..all of a sudden he became a wing monster! Where I used to get all the wings that came attached to all the chickens in this house, now I have to fight to get my fair share. I settled that arguement by buying packs of just wings at Sams, they sell them in a large package that are packed 6 in each section, and each big pack has 8 sections in it so one of those last us a while. I use the wings when I am making stock too and then I also serve them just baked like we had tonight. I brine the wings in a salt water solution for about 4 hours before I put rub on them and let them sit for another hour, then I bake them at 375 for an hour and we sit and feast, and no arguements about who gets the wings anymore. I mix up a simple rub of a tablespoon each of garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paparika and one half tablespoon of oregano and parsley. I put the spices into our old coffee grinder and give them a whirl to mix them well then I add one teaspoon salt and a half teaspoon pepper, its a very simple rub but it goes good with the wings, they aren’t too spicy for me and yet they do have a bit of pepper for hubby. Rub the wings all over with the mixture and then let them sit for about 30 minutes to an hour to absorb some of the seasoning. Put them on a sheet pan and into the oven for an hour and then enjoy!

Taters

I don’t have a name for these taters, they aren’t a real augratin in a classic sense although they do have some cheese on top. Onions and potatoes are sliced on a mandoline into very thin slices after being peeled and then placed in concentric circles in this enameled cast iron pan that has been generously buttered.  A few dots of butter and salt and pepper are also put on the layers as the dish is being put together. When all the layering is finished the casserole is put over a low flame on the stove top and about 2 cups of chicken broth are poured over the potatoes, the pan is then covered and left to cook. Check them every few minutes and replenish the chicken stock if the potatoes look dry, they should be simmering and not boiling rapidly so lower the flame if you need to. When a knife enters the center of the dish with no resistance remove the cover from the pan and pour over 1/2 cup of heavy cream, place the pan in the oven and cook for 30 minutes until the top is nicely browned, you can add some cheese to the top if you like, remove from the oven when the cheese is melted and browned if you are using it. Cut into wedges to serve. This is not a saucy potato dish as the potatoes soak up all the broth and cream and meld together with the onions. The trick to getting them to come out nicely is to really cut the ingredients VERY thinnly on a mandolin and have them just simmering on the stove top in the first part of the recipe so they don’t burn.

Wings

Pasta

It was so hot out today and hubby and I had a lot of running around to do. When we got home we were both wiped out from having to deal with all the heat outside and the last thing on my mind was dinner. After we got ourselves a cool drink and started to recover from all that heat outside I finally did begin to wonder what I could make that was relatively quick and not too labor intensive. Seeing as yesterday I had done all those nice tomatoes and reduced them down to pulp I had the bright idea to make a very quick and simple bolognese sauce and have it with some pasta. My bolognese usually takes me a few hours to prepare but this one tonight was done in under an hour and was nice, it will get more flavor after it sits in the fridge for another day or so.

                                    Quick Bolognese

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef

1 stalk celery washed and trimmed

1 carrot peeled and washed

1 small onion, peeled and quartered

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper plus 1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup dry red wine

4-5  cups tomato pulp

1/2 teaspoon oregano if fresh, 1 full teaspoon if using dry

Place the onion, carrot and the celery into a food processor and grind them to almost a paste. Add the oil to a hot pan and when the oil is hot add the vegetable paste and the garlic, salt and pepper. Sweat and saute the vegetables until they begin to brown, when they are browned start crumbling the meat into the pot, stir occasionally until the meat is no longer pink, add the wine and cook until it evaporates. Add the tomato pulp and the oregano and mix well, lower the heat and simmer until the sauce thickens, taste and add salt if needed. Serve over your favorite pasta.

Quick Bolognese

Boneless Pork Chops

Tonight was a very simple dinner. Hubby works late on Mandays so our dinner is usually a little later than usual. Tonight we had some simply sauteed boneless pork chops, seasoned with salt, pepper and a bit of thyme. I served them with some leftover mashed potatoes that I added some cheese, bacon and scallions to and heated and some frozen spinach that was simply steamed. The chops took about 10 minutes to cook in a saute pan and the mashed potatoes took all of about 4 minutes in the microwave, the spinach was steamed in my rice cooker. This is a dinner that would be a breeze to put together after a hard days work instead of eating fast food.

Boneless Pork Chops

Best Ever Rib Roast

Tonight we had what we have all agreed is the best rib roast I have ever made! What made it so good? A new to me technique I came upon quite by accident. If you have been reading my posts then you know that we were very lucky and a local store had whole rib roasts on sale at quite a low price, we had picked up two of them and they were cut into steaks and roasts, this was the last of the roasts. I had forgotten to take it from the freezer and put it in the fridge last night so it could defrost. I remembered I was supposed to make the roast today at about 1 o’clock and took it from the freezer and placed it on the counter with the hope it would at least defrost halfway before I had to cook it. At 3 o’clock it was still frozen rock solid except for about a quarter inch on the outside, I was now in a panic as I had nothing else handy to prepare. I went ahead and seasoned it and put it on a rack in a shallow roasting pan while I heated the oven up to 400 degrees. I know there is a technique some use where they start the roast at a high heat and then lower it for a long cook time and I have used it with great results but today I didn’t have the luxury of time on my side. I put the roast in the oven and left it at 400 for 2 hours then shut the oven off and left the roast in there for another hour, in the meantime I searched for my digital thermometer, which I never did manage to find. When hubby got home I took the roast out of the oven and hoped for the best, I did tell him that I might have to finish cooking our dinner in a saute pan after it was cut into steaks, he was ok with that. I got the green beans ready and cut the potatoes open and then took the meat and my carving knife and cut the first slice……….it was a thing of beauty! It was done with a crispy outside and a beautiful pink inside, but the best thing was how moist it was, it was tender and just melted in our mouths. The time it had spent sitting in the oven with the burner off had done a wonderful job of keeping the juice inside and making the meat so tender. This dinner was a resounding success and this is my new technique for doing a rib roast. The roast tonight was about 2 1/2 pounds and did not shrink at all as far as I could tell.

Best Ever Rib Roast

Beef Cubes

Tonights dinner is one I used to make many times when the boys were small, they seemed to really like the soft texture of the beef cubes which softened in the long cooking time, it is great in the winter when you could use the heat coming from the stove to help heat the kitchen. I used to serve it to them with either elbow macaroni or shell pasta so it was easy for them to feed themselves using a spoon at the time, as they grew up I switched to long or sturdy shapes and it has remained a family favorite for many years.

I remember bringing some over to a friend from Italy once and when he tried it he got tears in his eyes and said…..”OH, you made my mamas stuffato, it makes me want to go see my mama now” He loved it and said it is a common home dish over in Italy, I don’t know as I’ve never been there but I do know that most people I have made this for love it. What’s not to love though, it is beef simmered for a long time in seasonings and tomatoes and wine, the beef gets very tender and the sauce gets tremendous flavor from the beef simmering in it.

     Today I made the dish and it was going along great, this time instead of simmering it for a few hours either on the stovetop or in the oven, I decided to do it in the pressure cooker and save some time and also save myself from more heat in the kitchen during summer months. Now those of you who have and use a pressure cooker will know that you have to have the liquid component of the dish you are making loose so steam can be generated in the closed cooker without scorching and burning. Well, everything was going along great, I had finished cooking the dish under pressure and then opened the cooker when hubby called to say he would be home a little sooner than he expected. I had planned on letting the dish simmer with the cover off to allow for some evaporation of the liquid but as I was now wanting to have it ready when hubby got home I started simmering it and was going to add a bit of tomato paste to it but realized I was out of it, so I hit on the idea of adding a few sun dried tomatoes and thats where it all went wrong. Up until that point the sauce was tasting amazing, it was some of the best I had ever done and I should have left well enough alone, BUT, could I do that NO not me, I opened the pack of sun dried tomatoes I had picked up last night when we had gone grocery shopping and dropped a few into the simmering pot. Now hubby isn’t a fan of sun dried tomatoes but I love them, consequently when I do use them in a dish he will be having I leave them in large pieces that he can push aside. When the pasta was cooked and I mixed it with some sauce and put it in the platter and topped with the beef for these pictures we both were thinking what a great dinner we were about to eat.  We got our plates and each took some and started to taste it…….argh, something was seriously off in it. I had tasted it when I remove the pressure cooker top and it was wonderful it just needed to thicken up a little, so what happened? The only thing I had done was add a few sun dried tomato halves to it to thicken up the sauce a little, I went and got the bag of them and when I read the bag I realized they were “Smoked Sun Dried Tomatoes” instead of just regular ones, and these particular ones had an off putting taste. I should mention that I have used and enjoy the smoked sun dried ones as much as the regular but these had a funky taste that threw off the taste of the whole dish, I won’t ever make that mistake again. If you try this dish just remember  don’t make my mistake and put smoked sun dried tomatoes in it unless you taste them first, and like the taste of them, regular ones are fine and add a deep tomato taste to the dish.

                                                     Beef Cubes With Pasta

2 pounds beef chuck cubes, trimmed well

1 large onion diced small

1 carrot minced

1  stalk celery minced

3 cloves garlic chopped

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2   teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 cup dry red wine, I used a Barolo tonight

1 cup beef broth

1 sprig fresh thyme and 1 of rosemary tied together

2  bay leaves

A few dried porcini mushrooms, rehydrated

28  ounces crushed tomatoes

1 16 ounce can plain tomato sauce

1 pound of pasta cooked and drained

2 tablespoons good olive oil

Heat the cooker and add the olive oil, when the oil is hot add the onions, garlic, carrots, celery and oregano, saute until the vegetables are soft and a little browned. Start adding the meat in batches to brown it and remove as it is browned and add more, continue until all the meat is nicely browned, add the meat back to the cooker and add the wine and the broth, reduce the wine by half and then add the rest of the ingredients, leaving the tomatoes on top and not stirring them into the other ingredients, you want the liquids to be on the bottom of the cooker to produce steam without the chance of the tomatoes scorching. Lock the lid on the cooker and set the timer for 35 minutes with low pressure, when the timer goes off let the pressure reduce naturally. When the pressure is all gone open the cooker and stir the ingredients together, the cooker may be set to the browning setting to simmer and allow the sauce to thicken, if you want to speed up the thickening process add about 2-3 tablespoons tomato paste or a handfull of regular sun dried tomatoes. Simmer until it is as thick as you like it, stir it often so it doesn’t stick or burn. When your pasta is finished cooking you can either add it to the pressure cooker with the beef and sauce or put it in a separate bowl and mix with some sauce and then top it with the beef and more sauce as we do.

Beef chunks with pasta

Cheesy Potatoes

The boys used to love a version of these when they were home, tonight I added a bit of onion for a little more flavor for hubby and I. Again I have to send thanks out to MaryAnne for her tip about pre-doing potatoes in the pressure cooker and having them ready for use in the fridge. What used to take me a long time to get done, today took mere minutes thanks to those potatoes being ready to go. We have had so much beef for the past week I was about beefed out even though I don’t really eat a big portion of any meat, so tonight I pulled a pork tenderloin out of the freezer for dinner, seasoned it and let it come to room temperature while I worked on putting the potatoes together. Some frozen mixed vegetables completed the meal along with a little gravy for the meat. Matt is on his way over to pick up some for himself so he can have a decent dinner and it doesn’t go to waste. I almost forgot, hubby also had some applesauce with his pork.

Cheesy Potatoes

                                                 Cheesy Potatoes

3 cups of peeled diced par-cooked potatoes

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons finely minced onion

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

3 cups light cream or whole milk, warmed to simmering or microwaved for about 2 minutes

1/4 teaspoon salt

few grinds fresh pepper

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

Melt butter in a small saucepan, add minced onion when the butter is melted and saute until the onion is translucent. Add the flour and the salt and pepper to the pan and mix well with the butter, continue cooking over low heat and stirring for 3 minutes, add the milk in a slow stream, add dry mustard, whisk continually until the sauce thickens and is smooth. Put the potatoes into a small oven proof casserole and when the sauce is done add to the potatoes, mix well and then top with the cheese, bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until the cheese is melted and the dish is bubbling.

Tonights Dinner

Chicken With Fusilli

Tonight I had defrosted some chicken breasts and was going to make some chicken cordon bleu with them and then time just got away from me, faced with having a very late dinner if I went ahead with the time consuming cordon bleu preparation I decided I needed to come up with something else that ultilized the chicken breats. I had tomatoes, chicken broth, assorted pastas and seasonings ready to go so I threw it all in the pressure cooker for 9 minutes and it came out fine, the pasta was al dente which did surprise me as I thought it might come out overdone. It is a really simple dish to do and will be good on nights when you come in from work and don’t think you can do one more thing because you’re so tired, as long as you have a digital pressure cooker handy you can be eating in about 20 minutes, and it will taste like you cooked it all day.

                                                 Chicken with Fusilli

2-3 large boneless chicken breasts, trimmed of all fat and cut into large chunks

28  ounces diced tomatoes with their juice

3 cups home made or low salt chicken broth

1 medium onion diced fine

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon mixed Italian herb blend

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1 cup dry white or red wine

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 pound DeCecco Fusilli Pasta

2 tablespoons oil

Heat a digital pressure cooker on the browning cycle until it is hot, add the oil and allow it to heat. When hot add the onion, garlic and seasonings and let saute until the onion gets translucent, add the wine and allow it to reduce by at least half, add the chicken chunks and allow to cook while stirring for 5 minutes. Add the chciken broth, pasta and then the tomatoes, DO NOT Stir, leave the tomatoes on the top. Put the top on the pressure cooker and set the timer for low pressure 8 minutes, when the timer shuts off release the pressure manually and then add the tomatoe paste, stir the contents well, set the timer to the browning mode and bring to a boil until the sauce thickens up to your liking. Put into bowls and top with grated cheese if wanted.

Chicken With Fusilli

Steak Night

We had some of the last of the rib roast steaks that I had in the freezer, we really got our moneys worth from those whole roasts we had bought for sure. The good news is they are on sale again this week for under $5 a pound so guess where we are headed tomorrow! Tonight they were seasoned with some smoked sea salt, pepper and a light sprinkle of the rib boullion I have been raving about, they were cooked in a grill pan until they were done to a nice medium, they were tender and juicy when cut into. The green beans were sauteed with a few strips of bacon and developed a nice smoky taste. I have to thank a poster named MaryAnne on the pressure cooker group for her telling us all about pressure cooking a load of potatoes and then letting them sit in the fridge for use during the week, that is one of the handiest things I have ever heard of and it really cuts down on the “What can I make for dinner?” question when you have them already cooked and chilled and just waiting to be used in any recipe. Tonight they were fried with some onions and seasoning and they hit the spot with the steaks and green beans. The potatoes were put in a saute pan about a half hour before the steaks hit the grill pan in order to give them time to brown nicely without burning them, the onions got added when the potatoes were almost done so as not to allow them to burn also. The biggest secret I can give you about making good home fries is to have lots of patience and not turn them too often, nor have the burner too high. It also helps to have already cooked and chilled potatoes ready to cut into home fries and not depend on boiling and frying them on the same day, when they are boiled the day or two before they are fried they seem to hold together much better and don’t fall apart as they are fried. I have made them before with raw potatoes that were cut on a mandoline and they too come out good but it is a tricky long process to get them all cooked through without them burning or ending up with raw ones mixed in with cooked ones.

For the steak,remove the meat from the fridge and season both sides of it well then cover it with some plastic wrap and allow it to come to room temperature, put a grill pan on medium heat and allow it to heat up fully, add about a teaspoon of oil or some fat cut from the steak and when the fat is also heated add the meat to the pan, lower the heat if it seems like it is too high but don’t turn the steak until it developes a nice crust on the bottom then turn it and cook the second side, check for doneness with a thermometer, remove it from the pan when it is done to your liking and allow it to sit for at least 5 minutes before you cut into it so the juices have a chance to stabilize and don’t all run out with that first cut.

Steak Tonight

Bacon, Swiss and Carmelized Onion Burger

                                      Junk Food Thursday

Ok, admit it, we all like the occasional junk food, some of us more than others admittedly. Hubby and I grew up eating burgers and still have an affinity for them today. Unfortunately the ones you get at most burger places make you wonder what is actually in that patty you are consuming. With all the re-calls that have been done over the years of all the food products we eat daily it makes one wonder every time we put something into our mouths. It is said that if you grind your own meat from a whole piece that the chances of bacteria in it are lessened, I am not a scientist nor have I done a lot of research on these things but I do know that whenever I buy a whole fresh beef brisket I trim off the top cap from it and put it aside to grind up for burgers and to use in soups. These burgers tonight were made with just such brisket meat, the only thing added to them were some salt, pepper and rib boullion to up the beefy taste a little more. The rolls were some of the ones I had made and stashed in the freezer. Hubby stopped at the store on the way home and picked up some swiss cheese and I carmelized a batch of onions to have on hand. We just finished eating and we are both stuffed, actually I didn’t even make it thru my whole burger so the dogs got to enjoy a little of it too and that made them happy campers. We had some Tater Tots with the burgers tonight and they bring back lots of memories of the boys being young and sitting around the table counting how many each one had on their plate, they had to have an equal number or a fight would break out as they would try to steal them off each others plate……….lots of memories there and smiles too.

   The meat tonight was about a pound of the top flap off a large brisket, most of the fat was trimmed off, you do need to leave some of the fat on the meat for moisture as if you trim it all off, your burger will be like trying to chew thru old boot leather. Cut the meat into smaller cubes and place it in a food processor or a Ninja, you may need to do this in small increments if your processor isn’t a large one. Now pulse the machine, do not run it  continuosly as you will liquify the meat, you want it chopped into distinct fine pieces. Remove it from the processor and add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper and mix it well. I also added about 1 tablespoon of Maggi Rib Boullion and mixed that into the meat along with about 2 tablespoons of rehydrated dried onion. Mix it all together very well and form your burgers. Place the burgers on a heated grill and cook to the doneness you like, place on a toasted bun with your favorite toppings and enjoy some better fast food than you can get outside.

Mushroom, Swiss, Carmelized Onion Burger

Tonight hubbys burger had carmelized onions, swiss cheese and bacon on it, mine had carmelized onions, sauteed mushrooms and swiss cheese on it, we were both quite happy with our burger.

Short Ribs Redux

                                                     Boneless Short Ribs

The weather down here is still stifflingly hot and cooking can be a pain when it is so hot out and inside isn’t much better. I still have to feed hubby and I and today Matt said he was going to come by to see us……you know “check on the old folks” which really means “Hey, Mom what are ya making for dinner? and is it something with gravy?”. He is the big gravy lover of the family, we swear he would eat it with a straw or as a soup if he could. I picked up some boneless short ribs last week to make for us and it turned out today was the day I had planned to make them so when Matt called he was a happy camper and said he would definitely be coming by on his break from work, he showed up just as I took these pictures and dug right in as soon as I was finished. The dinner came out very well tonight and between the three of us we had a feast, there is enough left for either Matt to take home or hubby to have for a nice lunch tomorrow.

                                                  Boneless Short Ribs

9 boneless short ribs, very well trimmed of all fat

1 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon fresh pepper

1 carrot grated

1 large yellow onion diced small

1 sprig fresh thyme

2 bay leaves

1 cup dry wine, red or white

2-3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon Maggi Beef Ribs Boullion or 1 teaspoon of the Maggi Liquid

2 cups water or LOW SODIUM OR UNSALTED  beef broth

3 tablespoons oil for browning the ribs and sauteing the onions

For the gravy later, 3 tablespoons AP flour mixed into 1/2 cup cool water

Mix half the pepper with the flour and coat all the meat with the mixture. Heat the pressure cooker and add a bit of oil when it is hot, add the meat a few pieces at a time to brown them well on all sides, don’t crowd them, do this step in batches. Remove and set on a platter as they are very well  browned. When the meat is done browning add the onions and carrot, saute them until they begin to soften, add the tomato paste and the thyme sprig and cook until the tomato paste darkens a little, add the wine and mix well, add whichever Maggi seasoning you are using and then add the meat back to the cooker with any juices that have accumulated on the platter, add 2 cups of water OR beef broth,  and the rest of the pepper and the bay leaves, close the cooker and set the pressure to low and the timer to 30 minutes. When the timer goes off let the cooker release the pressure naturally, when all pressure has released open the cooker and remove the meat to a large deep casserole dish, remove the thyme sprig and bay leaves and  discard them. Turn the cooker to the browning function and bring the liquid in it to a boil, taste for seasoning and correct with salt and more pepper if it is needed, then add the flour and water mixture and whisk until it comes back to a boil, let boil for 5 minutes then pour some over the ribs in the casserole and serve the rest in a gravy boat. 

NOTE:  If you are using short ribs that are on the bone then increase the time they are cooked under pressure to 40-50 minutes, depending on the size of the ribs.

Short Ribs Redux