In the Kitchen With Mattie

What do you make when it is Thanksgiving week and you’re up to your elbows in the prep for the holiday and then you realize you need to get dinner on the table shortly?  Well, with a few basic ingredients and a pressure cooker you can make this in about 40 or so minutes, counting prep time and all!

I’m sorry for the horrid picture but as I went to take the pics the camera decided to yell that it needed new batteries and off it went. Oh well I thought I was prepared since it also happened not too long ago and I had bought a large package of the size it needed. Unfortunately what I forgot was that when we had the power outage last week for quite a while I had used them in all the lanterns and flashlights in the house and now they were all pretty weak too, none of them were strong enough to get more than this lousy picture. I think it is time for me to get a new camera………and maybe even learn to use it!

Chicken and Tomatoes

2 large bone in skinless chicken breasts or any parts you prefer

1  28 ounce can of whole plum tomatoes

1 clove garlic minced fine

1/2 small onion, diced fine

2 teaspoons of mixed Italian seasoning

1/4  cup of dry white wine

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

Brown the chicken in just a tiny bit of oil in a pressure cooker, add the seasonings and the garlic and onion and saute a few minutes. Add the white wine and then the tomatoes on top, do not stir the tomatoes into the wine yet. Close the top on the cooker and bring it up to high pressure, cook for 15 minutes and then remove from heat or shut the cooker off and allow the pressure to reduce naturally, stir the contents and break up the tomatoes if you like. See easy and really quick!  We had this with some Colavita Long Ziti pasta, I love this stuff and it is great in casseroles too, layered with cheese and meats and baked like you would do a lasagna.

In case I don’t get a chance to post before Thanksgiving I hope you all have a wonderfull holiday, shared with good family, friends and food!

Hubby and I have over the years grown tired of the same old canned jellied cranberry sauce that is the standard on most Thanksgiving tables. I have over the years also tired many, many different recipes for all kinds of cranberry dishes and we liked none of them. I had just about given up on ever enjoying the cranberry again until the year before last when I tried something on my own. I love raspberries, absolutely LOVE them, and I usually have a bag of frozen ones in the house when fresh aren’t in season. I was preparing for the big dinner two years ago and was again debating on the cranberry issue when I decided to try something and I made this up as I went along. Hubby loved it, he couldn’t get enough of it. I have to agree with him, it was really good and a little different compared to the usual jellied cranberry sauce.

You will need one bag of frozen raspberries, they are usually packed in bags of around 10-16 ounces and are pretty reasonable in cost. You will also need one bag of fresh whole cranberries, usually sold in the fresh vegetable section of your supermarket. You’ll need one packet of unflavored gelatin, I keep a box of Knox gelatin here in the house so I always have some handy. You may want to add some raspberry flavored liquor too, I add Chambord……….yummmmmm.  You’ll need some plain white sugar or sugar substitute if you prefer that.

Place the packet of gelatin into 1/4 cup warm water in a small bowl to soften it, set it aside for the time being.

Put the cranberries into a medium saucepan and add about 1/2 cup of water, bring it to a simmer until the cranberries start to pop open their skins, stir them every minute or so. When most of them have popped, add the raspberries, no need to defrost them first.  Continue to cook until the raspberries begin to cook down and some of the liquid boils away, about 5-7 minutes.  Add  1/2 cup of sugar and continue cooking until the sugar disolves. Add 1/4 cup of Chambord if you are using it. Simmer another minute and then remove from the heat. Add the softened gelatin to the mixture and mix it in well. Pour it into a decorative bowl and chill thoroughly. If you find it isn’t swwet enough for your taste you can add more sugar as it is cooking, so taste it. You can also add some lemon rind to balance the sweetness, about 1 teaspoon of just the yellow is good. You can also pass this through a fine mesh strainer if the seeds from the raspberries bother you, but I don’t.

I hope you like this if you try it. I’ll be making it on Tuesday so the flavoes have enough time to meld together for our dinner on Thursday.

Last year I was hoping to get some recipes up on here so you would be able to make a few dishes from all those turkey day leftovers we always have. I didn’t manage too well did I?

So tonight I am going to put one up here to go with the other from last year (you can do a search for Nov 2010 and find that one). Usually people make chicken ala king but I also like turkey ala king.  There’s no picture right now as I have to wait to have the leftovers from the big day, but at least if you want to you can read over the recipe and have what you need to make it on hand and save yourself a trip to the crowded stores on Friday.

Turkey ala King

4 cups of chopped turkey

1 green pepper diced

2 shallots diced, you can also use a small onion instead

1 package frozen sweet peas, defrosted

cooked rice, amount depending on how many you are feeding

1 quart half and half, heated to a simmer

1 cup strong turkey or chicken broth, no salt added, heated to a boil

1/2 cup all purpose flour

4 tablespoons butter

1 package fresh mushrooms sliced

1 tablespoon jarred pimento drained

salt and pepper to taste, added at the end

Place butter into a deep sauce pan and melt, add the shallot and the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms give up their liquid, add the diced pepper and saute another minute or two. Saute until the pan is almost dry and then add the flour, mix the flour into the rest and cook and stir for 5 minutes, be careful it doesn’t burn. When everything is well mixed start adding the turkey broth, stir it constantly to smooth out the lumps, when the broth is all added then start adding the half and half. When the sauce is smooth and thickened add the turkey meat and bring it all to a simmer, allow to simmer for 3 minutes then add the peas and pimento, turn off the stove.  Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking.  I usually add a bit of dry sherry to the dish but it isn’t required. Serve it over boiled rice or buttered noodles, along with a salad it makes a nice meal.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Today I wanted to clean out the fridge so I also needed to use up whatever was still good. I had a nice piece of the roast beef we had eaten the other night so I decided to turn it into a sort of shepherd’s pie.

Shepherd's Pie

Tradionally, the pie has some green peas in it but as hubby hates them I decided to use up some green beans in their place. I always keep potatoes on hand so I took three of the large russets and boiled them up and then mashed them, adding some butter and cream along with salt and pepper. I had some of the gravy from the roast left too so I used that up as well, unfortunately there wasn’t quite enough of it so I decided to try some new stuff I picked up at the store last week. It is called Knorr Homestyle Stock and comes four little tubs in a package, each little tub makes 3 1/2 cups of stock when added to water. The smell when I opened one of the little tubs was amazing, it smelled just like the stocks I make when I make them from fresh beef. I added about 2 cups of water to it and then added some of that to the leftover gravy, it intensified the taste a great deal. Then I cut up a few fresh carrots and steamed them , I then added the green beans and carrots to the gravy along with the cubed leftover roast and poured it all into a small casserole dish. I put the mashed potatoes into a pastry bag and piped them on the top of the casserole dish and set the whole thing into the oven at 375 degrees just to brown up the top a bit. It came out great and we really enjoyed it, plus it was a nice use of some leftovers that would have gone to the dogs or the trash can, I’m not too sure the dogs are real happy with not getting the last of the roast!

Shepherd's Pie

I have to say that I am really impressed with the taste of the Knorr Homestyle Stock that I used today. I’ll definitely be picking up more of this.

Sorry folks but I don’t have a picture for you today. Back when I was still able to work some of my favorite customers were a very nice couple named Ben and Megan, they were very sweet and always treated the staff nice.

I love to make pizza and often we would get in discussions on the way to do pizza at home when you don’t have access to a big commercial high heat oven. Seeing as I had been making it for years I told them I would be more than happy to show them how whenever they wanted. One day they took me up on my offer and that night I went over to their home with some already prepared dough and a few toppings. I also showed them how to make the dough from scratch and then we proceeded to make a few pizzas with the things I had already brought to use. They had invited two of their friends over and my boss at the time also came to enjoy some pizza. The one pizza that everyone loved was one I made with a Gorgonzola Roasted Garlic Cream sauce.

Quite by accident Ben happened to dial my phone number yesterday when he was trying to call a friend with a name similar to mine. It was so nice to hear from him again and to also hear that he and Megan are adding to their family in the coming months. As we chatted he said they would love to make that sauce I had brought over for the pizza. I told him about this blog and then remembered that I didn’t have it up on here yet so in honor of Ben and Megan here it is. You can use it on pizza, on gnocchi, it’s great on penne too, or as a dipping sauce for some great crusty garlic bread……….anyway you use it it can become addicting!

Gorgonzola and Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce

1 large head of garlic, top 1/4 cut off

1 stick of real butter

6 to 8 ounces of gorgonzola cheese, use a good blue cheese if you can’t  find gorgonzola

1 quart of heavy whipping cream

LOTS OF PATIENCE so you don’t scorch or burn it!

First take the garlic and place it in a square of foil, add about 3 tablespoons of oil and wrap it all together tightly, place in a 350 degree oven and roast for one hour, set aside to cool a bit.

Next place the butter into a large saute pan and melt over medium heat, add the heavy cream and bring up to a low boil. Boil for about 15 -20 minutes until it starts to thicken and coats a spoon. Start adding garlic, squeeze it from the papery skin right into the cream and mash it with a spoon right in the pan, continue simmering for another few minutes and then start adding the cheese bit by bit and stirring to incorporate it all together, keep an eye on it and stir often so it doesn’t scorch or stick to the pan bottom. Altogether it will take about 30-40 minutes to make. Remove from the heat and pour into a container and cover lightly until it cools enough to put it into the fridge. Let it chill overnight and when you want to use it as a sauce for pasta or a dip for garlic bread scoop out a ladle into a small pan and add a bit of cream to loosen it up a bit, bring it up to a simmer and then use as you want. For topping pizza use it at room temperature without thinning it out. When it sets overnight it will thicken up considerably and become pastelike.

Ben and Megan, CONGRATULATIONS and I hope you enjoy the sauce!