Category Archives: Cooking

Rainbows and Leprechauns

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Happy Belated St Paddy’s Day- All Rainbows and Leprechauns

3,800+ Leprechaun Rainbow Stock Photos, Pictures & Royalty ...

Leprechaun Rainbow Stock Photos

I hope your day was filled with Rainbows, pots of gold and Leprechauns. Did you do anything to celebrate? A pint of Guinness or just a green beer?. I made beef stew. Its not quite Irish stew but close. What is the difference between classic beef stew and Irish stew?  According to the internet its all in the meat.  Traditional Irish Stew uses  lamb (mutton) while beef uses, well, beef. 

a very cute and adorable few day old lamb

Lamb stock photo

59,500+ Beef Cattle Stock Photos, Pictures & Royalty-Free ...

Beef Cattle Stock Photos,

I love making stew since we have slow cookers now and I confess, I often cheat by using the McCormick Slow Cooker Beef  Stew seasoning packets.  I’ve found it keeps the prep simple and the flavor consistent. But whether I make it from scratch with beef broth and seasonings or use the packets one step I never skip is browning the stew meat.

I dump all those little meat cubes in a plastic bag with flour, salt and pepper and give them a good shake to coat. Then I toss them into a hot cast iron pan and brown the sides.  Once they are all browned up into the crock pot they go.  (By the way, I started using a liner and it makes clean up a breeze. )

My mom used to add a can of Veg All but I just chop up celery, carrots and onions and lots of potatoes. Any kind will do but I like the Yukon gold the best for my stew.

Beef Stew- Photo credit Deb Neumann

Basic Beef Stew Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 lbs beef stew meat , cut in 1 inch pieces
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teas. salt
  • 1/2 teas ground black pepper
  • 1 1/2 Cups beef broth
  • 4 medium carrots, sliced
  • 3 medium potatoes, diced
  • 1 medium onion , chopped
  • 1 stalk of celery, chopped
  • 1 bay leaf

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Place the meat in a plastic bag or large bowl and coat with flour, salt and pepper
  2.  Brown the floured meat and place in your crock pot/ slow cooker
  3.  Add Broth, Vegetables and bay leaf to the slow cooker.  Stir to combine.
  4.  Set Slow Cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8-12 hours or high for 4-6 hours. 

NOTES

  1. You can add other seasonings to taste like garlic, paprika, a dash of Worcestershire sauce for example. Like I mentioned above, My mom always added a can of Veg-All. 
  2.  I’ve used the low setting and the high settings and I have the best luck for tender, fall apart meat with the low setting. Long and slow wins in my house every time but when time is an issue I’d rather use high and a shorter cook time than go without.
  3.   AS mentioned above, the McCormick Slow Cooker Beef Stew Seasoning packets produce a consistently flavored stew and are easy to use and you don’t need the beef broth when you use them. Just water

 

Hope You all Had a great day!

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A Pot of Gold- Internet

 

Chicken Schnitzel

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Schnitzel

Once upon a time I made Weiner Schnitzel quite often. It was one of my favorite “Go to” recipes. Somehow I drifted away from it. Maybe veal became hard to find in the butcher case. I’m not sure. I just stopped making it.  Schnitzel is just a German word for cut or cutlet usually from a small slice of meat (mutton, veal, pork) on a rib or other bone. lamb cutlets.  I never really gave any thought to other cutlets like chicken or turkey but I recently came across a recipe for chicken schnitzel and fell in love.

Chicken Schnitzel

Chicken Schnitzel as the name states uses chicken instead of veal. I had some chicken tenders in the freezer so I used those. Once the tenders were thawed I used a meat mallet to pound them to flattened filets. Then followed the recipe below. I used the Panko bread crumbs with some hesitation. I used panko before and didn’t like them but I must say in this recipe they were perfect. So lets leave Italian red sauce behind and take a quick trip to Germany for Chicken Schnitzel.

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  •  2 Cups water
  •  2 tablespoons Kosher Salt
  •  2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 1/3 Cops Panko breadcrumbs
  •  1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  •  1/2 teaspoon table salt
  •  3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  •  3/4 teaspoon paprika
  •  2 tablespoons sesame seeds
  •  1/2 cup all purpose flour
  •  2 large eggs
  •  vegetable oil for cooking
  •  Lemon Wedges for serving

Photo credit from Once upon a chef

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally to form flat fillets. Place a fillet in a resealable freezer bag and use a meat mallet or rolling pin to pound to a even thickness between 1/8- 1/4  in thick. Remove the pounded cutlet and set aside. Repeat with the remaining pieces of chicken.

2.  Make Brine: In a medium bowl, combine water, kosher salt, and sugar. Stir until salt and sugar are dissolved. Add the pounded chicken to the brine and let sit 30-45 minutes (no longer or chicken may be too salty) Remove chicken from brine and pat dry with paper towels.

3. In a large shallow bowl mix panko, pepper, table salt, garlic powder, paprika, and sesame seeds. Place flour in another shallow bowl. Beat eggs in a 3rd bowl. Set up a breading station in this order: flour, eggs, panko.

4, Dredge the chicken in flour, coating evenly on both sides; dip in the eggs, letting any excess drip off; then dredge in panko mixture, turning and patting to adhere. Place breaded chicken on a plate and repeat until all the chicken is breaded. 

5. Line a 13×18 inch baking sheet with paper towels. In a large non stick skillet heat about 1/8 inch of oil over medium heat until oil is hot and shimmering. Place 2 pieces of chicken in the pan and cook until the first side is golden brown, 2-3 minutes. Carefully flip the chicken and cook another 2-3 minutes. Cook the remaining chicken in the same manner. You shouldn’t need more oil. Transfer to serving plates and garnish with lemon wedges.

photo credit Deb Neumann

Enjoy tender, juicy fried chicken. The lemon adds just a touch of flavor. 

 

Thick and Easy Pasta Sauce

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Pasta Meat Sauce

I was recently on a group text that was talking about cooking. My phone was not cooperating so I wasn’t getting all of the texts. The last one said “Deb may have another recipe”.  The problem is that I don’t know what dish they were talking about.  Anyway I wandered into the kitchen and took stock of my pantry. I had some hamburger that I’d thawed out and needed to use up. What to make? Meatloaf? No not in the mood. Meat balls? No I don’t have everything I need. I know. I’ll make a meat pasta sauce. I have one I like because it doesn’t separate. It stays nice and thick. I don’t make it often but it’s pretty easy.  So here it is.

Thick and Easy Pasta Sauce

photo credit Deb Neumann

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • 1 6 oz. can tomato paste
  • 6 oz. water
  • 1  24 oz.  jar tomato puree
  • 5-6 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 2 tbsp. granulated sugar
  • Pinch of dried oregano
  • Pinch of onion powder
  • Pinch of garlic powder
  • handful of fresh basil ( chopped)
  • Salt & Pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. In a large Stockpot, sauté garlic until soft in 2 tbsp. of oil ( Recipe calls for olive oil but I use veg. oil just fine)
  2.  Add meat to the garlic and brown until meat is cooked through crumbling the meat as it cooks. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
  3.  Pour in tomato paste, tomato puree and seasonings, including fresh basil. Stir to mix well. Fill 6 oz. can from tomato paste with water and add to stockpot. 
  4.  (This step is important- don’t skip!) Let mixture simmer, uncovered, for 2 or more hours. (longer is better, but minimum 2 hours!) Stir occasionally. 
  5.  Ready to serve over your favorite pasta.

photo credit Deb Neumann

Notes

The long simmer mellows out the sauce flavors. Shorter than 2 hours and the sauce has a raw tomato taste

I almost never have fresh basil on hand so I don’t usually add that. 

If I don’t have a head of garlic I just increase the amount of garlic powder I use

A Small order of Pain Perdu, please

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Pain Perdu

Ah,  Oui. Pain Perdu is the French way of saying French toast. They call it “lost bread”.  French toast didn’t even come from France. Nope, we can take our hats off to Rome for this tasty breakfast treat

Pain perdu (French): Literally: "Lost bread"; Translation "French Toast"; French definition: Dessert made of bread or stale brioche dipped in milk and eggs, sweetened and fried.

photo from French Learner

 

Simple But Tasty

French bread is a pretty tasty breakfast dish often served with maple syrup although I like a dusting of confectioners sugar instead. Some folks like fruit (especially strawberry).  Its pretty simple to make and it does work better with stale or at least day old bread. They dry bread absorbs the egg coating better than fresh. I prefer thicker cuts of bread too but usually will use whatever I have on hand.  (Pro tip: Warm the maple syrup before drizzling it over these beautiful slices of toast.)

Credit the Sister

I am going to give credit for this post to my sister. When I wrote about pancakes she commented that she prefers French Toast. So of course once that was in my head I had to make some.  I also needed a reason to try out the griddle on my new stove. Well I guess the stove isn’t so new anymore more but I still hadn’t tried out the griddle. It was so nice and shiny and clean. I was afraid I’d ruin the griddle and not be able to keep it clean. Well here goes nothing. Lets see how it does with French Toast.

French Toast Recipe

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 EGG
  • 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 Cup milk
  • 4 slices of day old (stale)  bread

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Whisk egg, vanilla and cinnamon in shallow dish. Stir in milk
  2. Dip bread slices in egg mixture, turning to coat evenly on both sides
  3. Cook bread slices on lightly greased non-stick griddle or skillet on medium heat until cooked through and brown on both sides.
  • This recipe is very forgiving. I almost never measure any of the ingredients and it always comes out good.

My Griddle

So how did my French Toast come out on my griddle? In a word, BEAUTIFUL! The bread took a little longer to cook than when I use a cast iron pan which was my skillet of choice but it browned much more evenly and the end product was great! Turns out the griddle cleaned up easily with a quick sponge down followed by a wipe with a paper towel. I think I’m in love with my griddle.

Here’s a picture of my golden brown French Toast on the griddle right before I plated and dug in. 

photo credit Deb Neumann

I hope you enjoy your Pain Perdu too! Bon Appetit!