Recipes

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
4 teaspoons garlic, minced
2-3 bunches bok choy, stalks trimmed
2 cups chicken broth

Instructions
1. Melt butter in large skillet over high heat. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add bok choy and stock; simmer until bok choy is tender, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Comments
I’ve been getting Bok Choy in my CSA box for the past few weeks but events have conspired against me being able to prepare it.  This recipe was ridiculously easy and very flavorful.  The original recipe called for baby bok choy but the mixture of old and young boy choy which I had worked fantastically.  

Shown here with Crispy Dijon Chicken.

Internet - Epicurious

Ingredients
4 pounds potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks (You can peel them if that’s your preference.  It’s not mine, so I didn’t)
¹⁄₂ cup half and half
¹⁄₂ cup chicken broth
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons salt
4 large eggs
¹⁄₄ cup fresh chives, finely chopped

Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat to 375*F. Put potatoes in a large pot and fill with water to cover the potatoes by 1 inch.  Bring water to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.

2. Heat half-and-half, broth, butter, garlic, mustard, and salt in saucepan over medium-low heat until smooth, about 5 minutes. Keep warm.

3. Drain potatoes and transfer to large bowl. With electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat potatoes, slowly adding half-and-half mixture, until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Scrape down bowl; beat in eggs 1 at a time until incorporated, about 1 minute. Fold in chives. The potato mixture will be very wet.  

4. Transfer potato mixture to greased 2-quart baking dish and use a fork to make a peaked design on top for better browning. Bake until potatoes rise and being to brown, about 35 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes. Serve.  

Comments
I was watching an episode of Cook’s Country the other day and I saw them make this recipe.  I knew that I had to have it since it looked phenomenal and they described it was “soufflé-like.”  I don’t think I’ve ever actually had soufflé, so I’m not sure how accurate that claim is.  However, these were full of flavor, very light, and all around scrumptious.  The recipe is from the December/January 2008 issue of Cook’s Country.

Cook’s Country 2008

Ingredients
1 cup bread crumbs (Fresh is best, pulse 2 slices of hearty white bread in a food processor until coarse)
2 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper
¹⁄₂ cup Dijon mustard
¹⁄₂ cup mayonnaise
4 tablespoon fresh chives, minced
2 tablespoon sour cream
2 teaspoon white wine vinegar
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast cutlets

Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425*F. Combine bread crumbs, oil, ¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt, and ¹⁄₂ teaspoon pepper in bowl. Combine mustard and mayonnaise in small bowl; reserve ¹⁄₄ cup mustard-mayonnaise mixture for chicken, then stir in chives, sour cream, and vinegar to make sauce for serving.

2. Pat chicken dry with paper towels, season with salt and pepper.  Brush one side of each breast with the reserved mustard-mayonnaise mixture and then press the same side of the chicken into the bread crumb mixture to adhere.  Place chicken on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  

3. Bake until crumbs are golden brown and chicken registers 160*F, 18-22 minutes.  Serve with mustard sauce.  

Comments
I have a hard time believing that, up until this year, I had no experience with baked chicken.  It’s so easy to make and extremely versatile as well!  I chose this recipe to go along with Mashed Potato Casserole and it was a great pairing.  The sauce from the chicken even went well with the potatoes too!  The recipe is from the 2007 Cook’s Country Annual.  I’ve started buying a loaves of Arnold’s Country White Bread for all of my bread crumb needs. 

Shown here with Bok Choy with Garlic.

Cook’s Country 2007

Ingredients
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
3 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 pound green (or yellow) beans, stem ends snapped off, beans cut into 2-inch pieces
Table salt and freshly ground black pepper
¹⁄₄ cup water
2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

Instructions
1. Combine butter, garlic, and thyme in small bowl; set aside.

2. Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until just smoking. Add beans, ¹⁄₄ teaspoons salt, and ¹⁄₈ teaspoon pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until spotty brown, 4 to 6 minutes.

3. Add water, cover, and cook until beans are bright green and still crisp, about 2 minutes.

4. Remove cover, increase heat to high, and cook until water evaporates, 30 to 60 seconds. Add butter mixture and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until beans are crisp-tender, lightly browned, and beginning to wrinkle, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Transfer beans to serving bowl, toss with lemon juice and parsley, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Comments
For the past few weeks I’ve been getting wax beans in my CSA box and I’ve been trying to cook this recipe.  However, things have kept happening in life and they always seem to happen on the day I’ve got wax beans planned!  This week I was finally able to give this Cook’s Illustrated recipe a go and we were all pleased with the crispness of the beans and the light, lemony and garlicky flavor.  This recipe paired very well with the French Chicken in a Pot and I’m looking forward to making it with green beans in the future.  

Shown here with French Chicken in a Pot.

Cook’s Illustrated

Ingredients
1 pound mustard greens, stemmed, washed, dried in a salad spinner, and coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus extra for buttering dish
3 whole eggs, beaten
10 ounces ricotta cheese
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (approximately ¹⁄₂ cup)
¹⁄₂ teaspoon kosher salt plus a pinch
¹⁄₄ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 cup round butter crackers, crushed (such as Ritz)

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 375*F.

2. Butter a 9 by 11-inch or 2 ¹⁄₂-quart baking dish and set aside.

3. In a large bowl mix together the eggs, ricotta, Parmesan, salt, and pepper. Set aside.

4. In a large pot melt the butter. Add the garlic, mushrooms, and a pinch of salt and cook until the mushrooms give up their liquid, approximately 5 to 6 minutes. Add the greens and cook until they are wilted, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. The greens will reduce to less than ¹⁄₄ of their original volume.

5. Add the greens to the egg and cheese mixture and stir to thoroughly combine. Pour into the prepared baking dish, top with the crackers, place on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and serve.  

Comments
This week my CSA box container Mustard Greens.  We’re now on the winter side of  greens season it seems!  I’ve never had Mustard Greens before, so I turned to the internet for help.  Help came in the form of this Alton Brown recipe.  

I don’t think any of us will ever become die hard lovers of greens, but this was a very tasty preparation!  They’re similar to spinach but the taste is a bit stronger and a bit of punch.  

Shown here with Mom’s Chicken.

Internet - Alton Brown

Ingredients
1 whole roasting chicken (4 ¹⁄₂-5 pounds), giblets removed and discarded, wings tucked under the bird
2 teaspoons kosher salt
¹⁄₄ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 small celery stalk, chopped
6 medium cloves garlic, peeled and trimmed (about 2 tablespoons)
1 bay leaf
1 medium sprig fresh rosemary
Juice from ¹⁄₂ lemon

Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 250*F. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat until just smoking. Add chicken breast-side down; scatter onion, celery, garlic, bay leaf, and rosemary around chicken. Cook until chicken is lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Using a wooden spoon inserted into cavity of bird, flip chicken breast-side up and cook until chicken and vegetables are well browned; 6 to 8 minutes.

2. Remove Dutch oven from heat; place large sheet of foil over pot and cover tightly with lid. Transfer pot to oven and cook until instant-read thermometer registers 160*F when inserted in thickest part of breast and 175*F in thickest part of thigh, 80 to 110 minutes.

3. Transfer chicken to carving board, tent with foil, and rest 20 minutes. Meanwhile, strain chicken juices from pot through fine-mesh strainer into fat separator, pressing on solids to extract liquid; discard solids (you should have about ³⁄₄ cup juices). Allow liquid to settle 5 minutes, then pour into saucepan and set over low heat. Discard fat.  Carve chicken, adding any accumulated juices to saucepan. Stir lemon juice into jus to taste. Serve chicken, passing jus at table.  

Comments
I don’t have a lot of experience with whole chickens.  Art has never been a fan of dark meat, so there just wasn’t a point in making a whole bird if I was the only one who would eat the dark meat!  Then Lance came along and he enjoys dark meat too, so cooking whole chickens was suddenly a worthwhile endeavor!  

This recipe from the 2008 Annual of Cook’s Illustrated caught my eye because I’m always looking for new ways to use the Dutch oven.  Not to mention that Cook’s Illustrated has never done me wrong.   The chicken came out very tender, moist, and flavorful.  It was an extremely simple process to prepare and the jus was lovely – much lighter than typical gravy so it went with the flavors of the chicken quite well!  

Shown here with Sautéed Wax (or Green) Beans.

Cook’s Illustrated 2008

Ingredients
³⁄₄ cup margarine or butter
1 ¹⁄₂ cups celery stalks (with leaves), chopped
³⁄₄ cup onion finely, chopped
9 cups soft bread, cubed
¹⁄₂ teaspoon dried thyme, or 1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoon fresh
¹⁄₂ teaspoon dried sage, or 1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoon fresh
1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons salt
¹⁄₄ teaspoon pepper
3 cups apples (Gala), chopped
³⁄₄ cup raisins

Instructions
1. Melt butter in large pot over medium-high heat. Cook celery and onion in butter, stirring occasionally, until tender; remove from heat.

2. Toss celery mixture with remaining ingredients.

3. Cook.

Notes on cooking: The way you cook this is really dependent upon personal preference.  I only roast small turkey (12 pounds or so) at Thanksgiving and I use some weird rotation method, so I don’t actually stuff the bird.  If you use a larger bird with a large cavity, go for it, just be sure that the stuffing is completely done in the middle.  I usually drizzle some of the turkey fat from roasting over this and bake it in a casserole dish at 350*F until hot.  I’ve achieved a similar effect with butter if I don’t have turkey fat or want the stuffing to be vegetarian.  When I’m not making a whole bird, I tend to buy packages of “turkey tenderloins” and I put the stuffing in the casserole dish, place the tenderloin on top of the stuffing, and bake as directed on the turkey package.  This is normally 350*F for 50-60 minutes.  That lets the good turkey juices drip into the stuffing and make everything delicious.

Comments
This is the stuffing that I grew up not eating, because I thought stuffing was gross.  Then I grew up.  Looking back I wonder how on earth I ever found something so awesome to be gross!  The first time I made Thanksgiving dinner on my own was when I lived in England and I had to get my mom to send me a copy of her “dressing” recipe so I could have this bit of home overseas.  Art loves it as well so I always end up making a double batch just so he can enjoy the leftovers for days.  This is one of those foods that he has a hard time sharing.

Betty Crocker’s New Cookbook (8th edition)

Ingredients
1 large head broccoli (about 1 ³⁄₄ pounds), cut into florets with stalks attached
3 tablespoon olive oil
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₂ teaspoon sugar
Ground black pepper

Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position, place large rimmed baking sheet on rack, and heat oven to 500*F. Place broccoli in large bowl; drizzle with oil and toss well until evenly coated. Sprinkle with salt, sugar, and pepper to taste and toss to combine.

2. Working quickly, remove baking sheet from oven. Carefully transfer broccoli to baking sheet and spread into even layer. Return baking sheet to oven and roast until stalks are well browned and tender and florets are lightly browned, 9 to 11 minutes. Transfer to serving dish and serve immediately.

Comments
This recipe is from the 2008 Cook’s Illustrated Annual.  We were surprised at how salty the broccoli was and then I checked the recipe and realized I had initially written ¹⁄₂ tablespoon instead of ¹⁄₂ teaspoon!  Oops.  The pieces that weren’t too salty were great, though, and this was a very tasty way to prepare broccoli.  I’ll be doing this again, the right way, in the future.  

Shown here with Lemon Grilled Chicken that was actually grilled!

Cook’s Illustrated 2008

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups white rice
2 large cans black beans, drained and rinsed well
1 can unsweetened coconut milk plus enough water to equal 2 ¹⁄₂ cups
1 teaspoon thyme
Salt and black pepper

Instructions
1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add green onions and garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes.  

2. Add rice and stir for 1-2 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients, stir well and bring to boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until rice is tender and all liquid has been absorbed.  

3. Stir and serve.  

Comments
While looking for a good side dish to serve with Jerk Chicken I found this recipe.  It’s actually called “Rice and Peas” but I have no idea why, so I renamed it to reflect the ingredients I used.  The rice with coconut milk had a nice cooling effect after a mouthful of fiery chicken!  

Shown here with Grilled Jerk Chicken.

Internet - Reggae Train

Ingredients
For  Sauce
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
2 tablespoons garlic, minced (about 6 cloves)
1 pound meat loaf mix or ground beef
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
¹⁄₄ cup half and half
1 (28 ounce) can tomato puree
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

For Ricotta Filling
24 ounces whole milk ricotta cheese
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
¹⁄₂ cup fresh basil, chopped
1 large egg, beaten
¹⁄₂ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₂ teaspoon ground black pepper

For Noodles and Cheese
9 ounces no-boil flat lasagna noodles
1 pound whole milk mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
¹⁄₂ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Instructions
1. For the sauce: Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and cook until softened but not browned, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the meat loaf mix, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper and cook, breaking the meat into small pieces with a wooden spoon, until the meat is cooked, about 5-6 minutes.

2. Stir in half and half, bring to a simmer, and cook until the liquid evaporates and only the fat remains, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato puree and drained diced tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and cook until the flavors are blended, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste; set aside. NOTE:  You can substitute 6-7 cups of prepared spaghetti sauce for the two cans.  I used Roasted Tomato Sauce #2.)  

3. For the ricotta filling: Stir all of the ingredients together until combined; set aside.

4. To assemble the lasagna: Spread 1 cup of the sauce over the bottom of a 13 by 9-inch baking dish (avoiding large chunks of meat). Place 4 of the noodles in a single layer in the baking dish. Spread ¹⁄₃ cup of the ricotta mixture over each noodle, and then sprinkle the layer with 1 cup of the mozzarella. Spoon 1 cup of the sauce evenly over the cheeses. Repeat the layering of the noodles, ricotta, mozzarella, and sauce twice more. Place the remaining 4 noodles on top, cover with the remaining sauce, and sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup mozzarella and the parmesan.

5. To store: Wrap the dish tightly with plastic wrap and then foil and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 1 month. (If frozen, the casserole must be thawed completely in the refrigerator, about 24 hours.)

6. To serve: Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 400*F. Unwrap the dish and cover tightly with aluminum foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake until the sauce bubbles lightly around the edges, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake until hot throughout and the cheese is browned in spots, 25 to 30 minutes longer. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.  

Comments
When planning the last Game Day meal to go along with Art’s requested Tiramisu, I decided to go for a non-traditional lasagna. But then I started second guessing myself so decided that I should also make a traditional lasagna.  I found this recipe in The Best Make-Ahead Recipe which is a fantastic cookbook if you need to prepare food a day in advance.  

It was definitely hearty and meaty.  Not to mention super easy since it didn’t require the traditional Béchamel.

The Best Make-Ahead Recipe