How to Caramelize Onions.

I asked my hubby what he would like for dinner tonight and he stated he was in the mood for a Patty Melt. I told him I didn't have any rye or pumpernickel bread; country white was ok he said, but instead of fried onions, could you make caramelized? Now I knew that would be no problem as the onions I usually make for his Patty Melts were not the traditional fried you would get in a restaurant, but semi-caramelized. Yes, I can be a little trickster at times.

Caramelizing onions is simply giving long (one hour) cooked onions a deep brown color; and bringing out the sweetness of the onion itself. Using medium and low heat temperatures ensures that the onions will attain a brown coloring from the caramelizing of their natural sugar. Higher heat temperatures will brown the onions, perhaps even burn them; however they may remain bitter from not releasing and utilizing the sugar. They can be used as an added ingredient (for example: quiche, frittata, macaroni and cheese) or accompaniment for meat, pork, poultry or seafood; and are the main ingredient for French Onion Soup.

There is no one particular type of onion that should be used when caramelizing; white, yellow, red; even sweeter onions such as Vidalia and Spanish work just fine.  Remember, we're letting the natural sugar of the onion do most of our work for us, so the sweeter the onion, the richer the caramelizing will be.  Also, while I prefer simply to use olive oil for the initial cooking process, some like to use butter, or a combination of oil and butter.  I don't personally like to add a dairy product into my caramelizing process; I don't believe it truly adds anything, but a greasy texture to it.  I've seen some recipes add brown sugar; I'm not sure why since brown sugar is caramelized sugar, and that's what we're trying to achieve with the onion's own sugar.  Confusing, isn't it?  I do, however, add a little balsamic vinegar for an extra richness, and it enhances the aroma of the onions.  Play around with the techniques and see what suits your tastes the best.

Caramelized Onions
Ingredients:

3 Tbsp olive oil
5 large onions, peeled and julienned
½ tsp salt
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Preparation:

Slice the top and root off the onions. Cut the onions in half from top to bottom; remove peels and discard. Place half of an onion, flat side down, on a clean, flat cutting surface. Angle the knife towards the center to make ¼ inch slices from stem to root end. This method of slicing onions is called “Frenched onions”, French-cut, or Julienned.

Heat oil on medium heat in a large skillet; spread onions in skillet and sprinkle salt over them.

Cook the onions until soft and translucent (10 minutes); stirring occasionally. 

Reduce heat to low, cover and let cook for 40 minutes; stir after 20 minutes only.   This will make the onions sweat, drawing out the natural sugars that will coat the onion pieces and cause them to turn brown as the sugar itself begins to cook.  Do not keep removing the lid to check on the onions, or stir them; the heat will lower and you'll lose the accumulated moisture.  After 40 minutes, mix in the vinegar, cover and cook additional 10 minutes.

Makes 2 cups.

Note: if you want the onions to be darker colored than what is in my photo, let them cook down longer on the low heat.  For us, after one hour, the intoxicating scent throughout the home is just too much to bear, so we gobble them up.  Enjoy!

Mary Cokenour
March 12, 2013

Copycatting a Stouffer's Oldie but Goodie.

Before every food company converted their frozen meals to be microwaveable; the containers were aluminum and the plastic or cardboard covers needed to be removed first before heating. One of my very favorites was Stouffer's "Escalloped Chicken and Noodles"; chunks of white meat chicken, veggies and egg noodles in a luscious, creamy sauce. Alas, Stouffer's went the microwave route also; the containers became thin plastic with plastic wrap covers that stayed on, and the food stuck to. Not only that, the portions became smaller, but the prices almost doubled; now what the heck is that all about!?!

So in 2007, I decided I'd had enough of this nonsense, and set upon making a copycat version of my own.  I purchased one more entree, heated it up and then analyzed it...the taste, textures, smell, what ingredients I could readily see or taste.  I'm sure if I was a scientist in a lab, I could have come up with an almost perfect copycat recipe; but I'm not and I'm still happy with the end result.

Using canned creamed soups saved me the trouble of using heavy cream which could break in a sauce if not cooked properly.  Adding chicken broth provided extra moisture for the egg noodles, so they did not harden up during the baking process.   I used fresh onion, red bell pepper and mushrooms, so their flavors are prominent in the dish now instead of just hinted at.  If you're looking for a quick and easy casserole, I believe you'll enjoy this one.


Escalloped Chicken and Noodles
Ingredients:

4 Tbsp butter
1 cup sliced mushrooms
½ cup diced onion
½ cup diced red bell pepper
4 Tbsp flour
4 cups cooked and shredded white meat chicken
½ tsp ground black pepper
1 (14.5 oz) can chicken broth
1 (10.5 oz) can cream of chicken soup
1 (10.5 oz) can cream of celery soup
1 (8 oz) package medium width egg noodles, cooked
1/2 cup plain, fine bread crumbs

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 F. and spray a 3 quart casserole dish with nonstick spray.

 

In 10 inch skillet, medium-high heat, melt butter and sauté mushrooms, onion and red bell pepper until softened, but not browned; add flour and mix well. 

In large mixing bowl, combine sautéed vegetables, chicken, pepper, broth, creamed soups and noodles.

Spread mixture into casserole dish; sprinkle bread crumbs on top. Bake 30-35 minutes; until sauce is bubbling and bread crumbs are golden brown.

Makes 8 servings.

Mary Cokenour

Stuffed, Rolled and Italian, That's Braciole.

When you hear the term "Homemade Pasta Sauce", do you immediately think that that is its only use? In Italy, pasta sauce is referred to as gravy, so while it can be used to cover, or enhance, something cooked, it can also be used as a cooking medium.

I'm going to take sauce and show you how to make Braciole, or Italian Stuffed Rolled Beef; and it is essentially cooked in homemade pasta sauce. Braciole can be looked at as one of those "fancy" type of meals, and I've only had it at holiday time.; served with pasta of course.  It is actually not a difficult meal to create; it's the tying of the meat rolls with butcher's string, and then untying after cooking that can get a bit annoying. Hint, don't do each roll immediately upon rolling; make a group of them and then tackle them one by one, so you develop a rhythm of tying, knotting and snipping excess string. You're done before you know it!

One of the ingredients in my stuffing is pine nuts.  The most common designation for nuts in Europe is "pignolia," a term which refers to pine nuts of the Italian stone pine, grown for the most part in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and North Africa.  Nuts of a different species called "pinion," a name derived from the Spanish word for pine nut, are produced in the western United States. These pinon nuts come mainly from the Colorado pinon tree, a two-needled pine which grows wild in the states of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.  These nuts are expensive whether you use the type from Europe or the United States, so if they're way out of your budget, you can leave them out.  They do add a little crunch to the stuffing, and a nice nutty flavor, so for this dish I'd say, "Blow the budget!", especially if it's for a special meal.

While you could buy a roast, partially freeze it and then cut the slices needed to make Braciole; most supermarkets have it available in packages, or their butcher will slice it for you. Top Round or Sirloin are my choices, and you want the slices between 1/8 of an inch to 1/4 of an inch thick for easy rolling.

For the pasta, a tubular pasta such as rigatoni, ziti or penne goes nicely with the meat.  Cook the pasta till just about to your desired doneness; some folks like it al dente (to the tooth); some, like myself, like it softer.  Either way, finish cooking it off in the sauce while you're waiting for the Braciole to rest.

Braciole ( Italian Stuffed Rolled Beef )

Ingredients:

4 thinly sliced steaks (top round or sirloin), between 1/8” and ¼“ thick, about 1-1 ¼ lbs.
¾ cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
½ cup shredded Romano cheese
¼ cup fresh chopped parsley
2 Tbsp chopped, toasted pine nuts
1 ½ Tbsp minced garlic
1 large egg
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 cups pasta sauce
3 cups partially cooked tubular pasta (ziti, rigatoni, penne)

Preparation:

Lay out steaks on flat surface; mix together bread crumbs, cheese, parsley, pine nuts, garlic and egg in a small bowl till all ingredients are moist, yet crumbly. Evenly distribute stuffing between the four steaks, leaving one inch border all around; press stuffing down slightly.

Begin at one short end and begin rolling the steak over the stuffing; work slowly to keep stuffing from falling out the sides. Using butcher’s string, carefully tie off one end; loop and tuck the string twice more around the meat roll before tying off the other end.

In a deep, large skillet, heat the olive oil on medium-high heat; sear the meat rolls on all sides. Reduce heat to low and pour pasta sauce over the meat rolls; cover and let simmer for two hours.

Remove meat rolls and set aside to rest. Add pasta to sauce, cover and let it finish off cooking to desired doneness. Carefully remove string from each roll; serve one meat roll with a portion of the cooked pasta and sauce.

Makes 4 servings.

Please remember to remove the string before serving and eating the Braciole.  Also, be very careful removing the string as the meat is extremely tender, and you don't want to accidentally break it apart with excessive manhandling.  Enjoy the adventure!

Mary Cokenour

The Schnitzel Adventure

Growing up, there were basically only two ways we ate Schnitzel.  The first was a thin veal cutlet fried in bread crumbs and served with a side of fried potatoes and vegetables.  The second was what I would equate to Italian style which is veal parmigiana; thin veal cutlet fried in bread crumbs, covered in tomato sauce and cheese, served with a side of pasta.  Doing research for this blog post, I found there was half a world of different styles, and all originating in Europe, Russia or Scandinavia.  For the sake of my own sanity, and not to bore you all senseless, I'm only going to deal with three styles: Wiener Schnitzel and Jager Schnitzel (both from Germany) and Becki odrezak (Croatia).

Schnitzel is essentially made with a meat product such as veal, beef, pork or wild game (elk, deer, wild boar).  The meat is sliced thin into cutlets, anywhere to 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch in thickness; then pounded out to 1/8 or 1/4 inch in thickness.  Leave a little fat around the meat; during deep frying some of the fat will melt and keep the meat moist and juicy; the rest will crisp up.   In the United States, Country Fried Steak could be looked at as a form of Schnitzel; a cutlet of beef which is only slightly pounded out, but left thick, and fried in bread crumbs.

Pounding out the meat breaks up any connective tissues and fibers, so the finished product will be very, very tender.  Use the flat side of a meat tenderizer as you want to flatten out the meat to almost double its original size, but not to the point of being able to read a newspaper through it, or shredding the meat itself.  Tenderizing meat is great for getting out frustrations, but don't think of anything too maddening; you want to flatten out, not annihilate. 

Now I'll give you a basic recipe for making the Schnitzel and it works for whichever meat you choose to use.

 

Schnitzel

Ingredients:

1 lb tenderloin of meat (pork, veal, beef or wild game)
1 tsp each salt and ground black pepper
1 Tbsp paprika
2 eggs plus 2 Tbsp water, beaten together
3 cups plain, dried bread crumbs (fine ground)
oil for frying (I recommend peanut oil, canola if not available)

Preparation:

Cut the tenderloin into 1/4 inch slices (about 10-12 slices), place between 2 sheets of clear plastic wrap and pound out to 1/8 inch thickness.  Mix together the salt, black pepper and paprika; season both sides of the meat slices.

Fill a large skillet with 1 and 1/2 inches of oil and set on medium-high heat.  Dip the meat slices into the egg/water mixture, press into the bread crumbs (both sides) and shake off any excess.  When oil is ready (sizzles when drops of cold water are sprinkled over the oil), put 3 of the prepared slices into the skillet.  It takes only 2 minutes on each side to fry them, so keep an eye on them; remove to paper towels to drain any excess oil.

Note: using unseasoned bread crumbs will allow the seasoning placed previously on the meat to "pop" when eating it.

So here is your basic recipe for whichever country's Schnitzel you want to visit next.  

I'm going to Croatia first, since that is the land of my ancestry.  Remember when I said above that I ate Schnitzel with fried potatoes; since the meat was being deep fried; throwing some potatoes into that oil to make a side dish was the norm.

Now when you think of Schnitzel from Germany, two versions come to mind.  The first is the popularly known Wiener Schnitzel; a fried veal cutlet with a sunnyside egg on top. A teaspoon of melted butter in an eight inch skillet over medium-high heat; carefully drop in your raw egg as to not break the yoke; season with a dash of salt and pepper.   Use a spatula to move around the white and clear liquids of the egg, so they will cook thoroughly around the yoke.  Carefully place it over the cutlet; when you cut into that yoke and down into the cutlet, the yoke will become a rich sauce for the fried meat.

The second version is Jager Schnitzel, or "Hunter's Schnitzel", which is done up normally with pork. I'm suspecting this name of "Hunter's" alludes to the hunting of wild game such as boar. This dish is served with a creamy mushroom sauce.

Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp canola oil
1/2 lb. sliced mushrooms
1 1/2 cups beef stock
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup sour cream

Preparation:

In a deep 10 inch skillet, heat oil on medium heat and saute mushrooms for 5 minutes; add beef stock and simmer for 20 minutes.  Stir occasionally to keep from boiling.  Reduce heat to low; whisk in cornstarch and sour cream.  Continue to whisk until sauce thickens; serve over fried cutlets.

Makes about 1 and 1/2 cups.

Whether you try out any of these Schnitzel recipes, or decide to visit the recipes of other countries, remember to enjoy the adventure!

Mary Cokenour

Curry Up! I'm Hungry for Thai Food

Whenever I have gone to a Thai restaurant in the past, the choices between curries was either green (usually made with fresh chilies which while pungent, have a sweeter taste) or red (usually made with dried chilies, have a smoky taste and are hotter). So imagine my surprise when I began doing research on Thai Curry for this blog post; the variety is astounding. The base for curry is the paste, not just red or green, but Southern Thai (Massaman), Northern Thai (Jungle), Chili Tamarind, Yellow Bean, Black Bean, Mint Tamarind and even Lemongrass. Now remember, I'm only dealing with Thai cuisine here; there are also curries from India, Pakistan, Japan and most of the Asian cultures.

As a reminder, authentic curry powder is not the same thing; it is made from the curry plant which is similar in appearance to lavender, but smells and tastes similar to sage. However, to confuse the issue more, some places do sell "curry powder" which is a dried, ground mixture of herbs and spices to help the home cook's life "easier" when making a curry recipe. I noticed some recipes state "add curry powder" and I wonder if they are using this premade mixture, or the curry plant.

I will not be posting any recipes for a curry paste as there are so many varieties, but I will recommend a book.  It is a simple book to read, easy recipes and little "knowledge" tidbits added in here and there to make it more interesting.  The book is called, "The Everything Thai Cookbook" by Jennifer Malott Kotylo; and I have many of the books in "The Everything" series as they are informative.  Chapter One is "Pastes, Marinades and Other Concoctions" which includes rubs and vinegars.  Not a book reader, then there are tons of cooking sites on the internet containing recipes, and even instruction videos.

I will be giving you two of my recipes, one for Red Curry and the other for Green Curry; simple basic recipes which you can expand upon depending on your own tastes in vegetables and proteins.

Thai Curry

  

 

Red Curry
Ingredients:

2 Tbsp canola oil
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup chopped broccoli
1 cup snow pea pods
½ cup diced onion
1 Tbsp red curry paste
1 (14 oz) coconut milk
1 Tbsp cornstarch

Preparation:

In a large skillet, heat oil on medium heat; sauté vegetables until they just begin to soften, about 7 minutes. Turn heat up to medium-high; stir in curry paste and cook another minute. Mix together coconut milk and cornstarch; add to skillet and bring to a boil; let cook for 2 minutes before serving. Suggested side: Jasmine rice.

Note: One cup of chicken, pork or shrimp can be previously cooked in additional two tablespoons of oil and set aside to be added to the skillet during the final two minutes of cooking.

Makes 2 servings.

 

Green Curry

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp canola oil
2 Tbsp green curry paste
1 cup coconut milk, divided in half
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup chopped broccoli ½ cup chopped baby corn
3 kaffir lime leaves, split
¼ cup Thai basil
1 tsp. fish sauce
1 Tbsp sugar

Preparation:

In a large skillet, heat oil and curry paste over medium heat; add in half cup of coconut milk, vegetables and kaffir leaves; cook for 10 minutes. Turn heat up to medium-high; mix in remaining coconut milk, basil, fish sauce and sugar; bring to a boil and let cook for 5 minutes before serving. Suggested side: Jasmine rice

Note: One cup of chicken, pork or shrimp can be previously cooked in additional two tablespoons of oil and set aside to be added to the skillet during the final two minutes of cooking.

Makes 2 servings.

Mary Cokenour

Nathan's Joins the Black Angus Clan.

Being a Brooklynite, and a lover of New York foods, I have worshipped at the temple of Nathan's located in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York. Once I had moved to Utah, I had to come to terms to the fact that I would not be eating a Nathan's hotdog again. Ah, but I was wrong! The local supermarket, City Market, and WalMart began bringing in packaged Nathan's hotdogs and added them to their already abundant hotdog sections. 

So there I was the other day, already to grab the usual green and yellow package when my eye spied a package with black coloring on it.  Stamped on the front was "Made with 100% Angus Beef", and on the ingredient listing it was listed as the first item which means "predominant" ingredient.  Salt and paprika were the seasonings; gluten free in a natural casing and I couldn't wait to try them out.

Being the winter, I wasn't going outside in 10 degree weather to grill up two hotdogs.  I preheated the oven to 350F, lined a pan with aluminum foil and let these puppies cook for 7 minutes.

The franks themselves measure at 6 and 1/2 inches long, while the typical bun is 5 and 1/2 inches, so I did wonder about the shrinkage factor of these new franks.  I was pleasantly surprised to find they remained longer than the buns.  Typically hotdogs begin to shrivel once removed from the heat, but these stayed plumped up much longer.  The taste was incredible; truly beefy and none of the harshness down the throat that over seasoned, or preservative full, hotdogs typically has.  They have snap to them when bitten into and are juicy; they have all the factors to bring you to hotdog nirvana.

Yes, they are a bit more expensive than Nathan's regular beef franks, but are worth it by far!  Next time shopping for hotdogs, try out Nathan's Angus Franks...hail to the beef!!!

Mary Cokenour

Pot Roast Italian Style, or Who Needs Carraba's?

Pot Roast is actually an example of braising; the searing of meat and finishing it off in liquid, cooked low and slow. Italian Osso Buco and the traditionally American Yankee Pot Roast are prime examples, so if you have prepared and/or eaten either of these dishes, you've eaten braised meat.  We're going to do a little more traveling to Italy with this post and mainly due to the newest commercial for the restaurant "Carraba's Italian Grill" featuring "Beef Brasato".  The origin of this dish is Barolo, located in Northern Italy where a deep, rich red wine is made and used in the making of "Brasato al Barolo" or beef braised in Barolo (wine).  A side note, if you cannot find Barolo wine, a full bodied red wine such as Merlot will do nicely as a substitute.

What is truly unique about this braising process is instead of using water or broth, the liquid is wine. The alcohol completely cooks out, so no need to worry if ingesting alcohol is not in your diet for whatever reason.

When choosing a roast for braising, I usually go with rump, eye round or sirloin tip for the leanness, and any outside excess fat is removed while a little marbling is perfectly fine.  Normally though, for pot roasting, a cheaper, tougher cut, such as chuck roast, is the norm.  However this cut is also loaded with sections of fat running throughout it; this fat tenderizes the meat, but causes your gravy to become very greasy.  If this is the only roast you can find at an affordable price, don't panic as there is a way to fix that gravy.  One hour before you'll be getting ready to serve the meal, ladle out however much gravy you think you will need plus one cup into a plastic container.  Put the container into the freezer; in an hour the fat will have risen to the surface and solidified.  The fat is still soft enough to spoon out and will leave you with a gravy that contains little to no grease in it.  While heating up the gravy, your meat should be resting before slicing and they'll both be ready at the same time for serving.  See, told you not to panic.

 

A traditional base for soups and stews is the "mirefois", the combination of onions, celery and carrots.  If cooking were a religion, this would be known as "The Holy Trinity".  Here's a little tip:  Carrots give a natural sweetness to a dish, especially if it contains tomatoes which can be bitter or acidic, so don't hesitate to add them when cooking pasta sauce or chili.  The mirefois will be softened up before adding to the recipe to ensure the vegetables do not remain "hard" after the entire cooking process is done.

 

Time to cook!

 

 

Brasato al Barolo

Ingredients:

1 cup each of diced onions, celery and carrots
4 Tbsp olive oil, divided in half
2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 (3 lb.) lean roast, cut in half
1/2 tsp each salt and ground black pepper
4 cups diced tomatoes
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
2 Tbsp Italian seasoning mixture
2 cups wine (Barolo or Merlot)

Preparation:

In a large skillet, medium heat, put 2 tablespoons of oil and mix together the onions, celery, carrots and garlic.  Let the vegetables cook for 10 minutes to soften, stirring occasionally to make sure they are not sticking, browning or burning.  Remove to a bowl when done and wipe out skillet.

Return the skillet to the burner, but turn the heat up to medium-high and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Season the roast halves with the salt and black pepper; place into the skillet and sear both sides of the meat and all edges. While the meat is searing, turn on a 6 quart crockpot (slow cooker) to low and spray the inside with nonstick cooking spray. Once the meat is seared, place it inside the crockpot.

Now start a layering process: on top of the meat spread out the softened vegetables, mix the tomatoes with the tomato paste and spread this over the vegetables; sprinkle on the seasoning mix before pouring the wine over it all. Place on the lid and let it cook for 10 hours. Remove the meat to a serving platter to rest; use a hand blender, or transfer the liquid to a stand blender. Pulse quickly 4 to 6 times and the gravy will thicken up, but you want to leave some of the vegetables intact for taste, texture and eye attraction.

 Makes 8 servings.



Side suggestions: I used pappardelle, a long ribbon like egg pasta made with semolina flour, but if you cannot find this, using extra wide egg noodles is perfectly fine. Garlic mashed potatoes would enhance the flavors of the gravy; or serve it over Polenta. Polenta is very Italian indeed and can be served in a soft texture, like mashed potatoes, or in a firmer texture which has been fried up to a golden brown in olive oil, butter or combination of both.

Who needs to go out to Carraba's when you can make the same dish in the comfort of your own home?  Enjoy!

Mary Cokenour