Frenchees and bisque

I made the most evil sandwiches the other night, based on a recipe from Cook's Country. They are called "Frenchees", and involve taking sandwiches made with white bread, mayonnaise and American cheese, coating them with cracker crumbs and frying them. Uhh, evil.



I tried to balance it out by serving them with shrimp bisque. That's classy enough, right?

So, it was a fantastic party

I had such a great time, and the food was so good and went so fast, I didn't have time to post bad photos of the food. I have been pretty swamped with school and family since then.

I will try to pop in and psot new recipes soon. We had a delicious lo mein today with julienned onions, baby corn, leftover steak and pork, ginger, garlic, mushrooms, soy sauce, mirin, sesame seeds, and noodles. Mmmmmm. I also have a huge pot of broth going. It's chock full of goodies: celery tops, onion with skin, a cheese rind, garlic cloves, peppercorns, bay leaves, carrots, and half a leftover chicken and a chicken base. Yum.

Seasonal eating

Sometimes, even in South Florida suburban living, you can eat with the seasons. I received a lovely, loaded New Year's ham bone from my mother in law. Neither Picky nor S will eat any beans. So, I went off in search for a ham bone recipe sans beans.

I found this recipe for Somma Borscht aka Weed Soup.

Of course, summer for Russian Mennonites is winter for Floridians! So, for this seasonal recipe, I have a seasonal bone and what is growing in my garden.

I am changing the recipe a bit (but of course!) I have dill (in the recipe) growing in my garden, but the main bitter green I have is arugula. So, I am subbing arugula for the sorrel in the recipe, which I have in abundance. I usually grow French sorrel in my garden, but not this year. I am not sure if that is the same species of sorrel in the recipe. I also decided to add some chicken broth to boost the broth flavor.

I will post pics and reviews soon!

I have two words for this recipe. Yuh and ummmmm. It was a big hit.



We had it with crusty grainy bread chunks and sour cream. Except for Picky, who doesn't do sour cream. Unless it's in paprikash.

Chicken soup

Picky revived the camera, so I wanted to post a picture of this beautiful soup I made in the middle of last semester. A friend from school turned puppy dog eyes on me and told me "I'm sick. Take care of me." So, I made her (and the family) my basic chicken soup recipe, but this time with shells and spinach instead of egg noodles and cabbage.

It was delicious, and she gave me caramel apples in return when she felt better! That's a good trade.

Using my present

I looooove my new Le Creuset Buffet Casserole (in flame). I got it to replace a stainless steel pan that I use constantly that is separating at the seams on the bottom. I wanted something that was oven proof, and mainly because of the dish I am making tonight.

This is an adapted recipe from Eating Well magazine. I blogged about the original recipe and gave the link here. But, even though I am only one hour from Kumquat Avenue in Coconut Grove, it is hard for me to find fresh kumquats in my regular haunts, even my farmers market that has a pretty extensive variety. So, I make mandarin orange tagine. Seemed like a decent replacement. Picky loves mandarin oranges, and it is much easier to keep two cans of them and a can of chick peas (Picky and S eat around them) than it is to source the fresh kumquats all year.

Mandarin Orange Tagine (adapted from Eating Well magazine)

1 T extra-virgin olive oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, slivered
1 T minced fresh ginger
2 pounds skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into 2 inch pieces
1 t ground coriander
1 t ground cumin
3/4 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/2 t freshly ground pepper
1/8 t ground cloves
1 14 0z can vegetable broth
2 cans Mandarin oranges (22 oz), drained of juices
1 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed
1 1/2 T honey

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Heat oil in an ovenproof casserole or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions; cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and ginger; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
3. Add chicken; cook, stirring often, for 8 minutes. Stir in coriander, cumin, cinnamon, salt, pepper and cloves; cook until aromatic, about 20 seconds. Stir in broth, oranges, chickpeas and honey. Bring to a simmer.
4. Cover the pan and transfer to the oven. Bake, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through and the broth is bubbling and somewhat reduced, about 1 hour.

Back with a vengeance!

I got a new camera for Picky for an early Father's Day present. Picky has taken to cooking up batches of my cookie recipe every other day or so recently. There is NO way I am getting into shape for med school this summer.

I went all out for dinner tonight. I was happy S was home from his dad's house. I made French onion soup, green beans with persimmons, and a T-bone with wild mushrooms. It was S's first experience with French onion soup (one of Picky's favorites) and he loved it.

Kumquat tagine

I wish I had my camera. This was such a yummy and pretty dish. The recipe is from Eating Well magazine. A tagine is a Moroccan stew. I have never had kumquats before, and they are yummy. And, kumquat is fun to say! Kept us giggling and making bad jokes all through dinner.

Tagine is also fun to say, except that it reminds me of someone I don't like's nickname for the female genitalia, and we can just leave it at that.

I also like this meal because Picky loved it and said I could make it again, and it had CHICKPEAS in it! Don't tell him.

Chicken soup for sick mommy

I used the leftovers from the roasted chicken in some therapeutic chicken soup. I vary the vegetables in this recipe depending on what I have on hand. Yesterday, this is what I made:

oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
a hefty handful of baby carrots, chopped
cabbage from my garden (about 1 cup chopped)
salt
garlic, diced (lots. I used at least a T)
ginger, grated (lots, I used at least 1/2 T)
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup miso broth (or 1 cup water with 1 T miso paste)
1 cup uncooked egg noodles

chopped cooked chicken from roasted chicken carcass (Ewww, not a nice word when cooking, but meat eaters, face the reality.)

1. Heat oil in dutch oven or large heavy pot
2. Add vegetables and salt and cook until barely tender (Or, in my case, cook until you smell them almost burning and realize you have cooked them too long and freak out.)
3. Add garlic and ginger and cook for one more minute
4. Add broth (If you are burning your veggies and they are too hot, watch out for steam burns with lots of cursing. The steam cooked through the aseptic container my chicken broth was in, and tried to cook through my fingers!!)
5. After simmering for a while, maybe 20 minutes, add pasta and meat and cook until pasta is cooked through, about another 10 minutes