Skillet Tamale Pie

This was surprisingly delicious and simple to make. I might add some corn next time, or maybe a little bit of cooked rice.  A great weeknight meal that will serve 4-6 people.

The recipe calls for a store-bought cornbread, but I had a box of Jiffy cornbread mix on hand already so I just made my own and crumbled it right in the pan after cooling slightly. For the canned chipotle chiles in adobo, ATK recommends the Embasa brand, which I was able to find at my local Big Y store. I just put the whole can of chiles in a mini-food processor and pureed. The recipe only calls for 1 teaspoon so to preserve the rest, I measured by teaspoon-sized portions onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and froze. Once solid, just peel the chili puree off the paper and pop into a freezer bag for use in future recipes.

10 ounces cornbread, crumbled (store bought or made fresh) about 2 1/2 cups

2 cups shredded Mexican cheese 

1 Tbs. canola (or vegetable) oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tsp. minced canned chipotle chiles in adobo

1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef

2 16oz cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed

2 10oz cans Ro-Tel tomatoes, drained, 1/3 cup juice reserved

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

S&P

Pre-heat oven to 450. Combine crumbled cornbread with 1 cup of the cheese and season with S&P. Set aside. 

Heat oil in a 12-inch, ovenproof skillet. Cook onion and chipotle until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add beef and cook until no longer pink, 5 minutes or so. Add beans, tomatoes, and reserved tomato juice and cook until thickened, another 5 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the cilantro, the remaining cheese, and season the whole mixture with S&P. 

Sprinkle cornbread mixture over skillet. Bake until golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve with remaining fresh cilantro sprinkled over the top.

Quick Tomato Sauce

When Jon and I were dating, and Jon still had cable tv, I used to get early every Saturday morning and drive to his house just so we could watch Jaime Oliver on the Food Network. Sadly, we only have $5 cable now, so no more food network and no more Jaime Oliver on TV, that means stalking his website for recipes instead! I love how he describes and instructs on how to make things, so I'm leaving the recipe exactly how he posts it (minus the pasta instructions.) Click on the title of the recipe for a link to his website. I serve this pasta sauce with fresh pappardelle pasta.

extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
½–1 fresh red chili, halved, deseeded and finely sliced  (I just red pepper flakes instead)
a small bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked
14.5 oz can san marzano whole tomatoes, chopped (with juice)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to serve

pasta (preferably fresh pappardelle)

serves 2
Homemade pasta sauce is so easy, and you can sling it together in around the time it takes to open a jar and heat it up.

Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat and add a good few lugs of olive oil. When the oil’s hot, add the garlic and chili and fry until lightly colored. Drop in most of the basil – stand back as it will crackle and spit in the oil – and then, after a few seconds, add the tomatoes. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 5 minutes. You’ll end up with a chunky sauce – if you like it smoother, pass the sauce through a coarse sieve. Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

Stir the pasta into the warm sauce. If it’s a bit thick, add a few spoonfuls of the cooking water to loosen it up. Sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and the reserved basil leaves and serve immediately.

Ultimate Banana Bread

I promise, this will be the BEST banana bread you've ever had. This is an America's Test Kitchen recipe (if you know me, you know I'm obsessed with ATK.)  I'm sharing the link as well because they provide some more detailed pictures and notes.

I always have frozen bananas in the freezer, I let them get overly black, peel, and thrown them in freezer bags. You can substitute 5 of the very ripe bananas in this recipe for 5 frozen bananas, just thaw in the fridge for a day or so ahead of time. I've also used a mix of a few frozen and a few  fresh, just microwave the fresh for a minute or so less than called for.  You will still need 1 fresh banana for the top if you use frozen. 

I haven't made any changes to this recipe, it really is perfect. I leave out the walnuts but I bet they would be great too. Typically, my bread takes 55-60 minutes, keep a close eye on it and check frequently with a wood skewer, there should be few to no crumbs on it.

The bread really is best the day it's baked because the crust is still crunchy and the inside so moist, but it will stay very moist for several days wrapped tightly, if it lasts that long! 

• 1 3/4 cups (8 3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 6 large very ripe bananas (about 2 1/4 pounds), peeled
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped (optional)
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8½ by 4½-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in large bowl.

2. Place 5 bananas in microwave-safe bowl; cover with plastic wrap and cut several steam vents in plastic with paring knife. Microwave on high power until bananas are soft and have released liquid, about 5 minutes. Transfer bananas to fine-mesh strainer placed over medium bowl and allow to drain, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes (you should have ½ to ¾ cup liquid).

3. Transfer liquid to medium saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until reduced to ¼ cup, about 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat, stir reduced liquid into bananas, and mash with potato masher until fairly smooth. Whisk in butter, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla.

4. Pour banana mixture into flour mixture and stir until just combined with some streaks of flour remaining. Gently fold in walnuts, if using. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Slice remaining banana diagonally into ¼-inch-thick slices. Shingle banana slices on top of either side of loaf, leaving 1½-inch-wide space down center to ensure even rise. Sprinkle granulated sugar evenly over loaf.

5. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, 55 to 75 minutes. Cool bread in pan on wire rack 15 minutes, then remove loaf from pan and continue to cool on wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Busy, busy, busy!

I haven't forgotten about the blog, I promise. We've just been very busy searching for a new car which means we haven't been cooking anything special.

We were in New Jersey for the long weekend visiting Jon's brother James, his wife, Miranda, and our adorable niece, Britta. Miranda made an Asian pork shoulder in the crock pot one night, it was delicious! I will definitely be making it myself in the near future.   In the meantime, I'll share the recipe with you and I'll be back soon!  Click Here ---> Asian Pork Shoulder from Real Simple Magazine  The only change she made is she cooked the pork shoulder whole for most of the time then shredded it with two forks for the last couple of hours, this kept the meat juicy and tender but allowed the flavors to meld into the meat at the end.

Sausage, Leek, and Spinach Quiche with a Potato Crust

Don't as me how it happened, but I ended up with 3 dozen eggs in the house last week (sometimes I wonder if I'm losing my mind!) I figured the best way to start using them is to make a quiche or frittata. I found this recipe on some random website and just made a few little changes.  Here is my version...

1 1/2 lbs Russet potatoes

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

1/4 cup flour

2 tablespoon butter, divided

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 small (or 1 large) leek, white and light green parts thinly sliced

about 5oz sausage (I used 1/2 spicy 1/2 sweet)

2 cups baby spinach

4oz mozzarella

5 eggs

1/4 cup milk

S&P

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Butter the bottom, sides, and rim of a 9-inch pie dish with 1 Tbs butter. Peel and grate the potatoes (easiest in a food processor.) Mix the potatoes with the flour, Parmesan, S&P. Press the mixture into the pie dish, pushing up the sides. Put some thin strips of foil over the top edges of the potato crust to prevent over-browning and bake for 30 minutes. 

While the crust bakes, heat 1 Tbs butter and 1 Tbs olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add leeks and saute for about 10 minutes, until very soft. Remove the sausage from it's casing and add to the pan, crumbling into small pieces. cook for 6 or 7 minutes, until cooked through. Turn down to low and add spinach and let it wilt down for a few more minutes. 

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and milk and season with S&P. 

When the potato crust is done, remove from the oven and remove the foil.  Lower the temperature to 350 degrees. Spread the sausage mixture over the bottom of the crust. Pour the eggs over the top. Break up the mozzarella into small chunks and sprinkle over the top.

Bake until the edges are golden brown and the egg is set, 25-35 minutes. (The recipe said to bake 25 minutes but I found my quiche took almost 35 minutes.) Let the quiche sit for about 10 minutes (to firm up) before slicing.

Chicken Soup - Carrabba's Style

This soup is sort of like Mama Mandola's Spicy Chicken Soup at Carrabba's. Jon found a clone recipe online and based his soup off of it, making a few changes. The soup called to boil a 5-pound chicken to make your own broth. While we do make our own broth quite often, we like using a chicken that was roasted for dinner the night before. The first time we made this soup, we didn't have a roasted chicken, so we improvised with chicken broth, water, and a couple of big split chicken breasts. I'm going to share the recipe how we made it, but you could certainly boil your own roasted chicken for your own broth.  We're boiling a chicken tonight to make this soup again tomorrow, I'll let you know if it makes a big difference making your own broth. 

Also, the soup at Carrabba's is SUPER spicy by using a whole lot of black pepper. I'm not into that much pepper and spice, so Jon just added his own pepper to his individual bowl. If you want it spicy, add at least twice as much pepper as you would think, and keep a box of tissues close by!

 

 

6 cups of chicken broth

about 2 cups water

2 large bone-in split-chicken breasts

5 celery ribs

4 medium carrots, peeled

1 large yellow onion

2 medium potatoes, peeled

1 14 oz can Italian plum tomatoes, with juice

2 garlic cloves, pressed/minced

1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley

S&P

Small, stubby pasta (we used Ditalini)

Boil the chicken in the broth until it's falling off the bone, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. 

Meanwhile, dice celery, carrots, onion and potatoes into 1/4-inch pieces. Chop tomatoes, reserving all juices.

When the chicken is done, remove from the broth (and strain if necessary.) Add water to the broth; the amount of water will depend on how much water boiled off and the flavor. You can always add more, as needed while cooking too.

 

Add the vegetables, potatoes, tomatoes and the juices, garlic, parsley, and S&P to the broth. Bring to a boil then turn down to low and simmer until all the veggies are cooked through and soft, about an hour. 

While simmering the veggies, remove the chicken meat from the bones, discard the bones and shred the meat. Also, cook the pasta, drain, and toss with some olive oil to avoid sticking. 

Once the veggies are soft, mash them in the pot with the back of a spoon (we just used a potato masher.) Add the chicken and check for seasoning.

We kept the pasta separate so it doesn't absorb all of the broth and get water-logged. Just stir some pasta into your soup and add pepper to taste.  

Frittata

You can use any meat and veggie combo you like in your frittata... The recipe below is my own so I don't have exact measurements, just use whatever looks good to you! I served the frittata with buttermilk drop biscuits from America's Test Kitchen.

2 Italian Sausage, one spicy, one sweet, about 2/3lb. 

1 red pepper, chopped

3 medium red potatoes

fresh parsley

cheddar cheese

12 eggs

3 Tbs half and half

olive oil

S&P

Pre-heat the broiler but leave your oven rack in the middle position.  Cut potatoes into bite size cubes. Place in a glass bowl and microwave for 7 or 8 minutes, stirring a couple of times, until starting to cook. 
 
Meanwhile, remove sausage from its casing, crumble into a large skillet and cook through. When done, drain the fat and set the sausage aside in another bowl. 
Add a little olive oil to the skillet and saute red pepper until soft, set aside with the sausage. 
Add a little more olive oil to the skillet and add the potatoes. Cover and cook until lightly browned and cooked through, stirring often. 

Beat together eggs, half and half, some chopped parsley, some shredded cheese, and S&P. Add the sausage and peppers back to skillet with the potatoes. 
Add the egg mixture to the skillet. Cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until the eggs just begin to cook and clump together, about 3 or so minutes. The eggs should still be soft and wet. 
Spread evenly over the bottom of the pan and let cook about 30-45 seconds until the bottom of the eggs begin to set. 

Put the skillet in the oven under the broiler for 3-4 minutes until it begins to brown and is completely set.
Remove from oven (make sure you use oven mitts to grab the skillet! I've made the mistake, ouch!)
Loosen sides of frittata with a rubber spatula and slide it out of the pan onto a plate. (again, make sure you don't grab the handle of the skillet without a mitt!)
Cut into slices.