Anyway you slice it, it's Tetrazzini

Another staple growing up, we always made it with leftovers, whether that was chicken, turkey or ham. All work very well with this super easy casserole. I have seen versions that make it even easier with the inclusion of cream of chicken soup (instead of making the sauce). I prefer to make it with the traditional white sauce. This is a great make it ahead of time, because it's almost always better reheated.

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups cooked, diced turkey, chicken, or ham, cut about an inch thick.

10 oz white button mushrooms sliced

1 medium onion finely chopped

4 Tb of butter

1/3  cup flour

1 cup chicken broth

4 cups milk

1 cup heavy cream

Grated Parmesan cheese

¼ cup bread crumbs

1 lb linguine

Salt and pepper to taste

Pre heat the oven to 450 degrees. Cook the pasta as directed and set aside in a bowl with the leftover meat when done. On medium heat in a large pot, melt 1 Tb of butter, saute the onions and mushrooms until onions are translucent. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Remove onions and mushrooms from pot, combine with pasta and meat. Melt remaining 3 Tb of butter. Add in the flour to create a rue. Cook until the flour mixture begins to brown ever so slightly (keep stirring so it doesn’t burn). Slowly whisk in the chicken broth, milk and heavy cream. While whisking, bring the liquid up to a boil, then quickly turn heat down to simmer, continuing to stir until the sauce begins to thicken. This should take about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour the sauce into the bowl with pasta and mix thoroughly. Pour everything into a greased 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs on the top. Bake uncovered about 25 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling. Let it sit for about 10-15 minutes before digging in or make the night before and reheat.  

*Traditionally this is made with peas and a little nutmeg in it, something I never had in the version I grew up with. 

Best Rye Bread Recipe

There is something very satisfying about baking bread. For several years now I have been scouring the internet and cook books for a good rye bread recipe. By good I mean the kind you can buy in my home state of New Jersey. What I call the good stuff doesn't exist in the supermarkets up in Maine (not that I can find anyway). My search was over the moment I tried this recipe and this is a phenomenal recipe! I highly recommend this to anyone who has a free Sunday afternoon and loves baking. It was far easier than I thought it was going to be. If you click on the link below it will take you to the recipe I found, for authentic New York deli rye bread. For my first attempt I'm was so happy with the result, it is now a standard in my recipe book. So, bake away my friends, bake away...    

Rye Bread Recipe

Here are some photos I took of the process: 

The sponge poking through the flour mixture

The first rising 

The last rising

The finished product

Making Magic Happen With McCormick Mushroom Gravy

Yes, magic does happen. No, there is no trick card up my sleeve. This is about turning magic out of a packet of plain old mushroom gravy. I use the name McCormick, because, while they seem to have the corner on the market with regards to spices and flavor seasonings for anything from meat to veggies, it was also what I found while rooting through the kitchen cabinets. I’ve been on a mushroom and roasted potatoes kick the last week or so and had some boneless pork chops I wanted to cook up. I saw the packet of mushroom gravy and suddenly the challenge was on in my head. I became so excited and knew this was going to be phenomenal or at the very least edible.

So here it goes, simple, easy, tasty.  Cut the potatoes and mushrooms up (not too big or small), salt, pepper, rosemary (or whatever other kind of savory herb you want), olive oil to coat, 425 degrees for just under an hour, stirring occasionally so they don’t stick to the roasting pan. Next tenderize the pork chops (makes all the difference with chicken and pork I find). I used a Chicago Steak House rub on them for flavoring, but put whatever seasoning you want on the chops. Get a cast iron grill pan (if you can’t grill the chops), spray with cooking spray and let it really heat up. Toss on the pork chops, searing them about 3-4 minutes on either side. Take your mushroom stems (more mushrooms if you have them), sauté them up in some butter with a hint of olive oil (to not burn the butter) along with a finely chopped onion. Once they begin to get tender, add your packet of mushroom gravy with 1 cup of water and ½ cup of milk or as I used, light cream (I hate milk). Add salt and lots of ground black pepper. If you want something else add it. You like parsley, add that; or tarragon, thyme, sage, whatever you want. Add what you like and add as much as you like (only rule of thumb is to go less, because you can always add more later). Bring to simmer, add pork chops to finish cooking them. Depending on how big the chops are will depend how long to cook but the ideal internal temperature for cooked pork is 140/145 degrees. Once the chops are done and the potatoes and mushrooms are done, you will have an amazing mushroom gravy to accompany your meal. So simple, so easy and so cheap. You can vary anything and I by no means re-invented the wheel here. Just a little magic of my own. Try it, you will be surprised how yummy it is.          

Lentil Soup

I love lentil soup. Almost all the recipes I searched for called for a can of crushed tomatoes as part of the ingredients. I did not want that in my soup. I was looking to recreate Progresso’s Lentil Soup, a staple in our household growing up. Feeling slightly disappointed I almost gave up my search and that’s when I discovered the recipe included here. It is pretty spot on, as far as taste, but my version is slightly different. I omitted the ginger listed for a couple of reasons. One I didn’t have any on hand in the house and two it called for what I felt was quite a bit of fresh ginger and I was unsure how that would translate in the soup. I like ginger, but not that much. Needless to say it’s one of the few times I played it conservative and left it out. The recipe also calls for 5 cups of water. While at first that seemed enough, I ended up adding another cup, cup and a half of water to the stock as the lentils cooked. I substituted the fresh kale for the frozen spinach and used about 6 or 7 big leaves of kale. Use more or less depending on your preference. I cut the stems off the kale and merely rough chopped it before throwing it in the pot.  

The soup came out great! As this was my first attempt I only made what the recipe called for; however, since it was so easy and so tasty, the next time I plan on doubling it to make enough to freeze for a later date. If you are a fan of soups, give this recipe a try. Below is the link that takes you to the recipe I found. Just click on the photo! Enjoy and happy cooking!



Click here for the recipe!



Stove Top Lobster Bake

I love lobster and I live in Maine, where we have the best lobster (I am biased). For a couple of years now I've been doing a traditional lobster bake only on my stove top. Less sand to deal with, I don't know what to say. This recipe is super easy and foolproof and has a little bit of everything in it. If you want to impress your friends and family, put this together and you will wow them. 

The ingredients and recipe (for 4 people) are as follows:

Ingredients:

2 lbs red potatoes (if they are big cut them half, if small leave them whole)

1 large yellow onion, quartered

4 sweet Italian sausages

2 to 4 ears of corn, cut in half

2 lbs mussels, cleaned

1 lb shrimp, shells on or off

1 lb fresh white fish (cod, haddock)

4 lobsters ( about 1 ½ lbs each)

1 can chicken broth

2 Tb butter

Salt and pepper to taste

What to do:

Salt and pepper the white fish. Put in aluminum foil packet that you’ve made and set aside

Melt the butter in a large enough pot to hold everything

Add onions and sausage cooking until onions are translucent and sausages begin to brown

Add the potatoes

Add the corn

Add the mussels and shrimp

Add the aluminum foil packet of fish

Add the lobster

Pour the chicken broth over the whole thing

Cover, bring to a boil, then cook on medium low for about 45 mins to an hour. It’s done when the lobster is red.  

Substitute, substitute, substitute! If you don’t like red potatoes, use the whites or the russets, whatever kind you want. Same with the sausage, try bratwurst, chorizo, whatever you like. You could add clams instead of mussels (I happen to think mussels are sweeter. No matter the ingredients, you can change everything. The beauty of this hodge podge is, it can be whatever you want it to be.     

Below are some photos from a recent double pot lobster bake we did at our house.



All done!



Finished dinner!