Italian Herb Bread

Have you ever wanted a pair of shoes so badly that you bought an entire outfit just so you would have something to wear them with?  I have.  Sometimes the accessory gets to drive the bus and that’s absolutely the case with this bread. 

The twenty minutes that it spends baking is nothing less than torture.  The Asiago is the secret ingredient and when it bakes, everyone within sniffing distance drools uncontrollably.  Serve it with anything you want because the main dish always takes a back seat to this accessory!

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 cup water plus 2 tbsp

2 tbsp butter

3 cups bread flour

Grated Asiago cheese

1 tbsp sugar

Italian seasoning

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp yeast

Before adding the ingredients to your bread machine, measure your flour into a separate bowl.  Add plenty of Italian seasoning and freshly grated Asiago cheese.  Blend the flour, seasonings and cheese thoroughly before putting them into the bread machine.

As always, add the ingredients to your machine in the order specified by the manufacturer then choose the dough setting.  When the dough is ready, remove it from the machine and place it on a pizza pan.  Roll it out just like you would pizza dough.  Brush with a small amount of olive oil and top with more grated Asiago.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until the top of the bread is golden brown.

Slice it with a bread knife and it's ready to serve!

Potato Soup

This is the perfect solution if you have potatoes that you need to use pretty quickly.  I had about five pounds of russets that were approaching expiration and I’m not a fan of throwing food out.  I can tell you that they were quite happy to become soup instead of trash.

Here’s what you need:

Potatoes

Chicken broth

Water

Onion

Garlic

Salt

Chives

Flour

Milk

Sour cream

Peel and dice the potatoes.  Heat the chicken broth and water in a large pot on the stove.  The mixture should be at least half water, more if you want to go easy on the broth.  Add the potatoes to the water/broth mixture and bring them to a boil.  Lower the heat and allow the potatoes to cook until they are soft, stirring occasionally.

When the potatoes are soft, return them to a boil.  Begin sprinkling flour into the pot a little at a time.  After each addition, stir well to ensure that the flour is dissolved before adding more.  Continue adding small amounts of flour until the soup reaches the desired thickness.  Keep in mind that it will continue to thicken after it has finished cooking.

Add fresh garlic (or garlic powder if you don’t have fresh), chives, finely chopped onion and salt to taste.  Finish up with a splash of milk and a big dollop of sour cream. 

Combine everything thoroughly and let the soup cook on the lowest setting for another half hour.

Suggestions: If you don’t have chicken broth, use beef or vegetable.  You can also skip the broth entirely, if you want.  Try serving it with crumbled bacon on top to jazz it up a little.

Serve with a simple salad and some crusty bread for a complete meal.

Tequila Lime Chicken & Salad

Step away from the shot glass.  Your tequila has found a higher calling.  And I've finally found some serious competition for my one true salad love - the Grilled Chicken Caesar.  Like the Caesar, this salad is no sissy.  Served with a homemade cilantro-lime dressing and a couple of warm flour tortillas, this is a meal fit for even the heartiest of appetites.

Here’s what you’ll need for the chicken:

Boneless skinless chicken breasts
Fresh cilantro
Fajita seasoning
Lime juice
Tequila
Water (for the quick version)

You may have noticed the conspicuous absence of measurements in this recipe.  Sorry about that.  I haven’t completely reverted back to my default setting. It’s just that amounts truly don’t matter for this one.  It’s a salad.  Make a big one.  Or a little one.  Or something in between.  You can decide.

Pour about a cup of tequila into a pan.  Add a handful of finely chopped fresh cilantro, a packet of fajita seasoning and the juice of two limes.  Mix well.  Add your chicken and marinate for several hours.

I recommend grilling the chicken (baste it periodically with the marinade) and serving it, chopped, on top of the salad.  If you are pressed for time, though, you can cook it on the stove.  If you go that route, chop the uncooked chicken breast into bite sized pieces and place them in a skillet along with the marinade and up to a half cup of water.  Cover the skillet and cook on medium until the chicken is done, stirring periodically.

Here’s what you’ll need for the salad:

Spring mix lettuce
Tomato
Avocado
Red onion
Cilantro
Sea salt
Shredded cheese
Chicken
Warm tortillas

Chop the tomato and the onion into chunks.  Halve the avocado and gently remove the insides from the peel.  Place the avocado halves flat side down on a cutting board and slice them lengthwise into several thin pieces.  Finely chop a handful of fresh cilantro.

Cover a plate with a thick layer of the spring mix.  Top with tomato, onion, cilantro and avocado slices.  For the best presentation, scatter them evenly across the salad. Sprinkle with sea salt and add the chicken just prior to serving.  Top with shredded cheese.

To warm the tortillas, place them directly on the middle rack of your oven at 200 degrees for two or three minutes.

Here’s what you need for the cilantro-lime dressing:

Lime juice
Jane’s Krazy Mixed Up Salt
Sunflower oil
Apple cider vinegar
Cilantro, finely chopped
Honey (a very small amount)

Combine the ingredients in a bowl or other container.  Mix well.  Taste the dressing and adjust your ingredients accordingly.  It should be tart and a tad salty, with a hint of sweetness.

Pour the dressing over the salad just after you’ve added the sea salt and the chicken. 

Panini Sandwich & Homemade Chips

Who doesn’t love a good Panini sandwich?  It’s the perfect way to jazz up a would-be ordinary sandwich, especially in winter when many of us crave a warm meal.  The sandwich featured here is a spicy Italian Panini and it works well with a variety of things that you probably have in the fridge.  I use Boar’s Head meats and cheeses.  Knoxvillians can find Boar’s Head at Kroger.  I’m not sure if any other local grocery stores carry it.

The chips are homemade and they really make the meal.  It’s certainly easier to open a bag of chips from the store, but I love being in charge of exactly what goes into my food.

What you'll need:

Sandwich

Thick slices of bread (I prefer a really good sourdough)

Salami slices

Pepperoni slices

Provolone cheese slices (Muenster works really well, too)

Mayo

Spicy brown mustard

Banana pepper rings

Tomato slices

Onion slices

Italian seasoning

Potato Chips

Potatoes

Sunflower oil

Salt

To prepare the sandwich, apply the mayo and mustard to your bread.  Start with your meat and stagger the slices so that they hang off the side just a bit.  Put the cheese on top of the meat, staggering the slices again.  Next add your onion slices, then your peppers.  Place the tomato slices on top and sprinkle some of the Italian seasoning over them.  Top your sandwich with the remaining slice of bread.

If you don’t have your own Panini press (I don’t) there are a couple of other options for you.  I use my George Foreman grill.  You can also use a cast iron skillet with a grill press.  Once your bread begins to brown, remove the sandwich.  You don’t want to overcook it.

For the chips, I use the Ultimate Mandoline from The Pampered Chef to slice my potatoes.  Some other slicey tool will probably work equally well.  I don’t recommend using a knife, though, because your slices will likely be too thick.  I cut my potatoes in half and place them flat side down into the mandoline.  The more pressure I apply, the thicker my slices are.  I try for a not-too-thick but not-too-thin slice.  First-timers should experiment to see what they like best.  Just remember, thicker slices will need to cook a bit longer.

Heat your sunflower oil on the stove top (or in your deep fryer) while you are slicing your potatoes.  Make sure the grease is hot before dropping your chips in. Add them one at a time to prevent them from sticking together.  As the chips begin to turn brown, remove them from the grease and place them on a plate lined with paper towels.

Different types of potatoes are more chip-friendly than others.  Russet potatoes are not my favorite.  Try Yukon Gold instead.

Valentine's Day Recipes

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I've recently started working as a contributing writer for Cook at Home - an online food magazine for home cooks.  Here is a link to my first official article.  I hope you enjoy!

http://www.cookathomemag.com/vdayideas.htm

Stovetop Lasagna

If you’re like me, you love homemade lasagna but rarely have the time to make it.  This recipe offers a pretty good solution to the problem.  You get the same taste, without the time consuming hassle.

The recipe calls for ground meat.  I would typically use ground turkey in a recipe like this but I recently decided to get a little bit adventurous.  I did use the turkey, but I added some Italian sausage to give the dish a little more flavor.  Sounds tasty, right?  Right.  Unless you choose the hot Italian sausage.  I mean the kind where hot  means set yourself on fire.  I thought the whole thing was a four alarm nightmare.  I literally could not eat it.  Michael ate piles of it, though, and went back for more.  Then again, I’m pretty sure he could eat lit matches.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own:

Lasagna noodles

Pasta sauce

Ground meat

Ricotta

Finely shredded mozzarella

Grated Asiago (Romano or Parm will do if you don’t have Asiago)

Fresh garlic

Italian seasonings

While browning your meat in one skillet, heat your sauce in another.  If you are using store-bought sauce, add seasonings to taste and plenty of fresh garlic.  If you’ve made your own sauce, it should already be adequately seasoned.  Next, break your lasagna noodles into pieces and lay them on top of the sauce.  With a wooden spoon, gently push them down to the bottom of the skillet.  Let the sauce continue cooking until the noodles are soft.  (They will feel squishy when you press them with your spoon.)

When the meat is ready, drain it on paper towels. When your noodles are soft, add the meat to the sauce by spreading it evenly across the top and pushing it gently down into the sauce until it is completely covered, but do not stir.  Next, add a thin layer of mozzarella and let it melt.  Then drop spoonfuls of ricotta into the sauce making sure you spread the cheese evenly across the pan.  Press the ricotta down into the sauce until it is covered.  Let your lasagna cook until it is bubbly and then spread plenty of Asiago across the top. 

Serve with garlic bread and Caesar salad.  And a fire extinguisher if you go for the super spicy version!

Panko Crusted Flounder For Two

Let’s talk about random afternoon McGuyver style meals.  Michael and I were set to leave for vacation in two days so I intentionally skipped my weekly visit to the grocery store.  I figured we probably had enough stuff to make do and I didn’t want anything going bad while we were gone.  Then Michael got hungry and I realized that we didn’t have quite as much stuff as I thought.

What I found in the kitchen was a potato, two pieces of flounder and some panko crumbs.  Talk about turning lead into gold – or miscellaneous craps into what just might be my new favorite fish dish.

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 flounder fillets (about 4 oz each)

1 really big baking potato

½ tbsp butter, plus extra

Garlic powder to taste

Jane’s Krazy Mixed Up Salt to taste

Peel (or don’t peel) your potato.  Cut it into bite sized pieces and put the pieces in a steamer.  I have a steamer basket for one of my larger sauce pans.  You can also use an electric steamer (I have one from Black & Decker).  Either one works perfectly well.  Sprinkle garlic powder and Jane’s over the top of the potatoes.  Drop small pieces of butter in several places across the top of the potatoes.  Go ahead and start steaming the potatoes while you prepare the fish.

Pour enough panko crumbs onto a plate to cover your fish well.  Sprinkle each side of the fish with salt and pepper then place the fish into the crumbs.  Turn them over a couple of times to make sure they are completely covered.

In a non-stick skillet, melt ½ tablespoon of butter.  If your fish fillets are larger, you might want to use a little more.

Watch your potatoes.  When they start getting soft, it’s time to cook the fish.  Place the fish into the non-stick skillet with the melted butter.  Cook for 2 or 3 minutes on each side until the fish flakes easily with a fork and the crumbs are golden brown.

Before serving, toss the potatoes just a bit to spread the butter and seasonings. 

Serve the fish with lemon wedges and/or homemade tartar sauce (mayo, dill pickle relish & a squirt of lemon juice).

Just a little hint: you might want to think about making extra.  This stuff is super tasty!