Zucchini Beef Casserole

Zucchini Beef Casserole

Zucchini is one of my favorite things to grow and eat. Some years the crop is a little too large and baking bread gets boring. This is a great way to use up all that extra zucchini! Yes, it calls for boxed and canned "stuff", but that's part of what makes it so easy to get together. 

Zucchini Beef Casserole

Zucchini Beef Casserole
Printable Recipe
Hands-On Time: 15 minutes
Ready In: 1 hour 
Serves: 8

1 pound ground beef, pork, turkey or chicken
6 cups diced zucchini (about 3 medium)
10 3/4 oz. can cream of mushroom, celery or chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1 package stuffing mix
1 1/2 cups water
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Brown ground beef and drain well. Put into a large mixing bowl.
3. Cook zucchini in a little water until just tender - about 5 minutes. Add to beef.
4. Heat 1 1/2 cups water to boiling. Remove from heat and add stuffing mix. Stir and let stand until water is absorbed. Add to beef and zucchini.
5. Mix sour cream and cream of soup and pour over beef, stuffing and zucchini. Blend well.
6. Pour into a greased 9x13 baking dish and bake for 45 minutes until bubbly and browned on top.

Chicken Thighs with Mango Jalapeño Salsa

Chicken Thighs with Mango Jalapeño Salsa

Chicken thighs get a little kick from jalapeños in a sweet-hot mango salsa. Temper the jalapeños by roasting them first, if desired, but either way, the salsa is the perfect accompaniment to the ginger, garlic and lime marinated chicken.

This was the very first time I've ever had mango salsa and I fell head-over-heels in love with it! I now make it often to have with different dishes like pork or grilled flank steak. It's delicious no matter how you serve it. The kids like it with traditional corn tortillas.

Not all of my children are fans of chicken thighs (and the man doesn't like chicken at all!) so substituting with another cut is just fine. Make sure to cook the chicken according to the cut and all will be well.

Chicken Thighs with Mango Jalapeño Salsa

Printable Recipe 
Hands-On Time: 15 minutes
Ready In: 9 hours and 15 minutes including marinating time
Yield: 4-6 Servings

Ingredients:

Thighs and marinade:

3 pounds chicken thighs - about 12 small, 8 medium or 6 large
one inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
2 large cloves garlic - minced
Zest and juice of one lime
1 teaspoon Kosher salt

Salsa:

1 large *ripe mango - diced, about 2 cups
2 large or 4 small **roasted jalapeños - chopped fine
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1/2 cup diced red onion
1 lime - juiced
1 teaspoon Kosher salt

Directions:

1. Trim excess fat from thighs and set aside.
2. Combine garlic, ginger, lime juice, zest and salt and stir into a paste.
3. Rub thighs with paste, making sure to rub some under the skin.
4. Put into a plastic zippered bag and seal well, removing air. Refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
6. Arrange thighs on a rack over a baking pan and bake for 60 minutes.
7. While thighs are cooking, make the salsa.
8. Toss all salsa ingredients together and refrigerate until thighs are cooked.
9. Remove thighs from oven (check with a thermometer that they are at 170 degrees internally) and serve with salsa.

*Use a Tablespoon of honey in the salsa if your mangoes are not very ripe or sweet.

**Roasting jalapeños : Roast jalapeños  under the broiler until blackened. Turn several times during cooking so each side is done well. Remove from broiler and wrap immediately in plastic. Let stand 15 minutes and the skin will easily slip off the peppers. Remove seeds and chop.

Cinnamon Chips with Fruit Salsa

Cinnamon Chips with Fruit Salsa

Almost every kid loves salsa and chips and this sweeter take on them is the perfect snack. Change fruits to suit your own tastes, but use the same amounts listed for the best results. Using a cooking spray pump (I love Misto) in lieu of butter cuts down on calories as well.

The chips really only need one side sprayed and dusted with cinnamon sugar, otherwise it just gets messy and they stand a greater chance of burning.

Make up a batch of these in just a few minutes and watch them disappear just as quickly!

Cinnamon Chips with Fruit Salsa
Printable Recipe

Hands-On Time: 5 minutes
Ready In: 15 minutes
Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients:

10 whole wheat flour tortillas
Oil in a spray pump
1/3 cup granulated sugar plus one Tablespoon
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup diced strawberries
1 cup diced kiwi
1 cup diced pineapple
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Stack flour tortillas and cut into 6 wedges, making 60 wedges total. Set in a single layer on ungreased baking sheets.
3. Spray wedges evenly but lightly with oil.
4. Combine 1/3 cup sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over tortilla wedges.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until crisp and just beginning to brown. Remove from baking sheets and cool completely.
6. While chips are baking, combine fruits, the remaining tablespoon of sugar and lemon juice and refrigerate until needed. Serve with cooled chips. Use within 2 days for best results. Chips can be stored in an airtight container for 5 days.

Pappardelle and Veggetable Ribbons

Pappardelle and Vegetable Ribbons

Each spring I find myself anxious to grow things. This year especially brings with it an excitement and eagerness for the growing season to start. After an exceptionally long and stormy winter with extra low temperatures and prolific snows, it seems everyone I come in contact with is just as anxious for buds to open and flowers to bloom.

I've just started my seeds and each day I check them like a child peeking under the tree at Christmastime in expectation of wonderful things to come. So far the bush beans have begun to sprout in earnest and the cucumbers are just pushing out from inside their hulls, tiny green dots at the end of each off white seed.

The raised bed frame has been purchased and trellises stand at the ready in the garage. Now to dig out an area large enough and get to it. I do so love to grow things; possibly the reason I have seven children ... who knows.

Once the seedlings are hardened off and ready to head to their beds of dark rich soil, the waiting and watching will begin. My favorite has always been zucchini. First the leaves will grow on long stalks and umbrella outward to form a canopy underneath which tiny flower buds will grow. The ones with stems are males, which will result in no fruit but make excellent shells for creamy goat's cheese flecked with herbs. They will then be dipped in a light tempura-like batter to be fried until golden and enjoyed one lovely bite at a time. The flowers themselves taste faintly of the fruit the female blossoms provide and the color is a beautiful deep yellow ... just like summer.

Once the squash have grown and are ripe for the picking, we consume them in every way thinkable; Stuffed, roasted, grilled, raw on salads and sandwiches, in place of crackers for healthier bites, and in this way: peeled into thin ribbons, served with vegetables prepared the same way and with long, long beautiful pappardelle noodles.

It's summer in a dish, one of my very favorites.


Pappardelle and Veggetable Ribbons

Hands-On Time: 10 minutes
Ready In: 20 minutes
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 medium zucchini
1 medium summer squash
1 large carrot
8 ounces pappardelle pasta
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 large cloves garlic, minced
Zest of 1 lemon and 1 Tablespoon of juice
1/2 Tablespoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 cup finely shredded fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped walnuts


Directions:

1. Heat a large pot of water and salt to boiling - 4 quarts of water to 1 Tablespoon salt.
2. Scrub vegetables and dry well. Using a vegetable peeler, run it slowly down the length of  each vegetable, making ribbons of each -discard the center portions if seeds are too large.
3. Stir together olive oil, garlic and lemon zest in a large serving bowl. Set aside.
4. Cook pappardelle in boiling salted water according to package directions. During the last 2 minutes of cooking, add the vegetable ribbons.
5. Meanwhile stir together oil, garlic, lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper.
6. Drain pasta and veggies and add to bowl with oil mixture. Toss well and stir in parsley, walnuts and Parmesan. Serve hot in shallow pasta bowls.

Hollandaise How-To

Asparagus cloaked with velvety rich Hollandaise sauce.

Easter is on the way and, like all things that need our time an attention, it will be here all too soon. One thing served at many Easter dinners is asparagus with Hollandaise sauce. I'd like to show you how to make this and to assure you that I'm an expert of sorts on this particular sauce. Let me fill you in.

Way back in 1993 I went to culinary school. I knew how to cook already and was fairly good at it, but I wanted to know more. My dream had been to open my own cafe or bed and breakfast and I wanted a good solid foundation for the many dishes I imagined myself serving up.

I did quite well, if I do say so myself, and even excelled in a spot or two. Some things made me very nervous, though and I skipped a day here and there in an effort to get out of the practical end of my grade for a few classes. Fish cleaning was one. I stayed home only to find that I still had to clean a huge red snapper the next day. My fears weren't without warrant; I stabbed a thumb with a fish bone and it was literally sore for weeks. See? I should have skipped that entire section.

I also was scared beyond belief to make Hollandaise. It was drilled into our heads that there was a very real risk of our sauce breaking if we were to even breathe the wrong way. It wasn't likely that we would succeed ... etc. etc. Who in their right mind would show up on that day? Surely not me.

Lo and behold, my professor was sharper than that and reminded me the next day that I still had to do the practical for Hollandaise. I went ahead and held my breath, beating egg yolks with cayenne pepper and lemon juice. I slowly, slowly poured in the clarified butter. It was perfect. I was shocked, but thrilled that I had not only passed, but exceeded my own expectations.

Once the rest of the class caught on to the fact that I made it without a problem, they started asking me to make it for them. They would sidle over to me on the line during the weeks we had the restaurant to run and whisper, "Can you make my Hollandaise for me?" I was naive enough to comply and I'm certain part of the reason I developed carpal tunnel syndrome was nudged along by my Hollandaise making days.

I still make it, but only for special occasions, and I know there are recipes for the blender and also those using whole butter (and sauce from packets - gasp!), but I still like to pull out my typed recipe (I didn't have a computer in those days) and get to it.

Here is the recipe; use it as you wish on Asparagus or roast beef or, my favorite way, in Eggs Benedict.

Three sticks of salted butter.

Skimming the foam from the top.

Foam skimmed and milk solids on the bottom.

Clarified butter ready to use.

Three egg yolks with lemon juice and cayenne pepper.

Egg yolks beaten to the correct consistency.

The perfect velvety smooth sauce.

My original typed recipe from 1993. Note the grease stain on the bottom right - no doubt from clarified butter 

Hollandaise Sauce
Makes 1 pint

Ingredients:

3 sticks salted butter - 12 ounces
3 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Juice from 1/2  a lemon - about 2 teaspoons
Clarified butter from 3 sticks - about 10 ounces
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

Directions:

1. Heat a small saucepan of water over medium heat to simmering.
2. Place egg yolks, lemon juice and cayenne in a non-reactive metal bowl and set over water.
3. Beat egg yolks until smooth and lemon yellow. Keep them moving so they do not cook.
4. Pour in clarified butter very slowly and in a very thin stream. Keep whisking the yolks and incorporating the butter in a constant motion.
5. Once all butter has been whisked in the sauce should coat the back of a spoon or leave ribbon impressions as the whisk moves through it.
6. Whisk in salt and serve immediately.