Chicken Piccata Pasta

If you like Chicken Piccata you will like Chicken Piccata Pasta. This originated from Rachel Ray. It is tasty and easy to make.

Chicken Piccata Pasta
2 Tbl. olive oil
1 1/3 lb. chicken breasts cut into 1" pieces
salt and pepper
1 1/2 Tbl. butter
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
2 Tbl. flour
1/2 Cup white wine
1 lemon, juiced
1 Cup chicken stock or broth
3 Tbl. capers
1/2 Cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1 lb. penne rigata cooked al dente
chopped chives, for garnish

Heat pot and add olive oil and chicken, season with salt and pepper. Brown lightly 5-6 minutes. Remove and add another tablespoon of olive oil and 1 Tbl. butter. Add garlic and shallots. Saute 3 minutes. Add flour and cook two more minutes. Whisk  in wine and reduce 1 minute. Whisk in lemon juice and chicken broth. Stir in capers and parsley. When it comes to a bubble add remaining butter and the cooked chicken with any juice that has come from the cooked chicken. Toss with cooked pasta and add salt and pepper, Parmesan and chives. Serve.

Mulled Wine

One of my favorite holiday treats is Mulled Wine. I first had it in Germany at a Christkindlmarket. This is a German tradition. It is a Christmas market and festival of sorts. With food, wine, crafts etc..... This was my first taste of mulled wine. Oh my goodness. It was freezing out and snowing. It was right out of a movie. We were walking with the children and stopped and got this hot cup of wine. It warmed me straight to my toes. The kids got hot chocolate and I got more Mulled Wine. The Germans call it "Gluhwein" and I call it amazing. Now if you aren't interested in making it yourself you can buy it. I recommend this one. Its the one we drank in Germany and I found it at Central Market here in Texas.

If you want to try your own. Here is a good recipe.

1 bottle of fruity red wine
large zest peices from one orange and the juice from that orange
1/4 cup brandy
1 tsp. whole cloves
2/3 cup honey or sugar
3 cinnamon sticks

1 tsp. whole allspice

Combine all ingredients in either a large pot or a slow cooker. Gently warm the ingredients on low to medium heat (avoid boiling), for 20-25 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure that the honey or sugar has completely dissolved. When the wine is steaming and the ingredients have been well blended it is ready. Ladle into mugs avoiding seasonings.

Simple Pizza Dough

This is the pizza dough recipe I have been using forever. It is good. I don't know if its the best out there but it works and I'm use to it. It is from Emeril Lagasse.

Makes 1 (15 inch) pizza. I always double it. It doubles just fine.

1 Cup warm water (105-115 degrees) 

1 envelope active dry yeast

1 tsp. honey

2 Tbl. extra virgin olive oil

3 Cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

yellow cornmeal for sprinkling on baking pan

If you have not had a lot of experience working with yeast it is very important that your water is the right temperature. If its too hot it will kill the yeast. If its too cold it will not activate the yeast properly. I use a kitchen aid to make my dough. But you don't have too. It just saves my arms all the kneading. I first place super hot water in my bowl to heat it up so that it doesn't drop the temperature of the water when I put the water and yeast in the bow. Once the bowl in warm. I pour out the water and dry it quickly. I run tap water till its as hot as it will get and that is always over the 115 degree temp. needed for the yeast. I put the 1 cup of over hot water into warmed bowl. I use my thermometer to test the water and when it cools to 115 degrees I add the yeast, honey and 1 Tbl. olive oil. Mix lightly and let sit till it foams up (about 5 minutes.) If it doesn't foam then your yeast is no good. 

Add 1 1/2 cups of flour and the salt to mixing bowl. Mix by hand or use dough hook on mixer and blend till smooth. Continue to add flour 1/4 cup at a time and mix after each addition till you get a smooth but slightly sticky dough.  You might not need all the flour. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead until dough is smooth but slightly tacky about 3-5 minutes.

Oil a large bowl and place dough in bowl turning to coat dough in oil. cover with plastic wrap and a towel and set in warm place free from drafts till doubled in size. About 1 1/2 hours.

Bake according to directions for recipe you are using the dough for. 

If making regular pizza place rack on second to the lowest level. Turn oven on to 475 and bake pizza till dough is golden and cheese is melted and bubbly. The bottom of your pizza should be golden brown as well.

Steakhouse Pizza

Thank you Pioneer Woman

Once again the Pioneer Woman never lets me down. This is unbelievable. 

Steakhouse Pizza

1 pizza crust

flank steak (slightly frozen and sliced super thin against the grain) or left whole and grilled and then sliced.

salt and pepper

1 whole red onion, sliced thin

3 Tbl. butter

4 Tbl. Balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

2 Cups marinara

12 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

parm. cheese

1/2 Cup good steak sauce (see recipe on Tried and True) or Smith and Wollesnky Steak Sauce

Pre-heat oven 475. Place rack on lowest position in oven.

Saute red onions in butter and 2 Tbl. balsamic, a little salt and pepper over med-low heat till dark and carmalized, about 10-15 minutes or so. Remove and set aside.

Combine marinara with 2 Tbl. balsamic vinegar and worcestershire sauce. set aside. 

 Salt and pepper steak. You can either grill the steak whole on a grill  (rest and then slice thin) or slice it thin and saute it lightly till rare and still tender. Set aside.

Now everything from here on out is to your personal taste. More or less sauce. More or less onions etc...

Roll out dough until thin. Top with marinara sauce and spread to coat. Lay onions on and then top with mozzarella cheese. Bake 12-15 minutes till crust is golder and cheese bubbly. While baking slice beef if needed.

Remove pizza and drape with steak. and parm. cheese. Return to oven to warm meat and melt parm slightly. No more than a couple of minutes. Remove and drizzle pizza with steak sauce.

Home made Steak Sauce

Lets just say I am one of those people that think Steak sauce should be a punishable offense for which you should spend no longer than the rest of your life eating only "chicken." 

I'm not crazy about it and think that it ruins a good steak. With that said, I have found an occasion or two for which it is necessary to move over into the world of ick.....STEAK SAUCE (big booming scary voice saying that.) I made a remarkably delicious pizza recently that steak sauce was part of the ingredients. It called for or rather recommended a particular steak sauce which I could not find. Based on the description of this steak sauce I set out to create my own. Well mostly my own. I do use a store bought sauce as the base. So here it is. It turned out pretty good and is sweet and spicy rather than tart and yucky as most steak sauces are. You can use it for the Steakhouse Pizza recipe that I will list on the blog today.

Steak Sauce

3 Tbl. extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbl. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. oregano

2 tsp. honey

1 Tbl. adobo sauce

4 Tbl. cracked pepper A-1 Sauce

Blend and bring to a quick heat in a small saucepan to release the flavors. Cool and place in squeeze bottle.

Brown Beans with Kiolbassa Sausage

 This isn't going to be an exact measure recipe. I'm going to tell you what I put in there and the approximate measurements. I wasn't expecting to list this but the recipe turned out so delicious that I just had to add it to the blog. I don't think you can mess this up. As long as the beans aren't over salted or too dry, you will be fine. First I'm sorry to anyone who can't get these sausages. They are the best. Here is a link to their web site. I believe you can order them.
http://kiolbassa.com/

There are no words to describe how much my family loved this. I had a real time keeping everyone out of the pot till dinner was ready. One of my sons who always drains the bean broth off sat and used a spoon to lap up all the broth in his bowl and added more. This is probably one of the best pot of beans I have ever made. I served them with Mac and Cheese and brown and serve rolls (and passed around the Beano) Give it a try. You wont be sorry.

Brown Beans with Kiolbassa Mesquite Smoked Beef Sausage

1/2 a 5 pound bag of dried Pinto beans (picked through and clean rinsed)
2 small onions chopped
2 packages Kiolbassa mesquite smoked beef sausage sliced into bite size pieces
Lowery's seasoned salt (a good dusting), Start with no more than 1 tsp. and after they have cooked a while taste for seasoning and add more if they need the salt. I think they don't need a lot because of the amount of sausage in the recipe.
2 (32oz) boxes of beef broth (MSG free)
1 (32oz) box chicken broth (MSG free) You could use all beef broth. This is just what I had on hand.

Chop the onion and slice the sausage. Add a little drizzle of olive oil to pot for beans and fry onions and sausage till onions are slightly softened. Add beans, broths, and seasoned salt (this is a taste thing. You want this to salt your beans but be careful to not over do it.) Bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and put cover on pot. I used an 8qt. ceramic cast iron pot for mine. Was a good size to hold everything. This is the pot I used. I love it.

Let the beans simmer covered and stir often so they don't stick till they are done and the broth has cooked down some. You want it soupy but not watery.If need be once the beans are done take the lid off and let some of the liquid evaporate. But watch close and stir often. You don't want to lose too much bean liquid as they are best if they have lots of liquid (and it tastes soooooo good) Just cook it down till its is soupy and not watery as I said before. You can also thicken it by breaking up some of the beans. This will thicken your bean liquid up quickly.

All I can say is "YUM"

Wassail

Wassail.....oh what can I say about Wassail. IT'S YUMMY! IT'S WHAT IS RIGHT IN THE WORLD AT CHRISTMAS....among other things.
I have made so many different versions of Wassail and they are all wonderful. These two are the ones I like the most. One is Sans alcohol. One is with the spirits. Choose and you will be happy either way.

Here we come a wassailing
among the leaves so green,
Here we come a wondering
so fair to be seen.

Love and Joy come to you
and to you your wassail too.
And God bless you and send you a Happy New Year,
and God send you a Happy New Year!

Wassail #1 Sans Alcohol
1 gallon apple cider (not apple juice)
1 (6oz.) frozen lemonade (don't dilute)
1 (6oz.) frozen orange juice (don't dilute)
1 1/2 tsp. whole cloves
1 1/2 tsp. whole allspice
4 whole cinnamon sticks
1/3 cup brown sugar ( or more to taste)
(you can add a little brandy to this recipe as well. I usually add it per cup if we want it in this recipe. Brandy is perfect because it is a sweet liquor and blends perfectly with the taste of Wassail.)


Simmer on stove or in crockpot.

Wassail #2 with alcohol
8 Cups apple cider
2 Cups cranberry juice
1 cup brown sugar
1 (6oz.) frozen lemonde
1 (6oz) frozen orange juice
1 1/2 tsp. whole cloves
1 1/2 tsp. whole allspice
4 whole cinnamon sticks
1 cup Brandy (or more to your taste)

Simmer on stove top or in crock pot. 

The longer you let both recipes simmer the better they will taste. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year