Chicken-Andouille Casserole (ala jaxie-style)

Yes!!! It's been a very long time since I posted and so I've come to post many a things... It's a stupid excuse to blame my missing camera cord for the reason I have not posted in so long. So here goes--as you all know... it's now winter... and you know what that means... the season of comfort foods. I've been making all sorts of warm, gooey goodness (*smile*) ...to comfort me in these times of coldness, wetness ;o), and something that hopefully warms you up from head to toe.

First off the list: I made a casserole today--if you don't know what that is... please ask your mom or your grandma. I feel sad if you've never had a casserole before. It's also uber-easy to make because I was helping my mom clean out her fridge by grabbing her leftover rotisserie chicken from Costco.

Chicken-Andouille Casserole

1-2 lbs. chicken leftovers or boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs (I used italian-seasoned bread crumbs.)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 tbsp melted butter
3 tbsps vegetable oil
6 oz. andouille sausage, chopped (I diced mine.)
1 cup chopped yellow onions
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp cayenne
4 oz. mushrooms, stemmed, wiped clean, and sliced
1 1/2 cups chicken stock (I used chicken broth.)
1 can Campbell's cream of mushroom
3 tbsp chopped green onions
1 tbsp minced fresh parsley leaves

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

[If you're using raw chicken: In a heavy plastic bag, combine 1/4 cup all-purpose flour with 1 1/2 tsp's of italian seasoning. Add the chicken and toss until well coated. Shake to remove any excess breading and reserve the remaining flour.)

In a small bowl, combine the breadcrumbs (If you're not using seasoned bread crumbs, add some additional seasoning.), cheese, and butter and set aside.

In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until browned on all sides (for raw, cook about 5 minutes.) Transfer to a plate.

Add the sausage and cook, stirring, over medium-high heat until almost browned, about 4 minutes. Add the onions, garlic, and cayenne and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook until they are soft and give off their liquid, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the whole can of cream of mushroom condensed soup gradually, and stir until mixed well together. Add the chicken, stock (or broth), green onions, and parsley, stir, and bring to a boil. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture evenly over the top and bake until bubbly and the top has a golden crust, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven.

Here is my one, very important variation: Emeril's recipe calls for the casserole to be served over toasted French bread--but I suggest taking cooked pasta and mixing it with the chicken and cream of mushroom sauce mixture before sprinkling the bread crumbs over it and putting it in the oven. (See picture as reference--I used shell pasta... one of my favorites!!)

This recipe was inspired by Emeril's Chicken-Andouille Casserole, http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/chicken-andouille-casserole-recipe/index.html

Steak Gorgonzola Pasta

I'm not cooking Thanksgiving dinner... so I must be feeling guilty. (haha) I decided I should really make an effort to cook before Thursday, cuz I wanna be the one on the couch chillin and watchin football while... someone... is slaving in the kitchen. I'm joking... we can always watch football while chopping;o).

I had some flank steak sitting in my fridge for a while now. Rather than make my usual Beef Broccoli or Beef Fajitas, I thought I'd try something new--I've always wanted to try to make steak with gorgonzola. I remember when Pasta Pomodoro first opened and it was like the newest thing. They had this Steak Gorgonzola Pasta on the menu--mmm... I just remembered that it was made with shell pasta. Or was that something I created?! I'm not sure...

Here goes:
Steak Gorgonzola Pasta
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 pinches dried parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
14 oz. Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
1/2 lb. flank steak, sliced thinly (like for beef stroganoff)
1/2 lb. spaghetti or fettuccini

1. Cook the pasta al dente (according to the box directions.) While the pasta is cooking, fry the steak with about a 1/2 teaspoon of oil, pinch of salt and pepper. Remove from heat when cooked, not too well done.
2. Heat the cream in a separate pot to just-a-boil.
3. Remove the cream from heat and add parmesan cheese, parsley, salt and pepper, stir to dissolve.
4. Stir in Gorgonzola cheese.
5. Pour over cooked pasta and put the steak pieces on top. (If you're looking at the picture, I actually just mixed the steak pasta and sauce all together. And I let it sit on the stove covered for a few minutes on low heat--that heat up everything and allowed the sauce to thicken a bit.)

Zinnia's Sweet Breads

Look at me! I'm refining my palette--Thanks Po! ;o) So this past weekend I went to this pretty FAB restaurant called Zinnia's in SF. Besides the mushroom risotto--that was totally creamier than I would ever make it--and the delicious black cod I had, I tried me some Sweetbreads.

Zinnia's sears the Sweetbreads with bacon and sherry vinegar, served with haricot verts (like green beans) and toast. Still wondering what a sweetbread is... the thyroid glands or the pancreas of lamb, beef, or pork. It jus goes to show, that even though your first instinct is "Oh, that sounds gross." But when I tried it, it was really good--it just melts in your mouth and the meat is so delicate almost. You almost forget what you're eating! Try it... it's like green eggs and ham!;o)

Potatoes Au Gratin aka Scalloped Potatoes

Can you say ultimate side dish?! I cannot believe I've been sitting on this all month. I used my Pork Loin with Bay Leaves (see July 16, 2008 post) but modified it so I could do it with a Pork Roast. It still came out pretty good--I made a gravy using a wine reduction, it came out pretty good.

In addition to the pork roast, I'm thinking... I remember making roasted rosemary potatoes a couple days before (so I couldn't do a repeat). I've always wanted to try Potatoes Au Gratin. It turns out that I didn't even need to buy fancy cheese to make this taste good.

Scalloped Potatoes (straight from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook)
2 tbsp unsalted butter
onion, chopped fine
1 tbsp minced fresh thyme, or 1 tsp dried
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 1/2 lbs russet potatoes (5 medium makes 6 servings), peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
2 bay leaves
4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded 1 cup

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over med-high heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the thyme, garlic, salt, and pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the potatoes, broth, cream, and bay leaves. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Reduce the heat to med-low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are almost tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Discard the bay leaves. Transfer the mixture to an 8-inch square baking dish. Gently press the potatoes into an even layer and sprinkle the cheddar over the top. Bake until the cream is bubbling around the edges and the top is golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Cooking tip: When you're making the cream mixture, have the onion, garlic and potatoes chopped an ready to go--there isn't really built in prep time.

Florentine Mac and Cheese and Meatballs

The air is getting colder... makes you wanna put on a sweater... and eat comfort foods. And so as I was home after work in the early evening, actually awake enough (and not napping) to catch Rachael Ray on Food Network... I catch the episode, "Mac and Cheese Goes Green"! heehee... if you don't know me very well, I got to say those are two of my favorite things... Mac and Cheese and Green;o)

Even though I caught it in the middle of the episode--and maybe I was flipping back and forth between a rerun of Friends... I caught enough of the episode to know that it was easy to make and the meatballs were huge (my other favorite--besides hot sausage) looked yumm-o!;o) ...and it's got spinach in it! I never cook with spinach!!

Florentine Mac and Cheese with Meatballs

Salt
1 lb. cavatappi corkscrew shaped hallow pasta
1 1/2 lbs. ground chicken (I used ground turkey.)
Black pepper
2 to 3 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves stripped and finely chopped
2 tsp. fennel seeds
3 cloves garlic, grated
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups grated Parmigiano Reggiano, divided
1 egg
3/4 cup bread crumbs, plus more if needed*
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2-10 oz. boxes of chopped frozen spinach
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup whole milk
1/8 tsp grated nutmeg, eyeball it

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Place a large pot of water on to boil for pasta. When it comes to a boil, salt it and add the pasta to cook to al dente. Strain pasta reserving 1 cup cooking liquid.

While the water is coming to a boil, in a large mixing bowl combine the chicken, salt and pepper, rosemary, fennel seeds, garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup grated Parm (not packed), egg and bread crumbs. (*If the mixture seems too wet, add a handful of bread crumbs and mix together.)

Form 8 large round balls, about 3 to 4 inches. Coat balls in a couple of tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil and lightly grease a baking sheet with 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil. Arrange balls on the baking sheet and roast 17 to 18 minutes until juices run clear.

Defrost spinach in microwave 8 to 10 minutes on "defrost" setting depending on the microwave. Place the boxes in a shallow dish to catch any run off.

While the meatballs roast, in a medium sauce pot over medium heat, melt butter, whisk in flour, cook 1 minute then whisk in stock and milk, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and thicken 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1 cup grated Parm and reduce heat on lowest setting.

Wring spinach completely dry in clean kitchen towel then separate as you add it to the sauce. Also add the reserved 1 cup pasta cooking liquid. Toss pasta with the spinach-white sauce and adjust seasonings. Serve Florentine Mac-n-Cheese with 2 meatballs per person.

It's called an ULTIMATE Lasagna...

Alright. I was left quite unsatisfied with this recipe. I was even contemplating whether or not to post it. But I decided that I must post it... and in the meantime, I will brainstorm (mmm... 6th grade english vocab word!) on how to make this d*mn recipe work...

"Inspired" by Tyler Florence's The Ultimate Lasagna (I'm not attaching the link, because the recipe is a little messed up as is--I will put in my edits myself!!)

1.5 lb. dried lasagna noodles
extra-virgin olive oil
2 lbs. ground beef
2 lbs. italian sausage
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup finely chopped italian flat-leaf parsley
1 tbsp chopped oregano leaves
2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 cups red wine
2- 28 oz. cans diced tomatoes (and possibly substitute one can of diced tomatoes with a smaller size can of tomato paste, that way it is not as watery)
3 tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 quarts ricotta cheese (2 containers)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup grated Parmesean, and extra for topping
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 lb. mozzarella cheese, shredded, and extra for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook the lasagna noodles in plenty of boiling salted water until pliable and barely tender, about 10 minutes. Stir with a wooden spoon to prevent sticking. Drain the noodles thoroughly and coat with olive oil to keep them moist and easy to work with. Coat the large skillet with olive oil, add beef and sausage and brown until no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

In a food processor, combine the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, basil, parsley, and oregano. Process until pureed, add to the pan with ground meat and stir to combine. Stir in the flour. Add the wine and cook until it has reduced by half. Stir in the tomatoes and add the heavy cream and the cinnamon. (Please note: Cooking the sauce took the most prep and cooking time.)

In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta and the parmesean. Stir in the eggs and season with salt and pepper.

To assemble the lasagna: Coat the bottom of a DEEP pan--I used a disposable lasagna pan that was like 3 inches deep maybe and 13 x 9 probably. Arrange the noodles lengthwise in a slightly overlapping layer. Also, line each end of the pan with a lasagna noodle. This forms a collar that holds in the corners. Each layer should have ricotta, sauce, and cheese. The picture has four layers to the ULTIMATE lasagna. For each layer: Dollop a 1/4 of the ricotta mixture over the pasta, spread to the edges with a spatula. Spread 1/4 of the meat mixture over the ricotta. Sprinkle 1/4 of the mozzarella on top of the ricotta. Then top with noodles, and repeat. Top last layer with noodles, sauce, shredded mozzarella and Parmasean. Tap the pan to force out air bubbles.

Bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven. Let lasagna rest for 30 minutes so the noodles will settle and cut easily. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.

Southern Fried Chicken

This Tuesday's dinner was a team effort... some Southern Fried Chicken with Macaroni and Cheese. I was responsible for the fried chicken, and I didn't want anything too complicated... (see my next post--it will be about the disaster that was my Ultimate Lasagna... hahaha). Turns out fried chicken really isn't that hard. I can't say I know the total cooking time... but the total time may be something round 1-2 hours with breaks for sneaking a peek at the baseball game on tv;o)

Paula Deen's Southern Fried Chicken recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/southern-fried-chicken-recipe2/index.html

Cooking Notes:
1) I think I'm gonna work on my own "House seasoning" used on the chicken. According to the recipe, Paula Deen's house seasoning consists of salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I was consciously using garlic salt, and I tried to be careful about the amount of salt I was using. Unfortunately, the chicken still came out a bit over-salted.

2) Secondly: instead of buying yet another ingredient for this one-time recipe, I found a recipe for "self-rising flour".

For 1 cup of self-rising flour: Combine 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

3) Lastly: I halved boneless and skinless chicken breasts and drumsticks instead of a whole chicken cut into pieces for this recipe. I was very satisfied with the outcome. I figured the boneless-ness would make them fry faster, and it did. The drumsticks came out the best--especially when I made sure that they were completely breaded AND I kept them frying a bit longer than the breast pieces--just to make sure that it gets a good brown and cooks all the way through.

Jenny found a yummy recipe for Mac N Cheese--it has ham AND tomatoes in it. Here it is:

Macaroni and Cheese adapted from Amanda Hesser’s “Cooking for Mr. Latte”

2 tablespoons butter , plus more for buttering dish

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups whole milk

1 1/2 cups grated monterey jack cheese, plus more for topping
(Yikes!) My note for this one is either don't be afraid to add more cheese (if you want it to be cheesy)... or consider blending the jack with another cheese; because it came out kinda mild.

3 1/2 cups cooked elbow macaroni

1 cup country ham, cubed

1 cup canned whole plum tomatoes with juice , drained (reserve the juice)
Note: We decided even though there was no specific instruction to slice them... those whole plum tomatoes come pretty huge and instead of mashing them we roughly sliced them. (meaning, they don't have to be "pretty" slices.)

3/4 cup coarse breadcrumbs

ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and butter an 8 x 8 baking dish.

In a saucepan, heat the two tablespoons butter until foamy. Sprinkle in the flour and whisk until it turns golden, then slowly pour in the milk, continuing to whisk.

Bring to a simmer over medium heat and let it thicken.

Stir in the cheese and remove from the heat (it should be a loose sauce). Fold in the macaroni and ham, then add tomatoes by squeezing them between your fingers. The mixture should be loose like a thin batter; if it’s gluey or thick, add a little milk or drained tomato juice.

Pour into the casserole dish and spread breadcrumbs over the surface. Top with 1/4 cup cheese and ground pepper. Bake until browned on the top and bubbling, about 25 minutes.

I think this may be a lil better than KFC... jus think about it;o)