A Pot of Gold ~

Also known as Make Ahead Gravy. 

If you are anything like me, come the holiday, any holiday, I want to cook for my family.   And I love to find a few dishes that I can make ahead of time and freeze.  Gravy is one of those dishes that I like to get made beforehand.   When I was a young cook, learning to make a good gravy seemed overwhelming to me.  All the hustle and bustle of making it the very last minute and getting everything on the table seemed pretty nightmarish.  So I am here to give you directions on how to make this easy and delicious gravy, ahead of your dinner guests arrving.  And to me, it's like having a "pot of gold".  Well, almost....

It's adapted from Ina Garten, and it's so easy and delicious.  It also can be made ahead and kept in your fridge a few days.  Which means no stressing out over a holiday meal, held up while the cook is preparing the gravy to be served with dinner.  Just heat it up slowly in a heavy pan while your meat is resting and voila. 

Oh and if you want it to go along with beef, just change your stock to beef stock.  Trust me, it is very adaptable.

Ingredients:

2 large onions, sliced thinly
1 stick of butter
1/4 cup floour
1 Tablespoon of Brandy
2 cups of chicken stock (yes, boxed is fine)
salt and pepper to taste

In a large Dutch Oven, melt butter over medium low heat.  Add your chopped onion and stir well.  Place burner on low and stir.  Now, here is the only tricky part and it's not really tricky.   You want to carmelize your onions, which can take up to 45 minutes.  So, keep your burner on low and every few minutes come stir them. And don't try to rush this part, it makes all the difference in the world.  Trust me and you'll have a wonderful gravy to serve at any meal.  Here are a few pictures.  And you want them to be carmelized, not just browned.

After 15 minutes, just starting to brown.

After 30 minutes, getting nice and brown.

 

After 45 minutes, now add the flour and stir.  See, aren't they gorgeous?

 



Cook the  caramalized onion/flour mixture on low for 5 minutes, randomly stirring.  Add your chicken stock slowly and turn up heat to a near boil, stirring continuously.  After it comes up to the boil, turn it down to a simmer and let cook for about 5 more minutes until thickened and golden brown.  Stir in the brandy, then taste and add salt and pepper if you need it.

Let the gravy cool down and use an immersion blender to smooth out any onion pieces.  Either place in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in a freezer container for up to a month.

Having the gravy done ahead of time, is definetly a good thing.

Boozy, New Orleans Bread Pudding ~

 

Being from Boston, I have never made Bread Pudding before.  It's a Southern thing I think.   But a friend had asked me to make it for her when she was coming to dinner, so of course I said yes.  I did some research and found this easy and delicious recipe from another friend.

The reason I chose this particular bread pudding was because of how easy it is to make and how delicious it sounded.  Oh, and that it has the raisins soaking overnight in Bourbon, with extra Bourbon in the sauce.  How bad can that be?  Right, it can't....  By the way, it's a fabulous dessert.  And easy, did I say that already?  Yes, very easy to make.

You can find the recipe is on my friend Carolyn's blog "A Southerner's Notebook", here.

http://southerncook-asouthernersnotebook.blogspot.com/2013/01/new-orleans-bread-pudding.html

The only change I made to the original recipe, is that I used Challah Bread and cut the sugar by a quarter of a cup.

Here's a picture of it going into the oven.

And here it is all puffy and golden coming out of the oven.  I baked it about 15 minutes than it called for.  I just checked it every 5 minutes after the initial 40 minutes that the recipes states.

Make sure you let it cool a bit before serving.

Enjoy ~

 

Pioneer Woman's Rum Cake ~

I don't usually make cakes from cake mixes.  Although I don't have a problem with a cake mix in of itself, I just never seem to buy them.  I think it's because I have all of the ingredients to make desserts in my pantry and fridge, so no need really.  However, I do have good friends who rave about this cake and one even serves it at Holiday gatherings.  So, when a friend asked me to make a rum cake for her Birthday, I chose this one.  And I wasn't disappointed at all.  As a matter of fact, I was delighted and so was my friend.

Pioneer Woman's Rum Cake
1 box (about 18 oz.) Yellow Cake Mix

1 package (3.5 oz.) instant Vanilla Pudding Mix

4 eggs

1/2 cup cold water

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cups Rum (dark or light)

1 cup chopped pecans

Brown sugar (optional)


Glaze1 1/2 sticks butter

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup Rum

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Grease and flour a bundt cake pan. Sprinkle nuts over bottom of pan. If desired, sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar over the nuts.

Mix all cake ingredients together. Pour batter into pan over nuts. Smooth the batter out until the top is even. Bake for 1 hour, or a little less if the pan is black. Do not over bake!

Glaze:
While cake has ten minutes left to bake, begin preparing the glaze.

Melt butter in a saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Turn off the flame and pour in the rum. Stir to combine and reheat for 30 seconds.

Remove the cake from the oven. Immediately drizzle 1/3 of the glaze on the bottom (top) of the cake. Allow to sit for five minutes. Invert the cake onto a serving plate. Prick surface a hundred times with a fork very gently. Slowly drizzle the remaining rum glaze all over the top of the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides. Cool to room temperature before serving to ensure glaze has soaked in.

My Notes: I combined a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar with the chopped pecans and then spread them into the bottom of my bundt pan.  And I saved about 1/4 of the glaze to serve with the cake for drizzling.

My cake was done in 55 minutes.

Here is a slice served with a little whipped cream.

 

Easy, frozen, Peanut Butter Pie - Gourmet 1995

 

 

My grandson took this picture with my Galaxy Tablet.  Didn't he do a phenomenal job?  Kids today are just so tech savy....

I was looking for a peanut butter pie for a recent family get together.  And this one from Gourmet jumped out at me.

It doesn't have the heavy cream cheese base that a lot of the recipes I found do.  It's light, airy and delicious too.  It's also so easy to make and freeze ahead, just pull it out of your freezer 1/2 hour before you serve it.

There were a few reviews of this dessert, all excellent by the way.  And one gal said she used oreo cookies (about 3 sleeves), instead of the chocolate graham crackers.  That's what I used.  I also spread the cookie crumb mixtue up the sides of my springform pan.  I think it makes a nicer presentation.

Here is the recipe:

• 40 thin chocolate wafers, ground fine in a blender or food processor (about 2 1/4 cups crumbs)
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter (I added 1&1/4 cup)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 1/4 cups well-chilled whipping cream
• 1/3 cup salted, roasted peanuts, chopped fine
• Garnish: lightly sweetened whipped cream and whole salted roasted peanuts

 

Preparation:

Reserve 1/4 cup cookie crumbs. In a bowl combine remaining cookie crumbs and butter and press into bottom and side of a 10-inch (1 1/2 quart) pie plate. Chill shell.

In a heavy saucepan dissolve sugar in milk over moderate heat, stirring, and remove pan from heat. Whisk in peanut butter and vanilla until combined well and cool in a bowl set in a larger bowl of ice water, stirring occasionally.

In another bowl beat cream until it just holds stiff peaks and fold into peanut-butter mixture with chopped peanuts. Turn mixture into shell, smoothing top. Sprinkle reserved cookie crumbs around edge of pie.

Pipe rosettes of whipped cream decoratively onto crumbs and top rosettes with whole peanuts. Freeze pie, uncovered, until frozen hard, about 5 hours. Pie may be made 2 days ahead and frozen, covered with plastic wrap and foil after 5 hours.

Let pie stand in refrigerator 30 minutes before serving.

Enjoy ~

 

 

Cauliflower and Potato Gratin ~

We got a lot of snow in Boston last weekend.  Over two feet of the white stuff!  Drifting and piling everywhere.  As you can imagine, we have hardly any space for all of that snow.  So, we actually had mountains of snow in our lots and street corners.  It's a good thing that it's February, because it will melt fast.    So, being snowbound for the weekend, meant I got to stay home and play in the kitchen.

I decided to adapt Martha Stewart's potato gratin into one that I could serve as a vegetable side as well.  This dish works well, ptoatoes and cauliflower are a delicious match.  Just add grilled meat or fish and you have a complete meal.   I didn't have any breadcrumbs, so I elimated it.  No one noticed, because I believe the cheese is the star of this dish. 

1 head of cauliflower, cut into small florets
2 medium yukon gold potatoes, sliced thin
3 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup flour
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 oz. Gruyere cheese, shredded
3 Tbsp bread crumbs
2 Tbsp parmesan cheese, finely grated (3 Tblsp)
1/4 tsp dried oregano (didn't use)
1/2 tsp parsley flakes (didn't use)
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut up the cauliflower into small florets and set aside.

Heat a large pan over medium heat and add butter. When butter has melted whisk in the flour and then slowly add the milk.
Add the cauliflower,potatoes, nutmeg, salt and pepper.  Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cover the pan and cook for 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the grated gruyere cheese.
Once the cheese has melted pour everything into a 2 quart baking dish.
In a small bowl combine the bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, oregano and parsley flakes. Stir the mixture and sprinkle it over the top of the cauliflower. (You may not use all the mixture just enough to coat the top)
Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes, or until it's golden and bubbly on top.  (I turned the broiler on for 5 minutes) 

Enjoy ~

 

Cauliflower and Potato Gratin ~

We got a lot of snow in Boston last weekend.  Over two feet of the white stuff!  Drifting and piling everywhere.  As you can imagine, we have hardly any space for all of that snow.  So, we actually had mountains of snow in our lots and street corners.  It's a good thing that it's February, because it will melt fast.    So, being snowbound for the weekend, meant I got to stay home and play in the kitchen.

I decided to adapt Martha Stewart's potato gratin into one that I could serve as a vegetable side as well.  This dish works well.  Just add grilled meat or fish and you have a complete meal.  By the way, it's a delicious combination.  I didn't have any breadcrumbs, so I elimated it.  No one noticed, because I believe the cheese is the star.  I added a little extra parmesan to the top of the gratin before it went in the oven.

1 head of cauliflower, cut into small florets
2 medium yukon gold potatoes, sliced thin
3 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup flour
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 oz. Gruyere cheese, shredded
3 Tbsp bread crumbs
2 Tbsp parmesan cheese, finely grated (3 Tblsp)
1/4 tsp dried oregano (didn't use)
1/2 tsp parsley flakes (didn't use)
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut up the cauliflower into small florets and set aside.

Heat a large pan over medium heat and add butter. When butter has melted whisk in the flour and then slowly add the milk.
Add the cauliflower,potatoes, nutmeg, salt and pepper.  Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cover the pan and cook for 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the grated gruyere cheese.
Once the cheese has melted pour everything into a 2 quart baking dish.
In a small bowl combine the bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, oregano and parsley flakes. Stir the mixture and sprinkle it over the top of the cauliflower. (You may not use all the mixture just enough to coat the top)
Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes, or until it's golden and bubbly on top.  (I turned the broiler on for 5 minutes) 

Enjoy ~

 

Mexican Rice Casserole ~

 

 

 

There aren't many casserole dishes I love.  This is the exception.  It's fabulous tasting and easy.  I found it on tastespotting and revamped it to make it even easier.

 

 

And I made it with chicken, so it's lighter while still having all the flavor. Here's what I did.  In a large casserole dish place two halves of chicken breasts with the onion, spices and tomato sauce in the oven covered with foil and bake for an hour and a half at 325 degrees.   Remove dish from the oven and let it cool a bit. Dice chicken and mix back in with the sauce.  Layer it on the bottom of an 11 x 11 casserole dish.  Top chicken with a sprinkle of cheese (out of the 2 cups you have set aside).  Next, mix together cooked rice, beans and cilantro. Add that on top of the chicken and top with a sprinkle of cheese.  Add sliced tomatoes and top with the rest of the cheese.  Place in the oven at 350 for 25 minutes, remove foil.  Let cook for 5 minutes longer.  Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes longer, sprinkle with cilantro.  Serve with toppings of guacomole, salsa, chopped cilantro and sour cream.  Simply delicious.  The tastespotting recipe follows below.

 



 

 



Mexican Rice Casserole


1 1/2 cups of white rice, prepared per instructions
1 tsp of olive oil
1 lb lean ground beef (I used 96/4)
1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dried cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2-1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
1 15 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
3-4 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped (divided)
1-2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
3-4 tomatoes, sliced thickly
Sour cream (topping)
Salsa (topping)
Guacamole (topping)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare rice per instructions. While the rice is cooking heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, add the ground beef, making sure to break it up into crumbles. Cook the beef for 3-4 minutes then add the diced onion and all of the seasonings. Stir until well combined and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until the beef is cooked through and the onion is tender. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring constantly for an additional 60 seconds. Add the cooked rice, drained and rinsed black beans, tomato sauce and a bit of cilantro (reserving some for garnishing) to the beef and onion mixture. Mix the ingredients thoroughly, taste and re-season if needed.

Coat a large baking dish with cooking spray and pour the rice mixture into the dish, spreading it evenly. Place the tomato slices on top of the rice mixture then top with cheddar cheese.
Spray a piece of tin foil with cooking spray (so the cheese won't stick) and cover the baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes then remove the tin foil. Bake for an additional 5-7 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden brown. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes before slicing. Top with a dollop of sour cream and the remaining chopped cilantro. Enjoy.