Au Gratin update

In March 2012, I posted a recipe for 'Endive Au Gratin', which was a main course dish I originally learned to make in Switzerland. I have since done this with many other vegetables, including kale, sui choy, and broccoli. You can use any vegetable you like, including asparagus, cauliflower, pepper strips, carrots, etc. Let your imagination, and favourite foods guide you. Yesterday I made this for dinner, and I used broccoli, honey ham, Gouda and Swiss cheeses, and a white wine cream sauce. I made rice to go with it.

Broccoli wrapped in ham slices, and then layered in a casserole dish. 15 wraps altogether.

 

 The White wine sauce, ready to pour over wraps.
This sauce is like the one for Chicken Cordon Bleu, but instead of broth, I used 1 cup skim milk and 2 cups cream, along with 1 cup dry white wine. This makes a very rich flavourful sauce.

Cheese, grated and ready for adding on top. I used 2 small pieces of cheese which were in the fridge, about 200 gr of Gouda, and 100 gr of Gruyere. then I grated them and stirred to blend.

 

   Sauce on top

 

And now the cheese, then pop into the oven. It bakes at 350 F for 20 minutes, then under the broiler for about 5, watching carefully, so nothing burns.

 

Ready to eat, this time served over rice in place of noodles. Very easy to do, and delicious to eat.
Left overs are good to freeze or eat warmed up in the next few days.
Au gratin recipe March 2012, and white wine sauce recipe August 2013

Boer Kool met Wurst - which is Kale and Potatoes with Sausage

This is a very traditional Dutch dish, which I have learned to make since marrying a boy from Holland. It was always part of the celebrations at 'Carnaval', the party before Lent begins - the Dutch version of 'Mardi Gras'.

For 4 servings.

What you need: 2 large bunches of kale; 1.5 kilos of potatoes; milk and butter, salt, and pepper for potatoes; 4 farmers sausages, the individual size; or 1 kilo of a sausage of your choice; 2 cups of gravy.

What you do: Separate kale leaves and wash them. Cut off the thick centre spine. Prepare and cook potatoes for mashing. In a very large kettle, cover the kale leaves with water, and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Heat sausage in a pan of water, a frying pan, or on a grill. Mash potatoes, and add salt pepper, butter, and milk as desired. Drain the kale. Chop the leaves into small pieces. stir into the mashed potatoes.

Serve sausage and potato mixture with gravy on top.

Raspberry Peach Upside Down Cake

This was a last minute inspiration at about 5 pm yesterday. I had a spice cake mix in the pantry, and just decided to do something with the peaches and raspberries, before Wil left to back to work. Preheat the oven to 350°F

What you need: 3 peaches*, 1 pint raspberries, a spice cake mix, 2 eggs, and 12 oz water - or a mixture of water and peach syrup or juice.

What you do: Grease and flour a 9 x 13 baking pan. Slice the peaches, and arrange in the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle the raspberries over the peaches. Mix the cake mix with the eggs and water. Beat 2 -3 minutes with an electric mixer. Pour batter over the arranged fruit. Bake about 40 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly pressed, or a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a serving platter. Cut into squares. Serve warm with ice cream or your favourite sauce on top.

Any left overs must be kept in the fridge, or frozen, as fresh fruit get moldy very quickly.

* you can also use canned peaches for this. If you do - first, drain the syrup into a measuring cup, and use that instead of part of your water for the cake mix.

Smoked Roast Beef

We have a smoker in our backyard, and Wil enjoys making smoked meats. We cure our own bacon, and then smoke it. We also have smoked pork roasts, pork chops, chicken breasts, and peppers from our green house.
Last night we enjoyed a lovely sirloin tip roast, with potatoes, 'Boer Kool'*, and asparagus. Dessert recipe follows on next post.

What you need: a 1- 1½ kilo roast, a spice blend of your choice, wood chips and a smoker or BBQ.  

What you do: rub your spice blend all over the roast, covering all sides and the ends. Prepare your smoker or BBQ by lighting coals on fire, and adding wet wood  chips. Allow the coals to settle. Place the roast on a rack about 4 to 6 inches above the smoking coals. Smoke 4 - 6 hours. (Since Wil does all this, I am just making assumptions about the distance.)

After smoking, place the roast into a hot oven - 375°F for 30 - 45 minutes to your favourite doneness. We like rare meat, so I do 25 - 30 minutes.  You can make gravy with the pan drippings if desired, or from a commercial mix. I made 'Hunter Sauce' last night, as Wil loves it. I can't have that, as it is a classic mushroom gravy mix from Knorr. Slice and serve with any side dishes. It goes well with anything, and is even wonderful for beef on a bun sandwiches. 
As always, enjoy.

* Boer Kool is known in Canada as kale. Boer Kool literally means 'farmers cabbage' in Dutch.

 

Layered Summer Salad

This is such an easy salad, with infinite variety. I do not add mushrooms, as I am allergic to them, but you can add them, or any other favourite vegetable or fruit to make this your own dish.

 

What you need: 4 or 5 large leaves of lettuce or sui choy; 1 handful of coleslaw mix; 1 orange; 1 tomato;  ½ onion; about 4 inches of a seedless cucumber; 1 avocado, 2 ounces of any cheese; 3 strips of bacon; your favourite salad dressing.

 

What you do: Find a pretty plate or small platter. Place the leaves to cover the plate. Place the coleslaw mix in the centre of the plate. Peel and slice the orange in thin slices. Place around the edge of the plate, then in the centre to look pretty. Layer thin slices of tomato and very thin slices of onion on top, then add thin slices of cucumber. Peel and slice the avocado, and add to the salad plate. Cut cheese into small bite sized pieces, and sprinkle over the layers. Cook the bacon until crisp, then crumble. Add to the salad plate. Drizzle your dressing over all.

 This version has a mixed greens base, no bacon, and I added slices of red pepper. It has a homemade dill yogurt dressing.

This salad does not have the onion or cucumber. I used sui choy for the base. The cheese was Baby Bel Edam cut into thin slices. I topped it with a poppy seed dressing from Kraft.

Chicken Cordon Bleu (with gluten free variation)

I invited some friends for dinner, and said I would be cooking 'Chicken Cordon Bleu'. One friend said, "I hear there that on the internet there are recipes so you can make this from scratch". I replied "Absolutely!" I decided that I should add my version of this classic recipe to my blog.
Chicken Cordon Blue is very simple to make, and easy to change for a variety of presentations. It is also very simple to make for a few people or many people. I usually do mine in the oven, but today I will cook it on the BBQ. This can also be prepared in a large frying an, so you can do this while out camping, although you will not have the crispy outside that you get from oven baking. I often make a white wine sauce* to pour over the chicken, but it can also be served with gravy. If you change the ham to bacon(>), or the cheese to another variety, you have a new dish to enjoy. To make gluten free just exchange the flours and crumbs. I find brown rice flour works well, but you can use corn starch or potato starch, too. The best crumbs I have found for gluten free coatings is to crush Rice Krispies cereal.

* recipe follows          
>lightly cook bacon, if using it, before placing on the chicken.

Preheat oven to 350 °  F

What you need: for each person - 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast; 1 slice of ham; 1 slice of real Swiss cheese (Gruyere or Emmental); 2 tbs flour; salt and pepper; ¼ tsp each onion powder, and garlic powder;  ¼ cup panko crumbs; ½ tsp fresh thyme leaves or ¼ tsp dried thyme leaves. Also 1 egg and 2 tbs milk per 2 servings; 1 tbs melted butter or margarine or  oil for cooking.

What you do: use a mallet to pound each chicken breast flat. Mix salt, pepper, onion and garlic powders together. Sprinkle on both side of the chicken pieces. If desired, trim ham and cheese slices to size of chicken breast.  Lay ham and cheese slices on top of the chicken and roll up the breasts like making rouladen. Fasten closed with a tooth pick. Place rolls into flour to coat lightly. Whisk egg and milk together in a shallow dish. Place crumbs in a large ziplock bag. Roll the chicken into the egg mixture then shake in the crumbs. Pour melted butter, oil, or margarine into your baking pan. Swirl to coat the bottom evenly. Place chicken rolls into the pan, and sprinkle on thyme leaves. Place into the oven, and bake for 25 minutes, or until juices are clear.
(To cook in the BBQ I will use a sturdy metal baking dish, and place it in the BBQ, which has been set to medium heat. Bake as for in the oven.)
{To cook in a frying pan, on high heat,  melt the butter or margarine, and add the chicken rolls to the pan. Brown on all sides. Reduce heat to medium low. Cover pan halfway, and let the chicken simmer for 20 minutes, turning twice. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl. Remove chicken rolls, and set aside to keep warm. Add sauce mixture to the pan, increase heat, and cook until sauce is thickened. Replace the chicken rolls, and use a spoon or ladle to cover rolls with sauce.}

Serve with any side dish - such as rice, noodles, mashed or baked potatoes, and steamed vegetables or salad. Pour sauce over chicken before serving.

*Wine sauce

What you need: ½ c chicken stock; ½ c skim milk; 1 tbs butter or margarine; 2 tbs flour; 1 cup white wine;  salt and white pepper to taste, Aromat powder or onion and garlic powder to taste. Wine, skim milk, or white grape juice to adjust the sauce.

What you do: In a 4 cup glass bowl or measuring cup, melt the butter or margarine in the microwave for 20 seconds. Add the flour and whisk together. Add chicken stock and milk, stir well, making sure to incorporate all the flour mixture. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Add the wine, salt and pepper, Aromat or onion and garlic, cook  about 4 minutes on medium power, or until until sauce is thickened. If sauce is too thick, add milk or grape juice to achieve the right consistency for your sauce. It should be thick like whipping cream, but not too thick to pour easily. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.  Serve  over the chicken, or on almost any vegetable or pasta dish.  

Fabulous Seafood Fondue

In an earlier post I promised to do the recipes for sauces etc, for seafood fondue. As mentioned in the post on meat fondue, fish is much more delicate, and so some things are different than with a meat fondue. Also, fondue forks are kind of useless with fish, as it falls apart too easily, so everything gets 'lost' in the pot. You need small strainers, or wire dippers, so you can lower into and raise out of the broth easily.  For sauces, I always have peanut sauce - also known as sate sauce, from the Indonesian recipes. It is Wil's favourite. There is also a homemade garlic mayonnaise, a lemon sauce which is indescribably delicious, dill sauce, onion sauce, and sometimes a tomato based spicy sauce. Sauce recipes will follow the basic fondue. I often make the sauces a day or two before the fondue. They benefit from some time to meld the flavours.  I would suggest you limit the people to about 8. With any more than that, the table is too busy, and you won't have a chance to really talk to everyone. (One time we had a large gathering for a fondue, and ended up splitting into 2 tables, with parents at one, and teenagers at the other. That worked very well for that group.) It is very important to ensure that fish is kept cold before cooking, and that all seafood is cooked once it is placed on the table. Do not put raw fish or shellfish on eating plates. Do NOT put left over fish or shell fish back into the fridge raw. After everyone has eaten all they can, pour the unused fish and shellfish into the large stock pot and add enough broth to cover. Makes a great base for Bouillabaisse!

What you need: 6 litres of a light chicken stock or fish stock; per person - 100 gr  of each of the following fish - salmon, cod, halibut, red snapper; 8 or 10 large prawns (31- 40 per pound), 8 - 10 medium large scallops; ½ pound of fresh mussels, or 1 package of frozen raw clams, thawed; crab or lobster meat if you can afford them, (usually we don't); 2 baby bok choy; 1 bunch of  very slender asparagus ( then they will not be woody); baby carrots cut into matchsticks; 2 ribs of celery cut into wedges about ½ inch thick; 2 dozen small mushrooms; 1 small package of bean sprouts; any other vegetable you like, cut into pieces that will cook quickly if desired, or that can be eaten raw. 3 or more different sauces for dipping, 2 loaves of french baguettes, sliced.

What you do:Prepare the stock- use either whole fish and add water, or purchased clam broth, or low sodium chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to minimum, and simmer for 3 or 4 hours.  Cut all the fish into 1 or 1½ inch cubes, and arrange them on platters or in small dishes that can be passed around the table. place scallops, clams or mussels, and prawns each into separate dishes, to avoid cross contamination of raw shellfish. Place all the prepared fish and shellfish in the fridge until time for guests to be seated. Prepare all the vegetables, by washing and cutting into serving size pieces, and arrange on a platter ( or 2) which can be placed on the table so every one can reach. A lazy Susan works very well for this. Of course, in my house, mushrooms get their own dish, and there is always one cooking pot which is mushroom free.

Place all the sauces in small dishes, and place around the table so they can easily be reached by your guests. Set the table with dinner plates, small plates or saucers, ordinary forks and knives, and a cooking strainer, and napkins, for each guest. (The saucer or small plate is for the strainer when it is not in the pot.) Also good to have a 'discard' dish, or 2, - to put bones, shrimp or prawn shells, and mussel shells on so they are off personal plates.

As with the meat fondue, each person chooses the things they want to cook, and cooks their own in the chosen pot. Remind everyone to keep raw and cooked seafood on different plates.

 

 

Garlic mayonnaise: 

What you need: 1 egg;  2 tsp crushed garlic - about 4 cloves; 1 cup of canola oil; 2 tbs lemon juice; salt and pepper to taste; and ¼ tsp of saffron. There is a spice available at some Chinese markets, called 'Poor man's Saffron'. It is the dried stamens of the safflower plant, and is MUCH cheaper than real saffron, but . tastes nice, and adds a lovely colour to the mayonnaise.

What you do:  In a blender, process the egg, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and saffron. Add oil in a slow stream and allow to emulsify. Taste, and adjust seasonings as desired. Store in a jar or plastic container in the fridge. Keeps like any bought mayonnaise, but tastes much nicer. 

 

 

Lemon sauce:

What you need: ¼ cup peanut  or canola oil; 3-4 cloves of garlic; 3-4 shallots; 6 Tbs of lemon juice;  salt and pepper to taste; 1 tsp sambal oelek.

What you do: mince the shallots and garlic cloves, and place in a small saucepan with the oil. Heat on medium until onion and garlic are transparent. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper, and sambal oelek. Stir well. Store in a jar in the fridge. Keeps for 3 - 4 months. Shake well before each  use.

 

For the Onion sauce, and Dill sauce: I cheat and use  mixes from Epicure. Add several spoons of mix to 1 cup of a sauce base of  ½ mayonnaise and ½ plain yogurt. Store each sauce in a small container in the fridge.

 

Tomato spicy sauce: Almost based on a classic coctail sauce, this is made in a similar way.

What you need: ½ cup crushed tomatoes, 2 tsp onion powder, and 2 tsp garlic powder; salt and pepper to taste; 3 -4 Tbs water; 1- 2 tsp sambal oelek.  

What you do:  In a small saucepan, warm the tomatoes and whisk in seasonings. Add water in small amounts to make a nice consistancy, not quite runny, but not as thick as ketchup. Add sambal oelek and stir well. Chill before serving. Store in the fridge up to 2 months.

 

 

I hope you and your guests enjoy your fondue.