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I’ve made this enough times now that I feel comfortable sharing. It’s based on a recipe I found at Chena Girl Cooks and she based hers on the Barefoot Contessa. The main WOW of this recipe is the meatballs. And I mean WOW. I have been lucky to get a majority of them into the soup. [Because they are SO good people, myself included, simply eat them off the baking sheet and I’m saying, “Hey, those are for the soup, but go ahead and have one.” Who can stop at one?] These meatballs would make an awesome party food by themselves. The other adjustments that I’ve made is to use baby spinach instead of kale and to use shirataki noodles instead of pasta stars. I use the shirataki noodles found fresh in the deli case. I don’t know if they even come dried. All that’s necessary to prepare them is to rinse thoroughly with water. I chop mine before putting them in the soup so that’s it’s easier to ladle into bowls. My grocer only carries shirataki spaghetti and shirataki fettucine, if there were something smaller I would use it. Shirataki noodles are basically no-carb and so mentally it evens out the bread crumbs in the meatballs. Just sayin’.
Anyway, because I’m not “cooking” pasta in the soup, I do not use nearly as much liquid. I’ll give you the recipe the way I make it, but you should explore Chena Girl and Contessa, too.
Meatballs:
1 lb. chicken Italian sausage
2 T. milk
2/3 c. breadcrumbs
1/3 c. grated Parmesan
1 egg, beaten
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T. parsley flakes
kosher salt and fresh pepper
Soup:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 carrots, diced
2 celery ribs, diced
4 c. chicken stock
1/2 c. dry white wine
5 oz. baby spinach
½ Tbsp. minced fresh dill
8 oz. shirataki spaghetti (chopped into 2″ sections or so to make ladling easier)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Meatballs: combine all ingredients. Drop by rounded spoonfuls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You should have approximately 35 meatballs. Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
Soup: on medium-low heat, add the olive oil to a large soup pot. Cook the onions, celery, and carrots for 8-10 minutes or until soft. Add the stock and wine and bring it to a boil. Turn down to a simmer for a few minutes. Add spinach and dill, spaghetti, and meatballs and cook for about a minute or so to heat through.
Ladle the soup into bowls and top with a little extra grated Parmesan.
I’m deep in raspberries here. It’s kind of funny how thoughts of making a peach-raspberry crisp can morph into actually making raspberry cream puffs. It turns out my husband ate all but one of the peaches and . . . the nectarines were . . . gone. I had forgotten how easy cream puffs are to make. I used to make them a lot when my kids were little. My favorite filling is a chocolate mousse-type filling. When I read the Pioneer Woman’s recipe for raspberry cream pie, I thought that her pie filling would make a good cream puff filling so I tweaked it a bit and here we are. I’ve included my favorite Chocolate Filling recipe, too, and now wish I had made Chocolate Raspberry Filling. Next time! The cream puff pastry recipe comes from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook (1969).
Cream Puffs Recipe
1 cup water
½ cup butter
1 cup flour
4 eggs
Heat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large saucepan, heat water and butter to rolling boil. Stir in flour. Stir vigorously over low heat about 1 minute or until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat. Beat in eggs, all at one time; continue beating (I mean REALLY beat it) until smooth. Drop dough by scant ¼ cupfuls 3” apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake 35-40 minutes until puffed and golden. Cool away from draft. Cut off tops. Pull out any filaments of soft dough. Carefully fill puffs. Replace tops; dust with powdered sugar. Refrigerate until serving time. Makes 12 cream puffs.
Raspberry Filling
2 cups raspberries
3 Tbsp. sugar
12-oz. plain Greek yogurt
1 package (3.4 oz.) vanilla instant pudding mix
1 cup whipping cream
Place raspberries in a small bowl and sprinkle with sugar. Mash the berries with the sugar a little bit. Set aside for at least 15 minutes.
Mix yogurt and pudding mix together in mixer on low speed. Add cream and mix on medium speed until fully incorporated and fluffy. Stir in raspberry-sugar mixture on low speed.
Chocolate Filling: Blend 1 package chocolate instant pudding with 1 cup milk on low speed. Add 2 cups whipping cream and beat about 2 minutes on medium speed.
To make the Cream Puffs: Heat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large saucepan, heat water and butter to rolling boil. Stir in flour. Stir vigorously over low heat about 1 minute or until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat. Beat in eggs, all at one time; continue beating (I mean REALLY beat it) until smooth.
Drop dough by scant ¼ cupfuls 3” apart onto ungreased baking sheet.
Bake 35-40 minutes until puffed and golden. Cool away from draft.
Cut off tops.
Pull out any filaments of soft dough.
Carefully fill puffs.
Replace tops; dust with powdered sugar. Refrigerate until serving time. Makes 12 cream puffs.
For the Raspberry Filling place raspberries in a small bowl and sprinkle with sugar. Mash the berries with the sugar a little bit. Set aside for at least 15 minutes.
Mix yogurt and pudding mix together in mixer on low speed. Add cream and mix on medium speed until fully incorporated and fluffy. Stir in raspberry-sugar mixture on low speed.
Once again it is raspberry season and I am in the thick of it. My freezer is filling with raspberries. I am infusing two pints of raspberry vinegar. I made a batch of raspberry chipotle barbecue sauce and liked it so much that the next day I made a double batch and canned it. I’ve made two raspberry pies, one of them is this Raspberry Cream Pie that I’m going to tell you about. I found it here (Taste of Home) and it’s really good. It’s light and airy and not too sweet. I used a graham cracker crust instead of the vanilla wafer one called for in the original recipe because I don’t have any vanilla wafers. Sorry about the dearth of pictures. I didn’t think I’d be posting it, but it’s just SO good!
Graham Cracker Crust:
Mix together 1-1/2 cups crushed graham crackers with 3 Tbsp. sugar and 1/3 cup melted butter. Press into greased 9″ pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Allow to cool.
Cream Filling:
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped
- 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons orange liqueur (Grand Marnier)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
I prepared the whipped cream in my mixer first, then scraped it into a bowl and set it aside. Mix the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, orange liqueur, and vanilla extract until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream. Spoon the filling into the pie crust and chill.
Raspberry Topping:
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
Stir sugar and cornstarch together in small saucepan. Add water and raspberries. Bring to a boil, stirring, and boil for 2 minutes or until somewhat thickened. Transfer to a small bowl and chill.
Spoon the raspberry topping over the pie filling. Chill until serving.
This turned out to be a tasty main dish. I served it with a spaghetti squash and fresh tomato casserole. The Italian sausage that I use is very lean. It comes in a 1# bulk package, not in links. I would hesitate to use this recipe with a high-fat sausage, I think you would have a mess on your hands. Someday I may try these stuffed with breakfast sausage and served with eggs. Yum.
INGREDIENTS:
4 Portobello mushrooms
Olive oil
1# Italian sausage
1 egg
Minced onion
Bread crumbs
Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray or grease a 13×9” baking dish.
Remove the stems and scrape the gills out of Portobello mushrooms with a spoon. Save the stems for a later use, like in soup or pasta sauce, but set aside the gills for use in the filling.
Rub each mushroom cap with olive oil on both sides as best you can.
Stir together Italian sausage, egg, onion, mushroom gills, and bread crumbs.
I tried not to use much bread crumbs and it would probably work without any at all.
Fill each mushroom cap with the sausage filling. Sprinkle the tops with Parmesan cheese. Bake for 50-60 minutes—be sure the sausage is thoroughly cooked.
I have prepared and eaten Ratatouille many times. Of course, why not, because I like eggplant . . . a lot. Usually my ratatouille is a delicious, but rather unappetizing-looking, mess. This recipe is something completely different. Not only is it delicious, it’s beautiful!
I used the recipe https://realfoodnuts.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/ratatouille-casserole/ at Real Food Nuts, with a few modifications. It was so tasty that I tried it again so I could take pictures and show you how I did it. This is what happens when you don’t have a round casserole dish and you’re married to a wine-maker. Recipes morph.
- Ingredients
- Eggplant, 2 small (about 7″)
- Summer squash (2 small, about 7”)
- Mini sweet peppers (12)
- ½ onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 6-oz. can tomato paste
- ¾ cup red wine (or water)
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Here goes . . .
Rub a 9” square baking dish with olive oil. Empty the red sauce into the baking dish and smooth it evenly across the bottom.
Based upon a fabulous Rachael Ray recipe found here. This is a somewhat complicated endeavor. It isn’t hard, it’s just a lot of moving pieces going at the same time. I’m going to break this down into two parts, but keep in mind that the potatoes should be going at the same time as the rest of the meal. Rachael Ray did the whole thing in 30 minutes, I watched it. If all your prep work was done and you had a cooperative grill, you could do it quickly too. I have made this recipe many, many times. When we’re dieting, I don’t make the potatoes. I’ve gotten to the point where I usually just eyeball all the amounts. It’s not a fussy dish.
Ingredient list for Garlic Smashed Potatoes:
4 large potatoes
Salt
1 Tbsp olive oil and 2 Tbsp butter
4 cloves chopped garlic
4 chopped scallions (green onions)
1 cup ricotta cheese
½ cup milk
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
If using thin-skinned potatoes there is no need to peel them. Cut into chunks and boil in lightly salted water until tender. Drain.
Meanwhile in a small saute pan, heat olive oil and butter together. Add garlic and saute a minute or two, then add scallions and remove from heat. Set aside.
While still hot, smash the potatoes with a masher and add the set-aside mixture as well as all other ingredients. Stir together. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.
Ingredient list for Chicken Cacciatore and Mushrooms:
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
3 Tbsp. fresh rosemary (4 to 5 sprigs, stripped, leaves chopped)
½ cup olive oil
4 large Portobello Mushrooms, stems removed
1.5# boneless, skinless, chicken thighs
2 Anaheim or Cubanelle peppers, seeded and thinly sliced
1 medium red or purple onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 14-oz. can chopped tomatoes, lightly drained
Handful Parsley, chopped
Prepare a marinade by whisking together balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper flakes, rosemary, and olive oil in a large bowl.
Dip each mushroom cap into the marinade and then set onto plate. Add chicken thighs to marinade and coat evenly. Set aside while you start the vegetables.
In a bit of olive oil saute together Anaheim peppers, red onion, and garlic until tender.
Add tomatoes and parsley and heat through.
In the meantime, salt each side of the chicken thighs and grill until no pink remains. Transfer to a plate to rest.
Rachael Ray recommends putting the mushroom caps on the grill and then placing a frying pan on top of them to gently press down. It works surprisingly well and I have done it that way many times. Grill for 3-4 minutes each side. This particular time that I’m showing you, I put the mushroom caps into a grill basket and grilled them that way. It worked great, too. You decide.
Thinly slice the grilled chicken and mushrooms.
Serve with the pepper onions mixture and the smashed potatoes. Oh, heavenly!
A perfect meal for eating outside on the deck.
This lemon dessert is baked all in one dish. As it bakes, it separates into a sponge-type cake on the top and a sauce on the bottom. I have figured out a way to do this using just one mixer. Here goes. I’ll list the recipe first and then my own description with a few pictures.
Lemon Pudding Cake
4 separated eggs
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon peel
1 Tbsp. melted butter
1-1/2 cups sugar
½ cup flour
½ tsp. salt
1-1/2 cups milk
Beat together egg yolks, lemon juice, lemon peel, and butter. Combine sugar, flour, and salt. Add to egg mixture alternately with milk, beating after each addition. Beat egg whites until stiff, blend into batter using low speed of mixer. Pour into greased 8” square baking dish. Set in pan of hot water. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until golden. Serve warm.
The first thing I do is put a kettle on to boil water and turn the oven on to preheat to 350 degrees. I beat the egg whites in my mixer, using the whipping attachment, then transfer them to a bowl and set aside. Next I use the mixer to mix the remaining ingredients according to the recipe. Then I fold the egg whites into the other ingredients on low speed until they’re incorporated. I use the whipping attachment the entire time, otherwise the egg whites don’t go into the rest of the batter very smoothly.
I pour the batter into an 8″ square pan and then place it into a 10 x 15″ pan. Put it onto a middle or low rack of preheated oven and pour hot water into the larger pan, until it comes up against the sides of the smaller baking dish about half way.
Bake 45 minutes. Remove baking dish from water. Be careful.
Serve warm with cream or whipped cream. The cake part of the dessert shrinks as it cools. This is a very rich and brightly flavored lemon dessert.
This is an easy and interesting dish to prepare, plus it is delicious! Its combination of spices lends itself well to wild game, but any type of ground meat would probably do. I have consistently failed to buy enough eggplant to make this properly, but it works out well enough. Some day I will look at the eggplants in the grocery and tell myself I need more, not less. Another addition you might consider is a layer of thinly sliced sauteed potatoes on the bottom of the baking dish. I think you would want to have a baking dish with very high sides.
Cut 3 eggplant lengthwise into 1/2-inch slices. Score the skin with a knife. Sprinkle each slice with salt and let drain onto paper towels for thirty minutes. Note: I had one very large eggplant — it wasn’t enough as you will see below.
In 1 Tbsp. butter, saute 1-lb. ground meat (moose or elk are great!), 2 chopped onions, and 1 minced garlic clove.
Once the meat is browned, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then stir in 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1/2 tsp. herbs de Provence or herbs fines, and 2 Tbsp. dried parsley. Add 8-oz. tomato sauce and 1/2 cup red wine (or beef broth). Simmer for 20 minutes. Let cool. Stir in one beaten egg.
Pat eggplant slices with paper towel to remove moisture and fry slices in olive oil until mostly cooked through.
Make a white sauce by melting 1/2 cup butter in a large saucepan over medium heat and stirring in 6 Tbsp. flour. Continue stirring until flour-butter mixture bubbles for awhile. Stir in 4 cups milk. Keep stirring frequently over medium heat until it’s thick and bubbly. Add salt and white pepper to taste. Remove from heat. When ready to assemble, place one layer of eggplant in the bottom of a 9×13″ baking dish. Cover the eggplant with all of the meat mixture. Sprinkle meat mixture with 1/2 cup grated or shredded Parmesan cheese. Cover that layer with remaining eggplant slices. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese.
Gently pour white sauce over the entire dish and sprinkle with 1/2 cup Parmesan. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Yummy!
I wish I was a better photographer for this surely is a wonderful dish.
Moussaka Recipe
3 eggplants, sliced lengthwise 1/2″, score the skin
Salt
1 Tbsp. butter
1-lb. ground meat (moose or elk or beef or . . .)
Salt & pepper to taste
2 onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. herbs de Provence or herbs fines
2 Tbsp. dried parsley
8-oz. tomato sauce
1/2 cup red wine (or substitute beef broth)
1 egg, beaten
Olive oil
1/2 cup butter
6 Tbsp. flour
4 cups milk
Salt & white pepper
1-1/2 cups grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
Directions
- Lay the slices of eggplant on paper towels, sprinkle lightly with salt, and set aside for 30 minutes to draw out the moisture.
- In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and add the ground meat, salt and pepper to taste, onions, and garlic. After the meat is browned, sprinkle in the cinnamon, nutmeg, fines herbs and parsley. Pour in the tomato sauce and wine, and mix well. Simmer for 20 minutes. Allow to cool, and then stir in beaten egg.
- Pat eggplant slices with paper towel to remove moisture and fry slices in olive oil until mostly cooked through.
- Melt the 1/2 cup butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour until smooth. Lower heat; gradually pour in the milk, stirring frequently until it thickens. Season with salt, and white pepper.
- Arrange a layer of eggplant in a greased 9×13 inch baking dish. Cover eggplant with all of the meat mixture, and then sprinkle 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese over the meat. Cover with remaining eggplant, and sprinkle another 1/2 cup of cheese on top. Pour the white sauce over the top, and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
- Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees F.
Make a 100% salt solution by dissolving salt, one tablespoon at a time, in hot water (not boiling, just hot from the tap) until the salt will no longer dissolve. It is not necessary to let the water cool before proceeding to the next step. The temperature does not matter. I use Canning & Pickling Salt because it has no additives.
This is a Spaetzle Maker. Use only the grated part, not the cup, to remove the eggs from the membrane. Search “spaetzle” on this site for the recipe to make Spaetzle. You can buy a Spaetzle Maker at a housewares store.
We used Alaska red “sockeye” salmon roe. Using the grated part of a Spaetzle Maker over a bowl, rub a skein of fresh (only fresh will do) salmon roe across the grate, dislodging the eggs from the membrane.
Discard the membrane. Once you have as many loose eggs as you want, soak them in the salt solution for thirteen minutes while stirring. When we were making this for the first time we dislodged the eggs right into the bowl of salt solution (as pictured), but then our timing was off. Next time we will dislodge the eggs into an empty bowl and THEN when we have enough we’ll put it all into the salt solution at the same time and start the timer.
Strain the eggs out of the salt solution into a colander and run under cold water until it doesn’t taste too salty for you. We discarded our salt solution and filled that bowl with fresh water and let the salty roe sit in it for about 30 seconds, too. We grabbed a pinch of the roe and tasted it. It was good, so we stopped pouring fresh water on it. Let it continue to strain for awhile, but you can eat it right away. Tastes great with crackers and cream cheese. You can add flavorings like garlic or dill to the roe if you want to. In the refrigerator it will last for a few days. Once it had strained for an hour or so, I scooped it into small jars (previously used for pimientos, but baby food jars would work) and put them into the refrigerator. The next day it tasted even better!
This is a tasty fruit pie with a streusel topping, instead of a top crust. I left the peel on the nectarines before giving them a rough chop. For the topping, I used room-temperature butter and mixed it well, but I think if you used cold butter you could cut it into the flour/sugar mixture instead and it would be fine.
1 cup sour cream
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. vanilla
½ cup sugar
3 Tbsp. tapioca
4 cups nectarines
2 cups blueberries
1/3 cup brown sugar
½ cup flour
3 Tbsp. butter
Pastry for one 9” pie crust
In a very large bowl, mix together sour cream and cornstarch. Stir in vanilla. Stir in sugar and tapioca. Set aside. Chop nectarines. Add nectarines and blueberries to sour cream mixture. Let stand.
In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, and butter. Place pastry into pie pan and pour in the fruit mixture. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture over the top.
Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 45-55 minutes, until it bubbles and the top is a golden brown color. Watch for spillover. Let cool and enjoy!
Fruit mixture goes into the crust.
Sprinkle streusel topping over it and place into the oven.
When the fruit bubbles and the streusel is golden, remove from oven.
Foods Passion 