Breakfast burritos

I already told you how we always have chile rellenos when we go to New Mexico. The other thing we always have there are breakfast burritos. None of them look anything like the 4-digit calorie, saturated-with-saturated-fat fast food monstrosity pictured here. Not that there is anything wrong with 4-digit calorie, saturated-with-saturated-fat fast food monstrosities, if you conscience and waistline can handle them.

The point is, a breakfast burrito isn't something you can only get through the drive-thru window. The ones I've had in New Mexico were homemade, and in addition to bacon, potato and sausage options, there were elk and venison, which I have never seen as options at the drive-thru.

I don't hunt much elk in Clearwater, so I like to use chorizo. Bacon or sausage are fine, too. And don't do the potatoes from scratch. Ore-Ida -- or whatever -- has done most of the work for you, it's in the freezer, ready in two minutes and it's cheaper than getting the ingredients together.

And just because they're called breakfast burritos doesn't mean you can't have them for dinner.

Breakfast burritos

8-12 oz bacon or sausage (try the fresh chorizo, available at mexican groceries)
1/2 of a 32 oz bag of frozen breakfast potatoes (home fries, hash browns ... even tater tots)
6-8 eggs
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
8 large flour tortillas
your favorite jarred salsa

saute the meat until cooked and add the potatoes continue saute until they're cooked (if you actually use tater tots -- an idea i love -- you'd probably want to bake those separately in the oven). in another skillet, scramble the eggs. divide the meat and potato mixture and eggs among the tortillas, top with cheese and salsa and wrap.

Shrimp and grits

We have a timeshare in Hilton Head, and the rooms there have full kitchens, so I get to cook while we are there. And when you are in the Carolina Lowcountry, it would be irresponsible to cook anything other than shrimp. We've also found a roadside stand called the Carolina Cider Co. that sells stone ground grits, yellow or white, so shrimp and grits have become a staple when we go there.

Shrimp and grits is one of those things that you can pretty much cook with whatever you feel like putting in it. If you just want shrimp and grits, that's pretty much all you need. Or, you can put cheese in the grits. or you can cook the shrimp simply or with sausage and/or vegetables. You can make a big fancy roux-thickened sauce, or just sauce it with the melted butter the shrimp cook in.

This one is  mostly simple. Mostly.

Shrimp and grits

4 cups of water
2 tsp salt
1 cup stone-ground grits
1 cup cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

6 slices of bacon, diced
1.5 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined, tail on
1 small red pepper, chopped small
1/2 cup green onion, sliced thin
2 tbls butter
juice of one lemon

for the grits, bring the water to a boil, add salt and grits, stir until water returns to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until water is absorbed. (if you don't have stone-ground grits, prepare four servings to package directions.) when grits are done, remove from heat, stir in cheese and add salt and pepper to taste.

while grits are cooking, heat a skillet and add bacon. when the bits are crispy and bottom of skillet is coated with bacon fat, saute shrimp and red pepper. After sauteeing 2-3 minutes, add green onion, butter and lemon and stir to incorporate. to serve, plate a serving of grits and spoon the shrimp mixture over it.

serves 4.

Rotisserie Chicken Wednesday: Chinese chicken salad

It's hot. Don't cook. Grab a rotisserie chicken and make this salad for dinner. It's a Wolfgang Puck recipe, amended to eliminate the cooking of the chicken and therefore fit into the rotisserie chicken Wednesday theme.

Once you grab and already cooked chicken, there isn't much to this recipe other than chopping some cabbage and lettuce and making the vinaigrette.

Chinois chicken salad

for the dressing:
2 teaspoons dry mustard, preferably Chinese or English
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons light sesame oil
2 to 3 tablespoons peanut oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper

place all the vinaigrette ingredients, except peanut oil, in a blender and blend until smooth. Add peanut oil slowly and season to taste.

for the salad
1 rotisserie chicken, picked and shredded
1 large head napa cabbage, sliced into 1/4-inch strips
1 head romaine lettuce, sliced into 1/4-inch strips
6 oz snow peas, sliced into 1/4-inch strips
1/4 cup roasted peanuts, chopped

combine the chicken, cabbage, romaine and snow peas in a bowl and toss with enough vinaigrette to coat the salad nicely. mound on a platter and sprinkle the peanuts over the top.

serves 4. source: wolfgangpuck.com recipe, with amendments.

Fall back No. 2: Piccata

The second of the three things that I cook whenever I have no idea what to cook is chicken piccata. it's quick, it's easy, it's crispy, it's tangy. And it goes well over pasta, which we discussed at length yesterday.

And it's actually very simple. Bread and saute some thin cutlets, then make a lemon-butter sauce and serve it over pasta. So imagine my surprise watching one of the first episodes of Top Chef this season and seeing a guy who said he had worked in restaurants since he was 13 make something that he passed off as a piccata. It had no lemon. No capers. And it appeared to be a tomato sauce. "Wow, the judges are going to KILL him," I thought. Then Tom Collichio, the head judge whom I respect a lot, started talking about how the breading on the chicken wasn't piccata-like. Huh? And another judge started talking about something else that was completely off point, and I realized, wait, they told him to cook piccata, and THEY don't know what it is? I was distraught. Finally, Rocco DiSpirito, one of the guest judges whose culinary reputation is undergoing a bit of a reclamation after it was destroyed by a two-season reality show train wreck, gently chimed in that possibly the biggest problem was that it wasn't piquant, which is loosely where the word piccata comes from. I said, "THANK YOU!" (Yeah, yeah, I get upset about some really stupid stuff.)

Anyway, another reason to love this dish is that it's another one that you can meld to your mood. Chicken and veal are classic, but pork, or even shrimp, could easily be substituted. If you don't want pasta -- are you sure? -- this would probably be good with roasted potatoes, too. But I wouldn't know. I like pasta.

Chicken piccata

4  split chicken breasts, pounded thin. you could use thin cutlets instead.
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup bread crumbs. i like panko, but any kind are fine.
salt and pepper
oil
6 tbls butter
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine
3 tbls capers
lemon slices
chopped parsley

heat a large skillet with enough cooking oil to cover the bottom of the pan.

put the flour, egg and bread crumbs each on a separate plate. dip a piece of chicken in the flour, shake off excess, dip in egg, put in bread crumbs to coat, then carefully place in skillet. repeat with all the chicken. don't crowd the pan, cook in two batches if necessary.

wipe out pan with dry paper towel and melt butter, then whisk in lemon juice, chicken stock and wine. and bring to a boil and let it reduce by about 1/3. add capers. serve chicken with sauce, and top with a lemon slice and chopped parsley.

serves 4.

Mushroom risotto

I am by no stretch of the imagination a vegetarian. but I find myself being less interested in meat. I mean, there is usually some on the plate, but it's not the centerpiece of the plate. Or, at least not the bulk of it.

As far as vegetables go, my interest is fairly narrowly focused. I'll try anything, but I only have a few favorites.

OK, so, light on the meat, light on the veggies, why am I not light?

I'm a carbatarian, a word coined by my wife, I believe. But that's pretty much the story. Anything that includes a heaping helping of rice or pasta, and I'm happy.

My favorite time to make mushroom risotto is when I come across some chanterelles. So if I was blogging responsibly here, I would make sure that chanterelles are in the store now. But as best I can tell, there is no "season" for them. They just magically appear in stores sometimes. And when I say "stores," I mean Fresh Market. I've never seen them anywhere else around here. But any kind of mushroom will do. White buttons are just fine.

The stock is the culmination of my struggle to make mushroom stock. Steeping the dried mushrooms in vegetable stock (or chicken, if you are so inclined) and adding the little shot of soy livens up the stock, and is much less complicated than trying to make mushroom stock from scratch. But its a step you can skip to save 20 minutes.

Mushroom risotto

4 cups vegetable stock (1 box or 2 cans)
1 cup white wine
1 oz dried porcini, or other dried variety, chopped (optional)
2 tbls soy sauce

3 tbls olive oil, divided
3 tbls butter, divided
12 oz sliced fresh mushrooms, any variety.

1/2 small onion, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 cups arborio rice
1 tsp fresh thyme
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

In a saucepan, combine stock, wine, dry mushrooms and soy. bring to a boil and allow to simmer 20 minutes. (if you aren't using the dry mushrooms, just combine the three liquids and bring to a simmer.)

In a large skillet, heat 1 tbls oil and butter and add fresh mushroom. saute until they are browned. remove about 1/2 cup of the mushrooms and reserve, keeping them warm. push the rest of the mushrooms to one side of the skillet, heat the rest of the oil and butter and add the onion, garlic, rice and thyme. saute for 2-3 minutes. add about 1 cup of the warm stock to the saute pan and stir until it is absorbed. repeat until you've used all the stock. stir in the cheese and serve with the reserved sauteed mushrooms.

Stuffed cabbages

Today, I'm taking a page out of my grandmother's cookbook. Seriously, it's page 187, and actually it's just a half a page.

The cookbook was done at the behest of my cousin Mitchell, and is a collection of my grandmother's Ukrainian recipes, as well as others from aunts, cousins and others. There's even one from me, but we'll get to that another day. Anyway, I'm very glad Mitchell had the idea to ask for them to be compiled, because its an awesome book to have.

When I was a kid, I always looked forward to family gatherings, because it meant huge trays of stuffed cabbage, or as we called them, "pigs in a blanket." Depending on where you grew up -- or where your grandmother grew up, more likely -- they might have been called golumpki, holishkes, holipces, toltott kaposzta, praakes or goluptzi. We called them pigs in a blanket. Imagine my utter disappointment when I went to sleep over at a friend's house one night when I was probably 8, and was told we were having pigs in a blanket for dinner ... only to be handed a hot dog wrapped in croissant dough. I never went back to that house.

My grandma, Nastazia Brick, credits this recipe to my great-grandmother, Babi Makitka. Which leads me to wonder how far back it really goes.

(I'm reprinting the quantities here as written in the book, but this makes a ton. So cut the numbers in half. Or plan on freezing some. Or make it for a party. Or go in really, really hungry.)

Ukrainian Stuffed Cabbages

2 lbs ground chuck
1 lb ground pork
3 cups cooked rice
1 tbls salt
1 tbls pepper
2 med onions, chopped fine
1/4 cup ketchup
2 heads of cabbage
2 (15 oz) cans stewed tomatoes, crushed

bring a large pot of water to a boil. remove the cores from the heads of cabbage. submerge the cabbage in the water, pulling off leaves as they cook. drain the cooked leaves. While the cabbage cools, combine the beef, pork, rice, salt, pepper, onion and ketchup in a bowl and mix well.

put any small or broken cabbage leaves in the bottom of a roasting pan. fill the other leaves with the meat mixture, folding the sides in and rolling like a burrito. put each one in the roasting pan with the folded side down and pack them together tight. it's ok to layer them. top with the tomatoes and 2-3 cups of water. take leftover cabbage leaves and cover the rolls so the top ones don't burn. bake in a 350-degree oven for 60-90 minutes.

Sources: recipe, Babi Makitka; photo, Habeas Brulee

See, OUR tomatoes are fine

I took issue with the whole concept of a "tomato scare." I was never scared. At all. But it was weird to walk into Subway during the whole ordeal and -- Subway and I go way back -- order a sub that didn't have tomatoes on it for the first time in like 25 years.

But there was never anything wrong with ours, confirming my lack of fear. And all it did is point out something we already knew: it's better to buy local. It's kind of disturbing that so many of the tomatoes we consume around here come from thousands of miles away. Where are ours going? Do yourself a favor, and next time you're at the store, for fun, ask where the tomatoes are coming from. If the answer is not Florida, and it probably won't be, just go to a produce stand and pick some up there. Most tomatoes in supermarkets are bred to be red, not to taste like tomatoes.

Speaking of bread, here is a recipe for Panzanella, the Italian bread-and-tomato salad. It could make a light summer meal, or an excellent side to a grilled steak.

Panzanella

2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 pounds fresh tomatoes, chopped, juices reserved
8-12 oz of hearty bread, cut into thick slices (day-old bread is perfect)
6 anchovy filets, rinsed and chopped (yes, they are optional)
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1/3 cup capers, rinsed
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup fresh basil, cut into ribbons
salt and pepper

combine the garlic and vinegar in a small bowl. add a little salt and pepper. put tomatoes with their juice in a large salad bowl.

toast the bread slices, then tear into bit-sized pieces and add to the tomatoes. add anchovy, cucumber and capers and toss.

whisk together the vinegar and 1/2-cup of olive oil and toss into the salad. taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if necessary. you can serve immediately, or wait an hour or so and flavors will intensify. if allowing to sit, add the remaining 1/4-cup of olive oil and toss just before serving.

 

serves 4-6
source: San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market Cookbook.

Rotisserie Chicken Wednesday: BBQ chicken pizza

When I read the news over at The Mouth that there is now a national-brand BBQ sauce (Bullseye) that has eschewed high fructose corn syrup, I decided to celebrate by getting in a recipe that called for BBQ sauce. Then I remembered it was rotisserie Wednesday. If only there was a way to marry BBQ and chicken ...

I'm not too into food politics, but with all the news about HFCS, I have attempted to limit my exposure to it. I am too dependent on sodas to eliminate it, so when I find places I can avoid it, I do. And having no real previous BBQ sauce allegiance, I'm willing to give Bullseye a try.

So, we have a rotisserie chicken, and we have a bottle of BBQ sauce. We are a crust and some cheese away from a pizza that would make Wolfgang Puck proud.

Grab a pizza crust -- whichever you like, but I like Boboli because it requires ZERO prep -- and prepare it to whatever degree is required to get it ready for topping. If you make your own crust, you know what needs done. If you buy frozen or packaged crusts, follow the directions.

OK, that's done. preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Pour some BBQ sauce on the crust, spread it evenly. Chop the chicken and sprinkle it across the crust (you probably won't need a whole chicken here. maybe half. and maybe just the breast?). Top with about a cup of shredded mozzarella. And by "about," I mean, as much as you want.

Bake it for about 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly. While it's in there, thinly slice a red onion, and soak the slices in ice water. Then chop about 1/4 cup of fresh cilantro. When the pizza comes out, quickly dry the onion on a paper towel, and scatter them and the cilantro on top of the pizza.

Wait, I have leftover roasted corn in the fridge. If you do too, put that on there. That would be awesome.

Fall back No. 1: Kung pao

I have three dishes that I keep in my back pocket -- figuratively -- because I know they will go over well, and I can make them with any meat I have in the house, or happen to feel like eating that night. Today, I offer up the first: Kung pao.

Between the ages of 16 and 23, I pretty much exclusively ate at Subway and Chinese restaurants. And when I went for Chinese, I would've been hard-pressed to tell you what they had on the menu other than chop suey, lo mein and egg rolls. On a trip to Epcot, I went to Nine Dragons, the Chinese restaurant there, and decided to try something different. I went for the kung pao. The waitress told me not to eat the chile peppers. Whatever, I thought. I should've listened. But beyond the burn, I liked it. So that became my new staple.

At least, until a study came out and announced it was just about the most unhealthy thing you could possibly eat. Then I found a recipe for a lighter version in a book called Don't Eat Your Heart Out, by a doctor named Joseph Piscatella. I've amended it over the years to suit my taste, but don't think I've done anything to compromise it too much.

I make it with chicken, but pork? Sure. Beef, shrimp? Absolutely. Tofu? Um, sure, I guess.

Kung pao

1 cup low sodium chicken stock
1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
2 tbls rice wine vinegar
2 tsp hot chili oil, more or less, to taste (if you don't have chili oil, Tabasco would  be different, but work in the same way)
3 dried chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbls ginger, chopped

2 tbls olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery, diced
1 red pepper, chopped
1 small can sliced water chestnuts, drained
2 tbls corn starch
1/4 cup roasted peanuts, chopped
chopped scallion

put first seven ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat. allow to steep while you cook everything else.

heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. add chicken. don't crowd the chicken, even if it means cooking the chicken in batches. after the chicken is added, don't touch it for 2-3 minutes. then, flip each piece to cook the other side. the side that went in initially should be golden brown. after another minute or so, remove the chicken to a plate, leaving the oil in the skillet. saute the onion, garlic and celery until the onion softens. then add the pepper, water chestnuts and cooked chicken and saute it all together.

strain the liquid mixture into the skillet. in a small bowl, whisk the corn starch into 1/4-cup of water. stir corn starch mixture into the skillet and bring to a boil until the liquid thickens.

serve over rice and top with peanuts and scallions.

I need more olive recipes

I intended to spend the weekend thinking of things to cook that I could write about here. But, instead, I ended up cleaning our computer room, which needs to be cleared out so I can install new flooring. Unfortunately, "cleaning out" this room is all but an archaeological event: We have spent the past 8 years just stacking stuff in that room, and it was a disaster.

So I did cook, and it was really good, but it was nothing to blog about. We went to Fresh Market and got a great sirloin steak, and some spectacular corn on the cob [an aside: I love corn on the cob, and the last two times I have gotten it at Fresh Market, it has been a) ridiculously expensive and b) insanely good] and grilled them up. As far as dinner, it was great. As far as something to talk about ... well, I bought steak and corn, and i put them on the grill. Ta da!

So after dinner, I caught up on my TV watching, and I saw last night's Iron Chef America. The secret ingredient was olives and I love olives. Plus, the Iron Chef was Michael Symon, who is one of my favorites. He was going against April Bloomfield of New York's The Spotted Pig. Between them, they cooked 10 dishes, and I wanted them all. But they were all complicated, so I don't really want to make them all. So I went to Food TV's Web site to see if I could find a fairly simple fish and olive recipe. I found one by another Iron Chef, Mario Batali. I haven't made this, but I may soon.

The recipe calls for a whole fish, but if you could only get filets -- or only wanted to deal with filets -- it would still work. you would probably just want to cut the cooking time down to maybe 8-10 minutes. If using filets, I would recommend sauteeing the flesh side first, remove the filets and add the olives and capers, then put the filets back in atop the olives. This will keep the sauteed side above the liquid, and maintain a little crust. Just a thought. I did not clear any of that with Mario.

If you get to it before I do, let me know how it goes:

Snapper with Olives

1 (2 to 3 pound) snapper
Flour, for dredging
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup Gaeta olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons salted capers, rinsed
5 lemons, zested and segmented, plus juice of 3 more
1 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup best quality extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
1 bunch Italian parsley to yield 1/4 cup, chopped
Sea salt

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Score the snapper twice on each side with a sharp knife. Dredge the fish in the flour.

In a 14 to 16-inch saute pan, heat the oil until just smoking and saute the whole fish until it is golden brown on 1 side. Turn the fish carefully and add the olives, capers, lemon segments, zest, juice and wine and place the pan in the oven to cook for about 14 to 15 minutes. Allow the fish to rest for 5 minutes before filleting, then drizzle it with the pan juices and high-quality oil, sprinkle with parsley and sea salt, and serve.

Source: Mario Batali on foodnetwork.com

About those beets ...

Given my introduction to this blog was via the beets and goat cheese, I feel compelled to post the recipe. It isn't really complicated, but does require some time and several independent steps, so I figured I'd wait until Friday. Think of it as a weekend project.

My first experience with beets and goat cheese was when I saw an episode of Wolfgang Puck's show where he made a napoleon of them. It looked tremendous. Then I went to his restaurant Spago and had it, and loved it. And when I go to Cafe Ponte, his beet and arugula salad -- with fried balls of goat cheese -- is my favorite thing on the menu. Well, one of my favorite things.

I've made Chef Puck's version and it's nice for a dinner party, but it's a little complicated for a crowd.
When I devised this a couple of weeks ago, it was for 50 people. So I had to take some of the fuss out of it. Easy dicing instead of precious stacking. One dressing. And the mousse isn't so much a mousse as a thinned down soft cheese.

Admittedly, it's a long recipe, but it isn't complicated. And at the party, five people told me that they never realized that they loved beets. I turned red.

Roasted beets and goat cheese mousse

for the beets:
3-4 large or 6-8 medium beets. red, golden or a combination. (red beets are available everywhere. I have found golden at the Wild Oats that seems to hope to one day be a Whole Foods on Dale Mabry.)
olive oil
salt

preheat oven to 400 degrees. trim stems and root end off beets. place on a sheet of aluminum foil. rub with oil, sprinkle with salt and wrap in the foil. (if using red AND gold beets, wrap the reds and the golds separately. otherwise, you're going to have all reds.) roast until you can easily pierce a beet with a skewer. depending on any number of factors, including size, variety, actual oven temperature and probably the day of the week, this can take anywhere from 45-90 minutes. when they're done, remove from oven and allow to cool. when cool enough to handle, pull skins off (good to wear rubber gloves if you've got them). the skins should come right off with gentle pressure, but you can use a peeler if necessary. chop the beets into about a 1/2-inch dice. again, if using red and gold beets, keep them separate.

for the vinaigrette
1 cup orange juice
1 shallot, chopped (or 1/2 a small red onion)
2 tbls honey
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

while the beets are roasting, put the juice, shallot and honey in a blender. with the blender running, slowly pour the olive oil in to emulsify. add salt and pepper to taste.

when the beets are chopped, put them in a zipper bag and add enough vinaigrette to dress them. put the bag in the refrigerator and let marinate for at least an hour, or as long as a few days. if we haven't mentioned it enough: if you are using red and gold, put them in separate bags.

for the mousse
6 oz goat cheese
3 oz cream cheese
3 oz plain yogurt
zest from the orange used to make the juice for the vinaigrette (optional)

bring the cheeses to room temperature. put everything in a bowl and mix with an electric mixer. unless you're really good with a whisk. refrigerate until ready to serve.

garnishes
a couple of tablespoons of toasted, chopped hazelnuts (other nuts would work -- maybe almonds -- but hazelnuts are classic.)
fresh arugula (optional)

to assemble
put the beets in a bowl. if you have red and gold, put the red in first and the gold on top. dollop the mousse on top, sprinkle with the nuts and arugula.

Serves 6 people who don't already know they love beets, or 4 that do.

A creamy classic

So, back in the early 90s -- in the days even before Food Network, I was just starting to realize that eating at home didn't have to mean pulling a box out of the freezer to "cook" in the microwave. I spent a lot of time looking at magazine covers to see what looked good. One magazine caught my eye two months in a row. One month, the cover was a coffee-pudding-brownie-decadent dessert thing. The other month (I forget which was first) was fettucine alfredo. The reason they caught my eye was because the magazine was called Cooking Light. Decadent-brownie-coffee-pudding thing and alfredo are light? I was intrigued. After the second issue, I subscribed, and have ever since. And while I have regained any weight I may have ever lost as a result of the magazine, I'm not going to blame that on it.

I love alfredo, but even back then, before I was old and naturally cranky, big creamy pasta dishes did me in. This one does not. First, there is barely any butter. And there is no cream. Instead, you make what amounts to a light bechamel with roux and low-fat milk -- you could probably even use soy milk -- and bolsters the dairy-ness with cream cheese and plenty of parmagiano. It isn't just a reasonable facsimile of the classic. I like it better.

It stands on its own, or maybe with some garlic bread. If you need meat, a grilled chicken breast would be nice sliced on top. Or, you could immediately trade in all the credits you earned by making the light alfredo by topping with some crispy bacon. Or better, pancetta.

(And before Janet gets back, you'll get the recipe for the decadent coffee brownie pudding thing, too. I promise.)

1 tablespoon butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups low-fat milk
1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided
2 tablespoons reduced-fat cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups hot cooked fettuccine (8 ounces uncooked pasta)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Cracked black pepper

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in flour. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk. Cook 6 minutes or until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Add 1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, cream cheese, and salt, stirring with a whisk until cheeses melt. Toss sauce with hot pasta. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and chopped parsley. Garnish with black pepper, if desired. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 one-cup servings.

Source: Cooking Light.

Rotisserie Chicken Wednesday: rellenos

Hi everyone, I hope I can live up to the intro.

Janet said i wasn't required to adhere to the rotisserie chicken Wednesday, but how can I be the one to break that kind of tradition?

I can eat Southwestern every day. Of course, I could eat Italian and Asian every day too, which is something I keep meaning to address. But I digress. Chile rellenos are one of my favorite things, and my favorites were at a family dinner in New Mexico. Those were fried, and rarely break out a vat of oil, so here, they are baked.

If you don't like spicy, substitute the poblano peppers for red bells. What you will have then is more of a stuffed pepper than a chile relleno. But "relleno" just means "stuffed," so its all related anyway.

4 large, or 8 medium poblano peppers

3 cups rotisserie chicken, shredded or chopped

1 cup of jarred salsa

2 cups of shredded cheese (cheddar, colby, jack, muenster, or a mix, whatever your favorite is.)

1/2 cup of feta cheese

salt and pepper to taste.

Roast and peel the poblanos. Its easy, Put them under the broiler until they turn black, turning until they are black all over. Then close them in a plastic bag for 5-10 minutes. When you take the peppers out of the bag, you can just pull the skins off. (If you use bell peppers instead of poblanos, you can skip the roasting and peeling if you prefer.) Cut off the tops and pull the seeds out.

While the peppers are in the bag, mix up the chicken, salsa and cheeses.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill each pepper with the chicken mixture. If it pours out the top, all the better. If you have extra cheese, it would be a shame to waste it, so just put it on top. Put the peppers in a roasting pan and bake for 20 minutes.

If you want to stretch this recipe, you can add rice to the filling mixture. Yellow rice would add another level of flavor.

Serves 4. Top with a garnish of more salsa, or sour cream if you like. Maybe some cilantro. And a salad on the side.

A guest blogger for Stir Crazy

Have you been wondering what's become of me and my daily recipes? No foul play or anything just a boatload of preparation to escape these parts for a while. I'll be on assignment for a few travel stories and then some much needed R&R. Not to worry, though, I've found a capable and amiable guest blogger who'll take over Stir Crazy through the first week of July.

His name is Jim Webster. By night he's a St. Petersburg Times copy editor who works on the A section of the newspaper ... you know, the section without recipes but with the day's most important news. His hobby, though, is food. Cooking and eating. He's the kind of guy who plans his vacations around destination restaurants. He writes about his cooking exploits on Gastroblog. Go there and read about the fantastic spread he created for a colleague's going-away party. Above is a photo of the Roasted Red and Gold Beats with Goat Cheese Mousse he served.  

For heaven's sake, this is a man who makes demi-glace from scratch.

He's a super-cool guy and I know he'll keep you in recipes and ideas for dinner until I return. He starts blooging this Wednesday. Be nice to him ... and keep on cooking.

Show us your mussels

I haven't made my Mussels in Chunky Tomato Broth for a long time, mostly because the youngest wolverine has balked at digging meat out of the shells. But he's getting older after all so I'm thinking of pulling it out of mothballs tonight. It's an incredibly quick dish and seems so fancy for the little effort. I always serve it with hunky French bread for sopping up the broth and a big green salad. Truly, dinner in minutes.

If you've got the time and/or inclination, saute sliced leeks with the garlic and heap it all on top for the presentation. I love this dish.

Mussels in Chunky Tomato Broth

3 tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes with garlic, oregano and basil
1 cup white white such as pinot grigio
3 pounds mussels

Rinse mussels in bowl of cold water to remove grit. Let them soak for a few minutes, drain, then repeat two more times. Most store-bought mussels have been debearded, but if not, you'll need to remove the hairy fibers by pulling them off.

Saute garlic in butter until soft in pan with lid that's largest enough to hold the mussels. Add tomatoes and wine and cook for a few minutes over medium-high heat. Add mussels and cover. Stir occasionally to bring shellfish on top to bottom where the heat is.

When mussels open, they are done. This will take about 10 minutes. Discard any mussels that don't open. Serve in bowls with broth.

Serves 3 as an entree.