Category Archives: Recipe Ideas

These are ideas that can let your personality shine

Works in Progress

Posted on July 18, 2011 | Leave a comment

A while ago my sister sent me the contents of my mother’s 4×6 card file from the 1970’s to 1980’s.  This recipe was typed out onto a yellowed card on her IBM Selectric typewriter.

Orange chicken included an entire chicken, specific amounts of flour, salt and pepper in which to dredge the chicken, then shortening for sauteeing.

The sauce called for orange juice concentrate and a minimal amount of water, brown sugar, oregano and nutmeg.

The New Outlook

I was only cooking for two so had 1# of chicken cutlets.  I didn’t measure the flour and added s&p to it and had it ready to dredge chicken at the last minute.

The chicken was sauteed in butter and olive oil in a non-stick pan until nearly done.

In this test for the sauce there was 1/2 shallot, minced, 1 c fresh-squeezed orange juice, 1/2 c chicken broth.  I sauteed the shallot in butter, added the juice and broth and reduced by 1/2.  I did add about 1/2 tsp of raw sugar as an homage to the original recipe but don’t think it’s needed.  At the end 1 tsp of butter was added and the chicken cutlets were returned to warm.

It was served over rice with sauteed zucchini.  We enjoyed the dish, but I would add some orange zest to bring home the flavors.  Anything more would alter the original dish, which I may do in a future episode of Cooking with Dee.  Cheers!

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Lunch a deux

Posted on July 10, 2011 | Leave a comment

I must say that I have not been alone or lonely during the long weekend my husband was out of town for a family funeral. The first night I sat in for an ill guest at a dinner party. Saturday was quiet. Today I’ve a luncheon turned overnight guest who is visiting to perform in town. I still miss Jim but he’ll be back tomorrow night and will need to de-compress and rest after being a pallbearer outdoors in 104 degree weather and dealing with family and all the sadness that surrounds such an occasion.

On a warm day, I didn’t want to heat up the oven so didn’t make salmon en papillote. I microwaved it in an old recipe of my mother’s, and served it with couscous and sauteed asparagus and cherry tomatoes. It was light and tasty and a treat for me to cook at home as my husband is allergic to anything that swims.

Then dinner, our guest is staying over so I had two small chicken breast “cutlets” that I breaded and served with cherry tomatoes, a German cucumber salad and sliced avocado. Tired now, so will get you recipes tomorrow. Sorry! Dee

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Food Gifts

Posted on July 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

I’m big on “hostess gifts.” Sure, you can always bring a bunch of flowers or a bottle of wine, but certain occasions call for something more personal, more special.

One of my favorites is spiced nuts. Of course I’ve asked for permission to share this 20 year-old recipe and been summarily denied by a magazine that is now defunct but has a presence (and this recipe) online. Choose the nut(s) of choice, I like raw cashews, and coat them with a toasted spice mixture of your liking, melt some butter into it, toss the nuts in the mixture and bake at 350 for 5-10 minutes. Keep an eye on them because they like to burn. Make sure they are completely cooled before placing in a decorative container (I love mason jars) and wrapping for giving.

I also like to buy olives, preferably at an olive bar so you can control the liquid content. I love meaty Kalamatas for this preparation. Drain the brine from the olives. Place the olives in a bowl and add whatever you like and have on hand. I place a few cloves of garlic in there, a sprig of rosemary (bruise it to allow the flavors out), some chili flakes. Don’t add salt, as the olives are salty enough. Place in a decorative container, leaving some room at the top. Cover with extra virgin olive oil and sit out on the counter for a few days to a week, making sure the olives are submerged. Make sure to notify the recipient that once the olives have been consumed the oil can be used for cooking or salads.

These are two great appetizers I like to keep on hand for when guests visit. If placed in the refrigerator the olive oil will solidify a bit but at room temperature will look normal again. For the nuts, keep them in sealed bags in the freezer until ready to serve or package as a hostess gift.

I know, I don’t make sweets. My sisters and many others are great bakers and I am not. Perhaps my palate is more suited to hot and salty flavors. In the college cafeteria my favorite breakfast was cocoa puffs with chocolate milk, now it’s smoked salmon on a sesame bagel but I’ve been known to eat cold pizza for breakfast! Cheers, the birds are up and so are we so at 6 a.m. it’s time to take out the dog. Dee

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Breakfast Scramble

Posted on April 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

I tried one this morning. In the frig were a few small roasted potatoes, a few eggs, milk and sharp cheddar cheese. I got a few maple sausages out of the freezer, cut them up and put them on first to cook. Then there’s bread.

When the sausages looked nice and brown I added the potatoes, that I’d cubed. While those cooked I added six eggs and some cheddar to 1/2 cup milk and mixed it up with some cubed focaccia (the bread) I made last night. I sprayed an 8×8 pan and was ready to go. Sausage, potato mixture went down first. Then the eggs and milk and bread. Then a bit of reserved cheese on top.

It was good. Will be better as I work on this new creation. But in this 8×8 pan, cooked at the right temp (mine was wrong as it was supposed to be 350) but my oven is a bit of a diva. She does what she wants, when she wants. Thank Maytag who won’t come out and fix it.

The result was cooked perfectly, and very tasty. I had to put the bottom layer back in for a few minutes.

This is a cooking blog and I hope you’ll share my semi-successes with my successes. This was a vision this morning and now you have it. Cheers, Dee

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Tortilla Supper

Posted on April 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

I always envy chefs who have extra broths and many other things prepped so they can make anything they want at a moment’s notice. I don’t have that luxury. It’s a small kitchen that I spend half the time trying to make the dog sit outside of it so I can work.

Many years ago I tried a recipe for myself that worked out. Always looking for new things that will enter our culinary repertoire I took its essence and tried it, and it was really good but I may tweak it a bit in future.

Because our get-together was that night I wanted to get all the prep done. I knew everything had to be in order at the house and there were many things to put in place by myself so I cheated.

I took one small rotisserie chicken from the grocery and broke it down and shredded it by hand (mixed with salsa), used the remainder of the caremelized onions, crumbled goat cheese onto three 12″ flour tortillas that I’d already toasted in a dry skillet.

One tortilla on the bottom, mix chicken with enough salsa to coat and add 1/2 of it, add 1/2 of the cooked onions and top with crumbled goat cheese. Add another layer. Brush the top with oil or butter and bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove from pan to cutting board and let rest a few minutes. Cut into slices and garnish with sliced avocado and extra salsa. Enjoy! Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Recipe Ideas

Party Food

Posted on April 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

We came out west on a 6-month contract, planned to stay in our current housing for up to three months and just celebrated the beginning of our third year here.

So, some of the neighbors have been very kind to us since we arrived and we wanted to toast them for welcoming us to the neighborhood. We held a brief coctkail hour and I made several hors d’oeuvres.

Spicy hazelnuts and almonds
Marinated Kalamata olives (drain olives, add garlic, rosemary, red pepper flakes and cover with olive oil)
Veggies (celery, carrot, cucumber, cherry tomato) with a dip of 1/2 mayo and 1/2 sour cream with s&p, lemon juice, chives
American cheese platter with Beehive farmhouse cheese, Maytag blue and Seal Bay triple creme, all with assorted crackers

I’d tried to prep our dinner to follow the party so caramelized some onions for an hour. The entire house smelled like onions when we arrived home from lunch so I added an onion dish, pissaladiere, the French onion/anchovy pizza. I just had time to make, rise and bake the dough and we had too much of the onions so that was the dish! That was a hit and a couple of guests want to know how to make pizza dough.

It was a success and it was an honor to thank these neighbors (several couldn’t make it) for welcoming us into the community. I always love making food for family and friends. It’s a lot of work but worth it with good conversation and a fun lunch, dinner, brunch or cocktail party. Cheers! Dee

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Essential Pantry

Posted on January 23, 2011 | 2 comments

I notice that a lot of cooks are doing this now, telling viewers or readers one thing at a time about how to build a pantry.

Confession: I was so scared to start writing this blog I worked for weeks getting together my essential cookbook collection and then the pantry collection. I believe cookbooks spanned four episodes and the pantry, five, but no-one reads them. No-one refers to them and I wish you would.

Please let me know how I can make these integral pages a meaningful part of your life. Yes, I have to redo my home page and will do so to make it easier for you to access this information. Signing off for now, Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Education, Recipe Ideas, Recipes, Recommended Pantry Contents

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Potato Hash

Posted on January 3, 2011 | 5 comments

Yes, it sounds much better as Hachis Parmentier, or Shepherd’s Pie. I’ve looked it up of late but remember one version my mother used to make when I was growing up (with canned green beans) and then Hachis Parmentier which was a very involved dish.

I purchased 1.25 lb 96/4 ground round and two large russet potatoes. I peeled the potatoes and put them on to boil while I chopped a few scallions (I’m using up stuff in the frig) and put them on to saute with the beef. I added a small can of whole tomatoes with their broth and about 1T tomato paste, salt, pepper and thyme and cooked it down a bit.

The meat mixture cooled a bit while I sprayed an 8X8 baking dish, then added it. I mashed the potatoes with a bit of milk and butter, making it a bit wetter than it would be because it was going into the oven, 350 degrees for 45 minutes. I did add a bit of grated Parm on top of the meat mixture and on top of the potato layer.

It was quite good for a first try and no recipe to go from at all. The originators of this multi-cultural dish used whatever they had on hand so I didn’t worry about ingredients, only quality and best culinary practices. It was fun! And it’ll be better next time. Cheers, Dee

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Holiday Traditions

Posted on December 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

I think now that my family always fought with them. We never knew when to get the tree. Lights went up by our mother and father. We each got our own ornament each year so got to hang them, and I was the oldest so always got two more than my younger sister. tee hee.

Dinner used to be turkey with all the trimmings, which changed I don’t know when, as Mom went to a traditional British dinner with prime rib, potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and sides. I did the “sides,” changing them every year.

Everyone discussed presents and the routine was changed every year, even though everyone said it was “routine.” Opening Christmas morning vs. Christmas Eve. After we were adults, we each picked a stocking and stuffed it for less than $20. I think our parents got each of us four a gift or two, and we got them and each other something. Hopefully my siblings don’t read this blog (unless it mentions mincemeat) otherwise the debate will start anew.

One thing we did agree on was that breakfast started early morning with Hungarian pull-apart coffee cake made by my sisters from brioche with cinnamon, sugar and nuts. We had that with coffee or tea. Early afternoon was the dinner. Then, desserts were mainly predictable, added over the years.

There were always mincemeat tarts, Scandinavians, Snickerdoodles, date squares, gingerbreads and lebkuchen. This year we are flying to my Dad’s for Christmas eve and day. Mom is gone now. My husband and I have been together for ten years and we don’t get each other Christmas gifts. But I was born in November and he in December and we don’t give gifts for those occasions either. That may be why we flew to see his family for Thanksgiving and mine for Christmas. Happy holidays! Cheers, Dee

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Winter Dinner

Posted on December 11, 2010 | Leave a comment

Whole Foods’ Don the Butcher came through again with his maple/rosemary/garlic marinated beef flap. I usually make the marinade myself but didn’t have the time. I made scalloped potatoes and roasted carrots with thyme, S&P and a pinch of sugar, all tossed in olive oil.

Jim called at five to say he was coming home from work. Unheard of since he ate fish unknowingly at a Russian buffet and as he’s allergic, was sicker than I’ve ever seen a person. It took him an hour to get up the hill in a snowstorm.

Jim asked to grill so he shoveled the deck, pulled in the grill right near the sliding door and kicked on the heat. It was an excellent meal and there’s an entire piece of beef flap leftover, perfect for his steak & eggs. We did finish the potatoes, yummy, and a few lone carrots are in a baggie and may go into an omelet or to the spoiled dog.

I’ll let you know how the gratin works out. Time to outfit in down, Polartec, boots, hat and gloves for the first walk of the day. Fifteen minutes, until the sun comes up as Zoe the dog isn’t even awake yet! Shhhhh. Cheers, Dee

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