Tag Archives: chicken saltimbocca

My Pot Roast

Yesterday I bought this 3″ thick gorgeous chuck steak. Salt and pepper, a large can of crushed tomatoes, one Vidalia onion, chopped. I covered it with foil and baked for 3 1/2 hours. It was served over egg noodles. Yum. I have more left for tomorrow for lunch.

Dinner will have to be vegetarian or light, like chicken. Why? Because Friday morning my butchers have a one-day sale on grass-fed beef. It comes in coarsely ground and they re-grind it to sell. I’ve pre-ordered four pounds of coarsely ground beef for my Texas Chili. I pride myself on grinding my own meat for chili but if my butchers say they’ll save me an hour on prep and washing my meat grinder I’ll trust them as they’ve served me well for years.

Fall has been in the air even though it’ll be warm today. A brief summer is not the time for stews, pot roasts or chili. Ah, what the heck. Chili and corn bread. Lime, cheese, onion toppings. Maybe a few guests. We’ll see.

I took Mom’s recipes to a new level and now they’re mine, pot roast, chicken saltimbocca (on the blog) and others. At the core is the 50’s use a can of this, a packet of that. I even took Lady Bird Johnson’s quintessential Pedernales chili recipe from 1962 where she fed JFK and 5,000 guests at their ranch outside of Austin TX and made it my own. I don’t buy chili powder. I buy from Penzey’s Spices, available online though I seem to always move to a neighborhood with a Penzey’s and Whole Foods within a mile radius. Imagine that! Ancho, chipotle, and others, plus cumin.

It’s a good chili. My Swedish neighbor taught me kottsbullar (Swedish meatballs) so I taught him Texas chili. All is right in the world. Enjoy the day. Dee

New Tastes

Experience and creativity have created the following to learn from taste memories and make my own.

I’ve a beef carbonnade I make on the fly, that’s seared bacon, seared beef cubes, caramelized onions (once you take the beef out) then add some thyme, salt and pepper and 1.5 bottles of beer. Even though this is a French dish I get an English Brown Ale. So sue me. But not ’til after you simmer it on the stove for a minimum of 1.5 hours or place it in the oven at 325. Purchase or make your own egg noodles, I prefer pappardelle, and serve. I like something fresh and green on the side.

You can get my Chicken Saltimbocca recipe on this site.

Lady Bird Johnson was a lady and I hope to do justice to her chili recipe from 1962 when the Vice President and Lady Bird served Texas chili to 5,000 guests including President JFK. The recipe was the most sought White House document for a year.

I had to re-do this recipe as it is comfort food and the recipe is vague so I have to add my own meats and spices and grind the meat Texas-style. Yes, I choose my own cuts and break them down and grind them myself. Perhaps I’ll have to write a book about it and then give you a recipe. There is no recipe. If you look at the original, available to download at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin TX you’ll see it calls for “chili meat” and “chili powder.” I’ve my own mix and serve it with lime, sour cream, cheddar cheese for individual tastes add homemade cornbread and a salad. While I never had this as comfort food as a child, I did live in Texas for years and created my own.

There’s a Swedish neighbor who wants to teach me how to make meatballs and his special sauce which my husband and I were lucky to eat at his place next door. Since we’ve had dinner here and there, he will teach me meatballs and I will teach him Texas chili. We’ve an agreement. No, there are no beans in Texas chili. Don’t bother to argue.

As part of my family came from Montreal I would like to try to make poutine, which I never wanted to taste but is french fries with beef gravy and cheese curds. One of my first AHA moments was eating a smoked meat sandwich on rye at Ben’s in Montreal. Thank you David Sax for Save the Deli, sorry you took me off your blogroll. I bought another copy after a waiter stole the first copy from me as they grossly insulted pastrami and bread with what they served.

Perhaps the local holier than thou market will agree to make a poutine. They have potatoes, beef and cheese curds. What better marketing ploy can I grant? Dee