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Japanese Salmon over Linguine

May 2, 2012 by 17 Comments

There are some dishes that come to define special occasions. We have a few of them…

The boys’ birthdays almost inevitably have Sticky Chicky Bones and Pig Tails. Thanksgiving means Cranberry Upside Down Cake and Baked Chocolate Custards. Christmas Eve is our potsticker extravaganza. Easter always brings Bunny Bread. Just as much as we can count on these dishes making an appearance to help mark the passage of the year, I can count on my husband’s response to me asking him what he’d like for his birthday dinner.

“I’d love Japanese Salmon over Linguine, please!”

His answer comes as surely as rain in the spring. Since seeing this dish made on an episode of “Calling All Cooks” over ten years ago, it has become a staple festive dish for us. Almost always served on my husband’s birthday and every so often on Father’s Day, it is also a dish we trot out when we want to serve the best we have to dinner guests.

To be sure, the appearance isn’t as refined as some party foods, but it is lovely in its simple, unfussy appearance. The ease of preparation is a bonus. There isn’t a lick of engineering that goes into the dish, it is as simple to prepare as anything can be. As with many Asian foods, the bulk of the work comes before you turn on the heat under a pan.

When my two eldest boys did the 30 Hour Famine last week, they deliberately ate lightly at the breaking-of-the-fast-feast because they knew that dinner that evening was going to be Japanese Salmon over Linguine. The announcement of it for dinner always elicits happy moans. Even the anti-green-stuff contingent bends their rules and happily shovels green onion flecked salmon to their lips.

That salmon. Boy. It is exceptionally exquisite. Moist, gingery, and garlicky, it cooks gently in a sauce made of its own juices, sake, soy sauce and green onions. The salmon is flaked over cooked linguine piled in a deep bowl and then the glorious pan juices are poured over the whole thing. Then there is silence because silence is the only option available to worshipfully eat a plate full of Japanese Salmon over Linguine.

And if, per chance, you have managed somehow to make enough of the dish to have leftovers, be aware that you will have to fight for them. The chilled, non-reheated leftovers of this dish command bidding wars of the ultimate urgency. People offer to do chores for each other, hand over the remote control for a week, and/or go to bed early on purpose so Mommy can have free time just for the chance to have the last serving. It is really that good.

Cooking Notes:

You want the ginger ground or grated to a paste for the best results in this dish. I find it is easiest to accomplish this by wrapping a piece of fresh ginger root in plastic wrap and freezing overnight before approaching the grater with it. As long as it is reasonably young ginger (one which you could scrape clean of its peel by using the side of a spoon) you don’t even have to bother peeling it before grating it.When it is frozen solid, grate it on the finest section of a box grater or a microplane grater.

The garlic -much like the ginger- should be mashed, grated on a microplane or the finest setting of a box grater, or obliterated in a garlic press. The goal is to have a paste made of the ginger and garlic that you can smear over the fish.

 

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Japanese Salmon over Linguine

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Japanese Salmon over Linguine

This moist, gingery, and garlicky salmon cooks gently in a sauce made of its own juices, sake, soy sauce and green onions. The salmon is flaked over cooked linguine piled in a deep bowl and then the glorious pan juices are poured over the whole thing. This is a true family favourite.

Adapted from The Food Network

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup olive oil (preferably plain olive oil, not extra virgin)
  • 4 skin-on salmon fillets (about 1 1/2 pounds)
  • 3 cloves of garlic, grated, mashed to a paste or pushed through a press
  • 2-inch piece of ginger, frozen and then grated
  • 1 bunch green onions (scallions)
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup sake
  • 1 pound linguine, cooked according to package instructions and drained

Instructions

In a 2 or 4-cup measuring cup, combine the soy sauce and sake. Set aside. Trim the hairy ends from the green onions and slice the green onions quite thinly on an angle. Add the green onions to the soy sauce and sake and use a spoon to toss them, making sure all of the onions are evenly wet.

Pour the olive oil into a 12-inch high-sided skillet with a tight fitting lid. Blot the salmon fillets with a paper towel and then lay the fillets skin side up in the olive oil. Flip the fillets skin side down divide the garlic and ginger evenly among the fillets and rub them gently. Spoon about half of the soy sauce/sake/onion mixture over the fillets, place the lid on the pan and turn the heat on to medium under the pan. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the fillets are cooked most of the way up the sides. Gently flip them, add the remaining soy sauce/sake/onion mixture, replace the lid and continue to cook for another couple of minutes: just until the salmon is opaque all the way through.

Remove the pan from the heat and pull the skin off of the fillets. It should come away quite easily. Discard the skin. Break the salmon up into large pieces and arrange them over the cooked linguine in a serving bowl. Pour the pan juices over the top of the salmon. Serve hot, warm, room temperature or cold.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/05/02/japanese-salmon-over-linguine/

 

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Comfort Food, Fish, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Main Dish, Party Food, Pasta, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , ,

Creamy Bacon Gorgonzola Gnocchi

March 30, 2012 by 15 Comments

My kids friends are good sports. They follow my weirdo rules (no Minecraft or Wii before three p.m. unless there are extenuating circumstances like broken bones or cruddy life events, no drinks in the den, don’t chase the dog, and -most importantly- love is the final rule.) Yeah. Like I said, they’re good sports.

They are my taste-test posse. With very few exceptions, these awesome kids are willing to try anything I put in front of them. (In fact, some of these kids signed up for my ‘Gross Foods’ class locally. On purpose. Willingly!) Most of them don’t ask what it is until they’ve taken their first bites. God love ‘em.

I broke out a new recipe on a group of them just last week. After seeing Maria and Josh’s crispy gnocchi, I was on a gnocchi bender. I figured making lunch for a grand total of ten people was an opportunity that couldn’t be missed. I put on a massive pot of water, grabbed a few boxes of my favourite gnocchi* and assessed the pantry.

*I love hand made gnocchi. I do. I love it when its made by someone else. I know! I’m the Kitchen DIY queen, but gnocchi and I have this issue. Namely, the issue is that I mess them up dreadfully every time I make them from scratch and Delallo? Well, their boxed stuff is pretty darned good. For now, they win. I’ll be back, though! *shakes fist at sky*.

I grabbed Gorgonzola and Romano cheeses, bacon grease (you DO have some in the fridge, right?), and some salt and pepper. I melted said bacon grease in a heavy skillet, thoroughly drained the boiled gnocchi and tossed it into the hot grease. I crisped the gnocchi up around the edges, grated cheese over the top, salted and peppered to taste, tossed in a nub or two of gorgonzola cheese and a splash of the water I’d used to boil the gnocchi. This brings me to a very important point.

Are you aware of how valuable pasta water is? No really! A splash or two and a fistful of cheese and Vi-O-La! you have sauce. Good sauce. You can use it in place of tap water when you bake bread for improved texture. Pour cooled pasta water into your plants to water them. I’m not kidding. Don’t send it down the drain. Pasta Water for President!

To say the gnocchi was finished off is to euphemize (new word. I just coined it. At least that red squiggly tells me so…) the events at the table. If I were to play word association and throw out some words that came to mind watching the kids eat I might say: Hoover, locusts, disapparate, and black holes. I might even toss in a Doctor Who reference for good measure and say, “Crack in the universe into which matter disappears.” But I’d only say that if you’re wearing a bow-tie, fez or Stetson. Because those are clearly cool.

I shall digress.

This was a hit. And it was an even bigger hit when I made it two days later with actual bits of bacon in it and dusted it with fresh parsley. (I told you I was on a gnocchi bender.)

I just have to leave you with one thought before I share the recipe. My angelic blonde-haired, blue-eyed, ten-year-old approached me this morning and said, “Mom. Can we have gnocchi for lunch? Or as I like to call it, guh-naw-chee? Get it? ‘Cause I gnaw on it? Guh-naw?”  Sigh. Phonics jokes are a family trait. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go make my boy some guh-naw-chee.

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Creamy Bacon Gorgonzola Gnocchi

Rating: 51

Creamy Bacon Gorgonzola Gnocchi

Pillowy gnocchi lightly fried in bacon fat, then tossed into a simple pan sauce of bacon, three cheeses, parsley and green onion.

Ingredients

  • 2 (1 lb) boxes gnocchi
  • 1/2-3/4 of a pound of sliced bacon, cut cross-wise into 1/2-inch strips
  • 1-4 tablespoons crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, to taste (If you are averse to bleu cheeses, you can substitute an equal amount of mozzarella or fontina here.)
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella
  • 1/4 cup grated Romano cheese, plus extra for serving
  • 2 thinly sliced green onions (green part only)
  • 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

In a large, heavy skillet over medium high heat, cook the bacon until it is browned and crisp-chewy. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings.

Cook the gnocchi according to the package directions in the pot of boiling water. Use a sieve or slotted spoon to transfer the cooked gnocchi from the boiling water to a colander.

Return the pan with bacon grease to medium high heat. Add the drained gnocchi and toss to coat. Cook the gnocchi, stirring frequently, until golden brown on most surfaces. Lower the heat to medium, add all of the cheeses and a deep spoonful of the water in which the gnocchi was cooked. Stir gently, adding more pasta water -if necessary- to help the cheese melt and form a sauce. Stir in the bacon, sliced green onions and parsley and serve hot with extra Romano cheese if desired.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/03/30/creamy-bacon-bleu-cheese-gnocchi/

Filed Under: Comfort Food, kid food, Main Dish, Meat, Pasta, Rebecca, Recipes

Slow-Cooker Cola Pulled Pork and Carnitas Rice Bowls | Make Ahead Mondays

March 12, 2012 by 13 Comments

Let me tell you about last week. It was busy. Oh, it was biz-ay. B to the HOLY-COW-HOW-WILL-I-GET-ALL-THIS-DONE to the U-S-Y, man. Or wo-man. Woah, man.

I was hauling my rear (and a bunch of children to boot) all over this stretch of God’s country in my big ugly purple van. I drove people here. I drove people there. I dropped people off. I picked people up. In fact, I went one place with my five boys and came home with seven, only three of whom I had birthed. I balanced brooms in the kitchen to show off the awesome wackiness of the solar flares. I spent the entire week wondering how we could possibly make it to all of our commitments.

On the subject of solar flares, I’d just like to say one word. WEIRD.

Okay, I have a couple more words. Did you balance your broom? I’m not even kidding. Did you know that during solar flares you can take a broom –even a raggedy old angled one like mine- and balance it with no support? Go on. Test it. All the cool kids are doing it. You know you want to. (As a homeschooling mom, I have to practice my peer pressure skills so my kids don’t have to miss out on all the good stuff.)

I’m still not entirely sure how we did it, but we did manage to get to everything we had on the schedule and threw in a big family get together on Saturday for good measure. The biggest yeehah of them all, though,  the icing on the cake, was when the entire family (including those who had come to visit earlier in the day) went to watch a battle of the bands in which my fourteen year old bass-playing eldest son and my eight year old “Animal” drummer participated. It started at eight o’clock at night.

Did you catch that?

As in the same night as the time change. In other words, my  husband and I and our fourteen, twelve, ten, eight and six year olds were in a large auditorium full of big, loud, boomy amplifiers and microphones and screaming rock guitars (and some screaming vocalists) along with my sister, her husband and their eight, six and two year olds, and my mother. Nana was banging her head. At least I’m fairly certain she meant to and wasn’t being thrown back against the wall by the sub-woofer.

This brings me to another point. Can I talk about how much I despise this time change? They are taking an hour from me! Who decided that was a good idea? Do they not know how much I’m trying to cram into a day?

When we were in the process of moving to where we live now, I joked with friends that in order to buy the home, we had to convert to the Amish faith. Since moving here, I’ve gotten to know many Amish and one of the most fascinating things I learned was that they don’t  “do” the time change. Well, hallelujah. I think I’ll convert after all.

Solar flares, time changes, extra kids, battles of the bands, and go, go, GO! I hit my freezer food bank pretty hard this week. And on the subject of a stash of food…

You all know I love me some pulled pork. In fact, one of the all-time most popular posts ever here on Foodie With Family is my Cuban Pulled Pork recipe. It tastes wonderful and it makes enough to stash away three or four meals worth of food (even for a family our size!) It is so good. So good, in fact, that for a very long time (longer than I care to admit), I didn’t make pork shoulder in any other way. Why?

Because IT WAS SO GOOD!

You know what? It’s still that good, but I realized something really crucial. Expanding the pork shoulder repertoire does not mean I love the Cuban Pork any less. It just means I have more opportunities for eating pork!

Pork shoulder is the busy person’s best friend. You wouldn’t think it to look at that massive cut of meat, would you? You look at the marbled hunk of meat with that bone down the center and think, “All that work! Who has time?” You do! I promise. It is one of the most economical cuts of meat and requires so little hands-on time that it’s almost criminal not to take advantage of it.

For this Slow-Cooker Cola Pulled Pork, we begin with the same method used in the Cuban Pork recipe; cook overnight in the slow-cooker, chill during the day, shred the pork, reduce the pan juices, and pour it over the pork. Instead of our well loved Cuban spices and juices, we add cola, onions and chipotles in adobo. Rawr. Then we diverge a bit more… Instead of baking the pork, we press a goodly amount of the shredded pork into a super hot pan until it’s crispy brown around the edges. Flip it over, make it crispier and then? And then. Oh, then.

This, my friends, is the stuff of dreams. Crispy pork carnitas.
We can serve that crispity yet juicy, delectable, slightly spicy and sweet, flavour-packed pork on tostadas, pizza, in tacos, or like we’re doing today on Carnitas Rice Bowls. You cannot possibly imagine a meal that is this easy to throw together can taste this incredible.

This is good enough to bump itself into the rotation with my beloved Cuban Pork.

And much like Cuban Pork, it makes enough to feed a massive crowd ~or~ sock away several meals worth of already cooked meat. With that in the freezer, like all of our other Make Ahead Mondays recipes, dinner is just minutes away.

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Slow-Cooker Cola Pulled Pork and Carnitas Rice Bowls | Make Ahead Mondays

Rating: 51

Slow-Cooker Cola Pulled Pork and Carnitas Rice Bowls | Make Ahead Mondays

Slightly spicy, smoky and a little sweet, this slow-cooker cola pulled pork is so easy to make you'll be shocked and is so good that you'll be thankful it yields enough for several meals-worth to be stored in the freezer. One of our favourite ways to use it is on Carnitas Rice Bowls; hot cooked rice piled with the crispy "little meats" and a variety of flavourful toppings. Go wild and really pile it high. This meal pleases all ages and is easy on the wallet.

Ingredients

    For the Slow-Cooker Cola Pulled Pork:
  • 3 large onions
  • 6-9 pound bone-in pork shoulder or pork butt
  • 2 small cans of chipotles in adobo
  • 2 (12 ounce) bottles or cans of your preferred cola (I like Mexican Coca-Cola.)
    • For Each Serving of Carnitas Rice Bowls:
  • ½-3/4 cup slow-cooker cola pulled pork
  • 1 teaspoon canola, peanut or vegetable oil
  • 1 to 1 ½ cups hot, cooked rice
    • Optional, but oh-so-tasty:
  • salsa
  • shredded pepper jack or Cheddar cheese
  • Smoked Paprika and Chipotle Sauce
  • sour cream
  • sliced or diced avocado
  • finely diced red onion
  • chopped cilantro or parsley
  • lime wedges

Instructions

To Make the Slow-Cooker Cola Pulled Pork:

Cut the stem and root-ends from the onions, cut the onions in half and remove the peels. Arrange the halved onions over the base of the slow-cooker. Position the pork roast –fat layer facing up- on top of the onion halves. Pour the cans of chipotles in adobo (with all the sauce) over the pork shoulder then pour the colas over the chipotles. Cover the slow-cooker and cook on ‘LOW’ for 8-9 hours.

Cool the pork roast (still in its juices in the slow-cooker insert) completely until the pork fat congeals around the roast on top of the cooking juices. Scrape away and discard the fat. Transfer the pork roast to a cutting board and pour the remaining contents of the slow-cooker into a sieve positioned over a saucepan. Push the contents of the sieve with a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. Set the saucepan over medium high heat and bring it to a boil. Let it boil and reduce until it is about ¼ of the original volume.

Pull the cooled pork roast apart and scrape excess fat from the meat. Use your hands or two forks to shred the pork. To get smaller pieces of pork, you can chop through the pile of shredded pork with a large knife a couple of times. Put the pulled pork into a large mixing bowl, pour the reduced pan juices over the top and toss until the juices are evenly distributed.

To Freeze to Serve Later:

Divide the pulled pork between zipper top bags in meal-sized portions. Try to squeeze as much excess air from the bag as possible before sealing. Try to flatten the bag so that it takes up less room in the freezer. Freeze for up to 8 months.

To Serve from Fresh:

Put a heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat and add the oil to the pan. Swirl to coat, then pile the pulled-pork in the center of the pan. Use a spatula to press the pork into the pan. Fry until the pork is brown around the edges. Use a spatula to flip the pork until crisp on the other side.

To Serve From Frozen:

Thaw the pulled pork in the refrigerator or in the microwave. Put a heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat and add the oil to the pan. Swirl to coat, then pile the pulled-pork in the center of the pan. Use a spatula to press the pork into the pan. Fry until the pork is brown around the edges. Use a spatula to flip the pork until crisp on the other side.

To Assemble the Carnitas:

Put the hot, cooked rice in a bowl, use a spatula to place the crispy pork on top. Pile any or all of the toppings on the crispy pork.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/03/12/slow-cooker-cola-pulled-pork-and-carnitas-rice-bowls-make-ahead-mondays/

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Comfort Food, Component Foods, Freezer Pleaser, kid food, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Main Dish, Make Ahead Mondays, Meat, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, slow-cooker, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Southwestern Egg Rolls | Make Ahead Mondays

March 5, 2012 by 20 Comments

My love of all foods Southwestern is deep and abiding. From tacos to burritos (breakfast and otherwise), quesadillas, nachos (grande or humble), tortilla soup and everything in between, I can’t resist. Well, maybe I can resist, but I’ve honestly never tried because I don’t want to give up any opportunity for any of those heavenly goodies.

These Southwestern Egg Rolls are currently the top of the heap of the goodness that is southwestern food for me right now. And most conveniently, they’re as easy and delicious when cooked from frozen as they are when you first roll them up. That makes them the perfect subject for today’s Make Ahead Monday feature.

I can’t think of anything I like much better than bright, festive onion, corn, red bell and jalapeno peppers, spinach, parsley or cilantro, melted pepper jack cheese, mild and moist chicken, substantial and creamy black beans and smoky spices wrapped up in a crunchy, crispy, dark brown egg roll wrapper. Hubba hubba. Or should I say ‘arriba!”? No really, should I? I have no idea if that’s even appropriate here.

All I know is this. These egg rolls make me happy. Very, very happy. They make my husband happy. Extremely happy. And they make my two eldest sons so insanely happy they’re almost weepy. The middlest son? Well, he loves the chicken, corn, black beans, spinach and cheese, but he’s on the fence over the bell peppers and onions. The gruesome-twosome anti-veg contingent? They’re not going anywhere near this many vegetables all mingled together even if it is in a deep-fried, hand-held package. Oh well. More. For. Me.

One day they will be filled with bitter regret for all the delicious vegetables they passed up at the table. In the meantime, I will continue to eat what is left on their plates, much to my waistline’s chagrin, to better absorb the unavoidable body check that will be used to knock me out of the way when they finally realize how delicious these things are.

Let’s get down to some nitty-gritty customization options in this dish, shall we?

  • Use whichever leftover chicken you have whether it’s dark or white meat. I had a combination of leftover thighs and chicken breasts, so I picked the meat off and coarsely chopped it. Rotisserie chickens, leftover roast chicken, or almost whatever you have on hand will do the job. Just try not to toss something that is too strongly flavoured or overly saucy (for instance, chicken tikka masala or some such) into the mix.
  • If you’re sensitive to spicy foods, you can omit the jalapeno pepper and swap in Monterey Jack for the pepper jack.
  • You’ll note the recipe calls for ‘cilantro ~or~ parsley’. In short, use cilantro if you like it, use parsley if you don’t!
  • You can deep-fry or bake these. It’s entirely up to you. Regarding this…

If you want that shatteringly crispy exterior, you are going to want to take the plunge and deep-fry these. There’s just no way to get the same effect from baking them. I’m not going to say don’t bake them, because they really are tasty when prepared that way, too, it’s just they’re different.

I shoved two of these under my husband’s nose; one baked, one fried. He looked at both and went for the fried one first. He gobbled that down then tried the baked one and it was gone in a trice, too. When I quizzed him afterward about which he had preferred, he said, “I don’t know! They were both good, just different!” So there you have it. Both good, just different. If it helps you to decide, he ate the fried one with his hands and the baked one with a fork.

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Southwestern Egg Rolls | Make Ahead Mondays

Southwestern Egg Rolls | Make Ahead Mondays

These crispy Southwestern egg rolls are filled with bright, festive onion, corn, red bell and jalapeno peppers, spinach, parsley or cilantro, melted pepper jack cheese, mild and moist chicken, substantial and creamy black beans and smoky spices.

Made and frozen in advance, these make dinners a snap on busy nights and are eagerly anticipated by all.

Ingredients

    To Make and Freeze the Egg rolls
  • 6 cups cooked, cubed chicken (or shredded chicken)
  • 2 cups frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
  • 2 cups frozen corn, thawed
  • 2 cups cooked or canned black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 4 green onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 small onion, peeled and diced
  • 1 red bell pepper stemmed, seeded and diced
  • 1 jalapeno, stemmed, seeded and minced (omit if you prefer milder, less spicy food)
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced or pressed
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
  • 12 ounces, about 2-3 cups, depending on how coarsely you grate it, pepper jack cheese (use regular Monterey Jack if you prefer less spicy food.)
  • ¼ cup chopped cilantro or parsley
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • ¾ teaspoon ground cumin
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 40-50 egg roll wrappers
  • water in a bowl to moisten and seal the egg roll wrappers
    • To Cook the Egg Rolls:
  • canola, peanut or vegetable oil (for deep frying)
  • ~or~
  • non-stick cooking spray or oil (for baking)

Instructions

To Make and Freeze Egg Rolls:

Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium high heat. Add the green onions, onion, red bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, and garlic cloves along with a pinch of salt and stir to combine. Cook over medium high heat for about 2 minutes, or until the peppers and onions are crisp tender. Transfer the contents of the skillet to a large mixing bowl. Stir in all of the remaining ingredients except for the egg roll wrappers and water.

Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment or waxed paper.

Lay one egg roll wrapper out like a diamond with one tip pointing at your stomach. Scoop between ¼ and 1/3 cup of the filling neatly near the center of the egg roll wrapper, just a little bit closer to you than the center.

Pick up the corner closest to you and lift it, draping it over the filling. Use the wrapper to help compress the filling and distribute it so you have a tube of filling.

Fold the left corner over toward the center.

Do the same with the right corner.

Dip your fingers into the bowl of water, moisten along the edges of the top corner, then roll the bottom of the egg roll up toward the top, tightening the roll as you go.

When you roll it up and over the top corner, press lightly against the work surface to help seal it.

Place your sealed egg roll onto the lined pan. Repeat with the remaining filling and egg roll wrappers, trying to leave a little space between the egg rolls on the pan to prevent them from sticking together.

Cover the pans with plastic wrap and place in the freezer until the egg rolls are frozen through, about 4 hours. Transfer the frozen egg rolls into a re-sealable zipper-type freezer bag. Keep frozen for up to 6 months, using them as needed.

To Deep-Fry the Prepared Egg Rolls Before Freezing:

Heat about 2-inches of canola, peanut or vegetable oil in a high-sided heavy-bottomed pan until the oil is shimmery. If you have a deep-frying thermometer, you want the oil to be at 350°F. Carefully lower the desired number of egg rolls into the hot oil, taking care not to crowd the pan. If necessary, fry them in batches to avoid overcrowding. Fry the egg rolls, flipping once if necessary, for about 4 minutes, or until the egg roll wrapper is deep golden brown and the filling is hot all the way through. Transfer to a paper-towel lined plate or pan and let cool for a couple of minutes before serving.

To Deep-Fry Frozen Prepared Egg Rolls:

Heat about 2-inches of canola, peanut or vegetable oil in a high-sided heavy-bottomed pan until the oil is shimmery. Preheat oven to 350°F. If you have a deep-frying thermometer, you want the oil to be at 350°F. Carefully lower the desired number of frozen egg rolls into the hot oil, taking care not to crowd the pan. If necessary, fry them in batches to avoid overcrowding. Fry the egg rolls, flipping once if necessary, for about 6 minutes, or until the egg roll wrapper is deep golden brown and the filling is hot all the way through. Transfer to a paper-towel lined pan. Cut one open to test the heat in the center. If they are not hot, you can remove the paper towels from the pan and put the pan in the oven to finish heating through. Alternatively, you can heat the fried egg rolls for 30 seconds to 1 minute after frying if the centers are not hot. When the filling is hot in the center, let cool for a couple of minutes before serving.

To Bake the Prepared Egg Rolls Before Freezing:

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Spray the desired number of egg rolls all over nonstick cooking spray or brush with oil. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, flipping occasionally, or until the egg roll wrappers are golden brown all the way around and the filling is hot all the way through. Remove the pan from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

To Bake the Frozen Prepared Egg Rolls:

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Spray the desired number of egg rolls all over with nonstick cooking spray or brush with oil. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, flipping occasionally, or until the egg roll wrappers are golden brown all the way around and the filling is hot all the way through. Remove the pan from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

These are best served hot with a selection of sauces, like Ninfa’s Green Sauce , Smoked Paprika and Chipotle Sauce ,Roasted Red Pepper Sauce , or your favourite commercial or homemade salsa.
http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/03/05/southwestern-egg-rolls-make-ahead-mondays/

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Comfort Food, Freezer Pleaser, kid food, Main Dish, Make Ahead Mondays, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , ,

Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes | Make Ahead Mondays

February 20, 2012 by 19 Comments

WARNING: Downton Abbey Spoiler Alert! I’m  putting this on in an excess of caution, but given that last night was the season finale here in the US, I just want to be certain that you have a chance to see it before reading. I don’t actually give anything away, but I don’t want you to draw conclusions and then hate me forever.

This Sunday was a memorable one. Two of my boys had their first ever band practice. I stood in the kitchen listening to the guys jam, sneaking glances as often as I could without looking like a nutty backstage mom. I walked by and took as many surreptitious photos as I possibly could and tried desperately not to cry lest they think I didn’t like it.

Now, if you have a house full of teenaged boys, it doesn’t matter how distracted or otherwise occupied they appear, you’d best get some food going. Thank heavens I practice what I preach with Make Ahead Mondays. I had a freezer full of last minute options. I went with the easiest of the clean up options for dinners.

Why?

Lately, on Sunday nights, I’ve done the world’s fastest tucking-in of the kids. We’re talking smooch, pray, blankies-yanked-up-to-the-neck, find lost stuffed animals, pat the head and then a soothing and sincere, “If you come downstairs and interrupt Downton Abbey I will be crankier than Voldemort.”

Then I run back downstairs -wild horses aren’t in it, people… I fly-  to make a pot of tea and plant my backside firmly on the couch, remote-in-hand. Mercifully, DVRs exist, because I am quite clearly not an effective deliverer of threats. Either that, or my children are not good receivers of threats. Because they descend the stairs more often than the staff of Downton.

Forget the Superbowl. I sit here watching Downton Abbey saying things like,

“SHUT UP, THOMAS!”

“NO, Mr. Bates! NO!”

“I really like Anna’s hat.”

“Poor William.”

“Poor Daisy.”

“The Dowager Countess is my favourite person in the whole world.”

“Well, you did it NOW, didn’t you, Thomas?”

“Oh, Anna!”

“YES! Matthew socked him!”

But most importantly, and most frequently I scream, “SIR RICHARD IS A JERK!”

Can I get an amen?

Or a subdued, “Very well.”

In fact, I’m so devoted to Downton Abbey, I believe that The Dowager Countess (THREE CHEERS FOR VIOLET!) has a quote for just about everything, including Make Ahead Mondays.

“Oh, is her cooking so precisely timed? You couldn’t tell.”

Okay, so maybe I stretched that quote just a bit. But this last one comes from me talking to Lady Grantham about Make Ahead Mondays:

Lady Grantham: “You are quite wonderful the way you see room for improvement wherever you look. I never knew such reforming zeal.”
Rebecca: “I take that as a compliment.”
Lady Grantham: “I must’ve said it wrong.”

Well, alright, that wasn’t quite right, either.  I’m sorry. I’m just so obsessed.

Here’s the point, though…

I got a meal for ten on the table in thirty minutes and cleaned up in just thirty more. The sloppy joes in the freezer made it possible. And that in turn made it possible for me to clap like a seal and start singing, “Mary and Matthew sitting in a tree, K.I.S.S.I.N.G.”

Let this be a lesson to you. Cousin Violet loves sloppy joes.

Er.

Or something.

~~

You’ve never really had sloppy joes until you’ve had homemade sloppy joes. Go on, didn’t some of you curl your lips a bit when you saw “sloppy joes” in the title? Don’t go there! This might be “below the stairs” food, but it’s darned good! When you make them from scratch, they’re an entirely different story! When you take browned beef, luscious tangy sauce, loads upon loads of vegetables and simmer them for hours upon hours their flavours mingle and marry. Kind of like Sybil and Branson. Sigh. Pile that onto soft homemade rolls and you are in heaven. Make no mistake. They are sloppy. You’re going to want a goodly pile of napkins nearby. Or a footman with finger bowls. The choice is yours.

Either way, this stash in your freezer makes dinner a breeze.

A while back, I ran this recipe as a classic Foodie With Family Record-Eagle column. I hope you enjoy this printable version!

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Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes | Make Ahead Mondays

Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes | Make Ahead Mondays

You've never had a sloppy joe until you've had a sloppy joe made from scratch. Crammed full of veggies, big on flavour and huge on comfort, these sloppy joes are a great way to get your daily vegetable servings into picky eaters. As if they weren't wonderful enough, they're kind to the wallet and half-your-brain-tied-behind-your-back easy.

If you're feeding a big family, I highly recommend doubling or tripling this recipe (most slow-cookers can handle the upsize with no difficulty) and freezing the extras for last-minute meals.

Ingredients

  • 3 lbs. lean ground beef or turkey
  • 2 large onions, finely chopped
  • 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
  • 2 large ribs celery, finely chopped
  • 1 small carrot, peeled and finely chopped or grated
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
  • 3 6-oz. cans tomato paste
  • 1/3 c. cider vinegar, plus extra for adjusting flavor after cooking
  • 1/3 c. firmly packed light brown sugar, plus extra for adjusting flavor after cooking
  • 3 t. paprika
  • 2 t. dry mustard
  • 2 t. salt
  • 2 t. chili powder, more or less, to taste
  • 1 t. fresh ground black pepper, more or less, to taste
  • ½ t. hot pepper sauce

Instructions

In a large skillet over medium high heat, cook the beef with the onions, bell pepper, celery, carrot, and garlic, breaking up meat with a fork or wooden spoon until meat is lightly browned. Drain meat mixture and remove to a slow cooker, adding remaining ingredients. Stir until thoroughly combined, cover and cook on low for six to seven hours. Adjust flavor by adding additional brown sugar and vinegar to taste, if desired.

Serve filling loosely piled on rolls with choice of toppings.

To Freeze:

Cool the leftovers completely, scoop into a pre-labeled (with contents and date) resealable zipper bags in one-meal-portions. Close the zipper partway and squeeze as much air from the bag as you can without spilling the contents. Finish closing the zipper and lay the bag flat, gently squishing the bag to evenly distribute the sloppy joe filling. Lay the bags on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer until solid.

To Reheat:

Snip the top from the freezer bag and empty the contents into a microwave safe bowl or a heavy-bottomed saucepan with a tight fitting lid. If microwaving, cover bowl with plastic wrap, venting one side. Thaw first, then microwave on high, stirring every 2 minutes or so, until the filling is hot through. If using the stovetop, add 1/4 cup of water, lid tightly, and warm over low heat, stirring every 5 minutes or so, until the filling is hot through and through.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/02/20/slow-cooker-sloppy-joes-make-ahead-mondays/

Filed Under: Comfort Food, Freezer Pleaser, kid food, Main Dish, Make Ahead Mondays, Meat, Rebecca, Recipes, slow-cooker, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , ,

Slow-Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

February 17, 2012 by 86 Comments

Update: Like a goose, I left the onions out of the ingredients list and instructions. I have fixed and updated the recipe. My apologies to those who might have printed it before seeing the correction. I imagine it will still taste marvelous made sans onion, but with onions, it sings!

Everybody wants a unicorn recipe. It’s the kind of dish we all secretly hopes exists but despair of actually finding.  You try recipe after recipe after recipe trying to find something, ANYTHING that isn’t a burger (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) or a hot dog (Nothing wrong with that, either, but EGADS, give us some variety, please.) that will make everyone happy. All we want is tasty unicorns.

What would you say if I told you that I have a slow-cooker recipe that requires no more work than chopping an onion and a few garlic cloves and a wee bit of ginger, whisking a few liquids together and pouring it over some boneless skinless chicken thighs in the slow cooker? And then if I were to tell you that you didn’t have to do any pre-browning on that chicken? Wait, then I also said that it was easy on the wallet, too.

But what if I followed all that up by saying that four hours after doing that, you would have a dish that (even out of the slow-cooker) was deep and complex, flavourful and beautiful, and made every single person in my family happy. Would you think I was a liar?

Or would you believe me if I told you this is a unicorn?

Normally something that simple doesn’t yield palatable let alone fabulous. This, however, is fabulous.

Sweet, tangy, spicy, garlicky, gingery with a velvety sauce and tender chicken. It’s just so very good. I first saw this over on my friend Amy’s blog and knew I had to try it. True to Amy’s promise of success, we had no leftovers the first time I made it (and I had doubled her recipe!) And as a testament to the taste of this unicorn, I made it again just under a week later, this time with a few changes that I wanted to try. My husband was on (ANOTHER) business trip, and again, I doubled the amount of meat. And again? No leftovers. I repeat. NO LEFTOVERS. My five sons and I polished off a batch of it that was every bit as large as the batch that my adult male husband helped us consume earlier in the week.

Woah.

A.) These guys eat a lot. Okay. I’m no slouch. But still… I weep for my food budget.

B.) I may have to triple the recipe next time.

C.) Help.

When I told my husband later that night what we’d eaten for dinner as we caught up over the phone, he said, “Oh man. I missed it? That stinks.”

He had gone out to a restaurant that night and was jealous of our dinner. I call that a score for me.

Let me tell you one more thing, though… I’ve mentioned my picky pants gruesome-twosome anti-veg contingent before, right? They sucked this up like hoovers. They didn’t slow down to realize there were itty bitty minced onions in the dish.

Saddle up this unicorn and believe!

 

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Slow-Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

Slow-Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

Sweet, tangy, spicy, garlicky, gingery: You never expect something that is this simple to make to taste this deep and complex. With a maximum of 10 minutes of hands-on time required to put this together, you will be thrilled and so will the rest of your family!

Adapted with big thanks from my dear friend, Amy of Very Culinary

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • salt and pepper
  • 3/4 cup honey
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup minced onion
  • 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons ketchup
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
  • 1 tablespoon minced or grated fresh ginger
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
  • 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 4 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup of water
    • Serve with:
  • Hot cooked rice
  • Sesame seeds
  • Scallions, thinly sliced

Instructions

Very lightly season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and place them in the slow cooker.

Whisk the honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, canola and sesame oils, ginger, garlic and pepper flakes together in a mixing bowl and pour over the chicken thighs. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 4 hours, or until the chicken is tender and cooked through.

Use tongs or a slotted spoon to transfer the chicken to a rimmed plate or bowl and cover lightly with foil, leaving the pan juices in the slow cooker.

Stir the cornstarch into the water with a fork or small whisk until dissolved. Whisk the mixture into the pan juices in the slow cooker. Re-cover the slow-cooker and turn the heat to high. Let it cook and thicken for 15 minutes.

Carefully transfer the chicken back into the slow-cooker. Serve the pieces of chicken over the hot cooked rice, spoon the sauce over the chicken and garnish with sesame seeds and scallions.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/02/17/slow-cooker-honey-sesame-chicken/

 

Filed Under: Comfort Food, Happy Healthy and Wise, kid food, Main Dish, Meat, Rebecca, Recipes, slow-cooker, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , ,

Make Ahead Meatballs | Baked Meatballs and Polenta (Make Ahead Monday)

February 13, 2012 by 11 Comments

Update: A very astute reader (thank you, Elizabeth!) noticed that I had inserted one of my children’s math problems in the “how to make meatballs without a disher” portion of the recipe. If you had followed the instructions I gave, you’d end having SIX HUNDRED tiny, wee, adorable meatballs and cursing my name. Yeesh.  In case you were wondering, the problem was 30X=600. Solve for x.  Let this be a lesson to you. Don’t write and derive.

I vow not to correct my children’s math homework while finishing a post again. At least until next week.

With a Grandma from Arkansas and a Grandpa from West Virginia and a Mom -their daughter-  who learned to cook from them, I was brought up on good Southern food. The fact that I lived in Kentucky for six years as a child in my formative years helped matters along a little, too… In short, I run on grits.

There are very few things that grits can’t make better. Cold outside? Eat grits. Broken heart? Cheese grits. Nervous about anything? Simple buttered grits with salt and pepper. Feeling celebratory? Shrimp ‘n grits. Hungry? GRITS.

What can’t grits do? Creamy, chewy, soft, and hearty, grits are corn done right. So what does my Ode to Grits have to do with the dish pictured above? That’s polenta. And leaving aside the stoneground cornmeal vs. lye water soaked field corn bit of the discussion, polenta is, as my kids so poetically refer to it, Italian grits. Pronounced, in this case, EYE-tahl-ee-uhn.

We are nothing if we are not classy.

Italian grits bridge an argument that my dear, sweet, deluded husband and I have been having for years. Concisely, he likes his pasta gross. Seriously. He likes fine pastas (angel hair, thin spaghetti, etc…) and he likes it cooked past tender. As in mushy. I like substantial pasta (buccatini, shaped pastas, linguine) and I like it al dente. How have we ever made this work? By chucking most pasta dishes and agreeing on polenta. We both prefer polenta under meatballs and sauce, beef stew, and other various saucy morsels of goodness.

So while other couples make like Lady and the Tramp this Valentine’s Day, my sweetheart and I will be sharing a bowl of Italian grits topped with sumptuous baked meatballs and trying to eat faster so we can get the last spoonful.

In addition to being classy, we’re competitive. This makes us doubly fun on game night.

This meal is a fast one when you use a Make Ahead Monday advantage. I have to say that I’ve tried quite a few meatballs in my day, and these come in at the top for taste, ease and versatility. Yes, this recipe makes a lot (referring to both the frozen meatballs and today’s baked meatball recipe) but the uses are many.

The frozen meatballs can be baked up in a pan full of sauce like I did here, but they’re also divine in sweet and sour meatballs, tossed in barbecue sauce and kept warm in a slow-cooker for a party, or tossed in a cream sauce for a non-traditional (since it lacks pork) but incredibly delicious Swedish meatball dish. And if you find yourself with half a pan of baked meatballs in sauce leftover, you could do much, much, VASTLY worse things than meatball subs or a meatball pizza. When I tell you that those make boys happy, I speak empirical truth. All the minions back me up on this one.

For just one minute, I’m going to do something I don’t often do. I want to address two separate groups of people. First…

To Those Cooking for Three or Fewer People Per Meal:

Don’t panic when you see the quantity of meat called for in this recipe. Once these meatballs are made and “flash-frozen” then stashed in the freezer, you can take out and warm as few as one meatball or as many as you’d like if you’re serving guests. The meatballs are good for eight months, properly wrapped in the freezer. Since the recipe yields sixty meatballs, a person cooking for one would only have to consume approximately three meatballs every other week to go through these in time. That is totally do-able. Yes? In other words, I wouldn’t reduce this recipe. You never know when my family might show up at your door hungry. And what would you do then? Hmmm???

To Those Cooking for Four or More People Per Meal:

Don’t, under any circumstances, reduce this recipe. In fact, you wouldn’t be crazy if you doubled it. And if you’re cooking for six or more people? Triple it. If you have teenage kids? Quadruple it. I think you get my point, right? This is hard-core kid-pleasing food. You might be surprised how often you rely on your stash of meatballs.

~~~

Why not just buy frozen meatballs at the store? Because they’re gross. Every frozen meatball I’ve ever purchased (from store brand to boutique brand) has tasted waterlogged and bland (WHERE, I ask you WHERE are the herbs? Garlic? Spices? Flavours?). And even when they were on sale and I had a coupon, the expense was not justified by the product. My thoughts about commercially available meatballs can be summed up with a resounding, “Blech!”

Homemade frozen meatballs are most emphatically not blech! They great, are a massive convenience, and can be made when meat is on big sale at the store or butcher’s.

This leads me to a final word about the choice of meat in these meatballs. Most recipes for meatballs and meatloaf call for a blend of beef, pork, and veal in order to keep them tender and moist. I buck tradition here and not only call for all beef, but also for lean beef at that. Crazy? Well, it might not be what most recipes call for, but for me, it is the perfect meatball. It holds together, it’s moist, it’s flavourful, it’s like Mary Poppins: practically perfect in every way. If you’d prefer to use a blend, feel free -by all means- but this is my favourite version by far, and after this many years in the kitchen, I no longer feel like I have to do things “the right way” all the time.

 

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Make Ahead Meatballs | Baked Meatballs In Sauce and Polenta (Make Ahead Monday)

Make Ahead Meatballs | Baked Meatballs In Sauce and Polenta (Make Ahead Monday)

There is no dish more comforting than a bowl of creamy polenta topped with piping hot perfect meatballs in garlicky red sauce with a generous handful of grated cheese on top.

...And when the meatballs are waiting for you in the freezer, this dinner comes together in mere moments. Make Ahead Mondays save the day! These versatile meatballs are also great in barbecue sauce, in sweet and sour meatballs, in soups and on sandwiches and pizzas.

Ingredients

    For the Make Ahead Meatballs:
  • 4 1/2 pounds of lean ground beef
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs
  • 1 cup onion, minced super fine (I use the food processor to obliterate them to placate the anti-visible veg crowd)
  • 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and very finely minced or pressed
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped (or substitute 3 tablespoons dried parsley flakes)
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (preferably freshly ground)
    • For the Baked Meatballs in Sauce:
  • 25-30 frozen meatballs, directly from the freezer
  • 5 cups of your favourite red sauce (Marinara, ragu, etc...)
  • 2 anchovy fillets,finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup shredded Romano, Parmesano or Asiago cheese
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • nonstick cooking spray or olive oil to grease the pan
    • For the Creamy Polenta:
  • 5 cups chicken stock (or water)
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup coarsely ground cornmeal (polenta grains)
  • 1/4 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese (substitute Parmesan cheese if you don't like bleu cheese!)
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • coarsely ground black pepper to taste
    • Additional Optional Garnish:
  • Freshly grated Parmesano, Romano or Asiago cheese
  • Minced fresh parsley

Instructions

To Make the Make Ahead Meatballs:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line 2 rimmed half-sheet pans (13-inch x18-inch) with parchment paper and set aside.

Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and use your hands to mix it gently until all ingredients are evenly distributed. Use a medium sized disher* to scoop equal sized amounts of the meat mixture onto the prepared pans leaving about 1/4-inch of space between the meatballs. If the shapes are shaggy, you can go back through and lightly roll each one between your hands to even out the shape a bit.

*No disher? No problem. Cover your work surface with waxed paper and turn the meat mixture out onto it. Gently pat it out into a large rectangle. Use a pizza cutter or knife to mark the mixture into 10 evenly sized columns on the long side of the rectangle and 6 evenly sized rows on the short side. This will give you 60 equally sized amounts. Roll each one into a meatball, placing them on the parchment lined sheets as directed above.

Bake the meatballs for 30 minutes. Transfer the meatballs to a platter, cover lightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely cool. Place the platter in the freezer until the meatballs are frozen through. When they're completely hard, transfer them to a resealable plastic bag, squeezing as much air from the bag as possible before sealing. Label the bag and freezer for up to 8 months.

To Make Baked Meatballs in Sauce:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a 9-inch by 13-inch pan with non-stick cooking spray or brush with olive oil. Arrange the frozen meatballs evenly in the pan

In a mixing bowl, stir the sauce, chopped anchovy fillets, and shredded Romano, Parmesano or Asiago cheese together. Pour the mixture over the meatballs, then sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the top.

Bake, uncovered for 30-40 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly, the cheese is slightly browned and the meatballs are heated through.

To Make the Creamy Polenta:

Bring the stock or water to a boil over high heat in a medium, heavy-bottomed pot. Add the salt, lower the heat to medium and then whisk in the cornmeal, a little at a time, until it is all in and the cornmeal begins to swell and stay suspended in the liquid. Drop the heat to low and let simmer, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until the polenta is quite thick, the grains are all swollen and tender and the liquid is absorbed.

Turn off the heat, add in the butter and crumbled or grated cheese, and stir until both are completely melted and incorporated.

To Serve:

Ladle the polenta into serving bowls and top with 3-6 meatballs, depending on how hungry you are! Garnish the bowls with additional grated Parmesano, Romano or Asiago cheese and minced fresh parsley if you'd like.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/02/13/make-ahead-meatballs-baked-meatballs-and-polenta-make-ahead-monday/

 

Filed Under: Component Foods, Main Dish, Meat, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , ,

Waffle-Iron Ham and Cheese Paninis

January 24, 2012 by 12 Comments

We all know how I feel about ham and cheese. It’s no secret that I love it truly, madly, deeply…

The world’s simplest ham and cheese is good enough, no doubt, but everyone knows a toasted ham and cheese is even better.

And when you compress that sandwich while it’s toasting -á la panini- you get some serious hubba hubba working.

Now, I’ll be honest, as much as I love kitchen gadgets, I’ve never been able to justify buying a panini maker. There’s no panini maker big enough (that I’m aware of) to make a large amount of sandwiches simultaneously, and since I’m making meals for seven at a time, paying big kitchen gadget bucks to stand there pressing and grilling one sandwich at a time just doesn’t sound like my idea of good money management. Plus, it’s another thing on the shelves taking up space. On the other hand, pressed and grilled sandwiches… Sigh.

I’ve tried every trick out there for pressed sandwiches. Wrapping a brick in foil and heating it in the oven worked well, but dangit! I had to wrap a brick in foil and preheat it. I don’t always think that far in advance of my desperate need for a sandwich.

I tried heating up two cast iron skillets at the same time and laying one on top of the other, but then you get to scrape toasted cheese off of the bottom of an otherwise clean cast iron skillet. Since I’m firmly in the no-soap-on-cast-iron camp, that, too, was a pain in the rear.

I even bought a slimline cast-iron panini “lid” thingie. Cute, yes. But it was yet another “heat up the second component” thing and darned if it didn’t fall out of the cabinets onto my toe. That hurt enough that the item got its very own special trip to the thrift store.

One day last week, while I was cleaning and putting away my beloved waffle maker, the proverbial light bulb over my head flickered and went BING! Big, fat, hairy DUH! How had I not thought of this before? My waffle maker could be my panini maker, too! Granted, I was still only going to be able to turn two sandwiches out at a time but hey! We’re talking about two extraordinary sandwiches, no extra gadgetry on the shelves and multi-tasking. If there’s anything I love almost as much as pressed, toasted sandwiches, it’s multi-tasking: delicious, nutritious, cheapola multi-tasking.

A word about waffle makers before I go any further; I adore my waffle maker. This is my waffle maker.

What the picture doesn’t show is that the lid is “free-floating”. In other words, it can rise or fall depending on the bulk of what you have in it. This makes it the perfect ad hoc panini press. (The fact that it turns out the best waffles I’ve ever had in my life is nothing to sniff at either. Oh! And you want one that cleans up beautifully? This is the one for you. The waffle/grill plates snap out and the housing is stainless steel. Yes, it gets hot to the touch, but it doesn’t melt. What? You, unlike me, can manage not to melt the cool-touch waffle makers? So, it’s just me who melts plastic waffle makers? Huh. Who knew?)

Now, the sandwiches.

My all-time favourite sandwich filling is, as I’ve said, ham and cheese, but I have sandwich related Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Yes, it’s surprising, I know, because I am so very moderate in everything else in my life. Ahem. Anyway…

Here’s my idea of the perfect sandwich construction layer-by-layer.

  1. Soft but sturdy bread spread with mayonnaise and Dijon mustard.
  2. Three or four very thin slices of ham (depending on the size of the bread) draped and not laid flat. This comes from my time working at a deli. I like a pretty sandwich. I swear I can feel the difference between a pretty sandwich and a sad, depressed, flat sandwich blindfolded. But really, no, I am sane!
  3. One thin piece of cheese. You can rip the cheese to cover the meat and reach the edges of the bread, if you’d like. And I do.
  4. Baby or tender arugula or leaf lettuce.  If you put a sandwich in front of me with iceberg on it, I’ll eat it -don’t misunderstand- because I love sandwiches of all kinds. But if I’m talking perfect world sandwich, which is rather the point here, iceberg has no business being in the mix.
  5. Paper thin slices of sweet onion, preferably Vidalia. And since I’ve already gone down the high-maintenance sandwich preference road, I’m going to say another thing here. For cryin’ out loud (onion joke), please make the onion slices in half moons. That way, when you take a bite, you’re not going to pull an entire slab-o-onion off the sandwich when you pull away with a mouthful.
  6. More arugula!
  7. More cheese!
  8. More ham! Still draped! (Don’t make me come fix your sandwich to prove it!)
  9. One more piece of bread with mayonnaise and Dijon mustard.
  10. Cut it in half, for the love of all that is good in the world. I realize that’s not technically a layer, but to me, it’s part of the enjoyment of the sandwich, so don’t skip it!

And when you butter the outside of both ends of that sandwich and shove it in a waffle iron or panini maker you get the most heavenly, shatteringly crunchy exterior to a toasted ham and cheese you’ve ever seen. Golden-brown, crisped bread that is still tender inside with gooey cheese, salty ham, peppery arugula, sweet onion, pungent Dijon mustard and smooth mayonnaise; this sandwich is everything a sandwich aspires to be. Whether you serve these as part of a meal or as part of your game day party food, you are sure to score big.

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Waffle-Iron Ham and Cheese Paninis

Waffle-Iron Ham and Cheese Paninis

Golden-brown, crisped bread that is still tender inside with gooey cheese, salty ham, peppery arugula, sweet onion, pungent Dijon mustard and smooth mayonnaise; this sandwich is everything a sandwich aspires to be. Whether you serve these as part of a meal or as part of your game day party food, you are sure to score big.

Ingredients

    Per Sandwich:
  • 2 slices (about 1/2-inch thick each) soft but sturdy bread. (Like this. )
  • 1 tablespoon, approximately, softened butter
  • 6 very thin slices deli ham (Black Forest or Virginia Style, preferably)
  • 2 thin slices provolone cheese
  • 1 fistful baby or tender arugula
  • paper thin slices sweet onion, to taste
  • Dijon mustard, to taste
  • mayonnaise, to taste

Instructions

Preheat your waffle iron or panini maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

Spread the top of one piece of bread with mayonnaise and Dijon. Arrange 3 pieces of the ham on the bread, top with 1 piece of the provolone cheese, half of the arugula, the onions, the other half of the arugula, last piece of cheese, and the remaining 3 slices of cheese. Finally, spread the remaining piece of bread with more Dijon and mayonnaise and put that side down on top of the sandwich. Generously butter the top of the bread.

Open the waffle iron, hold the sandwich together and carefully invert it so the buttered top is facing down on the waffle iron. Quickly butter the piece of bread that is now on the top and close the waffle iron. You may need to weight the top of the waffle iron down until the sandwich begins to compress. A heavy pan or can of something that will not be damaged by heat is a good bet.

Toast until the sandwich is compressed and the outside is a crispy, deep golden brown. In my waffle maker, set on high, that took about 5 minutes.

Use tongs or a spatula to carefully remove the sandwich from the waffle iron and transfer it to a cutting board. Cut in half (or quarters) and serve hot.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/01/24/waffle-iron-ham-and-cheese-paninis/

What are you favourite sandwich fillings? Are you a cold or hot sandwich person or not a *GASP* sandwich person at all?

 

Filed Under: Comfort Food, kid food, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Main Dish, Meat, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , ,
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