Tomato Gallette

Tomato Gallette (courtesy of The Essex, Essex Junction, Vermont)

Ingredients:

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

1 1/2 cups crumbled blue cheese (Maytag, Bayley Hazen Blue, or Point Reyes)

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 pounds thinly sliced tomatoes

1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced

2 teaspoons chopped thyme leaves

1 Tbsp. chopped parsley leaves

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2) On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll out pastry into a rectangle roughly 17 by 15 inches and trim edges to forma 16 by 14 inch rectangle. Halve pastry lengthwise, forming two 16 by 7 inch rectangles.

3) Brush edges with water and fold in edges to form a1/2 inch wide border on each rectangle. With tines of fork, press border to seal. Transfer rectangles to a large baking sheet.

4) Sprinkle each tart with Parmesan. Arrange tomato slices in one layer on cheese. Scatter onion slices and herbs over tomatoes and sprinkle blue cheese and salt and pepper to taste

5) Bake in upper 1/3 of oven 13 to 16 minutes.

Wine Pairing: Riesling. Nothing's better with blue cheese.

Cranberry-Orange Chicken Bake

This recipe comes from Kraft Food & Family, a magazine that used to be free, but now it costs about $6 a year -- still worth it!  Lots of good, easy recipes.  I just looked for this recipe online and couldn't find it anymore.

I add some chopped up par-boiled carrots to this too. It is great because you DON'T have to cook the chicken first! So it really is fast and easy to make. I always make it in one dish, but it would be fun to serve individual portions for dinner guests.

Cranberry-Orange Chicken Bake

1 pkg. Stove Top stuffing, chicken flavor
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup dried cranberries
2 Tbsp. chopped pecans (I usually skip this -- the nuts aren't noticeable)
1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed, drained (I like corn/red pepper/broccoli mix)

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Prepare stuffing mix as directed on package, using orange juice and water for the liquid and stirring in cranberries and pecans along with the stuffing mix. Set aside.

2. Combine chicken, soup and vegetables. Spoon evenly into six ovenproof serving bowls or 13x9-inch baking dish; top with the stuffing mixture.

3. Bake 30 min. or until chicken is cooked through.

Chicken-Cheese Enchiladas

Betsy asked me to share this super easy recipe for enchiladas.  It's from a spiral-bound Campbell's cookbook called Fabulous One-Dish Recipes (published in 1992!) that my grandmother gave me when I got my first apartment in grad school.  Back then I couldn't cook anything if it didn't have soup in it!

This remains one of my husband's favorite meals, all these years later.  In fact, since it's a spiral cookbook, I always leave the cookbook open to this page!

These are not "true" traditional Mexican enchiladas -- they are an Americanized version.  But still YUMMY!

I'll post a photo next time I make it.

Chicken-Cheese Enchiladas

1 can Campbell's Nacho Cheese soup (I usually use Cheddar Cheese soup)
1/2 cup milk
2 cups cooked diced chicken
1/2 cup salsa (I use the WHOLE JAR -- it makes them much better!)
1 4oz can chopped green chilies
1 tsp chili powder
8 flour tortillas (8 inches each)

1.  In small bowl, combine soup and milk.  Set aside.

2.  In medium bowl, combine chicken, salsa, chilies, chili powder and 2 Tbsp of soup mixture.

3.  To make enchiladas, along one side of each tortilla, spread about 1/3 cup of chicken mixture.  Roll up each tortilla jelly-roll fashion.  Place seamside down in greased 3-quart oblong baking dish.

4.  Spread reamining soup mixture over enchiladas.  Cover with foil.  Bake at 375 for 35 minutes or until hot and bubbling.

Kosher Salt Encrusted Prime Rib

This is what we did for thanksgiving dinner this year instead of the traditional turkey that we had too much of in the days prior. I spent all morning looking for different ways to cook it and this is what I settled on from Allrecipes (user: Marbalet). It turned out to be one of the more juicy, taste-filled cuts I've ever had (and believe me, there's been plenty sampled)

Ingredients
2 cups coarse kosher salt
4 pounds prime rib roast (out of the fridge for an hour or so to slowly warm)
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon seasoning salt

Directions

• Preheat oven to 450º F (100º C).
• Moisten the roast with a little water and then season the meat with the ground black pepper and seasoning salt, then cover completely with kosher salt creating a kind of crust around it.
• Roast in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes and then lower the temperature to 210º (I actually opened the oven door briefly to help it cool down to the desired roasting temp)
• Continue cooking until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 145º F (63º C).
• Remove from oven and let rest for 30 minutes. This sets the juices and makes the roast easier to carve.

Above was the finished product, minus the salt crust that was removed prior to carving.

Chocolate Raspberry Tart

Chocolate Raspberry Tart
(modified from The Wine Lover's Dessert Cookbook)

Okay, totally cheating, but I make this with a pre-made pie crust. :) Here you go!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the crust in a 10-inch pie plate, pushing to the edges and pricking all around with a fork. Bake until golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Set the pan on a rack to cool completely.

While that's happening, make the filling. Here's what you need for that:

12 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate (I use Scharrfenberger 70%), finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp, cut into 8 pieces
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sour cream

1 pint raspberries for garnish


Place the chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring the cream, sugar, and salt to a full, rolling boil in a saucepan. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and let it sit a few seconds to begin melting, then stir gently with a whisk just until the chocolate is smooth. Add the butter a tablespoon or two at a time until each piece is incorporated. Whisk in the yolks until smooth. Fold in the sour cream.

Pour the filling into the tart shell and set aside, uncovered, until it is completely cool and softly set, about 1 hour. Decorate the top with raspberries, and then slice with a sharp knife, dipping the blade in hot water and wiping it clean between slices.

Suggested wine pairing: Merlot (it tends to go really nicely with dark chocolate anything, and the raspberries will bring out some of the red fruit flavors!).

Green Bean Casserole

Never Enough Green Bean Casserole
from Allrecipes.com

We had ham steaks with pineapple as the entree tonight, and the green bean casserole as the side. The ham was grilled on the combination grill / panini press, as was the pineapple for a few seconds.



Ingredients:

1 (10 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup

3 ounces processed cheese (i.e. Velveeta®), cubed

1 tablespoon real bacon bits

1 (4 ounce) can mushroom stems and pieces, drained

2 (15 ounce) cans cut green beans, drained

1 (2.8 ounce) can French-fried onions

Directions:

1.	Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2.	Heat the undiluted cream of mushroom soup in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the processed cheese and bacon, and continue stirring until completely melted. Remove from the heat, stir in the mushrooms, then the green beans until evenly coated. Pour the mixture into a casserole dish, and top with the fried onions, leaving a 1 inch margin around the sides.
3.	Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until heated through and bubbly. Check near the end of cooking to make sure the onions aren't getting too brown.

Hot Beef Sandwiches au Jus

I have been making these tasty sandwiches for years!  They are one of our favorite meals.  When bottom round roasts are buy-one-get-one-free, you can be sure at least one of them will find its way into the crock pot for this recipe.

After 8-10 hours in the slow cooker, you shred the meat and serve in buns with the juice on the side for dipping -- like a French dip.  I like to toast the buns, because I don't like things that are soggy.  I often top the sandwiches with shredded swiss cheese. 

On a "work night," I put the recipe together the night before, using a frozen roast.  If you use a frozen piece of meat, you can leave it in the slow cooker a little longer than the recipe calls for.

The beef sandwiches are pictured with Sage and Potato Gratin.

The recipe is from Pillsbury's Soup & Crock-Pot Recipes (February 2000).

Hot Beef Sandwiches au Jus

1 (4-5 pound) bottom round beef roast (I usually cook one about half that size)
1 envelope dry onion soup

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp oregano

2 10oz cans of beef broth (I always buy Swanson -- they are 14.5 oz, but I use two anyway)

1 12oz bottle or can of beer (we ALWAYS use Sam Adams Boston Lager!)

2 garlic cloves, minced (I use the minced garlic in a jar that you refrigerate -- 1 tsp = a clove)

16 buns

1.  Mix all ingredients except buns and beef in slow cooker.  Place beef in liquid, spooning a little on top to be sure the beef is seasoned.

2.  Cover.  Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

3.  Slice or shred beef.  Serve in buns with individual portions of au jus on the side.