Memorable Quotes:

"A Bearnaise sauce is simply an egg yolk, a shallot, a little tarragon vinegar and butter, but it takes years of practice for the result to be perfect." Fernand Point

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Stanley Tucci 6 ingredient pasta casserole

 Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter, or as needed
  • 1/2 onion, finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 ounces pancetta, diced
  • 6 ounces frozen peas
  • 8 ounces cooked farfalle pasta
  • 2 cups béchamel sauce (or other jarred creamy sauce)
  • 2 tablespoons butter (optional)
  • Parmesan cheese, freshly grated (optional)

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. Heat olive oil or butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook until translucent, then add garlic and cook until fragrant. Stir in pancetta and frozen peas. Cook until warmed through and pancetta has crisped up a bit.
  3. Combine cooked pasta, béchamel, and pancetta mixture in a casserole dish. Dot with butter and top with grated Parmesan cheese.
  4. Bake, uncovered, until the sauce is bubbly and the top is lightly browned, about 20 minutes.

Béchamel Sauce Recipe (Italian White Sauce)

  • Prep Time: 5 Min
  • Cook Time: 15 Min
  • Servings: 4 people or 500 ml (2 ½ cup) of bechamel sauce

Bechamel Ingredients

  • 500 ml (2 cups) of milk
  • 50 g (1,7 ounce or ¼ cup) of unsalted butter
  • 50 g (1,7 ounce or 4 tablespoons) of all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon of fine salt
  • freshly grated nutmeg
  • Parmigiano reggiano cheese (optional)

WHITE SAUCE RATIO: the ingredients for this recipe are for 500 ml (2 ½ cup) of Bechamel sauce. If you need 1 liter (5 cups) of bechamel, doubled the ingredients. If you want a more liquid béchamel sauce, reduce the flour and the butter. For example 30 g (1 ounce or 2 ½ tablespoons) of flour and 30 g (1 ounce or 2 tablespoons) of butter.

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Crema Di Pomodoro (cream of tomato soup)

 Ingredients:

About 1 loaf of Italian or French bread
2 carrots
2 celery ribs
1 medium onion
3 garlic cloves
3 Tablespoons of olive oil
1 cup dry white wine
4 1/2 cups of canned crushed tomatoes in puree
1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano, crumbled
3-4 cups water
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sour cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

cut enough bread into 3/4 inch cubes to measure about 3 cups and arrange in one layer in a shallow baking pan. toast bread in middle of oven until golden and crisp, 10 to 15 minutes.


Finely chop carrots, celery, onion and garlic. In a heavy 4-5 quart pan cook chopped vegetables and garlic in oil with salt and pepper to taste over moderately low heat, stirring, until tender but not browned, about 10 minutes. add wine and boil 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, oregano, and 1 cup of water and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes. Remove pan from heat and whisk in heavy cream and sour cream. Cool soup for 10 minutes. In a blender puree soup int aches, transferring as pureed to a large bowl.

Return soup to pan and thin to desired consistency with remaining water. Season soup with salt and pepper and heat over moderate heat, stirring until heated through. Do not let boil.

Serve soup ladled over croutons in large bowls.

Grilled Corn and Pepper Soup

 Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of butter

2 ears of corn grilled

1 onion chopped

1 red pepper grilled, peeled, seeded and chopped

1 1/2 cups of half and half

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1 tablespoon of minced dill

Salt and Pepper


Directions:

Melt butter in a medium saucepan. While it melts, cut kernels from corn. Set aside 1/4 cup of the kernels.

Add remaining corn and onion to saucepan and cook over medium heat until slightly softened, 2 minutes. Add bell pepper and continue to cook, stirring frequently, 3 minutes. add half and half, broth and dill and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until vegetables are very tender, 15 minutes.

Puree soup in blender inn batches until very smooth. strain into clean saucepan, reheat and season with slat and pepper to taste. Top with reserved corn prior to serving.

Garnet and Ray's Corn Chowder

 Ingredients:

2 TBS of butter

1 large onion, diced

1-2 celery stalks, diced

large baking potato, diced

1-2 small cloves of garlic

1 tsp cumin

1- 1 1/2 cans of chicken stock

6-8 large ears of corn cooked with kernels removed

salt and pepper to taste

1-2 cups of half and half

Grated Cheese (mixed types)

Cilantro


Directions:

In a large cause pan, melt butter and add onions, clery, potato, garlic and cumin and cook for 10-15 minutes. Add 1 can of chicken stock then add the corn and cook an additional 15 minutes.

Puree in batches and adjust thickness of the soup with either stock or half and half. Taste for seasoning. Recipe says to add an additional teaspoon of cumin. 

Serve in bowls topped with shredded cheese.


Saturday, February 25, 2023

Mom's Smokey Baked Beans

 Ingredients:

1 16-18 ounce can of B&M Baked Beans

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 tsp of dry mustard

1/4 cup ketchup

2 slices of bacon cut in 1 inch pieces

1 tsp of liquid smoke

Combine ingredients and bake in covered casserole at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Remove cover and cook another 1/2 hour.

Mom's Red Beans and Rice

Ingredients:

1 ham bone or 3-4 ham hocks
1 16 ounce bag of red beans
2 stalks of celery chopped
1 red or green bell pepper chopped
1 roasted jalapeno pepper (canned) chopped
1 large onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic miinced
1/4 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of cumin
1 bay leaf
2 tsp Worcestershire sacue
1/4 tsp of tabasco
Juice eof one lemon.


Directions:

Do not add salt until the very end because ham will be salty and the beans will not cook thoroughly if water is salted.

Wash the beans in several rinses. Cover with cold water and soak over night. Discard the water used to soak the beans. Put the means in a large pot and cover with cold water. Add all the ingredients except the lemon juice. Bring to a boil and simmer covered for several hous until beans are cooked.

After about 2 hours, when tender, remove the ham bones from the pot. Debone the ham and reserve.

Remove cover and cook until the thickend to desired consistency.

Add the deboned ham and the lemon juice to the mixture and adjust the seasonings to your taste. Serve hot over white rice. 

Cream of Brie Soup

 From "Capital Classics: Recipes From the Junior League of Washington


Ingredients:

1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
2 cups chicken stock
3/4 pound of Brie, rind removed
Salt, Pepper
Chopped chives


Directions:

In stock pot, saute onion and celeery in butter until tender and transparent. Stir in flourand cook until mixture bubbles. Remove from heat. gradually stir in milk and chicken stock. returnn to heat.

Stir until soup thickens. Cube cheese. Add to stock pot and stir until melted. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately, garnished with chopped chives.