Dad’s Sunday French Toast

In my mind, I thought that country French cooks didn’t waste anything.  And I think this is why and how French toast must have originated.  By taking what was left over from yesterday, and using to create a substantial meal for today.

So then, French toast must have been made with French bread right?  Oh yeah!

Here in Florida, Publix supermarkets (Where Shopping Is a Pleasure – you know), they have wonderful bakeries.  Not as good as, say, fifteen years ago, but the bakeries are pretty good – and they make great baguettes.

Slice your baguette

I took a whole baguette and sliced it on an angle.  I let the sliced baguette soak for a few minutes in custard made of:

Three eggs beaten

¼ cup of whole milk

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

¼ tsp cinnamon

(OK, I know you only see two eggs in the picture, but actually used three!)

Whisk all that together in a bowl or casserole dish (something deep) large enough to hold and soak about four of the slices of bread.

On the stove, using a heavy skillet at med/high temperature – place a tablespoon of vegetable shortening and let it melt (or use vegetable oil) and let it come up to temperature.

Soak the French bread in the custard

Drop in the custard soaked baguette slices – fry until just past golden (or as you like it) about two minutes on each side.  Remove and set aside on another ovenproof plate in the oven at 300 to keep warm until all of the French bread is made.

Put two or three slices of French toast on a plate, smear with some room temperature butter and dust with powdered sugar – top with fresh or thawed fruit and drizzle with real maple syrup.  Some pork or turkey sausage pairs well with it.

Happy Sunday!  (OK, OK, if you must, you can make this on Saturday too!)

Fry the French bread

Dad's Sunday French Toast

Check out HEAVY TWEED JACKET’S Saturday morning pancakes at the link.  I made them on Sunday, terrif!  and easy.

http://heavytweed.blogspot.com/2009/06/pancakes-on-saturday.html

A friend sent me this recipe (snail mail) and I found it with a quick google.  Although I haven’t made this – and I will – it looks too awesome not to post.  So here it is.

Courtesy of Bon Apetit Magazine

I just noticed that I received 51,000 view the other day- didn’t know I had passed 50,000.

Thank you all for visiting.

The most hits I get on my blog are for lemon poundcake and Tyler Florence’s Ultimate pot roast.

Thanks again everyone!

=Dad

I found this awesome peach glaze for ham this past weekend.  The flavor is phenominal – I think you’ll really like it.

I didn’t have pink peppercorns, so I used black peppercorns.  I didn’t have champagne vinegar, so I used white wine vinegar.  It was great!  Give it a try.

Scroll al the way to the bottom of this link for the peach/peppercorn glaze.

http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/meats/ham-glaze-recipes.asp

Noodles and Cabbage.

 I know I’ve neglected this blog for a long time. But over the weekend I saw a segment of Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives on the Food Network and this one place was making Kluski. She was carmalizing the onions and cabbage – that hooked me.  

So here’s my version of what I saw —

Kluski y Kapusta

1 small head of cabbage sliced (about 3 cups)
1 medium onion
1/2 lb of bacon – crisped in a large frying pan – reserved a little of the bacon grease in the pan
3 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup Chicken Stock
Salt and pepper

8oz. of wide egg noodles (or noodles of your choice – try whole wheat) cooked to al-dente per package directions and drained.

After frying the bacon to well done crispness, leave a little of the bacon grease and add the butter.  In the same pan fry the cut-up cabbage and onion to almost brown (carmalized).  Salt and pepper as needed.  Add the chicken stock and let that reduce just a bit.  Add in the cooked egg noodles and mix into the cabbage and onions then add crumbled bacon.  Blend together, re-season and serve.

For Christmas my wife gave Tyler Florence’s new book “Dinner at MY Place” and there is a recipe for Lasagna Bolognese that I’m going to try today.  I’ll take some photos and let you know how it went.

Chianti

Time

Some of my cookbooks

Here is Tyler doing his version of Ultimate Lasagna =  – http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/ultimate-lasagna/32112.html

And my photos of the procedure:

Large Onion, two carrots, three stalks of celery, 4 cloves of garlic into the food processor

Process until all ingredients are smooth - and consistent

Coat bottom of large pot with olive oil; add 1 lb of ground veal, 1 lb of ground beef, and get some good dark color on the meat

Add one bottle (750ml) of dry red wine - I used Chianti

Let this simmer on low for 1 and 1/2 hours - stirring occasionaly so that it doesn't burn on the bottom

Next:

You can use ricotta cheese (1qt with one beaten egg), a little salt, black pepper and fresh chopped Italian parsley – you will use this between the layers of lasagna pasta.

OR

You can make a Bechamel Sauce with the following recipe link:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mario-batali/bechamel-sauce-recipe/index.html

and use this in place of the ricotta cheese filling.

Get two rounds of fresh mozzarella cheese and slice into 1/4 in slices

Prepare 1 pound of lasagna pasta per the package direction and drain in a pasta strainer.

In a large baking dish assemble the lasagna in the follow manner:

A thin layer of bechamel sauce or some of the bolognese sauce if you are using ricotta (note: do not put the ricotta cheese on the bottom of the baking dish – it will burn).

Then put a layer of pasta laying it without any gaps

A layer of bechamel or ricotta next

Then a layer of bolognese sauce

Then a layer of mozzarella cheese

Repeat this until all ingredients are used up and you end with mozzarella cheese on the top.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes - then cover with aluminum foil - then bake an additional 30 minutes until bubbling around the edges

The Christmas and New Years holidays were busy. Managed to get some time off of work and do a little cooking, but it was mostly the traditional stuff. Of course made a turkey (actually two) – roasted one 10 lb bird out on the grill for two hours – it was great and I sure had the neighbors wondering what I was up to.

We did some running around on Sunday after church and somehow got the bug that I had to have a Polish dinner. We stopped at Polina in Casselberry to pick up some Bobak’s kielbasa.

Well, since I had the kielbasa I thought I might as well make some potato pancakes

Potato Pancakes
Gourmet|December, 2000

1 pound potatoes
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 3/4 cup olive oil

Peel potatoes and coarsely grate by hand, transferring to a large bowl of cold water as grated. Soak potatoes 1 to 2 minutes after last batch is added to water, then drain well in a colander.

Spread grated potatoes and onion on a kitchen towel and roll up jelly-roll style. Twist towel tightly to wring out as much liquid as possible. Transfer potato mixture to a bowl and stir in egg and salt.

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Working in batches of 4 potato pancakes, spoon 2 tablespoons potato mixture per latke into skillet, spreading into 3-inch rounds with a fork. Reduce heat to moderate and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes. Turn potato pancakes over and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes more. Transfer to paper towels to drain and season with salt. Add more oil to skillet as needed. Keep potato pancakes warm on a wire rack set in a shallow baking pan in oven

I had some left over stuffed cabbage (golumpki) from Christmas Eve. So this made for a pretty nice dish with some nice pumpernickel bread.

So there must have been something in the air — (now be good!) because yesterday there was a package sitting at the front door from my sister in New Haven – two bottles of Jezynowka – blackberry flavored brandy. YUM! Thanks Karen.

My son shared two packages of New England Hot Dog buns with me.  He got them from his friends in Boston – When you grill the sides – it sure makes a difference in the taste.  Nothing like it.

Dog with New England Hot Dog bun

They are impossible to get here in Florida.  I froze a bag and a half and we ate the rest.  I need to save them as long as I can without making them taste bad from freezing.  You’ll probably see more posts about this because this bun is important.

I use home made chicken stock for stuffing now and I took some hints from Ina Garten on this.

Take the carcass of one roasted chicken (your own or from the store) and simmer it slowly in a large stock pot with

4 quarts of water (I used spring water)

1 medium onion cut in quarters

2 carrots – large chop

2 stalks of celery – large chop with leafy tops

2 bay leaves

tablespoon of whole black pepper corns

tablespoon of kosher salt

handful of italian parsley

handful of thyme

small sprig of rosemary

Simmer this very slowly until the liquid is medium-to-dark.

Strain through a sieve into another pot that you can keep in the refrigerator (or outside frig if you have one).

Then use this when you make your favorite stuffing recipe.

Making Chicken Stock

Ok, I had two boneless chicken breast out on the counter to defrost.  My wife gave me strict instructions NOT to make chicken Parmesan (which we both love but we are tired of saucy stuff).  So I decided to look up some chicken chili recipes – and basically ended up making my regular chili but with ground chicken instead of ground beef.

It tasted crappy.  It was probably healthy, and maybe someone might think it was good.  But not us.  We need the BEEF.  We need the beef fat.  We can’t take shortcuts and make chili from stuff that chili isn’t supposed to made from.  Its foul

Lesson Learned ===>> Don’t make chicken chili – ever – again!

In the United States the major cool weather holidays are coming – I can tell, Target in Altamonte Springs already has the Christmas decorations out, and they haven’t completely kicked the Halloween decorations to the corner yet! Costco has decorated trees up already, and some really cool toys on demo! (I particularly like “Biscuit” the golden retriever).

Actually a month or so ago I started thinking about Thanksgiving when I came across (or watched) Ina Garten make an apple and pear dessert I thought would knock all socks off guests this year at my house. I tried the recipe, but I don’t think will work for us. It was a good start at searching out new recipes for this year though.

Actually, this “trying new recipes” is how one of my family’s most favorite side dishes at Thanksgiving got started – namely Emrile Lagasse’s Sweet Peas au Gratin from Emrile’s Thanksgiving Feast show. If I’m not mistaken, that show aired in 1998 (I could be wrong).

Each year, my son and my sister-in-law ask if I’m making “Bam Peas” as we have come to know them. So now, in its ninth year, yes Bam Peas have become a tradition – they are always on the table at our house. They are something that is looked-forward to at the dinner table each year – and apart from full, happy tummies, they create memories too. Fun times, great company, and take home bags!

Somewhere around 1974 or so, I and my young family were visiting my parents in Connecticut. At the time we lived in way-upstate-New York, Watertown to be exact. It had occurred to me that this was a good time to get my Dad to write down his recipe for turkey stuffing. Originally this recipe came from my grandmother as she gave it to my mother and my Dad chose to make this stuffing his major contribution to the Thanksgiving dinner. He fooled around with the original recipe a bit, and came up with something quite remarkable.

Over the years, I fooled around with it (just a tad) and came up with a stuffing that has all the rellies begging for take home bags each year. Steve and Diane in particular put in orders early and I gladly produce pouch after pouch as the requests come in. I estimate that I make approximately ten pounds of this golden glob each year. My older son Mark (has fooled around with the recipe) and makes a version of the stuffing that his family likes. My daughter and son-in-law in San Francisco and my younger son John likes mine (what I like to call the current originale).

Memories start a lot of things. I remember — my grandmother had a chicken coop in the back of her house on Spruce Street in Rumford Maine. When our family visited in the summer, Grammie would kill a few chickens (my brother Greg and I got a huge kick out of that) and we’d have this great dinner out in the yard under the snow apple trees. This is where we first got introduced to her stuffing along with mountains of mashed potatoes, fresh green beans and peas (from her garden), berry pies, and fun times. We (as youngsters then) played ball in the yard, swung in the trees, and teased all the younger kids.

I guess it doesn’t take a lot of effort to start a tradition. Just trying an interesting recipe just once can lead to a lifetime of great food memories, and most of all, loving family and friends that appreciate what you make in the kitchen – its all worth the effort.

Take the time to ask Moms, Dads, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins about holiday recipes that they remember. If they have the recipes, be sure and get them copied down -

My version of my Dad’s and my Grandmother’s turkey stuffing follows. Go ahead and make it – Make a tradition and some memories.

The Best Turkey Stuffing – Ever!

Ingredients

1 pound of 90% lean ground beef

1 pound ground pork

1 large, or two medium yellow onions – medium dice

5 stalks of celery (with leafy tops), medium dice

1 large green bell pepper, medium dice

2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper

1 tablespoon Bell’s Poultry Seasoning

2 14 oz. cans of prepared chicken broth OR 4 cups home-made chicken stock

¼ cup fresh chopped curly parsley

¼ cup real maple syrup

One large bag of Pepperidge Farm Corn Bread Stuffing

½ cup water or chicken stock (if needed at the end)

1 cup plain bread crumbs (if needed at the end)

Recipe instructions:

In a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, add the ground pork and with a wooden spoon break it up rendering its fat without draining it off. Add the ground beef also breaking it up until it is loose and blend the two meats together.

Next, add all of the vegetable ingredients (onion, celery, green pepper) and blend it into the meat mixture. Season with the coarse salt and black pepper and mix well.

Add the chicken broth (or stock) until the liquid just covers the other ingredients, cover and reduce the heat to medium-low. Let this simmer slowly until all of the vegetables are tender (approximately 20 to 25 minutes).

Remove the pot from the heat and add the chopped parsley, Bell’s Seasoning, and maple syrup and stir together until those ingredients are completely incorporated making sure that the seasoning and maple syrup are throughout the mixture.

Lastly, add the Pepperidge Farm Corn Bread Stuffing Mix and with the wooden spoon combine until all of the bread is soaked into the wet mixture. This should be a very firm but moist mixture. If too thin (wet), you can add some plain bread crumbs. If firm, you can add some additional chicken broth or water. This makes a large quantity of stuffing – serves 8 – 10, but you will want more for leftovers!!

Stuff chicken or turkey loosely with the stuffing and roast according to brand instructions.

Set aside additional stuffing in a casserole dish with a cover or foil and heat at 325 until completely warmed through.

For breakfast, form cold stuffing into 3 inch round patties of even thickness and fry on medium heat with a little butter or margarine until lightly golden on both sides – serve with your favorite style of eggs.

For stuffed pork chops – butterfly the chops, and fill with a ½ cup of room-temperature stuffing adding a pat of butter to the top. Bake at 375 degrees in a lightly greased casserole dish until the pork chops are thoroughly cooked. Serve with a side of steamed green beans.

Last week I was traveling to San Francisco and I had a 50 minute stop-over in Cincinnati.  I knew that I’d have a chance to get some Cincinnati Chili at the Airport.  I was lucky to find Gold Star.

Ahhhh the chili pups were great — yummm

Chili Pups

Gold Star Chili at Cincinnati Airport

In San Francisco this week and we stopped in at this Chinese restaurant (more like a cafeteria).  I got the sweet and sour chicken ( I think).

Lunch ?

Pannullo

On Friday I went over to Park Avenue in Winter Park for lunch.  I wasn’t really sure what I wanted, but I was in a “vacation” kind of mood, so I stopped at Pannullo’s.  At first I thought about have a pannini or other sandwich, but then I spotted “The Park Avenue Burger” on their menu.

Gotta tell ya – the BEST burger I’ve had all year (including the ones I make myself).  The wait person told me that they grind their own beef each day.  I’m not sure if that was the ultimate secret, but this was a great burger.  I had mine done med-well and topped with two slices of provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, and shaved red onion. It came with fries – I had a beer with it.  Total with the tip $15.00.  I’ll go again when I’m in the craving a great burger.  Thanks Pannullo’s!

Park Avenue Burger w/fries