My Starbucks – Longwood, FL

My Starbucks in Longwood, FL.  This is one of those places that links you with the song from the TV show Cheers – “I wanna go where everybody knows my name“.

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Peppermint

I’ve been trying to raise as much of my own herbs as I can.  Here is some good looking peppermint that will be used mostly for tea.

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Almost Lemons!

Earlier I wrote about the lemon tree that I got when I moved into my house a couple of years ago.  They’re almost ready to pick.

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Tyler Florence Ultimate Pot Roast

I got two great looking chuck roasts at Costco, so today is going to be pot roast day.  I really like the kind of cooking from Tyler Florence -he’s so down to earth and it seems all of his recipes are do-able (ingredients are easy to get – and methods are not difficult – for the working people).

Tyler Florence Ultimate Pot Roast

1 (3 to 4 pound) piece beef chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat
Kosher salt and black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 cup water
2 yellow onion, halved
4 garlic cloves, chopped
6 carrots, rough chopped
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 cups button mushrooms, stems removed and sliced in half
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
6 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup of red wine

Season all sides of the beef with a fair amount of salt and pepper. In a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot that has a tight cover; heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over moderately high heat. Brown the meat on all sides, taking the time to get a nice crust on the outside, about 15 minutes total. Pour in the tomatoes and the water. Scatter the vegetables and herbs around the pot roast, season with salt and pepper; and drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of oil, and add in the wine. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Braise for about 3 hours, basting every 30 minutes with the pan juices, until the beef is fork tender.

Slice the pot roast and arrange on platter surrounded by the vegetables. Serve with the pot juices.

 

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TOURTIERE – French Canadian Meat Pie

This Tourtiere is very popular in Maine.  My aunt comes from Rumford, Maine and my uncle was French Canadian – she used to make this for New Years Day.  Supposedly it is good luck to have a meat pie on New Years.  Well, its still January, so GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!

TOURTIERE 

1 lb. ground pork

1/2 lb. ground veal

6 slices bacon, diced

1/2 c. chopped onion

1/2 c. chopped celery

1 clove garlic, minced

Dash of nutmeg

Dash of mace

Dash of salt

Dash of pepper

1 1/4 c. water

2 tbsp. cornstarch

Pastry for double crust pie

Brown the meat with the bacon pieces. Drain off the fat and stir
in the onion, celery, garlic, and spices. Add 1 cup water and bring the mixture
to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently, until the
onion is tender.

Combine the cornstarch with remaining water and stir into the
hot meat mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until bubbling and
thickened, 1-2 minutes more. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Fit half the pastry into a 9-inch pie plate and fill with the meat
mixture. Top with remaining crust and decorate with leaves cut out of extra
pastry, if desired. Seal and flute edges; cut slits for vents. Bake in a
preheated 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. Serves 6.

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Chicken Vesuvio

This recipe for Chicken Vesuvio came from a local restaurant in the Orlando, FL area – Pebbles. As far as I know the restaurant has closed in our area (I think there were 4 or 5 in the Orlando area) and I really liked this dish. It was published in the Orlando Sentinel as well as Restaurant Secrets of Central Florida. Hope you like it.

Pebbles’ Chicken Vesuvio

8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter

4 oz demi-glaze

2 tsp. capers

2 oz white wine (Chardonnay)

2 ½ tsp. chopped garlic

1 oz lemon juice

2 egg yolks

1 sprig fresh rosemary

8 oz ( ½ lb) of your favorite pasta

½ tsp. oregano (fresh)

4 Italian plum tomatoes

½ tsp. chopped fresh parsley (garnish)

½ tsp. each salt and pepper

10 to 12 snow pea pods – blanched

½ tsp. tobasco

½ red pepper, julienned

8 oz chicken breast, skinned and cut into strips

¼ cup grated Romano or Asiago cheese

In a large sauté pan, melt 4 tablespoons of the butter. Add capers, ½ teaspoon of the chopped garlic, lemon juice, rosemary, oregano, parsley, salt, pepper and tobasco; stir to make Vesuvio butter.

Add chicken strips to pan and sauté over medium heat until browned on both sides. Add remaining 2 teaspoons chopped garlic, demi-glaze, wine and lemon juice; let mixture cook until reduced in volume by one-third. Whisk in remaining 4 tablespoons butter. Remove pan from heat; stir in egg yolks and continue stirring until sauce thickens. Add hot pasta and plum tomatoes.

Turn pasta out onto a platter. Garnish with parsley, snow peas and red pepper if desired. Top with grated cheese.

Makes two servings. Serve with your favorite Chardonnay.

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Cincinnati Chili

My daughter asked me for the Cincinnati Chili recipe that I usually make. This is supposed to be “Empress Style” i.e. Empress Chili Parlor. This was the second request in a week (my son asked for it last weekend) – so I figured I’d post it today.

This is very nice on a winter Saturday – Enjoy

Cincinnati Chili (Empress

2 lbs 93% lean ground beef (or ground sirloin)

2 large onions chopped

3 large garlic cloves chopped

1 tbsp paprika

2 tbsp Chili powder

2 tbsp Ground cumin

2 tbsp Ground allspice

2 tbsp Ground cinnamon

1 tsp black pepper

3 tbsp powdered cocoa

2 tbsp ground red pepper (use less if you want it less HOT)

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp of red wine vinegar

3 or 4 bay leaves

1 small can tomato paste

1 small can of tomato sauce

==========================

1 lb. Package of spaghetti

grated sharp cheddar cheese

One large WHITE onion chopped

Oyster crackers (optional)

In a large pot, pour in 11/2 quarts of water. Add the tomato paste and the can of tomato sauce. Stir this around until all the paste is dissolved.

Add the chopped garlic.

Add the ground sirloin my dropping small chucks of the meat into the liquid (that’s right – it goes in raw). Stir this around so that it is a loose mixture of liquid and meat (gross !!)

Add the two chopped onions, stir, and then add in all the rest of the ingredients. The entire mixture should be somewhat loose when you start and then will thicken as it cooks. If it seems to thick to begin with add more water.

Let this simmer on low or about three hours or until thicker. It smells great the entire time its cooking!! If it gets too thick and you don’t keep an eye on it, it will burn and you’ll have to throw it out! – so be careful dammit !

Cook pasta til done and drain. Place pasta on plates or pasta bowls and cover with Cincinnati Chili. Top with 1) dice white onions, sharp cheddar cheese, hot sauce (optional). Serve with oyster crackers is you want to.

Chili Pups………In a hot dog bun – – – spread a little yellow mustard into the bun, scoop in some Cincinnati Chili, top with onions, cheddar cheese, hot sauce. YUMMMMM.

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Friday Pizza – What a Bomb! – It sucked

I have a very nice recipe book called “PIZZERIA” by Evan Kleiman that had what I thought was a great recipe – Pizza with Spinach, Sausage, Salami, and Red Pepper. Sound good doesn’t it? It turned out AWFUL. It was wet, had a weird taste, and to boot – the dough didn’t perform as expected. I can’t believe I made such a crappy pizza. Oh well, I think I’ll stick to my basic recipes (you can see from previous posts). They always come out great.

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Ultimate Lemon Pound Cake

For weeks I’ve been trying to make the lemon-i-est lemon pound cake. At first I thought the Lemon Pound Cake from Starbucks was the best. But now I’ve found one better. Lemon Lovers Pound Cake at allrecipes.com is the one!!!

I found out one critical thing.  I greased the baking pan, but I forgot to flour it as well.  As a result, when it came time to remove this from the pan, parts of it stuck – so remember – flouring your pan is extremely important.

This cake is very lemony and tangy and delicious.  Get some coffee or tea and enjoy.

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Saturday Night Hot Dogs and Beans

Ok, it ain’t Saturday night yet!  But I got this recipe for SATURDAY NIGHT BAKED BEAN SUPPER from the Cape Cod Today website  (scroll about half way down and you’ll find it).

The beans turned out swell!  I can probably save some of it when Saturday actually comes around.

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