A Mllion Dollar Berry Dessert

Whether you pick your own, grow  your own, and shop the supermarket specials, this dessert is soooo good.  It is from this month's (July, the Grilling Issue) Bon Appetit.  


Macerated Berries with Vanilla Cream - serves 6  (I cut the ingredients by 1/3 to serve only 4). 
Berries:
6 cups fresh mixed berries (scant 2 lbs., divided)
3/4 cup sugar 
1/4 cup fresh (used o.j. from the dairy case) orange juice

Vanilla Cream 
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, or 1  1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chilled heavy cream
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sugar 


Berries:  Using a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon, (I used the tool to cut butter into pastry) mash 1 cup berries with sugar and orange juice in a large bowl until sugar begins to dissolve.  Gently stir in remaining 5 cups berries, let sit a room temperature, tossing occasionally until berries are juicy, 1 -2 hours.


Vanilla cream:  Scrape seeds from vanilla bean in to a medium bowl.  Add chilled c ream, sour cream and sugar.  Using a whisk or an electric mixer, beat until soft beaks form. 


Do ahead:  cream can be made 30 minutes ahead.  Cover and chill. 


This dessert has huge bang for the buck.  The vanilla cream is to die for, and the berries look luscious in the red juiciness.  Perfect end to a nice dinner party or a family dinner. 


I used an ancient vanilla bean and will have to order more.  I always go to Penzey's for spices.  They're the best. www.penzeys.com.

Retro Recipes with Chicken

These recipes never heard of the food pyramid, or the nutritional enlightment.  They remain ignorant of the food police.  Both are cheap (when chicken is on sale, as it usually is) and tasty and make delicious leftovers. 


I got the recipe for "Chicken Little" at my first job in Northbrook, Illinois in the early 80's.  I loved to make it for my family, because the little kids scarfed it down and asked for more.  Rich?  Yeah.  Simple ingredients that you do not have to shop all day for. 


Chicken Little: 


1 stick butter;1 cup uncooked rice; 1 medium onion, chopped; 2 cans chicken broth; 2 lbs.  (approx) small chicken pieces. 
Process:  Melt butter.  Pour into a 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish.  Add rice, onion and broth.  Lay chicken pieces on rice mixture.  Bake uncovered one hour @ 350 degrees.  Serves 4.  
If you want to gussy it up, sprinkle with parsley or rosemary or thyme.  
Easy as pie, no, easier. 


Chicken-Cashew Casserole.  My mom made this and it always tasted so good to me as a kid.  I think it dates to the early sixties, maybe earlier--that age of Campbell's soup creation.  The only change I make is to use fresh mushrooms.  I always thought I hated mushrooms until I tried fresh ones and discovered they weren't the slimy things out of a jar/can that I found so disgusting. 


Stew 1 whole chicken.   Do not stew the little bag(s) of giblets that come inside the chicken.  No indeed.  If you don't know how to stew a chicken, look it up. 
Mix one small diced onion, a cup diced celery, 1/4 cup diced green pepper, 3/4 cup uncooked rice, 1 can mushroom soup, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 2 cups chicken broth (from the stewing will work) and 1 can whole mushrooms (substitute fresh, please!)  
Mix in  the  stewed now skinless chicken which you have in the meantime removed from the bone and cut into small chunks.  This whole business (chicken, veggies and soups)  goes into a 2 quart casserole with a lid. Make sure to stir until everything is nicely mixed.
Bake covered for 1 hour 10 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Remove from oven and sprinkle 1 cup cashews on top.  Bake 20 minutes more, uncovered.  Serves about six.  It is hard to stop eating this.  Just tastes so good.  
If you are a nervous cook, buy a rotisserie chicken and remove the skin (I recommend eating it) and take the meat off the bones and cut up.  Proceed with the recipe. 


In the midwest, these recipes would be called chicken hot dish.  And remember, canned mushrooms are the devil's spawn. 

Tacos Tonight

This is likely a repeat of the post, "The Best Tacos You Will Ever Eat."  Houseguests this week, one of  them a vegetarian, and we try to accommodate everyone, so last night I made two skillets of fried rice, one with leftover roast pork, one without.  The vegetarian ate a whole serving bowl of the stuff, so I guess it tasted good.  Tonight is tacos, with the filling in two skillets--one with peppers, onion and black beans, the other with grilled steak, peppers, onions and black beans.  Seasonings, too, of course. 


I found some $1.25 dishes at Ocean State Job Lot that have three dividers.  Bought two of them.  I always serve grated cheddar, diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, avocado, sour cream, scallions, and cilantro to sprinkle on the tacos.  Also hot sauce.  These are primo.  And so not break the bank.  The only thing we have to get at the store is the avocado and the jalapeno.  Of course, I always use good corn tortillas, with the taste of Mexico, not gringo flour tortillas, the devil's spawn IMHO.  


I find much to weep about at places like the Chipotle, and Quedoba, (think I have mispelled) who only seem to have flour torillas or the pre-made crispy corn tortillas from a box.  This is the worse Californication of Mexican food, a downright abomination.  With fat and sugar and no fibre, whereas corn tortillas have  no fat, no sugar and plenty of fiber.  Nutritionally superior and the have, gasp, flavor!!!!  End of rant.  

My aunt always said, "it takes all kinds of people to make a world."  She was from Iowa, and worked on Boeing bombers during the war, a real Rosie the Riveter.  

I cook everything in iron skillets.  Good for the biceps, too.  

Hasta la vista, baby!   

A Cheap Dinner with an even Cheaper Lunch

Last night I chopped up a grilled pork chop.  Set some onion to saute in the pan, added the pork chop with a handful of diced grape tomatoes.  Seasoned with cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper.  I added about 1/3 can of refried beans and kept the heat medium low.


Meanwhile, I cooked 4 corn tortillas in oil, and cut up the following: scallions, cilantro, radish, tomato, mild cheddar, and lettuce.   When the pork chop glop was hot, we sat down at the table and concocted our own tacos.  I also put the sour cream and the salsa out.  Boy was it tasty!


Today for lunch, I cooked 3 tortillas (two for Significant Other, one for me).  Heated another 1/3 of the beans in the microwave:  served lettuce, tomato, chopped fresh mozzarella, radish and cilantro.  Also sour cream and salsa.  It was the last bits of lettuce, cheese, radish and cilantro.  Drank a glass of white wine with the feast on the deck, admiring garden and the tuberous begonias which are blooming like crazy.  Delightful meals.


And so cheap!


In the oven right now is orange yogurt bread.  We'll eat 2 slices tonight and freeze the rest for company.  This has become one of my go to quick breads. Find the recipe on this link.  This food blogger has other good recipes, too.  Orange Yogurt Bread   I use whatever Greek yogurt is on sale.   0 % fat is fine, 2% is even better.  This bread keeps well and is popular with guests and family.


The other food item on the agenda is:  Lemon-Lime Ice Milk from Epicurious.  the Plum Streusel-pie is good too, but we really go for the ice-milk. Here is the Epicurious link.  Many of their recipes are a) easy and b) don't break the bank.  Almost always tasty.  Try it!   Luscious Lemon-Lime Ice Milk

An American Take on an old German Fave: Rote Grütze

Red Groats in a cut glass bowl on the dining room table

One of the best things about being a tourist in Germany in the summer is eating the dessert Rote Grütze, literally translated as "Red Groats."  The best is found at Leysieffer in Osnabrück, Sylt and Berlin.  You can even buy a container to take home.  
Now this delicacy is made with red currants, and maybe some currant juice as well as raspberries and strawberries.  I don't know if you have a currant bush, but we do not and the little red buggers are $4.99 for a piddling small box if you can find them at all.  Sooooo. What to do? 
I have solved the problem by devising my own Americanische Rote Grütze.   This is not authentic but it's very good.
Take a cup or more of frozen cranberries, 2 cups of rhubarb cut in 1 inch pieces and cook together in a tiny bit of water and a squeeze of lemon juice and maybe 1/3 cup sugar.  Cook until the berries have popped and the rhubarb is soft but still in recognizable shapes.  Add a cup of so of fresh red cherries and a 1 1/2 cups of fresh strawberries.  Add more sugar to taste and cook until the berries are soft.  Cool, chill and serve with whipped cream.   
This is a dessert called compote, which is high in all those good-for-us red fruits, hell, it's all red fruit except for the necessary sugar.  Don't over-sweeten.  A bit of tartness is good. 
This time of year with cherries and strawberries on sale is a good time to make Rote Grütze.  I keep cranberries frozen from year to year.  Raspberries, if  reasonable, are a tasty addition.  Antioxidants up the yingyang.  Soooo healthy.  

Soup From A Nail Revisited

We did the chicken soup from nothing again this week.  Found one lone chicken breast and a neck and a backbone in the freezer.  Made stock from the bony parts (I add carrot, onion, bay leaf and some cilantro along with salt and pepper.) While the stock simmered, I sauteed the breast in a skillet in olive oil with only salt and pepper.  


During the time everything was cooling, I peeled and chopped the two carrots and diced up the rest of the onion.  Found a few peas in the freezer.  Things were coming together.  Chopped up a dried tomato, and some more cilantro.  Think color. Sauteed the veggies for a few minutes.


Strained the broth and added chicken and vegetables.  Cooked until carrots were tender.  Added more salt and pepper.  And a can of chicken broth.  
Cooked some very fine (as in narrow) noodles in water to which a bouillon packet had been added.  When they were done, put the noodles in the soup.  It also tasted very fine, not hearty, but substantial enough for dinner.  Being on a diet, we ate it with salad and breadsticks.   I favor the skinny ones, grissini, because you can eat quite a few without blowing the carb or the calorie count. 


The old folk tail, soup from a stone, or soup from a nail, or soup from whatever charmed me as a kid.  Here is the Wikipedia link. 


Soup From a Nail