Day Fifty-One

She Said:

I'm going to file this one under "Think of a Better Name for This Recipe!" It's a bad name, but a delicious dish. This counts toward our own Julie/Julia Project and it's from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman.

Spinach Cheese Custard

1½-2 pounds fresh spinach, tough stems removed (we got ours from the farmer's market)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 eggs
1½ cups milk
1 cup grated Gruyère
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Stir in the spinach and cook until wilted, about 30 seconds. Drain well. Press out the excess moisture. Transfer to a cutting board and finely chop.

2. Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until fragrant and softened, about 2 minutes. (I actually let this go longer until they were sweet and carmelized.)

3. Preheat the oven to 350℉. Lightly grease a 7- by 11-inch baking dish with oil.

4. In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk until smooth. Add the spinach, onions, milk, and Gruyère. Season with the salt and pepper to taste. Pour into the baking dish. Top with the Parmesan.

5. Bake until the custard is set and a knife inserted comes out clean, about 30 minutes. (Ours took closer to an hour.)

6. Let sit for at least 5 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.

We had this as our entire dinner. It wasn't a lot of food but it was really, really good.

Day 51/365:Recipe 29/175

Day Twenty

She Said:

We had a fabulous dinner tonight! Excellent all the way around. He wanted to continue his venture into cast iron cooking and so the main meal came from Cast Iron Cooking by Dwayne Ridgaway.

Blackened Beef Tenderloin with Gorgonzola-Chive Potatoes

6 6-8 ounce beef center-cut tenderloin steaks
½ cup teriyaki sauce
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
¼ cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon coarse ground black pepper
2 tablespoons blackening seasoning
¼ cup vegetable oil

For the Potatoes:
2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, cut into large chunks
4 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
⅓ cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (we went with Buttermilk Blue on the advice of the cheese expert at Wegmans)
¼ cup chopped fresh chives

In a large bowl combine the teriyaki sauce with the Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, soy sauce, and black pepper. Place the tenderloin steaks fully submerged in the marinade; cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Place the potatoes in a large pot filled with water. Bring to a boil, then cook potatoes until tender when pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes, leaving them behind in the pot, and add the butter, heavy cream, salt, and pepper. Using a potato masher, mash to a thick puree. Add Gorgonzola cheese and chives, stirring to combine and melt the cheese, cover, and set aside, keeping warm.
Remove the steaks from the marinade and pat dry. Coat evenly and generously with blackened seasoning. Heat vegetable oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the steaks in one even layer, searing for 7 minutes per side (for medium rare), 10 minutes per side for medium and 12 minutes per side for well done. If you like your steaks medium or well done, reduce the heat to medium so as not to burn them. Transfer to serving plates with the mashed potatoes.

Please don't eat your steaks well-done!!

On the side, we had another recipe from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman, adding another notch in our lipstick case in our own Julie/Julia project!

Lemony Grilled Asparagus

1½ pounds asparagus (about 30 medium-thick spears), bottoms trimmed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ lemon

1. Prepare a medium fire in a gas or charcoal grill.

2. Place the asparagus in a shallow dish. Drizzle the oil over the spears and toss to coat.

3. Grill the asparagus, turning occasionally, until tender, about 8 minutes.

4. Arrange the asparagus on a serving platter. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper to taste, squeeze the lemon over the spears, and serve.

Simple and delicious! I even did some of the grilling - asparagus I can handle!

Day 20/365:Recipe 16/175

Day Five

She Said:

Proceeding on with our own Julie/Julia Project, we again were cleaning out the freezer and pantry to use up some of those "non-recipe-ingredient" things we have. So we opted for a side dish from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman.

Day Five

Garlic-and-Cheese-Crumbed Cauliflower

1 large head cauliflower, broken into florets
¼ cup butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 cup fresh bread crumbs (see Note)
½ cup grated Gruyère
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the cauliflower and boil until tender, about 6 minutes. Drain well.

2. Preheat the oven to 375℉. Grease a 1½-quart baking dish with butter.

3. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and parsley and simmer just until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

4. Toss together the bread crumbs, cheese, and salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl.

5. Arrange the cauliflower in the prepared baking dish. Top with the crumb mixture. Drizzle the butter and garlic mixture over the top. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the cauliflower is hot and the crumbs are golden. Serve hot.

NOTE: Two to three slices of whole wheat sandwich bread whirled in a food processor will make 1 cup of fresh bread crumbs, perfect for this dish.

This dish was, in a word, sensational. The flavors worked so well together and even worked really well with our "store-bought" rest of the meal - a box of Nature's Way Long Grain and Wild Rice Rice-a-Roni and frozen grilled salmon fillets with lemon butter.

Absolutely delicious. This one is definitely a keeper!

He Said:

At first sniff, I had my doubts about this side dish. It smelled an awful lot like feet. She said that I shouldn't worry and that feet smell was a good thing. Well, as usual, She was right. The flavors married perfectly and it tasted nothing like feet after all. Whew!

I really loved the texture of this dish, too. The soft cauliflower juxtaposed against the crunchy-ness of the cheese crumble was wonderful. I forget sometimes that texture can make or break a dish. This was a good reminder of that.

This is a dish that I wouldn't hesitate to make again. And again. And then, after that? Again.

Day 5/365:Recipe 6/175

White Cheese Chicken Lasagna

She Said:

I have been very remiss in updating over here at He Said:She Said. It's been a really busy time! We did not cook much last weekend (read: I did the cooking) but we did cook the weekend before. And actually, I did the cooking then, too. Hmm...I see why I haven't been updating!

I was looking for something specifically to take as "leftovers" to work for lunches. I get tired of soups so fast it's not even funny. And I can't for the life of me think of any type of sandwiches to make that I'll appreciate so I try to go with something casserole-y. (See prior post.)

I went a little out of the ordinary and found a white cheese chicken lasagna. I made it pretty much like the recipe lays it out except that I added more cheese, of course, and chicken and didn't have any fresh parsley so I used dried. It's fabulous and not at all figure-friendly. I can heartily recommend it!

Here's where the recipe comes from.

White Cheese Chicken Lasagna

9 lasagna noodles
1/2 cup butter
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups milk (I used skim)
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided (I used regular - not low-fat)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups ricotta cheese (I just had a huge container of ricotta and eye-balled it as I was assembling)
2 cups cubed, cooked chicken meat (I had more than 2 cups of chicken)
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, and rinse with cold water.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onion and garlic in the butter until tender, stirring frequently. Stir in the flour and salt, and simmer until bubbly. Mix in the broth and milk, and boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Stir in 2 cups mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Season with the basil, oregano, and ground black pepper. Remove from heat, and set aside.

Spread 1/3 of the sauce mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer with 1/3 of the noodles, the ricotta, and the chicken. Arrange 1/3 of the noodles over the chicken, and layer with 1/3 of the sauce mixture, spinach, and the remaining 2 cups mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Arrange remaining noodles over cheese, and spread remaining sauce evenly over noodles. Sprinkle with parsley and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven.

Now, if I had it to do over again, which I do as long as I'm still on this earth, I would have combined the chicken and spinach together and split them between the layers so that I didn't have one layer of nothing but chicken and one layer of nothing but spinach. But, as it is, I cut the whole thing up into 12 portions and packed it up for lunches so when we reheat, we just chop it all up and mix well before eating anyway.

I must make mention of the cheese sauce. Now I had revealed my awesome macaroni and cheese recipe a while back. The cheese sauce there is quite good. But the cheese sauce from this recipe knocked my socks off. The seasonings and Parmesan cheese in it plus the delicate flavor of the mozzarella cheese and the chicken broth/milk mixture is an incredible combination. I will make this cheese sauce again for a simple pasta side dish with some breaded chicken breasts or broiled fish for dinner one night. It's just that good.

Ham Casserole

She Said:

He cooked up several things this past weekend but there was one clear winner amongst the crowd. We actually made it only to take with us this week for lunch and, let me tell you, this thing gets better and better as it sits in the fridge.

The recipe is largely based on this one but we made adjustments, as usual.

Ham Casserole

3 cups potatoes, cubed
3 cups cooked ham, cubed (we used a small canned ham)
2 11-oz. cans of white shoepeg corn
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup diced celery
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups skim milk
Freshly ground black pepper
8 oz. shredded Colby Jack cheese

Preheat oven to 350℉.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain and cool.

Combine potatoes, ham, corn and parsley; set aside.

In a saucepan, saute the onions, celery and garlic in butter for 2 minutes. Stir in flour until blended well. Add the pepper. Gradually add the milk; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Pour over the ham mixture and stir to mix well.

Pour into greased 13x9 baking dish. Cover and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with cheese, and bake an additional 10 minutes until cheese melts. Place under the broiler for 2 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

I am so hungry thinking about this. There are leftovers in the fridge and that is exactly what I'm going to have for lunch. Yum!!

Runzas, Our Way

She Said:

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the store and for some unknown reason, bought six pounds of ground beef. We used one pound the day I bought it and froze the rest.

I challenged Him to make something with some of the ground beef that He's never made before. And this is what He came up with.

Based on this recipe, we definitely took it to a whole different place.

Runzas, Our Way

3 lbs. frozen white bread dough, thawed
2 pounds ground beef
1 medium head cabbage, finely shredded
1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 pound Swiss cheese
1/4 pound American cheese
2 medium onions, diced
3 cloves garlic
Crushed red pepper flakes (from our garden last year)
Seasoned salt (we use Nature's Season)
Garlic powder
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
8 oz. sour cream
4 tablespoons prepared horseradish, more or less to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350℉.

2. Cut each roll of the thawed bread dough into 3 pieces and set aside. In a large skillet, brown the beef; season with red pepper flakes, Nature's Season, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste; drain if necessary. In another large skillet, sweat the onions and garlic for a few minutes, then add the shredded cabbage and saute for a couple of minutes more. Combine the beef and vegetables.

3. Roll out the bread dough into rough squares. Place a heaping spoonful of the beef/cabbage mixture onto the center of each dough square. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top, place a half slice of Swiss cheese and a half slice of American cheese over the mozzarella; fold dough over and pinch sides to seal. Place seam side down onto a parchment- or Silpat-lined baking sheet. Brush a bit of olive oil on the outside of each pastry.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until golden brown.

5. While the pastries are baking, combine sour cream and horseradish to make a dipping sauce. Serve pastries with dipping sauce.

Delish!! And quite different from anything we've ever had before. I was worried that there might be too much bread around the filling and that it would be dry. But it was anything but. It was light and crispy and really good.

Another winner!

And I suspect that this could be done with any type of ground meat or shredded pork or chicken and your choice of seasonings and vegetables. I think it's a good sound basis for lots of potential easy-to-eat meals.

Oh, by the way, this is a huge recipe. It makes 9 runzas - one is PLENTY to eat at a meal. So you will have lots of leftovers!

My Specialty

She Said:

I watched the first season of "Worst Cooks in America". I wasn't going to. I don't like reality shows - at all! - but I thought that I might be able to pick up a few pointers. I missed the first episode the first time around but caught it in a rerun. The contestants had to cook something for the two chefs on the show. It was supposed to be their specialty. I wondered what I would make, put into that same situation. I'm not good without a recipe but there are two things that I can make in my sleep - with my eyes closed. This is one of them.

Pat's Macaroni and Cheese

8 oz. short cut pasta (elbows, penne, rigatoni, shells, farfalle, anything like that)
1/2 stick butter
1 small onion (or half of a large onion), diced
1/2 tsp. salt
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup flour
1 3/4 cups skim milk
2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided

Cook macaroni according to package directions.

Preheat oven to 375℉.

In a saucepan, cook the onion over medium-high heat in the butter, salt and pepper until the onion is soft. Turn heat to low and add in flour. Cook and stir for a few minutes until bubbly and smooth (well, as smooth as it can be with bits of onion in it). Turn heat back up to medium-high and slowly add milk. Cook, stirring occasionally, until it starts to bubble (I usually give it a burst of high heat to get it going). Continue to cook and stir constantly over medium-high heat for one minute until thickened. Turn off heat. Add 2 cups of Cheddar cheese and stir until melted.

Combine the cooked macaroni and the cheese sauce and the pour into a 1 1/2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese. Bake at 375℉ for 30 minutes until golden and bubbly.

And now my secret is out. You can throw all kinds of things in this: sliced and sauteed hot dogs, tuna and sweet peas, whatever you think will go in a tuna casserole. Use your imagination! We had it last night for dinner and just had steamed broccoli on the side. That was good, too!

¡Awesome Enchiladas!

She Said:

He chose this recipe for enchiladas because we haven't had anything remotely Mexican for a long time. And while these are hardly authenticly Mexican, they are, absolutely, awesome! Just like the name of the recipe. Found over at www.allrecipes.com.

Angela's Awesome Enchiladas

2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast meat
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 1/4 cups sour cream
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies, drained
1 (1.25 ounce) package mild taco seasoning mix
1 bunch green onions, chopped, divided
1 cup water
1 teaspoon lime juice
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
5 (12 inch) flour tortillas
3 cups Cheddar cheese, shredded, divided
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
1 (6 ounce) can sliced black olives

Place the chicken in a large pot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the chicken pieces are no longer pink, about 20 minutes. Shred chicken by placing two forks back to back and pulling meat apart. Set the shredded chicken aside. Meanwhile, combine the cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and chili powder in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, then turn off the heat and cover to keep warm.
Heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the shredded chicken, chopped green chilies, taco seasoning, half of the bunch of chopped green onion, and water. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the lime juice, onion powder, and garlic powder; simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Stir 1 cup of the soup mixture into the skillet with the chicken mixture. Spread the remaining soup mixture on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Fill each tortilla with chicken mixture. Sprinkle Cheddar cheese over the chicken filling before folding the tortillas, reserving half of the shredded cheese for topping the enchiladas. Fold tortillas over the filling and place seam-side down in the prepared pan.
Pour enchilada sauce evenly over the enchiladas. Cover with the remaining 1 1/2 cups of Cheddar cheese. Sprinkle the reserved chopped green onions and the sliced olives on top of the cheese. Bake in the preheated oven until filling is heated through and the cheese is melted and bubbling, about 25 minutes.

You must make these. You must!

The Whip Tavern

1383 North Chatham Road
Coatesville, PA
$39 for two pints, one appetizer and two entrees

She Said:

He took me on a date today - sweet! We took an hour drive out to the rural part of Coatesville, PA, taking in all the scenery and rusticity (is that a word??), and stopped for lunch at The Whip Tavern.

It's in an old building full of charm. There was a big fireplace when we walked in and open beams on the ceiling. The decor is all fox hounds and hunting horses. The fare is mostly from the British Isles, which I simply love.

We both started with a draught Tetley pint. This is a great ale and a safe bet if you're faced with a list of regional beers that you don't know. In hindsight, I should have gotten a Guiness. It would have fit better. Next time.

We split an appetizer of Welsh rarebit. It was my first time having that little treat. English Cheddar and Stilton cheeses blended with Smithwick's Irish Ale (another great ale) and served with toasted crostini. It was really, really delicious and I am bound and determined now to make it at home.

For the main part of the meal, I had their Beef on Weck. It's close to what you might think of as a French dip but much heartier. Thinly sliced beef served on a Kummelweck roll, served with au jus and horseradish. And chips, of course. I never heard of a Kummelweck roll but I am very glad that I tried it. It's a soft roll with a thin crust and it's just covered with caraway seeds. More seeds than you can possibly imagine. (When we were done, there were caraway seeds EVERYWHERE!) In looking up this sandwich, it turns out that it's German in origin, rather than from the British Isles. Still, it was delicious!

We were too stuffed for dessert but we heard that the sticky pudding was amazing! Again, next time.

Cheese Snobs, Unite!

164 Bridge Street
Phoenixville, PA 19460

He Said:

Tucked into a small, unassuming shop front, marked with a cheery yellow sign that says Cheese!, in the newly refurbed Phoenixville, PA, is a wonderful little cheese shop that I believe everyone within driving distance should try to get to on a fairly regular basis. This is Ramondo’s Cheese! and is a place that has quickly become one of our favorite spots to shop. Inside you’ll find a room about the size, maybe smaller, of a local deli with a selection of about 50 or so European and American artisan cheeses along with various jams, jellies, crackers, chocolates and a hodgepodge of other small sundries. The owner, Michael, is very often in attendance but if he’s not there, there are cheese helpers aplenty to help you out with all of your cheese needs. Oh sure, you can get some pretty great cheeses a lot of places, even some super-mega grocery stores have gotten into the act. What they are missing, however, is the personal touch, the vast knowledge and, to be sure, the ambiance of shopping a small local cheese shop.

I stopped in the other day to see if they had a particular French Cheese that I had read about in a cheese book that we have at home (forgive me for forgetting the names of the cheeses right now but I am old and my mind is feeble). To my disappointment he did not. What he did have, however, was the knowledge to recommend several other cheeses that were similar in taste, texture and style. Fabulous! Try and get that at your local Acme. And there’s no need to guess about any of the cheeses. Any cheese that you are interested in is available for tasting. That’s the funnest part!

My only criticism of Cheese! is the shop size. Because of their growing popularity, the shop seems to be getting more and more business all the time and once you’ve got five or six people in there it gets pretty crowded. Sometimes, Michael, size does matter. In this case, a little bigger would be a lot better.

So if you’d like to expand your cheese knowledge and experience something beyond your standard Cracker Barrel Sharp Cheddar (not that there’s anything wrong with that) then I think you owe it to yourself to stop in at Ramondo’s Cheese! shop. Try the St. Andre. Trust me, it’s to die for.

______________________________________________________

She Said:

Mmmm, cheese! I totally adore this cheese shop - so much so that I even took a self-portrait standing under the sign! What I like the most about it is the knowledge that Michael and the other staff bring to this wonderful stinky world. If we walk in and tell Michael we're having a big bold old vines zinfandel with friends, he'll come up with the perfect match. If we tell him we're going to a bonfire in the cold, he'll come up with just the right thing to bring along. Seriously - it's tried and true!

I love the selection of accompaniments, too. There's always something new and interesting on the shelves. And don't forget to check in the chiller - you're sure to be delighted!

Say Cheese!

Australian Smoked Cheddar
Herbed d'affinois
12/2/07

He Said:

Oh, how I love me some cheeses. Love love love. And last night we had the opportunity to have two cheeses that we had never had before, an Australian Smoked Cheddar (I don't know if it had a proper name, that's just how we ordered it) and an herbed d'affinois. At first blush I liked the Cheddar better, but that was just because I wasn't sure how to pronounce d'affinois (dah-fee-NWAH).

Actually, I really liked this cheddar a lot. It was a hard and very smoky cheese which is really floating my boat lately. You've got some smoky cheese? I'm in! I think that the wine that we had with this cheese, a 1994 Cote Rotie (yeah, I don't know how to pronounce that either) did not help this cheese at all so I eventually stopped drinking the wine until I was done eating. Not a perfect situation but allowed me to enjoy the cheese better.

The herbed d'affinois was VERY herbed. And VERY delicious. This was a much softer cheese and was easily spread on my favorite cracker, Dare Vinta. Mmmm....garlicky and herbish. Fabulous. But not with the wine. So be careful out there.

In summary, I say yes to both cheeses. Yes to the crackers. And no to the wine, which is not really part of this review but gets a little slam anyway. C'est la vie.

______________________________________________________

She Said:

Oh, I'm so disgruntled! I did NOT want my first cheese review to include something negative but I have no choice.

At first taste, the Australian smoked Cheddar was really good, and perhaps that's because I had just the barest thin slice. But once I started eating more of it, I found it to be not so much to my liking. I found the cheese to taste sour to me. And I won't be looking for more of it.

However, the herbed d'affinois was superb! It was very tasty and invited seconds and thirds and fourths! I love the herb and garlic combination and the creaminess of this cheese.

I do have to say that neither one of them was a good match for the wine that we were drinking, however. It was a 1994 French Cote Rotie and, while the wine was past its prime, it didn't pair well with the herbs of the d'affinois or the smokiness of the Cheddar and I don't think that was because of the age of the wine. I think both of these cheeses may have been better served with an oaky Chardonnay.