Easy Hollandaise

Ah, we've gotten past the big food feast of Thanksgiving and I have a little breathing room until Christmas is upon us. Just ask my kids...I won't even discuss Christmas for two more weeks. I torture them with lectures about how Advent is a season of waiting, not celebrating. "Do we celebrate your birthday a month before your birthday?" I ask them. They usually give up just around the time I plan to get the tree out -- in two weeks.

Anyway, I'm back with a recipe I tried on my husband's birthday, two Sundays past. He loves Eggs Benedict and usually asks for it for his birthday. I always groan because it is not an easy recipe to make for a crowd, and even when it's just us, that's a crowd, especially when it comes to poaching eggs, toasting English muffins and keeping the hollandaise from separating. When I made it this year for his birthday, I used a new recipe. It was so easy peasy, I will be making hollandaise much more often -- steamed asparagus here we come. I made four plates of Eggs Benedict -- that's four separate batches of poached eggs -- and the sauce never separated. Amazing. You're going to love it. I simply placed the blender down in a pot of hot water and it was perfect a good 20 minutes after I blended it. The recipe came from Simply Recipes and it is so simple. Simply Recipes offers the option of adding cayenne pepper, but I did not.

 

Easy Hollandaise

makes a bit more than 1 cup of sauce

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3 egg yolks 

1 T. lemon juice

1/2 t. salt

10 T. unsalted butter (if using salted butter, skip the added salt)

Melt the butter slowly in a small pot. Try not to let it boil – you want the moisture in the butter to remain there and not steam away (I used the microwave for this step)

Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, and salt into your blender. Blend the egg yolk mixture at a medium to medium high speed until it lightens in color, about 20-30 seconds. The friction generated by the blender blades will heat the yolks a bit. The blending action will also introduce a little air into them, making your hollandaise a bit lighter.

Once the yolks have lightened in color, turn the blender down to its lowest setting (if you only have one speed on your blender it will still work), and drizzle in the melted butter slowly, while the blender is going. Continue to buzz for another couple seconds after the butter is all incorporated.

Turn off the blender and taste the sauce. It should be buttery, lemony and just lightly salty. If it is not salty or lemony enough, you can add a little lemon juice or salt to taste. If you want a thinner consistency, add a little warm water. Pulse briefly to incorporate the ingredients one more time.

Store until needed in a warm spot, like on or next to the stovetop (or in a pot of very warm water). Use within an hour or so.

Source: Simply Recipes

Orange Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce is the brunt of many a joke -- that stuff that comes out of the can in a solid lump looking nothing like sauce -- but it need not be. Cranberry sauce is easily one of the most simple menu items you will prepare for Thanksgiving -- as easy as mashed potatoes. My son Geoffrey asks for it every year. It's his "it's not Thanksgiving without..." menu item. He makes it only slightly more complicated for me by requesting it be completely smooth and chunk-free. It adds an extra step or two to traditional cranberry sauce, but he's my baby (and I tease him that he likes his cranberry sauce baby food style). If you like a chunky sauce, just stop after you cook the mixture, refrigerate and pull it out an hour or two before dinner is served. I made mine last night.

Orange Cranberry Sauce

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1 cup sugar

1/2 cup orange juice (not from concentrate, either fresh squeezed or good bottled juice)

1/2 cup water

3 cups rinsed cranberries 

1 pear, peeled, cored and diced (you could also use an apple or just omit entirely)

Combine sugar, water and orange juice in a saucepan. 

Turn onto medium heat. Add cranberries and pear. Bring to a simmer and turn down slightly so it doesn't bowl over. Cook for about 10 minutes. You will hear the cranberries popping -- that's good. Cook until pear is soft and cranberries look pretty well popped.

If you want a chunky sauce, pour mixture into a storage bowl and cover. Refrigerate until Thanksgiving.

For a smooth, seed and pulp-free sauce, cool mixture slightly. Pour into food processor or blender. Process (or blend) until pureed.

A little at a time, pour mixture through a sieve into a bowl, using a spatula to scrape the seeds aside. Cover and refrigerate until Thanksgiving. Spoon sauce into a serving dish.

Sauce and Sausages

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One of my family's favorite dishes is plain ol' spaghetti and sauce. Of course, my homemade sauce is key to that dish, and their most favorite variety is when I add sausage to my sauce, cooking it for several hours, to infuse the flavors of the yummy sausage into the sauce. My sauce is really very simple, and to an authentic Italian, is probably not the real thing, but to my family it's yummy and they are the only ones I have to please.

This recipe makes a lot. You could certainly cut it in half or even in fourths, but really, just freeze it and you'll have a few meals to spare. Just start with a large pot.

The sausages are really very crucial to this recipe, so pick something you know you like. I go to a special butcher shop just to buy sausages. They come in mild, festival and spicy and I go for the festival which is mildly spicy.

Sauce and Sausage

4 T. extra virgin olive oil
10 Italian sausages
1 T. fresh crushed garlic
3 (28 oz) cans tomato puree
3 (28 oz) cans tomato sauce
1/2 c. sugar (we like our sauce sweet so you might want to start with half that quantity and add more to taste)
1/2 T. salt
1/2 T. seasoning salt (I use Lawry's)
1 T. dried oregano
1 T. dried basil
1 t. dried thyme leaves
1 t. freshly ground pepper
1/2 c. red wine (optional)

Heat pot and add olive oil. Add five of the sausages and cook, turning, to brown. Remove those sausages and add remaining sausages, cooking to brown.



Reduce heat to low. Add all sausages into pan and add garlic. When garlic starts to sizzles (do not let it brown), add puree and sauce to pot. Add sugar and seasonings, and wine. Stir and bring to a simmer. When sauce starts to simmer, reduce to medium low and cover.

Cook sauce, at a low simmer, for two to three hours, stirring occasionally to prevent sauce from burning on the bottom.

Serve sauce over pasta with sausages, or enjoy sausages on Italian buns with sauce.


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Hot Dog Chili Sauce

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A quick post before the holiday weekend -- for your hot dog grillin' pleasure. In general, I don't consider hot dogs dinner. Lunch, yeah, but not dinner, unless they are Chili Dogs. Then they're substantial enough for dinner, and paired with a fruit or potato salad, passably nutritious. This recipe is from my mother-in-law. It's quick and easy. Plan to make some burgers another day in the week and just get an extra pound of meat for your Chili Dogs.

Hot Dog Chili Sauce

1 lb. ground beef
½ t. cumin
4 T. tomato sauce
garlic powder, to taste
3 T. chili powder
½ t. beef soup base


Brown meat in a small saucepan.
Add other ingredients.
Simmer for 20 minutes or to taste.

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Black Bean Soup with Fresh Salsa

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So many recipes, so little time.

Today's dish is a yummy Black Bean Soup that is wonderful for meatless Fridays. We (dare I say?) enjoyed it on Good Friday. Even the children like this soup -- it's pureed, so it's really just great flavor they are getting (along with some good vitamins and fiber) and no yucky vegetable chunks. I serve it with a dollop of sour cream and a spoon of fresh salsa -- and we usually add salsa as we eat -- it really freshens up the tastes. You could enjoy it with corn tortillas chips or warm flour tortillas, but that was little too yummy for Good Friday. I served it with a loaf of Spanish bread. Besides being a great meatless dish, it's also a budget dish.

Black Bean Soup

2 cups dried black beans, washed and picked over
¼ cup olive oil
1 large onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
2 T. ground cumin
1 lrg. jalapeño chili, stemmed, seeded and finely chopped
2 t. salt
6 cups vegetable stock

fresh salsa
sour cream

In a large saucepan, place black beans and
fill with water to cover beans with about 2 inches extra.
Let soak for 6 to 8 hours.
Drain soaking water.
Fill with fresh water to just cover beans.
Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to low, cover and cook until beans are soft (one to two hours).

When beans are soft, in another large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat.
Cook onions until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
Add garlic, cumin, salt and jalapeño, cooking 3 to 4 minutes (do not burn garlic).
Stir in black beans and their liquid and mix well.
Pour in vegetable stock.
Turn heat up and bring to a boil.
Reduce to a simmer and cook, uncovered,
stirring occasionally, for 20 to 30 minutes.
Transfer to blender in batches and puree until smooth.
Return to pot and heat through.
Ladle into bowls and garnish with fresh salsa and sour cream.





Fresh Salsa
4 medium ripe tomatoes, cored, seeded and finely diced
1/4 c. red onion, finely diced
2 jalapeño chilies, stemmed, seeded and diced finely
1 bunch cilantro, leaves only, chopped
2 T. lime juice

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Bucatini and Fontina Cheese Sauce

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There is nothing like ten days of junk food to make you crave something good. Not that every meal has been junk food, but there's been a lot of junk thrown in to our diets (Christmas cookies for breakfast, chips and dip for lunch...) over the past few weeks. On Friday I wanted something simple, but rib-sticking, and, of course, meatless.

I remembered this sauce that I made almost a year ago and gave it another whirl. It is so good, and with a drizzle of marinara -- or a puddle in the middle as I did (just enough that when you start twirling the pasta the sauce turns pink) -- and a sprinkle of basil, it tasted healthy. A salad helped (although the garlic bread did not). This is such an easy recipe, I need to make it more often. It's yummy enough, and pretty enough though, to serve to company.

I would also like to try this recipe with some healthier pasta. I think the sauce is thick enough and tasty enough to hold up to those firmer and stronger-tasting pastas.

Fontina Cheese Sauce

5 T. unsalted butter, divided
2 T. chopped red onion
one clove garlic minced
8 ounces fontina cheese, cut in small cubes
1/3 cup heavy cream
3 T. grated Parmesan cheese
1 c. Marinara sauce, hot
1 T. chopped fresh basil

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.
Add a pound of desired pasta, and cook until tender.
Once the pasta goes into the pot, start the sauce,
as you want the pasta to be done first.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Add the onions and garlic, and cook for a few minutes, until tender.
Stir in the cream, and heat to almost a boil.
Gradually mix in the Fontina and Parmesan cheeses, being careful not to boil.
Stir until smooth, then remove from the heat immediately, or the sauce may clump.
Place pasta into serving dishes, and spoon the sauce over it.
Drizzle with a few tablespoons marinara.
Garnish with chopped fresh basil.

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BBQ Comfort Food

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This week has been a difficult one for my family. With the passing of a beloved priest and the serious illness of my cousin Jill, we've had few moments of pleasure. However, like many other people in the world, we take comfort in food. Some folks find fault in that, but I don't have much use for those folks. I say it's better than comfort shopping, or comfort drinking. Everything in moderation, I say.

This dish is one of my family's go-to comfort dishes. It's a take on my mom's recipe, which she makes all the way through in a skillet. You can also prepare it that way, but I like to pop my chicken in the oven for a bit and clean up the kitchen before dinner. Baking it also gives me time to prepare the mashed potatoes without worrying about the chicken getting dry or burning.

My kids love this dish, and I can always tell by how quiet the table gets during dinner. We top our mashed potatoes with extra sauce, like gravy, but that's a personal thing -- maybe you don't like that idea. And when I make mashed potatoes for this dish, I always add a big chunk of cream cheese as I'm stirring. The cream cheese makes them really creamy, and just a little tangy --- a good match with the sauce. Oh, and I chop the onion in big pieces so that we can have the flavor, but the picky kids can pick out the pieces.

Oven Baked BBQ Chicken
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4 T. chopped onion
2 T. butter
1 cup ketchup
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
2 T. yellow mustard
6 T. brown sugar (more or less to taste)
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2T. olive oil
2 T. corn or vegetable oil
salt and pepper or seasoning like Goya
3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenders


Start BBQ sauce in a saucepan: saute onion in butter until wilted.
Add remaining sauce ingredients and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.
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Heat a large skillet over med. high heat.
Add oils and heat.
Add chicken and season.
When chicken lightly browns on one side, flip and season other side.
Cook until lightly brown and then place chicken in a 13 x 9 dish.
Pour sauce over chicken and bake for 30 minutes (for tenders)
to 45 minutes (for breasts) or until chicken is completely cooked.


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Hot Fudge Sauce - or Hot Cocoa As The Case May Be

I've been meaning to write a little bit about one of my favorite budget-booster cookbooks. While the title doesn't thrill me all that much (who wants to be known as miserly?) Miserly Meals by Jonni McCoy is a great help in any kitchen. I suppose you could say it's a cookbook only for scrimpers, but I don't know anyone who isn't pinching pennies in one way or another. We all know that the bill collectors won't take a penny less than they are owed, but frankly we can always squeeze a few more groceries out of our dollars. Food is just the one place in the budget that flexes.

Anyway, back to my story. I was meaning to write about this book and maybe even sneak in a recipe or two, when I got up this morning to fix my men breakfast, and I grabbed the milk and my jar of chocolate sauce out of the fridge. I don't usually make them hot beverages because they're always pressed for time and you just can't gulp down a cup of cocoa like juice, but we had a few seconds today. So I poured mugs of milk and added a big spoon of my homemade chocolate fudge sauce, microwaved them for a minute, and stirred. I tell you that the Mmmms were audible next door. I even got, "This is sweeet." And he wasn't talkin' about sugar sweet. That means it was good.

So, I share with you one of the many secrets in this happy little cookbook: Hot Fudge Sauce. This recipe is one of many recipes I use on a regular basis -- a few others being Chocolate Sauce (just like Hershey's), Butterscotch sauce, chicken-flavored rice mix, Teriyaki sauce, salad dressings and quite a few main dishes. The main dishes are simple and pretty basic, but the nice thing is, the author breaks down the cost per serving. So, if you're really tight -- just peruse for really inexpensive recipes. My most favorite recipes, however, are those for sauces and mixes, like the Hot Fudge Sauce, because you can make them from the regular ingredients you always have in your pantry. That's the way to save money -- just buy the basics and make the rest.

Hot Fudge Sauce

1/2 c. cocoa
1 1/4 c. sugar
1/8 t. salt
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. butter
1 t. vanilla

In a 1-qt. saucepan, combine the cocoa, sugar, and salt.
Mix together until lumps are gone.
Add milk and butter and stir.
Place over medium heat and stir occasionally until butter is melted.
Once the butter melts, stir constantly until the sugar is dissolved (but do not boil).
Remove from heat.
Stir in vanilla after sauce cools.

Store in a jar in the refrigerator for 2-3 months.
It will be very thick when cold, but thins out when heated
(microwave or heat in a pan on low).

For mint chocolate topping, add 1/2 t. peppermint extract with the vanilla.


Use for ice cream topping, for dipping fruit or topping for brownies
(or stir into a mug of hot milk for great cocoa!)

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