I really need to learn to label things better before I put them into the freezer. I package them really well, so that they are protected from freezer burn, but most of the time (with a few exceptions) I don't bother to label them, thinking that I will remember what the package contains.
As much as I think I will . . . I invariably never do! What's up with that! The worst is leftovers. I really should label them. You cannot imagine the number of times we end up with a complete mystery meal for supper because I couldn't tell what was in the container I am thawing out!
Oh well, who doesn't enjoy a nice surprise every now and then! Yesterday I thought I was thawing out chicken thighs, but it ended up that I was thawing out chicken breasts. Not a problem really, they were both chicken, but I had to completely change my meal plan out because thighs and breasts do require a somewhat different approach to cooking!
Breasts can tend to dry out whereas thighs stay moist and succulent. They are actually my favourite cut of thicken, the thighs . . . but I like breasts too.
This is a chicken variant on our favourite green bean casserole. It uses no cream soup, just a lush homemade cream sauce, flavoured with chicken stock, milk, thyme and onion.
You could of course use a can of soup if you wanted to, but I find it is just as easy to make my own sauce.
There is no need to cook the chicken first. Simply slice it into strips and lay it into the bottom of a casserole dish.
On top of the chicken you layer on thawed cut frozen green beans. You could of course use a tin of cut green beans, drained, but I like the frozen ones. They taste fresher.
The sauce gets poured over the whole thing then . . . I spread it out to cover with the back of a spoon.
Finally you sprinkle on top a layer of either buttered herb stuffing crumb or buttered crushed croutons.
Herb stuffing crumbs are a bit hard to come by over here. I like these. They are rather expensive, but they last a long time, especially if you keep them in the freezer.
Alternately you can use crushed croutons, or you can make your own herb stuffing crumbs and keep them in the freezer ready to use for recipes such as this. Its really not that hard and its a lot cheaper than any other alternative.
Once all of your ingredients are layered in the dish, simply cover it tightly with foil and then bake for half an hour, uncover and bake for a further 15 minutes at which time it should be bubbling, the chicken will be cooked through and the crumb topping will be nicely golden brown.
Chicken & Green Bean Casserole
Yield: 2 - 3
Rich and delicious, this simple casserole makes a great mid-week supper dish.
ingredients:
For the sauce:
- 2 TBS butter
- 2 TBS flour
- 2 TBS minced fresh onion
- 240ml chicken stock (1 cup)
- 240ml milk (1 cup)
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
- salt and black pepper to taste
You will also need:
- 2 large chicken breast fillets.
- 3 TBS butter, melted
- 45g herb stuffing crumbs or crushed garlic croutons (1/2 cup)
- 150g frozen cut green beans, thawed (1 cup)
instructions:
How to cook Chicken & Green Bean Casserole
- First make the sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the onion and cook over low heat until softened, without colouring. Add the flour and cook, stirring for one minute. Slowly whisk in the stock and then the milk. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil, bubbles and thickens. Cook for one minute further and then remove from the heat. Stir in thyme and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8 inch square baking dish.
- Slice the chicken fillets crosswise into 1 inch strips. Place them in the bottom of the baking dish. Top with the thawed beans. Pour the sauce to cover all. Mix the melted butter and stuffing crumbs. Sprinkle this evenly over top. Cover tightly with foil.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 minutes longer, until the chicken is cooked through, the casserole is bubbling and the top is golden brown. Serve hot.
This is really and truly delicious. I love simple casseroles such as this. For Todd I simply add some mashed potatoes (I keep a bag of frozen ones in the freezer just for this purpose) and I will cook an additional vegetable for both of us to enjoy. It makes a lovely mid week supper. If you are wanting to feed more people simply double the recipe ingredients!
Up tomorrow: Maple Buttered Squash
This recipe for this delicious pie has been sitting in my big blue binder for nigh onto 40 years or so now. Yes . . . unfortunately I AM that old! I don't know how it happened either . . .
My father's favourite pie has always been raisin pie. But by that I mean the old fashioned two crust raisin pie, with a rich and sweet sticky raisin filling. I confess to having a certain fondness for it myself. We are real pie aficionado's in my family. If its in a pie, you can be certain we will be crazy about it . . . within reason of course. Let it suffice to say that (up to this point) I have never met a pie I did not like!
You will need a baked 9 inch pie crust for this pie. I used my Butter & Lard Pastry for this. (Scroll down the page.) Its my favourite pastry recipe.
The filling is very easy to make. It is a lovely and lush basic cream filling made with sugar and milk, egg yolks, etc. and flavoured with a tiny bit of nutmeg.
Add to that an abundance of sticky sweet raisins . . . and at the very end, a quantity of sour cream . . . and you have a really delicious filling.
Gilding the top is a three egg white meringue, nice and fluffy and tall, just like what you might see in am American Diner!
Ideally you should chill it in the refrigerater for at least 3 hours prior to cutting it, but the light was fading and I needed to take a picture of it while I still could.
I really hate the way the light changes in the colder months . . . it means I have to take my photos earlier and earlier in the day. I suppose I should have left it in the refrigerator overnight and taken the photos in the morning, but . . .
I promised to show you the recipe today! I will take another photo of it all set up tomorrow and add it to the end of this post . . . so you can see how lovely it really looks.
That's not to say that these aren't drool worthy photos anyways . . . because they surely are.
Todd is actually eating a piece as I write this and he has just exclaimed about how delicious it is!
I call that a win! Oh, I do hope I can resist this . . . but somehow I don't think I will really be able to. I don't think I have enough willpower!
Yield: 8
Raisin & Sour Cream Meringue Pie
A lush sour cream filling dappled with soft plump raisins. This is pretty wonderful.
ingredients:
For the filling:
- 135g caster sugar (3/4 cup)
- 4 TBS cornflour (corn starch)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 480ml whole milk (2 cups)
- 3 large free-range egg yolks slightly beaten
- 230g raisins (1 1/2 cups)
- 120g sour cream (1 cup)
For the meringue:
- 3 large free-range egg whites
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 6 TBS caster sugar
You will also need:
- 1 baked 9-inch pastry pie shell
instructions:
How to cook Raisin & Sour Cream Meringue Pie
- Combine the sugar, cornflour, salt and nutmeg in a saucepan. Stir in the milk, blending all of the ingredients together until smooth. Cook, stirring constantly, over moderate heat, until the mixture comes to the boil. Boil for a minute and then remove from the heat. Temper the egg yolks with about a quarter cup of the hot mixture. Whisk this back into the remaining mixture in the saucepan along with the raisins. Cook until the mixture bubbles. Remove from the heat, stir in the sour cream to combine and then pour the whole lot into the baked pie crust.
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F. gas mark 6.
- In a clean bowl, and with clean beaters, beat the egg whites and the cream of tartar together until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, still beating, one tablespoon at a time, beating at high speed until stiff peaks form. Spoon over the hot filling in the pie, spreading it all the way to the edge of crust to cover completely. Place on a baking tray and bake in the heated oven for 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and then in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours before serving.
With its crisp flaky crust, lush creamy filling studded with raisins and its sweet and fluffy golden brown meringue topping, this is a real winner of a pie! I hope you will make it. I guarantee you won't be disappointed!
Now that it has had overnight to set up.
Now doesn't that look great??? I can promise you that it is!
My latest recipe has just been published on the Chef Knives Expert Site. This week I am sharing a delicious recipe for Cheesy Burrito Melts!
This fabulously tasty hot sandwich melt uses simple ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. Toasty English Muffins, kidney beans, sweet green bell pepper, tomato salsa (you choose how spicy you want it!), some minced spring onion, a few herbs and spices and rich cheddar cheese!
They go together in a flash. You can have them made and on the table in less than half an hour tops. They make a fabulously nutritious lunch which is a great source of protein (something we are all trying to get into our diets these days!) as well as being high in fibre, iron and calcium!
They are great for game nights when you are enjoying the latest match with your family, or for students who are up studying and need something quick and easy. You can bake them in the oven or in a microwave oven! They can also be easily assembled ahead of time and refrigerated, ready to pop into the oven 15 minutes or so before you want to eat! These are quite simply fabulous! You can find the full recipe and instructions on Chef Knives Expert!
Cornbread. I love cornbread, and yet it wasn't something I experienced tasting until I was a grown up. It was not a staple or ever even mentioned in my home when I was growing up. It simply did not exist for me except in novels and stories.
My first experience of it was as an adult and it came in the form of a handwritten recipe my MIL gave to me in a little handwritten notebook of recipes that first year my ex and I were married. Elizabeth celebrated her 92nd birthday in August and though her son and I are no longer married, I still make her delicious corn cake from time to time and enjoy it with happy thoughts of her and all that she taught me about cooking and indeed life. She called it Corn Cake and you can find that tasty recipe here. It is my bench mark for what a good corn bread is.
This recipe I am sharing today comes from this Pillsbury Cookbook, Harvest Time Baking & Cooking, and its fabulously different than the usual.
First of all it has equal amounts of flour and cornmeal. By cornmeal (for the purpose of those from the UK) I am talking about a type of coarse polenta. If you are in North America, I am not talking about cornbread mix or self rising cornmeal. I am talking about good old, plain cornmeal here.
Another difference is that it is sweetened with Maple Syrup. That is unusual in my books . . . very New England . . .
It is studded with raisins and spiced with cinnamon . . . another difference from the regular versions of cornbread.
It smells heavenly when it is baking . . . you cannot beat the airborne scent of cinnamon. Full stop.
That is such an autumnal smell and Autumn is surely here. I saw three sets of geese flying south for the winter this morning . . . it seems very early I think . . . but they were right there up in the sky . . . the sight and sound taking me back to my Canadian childhood.
Cornbread . . . a flavour of autumn along with Maple and flying geese . . . and the smell of cinnamon . . .
We enjoyed it split and buttered with cold butter from the fridge . . . sliced into thin slices and laid atop the cut and dimpled surface . . .
Melting down into those nooks crannies and crevices . . . mingling with the sweet of dried fruit and warm spice . . .
So very delicious . . . the bread crisp edged . . . its crumb soft and crunchy at the same time from the cornmeal. I will always love that about cornbread . . .
The only way it could get any better was if you squirted some liquid honey on top . . . .
And I did . . . very naughty but very nice.
Yield: 9
Maple & Spice Cornbread
This unique and delicious corn bread is spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and orange peel and sweetened with maple syrup. Studded with raisins, it goes fabulously with ham and eggs!
ingredients:
- 140g plain flour (1 cup)
- 170g cornmeal (1 cup) (not self rising)
- 75g raisins (1/2 cup)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp grated orange peel
- 160ml milk (2/3 cup)
- 120ml maple syrup (1/2 cup)
- 60g butter, melted (1/4 cup)
- 2 large free range eggs, lightly beaten
instructions:
How to cook Maple & Spice Cornbread
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Butter an 8 or 9 inch square baking tin. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, cornmeal, raisins, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and orange peel together in a bowl. Whisk together the beaten eggs, milk, butter and maple syrup. Make a hollow in the dry ingredients and add the wet all at once. Stir together just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Pour into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 17 to 22 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Serve warm, cut into squares.
This was so, so, so good! I hope you will bake it and when you do think of geese flying across grey skies, the sound of skittering leaves and the smell of warm cinnamon and hearth and home.
Up tomorrow: Raisin Sour Cream Meringue Pie
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