Tag Archive for 'milk'

Chicken and Biscuits Florentine

Published by Hal on April 6, 2008 in recipes. 1 Comment

So, what’s the worst thing a food blogger could do (besides not cook, or write about it)? Not have batteries in the camera to take a picture of the food s/he is writing about. Ooops.

Well, anyway, I don’t have pictures to share, but I thought I would provide the recipe anyway, just in case I forget (because I am prone to do that, now). I came up with this because I needed to use up a lot of things: I had a can of cream of chicken soup that we bought for some reason, and I had a ton of vegetables in fridge that were calling out to be eaten. I thought I might could do a chicken primavera, but then I didn’t haven’t enough farfalle pasta. I thought linguine would be too much. So I opted for rice. But as I was eating this with the rice, I realize that the chunkiness of the veggies and the sheer volume of the spinach was calling for something else–a biscuit! So, there you have it.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 onion, finely diced
  • 3 carrots, diced
  • 3 ribs of celery, diced
  • 4 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced
  • 4 chicken tenders, cut in to bite sized pieces
  • 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
  • 1 can of milk
  • 1 box of frozen spinach, thawed and very well drained
  • 1/2 green pepper, diced
  • 1/2 red pepper, diced
  • salt and pepper

Procedure

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the onion, celery, and carrots, and a dash of salt and pepper, and cook until the vegetables are tender. Add the garlic and chicken, stirring just until the chicken is nearly cooked, about 5 minutes. Add the soup and milk and stir to combine. Then, add the spinach and stir to evenly incorporate everything. Once the mixture has come to a bubble, add the peppers. Spoon over a split biscuit and serve.

One final thing to note: I upgraded my WordPress installation tonight–if something doesn’t look right, please contact me at blog [at] commonculinarian [dot] com.

Chicken & Corn Chowder

Published by Hal on January 29, 2008 in recipes and rotisserie chicken. 2 Comments

I went to a training today that made me realize that I really should have a privacy policy for this site. Initially, I didn’t because I didn’t think I collected any information about the visitors to the site, but then I realized that’s not so–I use Feedburner for my feed stats and Google Analytics for my site stats. These two programs tell me who is clicking on my material and how they got to this site. So, consider yourself disclosed :) I don’t know exactly who you are, I just know that someone from some where is coming here using some key words typed into Google.

So, the point of telling you all that wasn’t so much to give you notice as it was to share some really interesting things about how it seems you guys are coming by this site. Three of the most popular searches are for “how to chop basil,” “how to cook pin oats,” and “recipes with a rotisserie chicken.” Hating Paula Deen is up there, too, but since I actually like Paula Deen, I’m choosing to ignore that ;)

This tells me that I need to write more “How-to’s” (thinking about what to do next), find a recipe for pin oats besides oat meal (I’m working on it–it’ll probably be a cookie), and write some recipes with that crazy rotisserie bird. Who knew it would be so popular?

Well, I can satisfy one of these needs tonight. My wife and I picked up one of these little guys at the store yesterday for dinner last night, but we got side tracked and made something else instead (hopefully I’ll be able to tell you what in a few days). My wife is also not feeling too great, so I needed to come up with something with some nutrients and simple. Chicken soup came to mind–but, wait, I have all these root vegetables (including little potatoes), some whole milk I’ll probably never get to finish, and a shiny new saucier. Chowder-time!

Before tonight I was thinking that most chowders were potato based, but in doing a bit of research, that doesn’t seem to be the case–rather, it’s a thick soup, with heartily cut ingredients, made from whatever a cook had available. We associate it with clams and seafood in the US because of New England, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be so. In fact, I say this dish epitomizes the idea of chowder, since I took what ever I had on hand, threw it in a pot, and called it dinner!

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 1 celery rib, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 5 small potatoes (1 1/2″ diameter), halved, then quartered
  • 1 cup shredded chicken (from a rotisserie chicken)
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 1/2 cup frozen corn
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon fresh black pepper
  • 1/2 cup of whole milk

Procedure

Combine the oil and butter in the bottom of a 2 1/2 quart saucepan, over medium to medium-high heat. Once the butter has melted, add the onions, celery, and carrots. Cook until the onions are just starting to caramelize, then add the garlic and the potatoes. Cook until the potatoes begin to show color at the edges, stirring occasionally.

Add the chicken, chicken stock, corn, bay leaves, tarragon, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and allow the chowder to simmer for about 30 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender and begin to fall apart. Add the milk to the chowder, then stir to combine. Serve immediately.

Initially, I thought I was going to need to make a roux, but then I remember I was cooking with potatoes. Potatoes have enough starch in them to be a good thickening agent for whatever your cooking, especially if you cook them until about when they fall apart.

This recipe is really as simple as putting the ingredients in a pot and calling it dinner. What I loved about this is that it takes almost no effort, and the payoff is huge! This makes a delicious chowder, and feeds about four. Trust me when I say you don’t need anything else but a bowl of this for your dinner.

Recipes: Sweet Petals Coffee Cake

Published by Hal on December 29, 2007 in Hal's Hint and recipes. 0 Comments

This recipe has been a favorite in my family for years and years. I think the source is an old Better Homes and Gardens or Woman’s Day magazine from around 1970. I’m going to another holiday party this evening and made this treat this morning. It takes nearly 3 hours from start to finish, but most of that time is rising and baking. Before everyone gets nervous about cooking with yeast, it’s not as hard as it sounds! The little buggers (quite literally) are hardy, so unless you make your yeast-bath really hot and kill them, you’ll be just fine.

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 3 tablespoons shortening
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 3/4 cup scalded milk
  • 1 packet active dry yeast
  • 2 1/2 to 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup melted butter
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 3-4cups chopped nuts (I have used peanuts, walnuts, and pecans–any nut will probably taste fine)

Directions:

  1. Combine the water, shortening, salt, sugar, and scalded milk.
    Hal’s Hint: to scald milk, bring it just to a boil and remove it from the heat immediately.
  2. Allow the liquid mixture to cool to lukewarm.
    Hal’s Hint: to test the temperature, dip your finger into the liquid or flick some onto your wrist. If you can’t really feel the temperature or it feels slightly warm, it’s good to go.
  3. Stir the yeast into the mixture and let it sit for 10 minutes.
  4. Measure 2 1/2 cups of flour into a mixing bowl and pour the yeast mixture into the flour.
  5. Stir until the dough forms a ball.
    Hal’s Hint: the dough may be sticky at first–add more flour, about 3 tablespoons at a time, until the dough comes together into a ball. It’s much easier to add flour than it is to take it away
  6. Knead the dough about 20 times and cover.
  7. Allow the dough to rise for 60 minutes in a warm place (I put the dough in the microwave–not on, of course!).
  8. In the last 10 minutes of the first rise, melt the butter and combine the sugars, cinnamon, and nuts in a separate bowl.
  9. Tear pieces off the dough and roll them into strips about 1/2 inch in diameter and about 6 inches long.
  10. Dip the strips in the melted butter and roll them in the sugar/nut mixture.
  11. Coil the strips on a pan, making a round cake.
  12. Sprinkle some of the remaining sugar/nut mixture over the cake and place back into the warm place.
  13. Allow the cake to rise again for another 60 minutes.
  14. 15 minutes before the cake has finished rising, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
  15. Bake the cake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.
  16. Allow the cake to rest for 10 minutes. Ice with a mixture of 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1-2 teaspoons of milk, if desired.

My recipe notes that the dough making process can be shortened by using frozen sweet rolls. I’ve never done this, and don’t think it will cut out much of the time. Personally, I love the smell of yeast and rising bread, so I couldn’t imagine not making this totally from scratch.

I’m sure when you make this for your next family gathering, it will be a smash hit! It takes some time, but the end result is truly worth it. And, it’s an easy recipe that anyone can make, even the first time cook.

More pictures:

Recipe: Persimmon Pudding

Published by Hal on December 21, 2007 in recipes. 3 Comments

The Well Fed network has recently posted an entry about persimmons and gives a recipe for persimmon salsa. I thought, in the spirit of the Holiday season, I’d go a little different and post about a sweet variation on the persimmon theme. Here is a recipe for persimmon pudding, which is very much like a smooth bread pudding. The taste is somewhere around pumpkin pie, but the taste of the persimmon is more prominent than the pumpkin in a pie.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups milk
  • 2 cups persimmon pulp
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 stick of butter, softened
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Combine the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients in two separate bowls.
  3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, just incorporating them. Don’t overmix, or you’ll likely create gluten which will ruin the silky texture of the pudding.
  4. Add the mixture to a 13 by 9 baking pan and bake for 50 minutes, or until the mixture has a little wiggle, but spring back into place (like a custard).
  5. Allow to cool, and serve with whipped cream or this simple sauce:

Persimmon Pudding Sauce

Ingredients

  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 4 tablespoons flour
  • 1 3/4 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • dash of salt

Directions:

  1. Combine the ingredients in a medium saucepan.
  2. Bring just to a boil, then lower the head to medium-low.
  3. Cook until the sauce has thickened.
  4. Allow to cool slightly, then pour the sauce over the persimmon pudding.
  5. Allow the sauce to set, and serve (with whipped cream, even!)

I hope you enjoy! Happy Friday!