Recipe #88 - Passo Gravy

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This recipe was one that my friend (who works at one of highest rated restaurants in Memphis) got me for Thanksgiving dinner. Now my mother wasn't too excited about having a ham gravy with the turkey, so she still made her turkey gravy as well. We ended up with two gravies and A LOT of leftovers... 

Saute ham to cook and render any fat.

Add onions, garlic, peppers and celery to ham. Sweat for 6-8 minutes. 

Deglaze the mixture with 5 quarts chicken stock, the veal stock and cream. Simmer for 20 or so minutes. 

Add ruex little at a time for thickening. I couldn't find any ruex, so I mixed flour with a little water and poured into the gravy through a very, very time holed strainer. (I don't usually like doing this in large amounts because the straight flour messes with the consistency of the flavors. But it's a great quick fix!)

Side note: Apologies for the lack of pictures in the last two steps. I guess that's what happens when I try to cook 6 recipes simultaneously! 

Seeing as we had too much food on the Thanksgiving table this year (as if that is ever possible), the Passo Gravy made an EXCELLENT topping for our biscuits the next morning for breakfast. Actually, it made so much that we had it several mornings in a row just trying to use it up. Not that that was a burden, the gravy was very rich and flavorful. It seemed to get better each day to. It's never bad to have a great ceipe like this in you back pocket. I will be making this one again!

Rating: 10

Time: 1 hour (ish)

Serves: 10

Ingredients: 

1 pound Passo ham (or what ever you can find that's not deli sliced ham), finely diced

1 1/2 large yellow onions, finely diced

1 1/2 green peppers, finely diced

3 celery sticks, finely diced

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1/2 gallon chicken broth

1 cup veal stock (or beef stock if you can't find veal, bc I never can!)

1/2 quart 40% heavy whipping cream

Ruex medium brown (can use flour and water if you can't find it)

Recipe #82 - Easy Beef Pot Roast

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This is a quick and easy recipe my mother has made for my family ever since I can remember. When there were 6 of us youngins running around all of the time, she needed something that didn't require a lot of attention. This crock pot recipe fit the bill.

Rinse beef then heavily salt and pepper.

Coat each piece of beef in the flour. Drizzle a large skillet with oil, add beef and brown on all edges, but don't cook all of the way through. Remove beef and place in the crock pot.

In the same skillet, saute onions until they are transparent.

Add the onions and beef broth to the crock pot and turn on high heat. Let simmer for 6 hours.

Add carrots, potatoes, celery and bay leaves. Simmer for another 2 hours.

And you're finished! Very easy. Very tasty. And the portions are extremely flexible. Just add more of which ever you like best. Just make sure you have enough beef broth to keep it moist enough. 

Rating: 8

Time: 8 hours

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

2 pounds beef stew meat

Baby carrots

Baby potatoes

Celery, chopped

2 onions, chopped

3 bay leaves

4 cups beef broth

1 cup flour

Salt and pepper

Recipe #81 - Lobster Bisque

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After my father had a lobster bisque as an appetizer at Flight on Main Street, he suggested (several times) that I try and make a bisque of my own. So here is my attempt!

In a saute pan heat a little oil over medium-high heat and saute shallots, onions, and garlic for one minutes. Then deglaze the pan with the white wine. 

Add Worcestershire, tabasco, and thyme and saute for another minute. Then deglaze the pan with the sherry.

Add paprika, hot water and lobster base and combine well. Stir in tomato paste and add the bay leaves. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Whisk in heavy cream and the butter and bring to a boil. Add the lobster and simmer until cooked through.

Serve with crusty garlic bread. 

This actually turned out really well. It had a little more spice than any one I've tasted before (but not in a bad way, just different). I would definitely make this again. 

Rating: 9

Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Serves: 6 

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 pounds lobster meat, cut into small chunks

6 tablespoons minced shallots

6 tablespoons chopped green onions

9 garlic cloves, crushed

3/4 cups white wine

6 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

6 teaspoons Tabasco sauce

3 teaspoons dried thyme

1 1/8 tablespoons dry sherry

3 teaspoons paprika

3 cups hot water

3 teaspoons lobster base (I used seafood stock.)

12 ounces tomato paste

6 bay leaves

6 cups heavy whipping cream

12 tablespoons butter

Recipe #79 - Chicken Spaghetti

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Our house keeper's assistant, Morgan, recommended this recipe to me. She is a college student and made this recipe for group of her friends. They all loved it. Listening to her explain it reminded me of my college cooking experience and thought this would be a fun way to relive a few of those moments.

Heat a little oil in a cooking skillet. Add chicken and cook until no longer pink.

Add onions and cook until transparent.

Stir in cheese, rotel, and cream of mushroom until cheese is thoroughly melted.

Serve over a bed of thin spaghetti noodles. You may add a little water if the sauce is too thick.

Rating: 7
Time: 15 mins
Serves: 6
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds chicken
1 large onion
2 cans rotel
1 10-ounce can cream of mushroom
1 block Velveeta
Thin Spaghetti nooodles

Recipe # 41 - Cream Stuffed, Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos

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Let's add some spice to this blog! And by spice I mean friggin' hot jalapenos! 

Now I wanted to serve some hor d'oeuvres to my friends and family on the 4th of July. After a little research, I found this recipe. However, it only had three ingredients: jalapenos, cream cheese and bacon. Talk about blah! I took the idea and added a few of my own ingredients. 

If you try making these, one thing I recommend (actually, I insist upon) is using gloves when preparing the jalapenos. I did not. For the rest of the day every time I put a finger up to my mouth it started burning. Then it spread to my upper and lower lips and was amplified by the sun - it was miserable! Thanks to my clever aunts, I learned that if you apply either lemon or lime juice to the jalapeno burn it recedes almost immediately. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Set out cream cheese and bacon to soften.

Start by rinsing the jalapenos and cutting them in half. Take a spoon or knife and remove all of the white membrane and seeds. Seeing as the seeds are what gives the jalapenos their main punch, you can leave a few inside to spice it up. I wasn't that daring :-/ Seeds be gone!

Mix the cheddar, mozzarella, cream cheese and sour cream in a medium bowl. Then stir in the green onions and chives. 

Next, cut the package of bacon in half. Wrap each jalapeno in a half strip of bacon. You can use more if the pepper is larger. You may also secure the bacon with a toothpick if needed. 

Place the peppers on a grilling rack and pop them into the oven for 20-25 minutes (until the bacon is crispy). They put off a lot of juice so I placed the grilling rack on a cookie sheet pan to catch the juices. Serve immediately or at room temperature.  

When I told people that I was going to be making these, I got a lot of "yucks" and "uh I think I may skip that one". But when these came out of the oven, I literally couldn't stop people from eating them! They smelled and tasted better than any of us had anticipated. I had to smack a few hands to make sure everyone had the chance to try at least one. 

I would definitely recommend these as an easy, tasty and fun to make hor d'oeuvre for any time of the year.

Rating: 10

Time: 40 minutes 

Serves: 20 (you know, unless everyone loves them, then about 10!)

Ingredients:

20 jalapenos

2 - 8 oz. blocks of cream cheese

1-2 pounds bacon (I used a little over 1 pound)

2/3 cup sour cream*

1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese*

1 cup mozzarella cheese*

3/4 cup green onions, diced*

1/3 cup chives*

*You can eye these measurements, if you feel like it needs more or less, then by all means!

Recipe #5 - Taco Chili

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I originally planned to make Taco Soup, but every recipe I found seemed to be missing something. I looked from Rachel Ray to Paula Dean and even just Googled "Taco Soup". So I decided last minute to make huge changes to the recipe.

I started out browning the Angus ground beef with the two onions over medium heat in a stockpot (apparently those are the tall ones). Since my parents still haven't replaced the automatic can opener, I made dad earn his dinner by opening up ALL the cans for me by hand. Lol. He didn't seem to mind.

Drained excess fat. Then added both types of kidney beans, Mexican tomatoes, niblet corn (frozen then thawed), tomatoes, green chiles, black olives, green olives, Rotel, taco seasoning, and ranch dressing seasoning, to the stockpot.

Simmer over low heat for at least an hour.  Then top with sour cream, cheese and Fritos.

I really didn't think it looked like soup at all. It looked more like chili. So instead of calling this "Taco Soup" I've rightfully renamed it "Taco Chili". I'm happy with the way it turned out. I'm not a huge soup fan to begin. I'd much prefer a thicker chili type dish than a soupy one. I think it's the broth. I don't think I'm a broth person if that makes any sense. Lol.

How I made mine.

How Dad made his.... oh dad...

Time: 1 hour, 15 mins
Rating: 8.5 (I'd def make this one again)
Serves: 6
Ingredients:
2 pounds ground beef
2 chopped onion
1 (15 1/2 ounces) cans Dark Red Kidney Beans, drained
2 (15 1/2 ounces) cans Light Red Kidney Beans, drained
2 (15 1/2 ounces each) cans Mexican Tomatoes
1 (15 1/2 ounces) can or frozen Niblet Corn, drained
1 (14 1/2 ounces) can diced Tomatoes
2 (4 ounces each) cans diced Green Chilies
1 small can Black Olives, drained
1/2 cup Green Olives, sliced
2 cans Rotel - original 1 package Taco Seasoning Mix
1 package Ranch Salad Dressing Mix Sour Cream
Grated Cheese
Chopped Onions
Fritos (corn chips)