Chuck Roast and Sunset

     You know how it is when you find yourself right smack dab in the middle of a perfect sunset?  You could be at home, on vacation, in the mountains, by the sea, on a plane, in a highrise, near, far, high, low, so long as you are facing west.  And it is stunning.  It clearly takes your breath away.  It makes you happy.  Provides you with some inner feeling of calming serenity.  Some proof that this planet is a perfect system and you want to hold onto the moment, the feeling, as long as you possibly can.  But you know.  The moment is fleeting.  So you think the next best thing would be to capture it on film.  To have forever.  A memory that will for all times evoke these very emotions that are welling up in you right this very moment.  So you snap a shot.  And then another ad nausuem because, hey it is digital and you CAN just delete. And you figure, somewhat smugly, with your mad camera skills and the glorious vision presented, you might just win some sort of photography award with it's stunning beauty.

    The next day you whip out your photography device to relive the magical moment and it's just, not.  The colors are flat, there is too much shadow, or not enough light, and the sun just looks, I don't know, wrong.  Or maybe that only happens to me. Or maybe the glass of wine I was enjoying while watching the sunset made the pictures seem so perfectly able to capture the moment.  I will have to say something similar happened when photographing the PlannedOvers for this particular post.  They are just not.  Not appealing, not artistic, and Not covered in cheese.  Even though I swear I saw him take the photo and he swears I told him I would take the photo, it's not there.  But what was there, was the taste.

     It began on a rainy day, a day good for both book reading and slow cooking, a day to put the industrial food vaccuum storage system to good use. And I did do just that. I got a mess of chuck roast, cubed, seared and and slow simmered it in a pretty neutral base with garlic and onions until falling apart tender.  Allowed it to cool then bagged, sucked, and sealed to be used PlannedOver style for many meals to come.   In fact one week saw this particular PlannedOver become yet another PlannedOver with the creation of two distinct dishes.

     Monday saw the addition of onions and mushrooms, in a roux of beef broth,  made rich with the addition of sour cream all served over egg noodles.  It was a big hit.  Allrecipes has a good place to start here. Thursday took the PlannedOvers from Monday, with a mess of sauteed peppers and onions, on a toasted hogie roll, topped with melted cheese for a different take on a Philly Cheese.

     But just like the elusive sun in the western sky, brown stew meat just don't photograph the way you intend.  You just have to trust the empty plates.

"Beef Stroganoff"

Philly Cheese - photographed sans cheese

Happy Eating!

Summertime means squash

Today marks the end of the Spring delivery of my Community Supported Agriculture or CSA.  Rebecca Cantey is an adorably lovely lady who has spearheaded the CSA at Ovis Hill Farm for the past two years.  Her enthusiasm for organic gardening and her adoration of vegetables puts her pretty high on my list of very cool people.  Being part of a CSA for the last couple of years is a really self satisfying way to know I am giving back to my local farming community, and doing something good locally.  It also provides, for a type A like me, spontaneity, in the form of vegetables. Spontaneity.  It sounds fun, in theory, for others I mean.  I guess I have found kindred spirits amongst my fellow CSA members, because someone OTHER than me, asked Rebecca right out loud if we could know in ADVANCE what we were getting each week, which she graciously agreed to and now provides in an email the day before our weekly pick up.   And in all reality, when you are type A like me, and a planner to boot, that was just about the best news I could have gotten. So that's sort of spontaneous, right?  I get whatever vegetables are seasonally available, but I get to know in advance.  We call that compromise around these parts.

    Now the other thing that you get when you sign on for an entire growing season worth of a CSA, is seasonal produce.  In the very short timespan that our country has gone from an agricultural country to one of agribusiness, I don’t remember a period of my lifetime where I had ever to concern myself with seasonal.  Random Tuesday in the middle of January and I have a hankering for Asparagus?? No problem.  Strawberries in September, certainly! Convenient for sure, but at a great sacrifice to, the most important, or at least one of the most, important aspects of eating, taste.  The sometimes inconvenient aspect of eating seasonally is repetition.  Vegetables have a specific, preset, unless of course Monsanto has genetically altered it,  harvest time.  You plant a seed and you pretty much know, more or less, when said item will be ready to pick.  So as the season progresses from cool Spring, to hot Summer, back to cool Fall, there are definite periods when you have a LOT of one type of vegetable.

    And here in the South mid-June, It’s SQUASH time ya’ll.  We’ve had it grilled, sauteed, grilled in the basket with onions, casseroled, and even made into bread and muffins.  And there is still more squash yet to come.  And, don’t get me wrong, I really like squash, but sometimes the monotony, both production and consumption forces me to fire up my creative side and develop something different.  Enter Squash cakes.  Because lets face it, every single body, likes whatever it is you are cooking when you call it cake.  Crab, black bean, shrimp, Potato, corn, all delicious and all cakes.

    It all began, as it usually does around here, with some PlannedOver Squash Casserole, determined not to heat and repeat, I tossed in some bread crumbs and a little parmesan cheese, pan seared to create a textural contrast and voilà* Squash Cakes!!

Pan Seared Squash Cake

Squash Casserole

Yellow Summer Squash - sliced

Onion chopped

Greek Yogurt

Low Fat Mayo

Parmesan Cheese

Saute the squash and onion until soft, adding water to the pan if it gets too dry. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper, approximately 10-15 minutes. Add equal parts yogurt and mayo and sprinkle parmesan cheese to your liking, combine and bake at 350 until golden.

Squash Cakes

PlannedOver Squash Casserole

Bread Crumbs

Parmesan

Add enough bread crumbs to mixture so that it holds together when forming cakes.  Pan sear over medium heat in butter until golden on each side 4 or so minutes per side.

Enjoy!  Happy Eating! And Happy Summer!

*Anyone who knows me can attest to the atrocity of my spelling.  I had to consult, Google, MG, and the sister, all to produce the correct spelling of this word.  And let’s not even begin to discuss my half hearted feeble attempt at trying to unearth exactly where to locate an accent.  Grateful for the cut and paste.

Pesto, Pistou, Pistu

So what is in a name?  Or in this case what is in this delicious and highly versatile PlannedOver.  Summertime here in South Cackalakie and you know what that means, it’s Basil time.  As a southern woman, or a transplanted southern woman in my case, of a certain age, it is practically mandatory to grow something in the summertime.  It doesn’t have to be a lot.  No need to go all Laura Ingles Wild.  But a small plot, or some herbs, and of course the requisite tomato.  Because as we all know there is nothing, wait, no nothing quite like an honest to goodness homegrown tomato.  Eaten the southern way between two slices of white bread, generously schmeared with mayonnaise, accompanied solely by a light sprinkle of salt and pepper, it epitomizes the taste of summer.

I started innocently enough with tomatoes and slowly and surely each and every year, what I plant and how  I plant has grown. This year is my most ambitious yet, with me even planting from SEEDS.  Seeds.  I find it highly remarkable that I am able to stick a shriveled up, dry, brown seed into the ground, wait 2 months and viola, green beans. That you can eat.  Roasted, nonetheless.  It is a pretty amazing process and I am thoroughly enjoying every little surprising moment of it.  Including the fact,  it turns out I seem to be pretty GOOD at growing things.  Which is quite contrary to what I believed about having or not having a green thumb.  I found out last summer that I am particularly good at growing Basil.  A LOT of Basil.  So I am not going to reinvent the wheel by sharing that when you have a boatload of basil and you don’t have a ginormous Italian family to feed, you make pesto.  Or pitou.  Or pistu.  Anyone of which, when frozen in ice cube trays and popped into a freezer zip lock will allow you the taste of summer, hopefully all year long.

So what’s the difference?   Pesto hails from Genoa in Northern Italy, generally meaning to pound or crush, as in mortar and pestle.  The typical  traditional preparation  method., done by hand would include, basil, pine nuts, oil, and Parmesan cheese.  Pistou, on the other hand, came from the Provincial area of neighboring France and is unique in that it contains neither pine nuts or cheese.  And I know, I rarely can find a reason that you should not include cheese, ever, but there are actually times that it is better not to have cheese.  Such as when making a basting sauce for the grill.  

Freezing In Ice Cube Trays makes storage a snap

Epicurean Table has several, although not particularly visually, appealing versions to peruse, and what you can do with either creation is practically endless.  Pesto can be mixed into pasta, for a simple, yet delicious classic dish. Mixed with mayo it forms a delectable sandwich spread.   Pistou swirled into Minestrone soup is also a classic, swirled into eggs would be equally good,  and as aforementioned...it is excellent when used as a base for a grilling baste.

Happy Eating!  Enjoy!

Hakuna

Frittata!  We used to have a saying, well actually we continue to say this about my mother’s cooking.  What you eat today, will be part of an egg dish tomorrow, on a salad the next day and in the dressing the fourth.  You see I come by my PlannedOver self quite naturally.  A Frittata, according to Wikipedia  is an “egg-based dish similar to an omelette or crustless quiche, enriched with additional ingredients such as meats, cheeses, vegetables or pasta. It may be flavored with herbs.” Italian for “fried” the frittata is oftentimes made in a skillet, which I do, sometimes and others I put it in a pyrex or even muffin tins.  

This dish has so many endless possible combinations of ingredients that can comprise a delish dish, it is mathematically impossible to calculate.  At least mathematically impossible for me. I am certain somewhere, someone, could formulate some type of algorithm to decipher the myriad of flavor opportunities presented when contemplating just what it is that you want to put into your frittata, but I don’t know of their existence.  Nor do I particularly care about numbers, I am, however, particular on taste.  

    And the other great thing about a frittata it that it is budget friendly.  And we are all on a budget, be it dollars in our wallets or hours in the day, we are all trying to squeeze the most out of what we’ve got and the humble frittata fits the bill.  It is simple to prepare and you are using up ingredients on hand that you have already prepared and served at another time. In other words it is the ultimate PlannedOver.

    The frittata is also a highly versatile PlannedOver dish.  Need something for breakfast, brunch, dinner, luncheon? Frittata! Baby shower, bridal shower, hor dourves, graduation party?  Frittata!!  Baked in muffin or mini - muffin pans it even becomes a portable, hand held snacking item!.  The possibilities are literally endless.  You could even get all fancy with it throw in potatoes and onions, call it a “Tortilla” and serve it as a Spanish tapa!  And what about toppings?  Romesco, marinara, chopped tomatoes, mediterranean salsa, herbs???  You see, endless.

Here are a few of my favorites including the Spinach and Feta I created just the other night.

Spinach, Onion and Feta Frittata

• Spinach, feta, roasted red peppers
• Mushrooms, Caramelized Onions and Fontina
• Bacon, Cheddar and Hash Brown potatoes
• Roasted Red Peppers and Goat Cheese
• Pizza Frittata with your favorite toppings and Marinara
• Roasted Veggies and gruyere
• Steak, Gorgonzola, and Spinach
• Broccoli and White Cheddar
• Sausage, Mushroom and Gouda
• Whatever you had leftover from last night chopped up and mixed with beaten eggs and cheese if you so desire.  (and I always desire)

I would love to hear your creative explorations!  Enjoy!

Batter Up

I remember fondly, summer mornings at my grandmother Anna’s house, eagerly anticipating the sizzle of the batter hitting the pan, sweetly scented steam rising from the sides. Sun streaming through the kitchen window, the seemingly endless wait from pan to plate.   The crisp crust meltingly yielding to a pillowy soft interior, slightly sweet and ready to hold whatever toppings you choose.  The salty contrast of the melted butter and sticky syrup pooling in the perfectly formed squares.  MMMMM......Waffles.  Need I say more?

I know with the convenience of prepackaged frozen foods, long ago favorites were lost to their significantly easier counterparts.  But, as is so often the case, upping the convenience factor causes a serious shrinkage in both the quality of the product and most significantly of all, the taste.  So when I do haul out the waffle iron, I make it worth my while, whipping  up a big ole batch, to stick in the freezer ready at any moment  for a brief bake in  the toaster oven.  This, I guess, is the original idea of a PlannedOver.  Making something in advance with plans to use it at a later time.  And I do that.  Often.  But one thing I really like to do is have things prepared in advance that I can find an alternate use for, kind of a second life, a dual purpose I suppose.  I imagine you could make chicken and waffles, which is so all of the rage right now, and I don’t really get it, and I don’t really fry chicken either.  Shocking, I know, me living in the south and whatnot.

Finding myself with sort of unexpected weeknight dinner guests I decided to create a play on the waffle ice cream cone.  I also found myself with a “non-edible” apple.  I love apples.  Let me restate that, I love good, flavorful, crisp, tasty, delicious, juicy apples.  Braeburn, Fuji, Pink Lady, Jazz, I’m not particular on the varietal, I am however incredibly particular that my apple should have at least some, if not all of the aforementioned attributes.  And if not ALL of them, it should at least be tasty, if not what is the point of eating it?  And on this day, in this particular case, this apple tasted like cold wet nothing.  So my last minute guests, PlannedOver waffles,  and a desire to allow this poor pitiful excuse for an apple achieve its destiny as a tasty morsel, Ied to the creation of Apple Pie Butter Seared Waffles with Caramel Sauce and Creme Anglaise aka, in my case, melted vanilla ice cream.

Apple peeled, cored and cubed

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Butter

Sugar

Water

Dash of cornstarch

Combine all in a saucepan over low heat and allow the apple to soften and for the other ingredients to impart some much needed flavor to the sad tasteless apple.  You might have to add additional water until the apple is soft and you have a nice thick syrup.

Waffles - grab from the freezer and defrost first.

Melt butter in a saute pan - add waffle, saute until golden on each side.

To plate - spoon melted vanilla ice cream onto 4 plates, top with 1/4 of waffle and divide apple mixture atop each.

Drizzle with caramel sauce and serve.

It was a hit!  Enjoy!!!