Stuffed Shells

This is a bit of a departure from your normal stuffed shell recipe. I like it because it's not as tomato-y as what you may find elsewhere. It also has meat in the stuffing, rather than in the sauce. The meat is completely optional - if you don't add it, add in about 3 cups of shredded zucchini.

yields about 32 stuffed shells

1 box of jumbo shell pasta, cooked to al dente (about 10 minutes)

stuffing:
1 lb small curd cottage cheese
1/2 lb ricotta
12 oz frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained of liquid)
1/2 lb shredded mozzarella cheese
1 lb ground sausage, browned and crumbled
2 eggs
nutmeg (to taste)
Salt and pepper (to taste)

Sauce:
2 Tbsp butter or oil
2-3 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp garlic
3 c cold milk
1 c grated parmesan cheese
1/2 c cream cheese, cubed and softened
2 cans flavored tomatoes (drained)
salt and pepper to taste

Asiago cheese (topping)

Noodles
Follow the package directions to cook to al dente
Drain and rinse with cold water, separating the shells from one another, until cold

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

Stuffing
Combine all ingredients into a large bowl

Sauce
In a saucepan, melt butter, and mix in flour to make a roux
Blend completely and cook until just starting to smell nutty
Add the garlic and cook about a minute, stirring constantly
Whisk in the cold milk a little at a time, making sure it doesn't get lumpy
Once milk is completely added, add each of the cheeses, blending before adding the next one
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer
Add in the tomatoes and, switching to a wooden spoon, add the tomatoes in
Season with salt and pepper and let simmer about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally

Building The Dish
In a large, 9" x 14" x 4" deep pan, put down a ladle or two the sauce
Stuff the shells individually, and place them side by side until they are all in
If necessary, layer the shells - make sure the layers are even all the way across
Ladle the remaining sauce over the top
Sprinkle with Asiago cheese

Cover with aluminum foil and bake about 35 minutes.

Parmesan Crusted Pork

Actually, this can be done with chicken as well, if you'd rather. The trick is to try and make it about a 1/2 inch thick, and even across the whole portion of the meat...

1 lb white meat (pork or chicken), butterflied flat

1 c flour
2 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp black cracked pepper
1 tsp Kosher salt

3 eggs, beaten
3 Tbsp milk

1 1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese

Set up your breading station: Pan 1 has the seasoned flour, Pan 2 has the eggs, Pan 3 has the cheese.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large skillet, heat up vegetable oil to between medium and medium high
Make sure that the vegetable oil is about 1/4 inch deep - no more
Bread the pieces of meat and then lay gently and carefully into the heated pan
Let cook until golden brown, and flip
Let cook again until golden brown
Remove and place onto a broiling pan
Place in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until the meat is fully cooked

**Note that chicken is a little more delicate than pork is, so it may take less time to finish it off in the oven**

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

Serves about 5 very hungry people.

3 thawed chicken breast, cut into chunks 1-2 bites big

Breading:
3 cups cheese crackers (your choice of flavor - I love the 4 cheese)
30-40 Extreme Buffalo Wing Pringles chips (the ones with Frank's Red Hot on them)

Wet ingredients:
2 eggs
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup milk
1/4 c Frank's Red Hot sauce

Heat oven to 375 degrees F
Crunch the crackers up into a powder, in a ziploc bag, with a rolling pin
Pour breading into one large container
Mix the wet dredge well in another container
Place pieces of the chicken into the wet, and let soak a few minutes
Remove and place into the breading, and coat completely
Lay onto a cookie sheet
Repeat until all the pieces are done
**you may need 3 cookie sheets, to make sure they don't get crowded**
Drizzle a little bit of olive oil onto the chicken
Place into the oven and cook about 12-14 minutes
Remove and serve with your favorite dip

Potato Cakes

I came up with this recipe last night when I was at a loss as to what to do with potatoes. Sometimes, going in a completely different direction can lead to good things - this being one of them... This does have the option of being easily vegetarian, which is great.

Yields about 20 potato cakes, 3" diameter

4-5 fist-sized russet or Idaho potatoes, washed and large diced (about 1" cubed)
2 eggs
1/4 c milk
**optional ingredients can include shredded onion, bacon, garlic, whatever you want**
up to 1 c all purpose flour (depending on what is needed)
Salt
Pepper

Boil potatoes to just past done (not easily mashed, but smash-able*)
Drain and place into a medium bowl
Smash potatoes but leave some chunks, and add eggs and milk.
Add flour, 1/3 cup at a time, until the mixture is thick and does not easily drop off a spoon

In a medium saute pan, heat 1/2" olive oil and 1 Tbsp bacon fat (optional)
Take one large spoon-ful of the dough and place into the oil, then spread til it's about 3/4" thick
Repeat until you have 3 or 4 in the pan at one time
Fry until golden brown, then gently and carefully turn
Fry until golden brown
Place onto a paper towel to drain
Repeat until finished

*think potato salad done, rather than mashed potato done

Excerpt

An excerpt from "The Making Of A Chef" by Michael Ruhlman. At this point, Mr Ruhlman is interviewing the president of the Culinary Institute of America, Mr Ferdinand Metz.

'Mr Metz had told me one puts one's values on the plate; in fact, he suggested that this was the final and distinguishing element one brought to the basics of cookery. "The thing you add is your own sense of standards and quality," he said.

'I asked him to clarify what he meant when he said one puts values on a plate.

'"You know an artist is represented by his or her paintings or drawings or sculpture, the quality of it," he said. "I think we project our values by the food we have on the plate, not necessarily in the same artistic sense, but in the sense of flavors we offer. I always feel that when I put food on the plate for my family - anybody - I'm saying, 'I feel good about this. This is what I believe is good food. If it's not good food, I wouldn't put it there. This is what I like, this is my standard, this is what I believe is good food and I hope you enjoy it.' I think you make a value statement every time."'

I honestly believe that I have never seen anything as succinctly put as this. It is the epitome of how I feel about food. Never give someone what you feel is second rate. It is a reflection of yourself and of your ideals, and you show others how you feel about both yourself and your ideals with it.

~M

Family Style Lasagna

yields 1 lasagna pan (14" x 9" x 4" deep) filled to the top

Sauce:
1 lb mild Italian sausage
1 lb hot Italian sausage
3 cans chunk tomatoes, Italian flavor
2 small cans tomato paste
2 cans mushrooms -or- 1 lb fresh mushrooms, sauteed in butter
1 bunch fresh basil, minced
8 cloves garlic, minced
salt
pepper

Cheese filling:
1 lb ricotta cheese, drained
1 lb fine curd cottage cheese, drained
1 lb grated mozzarella cheese
4 eggs
1 lb chopped spinach (drained) -or- 3 medium zucchini, shredded
1/4 tsp nutmeg (fresh-grated is best)
salt
pepper

2 boxes uncooked lasagna noodles
1 1/2 Cups water

1/2 lb mozzarella cheese, shredded, for topping

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

For the sauce:
Mix the sausages together and brown.
Add the tomatoes, garlic and tomato paste.
Mix together until smooth
Add mushrooms and mix until combined.
Let simmer about 15-20 minutes.
Add basil and salt and pepper to taste.

For the cheese filling:
Combine all ingredients together in a large bowl until completely mixed.

In a large, 4" deep lasagna pan (13x9), do the following to layer:

sauce (with no meat, just to cover the bottom of the pan
Noodles, just meeting one another, covering the bottom of the pan
Cheese filling
Noodles
Sauce
Noodles
Cheese
Noodles

Repeat until you have used up all of the cheese, and then top with noodles and sauce.

Top with the cheese, and then add the noodles.

Cover with tin foil and bake for 1 1/2 hours.
Remove tin foil and test noodles for done-ness. They should now be soft.
Bake another 15-20 minutes or until cheese on top is nice and bubbly.

Let rest about 15-30 minutes.

Serve.

On Egg Cookery

Egg cookery is not glamorous. It is relegated in the culinary world most times to either the pantry or A.M. chef, or to the weekend brunch chef, and otherwise forgotten. Today's world looks on the idea of the egg and the myriad of dishes that can be made with it either as a main dish (an omelet, for instance) or an ingredient (take the plethora of cakes, pies and pasta that is made with it) as a mere convenience - some even look at it as a necessary evil because of it's higher cholesterol content than some other protein-rich substances. Be that as it may, to me there is very little that makes it other than a perfect single serving item. It even comes pre-packaged.

Eggs aren't necessarily pretty on the plate (unless you work at it), and when cooked incorrectly will both taste and smell foul. Why is this? There are a few things that you need to understand about an egg. First of all, the protein structure. I could go on and on like a chemist or a scientist about what happens when heat is applied, etc. Simple is always good for most people, though. What happens is this: When an egg cooks, the proteins within it turn solid, trapping the water portion of the egg within it. That water is necessary for the egg to maintain its look and mouth-feel.

If you *over-cook* the egg, the proteins tend to over-stretch itself, and eventually break. This lets out the water, and turns your eggs rubbery and unappetizing. If you've ever stepped away from your eggs and when you've come back, you've wondered who dumped a quarter-cup of water into the pan, I'll tell you: YOU did. You let the eggs overcook. Not only that, you'll find that the eggs smell sort of... well... rotten. That's the sulfur that's inherent in egg structure. Release that, and it's all over.

So, how to cook a proper egg? Well, it depends on how you like your eggs, first of all. Hard boiled, soft boiled, poached, fried, over easy, sunny side up, or scrambled... There's a lot of choices for an egg, which is one of the wonderful things about them.

So, I'll visit each of them in turn and give a little information on how best to cook them, depending on how you want them...

Until then, ponder this: Out of all the meat-based proteins in the world, the egg has all of the omega acids necessary for our body to stay healthy.

~M