Basil Chicken Merlot with Wild Mushrooms

Sometimes, cooking in a crockpot can be such a convenience! There's nothing nicer than coming home to a dinner that is already cooked for you. But often, crockpot recipes yield dishes that have strange pungent qualities -- not bad, just really intense. I found this dish to have quite a nice balance of flavors -- simple, yet warm and tasty. Perfect for coming in out of the cold!

Basil Chicken Merlot with Wild Mushrooms
crock-pot.com

3 T olive oil
1 1/2 - 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken, cut into pieces
1 1/2 c mushrooms (white button or baby bella), cleaned and thinly sliced
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 c chicken stock
6 oz tomato paste
1/3 c merlot, or other dry red wine
1 tsp oregano (dried)
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 T basil, fresh, minced
3 c ziti pasta, cooked, drained
romano cheese, grated, for garnish

Heat a large skillet on the stovetop and add oil. Brown chicken pieces about 3 minutes per side. emove chicken and set aside.

Add mushrooms, onion and garlic to skillet and cook 7-8 minutes, until onions are soft.






















Add vegetables to the stoneware insert of the crockpot. Add chicken pieces on top of the vegetables.

  

In a medium mixing bowl, combine stock, tomato paste, wine, oregano, sugar, salt, and pepper. Pour this sauce over the chicken.

Cover with the lid and cook on high for 3-4 hours, or on low for 7-9 hours.

Cook pasta and place on serving dish. Scoop chicken on top of noodles. Garnish with basil and grated cheese.

Sorry - no "after" picture! We got home and the place smelled so good that we sat down and ate right away!

Finnish Sour Cream Cake (Kermakakku)

I made this delightful cardamonny cake for visitors recently. Great after dinner, and lovely the next morning for breakfast.

Finnish Sour Cream Cake (Kermakakku)
Submission to Penzey's spice catalog

2 eggs
2 c sour cream
2 c sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
3 c cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground white pepper
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp cardamon
powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a tube or fluted tube pan and liberally sprinkle with sugar and set aside.





In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine eggs, sour cream, sugar, vanilla, and almond extract. Mix well.




In a separate bowl, sift together flour, soda, salt and spices. Add the dry ingredients in thirds to the wet ingredients and beat well until the batter is smooth and combined. Pour into the pan and bake for 50-60 minutes, until set in the middle. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before inverting to cool completely.

Dust liberally with powdered sugar. The granulated sugar already on the cake will keep the powdered sugar from "melting."

Banana Pecan Muffins

Bored with my stash of various nuts in the refrigerator, I wondered what I could do to use up some of my pecans. Behold, the lovely banana pecan muffin - easy to assemble, and a delight for breakfast and mid-afternoon snack.




































Banana Pecan Muffins
The Prepared Pantry


1 3/4 c + 2 T flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 T baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/4 c vegetable oil
1/3 c brown sugar
1/3 c sugar
2/3 c sour cream
2 T milk
1 c banana, mashed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c pecan, finely chopped


Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Combine flour, salt, powder and soda together in a bowl

In a separate bowl, begin to combine your wet ingredients -- mash the bananas, then whisk in the eggs. Add oil, and  milk. Add both the brown sugar and the white sugar. Add sour cream and stir in the nuts.

With a spatula, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir until just combined. Spoon batter into well-greased muffin tins. (The original recipe said this would make 10 muffins -- mine made about 16.)

Bake for 8 minutes at 425. Then, reduce the temperature to 350 and continue baking for another 6-10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Note -- they call for these two temperatures during baking so that the higher heat at the beginning of the baking will force the muffin to become tall and domed. Didn't work for me -- just sayin'. These are still tasty, and they weren't as dense as many banana muffins become. But, I did not get the high doming effect. Therefore, it may be easier to just bake them at the lower temperature for about 14 minutes, or until they are done.

Green Chile Mac-n-Cheese

OK - I totally loved this. I have many, many variations of macaroni and cheese. And, I largely use mac-n-cheese as an opportunity to clean out the fridge. (Have vegetables that may be slightly past their prime? Chop them up in mac-n-cheese! Have milk or cream suspiciously near its expiration date? Add them to your mac-n-cheese!)

Now that no one I know will ever eat my mac-n-cheese again for fear of their health safety, let's proceed with this recipe.

The poblano cream sauce is a nice addition -- not too hot, but definitely different from your standard mac-n-cheese. And, the addition of corn? Who knew I would love that so much! It gives a very sweet addition to those otherwise completely savory dish. It may be my new favorite add-on to mac-n-cheese.

Before you read any further, you do need to reflect on your own personal mac-n-cheese philosophy. I find that mac-n-cheese fans fall into one of two categories -- stovetop vs oven-baked. Sure, the stovetop method is quicker and allows you to have a completed casserole in about 20 minutes. But, the oven-baked school of users sets a priority on the brown crispy stuff that can happen on the upper layer of your casserole.

I'm an oven-baked kind of gal. This recipe is stovetop only. I've adjusted the last step accordingly. You can make your choice in the privacy of your own home, where you mamby-pamby stovetop casserole fans can eat your dish in moist, soggy, deprived satisfaction.

Oh - and on another note, this particular recipe calls for a very small casserole as your end product. I roughly tripled mine -- enough to use an entire box of macaroni noodles, or, to fill a full 2 1/2 quart casserole dish. The nice thing about mac-n-cheese is that it's very forgiving about proportions. I'm sharing with you the original version of the recipe...except for the baking part at the end.



Green Chile Mac-n-Cheese
Food. People. Want.

1 T vegetable oil
1/4 c poblano chile, diced
1/4 c red bell pepper, diced
1/4 c red onion, diced
1 T garlic, minced
1/2 c corn kernels
2 c elbow pasta, cooked
1/2 c poblano chile, roasted, peeled, and pureed
3/4 c heavy cream
1/2 c pepper jack cheese, grated
salt and pepper

Roast the poblano chiles.



When cool enough to handle, remove the skins, seeds and stems and puree in a food processor.



Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat (use a Dutch oven if you will be baking this). Add the diced poblano chile, red bell pepper, red onion and garlic and saute until just tender, about 5 minutes. Add the corn kernels and saute briefly.

Lower the heat to medium and add the cooked macaroni, poblano puree, cream and pepper jack cheese. Stir gently until the ingredients are thoroughly combined and the cheese is melted.

For baked casserole lovers -- make sure your oven is preheated to 375. Put a lid on your Dutch oven and place in the oven. Cook for about 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake for another 20 minutes, or until the top is browned and crustified to your liking.