Picky palates.

A few months ago, I posted about Christopher Kimball's notion of every cook needing to master just 50 recipes.  I love the concept of a Recipe Repertoire. 

That said, we are a family of picky palates.  One of us has a restricted diet.  Two of us don't eat (much) meat.  Two of us have a faster metabolism than the other two and like to eat a lot.  One likes his food deconstructed.  (He'll eat all the elements of a big salad, as long as they are separated on his plate.)  One of us thinks she is a supertaster (as discussed in Lynne Rosetto Kasper's How to Eat Supper) and likes her food on the bland side.  We try to avoid processed foods, support our local economy, and be healthy.  And that's just our little family...what about yours?

The good news is every one of us is willing to try something new.  And every one of us says thank you before our evening meal.  Thank you for all the choices we have, thank you for this warm home, thank you for this family.  With all that we have going on, we try to keep the evening meal as a ritual to return to each day.

Meal planning is so much easier for me when I have a structure to work with.  It started with Friday night pizza night.  Then we added Sunday snupper (snacks + supper).  With parameters, I am a happy girl.

Starting Tuesday, I'll share some of the meals that work for us.  And I'm hoping you'll share some of the meals that work for you.  Send me a recipe any time this month and you'll be entered in a drawing for a one-of-a-kind mini-cookbook from me.  Send two recipes, you'll get two entries in the drawing. Share your recipes here in the comments, or via email:  gina {at} sekelsky.com.  Here's to each of us developing a repertoire of 50 recipes!

Comments

[michelle @ TNS]

who doesn't like chicken pot pie? (watch out, the recipe's kinda long!)

Chicken Pot Pies for Two

For the crust:
3/4 c. AP flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
6 tbsp. very cold butter, cut into cubes
2-4 tbsp. ice water

For the innards:
2 c. chicken stock
1 1/2 lb. chicken breast, boneless and skinless
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1 tbsp. olive oil
4 oz. sliced mushrooms
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 medium parsnip, chopped
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1/2 c. frozen peas
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
3 tbsp. AP flour
1/3 c. milk
s+p to taste

Make the crust: Pulse the flour, salt and pepper together in a FoPro. Add the butter and pulse until the butter bits are no larger than peas - 10 to 12 1-second pulses. Add the ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until the mixture starts to come together. Dump it out onto a lightly floured surface, smush it into a ball, wrap it in plastic and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Make the innards: Heat the stock, bay and thyme in a small saucepan until just below a simmer. Add the chicken breast and poach until just done. Don’t worry if there’s still some pink inside; it will finish cooking as the pies bake. Remove the chicken but reserve the stock.

Pre-heat your oven to 375.

Heat the olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the shrooms and cook until nicely browned, 7-10 minutes. Add the carrot, parsnip and onion, along with a good pinch of salt, and saute until they’re somewhat cooked but still offer resistance when poked with a knife, 5-7 minutes. Meanwhile, shred the chicken.

Add the butter and allow to melt and coat the veggies; add the flour and do the same. Cook for a few minutes to cook out any raw floury taste. Add the milk and a cup of the stock; as the mixture comes to a boil, the roux will thicken it. If it doesn’t look like you’ll have enough sauce, add a bit more milk. Stir in the frozen peas.

Assemble and Bake: Divide the innards equally between two ramekins or other small oven-safe dishes. Roll the chilled dough out to 1/4-inch thick and cut out 2 circles slightly larger than the vessels you’re using. Drape the dough over the baking dishes. You can crimp for pretty edges, or just fold the dough over the edge of the dish. Poke some holes in the top so steam can get out.

Put the ramekins on a baking sheet and into the oven. Bake 35-40 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. Let rest for 10 minutes before you try to eat them, or you’ll be sorry and I will totally say I Told You So.

[michelle @ TNS]

2 entries, because i love your stuff so much!

Mascarpone-Stuffed French Toast

For the French Toast:
1 medium loaf challah or brioche
1/2 c. mascarpone
4 tbsp. honey
1 1/2 c. half-and-half, cream, or mixture of milk and cream/half-and-half
5 large eggs
Pinch of salt
2-4 tbsp. unsalted butter

The night before you plan to make this, slice the bread into 1 1/2 inch slices and cut pockets for stuffing - stick a paring knife into the bottom of each slice and work it back and forth until you have as large a pocket as you can make without destroying the bread. Leave the bread out overnight to dry out. You can make the custard the night before as well: whisk half-and-half, eggs, salt and 2 tablespoons of the honey together.

Whisk the other 2 tablespoons of honey into the mascarpone. Scoop the mixture into a piping bag or ziploc with the tip snipped off. Fill the cavities in the bread with the cheese mixture. Put the bread into the fridge while you pre-heat the oven and get the custard ready to give the cheese a little time to chill.

When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 300 and melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.

Pour the custard mix into a pie plate. Put a cooling rack over some paper towels. Put each slice of bread into the custard and hold down for 30 seconds; flip and hold down for another 30. Put the custard-soaked slices onto the cooling rack; this allowed the custard to really seep into the bread, and the paper towels catch any drippings.

Cook each piece of French toast for 2-3 minutes per side, until golden brown. Transfer all the toast to a baking sheet and bake for another 5-7 minutes, until cooked through.

It takes a little time, but trust me - it’s worth it.

[Susan F.]

Two Recipes for baking Gluten Free!

Chicken Nuggets
½ stick unsalted butter
2 minced garlic cloves
1 cup GF bread crumbs
¼ C parmesan cheese
1 whole boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed into 1 inch pieces

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
In a small saucepan, melt butter with garlic and let cool
In a shallow bowl mix parmesan with breadcrumbs.
Dip chicken into butter and then into breadcrumb mixture and coat well.
Arrange chicken on baking sheet in one layer and bake for 15 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

Banana Bread
1 ¾ C Gluten free flour (Better Batter)
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 C butter, room temperature
1/3 C sugar (increase to 2/3 C if not using chocolate chips)
2 eggs, well beaten
1-4 ripe bananas
1 C chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Mix dry ingredients
Mix wet ingredients
Combine wet and dry ingredients
Add Chocolate chips

Grease a loaf pan and pour in batter
Bake for 60 minutes

I sure hope I win!!!

[Ash]

Breakfast Casserole

9 X 13 baking dish
6 onion rolls
1 bag cheddar cheese
1 block cream cheese
10 eggs
1 stick of butter
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream (can sub for milk)
1 tsp dried mustard
Dash of cayanne pepper
chives

-Grease stick of butter around baking dish.
(or you can use spray)
-Tear onion rolls into bite size pieces.
-Mix eggs, milk, cream, spices
-Pour mixture into baking dish with onion rolls
-Spread grated cheddar cheese over top
-Cut cream cheese block into lot of little pieces
-place them on top of cheese randomly
-chop chives and spread on top on everything.
-Use the rest of the stick of butter, cut it up and -place randomly on top (like the cream cheese)

Covered at 325
for 45-50 mins
(top will be slightly brown)

[HeatherC]

Aunt Jean’s Coffee Cake

1 cup margarine
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 cups flour

Mix together (like a pie crust, or you could probably use a food processor) until crumbly. Take out one cup of mixture and add to it:
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
3 tsp. cinnamon
Reserve this for the topping.

To the rest of the mixture, add:
1 egg – well beaten
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. soda
Pinch salt
Beat well with mixer. Pour into 2 well greased and floured pans. Sprinkle half of the topping evenly over each pan of batter. (I use either 8” or 9” round pans)

Bake at 350⁰ for 40 minutes.