The Cookbook

Mik

Fall is here, so it's time for comfort dishes. French ones, that is. Tonight is Chicken Normandy.

https://www.monpetitfour.com/chicken-normandy/

alt text

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2" wedges
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp apple brandy (or regular brandy)
apple cider (also known as unfiltered apple juice), *see note
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh sage

Instructions

To a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Pat dry the chicken thighs and a pinch of salt and pepper to both sides of the thighs. Carefully place the thighs into the pot and cook each side until browned.

Remove the chicken thighs from the pot and temporarily set aside on a plate. Add the apple wedges to the pot and sauté for a few minutes until golden and caramelized. Place the apple wedges on a separate plate.

Turn down the heat to medium. To the pot, add the onions and brandy. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pan. After a few minutes, when the onion has softened, add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Add the chicken back into the pot and pour in enough apple cider so that the chicken is mostly immersed in the cider, but not completely submerged. Raise the heat to high to bring the cider to a boil. Once it's boiling, turn down the heat to medium and cover the pot with a lid; cook for 5-7 minutes, until the chicken is tender and cooked through.

Remove the lid from the pot and stir in the cooked apples, mustard, cream, and chopped sage. Allow the mixture to simmer for about 5 to 7 minutes longer, until the sauce has reduced and thickened.

Serve each chicken thigh with a few apple wedges and some cream sauce poured over it. Enjoy immediately with French bread.

Notes

Depending on how deep/wide your pot is, you may need anywhere from 1.5 to 2 cups of apple cider.

Mik

Twas delicious. Pretty easy too. The sauce doesn’t get reall thick, so I definitely recommend plenty of crusty bread. Flavors were great.

Mik

Trying something new with Brussels Sprouts tonight (I love them, but MFR doesn''t. She's out of town)

With Grilled Halibut with prawns and lobster butter.

Smoky Lemony Shredded Brussels Sprout. I always shred mine. Better cooking that way.

https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-smoky-lemony-sauted-shredded-brussels-sprouts-recipes-from-the-kitchn-196909#post-recipe-10685

Catseye3

I am also a fan. This week I made a big panful of broccoli-Brussels sprouts-petite carrots medley sauteed in butter. That is how I discovered how tasty is pepper flakes with carrots.

Mik

Turned out great. I would probably add more smoked paprika.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@Mik I've developed a taste for Brussel sprouts in the last few years. Had some last night (frozen, in a steamer bag, but I was lazy).

This looks like a nice recipe. How did you shred them?

Mik

With a knife. Cut ends off then slice them lengthwise. I think they cook better and it brings out the natural sweetness. Don’t think they cook evenly whole.

Mik

Tonight's repast, found and requested by My Favorite Redhead. Will use less sausage - that's a LOT for half a pound of pasta. Our servings will be about 1/4 of this recipe, two oz of pasta.

https://www.saltandlavender.com/wprm_print/41612

Orecchiette with Sausage and Spinach

Ingredients

8 ounces uncooked orecchiette pasta
16 ounces Italian sausages see note
1/2 medium onion chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 cups (packed) fresh baby spinach
2 tablespoons fresh basil optional
Salt & pepper to taste
For serving: freshly grated parmesan cheese optional, to taste

Instructions

Cook the pasta al dente according to package directions.

Meanwhile, crumble the sausage meat into a skillet (take it out of casings if using whole sausages). Add the onion to the skillet as well, and sauté over medium-high heat for 8-10 minutes or until it's cooked through and nicely browned. If there's more than about 1-2 tablespoons of fat left in the skillet, spoon out the excess, but be sure to leave some since we're not adding any extra butter or oil.

Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the garlic and Dijon mustard (cook for about 30 seconds).

Pour in the wine and cook until reduced by half (about 1-2 minutes).

Add in the spinach and basil. Toss (using tongs or two large spoons) until the spinach has wilted, then add in the drained pasta and toss again.

Season with salt & pepper as needed. Serve immediately with freshly grated parmesan cheese over top.

Notes

There is quite a lot of sausage in the sauce, so you could definitely get away with using a bit less than the full pound. Here in Canada, Johnsonville sausages come in a 500g pack (that's just over a pound, and I find it easiest to just use the whole thing). Whatever brand you like best will work just fine, and you can either take the sausage meat out of the casings or just use ground sausage meat.

Mik

Pretty tasty!

Aqua Letifer

@Mik said in The Cookbook:

Pretty tasty!

Would you mind telling me what that kind of pasta is called? I know the story behind it but couldn't find it in the store, and I sounded like a crazy person trying to explain it.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@Aqua-Letifer said in The Cookbook:

Would you mind telling me what that kind of pasta is called?

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=orecchiette&crid=101W1OT5U5X8S&sprefix=orecchiette%2Caps%2C126&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

But none of them look like what's in @Mik's picture.

Mik

It's a new pasta, not Italian, called Cascatelli. Interesting story, like below. Right now it's only available from Sfoglini and pretty pricey.

https://www.eater.com/2021/3/22/22344801/dan-pashman-creates-new-pasta-cascatelli-with-sfoglini

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@Mik said in The Cookbook:

https://www.eater.com/2021/3/22/22344801/dan-pashman-creates-new-pasta-cascatelli-with-sfoglini

OK, so being the philistine I am, is there really a difference in pastas beside the shape?

I mean, I understand how one might want a specific shape to grab and hold whatever sauce you're making with it.

But, spaghetti, linguine, fettuccine....they're all the same, right?

Philistine...

Mik

They're pretty much all made out of the same stuff, yeah. I think the variations are in the bite and mouthfeel. I personally don't care much for fettucine, preferring bucatini which is essentially fat spaghetti.

Me, I'm not all that fond of cascatelli, but had to buy some to find out.

Mik

MFR again requested a recipe she found. Since I made her eat grilled trout last night, I guess I will make it for her. It does sound good. Using pork tenderloin that has been in freezer for like 3 years. Vacuum sealed so should be fine. Will be substituting agave and maple syrup for some of the honey.

https://www.thereciperebel.com/honey-garlic-pork-tenderloin-recipe/#wprm-recipe-container-28473

alt text

Mik

This was very, very good. Would make again.

By the way, the Recipe Rebel site l linked above has some really great, fast delicious looking dinners. One more I ordered the stuff for is one George would like. Pierogies and smoked sausage.

https://www.thereciperebel.com/perogies-and-sausage-skillet/

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@Mik thanks for that link.

Lots of good stuff there, some of which Mrs. George might like. She doesn't like "saucy" things.

I know, I know, Cicero girl....

Mik

Thought you might like it. I see a lot of the food blogs, but not many that I think are pretty great.

89th

As requested in this thread: https://nodebb.the-new-coffee-room.club/post/183097

Our pizza process:

Ingredients:

Dough - Buy from Trader Joes, looks like this. It can can keep in fridge for a few days, otherwise put in freezer. I have found keeping it in fridge right before rolling it out makes it easiest to work with. For years I would let it come to room temperature first.
Sauce - We use this sauce. Used to buy it in-store but haven't found it in Minnesota, so we just buy it in 6 packs on Amazon.
Flour - Used when rolling out the dough
Cornmeal - Used to keep pizza from sticking to pizza peel
Cheese - We use normal shredded mozz, but you can mix it up
Olive oil - Brush on crust to make it crispier
Other toppings - Such as spinach, pepperoni, red pepper flakes, sliced pepper, ok that's a lot of pepper... onion, etc. You know what you like.

Tools

Rolling pin
Pizza peel (like this)
Pizza stone (like this)

Process

Preheat oven to 500, place pizza stone in the oven
Roll out dough using flour, flip once or twice as needed until desired width
Place light coating of cornmeal on pizza peel (this will keep dough from sticking and will make sliding it onto the hot pizza stone easy)
Manually transfer dough onto pizza peel
Add sauce, then cheese, then toppings, then a little cheese on top. Whatever you want.
Brush olive oil on crust
Reduce oven to 460 (no need to wait for it to get there)
TIP: Do a few practice "slide/shake" of the pizza on the peel to make sure it slides enough to be able to transfer onto the stone. Suggest doing this over the sink since cornmeal will fall off a bit
Transfer pizza by sliding it onto the hot pizza stone while it's in the oven.
Usually about 11-13 minutes should do the trick

TL;DR Version

Preheat to 500
Roll out dough from Trader Joes
Transfer to pizza peel
Add toppings
Reduce oven to 460
Slide pizza from peel to stone
Bake for 11-13 min

Final note. The temperature and time are not exact. I have done everything from 425 to keeping it at 500. Sometimes it takes 11 minutes, sometimes 15.

Mik

Made the Pierogi sausage thing last night. Very good.

The New Coffee Room

The Cookbook