Chicken That Makes Its Own Gravy

Chicken That Makes Its Own Gravy

Can one have too many chicken recipes?  I think not, especially when it's as simple and flavorful and as comforting this one.  This is one of those mom meals that make adult children pine for childhood Sunday dinners at Grandma's.  The aroma alone while it's baking will have you hanging around the kitchen anxiously awaiting mealtime.

I originally saw this recipe in a cookbook which I love (and one of two cookbooks that I own two of because I love them so much) entitled Best Recipes from the Backs of Boxes, Bottles, Cans and Jars by Ceil Dyer.  Originally the recipe was included on the back of the back of the Carnation evaporated milk in the early 60's and became much beloved.  I can our voices to the chorus of praise for this meal; Sweetie-Pie and I raved about it for hours after.  Yep, it's a keeper in my files.

I made a couple of small changes to the recipe for my ease of preparation, portion, and method of seasoning, but otherwise followed the recipe.

CHICKEN THAT MAKES ITS OWN GRAVY

3 to 3 1/2 pounds frying chicken pieces (I used 2 thick breasts cut in half)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup melted butter
2/3 cup undiluted evaporated milk
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup (4 ounces) grated American processed cheese (I used real cheddar)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 medium sized onion, diced
1/4 pound mushrooms sliced or some small can mushrooms drained
dash paprika

Preheat over to 425* Fahrenheit.  Melt the butter and add to the bottom of  a casserole dish.  Add the chopped onion.

Coat chicken with flour.  (I put the flour, salt, pepper, and paprika in a plastic bag with the chicken pieces and shook the chicken in the mixture until well covered, to improve the flavor of the chicken.)
Arrange the chicken in a single layer in the casserole dish atop the onions.  Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.  Turn, bake and bake another 15 to 20 minutes until brown.

Remove from oven; reduce heat to 325* Fahrenheit.  Pour of any excess fat.

Combine the undiluted evaporated milk, cream of mushroom soup, mushroom slices and cheese and pour over the chicken.  Give it a little stir to combine with the onions.  Cover the dish with foil and return to the oven and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes or until chicken tests done (is easily pierced with  fork or has an internal temperature of 165* Fahrenheit with a meat thermometer.)

The gravy goes especially good with mashed potatoes, though noodles would be equally good.

COOK'S NOTES:  The original recipe called for the seasonings to be added with the cream of mushroom soup, but when I've done that with similar past recipes, the chicken tends to be bland.  The chicken needs to be seasoned before baking to enhance its flavor.  Also the recipe called for a one pound jar of drained onions, which I never have on hand (must've been a pantry staple back in the 60's), but I do always have fresh onions, which I used as a substitute.

Cottage Pudding with Warm Lemon Sauce

Cottage Pudding with Warm Lemon Sauce

There are certain recipes that have stood the test of time and taste that reside firmly planted in my heart. Most of those foods I relate to my beloved grandmother, whose humility and simplicity and generosity of heart  left an indelible picture of how a life of gratitude should be lived.  It was she whom I wanted to model myself after. Sadly, I've missed the mark by a mile but I'm still working on it.

The one thing I can do is make some of her recipes, which I do several times a year and it gives me time to reflect on our times together, standing in the kitchen of her tiny two-room house that was filled with so much love that it should've burst open like the wild, fragrant roses she kept in her garden.  I can still see her in a tired old bib apron that she would never toss out because it "still had some life in it" and saving her other aprons for Sunday best when we'd go to her house for dinner.

One of the first desserts I ever learned to make was cottage pudding with warm lemon sauce.  My grandmother had a Rumford Baking Powder cookbook, published in the early 1900's, and I think it was one of the two or three that she ever owned in her entire life.  I have it tucked away somewhere; the pages are yellow and crumbling, and it has to be handled ever so gently but this recipe was among them.  Even as a child I loved lemon, and that warm lemon sauce over the simplest of cakes was a glimpse into heaven, I think.  This particular recipe I found on the internet but it's as good as I remember.

Not sure why this is called cottage pudding.  I would serve it in a cottage; I would serve it in a palace.

COTTAGE PUDDING WITH WARM LEMON SAUCE

1/4 cup butter (one half stick butter)
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (I reduced to 1/4 teaspoon because I use salted butter)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk

LEMON SAUCE

1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch of salt (about 1/8th teaspoon)
1 cup water
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 large lemons)
1 tablespoon butter

Grease and flour and 8" x 8" baking pan.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

FOR THE CAKE:
Cream butter in mixing bowl.  Gradually add sugar, mixing well.  Add egg, beat well.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add as thirds, alternating with half the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, mixing in between.  Add the vanilla, mix.

Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes or until toothpick tests clean.  Allow to cook in pan for ten minutes.  Remove from pan and allow to cool completely. Cut into 8 rectangles, 2" x 4" in size.

FOR THE SAUCE:
Combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a saucepan and whisk to combine ingredients. Gradually add the water and lemon juice and whisk until smooth.  Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, translucent.  Add butter and stir.  Use warm over cake.

COOK'S NOTES:  Cake keeps well for a couple of days and on its own it seems to be typically on the drier side; you definitely need the lemon sauce.  Lemon sauce seems to be best on the day it's made.  It will reheat but it's not really at its optimum.

DIY Dried Onion Soup Mix

Make It Yourself Dried Onion Soup Mix

Okay, true story--not the most inspiring picture in the world.  Kind of an ugly duckling, but we all know how that story ended.  The ugly duckling was actually a swan and looks can be deceiving.

It's the same with this DIY dried onion soup mix.  I haven't had the packaged stuff in a very long time.  I mean, two pouches for over $2.00, wow!  I suppose $2.00 in a world of billions is laughable chump change, but my world isn't made up of billions, millions, or even hundreds.  There have been times when I had to shake out my handbag or couch dive to find loose change.  So yeah, $2.00 does matter.  You need $2.00 before you can have a million.

Some years back I used to ride the bus to work, and there were a couple of young people who were having a loud conversation for the benefit of their bus buddies, being snarky about people trying to save nickles and dimes at a local gas station. Waiting in line at a gas station to save five cents a gallon at the gas pump was incomprehensible.  Well, I said to them, if you found fifty cents on the ground in a parking lot, would you pick it up or would you walk over it. They quite smugly assured me they'd walk over it, that fifty cents was "nothing" but I think most people would pick it up and pocket it. When I find money like that I tend to donate it to charity but okay, whatever.  Bless your heart.

Anyway, saving money is as close as your spice cabinet or pantry and I kid you not when I say this is superior to the packaged mix. Big beefy and onion flavor, just what you'd expect. How many spices do you have in your cabinet that go stale from years of not being used.  Many of us are guilty of that.  We buy a spice for a recipe and then don't use that spice or herb for another year or so.  Like celery seed.  Just how often do you use that?  I use it in my potato salad that I make several times a year but other than than it's pretty neglected.

So, with making your own spice mix or bulk food mix, not only do you save money and have equal to or better quality and flavor, but also in the long run save money because you are using ingredients that you have on hand at their optimal freshness and not tossing them out.

I repurposed a spaghetti sauce jar (it was a jar of Classico spaghetti sauce); I love these jars.  They have markings for ounces on the side, which I don't use, but it gives a bit of pizzazz to the jar, and I feel green re-using it.  I appreciate that it has a wide mouth so I fit a tablespoon in it. No fighting to get the spoon in and out. Just as an aside I'm keeping more of the jars to store other pantry items in it, like brown sugar and flaked coconut, dried beans and the like.  It looks nice, takes up less space on my pantry shelves, and is a great way to store food if you're not one who happens to like a lot of plastic.

To fill the jar, I double the recipe.

MAKE-IT-YOURSELF DRIED ONION SOUP MIX

3/4 cup dried, minced onion
1/3 cup beef-flavored bouillon (I use Knorr)
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed celery seed
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Combine all ingredients.  Shake to combine.  Makes 1 cup mix.

5 tablespoons is equal to one store-bought packet.

COOK'S NOTES:  I wrote the recipe on a 3x5 card and taped it with clear packing tape to the side of the jar so that way I always have the recipe on hand and I don't have to do a search to remember how much to use to equal one packet.  I suppose I could've posted a picture of the jar but how many ugly brown pictures do we want to look at?  LOL

Tomato Gravy and Biscuits

Tomato Gravy and Biscuits

So here's a little something that you don't see everywhere, except maybe country diners and country kitchens, and that's just a shame because it's mighty satisfying.  Maybe tomato gravy and biscuits is a little too humble for the latte and cappuccino crowd, but for those of us who know good cookin', who may have a family to feed on a budget, or just crave a little nostalgia of simpler times, this is a plateful of delight.

My favorite no-fail biscuit recipe is here.

TOMATO GRAVY

4 slices bacon
2 tablespoons bacon grease (reserved from frying above 4 slices)
1 cup of onion, well chopped
1 teaspoon butter
2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1 15-oz can of diced tomato (I think current can sizes are 14.5 ounces)
1 cup of chicken broth
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 cup whole milk or heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Fry bacon in a large skillet, remove, crumble, and set aside.  Reserve 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat.  Add the onion and saute until the onions are translucent or with the tiniest bit of golden color.  Sprinkle in flour and add butter, stir and continue to cook until the flour is absorbed.  It's going to look a little lumpy but fear not it'll smooth out.  Add the remaining ingredients except the milk/cream and bring to a tender boil, stirring occasionally to smooth out the gravy and the gravy has thickened.  Add the crumbled bacon and milk/cream and heat through.  Adjust seasoning to taste and scoop generous portions over some nice hot biscuits.

Simple, Sweet, Pineapple Cream Cheese Squares

I'm a great believer that food does not have to be complicated or have a multitude of ingredients in order to be tasty or appreciated.  This little cake is a perfect example.

If you want something simple and sweet, you don't have a lot of time or a lot of ingredients, these sweet pineapple-filled squares are delicious. I'm not joking when I say they're sweet; this little square of scrumptiousness will more than likely satisfy the most demanding sweet tooth.

This is a thin cake, made in a small jelly roll pan.  The recipe calls for a half sheet pan, which measures 15 inches by 11 inches, so this is a good sized cake for to make for a crowd.  Good news is, even if you don't have a crowd, the cake keeps nicely, if well wrapped, for a couple of days in the fridge.  Just let it come to room temperature before serving.

PINEAPPLE CREAM CHEESE SQUARES

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease a jelly roll pan or half-sheet cake pan.

In  a large bowl, combine all the ingredients in the order given:
1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple with its juice**
2 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
dash salt

 Mix ingredients and then spread evenly into pan.  Bake for 20 minutes, being careful not to overbake.  When cool, frost with cream cheese frosting

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

8 ounces of cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1 stick (1/4 pound, 8 tablespoons) butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
dash salt

Cream together and then add 2 cups of powdered confectioners' sugar.  Mix well and spread on cooled cake.  Add chopped nuts as desired,

Cut into squares to serve.

COOK'S NOTES:   I didn't have a 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple, but I did have a 20 ounce can of pineapple rings.  I whizzed it through my mini food processor and it worked a charm.

Welsh Potato Cake

Welsh Potato Cake

I'm pretty sure I never met a potato I didn't like.  When Sweetie-Pie and I go out to eat, he'll ask me what kind of potato should he order because I'm the one who's going to be eating it.  We're like Jack Spratt and his wife like that.  I take two bites of my meat, give him the rest, and he's scraping his potatoes onto my plate.  We work as a team like that.

I'm very content with the basic mashed or baked (and can we talked about fried?) potato.  No matter how you slice 'em, I love 'em. Yeah, it takes a little time to slice them and arrange them in the pan, but the little extra effort created a lot of wow.  Crispy, buttery potatoes on the outside, and melty, fluffy, buttery, onion-y potato on the inside.  Sometimes the simplest ingredients, beautifully presented, can garner the greatest wows, and this humble potato recipe is one of them.  No fancy ingredients and no advanced culinary skills needed here.

But you will need an eight-inch springform pan and either a mandolin or patience and a sharp knife to thinly slice the potatoes.

WELSH POTATO CAKE 

2 pounds of potatoes, peeled and sliced
8 ounces finely chopped onion
3 ounces melted butter
salt and pepper to taste

Generously butter an 8-inch springform pan.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Slice your potatoes into thin discs (as if cutting for thick potato chips). Put the slices in a dish of ice water while you finish slicing the potatoes and then rinse and dry when ready to use.

Line the bottom of the springform pan in a layer of tight overlapping concentric circles (as you will want this and all potato layers to be snug so that when you slice into it the layers and slices will stay together).  

Sprinkle a bit of diced onion over the potatoes, a bit of butter and salt and pepper.

Repeat layers.

Bake for an 1 to 1-1/4 hours or until easily pierced with a knife.  

The thicker your potatoes slices, the longer it will take to cook.

COOK'S NOTE:  I've seen other recipes where a bit of grated cheese is added between the layers or a tiny touch of rosemary.  
 

Garlic Studded Roast Pork with Rosemary and Thyme

Garlic Studded Roast Pork with Rosemary and Thyme

Good golly this is good!  And bonus, it's easy and fast, has great eye appeal,  is inexpensive,  result outweighs the effort, and doesn't make a huge amount, descriptions that make this roast a delicious choice for us. 

This recipe is like a little black dress that you can dress it up or down.  This is a handy recipe to know and have for those times when you might need something a little special but not a lot of time, or you just love a good pork roast.  I've served this to company with a wonderful creamy onion casserole as one of the sides and nice glasses of wine; I've made it just for us with canned vegetables and roasted potatoes.

The secret to this fabulous pork roast is studding the garlic into the pork loin.  I don't know how it happens, but that amazing garlic flavor infuses the pork with its seductive flavor.  Don't skip this step and just slather it on the top.  Your roast will still be good, of course, just not as good, grins.

GARLIC STUDDED ROAST PORK WITH ROSEMARY AND THYME

3 pound pork loin
3 garlic cloves, finely diced, or mashed into a paste
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped, or 2 teaspoons dried
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped, or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
good sprinkling of ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Bring your roast to room temperature, letting it sit out for maybe 30 minutes or so. 

Using a sharp knife,  cut a couple dozen random slits into the top of your roast, about a half inch deep.  Stuff the garlic into each of the slits.

Combine the rest of the ingredients into a small bowl and then massage the mixture into the pork. 

Roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until internal thermometer reads 145 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Let rest 10 to 15 minutes before serving. 

COOK'S NOTE:  My mother was one of those people who could make stone soup.  Do you know that story?  Point is, she could take what seemed like "nothing" and make a whole meal with it.  Anyway, one of her secrets was studding garlic into cheap cuts of steak and grilling the steak.  I swear, the garlic must've melted into the steak, leaving behind its piquant aroma and flavor.  Never a complaint.

Tortellini and Spinach Soup

Tortellini and Spinach Soup

Monsoon season in Arizona means sideways, blinding rain and loud cracks of thunder fill the sky.  The days can look a little gray, threatening but not always following through.  When the torrents do come, they don't last for long, but our three cats vanish under the bed or in a closet, and those few brief hours can turn even a human heart to look for a spot of comfort.  This tortellini and spinach soup is just such a soup—warm and filling and satisfying.  It was so good and easy and was even better the second day.

Simple, simple, simple.  For us the only "exotic" ingredient was the tortellini, easily found at our local market with the other fresh pastas and cheeses, or can be found in the frozen food section.  We chose the fresh tortellini filled with chicken and cheese, and it worked deliciously here.

Now first a caveat.  I used the entire bag of fresh tortellini (I don't recall how many ounces it had now), which was too much for the amount of liquid.  By end of day two, there really wasn't much liquid left.  It was still tasty, of course, but I would have preferred more broth.  Next time I'll buy frozen tortellini, and reduce the amount I use, and save the remainder for soup for another day.  Bonus!  Secondly, this made a lot of soup.  It filled the slow cooker up to the brim (probably due in part to the generous amount of tortellinis, grins). I reheated it at work for lunch and was happy, happy.  Anyway, I think for the most part, this soup is quite forgiving and there is no real right or wrong, just whatever pleases your palate.  That's how good soups are made.

Tortellini and Spinach Soup

1 bag of frozen tortellini

1 small bag of frozen spinach

2 cans of Italian style diced tomatoes (I didn't drain the cans)

1 eight-ounce block of cream cheese, cut into chunks
4 cups of either chicken or vegetable stock

Put all ingredients together in a slow cooker.  Cook for 5 or 6 hours.  

I'd check this at 4 hours to see how this is going and check maybe every 30 minutes or so thereafter. Give it a nice stir to make sure that the cream cheese is melding with the broth.  I think 6 hours of time for pasta would turn this into mush, but then again I started with fresh tortellini.

 

Charros Frijoles and a Little Food Lore

Charros Frijoles

Did you know that beans were one of the Three Sisters—the sisters being corn (maize), beans, and squash?  Squash shaded the roots of the corn, cornstalks provided support for the climbing beans.  All rather endearing I think.  Together they provided a nutritional foundation.  I ran into that little kernel of knowledge while reading a romance novel of all things some while back and it stuck with me.  Apparently, Native Americans combined the three to provide a complete nutritional foundation.

Since moving across country from our beloved little New England Victorian home to our now beloved desert home in Arizona, we've learned about new foods and flavors, and among those are pinto beans.  It's taken a while to develop a taste for caliente and piquante foods, but we've now started to appreciate and crave the flavors of heat and spice.  By some measure I'm sure we're still on the mild side in comparison to true natives, but hot sauce is a stable in our pantry along with some chilies, grins.  It's all good.

So, let me share a nice hearty pinto bean soup.  It's spicy good, though you can make it more or less spicy depending on your taste, it's inexpensive, and pretty much hands off once you get it in the slow cooker.  These are not refried beans, though similar in make up, as they have the addition of tomatoes and meat.  Also charros frijoles is soupier, served with a spoon.  Nice thick squares of cornbread is a tasty side to this.  Mmm mmm!  This reheats like a dream and freezes very well.  And if possible, it's even better on the following day when the flavors have had a chance to get acquainted with each other and develop a companionable flavorship.  It makes a potful, so unless you're feeding a small community or have a crowd of hungry eaters, you're probably going to have leftovers.

I put together several recipes, choosing those ingredients that were the most appealing to me, so the soup is quite versatile and forgiving.  This is how I made mine.

Charros Frijoles (a/k/a Cowboy Beans, and who doesn't love cowboys?)

1 one-pound package of dried pinto beans, picked, soaked overnight, rinsed, drained

1 small onion, roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 1/2 ounces bacon, chopped, cooked and crumbled (I used the bacon grease to cook the onions in—only until translucent)

1 can Rotel tomatoes, undrained

2-4 cups of chicken broth or make broth using chicken bouillon

Enough water to bring liquid a coupe of inches over the beans

1 teaspoon (or more) cumin

1 teaspoon (or more) chili powder

3 1/2 ounces cooked ham, chopped (or chorizo)

salt and pepper to taste (be careful of the salt if you're using bouillon)

a little chopped jalapeno is nice, added at the end

1 cup of cilantro chopped (added at the end, maybe 30 minutes before)

Cook the bacon, crumble, toss in the slow cooker.  Use the grease to cook the onions until translucent.  Toss everything in the slow cooker except the cilantro and the jalapeno, reserving those to add towards the end of cooking.  Set the slow cooker on low, and let it cook for about 6 hours.  I start testing the beans at 4 hours to see if they are soft enough to eat.  Keep an eye on the liquid level, adding water as needed to keep the beans covered by an inch or so.  Depending on the freshness of your beans it may take shorter or longer to cook them. Taste the broth for seasoning, adding whatever you think will make it perfect for you.  At the end I take a potato masher and give 'em a couple of good mashes to thicken the soup up a little. 

Cook's Note:  This can get too salty very easily, considering the bacon, chicken broth and/or bouillon.  I use low sodium bacon and don't add additional salt until I taste for seasoning.  When I've tasted it and the broth was too salty, I added additional water.  The other choice is to add a potato, cut in half, to absorb some of the salt. Just remove the potato before serving.