Steak Pot Pie

Pot pie is delicious.  What's that you say?  You've only had frozen pot pies?  Well, you haven't lived until you've eaten this hot, savory beef slathered in sauce and golden crust.  Try it, you'll like it.  This delicious dish is something I adapted from Alton Brown, and it's worth the time involved.  This is what I call a "day off dish" because it takes time to prepare.  As always, feel free to add whatever you'd like to suit your tastes, as I am a picky eater.

Ingredients
2 lbs Steak.  Use any kind.  I used 2 leftover filets from last night's dinner.
3-4 potatoes, peeled and diced into small cubes
1 cube beef bouillon
2 tbsp olive oil
1tsp balsamic vinegar
8 oz thinly sliced mushrooms
2 cloves roasted garlic
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 c beef stock
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 c Cabernet
4 slices of bacon, cut into small squares and fried crispy
1 thawed puff pastry sheet
1 egg white, beaten

Directions
Season the steak with your desired seasonings and cut into bite-sized pieces.  Heat olive oil in a pot over medium-high heat, and sauté the steak until browned.  Remove steak from pot and set aside.   I cheated and used leftover steak grilled medium rare from last night's dinner, so I just took it from the fridge and cut it into bite-sized pieces, no need to brown.

So easy when you use leftovers!

Peel and diced 3-4 potatoes.  Put the potatoes into a separate pan and boil with 1 cube of beef bouillon.  When the potatoes are soft, drain and set aside.

Using the same pot as the steak, sauté the mushrooms, salt, and roasted garlic over medium heat, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the balsamic vinegar.  Add the beef stock and tomato paste, and stir until incorporated.  Add smoked paprika, oregano, and thyme and stir well.  Add steak and potatoes and reduce the heat to low.  Cover the pot and let simmer for about 90 minutes, stirring occasionally.

If you haven't already thawed your puff pastry sheet, this is the time to do it.  Preheat your oven to 375. Cut your bacon into small squares and fry it up.  Drain and set aside.

Combine the cabernet with your cornstarch, and be sure to get out all of the clumps.  Turn the heat up to medium-high, and pour in the cornstarch, stirring constantly.  Simmer until thickened, around 5-10 minutes.  Pour into a round glass baking dish.  Add bacon liberally across the top.

Place the puff pastry sheet across the top of the dish, and cut off the excess, crimping the top along the edges.  Brush the top with egg white and poke a few air holes in the top for the steam to escape as it is baking. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown.

There you have it!  I had a bit of trouble getting it served out of the baking dish in one lovely piece, but it tasted so good.  I served it with roasted green beans and bacon and parmesan cheese, and it was a meal the entire family enjoyed.

Messy but delicious

Green Bean Bacon Bundles

Bacon makes green foods tolerable.  And cheese.  Don't forget the cheese!  There are a lot of creative recipes out there for vegetables wrapped in bacon.  This is an easy way to get more green veggies into your diet.  It would also work for asparagus.

Serves 10-12, depending on your bundle size

Ingredients

1- 2 lbs of fresh green beans
10-12 slices of bacon
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 clove garlic, minced very fine
2 tablespoons soy sauce
pinch of salt
Parmigiano Reggiano, grated

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray cookie sheet with non-stick spray, then place a wire rack inside sheet to elevate your bundles.  Wash your green beans and pat dry with a paper towel.  Sprinkle beans with salt, then bundle together 8-10 beans, wrapping a slice of bacon around the center of the bundle to hold it together.  Lay each bundle seam side down on your cookie sheet / rack.

In a small saucepan, add butter, brown sugar, garlic, and soy sauce over low heat and whisk until melted.  Using a pastry brush, coat the tops of each bundle.  Bake for 35-40 minutes, turning bundles and reapplying sauce after 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and grate fresh parmesan onto bundles, as much as you would like, then return to oven for 10-15 minutes more, until bacon is nice and crispy.

This is a side dish everyone in the family loves--even me.  I usually grate more cheese over the bundles as soon as they come out of the oven to add to the cheesy goodness.  This time we served with smothered pork chops, but it also goes well with steak and chicken.  Enjoy!

Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with Bacon

Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with Bacon

Ah, soup!  As I have shared before on this blog, I love soup.  I love soup any day of the year.  I also love bacon, rice, and chicken.  Tonight's delicious offering came from PinchofYum.com with my picky modifications and omissions, and I offer my sincere thanks for the perfect storm of flavors.

Prep time: 30 minutes        Cook time: 1 hour (give or take)

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 3 (10¾ oz) cans condensed chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup uncooked wild rice, rinsed
• ½ cup butter
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 2 cups half and half (but I used whole milk)
• 1½ cup cubed or shredded cooked chicken (we used a rotisserie chicken to save time)
• 8 slices bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled (I baked mine in the oven)

Instructions

In a large saucepan, combine chicken broth and water. Add wild rice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 30-45 minutes (or until rice is tender). Once the rice is cooked, there will be some additional broth – do not drain.

Wild rice mix simmering in the chicken broth

In a medium saucepan, melt butter and stir in flour, salt, and seasoning. I mixed my flour, salt and seasoning together first and then slowly added it to my melted butter.  Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly, until smooth and bubbly.  Mine was very thick.

Gradually stir in half and half with the butter/flour mixture and cook until slightly thickened, stirring constantly.  Keep the heat medium and keep stirring.  Mine got a little lumpy.

Add this creamy mixture back into the saucepan with the rice/broth. Add the chicken and bacon. Heat on low, stirring every once in a while, for at least a half an hour. Do not boil. The mixture may look thin, but the longer you heat the soup, the more the flavors blend and the more it will thicken. 

Serve with warm rolls for delicious meal.  

New Year's Day Ham and Beans with Cornbread

Time for another delicious soup!  This was my first attempt at ham and beans and I'm surprised to say it came out excellent. My husband usually cooks all of the delicious things we eat, including this, but he went golfing for the day.  He put the beans to soak for me before he left so I tried to do it on my own.  It was even better the next day!

This is just a traditional ham and bean soup recipe that you can find anywhere.  Feel free to modify it to your tastes.  I saw many recipes that included vegetables, but that wasn't happening in my soup.  No how, no way.

Serves 10

Ingredients

1 pound of navy beans (or great northern beans) 

8 cups of chicken stock 

1 ham bone or ham hock

2 cups diced ham

Instructions
Make any cornbread mix to serve with the soup.  There are many out there, but my family prefers a sweeter honey cornbread mix.  

Eating ham and beans soup is a New Year's Day tradition.  It is supposed to bring you luck all year long if you eat ham and beans on New Year's Day.  I love it with cornbread crumbled up in it, but you can serve it without, or on the side if you prefer.

To prepare the beans, spread them out on a cookie sheet and check for small stones. Remove any small stones and broken or discolored beans.  Rinse the beans under cool running water to wash.  Soak the beans for at least 6 hours or overnight by placing the beans in a bowl and covering with cool water. 


**If you don't have that much time, you can try the quick soak method. Place the beans in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Then cover tightly and remove from the heat. Let rest for one hour. Or use canned beans, but I prefer the long soak method. 
Discard the water regardless of which method you choose.

Once the beans are prepared, they are ready for your soup.
1. Prepare the beans by your preferred method listed above.
2. In a stockpot, add the chicken stock and the ham bone or ham hock and the diced ham. 
3. Add the beans to the soup. 
4. Simmer for 60 minutes.  Beans are ready when they are soft to the tooth.
5. Remove the ham bone.  If you are using a ham hock, remove it from the soup and remove the meat from the bone. Add the meat from the bone to the soup. 
7. Season to your own taste with salt and/or pepper.  Definitely taste it first, because it was nearly perfect on its own.


Enjoy your good luck for the remainder of the year.  Happy 2013!

Cream cheese grits with bacon

I love grits. Grits for breakfast, grits with chicken, cheesy, sweet. So versatile! Here's an easy, quick recipe that might just make a believer out of you grit naysayers. Serve it with broiled pork chops or fried chicken and you might just think you have gone to heaven. I adapted my recipe from Country Roads magazine, with some special additions like bacon.

Ingredients

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups whole milk

1 cup stone-ground grits

1/3 cup cream cheese, softened

1 cup chicken broth

Bacon pieces

Salt to taste

In a medium saucepan, bring heavy cream and milk to a simmer over moderately low heat. Whisk in grits and cook, stirring often, 25 minutes. Slowly incorporate chicken broth as grits thicken, stirring them through completely. Reduce heat to low and stir in cream cheese until melted throughout and season with salt to taste. Top with bacon pieces.

Easy and delicious. So good with any meal! Let me know how you serve your cheesy grits--I love new ideas.

 

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Potato Soup with Cheese and Bacon

I love soup. I can eat it all year long. It was 110 degrees today in Vegas, and the kids still wanted potato soup. And why not? The air conditioning makes soup a great idea any day.

My potato soup is quick and easy, and it makes a tasty lunch at work the next day if you have any leftovers. Plus, did I mention it is topped with cheese and bacon? So good!

Ingredients

6-8 large potatoes

1 block cream cheese

32 oz chicken stock

1 1/2 c milk

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 c shredded cheese. I prefer Colby jack, but your choice.

1 pound of bacon, cooked and crumbled

Additional shredded cheese for topping

Wash the potatoes and cut into slices, skin on. Put the potatoes, garlic, salt and chicken stock into a pot and boil until soft. Do not drain. Remove from heat.

Add cream cheese and milk. Using your immersion blender*, blend well. Return to low heat, adding shredded cheese and stirring until blended throughout. Be sure to watch the heat and stir occasionally so your cheese doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan.

Cut bacon into small chunks and fry in a separate skillet. Drain and set aside. When soup is bubbling and cheese is blended in, serve with bacon and shredded cheese topping. Crackers optional.

Serves 6-8

* If you don't have an immersion blender, you can get the same smooth results with your regular blender. Add equal parts of the potato / stock mixture with cream cheese and milk (probably 3 separate batches), blend until smooth and return to the pan to simmer with the shredded cheese. It just saves steps to use the immersion blender. So easy!

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