Veal Piccata

Last night I made veal. I’ve got to say, as far as meats go, veal is not my favorite. It’s not that I wouldn’t eat it; I do. And, it’s not that I wouldn’t order it at a restaurant; I do. My preference just goes more toward a nice juicy filet mignon. Nonetheless, my husband likes veal, so veal it is (can’t have chicken and steak every night, right?).

One of my favorite dishes to make is Chicken Piccata. Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa) has a fantastic recipe for it. Substituting in veal was a very good choice indeed. My only regret is that I didn’t pound the veal before cooking it. Live and learn.

For this dish, I used Tyler Florence’s recipe for “The Ultimate Veal Piccata“. It was easy enough. I still like Ina’s recipe better. But maybe that is because I idolize her and love all of her recipes. I don’t know.

All-in-all, Tyler’s recipe turned out quite well too. You could most definitely get by using less than four eggs for the egg wash, especially if you are only cooking two veal steaks. Also, I would recommend pounding the steak so it is about half of the thickness. Veal tastes better that way because the meat becomes softer. Other than that, the recipe is good, as is, so I will post it directly from The Food Network for you (mind you, the recipe is for 4).

Salute!

Ingredients

• 1 pound spaghetti, store-bought
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 4 (8-ounce) veal cutlets
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 2 tablespoons capers, washed and drained
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• Grated parmesan, for garnish

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add spaghetti and cook until al dente. Drainand set aside in a large bowl

Set a large saute pan over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. In a shallow bowl combine the flour and salt and pepper, to taste. Lightly coat cutlets in the flour. Beat eggs in a bowl with 1 tablespoon of water and season with salt and pepper. Dip cutlets in egg wash and then place straight into the hot pan. Cook the veal about 2 minutes per side until golden brown. Set veal cutlets aside on a plate. Deglaze pan with white wine and reduce by half. Add lemon juice, capers, and half the parsley, then add 2 tablespoons butter as you whisk to thicken up the sauce. Taste and season with salt and pepper, if needed..

Toss the pasta with the remaining butter and season with salt and grated Parmesan, to taste.

Serve the pasta on plates topped with the veal. Drizzle with caper sauce and garnish with the remaining parsley.

Mac and Cheese

There is nothing out there like a good, homemade, mac and cheese. In February, for my son’s first birthday, I wanted to find a good recipe. I tried Alton Brown’s Mac and Cheese recipe and let me tell you, there is no need to look any further. This is it. The recipe of all Mac and Cheese recipes. If you are in the need for some comfort food, look no further. Make this. You won’t regret it. It is very easy to make (okay, not as easy as Kraft, but 100% better).

Tonight, we will be having this delightful dish again. I just put it all together and can’t wait to eat it.

Anyway, here is it, directly from Alton Brown. No changes necessary.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1
  

  large egg

• 12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper

Topping:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it’s free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

World’s Best Lasagna

Tonight I had dinner guests. I wanted to make something tasty and simple and thought lasagna would do the trick. I came across a recipe that claimed to be the “World’s Best Lasagna”. I thought the claim was quite ostentatious. What sold me on it was the fact that it had a five-star rating with well over 5,000 reviews. Not only did over 5,000 people feel that this was so good that they needed to come back to the site to review it with positive notes, but over 200,000 people saved the recipe in their online account for the site. That must be some darn good lasagna, right?

Calling for a can of crushed tomatoes, two cans of sauce, and two cans of paste, it appeared to have way too much tomato. I was hesitant to use that much, but given the raving reviews, I followed it. I’m glad I did. The sauce was thick, rich, and full of flavor. If you have some time and want to make an excellent lasagna, here is the recipe.

Lightly adapted from www.allrecipes.com–

Ingredients

• 1 pound Italian sausage
• 3/4 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (8 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground fennel
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 12 lasagna whole wheat noodles
• 16 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded

Steps:

1. In a dutch oven, brown sausage and beef.** Add onion and garlic until mixed well. Stir in all the tomatoes and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel, salt, peppers, and half of the parsley. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for an hour and a half.

2. Boil noodles in salted water. You will want them to still be a little crunchy as they will continue to cook in the oven. It took about 5-7 minutes for them to get to the right consistency for me. When they are cooked correctly, remove from water (strain) and rinse with cold water to stop them from cooking any further.

3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

4. Make the filling. Mix ricotta, egg, salt, and the remaining parsley.

5. Assemble the lasagna. Start by coating a glass casserole dish with a couple scoops of sauce. Add a layer of noodles, then with the ricotta mix and top with shredded cheese. Repeat until fully assembled: sauce, noodle, ricotta, mozzerella. For the top layer, skip the ricotta step.

6. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes.

7. Remove foil and let back, uncovered, for another 25 minutes.

Remove from oven when done. Let it cool a bit and enjoy. Yum.

*You don’t need to use whole wheat noodles. I did and they were great.

** Don’t worry if you don’t have a dutch oven, I’m sure it will work fine in a regular pot, but use a big one. I had never made sauce in a dutch oven before, but it worked really well since this was a slow cooked recipe.

Red Curry with Tofu

When the Ingredient Master (a.k.a., my husband) came home from work tonight, I had a craving for something in particular but I knew he wouldn’t like my idea. I ran it by him just to see what he would think. Oatmeal. I know it is strange, but the weather is cool and it sounded delicious. He reminded me of the importance of a balanced meal. I knew he was right, but oatmeal just sounded so yummy!

Since I am eating not only for my health, but for the health of my baby boy as well, I knew I should listen to his suggestion and make a balanced meal. My oats would have to wait until morning. I went into the kitchen to get started while my boys played in the living room.

I have roughly about five dishes that I use as fall-back meals when I don’t feel like cooking. I know how to do them by heart so there is no need for a recipe; no need to think.

• Pasta (with either an oil sauce or red sauce)
• Red Curry
• Eggplant Parmesan
• Chicken and whatever veggie I can find
• Fajitas/Tacos

I decided to go with fall-back meal #2: Red Curry. Ordinarily I would have paired it with chicken but I was too lazy to defrost chicken so I went for the tofu.

As I was sautéing the vegetables the Ingredients Master says to me (from the living room), “What are you making?” “Oatmeal” I happily replied.  He asked if I was serious and I said “Does it smell like oatmeal?” He said, “No, it smells like peppers” he paused, sniffed the air, and continued “and onions.” I laughed. “That is because it is red bell peppers and onions.” I told you… there is no hiding from his nose.

This is one of the fastest, easiest dishes to make. It only takes about 15-20 minutes to make. Especially if you are lazy like I was tonight and use fresh tofu.

The following recipe is to the best of my ability. Remember, I make it by heart with no measurements.

Red Curry á la Emily (makes enough for 2)

• 2 tsp of Red Curry Paste
• 1 Bell Pepper (any color)- sliced
• 1/2 of a Large Onion- sliced
• 1 can of Coconut Milk (we use the lite stuff)
• Any other veggies you want to put in. I included sugar snap peas and green onions in tonight’s dish. I have also used bamboo shoots and water chestnuts and those add a nice texture.
• 2 tbsp of brown sugar
• Crushed Red Pepper (amount depends on how spicy you like it. I normally do about 1/2 tsp or a little less)
• 1 tsp of garlic powder
• Dash of lemon peel
• A bit of cinnamon. You don’t want to use too much.
• Your choice of protein. I have only made it with Chicken and Tofu.
• Salt to taste

Sauté the peppers and onion in a tbsp of olive oil in a large deep frying pan or wok. If you are using chicken, salt and pepper it, slice it, and throw it in there too. (If using tofu, it is better if it is lightly fried beforehand in a separate pan). As it cooks, add curry paste and mix around. Once the veggies are cooked but not soggy and chicken is cooked on the outsides add coconut milk. Throw in all the other ingredients and let cook until chicken is cooked all the way through.

I normally taste it several times to see if it is missing anything. Sometimes if it doesn’t taste sweet enough, I add a little granulated sugar. You will also need to salt it to taste.

Serve with rice. We use jasmine rice. But, be careful because the rice tends to “bland” down the taste. Mine always tastes right in the pan, but when I put it over rice it needs more salt and sometimes (for the Ingredient Master) more sugar.