Taking A Meal To A Grieving Neighbor

Recently heard that our neighbor's daughter committed suicide so I'm spending the day making dinner for them. They are an older couple so I want the food to be comfort food but easy on their stomachs. When I lost my third child to a drunk driver I was brought meals that I couldn't tolerate with my stomach being so upset. Lasagna and spicy food is not what you take to people who are grieving. Their guest might enjoy it, not likely the immediate family.

Here's my advice if you are in the same situation, take them a meal right away and then follow-up a month later with another meal. Everyone tends to disappear 2 weeks after the funeral, but the grieving is still in its critical stage for the next 6-8 weeks. I couldn't function enough to cook at one month  and trying to get ready to go out to eat was very stressful too.

I've decided on chicken and dumplings. My side will be marinated tomatoes, cucumbers, and fresh herbs in a balsamic vinaigrette.

I buy chickens on sell and cut them up myself. I bag the chicken pieces and freeze. The neck, back and wing tips are thrown into a pot with celery, onions, garlic, seasonings (what ever suits your taste) and  water. I simmer this for 1 hour and add 1 Tlb of Ol' Bay seasoning, 2 bay leaves, 1tsp paprika and simmer another hour uncovered. Strain the liquid into freezer bags for all my chicken stock needs.I love homemade stock but I go through it faster then the chicken meat, so I always have to buy canned to keep on hand.

Chicken & Dumplings

Dumplings
2c. all purpose flour
2tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1tsp thyme
1/2 tsp Tony's Creole Seasoning
1c milk plus 3 Tlb
3Tlb butter
1Tlb parsley
2 green onions sliced thin

Mix the dry ingredients and herbs. Heat milk and butter to a simmer then slowly pour into the dry mixture. Stir till it comes together.

 Line a sheet pan with plastic wrap. Using a small cookie scoop, scoop dumpling mixture on to sheet pan. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate till ready to add to soup.


Chicken & Sauce
6 c. chicken stock
2 Tlb oil
1stick of butter plus 2 Tlb
3 large boneless chicken breast with skin on
2 carrots diced or 2 c. frozen
6 Tlb flour
1tsp. thyme
1tsp Tony's Creole Seasoning
Salt and pepper
1/4 c. heavy cream
1Tlb parsley
2 green onions sliced thin

Saute onions and carrots in oil & 2 Tlb butter till tender. Remove and set aside. Add chicken in pot on medium heat with skin side down and season with Tony's Creole seasoning, salt and pepper. After browned on both sides remove (it doesn't have to be cooked through) and set aside. Add the skin from the breast back into the pan and continue browning both sides for an additional 5 minutes. Remove and discard skin (though it's hard to resist snacking on it). Add butterand flour to drippings. Stir for about 4 minutes to brown slightly. Remove from heat. Wisk in the chicken stock till smooth.Dice up the cooled chicken meat.  Add everything into pot except the heavy cream. Simmer 10 minutes. Add the dumplings into soup. Cover all the dumplings with the broth, cover and simmer on med low for 15 minutes. Check on the soup half way through to make sure they're not sticking. Add cream last. Check seasonings and add more if needed.

Marinated Tomato Cucumber Salad

1 pint Cherry Tomatoes cut in half
2 Cucumbers cut into quartered slices
1/4 c. red onion
2 green onions sliced
1Tlb fresh parsley
1/4 c. fresh basil
1/4 c. bottled balsamic vinaigrette
Salt & Pepper to taste

Add everything in bowl and pour dressing over and refrigerate an hour before serving.

Foodies Unite! The Poor Man's Steak

Oh... so much fun talking to my son Jeremy (he's the GM of a Purple Cow Restaurant in Little Rock, AR) about sauces today!I passed the food gene on to him. I'm glad I contributed something worth wild to him! He told me about some (sauces) that I had never heard of. Charon sauce and his Hollandaise recipe that seems a lot easier then what I've tried in the past. This one you don't have to cook over a double broiler. I'll have photos for later. Now... (hum... thinking) I need to plan dinner around some SAUCES!

4:30pm and I need to get started. I have hamburger thawed out so poor man's steak or hamburger steak with Jeremy's Hollandaise sauce.


His recipe called for a full pound of butter and OMG, it's just the two of us! I tried using 1/4 lb of butter microwaved on defrost for 20 sec. I stirred it into a soft stir-able butter. So far, so good. I then added salt, dash of lemon juice and dash of Tabasco sauce. Here was the problem... his called for 1 egg per pound of butter. Hummm, how do I divide the egg. I went ahead and used the whole egg. It looked great but tasted too much like butter so I added another egg. It separated.



What to do, what to do? I don't want to waste all that yummy butter. So, I tasted the liquid that separated and it was really good. I dumped the liquid into my ground beef, threw in some seasonings, roasted bell pepper and some diced onion.

I shaped into patties and dinner was on!

 

Skillet fried the hamburger 'steaks'. I topped them with some grated Wasabi Cheddar cheese  and a dollop of that yummy butter that wanted to be a Hollandaise sauce. I pan browned the squash in skillet with EVOO till lightly browned. Another dollop on the corn and I was done.

I sliced 2 thick slices of a round zucchini squash and opened a can of corn.

 

Poor Man Steaks with 'Seasoned Butter'

1 lb ground beef

1/2 small onion

3T roasted bell pepper

1T Worcestershire sauce

1T liquid separated from butter and 1 T. of the butter

1t. garlic

Zucchini (round if possible)

1c.corn

Seasoned Butter:

1 stick of butter

1/4 lemon zested

2 t. lemon juice

1t. salt

dash of Tabasco

dash of pepper

2 eggs

Heat butter for 20 seconds in microwave on the defrost setting. Stir until it becomes creamed. Add to food processor with everything but eggs. Pulse and add the eggs. Pulse a few seconds. If it doesn't separate then rename your dish to Poor Man Steaks With Hollidaise Sauce!

Hamburger Steaks

Mix all ingredients and shape into patties. Add into a med/high skillet and cook till no longer pink inside. Add Wasabi Cheddar Cheese on top. Remove from skillet, cover and let rest.

Add the zucchini in a clean skillet with EVOO, dash of garlic, salt and pepper. Cook quickly on med/high. Warm the corn with a tablespoon of the seasoned butter.

Plate with corn on bottom, round squash, hamburger steak and top with a spoon of the seasoned butter.

Crab Bruschetta



Photo by Lori 



Recently, it was raining outside and I was just in one of those moods to create. I dug through the frig and decided that I needed to create something with my Sam's, large portion, bag of imitation crab meat. I love this product because it's so inexpensive and is low in calories. Now..... what I usually do with it (heavy cream sauces) can make it very yummy, but high in calories.
  I found a loaf of bread and the Bruschettas were flying out of the kitchen! I was making Aiolis and decided fusion was my word for the day.

Crab Bruschetta with Olive Tapenade & Truffle Aioli

Slices of quality bread  (slice thin for really crisp or thicker for crunchy outside and moist inside)
Imitation crab meat (if you can afford the real stuff... it could be even better!)

Olive Tapenade
1rib celery (cut into chunks before placing in blender)
12 green olives
1 clove garlic (crushed before put in blender)
1tsp thyme (I used fresh lemon thyme put dried is ok)
2 Tlb fresh parsley
1tsp dried oregano
1tsp Worcestershire sauce
3-4 Tlb quality Olive oil
1 green onion
1/4 c. pecans

Place the pecans in blender and pulse a few times. Add celery and onion, pulse. Add everything else in blender and pulse a few times. Don't over blend, you want it chopped not pureed.



Truffle Aioli

3 egg yokes
1Tlb truffle oil
1/2 tsp sea salt (with truffle if you can find it)*
1tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon zest
2 Tlb mayo

Add everything except the oil. Begin blending and slowly add the Truffle oil a few drops at a time.

*I found the sea salt with truffle by accident months ago and I haven't found it again, except Online. I really love this salt. I'm weak kneed when I find a new sea salt flavor or one from a different country. I have a collection going rather than a selection!


Assembly:
 I dipped a brush into the Tapenade to soak up some of the seasoned garlic oil and brushed the bread on both sides. Place in a hot skillet to toast each side. Place a small amount of Tapenade on bread, crumble some crab meat and drizzle with the Aioli. For plating you can drop the Aioli on plate as in my photo above.

Grilled Peaches

 Grilled Peaches with Raspberry/Blackberry Sauce and Lemon Cream                         


Grill pitted peaches brushed with melted butter and sugar. Cook until you get good grill marks.


 For the Berry Sauce:  3 cups fresh raspberries or blackberries
1 Tlb fresh lemon juice
1 Tlb raspberry liqueur or 1 Tlb. brandy for Blackberries
4 Tlb sugar

Put the berries in a food processor and pulse a few times. Add the lemon juice, raspberry liqueur, and sugar. Let rest a few minutes to let the sugar dissolve. Pulse again.
Note: If using blackberries, strain the seeds out after you pulsed in food processor. Use a spoon to push as much juice through as you can.


 Lemon Cream:
1 cup cold heavy cream
1 Tlb sugar
1 Tlb fresh lemon juice
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
6 large peaches
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup sugar

 In a mixing bowl mix together the cream and sugar. Whip at high speed until soft peaks form. Add the lemon juice and grated lemon zest and continue whipping until stiff peaks form.

Pour the syrup over a peach half and top with the lemon cream.

Chili Relleno

   

6 eggs, seperated
Jack cheese (block) cut into 1/4 strips
3-4 roasted pablano peppers (slit,peeled & seeded)
1/4 c. flour
1/4 t.Tony's Creole,cumin,& chili powder

*Watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives I saw a cook making the egg whites and floating spoonfulls in a deep fryer. Ahhh-haaaa! I tried the fryer method and it worked!

Heat oil in deep fryer to 350. Beat egg whites till stiff. Place a piece of cheese inside the chili (add meat if desired), folding the chili closed. Roll in flour. Place a large sppon full of whites into oil. Shallow out center with your spoon to hold chili. Beat yolkes with the seasonings. Dip chilis in egg yokes and nestle the dipped chili in center of egg boat. Carefully spoon a small spoon of whites over chili to seal edges. Slowly turn over and let other side brown. Turn only once. Drain on paper towels. They will deflate some as they cool.