Name: Croque Madames and a Basic Grilled Cheese
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Yield: Basic Grilled Cheese: 1 sandwich; Croque Madame: 4 sandwiches
Ingredients: 2 Slices bread (good white sandwich bread or sourdough are my favorites); 2 Teaspoons unsalted butter (melted); 1 Ounce cheddar cheese (grated, or use a precut slice); 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter; 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour; 2-3 Ounces Swiss cheese (grated); salt and pepper (to taste); 2 Cups whole milk; 8 Slices good white bread (I like sourdough); 8 Teaspoons unsalted butter (melted); 4-6 Sandwich slices Swiss cheese (or 4-6 ounces of grated Swiss cheese); 4-8 Sandwich slices ham (depending on the thickness of the slices. I used Applegate Farms which is fairly thickly sliced so I only used one per sandwich); 4-8 Large eggs (depending on how many fried eggs you'd like to serve on your sandwiches!); olive oil spray or cooking spray

Croque Madames and a Basic Grilled Cheese

August 7, 2013

Want to make a perfect basic grilled cheese or kick it up a notch with homemade Croque Madames? I’ve got the perfect techniques!

Who doesn’t love a grilled cheese? The answer, for a long time anyway, was my husband. For the first several years of our marriage, he wouldn’t touch a grilled cheese sandwich…he thought they were too greasy. This was, of course, much to my chagrin because I had grown up eating grilled cheese sandwiches made with Colonial white bread and Kraft singles….and I’ll tell you, there is nothing quite like a grilled cheese sandwich. Nothing.

Somewhere along the lines I guess I must have made him one because we didn’t have anything else in the house to eat and then I was exceedingly shocked when I asked him for dinner suggestions while making my grocery list and he suggested something like grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup (another food that he didn’t like back in the day, though my homemade tomato soup can’t really be compared to the canned stuff he had probably eaten in the past). Add those things to the list of foods that I have converted him to eating, which also includes spinach and shrimp. Victory for me.

Seriously. Call it a panini or a pressed sandwich or whatever you want to call it, I just call it good. You can put anything on it, but if you press together two buttered (or otherwise greased) slices of bread with cheese and possibly some other ingredients and cook it a little bit, it’s a recipe for magic. Just look at the rabid popularity of the Muenster Truck (try to get in their line at the Sunday market without a wait!). But you know what? There’s nothing quite like the original. While I haven’t made a grilled cheese with Colonial bread or Kraft slices (though I will admit that nothing melts quite like good ol’ Velveeta!) in many many years, I haven’t found a combo much better than just cheddar on good white bread (sourdough is my favorite!).

Okay, I lied. I wouldn’t call a Croque Madame better per se, but it’s as good. I mean, béchamel and a fried egg? Come on! The prep time is obviously a little longer, and it’s not health food by anyone’s definition. But geez, it’s amazingly delicious, and you should definitely eat one of these from time to time.

Mary

Yield: Basic Grilled Cheese: 1 sandwich; Croque Madame: 4 sandwiches

Croque Madames and a Basic Grilled Cheese

10 minPrep Time:

25 minCook Time:

35 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

For the Basic Grilled Cheese

2 Slices bread (good white sandwich bread or sourdough are my favorites)
2 Teaspoons unsalted butter (melted)
1 Ounce cheddar cheese (grated, or use a precut slice)

For the Croque Madames

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
2-3 Ounces Swiss cheese (grated)
salt and pepper (to taste)
2 Cups whole milk
8 Slices good white bread (I like sourdough)
8 Teaspoons unsalted butter (melted)
4-6 Sandwich slices Swiss cheese (or 4-6 ounces of grated Swiss cheese)
4-8 Sandwich slices ham (depending on the thickness of the slices. I used Applegate Farms which is fairly thickly sliced so I only used one per sandwich)
4-8 Large eggs (depending on how many fried eggs you'd like to serve on your sandwiches!)
olive oil spray or cooking spray

Instructions

To make the basic grilled cheese: Preheat a skillet over medium-low heat. Brush one side of each slice of bread with melted butter. Top one slice of bread on the unbuttered side with grated or sliced cheese. Top with the other slice of bread, buttered side up. Place in the preheated skillet and cover. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom. Flip, cover, and cook until lightly browned on the other side, another 3-4 minutes. Serve immediately.
To make the Croque Madames: Prepare the béchamel sauce: Preheat a skillet over medium heat. Melt the butter then whisk in the flour and cook for about a minute. Gradually whisk in the milk. Cook until thick, 6-8 minutes, then whisk in the grated cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm over low heat.
Make the sandwiches: Preheat another skillet over medium-low heat. Brush one side of each slice of bread with melted butter and top 4 slices on the unbuttered side with a slice to a slice and a half of cheese or 1 1/2 ounces grated cheese, a slice or two of ham, and another slice of bread, unbuttered side down. Place the sandwiches in the preheated skillet and cover; cook for 3-4 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom, then flip and repeat (you may need to do this in stages depending on the size of your skillet).
Fry the eggs: Preheat a skillet over medium heat. Spray with olive oil or cooking spray (or lightly brush with butter). Crack the eggs into the skillet and lightly salt the tops. When the whites begin to turn opaque just around the edges, turn the heat down to low and cover. Cook for 4-5 minutes, until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny.
Preheat the broiler. Place the sandwiches on a sheet tray (since I only made 2 sandwiches, I actually did this right in my skillet). Divide the béchamel among your sandwiches and spread to cover the tops. Broil until they reach desired browning. Top each sandwich with 1-2 fried eggs and serve immediately.

https://chattavore.com/croque-madames-and-a-basic-grilled-cheese/

Want to make a perfect basic grilled cheese or kick it up a notch with homemade Croque Madames? I've got the perfect techniques! | recipe from Chattavore.com

Cheesy Mushroom and Wild Rice Casserole

July 23, 2013

This cheesy mushroom and wild rice casserole is easy (especially when you use the baked rice method included) and so filling and satisfying!

Rice is a tricky business. Typically you simmer it on the stovetop with about twice as much water as rice. Don’t cook it too hot, though, or it might burn and you’ll end up with a hard rice ring around the bottom of your pot and you may or may not be able to salvage it. Oh, and don’t stir it with a spoon! Nay nay, fluff the rice. Fluff it with a fork.

I’ve made a few messes with rice. I’m always worried about burning the bottom, or I think it’s ready and it turns out the water didn’t absorb completely. This rice recipe, though, takes out the guesswork. Put the rice in a baking dish. Add the water and some other stuff. Cover and bake. Done. No watching to make sure the airholes form. No worrying about the crust around the edge. None of that. Just perfect rice.

Wild rice is kind of an enigma, no? I never thought of it as anything odd growing up because my grandmother cooked it all the time, usually with bone-in chicken breasts baked on top. It was just a normal ingredient to me and it wasn’t until years later when I decided to cook it myself that it became a little strange to me. I was surprised at how difficult it was to find….and the fact that just a box or bag of wild rice was next to impossible to find; it’s generally found in some sort of blend.

In case you didn’t know, wild rice isn’t actually rice. It’s a grain harvested from a grass. It’s pretty expensive too…I don’t remember exactly how much I paid the last time I bought it in bulk but I want to say the price was something like $9 a pound. Anyway, at that price I can’t really afford to make a meal out of straight-up wild rice so going for a blend is logical.

Like I said before, most of my wild rice memories from childhood involve a bed of wild rice (probably actually white and wild rice) with some other stuff (celery? cream of chicken soup? it’s been a long time) baked into it and chicken baked on top. However, in my grandmother’s orange recipe organizer the only wild rice recipe I can find is for a chicken and wild rice casserole. Okay.

This mushroom and rice casserole isn’t a vegetarian spin-off of that casserole (which, by the way, I have made) but rather what happens when I have brown and wild rice and some leftover portobellos in stock. Make a roux, add a Swiss cheese, you get a cheesy mushroom and wild rice casserole and everyone’s happy. It makes great leftovers too, and I promise you the baked rice recipe will change the way you look at rice. Forever and ever amen.

For a vegetarian meal that will make you warm, full, and happy, try this cheesy mushroom and wild rice casserole!

Mary

Yield: 4 servings

Cheesy Mushroom and Brown & Wild Rice Casserole (and a no-fail rice method)

25 minPrep Time:

2 hrCook Time:

2 hr, 25 Total Time:

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Ingredients

For the baked rice

1 1/2 cup short or medium grain brown rice
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt (I use kosher)

For the Casserole

1 Recipe brown and wild rice blend (baked according to previous recipe-the wild rice bakes fine according to this recipe.)
4 tablespoons butter (unsalted)
1 Small onion (diced)
8oz mushrooms, any variety (sliced or quartered)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup low-sodium (chicken broth)
1 cup whole milk
4oz Swiss cheese (grated)
salt and pepper to taste
about 15 saltine crackers (optional)

Instructions

To bake the rice: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the rice in an 8-inch square baking dish. Bring the water, butter, and salt to a boil in a saucepan or in the microwave. Pour over the rice in the baking dish and stir to combine. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil. Bake for one hour. Remove from the oven, fluff the rice with a fork, and serve.
To make the casserole: reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees.
Melt one tablespoon of the butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion in the butter until soft and beginning to turn translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook until browned.
Add the remaining butter to the pan and melt. Add the flour and whisk until incorporated; cook for about a minute.
Gradually add the chicken broth then the milk, whisking constantly. Cook until thickened then add the cheese, stirring until completely incorporated. Salt and pepper to taste.
Combine the rice and the creamy mushroom mixture in a large bowl. Transfer to an 8-inch baking dish (I just use the one in which I cooked the rice). If desired, crumble saltine crackers over the top.
Bake for 30 minutes, checking from time to time to make sure the cracker crumbs aren't burning. If they start to burn, cover the pan with foil. Serve.

Notes

Cook time includes time to bake rice. To reduce cook time, make the rice ahead of time. You can use the baked rice method with other varieties of rice but you will need to adjust the cooking time accordingly. White varieties do not typically take as long to cook as brown varieties.

https://chattavore.com/cheesy-mushroom-and-wild-rice-casserole/

This cheesy mushroom and wild rice casserole is easy (especially when you use the baked rice method included) and so filling and satisfying! | recipe from Chattavore.com

Easy Twice Baked Potatoes

July 9, 2013

These easy twice baked potatoes are a perfect, classic side for any meat that you serve, but they’re also great as the centerpiece with a salad and bread!

If I had a dollar for every baked potato that I’ve eaten in my life, I’d be rich. Baked potatoes are pretty much a perfect food in my opinion, so simple and ready to be adorned with whatever you want to add to them.

The problem is, I think we’ve gotten so accustomed to baking potatoes in the microwave, and while that’s okay when you want to make a baked potato for lunch at work, when you have the time to bake them in the oven it’s worth it to take the time. Microwaving potatoes causes the flesh to shrink away from the skin and changes the texture of the potato, while baking them leaves you with a wonderful fluffy potato and nice, slightly crunchy skins (which I happily devour) that are made even better by the addition of a little bit of coarse salt.

I don’t bother wrapping my potatoes in foil. It’s an unnecessary step that just serves to waste your time and actually affects the texture of the skin because it steams them. Just bake them on a baking sheet, or you can bake them directly on the rack if you aren’t using salt.

My first memory of “twice-baked potatoes” is some frozen Ore-Ida things that my mom used to buy, probably to feed my preteen obsession with baked potatoes (I used to eat them for breakfast!). They came in cheddar cheese and sour cream & chive flavor varieties, the flavored potato piped into a scooped out skin that you could bake in a little paper bowl in the microwave or you could put them in the oven if you had time for that (but who had time for that?). I loved those, but still not as much as I loved the potatoes I cooked myself in the microwave, topping them with melted Kraft singles, squeeze margarine, bacon “flavored” bits from a jar, and sour cream. My, how things change….

These days I make my twice-baked potatoes myself. At Christmas, I make these to go alongside the lovely medium-rare standing rib roast that my mom always serves, in addition to a seven-layer salad and some good bread. I love love LOVE rib roast, but in all honestly I look forward almost as much to these EASY twice-baked potatoes, and the advantage of those is that I can have them any day of the year, unlike the rib roast which is a bit, um, cost-prohibitive.

I guess most people count twice-baked potatoes as a side, but in my not-very-meatcentric household we are happy to eat these easy twice baked potatoes as a main dish. All you have to do is eat the entire potato instead of the half you’d (probably) eat if you were counting them as a side. We had these with Caesar salad, using the dressing my aunt made while she was here last week (I’m hoping to share the recipe with you soon!), big shreds of Grana Padano cheese that we made using our Y-peeler, and sunflower seeds since we didn’t have croutons.

These easy twice baked potatoes are a meal indeed!

Mary

Yield: 4 servings

Twice-Baked Potatoes (and a Perfect Basic Baked Potato)

20 minPrep Time:

1 hr, 25 Cook Time:

1 hr, 45 Total Time:

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Ingredients

2 large baking (Russet) potatoes
2 teaspoons oil (canola, olive, coconut)
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons chives or chopped green onions (or a combination of the two)
3 Strips bacon (cooked and crumbled)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (optional)
salt and pepper (to taste)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Scrub and dry the potato(es). Poke several holes in the potato(es) with a fork. Rub lightly with oil. If you'd like, coat with salt. Place the potato(es) on a baking sheet. Bake for an hour.
Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Allow the potatoes to cool slightly, 10-15 minutes.
Slice the potatoes in half crosswise, taking care to not tear the skin. Scoop out the flesh and place it in a bowl, leaving a thin layer in the skin so the skins will not be too fragile. Place the potato skins on a baking sheet.
Mash the potato with a fork. Add the sour cream, cheese (leaving a little bit to sprinkle on the top), chives and/or green onions, butter (if using), bacon, and salt and pepper to taste and stir until thoroughly combined.
Divide the potato mixture among the potato skins. Top with remaining cheese. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.

https://chattavore.com/easy-twice-baked-potatoes/

My Pizza Dough

October 10, 2011

Okay, I can’t take credit for this dough. It’s a Pioneer Woman recipe (go figure!) tweaked by me to be, of course, whole wheat. I’ve had a lot of people ask for pizza dough directions lately, though…so here it goes.

Start by dissolving 1 teaspoon of yeast in 1 1/2 cups of warm water and allow the yeast to proof while you prep the dry ingredients.

Dissolving the yeast in water....

In a large mixing bowl (I use the bowl of my KitchenAid) combine 4 cups of flour (of course I use white whole wheat!) and 1 teaspoon of salt, then pour in 1/3 cup olive oil and stir to combine.

White whole wheat flour (King Arthur brand, of course)

Kosher salt....

Olive oil

Pour the yeast and water mixture into the flour and stir until a ball forms. If you use whole wheat flour, you may need to add just a little bit more water. Once the dough forms a ball, cover it and allow to rise for an hour or two.

Pour the yeast and water mixture into the flour mixture.

Cover and let it rise.....

...for an hour or two. It won't really double in size, but it will "grow" a little, and you'll be able to tell it's a little soft and spongy.

Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a floured surface and knead briefly just to firm it up a little bit. Cut it in half (this recipe makes 2 pizzas-but I often half the recipe or use half and freeze the rest).

It will look pretty ragged at first. Knead it for a couple of minutes.

Until it looks like this!

Now, shape the dough. I start by pressing the dough out into a circle (sometimes I use a rolling pin) then I pick it up and turn it around and around so that it starts to stretch…then I lay it out over an oiled metal pizza pan and stretch it some more (I want to get a job at an authentic pizza shop so I can learn to toss dough!). I like my pizzas super thin, so I really strrrreeeeettttttch it. You don’t have to do that it you don’t want to (duh). Sometimes holes break in my dough, so I just pinch off a little of the edge and fill in the hole.

I like to stretch my dough super-thin over an oiled metal pan.

Turn the dough out onto the pan you will be using to bake (of course, I use my Pampered Chef pizza stone, preheated to 450 degrees). Top as desired and bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes or until desired color is reached.

Prep your toppings ahead of time. Once you turn the dough out onto the preheated stone, you'll want to work quickly to get the pizza in the oven!

I’ll be posting some pizza recipes including toppings soon!

Perfect Salad!

August 7, 2011

If you’re like me, you may feel like your attempts to make salad at home seem to fall flat in comparison to the salads that you get at restaurants. For years I tried to figure out why I loved restaurant salads but never really thought the salads I made at home were anything to write……home about. I’d rinse the lettuce and spin it in a salad spinner, always waiting until right before serving to put the dressing on-pretty much all the things that you always hear you’re supposed to do for a perfect, crisp salad. But my salads were never perfect. They were crisp, but there was something missing. So, I started experimenting, and finally I got it right. Now I’m going to share it with you!

The first thing that you need to do is put your salad plates or bowls in the refrigerator. I didn’t take a picture of this-I don’t want anyone to see the sorry state of my fridge! I just use the bowls that were part of my dinnerware set. I have beautiful wooden salad bowls that belonged to my grandparents, but there are a few issues with those, including the fact that they are not dishwasher safe, and, well….they’re wood. So they don’t get very cold. A cold bowl=a cold salad.

Now, get out your lettuce. I like to use hearts of romaine. They’re nice and crisp, and you don’t have to spend a lot of time tearing off wilted inner leaves like you do with whole heads of romaine. Use whatever kind of lettuce you like. Bagged is fine too-sometimes I add a bag of mixed baby greens or mesclun to my chopped romaine. Chop off the core of the lettuce then chop the leaves into bite-sized pieces. Put the lettuce into a colander-this is the strainer from my salad spinner (the bowl of which I broke a while back).

When I am washing fruits and vegetables, I spray them with straight, white vinegar, then with hydrogen peroxide. This will kill any germs that might be on them, but it is completely non-toxic and very “green”. Now, rinse the lettuce and give it a good ssshhhaaakkkke. If you have a salad spinner, of course, you can give it a spin instead of a shake! That won’t be quite enough, though. Once you have given it a good shake or spin, spread it onto a clean kitchen towel. Roll the towel up and squeeze (but not too tightly, or you’ll bruise the leaves). It is very important to get the leaves as dry as possible! Getting your lettuce dry and cold will make your salad perfect! Dump the leaves into a lidded bowl or a zipper bag and put it into the fridge until you are ready to use it.

By the way, the vinegar/peroxide method is great for disinfecting counters and sinks. I never use chemicals in my cleaning, at least not since I discovered this trick!

When you are ready, remove your bowls and lettuce from the refrigerator, dress, and serve immediately. This is a bistro-style salad. The dressing is simple-for 2 servings (2 hearts of romaine) I used 1 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil, 1 capful of red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper. By the way, the salad is topped with a bacon and onion mixture and a poached egg. Sounds a little strange, I know, but it really works! If you’d like to see the recipe, here’s a link.

A chilled bowl really, REALLY makes all the difference for a great salad. And I promise that a bacon and egg salad is delicious, not weird!

No matter what you put on your salad, though, try my tricks! I promise that if you follow these steps to make a perfectly dry, cold salad, you won’t regret it-and you just might find yourself making more salads at home!

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