Macaroni and Cheese!

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Macaroni and Cheese

A meal to empty the fridge to feed 6 big people with leftovers for lunch

Recipe based on Betty Crocker Recipe.

Ingredients

2 lbs uncooked elbow macaroni
1 cup butter or other fat
1 cup flour (whole wheat works fine)
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
8 cups milk
8 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (2 lbs)

Add-ins

2 lbs ground pork or bulk sausage

1-2 cups chopped onion

1/2-1 cup chopped spring garlic

2 bunches radishes, thinly sliced or small cubes

1/4-1/2 lb spinach, cut into 2 in squares or so.

Instructions

*In a medium pot or frying pan, brown the meat.  You can reserve the drippings as a portion of the fat for the sauce if you like.

*While meat is browning, chop and sauté the hard veggies: onions, garlic, radishes, etc.  Cabbage stems or broccoli would also be included in this step if you are using them.  I end up with a medium pot of cooked veggies by the time I am done with at least as much volume as the meat.

*Set the meat and veggies aside while you prepare the sauce and noodles.

*Put a large pan of water on to boil, cook your pasta, drain and return to your large pot while making the sauce.

*Make a roux: melt the butter/fat.  Add in your flour, salt, pepper, mustard and Worcestershire sauce.  Whisk and simmer until the flour smells toasty.

*Slowly add your milk, while whisking to prevent scorching.  Bring to bubbling.  add cheese in portions.  melt before adding the next handful.  You can use the whisk to keep stirring to help melt and prevent scorching.

*Once your noodles and sauce are ready, combine the meat and veggies with the noodles and stir-then add the sauce and stir again.

*If you are using chopped spinach, you may add it to the noodles with the other vegetables.  The steam and heat from the noodles will wilt the spinach just fine.

*Serve and enjoy!*

Tomatoes and pork Asian Italian fusion

Jason has done it again! Another creative success!

This time, pork shoulder steaks and homegrown tomatoes along with garlic, some spices and home-made Thai dipping sauce have been turned into a fantastic fusion dish made to please the heat-loving as well as the mild-tongued in the family.

Serves 6

Ingredients

4 Pork shoulder steaks

3 lbs tomatoes

Italian seasoning mix or similar mix of spices ( basil, oregano, marjoram, etc)

Balsamic vinegar

Olive oil for cooking pork

Salt

Minced Garlic

Thai dipping sauce (home-canned or your favorite other) (5 star heat)

Brown rice to serve over

Instructions

Cook rice.

Slice tomatoes about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick

Preheat oven to 400' F

Splash balsamic vinegar over tomatoes and then sprinkle Italian seasoning generously across tomatoes.

Bake tomatoes in one until soft through and beginning to caramelize.

Defrost and debone shoulder steaks.

Slice into strips about 1 inch thick

Heat oil in a wide frying pan with about 2 tbsp of the garlic

When garlic is just beginning to be fragrant, add pork strips and brown on all sides.

Generously sprinkle Italian seasonings over pork strips. 

Stir in about 1/4 tsp salt to bring out flavors. 

Add several gluts of balsamic vinegar to pan and about 1/4 cup of minced garlic in a pile to center of pan, cover and allow to steam for 5-10 minutes.

When fully steamed, removed pork strips to a plate and cover.

Reduce remaining pork sauce in pan and add in about 1/2 cup of Thai dipping sauce.

On a plate, make a bed of rice, lay 6-8 strips of pork on top, spoon sauce over top as desired, place 3-4 tomato slices on the side and serve!

Gyoza

Gyoza, or Potstickers, are one of our favorite foods to eat because they cook quickly and are in a way, a meal in themselves.  Flavorful and a finger-food for those of us who have yet to master the art of chopsticks (and of course 2 year olds!)  Almost all of us adore them.  Recently, I ventured into making them myself rather than buying them out of the freezer section at the grocery store.  Except for the skins.  For now.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb Ground meat (pork, beef or chicken)
1/2 medium Cabbage, shredded
4 med. Carrots, shredded
6 crimini mushrooms, diced or shredded
1 small onion diced (or leek or green onion
fresh ginger, shredded, 1 med branch
minced garlic, 2 tbsp
salt, pepper to taste
soy sauce, 2 tbsp
gyoza skins, about 1 1/2 pkgs

Filling:

mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.
fill a small bowl with a couple of table spoons of water
line two cookie sheets with wax paper for freezing finished gyoza






Place a gyoza skin in the palm of one hand, use the other to place approximately 1 tbsp of filling on the middle.  Wet the edge of one side of the skin with water.



Fold the skin nearly in half around the filling.  Pinch one side to the other utilizing approximately 6 small folds on one side.  The resulting gyoza will end up in a slight half-moon shape with a flat bottom side.



Cooking:
(Fresh or frozen)
In a heavy frying pan (I like cast iron, but use your favorite), heat about 2 tbsp of oil over med-high heat (just shy of smoking).




Set gyoza in pan with space in between.  My size 8 pan holds about 10.
allow to fry until edges brown and gyoza release from bottom of pan.










Quickly pour in about 2 tbsp of water and cover until water evaporates.








When gyoza release from pan and are browned on the bottom, they are done!


Dip in soy sauce, gyoza sauce or your favorite sauce and Enjoy!



My home-made Gyoza came out beautifully!  There is a bit more ginger in these than many people are used to but it tastes great!  I also thought about making a veggie-only, adding more mushrooms, less meat in general, and about all the different versions I could make as the fresh veggies changed during the summer.

Every family has their own taste preferences.  Think of this recipe as a guide.  Mix, Match and change it around as you like until you find it perfect for your family!

Have Fun!

Stuffed Lamb

This Recipe comes from a book in my personal collection called "Over the Open Fire" by Pamela Alford with Johnny Nix.  This cookbook is for cooking over an open fire, usualy with cast iron however they also list how the recipes would be done in a kitchen and I always add notes to recipes I provide.

"Stuffed Rack of Lamb"

Notes: use cookware similarly sized and scaled to the amount of meat you are working with.  Also, any other cut of meat that you could stuff works as well, adjust cooking times and temperatures appropriately.  shoulder roasts, legs work well, as do chops: just cut from the side for stuffing.

Serving Size: 8
14" deep Cast Iron Dutch Oven
10" Skillet

Stuffed Rack
1 rack of lamb
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbs fresh parsley
3 tbs olive oil
1/4 cup onion, minced
3 tbsp butter

Basting Sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 cup deli mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
4 tsp lemon juice
1 tbs water
1/4 tsp garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ginger, ground
1 tbs soy sauce

Instructions
With a knife sharpener from a knife block, poke a large hole all the way through the rack of lamb.  combine garlic, parsley, olive oil, butter and onion to make a paste.  stuff the paste into the hole in the lamb, as much as possible!    Stand rack bones up on a meat trivet and bake at 400' for 20 minutes.  mix the basting ingredients and bring to a boil.  reduce the oven ehat to 350' and baste every 20 minutes.  Total roasting time is approximately 1 hour 20 minutes, depending on the size of the rack.

Notes: For cuts like roasts or legs, I would monitor for doneness starting at about 40 minutes.  For chops, 20-30 minutes.  It may be a good idea, for chops especially, to consider marinating in the basting sauce after cutting for the stuffing but prior to stuffing and roasting.

Happy Eating!