It was just a day or so before Easter and my hubby said "can we have Au Gratin or Scalloped Potatoes at Easter with the Ham?" since he doesn't request specific foods very often, I said "sure!" and set out to find a great "Homemade" recipe. Who else can I ask but, my Foodie Friends!! So glad to add this to my recipe box!! Easy to assemble and bake - even EASIER to EAT!! and EAT and EAT!! Make sure to stop by Mary's for more great recipes. ~Enjoy! Diane
Cheesy, Creamy Scallop Potatoes with Bacon Ingredients: 1/2 stick butter (4 Tbs) 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cup milk 1 1/2 cup heavy cream 1 tsp salt 2 tsp course-ground black pepper 1 Tbs parsley flakes 1 tsp hot sauce 1 medium onion, sliced 5-6 red or Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and sliced thin 2 cups medium cheddar cheese, divided 3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled 1/2 tsp paprika, sweet mild Directions: Slice onion into rings. Rinse potatoes; drain then thinly slice, I used my mandolin. In a small pot, heat butter on medium heat until melted. Add in the flour. Whisk until smooth and slightly nutty smelling, gradually add milk, cream, salt, black pepper, parsley flakes, 1 cup cheddar cheese and the hot sauce. Bring to a boil over med-high heat; stir constantly for 2 minutes or until thick. Place lid on pot to keep warm (this can be made ahead of time and let sit until ready to use). In a lightly buttered 2 qt. glass baking dish, layer potatoes and onion rings alternately starting and ending with potatoes. Pour sauce over potatoes and onions. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon over top. Bake at 350 for 1 hour, or until browned and bubbly.
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I love working with Puff pastry for appetizers and desserts. Why? because, the dough is flaky, soft and buttery which most people equate to decadent. The best part is how easy the dough is to work with...I do buy store bought as layering slabs of butter between dough I feel needs to be left up to Commercial bakers...not me! I watched a chef make puff pastry once, it was an hour long show that was time lapsed (enough said?) Even that chef admitted that buying it frozen from the store is a far better and less time consuming endeavor. I trust his word! I buy frozen Puff Pastry and just grab it from Freezer when I know I want to be baking with it. The instructions are to thaw 40 mins at room temperature - you do want the dough softened but, still cold. I lay out parchment paper and open up my dough sheets to let defrost...(you usually get two sheets per box) I then use a rolling pin to stretch the dough a bit (it the dough starts sticking to your pin, its getting too warm (pop in fridge for 5 mins) <---or flour your rolling pin if need be. I hope you enjoy this little appetizer (I fully admit, this recipe is ON THE BOX!) Some of the best recipes usually are somewhere on the products box or packaging - I figure if they took the time to place it on there - it must be decent! ~Enjoy! Diane
Spinach & Cheese Puffs Ingredients: 1 egg 1 tbsp. water 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese garlic powder 1/2 pkg. Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet), thawed 1 pkg. (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained, lightly salt. Directions: Heat the oven to 400°F. Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork. Unfold the pastry sheet onto a piece of parchment paper, lightly roll out dough a bit longer and wider then place dough on parchment paper onto a baking sheet. Brush the pastry sheet all over the top surface with the egg/water mixture. Sprinkle garlic powder lightly over entire egged, surface. Top with the cheese and lightly salted spinach. Starting at a short side, roll up like a jelly roll. Cut into about 10 (1 inch) slices. Place the slices, around your backing sheet cut-side down. Brush the slices with the egg/water mixture. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Remove the pastries from the baking sheets and let cool on wire racks for 10 minutes. The wider you cut your slices, the longer they take to bake (if cutting 1/2 inch slices, cook time is approx 15-20 mins) For best results, make sure to remove as much liquid as you can from the spinach before adding it to the pastry. If it's too wet, it may make the pastry soggy. Recipe Adapted from: Pepperidge Farms Photos by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home Baked Macaroni & Cheese
Ingredients: 1/2 pound pasta (shells or elbow macaroni) 3 tablespoons butter 3 tablespoons flour 3 cups milk, warmed slightly 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced 1/2 teaspoon paprika, optional 1 1/4 cups sharp cheddar, shredded 1/4 cup Parmesan, shredded 1 large egg, tempered into cheese sauce 1 teaspoon sea or kosher salt Fresh black pepper to taste Topping, optional: 3 tablespoons butter 1 cup crushed garlic croutons or crushed bread crumbs Directions: Preheat oven to 350 F. Pasta: In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente (you don't want it too soft or it will get mushy.) if the pasta finishes cooking before your sauce is done, toss 1 tbs butter in with drained, cooked pasta and place in greased baking/casserole dish and await the sauce. Sauce: In a separate sauce-pot, you'll make the sauce to pour over the cooked pasta. Melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and keep it moving for about 3-5 minutes, or until roux mix is blond in color and nutty smelling. Stir in the warmed milk slowly while still whisking. Add in the onion and paprika Use some of this sauce to temper your egg (about 2-3 Tbs should work) Add tempered egg into sauce-pot and simmer all for another 8-10 minutes. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Butter a 2 Quart baking/casserole dish, add in cooked pasta and gently stir/fold the macaroni sauce mix into the pasta. Top with remaining cheese and Topping. Topping, optional: Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Cover/sprinkle over the top of the macaroni. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving. Recipe and Photo by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home Not sure about most folks but, my Mom raised six children and always had a complete dinner on the table every night. I learned a lot from her about organization and cooking. She threw more parties then I could ever imagine. (and at 85, she is still doing so too!) If it was a large party or small get together, she always had the right food, enough of it and everything was always super tasty! I remember when I helped her make these little ham sandwiches as a part of an upcoming cocktail party, and thought it was so odd we were pouring a mustard & butter sauce over the tops of all these little sandwiches we worked on building. (ok, I thought she was crazy!) LOL somehow, the sauce just seeps into the bread and creates a wonderful and tasty "crust" and turned a simple ham sandwich into a cocktail party - treat! I decided to try and turn that into a stromboli for dinner and I will admit, I am glad i did and now I am excited to try all sorts of cheese/meat combos with different sauces too! I have seen similar sandwich recipe all over the internet - I'm sure back in the 1960's my Mom got her recipe she uses from the Chicago Sun Times 'recipe section' as that is where she got most inspired... I don't know who else to credit for this recipe so, the credit goes to my Mom! ~Enjoy! Diane
Ham n' Cheese Stromboli with Mustard Sauce Mom's Ham n Cheese Mustard Sauce Ingredients: 5 Tablespoons Butter 1 Tablespoon Yellow Mustard 1 teaspoon Minced Onion 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce 1/2 teaspoon Poppy-seeds Combine all sauce ingredients in small saucepan on stove top, let butter melt and stir everything together, turn off burner, set aside to prepare/assemble stromboli. Stromboli Ingredients: 1 package/tube of Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough or Homemade Pizza Dough (this recipe for the New York Times/Cooking section) 2 ¾ cups bread flour 2 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet) 2 teaspoons sea salt ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 cup warm water 2 or 3 tablespoons medium or coarse cornmeal If making Homemade Dough: Put the flour, yeast and salt in a food processor. With the machine running, pour the oil through the feed tube, then add the water in a slow, steady stream. Continue to process for 2 to 3 minutes (the dough should form a rough ball and ride around in the processor). The finished dough should be soft, slightly sticky and elastic. If too dry, add a bit more water; if too wet, a tablespoon or so more flour. Lay a 12-inch-long piece of plastic wrap on a clean work surface. Work the dough into a rectangle on the plastic, about 8 inches long and 6 inches wide. Press your fingers into the top of the dough all over, making indentations as though it were a focaccia bread. Fold the left third of the dough over (as you would a letter) and repeat the indentations. Fold the right third over and make the indentations again. Cover the folded dough with plastic wrap and let rise for 20 minutes. Cut the dough in half, form each piece into a neat ball, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and transfer to the freezer. The morning before you want to make pizza, transfer the dough to the refrigerator to thaw. Assembly for Stromboli: Preheat oven to 380. Lightly brush olive oil over a non stick cookie sheet. Lay pizza dough (that has been rolled out in a large rectangle) onto cookie sheet. Sprinkle with cheese leaving the edges bare by about 1-2 inches all the way around. Next, lay one single layer of ham over cheese. Starting from bottom (short end) roll away from you (upwards), tucking in edges slightly as you go. Turn the completed, rolled stromboli to center onto cookie sheet, lightly pat down all over to create a flatter (more square) stromboli (((once rolled it will look like a circular log, you want to pat that down a bit))) Check over your dough and pinch together any seams or holes in dough that may have opened up. place three small "airholes" on top of dough with a knife - this will let the bread vent while cooking. Place in oven and bake for 15 mins. Pull cookie sheet out of oven and use a knife to make slits in the top of the stromboli dough (about 2 inches long), at this time you will also baste your bread with the mustard sauce - depending on how large your stromboli is...you may not use ALL the sauce. If needed, use a paper-towel to quickly mop up any sauce that has puddled around stromboli on the cookie sheet and place back in the oven to finish cooking another 15 minutes (keep an eye on the crust for any burning) you want a nice brown crust without any burning of the bottom crust.) Take out of oven and let cool 5 minutes before slicing and serving. Ham n' Cheese Quiche
Ingredients: 1/2 Pie Crust (yes, I used pre-made) 5 large eggs 1 1/2 cups ham, diced/cooked 1/2 cup 2% milk* 1/2 cup heavy cream* 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella 1 cup shredded cheese sharp cheddar* salt & pepper, to taste 1/4 cup diced onion, cooked (optional) 1 small tomato (optional) Directions: Prepare the pie crust (you can make homemade or use pre-made pie crust) Preheat oven to 350F degrees. While the pie crust is pre-baking, whisk together the eggs, ham, milk, onion, cheeses until combined. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. When pie crust is ready - Pour the egg mixture into crust. If desired, sprinkle the top lightly with more pepper. (slice and add optional tomato slices on top) Bake the quiche until it is golden brown on top and the center is no longer jiggly. Depending on your oven, this will take anywhere between 45 minutes - 1 hour. Mine took 50 minutes. Use a pie shield to prevent the pie crust from over browning, if desired. I do turn my broiler on low and let the quiche brown a bit more (approx 2 mins) Allow to cool for 3 minutes before slicing and serving. This quiche makes great leftovers! Store tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Baked quiche freezes very well, up to 2 months. *1 Cup Whole milk is heavily preferred for creamiest texture, though your favorite milk may be used instead - keeping in mind the creamy texture will be compromised. (I used half 2% and half heavy cream) Recipe & Photos by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home |