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Archive for the ‘Main Dish’ Category

The other day I had a package of stew meat languishing in the fridge and decided to put it to good use as stroganoff.

You might find the ingredients and methods of this recipe a little different, but the results were quite tasty!

Ingredients - and I forget to put sour cream and Dr. Pepper in the photo.

Spice up the meat and then put in a baker. I use my terra cotta wonder, but you could use a dutch oven.

Pour in the Dr. Pepper and bake at 350 until meat is fork tender.

The beef is cooked and has some great juice in the bottom pan.

Add in sour cream right in the pan. If you're lazy like me, one less dish to clean is a good thing. Stir in mushroom soup.

Fill a plate with piping hot egg noodles.

Top with beef and enjoy!

 

Beef Stroganoff

1 1/2 pounds lean stew meat

1 can mushroom soup

1 tsp. onion flakes

1/2 tsp. parsley flakes

1 tsp. all-purpose seasoning

1 cup Dr. Pepper

2/3 cup sour cream

1/2 tsp. salt

1 package of cooked egg noodles (or make your own with this easy recipe)

Season meat with onion flakes, seasoning, parsley and salt. Put in a terra cotta baker (or Dutch oven). Pour in Dr. Pepper and bake covered at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until meat is fork tender.

When done, mix in sour cream and mushroom soup. Serve over hot egg noodles and stand back to enjoy the looks on the faces of those enjoying this great comfort food meal.

Happy Entertaining!

Shanna

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Easy Tater Tot Casserole

In the grand scheme of things, I realize on a scale of one to 10 the healthiness of this casserole is somewhere down in the single digits, but sometimes don’t you just crave some good ol’ delicious comfort food that you know is adding five pounds to your thighs while you eat it?

Well, the craving overtook my better sense the other day and I made Tater Tot Casserole. I think I pilfered this recipe from one of my aunts way back when Hubby and I were in newly wedded bliss, toned and fit. Goodness, but that was a long time ago.

Sorry, I digress.

Anyway, this casserole is super easy to make and so comforting on a cold, blustery day. Add a salad and you’ve got a nice, simple meal.

 

The ingredients - I think I managed to include them all in the photo this time!

 

Mix the seasoning, onion flakes, salt and pepper into your ground beef as you brown it.

 

 

While you brown the ground beef, put the tater tots in a casserole dish in the oven and start getting them warmed up.

 

 

Mix mushroom soup into ground beef. I'm lazy and mix mine right in the skillet.

 

 

Sprinkle cheese on top of meat mixture. I realize I did not measure out the cheese and am eyeballing it. It was just the way things were rolling that day.

Gooey cheese, all hot and ready to be devoured.

 

Ready to eat. Yum!

Tater Tot Casserole

2 pounds of ground beef

1 package of tater tots

1 cup shredded colby-jack cheese (or cheddar)

1/2 tsp onion flakes

2 cans of cream of mushroom soup

all-purpose seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put tater tots into a 9 x 13 casserole pan (I lightly spray mine with PAM first) and place in the oven while you brown the ground beef. I add the onion flakes, seasoning and salt and pepper to the ground beef. When the hamburger is browned, mix it with the two cans of cream of mushroom soup and spoon over the top of the tater tots. Layer on cheese and cover with foil. Bake for about 20 minutes or until soup is hot and bubbly. Remove foil and bake for a few more minutes until cheese is a melted layer of luscious gooey-ness. Remove from oven and serve. I like to sprinkle the top of my casserole with a bit of chopped parsley. Hubby likes his straight up “without any of that weird green stuff on there.”

Happy Entertaining and Enjoy!

Shanna

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Chicken Marsala with Browned Butter Sauce

Hubby and I stumbled across a restaurant chain called The Old Spaghetti Factory years ago. Whenever we travel to a corner of the world where there is one, we enjoy eating there. My favorite thing on their menu is their Chicken Marsala. It is served with this luscious browned butter sauce and topped with Myzithra cheese.

I finally found a Chicken Marsala recipe with the browned butter sauce that tastes just as yummy as the The Old Spaghetti Factory’s recipe. At first, I was a bit fearful of making it because a recipe that cautions you about setting your cookware on fire always makes me stop to think if I really want to make it. But I did, so I plunged ahead and no fire extinguisher was needed.

Ingredients for Chicken Marsala

Start by making the Browned Butter sauce. Melt butter in a heavy saucepan.

As the butter cooks, it will begin to foam. The trick is to keep it from foaming out of the pan and possibly catching things on fire.

You'll cook the butter sauce until it turns brown and has a caramel smell. Then you strain it and it is ready to serve.

Flour the chicken before placing into a saute pan.

Brown the chicken before adding in the wine and mushrooms.

Put your cooked chicken Marsala on a bed of thin spaghetti noodles.

Grate your cheese and sprinkle liberally over the chicken after it is plated and you have spooned on butter sauce.

Enjoy!

Chicken Marsala with Browned Butter Sauce

Chicken Marsala:

4 -6 boneless, skinless, thinly cut chicken breasts

1/2 cup flour

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 tbsp. butter

1 cup fresh sliced mushrooms

1 bottle Marsala wine

dash of salt

seasonings to taste

thin spaghetti noodles, cooked according to package directions

Put olive oil into a deep skillet or saute pan. Warm over medium heat. Mix  flour, salt and seasonings in ziploc bag. Coat each piece of chicken with flour mixture before placing in saute pan. Brown on both sides – about two minutes per side. Add wine and mushrooms and cook for about 10 minutes or until chicken is done.

Cook spaghetti noodles and set aside.

Browned Butter Sauce:

2 cubes of butter

1 cup Myzithra cheese, finely grated

Cut cubes of butter into 8 pieces  each and place in a heavy 2-quart saucepan. Place the pan on a burner on medium heat. Bring butter to a slow boil (about five minutes). Once the butter starts to boil, stir constantly to prevent residue from sticking to the bottom of the pan. The butter will foam and rise as it cooks.  Do not, repeat, do not let it overflow the pan. This could start a fire and that would totally ruin a perfectly good recipe!

Once the butter stops rising and foaming, cook until it is amber in color and has a caramel aroma.  Remove pan from burner and let settle for a few minutes. The sediment will settle on the bottom of the pan.

Pour the butter through a strainer into a bowl. Do not disturb the sediment.  Set aside. (The butter sauce can be stored covered in the fridge and reheated as needed).

Using a fine grater, grate 1 cup of the Myzithra cheese. This cheese is a Greek hard cheese and can be found in the specialty cheese section of most grocery stores.

Plate noodles, top with chicken and mushrooms, spoon on butter sauce and finish it off with a liberal sprinkling of the cheese.

Enjoy!

Happy Entertaining!

Shanna

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