Rhubarb Crunch

Rhubarb Crunch

(8-12 servings)

Ingredients:

4 cups Rhubarb, sliced

1 cup Sugar

1 box (3 oz.) Strawberry Jell-O

1 box White Cake Mix

1 cup Water

1/3 cup Butter, melted

Directions:

Place rhubarb in a 9x13 glass baking dish and spread evenly over the bottom.  Sprinkle the sugar over the rhubarb followed by the jell-o mix and then the cake mix.  Be sure to spread them as evenly as possible.  Now pour the water slowly over everything and then the melted butter.  Place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 50 minutes.  Let stand for 15 minutes before serving hot with some vanilla ice cream or serve at room temperature or even refrigerated.  I will microwave the last two to warm them up for the ice cream.

Note:               You might want to try substituting milk or half & half for the water.  This will just make it a little richer.  Enjoy!

Ideas for Future Efforts

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Chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala

(4 servings)

Ingredients:

1 cup All Purpose Flour

4 – 4 to 6 oz. Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

As needed Salt & Black Pepper

¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

4 oz. Prosciutto, thin slices & chopped

8 oz. Porcini Mushrooms, stemmed & halved

½ cup Marsala Wine

½ cup Chicken Broth

2 tbsp. Butter

¼ cup Flat Leaf Parsley, chopped

Directions:

Place the flour in a low sided dish large enough to dredge the chicken breasts and set aside.  Using a large zip-lock baggie, place one breast at a time in bag and pound out to about ¼ inch thickness.  Repeat the process with remaining breasts.  Heat the oil in a large sauté pan on medium-high heat.  Take each breast one at a time and season with salt and pepper on each side before dredging in the flour on both sides.  Shake off excess flour and place in the sauté pan carefully.  Cook on each side until golden brown or about 5 minutes.  Do this in batches if pan is not big enough as you don’t want to over crowd the cutlets.  Place on a sheet pan and place in a 225 degree oven to keep warm after frying.  When done with the chicken, lower the heat to medium, add the Prosciutto to pan drippings and sauté for about 1 minute.  Now add the mushrooms and continue for about 5 minutes.  Pour in the wine and bring to a boil for 30 seconds to cook out the alcohol.  Then add the chicken broth, simmer and reduce sauce slightly.  Stir in the butter, taste and adjust seasoning before adding the chicken back to the pan.  Heat chicken through for about one minute and place on a serving platter.  Top with the parsley and serve.

Note:               The Prosciutto can be a little pricy and so you could use regular bacon.  You can use whatever mushroom is available, affordable and to your liking.  The chicken could also be changed out for turkey or pork if you desire. 

Ideas for Future Efforts

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Stuffing or Rolling Cutlets for a Recipe.

Last week I talked about cutlets and how to pound them out for your cooking needs.  They (cutlets) are fairly easy to cook and don't take very long.  Stuffing them or rolling them up with other ingredients inside is a little trickier but still easy to do.

You will find recipes that don't use cutlets that are stuffed.  Some will use chicken breasts and others pork chops.  These recipes usually just have you slit the item to make a pocket to hold other ingredients.  Those are great dishes but not the type being discussed today.

The cutlet is the item that will be used to stuff or roll.  What is the difference between stuffed and rolled?  When you stuff something it usually means filling a pocket or something like a pocket.  To roll a cutlet it gives more of a pin wheel look if sliced through.  Either method works it just may depend on how you want to present the food at service.

Let's talk stuffed first.  If you take a cutlet that has been pounded out to a 1/4 inch thickness.  Then place a filling of about 1/2 cup size (depends on the dimensions of the cutlet) in the middle of the cutlet leaving area of the cutlet all around the filling.  Most of the time when you pound out your cutlet, it is not going to be perfectly square.  One direction will be longer than the other by a little or a lot.  It doesn't really matter.  Once the filling is in place, you then need to bring the 2 sides of the short length in towards the filling.  Next bring the long side that is away from towards the filling and then bring the other side over the first side and the filling.  This should give you a bundle that shows no filling and will keep it inside the cutlet.  Here you need to secure the bundle with toothpicks or butcher string.  Either one will work well.  They both just need to be removed before service.  Yes, it takes a little practice to get good at it and make beautiful bundles.  But they will still taste great even if you don't master the look that well.

At this point, the bundle can be cooked as is or your recipe may call for it to be breaded.  Just follow your recipe and you will be fine.  These bundles (unbreaded) can be baked, sauteed or grilled.  Different recipes will call for different methods.  Usually the bundles when breaded will be baked but not always.

Rolled cutlets come breaded and unbreaded, toothpicked or string tied depending on the recipe.  No matter which way is used, they start by pounding out the cutlet.  Again, they usually are not square.  So lay the cutlet out in front of you with the longest side running from left to right as you look at it.  It gives you a little longer bundle.  Then you place your filling down the center from left to right as well.  Be sure to leave some space on  all sides of the cutlet.  You now take the side closest to you and roll the cutlet up away from yourself.  Depending on the filling being used, you may want to tuck the ends in to help seal the bundle.  You will have a bundle that looks like a jelly roll.

Again, depending on the recipe being used, the bundle may be cooked whole or it may sliced first.  If the recipe calls for slicing first, be sure to have the bundle toothpicked between each slice you will make.  This holds the jelly roll together for cooking.

Today's blog may sound difficult but it is not and as I stated earlier you just need to practice a little.  Have fun trying these techniques and remember it's the taste that matters more than the looks.

I will have a stuffed recipe next Thursday and a rolled recipe on next Friday.  Tomorrow is a recipe for "Chicken Marsala" and Friday is "Rhubarb Crunch" this week.  Enjoy them!

Added "My Favorite Links" page to the blog.

Yesterday I added another page to the blog.  That page is for "My Favorite Links" and they are ones I use often.  I have started with just 6 links but will continue add some more over time.  They are fun and interesting sites where you can buy items, get more recipes or just see what's out there on the net.  I hope they are useful to you.  Also, I'm always looking for new and exciting food sites.  So if you have a site that you think I would be interested in, please let me know.

On the new page, there is a brief description of the link just below it.  Enjoy them and let me know if you are using the sites.  Thanks.

On tomorrow's blog, I am going to talk about stuffing cutlets.  There are a lot of recipes out there doing this and they're not that hard to make.  I will have 2 recipes on next week's blog stuffing and/or rolling cutlets.  I'll be doing one with chicken and the other using beef.

I would normally put the recipes in the same week.  However, this week I have one more cutlet recipe for "Chicken Marsala" to go with our blogs and recipes from last week.

There is also a recipe for "Rhubarb Crunch" because it is that time of the year.  Rhubarb patches are coming in strong and early.  You always want to take advantage of crops when they are in season.  You can buy Rhubarb year round in a grocery store but it is just not the same as eating it fresh out of your garden or someone else's garden.  Just be sure to ask permission to pick the rhubarb before jumping into someone else's patch.

If you haven't pulled Rhubarb before, here are some tips.  Get your hand close to the bottom of a stalk before pulling.  Always start at the outside of a clump and just pull the bigger ones.  Once you have pulled enough, get a paring knife and a garbage can.  You want to cut off the big green leaf first and put it in the trash.  The leaves are poisonous to animals.  Next cut the other end off just above where the stalk was attached to the plant.  Rinse the stalks and slice into half inch pieces.  If you are not going to need them within a day or two, they do freeze well.  Put them in a zip-locked freezer bag in 4 cup measures.  Most Rhubarb recipes seem to ask for 4 cups.  My cookbook has a couple of other great Rhubarb recipes you might want to try.

If you haven't ever tried Rhubarb before, it is worth the try.  Besides making great desserts, Rhubarb makes great jelly and sauce.  I hope you will push your limits and give Rhubarb a try.

Have a great week.

Turkey Cutlets with Lemon Caper Sauce

Turkey Cutlets with Lemon Caper Sauce

(4 servings)

Ingredients:

1 lb. Turkey Cutlets (1/4 thick)

4 tbsp. All Purpose Flour

½ tsp. Black Pepper

4 tsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 medium Yellow Onion, fine dice

1 tsp. Fresh Thyme, minced

2 tbsp. Water

2 cups Chicken Broth

2 tbsp. Capers, rinsed and chopped

2 tbsp. Fresh Lemon Juice

2 tbsp. Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley, chopped

Directions:

Cut and pound cutlets into 4 – 4 ounce pieces about ¼ inch thick and set aside.  In a shallow dish combine the flour and pepper.  Dredge the cutlets through the flour mixture and shake off the excess.  In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat and add the cutlets one at a time.  If too big the cutlets may need to be done in batches.  Brown the cutlets on both sides for about 2 to 3 minutes each, transfer to a platter and place in a pre-heated 225 degree oven.  Now add onion, thyme and water to the pan.  Cook while you stir until onions have softened, about 3 minutes.  Add the capers, lemon juice and parsley to the mixture and combine.  Continue cooking about 1 minute after adding the cutlets back to the pan.  Remember to turn the cutlets once during this minute and serve.

Note:               This recipe works well with chicken cutlets too.  You may want to try the recipe using pork or veal cutlets as well.

Ideas for Future Efforts

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Chicken Cutlets in Cream Sauce

Chicken Cutlets in Cream Sauce

(4 servings)

Ingredients:

4 - 4 oz. Chicken Cutlets (1/4 inch thick)

½ tsp. Salt

½ tsp. Black Pepper

2 tbsp. Butter

2 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

½ cup Water

1 tbsp. All Purpose Flour

½ cup Sour Cream

As needed Chicken Base

As needed Fresh Lemon Juice

Directions:       

Sprinkle the cutlets with salt and pepper on both sides.  In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the butter and oil.  When butter mixture is hot start adding the cutlets one at a time.  Remember not to overcrowd the pan and do in shifts if necessary.  Keep the cutlets warm in a 225 degree oven.  After cutlets are done, add the water to pan and scrape the bottom as it heats up.  Blend the flour and sour cream together and add to the pan with the water.  Combine these ingredients well before adding back the cutlets.  Cover and reduce heat to a simmer.  Let the pan simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.  Taste sauce and adjust seasoning with a little chicken base and lemon juice if needed.  Serve.

Note:               Turkey, veal and pork will also work with this recipe.  For the veal, I would use beef base instead of the chicken.

Ideas for Future Efforts

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How to Pound Out Cutlets (Chicken, Turkey, Pork, Beef or Veal).

I had someone point out that they didn't realize that the cookbook was available as an E-book too.  I have added the info about e-book in the left column (each page of the blog) that tells all the locations where you can purchase the cookbook.  All you have to do is click on my website link.  On the home page, click on "Tate Publishing Bookstore" under "Buy the Book."  Go to the bottom of the page and you will find information on downloading the e-book.  It is only $9.99 for the e-book.

Yesterday I talked about cutlets.  If you ask your butcher/meat counter person for cutlets, they will make them for you.  However, it's not that hard to make your own.  You can buy boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs, boneless pork chops or turkey tenders to make them.  The chicken and turkey will need to be sliced into thinner pieces.  Usually they only need to be sliced in half side to side.

I've found that the best way to pound out any meat is to use a large zip-lock baggie.  Doing this will keep meat pieces from flying around the kitchen as you take out your aggression on the piece of meat.  I know many people will use wax paper to cover the meat but it tears easily.

If you don't have a meat pallet, it would be a good investment for your kitchen.  They usually come with one side smooth and the other side raised.  You want to use the smooth side for cutlets.  The raised side is to help tenderize a piece of meat.  If you don't have a meat pallet, you can use a heavy flat sided object to pound the meat.  Even the side of a can will work.  Just be careful using an object not intended for the task.

To pound out the meat, place your selected portion into a large zip-lock bag and seal it with most of the air squeezed out of it.  Place the bag on a cutting board and pound the meat starting at one end and working your way across the meat.  Your goal is to pound it to about 1/4 inch thickness.  Once you have your thickness, remove from the bag and set aside.  Repeat the process as many times as needed.

Remember you can lay the cutlets out on a sheet pan and freeze.  Then later peal them off the sheet pan and put in a large freezer bag.  That way you can always pull out the amount you need for a meal.  Sometimes it makes sense to do a task once instead of repeatedly.  I know I've mentioned this before, but I find repetition is a good thing.  We don't all listen well the first time.

Remember it takes a little practice to get good at it.  Have fun and think of all the frustration you can get rid of pounding out your cutlets.

A couple of recipes coming Friday and Saturday this week using cutlets.