Croque Madame

Brooke's Recipe

The French make everything sound so exquisite. The English translation of Croque Madame is literally Mrs. Crunch. Definitely sounds a bit more refined in French, doesn't it?  It is simply a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with a fried egg on top. This dish is so popular in France, that you can order it at almost every restaurant all over the country for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  I served it this morning as breakfast with a side of hash browns, but you can serve it later in the day with a simple green salad. 

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 pieces of white sandwich bread
2 pieces of thinly sliced ham
2 slices of Swiss cheese
1 egg


Cut the crusts off the bread and discard.  Assemble the sandwich by spreading 1 teaspoon of the mustard on each slice of bread.  Place the Swiss cheese on the bread, then ham, then Swiss again.  It is important that you have cheese touching both pieces of bread because it acts like the glue when you go to flip it.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a pan over medium low heat.  Place the sandwich in the pan and cover with a lid.  Continue to cook the sandwich, turning once until golden brown on both sides and the cheese is completely melted.

Heat remaining tablespoon of butter in another nonstick skillet over moderate heat until foam subsides, then crack eggs into skillet and season with salt and pepper. Fry eggs, covered, until whites are just set and yolks are still runny, about 3 minutes. Top the sandwich with a fried egg and serve immediately.

Nutter Butter Banana Pudding

Brooke's Recipe

Every good Southern woman should know how to make banana pudding.  I remember watching my mother line her dish with vanilla wafers, then lay down those perfect yellow circles of ripe banana and finish by spooning on layer after layer of golden vanilla pudding.  Waiting for the pudding to come together in the refrigerator would torture my father. He would peek in at it every 10 minutes and ask "Is it time to eat it yet?"  I would always watch him take his first bite and smile.  The look on his face was pure bliss.

Fast forward 20 years and I am now making banana pudding for my own husband. He knows when the bananas and Nutter Butters come out of the grocery bag, that it's pudding time. He usually leaves me alone while I am assembling it, but just as I set the pudding in the fridge for its flavor incubation, I hear a whisper over my shoulder and I am 5 years old again standing in my mother's kitchen ...... "Is it time to eat it yet?"

Ingredients:

1 packages of Nutter Butters
1 box JELLO instant french vanilla pudding mix
3 cups cold milk
2 cups of whipped cream
8 oz cream cheese
4 large bananas (the ripest you can find. Don't even bother making this if you have unripe bananas)

Start by finding yourself a pretty bowl. Some people make it in a trifle dish but I just have a glass bowl.  You could make it in a flowerpot and it would still taste amazing, but seeing the layers through the glass makes the dessert look extra decadent.

Prepare the JELLO pudding according to the directions on the package.  Instant pudding takes less than 5 minutes to thicken. Then add the cream cheese and the whipped cream. Beat with a hand mixer on low until combined.

Slice your bananas into quarter inch circles.

Place a layer of Nutter Butters on the bottom of the bowl, then a layer of bananas and then spoon over a layer of the vanilla pudding. Continue going layer by layer until you reach just below the top of the bowl. Don't fill it all the way up.  The next step is to place plastic wrap over the top.  If you fill the bowl all the way up, the pudding will stick to the wrap. After you finish with the wrap, place the whole bowl in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. Overnight is even better, but this has yet to happen in my house. Then top with additional whipped cream to serve.

Note***  During Girl Scout Cookie season, make this with TagAlongs.  This adds an another flavor layer of chocolate..

Shepherd's Pie

Brooke's Recipe

In honor of St. Patrick's Day I decided to make a Shepherd's Pie for Sunday dinner.  Thought to be originally from Ireland, a version of this pie exists in many countries including Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Chile, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic.  There is a good reason why so many people all over the world love to eat this dish. Meat, vegetables, and mashed potatoes all in one???  It is like an entire meal in one casserole.  Here is the Americanized version.

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup beef stock
2 cups corn (I used PictSweet frozen)
1/2 large yellow onion
2 carrots, pealed and julienned
3 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 stick butter
1/2 cup cream
1 lb of white potatoes
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons Worcestershire

Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, about 12 minutes. You do not need to peel the potatoes. Drain potatoes and pour them into a bowl. Combine potatoes with butter and cream. Mash until potatoes are smooth. I always use a hand mixture, but if you want to mash them using a masher be my guest.

While potatoes boil, preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to hot pan.  Add your hamburger.  Crumble the meat and cook until brown.  Drain the grease.  Add the Worcestershire, tomato paste, and stock.  Stir until combined, and then pour into a bowl and set aside.

Using the same pan, add the other tablespoon of oil.   Add chopped carrot and onion. Cook veggies over medium heat until tender. Add the corn and stir. After about 1 minute, remove from heat. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 375. Fill a small rectangular casserole with the meat mixture. Then place half of the cheese over the meat. Then add vegetable mixture. Spoon potatoes over top evenly and smooth using the back of a spoon. Top potatoes the other half of the cheese and sprinkle with paprika. Bake for 30 minutes until top of the potatoes are brown and cheese is bubbling.

Oh but I'm not done...I won't tell anyone if you want to pour Mushroom Gravy over the top!

Ingredients:

2 cups of mushrooms  ( I used a mushroom mixture already chopped but you can use button)
1/2 yellow onion, minced
2 cups beef stock
3 tablespoons of flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 stick butter


In a saucepan over medium heat add olive oil and onions. Cook until the onions are tender. Then add mushrooms and saute mushrooms until brown.  Add the butter. When melted, add the flour and stir until it looks like a paste. Add the beef stock and turn down to low and stir until thick.  Season with salt and pepper.

Greek Salsa

Brooke's Recipe

When the weather turns warm there's nothing more refreshing than a crisp Greek Salad.  My favorite version comes from The Tavern in Richmond. They serve big pieces of toasted pita bread on the side.  The most satisfying part of the meal is what is left at the bottom of the bowl.  I always use the pita bread to sop up the remaining dressing and any other little delicious tidbits that are left. That lead to this recipe.  I took everything except the lettuce, chopped it, mixed it and served it with pita chips.  Serve this at your next party with a couple shots of Ouzo and you'll have everyone screaming OPA!


Ingredients:

3/4 cup cucumbers, diced
1 cup tomatoes, seeded and diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup green onions
3 tablespoons bottled Greek dressing
1/2 cup feta
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, chopped
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1 bag pita chips

Dice and chop all your veggies.  To make it super easy you can use a food processor.  Mix all the veggies together, add the feta and Greek dressing and mix until combined.  Serve with the pita chips.

Eggs Benedict for Dummies

Brooke's Recipe

I LOVE Eggs Benedict.  It is my all time favorite breakfast.  However, I usually order it in a restaurant because I don't particularly feel like poaching eggs and making hollandaise sauce early on a Sunday morning.   Once we had a baby, it became more difficult to just roll out of bed and go grab breakfast so if I was ever going to enjoy it, I had to make it at home.  I cut some corners, and it turns out just as good. 


Ingredients:

This is for one serving:

2 eggs
2 pieces Canadian bacon
1 English muffin (or any hard bread, I used sourdough)
1 packet of hollandaise sauce (I used McCormick's)
1 cup water (for sauce)
1/2 stick butter (for sauce)
1 tablespoon of chives
salt and pepper to taste


You will need 2 sandwich bags. 

Bring water in a saucepan to almost boiling.  Then crack an egg into each sandwich bag.  The egg will settle into a corner.  Drop the corner with the egg into the water. 

Let boil for maybe 3 minutes. The whole point of Eggs Benedict is to have the white cooked but the yolk runny.  The eggs should stand up in the pot without getting any water in the bags.

Take the eggs out and set them aside.  Don't try to remove them from the bags yet.  Let them cool a bit while you make the sauce.  This will really help the whites harden around the runny yolk.

Meanwhile in another saucepan, make the hollandaise sauce according to the directions on the package. This is SO easy. Takes about 3 minutes for it to come together.

While the sauce is thickening, heat up your Canadian bacon.  Canadian bacon is already cooked. It comes in a package similar to ham, not bacon, so it only takes about 25 seconds in a microwave.
Toast your bread.  When done, get ready to assemble.

First, lay the bread down on a plate. Then place the Canadian bacon on top of the bread. Carefully turn the eggs out of the sandwich bags on top of the bacon. Be gentle, you don't want to break the yolks.  Then bring on the hollandaise.  Garnish with chives. 

Beer Can Chicken

Brooke's Recipe

I don't know who invented Beer Can Chicken, but it had to have been a redneck. Shoving a beer in a chicken where the sun doesn't shine is just so wrong, but the taste is just so right. The chicken comes out so moist and so tender that you won't want to roast a chicken any other way.  YEEHAW!



Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, discard the giblets
1 40 oz beer (I used Yuengling)
5 cloves of garlic, smashed
3 tablespoons garlic powder
3 tablespoons onion powder
3 tablespoons paprika
1/4 cup olive oil
1 stick butter, melted

 Remove all the racks from your oven except the one on the very bottom. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Open the beer and discard half of it the proper way.  Then drop the garlic cloves, peels and all into the beer. Pour the butter into the can as well. Set aside

Pour the olive oil over the chicken and rub the garlic powder, onion powder, and the paprika all over the chicken using your hands. 

Set the beer on a baking tray and pick the chicken up and slide it onto the beer can.  The beer can should fit perfectly into the cavity. 

 

Carefully pick the tray up, and place it on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake for about an hour or until the juices run clear when you pierce it with a knife.

When the chicken is ready, get your cooking gloves on and grab a tong. While holding up the chicken, use the tongs to pull the beer can out. Discard the can, carve the chicken and serve!

Grandaddy's Chicken Eggrolls with Thai Peanut Dipping Sauce

Donna's Recipe

I got my love of cooking from my father.  He hardly ever used recipes, he always preferred to invent his own. When he had a craving for something, he would immediatly take to the kitchen.  30 minutes later, we would have the most amazing dishes.  This is how Daddy's eggrolls came to be.  I have been making them ever since. Of course, you may substitute the chicken with beef, pork, shrimp or fish.  Vegans like these with tofu.

Ingredients:

1/2 head cabbage, shredded
2 cups celery, chopped
1 cup of  onions, chopped
1 can water chestnuts, diced
2 cups chicken, cooked and chopped (for this recipe, 2 chicken breasts were oven baked)
1/2 cup sesame oil  (use more or less to taste)
1 package of egg roll wrappers (find these in the produce section)
1 egg beaten in separate bowl
1 quart of peanut oil


For the Peanut Sauce:

1/2 cup peanut butter
1 lime, juice and zest
2 1/4 teaspoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon of  rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
3 tablespoons honey
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoons of ginger, minced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-2 teaspoons of Sriracha hot chili sauce (this is very very very hot)
2-4 tablespoons of water

Cook your chicken by either baking, broiling, or boil in chicken stock.

Stir fry vegetables except cabbage in a large skillet with small amount of vegetable oil and a couple of shakes of sesame oil, stirring until vegetables are cooked tender. Add the cabbage and chicken and more sesame oil. Cook until cabbage is tender. Set aside and wait until cool.

In another large skillet heat peanut oil to about 375 degrees F or medium high heat.

Meanwhile place all the ingredients for the peanut sauce in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Lay out one egg roll wrapper with a corner pointed toward you. Place about a 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the cabbage, carrot and chicken mixture in center of egg roll wrapper and fold corner up over the mixture. Fold left and right corners toward the center and continue to roll. Brush the ends with beaten egg to help seal the egg roll.  (Instructions for folding are included with the egg rolls.)  Make sure you seal the ends well so oil will not be trapped and make the whole thing greasy.  

Place egg rolls into heated oil and fry, turning occasionally, until golden brown.  They cook very fast.   Remove from oil and drain on paper towels or rack. Put on serving plate and serve with the peanut sauce.

Beer Steamed Oysters with Spicy Cocktail Sauce

Donna's Recipe

Oysters have always been associated with love.  Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of  love, gave birth on an oyster shell thus the word aphrodisiac was born. Oysters were also Casanova's favorite appetizer.  I don't know about your libido but I do know they are delicious and healthy.  A dozen oysters contains only 110 calories and they are packed with vitamins and minerals. You can eat them smoked, baked, broiled or fried, but I prefer mine steamed in a good beer.  Serve it with some lemon wedges and cocktail sauce and you may just "get lucky"....



Ingredients:

24 Oysters
3 cups of beer
2 lemons, cut into wedges

For cocktail sauce:

1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons Horseradish or MORE to taste
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire
1 tablespoon lemon juice


First you have to make sure your oysters are fresh.  It is best to buy the oysters the same day that you plan to eat them.  They should smell briny like the sea.  Oysters should be tightly closed but there will inevitably be a few in the pile that are slightly open -- for these, do the "tap test": upon tapping, any open shells should close. Throw out any oysters that fail the tap test. Keep the oysters on ice until right before you cook them. Do not  submerge them in water because they still require oxygen.


 

Add 2 cups of beer to a large pot and boil on high heat about 5 minutes or until the steam rolls out when the lid is opened slightly.

Add oysters and an additional cup of beer and cover, turn down to medium heat.

Steam oysters about 5-10 minutes, or all the oysters are open. Do not overcook. Some oysters may take longer than others.  Remove the opened oysters and continue to steam the others until they open as well.

Serve hot, with the lemon wedges and cocktail sauce and your favorite wine or beer .

Marco's Spaghetti Carbonara

Brooke's Recipe

In college at JMU, I had a very good friend from Italy named Marco Indelicato.  He was a fellow French major and he was also a very good cook.  During a study session one evening, he decided to see what was in the kitchen to make us a snack.  I was expecting Ramen noodles or cheese and crackers. But oh no..not from an Italian!  Instead I got a pasta dish that to this day is my absolute favorite.  So here is Marco's Spaghetti Carbonara...

Ingredients

8 strips of bacon, diced
1 whole egg
2 additional egg yolks
1/2 cup cream (or milk, but the cream makes it richer)
1 cup parmesan cheese
1 box of spaghetti noodles

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook spaghetti until al dente. Drain well. Reserve a couple tablespoons of the cooking liquid to temper the eggs. 

Meanwhile in a large skillet, cook chopped bacon until slightly crisp; remove and drain onto paper towels. Reserve 2 tablespoons of bacon fat and put the pan back on the heat.

Beat the eggs and add the cream and Parmesan cheese.  Add a little of the cooking liquid at a time to the egg mixture to bring it up to temperature. You need to do this so that when you add the eggs to the pan, they do not scramble. 

Add cooked and drained spaghetti to the pan with the bacon fat. Toss to coat and heat through. Add the bacon. Add beaten eggs and cook, tossing constantly with tongs until eggs are barely set. Add salt and pepper to taste (remember that bacon and Parmesan are very salty).

Serve immediately with extra Parmesan cheese.

OK...now that you have read the recipe..don't balk at the eggs.  The heat of the pasta cooks them.  Just make sure the eggs are fresh.  Try it, I promise you will thank Marco! 


Marco, The Carbonara Master