BLUE CHEESE BISCUITS
- 1 cup Bisquick
- 6-8 oz crumbled blue cheese
- 1/3 cup buttermilk (or regular milk)
A blog about something very near and dear to my heart...FOOD. The joys of life can only be made better with a good meal. This blog is in the hopes that all who read it, or find it, will be inspired to get in the kitchen or find a great eatery and enjoy the delicious and divine delicacies that life holds for us!
THE FILLING!!
Preheat 2-3 T olive oil in a deep pot. Add mushrooms/slices and brown in batches, removing from pot and drain on paper towel. Add onions to olive oil and cook down 3-4 minutes until translucent. Add garlic and cook until just beginning to brown. Deglaze with a squeeze of lemon juice and stir in your bell pepper and tomatoes. Salt and pepper to help your tomatoes start breaking down. (If using canned tomatoes, add entire contents of can). Toss in the mustard greens with your remaining lemon juice, and 1-2 cups of vegetable stock, if needed. Add nutmeg and paprika and half of the oregano. Bring to a boil to bring your flavors together, drop to a simmer and cook together, slightly covered, for 20-30 minutes. The mixture should have reduced and thickened up and should be smelling AMAZING! You also want your tomatoes to really break down and be crushed up into the mix. Return your mushrooms to the pot, stir in the roughly chopped walnuts, lemon zest and remaining oregano. Taste for seasoning and add salt as needed. Stir together and simmer until you get a nice thick filling. An additional 10-12 minutes. Your filling is ready!
THE CUSTARD!!!
This can be tricky and requires a lot of ELBOW GREASE. I make my custard in a deep, double stainless bowl with a whisk. The bowl can easily go right over your heat source and keeps everything together. Add olive oil and butter to the mixing bowl and heat over medium until melted and combined. Your butter will just start to froth but because we're melting it in olive oil, it will not brown or burn. Slowly whisk in the flour creating a thick and buttery roux. Toss and mix in a healthy pinch of salt and the nutmeg and drop your heat, stirring constantly until you smell the flour cook out (this might take some practice, but when you get it you'll know it). Add one cup of simmering milk and continue whisking until well mixed and thickened. (It's going to clump up on you at this point and turn almost dough like.) Add additional cup of milk, whisk in and remove from heat, stirring constantly. Add eggs, one at a time and whisk until smooth. (If you're afraid of this step, you can temper your eggs in a separate bowl with a few Tablespoons of the custard mix. I've found that as long as you're off the heat a couple of minutes and whisking constantly, curdling your eggs is not an issue.)
You're ready to assemble...
Grease a deep baking dish or casserole (10x13x2.75) with 2 healthy tablespoons of olive oil. Layer in 1/2 of your pastitsio pasta making it as neat or chaotic as you choose. You want to fill up the casserole by about 1/3. Spoon on your filling adding any liquids that have settled since cooking. Add another layer of pasta, completely covering the filling. Pour your custard over the top of the entire dish, allowing it to fill in all the gaps in the pasta and sealing the dish.
Give the pastitsio time to settle (15-20 minutes) before putting it in a 325degree oven. (If you're casserole is very full, as mine usually is, you might want to bake on a baking sheet, just in case of overflow.) Bake for 35-45 minutes until the custard on top has set and is a beautiful golden brown.
This one is a little complex...but WELL WORTH IT! I hope all of you can try it and add your own special touches...
May your eats be delicious and your dinners divine!!
Ashley
THE VELOUTE (a fancy word that means a soup made with stock and a blonde roux)
This is going to be the base of your chicken and dumplings. Plus, once you've learned to make this soup, you've conquered one of the three main base soups from which all the greats are derived.
Melt your butter in a large pot. (I used 5 quart and had plenty of room...make sure it has a lid!) Add the flour and whisk in to combine and creat your roux. Allow this to bubble up and start cooking together for a good 5-7 minutes. Throw in your celery and cook another 4-5 minutes before adding your carrots.
Season this concoction with salt and pepper and continue cooking about 10 minutes altogether, stirring constantly. Throw in your potatoes and stir them into the mix. You might need to season a little more for your potatoes...salt and pepper. Continue cooking a couple of minutes.
You're now going to start adding your stock....
Add about 1/4 cup stock (room temperature if you can so there's less clumping, meaning less work for you!) and stir or whisk in thoroughly to break everything down. Once you have a nice thick soup working, add about 4 more cups of stock and stir together thoroughly. You just want to cover the vegetables and give them a little room to move around. Throw in a couple of bay leaves and any herbs you might have on hand. Bring this up to a boil, and then lower your heat to a med-low for a good simmer. Cook covered until your potatoes are fork tender; about 15-20 minutes.
NOW! If you have an emulsifier you'll need it now. If you don't, you just need your standard blender. Here's what I did....
Strain the contents of your soup into a large bowl, separating your veggies and herbs from your soup base. Pick out the bay leaves and whole herbs. Blend the veggies in batches with your soup base until smooth and creamy, returning each batch to your original pot. You'll end up with a gorgeously smooth and delicious veloute (of sorts).
Add another cup or so of stock to loosen things up a bit and throw in your chicken. If it's frozen, like mine was, add it and some additional seasoning to the pot. If it was not frozen, you can season it ahead of time. Stir everything up and allow the heat to come back up to a boil. Drop your heat to that low simmer again. Cover the pot and let the chicken cook for about an hour. This part of the process is what is going to take the longest.... Add the end of that hour, stirring your pot occasionally, your chicken will be very tender and you'll be able to easily break it up with a wooden spoon. That's when you know you're ready to serve. You can let this hang out on the stove if you like. It just gets better with more time.
In a separate and smaller pot, with a lid or some covering that can act as a lid, bring your reserved chicken stock (2-3 cups depending on how big your pot is...you want it deep enough for your dumplings to swim in) up to a boil. Drop the biscuits in one by one into the boiling stock. Cover and drop your heat to low simmer (again) and allow the biscuits to cook for 10 minutes. Uncover and check on them, turning each one with a spoon, and continue to cook for about another 3-5 minutes.
Keep the dumplings separate until everyone's been served. You can throw all the extra dumplings and stock into your chicken soup when you're done. It re-heats like a dream over low heat. Enjoy this wonderful stand-by comfort food and enjoy without too much guilt because we did it a little healthier by omitting heavy cream or half-and-half!
I hope you all try this one out and let me know how it works for you!
May your eats be delicious and your dinners divine!!
Ashley
Preheat oven to 425degrees.
You'll also want to pull together your bread topping and let it sit for a few minutes. The bread will soak up all the goodness and bake beautifully over your pasta....
1/2 pound ziti (1/2 a box...boiled in heavily salted water to al dente...about 6 minutes)
Add 1 1/2 cups of your bolognese to your pasta. Make the following cream sauce and add to the pasta as well....
In a deep well oiled casserole, layer 1/2 cup or so of your bolognese to just cover the bottom, top with the pasta concoction you've made above, another layer of sauce over the pasta, and then top with the diced bread mixture. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden and crusty on top. (I put my casserole on a cookie sheet in case of overflow...it did overflow a little!) Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes and serve hot! Sprinkle with some freshly chopped basil and more sauce and cheese if you're feeling especially in need of some extra comfort....
May your eats be delicious and your dinners divine!!
Ashley
Mix all of the above and pour into a prepared (sprayed with Pam) 2" casserole dish, with lid.
Bake in a preheated 350degree oven for 30-40 minutes covered. Uncover and continue to bake an additional 10-15 minutes, or until golden on top. (Your rice is probably going to need at least 45 minutes to completely cook.)
Let me know if you try this recipe or come up with any clever variations!!
May your eats be delicious and your dinners divine!!
-Ashley