Porterhouse steaks with shallot butter

The other night I was in the mood for a big steak. When it comes to steak, there is no such thing as too big. You want porterhouse steaks that are between 1-1/2 to 2 inches thick. If you find a butcher that will cut them like that, treat that butcher well!

1/2 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature

1 medium shallot sliced razor thin and minced

2 large shallots sliced razor thin

1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese at room temperature

Two thick porterhouse steaks

Onion powder

Cajun seasoning

White Pepper

1 oz. dried porcini mushrooms

Chicken broth

1/4 cup Kentucky Bourbon

Wondra instant flour

Preparation

Place the butter and the crumbled blue cheese into a bowl and give it a little sprinkle of cajun seasoning. Using a fork, stir in the minced shallot until everything is well blended. Shape the butter mixture into a 1” thick little log and wrap it with plastic wrap. Place it in the refrigerator to harden. 

Rub both sides of the steak with equal portions of onion powder, cajun seasoning and white pepper. Set the steaks on the counter to relax in their dry rubbed glory.

Bring one cup of the chicken broth to a boil. Place the dried mushrooms in a bowl and pour the boiling chicken broth over the mushrooms. Let those soak in the broth while you broil the steaks.

Place the steaks in a large cast iron pan and put that under a very hot broiler. Broil the steaks  until they are charred on the outside and still pink in the center. Time will vary by how hot your broiler is and how close the steaks are to the flame. Try three to four minutes per side. Check with a knife if you are not sure. While the steaks are broiling, remove the mushrooms from the chicken broth and strain the chicken broth through a coffee filter into a bowl.

Slice several ‘coins’ of the shallot/cheese butter and place two on each steak as it comes out of the broiler. Place the steaks on two warm plates in a warm place and place the cast iron pan on the stove. 

Heat the cast iron and add the sliced shallots and stir. Add the mushrooms and stir. Cook until the shallots have softened and are starting to brown. Sprinkle on a little cajun seasoning and white pepper while they cook. Add the whiskey and stir to reduce. If it flames up, don’t singe your hair. When the whisky is reduced by half add a generous sprinkling of the Wondra flour. Stir until it is all absorbed and then add the strained chicken broth. Let that simmer and reduce until it has thickened. Place the mushroom gravy into a bowl.

Serving

To serve this, drizzle a little of the mushroom gravy around the steak. Place a large pile of steamed barley next to the steak and pour a generous helping of the mushroom gravy over that. Now add some sautéed broccoli, some home made bread, and open a good spicy Zinfandel from California. I’d unplug the phone too, but that’s just me.

Norman's chicken and egg noodles

Don’t roll your eyes when you see the chicken thighs again. I like chicken thighs, both the flavor and the texture. If you’d rather, use chicken breasts for this. I’m to old to argue about these things anymore. 

For that matter, you could even use duck breasts, or even boneless pork chops. On second thought, don’t. It is getting harder to come up with a new recipe each day, and the duck and pork can get me by for two more days. Wait for the recipe on those.

Olive oil

2 tbs. butter

2 large onions, chopped

4 chicken thighs

1 cup sliced mushrooms

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbs. Hungarian paprika

Cajun seasoning

1 tbs. savory

1 tsp. fresh ground white pepper

1 cup white wine

Wondra instant flour

2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 lb. German egg noodles, cooked and drained

Preparation

Heat a large skillet and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Melt the butter and add the chopped onions. Cover the skillet and let those sweat down over medium heat for about five minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Season the chicken with cajun seasoning and add that to the skillet on top of the onions. Cover and let that cook about seven minutes per side. When you turn the chicken over, add the sliced mushroom, garlic, paprika, savory and white pepper. Stir and let that cook the remaining seven minutes.

Uncover the skillet and add the wine. Bring that to a boil and let that simmer until almost all of the wine has been reduced. Give it a good sprinkling of the Wondra flour, stir and give it a little more flour. Stir again and then add the chicken broth. Bring that to a boil, reduce it to a simmer and let it reduce by half, about ten minutes.

Taste the sauce and adjust it for salt and pepper. Stir in the cream and let that simmer another five minutes to thicken.

Serving

Place a couple chicken thighs on a plate next to a big pile of egg noodles. Smother both of them with lots of the mushroom gravy. Add a big pile of sautéed baby broccoli. Now add some cheesy homemade dinner rolls. I know I sound like a broken record, with this dinner I like a citrusy wine like Vinho Verde. I can’t help it. It’s my favorite white wine. If you don’t like that, pick out an off-dry Riesling from Germany.

Chicken thighs, all fancied up

This is another version of stuffed chicken. If you use boneless skinless chicken thighs, they are all set to stuff, because they’ve been opened up to remove the bone. If you can find them, use Italian San Marzano tomatoes. Since the sauce is seasoned primarily with basil, the San Marzano tomatoes provide nice flavor.

Don’t get all freaked out if the cheese melts out as the chicken cooks. It will season the chicken as it leaches out and then will help season the sauce. I used a buttermilk blue cheese which had a good tanginess to it.

One word of caution regarding organic ingredients. I did my shopping for this dinner at Whole Foods, and they sell lots of organic produce. I’m not a big fan of organic stuff. It is more expensive, and because they don’t use pesticides, it sometimes has pests. Whole Foods only had organic basil. As I was washing and drying the basil leaves, I saw a big green caterpillar crawling on my counter. Since it is February, I know it didn’t come from outside. Don’t worry, if you don’t notice the caterpillars and they end up in your sauce, rest assured it’s ok to eat the sauce. The caterpillars are organic, so they must be ok to eat.

Kitchen twine

4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Olive oil

Cajun seasoning

Blue cheese, the best you can find

3 shallots, minced

6 cloves of garlic, minced

Red pepper flakes

1 28 oz. can of tomatoes

1-1/4 cups chopped fresh basil

Salt and pepper

Louisiana Hot Sauce

Preparation

Lay the chicken breasts out, one at a time, on a cutting board, opened up. Sprinkle it with cajun seasoning. Crumble up a thick slice of blue cheese on the chicken. Now add a layer of minced shallots over the cheese and then a layer of minced garlic over that. Sprinkle on some red pepper flakes. Save all the remaining shallots and garlic for the sauce.

Roll the chicken up as tight as you can, replacing any cheese that falls out as you do. Tie the roll up tightly at the two ends using the kitchen twine. Place the chicken on a plate as you tie make up the other rolls. Sprinkle them all with cajun seasoning.

Heat a large skillet and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Place the chicken roll in the skillet and cover. Cook about four minutes per side. Add the remaining garlic and shallots to the skillet as you turn the chicken.

When the chicken has cooked on both sides, add the tomatoes and break them up with a knife and fork. Stir in 1 cup of the basil. Let that simmer gently for ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Give the sauce eight to ten shakes of Louisiana Hot Sauce and cover for another five minutes. Stir in the remaining basil and turn off the heat.

Serving

To serve this, serve at least two chicken rolls per person. Add a big pile of ziti next to the chicken and cover both with lots of sauce. Sprinkle on some grated parmesan too. Now add some sautéed baby broccoli, a plate of mixed olives, homemade bread and open a bottle of Petite Sirah from California. Unplug the phone. It’s time to overeat!

Frona's open face tomato sandwiches

I was stumbling through some old recipes when, for some reason, one of them triggered a memory of a childhood lunch favorite that I haven’t even thought of in years. I remember coming home from school for lunch. My mom would make these sandwiches for me and I loved them. They are even good made with store bought tomatoes. 

I’ve taken a little license with Frona’s recipe. She didn’t always add bacon, and she had never heard of cajun seasoning back in those days. Don’t worry, she doesn’t get as huffy with her recipes as Aunt Ginny does.

Now, keep in mind that this recipe comes from back in the days before government school lunch standards, so I don’t know if this would be ok’d for school children today. Just to be safe, you’d better submit it to the FDA and the USDA for approval. You don’t want to have your child’s lunch confiscated and risk a fine.

Slices of homemade bread, toasted

Mayonnaise

Large ripe tomatoes

Bacon slices, crisp

Cajun seasoning

Fresh ground white pepper

Sliced cheese: American works, Cheddar 

and Provolone are better

Preparation

Toast the homemade bread and set the slices on a cutting board. Slather the toast with gobs of mayonnaise. Add thick slices of tomato to cover the mayo. Season the tomatoes with cajun seasoning and white pepper.

Place several pieces of bacon over the tomatoes. Now cover the bacon with two cheese slices. Place the open face sandwich on a baking sheet. When you have the sheet filled with sandwiches, place them under a hot broiler. Broil until the cheese is melted and browned.

Serving

I like three or four of these as the main course of my lunch. I also like french fries with them. 

Note, if you are serving these to school children, you’d better give them some apple slices instead. If the school lunchroom police find out that you gave your child french fries, they might report you. Besides, they sell these ready-slice apples that never turn brown. If the apocalypse happens, future alien archeologists will find them still fresh and juicy.

For me, however, I’ll take the fries and an ice cold beer, or two. They haven’t gotten around to regulating my lunch ... yet.

Norman's mac and cheese

If you are going to make mac and cheese, don’t even think about reaching for that blue box! I just can’t allow that to happen. This is just as easy, and the oven does all the work. 

When you make this, keep in mind that I never measure any of this stuff. This is mac and cheese, not rocket fuel. If you have a wedge of provolone, go ahead and use that instead of one of the other cheeses. Heck any cheese will be ok. How could you go wrong with cheese, milk and bacon?

5 slices of bacon

1 large shallot, sliced thin

1/2 tsp. white pepper

1/4 tsp. of red pepper flakes

1/4 cup of flour

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

2-1/2 cups of milk

1 lb. elbow macaroni

1/4 lb. shredded gouda cheese

1/2 lb. shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 lb. asiago cheese, shredded

1 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

1 cup fresh grated Romano cheese

1/4 tsp. S. African Smoke Seasoning (Trader Joe’s) optional

Cajun seasoning

Preparation

Heat a dutch oven over medium heat and cook the bacon until crisp. Drain the bacon on a paper towel, crumble it and reserve. Add the shallots and red pepper flakes to the bacon fat and stir until the shallots have softened. Stir in the flour and smoked paprika. Stir for about two minutes. Add the milk. While stirring, bring the liquid to a boil. Stir until thickened, about three minutes. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper. Set the sauce aside.

Cook the pasta until it is al dente. Drain the pasta and place it in a large bowl with the crumbled bacon. Sprinkle on a little cajun seasoning. Mix in the sauce. One at a time, stir in each of the cheeses except the parmesan.

Transfer the pasta back into the dutch oven. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the top of the pasta. Bake in a center rack at 350º for a half hour or until the cheese on top is browned and the sauce is bubbling.

Serving

This pasta goes great with a Greek salad, roast ham, green beens sautéed with sliced almonds, a good crusty bread, a bowl of chicken soup and several glasses of Vinho Verde.

Pizza in a loaf of bread

I came home the other day and was hungry. I had the makings of pizza, but was in an experimental mood. I decided to mix everything up and came up with a kicked up version of my sausage bread.

I figure a pizza tastes good with the dough, sauce, meat and cheese, so if we change it around and put the meat and cheese on the inside and the bread on the outside and pour sauce all over it, it’ll still be good, right?

Filling

Olive oil

1 lb. bulk Italian sausage

2 cloves of garlic

1 medium onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese Fresh ground white pepper

Bread

4 cups flour

1 tsp. sugar

1 tbs. instant yeast

2 tbs. olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups water, approximate

Sauce

Olive oil

2 shallots minced fine

3 cloves garlic, minced fine

1/2 cup white wine

1 tsp. marjoram

1 tsp. basil

Cajun seasoning

1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes

Preparation

In a mixer bowl, add the flour, sugar, yeast, olive oil and salt. Start adding water (just slightly warm) with the mixer going until it all comes together. Adjust by adding more flour or water as needed. Knead the dough and let it rise.

Heat a large skillet and add a little olive oil and then add the sausage. Break it up with a wooden spoon and cook until it looses its pink color. Add the garlic, onions and bell pepper. Stir and cook until the sausage is browned and the onions and peppers have softened. Sprinkle on some white pepper and set it aside to cool.

Heat a sauce pan and add some olive oil and then add the shallots and garlic. Stir and gently let those sweat down, without browning them. Add the white wine, marjoram and basil and bring the wine to a boil. Let it reduce by half and then add the can of crushed tomatoes. When the sauce is simmering, taste and adjust seasoning with some cajun seasoning. Let the sauce simmer about ten minutes, and then keep warm.

After the bread dough has risen, knead it for a couple of minutes and divide it in half. Shape one half into a loaf and bake it into bread for tomorrow’s breakfast. 

Take the other half and roll it out into a large oval. Place the sausage mixture on the dough, leaving the outer inch uncovered. Add the shredded cheese evenly over the sausage. Sprinkle on a little more white pepper. Carefully roll up the bread dough like a carpet and place it in a bread pan which has been sprayed with some cooking spray. Let rise for 20 minutes.

Bake the bread at 380º about a half hour or until it is golden brown on top. Let it rest ten minutes until slicing.

Serving

Slice the bread and place several slices on a plate. Top the bread with lots of sauce and then grate some parmesan cheese over it. Now add some sautéed broccoli next to it. All you need now is a bowl of soup and a salad to start your meal and then a bottle of my favorite everyday wine, Montepulciano dʼAbruzzo. I don’t know about you, but I’d go back for several more helpings.

Dirty rice

Boy, I long for the days when my son and I used to go down to the Louisiana Bayou every March. We always stayed in a cabin on Bayou Corne, near Pierre Part, LA. We would spend most everyday fishing on Bayou Corne or Grand Bayou. 

We would either eat our catch, or eat that great country style cajun cooking served at a number of great restaurants. We went down seven years in a row and were known by name in Landry’s Seafood. We had the same server all seven years there.

I remember one day we were having lunch there when my son (only ten at the time) overheard the owner of Landry's telling friends about his weekend. He said that the kids all had fun swimming in the bayou. 

My son interrupted and asked, "You let the kids swim in the bayou?" He replied, "Of course the kids swim in the bayou." My son asked, "What about the alligators?" The man replied, "Well son, if the alligator over here, swim over there. Don't swim over here." The shocked look on my son's face is one of my favorite memories.

When I feel a longing for some cajun food these days, I get to cooking. This is what I made as part of my dinner a few weeks ago.

1 cup of converted rice

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup chicken giblets, chopped fine

1/2 lb. ground beef

Olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 stalks of celery, chopped

1 medium bell pepper, chopped

Cajun seasoning

Cayenne pepper

Fresh ground white pepper

1/2 tsp. thyme

Preparation

Place the rice and chicken broth, as well as a shake or two of cajun seasoning, in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cover to cook until all the liquid is absorbed, about fifteen minutes. Set aside.

Heat a large cast iron skillet or a wok, add a little olive oil, and add the ground beef and stir until it starts to cook down. Add the chicken giblets along with the thyme and stir until the meat starts to brown. Add the onion, celery and bell pepper and stir. Let that cook down until the vegetables have softened.

Add the rice and stir to mix well. Sprinkle on some cajun seasoning, some cayenne and grind on some black pepper. Stir until everything is hot and sizzling.

Serving 

How I like to serve this is to place a huge pile of dirty rice next to some broiled catfish that has been smothered in shrimp étouffée. I would also add some green beans that have been simmered in chicken broth with lots of bacon. 

Instead of regular yeast bread, I would serve jalapeño and honey cornbread. Since we’re on a cajun theme, I’d skip the wine and serve several rounds of ice cold beer. “Dat good you know!”

Pasta with pork while emptying the fridge

The other night I got home from work and pondered what to fix for dinner. I didn’t stop at the store on the way home, but I needed to fix something. I knew that I had some leftover roast pork in the refrigerator. Then I spied the leftover homemade pizza sauce. Finally I saw a package of shiitake mushrooms and an idea started to form.

This was one of those meals that I started cooking before I really knew what I was going to do, but it came out ok. Here’s what I did.

Olive oil

2 cups of sliced roast pork

1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 lb. shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 tsp. fresh ground white pepper

Wondra instant flour

1 tsp. smoked paprika

1 cup of white wine

2 cups of homemade pizza sauce

1 cup fresh grated parmesan

1/2 pound thick spaghetti, cooked and drained

Preparation

Heat a large skillet and add olive oil to cover the bottom. Add the pork, shallots, garlic, mushrooms, the red pepper flakes and white pepper. Cover and let that cook for about five minutes, until the mushrooms are soft.

Sprinkle on a generous dusting of Wondra instant flour and stir until it is mixed in and then stir in the smoked paprika. Add the white wine and bring to a boil, stirring. Add the pizza sauce (if you don’t have leftover pizza sauce, use a can of crushed tomatoes). Let that simmer ten minutes, stirring often.

While that is simmering, cook and drain the pasta. Toss the pasta with the grated parmesan and the sauce. Give everything another grinding of white pepper.

Serving

To serve this, simply pile a huge pile of the pasta on a plate. Grate some more parmesan cheese over the top. Add some sautéed broccoli, a crisp salad and homemade bread. Open a bottle of Montepulciano dʼAbruzzo and dinner is ready and your leftovers will be gobbled up.

Spinach and anchovy bread

Every so often, a strange mood hits me and I want to try something different. That happened the other day. I spied a tin of anchovies on the counter. 

Now I suppose bread isn’t the first thing you think of when you see anchovies. Well, usually it’s not the first thing I think of either. But this day, I started thinking anchovies and cheese inside some bread. I threw in some spinach because I’m on a health kick. Here’s what I did.

2 cups flour

1 tsp. olive oil

1/4 tsp. sugar

1 tbs. instant yeast

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup slightly warm water

Baby spinach leaves

Parmesan cheese, sliced

Toscana cheese, sliced

1 tin of anchovies

Fresh ground black pepper

Ground Cayenne

Sea salt

Corn meal

Preparation

Mix the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, olive oil and water in a mixing bowl. Now, keep in mind that I never measure this stuff, so you might have to adjust it. You know, if it’s too wet, more flour or too dry, more water. You can figure that out right?

Knead the dough and then roll it out on a floured counter into a large oval. Over one half spread the spinach leaves. Leave the outer inch uncovered. Now layer the spinach with plenty of sliced cheese. Go ahead add a little more. That’s it. Now add the anchovies over the cheese. Distribute them evenly. Grind a bunch of black pepper over the pile and then sprinkle a spec of cayenne over it. 

Fold the dough over the filled half and roll up the edges. Place it on a baking sheet that has been heavily sprinkled with corn meal. Brush the top of the bread with lots of olive oil. 

Cut slits in the top of the bread to expose the filling. Preheat the oven to 400º and bake until the bread is golden brown. Brush it again with olive oil when it comes out.

Serving

The way I would serve this is as a bread to go along with a large steak, charred rare, sautéed spinach and steamed barley. I’d open a bottle of a good Italian red wine.