Roast Cornish Hens

Roast Cornish Hens

Recently I was camping in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and when I camp, I always have an elaborate kitchen tent set up over the picnic table to allow comfortable cooking even in the most inclement weather. It isn’t small. There is nothing minimalist about my camp set-up.  My kitchen tent was actually sold as a temporary garage. As I said, big.

My kitchen tent set up in the Hiawatha National Forest in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Last year, I met a fellow camping a few sites down who was up for the week. His camp set-up was the opposite of mine. His tent, while well made, was barely large enough for my two dogs, it was tiny. He had a little stove on a propane bottle that was no bigger than a mayonnaise lid.

He asked me what the big white tent was for. I explained it housed a full kitchen. He asked, “What do you cook in there?” I answered, “Just about anything.” For example, I described what I had for dinner the previous night: roast cornish hens, baked potatoes, gravy, and sautéed kohlrabi (I left out the bottle of California Merlot, I didn’t want to rub it in too bad). He shook his head in amazement and said, “I’m too embarrassed to tell you what I’ve been eating this week!”

He then asked what I’m cooking next. I said it would be roast leg of lamb, but that’s a story for another recipe.

2 cornish hens

olive oil

Cajun seasoning

Poultry seasoning

1 medium onion, chopped

Sauerkraut

A 3” length of smoked sausage, chopped

4 medium potatoes, peeled

Flour

Water

Preparation

Rub the cornish hens with olive oil and season them with cajun seasoning and the poultry seasoning. Set them in a cast iron skillet. 

Heat another skillet and add just enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Add the smoked sausage and onion. Sprinkle a little cajun seasoning and poultry seasoning over it. Let it cook, stirring often until the onions soften and clarify. Add some sauerkraut to the skillet. You’ll have to guess, I forgot to measure. You want enough so that the sausage kraut mixture will be able to stuff both hens. Stir until the kraut is heated and turn off the heat.

Stuff the hens with the kraut mixture. Rub the peeled potatoes with olive oil and place them in the cast iron skillet around the hens. Roast in a covered charcoal grill using indirect heat. (Oh, alright, you can roast them in the oven at 350º if you want. I’m too tired to argue with you.)

Depending on the heat, it will probably take about an hour to an hour and a half for the hens to be done. You want the hens to be golden brown with crispy skin. If you are not sure if they are done, you can check with a knife by piercing the leg joint and verifying that the joint is loose and the juices are clear. No rare birds please! Set the birds aside on a platter.

Put the skillet with the drippings on the stove over medium-high heat. Add enough flour to absorb the fat and stir to mix. Season the flour with a little of the poultry and cajun seasonings. Add water a little at a time to make a gravy. When you think you have enough, let it simmer for about a minute to make sure the thickness is right. You are now ready to serve.

Serving

Place a cornish hen on a plate. Pull the stuffing out on to the plate next to the bird. Now add a roasted potato and cut it up. Spoon a generous helping of gravy over everything. Now add a bowl of kohlrabi sautéed in butter. I hope you didn’t forget the warm homemade bread with butter! Finally open a bottle of Californian Merlot and dinner is served.

Norman's Beef Stir Fry

Norman’s Beef Stir Fry

I feel bad these days that I'm not running on a regular basis. I was doing pretty good running three miles two or three times a week. Then the Great Lisle Flood hit in April and my running started to fall by the wayside. I haven't seemed to be able to get back on a regular running schedule since. I'm fighting laziness.

Well, lazy or not, I still need to eat. Most times, I have all the ingredients needed for a quick stir fry. A little meat and a few vegetables and I’m set to go. This recipe is kind of a composite of all my stir fry’s. You can change it up quite a bit and it is still good.

The key to making this work is to have everything chopped and ready before you start. Then it will go smoothly. You can easily substitute chicken, pork, lamb or shrimp for the beef, but don’t call it beef stir fry if you do. People will look at you funny.

peanut oil
12 oz. round steak - sliced thin against the grain
fresh ginger - peeled, sliced thin then minced fine, about 2 tbs. 

2 tbs. soy sauce
4 cloves garlic - chopped
1/4 cup peanuts
5 small dried hot peppers - arbol or cayenne
1 large bell pepper - cut into strips.
3 stalks of celery - sliced thin on an angle
2 onions - cut into thin wedges
1 small zucchini - cubed
1 tbs. toasted sesame oil
3 green onions - sliced thin on an angle
1/4 bottle of your favorite stir-fry sauce

Preparation

Place the beef in a bowl. Add the minced ginger and the soy sauce. Allow to marinate while you make some rice. Stir-fry’s should be served with rice - make it.

Now, if you donʼt have a wok, go out and buy one right now ... oh, all right, I promised myself that I’d be more tolerant. If you donʼt have a wok, a large cast iron fry pan will work, just not as well. I am still going to assume for this discussion that you have a wok however. Heat the wok until very hot. Have everything all chopped and ready.

Add 2 tbs. of peanut oil to the wok. Swirl so the oil coats the wok. Add the garlic, stir once, and then add the bowl of beef. Stir until the beef is nicely browned. Remove the beef, using a slotted spoon, back to the bowl.

Add a little extra peanut oil to the wok. Add the peanuts and the dried hot peppers and stir about a minute. Add the celery and stir about a minute. Add the bell pepper and stir about a minute. Add the onion (but not the green onion) and stir about a minute. Add the zucchini and stir about a couple of minutes. Add the beef back to the wok and stir. Add the stir-fry sauce and stir. Continue to stir until everything is hot and bubbling. Add the green onion and sesame oil, stir well and serve.

Serving 

I like lots of soy sauce with this.

Serve this over steamed rice along with egg drop soup and a good chilled Riesling Kabinett from Germany. If you are feeling ambitious, make some homemade egg rolls too.

Mushroom Butter Sauce For Tortellini

Mushroom Butter Sauce For Tortellini

Do you eat mushrooms very often? I love them and often add them as part of many different pasta sauces. I especially love shiitake mushrooms. They have a great flavor and a good meaty texture and really shine in this sauce. 

Unfortunately, another member of my household loves mushrooms, much to my dismay. The first time I discovered this was on a camping trip a couple of years ago. My little sheltie, Camper, is very good at finding mischief, it is his specialty. 

Late one afternoon, while camping in the UP, I noticed Camper was sitting very quietly, which is unlike him. I went to investigate and found him dining on some kind of toad stool shaped mushroom. Yikes!! I grabbed it away from him with a stern NO! NO! I guess it wasn’t poisonous, because he suffered no ill effects.

I'm rather fond of mushrooms.

On two additional occasions, I caught him nibbling on mushrooms. One was growing out of the side of a dead tree stump and another was sprouting out of the lawn. In each case, he had no ill effects, but my heart was racing and I’m sure my blood pressure was sky-high!

On my last camping trip, I had to keep a good watch out because mushrooms were sprouting all over. I wish I knew how to determine which ones are safe to eat, but I don't. I scouted our campsite and removed all mushrooms I found, knowing Camper would make a snack out of them.

Anytime we’re outside, I have to watch Camper like a hawk, for he is always on the lookout for a tasty wild mushroom.  I had better break him of this habit before he runs out of luck. No wild mushrooms for me. I don’t take chances on anything but store-bought mushrooms. When I stumble on shiitake mushrooms, this sauce is one of my favorite ways to show them off.

1 stick of butter

1 large onion chopped up fine

12 oz. shiitake mushrooms, sliced

2 large cloves of garlic, smashed and minced

2 large shallots, sliced thin

1 tbs. chopped fresh sage

or use 1/4 tsp. dried

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

or use 1 tsp. dried

Cajun seasoning

1 tsp. smoked paprika

1/2 cup red wine

1 28 oz. can of ground tomatoes

Fresh ground black pepper

Preparation

Melt three quarters of the stick of butter in a large skillet, gently! Do not burn the butter. When it is almost melted, add the onion, cover the skillet and let the onions sweat down for about ten minutes. Don’t let them burn. Stir them every minute or so. While the onions are cooking, slice the shiitake mushrooms and then smash and mince the garlic and slice the shallots. Add all of these to the skillet, cover and let them cook another five minutes. 

Add the sage, basil and smoked paprika to the mushroom onion mix and stir for about a minute. Give the skillet a generous sprinkling of Cajun seasoning and add the wine. Let the sauce simmer for a couple of minutes and add the ground tomatoes and a generous amount of fresh ground black pepper. Simmer for ten minutes, stirring often.

Taste and adjust the sauce for seasoning. When it is right, turn off the heat and stir in the remaining quarter stick of unsalted butter. Keep stirring until the butter is melted and incorporated into the sauce.

Serving

Serve this sauce over homemade tortellini ... Oh, alright, go ahead and serve it over good quality frozen tortellini from the store. Now here is a tip. The meal will turn out much better if you cook the frozen tortellini before serving it with the sauce. Do what you want, but that’s what I do.

Along with tortellini, you can serve asparagus sautéed with some shallots in butter, fresh bread, still warm from the oven and a fresh tossed salad. For the wine, I don’t know, maybe a  Pinot Noir from France or a Sicilian red.

Norman’s Autumn Mash

Norman’s Autumn Mash

I just returned from Michigan's Upper Peninsula and while I was up there, I had several pasties when work caused me to seek Internet access in town. I love pasties, and rutabaga is what gives a pasty its signature flavor. 

Do you like rutabagas? I guess if you’re like most people, you don’t. If that’s the case, you are going to have to change that opinion. It is not right.

I love rutabagas. That's why I like pasties so much. Rutabagas are also one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving dinner. I remember as a kid, always having a second helping of mashed rutabaga on Thanksgiving. I’d smother it in gravy and dive in. I don’t know why rutabagas get such a bad rap. 

Now be careful, I donʼt want you cutting your fingers. Cutting a rutabaga requires care.  They are very hard and because they are round, the knife can slip. Pay attention to safety. Donʼt have any fingers below the edge of the knife. Blood will ruin both the flavor and color of this dish. 

One other suggestion, only mash by hand with a potato masher. I insist. It gives a nice texture. You don't want this blended into a purée. Hand mashing is the right thing to do.

water
1 large rutabaga

1 lb. carrots 

1 tb. salt
3 tbs. butter

Smoked paprika

Preparation

Peel the rutabaga with a potato peeler. Cut the rutabaga into quarters and cut the quarters in half again - or, if you would rather, you could just cut the rutabaga into eighths. Peel the carrots.

Add the rutabaga, carrots and salt to a large pot. Add water to cover. Bring it to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 20 to 30 minutes until the rutabaga is tender when pierced with a fork. 

Drain the vegetables and place them in a large bowl. Add the butter and mash by hand using a potato masher. Stir the potato masher around as you mash the vegetables to mix them.  If you are watching your fat intake, you can stir in a bit of whipping cream for extra flavor. When the vegetables have a nice uniform consistency, sprinkle them with a little smoked paprika. Go ahead and add a little butter on top of the mashed vegetables, why not.

Serving

This side dish will go well with pot roast or roast ham. It will also go very well with roast turkey on Thanksgiving. Warm fresh bread with lots of butter and a salad will help a lot. Choose your wine to go with your main course. For turkey, a very good Pinot Noir works. For ham grab a chilled bottle of Vinho Verde wine from Portugal. For pot roast, pick a good spicy Zinfandel from California. 

Tortellini With Sausage Pomodoro

Tortellini With Sausage Pomodoro 

I'm sorry for not posting during the last week. I was on vacation camping in a remote area of the Hiawatha National Forest in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. 

My dog Squeeky stands guard at my kitchen tent.

While I was there, I became friends with a couple who were camping next to my site. On Thursday I had them for dinner in my kitchen tent. I made this sauce and served it over rigatoni. It must have been ok because they asked for my recipe.

That wasn't the first time I made this. The first time was an effort to duplicate a sauce I had at a restaurant. One night, not that long ago, I met some friends and ex-coworkers at an Olive Garden for dinner. It was the first time  I went to Olive Garden in many years. I ordered penne pasta with a sausage pomodoro sauce and really liked it. 

A few nights later, I decided to come up with my own version of that sauce. I had some hot bulk Italian sausage and in the freezer I had a big three pound bag of frozen tortellini. When my housemates and I sat down for dinner, I was greeted with a lot of oohs, ah’s and mmm’s. I think they liked it. Out of three pounds of tortellini, we had one cup left.

Olive oil

1 lb. loose hot Italian sausage

5 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced

1 large shallot, minced

1-½ tsp. of basil

1 tsp. marjoram

½ tsp. thyme

1 cup red wine

2 cups chicken broth

1 6 oz. can of tomato paste

1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes

Sea salt and white pepper

1 handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped

3 lb. frozen cheese tortellini

Preparation

Heat a enameled dutch oven and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Add the sausage and break it up real good. When the sausage starts to loose its pink color, add the garlic and shallots. Stir that in and add the basil, marjoram and thyme. Let that cook until the sausage is beginning to brown.

Add the wine, bring it to a boil, then add the chicken broth. Let that cook until it reduces by half. Add the tomato paste and stir to dissolve it. Add the can of crushed tomatoes and stir. Bring that to a simmer and cover it for about ten minutes, stirring often.

While that is cooking, put a pot of water on for the tortellini. Now listen Comrade. This is going to be for three pounds of tortellini, so it had better be a big pot with lots of water or you’ll look pretty foolish!. Throw a palmful of sea salt in the water. When the water is boiling vigorously, add the tortellini. When it returns to a boil, let it cook for about five minutes, until all the tortellini is floating and cooked through. Drain the tortellini and place it in a bowl. Drizzle on a little olive oil and gently stir it in.

When the tortellini is ready to serve, stir the chopped basil leaves in the sauce and adjust for salt and pepper. Turn the heat off and stir again.

Serving

Boy, this one is easy to serve. Fill a plate with tortellini. Go ahead, mound it on! Now bury it in the sauce. Sprinkle on some crumbled blue cheese. Now add a big crisp salad, homemade bread and butter and open a bottle of Italian red wine. For dessert, place a platter of sliced watermelon on the table.

Cornish Game Hen Alfredo

Smoked Chicken Alfredo

Sometimes, even when good intentions go astray, things can still end up ok in the end. That happened to me about a year ago. I was telling myself that I should be a little more healthy in my dinner choices. In an effort to achieve that, I purchased a rock cornish game hen to have for dinner with rice and vegetables. 

I came home that Friday and lit my grill. When the coals were ready, I put the game hen on the grill to let it cook gently in the smokey indirect heat.

So far so good, right? Then my neighbor stopped over to have a beer with me. Well, one beer turned into several and we snacked on salted-in-the-shell peanuts. By the time he left, the game hen was roasted to perfection. The problem was, I was no longer hungry. After the beer and peanuts, I didn't want dinner. I ended up putting the hen in the refrigerator and called it an early night.

The next day, I had a group coming over for dinner, so I turned the smokey game hen into a pasta dish. By all accounts, everyone liked it. Heavy cream, butter and cheese, that’s healthy right?

1 cornish hen

Cajun seasoning

Water

1 large onion, cut in half

1 stick of butter

2 shallots sliced razor thin

A pinch of red pepper flakes

1 tbs. flour

1 pint of heavy cream

1-1/2 cups grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Nutmeg for grating

1 lb. of bow tie pasta, cooked and drained

Preparation

The day before making the pasta (or earlier the same day) light a charcoal grill and season the hen heavily with cajun seasoning. Roast it over indirect heat for about an hour or so. Chill it overnight or just move to the next step.

Place the smokey hen in a sauce pan and cover it with water. Add the onion and simmer it for a couple of hours, very gently. Drain the broth into a bowl and reserve it. Allow the hen to cool. Use a knife and fork and separate all the meat, chop it and place it in a bow. Discard the bones.

Heat a large skillet and melt the butter. Add the shallots and the red pepper flakes and cook gently until the shallots soften and clarify, about a minute. Add the meat from the hen and stir.  Sauté gently for about five minutes.

Sprinkle the meat with the flour and stir for about a minute. Add about a cup of the reserved broth. Stir and allow it to simmer for about a minute. Add the cream and bring to a simmer, stirring often. If needed you can add a little more of the broth. Now add the grated Parmigiano Reggiano and stir. 

The sauce should thicken nicely. Bring it to a simmer, stir and turn off the heat. Grate a little nutmeg over the sauce. Toss with the pasta and serve immediately.

Serving

This Alfredo will go well with pork chops broiled in white wine, sautéed spinach, cheese pizza and a crisp salad. Don’t forget the homemade bread too. For wine, a Californian Merlot will be tasty. Have an extra glass of wine to toast your healthy eating!

Chicken Braised in Tomato Sauce

Chicken Braised in Tomato Sauce

Do you ever make pasta sauce with chicken? I do, but then again, I make pasta sauce out of just about anything. 

I remember a couple of years ago, I bought a leg of goat to roast for Easter weekend. It was delicious. I roasted it perfectly medium rare and served it with mashed potatoes and gravy. Some of the left overs were used to make a pasta sauce which was also good.

I’ve also made pasta sauce out of rabbit, duck, shrimp, veal and even chicken livers. So making pasta sauce out of chicken is no biggie for me. If you haven’t tried it, here’s a recipe you can start with.

olive oil
4 skinless, chicken thighs

Cajun seasoning

3 shallots - minced
3 garlic cloves - minced
1 onion - chopped
1 bell pepper - chopped

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp basil

Fresh ground white pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 can peeled tomatoes - 28 oz. 

tabasco - to taste

Preparation

Heat a large braising pan until it is hot. Add olive oil to coat the bottom. Sprinkle the chicken on both sides with the cajun seasoning. Sear the chicken in the hot oil for about four minutes per side. When you turn the chicken over, add the shallots, onions, garlic and bell pepper. When the vegetables start to soften add the thyme and basil and several grindings of white pepper.

Add the white wine and bring it to a simmer. Allow it to cook for a minute or two and then add the can tomatoes. Break the tomatoes up. Cover with a tight fitting lid and allow every thing to simmer gently for at least an hour. Stir every once in a while.

Add some chopped fresh basil if you have any and plenty of tabasco. Taste for salt, pepper and sugar and adjust if necessary. Simmer for 2 minutes  and remove from heat..

Serving

To serve this, place the chicken on the plate next to a big pile of linguine. Cover both with the sauce. Hit it all with a blizzard of fresh grated parmesan cheese. Next add is some stuffed eggplant, fresh baked bread a salad and a good Chianti.