Fried Chicken

Fried chicken is probably America's greatest contribution to the culinary world and regionally, hats off to the south for putting a wonderful twist on this classic dish.  This recipe reduces the calories slightly...don't eat five pieces of it of course, but it does offer a healthier twist on the original version.

Preheat oven to 400F

In a very large rectangular baking pan, put one cup of butter flavored crisco to warm up to oven interior temperature.  You will need two deep pie plates to dredge the chicken.  Have two brown paper bags and a cake rack on hand for when you remove the chicken from the oven.

Oven Fried Chicken
8 pcs. of chicken, room temperature, dried with paper towels
2 large eggs
1 cup of chicken stuffing mix (I use Stouffers)
1/4 cup of semolina flour (finely ground)
1 cup of Tri Sum original potato chips (actually, using just the Tri Sums is also fun)
salt, pepper and garlic powder

Mix the eggs with a fork adding a pinch of salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Put the egg mixture in one of the pie plates.  Put the flour mixture in the other pie plate.  Dredge each piece of chicken in the egg wash and then in the flour mixture.  Shake off excess flour.  Put on a plate and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Remove baking dish from oven.  Place each piece of chicken skin side down.  Bake at 400 for half an hour.  Open oven, turn each piece of chicken over and reduce heat to 350F.  Chicken is done when golden brown (about an hour cooking time and allow chicken to rest for 15 minutes).  Remove from pan and put each piece of chicken on brown paper to absorb excess grease).

Substitute Tri Sum original style potato chips for breadcrumbs in any recipe.

White Lasagna

This lasagna is for vegetarians.  It consists of a ricotta filling, a vegetable filling and a mornay sauce.  It is rich with subtle flavors that enhance the vegetable layering.  I usually do the ricotta filling and the vegetable filling ahead and allow each to chill in the refrigerator overnight.  This allows the flavors of each filling to marry.  It is not a complicated recipe but it does take two days to complete so allow ample time for each step.  Actual cooking time for the lasagna is short because the vegetable layer is already cooked and the noodles are partially cooked.

Ricotta Filling:

32 oz. or 1 large container of fresh ricotta (please use whole milk ricotta)

4 to 6 large eggs

1 cup of parmiagiana regianno cheese --- grate another 1/4 cup for assembly

salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste

In a large mixing bowl, put ricotta.  Using a fork, add one egg at a time, beating lightly until incorporated in cheese.  Continue until all eggs are added.  Add the parmiagiana cheese.  Beat lightly.  Cover and refrigerate until assembly time.

Vegetable Filling:

2 pkgs. of frozen chopped spinach (allow to thaw out before preparing filling and run through a strainer to remove water)

2 bunches of scallions, chopped

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 pkg. of dried mushrooms, reconstituted in water (soak for about fifteen minutes)

Put 1 tbl. of butter and 1 tbl. of olive oil in a  skillet.  Over lowest heat, saute the scallions and onions.  Add the spinach and salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.  I also minced three cloves of garlic and added them to the mixture at the end of cooking time.  Allow to cool and refrigerate overnight.

Mornay Sauce:

1 cup of heavy cream

1 stick of butter

1 cup of parmiagiana reggiano (grated cheese)

Prepare this just before assembly by putting all ingredients in a microwave bowl.  Nuke at low heat and stir well with a fork until all ingredients are blended.

Lasagna Noodles:

Prepare noodles according to box directions but undercook by three minutes.  Drain water out and then replace with cold water.  Drain noodles on paper towels.

ASSEMBLY

Preheat oven to 350F

Spray rectangular lasagna pan with non-stick spray.  Put a layer of noodles on the bottom.

Spread half of the cheese filling over noodles.  Spread more noodles.  Spread the whole vegetable filling over noodles.  Cover with remainder of cheese filling.  Drizzle half of mornay sauce over the filling.  Cover with noodles.  Drizzle remainder of mornay sauce.  Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of parmiagiana reggiano.  Bake for 30 minutes at 350F.

Easy Baked Beans

Baked beans are a wonderful side dish for any barbecue.  The easiest way to make home-made style baked beans is in a crockpot.  Start off with two large cans of your favorite canned baked bean.  Add the following ingredients to the crockpot:

1 to 2 tbl. of black strap molasses

1 tbl. of ketchup

1 pkg. of fried onion rings

1 yellow onion, chopped

chopped bacon or cooked pancetta  (if no vegetarians are attending)

Allow the beans to absorb the additional flavors for at least an hour over the lowest possible heat.  If you do not have a crockpot, you can preheat your oven to 200F and do the beans in the oven (make sure you put the beans in a covered casserole dish or beanpot).  Alternatively, if you have a warming oven, you can put the beans in there as long as they are covered.

You can add other ingredients such as chopped pineapple, thinly sliced carrots, etc.  Use your imagination.

This savory sidedish is always welcome!

Sausages and Potatoes

If you live in Leominster, the only sausage you should be using (Italian sweet) is Chet's.  The original recipe from Chet's is now made by Chet's daughter, Debbie, who sells the sausage at Paisano's.  This recipe, which came from the old country, is really good.  Here is my grandmother's original recipe with one adaptation (I do not use onions ... I substitute McCormack's fried onions instead.  It does not change the flavor of the recipe and the fried onions are more tolerant for folks who are not fond of onions.   Use a hearty potato (I prefer Yukon gold) and serve with a good loaf of Italian bread.

Sausages and Potatoes

1-2 lbs. of sweet Italian sausage (if no Chet's sausage, use Johnsonville)

1 tbl. of extra virgin olive oil and 1 tbl. of butter

1 lb. of fresh portabella mushrooms

4 cloves of crushed garlic, minced

1 can of fried onions

2 cups of chicken broth

In a deep saucepan, put olive oil and butter.  Over low heat, put in sausage and mushrooms and sear to golden brown.  Cut sausages into bite size pieces after the saute.  Return sausages to pan.  Add remaining ingredients:  potatoes, garlic, onions and chicken broth.   Yummy!!!

For crockpot, just put everything into a crockpot without searing the sausages and mushrooms.  Equally yummy.

Bert's Pie

My buddy Bert was visiting from Virginia.  He loves chocolate so I came up with a recipe for a chocolate pie.  If you want to make the low calories version, use fat-free instant pudding and Cool Whip.  This pie takes roughly five minutes to make and is now one of the faves of my family.

This is decorated for the 4th of July barbecue.

One pre-baked pie shell

1 pkg. of chocolate fudge pudding

1 cup of heavy cream

2 tsps. of strong brewed coffee (I use  Kona from Hawaii)

2 tbl. of Nutella

2 tbl. of Hershey's chocolate sauce

2 tbl. of Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa powder

Whipped cream and 2 tsps. of grated Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate for topping

Mix pudding, heavy cream, coffee, Nutella, Hershey's chocolate sauce and cocoa powder in mixing bowl.  Mix well until blended.  Cover with heavy whipped cream (sweetened lightly with sugar).  Sprinkle grated chocolate over top.  

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

When rhubarb becomes plentiful, it combines wonderfully with strawberries or other berries to make a good pie.  Preheat the oven to 425F...

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Pie dough

6 stalks of rhubarb

juice of one lemon

2 tsps. of white vinegar

1 cup of sugar

freshly ground nutmeg

2 cups of strawberries in syrup

Put all ingredients except strawberries in a glass bowl and nuke for six minutes.  Add strawberries.  Mix well.

Sift two tbl. of flour into mixture and mix well.   Line pie plate with pie dough, fill with the berry mixture and crimp crust.   Bake for 30 minutes or until pie crust is golden brown.