Chocolate Ice Cream

One of my granddaughters, Lily, is allergic to eggs.  In order to allow her to enjoy ice cream at Thanksgiving, I developed this recipe for chocolate ice cream.  It has a very low sugar content and very few calories.  Enjoy!

Pre-chill  two (2) ice cream maker inserts in freezer for 24 hours.

Chocolate Ice Cream

8 oz. of unsweetened  chocolate (Ghiradelli)

4 oz. of Hershey’s chocolate sauce

1 Bailey’s nip

1 Kahlua nip

2 tbl. of Nutella

1 tbl. of coffee (Kona brewed strong)

Pinch of Chili pepper or paprika

14 ounces of Eagle sweetened condensed milk

Melt the unsweetened chocolate squares with the chocolate sauce,  Nutella, nips and coffee.  Mix all ingredients and chill until you put them into your ice cream machine.  This makes about 3 quarts of ice cream.

Antipasto

Antipasto

Baby romaine lettuce
Salami
Prosciutto
Baby tomatoes
Black olives
Pepperoncini
Italian Dressing


Add whatever suits your fancy

Steak and Cheese Sandwich

Steak and Cheese Sandwich

Two pieces of toasted, buttered Italian bread

Leftover steak

Shredded parmiagiana reggiano

mayo

steak sauce

Slather toast with mayo.    On one piece of bread, shake some steak sauce.  Add steak slices.  Add grated cheese.  Reheat so that the cheese melts .

Basic bread

Bread is very easy to make.  The basic recipe is failproof.  There are only two things that will affect your attempt to make bread:  temperature inside the household and proving the yeast.  Do not try to make bread on a humid day...it simply will not rise.  Also, the yeast can be tricky.  Remember always that the temperature of the water added to yeast can be no hotter than lukewarm.  If you have a Kitchenaid, use your dough hook.  If you make your bread in a food processor, the blade should be plastic.  It is really smart to go down to Home Depot or Lowe's and buy six unglazed tiles (very cheap) and bake your bread directly on those.  You will also need a baker's peel before you attempt to make homemade bread.  I always bake with unbleached flour (King Arthur).

You will need a deep bowl that has been generously rubbed with warm butter or extra virgin olive oil and a linen towel.

Recipe:

3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of sugar
a pinch of salt
1 pkg. of active yeast
1/4 cup of tepid water
1/4 cup of butter at room temperature

Put baking stones in oven and preheat the oven to 400F

Put all ingredients in food processor.  Process until dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl.   Put dough in deep bowl.  Cover with the linen towel.  Allow the dough to rise for about an hour.  Punch it down with your fist and kneed it a few times, then put it back in the bowl for the second rise.  Kneed it on a floured surface and then bake it for about 45 minutes.  I usually throw a cup of hot water in the oven.

Spinach Souffle

This recipe is terrific with anything and never fails.  This souffle will not collapse...  developing this was fun and this truly can be served with just about anything.  Freshly ground nutmeg rounds this out.

1 pkg. of frozen spinach, thawed

2 eggs

½ cup of butter

1 cup of Stouffer’s Chicken flavored stuffing mix, made into crumbs

½ cup of heavy cream

1 cup of parmesan cheese

freshly ground nutmeg

Salt, pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350F.

Butter a glass soufflé dish and put half of the crumbs in to keep the soufflé from sticking.

Mix all other ingredients.  Put in soufflé dish.  Bake for 30 minutes or until the soufflé rises.

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.