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May 29, 2013

Steak in Tomato Spinach Sauce

Posted by ladybug under beef, garlic, parsley, sauces, Silver Spring Kitchen, tomato, vegetables, wheat free
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We are moving soon. Again. Not a big move for now, just a short term local move before a bigger move. We don’t know when or where the bigger move will occur, but want to be ready, which means not signing a long term lease or making a real estate purchase. A move translates into me trying to clear out the fridge, freezer and pantry. The less I have to move that is perishable or heavy, the better. This recipe used the last big can of tomatoes from the pantry and some stray steak from the freezer. I like never-been-frozen steak straight off the grill, but if it has been frozen I don’t mind baking or broiling or smothering it in sauce. I like how the tomato and spinach made the sauce nice and rich. Serve it next to or on top of some baked spaghetti squash. I ate too much. Roll me on over to the couch!

Sauteed Steak with Tomato and Spinach

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 cups fresh spinach
12 – 14 ounces tomato puree
½ cup dry red wine
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp ground thyme
1 tsp sugar or sweetener equivalent
1 ½ Tbsp butter
1 pounds thin steak
Salt and pepper to taste

Slice steak against the grain into bite-sized pieces, then season generously with salt and pepper. Set aside. Roughly chop spinach into 1-inch pieces. In medium pot over medium-high heat add olive oil. When oil is hot add onion and garlic. Cook until onion and garlic begins to brown, about two minutes. Add spinach and toss with onion and garlic until most of it wilts, about three minutes. Add oregano, parsley, thyme, tomato, sugar/sweetener and wine, then stir. Lower heat to simmer, and cook uncovered for about ten minutes until it begins to thicken. Cover sauce and cook for 20 – 30 more minutes. Set aside. Right before the simmer time is over heat a shallow saute pan over high heat. Add the butter. Just before it begins to brown add the meat and toss until coated with butter. Continue tossing until steak is cooked to desired doneness (for me about 3 minutes for medium rare). Remove from heat. Add the meat to the sauce, stir and continue simmering for about five minute. Salt to taste. Serve immediately over spaghetti squash, pasta or rice.

March 14, 2013

Dad’s Spaghetti Sauce

Posted by ladybug under beef, garlic, onion, parsley, sauces, Silver Spring Kitchen, tomato, vegetables, wheat free
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You may not have noticed, but earlier this month I began a greenish/Irish theme, which will lead us up to St Patrick’s Day and beyond. Last year I covered traditional stuff like corned beef and cabbage, colcannon and the less traditional but politically symbolic white chocolate frito popcorn. This year I started with coleslaw, which has green cabbage, followed by some chicken with the green of spinach, then the Dublin Coddle, with a slightly more Irish leaning. I really enjoy St Patrick’s Day. Not only because I am about 87% Irish, or that I have a dual citizenship, or that it is another excuse to drink a little too much, but also because when I was growing up we laughingly called everything my dad made ‘Irish’. Irish popcorn, Irish fajitas, Irish potato salad, Irish steak…you get the idea. The dishes did not necessarily have a historically Irish origin, but because a big Irishman with blue eyes put effort into making it for his loved ones. My dad’s specialties were typically products from the outside charcoal grill. He cooked meat exceptionally well. Whether it was fajitas, steak, chicken or a whole passel of meats in his tower smoker – ribs, ham, turkey, roast – if it used to walk he could cook it, and it tasted great. He was the reason I rarely ever ordered steak in a restaurant until I moved out of the house. Restaurant steak always tasted salty, but not flavorful. I know most of his secrets, and I may share them one day, but today is not the day. Today I share with you his spaghetti sauce. One of his two significant non-grill, non-smoker dishes. In case you were wondering, his other dish was potato salad. Now on with the spaghetti sauce. I have done other tomato-based sauces, but this one is consistent with what he always made. Huge batches filled a big old aluminum pot that simmered on the stove top all day. It smelled heavenly, especially walking into a warm house on a cold, wet Texas day. It smelled like comfort, which is what I often sought on a wet Saturday after playing soccer or doing yard work. When I got older I helped him make it, discovering his penchant for perfectly sized chopped veggies and just the right combination of herbs. Another thing about his sauce – he rarely used fresh ingredients. I don’t consider it a good or bad thing. The sauce was always full of flavor and satisfying. He grew up during the Great Depression, which I think established for him certain habits, including the stockpile of canned and dried goods. You should have seen our pantry when I was growing up – we never failed to have fresh meat, fruit or veggies, but if we didn’t there were always canned. I still love the taste of canned spinach and pineapple – separately, of course. I recognize the canned and dried elements in this recipe. I don’t think you can beat the finished product very easily. I have made a version of this from scratch – fresh tomatoes, fresh herbs…it was good, but you know, after cooking it for so long, I could hardly tell the difference. Maybe it was because I tweaked it until it tasted like Dad’s version, or maybe because after enough cooking the fresh version tastes like the Hunt’s canned version. On top of everything else, I found a great new base to hold the sauce – broccoli slaw. In the past I have used traditional spaghetti pasta, gluten free pasta, spaghetti squash and just chopped sauteed squash. This time I saw some broccoli slaw on sale at the store – it is basically broccoli stems cut julienne and packaged with a bit of carrot and red cabbage. I microwaved it straight from the freezer for five minutes to soften, salted it then set it on a plate and topped it with sauce. The texture worked great – not pasta-y, but definitely a strong texture that worked with the sauce. It is my new favorite to pour things over. I can imagine a decadent cheesiness next time, or maybe some kind of lasagna concoction…

Dad’s Spaghetti Sauce

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small white onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1 pound ground beef, 15% fat or less
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
3 stalks celery with leaves, chopped
1 tsp sea salt
½ tsp ground black pepper
2 Tbsp dried parsley leaves
1 ½ Tbsp dried oregano leaves
1 Tbsp dried basil leaves
42-56 ounces Hunt’s brand canned diced or plum tomatoes
6 – 8 ounces tomato paste
1 tsp truvia, or one small pinch of pure stevia
More salt to taste

In a deep stock pot heat to medium high and add olive oil. When oil is hot add onions and garlic, saute until the onion sweats (gets shiny and releases liquid). Add ground beef. Break meat up with a wooden spoon and saute until browning begins, but not until it is completely cooked. Add bell pepper, celery, salt, pepper, parsley, oregano and basil. Stir and cook until vegetables begin to soften. Add tomatoes and stir some more. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours (or more). Sprinkle in sweetener, to bring out the tomato flavor, and stir well. For an additional 30 minutes to an hour simmer with the top tipped so steam escapes. The sauce should thicken noticeably. Turn off heat and cover. Let sit until ready to serve, or cool to room temperature and refrigerate overnight. If you double or triple the recipe there will be plenty to freeze in reasonable portions. Reheat slowly on the stove top. Serve over your preferred base – either al dente pasta, spaghetti squash, or my new favorite, cooked broccoli slaw.

February 18, 2013

Tzatziki

Posted by ladybug under cucumber, dip, garlic, sauces, Silver Spring Kitchen, Uncategorized, wheat free
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I could just eat this stuff straight from a bowl, with a big spoon, as in “would you like some lamb with your tzatziki”? Forget daintily dipping or drizzling it on food. Sometimes I get a Greek salad just to be able to mix tzatziki in with it. I used to love dipping pita bread into tzatziki and hummus – oh, what a bite exploding with flavor! These days, since I don’t eat pita anymore, I rely on roasted meats and veggies as my tzatziki conduits. Beyond the lovely, tangy creaminess of the sauce, I just like saying the word – tzatziki, tzatziki, tzatziki. I eat salsa with Mexican food, I eat wasabi with sushi, I slather steaks with chimichurri, I put mustard on hotdogs and I top Greek food with tzatziki. So there.

Tzatziki

2 cups plain Greek yogurt, or half sour cream and half yogurt
1 medium cucumber
2 large garlic clove, crushed
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh mint
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Salt, to taste

Peel, halve and remove seeds from the cucumber, then finely dice. Sprinkle salt on the diced cucumber and let sit for about five minutes. Place diced cucumber it between two towels and press gently to remove any excess water. You may need to repeat with more dry towels to get all the water. In a medium bowl combine yogurt/sour cream, garlic, mint, dill, olive oil and lemon juice. Stir until combined. Fold in cucumber and mix until it is evenly distributed. Add salt to taste. Chill overnight before serving.

February 14, 2013

Greek Salad Dressing

Posted by ladybug under salad, sauces, Silver Spring Kitchen, wheat free
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This post is the beginning of a short Greek-themed series resulting from a feast Big D and I made recently. It is all Big D’s fault. He brought home some beautiful lamb chops one evening and it started us talking about how good they would be marinated in some olive oil, lemon juice and mint. That conversation reminded us about how much we like tzatziki and dipping dolmas in it. Besides grumbling tummies we also reminisced about John the Greek’s Dressing from a restaurant of the same name we like in San Antonio, Texas. The restauruant dressing is great, and I think we figured out a pretty good version. This dressing is tangy with oregano, thyme and lemon dancing around together in my mouth! Not exactly like the stuff by John, but so much better, in my opinion, than Italian dressing, which tends to be sweeter, or straight oil and vinegar. I am still deprived of actually having a salad in Greece, much less experience the dressings used there, so I am relying on my experiences with family-owned Greek restaurants I have frequented in the U.S. Whenever I come across one I duck in for a good meal. This dressing really stands up to a salad full of strong flavors like roasted peppers, feta and olives. The dressing also works well as a meat marinade.

Greek Salad Dressing

½ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup white or red wine vinegar
¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp dried oregano leaves
½ tsp dried thyme leaves
½ tsp fresh dill
½ – ¾ tsp sea salt
2 pinches freshly ground black pepper

Add all ingredients except oil into a glass jar with at least a two cup capacity. Stir with a fork or whisk until well combined. Continue stirring while adding oil in a thin stream. Stir a bit more after all the oil is added. Let sit overnight in the fridge before using. About ten minutes before serving pull it out to warm up a bit, since the oil may have formed solids. Shake and serve.

January 4, 2013

Cilantro Pesto

Posted by ladybug under cilantro, garlic, lime, nuts, sauces, Silver Spring Kitchen, wheat free
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We had a bundle of cilantro sitting in a water jar on the counter. Since I kill it every time I try to grow/regenerate it, I tend to overstock on it when I find it fresh cut in the store. It was starting to look sad, even with its water, which meant it needed to be used pretty soon. The stuff goes from perky to slimy and brown pretty quickly when it starts to go, so I had to act fast. Big D was grilling steaks for dinner, so what could I do with cilantro. Hmmm….cilantro, steaks, cilantro, steaks….I know! I remembered a cilantro sauce from a restaurant I went to years ago in Denver, I think it. Maybe it was Boulder. Instead of basil they used cilantro for pesto. I decided to whip up some cilantro pesto to drizzle on top of the wonderfully seared rare steaks. It helped me use the cilantro instead of leaving it to go bad, and I could not imagine it being uncooperative with the grilled meat. I was right, I must say. The pesto worked great with the steaks, and the leftovers also worked great on pork loin. Another plus was the pesto kept much better in an airtight jar in the fridge compared to un-pesto cilantro would have done sitting on the counter. Double score!

Cilantro Pesto

1 bunch fresh cilantro, most thicker stems removed
1/4 – 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pecan halves
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 jalapeño, seeds removed
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 Tbsp lime Juice

Add all ingredients except oil to blender or food processor. Purée until blended, then slowly drizzle oil into mixture. Scrape sides and blend more until everything is about the same size. Use immediately or chill until about an hour before serving. Room temperature is the best for serving.

August 22, 2012

Chicken Tomatillo

Posted by ladybug under avocado, chicken, sauces, Silver Spring Kitchen, wheat free
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What the heck do you do when you have chicken and some leftovers in the fridge? Come up with something for dinner using them! Duh! After a long day at work I really needed to cook something so I could relax and totally enjoy my family. Cooking, Little B and Big D are what I rely on to balance out the chaos at work. It is a necessity for me to focus on those three things when I get home. It definitely works. I don’t think about work again until the next morning when they are sleeping and I am on the way out the door on the way to the office. I love that it works so well for me. There is nothing better than being able to escape at home. One of my constant challenges is to do something creative and simple with chicken. We are dark meat people, which means packages of legs and/or thighs cooked up for dinner. Recently we had a package of thighs, so I poked around in the fridge and came up with something luscious and amazing for dinner and a couple of lunches at work, which, of course, reminded me of home and let me escape for a bit in the middle of the work day. Yay!

Tomatillo Chicken

3 – 4 pound package chicken thighs, with bone and skin

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp sea salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

2 cups salsa verde with tomatillos sauce

2 cups mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Get your hands dirty and cover chicken with combined spices. Place chicken in 9×13 glass baking dish. Pour tomatillo sauce over chicken, then top with cheese. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear. Let sit for about ten minutes before serving.

June 16, 2012

Spaghetti Squash with Meaty Sauce

Posted by ladybug under cheese, sauces, sausage, tomato, vegetables, wheat free
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This is a down and dirty delicious weekday dinner. It uses some basic kitchen pantry ingredients I have on hand pretty much all the time. The first time I had spaghetti squash I did not like it. I think I was about ten and very much looking forward to pasta. It was crunchier and the flavor is very much squashy – of course I was comparing it with soft cooked pasta, so of course it would be different. As I got older I began to appreciate it more, and now love it! We used to try and boil it, which took forever, but then we discovered the microwave method, introduced to us by my mother in law. Of course the sauce would benefit from simmering for five hours, but it was delicious with just 20 or so minutes. I will be doing more quick dishes in the future, and am inspired by my friend Stacie’s blog. Besides her awesome food ideas she also makes wonderful lotion.

Spaghetti Squash with Meaty Sauce

1 medium spaghetti squash
¼ cup parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp butter
2 14 ½ ounce cans diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
1 pound ground sausage

In a medium sauce pan over medium heat combine tomatoes, garlic, oregano, salt and sugar. Cover and cook until bubbly. While tomatoes are bubbling away add sausage to a frying pan, break up the meat and cook until browned and well done. Drain sausage and add it to the tomato sauce. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until the flavors have time to mix. Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out seeds and stringy membrane. In shallow baking or pie dish add about ¼ inch of water. Add half of the squash, cut side down. Cover with cling wrap and place in microwave. Cook on high for about eight minutes, until squash is soft. With a fork scrape out inside of squash, pulling stringy ‘spaghetti’ out of the shell. Place squash in bowl with butter and cheese*. Stir together and let cheese and butter melt. Serve sauce on a bed of squash.

*Sometimes the squash soaks up some water. If you want to avoid the possibility of having a watery plate when serving, you can add a step before mixing the squash with butter and cheese – lay out a couple of paper towels and spread squash out to dry a bit. After doing this you may need to reheat the squash to make sure the butter and cheese melts.

June 14, 2012

Biscuits and Gravy

Posted by ladybug under baked, bread, breakfast, sauces, sausage, Silver Spring Kitchen
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Our foster son, Tall P, is a good old southern boy. He loves his sweet tea, meat, mac n cheese and of course biscuits and gravy. We went to a diner for breakfast last week and he really wanted some. The plate came out and he dove in, but was sorely disappointed. The gravy was tasteless and the biscuits were mediocre. For anyone it would be a let down, but for someone who really likes good biscuits and gravy it was even worse. He looked so sad. I am not exactly sure where to find good biscuits and gravy in Maryland, so I decided to just make him some. Now, I know how to make biscuits and I know how to make gravy, but I had to grill him about what exactly he likes about a good plate of biscuits and gravy to make sure I did them right for him. Growing up I was never very interested in the dish, because my dad always made SOS (um, stuff on a shingle), which reminded him of Army mess halls. I never cared for the stuff, and frankly, biscuits with white sausage gravy always reminded me of the SOS. No thank you. I must say, my combination of biscuits and gravy came out pretty darned good, and was nothing like the SOS my dad made. Sorry dad, you lose this one.

Biscuits and Gravy

For the Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Pepper to taste
1 tsp sugar
1/3 cup oil
2/3 cup milk

For the Gravy
¼ pound ground sausage, with drippings
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk

In medium pan cook sausage over medium high heat until browned, about five minutes. Set aside. Preheat oven to 375. In mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and pepper. Add oil and milk. Using a fork stir together ingredients until well combined and dough forms. On a floured surface roll out dough to about an inch thick. Cut out biscuits with a round glass or dough cutters – makes about nine 2” round biscuits. Place biscuits in buttered baking dish or cookie sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes until slightly brown on top.

When biscuits are about half done turn the heat back on under the sausage with drippings. When it starts to sizzle add butter to melt. Add flour and whisk together thoroughly with butter, sausage and drippings to make a smooth roux. Let flour darken a bit. Add milk and continue whisking until gravy thickens. When biscuits are ready spoon gravy over them and serve, eating them immediately.

June 5, 2012

Creamy Spinach Chicken

Posted by ladybug under cheese, chicken, garlic, onion, sauces, Silver Spring Kitchen, vegetables, wheat free
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So today I enlisted a canned good that is very comforting to me. I was one of those kids that loved spinach, and most of the time got it out of the can. When my brother and I started pre-school my mom told me that we came home and would not eat our spinach, but looked at it longingly. Apparently we told her we were not supposed to like it, so we did not eat it. Of course she explained to us that the kids who told us such things just had different opinions about spinach and that we could like it if we wanted to. I don’t succumb to peer pressure quite as easily anymore, and am really glad I chose to like it again. Later in life I learned to love raw spinach and the barely blanched but still bright green spinach. They are delicious, but do not replace memories of the canned stuff I ate as a kid. I still sometimes just open a can and eat it all up, at room temperature, with the sharp lid still attached. Thrill seeker, am I! In my quest to always find a new way to prepare chicken I came up with this lovely, rich dish that incorporates my treat in a can.

Creamy Spinach Chicken

8 – 10 bone-in chicken thighs, skin attached
1 Tbsp butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 small can chopped spinach, drained
½ small white onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, diced
¾ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

On medium high heat sear chicken thighs on both sides, making sure the skin gets crispy, about 10 minutes. While the chicken cooks melt butter over medium heat in a sauce pan. Add onion and garlic and cook until translucent. Add spinach and stir until heated through. Add cream and turn down heat, but bring sauce to a simmer and let cook for about five minutes. Add cheese and stir until melted and combined. When chicken is done cooking remove from pan and discard juices. Return chicken to pan and pour sauce over chicken. Simmer covered over low heat until chicken is cooked through, about five more minutes. Serve immediately and make sure you drizzle sauce over every piece.

March 21, 2012

Fondue Feast

Posted by ladybug under avocado, bread, chicken, chocolate, dip, fondue, fruit, Mom's Kitchen, sauces, vegetables, wheat free
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Is it French or Swiss in origin? I don’t know. The evolution in America of fondue is such a different animal compared to the simple cheese fondue I found to be served in Europe. Way back in the ’80s my family would join forces with other families and have fondue parties. At the time it was a throwback to the 1960s, when my parents stocked up on fondue sets. Regardless of when it peaked in popularity or where it first happened, it is still a fun time with abundant and delicious food.

I learned a number of things from those fondue parties when I was growing up. The first was you must commit to any dip you take with your loaded fondue forks, for double dipping in a pot of cheese or chocolate is frowned on in the fondue world. If you do such a thing there may be nothing said, but the vibes of the fondue tribe may change toward you. Those fondue forks can be lethal when stabbed into a hand guilty of double dipping! The second thing I learned was there is never enough room on the little divided plates for all the sauces. With divided fondue plates you need to commit to, like, four of the ten or so available sauces. Another option is to do a lot of dollop dropping on individual pieces you cook. The third thing was that it took a while to get full from fondue, and since the process took a while to cook and eat and reload and cook and eat…there was plenty of time to talk and sip wine and laugh and, especially, try and sneak other people’s forks when they are not looking so you get to double up on your pile of cooked bites. The trick to sneaking forks is to not have any of your own on your plate. Have your own forks cooking away before stealthily stealing your neighbor’s fork while they are gesturing dramatically during the telling of a story. Don’t forget to reload their fork with the same stuff. A bonus is their quizzical look when they check their fork and wonder why the chicken is still raw after their story about Uncle Festus at the family reunion.

Although it may take a while to fill up on fondue that full stomach will sneak up on you. Before the chocolate fondue is served you wonder if you have any room left in your belly. But it is just fruit, right? There is always room for fruit! Maybe not fruit covered with chocolate, but it is very much worth trying. And it will fit!

For our fondue feast we did a sample of four different fondues – cheese, oil, broth and chocolate. In the future I will probably limit myself to one fondue for a meal, surrounding it with non-fondue dishes. This particular meal was a chaotic mess of food and fun, and a great way to sample the different fondue types. Everyone had a blast.

The following recipes account for feeding seven people, since our fondue party included as many guests. After digging through the closets mom found four – count ‘em – four fondue pots. We chose not to use the small one from France meant for chocolate fondue, but only because the sheer number of people, all that dipping would have overwhelmed the little thing. The meal called for a lot of preparation, but it can be spaced out in small chunks, mostly as early as the day before, and makes for quick set up when it is actually time to eat. I pulled everything out of the refrigerator (yes, even the meats) about 45 minutes to an hour before serving so things were cool but not chilly.

Everyone should scour their parents’ pantry, estate sales and thrift stores for fondue sets and be ready to pull them out for some fun eats. If you are short of cash the fondue feast can be turned into a pot luck where everyone brings a little bit but eats a lot. Have fun with it and be sure to make a mess!

I served the cheese fondue when people were first arriving and standing around in the kitchen, then served the oil and broth fondues at the table with all the sauces. In addition to the sauces I made, shown in the recipes below, I provided tartar sauce, BBQ sauce and creamy horseradish, all served simply in their pre-made states in bottles from the grocery. I did not even start preparing and melting the chocolate fondue until the table was cleared of the oil and broth. It was quick to do and a fun dessert. I remembered a lot of the recipes from when I was younger, but found a lot of helpful reminders here.

FONDUES

Cheese Fondue

2 garlic cloves, cut in half

1 cup dry white wine
8 ounces Gruyere cheese, shredded
8 ounces Havarti cheese, shredded
2 ounces Dubliner cheese, shredded
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp Kirsch or brandy
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp paprika
Black Pepper (optional)

Handful of Cubed bread per person
Vegetables also used with Broth Fondue

The measurements for wine and cheese should be enough, but you may want to have a little more on hand to adjust the consistency if needed. Add more cheese if it’s too liquid, add more wine if it’s too thick. I have found that if you mix the cheese fondue on the stove top or electric fondue pot about an hour before serving, then turn it off, but then start to reheat about ½ hour before serving it makes for quick set up when guests first arrive. To begin preparation, rub the garlic inside the fondue pot then discard. Pour the white wine and lemon juice into the pot and turn on the burner. Let the wine and lemon juice warm up without boiling. Reduce heat and add the shredded cheese. With a wooden spoon, mix well and stir regularly. Dilute the cornstarch in the Kirsch or brandy, and add remaining ingredients to the pot. Add pepper to taste. Adjust consistency with additional wine or cheese. Dip bite size pieces of bread or vegetables. Let the freshly dipped pieces cool off for a few seconds before enjoying. You may have to twirl the cheesy bits on your fondue fork until it cools and stops drizzling long strings of cheese before you eat them. Also, extra liquid may be needed after the fondue is half gone because it thickens as time passes.

Hot Oil Fondue

2 – 4 cups peanut or canola oil
4 ounces beef per person, cut in bite-sized cubes
2 – 4 ounces chicken breast per person, cut into thin strips
2 ounces per person medium size shrimp (cooked or uncooked), tails intact

Heat oil to 325 – 350F, either in the fondue pot if electric, which is best for oil, or on the stove top for flame pots. If using a flame pot carefully transfer the hot oil to the fondue pot. Do not fill the pot more than 2/3 full, to reduce splashing over the rim of the pot while cooking. Pierce the raw meat or seafood with fondue forks and submerge in hot oil for about a minute. Remove and let cool briefly before dipping.

Broth Fondue

4 – 6 cups chicken stock
2 Tbsp dry white wine
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated
3 Tbsp Worcestershire or soy sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

2 – 4 mushrooms per person, whole or halved, depending on size
4 – 6 broccoli crowns per person, blanched
2 – 4 cauliflower crowns per person, blanched
4 – 6 snow peas per person, blanched
2 – 3 mini carrots per person, blanched

Combine all ingredients (salt and pepper optional) into electric fondue pot or on a stove top pot if using flame pot. Bring liquid to a simmer (liquid is moving and steam coming off surface) and begin dipping. For flame pots bring liquid to a boil on the stove then carefully transfer to the flame fondue pot. Dip vegetables into broth until cooked to your liking, warm but still crisp, or soft and mushy. If you really want the vegetables cooked quickly, I recommend blanching all the vegetables (drop them for 2 – 5 minutes in boiling water, then stop the cooking process by dropping them in cold water, then drain) before cooking them in the broth. The blanching can be done in advance and then refrigerated until serving time.

Chocolate Fondue

½ pound semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup Light Cream
1/8 cup brown Sugar
2 Tbsp Butter
2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Combine all ingredients in pot on stove top or in a microwave-proof glass bowl. Melt on low heat until liquid and well combined. If using the microwave heat for 30 seconds and stir until mostly melted, then stir until all lumps are gone. Whether prepared on the stove top or in the microwave, transfer to fondue pot for serving and dip dip dip (but don’t double dip!).

SAUCES

Lemon Teriyaki Sauce

1/2 cup Soy Sauce
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
1/4 cup Sugar
2 tbs Lemon Juice

Add all ingredients to a pot on the stove top. Heat until ingredients come to a boil. Let cool.

Hollandaise Sauce

4 oz Butter
2 Egg Yolks
1 tbs Lemon Juice
1 tbs Water
1/4 tsp salt

Melt butter and let cool briefly. While butter is cooling mix the rest of ingredients in a blender but do not blend them yet. When butter has cooled a bit spoon out the foamy, bubbly top from butter, leaving the clear, yellow clarified portion. Begin blending the mixed ingredients and gradually and steadily add the butter. Let blend for about a minute. Leave at room temperature until served.

Spicy Oriental Sauce

2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 ½ Tbsp lemon juice
1 4.5 ounce can mild green chiles
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tsp Sesame Oil

Combine all ingredients in tall bowl. With hand blender combine ingredients to a uniform, slightly thick texture. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Garlic Lemon Dip

1 ½ cups mayonnaise
1 ½ Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp garlic, crushed
½ tsp hot sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients until well blended. Keep refrigerated until served.

Curry Sauce

1 cup plain yogurt
2 tsp ground curry
1 ½ tsp lime juice
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients until well combined. Refrigerate until served.

Dill Dip

1 ½ cup low fat sour cream
½ shallot, finely chopped
2 Tbsp dill, finely chopped
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients well. Refrigerate until served.

Guacamole Dip

1 rip avocado, mashed
1 Tbsp lemon juice
½ cup plain low fat yogurt
½ cup low fat sour cream
¼ cup finely chopped pine nuts, walnuts or pecans
1 leek, white and light green part finely chopped
½ tsp hot sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix the avocado flesh with the lemon juice. Mix avocado mixture with the rest of the ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste. If prepared ahead of time of serving, keep refrigerated.

Any Kitchen Will Do