On Sunday, I was looking for something "interesting" to do with my weekly turkey breast. While flipping through a myriad of cookbooks, and finding little satisfaction, I hit upon Veal Cordon Bleu. Inspiration hit: if there is Veal Cordon Bleu, and Chicken Cordon Bleu, why not Turkey Cordon Bleu? OK, my thought process may be a little twisted, but at least there's a thought process going on, or so I tell myself.
Before I go too far, this is the meat slicer my darling husband bought me (by which I mean he hung over my shoulder and made me order it from JC Penney.com, being the computer illiterate he so proudly is). I've used this for slicing boneless roasts for years. I think he got tired of doing my carving, since my weak hands don't handle large cutlery well, so he got me an easy replacement. I've been using it for cutting raw meat into slices for some of these new recipes, and it works like a charm. All this for about $100; how can you gripe?
Anyway, here's what I did and a lovely photo of the results:
TURKEY CORDON BLEU
1 Boneless Turkey Breast, sliced about 3/16" thick
ham, sliced paper thin
swiss cheese, sliced paper thin
scallions
garlic powder
2 to 3 eggs, lightly beaten with 1 tsp water
flour
2 to 3 tbsp olive oil
Pour olive oil in the bottom half of the broiler pan. Dip half the slices of turkey in the egg, then one side only in the flour. Place flour side down in the pan. Top with cheese, ham, scallions, garlic powder, and cheese. Dip the remaining half of the slices in the egg, then coat one side with flour and place flour side up on the turkey/ham/cheese combos. Broil 4 minutes, turn over, and broil another 4 minutes on the other side. Remove to a platter and keep warm while making the sauce:
1 cup cream
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup water whisked with 1/4 cup flour
scallions
mushrooms
pepper
dash salt
Heat the Broiler pan on the stove top, stirring to loosen the brown particles. Stir in the cream, then whisk in the water/flour combo. When it starts to thicken, add the wine, then scallions and mushrooms. Heat about a minute; grind in fresh pepper, and add salt if desired.
Note: Don't add any salt to the meat! All the ham and cheese contains enough salt to give it great flavor.
OK, so my smile is a little goofy, because I was laughing at our dog. Our youngest son's 8th birthday was yesterday, and at one point his brother slapped this goofy, floppy hat on the little guy (it has fabric birthday candles on the top of it; one of his older brothers got it for a sister for her birthday). Then Ryan put a birthday hat on poor Thor, complete with the elastic chin strap, and some ribbons on my head. Of course, big sister took the picture. I just thought the dog in a birthday hat was a hoot. I was pleased that I got a chance to wear my birthday dress, made from the sparkly fabric I took a picture of a couple of weeks ago (hey, it worked - I got the dress made on time). I don't think my second daughter will get this dress. It's comfortable, fancy and washable. How much more can you ask from a dress? Anyway, Happy 8th Birthday, Mark, and Paula, thanks for remembering.
This is a heavenly dessert. Easy to prepare, relatively low in calories, unusual, all of that, and you can put it in pretty glassware, too!
I found this recipe in Bon Appetit's Too Busy to Cook? cookbook, purchased in 1984 for the princely sum of $24.85 including shipping (my receipt is in the book, strangely enough). Today, that's not so much money. 23 years ago? A stiff price for a book.
This will definately be appearing on my Thanksgiving dessert buffet. I'll only make one batch, because likely not more than 3 people will want it, but I'm one of those 3. Have everything lined up next to the blender, because this goes really fast.
ORANGE MOUSSE
2/3 cups boiling water
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
Whirl on high speed for 30 seconds. Never turn off blender. Add:
1/2 cup sugar
Whirl 10 seconds. Add:
6 ounce can frozen orange juice concentrate, partially thawed
2 tbsp whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups ice
Whirl about 30 seconds, until the ice is crushed and evenly distributed. It will make so much racket that the rest of the family will accuse you of taking a sledgehammer to the kitchen wall.
Pour into 6 to 8 dessert dishes. My preference is cheap cut glass stemware. Looks great, and if the little guy breaks a glass, so what.
This recipe comes from Beth Hensperger's Bread Machine Cookbook, which contains 600 of her favorite recipes. Now, I don't know how anyone can have 600 favorite breads, but to each her own!
MILK BREAD
1-1/2 cups whole milk
2 tbsp unsalted butter
4 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
6 tsp yeast
Let this mix in the bread machine, or stir by hand/in the mixer for about 10 minutes, until well blended. Let rise for 10 minutes, split into 2 loaf pans, let rise until doubled in size, then bake at 375 for 25 minutes. The milk gives the bread a relatively darker crust, and great flavor. Wonderful for toast, too. This picture of the slices is more yellow than the bread came out; I think maybe my flash didn't go off.
When we were married, I told my husband that I was never cooking on weekends, except for holidays. Well, we spent the entire summer of 1993 living in a hotel in Peoria, and the kids got entirely too comfortable in restaurants; it was no longer a weekend treat. Therefore, at the end of the summer, my husband declared that we would never eat out again. Damn stubborn man - I doubt we've eaten out 10 times when we were not traveling since then. Curses! I have to cook on the weekends! But I don't have to make it fancy.
This weekend, I was wracking my brain for something interesting, but not too difficult. Fortunately, on Thursday I had prepared a lovely roast beef. Naturally, I cooked 4 pounds of meat, forgetting that with most of the kids in college we just don't eat that much! Since I had at least half left over, I knew that the "French Dip, Au Jus" that we had in some restaurant somewhere, a long time ago, would be just the ticket. I also wanted fries to go with it, so here it is:
FRENCH DIP
1/2 to 1 loaf French Bread per person (I made my own)
Thinly sliced roast beef
3 cups water
5 beef bouillon cubes
Boil the water in a dutch oven with the cubes. Place the slices of beef, a few at a time, in the water for 30 to 60 seconds, until heated through; remove to a serving plate. Fold slices of beef into the bread, and serve with custard dishes of the beef broth. (Some of my family members dip their bread. Personally, I can't stand wet bread).
OVEN FRIES
1 to 2 redskinned potatoes per person, depending on size of potato and person
1/4 cup olive oil
salt, pepper, oregano, garlic powder and paprika to taste.
Cut potatoes into wedges - about 12 wedges per potato. Place on a large cookie sheet. Drizzle olive oil over them, sprinkle with spices, stir around, add more spices if necessary so that all are evenly flavored, and spread out in an even layer. Put in the oven at 425 for about 30 minutes, turning once. At the end, move to the top rack, turn on the broiler, and brown on each side for 2 to 3 minutes. Declared my youngest: "These are the best french fries ever!"
These were the pumpkins my little guys carved. Mark's has a big nose because a deer took a bite out of it while it was on our back terrace, so the little guy inventively made that the nose. The look on his face tells you how hard he was struggling to carry his jack-o'lantern! We haven't been able to put them up on the front pillar yet because it's been raining for 2 days, so they are stored safely in the screened porch for protection against deer.
This is another Craig Claiborne recipe, of course slightly modified for my peculiar habits. My dearly beloved actually requested that this one reappear soon, so I guess it's even better than I thought. Here's how it goes:
VIENNESE CHICKEN
3 lbs. chicken breast, sliced into 1/4" thick slices
flour for dredging
6 eggs
1 tbsp. lemon juice
bread crumbs mixed with salt & pepper to taste
1 stick butter, melted in the broiler pan
3 scallions
1 lemon
parsley
2 cups chicken broth mixed with 1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup flour whisked with 1/2 cup cold water
Dredge the chicken breast in flour, then dip in egg beaten with lemon juice, then coat in bread crumb mixture. Put in the butter, flip to coat both sides with butter, then cook under the broiler for 4 to 6 minutes per side. Remove from pan, and add chicken broth, stirring to loosen the particles on the pan. Add the flour mixture and whisk until thickened. Add scallions and cook for a minute or 2. Garnish with parsley and lemon slices. Serve over a bed of rice or, as Mr. Claiborne suggests, with plain boiled potatoes. Great stuff, and pretty, too!
The boys carved their pumpkins, and I roasted the seeds for them. They were pretty tasty. I made them clean them up and dry them with a clean towel. To roast the seeds, melt 2 tbsp butter with 2 tbsp olive oil on a cookie sheet. Add a bit of salt, and paprika; stir around well to coat all of them, then spread them out. Bake at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring once or twice. Most of ours got eaten while hot; the rest were gone the next day.
Country white bread was excellent with beef, and in sandwiches. It's from Beth Hensperger's Bread Machine cookbook:
1-1/2 cups water
6 tsp yeast4 cups flour
2 tbsp. instant potato flakes
4 tbsp. nonfat dry milk
1-1/2 tbsp. oil
1-1/2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp salt
Let the bread machine mix the ingredients, move into 2 loaf pans, and let rise. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes, or until done.
I got my sparkly dress done for my birthday, today.
Random thoughts:
Having sold some property, we have set up our income producing assets such that our retirement is assured, or at least for the next 30 years. Beyond that, the interest will carry us. I doubt I'll live that long; if I do, I probably won't know where I am or why. But I'll make new friends every day...that's the way my family has gone. Drop dead between 60 and 70, or get some form of dementia and only live to be 80 anyway. Hope the kids appreciate the planning.
My dearly beloved said my sparkly dress is cute. What more can I ask from someone who's been looking at me for the better part of 3 decades?
At a used book sale a couple of years back, I found a 3" thick book called the Encyclopedia of Cookery, printed in 1949. It has all manner of strange and marvelous information in it, although not too many recipes. Last night, two of my sons, who are college roommates, called me to ask how to cook a whole chicken - with only salt and pepper for seasonings, and no onions. Anyway, during the course of the conversation, while these two had the phone on "speaker" laying on their kitchen counter while they tried to figure out how to get the giblets out of the bird, one of them asked me what a "red pomelo" was, because he had found one at the supermarket. So I looked it up in this book, then, in flipping through, found this cake recipe.
LIGHTNING CAKE
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup milk
3 tbsp melted butter
1/4 tsp lemon extract.
Cream the egg and sugar until thickened and light yellow. Add the dry ingredients, sifted together, and then the milk, butter and lemon extract. Beat until smooth; pour into a pan and bake approx. 22 to 25 minutes at 350.
Now, this cookbook referred to using filling between the layers, but, unless you double the recipe, you aren't getting layers. I used my springform pan, which was really too big, as you can see by the thickness of the cake; however, everyone loved it. This is what was left after dessert last night; none is left now. I used a lemon flavored whipped cream frosting, and the guys loved it. (I opted out of it; I want to lose those 5 to 10 pounds of holiday flab before they attack me. Then I can eat without remorse.)
Today was the annual pilgrimage to the pumpkin patch. The 3 kids were fooling around, and this picture was just too cute to pass up.
I expect that the boys will carve their pumpkins tomorrow. Fun, and messy, too. Last year, the dog tried to eat the pumpkin seeds. Not a pretty sight, but quite funny.
Last night, I made this Wheaten Bread to go with my chicken. It's a lighter version of wheat bread. Makes excellent PB&J sandwiches, and toast, too. Peach jam or something else that's just a bit tart is a great match!
WHEATEN BREAD
1-1/2 cups water
6 tsp yeast
3 cups white flour
1 cup wheat flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp salt
Mix in bread machine, and let rise. Remove from machine, put into 2 loaf pans, and let rise again until doubled in size (20 to 30 minutes). Bake at 375 for 23 to 26 minutes. Terrific when hot!
Our oldest daughter is a senior at the University of Wyoming in Laramie (and it's only her third year there). This year, she didn't want to live in the dorm; her best friend's brother and his best friend were renting a house and needed a third person. So they invited my daughter, who accepted. These two guys are, not surprisingly, hunters. They got an elk last weekend, and my daughter is upset that they've left the head on the front porch for a couple of days. In their defense, I pointed out to her that she hasn't had to buy any meat at all this year, and the meat she's had has doubtless been splendid. She did admit that it has been. She makes homemade bread for these guys all the time, thanks to the bread machine Mom got her from Amazon.com for $32. So, a couple of weeks back, she had made burger rolls and the guys made elk burgers. She brought out the rolls, lovingly adorned with lettuce and tomato, and the guys looked at them and said, "What is this? We don't eat that green shit." At least, with 4 big brothers, she was not caught unawares, and laughed.
On Sunday, I was looking for something "interesting" to do with my weekly turkey breast. While flipping through a myriad of cookbooks, and finding little satisfaction, I hit upon Veal Cordon Bleu. Inspiration hit: if there is Veal Cordon Bleu, and Chicken Cordon Bleu, why not Turkey Cordon Bleu? OK, my thought process may be a little twisted, but at least there's a thought process going on, or so I tell myself.
TURKEY CORDON BLEU
