Cauliflower and spinach with cheese sauce

Several options to cook tonight, decided on califlower and spinach with a sauce. 

Most likely will be baking bread later on.

So I started with onion garlic and rosemary, sautéed . Aromatic….

 

Make a roux, (add flour).  While it cooks set the oven to 350 degrees…



Add milk to make a sauce and cook till sauce thickens. I thinned it with a bit of water.



Steam up some cauliflower  and spinach



Season the sauce , salt,  pepper , Add  cheese  and  spices as preferred . I used a small amount of mozzarella .

Layer about half of the spinach and cauliflower in a baking dish to fit.



Add  1/2 of the sauce  ,then the remainder  of veggies and the sauce.

Top with crushed crackers, ( or breadcrumbs , bread cubes)



Bake  at 350  till done , ya know bubbly, browned top.





Tasty , good balance of seasonings.  

Shopping

One disadvantage of shopping a the supercenter vs. the warehouse club is that the carriages are small and if you use the self serve check out there may not be enough room to hold all your purchases, especially if you purchase large bulky items (food that is ) like a 20 lb bag of rice and 25 lbs of flour also a large bag on sugar. No problem , when the cart is somewhat full , a trip to the car (or truck) to unload groceries and then return to the store to complete the purchase. In this weather I don’t mind leaving groceries on the truck while I go back in to purchase other items.

Stock up time….

http://www.giorgiofresh.com/mushroom-recipes.html

http://www.usaveal.com/

http://www.mountainstatesrosen.com/information-center/recipes/

http://www.greengiantfresh.com/recipes-category/cauliflower

http://avapork.com/index.html

http://www.geofrut.cl/ciruelas_tabla.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spanish Rice Casserole

Spanish rice casserole
Rice, two cups

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Water
Tomato paste about 1/2 can
Several spoonfuls salsa
Chopped onion
Chopped garlic
3/4 habanero pepper (more or less depending on heat level preferred.)
1 red bell pepper
Total above  ingredients (less rice) should be about 4 cups.

Place in a casserole dish, cover with foil and bake at about 320 for 30-40 minutes, till liquid is absorbed.

remove and top with cheese if desired, return to the oven and broil till cheese is melted.

Favorite yellow cake

From the Good Housekeeping Cookbook

An exercise in baking a cake. A simple recipe for a yellow cake other than using a box mix. Recently worked on oven, checking temperature settings.

Oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit

2 and 1/4 cups cake flour (I used all purpose flour)
1 and 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 and 1/2 teaspoons double acting baking powder
3/4 cup of shortening

3/4 cup milk
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

I split the wet and dry ingredients……

The original recipe has you put all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix.

 

Using a fluted pan here instead of two layer or cupcakes.

greased and floured

 

Batter mixed for 5 minutes… Do you taste your batter ?    I do .

 

Into the pan..

Into the oven… About 35 minutes later….

cooling off….

It did stick a bit, but a decent cake for a short amount of work.

The 3 eggs give this cake a medium body, not like the killer pound cake recipe Diane bakes.

Plain for the lunchbox or served with fresh, frozen or canned fruit this cake makes a good base for a dessert creation.

Habanero pepper flakes

Dried some habernaro peppers in a low oven about 150 degrees over several hours to preserve them .

HOT STUFF

Beef bourguigion

A scaled down version of this beef dish from Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook.

In a large pan brown two slices of salt park to render fat.

Remove and set aside.
Peel small white onions about a dozen or so.

Add them to the pan and brown in the pork fat.

Remove the onions and set aside.

Prepare the meat, here I am using about 1 lb of beef from a sirloin cut.

Coat the meat with flour (and salt and pepper).

Brown the beef in the pork fat.

About toward the end of batch browning I had to supplement the oil with a shot of vegetable oil.
Set the browned beef aside.

More onion !
Now add to the pan chopped onion and carrot.
Cook about five minutes according to the recipe.

Return beef to the pan, pour over 1/4 cup brandy, (I used whiskey) about a shot’s worth and ignite. Traditional French style flambé , take all precautions about having an open flame on the stovetop, tie back your hair if necessary.

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Add the reserved bacon, a coupleof cloves of garlic, some salt, thyme, (thyme and oregano ), pepper, bay leaves, and wine. here instead of the traditional Burgandy I am using my own blend of meads, a melomel and a payment. Very fruity taste.

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Now cover and bake or simmer several hours I doubt I will let it simmer more than an hour. A taste at this point and the previous time spent was well worth it!

There’s more to do after this……

After the stew has simmered add mushrooms and reserved onions.

It wasn’t necessary to add any thickener (butter and flour) to the stew.

Didn’t get any photos of the finished dish but it was an excellent stew and served it over rice.

A modified Mac and cheese

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RECIPE SYNOPSIS

Ok  ! prepare a roux as you usually would for a mac and cheese,  crumble some sausage and cook first. Add the flour and milk etc. Add some tomato paste to give it a tomato flavour. Add seasonings to your liking.

In an overly large casserole dish,( this is so it is not a deep dish bubbly saucy casserole but one that the pasta is almost a single layer and is lightly coated with the sauce), spread some greens then the pasta. (Cooked to liking)

Pour the sauce over over the pasta, if you prefer, spent grain bread cubes on top. Heat through in an oven, broil and brown if preferred.

Of course you can add cheese anywhere along the way….

other useful additions might included onions, garlic or any other veggie, a bit of heat ?

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The sausage roux…….  mmmmmmmm……..

  Assembly of the sauce….. cook and complete the sauce……. line the bottom of the pan with greens………. I threw in some fennel……. Add the pasta, could be only half cooked if you like al dente …….   Layer on the sauce, it’s not imperative to cover all the pasta , let the richness of the sauce do the work……I often include some bread crumbs, or cubes on top. These from spent grain bread… Bake, I guess at about 350 degrees to heat everything up, the sauce will stick to the pasta, if you like the crunch, broil…. As such……       Close up of the finished dish…… Sort of like a pasta salad, wouldn’t you say….

Plated………mmmmmmmmmm