Category Archives: Recipe

by

Recipe: Weeknight Taco Pie

TacoPieIs it a crime to tweak a recipe until it’s simple, easy, and an instant family favorite?  I didn’t think so.  This recipe certainly hits all the high notes of a great weeknight dinner (quick, uncomplicated, and easy to throw together) with the added benefit of a dinner I can tailor-make for whomever I’m feeding.  When the entire meal disappeared in one sitting, I was SOLD!

I started with a basic recipe that I stumbled upon on Facebook – I think it’s originally a Pillsbury recipe for a Taco Bake.  I used one roll of Pillsbury Crescent dough and pressed the dough together around a pie plate.  I then browned one package of ground turkey until thoroughly cooked.  I then heavily sprinkled the browned meat with taco seasoning and red wine.  I cooked the meat until the taco seasoning and wine were both well incorporated.  For this recipe, I used a red wine from my fridge – my favorite to use in this sort of situation would normally be a big heavy dry red, but I opted to use a Pinot Noir that I picked up in March at the Hilton Head Wine and Food Festival.

Once the taco meat was ready, I added 1 cup of frozen fresh corn and 1 cup of Gunther’s Gourmet Spicy Black Bean Dip, which I had picked up at James River Cellars Winery in Richmond VA.  I put the meat mixture in the crescent-dough-covered pie plate and topped the meal with a generous portion of shredded Mexican cheese.  At this point, I put dinner into the oven at 375 degrees for 15-18 minutes. Once dinner was cooked through and the crescent dough was nicely browned, I served the meal on plates with shredded romaine lettuce.

What a simple, yet incredibly tasty, dinner.  I’ll be able to alter this recipe as I make this dinner again and again.  I can switch out salsas for a different taste.  I can leave the salsa out altogether.  I can add onion and green pepper into the meat mixture.  I can use a more decadent cheese.  There are tons of ways to make this recipe more unique and individualized… and I hope you’ll consider trying every one of them!

Enjoy!

by

Recipe: Shrimp with Lemon/Chardonel Sauce

Wow…. Even *I* was blown away by how yummy tonight’s dinner turned out.  Shrimp with Lemon_Chardonel SauceThis dinner was an incredibly simple and amazingly flavorful meal… worthy of a blog post and definitely worth writing down so that others can make something like this for dinner sometime soon!

I started with a thawed pound of jumbo shrimp that I had already peeled.  Our local grocery store advertises deals on bags of frozen shrimp every week, a “buy one and get one free” sort of deal that I try and take advantage of every chance I get.  Shrimp is a big favorite of 3/4 of my family (and the older one, who isn’t a fan, is now in grad school and not being fed here) so I really like to have shrimp on hand for quick go-to meals.

I popped 2T of butter and two turns of the pan of olive oil into a large skillet and let it heat until the butter was browned and smelled slightly nutty.  I dropped the shrimp into the pan and gave the pan time to sear each side of the shrimp until both sides were toasty.  Since I knew this was going to be a simple dinner, I grabbed a bag of green beans and put them into the microwave for 5 minutes to cook.

Once both sides of the shrimp were browned and nicely seared, I added the juice and zest of 1 lemon to the sauce and did two turns of the pan with James River Cellars’ Chardonel white wine.  Honestly, I could have used a Chardonnay or another white wine that I liked, but I had a bottle of Chardonel open in the fridge and it was just calling to me for this dinner.  For this recipe, feel free to use/try your own favorite white wine for the sauce.  Something that is light with some tropical fruit notes should fit the bill nicely.  Just always make sure to cook with a wine that you’d want to drink.

I allowed the shrimp to simmer in the lemon/wine sauce while I pulled the green beans out of the microwave and popped in a bag of Uncle Ben’s Brown Basmati Rice for the 90 seconds, as directed.  Once the sauce had thickened and the rice was done, I plated the meal and it was done… the meal was finished and dinner was complete.  This one was totally yummy and worthy of sharing with you all.

Note:  The next time I make this dinner, I’ll probably make pasta, instead of rice, to go along with the shrimp… that will allow me to use a bit of pasta water to stretch the sauce a bit.  That’s the only real change I’d make to this dinner… otherwise, it’s just fabulous!

I hope you’ll consider trying this recipe.  It’s easy… it’s incredibly flavorful… and it made everyone smile.  That, in my book, makes this recipe a huge winner!

by

Recipe: Leftover Ham Casserole

534062_10151607459672953_1949038580_nI totally forgot to tell you about a simple way I found to use up some of that leftover ham I had from Easter – I turned it into a Leftover Ham Casserole!

I chopped up three redskin potatoes into cubes and simmered them in some water until they were almost cooked, but not falling apart yet.  I tossed them in a pie plate with some frozen corn kernels, and some cubes of leftover ham.

I then made a simple cheese sauce using 1T butter, 1T flour, some James River Cellars Reserve Chardonnay (since that’s what I had in the fridge… I was using the white wine that we served for our Easter dinner, so use whatever wine you like best) and let the sauce cook and bubble for a bit to cook out the flour taste.  I decided to add a handful of asiago cheese and a touch of shredded cheddar to make the cheese sauce.  Once incorporated and smooth, I poured this over the base of the casserole and topped it with more shredded cheddar.

The photo on the right shows how the cheese melted and made dinner look yummy when it came out of the oven.  I baked the casserole at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes until it was cooked through.  This was a huge hit with everyone in our house!

by

Recipe: Divine Ham

How to use a dessert wine for something other than dessert… that was my latest challenge.  Since Easter was right around the corner when I began pondering this idea, using James River Cellars’ Divino (made with 100% ice-pressed Chardonnel) dessert wine with my Easter Ham seemed to fit the bill.

I began with a full bottle of Divino and a saute’ pan.  I poured the entire bottle into the saute’ pan and simmered it until it had reduced by half, stirring frequently.  Once the Divino was thickened, I added a small pat of butter and a single turn of my salt mill and stirred it all together.  I then allowed it to cool and poured it into a container to save until Easter Sunday.

DivineHam

Since I had purchased a fully cooked, spiral sliced ham at my local grocery store, I pulled it out of its wrappings and set the oven to a low temperature, about 250 degrees.  Using the Divino glaze I had made, I basted the ham occasionally throughout the cooking time.  You can see by the photo on the lower left that the ham already had some spices mixed in with the liquid in which it had been packaged, so that simply added another layer of flavor to this meat.

I did pop the temperature up to 350 degrees to cook the remaining items of our dinner, so after warming for an hour at the lower temperature, this ham was then “toasted” a bit at the higher temperature before pulling it out for serving.

In the end, it looked exactly as it does in the lower right photo when I took it out of the oven for serving… falling off the bone, sweetened and spiced just perfectly.  The edges were crispy and tinged with a citrus-y sweet tang from the Divino.

We loved it and will probably end up using this for the coming years, since no one in my house wants to “mess with perfection”.  I hope you’ll consider trying dessert wines in different and unconventional ways as you find new wines you enjoy.  There are NO Wine Police, so no one says you have to simply drink your wine… right?

Enjoy!

by

Recipe: Fridge Soup

It sounds like a hokey name for a recipe, but honestly it’s the easiest way to describe this soup. This recipe started when I wasn’t feeling so peppy this morning and wanted to make something that would be healthy, yet comforting… kind of like chicken-soup-on-steriods?

Here’s how it looked just before the arborio rice got nice and plump, thickening the soup…FridgeSoup yum!

I started with half a cooked chicken, some water, bouillon, and James River Rad Red Wine. I had pulled the chicken out of the freezer, so I let the beginnings of the broth cook and warm up the carcass/meat of the chicken. Once the chicken started to fall off the bone, I plucked it out of the broth and shredded it while I pulled the rest of the soup ingredients out of the fridge (hence the name of this soup). I added carrots, celery, spinach, and garlic, chopping everything into similar sizes so they cooked evenly. I also added a little salt and pepper to taste and then re-added chicken to the soup.

At this point, I had to decide if I wanted use pasta or rice… and I chose 1/4cup arborio rice. It was a simple choice but I could have easily chosen orzo pasta instead.

This was a great “feel better” kind of soup. Piping hot, it reminded me of chicken noodle soup, but gave me some different flavors from the red wine and the spinach that were pretty darn tasty. Maybe you can try it the next time you need a pick-me-up kind of soup?

For me, snow and soup go hand-in-hand… and apparently, that’s what we’re getting, weather-wise, to start Spring this year. Hope you’ll try something like this too!

by

Recipe: Simple Shepherd’s Pie

Maybe I’m just strange, but I really love the challenge of making a totally new meal out of leftovers from a previous meal.  Such was the case with how this dinner came about.

I made shredded beef sandwiches for dinner on Sunday night and, since I used a large London Broil, had lots of cooked beef left over.  I was coming up with lots of different ways to use this meat but the decision was made for me when I got a huge response from my guys when I suggested making a Shepherd’s Pie.  Unfortunately, for me, my husband’s idea of a Shepherd’s pie was “meat, peas, gravy, potatoes”, so that became my recipe.

The first thing I did was start making the mashed potatoes by dicing a few potatoes and putting them into a pot of water to boil.  While they cooked, I layered the beef in a casserole dish and topped it with frozen peas.  Now all I needed to do was make a gravy so dinner wouldn’t just be dry beef and cooked peas.

Making a gravy is so much easier if you start with the cooking liquid of the meat you’re using – it adds flavor without having to rely on bouillon packets.  Sadly, I totally forgot to reserve the liquid after dinner on Sunday, so I had to start from scratch.  Not my favorite way to do things, but not a huge deal.  I have learned to love making gravy, so it’s always a fun creative way to add my own little touch to dinner.  I always start with a roux…. equal parts butter (fat) and flour, simmered long enough to cook off the raw flour taste.  Liquid is the next ingredient.  I typically stick with the idea of using red wine for beef dishes and white wine for chicken or fish dishes, but this is definitely something I don’t mind mixing up.  For this gravy, I used a packet of beef bouillon, water, and James River Meritage red wine (‘cuz that’s what was in my fridge… I could have just as easily found James River Merlot or a random Pinot Noir from a recent trip to the Hilton Head Wine and Food Festival).   I seasoned the gravy with salt and pepper, and let it simmer a bit until it was thick enough.  I then poured the gravy over the beef/peas already layered in the casserole dish and got to work on making mashed potatoes.ShepherdsPie

Please know… if you prefer using instant mashed potatoes, this meal will be just as tasty.  I’m not really a purist that has to make homemade mashed potatoes anytime I need them… I just don’t have any instant potato flakes in my pantry.  Who knows… I might have used them instead.  Honestly, I tend to make mashed potatoes often enough that I almost always have potatoes available in my pantry, so it’s just easier to make them rather than search for a packet of the instant stuff.

For my homemade mashed potatoes, I use an old potato masher that my mom gave me instead of using my electric mixer – I like the chunky feel of the finished product better than the more whipped consistency I get when I put everything into my KitchenAid mixer.  I use varying amounts of margarine, Laughing Cow light original cheese, a touch of horseradish, salt, pepper, and maybe some milk.  It really depends on my mood when I’m cooking, so using The Force really comes into play on this recipe.   Once the mashed potatoes are finished, I spooned them on top of the casserole, sprinkled a bit of paprika for color, and then popped the casserole into the oven.  After 30-45 minutes in a 350 degree oven, this dinner is ready for the troops to dig in.

Feel free to experiment with this recipe to make your own family happy – if they like cooked carrots, feel free to add them.  Want a whole mess of veggies?  Go ahead!  Want to swap out the beef for chicken or a vegetarian option you like?  Try it!  There’s no “dinner police” who will come by and take your food from you, so enjoy coming up with your own options on this recipe.  I just like the tastes of beef, peas, and mashed potatoes all baked into a sublime concoction that makes my family happy.

Ultimately, that’s the goal… make something that will feed your family and keep a smile on their faces.  My heart is full every time my guys declare a “winner”… may you have the same experience with your dinners!

by

Recipe: Weeknight Chicken and Potatoes

I really love meals that don’t take a huge amount of effort on my part.  The oven does most of the work and I just transfer things from one place to another until dinner just “comes together”.  Such was the case with this meal.

I started with a few potatoes.  Much depends on how many mouths I’m feeding at any given meal, but I usually try to stick with the “one-and-a-half potato per person” rule if I’m just roasting these bad boys.  I diced them into chunks and then diced a half an onion to add some flavor.  Once these were done, I tossed both in a bowl with some balsamic salad dressing and laid them out on a baking sheet to roast for an hour or so in a 375 degree oven.

Since the potatoes were going to take awhile, I started the chicken a little after I had the potatoes in the oven.  I had purchased “thin cut chicken breasts” from the store, with the intention of using them for my chicken prosciutto rolls, but totally forgot to pick up the Boursin cheese.  Instead, I had 6 lovely thin chicken breasts that I decided to simply saute on the stove top.  I seasoned them, using more of the same balsamic salad dressing that I’d put on the potatoes, and then added more salt and pepper for good measure.  Using a heavy skillet, I sauteed the breasts in a little olive oil and butter until they were nicely browned and cooked through.  Since there were six breasts in the package, I did them in two shifts so they didn’t crowd the pan and cooked more evenly.  Once the outsides were nicely caramelized and toasty, I removed them to a platter and popped some foil on top to keep them warm. Note: I also put the platter into the oven for about 5-7 minutes before dinner was ready to reheat just a touch.

With all the yummy bits that were left in the pan, I thought a nice gravy was in order to make dinner to come together.  I put a pat of butter and a spoonful of flour into the skillet and let the fat/flour combine and sizzle a bit to cook off the raw floWeeknight ChickenNpotatoesur taste.  I then added a healthy helping of James River Meritage Red Wine (I chose the Meritage simply because that’s what I had in the fridge… I could have just as easily switched out the red wine for James River Reserve Chardonnay.  Use what you have available or what you like best) and whisked the gravy together to incorporate the flavors and pick up all the bits that had been left in the pan from the sauteed chicken.  After tasting the gravy, I adjusted the seasonings with some salt, pepper, and dry Italian seasonings until I was satisfied.

Oh, and I had thrown some broccoli florets on top of the potatoes (after the potatoes were almost finished) so we’d have a green vegetable for dinner… this was purely for my benefit, since none of my guys have any interest in eating green vegetables unless they’re coerced.

For serving, I put a single layer of the roasted potatoes/onions on the plate and topped them with a chicken breast and some pan gravy.   Obviously, this picture is of the plate I made up for my son, since there are two breasts on the plate and not a speck of green to be seen.   It was a really tasty dinner, even if I was the only one to eat the green stuff.  Maybe you’ll have better luck with your family if you top their broccoli with a little gravy?

 

 

by

Recipe: Easy Beef Stew

I love making a dinner that cooks long on its own…. something that takes short bursts of attention and ends up being incredibly tasty. This recipe could probably have been done in the crockpot, but I chose to start it in my large Calphalon skillet and just cooked it that way for the afternoon.

I started with two packages of “sale beef” – one was a packet of beef strips for stir-fry and the other was a packet of stew beef. Since I pulled both out of the freezer in the morning, I chose to slice the beef while things were partially frozen so the cutting would go faster. Once the beef was sliced, I sliced a vidalia onion and left both items on my cutting board for a moment.

Using my large Calphalon skillet, I heated one T of butter and one T of olive oil. When this was sizzling, I popped both the beef and onions in the skillet to brown. The kitchen started to smell wonderful, so I popped in three or four garlic cloves and then put the skillet into the oven at 350 degrees for an hour or so.

When I went back to the skillet a little later, the meat and onions had started to carmelize, so I added some James River Cellars Rad Red (you can just as easily use a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Cabernet Franc, or a Meritage for this dinner), as well as some salt and pepper, and popped it back in the oven. At the next look, dinner was looking a little soup-y, so I shook a spoonful of flour over top and stirred it into the sauce. Note: make sure to taste your food along the way – it’s much easier to adjust the flavors throughout the cooking process than to dump in a spoonful of garlic salt at the end.

When dinner was almost complete, I tossed in some frozen peas, stirred them into the sauce, and returned the skillet to the oven until the peas were cooked and dinner tasted “ready”. I warmed up some rolls, but you could also use pre-made rolls or breadsticks, depending on your family’s preference.

My favorite part of this dinner was the fact that I could be doing other things throughout the afternoon and dinner still turned out fabulously. The beef had a rich, deep flavor and the sauce that I had at the end was perfect when served over a baked potato (as pictured) or over pasta (as my husband preferred). Either way, dinner was a success and this recipe became an instant favorite. I hope you’ll try making this for your own family and see if it doesn’t become a favorite for you as well. Enjoy!

20130228-134859.jpg

by

NO-WINE Recipe: Golden Truffles

This is a recipe that I altered from something posted in Pinterest… it was originally posted with chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreos) and cream cheese, but since my love much prefers Golden Oreos, this was my altered version.  This is also an incredibly simple recipe – I wanted to post it before Valentine’s Day, but since M reads everything I write (sweet of him, huh?), I needed to hold off until after the holiday.  If you want to do this for your special someone, bookmark this link and make it next year.  I’m not going anywhere… maybe by then I’ll find a way to make truffles with wine?

Ok… on to the recipe:GoldenTruffles

Start with one package of Golden Oreos and one package of cream cheese.  Put both into a food processor and blend thoroughly until totally incorporated.  Since the mixture was pretty soft, I popped the newly formed truffles  into a bowl and let them rest for 30 minutes or so in the fridge.  Once the dough was nicely chilled, I scooped out VERY small mounds of this delicious mixture, rolled then into balls and rolled them in rainbow sprinkles.  I pressed the sprinkles into the dough so they wouldn’t drop off easily and then popped the entire batch into the freezer.  They looked lovely on the red plate I originally used, but the truffles seem to get soft and mushy pretty quickly, so the freezer was the best option for preserving.

I know this is a place for wine recipes, but I just couldn’t resist sharing this recipe – easy, sweet, tasty, and pretty.  What a great combination for Valentines… or anytime you want to show someone how much you care.  Easter is right around the corner – how cute would these look when rolled in Easter-colored sprinkles?

The only limit is your imagination – have fun with this recipe and I’m sure you’ll have people begging for more!

by

Recipe: Breakfast Hash with Wine

People have been joking with me for years about pairing wine and breakfast… so that’s been my latest challenge.  To create a tasty breakfast food that somehow incorporates wine?  I couldn’t imagine it… until this morning.

I started with a pre-baked potato.  I diced the potato and began to saute it in a mixture of olive oil and margarine.  As it browned, I diced about 1/3 of a granny smith apple and added that to the pan.  In the meantime, I boiled water with a bit of white vinegar to cook a quick poached egg.   The picture on the left is of the potato/apple mixture as it cooked and browned.

To add a kick of flavor to this simple dish, I added 1/4 cup of James River Cellars Petit Verdot as well as a spoonful of House Sauce (from Take It Away in Charlottesville.  Note: this sauce can also be found at The Cheese Shop in Williamsburg).  The wine added a lovely tinge of pink to the potato and apple pieces and the House sauce brought its own smokey mayonnaise touch.  Using both in combination created a wonderful flavor that otherwise might have relegated this dish to the “ho-hum” list.

As I plated my breakfast, I sprinkled the potato/apple mixture with 1T of Asiago cheese crumbles.  I gently laid the poached egg on top and added a bit of cracked pepper.  It was amazing.Breakfast Hash

Nothing is “out of bounds” when it comes to cooking… try it and see how you like adding wine as a flavoring agent.  You might be inspired and totally surprised with a new favorite.   I certainly did!