Moms Best Beef Stroganoff

It's said that this Russian beef stew was created by chefs working for the noble Stroganov family. The story probably isn't true (though it would be pretty messed up if you invented a dish only for the rich people you're working for to have their name associated with it), as some version of the dish was already in existence at this point. While this dish has a bit of a dated reputation, this will sate your next craving for some cold-weather comfort food. My mother and grandmother were both amazing cooks, some of my fondest memories are of helping in the kitchen when I was little. As most of you know myself and my husband both grew up in family restaurants, Beef Stroganoff is one of many home cooked meals we would make.  I remember my Mom and Bubba (grandmother) making the roux, browning the beef, and there was always fresh dill,

Well sometimes you want the comfort food of your childhood but don't have time for the long process, fast forward to 2020 and here is my version of Moms best beef stroganoff I think Mom and Bubba would be proud of the results 

Enjoy!

Allison 

Allisonskitchen.blogspot.com

Ingredients

11/2 lbs cubed cut into thin strips round steak

Seasoned salt such as Everglades Seasoning. To taste

all purpose flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 medium sliced onion

1 clove of garlic minced

Fresh dill

8 oz sliced fresh mushrooms or you can leave them whole if small

1 (10 3/4 oz) can beef broth

1(10 oz) can cream of mushroom soup

3 Tablespoons of Sherry. Or more if no one is watching,  lol

1 cup sour cream

cooked egg noodles add butter and a little chopped dill.

Season the steak strips with Seasoned salt Seasoning, then dust with flour. In a large skillet, quickly brown them on both sides in the olive oil and butter. Remove the steak from the pan.

Add the onion slices and mushrooms to the pan drippings. Sauté for a few minutes, until the onion is tender,  add minced garlic cook for another minute,  if you need to add more butter go right ahead.  you don't want to burn the garlic. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon flour. Then stir.

Put the steak back into the pan with the onion and mushrooms. Add the cream of mushroom soup and beef broth. I like to mix both of these together in a bowl first so you don't have any glumps. (Is that a word?)Cook over low heat for about 30 minutes, covered. Add your Sherry,, stir,  Adjust seasoning to taste, adding salt and pepper, as needed.

Stir in the sour cream the last few minutes, right before you serve. Serve over cooked buttered noodles, sprinkle with fresh dill

ENJOY!

ALLISON 

PORK ROAST THE OLD-FASHION WAY (CAST IRON DUTCH OVEN) And into the Crock Pot

 I love to use my crock pot and my cast iron pots and when you combine the two Magic happens.

so here is my recipe for one of the best pork roast dinners you will ever have!

INGREDIENTS

• 4 -5

  lbs pork roast (butt, loin, etc.) I use Butt, or Shoulder
• 5

  garlic cloves, peeled
• 1

  small onion, thinly sliced
• 2

  cups water
• 1

  tablespoon Kitchen Bouquet if you don't have any on hand mix some beef bouillon into the 2 cups of water.
• 2

  teaspoons black pepper
• 1

  teaspoon salt
• 1

  tablespoon lard
• 2

  tablespoons cornstarch
• 1⁄2

  cup water

• Melt lard in cast iron dutch oven, or very heavy bottomed pot over medium high heat.
• Salt and pepper all sides of pork roast. be very generous this is a big chunk of meat!
• When lard just begins to give off smell of being hot, place roast in pot.
• DO NOT move it for a few minuets  or so, then rotate it to brown all sides.
• When all sides are nice and golden brown, transfer roast into your slow cooker and turn off the heat to your cast iron pan, but leave the pan on the burner
• Lay garlic cloves and onion slices into the cast iron pan  and stir to brown them a bit. Cast iron stays hot for a long time so no heat is needed for this step.
• Mix Kitchen Bouquet into the 2 cups of water (.or your beef bullion)
• Pour in the water mixture.
• Cover tightly and turn on your crock pot to Low
• Cook on Low for 8-10 hours So your going to want to start this EARLY in the morning.
• Half-way through cooking  time turn the roast over.
• Check the roast at 8 hours it should be fork tender if not let it go for 2 more hours on low or you can turn it up to high for the last hour or two.
• Remove roast from crock pot and cover to keep hot.
• Mix 2 Tablespoons cornstarch into 1/2 cup water.
• Using a whisk, stir the cornstarch mixture into the pot drippings, breaking up the garlic cloves as you mix.
• Bring to a boil, taste and season if needed with salt and/or pepper.
• NOTE: Pork roast made this way is ALWAYS tender.
• It makes wonderful hot pork sandwiches!
• The gravy is out of this world!
• Enjoy!
• Allison
• allisonskitchen.blogspot.com
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Copycat Carrabba's Olive Oil Dipping Sauce

Well I've been on a roll lately about creating my own Seasoning Blends, and who doesn't love Carrabba's olive oil Dipping sauce?   

We will just call this herb dip + bread + wine dinner and check this day off as done, yes? Yes.

Well maybe add a appetizer to that, but seriously I could make a meal on the Crusty bread dipped into a good olive oil dip, add a glass of Vino and dinner is done!

So give this a try and let me know what you think. 

2 cloves garlic, very very finely minced

1 tablespoon fresh oregano, very finely minced

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, very finely minced

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, very finely minced

½ tablespoon fresh basil, very finely minced

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

¼ cup olive oil for serving make sure it's a good quality olive oil, Carrabba's uses a Spanish olive oil which gives the dip a light lemony note.

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl except for the olive oil. 

Put about a Tablespoon of the mixture on a plate and pour the oil on top, Grab a crusty Italian bread a glass of wine and Mangia!

Enjoy!

Allison 

Allisonskitchen.blogspot.com

P.S. Yes you could use dried herbs but it wont be the same as Carrabba's 

Everything Bagel Seasoning Blend

Are you a Bagel fan? I am. Today I'm here to talk about what goes on the Bagel...

The seasoning blend of all times, Drum roll please...Everything Bagel Seasoning! 

I love making my own customized seasonings versus store bought blends. It saves me time, money, and I really appreciate knowing exactly what goes into my food! 

INGREDIENTS 

• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds white
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds black
• 1 tablespoon onion dried, minced
• 1 tablespoon garlic dried, minced
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 1 tablespoon sea salt coarse

That's it mix all together and store in a glass jar.

 Everything Bagel Seasoning will go on so many more things than Bagels .

So spread the love!

Where to Use this Seasoning Blend

In the most traditional sense, add it on top of cream cheese on your favorite bagels.

• Top your homemade Boursin cheese 
• Add it to baked potatoes
• Top your popcorn 
• Add a little crunch to hard boiled or scrambled eggs ,or deviled eggs 
• Add it to chicken
• Sprinkle on top of vegetables 
• Sprinkle it on your avocado toast!
• It also makes a perfect topper guacamole 
• Pizza crust
• Make your own everything Bagel seasoning crackers, store bought crackers, spray with a little butter spray, top with Everything Bagel seasoning and bake 350 degrees 5 -10 min. Poof! Everything Bagel crackers.
• WHAT WOULD YOU PUT IT ON
• LET ME KNOW. 

Enjoy!

Allison 

Allisonskitchen.blogspot.com

Homemade Taco Seasoning

Why make your own Taco Seasoning you ask?  Yes I know you can buy the packets at the store for about a dollar, but hey things are tight for most of us at the moment and you probably already have all the ingredients in your pantry anyway.  And another good reason is you can adjust the amount of salt, or a spice you don't particularly care for.

The recipe provided makes roughly the equivalent of a single store-bought packet of taco seasoning

Use your homemade taco seasoning in:

• soups
• salad dressings
• dips
• as a rub for chicken, pork or beef
• on kebabs
• and of course, all sorts of zesty Mexican dishes!

• 2 teaspoons Chili Powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoon Ground Cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon Paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Onion Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Dried Oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper

Measure out all the ingredients in a small bowl. Mix well. Then taste and adjust the salt or spices as desired. Store in an airtight container until ready to use.

For a larger batch (the equivalent of about 6 packets), use:

1/4 cup chili powder
3 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon each paprika, crushed red pepper, and salt
1 1/2 teaspoons each garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, black pepper.

Enjoy!

Allison 

Allisonskitchen.blogspot.com

Whiskey Peppercorn Sauce

Our wedding Anniversary came and went this year with not much fanfare, Covid -19 lock down was still in place, so we cooked out a nice steak, made my Aunt Dorthy's  Cheesy Au Gratin potatoes and had our Whiskey Peppercorn Sauce to go with the steak, oh and a bottle of bubbly, cant forget that!
Unfortunately I didn't have all the ingredients but hey, we're all learning to adapt right?

So here is the original recipe and on the side What i used, it still turned out Amazing.

4 Tablespoons butter divided. ( I had that, LOL)

1 Tablespoon black peppercorns, crushed. ( well all I had was one of those throw away pepper grinders so I just kept grinding till I had 1 Tab.)

2 Large Shallots, peeled and chopped. (I had 2 small garlic cloves and 1 scallion).

1/4 Cup of Whiskey (Well duh I had that!)

1/3 Cup of heavy cream (I used 1/3 cup of half and half and 1 Tab of corn starch)

So melt 1/2 of your butter over med low heat, add peppercorns, add Shallots you don't want to brown anything just cook a few minutes till fragrant.

Now this is IMPORTANT Remove the pan from the heat then add your Whiskey, (you don't want to have to call the fire department).

Reduce the sauce a little, Then add your Heavy cream. cook on low for a few minutes till it starts to thicken up.  You can remove the sauce from the heat at this point and finish your Steak,
As you steak rests,  heat the sauce very low and add the last of the butter stirring till silky smooth,  keep warm till your ready to plate the Steaks.  If the sauce starts getting to thick add a smidgen of cream.
Enjoy!
Allison

Cast Iron Skillet- Roasted Lemon Chicken

Ina Garten aka the Barefoot Contessa one of my favorite Food Network shows,  It seems no matter what I have tried of hers it never fails, and this Lemon Chicken is another winner.

Since we are still on a #Saferathome order here in Florida 🌴I have been studying my Herbalist course and trying a lot of new recipes, but sometimes you just don't have all the ingredients you need so you just have to improvise 🤷‍♀️.

So I'm going to list Ina's ingredients and next to it I'll put my adjusted ingredients.

Let me just tell you this was Amazing,  the aroma coming from my oven nearly drove me crazy. I served this over rice and added a little extra sauce in a ramekin for dipping.  Yummy 🥰

I love using my Grandmother's Cast iron Skillet.

• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon whole fennel seeds.(I did not have fennel seeds, so I substituted 1/2 teaspoon of cumin).
• And I added 1 teaspoon of Herbs de Provence because it contains fennel ♥️
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup good olive oil
• 1 lemon, halved and sliced ¼ inch thick
• 1 yellow onion, halved and sliced ¼ inch thick
• 2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced(I used 4 well just because I love Garlic, lol thank goodness hubby does also)
• 1 (4-pound) chicken, backbone removed and butterflied.( Well I had legs and thighs).
• ½ cup dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio(I had Sun Blush from Lakeridge Winery)🍷
• Juice of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Place the thyme, fennel seeds, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in a mini food processor and process until ground. (Or the herbs you have on hand).  Pour the olive oil into a small glass measuring cup, stir in the herb mixture, and set aside.

Distribute the lemon slices in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet and distribute the onion and garlic on top. Place the chicken, skin side down, on top of the onion and brush with about half the oil and herb mixture. Turn the chicken skin side up, pat it dry with paper towels 😉(very important!),😉 and brush it all over with the rest of the oil and herb mixture.

Roast the chicken for 30 minutes. Pour the wine into the pan 🙈(not on the chicken!) 🙈 Again VERY IMPORTANT!   And roast for another 10 to 15 minutes, until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast registers 155 to 160 degrees.

Remove the chicken from the oven, sprinkle it with the lemon juice, cover the skillet tightly with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Cut the chicken into quarters or eighths, sprinkle with salt, and serve hot with the pan juices, cooked lemon, and onion.

The pan juices are amazing!  I had some leftover so tomorrow I'm going to roast some shrimp ( Another one of my favorite Ina Garten recipes) And have the leftover pan juices on the shrimp♥️

Enjoy!

Stay safe at home

Allison 🤗