Cornbread Dressing

My husband and his friends have this tradition which has been running close on to fifteen years. It's called the Martha Stewart Christmas Dinner. Basically the idea is that everyone is supposed to dress in their cheesiest Christmas-y outfits, pull out the most scrumptious holiday food recipes they have and for one night gorge themselves on Christmas cheer.
This is the night where the wives all try to outdo themselves in what they bring. Until we moved to China, this cornbread stuffing/dressing was my signature dish.
It is beyond delicious! It is so light and fluffy that it tastes more like a souffle than a dressing. The cornbread is the secret. If gives a slightly sweet, but not too sweet, taste to the stuffing. My husband actually dislikes dressing and this is the only stuffing recipe he will eat. He loves it! And it is very appealing to the eye as well as the taste buds. I've seen some pretty gray looking dressings before. This looks gorgeous!

Ingredients:
4 cups prepared corn bread, torn into pieces, and staled
6 cups French bread, cubed and staled
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 cups celery,
2 cups onion,
3 tbsp. minced fresh sage (if you can't find fresh sage- or are too lazy to go to City Shop to buy it like I was- use 1 tbsp dried sage)
3 eggs, beaten
1⁄2 cup minced fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°coat a 3-quart baking dish with nonstick spray.

Cut up french bread/baguette and corn bread into cubes and stale.


*Stale the bread the night before by placing them in a 200°oven for an hour. Then turn the oven off and allow the bread to cool inside for at least another hour before proceeding.

Combine both types of bread.

Add milk,

broth,

Set aside.

Saute celery and onion in butter in a skillet over medium-high heat, 3 minutes.

Add sage and cook for 1 minute.

Let stand about 3 minutes.  Add celery mixture,

parsley,

beaten eggs and salt (about 1/2 tsp)

Mix well, then spoon dressing into the prepared baking dish. (This makes a ton- I usually split it into two dishes) Bake 45 - 60 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Baked Potato Soup

I've been meaning to post this recipe for a while now. It is a perfect recipe for the cold winter months. This is a “man pleasin” kind of recipe. Bacon, potatoes and cheese. I don’t know of many men that wouldn't love this soup.

 I actually created this recipe with my Papa in mind. When we were kids the fanciest restaurant my mom and dad took us to was Tony Roma’s Steak House. Now I laugh about this but to a little girl it felt fancy. My dad absolutely loved the baked potato soup that they served there, so I set out to create a recipe that would make him proud.

The secret ingredient in this recipe is the shot of Tabasco sauce. It just gives the soup that extra little kick that takes it from good to AWESOME! Tabasco sauce can be found at Carrefour in the imported section or of course, at any of the other expat markets.

Ingredients:
½ cup butter melted
1 cup flour
200 g or about ½ lb of diced bacon (variation: can use Costco bacon instead, but I do cook it a little differently; see below)
1-2 tbsp oil
1 large onion diced
5-6 bay leaves
2 tbsp chicken boullion
6 cups water
3-4 large potatoes cut into ½ inch cubes
A few good dashes of Tabasco sauce
1 cup milk
½ cup heavy cream
1- 1 ½ tsp salt (taste to make sure you have just the right amount
Fresh ground pepper
Garnish with: bacon, shredded cheese and chopped Chinese chives

In an oven safe dish, combine melted butter and flour. Bake at 325 for 30 minutes until flour mixture is golden brown. Set aside.

*In a stockpot, sauté bacon over medium heat until tender and slightly crispy. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a serving bowl and set aside.

( *I used Costco precooked bacon which I bring over from the Statesin my suitcases in my soup, so I skipped this step, but I've included the instructions for using regular bacon)

Keep bacon drippings in pot (this imparts a lot of good flavor to the soup) and add onions and 2 tbsp extra oil if needed.

Add bay leaves. Sauté onions and bay leaves in oil and drippings until onions are tender and clear.

Add water, boullion, fresh ground pepper and potatoes and cook until potatoes are tender.

Add butter/flour mixture and stir until well combined.

Remove from heat and add milk and cream. Add a dash or two of Tabasco sauce.


Turn heat on low and bring soup temperature up to a simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with reserved bacon, chives and shredded cheese.

Enjoy!!

How to make a Panini without a Panini Press

My husband makes fun of me because when we go out on a casual date to grab lunch, I always want to go grab a good sandwich. Maybe it's because I have love affair with good bread.
One sandwich I absolutely love is a panini. I mean, what's not to love, right? Crusty, chewy ciabatta bread, melted cheese; and if you make it at home, you can have whatever fillings you want.
I like to make my own ciabatta, so I can't really recommend anywhere that has superior ciabatta bread, but I do know that City Shop has them.
For this panini I cut up a chicken breast really thinly and sauteed it on the stove with just a bit of oil. If you are lucky enough to have roast turkey leftovers from Thanksgiving (and I do!) then your sandwich would really rock!
Here is how to make a panini without a panini press.

Ingredients:
Ciabatta roll
Filling of choice: I used basil mayonnaise, chicken breast, tomatoes, caramelized onions, and two layers of mozzarella cheese.

Directions:
Layer filling on your sandwich. I used basil mayonnaise to add some amazing pesto-like flavor to my panini.

I like to put two layers of cheese. #1 layer of cheese is under the tomatoes.

Caramelized onions

#2 layer of cheese.
Cover with other half of the ciabatta roll.









Once your panini is assembled, place on a preheated  skillet. Make sure the stove is set to medium.

Place a heavy pan or stockpot over your panini. Place a heavy can or glass jar in the pot so that it is weighted down.

Let it cook for 5 minutes. Flip the panini over and replace the weighted pot back on the panini.



Cook for another 4-5 minutes until the cheese is completely melted.





Enjoy your panini while hot!

Pumpkin Praline Dessert

My darling sisters introduced me to this recipe. A friend of theirs made it for them and they thought it was divine and passed the recipe around.
It kind of tastes like a combination between pumpkin pie and a cobbler. It might be a little food-trashy of me to love this (cause it uses a boxed cake mix) but I absolutely do!
It is the perfect recipe for someone who wants the taste of pumpkin pie, but doesn't want to go to all the trouble or fuss of making and rolling out pie crust.

Ingredients:

1can (15 oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)  - I used half of a large can
1can (12 oz) evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice  - I used 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans  (optional)
3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

 Add pumpkin to a large mixing bowl.

 Add one can of condensed milk.(make sure you don't get sweetened condensed milk-two totally different things)

Whisk to combine.

 Add eggs and whisk again.

 Add sugar. (I think I also threw in a pinch of salt here-if a dessert recipe doesn't call for salt I generally still throw in just a pinch because it will always enhance every flavor just a bit)

 Add the pumpkin pie spice (or if you are like me and don't have pumpkin pie spice here in China, you can do what I did and add the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves separately)

 Place pumpkin mixture in one 9x13 pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over the entire thing. Scatter nuts over the cake mix. Drizzle 3/4 cup butter over the cake mix.


My alteration (I decided to make one nut-free for the kids, so I divided the batter into two square pans, then divided the cake mix in half (just eyeballed it- didn't measure exactly) and the butter in half and followed the recipe above.

 Bake at 175 C for 50- 60 minutes until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean and the top begins to brown,

* don't worry if there is a little cake mix here or there that doesn't get covered by butter- still tastes great when you top it with whipped cream.

Serve with whipped cream. It is so super sweet that you may or may not want to add sugar to your whipped cream when you whip it.

Enjoy!!!

Creamy Chicken Soup

I created this soup recipe to mimic my favorite chicken pot pie recipe. The real secret is letting the butter brown before adding the carrots and the onions. It gives the broth such amazing flavor(and which sadly I didn't get a picture of). Another thing that makes this soup excellent is that you let the onions saute in the browned butter until they almost caramelize. It brings out the carrots sweetness and ensures that they are really tender(nothing worse than a crunchy carrot in soup)

This soup has been one of my son's favorite meals for a few years now. It is the ultimate comfort food and perfect for fall/winter days especially if anyone has a cold.

I made Western-style dumplings this time(which were delightful- like soft little rolls floating in the creamy broth), but you can add noodles instead and make it chicken noodle soup.

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups diced onion
1 ½ cups diced carrots
¼ cup butter
½ cup flour
6 cups water
2 tbsp powdered chicken bouillon (2 tsp if you use American style bouillon)
¼ tsp sage
¼ tsp thyme
fresh ground pepper to taste
1 large chicken breast cut into small cubes
2 medium pealed and diced
1 cup dry noodles (optional- do not use if making dumplings)

In a sauce pan melt butter over medium heat and cook until the milk proteins start to brown. Be careful not to overbrown the butter.

While the butter is melting dice carrots and onions.

After butter has browned, add carrots and onions to the pot and saute in browned butter until tender- 10-15 minutes.


While the carrots and onions are cooking, peel and dice the potatoes. Cut up chicken breast. I like to cut the chicken up rather small, because its much easier for my kids to eat.

When the onions start to appear translucent its time to add the flour.

Add the half cup of flour to the pot and stir to combine.

Cook for 1-2 minutes, scrapping the bottom as needed.

Add first 2 cups of water. Scrape up all of the browned butter and flour on the bottom of the pot- use a metal spatula if necessary but make sure you get all of it up or it will scorch on the bottom of your pan.



Once you have incorporated all of the browned butter and flour, stir in the rest of the 4 ups of water.

Add dried sage and thyme.

Add powdered chicken bouillon.

Add potatoes. Cook 5 minutes.

And chicken.
* If using noodles add an additional cup of water and add noodles.

If making dumplings, add to the pot in tablespoon-fulls then cover with lid. Lift the lid and stir soup every 2-3 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pot each time. Cook 7 minutes after adding the dumplings.

Enjoy!