Jessica's pesto burgers

We have a good friend to thank for this idea and recipe, so I've named it after her in my book. Since our little herb garden has yet to mature we had to buy our basil and pesto, and we found beautiful organic herbs at Meijer. Come to think of it, all of our Pesto ingredients are organic from Meijer!

Pesto burgers

● 1/2-2/3 cup pesto
● ~1 lb. ground beef

Mix pesto and ground beef together in a small bowl before forming into hamburgers. Grill to desired doneness and serve on buns with your favorite toppings! We topped with mozzarella cheese, tomaotes, and mayo mixed with the leftover pesto.

Pesto for pasta

● 1 cup fresh basil, firmly packed
● 1/2 cup fresh parsley, firmly packed with stems removed
● 1/2 cup parmesan or romano cheese, grated
● 1/4 cup pine nuts
● 1 large garlic clove, quartered
● 1/4 tsp salt
● 1/4 cup olive oil

In food processor combine all dry ingredients and blend until a paste forms (pulsing sometimes helps with this), stopping the machine frequently to scrape the sides if necessary.
While machine runs slowly, add olive oil and continue to process to the consistency of soft butter.

Hamburger buns

● 2 tbsp. active dry yeast
● 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water , (105° to 115°)
● 1/3 cup vegetable oil
● 1/4 cup sugar
● 1 egg
● 1 tsp. salt
● 3-3.5 cups all-purpose flour

Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water.  Let stand for 5 minutes. 

In mixer bowl combine oil, 2.5 cups of flour, egg, and salt, add dough hook and mix on speed 1 for a few seconds.  Add yeast mixture slowly, over about a minute, with machine running on speed 1 or 2.  Allow flour to incorporate then add remaining flour slowly until a soft dough forms a ball on the hook and begins to clean the sides of the bowl.

Remove to a lightly floured surface and divide into 10-12 pieces, rolling each into a ball.  Place on greased baking sheets, approx. 3 inches apart.  Cover and let rest for at least 10 minutes, then press each ball gently and bake at 425° for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Goulash, the way I learned to make it

A quick and easy dinner! Cheap, too, even when made with the best ingredients - as usually we use all organic ingredients, and whole wheat noodles. I'm sure there are a number of recipes out there for this Hungarian dish, but this is the way I learned to make and love it.

Ingredients:
• 1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion , chopped
• 28 oz. crushed tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cup macaroni pasta, uncooked
• 3-4 tbsp sugar, to taste
• 1 dash salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
Cook macaroni pasta to al dente, rinse and set aside.
Meanwhile, fry meat and onion in large skillet until no longer pink; drain; add tomato, sugar, salt, and pepper; stir in macaroni, allow to cook to desired consistency.

For added indulgence, this is wonderful when served with fresh, warm bread on the side (mmmmm, carbs).

Beef and Eggplant pie

After it was mentioned by Jon on facebook this week I've had several requests for my eggplant pie recipe, so here it is!

Beef and eggplant pie

Prep - peel and cube one medium eggplant, chop 1 medium onion, snip 1T of parsley, mince 2 cloves of garlic, chop 1-2 ribs of celery with leaves. 

Cooking - saute eggplant in 1/4C butter over medium heat until tender (~5 minutes) then remove and set aside.  Add onion, garlic, and ~1lb ground beef to hot pan and cook until beef is no longer pink, then add eggplant, celery, 8oz tomato sauce, parsley, and spices to taste (I use 1t oregano, 1t salt, 1t pepper), mix well, and bring to a boil.  Pour mixture into large pastry shell (I use my no-roll pie crust recipe in my large pie plate for this and it's perfect) and bake at 375 for 25 minutes, then cover top with shredded mozzarella cheese and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted.  Allow pie to sit for 10 minutes before cutting.  Serve warm with a side of red wine - yum!

Sorry, no pictures this time.  The next time I make it I'll do a photo shoot and come back to update.

Irish Boiled Dinner

Tonight was pumpkin carving night and that meant Irish dinner.  Why?  Because according to many sources the Irish brought us the Jack-o-lantern (and can really be thanked for much of Halloween, for that matter), and so to celebrate the roots of this season enjoyment we started our evening with Irish Boiled Dinner.  The way my mom makes this feast is by boiling corned beef, but I tried a new recipe tonight and boiled fresh organic brisket in beer.  I have to say, I'd rather have the corned beef and the beer on the side, and I disagree with the cooking times the original recipe listed, so I'll tell you what they said, and what I did.  The recipe came from Cooks.com:

Put 2lb beef brisket in dutch oven; add two 12oz bottles of Lager beer, 2c water (or enough to cover meat), 2 bay leaves, 10 black peppercorns, 1/2c parsley, and 2t salt; start water.

In saucepan add 2T olive oil, 3 cloves garlic (sliced), 2c leeks (chopped), 1 md onion (sliced); sauté for a few minutes, then add to dutch oven.

Bring water mixture to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 2-3 hours or until meat is tender.  Meanwhile chopped your veggies to add later:  3/4lb carrots (cut in large pieces), 3/4lb red potatoes (peeled), 2lbs green cabbage (cut in sixths, leave part of the core in to keep leaves together).  Add carrots and potatoes in last 25 minutes and cabbage in last 15 minutes.  Remove from water and serve hot.

Notes:  I already mentioned that next time I'll use corned beef and drink the beer.  Also, I used more carrots and potatoes than they called for, and I think they're wrong on their cooking times, so next time I plan to cook my cabbage for 25 minutes and my other veggies for only 15.

March 17, 2009 -  I made this again tonight using the following alterations - I used corned beef (yes, you can buy it organic), boiled it in water, and drank the beer.  The cabbages and potatoes I added 35 minutes before the meat would be done, and the carrots only 15.  The carrots could have used a little less time, perhaps, but otherwise this was delightful.  Try it with Irish Soda bread - yum!

Southern Sunday

With freezing nights upon us and a garden full of green tomatoes, something had to be done.  So on Sunday we treated ourselves to some southern cooking, organic style (and almost entirely sans processed foods).  We have our own favorite chili recipe, one that uses Italian sausage as well as ground beef, and BBQ baked beans as well as the standard red kindneys.  It also calls for chipotle - yum.  Of course one can't have chilli without corn bread, and we found a great recipe for a southern corn bake makeover in our Healthy Cooking magazine that called for creamed corn, so I did an online search and came up with a homemade creamed corn recipe in order to avoid the canned variety.  Lastly, we come to those green tomatoes, which we coated in a homemeade crunchy breading made from organic corn flakes and mock fried them briefly in only a small amount of oil before putting them in the oven to heat them the rest of the way.  We also trimmed fat and calories by using reduced fat or fat free items whenever available, and kept it healthier by using all organic items (except for the Italian sausage, which I have yet to find in organic form).

Chili:  Saute 1 large onion (chopped) with 3T garlic cloves (minced) in a tablespoon of oil.  Add 1T chili powder, 1/2T chipotle powder, 2T paprika, 1T cumin, 4t oregano, Kosher salt, and pepper to taste, then add 1lb lean ground beaf and 1lb Italian sausage and cook until no longer pink.  Add ~60oz of crushed tomatoes, ~16oz baked beans, and ~15oz red kidney beans.  Simmer for one hour, and serve with cheese, sour cream, and green onion toppings.

Creamed corn:  Melt 2T butter in a small saucepan.  Add 2C corn (fresh or frozen) and 1/2C heavy cream (if using frozen corn add 1/2t sugar) and cook over medium heat, stirring until the cream thickens.

Corn Bake (makeover):  In a large bowl combine 1C flour, 1C cornmeal, 3T sugar, 1/2t salt, and 1/2t baking soda.  In a separate bowl whisk together 1 egg, 1C sour cream, 1/4C unsweetened applesauce, and 1/4C melted butter, then stir in the 2C creamed corn (see above), and add to dry ingredients.  Mix just until moistened and transfer to a 13x9 baking dish to bake at 350 for 30 minutes or so.

Semi Fried Green Tomatoes:  In a shallow bowl combine 1/2C flour, 1t sugar, 1t salt, and 1/4t cayenne pepper.  In another whisk together 1 egg and a dash of milk.  In a third place 1C cornflake crumbs.  Heat 4t canola oil over medium heat.  Dip 1/2inch thick green tomato slices into flour, then egg, then cornflakes and fry, four slices at a time, for ~2 minutes per side, or until golden brown, then remove to an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake in oven at 350 for ~5 minutes or until tender.

Happy Southern eating!