Plum Sauce

Plume Sauce

For use as a glaze for pork or as a sauce for stir-fry.

Ingredients

About 10 plums (prune plums or similar)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Instructions:

Pit and cut up plums

Simmer plums in a sauce pan with a splash of water.

Once the plums are starting to cook down, stir in sugar, salt and cayenne pepper.

Continue to simmer on low until the sauce has the desired constancy. 

Let cool and refrigerate until needed.

Fall Beef, Carrots and Tarragon

 

Came up with this on a very cold, wet, and extremely windy Nov 15, 2020.  Queen Bee said it was one of my best.

1 lb Beef stew meat

1 to 2 table spoons vegetable oil

1 Large onion

4 to 5 Carrots

3 Celery stalks

1 Teaspoon Provence Herbs

1/2 Teaspoon Tarragon

Salt

Pepper

1 Cup hot water with Beef bouillon(or Better tThan Bouillon) 

1/2 to 1 cup Sherry

1/2 cup Sour Cream

Instructions:

In an oven safe skillet...

- Slice and brown onion in oil

- While onions are browning, clean and slice carrots and celery into 1/4 inch pieces.

- Remove onions from skillet and add beef.  Brown lightly.

- Add onions, carrot, and celery.  Continue to sauté for about 5 minutes. 

- Add Provence Herbs and Tarragon.  Add a paper and salt as desired.  

- Add bouillon, cover and place in oven at 350 F.

- Bake for about 2 hours, adding Sherry as needed to maintain liquid. (Check and stir at 20 minute intervals)

- After 2 hours, remove from oven and place on range top.  Let cool about 5 minutes, than stir in sour cream.  Turn on burner to low for a few minutes while continuing to stir the sour cream into the mixture.

Serve over mashed potatoes or noodles.

Herb Chicken Thighs

Ingredients

1 table spoon oil
2 table spoons butter
4 chicken thighs (bone in and skin on)
1 table spoon Provence herbs
Salt
Pepper
1 medium onion diced
4 cloves garlic sliced
2 table spoons flour
1/4 cup sour cream

Instructions

Heat oil and butter in a frying pan (I use a teflon pan for this one)

Add chicken skin side down and fry until brown

Flip thighs skin side up, sprinkle with Provence herb, salt and pepper

Add garlic and diced onion

Turn down to a simmer and cover for 90 minutes, the simmering chicken will generate a significant amount of juice.

Mix flour and water to make a thickening paste.

Remove the chicken and set aside.

Stir in the flour and water mixture a bit at a time to thicken the juice into a gravy.

Stir in sour cream until well mixed.

Serve.  The gravy can be used with rice, potatoes, bread, etc...

Queen Bee really liked it.

Stir Fry Beef and Curry Rice

Figuring out how to make do tonight.  There's some beef roast that didn't get cooked last night, a partial box of chicken broth from a few nights ago, a bit of broccoli, a couple onions and one shallot that has been kicking around.  I also have some mixed nuts from Costco (think I'll sort out the cashews)

There is always rice, generic spices and condoments around the kitchen somewhere.

Here we go...

Ingredients: Curry Rice

2 cups chicken broth (I used the boxed broth from Costco)
1 cup dried rice
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Bring broth to a boil in a sauce pan
Add curry powder
Add pepper flakes
Add rice, turn down to a simmer and cover.
Simmer for about 30 minutes (as you normally would for rice)

Ingredients: Beef Stir Fry

1/2 to 3/4 lb lean beef sliced and cut into strips (I used eye of round roast)
1 head or 2 cups of broccoli florets
1 large or 2 medium onion chunked
1 shallot chunked
1/2 teaspoon dried garlic flakes
ground black pepper
1/2 cup cashews
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup Lee & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
Vegetable oil (I used peanut oil but some people are allergic to this, so be careful)

Heat 2 table spoons oil to a wok or frying pan.
Add onions and shallot and cook until they are partially brown
Add broccoli and garlic flakes, black pepper (to your preference) and fry for about 10 minutes on medium heat.  Add oil as needed if the wok begins to dry out.
Remove everything from the wok and set aside.
Add 2 table spoons oil and heat, and add beef.  Spread the beef evenly around the pan to brown.
Once the beef is mostly browned on all sides, add soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce.  Stir well.
Return vegetables to the wok and heat everything through and mix so everything is coated in the sauce.

Serve the rice and serve the stir fry mixture over the rice.

It is actually quite good for something thrown together on the fly.

Chicken Paprika

To give credit where credit is due, I started with the recipe from a 1970's Good Housekeeping cook book...  but added from there.

1 to 2 tablespoons vegitable oil
2 chicken halves (one per serving)
1 medium onion coarsely chopped
3/4 cup bullion
1/4 cup Dry Marsala wine
1 table spoon dried minced garlic
Paprika
Salt
Pepper
1 cup sour cream
250 grams egg noodles.

Coat frying pan lightly with oil (12 inch Lodge iron pan in my car)
Bring up to temperature and add the chicken halves, skin side up.  Brown lightly then flip to skin side down and brown lightly on skin side.  Flip one more time and sprinkle chicken with paprika, salt and pepper.

Add onion and allow them to brown lightly.

Add bullion and Marsala, cover and simmer until cooked through and tender (about 30 minutes)

Remove chicken and set aside.

Stir in sour cream slowly, under low heat, until you have smooth sauce.  Do not allow the sauce to come to a boil.

Serve chicken along with noodles and cover with sauce.

Tomato Cream Pasta

Ingredients:

2 table spoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves diced
1 medium onion diced
One 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes (Costco Kirkland in my case.)
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon Herbs De Provence
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Salt
Pepper
250 gram of pasta.  I used Garofalo Penne. (https://www.pasta-garofalo.com/us/)


Heat olive oil in a large skillet.  When it is up to temperature (a small drop of water should sizzle on the oil) add diced garlic and brown lightly, then add diced onions and partially cook them.

Added diced tomatoes including their liquid.  Simmer about 10 minutes until the liquid has condensed by half.  Add salt and pepper to taste starting with a half teaspoon of each.

Add 1 table spoon of butter, half cup white wine and one teaspoon of Herbs De Provence.  Simmer roughly 20 minutes until the liquid has reduced by half.

Stir in remaining butter and simmer on low for about until the butter is well integrated in the sauce  (about 10 minutes). Do not boil off much more liquid.  Mash down any remaining chunks of tomatoes with a spatula.

At the very end, slowly add the whipping cream and, while stirring, heat through.  Do not bring the sauce to a boil.

Serve over pasta.

Tangerine Shrimp

Tangerine Shrimp

Ingredients

20 raw pealed and cleaned shrimp
One table spoon olive oil
2 tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon  paprika
1/2 teaspoon curry
Juice of one tangerine

Prepare shrimp (clean)

In a microwaveable container, heat (very briefly) two tablespoons butter to partially melt it. Remover from microwave an add curry, paprika, and ginger.  Set aside.

In a pan heat the oil (sprinkle with a drop or two of water to test if it is hot. water should sizzle a bit),  Add shrimp, and partially cook on both sides.  Stir in the butter mixture and continue to cook until the shrimp are cooked through, stirring occationally.  Turn of the burner.  Drizzle with the tangerine juice then serve.

We served along with black ben and broccoli.  Nice quick weekday meal.