Creamy Parmigiano-Reggiano Grits

When The Man and The Lady first met, The Man had never had grits, a truly Southern breakfast side dish. Once The Lady cooked grits for him, all bets were off. He fell in love with grits (and The Lady).

This morning, The Lady delighted The Man with grits with a twist… she added grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. The man gave them two-thumbs up.

Here’s what she did:

Ingredients:

½ Cup Quick Grits (they cook in 5 minutes)

2 Cups Chicken Broth (or water)

2 Tablespoons Tillamook Unsalted Butter

¼ Cup Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Preparation:

Bring broth (or water) to a boil and reduce to low heat.

Add grits slowly (adding them all at once will cause lumps and lumpy grits suck)

Cook about five minutes until liquid is absorbed. Stir to keep grits from sticking to bottom of pan.

Add butter.

Add Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Serve with your favorite breakfast staples. Personally, I prefer my grits with hickory cured Andrias davidianus; The Man prefers bacon… sheesh… humankinds… so boring when it comes to meat…

Hook’s Little Boy Blue Cheese Dressing

Because The Lady, The Man and I were not big fans of this blue cheese, despite it being made with sheep milk, The Lady decided to use the portion left over from the cheeseboard as a dressing for the requisite iceberg lettuce wedge that The Man so enjoys.

Here is the recipe she used for the Little Boy Blue Cheese.

As is the tradition around the manse, we enjoyed this dressing on iceberg lettuce wedges with chopped tomato and bacon.

Ingredients:

2 Large Dollops of Mayo

2 tablespoons of Creme Fraiche (which The Lady made)

A Splash of Milk

Approximately 3-4 ounces of Hook’s Little Boy Blue (Sheep Milk) Cheese, crumbled

Squeeze of Fresh Lemon Juice

Small Splash of Tapatio Hot Sauce

Salt and Fresh Gound Pepper to taste

Preparation:

The Lady whisked the Mayo, Creme Fraiche and Milk together until well blended.

She added the crumbled Hook’s Little Boy Blue and mixed until well incorporated.

She added the lemon, Tapatio, salt and pepper to taste.

Marinate in the fridge for at least an hour.

The Salad was a wedge of lettuce, halved cherry tomatoes and crumbled bacon.

Tillamook And Spam Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Onions and Mushrooms

Recently The Man has fallen in love with Spam, an odd humankind canned meat that according to the late Johnny Carson won WW2 for the Allies because when tossed into enemy territory, the enemy refused to eat it and thus starved… and had to surrender…

Also, according to urban legend, Mr. Carson had to apologize to the makers of Spam (Hormel), on-air, for dissing their product… those were the days…

Back in the day Spam was too salty according to The Lady, but changing with the times, Spam now is available in low sodium, and even as Turkey Spam, which shouldn’t that be called Spurkey???

But, I digress…

To satisfy The Man’s Jones for Spam, she made him a grilled cheese using the Spurkey variety of Spam and up-scaled it with Tillamook Two Year Vintage White Extra Sharp Cheddar. You may recall that this particular variety of Tillamook is The Lady’s “Everyday Cheddar” and there is always a Baby Loaf in the fridge (along with several other baby loaves – we could open a Tillamook Cheese Shop right here at the manse).

Here’s how she did it:

Ingredients:

Tillamook Butter

EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

Onion, sliced thin and in rings

Mushroom, sliced thin

Dave’s Killer Bread – Blues

Turkey Spam

Tillamook Two Year Vintage White Extra sharp Cheddar

Preparation:

In a saucepan, combine the Tillamook Butter and EVOO. Let the butter melt. Add the onions and mushroom and sauté until you reach the desired “doneness”. The Man likes his mushrooms to be quite brown and crusty around the edges. Reduce heat to low.

Remove from pan and drain on paper towels to remove excess oil.

Slice Turkey Spam and Tillamook (on the thin side).

Add your first slice of Dave’s Killer Blues  to the remaining butter/oil combo in the pan and build your sandwich. Here’s how The Lady built it:

Layer of Tillamook; layer of Spam, onions and mushrooms, layer Tillamook, Layer of Spam, Layer of Tillamook. Top with slice of bread.

Cover pan with lid and let the bread sauté and the cheese melt to a glorious gooey stage.

Flip the sandwich and sauté the other side to desired “doneness”.

It may not be fancy, but it is damned tasty…

Roth Kase Gruyere Mashed Potatoes

The Lady decided to cook up stuff in the fridge and made a lunch/snack using three potatoes and some of the Roth Kase Gruyere Cheese she helped make in Wisconsin last spring.

Here’s what she did.

She added two chicken bouillon cubes  and cut up potatoes to cold water.

She brought the water to a boil and cooked the potatoes until fork-tender.

While the potatoes were boiling she fried a little bacon cut into thin pieces. Once it was crisp, she drained the oil and put the bacon bits on a paper towel.

She then grated the Gruyere – about 3 ounces.

Once tender, she drained the potatoes and added half a stick of butter, a large dollop of sour cream, the cheese and bacon and stirred until well-mixed but still a little lumpy. (She left the skins on the potatoes.)

She put the Gruyere mashed potatoes in bowls and served.

It was just the right lunch time snack for The Man and me… maybe a little more bacon…

Vincent Aged Gouda Fondue

Give The lady a new Fondue pot and what does she do… she starts making Fondue like there is no other cheese dish in the world.

However, at least she knows what she is doing…

Last night for New Year’s Eve and her birthday, she decided to make a fondue exclusively using Vincent Aged Gouda…I suppose the “aged” and “birthday” was a subconscious ping in her decision…

Here’s what she did:

Ingredients:

1 Cup King Fish California Chardonnay which she simmered on the stove with a few garlic chips. (She strained the garlic out before adding the wine to her roux base.

1 Tablespoon Tillamook Butter and 1 Tablespoon flour to make her roux base. She melted the butter over a medium/low heat and added the flour which she cooked for about 5 minutes until a golden color. She stirred the roux base using a whisk.

Next she added the simmering wine to the roux base and whisked it until nice and mixed.

Then she added 24 ounces of Vincent Aged Gouda which she had cubed.

She stirred until the cheese was melted and the fondue was a nice, creamy mixture.

She served the fondue with French Baguette (also cubed), apple cubes, pear cubes, raw broccoli, raw cauliflower, raw carrots and cubed Summer Sausage.

As usual The Man swooned and a licked my plate clean.

The Lady’s Three Cheese Fondue

The Lady brought home another wedge of the Gruyere she helped make in Wisconsin last spring (she added the rennet…) and used it with Tillamook Vintage White Extra Sharp and BelGioioso Fontina to make a fondue for The Man and her favorite Feline Foodie…

The Man swooned; I merely licked my bowl clean…

She served the fondue with cubed freshly baked French Baguette.

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup Kingfish California Chardonnay
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 7 ounces Roth Kase Gruyere cheese, cubed
• 7 ounces Tillamook Vintage White Extra Sharp Cheddar cheese, cubed
• 7 ounces BelGioioso Fontina cheese, cubed

Directions

1. Simmer wine in a separate saucepan.
2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Whisk in flour and cook until flour is cooked, for about 5 minutes, stirring to avoid sticking and burning. The Lady uses a whisk.
3. Once flour is cooked, stir in the wine slowly. Continue to use a whisk to smooth the mixture.
4. Slowly add cubes of Gruyere, Cheddar, and Fontina cheeses.
5. Stir until cheese is melted and mixture is smooth and creamy.
6. Transfer cheese mixture to fondue pot.
7. Keep warm over low flame.

Vegan-Friendly French Onion Soup

Courtesy:  http://tastingtable.com/index.htm

 Recipe adapted from The Adaptable Feast

 Ingredients:

 2 large yellow onions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 thyme sprigs

1 cup dry vermouth or dry white wine

8 cups packaged mushroom stock

1 bay leaf

One 2-inch piece Parmigiano-Reggiano rind (Most cheese shops sell Par/Reg rind at a reduced price – at The Lady’s kiosk it is Half-Price)

¼ teaspoon dried savory

Twelve ½-inch-thick slices crusty baguette

½ teaspoon minced garlic

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups grated Gruyère cheese (about 8 ounces)

1 beef bouillon cube (such as Knorr brand) or 1 tablespoon veal demiglace Base

 Preparation:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and thyme and cook, stirring, until the onions begin to brown, about 15 minutes. Add ½ cup of the vermouth and, using a wooden spoon, scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Cook until the vermouth has evaporated, about 4 minutes. Add the remaining ½ cup vermouth, scrape the pan again and simmer for 4 minutes longer. Transfer the onions to a 3-quart stockpot and add the mushroom stock, bay leaf, Parmigiano-Reggiano rind and savory. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 30 minutes.

 2. Place the baguette slices on a baking sheet. Smash the garlic into a paste with the side of a knife and combine with the remaining 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a small bowl. Brush the baguette slices with the oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Place 1 slice of toast in the bottom of each of 4 ovenproof soup bowls.

Preheat the broiler.

 3. For the vegetarian variation: Remove the thyme sprigs, bay leaf and cheese rind

from the soup and discard. Transfer 2½ cups of the soup to a small saucepan, season

with salt and pepper and keep warm over low heat.

4.Add the bouillon cube to the remaining soup in the large pot and simmer for 5 minutes.

 Season with salt and pepper.

 5. For the vegetarian variation: Ladle the vegetarian soup into an ovenproof bowl, top

with 2 baguette slices and sprinkle with one quarter of the cheese. Place the bowl on a

rimmed baking sheet.

 6.Fill the remaining 3 bowls with the bouillon-flavored soup and top with the remaining

baguette slices and cheese. Place the bowls on the baking sheet. Broil the soups, watching closely, until the cheese is bubbly and brown, about 2 minutes.

Serve immediately.

 For the vegan variation: Omit the cheese rind in the soup, omit the cheese topping;

serve with garlicky baguette toasts only.

 Serves 1 vegetarian and 3 omnivores

 

Rogue River Blue Salad Dressing

The Lady is not into measurements when it comes to cooking as has been mentioned before…

Yesterday when she arrive home from the cheese mines, The Man announced he had bought a head of iceberg lettuce and wanted The Lady to make a Blue Cheese Dressing for a “Wedge Salad”.

The Lady rummaged through the fridge and found the remainder of the Rogue River Blue Wedge that she bought when Miss Anne and The Tall Guy visited (and previously reviewed here by your favorite feline foodie…that would be me). It was decided that Rogue River Blue would make one “killer dressing”…

Ingredients:

2 Large Dollps of Mayo

2 tablespoons of Creme Fraiche (which The Lady made)

A Splash of Milk

Approximately 3-4 ounces of Rogue River Blue, crumbled

Squeeze of Fresh Lemon Juice

Small Splash of Tapatio Hot Sauce

Salt and Fresh Gound Pepper to taste

Preparation:

The Lady whisked the Mayo, Creme Fraiche and Milk together until well blended.

She added the crumbled Rogue River Blue and mixed until well incorporated.

She added the lemon, Tapatio, salt and pepper to taste.

Marinate in the fridge for at least an hour.

 

The Salad was a wedge of lettuce, halved cherry tomatoes (the last from The Man’s summer garden) and crumbled bacon.

The Man proclaimed it the best blue cheese dressing he had ever had…so there you go…

Miss Anne’s Baked Potato and Tillamook Cheddar Soup

As mentioned in my “sister” blog, there are interlopers at the manse who show no sign of leaving. One of them is Miss Anne and fortunately for you, my loyal readers, she has made herself useful since arriving my cooking this stick-to-your-ribs tasty soup.

Ingredients:

10 Baking Potatoes (Bake 24 hours in advance for better flavor)

Oil

1-2 Pats of Tillamook Salted Butter

I Large, Sweet Onion, diced

3 Large Celery Stalks, chopped

4 Cans of Chicken Broth

5 Chicken Bouillon Cubes

2 Sticks of Tillamook Salted Butter (Paula Dean would approve of this recipe)

24 Ounces of Heavy Whipping Cream (No one said this was low calorie)

4 Heaping tablespoons Flour

Peas and Carrots

2 Cups Shredded Tillamook Medium Cheddar

Salt, Pepper and other Seasonings can be added according to your tastes. Miss Anne says the bouillon cubes adds enough extra seasoning for her tastes…and mine as well…although The Lady did crack some fresh pepper on hers.

 

Preparation:

According to Miss Anne, this soup is better if the potatoes are baked the day before. However, you can microwave or boil them the same day as when the soup is eaten.

1. Wash, dry and oil the skins of the potatoes and bake them. (Miss Anne baked them for one hour at 450°.) After cooling, store in the fridge until ready to use.
2. Pre-heat Soup pot and add 1-2 pats of butter for sautéing the celery and onion.
3. Prepare onion and celery and put in pot and sauté for a few minutes while…
4. Dice baked potatoes. Not too small. (Miss Anne does not puree this soup so the potatoes retian their shape.)
5. Add chicken broth and bouillon to pot. Bring to a simmer.
6. Add butter to broth, onions and celery in pot.
7. Add potatoes to broth mixture. Return to simmer and let simmer until potatoes are cooked.
8.  Place heavy cream in container with top and add flour. Shake until thoroughly mixed.
9. When potatoes can be easily pierced with fork, add peas and carrots. Return to simmer.
10. Add flour and cream mixture to thicken soup. Return to simmer until desired thickness is achieved.
11. Add Tillamook Medium Cheddar cheese (shredded).
12. Serve.

 

Serves 8 to 10.

Amanda’s Cheesy Polenta-Veggie Bake

My favorite “Foodie” niece, Amanda, of My Daily Diner blog fame has another Wonderful cheesy recipe to share with my fans.

Amanda is a regular guest speaker at local businesses, schools, churches, and women’s groups. She can often be found in the halls of the California State Capitol advocating for nutrition and food. Amanda has been featured in both local and national media as an expert in the field of food and nutrition.

Eat Your Roots is also dedicated to working with individuals, couples, and families to improve overall wellbeing by teaching clients to understand real food and Traditional Nutrition.

Amanda is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals (NANPhttp://www.nanp.org/), and Chairs their Legislative Affairs Committee. Web www.eatyourroots.org

For recipes visit www.mydailydiner.com

Cheesy Polenta-Veggie Bake

6 Cups of Water

1 lb Aged Cheddar

3 Eggs, beaten

3 t Seasoning Salt (I like 4S from Penzeys)

1 1/2 Cups Polenta

1 Large Red Pepper, cut into small pieces

2 Cups Shitake Mushrooms, chopped

1 t Paprika

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Bring water to a boil. Add polenta, stirring constantly until thickens.

Turn heat down and add remaining ingredients.

Stir until well blended.

Pour into 13 x 9 pan and bake uncovered for 45 minutes to an hour.

Cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.