More Comfort Food For Thought!!!

As a child, growing up, my mother used to make the best tuna cassarole; well in my opinion it is!
From my understanding, most tuna cassaroles start out with a Bechamel or white sauce, then some type of cream soup is added along with tuna and seasonings, combined with noodles, topped with bread crumbs or crushed potato chips and baked off in the oven. Mom made hers, a little "unorthodoxed" in a way, completely on the stove top, no topping, no baking! One pot, ready in minutes, and so comforting!

Try making this version of this "potluck pleaser", it's so simple! You can also leave the tuna out altogether for a great vegetarian version.

First thing is to get a large pot of boiling salted water going, and cook a pound of egg noodles, drain and return to thier pot.

Now on to making a Bechamel Sauce! This basic sauce takes about 5 minutes to make, and is then ready for the addition of flavors or enrichments.

In a sauce pan melt 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter over low heat. Blend in 6 tablespoons of flour, and cook slowly, stirring, until the butter and flour froth together for 2 minutes without coloring. This is now a white roux.

Remove roux from heat. As soon as roux has stopped bubbling, pour in 4 cups of milk, that's been heated to just below a boil, with a 1/4 teaspoon of salt added to it, all at once. Immediately beat vigorously with a whip to blend the liquid and roux, gathering in all the bits of roux from the inside edges of the pan.

Set saucepan over moderately high heat and stir with a whip until the sauce comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring.

Remove from heat and beat in salt & pepper to taste.

The finished sauce should coat the back of a spoon and leave a "line" when you draw your finger across the back of the spoon.

To the Bechamel, you add one can of cream of mushroom soup, stirring to incorporate the soup completely.

Add one can of tuna (or canned white meat chicken for those with seafood allergies) that's been drained well. Adjust seasonings. I also like to sometimes add sliced fresh mushrooms and a cup of frozen peas, thawed.

Combine the sauce with the egg noodles and you're done! Dish it out and enjoy!!

Risotto with Peas and Zucchini

When I started this blog, one of my intentions was to inspire readers to "learn something new", and now I'm trying something new. This was my first attempt at making a risotto.

Making a good risotto is rather like riding a bicycle: It takes a little bit of practice to begin with, and a certain amount of concentration thereafter. Risotti are also very sensitive to timing, and this is why what is served in a restaurant (no matter how good it is) will rarely display that rich texture and just-right doneness that a good home-made risotto will.

When buying rice to make a risotto, choose short-grained round or semi-round rice; among the best rices for making risotti are Arborio, Vialone Nano, and Carnaroli. Other short-grained rices such as Originario will also work. Long grained rice such as Patna won't do, because the grains will stay separate. Nor should you use minute rice -- it won't absorb the condiments, and again the grains will remain separate.

Taking advantage of some great summer zucchini and peas, I made this wonderful risotto. Risotto with Peas and Zucchini


First step is to heat the chicken stock with some water and keep it warm over a very low heat. In a seperate sauce pan melt some butter and, add the zucchini; season with salt and pepper. Cook the zucchini until it's golden. Remove the zucchini with a slotted spoon to a seperate dish.

Reduce the heat and add the onion. Cook until it's soft, then season with salt & pepper.

Raise the heat to medium, then add the rice, cooking and stirring until it's translucent around the edges which will take about 3 minutes.

Add the wine and cook until absorbed.

Cook, adding the hot stock, 1 cup at a time and stir until almost all the liquid is absorbed before adding more, until the rice is tender, 25 to 30 minutes total. You may not use all the stock.

Add the zucchini and peas, cook until peas are bright green. Remove from heat.

Stir in remaining butter and Parmesan Cheese.

Serve topped with more Parmesan, if desired.

A Classic Detroit Summer Time Treat!

If you were born and/or raised anywhere near Detroit, MI then you've probably enjoyed a Boston Cooler at least once in your life! Since Vernors is my preferred soft drink, I like to enjoy these throughout the year!

A little history of the Boston Cooler:

The origin of the Boston cooler lies in Detroit, Michigan the city in which Fred Sanders is credited with inventing the ice cream soda. The name almost certainly has no connection to Boston, Massachusetts, where the beverage is virtually unknown. One theory is that it was named after Detroit's Boston Boulevard, the main thoroughfare of what was then an upper-class neighborhood a short distance from James Vernor's drugstore.
It is known that by the 1880s the Boston cooler was being served in Detroit, made with the local Vernors, an intense golden ginger ale, unlike most modern dry ginger ales. Originally, a drink called a Vernors Cream was served as a shot or two of sweet cream poured into a glass of Vernors golden ginger ale. Later, vanilla ice cream was substituted for the cream as a Vernors float. Unlike a float however, a Boston Cooler is blended like a thick milk shake. Both Sanders' soda fountains and the Big Boy restaurant chain used their milkshake blenders to prepare the drink (it was a signature menu item at Big Boy until its change in ownership in the 1980s).
It can be found most often in the Detroit region's many Coney Island-style restaurants, which are plentiful because of Detroit's Greektown district influence. National Coney Island is one of the few restaurant chains to list the Boston cooler in their menu. It is also found at the Detroit-area Dairy Queens and at Halo Burger, a mid-Michigan fast food chain.



To make a Boston Cooler, all you need is a large mug type glass (frosted if you prefer), add about 2-3 scoops of vanilla ice cream, then add Vernors Ginger Ale (regular or diet) and enjoy!

Glazed Plums & Vanilla Pudding

It's that time of the year when plums are everywhere! Delicious, sweet & juicy, plums are very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. They are also a good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A and Vitamin K, and a very good source of Vitamin C.

Start with making your favorite Vanilla Pudding recipe and chill that. Tapioca Pudding is great for this dessert as well!

You can get the recipe for the plums here: Glazed Plums

The recipe states using Cointreau, but I only had Grand Marnier and it worked just fine!

I used a beautiful variety of plums including: California Midnight Moon, Starless Ruby, Sunrise Red & Golden Meadow Plums

Melt the butter in a large skillet and add the sliced plums and sugar and saute until the sugar melts and begins to caramelize.


Add the orange juice and orange liquor, remove from the heat and ignite, swirling the pan a bit. The flame was very light so it can't really be seen here.

Return the pan to medium heat and cook until the flame dies down and the sauce reduces to about half.

In dessert dishes or parfait glasses (I used a wine glass as it was all I had available at the moment!), layer some of the plums and syrup, pudding, and top with more plus and syrup.

Simple, quick and really delicious. A unique summer treat!

Sunday Dinner Outdoors

After a day of grocery shopping (2 different stores), a quick and easy dinner on the patio!

Grilled Whole Chicken with Barbecue Sauce

1. Set up grill for indirect grilling*. Rinse 1 whole chicken (4 to 4-1/2 pounds) inside and out, dry thoroughly. Generously season inside and out with coarse salt & freshly ground pepper. Clean and lightly oil the hot grates of the grill.

2. Place chicken, breast side up, on opposite side of grill from heat. Cover and grill until cooked through, or a thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the thigh (avoiding bone) registers 160 degrees, about 1-1/2 hours, rotating halfway through cooking (if using a charcoal grill, add a couple handfuls of charcoal every half hour to maintain heat).

3. About 15 minutes before chicken is done, brush with 1/2 cup Classic Barbeque Sauce, Let chicken rest 20 minutes before carving.

To compliment this wonderful barbequed chicken, Emeril's Cast-Iron Honey Cornbread bakes right in a cast-iron skillet on your grill in about 15 minutes!

Both of these great recipes can be done outdoors, right on your grill!! Add a nice fresh salad and enjoy this wonderful summer meal!

*Indirect Grilling: Set up the heat source (gas or charcoal) on one side of the grill and place the food on the other, creating more gentle, ovenlike heat that can slow-roast larger cuts of meat until tender.

These recipes and many more can be found in the July/August 2009 issue of Everyday Food!

Check out the "60 Days Of Summer" for more great ideas!!