Chicken Cacciatore

feed 4 or more

Prep time: 1 hour on stove

Ingredients:

Chicken legs and thighs, 2-3 pieces per person ( Breasts cut in half with bones work also, wings not so much)

Make extra is delicious the next day or COLD or reheated

One baguette for dipping and sopping up sauce

4-5  cups Lori’s tomato sauce  ( see January Archive or below)

1.Make tomato sauce… ( the longer it cooks the thicker and more yummy it gets)

add 4-5 cups to large frying  pan which will be for cooking all the Chicken and turn heat on Low so sauce simmers ( lightly bubbles).

 2. Take and prepared Italian dressing ( I like Kraft Zesty Italian) pour ½ cup into a bowl add chicken and toss until coated.

3. Heat  a Large frying pan, when hot add chicken a few pieces at a time in one layer.

4. Brown chicken on both sides, as pieces brown set them into pan covering with simmering sauce, in one layer (chicken will not be cooked at this point. Cooking is completed in the sauce.)

5. Chicken should be covered with sauce…cover pot and let simmer 45 minutes

LORI’S Tomato Sauce 

Makes 2 quarts 
Prep Time: 45 minutes from chopping til eating

¼ - ½ cup olive oil enough to coat the bottom of a Large pot 1/4" (6-8 quart)
2 - 6 oz can tomato paste
2 cups onion diced
2 cloves garlic or 1 tsp granular dry
¼ cup fresh parsley 
2 tsp each basil, thyme, oregano, parsley
4-8 Cups hot water
28 oz large can Contadina crushed tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
OPTIONAL Red Pepper flakes, a pinch at a time and stir, to taste

Directions:
1. Dice onion, mince garlic, chop  parsley, keep separate…
2. Sauté onion until soft and translucent not browned . 10 minutes
3. Add tomato paste, sauté on medium heat 5 minutes, stirring so it doesn't burn
4. Add garlic and all herbs, sauté 5 minutes stirring occasionally
5. Add crushed tomatoes, heat to bubbling on high, stirring occasionally to move tomatoes from the bottom.
6. Add water stirring as you add to combine all ingredients.
It will thicken as you simmer
 Optional: add more water to get the consistency that you enjoy .
7. Simmer consistently for 30 minutes - gently stir occasionally so bottom doesn’t burn
8. Add pinch kosher salt and pepper to Taste 
9. Add a spoonful of sugar and stir well.( from the ½ cup,) taste after each addition until you like the flavor.
10. Add  pepper flakes if you choose

Basic Jambalaya Spice

This is the basic Jambalaya Spice and can be modified to your own taste.. and do add a little at a time!

Ingredients
2 bay leaves, crushed or ground
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried or ground sage
1 teaspoon file powder
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Yield: Provides ample spicing for 1 jambalaya or gumbo recipe that feeds 4 to 6 people.

Shrimp and Chicken Jambalaya Recipe

I buy whole shrimp so that I can use the shells to make the stock. 

Basic Jambalaya
1 Tbsp Unsalted Butter 
1/2 Cup Diced Andouille Sausage 
1/2 Cup Diced Onion 
1/2 Cup Diced Bell Pepper 
1/2 Cup Diced Celery 
1/2 Cup Diced Fresh Tomatoes 
1/2 Cup Tomato Sauce 
3/4 Cup Enriched Long Grain Rice 
1 1/4 Cup Chicken Stock with a Shrimp shell infusion(3 cans of Chicken Stock add shrimp shells simmer  for about 30 minutes and strain well.)
1 Tbsp Worcestershire 
2 Tbsp Minced Fresh Garlic 
1/2 Cup Diced Chicken Breast (raw)

1 1/2 Cup Medium Shrimp 
1 Tbsp Finely Chopped Italian Parsley 
3 Tbsp Finely Sliced Green Onions 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
Mix the Onion, Celery, and Bell Pepper. 
In your Cast Iron Oven, melt the butter over medium heat .
Add the Andouille and cook until it just starts to brown. 
Add half of the Onion, Celery, and Bell Pepper, cook until the vegetables are tender. 
Add the diced Tomatoes and cook for 1 minute. Add the Tomato Sauce and cook for another minute. 
Add the Rice and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. 
Add the Stock, the remaining half of the Onion, Celery, and Bell Pepper.
Add the Basic Jambalaya Spice, Worcestershire, and the Garlic. 
Add the Chicken, stir well and put the pot in the preheated oven.
 Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. 
After the 30 minutes stir in the raw Shrimp, Parsley, and Green Onions, place back in the oven until the Shrimp are cooked. 
Serve with French Bread.

Lori's soup to Nuts Recipe Club: Souper Bowled Over Sunday

Lori's soup to Nuts Recipe Club: Souper Bowled Over Sunday

Souper Bowled Over Sunday

This is the 2011 Soup Group on Souper Bowl Sunday... We cooked up 3 touchdowns before the game! Chicken ,shrimp and andouille sausage Jambalaya, Saffron Beef Stew and Thick and hammy Split pea soup... recipes to follow ASAP

The Perfect Cookies

Perfect Cookies

By:   Allrecipes Staff

Some cookies should be crisp and delicate, while others ought to be chewy and tender.

Troubleshooting

If you have a cookie recipe that you love, but aren’t getting the desired results, use these tips to get your perfect cookie:

·        Flat If you want your cookies on the flat side, you can do some or all of the following things: Use all butter, use all-purpose flour or bread flour, increase the sugar content slightly, add a bit of liquid to your dough, and bring the dough to room temperature before baking.

·        Puffy For light, puffy cookies, use shortening or margarine and cut back on the amount of fat; add an egg, cut back on the sugar, use cake flour or pastry flour, use baking powder instead of baking soda and refrigerate your dough before baking.

·        Chewy Try melting the butter before adding it to the sugars when mixing. Remove cookies from the oven a few minutes before they are done, while their centers are still soft but are just cooked through. The edges should be golden. Use brown sugar, honey or molasses as a sweetener. Let cookies cool on the pan for several minutes after baking before transferring to cooling rack.

·        Crispy For crisp, crunchy cookies, use all butter and a proportion of white sugar. Use egg yolks in place of a whole egg. Cookies should be baked completely. Let cool on the baking sheet for one minute before transferring to a cooling rack.

Recipes for soft, chewy cookies

·        Farm Macaroons

·        Soft Oatmeal Cookies

·        Soft Sugar Cookies V

·        Big Soft Ginger Cookies

·        Chewy Chocolate Cookies III

·        Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

Recipes for crisp, crunchy cookies

·        Pecan Sandies

·        Russian Tea Cakes III

·        Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

·        Brown Butter Cookies

·        Grandma's Gingersnaps

·        Aunt Gail's Oatmeal Lace Cookies

The ingredients, mixing techniques and baking temperature all affect how a batch of cookies will turn out

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Ingredients

Using the correct ingredients is key. Follow the recipe closely and measure ingredients carefully for best results.

Fats Cookies are made primarily with butter, margarine or shortening. Fats play a major role in the spread of a cookie--whether a cookie keeps its shape or flattens in the oven. Shortening and margarine are stable, and will help cookies keep their original unbaked shapes. Butter melts at a much lower temperature than other solid fats--it melts at body temperature, resulting in a “melt-in-your-mouth” burst of flavor. Cookies made with butter tend to spread out. Butter is essential in certain cookies, such as shortbreads; if they don’t hold their shape, consider lowering the amount of butter, sugar, or baking soda in the recipe. The amount of fat also affects the cookies: in general, more fat equals flat, crispy cookies while less fat equals puffier, cake-like cookies. Whipped spreads are not suitable for baking: use solid sticks of margarine instead.

Flour Flour also affects how cookies behave. Most cookie recipes call for all-purpose or pastry flour. Both bread flour, with its high protein content, and cake flour, which is high in starch, produce cookies that tend to spread less. (The gluten in the bread flour and the absorbant starch in cake flour are responsible for the similar results.) Higher flour-to-liquid ratios are needed in shortbread and crumbly-textured cookies.

Baking Powder and Baking Soda Baking powder and baking soda are the two most common leaveners in cookies. Baking soda is simply bicarbonate of soda, while baking powder is a combination of bicarbonate of soda plus cream of tartar, an acidic ingredient. Baking soda neutralizes the acidity of the dough, allowing the cookies to brown in the oven. Since baking powder already contains its own acid, it will not reduce the acidity in the dough, and the resulting cookies will be puffier and lighter in color.

Sugars Like fats, sugars liquefy in the oven. The type and amount of sugar used play a big role in cookie performance. White sugar makes a crisper cookie than brown sugar or honey. Cookies made from brown sugar will absorb moisture after baking, helping to ensure that they stay chewy. Most chocolate chip cookie recipes contain both brown and white sugars. If you lower the amount of sugar called for in a cookie recipe, the final baked cookie will be puffier than its high-sugar counterpart.

Eggs and Liquids Eggs are a binding agent. Liquids can either cause cookies to puff up or spread. If egg is the liquid, it will create a puffy, cake-like texture. Just a tablespoon or two of water or other liquid will help your cookies spread into flatter and crisper rounds. Egg yolks bind the dough and add richness but allow a crisp texture after baking, whereas egg whites tend to make cookies dry and cakey. To make up for the drying effect of the egg whites, extra sugar is often added. This is why cookies made with just egg whites tend to be so sweet--think of macaroons.

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Mixing

Cookies are not as delicate as cakes, but proper mixing is still important. Some recipes require a creaming step in which the fat and sugars are beaten together until light-colored and fluffy. Other cookies require a sandy texture, so the fat is cut into the flour. Over-mixing can incorporate too much air into the dough, resulting in flat, overly spread-out cookies. Follow the recipe instructions. Once you combine the dry and wet ingredients, mix until just combined.

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Temperature

Unless otherwise specified, ingredients should be at room temperature before mixing. Cookie dough that is chilled before baking will hold its shape better. Rolled and cut-out cookies should be refrigerated before baking for sharper, clearer edges. Drop cookies, such as chocolate chip or oatmeal cookies, can be at room temperature before baking; the spoonfuls of dough will spread and flatten out to the desired result.

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Equipment and Baking

Different baking sheets and ovens produce different results. Thin baking sheets may allow the bottoms to brown too fast. Special insulated baking sheets allow air movement and help cookies bake evenly, but they can be expensive. Semi-thick rimmed baking sheets--also called jellyroll pans--are available just about everywhere, and are a fine multipurpose baking choice. Rather than greasing each baking sheet, consider investing in a roll of parchment paper or a nonstick pan liner to make cookie removal and clean-up easy.

Follow the recipe’s instructions for baking. Invest in an oven thermometer to be sure your oven temperature is calibrated correctly. Generally, cookies are baked in a moderate oven--350 degrees F (175 degrees C)--for 8 to 12 minutes, depending on the size of the cookie. For chewy cookies, allow them to cool on the pan for 3 to 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. For crispier cookies, let cool for one minute on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack.