International Night – Greece

My son requested Greece for our featured country this week, and it proved to be a bit of a challenge to find a main dish recipe. Many Greek dishes are made with lamb, and none of us really care for lamb, so those recipes were out. I finally settled on pastitsio, a pasta and meat sauce dish that is popular in Greece, particularly around Easter.

To be honest, we didn’t really care for it, but it’s only because I insisted on preparing it the authentic Greek way, with cinnamon and nutmeg as seasoning for the tomato based meat sauce. I don’t know about most readers, but in my family cinnamon and nutmeg aren’t spices we generally use with ground beef and tomatoes.

I remember one time when I was young, my dad accidentally added cinnamon to the chicken and dressing one Thanksgiving because he thought it was sage. I never really ate chicken and dressing, so it didn’t bother me, but the rest of the family gave him a hard time about that for years. I guess he would have fit in nicely as a Greek cook!

If you are willing to try new tastes, you can prepare the pastitsio the way the Greeks do. If you’re not feeling that adventurous, feel free to omit the cinnamon and nutmeg and add the familiar spice of your choice.

The Greek salad, however, was a big hit. It was very simple to make, and I’m going to do my best to approximate the measurements for the recipe since I just threw it together based on the traditional ingredients.

Greek Salad

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

2 cucumbers, sliced

1/4 c. red onion, diced

1 c. kalamata olives

8 oz. feta cheese, cubed

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper

1/4 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 tsp. dried basil

2 T. olive oil

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Serve on a bed of lettuce, if desired.

Pastitsio

8 oz. penne or ziti pasta

3 T. melted butter

1/3 c. grated parmesan cheese

1/3 c. milk

1 egg, beaten

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 c. chopped onion

1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp. pepper

4 T. butter

4 T. all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

2 c. milk

1 egg, beaten

1/3 c. parmesan cheese

Cook pasta; drain, and return to pan. Stir in the melted butter, 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, 1/3 cup milk, and the egg; set aside.

In a a skillet or large saucepan, cook ground beef and onion until meat is browned and onion is soft; drain excess fat. Stir in tomato sauce, the 1 teaspoon salt,  cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper; set aside.

In a saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter, then mix in flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Slowly stir in the 2 cups milk, stirring well after each addition so that no lumps form. Cook and stir on medium high until cream sauce starts to thicken; stir for one minute more, then remove from heat. Beat egg in a small bowl, then pour into cream sauce, stirring briskly. Blend in the 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese.

Layer half the pasta mixture in a 11" x 7" (or 2 quart) baking dish. Spoon the meat mixture evenly on top, then the remaining pasta. Pour cream sauce over top, to cover completely. Bake, uncovered, at 350F for about 40 minutes, or until hot and lightly browned. Let stand for 10 minutes.

International Night – Italy

Spaghetti, pizza, lasagna – all very familiar Italian dishes to the average American. However, for our third International Night we decided to feature a meal from Italy that isn’t commonly served outside of the country. As I do each week, I started with the Wikipedia entry on the cuisine of our chosen country. This proved a daunting task this week, as there were 19 different regional cuisines listed for Italy! This was going to be much more than pizza and spaghetti!

After reading over the different regions, I decided to feature a main dish from the Basilicata area. One of things that caught my eye was the fact that peperoncini are often used in the recipes from this area. I knew that would be a popular choice with my husband, so I quickly settled on a dish, pollo alla potentina, chicken stewed with white wine, tomatoes and peperoncini peppers. I had some fresh mozzarella cheese in the fridge, so I decided to step out of Basilicata a bit and add a caprese salad to the evening’s meal.

Here are the recipes from our Italian night:

Pollo alla potentina

1 chicken, cut into pieces

2 cans petite diced tomatoes

3 T. olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 c. dry white wine

10-15 peperocini peppers, chopped

Chopped fresh basil

Chopped fresh parsley

1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion in oil for 3 minutes. Add chicken and brown. Add wine and peperocini. Reduce wine by half. Add tomato, basil, parsley and parmesan. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 1 hour. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with pasta and garnish with additional parsley and cheese.

Caprese salad

4 medium tomatoes, sliced

1/2 lb. fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced

1/4 c. chopped fresh basil

3 T. extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Alternate tomatoes and cheese on a serving plate. Sprinkle with basil and drizzle with olive oil. Add salt and pepper.

International Night – Germany

Tonight we enjoyed our second International Night with food, facts and activities from Germany. My son suggested Germany for our first week, but after doing a little research, I decided to prepare sauerbraten as our main dish. I discovered that the beef roast had to marinate for three days, so German night was pushed back.

Our German night was made even more authentic with the help of Candace, an old friend who is living in Germany with her family for a year. Thanks to the wonders of Facebook, I’ve been able to ask Candace for her advice on German food and culture the last couple of weeks, and she has been kind enough to take time out of her schedule to help me. I can always do research online about the food and customs of the various countries we choose, but it’s been great to actually get confirmation about things from people rather than a website. I really appreciate your help, Candace and family!

Candace suggested the potatoes and red cabbage as side dishes to my sauerbraten, and I decided to try to make spaetzle, a traditional German dumpling. I gave it my best shot, but it was kind of a miss. I’m not sure if I overcooked them or undercooked them, but they were a little too soft. We had spaetzle this summer when we ate at Epcot’s Biergarten, and it was much firmer. I threw in some pretzel nuggets since we ate pretzel bread at Biergarten as well. These were just some frozen ones I bought at Kroger, and they weren’t that great. 

Even though everything wasn’t perfect, we had plenty of good food. For our activity of the evening, we played the game Settlers of Catan, which my husband tells me is extremely popular in Germany (confirmed by Candace). Although I’m not a big board gamer, I thought it was pretty fun. Of course, my opinion of the game was greatly enhanced by the fact that I won!

Here are the recipes for sauerbraten and spaetzle as I prepared them tonight:

Spaetzle (adapted from allrecipes.com)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup milk

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 pinch freshly ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter

Mix together flour, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Beat eggs well, and add alternately with the milk to the dry ingredients. Mix until smooth. Press dough through a large holed sieve or metal grater. Drop a few at a time into simmering liquid. Cook 5 to 8 minutes. Drain well. Saute cooked spaetzle in butter or margarine.

Sauerbraten (Alton Brown’s recipe)

2 cups water

1 cup cider vinegar

1 cup red wine vinegar

1 medium onion, chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt, additional for seasoning meat

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 bay leaves

6 whole cloves

12 juniper berries

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 (3 1/2 to 4-pound) bottom round

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/3 cup sugar

8 dark old-fashioned gingersnaps (about 5 ounces), crushed

In a large saucepan over high heat combine the water, cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, onion, carrot, salt, pepper, bay leaves, cloves, juniper, and mustard seeds. Cover and bring this to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Pat the bottom round dry and rub with vegetable oil and salt on all sides. Heat a large saute pan over high heat; add the meat and brown on all sides, approximately 2 to 3 minutes per side.

When the marinade has cooled to a point where you can stick your finger in it and not be burned, place the meat in a non-reactive vessel and pour over the marinade. Place into the refrigerator for 3 days. If the meat is not completely submerged in the liquid, turn it over once a day.

After 3 days of marinating, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Add the sugar to the meat and marinade, cover and place on the middle rack of the oven and cook until tender, approximately 4 hours.

Remove the meat from the vessel and keep warm. Strain the liquid to remove the solids. Return the liquid to the pan and place over medium-high heat. Whisk in the gingersnaps and cook until thickened, stirring occasionally. Strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve to remove any lumps. Slice the meat and serve with the sauce.

Skinny chicken soup – a last minute supper

The rotisserie chicken that was used in this soup gave it a great flavor. I bought the traditional flavor because I thought it would work best for a variety of dishes. I’ll be on the lookout for rotisserie chicken sales again!

As I mentioned in one of my first posts, I am the kind of cook that often just throws things together in a pot and hope it turns into something edible for my family. Most times it works out into a good meal for us, but other times we just begrudgingly eat it because that’s all there is to eat that night. Of course, with the “misses” I never worry about preparing it again, but an even bigger issue arises with the “hits.”

My husband frequently complains that when I make one of my creations that he likes, he never gets it again because I never remember what I put into things that I just make out of the contents of the pantry and freezer. I decided when I started this blog that it would, if nothing else, force me to actually write down the recipes I create on the spur of the moment.

Today I decided it would be a good night for a filling bowl of soup. Since I’m doing Weight Watchers, I also wanted it to be something that wouldn’t burn through my points too rapidly. I remembered that I still had a bag of chicken in my freezer that came from the rotisserie chicken sale I stumbled on at Wal-Mart last week. I decided that would be the basis for a hearty soup, so I started looking around to see what else I had. I discovered that I had a plethora of soup staples in my cabinets, so I went to work. As my toddler napped, I began watching a movie and making our dinner. By the time the movie ended, there was a simmering pot of soup on the stove, and my husband was walking in the door commenting on the appetizing aromas that filled the house.

Everybody gave tonight’s soup a thumbs up, so I decided to include it in the blog so I can share it with others and possibly make it again for my family. I counted each one cup serving as four Weight Watchers points. I think that’s pretty accurate, but I could be off a little.

2 c. chopped cooked chicken
1 32 oz. carton chicken broth
5 c. water
1 28 oz. can petite diced tomatoes
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 15 oz. can kidney beans
1 c. carrots, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
3 small potatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 c. frozen corn kernels
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
4 oz. dry pasta

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to simmer for at least 30 minutes, or until vegetables are almost done. Add pasta and cook until desired doneness.

Pasta sauce – one of my early recipes

I served the sauce tonight with bow tie pasta and some chicken that I cooked in a little olive oil and Italian seasoning, a side salad and some bread.

Two good things came out of my first marriage. The best of these two things is my 11 year-old son, and the other is my creamy pasta sauce. The sauce came about one evening when I was looking for something to cook for dinner using the ingredients I had on hand, since we were broke at the time. After looking through the fridge and the cabinets, I decided to throw together some canned tomatoes, cream cheese, basil, oregano and garlic together in a sauce. I served it over spaghetti, and it was actually pretty good. Over the next couple of months, I refined the recipe to include onions, mushrooms, olive oil and a little marsala wine. Sometimes I would use canned tomatoes, but I eventually preferred using fresh Roma tomatoes. I was proud of myself for creating something so tasty by accident.

I was working at the local weekly newspaper at the time, and we would get lots of press releases on our fax machine. I remember that I was going through the faxes one Tuesday afternoon when we had finished mailing out the paper. In that pile of faxes, there was a release from the public television station AETN about their latest promotion. They had been producing a series of cookbooks based on a specific food for each letter of the alphabet. This release was for T is for Tomato. All the recipes that were submitted by viewers were going to be included in the cookbook, and a few people would be selected to prepare their recipes during the station’s upcoming pledge drive. I decided right away to send in my sauce recipe.

A few weeks later, I got a call from someone at AETN informing me that I was one of those selected to prepare my recipe on live television. I was really excited at first, but then I got a little nervous. When the time came, I went to the AETN studio in Conway, Ark., with all my ingredients for my now nearly famous sauce. It was only a few months after my wedding, so I was thrilled to get to use all my new cookware that I had received as gifts. I think I was the third person to go on, and I guess it went pretty smoothly. There was a host (whose name I can’t remember after 13 years) out there with me, so he helped keep the dialogue moving.

I was supposed to get a copy of the cookbook and copy of the show, but for some reason, I never got those things sent to me from AETN. They did give all of us an AETN apron to wear during our segments, so I didn’t come back completely empty-handed. My mother recorded the show for me, and other than looking a little scared, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I didn’t do anything too stupid while on camera. It was a fun experience, and I enjoyed the opportunity to share my recipe with the (probably very small) Saturday afternoon AETN audience.

I wish I still had that VHS tape now to show it to my speech students. Every year when we do demonstration speeches, I tell them the story of my one and only television experience.

Here is the current version of my creamy pasta sauce:

2 1/2 lbs. tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped or 2 cans diced tomatoes
4 T. olive oil
1/4 c. marsala
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
4 cloves garlic, crushed or 2 T. minced garlic
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened

Bring tomatoes, 3 T. olive oil, oregano and basil to a boil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. While simmering, heat remaining olive oil and garlic in skillet. Add onions and mushrooms; stir constantly until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat. Add cream cheese to tomato mixture and stir until cream cheese is completely melted into sauce. Add onions and mushrooms. Mix well. Serve over hot, cooked pasta. May be served with chicken breasts, if desired.

I bought some Roma tomatoes at the grocery store, but it’s also good with canned tomatoes if you want to speed up the process. I didn’t have any marsala wine, so I just used some burgundy cooking wine that I had in the fridge. Tonight I used bow tie pasta, but any kind will work.