Pages, Pucks and Pantry

Vienna Sausage Cornbread

Yes. Halloween is over.  This is not a trick. But, yes, you read that right, Vienna Sausage*. I admit, as a kid, I was a huge fan of the stuff. It was a treat. But I'll also admit I haven't eaten Vienna Sausage in at least 25 years.

And then I came across this little recipe. Tucked in among all these old papers my mom gave me to go through were some old recipes that were cut out of magazines and pasted to 3x5 cards. There were two cards, one that used real sausage and one that used, yes, those little canned wieners, Vienna Sausage.

So I bit the dust and bought a can. I had to try it just to bring back some of those childhood memories. Since the recipe called for a 4-oz can and they only sold 5-oz, I thought I'd take a taste of one of the sausages before I cooked with them. I remember pork goodness. I got, er, not such pork goodness. Not really a taste I remember. Not really a taste that I'd swoon over. So I didn't populate the entire cornbread with Vienna Sausage slices as requested, I just put them on half.

Interesting taste. Because they were cut so small it didn't really over flavor the cornbread. It gave the cornbread a different taste, but that I honestly can't say I was fond of. If you like Vienna Sausages you'll probably like this. I think next time I'll try the second recipe that requested Italian Hot sausage.

VIENNA SAUSAGE CORNBREAD 

1 package cornbread mix

1 4-oz can Vienna Sausages

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. (hot). Prepare mix as directed on package. Pour into baking pan. Cut sausages into 1/4 inch crosswise slices. Scatter over batter. Bake 30 minutes. Cut in squares and serve hot with butter. Serves 4.

Note: I used Jiffy corn muffin mix

Note: I didn't have real milk so I made a mixture of heavy cream and skim milk.

Note: I used the standard Vienna Sausage (as opposed to various flavors).

Note: I used the corn bread (Johnny cake) directions on the side of the Jiffy box.

*the can says Vienna Sausage is made with chicken, beef & pork in chicken broth. Ready to eat plump, delicately seasoned sausages.

Mango Avocado Shrimp Salad

This was a pretty quick and simple recipe to put together. Perfect for a hot summer meal. Great flavor and the dish worked well for the "meatless Mondays" we are trying to work into our diets.

The recipe came from the March 2008 issue of Sunset magazine.

MANGO AVOCADO SHRIMP SALAD

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons grapeseed or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sugar
2 large firm-ripe mangoes (2 lbs total)
2 medium firm-ripe avocados (1 lb total)
2/3 cup each thinly sliced green onion and chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon minced fresh hot red or green chile (or 1/2 tsp dried red chili flakes)
1 pound (70 to 110 per lb.) peeled cooked shrimp

In a large bowl, whisk together lime juice, oil, and sugar until sugar dissolves.

Dice mangoes and avocados into 3/4-in. cubes; add to bowl. Add green onion, cilantro, chile, and shrimp. Mix gently.  Serve or cover and chill for up to 1 hour. Makes 6 servings at 288 calories per serving.

Note: I used red chili flakes instead of the fresh chilies. I used vegetable oil.

Note: I actually put this over some dark green lettuce leaves to make it more of a main dish salad.

Dad's Amazing Brandied Shrimp

No, not my Dad's shrimp recipe, Ingrid Hoffmann's Dad. Ingrid of the Food Networks Simply Delicioso cooking show.

I know I sound like a broken record, but this was so quick and easy to make. I think I was able to complete everything, start to finish, in maybe 25 minutes. That included measuring all the ingredients, taking the tails off the shrimp, cooking, plating AND taking photos.

For some reason I had a lot of sauce left. Might be because I had a bit more shrimp than called for so I put in a bit more of the sauce ingredients. The photo that accompanied the recipe looked like the sauce had been cooked down quite a bit and that there was more of a glaze on the shrimp. Didn't matter. Mr. L loved the sauce. So much so that he used the remaining sauce as a dressing for the salad that went with dinner. I'm thinking this dish would work great over rice or noodles. I think it would work either way (cook down to more of a glaze or have more sauce). Hmm...dipping bread into any leftover sauce sounds good too.

Simple, very quick, very tasty dish. Except for fresh oregano and parsley I usually always have the ingredients for this on hand so I can see this becoming a regular meal especially on busy nights.

This came from the February 2008 issue of Fitness Magazine.

BRANDIED SHRIMP

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon Tabasco (or more to taste)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves
2 tablespoons brandy
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the shrimp, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and some salt and pepper. Let the mixture simmer until the shrimp are partially cooked and beginning to curl, about 2 minutes. Sir in the ketchup and oregano and simmer 2 more minutes, or until the shrimp are opaque and just cooked through. Add the brandy and parsley; stir to combine. Remove from heat and serve. Makes 4 servings at 253 calories each.

Note: I used shrimp that had already been peeled and deveined, all I had to do was take off the tails. I of course, used more Tabasco. I used organic sugar free ketchup.

Berries With Sorbet Eggs

This is another one of those really really simple recipes that takes little work but has good results. It was perfect for a summer night after temps had been in the 100's for a few days.

We used Mango Sorbet instead of the lemon sorbet requested as that's what we had on hand. I figure you can pretty much use any sorbet, and hey, change up the fruit and sorbet flavors according to what you have available. I was thinking with some blueberries, raspberries and some Pina Colada sorbet, you'd have a perfect red, white and blue dessert for today.

With a little extra effort (adding the mint, getting that sorbet into an egg shape, plating in a martini glass) this would make a quick but nicely presented dessert after any summer meal.

I admit I was a bit challenged on making my sorbet into an egg shape.  I don't think Mr. L even noticed.

This recipe came out of the April 14, 2009 issue of Woman's Day magazine.

BERRIES WITH SORBET EGGS

1 pint strawberries, diced
1/2 pint raspberries
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
2 pints lemon sorbet
Fresh mint springs for garnish (optional)

Toss strawberries, raspberries, sugar and lemon juice in a bowl until evenly coated. Let stand 20 minutes until juicy.

Spoon berry mixture onto serving plates; top with a scoop of lemon sorbet. If using mint, lightly coat small sprigs with water, sprinkle with a little additional sugar and garnish plate. Serves 8. 124 calories each.

Note: This served four for us.

Note: Used Mango Sorbet. Left out mint.

Note: There was quite a bit of "juice" in the berry mixture. I didn't use it for the photo but it was tasty juice and went into the remaining desserts.

Note: I remember that to make sorbet into an "egg" shape you take two spoons and sort of mold the sorbet between the two to get your shape. I tried. I failed. Didn't change the taste of the dish at all.

Ropa Vieja

Though it was a pretty hot day here today, it's been a pretty chilly summer so far. Big cuts of meat in the crock pot are a welcome meal to come home to, especially when we are busy after work.

This recipe comes from the January 2009 issue of Good Housekeeping. Traditionally shredded flank steak in a tomato sauce base, this was an easy version of the dish that translates into "old clothes" in Spanish. I liked the added kick the pickled jalapeno chilies added (though the dish wasn't hot at all).

This recipe calls for stirring the cooking liquid back into the beef after it's shredded, putting the mixture into a bowl and serving with tortillas. We had a bunch of leftover tortillas that we decided to use to make Ropa Vieja burritos. Adding the liquid back into the shredded beef would have made the mixture too soupy. In fact, we had to drain the beef quite a bit before serving in tortillas just to have something that wasn't too messy to eat. Next time we'll put the mixture in a bowl and serve it more like a stew as intended.  The extra cooking liquid though, worked great over rice.

ROPA VIEJA

1/2 c. drained sliced pickled jalapeno chiles
3 red, orange, and/or yellow peppers, cut into 1/4-in-wide slices
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 lg. onion (12 oz.) cut in half and sliced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 bay leaf
Salt
2 beef flank steaks (3 1/2 lbs. total)
1 can (14.5 oz.) whole tomatoes in juice
Warm tortillas or rice (optional)

In a 6 to 6 1/2 quart slow cooker bowl, stir together jalapenos, peppers, garlic, onion, cumin, oregano, bay leaf, and 1 teaspoon salt. Top with flank steaks, cutting steaks if necessary to fit in slow cooker bowl. With kitchen shears, coarsely cut up tomatoes in can. Pour tomatoes with their juice over steaks in slow cooker; do not stir. Cover slow cooker with lid, and cook as manufacturer directs on low setting 9 hours.

With slotted spoon, transfer steak and vegetables to large bowl. Discard bay leaf. With 2 forks, shred steak, with the grain, into fine strips. Skim and discard fat from cooking liquid. Stir cooking liquid into steak mixture. Spoon into serving bowls, and serve with warm tortillas if you like. Makes about 10 cups (10 main-dish servings). 300 calories a serving.

Note: We drained the liquid from the meat mixture and made burritos. We also added some sour cream and shredded cheese to this. Completely takes away any authenticity of this being a Ropa Vieja but it made great burritos. And the remaining liquid did work great over rice.

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

Make this cake. Seriously. Just make this cake. You will not be sorry.

When I came across this recipe in the June 2009 issue of Gourmet magazine, I bookmarked it. It was under their Quick Every Day section. So I figured it would be a quick and easy dessert to make at some point.

Then I saw the cake posted on Smitten Kitchen's blog. Her photographs looked so tempting, showing much more of the raspberries than the cake in the magazine. Since I had just picked up half a flat of fresh raspberries from the Farmers Market (it was towards the end of the day and they were going for a buck a pint), I decided to make this cake that night.

It's a very light cake, perfect for a summer dessert. Simple. Quick. It looks good. It tastes good. It tastes really good. Trust me, you need to make this cake. And don't be afraid of the buttermilk. I'm not normally a fan of the stuff but in baked goods like this it works really well and you don't taste it.

RASPBERRY BUTTERMILK CAKE

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar, divided
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh raspberries (about 5-oz)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes, then beat in vanilla. Add egg and beat well.

At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined.

Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar.

Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate. Serves 6

Note: Recipe says you can substitute any sweet, juicy berries for the raspberries.

Note: Do check out Smitten Kitchens modified recipe here. She added some grated lemon zest (which I also added), gives some clearer directions on what to do, and shortens the cooking time (I guess some of her readers found the 25-30 minute baking time too long. I cooked mine 25 minutes). She also gives directions on how to make your own buttermilk if you don't want to buy some. She gives a hint of how to "scatter" the raspberries which made sense and is what I followed.

Note: I used more than a cup of raspberries.