Ideas Please

Please send ideas of your favorite dishes.  I need some new inspirations.  Please do not send full recipes, just ideas.  I want to try a new spin on things, not copy recipes.  Thanks

Pasta with Meat Sauce

This dish is perfect for hiding vegetables in a beautiful meat sauce.   It may seem like a lot of vegetables, but slow cooking blends the sauce together.

Meat and Vegetable sauce:
2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs. unsalted butter
1 cup onion, diced
1 tbs. garlic, diced
1/2 cup of each of the following, diced: carrots, zucchini, asparagus, and celery
2 vine ripened tomatoes with seeds removed, diced
1 pound lean ground turkey
1/2 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup red whine
1/4 -1/2 cup chicken stock
3 tbs. tomato paste
1 tbs. each:  salt, pepper
1 tbs. each dried: rosemary, basil, parsley, red pepper
Fresh Parmesan wedge: to be grated later
Pasta:
1 LB Linguine Fini
6 quarts salted boiling water
Boil for 6-10 minutes until pasta is slightly undercooked

Directions:
In a large sauté pan, heat 1 tbs. oil and ½ tbs. butter over medium heat.   Add onions and allow to cook and sweat for 2-3 minutes.  Add garlic and cook until lightly browned.  Add turkey and beef, smash meat apart as is cooks with a spoon.  Add salt, pepper and seasonings.  Cook thoroughly until browned.  In second pan, place remaining butter and oil.  Add remaining vegetables, and brown/cook for 3-5 minutes before adding to meat.  De glaze meat and vegetable pan with red wine, scraping bottom of pan with metal spatula.  Add chicken broth and cover for 45min-1hr.  When the meat sauce is almost done, add water to a large pot and bring to boil.  Add pasta and cook until slightly under done, or al dente.  Use spider or slotted spoon to remove pasta and add to meat sauce.  Do not drain pasta, extra pasta water thickens sauce.  Toss pasta in sauce and cover for 3-8 minutes.  When finished, pile on plate and shred fresh Parmesan over pasta.

Sides:
Bake bread sticks and add a nice fresh salad to finish the meal.

Merry Christmas

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!  Sorry I have not posted in a while, but with the holidays things have been crazy.  I hope to post a couple of new recipe's next week! 

Sunday Ribs

Ingredients:

6 country style ribs

Brine:

1 cup water

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1 TBS cayenne pepper divided

1 tsp garlic powder

Rub:

1 TBS cayenne pepper

1 tsp cumin

1tsp barbecue seasoning

1tsp onion power

1 TBS garlic salt

½ tsp dried basil

1 tsp crushed red pepper

Sauce:

3 TBS orange juice concentrate

1 TBS honey

1 tsp ketchup

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp barbecue sauce

Braising ingredients:

1 TBS butter

2 cups chicken stock

½ yellow onion

Directions:

Take meat from fridge and pat dry.  Remove excess fat and silver skin.  Rub 1 TBS of cayenne pepper and garlic powder onto meat.  Place meat into Ziploc bag and pour in 1 cup of water and ½ cup apple cider vinegar.  Let meat brine for 4-6 hours in fridge.   Remove meat from fridge and pat dry again.  Rub spice mixture onto meat and brown all sides in cast iron skillet.  Remove meat and place onto baking rack on baking sheet, pour sauce over meat.   Preheat oven to 300* and bake ribs for 2 hours.  Place sauté pan onto stove and brown onions in butter.  Pour chicken stock in and bring to slow boil.  Place meat into stock and turn heat down to simmer.  Place lid on and cook until tender, approx 30-40 minutes.  Meat should be fork tender and bones should be easily pulled out.  Serve with your favorite side, I choose mashed potatoes.  This recipe takes a lot of time and love; it is perfect for weekend cooking.  Do some grocery shopping while meat brine's and enjoy a craft or clean house while meat is baking.

Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken:

2 thighs, 1 breast

Rub:

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

 Tsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp. balsamic vinegar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Take chicken out of fridge and pat dry.  Rub salt, pepper and Italian seasoning   Mix mustard, sugar and vinegar, rub onto chicken.  Place on roasting rack on top of baking sheet and bake30 minutes. Let cool and shred with fork. 

Pie Filling:

1 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

1 pinch nutmeg

1 pinch cayenne pepper

1 Tbs.. butter, divided

1 tsp. olive oil

½ small onion

¼ cup finely diced carrots

¼ cup finely diced celery

1 medium yellow potato, diced

½ cup defrosted chopped spinach

¼ cup white wine

2 cups chicken broth

¼ cup Parmesan cheese

1 Tbs. flour

Directions:

Place 1 Tbs. butter and 1 tsp. olive oil in non stick sauce pan.  Chop onion and seasoning in pan.  Finely dice carrot, celery and potato; add to pan. Allow vegetables to brown before adding chicken and spinach to the pan.  Once all vegetables have browned, deg-laze pan with wine and chicken stock.   Bring to boil, then  turn down to simmer.  Once vegetables are tender, remove from heat and let cool prior to making pot pie. 

Pot Pie creation:

Place filling into ramekin or pie dish.  Roll out prepared pie crust and cut into strips.  Crack one egg into dish and brush egg onto ends of pie crust.  Layer strips onto dish and secure to sides with egg wash.  Once crust is secured brush top with egg wash.  Place in 350* oven until crust is a beautiful golden brown.   

Chicken

I have been trying to find the best deal for the best quality chicken.  The answer I have found is chicken thighs.  Chicken breast are my favorite, but so expensive.  Chicken drumsticks yield very little meat.  Thighs are a good compromise yielding a lot of mean that can be mixed with breast meat.  This next recipe was inspired by the deal I found with chicken thigh meat.  When shopping at the store think of what recipes you can make and what inexpensive meat you can choose for the recipe. 

It's the Holidays....Everyone Needs a Cookie Recipe

 Ingredients:

1 cup room temperature unsalted butter

¼ cup white sugar

1 ¼ cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 ½ cup of flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups rolled oats

1/3 cup toffee

1 ½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips

¼ cup chopped almonds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

Mix flour, baking soda, and salt

In large mixture Cream butter and sugar together, mix in eggs

Slowly add flour mixture, combine thoroughly

Stir in oats, toffee, almonds and chips

Place 1 tsp. of cookie mixture and bake for  14-17 minutes