Dinner with Friends

I had my friends C & E over for dinner the other night. We had a great time enjoying my favorite things, listening to good music and drinking wine.

We also made some good food. This Beef Burgundy is a Rachel Ray recipe but it is a good, easy one. It's one of her 30 minute meals. It usually seems to take me 40 minutes and it's easy to stretch to an hour, in a social situation.

Rachel's Recipe

If you use the pearl onions, as she suggests, it is better. I always have a couple of regular onions around and find this tastes almost as good, with no additional cost or labor. I also just put this over whatever pasta or rice I have lying around. There may be better meat choices than sirloin. I'd recommend a juicier cut, more like a ribeye. Not enough cooking time is involved for proper "slow and low" cooking to tenderize the cheaper cuts. You could get away with the sirloin or stew beef. Just start with a little more liquid and cook it for longer. Near the end of the cooking I like to stir in a little milk or cream. It helps with the overall consistency of the sauce and adds a smoothness to the flavor.

Let the leftovers continue

This should be the last of the leftover ingredients posts. I've just about made it through the remainder of the Thanksgiving stores. I am pretty pleased. While I did go vastly over budget on the feast grocery shopping I have made those ingredients extend for a week with some really good meals.

So, I had leftover....
Whipping cream
Turkey
Brussels sprouts
Pine nuts
Parmesan and Provolone cheese.

So I put that together with some bow tie pasta for some Alfredo. Aside from clearing out some leftovers, this was ridiculously simple to make and looks a Little fancy. It's also remarkably quick to make. Once the pasta was cooked, the whole thing took less than five minutes to make.

I tossed the turkey and the Brussels sprouts in the microwave for a few seconds.

Next I melted a quarter stick of butter over lowish heat, then whisked in a half cup of the cream, until it just came to a simmer.
Next I drizzled in about a cup of shredded cheese, again stirring to combine. Then, I removed it from the heat and tossed in the pasta.
The turkey and sprouts went into the pan and the whole thing went onto the plate. I managed to hold off my Om Nom Nom Nom instincts just long enough to garnish it all with some freshly cracked pepper and another grating of Parmesan Reggiano.



A couple of notes:

Blogger doesn't exactly make it look easy to follow a blog, but it is. If you have a gmail login, this works, here. Otherwise, an account is free, comes with a gmail address and doesn't require your own blog....

Also, I ran across an interesting article on healthy takeout. Take out is a regular part of of our lives, whether we like it or not. none of us can, or want to, cook every meal.

http://www.rd.com/living-healthy/make-take-out-as-healthy-as-home-cooking/article15996.html

When you just can't take the leftovers any more.

So for the past few days, I have been content with Thanksgiving leftovers.

Now I'm over it. I cannot face another turkey sandwich.


When I did my grocery shopping, I may have gone a Little overboard. Aside from over spending, I also find myself with several ingredients that weren't needed for our feast and that I don't want to waste.

In my pantry I had left over fennel, onions, garlic and some homemade stock.

I also happened to have some pasta and some sweet italian sausage.

Mom #2 makes this great Italian soup. This seemed a perfect way to make use of these ingredients without revisiting the flavors of Thanksgiving.


I received some feedback from the first post that you would like to see recipes. When possible I will provide these.



WHITE BEAN, FENNEL AND SAUSAGE SOUP

8 Servings

2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb. sweet Italian sausage, skinned and crumbled
2 medium or 1 large fennel bulbs (about 1 pound) coarsely chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
6 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley or fresh basil, firmly packed
6 cups chicken stock or canned low-sodium broth
1 28-oz. can Italian peeled tomatoes and juice
2 cups cooked white beans such as cannellini or Great Northern, rinse if canned
1 cup cooked macaroni or small shells
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Parmesan cheese, grated
Fennel leaves for garnish

1. In large heavy non-reactive skillet, heat the oil. Stir in the sausage and cook over high heat until well browned, about 5 minutes. Drain off all the fat. Lower the heat to moderate and add the fennel, onions, garlic and parsley. Cook until the vegetables are just crisp-tender, 10-15 minutes.
2. Add the chicken stock and the tomatoes with their juice. Break up the tomatoes with a spoon and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat and simmer until all the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.
3. When ready to serve, stir in the beans and cooked shells and heat through. Season with salt and pepper. Serve in shallow soup bowls with grated parmesan and fennel leaves on top.


Enjoy your leftovers.