cast iron

Food Co-Op

I just learned of a food co-op in my area...so excited.  Sees visions of canning peaches, apples, jams, butters, salsas....oh my :D  Looks like high quality organic food.  We'll give it a shot...I'll let you know how it goes.  Oo also check out Alison's Pantry.  No it's not my pantry, though I wish it were.  You can buy 15 lbs of hashbrowns for less than 15 bucks.  Amazing!  Where has this Alison been all my life?!?

Panko Crusted Perch

I've been craving something light and simple for dinner.  So I turned to my fish section in my freezer.  Mmm...perch...a nice light white fish.  Perfect.

Panko Crusted Perch

• 1 perch fillet (1/2 lb) (you could use any type of white fish)
• 1/2 cup half and half (you can use milk)
• salt and pepper
• 3/4 - 1 cup Panko crumbs
• lemon pepper seasoning
• olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter

Oven to 450-500 degrees

Bring your fish to room temperature.  Dip in milk and salt and pepper mixture.  Transfer to Panko and lemon pepper mixture.  Coat completely.  Coat the bottom of a 6x9 or 9x9 pan with olive oil and butter combination.  Put pan in oven to melt butter about 2 minutes.  Add fish to pan drizzle with a bit of olive oil or melted butter and put back into oven for about 10 minutes.  Your fish is done when it flakes easily and is no longer translucent. 

It's got a wonderful crunch.  Enjoy! 

have you loved your spices lately

Have you looked in your spice cupboard (yes I have a cupboard devoted to spices) or drawer lately?  Spices lose their oomph the longer they're kept.  According to Govt guides freshness dating is four years for whole spices and two years for ground.  Some only keep spices for 6 months (sounds expensive).  I try to update my main spices like basil, oregano, parsley, etc. at least once a year.  I absolutely love this website to buy spices Penzeys Spices.  Remember to keep your spices away from heat sources: oven heat, light bulbs etc.   Happy Cooking!   

Stuffed Green Bell Peppers

OOftah...she's alive!!  So I may or may not have fallen off the edge of cyberspace and landed in the little town of Camp Crook, SD...Google it you'll see.  I finally talked myself into getting internet at home so I'm back now with all of my kitchen adventures.  There's been a lot of cooking lately.  Hope you enjoy.

Last night we had stuffed green bell peppers.  Sounds nice and lite eh?  Wrong...I could only eat half of one.  But they were super good.  I referred to my ever-dependable Fannie Farmer cookbook circa 1970 that my mom gave me a long time ago.  We look up absolutely everything in this cookbook.  If I could only have one cookbook (which would be a very sad day) this would be it.   

Fannie said to clean and trim the very top and inside seeds and white membrane out of the bell peppers.  Fill a pot full of water that reaches 1-2 inches up the sides of the peppers.  Boil the water.  Place the peppers in the pot, cover, and boil for 5 minutes.  Remove peppers and cool.  Fill with desired stuffing.  This is what I used:

Pepper Stuffing

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tbsp butter
• 2 strips bacon, diced, fried, put aside
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, diced
• 1 lb. antelope burger (you of course can use hamburger or any other kind of meat)
• 2 cans pureed stewed tomatoes
• 1/2 cup instant rice
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp liquid smoke
• 3 tsp Chipotle Tabasco
• 1 1/2 tsp chicken base
• 2 tsp parsley
• 1 tsp oregano

• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1 tbsp melted butter

Oven to 350 degrees.

Brown bacon, reserve a small amount of drippings for flavor.  Add oil, butter and onion.  Saute til translucent add garlic and burger.  Brown.  Add tomatoes and seasonings.  Simmer for 5 minutes add rice and cook til rice is tender, about 6-10 minutes.  Depending on liquid content you may need to add some additional water for the rice...be careful to not add too much as your stuffing will then turn into soup.  Place stuffing into the peppers.  I made mine slightly heaping.  Combine bread crumbs and melted butter.  Top your stuffed peppers with the bread crumb topping.  These amounts will be enough for 4 average sized green bell peppers.  I made 3 with some stuffing left over.

Grease a 9x9 casserole and stand peppers inside.  I greased my dish, I didn't want to risk it.  Place in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Turn oven up to 400 after the 15 minutes to brown the top of the bread crumbs.  This took maybe 3 minutes...keep a close watch it happens quick.  I topped mine with sour cream...oh so good and easy!  Enjoy!   

Taco Night

One of my best friends came over the other day and we started out making a Chocolate Tart and Lemon Bars and ended the night making fresh tortillas and homemade salsa.  Was oh so good!  There's just something about making tortillas yourself that makes you feel like you can conquer a small part of the culinary world.

Flour Tortillas

6 1/2 cup flour
2 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups lukewarm water

*Mix first 4 ingredients by hand until mix becomes coarse in texture. Add water a little bit at a time. *Mix until dough pulls away from side of bowl without sticking.  Knead about 30-40 times.
*Shape into 2inch balls and rub with shortening to prevent them from drying out.
*Cover and let sit 10 minutes.
*Pre-heat cast iron skillet on med-heat.
*Roll balls into 10 inch rounds and cook in skillet for 1-2 minutes per side depending on how hot your skillet is.  The tortillas will form large bubbles and I flip them then. 

 

My favorite little paring knife that I picked up at The Panhandler. 

A new recipe for salsa I discovered on a recent trip to California....oh so so good!!

The finished product.

Pilot Post

I've been pondering lately on whether or not to start a food blog.  I spend forever online looking at tons of beautiful and inspiring food blogs and I always think, "Why can't I do that?"  Well there's absolutely no reason I can't so here's my version of a food blog.  It'll be filled with my adventures puttering around in the kitchen, tons of photos, and wonderful recipes.  I named it cast iron.  Cheers!

Yesterday I made Philly Cheesesteaks...they were super ooey gooey with melted provolone cheese and mushrooms and onions.  MM so good!  One of my favorite sandwiches.  This recipe is for a single piled high sandwich.

*skillet @ medium heat
*melt a bit of butter in sizzling skillet
*add 1 cup combined julienned onion and any type bell pepper
*saute for a bit
*add 1/2 cup mushrooms
*saute a bit more
*add 1/8 lb. (handful) of super thin sliced roast beef
*saute til warmed through breaking up the pieces of roast beef as you go
*cover with 1-2 slices of provolone cheese
*cover pan with lid, remove from heat, and let sit a bit til the cheese is melted.
*serve on any type of bun...I used whole wheat steak rolls. 

Oh so good and super easy!!
Enjoy!