Italian Sub

When warm weather hits, we eat a lot of sandwiches that require little or no cooking. This is a favorite that my sister-in-law shared with us many years ago. (I've gotten a LOT of great recipes from her!)

ITALIAN SUB
1 loaf French or Italian bread (depending on whether you want a long/skinny or short/fat sandwich)
1/4 to 1/2 lb. deli ham (we like honey maple ham but use what YOUR family likes)
1/4 to 1/2 lb. deli salami
1/4 to 1/2 lb. deli cheese (we like provolone but, again, use what your family likes)
2 tomatoes, sliced
several lettuce leaves
balsamic or red wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Optional: sliced onion, pepperoncini, olives, etc.

Split loaf of bread down center, length wise, place face up on pan and stick in oven at 450 degrees for about 5-10 minutes until lightly browned (ovens vary).
While bread is browning, mix oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in pie tin (or similarly large, low pan). You're going to need enough in which to dredge all the tomato slices and lettuce leaves so it could be anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 cup. Sorry to be so imprecise but it's really a preference thing.
Remove lightly browned bread from oven, leaving on pan while you "build" the sandwich. Layer dredged tomato slices and lettuce all along one length of bread, then layer the deli ham, salami and cheese and any optional ingredients you want to add. Drizzle any remaining oil and vinegar on other half of bread and place on top the loaded half. Ends up looking a LOT like the one Hugh is holding. :-)
Mmmmm, good!

Chocolate Scones as a base for Strawberry Shortcake

I had a hankering for scones on Tuesday. Also had the need for some chocolate. Initially I was going to make my old standby: chocolate chip scones. BUT (and thank goodness there is a BUT to this story) I decided to check online for some other options. And found this recipe. Which is amazing. Which also makes a GREAT base for strawberry shortcake. But can be eaten alone and savored for each bit of chocolatey goodness. Or with a little strawberry or raspberry jam for a little extra kick. These were so good I'm making another batch today. And sharing it with you. 'Cause that's the kind of friend I am.

CHOCOLATE SCONES
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa (I prefer the Dutch processed cocoa)
1/2 cup sugar
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup chunked chocolate (your favorite candy bars) OR chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together cream, egg and vanilla in small bowl, set aside. Mix dry ingredients (flour through salt). Cut butter into dry mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in chocolate chunks (or chips). Add cream mixture to flour mixture until dough comes together. (I had to add a couple more tablespoons of cream in order for it to hold together.) Transfer to floured surface and form 8" circle. Brush top with a little cream and sprinkle on couple spoons of sugar. Cut into 8 pie shaped slices and transfer to greased baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes. Allow to cool and ENJOY.

Chicken Feta Burgers with Yogurt Cucumber Sauce

1 slice bread
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
2 Tablespoons finely chopped onion
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 lb. ground chicken
salt and pepper to taste
Tear bread into pieces and soak in milk for 5 minutes. Add egg, onion, feta and ground chicken. Mix well and form into patties. Salt and pepper to taste and grill for 5 minutes or so on each side until done but not dry. Serve how your family likes them (on buns, alone, in pita shells...) with lettuce, tomato, and so on.
NOTE: If you serve in pita shells, a little yogurt/cucumber sauce is a great alternative to mayo. So here's the recipe for that, too:

YOGURT CUCUMBER SAUCE
1 to 1-1/2 cups plain yogurt (less for thicker sauce)
1 cucumber, peeled and seeded
2 cloves garlic, crushed
juice of 1/2 lemon, about 1 to 1-1/2 tablespoons
salt and white pepper, to taste
Grate cucumber and squeeze out excess liquid (I use a fine mesh strainer for this). Mix all ingredients and refridgerate until ready to use.

Stupendously Delicious Chicken Salad!

I can't just call this plain old chicken salad -- this is the best stuff I've ever had ANYWHERE! Every time I serve it I get requests for the recipe, including the bridal shower Daughter and I hosted a couple weeks ago.

STUPENDOUSLY DELICIOUS CHICKEN SALAD!
2 1/2 c. diced cooked chicken
1 c. finely chopped celery
1 c. sm. seedless green grapes
1 c. chopped walnuts
1 tsp. minced onion
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream, whipped
1 c. mayonnaise
In a bowl, combine chicken, celery, grapes, walnuts, onion and salt. Whip cream and mix it with the mayonnaise. Fold this dressing into the chicken salad mixture. Cover bowl and refrigerate for several hours. At serving time, serve salad on greens with garnishes (which I leave to your discretion since you know what your family/guests will eat and I don't).

We typically serve it on croissants for special occasions like bridal showers and such, but for regular we eat it on bread, crackers or, as they suggest, just piled up on a big ol' lettuce leaf with tomato wedges on the side.

And while I usually cook up a whole chicken and de-bone it for this recipe, I've also been known to use rotisserie chicken from the deli department. We especially liked it the time I used the lemon pepper rotisserie. Clearly a recipe you can adapt as you see fit. But DON'T mess with the dressing of heavy whipped cream and mayonnaise. That's what makes it so yummy!

Lemon Squares

Lemon squares just scream "SPRING!" to me for some reason. Maybe because spring is when all the yellow flowers seem to bloom: forsythia, tulips, daffodils...and yellow leads me to Lemon Squares. What? You think in a straight line and don't see the connection?

LEMON SQUARES
For the crust:
2 cups flour
16 Tablespoons of butter, unsalted and softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
grated zest of one lemon
For the filling:
4 eggs
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

3-4 Tablespoons of confectioners' sugar for sifting over top after they're baked.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To make the crust, mix all ingredients in bowl or food processor until ball of dough forms. Wrap ball in plastic wrap and refridgerate until chilled to make handling dough easier. Press dough evenly onto bottom and 3/4 inch up sides of ungreased 9"x13" pan. Bake on middle rack of oven until lightly colored, about 15-20 minutes. Cool on wire rack while you make the filling. Leave oven set at 350 degrees.
To make the filling, beat eggs until light. Add the sugar gradually and continue beating on medium high speed until very light and airy, about 5 minutes. On low speed mix in lemon juice, flour, baking powder and salt just until combined.
Pour mixture over crust and bake until filling is set and light colored, about 25 minutes. Immediately sift confectioners' sugar over the top. Cool and cut into 24 squares.

Party Parfaits

So today is the bridal shower for one of my daughter's best friends. I had an idea to use the Best Chocolate Pudding Ever in a special way for parties.

'Cause instead of the traditional shower cake we are having us a little dessert buffet. Originally we had planned to have brownies for the chocolate offering but we're also having lemon bars and that just seemed too much the same.





So...came up with a little idea that I'll share now:
Bake the brownies. I added some Ghirardelli chocolate chips because I was feeling all Emeril and wanted to kick it up a notch!
Once the brownies are cool I cut out little rounds that fit perfectly into the bottom of a small clear plastic cup available at Walmart and other fine stores. Had trouble finding the right size cutting tool until while rummaging through the pantry I saw a can of tomato paste. Aha! I checked and yep, perfect match.
That was last night. This morning I commenced to making the Best Chocolate Pudding Ever and filling the cups about 2/3 full with that. It chilled while I worked on other things.
And for the final touch I whipped up some real whipping cream (heavy whipping cream and a few spoons of sugar) to top it off.
Mmmm, good! And pretty, too.

Much better than plain old brownies :-)

Creamed Chicken Over Cornbread

We arrived home around noon today. We've been on the road eleven of the last 16 days. Feeling just a wee bit tuckered. After a lot of fast food meals on the road, I'm going to share something I plan to make in the next couple of days. For a southern girl who loves cornbread and gravy with equal passion, this is the ultimate comfort food! Typically I share quick and easy recipes but today's offering will take a little more work. But let me assure you, IT WILL BE WORTH IT! And it's not hard, just a little more time consuming than the ones I've been posting.

Creamed Chicken Over Cornbread
1 chicken, whole (around 3 lb.)
6 cups watter
salt
1 stalk celery
1-2 carrots
1/3 c. butter
1/3 cup flour
1-1/2 cups light cream or half and half
1 Tablespoon grated onion
1 10 ounce bag frozen peas, thawed
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Rinse chicken, place in large pot with 6 cups water. Add salt, celery and carrots (washed but not peeled). Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour until chicken is cooked (the cooking time depends on how big the chicken is). Remove from heat, remove chicken to platter until cool enough to handle. Reserve the broth. (I often cook down the broth while letting the chicken cool, so the flavor is more intense.) Strain the broth before using later in the recipe.
When chicken is cool enough, remove the meat and dice. Discard skin and bones.
In a heavy saucepan melt the butter on low, add the flour and stir until bubbly (3-5 minutes). Add the cream and 1-1/2 cups of the reserved broth. Cook, stirring until mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Stir in chicken, onion, peas, sage, pepper and Worcestershire sauce.Salt to taste. Serve over cornbread (recipe below). IF by some bizarre chance you don't care for cornbread [what is wrong with you, anyway?!] you can serve over biscuits or other bread products.

Cornbread
2 Tablespoons butter
3/4 cup flour
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups cornmeal
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
[NOTE: It's good to start the cornbread while chicken is cooling.]
Melt butter in cast iron skillet while mixing dry ingredients in a bowl. In a small bowl mix egg and milk, add to dry ingredients along with melted butter. Stir just until mixed, pour batter into hot skillet. Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

This is one of those recipes you can adapt to your family's personal preferences. Replace the peas with a different vegetable or leave out the vegetable entirely. Add or delete seasonings as you like. Serve it over mashed potatoes instead of bread. Or noodles. I mean, really, this is a very versatile recipe. And it's so delicious!