Onion Pie

by Tom Landshof

We got the basic recipe for this from an article in The New York Times a few years ago and just got around to making it. Boy, was it good! Our son, Tim was here for dinner, and though not a big onion fan, liked it so much he took some of the leftovers home. It reheats well. We served it as a side dish to a porterhouse steak. You could also use it as a luncheon dish with a salad. We purposely stayed away from sweet onions so it would be more on the savory side. A very easy and unusual recipe that is very good.

Adapted by Tom and Suzanne Landshof from a recipe by Cheryl Rogowski (The New York Times, Oct. 24, 2007).

Ingredients: (serves 6 to 8)

12 Tbs. unsalted butter

4 oz. crackers (about 36, see note)
1½ lbs. yellow onions, thinly sliced (about 4 1/2 C)
½ tsp. kosher salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
3 large eggs
¾ Cup heavy cream
4 oz. grated -sharp cheddar cheese (about 1 cup).
4 slices chopped, cooked bacon (optional)

Preparation:

Heat oven to 375°F (360°F convection bake). Melt butter in a large skillet or sauté pan over low heat; set aside. In a food processor, pulse crackers to coarse crumbs and transfer to a medium bowl. Pour 4 Tbs. melted butter over crumbs and toss with fingertips or a rubber spatula until evenly coated. Press mixture firmly into a deep-dish 9" pie pan, using a second pie pan, if possible, to compact them evenly against bottom and sides of pan. While onions are cooking, bake pie crust about 4 minutes.

Reheat remaining melted butter in skillet over medium-high heat until frothy. Add onions and ¼ tsp. salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are evenly browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer onions to pie pan, patting them down in an even layer on crust.

In a medium bowl, beat eggs with a whisk and add heavy cream and remaining ¼ tsp. salt and ¼ tsp. black pepper, whisking gently. Pour mixture slowly, in a thin stream, into center of onions in pie pan. Spread optional chopped bacon over top. Sprinkle grated cheese over top and place in oven. Bake until puffy and slightly browned on top, 30 to 35 minutes. Slice with a serrated knife into wedges and serve.

Notes:
We use Nabisco’s Ritz Social Savory crackers. Saltines were called for in the original recipe. I would not use regular Ritz crackers.

The bacon is optional but adds a nice flavor contrast.

As a side dish this will serve at least 8.

Braised Lamb Shanks

by Tom Landshof

We make this once or twice a year and it sure fills the house with great aromas. Here in Indianapolis I get good foreshanks from Kroger. Most of the time involved is prepping the shanks removing the fat and silver skin. The easiest way is to slide a sharp pointed knife just under the silver skin and with blade angled slightly upward slice it off in sheets. This also works on leg of lamb. Enjoy!

Ingredients: (Serves 4)
4 lamb shanks, external fat trimmed
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 yellow onions, coarse dice
2 celery stalks, coarse dice
2 carrots, coarse dice
2 Tbs. butter
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 cups red wine
1½ cups chicken stock
2 Tbs. tomato paste
1 Tbs. rosemary, ground
1 tsp. Herbes de Provence
½ tsp. sage
1 bay leaf

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 330˚F for convection bake, 350˚F regular bake.

2. Season lamb shanks with salt and pepper. In large, deep sauté pan over medium high heat, warm olive oil to nearly smoking. Brown shanks on all sides in batches as needed. Transfer shanks to plate.

3. Add onions, carrots, celery to pan, stirring occasionally. Add butter. Cook until vegetables are golden and translucent. Add garlic at end so you don’t over cook it.

4. Remove pan from heat, add stock, to deglaze bottom of pan. Stir in tomato paste.

5. Return pan to heat and bring to simmer. Add red wine, scraping up any brown bits from pan bottom. Add spices and return shanks with any accumulated juices. Bring to boil.

6. Cover pan and transfer to oven. After 1½ hours, carefully rotate shanks, (meat should be almost falling off bones), stir sauce and continue to cook covered for ½ hour. Uncover and cook 15 minutes.

7. Let rest 15 minutes. Using tongs carefully remove shanks. Remove and discard bay leaf. Strain sauce (defat if necessary), puree solids and stir into strained sauce. Correct seasonings. Pour some of sauce over shanks and serve, passing rest of sauce.

Note:
I usually cook 6 shanks, serving 4 and freezing 2 for a later meal. After browning I divide the shanks between 2 pans, make the sauce and divide it between the two pans and proceed from there.

Remove as much of the fat and silver skin from the shanks as you can. This gives a better flavor with less fat to the sauce.

“I Love You” Chocolate Roll

by Laurel Steffes

This recipe has been a favorite in my family for many years. I can’t even remember now exactly where it came from, but my mother was the one who stumbled across it and all her family has been grateful ever since! It has been a staple in my house every Thanksgiving and Christmas – demanded by my husband and three daughters.

The usual version of this dessert uses plain whipped cream as a filling, but this year the “I Love You” jam that we sell in the store just screamed Valentine’s Day to me and was the inspiration for this version of Chocolate Roll. “I Love You” jam is a decadent and delicious combination of raspberry jam and dark chocolate. The Two Cookin’ Sisters of Brookston, IN deserve kudos for creating this sumptuous treat. Visit their website at bigsistersalsa.com. (We carry many of their wonderful homemade items in addition to the “I Love You” jam.)

Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 Tbs. coffee
5 eggs, separated
1 ¼ cups sugar, divided
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pint whipping cream
2 Tbs. I Love You Jam

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Grease a jelly roll pan with shortening, such as Crisco. Line the pan with wax paper and then lightly coat the wax paper with vegetable oil. Set aside.

Slowly melt the chocolate chips and 3 Tbs. coffee over hot water.

Beat egg whites with ½ cup of the sugar until stiff. Beat egg yolks and ¾ cup of the sugar until thick and light yellow.

Fold the melted chocolate into the egg yolks. Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg whites. Fold in the 1 tsp. vanilla.

Spread mixture evenly into prepared jelly roll pan. Bake for 17 minutes.

While cake is baking, lay a sheet of wax paper that is approximately 6-8 inches longer than the jelly roll pan on the counter. Dust with sifted cocoa. Turn the cake out onto the wax paper. Remove oiled paper from the bottom of the cake and let cool completely.

While the cake cools, whip the pint of whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Add the “I Love You” jam and whip just until incorporated. Spread the whipped cream mixture over the cake, leaving any excess closest to you along the long edge. Roll the cake up away from you, using the wax paper to help. Transfer wax paper wrapped roll to a cookie sheet or other platter, seam side down. Refrigerate.

Serve cold. Carefully unwrap rolled cake and serve in slices. Garnish each slice with fresh raspberries and drizzle with melted dark chocolate or a little of the “I Love You” jam which has been heated enough to liquefy it – or use both!

Notes:
If raspberries and chocolate aren’t your thing, experiment with adding other flavors to the whipped cream (or even to the cake itself in place of the vanilla.) Try another type of jam or add any flavor extract that appeals to you. What about Grand Marnier, Kirsch, Kahlua, Baileys …? There are any number of ways to change this dessert to suit your taste or the occasion.

Word of caution: Because there is no flour in the cake, it’s more like a mousse and therefore rather delicate. It’s difficult to transfer to a platter and have it look pretty. I unwrap it and slice with a hot serrated knife without trying to move it off of the wax paper. Also it’s a good idea to remember to let the cake cool completely before topping with the whipped cream and rolling it up. Early in my Chocolate Roll days I once dumped the whipped cream on top of the cake almost right after taking it out of the oven. I ended up scraping it into a bowl – it made excellent pudding!

A Step Beyond Reduction

by Jim Bandy

Using wine in your cooking can help tie together the flavors of your food with the bottle you’re serving at dinner. I find this especially true in finishing sauces. There's the classic buerre blanc and buerre rouge sauces, as well as straightforward reductions you could use. In cooler months, I enjoy working with this form of gastrique from Seattle’s Brasa restaurant. The concept uses caramelized sugar (no – it’s not a dessert sauce) to add complex flavors to a wine reduction. It’s simple and delicious. Mark Bittman in The Minimalist Cooks Dinner
shares this basic sauce I use for grilled or broiled salmon, lamb steaks, pork roast, and more.

Ingredients: (makes 4 servings)
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups Pinot Noir *
1 sprig rosemary, about 4"
1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar (one of Grapevine's many selections)
1 Tbs. butter

* Sebastiani, Mark West, or other good value Pinot works well.

Preparation:
In a medium, heavy-bottomed sauce pan add sugar and place over medium heat. Cook about 10 minutes until the sugar liquifies and begins to turn brown. Shake occasionally to distribute the sugar, do not stir! Watch this carefully as it caramelizes incredibly fast and will burn even faster.

When a medium caramel color (light brown is fine, too) remove pan from heat. Standing back from the pan, slowly add the wine. There will be a short tantrum, as the wine and sugar act like two spoiled children being forced to share the same sandbox – until they find they like each other and settle down.

Add the rosemary. Place the pan over high heat. Stir to incorporate the caramelized crystals into the wine. Reduce until syrupy, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the balsamic vinegar and butter. Top your salmon.

From this basic preparation you can enjoy extraordinary variation. I’ve also used Las Rocas Garnacha and a Cru Beaujolais with good results. Try your favorite fruit-forward red wine. Adjust the herbs, try a white balsamic, use a some chopped figs or dried cherries. So many options! What’s your signature combination?

Chicken Marsala

by Tom Landshof

I first made this recipe last October. Since then we’ve made it a few times and modified it a little to yield more sauce. Fairly easy and hard to screw up. To us the key was sautéing the mushrooms and keeping them separate so they didn’t become Marsala sponges. Also, we never buy cutlets. It is easy to use boneless chicken breasts, pound them to about ½ inch thickness and cut into serving pieces. Hope you enjoy this one!

Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen by Suzanne and Tom Landshof

Ingredients: (serves 4)
8 chicken cutlets (about 1½ lbs. see notes)
Salt and pepper
¼ cup flour
3 Tbs. olive oil
4 Tbs. butter
½ small onion, chopped fine
8 ozs. white mushrooms, quartered
1 garlic clove, minced
1½ Cups dry Marsala wine
1¼ Cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1 Tbs. minced fresh parsley

Preparation:
Pat the cutlets dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Dredge the cutlets in the flour to coat and shake to remove excess. (An easy way to do this is to put flour, salt & pepper in a plastic bag that you get at the supermarket, add chicken and shake). Heat 1½ Tbs. of oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat until almost smoking. Add 4 cutlets and cook until golden brown, 2 to 2½ minutes on each side. Transfer to a large plate and tent with foil. Repeat with the remaining oil and cutlets.

Melt 2 Tbs. of the butter in the now-empty skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the onion and mushrooms until browned, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Transfer the mushroom mixture to a bowl and cover with foil.

Add the Marsala and broth to the empty skillet bring to a boil over high heat, and cook until reduced to 1½ cups, about 8 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low, return the chicken and accumulated juices to the skillet, and turn the chicken to heat through, about 1 minute. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter. Off the heat, whisk in the remaining 2 Tbs. butter, lemon juice, parsley, and mushroom mixture. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Enjoy.

Note:
The reason for keeping the mushrooms separate is that they will soak up the Marsala like a sponge and lose their mushroom flavor.

It's easy to make your own chicken breast cutlets. Just pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts between two pieces of plastic wrap using a meat pounder or the bottom of a heavy saucepan or skillet. You want them about ½ inch thick. Cut into serving pieces.

You can also try other mushrooms such as cremini, baby portobellos, or porcini.

Use a good quality dry Marsala—one you would drink. Because of its fortification, an open bottle will keep for several months.