I made these for an impromptu Memorial Day BBQ today. They are quite good. As I learned, make sure to not overstuff them. I use ground buffalo as a healthier alternative to ground beef but you can use ground beef just as well. I made them with Stilton cheese, it was the first time I tried it and I was very pleased with it, it’s less intense and yet creamier than other blue cheeses. You can substitute with your favorite blue cheese, of course.
-1 lb ground buffalo
-1/2 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
-1/2 tsp. dried mustard
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
-a dash of Tabasco
-2 oz Stilton blue cheese
Mix the ground buffalo with the Worcestershire sauce, the dried mustard, the salt, pepper and Tabasco. Hand-form 8 equal size patties. Put 1/2 oz of cheese in the middle of a patty, cover it with another patty, press the sides until the cheese is completely covered and flatten with a spatula. Repeat making 3 more patties. Grill for about 5 minutes on each side. Serve on a burger bun with your favorite fixings.
Category: Recipes (Page 26 of 26)
My two latest ice cream experiments have come straight out of the Ben & Jerry Ice Cream & Dessert Book. They’ve been great!
Saturday I made strawberry ice cream for my birthday party. I made it “chunky” by adding the strawberries in the last five minutes and put some cookie/chocolate crumbs for good measure. Everyone liked it, some people thought it tasted like strawberry short cake. I’ll certainly make it again this summer.
Just now I finished a batch of kiwi ice cream. The description in the book “exotic, subtle flavor for the true connoisseur” wasn’t too encouraging but I bought a bunch of kiwis at the farmer’s market and I wanted to give it a try. It is delicious! I find it very refreshing. I made it with half-sugar/half esplenda. The one minus is that it hurts my tongue when I eat it – but I think I may have a minor allergy to kiwi (I have similar experiences when eating some nuts).
Anyway, here are the recipes as I made them. You will need an ice cream maker with at least a 1.5 qt. bowl.
=Strawberry Ice Cream
1 basket fresh strawberries, hulled & sliced
1/3 cup sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy or whipping cream
1 cup milk.
Mix strawberries with the sugar and lemon juice and let stand in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Whisk the eggs until light and fluffly, about 2 minutes. Gradually add the sugar and whisk in until well combined. Add the cream and milk and mix well. Add the juice from the strawberries and whisk.
Mash the strawberries into a pure and set aside.
Transfer the mixture into the ice-cream make and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. A couple of minutes before it’s done, add the mashed strawberries. Make sure they combine well. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and freeze until hard.
=Kiwi Ice Cream
6 kiwis
2 tbsp. sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup esplenda
2 cups heavy or whipping cream
Mash the kiwis, mix with 2 tbsp. of sugar and let stand in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Whisk the eggs until light and fluffly, about 2 minutes. Gradually add the sugar and splenda and whisk in until well combined. Add the cream and mix well. Add the mashed kiwis and mix well.
Transfer the mixture into the ice-cream make and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When done, transfer ice cream to an airtight container and freeze until hard.
Oftentimes when I ask Mike what he wants for dinner, he tells me “chicken cordon blue”. He had no idea what chicken cordon blue was, but it sounded French and complicated and he figured I wouldn’t make it. That way, he didn’t have to actually think of something I could make for dinner.
Every time he mentions it, I call his bluff, tell him what chicken cordon blue is (for some reason he keeps forgetting) and he backs off from it. Finally, I figured that the best way to finish this routine was to actually make some chicken cordon blue so he could decide for himself whether he wanted it or not. I’m not sure now if that was such a great idea.
Chicken cordon blue (fried chicken breasts stuffed with ham & cheese) has never sounded that appealing to me, it made me think of ’50s housewives, but I was determined to find a good recipe. I couldn’t find any on epicurious.com, but allrecipes.com had plenty of well-rated cordon blue recipes. I decided on this one not only because it got great reviews, but because it was very simple and it came with a sauce. It was a great choice. The chicken was quite good and the sauce worthy of its many calories.
I diverged from the original recipe in a few ways. I used prosciutto instead of ham, Provolone cheese instead of Swiss, and beef bouillon instead of chicken bouillon. I also cooked it for only 20 minutes instead of the required 30 as several reviewers had complained that the chicken was too dry. The chicken was fully cooked after 20 minutes so it didn’t require any extra time.
This dish is actually good enough that you could serve to company.
Chicken Cordon Bleu
- 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
- 4 slices Provolone or Swiss cheese
- 4 slices prosciutto or ham
- 3 tbsp. flour
- 1 tsp. paprika
- 6 tbsp. butter
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 tsp. chicken or beef bouillon granules
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tbsp. cornstarch
Directions
Pound the chicken breasts until they are very thin. Place a slice of cheese and prosciutto on each breast. Fold over and fasten with toothpicks. Mix the flour with the paprika. Dust the breasts with the flour mixture.
In a large skillet melt the butter. Brown the chicken breasts on all sides. Add the wine and bouillon. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until done.
Remove the chicken from the pot and keep warm. Mix the whipping cream with the cornstarch. Whisk gradually into the simmering sauce. Simmer uncovered until the sauce thickens. Serve the chicken with the sauce.
I just posted the recipes I prepared for Mika’s party. Eveyrything was well received. Recipes include a green salad, a potato salad, tofu and chicken satay, and anticuchos, Peruvian beef kebabs. All available at http://www.marga.org/food/party/mika2/
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