Chicken Stroganoff

Cook 12 oz. of pasta until about half done. Drain in a colander then put it back in the pot. While still hot, stir in 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 8oz. of Pepper Jack Cheese. Let it cool a bit then add 1c sour cream.

Set aside until later.

1# chicken breast meat

1 sm. onion

4 lg. cloves garlic

2-3 oz. single source EVOO

1/2 -to a whole- lg. green pepper

14 oz. mushrooms

1c chicken bone broth

salt, black and red pepper

Sauté the chicken, chopped onion and minced garlic in the olive oil for 10 minutes, stirring often.

Slice the pepper and mushrooms and add them along with the bone broth and seasonings. I also added 1T Better Than Bouillon - chicken flavor. Low simmer this for another 15 minutes. Combine the meat and vegetables with the pasta and cream sauce.

Pour into a 3 quart casserole and bake at 350° uncovered, 30 minutes or until it's bubbly. Serve with a simple salad dressed with lemon vinaigrette to balance the richness of the stroganoff. . .Lin

Mushroom-Vegetable Stroganoff with Chicken and Beef

Marinade:

6T single source EVOO

3T good aged balsamic vinegar

3T Vodka (red or dry white wine)

a sprinkle of cayenne pepper

1-2T fresh ground black pepper

1 huge elephant garlic clove - sliced thin

21oz. good quality, well marbled, beef roast

8oz. chicken thigh meat

Mix the marinade in a medium glass bowl, with a silicone spatula, then set it aside while you prepare the meat.

Frozen beef is the perfect way to start this. When it's almost to the popsicle stage, cut off any outer fat, then slice the meat into long, thick 'logs' going with the grain. Slice it very thin across the grain.  Use a sharp knife or scissors, to cut the chicken into small chunks. Put only the beef into the marinade bowl and move it around for several minutes, so every surface is well coated and able to absorb the marinade. Leave it for an hour or so.

Now add the chicken and keep it toward the top of the bowl, working it around with your hands, so easy piece is coated just enough, but not soaking in the marinade, at the bottom of the bowl. . .(the beef needs more marinating than the chicken.) You can continue with the recipe now, or cover and refrigerate the marinating meat for 6-8 hours, or overnight, which I recommend.

Traditional stroganoffs, as I know them, are heavy on beef, mushrooms, with onion and a beefy sauce which is often cream based, over thick noodles. This one will have a vegetable based sauce, also with lots of beef and cream overtones. Start with the vegetables shown on the left, the carrot, celery and onion.

Chop them up, into a big kettle, adding a couple tablespoons of good quality EVOO, lots of fresh ground pepper and one envelope of dry onion soup. Measure out 4c cold fresh water and add about a cup of this to the pot. Mix the vegetables and seasonings together, cover and let simmer 45 minutes to an hour, or until the carrot pieces are very soft. Let that cool a bit, then use an immersion blender to get it silky smooth, or just do a rough blend, to leave it with some texture. Add more water if needed to get it to the consistency of a thick pasta sauce, then set it aside.

1# small mushrooms

2 colorful mini-peppers

4T butter

Put the marinated meat into a big kettle, stir and sauté it for a half hour while browning the mushrooms. Cut the washed-dry mushrooms into quarters, slice the peppers and saute these together in a medium skillet with the butter until nicely browned. Add this, and the vegetable puree, to the meat mixture, cover and continue to cook on low heat for 20 minutes.

Cook the pasta to al dente, drain and rinse it. Put it in a big bowl, drizzle EVOO over it to keep the pieces separate and sprinkle with dry tarragon and parsley.

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1-2c sour cream

Cool the meat-mushroom mixture slightly, then stir in the soup and sour cream. Make any necessary flavor adjustments and serve over the hot noodles. I made this for a couple new, young friends who stayed for dinner, while here working on a construction project for me. I packed up the leftovers for them to bring home for another dinner with their roommates, but forgot to take a photo of the final dish. It made a lot, turned out well, and tasted really good.

I served this with a simple cucumber, tomato, onion salad with EVOO, lemon juice, fresh ground black pepper and some sea salt.

This recipe is a departure from a normal stroganoff, but if you have good, fresh ingredients, there's no such thing as a bad stroganoff. . .

Be Creative! Experiment. . .Have Fun With Your Cooking Adventures! . .Lin

Mushroom-Shrimp Ajvar Stroganoff

25oz. mixed mushrooms
1 red bell pepper
1 purple onion
5-6 cloves garlic
4T butter

fresh ground black pepper

Slice, chop, or mince everything and combine in a 4 quart pot. Cover and cook on low heat for 30 minutes, stirring often.

By now, the juices have been coaxed out of the vegetables by the heat.  Pour or ladle out, and set aside, 8oz. to make the sauce later. Turn up the heat, stir and continue to cook until the liquid is almost gone and everything's nicely brown or translucent.

8oz. of Ajvar-type sauce
10oz. Red Argentinean shrimp - cut in thirds
a nice splash of Fig Balsamic vinegar
8oz. of the cooking liquid
4-8oz. pre-cooked pasta

Add the first 3 ingredients to the pot. Bring to a low simmer and maintain a couple minutes, add the pasta, stir, cover and turn off the heat. I discovered Ajvar in an International Market several years ago. I bought jars from several different sources. Most are more red than mine due to the amount of red bell pepper. I went through those 6 or 7 jars quickly. I then researched and ordered a case of a brand that sounded good, half the jars were hot and the others mild. It wasn't good. I decided I'll make my own. 

Ajvar has an interesting history. It's use and variations can be traced back to many countries. 

At some point, I may try roasting the peppers first, but for now, this was fun, quick and has great flavor combine with all the above. . .Lin

Florentine Chicken Stroganoff Soup

When I made that spatchcocked chicken, I froze half in two packages.  This soup sort of evolved.  I didn't know it would be 'soup' until half way through the process.  Originally, I was thinking just chicken, mushrooms, noodles and a nice rich sauce for a Chicken Stroganoff.  Then I realized I have a LOT of fresh vegetables which by adding, leans it more into the soup category, so that's how it's going.  

First, take all the chicken apart, boning, skinning and putting the meat aside. Put the skin and bones in a 2 quart pot, add enough water to cover it all and simmer, covered on low heat for three hours, adding 1-2 tablespoons of white vinegar the last hour.

Pour everything through a colander over a big pot to separate out the bones and skin from the broth. Strain through progressively finer strainers and finally through an old clean kitchen towel. 

Chill this overnight to bring whatever fat is left, to the top.  If there is fat, skim that off the next morning. Using the cloth at the end, took almost all fat from the broth this time.

This bone broth turned out perfect. It jelled very nicely which indicates a very high percentage of collagen which is exactly why you make bone broth. I've had the best luck producing broth yielding a high concentration of collagen, using chicken. The broth is always more watery and very rarely jells when made with turkey, beef or lamb skin and bones. Our body produces collagen, which is a vital protein. As we age, the production lessens. It's necessary for elasticity in our skin and for the health of our connective tissue, tendons, ligaments and muscles.

2 big carrots

3 stalks celery

1 med. purple onion 

⅓ med. yellow pepper

4-6oz. button mushrooms

2T avocado oil

7 lg. cloves of garlic

a bunch of green onion tops

4oz. egg noodles

4oz. fresh spinach

8oz. precooked chicken

salt, pepper, ground rosemary

2T+/- chicken Better Than Bouillon

Slice or chop the first group of vegetables however you'd like. Add them to a 4-5 quart pot with the oil. Sauté on medium heat until everything begins to sizzle. Drop the heat to low-medium, cover and continue to sauté-steam for about 15 minutes.

Stir in the chopped garlic, green onion tops, noodles and spinach.

Simmer 5 minutes, cover and remove from the heat for a half hour. Stir in sour cream, warm again just until it steams, before serving. . .Lin

Burgundy Beef Roast with Root Vegetables

Last time in was in my old stomping grounds, Rhinelander, WI, In addition to connecting with a whole bunch of friends I hadn't seen in a while, I made some really important stops.  I always go to Forth Floral, a HUGE greenhouse that's been a haunt of mine since the late '60's when we moved to Wisconsin from the Chicago suburbs.  I'm a Plant Person.  I love all growing things, so you may remember me talking about my wonderful $39 Kumquat Tree, (with 76 kumquats!) creating and sharing a recipe for Plum-Quat Preserves 😉 You'll be hearing more about My-Little-Tree in the future.  Being A Major Foodie, I also stopped at two meat markets, and Golden Harvest which is an amazing extra-large natural food store Rhinelander is SO fortunate to have!  I also went and snagged a few of Trig's Burgundy Beef Roasts.  Ohhhh, so good!!  I got them during a special they were running, at $3 off per pound!  They're the best beef roasts I've ever tasted.

While my little 2¼ pounder, was thawing, I scrubbed and rough-chopped the vegetables.  They're now seasoned and marinating in a mix of Rosemary EVOO, 18 year old Balsamic Vinegar and a good big sprinkle of my Rosemary Seasoning.  I'm tossing those around every half hour or so, just to be sure each piece stays well seasoned.

1 lg. onion

2 giant size carrots

5 med. red potatoes

some green onion tops.

Ready to Cook

Once the roast is thawed, move the vegetables to the edges, putting the meat in the very center of the pan.  It should be crowded.  This way everything will cook and all the juices blend together better.  I'm ignoring the directions for cooking the Burgundy Beef, it's usually done at high heat, but ridiculously low amount of time!  I want this to cook just a bit slower, but get the meat to medium rare or medium at most.

Cooked Just Right! 😊

Put this into a preheated, 400⁰ oven, with just a cup of water drizzled over everything for 20 minutes, uncovered.  Turn the heat to 325⁰ cover and cook another 20 minutes.  I tend to overcook just about everything, so this was a nice surprise.

Slice just what you need.  Serve with the roasted vegetables and au jus.  Next time, slice and plate the meat.  Put the leftover vegetables in a medium glass bowl.  Heat them in the microwave, do a rough mash adding a little sour cream with fresh cut herbs and butter.  Spoon over the meat and heat before serving.

Mmmm. . .I decided to skip day one and go with my second idea!

If there's still leftover meat. . .another way to fix it would be cube  it and toss with hot cooked linguini and sliced mushrooms, with a sauce made of meat drippings, a bit of butter, water or red wine and sour cream.  Mmmm again!  Burgundy Beef Stroganoff!!  I love making a beef roast, whole chicken or turkey and then dreaming up fun ideas for the leftovers.

Be Bold - Be Creative - Happy Cooking. . .Lin

Chicken Stroganoff

1-1/3# chicken breast meat

1 red onion - chopped

2 stalks celery - chopped

5oz. fresh mushrooms - sliced

sea salt, ground garlic, pepper

1-2T butter

white wine

1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup

1c sour cream

cooked, rinsed and drained pasta

Saute' the seasoned chicken, onion, celery and mushrooms in butter and wine.  Cover and simmer about an hour.  After pasta is cooked and you're ready to serve, add soup and sour cream.  Check seasonings to see if a little chicken bullion might be needed.  Serve topped with some grated parmesan cheese - a side salad rounds out the dinner nicely. . .Lin

Quail Stroganoff

1-1/2# 6 frozen quail
well seasoned flour
butter, bacon grease, oil
1/2 med. onion chopped
2-3 lg. cloves minced garlic

8oz. sliced fresh mushrooms
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 lg. chopped tomato
1c sour cream
1/2c half and half
1-2T powdered chicken soup base
a little more black and red ground pepper

In a large, non-stick frying pan, melt the butter, etc. together and heat.  Rinse and dry the quail then roll in seasoned flour.  Seasoned with black and red pepper, seasoned salt and a little sea salt.  Put the whole floured quails in the hot oil with the onion and garlic.



Cover with a splatter screen and fry for about a half hour, turning often until everything is well browned.  Move the quail to a 2-3 qt. baking dish.  Drain and discard about half the oil left in the pan.  To the rest of the oil, and browned onion and garlic, add mushrooms.  Stir and saute' until browning a little.  Add the remaining ingredients, stir well then pour over the quail.


At this point you can cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight to bring out all the flavors.  Or you can bake it now.  Bake at 325° for an hour.  Serve over mashed potatoes, thick cut American fries or cooked pasta. . .Lin