Oktoberfest Casserole

 While the traditional Oktoberfest celebrations have mostly been canceled around the world, that does not mean you can not enjoy the German tradition in your own home.

This recipe started out as an English pub dish called: Bangers & Mash. Here we use the basic meal with a German translation. Experience gemütlichkeit— warmth, friendliness, good cheer and coziness.

 

 

Use mashed potatoes like a pastry for this “pie” of bratwurst, apples and onions! Bring out the beer and have a great time! Did you know what the accordionist called his twin daughters? AnnaOne, AnnaTwo! Don't mind me, I'll go back to the kitchen...

Ingredients

• 2 lbs red potatoes

• 3 bratwursts

• olive oil

• 1 onion, chopped

• 2 apples peeled, and chopped

• ½ a bunch of thyme

• 4 tablespoons plain flour

• 6 oz. semi-skimmed milk

• 1 Tbs mustard

• 1 egg yolk

Directions: 

 

 Do your cutting: Peel the potatoes, chop into even-sized chunks.

Dice the onion, peel the apple and cut into about the same size pieces as the onion. Put the apple in a bowl with the onion and cover to keep from turning brown.

Add the potatoes to a large pot of water and bring to a boil. Let cook for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain well and add 2 Tbs flour, salt & pepper to taste. Mash well until smooth, add the egg yolk and mix in well. Let cool to the touch.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spray a baking dish.

While that heats and the potatoes cool, cook the bratwurst on medium heat, turning regularly.

When temps reaches 160, remove the brats to a plate and add the apple & onion to the skillet.

Strip in most of the thyme. Add a splash of water, and season with salt and pepper, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once the mashed potatoes are cool enough to handle, use your fingertips to spread two thirds of it evenly across the base and sides of the sprayed dish.

Stir the remaining 2 Tbs flour into the apple/onion mix, then gradually stir in the milk, then the mustard. Simmer for 5 minutes, or until thick and creamy.

Slice the brats ½ inch thick and stir them into the pan, along with any juices, then evenly spoon into the mash-lined dish.

Press the remaining potatoes on to a sprayed sheet of wax paper until just bigger than your dish, then flip over the top of the dish, peel off the paper, trim any excess and crimp the with a fork to seal.

Bake at the bottom of the oven for 40 minutes, or until golden, adding the remaining thyme leaves for the last 5 minutes.

What a hearty autumn casserole to celebrate the Oktoberfest!

For our music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFxMaeaBjGg

Guten Appetit Master! 

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White

 


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazon

Roasted Niçoise Salad with Pollack

A traditional Nicoise (knee-swaz) salad has green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, hard cooked eggs, olives and flaked tuna scattered over a bed of lettuce. The word “niçoise” is a broadly descriptive term for any traditional dish prepared by the cooks in the town of Nice in France.

Our meal tonight is a take on tradition that uses a single sheet pan. Basic elements such as potatoes and green beans are roasted with fillets of pollack. It is finished with a dressing and a few hard cooked eggs. Tomatoes are an optional dash of color.

While not a “true” salad, it’s the kind of meal that feels so classy and refined, but when you make it, it becomes an easy dinner to have any night of the week. This has a beautiful flexibility when you arrange the elements on a platter, dress each individually and let the guests serve themselves how much of each they wish.

 

 Ingredients

1½ lb. Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and cut

5 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 ¼ tsp. kosher salt, divided

1 tsp. pepper, divided

1 lb. Fresh green beans, trimmed

1½ lb. Pollack fillets

4 hard cooked eggs peeled and halved

1 roma tomato cut up into bites

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Scrub the potatoes, no need to peel first, and cut lengthwise once, then crosswise into planks.

While cooking the potatoes, Clean and snap the ends off of the fresh green beans. Toss them with 1 Tbsp. oil, and 1/4 tsp. salt in same bowl you used for the potatoes.

Arrange potato in a microwave-safe dish. Add water, and cover. Microwave at HIGH 10 minutes or until tender. Remove to a colander to drain and let cool.

In a large bowl mix well, 2 tsp corn starch in ¾ cup water

Cook this 1 minute in microwave, stopping to stir every 20 sec. This cooks the cornstarch, into a pudding like consistency. Yes I know how it looks!

When it is slimy and the potatoes are cool, dump the potatoes into this so that they have a slight coating on each.

 

 Spray a rimed cooking tray then add 3 Tbs oil and tilt to coat.

Arrange the potatoes into a column leaving enough room for the fish to go on the side.

Roast for 10 minutes. Remove and flip each piece over.

Season the fish on both sides with ½ tsp. salt and ¼ tsp. pepper, then coat with remaining 1 Tbsp. oil.

Place on one side of the potatoes and Roast an additional 10 minutes.

Remove baking sheet from oven and push potatoes to one side. Slide the fish to the center third, then spoon the green beans on remaining third.

Return for another 8 – 10 minutes or until the fish is flaky and potatoes are browned and tender.

While that is browning, cook and peel the eggs.

Cut up the tomatoes sprinkle with salt and set aside.

For the dressing:

½ cup mayonnaise

1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest,

juice from 1 lemon

3 Tbsp. Sweet & Sour sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix well in a bowl and set aside to dress the elements.

When ready to serve:

Arrange the fillets, green beans, and potatoes on a platter, pour a bit of the dressing on each. Garnish with the eggs and tomatoes.

This is a elegant meal of thanksgiving in the firm belief that our hurts and pains will end and our lives will heal quickly.

For our music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U785b6PRgIw

So thankful for my Master Indy!

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazon

Can you velvet?

Tonight I learned a technique I had never heard of and can't wait to pass it along. It is called “Velveting”.

This technique is used in far eastern cooking and in spite of all these decades of cooking I had never heard of it. Velveting does more than tenderize your basic meat—it creates a protective coating that browns it more evenly, seals in its juices, and improves overall sauce adhesion.

As the meat is velveted, it is marinated in a base mixture of salt, liquid, and cornstarch for at least 30 minutes. After marinating, the meat can be tossed into a wok and flash-fried with oil over high heat. However most home cooks prefer to blanch the meat for about 2 mins. It is removed from the water and left to cool and drain.

Meanwhile, the rest of the ingredients (such as the vegetables and/or sauce) are cooked. The meat is then added to the mix at the end for a short sauté with the prepared sauce before being served.

The most important part of this process and the key to velveting is the marinade: the meat needs at least half an hour to ensure that every microscopic inch of its surface is enrobed with the cornstarch slurry. This layer of cornstarch forms a barrier against the heat that the pan introduces—but also prevents the moisture from inside of the meat from escaping. The blanching, or flash-frying, is another step that enforces the barrier; the outside of the meat cooks so quickly that it seals the natural juiciness.

Lastly, adding the meat a few minutes before the dish is complete allows it to heat up to the same temperature as the rest of the meal without prolonged exposure to more heat (which will create a loss of moisture and a tougher texture).

The traditional method for velveting uses a large amount of oil. Water blanching is much more friendly for home cooking. Simply boil enough water to cover the amount of meat you are velveting, then add the meat and cook until it becomes opaque. Drain the meat, then use it in your preferred recipe.

Velveted meat tastes best with preparations that are heavy on sauce and flavor.

So tonight I thought I would try. To make things easier I started off with a frozen bag of chicken fried rice. The kind you add to the skillet frozen, cook for 10 mins and you are done.

In a large bowl I mixed 2 Tbs of cornstarch with 2 Tbs of soy sauce and 2 Tbs of sesame oil. This was stirred well to make sure no lumps remained.

For the meat I had three boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I cut them into traditional bite sized chunks. These were tossed into the marinade and mixed well.

 

 I covered this and placed in refrigerator. For 30 mins. After about 15 mins I started a big pot of water to get it boiling, (my stove takes forever for this).

When the half hour was up and the pot was boiling, I dropped the chicken bites in and gave them a stir to make sure they separated. After 2 minutes, I pulled them out and placed in a drainer.

Now a large skillet was sprayed and placed on the hot element. I added 2 Tbs of oil and when hot, the drained chicken was placed in the pan. I let this fry for about 6 minutes. Then turned to the directions on the bag. Add the sauce and dump the contents in. Stir well. Cover and let simmer for 10 minutes.

 

 It was a very easy meal to make, however I can tell you that the chicken was fantastic! Tender and juicy with a restaurant quality aroma and taste.

Any day I can learn something new is a good day. This new technique is so worth the slight effort, you can trust I'll be using it very often.

For our music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSMUtLHPH7Y I wonder what shes doing tonight Boyce&Hart

So happy I could learn a new technique that is so valuable!

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by 

Dan White  

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTMvia @amazon

Pier Luigi Chicken Lasagna

Tonight's delight is a Chicken Cordon Bleu inspired take on lasagna! No tomato sauce here. We use an elevated sauce featuring thyme and the balance of chicken with ham and cheese present well on homemade pasta. We dedicate it to Pier Luigi Farnese who in the early 1500's served as duke of Castro as well as Duke of Parma. While being a rather ruthless leader, he spent his time pursuing other men with or without their consent.

 

 Using the tastes of Chicken Cordon bleu in a lasagna might seem exotic, it will establish your reputation as a true chief.

Ingredients

1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter

1 cup Panko crispy bread crumbs

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon white or black pepper

1 can (12 fluid ounces) Evaporated Milk

3/4 cup chicken broth – low salt

2 tsp mustard

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, cubed

1 ¼ cups shredded Guyere cheese.

12 cooked homemade lasagna noodles

3 cups shredded cooked chicken

1 cup chopped cooked ham

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (8 oz)

Additional chopped fresh thyme leaves if desired for garnish

Directions:

Make your noodles! With the help of a KitchenAid mixer it is much easier to make pasta so quickly.

Homemade Pasta Recipe

Ingredients:

2½ cups all-purpose flour, tapped through a mesh strainer

1 cup semolina flour, strained, plus extra flour for preparing

½ teaspoon salt

4 large eggs, beaten + 1 egg beaten in separate bowl as needed

2 Tablespoons water

Directions:

Use a spoon to fluff up the flour within the container.

Use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup. Don't pack in the flour with your spoon or you'll get too much. Don't tap the measuring cup either. Just scoop it in.

Use a knife or other straight edged utensil to level the flour across the measuring cup.

Place 4 eggs, water, flour and salt in mixer bowl. Begin adding the water 1 tablespoon and add more as needed.

Attach flat beater. Turn to speed 2 and mix for 30 to 60 seconds. Add more water if the dough is too dry, in ½ Tablespoon increments.

Change out the flat beater for the dough hook. Turn to speed 2 and knead for 2 minutes. Knead until the dough indents when you touch it. Remove the dough, Dust a cutting board with the semolina flour and knead by hand. you only have to hand-knead it for a minute or so after it was done.

Cover dough with plastic wrap and let it sit for approximately 20 minutes. This resting time is important!

Cut dough into four pieces before processing with pasta sheet roller machine. Take one piece and flatten into a rectangular shape. Adding flour to both sides. Be sure to cover the other pieces with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel.

Attach the pasta roller to your counter and set it to #1. Roll the pasta dough through. While still on #1, fold the dough in half and run it through again two more times.

Adding a little bit of flour on each side of the dough again, change setting to #2 and pass the pasta dough through the sheet roller. Do this twice and then twice each on #3. For lasagna you want a thicker pasta to hold up the layers so don't do the #4 setting. You will use that for pasta like spaghetti, etc.

Once you’re done, fold the pasta up gently and cover with plastic while you repeat the process for the remaining 3 pieces of dough.

For other types of pasta, add flour to each side of your long pasta sheet. Change the attachment to your spaghetti or fettuccine cutter.

Run the pasta sheet through and with your left hand, hold on to the pasta as it comes through the cutter. It's usually really long so cut it and then wind it around your hand to create a nest. Allow pasta to dry for a few minutes before boiling.

Your gorgeous pasta can be used immediately or allowed to dry before freezing.

When boiling your pasta, it only needs 3 to 7 minutes to boil.

For our lasagna, place a sheet of wax paper on the counter and sprinkle “lightly with flour”.

If you freeze the extra, never thaw them out before cooking as this makes them stick together.

Dump into boiling water and gently move them around in the salted water. Never clumps this way.

Lay out the cooked noodles on a lined baking sheet while you prepare the rest of the dish.

Heat oven to 375°F. Spray 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray.

Sauce:

1/3 cup butter or margarine

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon white or black pepper

1 can (12 fluid ounces) Evaporated Milk

¾ cup chicken broth, low salt

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, cubed

MELT butter in small saucepan. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Gradually add evaporated milk and broth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes just to a boil. 

 

 Stir in the cream cheese and grated Guyere. Always spray the grater first this makes it easier to clean. Stir until melted and add the ¼ tsp thyme.

 Remove from heat. 

Spread 1 cup of the sauce in bottom of baking dish; top with a layer of 3 noodles.

On top of noodles, spoon 1 cup of the chicken, 1/3 cup of the ham, 1 cup of the sauce and ½ cup of the Monterey Jack cheese. Repeat two more layers, starting with noodles. Top with remaining noodles, sauce and cheese.

Spray piece of foil with cooking spray; cover sprayed side down. Bake 35 minutes.

In small microwavable bowl, microwave 2 tablespoons of the butter uncovered on High 20 to 40 seconds or until melted. Add bread crumbs to bowl, and stir until mixed well; set aside.

Remove lasagna from oven; uncover, and top with bread crumb mixture. Bake uncovered 10 to 15 minutes or until bread crumbs are lightly browned, noodles are tender and edges are bubbly.

Let stand 20 minutes before serving. Garnish with additional thyme.

For our music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrGw_cOgwa8&list=RDEhZba-P7R18&index=3

So happy to serve this to my Master Indy.

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White

 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazon

 

 

 

============================

Pier Luigi Farnese was the first Duke of Castro and the first Duke of Parma and Piacenza.

Pier Luigi Alexander Farnese was born in 1503 from the union between Cardinal Alexander Farnese (future Pope Paul III) and a Roman noblewoman.

His illegitimacy tormented Pier Luigi all his life, and doubtless contributed to the formation of his character. The nobility of Piacenza was frequently known to insult him as "the bastard son of the Pope." As the eldest and beloved son he was legitimized along with his brother Paul at the age of two in 1505 by Pope Julius II.

He was given a famous humanist tutor, and quickly developed a love of war and fortifications.

Alexander was, however, keen to make Pier Luigi the true head of the Farnese family and so arranged a favorable marriage alliance with Gerolama Orsini, daughter of the Count of Pitigliano. In 1513 the engagement contract was drawn up, and in 1519 the wedding celebrated.

Despite a loveless marriage, Gerolama remained a faithful devoted wife giving him four children and tolerating Pier Luigi's excesses, brutality, and extravagances.

Pier Luigi Farnese quickly became the stereotype of a mercenary soldier: wild and amoral. He had courage and daring and while strong and audacious was also sufficiently brutal to offend many observers. Nor did he always fight on the traditional side of the papacy.

In 1520, at the age of seventeen, he and his brother Ranuccio were already employed as mercenaries in the pay of the Republic of Venice. As a result, he served under the standard of Charles V - remaining with the emperor until 1527, he was present at the Sack of Rome of that year, in which he took part.

While his brother Ranuccio withdrew to defend the Pope; Pier Luigi crossed the Tiber and quartered his men in the family palace, thus saving it from destruction.

Luigi withdrew from Rome into the Roman countryside, taxing it without mercy and permitting a climate of theft and murder. 

 

 When his father was elevated to the papacy as Paul III in 1534, his first action was to make Pier Luigi's eldest son, Alessandro Farnese, a cardinal. But Charles V only reluctantly allowed the granting of titles to Pier Luigi agreeing an annual pension on the condition that the news was not made public.

The office of Captain General of the Church had become vacant, and Paul nominated his son. Pier Luigi traveled through the Papal States defeating pockets of resistance before arriving in triumph at Piacenza.

The Duchy of Castro operated as a functioning State within the Patrimony of Saint Peter. It possessed rich forests full of game, fertile vineyards and fields, and a great number of fortresses. The Pope also awarded his son the cities of Nepi and Ronciglione. Pier Luigi was tasked with repairing all the fortresses over which he was now feudal lord. During his life Pier Luigi gained a certain reputation for cruelty, ruthlessness and decadence. A particular scandal erupted in 1537, when he was accused of raping a young bishop Cosimo Gheri, who subsequently died.

Eventually to no one's surprise, Pier's reputation caught up with him and he was stabbed him to death. The conspirators hung his body from a window of his palace in Piacenza. Pier Luigi's body was brought back and buried in Piacenza; later the body was transported to the family tomb on the island of Bisentina on Lake Bolsena.

Pier Luigi Farnese had married Girolama Orsini and sired four children. Letters exist from Pier Luigi's father, Paul III, reproaching him for taking male lovers when on an official mission to the court of the emperor; and another from the chancellor of the Florentine embassy detailing a man-hunt he had mounted in Rome to search for a youth who had refused his advances.

So historians feel safe in labeling him as a bisexual. While not exactly a “hero” he definitely shaped the course of Italian history.