Make-Ahead Marsala Sauce for Grilled Steak and Chicken

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is a really nice recipe to have in your hopper. It can make a plain barbecue downright fancy and, best of all, the sauce can be made ahead of time and simply reheated when needed. The original recipe came the the Drury Lane Dinner Theater in Chicago, and I have slightly altered it to deepen the flavors of the sauce. I dry saute the mushrooms to intensify their flavor and I've added rosemary and parsley to my version of the recipe. I've also used a double-strength stock that's made by reducing several cups of broth to concentrate its flavor, and I've been known to make this truly sinful by adding heavy cream at the end of cooking. The sauce can be kept for several days in the refrigerator, though it will thicken and you'll have to add additional stock to get the consistency you want. I do hope you'll give this recipe a try. I know you will like it. Here is how the sauce is made.

Hawaiian Dinner Rolls + Overnight Sliders

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Football fever is running hot in my neck of the woods and food is a must for those who watch the games from the comfort of their own homes. I always serve something while we watch the game, but this week I wanted to breakaway from standard football fare and serve something that had a surprise value. I've been eyeing a recipe for sliders that are assembled the night before they are baked and I thought today's game would be the perfect time to give them a try. I did, however, run into a problem while assembling the ingredients needed to make them. Our local markets had no dinner-sized Hawaiian rolls, so I had to make my own. I used a recipe that I found on La Petite Brioche and several hours later I had the rolls I needed to proceed. The rolls, which are easy to make,  are similar  to  King's Hawaiian Rolls but they are a bit less sweet. There are no tricks to making them, save for the need for patience. The rolls are slow-risers, but if you want light and fluffy rolls you have to make sure they  double in size before proceeding with the next steps. These rolls are really versatile.  I'm including the slider recipe I used today, but these would also make a great base for pulled pork,  and, if drizzled with a confectioners' sugar glaze, I think they'd make wonderful breakfast sweet rolls. First things first. Here is the recipe for the rolls. The recipe for the sliders will follow that.

Hawaiian Sweet Rolls...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by La Petite Brioche

Ingredients:
6-7 cups all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1-1/2 cups pineapple juice
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 (1/4 ounce) envelopes yeast or 4-1/2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 cup butter (one stick) melted

Directions:
1) Beat eggs. Add pineapple juice, sugar, salt, ginger, vanilla, and butter.
2) Place 3 cups of flour in a large bowl. Stir in egg mixture until well-combined. Sprinkle in yeast, one packet at a time, and mix. Add the remaining 3 cups of flour and mix in. If dough is sticky and difficult to handle, add more flour. Dough should be slightly tacky, but not wet. Knead dough for 5 minutes until it forms a smooth ball. Place dough in a greased bowl and set aside to rise until doubled in size (about 1-1/2 hours).
2) Punch dough down and either divide into three equal parts for bread loaves or 24 balls for dinner rolls. Place in greased loaf pans or shape into rolls. Cover and place in a warm place to rise until doubled in size. Be patient. These rolls are slow risers, but it is important to let them double in size before baking.
3) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
4) Bake for 25-30 minutes or golden brown. Brush tops with melted butter. Serve warm.Yield: 24 dinner rolls or 12 sandwich buns.

Following Photo and Recipe Courtesy of KING'S HAWAIIAN

King's Mini Baked Ham Sandwiches
Ingredients:
1 pound deli ham shaved
1 pound swiss cheese thinly sliced
1-1/2 sticks butter
1-1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1-1/2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
1-1/2 teaspoons minced onion dried
12 Hawaiian Sweet Dinner Rolls

Directions:
1) Melt butter and mix in mustard, sauce and onion.
2) Cut rolls in half, horizontally (keeping all top and bottom halves separately in tact).
3) In a 9 x 13-inch pan, place bottom half of rolls and cover with ham and cheese.
4) Cover ham and cheese stacks with top half of rolls.
5) Drizzle butter mixture over top of rolls, making sure onion is evenly distributed.
6) Refrigerate over night.
7) Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes and, once finished, separate for serving. Yield: 12 servings.

If you have enjoyed your visit here, I hope you'll take a minute to...

      

One Year Ago Today: Slow-Cooker Weeknight Chili

Two Years Ago Today: Cranberry Mousse

Three Years Ago Today: Plum and Tomato Chutney

Four Years Ago Today: Creamy Broccoli and Cheddar Soup

50 Women Game Changers in Food - #36 Edna Lewis - Silken Turnip and Potato Soup

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...It doesn't happen often, but sometimes I literally have to look up to the people I look up to. Edna Lewis, a giant of a woman and one whose influence in the food world was enormous, holds position 36 on the Gourmet Live list of 50 Women Game Changers in Food. She was born the grandchild of freed slaves and was raised in the rural community of Freetown, Virginia which they helped to found. She was taught to cook over a wood stove by her Aunt Jenny and the basic skills she learned there were the foundation on which a great culinary career was built. She left home following the death of her father and at 16 found herself in Washington, D.C. She would later move to New York City where her reputation as a Southern cook began to grow. While Edna, a political activist, would go on to become a great chef, and, as a custodian of true Southern cooking, teach a generation of young cooks all she knew, her first jobs in the city were as as a laundress and seamstress. She also worked for a period of time at The Daily Worker and married Steve Kingston, a communist who would later object to her feeding the elite. Shortly after her marriage she met John Nicholson, an antiques dealer who loved Southern cooking. Together they opened a restaurant, The Café Nicholson, where she did all the cooking. Her dishes were simple, delicious Southern food but the café attracted numerous famous faces and it became a watering hole for the literati and glitterati of the day. Edna stayed with restaurant until 1954. In the late 1960's, an injury forced her to stop cooking professionally. Encouraged by Craig Claiborne and Judith Jones, another of our 50 Women Game Changers, she produced her first cookbook, The Edna Lewis Cookbook. Several years later she published what has come to be known as the classic study of Southern cooking, The Taste of Country Cooking. I quote now, " Her books are as much personal memoirs as collections of recipes. They contain wonderful histories of Southern food and reflections on rural life. Her books are full of tips acquired from a lifetime of cooking. Edna’s pioneering chapters on fresh foods and seasonality predate the American culinary revolution." Edna also lived and worked in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina and Decatur, Georgia. She retired as a chef in 1992 and in the mid-1990’s, she and a group of friends started the Society for the Revival and Preservation of Southern Food. In 2003, she and Scott Peacock, a friend and collaborator, published The Gift of Southern Cooking. She died in 2006 at the age of 89. Some considered her to be "the South's answer to Julia Child". I consider her to be an original who beat the odds and, in the course of her journey, left footprints that made the journey of others infinitely easier.

I have an old copy of a special issue of Food and Wine magazine, called Chef's Recipes Made Easy, and Edna Lewis is one of those featured in the publication. Her contribution is a series of courses that make up a Southern Thanksgiving meal. One of the recipes I'd marked to try was her version of Silken Turnip and Potato Soup. This post gave me the incentive I needed to give it a try. Happily, I can recommend this without reservation. If you are looking for a soup with which to start a meal, this is a perfect candidate. I hope you will give it a try. Here's the recipe.

Silken Turnip and Potato Soup...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 medium onions, thinly sliced
3 pounds turnips, peeled and thinly sliced
1-1/2 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
Salt
6 cups chicken stock or canned low-sodium broth
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup finely shredded basil, for garnish

Directions:
1) In a large heavy stockpot or casserole, melt butter until it foams. When foam subsides, add onions and cook over moderate heat until softened but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add turnips and potatoes and stir to coat with the butter. Add 2 teaspoons of salt, cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 20 minutes.
2) Stir in chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Cover partially and cook over moderate heat until the vegetables are very tender, about 10 minutes. Working in batches, puree soup in a blender until perfectly smooth. Return soup to the pot and season with salt and nutmeg. Ladle soup into shallow bowls and garnish with the basil before serving. Yield: 12 servings.

Cook's Note: The soup can be made and refrigerated a day before serving.

The following bloggers are also featuring the recipes of Edna Lewis today. I hope you'll pay them all a visit. They are great cooks who have wonderful blogs.

Val - More Than Burnt Toast, Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed, Susan - The Spice Garden
Heather - girlichef, Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney, Jeanette - Healthy Living
Mary - One Perfect Bite, Kathleen - Bake Away with Me, Sue - The View from Great Island
Barbara - Movable Feasts , Linda A - There and Back Again, Nancy - Picadillo
Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits, Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen
Annie - Most Lovely Things, Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook, Alyce - More Time at the Table, Amrita - Beetles Kitchen Escapades

Next week we will highlight the career and recipes of Severine von Tscharner Fleming. It will be really interesting to see what everyone comes up with. If you'd like to join us please email me for additional information no later than Monday, February 27th.