Delaware

Normally this blog is for food I make but I decided to share what others made for us while we were on vacation. The sandwiches are reviewed on the Syracuse Sandwich blog. So here are some pictures of the food we enjoyed in Delaware:

Grilled Ham Cheese and Tomato at Robin Hood's

Seafood Scampi at Irish Eyes

Shepherd's Pie at Irish Eyes

Doughnuts at The Fractured Prune

Onion Rings at Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats

Asparagus Peppers and Chicken Pizza at Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats

Vegetable Omelet at Sunrise Restaurant

Eastern Omelet at Sunrise Restaurant

Pretzel Sticks at The Greene Turtle

Chick N Ranch at The Greene Turtle

The Chesapeake Chicken at The Greene Turtle

Taco Salad at Dos Locos

Spicy Pork Burrito at Dos Locos

French Toast at The Penguin Diner

Breakfast Burrito at The Penguin Diner

Corn Flake Chicken Tenders & Seasoned Potato Wedges

     I had the idea of serving Matt a dish that my mom used to make when we were kids paired with a recipe I made for football one Sunday afternoon. Baked Corn Flake crusted chicken tenders and baked potato wedges are a healthy alternative to heavily breaded and fried tenders and French fries. I remember eating the chicken tenders with a side of honey and bbq sauce for dipping. They were crunchy and had a sweet taste from the cereal while still being tender. The potato wedges were a huge hit when I made them for the guests I had over for football. Paprika, chili powder, onion powder, and garlic powder mixed with olive oil spice up russet potato wedges that gives them a kick once baked. I hoped that the combination of the two would make a great meal. Here are the recipes:

Potato Wedges

3 Russet potatoes cut into wedges

1 ½ teaspoons chili powder

1 ½ teaspoons onion powder

1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder

1 ½ teaspoons paprika

3 tablespoons olive oil

Olive oil for drizzling

Corn Flake Crusted Chicken Tenders

2 lbs. Chicken tenderloins or Chicken breast cut into strips

4 cups crushed Corn Flakes

1 tablespoon season salt

½ cup flour

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

2 eggs

1 tablespoon water or milk

Olive oil for drizzling

     Pre heat your oven to 400 degrees and start working on the potatoes. I leave the skin on the potato when I cut it into wedges. Once you have cut the potatoes up, put them in a large mix bowl and set aside. Combine the spices and the olive in a small bowl and mix thoroughly. Pour this mixture over the potatoes and stir the potatoes around until they are coated on all sides. Drizzle olive oil on a large baking sheet and spread the potatoes evenly on top. Put the potatoes in the oven for about 25 – 35 minutes depending on how thick you cut the potatoes, flipping once. Immediately get started on the chicken so both will be done around the same time. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a deep mixing bowl then eat the eggs and water (or milk) in a small bowl. Dip a few tenders at a time in the egg wash and then roll them in the dry ingredients until fully coated. Place these on a plate with a paper towel on it until you have coated all of the tenders you will be cooking. Drizzle olive oil on a large baking sheet and place the tenders on the sheet about an inch apart. Put the chicken in the oven for about 20 minutes, flipping once.

     When the potatoes can be pierced easily with a fork, they are done. The chicken however is tricky because each piece won’t be the same size. I cut the thickest piece to make sure there is no pink left. The potatoes were thick and tender with the consistency of steak fries. The spices added a kick but could be adjusted if you like it more or less spicy. The chicken didn’t get crunchy enough like I wanted and I think I know why. The pieces I cut were thicker than when my mom made them so there was more juice which soaked the cornflakes, not allowing them to stay crunchy. The chicken was tender and cooked perfectly in my opinion. I think I will change the size of the chicken slices next time and change the steps during the breading process.

Rating: Fair - These recipes need some work but definitely worth another try.

Beef Cutlets

    One of my favorite comfort foods is breaded beef cutlets. I picked up some cutlets cut from sirloin at Spera’s on Sunday night. I have said this before on my sandwich blog: Spera’s has the best meat around, whether it is cold cuts, beef, chicken, pork, or anything else they carry. The package I bought had a little over 6/10ths a pound which was perfect for the two of us. Six sand dollar sized pieces were cut to about a quarter of an inch in thickness. For the breading, I use Italian style bread crumbs which you can buy in any grocery store. If you just have regular bread crumbs like I did, just add some Italian seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, and some extra parsley. Use one egg per pound of cutlets to moisten them enough for the bread crumbs to stick. I added a bit of milk to the egg instead of water when making the egg wash just as a personal preference. Heat up about three tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet and add the cutlets after breading them. Since the cutlets come so thin, I only cook them for about 3 minutes on each side at a medium high heat. Do NOT turn your attention away from them because they can burn very easily. Mine came out to the dark brown I was looking for.

     For sides I had pierogies and mixed vegetables. The mixed vegetables were the steam in bag type so I didn’t do anything extra to them. The pierogies were also frozen but I decided instead of baking them like I normally do, I would sauté them per suggestion of my co-workers. So like most of the stuff I make, I started by sautéing some minced garlic in olive oil and then added the pierogies. They cooked for about 12 minutes which heated them through but didn’t give them the crunch that I had hoped for. Since the cutlets were already out of the pan and onto the plates, I had to pull the pierogies before they could crisp up.

     The pierogies were soft but tasted fine and the garlic added some extra flavor. I don’t think I will sauté them again without adding more to the pan like onions. The beef cutlets came out just the way my mom makes them which is how I wanted them to come out. The meat was tender but cooked through to the point there was little to no pink in any of them. The breading stayed together for the most part; more oil would have ensured that. The simple breading mixture used in this dish can be used on any meat really but it is just the best on beef cutlets. No changes are need to these cutlets, just more practice in the act of making them.

Rating: Yummy - A quick and easy comfort food.

Shepherd's Pie

     Shepherd’s Pie is a very involved dish with many ingredients and many dishes needed to make it. Because I was short on time and wanted to eat before 7, Christine was nice enough to assist me make this dish. I peeled about 2 pounds of potatoes while Christine chopped up a green pepper. Once I got a pot of water boiling, I threw the potatoes in and was lucky enough to be the one to chop up the onion. Tears welled up in my eyes as I was cutting the onion as Christine started peeling 3 carrots. I heated up some olive oil in a pan and sautéed about a teaspoon of minced garlic before adding the pepper, onion, and ground beef. I was waiting on the carrots but they joined the party a few minutes later. While the vegetable and beef mixture began to cook, I made a roux to start my gravy in small sauce pan. I melted two tablespoons of butter and added two tablespoons of flour. Once that was fully mixed, I added a cup of beef broth and two tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce. I dropped the heat to low and let that thicken up.

     Matt showed up around 6:30 and we weren’t even close to done so I had him join in on the fun and finish the mashed potatoes for me. I have never made the mashed potatoes like I did last night but they came out great so I think I will be making them like this from now on, but I will keep making changes until they are perfect. Once Matt had mashed the potatoes I added one egg yolk, ½ cup of chicken broth, two tablespoons sour cream and about a cup of Colby jack/cheddar cheese. Using a hand mixer, Matt mixed them up until they were silky smooth. Corn isn’t yet in season so I used a steamer bag from the frozen section and cooked that in the microwave.

     Finally, I could put everything together and throw it under the broiler to give the potatoes a little bit of a crust. I combined the gravy with the beef and vegetables and put that in the bottom of an oval pan. On top of that was the whole bag of corn followed by the mashed potatoes. I sprinkled some paprika on top of the potatoes and put it all in over for about 5 minutes until golden brown. It looked good once it was done, I just hopped it would taste as good as it looked. Everything mixed together when I scooped it onto our new plates, so it took some time to pick out the flavors from each piece of the dish. Like I said before, the potatoes were great. They were fluffy and had a light cheesy taste. The paprika added a little heat which went well with the heaviness once everything had combined. All of the vegetables gave the dish a lot of color and added a nice crunch to what could have been a mushy dish. The beef had little flavor which I think the gravy was suppose to make up for. The gravy didn’t really add much to the dish so I’ll need to fiddle with the recipe because it was after all, pretty basic.

     This definitely came out better than my previous attempts but I think I may switch out the ground beef for sirloin next time. Hopefully it will be worth the added expense that comes with the sirloin. Christine and Matt both seemed to enjoy it which is all that I could have hoped for. I thank both of them for assisting me; it was fun working with others on the same dish.

Rating: Yummy – Getting closer to a go to dish, needs work on the gravy though.

Baked Potato Soup

Click Here For The Recipe

     Let me begin by saying, this recipe is a true brothy soup and not the thick verison like you would get in a restaurant. I made this recipe this past Sunday night when I was having my brother and father over for dinner. Because the recipe only makes 4 servings and a serving isn't filling enough to be a meal, I doubled the recipe and made cheddar garlic biscuits to go with it.

     In a pan I cooked a half of a pound of diced bacon until it became crispy. I reserved the bacon drippings and put the cooked bacon in a bowl and set that aside. Now because I double the recipe, I needed to use a pot instead of just making it in the pan that the bacon cooked in like the instructions call for. I pretty much followed the recipe as stated but made one change in an effort to thicken the soup since it seemed to liquidy to me. I stirred in just under two cups of shredded cheddar cheese right before I served it. This thickened the soup up just enough so it wasn't too watery. I let everyone garnish their soup with cheddar cheese, sour cream, and bacon to their liking.

Rating: Yummy -  Even though this soup was a little on the watery side, everyone really enjoyed it.