Tradition: Pantry meals

A regular occurrence at our house is pantry meals. You know, the type of meals that you throw together out of whatever you have in the pantry because you haven't gone to the grocery store in awhile and/or it is too late to make anything too complex.

The other night, this ended with pantry enchiladas.

First, you have to understand, they aren't exactly enchiladas. And, they weren't entirely from the pantry either, although if I hadn't had left-over rotisserie chicken in the 'fridge, they would have been.

Here's what you do:

Mix chicken (about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of shredded left-over chicken or one large can, drained) with a can of some sort of cream soup. I used mushroom the other night, but cream of chicken is a good option.

Add about a cup of any of the following: small can of diced green chili peppers, small can of diced tomatoes (drained), canned or frozen corn, canned or frozen green beans, etc. Really whatever vegetable-like item you have will work, including spinach (If frozen, thaw in microwave, then squeeze out as much liquid as possible first). A drained can of Ro-tel adds a nice kick.

Then, add lots of grated cheese. At least a cup and more, depending on how much other stuff you have added. Use your judgement.

Spoon the mixture into the middle of large tortillas and fold over like a taco. Put enough in there to fill it out well, but not so much that it immediately squirts out the sides.

Put the tortillas on a cookie sheet with a raised edge and bake in a 350-degree over for about 10 minutes.

Top with salsa and sour cream.

The entire process takes about 20 minutes and that recipe will serve fill about three large tortillas.

Adventure: Blintzes

These lovely concoctions are blintzes, which we made for the first time Sunday. Basically, they are crepes with a cheese-based filling inside. It reminded me of the cheese-filled pastas at cheap Italian restaurants.

In other words, tasty.

Carl and I love crepes, so when faced with the prospect of filling a crepe with cheese, we were excited.

We had a recipe, but, as usual, ended up improvising. Turns out, farmer's cheese just isn't a staple food item for us. It's a type of cottage cheese from which most of the liquid has been pressed out, according to my handy Food Lover's Companion.

Okay, we said, we're hungry. What DO we have? The answer was Neufchatel, a softer type of cream cheese. Not the same, but it has worked quite well in creamy eggs recipes before, so we tried it.

At first, as Carl blended the cheese with a couple of eggs, it looked like it could be a disaster. But, the eggs helped the mixture firm up considerably once we cooked it, and the soft cheese gave the filling a nice texture.

Meanwhile, I was making the crepes. I inherited/claimed a crepe pan from my mom minutes before it was consigned to the garage sale box several years ago. She has no idea how much I have used that pan. It's a metal pan with some sort of coating that makes it extraordinarily non-stick. It fries beautiful crepes.

Once the crepes and the filling are both cooked, you put some filling in the middle of the crepe and fold it up like a burrito. Then, you fry it again until it crisps up a bit.

We topped ours with various jams, our favorites being apricot, which brought out the tartness of the lemon zest in the filling, and a jalapeno-blueberry that Carl puts on everything.

As always, we made too many even though we cut the recipe by a third. But, not to worry, you can re-fry them again the next morning. They were just as good today topped with the strawberries we froze last spring!

Blintzes

Crepes:
3 eggs
1 3/4 c milk
1 c flour
4 tbsn melted butter
Pinch of salt

Mix with a hand-mixer until smooth.
Pour about 1/4 of a cup of batter into a medium-hot non-stick pan, making sure to tilt the pan a bit to spread the batter out as thin as possible. Cook until set (this batter doesn't bubble as much as pancake batter, so watch it closely), then flip and cook just until slightly browned (literally 20 or 30 seconds).

Filling:
1 8-oz package Neufchatel cheese
2 eggs
3 tbsn powdered sugar (or a little less)
Zest of one lemon
Cinnamon (how much do you like cinnamon? Add that much.)

Mix together, then cook like scrambled eggs, until the mixture thickens. It will look a bit like Ricotta cheese.
Spoon the mixture into the center of the crepes, and fold like a burrito.
Brush a little egg white onto the last fold, and fry in a hot buttered skillet, folded side down first, until crisp.
Top with jam, jelly, preserves or fresh fruit or whatever else you think would be good.

You can alter the recipe by adding herbs instead of the powdered sugar, lemon zest and cinnamon, to make it more savory instead of sweet.

To warm them back up, just re-fry in a buttered, non-stick skillet. I used a slightly lower temperature so as to warm the filling without burning the outside.

Tradition: Steak and baked potatoes

There's a comedian who made a point once about grilling and who gets all the credit and praise.
The woman buys the groceries, marinates the steak, preps the sides, makes sure condiments are available, pours drinks and cleans up after dinner.
The man turns on the grill and cooks the steak.
The man gets all the compliments and thanks for the meal.
While that's probably true in many households, it doesn't usually fit mine, where my husband and I cook together.
Last night, as far as the job divide is concerned, was the exception.
I pulled the steak out of the freezer yesterday morning, put a marinade together in the afternoon, so it was ready to throw on the grill.
When Carl got home, he got the grill going and cooked the steak, while I washed and baked the potatoes and steamed some broccoli.
Both jobs ended up taking about the same amount of time, but we still laughed about that old joke.
There was one big difference in the joke and what happened in our home last night though - Unlike the husband lapping up all the praise and ignoring his poor overworked wife, Carl made sure to thank me for making the rest of the meal.

Quick steak marinade:
Worcestershire sauce
Pepper
Garlic
Salt

Rub the steak with the pepper, salt and garlic on both sides, then pour Worchestershire sauce over the whole. I marinate in a zippered bag so as to easily flip the steak after about an hour.

Adventure: Century eggs

The recent egg recall due to salmonella concerns reminds me of an egg adventure I had several years ago in Germany where I experienced hundred-year eggs, otherwise known as century eggs.

No, they are not actually 100 years old.

According to The New Food Lover’s Companion, duck or chicken eggs are treated with lime, ashes and salt and then shallowly buried for 100 days.

Although they are considered a great delicacy, it wasn’t to my taste.

The shell of the duck egg was a moldy green color and the smell matched.

As the egg was peeled, revealing that the part of a boiled egg that should be white was dark green to black, the “bad egg” odor intensified. The normally yellow yolk was swamp-water green.
It tasted just as bad as that description implies.

Since the Companion indicates the outer layer of the egg should be amber colored, not black, I am going to assume that the egg I tried might not have been a prime specimen.
Plus, it definitely is different than the normal Americanized foods we eat, and the dubiousness with which I approached the egg probably colored my perception.

With a couple of years spanning between then and now, I could even be persuaded to try century eggs again.

Maybe. 

Tradition: Chicken, cabbage and cornbread

Probably one of my favorite meals is this: baked chicken, steamed cabbage and cornbread.
The meal reminds me of rainy evenings at home in Memphis with my mom and brother and I all hanging out in the kitchen, drinking a beer and watching the pots steam, as it were.
We never boiled cabbage in our house.
Instead, we steamed it with just a bit of water until it was tender enough to be cut with a fork, but not so limp it went to mush. Then, we added butter and lots of pepper and ate it fast. Cold cabbage is nobody's favorite.
We were a split family when it came to cornbread.
My daddy and I loved sweet cornbread, while Mom and my brother would rather eat the savory version.
Nowadays, I appreciate both types and keep a bag of plain cornmeal in the freezer, while the little boxes of Jiffy corn muffin mix are in the pantry.
From my great-grandmother, Sherli Dedrick, and her sister, Jane Blair, comes the baked chicken recipe that is simplicity itself.
Since it isn't a written recipe, some of the directions are not exact.

What you need:
2-4 thawed chicken breasts, with or without bones
2 eggs
1 cup flour
Cavender's All Purpose Greek Seasoning mix or salt and pepper to taste

What to do:
Preheat the oven to about 375 degrees.
Beat the eggs together in  shallow bowl large enough to fit the chicken breasts in.
Mix a tablespoon or so of Cavender's  (or salt and pepper) into the flour until evenly distributed.
Pour the flour mix onto a couple of layers of paper towel.
Dip the chicken breasts into the egg mixture, then into the flour mixture until covered. This step may be repeated if desired.
Place the chicken into a baking dish, and add water to cover the bottom of the pan. Don't add too much. You are not boiling the chicken, just keeping it moist.
Bake for 30 minutes to an hour, until chicken is cooked through.

For a different taste, add fresh rosemary to the flour mixture instead of Cavendar's and a decent crisp white wine to the pan instead of water.

For the quick version of this meal, grab a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, throw a batch of Jiffy cornbread muffins in the oven and steam your cabbage. It's not cheating, it's expediting.

Choose your own...

Adventure or tradition?
It's a question that doesn't just strike when we are planning our next vacation or weekend jaunt.
There's a chance to venture out into the unknown at every meal - or sit back and relax knowing that the steaks will come off the grill perfect as always and the potatoes will bake just so.
I'm not one to say either way is the best - in fact, a healthy dose of both will keep your meals fun, relaxed and interesting.
Too much adventure is generally hard on the pocketbook and the stomach, I've found, but too much tradition can be boring.
Whether you are looking for a quick snack or have time for some serious cooking, grab your skillet and check back often as I post about my own endeavors in the kitchen through old recipes, family traditions, new cookbooks and experimental ventures.