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Post by virgilgal on Jul 11, 2012 17:37:19 GMT -5
My Mom used to make two thin burgers and press them with chunks of blue cheese in the middle; Yummmm!
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Post by Clipper on Jul 11, 2012 21:24:35 GMT -5
Is your new cast iron made by Lodge Chris? Be sure and follow the instructions for seasoning it well before you use it.
Kathy and I use our cast iron ware for everything. We only clean it by wiping it out with a paper towel and table salt as an abrasive. Every time she uses it, she cleans it, then wipes it with a little more oil. It makes awesome cornbread, and after we got it seasoned well nothing sticks to it. She also fries chicken and schnitzel in it.
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Post by virgilgal on Jul 12, 2012 6:47:47 GMT -5
I had an incredible gift of a 10 piece set of LeCreuset enameled cast iron ware last week!!! It is orange with wooden handles and made in the early 1980's There are 2 saucepans that have pour spouts and there is a small dutch oven that is going for $250 by itself on Ebay! There's a lasagna pan with metal handles and a long handled omelet pan and they all have covers. Only one of the saucepans had been used. The rest still had stickers on them. A few years ago I got my Mom's Lodge dutch oven (red!) and I have used this on the woodstove to make everything. I have always used cast iron and love it but the enamel ware is wonderful because it cooks the same and doesn't need seasoning. I am so excited to have a whole set of it and have felt weird about starting to use them! Think I'll break them in when I start my winter woodstove cooking again
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2012 9:48:05 GMT -5
Chris, sorry but I've been way too busy to join in but I'll give you a couple of quickies. Quick, easy and delicious "BBQ Sauce" Fill half of a small bowl with ketchup, add 3 tablespoons of wind vinegar, 3 teaspoons molasses 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar, add a few drops of water Mix all together until smooth then use on any meats you prefer to grill or bake. I use this sauce on all my meats. Double or triple recipe if you desire more ahead of time. Will stay well for a very long time when refrigerated. Help I went to Walmart and Price Chopper and no one has wind vinegar. What is it? I still can't find "scratch". I was listening to a lady tell her friend that she made cornbread from scratch. I should have asked them were they buy ' scratch '. ;D
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Post by bobbbiez on Jul 12, 2012 10:01:58 GMT -5
Chris, sorry but I've been way too busy to join in but I'll give you a couple of quickies. Quick, easy and delicious "BBQ Sauce" Fill half of a small bowl with ketchup, add 3 tablespoons of wine vinegar, 3 teaspoons molasses 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar, add a few drops of water Mix all together until smooth then use on any meats you prefer to grill or bake. I use this sauce on all my meats. Double or triple recipe if you desire more ahead of time. Will stay well for a very long time when refrigerated. Help I went to Walmart and Price Chopper and no one has wine vinegar. What is it? I still can't find "scratch". I was listening to a lady tell her friend that she made cornbread from scratch. I should have asked them were they buy ' scratch '. ;D Alan, so sorry I meant "wine" vinegar. Was typing too fast. Walmart and Price Chopper both carry wine vinegar. Most grocery stores all do. You'll find it on the shelves with the regular vinegar.
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Post by chris on Jul 12, 2012 10:31:50 GMT -5
LOL ;D ;D ;D
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Post by chris on Jul 12, 2012 10:34:26 GMT -5
yes and it is preseasoned
I also have an enamel stock pot from Martha Stewart in blue (just need to build some muscle to lift those suckers)
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Post by Clipper on Jul 12, 2012 12:15:34 GMT -5
Our latest cast iron frying pan was "pre-seasoned" too Chris, but we still rubbed it with oil and seasoned it in the oven a couple of times and now we can fry eggs in it if we were to choose to. Wow VG. What a gift! Congrats. Other than the weight, I love cooking with cast iron, and so does Kathy. It heats very evenly and holds the heat We only have a couple of frying pans of different sizes and a dutch oven, all black cast iron from Lodge. We have a 10 inch cast iron frying pan that was my grandmother's. I think it is probably close to 100 yrs old. It sat on a shelf over the top of my gram's wood/coal cook stove as far back as I can remember. It always had bacon grease in it, and a piece of foil to keep the dust out of it. My next Lodge investment is going to be a cast iron griddle of one size or another to be used for pancakes and such when we are camping. If you look on line, Lodge Cast Iron has a cast iron recipe book available. There are all sorts of great recipes in there. I haven't bought one, but I did thumb through it while shopping in their outlet store in Pigeon Forge/ Sevierville Tn. Gander Mountain stores also carry the cookbook and Lodge cast iron. I envy you VG. I used to do stews and chili on the woodstove in a cast iron dutch oven. With that full set of cookware I see a lot of woodstove cooking in your future.
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Post by virgilgal on Jul 12, 2012 19:24:06 GMT -5
Absolutely Clipper! And then maybe I'll be posting some recipes! I have nearly stopped cooking this summer. Have put on terrible "stress eating" weight and then a month in Ga. and eating out too much. So I came home and am trying to eat as much fresh stuff as possible, no meat, whole grains. I've been cooking a pot of rice and then doing some quick stir fries with peas from the garden, greens and TOFU!!! (Yes, I actually like it!) I have been eating about half of my food for the day in a variety of fresh fruit starting with a yogurt and fruit smoothie whipped up in my "Bullet" each morning. (The Bullet is a very cool little kitchen tool. I got the whole set new at a garage sale last year for $6 and use it all the time.)I feel like my energy level has increased dramatically in less than 2 weeks of this. Felt kind of like I was speeding for a bit and started to freak me out but now I have realized it is healthy food doing it. No weight loss yet but I hope that comes soon!
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Post by Clipper on Jul 12, 2012 21:53:20 GMT -5
Yuk! I don't do tofu. LOL I DO love stir fried veggies and steamed rice. I also eat a ton of roasted and grilled veggies in the summer. I love summer squash and zucchini slice lengthwise, sprinkled with a little cajun seasoning or just salt and pepper, drizzled with a little good olive oil and either roasted on a sheet pan or grilled on the grill.
I love greens of all kinds, both raw and saute'd. We don't always find escarole down here, but I found some yesterday. We had Italian style greens in Utica on our last trip and I am going to do a batch with some Italian sausage and cherry peppers, and lots of garlic.
We do southern style greens with a smoked ham hock too. They have a green that is grown locally that they call "cressy or creasy greens." I think they are some variety of watercress but I am not sure. They are a sweet and mild green. Collards are popular here but I don't care for them. I also like beet greens and mustard greens. I always grew spinach and two or three varieties of chard when I had the garden. Two back surgeries and hardware in the back and my gardening days are over. Luckily we have several good farmers markets and produce stands around close.
I don't know about you, but I love to eat. I find that once I get used to eating the good stuff, a diet is not a problem, but I fall off the wagon and go back to the old habits of eating lots of fried food and carbs and I end up gaining weight again. It is like a vicious cycle, LOL. My biggest downfall is that I worked hard all my life, and I am used to eating a large working man's breakfast. I eat a bowl of oatmeal or cheerios and it leaves me wanting a REAL breakfast, haha.
Good luck with your weight loss VG. I am also trying to lose some weight. It is hard when we just loaded up on good polish foods and Italian ingredients from NY. Kathy is an excellent cook. It is hard to lose weight with her baking and cooking all the time.
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Post by virgilgal on Jul 13, 2012 6:31:53 GMT -5
I didn't notice any recipes posted here for greens. Clipper, or someone, or everyone; could you please post a (some) recipes for Italian style greens? I think my favorite green is kale though I love them all. Fresh kale makes the most fantastic raw salad when very thinly sliced with other veggies and served with a gingery Asian dressing. Another salad ingredient that I've fallen in love with is raw grated fresh small beets. Incredibly good!
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Post by kit on Jul 13, 2012 8:29:25 GMT -5
I'll jump on VG's bandwagon and ask to see some recipes for Italian Greens. Some that I really like are 'Greens Cavallo' available, of course, only at Cavallo's Restaurant in New Hartford NY. I'm sure there are many variations out there and I'd like to see and try a few.
Also, I'd like to see a detailed description of how one seasons a black cast iron skillet.
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Post by chris on Jul 13, 2012 10:21:57 GMT -5
I picked Mario's from one of my Italian recipes because he is a great cook. Greens (Italian Style) escarole garlic olive oil hot cherry peppers (seeded and cut into pieces) seasoned bread crumbs grated Parmesan cheese Genoa hard salami (optional) cut into bite size pieces. fresh hard-crusted Italian bread Clean the escarole and wash thoroughly. Add the greens (escarole) to a large pot of boiling salted water. After the water comes to a boil again, cook the greens for about 4 - 5 minutes. Remove the greens and put in colander. After they cooled, squeeze all of the water out of the greens. In a frying pan, put some olive oil - enough to at least coat the bottom of the frying pan thoroughly. Heat the oil and put in the chopped/minced garlic - DO NOT LET IT BROWN OR BURN! Add the greens and cook for about 2 - 3 minutes. Add the pepper pieces (and optional salami) and a little of the pepper juice (vinegar) from the bottle - remember, the peppers gain “heat” when cooked and the juice will add even more “heat” - YUM! YUM! Just before you take off the heat, add the seasoned bread crumbs and grated cheese. Serve immediately- GET THAT BREAD AND GO TO TOWN!!!!! Posted by Mario Scaizo Jr. (there was another almost exact and they called it Utica greens)
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Post by Clipper on Jul 13, 2012 12:21:12 GMT -5
I usually use 2 large, or three medium heads of Escarole, or an equal amount of whatever greens I can find.
Wash greens thoroughly in a sink full of cold water. (I usually cut the heavier ribs from the base of the leaves before I boil the greens.)
I follow much the same recipe as Chris posted, only I use Italian sausage. I remove the casing from the sausage if it is cased, crumble it into a hot skillet and allow it to cook and render it's fat. Remove the sausage from the pan. I drain the majority of the sausage fat, leaving only a couple of tablespoons for flavor. I add just enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. (two or three tablespoons)
Saute' the garlic, about a half a teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes and about 6 sliced cherry peppers slowly so as not to burn the garlic.
Add the sausage back into the pan, along with the greens and a half cup of chicken broth.
Stir in 1/2 cup of seasoned Italian bread crumbs and cook until the greens are tender and the flavors have had time to marry and infuse the greens and until most of the liquid has cooked down.
Stir in 1/2 cup of good quality grated Italian cheese, remove from the heat and serve. ( we prefer freshly grated parmegiano reggiano. If you prefer a little sharper flavor, use pecarino romano) A good cheese for grating makes all the difference in flavor for all Italian dishes. A chunk of good grating cheese may cost $7 or $8, but it will last for a long time if wrapped in saran or kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I recently bought a grater like they use at Olive Garden and love it. We use grated cheese on many dishes including our normal green salads. The fresh cheese is wonderful. Beats the hell out of Kraft grated stuff in the green shaker bottles.
VG stated that she likes Kale. I find Kale and mustard greens a little bitter for this recipe. The type of greens you use definitely determines the flavor of the finished dish. Escarole is the ideal choice and is what they use in Utica restaurants. Swiss chard and dandelion greens are the second and third best choices in my mind. Anything other than escarole definitely alters the authentic flavor found in Utica greens.
We usually have a small cruet of olive oil on the table for salads and such. Drizzling a little olive oil on them on your plate and grating a little more cheese over them makes them absolutely delicious.
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Post by Clipper on Jul 13, 2012 12:40:20 GMT -5
Kit, Kathy seasons and re-seasons our cast iron pans using the method found on Lodge's website.
Place a sheet pan or foil on the middle shelf of the oven. Wipe the iron skillet or pan outside and inside with melted shortening or oil. preheat the oven to 350 or 400. Place the cookware upside down on the top rack of the oven and bake it for 1 hour. Turn off the oven and allow the pan to cool in the oven.
They recommend storing the cookware uncovered in a dry place. We keep our frequently used skillet in the oven and other cast iron ware on a shelf in the pantry upside down on a piece of paper toweling.
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