Category: Recipes (Page 19 of 24)

Countdown to St. Patty’s Day–corned beef meatballs with Thousand Island dipping sauce

I am a sucker for meatballs. Meatballs are dude food personified–usually protein-rich, meaty, full of flavor and served in or next to a sauce that enhances that flavor. So with St. Patrick’s Day now four days away, I wanted to share another recipe with you that should get you in the mood for the green holiday. I give to you — Corned beef meatballs with Thousand Island dipping sauce. I had to experiment a bit, but the end result came out just right, and I think you will enjoy these with or after a pint or two or three or…..well, you get the idea.

Ingredients
Sauce
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup finely chopped dill pickles
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill

Meatballs
4 small red potoates, peeled and quartered
1 slice rye bread (day old bread if possible, but not necessary)
1 pound fully cooked corned beef, trimmed of visible fat and cubed (note: I got mine from the deli counter, asking them to slice it about 1/2 inch thick–but you can use leftover corned beef as well)
1-2 oz. gruyere or swiss cheese, cubed
1 egg
1 tsp. dried parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
For sauce–in medium size bowl, combine all sauce ingredients, and stir to blend well. Set aside.

For meatballs–Place potatoes in a small saucepan and fill with enough water to cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 10-12 minutes, or until potatoes are fork tender. Drain water and mash with a fork. Break rye bread into small pieces, and then, using a food processor, process into fine bread crumbs. Put bread crumbs in a large bowl. Then add corned beef and cheese to processor and process until mixture is finely ground. Add to the bowl with the bread crumbs. Break egg into bowl and add salt and pepper to taste (go easy on the salt since the meat is already salted from the pickling process). Fold in mashed potatoes and then with your hands, roll into 1-inch meatballs, setting these on a plate as you go. You should wind up with about 20-24 meatballs or so.

Then, spray a nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium-high for about 45 seconds. Add meatballs, 10-12 at a time, and cook for about 5-6 minutes, shaking the pan about once a minute, until meatballs are browned on each side. Remove to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. Repeat with remaining meatballs, and serve warm with the Thousand Island dressing on the side for dipping.

Countdown to St. Patty’s Day–Braised cabbage with Guiness

I’ll be providing a recipe a day for St. Patrick’s Day heading up to next Thursday (yes, it’s next Thursday already…where is the year going?). Here is the first one, something I came up with last weekend on the fly, and it came out really good…..


BRAISED CABBAGE WITH GUINESS

Cabbage isn’t for everyone. It’s sort of an acquired taste, and the kind of vegetable that is big and bulky and might seem intimidating. But once you slice it up and fry it and do a few more things to add flavor, anyone can become a cabbage fan. Of course, it’s a cruciferous vegetable, which means cabbage is very good for you, but also might make you fart up a hurricane. Well, not literally, but, you might prepare yourself and your significant other….

Ingredients
1 medium size head green cabbage, core removed and thinly sliced (use a mandoline if you have one)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper
1/2 of a 12 oz. can Guiness beer
1/2 tsp. caraway seeds

Directions
Heat oil in large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add cabbage and stir for about 3-4 minutes or until starting to get tender and reduced in volume. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook a few minutes more, until cabbage begins to brown just a bit. Then slowly add Guiness to pan (and of course, drink the rest of it), scraping up the brown bits as you do this (that’s called de-glazing). Cook for another 5-10 minutes, or until beer is almost all the way absorbed. Sprinkle with caraway seeds and cook for 1-2 minutes more. Serves 2-4 people.

Chicken, bean & spinach stew

Here is one of my favorite recipes that I came up with for my Grub for Guys column on Bullz-Eye.com. It’s chicken, bean and spinach stew–healthy, tangy, spicy and filling all at once. In fact, have some with some crusty bread and you have a meal. Heh-heh, I said crusty. Anyway, give this a shot and let me know what you think….

So the summer is winding down and you’ve got that spare tire around your midsection. Longer daylight hours and warmer weather usually means lots of burgers, hot dogs, ice cream and cold beer—all delicious, yet all fattening. Well, here is a dish I came up with that is not only good for most diets, but packed with protein and vitamins. And oh yeah, it tastes really good. So this fall, if you’ve got 30-40 minutes to whip something up before the game starts, this stew is an easy and healthy option.

Ingredients
8-10 oz. boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed (2-3 breast halves)
1 can Great Northern beans
1 16 oz. bag baby spinach
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 clove garlic
½ medium tomato, seeded and chopped
½ cup white wine
½ cup chicken broth
salt & pepper to taste
red pepper flakes
Grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Heat oil in large, deep skillet. Sautee garlic 30 seconds, then add chicken. Stir fry for about 3-4 minutes or until chicken just starts to brown on the outside. Add wine and stir to loosen brown bits (for you guys who want to impress someone, this is called “de-glazing” the pan). Add spinach and chicken broth. Simmer for a few minutes until the spinach wilts. Add beans, tomato and salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste. Stir and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until sauce starts to thicken. Serve in bowls topped with Parmesan. Serves (about) four.

Mini pizzas: Buffalo chicken and chili dog

Buffalo wings and chili dogs are, well, classic guy food. So when I had a few extra pizza crusts lying around once, I decided to experiment. And here is what happened…..

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. Mini pizzas? That’s girl food. Well, not really, if you do them my way. I’m talking Buffalo chicken pizza and chili dog pizza. I mean, what says D-U-D-E like those food items? And since these are the kind of pizzas that can get messy, and possibly eaten with a knife and fork, they are best suited for the smaller size. But that doesn’t mean you can’t release your inner caveman and eat five or six of them. With that, here we go…..

Buffalo Chicken Mini Pizza

Ingredients
1 small pre-baked pizza crust (my favorite is Mama Mary’s but Boboli works too)
2-3 chicken tenders, uncooked
¼ cup Buffalo chicken sauce
¼ cup shredded pepper jack cheese
1 small jalapeno pepper (raw, not pickled)
salt and pepper
cooking spray

Directions:
Even though these crusts are “pre-baked,” if you really want them to be crispy, pre-bake them yourself for 3 or 4 minutes at 400 degrees. Sprinkle the chicken tenders with salt and pepper and grill them for 2-3 minutes per side, until no longer pink in the middle. At the same time, spray the jalapeno with cooking spray and grill it for the same amount of time, or until it’s slightly charred. Cut the chicken into small pieces, and put the pieces in a saucepan with the Buffalo sauce. Heat for 2-3 minutes until warmed through, then spread the chicken mixture on the crust. Top with the cheese. Then slice the grilled jalapeno pepper and put those slices on top of the cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until the cheese starts to turn brown and bubbly.

Chili Dog Pizza

Ingredients
1 small pre-baked pizza crust
2 hot dogs
1/3 cup chili without beans (I like Bush’s Best)
¼ cup Cheez Whiz
A squirt of your favorite mustard

Directions: As with the previous pizza, pre-bake the crust for a few minutes. Meanwhile, place the hot dogs in a pot of boiling water and cook for about 4-5 minutes. Remove them from the water, and slice into small pieces. Dump the water, return the hot dog pieces to the pot, and add the chili. Cook that over medium heat for about 3 minutes or until heated through. Meanwhile, nuke the Cheez Whiz for 20-30 seconds, and then spread that on the crust. Top with the hot dog mixture, and then bake for about 5 minutes at 400 degrees. Swirl some mustard on top, and eat.

And not like I have to say this, but both of these go really well with beer. Yum.

Cajun Chicken Fettucine

This is one of those dishes that, when I think about it, makes my mouth start to water. Anything spicy and creamy at the same time that has a mound of pasta is good dude food in my book. This was originally published on Grub for Guys this past summer, but it might be more of a cold-weather dish. Anyway, give this a try and let me know what you think:

Fettuccine Alfredo is one of those dishes you can only eat once in a while, because it has enough butter and cream and cheese to clog your arteries on the spot. But man, does it ever taste good. But for as good as the standard Alfredo is, the Cajun version is even better if you like spicy food. Actually, it borders on being the food equivalent of crack. I’ve experimented with my own Alfredo sauces, and I just recently attempted a Cajun version….it passed the test of both my wife and I, so I hope you’ll give it a shot. You might try washing it down with an amber colored beer or even a light red wine like a Chianti.

Ingredients
1/2-pound fettuccine pasta (or one 9oz. fresh kind like Buitoni)
1/2 stick butter (I don’t mess around, there is nothing like the real thing)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 raw jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced (with seeds)
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
¼ cup heavy cream
¼ cup whole milk
1 wedge Laughing Cow cheese
2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, finely chopped
1 cup cooked grilled chicken, cut into small chunks (pre-packaged grilled strips are fine)
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Kosher salt & ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
Cook pasta according to package directions and set aside. In a large skillet over medium high heat, melt butter and then add olive oil. Add jalapeno and sauté for a minute or so. Add flour and stir for 30 seconds, then whisk in cream, milk, Laughing Cow cheese, and chipotle peppers. Stir until sauce begins to thicken, about 2-3 minutes. If it thickens too fast, add a bit more milk until it reaches your desired consistency, which should be creamy but not runny. Add chicken, Parmesan, salt and pepper, then stir in cooked pasta and warm until heated through. Serves 2-4, depending on size of who you’re feeding and how hungry they are, and the recipe is easy to double.

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