In this episode, it’s the hottest trend in Italian cooking–Caccio e Pepe, a comfort food favorite made of pasta, cheese and pepper! You won’t believe what I’m serving it in–a giant hollowed out wheel of Parmesan cheese! Then it’s the ultimate one pot Italian wonder! Find out why Chicken Cacciatore has always been a family favorite.
fresh parsley
Julia Child’s Sliced Filet with Sautéed Mushrooms Over Crostini
In Julie Child’s Menu Cookbook from 1978, she speaks about how French bread “begs to be cooked this way.” Sliced thin, brushed with butter and baked to golden brown, the “croutes” became a hard toasted bread perfect for appetizers. The modern day version is crostini, toasted sliced baguettes used for popular plates like Bruschetta and mascarpone, prosciutto and fig on crostini Hors d’oeuvres.
For this recipe I’m taking a cue from Julia:
“Suppose the boss is coming for dinner—a formidable personage whom you want to impress and whose taste in food runs to the conservative. What to serve? For someone like that I immediately think of beef.”
This recipe for Filet with Sautéed Mushrooms combines the use of beautifully baked toasts sprinkled with grated cheese and then topped with thin slices of flavorful filet topped with a small mound of sautéed mushrooms and onions. If you invite your boss to your next party and serve up these, you just might get a raise!
(This is a great summertime light meal and all steps can be made ahead and assembled when ready to serve. Serve mushroom mixture warmed.)
Pesto Miracle Noodles
Chicken Pot Pie
It’s the comfort food of comfort foods; the recipe that your grandma knew by heart and the dish that you get excited about when you find it on restaurant menus. Chicken Pot Pie is just one of those out-of-this-world meals that is so easy to make, or make ahead or freeze! Serve it up for a nice family meal, and I’ll bet it’ll be on your menu rotation often! If you have a delicious homemade pie crust recipe, use that for your pie toppers. This recipe will serve 4 individual (on the large side) servings so you’ll need enough dough for four bowls. When I want to make Chicken Pot Pie quickly, I’ll grab two packages of refrigerated or frozen pie crust. (There are two pie crusts per package.) I’ll roll it out, place my serving bowl on top of the dough, then cut around the bowl. When I fill the serving dish with pot pie filling, I’ll just add the dough round to the top. Chicken Pot Pie is a tried and true treasure!
Watch my How To Video for Chicken Pot Pie here!
Compound Butters
Do you love a great steak? A juicy piece of chicken? Savory seafood? How about adding a ton of flavor to a baked potato or a slice of grilled French bread? I’ve got the flavor bomb you need for all of these dishes and so much more! It’s called Compound Butter and it just elevates the flavor of so many foods in a very simple way! Compound butter is a real restaurant secret! It’s used a lot in high-end steak houses and many other establishments, and now you have the recipes to make your own right at home. Compound butter is simply unsalted butter, extra virgin olive oil and fresh herbs and spices mixed together and refrigerated. You can make one basic all-purpose compound or create several compounds with ingredients that enhance certain foods. For my compounds I use unsalted butter so I can control the salt content, and besides, in my opinion, unsalted butter just tastes better. Then you will add chopped fresh herbs, some spices and salt and pepper. I love the idea of compound butters because once you make them, you just roll the butter combination into logs on parchment paper, keep them in your refrigerator and use them any time you want! Flavor bombs, for an explosion of flavor!
Watch My Video for Compound Butter here!
