Fried peppers

In my family , we just love the spicy hot peppers with every meal so I fry peppers every few days . You can cook up a big batch because they keep well in the fridge .

I start with either the Italian long hot peppers or the cherry hot peppers ... remove the stems and cut peppers in half , you want the flavor of the garlic and the oil in the pepper .

5 cloves garlic peeled and left whole.

put about 1/8 inch of oil in a heavy skillet on medium high heat , add the garlic and the peppers and fry till brown turn them over and cook on other side  ... Garlic should be cooked at the same time as the peppers ... place in a plate and sprinkle with salt plus when the oil cools a bit , add some of the oil into the peppers , It is great for dipping bread or if you boil some potatoes and serve the peppers and some oil right over the potatoes .


They are great in a sandwich or accompanied with any Italian meal ... Italian bread is a must when serving these peppers ...It help take some of the heat off your burning tongue :)

Thanksgiving Turkey & stuffing

Turkey and Stuffing


My Turkey this year was the best I have ever cooked .

It was a 22 pounder and this years stuffing , I used ----
1 lb chopped pork meat ( I get it from the butcher )
saute w/a TBSP of oil in a large fry pan.
add the following to the fry pan
1 cup chopped celery
1 large chopped onion
1 chopped carrot
2 cups chopped mushrooms
saute the above with the pork  just till onion gets translucent then add 3 tablespoons butter

add in 1/2 cup chopped  cooked chestnuts 
cool it down and mix
2 apples ...peeled , cored and chopped
refrigerate till ready to stuff the turkey next morning .


In the morning rinse your turkey inside and out , pat dry w/paper towel and rub it with butter sprinkle w/salt & pepper

take out your stuffing from the night before  and add in a box of corn bread stuffing to it , and 1 box of herb stuffing , 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley ( 1 or 2 eggs are optional ) and enough chicken broth (store bought) to moisten the stuffing ... stuff turkey lightly ....if you have to much stuffing bake that separate .

place turkey in  a heated 4 25 oven for 40 minutes , baste the turkey ( cover the turkey w/foil  and lower oven to 325 and bake for an additional 4 hours and 20 minutes ...basting every hour and check turkey 30 minutes before time it should be done so that if the color is not quite as dark as you like , you can remove the foil if needed to get more color in the last 30 minutes.

A thermometer should reach 170 including the stuffing for it to be done properly .

STUFFED MUSHROOMS

They are so easy to make and look so good on a plate.
I made these to take to a party we are invited to today.

These stuffed mushrooms are a big hit every time ,
 

1 teaspoon veg oil for frying
1 medium onion- chopped
1 celery stalk - strings removed - chopped fine
1 carrot- finely chopped
1 chili pepper - finely minced

bullion cube ( I use chicken but if your a vegan you can use vegetable )
1 LB mushrooms( cleaned and tops taken out and chopped-
set tops aside )

2 Tablespoon butter
grated cheese - your favorite - 4 heaping tablespoons
parsley - 1 Tbsp - finely chopped
seasoned breadcrumbs - 3 tablespoons
black pepper to taste
paprika

in a fry pan add the oil onion,celery,carrot,chili pepper and saute on medium heat till the onion is translucent, add in the bullion and mushroom stems ... as the mushrooms start to cook they will give out water cook for 1 minute and add the butter , grated cheese,parsley, breadcrumbs, blk pepper and stir .... if its to wet continue stirring and cooking till the water absorbs ... mixture should be moist...set aside to cool 

heat oven to 500
while oven is heating start filling your mushroom tops ....spray a baking pan with Pam and place mushroom so they do not touch another in the pan .
 bake for 10 to 15 minutes ... till you get a nice color on top ...place on your serving plate and sprinkle w/paprika and a little more parsley

Nescafe` Tasters Choice

Don`t forget some me time now that we are getting closer to the Holidays .  We tend to run ourselves ragged . Take A 5 minutes break  with a quick cup of Nescafe Tasters choice ( I like turning mine into a nice cappucino ! ) , they have so many nice flavors to choose from :) and if your not quite sure if your going to like the flavor or not just go ahead and order yourself a sample pack . They will send you 5 different flavors to try right in your  mail box ! 

You can get your samples from here -  http://www.tasterschoice.com/varietysample.aspx

Artichoke Salad

2 cans artichokes , rinsed and squeezed to remove the excess water.
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 onion sliced in very thin rounds
1 pimento 
4 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice ( fresh is best )
Outer leafs of romaine lettuce washed and dried

salt & pepper to taste

take all the ingredients except for the lettuce and place them all in a large bowl and gently toss  together .

In the serving platter arrange the lettuce leaves on the bottom and around the platter ...( I like putting extra chopped romaine in the bottom of my platter )   place the artichokes over the lettuce and try to arrange some of the onion and pimento so the dish looks appealing to you .  garnish w/more chopped parsley right before serving .

serves 4 to 6 people

FRIED VINEGAR PEPPERS AND POTATOES

This can make a very nice side dish or you can turn it into a meal by adding some fried or roasted chicken , pork or beef .

6 large potatoes - peeled , cut in half and sliced about 1/8th inch thickness

6 vinegar peppers plus 1/4 cup of the vinegar from the peppers( hot , sweet or mixed- I prefer all hot ! )  take stems off the peppers and slice in quarters ( I love my seeds for more flavor ...if you can`t eat the seeds just take them out .) 

oil for frying

salt to taste

In a big fry pan add about 1/2 inch inch of oil and  heat on high and add your potatoes ( do not over crowd the potatoes ..cook them in batches  if needed ) cook them to a nice dark golden color and place on a platter lined w/paper towels  to remove the excess oil and remove paper towel. 

In a small fry pan take 4 tablespoons of the oil you just fried the potatoes in and fry your peppers on medium heat ( careful because the seeds pop out at you ! ) . The vinegar peppers cook pretty fast  so keep a close watch on them ,turn them and add the vinegar and salt , heat to a boil and mix them w/the potatoes. 


serves about 4 people

PUMPKIN SHOESTRINGS

Now that Halloween is over . What to do with all those pumpkins ??

Here is what My Mom did with all her Pumpkins .( keep in mind she is Italian and grew all her vegetables)

Take the pumkins (we grew tons of them ! ) and remove the insides , peeled them and then cut them into long showstrings , We then hung them to dry over plastic hangers in our boiler room . ..then we kept them in our fridge or freezer in zip lock baggies to use all year round and especially on Holidays .

when it comes time to use them ... Take some pumpkin cut them into bite size pieces and soak them in water for about 15 to 30 minutes .drain the water out and fry them like you would fry potatoes only crispier ( med high )...then fry some dry hot peppers with whole garlic cloves and mix the two , add salt to taste and that would be our added vegetable for our Italian Thanksgiving meal .

What do you do with your pumpkins besides making pies ?

Chicken Catchiatore (different take )

 Chicken Catchiatore (PHOTO TO FOLLOW)

This is not your typical take on Chicken Catchiatore .
I take left over breaded chicken cutlets ( or make them fresh from my previous blog recipe)


 5 TBSP oil for frying (I use 1/2 olive oil 1/2 corn oil ... If you use all olive oil you will have to cook on low heat ))
1/2 medium onion sliced thin
1 red bell pepper julienned
 6  hot vinegar peppers  chopped w/4 to 6  tablespoons of the vinegar included
1/2 package of sliced mushrooms
2 garlic cloves chopped
10 calamate olives pitted and sliced thin
1 lrg can pealed tomatoes  w/puree  (28 ounce ) (blend it in blender for a minute )
20 ounces water
1/2 cup red wine( when choosing a wine to cook with , use what you like to drink and you will never go wrong )
6 to 7 cutlets...Cut them into bite size pieces.

basil,blk pepper & salt to taste


In a large skillet place your oil on med high heat and fry the onion , soon as they start to brown add bell pepper cook 3 minutes and add the vinegar peppers and soon as they start to brown add your mushrooms  cook for 2 minutes add in the garlic to the bottom of pan let it cook a minute and stir well add the olives and tomatoes , cook for a few minutes and add the water , vinegar and red wine , stir well soon as sauce starts to thicken ( about 10 minutes )  add your spices and the cutlets and stir well ... if sauce is to thick add more water--- if sauce is to thin just cook awhile longer .

This is served best over spaghetti .

( will serve about 4 to 6 people)

STIR FRIED STRING BEANS AND CARROTS

1 lb . string beans washed and ends removed
1/2 lb carrots julined
3tbs oil for frying
3 tbs finely minced ginger
3 Tbsp finely minced garlic
1/4 cup soy sauce
( you can add any other vegetable to this ... I love to add broccoli )

Place oil in a wock or heavy skillet that has a lid
add the ginger , string beans and fry on high till you see some brown spots from frying on the beans , add the carrots and continue to fry on high and stir ,soon as you see the carrots start to get some brown spots from frying add your garlic and stir ...place a tight fitting lid and reduce heat stir acasionally . cook for 5 minutes , test one of the string beans .. soon as its crunchy on the outside but softer in the middle add your soysauce turn off the heat give it a nice stir to coat all the vegetables place on a surving platter and pour the pan drippings over the top .