Dill Casserole Bread

This is another favorite. It's a savory bread that is delicious sliced into wedges and served with soup. It makes an excellent bread for chicken or turkey sandwiches. It also makes an excellent open faced sandwiches for tea -- slice all the way across, spread with herbed butter or herbed cream cheese, place thinly sliced chicken on the spread; cut into finger-sandwiches, top with a slice of tomato; dust with an herb and you will have a delicious and pretty tea sandwich.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. dill seed

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 package dry yeast

2 Tbsp. butter or margarine

1 medium onion, fined chopped

1 cup creamed cottage cheese

1/4 cup water

1 egg, room temperature

1. In a large bowl combine 1 cup flour, sugar, dill seed, salt, baking soda and yeast.

2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, in hot butter, cook onion until tender. Stir in cottage cheese and water. Heat until mixture is very warm but you can still hold your finger in it (120 to 130 degrees).

3. With mixer at low speed, gradually pour liquid into dry ingredients; beat until just blended. At medium speed, beat two minutes, scraping bowl often.

4. Add egg and 1/2 cup flour or enough to make a thick batter; beat 2 minutes. With spoon stir in remaining 1 cup flour to make a stiff batter.

5. Cover with towel; let rise in a warm place until doubled. About an hour.

6. Grease a 1 1/2-quart casserole dish. Stir down batter; spread evenly into casserole dish. Cover with towel; let rise in warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes.

7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake 35 minutes or until golden. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 - 15 minutes. Remove from pan; cool on wire rack or serve warm.

Beef Bourguignon

When it is chilly outside, I am always in the mood for a good stew. Which is basically what this dish is. I was watching the Food Network one cold afternoon and modified the Barefoot Contessa's recipe, removing things like pearl onions, which John and Sarah would never eat.

1 lb. stewing beef chunks

1/4 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 carrots, peeled and cubed

2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 cup beef stock

1 cup red wine

1 can (10 1/2 oz) Cream of Tomato soup

1 tsp. dried thyme

2 Bay leaves

1 cup frozen peas

Salt & Pepper to taste

Thickener:

2 Tbsp. softened butter

1 Tbsp. flour

Mix together and set aside.

1. Cut the beef into bite sized chunks. Heat up a Dutch oven, add enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom of the pot. Brown beef chunks in a single layer, removing from pot with a slotted spoon when uniformly browned on all sides.

2. Into drippings in pan, add onion and carrot and saute until onions are tender. Add garlic and cook for a minute.

3. Add the potatoes to the vegetable mixture and cook for 2 - 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add thyme.

4. Pour the can of soup into the mixture and stir well. Add the beef broth and cook to simmering.

5. Add the red wine and bay leaves and bring to a boil.

6. Add the softened butter & flour mixture and with a whisk dissolve it into the liquid. Add the beef chunks, lower heat to simmer, put the lid on the Dutch oven and cook for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, stirring from time to time.

7. Half an hour before beef bourguignon is done, add the cup of frozen peas.

8. Serve over buttered egg noodles, sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese and garnish with parsley.

Serves 4 or 2 very hungry men.

Chicken Kiev

What is better than cheese and melted butter oozing out of a piece of crunchy chicken? This is a recipe I have modified over the years and it has essentially become my own. The original came out of a Southern Living magazine decades ago. It's different from a true Chicken Kiev which is usually fried, this one is baked. This is Sarah's comfort food and will cure all ills.

3 boneless chicken breasts

3 Tbsp. softened butter

3 slices White American Cheese

3/4 cup plain breadcrumbs

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 egg, beaten

1 Tbsp. milk

A pinch of Basil

1. Prepare butter by mixing with a dash of garlic powder and a dash of Basil. Pat into a block that can be cut into three equal pieces; wrap in plastic wrap and place in the freezer. You can freeze ahead of time or you can freeze while preparing the rest of the recipe.

2. Fold each cheese slice into half and then quarters to form a block. Set aside.

3. Place each chicken breast between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound with a mallet until it is thin and large enough to wrap around the butter and cheese pieces. Make sure not to tear the chicken. Repeat until all the chicken breasts are flattened.

4. In a flat dish, beat the egg and milk together.

5. In another flat dish, mix breadcrumbs with garlic powder and Italian seasoning.

6. Remove butter from freezer and cut into three equal parts.

7. To assemble: on a flat surface spread out one chicken breast. Place butter near top of chicken piece but make sure that there is enough of an edge to fold over the butter. Place one "block" of cheese on butter; fold the edge over the cheese and butter; tuck the sides over and continue rolling until the chicken looks like a little parcel and the filling is covered completely.

Dip the chicken in the egg mixture and then roll in the breadcrumbs, covering as much surface as possible. Place in greased oven-proof dish. If you use a glass dish, you can serve it directly to the table from the oven.

Repeat until all the breast pieces are used up.

8. Bake at 35o degrees for 35 - 45 minutes depending on the size of your chicken pieces.

9. Once cooked, garnish with a sprig of parsley and serve hot.

Serves 3.

Note: I have also added 1/4 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese to the breadcrumb mixture. This results in a crunchier coating which is delicious.

Hot Turkey Sandwiches

I was watching the Food Network a while ago and saw Giada make these sandwiches. I decided to do my own version for a quick Sunday lunch. I served these sandwiches with a small tossed salad topped with cubed mango and it was good enough for a quick meal.

1 cup grated Fontina Cheese

1 Tbsp. butter, softened

1 Tbsp. mustard, Dijon or Grainy

pinch of salt and pepper

4 slices deli sliced turkey

4 slices of wheat bread, top & bottom crusts removed

1. In a small food processor, place grated cheese, butter, mustard, salt and pepper. Pulse until mixture holds together ... it won't be smooth. If you don't have a food processor, mash with a fork. Divide mixture into four portions.

2. Spread each portion onto each of the four slices of bread ... do this gently because the cheese mixture is not smooth and may tear the bread. Fold two slices of turkey onto one slice of bread and then top with the other slice of bread. Push down gently so that cheese spread clings to the turkey slices. Finish making the other sandwich. Slice each sandwich in half.

3. In a large frying pan, add 1 -2 Tbsp. of vegetable oil and heat over medium heat. When oil in pan is hot, place each slice in pan, pressing the top down gently. Cook only until it is golden brown and turn over gently and cook the other side.

4. Remove from pan when both sides are golden brown and cheese in the sandwich is melting slightly or more if you like it that way. There is no need to drain on paper towels, this sandwich is not oily.

5. Serve with a small salad.

Giada used sourdough bread but all I had was wheat bread, which turned out to be perfectly fine.

In my previous life as a reporter, my editor thought it was funny to send me out to do food reviews because he knew I did not cook and I did not eat much of anything in those days. But I learned many things from those chefs and one of which was the right way to cut mangoes ... find the flat side of the mango, slice through the flesh, as close as possible to the seed without cutting into it, then gently cut lines through the flesh to form cubes making sure not to cut through the skin; then turn the mango slice, skinside down so that the cubed flesh pops out; gently run your knife through the bottom of the cubes and there you have your neat little cubed mango.

Buttermilk Biscuits

I love making biscuits ... easiest thing in the world to do. I had some buttermilk in the fridge that had to be used up, so I opened my trusty Campbell's Great American Cookbook (this is the book I learned to cook with). I've changed the recipe a little bit but it is basically the same. Both John and Sarah pronounced these biscuits "very good" and Sarah actually pinched one off the baking stone. I use a baking stone for almost all my baking needs.

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup shortening (butter flavored Crisco)

3/4 cup buttermilk or sour milk, room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, combine, flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda. With a pastry blender or fork, cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse meal.

3. Add milk and with fork, stir until just blended and dough clings together.

4. Turn onto lightly floured surface; knead gently 10 to 12 strokes. Roll to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut into 2 1/2-inch rounds. Reroll and cut trimmings into rounds.

5. Place on ungreased baking sheet or stone. Bake 10 - 12 minutes of until golden brown.

6. Makes 12 biscuits.

To sour milk: Place 1 tbsp. white vinegar in measuring cup and fill with fresh milk to 3/4 cup mark.

These biscuits are nice and tender and tall enough to be split in half. I'm making another batch for breakfast tomorrow. I use Crisco because I read somewhere a long time ago that using vegetable shortening makes for a more tender biscuit.

Sally Lunn Bread

This is a beautiful tall bread that will impress everybody. There is absolutely no kneading involved. It looks very impressive served on a cake stand with honey butter.

1 package (1/4 oz) active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water (110 deg. to 115)

1 cup warm milk

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. salt

3 eggs, at room temperature

5 1/2 to 6 cups all-purpose flour

1. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, butter, sugar, salt, eggs and 3 cups flour; beat until smooth.

2. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Do not knead! Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour.

3. Stir dough down, Spoon into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about an hour.

4. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire rack to cool slightly. Remove from pan, place on a platter, slice and serve with honey butter.

Honey butter:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup honey

1. Combine the butter and honey until smooth. Serve at room temperature.