Category Archives: Recipes – Entrees

Recipes - Entrees

Ham & Beans

Any reader who was a customer at Kete-Yama’s  Restaurant, on Lower Main St. in Wailuku, might remember having ham-n-beans with cornbread as their daily special at the cafe when my parents were visiting and making  specials for us.  When queired, “What get special?” as our ‘reglar’ customers arrived for lunch, my buddy Clarita would laugh and respond, “for special get ham-n-beans-n-cornbread that Katy says is “a haole soul food recipe. it’s something her fada made and stay good!” and those beans would sell right out. Yep, no rice in sight with this special dish, just beans seasoned with a ham bone, or like the beans today, with ham pieces and roast pork.   For people in the mid-west and south, beans are equivalent with the starchy rice which local people in Hawai’i enjoy with every meal, and certainly beans and potatoes, biscuits or cornbread equals haole soul food for sure!  Some might even say that equation also implies  “redneck haole soul food” and that would be descriptively accurate as well.  =)

Either of my grandmas would tell you that there are two kinds of cooks in this world: those who can cook beans and those who cannot. My Grandma Greer used to shake her head sadly every time she mentioned the family member of hers who “just can’t cook beans to save her life; awww, bless her heart” because being inept at cooking your family an acceptable pot of beans here in Missouri is a woeful thing indeed. A large pot of beans will feed six people, or three very hungry ones, and beans are a nutritious and inexpensive way, as is a pot of rice, for feeding those people.

There is nothing at all hard about cooking beans if you remember these few things: soak the beans the night before in 6-8 cups of cold water to cover, adding just a pinch of baking soda to relieve the gassy effects beans produce when eaten, be careful of the water you use for both soaking and cooking them, and do not season with salt while they are cooking as this will make them hard just as the water you cook them in might. I buy jugs of water at the grocery to use especially for cooking beans as my tap water is hard; it took several attempts before I realized it was the water that was making for hard beans.  $.89 for a jug of distilled water and softer beans.  It works.

The ADDED BONUS here (because you are into added bonuses, right?) is that cooking ham and beans means there is cornbread left  from the cornbread you surely made to serve with them, used as “dessert” later at night for smooshing up a slice in a very cold glass of buttermilk.  YUM!  Cornbread-for-dessert means less time in the kitchen today and you will be sitting down to your supper in just 2 hours with dessert already prepared.  How cool is that?

If you have a ham bone definitely add it to the pot.  My local market carries a Tennessee brand of “biscuit ham pieces” and that is what I used today along with some roasted pork I had on hand. If you soak your beans overnight, they will  cook in 1-1/2 hours; don’t over cook them or they will become mushy and shapeless.  Taste them after an hour and a half and either turn them off or allow them more time, simmering over low heat with the lid tilted, until they soften.  Adjust the amount of water you use depending on how “soupy” you want the beans.  I like my beans soupy, the better for sopping up with the cornbread; the amount of liquid is really up to the cook.

Stir up your cornbread and bake it the last 30 minutes as the beans simmer.  If you absolutely cannot manage a skillet of cornbread, then Jiffy Mix works too for corn muffins. Actually, I sometimes eat my leftover beans with just Saltine crackers, crumbled into the bowl, once the cornbread runs out so you can see how many are the options here.

That’s it.  Now just call ’em to the table for yet another best-of-winter-country-comfort food supper!

Ham & Beans

1 lb. package dry Great Northern white beans
1 large ham bone with meat scraps on
1 onion, chopped
1 chicken or ham bouillon cube
6-8 cups water
Bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions Soak beans overnight in 4-qt saucepot with a pinch of baking soda and enough water to cover. The next morning, pick over the beans and toss out any with loose hard shells; drain the beans and rinse saucepot. Leave meat and fat on the bone for seasoning; place soaked beans in pot and add 6-8 cups water. Add onion, bouillon cube, bay leaf, and the ham bone or ham pieces with fat and rind included. Bring to a boil over high heat. Taste broth and add pepper to taste; do NOT add salt until beans are finished cooking as this makes them hard. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, on low, for  1-1/2 to 2  hours. Add water during cooking if you like your beans “soupy”. Before serving, remove the ham bone and bay leaf, adding any scraps of meat left on the ham bone to the pot.

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Recipes - Entrees

Vegetable Meat Loaf

The name of this recipe in my “Missouri to Maui” cookbook is appropriately enough “Meat Loaf”. I tinkered with that name today, however, because the one consistent thing about making a delicious meat loaf is that your recipe changes every time you prepare it, and that because the amoumts of the ingredients vary with the amount of ground meat you are using. Today I had only just over a pound of good, fresh ground chuck so I compensated by using more vegetables than usual and today’s meat loaf result was delicious and and so made the name change essential. This “Vegetable Meat Loaf” recipe will undoubtedly morph again the next time I want meat loaf and that’s fine. What’s NOT to love about a dish this satisfying and versatile? Use the same ingredients and adjust their amounts and you will have juicy moist meat loaf every time.

It is my theory that most home cooks (home cooks, not the professional chefs who use any of the hundreds of other meat loaf recipes) basically make meat loaf the way their mothers or aunties did. Today I used the cookbook recipe but adjusted the vegetables and added shredded carrots, snipped fine, for the moisture they add to the loaf. I adjusted the simple seasonings (salt, pepper, and Worcestershire) and used less Saltine crackers and Panko for filler than I would have normally. Be sure to get around to smooshing it up with your hands to see if it binds together easily (if not, add another egg and resmoosh). The only ingredients you need for a sauce for basting the top and sides of the loaf as it bakes are ketchup and brown sugar. The sweet-spicy sauce makes the perfect ‘salad dressing’ the next day for preparing cold meatloaf sandwiches. You will be having cold meat loaf sandwiches on white bread the next day, am I correct?  =)

A 30-minute prep is all and then 45-60 minutes to bake while you rest for 30 minutes before preparing  a good side dish or tasty salad (or stir up a package of Idaho Baby Red packaged potatoes, adding a healthy 2 T. of butter to them like I did today), and you’re at the table ready to go with a warming, best-of-comfort-food supper!

Vegetable Meat Loaf

Ingredients

1-1/2 to 2 lbs. lean ground chuck
1/2 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, sliced thin
1/2 cup green pepper, cut in thin short strips
1 egg
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce, to taste
8-10 Saltine crackers, broken small
1/2-1 cup Panko flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

Basting Sauce

1-2 to 1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions Preheat oven to 350. In large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. I do stir the mixture with a wooden spoon to blend quickly but then use my hands to shape, patting the mixture firmly. Place the log-shaped mixture into a lightly greased 9×5” loaf pan. Bake 1 hour, basting with the catsup brown sugar mixture several times as the loaf bakes. Remove from oven and allow to set ten minutes before slicing into thick pieces.

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Recipes - Entrees

Chicken-n-Dressing


This chicken-n-dressing dish is a sure thing comfort food winner served right from the oven. Combining shredded chicken, condensed soup and a savory cornbread stuffing, it is a meal in itself though my plan is to have it tonight with the remainder of the Gingered Carrots from Tuesday. It also made for a much appreciated mid-afternoon snack for mama today.

It is a snap to make once you boil the chicken breasts. Be sure to use the celery you boiled with the breasts and add only enough chicken broth until everything hangs together in your mixing bowl; I used less than 2 cups today and even then baked it closer to an hour than 45 minutes to get it dry enough while still keeping the chicken moist. The addition of the chopped boiled eggs add great flavor and texture to this dish. I was out of poultry seasoning today so I used just a pinch of rubbed sage which complemented the chicken perfectly. The mixture is very wet when you scrape into your pan before baking. You need to bake your cornbread for this dish the day before; don’t skip this step as the day-old cornbread provides the base for the dressing.

There’s nothing better than a pan of chicken-n-dressing on a cold winter day. It is definitely comfort food that satisfies the appetite and the soul; try some and be thoroughly warmed!

Chicken-n-Dressing

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts cooked, cooled, and shredded
1-2 stalks celery, sliced in large pieces
1 pan prepared cornbread, cooled and crumbled
4 eggs, boiled, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
2 cups chicken broth
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
Poultry seasoning to taste, optional

Directions Preheat oven to 350. Cook chicken breasts in water, with celery, until tender. Do not over cook or the chicken will get hard. When tender, drain. When cool, shred the chicken and chop up the celery. Combine with other ingredients in a large mixing bowl; stir to blend all ingredients; mixture will be a little wet. Scrape into a lightly greased 9×13” baking dish. Bake at 30-45 minutes or until set. Cool slightly then cut into squares to serve.

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Recipes - Entrees

Chicken Cacciatore

This old recipe of mama’s, found in my “Missouri to Maui” cookbook, is a fine winter supper! I posted this recipe here several months ago but the photo was  junk and it didn’t show what a tender and juicy dish this really is. I have rice cooking now, for me, because I enjoy this dish over a bed of white rice (Mahalo, Nanea, for the gifted short grain rice you sent; I’ve saved a stash of it for a dish with a plentiful gravy or sauce!) My valentine will get garlic toast with her serving later tonight as mama isn’t a rice fan like I am. This dish is great also for serving with skillet cornbread with sauce  just made for bread or rice for sopping up every spoonful.

Because I am saving the chicken breasts for another use, I used just six pieces of chicken today. The meat comes out fork-tender flavored a little spicy with stewed tomatoes, white wine, and just a dash of red pepper. Mama will say that her “mouth is hot and too much pepper” but I make this with the amount called for in the recipe and love the boost of  the 1/4 tsp. of red pepper flakes.  The tang only complements the  rice or bread you serve it with. My chicken today had the skin on and I cooked it that way; you can remove the skin if you want or use skinless boneless chicken breasts.

You will need your high-sided electric skillet for easy sautéing of the vegetables and having plenty of room for the chicken to cook evenly. I adjusted the temperature down  and cooked it only 35 minutes after adding the chicken back to the skillet since I had no really thick pieces.  Serve it warm with plenty of sauce.

Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients

1/4 cup cooking oil
1-1/2 to 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts or pieces
1/2 cup flour
2 cups onion, sliced in chunks
1/2 cup green pepper, sliced 1” pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-(15 oz.) can stewed tomatoes, undrained, snipped smaller
1-(8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 tsp. salt

Directions Heat oil in large electric skillet set on medium heat. Rinse chicken; dry with paper towels, then coat with flour. Brown chicken in hot oil until golden on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove chicken to plate and set aside. Add onion, green pepper, and garlic to skillet; cook, stirring, over medium heat until tender. Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, oregano, red pepper and salt. Stir well. Return chicken to skillet, spooning some of the sauce on top of each piece. Cover, reduce heat and simmer approximately 45 minutes; add water or white cooking wine if sauce becomes dry. Serve warm with hot rice, cornbread or toast.

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Recipes - Entrees

Stuffed Baby Yorkies

Yorkies with mashed potatoes and au jus
Yorkies with mashed potatoes and au jus

While snooping through my fridge this morning, I was delighted to find another container of left over roast beef.  The largest part of it will be for the Beef Barley soup that has been food whispering in my ear, but I also wanted something quick and easy for tonight’s supper. The recipe below is what developed.  Using only 4 oz. of roast beef and flavored with horseradish, Stuffed Baby Yorkies are a mixture of a hot roast beef sandwich (my style), plain Yorkshire pudding, and a batch of delicate popovers.

The batter is extremely thin and  does benefit by mixing early and allowing it resting time of at least 30 minutes while your oiled muffin pan heats in a hot oven.  I used less oil in each cup than called for in the original recipe after reading the recipe reviews, just 1/2 T. per cup.   I had batter left over even filling my muffin cups 3/4 full so if you want 12 pieces that is possible, too, by filling the cups only half full.  I sauced my two pieces with hot au jus also left from cooking the roast and topped each with peppered mashed potatoes tonight, leaving the table feeling that nothing at all was lacking.  I’ll take two popovers without the potatoes and au jus for mama and me to snack on tonight; they are jolly good, mate!

Stuffed Baby Yorkies

1 cup flour
1 t. salt
4 eggs
1-1/4 cups milk
Wesson oil
4 oz. cooked roast beef, thinly sliced/shredded
1/4 c. prepared horseradish
1 cup au jus, heated
Mashed potatoes, optional

Directions

Stir the flour and salt  in a mixing bowl; beat the eggs quickly and add to bowl; add half of the milk and continue whisking well until the mixture is smooth and glistening.  Add the rest of the milk and whisk well again.  Set aside to rest for at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place 1/2 tablespoon oil in each cup of a muffin pan. Place the pan in the oven while the batter is resting. Return and whisk the batter briefly. Remove the pan from the oven, and immediately fill each cup 3/4 full with batter. The oil should be sufficiently hot so the batter sizzles and begins cooking.  Spoon about 1 T. roast beef and 1/2 T. horseradish into the center of each cup. Immediately return pan to the oven, and bake until puffed and golden, about 15-20 minutes. Top with mashed potatoes, if desired, and drizzle with heated au jus to serve.

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