• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 10 ounces sliced crimini mushrooms (I bought pre-sliced)
• 1 large onion
• 6 slices fakin’ bacon (or 4 of real bacon if not being fed to vegetarians)
• ¾ cup heavy cream
• about 4 ounces Swiss cheese
• about 1 teaspoon fresh dill
• 2 crusts for double-crust pie

1. Preheat the oven to 350°
2. Shred the cheese
3. Peel and chop the onion
4. Chop the fakin’ bacon into about half inch pieces
5. In a large skillet heat the olive oil over medium high heat
6. Add the mushrooms, onion, and bacon
7. Cook and stir for about 5 minutes until vegetables are tender
8. Reduce heat to medium
9. Add the cream and dill
10. Cook and stir for about 10 minutes
11. Remove from heat
12. Stir in the cheese
13. Pour mushroom mixture into a pie crust
14. Cover with top pie crust and flute the edge to seal
15. Score the crust so steam can vent
16. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until crust is done

Crust

• 1¼ cups all-purpose flou
• ¼ cup semolina flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon vegetable shortening
• ¼ cup ice water
• ½ teaspoon cider vinegar
• cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 375°
2. Chill butter, then cut into small pieces
3. Combine all-purpose flour, semolina flour, sugar, and salt in food processor
4. Add butter and vegetable shortening
5. Process until the mixture is a course meal
6. Combine ice water and vinegar
7. Add vinegar-water mixture to flour
8. Mix with a fork until well combined
9. Coat a deep dish pie plate with cooking spray
10. Press mixture into pie plate and up the sides
11. Bake for about 5 minutes
12. Cool on a wire rack

Filling and Pie

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 12 ounces uncooked, deveined shrimp
• ¼ cup cream cheese
• ½ cup egg substitute
• 2 teaspoons all purpose flour
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 2 ounces Havarti cheese
• fresh dill
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Chop shrimp into bite sized pieces
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat
3. Add shrimp and cook until you’re sure it’s cooked
4. Combine cream cheese and ¼ cup of egg substitute in a mixing bowl
5. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended
6. Add flour and beat one minute minute
7. Add remaining egg substitute and milk and beat until mixed
8. Stir in shrimp, Havarti cheese, dill and salt
9. Pour mixture into crust
10. Bake at 375° for 40 minutes (or until set)

• 2½ cups uncooked egg noodles
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• ½ large onion
• 2 cups fresh basil leaves
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons Madras curry powder
• dash of salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1 boneless chicken breast half
• ¾ cup light coconut milk

1. Prepare noodles according to package directions, but without salt.
2. Cut chicken into 1 inch pieces
3. Slice onion thinly
4. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat
5. Add onion and stir-fry for one minute
6. Add basil leaves and stir fry for an additional two minutes
7. Remove from pan
8. Add remaining teaspoon of oil to pan and heat
9. Add garlic and stir-fry for one minute
10. Add curry, salt, and red pepper and stir-fry for 10 seconds
11. Add chicken and stir fry for three minutes
12. Add coconut milk
13. Reduce heat to medium
14. Cook until chicken is done (about 4 minutes for me)
15. Add basil-onion mixture and toss well
16. Serve over the noodles

The result:

• 1 pie crust
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 leeks
• 1 pinch salt (to taste)
• 1 pinch pepper (to taste)
• 1 cup cream
• 1 1/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese (more or less)

1. preheat oven to 375°
2. grate the Gruyere
3. chop the leeks
4. melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat
5. add leeks
6. cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, or until soft
7. reduce heat to low
8. add salt and pepper
9. stir in cream and shredded Gruyere cheese
10. heat on low until mixture is warmed through
11. pour mixture into the pie shell
12. bake for 30 minutes, or until the custard is set and golden on top

Ingredients

• 3 cups half and half
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 large egg yolks
• 3/4 cup couscous
• 1/2 cup dried apricots
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 crumb crust
• 1/2 cup apricot preserves

1. lightly beat egg yolks
2. chop dried apricots finely
3. combine half and half, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan
4. bring pot just to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low
5. slowly drizzle about 1/2 cup of the half and half mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly
6. whisk the egg yolks into the saucepan
7. add the couscous, dried apricots, and nutmeg and stir to combine
8. simmer, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and almost all the liquid has been absorbed (about 5 to 7 minutes)
9. remove the pan from the heat
10. stir in the vanilla
11. scrape the mixture into the crumb crust
12. in a food processor, process the apricot preserves until smooth
13. spread the preserves over the pie with a spatula
14. wrap in plastic wrap
15. refrigerate at least 3 hours

No photos, because I didn’t have space on the memory card for my camera.

]]> http://www.kingrat.us/2011/05/apricot-couscous-pie/feed 0 http://www.kingrat.us/2011/03/shrimp-and-stuffing-bake http://www.kingrat.us/2011/03/shrimp-and-stuffing-bake#comments Thu, 03 Mar 2011 22:02:02 +0000 King Rat http://www.kingrat.us/?p=20051 Continue reading →]]> Back to cooking some new things for me. This one is based off a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Casseroles (page 105 if you care). Other than the soup, little else is pre-made.

The recipe calls for frozen or fresh medium shrimp, but I prefer smaller shrimp in dishes. So I got canned since I didn’t see any of the small shrimp in the freezer. The downside is there’s a lot of salt in canned shrimp. I figure boiling the shrimp removes some of the salt though. I also avoided the condensed soup in the recipe because the only condensed version of cream of celery at Whole Foods was super high in salt. If I remember correctly, it was about 33% U.S. R.D.A. per serving. So I got an uncondensed kind and used a little bit more. It was pretty thick stuff, so I only increased the amount used by a couple of ounces over the book’s recipe. I bought bread made in store, which unfortunately doesn’t list the sodium content. It is the third ingredient on the list though. I’m thinking the sodium I don’t know about in the bread is balanced somewhat by the amount of sodium taken out by boiling the shrimp.

• 12 oz. canned shrimp (1980 mg sodium)
• 1 celery stalk
• ½ large onion
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• about 12 ounces creamy celery soup (720 mg sodium)
• ¼ cup milk (32 mg sodium)
• ½ teaspoon sage
• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
• dash of pepper
• 2 eggs
• 10 oz. crusty bread loaf

1. Cut bread into cubes/small chunks
2. Bake bread at 350° for 15 to 25 minutes to dry it out/firm it up
3. Boil shrimp for about 3 minutes (if fresh/frozen, until they are opaque)
4. Chop the celery
5. Chop the onion
6. Cook celery and onion in butter until tender (can use the same as the shrimp)
7. Add soup, milk, sage, thyme (crush first), and pepper
8. Beat eggs
9. Add eggs to the concoction
10. Mix well
11. Fold in bread chunks
12. Fold in shrimp
13. Transfer to 1.5 quart casserole dish
14. Bake covered for 30 minutes at 350°
15. Bake uncovered for 15 minutes.
16. Let it cool.

Pretty tasty is the result. About 4 servings. About 690 mg sodium per serving, done my way.

Also, now I know basically how to make stuffing. Can’t say it tastes a whole lot better than boxed though, which is cheaper. This has less salt. Without the shrimp the price might be comparable and the salt in this really a lot less.

And yeah, I know I’ve been harping on the salt a lot lately. It’s been one year today since my grandfather died, and I’m basically of the opinion that a high salt diet was the proximate cause of his heart attacks in the last year. The doctors told him on a couple of E.R. visits that salt intake was what caused his shortness of breath that prompted the 911 call. Can’t know what would have been; without the salt it might have been just as bad. Still, I owe it to myself to make these changes now rather than when I have heart problems at 83.

Since my basic cookbooks don’t have a vodka sauce recipe in them, I turned to the internet. AllRecipes.com had a vodka sauce recipe, and that’s what I started with. Steps below are how I made it, which is not exactly what was in the linked recipe.

• 1 cup vodka
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ¾ pound prosciutto
• 3 heaping teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• One 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
• One 15 ounce can no salt added tomato sauce
• 1 cup heavy cream

1. chop prosciutto
2. chop parsley
3. chop basil
4. heat olive oil in a large pan
5. sauté prosciutto, garlic, parsley, and basil until prosciutto is evenly brown
6. add vodka
7. simmer 10 minutes
8. add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and 1 cup water
9. simmer 15 minutes
10. add cream
11. cook 2 minutes

I’m guessing it’ll make six servings. Four so far, and it looks like about two are left.

The sauce was thinner than I expected. Next time I’ll just omit the cup of water. And drop the prosciutto down to a quarter or half pound at most. Normally I’d have used no salt added diced tomatoes too, but when I was poor last month, Deirdre was kind enough to donate a can of diced tomatoes to me. This kind would actually qualify as low-sodium under F.D.A. rules, but when you add it all up it’s still quite a lot.

Salt content:

• Prosciutto: 7680 mg
• Diced tomatoes: 1540 mg
• No salt added tomato sauce: 70 mg
• Cream: 160 mg

Total sodium: 9450 mg
Per serving: 1575 mg

That does not include the pasta. Definitely up there in salt. Cutting down the prosciutto will cut a lot from that. Not sure if there are lower salt prosciuttos out there.

The recipe comes from the Better Homes & Gardens Biggest Book of Casseroles. It turned out pretty tasty, though a little saltier than I was expecting. I should find out if any of the local butchers do a low salt bulk sausage. Doctor told me I was to watch my salt. I don’t like to be rigid about it, but seeing Gramps ingest salt licks when he was supposed to watch his salt too, and end up in the hospital for it, has been illuminating.

Recipe is how I made it, not exactly how it is in the cookbook.

• 1 lb. bulk sausage
• ½ small onion
• 3 cups crisp rice cereal
• ¼ cup rice
• 4 ounces cheddar cheese
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• 3 eggs
• ¼ cup soy milk
• 1½ teaspoons butter

1. Cook rice.
2. Chop the onion.
3. Shred the cheese.
4. Grease a 2 quart casserole dish.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 325°.
6. Cook sausage and onion over medium heat.
7. Combine 2½ cups of the cereal with the rice.
8. Spread the rice mix on the bottom of the casserole dish.
9. Spread sausage and onion over the rice.
10. Spread the cheese over the sausage.
11. Mix the soup, eggs, and soy milk.
12. Pour eggs etc. over everything else.
13. Melt the butter.
14. Mix butter with last ½ cup of cereal.
15. Sprinkle cereal over the top of the casserole.
16. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes.

Cheesy sausage and rice bake

Edited to add: Daniel suggests in the comments on LJ that most of the salt comes from the soup. Not exactly true, though that is biggest single contributor of sodium. I’m pretty good about checking sodium content of the foods I buy and got the cream of celery soup that had the lowest sodium content of any of that kind of soup at Fred Meyer.

Here’s the sodium contributions to this dish, taken from the nutrition labels:

• 4 cans corn, drained (white corn suggested)
• 1 stick butter
• 1 8 oz. block cream cheese
• 1 jalapeño pepper

1. preheat oven to 375°
2. soften butter in microwave (or leave butter on counter to soften ahead of time)
3. dice jalapeño finely (or use pre-diced canned jalapeño, though not as good)
4. combine butter and cream cheese well
5. add corn
6. add jalapeño
7. mix well
8. bake in 9 in. by 13 in. pan for 30 to 35 minutes

Recipe is what I made, not what’s in the book.

• 6 tablespoons margarine (I would have used butter, but that’s what they have)
• 1 medium leek
• ¾ teaspoon fresh ginger
• ¾ cup unsweetened almond butter
• 1 medium carrot
• ½ cup frozen peas
• 1½ cup frozen cooked chicken
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1 cup cream

1. Melt the margarine in a dutch oven kind of pan
2. Chop the leek
3. Chop the ginger
4. Sauté the leek and ginger until it turns soft
5. Lower heat
6. Chop the carrot
7. Add almond butter, carrot, peas, and chicken, and ½ cup of water
8. Cook until everything is cooked/not frozen
9. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes
10. Transfer mixture to blender
11. Add 1½ cups water
12. Process for about 90 seconds
13. Pour back into pan
14. Bring to boil while stirring
15. Lower heat
16. Stir in cream
17. Stir in chopped cilantro

This was super super tasty.