Egg Rolls with Sweet and Sour Sauce and Hot Mustard Sauce

This is one of those Chef Jeff recipes from his awesome classes. It was one of the first ones I ever took & YUM!

Egg Rolls 
(makes 14-30 depending on how full you make them)

1 lb. ground pork (or half ground pork and half chopped cooked shrimp)

3 c shredded cabbage + 1/2 c. shredded celery + 1/4 c. shredded carrot OR.... 2 - 1 lb pks Dole classic coleslaw bags

 4-5 med dried black mushrooms [or 1 pkg. dried stir fry mushrooms]

1/2 tsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp corn starch

1/4 tsp white [or black or none] pepper

2 Tbl. green onion, finely sliced

1 tsp five spice powder

1 egg, beaten [I often don't bother & just use a small bowl of water]

 14-30 egg roll skins

 2 c (or so!) vegetable oil for frying

 1. Soak dried mushrooms in very hot water until soft; drain. Squeeze out excess moisture. Remove and discard stem [if very tough]. Cut into thin strips [or small pieces] and set aside.

 2. In mixing bowl, combine pork with cornstarch, soy sauce, and white pepper; mix well and refrigerate for 20 min.

 3. Fill a [very] large sauce pan/pot with water and bring to a boil. Add cabbage/celery/carrots (OR both bags coleslaw mix). Bring to second boil for about 30 seconds, then drain and rinse in cold water. Drain again, squeezing mixture thoroughly to remove any excess water.

 4. Heat wok [or large pan] over high heat; add 1 Tbl. oil, then tilt to coat sides.

 5. Add pork and stir fry 2 [to 5] min until no longer pink. Add mushrooms and stir fry 1 min. Stir in cabbage mixture along with shrimp [if using], green onions, five spice powder, and salt. Mix well; remove from heat and refrigerate. [If you don't want to deal with a huge pan, you can cook the pork & etc. then mix into the cabbage mixture in a large bowl.]

 6. Lay out the egg roll skins and separate mixture evenly amongst them. [Or do one at a time and deal with it if you end up with extra egg roll skins.].  Roll the egg rolls according to package instructions, substituting beaten egg [or just water] for paste to seal. Cover egg rolls with plastic wrap to keep them from drying out.

7. Heat 2 inches of vegetable oil in a wok [or large, deep pan] to 350F.

8. Carefully place up to 4 egg rolls in the oil at a time and fry, turning 2-3 times until golden brown; remove them from the oil and place on a paper towel to absorb any excess oil.

 9. Serve immediately with hot mustard and/or sweet and sour sauce if desired.


 Sweet and Sour Sauce

One 6-oz. can pineapple juice
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
2 Tbl. brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tsp. cornstarch

In a small saucepan, combine 2 Tbl. pineapple juice with cornstarch and mix until smooth.
Add remaining pineapple juice, brown sugar, and red wine vinegar. Bring to boil and allow to simmer for 30 seconds or so; remove from heat, cover and set aside.


 Hot Mustard Sauce

1/4 c. Dijon mustard
2 Tbl. honey
1/4 tsp. dry mustard

 Combine all and mix well.

Chicken Saltimboca with Lemon Butter Caper Sauce

Oh. My. Gosh.  I CANNOT believe I haven't given y'all this recipe before.  The lemon butter caper sauce itself is... just... oh, I would marry myself just to get it.  I got this recipe at a community ed cooking class with Chef Jeff, and I cannot overstate how awesome his classes are.  They might start a tad slow, and you might not eat until 9:30pm, but oh, the food, and OH, the RECIPES!!!  YUM!!!!!!!!

Caper Butter Sauce 
(Makes about 3/4 cup of sauce) [I strongly recommend doing 1 1/2 recipes of this 'cuz it's so good!!!]

1/2 c. Chablis [or other dry white wine- I've even subbed in a mix of cooking sherry & sake]
1-2 Tbl chopped [or smushed in the pan] capers
1 Tbl. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 c. heavy whipping cream
1/4 lb. [1 stick] unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1. In a fairly big sauce pan, combine wine, capers & lemon juice; reduce to 1-2 Tbl.
2. Add cream; reduce by half and remove from heat.
3. Add butter, whipping [stirring] immediately and constantly.  You may need to place sauce back over VERY low heat (in short intervals) to incorporate all the butter.  Be very careful not to let this sauce get too hot (just warm to the touch) or it will separate.  [If you must wait and keep it warm, use a double-boiler or bowl-over-water.]

 Chicken Saltimboca
(makes 2 servings) [but you might as well make 4 'cuz hello!  Too much work otherwise!]
2 six-oz. good quality chicken breasts
2 pieces [or a bit more] thinly sliced prosciutto
2 Tbl. chopped fresh sage
2/3 c. quartered artichokes (canned or frozen)
3 Tbl. olive oil
1/2 c. flour
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 c. lemon caper butter sauce [see above for awesomeness]

1. Season the chicken breasts with salt, pepper and fresh sage (go easy on the salt [or eliminate] as the proscuitto ham and capers are naturally salty); place proscuitto ham on top of each chicken breast.  Using a meat tenderizer [or marble rolling pin!], carefully pound the ham into the chicken until each piece is uniform in thickness (approximately 1/2 inch).
2. Place a 10-inch saute pan over high heat.  When hot, add 1 Tbl. olive oil; lightly dust the chicken in flour; place in the pan prosciutto side down and reduce the heat to medium; saute the chicken 3-4 minutes per side or until golden in color and cooked completely through.
3. Transfer chicken to a warm serving plate; heat the artichokes in the same pan and scatter over chicken breasts; top with butter sauce and serve.

Marinara Sauce & "Favors From The Home" Review

I got this recipe from a community ed cooking class* I took a few times quite long ago, adapted just a tad, mostly in timing. It's a delicious, versatile sauce for spaghetti, manicotti, lasagna, etc. Mr. Kluges loves it best over Italian sausages and garlic mashed potatoes. You can do it with canned or fresh tomatoes, but I'm not sure of the quantity if you do fresh, so just give it a try. I'll try to update it with an approximate quantity of fresh tomatoes next time I make it.

Note: This one is doubled from the original because it's no more work & you can freeze half of it for later. Or just eat a lot.

MARINARA SAUCE
Two 28 oz. cans Hunt's whole peeled tomatoes (or equivalent fresh tomatoes, peeled & seeded**) [9/5 - I made these starting with a bit more than 4 1/2 lbs. of fresh tomatoes. I wouldn't do less, but you could probably go between 5-6 lbs. pre-peeling/-seeding weight.]
6 Tbl. olive oil
3/4 - 1 c. diced red onion
6 large cloves minced garlic
1/2 c. chopped fresh basil OR 3 Tbl. Chef Jeff's frozen basil*** OR 3 Tbl. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dry oregano
1 tsp. sugar
salt & pepper to taste
dash of crushed red pepper flakes to taste (opt.)

1. Rough chop tomatoes in a blender or food processor and set aside. (If doing with fresh, peel and seed them first. **)

2. Place a large pan or stock pot or Dutch oven over high heat; add olive oil, onion and garlic; reduce heat to medium high and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly, or until mixture becomes pale golden in color (not brown).

3. Add tomatoes, oregano, red pepper, sugar, salt and pepper to the onion mixture. (Also basil if using dried.)

4. Bring sauce to boil; reduce to simmer for 30-45 minutes for better flavor.

5. Add (fresh) basil and cook for an additional 5 minutes or until desired consistency is reached; remove from heat (and eat, or set aside to cool to use in lasagna, or to freeze).



* Oh, look - the internet is a wonderful thing! It was "Flavors From the Home" with Chef Jeff, and looking at his website, I see that it looks like he's still doing classes around the TC area, maybe starting in September. They were FUN classes where you actually get to cook and eat the menu, and take the recipes home. All the ones I took started off relaxed, but the pace picked up as you went and I think every one finished late. But the food made it all worthwhile! Note: Even though you'll get to eat, it wasn't until the end of the class, so don't go hungry or you'll be starving before the end. Also, Chef Jeff is a hoot. Looking at the menus, I took Oriental Favorites I - Menu #1, Southern Italian Family Style I - Menu #2, Gourmet with a French Accent I - Menu #3, Southern Italian Family Style II - Menu #5, Traditional Southern Italian - Menu #7, Pasta! Pasta! Pasta! II - Menu #13, and Traditional French II - Menu #14. They were all wonderful fun and delicious to boot. I highly recommend them, but I think they filled up fast, so if you're interested, check out which ones are nearby and call the appropriate contact on the registration page.

**An easy way to peel and seed fresh tomatoes is to bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Cut an X in the skin at the bottom of the tomato, then drop it in the boiling water for like 20-30 seconds. Take it out, and you should be able to peel it easily, starting at the X. To seed them easily, cut them in half along the equator, NOT from bottom to top. Then you can just take a half in your hand and squeeze out most of the seeds with ease.

*** Chef Jeff recommended taking large quantities of fresh basil, washing & roughly chopping it, mixing it with a good amount of olive oil, then making long tubes/rolls/fat-thumb-thick-snakes of it in plastic wrap and freezing it. You can whack off a hunk of it and get great fresh flavor, even if it looks browner than it would when actually fresh.

Tomato Bruschetta

Yesterday I was SO HUNGRY for tomato-covered bruschetta. The tomatoes, and basil, and garlic....yum! We'd gotten a large bunch of basil from our CSA the week before, so I'd thought to pick up some tomatoes...

I sort of made this recipe, which I'd gotten at a cooking class (with Chef Jeff). Didn't measure a thing, used regular tomatoes instead of Roma and a fresh CSA onion instead of the red onion, didn't toast the bread....

But it didn't matter. Because what I ended up with was absolutely, positively what I was hungry for. I'd made some dough from the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day earlier in the afternoon, so I baked up a loaf of that, and for supper, all I had was fresh, homemade bread mounded with tomato-y goodness.

It was summertime heaven.


Tomato Bruschetta
(makes 3-4 appetizer servings)

6 Roma tomatoes
1/4 c. diced red onion
1-2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp. fresh chopped basil (oh, just use LOTS)
3 Tbl. olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
3-4 1/2"-1" slices of fresh Boule bread (French bread may be substituted)

1. Remove the stem ends of the tomatoes; cut them in half lengthwise and remove the seeds.
2. Dice the tomatoes and place them in a 3-quart mixing bowl. (I'd only use pottery or other non-reactive material because I think the acidic tomato tastes funny otherwise.)
3. Add onions, garlic, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper; mix well.
4. Serve at room temperature.
5. Brush both sides of the bread lightly with olive oil and place on a 1/2 size sheet tray (or cookie sheet.)
6. Broil for 2-3 minutes or until slightly golden in color. Repeat procedure so that both sides are lightly toasted.
7. Remove from broiler, top with tomato mixture and serve.