Meatsauce and Macaroni

Here in NY there has been an ongoing debate for decades about what to call tomato meat-sauce for pasta. Well, there's a debate on whether to call it pasta or macaroni too, but we'll leave that one alone. As far as the sauce goes, you have your "gravy" or "Sunday gravy" as some folks call it. This is often thought to be the "authentic" Italian terminology among some connoisseurs of the cuisine. I do not agree that all tomato sauce with meat in it is gravy though.

I have made my fair share of gravy over the years. Usually takes about 8 hours or so for me to make up a batch. I have many variations, but the key is to slow-simmer your meats in tomato sauce to the point that all the ingredients are a thick fusion of stewed goodness. With the fats and the flavors melded together it really is a gravy by the time it is done, rather than a sauce, with the meat taking center stage on a tomato base. It's a lot of work and a real treat, but these days it's rare for someone to stand at a pot stirring tomatoes for 8 hours. But then again, who the heck really wants to eat jarred sauce?

Tonight I made a sauce from scratch that was out of this world, and only took maybe two hours rather then 6-8. It wasn't gravy, but it was still tasty and satisfying. The key difference in the flavor profile is that the flavors did not meld together the way they do in gravy. The fresher tomato flavor takes center stage here, distinguishable from the beef. with each ingredient standing up on their own yet playing very nicely together.

Okay, let's get down to it now. Chop half of a large onion. Now take about half of what you have chopped, and begin frying that in the pan with a good dose of olive oil. I just use some middle of the road Filippo Berio cold-pressed as a general purpose olive oil. After the onion gets going and softens up, toss in about a tablespoon full of chopped garlic. You can chop fresh garlic of course, but I keep a big jar of the chopped stuff in my fridge for cheating. Fair notice, it does have a different flavor than fresh, but neither is better or worse. Make sure you don't burn the garlic. Have your tomato ready to add.

Better tomatoes will usually make for a better sauce, but I used some Tuttarosso canned tomatoes that were on sale. Not the best tomats by far, but a step up from the bottom anyhow. We are using whole canned tomatoes, not sauce or chunks, or anything like that. Canneries use the best tomatoes to pack whole, and use the real garbage ones to make puree and paste and so forth. Two cans of regular with the green label, and one blue label can flavored with basil, which is a bit larger. Or maybe 4 regular-sized cans if that's what you have.

Hand crush the first can of tomato into the sizzling onion and garlic. The tomatoes are juicy enough on their own, so you will not need the juice in the can. Drain off the tomato juice beforehand. Discard or use for something else. I just drank mine while I was cooking. If I was making gravy, I would not pour off the tomato juice and instead let it simmer off. But since we aren't cooking the sauce for 8 hours, it would be way too watery if you used all the juice in the sauce. Better quality tomatoes will often be packed in much thicker puree rather than watery tomato juice. You may not want to waste that, adjust accordingly. Fry those tomatoes in the olive oil for a bit until they thicken up some. That's going to be the real trick here. Keep stirring and frying on high heat, allowing the tomato to reduce and sort of  "ripen" against the heat.

Now we are going to pour in a good dose of red wine. Maybe about a cup and half to two cups I suppose. You don't need a pretentious fancy wine, especially for cooking, but use something you like the taste of. I like Carlo Rossi Paisano wine. Add a sprinkle of sugar, maybe a tablespoonful. Let that all reduce a little now, and then we can go ahead and start adding the next can of tomato. One at a time, I hand crushed from the larger can this time. Keep stirring and reducing.

After I got through two of the cans, I added the rest of the onion, another spoonful of garlic and another big splash of wine, maybe about a cup or so this time. The fresh onion will add a bit more zip, but will also act as a marker of sorts. You will see them soften up and become a bit translucent as they cook down, giving you an idea of how well cooked your tomato is becoming as you hand crush the tomats from your last can. You really want to cook out that canned flavor and get the sauce to thicken up. When the fresher onion doesn't look much different from the onion we started with, you're about there.

If you continue to reduce a bit longer and then season, you would have a nice chunky marinara. But we are taking it to the next level here to make it a meat sauce. So leave it a little juicy still for a final reduction in a moment.

Fry ground beef, well-seasoned with salt and pepper. I find that cooking partially frozen ground beef makes it a little more tender. Put a lid on it and cook over medium heat for a bit. Once it is all softened, break it up well and finish browning. A second round of seasoning may be in order too once the meat is all broken up. A very lean ground beef should not need to be drained. I used an 80% and drained off maybe about a third of the fats and juices from the pan. A pound and a half of meat, maybe two pounds, should be enough.

Now we are going to throw the meat in with the tomato, and continue to reduce. Let the tomato and the meat meld a bit and continue to reduce. I left it on high heat the entire time and just kept stirring. Didn't cover or simmer at all, just kept frying it all.

Don't season too early, or your herbs will scorch and lose their flavor entirely. Fresh might be better, but I used dried herbs. Easier to keep on hand. Parsley, basil, and oregano. I like to go a little heavier on the oregano. You might also like to add some zip with some crushed red pepper.

Once it is reduced to the texture and thickness you like, it's ready to be served over your favorite shape of macaroni. I decided to leave the sauce a little bit juicy still, and did a final reduction with the macaroni right in the sauce to suck up the last of the juices. I used penne and cheese tortellini together for a special treat. Boil the pasta like you normally would, but leave it a little more firm than you would normally serve it. Add the pasta to sauce, and let the last of the juices cook into the macaroni a bit. 

Serve with grated cheese, maybe some garlic bread, after a nice green salad or perhaps with some olives and grapes.

Here is your shopping list:

Whole canned tomatoes, ground beef, onion, garlic, olive oil, macaroni, herbs and spices.

BBQ Rib-Patty Sandwhich Meal

This is definitely off my "fast food at home" menu. Pre-packaged foods cooked at home are certainly not as healthy as a genuine home-cooked meal, but there are times when things like frozen entrees come in handy and other times when you are just craving that cheap corporate processed junk food. This idea is also a cheaper, probably more healthy substitute to the rib patty sandwich put out by America's favorite fast-food chain on occasion.

Start with the On-Cor BBQ Rib Pork Patty frozen entree and heat according to package instructions. Nuke the sucker or toss it in the oven. Simple enough. Once they are heated through, it's only a matter of assembling the sandwiches, but here is where we will execute with a little creativity.

You could just use some hamburger buns, but I bought some oblong-shaped buns that fit the rectangular patty a little better. They were basically oversized hot-dog buns that were available at my supermarket bakery. Cut them open and lay them down open side up. Be careful not to split in two separate pieces though.

Next we are going to lay in a slice or two of cheese. Lay flat down over both halves so that the cheese will help strengthen the roll and wrap around the fillings when we close the sandwich up at the end. I have used provolone in the past, but today I went with some baby-Swiss. It was a good choice. Whatever you choose, it should be something a bit pungent in order to cut the sweetness and play with the smokiness of the BBQ sauce.

Go ahead and lay in one of those pork patties. The hotter the better so the cheese gets a little melty action. Lay it down on the "bottom" half/side of the roll so that we can close the other half against it in just another second here.

But first we are going to top it with a dill pickle "stacker." A flat-sliced strip of pickle ideal for sandwich making. Laying in a thin dill spear could work as a substitute too. Top that with some very finely chopped onion, and then sliced black olives. Finally, close the roll in around all that goodness.

As you can see, we took it a few steps further than the average BBQ rib patty sandwich, so you may prefer to eat and serve with the closed side down like a hot dog, rather than the bottom side down like you would a regular sandwich. It will help catch the toppings and sauce. You may also wish to serve a little sauce on the side for dunking, but be warned, it's a little messy either way.

You could just eat and serve the sandwich of course, but why not make it a meal? There is plenty of sauce left over in the tray even if you have drowned your sandwiches into a super-sloppy mess. You could use that sauce for dunking french fries perhaps, the ubiquitous fast-food side dish and traditional accompaniment. Instead, I chose to make up a batch of some instant mashed potatoes instead, and used that extra sauce as a gravy to drizzle over them. I also cut back on the butter when whipping them up, reserving a few fat calories for a dollop of sour cream instead on each bowl served.

Round out the meal with either a small garden salad, or my preference today, a blend of frozen veggies heated through. The broccoli, cauliflower, carrot blend is my favorite lately, smeared with just a little butter and topped with a slice of American cheese. Microwave or toss in the oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese down over the veggies. A little splash of that BBQ sauce couldn't hurt either to tie it all together, or maybe just a dash of salt and some cracked black pepper.

So there we have it. A simple to prepare lunch or dinner made from items that are easily kept stored in your freezer and pantry. A good meal plan for items that you can keep on hand for a long time in case you have trouble getting to the store frequently. A fast-food meal with home-cooked feel.

Here is your shopping list:

For the sandwiches you will need an On-Cor BBQ Pork Rib Patty frozen entree, rolls, Swiss cheese, onion, pickle stackers and sliced black olives.

To complete the meal as planned you will need instant mashed potatoes, frozen veggie blend, American cheese, and butter.

Simple Pasta With Clam Sauce

For some reason people get intimidated by the idea of making this, what is actually a very simple dish. I think that people have this notion that if it's seafood, it's difficult to execute, which can be true, but not in this case. You can of course, also go with all fresh ingredients, but it's also easy to keep the ingredients on hand for the version I made tonight.

We'll start out with some well-chopped onion, a handful or two, toss that into a frying pan with some olive oil. I used a vidalia, but a white or yellow onion would be fine, even a red onion might be nice. Get them softened up and browned a bit.

Now we're gonna crank open a little can of anchovies. I usually get flat fillets but accidentally picked up rolled fillet wrapped around capers. No biggie, worked fine. In fact, capers are called for in many other folks' versions of this dish. Some people have a textural issue with anchovy fillet though. There are teeny little bones that pretty much liquify in the pan anyway, but you might prefer some anchovy paste instead. If not though, get the anchovy broken up well and mixed in with the oil and onions. Use the olive oil from the can of anchovy too. Pour it all right in there.

Now we're gonna add butter. I cut a big hunk off from a brick, maybe about a stick, stick and a half of butter. Sounds like a lot, but don't let your heart stop just be reading that. Butter is not as unhealthy as you think, and a lot more healthy than the substitute oils they use in the canned versions of clam sauce. It's also probably less butter per serving than a prepared box of mac and powdered cheese. But if you're still really health conscious, just pour in a generous amount of more olive oil. I prefer the butter taste with the clams, but it's not uncommon to make this dish with no butter at, just olive oil. But in that case you should probably go with a higher quality olive oil than the middle of the road stuff I keep in my kitchen.

With the butter melted down, toss in a tablespoonful or two of chopped garlic. Fresh is fine, but I just keep a big jar of the pre-chopped stuff in my fridge. Keep right on stirring. We don't want anything to stick or burn. By now too, the last bits of anchovy should be well incorporated giving a brown hue to the sauce.

Clams. Gotta have the clams of course. Just about every recipe I have ever read for this call for a bottle of clam juice too. I say that's a waste of money. Just use the juice right from your cans of clams. That's right, DON'T drain that juice off into the sink like you would with a can of tuna. Pour the clams into the pan right along with all the juice. I only had two cans, which might have been enough, but was happy to find a third. A fourth wouldn't have been wasted either, but the three was enough.

Now some seasoning. I used a generous amount of parsley, some basil, a bit of oregano, and a quick shake of hot red pepper in descending order. Some folks might like to add some lemon zest and/or a good shot of white wine here, but I didn't have either on hand and it turned out fine.

Let all of that boil away for a few minutes, but we don't want to reduce the sauce too much because we are going to finish cooking it right in with the pasta. Cook your pasta to just a tad underdone for your preference, then drain. I like my pasta a little softer, to I cooked to al dente and poured it into the colander. Tonight I used fettuccine, which I actually prefer over the traditional linguine with clam sauce. A long cut is generally preferred though over something like elbows or twists. Throw a little of your clam sauce into the bottom of the pot, throw your hot pasta back in, top that with the rest of your sauce. Cook on lowered heat to let all that clam-juicy sauce soak into the pasta a little. Letting it sit for a few minutes even after you have killed the heat helps too. My second serving was actually a bit more tasty, lol.

Plate in your favorite pasta dish and sprinkle with some grated Romano-Parmesan. Simple as that, dinner is served. A green leafy salad and some nice garlic bread are always great accompaniments to just about any pasta meal.

Here's your grocery list: Box of pasta, three cans of clams, small onion, garlic, one flat tin of anchovy fillets, olive oil, butter. If you don't have herbs and spices at home, get some parsley at least, maybe some basil, oregano, crushed red pepper, or whatever herbs and spices you might prefer. I might try a little tarragon next time myself.

Fajita-style chicken tacos

Technically, fajita translates as “little belt” and referred to the cut of beef from which the original Rio Grande dish was made. So unless your dish is made from a skirt-steak, you don't have a fajita, and there is no such thing as a chicken fajita. Of course, over time, the names of traditional dishes take on new meaning, and you can find a “chicken fajita” on bar and diner menus across the country.

So this layman's interpretation of fajita usually only means a sizzling plate of thinly-sliced fixins to be tossed in a tortilla wrap. The platter will usually be brought to the table still crackling as the strips of meat, along with ubiquitous bell peppers and onions are seared. Other fixins such as cheese, sour cream, salsa, and pico de gallo are served on the side. Assembly is usually done at the table.

This latter interpretation of fajita was the inspiration for tonight's dinner. A fairly light, easy dish that is especially enjoyable on a warm summer evening, but which can be enjoyed year-round of course.

I started with a large onion, skinned, and then halved. Cut in half from top to bottom, rather than around the waist of the onion. The grain of the rings should now be “c” shaped. I reserved one half of the large onion for later use. The other half, I layed flat side down, and sliced into thin strips. Again, look at the grain of the onion before slicing, and then slice so that you wind up with a big pile of half-rings which will flatten into nice strips with a little canola oil in a hot frying pan. But not just yet. First we have to slice up the bell peppers to go along with the onion in the hot pan.

You could get away with using only one color of bell pepper, but I prefer the variety in flavor and appearance of using both a red and a green bell pepper. Adding an orange bell pepper to the mix could be fun too. (Don't use yellow for this though, it takes on a sort of sickly color when fried.) Halve each pepper lengthwise, de-seed, and rinse. Make sure you get that little sticker with the PLU number off too. Now halve each half again lengthwise, then each quarter, then each eighth so you wind up with a nice pile of thin pepper strips.

In a large frying pan, pour in a fair amount of canola oil (or perhaps some other cooking oil if you prefer) and crank up the heat. But how do we know when the oil is hot enough? Here's a little trick. I rinse my hand under water and then give a good shake toward the hot pan. If the water droplets crackle and pop real good when they hit the oil, it's hot enough for frying. If nothing happens, give it another minute or two and try again. Be careful you don't get splattered though. Cold water in hot oil will crackle like Pop-Rocks and you really don’t want any of that hot oil to hit your skin.

When the oil is hot, slide in all your strips of pepper and onion for some good sizzle action. Stir occasionally. I find it preferable to leave them slightly undercooked, a little more firm rather than mushy. They will continue to soften a bit after being removed from the heat as well.

Next we have the chicken strips. I used some chicken tenderloins that I had in the freezer and thawed out. One or two packages, depending on how many servings you will need. I always like to cook enough to have plenty of leftovers anyway, so two packs is probably what you will need. Each tenderloin I sliced lengthwise into four strips. Tenderloins can be expensive, so feel free to substitute with thinly sliced strips of whole boneless chicken breast. I am actually a big fan of dark meat chicken, but for this recipe white meat is preferable.

Now we are going to fry the chicken strips in a a nice layer of canola oil the way we did the peppers and onion. Or at the same time in another pan if you can multitask a little. Fry until fully cooked, or do like I did, and kick things up a little bit with some seasonings. Give a good dusting of chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, crushed black pepper, oregano, and parsley. Depending on what you have on hand and how spicy you like things, you might also try adding other herbs and spices such as cilantro, cayenne pepper, ancho chili powder, chipotle, etc. I try to stay away from salt for the sake of a salt-sensitive family member, but a few shakes might make it a little more savory as well.

With the chicken fully cooked, I went ahead and fried some flour tortillas in another pan of hot oil. Some folks might prefer just a warm steamed tortilla wrap, but I like the taste and crispiness of a lightly fried tortilla. This is how I fry tortilla for my more traditional tacos too.

Lay the tortilla in the pan, and fry until golden brown. The tortilla may puff up, not to worry. You can stick a fork in it if you really find that unnerving, or you are getting an uneven fry. Keeping an eye on the edges will help you gauge how done it is on the first side, but peeking will do no harm either. Be careful not to overcook. We are looking for it to be a little crispy, but not actually crunchy. Don't forget, we still have to fold this thing when it is done. Some people choose to only fry one side for this reason, but I go ahead and fry both sides, using a regular metal (not plastic) pancake turner to flip them. Fried to a nice golden-brown, fold the tortilla over in half as you lay it on a paper towel to cool and drain.

Now the assembly. You can either serve already assmpled, or just put out the fixins and let the family and/or guests put them together themselves. Take a nice spoonful of sour cream and smear it inside the folded tortilla. Lay in a few of the seasoned chicken strips next. Top that with shredded cheese. I used cheddar tonight, but Monterrey-Jack would be great no doubt, or maybe something like the Mexican 4-cheese blend that I can get pre-shredded in a bag at my supermarket. Top that with some jarred salsa, or maybe some fresh pico-de-gallo if you prefer, maybe even a few rings of sliced jalapenos for more kick. Then top all of that now with strips of peppers and onion.

There you have it, fajita-style tacos. Not too time consuming, not too much skill required, and fun at the dinner-table while everyone puts their tacos together. And as I said earlier, though very flavorful, it's not a very rich and heavy dish which makes it ideal for a summertime meal, lunch or dinner.

Now go git your sizzle on!

The Doppelganger (Sandwich)

A few days ago I blew ten bucks on a sandwich from a sub shop. It was tasty, but I figured I could do it better at home, and for less money too. I was right. When I got out of work today I really didn't feel like cooking a big dinner, so I decided to get some cold cuts and put these bad boys together.

First I had to select a bread. Regular, or maybe old-fashioned white bread? A hearty multigrain? Sub rolls? I found a bag of some nice Portuguese rolls on the day old rack. Absolutely the right choice. Portuguese rolls are a little shorter and wider than a hoagie roll, lighter density than Italian bread, with a dry floury crust.

Now let's get to the meat of the matter. I hit the deli counter and ordered up a half pound of the store-brand rare roast beef, sliced thin. But don't let them slice it too thin if the grain does not allow, or it will wind up more like a pile of chipped beef. A good deli will shave off a slice to let you have a look, and a taste if you like. I didn't wind up using the whole half pound, but if you are making sandwiches for more than just yourself, you will want to order more of course.

Just about any sandwich ever invented goes better with cheese, and this one is no exception. I went with Finlandia brand imported Swiss. Dense and sour but not too much stank like you would get on a creamier Lorraine Swiss. Normally I like to get the cheese sliced thick, especially a softer cheese like American, but I went a little thinner with this since it has a more “stretchy” consistency like some mozzarella.

From the deli counter I hit the produce section and picked up a white onion, white mushrooms, and a nice vine-ripened tomato. Next, I hit the spice rack for a little jar of chipotle powder. The star of the show on the sandwich I got at the sub shop the other day was the chipotle mayo. You can pick up some ready-made flavored mayos these days right off the shelf, but I don't really see the need for that. I can mix it myself and use the chipotle powder in other recipes as well. For mayo, I am a loyal Hellman's man.

As soon as I got home I got right to it and chopped up the onion, then threw it in a frying pan with some canola oil on high heat. Instead of stirring constantly like I would for caramelized onions, I let them sit on the heat and start to stick a little to get some browning toasty action. I didn't cook them down too much either and pulled them from the heat before they got too soft or started getting gelatinous.

Next I fried the mushrooms. You could get away with doing the mushrooms and onions together probably, but I wanted everything jusssst right. So, I fried the mushrooms separately in some butter rather than canola. The delicate taste and texture of mushrooms are more sensitive to the oil you cook them in, and taking in a butter flavor is preferable I think to other cooking oils.

Go ahead and slice open two rolls and lay them on a toaster-oven rack face open. Next, use a nice wide knife or spatula (not a pancake turner, an actual spatula) to give a nice smear of mayo on each face of the rolls. Over the mayo give a light dusting of chipotle. It's a little spicy and very smokey, so you have to be a bit careful in order to not overpower the other flavors in your sandwiches.

Next we are going to lay on a few slices of the rare roast beef to one face of each sandwich. Don't just lay them flat though. You want to sort of “fluff” the meat the way they do at a good sandwich shop to make the sandwich look thicker. Bunch it up a little, use your wrist to give it a little twist. Actually, the technique helps give the sandwich a sort of “independent suspension,” keeps the innerts from sliding around so much when you finally put it all together, and actually gives the sandwich a nicer density to bite into.

On the opposite faces lay down a layer of your chopped fried onion, and some of your fried mushrooms spaced out nicely. I folded over a slice of the Swiss cheese to get four strips. Lay down two at bit of a hash-mark angle over the meat, two more over the mushrooms and onion, then repeat for your second sandwich.

I had to squeeze them in a little, but the two sandwiches just fit into the toaster oven. Bake at 425-450 degrees for maybe 3-5 minutes. Keep a close eye on it. Once the cheese is melted down well, the bread should be nice and crispy at the edges and over the crust, but you don't want it to turn to dust either by over doing it. You want the roll to still be soft inside when you finally take a bite. But, we are not quiiite there yet. While the sandwiches were toasting, I sliced my tomato nice and thin. When you pull out your sandwiches form the oven, slip on a few ripe red slices, and fold the Doppelgangers closed. And yes, you must have two or it is not a Doppelganger. So if you're a light eater, bring a friend.

Warm, toasty, smoky, spicy, rich, a little sweet, a little pungent, with stretching gooey cheese that might get caught on your chin, so bring a napkin! Enjoy.

For your grocery list you will need: Portuguese rolls, deli-sliced rare roast beef, deli-sliced imported Swiss cheese, a white onion, sliced white mushrooms, a ripe red tomato, mayonnaise, and chipotle powder.

Chicken Tenderloin Dinner

I suppose this is sort of three or four recipes in one. We are going to dress some veggies, spice some taters, and make a nice creamy Parmesan herb sauce for our chicken tenderloins.

I put the veggies on last, but let's get that out of the way first here since it's the easiest part. For this dinner I used one bag of frozen mixed cauliflower, broccoli and sliced carrots. You might also try some Italian green beans or some snap peas if you prefer or want to switch it up for a rerun. Go ahead and heat them up in a pan like you would normally, but instead of adding a little butter, we are going to give the veggies a little douse of a sundried tomato vinaigrette. A sundried tomato pesto could work nicely too. Of course, making your own dressing is much healthier without all the preservatives and trans-fatty oils, but I admit that I usually buy this off the shelf in the bottle. Easy to keep a bottle on hand in the cupboard to use when you are throwing a dinner together as quickly and painlessly as possible. If you would rather steam your veggies, go for it, and then just toss them in a little dressing before serving. You shouldn't need more than, oh, a few tablespoonfuls I guess. Be careful not to overpower the flavor in your veggies tho, the dressing is an accent, not a topper.

Now we're gonna fix up some taters. Redskin potatoes worked really well for the meal and are a real tasty spud, but you may have your own preference or want to work with what you have on hand. I halved the taters and boiled for a bit, but not fully done. I then quartered the halves and tossed them into a pan of hot canola oil for some sizzle action with a little black pepper and red chili powder. (The fresh cracked pepper may be a little too coarse, make sure you have a nice fine powder of pepper.) Once you get them browned up to your liking, the spuds are ready. If they are done before you are ready to plate, toss them on a baking sheet to keep warm in the oven. Alternately, I'm sure you could bake the wedges to a crisp in the oven after giving them a little drizzle of oil and dusted with spices.

Breast tenderloins are usually not on my grocery list because they are more expensive than other cuts, but I got a heck of a bargain on these and bought about six or eight packages to toss in the freezer. This is a white meat cut, smaller than the breast. We are going to cook them much like a “chicken finger” but rather then deep frying, we are going to bread them and pan fry them in a a little canola oil. The Italian-seasoned bread crumbs are best for this, and most other uses for that matter. If you only have plain bread crumbs, you can add some herbs, maybe a little salt and pepper, and even a punch of grated cheese. One at a time we are going to give each tenderloin an eggwash and then dredge in the bread crumbs, then lay them down in a hot pan coated generously with canola oil. I used a big electric frying pan doused with oil. Let them sizzle up nicely til nice and brown, and flip.

Since tenderloins are a lot thinner and more narrow than a breast, they don't take long to cook and you really shouldn’t have to worry much about getting the inside up to proper temp. As long as they have tightened up a bit so that they aren't floppy and are browned up nicely on each side, you can take them out and lay them down on a paper towel to soak up any excess oils.

When I fry the tenderloins this way, I always make a bunch, two or three pans full so that I have plenty of leftovers. Again, you may want to keep them warm by holding in the oven. The leftovers are great for seconds, a snack later on, or to be refrigerated to use in the next couple of days. I have used the leftovers cold to slice up and put on a salad, or you can warm them back up in a toaster oven where they should get nice and crispy again to serve as chicken fingers with a dipping sauce.

Speaking of sauce, now we come to the creamy Parmesan herb sauce. I use an electric fondue pot for this. I usually go ahead and make extra on this too. (If you didn't notice already, I am a big fan of cooking plenty so that there are plenty of leftovers in the fridge to make other light meals out of and to remix the applications.) Keep the temperature low so we don't burn the sauce at all. We will start by melting some butter in the pan. Then we will pour in a small container of heavy cream and bring that up to temperature, steaming, maybe bubbling a little. Finally, we add a bag of shredded Parmesan cheese. You could also shred your own Parmesan of course, but I don't use the best, most expensive stuff when making sauces. I use the good stuff sparingly, usually to dust over a plate of pasta or something just before serving.

Okay, so now we have the basic sauce going. Keep on stirring as the shredded cheese melts into the butter and cream. I went ahead and used two bags of cheese this last time. Keep more heavy cream on hand to add in slowly in order to get a nice constituency. Not too thick, not too thin. It may reduce a little as you are cooking it, and if you happen to add to much cream, continue to cook for a while in order to reduce and thicken up the sauce. A little flour will also help it to thicken. In fact, you might want to add a little anyway to get a rich consistency.

Time to add the herbs and seasoning. Garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, basil, oregano. Be careful not to overseason it, you can always add a few extra bumps to taste. I wound up adding a good extra shot of the garlic powder especially, but you don't want to overpower the flavor of the cheese, or the concert of herbs. All the while, you should keep stirring regularly so that the sauce doesn't stick and burn.

Plate your veggies, redskins, and chicken strips, then drizzle the chicken with the herb-cream sauce. Some may enjoy the sauce over their seasoned potatoes as well.

Now pardon the pictures here, bad lighting and a cheap camera-phone don't make very appealing food pics, but here is the plate I made up for my Mom...

Here is what you should pick up at the grocery store:

A bag of frozen vegetables (mixed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots), a bottle of sundried tomato dressing, a bag of redskin potatoes, chicken tenderloins, Italian bread crumbs, eggs, shredded Parmesan cheese, heavy cream, butter.

If you don't have these in your pantry you will also need:

Canola oil, chili powder, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, basil, and oregano.

Beef n' Bean Tacos

Forget the Bell, the ones you can make at home taste better and are much healthier than factory fast food.Tacos make a great meal-in-one, or you can serve along with chips and salsa, Spanish rice, or other Mexican and Latino favorites.

The heart of this taco is obviously the beef n' beans. Now you could just fry up some ground beef and fold in some canned beans. Small red or black beans would work best. However, I go to a bit more trouble on taco night, and whip up a big batch of my Southwest Beef to use as my primary taco filling, with enough leftovers to use other ways in the next few days. This stuff makes a slammin' taco filling. Just click on the link there to get that recipe.

Now we have to decide the taco shell. You could just go with the standard corn tortilla shell, store bought. You could go with soft tacos, made with flour tortilla wraps. Or you could do what I do, and step it up a notch by lightly frying some tortillas. There are usually 3 sizes to choose from. I go with the medium, makes a pretty big taco, but you could go gargantuan too if you prefer, or use the small ones for a standard size taco. The medium ones are usually the lowest cost per unit I have found.

Actually frying the tortilla is a bit of an art, and I don't have it down to a science yet. On one occasion I got some cheap tortillas at Walmart that really turned out bad for this and just fell apart. So start with a good tortilla. In a frying pan, pour in some canola oil and bring up the temp. Proper frying is supposed to be done at specific temperatures, but I don't have a temp setting on my burner, and since we are not actually deep frying, sticking in a cooking thermometer probably won't be much help. I just wait, and go by the shimmer of the oil, the smell coming up in the air, and then flick a few droplets of water in the pan to make sure is crackles real good. (Be very careful, water in hot oil explodes, and you will have hot oil all over the place if you aren't careful.)

Lay the tortilla in the pan, and fry until golden brown. The tortilla may puff up, not to worry. You can stick a fork in it if you really find that unnerving, or you are getting an uneven fry. Keeping an eye on the edges will help you gauge how done it is on the first side, but peeking will do no harm either. Be careful not to overcook. We are looking for it to be a little crispy, but not actually crunchy. Don't forget, we still have to fold this thing when it is done. Some people choose to only fry one side for this reason, but I go ahead and fry both sides, using a regular metal (not plastic) pancake turner to flip them. Now fold the tortilla over in half and lay it on a paper towel to cool and drain.

Repeat this process for the number of tacos you intend to make. You will likely need to add a bit more oil to the pan for every two or three tortillas. I also find that the tortillas tend to fry quicker as I get going along, but don't let the oil get too hot, or they will start to flashburn.

Now it's time to address the fixins. You can have them all ready ahead of time. I use the standard taco fixins, lettuce, tomato, shredded cheese and a schmear of sour cream. Since I am using my Southwest Beef mix, I won't need any salsa, but you might want to keep a bottle of hotsauce on hand for taco night.

Shredded or chopped lettuce, but don't do this too far ahead of time because it causes bruising. Some people have different tricks to stop lettuce from starting to brown on the edges, I just don't bother to shred too far ahead of time.

All different sort of tomatoes out there to choose from, but I usually go with some little cherry tomats. I slice them into little wheels to hold in all the juices and seeds. Of course, you can use a bigger tomato and chop it up nicely into little cubes, but I always hated wasting all the juices left on the cutting board, and it makes for a taco that is a little sloppy.

Even more than tomats, there are all sorts of cheeses out there. Of course we will want shredded cheese, but what kind? Cheddar would do fine, Monterey Jack, and there are all sorts of authentic Mexican cheeses too. I usually wind up getting a bag of the Mexican blend at the supermarket, or shredding my own Jack n Cheddar blend. I stay away from the taco blend in the bag though. It's just shredded cheese doused with salt nitrites and a factory season blend. Too much seasoning tends to clash and creates a muddled flavor profile. We want to keep the flavors fresh, and I like the cheese to taste like cheese.

Now finally, the assembly. First, lay in a heaping spoonful or two of your beef n' bean mix. Next give the inside of the shell a schmear of sour cream. As you are making the assembly, be gentle with the shell, so that it does not crack and split. Lay in some of the shredded cheese over the meat. It will get a little melty action too if the meat is hot enough. Top with shredded lettuce and your tomato wheels. Line up two or three on a plate, and you are all set to chow down.

At the grocery store you will need: All of the ingredients to make Southwest Beef, round flour tortillas, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, cheese (shredded blend perhaps), and canola oil if you have none in your pantry.