Sunday, March 29, 2009

Rhubarb Cobbler

This is my all-time favorite cobbler. EVER!! Seriously, it is like 8 stars on a 5 star rating of cobblers. Nothing can compare. And this just happens to be the best recipe ever for rhubarb cobbler, so you are in luck! What makes this cobbler so amazing is the topping. It reminds me of coffee cake in consistency, so it's really good. Try it- you'll never eat peach cobbler again!

What the recipe says:

Filling:
1 C Sugar
3 1/2 Tbsp Cornstarch
1/4 tsp Ginger
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
8 C Rhubarb (in pieces, or you can use frozen)

Mix them all together in a saucepan with like 2 Tbsp of water. It will boil down into a gel-like substance, pretty similar to pie filling, if you've ever made that. It takes like 5-8 minutes or so. When it's done, put it in a 9x13.
This is before the rhubarb started to cook down. The chunks are pretty big.
This is after I stirred in the strawberries (see below). It's pretty much a gel.
You can see how thick it is.


Topping:
1 C Sugar
1/2 C Butter
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 C Whole Milk
1 C Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt

Cream the butter and the sugar. Add liquids. Add dry ingredients. Drop it over the rhubarb part. It doesn't matter if it's all covered, although it ends up pretty well covered anyway. Bake it in the oven at 350 degrees until the topping is golden brown. I'm not sure how long this takes at all. The recipe doesn't say (since I wrote it down) and I didn't keep track of the time. Maybe a half hour?
How the topping looks raw. As you can see, I have filling peeking through.
The finished product from the side, so you can see how thick the topping gets. It's delicious!


What I did differently....

Well, for starters, I made a boo-boo and added an extra cup of sugar to the rhubarb. Yeah, I wasn't paying attention. Luckily, I added some salt, so it doesn't taste too bad. My suggestion for that- DON'T DO IT!!
Then, I only had 5 C of rhubarb, as I bought mine fresh after going to way too many stores to find it, either fresh or frozen, and bought all they had. I thought it would make 8 C, but I was wrong. It takes a lot of rhubarb to make 8 C. So, I added some strawberries after I cooked the rhubarb down. Strawberries break down easily, and they turn brown if you cook them down, so I just added them fresh into the 9x13. They will break down some in the oven while the topping is cooking. As for this amendment, I would say, go for all rhubarb if you can. I just like it better. If I had been making it just for me, I would have halved the recipe, but I am taking it to a YW thing, so I have to have plenty.

Nutritional Facts:

Per serving (12 servings total)
Calories: 274
Calories from fat: 78
Total Fat: 8.6g
Saturated Fat: 5.2g
Cholesterol: 37 mg
Sodium: 116 mg
Total Carbs: 47.9g
Dietary Fiber: 1.8g (7%)
Sugars: 34.8g
Protein: 2.7g
Vitamin A: 7%
Vitamin C: 11%
Calcium: 11%
Iron: 4%

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Blackened Pork

I go to a blog to get recipes all the time and I love how she always takes a picture of all the ingredients you will need to make the recipe. So I will be doing this for you. Notice that the pork that I used has a lot of marbling. This keeps the pork moist, even though it seems like you cook it to death.
Ingredients:
Boneless pork ribs
Olive Oil
Garlic Salt
Montreal Steak Seasoning
Onion, Mushrooms, Zuchini, Squash, and any other veggies you want to try. These are my favorite but they are all flexible.

Cut ribs into approximately 3oz portions. Wash pork. Coat with Montreal Steak Seasoning and Garlic Salt. I like to use the couse garlic salt, but you can use what ever you have. The Steak seasoning is what really gives it the good flavor. Pour olive oil in your skillet. I love my large skillet. I use it over 2 burners so I can cook everything at once. Heat up skillet. You will want to start the pork before you start the veggies. Raw pork and over cooked veggies, not a good combination. You will need to add more oil as you cook to keep things from sticking. Keep turning your meat till all sides are blackened, and the meat is done. Thick pieces may take a while. I use a sheet of tin foil to cover as everything cooks because you do get a lot of oil splatter, and it helps to keep everything moist. Add more seasoning if you need. Serve over rice.


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Stuffed Pork Chops


This is one of my favorite pork recipes. It works best if you get really thick pork chops. Costco has really good ones. I got it off of "Everyday Italian" on the food network. (I so love the food network!) PS- Normally I won't have such exact recipes. I hope that isn't a problem. I just copied this one from the website.

Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 6 sun-dried tomatoes, diced
  • 1 (10-ounce) bag of frozen spinach, thawed and excess water squeezed out
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/4 cup (2 ounces) goat cheese
  • 1/3 cup reduced-fat cream cheese
  • 4 (4-ounce) center-cut pork chops
  • 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
  • 1/2 lemon, zested
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Warm the 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, salt, pepper, and thyme. Cook until combined, about 2 more minutes. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl. Add the goat cheese and the cream cheese. Stir to combine and set aside.

Use a sharp knife to cut a pocket into the thickest portion of the pork chop. Stuff each pocket with 1/4 of the spinach and sun-dried tomato mixture and close the pork around the stuffing. Season the outside of the pork with salt and pepper.

In a small bowl combine the chicken broth, lemon zest, lemon juice, and mustard.

Warm the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot add the pork. Cook until golden and cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. (Longer for thicker pork chops.) Transfer the pork to a side dish and tent with foil to keep warm. (I, Amanda, put the pork chops in the oven to keep them really hot. The sauce takes a little while) Add the chicken broth mixture to the skillet over medium-high heat. Scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan as the chicken broth simmers. Reduce the broth by half to make a light sauce, about 8 minutes. Spoon some sauce over the pork before serving. (Also, the sauce is REALLY flavorful, so you don't need much at all. It should be intensely lemony. I usually add more lemon to it.)

Welcome to The Sautee Pan!!

Hi!! This is the first post, so it's going to be more of a "rules and guidelines" post. I will post a recipe shortly. This is a place to share tasty recipes, cooking tips, and available classes or basically anything food related. I will also accept restaurant reviews and recommendations. In order to keep it organized, make sure to label your posts. I have stuck on tons of labels so that you can choose from the available labels. Please don't create your own label unless there is really no label to fit, in order to make finding recipes easier. Also, try to have a photo for each recipe. Even if it's one you took and isn't that great. Thanks, and I can't wait to try your ideas!