That's What Bob's Cooking: November 2015

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Velvety Potato Leek Soup

I love soup. Can I just say, I LOVE soup. Yup that's right, soup, my favorite. That being said, I noticed one of my favorite soups has not ever been featured on this blog. Now my family might say, Bob, this is your favorite? Ok well maybe it's my second favorite. My favorite has to be my potato soup. (That one was featured in Taste Of Home magazine).

So here's my newest favorite soup, Velvety Potato Leek Soup. Now, those that know me, know I don't follow recipes, and in a lot of cases I just wing things. This recipe was a “wing it” recipe. So bear with me if things are off a bit.

Potatoes and the leek cut in half, before cleaning,

Cleaned leek and butter,

Diced potatoes ready for the pot,

Leek and potatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper,

Add the chicken broth and deglaze the bottom of the pan,

Once everything is tender, blend until smooth,

Half way there,

Coming together, just add the cream and we're ready to eat.

Soup and a panini sandwich. A perfect dinner!

Velvety Potato Leek Soup

1 cube butter

1 large leek, sliced and cleaned

5-6 small Yukon potatoes, diced

2-3 cloves of garlic

4 cups chicken broth

¼ cup cream

Salt and pepper, to taste

Melt better, and sauté the leeks. Add the potatoes and garlic, continue to sauté. Deglaze the pot with the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes. Once everything is tender, use an immersion blender to blend until smooth. Or blend in small batches, until smooth.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Baked Mozzarella Chicken Rolls

I'm It's been a while since I've posted anything. With the catering business, and work I have still been cooking, and taking pictures, so as I get time I will post again. Not to worry!!

I wasn't really sure what to think when I came across this recipe. What would the end result be like? Well, I have to tell you, what a delicious take on Chicken Parmesan. Splitting and pounding the chicken breasts is probably the most daunting part, but very necessary.

Make and enjoy this baked dinner! Maybe serve with some pasta au burro (buttered pasta) and a steamed vegetable.

Baked Mozzarella Chicken Rolls

All of the ingredients you'll need

Take a chicken breast,

Slice it 3/4 of the way through, leaving a hinge,

Open it up, it should look like this,

Before pounding the breast,

After pounding, then I cut it down the hinge line,

Baby spinach,

Chopped baby spinach,

Into the sauté pan,

And stir,

Mix together the filling ingredients,

Add the sautéed spinach,

Take the chicken,

Add a scoop of the filling to the breasts,

Spread the filling,

(I then added a slice of mozzarella)

(Oops and a piece of sundried tomato, at the urging of my husband)

After dipping in the egg and rolling in the bread crumbs, place in the pan (I ran out of fresh mozzarella so I topped two with Parm),

Bake, then serve. Lastly enjoy!!

Baked Mozzarella Chicken Rolls

Ingredients

8 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 lbs total)

1 cup Italian style bread crumbs

6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided

5 ounces fresh baby spinach

1 clove minced garlic and olive oil for sauteeing

½ cup part-skim ricotta cheese

3 eggs, beaten

3 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced

1 cup marinara sauce

fresh basil for topping

Instructions

1. Prep the chicken: split the chicken breast (butterfly style) and pound the pieces until they are thin (for quick cooking) and have expanded in surface area (for more filling). Place the breadcrumbs in a shallow bowl with 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and set aside.

2. Prep the filling: Chop the spinach and sauté it with the garlic and just a drizzle of olive oil for 2-3 minutes or until just barely wilted. Combine the sautéed spinach with the ricotta, Parmesan cheese, and 2-3 tablespoons of the eggs. Place the remaining eggs in a separate shallow bowl and set aside.

3. Assemble the chicken: Spread a thin layer of the marinara in the bottom of a large baking dish and preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place one piece of chicken on a flat working surface. Put a spoonful of ricotta-spinach filling right in the middle and roll the chicken up so that the edges meet to form a "seam". Dip the entire chicken roll in egg whites, and then roll it in the breadcrumbs. Place in a baking dish, seam side down. Repeat for the remaining 7 pieces of chicken. Bake for 25 minutes.

4. Finishing touches: After 25 minutes, the chicken should be cooked through (white on the inside) and browned on the top. Cover the chicken with the marinara sauce and slices of fresh Mozzarella. Bake for another 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melting. Sprinkle with fresh basil.

Notes

Don't try to cram all the pieces too close together because if the sides are touching each other, they won't get crispy. Leaving a little space between each piece allows the breadcrumbs to bake, brown, and crispify perfectly.

My Complete Profile

I was born and raised on the East side of Portland Oregon, by two native and second generation, Oregonians, my Mom and Dad (Jack and Joan). Oregon, and the Northwest are deep in my blood. That being said, I have always had an interest in cooking. I would love to add a warm loving story here about how my Mom nurtured my love of cooking by setting me up on or near the counter top to help with whatever she was cooking. Well, that's not exactly the case.

Being a child of the 70's and 80's, I had a great exposure to classic foods like Spam, Tang, Rice-a-Roni and Hamburger Helper. While many of these premade, sodium roller coaster, treats where regulars on our table, my Mom would have to hold the title as "casserole queen". Casseroles are her favorite and her specialty. Whereas, my Dad was more of a spur of the moment kind of cook. His creations included many of the items from our makeshift pantry. Sometimes, i think he was thinking, "the more ingredients, the better it'll be!". I think my first attempt at cooking would have to have been making cookies, either peanut butter (with the criss-cross fork tine print on top), or chocolate chip cookies. Over the years I have made so many of both of these recipes, I have surely lost count.

During middle school, my Mom encouraged me to take Home Economics, thinking that all kids, boy or girl, should know how to cook out in this world. This sparked a growing interest in cooking. So when I entered my junior year of High School, at David Douglas, I enrolled in the culinary arts program, we called it Food Services I. This was a class that had been offered many years before, where the students ran a restaurant, The Kilt, during the lunch periods. Unfortunately, since the class had not been offered in several years, so we didn’t have enough students to open the restaurant, that year. Within the first few weeks of this class, my instructor asked if I'd like to be involved in an outside "club" (kind of like a version of Eagle Scouts) that was mentored by local business owners. It sounded interesting so I joined (not to mention it got me out of the first 2 periods of the day).

At our first meeting I was approached by Sylvia Poesdel, the owner of the Portland landmark restaurant, Sylvia's Italian Restaurant & Dinner Theatre. She asked me if I would be interested in an afterschool job, coming to work for her to learn the cooking/chef trade on the job. I jumped at the chance and started in October of 1985. During my senior year I rejoined the culinary arts program (Food Services II) and this year we were able to reopened the restaurant, which the rest of the students voted me to manage. I just absolutely loved it! I worked at Sylvia's until after I graduated, in 1989. I learned a lot about the restaurant industry, and I would have to say it would be one of just a few life altering jobs I have had throughout my career.

After high school, while I was working at Sylvia's, I applied to culinary arts school. The Two things kept me from continuing my career in culinary arts, were financial and having worked out in the field, I saw so many negative attributes to being a chef, I decided that since I love to cook, I wanted it to be a hobby, and not a drag to go work each day.

When I left Sylvia's, I worked at a hotel, then Safeway. From there I joined Fred Meyer in the Service Deli, and was quickly promoted to a manager. During the next 8 years, I worked throughout the Portland and Southern Oregon areas. In 1998, I earned a promotion to the regional specialist position (District Manager) in Seattle. During this career move, I learned so much about the Food Service industry. I was charged to develop a new service salad case program, as well as work on a new catering program. I had the opportunity to work with manufacturers to develop these new programs.

In 2000, I met the love of my life, Craig. I also, moved from the food service program to the grocery department as an assistant manager. In the capacity I learned to develop my management skills as well as managing inventory. By being the best in my category, I earned the position of manager, where I moved from store to store cleaning up and reorganizing as I went. I also was entrusted with training future Food managers for the region. At which point I was pursued by another company to run a store for them, and enter back into the restaurant industry. During these 3 years, I learned the Restaurant Supplier side of the business. While I enjoyed the time I spent in this opportunity, I yearned to go back to the Grocery industry, and spend more time with my first love, cooking, and writing about my adventures….in the kitchen!