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Cool tricks in the culinary world

Fantastic Breakfast Casserole

Sometimes breakfast is a rushed time of day. When this is the case it can present a number of challenges to the cook especially if they are preparing breakfast in someone else’s kitchen.

I had promised to prepare breakfast for a special occasion at someone else’s home, and wanted to have it ready when I arrived. The challenge was to make a breakfast that would taste great, be hearty, satisfying, and portable, yet not take a lot of time to get ready. So, my idea was to make a one dish recipe that could be made in advance, baked, transported, and ready to serve on arrival.

Breakfast Casserole

The following is the result of a dish prepared in the LukewarmLegumes Test Kitchen that is not only easy to make, but your guests will all be clamoring for seconds. With the holidays upon us and all the visiting, visitors, and meal preparation that goes along with it, this dish just might be what you need. I promise your guests won’t be disappointed.

FANTASTIC BREAKFAST CASSEROLE

Ingredients
1 c Rice, cooked (3 cups)

3 Eggs
½ t Salt
¼ t Pepper
¼ c Cream

2 T Flour
2 T Bacon drippings or butter
1 c Milk

Bunch Green onions, chopped
½ Red Bell pepper, chopped

12 oz. Bacon, cooked and chopped *

3 c Cheddar cheese, grated

Instructions
The base of this dish is a bed of rice. So the first task in preparing it is to cook the rice by taking one cup of rice, adding it to two cups of boiling water, and simmering for 30 minutes.

Place the cooked rice in the bottom of a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Mix together the eggs, salt, pepper and cream and pour over the rice. Prepare gravy with the flour, bacon drippings (or butter), and milk and pour over the rice/egg layer.

Egg and Gravy Layer

For the next layer sprinkle the chopped green onion and red bell pepper. Then comes the chopped bacon layer.

Veggie and Bacon Layer

Spread the grated cheddar cheese over all.

Then prepare the biscuit dough (see recipe below) and spoon over the top.

Biscuit Layer

Baked in an oven preheated to 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until the top is a golden brown and the filling is bubbling.

Here is a list of the layers in order:
• Rice
• Egg mixture
• Gravy
• Veggies
• Bacon
• Grated Cheese
• Biscuits

BISCUITS

Ingredients
2 c Flour
1 T Baking powder
½ t Baking soda
1 t Salt
½ t Garlic powder
1 t Parsley
½ t Pepper

12 T Butter

1 c Buttermilk

1 c Cheddar cheese

Instructions
Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter. Stir in buttermilk. Mix in cheese. Work the dough only until it is blended.

* After cooking the bacon, in order to conserve the bacon drippings for use in your recipe, I recommend using a metal colander and draining over a dish to capture the drippings rather than using paper towels because the paper towels will absorb the juices and make then unusable.

Bacon Draining

Holiday Food Safety

The holidays are wonderful times for getting together with family, friends, and neighbors. Much of what we do during the holidays centers around food. One thing that can ruin holiday cheer and good times faster than any other is someone getting sick from the food – not because of overeating – but from food that has been improperly handled. When preparing and handling foods this holiday season, make sure you pay attention to food safety rules.

Thanksgiving Meal

 

Foodborne infections cause millions of people in the United States to get sick each year. Infants and young children,  pregnant women, those with weakened immune systems, and older adults are at higher risk for severe infections. The most common foodborne diseases are associated with meat, poultry, and fish.

No matter your level of cooking expertise, taking a few simple steps can help reduce the risk of foodborne illness during your holiday celebrations this year.

The following are some basic practices that will help insure the only thing your guests may need to recover from is having too much fun.

CLEANLINESS

It is essential to keep everything in your kitchen clean: counters, hands,  utensils, and dishes. Wash your hands, before, during, and after handling food, especially when switching between preparing different types of foods (for example from handling raw meat to preparing fresh produce). Use hot water and soap to clean, and then rinse with fresh water. Using a bleach solution works well to sanitize your kitchen. The American Chemistry Council recommends a concentration of 3/4 cup bleach to one gallon of water for disinfecting surfaces. Also, wash all fresh produce in water to remove the dirt and harmful organisms that can come home with them from the store and even the farm.

CROSS CONTAMINATION

Avoid cross contamination by keeping meats and fresh produce separate from each other and from cooked foods. Use separate utensils and cutting boards for each or sanitize between uses. Never store raw meat above fresh produce in your refrigerator because the juices could leak out onto the produce and create a hazard.

PROPER COOKING

Make certain all foods are cooked to the proper internal temperature using an instant read thermometer like the one shown below.

Instant Read Thermometer

Turkey, stuffing, casseroles, and leftovers should be cooked to 165 degrees Fahrenheit; beef, veal, and lamb roasts should be cooked to 145; and ham, pork, and egg dishes should be cooked to 160.

SERVING AND STORING

Refrigerate food quickly after serving. Keep the refrigerator at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or below to prevent bacteria from growing. Leftovers should be refrigerated within two hours of being cooked. Never thaw a turkey, ham, or other frozen meat at room temperature. Thawing should be done in the refrigerator. When food is in the “danger zone” – between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit – foodborne bacteria multiply.

FOUR SIMPLE STEPS

Food safety can be as simple as: keeping everything in your kitchen clean; avoiding cross contamination; cooking to the proper temperature; and after preparation keeping hot foods hot and cold foods cold – which means below 40 degrees for cold foods and above 140 degrees for hot foods.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

For more information on food safety, here are some helpful links:

Holiday Food Safety Success Kit

 

USDA Food Safety and Inspection

 

WebMD

 

FoodSafety.gov

You can also check out the latest food safety updates by visiting this site:

Food Safety Widget

We at LukewarmLegumes hope you have a happy, safe, and food healthy Holiday Season.

Happy Thanksgiving

Roasted Chickpeas – Creole Style

This year our family has decided to depart from our traditional Thanksgiving Day fare and instead will be replacing our menu with Louisiana style offerings like Gumbo made with Andouille Sausage. Thankfully, pies will still include Southern favorites like Pecan and Buttermilk (my favorites).

Thinking of items I could contribute that would support the Louisiana theme, and having just recently tried making Roasted Chickpeas, I thought a good snack item to have before the meal would be Roasted Chickpeas Creole Style made with the Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning I had picked up a few months ago but never opened.

Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning

Before serving new dishes to guests I always make a batch beforehand as a test, so I can work out all the ‘kinks’ in the recipe and not subject someone to a dish before it has been perfected.

To make this recipe I took two cups of the cooked, dried chickpeas I had stored in the refrigerator from making the last batch, and tossed them in a mixture of two tablespoons peanut oil and one tablespoon of Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning.

I preheated the oven to 425 degrees, spread the chickpeas on an oven pan, and baked in five minute intervals until the became crispy (about twenty minutes). Be careful not to over toast them, which is easy to do and will ruin them.

Here is the recipe:

ROASTED CHICKPEAS – CREOLE STYLE

Ingredients
2 c Chickpeas, cooked and dried*

2 T Peanut oil
1 T Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning

Instructions
Toss chickpeas in oil and seasoning mixture. Spread in one layer on baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees until crispy, stirring every five minutes – about fifteen to twenty minutes.

There are several ways this recipe is significantly different than how I made my other chickpea snacks: these are made with Peanut Oil, not Olive Oil. Also, I roasted them at a higher temperature for a shorter period of time (about half).

*For the method how to cook and dry the chickpeas, see my previous blog Roasted Chickpea Snacks.

I had never used, or even tasted, Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning before this and after having used it and tasted it I can understand why it is so popular for easily creating dishes with an authentic Creole flavor. However, be careful using it, especially the first time, because it is very salty.

Two Simple Tips for Better and Easier Seasoning

Seasoning is one of those simple items that alludes so many, so why not share few simple tricks to make it simpler and more efficient.  I also find these techniques make seasoning fun and I always enjoy sharing it which keeps it fresh in my mind – yes I just said I find seasoning fun!

The first trick is really obvious when you know it, but until you think about it you can miss it entirely.  Season from a distance, that’s right, that’s it!  Don’t get really close to what ever you’re season, keep your hands as far away from your target as possible.  The benefits of this are pretty obvious, more even distribution of seasoning over your food.  Take a pinch of salt and sprinkle it over a large plate 1″ above the plate  now take the same size pinch of salt and sprinkle it from 5″ or more the plate and notice how it is distributed.  It’s a very simple trick that anyone can do and it will make your food just that much better.

The next trick is almost comical but it saves time and is sure to be a conversational technique when you do it in front of friends and family.   Season your cutting board, there I’ve said it.  When preparing proteins you usually want to season both sides of the meat prior to cooking, this requires flipping the raw protein when seasoning both sides.  If you season your cutting board, place the meat on it then season the other side while it’s resting on the seasoned cutting board.  It sounds simple, perhaps even silly but it works great and reduces how often you’re handling the raw meat.  Now just think of the jokes you can make for dinner guests serving them seasoned cutting board!

There you have two simple, effective, time saving seasoning techniques that will make your cooking experience more enjoyable and successful.