Focaccia Bread
I will be up front with you. I do not consider myself a very good baker. I have enough knowledge to be dangerous, and I make a pretty great pizza dough, and I do love making bread, but it is something that I am not…
Month: January 2011
Homemade Mango Sorbet
A couple of weeks ago, I purchased a bottle of mango juice. Either something about the bottle, color, or label caught my attention, and my first instinct was to make some mango margaritas to sip on during a family gathering. The mango margaritas were really…
Roast Beef Po Boy
There is not a month that goes by when I think of our trip a couple years ago to New Orleans. It was our first time to the crescent city, and boy, did my wife and I have a wonderful time. We spent most of our time walking through the city, in particular, the French Quarters, going down every little side street we could find, and hoping that we would encounter some really great food along the way.
We did find some really great food, and probably some of the best food I have ever eaten. Sure we had the beignet’s, etouffee, and Muffelettas, but there was one thing that stood out to both my wife and I, and that was the simplicity of a po boy.
As noted in my post, shortly after our trip to NOLA, for the shrimp po boy, we became addicted to the sandwiches from Johnny’s. I mean you know a place is going to be great when you consistently see a line out the door, and believe me, my wife and I had no problem waiting in line. They had pretty much any kind of po boy you could imagine, and one that has been on my mind for some time now is the roast beef po boy.
If you have been reading my recipes lately, you probably are aware that I recently received a deli slicer as a gift, and I have frequently been using it, slicing delicious cuts of meat, including a roast beef, cooked similarly to my Italian beef.
Let’s get started as I am already getting hungry just thinking about the roast beef po boy.
Ingredients:
- Thinly sliced roast beef (cook your own if you can)
- Great French bread, sliced in half lengthwise
- Tomato slices
- Head lettuce, shredded
- Mayonnaise
- Creole, or course grain mustard
- Roast beef gravy
That is all that is required for a super delicious sandwich. Oh yeah, and keep in mind that is called “dressed” po boy.
Begin by preheating your oven to 325 degrees. Add the leftover roast beef mixture to a casserole dish. Take a quantity of roast beef, depending on the size of your French bread, and add it to the casserole dish. Place the dish in the oven, uncovered, and cook for about 35 minutes, to warm the beef through and allowing it to soak in all of those great flavors from the gravy.
Take your bread, and lather one side with mayonnaise, and the other with the creole mustard. Place a layer of the tomatoes on one side, and add a generous amount of roast beef and gravy to the middle. Top with shredded lettuce.
With two hands, grab that sandwich and dig in. The rest is self explanatory! If you are looking for a great po boy, and remembrances from New Orleans, this might just be the one that takes you back there. Enjoy.
Mexican Chili
Not too long ago we had the family over for a preseason football party. Our team, the Green Bay Packers, was playing that night, and everyone was really excited to see them win the game. I personally do not know if I was more excited…
Mexican Table Sauce
If you have been following my site for some time, you are probably well aware that Mexican food is a good source of comfort for my family. I would say that once a week we are either having a taco or nacho night with an…
Carrot Soup
Not too long ago one of my colleagues and I were having our standard morning conversation about food and what we have been cooking lately. During the conversation, he got pretty darn excited about a carrot soup he had just recently made. I mean, he kept going on and on about how great it was, and how simple it was to make. Bingo. After asking him what he threw into the soup. I decided that I had everything already on hand, and would make this simple carrot soup.
At first when you hear carrot soup, you are probably like most people, and say “no thanks, I’ll pass”. But do not pass this one up. Sure, it does not look like anything special, but after I made it, and both my wife consumed it over the course of a few days (yes, it is that good), every slurp of that soup was ended by either one of us, or both, saying things like “oh my”, “oh my gosh”, and “wow”. I kid you not, this soup is so simple to make, and is just packed with great flavor, and heck, it is good for you to boot.
Let’s get started.
Ingredients:
- 2 large yellow onions, diced
- 2 pounds of carrots, peeled, and roughly chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 6 cups of chicken stock (or vegetable)
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 cup of heavy cream (or 2% milk will work just fine)
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cracked black pepper
- Crushed Pistachios (optional)
To your soup pot, add in the butter, toss in the onions, carrots, ginger, and garlic. See how easy so far? Sweat these down for about 8 minutes or so, then toss in the stock. Bring this to a boil, then cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 40 minutes, or until the carrots are nice and tender.
Now, if you have an hand blender, use it. If you do not, you are going to want to transfer your soup in batches to a blender, being ever so careful to place a towel and some of your force over the lid of the blender before making it into a puree. Do this in batches, and return the carrot soup back to the soup pot.
Add in your salt, pepper, and heavy cream. Mix well, and let the soup come back up to temperature.
When you are ready to serve, simply ladle the soup into some bowls, and top with some of the crushed pistachio nuts. Now, get ready to start your engines and after your first spoonful, get ready to say “oh my gosh”. Enjoy.