Jagerschnitzel with Mushroom Gravy and Bacon

Jagerschnitzel with Mushroom Gravy and Bacon

“This is a keeper!”

Those were pretty much the first words out of hubby’s mouth after finishing the meal. I must admit this is pretty damned good, too. In my usual frugal manner, I had picked up some super-thin cut pork loins in the 50% off bin and was randomly searching the interwebz and Pinterest what to make with them and Voila! Not only did bacon and mushroom gravy catch my eye, but so did the unusual name.

Jager (properly spelled Jäger in German) loosely means hunter, named after the German military term for rifle-armed infantry. In short, “hunter’s cutlet” and the dish was originally made with thinly pounded venison or wild boar backstrap. In the U.S., it is typically made with pork.

If you do not pour sauce over all the cutlets, then the schnitzels reheat beautifully with a light spray of oil in the toaster oven. The meal is typically served with spaetzle or noodles, but I served Brussels sprouts instead. Hey, that’s close to Germany! This isn’t the quickest dinner to make in the book, but it is so very worth the time. It took me about an hour and a half but if you have all your ducks in a row (i.e. prep everything ahead of time) then you could probably make it in an hour. Guten Appetit!

Jagerschnitzel with Mushroom Gravy and Bacon
Adapted from Guy Fieri and The Food Network

1 1/4 pounds thin-cut pork loin (or pounded thin)
3/4 cup flour, divided
1 teaspoon salt or Mrs. Dash
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon paprika
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard
3/4 cup crushed unsalted crackers
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
3 slices thick-cut bacon, diced (1 more if thin-cut)
1/2 cup diced onion
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup red wine
Olive oil, for frying
2 cups beef stock, homemade or high-quality store-bought
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Schnitzel Ingredients ~ I am not ashamed to use paper plates to use less dishes

If your pork slices are not already thin, pound them thin until 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Trim the fat off the pork edges. On a plate, mix together 1/2 cup flour with salt, pepper, garlic and paprika. In a bowl, combine egg, milk and mustard. On another plate, combine crushed crackers and panko.

Breaded Cutlets

Dredge pork slices first in flour, then in egg wash, then in the crumbs. Set on a cooling rack above a sheet pan and place in the refrigerator until ready to cook.

In a cast iron skillet (or other heavy pan), cook the bacon until crispy. Remove and drain on paper towels.

Frying Bacon ~ And yes I did cook this entire meal on our grill propane burner outdoors!

In the same skillet with the bacon grease, add the onions and saute for several minutes. Add mushrooms and continue cooking for about five more minutes until the mushrooms have browned.

Shrooms and Onions

Stir in 1/4 cup flour and continue stirring until you have a light brown roux. Add the wine and cook for a few more minutes until it’s reduced by 1/3, then add the beef stock. Continue cooking to reduce by 1/3 again. Season with salt and pepper then keep warm on low.

Mushroom Gravy ~ Not my best shot…

Heat 1/4-inch oil in another cast iron skillet (or heavy pan) until it bubbles when you insert a wooden chopstick to the bottom. In batches, cook pork evenly on both sides, about five minutes for the first side, several more minutes for the second.

Fried Schnitzels

Remove to a platter and continue cooking until all cutlets are done. Add butter to sauce, stirring until it has melted. To serve, cover pork with sauce and garnish with chopped bacon and fresh parsley.

Jagerschnitzel with Mushroom Gravy and Bacon

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Wild Mushroom and Pea Risotto

Wild Mushroom and Pea Risotto

I wanted to use both Oyster and Shitake fresh mushrooms for this, but the dang bin at the store was cleared out of Shitake when I went there. So I got some baby Bellas instead. I’m finally back in the kitchen and this sounded like a great side to some quick pan-seared chicken Parmesan cutlets I had planned on making.

I made a slight oops on the amount of liquid per rice, but was able to boil it down to reduce the sauce in the risotto. It was still a bit soupy but we were all hungry. I have adjusted the recipe below accordingly. I’m glad to be back in the kitchen, I tell you. Back issues are getting resolved now and all that.

My daughter doesn’t like mushrooms so she picked them out of the risotto, but she ended up going back for two helpings of it! She also said the chicken was fantastic and wanted me to make it again although it was not a “recipe” per se. Just some seasonings, cutlets dredged in milk then coated with Panko and Parmesan. Sometimes kids are just that easy to please!

Note: This is made in a pressure cooker. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, the method to make stovetop risotto is widely available on the internet.

Wild Mushroom and Pea Risotto

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup finely diced onion
4 ounces mushrooms, any kind, sliced or kept whole if small
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup Arborio or California Pearl rice
4 cups homemade or low-sodium chicken broth
A few sprigs of thyme
1/2 cup frozen sweet peas, thawed
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, from a block

Risotto Ingredients

Heat your pressure cooker (at minimum 3-quart size) over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the butter, then add the chopped onions and mushrooms. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes.

Sautéed Mushrooms and Onions

Add the dry white wine and bring to a boil. Boil for a few minutes more then add the rice, the chicken broth, and the sprigs of thyme.

Put on the lid to your pressure cooker and lock into place, then bring up the pressure to high according to manufacturer’s directions.

Once the pot is up to pressure, set the timer for 7 minutes. (I quickly pan-seared the coated chicken at this point.)

Pan-Seared Panko Parmesan Chicken

At the end of the 7 minute-timer, remove pressure cooker from heat and run the pot under cold water to release the pressure immediately. (Or if you have an electronic one, release pressure according to manufacturer’s directions.) Don’t remove the lid until all pressure is released.

Peas and Cheese Added

Remove the sprigs of thyme and stir in the rest of the butter, the peas, and the half cup of Parmesan cheese. (You can reduce on stovetop if too soupy, but I did adjust the amount of liquid in the above recipe.)

Serve with additional grated Parmesan cheese if you want and your protein of choice.

Wild Mushroom and Pea Risotto

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Cauliflower-Crusted Ling Cod with a Raspberry Beer Brie Sauce and Roasted Cauliflower

Cauliflower Crusted Cod with a Raspberry Brie Cheese Sauce

Thank you everyone who voted for my last recipe to make it to the next round of Diced!

You can read the recipe here below or on The Ranting Chef’s website here: Diced! – Kathryn – Cauliflower-Crusted Ling Cod with a Raspberry Beer Brie Sauce and Roasted Cauliflower

The next round involved a “white out” with a list of ingredients of all things white: white fish, cauliflower, Brie cheese, and white pepper. I immediately knew I would be using our last piece of Ling Cod from the freezer that our friend caught off the Oregon Coast when he took us out bottom fishing back in October. Since I knew I would be experimenting with a few dishes, I went and bought some inexpensive Tilapia to mess around with until I knew I had the perfect recipe. Good thing I did, because my first attempt at this dish resulted in disaster and quite the mess!

When I saw Brie as an ingredient, it made me think of a cheese pairing with fruit. Brie and fruit make a lovely pairing, particularly raspberries. So I figured some kind of cheese sauce for the fish was in order, but wasn’t quite sure how I’d pull that off. A cheese sauce also made me think of beer cheese soup. Next thing you know, I’m on the hunt at the grocery store for a fruity beer. Imagine my surprise when I came across a bottle of Raspberry Brown beer from Lost Coast Brewery. Perfect!

Raspberry Brown Beer and Brie Sauce

Now I had to figure out what to do with the cauliflower. Yes, it makes a great side dish when roasted, but I needed to do something really special with it for the fish. Then I started thinking about using it as a coating by “ricing” it. I decided I could try out the taste and texture of it by using the riced cauliflower mixed with Panko bread crumbs and butter and baking it atop some cheesy cauliflower, recipe here.  Well that worked out good enough, so then I tried coating a test piece of fish with it and pan-frying it. NOT! Cauliflower does not pan-fry well at all. I made a sticky burnt mess out of it.

Cauliflower and Panko Mixture

I was pretty sure baking it would work out much better, especially if I used an egg wash to help bind it to the fish. Yep, much better! And now I present to you this delicious Cauliflower-Crusted Ling Cod with a Raspberry Beer Brie Sauce and Roasted Cauliflower:

Cauliflower-Crusted Ling Cod with a Raspberry Beer Brie Sauce and Roasted Cauliflower

Ingredients:
1 filet Ling Cod
2 cups milk
1 egg

For the crust:
2 florets cauliflower
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 tablespoon butter

For the roasted cauliflower:
1 small head cauliflower
1 tablespoon olive oil
Hungarian sweet paprika, to taste
Ground white pepper, to taste

For the cheese sauce:
1/2 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 tablespoon flour
1/4 cup Raspberry Brown beer
3/4 cup grated Brie cheese
1/4 cup half and half or whole milk
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

Raspberry Brown Beer and Panko

Directions:

Soak the fish in the milk for several hours in the refrigerator. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Meanwhile, prepare the coating for the fish. Using a box grater, rice the two florets of cauliflower until you have about a half cup. Mix with a half cup of Panko bread crumbs and white pepper. Combine with the melted butter and set aside.

Slice the remaining cauliflower into 1/4 inch steaks and place in one layer on a foil-lined baking sheet coated with cooking spray oil. Drizzle the olive oil over the cauliflower then sprinkle with Hungarian sweet paprika and ground white pepper, to taste. Place in the preheated oven.

Cauliflower and Paprika

Meanwhile, beat the egg with a splash of milk in a bowl. Remove the fish from the milk and dip in the egg wash and coat thoroughly. Dredge the fish through the cauliflower/Panko mixture, pressing down firmly to coat evenly on both sides of the fish. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet coated with cooking spray, then lightly spray the top with olive oil. Place in the oven with the roasting cauliflower, and cook until the fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Cauliflower Panko Crusted Ling Cod

While the fish and cauliflower are cooking, prepare the Brie and beer cheese sauce. Add all the sauce ingredients to a blender or food processor and process on high for several minutes until well blended. Pour into a small saucepan over medium heat and whisk constantly, until thickened. Season with ground white pepper, to taste. Turn heat to the lowest setting and stir occasionally until the fish and cauliflower are done.

Remove the fish and cauliflower from the oven. Spoon some of the cheese sauce onto a plate, and place the fish on top of it. (I shared this with my hubby so you see half a filet in on the final dish.) Drizzle more cheese sauce over the fish, add roasted cauliflower to the plate, and enjoy!

Cauliflower Crusted Cod with a Raspberry Brie Cheese Sauce and Roasted Cauliflower

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Balsamic Chicken, Spinach, and Tomato Bake

I posted this almost a year ago and made it last night again for dinner (another one of many times throughout the year). This is one of my daughter’s favorite quick dinners I make, and it’s my go-to recipe for a simple and easy delicious meal! Last night I subbed out Panko bread crumbs seasoned with Italian dried season and used a jar of homemade canned tomatoes, chopped, with liquid drained. If you haven’t made this before, try it out!

anotherfoodieblogger

So simple, so colorful, and soooo good! I had a bag of fresh spinach and a pound of defrosted boneless chicken breast in the fridge. A lovely tomato sat on the counter. In my mind, that’s a no brainer. BUT! I didn’t want to stuff the chicken, it was too cold to grill, and quite frankly, I didn’t feel like spending a lot of time cooking. All the recipes I found online just didn’t “do” it for me, so I set out to combine several of them with the parts I liked, then completely improvised from there. My family gobbled this right up, and now I have yet another easy weeknight dinner I can put into my rotation.

Balsamic Chicken, Spinach, and Tomato Bake

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast(s)
Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb, or other seasoning, to taste
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon…

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Cheesy Cauliflower with Cauliflower Panko Topping

Cheesy Cauliflower with Cauliflower Panko Topping

I’m doing a bit of experimenting with my cooking to help decide what I plan on making for the second round of the Diced! competition. Thank you so much to all who voted for me, as I made it to the second round at the top of the leaderboard. I couldn’t have done it without you!

This particular recipe uses two of the four required ingredients. You can probably figure out what one of them is. I won’t be posting my final recipe until it’s up for voting next round, but in the meantime I can share my experiments with you.

Riced Cauliflower

My husband made a ham for Sunday dinner, and asked if I could make one of the sides. Little did he know I had already planned on making this cheesy cauliflower dish, so it worked out perfectly. My original recipe for this includes mushrooms and doesn’t have a bread topping, but we didn’t have any mushrooms anyways so I just omitted them. (Which is just as well since my daughter doesn’t like mushrooms. She’s not a big fan of cauliflower either, but she’ll still eat it.)

When all was said and done, I think my experiment worked. That can be considered both good and bad, because now I have to decide whether I want to use this technique for the contest dish. So many decisions! But, in the meantime, here is a new side dish with an unusual but great topping:

Cheesy Cauliflower with Cauliflower Panko Topping

1 head cauliflower, broken into florets
1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
3 tablespoons butter, divided
1/8 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Ground white pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. “Rice” a couple of the cauliflower florets, using a grater, until you have about 1/4 cup of riced cauliflower. Add it to a small bowl or measuring cup, then add the 1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs. Melt one tablespoon of the butter with the paprika, then mix well into the cauliflower/Panko mixture. Set aside.

Riced Cauliflower and Panko

Cook the cauliflower to al dente, either by steaming, microwave, or pressure cooker. I’m a fan of the pressure cooker, as it takes hardly any time! When it’s done cooking, place it in a casserole dish and cover.

Meanwhile, add the butter to a saucepan over medium heat until melted. Add the flour, and stir until a paste is formed. Quickly pour in the milk, whisking until all the lumps are out and the sauce has thickened. Add the mustard, then stir in the cheddar cheese until it melts and the sauce starts to bubble. Add ground white pepper to taste.

Stirring in the Cheese to the Sauce

Pour the cheese sauce over the cauliflower, then top evenly with the cauliflower/Panko mixture. Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes until the topping has browned lightly. Remove and serve immediately.

Cheesy Cauliflower Ready to Bake

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!

Hash Brown, Ham, and Cheese Spinach Casserole ~ Light Version!

Hash Brown, Ham, and Spinach Casserole, Plated and Ready to Eat!

Now this is a yummy comfort food dish that doesn’t have to be laden with a gazillion calories if you don’t let it. This is probably one of the most common dishes brought to a potluck in the South. Most likely a funeral or some kind of “event.” I don’t say that in a bad way,  either. It’s just a dish you can bring, no matter the occasion. I’ve had so many variations of this over my lifetime, (and usually just potatoes, ham, and cheese) and to me it’s all goooood! This lightened up version is fairly easy to make aside from a little chopping and a rather abundant use of bowls. The hardest part was trying to make this flavorful without all the fat. I spent more time scouring Pinterest and the internet looking for a hash brown and ham casserole that didn’t have a “cream of” soup in it or too much  butter and cheese than I did actually preparing it. I finally settled on mashing the best parts together of several recipes, and this is what I came up with. The result? Both daughter and husband went back for huge second helpings, leaving me with a very small portion to take to work for lunch the next day. It was so small I had to make a snack run to the store later for some rice cakes to help fill in before dinner. Of course, you can double this recipe and make plenty, but I only had a half a bag of hash browns in the freezer to start. This recipe would feed four if the fam wasn’t so starving. Or perhaps they really liked it,  huh?

Hash Brown, Ham, and Spinach Casserole ~   This is my mom’s vintage bakeware, don’t you just love it??

Hash Brown, Ham, and Spinach Casserole

12 ounces of frozen, shredded  hash browns
2 tablespoons butter, or substitute
Ground black pepper, to taste
Mrs. Dash Table Blend or salt, to taste
1/2 cup lowfat milk (I used 1%)
1/2 cup lowfat sour cream
1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 cups chopped, diced ham
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
1 6-ounce bag spinach
Squeeze of lemon juice
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs mixed with 1 tablespoon melted butter, or substitute
Chopped green onion parts, for garnish

Ham, Red Pepper, Cheese, Onions, and Hash Browns all ready for mixin’

Bowls! You need lots of bowls for this dish, sorry. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and chop all your veggies and shred your cheese. Once that’s done, add the hash browns to a large bowl with the butter. Microwave for a minute or two until the hash browns are somewhat thawed and the butter is melted. Grind a bunch of black pepper over it and sprinkle Mrs. Dash or salt on to taste and mix again. In a bowl or glass measuring cup, add the milk, sour cream, and mustard and whisk to combine then stir into the hash browns. Now add all the chopped ham, veggies and cheese and combine.  Last, add the chopped spinach to another bowl, sprinkle with a little water and lemon  juice, then microwave for one to two minutes until wilted. Stir that in with the potato mixture. Now spray a small casserole dish (or large one if you doubled!) with some oil, spread the mixture evenly into the dish, then pop in oven for 45 minutes. Pull it out, sprinkle the buttered Panko bread crumbs over the casserole and put back in and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes until the breadcrumbs start to brown. Take out and let rest until it stops bubbling. Serve on plates with chopped green onion for garnish. This will be hot, creamy, and oh so good for your belly.

I just had to show you one more picture of my mother’s vintage casserole dish. I don’t cook in it that often but it’s the perfect size for this scaled-down version of the casserole. It’s probably 7 by 5 or so? Never measured it!

Baked Asparagus Fries with Roasted Garlic Lemon Dipping Sauce

Baked Asparagus Fries and Roasted Garlic Lemon Dipping Sauce

I am all about adapting, and I think anyone who’s followed my blog knows this by now. My husband came home with some more beautiful, thin asparagus yesterday, and I also happened across a Pinterest post for baked asparagus “fries” with various homemade dipping sauces. Not having half the ingredients on hand didn’t stop me though. I chose the sauce I could actually make without having to run to the store. The process of making this really wasn’t all that long or tedious. I just loved the way the house smelled after roasting the garlic! Both my husband and daughter came out of the woodwork to ask me what I was making as the aroma wafted into their respective hiding places. We had some leftover steak and lasagna to use up, so we all chowed on these fries with our main course of choice.

Roasted Garlic Lemon Dipping Sauce

1 egg yolk
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste

Baked Asparagus Fries

1 egg white
1/2 bunch of fresh thin asparagus, washed and trimmed
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup fine seasoned bread crumbs (or seasoned Panko)
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Black pepper to taste
Spray olive oil

If your asparagus is not thin, then I would recommend slicing them in half lengthwise. Both recipes above use one egg, so start out by separating the egg yolk and white into two separate bowls. Next, place 1 1/2 tablespoons of jarred minced garlic in a small oven-proof bowl and roast at 350 for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven, then using the back of a spoon, crush the minced garlic into a paste. Add it to the bowl with the egg yolk, mayonnaise, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and black pepper. (I broke down and did use a little sea salt in this, as it really needed it. I figured the amount of salt was minimal for my husband, especially since it would be used as just a dipping sauce.) Whisk really well until fully combined. Put it in the refrigerator for about an hour.

Meanwhile, relax and enjoy a beverage of choice for a bit while you preheat the oven to 425 degrees. After your refreshment, whisk that egg white in the other bowl until frothy. On a plate, combine the flour, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese,  garlic powder and pepper. Dip the asparagus spears into the egg white, then dredge through the bread crumb mixture until well coated. Place on  your largest spray-oil foil-lined baking sheet, then spray some more oil over all of them. You’ll lose some of the coating in this process, but don’t worry about it. Bake for 20 minutes. Serve with dipping sauce. It became apparent when I took them out of the oven I missed some spots with the oil, but nonetheless these were a HUGE hit!