Category Archives: beans, slaws, quiches, mashers, and casseroles

Apr 18 0 comments
beans, slaws, quiches, mashers, and casseroles, pastas, nuts, and grains

Chickpea & Quinoa Cakes

I promise that my intention is not to make this blog into a quinoa fest. But this was another recipe so good I would have shared it anyway, so here it is–quinoa and chickpea cakes with chipotle and curry. Spicy, rich, filling, and stupid good for you.

It’s meals like this that make quinoa fun.

 

Chickpea & Quinoa Cakes

1/2 cup cooked quinoa

1 can chickpeas, drained

1/2 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 egg

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp curry

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp chipotle

1/4 corn flour

1 tbsp chia seeds

Salsa and avocado to top

Combine all ingredients but the corn flour in a food processor. Blend until all the ingredients have been broken down. Place in a bowl and stir in the flour. Heat 1/4″ oil in a heavy pan. Form the batter into 3″ round cakes. Fry on both sides for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown. Top with salsa and sliced avocado and serve.

Mar 03 2 comments
beans, slaws, quiches, mashers, and casseroles

Skillet Sausage Quiche

In an almost continuation of the Cast Iron Chronicles, I want to share what is probably my new go-to quiche. I made it for dinner a few weeks ago where a lot of friends were coming, and it was the perfect combination of vegetables, sausage, eggy cheesy goodness, and a pizza crust.

The beauty of cooking quiches (and pies in general) in a skillet is that because skillets heat evenly, the entire crust gets crispy. Which is not ideal for every scenario, but totally perfect for a quiche. I almost have no words for this, except of that it was delicious and you should make it immediately.

Skillet Sausage Quiche

Crust:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp yeast

Dash of salt

Dash of red pepper flakes

3/4 cup warm water

2 cups bread flour (more might be necessary)

Filling:

6 eggs

2 handfuls fresh spinach

4 small italian sausages (I used turkey)

12 cremini mushrooms

1 medium yellow onion

2 heads garlic

Dash of pepper

At least an hour before you’re ready to cook, make your pizza dough. Whisk together yeast, olive oil, salt, pepper, and water. Slowly stir in flour until combined.  Transfer to an oiled bowl and let rise for one hour.

To make your filling whisk together eggs. In the large skillet you plan on using to make the quiche, cook the sausage. Slice the mushrooms, onions, and garlic. Stir into the eggs. Add pepper. When sausage is cooked, cube it and stir in in. Fold in spinach. Heat oven to 350.

When the pan has cooled, roll out dough on a floured surface and press it into the pan. Pour in filling. Bake 40 minutes or until cooked through.

 

Dec 19 1 comments
beans, slaws, quiches, mashers, and casseroles, captain james cooks, holiday, seafood

Oyster Casserole

Like most everyone, I am the result of many different families, marriages, couplings.  Most recently I can trace my lineage back to four families, the Rosemonds, Waldrons, Fiorellos, and Ballengers.  This past Saturday was the Ballenger family Christmas party, my paternal grandmother’s family.  My grandmother, Bobbie, was the daughter of Stanley Ballenger and Flossie Caudell, and had a sister Nita and two brothers, Ted and Jimmy.  Dan and I don’t often have the opportunity to attend these gatherings because of the timing and distance but this year it happened to fall the day before my sister Genevieve’s graduation from UNC.  This lucky timing means that this Christmas we’ll be able to see every side of our family, which is completely wonderful.

Over Thanksgiving my dad and I were talking about the Ballenger party and he mentioned that he very much wanted to recreate a recipe from my grandmother, Bobbie.  It was her mock oyster casserole recipe (also known as broccoli casserole), and he wanted to make it with real oysters.  We did some digging and recipe planning and decided that the morning of the party we’d wing it.  And that we did.

My dad loves to make fun of me because, it seems, over the years I’ve become that person that people ask for food advice.  Saturday was no exception.  As we were throwing the casserole together (and arguing about how to make it) I was reminded of how important food is to my family’s culture.  On all sides food is something to create and enjoy together.  It seems my blue eyes, firery personality, and two left feet aren’t the only things I inherited.

The recipe is pretty simple, we layered saltines, spinach, oysters, cheese, mushrooms and onions, and then poured a cream sauce over everything.  The end result was completely delicious, salty and full of flavor with just a little spice.  It’s not quite the broccoli casserole that inspired it, but it was a success.

In other news, the real reason we were in NC this past weekend, Genevieve Ann Pigeon is officially a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  I may have bullied her in to attending her graduation, but she did it and she was beautiful and I am SO incredibly proud of her.

In just a week (December 27), she’s moving to Ireland for a year.  I’m conflicted, both excited for her and wallowing in despair about not seeing her for a year.  The only solution, I think, is that we visit her. Get ready for it Gen!

 (I realize that this is not a cocktail recipe, and is in fact the second recipe I’ve posted this month that is not part of the month-of-cocktails promise I made. It was just too delicious and too perfect for the holiday table not to share it with you.  We’ll be back later this week with more beverages!)

Oyster Casserole

24 large oysters (or 48 small ones)

1 large onion

10-12 button mushrooms

Saltines

2-4 cups fresh spinach

1 cup milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

2 tsps hot sauce

Salt

1 tbsp butter

Paprika

Shuck your oysters and set them aside.

In a medium pot combine milk, cream, a sprinkle of salt, some of the oyster juice (the liquid the oysters are sitting in), a dash of paprika, tsp of worcestershire sauce, a tsp of hot sauce.  Once it is warm, stir in half of the cheese.  Bring almost to a boil, allowing it to thicken, then remove from heat.

Crumble saltines in a thin layer along the bottom of a large casserole dish.  Saute onions and mushrooms, diced, in butter, a tbsp of worcestershire sauce, and a tsp of hot sauce.  Scoop those into the dish on top of the saltines.  Add half of the shredded cheese.  Top with oysters. and spinach.

Crumble a second layer of saltines over the top so that there is a good crust.  Pour the cream mixture in, pouring around the edges so the crust is left mostly undisturbed.  Sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes.

 

Nov 07 6 comments
beans, slaws, quiches, mashers, and casseroles, holiday

Butternut Squash & Sausage Stuffing

This weekend, we had our annual fake Thanksgiving.  Each year, around the end of October or the beginning of November, we have a large meal full of all the Thanksgiving dishes I’m planning on sharing here on Biscuits and Such.  Usually we invite friends over and make a day of it.  This year was no exception.  I have an awesome array of Thanksgiving (and other holiday appropriate) dishes for you, starting with the chipotle cranberry sauce I posted last week.  This might have been our best fake Thanksgiving yet, I cannot wait to share the spread with you!

Today’s recipe was one of the favorites of the meal.  To begin, I’ve never made stuffing before.  I am not usually a big stuffing fan, as I would rather spend my Thanksgiving stomach space on mashed potatoes and crescent rolls.  And pie.  Stuffing, for me, was always something I could skip over without regret.  But, when planning the meal this year, I felt like there needed to be a filling, delicious, carb.  And since I wasn’t making a potato dish I went with stuffing.  I’m happy to announce that it was an excellent choice.

When I first started thinking about the menu, I decided I would do a bourbon brine on the turkey.  And then I was all hell, let’s also do a bourbon glaze.  After that my friend Sara convinced me to make a bourbon pecan pie instead of the apple I had been planning, and before you know it there was bourbon in every inch of this meal.  Delicious, delicious bourbon.  I’ll clarify that when it comes to drinking bourbon straight, or even in a mixed drink, it kind of makes me want to die.  But in food, hot damn! I want to put bourbon in everything I eat from here on out.

So anyway, while I was sautéing the squash, onions, garlic, and shallots for this stuffing I thought, what the hell, a splash of bourbon can’t hurt.  And it didn’t.  It helped, a lot.  Overall, this stuffing is everything I would like from a side dish.  It’s a little sweet (because of the squash and bourbon), a little spicy (because I don’t make anything without red pepper flakes), and finishes with a burst of rosemary.  This recipe makes enough to fill a squash boat (if you so desire), plus a 9 x 9 pan’s worth of stuffing.  It was exactly the right amount for 6 adults plus leftovers for everyone.  In fact, I’m about to go fry and egg to eat over the last little bit.

Happy Fake Thanksgiving, friends!

Butternut Squash & Sausage Stuffing

1 large butternut squash

1 white or yellow onion

5 cloves garlic

1 large or 2 small shallots

3 large hot italian sausage (I went with turkey)

1 whole wheat or demi wheat baguette

1 cup turkey stock (or drippings)

1/4 cup bourbon

2 tbsp fresh rosemary

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 pat butter

Parmesan cheese to grate

I opted to make a boat with my squash because it’s fancy.  You really don’t have to, it would probably save you a lot of tedious time.  But doesn’t it look pretty?  If you want to make a boat, start by finding the side of your squash that sits flat.  Then, cut a wedge about 3-4 inches across out of the top.  Using a knife and a spoon, core the squash (leaving at least 3/4″ on each side so the boat is stable).  Dispose of the pulp and set the flesh aside.

Chop your onions, squash, and garlic.  Heat oil in a pan and sauté everything.  Add salt, red pepper flakes, rosemary, and bourbon. Cook until the onions are semi-translucent.  This way, the squash is tender but not mushy.  While that is on the stove, cube your bread.

In a large bowl, combine bread, stock, and everything you just cooked.  Stir together.

Using a paring knife, cut a long slit down the side of each sausage.  Remove the casing.  Throw your sausage into the pan, using a spatula to break it up as it cooks.  Cook until almost done.  Add them to the bowl.

Slice your shallots into rings. Throw them into the pan, letting them caramelize in the sausage juices.

When everything is cooked, mix together well in the bowl.  Cube your pat of butter and place it in the bottom of the sausage boat.  Fill the boat with stuffing, and then fill your 9×9 pan with the remainder.  Top with grated parmesan cheese.  Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

 

May 25 0 comments
beans, slaws, quiches, mashers, and casseroles, the picnic series

Paula’s Potato Salad

This week I’m excited to share my Aunt Paula’s potato salad.  I love potato salad, especially the grilled potato salad we made last summer (I can’t wait to make that again).  As the weather warms up I’m thinking about picnics more and more, and no picnic is complete without a potato salad!

Paula says:

When our son Matthew was seven and had developed into a strong swimmer my husband Richard and I thought it was time to include him in one of our favorite outdoor activities- kayaking.  As he was too young to kayak on his own we bought a two-person kayak so one of us could help steer and paddle.  He quickly caught on and kayaking has become a fun family event that’s enjoyed from Spring to Fall.

We’ve begun an annual tradition of kicking off the summer season by going to one of our local lakes, either Mercer County Park or Assunpink Nature Preserve.   We spend most of the day paddling around, exploring the local wildlife, watching fishermen and other boating enthusiasts and then pulling over for a family picnic.  The picnic is never fancy, but it’s something we look forward to.  We search the bank for a good spot, one with a clearing, and pull the kayaks over.  We eat our lunch and talk about what we’ve seen that day.  Matt sometimes wades into the water or skims rocks on the surface.  All in all, it’s a great way to start the summer.

Matthew, 2005, on a visit to Baltimore

Paula’s Potato Salad

1 lb russet potatoes

1 egg

2 stalks celery

1/2 red onion

3 carrots

1 tbsp mayo or greek yogurt

1 tbsp brown mustard

1 tbsp red vinegar

2 roasted red peppers

Salt & pepper

Boil and quarter your potatoes. Hard boil and dice your egg.  Peel and chop carrots.  Dice celery, red onion, and red peppers.  Mix all ingredients together.  Adjust seasoning and consistency.  Chill.