side « Great Eats with Petes

Posts Tagged ‘side’

Mushroom and Scallion Rice

Thursday, April 7th, 2011

I am always looking for new ways to spruce up white rice. My newly purchased rice cooker has allowed me to do some experimenting. This recipe was inspired but whatever was left over in my fridge that I didn’t want to go to waste. I feel like a lot of recipes are created that way. Cooking all the ingredients together allowed the rice to pick up the flavors of the ingredients. I made it in my rice cooker but you can also make it on the stove. Just follow the ratios on the box of white rice replacing the water with chicken broth. I hope you enjoy this take on white rice.

1 rice cooker cup of white rice
Chicken broth
4 scallions, minced
1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
Salt

In the rice cooker add in the rice. Next add in the chicken broth till it reaches the 1 line. If cooking the rice over the stove follow the directions on the box for 1 cup of rice. Add in scallions. Then add in mushrooms. Season with salt. Stir to combine. Turn the slow cooker on or follow the cooking directions for your rice. Cook until rice is cooked through.

Serve warm and Enjoy!

Tags: chicken broth, mushroom, mushroom rice, rice, rice cooker, scallion, side, side dish, white rice
Posted in Recipes | 3 Comments »

Soft Polenta Two Ways

Monday, April 4th, 2011

For some reason lately I have been making and working on some Italian meat and chicken recipes. There are only so many times a girl who is watching her weight can have pasta with them so I turned to polenta. During this time I also purchased a rice cooker. If you don’t own one please go out and buy one now, you will thank me later. It will make your life much easier and save you a lot of time and aggregation. I didn’t buy a fancy one just an on off model with a keep warm function. Since buying it I have made tons of things in it including polenta. I’m sharing here two version of polenta. The first one being the traditional over the stove cooking technique and secondly the rice cooker technique. Let’s just say I will never go back to cooking polenta over the stove again. The rice cooker gets it right every time and tastes better then any polenta I have made the old way. Enjoy!

Polenta Over the Stove

4 cups chicken stock

Salt

Pepper

3/4 cup corn meal

1/4 cup grated cheese

2 tablespoons butter

Place the chicken stock in a medium size pot over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper (you have to salt it here or it won’t get seasoned).Using a whisk slowly whisk the cornmeal in the chicken stock constantly whisking. This will ensure the polenta is smooth.

Bring to a boil. Lower heat to low and cook for 20-30 minutes stirring every so often to avoid clumps. When the polenta comes together and begins to thicken add the remaining ingredients. Stir together and allow the butter to melt.

Serve immediately.

Soft Polenta in a Rice Cooker

4 cups water
1 cup yellow cornmeal
Salt
1/4 cup grated cheese
1-2 tablespoons unsalted butter

In an on-off slow cooker place the water and cornmeal. Stir together until fully combined. Season with salt. Cover rice cooker and turn on. Let the rice cooker do it’s thing. Every 10 minutes or so stir the polenta. When the polenta is done the rice cooker will tell you (min makes a big pop sound then turns to warm). Stir in cheese and butter.

Serve immediately.

Tags: cornmeal, polenta, rice cooker polent, side, stove top polenta
Posted in Recipes | 3 Comments »

Stuffed Mushrooms

Monday, December 27th, 2010

My mother was always in charge of the stuffed mushrooms when it came to the holidays. Whether it be Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s or Easter she made them and everyone loved them. I now had to take over that role. The first time I ever made them was for Thanksgiving at my Dads then, I made it again for Christmas and I plan on making it at some point during my New Year’s vacation to the Poconos. It makes a great appetizer for any entertaining you may be doing. They come a close second to my mom’s and I hope you all enjoy them as much as my family did this Christmas. Enjoy!

2 tablespoons Olive Oil

28-40 ounces of mushrooms (I forgot how much I used it was the big box of stuffing mushrooms that you find during the holidays at the local grocery store)

1/2 large onion minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

Salt

Pepper

2 cups white wine, separated

1 cup breadcrumbs

1/4 cup grated cheese, plus more for sprinkling

1 cup chicken stock, plus more if necessary

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pan heat olive oil over medium heat. Remove the stems of the mushrooms and finely chop. Place the mushroom caps in a roasting pan. Add the onions and mushrooms stems to the saute pan. Cook until the onions are translucent and the mushroom stems have browned. Add in garlic and cook for one minute. Add in 1 cup of white wine. Bring to a boil and then turn off the heat. Add in breadcrumbs and grated cheese and mix to combine. This mixture will be like a paste.

Stuff the mushrooms with the stuffing. I use one to two tablespoons for each mushroom, depending on the size of the mushroom. Place the mushrooms back into the pan. Place the remaining white wine and chicken stock into the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake in oven until the mushrooms have browned, approximately 30 minutes. Check on the mushrooms occasionally and add in more chicken stock if it evaporates.

Serve warm or cold (warm is better) and Enjoy!

Tags: appetizer, christmas, mushrooms, new years, side, stuffed mushrooms
Posted in Recipes | 3 Comments »

My Nana’s Potato Pancakes

Monday, December 6th, 2010

I know I am several days late but I wanted to wish all my readers a Happy Hanukkah. I am not Jewish but I have many Jewish relatives and close friends and have celebrated many of the holidays with them all. Hanukkah being one of those holidays I always will bring along my Nana’s Potato Pancakes. She wasn’t Jewish either but she was Polish so they aren’t traditional but they have gotten the seal of approval from many of my friends. There is no painstaking grating of the potatoes here, she just threw everything in the blender and fried them up. I particularly like them cold the next day, like my chicken cutlets, I don’t why but I do. I hope all of you are having a very Happy Holiday Season. I send warm wishes from my family to yours. Happy Hanukkah!

Olive Oil enough to coat the pan

1 small onion or a 1/2 of a large onion, cut into chunks

1/4 cup flour

2 eggs

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

4 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

I make these using a Blender and an Electric Skillet. You can use a regular frying pan too but I like to make big batches and the electric skillet has the capacity to cook more at once. Also these need to be made quickly otherwise the potatoes turn a pink-brown color because they oxidize.

Heat the electric skillet to around 300 degrees F. Add in olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan.

Cut the onions into large chunks. Place the onions, eggs, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper in a blender. Peel and cut the potatoes into chunks. Add them into the blender. Blend all the ingredients together until slightly smooth and no large chunks remain.

Using a ladle spoon out the mixture into the electric skillet forming pancakes. Cook until browned. Flip over and brown the second side. Continue until you have used up all the potato mixture. Remove and place on paper towels to soak up any of the excess oil.

Serve with apple sauce and Enjoy!

Tags: Hanukkah, holiday, holidays, nana, pancakes, potato, potato pancakes, side
Posted in Recipes | 4 Comments »

Spinach Rice

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010

Tom and I have eaten a lot of white rice over the years. I swear he would live off of white rice and chicken if it wasn’t for me. Actually, I know he would because he has admitted that to me in the past. White rice though bores me. I just can’t bring myself to eat a lot of it. Usually when I want to spice up some white rice we make our fried rice recipe. That though you cannot eat all the time (even though I wish I could). So, I needed to come up with another way to make white rice so I would eat it again. I came up with this recipe which, also sneaks in some vegetables. It’s a great way to get creative with rice and have your veggies too. Enjoy!

1 cup of dry white rice, cooked

1 cup spinach

2 tablespoons parsley

2 garlic cloves, minced

Salt

Pepper

1/4 cup grated cheese

In a pot cook the white rice according to package directions. Set aside cooked white rice. In a food processor place the spinach, parsley and garlic cloves. Season with salt and pepper. Pulse in food processor until the spinach is chopped very finely.