Briques (Brik in Tunisia)

This is a copy cat of sorts from the Gourmet Guys father from his time working in Tunisia.  It is his version of Briques that are served in Tunisia.  It is a family favorite that we only make occasionally because they are deep fried!

Briques

12 inch thin flour tortillas
leftover ham, pork roast,  turkey or chicken, cut into cubes (We prefer Ham)
eggs
green onions, diced finely (optional)

Take a tortilla, place ham in a circle in the center with the green onion, place egg in the center.  With egg white seal the tortilla in half and deep fry until golden brown, drain and cool.( The Gourmet Guy and his father liked them so that the eggs were barely cooked but the rest of us like it done a little more!) Eat it like an upside down Taco.

 

The Gourmet Guys dad was the original Gourmet Guy!  He was the real cook in his family while my Gourmet Guy was growing up.  He traveled a great deal and had a knack for tasting something that he liked and being able to replicate it when he got home.

 

(In Tunisia is made with a sticky lump dough and filled with tuna, or ground meat, and topped with anchovies, capers and cheese.)

Wild Rice and Turkey Soup (great for the leftover Thanksgiving turkey)

Wild Rice Turkey Soup

 
1 box Uncle Ben's Wild Rice
½ c. green onions
1 ½ c. turkey
8 strips fried crumbled bacon
3 14.5 oz. cans chicken broth
2 c. water
2 c. half and half
½ c. butter
¾ c. flour
1/4 t. poultry seasoning
1/4 t. pepper
salt to taste
2-3 caps of cooking  (optional but gives a good flavor)
 
Boil your rice in the broth until rice is tender.  Make your rue.  Combine all ingredients and simmer until ready to serve.

Chicken Pot Pie (update)

(for this post/batch I only did a half of a recipe and still had enough for 2 ramekins for a dinner, a freezer meal for the "Gourmet Guy" and I and a small freezer meal for my Mother-in-law.  I also had two previously grilled chicken breasts in the freezer that I used on the fly for this instead of cooking a whole chicken like I typically do.

Chicken Pot Pie

 

Boil a chicken roaster or use rotisserie chicken left overs or any leftovers you many have such as turkey.
 

Make Gravy:                                                       Half recipe gravy:

2/3 c. margarine or butter                                  ½ c. butter                    
2/3 c. flour                                                         ½ c. flour                                  
1 t. salt                                                               ½ t. salt                                   
½ t. pepper                                                          ¼ t. pepper
3½ c. broth                                                         1¾ c. broth
1 1/3 c. milk                                                        ¾ c. milk

Melt butter over low heat, blend in flour, salt, and pepper.  Cook over low heat, stirring until mixture is smooth and bubbly, remove from heat.  Stir in broth and milk.  Heat to boiling, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir one minute.  Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients.  (reserve about 1/3 of gravy for top when serving.)

Stir in

2-4 boiled potatoes, cut up
cooked meat                               
1 4 oz. can mushrooms
1 16 oz. bag of frozen vegetables

Pie Crust

1/3 c. plus 1 T. shortening                                         
1 c. flour                                                                       
1/2 t. salt
 2-3 T .cold water

(Double for two crust)

Pie crusts did not come easy to me until my mother-in-law showed me how to make them.  The method of rolling them out in wax paper was the best advice I have ever had.  A double pie crust recipe was perfect to top all of these.  For the full recipe it would take two double pie crust recipes to top all of the mixture.  These freeze really well for up to about six months.  Because they freeze like a brick they should be taken out the night before and placed in the fridge to thaw.  They may still be partly frozen and need to be out on the counter for an hour before baking.  I have put them in completely frozen and it took at least two hours to cook through and some even longer.  Bake them at 425 until the mixture bubbles through the slits on the top of the pie and the crust is golden brown. the fruits  of one evening, four meals and I did extra potatoes and mashed them for a couple of other projects that will be in the next few days,  Maybe it is has been awhile but they were the best tasting mashed potatoes that I have make in quite awhile, I guess good practice for the upcoming holiday! 

 

 And the chicken filling inside of the flaky crust was just the meal I was looking for that night. Pure comfort food.



 

The efforts of the night and multitasking in a nice way!

Dairy Free Thanksgiving (Turkey, Gravy, Mashed Potatoes)

We discovered that my little guy had a dairy sensitivity a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. I was so bummed! I didn't think that I would be able to eat any of my favorite things. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin roll, mashed potatoes and gravy, traditional dressing (stuffing that isn't stuffed into the bird) yams (brown sugar, butter and marshmallows YUM!").  I had not done a big Thanksgiving dinner with everything yet and was determined to do it this year and I felt really let down. I started researching and found that I could make pretty much everything we normally have. Actually I could have made everything, but I didn't make Pumpkin roll; I'm not ready to jump on the tofu band wagon for the cream cheese substitute. I made everything that I knew I could make taste good and be dairy free. 

Turkey (Dairy, Soy and Gluten Free)-

I used the Alton Brown turkey recipe and I made my own vegetable stock the day before.

It is Dairy, soy and Gluten free. Make sure you use Canola oil not vegetable though because vegetable oil contains soy. 

Gravy (Dairy, soy and Gluten Free)-

Normally I use a gravy packet because I was always nervous that it would just taste like flour. All gravy packets have dairy proteins in them, so I had to make my own. 

Traditionally gravy is made with a roux(butter and flour) or you can use a cowboy roux(flour and water). With a roux the butter has to be a high heat to be melted and it releases the starch from the flour so you can't taste the flour. A cowboy roux on the other hand does not get as hot before it starts to thicken so the starch does not release and you are left with a flour taste. I used arrowroot instead which thickened the gravy but did not add a flour flavor.

drippings from the turkey pan 

2 1/2 teaspoons arrowroot

1 cup water

Mix arrowroot and cold water until it is smooth then add it to the hot drippings and heat until thickened. 

Arrowroot does not add flavor and it produces a clear thick gravy. You can use cornstarch instead but it calls for 1Tbsp per cup of cold water. These are great gluten free substitutions.

Mashed Potatoes (Dairy, soy and Gluten free)
When I made these I hadn't discovered the Earth balance spread. Grapeseed oil has a neutral flavor and adds the fat that butter normal does which makes the potatoes more fluffy. The earth balance works better because of the texture of it, but both are great alternatives to butter and are both soy free. 
Potatoes
Grapeseed oil or 
Earth Balance natural buttery spread
Salt
Pepper 
Cut peeled potatoes into cubes and boil until soft. Strain most of the water leaving a little bit of the potato water. Mash the potatoes and add grapeseed oil or Earth Balance natural buttery spread, salt and pepper to taste. 

Chicken Squares

These are a quick and easy meal on a busy day. I keep these ingredients on hand in my pantry to fix easily. This is not a new recipe but one that my girls all liked growing up.

Mix an 8 oz. package of cream cheese with chunk chicken or leftover turkey. (The original recipe called for pimentos but my girls didn't like them.)

Take two of the crescent rolls and pinch them together.
Each can will make four of the chicken squares.

Mix the ingredients together well. I have my own canned chicken so I have to use a little extra salt.

Place even amounts on the square crescent roll dough.

Pull the dough around the meat mixture and seal tightly. Bake until golden brown.
Enjoy!

Turkey or Chicken Squares

2 8 oz. cream cheese
½ t. salt
2-4 c. cooked turkey or chicken or 2 large cans chunk chicken
¼ t. pepper
2 8 oz. can crescent rolls

Blend cream cheese until softened. Add turkey, salt, pepper, onion, chives, and milk. Mix well. Separate the 2 cans of crescent rolls, into 8 squares. Firmly press perforations to seal. Spoon ½ c. of meat mixture into the center of each square. Draw the corners of the dough up and around the meat and twist to seal. Brush top with butter. Dip in seasoned bread crumbs or sesame seeds. Bake at 350’ on cookie sheet for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

"Manti Turkey"

This became a tradition in our family after visiting the Manti Temple Pageant in Manti Utah. It is served there annually. We have served for many special occasions in our family from birth's to weddings and many other events. I have seen it posted on other blogs so I know that it is popular with many others as well. We have also done this marinade with a boneless pork roast.

"Manti Turkey"

1 pint oil
1 quart 7-Up
1 pint soy sauce
1 T. horseradish (not the sauce)
1 T. garlic powder
Turkey Breast, cut into strips


Combine all ingredients and stir thoroughly. Marinade for 18-24 hours. Barbecue slowly, do not over cook or burn. Turn frequently. Cook until meat is evenly white when cut into with a knife.

Most of the time there are family members standing close by to snatch a piece before we even start the meal. Me included!

She is the reason for our lastest celebration. Isn't she beautiful?

Easy Chicken Enchiladas

Easy Chicken Enchiladas

2-3 c. cooked chicken or turkey
1 medium onion, chopped
10-12 corn tortillas
2 c. Monterey Jack Cheese (or half Jack half Cheddar)
Hatches green chile sauce

Mix the chicken, onion and two thirds of the cheese in a large bowl. Place the tortillas between paper towels and microwave for 15-20 seconds to soften. In a 9x13 pan pour some of the sauce on the bottom, enough to cover the bottom slightly. Place a couple of spoonfuls of the chicken mixture into a tortilla and roll, placing seam side down in the pan. Continue until all of the chicken is used and placed in the pan. Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas and top with the remaining cheese. Cover with foil and bake in a preheated 350 oven for 25 mins. Take foil off and bake for another 5 mins. to brown. Top with sour cream and Guacamole and serve with refried beans, Spanish Rice or corn.

Guacamole

2 ripe avocados, peeled and mashed roughly
1/4 small onion, chopped finely
1 T. lime juice, fresh is best
1 small Roma tomato, diced small
garlic salt, to taste

Blend ingredients and serve with tortilla chips or as a garnish.

Pizza (more Thanksgiving leftovers)

My Favorite Pizza Dough

3 c. water

1 T yeast

1 T salt

1 T sugar

2 T olive oil

5 c. flour, add more as needed

Mix ingredients ten minutes; let rest for another ten minutes. Add flour as needed to prevent it from being sticky. Place favorite toppings on the crust and bake at 400 for 20 minutes or until crust edge is golden brown.

Creamy Pesto Pizza

8 oz. cream chees, softened

2 T butter

1 c. buttermilk

1/2 c. milk

1/3 c. parmesan cheese

1/2 t. salt

1 t. pepper

2 t. basil

2 t. garlic powder

1 T. pesto (Pesto recipe at the bottom)

topping suggestions:

spinach

tomatoes

onions

chicken (turkey)

artichoke hearts

olives

mozzarella cheese

cheddar cheese

BBQ Chicken Pizza

chunks of chicken, or turkey

Favorite BBQ sauce

red onion, chopped

mushrooms, sliced

rings of green or red pepper

olives

mozzarella cheese

Pesto
2 c. fresh basil leaves, packed
¼ c. grated parmesan cheese
½ c. olive oil
3 T. pine nuts or walnuts
3 garlic cloves, finely minced

Place basil leaves in small batches in food processor and whip until well chopped (about ¾ c. at a time). Add about 1/3 the nuts and garlic, and blend again.
Add about 1/3 the parmesan cheese; blend while slowly adding about 1/3 of the olive oil, stopping to scrape down the sides of the container.
Process basil pesto until it forms a thick smooth paste. Repeat until all ingredients are used, mix all batches together well. Serve over pasta. Basil pesto keeps in refrigerator one week, or freeze for a few months.

Fall-Time for Soups!!!!

I love fall because of the harvest of fruits and vegetables in the garden and in the local farms. But I also love it because the temperature drops in the evening and it's time for soup again. I am always looking for new tasty recipes or trying to come up with new ones on my own but I always turn to some of my old classics. Here are some of them.

Potato Cheese Soup

3 c. boiling water

3 chicken bouillon cubes
4 c. diced potatoes

½ c. chopped onion
½ c. chopped celery

½ c. chopped green pepper
½ c. chopped carrots

½ c. flour
2 c milk

1 t. salt
¼ c. butter
3 c. cubed Monterey Jack or Cheddar Cheese

Add veggies to boiling water, cook 20 mins or until done. Mix flour with milk and salt and thicken soup. Add margarine and cheese and melt. Serve when cheese is fully melted.

Wild Rice Turkey Soup

1 box Uncle Ben's Wild Rice
½ c. green onions
1 ½ c. turkey, cooked and cubed
8 strips fried crumbled bacon
3 14.5 oz. cans chicken broth
2 c. water
2 c. half and half
½ c. butter
¾ c. flour
1/4 t. poultry seasoning
1/4 t. pepper
salt to taste
2-3 caps of cooking sherry

Make your roux. Boil your rice in the broth--mix all together and simmer until ready to serve
Broccoli Soup

6 c. chicken broth
½ c. onion
2 t. salt
2 heads broccoli
1½ c. butter or margarine
1½ c. flour
2 qts. half and half
1 8 oz. Cheese Whiz
.
Place chicken broth, onion, salt, and broccoli in a large pan and cook until tender. Melt butter, gradually stir in flour until blended, add half and half, heat until thickened. Mix into vegetables and add Cheese Whiz. Serve warm. .


Clam Chowder

1 c. onion finely chopped
1 c. celery finely diced
2 c. potatoes, finely diced
¾ c. flour
¾ c. butter or margarine
1 qt half and half
1½ t. salt
¼ t. pepper
2 6½ oz. clams, undrained

Combine vegetables in small saucepan. Drain clams: pour juice over vegetables; add enough water to cook. Cook covered, until tender. Meanwhile, melt butter in large heavy saucepan. Stir in flour until blended and bubbly. Remove from heat; stir in cream until smooth, blended and bubbly. Return to heat; cook and stir with wire whip until thick and smooth. Add vegetables and clams heat through. Season with salt and pepper.

For even better flavor add chopped bacon slices and a few drops of Tabasco.