Beef Bourguignon

Ingredients
1.5 Pounds of Beef, cubed.  (This should be a tougher, fattier cut of meat)
1/2 Cup of Spicy Italian sausage cut into small lardon pieces
2 Carrots (Rough chopped)
1 potato (Rough chopped)
1 large onion (Sliced into strings)
1 bottle of red wine
1 cup of beef stock
Olive oil for cooking
Salt
Garlic
Black Pepper
1 tb of flour


Directions
Quickly pan fry the Italian sausage and then place the sausage into a separate sauce pot.  Replace the sausage in the frying pan with the onion and carrot and fry them in the grease.  You should season the vegetables with some salt and garlic.  Allow them to brown and then place them in the same sauce pot as the sausage.  Lastly, pan fry the beef (which should be seasoned with salt and pepper).  You may need to add some more olive oil for cooking.  Also, this should be done in batches as the beef will not brown if its all added at the same time.
Once all of the beef is browned, place it in the pot with the sausage and vegetables.

The pot now contains vegetables, beef and sausage.  Add one bottle of red wine to the pot as well as one cup of beef stock.  You should also add a some garlic powder (to your desired amount), a pinch of salt, a pinch of black pepper and 1 tb of flour.  Take this mixture and place it on the stove on low and allow it to cook for 2.5 to 4 hours.  They is that the beef should be tender upon serving.

The last component is the potatoes.  They should not be added to the pot as the wine will dye them red.  Cut your potato into slivers, coat with salt, pepper, garlic and a tablespoon of olive oil and cook on high in the oven.  The potatoes will be served under or next to the beef bourguignon when it is plated.   

Fresh Lasagna

Ingredients

Sauce

7 Tomatoes (De-stemmed and skinned)
2 Tbs Olive Oil
6 Cloves Garlic (Minced)
.5 ts Black Pepper
Salt to taste
1 to 2 ts of Sugar
1 ts lemon juice
1 Fresh Chili Chopped
1 Dried Chili Chopped

Pasta
3 Eggs
3 Cups Flour
Pinch Salt
1 Glug Olive Oil
Water if the dough is dry

Cheese
1 Cup Mozzarella Shredded
300 grams Ricotta

Directions
Preparing the sauce

Add the tomatoes to a large sauce pot on medium with the olive oil. Mash the tomatoes with a potato masher. Add the other ingredients and allow the sauce to simmer for about a half hour, or until the sauce gains the right consistency.  If you prefer, you can  blend the sauce with an immersion blender. 

Preparing the Pasta
Mix the ingredients.  You are trying to get a pasta dough with just a slight stickiness.   Separate the dough into 6 balls and roll each ball out into a 7 by 7 inch square.  Make sure that the dough is about 1/8 inch thick.  Next, quickly boil each pasta sheet.  Because the the sheets are rather big, you probably want to do with one at a time.

Assembling the lasagna
This lasagna will be 7 layers.  I prefer to alternate sauce, ricotta and mozzarella in between layers of pasta.  The top layer should be sauce and mozzarella.

The Ultimate Omelette

This is an omelette inspired by the Hershey Pantry in Hershey, PA

Makes 1 omelette

Ingredients
10 thin slices of spicy Italian sausage
1/2 of a small potato cut into thin translucent slices (2 mm thick)
1/3 of an onion cut into thin shoestrings (2 mm thick)
2 eggs
Salt and pepper
30 g of Feta cheese
Vinegar

Directions
Flash fry the sausage in a frying pan (10 inch) and then put it off to the side

Replace the sausage in the pan with the potato. There should be enough grease from the sausage to cook the potato. Also, season the potato with a dash of salt and pepper. When the slices are brown on both sides they are done.

Lastly, replace the potatoes with the onions. You might need to grease the pan again at this point. Cook the onions until they begin to brown and then add 5 tb of water and 3 tb of apple cider vinegar to finish the onions off. The vinegar will give the onions a nice tang. When the liquid had evaporated, the onions should be finished.

All of your fillings are now prepared.

Next, beat two eggs and pour them into a different, clean, greased, hot 10 inch frying pan. Allow the omelette to set and then flip it.

Method of flipping an omelette if you can not flip omelettes

I have a lot of difficulty flipping omelettes and the thickness of the egg in this recipe is especially think which makes the task harder.

What I do, is I slide the omelette off of the pan onto a large dinner plate once its has set. I then place another plate on top of my omelette and flip the two plates over. The omelette will now rest on the second plate with the omelette flipped. I then slide the omelette back onto the frying pan.

Once the egg is solidly cooked on both sides, remove it from the pan and place it on a plate.

Place your fillings in the middle of the omelette. I did mine in the order of

1. Potato
2. Onion
3. Sausage
4. Cheese

This alternated the rich and tangy offerings in the filling.

Lastly, fold the two sides into the middle.

I again flipped my omelette before serving by placing a plate on the top so that the folded side was on the bottom.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Serves 3

Ingredients
250 g Button Mushrooms
100 g Cheddar Cheese (sliced or finely chopped)
1 Tb Cream Cheese
5 Large Crackers (roughly crushed)
1 Lemon
1 Tb Olive Oil

Directions
Pre heat the oven to 375 degrees F

Wash and de-stem the mushrooms.

Mix in a separate bowl the cheddar, cream cheese and cracker meal to make the filling. Make sure that the mixture is entirely consistent.

After the filling is made, use a spoon and fill each mushroom cavity with the filling. The filling does not need to be overflowing.

Place the mushrooms in a 10 inch baking dish and drizzle with lemon juice and the olive oil.

Place the making dish in the oven and cook until the filling becomes brown on top.

Curried Chicken Salad

Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients

2 Chicken Breasts
1 Tb Curry Powder
1 Tb Sugar
Dash Salt
1 Tb Orange Juice
1/2 Tb Lemon Juice
3 to 4 Tb of Fresh unflavored light yogurt
1 Cup Shredded Carrot
1/2 Cup Shredded Onion
1/4 Cup Raisins (optional)

Crackers or small slices of bread

Directions
Slice chicken into 1/2 inch pieces, season with salt and pepper. and pan fry in a skillet until the pieces are lightly browned.

After the chicken is cooked, allow it to cool to room temperature. To can put it in the fridge or freezer to expedite the process.

After the chicken is cooled, mix with the vegetables and raisins. Then add the wet ingredients, spices, sugar etc.

Mix together are you are ready to serve.

For my preparation, I served this with some crackers and small slices of bread. Diners can make their own mini sandwiches or open faced sandwiches.