Cast Iron Pam

Sometimes I get bored and feel a need to come up with new recipes. That's how I came up with this recipe. It's simple and very tasty.

Green Chile Chicken

1 whole Chicken-cleaned out and rinsed

2  7 oz. cans of Diced Green Chiles

2 cups Water

2 Large Onions-cut into 8 wedges

2 TBSP Chopped Garlic

4 TBSP Olive Oil

Heat a 10 qt. Dutch Oven on medium heat.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Once the Dutch Oven is heated put in the Olive Oil, Onion wedges, and Chopped Garlic, and saute them together until they begin to get golden.

Pour water into the Dutch Oven.

Put Chicken into the Dutch Oven.

Pour Diced Green Chiles on top of Chicken.

Put lid on Dutch Oven.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Remove from oven and let sit for 10 min. before removing from Dutch Oven.

Serve with rice and salad.

Honey Cheesecake

Crust:

1/4 cup All Purpose Flour

1/2  cup Walnuts (chopped) 

1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1/3 cup Honey ( I use Star Thistle or Alfalfa for the best flavor)

1/3 cup Butter (melted)

Mix together and press into a Springform  pan.

Bake at 375 F 10-15 mins. Check after 12 mins. 'till lightly browned.

Filling:

2    8oz. pkgs. Cream Cheese

1/2 cup Honey

2 Lg. Eggs

2 Lg. Egg Yolks

1 cup Sour Cream

2 tsp. Corn Starch 1 Tbsp. Lemon zest

2 1/2  tsp. Lemon Juice

Blend all ingredients 'til smooth

Pour into baked crust.

Bake at 300 F for 50-55 mins., (check after 45 mins) 'til set and knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool and refrigerated several hours to get chilled before serving.

Note:

1.  If using a pie pan check after 45 mins. so not to over cook.

2. It also works well with Pecans , or Almonds.

I wanted some fried chicken the other night but not the usual fried chicken. My taste buds wanted something very flavorful and different. 

They were saying Italian and sauce. That's when i decided to add Italian seasoning to my flour. For the sauce I thought it should be gar-

licky. Then I remembered my Seafood Sauce. While I was making it I decided to add the drippings from the chicken in the frying pan to it.

Here's what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Italian Seasoned Fried Chicken Dinner

Cook according to the package directions (I use a rice cooker):

2 cups of Rice

In the mean time, heat up a cast iron frying pan or better yet a chicken fryer (looks like a frying pan with taller sides) on medium high heat.

Cut into fork size pieces and set aside in a medium size mixing bowl:

4 Lg. Chicken Breast Halves

In a pie pan put in and combine:

2 cups All Purpose Flour

3 TBS of Italian Seasoning (or you can use equal parts of your favorite Italian Seasonings to equal 3TBS)

1 tsp. Sea Salt

1/2 tsp. Black Pepper

Toss chicken in flour mixture to coat.

Put into frying pan. NOTE: This will cook quickly! Take chicken out as soon as it starts to get golden, and put into a 9"x13" pan, then into a heated oven (350 degrees) to hot.

Reserve the drippings, you'll add this to the sauce later.

Sauce:

In a 2 qt. sauce pan saute together:

2 TBS Garlic-minced

1 TBS Olive Oil

Once the garlic starts to get golden add:

2 cups Chicken Broth

1/2 cup  Wine ( Chardonnay,Chablis or White Zinfindale)

1/2 tsp. Sea Salt

1/4 tsp. Black Pepper

Bring all to a boil. 

Turn down to a gentle boil (simmer).

Mix together in a cup until smooth and a milky liquid:

3 TBS Corn Starch

2 TBS Water (you may need a little more)

Stir in cornstarch liquid stirring CONSTANTLY, until thickened to a thin gravy. 

Add drippings from frying pan and stir into above sauce.

Vegetables:

In a heated cast iron frying pan stir fry together until onion is tender:

3 TBS Olive Oil

1 Lg. Bell Pepper-sliced 

1 Lg. Sweet Onion

3 cups of Broccoli Florets

Add 1/4 cup of water to steam the broccoli a bit.

To serve put the sauce on the chicken and /or the rice. If you don't want rice mashed potatoes are great with it as well.

When it's all done you have dinner for 4-6 adults that cost about $10.00 to make (provided you have the ingredients on hand). 

 NOTE:You can purchase Italian Seasoning from me for $6.00 for a 4oz. bag. If I need to ship it postage will be added.

Call me at (530) 528-8825 or email me at: castironpam@gmail.com.

I came up with this recipe because I felt I needed some different Italian pasta recipes. I looked to see what I had and this was what I 

came up with. I hope you like it. The first time I made it I used too much bouillon and it was too salty. Be careful -just because it is low in 

salt doesn't mean it is salt free.

In a 5 qt. Dutch oven put:

1/4 cup Olive Oil

2 cups Orzo

Cook Orzo in olive oil until it's lightly browned.

Add:

3 qt. water

1/2 cup Low Salt Chicken Bouillon Powder

Bring to a boil and cook 10 minutes

Drain off water.

Return Orzo to Dutch oven.

Add to Orzo and cook all together to blend flavors (approx. 5 min.):

1 Tbsp. Oregano

1 Tbsp. Basil

1 Tbsp. Sage

1 Tbsp. Thyme

! Tbsp. Parsley

1 whole Bay Leaf

1 Tbsp. Garlic- crushed

1/2 cup Sundried Tomatoes in Olive Oil- cut into thirds

Serve and enjoy!

NOTE: You can buy Italian Seasoning from me for $6.00 for a 4 oz. package. If I need to ship it postage will be added for postage.

Call me at (530) 528-8825 or email me at castironpam@gmail.com. 

Parchment paper is a BIG one. It saves you on clean up.

Baking several batches of cookies for a bake sale? Parchment paper is a MUST!

Take 2 cookie sheets and line them with parchment paper. Cook them. Remove them from the oven and slide them with the parchment

 paper onto the counter to let them cool. Line the same cookie sheets with parchment paper again and repeat. Except this time when you 

go to put more onto bake the first batch will be cool so you can put them onto a plate and re-use the parchment paper from them to cook 

this batch. The beauty of parchment paper is:

1) You don't need to oil the cookie sheet if you're cooking something sticky- saving time, money, and calories!

2) It's re-usable until it literally gets all brown and crumbly

3) (my favorite) You don't need to wash the cookie sheets or pans-just throw away the parchment paper and put the cookie sheet or pan 

away.

4) It is relatively inexpensive- get it at restaurant supply for about $36 for 1,000 double sheets-translates to 2,000 cookies sheet size pans.

Knives

When you buy your knives you want to get high carbon steel or high carbon stainless steel.

The high carbon steel will end up looking splotchy but they sharpen GREAT and hold their edge the best.

If you're a stickler about having stainless steel, get high carbon stainless. They'll stay pretty looking for you and sharpen easily.

Stainless steel knives that are not high carbon you might as well throw away when the edge gets bad. They are next to impossible to sharpen, and you have to sharpen them often.

Ideally you don't want to sharpen your knives very often because you remove steel every time you do.

What you do want to do is run it on a GOOD steel. It won't remove the steel like when you sharpen it but it will straighten the edges.

You'll be surprised how wonderfully this works.

Every time you go to use your knives you should VERY carefully check the edge with your fingers, you DON'T want to get cut.

To do this hold, the steel at about your belly button to the blade. Starting at the tip run the knife down the front and then down the back. 

This way you get both sides of the knife. Do this 3 or 4 times, then you're done.

If I'm doing ALOT of cutting or chopping sometimes I'll have to stop and clean the knife and run it on the steel again then I get back to 

work.

In taking care of your knives one IMPORTANT thing to remember is to be careful of the surfaces you use them on.

For instance you don't want to cut on a tile, granite, or marble countertop, by doing so you not only make your knives dull but you can 

actually ruin (flatten or bend) the edge of your knives. 

A wood or plastic cutting board is the better choice over tile or granite.

We all know that good knives can be very costly so it's to our advantage to take care of them

NOTE:

Those of you that are afraid of sharp knives shouldn't be. Yes, they are sharp and as with anything that's sharp you need to be careful

 but the fact is more people get cut with dull knives than with sharp ones. Why? Because they have to use more pressure to make the

 cuts and end up cutting themselves because the food moves from the pressure and instead they get their hand or fingers, and get cut

 sometimes very severely. With a sharp knife you don't use much pressure and have a lot less accidents and stitches.

Something I think you should know is this was intended to be a Polenta Mexican Pizza, however when I took it out of the oven it was too 

soft to cut and serve as pizza so we ate it with tortilla chips as a dip. EVERYONE loved it! So while it didn't turn out the way I intended it 

was still a hit! That's how I got the name Layered Mexican Dip for it. I hope you enjoy it.

Layered Mexican Dip

This is a dip you cook in stages in the oven.

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Ingredient s List:

1 cup Corn Meal

3 Cups water

2 TBSP. Chicken Boullion/Broth powder

1/2 cup All Purpose Flour

2 cups grated Cheddar Cheese ( we like sharp) (more if you desire)

1 LBS Ground Beef or Venison

2-3 TBSP. Taco Seasoning

1 small can Refried Beans (or 1/2 of 16 oz can)

1 small can of Chili Con Carne (or 1/2 of 15 oz. can)

In a 5 qt. dutch oven put the corn meal, water, boullion, all purpose flour.

Cook on medium heat stirring CONSTANTLY so it doesn't stick and burn.

Once thickened remove from heat.

Oil a 9"x13" pan.

Pour polenta into pan and spread evenly.

Bake for 30 mins. 'til crusted over.

Spread  a very thin layer of your favorite salsa on it, and bake for 15 mins. 'til dry in appearance.

Return to the oven and bake 15 mins. 'til it has a dry appearance.

In the meantime:

In a 2 qt. saucepan cook together ground beef or venison,taco seasoning, refried beans, and chili con carne.

Remove pan from oven and spread grated cheddar cheese all over it, and spread a layer of

Meat/Bean mix on it.

Return to the oven and bake for 20 mins. longer.

Serve with tortilla chips and sour cream (if desired).

This is a family favorite. The recipe originally came from my mother-in-law, as usual I made some changes. Hope you like it.

LEMON CHICKEN

In a small mixing bowl mix together:

1 cup All Purpose Flour

1 cup Cornstarch

3/4 tsp. Baking Powder

Add and mix 'til smooth:

3 large Eggs

1 1/2 cups Water (add 1 cup at first and as much as you need of the remaining half cup to make it like thick pancake batter you want it to slowly run off the spoon.)

Set batter aside.

Meanwhile heat up a deep cast iron pan on medium heat.

Cut up into bite size pieces (not too small):

1 whole Chicken (about 4-5 pounds) or 6 large Chicken Breast halves

Pour cut up chicken into batter and coat well.

Pour in enough Canola oil to cover the bottom of frying pan.

Gently lift out pieces of chicken and put into frying pan.

Turn only once (when the pieces are just starting to get lightly browned).

Remove pieces as they get done and place into a paper towel lined casserole dish to drain off the oil. Keep in the oven on 250 degrees to keep them hot 'til you are ready to eat.

LEMON SAUCE

In a 1 quart sauce pan put:

1/2 cup Lemon Juice (I use the bottle kind if I don't have fresh lemons)

2 cups Water

4 TBS Cornstarch

2/3 cup Evaporated Cane Juice

Cook on high heat stirring constantly to dissolve the evaporated cane juice. Cook until the sauce gets clear and thickens some. It will continue to thicken as it cools.

Serve this with rice and a salad and you have a wonderful Chinese dinner. 

This will serve 4-6 people.

NEVER use soap, bleach or scouring pads on your cast iron, or overheat it while dry and empty, and you won't have to re-season it.

Just wipe out anything left in the pot or pan with a paper towel and put it away.

If food gets stuck on it, heat it up and clean it with salt and a rag.

If something is REALLY stuck on it; put it on the stove with a little water and scrape it out with a metal spatula to get the really difficult stuff

out, then use salt as above, then wipe it down with Crisco or cooking oil for good measure (you don't have to, but you can put it in the

oven @ 250 F for a few minutes).

Be sure your cast iron is completely dry before you put it away. If your oven or stovetop is still hot, drying it with just the residual heat is fine.

This will keep it from rusting. By the way, if it does get some rust on it don't fret, just wipe it out and wipe some Crisco or cooking oil on it 

and bake it in the oven at 250F for 15 minutes or so. The rust won't hurt you it'll just add a little iron to your diet. The rust on the cast iron

cookware is not corrosive so it's not going to eat a hole through it; it just doesn't look as pretty. 

Cook all together in a 10" cast iron frying pan on medium heat until half of the liquid is absorbed:

12 oz. pkg. of Chicken Apple Sausage cut into half-moons about 1/8" thick

2 tsp. Chopped Garlic

28oz. can of Whole Tomatoes (peeled) with basil -DO NOT DRAIN

3 TB Red Wine Vinegar

1 TB olive oil

While the sausage mixture is cooking bring to a boil in a 5 qt. dutch oven:

2 ½ quarts Chicken Broth 

Once broth comes to a hard boil add:

12 oz. pkg. of Orzo 

Boil Orzo for ten minutes then drain.

Return Orzo to the Dutch oven.

Add:

1 can of green beans -drained (or fresh if you have them -cleaned and stems removed)

4 oz. of Feta Cheese crumbles

1 TB of dried Parsley

2 tsp. Olive Oil

1/4 cup of Roasted Pine Nuts (in a cast iron skillet on medium heat place 1 TB of olive oil and 1/4 cup of Pine Nuts and cook to where they are just beginning to turn golden stirring constantly -remove at once).

Cook 5 minutes then add sausage mixture.

Heat everything together for 3-5 minutes.

Serve with a salad.

Serves 8