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Entrees

corned beef and cabbage

There’s no place like the historic Berghoff Restaurant in downtown Chicago for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with hearty, satisfying corned beef and cabbage. The Berghoff goes through 10,000 pounds of corned beef each month, on average. I can only imagine how much corned beef and cabbage the hungry revelers consume after watching the Dyeing of the Chicago River and the Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Corned Beef and Cabbage, courtesy of The Berghoff Restaurant

In a large, heavy pot, place the corned beef, along with any of its brine, plus the garlic and bag of pickling spices. Cover completely with cold water. (Make sure the pot is large enough that corned beef is covered, with 3 to 4 inches of space remaining below the rim.) Bring to a boil. Decrease the heat and simmer for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The corned beef is done when an inserted fork come out easily. Remove the meat from the broth and discard the spice bag. Set aside the broth in its pot. Set the meat aside and keep warm.

In the same pot with the broth, add the cabbage wedges, potatoes, and vinegar. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, or until the cabbage and potatoes are tender. If needed, add salt and pepper.

Thinly slice the corned beef, cutting against the grain of meat. Serve in soup plates with cabbage wedges and potatoes, and ladled with broth. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

 

Ingredients:

4 pounds corned beef
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 tablespoon pickling spices, tied in cheesecloth
cold water, as needed
1 head green cabbage, corned and cut into 8 wedges
16 small whole, unpeeled red potatoes
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
salt and pepper
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley, for garnish

 

Number of servings: 8

Cooking time: 3 hours

Award-Winning Recipes/ Entrees

Zesty Italian Slow Cooker Lasagna

slow cooker lasagna close up

This slow cooker lasagna recipe is perfect for large family gatherings or Super Bowl viewing parties. Recently I killed my Cuisinart slow cooker when I mistakenly turned on the HIGH setting with no food in it. Just as I was prepared to cook, I heard a big crack and the removable ceramic container split in half. I researched replacement containers but realized that my slow cooker (purchased in 1999 or 2000) was so old that you couldn’t get parts any more. So I upgraded to a digital Cuisinart slow cooker with built-in steamer and brown/saute functions.

ripened_2013I rarely make lasagna because it seems like a huge amount of work for one person – and then I have it for leftovers for weeks and get bored. But this slow cooker lasagna recipe intrigued me because it appeared to really simplify the cooking process. Overall, I was pleased with how it turned out – though I still had tons of leftovers. But this time, I put most of them in labeled freezer containers and stored in the deep freeze for the next time I get a craving.

Update December 2013: This recipe was recognized as runner up in the 2013 Dei Fratelli Ripened Recipe Contest.

Slow Cooker Lasagna

Lightly coat the inside of a 4-quart (or larger) slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. [I am also a fan of the new slow cooker liners, because they really save on clean up time.]

Italian sausage in bulk

In a large skillet, cook the sausage over medium-high heat until brown. Break up the meat as it cooks. Stir in the marinara sauce and diced tomatoes. Remove from heat.

Place about 1/2 cup of the meat / marinara mixture in the bottom of the slow cooker (this will allow the bottom layer of noodles to properly cook). Layer 4 of the noodles on top of the meat mixture. Top with 1/3 of the ricotta cheese, then 1/3 of the remaining meat / marinara mixture, and about 1/3 of the shredded cheese. That’s NOODLES – RICOTTA – MEAT/MARINARA – SHREDDED CHEESE. Repeat the layers two more times starting with the noodles.

Cover and cook on high-heat setting for up to 3 hours. Let stand, uncovered, for about 15 minutes before serving.

slow cooker lasagna garnished with Italian cheese

Serve individual portions sprinkled with fresh Parmesan or shredded Italian cheese bend. Freeze any slow cooker lasagna leftovers for up to 3 months in an airtight container.

Zesty Italian Slow Cooker Lasagna

Cook Time: 3 hours

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

1 pound bulk sweet Italian sausage
12 no-boil lasagna noodles
16 ounces ricotta cheese
8 ounces shredded Italian cheese blend
additional shredded Italian or Parmesan cheese for garnish

Instructions

Lightly coat the inside of a 4-quart (or larger) slow cooker with

non-stick cooking spray.

In a large skillet, cook the sausage over medium-high heat until brown. Break up the meat as it cooks. Stir in the marinara sauce and chopped Italian tomatoes. Remove from heat.

Place about 1/2 cup of the meat / marinara mixture in the bottom of the slow cooker (this will allow the bottom layer of noodles to properly cook).

Layer 4 of the noodles on top of the meat mixture. Top with 1/3 of the ricotta cheese, then 1/3 of the remaining meat / marinara mixture, and about 1/3 of the shredded cheese. That's noodles, ricotta, meat/marinara/shredded cheese.

Repeat the layers two more times starting with the noodles.

Cover and cook on high-heat setting for up to 3 hours.

Let stand, uncovered, for about 15 minutes before serving.

Serve individual portions sprinkled with fresh Parmesan or shredded Italian cheese blend. Freeze any slow cooker lasagna leftovers for up to 3 months in an airtight container.

https://bakedchicago.com/slow-cooker-lasagna/

 

Entrees

Game Day Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes (with Bacon!)

slow cooker sloppy joes with bacon

America, are you ready for some football? Hosting a Super Bowl viewing party doesn’t have to be stressful, if you plan ahead. This DIY sloppy joes recipe is easy to make and can be prepared in larger batches to serve a crowd.

This recipe uses a slow cooker, which also allows you to keep the food warm and makes it easy for guests to serve themselves. But you can also stir this up in a single skillet in less than 20 minutes for a quick dinner idea. Either way, it’s sure to be a touchdown with your family and guests.

sloopy joes in the skillet

I use ground turkey instead of ground beef in my recipes, but you can use whichever you prefer. And for an added crunch, I’ve included crispy bacon as a last minute ingredient. The bacon adds a nice depth to the flavor, but remember that the longer it’s in the sloppy joes, the more it will lose its crunch. So I suggest adding in just a few minutes before you’re ready to begin serving.

Get your ingredients ready. 13 – 62 – 50 – Hike!

sloppy joes ingredients mise en place

Game Day Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes (with bacon!)

In a large skillet on medium-high heat, add the olive oil and minced onion. Add in the ground turkey and begin to cook until brown. Break up the ground turkey and stir often to ensure the onions are evenly cooked. When the ground turkey is no longer pink, transfer everything to a 3-quart slow cooker.

Stir in the chili sauce, brown sugar, relish, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low heat for 3 hours. Stir occasionally to blend the flavors. About five minutes before you’re ready to begin serving, add in the crispy bacon and stir.

Spoon about 1/2 cup of sloppy joes mixture on a toasted bun. Toasting the buns will add another crunchy texture to each bite, plus keep the bun from getting soggy too quickly.

 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 1/4 pounds ground turkey
1/2 cup fresh minced onion (or 1/4 cup dried)
12 ounces chili sauce
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup sweet pickle relist
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup crispy bacon, chopped (roughly 6 thick-cut or 8 regular-cut slices)
6 burger buns, split (toasted buns optional but recommended)

 

Number of servings: 6

Cooking time: 3 hours

Entrees

Edamame, Rice & Ground Turkey Casserole

edamame ground turkey and brown rice

I first made this dish about five years ago and now make it about once a week. It’s great to have it on hand for a quick, hot lunch for those days when it’s hard to get away from the computer. But I don’t have a name for this dish, and I’m not sure what to call it. So I need your help to name this dish. As you’ll see, it’s not really a hash, or a stir fry, or a casserole. The marketer in me might call it a one-pot wonder or a skillet sensation, but that’s not a real recipe or dish name.

This dish is made with ground turkey, brown rice, edamame, chicken broth and cream of mushroom soup. Sounds like comforting food, right? It is. When I used to take this to the office for lunch and heat it up in the break room microwave, the smell would be so enticing that I always got questions about what I was having.  I would joke that it was my version of Hamburger Helper. Except I could spell and pronounce the names of all my added ingredients! Growing up, I loved Hamburger Helper – and thought it was genius! But that was before I knew how to cook for myself and before I knew I could make something much, much more delicious and better for me.

I encourage you to try this dish for yourself – and tell me what you’d call it. Log in below and share your opinion for the best name of this dish.

Name This Dish!

In a large skillet, begin to brown the ground turkey on medium-high. Pour in the chicken broth and, using a cooking spoon or spatula, start to break up the meat. Add in the minced onions and garlic. Stir regularly until the skillet starts to boil.

Then add in the edamame and brown rice. Stir until well mixed, making sure there is still enough chicken broth to cover the ingredients. If necessary, turn down the heat to allow for the dish to simmer on the stove’s burner. Typically, it should take about 15 minutes or so for the rice and edamame to properly cook and absorb the broth. Stir regularly to ensure even cooking.

Watch the level of broth in the skillet. As soon as it almost disappears, remove the skillet from the burner and stir in the cream of mushroom soup until well blended. This dish is high in fiber (thanks to the edamame) and quite delicious.

 

Ingredients:

1 pound ground turkey
1 tablespoon minced onions
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
32 ounces chicken broth
16 ounces edamame, shelled
1 1/2 cups instant brown rice
10 3/4 ounces cream of mushroom soup

 

Number of servings: 4

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Entrees

black-eyed peas with bacon-cornbread dumplings

black-eyed peas

Happy New Year! Baked Chicago wishes everyone a new year – 2013 – filled with health and prosperity. Eating black-eyed peas (the food, not the band) is a long-time Southern tradition for bringing good luck in the year ahead. This black-eyed peas recipe shares the spotlight with some bacon-cornbread dumplings that make this a hearty, satisfying meal.

Black-eyed Peas with Bacon-Cornbread Dumplings

Cook the bacon in a large, heavy cooking pot over medium-high heat until crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan and let cool. Rough chop the bacon and set aside. Remove 1 tablespoon of bacon drippings from the pan and set that aside.

Increase the heat to medium-high and add the chopped onion with the remaining drippings. Saute the chopped onion for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute more, stirring constantly. Add the chicken stock, water, salt, pepper and black-eyed peas. Bring the entire pot to a boil. Partially cover the pot, reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes or until black-eyed peas are tender. Stir occasionally.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, green onion, corn meal and baking soda. Cut the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add the chopped bacon, reserved tablespoon of pan drippings and buttermilk. Stir until just combined and a moist dough is formed. With slightly wet hands, divide the mixture into 12 equal portions. Drop the dumplings, one at a time, into the pan. Cover the pan and cook for 8 minutes or until dumplings are done. Stir occasionally.

 

Ingredients:

8 slices applewood-smoked bacon (thick cut), chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
3 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
16 ounces black-eyed peas
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup green onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup corn meal
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1/2 cup buttermilk

 

Number of servings: 4

Cooking time: 38 minutes

 

Entrees

Tater Tot Casserole

Preheat oven to 425° F.  Lightly grease bottom of a 13×9-inch baking pan with non-stick spray. Set pan aside.

Cook ground turkey on medium-high heat in a medium skillet, along with chopped onion, until well browned. Stir to break up mean and evenly cook onions. Drain any excess fat.

Layer ground turkey mixture in bottom of baking pan. Next layer the edamame evenly on top of the ground turkey. With a tablespoon or small spatula, spread the cream of mushroom soup so that it covers the edamame. [During the baking process, the soup will seep down into the edamame and ground turkey layers to create a moist, creamy sauce.]

Now layer the tater tots on top of the cream of mushroom soup. Sprinkle shredded cheese and parsley on top. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until potatoes are done.

 

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground turkey
1 small onion, chopped
16 ounces cream of mushroom soup
3 cups tater tots, frozen
12 to 15 ounces edamame, shelled, frozen
8 ounces shredded cheese (recommend either mozzarella or Cheddar) for garnishment
3 pinches dried parsley for garnishment

 

Number of servings: 6

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Entrees

Wild Rice Crock Pot Casserole

Wild Rice Crock Pot Casserole

Ingredients

2 cups wild rice
2 cups brown rice
1 1/2 pounds pork sausage
1 onion, chopped
2 cups edamame
2 cans (10 3/4 ounces each) cream of mushroom soup
4 cups chicken broth

Instructions

Brown pork sausage and drain well. Chop onion. In crock pot set on highest heat setting, mix sausage and onion. Add in rices, edamame, chicken broth and mushroom soup. Cook on high setting for one hour, stirring occasionally, to achieve a boil or near boil.

Set crock pot to lowest heat setting, then cook for at least another 5 hours, stirring every hour and checking moisture level. Add additional water or chicken broth if mixture becomes too dry.

Yields about 10 servings (1/2 cup serving size).

https://bakedchicago.com/wild-rice-crock-pot-casserole/

Entrees

Sausage and Pumpkin Rigatoni

Sausage and Pumpkin Rigatoni

Ingredients

1 pound rigatoni pasta
8 ounces spicy Italian sausage (bulk)
5 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
1 can pumpkin
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Cook pasta, reserving 1 cup cooking water. In non-stick skillet, cook sausage on medium for 6 minutes, breaking up sausage. Add sage and cook for 1 minute, stirring. Add pumpkin and reserved pasta water, mixing well.

Drain pasta and return to pot. Add sausage mixture and heat through. Stir in Parmesan cheese. Makes 4 servings.

https://bakedchicago.com/sausage-pumpkin-rigatoni/

Entrees

Pesto Turkey Salad

This recipe is slightly adapted from “The Berghoff Family Cookbook ” by Carlyn Berghoff.

Pesto Turkey Salad

Ingredients

1/2 cup cooked turkey breast, cubed
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon pesto sauce
1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts
2 teaspoons minced green onion
sliced green olives or grapes for garnish

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Serve on lettuce leaves or in a tortilla wrap. Top with olives or grapes for garnish. Quantities above make one serving.

Notes

This recipe is slightly adapted from "The Berghoff Family Cookbook " by Carlyn Berghoff.

https://bakedchicago.com/pesto-turkey-salad-2/

Entrees

steppenwolf’s “detroit”-inspired coney dogs

Steppenwolf Theatre has done it again! “Detroit” – a new play by Lisa D’Amour – kicks off the 2010-2011 season.  There’s an all-ensemble cast including Kevin Anderson, Kate Arrington, Ian Barford, Robert Breuler and Laurie Metcalf.

Scheduled to run through November 7, “Detroit” is off-beat, hilarious and razor sharp in wit and observance of how the American dream has changed in once-thriving suburbia.  I haven’t laughed so much for so long at the theater in quite a while.  This play was provocative and meaty – and inspired the featured recipe below.

In the play, Ben and Mary (played by Ian Barford and the incomparable Laurie Metcalf) fire up the grill to welcome new neighbors (Kevin Anderson and Kate Arrington) who’ve moved into the long-empty house next door.  So fire up your grill and share this very Detroit coney dog recipe with your neighbors and family!

Coney Dogs Recipe

Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat.  Place hot dogs on the grill and cook until browned (about 5 to 8 minutes).  Turn once or until done to suit your tastes.  Lightly grill hot dog rolls.

Place the no-bean chili in a small microwave-safe bowl.  Cook for 1 minute.  Stir and cook 1 minute more.  Place hot dogs on buns.  Top each with chili, onion and mustard, to taste.

*Typically a Detroit Coney Dog is made with a beef hot dog with natural casings.  But I prefer turkey hot dogs, so for a leaner option try substituting turkey hots and no beans turkey chili.

 

Ingredients:

4 beef hot dogs
4 hot dog rolls, sliced
1 small onion, diced
10 ounces no bean-style chili
4 tablespoons yellow mustard

 

Number of servings: 4

Cooking time: 5 minutes

Entrees

Chicken and Peach Quesadillas

Chicken and Peach Quesadillas

Ingredients

1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon fresh lime juice
1/2 cup sour cream
4 (8-inch) flour tortillas
3 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup chopped skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast
1 cup thinly sliced peeled firm ripe peaches
4 teaspoons chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions

Combine honey and lime juice in small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Stir sour cream into honey mixture. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

Place tortillas flat on work surface. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons cheese over half of each tortilla. Top each tortilla with 1/4 cup chicken, 1/4 cup peaches and 1 teaspoon cilantro. Fold tortillas in half.

Heat large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Place 2 quesadillas in the pan, and top quesadillas with a cast-iron skillet. Cook 1 1/2 minutes on each side until tortillas are crisp and golden brown. Remove quesadillas from pan and set aside, keeping warm. Repeat procedure for remaining quesadillas.

Cut each quesadilla into wedges. Serve with honey - lime sauce.

https://bakedchicago.com/chicken-peach-quesadillas/

Entrees

apple-bacon turkey burgers

Mix the ground turkey and apple.  Shape into 4 burger patties.  Grill directly over medium-high heat until done to satisfaction.

Make tangy-sweet spread by stirring together mayonnaise, Dijon mustard and honey.  Slather on a toasted bun and top with a burger.  Pile slices of apple along with 2 bacon strips on each burger.

 

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground turkey
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and finely chopped
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and sliced thinly
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
8 slices crispy bacon

 

Number of servings: 4

Cooking time: 12 minutes