Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

A few months ago I was lamenting the fact that I could not find a Chicken Casserole that I liked.  I have finally put the issue to rest with this delectable dish.  Think grown up macaroni and cheese; full of succulent chicken, nutty Gruyere cheese and Parmesan cheese with a crispy bread crumb and cheese topping.  One of the reasons that I have been looking for a good chicken casserole recipe is that it nice to have a dish that you can just pop in the oven when you are having company.  You can make a simple salad and the meal is complete.  We will be having a lot of family here over the Labor Day weekend so I have been experimenting with easy dishes.  What is great about this casserole is that it will appeal to both the grown ups and the kids alike.  And if you are in a pinch for time you can use rotisserie chicken and boxed chicken broth.

PASTA WITH CHICKEN AND GRUYERE

1 3 to 4 pound whole chicken
5 cups of water
1 celery stick, roughly chopped
1 carrot rought chopped
1 onion, quartered with 1 whole clove inserted in one section
2 smashed garlic cloves
2 sprig of thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

Sauce and Pasta:
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
dash of cayenne pepper
1/2 lb Gruyere cheese, coarsely grated (3 cups), divided
2/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1/2  pound penne pasta
3 cups dried bread crumbs

Butter a 9 X 13 casserole.  Place chicken in large stock pot.  Add water and vegetables and seasonings.  Bring put to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer.  Cook Chicken until it is tender.  Remove chicken from stock and set aside to cool.  Strain stock through a fine mesh strainer.

Make cheese sauce:  Heat butter in a heavy pot over moderate heat until foam subside, then whisk in flour.  Cook for 1 minute while whisking.  Add 2 cups of the chicken stock (freeze the rest for future use) in a slow stream while whisking, then bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, whisking occasionally, until sauce is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in sour cream, milk, salt, pepper, cayenne, 1 cup Gruyere and 1/3 cup Parmesan.

Cook pasta in boiling salted water until not quite al dente, 8 to 10 minutes.  Drain.  Return pasta to pot, then add chicken and sauce, tossing to coat.  Turn mixture into buttered casserole.

Toss bread crumbs with remaining 1 cup Gruyere and 1/3 cup Parmesan, then sprinkle evenly over pasta mixture.  Bake casserole in a 400 degree oven until crumbs are browned and sauce is bubbling, 20 to 30 minutes.

Printable recipe

Last weekend, in celebration of our 44th wedding anniversary our Son and Daughter-In-Law treated us to a Barbecue and Wine Pairing Dinner at the Five Star Umstead Hotel & Spa in Cary, NC. Executive Chef Scott Crawford and their Sommelier put together a menu that solved the problem of what wine to serve with any of our favorite BBQ choices and the Chef grilled four excellent meats. So if you want to serve wine instead of iced tea, lemonade or beer at your next cookout, I highly recommend the following pairings. This was the menu.

Baby Back Ribs with Garlic-Soy & Vinegar Barbecue Sauce
Riesling, Smith-Madrone, Spring Mtn. California

Boneless Chicken Thighs with Tomato Barbecue Sauce
Pinot Noir, Wild Rock, Central Otago, New Zealand

Smoked & Chipped Pork Butt with Mustard Barbecue Sauce
Nero D’Avola, Cusumano, Sicily, Italy

Beef Short Ribs with Caramelized Onion Barbecue Sauce
Syrah, Laurence Feraud, Chateauneuf Du Pape, France

Campfire S’Mores
Merlot, L’Ecole 41, Columbia Valley, Washington

The early part of the evening was spent on the patio where Chef Crawford told us about his grilling techniques and sauces used on each of the meats. The happy couple are enjoying this immensely, expecially the one with the camera.

To add to the fun, I got to spend a little quality time with the Chef.

Michael and Kristen know us well and knew that an event like this would be one that would appeal to both of us. They are also food lovers and have an interest in good wines and beers. Michael has been making his own beer and it is excellent.

It was a hot and sultry night so after the grill demonstrations we moved back into the hotel. The service was flawless and elegant but never stuffy.

Unfortunately, for you, I was having too much fun to take pictures of all of the courses. I have to say that the Riesling served with the Baby Back Ribs was perfect and the Pinot Noir served with the chicken was light and refreshing. But my favorite food was the Smoked Pork Butt with one of the best cornbreads that I have ever tasted.

The Beef Short Ribs were also good and the Syrah suited their richness well.

What could be better for a cookout than campfire s’mores. Chocolate and merlot always makes a good pairing and this dessert and wine did not dissapoint.

Chef Crawford will be sending me his recipes soon. I will post a link to them when I receive them. We had an unforgettable evening. Thank you to the staff of The Umstead Hotel and especially to Michael and Kristen for arranging this. If you are in the area, The Umstead will be having other wine pairing dinners in the future.

Printable recipe Garlic-Soy & Vinegar Barbecue Sauce

Printable recipe Tomato Barbecue Sauce

Printable recipe Mustard-Vinegar Barbecue Sauce

Printable recipe Caramelized Onion Barbecue Sauce

My thanks to Executive Chef Scott Crawford for passing on his recipes.

One of my favorite food writers is Mark Bittman. The New York Times columnist and author of the bestselling books How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, has just come out with a new book called Food Matters; A Guide to Conscious Eating. As a nation, we have all become aware of changes in our health and the increasing obesity of our population. Diabetes is epidemic and heart disease is effecting more and more people. Our food supply, in my opinion, has become questionable. Have you noticed that the whole chicken you buy from the Supermarket has a strong chemical smell when you open it from it’s plastic wrap? And what is going on with the inhumane treatment of beef cattle just so we can enjoy a good steak at a reasonable price? There are very few family farms left where chickens scratch in the barnyard and cows munch grass in the pasture. Agribusiness has taken over and it is not a pretty sight. But what can we do about it? In his book Food Matters, Mark Bittman lays out the statistical facts about what is happening to our food supply and offers alternatives on how to eat better and save the planet. His premise is to eat less meat and only from reputable sources, avoid refined carbohydrates like white flour, rice and bread, and avoid junk foods at all cost. We should be eating more fruits and vegetables and visiting our farmers markets to support our local farmers. I have discovered that there are alternatives in our meat supply too. You can find organic free range chickens and beef that has been raised in the pasture. You may have to pay a little more, but it is worth it.

Pizza is one of my favorite foods. The great thing about pizza is that it is adaptable. You can make it very unhealthy if you load it up with fatty pepperoni, sausages and lots of cheese on a white flour crust or you can modify it to a healthier alternative. Let’s start with Mark Bittman’s easy whole grain flatbread. He states ” The simplest bread is nothing more than water and flour”. In this case he uses whole wheat flour and water. He oils the pizza pan, scatters onions and rosemary over the pan, heats it and then pours the flour and water mixture over the hot pan and bakes it until done.

It comes out of the oven crusty around the edges with a few charred onions peaking out from the sides. To make it pizza you can add a smear of tomato sauce, lots of sauteed vegetables, a little cooked meat and a light sprinkling of cheese. Put it back into the oven on broil just to melt the cheese. Here are the details.

You can use any ingredients you wish for your toppings. I used tomato sauce with a sprinkling of oregano and hot pepper flakes, sauteed red and green peppers and onions, a leftover cooked chicken breast, shredded and a sprinkling of mozzarella and parmesan cheese. This is definitely a new approach to pizza and I loved it.

Printable recipe

I remember the ice storm of 1978. Michael, our son, was two months old. We went to bed with the sound of the howling winds and ice pellets pinging at our windows. In the middle of the night we were awakened by crashing noises on our roof as large limbs fell from our sweet gum tree which shaded our house lovingly during the hot summer months. Michael was also awake. Who could sleep through that racket. When I went to get him from his crib I realized the power was out. Thus began a week of deprivation. We had no heat, no water, and no electricity. But what we did have was a wood stove. You would be surprised at how well you can function with a source of heat to keep you warm and allow you to cook. We bought bottled water, stretched our sleeping bags in front of the fire and cooked all of our meals either on top of the stove or in the ashes. We even had neighbors join us on several occasions. I have never forgotten the value of having an independent backup plan when community utilities fail you.

Our Lake Lure cottage was built with several backup options, the first being energy efficient insulation that has be done by the First Defense Insulation – Certified Insulation Experts. We also have a gas stove for cooking, using a large propane tank which also supplies the gas for our living room fireplace logs. This past December the temperatures dropped to the teens and the winds were blowing steadily at 20 miles an hour. We discovered that our new untested heat pump was not wired properly to allow the auxilary heat strip to come on, so it could not keep up with the demand. We stayed toasty warm with just the gas logs and the kitchen fireplace. Plus we love to cook in the fireplace because it is such a gratifying process. I posted earlier about the hearth grill that was my Christmas present. We also bought a spider which is a dutch oven with legs. You place the spider directly in the coals and you can braise anything from roasts to stews. We tried a pork roast and vegetables.

David browned the meat in the spider over the coals.

He then added the vegetables and some liquid. Wine is good here. Wine is always good. We also added fresh rosemary and thyme. The lid is then placed on top. The lid also has little legs on the top so you can invert it and use it as a griddle if you want.

To maintain even cooking you can put ashes on top of the lid so that the food is surrounded by heat.

The above picture was taken with the flash, but I thought it was very atmospheric.

After cooking slowly in the embers for two hours you have a pot full of goodness.

What a satisfying meal.

I wish you had all been there. . . . We are back in sunny Florida now, but I miss our hearth cooking. We had a small fire in the kitchen fireplace right before we left and David said “I feel like I should be cooking something in it”. It is a primal urge to cook over fire.

We bought our dutch oven spider through Amazon. Here is a link.