Paula Dean's Country Oxtails

OK, this is not your typical Memorial Day fare . . . but my husband requested it.  To make a long story short, someone at his work had Oxtail soup last week and he thought it smelled so good.  He asked me if I could make it for him.  So off to the Internet I went in search of a recipe for Oxtail soup.  Oh so many recipes . . .then I happened upon Paula's recipe for Country Oxtails.  It isn't exactly soup, more like stew but, after I read the ingredients to him - he wanted it.  Of course, I didn't have oxtails sitting in my refrigerator so I had to make a visit to my local Krogers.  What luck - yes, they had Oxtails (though rather expensive!).    Plus I had to buy a package of carrots since I didn't have any.

Paula Dean's Country Oxtails

Ingredients

3 lbs oxtails
1 tsp olive oil
1 can beef broth
1 cup red wine (I used Merlot)
1 T Worcestershire sauce
6 cloves garlic, large ones cut in half (I forgot those - so I just used garlic powder)
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
2 bay leaves
1 8 oz. tomato sauce
1/2 Vidala onion, cut into 6 wedges (didn't have that either, so I just used a white onion)
6 small new red potatoes, cut in half
4 medium carrots, cut in 1 inch lengths
cooked rice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F

Season the oxtails with salt, pepper and garlic powder

Using a heavy, oven proof Dutch oven, coat the bottom with olive oil.  Once heated, sear the oxtails on all sides.

Remove and set aside.


Add the beef broth, red wine, Worcestershire sauce and garlic cloves (or powder, in my case).  Stir to combine.

Add the basil and oregano, bay leaves, tomato sauce and oxtails. 

Cover and bake for 2 1/2 hours.

Remove from oven and bring to a simmer on stove top.

Add the oven, carrots and potatoes to the pot.  Cover and simmer until the potatoes are soft - roughly 15 to 20 minutes.  Scrape the meat from the oxtail bones.

Serve over rice!

Entire Recipe:

Paula Dean's Country Oxtails

Ingredients

3 lbs oxtails
1 tsp olive oil
1 can beef broth
1 cup red wine (I used Merlot)
1 T Worcestershire sauce
6 cloves garlic, large ones cut in half (I forgot those - so I just used garlic powder)
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
2 bay leaves
1 8 oz. tomato sauce
1/2 Vidala onion, cut into 6 wedges (didn't have that either, so I just used a white onion)
6 small new red potatoes, cut in half
4 medium carrots, cut in 1 inch lengths
cooked rice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F

Season the oxtails with salt, pepper and garlic powder

Using a heavy, oven proof Dutch oven, coat the bottom with olive oil.  Once heated, sear the oxtails on all sides.
 
Remove and set aside.

Add the beef broth, red wine, Worcestershire sauce and garlic cloves (or powder, in my case).  Stir to combine.

Add the basil and oregano, bay leaves, tomato sauce and oxtails. 

Cover and bake for 2 1/2 hours.

Remove from onion and bring to a simmer on stove top.

Add the onion, carrots and potatoes to the pot.  Cover and simmer until the potatoes are soft - roughly 15 to 20 minutes.
 
Scrape the meat from the oxtail bones.

Serve over rice!

Verdict:

OH MY!!  Was this ever good!!  This was most definitely a winner and I will be making this again.  Though I think you could easily replace the oxtails with stew beef and not notice any difference.  Everyone in our household enjoyed this meal - especially our dogs who got all the bones from the oxtails - so it was a winner all around! 

  

Stove Top Pizza!

A friend of mine sent me a link on Facebook the other day from the Chef's Tool Box website which had a video for "Skillet Pizza."  Wow!!  It looked easy and the pizza looked great.  I knew I had to give this a try.  So I did a search for "skillet pizza" and "stove top pizza" - never knew there was THAT many recipes!!!  Who knew!!

The website that seemed to have the closest recipe to the one on the video was on the sautepanrecipes.com website (though I did have to make a few minor adjustments).

This pizza is SO easy.  The hardest part (at least, what I found to be) is adjusting the temperature so the bottom of your crust doesn't burn.  Onto the recipe:

Stove Top Pizza

Dough Ingredients

1/2 cup self-rising flour (yes, you really need this!!)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 rounded tsp of dried yeast
1 tsp of honey
2/3 cup of lukewarm water

Measure the two flours and salt into your pan
Add the honey, yeast and water

Mix together and spread the dough over the pan (the dough will seem really thin - don't worry it will rise as it bakes!)

Pizza topping

1/3 cup tomato paste
1 T dried Italian herbs (basil, oregano and parsley)
And whatever other toppings you wish)

Combine the tomato paste and herbs in a small bowl and then spread over the pizza dough with a spatula (ok, I cheated and used store bought pizza sauce - I didn't have any tomato paste!)

Top with your favorite toppings (I used pepperoni, mushrooms and goat cheese - yum!!)

Place the pan over medium heat and cover.
Cook for 5 minutes with any vents closed or covered.
Open up any vents, reduce heat to medium low and cook for an additional 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove pan from heat, using a spatula, lift the pizza onto a board and slice.

Entire Recipe:

Stove Top Pizza

Dough Ingredients

1/2 cup self-rising flour (yes, you really need this!!)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 rounded tsp of dried yeast
1 tsp of honey
2/3 cup of lukewarm water

Measure the two flours and salt into your pan
Add the honey, yeast and water
Mix together and spread the dough over the pan (the dough will seem really thin - don't worry it will rise as it bakes!)

Pizza topping

1/3 cup tomato paste
1 T dried Italian herbs (basil, oregano and parsley)
And whatever other toppings you wish)

Combine the tomato paste and herbs in a small bowl and then spread over the pizza dough with a spatula.
Top with your favorite toppings.
Place the pan over medium heat and cover.
Cook for 5 minutes with any vents closed or covered.
Open up any vents, reduce heat to medium low and cook for an additional 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove pan from heat, using a spatula, lift the pizza onto a board and slice.
Enjoy!!

Verdict

First of all, this is such an easy pizza to make!!   Takes only a few minutes to whip this up.  My husband loved it, so I will probably be making this again.  I did have a few problems - the center part of my dough did burn.  I have a new gas stove so I will have to learn where medium low really is.  I was pleasantly surprised by the pizza - it was pretty good - a lot better than my "usual" pizza I make.  If you like thin crust pizzas, this is the recipe for you.  I don't have a pan with "vents", so I had to make do with what I had.  I will have to figure something better out.  Stand tuned for a "new and improved" version coming soon!

Beth Howard's Blueberry Pie

Lately I have been on such an apple pie binge, thought it was time for a change.  I was at my local Krogers and saw the blueberries and a new adventure was born.  Now to find a good recipe that used blueberries.  That is when I opened Beth Howards' Ms. American Pie cookbook.   I love her book (and her blog!) and have made several of her pies, each one delicious!!  (You have to try her Sweet Potato pie - out of this world!!!).  This recipe looked so easy and didn't require a major run to the grocery store.

For this recipe, I used the pie dough recipe in the Apple Pie with Golden Raisins recipe I made a week or two ago.  Here is the link:  Pie Dough Recipe

Blueberry Pie by Beth Howard

Pie Filling:

3 pints fresh blueberries
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425

Prepare your pie dough (make sure it is enough for a double crust)

To make the filling, combine the berries, sugar and cornstarch.  Make sure they are evenly coated.

Pour into prepared pie shell.  Dot with butter.

Add top pie crust.  I did mine as a lattice because I love how lattice pies look. 

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.  Reduce temperature to 375 and bake another 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool on a rack.

Entire Recipe:

Blueberry Pie by Beth Howard

Pie Filling:

3 pints fresh blueberries
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425

Prepare your pie dough (make sure it is enough for a double crust.

To make the filling, combine the berries, sugar and cornstarch.  Make sure they are evenly coated.

Pour into prepared pie shell.

Add top pie crust.  I did mine as a lattice because I love how lattice pies look. 

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.  Reduce temperature to 375 and bake another 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool on a rack.

Comments:

My resident "pie expert" (aka my husband) LOVED the pie.  He thought this blueberry pie was better than the last one.  I thought it was a bit too runny but it was really good with ice cream (ok, almost everything is good with ice cream!!).  Since he loved this so much, I see this pie in my future again.  It is really a very good tasting pie.

German Apple Streusel Cake

I found this recipe on the My Best German Recipes website.  It is such an easy recipe and you can whip this up in a matter of minutes.  Most of your time spent will be peeling and chopping the apples.  The only thing is that all the ingredients are done in grams so you would need a food scale (which you can get at Walmart - they are very cheap).  You will need a very large springform pan for this (again they have these at Walmart - a set of 3 usually runs $9.99).

German Apple Streusel Cake 

Dough

300 g all purpose flour
200 g butter (I used unsalted)
100 g white sugar
1 egg
1 pinch of salt

Topping

5 large apples
1 tsp cinnamon

Streusel

200 g all purpose flour
200 g butter (again I used unsalted)
200 g white sugar

Directions 

Preheat your overn to 350. 

Mix all the ingredients together for the dough until it holds together - it should not crumble.

Wrap it in saran wrap and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Peel, core and slice the apples.  Sprinkle the cinnamon over the apples and let sit while preparing the springform pan.

Roll out the dough and gently press it into the springform pan, letting it rise about an inch up the side.
Spread the apples around the dough.

Mix together all the ingredients for the streusel topping - it should look like big crumbles. 

Spread over the apples.

Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove from oven, set on a rack to cool for about 10 to 15 minutes, then remove ring around cake.
Enjoy!

Entire Recipe:

German Apple Streusel Cake 

Dough

300 g all purpose flour
200 g butter (I used unsalted)
100 g white sugar
1 egg
1 pinch of salt

Topping

5 large apples
1 tsp cinnamon

Streusel

200 g all purpose flour
200 g butter (again I used unsalted)
200 g white sugar

Directions 

Preheat your overn to 350.
Mix all the ingredients together for the dough until it holds together - it should not crumble.
Wrap it in saran wrap and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Peel, core and slice the apples.  Sprinkle the cinnamon over the apples and let sit while preparing the springform pan.
Roll out the dough and gently press it into the springform pan, letting it rise about an inch up the side.
Spread the apples around the dough.
Mix together all the ingredients for the streusel topping - it should look like big crumbles.  Spread over the apples.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove from oven, set on a rack to cool for about 10 to 15 minutes, then remove ring around cake.
Enjoy!
Verdict:

My husband LOVED it!!  I thought it was really good.  It was more of an apple pie than a cake.  Yes, this is another keeper recipe!