Brunch Gratinee Eggs

Back when I was still working full time, had teenage children at home, had fewer hours of time for anything, I seemed to be able to squeeze in more entertaining than I do now. I loved spending 8-10 hours in the kitchen prepping all the dishes for a brunch for 10 people for the next day. Now that I'm retired, have more time on my hands (no, I'm rarely bored), I don't entertain as often. Why is that? Must be because I've slowed down my hectic pace. I must have been far more organized than I am now. And today I don't choose to spend so many hours in kitchen prep either.

But in those days Dave and I often entertained, either at home or on our sailboat. At least once a month we had brunches or dinners on the boat for 6-10 people, motoring around Newport Harbor, usually dropping a short anchor in one of the very chichi private lagoons, just long enough to tip a few glasses of wine or champagne, have brunch or dinner, then we'd motor again as we enjoyed coffee and dessert, glancing into the gorgeous multi-million dollar homes that line Newport Harbor. In the evenings, the houses were lit up and looked so beautiful. Back then we kept our boat on a mooring (for the non-boaters, that's a permanent anchoring place that's not at a dock, but sits offshore about 100-200 feet) in Newport, so we had to row a rotted old fiberglass dinghy from the shore to the boat, remove all the paraphernalia we used to TRY to keep the seagulls from defecating all over the decks, because they thought the boat was their private hanging-out place when we weren't on board, motor it to our small yacht club (a 30-minute ride) to wash and scrub the decks, then get ready for entertaining. Now our boat is in San Diego, at a dock and we don't have to do that - we drive about 80 minutes and we're on board at a comfy dock. More gasoline to drive there, but a heck of a lot less work and stress.

So, brunch dishes became a staple in my cooking repertoire, and I was always on the lookout for something new and different. Something that could be made ahead, too, since the galley on our 38-foot sailboat isn't exactly roomy. It's certainly functional, but it isn't luxurious. It has a small double sink, hot water, a propane 4-burner stove, an oven plus a narrow but deep refrigerator.

I have a number of different egg casseroles I've made over the years, and I'll likely share most of them here in time. But this one is a favorite of all the choices. I've made this for Christmas morning when we've had a houseful of people. Have all the ingredients all ready, then mix it up just before baking. And I've made it for numerous brunches at home as well. It's not difficult. The Italian sausage is what makes it, though. Please don't substitute, although you could use turkey Italian sausage. But not the pre-cooked type - use only fresh sausage. The recipe came from Bon Appetit magazine. I don't know when, but at least 20 years ago! But it's still just as good this many years later.

Brunch Gratinée Eggs
Recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine
Servings: 10
1 lb Italian sausage -- sweet or hot
1 tbsp butter
8 med mushrooms -- sliced
1 med red onion -- chopped
12 lg eggs -- beaten
1 cup milk
8 oz mozzarella cheese -- shredded
2 med tomatoes -- peeled & chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper -- fresh ground
1/2 tsp oregano -- crumbled

1. Preheat oven to 400. Generously grease large ovenproof skillet or large, shallow baking dish; set aside. Crumble sausage into skillet and fry over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until sausage is no longer pink. Drain well and transfer to large bowl.
2. Wipe out skillet. Add butter and melt over medium heat. Add mushrooms and onion and sauté until onion is soft, but not brown. Stir into sausage. Blend in remaining ingredients, mixing thoroughly. Turn into prepared dish. Bake until knife inserted in center comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes.
NOTES : This makes a lovely dish for the holidays, as everything could be made ahead and mixed at the last minute and popped into the oven.
Per Serving : 359 Calories; 28g Fat (70.6% calories from fat); 20g Protein; 6g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 316mg Cholesterol; 644mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 2 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 4 Fat.
To view a printable PDF recipe, click on title at top. (photo from Kraft foods)

Palla, Pella, Paella

I'd never even heard about paella until about 1967. Wow, that's 40 years ago. At the time I was living in Denver, Colorado, and friends had returned from serving 3 years U.S. Navy duty in Rota, Spain. We got acquainted with them and began having dinner at one another's homes on a regular basis. Joan was a good cook, and was happy to share her knowledge about Spanish food she'd learned about and prepared. They had lived "on the economy," meaning they'd lived off the base, in a regular house, not on the U.S. Navy base, so had made friends with a few locals. One particular neighbor shared food with them and showed her how to make some of the Spanish dishes.

So one night Joan and Roger prepared their version of Spanish paella. They also served us her version of Sangria, which I'll share another day. Joan explained that after trying many different kinds of paella in Spain, the only one they really liked was this one which combines chicken, Italian-style sausage and shellfish all together in the one dish. She explained that the flavoring of the sausage added a big boost to the flavor. She also said she varied the kind and amount of fish/shellfish included in it, but it always had to have the chicken drumsticks and sausage added as well.

Happily I began making it and have done so about 15 times over the years. It needs to be made for a crowd as it will feed about 12 people. And I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that this is an expensive dish to make - the more shellfish, the more those dollars add up. Eventually I acquired a paella pan, an inexpensive model from Williams-Sonoma (not available per their website). It was less than $15. And I'd be remiss again if I didn't tell you that this dish does take a moderate amount of prep time. There's a bunch of mincing, chopping and sauteing in several pans, to be done. So leave ample time to complete all those tasks.

Here's a photo of the drumsticks with the onions, yellow bell pepper and garlic. I will admit that over these 40 years I've had some difficulty with the paella - sometimes the rice didn't get cooked. Sometimes the chicken didn't quite get done, and sometimes the shellfish was undercooked. Maybe if this was made out in the open, in the huge paella pans used by the original sheepherders, you'd know it's done because it was stirred more often. Here in the U.S. anyway, the presentation is half the pleasure of serving it - with all of the shrimp tails standing up, the drumsticks arranged artfully in a spoke pattern and the rice buried underneath. I've used scallops and langostinos, squid, fresh clams and fresh mussels too. Just don't use all of those as there's no way you can get them all on top of the rice.

Here's my advice when making paella:
1. cook the rice until it's just a hair's breadth from being done (I do this in a separate pan now);
2. brown and cook the drumsticks until they, too, are just barely done;
3. if using frozen shellfish, defrost it fully first;
4. if covering with foil, leave it tented with a space for steam, as that helps to cook all the fish nestled into the top layer; in other words, form it into a kind of dome;
5. and lastly, cook the Italian sausage until it's lost all of it's pink color, and mince it up into small bite-sized pieces.

Here's a photo of the rice - you must brown the rice before finally finishing the preparation of the paella. It has a really rich color and the steamy flavor from it is SO good. Until I visited Hungary some years ago I didn't know there were so many types of paprika, so I now have the traditional, half sharp and smoked. I used some of the half sharp and the smoked paprika in the paella this time and liked it. I order most of my spices now from Penzey's, and you do know, don't you, that paprika must be kept refrigerated. Little critters love to get into that herb and it loses its flavor left at room temperature. The addition of saffron is essential - it's so very Spanish, and leaves a nice underlying character to the rice.

Finally, you begin pulling it all together. You add the canned clams and sausage to the rice, then all that is poured into the bottom of the paella pan, then the drumsticks are placed in a spoke. Shellfish is strategically placed in and around the drumsticks, tails pointing up. If you add mussels or langostinos, those need to be nestled into the mixture as well. By this time the pan is FULL, let me tell you. Lastly, you throw in a bit of fresh tomato, cover with foil and put into the oven. If the fish is cold, just remember that it takes a bit of time for the entire mixture to heat up enough to cook the fish, so make sure it's done before serving. It always seems to take longer than I think. Take a peek and be certain the shrimp is cooked through. Whisk off the foil and garnish with the reserved minced red bell pepper and peas and serve.

Seafood Paella
Recipe: From my friend Joan Wilson, who lived in Spain during the 1960's
Servings: 12

8 whole chicken drumsticks
1 whole garlic clove -- minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 whole saffron threads
1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
1 pound Italian sausage
1 large onion -- chopped
1 whole green pepper -- chopped
1 3/4 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 cup canned clams -- drained, saved
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika (I use half-sharp)
1 pound fresh shrimp, whole -- tails on
4 whole tomatoes -- sliced
1/2 pound frozen peas. defrosted
1 whole red bell pepper

1. In a very large skillet, brown drumsticks in olive oil, cooking on all sides until chicken is nearly cooked through, then set aside to drain. Dissolve the saffron in about 2 T. of warm water. Set aside. Add sausage to the skillet, cut into bite-sized chunks, and sauté for about 5 minutes. Then add the onion, green bell pepper and garlic and sauté for 5-10 minutes, then remove to a bowl and set aside. In a small bowl set aside about 2 T. of diced red bell pepper, and about 1/4 cup of frozen peas. These will be added at the end.
2. To the frying pan add the rice and sauté it until rice is golden brown. Stir in the chicken broth, clam juice, clams, salt, saffron mixture and paprika and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the onions and green bell pepper to the pan, then frozen peas. Cover pan (or make a tent from aluminum foil) and cook until rice is nearly done. If any of the rice is clinging to the side of the pan, stir them into the liquid. Add the sausage and red bell pepper. Pour the rice mixture into the paella pan and smooth out.
3 Preheat the oven to 375°. Place the chicken drumsticks around the pan (on top of the rice) in a spoke fashion, and nestle them down into the rice a little bit. Shell the shrimp, leave tails intact and butterfly them. Nestle them into the rice with their tails curled up. Place tomato slices wherever there is room, cutting in half if necessary. If needed, add a little more chicken broth to the pan. If you're using mussels and scallops, add those, nestling into the rice as you can. Bake for 20 minutes - just long enough to cook the fish and chicken. Sprinkle the paella with the reserved bell pepper and peas and serve.
Serving Ideas : This meal needs nothing more than a green salad and some bread.
NOTES : This is a really impressive dish - and it feeds a crowd - especially if you add the mussels and scallops. To cut down on the fat, substitute turkey sausage, and use skinless chicken thigh meat. It won't be as pretty (the spoked drumsticks are very eye-catching), but it will taste just as good. You might not think that 1 1/2 cups of rice is sufficient to serve 12, but it is. This isn't going to feed 12 lumberjacks, but it will certainly feed 12 hungry adults. Note that recipe calls for 8 drumsticks - if everybody needs a drumstick, fry up more of them and serve separately, just reheat at the last minute. I usually use the half-sharp paprika - meaning it's half regular and half spicy, which gives this a bit of a bite.
Per Serving: 405 Calories; 19g Fat (43.0% calories from fat); 29g Protein; 27g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 129mg Cholesterol; 663mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 3 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 2 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.
To view a printable recipe, click on the title at top.

Sausage Pinwheels

In years gone by, I used to entertain on the fly a lot more than I do now. So I always needed recipes that were quick. My problem is that quick doesn't always mean good or tasty to me. Or at least back in those years I didn't have many quick recipes that were also exceptional. One of my other problems is that when I prepare a dinner for friends, at the back of my mind I'm always wanting to wow them. I've learned that's just not possible with every part of a meal, but I still try. So, this recipe was a regular for me because I could make it ahead and it "lived" in the freezer until I needed some tasty hot appetizer for guests. Originally I made this just around holiday time, but it's really just fine any time of year. I might not make it in the heat of summer just because I prefer cold foods then.

And when I tell you this is easy, I really mean easy. Bisquick dough is hardly difficult - it rolls out easily (really). But as you'll read in the recipe itself, you simply must use a fatty sausage. No Jimmy Dean or butcher ground lean stuff. You want the grocery store tube (I used to buy Farmer John, I think, because that was what my local market carried). High fat. It's necessary to give the biscuit dough the tender flakiness. I tell you this because I've made the mistake of buying leaner sausage, and it absolutely doesn't look right. Doesn't taste good, either. So trust me on this. The other caveat is that you simply must allow the sausage to warm to room temperature - about an hour - before you start spreading it. You can separate the sausage into smaller bits and it will take less time. So, you spread out the sausage on the Bisquick dough and sprinkle it with a tad of cayenne. A tiny tad, actually. Roll up the rolls, reshape them gently, seal the edge, cut them into smaller sections if desired, wrap in waxed paper, then in foil and freeze. The small sections allow you to use only a small amount for a few people, if that's what you need. Otherwise you will be making a lot of them.

Here's a picture of them in the frozen state. When you're ready to prepare them, you must leave them out at room temperature for at least 15 minutes, maybe 20, in order to cut them. If you don't the dough will crack off, which you don't want, of course. As long as you warmed up the sausage ahead of time, this doesn't take more than 15 minutes to prepare, start to finish. You can trust me on that, too.

Hot Sausage Pinwheels
Recipe By :I've been making these for so long I don't remember where the recipe came from!
Serving Size : 12 Preparation Time :0:30

1 pound pork sausage -- NOT lean
1 dash cayenne
2 cups Bisquick® baking mix
2 tablespoons margarine -- softened
Milk

1. Important: allow sausage to warm to room temperature, then blend in cayenne. Mix Bisquick with butter, then add milk according to the "biscuit" directions on the box. On a floured surface, roll dough to a rectangle measuring 12" x 18". With your fingers, spread sausage on the dough, leaving a dough edge around it. Starting from one of the short sides, roll dough like a jelly roll. Seal edge with water and press lightly to seal well. Press doughy ends in a little and seal as best you can.
2. Wrap the rolls in waxed paper, then in foil, seal well, and place on a flat surface in the freezer. Once frozen place in a plastic bag to seal.
3. Preheat oven to 375°. Remove about 10 minutes before you need to slice them. Slice in 1/3 inch slices and place on baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

NOTES : I think I could make these in my sleep. These are really tasty and if your crowd is hungry they'll disappear in a flash. In years gone by I used to keep one or more of these rolls in the freezer at all times, just in case I might need them. It is necessary to use good-old fatty sausage for this dish in order to make the crust tender. Brands like Jimmy Dean are too meaty.

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 255 Calories; 20g Fat (70.3% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 13g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 26mg Cholesterol; 508mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 3 1/2 Fat.
To print just the recipe, click on the title of this post.