1. Andouille Sausage Skillet Pasta (Serves 4)
Ingredients:
- 2 cups chicken broth.
- 2 cloves of garlic (minced).
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 (12.8-ounce) thinly sliced of packaged smoked andouille sausage.
- ½ cup milk.
- 8 ounces elbows pasta.
- 1 can(14.5-ounce) of diced tomatoes.
- An onion (diced).
- 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese.
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste.
Method
In a large cast iron skillet, heat oil, over med. high heat. Adding onion, sausage and garlic, cook and stir often, till sausage becomes browned (lightly), about three to four minutes.
Ladle in tomatoes, pasta, chicken broth and milk. Seasoning with pepper and salt to taste, leave to boil and cover it up. Lower the heat and leave to simmer till the pasta is thoroughly cooked, about twelve to fourteen mins.
Remove from the heat and add cheese on top .then cover till cheese has thoroughly melted, for two minutes and serve at once. Enjoy your breakfast.
2. Italian Chicken, Mushroom, And Zucchini Skillet (Serves 4-6)
Ingredients:
- 2 squares Italian Herb Sauté Express Sauté Starter.
- 1 pound chicken breasts (cut in half) or tenderloins.
- ½ yellow onion, diced.
- 2 teaspoons olive oil.
- 12 ounces mushrooms, sliced.
- 3 cloves garlic, minced.
- 2/3 cup sundried tomatoes.
- 2 zucchini, cut in bite-size chunks.
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning.
- 2 15-ounce cans fire roasted diced tomatoes.
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (optional).
- Salt and pepper, to taste.
Method
Melt the Sauté Express Sauté Starter over medium heat in large cast iron skillet. Heat till it starts to bubble and pat dry chicken on each side. Toss in chicken and sauté till browned or for five to seven minutes. Turn the other side of chicken and cook the till well browned. Meanwhile, brush some Sauté Express Sauté Starter on the chicken side that is facing up.
Remove the chicken from and place aside in a plate. Pour oil into your skillet and set it over medium heat. Cook the onion for three minutes. Toss in mushrooms and keep on cooking for five mins. Add the sundried tomatoes, zucchini and garlic. Cook for two minutes. Add the Italian seasoning, diced tomatoes, pepper and salt. If desired, ladle in balsamic vinegar.
Place chicken back in the cast iron skillet and scoop some of the veggies and sauce over the chicken. Covered and cook in the oven at 350°F or over the stovetop till chicken is thoroughly cooked and the sauce starts to bubble.
3. Cinnamon Crunch Skillet Bread
Ingredients:
Preparing the dough:
- 3 Tbsp. white sugar.
- 1 1/2 tsp. fine salt.
- 3 cups all purpose flour.
- 1 cup milk, warmed to 105-110° F.
- 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil or melted butter.
- 3 tsp. instant or dry active yeast.
Dough brushing:
- 1/2 tsp. Vanilla.
- 1/3 cup butter, melted.
For coating the dough in:
- 3/4 cup brown sugar.
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon.
Streusel topping:
- 1/4 cup brown sugar.
- 1 tablespoon butter, cold.
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
Glaze:
- 2 cups icing/confectioners’ sugar.
- 2 Tbsp. maple syrup.
- 1/4 cup milk.
- 1/4 cup butter, melted.
- 1 tsp. vanilla.
- 1/8 teaspoon Salt.
Method
Make the dough: Proof the yeast in 1/4 cup of warm water. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the warmed milk, vegetable oil and proofed yeast. Knead with the dough hook until dough is smooth, adding more flour by the Tbsp. as necessary. Remove dough to an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise to doubled, about 60 minutes.
Grease a skillet and set aside.
Divide dough into two pieces and roll into a rope about 3 feet long. Place the dough on to a long piece or parchment or foil wrap and liberally brush with melted butter mixed with the vanilla. Then pour the mixture of cinnamon/sugar,evenly with buttered ropes and roll the them thoroughly in the mixture till evenly covered and pinch the rope ends together and twist. pinch second end once and twist all together.
Place twisted ropes into the skillet, starting from the centre and winding it around. (If you have some melted butter left over from brushing, feel free to drizzle it over the dough). Cover the skillet with greased plastic wrap and let rise until doubled.
Meanwhile, prepare the streusel topping by combining dry ingredients and cutting in the cold butter with a fork. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350° F. Once dough is doubled, sprinkle with streusel topping and bake for 40-45 minutes, covering it with foil after 25 or 30 minutes if is dark enough.
Meanwhile, prepare the glaze by combining the wet ingredients and adding to the powdered sugar. Stir well until smooth. Pour evenly over bread once it has cooled a bit.
4. Polenta Skillet Eggs with Chorizo (Serves 3-4)
Ingredients:
- ¾ Cup dry polenta or corn meal.
- 1 Cup of grated melting cheese (cheddar ,jack, mozzarella).
- 8 oz chorizo (links or ground) browned.
- ½ teaspoon of paprika (smoked).
- ¼ cilantro (chopped and divided).
- ½ chicken stock.
- 6 eggs.
- Pepper and salt to taste.
Method
Pre-heat your oven to 400°F.Brown chorizo or sausage using a cast iron skillet and place aside. Add the stock and bring it to a boil, using the same skillet. Reduce heat to medium low and toss in smoked paprika and polenta. Whisk vigorously in order to avoid clumping. Once thoroughly whisked, cover and lower the heat to cook for fifteen minutes. Stir occasionally, add in the grated cheese and stir to mix thoroughly. Fold in half of the chorizo (or sausage), half of the diced cilantro. If necessary, add salt to taste (because if you are using chorizo and chicken stock, they are naturally salty).Make your polenta flavourful and add pepper to taste.
Set, in the centre, the second half of chorizo on top of polenta. Using a spoon, make small indentations (circles) within the polenta for the eggs to rest, just around outer edges of your cast iron skillet. Break the eggs and set them in the indentations. Add pepper and salt lightly on each egg. Set the skillet in the preheated oven, baking till egg whites and yolks become white and set. Cook till you reached your desired doneness). I often broil for just one minute. Then garnish with the remaining cilantro and hot sauce.
Hint: You could add a bed sautéed peppers, sautéed spinach, sautéed mushrooms and sautéed onions to it and by placing polenta on top, right beneath the eggs.
5. Skillet Potato Cake
Ingredients:
- 6 potatoes peeled.
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter.
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.
- 2 teaspoons chopped rosemary.
- Chives for garnish.
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt.
Method
Melt butter and simmer gently, in a cast iron skillet. Slowly pour butter into a bowl when milk solids begin to sink to bottom. Keep as much of white milky liquid as you in the skillet and pour away the milk solids placed aside.
Slice all the potatoes to thin (1/8inch) slices. I make use of my trusty mandolin to make sure they become as thin as possible.
Ladle them onto a bowl, covering with 3/4 of melted butter. Then season with little rosemary, pepper and salt. Toss in order to coat potatoes with the melted butter. Spoon remaining butter within the bottom of the skillet and swirl around to thoroughly coat the sides and bottom.
Set the potatoes in layer and press them down gently to ensure they start sticking together to form a cake. Set your cast iron skillet on stove top applying medium high heat; cook till edges begins to turn brown, for five to eight minutes. Then place skillet in oven, heated at about 400°F.Cook till potatoes start to feel tender within the centre when pressed with a fork. Lower the temp. to about 350°F if the potatoes begin to brown very fast.
Remove skillet and carefully discard excess liquid or butter that might have formed on the bottom. Set skillet on flat surface, covering with a platter slightly larger than the skillet. Turn platter over but rather carefully. Lifting off skillet, use large spatula to transfer it back into the skillet. Ladle the butter back in and sauté in the oven for an extra five to eight minutes and remove from oven. Discard any liquid, garnishing with chives and then serve.
6. Skillet Steaks with Gorgonzola Herbed Butter (Serves: 4)
Ingredients:
Preparing the steaks:
- Salt and fresh ground pepper.
- Olive oil.
- 4 ribeye steaks, or your preferred cut.
Herbed butter:
- 1 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped.
- 4 tbsp. Gorgonzola cheese.
- 4 tbsp. butter, softened.
Method
Season all sides of the steaks with fresh ground pepper and salt. Then tightly wrap each steak in a plastic wrap. Set them in your refrigerator, overnight or for few hrs. Remove them from refrigerator, for thirty minutes before cooking so as to ensure the steaks reach room temperature.
Heat a large skillet over med. Heat ( you could use an open flame with grate if camping or a side burner on a grill).
Sprinkle oil onto bottom of the cast iron skillet and ensure its well-coated. Place each steak into the skillet and cook over the medium heat for two minutes. Flip and sauté the second side of the steak for 2 minutes or cook longer for desired level of doneness. Remove from heat, leave to cool for 5 minutes in the cast iron skillet.
Herbed butter:
Cream Gorgonzola cheese, fresh parsley and butter together and place 1 tbsp herbed butter onto top of each steak and leave to melt over each side as serving.
7. Peach & Blueberry Cobbler (serves 10)
Ingredients:
- 3 tbsp. canola oil.
- 3 tbsp. unsalted butter.
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder.
- 1 cup whole-wheat flour.
- 1/2 teaspoon salt.
- 1/2 cup sugar.
- 3 ripe but firm peaches, (about 1 pound), pitted and sliced into eighths, or 3 1/2 cups frozen.
- 1 cup reduced-fat milk.
- 2 cups (1 pint) fresh or frozen blueberries.
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Method
Begin by Pre-heating your oven to 350degrees.Toss in oil and butter in a cast iron skillet and heat the skillet in the oven till melted, for five to seven mins. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine baking powder, salt and flour. Add vanilla, milk and sugar and stir to thoroughly mix.
Transfer the melted butter mixture into batter. Stir to mix well. Then ladle batter to the hot cast iron skillet. Spoon, evenly, blueberries and peaches over batter and return the skillet to the oven, baking till the batter around the fruit is completely set and the top of the cobbler is browned, for fifty minutes to one hour. Remove and place onto a wire rack to allow cooling, for15 minutes (minimum). Then serve warm.
8. Crispy Potatoes with Green Beans & Eggs (Serves 4)
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice, or 5 cups diced cooked potatoes.
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil.
- 1 cup fresh or cooked green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces.
- 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper.
- 2 cloves garlic, minced.
- 4 large eggs.
- 1/2 teaspoon salt.
- Pinch of paprika, (optional).
- Freshly ground pepper, to taste.
Method
If you desire to use green beans, then cook in large saucepan, boiling with water till it become tender, for three minutes. Drain under running water (cold).
Heat the olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet, set over med. heat till it gets hot enough to sizzle the potatoes. Spread the potatoes evenly and cook, turning constantly with a spatula, till browned and tender, for ten to twelve minutes for cooked, fifteen to twenty minutes for raw potatoes. Then stir in the crushed red pepper, green beans, garlic, pepper and salt.
Crack one egg at a time and slip them into the skillet, right on top of the veggies and space evenly. Then cover, cooking over med. heat till the whites become set and yolks becomes cooked as desired, for three to five mins. If desired, sprinkle paprika on the eggs and serve at once.
9. Cranberry Cornbread (Serves 10)
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour or white whole-wheat flour.
- 2 cups fine whole-grain cornmeal.
- 1 teaspoon baking soda.
- 1/4 teaspoon salt.
- 1 teaspoon baking powder.
- 2 large eggs.
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil.
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk.
- 1 tbsp of finely grated orange zest.
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries.
- 1/3 cup honey.
- 3/4 cup of fresh cranberries, rinsed and frozen (not thawed) or patted dry.
Method
Start by pre-heating your oven to 400degrees. Coat your cast-iron skillet with cooking spray. In a small bowl add 2 tbsp. of cornmeal and set aside. In a large bowl, mix together whole-wheat flour, the remaining cornmeal, baking soda, salt and baking powder. Whisk eggs, lightly in medium bowl, then whisk in oil, honey, orange zest and buttermilk till smooth. Make an indentation in middle of the dry mixture, then ladle in the wet ingredients, tiring with rubber spatula till well combined. Don’t over mix because batter should appear lumpy.
Toss in the dried but fresh cranberries with the remaining cornmeal. (This will ensure that the fruit do not sink to the bottom during the baking process.) Carefully fold the cornmeal and cranberries into the batter. Then scrape the batter onto the already prepared cast iron skillet.
Bake cornbread till a toothpick inserted to the middle comes out with few moist crumbs and also till the edges turn golden brown, for twenty-five to thirty minutes. Leave to stand for fifteen mins before slicing to wedges. Then serve while warm.
10. Pork Chops with Creamy Mushroom Sauce (Serves 4)
Ingredients:
- 8 ounces sliced mixed mushrooms, such as cremini, shiitake & oyster.
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided.
- 4 bone-in pork chops, 1/2-3/4 inch thick (about 2 pounds), trimmed.
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided.
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper.
- 1/3 cup minced shallots.
- 1/3 cup half-and-half.
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh herbs, such as chives, tarragon and/or parsley.
- 1/2 cup dry white wine.
Method
Sprinkle the pork chops with a quarter tsp. of pepper and salt. Heat one tbsp. olive oil in large cast iron skillet, set over med-high heat. Lower the heat (medium) and toss in two pork chops. Sauté and turn once till it thoroughly cooked, for five to seven mins. Remove and set onto a plate. Cover with aluminium foil and repeat the process with one tbsp oil and with the remaining pork chops.
Pour the remaining one tbsp. olive oil to the skillet. Add mushrooms and shallots and cook, stirring often till mushrooms become browned, for two to four mins. Add the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and wine. Cook and stir up browned bits, till liquid has almost evaporated, for one to three mins. Stir in herbs with half-and-half. Cook pintill it starts to bubble, for an additional one minute. Serve chops with mushroom sauce.