Martin often chooses Ruth's Chris as our special date destination. As a matter of fact, we're going there tomorrow night in celebration of our 33rd wedding anniversary. I love me some steak from Ruth's Chris, though I may have to modify my dinner this time, after looking at the calorie content for some of those fine steaks. ONE of them equaled out to a whopping 1,500 calories - or, in other words, the complete caloric intake I'm allowed for an entire day. I knew that, beyond the ridiculously hot ovens used, the other secret to those melt-in-your-mouth steaks is BUTTER. Lots of it, apparently, based on that huge amount of calories!
After my careful research, I've come up with what I'm going to order tomorrow night. A meal that will taste divine without breaking the bank on my allowed calorie intake. It'll be asparagus instead of potatoes, a lettuce wedge instead of the (much better) chopped salad, and a petite filet with shrimp as the main attraction. And when I've eaten all those sensible choices, I'll squander some calories on a nice dessert! Hey, your anniversary only comes once a year!
Everything is good at Ruth's Chris. Well...maybe not. I had crab cakes there once and they tasted so awful and fishy that I couldn't even finish them. Do you know how hard it is not to eat all of a entree when it's cost you as much as anything on the Ruth's Chris menu????? One dish I do love, however, is their au gratin potatoes - though to be honest, I love about any kind of potato dish that involves heavy cream and lots of cheese! When I found this copycat recipe on the internet, I had to try it.
Here's the deal. It's an easy dish to make and it tastes great. Is it just like Ruth's Chris'???? I don't know because it's been a very long time since we last had a meal there (like say, maybe, last August 30th????). Hmmmm....does this mean I'm going to have to order some of those potatoes just so I can do a fair comparison test?
Ruth Chris Steakhouse Potatoes Au Gratin
5 medium russet potatoes, peeled
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 Tbsp flour
1 large clove garlic, pressed
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp fresh black pepper
1 Tbsp butter softened
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut the potatoes into 1/4 inch slices, then quarter each of those slices.
Beat together the cream, milk, flour, garlic, salt, and pepper by hand just till well combined.
Coat the inside of a large baking dish with the softened butter. Arrange the potatoes in the dish and pour the cream mixture over the potatoes.
Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake another 20 or so minutes or until the potatoes are starting to brown on the top.
Note: Watch the time as every oven is different. The recipe called for a total of 60 minutes but my potatoes were overcooked. The second time around, at 40 minutes total, they were perfect.
Sprinkle grated cheese over the top and continue to bake for another 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly browned and the potatoes are tender.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Chicken Pot Pie
I recently had surgery. Everything went well and I'm healing nicely, after a few days of being completely unable to move and having to rely on Martin to do everything from help me get up from the toilet to cooking.
The first few days home it didn't much matter what was in the house to eat because I had no appetite whatsoever. In those first three days post-surgery, I think I had one small bowl of canned soup to eat. That's about when Dr. Emily got involved and decided I needed more nutrients than I was getting. When her father messed up the order for Odwalla drinks, Emily decided to bypass him completely by having Vons deliver all kinds of good healthy foods to keep me going. That girl of mine earned some MAJOR points for managing to stock my kitchen with healing foods, even from three thousand miles away.
Friends also brought food and that was greatly appreciated. When I felt well enough to brave the kitchen I realized how much I'd been craving a good solid pot pie so I decided to make one. I'm not a fabulous cook but I do know my way around a kitchen and can, like my mom, whip up something to eat in a fairly short amount of time. Making this pie was different, however. With little strength and a still very achey stomach, going through the paces of putting together the components of my pot pie began to feel like I'd signed up to dig a trench. A really deep and long trench. In hard, unyielding soil.
Yea. I wasn't quite myself and everything felt hard and very, very tiring. That said, the pie turned out great. Maybe it was just sickey me feeling enveloped with healing with every wholesome bite - whatever the magic, I know I ate a piece of that pie every day for almost a week, eagerly anticipating the smell and taste of the next best thing to Mom's chicken soup.
Chicken Pot Pie
Recipe Courtesy of The Girl Who Ate Everything
Ingredients:
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen carrots and peas
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
32 oz. carton chicken broth for boiling(reserve 1 3/4 cups chicken broth for sauce)
2/3 cup milk
2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts
(Next time I make this I'll add potatoes.)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)
Place one of the crusts in the bottom of a pie pan and prick with a fork. I like to slightly bake the bottom crust before filling the pie so it isn't soggy. Just bake for 5-6 minutes at 425 degrees.
In a pot, combine the raw chicken, carrots, peas, celery. Add the carton of chicken broth to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain (reserving 1 3/4 cups chicken broth for filling) and set aside.
In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. (NOTE: One thing I loved about this recipe is the way the sauce thickened up so nicely. You know how you have those recipes that tell you to stir until thickened and you just keep stirring and wondering if the sauce is ever going to thicken and, then when it does, you can't really figure out if it's thickened ENOUGH or are you just imagining the thickening because your arm is about to fall off from all that stirring. I hate that. And on a day when remaining standing for any length of time was a bit of an accomplishment, I appreciated a sauce that had the good sense to thicken right up in a quick and very noticeable way.)
Remove from heat and combine with the chicken, carrots, peas, and celery mixture. Here you can add more chicken broth if you like depending how runny you want your filling.
Place the chicken filling in bottom crust. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.
The first few days home it didn't much matter what was in the house to eat because I had no appetite whatsoever. In those first three days post-surgery, I think I had one small bowl of canned soup to eat. That's about when Dr. Emily got involved and decided I needed more nutrients than I was getting. When her father messed up the order for Odwalla drinks, Emily decided to bypass him completely by having Vons deliver all kinds of good healthy foods to keep me going. That girl of mine earned some MAJOR points for managing to stock my kitchen with healing foods, even from three thousand miles away.
Friends also brought food and that was greatly appreciated. When I felt well enough to brave the kitchen I realized how much I'd been craving a good solid pot pie so I decided to make one. I'm not a fabulous cook but I do know my way around a kitchen and can, like my mom, whip up something to eat in a fairly short amount of time. Making this pie was different, however. With little strength and a still very achey stomach, going through the paces of putting together the components of my pot pie began to feel like I'd signed up to dig a trench. A really deep and long trench. In hard, unyielding soil.
Yea. I wasn't quite myself and everything felt hard and very, very tiring. That said, the pie turned out great. Maybe it was just sickey me feeling enveloped with healing with every wholesome bite - whatever the magic, I know I ate a piece of that pie every day for almost a week, eagerly anticipating the smell and taste of the next best thing to Mom's chicken soup.
Chicken Pot Pie
Recipe Courtesy of The Girl Who Ate Everything
Ingredients:
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen carrots and peas
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
32 oz. carton chicken broth for boiling(reserve 1 3/4 cups chicken broth for sauce)
2/3 cup milk
2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts
(Next time I make this I'll add potatoes.)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)
Place one of the crusts in the bottom of a pie pan and prick with a fork. I like to slightly bake the bottom crust before filling the pie so it isn't soggy. Just bake for 5-6 minutes at 425 degrees.
In a pot, combine the raw chicken, carrots, peas, celery. Add the carton of chicken broth to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain (reserving 1 3/4 cups chicken broth for filling) and set aside.
In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. (NOTE: One thing I loved about this recipe is the way the sauce thickened up so nicely. You know how you have those recipes that tell you to stir until thickened and you just keep stirring and wondering if the sauce is ever going to thicken and, then when it does, you can't really figure out if it's thickened ENOUGH or are you just imagining the thickening because your arm is about to fall off from all that stirring. I hate that. And on a day when remaining standing for any length of time was a bit of an accomplishment, I appreciated a sauce that had the good sense to thicken right up in a quick and very noticeable way.)
Remove from heat and combine with the chicken, carrots, peas, and celery mixture. Here you can add more chicken broth if you like depending how runny you want your filling.
Place the chicken filling in bottom crust. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.
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