American Made Yes

CHICKEN and POLISH SAUSAGE WITH JASMINE RICE Here is a terrific recipe for entertaining since you can make it ahead and easily serve it the following day for dinner, adding a first course and a dessert for easy and elegant entertaining.

This has been tested for you and we have only under seasoned it to allow you to add additional salt, pepper, or other spices. but do so with care, because there are delicate flavors which will be lost if you over season and of course, the sausage itself is strongly flavored. You can see a photograph of ways to arrange it.

Frst decide on your serving dish, an oven poof casserole that will look good on your buffet table so guests can serve themselves, or if you pushed for space, a dish that can stay on your dining table in front of you, where you can spoon out the portions and pass the filled plates to your guests. This way the hot dish does not have to held by anyone. If you don't have a large casserole, use two smaller ones. The recipe below will feed 8.

Ingredients: 1 lb. of sausage, Polish Kielbasa is a good choice.

2 lb. of boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

2 medium onions, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp. salt

1 cup of white wine

2 cups of vegetable or chicken broth

¼ cup each of olive oil* and butter

2 stalks of celery. diced

2 carrots, diced

1¼ cups Jasmine rice* or white rice

1½ cups frozen broccoli or peas

1 red pepper in thin strips

¼ tsp each dried basil* and dried parsley* or chopped fresh if you have it in your garden

In a large saucepan, heat olive i oil and butter gently, add onions and garlic and sauté until translucent. Add uncut kielbasa, carrot, celery, red pepper, wine, broth,and rice. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and cover. Simmer gently for about 25-30 minutes until the rice is tender, but not mushy. Add broccoli or peas and cook for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat and add the frozen peas. Set aside.

Heat the oven to 425 and lightly oil a pan. Place chicken breasts on the pan and roast chicken breast until firm to touch about 25 minutes. Remove from oven.. Now you have choices. If there is room in your fridge for your large serving dishes, you can arrange the ingredients on it and cover tightly with aluminum foil, put in the fridge until an hour before serving time. If space is limited, wrap chicken in aluminum foil tightly and refrigerate. Put the rice and kielbasa in a bow. Adjust seasonings, cover tightly and refrigerate.

It all should come out of the fridge to warm up a bit about 15 minutes before heating. Preheat oven to 325. Arrange the food (see the photograph below) in your serving oven proof dishes, cover with aluminum foil tightly and heat until hot., about 25 -30 minutes. Uncover and carefully add more water, distributed evenly over the top, if mixture is dry. Turn oven down to 200 to keep everything warm.

This will retain its taste for two days if kept covered in the refrigerator. There are photographs below to give you ideas. Freshly cooked asparagus or zucchini can be added. For a first course, see the mushroom appetizer below.

(If you want to turn it into a family recipe, buy a whole chicken, cut into pieces, about 4 lbs. Wash, remove giblets. In a deep oven proof pan with a cover, sauté onions and garlic. The add the chicken and the kielbasa, bring to a boil, add the rice and other ingredients. Remove from heat, cover and put in a 350 oven. Let cook for 30 minutes. Add rice. Let cook for a further 30 minutes until rice is tender. add broth or water if it is too dry and season to taste.

If you are feeling energetic and want to do something really elegant for dessert, try the French mocha layer cake below. This is a great keeper. You can make it two or three days ahead. It's very "rich" and serves 12 easily.

*Olive oil comes from Italy, France, Greece. *Jasmine rice comes from more than one country. US produces  brown, white, and some jasmine. Herbs come from overseas unless you can grow them yourself or get them growing live in your supermarket. I grow mine in pots first in the cold frame which you can see on crafts projects, and then on the steps outside the kitchen- two steps and I have fresh basil, rosemary, thyme, chives, parsley, nasturtium. And here in New Hampshire, we've had "patio tomatoes" for the last three weeks, vine ripened.  

Creole Stuffed Peppers Recipe
By Lee Griffith

A couple of weeks ago we were working on some family projects and needed a real quick and easy-to-fix dinner. My wife, Sue, searched the cupboards and found a package of Zatarain's® New Orleans Style Jambalaya Mix. She also had some fresh ground meat in the fridge, so she used that as the meat for the jambalaya. When I tasted it, the first thing I thought of is how great something like that would taste as the stuffing for stuffed green bell peppers.

Now those of you who have received my recipes for any length of time know that I love to cook from scratch. I even mix my own spice mixes and meat rubs, instead of buying the pre-mixed ones (I save a lot of money doing that, too!). However, there is another side of me that likes to put together something once in awhile that is quick and easy. Something like a "Rachael Ray" type meal--something that has layers and layers of flavor, but does not require hours and hours of prep time. On Friday I went with my stuffed pepper idea, developing it into what I would have to say is one of the best recipes I've ever come up with! Here it is:

Ingredients:

8 to 10 green bell peppers
2 tbsp. canola oil
1 lb. ground sausage (mild Italian is good)
1 lb. ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 (8 oz.) package Zatarain's® New Orleans Style Jambalaya Mix
1 cup ketchup
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
2 tsp. Louisiana hot pepper sauce
1/4 tsp. celery salt

Instructions:

Cut the tops off the green peppers and remove seeds and membranes from peppers. Chop from the edges of the tops of the peppers until you have 1 cup of chopped pepper. In a large saucepan or skillet, heat the canola oil. Add the sausage and ground beef and break up thoroughly while browning (and mix together well). When the meat is fairly well browned, add the chopped pepper, onion and celery. Keep stirring over medium heat until veggies start to become tender. Add 2.5 cups of water and the Zatarain's® jambalaya mix. Keep stirring. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand. Refrigerate this mixture a few hours before stuffing peppers. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Set the peppers in large casserole and/or a deep baking dish (or dishes). With a spoon, fill each pepper with the jambalaya mixture. Pack down the mixture pretty well and fill so that mixture is level with the top edge of each pepper. (Depending on the size of the bell peppers, the mixture should fill 8 to 10 peppers.) In a 2-cup measuring cup or a bowl, thoroughly mix the ketchup, the tomato sauce, the pepper sauce and the celery salt. Scoop this mixture equally over the top of the mixture in the peppers. Cover (aluminum foil makes a fine cover) and bake at 350 degrees for an hour. These peppers taste great served with a side salad and French rolls!

Copyright © 2007 Lee Griffith. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lee Griffith, a.k.a. "Griff" is the author of several blogs. Griff describes himself as a "former kitchen klutz" who now has a passion for cooking and developing great recipes. Griff would like to send you a FREE E-BOOK with 32 great chili recipes, along with a free recipe every week via email. To receive, simply click on http://optin2.griffsrecipes.com

Check out "Griff's Recipe Report" at http://GriffsRecipeReport.com

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Here's an easy to do Ridge House  casserole which  you can serve the following day, easily serving 10 -12 people if you include a salad and rolls. 
 

Try putting this together in the morning, then cover with aluminium foil and refrigerate.

3 medium onions, diced, sauteed until translucent in 1/4 cup butter or butter and olive oil 

add  1/4 tsp each mace, cumin, marjoram, plus 1/2 tsp powdered garlic and 10 drops of Tabasco sauce.

Stir well. Stir in 1 cup of brown or white rice.

Add 3 cans of cream of mushroom soup plus 3 cans of water. Bring to a boil, then simmer 20 - 30 minutes until rice is almost soft but not dry, There should a creamy sauce. 

Add two cups of mixed vegetables  and simmer for five -8 minutes until vegetables are tender.(sliced carrots,  broccoli,  cubed butternut squash, shredded cabbage). 

If you use  leftover vegetables, do not cook them with the rice but add to the meat mixture, below.

3 to 4 cups leftover ham, diced, 2 cups leftover cooked, boneless chicken, diced, and 4 leftover baked potatoes, skinned and diced.

In an oven proof casserole (9x12x2) spread the chicken, ham, and potato. Then add the rice and vegetables, stirring very lightly so as not to mash the vegetables.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup shredded gruyere over the top. Cover with aluminum foil, refrigerate.

To prepare for serving, heat covered, in a 350 oven for 30 to 40 minutes.  Add water if necessary for a creamy sauce.  This keeps well in a warm oven until ready to serve, with crusty rolls and red wine.