The classic ratatouille has eggplant but that may not be available late in the fall. Any garden vegetables can be used for this dish and the key is to layer the flavors, use good olive oil, and add some fresh herb at the end or a squeeze of lemon juice for brightness.

3 ounces extra virgin olive oil

4 ounces yellow onion, Medium dice

4 each fresh garlic cloves, Smash with flat knife to remove outside paper, then using tip of knife, press into sea salt

seasoning to make a paste

1 tablespoon Chef’s Blend Mediterranean Grill Seasoning

8 ounces bell pepper, any color, Remove seeds and medium dice

8 ounces zucchini squash, Cut lengthwise into quarter wedges and cut off interior seed pulp. Slice on a bias into 1/4 inch slices

8 ounces yellow squash, Cut same as zucchini

1 pound fresh tomato, Cut in half across the equator and remove seeds, then rough chop

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn by hand at last minute before service to taste Chef’s Blend Original Sea Salt Seasoning

Warm olive oil in deep saute pan or wide sauce pan until shimmering.

Add onions and sweat on low heat until fragrant and translucent.

Add garlic and keep heat low to prevent burning.

Add Mediterranean seasoning and stir in additional olive oil if needed.

Place bell pepper and squashes in pan and cook over medium heat until softened.

Add in tomatoes and cook until reduced somewhat.

Check seasoning adding Original Sea Salt seasoning to taste.

Add torn basil leaves and serve or hold warm and add basil just before serving.

Keeps well in fridge for next day by reheating with a little water or vegetable stock.

Serving Ideas: Side sauce for quiche, topping for baked potato, works great with rice dishes, and pasta.

Yield: 48 ounces

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 238 Calories; 22g Fat (78.8% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 11g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 13mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 Vegetable; 4 1/2 Fat.

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Servings: 6

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Quickly comes together and can be done with most fruits.

Feel free to be creative with spices or flavors. Don’t overmix the batter or it can get tough.

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 pinch cinnamon, or nutmeg

1 each egg

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup milk, or buttermilk

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 cup peach,fresh, diced with juices

Stir dry ingredients together in medium bowl. Add milk, egg, vanilla, and oil.

Peel and dice peaches saving juices to add into batter. Can use apples, plums, figs, etc.

Blend in fruit and let rest a couple minutes. Add more flour so batter is thick enough to spoon into frying oil if the fruit is juicy.

Use large tablespoon and spoon batter into oil that is at 375 F.

Do not overcrowd the oil and fry for about 4-5 minutes or until golden brown on both sides. Remove from oil with slotted spoon or spider and drain on screen or paper towels.

Cool slightly then toss in cinnamon sugar or dust well with confectioners sugar.

They will be crispy out of fryer but will become softer as they cool but still fluffy inside. Yield: 12 pieces

Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 97 Calories; 3g Fat (27.6% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 14g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 37mg

Cholesterol; 178mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

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Serving Size: 8     Preparation Time :0:00
Category:           Dessert

Ingredients:

4 ounces  butter (no substitutes), room temp, unsalted (equals one stick)
1/2 cup  sugar, granulated
1 cup  all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons  baking powder
1 pinch  salt
1/3 cup  milk
1/4 tsp  vanilla extract
2 cups  fruit of choice
1/2  cup  granulated sugar
1 cup  fruit juice, or more if desired.

Method:

Oven Temperature: 375°F

1. Mix fruit and second amount of sugar and allow to macerate or breakdown to make juice. Leave fruit in slices or whole berries.

2. Cream butter and sugar until soft and fluffy with wooden spoon or rubber spatula

3. Stir together flour, baking powder, salt

4. Stir dry ingredients into butter mix with vanilla, milk, and blend.

5. Spray pan with Pam or similar and spread batter in pan, does not have to be even.

6. Pour fruit and  juices over pan of batter.

7. Bake until batter puffs up through the fruit and then sprinkle with more granulated sugar for crunchy top and return to oven.

8. Continue to bake until golden brown.

NOTES:

Best if served warm. Can be baked ahead and gently warmed for service.

The post Essie’s Cobbler appeared first on Chef's Blend.

Can use mashed sweet potatoes or any mashed potato.

If using highly seasoned or salted mashed, adjust the salt in formula.

Yield:  3 doz 2oz rolls

Ingredients:

2 cups        mashed potatoes, room temp

1 ½ cup    whole milk, warmed to 100-110 F

4 tsp        instant dry yeast 

1 cup        granulated sugar

4 each        large eggs

1 TBS        Chef’s Blend sea salt seasoning (or plain kosher salt)

6 oz        butter, unsalted, melted until creamy

8 cup        AP flour

Method:

1. Blend flour, salt, dry yeast and sugar in bowl of stand mixer using dough hook.
2. Add eggs one at a time on low speed until combined.
3. Add butter and blend.
4. Add milk and mashed potatoes.
5. Mix on medium speed until dough pulls away from the sides using small amounts of additional flour as needed. Dough will be sticky but should pull away from sides of bowl and start to climb up hook.
6. Transfer dough to lightly greased bowl and let rise until doubled, about 60-90 minutes.
7. Remove dough to floured surface and cut into desired portion size. 2 oz is a good sized roll for sliders or dinner rolls.
8. Round dough pieces and place in 9×13 pans or half sheet pans placing close together so they will proof and bake touching.
9. Proof again until doubled or when touched the dough leaves a dent. 
10. Rolls can be covered and placed in cooler overnight for and baked next day. Bring to room temp and proof as above. Can be frozen in the pans tightly covered and thawed and proofed when needed.
11. Bake at 350 F standard oven until fully baked which is internal temp of 200 F.
12. Before baking after proofing, dust lightly with flour or brush with egg wash for shine. Won’t hurt to brush with plenty of melted butter after removing from oven!
13. These are a very tender roll and will keep at room temp a couple days or freeze and reheat.

Notes:

• Additions to dough include cheese, flavors such as grated horseradish and scallions or chives to go with roast beef.
• If using active dry yeast and not instant yeast, need to activate the yeast in the  warm milk and a pinch of the sugar.

The post Potato Rolls appeared first on Chef's Blend.

1.25 lbs ground beef, pork or turkey

1 cup frozen seasoning blend of onion, celery, and parsley

2 tablespoon Chef’s Blend coffee chili seasoning

1 tsp Chef’s Blend sea salt seasoning (or plain kosher salt)

1/2 cup yellow mustard

1/2 catsup

1/2 water

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

________________________________

1 Use heavy bottom 3 to 4 quart sauce pan and brown ground meat adding small amount of oil if needed.

2 Drain excess water and grease from meat and return to heat.

3 Add frozen vegetable seasoning or use fresh diced onion and celery with a little parsley.

4 Cook over medium heat until vegetables are softened.

5 Add Coffee Chili seasoning and lower heat to bloom flavor of the chilies.

6 Add remaining ingredients, stir well and cook over low heat about 20 minutes adding water as needed to prevent it from being too dry.

7 Adjust salt and pepper and serve open face or in slider buns, pita bread, etc with a slice of American cheese.

Servings: 6

Degree of Difficulty

Degree of Difficulty: Easy

Cooking Times

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Nutrition Facts

Serving size: ⅙ of a recipe (5.8 ounces).

Percent daily values based on the Reference Daily

Intake (RDI) for a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients.

2 of the recipe’s ingredients were not linked. These

ingredients are not included in the recipe nutrition data.

Amount Per Serving

Calories 278.04

Calories From Fat (66%) 184.76

% Daily Value

Total Fat 20.01g 31%

Saturated Fat 7.89g 39%

Cholesterol 70.88mg 24%

Sodium 434.12mg 18%

Potassium 360.23mg 10%

Total Carbohydrates 6.13g 2%

Fiber 0.4g 2%

Sugar 4.93g

Protein 17.52g 35%

Recipe Type: Main Dish, Meat, Sandwich

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By having a cool salad that can be made up ahead of time with the dressing already on it makes for a quick and easy meal on the go. Also this salad takes advantage of using any left-overs you may have on hand in the fridge. Those little bits of steak, a small bite of cheese, or any number of raw vegetables can be added to the basic sturdy Romaine lettuce and still hold up for travel. Even the croutons are made from day old or stale bread so new life is given to those hidden treasures in your kitchen for this popular salad.

Many restaurants have offered a version of a chopped salad over the years and it gets a make-over every now and then but the popularity stays high among picnickers since it is a durable and easy to prepare salad. So as you look at the ingredients feel free to adjust and substitute as you need to make best use of what you have on hand. This is not necessarily one of those recipes you will carry to the grocery store looking for ingredients rather look at what you have and more than likely you have everything you need already.

Here are the ingredients for the salad and the basic notion is to use a good sturdy item that has not been cut too small so as to hold up to the dressing and to some time in travel or storage.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 5 cups Romaine lettuce
• 2 cups green kale leaves
• 1 ½ cups diced cucumber, English style with small seeds
• ½ red onion
• 2 medium tomatoes, firm but ripe
• Several stems fresh parsley
• 3 or 4 stems fresh lemon thyme
• 4 or 5 stems fresh oregano
• Your choice of firm cheese, sharp cheddar, Swiss, Gruyere, etc.
• Kalamata olives to taste
• One-half to one cup diced cooked steak, roast beef, or other cooked meats
• ½ cup roasted red pepper, large dice
• 2 cups handmade croutons
• ½ cup vinaigrette or to taste – recipe below

Putting it all together:

• Cut the Romaine lettuce by first slicing the soft or browned tops from the tops of the leaves. Then cut the leaves lengthwise trying to split the center rib as best you can. Cut the split leaves into pieces about 1 to 2 inches long including the center ribs. This is a great crispy element to the salad.
• Take the kale leaves and slice them a little smaller since they are pretty durable regardless of how cut. After cutting, a good tip is to rub between your palms to massage the leaves and this will soften them a bit for easier eating and they will also absorb the dressing better.
• The English or hot house cucumber has a smaller seed than the garden variety so just take a peeler or knife and make several stripes down the length then cut into bias or diagonal slices. Then cut those into cubes. Rustic is the key word here so don’t worry about being exact on size just be consistent in your sizing and think of how hard it may be to eat if the pieces are too big.
• You can see in the photo that for the red onion we have sliced it thinner than anything else in the salad because a big fat chunk of red onion would not be a pleasant bite so keep this on the thin side.
• For the tomato a good chunky size works and after sitting for while they will break up a little anyway which helps make for a flavorful dressing in the bottom of the bowl.
• For the herbs rather than cutting, just tearing or pulling off the stems works best and consider this part of the salad green.
• The cheese can be anything that works for you but cheese like feta may crumble too much and muddy up the texture and flavor of the rest of the ingredients.
• For the croutons take a good artisan bread and cut off the crust if it is very hard and tear or cut the bread into pieces about 1-inch by 1-inch. Heat a little butter and olive oil in a cast iron skillet until bubbly and toss the croutons to coat as evenly as possible. Cook until browned and allow to cool before adding to the salad.
• Any bottled dressing of choice may be used but a vinaigrette style is best rather than the creamy dressings. To make your own the basic recipe is 1 part of red wine vinegar to 3 parts of oil. Then add flavorings such as salt and pepper, Dijon mustard, honey, lemon juice, etc. For this salad you would use a little more dressing than a normal salad because you want to sort of marinate the ingredients and let the croutons soak up the dressing. To make enough vinaigrette for this salad here is a simple recipe:
  • 2 oz red wine vinegar
  • 6 oz good quality olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • Squeeze of lemon juice
  • 2-3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
  • Salt and pepper to taste
    • Add all except oil to small bowl and dribble oil in whisking continuously
    • Check for seasoning and correct as desired
    • Also can put all the ingredients in a bullet style blender and whirl
  • Put everything into a large bowl and toss to coat. Can serve immediately but it really is better after sitting for about 30 minutes or up to several hours. If holding for hours add additional fresh croutons at time of service and garnish with more fresh herbs.

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