Pesto Panko Cheesy Chicken Rolls

You can now get printable versions of these recipes on my website. Go to www.susanmallery.com, hover over Members Only Lounge, and then select Recipes. You don’t have to join the Members Only Lounge in order to get the recipes, but it’s free, so why not? While you're on my site, you can read Chapter 1 and 2 of SOMEONE LIKE YOU for free. SOMEONE LIKE YOU is being reissued today with this fabulous new cover.

Recently, a foodie friend with a more sophisticated palate than mine raved to me about the miracle of Japanese Panko style bread crumbs. She said baked chicken coated in Panko crumbs would turn out really crispy.

And you know how much I love Crispy Baked Chicken.

So Panko was floating around in the back of my mind when I happened across this recipe for Pesto Cheesy Chicken Rolls. It looks delicious, doesn’t it? And it’s low carb, too… but still, I had to mess with it. After all, I had that Panko floating in my head.

I did follow the recipe for the first few steps, and I discovered something about myself: I am not good at pounding chicken. Boneless, skinless breasts, I mean. Although I suspect I would not be good at pounding a live chicken, either.

Not a theory I ever intend to test.

In my recipe – which turned out delicious, by the way – I used Homemade Pesto that I had in my freezer, but you can use a jar of pesto. I also added some sliced mushrooms inside the chicken breasts, but you can skip them if mushrooms make you wrinkle your nose. You can also make this with traditional bread crumbs if your store doesn’t have Panko style. But then you have to change the name of the dish.

Pesto Panko Cheesy Chicken Rolls

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded to ¼ inch thickness
1 C pesto sauce, divided
4 slices of mozzarella cheese
¼ C mushroom slices (optional)
2 T mayonnaise
1 C Japanese Panko-style bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix 1 tablespoon of pesto with the mayonnaise and set aside. Divide the remaining pesto equally between the four chicken breasts. Top with mushrooms and cheese. Roll up tightly and secure with toothpicks. Cover the outside of each chicken breast with mayonnaise mixture, then roll in bread crumbs. Place on an ungreased baking sheet with a rim so the juices don’t overflow. Bake until done, about 40-50 minutes.

Kielbasa Potato Pie

Prepare yourself. Today’s recipe is likely to cause overeating. It is deeeelicious! You can now get printer-friendly versions of all my blog recipes at my newly redesigned website, susanmallery.com. Hover over the Members Only Lounge button, then click Recipes.

Have you ever woken up and found yourself in the mood for kielbasa? No? Well, me either, so color me surprised when it happened to me today. But I also knew that I needed to make something I could put on the blog, and kielbasa on its own just isn’t complicated enough. What would my recipe say? Warm kielbasa, the end?

Wouldn’t exactly make people race to follow my cooking blog.

So I asked my Facebook fans what they were having for dinner, and someone used that magical phrase, “comfort food.” Which instantly made me think of mashed potatoes and chicken pot pies. Could I come up with a recipe for Kielbasa Pot Pie, but with a mashed potato crust?

I Googled “potato pie crust” and found this terrific looking recipe for Fiesta Potato Pie from Cake, Batter, and Bowl. It looks excellent, but I thought the kielbasa might make the mashed potatoes too soggy, and I thought shredded potatoes would give a more interesting texture. So then I found this recipe from, of all places, Breastfeeding Moms Unite: Vegetable Pie with Grated Potato Crust

With the crust settled, I moved onto the filling. I thought about using canned cream of mushroom soup as the liquid in the Kielbasa Potato Pie, but I was afraid it would be too salty. Kielbasa (also known as polish sausage) is very salty on its own, so I used a simple white sauce instead, with no added salt. If you’re in a rush, try low sodium cream of mushroom soup and be sure to let me know how it turns out.

Kielbasa Potato Pie

Crust:
2 baking potatoes, grated
¼ C onion, grated
¼ t ground pepper
2 eggs
1T melted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grate the potatoes and squeeze out as much moisture as possible with paper towels. Put the grated potato in a bowl with the onion and pepper. Toss with a fork until well mixed. Crack open the eggs on top of the potatoes, mix the eggs with the fork, and then toss it all together.

Spray a deep pan with nonstick spray. Put the potato mixture in the pan and press down. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, then brush with melted butter and bake 5 more minutes.

Filling:

3 T butter
1 C fresh mushrooms, minced
3 T flour
1 ½ C milk
2 carrots, peeled and cut into ¼-inch chunks
½ C frozen peas
1 can of whole kernel corn, or 1 C of frozen corn
1 lb Polska Kielbasa (polish sausage), sliced into ¼-inch rounds.
½ C sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the mushrooms and sauté until browned, about 7 minutes. Stir in the flour one tablespoon at a time, then add milk a bit at a time, stirring well after each addition. Stir in the carrots, peas, and corn and simmer for 10 minutes.

When the potato crust is done, remove it from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Place half of the kielbasa slices on the crust in concentric circles. Top with half of the vegetable mixture. Add the rest of the kielbasa, then the rest of the vegetables. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Top with cheese and broil until the cheese is browned, 2-4 minutes. Check every minute to be sure the cheese doesn’t burn.

 

Book-a-Day Giveaway

I'll share another recipe with you very soon, but in the meantime... The Book-a-Day Giveaway at susanmallery.com has been so much fun! So far, I've given away eight books to Members. Today's prize is Irresistible, from one of my most popular series, the Buchanans.

With apologies to my international fans, the contest is open to U.S. residents only. To qualify, you must join the Members Only area at www.susanmallery.com, confirm your membership, and your zip code must be on record.

To join: http://susanmallery.com/lists/?p=subscribe
To check your confirmation status: http://susanmallery.com/mailconfirm.php
To check to see if your zip code is on record: http://susanmallery.com/lists/?p=preferences

Good luck, and happy reading!

Pan-Fried Okra

I’m a born-and-raised California girl, and these days, I live in Washington State. But for a number of years, I lived in Texas. Sugar Land, to be precise. And when you live Texas, you’re going to run across okra on a pretty regular basis. I mean okay, yes, I had seen it before, but it wasn’t a staple of restaurant food in California or Washington.

In Texas, it’s a pretty common item on the menu. Fried okra. The first time I ordered it, it felt exotic, if not exactly sophisticated. I don’t think you can feel like a sophisticate while eating fried okra. I’m not even sure what wine pairing I’d recommend, except maybe Cooter’s Box O’ Fermented Grape Juice.

Last week, I saw okra at the grocery store. The thing is, I don’t like okra, but my husband does. As I’m a loving wife, I brought it home. Where it sat in my fridge for three days. Taunting me. Every time I opened the fridge, I heard the mockery: Who are you kidding? You don’t know how to cook okra!

(Okra is the mockingest of all the vegetables.)

So I turned to the web and discovered this for Okra Curry. I didn’t want to do a curry, but I used that recipe as inspiration for my own variation. No recipe is sacred!

Pan-Fried Okra

1 lb fresh okra, sliced into ¼-inch rounds

1 T olive oil

1 t all-purpose flour

½ t garlic salt

1/8 t black pepper

Microwave the okra for three minutes. While it’s cooking, mix the flour, salt, and pepper.

Heat the olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Add the okra and cook for about five minutes. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the okra. I put the flour in a mesh strainer to get an even dusting. Cook the okra, stirring frequently, for two more minutes.

My husband says it’s delicious, but I’m still not a fan.

Susan Mallery's Book-a-Day Giveaway

For the next four weeks, I will give away one book every day to a randomly chosen Member at susanmallery.com. All Members with U.S. zip codes on record are automatically entered into this contest, so be sure to sign up and tell your friends to sign up, too.

To join the Members Only area: http://susanmallery.com/lists/?p=subscribe

If you're already a Member, check to see if your zip code is on record: http://susanmallery.com/lists/?p=preferences

(I ask for Members' zip codes so I can let you know when I'm coming to your area for a book signing.)

SISTER OF THE BRIDE (Free ebook)

I had to share this news with you because everyone likes something free. SISTER OF THE BRIDE, a Fool’s Gold story that was published in August, is available for free download for a limited time at both Borders and Amazon. I didn’t want my ebook fans to miss this opportunity! The book won't be free for long, so be sure to get it right away. Here are the direct links:

Amazon Kindle

Borders ebook

I have this blog set up to feed to goodreads and other sites, but I don't know whether the links will work on those other sites. So if you're reading this and the links above are not live, you can find the links in the latest Dear Reader letter on my website, www.susanmallery.com.

Happy (free) reading!

Susan

Slow-Cooked Beef with Garlic and Red Wine

It’s interesting how a recipe comes together. Last week, I posted my recipe for Flour-Dusted Roast Chicken to my Facebook page, and my fan Maggie said something about wanting a beef recipe. Near the same time, another fan, Susie, shared with me her son’s recipe for “Lomo con Ajillo” (Pork with Garlic), and yet another fan, Jennifer, mentioned that she relies on her slow cooker.

Put them all together, and what do you get? My recipe for Slow-Cooked Beef with Garlic and Red Wine. Dedicated to Maggie, Susie, and Jennifer, even though Jennifer’s kids won’t eat anything beefy. I served this with a simple salad tossed with vinegar and oil, and a hunk of fresh bread from the store.

By the way, the next time I make this, I’m going to spring for the pre-peeled garlic cloves from the store. I can’t imagine they’re that expensive, and I’m willing to pay a couple bucks to avoid having to peel 40 cloves of garlic in one shot.

Slow-Cooked Beef with Garlic and Red Wine

4-5 pound beef roast, cut into two-inch chunks

40 cloves of garlic, peeled

4-5 sprigs of fresh rosemary

1 t Kosher salt

½ t ground pepper

1 C dry red wine

Brown the meat on all sides, in batches. (Don’t overcrowd the pan you’re using to brown the meat.) Add the meat, garlic cloves, and rosemary sprigs to the slow cooker.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour in wine and the accumulated beef juice from browning. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Serve with a salad and bread for dipping.