Veal Piccata

I have wanted to make this since I ate it at a restaurant two years ago. WHY did I wait so long? It's super-lemony and so easy to make. You could use chicken or pork cutlets, or probably tofu.

Veal Piccata

4 veal cutlets,pounded thin
Salt
Lemon pepper
Flour
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic powder or equivalent fresh garlic
1 cup white wine
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons capers
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley (or a tablespoon of dried)

Season the veal with salt and lemon pepper, then dredge in flour. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Saute cutlets for 3 minutes per side, or until golden. Set aside and keep them warm in a very low oven. Add garlic powder (if using fresh garlic, add to pan first, saute 1 minute), wine, lemon juice, and capers. Bring to a boil and continue to boil until liquid is reduced by half. I use the end of a wooden spoon to as a "dipstick" to measure the level of liquid. Then, just reduce to a simmer and stir in butter and parsley. Simmer for a minute or two. Return veal cutlets to pan and coat with sauce. Serve immediately over linguini (or rice?) with lots of crusty bread to sop up the lemony goodness. If you want to be fancy, you can garnish the platter with lemon slices and parsley.

Mushroom Stew

This recipe is actually titled "Mushroom Bourguignon", and it comes from Smitten Kitchen, one of my favourite blogs. You should head over there first - it's her recipe (I changed very, very little), and she has amazing pictures of it.

When I first saw it, I drooled, but just about moved on - bourguignon = complicated and full of meat, in my mind. The pictures got stuck in my head, though - meaty 'shrooms in dark, rich broth...yeah, I had to try it. I'm very glad I went back for this one. It tastes like you spent hours on it, but it's really quite easy. I was sad, sad, sad when the leftovers were gone.

2 T olive oil

3 T butter

2 pounds mushrooms, sliced about 1/4" thick (I use one pound of portobellos and one pound of cremini.)

2 carrots, diced

1 medium yellow onion, diced

3 cloves minced garlic

1 C red wine (I use Yellow Tail Merlot)

2 C vegetable broth

2 T tomato paste

1/2 t dried thyme

1 1/2 T flour

1 C pearl onions, peeled

salt and pepper

egg noodles and sour cream, for serving

In your biggest sauce pan (I use my 6 quart for this), heat 1 T of the oil and 1 T of the butter on high. Add the mushrooms and cook until they start to sear, but before they get juicy (I set a timer for four minutes, and stir them a lot). Remove them from the pan, and, if possible, put them somewhere where people won't pick at them like I always do. (Also: put them in a bowl. A plate may get messy. And for love of all that's holy, DON'T PUT THEM ON PAPER TOWELS. This will cause major facepalming on my part.)

Turn the heat down and add 1 T of oil and 1 T of butter. Dump in the carrots, onions, thyme, and a several pinches of salt and pepper. Let these cook for about 10 minutes, until the onions are started to brown a bit. (Or, if you're me, get distracted and burn the onions. I do it EVERY TIME. Don't worry, still tastes great.) Add the minced garlic and cook for the time it takes you to wrestle open the bottle of wine. (A minute or two, that's all.)

Add your C of wine to the pan, and be sure to scrape all the yummy bits off the bottom. Crank the heat up until it boils, then turn it back down to medium. Pour in the broth and add the tomato paste. Dump that bowl of mushrooms (plus any juices they've left behind) back into the pot. Get everything up to a boil again, then reduce again, and let the whole thing simmer for about 15 minutes.

Add your pearl onions, and simmer for 10 more minutes. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and remaining 1 T of butter. Add that to the stew, and cook for 5-10 more minutes, or until the sauce is the right consistency. Mine's usually ready pretty quickly. Partly because I'm hungry.

Serve it over egg noodles, with lots of sour cream.

Blackberry Wine Cake

Everyone comes back for more of this moist, delicious cake.

1 (18.25 oz.) white cake mix
1 (3 oz.) package blackberry gelatin mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup blackberry wine

Glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup blackberry wine


Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt cake pan. In a large mixing bowl, stir together cake ingredients, then mix at medium speed for 4 minutes. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in 325 degree oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Spoon half of the glaze over the warm cake. After 10 minutes, remove from pan. Cool cake and spoon remaining glaze over the top. To make the glaze, simply whisk together the wine and the powdered sugar.

Wine Punch

Not to be served to minors!!


2 small cans frozen limeade concentrate, chilled
2 cans lemon-lime soft drink, chilled
1 bottle red wine (750 ml) chilled

Mix and serve immediately.