Tag Archives: ramekin

April 11, 2016 · 2:04 pm

Stand Up Pork Roll Ups

3loafs
Well, back to cooking. Here’s something for real pork carnivores.

Our friends the Kings on Chesapeake Bay, sent us a recipe for Shrimp and Grits which eventually became ramekin Shrimp and Quinoa in the new book. They recently sent one of their daughter’s recipes for Pork Meatloaf which they had tried as a ramekin dish. I thought I would work on it to develop a stand up ramekin dish, so here’s my version. The Kings probably get a more flavorful grade of ground pork from their local butcher. My first try, made with super market pork, was a little bland, so I added 3 chopped up strips of raw bacon and some garlic to favor it up a bit. We also flattened out a large meatball sized chunk, put dried fruit in the center, rolled it up and inserted the roll into the tortilla. Kind of like a fruit stuffed pork tenderloin. This was much better, our pork needed the sweetness of the fruit. Don’t try to pack too much mix into the tortilla cup as they will just tear. I didn’t think the egg on top added anything to it, so it’s your choice. Myself I’d just place a thick slice of egg on top after cooking. If you’re not a pork fan this should also work with hamburger. Some one could even work out a tofu version! You could also make this as a single mini meat loaf in a cocotte, just pack the egg or the fruit into the center.  It would make for an interesting presentation. Makes  3 servings.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. pork sausage stuffing
1 egg Hard Boiled and shelled, cut in thick slices, optional
3 strips of bacon coarsely chopped
1/4 cup diced onion
1 egg beaten
1/4 cup Italian Bread Crumbs
1/2 tsp. Herbs de Provence
1/4 tsp. crushed garlic
couple of dashes of salt and pepper to taste
1/2 – 4oz.  jar of chopped pimentos
small amount of dried fruit, apricots or prunes
1 Grande flour burrito

Directions:

TortillaPreheat oven to 350° f.
Boil the egg before needed as they should cool before using. I like them a little on the soft side, boil about 6 min. Cut into thick rounds
Mix the meat, bacon,onion, beaten egg, bread crumbs, spices and pimentos together.
Add the fruit to the center if you wish. Cut a grande burrito in half and pin the ends together with a toothpick, place this in a PAM sprayed ramekin. Gently fill the ramekin with the mixture about 2/3 full.

1loafBake for 25 – 30 min. until the tortilla browns on the edges. Pick the tortilla up using two forks, one on each side and place it on a plate. Place the slice of egg on top if you want.

You can make an interesting presentation by cutting them in half length wise like below.
Enjoy!

3longloafs

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September 3, 2015 · 3:55 pm

French Toast in a Cup

3AshevilleWe had the pleasure of staying at the Asia Spa and Bed in Asheville NC. It is a cozy little B&B just six bedrooms, but all beautifully decorated and very, very comfortable. We went there to visit the River Arts district, a very large collection of galleries and working studios in Asheville, most are open to visitors, only how they ever get any work done is a mystery to me with all the visitors. Asia serves a breakfast every day and on our first day we had French Toast in a ramekin! Imagine my surprise, I’ve written a book about ramekin cooking and here’s some one actually doing it. I haven’t thought of French Toast in a ramekin. It was great, so I asked the manager, Nicolette, if I could use the recipe, she said yes, so here is my version. Like French Toast it’s very simple and this one you make the night before. Double or triple the mixture and make four or six… and feed an army! They are all done at once so no waiting. We told her she should write an Asia Spa cook book.

Makes two

Ingredients

2 eggs
1/4 cup half and half
4 slices of bread, not Wonder bread
2 dashes of cinnamon
PAM spray
Two eight ounce ramekins (2 – 11oz. ones)
Confectioner’s sugar
2 pats of butter
Peach or Apple sliced thin (optional)

Directions

FT1In a small bowl beat the eggs well, then add the half and half and cinnamon. Cut the bread into quarter slices that will fit into the ramekin.  Spray the ramekins with PAM. Dip the cut bread into the egg mix four times or so  and put the slices in the ramekin with the bread standing up until it is full. Our friends like to put a thin slice of fruit between each slice of bread. Leave some of the crust showing as it will brown and create eye appeal. Place a small dab of butter and then a little cinnamon on top. Put them into the fridge and allow them to rest overnight.

Next day – Preheat oven to 350 degrees f.

Put the ramekins into the oven and bake for 30 min. or until they brown a little on top. Cut around the sides of the cup with a butter knife and using a fork and the butter knife on either side, carefully lift the toast out of the cup. Dust them with a little XXX sugar. Serve with some maple or other syrups on the side and some fresh fruit. At Asia we had a berry mix; blueberries, strawberries and black berries. Very yummie! PS they do freeze well, just defrost for about an hour and pop them into the toaster oven.
FtoastSM

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July 14, 2015 · 1:05 pm

Artichoke and Spinach Pie

WebSA

We usually have this dish as a side for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. I thought it would make a good entrée as well, so I worked up this version. Small size, no meat, it makes a perfect light dish for summer with a salad. If you need a larger, casserole style for a big dinner, just double or triple the ingredients, skip the Filo dough and just put some bread crumbs on top to brown. We like to add some fresh cilantro to it, that brightens the taste and adds a little zing. Makes about three 8 oz. ramekins.

Ingredients

1 14 oz. can of whole Artichokes
1 Pkg. frozen Spinach
4 oz. Cream cheese
4 Tbs. of Butter, warmed
¼ cup of bread Crumbs
¼ cup chopped onion
2 Tbs. chopped cilantro leaves (optional)
Salt & pepper to taste
1 pkg. frozen filo dough
PAM spray
Cilantro or flat parsley

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees f. and spray two or three ramekins with PAM

Defrost the spinach and cook it in the microwave until it is hot. Then put it into a strainer and rinse with cold water. Press the water out of the spinach. Rinse and drain the artichokes, cut off the stems if they have any. You want these to stand up in the cup. You can add the stems to the spinach mix, if you wish for flavor. Press the water out of the artichokes between paper towels.

Cream the spinach, onions, chopped cilantro, butter, bread crumbs and cream cheese together.

Place two sheets of Filo in each ramekin and let the sides droop over the top. Stand up enough of the artichokes in the ramekin to cover the bottom of each. Put a layer of of the spinach butter combination on top. Fold the filo dough over on top of the ramekin. Bake for 30 min. or until the top browns well. Pick the package out of the dish using two forks, plate it and I like to put a leaf of cilantro or flat parsley on top as a decoration, a slice of a small tomato works well too.

Serve with a salad and a good Pinot Grigo, Enjoy!

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May 4, 2015 · 4:30 pm

Stand Up Lasagna!

LasagnaHead

I know, I did Lasagna in the first book. But I didn’t do it as a roll up, kind of an Italian Futo Maki. I thought it would make an attractive, different presentation for lasagna. You can also individualize the lasagnas, one meat, one veggie, one broccoli, etc. This also has the advantage of not making a huge amount of leftovers for you to gobble up at some later date. So grab your ramekins and let’s cook Italian.

Ingredients

8 Lasagna noodles (not the no boil kind)
¾ cup of hamburger and/or veggies you might prefer like finely chopped peppers,
spinach, broccoli flowers, etc.
1 garlic clove crushed
¼ cup finely chopped onion
2 eggs beaten
2/3rd cup shredded and chopped small, mozzarella cheese
1/3rd cup shredded and chopped small, Parmesan cheese
¾ cup ricotta cheese
½ Tbs. Oregano
½ Tsp. Basil
salt & pepper
¼ cup Italian Bread Crumbs
¼ cup spaghetti sauce (1 cup or so more for the side sauce)
3 ramekins sprayed with PAM

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large pot of salted water, boil the lasagna noodles until they are flexible. Sauté the hamburger in a little oil, breaking it up into small bits. Add the garlic and onion (sweet red peppers) and cook until they soften. Drain the pan and place the ingredients onto a paper towel to drain. Chop any other vegetables finely and reserve.

Beat the egg and add to it the cheeses, breadcrumbs, spices, etc. and spaghetti sauce. Salt and pepper this to taste. Lightly spray 3 ramekins with PAM

20222324Take two of the lasagna noodles and overlap the second noodle about an inch over the first to make a very long noodle. I make two holes with a small knife in this and jam a toothpick into each. Don’t try going thru with one toothpick as the noodle just breaks. Pull these toothpicks out when the roll is ready to place in the ramekin. Coat one side of the noodle with a very thin coat of the mixture. Lightly sprinkle this with the meat or veggie mixture, pat this down flat.

Roll the noodles up. Don’t be afraid if it oozes out the side or it is crooked. You can pat the filling back

27into the top and bottom and press it between two hands to reform it. Place it in a lightly sprayed ramekin. Put a little bit of the meat or veggies on top so you know which is which. I stick a toothpick into the seam in the roll to insure that they don’t unroll as they cook. Bake at 350 for 30 mins. Let them cool for 5 min. or so to harden up. In the meantime, heat up the side sauce. Then using two forks pick the roll out of the ramekin and put it on the plate. Serve it with some of the sauce on the side, a cool caesar salad and a good Valpolicello wine.

This will definitely go into the next book.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

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August 19, 2014 · 7:39 pm

Chicken Marsala

DSC_0279

This week we decided to try to make chicken Marsala in a ramekin. Normally we would make this in a sauté pan, for a change though we decided to ramekinize it. We started by sautéing the onions. We like to cook them slowly until they turn brown and caramelize a bit. Then we put  in the mushrooms with a couple of pats of butter. By this time we began to realize that we were cooking everything but the chicken in the pan. We like to use chicken thighs as they come out very tender, but the classic dish is made with the breasts. Julienne the chicken by slicing it with the grain ( lengthwise ). When you cook this in a ramekin it all links together and forms a kind of interesting meatball.

INGREDIENTS

1 chicken breast or two thighs cut into strips
1 cup of coarsely chopped mushrooms
1/2 a medium onion cut into slices and broken up.
1/4 cup of Marsala wine
1/4 cup of cream
Dash or two of lemon juice
Butter
Handful or two  of cooked egg noodles or rice
Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees
Cut the chicken up into julienne slices
Saute the onions in a few pats of butter until they are just turning brown. Remove from the pan and reserve. Cook the mushrooms in the pan, you may need a couple more pats of butter. In a small bowl, put the onion, chicken, mushrooms, marsala wine, cream, salt and pepper and mix them up. PAM a couple of ramekins and fill each with the mixture. Bake for 1 hour. You’ll probably be able to pick the “meatball” out of the ramekin with a pair of forks. Serve over top of noodles or rice with a little of the gravy. For this dish we like a tasty chardonnay, try Lucky Star for this.

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Aside

Small Foods – The Beginning

Image I started writing Small Foods about two years ago. I’ve been cooking for about 15 years, maybe more.My wife worked in major ad agencies as a creative director. I worked in technical marketing. She went home when the work for the day was done. She would call to let me know approximately when she would get out. I left at about 5 PM with everybody else. She had an hour commute, mine was usually short. When I arrived home I would start the dinner. When she arrived, I would plate it up.

One evening, while making spinach pie, I thought about just how much of this pie went to waste. There were only two of us and it would only keep so long. So the next time I made it, I made it in two 7 oz. ramekins. It was perfect, just the right size for dinner with a salad and no left overs.

After I retired, I started cooking other foods in ramekins. And after adjusting for a small size (proportionaly you need more spices not less) they came out perfect as well. My wife commented that I should write a cook book. So I did. You can buy it on Amazon, just search for Small Foods by Bill Fishbourne. Here’s a spread below so you can see my photos and my wife’s super book design. You can double click on it to see it in high-res. Enjoy!

PromoSpread

I intend doing a lot with this blog, more recipes, cooking videos, previews of my second book and even funny stories. Check back once in a while to see what’s going on. Or click on FOLLOW and be notified whenever we put up something new.

 

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June 29, 2014 · 5:35 pm