Dad vs. Dinner

Rosemary Butter

Posted on August 31, 2014 by Dad vs. Dinner

Here’s a quick but awesome way to keep that great rosemary flavor available to enhance nearly anything you might want. Try it on bread, eggs, steak, or fish!

Chop enough rosemary to make about 2-3 tablespoons. Check out my totally cool mezzaluna knife!

Melt a stick of butter, add the rosemary and swish it around while it’s still hot. When it cools a bit, transfer to a container. The rosemary will sink to the bottom. Stir occasionally, especially as the butter starts to harden, so the herbs are well distributed.

Then simply slather it on anything and everything! (Seriously!)

Posted in Dinner, hors d'oeuvres, Italian, Make Ahead, Paleo, Side dishes | Tagged butter, eggs, rosemary | Leave a comment

Rosemary!

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Dad vs. Dinner

Ok, so it’s been a while since I trimmed my rosemary plant…

Stay tuned to see what mischief I can get into with it!

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Italian Meatballs

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Dad vs. Dinner

I’m very excited to start writing up some classic Italian dishes that I grew up with! These family recipes get tweaked slightly over the years — but only for the better, of course. This is a pretty standard offering, though. I made these meatballs most recently for my dad’s 80th birthday party and they were definitely a hit. I hope you try them with your next favorite Italian meal.

Italian Meatballs

Ingredients

1 lb ground meat, ideally a beef, pork, and veal mixture
2 pieces “day old” Italian bread
1 Tbsp milk
1/4 grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup bread crumbs
garlic powder or minced garlic to taste
black pepper
1 Tbsp dried Italian seasoning mix or dried parsley

Preparation

Chop the Italian bread into small cubes. Let it sit out a bit if it’s still very spongy. Soak the bread in the milk for a minute and then squeeze it out, discarding any extra milk. Try to separate the cubes again as much as possible.

Combine the bread and all remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly. Add more bread crumbs if necessary.

With a tablespoon, form the meat into balls and pan fry in olive oil. Don’t crowd the pan — cook them in multiple batches as necessary.

You can make these as large or as small as you like. Larger meatballs can be finished in the oven if they won’t cook through before browning too deeply. Just pop them in a baking dish in a 375 degree oven and check them with a thermometer.

Now all you need is a good pasta or other classic Italian dish to server them with. For that, stay tuned and I’ll have some options for you soon!

This recipe can be doubled as necessary, but a pound of meat should make about 12-15 medium sized meatballs.

I hope you give this a try!

Posted in Dinner, Italian, Side dishes | Tagged beef, italian, meatballs, parmesan, pork, veal | Leave a comment

Zesty Ham and Pickle Salad

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Dad vs. Dinner

Hey folks! Unlike the meatloaf recipe I posted the other day, this is something my wife really loves, but the kids, not so much… Anyway, this is a great lunch option (I like it on toast with a slice of tomato) or a really neat hors d’oeuvre served on small toast rounds or crackers. The horseradish in this salad gives it a nice kick. Even better, you can literally whip up a batch in about 10 minutes. Give this a try and I know you’ll be making it regularly!

Zesty Ham and Pickle Salad

Ingredients

3/4 lbs deli ham
4 pickle spears
2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 – 1/2 Tbsp horseradish sauce
1/4 cup mayonnaise

Preparation

Roughly chop the ham and the pickles into 1″ pieces and place in a food processor.

Pulse until well chopped, scraping down any larger pieces and reprocessing until everything is nicely combined. If you don’t have a processor, you can simply finely chop the ham and pickles separately with a knife and mix them together. Place the mixture into a large bowl.

Add all the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. I tend to make this fairly dry, so if you prefer more mayonnaise, by all means add to your taste. Of course, you can adjust the horseradish amount as well. I would say the 1.5 tablespoons is a moderate amount of kick in this recipe. Speaking of the horseradish, I used a deli “sauce” but a mayo-based version would be fine as well. Top with a little more parsley and you’re ready to eat!

Again, this salad makes a great sandwich with your favorite bread and veggies, but this time we served it as an hors d’oeuvre with some Kalamata olives. The accompanying hors d’oeuvre in the picture is a very simple beet recipe (minus the salmon) from Fine Cooking that is just tremendous. It goes great with the ham salad, and it really is just too good not to share.

I hope you make this really easy ham and pickle salad. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it!

Posted in hors d'oeuvres, Lunch, Make Ahead, Salad, Sandwiches, Weekday | Tagged ham, horseradish, mayonnaise, mustard, pickle, Salad, thyme | 1 Comment

Parmesan Meatloaf

Posted on February 15, 2014 by Dad vs. Dinner

Hey there! More snow in New England tonight – time for some winter comfort food. The kids actually really love my meatloaf, but let’s just say I tend to make it on nights my wife has a dinner meeting. This recipe definitely has an Italian feel. I stumbled on the idea to add the cheese somewhat randomly, but it really worked out. The cheese crisps up on the edges and adds a nice flavor throughout.

Parmesan Meatloaf

Ingredients

2 lbs ground meat combination (beef, pork, veal, and/or bison)
3/4 cups grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper
3/4 cups bread crumbs
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or Northwoods Fire, optional
2-4 slices of bacon (depending on the shape of your loaf), optional

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Combine all ingredients except for the bread crumbs in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. When everything is incorporated, start to add the bread crumbs slowly. Depending on your meat and the size of the eggs, you might need a bit more or a bit less than the 3/4 cups.

A note on meat combinations… In the meatloaf pictured, I used half beef and half pork. My supermarket usually carries a pre-packaged mixture of beef, pork, and veal, but I could not get it this time around. If you like bison, it’s a great add-in as well. It’s very low fat and a different consistency than the other meats — if you use it, that’s another reason to monitor your bread crumb amount.

I use a loaf pan, as you can see, but you can use a baking pan also. Fill the loaf pan or shape the meat on a baking pan as desired. Cover with the bacon, if using. In the loaf pan, this 2 lb loaf took about 60 minutes. Your time will vary based on the shape and the type of pan (glass, metal, etc.) so keep an eye on it. I use a meat thermometer to be sure it’s cooked through in the center. Check out how the cheese browns and crisps up in the picture below — love that!

P.S. I take thin slices of the leftovers, fry them in a pan a bit, and make a great sandwich with lettuce, mayo, and ketchup. Awesome!

Posted in Dinner, Italian | Tagged beef, bison, cheese, dijon, dinner, leftovers, meatloaf, parmesan, pork, veal | 1 Comment

Bacon and Cheese French Toast Bake

Posted on February 2, 2014 by Dad vs. Dinner

Hey there! I’m taking a stab at a breakfast recipe this time, but honestly this would be a great dinner option as well. My daughters eat a lot of cereal for breakfast before school, but they complain that it doesn’t always hold them over until lunch. Getting them something more substantial might mean getting up earlier in the morning and cooking something. Well, try as I might, that just didn’t work out either. Enter the French Toast Bake. The couple times I’ve made versions of these it has been for Christmas morning. I’d put the whole thing together Christmas Eve, pop it in the oven while we opened gifts the next morning, and then sit down to a nice brunch about an hour later. This is a quick and easy variation on that theme, one that you can cook the night before and just heat up quickly in the microwave before school (or work, of course.)

Bacon and Cheese French Toast Bake

Ingredients

12 slices “sandwich” bread (the smaller denser type bread, not a Wonder bread type)
8 slices bacon
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
14 eggs
2 cups milk
Pepper, parsley, scallions, etc. as desired

Preparation

First things first:

Coat a 9 x 12″ glass baking dish with cooking spray or butter.
Cut the bread slices into quarters.
Fry the bacon until fully crisp and set aside.

In a very large bowl, beat the eggs with the milk until well combined. Add any ground pepper, scallions, or herbs you like at this point.

Lay down half the bread to cover the baking dish. Top with half of the cheese. Crumble the bacon slices as you add them over the bread.

Lay down the remainder of the bread in another layer. The baking dish should be chock full at this point – you don’t want too much empty space.

Pour the egg mixture into the dish. As the eggs even out through the dish, push down the bread to make sure everything is soaked through, leaving no dry spots. Add some more milk if necessary. Let things sit for at least 20 minutes, or refrigerate up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 while the dish rests. Just before baking, top the entire dish with other half of the shredded cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until the eggs in the center are set. The bread will rise in the dish a bit as it heats through.

Enjoy immediately, or let it cool before refrigerating for tomorrow’s breakfast! We ate ours with some maple syrup. Now it’s just a matter of spooning out a portion and reheating to get the kids off to school with a full belly. Hope you give this a try and hope it helps you get a few more minutes of sleep in the morning, too!

Posted in Breakfast, Dinner, Make Ahead, Weekday | Tagged Bacon, breakfast, cheese, eggs, French Toast, make ahead, overnight, school | 1 Comment

Open-Faced Chicken and Pesto Sandwich with Salad and Avocados

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Dad vs. Dinner

This dish was so much fun to serve. The recipe is really a “spark” recipe – you can customize it dozens of ways from the original idea. In fact, that’s exactly what happened here. We were having a friend over and needed a quick, healthy, and tasty weeknight dinner. My wife found a recipe in a magazine that only slightly resembled what we actually ate that night, but it gave us the inspiration we needed. In the end, it felt a bit like a “taco night” – we were all using different toppings on our chicken and trying different salad combinations – everyone got what they wanted. Kids don’t like pesto? No problem – they can use mayo. Someone doesn’t do avocados? No worries – go with cucumbers. You get the idea — just like this recipe — get an idea and go with it. Then change it up and have a different combination for lunch tomorrow, too!

Open-Faced Chicken and Pesto Sandwich

Ingredients serves 4

4 large slices of Italian or Ciabatta bread
4-8 Tbsp pesto or other spread (hummus, spinach-artichoke spread, tapenade, etc.)
1 lb packaged, pre-cooked chicken
1/2 cup grated cheese (optional, any variety)
4 handfuls of lettuce (Boston, Iceberg, Arugula, etc.)
2 ripe avocados
Favorite salad vegetables (tomatoes, cucumber, and olives all work)
Favorite salad dressing

Preparation

Place the bread on a baking sheet and lightly toast under a broiler (or use your toaster if the bread will fit). Chop the pre-cooked chicken into about 1/2″ pieces. Wash and chop the lettuce and prepare any salad vegetables you are serving. For the avocados, serve in slices lengthwise or in cubes. See my guacamole post for a tip.

Spread the pesto on each slice of bread and generously top with the chicken. If desired, top with the cheese and then put the sandwich back on the baking sheet and in the broiler for 1 minute to melt.

Serve the sandwich with the lettuce on the side, adding the salad vegetables and dressing as desired. Alternatively, you could do what we did and actually serve everything separately on the table, letting everyone assemble their own plates their own way. The kids will love that!

You can literally go a hundred different ways with this recipe, and I hope you do! Let me know any ideas or successes in the comments.

Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Salad, Sandwiches, Vegetables | Tagged Avocado, Bread, bruschetta, Chicken, open-faced, pesto, Salad, Sandwiches | Leave a comment

Chicken Sausage with Yams and Apples

Posted on December 16, 2013 by Dad vs. Dinner

Hey there! Good to be back after a long hiatus! There’s snow on the ground in New England where I am, but the calendar says there’s still 5 days of fall left. This recipe has some great fall ingredients in it, but really it’s just a good comfort dish to enjoy all winter, too. I used an organic chicken sausage with roasted apples in it, but you could use any variety you choose. The toasted pecans are really the MVP here, however. They really just kick up and round out the dish.

Chicken Sausage with Yams and Apples

Ingredients serves 4

1/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans
3 tsp butter, divided
Cinnamon
Ground nutmeg
4 large sausages
2 small yams or sweet potatoes
2 apples
1 tsp olive oil
1 Tbsp brown sugar or honey

Preparation

Toast the pecans in a dry, hot sauté pan for about 3-5 minutes, shaking the pan frequently to prevent burning. When the nuts are about done, add 1 tsp butter, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, and 1/8 tsp nutmeg, stirring to combine. Remove the nuts from the pan and set aside.

In a large pan with 1 tsp of olive oil and 1 tsp butter combined, cook the sausages, letting them brown evenly. As the sausages cook, peel the yams and slice into rings about 1/8″ thick. Peel and core the apples, slicing them about 1/4″ thick. When the sausages are heated through, remove them from the pan and keep them warm in a low oven.

Add another tsp of butter to the same pan, then add the yams and sprinkle with cinnamon. Sauté for about 5 minutes, covered, stirring frequently. Add the apples, some more cinnamon, some ground nutmeg, and the brown sugar or honey. Continue to sauté in the same manner for another 15 minutes or so, testing the yams for doneness often.

Plate the yam-apple mixture with one of the sausages, topping the dish with a portion of the toasted pecans.

For pairings, if you like hard cider, that would be a good match. For wines, go with a semi-sweet Riesling, a Gewurztraminer, or a great wine that’s local to me, but growing in popularity – Ballet of Angels by Sharpe Hill.

The yam-apple mixture could work as a side dish with pork chops, pork tenderloin, or even chicken, too. Either way you serve it – enjoy!

Posted in Dinner, Fruit, Side dishes, Vegetables | Tagged Apple, Ballet of Angels, chicken sausage, Cinnamon, Gewurztraminer, hard cider, New England, nutmeg, pairing, paleo, pecans, Riesling, Sausage, Sharpe Hill, sweet potato, Yam | Leave a comment

Asparagus Bruschetta

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Dad vs. Dinner

Hey again! My wife and I had this in a restaurant recently and it was fabulous. I know asparagus is usually a spring vegetable, but it looked really good in the store this weekend so I decided to make an attempt to recreate it. I think mine came out a little zestier, but you can adjust the amount of garlic and pepper to your taste. Either way, this is a quick appetizer or hors d’oeuvre nice enough for a dinner party or just as a side dish for a weeknight dinner.

Asparagus Bruschetta

Ingredients

2 cups chopped asparagus (1/4″ slices)
9 slices ciabatta bread
1 tsp butter
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp olive oil
dash salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 garlic clove or 1/4 tsp garlic powder
18 thin slices parmesan cheese (see picture)

Preparation

Warm up the broiler while you lay out the bread on a baking sheet. Brush the bread with the tablespoon of olive oil and place under the broiler for just a couple minutes – the bread should just start to brown but not fully toast. Take the bread out of the oven but leave it on the baking sheet.

In a large skillet, melt the teaspoon of butter with the olive oil. If you’re using a garlic clove push it through a garlic press or chop as finely as you can. Add the asparagus, salt, garlic and black pepper to the pan and sauté for just 2-3 minutes – keep it crisp.

Divide the asparagus evenly over the bread slices. Slice the parmesan cheese off the block with a vegetable peeler and top each bruschetta with a couple pieces.

Return the bruschetta to the oven and broil for just 1 minute to melt the cheese. Serve immediately.

I hope you give this a try and love it as much as my family does!

Posted in Dinner, hors d'oeuvres, Italian, Side dishes, Vegetables | Tagged appetizer, Asparagus, Bread, bruschetta, Ciabatta, hors d'oeuvre, italian, parmesan | 3 Comments

Sausage and Kale Soup with Beans

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Dad vs. Dinner

Hey there! Fall is definitely taking hold here in Connecticut, but the soup pots are warming up in my house. This is a hearty cold-weather soup – a hot bowl with a good hunk of bread can definitely be made into meal. I really love the flavors in this soup, too. I’m looking forward to my lunches this week already!

Bean and Kale Soup with Sausage

Ingredients

1 tsp butter
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
6 oz. fully cooked sausage
Ground pepper
Garlic powder
1 can (15.5 oz) small cannellini beans
24 oz. chicken broth
2 cups chopped kale (or escarole)

Preparation

For the sausage, if your links are large in diameter, slice them lengthwise first before chopping into about 1/8″ thick slices. I used a linguica this time, but you could use an Italian sausage, a chicken sausage, or a chorizo, too.

Melt the butter with the olive in a large soup pot. Add the onion and sauté for a minute or two before adding the sausage. Add some black pepper and garlic powder and sauté for another 5 minutes or so.

Add the beans and chicken broth, stir to mix in the bean starch, then simmer for at least 10 minutes or so. Add the kale and stir it in gradually while it wilts. Give it a taste for seasoning and add some pepper or other spice if you like some heat.

This soup will look and taste best if served immediately – the kale will stay bright green and crispy. Alternatively, if you need to make it ahead, omit the kale until you reheat it for serving.

I hope you give this soup a try; with different types of sausages and different greens, you can change things up all winter long!

Paleo variation: omit the beans or substitute carrots or another vegetable.

Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Paleo Variation, Side dishes, Soup | Tagged beans, Broth, cannellini beans, chicken soup, Italian sausage, Kale, linguica, Sausage, Soup | Leave a comment

	Dad vs. Dinner on Bacon and Cheese French Toast…
	Dad vs. Dinner on Zesty Ham and Pickle Sala…
	Dad vs. Dinner on Rosemary!
	Zesty Ham and Pickle… on Parmesan Meatloaf
	Chicken Bruschetta -… on Asparagus Bruschetta

Dad vs. Dinner

Rosemary Butter

Rosemary!

Italian Meatballs

Zesty Ham and Pickle Salad

Parmesan Meatloaf

Bacon and Cheese French Toast Bake

Open-Faced Chicken and Pesto Sandwich with Salad and Avocados

Chicken Sausage with Yams and Apples

Asparagus Bruschetta

Sausage and Kale Soup with Beans

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