Portsmouth Naval Yard Recipe Book: Vegetables

Homemade Hamburger Helper

 1 pound lean ground beef

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

2 cups low sodium beef broth

1 8 oz can tomato sauce

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2 cups pasta shells (can also use elbow pasta)

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1.  In a large saute pan with a lid, brown the ground beef over medium high heat.  Remove cooked ground beef from pan and set aside, reserving 2 tablespoons of grease in the pan.

2.  Cook the onion until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic for the last 30 seconds.

3.  Add the flour and stir to cook for about 1 minute, slowly stir in the beef broth and bring the mixture to a boil.

Pour in the tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, seasoned salt, smoked paprika, garlic powder and pasta, stirring to combine.  Cover with lid and saute for 12-15 minutes or until pasta is cooked, stirring occasionally.

5.  Add in the cream and cheese and stir until all the cheese is melted.  Add back in ground beef, cook for 2 to 3 minutes more to re-heat ground beef and serve immediately.

Notes

This dish is rich.  If you need more liquid for your pasta you can add a little water or beef broth.  You could substitute another type of pasta but try to use a similar size for the liquid ratio to work out.

Crescent Rolls

Crescent Rolls – (The Food Nanny – Liz Edmunds) (makes 2 cookie sheets, 48 rolls, 24 on each pan) 4 T. yeast ½ c. + 2 T. warm Water Mix together and allow sitting for 10 minutes. Mix together very well in separate bowl: 6 eggs 1 c. oil 1 c. sugar Warm milk in the microwave only until warm NOT scalding. 2 c. warm milk Add egg mixture and warm milk to the yeast mixture. Mix all together until combined. 10-11 c. flour 2 T. salt Add 1 cup of flour at a time until combined together. Continue to mix/knead for 5 minutes on med-high speed. Allow to raise 2-3 hours. Separate dough into 6 even balls. Roll out each ball until the size of a dinner plate on a lightly floured surface. Cut into 8 pizza wedge slices. With each wedge, roll down ward wrapping bottom skinny bottom piece down and around to make pretty crescent shape. Place 3 rolls across and 8 down, 24 on each cookie sheet. Allow to double in size while covered with clean dish towel (about 15 minutes). While raising on top of oven, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake one sheet at a time. Bake 6 minutes on bottom rack and then 5 minutes on middle shelf until light golden brown. (Before you take them out, double check the bottom to make sure they are golden brown, not too light they could be doughy). Once they are perfectly golden brown, brush tops with melted butter once removed.

Focaccia Bread

Focaccia Bread with Rosemary Recipe This recipe makes enough for 2 good-sized loaves. Or you can do what we've done, which is take 2/3 of the dough and bake it in a 9x15-inch baking pan, and the remaining third of the dough free-form on a baking sheet. You can make it all in free-form loaves that look like puffy pizzas, or shape them into casseroles or cake pans – there are no absolutes on the shape of this bread. The bread takes on the flavor of the olive oil so use a good quality one. Like most breads, this focaccia freezes well. You can also slice several day old focaccia bread and toast it, serving it with butter and/or honey. Add to shopping list INGREDIENTS 1 package dry yeast 1/3 cup warm water, about 100 degrees 2 1/4 cups tepid water 2 Tbsp good quality olive oil, plus more for the pan and to paint on top of the bread 3 cups bread flour 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 Tbsp salt, plus coarse salt (fleur de sel if you have it, otherwise Kosher salt) for sprinkling over the top 2-3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary (can use sage or other herbs such as thyme or oregano, but whatever herb you use, do use fresh herbs, do not use dried) METHOD 1 Stir the yeast into the 1/3 cup of slightly warm-to-the-touch water and let it rest for 10 minutes. 2 In a large bowl, pour in 2 1/4 cups of tepid water and 2 tablespoons olive oil. After the yeast has rested for 10 minutes and has begun to froth, pour it into the water-oil mixture. 3 Whisk in 2 cups of flour (either the bread flour or the all purpose, at this stage it doesn't matter which) and the tablespoon of salt. Add the rosemary. Then, cup by cup, whisk in the rest of the flour (both the bread flour and all purpose). As the mixture goes from a batter to a thick dough, you'll want to switch from a whisk to a wooden spoon. By the time you get to the last cup of flour, you will be able to work the dough with your hands. Begin to knead it in the bowl – try to incorporate all the flour stuck to the sides and bottom of the bowl as you begin kneading. Once the bowl is pretty clean, turn the dough out onto a board and knead it well for 8 minutes. You might need some extra flour if the dough is sticky. Note that a KitchenAid mixer (or some other brand of upright electric mixer) works well for the mixing and kneading of the bread dough. About the time you add the last cup of flour you'll want to switch from the standard mixer attachment to the dough hook attachment. Just knead the dough using the dough hook on low speed for 8 minutes. If after a few minutes the dough is still a little sticky, add a little sprinkling of flour to it. 4 In a large clean bowl, pour in about a tablespoon of oil and put the dough on top of it. Spread the oil all over the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside to rise (in a relatively warm spot or at room temp) for an hour and a half. It should just about double in size. 5 Spread a little olive oil in your baking pan or baking sheet (will make it easier to remove the bread). Place the dough in your baking pans or form it into free-form rounds on a baking sheet. This recipe will do two nice-sized loaves or one big one and a little one. Cover the breads and set aside for another 30 minutes. 6 Dimple the breads with your thumb. Push in to about the end of your thumbnail, roughly 1/2-inch. Cover again and leave it to rise for its final rise, about 2 hours. 7 With 30 minutes to go before the rise finishes, preheat your oven to 400°F. If you have a pizza stone put it in. 8 Once the dough has done its final rise, gently paint the top with olive oil – as much as you want. Then sprinkle the coarse salt on top from about a foot over the bread; this lets the salt spread out better on its way down and helps reduce clumps of salt. 9 Put the bread in the oven. If you are doing free-form breads, put it right on the pizza stone. Bake for a total of 20-25 minutes. If you have a water spritzer bottle, spritz a little water in the oven right before you put the bread in to create steam, and then a couple of times while the bread is baking. When the bread comes out of the oven, turn it out onto a rack within 3-5 minutes; this way you'll keep the bottom of the bread crispy. Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes before eating. Yield: Makes a large loaf and a small loaf of 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick.

Coca Cola Chocolate Cake

  Cocoa Cola Cake 1 box devils food cake mix 3 eggs 1/2 c. sour cream 1 stick melted butter 1 1/4 c. Coca Cola Soda Pop 1 1/2 c. mini marshmallows 1 t. vanilla Frosting:  6 T. butter, softened 1/2 c. cocoa powder 1/4 t. salt 1 t. vanilla 1 lb. powdered sugar 5 T. Coca Cola Soda Vanilla ice cream, for serving Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 9x13 pan. Combine cake mix with the eggs, sour cream, butter & soda pop.  Mix until smooth then fold in the marshmallows.  Pour cake batter in the pan.  Bake for 25-29 minutes or until center is done.  While cake is cooking, make the frosting by placing the butter and cocoa powder  into a medium sized sauce pan.  Cook these items on medium heat until the cocoa powder is smooth.  Add the remaining ingredients to the pan and stir vigorously until the powdered sugar is dissolved and the frosting is smooth.  You may need a little more soda pop to get the frosting to the desired consistency.  You want this frosting a little soft, not totally stiff.  Once the cake comes out of the oven, spread the frosting all over the warm cake.  Let the cake sit for a few minutes and then serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Greek Lemon Chicken Pasta

Greek Lemon Chicken Pasta 3 T. olive oil 3 T. butter 1/2 t. salt 2 c. milk, half & half or heavy cream (I used half & half and it worked perfectly) 1 T. grated lemon peel 1/4 c. fresh parsley, chopped fine 1 lb. angel hair pasta 1/2 c. crumbled feta cheese 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts 2 T. flour 1 t. dry mustard 2 egg yolks 1 t. lemon juice 1 c. sour cream 1 T. vegetable oil 1/2 t. dried dill  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add the chicken and cover. Cook until chicken is browned, turning once about 15 minutes. Remove chicken; slice, set aside. Heat butter in a medium-low heat, stir in flour, salt and mustard. Add the milk. Mix yolks, lemon peel and juice in a bowl. Stir in one third of egg mixture into sauce pan. Gradually stir in remaining egg mixture. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring continually. Remove pan from heat and stir in parsley and sour cream. Cook pasta according to package directions, and drain. Toss with oil and stir 3/4 c. of sauce and feta into pasta. Top with sliced chicken and remaining sauce. Sprinkle with dill and more feta if desired.

Pie Crust

Perfect Pie Crust Recipe
Prep time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
One of the secrets to a flaky pie crust is to work with very cold butter. Cut the butter into cubes and freeze, at least 15 minutes, best over an hour or even overnight. The minute I even think I might want to make a pie, the first thing I do is cut some butter into cubes and put it in the freezer.
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INGREDIENTS
All Butter Crust for Sweet and Savory Pies (Pâte Brisée)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
6 to 8 Tbsp ice water
METHOD


1 Combine flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor; pulse to mix. Add butter and pulse 6 to 8 times, until mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add ice water 1 Tbsp at a time, pulsing until mixture just begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If the dough doesn't hold together, add a little more water and pulse again. Note that too much water will make the crust tough.


2 Remove dough from machine and place in a mound on a clean surface. If you want an extra flaky crust, shmoosh the dough mixture into the table top with the heel of the palm of your hand a few times. This will help flatten the butter into layers between the flour which will help the resulting crust be flaky. You can easily skip this step if you want. Gently shape the dough mixture into two disks. Work the dough just enough to form the disks, do not over-knead. You should be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These small chunks of butter are what will allow the resulting crust to be flaky. Sprinkle a little flour around the disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour, and up to 2 days.
3 Remove one crust disk from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes in order to soften just enough to make rolling out a bit easier. Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch circle; about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. If necessary, add a few sprinkles of flour under the dough to keep the dough from sticking. Carefully place onto a 9-inch pie plate. Gently press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to trim the dough to within 1/2 inch of the edge of the pie dish.
4 Add filling to the pie.
5 Roll out second disk of dough, as before. Gently place onto the top of the filling in the pie. Pinch top and bottom of dough rounds firmly together. Trim excess dough with kitchen shears, leaving a 3/4 inch overhang. Fold the edge of the top piece of dough over and under the edge of the bottom piece of dough, pressing together. Flute edges using thumb and forefinger or press with a fork. Score the top of the pie with four 2-inch long cuts, so that steam from the cooking pie can escape.

All Butter Crust with Almonds
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1/2 cup finely ground blanched almonds or almond flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1 heaping teaspoon brown sugar
6 to 8 Tbsp ice water, very cold
Follow directions as for the All Butter Crust Pâte Brisée, but with the above ingredients. Include the ground almonds in with the flour and the salt and sugar in step 2 above.

To Pre-Bake a Pie Crust
If your recipe calls for a pre-baked crust, as many custard pie recipes do, follow all the steps above until you get to the point where it says to put in the filling. Note that you will need to make only a half recipe if you are only doing a bottom crust. Freeze the crust it for at least a half hour, until chilled. This is an important step in pre-baking. Otherwise the crust will slip down the sides.

Preheat your oven to 350°F. When the pie crust is sufficiently chilled, line the pie crust with parchment paper, wax paper, or aluminum foil. Fill at least two-thirds full with pie weights - dry beans, rice, or stainless-steel pie weights. Bake with weights for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, cool a few minutes and carefully remove pie weights. Poke small holes in the bottom of the pie crust with a fork and return to oven (without the weights) and cook for an additional 10 minutes, until the crust is golden. Cool completely before filling. You may need to tent the edges of the pie with aluminum foil when you bake your pie, to keep the edges from getting too dried out and burnt.

Combination Butter and Shortening Crust
Ingredients for one double-crust 9 inch or 10 inch pie:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup (a stick and a half) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1/2 cup of all-vegetable shortening (8 Tbsp)
6-8 Tablespoons ice water
1 Combine flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor; pulse to mix. Add the butter and pulse 4 times. Add shortening in tablespoon sized chunks, and pulse 4 more times. The mixture should resemble coarse cornmeal, with butter bits no bigger than peas. Sprinkle 6 tablespoons of ice water over flour mixture. Pulse a couple times. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If the dough doesn't hold together, keep adding water, a tablespoon at a time, pulsing once after each addition, until the mixture just begins to clump together.
2 Remove dough from machine and place in a mound on a clean surface. Divide the dough into 2 balls and flatten each into 4 inch wide disks. Do not over-knead the dough! Dust the disks lightly with flour, wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate for at least an hour, or up to 2 days before rolling out.
3 After the dough has chilled in the refrigerator for an hour, you can take it out to roll. If it is too stiff, you may need to let it sit for 5-10 minutes at room temperature before rolling. Sprinkle a little flour on a flat, clean work surface and on top of the disk of dough you intend to roll out. (We use a Tupperware pastry sheet that has the pie circles already marked.) Using a rolling pin, apply light pressure while rolling outwards from the center of the dough. Every once in a while you may need to gently lift under the dough (a pastry scraper works great for this) to make sure it is not sticking. You have a big enough piece of dough when you place the pie tin or pie dish upside down on the dough and the dough extends by at least 2 inches all around.
4 When the dough has reached the right size, gently fold it in half. Lift up the dough and place it so that the folded edge is along the center line of the pie dish. Gently unfold. Do not stretch the dough.
5a If you are only making a single crust pie, use a pair of kitchen scissors to trim the dough to within 1/2 inch of the lip of the dish. Tuck the overhang underneath itself along the edge of the pie dish. Use your fingers in a pinching motion, or the tines of a fork to crimple the edge of the pie crust.
5b If you are making a double crust pie, roll out the second disk of dough. Gently place onto the top of the filling in the pie. Use a kitchen scissors to trim the overhang to an inch over. Fold the edge of the top piece of dough over and under the edge of the bottom piece of dough, pressing together. Finish the double crust by pressing against the edges of the pie with your finger tips or with a fork.
6 Use a sharp knife to cut vents into the top of the pie crust, so the steam has a place to escape while the pie is cooking. Optional Before scoring, you may want to paint the top of your crust with an egg wash (this will make a nice finish).

Egg Wash
A lovely coating for a pie can be achieved with a simple egg wash.
1 Tbsp heavy cream, half and half, or milk
1 large egg yolk
Beat egg yolk with cream and brush on the surface of the pie with a pastry brush.