Dinner Divas: Baked Gruyere and Sausage Omelette

The second recipe I picked for Dinner Divas was this Baked Gruyere and Sausage Omelette from Giada de Laurentiis. I liked that it didn't require a bunch of ingredients that I wouldn't normally have at home, and I like that you could have this for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or a light dinner. It was definitely more like a crustless quiche than an omelette. I couldn't taste the gruyere very strongly and would use a less expensive cheese like swiss to make this next time. My changes are in italics below.

Baked Gruyere and Sausage Omelette
source: Food Network

Ingredients
Butter, for greasing dish (I used cooking spray.)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1/2 pound mild turkey sausage, casings removed (I used a half pound of pre-cooked sweet Italian chicken sausage sliced thinly.)
8 large eggs
1/3 cup whole milk (I used 1% milk.)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 1/2 cups (4 ounces) grated Gruyere cheese
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly butter an 8 by 8-inch baking dish.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the sausage and cook until brown, about 5 minutes. Set the pan aside to cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper, to taste, until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add the red bell pepper, 1 cup of Gruyere cheese and 1/4 cup of parsley. Stir in the onion mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. (Mine took slightly longer to bake.)

Cut the baked omelet into wedges and sprinkle with remaining parsley before serving.

Cook's Note: To make individual servings, divide the batter between 4 buttered 8-ounce ramekins. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes.

Dinner Divas: Hurry Up Chicken Pot Pie

Oh, Paula Deen. Sometimes I wonder what the world would be like if not for your Bisquick, butter, and Ritz cracker-loving self.

I think this might actually be my first Paula Deen recipe to actually make, but I've read one of her cookbooks and earmarked a few things to try. This has been on my list for months, so I'm really pleased that it was chosen as a Dinner Divas recipe for November.

I had a few problems with it. Someone mentioned that they found it a little watery, so I decreased the broth addition to the cream of chicken soup, but I think the problem might actually come from the Bisquick. Somehow, I did not get a pretty, even biscuit layer on top of my chicken pot pie. It was still good, but I might tinker around with it a little more and perhaps switch up the milk to Bisquick ratio. Other changes are notated below.



Paula Deen's Hurry Up Chicken Pot Pie
(source: Paula Deen)

Ingredients:

• 2 cup chopped cooked chicken breast (I used shredded chicken breasts)
  
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced (I omitted. That sounded gross to me.)
  
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
• 1/2 cup frozen green peas
• 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of chicken soup
• Salt and pepper, optional
• 1 1/2 cup instant biscuit mix
• 1 cup milk
• 1 stick melted butter (I halved the butter and still had pools of it floating on top.)
  
• 1 cup chicken broth (I used maybe 1/4 cup.)
• I also added 1/2 cup frozen corn

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a greased 2-quart casserole, layer the chicken, eggs, carrots, and peas. Mix the soup, chicken broth, and season with salt and pepper, if desired. Pour over the layers. Stir together the biscuit mix and milk, and pour this over the casserole. Drizzle butter over the topping. Bake until the topping is golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes.

Yield: 4-6 servings
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30-45 minutes

Dinner Divas: Catfish Po-Boys

Let me just say that this meal was so good that Joe gave me a high-five at the end of it. He's never done that before, but I think it's a good sign.

This was another Dinner Divas recipe, my second of the month, and I'm SO glad I chose this one to make since Joe likes southern-style cooking. (Who am I kidding? I love it too.)

I was initially nervous about finding catfish, but not only did I find it, I found it discounted on Manager's Special because it had a sell-by date of 8/25. The grocery store was, however, out of broccoli slaw, so I used normal cabbage slaw.

This came together very quickly, and it's not terribly unhealthy considering it's fried fish. We will definitely be having this again.


Catfish Po-Boys (source: Cooking Light)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons fat-free milk
1 pound catfish fillets, cut into 2 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning (such as McCormick)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fat-free sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
Dash of crushed red pepper
2 cups bagged broccoli coleslaw
4 (2 1/2-ounce) hoagie rolls with sesame seeds, toasted (I used my jalapeno cheese bread instead.)

Directions:

Combine milk and catfish in a large bowl, tossing gently to coat. Remove fish from bowl; shake off excess milk. Sprinkle fish with salt. Combine cornmeal and Cajun seasoning in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add fish to bag. Seal and shake to coat.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish; cook 3 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

While fish cooks, combine vinegar and next 4 ingredients (vinegar through pepper) in a medium bowl. Add broccoli coleslaw; toss well to coat. Spoon 1/2 cup slaw mixture onto bottom half of each roll. Arrange fish evenly over each serving, and top with top halves of rolls.

Yields 4 servings (unless you're like us and ate all of it.)

Nutritional Information:
CALORIES 442(30% from fat); FAT 14.7g (sat 3.2g,mono 6.4g,poly 3.8g); IRON 3.6mg; CHOLESTEROL 54mg; CALCIUM 144mg; CARBOHYDRATE 50.2g; SODIUM 818mg; PROTEIN 26g; FIBER 3.4g

Dinner Divas: Chicken Cobb Burgers

Two ladies on the cooking board I frequent decided to come up with a new cooking group that was very relaxed and had few requirements. You could make the recipes or not, change the recipes or not, etc. This sounded like it was my sort of speed, so I signed up. This is the first recipe of the Dinner Divas. We get a choice of 4 recipes and the goal is to make 2 of them a month.



As you may be able to see from the picture, this was a very serious burger. The combination of chicken, blue cheese, avocado, tomato, bacon, and lettuce is not for the faint of heart, quite literally. If you are on some sort of low-fat diet, stay away from this burger. Honestly, it was a bit much for me. I'm not a big bacon fan to begin with, so I could've done without that, and I probably made the burgers a bit on the large side.

However, this recipe introduced me to some interesting techniques. I chose to stuff the burgers with the blue cheese instead of melting it on top, creating a little pocket in the middle full of blue cheese. "A pocket of happiness," as Joe called it. I will definitely employ this technique again.

Grilling the bacon was another new technique, though this one didn't turn out so well. I would've much rather fried the bacon inside or on the side burner of the grill because it didn't come out uniformly crispy. The bacon was almost burnt on the edges and soggy in the middle.

I did enjoy the burger, even if it was a bit rich for my taste. I liked the ground chicken with the blue cheese a lot. We ended up eating the dressed romaine on the side as a salad rather than putting it on top of the burger because there was no way you could eat it like that. Overall, it was a success, but if I make it again, I'll forgo the bacon altogether and make the burgers a little smaller.

Chicken Cobb Burger
Recipe courtesy of Bobby Flay and Food Network

For the burgers:

8 (1/2- thick) strips bacon
1 1/2 pounds ground chicken, 90 percent lean
2 tablespoons canola oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
4 burger buns, split
1 large ripe beefsteak tomato, cut into 4 slices
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and cut into 8 slices

For the vinaigrette:

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely shredded romaine lettuce

For the burgers:

Heat the grill to medium.

Place the strips of bacon on the grill (lay them across the grate so they don't fall through) and grill for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until golden brown and slightly crispy. Remove the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels. Increase the heat of the grill to high.

Form the meat into 4 (8-ounce) burgers, brush with the oil and season with salt and pepper on both sides. Grill the burgers until golden brown on both sides and cooked completely through, about 5 minutes per side. Top the burgers with the blue cheese, close the cover, and continue cooking until the cheese begins to melt, about 1 minute longer.

Place the burgers on the bottom half of each bun and top with a slice of tomato, 2 slices of avocado, 2 slices of bacon and some of the dressed romaine. Cover each burger with the bun tops and serve.

For the vinaigrette:

Whisk together the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, Worcestershire, garlic, sugar, salt, pepper and oil in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using to allow the flavors to meld.

Just before assembling the burgers, place the romaine in a medium bowl and toss with the vinaigrette