In The Kitchen

May 12, 2020

Breakfast Casserole - Porter Style

Hope this post finds you well. Here's a new dandy comfort food cooking vid for you!
If you need a quick satisfying breakfast option this one wins (mind you, this would make a great lunch or dinner too with a side salad).
It's the sort of thing you can wing, and ingredients can be changed up like nobody's biz. Our family is all about toppings, so...do consider them when serving this gem. See my suggestions below.
Cheers + love from the countryside xxx

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1 LB. Bulk Italian sausage- cooked
1 yellow onion chopped
10 eggs
1 1/4 C. milk
2 cups cheddar cheese
Salt + freshly ground pepper
4 cups frozen hash-browns
Mix all ingredients and pour into a 9 x 13 baking pan.
Bake for approximately one hour or until no longer jiggling in the center.

Try the following toppings + condiments for taste bud goodness.
Jalapenos
Avocados
Tabasco
A bed of greens.
A dollop of sour cream
Scallions (our go to for everything)
Salsa

Ingredient substitutions or additions.
Leeks, mushrooms, jalapenos sauteed in advance in butter and salt.
Gruyere cheese...or a mix or cheeses
Bacon

April 22, 2020

Baked Chicken Goodness

Hello love!
Thought we'd share another Porter family favorite. We do a few versions of breaded baked or fried chicken, this one is an absolute winner.
It's as easy as things get for an incredibly satisfying dinner. Since we shoot these videos in our home don't mind us chatting here and there with our boys. We have 4 teenage sons, and while none of them want any camera time, things are still going on around us...dart games, lawn mowing, firewood runs etc!
You may want to make a smaller amount of this lusciousness than we do, but I will add...this chicken is good, good, good the next day! Trust me... I am the queen of leftovers.
I hope you'll give this one a whirl, I promise it'll become a favorite. We love it with a salad, and rice or some kind of potato.
Cheers + love from the countryside xxx

Preheat oven to 375 degrees + prepare a half sheet pan with parchment paper
2 sticks of unsalted butter
5-7 cloves of fresh minced garlic
2 cups of fresh bread crumbs ( baked in 375 oven for 12-15 minutes)
2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
12-14 bone in skin on chicken thighs
Salt
Pepper

Melt butter along with garlic.
Mix together bread crumbs + cheese. Season with salt + pepper.
Dip chicken into garlic butter then dredge in bread crumb + cheese mix, place each piece on prepared half sheet pan.
Add any leftover butter or bread crumbs to top of chicken.
Bake for about one hour until chicken is browned.

April 17, 2020

Spicy Bloody Mary Recipe

Hello Love! I hope this post finds you well and staying tucked.
As the days are blending into somewhat of an interesting blur we thought it might be nice to shake things up and share our Spicy Bloody Mary Recipe with you.
I always think of Bloody Mary's as a weekend brunch thing. But these are scrumptious any day of the week and they are delectable with or without vodka! Someday when we're all having gatherings again consider a Bloody Mary bar with all the fixins' for your guests!
I'm not sharing exact amounts of ingredients as we tend to go very spicy. Truth is, you can't mess these up! We believe Clamato juice makes the best version of this drink, but of course do what works for you! And don't forget to drag these gems through the garden and then some!

Clamato juice
Vodka
Worcestershire sauce
Prepared Horseradish
Pickle juice
Tabasco sauce
Italian seasoning
Garlic powder
Dijon mustard
Fresh lemon + Lime
Celery salt
Black pepper

Mix the above ingredients together and pour over a tall glass of ice. If you want to salt the rim of your glasses try a lemon pepper salt for a unique twist.
As for the add ins...it's endless and such a fun place to play! Here are the things we tend to go with.
Pickled green beans, asparagus, brussel sprouts
Scallions
Marinated mushrooms
Bacon ( yes really)
Large cooked cold shrimp

Cheers + love from the countryside xxx

April 4, 2020

Rumaki Appetizer

 

 

Hello Love!

We hope you're well and finding a bit of beauty in your days.  Here's a new bit of goodness we're sending along with love from the countryside. xxx

This is our absolute favorite appetizer. And I would say our signature bring-to-any-gathering app. It disappears in minutes. Kids and adults love it.
Our 4 boys beg for it. Not kidding. Over the years we've made lots of changes as to how we make it, this is our current fave.
If you want to make these even more interesting, try the Devils On Horseback version. It's a date stuffed with blue cheese then wrapped in
bacon. We use the same sauce and sometimes do half and half for parties, holidays etc.
This recipe is also fabulous with a piece of cooked liver alongside the water chestnut, bacon wrapped and using same sauce.
These are a great make-ahead, pop-back-in-the-oven-to-heat-and-serve option. As for me, a plate of these with a salad and a glass of wine is dinner!

Rumaki
Makes approximately 50 appetizers

Arrange bacon side-by-side a parchment-covered sheet pan.
Place bacon in cold oven and heat to 425, cooking for 12-15 minutes.
Remove bacon from oven, let cool, then cut each piece in half.
Wrap each water chestnut with a half piece of bacon, and secure with a toothpick.
Arrange each wrapped chestnut on a parchment covered sheet pan.
Place back in oven for 12 minutes or until bacon looks brownish.
Place cooked chestnuts on paper towel to absorb remaining grease and place into a oven-safe baking dish.
Mix ketchup, brown sugar and soy sauce together with a tablespoon of garlic powder and a pinch or two of Italian seasoning.
Coat the wrapped chestnuts with sauce and place back in 425 degree oven for 15 minutes or until bubbling.

2 cans whole water chestnuts
1 cup ketchup
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 lbs bacon
garlic powder
Italian seasoning

March 5, 2020

Big Ol' Griddle Sandwiches

 

At least once a week we make big ol' griddled sandwiches - crowd pleasers matter when you have four teenage boys who eat as much as ours do.
This is one of those dinners that's super easy and if there are leftovers, they don't last long the next day. A vegan version of this would be fabulous, but our boys like meat in their sandwiches so we go for it and layer things up.
These are incredibly satisfying, and while I'm not a huge sandwich person, I cannot resist these. I often make an aioli and slather it on thick; it's usually Gus who asks for that as he scoots his way out the door for basketball practice, knowing he's coming home to these beauties. But mayo and mustard do the trick, too. Or, thousand island...oh...better yet: blue cheese dressing!! ...yeah perfect.
There's no wrong way to concoct a hearty sandwich. For us it sort of comes down to what's on hand. We often add leftovers into these, if there are any. This is one dinner we make that many of you have seen in our stories, and have asked for a video. Hope you enjoy it!
Cheers + love from our country kitchen to yours!
xxx

---

February 12, 2020

Smashed Potatoes

When the two of us get in the kitchen to cook good food and make cocktails the video can go a bit long.  Making good food that our four boys swoon over is no question one of our favorite things to do. We also love to entertain, and swoon-worthy bites are a must! These easy-to-make smashed potatoes always win.  We make them often and change the toppings on a regular basis. You can make them fanciful as we do for our Christmas Eve fete, when we top them with crème fraîche and caviar, or make them crowd-pleaser style as we're sharing in this recipe. Give yourself the freedom to try all sorts of toppings and combinations. I told John the other day I was craving these with a chunk of lobster and a nice aioli.  Can you stand it?What are you going to top yours with when you make them?
Cheers and love from the countryside!
xxx

(Click HERE to download a PDF of the recipe)

---

February 6, 2020

Pot Pie

A good old fashioned homemade pot pie in a cast iron pan is one of our families favorite dinners...(and leftovers!). We typically make two huge pot pies that our four teenage boys inhale like there is no tomorrow. John and I both cook dinners in our home, often side-by-side as we hash over the day's news and chit chat with our boys, if they're around. We also wing most of our dinners sans recipes. Pot pie, while easy and something we've been making since our boys were babies, isn't something many people I know make on a regular basis. I think people view it as complicated, and I get it. I remember when I wanted to start making it part of our dinner repertoire and questioning my sanity. Roast the chicken then debone it. Make the stock or have a bunch of it in the freezer. (not happening) Make the dough...from scratch. We had four kids under the age of six and we both worked full time outside of our home and dinners around our table were something we made a priority. Good and mostly healthy dinners. I needed a pot pie in our mix! But I also needed my sanity. I learned shortcuts early on-much thanks to my mom who is an absolutely fantastic cook. Things that I had done pre-kids needed some reality checks. She was good to lovingly point them out. I stopped making homemade stock and bought the boxed version. I quit making my own dough and bought the pre-made kind you unroll. I also buy my chicken de-boned. What an awesome time-saver that is.
Our goal in sharing the things we do is to inspire you in any way we can. So if our time-savers aren't for you, then by all means, make the dough. Roast the chicken. Make homemade stock. Amen. 
Cheers and love from the countryside xxx
(Click HERE to download a PDF of the recipe)