Pepperoni Lasagna: An Instant Crowd Favorite!

Pepperoni Lasagna

My first memory of this recipe was the summer of ’85. My post-college roommate was making a big pan of the stuff for her then fiance. It took a little pleading, but I ate a piece.  Okay, I begged. I mean, really? It was a 9" x13" pan that felt like it weighed 10 lbs...one fiancé could not consume ALL of that! She eventually caved and gave me a sizable corner piece. It was scrumptious! And there was not a cottage cheese curd in sight. Ricotta! Where had you been all of my life? 

Her lasagna was filled with layers of ground beef, sautéed vegetables and three kinds of cheese. I committed her recipe and process to memory immediately and I’ve always received rave reviews from those I served this cheesy, noodlie casserole. 

Fast forward about four years and I'm a newlywed. On a grocery outing I ask my dearly beloved if he liked lasagna? "No, I hate lasagna," he said. I was crushed. Here I had a great recipe and I wasn't gonna get to show-off. 

Two years go by and I'm on another grocery outing and a major hankering for lasagna overtakes me. I've gotta have it! I purchase the ingredients, go home and make a big 9" x 13" pan of lasagna that will keep me in lunches for a week and a half. I don't mind. I finished just in time to take some to work that evening to eat on my dinner break. I left the rest on top of the counter to cool. About an hour into my shift, my husband calls. He's all excited by what I had made him for dinner! Said he had already eaten half the contents of the pan! Then he asks, "What is this stuff?" "That, my dear, is lasagna." Turns out he had experienced the goopy cottage cheese kind, too. Like me, he hadn't met ricotta.

This recipe isn't difficult. It is just time consuming. Like most casseroles, everything is pre-cooked, then mixed and baked together. After making this recipe a couple of times, you'll add your own special ingredients and customize it for your table. 

My roommate's version contained sliced mushrooms, bell pepper strips and black olives. The only veggie I sneak in on my family is sautéed spinach that I add to the ground meat layer.

Here is my take on her recipe. It's been a family favorite for over 20-years! Thanks roomie!!

Pepperoni Lasagna

Oven Temp: 350 degrees

Baking Time: 45-55 min.

• 12 lasagna noodles, cooked 3/4 done, drained, set aside.

• 1lb lean ground meat or Italian sausage browned with 2 cups chopped onion, seasoned with salt, black pepper, garlic.

•  2 jars or tall cans of your favorite spaghetti sauce, heated in a sauce pan.

• 1 large tub of Ricotta Cheese, mixed with 1 egg, 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, a little salt, pepper, garlic. Set aside.

• 1 pkg Hormel Sliced pepperoni

•  2-3 cups grated mozzarella 

Assembly:

• In the bottom of  a 9" x 13" pan, cover with a thin layer of sauce.

•  Add three lasagna noodles, followed by half the cooked ground meat, sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and top with more sauce.

• Top the ground meat layer with three more noodles, a layer of sauce, next the ricotta mixture, then the pepperoni, more sauce, then cheese.

• Third layer is three noodles, sauce, cheese, ground meat, cheese, sauce.

• Top with remaining three noodles, generously cover with sauce and cheese.

• Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes. Remove and let set-up for at least 5-10 min. Before serving.

3/4 cooked lasagna noodles

Jazzed up spaghetti sauce

Ground meat cooked with onions

Ricotta mixture

Ready for the second tier

After adding ricotta

Then the pepperoni

Sauce, then cheese

Ready for the last tier

Cooked ground meat, sauce

Top completed with last of cheese and sauce

Parchment to prevent sticking to the foil

I put a piece of parchment paper on top, so that my cheese would not stick to the foil cover as the lasagna baked.

Unfortunately, the kids arrived home and began eating before I could snap a photo of the finished product. Oh well. 

Don't be scared off by all the steps and layers. You can do it in a snap! And the next thing you know, you'll be making this recipe for 20+ years, too!

Please let me know how yours turns out!

As the mixing bowl turns,

Donna ; - )

Auntie Donna’s Fried Chicken: Inspired by Great-Granny DeVault’s basic family recipe.

Fried Chicken, after the first turn.

My last conversation in June of 2001 with my Daddy Jack was about his childhood memories of his Granny DeVault’s fried chicken. He was venturing back to his early years of helping her out in her store, mid to late 1930s. He gave vivid details, recalling exactly how she fried her chicken. That must have been some kind of good for a little boy about eight years old to pay that much attention. I wrote everything down that he mentioned. However, I will not be going out back to kill, scald and pluck two medium sized chickens for this blog. Sorry, you will be coming up a bit short of my Great-Granny’s recipe's freshness. But other than that, I will share all the details with you.

He was adamant that I use a cast iron skillet with a lid. Her basic technique was to add the chicken to the hot oil and cook it for 10-minutes, then turn it, cover it with the lid, turn the heat down to low, cook another 10-minutes, take the lid off, turn the heat back up to crisp the chicken skin again and it was done! That seems like a lot of fuss, but it is a great process to follow. However, my guess is that her barnyard birds were smaller than what we are getting these days packaged up in our grocery stores. I tried that cooking style with a pre-cut up fryer from the store and my crust looked great...but the inside was still pink...cause my chicken had a lot more meat on it’s bones.

So, this version is in the ‘spirit’ of my Great-Granny’s recipe. I have had to make a few adjustments to his instructions, plus am I really to trust a memory from 66 years ago? I think not. This basic recipe has been passed along to many others since my conversation with Daddy Jack. I even spent 45-minutes with my sister-in-law, on the phone from start to finish, walking her through each step. (If only there had been iPhones in 1999.) She has now made the recipe countless times for her three boys, who call it Auntie Donna’s Fried Chicken. I kinda feel for her. She’s the one who has been making it for them all these years, and it’s still not her chicken? Oh well.

Auntie Donna’s Fried Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces, 9 if you wish to cook the back (I save the back for soup stock)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk or buttermilk
• 1 TBS hot sauce
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, seasoned
• Flour Seasonings: salt, black pepper, garlic powder...is basically all you need.  But I add in ground sage, parsley flakes, oregano, cayenne, paprika, chili powder, onion powder, basically anything I want to add in the spice rack. I get in trouble from people wanting exact measurements on the seasonings...sorry I do it all by feel/look. I’d say a teaspoon of everything would be a safe way to start.

Instructions:

1. Wash and pat dry your chicken pieces with a paper towel, season on all sides with salt, black pepper, garlic. Just make sure it is not cold right out of the fridge. Adding super cold chicken to the hot oil will drop the temp and make your crust soggy.
2. Make a wet tray that consists of your eggs, beaten in with milk, salt, black pepper, garlic.
3. Make a dry tray that contains your seasoned flour.
4. Coat the chicken pieces, one at a time with the egg wash mixture.
5. Next, roll them in the seasoned flour, shaking off the excess.
6. Gently place them in a skillet of hot oil.
7. Cook pieces according to size. Put breasts, thighs together...they take the longest...legs, wings and back take the least time.
8. Add your chicken pieces gently. Don’t crowd the skillet. 4-5 pieces at a time will give all the sides room to brown up evenly. A crowded skillet brings the oil temp down and makes for soggy greasy chicken.
9. Monitor the chicken and after about 8 minutes, turn it over...that is, if the batter is the shade of golden brown you desire. If it’s too light, cook it a little longer. 
10. Once turned, cook for another 8-10 minutes.
11. I cook the breasts and thighs first, then the last round is for wings, legs.
12. I also line a cookie sheet with foil and place a wire rack inside. When the breasts and thighs are browned on both sides, I put them on a rack and into a 250 degree oven. That keeps them crisp and helps them finish cooking while I start the legs and wings.

Skillet Instructions:

• I generally use my cast iron skillet. Sometime I use the lid technique, sometimes I don’t. In the case of these chicken legs pictured, I did not.
• Fill your skillet half full of vegetable oil. Turn your heat up to medium. Make sure your oil is fully hot when you start adding the chicken. If it isn’t sizzling when the chicken is added, you will get greasy soggy crust. Test the oil by putting the tip of a fork in the egg wash, then put the eggy tips down in the hot oil. If it immediately starts cooking and forming little beads, then the oil is ready. If not, wait a while longer and/or turn your heat up a bit.

Frying Station: Egg, flour, into the skillet!

Coating with seasoned egg wash mixture.

Rolling in seasoned flour.

Oil on medium heat.

Auntie Donna’s Fried Chicken

Common Mistakes:

• Medium hot oil is what you want to achieve...not oil heated on High. All you will have is the best looking golden brown crust and raw chicken in the middle. Consistent heat is the key.
• Adjustments are easily made to the process. If your chicken pieces seem pretty hefty, then cook them each a little longer. If it looks like a scrawny little chicken, then cook it less. If the oil seems too hot and the batter is browning too fast, turn the heat down a little. If it isn’t sizzling like in my photo, then turn the heat up. 

Don’t get scared away by all the steps and over abundance of instructions. Fried Chicken is pretty easy and it’s a quick way to have a protein ready for any meal. 

You can use this same recipe on boneless skinless chicken breasts or chicken tenders. It’s best to let the chicken soak in milk seasoned with a couple of shakes of hot sauce for at least 20-minutes. Then the egg and flour steps will hang on a bit better...and you will have a nice crust.

Let me know how it goes! I’m anxious to hear if this 90-something-year-old recipe will be passed along in your family, too!

As the mixing bowl turns...or in this case, as the skillet sizzles,

Donna ; - )

Talking Food #1: Coconut Almond Macaroon Recipe

Coconut Almond Macaroons

After much encouragement over the years, I have decided to listen to friends/family and write my own food blog. Just know, you better follow this blog or you will be removed as a ‘friend’ on Facebook. : ) JK...sorta...you know I’ll do it!

Most food blogs tend to have a trendy logo, or captivating photo of something you wish you could reach into the computer screen and take a big bite right out of it. But until I find something more marketable or trendy, I am going to use this tiny photo from 1963. That kitchen is where this blog had it’s beginning. The woman holding me is my sweet, sweet Granny named Pearl. I was just turning one.

Granny showing me all the things she had whipped up that morning.

Granny’s house was very small. The kitchen and eating area was the same big room; the biggest in the home. She had nine children and spent most of her life cooking on a wood stove. We went to her house every Sunday for lunch, which ended up looking more like a Thanksgiving meal, just without the turkey. She made sure there was something on the table that was somebody’s favorite. If child of hers liked black eyed peas, but another loved pinto beans, Granny had both.

Cousins and Uncles enjoying their turn at Granny’s table.

On this day, Granny seems to be showing little old me all that she has prepared and displaying on the table...and the counter behind her is filled with desserts. Desserts were her favorite thing to make!

The only bad thing I will ever say about my Granny is that she had no recipes to pass down in paper form. That tiny woman would just get a bowl and a spoon and the next thing you knew you had a cake or a pie or beans and cornbread. She did however, if you were standing in there watching her, teach you to cook like she cooked. Now, you weren’t allowed to help. I mean, that’s is understandable, cause from ages 1-6 I could only be so much help. I remember getting to wash potatoes and carrots, but I never got to chop anything. However, the thrill of receiving the mixing bowl and spoon after she put the cake in the oven was priceless!

I feel it is fitting to start my first blog with a family shared recipe that took place this week. The nine children Granny had gave her 28 grandchildren. I believe I am #22. This recipe is from grandchild #28, my lovely cousin Amanda!

Coconut Almond Macaroons Recipe

Yield: approx. 3 doz
Assembly:  20 min
Baking Time:  18-20 min
Temp:  325 degrees

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup egg whites, room temperature
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 - 7 oz. box of Odense Almond Paste (other brands are okay, too)
• 2 Cups powdered sugar
• 1 - 14 oz. package of sweetened flaked coconut
• (optional: dark chocolate melted to dip or drizzle on top)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl beat egg whites and vanilla until they form soft peaks.

This next step is easier if you have a food processor. I don’t so I just mixed it up with my hands and mushed the almond paste into itty-bitty pieces. I mean, Granny didn’t have a food processor...

1. In a separate bowl combine coconut, powdered sugar and all of the almond paste. Should be crumbly in nature.
2. Fold egg whites into coconut mixture.
3. You can use a small scoop or roll into  1” balls, packed firmly.
4. Place 1” apart on cookie sheet.
5. Bake for 18-20 minutes (my were perfect at 19) until macaroon is light brown on the bottom and firm on top.
6. Cool pans on wire rack first, so that cookies have a chance to firm-up. Then transfer the warm cookies directly onto the rack to finish cooling.
7. Store in air-tight container.

If you choose to drizzle or dip in chocolate, do that after the macaroons have completely cooled.

Coconut Almond Macaroons ingredients

Macaroon mixture

In the oven they go!

Golden brown macaroons.

Fluffy in the middle.

Dip in chocolate for an added treat!

(As a side note, I managed to get 48 of these macaroons out of my mixture and took 36 of them to a Seder last night. Not a crumb remained on the tray. They were a big, BIG hit!  Thanks, Amanda!!)

This completes my first blog. I hope you enjoyed it and will come back weekly to check out more recipes. I will give attribution to those who have shared their recipes with me. I rarely make the recipe exactly as it was presented to me, so please forgive the need to make it my own.

Over the course of time you will learn a lot about my family and friends as I share either what we talked about while preparing food or what awesome concoction we came up with while brainstorming in the kitchen, because unfortunately, I’m always Talking Food!

As the mixing bowl turns,
Donna ; - )