What's in Grandma's Recipe Tin?-Ham-Kraut Bake

Today's recipe comes courtesy of the April, 1966 issue of Family Circle magazine. It's a clip-out recipe card so rather than write out the recipe here, I took a picture of it instead!

As you can see, the recipe isn't terribly involved and has a minimal amount of ingredients. I already had an opened jar of sauerkraut in the fridge that needed to get used up, so this was the perfect recipe for it. And sadly, it's been so cloudy and cool here that the thought of an oven-baked casserole doesn't seem inappropriate, even though we're in post-July 4th Seattle, and it's supposed to be hot and sunny now.

This recipe was super easy, and can be made ahead of time. I actually made it in the morning and left it in the fridge to bake for lunch. It doesn't say exactly what kind of pan to use, but I used an 8"x8" pan and it fit just perfectly.

Here's the obligatory ingredient line-up shot. As you can see, there's not a lot involved! To make 2 cups of diced ham, you'll need 1.5 (8oz) ham steaks, so make plans to use the other half in something else, or buy the already diced kind from the store. I don't like that kind as much though, cuz the texture always seems off.

Here is the drained sauerkraut. I tried pressing it with a fork in a colander but it doesn't do much. You will need to actually squeeze it with your hands to drain it. You'll be surprised at how much you get to drain out. Fluff it with a fork afterwards and it'll make it easier to stir everything else into it.

Here's the ham, first apple, and half the brown sugar all mixed together.

And here it is in the greased pan.

Core and slice the second apple and mix in the last 2 Tablespoons of brown sugar and cinnamon.

Arrange them on the top in a slightly overlapping pattern. It calls for you to cover it before placing it in the oven, so at this point you can refrigerate it  for as long as you want before baking it. This would be something you could make the ing morning or night before you bake it.

Here it is, out of the oven, ready for lunch! I cooked basic egg noodles to serve with it, but you could use spaetzle, boiled potatoes, roasted potatoes, or whatever you feel like as a side.

Here's the finished product on the plate. I mixed the noodles in with it and ate it altogether. The sour, salty, and sweet all blended well together but I found it ultimately too sweet. I would probably cut the brown sugar in half next time. I used "Envy" apples with are red, have a great texture, but are really sweet. I would say Granny Smiths would be a good option, but it won't have that lovely touch of red from the peel. Look for a red apple that isn't too sweet. Not sure what kind that might be, but based on this being a recipe from 1966, "red apple" probably meant Red Delicious, as gross as those can be. Maybe it would work? I also wanted to add some caraway seeds to this, which isn't called for in the recipe, but I think it would be a great flavor in this mix.

This was a really simple recipe that sauerkraut lovers will enjoy a lot. Alter the sugar content and type of apples if you want it less sweet. This dish reminded me of Easter dinner in our family and my sister commented that it smelled like Easter. It would be a good alternate dish if we ever wanted to try something different but similar at the same time. Maybe I'll make this for next year's Easter so my grandmother can try one of her own recipes she saved over the years!

Happy Cooking!
-Foodie

Perfecting Chicken Divan Part Two

My recipe for Chicken Divan:
1 large cooked chicken breast, skinless, boneless, shredded
1 head of fresh broccoli, cut into small pieces, including the stem which I peel first
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
2 cups milk
Sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded, to taste. I bought slices from my local deli that weighed in at .18lb, it was four slices
Curry powder, pepper, salt, to taste
Lemon juice, to taste
Shredded Cheddar cheese to top

Steam the broccoli until al dente. Place in the bottom of a 9x9 or 8x8 baking pan. Place shredded chicken on top. In a medium saucepan, melt butter, add flour and whisk for a couple minutes over medium heat. Slowly add milk in 1/2 cup increments, stirring to combine after each addition. Bring to a boil and whisk constantly until thickened. Remove pan from heat and add cheese, seasonings and lemon juice and whisk to melt and mix. Adjust to taste. Pour over mixture in pan and heat in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour until bubbly and browning on top. Top with more shredded cheese and allow to melt. Serve. Leftovers can be frozen and thawed out with no real difference in texture or taste. Makes 4 servings.
Note: The original recipe uses a breadcrumb topping, which I have never cared for. I choose to leave it off, but feel free to make one for it if you wish. I would recommend panko instead of the normal ones if I was going to.

Perfecting Chicken Divan Part One

I have tried for years to perfect my mother's chicken divan recipe. I love her recipe, but since I have become lactose intolerant, I can't eat it anymore. Her recipe calls for cream of chicken soup, which is now off-limits to me. How to make this delish casserole without the use of the soup or the copious amount of mayonnaise that it calls for? I tried other stuff over the years but never found the right texture or flavor. Until I had a brilliant idea: Bechamel sauce! I usually use this when making homemade macaroni and cheese but I thought, why not try it with chicken divan? So I did, and it worked! I made a half batch which will be four servings for me and will freeze half to eat at a later time. In part two of this post I will give out the recipe.

June Round-up

I tried a few things this month that worked and didn't work. This one was a fail, but it was an inspiration for a win, so that balances it out. I tried a tuna noodle casserole from a low-sodium, heart-healthy cookbook and it was gross. Don't do it, it's just not good. But, the sauce I made for it I thought would work, if tweaked, for chicken divan. Chicken divan is one of my favorite recipes but it relies heavily on mayonnaise and canned cream of chicken soup, which is a dairy no-no for me. It's really hard to find recipes that replicate that creaminess but don't have cream in them. This one was for a thickened milk sauce. I tried it with rice milk for the tuna casserole and found it a bit too sweet, so I tried dairy milk, acidophilus kind, for the chicken casserole.
This was the result. The sauce was delicious. Milk thickened with cornstarch as opposed to a traditional bechamel. I added cheddar cheese to the sauce, since cheese is an important element to chicken divan, as well as a bit of curry powder and lemon juice, other essentials to a good sauce. I was very pleased with the results. I'd been nervous that the lemon juice might make the milk sauce curdle, but I added it at the very end and it did just fine.
I used fresh broccoli instead of frozen, which I am not a fan of. Frozen broccoli has very little flavor or texture, it's basically pointless, in my humble opinion. However, I should have steamed the broccoli instead of assuming it would cook enough in the oven. It didn't. But the flavor of the entire dish was what I wanted, and it was dairy friendly and at least slightly healthier since there's no mayonnaise in it. I used reduced fat cheese also since it doesn't matter too much when melted into a sauce like this. And I used one chicken breast for the entire dish. I will definitely do this one again.

I have a table-top oven that we got last year to try out in hot weather. Boy is it ever a life-saver! It doesn't heat up the apartment and I can bake and roast things year round now. This will be getting a lot of use. It already has.
My sister and I went to the Edmonds farmers market last Saturday where I found these little treasures. They just look like potatoes in this shot, but they're actually the size of marbles. They are adorable and delicious! I steamed them, then fried them up in a bit of butter so they got a bit crispy on the outside, but were mealy in the middle. I wish I could go to farmers markets all the time, but I doubt I could afford it. So, I'll have to satisfy myself by going once in a while.