#fabFortville Tour

Last night, I got to check explore the great town of Fortville. Fortville is a small town just outside of Indianapolis. Even though I'm only about 20 minutes away, I can honestly say before last night I had never stopped in any of the shops in Fortville. I had driven through main street many times so the area was familiar, but I had never really explored.

Squash-browns

We have really been enjoying these make ahead breakfast sandwiches lately. We decided to have them again this week for breakfast, but I wanted to do something a little different. Two thoughts came to mind:

1) I really should eat more vegetables, especially at breakfast. I have no problem getting enough fruit in each day, and I love vegetables but still sometimes struggle getting in enough servings. Why not add more at breakfast?

2) I love potatoes. I love hash browns with breakfast. I should incorporate hash browns into my breakfasts more often.

Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings

If I knew just how good these were going to turn out, I would have taken pictures. Lots of pictures. Although, with just a couple of ingredients, I don't know what these pictures would have been of. But since I didn't, you'll have to be satisfied with this one picture. (which should be enough to make you drool)

Make Ahead Breakfast Sandwiches

Since our October Unprocessed experiment, we haven't been eating as much cereal. Actually, we eat very little cereal now, if any. I've settled into a nice pattern of making breakfasts for us on Sunday evenings that we will have for the following week, and it's working out very well for us. This week, I made breakfasts sandwiches and they were a big hit all around!

Slow Cooker Rabbit

Continuing my underappreciated meats theme here, let me tell you about the most delicious, tender rabbit dish we had last night. My stepson helped my uncle to process some rabbits over the weekend, and his payment was a whole rabbit. These rabbits are raised on a farm, so they don't have a gamey taste, which I'm told wild rabbit does. I will admit I've never had wild rabbit, so I don't exactly have a frame of reference here, but the rabbits we get from him are very tasty!

Ingredients:

1 whole rabbit 

A few slices of bacon (I use bacon ends)

1 Onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 T rosemary

2 t tarragon

salt 

Dutch Oven Lamb Neck

I've always rooted for the underdog. Maybe that's why I look for under appreciated cuts of meat. So when I saw lamb neck slices available, I had to try them out. We're big fans of lamb around here, and I had a new cast iron dutch oven that I was itching to try out, so this would be perfect.

Ingredients

Lamb Neck Slices, generously salted
Olive Oil
1 pint chicken stock
4 carrots, sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 T rosemary
2 t cumin
1/2 c red wine
1 pint diced tomatoes
1 c royal blend rice
salt and pepper to taste

Salisbury Steak With Onion Gravy

Ok, so I know what you're thinking when I say Salisbury Steak. It's probably the mental image of the mystery meat you had in your elementary school cafeteria. Or maybe you are picturing some sort of frozen dinner with a meat like product. But let me assure you, this recipe is far from your childhood memories of bland, unidentifiable meat. It's time consuming to make the onion gravy, but it's all worth it!

It all starts with the onion gravy.

1 cup shredded or finely diced onions
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 c red wine
2-3 c vegetable or beef stock
2 Tablespoons flour
salt and pepper

Melt the butter in the pan and add in the onions.

These will need to caramelize, so it's going to take a bit. Keep an eye on these and add in broth as needed to prevent onions from burning. While these are cooking, mix together the steaks.

1 1/2 lb lean ground beef
3 Tablespoons parsley
1/4 c diced onions
1 Tablespoon diced garlic
Salt and pepper
1/3 c Bread Crumbs
2 eggs

Mix everything except the bread crumbs and eggs together and let that sit for a few minutes so the flavors have a chance to set in.

Add in the bread crumbs and eggs, then form into steaks about 3/4" thick.

By this time, your onions should be carmelized, so it's time to add in the red wine. Simmer the wine and onions until it's reduced by half,  and then whisk in the flour.

Let the flour cook into the wine and onions, then gradually whisk in more stock. By this time, the gravy should be starting to thicken. Finally-it's time to cook the beef!

Preheat a skillet on medium high and cook the steaks for 6 minutes, then flip and cook an additional 6 minutes. Remove steaks from pan and add them into the simmering gravy and cook 3-5 minutes longer. Don't mind the steamy pic below-I was having a rough time with the camera!

Remove from heat and allow the gravy to do its final thickening. The gravy should be a nice dark brown and should coat the back of a spoon. Salt and pepper as needed.

You'll have plenty of gravy in the pan, which will be perfect over mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or rice. Side note-that would have made a pretty picture too, but I didn't make it that far. I was lucky to get the bag of frozen steam fresh broccoli in the microwave and the box of garlic bread into the oven. Sigh....maybe another night I'll be able to pull off a perfect 50's style dinner.