Recipes

Bruschetta:
3 diced plum tomatoes
1 bunch of fresh basil
1/4 diced white or red onion
2 diced cloves of garlic
1 tbsp virgin olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp of sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Crostini's:
1 Baguette
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup parmesan
1/2 tbsp dried basil
1 tsp Garlic salt

Balsamic Glaze:
2/3 cup of balsamic vinegar

Chicken Breasts:
4 pounded chicken breast
2 eggs
2/3 cup panko bread crumbs
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil
1 fresh mozzarella ball

Bruschetta:
Dice tomatoes, onions, and garlic. Combine in one bowl.
Then add in the same bowl; cut basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sugar, and salt & pepper. Mix and serve!

Crostini's:
Turn oven on to 275 degree Fahrenheit. Cut baguette in 1/2 inch slices. On a baking pan layout cut baguette and drizzle olive oil. Next sprinkle parmesan, oregano, and garlic salt. Then bake in increments of 3 minutes, careful because they do cook quick! Then plate and top with bruschetta and a drizzle of balsamic glaze!

Balsamic Glaze:
In a cooking pan on a medium heat, add balsamic vinegar and sugar. Stir occasionally until you reach the consistency you desire! I normally cook mine for about 30-45 minutes and heads up- it will make your house smell like vinegar!

Chicken:
Turn on oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Pound 4 chicken breasts. Next layout a breading station which includes a flat bowl of eggs stirred, a flat bowl of panko breading mixed with garlic powder, paprika, Italian seasoning, salt & pepper. After preparing your station start by dipping your chicken breast in the egg and then into the bread crumbs (make sure both sides are fully covered). Once all chicken breasts have been through this process, grab a frying pan and turn on medium/high heat. Into that pan, add a layer of olive oil to cover the pans surface. Check to make sure the oil is to frying temperature by dropping a small bit of water into the pan, if the oil quickly reacts, it is ready to start frying. Next add the bread chicken into the pan cook on each side until golden brown (about 4-6 minutes) and then flip. Once both sides are nice and crispy, put the chicken onto a baking dish, top with sliced fresh mozzarella. Bake for 10 minutes and then broil on high for 3-5 minutes to get a nice color on the fresh mozzarella (can brown quickly, keep a close eye). Check the temp of the check to ensure it has reached 165 degrees Fahrenheit and then top with fresh bruschetta and drizzle on balsamic glaze. Serve with a butter & herb linguine or creamy gnocchi and broccoli for a full meal!

Ingredients: Yield 6 to 8 pcs of French toast
3 eggs
1/2 cup Heavy cream or Half and Half
2 full tablespoons or more of Cinnamon if you are a cinnamon nut!
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 full teaspoon of Salt
1.5 teaspoons of real vanilla
Salted butter! LOTS!!!

Break the eggs and beat well. Then mix in heavy cream or half and half, and beat well again. Next add the vanilla, cinnamon, sugar and salt. Beat again so it is all one happy batter.Heat your sauté pan or Cast Iron pan which I truly believe in the magic of the cast Iron pan.
NOTE: I use a liberal amount of non stick spray on side of pan the help when cleaning the pan.After the no stick spray i add a very ample amount of real salted butter. My Nana was Hungarian and there was nothing about skimping with the salted butter. She added so much she was almost frying the French toast in butter. When butter is melted and do not burn it, batter your bread, I batter it once on 1 side and once on the other, just don't let it sit in the batter and continue to soak it all up.
Carefully add to heated pan and cook one side till it starts to brown, then flip over and finish cooking the other side. If you are low on butter add more! This recipe is truly a celebration of butters true goodness. Please don't tell your doctor! When French toast is done put on a favorite plate, top with powdered sugar which completes this and serve with warm local syrup and guess what! Yes spread some more butter and watch it melt so beautifully! Enjoy this old style breakfast as I have done for years!!! Peace, Love and French toast! Remember all roads lead to Mike's Place in good ole Kent, Ohio!
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My wife Debbie never gets enough credit, but she truly is a good cook and a saint for putting up with the likes of me! Stuffed Peppers is one of my favorite dishes of hers for sure! I always hope there will be at least one stuffed Pepper left over so I can consume it cold early the next morning for breakfast! Mmmmmm Mmmmmm my taste buds are drooling!

Ingrediants:
1 Pound of ground peppers - 80/20 ground beef mix works great.
1 Package of 2.0 oz dried onion soup mix.
1 cup of precooked rice. Brown or White- Brown I am told is better for diabetics.
1 cup of water.
1 - 10.5 oz can of tomato soup and 1 can of water. Can't go wrong with Campbell soup.
Cheddar cheese-shredded
4 large fresh red or green peppers or both. I do love the sweetness of the fresh Red peppers.
Hungarian Smoked Paprika - 1 to 2 tablespoons
Salt & Pepper
Optional item to add to the beef rice mixture!!!
Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning! Game changer in my book!!! You decide how much!

In a medium sauté pan, brown the ground beef, and poor of the fat leaving a small amount in. Add dried onion soup mix, rice, pepper, two tablespoons of paprika, salt and 1 cup of water. Cook for about 5 to 10 minutes.

In a separate pot deep pot filled with boiling water add the peppers which have had the seeds and top removed so it resembles a cup where you mixture will be placed. Boil peppers for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove and let drain and cool a bit. Stuff the peppers evenly with the Beef rice mixture. Place in a ceramic of glass casserole pan with a lid. A 9 by 9 size works great for four large peppers. Do not waste any beef mixture if I have leftover I sprinkle it over the top and then add the cheese.

Open can of soup and mix in a bowl with 1 cup of water. Pour over peppers. Top with shredded cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 for about a half hour. Temp and make sure you have reached 165. Let dish sit covered for a 15 minutes and then dive in! Be careful this is truly a hot dish and I am sure you don't want to be burn your mouth as you wait impatiently like I for this wonderful goodness!

Thank you all for watching this video! I truly appreciate your feedback and comments as we explore the amazing world of food. Please subscribe to Mike Kostensky on YouTube and watch all the cooking video's and my Island and Americana Music clips. Words and Music keeps the world a much happier place! Peace, Love and Mike's Place!

Day Before- in a strainer in a refrigerator place 6 full tablespoons or a half of a medium size fresh diced Red Pepper, 1 to 2 tablespoon Sweet Onion or Green Onions, 2 tablespoons of drained Capers, 2 tablespoons of Horse Radish and 1 to 2 large cloves of diced Garlic. My Cousin Ned, Gene Leone's grandson once told me Gene would always do this step to help drain the excess water from these products. At Mike's we have not done this step, but who knows maybe it could be even better than the magical sauce we love! One final tid-bit of passed down information, I was told when Gene made this sauce he threw in the green stem along with all the seeds of the Red pepper into the mixing bowl.

The Next Day- Add all the above ingredients to a bowl.
Then add to the same bowl,
1 cup of Mayo. (I love Hellmann's mayo, just saying!)
2 Sprint of Olive oil
½ cup of Chili Sauce
½ teaspoon of crushed Red Pepper flakes
½ teaspoon of fresh ground Black Pepper
½ teaspoon or more of Kosher Salt
Mix all above first with a spatula, then use an immersion blender or blender to process all the ingredients into a smoother consistency and chill.
Note: Once in a while at Mike's we have added 2 tablespoons of regular Mustard to give this great sauce a little extra zip. This step is your choice. Remember either way this is a great dipping sauce for almost anything!

To this day, I wish I could have studied under Gene and May his wife rather than just being an eager participant at their dinner table on the back porch at the farm in Central New York. The memories and taste of their feast, I pray I will never forget! Thank you Gene, May, Momma
Leone and Ned for all your help with food over the years.
Enjoy!

Hogy Vagy! (How are you!) Your first lesson in Hungarian! Through life I have always gathered recipes I loved, I'm glad I did so I can now share them with you! Today I want to share Elona's Hungarian Goulash with all of you. Elona helped my grandfather enjoy life in the latter part of his life. She was truly a wonderful, caring woman who luckily escaped from Hungary before the war. She spoke in broken English but there were never any translations needed for the wonderful Hungarian dishes she made. I am forever glad for her inspiration, her help to my grandfather and her cooking. Thanks to this recipe I will never forget her!

This dish truly goes great with spätzle's and a sweet white Hungarian wine, and if you ever could find some some Dobos Torta for desert you would truly have had an amazing feast. Please subscribe to Mike Kostensky on YouTube for even more great recipe ideas! Enjoy Hungarian food always since it is a gift to our taste buds that are at times saturated with too many premade options.

Recipe:
1. 4# of diced chuck beef tips, bite size.
2. Three medium Vidalia or a Sweet onion diced in bite size portions do not chopped fine sautéed these in olive oil enough to coat the bottom of the stock pot and add three tablespoons of salted butter.
3. Two to three heaping tablespoons of Hungarian Paprika, original recipe called for sweet Paprika I prefer a paprika with a little kick so I use a hot paprika, note only two teaspoons are necessary if you go this spicy route.
4. Four chopped larger size ripe tomatoes. If using plumb tomatoes add 6 to seven ripe tomatoes.
5. Two Red peppers chopped bite size.
6. Three to four medium mild Hungarian Peppers or Cubarelle peppers.
7. Half dozen medium Garlic cloves, crushed with a fork.
8. Two heaping tablespoon Caraway seeds.
9. I add a tablespoon or more of beef base, for just a little more pizazz!
10. Add a teaspoon or more of fresh ground black pepper.
Note: I add all spices when I brown the meat. I have been taught that releasing the spices early into the pot maximizes their flavor!

When all of your ingredients are prepared place in a heavy steal or stainless pot. Add Olive oil and butter, to the onions and spices, cook till translucent, then add garlic and beef, cook till brown. Do Not add water as you cook this. Then add ALL bite size vegetables to pot. As the vegetables cook they will provide all the liquid you need. Continue simmering on a medium heat till the meat gets tender approximate time is 1.5 hours or longer you be the judge. Simmering all this goodness will only help the final taste. Taste for salt and pepper! When I make this great dish I always make tradition spätzle's. Please look at my previous short video on how to make this amazing dumplings as we refer to them in the US. I have also heard many folks also cook pasta to scoop this goulash over in a wide brim bowl. Remember with pasta 11 minutes in boiling salted water, no more no less!!

Note: this dish is almost a soup consistency no thickening is needed unless you are more comfortable with a gravy texture in that case I would add a corn starch slurry but there should never be a need for this. Note: What is a Slurry? A slurry is 2 tablespoons of Corn starch to a ¼ cup of warm not HOT water, mixed well and add to the boiling mixture. Depending on the volume you may need more! Just give this a few minutes to thicken!
Please enjoy, Subscribe to Mike Kostensky on YouTube & share this Old World Adventure!!

Ingredients:
Flour - 1.5 cup
Egg - 2
Sour Cream - ¼ cup
Splash of Milk
Salt - 1 tsps
(Note if dough is still too thick just thin with water!)

1. Crack eggs and put in stainless bowl big enough to mix all ingredients eventually together

2. Whip eggs till mixed well

3. Add 1.4 milk and a ¼ cup of sour cream or plain yogurt, mix in with eggs

4. Add 1 tsp Salt

5. Fold in 1 cup of flour, and blend into a dough. If dough is thin like a pancake add more flour, you want a consistency where dough will not drip through a slotted spoon

6. When mixed well transfer dough to a moistened cutting board. Moisten with water

7. In a large pot boil water that has been lightly salted

8. With dough on a cutting board cut dough in small slivers with a French knife and slide slivers of dough into boiling pot. When spätzle's float the dumplings are ready to be consumed! Enjoy the simple old world treat

In a shallow sauté pan, take a log of butter and melt, continue simmering till butter turns light brown which will give it a nutty flavor. When butter is light brown, then add 2.5 cups of diced cabbage and 8 to 10 green onions diced! Sautee all together till cabbage is soft. Then add still warm spätzle's to pan mixing all well together. Salt and pepper to taste. To give it an even better taste I often add grated Parmesan or Romano cheese!!! I can to this day still remember my Nana Kostensky and mother working over the stove making this German, Hungarian and Austrian treat!

In a large twelve-inch-wide fry pan add ¼ cup Virgin Olive Oil.
2 to 3 tablespoons of salted butter. I do love butter!!!
4 to 6 crushed med garlic cloves
Sautee the above ingredients on low heat, take out garlic before it browns, or if you love garlic like me leave it in, just don't burn the crushed cloves.
Add 8 to 10- 4 oz. chicken breast and sauté both sides lightly till hints of light brown appear on breast. Note: this step can be tricky if you leave the garlic in, since the garlic could burn, so to make it simple remove garlic during this step and add back in when you add the liquids below.
Add, 2 cups of water
½ cup of Worcestershire
½ cup mustard
2 tablespoons of chicken paste (I always prefer Stouffers or Minors bases)
Simmer all till the chicken gets to 165 internal degrees.
Pull all the cooked breast out and julienne so they are ½ inch thick strips. By doing this the chicken lays nicely go on top of your favorite rice!
Note: If you love mushrooms like me, I add a can of drained mushrooms to the mix.
My next step is I add at least one Sweet & Low or 2 tablespoons of sugar to mix. I can't make all the choices but if you like sweetness like I do feel free to add more!
I then add 1.5 cups more of water to replenish what we have lost during the cooking process. You want to have ample liquid to turn into a gravy to go on top of the rice with the chicken.

Finishing the dish I make a simple corn starch slurry which is water and cornstarch in a milk like consistency. Please make sure all the clump beaten out.Bring liquid back to almost a boil to add corn starch slurry. Note: as you add this slurry to the hot almost boiling mixture add the slurry slowly and observe how it thickens, DO NOT add all at once, if so you might end up with a thick porridge dish! Add it slowly, you can always add more! If it is too thick just add water.

Salt & Pepper to taste!
When I make this dish at home, my daughter Holly makes an oriental stir fry broccoli and we serve this dish over fluffy white rice along with some store bought egg rolls. But hang on Samurai Mikey might soon teach you how to make his favorite magical Egg Rolls and maybe I can talk Holly into teaching you her famous Stir-fry Broccoli.

1. PORK TENDERLOIN approx 2 #- Remove silver membrane, split long way and cut into cubes. Using 4 to 5 inch wooden skewers take pieces of meat and push carefully onto wooden skewers, try not to puncture one of your fingers or hand! I like to take larger piece of pork cubes first then add smaller pieces so the finished product almost looks like a drumstick.
   Note: When purchasing Pork tenderloin at a grocery store pick a product that has been seasoned with light brine, it will definitely help the final product.

2. Season both sides of City Chicken with season salt & pepper. Place aside on a flat pan.

3. In three bowls, add flour to one, an even mixture of white bread crumbs & Panko to the second. For the third add 2 to 3 eggs with a tablespoon of water per egg whipped together well.

4. In the following order, roll the City Chicken in flour, then dip and drain in egg wash and then roll and cover evenly in Panco, white bread crumb mix.
   Note: Old school breading is just white bread crumbs. I add Panco to the bread crumbs for the extra crispness. When breading process is completed, I recommend placing finished City Chicken in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or more. I do this to give the breading time to adhere to the pork and firm up.

5. At home I use a household size fryer instead of a fry pan so you get a complete fry. Fry at 350. It will take approximately 8 minutes or longer at a lower temp. This is an optional step but here at Mike's Place it has always made sense and it sure taste amazing. Once the fry process is finished you can transfer to a ceramic or glass baking pan and arrange the City Chicken so they are not on top of each other. I then prepare a chicken broth using chicken cubes or as I prefer a chicken paste made by Stouffers or Minors. If using the paste heat some water up in the microwave and add the paste per instructions and mix till dissolved. Once the chicken broth is mixed add to the pan with the City chicken. Do not put in more than a half inch of broth in pan. Cover with foil, bake at 350. It is recommended that you cook this product to 165.

Take off foil and let crisp up a bit.
Note: the remaining broth after baking makes a great sauce to drizzle over the finished product or even on mashed potatoes like my wife does!
I suggest pour a glass of Riesling, then Serve and Enjoy!
As always I like to make a few suggestions and one is to serve this product with fresh lemon wedges, spratzles & Paprikash gravy or even Mashed potatoes! Please subscribe to my channel and stay tuned for my next video on making the darn best Sprats ever honest!!!

Ingredients:
Pork tenderloin- 1.5 to 2#
Wooden Skewers
Panco & White Bread crumbs
Flour
Season Salt or Kosher salt
White pepper or Regular fine grind
3 eggs
Chicken base
Fryer oil
Fresh whole Lemon

In a good size mixing bowl add:

2.5# of Mashed potatoes

7 to 8 oz of Velveeta cheese shredded or block.

7 oz of Sour Cream

10 slices of Bacon- save the drippings.

1 oz-Fresh Chives

Bacon drippings to taste.

Lowrey's Season salt & black or white pepper, to taste

6 to 7 tablespoons of unsalted Butter

Note: You will need some kind of Pan Food Release product or Whirl butter blend.

STEP 1. Slice onion rings in half inch thickness. I save the smaller onion pieces to use in cooking later and use the larger piece for the rings. Soak rings at least ½ hour to a couple of hours in Buttermilk!

STEP 2. Create your breading station. Add a tablespoon of corn starch and ½ to 1 tbsp of Cayenne pepper for some zip to flour, mix well and set bowl aside. In a second bowl add dry pancake mix add water and make it a consistency of not thin nor to thick, just in between. To the pancake mix add Granulate garlic or powdered, Black Pepper, Paprika or Smoke Paprika and Season salt or regular salt. Note: I love adding Tony’s Creole seasoning instead of salt. In your third bowl add dry Panko crumbs!

STEP 3. I recommend wearing rubber glove during the breading phase. Roll the onion rings in the flour mixture, shake off excess flour but make sure the ring is completely covered. One by one take the onion rings out of the buttermilk and completely cover and shake of excess milk dip in pancake mixture, then roll in dry Panko crumbs. Lay the breaded Onion rings on parchment paper.

STEP 4. In a fryer pre-heated to 350, lay the onion rings in, DO NOT pile on each other. When first side is golden brown flip using tongs to the other side.
These rings should be done no longer than minute and a half to 2 minutes any long you will be burning them. NOTE: This all depends on your fryer so make sure your oil is up to temp and do not overload!

STEP 5. Take out of fryer, let excess oil drip and place them on a serving plate on top of a paper roll towel to absorb all the grease goodness!

STEP 6. EAT THESE BAD BOY’S UP! Note you can save the ones not eaten, freeze and reheat in an air fryer!

I truly suggest Mamma Leone’s Shrimp Sauce for dipping these rings into. The How-To video for this sauce is on my channel if interested. Subscribe to Mike Kostensky. Please watch the video to the end to help the cause of these free video’s!

Had to throw this in, Ranch dressing is also a killer dip!!! Store bought isn’t near as good as Mike’s Place homemade Ranch but it will tide you over till you can visit Mike’s Place in Good Ole Kent, Ohio!!!!