For breakfast this morning: homemade egg mcmuffins… So much better than the “real” thing.
Toasted english muffin, fried (or poached) egg, a slice or two of Boar’s Head Black Forrest ham – very lightly fried in the pan, swiss cheese melted on top of the egg. Assemble. Devour.
Enjoy! With a nice hot mug of french press coffee!
Normally I spend my winters drinking a lot of mulled wine and the occasional – but delicious – hot toddy. But with a pregnancy underway, I am switching to mulled cider. And I have to say it’s just as good, if not better, than the wine. Or maybe that’s just the baby talking.
Traditionally, I tend to make my own blend of mulling spices: whole cloves, a cinnamon stick or two, orange slices or rind, a splash of vanilla extract and a bit of cardamom. Tie it all up in a bit of cheesecloth and drop it in a pan or a slow cooker with a bottle of wine, a cup or two of water and a bit of agave syrup – which offers a lower glycemic index than straight up sugar.
With the mulled cider, I used about 1 and 1/2 quarts of apple cider and a new spice blend from The Spice & Tea Exchange in Old Town, Alexandria, VA.
Mulling Spice Blend
The cool thing about this packet – besides the fact that it can be re-used – is that a spice pouch is already provided, so you just pour the spice contents (orange peel, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, ginger, allspice, and cardamom) into the bag, tie it up snug using the drawstring, drop it into the pot, and simmer away. With the cider, no additional sugar is necessary.
Mulled Cider
When it’s been simmering for 15 or 20 minutes – or however long you like – ladle into mugs to serve. If you are feeling fancy, garnish with a cinnamon stick or a slice of orange rind.
Enjoy!
Autumn, my favorite season, is upon us. The farmer's market now has apples and cider and all of the things that are perfect and inviting on a cool, crisp fall morning. While I am not a big fan of apple pie, I do love cooked apples. This simple apple compote made with a fig spread (use fresh if you have them), a bit of bourbon, butter and brown sugar is lovely when paired with a (cheesy) polenta, or it can serve as a dessert on its own. It also goes really well with grilled pork chops… wrapped in bacon… Mmm… bacon………..
Things that make me happy: Bourbon, fig spread, brown sugar
Apple, Fig and Bourbon Compote - Recipe inspiration from here!
Peel, core and dice the apple.
Over medium heat, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the apple and cook for three to five minutes, until the apple just begins to soften.
Add the fig spread and brown sugar.
Mix together until the brown sugar is desolved and the fig spread just begins to thin out.
Remove the pan from the heat and pour in the shot of bourbon… Really, you can add as much as you like… It's really about how much bourbon flavor you want to taste and how long you have to cook it down.
Back on the heat, stir in the bourbon.
Bring it just to a low boil and reduce the heat to low.
Cook the sauce down for another ten minutes or so. Again, this can cook longer, but I was hungry!
Serve alone or topped on a slice of grilled polenta.
Enjoy!
I love The Pioneer Woman. Not only does she manage to be witty, warm and genuine, but her food is nearly always flawlessly wonderful. It looks good, it tastes good, most of it is stuff I have or can easily find, and she provides great step-by-step instructions. I'm fairly certain that her blog post on "How to Cook a Steak" is at least 50% of the reason why I am married today. So when I stumbled upon her "Steakhouse Pizza" post the other day, I pined for it. I am talking serious pining. Steak AND Pizza? How could it get any better?! Drooling may also have been involved. Drooling… Pining. Same thing.
After fantasizing about the steakhouse pizza nearly all day yesterday, I decided to pick up the necessary ingredients after work. And then on the train ride home, I remembered that our oven had gone out the night before. Crap on a stick!
So instead of Steakhouse Pizza, we had Steakhouse Pasta. It was still quite tasty and a great substitute for when you don't have an oven, and your grill is far too tiny for cooking a pizza. Stupid tiny grill! Anyway… Thanks, PW, for some amazing inspiration.
Steakhouse Pasta
For the steak and onions:
For the sauce:
For the pasta:
Toppings:
Begin by caramelizing the onions. To do this properly it takes about 35-45 minutes. I use a recipe from Ina Garten for this… It's full proof and the flavor is amazing. Every time.
In a large saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the butter and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil together until the better is melted.
Add the onions and thyme, tossing to coat with the butter and oil. Cover the pan with a lid and cook over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, sweating the onions.
In the meantime, season the steak with salt and pepper and set aside.
Remove the lid and continue to cook for another 25-30 minutes, until the onions are caramelized and golden brown. Stir occassionally and make sure the onions aren't sticking. Also, if the onions are browing too quickly, reduce the heat. You definitely want to cook low and slow and avoid burning the onions.
In the last two minutes, add the red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar, scraping any bits from the pan, and season with salt and pepper.
While the onions are cooking, start boiling the water for the pasta, adding a teaspoon or two of salt for seasoning.
In a large sauce pan, over medium-low heat, combine the marinara sauce, balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. Cover. Stir occassionally. Reduce heat if necessary.
You can cook the steak in the same pan you used for the onions (setting the onions aside), or use a grill, or a grill pan and cook while the onions are starting to slow cook.
Add another tablespoon each of butter and olive oil to the pan, melting together, and cook the flank steak over medium-high heat for about 6 minutes (for medium rare), flipping half-way through. Set aside and let rest for ten minutes.
When the water is boiling, add the linguine and cook for about 7 minutes. Add a cup of cold water to stop the cooking process. Drain when ready to serve.
Slice the steak thinly, and if desired toss it back in the pan for another minute with the caramelized onions.
To serve, top the linguine with pasta sauce, steak, caramelized onions, a little bit of steak sauce, the cheese, and maybe some fresh basil. I also added some fresh tomatoes on the side, which was tasty.
Enjoy! Even if it's not pizza…
Some of my favorite food memories are not from fabulous restaurants in big cities, but are instead born of ordinary moments with family. My mother making tomato soup and grilled cheese for me when I was sick. My grandmother pickling and making relishes, the kitchen filled with warm aromas of mustard seed and cucumbers and vinegar. My grandfather treating us to fry bread tacos on Tuesday afternoons at the local Native American cultural center in my hometown…
When the center stopped making their tacos in 2002, they published the recipe in the local newspaper, and my grandmother clipped it out and sent it to me. I still have the clipping and keep it safely nestled in the cover of one of my least-often used cookbooks. I make these tacos only on rare occasions. After all, they are special to me, and I want them to remain so. The recipe is something I hope to someday make for my own own grandchildren. And I hope that they will love eating them – together, with me – just as much as my grandfather and I did.
Fry Bread Tacos (originally published in The Wichita Eagle, 12.25.2002)
For the fry bread:
Mix together flour, baking powder and salt in bowl.
In a small sauce pan, warm the milk and water mixture.
Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the warmed milk-water mixture.
Note: Don't skip the well. It really does make a difference in how the mixture comes together. If you don't buy my ultra-scientific explanation, try it once without the well and you'll see what I mean…
Combine ingredients. Start by mixing with a fork.
Transfer to a well-floured work surface and continue mixing using your hands until a soft, slightly sticky dough is achieved.
Heat oil to 375 degrees in a deep fryer or deep pot.
Note: I generally pour enough oil in the pan to measure about an inch deep, or just past the first knuckle of my thumb, then I heat it for about 5 minutes over medium heat. This is the same technique I use for making eggrolls.
Shape the dough into tortillas about 4 inches in diameter and ¼ to ½ inch thick.
Carefully lower into hot oil and fry until golden brown on bottom. This doesn't take very long at all, so watch it carefully.
Using tongs or a basket spoon, carefully flip over and continue cooking until the other side is golden brown.
Remove from hot oil. Set aside on paper towels to drain any excess oil, and keep warm.
For the filling:
Brown the ground meat in skillet with the diced onions.
Season with taco seasoning according to packet directions, or with DIY mix and 1/2 cup water.
Layer fry bread with beans, seasoned meat mixture, cheddar cheese, lettuce and salsa.
Tips:
Enjoy!
I'm really not sure what to call this dish, since it was essentially another edition of "make shit up for dinner" night. But it must have been good because the husband ordained me "the sorceress of yummy yummies."
On to the tasty parts…
Smoked Andouille, Summer Vegetables, Linguine and Cream Sauce
Crumble the andouille and cook thoroughly in a deep sauce pan over medium-high heat.
Drain excess fat from the sausage.
Reduce heat to medium. Add the zucchini, carrots and peppers and cook for 4-5 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring water for the pasta to boil.
Add the tomato, heavy cream, half-and-half and white wine to the sausage and veggie mixture. Bring to a slow boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until sauce begins to thicken slightly.
Note: Don't cook the hell out of this… The veggies should still be a bit crisp when everything is served.
When the water begins to boil, add the fresh linguine. Cook for about 2 and a half to 3 minutes. If using dried pasta, cook according to package directions.
Stir in 1/4 cup of the three cheese blend and allow to melt into the sauce.
Drain the pasta.
Dish into bowls and top with sausage, veggies and sauce mixture, and optionally more cheese.
Enjoy! If you think your thighs are man enough to handle it! :)
How can I possibly make a grilled cheese more unhealthy? Add bacon.
Grilled Cheese with Bacon
Fry up the slices of bacon and when crisped to your liking remove from the pan and set aside on a paper towel to soak up the excess grease.
Off heat, remove the bacon grease from the pan.
Tip: Store bacon grease in a jar and use it for making popcorn later on. It gives it an awesome smoky flavor. Thanks to Kat for enhancing my life with this bit of knowledge!
Over medium heat, melt about half a tablespoon of butter in the pan. Add a slice of bread.
Top the bread with cheese and after about 30 seconds, add the bacon (break into pieces first). Top with another slice of bread.
After another 30 seconds or so, remove the sandwich with a spatula and add the other half tablespoon of butter. As it melts, flip the sandwich back into the pan.
Remove after a minute or so… or when the bread has turned crispy and golden on both sides.
Mmm… bacon…
For the record, I did eat a peach after this monstrosity.
Enjoy! With or without tomato soup, but definitely not without the bacon.
I'm freshly returned from an extra-long girls weekend in New Orleans and Ocean Springs, Mississippi. (Food memories coming soon!) The beach was lovely, and with the help of three lovely women and a crap-ton of wine I came back home fully relaxed.
We consumed our fair share of seafood and Oh My, Nola it was so fresh and wonderful!
At a fish market in Mississippi buying shrimps and mud-bugs.
Check out the ginormous Grouper!
Anyway… I love shrimp, I love spicy, and as my thighs will attest, I loves me some pasta. And in my desperate attempt to cling to the warm memories of the beachy good time, I give you tonight's dinner:
Roasted Cajun Shrimp and Asparagus with Spicy Pasta Aglio e Olio
For the pasta:
Start the water to boil in a large pot with 1 Tbsp salt. When the water is boiling add the pasta. (In the meantime, pop the asparagus in the oven).
Thinly slice the garlic (and chop basil and parsley if using).
When the pasta is done set aside about 1 cup of the water. Try not to be a dumb-ass and forget like I do sometimes… If you do forget, you can use some chicken broth. But it won't be as good.
Heat the olive oil and butter in a large sauce pan (big enough to hold the spaghetti at the end) over medium heat. Saute the garlic for a couple of minutes.
When the garlic is *just* starting to turn goldeny, add the crushed red pepper flakes. Add more or less depending on how spicy you like it. Saute for about 30 seconds or so.
Add the reserved pasta water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes or until the liquid is reduced by about 1/3 or so. (In the meantime, start roasting the shrimp!)
Add the pasta into the sauce and toss to coat. Turn off the heat and optionally add the basil, parsley and parmesan. I usually make it this way if I just want to eat the pasta by itself, and honestly, it doesn't need the cheese. I know, I know… I'm a shameful disappoint to the world of fromagerie.
For the roasted shrimp and asparagus:
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F. (Anyone wanna teach me some scientific html?)
Mix together the ingredients for the rub in a 1-gallon ziploc bag… Honestly, just use however much you want and whatever you want. We're just playing around here.
After cleaning the shrimp toss it in the bag, seal and toss the shrimp to coat with the rub. Put it back in the refrigerator.
Rinse the asparagus and pat dry with a paper towel. Snap off the ends.
Toss the asparagus with olive oil on a sheet pan, and lightly dust with some cajun seasoning. Roast the asparagus for 10-15 minutes.
Add the shrimp to the baking sheet and roast for another 5 or 6 minutes, until the shrimp is slightly pink and no longer transparent.
Serve the shrimp and asparagus over the pasta and garnish with a lemon wedge.
Pasta recipe slightly adapted from Ina Garten's How Easy is That?
So-Called Instant Pudding 