Wing Nut Dip

We've not been home to cook.  True, last weekend I made a big pot of chili and another of ham and beans.  Those are frozen for lunches.  Friday night we went to Actor's Theatre to see 39 Steps.  If you're familiar with the Hitchcock movie, think the movie turned into a slapstick comedy.  Our friend, Don Farrell, who is the artistic director of ATI says he had about 20 costume AND character changes.  Yes, it was hysterical.  My face hurt from laughing.  Saturday was a MOPS party.  That's a family birthday party.  I took corn salad and creamed corn.  Both recipes have appeared on the blog.  In fact, the corn salad one was one of my first.  I realized when I went to get the link that there aren't even photos back then...  Then, Sunday was a Super Bowl party at Deb and Ken's.  AH HA!  I cooked.  I made a new dish!!  Whoo Hooo!  So, what was it?  Wing Nut Dip.  Yeah, I made up the name.  Made up the recipe too.  You see, there's a recipe for cream cheese, blue cheese and pecans that I love.  That got me to thinking about wings.  Super Bowl=Wings, right?  How could I do a blue cheese dressing/wing sauce cracker spread?  So, I started tossing things in the mixing bowl.  And it turned out pretty well.  Pretty well except for the fact that we were out of crackers and I had to bum some from Deb because the streets were too nasty for shopping and going to a party...  So about that photo I took???  You mean the one with the lens mostly closed?  Yeah, that one...  No, it's not here.  It's deleted...

Monday afternoon we got a dreaded call.  Our friend Ellen had died.  She and Charlie live in Memphis.  She'd been doing battle with breast cancer for 15 years.  Last May we drove through Memphis when we drove back from a conference in New Orleans.  Dinner with Charlie and Ellen was the goal.  They met us at Corky's.  We had such a wonderful time.  Connie looked at me and said he'd really like to go to her funeral.  Knowing I'd like to go I'd already checked and replied that it was a 7 hour, 21 minute drive.  The decision was made.  We were going.  Tuesday morning we were up at 5am and on the road about half an hour later.  We got to Memphis in time to have a late lunch before the funeral.  I'd printed a list of potential restaurants.  Alcenia's for soul food won.  Did it ever!!!  Perfect fried chicken, mac and cheese and green beans.  YUM!!! 

The leftovers went into the cooler in the trunk.  Now, you know if we were going to Memphis we were going to have barbecue to bring home.  And, a cooler is the way to do it!

The service was amazing.  We were SO glad we'd driven down.  Two of my colleagues were also there.  You see, Charlie and Ellen were colleagues of ours for many years.  When I went back to my original broker/dealer in August of 2013, they stayed with the new one.  But, we kept in touch.  Grant is at the original b/d with us and Joe is with Charlie at the new one.  It doesn't matter.  We're all still family!  After a gathering at Charlie and Ellen's house, Connie, Joe, Grant and I headed to The Commissary.  The line was out the door.  What should we do?  In typical Grant fashion, he said, 21 minute wait and we go elsewhere.  19 and we stay.  Joe ran in and asked.  20 minutes.  What should he do?  We waited.  And, am I ever glad we did.  Connie and I split the ribs for two.  They came with cole slaw, beans and deviled eggs.  The ribs were perfect.  The rub was amazing.  If I wasn't trying to clear out the pantry, I'd have bought some.  After the kitchen is done, I'll once again stock up on fun stuff like The Commissary rub!!

 

 

 

Wing Nut Dip

 

Ingredients:

 

8 oz cream cheese (I used reduced fat everything...)

1/4 c mayonnaise

1/2 c sour cream

1/2 c crumbled blue cheese

1/2 c pecans

1 T Emerils seasoning or Cajun spice

1-2 t Chipotle Tabasco sauce (depends on how hot you like it!)

 

Directions:

 

Start the pecans toasting in a small skillet.  While the pecans are toasting, whip the cream cheese.  Whip in the mayo, sour cream, blue cheese, Chipotle Tabasco and Emeril's.  You could easily substitute wing sauce, Tabasco and/or chipotle powder.  Remove the pecans from the heat and chop them.  Stir them into the cream cheese mixture. 

 



Blue Cheese Dressing, BJ's Brewhouse, Chef Josephs, The Lockerbie...

We've had a couple of really fun cooking adventures recently.  Actually, I've had more than Connie.  He played bridge while my friend, Stacy, and I fixed a German meal.  But, that's not what came first.  The truffle came first. 

It'd been another of those killer weeks.  Monday I was sick.  Like come home from the office at 10:30 and go to bed sick.  Tuesday I had to feel better since I was teaching a Social Security class in the evening.  By the time everyone left the office about 9pm I was ready to collapse.  Fortunately, we'd taken along Cobb salad fixings so we'd had a good dinner before class.  I'd used my favorite blue cheese dressing which I discovered, much to my consternation, was not on here.  Now, we first made this in 2006 long before I'd thought about blogging.  Consequently, there's an image of a recipe with no attribution.  And a REALLY old photo...  So, here it goes:

Blue Cheese Dressing

Ingredients:
2/3 c crumbled blue cheese
1/3 c sour cream
2 T mayonnaise
1 T milk
1/2 t Worcestershire
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/4 t ground mustard
1/4 t garlic powder

Directions:

The original recipe calls for whirring all of the above in a food processor.  I prefer to take about 1/4 c of the blue cheese and hold it out so I get nice, chunky dressing.  I also tend to double/triple the ground mustard, Worcestershire and garlic.  This is so easy to make and so much better than the jarred/bottled stuff!!!

Back to our adventures...

Wednesday it was time to meet our friends Pete and Shirley for dinner.  Pete had decreed that he wanted us to try his favorite brew pub - BJ's Brewhouse.  Neither of us was excited.  It's a chain, after all.  And, it's in a mall.  But, it was Pete's turn to choose so we showed up at the appointed hour.  Were we ever wrong!!!  We had about the best mac and cheese ever.  A little chipotle and bacon and a perfect sauce. 

And, the pulled pork sandwich was almost as good.  That's turkey club in front of the pulled pork.  It was good but not worthy of a special trip. 

Let me tell you, if there's time that mac and cheese is going to be lunch when I'm in my Greenwood office!

Thursday was a wine dinner at Chef Joseph's.  We got to sit with our friends, Steve and Colleen so had a lively conversation and great time.  Joseph did his usual amazing dishes.  The most incredible was dessert.  Goat cheese flan with lemon and pink peppercorns.  Yeah, it was beautiful and tasted amazing.  The evening was also a fund raiser for Little Red Door.  They offer loads of services for cancer patients.  We wound up with tickets to Theatre on the Square and a gift basket of wine and beer to go along with some beer signs and such. 

Friday night after work we headed downtown to Goose the Market to pick up our truffle.  We splurged and spent $23 on a fresh truffle.  Home it came.  Wrapped in a paper towel in a sealed container.  We opened it and took photos and sniffed. 

Didn't smell much like truffle.  So, I shaved off a little piece.  Kind of like eating a little nibble of wood.  Not much flavor and very dry.  Hmmm, maybe it'd be better cooked...  So we made steaks with a cognac/truffle sauce and mushroom risotto with shaved truffle on top.  Again, not much truffle flavor.

 

 

 

So, we tried again Saturday evening and made truffled scallops and crabmeat over butter lettuce and roasted beets.  This time I put truffle oil and the dressing and viola we had truffle flavor.

Sunday we were meeting Chef Joseph and his partner, Juan, for lunch at the Lockerbie Pub.  Time for some pub grub.  Here are two photos from a couple of months ago when we flew by the Lockerbie and picked up tenderloins to go:

I took along what was left of the truffle along and handed it to Joseph.  Was it good?  Well, this time of year they are hard as rocks, he said.  If you want to get some real flavor out of it, soak it in some brandy.  Ok, now I know. 

Sunday evening we were both still stuffed from our pork tenderloin sandwiches.  I put some short ribs from Goose in the dutch oven and let them simmer away.  I'd planned to make truffled mac and cheese but decided plain old smashed potatoes would be better.  We nibbled at the short ribs and left most of it for lunch later in the week.  That's ok.  It'll reheat REALLY well.  And, with the leftover hangar steak for another lunch and the leftover sauerbraten for yet another, we'll be having some fabulous lunches!

It looks like I'm running out of time and creating a monster post before even talking about our German feast  So, let me say to be continued...

Connie's Salad

The other day I bought fresh broccoli at the grocery.  For the stems.  LOL.  Now, you think you have proof that I've really lost my mind, don't you?

Until a few years ago, broccoli stems were cut off and tossed.  Then, broccoli slaw became popular.  I've been tossing the peeled and sliced stems into salads ever since I discovered how good they are - and how good FOR you they are. 

Our dinner menu was a meat, a salad and sweet potato.  I can't even remember what the meat was to be...  Ah, old age is a wonderful thing!  Connie said a salad and the entree would be enough for him.  I still wanted some sweet potato.  On top of that, I had some leftover broccoli stems to use up.  And, some canned whole beets.  And, some spiced pecans.  Now, in my opinion, blue cheese and beets are soul mates.  Rather like Connie and me :-) 

Fine then.  I'd make a salad and include sweet potato.  How to do so?  My mind immediately went to croutons.  How about shredding a third of the potato and frying it in some vegetable oil?  What's the worst that could happen?  It'd taste horrid.  I had a plan.

What did we think?  Connie says he has a new favorite salad.  I've opened another can of beets and bought broccoli for the stems.  And, we're working our way through the sweet potato.  We loved the combination of flavors and textures.  This is one we'll make regularly!

I didn't measure as I went but will give you a rough idea of what I did...

Connie's Salad

Ingredients:

shredded lettuce
sliced canned beets
peeled and sliced broccoli stems

crumbled blue cheese
spiced pecans
butter
Emeril's seasoning or other Cajun seasoning
brown sugar
fried sweet potato shreds
olive oil
red wine vinegar
mustard
finely minced shallot
sugar
salt
pepper

Directions:

Make the dressing first and set it aside. 

Whisk together about 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil with a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, a heaping teaspoon of dijon mustard, a finely minced shallot and about a half a teaspoon of sugar.  Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Next, make the spiced pecans.  In a small skillet melt about a tablespoon of butter.  Add a handful of pecans and allow them to brown.  Toss in a couple of teaspoons of dark brown sugar and Emeril's seasoning.  Once the sugar has caramelized, remove the pecans frm the heat.  (Remember - these were leftovers so I don't have prep photos...)

Now, it's time to fry the sweet potato shreds.  In a small, sturdy saucepan, pour about 1/2" of vegetable oil.  Heat it until it's shimmering.  While it's heating, peel about a third of a large sweet potato and shred it on the large holes of a grater. 

I did not pat it dry in paper towels.  Once the oil is hot, add half the sweet potato shreds. 

Stir them occasionally and keep a REALLY good eye on them because they'll go from perfect to burned in a heartbeat!  You want to get them nice and brown and crispy.  Drain them on paper towels.  See the cool tool I scooped them with?  That's one of the things Mom didn't take along when she moved to her independent living apartment.  Lucky me!

It's finally time to assemble the salads:

Start with a big handful of lettuce. Top that with beets, broccoli stems and blue cheese.  Drizzle with the dressing.  Sprinkle over the spiced pecans then top with the sweet potato shreds. 

Blue Cheese Potato Salad

One of those rare fives.  About three or four years ago I cut this recipe out of a magazine.  Who knows what one.  I must take every cooking magazine known to mankind.  If only they'd put a little identifying mark at the end of each recipe.  Wouldn't that be wonderful, bloggers?  But, they don't and three years ago the thought of blogging had never crossed my mind...  We went to the Keystone Deli for breakfast.  The morning after a wedding.  I think it was Chad and Heather's.  Chad's mom Vicki and aunt Donna are two of my best buds.  Donna and her hubby, Phil, spent the night at our house.  We met the whole crew (minus the happy newlyweds) at our favorite breakfast place the next morning for breakfast.  As usual, everyone ordered WAY more than they could eat.  Lots and lots of home fries left over.  Bonus!  I no longer had to cook potatoes for the new potato salad recipe later that day.  We were still so stuffed from breakfast that dinner consisted of a good-sized serving of this potato salad on a fan of freshly steamed green beans from our garden.  It was fabulous.  It became a tradition.  Last week we took the kids to the deli for breakfast.  I realized that Greg and Matt were, GASP!, actually eating their home fries.  I promptly ordered another order to go.  I mean, this is practically the best part of going to the Keystone Deli - blue cheese potato salad with leftover home fries.  So how, you ask, do you recreate this at home?  You make really crispy home fries.  I never worry about the skins, just slice the potatoes and fry 'em up in some olive oil.  My guess is that you can make this with leftover hash browns too.  Don't get too fussy about the kind of potatoes.  I've used new potatoes, yukon golds and Idaho russets.  They've all worked just fine.  But, the best are still the leftover home fries... 

Blue Cheese Potato Salad

10-12 new potatoes
1 c sour cream
2 T milk or mayonnaise
1/4 t white wine vinegar
salt and pepper
2 T parsley, chopped
3 green onions, sliced

1/3 c toasted almonds
3 eggs, hard cooked and chopped
4 oz blue cheese
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

This is one of those toss in and mix it up recipes.  Just don't toss it all together too long before you serve it or the almonds might get a bit soft.  Change the measurements around to suit yourself.  Use a different kind of nuts or cheese or salami instead of bacon.  Really, it's that forgiving a recipe!

These are the leftover home fries:

And, this is adding the other ingredients:

And, this is mixing it all up: