EliotsEats! The blog name was cause for dancing. I'd considered dropping out of Secret Recipe Club because I'd gotten so many blogs that either were not at all to my taste and I had a terrible time finding something to make or were vegan or gluten free. To top it off, several times in the last year whoever has had my blog has either posted late or skipped posting. I was beyond frustrated. One more shot, I said. If my February blog isn't good, then I quit. Well, now, let me tell you. I got one of my favorite blogs. Actually one of my three favorite blogs. I already had a list of things to make that was about a mile long. And, I'd not had an opportunity to check out any of my friend Debra's new postings for at least a month.
On to Eliots Eats for some of those recipes I'd wanted to try. Stop. Wait. There's a brilliant idea right there. Waffled French toast. As a breakfast sandwich. I do believe Debra has come up with the next GREAT idea! I showed it to Connie. We had to try it. And, to make things even better, the kids gave me Carnivore by Michael Symon for Christmas. There was a recipe for homemade sausage I'd been itching to try.
What did we think? Oh, but this was fun to make and fun to eat and it tasted fabulous! We actually made these for dinner.
I do hope you'll drop by Debra's blog and get to know her. She's such a fun cook and has a lovely collection of recipes. I can always find something fun and interesting to try.
Waffled Breakfast Sandwiches
makes four sandwiches
Ingredients:
for the French Toast Batter
2 eggs
1 c whole milk
1 t.vanilla
3 T flour
1/8 t. salt
1 T honey
for the Sausage
1 lb ground pork
1 T kosher salt
1 t sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 small shallot, minced
2 T chopped fresh parsley
2 t chopped fresh oregano
2 t fennel seeds, toasted
1/3 t freshly ground black pepper
grated zest of 1/2 lemon
2 t fresh lemon juice
for the sandwiches:
eight slices of whole wheat bread (you could use challah or sourdough easily)
four fried eggs (over easy is best)
granola (I left this out)
maple syrup (I used shagbark hickory syrup)
Directions:
To make the batter, whisk the eggs then whisk in the other ingredients. Just a side note - we get our honey from our friends John and Jackie. It's fabulous!
For the sausage, mix all the ingredients.
Form into quarter pound patties and brown. To make the sandwiches, put the batter into a wide bowl. Dip both sides of the bread in.
Cook on a waffle iron. Top a piece of French toast with a sausage patty then another piece of French toast.
Top that with a fried egg. Serve with maple syrup.
Waffled French Toast Breakfast Sandwiches adapted from Eliots Eats. Sweet Italian Sausage adapted from Carnivore.
UGH! Cold weather is here. I'm just not a cold weather person. And, I miss all the good stuff from the garden. Our grocery cart will no longer look like we avoid fruits and vegetables since we'll have to once again buy them. I'm trying here to think of the good things. Nice comforting soups. Fires in the fire place. But, my feet are cold so it's tough!
Actually, one of the nice things is persimmons off our tree. The biggest one day haul was 39. That's a huge bowl full of goodness.
I've been freezing most of them for persimmon pudding. I'll make that for Thanksgiving. But, along the way a few have found their way into drinks and salads. Connie's made a Persimmon Smash a couple of times. And, I made a fun salad with carrot greens, blanched Brussels sprouts, chopped apple and a persimmon dressing. But, one of my favorites is the persimmon waffles. I used a recipe from Cooking Light for Pumpkin Waffles and substituted. Now, if you're looking for lovely light, fluffy waffles, look elsewhere. These have some heft. They also were fabulous.
Ingredients:
1 c flour
2 t baking powder
3/4 t ground cinnamon
1/8 t salt
1/8 t ground cloves
1 c 1% low fat milk
1/2 c persimmon puree (can substitute pumpkin)
1/4 c packed dark brown sugar]
1 T vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
Directions:
Mix flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves in a medium mixing bowl. Lightly beat the egg in a small mixing bowl. Add the milk, brown sugar, vegetable oil and persimmon puree. Stir to combine. Make a well in the flour. Pour the egg/milk mixture into the well and mix just until combined. The original recipe called for 1/4 cup of batter per waffle. They looked like this with 1/4 c batter.
Much better with a full half cup. Now, we're lucky enough to have shagbark hickory syrup available. I took a hint from the latest cookbook from The Chew and added a bit of butter and bourbon to the syrup. Yummy!
adapted from Cooking Light
It was one of those weekends that I was lucky to get any real work done at all. Most of Saturday was devoted to my "extra" dad Bob's funeral. And, about a perfect funeral it was. His parents were friends of my grandparents. Then, he and Lou and their five kids moved in kitty corner from us when we were in gradeschool. We grew up together. Football and basketball at our house. Strawberry torte for Tim's birthday. Gnawbone Camp over Labor Day weekend. And, our parents were the best of friends. Dad and Bob, Mom and Lou. Two families intertwined. Bob and Lou added on to the family cabin a bit west of Indy. It's now one of my favorite places in the world. Connie and I will pick Mom up and some of the kids and their spouses will meet us at the farm for dinner one evening this week. We'll laugh and cry and reminsce and know that Dad and Bob are undoubtedly together chattering away about anything and everything!
Saturday evening we were off to Columbus to see our grandkids and celebrate Rosie's third birthday. Connie and I'd figured out a breakfast that they could help make. On the menu we had toad in the hole, bacon and strawberry blossoms. The strawberry blossoms came from a fun cookbook called Cooking with Kids. They were super easy to make. We cut the canned biscuits into "petals" and lined muffin tins with them. Then, we spooned in some strawberry preserves (about a tablespoon) and sprinkled on a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg. They were baked at 375 for about 15 minutes and were totally devoured! Here are some photos of our breakfast:
Kara said she was off to get Rosie's cake. I asked if she was going anywhere near Jeni's. Now, if you've never heard of Jeni's, you need to visit their website to understand. It's jenis.com. Amazing flavors!!!! She laughed and said sure, we could run by there. Pretty soon, the whole crew decided they were up for an adventure. Connie got pear riesling sorbet. David got a stout and rosemary and a whiskey and something. Kara got brambleberry and something and I got salted caramel and banana with goat cheese caramel. YUM! Then, on our way out the door from our indulgence, David started talking again about how wonderful the Dublin Village Tavern is. And, the Irish eggrolls. Basically a reuben in an eggroll. And, the ham and potato chowder. Well, we'd had dessert, maybe we should have lunch! So, into the tavern we trudged. Connie and I split an order of the Irish eggrolls. Fabulous. He got a cup of chili and I got a cup of the chowder. And, he sampled my chowder. Lo and behold the man who doesn't like soup liked the chowder!
After lunch we went to Sam's so Connie and I could get provisions for the dinner at the farm. Then, we headed back to Indy. And, stopped at the grocery on our way home. I was ready to try and recreate the chowder.
Ham and Potato Chowder
Ingredients:
7-8 medium red potatoes
4 ribs celery
1 medium onion
12 baby carrots
1 poblano
8 oz ham cubes
2 T butter
2 T flour
1 c milk
8 oz Dubliner cheese, shredded
Directions:
Dice the potatoes, celery, onions, carrots and poblano. Make sure the pieces are all about the same size. Put them in a large saucepan and add water. You don't want the water to totally cover the veggies but it should just come up to almost the top of them.
Simmer until the veggies are tender. While they're cooking away, make a roux with the butter and flour. Melt the butter. Add the flour and cook on medium heat until it's a tiny bit brown. Pour the milk in slowly stirring constantly. Once thickenend, add the cheese and stir until it's melted. There should still be a little water left in the veggies. You don't want a bunch or this will end up being a broth and not a chowder. So, pour some of the water off into a bowl on the side. Then, stir in the ham cubes and the cheese sauce. Add back in the cooking water as necessary to reach the consistency you want.
At the office working away and I need a brain break. It's going to be a brutal week. A busy week typically has 25 appointments. This one has 34. Ouch! We're making a major change at the office and I need to get signatures on paperwork from about 400 clients. Another 150 won't have to sign anything at this point - WHEW!
The good news is that we started the morning with killer breakfast sandwiches. Our tummies are full and happy. Food Network Magazine publishes a pull-out booklet each month. Fifty of something. I usually scan the list and think, "That's nice," then never get anything made. This month is different. 50 quick breakfasts. I'm always on the lookout for a great new breakfast. Unfortunately a LOT of the recipes were for sweet breakfasts. I do vanilla yogurt, blueberries and Cheerio's a few times a week because Dr. Don says to eat dark fruits and veggies for my eyes and Dr. George says to eat fiber for my, well, you get it. That's enough of the sweet breakfasts for me.
What caught my eye about this recipe was the olive spread. I had a jar of muffaletta relish that needed to be used. Great excuse to open it! And, I had some salami in the freezer that'd been there a couple of months. Plus, any excuse to buy the Rosemary and Sea Salt Foccacia from Sam's Club is fine with me. That is our favorite bread. As much as I try NOT to eat bread, that's the one I'll devour.
What did we think? A FIVE. Absolutely. I'd make this again tomorrow. Now, nothing will ever replace slices of happiness. But, this is close. This will be one of those Sunday breakfasts that we'll talk about on Saturday. A Saturday trip to Sam's after a day at the office to snag some of the foccacia. An excuse to keep muffaletta relish on hand. Perfect!
Deli Breakfast Sandwich
Ingredients:
foccacia bread or kaiser rolls
green olive tapenade, spread, relish or muffaletta relish
shredded mozzarella cheese
salami
mortadella
eggs
Directions:
Split the rolls or cut the bread into sandwich sized servings then cut those in half. Toast the cut sides of the bread/rolls under the broiler.
Spread with the green olive tapenade. Top with the shredded mozzarella.
Put it back under the broiler until the cheese melts. While the sandwiches are getting started, cook your eggs.
One per sandwich. However you like them - scrambled, over easy, sunny side up... Once the cheese melts, top one half with slices of salami and mortadella then with your cooked eggs.
Put the top of the sandwich on and serve.
adapted from Food Network Magazine
It's Secret Recipe Club time again! And, I was assigned a gem of a blog. Josie's Kitchen. Josie oozes enthusiasm for life and is a delight to read. Most months I print a dozen recipes and debate what I'm going to try. This time, I found MY recipe in a few minutes. Irish Pancakes. Something I've never had. You see, when I've been to Ireland, I've focused on oatmeal or a traditional Irish breakfast.
Let's talk for a moment about a traditional Irish breakfast. It's unlike anything you've ever had. Josie has a perfect description of one on her blog. Here's a link to her blog about their trip to Ireland: Irish breakfast. The closest thing I've found here in the states is a restaurant on Cape Cod that we frequent that has real Irish breakfasts. I'm feeling stuffed just thinking about one!!
I've been to Ireland twice and have loved the food. My favorite was something that I couldn't find the second trip - a salad sandwich. It's a mixture of cucumbers, tomato and mayo on bread. Unfortunately, I think the food in Ireland has become too global and some of the old standby's have gone by the wayside.
So, back to the Irish Pancakes. It's funny about how we all have preconceived notions. Pancake. To an American it means a light fluffy syrup delivery system. This recipe called for drizzling each plate with lemon juice then sprinkling it with powdered sugar. THEN, you put the pancake on top. Ok, so I did that. Grudgingly since pancake means shagbark hickory syrup to me. The pancakes were more like crepes. And they were oh, so very good. Thank you Josie! It's been a delight getting to know you :-)
Irish Pancakes
Ingredients:
1 c flour
4 eggs
1 T sugar
1 c milk
2-3 T butter
powdered sugar
lemon juice
Directions:
Pour the flour into a medium bowl. Make a well in the center. Crack each egg into a small bowl then pour it into the well. (nb: that way if you do get shell in the egg you don't have to fish through the flour...) Whisk the eggs and flour together. Add the sugar and whisk it in. Slowly add the milk, whisking after each addition. Once the batter is nice and smooth, put it aside for an hour to rest.
Prepare your plates. Drizzle each with lemon juice then sprinkle with powdered sugar. I took half a lemon and gently squeezed once around the plate then used about 2 t of powdered sugar per plate.
Heat a medium skillet. Put in about 1/2 t of butter. When it's sizzling, you're ready to cook your first pancake. I used a regular ladle to pour the batter in. It should cover the bottom of the skillet.
I used medium heat and the first side took five minutes. The second side took two minutes.
When both sides are nice and brown, slide the pancake onto a prepared plate. Now, doesn't that photo make you want to run in your kitchen and make some of these!
Here are the other recipes in this week's Secret Recipe club reveal. If you'd like to visit SRC, I've included a link up in the first line of this blog. It's a lot of fun to participate in. Each month we're assigned a blog. Actually, there are so many of us that we're divided into four groups and each group has a Monday. So, on our Monday at 7:00 am we reveal the recipe we've made from our assigned blog.
Tigelles. A fancy name for a ham and cheese breakfast sandwich. The cookbook says, "Traditionally tigelle are served to grape pickers working in the high mountains between Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany as a fortifying snack." Yet another really good recipe from The Best American Recipes 2005-2006. This originally came from Bruce Aidells Complete Book of Pork.
We actually had breakfast on Saturday morning thanks to having company. My brother-in-law, Tom, is visiting for the weekend. He's been working in Chicago for the past few months so we've gotten to see him about once a month. Now, he's taken a job back home in Boston so our visits will be via email and phone mostly :-(
He got here really late on Thursday so he'd be here for Gallery Walk on Friday. We had several choices for where to start the walk so narrowed our selection down to the restaurants that were close to the various walk areas. There's Mass Ave, Fountain Square, the Stutz Building, Herron Art School and several outliers. We finally decided on Greek food. The place where you not only get the best Greek food ever but also the best bang for your buck - Santorini's. The three of us split the Chef's Plate, an appetizer and a dessert and were stuffed. Yes, you read that right - three of us split an entree for one. It's just fantastic food. Taki's Greek Potatoes are the best. Lemony, cooked just right. Perfect.
What did we think of this? Tom and I gave it a four out of five, Connie a three. Connie would change out some of the cheese for a cheese with less bite. I'd love to try it open faced under the broiler with toasted muffins then topped with a poached egg. I'm not a huge bread eater so having two sides to the muffin was almost overkill for me. How did I change the recipe? I used cooking spray and a tablespoon of olive oil as opposed to the 1/4 c of olive oil called for in the recipe. With grilled cheese sandwiches, you're trying to get a lovely crust and all that oil is necessary. With these, you're just trying to get the paste melted... We'll make these again. The paste can be made the day before so they're super easy for no time to cook breakfasts.
Tigelle
Ingredients:
1 garlic clove, peeled
8 oz pancetta, diced
1/2 c freshly grated Romano or Parmesan
1/2 T chopped fresh rosemary
4 English muffins (preferably Thomas') fork-split in half
1 T - 4 T olive oil (depending on your preference)
Directions:
Put the pancetta, cheese, rosemary and garlic in the bowl of a food processor.
Process until it's formed a paste. Split English muffins in half.
Put a thick schmear of the paste on half of the halves.
Top with the other halves. Cook these as you would a grilled cheese sandwich.
adapted from Best American Recipes 2005-2006. Originally from Bruce Aidells Complete Book of Pork
Woo Hoo, it's the weekend. In my case it means that the phone won't ring as much and I'll not be totally inundated with emails. But, that's ok. I get a few things done. Get ready for the upcoming week. Finish up from the week before. I got up really early Saturday morning to listen to the rain and work. The door to the screened porch was open so the sound of the gently falling rain almost lulled me back to sleep. But, I was a woman on a mission. Trying to finish up a project - well, at least a good part of a project! By the time Connie finally crawled out of bed I'd been up for over three hours and I was hungry!!! The caper cream cheese was made for Sunday. Executive decision time. Eat the toasts on Saturday instead. Don't you love making those kinds of decisions?
From the kitchen window I could see all the gorgeous yellow rasperries hanging on their vines. Many years ago, I ordered three or six vines from one of the mail order houses. The scraggly little vines didn't look like they'd ever produce anything much less the extravagant crop of raspberries we get. By the time I moved five years ago, the vines had filled out their area in the garden and were producing a lovely crop. I couldn't bear to leave them all behind. So, along came about 6 starts. Now, we've got a huge tangle of raspberry bushes.
They turn from yellow to gold to blush. The blush ones are like eating a burst of raspberry sugar. Oh, my are they good. We were in between rain showers so I headed out the door with a bowl. Here's what I picked. Aren't they beautiful?
What did we think? Connie would've liked a thicker schmear. I was happy with a thin one. I'd have liked more caper flavor - maybe some whole capers should be put in. But, all in all this was very good. We'll absolutely make it again.
Smoked Trout and Caper Cream Cheese Toasts
4 servings
Ingredients:
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 small shallot, minced
1 T chopped chives
1 T chopped capers
1 T fresh lemon juice
4 toasted english muffins
1/4 lb smoked trout fillet
Directions:
Mix the shallot, chives, capers and lemon juice
into the softened cream cheese.
Toast (and butter if you're decadent) the english muffins. Schmear them with the cream cheese. Top each muffin with crumbled smoked trout.
adapted from Saveur
We made the smoked goat cheese from Heartland Saturday evening. I could have eaten the whole thing the minute it came off the grill. The aroma was amazing. The flavor, incomparable. But, I practiced restraint. It was for several recipes and inhaling it would mean that I'd not have it to use in those... Aren't those trade-offs just the worst? One little slice of baguette each - just to taste it.
While the goat cheese was smoking, we smoked some thick cut bacon. Now, I've purchased double smoked bacon from Klaus' Haus - which has been written up as one of the best. I found that bacon to be way too smoky and chewy. So, I was anxious to try smoking my own bacon.
The big payoff happened Sunday morning. I limped into the kitchen knowing I had a really quick breakfast in mind. Something that'd be filling enough that I'd not want lunch while at the office. Or, at least I'd stick to an orange - lol. Now, I can't tell you where I came up with the idea of toasts with radishes and cucumbers, but I saw the combo somewhere. I thought that'd be perfect with the smoked goat cheese. It was. Well, so was the carnivore's delight. I divided the baguette slices into four parts and did two with the goat cheese, radishes and cucumbers and two with goat cheese and smoked bacon. YUM! That smoked bacon was incredible. It's going into bacon infused vodka and a salad this week. The goat cheese is going into a different salad and possibly a chicken dish. Both are going to be staples from here on out!
Smoked Goat Cheese
Ingredients:
8 oz or 16 oz log of goat cheese
canola oil or olive oil (NOT evoo!)
disposable aluminum pan
hickory chips
Directions:
Place the goat cheese in the pan. Rub it with the oil. Put your hickory chips in the smoker box or make a smoker with an aluminum foil packet with holes poked in it. Heat your grill with direct and indirect heat. You'll want the temp to stay right around 300-325. Once you get the first smoke, put the pan with the goat cheese on the indirect side of the grill. Smoke for an hour. While we were smoking the goat cheese, we smoked half a dozen slices of thick cut bacon. Here's the end result:
This goat cheese is wonderful as it is on thin slices of baguette. Or, use it where you'd use regular goat cheese in salads, pastas...
Toasts with Goat Cheese and Goodies
Ingredients:
baguette
smoked goat cheese
radishes
cucumber
smoked bacon
Directions:
Slice the baguette. Toast it under the broiler just until it starts to brown. If the goat cheese is coming out of the fridge, put some goat cheese on it and put it back under the broiler long enough to soften. If it's coming straight from the smoker, schmear it on the baguette. Once the goat cheese is schmeared put the toppings on. Slice the radishes and cucumber VERY thinly.
