The Herb Harvest

I keep a little herb garden right outside the back door and I'm always trimming and cutting on it.  I like to dry my own herbs and now that it's MARCH, I'm finally finishing my harvesting from last year.  For me, it's a long, drawn-out affair.  I snip what I want and then tie the bunches with twine and hang them to dry.  (I'm sure my family gets tired of all the ugly, dried weeds hanging in the kitchen window...)  I leave them quite a long time.  Then, when I've almost forgotten what they were to begin with (sometimes I completely forget--you'd be surprised what all looks similar when it's all dried and shriveled...) I place just the leaves in baggies and mark them.  Then they sit.  And sit.  And sit.  So today, it was time to clean out the baggies.  I have a coffee mill I use specifically for herbs and grind them down to the consistency I want for seasoning/cooking.  Today I ground Sweet Basil, Oregano, Mint and Pineapple Sage.  And I have more bay leaves than ten people would ever use in a lifetime.

I had a lot of pineapple sage, because I did away with it at the end of the season last year, so this was everything.  While there aren't many uses for it mentioned online, it's a pretty cool plant.  First of all it's beautiful in the garden, with a striking red bloom.  In it's fresh form, it smells sweet, tastes sweet (really nice to brew in tea) and the bugs don't seem to care about it.  In it's dried form I've used it in pork rub before, and today, I put it in my enchilada meat mixture.  I'm making the enchiladas later this week, so I'll let you know how it is, but I can say, it smelled fantastic going in the with "enchilada" seasonings.

Happy Harvesting!

Who Says Office Lunch is Boring?

I made some Butternut Squash Soup the other day out of (get this) mashed butternut squash I had in a freezer bag labeled November 2010! I kept forgetting about it, so this was somewhat of a gamble, but it was just fine. I sautéed some onions in a pot with some canola oil and once they were translucent I added the squash and some chicken broth. Then some Allspice and ground thyme to taste and a little salt. Once heated through, I added some fat free half & half. It's delish! And so easy. Nice on this gray day. Oh and that little rolled up thingy? That's a low carb tortilla with Kim's homemade pimento cheese spread in it. I'll post her recipe if she'll give it up.

Happy lunching!

Random Food Pics

I'm in trouble for not posting for a while, but I promise I've been busy.  And I also promise that I haven't missed a meal.  So here are just some random pictures of food I've encountered, made, eaten, etc. lately.

First of all, who doesn't like boiled shrimp with some tangy red sauce?  Okay, folks who don't like fish.  And behind the shrimp you'll see an easy appetizer--small sweet peppers roasted with port wine cheese ball smeared on them.  That's right, soften one of those port wine cheese balls you find in the gourmet cheese section at the store.  Cut the peppers in half (they're the small, sweet, multicolored ones you find in a bag in the produce section), clean out the few seeds and membrane, then smear about a teaspoon of the cheese on it.  Roast in the oven till light brown and bubbly, or if you're feeling lucky, place on the grill outside.  Watch out--they're hot!  Not spicy, but burn your lip.  Let them sit for a few minutes before partaking.

Pam's Marinated Cheese.  It's a thing of beauty.  My sister-in-law turned us on to this, and she still makes it the best.  Cheddar and cream cheese sliced and stacked together, with a beautiful, rustic Italian blend of ingredients make the dressing that you pour over the cheeses.  Marinate for a while, then set out and let get near room temp before you spoon the dressing back over the cheeses.  Eat with crackers.  Yum!

Even though this IS Super Bowl Sunday, I didn't mean for it to look like an appetizer feast.  These photos are coming from Christmas Eve, where David and Lauren hosted and we had a "finger food gala."  Here are two different kinds of stuffed mushroom my mom made, and sure enough, we had so much stuffing left over that some of those cute little peppers got stuffed as well.  The mushrooms in the back have a more traditional stuffing, while the ones up front have a bacon and cheese style stuffing.

Pam also brought "Uncle Ed's Chicken Wings."  Yes, they ARE as good as they look.  Crispy, messy, sweet, savory, gooey, eat-over-the-sink good.  Recipe is in the Strand Family Cookbook.

I'll stop here and resume in another post.  But doesn't it just make you hungry?

Happy eating!

Me Oh My, Pie!

Remember that goofy pie song Andie MacDowell sings in the movie "Michael?"  It sticks in my head...
Anyway...it's pie season.  And why is that?  Why isn't it always pie season?  Unless it's an icebox, or no-bake pie, we don't seems to eat as much during the summer.  Obviously, nobody wants to heat up the kitchen with baking, and a lot of really good pie ingredients aren't in season until the fall, like pumpkin and apple. So, it's pie season.  And if you know me well, you know that when I do crave a sweet, I really like pie.  Better than most cakes.  One of my favorite recipes is Don's grandmother's Chocolate Pie.  It's so good.  And beautiful.  I like the meringue challenge.  When it comes out well, it can be a thing of beauty.  I made it recently-a few weeks ago actually-sorry for not posting sooner.  Mom's gotten to where she makes the pie crust recipe in the Strand Family Cookbook and it makes a few crusts at a time, so when I saw that she was making a batch, there was no way I was going to let all of it go to the freezer.  The good thing is, we always have the Chocolate Pie ingredients handy.  I'll bet you do, too.  Here ya' go:

Chocolate Pie

Mary Jane Emerson

Make (or thaw) pie crust, place in pie pan and prick bottom and sides with a fork.  Bake until golden brown and set aside.

Separate 3 eggs and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

1 C. sugar                                             

4 T. flour

¼ t. salt                                                 

2 C. milk

3 egg yolks (from above)                     1/3 C. cocoa

1 T. butter                                             1 t. vanilla

Mix and sift dry ingredients.  Put in large saucepan over medium heat and add milk.  Once warm, add cocoa and dissolve.  Add egg yolks, then butter, then vanilla.  Stir constantly and cook till stiff.  Pour into baked crust and set aside.  Make meringue:  In a small mixing bowl, combine ¼ t. cream of tartar and egg whites.  Beat on high till foamy.  While beating, add 6 T. sugar, one at a time.  Add ½ t. vanilla and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.  Cover chocolate with meringue making sure to cover completely and seal meringue all the way to edges, touching crust.  Bake till brown in a hot oven.  Let sit for a few hours before cutting.

Gosh it's good! Just look at that meringue.  I love to let it get really brown on the peaks--they come out a little chewy.  In a good way. 

So this is my ode to pie, and to Granny Emerson, of course!

Here's that "Never Foil Pie Crust" recipe in the Family Cookbook, submitted by Aunt Louise:

 

Never Foil Pie Crust

Louise Strand Russell

1 lb. Lard

5 ½ C. flour

1 t. salt

Blend together until pea sized.  Make a well.

2 beaten eggs

1 T. vinegar

Water to make 8 oz.

Combine and add to flour mixture-mix well.

This is a good crust.  Does not mind handling—in fact, quite likes it.  I cut this into 5 portions and freeze.

Happy eating.  And Happy Thanksgiving! 

Potato Leek Soup

I think it should be "Leek Potato Soup."  In my mind, the potatoes are secondary, but since I borrowed a recipe, I'll stick to the original name.  I've made this before, but I don't know what happened to that recipe so I had to go hunting for another.  This one comes from simplyrecipes.com.  I already had an idea about what I wanted to do, but I didn't want to screw up the method.  And I had leeks I bought a few weeks back at the farmer's market so I needed to get them into something.  It's not quite soup weather yet (might have gotten up to 90 today), but we're getting closer.  I love leeks and I don't know why I don't use them more often.  Even a little sprinkled in a salad would be awesome.
I love the way the leeks break down in the pot.  A little stirring, cover it up, come back a few minutes later to take a look and voila!  It's like spinach, or any greens for that matter.  Okay, I'm easily amused; or amazed.

What I love about this recipe is that once everything has simmered down, you remove half of it, blend it, and add it back.  That way you get the creaminess, but still lovely chunks of potato and ribbons of the leeks.  The only thing I added not on the list was during the simmering--two bay leaves.  When it was time to purée, I removed them.  I did use four cups of chicken broth rather than two cups broth and two cups water.  And at the end, I sprinkled grated Parmesan in rather than adding more salt.
I think the most time consuming part of the entire recipe is the cleaning and cutting up of the leeks.  The problem is that they're so dirty, you have to take them completely apart, rinse them well, then they don't go "back together" if you know what I mean and you have to pile them up and hold them tightly while cutting.  It made me think of when Lucy is in Havana making cigars and she keeps adding tobacco leaves and rolling them up till she has this HUGE cigar...but I digress.  That's sort of how I handled the leek "layers."
I may have mentioned before, mom makes homemade bread pretty often, so we had our soup with oven toasted (and slathered with butter) buttermilk bread she recently made.  Yum!

 

Happy eating!

Norwegian Waffles

Back to my roots.  My mother's father came over from Norway to Canada in 1913.  He was the first of three brothers that traveled over for work.  Luckily they stayed in touch with the rest of the family back in the homeland, and we've been blessed to stay in touch with uncles, aunts and many cousins over the years.  My mother and her siblings have held true to their Norwegian roots and have many traditional recipes to show for it.  One in particular that I love are Norwegian Waffles.  My Aunt Alice provided this recipe for our "Strand Family Cookbook" that I complied in 2007 for Mom's 70th birthday celebration.  And when everyone came to Texas that Spring, Aunt Alice brought her waffle iron.  It was my first exposure and I've been hooked ever since.  As a matter of fact, Mom and Aunt Meme went out and bought two waffle irons identical to Alice's.  We have a great waffle iron, but this particular one makes these waffles especially good.  And proper.

Last weekend (Labor Day) I decided we were long overdue, so I assembled all the ingredients and got busy.  There is some time involved in making these, but they are so worth it.

 

Norwegian Waffles

Alice Vivian

5 eggs

½ C. sugar

1 C. flour, sifted

1 t. ground cardamom

1 C. sour cream

4 T. unsalted butter, melted

Beat the sugar and eggs together for 5 to 10 minutes. Alternately fold in half the flour, cardamom, and the sour cream, then the remaining flour. Lightly stir in the melted butter and set the batter aside for ten minutes.

Cook according to directions for the waffle maker. Serve with Lingonberries.

Go for the 10. 10 minutes of beating, and once everything is incorporated, 10 minutes of resting. This becomes a beautiful, fluffy batter. Lingonberry jam is a favorite, along with sour cream. Another item Aunt Alice introduced when she first made the waffles for us is Ski Queen cheese, which is also wonderful with these waffles. You can definitely treat these more traditionally with butter and syrup, but please try one without anything first. The texture is so creamy, and the taste of the cardamom (sometimes also spelled "cardamon") gives it such a warmth. Cardamon is a Himalayan spice, relative to Ginger, but don't think of it as "bitey" as ginger, more warmth like cinnamon or nutmeg.

On this particular day, I didn't have any Ski Queen cheese, but I did have Laughing Cow Lite Creamy Swiss wedges, and it worked great with the Lingonberries. Experiment...but stay close to your roots.

Happy eating!

Chicken Fried Steak = Love

Don requested Chicken Fried Steak, so I made it tonight.  But his request was specific; there had to be home fries, Texas toast and cream gravy.  Just like at Dee Tee's in Midlothian.  Dee Tee's is one of those timeless places that serves good ol' comfort food.  And nothing else.  Tried and true recipes over the course of many years.  And while Don hasn't been there in a long time, his fond memories include Chicken Fried Steak.
I have a recipe that I've only ever used once before and remembered that with a little adjusting, it would be good.  And it was.  I just don't make CFS very often; it makes a mess of the kitchen--it's a lot of oil, etc.  And I sure wasn't cooking it outside in this heat. Especially knowing I was going to fry the fries, twice.  I like to fry them first to get the inside cooked, then throw them back in and crisp them up.  And I did three batches (so six)--too many to be hanging around a hot pot of oil outside.  I started the fries in a cast iron dutch oven on the stove, then once I got them half done, I started the steaks.  But rewind--the recipe is just making sure your dredging and batter are well seasoned.  I mentioned earlier that I knew I wanted to adjust some things from the previous time I used this recipe.  You know how I love the Food Network, and this is a Tyler Florence recipe.

Chicken Fried Steak and Gravy

• 2 pounds beef bottom round, trimmed of excess fat (already processed cube steak works fine!)
• 2 to 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 whole eggs, beaten
• 2 cups buttermilk or whole milk
• Hot sauce, to taste
• Vegetable oil
• 3 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup whole milk
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Hot sauce, to taste

Directions

In a medium flat dish add the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt and pepper, to taste, and combine well. In another flat dish stir together the eggs, buttermilk and hot sauce, to taste, and season well with salt and pepper, to taste. Cut beef into 4 (1/2-inch) thick slices then pound out using the teeth side of a meat mallet. This tenderizes the meat. Dredge each piece of meat in the seasoned flour, then in the seasoned buttermilk and back into the flour, allowing excess to drip off. Set out on a rack fitted over a baking sheet and allow to rest in the refrigerator for 20 to 25 minutes before cooking.

Add about 2 inches vegetable oil to a large cast iron pan and heat over medium-high heat to 365 degrees F. Once heated and working in batches, fry steaks 2 to 3 at a time until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove steaks and drain on a paper towels.
Carefully remove some the fat from the cast iron pan, reserving 1/4 cup. With the pan over medium heat, sprinkle in 3 tablespoons of flour and whisk to make a roux, scraping up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Once the flour has been fully incorporated slowly add the buttermilk and milk and continue to whisk until the gravy is nice and thick. Season well with salt and plenty ground black pepper, then whisk in hot sauce, to taste. Place the steaks on a serving platter, top with gravy and serve.

The only adjustments I made was not to use any hot sauce, never have (sorry, Tyler, don't see the point) and I use less garlic powder and onion powder.  Not much, just remembered those seasonings coming back to haunt me last time.  So I cut those down to about a tablespoon each.  I did have some buttermilk, so I mixed it with whole milk for the batter.  I think what makes this nice is the dredging, battering and back to dredging.  It ensures that the breading will stay on throughout the cooking process.
But really, the star of this show is the gravy.  I used my super large cast iron skillet for the steaks, and once I'd removed most of the used oil, the gravy came alive.  There were just enough beautiful bits in the pan to make it wonderful.  And my weird thing (works every time!) that I do to make sure I get the salt right is--I hover over the pan and smell the steam coming up.  When it's a little "salty" I know I've added enough.
Needless to say, we over-ate.  Mom made the Texas toast on the electric griddle (remember--I had a mess going on over at the stove!) and it was lovely.  Buttery and crispy all in the same bite!

Well, gotta have some comfort food occasionally, right?  Thanks Don, for your request.  We all came out winners on this deal.

Happy Eating!