St. Paddy’s Leftovers & A Blogger Party

In Case You Missed The First Announcment

After fun events the two previous years, Katherine Aucoin, Chris Grove, and Larry Doolittle are pleased that we will be able to host a blogger party again this year. The date we’ve selected is May 27 – we realize this is Memorial Day weekend and thought the extra day for travel might make it easier for some to be here.

The event will once again be held at Bev and Larry’s home near Greenback, Tn. and the menu will be a crawfish and shrimp boil – if you’re not a shellfish eater, come anyway and we’ll grill you something. Unlike previous times, we’ll be asking for a donation to help with the meat costs.

We’ll send out more details in early April but wanted to get on your calendar now. We’ll be asking for an RSVP later, but so we can start our planning, please let Larry know now if you think you might join us – email grandpop1@yahoo.com. Also please feel free to publicize this on your blog to reach more potential attendees. We hope you can join us.

For breakfast on Sunday morning, we just reheated some of the leftover potatoes and corned beef and fried an egg all in the same pan.

Afterward, I thought to myself – dummy you have potatoes and corned beef already cooked, why didn’t  you make hash?  So that’s what I did the next morning, adding a little additional green onion and Dubliner Irish Cheddar and cooking the eggs in

Then there was the required Reuben for supper one night - except it really wasn't because we used 1000 Island dressing and Irish cheddar cheese rather than Russian dressing and swiss cheese - but our corned beef on rye was very good.

I may have I already railed about the restaurant we recently ate at, offering a fish reuben - putting fried fish, cheese, and cole slaw between two pieces of rye bread does not a reuben make - I hate when people take such wild liberties - kinda like calling all drinks a martini just because they happen to be served in a martini glass regardless of what's in them - Sandra Lee did this a while back - no gin or dry vermouth and she called it a something or other martini - why not just give it a new name?  Pretty soon we'll have to invent a new language because the current definitions of things won't mean anything.  Okay rant over.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago:  Homemade Sausage & Egg Sandwich And Hash

Two years ago:  Our Belated St Paddy’s Meal

Larry

3/18 & 3/19/2012  meal date

St. Patrick’s Day At Almost Heaven South

While I’d always thought Doolittle was an English name, the Family Crest the kids gave me several years ago and some follow-up research says it has an Irish origin, so I celebrate St. Patrick’s Day – an excuse for a party.  Last year’s meal was your basic corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots all cooked together in the crockpot.

This year, we decided to try some things from my very favorite recipe book - your blogs.  Please check the respective blogs for the recipes and more pictures.  Our menu was:

2 corned beef brisket flats (Grobbel's) – to ensure leftovers.

A double batch of Bird Flanagan Irish Potato Pancakes from Susan at Savoring Time In The Kitchen. 

Fried cabbage from Mary at Deep South Dish. 

Shamrock shaped rolls inspired by Mary at One Perfect Bite.

Bev’s plan was to make rolls and a loaf of bread, but on TV that morning a local restaurant chef made pepperoni roll pinwheels.  Since pepperoni rolls were invented by Country Club Bakery in my hometown of Fairmont, WV and I grew up on them and then turned Bev onto them, she decided these were a must for this meal. 

We hadn’t planned on a salad or appetizer, but she decided it would be a better use of the dough than just a loaf of bread.  The traditional pepperoni rolls had 3-4 sticks of meat baked inside the roll, but the pinwheel maker used slices and after making some that way, Bev decided a brief spin in the food processor would be even better.  She pressed her dough into a rectangle, spread on the chopped pepperoni, rolled up, and sliced – similar to a sweet roll only much smaller.

After raising, she baked them until lightly browned and served them hot with jarred marinara, grated parmesan, and Irish wine – 2 drops of food coloring in a bottle of white wine.

The corned beef was covered with water and cooked several hours in a roasting pan on the stove top.  We like it pretty tender, so I cooked until my thermometer probe went in easily - same as for smoked brisket.

For the potato pancake, I used a 1 lb. 14 oz. bag of frozen hash browns and doubled the other ingredients – I let the potatoes thaw on paper towels and come to room temperature - also used my homemade Canadian bacon.  I cooked the pancake in a 12” non-stick skillet on medium-low heat for about 15 minutes with the lid on then without the lid until browned. I slid it out onto a plate, inverted the skillet over it and flipped to cook the other side until browned.

I fried the cabbage in a 12” cast iron skillet per Mary’s recipe, including the Slap Ya Mama Irish Cajun Seasoning.

Bev used Mary’s post as a guide for the rolls but used her regular sourdough bread to make them.  We discussed and calculated a while then she used three ½ oz balls for each roll in 3” wide muffin wells and they were a little too small, ¾ oz would have been just right.

Let's eat.  I'd already had a bite of potato when Bev reminded me to take a photo.

I washed mine down with Guinness Draught – sipped a little while cooking as well.  This was the first time I’d had cooked cabbage in a long time and perhaps my first ever fried cabbage – I really liked it.  I love potato everything and thought the single potato cake was very good and an excellent way to feed a crowd - the only issue was doubling the potato recipe made it harder to handle and maybe a little dryer. 

Bev decided to again make the chocolate lava cakes as they are easy and delicious - I was too full to eat any.  We rounded out the Irish meal with some Bailey's Irish Creme before and during dessert - I guess I just had my dessert in liquid form - that stuff sure goes down easy.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago:  Our St. Patrick’s Day Meal

Two years ago: Not Quite Bangers And Mash

Larry

3/17/2012  meal date

Empanadas - Baked And Fried

One of the nice things about Mexican stuffed dishes, like these and chili rellenos, is that you can use about anything you like in them.  I’d seen empanada’s several times lately on various blogs and have been waiting for some pulled pork to make them – it showed up this last BBQ day.

As it turned out, we had some pie dough in the fridge needing to be used and when I asked Bev what size cookie cutters she had for it, she said “why not use our empanada maker” – we have an empanada maker?  I got them out and discovered we have one that's smaller than I wanted and one that’s larger than I wanted but I went with it. 

As a guide, I used Jenn’s recipe for Chorizo Empanadas over at Jenn’s Food Journey.  One of my criteria was to use some of the poblano peppers we’d roasted and frozen last fall and based somewhat upon my ABT’s my recipe became:

2 refrigerated pie crusts

6 poblano peppers, split, stemmed, and seeded

½ lb. pulled pork at room temperature, chopped to size of choice

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ cup onion - red and scallions, small chop

¼ cup multi colored sweet peppers, small diced

1 tbsp. butter, melted

3 oz. cream cheese at room temperature

½ cup shredded cheddar at room temperature

½ tsp. Head Country Seasoning

1 tsp. mustard

1 tsp. mayo

Cook the onion and sweet pepper until softened, add the garlic and cook until fragrant.  Stir in the meat just to warm it a little - makes it easier to mix in the cheeses.

Mix the last 5 ingredients in a separate bowl then mix with the meat mixture.

Use the bottom of the empanada maker to cut the dough then put it on top of the maker and brush the edges with water.  Lay in one poblano and top with the meat mixture - 1/3 cup for this 6” size.  this was the first one and I used 1/2 cup which squished out and cracked the crust - the left one on the plate.

  Use the maker to fold and seal.

For baked ones, brush both sides with butter and bake at 375* until crust is a golden brown.  We served it with a little jarred salsa.

We were too full to try the fried ones and saved them for St. Patrick's Day breakfast.  We nuked them for about 30 seconds to take the chill off, then deep fried at 365* until golden brown - about 5 minutes.

 

While the baked one was good and no doubt healthier, it wasn't in the same league with the fried one, so I'll cut my fat calories somewhere else.  It didn't need any sauce and the filling was killer, as I thought it would be.   For some reason my poblanos were unusually hot last year and no other heat was required - it lit my mouth up pretty good, partially because the ripe ones are always hotter.

This amount of meat mix and dough will make six 6" empanadas - I made five for reasons I won't go into.  The maker worked great and I will definitely use it again and try the smaller one for raviloi.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago: Baby Let Me Be Your Salty Dog

Two years ago: The Final Mushroom Meal

Larry

3/16 & 3/17/2012  meal dates

A Stroll Around The Grounds And Its Still Technically Winter

It was around 80* here most of last week and I can’t believe we’re having May in March.  I walked around the ranch the other day and snapped a few pictures.  The camellia has the most blooms ever.

On Thursday, Bev and I planted our brassica and lettuce transplants along with potatoes and some beets.  I can’t believe it was so hot doing this work in mid-March.  This is some of them ready to plant.

Some begonias ready to leave the greenhouse.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago:  Almost Heaven South Via Google Earth

Two years ago:  Pork Tenderloin Parmesan

Larry

Dependencies

This just proves that we have become too dependent on our computers.

 Are you male or female? To find out the answer, look down...

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Look down, not scroll down. Geeez.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago:  Smoking Link Sausage For The First Time

Two years ago:  Smoked Paprika Potatoes

Larry

Another Canadian Bacon Breakfast & Veggie Gardening

Nothing fancy, just a simple throw together breakfast for a busy day:

English muffin - toasted

Homemade Canadian bacon – diced and lightly nuked to warm
Sharp cheddar cheese - sliced
Green onion – chopped
Grape tomatoes - quartered
Fresh farm eggs from a local farmers – cooked sunny side up in ring molds

After toasting the muffin, I assembled evrything starting with the cheese and put it under the broiler - I figured when the cheese melted, everything above it would be ready.

Served with homemade tomato juice, raspberries, and hot coffee - it was a delicious way to start the day.

Veggie Gardening Reminder – It was too late for last year’s garden but I did a series of gardening posts every Thursday, based on my teaching material for Master Gardener students.  It began on April 28, 2011 and ran thru August.  If interested, you can go to the Blog Archive on my sidebar, click 2011, then May (first full month), and look at the topics for the Thursday posts.  I love to talk gardening so don’t hesitate to shoot me an email if I can be of any help. 

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago:  Mushroom Pork Tenderloin

Two years ago:  My First Attempt At Stuffed Sausage

Larry

3/14/2012  meal date

German Night At Linderhof

We’d bought a Living Social deal for dinner at a Knoxville German restaurant called Linderhof, which I assume was named for Bavarian King Ludwig’s palace of the same name.  After several trips to Germany, and many American dishes being based upon German cuisine, we know we really enjoy it.

We’ve been to the Linderhof three times (and Ludwig’s palace once) and our last time, several years ago, was not a good experience, but when the Living Social deal came along, we decided to give it another try.

We went early on Tuesday evening, to match up with an errand, and there were only two other tables in use, so we got very good service.

We both wanted pork schnitzel and it came with soup, salad, and a side dish and we both chose spaetzle.  Since it was a German place, we decided we should have a Grilled Wurstteller (sausage) appetizer, which contained a Polish sausage, a bratwurst, and a knackwurst (like a thick wiener).  To go with the sausage was German potato salad, homemade kraut, horseradish, and brown mustard.

I forgot the shot until it was half eaten and it was all very good.

The soup was osso buco which was mostly potatoes in broth but it was also very good.  The salad was next and it may have been my favorite part and we both remember being disappointed last time.  It is described: a tasting assortment of German salads - potato salad, cole slaw, cucumber salad, and red cabbage slaw.

Bev’s entrée was Zigeuner Schnitzel described as: gypsy style - topped with sautéed bell peppers, tomatoes, onion, and paprika - slightly spicy!

She liked it but wished she asked for more spice - as usual.  I suggested she start carrying a little bottle of crushed red pepper like our friend Dave does with his Tabasco.

I had the Paprika Rahm described as: simmered in and served with our paprika cream sauce.

I really enjoyed it and the sauce was just what I expected - slightly sweet red pepper flavor. 

We ordered the spaetzel so we’d know what it was supposed to be like as our first try turned out too light – again, it very good.  Both pieces of meat were fork tender, but the one thing we thought unusual was the  absence of a crispy breaded crust, which may had been omitted since it would become soggy in the sauces.

The evening was a much better experience than our last time and we’d definitely go back – when I asked the server, she advised it had a new owner and cook as of a year ago.  We forgot to ask about the chef's special until we'd ordered, but it's something we plan to make soon - stay tuned.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago: Sausage Trial For Breakfast

Two years ago:  Mushroom And Bacon Omelet

Larry

3/13/20102  meal date