Blogger Party & Homemade Reuben

2014 Blogger Party

Chris (Nibble Me This) and I have discussed this year’s Blogger Party and have settled on the date of Saturday, June 7.  At the suggestion of Dave (Inspired By eRecipe Cards), this year we will be asking you to join us at the East Tennessee Italian Fest where we will be pretending we are on a dock at the Amalfi Coast enjoying Neapolitan and other Italian cuisines.  We’ll be serving up a pasta bar, salad, and bread along with appetizers and dessert.

Fried Crappie With A Twist

I’ve posted several times about our experiences with fried crappie with lemon/butter/caper sauce, but this version has two changes.  We normally pan-fry the fish naked or with a light dusting of flour, then keep it warm while we make the sauce.

After my recent experience using the sauce with a cornmeal coating I decided to make an entire batch using it.  The fish got seasoned with S&P then a dredge in plain white cornmeal.

Mac & Cheese

I wanted to make mac & cheese for Madison and me and searched the recipes I had on hand plus others I found on line, and there are lots of them.  I decided to use the cheese I had in the fridge so I was mostly interested in proportions and ended up with this:

1 lb      Macaroni

6 T.      Butter

½ C.    Flour

4 C.     Milk, warmed

6 C.     Shredded cheese

S&P to taste

Bread crumbs

Cooking spray

Fried Taters And Eggs, With A Twist

Before leaving for the Caribbean, Bev had boiled up a few pounds of small red potatoes and stored them in the fridge and when our neighbor showed up at our door with a dozen, fresh-from-the-hen eggs, I knew what had to be done.

When I was a kid, we came home from school for lunch and one of my favorite meals was fried potatoes and onions, either from raw or boiled potatoes (making them home fries).  The potatoes were often accompanied with a slice or two of Velveeta cheese and some bread-and-butter pickles for a pretty good meal.

My favorite meal for potatoes and onions is now breakfast and for this meal, to the potatoes, I added half of a large red onion, two green onions, and four julienned pieces of prosciutto that were left from another meal.

Mushroom, Fontina Polenta

I had been thinking about making some polenta and when I saw Roz’s post for Fontina Polenta with Sauteed Porcini Mushrooms an idea was born.  I had about 4 oz. of finely diced cremini mushrooms left from another meal and decided to put them in the polenta rather than on it.

Mushroom/ Fontina Polenta

How True It Is

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

Larry

Shredded Beef In The Pressure Cooker

Bev had gone freezer diving and came out with a package she thought was steaks, but , after thawing, it turned out to be beef chuck short ribs (I'd never seen them before this) and since they were boneless, I assumed they were akin to pork country ribs.

She then decided she wanted to freeze some and take it on vacation with her (annual trip to Sint Maarten) so I went searching for a recipe that would work and ended up combining several.  Braising is the preferred cooking method, but I got a late start so I pulled out the new pressure cooker (PC) for the job and made shredded beef again - crock pot last time.

Ingredients:

3# beef chuck short ribs

2 tsp. bacon grease

2 tsp. olive oil

1 med. onion, rough chop

1 bell pepper, rough chop

2 stalks celery, rough chop

3 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup fresh parsley

1/2 tsp. dried rosemary

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. mild chimayo chile powder

2 cups beef broth

Directions:

1. Use the food processor to fine dice the veggies (I wanted them to disappear into the final product).

2. Heat bacon grease and oil in the PC pan and season meat with S&P.

3. Add the meat to the pan so as not to crowd, brown on all sides, and remove to a plate.  Bev didn't want gravy, go they were not floured prior to browning.

4. Add vegetables to the pan and cook 10 minutes (or until nearly dry), scrapping up the fond, then add garlic and cook a couple more minutes.

5. Deglaze the pan (if still needed) with beef broth then add it all along with the herbs & spices, and stir well.

6. Add the beef ribs to the pan, making sure they are covered, put the lid on the pressure cooker and cook at low pressure for 45 minutes.

7. Remove the meat to a cutting board, shred, and add back to the pan.

8. Stir well, serve, and enjoy.  

It was very good and we just topped some smashed potatoes with the meat, but it would be great on a sandwich, in a burrito, and with many other dishes.  This post is obviously about the recipe and not the photo J 

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

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

Larry

3/8/14 event date

Al Capone Roast

So we could use some flank steak we had in the freezer, Bev discovered the recipe for this dish at All Recipes and assigned me to make it while she went to the market.  I amended it for the two pound steak we had.

Al Capone Roast – adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:

2 pounds flank steak, pounded thin for easy rolling

1/8 cup olive oil

3 ounce finely chopped black olives

3/4 cup minced fresh mushrooms (I used cremini)

6 slice prosciutto, fat cap removed

6 slices mortadella

6 slices mozzarella cheese

12 slices pepperoni sausage

McCormick Italian Herbs – medium grind

Garlic powder

Montreal steak seasoning

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Pound meat to 1/2" thickness and spread the mushrooms and olives over the steak.

Veal Parmesan – Our First

Our cattle farming neighbors had some veal in their freezer and asked if I would like to make something from it for all of us and I quickly agreed.  Having been well pleased with our recent Chicken Parmesan, I decided to try parts of that recipe for our first ever homemade Veal Parmesan.

After seeing what cuts they had, I decided to go with sirloin, which I trimmed and soaked for five hours in marinade.  I used the same breading, but unlike the chicken, I pan fried the veal and baked it in a pan topped with sauce – the more traditional cooking method.

Immigration Views & Spring

It’s hard to get the news lately and not find something about illegal aliens, immigration, immigration reform, and such, so I decided it was time for me to weigh in on this issue.

I’ve come to the conclusion it is time to totally close our borders to all forms of immigration and freeze the population at current levels.  How did I come to this conclusion – glad you ask.