Saturday Humor

The Haircut

A teenage boy had just passed his driving test and inquired of his father as to when they could discuss his use of the car. His father said he’d make a deal with his son: “You bring your grades up from a C to a B average, study your Bible a little, and get your hair cut, then we’ll talk about the car.” The boy thought about that for a moment , decided he’d settle for the offer, and they agreed on it.

After about six weeks his father said, “Son, you’ve brought your grades up and I’ve observed that you have been studying your Bible, but I’m disappointed you haven’t had your hair cut.” The boy said, “You know, Dad, I’ve been thinking about that, and I’ve noticed in my studies of the Bible that Samson had long hair, John the Baptist had long hair, Moses had long hair, and there’s even strong evidence that Jesus had long hair.” 

You’re going to love the dad’s reply:

“Did you also notice that they all walked everywhere they went?”

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

One year ago:  Some More Snow Shots

Two years ago:  Honey Mustard Chicken Fingers Ala Steph Then Larry

Larry

Homemade Pasta – Finally

We bought an Atlas Pasta Machine several years ago and it had never been out of the box, except for looking at when we got it – Bev actually knew where to find it.  For the past couple of months, we’ve been talking seriously about making some pasta but the motivation had yet to come along – until now.  Following a meal with friends, Ashley and Kathy, we were setting around talking and the subject of spaghetti and meatballs got into the conversation.  Ashley advised she had a recipe she would make for us and none of us had made pasta, so the motivation had finally arrived.

Without checking any recipes, Bev headed to the store to buy some semolina flour, which I thought all pasta was made from, then I discovered that even Mario Batali uses all-purpose flour in his basic pasta dough recipe.  So I did some research about the two flours and discovered the semolina makes a stiff dough and is more difficult to work with but I found some recipes using various combos of semolina and AP flour and went with one that was 50/50 from All Recipes as follows:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups semolina flour

1 pinch salt
6 large eggs
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions – as written

1. Thoroughly sift together all-purpose flour, semolina flour, and pinch of salt. On a clean surface, make a mountain out of flour mixture then make a deep well in center. Break the eggs into the well and add olive oil. Whisk eggs very gently with a fork, gradually incorporating flour from the sides of the well. When mixture becomes too thick to mix with a fork, begin kneading with your hands.

2. Knead dough for 8 to 12 minutes, until it is smooth and supple. Dust dough and work surface with semolina as needed to keep dough from becoming sticky. Wrap dough tightly in plastic and allow it to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

This is the classical method to make it, but I also found some recipes using a food processor or mixer dough hook.  We thought it might be easier to get right if we went the food processor route and used this from Mangia Bene Pasta.

Insert the metal blade of the food processor.  Place all of the ingredients in the bowl.  Pulse until the mixture begins to come together and form a ball.  Remove the dough and knead lightly until is smooth and elastic.  Divide the dough into 3 or 4 balls, cover, and let rest 30 minutes (at room temperature).  Bev whisked the eggs, oil, and salt together then poured it over the flour in the food processor and pulsed until a ball formed.

We made four dough balls and after resting, ran two of them thru the pasta machine for supper and froze the other two per instructions from ehow.com - half the dough was plenty for four of us.  We watched the You Tube video posted by Pam over at For The Love Of Cooking and it was very helpful.  We pretty much followed that procedure but decided 5 rather than 7 was the right thickness for our fettuccini.  I can’t believe I went in to take a shot of the ready-to-cook pasta then got busy and forgot.

A few days after making this, Claudia, over at What's Cookin Italian Style Cuisine, posted a dish that lead back to the same recipe we used and it was called Old Fashioned Egg Noodles, so I guess that's what we made - I wondered about the high amount of eggs (one egg per cup of flour seems to be more the norm).

Prior to making the pasta, Ashley made the meatballs from a recipe adapted from America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook

Meatballs

1 C Panko breadcrumbs

½ C buttermilk

¾ ld ground beef – 85%

¼ lb ground pork

¼ c grated parmesan

2 T minced fresh parsley

1 large egg yolk

2 med garlic cloves, minced

¾ t salt

1/8 t black pepper

Oil for frying

Soak the Panko in the buttermilk for ten minutes, add the remaining ingredients and mix gently to combine.  Form into 1½ inch meatballs and fry in oil until nicely browned, about 10 minutes, and drain on paper towels.  Add to sauce to finish cooking.

The breadcrumbs swelled up and are obvious in the photo.

She also made a simple tomato basil sauce using a recipe from the same book.

Here’s my plate and it was delicious, with the only negative being I over-cooked the pasta a little – being our first time, I wasn’t sure what the taste and texture should be.  Bev loved it and commented that making it fresh was definitely worth the effort.

Prior to starting the pasta, Bev made a salad of two split and grilled romaine hearts topped with bottled Caesar Dressing, cheddar cheese, olives, salami, pepperoni, and grated parmesan - it was also delicious.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

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

One year ago: Flat Irons On The Grill

Two years ago: Thank You Mister Tree

Larry

01/05/2012 meal date

Rotisserie Chicken On A Cool Day

I’d been wanting to cook something on a spit for a while and decided this was the day – never mind that it was 30* outside or that snow flurries were predicted for the evening, I wanted to do this.  It happens we had a chicken in the freezer and Bev suggested she really liked beer can chicken and I had to explain this was all about the spit.  We also had asparagus and romaine that we needed to cook, so it was an entire meal on the grill.

For the chicken, I just rubbed with oil and used Bev’s favorite Wolfe Citrus Rub inside and out added it to the spit and tied the legs and wings.

I can’t recall the last time I cooked chicken or anything else on the spit, so I had to do a little research to get an idea for cooking time and one to one and one half hours seemed to be the general advice.  I used the infra-red burner on the grill back for most of the cook, but it wasn’t getting the job done quickly enough – windy, 30* temps and snow flurries a likely contributor. 

I swapped the infra-red for the regular grill burners so the heat would rise past the rotating meat and when it was close to the temp I wanted, I tossed on the asparagus and romaine.

In the meantime, Bev made some Hollandaise Sauce using this recipe from Ina Garten

Roasted Asparagus with Hollandaise – asparagus part omitted.

12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)

4 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 pinches of cayenne pepper

Directions

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan. Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 3/4 teaspoon pepper and cayenne in the jar of a blender. Blend for 15 seconds. With the blender running, slowly pour the hot butter into the blender and blend for 30 seconds, until the sauce is thick. (You can leave it in the blender at room temperature for up to 1 hour. If it is made in advance, add 1 tablespoon hot tap water and blend for a few seconds before serving.)

Pour the hollandaise sauce over the warm asparagus and serve.

Bev said it was the easiest she’d ever made, but she missed the UNSALTED butter part and then added one of the 1½ tsps. of salt before realizing it was too salty.  Fortunately the asparagus was under salted and it worked okay.  It was also pretty tangy and used twice the amount of lemon as a similar recipe from Tyler Florence.  While the technique is a keeper, the actual ingredients will need to be adjusted for our taste.

Here’s my plate and it satisfied my current cook-on-the-spit need.

The leftovers made a delicious omelet which I made by sauteeing the chicken and asparagus to reheat, then I stirred in some of the hollandaise which also provided the salt for the dish.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

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

One year ago: Ham & Cheese Sandwich

Two years ago: Frozen Lake - Now This Is Cold For Around Here

Larry

1/2/12 meal date

The Last Of The Christmas Prime Rib

If you read blogs and watch TV cooking shows like I do, you see lots of beef sandwiches – Italian beef, French dip, roast beef po boy, etc. and I decided to combine what I considered the best of several to use the last of our prime rib.

The French Dips I’ve seen (speaking about just sandwiches here) have the meat and perhaps cheese on them and they are dipped in warm jus by the eater.  For the Italian Beef, the meat is usually cooked in the simmering jus and the bread is often dunked in the juice by the cook.

I sliced the last of the prime rib as thin as I could with a knife and added it to simmering jus in a skillet. 

When the meat was warm, I split a roll and dunked it in the jus on all sides, then added shredded pepper jack to the bottom half, then piled on the meat, then more jus, then the bun top, then more jus on top – so there be some on the plate for further dipping as needed.

Needless to say, I ate it with a knife and fork and it was outstanding - nearly roll your eyes back in your head good (speaking of rolling your eyes back, I've researched Ageless Male and believe it probably doesn't work - in case this applies to any of you).  I might have added a little horseradish sauce if I’d had some made up, but hey, this was just lunch for me.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

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

One year ago: What A Difference A Day Makes - It's Snow Time In Tennessee

Two years ago: Kentucky Hot Brown Scramble

Larry

01-07-2012 meal date

Salisbury Steak Ala Lynda

Sometimes it’s a little scary how close Bev and my minds are.  I’d recently bookmarked a couple of recipes for this dish one within a few days of her asking if I’d ever had Salisbury Steak.  I answered perhaps only in TV dinners as a kid, but I’d just saved a couple and had been thinking of making one.  She advised we had some already cooked mushrooms we needed to use and we should make it since we had everything on hand but the meat – which she bought the next day.

I looked up the two recipes and found one was for onion gravy and Lynda’s from Lynda’s Recipe Box called for mushroom gravy – check out her site for the recipe, which I closely followed for making up the beef patties - it made two 6 oz, one 8 oz and one smaller patty, which I saved for breakfast.  I mixed them with a fork just enough to combine, weighed them out in a bowl, then dumped them on a plate and worked them only enough to get the shape I wanted.

Since I was using pre-cooked mushrooms, I made the gravy by sautéing the onions in the butter, then adding the flour to make the roux.  Then I added a couple of tablespoons of the very rich beef broth (the jus) leftover from our Christmas prime rib and the mushrooms (also Christmas leftovers), which had some liquid, and with just a little water, the thickness was just right.  Then I poured it over the meat, added a lid, and cooked about 5 minites.

We had an eclectic combo of sides to use things we had on hand and for luck, so it was grilled romaine lettuce and canned black eyed peas (this was New year’s Day) that Bev doctored with some picante sauce and chopped jalapenos.

All I can say is I’m now a big fan of Salisbury Steak – how could you not like a small personal size meatloaf, fried crusty, and topped with brown gravy.  Bev commented that she liked the very loose texture of them.  And I thought this version was excellent – thanks Lynda for a delicious meal.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

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

One year ago: Ham & Eggs – Basic Food

Two years ago:  Smoked Turkey and Kentucky Hot Browns

Larry

1/1/12 meal date

The Last Dinner Roll Must be Used

I just love Bev’s homemade rolls and since they are made sparingly, I consider them a special treat.  It didn’t matter that she baked another pan 2 days later or that the one from Christmas was then 5 days old, it had to be eaten in a special way.

I try to remember to take pictures of each meal, then decide to post them based upon how they turn out and I wasn’t planning to post this one, but.  I was ready for breakfast, Bev was still in the sack, and I headed for the kitchen.  The first thing I spotted was a plastic bag with a small piece of cheddar and some sliced green onion and another bag with chopped fried bacon – guess we forgot to put them away.  I knew the last roll was wrapped in the foil I saw so I decided to put these items to use.

I sliced the roll and the cheese into three pieces, arranged on a plate and topped the bread with the cheese, the onion, and some bacon.  I nuked them for 30 seconds which just melted the cheese a little. 

In the meantime, I cooked two eggs over easy – the bread area only needed one, but since it was thick I knew I needed extra yolk to swirl around on the plate to soak up with the bread.

Talk about simple and delicious, this was about as easy as it gets and I’d gladly serve it to you as a guest – maybe fancy it up with a little garnish and some fruit.  And now it’s on to the remaining 2 day old rolls.

When you're outside on Jan 6, 2012 in shorts and a tee shirt laying in two wheel barrow loads of wood for the fireplace, it's just possible that something doesn't make sense.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

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

One year ago: Ham Reuben Sandwich

Two years ago: Prime Rib Makes Pretty Good Leftovers

Larry


12/30/11

Greek Pasta

I’d mentioned earlier that we were trying to get our house better organized and we’ve started in the kitchen with Bev doing the pantries and me doing the fridge.  As always, I find many things to trash but also discover the occasional ah ha, such as this jar of Greek Olives With Feta Cheese from Harry and David’s.

Since we’ve discovered we love pasta with various sauces other than just marinara, especially those made from olive oil, this seemed like a perfect marriage.  I don’t know how long we’d had the stuff, but it tasted fine, had nothing unusual growing in it, and didn’t make me ill when I tried it the day before – I couldn’t  even find it in their current on-line catalog.

We had some olives left from our Christmas appetizer, some sliced ones from who knows where, and some that wouldn’t fit when I combined the multiple jars we had in the fridge, so I tossed them in with the other items early in the day.  We also had some feta that needed used and it went in as well.

Then I remembered the small amount of olive salad from NOLA’s Central Grocery I’d seen in the fridge and it tasted close enough to go into the mix as well.  Then I discovered some thin sliced salami that I julienned and added to the oil.

I cooked a pound of linguini, drained and tossed with the olive mixture - I also noticed a few grape tomatoes in a package on the counter and they were halved and tossed in as well.  After plating it was topped with some grated Pecorino Romano – it’s what was open and this was a clean out the fridge meal.

We sided it with some leftover rolls made into garlic bread and it was a delicious meal – Bev even had seconds.  In hind site - mine's 20/20 you know - I shoud have used a small pasta so it would be easier to pick up the chunky olives with the pasta.  If I’d had some capicola and provolone to add, I would have called it pasta muffuletta – hmmm – go ahead and beat me to it.

Breakfast leftovers you asked.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

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

One year ago: My World Has Just Changed – Diet Food

Two years ago:  Sausage Bean Chowder – Way Good Cold Weather Grub

Larry

12/30/11 meal date