Drink, Eat, Repeat

I recently picked up some fresh eggs from my Athens Locally Grown market.   I love getting local raised, farm eggs, but on most occasions I have to weigh how many items I plan on picking up at the market before I place an order.  This usually means I end up grabbing a dozen free range eggs at the grocery store. 

If there is any proof that local eggs are better or tastier than store eggs, I beseech you to take another look at the photo above.  The three pale yellow eggs are the store eggs.  The yellow, nearly orange yolk is the local egg.  Amazing.

Laurie and I made breakfast yesterday with the local eggs alone and the color was simply unbelievable.  Bright, beautiful color.  And taste?  Holy moses.  Best scrambled eggs EVER.

Friday was a banner day for good eats.

Mom was in Athens, visiting from Hilton Head.  She had tickets to go see Mary Poppins at the Fox Theater in Atlanta Friday evening.

For lunch we headed over to the famous  Weaver D’s: Delicious Fine Foods, Automatic for the People!  The weather was fantastic!  Mom and I took a spot on the picnic bench outside.  She had meatloaf, fried okra and buttered potatoes while I had steak and gravy over rice with green beans and sweet potato souffle. The souffle was a little much on the sweet side for my taste with a flavoring that I could not discern between lemon or marshmellow.  Otherwise,  it was a great meal.

Afterwards, I took mom to Ike & Jane’s Bakery, where she cleaned up on some gourmet cupcakes and got  10% off for doing a little tap dance.  I almost won the giant doughnut for the day by nearly guessing the correct amount of coffee beans in a pint glass (By weight, it was 5.5oz, I guessed 7 oz).

Later, we drove to Atlanta and headed to Publik Draft House, a great little pub next door to the Fox Theater for a quick dinner.  The waitress, Kelly, had us well take care of, considering we walked in 30 minutes before the curtain rose.

Mom had a pastrami sandwich with fries, while I had a divine duck confit sandwich with fried leeks and porter bbq sauce with a nice side salad.   Delicious!

In between,  my friends Bill and Stacy hosted me with a pre-theater vodka and soda and post-theater espresso.  They are just the best!!

All and all a great dining day!

Upon request, I received Mastering the Art of French Cooking for Christmas.

It is now April and I have yet to make a single recipe out of this book.  For shame.  This must be corrected.

Actually, this is a story about macaroni and cheese.  Julia is not involved in this part.  She will make an apperance in a bit. 

The request was simple:  let’s have macaroni and cheese! 

There could be a simple solution, a box of the timeless, but unholyness that is Kraft Mac and Cheese Flavored Powdered substance.  Or upgrade to the Velveeta Shells and Cheese Goo substance.  Better yet, maybe the frozen classic, Stouffer’s Macaroni and something that resembles Cheese but is most likely filled with a bunch of crap that if you knew what it was or could pronouce it probably wouldn’t consume anyway.  (Total disclaimer here, I will still eat any of the above products…just not enthuastically)

Homemade mac and cheese it was.  I do this.  Make  homemade macaroni and cheese.  For two people.  On a Thursday…

Yeah, so, this mac and cheese,  it needed  a worthy companion. 

The classic Thomas Keller roast chicken?  Nixed.  Martha’s Pork with Thyme and Apples?  Nope.  

Something new, something different…JULIA!

I needed a beef recipe.  One that would pair well with this American classic.  Salisbury steak was mentioned, but salisbury steak is not french.  Enter:  Bifteck Hache a la Lyonnaise

For this recipe, Julia assures us that regardless of France’s bad reputation for serving horrible hamburgers, they do, in fact know their way around ground beef.

The ground beef is mixed with an egg,  salt, pepper, thyme and sauteed onion and studded with bit of butter.  Yes, you read that correctly.   Afterwards,  the pan drippings are reduced with red wine to create a nice sauce to pour of the top.  Nice,  healthy…completely low fat.

Asparagus was pan-seared with a little olive oil,  salt and pepper.

This was delicious, but rich.  And for the significant other who frequently comments on things being too heavy, it looks like it might be a long before I will be a French Cooking Master.

Dear Julia, 

How you lived to the ripe old age 91 consuming butter,  beef  fat and wine, I wish I knew.  Also, I know it is impossible to read any of the recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking without either internally or externally using my Julia Child voice.

Oh,  and by the way…that  mac n’ cheese?   Totally kicked ass.

I’m not going to lie.  The thought of corned beef and cabbage kind of makes me queasy.  I have no idea why.  Maybe it’s the cabbage part.  My family wasn’t the cabbage eating family.  Sure, we ate plenty of other things that would raise the eyebrow of the average American, but cabbage wasn’t really in the rotation.  Neither were most vegetables save for canned corn, green beans and LeSueur peas.

Corned Beef I have absolutely no issue with.  In fact, Corned Beef Hash with fried egg on top is just about breakfast heaven to me. 

But hey, it’s St. Patrick’s Day, luck o’ the non-Irish and whatnot…LET’S GET READY TO BOIL!

Mr.  J was a little disappointed that I opted of the already brined version from the grocery store.   I had to gently remind him that if we wanted corned beef for dinner on Sunday and it was  already  Saturday, we’d have to go this route.  Since it was the first time I’d ever made this, I figured at the very least the bar would be set  low.

So, here is goes.  Pre-brined corned beef is place in a large stock pot with spice packet, ground dry mustard,  an onion, a few carrots, some potatoes.  Just cover the beef with water, bring to a boil, then simmer two hours.  Add cabbage, cook additional two  hours.

After the meat has rested,  slice then serve.

Along with this, I made an Irish Mashed Potato recipe called Champ.

Potatoes are boiled then removed from heat.  Warm Milk and chopped scallions are steeped together for several minutes and then the potatoes are returned to be mashed with ample amounts of butter, salt and pepper.

Not too shabby!   We had great leftover corned beef sandwiches on rye bread for the next three days.  Ultimately, Mr. J and I decided that pastrami ultimately holds our brined beef hearts.  And nothing,  NOTHING can beat a hot pastrami on rye.

This led to several hours of perusing recipes on how to make your own pastrami.   The words ”three week brine” and “botulism” have probably dissuaded me from trying this (that and the lack of a cold smoker)but a  little internet research found that I can get a 2lb pastrami from New York City’s (and my favorite) authentic deli, Katz’s for about $30.00 (overnight delivery only and extra) that I can cook in my own home.

Oh…the sweet smell of pastrami wafting through the house.   A girl can dream…

Some of my pharmacy students (and fellow partners in foodism) have an fantastic blog over at www.whatwemadetoeat.blogspot.com

Jake and Clark are taking it to the next level, so I suggest you check it out!

And if cakes are your thing, take a look at my friend Amanda’s blog at www.flower-haired-girl.blogspot.com for some awe inspiring cupcakes. 

And I mean, SERIOUSLY awesome cupcakes!

It was meant to be.

I walked into the Publix last week and was faced with an enormous bin of fresh plums.  My internal recipe box  immediately recalled this recipe for an Almond-Plum Buckle.  I first saw this in the June 2006 Bon Appetite and was intrigued and what exactly ’Buckle’ was.

I  like to refer to this a ‘reverse’ cobbler.  The cake batter takes on a dense, almost dough like, consistency and the fruit is then sunk into the batter.   The result as the cake rises is it ‘buckles’ around the fruit slices. 

The finished product is moist, almost coffee cake like dessert.  Served with whipped cream or ice cream, this would make a perfect finish to a warm spring cookout.

Also, I have no shame in admitting I ate this for breakfast.  My only regret was I had finished my coffee before for I decided to dig in.  Divine!

Over the weekend I was trying to come up with some leftover producing dish that we could eat off of for a few meals.  Work has been crazy and the resident feline has been ill, which has left little time for most anything that requires too much thought.

However, the impending three day weekend gave me a little more time to prep for a few solid hours of cooking.   When asked his thoughts of what sort of leftovers he might be open to, Mr. J. suggested maybe lasagna, but something different.

That reminded me of a recipe I saw and had tucked away for a later date: Fettuccine Meatball Lasagna.

The later date had finally arrived.

I should always be wary of any recipe I immediately want to modify.  The recipe itself  is kind of a novely.  Instead of the standard lasagna noodle, the recipe calls for egg fettuccine.   I knew that wasn’t going to fly in my house.   It would be deemed too weird to begin with, even if it was good.  So, substitution number 1: the old stand-by.

Next up was this: 2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes in juice, drained, reserving juice, and finely chopped.

Not. Gonna. Happen.  There is  no such thing as a non-mascerated tomato in my home.  I certainly appreciate the author’s desire to add some heartiness to this, if this dish was going to get eaten, whole tomatoes would have to go.

Now, on to the sauce:

Tomato puree, check.   Onion, check.  Garlic, check.  1/2 teaspoon of oregano, chec…huh???  1/2 a ‘*teaspoon*??  Insanity.  A mimium here would be a tablespoon of dried oregano.  A *minimum*.  Then theres the issue of the omitted basil.  Yeah,  also not gonna happen.  So, basil added…check.  In all honesty,  I should have added at least two tablespoons of oregano and basil.  And some red pepper flakes.  And  some crushed black pepper…ok,ok you get the point.

The MEATBALLS!

What you are looking at is 70 meatballs.  The recipe says this should make around 135.  Admittedly, I should have followed the instructions and made them 1/2 teaspoon size instead of  teaspoon size, but here’s the thing: I had 1.81 pounds of meatloaf mix.  That’s almost  DOUBLE the recipe.  I just  don’t see how the original would have yielded that many,  but whatever.

The Meatball Pile:

After handmaking 70 meatballs,  I had to cook them.  10 at a time in a cup of vegetable oil.  Hmmm.   I really wasn’t crazy about this method.  Don’t get me wrong.  I have no real objection to ’frying’ stuff per se, but I think  maybe 1/2 cup  would have been sufficent…maybe even less.

Assembly:

Sauce,  pasta, meatballs, sauce, cheese, pasta…repeat.

I  forgot to  add that this called for 1/2 lb of fresh mozzerella,  16 oz of ricotta cheese and 1/2 c.  of grated romano.  Double all of that and we would have been A-Ok.

The Results:

I must say that  for all the complaining, my heart did swell with glee when the little meatball rolled out  from beneath the pasta layers as I was plating this.  Almost like finding the suprise in the Cracker Jack  box. Overall,  with the few modifications I made this was good.   Not,  Oh my god the  best lasagna I’ve ever had, good.  Just,  good.

Lasagna is a time consuming process  anyway.  By adding the addition step of making the meatballs, this seemed to take even longer.  Although, the baking time is much, much shorter. 

Will I give  up my tried and true Three Cheese Lasagna with Italian Sausage?  Probably not.  But perhaps, I’ll use that recipe and  if  I’m feeling like my lasagna needs more fun, make meatballs there.

Here’s  my shameless plug for the website Simply Recipes.

I’ve been looking for the perfect oatmeal raisin cookies for awhile now.  I’ve tried several different ‘award winning’, ‘four-star’ cookie recipes only to be severely disappointed.  The cookies would either be too crisp or too cake-like.

No, my ideal candidate was an oatmeal raisin a cookie that is on the chewy side with ample amount of spice. 

Elise Bauer’s variation on her grandmother’s oatmeal raisin cookie hit it out of the park.  These guys were DELICIOUS.

 This recipe  is a keeper!

Nothing makes the house smell better than fresh baked goods.  I always get a little excited when I realize that I have a few bananas that are on the cusp of going bad.

Again, I have to thank Ms. Martha Stewart for this one as the recipe comes straight out of Martha’s “The Martha Stewart Cookbook: Collected Recipes for Everyday”.

It’s excellent and easy.   1/2 a c. of sour cream helps keeps this bread moist for days.

I was the fortunate recipient of a bounty of beautiful produce from my co-worker parents’ garden.  Corn, onions,  bell peppers,  banana pepper  and two beautiful eggplants.

This, unfortunately, posed a dilemma for me.  You see,  I love eggplant.  Mr.  Jones, does not.  Good fortune would have it that Mr. Jones was going out of town for a few days and what else would temporarily unattached wife do but go wild and cook Armenian food.  Oh yes, going crazy.

I recalled eating a dish over at my grandmother’s house with slices of eggplant covered in tomato meat sauce.  I may have gone over to their house on the only day she ever made it, because I don’t remember it being a regular thing at family dinners and inquires to family members (thanks fabulous ms. j!) were equally puzzled.

I settled on this recipe called Meesov Sumpoog which called for either ground lamb (another Bobby no-no) or ground beef,  crushed Italian tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic,  onion,  green bell pepper, allspice, salt and pepper and eggplant.

The eggplant slices were salted to extract  excess water and then pan fried in hot pan in olive oil.  While the slices were cooking, the meat was mixed with the tomato paste, garlic, onion, green bell pepper,  allspice, salt and pepper.

The cooked eggplant is then layered along the bottom of a large roasting pan then topped with the  meat mixture.  Crushed Italian tomatoes are poured on the top and then baked for one hour.

I had a couple of missteps with this.  One, no grocery store within my area had ground lamb in stock.  Two, I greatly underestimated the cooking time for this which pushed me to being able consume this around 10:30pm.  Thus,  no ‘plating’ picture.  I was STARVING.  And, the accompanying family recipe rice pilaf, was long ready (and eaten) before  the meesov sumpoog was done. 

However, it did turn out pretty good.  

I had enough leftover of two addition meals after I had taken about half into work for  Russ as a ‘thanks for the veggies’.   With the exception of the tomatoes (canned) and garlic,  everything else was source from his parents garden.

I’d like to try it with the lamb as I think it will be more like I remember my grandmother making it.