Foothills Beef Hash!

I love corned beef hash! But I also love the hash that I make using leftover roast beef! So, tonight I want to share what I do with leftover roast beef! Are you with me?

Ingredients
2 1/2 TBS butter
1/4 large onion, chopped
2 medium potatoes, cut into 1/4″ cubes
10 oz. thick sliced crimini mushrooms
Slices of leftover roast beef cut into chunks

2 cups grated cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

The first thing you do in this recipe is get all of your ingredients together. Next, add the butter to a skillet and when the butter is melted and bubbly add the onion.

Start with the onions

When the onions become translucent add the potatoes and the mushrooms.

Add the mushrooms and potatoes

To get the maximum flavor from all of these vegetables, caramelize them. They will look like this when done.

Caramelized mixture

When this is done add the cubed beef to warm up the meat until it is steaming hot.

Add the beef to the vegetables

At this point you now want to add in the grated cheddar.

Add cheddar

Be sure to taste test and add salt and pepper to taste!

When the cheese is melted the dish is ready! Are you ready to serve? Here is what you will be serving!

Ready to serve!

I love serving this up with a good crusty toasted bread! A lovely Petite Sirah would be a good match for this dinner! Or, try a porter beer!

Please let me know if you try this dish! And, thank you for stopping by! I am wishing you a great Tuesday!

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Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwiches….Yum!

Feel like making a quick and easy dinner? Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches are the ticket! This sandwich first made its appearance back in the late 1800′s. These sandwiches are said to be the only food served in the New York ball parks. The sandwich was made of one slice of bread topped with cheese and ham. In the 1960′s the second slice of bread was added! Now let’s get to it! I’m hungry in anticipation of this scrumptious sandwich! Here is a quick preview!

Yummy Preview

Ingredients for one sandwich
2 Pieces of bread
Butter
Ham
Cheddar cheese

Now, on to what I do when I make these sandwiches! I start by smearing butter on the bread of what will be the inside of the sandwich.

Inside of sandwich is buttered

I use my rotisserie cooked ham for these sandwiches as the flavor is so much better than that of the chopped packaged home that one can buy in the grocery store. I slice the ham thinly. Next is the cheese. For these sandwiches I use the Tillamook Medium Cheddar. This is an award winning cheese and the flavor is amazing! I slice this thinly too. On these sandwiches I use four slices of cheese cut from the one pound block of cheese. If using the two pound block cut two slices.

Then I add a bit of butter to my fry pan and I brown up the sliced ham.

Heating up the ham

Remove this from the pan when done. Now we get messy! Butter the outside surface of what will be the outside of the sandwich, and lay the bread into the pan with the inside part of the sandwich down.

Start with the inside of the sandwich

Lightly brown the bread then turn.

Turn the bread

Lay the cheese down on one piece of bread,

Add the cheese

then cover with the ham.

Top with ham

Top with the other slice of bread.

Cover with the other slice of bread

Let this cook for a couple of minutes then carefully turn the sandwich.

Turn the sandwich

Cook until it is crispy. Remove to a plate, cut the sandwich in half and then serve!

Serve!

Have I inspired you to make this sandwich? I hope so!

Now go and have a great Wednesday!

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Prawns, Clams and Crab, Oh My!

No, this is not the land of Oz, and we do not have a yellow brick road here! And the prawns, clams or crab that we do find here are not hiding in the forest! OK, pretty lame, but this sort of went with the title of this post! We are going to head into the kitchen today where we will find the prawns, clams and crab! Oh my! OK – stop it already Barb! Let’s go!

Ingredients
1 # large prawns
10 oz whole baby clams
6 oz crab
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup peas
4 TBS butter
5 cloves of garlic
1 tsp dill weed
1 – 1 1/2 cups dry pasta
Alfredo Sauce

First, get all of your ingredients together. Then heat water and cook the pasta according to the package directions. While the pasta is cooking add the butter, garlic and mushrooms to a skillet and heat over medium high heat.

Mushrooms cooking up

As the aroma of the garlic starts to raise, add the prawns then the dill.

Add the prawns

Watch the prawns. The color will start to travel up the sides. When the pink color is a bit less than half way up, add the clams and stir the pot making sure that the prawns are now laying on the gray side.

Add the clams

Add the peas.

Then add the peas

At this point, start to heat up the Alfredo sauce. Turn the heat down to medium. Let this cook for a couple of minutes and scatter with 1/2 the crab meat.

Add the crab

Turn the heat off and cover. Your pasta should be done. Drain the pasta. Before adding this to the skillet, lift the cover off and check your prawns. They should be completely pink. If not, let this sit a minute or two longer. Then add the pasta to the skillet, stirring well to combine.

Add in the pasta

Once combined add in the hot Alfredo sauce and stir to coat the pasta and shellfish.

Then the Alfredo sauce

Plate it, and top the portion with some of the remaining crab!

Dinner is served!

Dinner is served!

I hope that you try this easy and simple dish! Have a great Thursday!

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Chipotle Pork Ribs

On the weekends, I am all about easy in the kitchen! And, after having worked all day in the garden, I wanted to do something that I could let slow cook to really take it easy on myself. So I pulled some baby back ribs out of the freezer the day before and took out the crock pot in the morning. Plan on 10 hours on low heat, and do not remove the lid until the meat is done!

Ingredients
Baby back pork ribs
Chipotle sauce
Garlic Powder
Oregano
Cumin
Salt and Pepper

Spray the crock pot with a non-stick cooking spray. Place the ribs on foil and rub with the chipotle sauce. Then sprinkle with the remaining ingredients.

Ribs with sauce and herbs

After 10 hours in the crock pot, remove them to a cutting board and cover with foil. Let them sit for about 10 minutes. Then separate the ribs into two ribs.

Ribs are done

Serve this with my broccoli cole slaw. Click below for that recipe:

Broccoli Slaw

Don’t forget a really good beer or have a glass of Barbera!

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The Greenhouse Today

I have started to count down the days to planting. Tomorrow we will be putting the layers together for the lasagne garden. And planting will start next week. In order to acclimate the plants to the cooler temperatures, I will be leaving the greenhouse doors open overnight, with something to block the critters from getting the plants.

Remember what the greenhouse looked like 6 days ago? Here is the left side from April 30th.

Left side of the greenhouse on April 30th

Here it is today.

Left side of the greenhouse

The right side from April 30th looked like this.

Right side of the greenhouse April 30th

Today…

Right side of the greenhouse

Do you remember the potatoes from the 30th? Here is the photo again.

Potatoes on April 30th

Here they are today.

Potatoes

These are already over the top of the containers!    I still need to add more dirt to the pots but will not do this until I move them outside. They are very heavy!

I still have some slow growers. The slowest are the poblano peppers. So far only three have sprouted. The tomatoes and love in the mist are the next. The tomatoes are at about two inches and the love in the mist about one inch.

Stay tuned in as tomorrow me and my friend Jorge will be creating the lasagna garden and I will be taking photos as we go!

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Rutabagas

There is such a variety of vegetables out there, and thinking about it there are a bunch I have yet to try. Growing up, the vegetables we ate usually came from a can. Corn, green beans, peas, Lima beans, spinach. The few that we had that were fresh were carrots and potatoes, with maybe cauliflower and artichokes occasionally.

Thinking back on it, my least favorite from the can were peas. This was followed by Lima beans. I used to swallow both of these gems whole, while plugging my nose and downing them with the much disliked milk. Lima beans are still on the list of least favorite. Peas? Love them fresh, and the frozen are not bad either.

So what does this have to do with the rutabaga you are ask? This is one vegetable that I have not tried yet. Do you eat rutabagas? How do you cook them? What is the flavor like? Wanting to know more about this vegetable, I did a bit of research and discovered some interesting facts.

Rutabagas – Photo from Greenling.com

I was surprised to discover that the rutabaga is in the Brassicaceae family, which includes cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, radish, horseradish, and watercress. Quite a big family – eh? And it is a cross between a cabbage and a turnip. Now who would have ever thought to do that?

The first known reference to this vegetable comes to us from 1620 when Swiss botanist, Gaspard Bauhin, notes that the vegetable was discovered growing wild in Sweden. So did mother nature then cross the cabbage and turnip if this was growing wild? It found its way to the royal gardens in England back in 1669, and France in the early 1700′s. It then made its way to Scotland in the late 1700′s. The first planting of this vegetable occurred in the U.S. in the State of Illinois in the early 1800′s.

Cut rutabaga Photo by Rainer Zenz

I found that people like to eat this vegetable roasted along with meats. It is also added to soups and stews as a flavor enhancer. And it is eaten raw, shredded in salads. In some countries they mash them together with potatoes and carrots. In Sweden they are cooked with ham hocks in a dish called Fläsklägg med rotmos. In Norway they are paired with salted herring. In Scotland they are combined with potatoes in a dish called neeps and tatties and served alongside Haggis.

Haggis with neeps and tatties – Photo by AGlugofOil com

In Canada rutabagas are added to mincemeat pies. Here in the U.S. they are typically added to soups and stews.

Nutritionally this vegetable has a slight bit of protein, has 8% of the recommended daily allowance of manganese and phosphorous, 7% of potassium, and a dash of calcium and magnesium. Its largest contribution is that it contains 42% of vitamin C. Who knew?

Will I be trying this vegetable soon? You betcha! My husband tells me that this vege was his Dad’s favorite and it was served mashed. Stay tuned to see how I do with this vegetable!

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Meat Glue

Have you heard about meat glue? I did and I was curious. So I looked this up. Here is what I found.

Meat glue is made up of the coagulant of the blood of pigs and cows. The scientific name for this compound is “transglutaminase.” Someone figured out that you could use this stuff to stick pieces of meat together, and you can sell that meat as something else. As an example, I saw a video showing a chef using meat glue on stew meat and then serving it up as Filet Mignon. And the usage is prevalent in restaurants.

Meat glued meat - Photo from KBAK/KBFX News in Bakersfield, CA

The down side to meat glue has to do with the surfaces of the meat used for sticking together. If a meat, like stew meat is used, there are a number of surfaces to which germs can cling, and if the meat is not cooked to well-done, can make a person sick. The video showed the chef using the meat glue with stew meat. He mixed it all together, then rolled it up in a sheet of wax paper, let it sit overnight, and then sliced it to the size of a piece of filet. The results were that there was no difference in flavor and that it looked the same. But what are the other implications of something like this being used?

How do you know if meat glue is used in the restaurant you are visiting? The news story said to ask the server or the chef. Somehow, I do not think that a restaurant will actually divulge this to you as they would like to command a premium price on the stew meat, aka Filet Mignon.

Here is the link to a news story out of Pittsburgh, PA.   Meat Glue

Let’s see what you have to say on this topic.  Please feel free to comment too!

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Fried Eggs on Bagels

I love a good bagel. When I was a kid I spent quite a bit of time in the Bronx in New York. Believe me there is nothing like a warm, freshly made bagel. The place we used to get them at made them by first cooking them in water, and then off they went into the oven. I can still remember the smell of the bagel shop!

Bagels

Our local Raley’s store has managed to procure bagels that tastes like those bagels I used to get as a kid! For me, there are only two kinds of bagels: Plain and onion. Those were the only two that we could get 50 years ago.

Breakfast this morning is simple, quick and easy. Bagels with fried eggs and sausage. For one bagel breakfast, here are the ingredients:

1 Bagel
3 eggs
4 link sausage, or two patty sausages, cooked and split

Sausage cooked and split

butter
salt and pepper

Cut the bagel in half and toast and then butter it. Try as I might, I can never get the toaster to work correctly to avoid charred spots, but with this sandwich, if it is charred it is still good! Heat some butter in a fry pan. When melted and the butter just starts to bubble, add the eggs and break the yolk.

Break the yolk

As the edges start to solidify, cut between the three eggs, and then flip.

Flip the eggs

When the eggs are done, layer the eggs,

Lay the cooked eggs on the bagel

then the sausage

Then the sausage

and serve it up!

Fried eggs, sausage and bagel is served!

Don’t forget to have a really good cup of coffee or a huge glass of OJ with this!

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Jammin’ with Pork Loin!

I was given a single pork loin, and I had to come up with what to do with it. And, I was thinking about a raspberry pear jam from my neighbor Kathy…What could I do with both of these items given to me to make a luscious dinner?

I went on a quick trip up to Boa Vista Orchards in search of pears. The season of these being available from the farm was over. But I did spy some Granny Smith apples, so I grabbed one of those.  Then nearby I saw really good looking oranges, so I grabbed one of those too! Then I found the treasure of the day:  fresh asparagus!

So what can I do with these ingredients?  Here is what I put together:

Ingredients
1 single pork loin
1 russet potato, peeled and cut into small chunks
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and cut into small chunks
Zest from one orange
2 shakes of Saigon cinnamon
4 twists of fresh ground salt and pepper
1 1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 dash of cumin
–
Sauce
1/2 cup of raspberry pear jam
1 cup of Chardonnay (You can substitute Merlot for the Chardonnay, but the Chard was really, really good!)

Take the pork loin out of the refrigerator to warm up. Take the next 7 ingredients and combine them. In a greased baking pan, add the potato and apple mixture.

Apples and potatoes

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. While this is cooking, take the raspberry pear jam and add this to a saucepan and blend with the Chardonnay. Heat on medium high, and bring to a boil.

Jam and wine sauce

Reduce the heat to medium low, and stir every five minutes, until the mixture is reduced by half. Remove from the heat, and strain the seeds from the mixture into a bowl. Be sure to push on the solids with the backside of a spoon. Rinse the pot and return the mixture to the pot.

About this time the timer should be going off on the potato apple mixture. Remove this from the oven, stir the potatoes and apples, and then split the mixture so that they are split in half with a trough in the middle. In the open area, lay in the pork loin.

Pork loin added to the apples and potatoes

Even the potatoes and apples around the loin, and then with a paint brush, baste the loin with the raspberry pear chardonnay sauce. Just a bit, because the rest will be used for a drizzle over each serving! Put this back in the oven and cook for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a thermometer reads 135 degrees. While it is baking I got the fresh asparagus ready.

Asparagus is ready to go

At the 25 minute mark I basted the meat again with some of the jam sauce, and again at the 30 minute mark. When the pork is done, remove the pan from the oven.

Right out of the oven

Transfer the pork to a cutting board and cover. Stir up the apples and potatoes and cover. Get the asparagus going. Let the meat sit for 10 minutes. Reheat the wine and jam sauce. Slice up the meat,

Slice the meat

and serve it up with the apples, potatoes and asparagus. Drizzle the jam sauce over the meat

Dinner is served!

and dinner is served!  This dish was incredible blend of flavors and it was so yummy that we ate the whole thing!  This recipe is a keeper, and Kathy, I will need more of your terrific jam!

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Pinot More

When my husband goes off to visit his Mother, I cook the stuff that I like to eat. He tells me that I can cook these things when he is home, but I want him to enjoy what I make, so I save these dishes for a night like tonight! I wanted to do something different with lamb. And I wanted to use some of the wine we have sitting around the house!

Ingredients
1 cup of Pinot Noir (I used 2010 Chateau Davell Delores Pinot Noir, Mendocino), plus 1/2 cup reserved
1/8 cup of extra virgin olive oil
8 fresh rosemary stems, leaves removed and chopped
8 cloves of garlic, minced
fresh ground salt and pepper, about 1/2 tsp of each
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 rack of lamb
1 TBS local honey

Marinade ingredients

Put the wine, olive oil, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper plus the balsamic vinegar into a bowl and mix it well. Place the lamb and the marinade in a zip lock bag, and shake it up.

Marinating lamb

Let this sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. One hour before you are ready to cook, take the lamb out of the refrigerator. After an hour, turn the oven on to 350 degrees. While the oven heats, place your lamb in a roasting pan.

Lamb ready for the oven

Reserve the marinade. Bake until the temperature of the meat reaches 135 degrees. Remove from the oven, cover and let sit. While this is resting, place the reserved marinade into a sauce pan, and add the honey. Heat to boiling. Reduce this to half. Check the flavor as you go. If needed use the reserved wine.

Pinot reduction

When reduce to half, turn down to warm. Slice up the resting lamb into chops.

Lamb cut into chops

Plate the meat, dress with some fresh rosemary, and drizzle the sauce over the meat.

Dinner is served!

And, dinner is served! Let me know how you like this recipe!

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