In my humble opinion a perfect meal, anytime of year is a luscious salad, a well-flavored delicious soup and a chunk of crusty bread.
Here’s the latest trio I served up.
Creamy Olive Soup. This is a delicious and elegant soup and with white wine, both black and pimento-stuffed olives, light cream, is a knockout anytime of year. This can be served as a first course, or add some chicken to make a heartier entrée. You’ll find the recipe below.
I’d be willing to bet that after next weekend, we’ll all have some leftover ham and hard-boiled eggs. This is a great way to use up some Easter leftovers. It only took about 30 minutes from start to finish and made for a fantastic Sunday breakfast.
I found this over at www.inmamaskitchen.com. I put my own spin on the recipe by adding a finely chopped jalapeno, seeded and veins removed, and a sprinkle of cilantro.
If you’re a regular reader, you know that I purchased a large bag of red-skinned, yellow-flesh, Yukon Gold Idaho potatoes a couple of weeks ago at Costco. These things are so good that I’ve been keeping them in the basement in the “wine cellar” with fingers crossed that they won’t lose any of their unique sweet flavor.
They worked great in this hash. Their creamy texture and sweet taste really complimented the salty ham and sweet onion. I love these potatoes and this recipe with the elegant mustard cream sauce is just flat-out delicious!
Ham Hash with Eggs in Mustard Cream Sauce
Recipe by Diane Nemitz, B&B Owner.
•3 tablespoons butter
•3 tablespoons oil
•3 large potatoes, peeled,cooked and cubed (I did not peel the potatoes)
•1/2 lb. ham, chopped
•1 tablespoon finely minced onion
•1 tablespoon butter
•1 tablespoon flour
•1 cup milk
•1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
•4 hard cooked eggs, peeled and sliced
My additions:
Method:
In large skillet, heat butter and oil until butter is melted. Add potatoes, ham and onion. Cook over medium heat, stirring and turning mixture over until crispy brown.
While hash is cooking, make mustard cream sauce. In small saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon butter. Stir in flour to make a roux. Add milk and stir over low heat until sauce begins to thicken. Stir in mustard. Continue cooking until sauce is thick. Add sliced eggs to sauce, but do not stir.
When hash is finished cooking, place in serving bowl. Pour eggs with sauce over the middle of the hash. Serve at once. Nice with toast or biscuits.
Serves: 4
Ham Hash with Mustard Cream Sauce.
It’s What’s For Sunday Breakfast.
Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning we totaled over 12 inches of snow. Schools and businesses were closed, so what the heck, we called a family pow-wow and declared our household observe an official snow day.
Snow bound and mind clear of normal weekday responsibilities, one can find time to clean out an unruly closet, work on that cluttered basement, catch up on some household bill filing, dust…
Forget that, let’s bake a peach pie.
Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve baked a pie?
Baking in Colorado’s high altitude can sometimes be a challenge. About 20 years ago, using my mom’s no-fail pie crust recipe, which failed, I remember throwing my hands up in the air surrendering and swearing never to make another.
So what the heck, let’s give it another try.
Let’s start with the flour I’m going to use. When I was back in Kansas I picked up a sack of Hudson Cream Flour.
The flour mill is about 20 miles west of the wheat farm where I grew up, located in Hudson Kansas, population 125. It is one of the last independent flour mills left in the United States.
Hudson Cream Flour is made using a “short patent” milling process, a method that was much more common a century ago than today. The difference is that in short patent milling the wheat is ground more times and sifted with finer-meshed sieves than in standard milling. Also, the short patent process sifts away more by-product, leaving only the heart of the wheat kernel. The result is a flour that is smoother in texture and produces baked goods that are consistently light and fluffy. (I didn’t know that part, it’s on their web site and for more information please visit http://www.hudsoncream.com/contact.html)
Before we go any further, take a look at what my Mom gave me for Easter. Take a closer look and you’ll see her dress is real live authentic old-time Hudson Flour flour sack. Is that just “way” cool or what?
Not only did I pick up the sack of flour, I also found these peaches at Smith’s Market. Vanilla Peaches? Who could resist a jar.
So using my Mom’s pie crust recipe and that Kansas Short Patent flour, let’s get started.
Mom’s No-Fail Pie Crust:
Add ice water to form a consistency for a ball of dough. Makes two crusts.
Using my Little Red Corvette and it’s dough hook, I blended the ingredients. Removing the dough to my work space, I formed it into a ball, added a bit more flour and ice water to achieve just the right consistency, then rolled it out into a large round. (by the way did anyone notice little Alfred Hitchcock Goofy Cat in the background?)
Carefully lay the dough into your pie plate then using a knife, trim the excess from around the edges. Using your thumb and forefinger, pinch edges to form a ripple design, poke bottom of dough a few times with a fork and you’re ready for your filling.
I sliced about 4 – 5 of those vanilla peaches.
I topped the peaches with a crumb mixture from a friend’s “Aunt Wilma’s Peach Crumble Pie” recipe.
Popped it into the an oven preheated to 375 degrees and baked for about 50 minutes, or until bubbly and the crumb topping had started to brown.
OK, so here’s the good news. My pie crust was very nice. The bad news is, if I plan to get obsessed with making pies, that means I’ll have to increase my gym time from 3 hours a week to 25 hours a week, which means I’ll have to quit my job. 
Here’s the recipe for the crumb topping:
1/4 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Flour
3/4 Cup Sugar
1/8 Teaspoon Nutmeg
Mix dry ingredients and sprinkle over pie. Drizzle with liquid.
5 Tbs Water (I used liquid from the jar of Vanilla Peaches)
Just look at that vanilla ice cream melting over that warm peach pie. Mmmmm. But really I’m posting this photo to show off that creamy crust. Hudson Cream Flour, you are my hero! My first successful high altitude pie crust, kudos to you.
That crumb topping almost makes it look more like a cobbler, doesn’t it?
Wait…wait…wait, I’m not done yet, we’ve got to talk about the ”twisties”. When I was growing up on the farm, I swear my mom made a pie, if not two, every single day. With her practice of wasting nothing, here’s what she did with that extra dough that had been trimmed around the edge of the pie plate.
Roll it out, cut into strips, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, twist up the strips, place on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. A tasty little treat.
Peach Pie and Twisties
It’s What’s For Dessert and Snacks.
This is for all my breakfast-food foodie friends…and you know who you are.
This is kind of a pain in the butt to make but soooo worth it.
I wish I had a better photo. There is so much light that pours in our South facing kitchen window this time of year. Lots of shadows. Plus I didn’t take the time to relocate for a better photo, as this is such a time sensitive recipe. If you’re not digging into this dish pretty quickly, the egg will continue to set and the texture of the warmed corned tortillas will lose their charm (excuses…excuses…).
I think this would be a difficult recipe to serve to 6 people, especially if plated all at the same time. Maybe you could do it, but I think I’d need a couple of sous chefs to accomplish that.
I obviously scaled this recipe way down for Bob and me. No, we did not eat 12 eggs.
This is a lighter take on classic huevos rancheros, which can include plenty of refried black or pinto beans. This version uses white beans; the beans are then mashed with ham to form the base of the dish, then piled with corn tortillas, fried eggs and queso fresco before broiling. A warm tomato salsa tops it all off.
Whew! I’m out of breath. Busy, busy, busy at work coupled with a quick road trip back to Kansas to celebrate Mom’s birthday hasn’t left much time for me to blog or to even read yours. Just so you don’t forget about me, here’s a quick meal that allowed me to cook during all of the hullabaloo.
Remember when our teachers used to encourage us to be stupid by saying ”There are no stupid questions!”
You see…I bought this bag of potatoes at Costco. It reads “Idaho Potatoes, Product of USA”. These beautiful potatoes are just a tad larger than fingerlings, and with their perfect rosy complexion appear as just harvested new potatoes. Just like the ones we clamor for in early summer.
But wait a minute! Isn’t Idaho potato harvest in late summer??? It’s March.
The first question that came to mind was “Can Idaho Potatoes be grown in warmer climate states and still carry the Idaho Potato logo?” If not, have these little beauties been in some sort of high-tech cold storage all this time? I assume the later, and impressed with whoever and whatever preserved these little guys, considering installing a unit in my home and I’ll sit around in it!
Back to this purchase. These potatoes seem perfect. Ruby Red on the outside with buttery gold flesh inside they are creamy, sweet, tender and a rare treat any time of year. I’ve never had them before and where ever they’ve been hiding, I want them year ’round. If you see a bag, I highly suggest you grab it and give them a try.
So with all that said, let’s talk potato salad.
When I think of potato salad, I think “All-American…summer…picnics…back yard BBQ’s…” But is Potato Salad really All-American? From what I read on a Google search, our cold mayonnaise based version was surely inspired by German immigrants who served theirs warm and with vinegar.
While I like German Potato Salad, our version, with creamy mouthfeel and served up just right and wrapped around a dependable American potato just can’t be beat.
What’s your riff on potato salad? Let me know in your replies. Here’s how I do potato salad.
Yum!
Potato Salad
It’s What’s For A Side
Here some Tater facts that I found on the www:
Varieties: Potatoes with a high starch content, like russets, bake well and yield light and fluffy mashed potatoes. Those with a low starch content, like red-skinned potatoes, hold their shape after cooking, and are great for making potato salads and scalloped potatoes. Medium starch potatoes are called all-purpose potatoes, and they’ll work in most potato dishes.
Best for baking: Russet potato
Best for potato salads, gratins, and scalloped potatoes: Yellow Finn potatoes, new potatoes, red-skinned potatoes, white round potatoes, and purple potatoes
Best for mashing: Russet potatoes, Yukon gold potatoes, Caribe potatoes, and purple potatoes
Best for soups and chowders: Yukon gold potatoes, Yellow Finn potatoes, red-skinned potatoes, white round potatoes, and purple potatoes
Best for pan-frying: Red-skinned potatoes, white round potatoes, new potatoes, and fingerling potatoes
Best for French fries: Russet potatoes, purple potatoes, Bintje potatoes
Best for purees: Fingerling potatoes
Best for roasting: New potatoes, Bintje potatoes
Best for steaming: New potatoes, Yukon gold potatoes
Best for potato pancakes: Russet potatoes, Yukon Gold potatoes
This coming Wednesday, no matter what our lineage, we’ll all be Irish. It’s the rules folks. Even for Goofy Cats.
I call it “The Spaniard” even though the only thing Spanish about the final version of this sandwich is the Manchego Cheese. Let’s take a look.
I’m Public Relations Coordinator for the Highlands Ranch Rotary Club. One of our annual fund-raisers is to sell delicious Colorado Western Slope Peaches after they are harvested and in our hands in August. I’ve come up with this big idea to produce a little cookbook full of peach recipes submitted by our members. A fun little handout when folks pick up their peaches they’ve ordered from us. I’m getting an early start on this production, so over the next few months, you’ may be seeing some tested peach recipes on my blog. This is the first.
But first, let’s talk geography. Denver lies on east side of the Rocky Mountains. We call our area the Front Range. On the west side of our mountains, Colorado’s Western Slope is home to orchards and vineyards. Juicy peaches, sweet apples, pears and grapes for wine are grown here.
I bought some lard yesterday. Ok, pipe down everyone and don’t have a heart attack (pun intended). It’s not like I”m going to be frying up vats of flour-dredged deep fat fried food everyday, I just happen to like lard for certain things and the last time I looked, Safeway was lardless. And look, the logo even sports a graphic of a heart. (wink)
Yesterday we set out across town on a Foodie Field Trip. Our destination was the Mexican grocery store, Avanza.
I recently complained about our lack of Chipolte Peppers in Adobo Sauce selection here on the South side of town and fellow Denver area blogger Drew, over at Grubology came to the rescue. He reminded me about the Mexican Market over on Federal Blvd. in Denver. So, yesterday morning Bob and I loaded up and headed over to do some shopping. If you’d like to visit Drew’s blog click HERE.
Thanks Drew, I loved this market, brimming full of items not found here in Highlands Ranch. Fabulous selection of peppers, beans, rice, hot sauces and too many other items to list.
Yes, I picked up some Chipolte Peppers in Adobo along with some other loot. Goya black beans, and some Tapatio Hot Sauce. Move over Tobasco, I’m broadening my horizons.
Imported Mexican Coca-cola bottled with “good-tasting” cane sugar.
Just look at that fluffy scoop of lard. Seems like there should be a little skier swishing down that pristine slope. We see now why Morrell has so suitably named their product Snow Cap.
Lots of Goya products are available at Avanza. I picked up this Adobo with Bitter Orange flavor. I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do with it, but it sounded so exotic. Not pairing up for a culinary event, I just thought this made a pretty picture next to bits of orange bell peppers I chopped up for country-style potatoes for breakfast.
Avanza has a fabulous selection of Mexican Cheese and at a fraction of the cost when I buy them in Highlands Ranch. I picked up some crumbling cheese and some Manchego. I use Manchego for my “Spaniard Sandwich” which I’ll be making this week and, of course, blogging about.
I love pork chops for breakfast, so I bought these very thin sliced pork sirloin chops which I flash-fried in my cast iron skillet. Beautifully yummy.
With my Avanza inspired pork chops, brunch was a sunnyside up egg, country-style potatoes sautéed in lard with orange bell peppers and green onions and pork chops. Look at those pork chops, they’re just barely thicker than the fried egg white. And darn it Larry (Big Dude Eclectic Ramblings) there weren’t enough pan drippings from these lean pork chops to make some of that delicious cream gravy you’ve been slathering all over everything in sight.
So with all of that said, we’ve got a spring-like day here in Denver, so I’m off to walk the dogs a couple of miles. Afterall, I don’t want to turn into a lard-ass!
Pork Chops, potatoes crispy on the outside but steamy tender on the inside fried in a dollop of lard and a perfect sunny-side up egg (with a little bit too much black pepper)
It’s Whats For Brunch.
http://www.avanzasupermarket.com/