Monthly Archives: October 2011
Mmm… Cheeseburger
This just fell together for me this afternoon. We bought some prosciutto over the weekend from a neat Italian deli that has been operating for a couple of generations in a nearby town known for its Italian enclave. We also took home a dozen of the bread rolls they feature in their own sandwich making. One of them is the foundation of this fine looking burger tonight.
I made some onion jam the other day that was so good I made another batch with a different recipe. This new jam was made from red onions and balsamic vinegar but is otherwise pretty much the same as the first batch. I have that jar of roasted red peppers that Mrs J suggested I buy. They taste good and make a very nice addition to the sandwich.
So, the recipe for this burger: Slather some butter on the buns and grill them. Broil your burger on one side, flip it over and broil a few minutes more then top with provolone, a smear of the onion jam, then some prosciutto. Let it cook some more, at least until the cheese melts and the prosciutto toasts just a bit. I added the peppers at the table.
Max’s Bacon-Sweet Potato Frittata by Joshua De Mers
Max is rewarded. Click photo for full story.
Just before I left for LA, friend of blog sent me a recipe to go along with our favorite Balloon-Juice Doberman, Max. I ran out of time to get the recipe up, so it was delayed until now. From Joshua De Mers:
Inspired by one of Balloon Juice’s most beloved mascots, MAX!!!
Sometimes things just work together better than you could even plan! I know pretty much all these flavors get along, so the end result comes out delicious and really not too expensive!
Max’s Bacon-Sweet Potato Frittata
- 8 slices bacon
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1 medium sweet potato
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 6-8 crimini mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 tomato, chopped
- salt & pepper (this is season as you go)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 oz white cheddar cheese (whatever sharpness you prefer)
- 2 oz gruyere cheese
- 1 tbsp Italian parsley, chopped
- 10 eggs
Parmesan cheese (use the stuff from the can)
Set oven to broil. Slice bacon into pieces, then cook in a skillet over medium high heat until crispy. Remove from pan. You can either clean out the skillet or start over in a large non-stick skillet that can go under the broiler. Turn down heat to medium. Slice sweet potato into fourths, then into thin wedges. Melt butter in large skillet, add sweet potato, season with salt and pepper, and cook 3-5 minutes. Add in onion, bell pepper, and mushrooms, give a good stir, season some more, and cook another 5-7 minutes. Add in tomato, seeds and all, then garlic. Cook until almost all the moisture is gone and you start to see starchy streaks of orange in the skillet. At that point, turn the heat down to low. Crack and scramble the eggs, cut the cheese into small pieces (you can grate it as well but small bits give you little pleasant cheese pockets!) and stir into the eggs. Also stir in the cooked bacon and the parsley. Cook in pan over low heat until you see egg starting to set, then pull back so custard can hit heat and set as well. Also pull back just enough so eggs form a layer on bottom of pan. When eggs have almost but not quite totally set, dust entire top with the Parmesan cheese. Set pan under broiler and let cook 5-7 minutes or until top is golden brown and eggs are puffy and pulled away from sides. Slide frittata onto cutting board and cut into wedges. Served topped with sour cream or mascarpone cheese.
Joshua De Mers
Thanks Joshua, sounds yummy, love the sweet potato twist. Joshua always includes a quote with his emails. I particularly liked this one:
May I become at all times, both now and forever,
A protector for those without protection
A guide for those who have lost their way
A ship for those with oceans to cross
A bridge for those with rivers to cross
A sanctuary for those in danger
A lamp for those without light
A place of refuge for those without shelter
And a servant to all in need.
-Tenzin Gyasto,
Mmm… prosciutto wrapped baked eggs
With pesto and some of that cheese Mrs J bought Saturday at the farmer’s market. And the roasted red pepper strips she spotted in a jar at the grocery store where we stopped on the way back home. Mrs J is very handy to have around. Here is Mattie, a standard poodle x husky greeting her at the market.
Mattie’s doggie momma is the gal in the red jacket who volunteers at the shelter with Mrs J. She is an ex-state trooper, as is her hubby. Mattie has the beautiful blue eyes of a husky but was too exuberant for me to get a decent picture
Happy Halloween
I’m back and I’ll catch you all up later…these are from my friends Larilyn and Alton. They are rice crispy treats. Too cute! I mean spooky.
Jalapeno Bushes
We’ve had wonderful luck with the two jalapeno plants we grew in containers this year. Productive and tasty, I just loved being able to go out the door and be back in thirty seconds with a fresh jalapeno or two for using in an omelet or burrito or whatever else. I am going to miss them. I was letting the peppers ripen to a nice deep red just because they were so pretty but noticed a few were getting a bit soft. I decided to strip the plants and can everything save for a pint or so that I will try to use before they go bad in the fridge.
I washed and sliced and chopped and ended with another 8 pints of peppers. I have lost count but I think we have 12 more pints from earlier canning sessions.
I have been adding onion slices, chunks of carrot, and cloves of garlic to previous batches but these went into the jars with just the vinegar and the brine mixture with a few whole black peppercorns, some coriander, bay leaves, and a dash or two of oregano. I made 2 batches of pickling liquid, each batch was 3 cups cider vinegar, 1 cup water, 3 T sugar, and 1 T pickling salt plus the aforementioned spices. This time I remembered to add the calcium chloride granules to the jars that are supposed to keep everything crisp. We will see. Each batch was enough for 4 pints of the peppers. I gave them all 15 minutes in a boiling water bath. Everything sealed nicely. Love that snap! when the lids seal as the jars cool.
Mmm… Stuffed shells
I dithered about what to do with the ricotta we made yesterday until Mrs J mentioned stuffed shells. Perfect!
I didn’t have that much ricotta so I knew I would have to stretch it out with other stuff. I never measured the ricotta but the recipe I used mentioned 1-1/2 cups could be expected and that was pretty close. I added a cup pf shredded mozzarella, half a cup of shredded Parmesan, an egg, about 1/4 cup of chopped parsley, some red pepper flakes, and some dried oregano and basil with a bit of salt and a grind of black pepper.
These were arranged on top of some tomato sauce in a casserole dish.
Then topped with more tomato sauce, this time with some meat, and the rest of the ricotta mixture and a sprinkle of Parmesan.
I covered it with foil and baked it at 350 for 30 minutes.
Then baked it for another 15 minutes, uncovered.
I will be making more ricotta. It’s easy, and the flavor and texture is better than any I have brought back from the supermarket.\
Mmm… Nice little onion jam treats.
I saw something very similar to these when I was surfing around last night for ideas on how to use the onion jam. Mrs J bought a small wedge of cheese at the farmer’s market yesterday. Some fancy cave aged cheese the vendor was touting as a cross between Swiss and Asiago. It is very good but really pricey. Made by these folks. We bought the “Alpine”.
I cut some nan bread into small pieces and daubed on some jam, then added a wee bit of the cheese, and topped that with some strips of roasted red pepper. Most excellent when toasted, the Alpine cheese melted nicely. The goat cheese-not so much.
Fresh Ricotta
Yesterday I went Googling around looking for good ideas for using the onion jam and clicked on a smittenkitchen link. It’s always a good idea to take a look at whatever she puts up over there. She was using some onion jam on a pizza, along with home made ricotta and some prosciutto. Hmm…homemade ricotta. It looked easy enough. We were going out Saturday morning anyway, so we made sure to buy the whole milk and some buttermilk the ricotta recipes were calling for.
Add 2 cups of buttermilk to 2 quarts of whole milk in a heavy sauce pot. Turn the heat up high and scrape the bottom to prevent scorching.
Keep at it until the temp reaches 175 degrees, you will want to use a thermometer of some sort. Candy making thermometer works fine.
When you hit 175, turn off the burner and quit stirring for 5 minutes so the curds can assemble themselves on the top.
Dip the curds out with a slotted spoon, skimmer, or some other utensil.
Dump the curds into a cheesecloth lined colander or strainer so the water (whey) can drain. Give it 15 minutes or so.
Then gather the edges of the cheesecloth with a rubber band and use a skewer or something to let it hang over the sink or a bowl. Anything to catch the liquid as it drains out. Discard the liquid, don’t squeeze the cheesecloth to hurry it.
After an hour or so it should be looking like this. Refrigerate for up to 3 days.
Onion Jam
I am flabbergasted that today is the first time I have heard of this. I saw a photo a fellow posted to another venue, a grilled cheese sandwich with ham and this stuff. He posted this link to the blog post with the sandwich recipe. I’m going to have to revisit that place when I have a little time:)
Anyway, I saw the words “onion jam” and had to run to Google to see what this stuff was. Plenty of variations on the caramelized onion theme, I chose a simple one: 4 yellow onions, sliced, 3 T butter, 2/3 cup brown sugar, and 1/2 cup of malt vinegar. In a pan, heat the butter and add the onions,
cook them down until they are limp and a touch brown,
add the sugar and stir now and again until thick and caramelized,
add the vinegar and cook another few minutes. (I swapped into a smaller, non stick, pan.)
Ta-Da!
I will be doing this again, probably with balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar, red onions if I can find a big bag. A fun way to while a little time away and this stuff is good enough to eat with a spoon right out of a jar. I can see it on a hot dog, burger, cracker with goat cheese, pizza, or grilled cheese! Mmm…
Mmm… Corned beef on Rye
On some of smittenkitchen’s New York deli rye. I boiled a corned beef brisket this morning, and sliced it up on my fixed (Yay!) electric slicer. This sandwich was made with corned beef from the Kroger deli, though. It has been too long in the lunch meat and cheese drawer and I wanted to use it up. The mustard is mine, as is the sauerkraut in the background.
TaMara
jeffreyww
LFern7
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