Simple Pleasures

A fried egg sandwich on wheat toast. Even if you truly believe you can't cook, you can make a fried egg sandwich. It's one of the first things I learned to make all on my own and in college I ate them late night, for breakfast and many times in between. Here I've written out the recipe to be as basic as possible, so that even those who are afraid to cook will feel like it's possible.


FRIED EGG SANDWICH

YOU NEED:
a toaster or toaster oven
any size non-stick pan and a lid you could put over it (they do not need to match)
a spatula

INGREDIENTS:
2 eggs
2 slice wheat toast
1 T butter
cheese (any kind really, but I like cheddar or American)
salt and pepper
water

DIRECTIONS:
1. Get a your non-stick pan and put it on the stove. Add 1 tablespoon of water - if you don't have measuring spoons, use the one of the big spoons that comes with your forks, knives and spoons. If you only have little spoons, put 3 little spoonfuls in. Add 1 tablespoon of butter - your butter wrapper has lines for this, so look at the wrapper and slice accordingly. Turn the heat on under your pan. Make it pretty high, but not at the highest setting.
2. Pop your toasts in your toaster oven or toaster. My toasts take 4 minutes to cook, if yours are much faster, you can do this later, but it should be okay to start them now.
3. Check your pan. When the water boils (starts bubbling and bouncing around, instead of just sitting there) add the two eggs. If you're good at cracking eggs, you can crack them right in the pan. If you're no good at cracking eggs, break them in a bowl first, fish out any stray eggshells and then add to the pan. Picking eggshells out of a hot pan is no fun. If your pan was hot enough, the whites of the egg should turn white almost immediately after the eggs are added to the pan. If they didn't, no worries, but remember for next time. Add your salt and pepper.
4. Lower the heat so it's not on the lowest setting, but maybe second lowest. Cover the eggs. Cook for about 2 and a half minutes and then check the eggs. I don't like runny eggs, so rather than keep my fried eggs as pure sunny side up eggs, I do them over "medium" which just means, that I very gently flip them in the pan and cook for long enough that the eggs yolks aren't completely liquid. If you don't want to flip yours you should probably cook them another minute right side up. If you want those yolks less liquid, flip the eggs and then add the cheese. Cover again and cook another thirty seconds to a minute.
5. When the cheese is melted and the eggs are cooked enough for you, use the spatula to slide the eggs onto the toast.

Sunshine

It's been a long time. I am sorry about that. It's been very cold here, and very gray. We did have some lovely snow last week which now has receded to a disgusting slushy sludge. Today we had a slight reprieve and warmer temperatures which gave me just enough strength to pull it together and update this blog. And I should let you know that I have not made it through this cold snap by indulging in wintery treats like hot cocoa or rich stews. No, I have been making it through with my own little stash of sunshine. Real Florida oranges.

When I was a little girl, my Auntie Lee and my Uncle Ole lived in Florida. As anyone with relatives in Florida can attest, this can come with some serious perks: easy access to Disney World, swimming pools, and special packages of citrus fruit delivered right in time to rescue us from the winter doldrums. I can't even tell you how much better these are than regular store bought oranges. They are sweet and delicious and each bite is a nice summery break from the reality that February has only just begun.

Plate of Happiness

I am having the hardest time writing this post. I think the sugary goodness of the rugelach pinwheels is distracting me. I can't think of anything witty or articulate. I am completely reduced to Homer Simpson drool noises. These were an enormous pain to make, but are just so good. Can I tempt you further?



RUGELACH PINWHEELS
from SmittenKitchen

INGREDIENTS:

Dough:
1 package (8oz) cream cheese
2 sticks butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 C flour

Filling:
1/4 C + 2 T sugar
1/4 C light brown sugar
3/4 C chopped dried fruit (I used raisins, but craisins, dried cherries, or dates would be great)
1 C finely chopped nuts (I used walnuts, but I think pecans work well too)

1/2 C fruit preserves (I used apricot)

Topping:
1 C sugar
2 t cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:
Put the cream cheese and butter together in a stand mixer. Mix until smooth (you may need help from you spatula throughout this process). Add the sugar and blend in. Add the flour a half cup at a time, blending well, and using the spatula to keep the batter off your paddle and back in the bowl. Divide dough into 2 sections and refridgerate for at least 2 hours.

Make the filling. Combine the sugar, brown sugar, fruit and nuts. Mix well and set aside.

Right before the dough is ready, heat up your preserves until very liquidy and then allow to cool. I microwaved mine for about 20-30 seconds and stirred well.

Rolling out the dough is tricky, I'm not going to lie. You need it to be rectangular which is difficult and it needs to be about 1/8 of an inch thick. The dough is very sticky and you'll need to work fast. Even though I made this in winter, in a not too warm kitchen, my dough kept getting too soft to work with. If your dough starts to stick, do not panic. I strongly recommend rolling it out on waxed paper or plastic wrap. Remove and roll only one of your two dough sections at a time. Flour your surface well and if the dough gets too soft, stop rolling it out and gently pop it back in the fridge. Give it about 10 minutes to cool down, then get back to rolling it out. Once the dough is rolled out, spread it with half the preserves and sprinkle it with half the filling. Then starting with the long side of your rectangle, gently and carefully roll up the dough into a log. Wrap in plastic wrap and pop back in the fridge. Repeat with the second section of dough. The dough logs will need to stay in the fridge for at least another hour.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cover your baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix the topping together in a bowl. Remove a log of dough and slice into 1/4 inch rounds. Dip each round in the topping and gently place on the parchment paper. Bake until lightly browned about 18-20 minutes. Remove from oven and survey the damage. If you're anything like me, some of your rounds will have unspiralled. This is easy to fix if you act immediately. While the dough is still hot from the oven, try to reform the circles. As it cools it will hold it's shape. Also, as this is a very sugary recipe and there's all that fruity filling, you may notice a lot of carmelized goop on your tray. If you get the cookies out of that and onto a wire cooling rack ASAP you won't have a lot of random carmelly stuff sticking off your cookies.

What's in a name? that which we call a hoagie By any other name would taste as delicious

Where I currently live, this is called a meatball hoagie. I've personally never liked the sound of hoagie. It's one of those words that just icks me out. Thankfully, the word sub is in such common usage nationwide that I can order a meatball sub and people will know what I mean. They may figure that I'm not from here, but they'd be able to fill my order just fine. In Connecticut, they call them grinders, which is my personal favorite name for this kind of sandwich. Depending on where you live, they might be called any of these things, a hero, or something else I'm not even aware of (in which case, tell me in the comments, enlighten me!) But no matter what you call it, a meatball sub is a whole lot of tasty on a roll (an Amoroso roll if you're in hoagie territory).

TURKEY MEATBALL GRINDER/SUB/HERO/HOAGIE
meatball recipe adapted from Giata De Laurentiis
should make 2-4 sandwiches depending on your roll size, we used 6" rolls and should have been able to make 4

Ingredients:
1 lb ground turkey (make sure you get 94% lean, 97% lean tastes like cardboard)
1/2 c grated parmesan
1/4 c bread crumbs
2 eggs (or equivalent using egg beaters)
salt and pepper
1/4 c flat leaf parsley (I omit this, we're not big parsley folk)
olive oil
2 cups tomato sauce
long rolls
2 slices provolone cheese per sandwich

Directions:
Mix the turkey, parm, bread crumbs, eggs, salt and pepper and parsley together gently. When thoroughly incorporated, form into 2" balls. Mine flattened quite a bit while cooking, so they ended up looking kinda more like sliders than meatballs, but they tasted great. Anyway, heat the oil (you're going to need a lot, around a 1/4 c maybe, I try to get away with a bit less). The oil should be almost smoking when you add the meatballs. Cook for 5 minutes, then rotate to continue browning. Cook for 8 more minutes. Then add the tomato sauce and cover. Cook for 5 more minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through all the way. Slide two meatballs on a roll. Cover with two slices of provolone and put under the broiler for 2-3 minutes until the cheese is nice and melty. Enjoy.

Cooking by Proxy

In the South, it is traditional to have black-eyed peas for the New Year, black-eyed peas symbolizing luck and prosperity. I don't know about you, but I could sure use some good luck for the New Year. Prosperity wouldn't exactly hurt either. What does hurt is my ankle, which I sprained badly a few weeks ago. I have a lovely cast and a set of crutches. On the upside, I also have a husband who has taken over just about all of my responsibilities, from dog care and plant watering, to cooking. And so, tonight, although the blog post and recipe are brought to you by me, the actual dinner has been provided by Ryan.

NEW YEAR'S DAY BLACK-EYED PEAS AND SAUSAGE
Go ahead, make a double recipe, it takes so long to cook, you might as well have an extra meal to tuck away in the freezer.

Ingredients
1 C black-eyed peas soaked (cover a cup of peas with a few cups of water, bring to a boil, boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat, let sit for an hour. If there's water left, drain it off).
2 T olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 C canned crushed tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced.
1 lb sausage (check ingredient list to make sure it's gf)

Directions
Combine the oil, onion, garlic, carrot and tomatoes in a large oven-proof pot or dutch oven. Let simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, place the sausages in a large skillet with about an inch of cooking water. Cover and let the sausages cook for about 15 minutes. Then cut the sausages into disks. It's okay if they're raw in the middle, they have a ton of cooking left to do! Put the sausage disks in with the tomato sauce. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cook for 20 minutes on low with the cover on. Then add the black-eyed peas and stir in. Add enough water to cover. Put the lid on the pot or dutch oven. Cook for an hour and a half to two hours. Check every half hour or so. If there's not enough liquid, add a half cup more of water. If after an hour and a half there's too much water, remove the cover. The black-eyed peas and sausage mixture should be very thick, even a bit thicker than a traditional stew. It's done when the mixture is thick enough and the black-eyed peas are nice and tender.

Inadvertently Festive

In the weeks immediately preceding Christmas it is entirely possible that I consumed nothing of nutritional value. I did eat lots of cookies. And things containing vast quantities of butter. As enjoyable as that is, I always find myself desperately craving vegetables and fruits when I've had too much junk. Back in the day, I used to joke that I was coming down with scurvy and immediately run out and buy a Fresh Samantha to drink. I would lovingly refer to this as scurvy juice.


Sadly, Fresh Samantha is long gone, bought out as most good small companies are, so now I'm left to fend off scurvy on my own. So I ended up craving broccoli soup. Without cream. Broccoli has scads of scurvy-fighting Vitamin C. I found a recipe that is absolutely delicious, easy, and looks marvelously seasonal on my new Christmas tablecloth. The tablecloth, by the way, was hand-embroidered by my great-aunt. Pretty cool, no?


BROCCOLI SOUP (NOT CREAM OF BROCCOLI SOUP)
From Rosalynn Carter

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 T vegetable oil
1 bay leaf
1 pound green broccoli, chopped
1 small potato, peeled and chopped
2.5 C vegetable stock
the juice of 1/2 a lemon
salt and pepper
dollop of plain yogurt (optional)

Directions:
In a soup pot, add the oil, onion and garlic. Saute for 3-4 minutes until the onion and garlic are soft. Then add the bay, the potato, broccoli and vegetable stock. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes until the broccoli is bright green and tender. Remove the bay leaf and let cool a bit. Puree using a blender or immersion blender. Season with salt and pepper. Add the lemon juice and reheat a bit if necessary. If you want, serve each bowl with a small dollop of plain yogurt.

Christmas Cookies Episode 2: Ginger Crinkles

I know, I know, you have certainly finished all your Christmas baking because you are on top of things. I on the other hand, have barely begun. In fact, the only cookies I have managed are these ginger crinkles. My mother and I had a serious discussion this year about cutting back after last year's Christmas overload. We agreed that for with only four people, we needed less of everything. Fewer appetizers on Christmas eve, fewer presents and fewer Christmas cookies. And so we began negotiating. I declared that gingerbread was essential. My mother felt my father might have a fit if we skipped our bird's nest cookies. Neither of us could fathom a year without bourbon balls. And so the cookie we agreed we could eliminate was the poor, unsuspecting ginger crinkle. Which is too bad really, because it's my grandmother's recipe, and I've always rather liked them. Then, I found out that my mother had decided we could decorate the Christmas tree just fine with no cookies. Clearly she doesn't understand motivation very well. So I whipped up a batch of the ginger crinkles, and good cheer was reestablished. They took almost no time at all, so if you're short on time or patience this year, give them a try. They are sweet, molassesy and somewhere between crisp and chewy.

NANA'S GINGER CRINKLES

Ingredients:
2/3 C vegetable or canola oil
1 C sugar
1 egg
4 T molasses
2 C sifted flour
2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1 t ginger

1/4 C sugar for dipping

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix the oil and sugar thoroughly. Then add the egg beat well. Add the molasses and stir until thoroughly incorporated.

In another bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet, stirring as you go to form a dough. Get a small bowl and fill it with the 1/4 C of sugar for dipping. Form cookies by making small ball of dough in your hand, then dropping it in the sugar and rolling it until coated. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Leave plenty of room between cookies because they spread flat while cooking. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Procrastination

I have a bad habit of putting things off. And then the more I put them off, the more I dread dealing with them. Case in point. A while ago I asked my husband to buy me some plain yogurt, so that I could have it for breakfast. He is not a procrastinator, so he went out and got some that very day. Then it sat in my fridge. Every time I made breakfast, I'd look at it and think "ooh, I should really use that yogurt." But I didn't do anything about it. So with the sell by date fast approaching, I went into full panic mode. I baked two cakes using yogurt as an ingredient. One was a chocolate cake, and the other was a delicious apple cake. I really meant to write up that apple cake recipe for you. I did. I swear. But I hadn't taken a picture of it, so I kept putting it off. The thing about procrastination is, if you wait long enough, decisions are made for you. In this case, we ate the whole cake, so there is no picture to take. But I will try to make it up to you, with a recipe.

APPLE CAKE
from epicurious
INGREDIENTS:
2 T butter
2 large baking apples (such as Macoun, Jonamac, Granny Smith, or the ultimate baking apple Northern Spy)
1 1/2 T apple juice or apple cider
1 1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 C + 1 T sugar
2/3 C plain yogurt
2 C flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 C vegetable oil
3 eggs

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Peel, core and roughly dice the apples. Melt the butter in a saute pan, then add the apples and cook on medium for 5-7 minutes until golden brown. Add the juice, 1 T sugar and cinnamon. Remove from heat and set aside until needed.

In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and yogurt, whisking until very smooth. Then add the eggs and oil, again, mixing well. In a separate bowl, mix the flour and baking soda, and then add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring until well blended. Finally, stir in the apple mixture. Put in a well-greased 8" round pan and cook for 45-50 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Chicken Pot Pie

When I was a little girl, one of my absolute winter favorites was chicken pot pie. That's why it came as somewhat as a shock to me that I had no recipe for it in the cookbook my mother put together for me. It's been over ten years since I've lived at my parents' house and at least five years since I really mastered cooking, and I have never made a chicken pot pie. I don't know if it was fear of being unable to recreate it the way my mom made it, or my lazy nature, as chicken pot pie is rather work intensive. Either way, I never should have let this get to this point, because chicken pot pie is really damn good.

CHICKEN POT PIE
makes 2 pies in 1.4 L dishes

Ingredients:
1 recipe pie crust
3 chicken breasts
~ 1 cup cream (1/2 cup for poaching, 1/2 cup for adding liquid)
1/4 C white wine
4 carrots, peeled and coined
1/2 package Birdseye frozen peas (this is about 5 oz)
1/2 mushrooms, stemmed and chopped
1/2 large onion chopped
1 T flour
1 T olive oil
2 t tarragon
salt and pepper
1 egg or 1/4 c egg beaters for egg wash on crust

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 F. Trim and rinse chicken, pat dry. Place in a ovenproof dish in a single layer and season breasts with salt and pepper. Then pour over the first 1/2 c of cream, add slightly more if needed. Poach in your oven for 35 minutes. After 35 minutes the chicken should be cooked, let it cool and then cut into bite sized pieces. Reserve the poaching liquids. Bring a small pot of water to a boil and add your coined carrots. Let them cook for 2 minutes and then drain and set aside. In a large pan, sautee the onion in the olive oil. Add the tablespoon of flour. Cook for 5 minutes to allow the flour to cook. Then add the poaching liquid, stir well so that the flour mixture does not clump. Add the 1/4 C of white wine (or vermouth). Cook for 5 minutes. Then add the cut up chicken, peas, carrots, mushroom. Add the tarragon. Give it a quick taste, add more salt and pepper if necessary. Stir mixture together. If it seems really dry, you can add the other 1/2 c cream. Remember the mixture will release more liquid in the oven, so it will become juicer as it cooks, you don't want it overly soupy. Split the pot pie mixture between two ovenproof dishes. Roll out your two pie crusts. They will be thicker than a normal pie crust. Mold them down over the top of your dishes as shown above. Slash three vents in the top and use a basting brush to apply the egg beaters or well stirred egg as a wash to get the nice brown crust. Bake for 25 minutes at 425.

Hold the Mayo

My husband's fear of mayonnaise has been documented elsewhere on this blog, but for those who missed that post, let's recap. Ryan hates mayonnaise. In any form. Don't try to trick him by offering him any aioli, oh no. He'll eye it suspiciously, and if truly pressed, he'll taste it with all the suspicion of a picky toddler and finally state with conviction, "that's definitely some kind of mayonnaise." I am honestly shocked he can even place an order at a deli counter when he's faced with all those tubs of coleslaw and macaroni salad, foods rendered inedible by their thick pools of whitish goop.

I strongly believe that the BLT is one of life's great pleasures. But if you're anything like me, you figure that a BLT is really a BLTM. Mayonnaise is what makes the whole sandwich work! The nice creamy goodness pulls it all together.

Fortunately, I have a trick up my sleeve that will prevent this delicious sandwich from being banned from our house. Avocado. Sweet, ripe avocado. I hate to admit it, but it's really much better than mayonnaise.



BACON, LETTUCE, TOMATO AND AVOCADO SANDWICH
makes 2 sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 avocado
4 slices good bread - I like french country
8 slices bacon (or turkey bacon)
1 ripe tomato
2 leaves of lettuce

Directions:
Put the bacon on to cook in a large pan. Watch it carefully so it doesn't burn. Bacon only takes a few minutes on each side, but how long exactly depends on whether you are a crispy or chewy person. We like ours pretty crispy. Stick your bread in the toaster. While you're waiting for it to toast up, you can take your cooked bacon out of the pan and put it on a paper towel covered plate. Blot the top of the bacon too to soak up some of that grease. Wash and dry your lettuce and tear into nice sandwich size pieces. Slice up the tomato. Halve the avocado, scoop out the insides and mash up with a pinch of salt. When the toasts pop up, spread half the avocado on one slice of bread and then place the tomatoes on top. On the other side of the bread, put down one of the leaves of lettuce and four strips of bacon. Then place the bacon and lettuce side on top of the tomato and avocado side. Repeat to make another sandwich.