Potatoes and Eggs (and Beer)

I love the versatility of potatoes and eggs. This past week we were at a loss at what would be severed for dinner. I knew we had a couple potatoes and a new dozen of free range eggs. Those two things with a few additional things will always lead to a money meal. This time I picked up some bacon from the butcher. I fried the bacon (http://flickr.com/photos/montage_man/1414299121/), diced the potatoes (http://flickr.com/photos/montage_man/1415179850/), and commenced to cooking. The key to this dish is cooking the potatoes and onions in the fat rendered from the bacon. The recipe looks like:

1/2 pound of bacon (thick sliced)
2 medium to large potatoes diced
1/3 medium onion diced
some shredded cheese
3-4 eggs done to your liking (we chose scrambled)
Sour cream or yogurt
Beer (this dish goes well with beer – a nice simple lager or a good coffee stout. I had a Foster’s Special Bitter. I wish I hadn’t.)

Cook the bacon to your liking. I used a cast iron skillet. Leave the fat. Once the bacon is done, cook the potatoes and onions in the bacon fat. Season the potatoes with salt, pepper, and anything else your heart desires. The potatoes will take around 20-30 minutes to cook depending on the size of your dice. The cooked bacon should be added to the potatoes with about five minutes left. Cook the eggs in a separate skillet when the potatoes are nearly finished. Add the cheese to the potatoes near the end of the cooking to ensure proper melting. Plate the potatoes first place the eggs on top and finish it with a dollop of sour cream or yogurt. Garnish the plate with a hot pepper ( I used a habanero). Enjoy for breakfast or dinner.

Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and cheese is a funny thing – it is relatively easy to make, but it is also relatively easy to screw up. Sure there are hundreds of boxed choices in your local mega-mart, but I’m not counting those since they 1) are incredibly simple to make & 2) many times do not include much in the way of real cheese. I had some heavy whipping cream and cheese that needed to be used, so what better than a little mac and cheese?

First off – I didn’t use a recipe, meaning I just kept adding until it tasted right. Second, after this little experiment it makes less sense to me why anyone would ever use boxed mac and cheese – it is just as easy to make the real deal. I used elbow macaroni that I boiled in water with sea salt and olive oil. For the cheese sauce I used heavy whipping cream, butter, cracked black pepper, super sharp cheddar, New Zealand grass fed cheddar, 2% shredded sharp cheddar, and shredded colby and monterey jack. Over medium-low heat I melted the butter (probably around 2 oz) added the cream and some pepper. Once the cream starts bubbling, start adding the cheese. Whether it is in chunks or shredded, it’ll melt. Dump the (drained) macaroni in a greased casserole dish and pour the cheese sauce over it. Top with shredded cheese and place in a 450 degree oven until the cheese on top looks brown & crusty. Allow 15-20 minutes for setting time once the dish is removed from the oven.

There is a richness here that is not present in boxed versions, thus this version can stand alone as a meal in my estimation. However, it would hold its ground as a side dish to fried chicken, meatloaf, or your favorite barbecue. To cut the richness and complement the sharpness of the cheese, I paired a Bells Two Hearted Ale with dinner. Two Hearted is an American Pale ale meaning there is a significant amount of hops. The hops lend a bitterness and citrus undertone which works perfectly against creaminess of the macaroni.

Our vegetable was a garden grown kale and tomato sauté. Place the kale with olive oil, sea salt, and cracked black pepper in a cast iron skillet. Cook the kale down adding oil as needed. The tomatoes are added near the end of the cooking. I did not have garlic on hand or else I would’ve added some to this.

Barbequed Flank Steak Sandwich with Tzatziki and Sugar Roasted Asparagus

Just about every ingredient used in tonight’s meal came from Trader Joe’s. The flank steak came from Australia – hormone/antibiotic free. A simple store bought rub was used to season the steak. Subsequently, the rub relied way too much on salt, so the steak’s flavor was overwhelmed by the rub’s large amount of sea salt. From now on, I’ll be making my own. As you can tell from the picture above, the steak was cooked thoroughly as well. Heather likes her meat to have little to no pink. I’m a fan of very rare meat, but when cooking for both us – well done wins out. I placed the steak on a piece of grilled Tuscan pane with a few chunks of grass fed New Zealand cheddar. The other piece of bread has around 2-3 tablespoons of tzatziki, or cucumber yogurt sauce. To make tzatziki:

16 oz. of Greek style yogurt
1 medium size cucumber – seeded & diced
Fresh mint – chopped
Sea salt
Garlic (4-5 cloves) minced or roughly chopped
olive oil
red wine vinegar

Mix it all together in a bowl and there you have it. Tzatziki can be eaten with pita bread, but more famously, it can be found on gyros. It worked quite well with the steak offering a cooling component to a rub that was fairly spicy.

The asparagus is made by drizzling olive oil over the asparagus and then liberally sprinkling sugar all over them. Grilling can take anywhere from 7-15 minutes depending on how crisp you like you asparagus or how caramelized you’d like your sugar. Heather really enjoyed these and I couldn’t help but think that sugar roasted asparagus would well with ice cream or blended into an ice cream. Ah, a future endeavor.

The Flytrap & Sanders

Jeff over at Make Mine Potato recently reviewed this little gem of a place in Ferndale – an incredible diner called the Fly Trap. The menu is different than most diners in that it relies more on interesting combinations of food and presentation whereas other diners might concentrate more on portion size and slathering said portion with gravy, sauce, or whatever. I had the hot spiced beef brisket – an update of the classic Reuben. Thinly sliced beef, smoked Gouda, jalapeño mustard, and cabbage on grilled rye all work very well together and offer a much different experience than the same boring corned beef, sauerkraut, and Swiss. The familiarity of the Reuben is there, a feeling of “oh, I’ve had this before!” but the fresh cabbage and jalapeño mustard immediately subvert familiarity toward something special. The same could be said for the “Swat” sauce, a deliciously heated hot sauce that is chunkier than most, thus making it more substantive. I couldn’t place what pepper was used, but there was a nice smokiness followed by a potent punch – a solid hot sauce. Even the coffee is special – rich, creamy, and flavorful, a totally smooth cup that could easily be refilled 3 or 4 times a sitting. The fries, while totally decent, are, well, totally decent – nothing too tremendous, although they did become a nice transportation device for the hot sauce and side of jalapeño mustard.

With Heather nearing the end of the pregnancy, we try to assuage any need she may have. Tonight it was a need for a hot fudge sundae. Grosse Pointe has a village area that is rife with stores, coffeehouses, and restaurants. Also in the village is Sanders, a Detroit staple known primarily for their hot fudge and candy. Sanders closed down for many years. I remember going there every so often with my mother to grab one of their famous hot fudge cream puffs. The ritual of going out for ice cream is something to behold especially for children. Ice cream – good ice cream – is a treat and the event of going out to get it followed that. The Pecan Titan sundae was very nice. An amalgamation of hot fudge, caramel, vanilla ice cream, and roasted pecans, the sweetness of the ice cream, fudge, and caramel meshed well with the saltiness of the nuts. More importantly, the parlor was busy with a large family that spanned across multiple generations – grandpa sharing with dad who is sharing with kids. Traditions are important and in a year or two I will be sharing the tradition of Sanders hot fudge with my kid as well.