Pork and Saurkraut

Here it is, another nod to Mama Redmond and her good ol’ homestyle cookin’. She made this Pork and Sauerkraut with Stewed Potatoes every New Year’s Day. Supposedly, eating kraut on New Year’s will bring good luck. I figure it can’t hurt. Luckily, I started cooking while she was still around to call and ask for help. The problem with this dish is that I only made it on New Year’s Day, and I would forget from one year to the next how she made it. I must have called her 5 years in a row! She never seemed impatient with my questions. In fact, I’m pretty sure she enjoyed them.

We all like this dish so much, that we would always say, “Why do we wait until New Year’s to make this?”. And so, now I don’t. And I think of Mama every time.

Pork and Sauerkraut with Stewed Potatoes for New Year’s . . . or any day of the year.

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Here’s to a healthy and happy New Year to all! And we hope it’s delicious as well.

A deviled egg to me is America’s sushi rice.  At its base form it is a blank canvas.  This is the ultimate co-star just waiting to work with a great leading actor or actress and lift the whole package up.  As a bonus, it can work with almost anyone.  Too many people leave this co-star all by itself, playing a nice role, but coming across very flat and lacking.  I say no more!  Come on people give this hard working actor a lead of some sort to work with.  You’ll make the poor deviled egg very happy.

My base for the deviled egg (per six egg yolks):

4 tablespoons mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/8 teaspoon salt

Mix thoroughly (I like using the back of a fork)

For my 2009 deviled eggs, I’ve taken inspiration from my go to pizza topping.  Again per six eggs:

2 tablespoons pickled jalapenos chopped

2 tablespoons green olives chopped

2 stips of bacon cooked crisp and broken into small pieces.

Mix the jalapenos with the egg mixture.  Spoon back into your eggs evenly.  Place the green olives on top.  Place the bacon on top of the olives.  Eat.

Let me know how you like these.

Hard Boiled Eggs

They take less than 20 minutes to prepare, they are portable, inexpensive, delicious, nutritious, and as a blank canvas they can morph into all kinds of delectable dishes.

What more do you want??

The only thing left to say is the best way to prepare them. Every expert touts their favorite way. I went straight to the Incredible Egg site at www.incredibleegg.org, and found these simple instructions:

1. PLACE eggs in saucepan large enough to hold them in single layer. ADD cold water to cover eggs by 1 inch. HEAT over high heat just to boiling. REMOVE from burner. COVER pan.
2. LET EGGS STAND in hot water about 15 minutes for large eggs (12 minutes for medium eggs; 18 minutes for extra large).
3. DRAIN immediately and serve warm. OR, cool completely under cold running water or in bowl of ice water, then REFRIGERATE.

I’ve done this, and it works. Check in soon for wonderful things to do with these eggs.

Caesar Salad

If you like Caesar Salad, you’ve probably tried all kinds. Some are very simple, and others are more like a tossed salad with Caesar dressing. Some are topped with grilled salmon and others with chicken tenders. The strangest Caesar Salad I ever had was in Cancun, Mexico, on our honeymoon.

We went to several restaurants during that week: Japanese, Italian, Mexican, etc. We quickly realized that while the restaurants were serving ethnic foods, they were doing it all with a Mexican twist. We ordered Hibachi Steak at the Japanese restaurant, and they put chopped jalapenos on the griddle. The Italian tomato sauce had a definite chili flavor in the background. And the Caesar Salad was served with pickled jalapenos. They prepared it tableside, very traditionally, but they added jalapenos.

While I enjoyed some of these variations, I didn’t think much of the Caesar Salad packing heat. I prefer a much simpler, more traditional salad. The only major difference in my recipe is the use of a hard boiled egg. I was reading Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home recently, and their recipe called for using a hard boiled egg in place of the raw egg. The author said she tried it to make the salad “safer” (less risk of salmonella with cooked eggs), and ended up liking it better that way. So, I took my recipe and tried it with a hard boiled egg, and she is right! It makes a lovely, velvety dressing.

Click here to try it.

Key Lime Pie

The perfect Key Lime Pie should be teetering on the edge of tart and sweet. The base is a slightly sweetened and buttery graham cracker crust that is topped with a creamy filling. Just to guild the lily a bit, the whole thing is spread with a sweetened sour cream. It’s a perfect combination, but I can’t take the credit. It belongs to Emeril Lagasse. I just changed the recipe up a bit, because I like the green flecks of lime zest right in the filling.

This is equally delicious with key lime juice, or regular limes.  Juicing the little key limes takes a while! In a pinch, try the bottled key lime juice found in the baking aisle. Just remember to also pick up two good-looking limes. One to zest, and one to slice for garnish.

For more on Key Lime Pie, just click here.