Southern Hominy with Squash and Mushrooms

This dish was inspired by what I had on hand in my refrigerator and from a few different recipes I browsed recently online. We have so much squash these days from our own garden and from our CSA baskets, as well. But no one in our house is complaining - you've never tasted squash unless you've eaten it fresh from your garden - so sweet and fresh!

Hominy with Squash and Mushrooms

4 slices of thick-cut bacon
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup diced onion
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 can hominy, drained and rinsed
2 small yellow squash, sliced into 1/4" thick half-moons
2 small zucchini squash, sliced into 1/4" thick half-moons
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh chopped parsley

In a large pan, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until golden brown and slightly crispy on both sides. Remove the bacon to drain on paper towel.

Add the onion to the pan with the bacon drippings and cook for about 5 minutes, until tender. Add the mushrooms, hominy, squash, lemon zest, lemon juice and chicken broth. Continue to cook over medium-high heat for 5-6 more minutes, until all the veggies are tender.

Break the bacon into bite-sized pieces and return themn to the pan. Season the veggies with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot and garnish with the fresh chopped parsley.

Carbonara Pizza

And yet another recipe from last week's wine tasting. This tasty little dish was a great appetizer and paired nicely with our Da Vinci Chianti Classico. The topping of this pizza is a re-creating of a carbonara pasta dish - complete with pancetta, eggs, and ricotta!

Pancetta is a wonderful Italian style bacon, with a great smoky-n-salty flavor. And the gorgeous cheesy mixture on top somehow manages to seem rich and light at the same time. This would be a fun weeknight meal or a tasty appetizer to get your guests going before an Italian meal.

Carbonara Pizza
from Rachel Ray

Cornmeal, for sprinkling
1 lb. pizza dough, at room temperature (recommended: Trader Joe's)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 lb. pancetta, chopped
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup grated pecorino romano cheese (parmesan would also work well)
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 clove garlic, grated or minced
Pepper, to taste
1 1/2 cups shredded provolone cheese
1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat your oven to 450°. Sprinkle a few pinches of cornmeal on a baking sheet. Place the pizza dough on the sheet and stretch it into a large round or rectangle. If stretching is difficult, use a rolling pin. Brush the dough with the olive oil and partially bake the crust until puffed and slightly golden, about 8 minutes.

Note: If you are pressed for time, you could start right >>here<< in the recipe with a pre-made crust like Mama Mary's or Boboli's. :-)

Warm up a small skillet over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook, stirring often, until crisp and browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer the pancetta to a bowl lined with paper towels and allow it to drain and cool.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, pecorino romano, egg yolks and garlic; next add the pancetta. Season the mixture with pepper, stirring to combine.

Spread the ricotta-pancetta mixture over the partially baked pizza dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edges for a crust. Top the pizza with the provolone. Bake until the crust and topping are golden and cooked through, about 12 minutes.

Sprinkle with parsley, cut into wedges, and serve immediately!

Ma! Meatloaf!!

Just like with chili, my mom makes the absolute best meatloaf. There is nothing more comforting and homey than a nice juicy, tender slice with mashed potatoes and green beans on the side.

Here, I take my mom's meatloaf, and I do it my way. Basically, this means adding some bacon and some herbs - but the base is the same recipe as my mom's. This meatloaf is unbelievably flavorful. The smoky, salty bacon basically marinates the meat as it cooks, keeping it moist and delicious. The easy tomato sauce on top completes this perfectly cozy dish.

Ma's Meatloaf, My Way

1-1.5 lbs. lean ground beef
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup fresh breadcrumbs (I just grate up a white hamburger bun)
1 large clove of garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried sage
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
3 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
A dash Montreal steak seasoning
3 slices of thick-sliced center-cut bacon
1 can condensed tomato soup (recommended: Campbell's)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a standard loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the meat, egg, breadcrumbs, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, sage, parsley, ketchup, Worcestershire, and steak seasoning - lightly, using a fork or your hands. When it is fully combined, turn the meat mixture into the prepared loaf pan, and pat lightly into the form of a loaf. Top with the three slices of bacon. Bake for about 45 minutes to an hour, or until meat is cooked all the way through the loaf.

Meanwhile, heat the tomato soup in a small saucepan over medium heat. Slice the meatloaf and spoon the hot tomato soup over the top.

This meatloaf only gets better with age. Try slicing your leftovers and making a hearty sandwich with white bread and ketchup - divine!

Mardi Gras with Danish Ebelskivers

So: Ebelskiver. Say it with me: "able-skeever" - yes!

These delightful little pastries are actually spherical Danish pancakes that have a filling in the middle. Ebelskiver means "apple slices" in Danish, and you will sometimes see it spelled "aebelskiver." As you might have guessed, apples are one of the traditional fillings that you will find inside an ebelskiver.

How do you make these little puffs of joy? With an Ebelskiver Pan, which can be found at most cooking stores. I received mine as a gift last year from my sweet sister-in-law, who is also an excellent chef! Here is what it looks like:

A quality that I absolutely love in a dish is when you can make it savory OR sweet. And ebelskiver definitely fit the bill on this one. You can fill them with savory fillings like swiss cheese and ham or cheddar and bacon, or you can fill them with sweet fillings like fruit or chocolate. Here is a list of great fillings that we have tried:

Savory Fillings

• grated swiss cheese and diced ham
• grated cheddar cheese with diced bacon
• your favorite shredded cheese
• cream cheese or laughing cow cheese
• herbed goat cheese
  

Sweet Fillings

• home-made stewed applesauce
• pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds
  
• raspberry preserves
• chocolate chips
• fresh blueberries
• raspberry preserves and chocolate chips
• nutella

This sweet-or-savory combination made them perfect for dinner on fat tuesday. We always have a traditional meal of pancakes for dinner on Mardi Gras, and what could be better than savory filled pancakes for dinner with sweet filled pancakes for dessert???

Danish Ebelskiver
Adapted from a Williams-Sonoma recipe

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, separated
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Filling of your choice

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, granulated sugar and salt.

In a small bowl, lightly whisk together the egg yolks and buttermilk. Whisk the yolk mixture into the flour mixture until well combined; the batter will be lumpy.

In another bowl, using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff but not dry peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the whites into the batter in two additions.

Put 1/2 of a teaspoon butter in each well of a filled-pancake pan.

Place over medium heat and heat until the butter begins to bubble. Pour one tablespoon of batter into each well and cook until the bottoms are golden brown and crispy, 3 to 5 minutes. Gently add your desired filling on top of each puff.

Next, top each filling with one more tablespoon batter. Using 2 wooden skewers, flip the pancakes over and cook until golden and crispy, about 3 minutes more.

Transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter and fillings.

Serve your savory ebelskivers with whatever side you like - we had extra bacon on the side and some homemade stewed applesauce.

Dust your sweet ebelskivers with confectioners' sugar and serve warm with maple syrup.

Makes about 40 filled pancakes.

The Legendary Hot Brown

What is the legendary hot brown, you ask? It is a hot open-faced sandwich dish created by the Brown Hotel in downtown Louisville, Kentucky.

In the 1920s, the Brown Hotel hosted over a thousand guests each evening for its dinner dance. Guests would dance well into the wee hours of the morning before heading over to the restaurant for a late-night bite. Chef Fred Schmidt set out to create something new for these guests, and so he created a unique open-faced turkey sandwich with bacon and a delicate Mornay sauce. Thus, the Hot Brown was born!

The Hot Brown is definitely a local delicacy of the Louisville area, and I have enjoyed it there while visiting my best friend from high school, who is a middle-school teacher there, and when I used to go visit my brother, who attended grad school in Louisville. But I have also seen it in other restaurants, such as Martin's Tavern in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC.

So with our leftover roasted turkey, I decided to try my hand at the original recipe for the Legendary Hot Brown.

The Legendary Hot Brown
From the Brown Hotel

1/2 cup butter
6-8 tablespoons flour
3 - 3 1/2 cups milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper to Taste
8-12 thick slices of roasted turkey
8-12 slices of toast
Extra Parmesan
8-12 Strips of Cooked Bacon

Heat a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Melt butter and add enough flour to absorb the butter into a thick sauce. Stirring constantly, cook the mixture for 2-3 minutes. This process cooks the flour so that your sauce doesn't taste starchy. Slowly add the milk and Parmesan cheese, whisking the mixture to keep it smooth. Add the beaten egg to the mixture, whisking constantly. Turn the heat down to low and allow the mixture to heat and thicken, but don't allow it to reach a boil. Stirring constantly, continue to cook the mixture for about 8-10 minutes. You will know when it's ready because it will become the consistency of thin pudding. Remove the sauce from the heat and add salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat your oven to broil. Spray a small cooking dish or pie plate for each hot brown with cooking spray. For each Hot Brown, place two slices of toast in the bottom of each dish. Next, layer as much turkey as you would like on top of the toast. Finally, pour a generous amount of sauce over the turkey and toast. Place each dish under a broiler until the sauce is speckled brown and bubbly. Remove from broiler, cross two pieces of bacon on top, and sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately. Makes 4-6 servings.

PS: Sorry for the lackluster photos - I had to use my camera phone for this one!

Cheesy Bacon Onion Dip

Good morning, and Happy Groundhog Day to you, dear readers! Last night was the Super Bowl, and I'm excited to post some of the yummy treats I shared with my family while we watched the big game. Let's start with the sinfully indulgent dip that we enjoyed.

This recipe was inspired by a dip that my sweet mother-in-law made for us before a family dinner get-together last week. It was AMAZING - beware, very addictive. The tangy and stringy Swiss cheese, the creamy and luscious base, the flavorful sautéed onions, and the salty smoked bacon blend together to bring out the best in each flavor and texture.

Cheesy Bacon Onion Dip
adapted from my Mother-In-Law's recipe

1 8-ounce package of cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese, divided
8 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped into small pieces OR 1/2 cup bacon bits (in original recipe)
1/4 cup onion, diced (not in original)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a pie dish or other small oven-save dish with cooking spray and set aside. In a medium bowl blend together cream cheese, sour cream, and mayo until creamy. Stir in 3/4 cup Swiss cheese (about half). Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sautée your onions for about 5 minutes over medium-high heat using 1 tablespoon of olive oil or reserved bacon drippings. Add to the creamed mixture and stir until evenly distributed. Spread this mixture evenly in the bottom of your prepared baking dish.

Next, sprinkle the remaining Swiss cheese over the top of the creamed mixture. Finally, sprinkle the bacon evenly over the top. Season with a little bit of freshly ground pepper on top. At this point, you can cover it and put it in the fridge for up to 5 days or continue and bake it up!

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until dip is bubbly and cheese begins to turn golden brown. Serve with crackers or chips.

Easy Make-Ahead Brunch Strata

This is a Christmas morning tradition in our household: I make the monkey bread, and mom makes the breakfast casserole. Both can be made the day before, and then popped into the oven while the family is opening presents. Mom's strata is sooooo delicious, and not too greasy or heavy like the recipes I've seen that use crescent rolls. It puffs up and browns beautifully, and it heats up well the next day if you have leftovers!

The other great thing about this recipes is that you can customize the combination of ingredients to any taste - we've even made it vegetarian a few times. We like ham with tomatoes and swiss cheese. We like sausage with cheddar and mushrooms. We like bacon with anything!

You could make it "Mexican" by adding a can of green chilies, drained, using some chorizo sausage and using a Mexican cheese blend and salsa. You could make it "Italian" with some Italian seasoning, an Italian cheese blend, and chopped up Roma tomatoes. You can make it "Southern" by making it with sausage or country ham and serving it with biscuits and gravy. It's very versatile and, most importantly, extremely easy and delicious!

I hope you enjoy this brunch treat!

Mom's Egg and Cheese Brunch Strata

1 lb. sausage (or 4 cups ham, or 8-10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled)
1 1/2 (8 ounces) cups cheese, grated ( whatever type of cheese you like: cheddar, swiss, etc.)
10 eggs
4 cups bread, cubed in 1/2 inch pieces
4 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt (opt.)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms and/or chopped tomato

Grease a 9" x 13" pan. Arrange bread cubes in pan and sprinkle with cheese. In a large bowl, beat eggs, milk, salt, pepper and mustard with a whisk. Pour egg mixture evenly over bread and cheese layer. Sprinkle with meat and vegetables. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and bake strata uncovered until eggs set in the center, about 1 hour. Cover loosely with foil (sprayed with Pam) if top browns too quickly.

The Only Way to Get Me to Eat Brussel Sprouts . . .

. . . is to hide them in this delicious dish with tart apples and smoky bacon! This recipe is based on a dish that my in-laws discovered at a tiny local restaurant here in North Georgia. The sweet and salty flavors are just wonderful together.

North Georgia Brussel Sprouts

1/2 lb. brussel sprouts, washed and quartered
2 McIntosh apples, washed and cubed into 1/2 inch pieces
6 strips of lean bacon, whatever is your favorite.
2 tbsp olive oil.
1/3 cup apple juice (recommended: Simply Apple)
Salt and pepper to taste.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add bacon strips. Cook, turning once, until browned. Remove the bacon to a cutting board and slice into 1" pieces. Reserve 2 tbsp of the bacon drippings and discard the rest. Add the olive oil to the bacon drippings in the large skillet and add brussel sprouts and apples. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in the apple juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes or until sprouts turn bright green and tender. Add bacon back to the skillet, and cook for 2 more minutes. Serve immediately, and enjoy!