A Good Reputation

Look at this red cabbage, it's a picture of art. It's not only beautiful to look at, it's delicious and good for you to boot. Cabbage is a good source of Vitamin C, potassium, and guess what, Brian ? Fiber, woohoo! It may smell bad, but it's an amazing vegetable.

I made this dish a few weeks ago, and it got rave reviews. The color of the dish is fantastic, and the taste is even better. It is salty, sweet, and sour, with a nice soft crunch in the end. You can also hold back a few of the bacon pieces to crumble on top for extra crunch. I made it again tonight so I can share the recipe with you. It's so easy, once you make it, you'll never need the recipe again! Be sure to season, taste, and tweak until the very end to your liking. You can serve this warm or at room temperature.

Braised Red Cabbage with Bacon

1 red cabbage, small head, about 1.5 lbs, quartered and sliced in thin strips
1 small onion, cut in half then sliced thin
3 pcs of smoked bacon, julienned
1/3 c. red wine vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
salt and pepper

In a heavy skillet or Dutch oven, place bacon pieces with some water, just enough to cover the bacon. Cook bacon until fat renders, and bacon is crispy. Transfer bacon pieces to a bowl with a paper towel and reserve. Drain all but 2 tbsp of the bacon fat from the skillet.

On medium heat, add onion to fat in skillet. Cook until wilted. Add cabbage, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper, stir. Bring to a boil, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and braise for 30 - 45 minutes. You can check every 15 minutes or so to stir. Taste for even seasoning. Add reserved bacon pieces and serve.

Spring is Here, well almost...

It's going to survive! Last spring, we bought a blueberry bush, and since we have deer roaming our yard, we thought it was a good idea to place the bush in the back porch since its only access is through the house and no wild animal can get to it. While we were in the front preparing the soil and container, Maddie and Buddy managed to eat most of the bush. We thought it wasn't going to make it, but look, buds! Even tons of snowfall (or tree-eating dogs) can't keep this little bush from sprouting.

I wish I had a good blueberry recipe to share with you, but instead, I have another spring like food to talk about...ham! We went over to Stephanie's for dinner, and along with the ham, we made scalloped potatoes, beans, and to finish it off, berries and cake topped with whipped cream and mascarpone cheese. The kids were in top form and we were having so much fun, I had forgotten to take pictures, boo. So instead, this morning, I made Dale a skillet breakfast from the leftover ham.

I used potatoes from my farmers box last week. I boiled the potatoes for a few minutes to speed up the cooking, and when I was slicing the potatoes, I found they were slightly purple/reddish inside. I don't know what kind they were, but they had a nice bite to them plus they tasted very good. Michael says it was hard to distinguish between the pieces of ham and the potato. Both were cut in small cubes, but I thought that was a good thing.

I didn't have much vegetables left in the fridge, not even an onion. It's a forgiving recipe so throw in your leftover vegies. I used a couple of shallots and an almost crinkly red pepper (I paid $2.50 for the red pepper, ridiculous! I had to use it..). I had one small avocado and I ended up placing it in on the top and it was really yummy. I threw in the cheese at the last minute, and it made the dish creamy and delicious. This dish could've benefited from having some mushrooms, green pepper, maybe tomatoes? I wouldn't even mind a combination of spinach, mushrooms and bacon.


Potato and Ham Skillet Breakfast

4 or 5 medium red potatoes
1 cup cooked ham, cut in cubes
1/2 c. red pepper, diced the same size as ham pieces
1/2 c. onion, diced the same size as ham pieces
1/4 c. aged gruyere, diced the same size as ham pieces (or your choice of cheese)
eggs
salt and pepper
onion powder
dried chili pepper
1 tbsp olive oil

Boil potatoes (I prefer with skin on) until just soft, about 10 minutes. Drain and cut in cubes.

Heat olive oil in large skillet. When very hot, add potatoes and do not stir to allow one side to be nicely seared and brown, about 3-4 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and onion powder. Give one shake, and remove potatoes and place in a bowl.

In the same skillet on medium low heat, add the ham for one minute. Add the shallots and green pepper for 1-2 minutes. Return the potatoes in the skillet, and top with cubes of gruyere. Season if needed, add chili pepper if you want some heat.

In a separate pan, make sunny side up eggs.

To serve the dish, scoop the potato mixture in the center of a plate. Add the sunny side egg on top of the potatoes. Serve. If you're Michael, put a few, maybe more, shakes of Tabasco on the eggs. Enjoy!

Erin go Bragh!

There's this great deli in Northridge that serves the best pastrami sandwich. Rye bread flecked with caraway seeds, nutty swiss cheese, and the star of the show, pastrami sliced thinly with a pepper crust. Just a tad of spicy mustard and you have yourself a perfect sandwich.

I haven't found a pastrami place in these parts, but today, we celebrate St. Patrick's Day and I made corned beef, cabbage and potatoes. This is such a simple dish, I wonder why we only eat it once a year. Maybe we'll extend the holiday and find a good Reuben sandwich this weekend.

Corned Beef with Cabbage and Potatoes

1 slab of corned beef, already brined
1 onion, peeled and quartered
1 whole green cabbage, quartered, keeping core intact
3 red potatoes, peeled and cut in half

This is the easiest recipe ever since I bought the corned beef already brined and ready to go. Place the meat including juices and spices in a Dutch oven or heavy pot. There is an extra packet of spices but I didn't use it. Add enough water to cover meat, add onion. Bring to a boil, and reduce to a slow simmer. The rule is 50 minutes for every pound of meat. At the last half hour of cooking, add the potatoes, and the last 5 minutes, add the cabbage. Serve with a Guinness.

May the frost never afflict your spuds.
May the leaves of your cabbage always be free from worms.
May the crows never pick your haystack.
If you inherit a donkey, may she be in foal.

Julia

My friend Julia, and her kids, came to visit us last week. When they left Anchorage, it was 7 degrees, so I didn't feel so bad that the day she landed, it had snowed and it was 34 degrees in Seattle..yea, some heatwave.
After a few days later, the sun made a grand appearance and we headed down to Pike Market. We had a great time with Julia and family. Today, we're a little sad that our friends aren't here to share dinner with us, even Maddie and Buddy miss the kids. Come back soon guys, we can rock out once more!

From the Farm

My box from Full Circle Farms arrived today. I almost forgot to pick it up! Good thing I remembered as there were many goodies in the box. Everything looked so fresh and yummy, it's like a trip to the farm minus the waste of gas and muddy boots. I was giddy opening the box, I couldn't wait to see the produce I received.

The box had a variety of vegetables and fruits. I was hoping for root vegetables that would entice me to venture out of my comfort zone, but we received greens I normally buy at the store. I was still happy with the freshness and variety, and the contents: fuji apples, oranges, kiwi, leeks, zucchini, red leaf lettuce, broccoli, cremini mushroom, and my all-time favorite, swiss chard.

I want to share with you the best way to prepare swiss chard. It's such a simple recipe, something one can make on a weeknight as a side dish for, well..just about anything!

Sauteed Swiss Chard

2 pieces of bacon, julienned
1 garlic clove, minced
a pinch of crushed red pepper
1 bunch swiss chard, tough stems removed, leaves chopped roughly

Place bacon in a saute pan and cook until crisp. Remove the bacon and drain fat from pan, except for one tablespoon. Add the minced garlic and red pepper to the pan, saute for one minute, or just enough to slightly brown the garlic. Add the swiss chard and turn to coat the leaves with garlic/oil/pepper mixture. Place a lid and cook for 4-5 minutes until the chard is completely wilted. If it's looking too dry, you can add a tablespoon or so of water. Add pepper to taste. Add bacon pieces and serve.

It's Never Too Late

What? You mean it's already March? How do bloggers do it? This is a big commitment, people. Jacqui, the only person that checks this blog, wants new pictures and recipes so here are pictures, but unfortunately, no new recipes, rather, I will catch you up with some images taken recently and late last year. Now, I'm all caught up, yay!

My sisters and I ate at Goldilocks and enjoyed a filipino breakfast of langonisa, sunny side up eggs and garlic rice. Rice is nice!

Okay, these enchiladas were much better than they look in this picture, but I made enchilada sauce from scratch! I found it in the Rick Bayless cookbook. I thought that kind of sauce only came in a can, who knew? It tasted great!

We love the pig and here's a perfect pork loin rib roast by Chef Stephen. The roast was served with an apple cider and balsamic reduction, butternut squash puree and roasted fall vegetables. I am now a lover of celery root!


In January, Sebastian came to Seattle with his parents. He's the cutest bug, and he had extra love for the dogs. Sit Maddie, sit Buddy! Here he is with one of his many talents.

My mom came to visit in late January and we were experimenting with foods we normally do not make and so we started by trying to make charsiu bao. These buns are so fluffy and white when you order them at dimsum. Mine were not that fluffy, but if I had a wheeled cart, I think I could've sold them around here..

My brother-in-law has a cousin that made awesome empanadas. The flaky crust was stuffed full with chicken, potatoes, carrots and my favorite, raisins. I think they fried the pies, but here, we baked the little morsels. It was very good, but I could use a crust lesson..or two.

It's 9 pm, and I need to bring 5 dozen of something sweet to Michael's school for Valentines. What? I only have salty pretzels, melted Rolos and green M&Ms, what to do...

Did you see the No Reservations episode when Bourdain went to the Pacific Northwest and had gone to the Voodoo Doughnut place to eat a maple bacon bar? Christina went to Portland one weekend and brought this back, yum!