scotch eggs

my sister gave me a copy of the joy of cooking for christmas...and it has been sitting on my coffee table where it can be thumbed through at night and on weekends.  because who knows when inspiration might strike for a new culinary experiment!  in this case, i somehow wondered whether the book contained knowledge of scotch eggs (possibly because one of my friends had been talking about frying brussels sprouts).  lo and behold, it did!

now, until a few years ago, i didn't even know what a scotch egg was.  but then i tried one at the renaissance festival (wonderful institution), and i decided that they were quite wonderful.  so for the similarly uninitiated and deprived, scotch eggs are hard-boiled eggs that have been encapsuled in sausage and fried.  delicious!

i fully expected my first attempt to be less than completely successful, so i didn't want to go for a full batch.  for my initial experiment, i kept the batch size to four.  total time (prep and cook) for this was about 30 minutes.  four eggs is probably enough for two sittings.  i'll also speculate that they would work quite well as superb owl party appetizers.  astonishingly, though, i forgot it was superb owl sunday until this afternoon.  go figure.
 

ingredients:
- eggs
- sausage (i used neese's with extra sage just because it looked interesting)
- flour
- oil (i used canola)

preparation:
hard-boil the eggs.  for those who haven't done it before, put the eggs in a pot of cold water (enough to cover the eggs) and bring to a boil.  remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let sit for 12 minutes.  rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.  shell the eggs and be sure to leave the egg intact.  i will say that the most tedious part of this process involves deshelling the eggs.  i admit breaking a couple of the egg whites, but it didn't stop me from making use of them for my experiment.

while the eggs are hard-boiling, form patties with the ground sausage.  the book's recipe calls for two ounces of sausage per egg.  once the eggs are ready and shelled, wrap the sausage around each egg.  i found that a long, rectangular patty of sausage was easier to manipulate than a round patty.  dredge each scotch egg in flour to prepare for the frying.

add oil to a shallow pan (i used an eight inch cast iron skillet) and bring up to a medium high heat.  once hot (i.e., a drop of water in the oil starts popping), put two eggs in and begin browning the sausage.  roll the egg around to thoroughly cook all parts of the sausage; i found that it took about 3-4 minutes to fully cook each egg.

remove the cooked eggs, put on a paper towel to absorb excess oil, and repeat with remaining eggs.

verdict and lessons learned:
for an initial experiment, i am quite satisfied with the results.  in fact, i'm glad i ignored the cookbook's recommendation to dunk the flour-dredged sausage in raw egg and breadcrumbs before frying; i think that would have been an unnecessary step that added little value and/or taste to the final product.  that said, there were several things that i will do better and/or differently next time.

1. don't overcook the hard-boiled eggs.  i noticed that the yolks of my scotch eggs were darker yellow, which seems to be indicative of being overcooked.  while 12 minutes seems to be a reasonable time to let eggs cook for normal hard-boiling, i suspect that the frying process continues to cook (and then overcook) the yolks.  next time, i'll try hard-boiling for only 10 minutes.  further refinement may be required.
2. cover the eggs in more sausage.  the two ounces of sausage per egg (as recommended by the cookbook) is clearly insufficient.  during the frying process, the sausage separated from the egg.  i suspect that the direct  contact between egg and oil exacerbated the problem of overcooked yolk.  next time, a little extra sausage should be added to ensure full coverage.
3. use a slotted spoon during the frying process.  today, i used a metal spatula to rotate the eggs in the oil.  a slotted spoon would make removing the fully-cooked scotch eggs easier (using a fork to balance the egg while trying to drain the oil is more difficult than it looks.

greek tacos?

so i had some feta cheese sitting in the back of my fridge, and i decided it was time to use it up.  my initial thought was to get some lamb and play around with that.  but then i realized how expensive lamb was.  so i decided to play with something else.  i got some ground pork and ground chicken (on sale!) and decided to make some stuffed pitas.

unfortunately, the pita bread i got turned out not to be the pocketed variety.  so it turned into tacos.  and given the feta cheese and spinach (not to mention the pita bread), it seemed to be more of a greek version.  which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

this took me maybe 30 minutes total...and it only took that long because i didn't realize at first that i turned on the wrong stove burner.  silly me.  this probably amounts to four "tacos."

ingredients:
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1 lb ground pork
- garlic (~3 cloves)
- crumbled feta cheese
- baby spinach
- grape tomatoes
- assorted spices (ground hot pepper, celery seed, basil, sage, rosemary, paprika)

preparation:
mix the ground meat into a large pan, and add the garlic (chopped up).  brown over medium-high heat (with the various herbs and spices) until the meat is cooked.  drain the grease.

add the meat, cheese, spinach, and chopped grape tomatoes to a pita.  enjoy.

results:
the bread wasn't doing what i wanted.  first, it wasn't a pocket pita...something that can be dealt with.  but second, the pita fell apart when i tried to eat it like a taco.  so i ended up using a fork to eat it like a salad.  that said, it all mixed together nicely.  except i really could have used a crunchy element.

i don't necessarily think i used traditional greek flavors, and the meat itself wasn't well-seasoned (i tried a couple pieces alone just to check), but it did work with the saltiness of the feta.  i suspect if i made some sort of sauce, things would've come together even better.  the long and the short is a worthwhile dinner...but my "greek" cooking obviously needs work.

chicken pie

it's been awhile since i've cooked something that hasn't already been posted and/or is worthy of documenting.  and although it got warm again (seriously, what's with the 9°F temperatures one day and 60°F temperatures the next?), i decided i wanted some chicken pie.  this is a recipe that's made its way through the family...i got the basic recipe from my mom, and i'm pretty sure she got it from someone from my dad's side of the family (cynthia).

total prep/cook time was about 2 hours (give or take), and the recipe makes what i will guess is about eight brian-sized servings.

ingredients:
- about 3-4 lbs chicken parts (i got split chicken breasts and some chicken livers)
- 2 cans cream of chicken soup
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup self-rising flour
- 1 cup milk
- 3/4 stick margarine
- celery (2 ribs)
- carrot (1 large)
- 1 small white potato
- 1 medium sweet potato
- green peas
- garlic
- seasonings

prepping the chicken:
put the chicken in a big pot and add enough water to cover.  add a stalk of celery, a couple cloves of garlic, and lemon pepper for seasoning.  simmer over mediumish heat for about 40 minutes.  remove the chicken, pull the meat off the bones, and put it in the bottom of a 9" x 13" pan.

prepping the vegetables:
peel/slice the carrots, slice a rib of celery, cube the white potato, and peel/cube the sweet potato.  spread the vegetables in the pan with the chicken.  sprinkle peas on top; i probably used a half-pound of them.

filling:
put about two cups of the chicken broth (from cooking the chicken) into a separate pot and mix in the soup.  bring the mixture almost to a boil and pour over the chicken.

crust:
mix the flour, milk, and melted margarine and pour over the top of the casserole dish.  i added black pepper to the flour (for taste) and paprika (for color).

bake at 425°F for 35 minutes (or until lightly browned).

results:
this recipe does not originally call for potato (or sweet potato).  i figured potato would work well, and i thought i'd try sweet potato just to see what would happen.  in this case, it adds a touch of sweetness that works well...especially in combination with the carrot.  overall, i am pleased.

i will say, though, that i had a lot of filling in my dish, and some of it bubbled over the top.  fortunately, i had the oven liner on the bottom, so i won't have to deal with cleaning it up later.  also, i decided that freezing the remaining chicken broth was worthwhile.

i have plenty of leftovers for awhile!

Amateur Crockpot Chicken Vindaloo

Guest Entree Entry

This recipe is inspired by a trip to one of my favorite small cities - Brevard, NC.  If you haven't been to Brevard, you need to go, today; seriously, stop what you are doing and head that way!  There are so many awesome little shops, including a new favorite - Spice it to a Tea.  Highly recommended by all the chefs on this blog. ;)

 

Now, the recipe below is a mash up from about 4 recipes I found online.  I picked the ingredients I knew I could attain at a reasonable price as well as the ingredients I was familiar with... This Indian cuisine typically has a lot more steps, but I am somewhat lazy... I mean afterall I used a Crockpot!

2 tbsp extra light olive oil

½ c Swanson’s 99% fat free chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 + ½ onions chopped
2 tbsp garlic minced
6 garlic cloves
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 Vindaloo Curry Powder tester packet from Spice it to a Tea Brevard, NC
1lb skinless boneless chicken breast cut into 1 inch cubes

If possible, marinate all the above ingredients overnight (which I did).  Place everything into a Crockpot and stir around until it’s evenly mixed.  Let it cook for either 4hrs on HIGH or 8hrs on LOW.  I did 4hrs on HIGH.

Serve over Jasmine or Basmati rice (I use the Basmati Uncle Ben’s 90 second rice). 

In case anyone was interested in the calories of this meal, we are looking at ¼ of the Vindaloo concoction at 280 calories (11g Fat, 20g Carbs, and 24g Protein). And half of the pouch of the rice is 220 calories.  Add the two together and you get a well balanced 500 calorie meal (50% Carbs, 25% Protein, 25% Fat).

 

Verdict:  It was OK for "Vindaloo" but I could tell it was very Americanized since I used common American ingredients.  I would tweak this recipe in the future.  With it being cooked in a Crockpot, the original moisture was retained, so I would nix the chicken broth.  It was a little too soupy for what I was expecting.  Also, some of the recipes I looked at said to use tomato paste.  With that being said, I would also incorporate that in the future to make it a little thicker.  But if you are looking for a semi-cultured dish with mild Indian-inspired flavor, this is it. 

sunflour baking company

i was poking around online trying to find a place to grab coffee with some friends, and i stumbled across something called sunflour baking company, which looked rather interesting.  i mean, who wouldn't want to get fresh baked goods?  so on this rather dreary sunday, i finally investigated the place.

i admit being impressed; i got a morning glory muffin and hot cocoa.  the muffin, as described by the menu, is "packed with carrots, pineapples, apples, coconut, raisins, and walnuts," and it seems to be the functional equivalent of hummingbird cake.  sans boiled sugar icing, of course.  i would definitely get it again.  the rest of the breakfast treats on display looked lovely, and i saw a corn and potato chowder on the menu, too.  next time, i may have to plan a visit around their baking schedule (so as to obtain bread fresh from the oven).

it was definitely worth a 20 minute drive from huntersville.  one would imagine that there would be some of a selection of independent coffee-type places in my neck of the woods, but this seems not to be the case.  so i may have to wander back down again in the future.

eggs and sage and stuff

i clearly have fallen down on the job.  i've been in huntersville for more than two months, and i haven't tried anything new that's worth documenting.

by no means am i saying that i haven't cooked anything...i've baked pies, made soup, and pan-seared chicken, pork, and other things.  but it's all been food that has previously been blogged.  (well, except for those toasted pumpkin seeds)

but i do seem to like frittata-type things, and i decided to document the final product of this one because it has different innards than previous versions.  however, since the basic concept is the same, i won't bore you with the details (bake at 350°F until golden brown and the egg is set...easy, right?).


i'll just say that this time, i browned some zucchini and grape tomatoes in a skillet with pepper and basil, added some spinach, smoked turkey (courtesy of dad's grill), and cheddar cheese to the five egg mixture.  i also used sage, garlic powder, and texas pete.

based on the smell alone, i think i like sage.  in addition to that herb, i think that browning the squash and tomatoes contributed to a lovely aroma to my kitchen.  and when everything was in the oven, the smoked turkey also shined through to make my apartment smell so nice.

all told, i may have slightly underseasoned the dish.  there were some definite pockets of spice in the frittata, but other parts were a little bland.  i suspect that the pockets correspond with the presence of the turkey.  still, it's a nice dinner for a weirdly warm december evening.

bueller?

Looks like this blog hasn't been touched in a while... who's got a suggestion for the chef(s)?