Happy Easter!

Mean Green Bean Casserole

Spring Holiday Food Edition #2 

Okay it's not really "mean" because it's not spicy but we added bacon goodness to this which makes it so much better. 

 

Easter Dinner - Torch Glazed Ham, Potatoes Au Gratin, Green Bean Casserole WITH BACON, Cranberry Orange Relish and Hawaiian Rolls.

This is the Easter edition of the blog - you may have seen that I gave equal time to Passover (Pesach) today as well. We are an equal opportunity food eating family around here and love to pay homage to different cultures through cuisine.

Easter Dinner this year is a simple plan but with lots of love and favorite dishes. We buy Dearborn Brand Torch Glaze Ham in little packages that have been sliced rather than the whole ham. We found that we always had too much leftovers. Many stores around town will sell it to you sliced from their deli counter.

Add our favorite sides: Au Gratin Potatoes (Betty Crocker, baked in the oven instead of on the stovetop), Sweet Corn with a little cream and butter, Cranberry Sauce with Mandarin Oranges and Cinnamon Sugar, and the Green Bean Casserole.

The Green Bean Casserole is the regular recipe you find on the back of the Durkee French Fried Onions. There is another version on the back of the Spartan which is really also very good. However, neither one of them mention adding crumbled bacon to the casserole which is really a travesty! It's so much better!

I started with a 1/2 pound of bacon that we cooked on a broiler pan. For those of you who have not tried cooking bacon this way it's fool proof and very tasty. I line the inside broiler pan with foil to catch the dripping for less mess. Put the bacon in a COLD oven at 400 degrees. It will take about 18-20 minutes for it to cook up, getting crispy and turning bright red. I let this cool down and then crumbled it up to add to the casserole that we had planned. Super easy - just one additional step to add to the wow factor.

Happy Passover and Easter!!!! Enjoy good food with your family!

Happy Passover!

Matzoh Brei

Spring Holiday Food Edition #1

Matzoh Brei with Strawberry Blueberry Jam

It's no coincedence that Passover (Pesach) and Easter fall around the same time. In an interfaith house that means the best of both worlds when it comes to food. Later today I will be posting Easter Dinner - a not so fancy affair around here but a showcase of delicious foods. Therefore it's only fair I post our breakfast yesterday of Matzo Brei.

What's Matzo Brei? It is Matzoh broken up in scrambled eggs. Think of it as the Jewish equivalent to Migas, a Mexican dish of tortillas and eggs, or an unleavened version of French Toast. I really like Matzo Brei but should note that every family probably has their own version or recipe. Ours is definitely scrambled, rather than an omlette.

I start with the eggs, whisking them in a bowl and adding a little bit of salt. To this I add the Matzoh but run each sheet under water on both sides and then break it up into the eggs in small pieces. Matzo is very dry as it is an unleavened bread basically made out of just wheat and some water, and baked without the time or ability to rise. I usually use one more egg than sheets of Matzoh but noticed this time an extra egg was needed. For this dish, I used 5 sheets of Matzoh and 7 eggs for three servings of brunch.

I let Matzoh soak in the egg mixture for about five minutes to really absorb the egg mixture. I then placed it in a pan with melted butter on medium high heat. Just like with scrambled eggs I let it "sit" for a minute before scrambling with my wooden spoon. This way it sets up very nicely and gets browned a bit. Some folks skip the scramble all together, flipping the whole kit and caboodle to make an omelette. I have also seen this as a more savory dish with onions and garlic. I'm more of a purist, adding very little to this dish.


You don't want to overcook this. Just like with scrambled eggs, you turn off the heat before it's really dry, you want some glistening egg. . . I plate it and add a nice genorouse heap of jelly to eat on the side. I don't know how that started but that's how I ate it as a child and I think it gives it a French Toast kind of feel. I guess you could use maple syrup too if you wanted to. . . That might be worth a try.

St. Patrick's Day Dinner:

Corned Beef and Cabbage with some Twists!

Glazed Corned Beef and Braised Cabbage

Last week my daughter got a sample of corned beef at the local grocery store and announced that she loved it and demanded to know when I would make it for her, urging me to buy a package right then and there. I have been making corned beef for years but sometimes it takes time for kids to come around right?

Corned Beef with Glaze, Braised Cabbage, and Carrots and Potatoes

Sy Ginsberg's Corned Beef Brisket!

I did end up buying some corned beef later that day when I found it on sale. Sy Ginsberg is considered a cut above the rest locally and if you are going to make this stuff you might was well use the best. . . especially when it's on sale!

Now I did some research and according to the Ginsberg family they really do encourage cooking the corned beef in a pot. I know my limits. . . I am not sitting here all day watching that pot. A crock pot is just easier and we are going to do some things to this corned beef afterwards (a glaze finished up in the oven) that I really am not super concerned about tradition.

I have also read differing opinions about cooking the cabbage in the crock pot so today we are going to bake it in wedges in the oven separately. My kids aren't going to eat cabbage anyways, who am I kidding?

Corned Beef, Potatoes, Carrots, Beer, Apple Juice and Beer!

       Potatoes and carrots are mainstays in the crock pot part of this dinner. I left out the onions, along with the cabbage, on purpose. I may get more interest without them. For the liquid, I used a bottle of beer. Today I discovered a bottle of Shiner Bock in the fridge. I can honestly tell you I don't recall how it came to be here but often friends bring by some new bottles/brands for summer nights on the porch so it's been here a while. I decided to continue to hoard my more coveted beer (including Bell's, Frankenmuth and some Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat) for drinking rather than cooking. Often if the beer is too wheaty, it's kind of weird in cooking anyways.

Because one bottle of beer won't cover the meat, I also added a good helping of apple juice and then added some water to make sure it really was covered in liquid.

Carrots and Potatoes

I chopped up the carrots and the potatoes into bite size pieces and created a "bed" for the brisket. I then placed the meat on top of this, added the beer, apple juice and then water on top. I used just a pinch of the spices included in the packet with the corned beef. I am not a huge fan of caraway and didn't want it to overpower the meat and the brisket was already seasoned. I also added some fresh ground pepper and grounded some garlic salt into the liquid to add a little bit more flavor. With the apple juice and beer we want to add some spice.

Liquid to Cover the Meat

This concoction is going to cook on low for about 9 hours. I put it on high for about five minutes just to get it started and then down to low. I started this before I began my day so it would have plenty of time to cook and be ready for Sunday dinner. At about the 4 hour mark, I did flip the meat. While I put enough liquid in the crock pot to cover it (especially once it started cooking and shrinking) it tended to float to the top so I thought it would make sense to make sure both sides of the meat got bathed in the apple/beer goodness. Do I need to tell you the house smells great? I love cooking like that - coming into the house and smelling home cooked love.

Nine Hours Later: So soft it's falling apart.

 After the brisket was done - truly 9 hours later - it was time to make the glaze. I actually started it a bit sooner as I waited for cupcakes to bake. I originally envisioned a glaze that had more emphasis on the orange marmalade but it turned out it was too bitter by itself so I balanced it with brown sugar and soy sauce, along with some cranberry juice and spicy brown mustard. My second version was much better. Note to self: Seville Orange Marmalade from Trader Joe's boasts its bitter flavor on the back of the jar. Make sure to try apricot preserves instead next time. That being said, the mixture of flavors provided a real good play on flavors, sweet from the sugar, a bit of bitterness from the marmalade, some tang from the cranberry juice and vinegar, and some heat with the spicy brown mustard. I placed it in the fridge for a bit to get a little thicker so it could be a true glaze.

Glazed Corned Beef - Ready to Plate

I placed the corned beef in a Pyrex dish and spread the glaze on top of the brisket and placed in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Finished Cabbage

Thank goodness for two ovens. For the cabbage, I sliced it into 1 inch or so rounds as I had read from another article on Pinterest for Oven Roasted Cabbage and just drizzled olive oil on the cabbage that was on the raised cookie sheet and sprinkled with some salt and pepper. 400 degrees for about a half hour.

Glazed Corned Beef and Braised Cabbage

Ingredients

Corned Beef in Crock pot:

1 Corned Beef Brisket
1 Package of Carrots
2 Large Potatoes
1 Bottle of Beer
2 Cups Apple Juice
Water (adjust to level of crock pot)
Fresh Ground Pepper
Garlic Salt
Pickling Spices to Taste

Glaze:

1/3 cup of Soy Sauce
1/3 cup of Cranberry Juice (unsweetened)
1/3 cup of Dark Brown Sugar
1/3 cup of Orange Marmalade
2 Tablespoons Spicy Brown Mustard
1 Tablespoon Rice Wine Vinegar

Braised Cabbage:

1 Head of Cabbage
1/3 cup Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

• Chop carrots and potatoes into bite sized pieces. Put in the bottom of the crock pot and place the brisket on top. Add the beer and apple juice, putting in additional water to make sure the brisket is completely covered. Sprinkle with the seasoning packet (to taste) that comes with the brisket, along with additional pepper and garlic salt. Set at high until it starts to heat up and switch to low. Plan on 9 hours at low, occasionally turning the meat.
• Mix the ingredients for glaze. Put in fridge to thicken.
• Rinse the cabbage and cut into 1 inch slices. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in a 400 degree oven for about a half hour.
• Remove brisket from the crock pot and place in a Pyrex dish. Remove glaze from fridge and spread on top of the corned beef. Place in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.
• Slice a piece of brisket and place on plate, along with a round of cabbage. With a slotted spoon, add carrots and potatoes from the crock pot.
• Enjoy!