Green Chili Huevos Rancheros (with Perfect Poached Eggs)
Posted: February 22, 2013 Filed under: Breakfast Foods, Gluten Free, Main Dishes, Mexican Dishes, Pork, Uncategorized, Vegetarian | Tags: corn tortillas, eggs, green chili, huevos rancheros, Julie and Julia, perfect poached eggs, poached eggs, pork, refried beans, salsa Leave a comment »
“I thought eggs were going to be greasy and slimy, but it tastes like cheese sauce. Yum.” Julie Powell, “Julie and Julia”
(Becky, the Mama.)
The short list of foods my husband Greg can cook are: hamburger patties, grilled cheese sandwiches and pancakes. So it may come as a surprise to you, as it did to me, that Greg is the one who taught me to poach a perfect egg. His mother taught him as boy, and he taught me as a newlywed, and I have to say that when I cooked one correctly: whites firm, yolk thick but still with plenty of liquid gold, it was something of a revelation.
I’ve never been a fan of eggs. And I have no clue why poaching an egg in boiling water, rather than scrambling, boiling or frying (without benefit of bacon fat or butter!) transforms the lowly egg into something exquisite, but it does. To Julie Powell it tasted like cheese sauce; to me, with a tiny sprinkle of sea salt, a poached egg tastes like melted butter.
Last week I had a little left-over homemade green pork chili, along with some left-over homemade refried beans, and decided to make Huevos Rancheros. It was so good, hitting all the right flavor notes, I proceeded to have it every day for breakfast and lunch for the next three days. There was just something comforting and delicious about the combination of the flavors of warm corn, earthy beans and tangy green chilis topped with one perfect, buttery poached egg. Where had this dish been all my life? And why had I not made it before?
Green Chili Huevos Rancheros
Serves 1 or 2, depending on how hungry you are!
Ingredients:
2 large eggs
2 t. vinegar
Sea salt & pepper
Water – to fill about 2 inches depth in a small skillet
2 corn tortillas
½ cup refried beans, warmed
½ cup *pork green chili, warmed. Or if you prefer, any kind of salsa you like
Optional: garnish with slice of fresh jalepano
Directions:
Fill a small skillet 2/3 full with hot water. Add 2 t. white vinegar. Bring to boil. Carefully crack at egg into a small heat-proof bowl. Slip it carefully into the boiling water. Repeat with other egg.
Some of the white will float away, like foamy clouds. That’s okay. You can capture them later with a slotted spoon and eat them or ignore then and toss them away with the “bath water.” Cook about a minute, but this is not an exact time. (I like to cover the pan with a lid for a few seconds to insure a film forms over the yolks.)
When you see the whites are firm and yolk is still soft and gooey, remove carefully with a slotted spoon and let drain on a couple of folded paper towels. Sprinkle them with a little sea salt and pepper while still hot.
Wrap corn tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave about 15 seconds until they are hot and soft. Immediately put them on a plate and put ¼ cup warm refried beans on each tortilla and spread just to edges. Next, carefully set a poached egg on top. Finally ladle all with ½ cup of warm green pork chili or salsa. Garnish with slice of fresh jalepano if desired.
*You can find green chili of all varieties in the Hispanic food aisle of most grocery stores. I made my own quick green pork chili by blending 1 cup chicken broth with ¼ cup mild canned green chilis and 1 clove garlic in a blender. Then I mixed 1 1/2 T. flour with 1 T. olive oil and 2 t. butter until it made a smooth paste in a hot skillet. Then I slowly added the contents of the blender plus another cup chicken broth and ¼ cup more green chilis – whisking all the while until it was a desired thickness. (You can add more broth if needed. It should be the consistency of a good stew broth.) Finally I added about 2/3 cup of cubed leftover pork loin, a pinch of sugar (to balance tang of green chilis), then seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. You can use veggie or miso broth and omit the pork and make this a filling and delicious vegetarian meal.
Roasted Cabbage & Sausage with Honey Balsamic Glaze
Posted: September 18, 2012 Filed under: Chicken, Pork, Uncategorized, Vegan, Vegan Options, Vegetarian, Veggies | Tags: balsamic, cabbage, chicken sausage, honey, roasted, sausages 4 Comments »
Roasted Cabbage, Sausage and Honey Balsamic Glaze
(Becky, the Mama.)
Cooking or contemplating new recipes has always, for me, been the perfect Angst-Free Zone. I started copying and collecting recipes from my mother and grandmother when I was ten or eleven years old, painstakingly printing them by hand and tucking them into my $1.00 dime store metal recipe box. This activity was pure pleasure for me, an escape from summer boredom and a refuge from bad days at school.
With the election and crazy world events of late, there seems to be debates or conflict or pressure to “believe what I believe!” at every turn. The phone rings in the evenings with political calls; TV ads blare about Whose Fault Everything Is; and even Facebook, normally an Angst Free Zone for me, now feels like one of those awkward family conflicts that you happen to walk in on, and can’t wait to escape from.
So it was with a huge grin that I spied this little e-card on a friend’s Facebook page:
That’s me! I’m just over here in my Angst-Free Kitchen Corner saying, “Hey! I made cabbage!” Although, I must say it was really, really great cabbage. Sliced in thick steak-like slices and slathered with butter and seasoning. Then served with grilled chicken-apple sausages and drizzled with a honey-balsamic reduction.
Every good hostess knows that the best way to break up an awkward family debate is to divert attention by cooking something that smells amazing, and looks so delicious that all conversation stops, as wordless lip-licking and tummy-rubbing take over. This is one of those simple, delicious, comforting meals that could possibly bring about World Peace. At least at your dining table.
Roasted Cabbage & Sausage with Honey Balsamic Glaze
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Ingredients:
1 head of cabbage
2 T. olive oil
1 T. butter
4 chicken-apple sausage links (I used Johnsonville. Of course you can use any kind of sausage links you like in this recipe. Or for vegans, try Rachel’s favorite vegan sausage: Smoked Apple Sage Field Roast Sausages)
1/2 c. balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T. honey
Grill Seasoning or Salt & Pepper to taste
Directions:
Slice cabbage in 3/4 inch pieces as shown below.
Put olive oil and butter on a large baking sheet, and place in the oven for a minute until butter melts. Using a pastry brush, mix the oil and butter together and spread evenly on pan. Lay the cabbage pieces on the buttered-oiled pan, leaving space between each piece. Dip pastry brush into excess oil-butter surrounding the cabbage slices, and brush the tops of the cabbage.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper or grill seasoning, lightly. Put in oven to roast for 15 to 20 minutes or until the bottom turns dark brown in places. With a wide spatula, turn over, and sprinkle this side with salt and pepper or grill seasoning as well. Return to oven for another 10 to 15 minutes or until as soft as you like it.
In a small saucepan, mix the vinegar, honey and garlic together and stir over a low flame. Cut sausages in half, lengthwise and brush the cut sides with some of the balsamic mixture.
Put on oiled grill pan, cut side down and grill until nice dark grill marks appear and sausage is sizzling hot. Turn over and heat the other side.
In the meantime allow the balsamic mixture to continue to simmer (at medium to medium high heat) until it is reduced by half, and syrupy.
Arrange the cabbage slices with two sausage halves on plate as shown in picture. Drizzle both cabbage and sausage, prettily, with about a tablespoon of balsamic reduction. Serve. (I added a little side of chunky hash browns as well in photo below.)
This was printed from: We Laugh, We Cry, We Cook
The site URL: http://welaughwecrywecook.com
The Title: Roasted Cabbage, Sausage with Honey Balsamic Glaze
The URL: http://wp.me/p1UwM9-Hg
© Copyright 2012 – All Rights Reserved
“Band of Brothers” Bourbon Brown Sugar Pork Loin: Memorial Day Tribute
Posted: May 25, 2012 Filed under: Main Dishes, Pork, Uncategorized | Tags: Band of Brothers, bourbon, brown sugar, Buck Compton, butter, Call of Duty, Don Malarkey, Easy Company, Easy Company Soldier, Marcus Brotherton, Memorial Day, pork loin, pork tenderloin, We Who Are Alive and Remain Leave a comment »
Bourbon Brown Sugar Pork Loin (with a side of steamed cauliflower and cashew cheese sauce, and strawberry-spinach salad)
Don Malarkey, Buck Compton and Greg Johnson, my husband on Band of Brothers Tour to Europe
For those of you who have seen the HBO miniseries, “Band of Brothers,” you may recall the choking-back-tears comment from Don Malarkey as he described his comrades of the 101st Airborne, many decades after WW2. “Brave, so brave… it was unbelievable.” Greg and I had the privilege of a lifetime 4 years ago, when we got to spend 2 weeks in Europe with Buck Compton and Don Malarkey, two of the paratroopers portrayed in Band of Brothers.
We stood at the sea of white crosses in Normandy as a friend played taps. Don, Irish and emotional, wept openly as Buck wiped away a tear and swallowed. We walked with these old soldiers through the Bastogne forest where they once nearly froze and starved in foxholes to protect our freedom in the Battle of the Bulge. They remember their dear friends whose legs were blown off in this lovely green forest, once white with snow and red with blood and lit up with terrible fire and noise of war. I gathered pine cones on that misty summer day, to give to my children and grandchildren. To help me remember the sacrifice so many made to secure our freedom.
We visited with a family whose parents/grandparents were liberated from their own home by Easy Company soldiers. The family showed us a room with a red stain on the floor. It was were a Nazi was shot and killed. They looked at Don and Buck with such admiration and gratitude.
Everywhere we went these two vets were instantly surrounded when people heard that there were American paratroopers among us. They are rock stars in Europe where children grew up hearing of the “angels coming out of the sky” in parachutes to save them from the German soldiers.
They are rock stars to me.
Greg and I had lunch with Don this year as he was passing through town with a friend. He’s had to give up his beloved nightly nip of Johnny Walker for his health now that he is 90. His hearing is going, but he seemed awfully pleased when I kissed him on the cheek.
A kiss for a hero, Don Malarkey of “Easy Company” portrayed in the Band of Brothers.
Buck, dear Buck, that gentle brilliant kind soul passed away in January. (Click here to read one of many tributes to this brave, humble man who eventually became a judge. )
I doubt there will ever be a Memorial Day when I don’t think of that trip and those heart-tugging experiences, and of these men.
Thank you to Don & Buck for sharing your stories*, and for risking your lives for our freedom.
Since Don can’t toast Memorial Day with a glass of scotch anymore, I’m dedicating this Bourbon Pork Loin recipe to him and all the Easy Company men. (The recipe is also “easy for company.”) Since the alcohol burns off, it’s safe to serve to the whole family. It is one of Greg’s absolute favorite meals, and every man I’ve served it to looks heavenward with joy after they take a bite.
Bourbon Brown Sugar Pork Loin
“Band of Brothers” Bourbon Pork Loin
Brown Sugar, Bourbon, Tony’s, Butter — 4 ingredients to sublime pork loin
Bourbon Brown Sugar Pork Loin, just out of the oven
Call of Duty by Buck Compton http://tinyurl.com/m6ld3t
http://www.marcusbrotherton.com/(Marcus is the collaborator and has fabulous video/pictures relating to Buck’s book)
Recently Marcus Brotherton interviewed and collected stories from the 101st airborne (Easy Company) into a book called: We Who Are Alive and Remain:Untold Stories from the Band of Brothers by Marcus Brotherton.
http://tinyurl.com/ox69nx
http://www.bandofbrothersbooks.com/(website with video)
The site URL: http://welaughwecrywecook.com
The Title: Bourbon Brown Sugar Pork Loin
The URL: http://wp.me/p1UwM9-kL
© Copyright 2012 – All Rights Reserved
BLT/Avocado Salad with Roasted Pepper Dressing
Posted: May 23, 2012 Filed under: Pork, Salads, Uncategorized, Vegan Options | Tags: avocado, bacon, BLT, BLT salad, roasted pepper dressing, roasted peppers, tomatoes 1 Comment »
Becky’s BLT/Avocado Salad with Roasted Pepper Ranch Dressing
(Becky)
When my daughter Rachel was a little girl, I asked her, “What would you rather be when you grow up, a doctor or a nurse?” I wanted her to know she would not be bound by gender rules, that she could be anything she wanted to be as an adult.
She pondered it for a minute then answered, thoughtfully. “I’m not sure. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see which outfit looks better on me.”
Though her reasoning may be dubious from a career-choosing standpoint, I must admit that I adopt her philosophy a lot when it comes to cooking. “What’s for dinner?” my husband will ask. “I don’t know yet,” I’ll say as I rummage through the fridge. “It depends on what jumps out at me, sounds good and looks pretty in a picture for the food blog.”
Rachel and I laugh that the way to get food re-pinned on Pinterest is to put a slice of avocado on it. We’ve debated about putting a piece of avocado on everything we make, from desserts to cocktails, as our “signature garnish.” Because, let me tell you, people love the sight of a green, ripe avocado in food pictures!
Thus, using those guidelines, this salad was born. At the end of groceries I had one meat protein left in the fridge: natural, nitrate-free bacon. (Though I’m shifting toward vegetarianism, my husband is staying put in the land of meat for now, so I try to buy the least processed, organic varieties.) I thought about a BLT sandwich, but our waistlines are calling for more vegies and less bread. Ah-ha! A BLT salad! Then I spied some of those little sweet red and yellow peppers in the crisper. With a roasted pepper dressing! Yes! I pulled out a little of the leftover cornbread in the back of the fridge, spread with butter and broiled until crispy, like a giant cornbread crouton. Ta-dah. Dinner done.
Needless to say, it worked. We WILL be having this salad again.
Vegetarians and Vegans: There are lots of bacon bits that are great for vegans and vegetarians. McCormicks makes a tasty brand and is easy to find at most any grocery store.
Becky’s BLT/Avocado Salad with Roasted Pepper Dressing
BLT/Avocado Salad with Roasted Pepper Dressing
Makes two meal-sized salads
Ingredients
Nitrate Free Uncured Bacon (8 slices, cut in one inch pieces with kitchen scissors before cooking. It is okay if they stick together in little bundles. They will separate in the skillet as the fat melts.)
(Vegans: use 1/4 cup vegan “bacon bits” in place of bacon, such as McCormick’s brand. Or make your own vegan coconut bacon.)
2 cups mixed salad greens (I used spinach and romaine)
2 small to medium tomatoes, diced
1 avocado, peeled and diced
1 red pepper or 4 small sweet peppers, roasted (See pics below) (You can also used jarred roast peppers if you have them on hand.)
1/2 cup your favorite Ranch Dressing (There are plenty of good vegan varieties! Also, to cut calories, you may want to use 1/4 cup Greek Yogurt for 1/4 cup of the Ranch Dressing.)
Directions:
Cook the cut up bacon over medium high heat in a skillet until the pieces are golden crisp and brown. Drain on paper towels. While bacon is cooking, roast the peppers over a gas flame or under the broiler. Put them in a plastic bag when they have a good char all around so the steam will loosen the skin. Wipe the charred pepper skin off with a paper towel.
Tiny red peppers roasting on an open fire… 
Red peppers in a sandwich baggy, steaming and loosening the charred skin
Wiping away the charred skin with paper towel. Don’t worry about getting all char off of the peppers. Some of it adds flavor.
Into each of two large salad bowls (I like big pasta bowls for this), put one cup of mixed salad greens. Sprinkle each salad with half the tomatoes and avocados. Top with crispy bacon or bacon bits.
Put Ranch Dressing and roasted pepper into a food processor or blender. Blend to desired consistency. I left the peppers a little bit chunky.
Ladle dressing down the middle of the salads and serve. A few turns of fresh pepper are nice. This is especially good with cornbread on the side.
Variations: Additional yummy add-ins could be thinly sliced red onion or chopped green onion, corn, beans, or a diced boiled egg.
BLT/Avocado Salad with Roasted Pepper Dressing
This was printed from: We Laugh, We Cry, We Cook
The site URL: http://welaughwecrywecook.com
The Title: BLT/Avocado Salad wth Roasted Pepper Dressing
The URL: http://wp.me/p1UwM9-kh
Bacon Apple Salad with Brown Sugar Dressing
Posted: April 27, 2012 Filed under: Main Dishes, Pork, Salads, Uncategorized, Vegan Options | Tags: apple, bacon, brown sugar, salad, salads 2 Comments »
Becky's Bacon Apple Salad with Brown Sugar Dressing
Here is my Facebook status from last night, which drew a crowd of friends volunteering to join the experiment:
“I really do think I could live the vacation life all year long. Sleep late, coffee & toast, to pool to read and swim, lunch, check email, etc., more pool reading and swimming. Happy Hour. Cook dinner or go out to eat. Relax some more. Bedtime. Repeat. Why aren’t we all on this schedule all the time? The world would be such a happy place if it were. I think it might even wipe out PMS.”
I’m on the sixth day of this schedule and I can tell you the world seems brighter, my heart seems happier and people, in general, of all shapes and sizes and ages seem especially adorable. I think I may have discovered the cure for world peace. Yesterday at the pool, with some sort of soft jazz playing in the background I looked up into a blue cloudless sky and, I kid you not, someone was sky-writing, “God loves you. Jesus forgives you.” I started wondering if perhaps I had stepped into the Christian version of the Truman Show. But I’m going with it.
I have come to the conlusion that the cure for World Peace is for all of us to be on perpetual vacation. Well, that, and bacon.
I cooked up a mess of bacon from the remaining contents of our condo fridge this morning. Bacon alone makes my normally laid-back husband want to dance me around the kitchen. But I needed to make something lunch-worthy out of it. I spied an apple. Lettuce. Italian Dressing. Brown Sugar. Voila! Bacon Apple Salad with Brown Sugar Dressing. Seriously, how could this not be amazing? Let me assure you it is!
And in keeping with keeping me out of the kitchen and at the swimming pool, it is also easy. Enjoy it and visualize, “World Peace. God loves you. Jesus forgives you. Bacon is good stuff.”
Becky's Bacon Apple Salad with Brown Sugar Dressing
Becky’s Bacon Apple Salad with Brown Sugar Dressing
Serves 2
Ingredients
1 small head of lettuce or spinach, chopped (1 to 1 1/2 cups per person)
1 large apple, cored and sliced thin
6 pieces of bacon, cut in small pieces and “stir-fried”
1 t. bacon drippings
1/3 c. your favorite Italian Dressing
1 T. brown sugar
Directions
Divide lettuce into two salad bowls. Arrange apple slices over each. Top with crumbled bacon, dividing evenly. In small skillet put 1 t. bacon drippings, Italian dressing and 1 T. brown sugar. Warm just until brown sugar melts, cool slightly then drizzle desired amount over each salad.
Variations: Try this vegan version of baconmade with wide pieces of coconut, liquid smoke, and soy sauce. Add avocados, dried fruit or use crisp pears instead.
This was printed from:
We Laugh, We Cry, We Cook
The site URL: http://welaughwecrywecook.com
The Title: Bacon Apple Salad with Brown Sugar Dressing
The URL: http://wp.me/p1UwM9-eS
Becky Johnson
Rachel Randolph
