Pressure Cooker Brisket in a Pinch
April 25, 2013 - Written by Diana
Today I had plans for a brisket – all day in the crockpot, or smoking – plans for a slow cook. Alas, planning isn’t any good without the follow through. So here I had the brisket – small about a 1 1/2 lb brisket – targeted for dinner, but i was too late to go the slow way. Brisket cooked fast is chewy and tough, it needs time, unless you have a pressure cooker. I put that brisket under pressure, went for a walk with the dog and when we came back, it was ready to eat (the stove was attended, so no worries). The meat pulled apart easily, and the sauce ingredients had all melded together quite nicely for a good swish at the end with the pulled meat.
I’ve used the pressure cooker many times as a way to fix a meal quickly without losing the flavor or moistness. Since there is less evaporation due to the seal, you need a little less liquid but it’s still pretty juicy. The most difficult part for me is always when I have to wait for the little button to go …
Sausage, Swiss Chard and Sweet Potato Fritatta
April 12, 2013 - Written by DianaThis is a great winter/early spring fritatta using local ingredients. Some sweet potatoes hold up well in storage while chard is a cool weather crop. Our sausage is from Blues Creek Farm Meats – we went to a sausage making class and made our own sausage with spices from North Market Spices. My husband is on a low sodium diet; when we had the chance to make our own sausage without adding salt we jumped in. The pork sausage has a nice fennel and peppery spice to it – great flavor.
I want my egg dishes to have some bulk to it; I don’t want to be hungry in an hour. I add ingredients that will stay with us as well as have a ton of flavor. I try to use one pan – and while this is mostly a one pan meal(a one castiron pan meal), I do use the microwave for softening the sweet potatoes to speed the process up. You can saute it on the stove, or bake it in an oven or toaster oven wrapped in foil to soften it instead.
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Are you over run with Easter Eggs- or just plain old hard boiled eggs? I can eat hard boiled eggs long after Easter is over, but sometimes changing it up is fun also. Here are some different approaches to using up your hard boiled eggs. Serving Lamb for Easter has become a tradition in my home, and every year we knock it out of the park. One of my favorite pairings with lamb is dried fruit and wine. I ground up dates and added stonefruit vodka and rosemary to create a paste. After baking in the oven, the paste set up into a crust that was chewy and went well with the lamb rack chops. Really yummy! The photo is awful – I can’t go back and fix it – but you can probably see how the crust set up. Ingredients: Directions: Preheat oven to 375. In the magic bullet or another food processor – drop in the dates, garlic, shallot, and alcohol. Pulse until smooth. Add olive oil to thin out. We want a liquidy paste. Not too thick or thin. Easily spreadable, but not sliding off. Add half of the rosemary, salt and pepper, and pulse more. Salt the outside of the lamb and sear in a hot …
A rack of lamb makes an elegant display for a special meal. It’s not difficult to prepare, but you have to watch to make sure it’s not overcooked. The display of lollipop chops on top of polenta or even mashed potatoes is a great way to serve it individually as well. This is a savory presentation of a rack – and one of our favorite ways to eat it. Ingredients: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Your butcher should trim the rack, so that it’s ready to cook. Sear the rack on all sides to seal the juices in. Place all of the other ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Then with a basting brush or your fingers, spread the herbs & spices all over all sides of the rack. Place in a roasting pan (ours was a glass pan). Wrap foil on the chop bones so that they don’t burn. I used one piece cover all the bones, but …
I’ve tried lots of different instructions on how to hardboil an egg and some involve too many steps. This is the one that works for me. Place eggs in the bottom of your pot with enough room around so they don’t bump and cover with water – 1 inch above. Bring to rolling boil. Take off heat and cover. Let sit for 10 minutes. Rinse off with cold water. Voila! - 6 minutes for softboiled -8 minutes for medium boiled. This works – really it does. If you’d like to try baking your eggs in the shell – Kitchen Whisperer has some instructions for that. I saw a fun photo of Deviled Egg Chicks on My Little Chicken Coop’s Facebook page, so I did a quick little round up. This will go great with my Deviled Egg Recipe Round Up Post that I repeat every Easter. If you have a fun photo of your deviled egg chicks or bunnies feel free to drop a link in the comments – usually frowned upon uninvited, but I am inviting. Deviled Egg Chicks on Neatorama- http://www.neatorama.com/2012/03/28/deviled-egg-chicks/ Taste of Home – http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Chicks-on-the-Ranch-Deviled-Eggs Mommy’s Memorandum has a nice way to form the chick – http://mommysmemorandum.com/deviled-egg-chicks/ A different way to make deviled egg chicks without the lid. - http://www.foodwhine.com/2010/04/deviled-egg-chicks.html Deviled Egg Bunnies - From Papawow- these are really a cute idea - http://www.papawow.com/blog/deviled-easter-bunny-eggs.html Angry Chicken had some bunny heads made out of olives -http://angrychicken.typepad.com/angry_chicken/2007/04/easter_part_deu.html Easter is coming and you know what that means. You need to find recipes for the 12 dozen eggs you colored that your family will be tired of in 2 days. I feel you. I’m here for you.What better way to use up the eggs and give your family a tasty treat than by whipping up a big old batch of deviled eggs? Behold: This is one of my favorite meals and I get to cook it only once or twice a year – once on St. Patrick’s Day [March 17th for those not in the know] and again when either the mood strikes me or I have special guests. Well, the other day we had special guests in and not only did I make this special dinner, we actually sat at the Dining Room table! Beef Tenderloin Over Creamed Kale My husband picked up a Dry Aged Beef Tenderloin from Bluescreek Farm Meats this week and I knew it was the beef we could use for a special dinner. I was looking forward to trying out the tenderloin – which I’ve never cooked before. I love an opportunity to try out something new, but it can be a little scary trying out something new when you know if you mess up. That’s it, we’re eating it anyway because we spent the money already. This one though, this was a big winner. I researched the best cooking methods, and there was a consensus that high heat quickly was the way to go. I couldn’t use salt, because my husband is on a low sodium diet and meat carries its own sodium, so I wanted a way to keep it moist and flavorful but without added sodium. I decided to try out my dehydrated mushroom powder on the tenderloin. Last year I took mushrooms, dehydrated them, and then pulverized them to make it into a powder. I think mushrooms in gravy compliment steak. I …
Hard boiled Egg Recipes – or What To Do With All of Those Easter Eggs
April 1, 2013 - Written by Diana
Rosemary-Date Crusted Rack of Lamb
March 28, 2013 - Written by Diana
Rosemary & Garlic Roasted Rack of Lamb
March 26, 2013 - Written by Diana
Small Bytes – How to Hardboil an Egg – Easy
March 24, 2013 - Written by Diana
Deviled Egg Chicks and Bunny Round Up(s)
March 24, 2013 - Written by Diana
50 Deviled Eggs Recipes (Plus Some)
March 24, 2013 - Written by Deb Ng
50 Deviled Egg Recipes (plus some)
St. Patrick’s Corned Beef Dinner
March 16, 2013 - Written by Buff
Beef Tenderloin with a Mushroom Wine Reduction
February 22, 2013 - Written by Diana
