Mini Pasties Appetizer

Yesterday, the city of Hancock celebrated Heikinpäivä,   The celebration’s themes are taken from Finnish folk saying associated with the name day for Heikki (St. Henrik's Day, Jan. 19th):

“Heikki heinät jakaa.” 

Translated, it means "Heikki divides the hay." It was a time when the farmer took stock of his hay, grains and other commodities, making sure that there was at least half left.  So we celebrate winter being halfway over here.   

The Copper Country Community Arts Center hosts an exhibit "Animals of the Kalevala" theme.   Each year, I make some art featuring a pike.   I volunteered to help with refreshments, and I made mini pasties.   A long time ago, this recipe was featured in the Ann Arbor News, and when we were newlyweds, I made them often for parties.    I forgot all about it and lost my newspaper clipping, but my friend Leah shared her recipe with me that was similar to the Ann Arbor News one, complete with a rich butter and cream cheese crust.   I tweaked her recipe a bit and here is how I make them.  I am so thankful she reminded me of this popular appetizer.

Mini Pasties

makes about 75 appetizers

Crust

2 1/2 c flour
1 t. salt
1 c. butter cut into cubes
8 oz. cream cheese, cut into cubes
1/4 c heavy cream (approximately

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix all ingredients except the cream until crumbly.   Add enough heavy cream to make the dough come together.   Form into 2 disks and wrap in plastic wrap and chill in fridge while making the filling.

Filling

1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 t. thyme
1 t. garlic powder
2 T. Tabasco sauce
3 slices white bread
salt and pepper, to taste

Brown ground beef and onion in a large skillet.   Drain fat.   Add thyme, garlic powder, Tabasco sauce and salt and pepper.   Soak bread in water and wring out and add to pan.   Using a potato masher or a ground beef chopper, work soaked bread into ground beef until mixture is chopped very fine.  Adjust seasonings as needed.

Roll out the crust to 1/8" and use a 3 inch biscuit cutter to cut dough into circles.  Fill with filling and crimp with a fork.  Brush with an egg wash (mix one egg with 2 T water) and bake for 20-25 mins. at 400 F.  

Traditionally, pasties are served with ketchup; I served these yesterday with Heinz Dill Pickle Ketchup for added flavor.  

 

Onion Souffle Dip

 I was reminiscing about a place I loved in Elizabethtown KY called the Back Home Restaurant that started out 40 years ago as a crafts and antique emporium, and then they added a cafe so the husbands could have something to do while their wives shopped.   The cuisine is homestyle comfort food, and I was hoping they wrote a cookbook I could get.   I didn't find one, but noticed they had something called "Sweet Onion Souffle Dip", which sounded really interesting.    A quick googling resulted in my learning that the original came from a Memphis Junior League Cookbook, and it sounded so delicious, I had to try it!  I found a recipe in a food blog I like, but I tweaked it a bit to my taste.   I forgot to take a picture of it, so I will borrow this one from that food blog and include the link to it

photo courtesy of White on Rice Couple blog

  

This dip tastes just like French onion soup.   So delicious!  The traditional southern treatment is to serve it with Fritos, but since I always have homemade sourdough on hand, I served it with thin slices of bread like the WoR couple suggested.   Here's how I made it:

Sweet Onion Souffle Dip

8 ounces cream cheese 

1/2 cup mayo (I only use Helmans) 

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 

1 1/2  cup diced sweet onion like Vidalia or Walla Walla

2 teaspoons  freshly cracked black pepper 

Preheat the oven to 350°F 

In a bowl, mix together the cream cheese, mayonnaise, Parmesan, onion, and black pepper and until everything is thoroughly combined. Pour and gently spread the mixture into a 8" cast iron fry pan 

Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 50 minutes to one hour, or until everything is melted together the crust is a deep brown. When the top crust is brown and almost burnt-looking, the dip is ready. The darker brown the crust becomes, the better the flavors are.

They also suggested make big batches, and then just dish out the un-baked dip into baking containers and then bake it whenever you need to serve it, so this would be a great idea to whip up a big batch during the holiday season and it can be your dish to pass wherever you go.   I think that is a great idea! 

New Year, New Baby

 

We had a baby shower for my daughter in law Olivia yesterday.   My first grandbaby!  The food was delicious, many of the ladies brought yummy food to pass.  I made some mini cheese balls (shown above) from my favorite cheeseball recipe formed in half inch balls that  I rolled in ground pecans.   This is so much more convenient than a whole cheeseball for a large crowd.  I made a great recipe for Mediterranean Turkey Pinwheels I found on the interwebs that was delicious and easy.   I made them a day ahead and wrapped them in waxed paper tightly.   I cut them with a serrated knife and secured them with a toothpick.   I also made an old favorite appetizer recipe for mini pasties that my friend Leah reminded me about.   Years ago, I clipped this recipe out of the late great Ann Arbor News Food section, but I misplaced it.  She shared it in our fb group.  I tweaked it a little to match our tastebuds, but it was just as good as I remembered. 

Little Pasties

Dough

1 cup butter
8 oz cream cheese
¼ cup evaporated milk
2 ½ cups flour
1 t salt

In a stand mixer, cream butter and cream cheese and beat in milk. Add flour and salt. Chill dough well.

Filling

2 lbs ground beef
1 large onion, diced very fine

2 t thyme

2 T Tabasco sauce
3 slices bread

1/4 c. evaporated milk

Egg wash

1 egg

1 t. water. 

Brown meat and onion, breaking meat into small crumbles and drain excess fat. Soak bread slices in milk, gently squeeze out excess water and then add to meat. Add thyme and Tabasco. Mix well (best to use a potato masher to blend in the bread into the meat). Set aside to cool.

Roll out dough to 1/8” thick and cut out 2” or 2 ½” circles using a biscuit cutter. Mix 1 egg with 1 t water and use wash on edge of dough circles, add meat mixture and use a fork to seal edges. Brush finished pasty with egg wash.

Freeze uncooked. Bake at 400F for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

It was a delicious spread!  I am looking forward to more cooking in the New Year!

Rooster's Famous Firecrackers

Originally developed at Roosters, a gourmet take-out, cookware  shop, and cooking school in Greensboro, North Carolina, food scientist and best-selling cookbook author Shirley Corriher wrote about this snack and I had to try it for myself.   Perfect for wine or a party, also nice with soup.  They are fantastic!  Make as spicy as you dare...

Rooster's Famous Firecrackers

1 sleeve saltines

1 teaspoon salt free seasoning  (I like Mrs Dash Extra Spicy

hot pepper flakes

10 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated fine 

Arrange a rack in the center and preheat oven to 475ºF.  Line a cookie sheet with aluminum and arrange crackers (about 40) in rows so that crackers are touching each other. Sprinkle seasoning over crackers, then sprinkle with as many pepper flakes as you think you might like. Finally, top evenly with grated cheese. Bake for 1 minute only. Turn the oven off, don't open the door.  Leave in the oven overnight.

The next morning, crack them into snack size pieces

So delicious!  Perfect Super Bowl snack.

Delicious Glazed Nuts

It has been over 4 years since the original Selma Cafe closed.....quintessentially Ann Arbor, it was how I spent most ever Friday morning for 4 years...eating breakfast with strangers.   I made many friends at Selma, still eat breakfast on Fridays with a handful of special ones, and it was how I got the recipe for these spiced nuts.    One of the guest chefs (and often expediter) Dan Vernia was the chef for a while at an Ann Arbor restaurant called the Raven's Club, and I tasted these great nuts on a charcuterie plate he served me there once.   Sadly, it's no longer on the menu, and he no longer works there, but he gave me the recipe.

Pecan/Nut Coating

1 t. salt
1/2 t. black pepper
1 t. Cholula hot sauce
1/2 t. cumin
1/4 t. cayenne
1/2 t. smoked paprika
1/4 t. thyme
1/3 c brown sugar
2 T. water
4 c. nuts

Preheat oven to 350F.  Cover a cookie sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.

Add all ingredients except nuts to a saute pan and heat until the sugar dissolved and mixture is bubbling and reduced until thick.   Add nuts and mix.   Pour nuts onto the cookie sheet and spread out evenly.   Bake for 5-10 minutes until lightly browned.

Pickled Shrimp

I spend a lot of my work time in the south these days, which has enhanced my appreciation of southern food.   I think I really got interested in it when I read the Lee brothers epic cookbook Southern Cuisine, and now wherever my business travel takes me, I am always wandering around bookstores looking at local cookbooks to add to my collection.    It was courtesy of the aforementioned Brothers Lee that I first heard of pickled shrimp, and I had it bookmarked in my brain to try for a while now.   The other day a recipe from Cook's Country popped up in my feed that I was inspired to try out, with my own adaptations.   I like my food a bit spicier than they do!

I liked the taste of the coriander seeds they suggested.   I didn't have any lemons or dill so I skipped it, and I reduced the oil and used a heavier hand with the hot pepper flakes.   Here's how I made it:

Pickled Shrimp

2 pounds extra-large shrimp (21 to 25 per pound), peeled and deveined
Salt
8 cups Ice
1 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon allspice berries
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 T red pepper flakes
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 T capers
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup thinly sliced red onion



Combine 4 cups cold water, shrimp, and 2 teaspoons salt in Dutch oven. Set pot over medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until water registers 170 degrees and shrimp are just beginning to turn pink, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let sit until shrimp are completely pink and firm, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir ice into pot and let shrimp cool completely, about 5 minutes. Drain shrimp in colander. Combine vinegar, sugar, garlic, bay leaves, allspice, coriander seeds, and pepper flakes in large bowl and microwave until hot, about 2 minutes. Stir to dissolve sugar. Let cool completely. Whisk in oil, capers, mustard,  hot sauce, Worcestershire, and 1 teaspoon salt until combined. Stir onion, and shrimp into vinegar mixture until thoroughly combined. Push to submerge shrimp in marinade, then place small plate on top to keep submerged. Cover and refrigerate, stirring occasionally, for at least 3 hours or up to 48 hours. To serve, remove shrimp from marinade using slotted spoon.

I really loved how this came out!  We ate it for supper with garlic bread, but it would make a great party appetizer/

Gyoza: Japanese Pork and Shrimp Potstickers

I had been dreading this month's Cook the Books challenge  since I signed up.  It's a monthly challenge of cooking from a particular cookbook, and this one involved Asian dumplings.  I've tried to make potstickers at home a couple times and it has never ended well.  I've found them to be a big hassle to make and I could never get them to stay together and I'd end up with a skillet of wonton skins and their innards all spewed out and calling the whole mess "stir fry".    So I settled on eating them frozen or going to a Japanese restaurant to get my fill of gyoza, but I adore them.

This month's selected cookbook is Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More by Andrea Nguyen, who is a food writer who often appears in Saveur.   So, I set my jaw and my mouse clicker finger and interlibrary loaned it from the library.   It took a while to get it - the book appears to be pretty popular.  All the copies were checked out in the network - perhaps it wouldn't be too bad if everyone is checking it out.    I started reading it when I had the foreshadowing that this might not go well for me.    First of all, there is lots of  special equipment required - a wooden dowel rolling pin that can only be found in "housewares and restaurant supply houses in Asian enclaves".  While Ann Arbor is home to a good many Asians - many on the University of Michigan faculty and the headquarters for both Toyota and Hyundai in North America are in our town, there isn't any restaurant supply stores nearby, and there's only one Asian grocery store, and it is very small.   I thought I could just make my own rolling pin from hardware store dowel rod, but that would require more effort than I was willing to put into the task.  I do have a Chinese steamer and a scale, but I didn't have the required tortilla press and I refuse to buy one.    The author makes the whole dough process sound so difficult - the basic dumpling dough calls for only 2 ingredients - flour and water, but she writes a whole paragraph about how to boil water and let it rest first, because boiling water is "dangerous".   Really? Dangerous?   Then, each piece of dumpling dough is supposed to be weighed to "be precise".  I decided I was going to have to take her up on her judgmental "lazy day tip" and buy premade wrappers instead of making my own dough.

I decided to make gyoza - the Japanese adopted Chinese potstickers.  I headed out to my town's sole Asian grocery and bought some frozen gyoza wrappers - they had many varieties of frozen wrappers, not just gyoza style.  I also needed some sake for the recipe, which I don't particularly like drinking and still have most the bottle in my fridge, to go along with the remaining napa cabbage it called for.  Napa cabbage heads are big, and the amount needed is small.   Curiously, throughout the book, Ms. Nguyen makes many recipes that start out with two cups of lightly packed, finely chopped napa cabbage, that she claims will reduce down to 1/2 cup after salting and rinsing it. but I didn't find that to be the case.  All you really need is a couple leaves of napa to for a batch.   I'll need to figure out something to do with the rest of it.

Ms Nguyen's recipe goes on for 3 pages and with every possible step explained into minutiae.  It has some strange warnings, like how to hold the lid of the skillet to "lessen the dramatic affect of water hitting hot oil"....huh?  This gal has some serious worries about hot water.  Every little step of every recipe is explained in annoying detail.  It got to the point where I was waiting for her to tell me when to breathe.   The bottom line is that I discovered that despite her best effort to disguise the fact, making gyoza wasn't really all that hard.   I read through her descriptions of how to make the master shapes of dumplings and found out that I loved the pea pod shape - like a pair of sweat pants, it lets you stuff the dumpling with filling and pleat it up at the seam.   It was super easy and they looked authentic, too:

Even though I used the "lazy day" method by buying frozen dumpling wrappers, I'd definitely recommend making gyoza from scratch instead of buying the frozen ones - they tasted way better.   Here's how I made Ms. Nguyen's recipe....

Japanese Pork and Shrimp Potstickers

1 cup finely chopped napa cabbage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 t grated fresh ginger
2 green onions, copped (white and green part)
1/2 lb ground pork
6 medium shrimp, shelled, deveined and chopped fine
pinch of sugar
2 T low sodium soy sauce
1 T sake

small package of frozen gyoza wrappers

Sprinkle cabbage with salt and let it sit in a fine mesh strainer for 15 minutes.  Squeeze any moisture out through the sieve, and dump into a medium bowl.   Add the remaining ingredients and stir until it's well blended.   Let it sit for a half hour or so to let the flavors blend.   Meanwhile, thaw the wrappers.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and form dumplings....I'll let Ms Nguyen show you how to do it herself here:

It's not hard at all to make them.   Cover the pan with a towel as you create them so they don't dry out.   To pan fry them, head a tablespoon or so of canola oil and the same amount of sesame oil in a nonstick frying pan.   Place the dumplings in the pan and fry them for a couple minutes until they are light brown on the bottom.   Add water to the pan to make it be about 1/4 of an inch deep - no need to freak out...but know that you are adding water to a hot pan.  It will sizzle, but it's not going to kill you or anything.  There is no drama.  Cover the skillet and lower the heat to medium and cook for 8 minutes, then vent the lid and cook for a few minutes more.  While they are cooking, make dipping sauce:

Dipping sauce
3 parts soy sauce
1 part rice vinegar
dash hot chili oil

Adjust ingredients to suit your taste.  Remove the lid from the pan and cook the dumplings until the bottoms are brown and crisp.   Serve with the dipping sauce.

The bottom line?  The cookbook isn't one I'd want to own.  Many of the recipes are repeats of the same thing with one or two ingredients changed.    As previously mentioned, it belabors even the smallest points of cooking, instead of making things sound easy.   What I learned is that dumplings are easy - I'm definitely going to make more.   But I'm not buying the tortilla press....sorry.  Frozen wrappers are just fine for me!  Call me lazy....

Lubiyeh - Green Beans and Tomatoes with Garlic

Yesterday, we celebrated Christmas No. 3 at my brother's house in Warren.   My sister in law Becky assigned me the vegetable for the dinner, in addition to the kapusta I was already planning on bringing.   We are already out of the kraut I fermented myself earlier in the season, so I picked up a gallon of kraut at Copernicus Deli in Ann Arbor, our very own Polish food emporium.  I also got some beet horseradish to go along with the kielbasa.   But I was stumped about what to make for my vegetable....as much as I love the Campbell's Soup green bean casserole, I had just had it the other day at my sister in law's house and I didn't have a can of the Durkee Fried Onions laying about in the pantry, which are critical.   I looked in my veggie drawer and all I had languishing in there was carrots, celery and some mixes salad greens.  I didn't want to go to the store....what to make?

Looking again at the pantry, I saw tons of canned green beans and canned tomatoes.   True confession time:  I love the taste of canned green beans....frozen green beans are like cardboard, and I like to buy my produce seasonally, if possible.  So unless it is summertime, we eat canned green beans.  There.  I said it.   Hopefully no one takes away my food snob credentials.   There's something homey about canned green beans, plus I think the canning process concentrates the beans flavor.   It's what I grew up with.     I also had lots of cans of diced tomatoes....confession #2: I don't can my own tomatoes.   It's a hassle, and I can't preserve them as cheaply as I can buy my favorite local brand Red Gold.  When I can tomatoes, it's always in condiment form: salsa, ketchup, barbecue sauce.   But I leave plain canned tomatoes to the Red Gold people.    So then I decided to make a dish my fellow Michigan Lady Food Blogger Joan made a few years ago at one of our get togethers.   She called it Maan's Beans.  The recipe originally came from her Lebanese neighbor Maan who lived by her back when she lived next to Frog Holler Farm.   Evidently Maan's beans are famous there, too, because a recipe shows up for them on their website as well. That's how I found the Arabic name for them - Lubiyeh.  They are so delicious! 

The trick to making these beans is to not skimp on the garlic.  My version calls for 2 heads (not cloves) of garlic.   Also, they take a long time to cook - the long, slow cooking mellows the garlic and will make your house smell wonderful.   They can be made on the stove top, but I found that it works best to make them in a lidded pot in a slow oven - no stirring required.  The best part about this recipe is that it's essentially zero Weight Watchers points, if you are counting them. 

Lubiyeh

olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 15 oz.  cans French cut green beans, drained
4 15 oz. cans petite diced tomatoes (do not drain)
2 small cans tomato paste
2 heads garlic, cloves peeled and smashed
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a dutch oven or other lidded heavy pan, sauté onion in olive oil until soft.  Add all ingredients (except salt and pepper) and cook in a 250 F oven for 5 hours or until the garlic is soft.  Add salt and pepper to taste.    This can be served on pita bread as a dip, or over rice for a meal.

There were no leftovers to bring home - everyone kept eating helping after helping with our holiday ham.   Sure, it wasn't traditional, but it was great to have a vegetable to eat that wasn't laden with cream sauce but still tasted rich and flavorful.   I need to make this more often....thanks to Joan for the inspiration!  I don't get to see her anymore now that she has moved to Japan, but we still consider her a Michigan Lady Food Blogger. 

Dexter Drama Club Cheeseball

 When I got married 20 years ago, I was given a Hallmark recipe book that I used to write my favorite recipes in longhand or physically clip and paste from the paper or magazines.   Now that I have this blog, I rarely use it anymore.  It's now more of a museum of recipes from a long way back in my cooking life, such as my recipe for Olga's Kitchen Bread or Bob Talbert's White Chicken Chili that I clipped from the Detroit Free Press.  It also has some of my favorites from the Ann Arbor News when it had a print edition and a decent cooking section every Wednesday.

I have a couple recipes I copied from The Complete Tightwad Gazette which was a book written back in the 90s about being frugal before it was as fashionable as it is today.  Most of the recipes she wrote about how to stretch your food dollar weren't very good, like adding water to leftover casseroles to make soup the next day.  Yuck!  If you are looking for a much better book on economical cooking, I would suggest An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace, by Tamar Adler.   However, Amy Daczyzyn did leave me with one recipe that I have adapted as my own over the years for a cheese ball.  Her other recommendations, such as having a perpetual garage sale at your house or using a menstrual cup instead of a tampon really didn't leave a lasting impression on my life, but her cheese ball recipe has become mine. 

I have made it so often, I no longer use the recipe itself.   I ditched her suggestion of using pimientos in it in lieu of using more fresh peppers and I much prefer using garlic powder instead of garlic salt.  I added fresh ground pepper to the mix, too.  Not sure why she went for pimentos in the first place - they are way more expensive than red peppers.   She suggested making cheese balls for Christmas gifts, and I have to agree it's a great hostess gift.  I make it for family gatherings - at Christmas time, I like to make it with red and green peppers.  I also make them for the green room for every production of the Dexter Drama Club, and the high school kids love it.   I will make them in bulk the week of the show and store them in the fridge wrapped in plastic, or ahead of time for the holidays.   They freeze well!

Cheese Ball

1/4 brick cream cheese
1 T minced onion
1 t garlic powder
2 T mayonnaise
1/4 c green pepper, chopped fine
8 oz finely grated cheddar cheese
kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
1/2 c chopped or ground nuts (optional - there's usually a kid with a nut allergy in every production, so I usually skip this when I make it for the drama club)

Combine all ingredients except the nuts in a medium bowl, it's easiest to fix with your hands.   Add salt and pepper to taste.  Form into a ball, and roll in nuts.  Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours so the flavor melds and the cheese softens and forms a cohesive ball.  Serve with crackers.

 

Ammoglio in Winter

Everybody just LOVES Italian restaurants.   People always pick Italian for special occasions....ask 10 people what their favorite Ann Arbor restaurant is, and the majority will say Gratzi.   Heck, even Billy Joel wrote a song about Italian restaurants.....

I'm in the minority when it comes to both Billy Joel and Italian restaurants.   They are both not my first choice for the same reason - boring stuff that you've experienced too many times.    So I was prepared to be underwhelmed at a holiday luncheon I had at the Dearborn branch of a ho-hum Detroit based Italian restaurant chain called Andiamo this week.   I have never had a memorable meal there before... pasta is a cop out meal for me to make at home when I am crunched for time.   I don't care if it is hand rolled with semolina imported from Italy....I can't taste the difference.  I'm afraid Mario Batali is going to show up on my front porch for a throw down just for saying this.   Italian food is like Billy Joel on the radio - I'll put up with listening to the occasional "Piano Man" maybe once a year, but otherwise he's a guaranteed channel changer for me.

So imagine my surprise when I had this fantastic meal at Andiamo's...first of all, the building is really beautiful and sunny and overlooks the Rouge River and the woods.   I was going to get a salad because I'm trying to eat light this holiday season, but ended up sampling tons of appetizers and got a wonderful spicy seafood risotto that I am still thinking about, it was that good.   One of the appetizers we had was ammoglio, which is something I see around these southeastern Michigan parts.   It's a garlicy tomato based bread dipping sauce.   My brother served it with chicken fingers last spring at my nephews First Holy Communion.   I'm not sure if it's an Italian American thing or a true native dish from Italy, but it's very good!    I wanted to try making it at home with canned tomatoes.   The good people over at Red Gold tomatoes had recently sent me a case of their products for tasting...so I decided to experiment.    I have always bought Red Gold tomatoes because they are a local Midwest brand and the tomatoes are grown here on Michigan farms.   Canning tomatoes myself isn't worth the effort for me - I find Red Gold tastes just as good and I can't can tomatoes any cheaper myself.    Just for fun, my family tasted Red Gold tomatoes and compared them with spendy canned San Marzano tomatoes imported from Italy, and it was agreed that we all liked the Red Gold better.   It tasted less like the can and more tomatoey, and had a better texture, too.  I'm glad I can keep my food dollars here in Michigan where we need them.

I made ammoglio with canned tomatoes and dried herbs, instead of the traditional fresh ingredients, and it was great for this time of year.   Serve it with thin sliced Italian bread - I had some day old Zingerman's Farm Bread and it was delicious.


Winter Ammoglio
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp kosher salt
2 T dried basil
1 T olive oil
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 can petite diced tomatoes drained
2 T balsamic vinegar

In a blender, coarsely blend the ingredients in two stages.  Start with the garlic, salt, basil, olive oil, and  pepper.  When that is thoroughly mixed, blend in add the diced tomato and balsamic vinegar.  Tastes better if you can refrigerate overnight to allow the flavors to meld,  but it can be eaten right when it is made and it's good, too.

Nueske's Bacon Wrapped Dates

I have been writing this blog for almost 5 years now, and I am still genuinely amazed to find that other people besides my friends and family ever read it.   Sometimes I look at my blog's statistics and I am just shocked.....96 pageviews today already and it is only 8 am?   Almost 5000 pages were looked at in the last month?  Over 80 followers?   Wow!  In the last week, people have wanted to know how to make pickled eggs and Olga's Kitchen bread....which are always in my top 5 posts of all time.  However, for some reason folks are reading about how to make Bob Talbert's White Chicken Chili this week too.   These are all posts I wrote a long time ago but they are still getting read by someone.   How cool is that?

Another blessing about writing this blog is that occasionally, people send me stuff they want me to write about.   If it's something that's good, I will write about it.   And that brings me to Nueske's bacon.   Long before I started blogging, I fell in love with Nueske's.   Their apple wood smoked bacon smells like a campfire when you cook it, and it's taste is out of this world.   It's no accident that Nueske's is the bacon served at Zingerman's famous deli here in Ann Arbor.  It is really great stuff....in Ann Arbor, this Wisconsin product can be found at Busch's and Hiller's.     So, I was really pleased when the good people from Nueske's sent me some of their products to evaluate.     I tried out their uncured cherrywood smoked bacon last night - it's a great choice for people trying to avoid nitrates.   They use celery juice instead of the nitrates and the cherrywood smoke is wonderful.   I made bacon wrapped dates for a cocktail party and the smell of it cooking drew a crowd into the kitchen.   This recipe is from one of my classic blog posts from years past - holiday appetizer hacks.   Since the holidays are upon us, check it out.  It features recipes that are easy and real crowd pleasers.    And thanks for reading!

Bacon Wrapped Dates

24 pitted dates
12 slices bacon, cut in half lengthwise

Preheat oven to 400 F. Roll each date in bacon and place on a foil covered broiler pan with the edge down. If it won't stay rolled up, fasten it with a toothpick. Cook until bacon is browned nicely, about 30 minutes.

This recipe is so ridiculously simple that it can be committed to memory., which is nice when the holidays are upon us and unexpected guests drop in.     Usually dates are easy to find this time of year and they will last quite a while in the pantry.   And bacon lasts a long time in the fridge - make sure to keep some on hand!  People that profess to hate dates will even gobble these up....it tastes like a sweet savory bite of smoky goodness.    

Holiday Appetizer Hacks

Here are two great holiday appetizers that you can make with kitchen staples. These are great for when you forgot you needed something to bring for a potluck. Everyone loves them, and they are so easy!


Bacon Wrapped Dates -
24 pitted dates
12 slices bacon, cut in half lengthwise

Preheat oven to 400 F. Roll each date in bacon and place on a parchment covered cookie sheet with the edge down. If it won't stay rolled up, fasten it with a toothpick. Cook until bacon is browned nicely, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, wrap those gifts you forgot. These taste great warm or cold. People are totally impressed.

Deviled Eggs

7 eggs
2 T. yellow mustard
2 T. mayonnaise
paprika and capers for garnish

Use old eggs for this recipe - if you only have fresh eggs in the house, buy some at a party store. (translation: "Party Store" means "Liquor Store" in Michiganese) Eggs at party stores are always old - who buys eggs at a party store? They are guaranteed to be not fresh. While you are there, buy a bottle of sparkling wine to give to your host.

Check out my method for how to make easy to peel hard boiled eggs,

Put eggs in a pot of water filled to a depth of 1 inch more than the egg tops. Heat the eggs until the water is boiling, shut off the pot and put a lid on it for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, do your hair and makeup. After 10 minutes, peel the eggs under cold water. Stale eggs peel easily, fresh do not, but you've got one spare egg in case there's a bad peeled eggs. Eat that egg with a little salt on it - it will make sure you don't eat too much at the party you are going to...a little protein will fill you up.

Slice the remaining eggs in half, and then remove the yolks and mash them in a bowl. Add the mustard and mayo - equal proportions are important. That is the key of a successful deviled egg. Stir up the mixture - it should be just moist enough to hold the yolk mash together - if you need more mayo/mustard, add it, but it should be equal proportions.

Spoon the yolk back into the whites. Sprinkle each with paprika and garnish with 3 capers. People love deviled eggs. I have a special Tupperware deviled egg tray I bought at a garage sale and it's the best thing I found to transport them to the party. I put them on a pretty plate when I get there.

Hope this helps!

Halloween - my favorite holiday

I went to the funeral of a work friend that died of a brain tumor way too young with two little kids on Thursday. I got the news that our remaining cat is dying and we need to put her down and a friend's marriage is dying and it's also getting "put down". I was really sad yesterday. Halloween is always my favorite holiday and we'd invited the neighbors over for dinner. I really wasn't in the mood.

Pagans believe that the dead intermingle with the living on Samhain (Halloween). We Catholics saw a good marketing opportunity in capitalizing on pagan feasts, so in 835, Pope Gregory IV moved the celebration for all the martyrs (later all saints) from May 13 to November 1. The night before became known as All Hallow’s Even or “holy evening.” Eventually the name was shortened to the current Halloween. On November 2, the Church celebrates All Souls Day. The purpose of these feasts is to remember those who have died, whether they are officially recognized by the Church as saints or not. It is a celebration of the “communion of saints,” which reminds us that the Church is not bound by space or time.

Interestingly, among all this sadness, there was joy. We had a lovely dinner of scary looking food and it was such a warm starry night we sat outside while the kids trick or treated for the first time all by themselves. Our house is in the darkest part of the neighborhood, deep in the woods and up the hill, so we don't get lots of trick or treaters. They tend to congregate in the "pasture palace" close packed end of the subdivsion where there's no trees and a greater return on their labor. As a kid, I would have done the same thing. Despite this, I still fire up the smoke machine, carve the pumpkins, hang up the orange lights and hope someone can enjoy the show. Sitting on a kitchen chairs drinking one of my favorite wines with my neighbors and later on eating Dexter Cider Mill donuts around the bonfire, I certainly found life among the dying.

Here's a recipe from last night...

Monster Dip

1 cup sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
1 pkg. ranch dip mix
1 10 oz. box frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 can water chestnuts, diced
1/2 cup red pepper, diced

For serving
1 round loaf sourdough or Italian bread
1 baguette, sliced

Mix all dip ingredients together and chill. In the round loaf, carve a large mouth and hollow it out. Make a face out of garnishes, and fill the monsters mouth with the dip. Serve with baguette slices.

Pickled Eggs

After a bunch of really hot muggy days, I can feel a little bit of fall in the air, this fine Friday evening. Fall reminds me always of going back to school, and some of the fondest memories I have is my time spent at Michigan Tech, especially the pickled eggs. I'm pretty fussy about pickled eggs. I haven't been able to find pickled eggs served anywhere to my liking down here in the lower peninsula.

I did a quick spin through the "intraweb machine" to find out some more pickled egg recipes. The Ann Arbor Public Library has a terrific online collection of local cookbooks called Ann Arbor Cooks. Here's the pickled egg recipe I found that was featured in the Ann Arbor Cookbook, 1904 edition. Mark Bittman calls for pickling spices. If you are a fan of the pink pickled egg, you might want to try this recipe. Harold McGee himself suggests leaving the shells on and keeping them unrefrigerated for a year. Yikes! As for me, I'm sticking with my tried and true recipe which was rumored to be the very one made by the B&B Bar in Houghton, Michigan. Still my favorite after I've been gone almost 20 years from the place!

Pickled Eggs

In the upper peninsula of Michigan, the locals are called Yoopers. In order for a troll (that's Yooper slang for someone that hails from south of Mackinaw City, i.e. "under the bridge") to claim official Yooperdom, it is the local legend that you have to live in the U.P. for at least 7 years. Thanks to my dual major as an undergrad, and then graduate school at Michigan Tech, which is located in the Keeweenaw Peninsula, I can declare myself a Yooper.

A favorite Yooper bar snack is pickled eggs - but not those sweet, beet colored ones you sometimes see in foodie magazines. It's a spicy pickled egg, that goes really well with cheap cold beer. If you can find it, some Wisconsin local brewery beer is best, like Point Beer or maybe some Rhinelander. Long before there were microbreweries, each little town in Wisconsin had their own brewery, like Steven's Point and their Point Beer, which is one of my favorites. Anyway, if you should find yourself in Wisconsin or have the good fortune of having a cheesehead friend that can bring you some back, that is good. If not, any cheap beer like Old Milwaukee or maybe Blatz would be good, make sure it is very cold. Leinenkugel used to be one of those kind of beers, too, but now it is more widely distributed since they were bought out by Miller, and it's got some boutique beers now and cost lots more. I had made the pilgrimage to Chippewa Falls a couple times as a college student (and even as a grown up) to tour the brewery. When I lived in the U.P. in the 80s, you could get a case of Leinenkugel Original in longneck bottles in one of those hard cardboard returnable boxes for $3.12, plus deposit. Ah, those were the days...

In Houghton, where MTU is located. there is a bar called the B&B which is arguably the most famous pickled egg place in the U.P. It's located on M26 on the way to Ontonagon, but it is still in town. The bar features a sticky floor, an unleveled pool table with crooked cues, and is frequented by locals. Most of them will be kind to you if you care to visit, but some do not like "appleknockers" (another yooper term for downstaters). The B&B used to serve a Wisconsin beer called "Gilt Edge", but it no longer exists. I think they serve Old Milwaukee in it's place. Back in the day, you could get a beer in a small pilsner glass (called a "shell" in Yooper speak) and a pickled egg for 80 cents. This was called a "boneless chicken dinner" by the locals. I know people that regularly make a pilgrimage to the B&B from downstate just for the pickled eggs, but I will save you the 500 miles each way by sharing their recipe that someone once gave me when I was a student.

Check out my method for how to make easy to peel hard boiled eggs,

Interested in other U.P. recipes?  How about a U.P. Style Pasty?


Yooper Style Pickled Eggs
printer friendly

Ingredients:
2 dozen hard boiled eggs (peeled)
4 cups vinegar
1 jar sliced jalapenos, including the juice
1 onion, chopped finely
1 cup water
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce
1 tablespoon salt

Directions:
Put peeled eggs in a large glass jar with a lid. Put remaining ingredients in a large saucepan and boil for 10 minutes. Pour over eggs and let steep in the refrigerator for a minimum of 3 days. Serve eggs in a paper cupcake liner with Frank's Red Hot Sauce, black pepper and plenty of the jalapenos.