Kitchen Hash

What wonderful things come to mind when scrounging in the kitchen.

My grandmothers and theirs used to make their own hash, rather than
buying it pre-made from the grocery. The potatoes made leftover meat
go farther on a tight budget. I found what I needed in my own kitchen
one morning and whipped this little recipe up for breakfast.

Kitchen Hash

Sausage leftover from brats and saurkraut.

Ingredients:

Tbs minced garlic
1/4 white onion, minced
Leftover sausage or other broken meats
2 medium potatoes, cooked, chopped
1/4 tsp pink sea salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp olive oil
2 tsp parsley
Cheddar Jack cheese to taste

 

Directions:
Sauté garlic and onion in olive oil
Add meat, sauté until hot
Add potato and spices, stir until hot throughout
Serve with cheese

 

Garlic, onion, and sausage.

Directions:
Sauté garlic and onion in olive oil
Add meat, sauté until hot
Add potato and spices, stir until hot throughout
Serve with cheese

Potatoes added

 

I simply served on a plate with shredded cheese. You might toss some
of this hash into a tortilla for breakfast tacos, or pile some on a
split biscuit and serve it with gravy. The potential combinations are
limited only by your imagination, and may be served for breakfast,
lunch or even dinner.

– Chopped jalapenos will give it a bit of bite.
– Diced, pre-cooked carrots, turnips, and/or rutabagas might be used
with or instead of the potatoes.
– Any broken meat will work with this recipe, from chicken and turkey
to pork, beef, venison, goat or mutton.
– Any type of onions, shallots, or even leeks will offer a variety of
textures and flavors.

Give this hash a try at home, seasoned to suit your tastes, an leave
a note about how it turned out.

Enjoy!

— Ann Cathey

Spaghetti Squash and Sausage

I originally stumbled across this recipe at the Jimmy Dean website, and after playing with it, figured I would share my results since I took photos of the process and all. This recipe may be served “in a boat” (in the squash hull) or simply cooked up in a casserole dish. It’s all about presentation and preference.

The dish features flavors and colors redolent of the fall harvest, and is a great way to kick off the season of cooling temperatures and the glorious autumnal colors of nature.

 

SPAGHETTI SQUASH AND SAUSAGE
Prep time: 45minutes
Bake time: 15-20 minutes
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:
1 pound pork sausage

Shredded Smoked Gouda

1 spaghetti squash
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup smoked Gouda, shredded
1 med or small onion, sliced thin
1 tbsp butter
1 lemon, halved
2 cups baby leaf spinach
Cooking spray – I prefer olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Halved Lemon

 

 

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Removing cooked squash from hull.

Render your squash by slicing in half longways, removing the seeds, and applying olive oil to all the exposed meat surfaces. Roast or microwave until soft. Allow the squash to cool before attempting to handle it. Using a fork or large spoon, scrape the meat out into a bowl and allow it to rest. Be careful to keep the hulls intact. Those may be set aside for later use if desired.

 

Meat and onion cooked in microwave rather than skillet.

Use cooking spray on a large skillet. Add onions and garlic and saute until soft and slightly caramelized. Break up the sausage into the skillet with the onions. Cook, stirring occasionally until the meat is mostly done. Add butter and squeeze in the juice of half a lemon. This may also be rendered in a microwave rather than on a stove top, but be sure to use a large microwave safe bowl.

 

If microwaving, as shown, layer cheese, spinach and squash over meat so that the cheese and spinach are heated between the meat and squash. This will cause nice wilting.

Add the spaghetti squash, spinach, and desired salt and pepper. Cook while stirring occasionally until the squash is nicely broken up and the spinach has begun to wilt. Add the juice from the other half of the lemon, half of the grated cheese, and stir it all up.

Mix it up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are using the squash hulls, load them with the sausage mixture. If you are using a casserole dish, spray it with you preference of cooking sprays, then fill it up.

Top evenly with remaining cheese and bake at 375ºF until cheese is melted and just beginning to brown and dish is heated through, about 15-20 minutes.

Allow to rest.

 

Allow to rest for five minutes before serving. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Single serving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is not the original recipe, but one that I fiddled with as I am wont to do. The original called for a panko-based topping, and no gooey cheese. It’s probably healthier that way, but in my house cheese is pretty much a necessity in just about everything.

There are lots of variations that spring to mind for this recipe. Using turkey sausage instead of pork, using kale or another leafy green with or in place of the spinach, and adding other spices to the mix all sparked right off. Toppings might be as simple as a sprinkle of parmesan, or bacon crumbles, or freshly diced parsley or chopped chives. Basing the dish on curry and using a ground meat rather than a pre-spiced sausage sounds tasty, as does a Cajun version.

The big serving!

As with all the recipes I post, have fun with it! Try it out, twist it up and make it your own.

Enjoy!

–Ann Cathey

 

Smokey Mo’s – Austin, TX

On a recent trip to Austin, Texas, we rediscovered a BBQ joint that we first tried in Conroe: Smokey Mo’s. While I may have been enjoying them for a while and somehow never managed to blog about them, they are still producing very appetising and satisfying meals in multiple locations around Texas.

The run of side dishes is pretty standard, and everything is complimentary to BBQ meats, of course. Fries, potato salad, beans, fried okra, corn on the cob, right down to the self-serve bread, onions, pickles and jalapenos.

Trust me, I helped myself to the pickles.

Two trays of pickles, just like this!

 

My partner helped himself to not one, but two chop sandwiches. The chop is loaded with sauce and chopped bits and pieces of meat. It’s mostly beef with the occasional turkey or sausage bits mixed in.

Chop Sandwich before any fixin’s were added.

 

The three meat plate is an indulgent sampler of meats and sides. There’s plenty to choose from, too. I picked the turkey-sausage-sliced brisket combination with a double side of slaw. The second slaw was really for Christopher, but it sure makes the plate look as full as my belly got after eating all this.

Three meat combo plate with two sides.

 

It’s always pleasant to find a bit of the familiar when travelling that’s not your run of the mill fast food. Visiting Smokey Mo’s was definitely a fit of comfort food in a weekend full of exploration.

Enjoy!

— Ann Cathey

 

Crock-Pot German Style Potatoes

A line of severe weather cruised through our area, knocking out power for a couple of days and just making life miserable. I had plenty of time to think about what I was going to be making out of the surviving food stuff in the house, and this recipe was born of that brainstorming.

German potato salads have both hot and cold variations. As I was too weary to stand around and boil potatoes, I chose a hot style, based on a recipe that my mother and grandmother used to make in the oven.

The ingredients may be switched around however pleases your tastes. More or less garlic, hot or mild onion, bacon or sausage instead of prosciutto, and so on. The addition of bell pepper of any color will also add an additional spark of flavor and color.

Crock-Pot German Style Potatoes
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 8-10 hours on low
Servings: 10-15

Ingredients
1.5 pounds butter yellow or red potatoes, sliced 1/4-1/8″
1 medium onion, diced
4 oz prosciutto, diced (or meat of choice)
2 sticks butter, thinly sliced
2 tsp beef bullion power or 2 crushed cubes
2 tbsp water
Garlic powder
Dry parsley flakes

Line or spray inside of crock.

Arrange diced onion across the bottom of the crock evenly. Sprinkle 1 tsp bullion evenly across the onion.

Layer in half of potato slices, evenly distributed. Dust this layer with garlic powder to taste. Sprinkle in some parsley flakes. Add 1/3 of prosciutto, evenly distributed. Layer in 1 stick of butter slices.

Repeat the layering step with the remainder of potatoes, garlic and parsley to taste, remainder of prosciutto and butter. Dust top with remainder of bullion.

Seal the crock and allow to cook on low over night or about 8 hours. When the cooking time is done, open the crock and gently stir the mixture to integrate all ingredients.

Serve.

A dollop of sour cream or a sprinkle of cheddar or Swiss cheese just before serving are delicious additions.

The finished potatoes are pictured here with last Saturday’s offering, Corned Beef Hash Quiche Tarts.

My apologies for the lack of step-by-step photos on this post. I was really tired putting this dish together after a long day of storm cleanup.

Enjoy!

–Ann Cathey

Broken Meats

What, you may ask, is a broken meat? This is what’s left over when you have roasted a turkey and served the bird, or cooked up a ham that you served sliced for game day, or what’s left after you had a dinner party and served a loin of beef. Typically, these leftover meats are “broken” or removed from the bone and wind up in slices, chunks, and shreds.

Broken meats can be used so many ways. They can be diced for salads, sliced or shredded for sandwiches or wraps, used in stews, soups or chili, and so on.

Turkey might wind up in a lettuce wrap with leftover cranberry sauce or a tablespoon of fruit salad. It can also be diced or shredded and used as the meat in a pot pie.

Any meat can be shredded and used in making tamales or chili. These two dishes were originally intended for “trash” meats, using tough cuts or leftover ends. Broken meats will make them incredible.

Toss broken meats into tortillas with a bit of refried beans, cheese and diced tomato for tacos, burritos or quesadillas. They can also be used as pizza toppings and lasagna fillings, and be tossed into salads for an extra jolt of protein.

Stews, soups and chowders all benefit from some extra meat. Beef, pork, and chicken are all good for these applications.

Ham, being very salty in general, and often having a sweet glaze applied, is great for dicing and scrambling in eggs for breakfast. It’s also good sliced or shredded for sandwiches, and even for tossing with diced yams (sweet or savory) for a new baked dish.

Pigs-in-blankets are great. Any leftover meat with a little bit of an appropriate cheese can be wrapped up in pre-made biscuit or croissant dough and baked up into a warm treat.

Leftover steak (like that ever happens!) can be sliced up and tossed into a stir-fry or served as a breakfast side. It can also become a new main dish when sauteed with onions and mushrooms to be served over noodles or rice.

Broken meats just require a little imagination to become interesting and tasty meals rather than just sitting in the fridge being forgotten.

Drop us a line and let us know how you use your broken meats!

–Ann Cathey

Crock Pot Adventures – Butternut and Sausage

This week’s Crock-Pot Adventure is once again based on marked down finds during a grocery run. Selecting items seemingly at random to combine into a meal is always fun and often challenging to the adventurous cook.

Butternut Squash & Sausage sounds pretty simple, and likely something that would take a couple of hours and two or three separate pans to create. I prefer to use my crock-pot whenever possible to create one dish meals. It leaves less of a mess and fewer pots to scrub in the wake of the meal.

The squash, Pancetta, onion and mushrooms all came from selected markdowns discovered during the weekly grocery run. While you might find all of these things in one store, our weekly run starts at Aldi, them moves to WalMart, Kroger, and sometimes HEB. The stores are all along a one mile stretch of road here in Conroe, making it fairly simple to make all those stops. The dishes that come out of our kitchen have shown a remarkable upswing in variety and healthier ingredients since this shopping regimen began.

Prep Time: About an hour (includes veggie handling)
Cook Time: 4-6 hours on low
Servings: 6-8

INGREDIENTS:
Olive oil or canola cooking spray
1 butternut squash, seeded, peeled and diced
1/2 medium sweet onion, diced
4 oz Pancetta, diced
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 pkg mushrooms, crimini or button, sliced or quartered
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dry parsley
1 tsp garlic powder
18 oz sausage, cut to preference
Salt & pepper to taste

Set up your crock-pot and insert a liner if desired. Lightly spray sides and bottom with oil.

 

 

 

Arrange the squash, onion, Pancetta, diced garlic, and mushrooms in layers, spread to cover the bottom of the crock. Sprinkle dry spices evenly across the top of everything.

Lay in sausage in an even layer. I cut 2 links into quarters to arrange around the sides of the pot, then laid the remaining 2 links along the top middle, as shown below.

Seal up the crock and cook on low for 6-8 hours, depending on your pot’s heat levels.

 

Serving suggestions:
When serving, add a sprinkle of grated Cheddar on top of the veggies for an added burst of flavor.

 

Offer garlic toast or crescent rolls on the side. Biscuits are also good, split and covered in the veggies.

 

The juices from this dish are fairly clear and may be used to just stir the whole thing into a soup style serving.

 

 

 

Other suggestions:
Reserve the seeds when you open and core a squash like the butternut or acorn varieties. I do this and give the seeds to a friend who is very into gardening and raising vegetables. Simply pop the seeds into a zippy bag and refrigerate it until you can deliver it to your gardening buddy or plant it yourself.

Enjoy!

–Ann Cathey

Crock Pot Adventures – Sweet Pork Loin

Once again we found ourselves with a crock-pot in need of exercise. Upon inspecting the kitchen, we found an interesting combination of ingredients to try out with a pork roast, all of them on the sweeter side of the flavor spectrum.

While we have done a pork roast with onion, apple and mead, we went for a slightly different track this time. Pork, sweet onion, yams, and some mild yellow bell pepper.

There are no photos of the prep as it was early and I had yet to have my first cup of coffee before getting excited about this meal. As you will soon see, however, we got a few shots of the end product.

Ingredients:
1/2 of a fist sized sweet onion (my fist), diced
4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced
1/2 of a large yellow bell pepper, seeded and sliced
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp season salt
1 pork roast, about 3lbs
1/4 cup home-made ciser (apple mead)

Directions:
If you use crock-pot liners, insert one. Spread diced onion evenly across the bottom. Layer sliced sweet potatoes on top of the onion, with a sprinkle of garlic powder or diced raw garlic between the layers.

Lay in the pork roast, fat side up. Sprinkle remaining garlic, onion powder and season salt across the top. Arrange bell pepper sliced across the top of the meat.

Half-way through the cooking time, open the crock and pour the ciser across the top of the meat. Pour slowly so as to get a good coverage of the liquor across the entire roast.

Seal and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4 hours, or until the meat is cooked through.

Serves 4-8 depending on your serving sizes. We tend to serve large.

Enjoy!

— Ann Cathey

Slow Cooker Recipes from Crock-Pot #1

I like to use slow cooker liners. Whenever I buy a box of them, there is invariably a little handout inside that includes a few recipes. Some of these I have tried variations on, some I have not. In any case, they are great for folks starting out with slow cookers!

Here’s one that is sure to please sammich eaters.

Barbecue Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Cook time on Low: 10-14 hours
Cook time on High: 4-6 hours
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 8

Ingredients:
2-1/2 pounds pork roast
14 oz. BBQ sauce, whatever you prefer
1tsp brown sugar
1Tbs fresh lemon juice
1 medium onion, chopped
8 hamburger buns or hard rolls

Directions:
1. Place pork roast into the slow-cooker.
2. Cover. Cook on Low or High, as preferred.
3. Remove the pork roast form the stoneware, and pull the meat into shreds.
4. Remove any liquid from the stoneware, retaining for later use if desired.
5. Combine the pork with remaining ingredients in the slow-cooker, Cook on High for 2 hours.
6. Serve the barbecue pork on hamburger buns or hard rolls.

Notes:
I prefer to drop the diced onions into the bottom of the pot and laying the pork roast on top before cooking. This cooks the onions pretty much to death, but allows the flavor more action in the meat. It can also help tenderize the meat.

When removing the pork for shredding, reserve those onions to toss back into the final mix. I will also reserve the fluid for making tamales, soups, and even to use a couple of tablespoons here and there as a treat for my dog.

This recipe also works well with beef or venison.

— Ann Cathey

Crock-Pot Boxty

–Intro to Boxty

Crock-Pot Boxty – expand on this in the instructions

Ham bits
juices off ham
diced Portabello
1/4 cup roasted garlic cloves (loosely packed)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1TBSP dried onion bits
cabbage head, diced

Allow the pot to cook on low until all the cabbage is soft and slightly mushy. Serve over plain mashed potatoes and top with a sprinkle of grated cheddar.

 

I apologise for not have any photos of the resulting supper, but I was too busy eating it!

 

–Ann Cathey

Food Porn Episode 6

This episode of Food Porn is brought to you by my kitchen. The food photos were, as they have been in this series, culled from stock photography. I’ve added a little info about each one, though I’m told they speak for themselves, especially the ones that scream, “BACON!”

Bunless bacon cheeseburgers! Broiled beef patties, hickory smoked bacon, shredded colbyjack cheese, and kosher dill slices.

 

Okay this one is not from my kitchen, but from a campout we enjoyed a month or so ago. Chicken Enchilada Lasagne with fresh diced tomatoes, a corn and black bean mix, with a side of French bread and butter.

 

Yellow curried chicken over white rice with mini pita on the side.

 

Scrambled ham with spices and ham sandwiched on a fresh butter croissant.

 

A heart attack on a butter croissant with coarse mustard, three layers of maple bacon, kosher dills, and colbyjack cheddar cheese.

 

Let’s get another look at that bunless bacon cheeseburger, shall we?

–Ann Cathey