CHORIZO STUFFED DATES WRAPPED IN BACON

There's this great restaurant in town, that I love, because they serve food that's Farm To Table.  Meaning, they shop at the farmer's market like me and they buy locally, they call that a locavore. That's me, that's this restaurant.  5 Stars, in my opinion. Sontes. And they also have my art hanging up in there. : )

So when they first opened 6 years ago, they had on their menu Chorizo Stuffed Dates.  They were wrapped in bacon and served with a simple tomato sauce.  They took them off a few years ago and brought them back on on their anniversary date this year.  Well, since I had some left over dates from the Date, Goat Cheese, Proscuitto and Caramelized Onion pizza and some Chorizo and Enchilada Sauce from the Chorizo and Bison Enchiladas, I thought I would try my own version.

CHORIZO STUFFED DATES WRAPPED IN BACON

8 oz chorizo
8 Medjool Dates
8 slices of bacon
1 cup leftover (or not) enchilada sauce

Cook chorizo in a frying pan.

Cut dates in half.

Remove pit and separate.

Fill date with cooked chorizo.

Wrap with bacon and secure with a toothpick.

Place a little sauce in a baking dish and place filled dates in.  I put some sauce on top and then after baking it realized it would be better to pour some heated sauce over the top after broiling.

Broil in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until nicely browned.

Enjoy!

 CHORIZO STUFFED DATES WRAPPED IN BACON

8 oz chorizo

8 Medjool Dates

8 slices of bacon

1 cup leftover (or not) enchilada sauce

Cook chorizo in a frying pan

Cut dates in half.

Remove pit and separate.

Fill date with cooked chorizo.

Wrap with bacon and secure with a toothpick.

Place a little sauce in a baking dish and place filled dates in.

Broil in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until nicely browned.

Pour some heated sauce over the top after broiling.

Enjoy! 

SPINACH, ROASTED RED BELL PEPPER, MUSHROOM & IBERICO CHEESE OMELET

So, it was Sunday, and Sunday is a day that I take some time to do things for myself, my 'day off' if you will (not that there are any real days off for a photographer/farmer). I also like to think of it as a day I can eat a little bit differently.  More like a person that doesn't need to eat well, ya know what I mean?  Well, anywho… I don't like breakfast.  Breakfast is a difficult thing for me because it usually contains items that I can't/won't eat like bread type items - pancakes, bagels, muffins, french toast, biscuits, heavy with sugar-laden syrups and served with sides of fat filled, artery-clogging sausages.  Yes, every now and then they are good, I mean I treated myself to a bagel for Christmas morn', but for the most part I've never really liked breakfast.  I would ordered steak and eggs when we went out for breakfast as a child, just because I didn't like anything else to eat on the menu.

So Sunday comes now and I start thinking about eggs.  Now, everyone knows how well I eat on a regular basis and technically I do, but I recently had a check up form the Doc and found that my cholesterol was a tad bit on the high side.  I freaked out!  I mean, ME??  how could that be?  But then when I really thought about it, a lot of the foods I enjoy, although mostly good for you, some of the stuff I like too much is cholesterol ridden.  I.E. meat. I.E. cheese.  My two favorite things in the world.  There isn't a charcuterie plate in the world I haven't met and didn't like (ok, maybe the headcheese one - that's a little too much for me).  And cheese?  OMG!  CHEESE is the next coming of the lord to me!  I mean I bought a goat just so I could make cheese!  I find a cheese store and spend $100 just on cheese alone! Now, granted my cholesterol was a tad bit high but my good cholesterol was hitting the roof!  Way over the average number so I think that might balance it out.  I wish I could blame genes, but my parents passed away rather young and I don't know if they had cholesterol problems or not.

Soooooo, with the cholesterol monster screaming at me, I try to avoid eggs now.  Not that I ever really ate a lot of eggs, but I am more conscious of them.  So Sunday I decided to make an omelet, not just any omelet, but a:

SPINACH, ROASTED RED BELL PEPPER, MUSHROOM & IBERICO CHEESE OMELET

The cast of characters:

1/4 cup each chopped:  mushrooms, roasted red bell pepper, onion and spinach
4 eggs (I know the pic only has 3 - I had to add another egg later cuz I had too many veggies)
1/8 cup milk
S&P to taste (that's salt & pepper)
1/2 cup Iberico cheese

Chop veggies. Make 'em look all purty.

Add a little oil to the pan and cook the veggies (all but the spinach) until onions are tender - about 5 minutes.

Add the spinach and cook until wilted - about 1-2 minutes.  Wilted spinach…sounds sad.

Whisk together the eggs and milk.

Pour egg mixture into the pan.

Using a spoon or spatula, pull the cooked sides from the pan and allow the uncooked egg mixture to bleed into the area.  (this takes some getting use to, tipping the pan helps).  And it isn't easy to do with a camera in one hand and a spoon in the other.  Gonna have to figure this out.  May have to get out the ol' tripod.

Add the cheese.

Tempt the pig with the cheese rind.

Flip half of the omelet over the cheese.




Turn off the heat and let the cheeses melt.

Enjoy!  and don't forget to add the artery-clogging sausages on the side.











SPINACH, ROASTED RED BELL PEPPER, MUSHROOM & IBERICO CHEESE OMELET

1/4 cup each chopped:  mushrooms, roasted red bell pepper, onion and spinach

4 eggs (I know the pic only has 3 - I had to add another egg later cuz I had too many veggies)

1/8 cup milk

S&P to taste (that's salt & pepper)

1/2 cup Iberico cheese

1. Chop veggies.

2. Add a little oil to the pan and cook the veggies (all but the spinach) until onions are tender - about 5 minutes.

3. Add the spinach and cook until wilted - about 1-2 minutes

4. Whisk together the eggs and milk.

5. Pour egg mixture into the pan.

6. Using a spoon or spatula, pull the cooked sides from the pan and allow the uncooked egg mixture to bleed into the area.  (this takes some getting use to, tipping the pan helps).

7. Add the cheese.

8. Flip half of the omelet over the cheese.

9. Turn off the heat and let the cheeses melt.

TURKEY NOODLE SOUP KINDA DAY!

After my failed attempt  a Creamy Turkey and Wild Rice Soup the other day, I went to the Rochester Downtown Farmer's Market and got me some other carrots - some orange, some yellow.  (I also got some wonderful meats that I will be trying out some new ideas on in the next few weeks - stay tuned)  And also made a mental note that if I were to add purple carrots again to a soup, I probably should add them after I cook them in a separate container.  Alas!  we live and learn, and that's been my whole life, really, learning - a perpetual student. And crazy person.  And fun and likes to drive tractors. Drink Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain…  No, just kidding on that last one.  Did I just date myself??

So hear we go:

TURKEY NOODLE SOUP

The cast of characters:

1 cup leftover turkey
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
1/2 small onion
1/4 cup of mushrooms
4 cups chicken stock or bouillon
1 cup dry noodles (I used brown rice flour Gluten Free noodles)
seasoning to your taste:  I used 1 Tbs garlic salt (my fav), 1 Tbs Mrs. Dash's garlic & herb seasoning
Salt & Pepper

Chop all the veggies

boil noodles according to package, strain and set aside

heat up the chicken stock and add your seasoning

add the veggies and cook until tender, about 8-10 minutes

add noodles

and Walah!  Turkey Noodle Soup!

and to make it a creamy soup, I added 1/2 cup of milk whisked with 1 Tbs of Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten Free Baking Flour (you can use any flour if your not Gluten free)

and Walah!  Creamy Turkey Noodle Soup!

BRANDIED HAM AND DAUPHINE POTATOES w/a side of green beans

Since Bob's birthday is Christmas eve we celebrate with homemade sushi, saki and a good time.  So for Christmas night I wanted to make something a little more…well, comfy-type food.  So when I was at the grocery picking up some more fruit the other day there was this deal on meat:  buy a ham get a turkey free!  Well, I was overcome by my thrifty upbringing and gave into the urge to buy factory farm meat.  Oh well, once in awhile is not so bad.  Right?  I'm a good citizen, I buy most of my food from local farmers.  I'm GUILTY!  OK!  I"M SORRY!  What can I say - I like a good bargain and I'm cheap.  (Cheap when it comes to bargains - not cheap in the sense you are thinking.  Get your mind outta the….)

Ok back to the food….

I saw this spiced brandy and herb marinade there at the store too - ok! I'm not going to the store anymore, I promise!  But really, I looked at the label and it didn't have anything in there I couldn't pronounce so I thought I was pretty safe.  It seemed non-toxic.  And I like brandy.

So I decided to marinate the ham for a day to give it that real brandy flavor.

BRANDIED HAM

I mixed together the mix as stated on the package, except I added more brandy, it seemed the logical thing to do.

Poured it over the ham:

Then set it the fridge to bake tomorrow night.











And the compliment to ham?  What else?  POTATOES!  I know - I'm not supposed to be eating potatoes either but IT"S CHRISTMAS FOR GOODNESS SAKE!  Ya gotta have the comfort food at this time of year, you do!

DAUPHINE POTATOES

Now, when I was working at a restaurant way back when, they had these awesome Dauphine potatoes as a side dish offering.  But when I was looking on line for an example they showed these deep fried potato puffy looking thingies when I remember them being a casserole type potato dish.  That's when I learned that the actual name of the one I remembered (way back when) is called Dauphinoise.  But that's too bad because what I remember is fact.  They will be called Dauphine Potatoes here in my world. That's just the kinda rebel I am.

The cast of characters:

1 TBS butter
1 1/4 lbs Potatoes - I used the fingerlings from my garden this year but yukon gold or some other creamy type of potato will do
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup whole milk (I used goats milk of course!)
1 garlic clove, mashed
Salt & Pepper to taste
4 ounces Asiago or Gruyere cheese
1/8 tsp nutmeg (optional)


Heat oven to 400* and butter a two quart baking dish.

You can peel the potatoes if you'd like but I like the skins in my potato dishes, I think it gives a nice added texture.  Slice the potatoes thin (like 1/8") and place in a bowl of cold water for few minutes.  Drain thoroughly.

Bring heavy cream, whole milk and garlic to a simmer in a large, wide saucepan. Add potatoes, salt & pepper and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally until the potatoes are tender - about 20 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer half of the potatoes into the buttered dish.  Top with half the cheese.

Then grate some more cheese because you already ate half of it, I know I did.






Add the rest of the potatoes to the dish and pour enough of the milk/cream mixture to cover the potatoes.

Then top with the rest of the cheese.


Bake for about 45 minutes or until brown.  Top with a little grated nutmeg if desired.



Then add some green beans to complete your meal,

and WALAH!

DARK DAYS CHALLENGE

It's been a long winter, not as harsh as the terrible -20 degree days of last winter but long anyway.  As I feel the approaching spring air and see the sun shining out there, all I can think of is - the garden!  How fun this is gonna be this year, we have so many new plans and so many possibilities out there!

But for now, I resort to my fellow farmers out there and buy their wonderful beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots and meat from the Farmer's Market.  Don't know how I could survive a winter without it!

So last week, a few days I go I took the night to do the Dark Days challenge and make an all around, if not perfect SOLE meal:  Ricotta Cheese Stuffed Chicken Thighs with Whole Grain Pasta and a Garden Salad.

I took all the ingredients for the salad that I bought at market; cucumbers, tomatoes, spicy greens, onion and carrots, then chopped, sliced and diced and made a wonderful Garden salad.

I took the chicken thighs and stuffed them with home made ricotta cheese form our goat's milk.  Topped it with some homemade pasta sauce that I whipped up this last October from our plethora of tomatoes, sprinkled some homemade mozzarella cheese I made from that wonderful goat Ezzy's milk.  Baked it in the oven for about 40 minutes at 350*.

Add a side of organic whole wheat pasta and top with some more homemade sauce and walah!  a good meal!