Brunch and other meals

Feeding houseguests always presents a challenge if you have to deal with food dislikes, time in the kitchen and budget considerations. We did this recently with a fair amount of elegance. Main courses were tortilla soup, pot roast, and seafood marinara. The pot roast covered two meals, and no one ever complains about leftover pot roast and gravy. I cooked fresh vegetables each night. Root vegetables: carrots, parsnips, potatoes and onions are cheap, as is celery. Loads of parsley from the garden. All you need is a salad.

The seafood marinara (pictured) had limited quantities of seafood and was served over pasta, so that worked out well. I went to a first rate fish market and bought scallops untreated with chemicals and large (not giant) shrimp.

Below is the brunch dish I served. Notice it calls for bread, milk, eggs and sausage, none of which break the bank. Neither are prunes gold-plated. It serves a lot and tastes great. We buy maple syrup at the Ocean State Job Lot and use it sparingly. Enjoy!

Raisin-Bread Strata with Sausage and Dried Plums

8 – 10 servings

1 pound bulk breakfast sausage ( I used pork, turkey will work)
8 large eggs
4 cups whole milk
1 ½ t. salt
¾ t. ground black pepper
1 16 ounce loaf sliced raisin-cinnamon swirl bread, each slice halved on the diagonal. (Pepperidge Farm makes a good raisin cinnamon swirl).
18 dried pitted plums (prunes) each cut into 3 pieces

Pure Maple Syrup

Sauté sausage in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until brown and cooked through, breaking up with back of fork, about 6 minutes. Using slotted spoon, remove sausage to bowl; cool.
Butter a 13 x 9 x 2 inch glass baking dish.
Whisk eggs, milk, salt and pepper in medium bowl. Arrange half of bread in bottom of prepared dish with bases of triangles facing in same direction. Scatter half of sausage, then half of plums over bread. Arrange remaining bread in dish with triangles facing in opposite direction. Scatter remaining sausage and plums over. Pour milk mixture over; press on bread to submerge. Cover and chill overnight.
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Place strata on rimmed baking sheet. Bake uncovered until strata is pulled and golden and knife inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let stand 10 minutes. Cut strata into squares and serve with maple syrup.

From Bon Appetit

Salpicon

We've been on a two-meals a day soup/salad binge with occasional "regular" meals. Last night we cooked a roast beef (not prime rib, not sirloin, just a plain 'ol roast beef like your old fashioned mother might have served for Sunday dinner) on the barbecue.

This was an inspired way to cook. First I marinated in red wine, olive oil, onions and garlic for 12 hours. Then I dried the meat off and sprinkled it heavily with Penzey's Barbecue of the Americas rub. Yummo!

My Significant Other prepared the grill, half hot, half less so. On the hot side over the coals he browned the roast on all sides, then rolled it over to cook on "indirect" heat for the remainder of the cook time. We took it out when it was medium, a thing of beauty.

http://www.penzeys.com/

This was way beyond your mother's Sunday dreams. We also grilled zucchini and summer squash along with a red pepper. In the oven, I baked some thick (unpeeled) potato slices in olive oil and chopped fresh herbs from the garden.

It was one of those meals where extreme discipline was required so as not to make a pig of oneself.

Tonight, I took 1/2 pound of the roast and cut it into small cubes and made salpicon, a delicious south of the border salad, that alas, you won't often find on a menu.

Here is a recipe: http://www.recipezaar.com/Salpicon-Spicy-Mexican-Beef-Salad-65156

I took a short cut with the meat, (see above) and added finely chopped cucumber, green onion, tomato, jalapeno and Colby Longhorn cheese and Monterey Jack cheese (4 oz. each).

Mix together the juice of one lime, 1/3 cup salad oil and plenty of salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the other ingredients. Serve on a bed of lettuce dusted with good quality chili powder and more minced scallions.

It's a winner. We ate it with some corn tortillas I fried up. You only eat corn tortillas, right? Flour tortillas are a tasteless abomination and belong with astroturf and the wave.

Note that the Salpicon uses only inexpensive, easily found ingredients!
Paring more cheese,

The Cheeseparer

Tasty Vegetarian

Chances are, meat, produce and dairy are your biggest expenditures at the grocery store. By cooking vegetarian once or twice a week, you can cut out the meat expense. Last week, mozzarella and cheddar (already grated, yet) were on sale, as was broccoli and eggplant.

This week, we're having Eggplant Parmegiana and Cheddar-Broccoli soup. Both entrees are heary fare that only needs a salad and perhaps a soupcon of dessert to make a complete meal. The cheese is full of calcium and also has protein, and the soup uses milk as well.

Some homemade French bread would be fantastic. The cool fall days and nights call for something hearty, but hearty doesn't have to always be meaty. I'm thinking chili weather will be here soon.

I'll give you my two fave chili recipes. Chili is economical, too, and you can make it so many ways. I like both beef and chicken. White chili rocks. I ate it for the first time in Wisconsin and it was such a revelation.

It is true. Travel is broadening. With the sour cream and cheese, that statement is true in multiple ways.

The Cheeseparer

I Love BOGOS

Buy one, get one! That's the long way of saying, BOGO!

Today Roche Brothers had a BOGO on beef roasts. I got two, and cut one in half before I froze it. We'll cook one (indirect heat) on the grill sometime this fall. It will easily feed four or maybe more if we don't make pigs of ourselves. Served with lots of grilled vegetables, it's really tasty.

The other roast, the free one, if you will, I cut in half. I'll make bouef bourgignon with one half and goulash soup with the other. That should provide 8 servings. So if we figure 14 servings for $13.00, that ain't bad. And for lean, good quality protein. Plus unlike tofu, it actually tastes good. Have you ever noticed that tofu doesn't really taste like much of anything. You have to just season the hell out of whatever you're making. Szechwan peppercorns do well. Beef only needs salt and pepper, but the wine stew and the goulash soup will be loaded with flavor and veggies and the heartiness that we usually omit for summer main dishes.

I'm making a "diet" chicken pot pie this week, and I'll let you know how it turns out. The "Pie" part is potatoes mashed with low-fat Greek yogurt. The remainder is chicken breast and veggies and sauce. It came from either Gourmet or Bon Appetit, so you know that it's good. Well, we hope.

Onward. We're going to a neighborhood barbeque this evening, and the fare will not be diet. Yum! Licking my chops already.

The cheeseparer

I dreamt I went to Moscow with my cast iron skillet

Dreams are just incredibly weird. A few nights ago, I dreamt I was to take a bus to Moscow. I arrived at the bus stop carrying my big (heavy) 12-inch cast iron skillet. But no pocketbook, as we say in New England. I ran home to get my pocketbook, but instead, mysteriously arrived at the bus stop with my small non-stick skillet. The bus looked like a two-car MBTA trolley, and the first car was crammed to the gills with a bunch of standees, but the second car was half-empty.

I guessed the standees were friends who wanted to stay together. I ran home again to get my pocketbook, and that was the end of the dream.

A cast iron skillet will last your lifetime and the lifetime of your kids and their kids. It is one of the best investments you'll ever make. Sometimes you can find them at tag sales or swap meets. A cast-iron dutch oven isn't bad either.

Nothing fries a chicken or makes corn bread as good as a cast iron skillet. Once you get it seasoned, you're in business, and never heed the twaddle about not washing it with detergent, blah-blah-blah. I use soap in mine all the time and it never needs reseasoning. It also doubles as a wok and can withstand high heat.

The heaviness of the skillet works your arms, never a bad thing.

No wonder I was taking mine to Moscow. Sears used to sell them, maybe still does, as do hardware stores. The iron that leaches out of the skillet is also good for you.

A frugal find!

The Cheeseparer

The Ingredient Trap

An old Bon Apetit had a yummy sounding summer main dish salad using spinach, grilled chicken and tomatoes.

In spite of the blight here in New England, there have been some good tomatoes. We are always more or less on a diet, and main dish salads are a wonderful treat in the summer.

I found the chicken on sale, and the tomatoes on sale, too. So far, so good. I got a shell of baby spinach, a red onion and waltzed over to the cheese department to get some feta in olive oil and herbs. I mean, it was feta. How much could it cost?

The recipe called for 10.5 ounces. 5 ounces were $5.99. Ooops! I bought one container, not two, and poured some of its oil into some plain crumbled feta from the fridge. It occured to me that I could use my own olive oil, herbs from the summer garden, garlic and peppercorns to make the pricey feta in oil.

The salad was delicious, even with half the cheese. Eat it with breadsticks and enjoy. Tonight for dinner, we're having a banana clafouti for two. Guess what? Bananas were on sale.

I find that by careful shopping and planning with the weekly specials, I can save between 20-30 per cent on my trip to the supermarket.

Cucumbers were also on sale, and we have several salads with cukes, tomatoes, dressing and chopped cilantro and parsely. Nothing beats having herbs in the garden. The green beans have been good, too. Cherry tomatoes ripening at last.

I had a disaster last sprint with the cherry tomatoes, and in bringing them home I broke off the plant from the root. Eeek! I rerooted the plant. Tried to grow the old root, too, hoping it would send out shoots. It didn't, but the plant rerooted nicely, just a month or so behind schedule.

Our Joe Pye Weed has been blooming like crazy. It's a tall perennial with purple blossoms that the butterflies and the hummingbirds love. I got a new hummingbird feeder that uses old water bottles, so I've been saving them.

Pretty soon, I'll bring in the geraniums and the rosemary and root some coleus. In the spring? Free plants. My big hanging geranium has been going in and out for six years now.

Cheese paring looks smart when the garden has lush blossoms that didn't cost a dime. The packet of nasturtium seeds also seems like a good buy.

Yours in frugality, beauty and good taste,

The Cheeseparer

The best summer dessert ever

I have been making this for at least three years. It's a free form tart that you make with a purchased pie crust (the kind from the dairy case), or if you are really into cheese paring, a bottom crust you make yourself. I do it in the food processor, and aside from getting the food processor and a couple of measuring implements dirty, it's fast, fast, fast.

After your bottom crust is made and rolled out (about the size of a well, a pie crust) take some ripe fruit and mix it with a little sugar and a little (approx. 1 T) tapioca. You need 1 1/2 to 2 cups of ripe fruit. Yesterday, I did blueberries and nectarines, but just about any in season fruit will do, and don't be afraid to try a mixture of 2 compatible fruits. Season with a little cinnamon or nutmeg or even a soupcon of almond extract depending on the fruit.

Place the bottom crust on a rimmed cookie sheet. Dump the fruit in the middle of the crust and fold up the crust (crimping attractively) until only 2-3 inches of fruit are showing. Brush the crust with egg-yolk mixed with a little water.

Put in a hot oven for 10-15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350-375 degrees. Bake another 20 minutes or until golden brown. My oven is on the cool side of the temperature gauge, but yours may be accurate.

This tastes like a fancy dessert, and even if you make your own crust it takes just minutes. Serves 4.

Berries and stoned fruit like peaches, apricots and nectarines are good. Pretty much anything. Thin slices apples with a few raisins or dried cranberries would work. Use your imagination.

The Cheeseparer