Ham & Cheese Omelet

I told you all that I had to find uses for my leftover Easter glazed ham. After one (two, or three) just straight-up leftover plates. I had loaded baked potatoes, grilled ham & cheese, and now this nearly Denver omelet. I didn't use any bell peppers; so I don't think it constitutes. And I decided to finish mine with Thai chili paste and a few leaves of cilantro. So it definitely wasn't your typical Denver omelet.

Start by melting some butter over medium-low heat (about a 4 out of 10).

Toss in a few finely diced shallots and let them soften a minute or two.

I also like to saute down some sliced cherry tomatoes for a little while. Then I pull them aside and add the eggs. Whip them like crazy so you get a lot of air into them first.

Carefully drag the outsides into the middle to get the texture you want; but don't mix the eggs too much or you'll have scrambled. If you want to just leave it alone, that's fine too. A lot of times I will just leave it alone. Just be sure you get it cooked through on the top so it isn't runny when you serve them.

Season with a little salt & pepper.  After your eggs have set up, add your toppings back and carefully fold one side over. I sliced the last of my Easter ham up to be the star in this omelet. And I added a bit of shredded cheddar-jack cheese to mine as well.

Slide that beauty carefully out onto a plate and add just a few more pieces of shredded cheese so they melt and create a nice presentation. Then I like to add some green onions on top for some color & texture. As I mentioned before, I also opted for Thai chili paste and cilantro.  They actually worked well to break from the richness of the ham, cheese, and eggs.

I have found three eggs to be perfect. You can get away with just two, but it will be thinner. And any more than three (plus filling, and country potatoes) and you will need a nap after breakfast. And that isn't a very adult way to start my Saturday.

Country Potatoes

My wife took off for the weekend for a work trip. So I was left to fend for myself. Thankfully I'm a pretty self-sufficient person.  In my younger days, I would have stayed out really late drinking and then paid for it all weekend. Now in my much mellower years, I was in bed by 10 on Friday night and up bright & early to cook myself a hearty breakfast.

I bought way too many potatoes last weekend for my Easter brunch. I don't know why I kept buying more. I guess I didn't want to buy too few.  We had loaded baked potatoes one night this week, which is a staple in our weeknight diets. But then I kept one set aside for these little breakfast gems.

Sometimes at restaurants I go back & forth between hash browns or country potatoes. I think I ultimately like hash browns more. But more often than not you don't get them as crispy as I would like. With these, you are much more likely to get what you really want. So my advice is to order country potatoes when they're on a menu. Usually they have to be cooked longer for the presentation.

I learned how to make them really well (if I must say so myself) a few years back. Vegetable oil is a key here. It will help you get them the right color and texture. Cutting them in even sizes is also important so they will cook at the same rate.  Then it's just a matter of heat, patience, and paying attention. Don't burn them.  I think medium-high heat is the sweet spot.

Toward the end I threw in a few thinly sliced shallots for flavor. But if you do that too soon. they will burn and get really bitter. I also decided to trim a little fat from my sticky glazed ham and throw that in for some richness and smoky flavor too. That was an excellent idea.

Season with a little salt & pepper to taste. These will go great with eggs, hot sauce, cheese, ... you name it. They are the perfect base for a breakfast skillet (another go-to dish of mine).

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

Do you think the kids will eat this if I don't peel the potatoes first?

It turns out the kids weren't feeling the potatoes as much as the glazed ham. But thankfully the adults really liked it, because I made a lot.

It started with me getting over my fear of the mandolin. Ever since my Thanksgiving thumb-slicing snafu, I've been a little scared around this tool. But it is handy, let me tell you. I perfectly sliced up five very large potatoes in a matter of minutes thanks to this handy contraption. But it did take my wife's foresight. I thought the potatoes were too large to fit (and they were); but she quite brilliantly suggested I slice then in half first.

Duh. Why didn't I think of that?

 
This dish isn't too complicated. It just requires a little patience. It starts simply with some heavy cream mixed with skim milk and several thin slices of butter. This will drive some of you nuts, but I can't really give you a recipe. I was just eyeballing it.

Then layer your thinly sliced potatoes across the bottom. Season it liberally with salt & pepper.

Top that layer with some shredded cheeses. I used Swiss, mozzarella, and provolone.  Then continue to layer cream, butter, potatoes, salt & pepper, and cheese. Repeat until you have filled up your dish.

Top it with a little more butter and bake for around an hour in a 375-degree oven. I was pretty happy this turned out so well -- especially because I had an audience while I was making it. Grandpa Gary was watching the whole time, and he's the one who bought us our Gourmet cookbook and Bon Apetit magazine subscription. So he has a discerning eye.

The family will be nice no matter what. But I genuinely think they enjoyed these. They were soft, rich and velvety delicious.

Sweet, Sticky, Mustard & Cola-Glazed Ham

We hosted my wife's family over for Easter this past weekend. That meant I had an opportunity to cook for eleven instead of just two. I watched some Food Network the weekend prior, so I could scope out some famous chefs' techniques when it comes to throwing an Easter brunch. I got this recipe from The Pioneer Woman.

Most grocery stores these days will have a host of spiral-cut hams for you to chose from. A lot of them even come with a packet for the glaze. But I wanted to do it myself; so I bought this 15 lb bone-in beauty.  That bone will add a lot of great flavor and keep it moist.  You may not be able to tell unless you look really closely, but I scored the ham by slicing very carefully about 1/8" into the ham in a diamond pattern.

Put the whole thing into a 325-degree oven for about two hours. I placed it on a roasting pan so any juices that dripped off could steam right back up into the ham. While it's cooking, mix together 3 cups of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of spicy brown mustard, 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar, and 1 can of cola in a saucepan.  Use real cola, not diet, so you can get the real sugars to reduce and caramelize.

Let it bubble and reduce over medium-high heat until it is thick and sticky.  But be careful -- because it will boil over in an instant if you turn your back (trust me, because it happened).

You can clearly tell here that this ham had been scored. At this point our house already smelled amazing, and I hadn't done anything except heat it up for two hours.

I drizzled that wonderful sauce all over the top of the ham and let it slowly seep into all the cracks and drip down to cover the whole ham.  Pop it back into the oven for another 1.5 - 2 hours to heat all the way through and let that sauce adhere to the outside of the ham.

Ahhh. That's the ticket!  Set it aside to rest for 10-15 minutes. You probably won't want to slice into it right away because you could lose some of the moisture. Then get a sharp knife and cut into it to make some 1/4" to 1/2" thick slices. I prefer it to be a little meatier. I don't want a thin little slice like lunch meat ... or worse, cafeteria food.

This was almost like BBQ because it had been cooked for so long, and there was a fantastic "bark" and "smoke ring" around the edges. The young kids shied away from any edge bits because they thought it didn't seem that appealing. But I was eating it like candy while I was slicing it up. Those are the most choice pieces if you're asking me.

The mustard plays really well with ham, obviously. But then when you add in the brown sugar and cola and get that great sweetness to compliment the salty ham, it really was fantastic.

I have already enjoyed the leftovers once (twice, if you count the pieces of cold ham I have just grabbed out of the fridge). And I need to find another way to enjoy that sliced up ham this week. We sent a fair amount home with family. And I saved that great bone, so I've got that stored for a later dish.

My mental wheels are already churning...

Fresh, Healthy Foods

Some of you may be aware, but my wife is expecting right now. We always try to be conscious of the food we are putting into our bodies - in fact, that was part of the reason I started this blog. But now we are even more so, because it is important to us that my wife is getting proper nutrition. The above photo is a selection of fresh fruit smoothies that she made for her lunches at work. They are chalk full of blueberries, pineapple, spinach, and green tea. V8 has got nothing on my Mrs, let me tell you!

You might not even be able to tell what all this fresh produce is. But there are apples (both green & red), radishes, jalapeno peppers, fresh green beans, potatoes, spinach, sweet potatoes, shallot, bananas, ... and we weren't even half way through the produce section at that point.

It makes me feel pretty good about myself that I'm making grow-up decisions like this. Years back when I was single, I would have had a bunch of frozen snacks for a lazy man. Some of them are quite tasty; but I wasn't in very good shape back then. So I'm glad that my cooking prowess has evolved along with my taste for food. I actually enjoy cooking too; so that helps.

This is prep work (or mise en place) that I did yesterday getting ready for having our family over to celebrate Easter. I did my customary pickling of red onions & jalapenos, sliced & quartered radishes, along with carrots & celery for spinach dip. And I prepped the fresh green beans so it would make my Sunday cooking easier. Check back soon to see my glazed ham. It was fantastic!

Steak Sandwich with Cilantro-Lime Aioli

This is a recreation of dish I had last weekend at Hugo's in Fayetteville. As soon as I read the description I thought, "this is something my wife would love!"  When I told her about it she agreed. So I decided to make it for her (after enjoying the original myself).

The first thing you'll want to do is get some sliced onions caramelizing in a pan with butter over medium-low heat.  They take a long time.  The original sandwich had sauteed peppers, but I thought caramelized onions would be a really nice substitution. And at the risk of being boastful ... I was right.

Fresh lime is a key here. I often keep a bottle of lime juice in our refrigerator. But if I was going to make lime a key ingredient in this dish, I thought going fresh was the way to go. The Mrs said she could tell. So I'm glad I did.

Fresh cilantro, mayo, lime juice, salt & pepper went into my food processor.  You can leave the stems in tact for two reasons: 1. it's easier, and 2. it will all get purified and you won't be able to tell.

See what I mean?

Beef prices may be rising, but a Top Iowa Sirloin is something worth springing for. I like to buy my meat from Fareway. If you're a native Iowan like me, you'll no doubt have heard that from many people. And I think that opinion exists for a reason.

I sharpened my chef knife and made sliced this into small pieces so I could cook them very quickly.

I love a very simple dry seasoning blend of salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.

I got my cast-iron grill pan screaming hot on the stove and used a light coating of vegetable oil because it has a higher burn point than olive oil. Let the meat sit for a minute so it can sear on one side.

I quick stir/toss and they should be ready fairly quickly. You don't want to overcook these little slices or they can dry out and become tough. And then you would have wasted your money on good beef.  Let it rest a few minutes before assembling your sandwiches.

This is what you're looking for. You could even let them go a while longer if you want; but be careful not to burn them. You should also resist the temptation to turn up the heat to speed this process along. Patience is truly a virtue when it comes to caramelized onions.

I bought some fresh Italian loaf buns and spread out that bright aioli.

Even looking at this picture makes me salivate. Sometimes a sandwich can be every bit as good as a fancy plated dish. The sweet caramelized onions play really well with the quality Iowa beef. And that cilantro and lime really brighten everything up and add some acidity and depth of flavor. This was fantastic. Seriously.  I had to send my friend from Arkansas a pix message to brag about my ode to the Hugo's sandwich.

Yum.

Sour Cream Pancakes

My friend had been raving about these sour cream pancakes. They are delicious, let me tell you. My wife says they are  bit more like a thick crepe than a pancake. They are dense, eggy, yet not too heavy. I was eager to try them myself; and I hope you all will too.

Here is what might surprise you, there are only 7 tbsp of flour in the whole recipe. My wife likes to bake a lot. And even she was a little suspect that it wasn't going to be enough.  Mix that along with 1 cup sour cream, 1 tbsp of sugar, 1/2 tsp of salt, and 1 tsp of baking soda until just combined.

Then combine two eggs with 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

Stir them together until whipped.

And pour that into your larger bowl

Stir everything together until it is loosley combined. You want little pockets of flour hear and there. Don't overwork your batter. Those little pockets of inconsistency are what make these light and delicious.

Pour about 1/2 cup into a buttered pan (or cooking spray) over medium-low heat. Everybody will have a little different pan, stove, etc. So there isn't an exact time that will work for everyone. But you might want to check underneath after about 1.5 - 2 minutes. Then flip carefully and cook for another 45 seconds - 1.5 minutes on the other side.

I like to keep ours warm on a cookie sheet in an oven around 250 degrees until they're all done.

Layer some butter in between each cake while they're warm so it melts everywhere.  Then we have actually liked to spread a blackberry jam that's almost like a sauce on top of ours. Of course, pure maple syrup is fantastic too. But this seems a little lighter.  Top it with some fresh berries and you're good to go!

The inside of these cakes is almost like batter -- sort of like the inside of a molten chocolate cake. I had to look about three or four times and a cross-section of one of mine to be sure they were cooked all the way through. There is some tang from the sour cream. They are doughy, a little eggy, and really great. It's an interesting twist on the classic pancake that you all should try out at least once.

My friend says he LOVES bacon, and biscuits & eggs, and is really proud of being from the South. But he says now this is his very favorite thing to eat for breakfast. And that is saying quite a lot.

5,000 Views?! Thank you!

This is amazing. Truly. I started this blog as a way to track what I was cooking, and to push myself to try new things. I never thought anybody other than my mom would read it. So I am really grateful to each and all of you for viewing. That keeps me motivated to keep doing this.

I was traveling the past two weeks. But I have a couple great new posts that I'll put up tomorrow and this weekend.  Thanks again!