Stirred egg sandwiches with bacon and gorgonzola

Mary, of insideabritishmumskitchen, has written a very lovely review of my book. As of today it's still on her site. It makes me blush.

Jenn, of jennsfoodjourney, has concluded her giveaway of my book. It's going to a swell young man in Great Britain, Michael of Me, My Food and I. Jenn and I are happy for him. I am grateful to her for her support and her special efforts on my behalf. Let's hear it for Jenn.

I got to make lunch yesterday. It's been quite a while. Peter has enjoyed doing lunch. Even yesterday he helped by chopping bacon and sauteing it. Trader Joe's sells bacon “ends” in a 1 lb. package at a really good price. It is useful for anything that you don't feel requires whole strips. These sandwiches certainly didn't. Please note I don't call this scrambled eggs. Here's why:

I have my own way of scrambling eggs. It's not complicated. I simply don't really beat them up before cooking. I put them in a bowl, bust up the yolks and give them a bit of a stir. I enjoy the final product showing both egg white and yolk in the mix. I really enjoy that texture.
Peter likes to toast our bread. I prefer my bread with a little crispness, but not too crunchy. I said to him yesterday morning, “Do you think three eggs is enough for two sandwiches?” He answered that we only had three eggs so it would have to be enough. It was.

Stirred egg sandwiches¼ cup chopped bacon, cooked and set aside

3 large eggs, cracked into a bowl
1 Tbs cream of half and half
1 Tbs butter
salt and pepper to taste
4 slices bread or 2 hotdog rolls, toasted for 3 minutes at 400 degrees while the eggs cook
2-3 Tbs crumbled gorgonzola (or other bleu cheese)
hot sauce (optional)

Melt the butter in a non-stick skillet. Add the cream to the eggs. Use a fork to break the egg yolks, then stir a bit, but do not mix completely together. Put the eggs into the pan and add a pinch of salt and pepper (remember, both the cheese and bacon are salty). Keep the heat no higher than medium. Immediately use your fork to stir the eggs around very gently. Here's where you have to make a judgment. Depending on how wet you like your eggs you must decide when to put in the cheese and the bacon. When the eggs are there add both of those things and give the eggs a final toss with your fork and remove the pan from the heat. It it's too wet for you, just let it sit for a minute. It will continue cooking. Load up your bread or rolls with the mix and add a dash or two of hot sauce and prepare to be enchanted.

smoked jalapeno poppers

I am blessed with blogger friends who are as excited about food as I am. Mary of Inside a British Mum's Kitchen has favored me with a review of my book. You can click on that link to read it. I have no way to express my gratitude for the kind things said about the book (and a few recognized flaws) except to say a heartfelt thankyou.



I think I did a jalapeno popper recipe once before. But this is the new, refined, improved, amazing version. This is a borrowed photo. I made a smaller amount, in part because I was experimenting with smoke versus oven time and amounts for stuffing. I do this a little differently from your average bear. Smoking in my wok is a "hot" method, so I don't stuff them at first. Also, I had to write down the amount of stuffing ingredients after the fact as I had to make it up as I went along. Nonetheless, this was fun - and tasty - and spicy. Smoking them with the seeds still inside infuses the flesh with heat.
Smoked jalapeno poppers
8 large jalapenos
1 handful soaked wood chips
1/2 cup grated cheese, 1/4 cup scallions, finely chopped, 1/3 cup thawed frozen corn kernels. Set up the wok smoker (or other device you may have). Get the chips going to the smoke stage. While that cranks up, make a slit near the stem of each of the jalapenos. Smoke them for 12 minutes. Remove from the wok and allow to cool. Slice carefully down the side of each pepper and gently scrape out the seeds. While the peppers are smoking, mix together the cheese, scallions and corn. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the stuffing mixture into the peppers. Be generous, but not so much that you can't pull them back together. Gently poke the skewers through them in a fashion where they can rest on a wire rack over a baking sheet with the cut side up. Bake for 15 minutes. You'll want to let them rest for a few minutes or you will get what we called pizza mouth back in college.

Carnal chili (Oops, I mean chili con carne)

My good blogger friend, Jenn, http://jennsfoodjourney.blogspot.com/ not only bought the very first copy of my book, she has reviewed and is doing a give-away of one copy. Go visit her.

I know it's cheeky of me to continue imposing my book on you. But, it's a really good book that you can read without ever having to make any of the recipes. To acquire it go to Amazon and search for my name, Stephen Crout. You will make me so grateful. I intend to keep it featured on my blog indefinitely. Ignore it - or buy it.

Chili is a very basic thing. I decided to make it several days ago when I bought some beef that seemed to suggest it was "steak". Well, it's stew meat. What do you need for chili? Some would say no beans. I say screw them.
Chili con carne

1.75 lbs beef or pork, in 1/2 inch pieces, 1/2 large onion, finely chopped, 3 cloves garlic, minced, 1/2 large bell pepper (any color) diced, 1 jalapeno, half seeded, half not, 28 oz chopped tomatoes with their juice, 15 oz can beans (your favorite, with their liquid),salt and pepper to taste, cumin to taste,chili powder to taste, coriander to taste
Saute the first five items until the beef is cooked through. Add everything else and simmer for a couple of hours uncovered. If you feel it needs some more liquid near the end, add beef broth or chicken broth. Taste it, taste it, taste it.

Colcannon

Don't forget that your friend Stephen has this fascinating and entertaining book avail via Amazon (search for my name, Stephen Crout).

Okay, colcannon is apparently a Gaelic word meaning white-headed cabbage. Peter and I have made many variations of this over the years. Traditionally it is mashed potatoes with cabbage or kale. Our most recent version (last night) was made with collards and mashed potatoes. That's all the recipe you need. Make your favorite mashed potatoes, cook some greens, put them together. You are done.

Have you ever made this?

Don't forget, my friends, that your friend Stephen has this fascinating book out there. Go to http://www.createspace.com/3695950 for more details.

Baked potato and collard greens.

These are ancillary to large proteins, but they go with nearly everything. To bake a potato (or two), preheat the oven to 400. Clean the potato with a brush and wipe it dry with a paper towel. Prick both sides 3 times. Stick it in the oven for 1 hour (maybe plus 10 minutes if you have a particularly large Idaho).

Remove all the stems from the collards and cut it into strips. Heat up some water with salt, sugar, garlic and red pepper. You have to judge how much you need according to how much greens you have. I know you can do this. Stick the greens into the hot water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to a low simmer and go away for one hour. Check it out.

A lot of recipes call for some fatback, ham or bacon. In this case I decided to leave those things out. No reason.