Friday Night Challenge 8: Brunch Time!

Decided to change some things up for the Friday Night Challenge and asked for ingredients for a brunch. Here's the list:

• sausage
• prosciutto
• eggs
• asparagus
• mushrooms
• mimosa (to drink along with the brunch)

Since brunch is such a great "anything goes" meal, I decided to make it a combination. First I made a creamy asparagus/porcini mushroom soup with shredded crisped prosciutto. Reconstitute 1 ounce of dried mushrooms--this takes about 30 minutes. Then take 2 cans of asparagus (NOW you know what to use the slimy stuff for!) and 2 cans of chicken broth. Bring these to a boil--turn down to a simmer. Once the mushrooms are reconstituted, pour them and the broth into the asparagus/broth mix. While the soup is simmering, shred up a couple of slices of prosciutto and fry carefully until crisp.

The other part of the brunch--a sausage frittata. This is just a basic recipe. I fried 1/2 lb. of loose sausage. I then added 5 beaten eggs and let them do their magic. I finished it in the broiler. Quick and easy.

A Salute to Pi Day (3/14)

Happy Pi Day! 2/14 may have it's special place on the calendar, but 3/14 is pretty much more fun. We have a valid excuse to make pie! For this special day I chose a variety of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. I named it a "googleberry" pie in honor of my daily use and enjoyment of Chrome, Picasa, and numerous other programs created and offered by Google.


The "construction" of the pie was simple. I tossed some frozen blueberries, frozen raspberries, and frozen blackberries into a saucepan and set them to cook a bit. I added 1/2 cup sugar and let them cook around 20 minutes (don't let them become mushy). I removed the pan from the heat and added about 1 T. corn starch for thickening. While the berries were cooling, I used a roll-out pie crust and put into the pie pan. I cut a Pi sign on the spare piece of crust and added it as a finishing touch. Bake the pie around 55 minutes at 325 degrees.


Enjoy and Happy Pi Day!

Friday Night Challenge 7: Sausage Rolls with Pecan Leek Fritters

The interesting combination of sausage, leeks, cabbage, pecans, and vinegar allowed me to start off in a different direction. As a result, the Friday Night Challenge yielded Sausage rolls with Pecan Leek Fritters.
To make: Pull full-sized cabbage leaves and drop into boiling water until tender. Remove and drain. Fry the sausage (I used ground turkey sausage). 
Dice the leeks finely and put in a small amount of water; boil for several minutes until they are very soft. Drain.
Chop the pecan halves (around 1/4 c.) to a fine consistency. Form the leeks into small fritters and coat with the pecan crumbs. Fry in the turkey grease until just warmed and lightly browned. 
Put 1/2 c. balsamic vinegar in a sauce pan and reduce to a syrup state. Pour on the finished fritters and across the sausage rolls.
Enjoy!