Il Popeye Benedicto

I love spinach. I also love poached eggs. And I love them in a combo.

So tonight, I had some fresh spinach, some eggs, some salami, a few pieces of whole wheat bread and some salami in the fridge.

The result? Il Popeye Benedicto!

I fried the salami a little bit in a hot cast iron skillet with just a little bit of olive oil. Removed them. Mike used the same skillet to make some excellent home fries. When they were removed, I wilted the spinach in the same hot skillet, in a little olive oil, with the burner off. There was enough heat to wilt it. Meanwhile, I boiled a little bit of water in a pot, plunked in a little bit of vinegar when it was at a boil, put in two eggs and let them float for about 4 minutes. Toasted some of the whole wheat, topped each slice with half of the spinach. Then placed two salami slices on that, and then one egg. Topped the whole thing off with a few small slices of Monterrey jack cheese, and voila...Il Popeye Benedicto served along side of home fried potatoes.

It was so yummy, I forgot to take a picture!

-J

Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing, Poached Egg and Clam Chowder

The title says it all. Mmmmm!Along with nearly everyone else, I've resolved to drop some pounds this year. I've found that carbs, while they pretend to be my friend because they taste soooo good, are actually the thing that makes me heavier than I want to be. So we're trying to live a reduced carb lifestyle. One of the benefits of that is that we get to use things like bacon! I don't know about you, but I think it's a pretty fair tradeoff...less bread or potatoes or pasta, more bacon! I also love spinach, so I'm sure you see where this is heading.
Mike wanted a nice soup to go with our spinach salad with hot bacon dressing, so he made a delicious red clam chowder. It's not exactly Manhattan Clam Chowder, but it sure is good. He started with cooking some bacon, which we'd use in both dishes. When that was done, he reserved some of the browned bacon and some of the fat for me for the hot bacon dressing, and then he put in some chopped carrot, parsnip to cook them down some. He browned some onion, celery, and green pepper in the same pot. Later he added tomatoes (from our garden!) and his spice blend of thyme, fennel, and all kinds of assorted goodies that he won't tell me and let them simmer for an hour or so in 2 cups of our homemade chicken stock and 2 cups of water. He did reserve some extra chopped carrot, parsnip and tomato to add later so that there would be some "less cooked" veggies in there too. Then he put in 2 cans of whole clams and 1 can of chopped clams and the liquid, reserving a tiny bit for the cats who'd become his best friends when he opened the cans. That all simmered for a while longer, then I added the rest of the chopped veggies about a half hour before we were ready to eat.
After putting the rest of the veggies in, I started on the Spinach Salad. After thoroughly cleaning the beautiful fresh spinach we got in our Orlando Organics delivery, I took some of the leftover bacon drippings, 2 T or so, and heated that in the top of my double boiler. (You don't have to do it in a double boiler, but Mike mentioned that's how the restaurant he worked in had heated up their dressing, so I thought I'd give it a try, and it worked well.)
While that was heating, I mixed together 1 T of flour and 2 T of sugar, and separately mixed together 1/4 c. cider vinegar and 1 c. water. Then I added the flour mixture to the hot bacon fat and whisked it for a minute to make a light roux. Still whisking, very slowly add the water/cider mix in small batches, only adding more when it looked like it was thickening up nicely. Next time, I think I'll add the vinegar and water separately so I can control the thickness and amount of each a little better, but this time it still tasted great.
While that was keeping warm, I put a small skillet with about 1 1/2 inches of water on the burner and added about 1 T of white vinegar to it. While that was heating, I tore up some spinach and put it in salad bowls. Then I thinnly sliced some red onion and added them and some chopped pecans to each salad, along with the remaining crumbled bacon.
Now the water was about to boil, so I turned it down a little to just about a simmer. Break each egg into a small bowl and then carefully add it to the simmering water. Do this one at a time! One egg in the bowl at a time, into the water. Let them simmer for 3 minutes, slightly less for a softer egg, longer for a harder cooked egg. While they're cooking, spoon some of the dressing on the spinach salad and toss to coat. Add a little more as you go if you'd like. When the eggs are done to your liking, fish them out with a slotted spoon and let them drain off all the water for a few seconds, or hold them over a towel for a few seconds. Place them on the salad, and season with a little pepper.
Serve along with the clam chowder and enjoy a reduced carb dinner!
-J

Spinach Sausage Mushroom Frittata

Ah, now THIS is what 2DG's all about!

This Spinach Sausage Mushroom Frittata was made from the leftover Spinach/Sausage/Mushroom mix I had leftover from the Deep Dish Pizza I made two nights ago. I just warmed the leftover mixture in a small skillet, beat 3 eggs with a little bit of milk, salt and pepper and poured that over the warmed filling. Be sure to lift the filling some to allow the beaten egg to get underneath. Let that cook for a few minutes til the eggs are set, then sprinkle on some leftover mozzarella cheese, and put the whole thing under the broiler for a minute or two.

Enjoy with your morning coffee...or drink of choice...

Success be yours in the New Year!

-J

Deep Dish Pizza

Man o man, where has the time gone?? No posts since the beginning of December and here it is the end of the year! My new year's resolution will be...to be more dedicated to 2nddaygourmet!

So...I was cleaning out the fridge, again, and came up with this little beauty...

I picked up a multi-grain pizza dough at Publix bakery. It's the same dough they use for their multi-grain Italian bread, and it's yummy! Oh another resolution...I will make my own pizza dough in 2011.

I got some plain breakfast sausage, some mozzerella and provolone cheese and used stuff from the fridge for the rest of the fillings. I browned the sausage and doctored it with some of Mike's seasoning mix that he makes, added some fennel seeds and some garlic to the sausage as it browns. Then I added the remenants of an onion, some spring onions and some leftover sliced portabella mushrooms to the skillet. Finally I added, a little at a time, a bag of fresh spinach that was in the fridge and let that cook down.

After the dough had risen for an hour or so, I put it in the 10 inch deep dish pie plate that I had coated with olive oil and sprinkled with cornmeal. Then I added provolone slices and mozerrella on top of the dough. The point is to build a pizza backwards from what you would normally do, so you're adding stuff in the reverse order of what you would typically do for a pizza. Next I put in the sausage/spinach/mushroom/onion combo. You can add these one at a time in layers if you want. I found the last time that cooking the sausage and spinach together worked really well, so I add the rest of the stuff this time too.

Next I added a grated carrot and a half zucchini that I'd cubed, and salted and peppered everything. At this point I'd use a can of crushed tomatoes, but I had a bunch of grape tomatoes and some roma tomatoes (Romas from our GARDEN!) so I chopped them up and put them on and sort of crushed them with my hands when adding them. Then I sprinkled some chopped fresh oregano, marjoram, parsley, thyme and basil on top of the tomatoes, and some more salt and pepper.

Finally I sprinkled some grated parmesan cheese and put it in a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes. I added a little more mozerrella after 20 mins and put it back in for 3 - 5 minutes til it got all nicely melted and gooey.

After sitting for a while, this is what a slice looked like...

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Enjoy!

-J



Turkey Mushroom Veggie Risotto

I actually made this earlier in the week, Tuesday, I think, but haven't had time to post this. The base for this was on Simply Recipes, but I added some more stuff to it. Oh, about the rice...I picked up a short grained rice at the grocery store for about 77 cents. I compared this to the special "risotto rice" that I saw that was priced much much higher, and it looked the same to me! It works just fine for risotto. And you need to know, risotto is a very "mindful" dish! You will need to give it almost constant attention, and I use the time to "meditate" a little bit! Hee hee...

I used: Turkey Broth I made from our Thanksgiving turkey, veggie stock I had in the freezer, a chopped onion, and sage I had on hand, leftover sliced portabello mushrooms, a zucchini I had in the fridge that I needed to use, chopped, some leftover creamed spinach that I made for a pot luck dinner on Monday, most of the remaining turkey in the fridge, and some grated parmesan cheese.


I mixed 2 c of Turkey Broth, 1 c. of veggie broth, and 2 c. of water and heated this to a boil. Turn this down and keep it at a simmer. You want the liquid to be hot when you add it to the rice.

Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a big skillet until it stops foaming a litte. Add onion and about a cup of sliced mushrooms to the butter. Salt them a little and let them sweat until the onions are translucent. Add 3 cloves of garlic, minced, about a Tbsp of fresh sage, and 1 1/2 cups of short grained rice. Stir it a few times and let it cook for about 2 - 3 minutes.

You will now add the stock slowly, a little at a time. I use a ladle that holds a half a cup, so I know how much I'm putting in. First add a cup of the hot stock. Stir it with a wooden spoon until most of the liquid is absorbed. Get used to doing this. You'll be doing it for quite a while!

When most of that liquid has been absorbed, add another half cup of hot stock. Stir again until the rice absorbs most of the stock. The short grained rice will release starch as it cooks, and this will make the dish nice and thick and creamy. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

When you get about halfway thru the 5 cups of stock, you can start adding some of the additional veggies you have on hand. At this point, I added the chopped zuchini. Stir stir stir, again until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add another ladle of stock and stir some more. When you've got about a cup of stock left, add the chopped turkey and a half cup of stock. Stir until it's mostly absorbed. I added the last 1/2 c. of stock and stirred that until it was absorbed. Then I added the rest of the creamed spinach, about  a cup, and stirred that in until it was heated thru. This thickens it up a lot!

Toss in a good sprinkle of grated parmesan cheese, and if you want, about a Tblsp. of butter, but that's not really necessary for this risotto, even though I think finishing with butter is a LAW of risotto making! Stir it in and marvel at the creaminess.

Serve and enjoy!
-J

ps...no pix of this one, sorry! And be sure to sample this when you're almost out of stock. You want to check the rice to make sure it's cooked enough. If you run out of stock and feel you need more, heat up some water before adding it a ladle full at a time.