Bacon and Potato Cakes

I recently acquired a cookbook entitled: The Complete Irish Pub Cookbook. I bought it partly because it was $5, the recipes looked well written and the pictures were alluring. So much so that I wanted to run home immediately and start cooking! It also stated on the back of the cover that the recipes had been tested. I decided it would be cool to start trying the recipes out of the book.

My newest addition to my cookbooks!

This blog is about the Bacon Potato Cakes that ESFSW and I paired with a salad and beer.

Here is what I used:

1 Extra Large Russet Potato
1/2 Leek (the white stalk)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 butter
salt
white pepper
3 Tbsp whole milk
1 egg - beaten
8 Strips of Bacon (high quality thick cut bacon is the best!)

Most of what you need!

ESFSW was a great help and cooked the bacon while I worked on the potato cakes and salad.

He was trying to make a bacon fan

 The bacon will not get crispy if too much oil builds up in the pan pour it off. Be sure to reserve it because it can used as the oil to fry the potato cakes! If you rather not fry the bacon you can always bake it in the oven. You will need a cookie sheet and a grate is oven proof. Arrange the bacon on the grate and set the grate on the cookie sheet. Place in a 400 degree oven and let bake. Depending on the thickness of bacon it can take 15 to 30 minutes. The grate is essential to let the oil drip off the bacon as it cooks instead of having it boil in its own juices (ewwwww!). Some say baking bacon is sightly healthier because you don't get as much of the oil. I am rarely that concerned with the health factor since I believe it is more important to use real ingredients and cook yourself over buying overly processed, overly preserved, overly sugared pre-packaged foods. A little bacon every once in a while won't kill me!

Make sure it gets crispy!

Meanwhile I was working on the potato cakes. Wash and peel the potato (I usually keep the skin on the potato since I love potato skin and it contains a fair amount of vitamins as well, but in this case it had to go!). Cut the potato in to small cubes and put in a medium pot with a pinch of salt and cover with cold water. Bring the potatoes to a boil (about 15 to 20 minutes). Once potatoes are soft take of the heat and drain the water using a colander.

While the potatoes are boiling take the leek and chop it finely. You will also need to take two to three strips of cooked bacon and chop these finely. Set aside.

Potato and Chopped leek waiting with great anticipation to return to the pot!

In the same pot you just had melt 1/4 cup butter over medium/low heat. Be careful not to walk away from the butter it will burn if you leave it unattended too long. Once the butter is melted dump the potatoes and leeks in the pot.

Back to the pot!

 Using a masher start to mash the potatoes. If the mixture gets to thick add a little milk.

All mashed up

Once the potatoes are mashed well add the bacon, egg and 1/4 cup rolled oats. Add the rest of the milk and continue to mash to incorporate all the ingredients.

The Oats join the party!

They are ready to be fried!

The next couple steps unfortunately were not photo documented because my hands were covered with potato and flour and ESFSW was washing up some dishes.

Take the mashed up potato mixture off the heat. In a wide shallow bowl put a cup of flour and have a couple clean empty plates on hand. In the pan that you fried the bacon add a little more oil and heat (medium high) til water sizzles when it hits the pan.

Now with clean hands (any rings removed) - flour hands. Now reach into the pot with the potatoes and take a hand full. Shape the the potato into a palm size disc. Add more flour as necessary. Place the potato cake into the fry pan. Let cook for about 4 minutes each side or until each side is golden. 

Starting to fry the potato cakes

Almost done!

To stream line the process and so that you don't have to continually wash your hands I suggest shaping all of the potato mixture into little cakes staging them on plates til you are ready to fry them. Unless you have a huge fry pan or a really large griddle you'll have to fry them in batches. Add more oil as necessary. My mixture yielded ~12 little potato cakes. 

When they are done arrange the potato cakes on plates with the rest of the bacon.

It looks good!

Now to offset the fried nature of this mean it is best to pair it with a colorful salad! I really think you all can make your own salad, but I include this picture because it turned out so nicely! The salt in the background wasn't actually part of the salad!

All the pretty vegetables!

And here is our final product!

Doesn't it look Good!

The meal was a great success and is definitely worth making again. When looking over the recipe I thought the addition of oats to the potatoes had me a little skeptical. But when enjoying the finished product I couldn't even detect the oats! We had left over potato cakes which we divided between the two of us. They re-heated really well in the toaster oven with a little cheddar cheese on top with tomatoes.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Recipe:

1 to 2 large potatoes
10 bacon strips
1 Tbs butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 leek (diced thinly)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 egg - beaten
flour
milk

In a large pot, boil cubed potatoes and cook til tender. Drain well. Melt the butter in pot you just cooked the potatoes in. Mash the potatoes with the melted butter, salt and pepper and a little milk until creamy.

Cook the bacon til crispy. Remove from the pan and drain oil on paper towels. Take 2 to 3 strips and chop finely.

Add rolled oats, bacon, leeks and egg to the potatoes. Continue to mash to incorporate. With flour hands shape potato mixture into little cakes and fry - 4 minutes each side.

Serve with remaining bacon and a salad or other greens.

Chicken, Mushroom and Leek Pie

Time to document another recipe from the Irish Pub Cookbook!

If you peruse back earlier in the past month I documented my attempted at Om Ali. This required the purchase of filo dough. I had only used half the filo dough, so when I saw that the Potato, Leek and Chicken Pie was covered with filo dough instead of potatoes that it was a great way to use the rest of the filo. 

Here is what I used:

1 large potato (cubed)

1 medium turnip (cubed)

1 lb chicken breast (cubed)

8 Tbs butter

3 cup sliced mushrooms

2 medium leeks (the two in the picture were a little big so I used 1.5)

4 Tbs flour

1 cup whole milk

1 cup half and half

2 Tbs Dijon mustard

4 tsp sage

8 oz filo pastry (thawed)

Most of the required ingredients.

Here is what I did:

Boil the cubed turnips and potatoes for 5 minutes to cook. You can do this up to a couple days ahead of time if you store the cooked potato in the refrigerator.

In a large shallow pan melt 1/2 the butter and brown the chicken.

Browning Chicken

While the chicken browns, slice the cleaned mushrooms and cut the leek into 1 inch slices.

Slicing cleaned mushrooms

All cut!

Leeks and Mushrooms

Once the chicken has browned add the mushrooms and leeks cook for ~ 3 minutes. (In future iterations of this dish I might wait to add the leeks).

Leeks and mushrooms added to the browned chicken 

Add the 4 Tbs of flour and gently incorporate, cook for 1 minute.

Adding the flour

Gradually stir in milk, stirring continuously, and bring to a boil.

Adding the milk

Add the mustard, sage, potatoes and turnip and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir and then simmer the whole thing for 10 minutes.

Adding potatoes, mustard and sage - thicken

Melt the rest of the butter (I usually just use the microwave). Using a pastry brush, paint the bottom of the pan with butter. Layer filo dough (4-6 sheets). Paint the top with butter.

Filo dough painted with melted butter

Add the chicken mixture on top the filo dough.

Add chicken mixture on top the filo dough

Layer 2 sheets at a time with most of the remaining dough, reserve several sheets. Paint with butter every other sheet.

With the remaining filo dough crumple sheets on top and gently paint with butter, until the entire surface is covered. If you need more butter use it or else the filo won't turn a beautiful golden brown and the entire dish will look a little sad and under cooked when it is finished.

Put the dish in a pre-heated 350 F oven.

Into the Oven!

Bake for 45 minutes - until the mixture is boiling and the filo is golden brown and crispy!

All done!

It is pretty close to the picture!

We were pretty hungry and it smelled so good we forgot to take pictures of our plates including the lovely salad I threw together to pair with it! We had lots of left overs that re-heated really well in my opinion and I had lunch for a week from it!

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! Happy Cooking!

Recipe:

1 potato

1 turnip

8 Tbs butter

1 lb chicken

2 leeks

3 cups mushrooms

4 Tbs flour

1 cup whole milk

1 cup half and half

2 Tbs mustard

3 tsp sage (best to use fresh but dried will also work)

8 oz filo pastry

salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 350 F. In a pot boil the cubed potatoes and turnips for 5 minutes. Drain water and set aside.

Melt half the butter in a large pan and brown chicken (approximately 5 to 8 minutes)

Add the sliced leek and mushroom and cook for 3 minutes. Add the flour and stir for 1 minute. Gradually stir in milk and half and half. Bring the milk to a boil. Then add mustard, sage, potatoes and turnip. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes.

Melt the remaining butter. Paint the bottom of a large baking dish with butter, layer 6 sheets of the filo dough on the bottom of the pan. Paint the top with butter. Then cover with the chicken mixture. Layer 2 sheets at a time painting every other sheet with butter. Crumble the last of the dough on top and paint with butter. Bake for 45 minutes in the pre-heated oven.

Irish Coffee

Irish coffee is one of those beverages that combine two of my favorites into one delicious combination! Coffee and Irish whiskey! They are pretty simple to make and don't require anything special equipment or skills. I have made them a couple times in the past without thinking of looking up a recipe. While I enjoyed my own concoctions, there was always something missing compared to the ones I had ordered out (The best one was from the bar at the Hotel Del in Coronado). 

There was a recipe in my newly acquired Irish Pub Cookbook and come to find out I was missing the sugar. And while I don't normally add sugar to my coffee it did add something to the drink.

What you need:

Coffee

Whiskey

Brown Sugar (turbinado sugar also works)

Cream (to be authentic is shouldn't be whipped but if you can find any heavy cream just use whipped)

What you do:

Brew coffee (make it strong!). In a coffee cup (glass ones if you have them make them look pretty) pour a shot of whiskey in, add coffee and a 2 tsp to a 1 Tbsp of sugar. Stir. Carefully add whipped cream(or super heavy cream) on top. For a flair you can dust the top with a little coco powder or cinnamon.

Don't they look delicious!

What ever you do - don't stir in the cream! The coffee is suppose to be sipped through the cream. The picture from above is from ESFSW and my first attempt. The whipped cream was 100% real but from a can - and held up quite well to the heat of the coffee. We have made them again but this time with the extra whipped cream used with the strawberries and cream (minus the cardamom). Mine did not turn out as well - I filled the cups up with too much coffee and so when the cream started to melt the cups overflowed (I refrained from taking a picture of this minor catastrophe!). It is definitely a recipe worth saving and is a nice evening drink on cold rainy nights. If caffeine keeps you up at night you can use decaf. The stronger the roast the better!

Enjoy!

Braised Brussels Sprouts and a 5 minute Egg

If you are wondering if you read the title wrong I swear I didn't make a mistake! Yes, braised Brussels sprouts and a 5 minute egg!. Now for any of you how have spent any time in France or with french cooking soft boiled eggs are very common on top salads, the runny yolk combines with any dressing used making something rather ordinary into something that is wonderfully rich. 

I was a little low on groceries one night last week but had some Brussels sprouts and eggs, so I decided to combine them! So I braised the Brussels sprouts in butter and popped and egg into boiling water for 5 minutes. Best to start the egg only after you braised the Brussels spouts.

Place cut side down sprouts in a pan with melted butter and some garlic - over medium heat

Turn over when cut side is browned

When both sides are browned add 1/2 cup of water

Once the water has evaporated they are ready to go!

 Arrange the Brussels sprouts on a plate. If you lettuce greens you can put the sprouts onto these, tomatoes and crumbled bacon would also be lovely additions. Since I didn't have these things I just did the sprouts. Once the egg is done - carefully remove from the boiling water and rinse with cold water. Carefully peel the egg - the egg will be soft and hot. If it breaks just plop it on top the sprouts and let the golden yolk run out overall the sprouts.

The cabbage is my first attempted at vinegar cured cabbage which you will hear more about in future posts!

My plate!

It is a bit of a random dinner or lunch idea but it turned out quite tasty! And if you don't sometimes try something that sounds weird you never discover wonderful combinations like this one!

Strawberries and Cardamom Whipped Cream

Strawberries and whipped cream is one of the delicious simple pleasures in life. Now add cardamom and it becomes heavenly! It is best to make your own whipped cream which is a lot easier than you would think and yields great results and is all natural.

Here's what I used:

Whipping Cream (1 to 2 cups)

pinch of salt

pinch of cream of tarter

1/4 to 2/3 cup powdered sugar (add based on taste)

1 to 2 tsp cardamom

Whipping Cream and Powered Sugar!

Here is what you do:

Put a metal or glass bowl in the freezer for a couple hours (add the beaters as well if you think of it). Take bowl out of the freezer, add whipping cream, salt and cream of tarter. Using a stand or hand mixer whip cream until it starts to form peaks. Add powered sugar. Continue to whip until the cream forms peaks that stand.

Unwhipped - whipping cream in cold mixing bowl

Cream is thickening add powdered sugar

Dollop generous amounts of whip cream over sliced strawberries!

Doesn't that look delicious!

If you are like me and like cardamom you can sprinkle a little on the strawberries before you top with the whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Split Pea Soup!

What to do! What to do! I have ham in the freezer that has over stayed its welcome and the freezer decided to punish it with freezer burn! I really should have used it months before and yet I just didn't have any plans for it. But I didn't really want to toss it in the trash that is such a waste in so many different ways! Besides the solution is simple - split pea soup!

I was going to make it just for myself to have during the week, but thought why not make it on a Saturday night for ESFSW and myself to have with grilled cheese sandwiches (we still had sourdough from Boudin's to eat up). He didn't seem to excited at first, so I pried a little since usually he is all for what I have suggested to make in previously - granted I haven't suggested anything too crazy yet! Come to find out pea soup always made him feel sick when he was a kid, he theory is that he is slightly allergic to peas which is tied to his peanut allergy. I was a little skeptical til I did a little research and found that these allergies can be linked! If you want to know more about pea allergies you can check it out here:

Allergy Notes

Anyways - I kinda pushed him into trying it again since he did out grow other allergies from his youth and his peanut allergy has lessen (not to the point I could feed him one without an adverse reaction - insert sad face here - you see I am quite the fan of the lowly peanut and many things that have peanuts in them!)

Anyways on to the soup!

Here is what I used:

Vegetable Stock

2 to 3 cups dried peas (soaked in water)

1 lb bag frozen peas

1 small onion (diced)

4 celery stocks (chopped)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

1 turnip

3 carrots (chopped)

2 cups chopped cooked ham (or a ham bone if you have one on hand) - if you are vegetarian or vegan just skip!

2 tsp cumin (optional)

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper - to taste (only add salt at the very end)

Here is what I did:

The night before (or in the morning) put the dried peas and rinse them off in a strainer. Put them in a medium to large bowl and fill with water. Cover the bowl with a towel (so nothing falls in!)

Soaking Peas

In the morning the peas should have soaked up some to most of the water. If you aren't going to use the peas right away drain the water and put the peas into a ziplock bag and place in the refrigerator.

soaked peas

In a large pot - heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Add mince garlic onions and celery and saute until the celery is softens and the onions are translucent. Then add carrots and cumin and continue to cook until the carrots begin to soften. Now add vegetable stock and soaked peas and the bay leaves. 

*I didn't take pictures of the saute-ing process. Please forgive my over sight. But, honestly do they all start looking the same!

The soup - halfway done.

Bring the soup to a boil and then lower the heat and let the soup continue to simmer. Stir occasionally. In this step the soaked peas will basically disintegrate. 

While the soup is simmering - peel the turnip and cut into cubes. 

Peeled Turnip - I only add half because I got such a large one

Cubed turnip

Add the turnip to the soup and at the same time add the bag of frozen peas (if you leave them out while you are working on the soup they will thaw so that you don't lower the temp of the soup too much). Using the combo of frozen peas and dried peas allows the soup have the consistency of split pea soup, but also have whole peas present in the soup.

Frozen peas!

Next cut up the ham and add it to the soup. Let the soup simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes. Make sure to stir the soup from time to time.

Soup right after the ham is cooked.

Soup simmers the turnip and split peas will turn more mushy and thicken the soup.

After the soup as simmered a bit longer

Taste the soup and decide if salt and pepper if needed.

ESFSW made grilled cheese sandwiches that we ate with the soup and it was a great combo. We had lots of left over soup for us to split and have for lunches or dinners. I froze half of the leftovers so that it keeps longer.

ESFSW giving his rating of the meal!

This is a nice alternative to the super smooth strained pea soups. Heartier and full of vegetables this is a great dinner for cold nights. I hope you enjoy!

Recipe:

32 oz Vegetable Stock

2 to 3 cups dried peas (soaked in water)

1 lb bag frozen peas

1 small onion (diced)

4 celery stocks (chopped)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

1 turnip

3 carrots (chopped)

2 cups chopped cooked ham (or a ham bone if you have one on hand)

2 tsp cumin (optional)

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper - to taste (only add salt at the very end)

Soak dried peas over night in water. In a large pot - heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add minced garlic and the chopped onion and celery. Cook til both celery and onion are soft and translucent. Add carrots and cumin. Continue to saute til carrots begin to soften. Add the vegetable stock, bay leaves and split peas (soaked) bring to a boil then reduce heat and continue to let soup simmer. Add chopped up turnip and thawed frozen peas. Add ham and let soup simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot!