Tag: cheese

Erynn’s Egg Bites

In 1973 we bought a copy of The Last Whole Earth Catalog, and we still have it. The 60’s and 70’s were the two decades most associated with the back-to-the-land culture, and though we never moved to a subsistence farm in the middle of nowhere, we had friends who tried it. We bought the catalog mainly because it was an important resource for anyone interested in doing things the old-fashioned way.

If you wanted to build a log cabin, learn how to raise goats or to make your own sandals, there were leads to the animals, tools, books and people who could help you. There were cookbooks listed as well. One of my favorites was Gourmet Cooking for Free, which included recipes for delicacies that people often discard, like beaver tail and moose nose. I searched Amazon and discovered that the book is now available in a Kindle edition in case you are looking for a recipe to turn that woodchuck in the back yard into a tasty stew.

While I was not looking for exotic meats, I stopped in at the Whole Earth Grocery shortly after I began working at the RiverTown Newspaper Group in River Falls, Wisconsin. I think that subconsciously I expected to find it staffed with people near my age who once dreamed of homesteading in Alaska. Instead, I found college students dedicated to the proposition that everyone should eat locally-sourced organic foods. That’s how I became acquainted with Erynn, manager of the store.

She liked the idea that I bought lots of yeast and baked most of our bread and that I, like her, felt that home-cooked foods were tastier and better for a person than most of the frozen and canned choices in the major supermarkets. We exchanged a few recipes. Here is one that I finally made. It’s a winner.

INGREDIENTS:

6 eggs
1 T cold water
1 tsp. olive oil
8-10 sausage links cut into pieces or 1/2 lb. bulk pork sausage
1/2 cup chopped red and/or green peppers
1 small onion (about 2 inches in diameter)
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. salt, divided

 
PROCEDURE:

Clean and chop the onion and peppers into an eighth to quarter-inch dice and set them aside in a small bowl. If you are using sausage links, cut them into thin rounds.

Cook the meat in a skillet over moderate heat until it is no longer pink and just beginning to brown. Use a wooden spoon to break the meat into small pieces as it cooks if you are using bulk sausage. Set the meat aside in a mixing bowl.

Preheat the oven to 350º and lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Put the chopped pepper and onion into the pan and cook for about three minutes until the vegetables are tender but still crisp. Remove the pan from the heat and put the vegetables into the bowl with the meat. Grate the cheese and add it to the bowl. Mix everything together.

Heat the pan and coat it with a teaspoon of olive oil over moderate heat. Beat the eggs until they are lemon colored with one-eighth teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of water. Lightly scramble the eggs over low heat until they are cooked but not dry.

Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, garlic powder and an eighth teaspoon of salt into a sifter and add the flour mixture by thirds to the meat and vegetables. Mix the ingredients to the consistency of meatloaf. Fold the eggs into the meat mixture until the eggs are uniformly combined.

Form balls about three inches in diameter and slightly flatten them to make thick patties. Place them two inches apart on the cookie sheet and bake for eighteen to twenty minutes until they are lightly browned.

Depending on how big you make them, you will have eight to ten Egg Bites. Enjoy!

NOTES:

Erynn noted that you can substitute bacon cut in small pieces and lightly cooked for the sausage and implied that you could use other varieties of Cheddar cheese. She also specified organic flour, but I must confess to using Hudson Cream Flour. It is not certified organic, but it is an exceptional product made from hard winter wheat in Stafford County, Kansas. It is not carried by stores in the Upper Midwest, but you can order it from the mill. Just search for Hudson Cream Flour.

You can freeze Egg Bites and microwave the number you need in just a couple of minutes. They are perfect for mornings when you are running late or when you have houseguests and would rather enjoy a cup of coffee and visit with them instead of cooking breakfast.

Erynn made a very good point as she concluded her email to me. “Ohh— remember to keep your ingredients as local and organic as possible!!  It’s good karma and the taste is superior!”

She’s right.
 

Spam ’N’ Mac

“To die for” was how a young lady described a dish of “Lobster Mac” she had eaten the night before our conversation. It’s macaroni and cheese with lobster meat baked into the casserole. I really like lobster and enjoy good macaroni and cheese, so I am sure I would agree with her assessment of the dish, but I have never tried it.

For me the problem is the cost. A pound of lobster meat can easily cost $50 and a small side dish of Lobster Mac will set you back $15 to $20. I have found a delicious alternative for less than $5 a pound that I am sure will soon be appearing at “haute cuisine” restaurants from coast to coast. You may pay $15 for a little side dish of Spam ’N’ Mac at some of those restaurants, but you can create this gourmet dinner at home for what it costs to make hamburger hotdish.

On our way back from visiting relatives in Kansas, Jerri and I decided to revisit the Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota, which was moved from its original quarters to a new location downtown. It was late on a Tuesday afternoon when we walked past the bronze sculpture of a farmer with two pigs that we had had our picture taken with many years ago.

Ours was a fun reunion with the history of a meat product that I remember fondly. I knew that Spam was a lunch meat combination of pork shoulder and ham invented by the Hormel Company in 1937. However, I had forgotten that one hundred and fifty million pounds of Spam were shipped to soldiers and civilians during World War II. I did know that thousands of cans of Hot and Spicy Spam were shipped to Guam every year, but I was not aware that Hormel now made Spam for other food cultures.

There is Jalapeño Spam for Texas, for instance, Portuguese Sausage Spam for Hawaii, Teriyaki Spam for Korea and Chorizo Spam for Mexico, as well as Garlic, Bacon, Black Pepper, Turkey and Hickory Smoke Spam for adventurous Americans along with the Classic Spam I grew up with. You can buy all these varieties at the museum in Austin or on the museum web site.

Mom kept a can of Spam on a shelf for emergencies and we do the same today. Every few weeks, Mom would fix Spam and Eggs, slices of meat fried until slightly crisp on the outside and served with fried eggs and toast for breakfast. We still enjoy a breakfast of Spam and Eggs at least a couple times a year.

Until I created Spam ’N’ Mac with Portuguese Spam, Spam and Eggs was my favorite way to enjoy this meat. But then I saw the cans of Portuguese Sausage Spam. I had no idea what it tasted like, but the man who greeted us informed me that it was a little spicy and the most popular variety of Spam in Hawaii.

I could not resist, and we enjoyed a delicious Spam ’N’ Mac supper a few days after we got home from our visit to the museum. I was told that Portuguese Sausage Spam is available only at Austin, Minnesota or Hawaii, but I am betting that a few drops of hot sauce will make Spam ’N’ Mac with classic Spam taste just as good. If not, I promise to let you know soon.

INGREDIENTS:

About 3 quarts water
Salt to taste
1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
3 T butter
3 T all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. white pepper
1/8 tsp. ground dry mustard
1/8 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
8 oz. Portuguese Sausage Spam
2-3 T breadcrumbs

PROCEDURE:

Heat about three quarts of water to boiling in a saucepan or Dutch oven. Add salt if you wish. I add about a half teaspoon of salt to the water for this recipe.

Preheat the oven to 375º while the water is heating, grease a three-quart casserole and start making the sauce.

Add the macaroni when the water comes to a boil and set a timer for eight minutes.

Heat the milk to steaming and shred the cheese.

Melt the butter over moderate heat in a two-quart saucepan and stir in the flour, salt, pepper, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Cook the roux for about three minutes. Chop the Spam into a quarter-inch dice.

Stir the hot milk into the roux until you have a smooth sauce. Cook the sauce for about two minutes until it thickens, then add the shredded cheese gradually while stirring until you have a smooth sauce.

Drain the cooked macaroni and return it to the pan. Mix the sauce with the macaroni and blend in the Spam.

Put the macaroni into the casserole, sprinkle some breadcrumbs on top and put the casserole into the oven. Bake for about twenty-five minutes until the casserole is bubbling and the bread crumbs have begun to brown.

This recipe makes four generous servings. Serve with a salad and a glass of wine.

NOTES: Use the Cheddar cheese you prefer. My first choice is sharp Cheddar, but medium or extra sharp are okay too. Spam comes in twelve ounce cans. You can reserve two or three slices for a sandwich or for a breakfast of Spam and eggs or just make a meatier Spam ’N Mac.