Scotch eggs

     After going to the Renaissance Faire this year with my friend Lyz, she and I made a plan to visit each other again soon.  Since cooking with friends is always fun, we made a plan to have a cooking date and, inspired by our recent visit, decided to make Scotch eggs.  Scotch eggs, if you've never heard of them, are hard boiled eggs covered by sausage and breadcrumbs and then fried.  They are delicious!  Since one of my favorite book series/show, Outlander, takes place in Scotland, I decided to use my Outlander Kitchen cookbook by Theresa Carle-Sanders for this Scottish recipe.

Scotch eggs from Outlander Kitchen by Theresa Carle-Sanders

Ingredients:

7 large eggs

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp kosher salt

pinch of cayenne pepper

1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs

1 1/2 lbs pork sausage 

vegetable oil

Procedure:

1) In a large saucepan, cover 6 eggs with cold water and top off with an extra inch.  Bring to a full rolling boil over high heat, remove from the heat, and cover for 7 minutes.  Drain and cover the eggs with ice water until cool to the touch, then peel them.

2) In a small bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and cayenne pepper.  In another bowl, beat the remaining egg with 1 teaspoon of water to make an egg wash.  Fill a third bowl with breadcrumbs.

3) Flatten 4 ounces of sausage into a patty in the palm of your hands, and wrap it around a peeled egg.  Repeat with the remaining sausage meat and eggs.  Roll the sausage-covered eggs in the flour to coat lightly, then in the egg wash, and finally in the breadcrumbs to cover evenly.

4) In a large frying pan, heat 3 inches of vegetable oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Fry the Scotch eggs until golden, turning occasionally, about 3 minutes.  Drain on paper towels.  Alternatively, bake in a 400 degrees Fahrenheit oven until light golden and crispy, 25-30 minutes.

5) Serve warm or cold.  Store leftovers up to 3 days in the fridge.

Peeling the eggs and looking good doing so!

Cooking with friends is the best!

We've got our egg station all ready to go

Waiting for the oil to come up to temperature

We're frying, baby!!

Eating our (now very crisp) scotch eggs!

     Although this recipe was definitely a lot of work, it went totally fast with good company and an extra pair of hands!  The recipe was definitely delicious, but a bit tricky.  The first time we went to eat our scotch eggs, we found that the sausage was still undercooked.  We had to re-fry the eggs for another three to six minutes before everything was cooked through!  I took a while since we fried the eggs in batches of three and had to wait for the oil to get back up to temperature each time.  All together, we ended up frying in five separate three minute batches.  

  This was my first time deep frying something and it wasn't as terrifying as I thought it would be.  Once everything did cook up, it was delicious!  Crispy on the outside with a softer egg/meat on the inside.  It kind of reminds me of an Egg McMuffin without any muffin.  I would definitely make these again, but would change things around slightly.  I think I would start heating up the oil right away, as it took quite a bit of time to come up to temperature.  I would also be more careful about exactly measuring the sausage (we just eyeballed it) and would definitely make sure that the sausage was spread more thinly across the egg; it seemed to be the big bulges of sausage that were raw.  Come to think of it, maybe I'd even bake it and save myself all of the frying trouble.  Either way, definitely worth it as a fun treat!

Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana

    Welcome back!  I thought I couldn't let this year end without at least one recipe.  I've actually been using this blog a lot, but just as a source for recipes for myself.  My poor hubby has been sick for a little over two weeks now, so I thought that a soup would be just the thing to warm him up.  I've been seeing this Zuppa Toscana recipe make the rounds on the Insant Pot Facebook group, and have always wanted to try it.  I made it for him today and I am sure glad I did!

Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana 
from https://www.simplyhappyfoodie.com/instant-pot-zuppa-toscana-sausage-potato-soup/

Ingredients:

3 Strips of Thick Cut Smoky Bacon, chopped
2 lbs Ground Hot Italian Sausage (use 1/2 hot and 1/2 mild if you don't like much spice)
1 Large Onion, chopped
1 tsp Oregano, dried
5 Cloves of Garlic, pressed or minced
4-6 Medium Potatoes, halved and sliced 1/4 inch thick
6 cups Chicken Broth, low sodium
1 Bunch of Kale chopped, with rib removed
1 1/2 cups Heavy Cream

Procedure:

1) Turn the Instant Pot to Sauté mode, and add the chopped bacon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the bacon renders out most of its fat. Remove and set aside.

2) Add the sausage and brown it, stirring a few times. If you can get a good browning on it the flavor will be even better!

3) Remove everything, leaving behind 2 tsp of the fat (enough to cook the onions).

4) Add the onions and oregano.  When the onions start to look translucent, add the garlic and stir.

5) Pour in the broth, stirring, and make sure you scrape the bottom of the pot to get up any brown bits (deglaze).

6) Add the potatoes and sausage, and add the bacon back in.  Check to make sure the contents don't go over the Max Fill line marked on the inner liner.  Cancel Sauté mode.

7) Close the lid, set the steam release knob to Sealing.  Set to Manual (or Pressure Cook), and choose 5 minutes (High Pressure). The pot will take several minutes to come to pressure.

8) After cooking cycle ends, allow a 10 minute NPR (Natural Pressure Release). Do a controlled Quick Release for the rest of the steam, and when the pin in the lid drops, open the lid.

9) Add in the kale, (or thawed spinach, if using) and stir well. Cover and let heat through for 5 minutes or so to soften the kale. If using spinach, just stir it in and proceed to the next step.

10) Stir in the heavy cream and serve.

  This was a lovely recipe.  It is apparently inspired by Zuppa Toscana (sausage potato soup) that they serve at Olive Garden.  Having never had the soup at Olive Garden, I can't tell you how it compares.  I can, however, tell you that the soup is very delicious.  It is hearty, has a nice contrast in texture between the potatoes, kale, and sausage, and a lovely taste.  I used all hot italian sausage and found it spicy but not too spicy.  The original notes from the recipe say that you don't need to add in more salt as the sausage is already salty enough.  I did indeed find that to be the case.  It goes lovely with a nice side of bread and some lovely company.  The sick hubby loved it too!

Smoked Sausage & White Bean soup (Instant Pot)

     It's finally winter time in Northern California.  After an unseasonably warm fall, the weather is starting to get chilly and the days are growing short.  It makes one want to curl up next to a fire with a good book, comfy clothes, and, of course, a nice hot bowl of soup.
     I first discovered this recipe when somebody shared it on the Instant Pot community Facebook group (I have, of course, joined that group!).  It looked wonderful and delicious and just the thing for lovely winter weather (it almost makes me wish that we had snow here).  After saving the recipe for weeks, I was finally inspired to make it this week as the weather turned cold plus I had most of the ingredients at home.  Here is the recipe:

Smoked Sausage & White Bean Soup, Instant Pot from https://frugalhausfrau.com/2017/11/05/smoked-sausage-white-bean-soup-instant-pot-or-stove-top/

Servings: 8
Time: 1 hr 15 min + time to soak the beans 

Ingredients: 

1 pound white beans, soaked overnight or quick soaked, see notes, below
1 tablespoon olive oil
14 ounces smoked sausage, sliced on bias into 3/8” slices
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots, peeled & diced
2 stalks celery, diced
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
1 bay leaf
6  to 6 1/2 cups broth; low sodium vegetable or chicken preferred
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions: 

1) Turn the Instant Pot on to Saute. Add a tablespoon of oil. When hot, add the sausage and cook until slightly browned. Remove sausage from pot and set aside.

2) Add onions and saute until softened, then add in the garlic and stir until garlic is fragrant, a minute or two. Add the carrots & celery.

3) Rinse the beans and add them to the pot, along with thyme, oregano, parsley, bay leaf, broth, salt and pepper and the reserved sausage.

4) Set to Pressure and cook on high for 25 minutes, using the quick release when the time is up. Test several beans; if not tender, replace lid and bring back up to pressure and cook an additional five minutes, again using the quick release.

5) Thicken the soup, if desired, by mashing some of the beans in the pot or remove about a cup of beans and mash to a paste, then stir back into the pot.

Notes:

To soak the beans overnight: Rinse and sort through beans, discarding any damaged beans or debris. Cover with at least two inches of water and let soak for 12 hours or more. Drain and rinse, proceed with recipe.
To quick soak in Instant Pot: Rinse and sort through beans, discarding any damaged beans or debris. Add to Instant Pot along with 2 teaspoons salt and 8 cups water. Set to saute (high) and bring to a boil. Immediately place on lid and lock, use the manual function to set to high pressure and two minutes of time. Drain and rinse, proceed with recipe.

     I mostly made the soup as is.  We used a Kentucky Bourbon sausage instead of a smoked sausage.  This worked just fine and was absolutely delicious.  I did pre-soak my beans overnight in the fridge.  Unfortunately, I put them in what I thought was an adequate sized mason jar but turned out to be too small.  Who knew that the beans would absorb all the water and lodge themselves in the jar?  I've never had such a difficult time getting anything out of a jar!
     The soup, however, was simply amazing.  Savory, hearty, and flavorful.  I loved the contrast between the squishy but not too squishy beans (at the perfect texture) and the firmer sausage.  It goes wonderfully with some bread.  Yum yum yum!  A perfect soup for a fall/winter night!

Fruit and yogurt popsicles

     Popsicles are one of the things I've always wanted to try making but never quite got around to. So, when I went to Sur La Table to spend a gift card last month, I was very happy to see a popsicle maker. We've been enjoying popsicles ever since!

Yogurt and mango popsicle

Fruit and yogurt popsicles from http://www.womansday.com/food-recipes/food-drinks/recipes/a12330/fruit-yogurt-swirl-pops-recipe-wdy0714/

Ingredients:
1 lb. fresh or frozen fruit
2 tbsp. granulated sugar (only if using fresh fruit)
2 c. vanilla yogurt
Ice pop molds (see Note)
10 ice pop sticks

Procedure:

1) Using a food processor, purée the fruit (and sugar, if using fresh fruit) until smooth. Pour into a resealable bag or squeeze bottle.

2) Spoon the yogurt into a resealable bag or squeeze bottle. If using resealable bags, snip off a corner from each. Alternately squeeze the yogurt and purée into the molds to create swirls. Insert sticks according to directions and freeze overnight.

Popsicles in the freezer

     This recipe is super easy.  We've enjoyed popsicles with fresh cherries, strawberries, etc. etc.  What a delicious and healthy snack!!

Homemade yogurt in an Instant Pot

Homemade yogurt with granola and fresh fruit

     This is a recipe that Scott and I have been making for many many months but one which I never blogged: Homemade Yogurt. As I'm sure I've said before, I absolutely love my Instant Pot! One of the things that attracted me to it initially was its yogurt feature, which makes making homemade yogurt an absolute breeze. Read on to find out how much of a breeze:

Homemade Yogurt in an Instant Pot

Ingredients:

Half-gallon whole milk (note you can make yogurt with any quantity of milk, just keep the proportions the same)

2 tablespoons Yogurt starter (either leftover yogurt or whey from your previous batch or store bought yogurt that says "active cultures")


Equipment:

Instant Pot (I have an Instant Pot DUO60 which has the yogurt feature)

Thermometer (I use an Infrared thermometer)

Yogurt strainer, optional (I use a Euro Cuisine Greek yogurt maker)

Procedure:

1) Add half-gallon of whole milk to Instant Pot. Put the lid back onto the Instant Pot. If using the original lid, don't worry about having the knob on "sealing" or "venting." I'm pretty sure you could also do this with a glass lid.

Adding in the milk

2) Push the Yogurt button and then quickly hit the Adjust button. Your Instant Pot now should saw boil.


Heating the milk

3) Let the Instant Pot do its thing. It heats the milk up to 180°F. This helps to make a thicker yogurt.


4) Let the hot milk cool until it reaches 110°F. This is the perfect incubating temperature. I often times remove the pot and put it outside to make it cool faster.


112°F. Close enough...


5) Once it reaches the perfect temperature, add two tablespoons of your yogurt starter. Mix well. If you removed the pot to let it cool down faster, put it back into your Instant Pot. Put the lid on and hit the yogurt button. It will initially show "Yogt" and then it will start counting up. It incubates the yogurt/milk mixture for eight hours. I often times start the yogurt making process before I go to sleep and let it incubate overnight.


Pushing the Yogurt button will initially show "Yogt"


6) Eight hours later, remove the lid and stir. Voila! Fresh yogurt! You can either enjoy it straight from here (I usually like to cool mine down first!) or perform the optional step of straining it if you like thicker yogurt (i.e., Greek style yogurt).  I like to put mine in a mason jar with fruit and granola as an easy on the go breakfast.

Fresh yogurt the next morning

Optional yogurt strainer

Yummy!!

Pecan Pie

     It's that time of year again.  Time for eating, cooking, baking, and generally stuffing oneself as much as possible.  This year Scott and I once again went to New England for Thanksgiving.  We can't have a visit to New England without visiting his Ma and we couldn't visit his mother without the help of our dear friend Pete who lets us stay at his house.  To show just a little bit of thanks for his wonderful friendship to us over the years, we made dinner for Pete on Monday.  We made macaroni and cheese (of course), a four fruit crisp, and pecan pie (which sadly wasn't read until the next day).  You can see my recipe for macaroni and cheese here and my recipe for four fruit crisp here.  Pecan pie is a new recipe so deserves its own blog.

Pecan Pie

Pecan Pie from The Pioneer Woman Cooks http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/pecan-pie/

Ingredients:

1 whole Unbaked Pie Crust 
1 cup White Sugar
3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Corn Syrup
3/4 teaspoons Vanilla
1/3 cup Melted Butter (salted)
3 whole Eggs, Beaten
1 cup (heaping) Chopped Pecans

Procedure:

1) First, whip up your pie crust.
2) Stir three eggs in a small bowl.
3) In a separate bowl, add the white sugar, brown sugar, and salt together.
4) Add the corn syrup and then the melted butter.
5) Mix everything together.
6) Add in the beaten eggs and stir again.
7) Next comes the vanilla extract with one last stir
8) Pour chopped pecans in the bottom of the unbaked pie shell. Spread them out into a flat layer.
9) Pour the corn syrup/egg mixture gently over the top.   The pecan bits will slowly float to the top.
10) Carefully carry it to the oven and bake it for 50 minutes. Check on it about halfway through.  If the outer crust is browning too quickly, cover it gently with some aluminum foil.
11) Allow to cool for several hours or overnight. Serve in thin slivers.

NOTE: PIE SHOULD NOT BE OVERLY JIGGLY WHEN YOU REMOVE IT FROM THE OVEN. If it shakes a lot, cover with foil and bake for an additional 20 minute or until set. Required baking time seems to vary widely with this recipe. Sometimes it takes 50 minutes; sometimes it takes 75!

Ooey Gooey Deliciousness

     The result was an absolutely delicious and relatively easy to make pecan pie.  I admit to cheating a little and buying a pre-made crust.  Some day soon I'll make the whole thing from scratch.  I just love pecan pie; the contrast between the crunchy pecan topping and the ooey gooey sugary filling.  Yum!  It was so easy that Scott (with my help) even made a second one to bring to Thanksgiving.

Instant Pot macaroni and cheese

Katie's note: This is another blog from back in September.

     Today I was hungry but didn't really have anything read to eat in my fridge. Knowing that I had a few blocks of cheddar cheese and milk left in the fridge, I decided to research stovetop macaroni and cheese. After doing a few searches, I thought I would also research Instant Pot macaroni and cheese and came across the recipe from the blog Dad cooks dinner, a blog I stumbled across and have been itching to try the recipes in. Check it out at: http://dadcooksdinner.com/2013/04/pressure-cooker-macaroni-and-cheese.html/ Using this recipe for inspiration, I modified it based upon what I had at hand. So, here goes:

Pressure Cooker Macaroni and Cheese

Instant Pot Macaroni and Cheese (based upon Pressure Cooker Macaroni and Cheese) from http://dadcooksdinner.com/2013/04/pressure-cooker-macaroni-and-cheese.html/

Ingredients: 

1 pound dried elbow macaroni
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 tablespoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt or 2 teaspoons table salt
4 cups water
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
16 ounces shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
6 ounces shredded Parmigiano cheese
1 cup panko bread crumbs (optional)

Notes:

4 cups of water is just enough to cook 1 pound (16 ounces) of pasta. No draining is necessary; the water will be absorbed by the pasta. If you have a smaller box of pasta - 12 ounces and 13.25 ounces are common sizes of whole wheat pasta - cut the water back to 3 cups. (Everything else can stay the same.)

Procedure:

1. Pressure cook the pasta and spices: Stir the macaroni, butter, mustard, hot pepper sauce, salt, and 4 cups water in the instant pot. Lock the lid on the instant pot and cook on Manual high pressure for 4 minutes. When the cooking time is done, quick release the pressure and remove the lid.
2. Stir in the evaporated milk and cheese: Turn the electric pressure cooker to sauté-low or keep warm mode and stir in the evaporated milk. Test a piece of pasta by taking a bite - it should be al dente, but cooked through. If the pasta is still tough in the middle, simmer it for a few minutes, until it is tender. Stir in the cheese one handful at a time, stirring constantly and waiting for the current handful to melt before adding the next handful.
3) Optional step, if you like a toasted bread crumb topping: Pour the macaroni into a 3 quart broiler-safe dish, patting it down to level out the surface. Sprinkle the panko over the macaroni and cheese in an even layer. Broil the macaroni and cheese on high until the bread crumbs are toasted, about 5 minutes. Check the bread crumbs often - they go from pale brown to burnt in a flash.

The results? Okay. A lot of macaroni and cheese. I skipped the panko topping (which I usually love) in the interest of quicker cooking time.  However, the macaroni and cheese itself was a bit grainy and didn't quite have the right taste for my palate. Still, another reason to continue with my blog name and keep trying to find the perfect macaroni and cheese...

Pretty good... not great.  Plus why do they call it macaroni and cheese when it's really shells and cheese?