Recipe: Sausage and cheese over rice

A little something I threw together last week:

• Brown one pound of bulk sausage in a 2-3 quart pot. Take out to drain well and let it cool for a few minutes; wipe down the inside of the pot.
• Pat down at least one cup of cooked rice in the bottom of the pan. I used some leftover rice, a good way to get rid of that bit that's not enough for everyone.
• Layer the sausage over the rice.
• Shred or thinly slice your choice of cheese and layer on top of the sausage, as much as suits you.
• Scramble 4-6 eggs (I had 5) with some milk, add a little pepper if you like. You shouldn't need salt, especially if the rice is already salted. Pour over the cheese and sausage. (Sausage should be cool enough that it doesn't start cooking the eggs immediately.)
• Put the lid on the pot; turn the eye to low and cook for 30-40 minutes.

Easy as pie and it was SO yummy! You could also add other layers, seasonings, etc. Some fresh chives or green onions just before serving would probably be nice.

Recipe: Profiteroles

This week I read "Dragonwell Dead" by Laura Childs. It's the first of her mysteries that I've ever read; it was a decent enough read. She writes in the mystery sub-genre that seems to be all the rage these days, a "theme" series. Her mysteries are set in South Carolina and the protagonist owns a tea shop, thus, much of the story takes place around the theme of tea. Similar books would be the "Goldilocks Catering" mysteries and the "Grace and Favor" series.

In the back of the book, Ms. Childs provides several recipes for items that were mentioned in the book, and I tried one last night - profiteroles. That's just a fancy word for "cream puffs", y'all. But they were soooo easy and soooo good that I just have to share! Here's the recipe as it's written in the book, then I'll make my own notes:

1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

In a saucepan, bring milk and butter to a boil. While boiling, add flour all at once and stir rapidly until mixture forms a ball. Removed from heat and beat in eggs thoroughly, one at a time. Place heaping teaspoons of dough on a greased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until puffs are well risen and dry. When cool, gently pull off the top and add your favorite filling.

When I made these last night, they were completely cooked in the 20 minutes at 425 degrees. The first batch, I did turn down to 350 degrees and let them cook for another couple of minutes, but my nose quickly told me that they were done. The second batch was completely done in the 20 minutes at 425, I took them out immediately because they were very, very brown.

These were SO good filled with ice cream for dessert last night. They would also be good with a hearty filling like chicken salad, scrambled eggs with toppings, etc. Westley and I spent a good hour last night dreaming up fillings for them!

One last note: these should be cooked, filled and served within a matter of hours. Don't make them the day ahead for an event. They're not horrible, but they absorb moisture really quickly and turn chewy instead of light and fluffy. They could possibly be made in the morning for an evening event, but I won't swear to that since I've only made them once. Oh, and I didn't count, but I think this made around 2 to 2 1/2 dozen at the size I made.

Repurposed Potatoes

On Saturday, I cooked a roast, complete with potatoes in the pot. I had 6 half potatoes left over, which I had saved. Last night, we were having pork chops, and I wanted to do something with those potatoes.

First, I microwaved 2 smallish extra potatoes to make sure we had enough. After that, I warmed up the other potatoes. I dumped all of the cooked potatoes into a big bowl, added about a 1/2 stick of butter, and some milk, and started mashing. I took the skins off the microwaved potatoes, but left on the skins from the previously cooked ones.

I had to microwave a little more after doing some of the mashing, then, I had to break out the hand mixer instead of the masher, so as to break up the skins more, and create a finer mash. I also had to add more milk at one point.

Don't forget to taste test! Since the half potatoes had a lot of flavor and seasoning after cooking with the roast, the mashed potatoes didn't need much. A little salt, some pepper, and I also threw in some parsley. Come to think of it, I should have added some garlic - that would have been yummy!

These never did get totally smooth - it wasn't just the skin pieces left in, but also some lumps that just would not work out - so these were "rough" mashed, I guess. But they were SO, SO, SO yummy and good!