Ham and mozzarella Spanish omelette

Spanish omelette!!
So so good.

Best with a cast iron skillet, like this beauty: Le Creuset Cherry Cast Iron Skillet.

Brown/pan fry the potatoes in oil with a lid until they're mostly cooked through. Onions, garlic, seasoning (Tony's, of course), and for this one sliced ham and fresh mozzarella cubes. Whisk eggs (7! for this 12 inch skillet, and I think five potatoes) with a little water, mix it all together, then bake at 400 until brown and set.

So so good. I ate so much of it.

Spinach artichoke dip and baked tortilla chips

In the food processor: cheddar cheese, cream cheese, one block of frozen spinach, artichoke hearts, garlic cloves, Tony's. Blend it up, bake til edges are browned. Slice tortillas, lightly spray with olive oil, bake until crispy!

Italian pizza

The European adventure has started! There haven't been any great adventures with food yet here in Fado, Italy, but I get to try some authentic Italian pizza.

Mmm, prosciutto.

[Awww, I owe you a photo of pizza. Slow connection. Many apologies.]

Special Video Post - Beer Cheese Curry Chili

Hey, Internet. Here's a special edition video post since my sister's in town for Thanksgiving. We came up with a silly way to make dinner: Eight ingredients, chosen at random by some guy in a blindfold (actually Haley's friend Rob, who made the video).


Garbanzo beans, Great Northern beans, red curry paste, corn, broccoli, a Grain Belt Premium beer, some fresh Wisconsin Muenster and some brown rice. (We ended up leaving out the rice.)
Cheese, beer, broccoli... only means one thing: beer cheese soup. We started by checking out this recipe.

Starring me, Haley, Nate and Rob --


We started by sautéeing carrots and onions in some butter. We took it out and then used more butter to make a roux with the red curry paste and some flour. A roux is something I ought to be well-acquainted with because it's the start of every good Cajun dish, but, to the shame of my mother, I wasn't sure if I'd ever made one without my Mom. Good thing Haley was there. She taught me how to thicken it up with flour, making sure it was brown enough -- which was a bit of challenge because the curry paste gave it a lovely rust color.

After this, things went along pretty quickly. We added the veggies back in and dumped in some beer (after testing to make sure it was good still). A lesson for you, young kitchen padawan: always have some organic vegetable broth in your fridge. You never know when you may need to make soup. We then added the garbanzo beans, Great Northerns, corn and chopped broccoli.


The one big improvement to this recipe that I would recommend would be to use a cheese that melts better; muenster just doesn't cut it even though it tastes so darn good. We grated the cheese and slowly -- very slowly; Nate put in one shred at a time because he's Nate -- added it to the chili-ish Frankenstein soup we had created with our godlike kitchen powers.

Here's us enjoying it.





... After dinner, we made s'mores. I'll assume you know the recipe for that one.



Next time on Experimental Cookery...
It's pre-Thxgvg! Get ready to get your pumpkin on.
My friend Jerome will teach me, Nate, Haley and Brian how to make his infamous pumpkin soup. I'll share a friend's recipe for a delicious dessert, pumpkin crunch.

Green Pyramid Quiche with Dijon Hollandaise: A Day with Charlie

My friend Charlie and I had plans to hang out today, but I had a few errands: a stop at Target for prescriptions and hair rollers, then a stop at the grocery store to, you know, get food. I invited Charlie to tag along and he easily agreed since we'd get to spend that time together, even if were doing chores.


There were a few recipes I was thinking of that I wanted to try out. One idea hinged on making pyramid shaped crusts. I asked Charlie for a really brilliant idea of what to put in a pyramid with a crust. He quickly answered, "Breakfast. I like breakfast-dinner."

Thus was born the pyramid quiche. After a quick consultation with the Internet and my mother on the nature of quiche, we decided on crab and swiss. While we were shopping, we realized that we didn't know anything about crab and the best way to purchase it... and I remembered that I don't really like swiss cheese. So, in aisle four, we changed the recipe to include salmon (we just bought a pouch of salmon) and mozzerella (which I already had a lot of at home). And we like salmon, damn it.



While I was sauteéing the green onions, salmon and red peppers, Charlie mixed three eggs, a tablespoon of flour, an unmeasured amount of mozzerella and one cup of half & half in the blender. I added a double handful of spinach, and Charlie seasoned with salt, pepper, basil and nutmeg. He felt like a ninja using the microzester, a.k.a. "that crazy ninja blade."



Next we perfected the pyramid stabilizer system by using a third pyramid to hold up the other two. In Charlie's words, I have "really great spatial relations... for a chick." Which I do. Charlie buttered the pyramids ("Yeah, I greased 'em right up.") while I chopped more red peppers for future usage. Charlie also ate nearly all the Earl's brand Minnesota cheesy poofs. They're so damn good.

It was time to construct. We put more mozzerella and the sauteéd mix of yumminess in the pyramids and then poured on the green egg elixir. Charlie gently mixed it all together with the aid of a plastic fork.


Then we put it in the oven. 350 for... a long time. Maybe forty minutes? We weren't timing because the pyramids were such an odd, deep shape that we figured it best to just keep an eye on them. We had a lot of fun sitting in front of the oven staring like cavemen.



Just before the quiche was done, we starting thinking about plating. I wished I had a drizzle, for shizzle! "What could we drizzle, Charlie, my nizzle?" Like a bolt of lightning had struck him, Charlie blurted, "Hollandaise." But I don't know how to make hollandaise sauce. But! Long ago I had purchased one of those sauce mixer packets of hollandaise in the I-don't-know-how-to-season-my-food aisle. We mixed that with four tablespoons of butter, half a cup of water and two or three tablespoons of dijon mustard. Charlie's bright idea was to season with lemon pepper. Voila! A drizzle, my nizzle. ... For shizzle.



When the quiche came out, we marveled at its golden brown edges and lovely green specklediness. With the red peppers, it looked like Christmas and St. Patrick's Day rolled into one. "It really was pretty," Charlie reflected, but the anticipation of actually taking them out of the molds was excruciating! We were very anxious to see if they would hold their shape. They sort of did. Charlie was a little to hasty about coaxing his out of its shell, and it broke off a piece. Mine fared a little better, but the quiche is so heavy that it was still lopsided and droopy.




Anxious and starving, we drizzled (more like blobbed because the sauce thickened) and snapped a few photos before digging in.


We brainstormed how to make it better next time. A pie crust would be great, but Charlie suggested faking it with flaky crescent rolls in a tube. Of course, this is another recipe where you can change all the ingredients to your liking. Crab and swiss! Bacon and cheddar! Ham and cheese! Tomatoes, artichoke, peppers, sausage... anything breakfasty would do. I like the fancy options like crab and salmon because it dresses up the simple recipe so nicely. It does well in any shape, and maybe the pyramids were a little ambitious.

But don't you worry; I have very deviously delicious plans for the pyramids yet... chocolate volcano, anyone?

Breakfast Crescent Rolls!

My best friend Amanda came to visit from Chicago a few weeks ago with Dannielle (who has an up-to-the-minute photo blog). The morning after the Hanson concert -- yeah, I said Hanson -- I fixed these super easy deliciousnesses.

Basically, you just scramble some eggs (usually 3), put some stuff in it and then roll it all up in a tube of crescent rolls. I like the big 'n' flaky ones best. I like this so much I generally keep a tube in the fridge. Otherwise, I'd never fix eggs for breakfast -- though the pyramids might change that. Stay tuned.

This particular Friday morning after Hanson rocked First Ave and I had blisters on my feet from walking downtown, I took inventory of my fridge and my leftovers. I put spinach, shredded cheddar, diced seasoned potatoes I had in some tupperware and just a little bacon that I Foremanned real quick. It ain't breakfast without bacon, right?

Again, this is the kind of meal where to take what you got and stick it in. I've also made this with sliced green onions, tomatoes, brie cheese... whatever you put in your omelet(te) will good. Peppers, mushrooms, salsa... I don't know, what do you put in your omelet(te)?


Then you roll it up real nice into little pockets. I make sure that it's sealed all the way around so there's no spillage because I hate cleaning my oven.

Follow the directions for baking, I guess. I don't use a timer in the kitchen anymore; I just watch and wait 'til they're pretty and toasty brown -- like this!


Bon apebreakfast.

Haha. Ape breakfast. I called you an ape.

... Which I guess, technically, you are.