Potatoes you won't be able to stop eating!

This is one of those dishes that my DH and I dipped our forks into - just for a taste to see how it is - and before we knew it - we had eaten 1/2 the dish. Yikes! Trust me - you won't be able to stop at just 1 bite once you start!


We used 2-3 oz speck, mushrooms, olive oil, garlic clove, italian dry seasoning, 1 lb potatoes, 8 oz (2 balls) mozzarella cheese (sliced), 3 oz Gruyere cheese, 1 pint whipping cream.


Saute karreespeck (this is a smoked and then air dryed - very similar to pancetta if you can't get speck) in olive oil. Remove from pan. Next add a little bit of that red wine you are drinking to the pan to deglaze it a bit and then saute sliced mushrooms (about 4.5-5 oz) in the oil/wine mixture. Add 1/2 chopped garlic clove and about 1 tsp. of Italian dried herb mixture - stir and then stir the speck - then set aside this pan for cooling.

Now - butter a medium casserole dish. Cover the bottom with a layer of thinly sliced potatoes (our other kitchen has a great mandoline, but alas, we suffer the multiple kitchen syndrome, so DH had to cut all those potatoes!). Layer mushrooms, mozzarella and a bit of Gruyere cheese, start again with potatoes and keep layering until everything is gone - ending with the potatoes. Pour whipping cream over the top and put a bit more cheese on top for good measure.

Cover with foil. Bake for 2 hours at 325.

Love it, love it, love it. Now - trying to decide what to serve it with? Double dipped Southern fried chicken? Prime rib? Gosh - if no one is looking - just eat it straight out of the pan! Variations... we are going to try a vegetarian version with chick peas instead of the meat - might add roasted red peppers for flavor to make up for omitting the speck - served with roasted eggplant...

Lamb chops & brocolli mold?

My husband and I enjoy spending time over the winter experimenting with new recipe ideas... and high on our list this winter - inventive ways to serve basic vegetables. With that in mind - we have started to experiment with brocolli and this is our first attempt, but certainly not the final product. But, you got to start somewhere and for us -that means starting at the most basic starting point and adding from there.

1/2 lb of brocolli - cook this in boiling water. Drain. Puree with either a food processor or one of those hand-held stick blenders. We often use the hand-held stick blender for puree foods - it is great for soups! Mix in 2 eggs. Pour into buttered ramkin. Put in hot water bath (about 1/2 way up the side - we started with 2/3, but decided that was too much water once it started to boil and then had to take some water out!). COVER the pan. Boil for about 20 minutes. We had room in the pan so added our baby potatoes at the same time. By the way - this will make enough brocolli for 4 ramkins - I only show 2 in the photo.

The verdict: We were very happy with the way the brocolli "set". It was very bland -definately needed salt, but the brocolli flavor was very distinct. This is an idea that we will continue to experiment with - we are thinking of doing 1/2 carrot, 1/2 brocolli, or a layer of shredded beets, or, or, or??? Another possibility is creating a blue cheese sauce to serve on the side, or even in the mixture, or, or, or??? Although cooking this on the stove top worked just fine for the 2 of us, often we need 20plus servings of something, so we will experiment with a hot water bath, covered with foil - in the oven next time!

Anyway, when experimenting in the kitchen - it is always a good idea to also serve tried & true dishes as well... just in case...

So last night we had marinated lamb chops. These are small chops - you have to take your very sharp knife and trim off ALL the fat. Marinate overnight (we couldn't get fresh ingredients, so ended up using a prepared lamb marinade, which was just fine!). Lamb chops - broil on high for 3 minutes each side and then put under a tinfoil tent for a few minutes to finish cooking. It is important not to overcook lamb! Mint jelly on the side is always tasty with lamb!

The boiled potatoes. And, Vogel salad - a small green salad typical in Austria. I love this particular salad mixed with a mixture of 80% pumpkin seed oil and 20% balsamic vinegar, sprinkled with a tiny bit of salt. Pumpkin seed oil is a very dark, rich oil - if you have never tried it - I highly recommend that you do - you can find it in the USA in specialty grocery stores or by mail order. It is really worth looking for!

Grilled Steaks/Asperagus

Truth be told - I always am so excited to sit down and eat that I forget to take a photo beforehand for my food blog. Even though I don't post much here, believe me, I am eating!


My DH wanted to bring me out to eat this summer and I begged off - our son is 3 and, well, enough said. Instead, I went to the butcher and got these really yummy steaks - I think they were rib eyes, but now I can't remember exactly. The display case only had very large steaks, so I asked for some smaller ones and was rewarded with these beauties. Always worth asking, you know? A special steak for a special dinner (in other words, it wasn't cheap, but it was worth it!).

The menu:

Grilled steak - to your liking

Grilled asperagus - put the asperagus in a big ziplog bag early in the day with balsamic vinegar. Grill for about 10 minutes - turning occassionally - and sprinkle parmasean cheese on top just before serving.

Sauteed mushrooms - my DH loves these... I steam sliced onions and mushrooms (put a little water in a frying pan and cover the pan - medium heat or else it will take forever). This takes probably about 10 minutes (guess what - about the same amount of time as the asperagus!). When they are nice and soft I stir in stir fry sauce.

Scalloped potatoes - from a box (shhh)

Green salad

Baked bread

And - I love horseradish sauce for my steak, plus a big slice of herbed butter on top, mmmm! I fed my son before we ate and he had a wonderful time playing while we enjoyed our dinner!