Wartime Wednesdays: 20th Anniversary Edition- Potato Omelet

 

Potato Omelet

To ease ourselves back into Wartime Wednesdays, start with the most important meal of the day: breakfast!

"To test an egg for freshness, place it in a glass of water. If the egg falls to the bottom of the glass and lies on its side, it is a fresh egg; if the large end rises slightly, the egg is somewhat stale; if it stands on end or floats, it is very stale. The shell of a fresh egg has a bloom; that of a stale egg is usually shiny. If the contents of an egg rattle when it is shaken, it is not fresh."

The Victory Binding of the American Woman's Cook Book; Wartime Edition---published 1943

This recipe calls for cold boiled potatoes, but does not specify the type, or if they should be peeled (I don't mind a bit of peel, myself). I did a quick bit of research, and Russets seemed to be the widely available spud at the time.
I did peel the potatoes, but I wasn't precious about it.

They are cubed and cooked in bacon fat - so first, cook some bacon! 

Mt grandparents kept a bacon grease pot on the stove, which, genius. But since only Matt eats actual bacon and because I love him and want him to live for many more years, I try not to feed it too him that often. 
We are without a bacon fat pot.

Anyway, bacon gets cooked and removed, grease left in pan. Tiny cubes of cold potato get cooked in the fat with 'the seasonings' (1/2 tsp salt and 1/8 pepper; oh, how cute) for a few minutes. 

Two eggs get beaten with a little bit of milk, then poured over the potatoes. 

Cook until set, fold, and turn on to 'a hot plate'.  I really do not want to be a 1940's housewife. 

It was simple, but despite the what...six ingredients...he said it was not only really tasty, but filling. I guess those ladies at the Culinary Arts Institute, The Delineator Cook Book, and College of Home Economics, Cornell University, knew what they were doing. 

A reminder that I'll be bringing Wartime Wednesdays back all month, and Blog Party will be making its return on the 17th!

Any Reason to Celebrate

 Happy National Eggs Benedict Day!

To those who celebrate...which in this house, includes exactly one Matt.

He'll 'joke' that this is a meal that's trying to kill him, but he's a willing victim. 

So I don't make it often - he's the only one who likes it, and it's a bit of work. 

But eh, the things we do for love, right? (10cc forever.)

I used this recipe from Williams-Sonoma (mostly), because I liked the idea of Gruyere and mashed potatoes in the waffles. 

I went off-book for the Hollandaise, swapping in a blender version instead.   And because Matt isn't a ham fan, smoked salmon for the protein. 

...He ate three. Quickly. 

Happy day, indeed.

Fancy

 

For the last couple of weeks, I've had this urge to poach eggs.

 

I don't know why; I won't eat them (it's a texture thing).   But Matt will.  

 

So I slotted in a breakfast for dinner night, and planned this for him.

 

 Eggs Benedict, with a bit of a twist.

Instead of English muffins, I made boxty.
Smoked salmon in lieu of a ham-like product.

And on top, in addition to the Hollandaise, a thick and tangy avocado crema. 

And yes, he nearly wiped the plate clean.

Irish breakfast dinner for St. Pat's

Forget stews or corned beef.

When we were in Ireland it was all about the breakfasts.

Wonderful, creamy eggs. Smoked salmon for Matt (just about every day). There were always potatoes, in some form.
And of course...the bread. Wonderful brown bread.

So that's what we made.

Eggs made the Nero Wolfe way: stirring constantly for a very, very long time.

Potatoes: baked potatoes cut into wedges, dipped in buttermilk then a mixture of flour, cayenne, salt & pepper (twice), then deep-fried.

Bangers for Matt. Yes, they're hard to find but I lucked out (The Vermont Country Store, I thank you).

And brown bread. Perfect, amazing bread with Kerrygold butter.

Mugs of Brigadoon tea from Adagio Teas...& it was almost like being back.

My first...tagine

My in-laws gave me a lovely tagine, made in Morocco, for Christmas. Finally got around to using it this past weekend.

And of course, the best place to start would be by making something from Paula Wolfert.

From her newest book, The Food of Morocco, the Potato Tagine with Olives & Harissa.

Ok, we skipped the olives. And kind of forgot to add the harissa by the time we finally got around to eating. But it was really good without either of those things!

Grated red onion & some spices are cooked in olive oil (in a pot) until the onions start to 'melt'. Potatoes, a little tomato sauce, a quarter of a lemon & saffron water get cooked until tender.

The weird thing about this dish is that it's supposed to be reheated. So, you remove the potatoes to the tagine base, cook down the remaining liquid until thickened, pour over the potatoes, add some preserved lemon & put into a cold oven, turn it on & heat until warm.

We served this with a smoked almond couscous & some chicken, but honestly? Could have been a meal all by itself.

Irish Stew for Souper Sundays

It's not much to look at, I know.

Simple, hearty stew from Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making - onions, potatoes (twice), bouquet garni, beef stock & stew meat.

Hours of cooking, really great flavor (says Matt).