Don't worry, those are separate meals.
It's been a semi-rough two weeks. I thought I was home free from being sick as whatever hit me in the stomach quickly passed. But then something settled in my head and I got a sore throat that just got worse and worse until I had nearly lost my voice. Coupled to that was a dry cough, mostly while "sleeping." Finally, I think it has passed. I hope.
Friday night I did have a window of feeling mostly well and whipped up a quick dinner of pork chops. I went with a pasta side. Again, I'm not a fan of pasta but it's good to have weapons like this in your cooking arsenal because you don't always cook for your own tastes. The side of Lemon Pepper Acini di Pepe went very well with the pork. I would imagine that it would also go well with fish. It is such an easy pasta to make that you'll be shaking your head as to why you would ever buy something similar in a bag. And it's a great side if you ever "need to bring a dish." It reminded me a lot of Risi e Bisi, though with pasta of course instead of rice, and no peas. OK, so maybe it's just the cheese that is similar but it's good, trust me.
The plan was to have chicken last night but it hadn't thawed yet and I didn't feel like force thawing it in the microwave or under running water. For Rose's benefit, since she's been sick right along with me, I made pancakes, her favorite. I also made a breakfast casserole.
Normally I use Alton Brown's pancake recipe. But last night I went for something different and made sour cream pancakes. These came out very well except that I ran out of syrup. I only use REAL maple syrup. Period. Dinah on the other hand prefers that maple flavored corn syrup crap. So we have plenty of that. As a substitute I tried some locally made sorghum syrup that we have. Dinah, being a North Georgia Girl loves the stuff. Me, not so much. Rose liked it though. Surprise, surprise.
The casserole is something I came up with last year. My local coffee shop (for sale by the way for only $499,000) had left over biscuits every day that they just threw away. Throwing food away goes against all of the cost cutting, waste reduction mentality I've developed all these years working in the foundry. So I created this recipe as a means to use up those left over biscuits, hopefully something they could serve in the restaurant or at least at home on the weekends. Sadly, they didn't really take to it, though they loved when I made it. It is not original in the sense that you and I have both eaten something very similar somewhere, sometime before. But it is original in that I created this recipe straight out of my head, a first for me. This breakfast casserole is very easy to make, great for company and is so easy to modify to your personal tastes. Last night I added a half pound of crispy fried bacon to the sausage.
1 year ago
3 comments:
Whew, ya made it! I asked D about the coffee shop-he said no. Guess what? I have left over biscuits from this morning and can use this to make supper tomorrow-if I can get to the store and get some eggs. I have some country ham chips I need to use so that will be one substitute, and I have a can-I know, yuck but B likes it-of asparagus that will be another. And some ricotta I think-it's clean out the fridge time again. The rice and pasta dishes seem interchangeable to me-and delicious. Sorghum syrup has a very definite flavor doesn't it? An acquired taste for sure. At my mom's in the summer we often had just plain ole light karo corn syrup on our pancakes and french toast. I prefer REAL maple syrup myself. Have you ever made a coffee pan gravy(no flour, just deglaze your bacon, ham or sausage skillet w/coffee)? You split your biscuit and put some "gravy" on it and top it w/syrup. And eat it with a fork or spoon depending on how sloppy you get it. A taste from my southern grandma's table in my childhood.
I hope so!
That's the beauty of this dish, it is really just a blank canvas that you can shape any way you want.
I forgot to add that for the bacon, you can buy end pieces cheap at the grocery. I bought a 5 pound package and repackaged them into 1/2 pound bags. That's what I used for this go around.
As I have been edumicated by my wife, I know you must be talking about a childhood south of Macon. :) According to Dinah, South Georgians prefers Karo on their biscuits and North Georgians prefer molasses/sorghum on theirs, almost without exception.
I have never heard of coffee gravy but I'm willing to give it a try!
coffee gravy good, I love bacon ends and pieces too-you can get some good pieces of meat out of those big boxes! Yep, my family is from south of Macon.
Post a Comment