Panini

When we lived in italy the kids and I liked to go to the beach for the morning or afternoon we would stop at the local Alimentari (an old world C-store) and order a panini. It was a long narrow loaf of freshly baked Italian bread filled with ham, cheese and butter. Every little village had an Alimentari,you could buy several different kinds of fresh bread, fresh mozzarella, this was very,very fresh and other cheeses. Also assorted cookies, candies, bulk local wine, bottled water and small tanks of propane for our cooking stove. This was called a "bambala" and it would be delivered to our house in a small red wagon. This was my introduction to panini. Now in later years Panini's have become very popular. About 3 years ago I bought a very nice panini press, it was on sale for a good price, I didn't know if I would use it and was afraid it would end up in the kitchen gadget cupboard never to see daylight again. But I did buy it, brought it home and it didn't work! So my husband (the Count) took it apart and fixed it. I made grilled cheese sandwiches with it a few times, it worked really well and I loved the grooves on the sandwich. Gradually I started adding other ingredients and pretty soon I am making gigantic panini's that only Paul Bunyan could eat. I have learned a few things about making good panini's along the way. Start with a good bread, some options include a good dense Italian bread, sourdough bread and the best of all is homemade bread. I make bread in a bread machine adding bottled garlic and Italian seasoning to the batter. This makes the best panini. Also a good focaccia works well. I like to use a nice balance of strong and mild flavored foods for the panini. Some mild foods are turkey, gouda cheese, mozarella cheese, provolone cheese, swiss cheese, goat cheese. You can jazz up the goat cheesee with fresh basil, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. You can make it as mild or as strong as you like. Some of the full flavor foods are cooked bacon, grilled or sauteed peppers, roasted red peppers, pesto mixed with mayo,and sharp cheddar. Fresh basil and mint leaves are a good combination. Any chip or cracker dip works well to zip up the flavor a notch. Fresh mozzarella and fresh basil leaves make a wonderful caprese panini. The sky is the limit. Happy Panini Cooking, thecountess

TWO SPAM NEWS FLASHES!

In the last week or so I have noted two interesting articles about Spam in the Star Tribune. First Spam Balls were new this year at the state fair and they earned a four star rating! That means they sold them by the carloads. I so wish I could have made it to the fair to taste them. The same stand also sold Spamburgers, they also sound good. The other article, featured on the front page of the business section was headlined "Spam minus a can? Can Do" They now sell spam in one serving pouches. I suppose if tuna and salmon can do it, why not spam? So if you are in the grocery store and have a SPAM ATTACK you can act on it. Just pick up a pouch of spam and eat it, or open the loaf of bread in your cart and make a real sandwich out it. You might carry a plastic knife in you purse in case you have mayo or butter in your cart, same goes for mustard. You can eat on the way to the checkout counter or even in the car or on the trip out to the car. I would think any of these would be acceptable. So for those of you who have missed these two important articles, this is the latest news from Minnesota, the land of Spam, wild rice, Boundary Waters, Guthrie Theater, St. Olaf Choir, and oh yes I almost forgot 15,000 lakes. The Countess of Cuisine

Blogger: Musings from the Countess of Cuisine - Manage Posts

Blogger: Musings from the Countess of Cuisine - Manage Posts

DENVER OMELET BAKE

I had a few ladies over the other morning and I served this dish. Two of my friends had sent me a Bisquick egg bake recipe in Tucson, it's a great recipe and I made a few additions and changes and I am calling it the Denver omelet bake.

1 stick butter melted
1 1/2 cups half and half
1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper
green, red, and or yellow peppers chopped
green or regular onions chopped
fresh or canned mushrooms chopped
1/2 cup bisquik mix
1 cup Swiss cheese grated
1/4 cup chopped ham, diced bacon, etc.
4 eggs

Pour some olive oil into a frying pan, add peppers and onions; stir well and add salt, saute until almost done, add mushrooms and sprinkle with a little more salt, saute until soft. If using bacon, dice, fry well and set aside.
Combine butter, half and half, salt, pepper, vegetables, and bisquick. Blend well with an electric mixer. Pour into a greased 10 inch pie plate, sprinkle with cheese and meat and push down to cover with batter. Beat eggs in the same bowl and pour over the batter. Bake 40 minutes, let sit at room temperature 10 minutes before serving.
I didn't have Swiss cheese so I grated some provolone, very good substitute.
This serves 8 people nicely.
Enjoy! The Countess

Spam (the kind you eat) Spammy Whammies

At Paul's request I am posting the recipe for Spammy Whammies. At some future time I will do some posts on Spam and related subjects.

SPAMMY WHAMMIES

1 (12 oz.) can Spam 1/3 cup melted butter
1 medium onion 1/4 tsp. pepper (optional)
1 green pepper 1/4 tsp. garlic powder (optional)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese English muffins

Using a food processor, chop green pepper and onion; grind spam into a coarse texture. Add cheese, pepper, and garlic powder; mix well. Add enough melted butter to bind mixture ( you might not have to use all of it). Spread on English muffins halves, cut the halves into quarters and bake at 400 for about 10 minutes. I usually use 1 package of English muffins.

This is great to take to a party, everyone loves it and I always get requests for the recipe.

The Countess of Cuisine

A Very Important New Ingredient!!!!

We had overnight guests yesterday and true to my new quest (Denver Sandwiches and Omelets), I cooked a nice Denver Omelet for breakfast. My guest asked where is the pickle slice??? Okay so now I know a true Denver Sandwich or Omelet has to include a pickle slice. In view of this new discovery I think we will have to hold out for a few more days in case some new things come up. I was so excited about this new development I forgot to ask her where does the pickle slice go? In with the eggs?? On the bread?? An accompinment?? More on this issue later. The Countess

Denver Sandwiches - again and again

Hello, here we are again, still talking, cooking, and eating Denver sandwiches!! I agree with Paul's comment, making the sandwich in the pannini press makes for a great Denver sandwich. Following are some of the ways we have been experimenting with Denver sandwiches.
When Denver sandwiches and omelets first came into being only GREEN peppers were available, now we have red, yellow, orange and colors in between. They are sweet, mild and add a lot of flavor to the eggs. Also we are more adventerous cooks and adding a new ingredient is the way to go. Some examples are left over Caprese, diced and scattered on top of the omelet and let the mozzarella soften and melt a bit, a wonderful addition. Leftover hamburger, steak, roast beef can be sauteed with the peppers. I do use all colors of peppers and I think to be true to the original sandwich you must use green pepper or really you cannot be allowed to call it a Denver Sandwich!! To be a truly Minnesota edition you must use SPAM, either diced and sauteed with the peppers, onions and mushrooms or sliced and fried separatly and put into the sandwich (One day soon we will do a blog on SPAM). I enjoyed reading all of the comments, keep them coming! In the next day or so I will be a posting a general recipe for a Denver sandwich or omelet, please feel free to add your own version. And on to other subjects.

What is a Denver sandwich???

A Denver sandwich or omelet apparently goes back to the early forties. It was a popular dish in restaurants.
You start with 2 or 3 eggs scrambled a bit, throw into a small frying pan with a few sauteed onions, maybe a some mushrooms, and the most important ingredient is chopped sauteed green pepper. Among my relatives people did not eat green peppers, celery or anything that resembled them. We did eat mushrooms as my Mother knew how to gather the safe ones in the fall of the year.
You cooked this mixture like an omelet and served it in a sandwich or left it as an omelet.
I remember sometime in the 60's my parents had a small work party at their house. Ma made delicious home baked crescent rolls and they were filled with chicken salad. I know she cooked the chicken herself which made for a delicious filling. One of my brothers was just livid because she put a small amount of diced celery into the filling. He could not believe she ruined the sandwiches with celery!!! That is my point about using green pepper in an omelet, really, how gross is that??? Change came slow, I don't know if it was this way in all families, but the men had a hard time eating something new and unknown. I will have more stories about this subject at a later date, The Countess of Cuisine

My Family of Origin

This is a small commentary on my family of origin. My Mother (maiden name Valek) came from a family of 11 children and so did my Dad. The Valek's moved to Hazelwood, Minnesota (I challenge you to find that on a map) in 1914 and the same year my Dad's family (Malecha) moved to Little Chicago (same challenge) about a mile away as the crow flies, These families were the only Czech people in the neighorhood so it was only natural they were drawn to each other. My parents, Tom and Mary, started all of this and to make a long story short my Dad's 2 brothers and 1 sister married 3 of my Mom's siblings. I have many "double" cousins but more about that later. All of them were farmers as
were most people in the area. In 1926 my parents bought an existing farmstead in Dakota County about 3 miles from Hazelwood. They had a barn raising and it was completed in one day. They kept cows, hogs, poultry, and field horses. Dad had a small sawmill and he was an expert on the new Rural Electric Association (REA), many of the local farms were "wired" by Dad and his brother Uncle Joe. Uncle Joe's wife Christina is my Mother's sister, they lived with my parents after they married until they were able to find their own farm. My parents farmed until about 1943, they had an auction, rented out the farm to Aunt Elizabeth and Jim Koktavy. We moved to town, Dad had gone to work for Commander Elevators earlier so he had a good job. Mom worked nights at the Riverside Cafe, it was located several doors down from the apartment we were living in. One of the things she loved was the fact she knew how to make a "Denver sandwich", throughout her life she never found a restaurant that knew how to make a proper Denver sandwich. Next we moved out to the Peterson farm across the road from where my nephew Mark Malecha lives now. We lived there for several years, my younger sister was born during this time. Our house burned down on the farm, my Dad and many relatives built a new house and in 1949 we moved back to the farm. We stayed on the farm until my brother came home from the Army, he bought the farm and we moved to town. By now I was in high school and I will sign off for now, more at a later time. The Countess

My Family

In future writings I will tell you about my family, husband, children, grandchildren, my family of origin, I guarantee you that will be fun, I have some funny and weired people in my family. Then we will go on to other things. The Countess of Cuisine.

Where I have been and where I'm going!!!!

I've been around for a long time, lived in a lot of places, some of them weird and some not. My first time overseas I traveled with 4 children from Oregon to Brindisi, Italy. This was in the early 70's, soldiers all over the airport in Rome, I wasn't expecting this and I was just a little bit SCARED. Italy was a great time for our whole family, we loved the Italians and the countryside, we lived a block from the Adriatic Sea. Before that we had lived in Minnesota, Arizona and Oregon, Italy opened up a whole new world. After three years we moved to Colorado Springs for 3 years, also a good place, then on to Pusan, Korea for 3 years, Washington D.C. for 2 years and on to Saudi Arabia for 3 years. We have been back to Minnesota for 20 years. We do live in Arizona in the winter time, it adds a little extra dimension to our lives. This is it for today, really a skeleton sketch of the last 35 years. As time goes on I will be writing more about some of our more unusual experiences along the way. Also I will go back to the land before time (more than 35 years ago).