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Category Archives: Recipes

Condiment du jour: Strawberry Mint Relish

Sitting at the Tavern tonight, I was talking about potential street vendor breakfast foods with a friend and came up with an idea or two for waffle “hot dogs.” My favorite idea was a condiment, a strawberry relish with mint to put on waffles. There were two issues with my idea. 1st, the only thing I knew about relish is that pickle relish is chopped pickles used in egg salad, tuna salad, potato salad, etc…. 2nd, I’ve never made a relish so I wasn’t sure what I should use to balance the flavors. A quick google search took me to the wikipedia page for relish, which explained:

A relish is a cooked, pickled, or chopped vegetable or fruit food item typically used as a condiment in particular to enhance a staple. It originated in India and has since become popular throughout the world. . .. The item generally consists of discernible vegetable or fruit pieces in a sauce, although the sauce is subordinate in character to the vegetable or fruit pieces. It might consist of a single type of vegetable or fruit, or a combination of these. These fruits or vegetables might be coarsely or finely chopped, but generally a relish is not as smooth as a sauce-type condiment, such as ketchup. The overall taste sensation might be sweet or savory, hot or mild, but it is always a strong flavor that complements or adds to the primary food item with which it is served.

With this explanation in mind, I set out to make a relish. For the sauce I decided to use balsamic vinegar and maple syrup. I figured this would give the flavor profile we expect with waffles but provide a little bite and depth. I added a little mint to the sauce and then I finely diced up the strawberries adde some mint to the berries and mixed it all together. The taste was fantastic. It was sweet, maple-y, had a little bit of an acidic bite and left a minty taste in my mouth. Here’s a picture:

Strawberry Relish

After I made the relish I rolled out a breakfast sausage hot dog and cooked it up, being lazy, (and since it was 1am) I popped a waffle in the toaster; finally I compiled wrapping the waffle around the sausage and topping with my strawberry relish and whipped cream. It was tasty.

Interested in the recipe? Here’s what I did:

2/3 cup of finely diced strawberries

1 TBSP of Maple Syrup (I used Grade B)

1/2 tsp of Balsamic vinegar

chopped mint (I used 4 or 5 leaves in the strawberries and 2 in the sauce)

in a bowl mix balsamic and maple syrup. chop and crush fresh mint leaves and mix in with the maple-balsamic mixture.

Next mix the rest of the chopped mint in with the diced strawberries

Finally pour the sauce over the strawberries and mint and mix

It’s fresh and minty with a rich maple flavor. You can use it right away or you can put it in the refrigerator over nigh and really let the flavors meld.

Give it a try.

Cold fronts, Stew, and College Football… summer must be over

That magic time of year has come. A time when temperatures dip, the fair comes to town, guys in pee wees, high school, college and pros strap on the pads, and stew simmers gently on the stove top.

Today saw all of those things come to fruition. After a cold front assaulted the Big Country the temperature dropped from the sweltering 105* high yesterday to a lovely 66* this morning. UMHB kicked of their football season with a 34-7 victory over Kean University; and a trip to the farmer’s market brought bell peppers, jalapeno’s, banana peppers, pears, red onions and butternut squash, the latter of which made a costarring appearance in dinner tonight. I love this time of year, and I love it more when the temps dip into the 50s and stay for a while, but one step at a time.

Next weekend brings another cold front, andfor those of you looking for a soup to make when the temperature drops here is a recipe for tonight’s dinner:

A fantastic choice for a cool evening when stew or soup sound yummy.

Butternut Squash and Beef soup

Ingredients:

3 slices of thick cut bacon diced

2 Tbsp Butter

1c each diced onion, carrot, celery, bell pepper

3 cloves of garlic minced

1-2 Roasted Butternut squash (I used a little less than 1 1/2) cut into 1-2 inch cubes

2 lbs of beef cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes (I cubed country style beef ribs) and remove most of the fat

4 sprigs of fresh rosemary

fresh thyme ( I used 2 stems appx 4″ long )

56 oz of chicken stock (I used HEB reduced sodium)

salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400*

1/4 and remove the seeds of the butternut squash

brush with Olive oil and sprinkle with pinch of salt

When the oven is ready, place squash on a half sheet pan and roast in the oven for 25 minutes or until beginning to soften

when finished cut off the peel and cube

In a large dutch oven over a medium heat, brown the bacon and render the fat

When the fat is rendered, add 2 Tbsp of butter and melt

Next add the onions, carrots, celery and good pinch of salt and cook them until the celery begins to become translucent

Remove the veggies to a bowl

Next, brown the beef in the dutch oven seasoning with salt and ground pepper

When the meat is browned and the beef fat is beginning to render, add back the veggies, add the garlic, the fresh herbs,  the bell pepper, the stock and finally the butternut squash

Stir everything together and turn up the heat to high

Bring the soup to a boil and lower the temperature to simmer

Simmer until beef is tender, tasting and adjusting the salt and pepper levels to taste


We served the soup with a loaf of hot ciabatta bread and I added hot sauce because I like a little spice. The butternut squash served as the starchy element in the soup and added a subtle sweetness to it. It tasted a bit like sweet potatoes. All in all, it was a lovely hearty soup, and truth be told, I could dring the broth by the gallon.

Good Eating friends

Holiday Recipe 2: Gingerbread

The gingerbread recipe that follows is one I discovered a few years ago on the former recipezaar.com. The recipe can currently be found at here.

I generally make this recipe for gifts or for church and when I make this recipe I pour the batter into 5 small loaf pans. Some of the comments on the site say the bread comes out dry, but I have never had that problem when making the smaller loaves. I don’t use the glaze recipe, but I left in case someone else would like to use it.

From food.com
About This Recipe
“Nice and spicy. The flavor always brings a feeling of warmth and cheer to me. The aroma is positively divine. Makes 2 loaves, one for now, and one you can wrap and freeze for later, or to give as a gift!”

Ingredients
For the Bread
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup molasses
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon allspice
3/4 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the Glaze
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 -2 tablespoon milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Grease two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, cream brown sugar with the butter until it is light and fluffy, then add the eggs and mix well.
Stir up the molasses, water, and baking soda in a separate bowl, and then add that mixture to the creamed sugar; stir until well blended.
Page 2 of 2Gingerbread (cont.)
Directions (cont.)
Add the other ingredients, one at a time, beating after each addition, alternating with the flour.
Divide the batter evenly among the two pans and bake in a preheated oven for 40-50 minutes or until it springs back when touched lightly in the center.
Remove from oven and cool in pans for 15 minutes on a wire rack, then remove the breads from the pans to cool completely on the wire racks.
To prepare glaze, mix together the sugar with the milk, adding the milk gradually until it attains a drizzling consistency.
Spread the glaze over the gingerbread when they have cooled completely.
Store gingerbread in a airtight container in the refrigerator.

Holiday Recipe 1: Cranberry Pomegranate Instant Oatmeal Cookies

My Cranberry Pomegranate Instant Oatmeal cookies were created because of a flavor of instant oatmeal available at Wal-Mart. I saw Great Value Cranberry Pomegranate Instant Oatmeal and had to try it so I bought it and took it home. The family loved it and the first time I smelled it when the kids were making breakfast I thought, “That smells like a good cookie!” I checked online, looked at a few cookbooks and asked a few people for oatmeal cookie recipes that used instant oatmeal but couldn’t find one. So I had an idea for a cookie, but I didn’t have a recipe.
To make the cookies, then, I began by using a basic cookie recipe similar to what one uses when making chocolate chip cookies. I adjusted it slightly because of the added sugar in instant oatmeal and then augmented the recipe with molasses and pomegranate flavored Craisins. I scooped the cookies onto cookies sheets with a small cookie scoop and baked at 350* until the cookies were brown and set on the sides. Total cook time ranged from 18 minutes for the first batch to about 13 minutes for the 3rd batch. To encourage experimentation I’ll separate out the basic cookie recipe.
BASIC COOKIE RECIPE:
1 cup Sugar (for recipe use ¾ cup)
1 cup Brown Sugar (for recipe use ¾ cup)
½ cup (1 Stick) of Butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Vanilla extract ( I use 2 caps full)
ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS;
5 packets (2 ½ cups) of instant oatmeal
2 tablespoons molasses
¾ of a bag of Craisins
INSTRUCTIONS:
• Preheat the oven to 350*
• In one bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda and set aside.
• In another bowl (preferably in a stand mixer) Cream sugar, brown sugar, and molasses with the softened butter.
o I used margarine to get a fluffier cookie.
o I softened the butter for 10 seconds in the microwave.
• Add eggs one at a time mixing well before adding the next egg
• Add vanilla extract
• Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients a little at a time a ( I like to add in 3 or 4 portions) until the two are mixed together.
• Using a mixing spoon stir in the instant oatmeal and Craisins
• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and scoop the dough in 1 – 1 ½ inch balls on the sheet 1- 2 inches apart ( I use a 1 ½ inch cookie scoop)
• Bake for 12 – 20 minutes until browned and set on the sides.

When finished my cookies came out thick and crisp on the outside, but soft and chewy on the inside. Because of the acids in the molasses reacting with the baking soda and the use of margarine instead of butter, the cookies were nice and thick. They also tasted great. Laura says I could cut the sugar even more, and I may on the next batch. The kids thought they were perfect.
I’m not sure, but I think this recipe would work with other instant oatmeal flavors as well. I’m considering trying it with cinnamon roll oatmeal. For that experiment I would use raisins instead of Craisins, butter instead of margarine, and might just have to ice them with a cream cheese frosting for good measure.