Breakfast Pizza on the Grill

Follow the instructions in my post for pizza on the grill. I only used two eggs, but I think there should be more. The original recipe formed a well in the other topping and cracked two eggs on top and cooked them until over easy. I'm scared of uncooked egg whites and I think scrambles sounds better anyway. I had a grill brunch party last year where I served breakfast pizza. I also brought my waffle iron outside and served waffles with grilled fruit. Next time I'll have a friend bring a waffle iron. Two waffle irons would have worked better.

Breakfast Pizza on the Grill

1 dough ball for crust (see pizza on the grill instructions)
pizza sauce
3-4 eggs, scrambled and cooked until 3/4 done
spinach, either fresh or frozen with the water squeezed out
tomatoes, chopped
chopped Canadian bacon or fried bacon, chopped
shredded sharp cheddar cheese, grated or in slices and laid like tiles

cilantro chutney

You know how you go to an Indian restaurant and they bring you bread (usually naan) with three dips. You eat all of them, but you mostly eat the green dip. Well, this is my sister Kristy's recipe for cilantro chutney (the green one). Since it is all pureed anyway, you can feel free to use the cilantro stems. It saves time. I also made naan on the grill. It was one part horrible, one part awesome, one part burned. If I decide to perfect the recipe for grilled naan and actually do manage to get it perfected, I'll post it.

Cilantro Chutney

1 cup fresh cilantro sprigs

1 to 2 jalapeño chilies, seeded and coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons well-stirred plain yogurt (preferably whole-milk, but 1% fat yogurt is still fine)

Purée the cilantro in a blender with jalapeño(s), water, brown sugar, lime juice, and salt. Transfer to a bowl and stir in yogurt. The chutney may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring
to room temperature before serving.

Hungarian Potato Salad

About 20 years ago I made a Hungarian meal made from a library cookbook. An amazing Hungarian meal. That summer we sat on my patio and indulged in Hungarian potato salad and several stews swimming in paprika (and potatoes). It was the kind of meal where you know you are full, but everything tastes so good. Maybe just a little more of this. Maybe just a touch more of that. In Hungary I feel certain that they don't serve that many potato dishes at once and certainly not when it is humid and above 90 degrees and they don't have air conditioning. I can also vividly remember laying on the floor with my sisters in a bedroom watching the ceiling fan go around and trying to ignore the queasy feeling. We lay there for hours without moving. We discussed the amazingness of the meal and how we weren't sure that we would ever want to eat it again.

I wasn't ready to eat that Hungarian food for several years. When I was ready, it was after the great recipe loss of '92 (see my profile). I went to the library to find the cookbook, only to discover it wasn't there. I've tried a few times to make chicken paprikash or goulash. I haven't made anything I would crave yet. If anyone knows of good paprika based recipes, please point me towards them.

I searched the web about a week ago for my Hungarian Potato Salad. There was nothing like it posted anywhere. I did find a sour cream dill sauce that sounded like what was in the original the potato salad. I cobbled this recipe together from my remnants of the old one. I think it's pretty close, if not almost exactly it. In the end, it is really good, but it's probably not worthy of a 20 year quest.

I forgot the parsley, so I estimated the amount. I used 2 T butter and 2 T flour for the roux. It made a sauce that was too thick. I'm guessing 1 T flour should work. Then you should be able to decrease the butter to I tablespoon, unless you need more to fry the onions. Adding a clove or two of garlic might be good as well.

HUNGARIAN POTATO SALAD

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs potatoes

1-2 T butter

1/2 onion, finely chopped (or more)

1 T flour

1/2 c beef stock

1/4 c chopped fresh dill, or maybe even more if you dare

2 T chopped fresh parsley

1/2 c pickles

1/2 c sour cream

FOR THE SALAD:

1. Cover the whole, unpeeled potatoes with 1 inch of water in a stockpot or dutch oven. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, stirring once or twice to ensure even cooking, until the potatoes are tender (a thin-bladed paring knife or metal cake tester can be slipped into and out of the center of the potatoes with no resistance), 25-30 minutes for medium potatoes, 15-20 minutes for small potatoes.

2. Drain and cool the potatoes, slightly and peel if you like. Cut the potatoes into 3/4-inch cubes (or smaller) Use a serrated knife if they have skins. Cut the potatoes while still warm and rinse the knife as needed.

3. Mix the potatoes, pickles, and sauce together. This salad is meant to be served hot. I prefer it cold the next day. This salad may need extra salt.

FOR THE SAUCE

1. Saute the onions in the butter. It is best to do this very slowly to caramelize them. However a quick saute works too. Whisk in the flour with a silicone coated whisk. Cook somewhat to make a roux. Begin slowly whisking in the beef broth. Add a little broth whisk until smooth, repeat. Do this until you've added all the broth. Whisk in the sour cream. Heat through, but do not boil. Stir in the parsley and dill. Now it is ready for the potato salad.

The not quite Ultimate Butterbeer

If you are a fan of Harry Potter, you know what butterbeer is. I had this plan to have a recipe posted for the ultimate butterbeer before the new movie came out. (which was yesterday) Why? I love Harry Potter and I love butterscotch. I didn't come up with the ultimate butterbeer. It would take lots of tinkering to get this recipe just right. I honestly don't have the patience for that. Also, I'm getting a bit sick of this recipe. What have I learned so far? It takes way more butterscotch then you think it should. Once I started adding more, the recipe got better. It might be even better with even more butterscotch. Frankly, at this point I'm sick of this recipe. I bored with butterscotch. I have thus far failed to produce the butterscotch soda float of my dreams. It's good like this, but that's about all I can say for it.

Butterbeer
1/4 c butterscotch sauce (0r possibly a bit more)
1/2 c milk (or maybe a bit less)
dash of nutmeg
dash of cinnamon
1- 2 scoops burnt sugar ice cream
Club soda

Warm up the butterscotch until it is very runny in the microwave. Measure 1/4 c butterscotch sauce into a glass. Pour an equal amount of milk into the glass with the butterscotch and stir vigorously. If the butterscotch does not dissolve, you may need to heat the milk/butterscotch mixture slightly in the microwave. Pour in enough milk to reach halfway (or less) up the side of your glass. Stir in the nutmeg and cinnamon. Add your scoops of ice cream. With a spoon that reaches to the bottom of the glass, stir vigorously while adding the club soda. Do this for the first part of the club soda. Then pour in the remaining club soda. Stirring insures that the club soda gets incorporated. If you do not do this, the top of the drinks tastes only like oddly flavored club soda.
This can also be served warm. Heat the butterscotch and milk together until warm. Then continue with the rest of the recipe the same as with cold butterbeer.

I haven't tried it, but you could add butterscotch schnapps for the adults.

Burnt Sugar Ice Cream

This is almost caramel ice cream, but not quite. I'm not in the mood to write an intro right now. I might com back and write one later.

Burnt Sugar Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS
3/4 c sugar (more sugar)
2 T water
2 c milk
4 egg yolks
1 c cream
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp vanilla


or 3 yolks and 1 1/2 c cream and 1 1/2 c milk

1. In a medium sauce pan, add the sugar and water. Stir with a silicone spatula over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Continue cooking over medium heat until the mixture becomes dark brown. The darker the better without burning it. When it is ready, off heat, SLOWLY pour in the milk drop by drop (at first). It will bubble furiously. After you've added all the milk, return to the heat until all the sugar is dissolved.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until a pale yellow and slightly increased in volume. Pour some (maybe 1/2) of the burnt sugar-milk mixture into the bowl while whisking. When combined, return the egg mixture to the saucepan and stir to combine. Continue to cook, stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is thickened slightly and coats the back of a spoon. This happens at 170 degrees on a candy thermometer. Off heat, stir in the cream and the salt. Cool in the refrigerator several hours or overnight.
3. When the mixture is cold, stir in the vanilla. Freeze as directed in your ice cream maker

Watermelon Slushy (with a little vodka)

Rain came at dinner time and my grilling plans changed to enchiladas. If you make mexican food, you "need" a fruity drink. I was inspired by this post about a blender killing frozen watermelon experiment at Rhubarb and Venison. I loved the idea of freezing watermelon. If you have a normal sized family you can make it through a whole watermelon pretty easily. This is epically true if you, like my sister, have a year old baby who is currently in love with watermelon. No watermelon eatin' baby? No problem. Just dice up your watermelon. Place in a single layer on a cookie sheet and stash in the freezer. Once it's frozen, move to a Ziploc bag in your freezer. Here is my first experiment with frozen watermelon. In a blender combine:

Frozen watermelon (I didn't measure)
Shot of Vodka
tablespoon-ish of lime juice
1 tsp sugar (or to taste)
a fair amount of water. I added maybe as much as 1/2 c.

You'll need lots of water to get the blender moving. You can use tequila or rum or no alcohol if you prefer. Beth at R & V also recommends freezing any fruit you have that is about to go bad. You can turn it into a smoothie later. I need to start doing this. I can be a grown up and admit my fruit will go bad next day and that I'm actually not going to get it eaten in that time.

Crunch Salad (Carrot, Radish, Lime and Cilantro)

When I found this recipe from Kristen at the Kitchen Sink, I knew I'd have to try it. It sounded so wonderfully crunchy. In fact, I've dubbed it Crunch Salad. I made a few changes from the original. I replaced the scallions with less thinly sliced onion. I had onions in the house and not scallions. I also increased the proportion of radishes. Much to my surprise, the first time I made this (pictured) I wanted more radishes. Note: My cilantro is overgrown, that is why it looks like dill.
Crunch Salad
INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 c carrots, sliced thin
1 1/2 c radish, sliced thin
1/2 c scallions, or less thinly sliced onions
1/4 c cilantro, chopped
Juice of one lime
1 T olive oil
salt

Combine carrots, radish, onion, cilantro, and lime zest in a large bowl. Whisk together the lime juice, salt, and olive oil. Toss with the rest of the ingredients. Allow to sit for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Coffee Toffee Twisted Frosty

Here's my short review:
Coffee- Great coffee flavor.
Toffee -Great, probably a heath bar.
Frosty-O.K. Here's where it gets complicated. If you like basic soft serve flavor, you'll think it's awesome. I don't like soft serve flavor anymore. I haven't had soft serve for a while, because it makes me sick. However, the frosty style soft serve does not make me sick for some reason. Maybe my taste has changed, or it might just be my brains association with upset stomach. I don't know. Regular soft serve and cold stone creamery give my stomach the "icks". I wonder what the magic "ick" ingredient is? But I digress...
It only comes with a spoon, so it's bad for driving. It only comes in one size, which should serve two nicely. I'm only one and don't need a challenge. It has a name that's really fun to say and great commercials. To sum up, I wanted to like this. It seemed like something fun to get on hot afternoons. But in the end, it's just not for me.

My new blog

I started a new blog. Why? Cause I want one. And really, who does it hurt. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with my blog yet. It's gunna just be whatever I feel like. I'll probably have reviews for make-up, hair styling tips, stuff I made (mostly from other stuff), and my general musings. I just don't know yet. Ask me in a few months, I'll know more. By the way, I'm not an expert on hair and make-up (not even close). I figure there are people in the world stupider then me. I had to learn things from somewhere. My first post is the story of the Sit and Spin I got for my birthday.
Check me out at I Know Other Stuff.