The Sequel Was Better

A very Good Read

Having had a romantic holiday last week, we turned to the romance portion of our cookbook cabinet, where I found a new recipe idea. Or so I thought: we had tried the avocado and sun-dried tomato fettuccine recipe from Intercourses just after said holiday four years ago, but I had forgotten.

Pam noticed the repeat this morning, as she continues to review all of our entries for our new especialidad de la casa tag.  She is adding that tag to every recipe we post that is either completely original to us or such a major modification that we consider it our own. I am glad we had forgotten this one, because the 2014 review suggests a dish we would not have made for a special occasion (which our 33rd Valentine's Day together most certainly was).

I did the same recipe that Pam had done earlier, with just a couple of changes. First, I think I used some basil, and a bit more of the scallions. The sun-dried tomatoes I used were not packed in oil. I think I did add a bit of oil. A much more important difference is that I blended the ingredients in the bowl with a spoon, not a blender. So it was a medley, not a sauce.

Finally I did not include any cheese, but I did top this with plenty well-cooked, crumbly bacon. I think we substituted parm the first time because our vegetarian kid was dining with us. As I made this, I realized that this might succeed as a vegan dish with the use of a good bacon substitute.

Monte Hayes-Boh

As we learned from The Great Monte Cristo Sandwich Incident of 1997, a certain decadent sandwich looms large in family lore. Discovered at a favorite watering hole when we met as college students, it has been an infrequent but important part of our history with food.

(NOTE: Many entries on this blog are gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, simple, and/or healthy. This is not one of those entries, though some ingredients were locally sourced, and we would love to hear from any readers who make substitutions.)

This story begins on a rainy Saturday morning in our weekend home, trying to figure out how to have a good breakfast without leaving the house. (We failed on that count: after we committed to this plan I realized we had none of our usual Crescent Ridge milk, so it was off to the market for some Stonyfield. No regrets.)

Milk aside, Pam noticed a combination of ingredients on hand that led her straight to the Monte Cristo concept, but with waffles instead of bread. This breakfast is pretty straightforward, once the waffles are complete. To facilitate bringing all of the components together, Pam prepared a fruit/yogurt smoothie before I began the rest. Coffee, of course, had been prepared much earlier.

I had all of the other ingredients ready for assembly by the time the waffles were complete. I placed them on plates in a warm oven so that they everything would come together at optimal temperatures. Waffles are an area of continuous experimentation at Whaling House; these were very close to the gingerberry waffles I prepared in October, except that I left out the ginger and forgot the vanilla. 

Just before the second waffle was complete, I lightly fried some deli turkey in an indispensable cast-iron skillet and topped it with a couple of slices of cheese until it was melty and bubbly.

As soon as the second waffle was complete, I spread some local berry jelly on one of them.

The hot deli slices went right on top of that.

This tableau (which includes the smoothies Pam had just made and some fairly-traded, organically-grown, fresh roasted and brewed Nicaraguan coffee) was nice for a photo, but was also an extension of our prep area. With the second waffle in place, we sprinkled some powdered sugar on top, and then divided this enormous sandwich.

A close-up of my half of our invention:
The Monte Hayes-Boh

Simple Egg Supper

Breakfast for dinner is never a bad idea. Last week I made a variation on Breakfast Tostadas with Cumin Roasted Fingerling Potatoes gleaned from this list of The Only 40 Egg Recipes You'll Ever Need.

We didn't have fingerling potatoes, but we did have a whole host of baking potatoes, which I diced into an approximation of the fingerling size. I skipped the guacamole because we didn't have any, and didn't feel like shopping, and I used a chile-pepper flavored cheddar instead of the Cotija cheese. Otherwise, I pretty much followed the recipe. It was an easy weeknight dinner. One we will likely have again.