Cinco de Mayo Tablescape

I celebrate my own version of Cinco de Mayo once a month when my aunt comes over for a “Mexican and Margarita” lunch. It is colorful and convivial, but not quite as festive as this table that pays tribute to the Mexican holiday celebrating their victory over the French.

 

The centerpiece gives a nod to festive Mariachi bands with a pair of maracas protruding from a southwestern ivy-filled vase, as well as a piccolo trumpet (a much more suitable size for the table).

 

The table covering and matching napkins I made myself from Alexander Henry fabric.

The Margarita glasses I have had forever; these get A LOT of use. Honestly, it’s embarrassing. The red stemware makes a bold statement right alongside. These are Red Boston goblets by Villeroy & Boch.

 

Red chargers with a bit of rhinestone bling provide a nice base for yellow Waechtersbach dinner plates. One top of them are orange salad plates by Corsica Home that my cousin gifted me, o n top; of which I have lively Hasusenware chili pepper plates.

 

New this year is the orange flatware that I am absolutely in love with. The “Kissing Couple” salt and pepper shakers are always a big hit. There are little magnets in the mouths of each, so they’re always kissing.

 

The Talavera salsa dishes add a bit of Mexican authenticity, not to mention color and fun.

Whether you celebrate or not, a bit of Mexican color at the table is fun at any  time of the year.

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This post is linked to: Tablescape Thursday

 

Hot Fudge Sauce

The other day I had a powerful, and I am talking POWERFUL, hankering for a hot fudge sundae. This is rather unusual for me because I’m not a great lover of ice cream. Still, I became obsessed with wanting one. I rummaged around in the freezer (my climate-controlled version of the downstairs, unfinished storage area, affectionately known as “the belly of the beast”), and found a carton of vanilla ice cream way in the back. When I took the lid off and peered inside, I found a rather gummy, crystallized hunk of ice cream. I’m not proud to say that my plans were to eat it. In looking for fudge to top my ice cream I came to the realization that I was out. I say “out,” but what I really mean is I generally don’t keep this on hand. Naturally, I took to the Internet to find a recipe so that I could make my own to satisfy my culinary craving, and settled on this one. I changed it up because chocolate absolutely needs coffee to intensify the flavor. It was amazing how good that old hunk of desiccated ice cream turned out to be.

Hot Fudge Sauce

Adapted from The View from Great Island

 1 heaping c. semi sweet chocolate chips

½ c. unsalted butter

1/8 t. salt

½ t. espresso powder

2 c. confectioner's sugar

1 12-oz. can evaporated milk

1 T. vanilla extract

 Melt the butter, chocolate, salt, and espresso powder in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan over low heat. Add sugar and milk, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook for about 6 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

 Pour into jars and store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

 When ready to use, microwave the sauce VERY briefly to heat it up. You can either heat up individual portions, or heat the whole jar.

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King’s Hawaiian Lemon Cheesecake Danish

 

Last month I made Cheesecake Danish using a recipe I’d found on the web. It made use of the King's Hawaiian rolls, and it was delicious. The other day I was thinking about that recipe, and wondering how well it would translate into a lemon filling with a lemon glaze. It did, easily, and the results were outstanding! If you enjoy lemon as much as I do, you need to give these a try. They freeze beautifully, so don’t fail to make these because it results in a dozen. They’ll keep so that you can enjoy them on 12 separate, tasty occasions.

King’s Hawaiian Lemon Cheesecake Danish

 Lemon Cheesecake Rolls:

1 12-pack King's Hawaiian original sweet rolls

½ c. + 2 T. butter melted

3 T. brown sugar

2 t. ground cinnamon

¼ t. ground nutmeg

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

¼ c. granulated sugar

¼ t. lemon oil (NOT extract)

2 T.  grated lemon peel from 2 larges lemons

1 large egg, beaten

Lemon Glaze Topping:

½ cup powdered sugar

1 T. fresh lemon juice

Fresh grated lemon peel for garnish (optional)

 Preheat oven to 375°F. Melt 2 T. butter and brush evenly along the bottom and up the sides of a 10” x 10” baking dish; set aside.

 Separate the rolls and place into prepared pan. With a sharp knife (I used a fish boning knife), cut an “X” into the top of each roll about 2/3 of the way down.

Stir together the 1/2 cup butter, brown sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a small bowl; pour evenly over the rolls.

Beat the softened cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, lemon extract, lemon zest, and egg, and beat until incorporated.

Transfer cream cheese mixture into a piping bag fitted with a wide tip. Press the tip down into the “X” that you created in each roll, and pipe full. You will see the roll expand as it fills with the delicious lemony cheesecake filling.

 Bake, uncovered, for 12 to 15 minutes. In order to prevent sticking, allow rolls to cool for a couple of minutes.  Prepare glaze and drizzle over the top. Allow glaze to set for ten minutes before removing to a serving plate. Serve warm.

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Dr. Pepper Pork Steaks

 

 

Pork steaks are kind of a St. Louis thing. I grew up with the aroma of these cooking on neighborhood grills, always wafting through the air. Recently they have expanded throughout the Midwest, so that more people can enjoy this taste sensation. Sometimes it is referred to as a Boston butt steak or pork blade steak being that it is cut from the shoulder of the pig. It is a tough piece of meat, so it requires a decent amount of cooking, but the rewards are great. I recently came across a rib recipe, wherein the ribs were simmered in Dr. Pepper before being grilled, and I wondered how well this would translate to pork steaks. It translated beautifully! This doesn’t mean that I’m not going to throw these on the grill during the summer, but I guarantee I’m going to simmer them in Dr. Pepper before I do.

Dr. Pepper Pork Steaks

2-4 pork steaks

1 2-litre bottle Dr Pepper (NOT DIET!)*

5 cloves garlic, smashed

3 Melissa’s shallots, halved

1 T. liquid smoke

1 t. Worcestershire sauce

1 T. Smokehouse Maple Seasoning

Barbecue Sauce**

 Place pork steaks into a large stockpot and pour Dr. Pepper over to cover.

Add garlic, shallots, liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, and smokehouse maple seasoning. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook until tender. (I put mine in frozen and let them simmer for two hours, and that turned out to be perfect.)

 Using a spatula, lift pork steaks out of the pot and place into a baking pan. Pour barbecue sauce over the pork steaks to thickly cover. Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes.

 These reheat and freeze beautifully.

 *I cannot emphasize this enough. Diet soda contains chemicals that you do not want concentrated and infused into your food.

 **You can use your favorite barbecue sauce, but I would suggest using one that is more to the vinegary side rather than sweet. The Dr. Pepper is going to impart a bit of a sweetness to the meat. I used my own version of a local favorite from SugarFire Smokehouse, coffee barbecue sauce. The dark specks that you see on the meat are coffee grounds. So good. You can make a copycat here.

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Layered Taco Casserole

 

I don’t know about you, but I never get tired of Mexican food. That’s not to say that this layered casserole is Mexican, but it’s what we have Americans consider to be Mexican, so I’m just going to go with that. The beauty of a casserole is that you can change it up to suit your tastes in any way that you like. If there are ingredients that you would like to add, feel free to do so. Had I had a small can of green chilies on hand, I would have stirred them into the refried beans. Instead, I added some sliced jalapeños to the beef along with the corn. This is one of those dishes that is pure comfort. It makes a decent amount, particularly if there are just one or two of you, but it freezes beautifully. I filled individual au gratin dishes with single servings, wrapped them in plastic wrap, and put them into the freezer in Ziploc freezer bags so that I can enjoy them at some point in the future…probably with a margarita.

Layered Taco Casserole

 Adapted from aboutamom.com

1 lb. ground beef
1 1.25-oz. pkg. taco seasoning

1 c. frozen corn

¼ - ½ c. sliced Melissa’s pickled jalapeños 
1 15-oz. can refried beans
2 c. Monterey Jack cheese, divided
1 c. salsa
2 green onions, chopped
1 2.25-oz. can sliced black olives
1 tomato, chopped
2 cups corn chips (coarsely crushed)

 Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray the bottom of an 8” x 8” casserole dish with PAM. Place crushed corn chips into the bottom of casserole dish; set aside.

 Heat refried beans on stove until hot. Add 1 cup cheese and 1 cup salsa. Stir until combined. Spread beans over corn chips in dish.

 In a 10" skillet, brown ground beef; drain off any excess fat. Add taco seasoning and cook according to package directions. Stir in the frozen corn and jalapeños. Place beef/corn/jalapeno mixture on top of beans. Sprinkle remaining cheese over top. Sprinkle black olives and green onions over cheese.

 Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cheese is sufficiently melted.

 Remove from oven and sprinkle chopped tomatoes on top. Allow to cool a couple of minutes before serving. Nice when served over a bed of shredded lettuce with sour cream and guacamole on the side.

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Cannellini Bean Dip with Kalamata Olives

 

 

I was feeling particularly domestic over the weekend, perhaps because it took a cold turn and I was able to use up the last of my logs for the season, perhaps it’s because I had a blank calendar for the week ahead. Whatever the reason, I whipped up a massive amount of things in the kitchen, one of which was this delicious bean dip that is so good I could have eaten it with a spoon. I did use it as a condiment on a TLT (turkey, lettuce, and tomato), and it was phenomenal!

Cannellini Bean Dip with Kalamata Olives

1 15-oz. can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 t. Melissa's minced garlic
2 - 3 T. extra-virgin olive oil
¼ t. rubbed sage
¼ t. dried thyme
¼ t. kosher salt
Few gratings freshly ground black pepper
1/8 t. lemon pepper seasoning
4 Kalamata olives, pitted
1 T. freshly grated Parmesan

Place everything into a food processor or blender (I used a mini food processor) adding oil as needed. This recipe can be doubled or tripled. Just play around with it, tasting as you go. You honestly can’t go wrong.

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Hoosier Pork Tenderloin Sandwich

 

I always keep buttermilk on hand because it makes an excellent marinade for chicken. What I didn’t know is that it works equally well for pork. This was a day of firsts because not only, for the first time, did I marinate pounded medallions of pork tenderloin in buttermilk, but, for the first time, used crushed saltines as a breading. Wow! What a difference that made from my usual breadcrumbs. I also, for the first time, had a breaded pork tenderloin sandwich, native to the state of Indiana.

The late Mr. O-P and I spent a lot of time on the road, largely heading east. There was a gas station (yes, you read that right), now defunct, in Gnaw Bone, Indiana by the name of Gnaw Bone Food & Fuel that was alleged to have served the definitive pork tenderloin sandwiches. Unfortunately, we’d find ourselves passing through way too early in the morning to want to consume heavy gas station food, so when I found a recipe on the Food Network website I wanted to give it a try.

This sandwich is not without a bit of advance work and preparation. Both, however, are minimal, and the rewards are great. You can slice your tomatoes, onions, and shred your lettuce well ahead of time. Then it’s just a question of setting up your breading station, and spending six minutes time frying the pork tenderloin. It really is worth it. Definitely diner-quality food, and I mean that in a good way.

  Hoosier Pork Tenderloin Sandwich

Adapted from foodnetwork.com

 1 lb. pork tenderloin

1 large egg

1 c. buttermilk

1 T. Melissa’s minced garlic

½ t. salt

½ t. pepper

¼ t. cayenne pepper

 1 sleeve saltines

¾ c. flour

 Peanut oil, for frying

 Mayonnaise

Yellow mustard

Shredded lettuce

Tomato slices

Slices of onion

Sandwich slice dill pickles

 Cut the pork crosswise into 4 equal pieces. Put each piece flat on a cutting board and slice horizontally almost in half (stop about ½-inch from the other side). Open like a book. Sprinkle each piece with water, place between 2 pieces of heavy-duty plastic wrap and pound to ¼-inch thick with a mallet or heavy skillet.

 Whisk the egg, buttermilk, garlic, salt, black pepper, and cayenne in a shallow bowl. Add the pork, cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

Pulse the crackers into coarse crumbs in a food processor; transfer to a shallow dish. Put the flour in another dish. Remove each piece of pork from the marinade, letting the excess drip off. Dredge both sides in the flour, dip in the buttermilk marinade again, and then coat with the cracker crumbs.

  Heat ¼” to ½” peanut oil in a large heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 360°F. Fry the pork in batches until golden and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. Drain on a wire rack positioned over a baking sheet to catch drips.

 Toast buns on cut sides, and spread both halves with mayonnaise (top) and mustard (bottom). Layer the lettuce, tomatoes, and onion on the bottom halves. Add a piece of pork and a few pickle slices. Cover with the bun tops.

 Makes 4 sandwiches.

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