Chive Cheese

I have countless memories from my early childhood.  Some are of significant milestones that I'd expect to remember, and others just a moment or conversation that for whatever reason decided to stick around.

My dad's father, my Grandpa Pete, passed away when I was twelve.  I wish I'd had more time to get to know him, but I'm grateful for all of the little memories I've got, like playing checkers on a rainy afternoon, how his Slovak accent pronounced my name       "'Liz-abet", watching him create woodwork art projects in in his workshop, or that time he told me his missing finger was the result of a nasty shark bite (I believed this for years).  Anyway, the reason for my sudden nostalgia is because one memory about my Grandpa Pete came to the forefront of my mind this weekend and it directly relates to this blog.

Grandpa Pete more often than not had a breakfast of bacon, toast, and his very own 'chive cheese' (cream cheese blended with fresh chives from his garden).  As you can imagine, I LOVED chive cheese.  In fact I thought my grandfather was its sole creator until I was about 16 years old and noticed the Philadelphia brand's "Whipped Chive Cream Cheese" staring me in the face at Stop 'N Shop.

When rummaging through the refrigerator for a snack this weekend and seeing a block of Philadelphia, I was inspired.  My own take of my grandfather's chive cheese is as follows, such an easy way to add a little punch to your cream cheese:

1 package Philadelphia cream cheese

A handful of fresh chives

A small amount of olive oil

Put the cream cheese into a mixing bowl, add chopped chives, drizzle in olive oil, and use a hand mixer to blend.

Spread over toast or crackers.

Here are some photos of the end result, and a bonus one of my Grandpa Pete, just because it makes me smile.

:)

The Anti Taco Bell.

I am officially obsessed with the slow cooker.
Inspired by a recent meal at one of our favorite Latin American restaurants downtown, combined with our undying love of the Taco Truck, tonight's dinner consisted of slow roasted pulled pork tacos and stuffed grilled peppers.


The pork shoulder was rubbed with a hot and spicy taco seasoning and thrown in the slow cooker along with diced jalepenos and a little garlic and beer, then cooked on high for 6 hours.  Once cooked we heated our tortillas (topped with monterey jack and shredded cheddar) in a little olive oil in the frying pan until the cheese melted, and topped them with onion, cilantro, avocado, fresh lemon juice, and both verde and chipotle salsa.  They were amazing.


To eat along side our tacos we roasted sweet peppers and stuffed them with the shredded monterey jack/cheddar before finishing them off in the skillet.  Next time I think I'll add something extra when stuffing, like diced pancetta and raisins, but I'm not complaining.

Sunday Brunch

Today is the first Sunday in weeks that we are home, and on top of that stuck inside due to the monsoon outdoors.  I couldn't be happier!
Braving the downpour this morning to hit up the grocery store, I was thrilled to get enough for brunch and dinner so I can have a day full of cooking and won't have to go out again.


For brunch I decided to give my favorite recipe a try:  Eggs Benedict.
Albeit stressful timing everything to finish together, the actual prep of the meal was not at all hard (I may or may not have cursed the poaching of the eggs a few times) and made for a delicious rainy day meal.


Eggs Benedict
Yields:  2 servings (The hollondaise sauce has been doubled to serve with Steak one night this week)
Ingredients:
4 egg yolks
3.5 Tbsp lemon juice
Pinch of ground white pepper
1/8 tsp Worcesteshire Sauce
1 Tbsp water
1 cup butter, melted
4 eggs
1 tsp distilled white vinegar
4 strips Canadian bacon
2 english muffins, split


Preparation:
Hollandaise Sauce:  Fill the bottom of a double boiler 1/3 with water.  Bring water to gentle boil.  In the top of the double boiler whisk together egg yolks, lemon juice, white pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and 1 Tbsp water.
Add the melted butter to egg yolk mixture a little bit at a time while whisking constantly. If its getting too thick add a couple Tbsp hot water.
Continue whisking until all butter is incorporated.  Remove from heat and place lid on top to keep warm.


Brown the bacon in a medium skillet over medium high heat.


Eggs:  Fill a large sauce pan 1/3 way with water.  Bring water to a gentle simmer and add vinegar.  Before you put the eggs in, toast english muffins in toaster!
Carefully break eggs into simmering water and cook for 3 minutes.  
Hopefully by the time the eggs are done so are your english muffins.


Assembly:
English Muffins - Bacon - Eggs - Hollondaise.
Top with freshly snipped chives.
Preferably served with mimosas.  Enjoy!

Working Cheese.

When you have to work 12 - 15 hour days over the weekend ... 
at least there is comfort in cheese.


I've been living at the office the past week, but a perk of having clients in nights / weekends is the cheese plates.
My apologies for the lack of posts lately (for all 8 of you readers).  In the interim, here are the remnants of last night's cheese plate:

Manchego, Humbolt Fog, St. André Triple Cream, Point Reyes Blue.
Served with water crackers, baby pickles, olive relish, and roasted red peppers.