Norman's eggs over easy

Norman’s Eggs Over Easy

I can't believe I'm even posting this one. It is so simple that everyone knows how to cook eggs over easy, right? I have, however, had some that weren't so great at restaurants over the years. Since I'm fussy about how my eggs are cooked, I decided to write this one down.

Over the years I have been moderating the way I eat. I now yield somewhat in order to make things just a little healthier. For example, in the years of my youth I would fry potatoes in bacon fat. (When I have some, I still like to fry potatoes in duck fat from a roast duck but that’s a tale for another recipe). Now, I usually fry potatoes in olive oil or peanut oil. I also make pie crust out using olive oil instead of lard.

One thing I won’t yield on however, is when I cook eggs over easy. I like my eggs cooked in butter (or sometimes bacon fat). I don’t think there is anything better than eggs and butter. If you are going to have eggs, you might as well do them right.

2 eggs

1 tbs. butter

1 small shallot, sliced razor thin

Fresh ground white pepper

Salt

Preparation

Heat a small non-stick skillet over medium heat. Remove the eggs from their shells into a small cup or saucer. Gently, without burning it, melt the butter and add the shallots. Shake the skillet until the shallots soften, but do not brown them.

Carefully pour the eggs into the skillet. Sprinkle them with a little salt and a generous amount of the white pepper. When the bottom of the eggs begin to set, you should be able to gently shake the skillet until the eggs are sliding around in the skillet.

If you are confident in your ability to do this, shake the skillet back and forth and then, with a little wrist action, flip the eggs. If you don’t want to try this, use a plastic spatula to flip the eggs. Sprinkle them with a little more white pepper. After about a minute, slide them onto a warm plate.

Serving

Here’s how I like to serve the eggs. Next to the eggs, place three strips of crisp bacon. Now add some potatoes fried in olive oil. On another plate, have several slices of homemade bread, toasted and buttered to mop up the yolk. 

Now add a bowl of freshly sliced strawberries and lots of good coffee. If it is the weekend, you may also want to have a glass of chilled Prosecco.

Norman’s Meatball Étouffée

Norman’s Meatball Étouffée

Back when I would go down to South Louisiana each spring I fell in love with Cajun food. Crawfish Étouffée, Turtle Sauce Piquant, Fried Oyster Po’ Boys, Seafood Gumbo and Turtle Soup are all favorites of mine that I would indulge in during my visits. 

When I’m not there, I have picked up the habit of making Cajun dishes out of ingredients found in the Chicago area. This is a good example of how I would do it.

For the meatballs:

1 lb. ground beef

2 eggs

2 shallots, minced fine

4 cloves of garlic, smashed and finely minced

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1/4 bread crumbs

1 tsp. cajun seasoning

For the étouffée:

1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped bell pepper
1 cayenne pepper chopped
2 cloves garlic - smashed and minced 

1 cup olive oil
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. white pepper
1/2 tsp. ground cayenne
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. thyme

1 quart or more of chicken stock

Preparation

Place the beef, eggs, shallots, garlic, parmesan, bread crumbs and cajun seasoning in a bowl. Use your hands and combine everything together until it is well mixed. Still using your hands and form them into little meatballs. Set them aside.

Have the onions, celery, peppers and garlic chopped and ready right by the stove. Heat a large dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the oil and using a long handled wooden spoon, whisk the flour into the oil. Continue whisking over medium high heat without splashing yourself until the flour is the color of milk chocolate. 

Donʼt let the flour scorch. As it reaches a light brown color, lower the heat to medium. As soon as the chocolate color is reached, add the onions, celery, peppers and garlic. Stir for about two minutes and add the seasonings and two cups of the vegetable stock. 

Bring the liquid to a boil, while stirring. Add more chicken stock, a little at a time. You want the sauce to be fairly thick, like a gravy. Check it by bringing it to a boil after each addition of stock.

Add the meatballs and let them simmer in the sauce for twenty minutes, stirring gently so you don’t break them up. Add more stock if the sauce gets too thick. Taste and adjust for salt, pepper and Tabasco.

Serving

To serve my meatball étouffée, place a big pile of rice in the center of the plate and smother it in the étouffée, making sure you have lots of meatballs on it. Along with this, you will want to serve fresh homemade bread and butter, a large tossed salad, green beans sautéed with almonds and plenty of icy cold beer.

Red beans and rice

Red Beans and Rice

I know I've mentioned this before, but South Louisiana is one of my favorite places to visit (along with Michigan's Upper Peninsula). For seven years in a row, my son and I vacationed there. We stayed at Cajun Cabins of Bayou Corne, just outside of Pierre Part, Louisiana and always enjoyed it. If you want to see the real Louisiana Bayou, this is the place to stay!

Most restaurants in the area offer this on their menu. In South Louisiana, red beans and rice is traditionally a Monday night dinner. I don’t know why that is, but so be it. Make up a big batch of this on Sunday while you watch a football game and then, when you get home from work on Monday, all you have to do is heat it up while you make bread. What else do you have to look forward to on Mondays?

1 lb. dried red beans

Water

4 slices of bacon

2 onions, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

2 jalapeño peppers, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 lb. smoked sausage

2 bay leaves

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp. fresh ground white pepper

1 tsp. paprika

1 cup white wine

3 smoked ham hocks

Tabasco

Cajun seasoning (I like Slap yo Mama!)

Freshly steamed rice

Preparation

Sort through the red beans and remove anything that isn’t a red bean. You’d be surprised what I’ve found mixed in with beans over the years. Rinse the beans and place them in a pot. Cover them with water. Bring the water to a boil and cover the pot and turn off the heat. Let them soak at least an hour, or even over night. 

In a large pot, cook the bacon until crisp and set aside. Add the smoked sausage to the bacon fat and brown on both sides. Add the onion, celery, peppers and garlic. Stir and let them cook a few minutes. Crumble up the bacon and add that with the smoked pork hocks, bay leaves, thyme, oregano, onion powder, garlic salt, pepper and paprika. Stir and allow it to cook a few minutes.

Add the wine and scrape up anything that has stuck to the bottom of the pot. Add the drained beans and enough water to cover everything by at least an inch, at least three quarts. Use fresh water, not the soaking water. 

Bring everything to a boil. Give it a few sprinkles of Tabasco and several shakes of cajun seasoning. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 2-1/2 to 3 hours. Stir often. 

During the last hour, smash a few of the beans with your spoon against the side of the pot as you stir. When everything is ready, the sauce should be nice and thick. The ham hocks should have broken up as it cooked. If not, help them along. Taste for salt, pepper and Tabasco.

Serving

To serve this, take a large soup bowl and place a big scoop of rice in it. Now ladle on the red beans, getting plenty of meat. You also want fresh baked bread and butter, a large salad, ice cold beer and plenty of Tabasco. Dat good, you know!

Baked eggplant

Baked eggplant

When was the last time you had eggplant with your dinner? Don’t turn your nose up. I don’t know why it is that people think they don’t like eggplant, but many who say they don’t like it, have never tried it. If you haven’t tried it, give this recipe a go.

I bet you never bought one of these before, have you?

Many recipes for eggplant have you salt it down and let it drain before cooking it. I used to do that until I realized it taste great whether you do that or not, so I skip that step now. 

Do you like the flavor of olive oil? I’m referring to the real fruity flavor of a good extra virgin olive oil. If you don’t like it, skip this dish. Eggplant doesn’t have a lot of flavor on its own, but it has the ability to take on flavor, and in this dish, the flavor is olive oil.

Now, don’t go using that bargain basement olive oil on this recipe. That’s ok for fried potatoes but not for this dish. Here you need to use the best olive oil you can afford. Come on, it’s not that expensive.

1 eggplant, peeled and sliced

Olive oil, the very best you have

Cajun seasoning

2 cups of my Marinara sauce

8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

Fresh ground white pepper

Preparation

Heat a large skillet until hot. Add your olive oil, about a quarter inch in depth. Start cooking the eggplant in a single layer. Season it lightly with cajun seasoning. You may notice that the eggplant will absorb the oil like a sponge. You might have to add a little more, but the eggplant will release much of the oil it absorbed back to the skillet as it browns. 

Cook the eggplant on both sides until it is limp and starts to brown and then remove it to a casserole pan or pie plate. Repeat until all the eggplant is cooked. Add the marinara sauce evenly over the eggplant in the casserole. Note: you don’t have to use marinara. Any good spaghetti sauce that you have leftover will work. Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella cheese evenly over the top of the sauce and give it a good grinding of white pepper.

Bake the eggplant at 350º until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese starts to brown. Remove it from the oven and grind a little more white pepper over it. You will notice that the sauce is real oily, that’s ok. That’s why you used the good olive oil. Let the eggplant sit for about ten minutes before you serve it so the cheese can set up a little.

Serving

Baked eggplant is tasty with a lot of dishes. Steaks and chops as well as roasts go well with this. I like it along side rigatoni with smokey pork, homemade bread (which is good dipped in the oily eggplant sauce) and a crisp salad. I would also open a bottle of Zinfandel to wash everything down.

Norman’s Steak Bone Broth

Norman’s Steak Bone Broth

Do you like steaks on the grill. Heck, who doesn’t (alright, you vegetarians don’t, but I never did understand you guys). My favorite steak is a giant 2” thick porterhouse steak, seasoned perfectly and grilled so it is completely charred on the outside but still rare in the center. 

You need a hot charcoal/wood fire to do that. I like to take two split oak logs and put them about 8” apart in my grill. I then fill the area between them with charcoal. Next I pile a bunch of dry sticks on the charcoal and light it. It will eventually light the coals and when it is ready, I grill the steaks. The oak adds a nice smokey flavor to the steak. In my mind it is the only way to cook a steak.

Once you finished that wonderful steak dinner, what are you going to do with the steak bones? You wouldn’t dare throw them out, would you? They are loaded with beefy, smokey flavor that you mustn't waste. Here’s what you should do with them.

Leftover bones from 4 charred steaks

Several branches of fresh parsley

1 onion, cut in half

1 bay leaf

3 stalks of celery with leaves, broken

2 carrots, split lengthwise

1 cup white wine

4 cups water

salt

white pepper, freshly ground

Preparation

Place the bones in a large sauce pan with the water and the wine. Note, it is even ok to use the bones your guests have nibbled on. The cooking will kill all their horrible ailments, I promise.

Add the parsley, onion, bay leaf, celery, carrots along with a little salt and pepper. Bring the liquid to a boil, cover, reduce the heat and let it just barely simmer for a couple of hours. In addition to making a wonderful stock, it will make your house smell nice.

Allow the broth to cool and then strain it into a container. Refrigerate it for tomorrow’s dinner.  

Serving

Well, now I have a conundrum! What am I going to write in this ‘serving’ section? You aren’t going to serve this broth. You will use it to make some other meal. This broth will add a nice zing to many recipes and is especially good in spaghetti sauce. You use it to thin out the tomato paste. 

It is also great to use when you make gravy for roast beef. If you do that, you can serve the beef, with mashed potatoes all covered with the gravy you made with this broth. Then, add some cauliflower, a salad, and fresh homemade bread. If you do all that, open up a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and your dinner will be in good shape.

Norman’s Yellow Pea Soup

Norman’s Yellow Pea Soup

As soon as football season starts up, I start getting a taste for pea soup. More times than not, I find myself making pea soup on Sunday during the game. I make both green pea and yellow pea soup, but please don’t think that these colors indicate a possible Packers fan. Nothing could be further from the truth. Only the Vikings rate higher on my dislike scale.

Now, contrary to what you might think, there is a little more involved in making this soup than simply taking a yellow pea. You are going to have to make a stock first. But as you can see, it is not to complicated. And, remember that a good soup is an essential part of a balanced meal. Along with fresh baked bread, it is one of the things that makes us civilized.

If you like, you can use whole peas for the soup. They have thin little skins which add to the texture of the soup. I use whole peas quite often.

For the stock:

1 bone from a good roast ham

1 onion - quartered 2 stalks of celery

4 branches of parsley 2 bay leaves

Water

For the soup:
3 stalks of celery - minced

2 large onion - chopped 

4 carrots chopped

2 small hot peppers - minced

1 lb. split yellow peas - sorted and rinsed

1 tsp. cajun seasoning

1 cup (or more!) chopped roast ham 

1/2 tsp. thyme

1/4 tsp. oregano

Tabasco

Preparation

To make the stock, take a large stock pot and place the ham bone in it along with the onion, celery, parsley and bay leaves. If you want, throw in a tsp. of black peppercorns, I do. Fill it up with enough water to cover the bone and bring it to a boil. Now think. You are going to make a whole pot of soup with this stock, make sure you add enough water, about 5 quarts. Let it simmer gently, covered, for two hours.

Take the ham bone out of the stock and remove the meat for the soup. Strain the stock into a large soup pot and discard the stuff in the strainer. Place the soup pot on the stove over high heat. Add the celery, onion, hot pepper, rinsed and sorted peas, the cajun seasoning, oregano, thyme and the chopped ham. Add the ham bone back in if you like. Bring this to a boil, reduce the heat and, stirring frequently, simmer the soup for another two hours or so. You will know when it is ready when the peas have pretty much fallen apart and the soup is semi-thick. 

Now if you started with four gallons of stock your soup will probably be too thin. Otherwise it should be just right. Taste to see if you need to adjust the seasoning. It might need some Tabasco or just some cajun seasoning, salt and pepper. My guess is that it will need a lot of Tabasco, but you be the judge. (Iʼm getting permissive in my old age.)

Serving

You must remember that as good as this soup is, it’s not a meal. It is just the first part of a good meal. Serve this soup with a tablespoon of fresh grated parmesan stirred into each bowl as a first course. When you add a salad, warm bread fresh from the oven, lamb chops charred nice and rare, and then some broccoli, youʼll be getting close. Once you open a bottle of Tempranillo, you’re good to go.

Marinated Pork Steaks Grilled Over A Hot Charcoal Fire

Marinated Pork Steaks Grilled Over A Hot Charcoal Fire

I've been cooking a lot of pork chops and pork steaks since the Great Lisle Flood of 2013. They are quick and easy, especially when I'm not sure how many of my housemates and friends will be dining. I guess this tendency goes back to my Wednesday night dinner days.

A lot of times when I would have a group over for dinner, I would use my charcoal grill for pork steaks. I could grill a whole batch of these pork steaks in just a few minutes because they are thin and charcoal is hot.

There is something about a platter of sizzling pork steaks that gets everyone’s attention. They are a great way to fill out a dinner menu. Don’t tell anyone, but not only do they cook fast, they are pretty inexpensive too. It doesn’t matter, when people see sizzling pork steaks, they are ready to chow down.

4 pork steaks

Cajun seasoning

5 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 tsp. soy sauce

1/2 cup olive oil

Juice of 3 lemons

1 tbs. oregano

Preparation

Season the pork steaks on both sides with cajun seasoning. Place the pork steaks in one of those zip lock bags. Add the garlic, red pepper, soy sauce, olive oil, lemon juice and oregano. Seal the bag and let them marinate a couple of hours in the fridge.

Light a charcoal grill and have it set for direct grilling. Place the steaks directly over the coals. It is ok if they flame up a bit. Char the steaks on both sides. Depending on how hot the coals are and how close the grate is to the coal, cooking time will vary. I’d plan on about 2 minutes per side. You want them charred on the out side and just loosing the pink inside.

Serving

Don't forget to share some grilled pork with your dogs!

I suggest at least two steaks per person. Place the sizzling pork steaks next to a big pile of spaghetti marinara. I also like grilled mixed vegetables (broccoli, peppers, zucchini, onions and eggplant) which have been sprinkled with extra good olive oil and parmesan cheese. 

Fresh homemade bread and butter as well as a bowl of minestrone soup will round things out. Just open a bottle of Montepulciano DʼAbruzzo and you are ready to feast.