Paula Deen’s Hash Brown Casserole

Wow, I went for two days without posting a new blog article - we had a busy weekend. Our son and his wife came to stay with us for two days because they were attending a wedding. Saturday, my wife’s family had a gathering so we attended that and I took Bonnie’s Baked Beans and Sunshine Cake, both were a huge success. On Sunday, I decided to make the Paula Deen Hash Brown Casserole. I watched her TV program when she made it and I thought it looked good, so I printed the recipe and waiting until we had some company to make it.

I made the casserole and about the time I took it out of the oven, I noticed a pain in my left lower back that was getting worse. I remembered the downside to potluck family dinners, is you never quite know how someone else handles their food. I let our family eat while I went a laid down to see if the pain would subside. No such luck, I had several bouts of nausea, but none of the other effects of food poisoning. A quick check of the internet showed the appendix on the right side, so that’s not the problem. After suffering with this for 12 hours, my wife convinced me to go to the ER at 9:30 pm to see if I had a kidney stone. After three hours and pokes, prods, and a CT scan, the results came back that outside of a slightly inflamed kidney, all the tests were normal. The doctor thought I might have a pulled muscle, but to take Tylenol, which has eliminated the pain. However, I lost a full day while lying in bed trying to get comfortable and sleeping.

I confirmed my decision to make this recipe for breakfast when I got up Sunday morning and everyone else was asleep (they had a late night). I had already thawed my one pound of Jimmy Dean Maple Sausage and rummaged around in the freezer to find a loaf of buttermilk bread.

I started by melting the butter in a large skillet while I chopped one-half a white onion. I sautéed the onion while I trimmed the crusts off the slices of bread, this was very easy because the slices were still frozen. Into another skillet, I browned the bulk sausage, realizing after I put the sausage in the pan, the skillet was almost too small so I had to be careful while turning the sausage to keep if from flying out.

Once the onions were cooked, I added the half package of frozen hash browns to the skillet with the onions and cooked the hash browns for about five minutes. I had to switch from a rubber spatula to one made of metal so I could loosen the browning potatoes from the bottom of the stainless steel skillet. Once the potatoes were cooked, I spread them in the bottom of my prepared 9x13 inch glass-baking pan.

On top of the potatoes, I spread the bread cubes over the potatoes and the sausage over the bread cubes. I quickly mixed the egg and 2% milk with the salt, pepper, nutmeg, and mustard. I poured the egg mixture over the top of the three layers in the baking pan trying to coat all the bread cubes. I shredded the parmesan and cheddar cheeses and spread them over the casserole then put in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

By now everyone else in the house was up and ready to eat. When the casserole finished cooking, I took removed it from the oven, set it on top of the stove, and told everyone to dig in, and then I left to deal with my back pain.

I still have not tasted the casserole because the thought of it makes me feel a little nauseous. Everyone who ate the casserole really like the flavors, taste and texture, though it is very rich. Fortunately, my wife has agreed to freeze the remainder because I am not sure I could look at it right now. I do look forward to tasting it in the future, and it seems to be a hit when you have a group people for breakfast.

Find the recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paulas-home-cooking/hash-brown-casserole-recipe/index.html

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Cheese Fondue

As we reviewed some pictures of our trips to Central Europe, we enjoyed looking at pictures of the Alps and the surrounding areas.  One of the pictures showed the fondue that we ate in France, and my wife asked when we could have cheese fondue for dinner.  I replied that as soon as I could buy some cheese, I would be happy to make fondue.  Later that day we had to run some errands, so we stopped at Costco (our super mega-mart) to purchase our cheese.

As we walked through the store, there were several stands demonstrating different products and offering samples to taste.  We stopped at one and picked up some Jarlsberg cheese that is a variety of Swiss cheese manufactured in Norway.  It had a very soft texture and a mild and pleasant taste that we enjoyed.

We walked to the refrigerated case to get the two cheeses that I needed: Gruyere and Emmenthaler.  We picked up a small brick of the Gruyere, but there was no Emmenthaler or any other Swiss type cheese.  Ah, the Jarlsberg is a Swiss cheese, so we went back and picked up a wedge of the Jarlsberg.

Here is the recipe that I use for making cheese fondue:
   1 small garlic clove, halved
   1 cup dry white wine
   3/4 pound Gruyere cheese
   3/4 pound Emmenthaler (or Jarlsberg) cheese
   1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
   1 tablespoon kirsch wasser (optional)
   kosher salt
   ground black pepper
   A loaf of crusty bread cut into one-inch cubes

1. Rub the cut side of the garlic around the bottom and sides of a medium saucepan.  This supplies all the garlic flavoring needed without overpowering the cheese.  Sometimes I will also run the garlic on the inside of the fondue pot.
2. Remove the skin from the cheese and grate it into a large bowl.  Add the cornstarch to the cheese and toss to mix.
3. Add the wine to the saucepan and bring to a simmer.
4. Slowly add the cheese to the simmering wine, stirring each addition until it is melted.  Once all the cheese is added, stir until all the cheese is melted.
5. Add the kirsh which is a cherry flavored spirit (by itself is pretty nasty tasting) and heat until bubbling which takes one or two minutes.  Season with the salt and pepper
6. Transfer to a fondue pot and keep warm while serving.

This recipe is very easy to make and really wows the guests.  Though the first time I made fondue; I used the recipe that came in the box with our ceramic fondue pot.  This should really be categorized as lesson learned, as I exactly followed the recipe.  It said to place the pot on the stove, add wine and heat and add the cheese until it was melted, so I place the fondue pot on the stove and half way through melting the cheese, it made a loud pop and split in two.  My wife informed me that the directions assumed I knew to use a metal saucepan.  Nope!  So now, we have a new fondue pot that I only heat by placing it over the small burner that came with the set.


While it is possible to dip other items into the cheese such as: steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, celery, apple, salami, kielbasa, etc, we usually just use bread.  We prefer to just use bread.  We really like to use a very dark bread that has a lot of flavor, but it is very difficult to find.

This recipe will easily serve four people as a main course with some raw vegetables on the side.  A little fondue served with a nice dark beer makes for a great evening between friends.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Piroshky Piroshky, Seattle, Washington

For mothers day weekend, we took a trip to Seattle and had some great experiences.  We rode to the top of the Space Needle, visited the Ballard ship locks, and spent some time in the Pike Place Market.

Earlier this year we visited the Pike Place Market, where we discovered a little sidewalk shop (about 20 feet wide) containing a Russian Bakery: Piroshky Piroshky.  That first visit was on a Friday and we just waited inside the shop for two people ahead of us to order and then we shared a great apple cinnamon roll between the three of us.

For this trip, we were going to make it our lunch and have one of their Piroshky pies and a dessert.  We were very surprised to find a line of about 30 people ahead of us in a line that snaked from the front of the bakery around the sidewalk and back into the bowels of the building.  Fortunately, the line moved quickly.

Once inside we had trouble deciding what to order.  We really wanted to try some of each item on the menu.  I ordered a Smoked Mozzarella Broccoli and Mushroom Piroshky, and my wife had a Potato Onion and Mushroom Piroshky.  I almost ordered a Smoked Salmon Piroshky but I saw that it was salmon pate, while I’m sure it is authentic, but it was not what I was looking for.

We stepped out into the sunshine of the market and enjoyed our Piroshky’s.  I really enjoyed the smoked mozzarella, but it could have used a little more mozzarella and a little less broccoli for my taste.  I still enjoyed it thought.  My wife commented that she was a little disappointed in her selection as it was like eating mashed potatoes in a piecrust, she would have liked it to have a little more body and a few more mushrooms.

We had also ordered dessert: a Cinnamon Cardamon Braid and an Apple Cinnamon Roll.  I really enjoyed the Cinnamon Cardamon Braid.  In addition to cinnamon and cardamon, it also contained raisins, orange peel, and hazelnuts.  It had a light texture and was not overly spiced by any one ingredient so all the flavors were discernable.  The Apple Cinnamon Roll made with Granny Smith apples had a nice tartness to balance the sweetness of the roll.  This will always be one of our favorites.

It is interesting for me to go back and study my photos, I can see that in the case there were several types of meat Piroshky’s that we didn’t see because their little signs were pushed over and facing the floor by the trays of pies.  I think that I probably would have had a Bavarian Sausage Piroshky if I had seen that there were more types for sale in the case.  I guess that leaves something for me to try on my next adventure.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Au Gratin Potatoes

We had my wife’s mother over for an early mothers day dinner and my wife asked me to make Au Gratin Potatoes to go with the meal. In the past, my wife has always made the Au Gratin Potatoes and she said that I should use the recipe in our vintage Betty Crocker Cookbook.

I looked up the recipe and made sure we had enough cheese, potato, and onions. I had already been to the store and purchased a can of breadcrumbs and I was ready to go.

About three hours before it was time for dinner, I peeled six medium russet potatoes and sliced them into (what I thought were) thin slices. I turned on the oven to 325 degrees and started on the cheese sauce.

I put the 1/4-cup of margarine in a saucepan and add set the heat to medium. While the margarine was heating, I chopped 1/2 an onion that I had left over in the refrigerator. The recipe calls for one medium onion chopped, but my chopped 1/2 onion was over a cup worth. We decided to just use the 1/2-cup, but wonder were Betty found a medium onion the size of a golf ball.

While I was working on the onions, my wife used our new box grater to grated three cups of Tillamook cheddar cheese and layered the sliced potato pieces into a casserole dish.

Once the margarine melted, I added the onion into the pan and cooked it until it was tender. Then I added two-tablespoons of flour, one-teaspoon of salt, and 1/8-teaspoon of pepper to the mix, stirred it all together, and cooked it for several minutes until it was bubbly. Then I added the two-cups of milk and two-cups of grated cheddar cheese to the mix. I stirred this constantly until it came to a boil and boiled for one minute.

I poured the cheese sauce over the potatoes and popped the casserole dish into the oven for and hour and twenty minutes. It was finally a nice day so I went out and mowed the lawn. When I finished with the lawn it was time to take the potatoes out of the oven and mix the 1/4-cup of fine bread crumbs with the last cup of grated cheese. Once I had a good mix, I spread the cheese/breadcrumb mixture over the top of the potatoes and put the potatoes back into the oven for another twenty minutes.

While the potatoes finished cooking, I went out and grilled some nice steaks. We also had broccoli steaming and my wife was cutting some fresh vegetables to go with dinner.

I took that potatoes out at the end of their allotted time, but my wife told me to check them to make sure they were fully cooked (because I cut them so thick) – they were not completely cooked, so back into the oven they went until the steak was ready and everything else was on the table.

We enjoyed the meal of grilled steak, au gratin potatoes, broccoli, and fresh vegetables. The potatoes were cooked all the way through, but I told my wife that I may need to get an adjustable mandoline so that next time all the slices are the same thickness. She said maybe for father’s day…


Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell