At the Portobello

Each year a group of my friends go camping to kick in the Fall season and this year I tagged along.  Since I live in Florida, the day-long drive to the middle of the Smokey mountains is the best place to get my "chill" on and wear some long sleeves.

I pre-made a bunch of dishes that we froze and re-heated for dinner.  My cooler became my refrigerator.  The campfire, my stove, heater and nighttime entertainment.  On my list of new camping equipment for next year is the gigantic commercial stock pot I spied while doing a shoot at Portobello in downtown Disney with Orlando Brewing company.  Take a look at it to the left ... it's half the size of my body.  That should be large enough to feed a small army.  Though, you'd have to quadruple the size of my recipe to fill that thing!

One of the dishes I pre-made and brought with me was the Smokey Sage & Butternut Squash Pasta.  The other was my chili recipe.  Because you can't chill out by a campfire without some chili and some s'mores for dessert!

The last time I had chili, I just dipped my spoon into the bowl, took a good long look at all the ingredients and committed them to memory.  Then I

Coconut Marshmallows

experimented with it at home, throwing a bunch of ingredients into a stockpot to taste what the results would be.  Over the years I tweaked it a bit, and now it's something I can do with my eyes closed.  Though, making a recipe from memory isn't too helpful to my friends that ask for a copy of it.  So ... here ya go ... my chili recipe in writing.

Chelley's Chili

(serves 4)

Ingredients

1 pound ground meat (turkey, lean ground beef, soy)

1 15 oz can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed.

2 15 oz cans stewed tomatoes

1 6 oz can tomato paste

1/4 cup diced Vidalia onion

1/4 cup diced green bell peppers

1 garlic clove, minced

4 tablespoons chili powder (nearly half a standard spice bottle)

1/2 teaspoon Hungarian paprika

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Tabasco (to taste)

Directions

1) Add tomatoes, tomato paste and kidney beans to a large stock pot, stir, and set on medium heat.

2)  Saute onions, garlic and green bell peppers in a large frying pan with a little olive oil until almost caramelized.  Add ground meat and cook until meat is done.  After meat has browned, add chili powder, paprika, cinnamon, cloves and Tabasco and mix.

3) Add meat mixture to stock pot with tomatoes and beans and stir together.  Cover and let cook for another 3 to 5 minutes or until everything is at the same temperature.

4) Serve with grated sharp cheddar, sour cream and corn bread on the side.

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We recently had my friend Jaden and her family up visiting our home town of Mount Dora for some holiday fun.  A little holiday shopping, a little man-made snow sledding in the park ... a lot of good food!

Ordinarily I'd happily invite friends over to stay at our home, but we've got a little 1920's  two bedroom cottage.  Hardly big enough for two families ... although, I could pitch a tent in the basement and we could make it fun like a good old fashioned grade school sleep over.  Hmm ... naaaah.

Instead, our friends Jim & Ana at the Mount Dora Historic Inn graciously hosted them at their Conch House Cottages so they could have their own home away from home.  It's literally just a few steps away from our front door.  The only condition ... we all had to do breakfast together.  Wonder what happens when you get a group of people together in the morning that love food?

Breakfast lasts aaaaall daaaaaaay!

That's my kind of morning.

We had much to celebrate after she and her son, Nathan, and I survived crossing 4 lanes of traffic led by a kamikaze pedicab driver across NYC's 5th Ave.  You can see some Flip cam action of that ride here ...

Notice that we're laughing hysterically.  Lesson learned, when in the face of death ... smile.

The photos in this post are from SteamyKitchen's talented eye and quick triggered shutter finger.  One cup of strong coffee and she's whippin around the kitchen with her 5 lb lens totally workin the food.

In the recipe below, I kept Chef Jim's instructions just as he gave them to me.  For one, I didn't remake this one in my kitchen yet, so I have no comments other than Mmm and Yum.  But you'll notice a few of his notes will make you scratch your head and say, "really?"  Yeah, he's a joker.  He had me once asking our local grocery manager what the difference was between "hens" eggs and "chicken" eggs.  There is none.  Ha ha.

First ... a little food porn ... some drooling ... and then ... the recipe .

I have no words.  No commentary.   Just pure silence awe.

Okay.  One small teeny little comment.  Notice the purple mug in the right hand corner.  Yeah, the one that is the size of a coffee pot.  Jim said his doctor told him he could only drink one cup of coffee ... so he just upgraded his mug.  For all the coffee lovers out there ... that's not lying, right?  It is one cup of coffee, it's just 20 ounces.  LOL!

And one final note ... this was our 3rd course that day.  Good thing I started running as a hobby!

Enjoy!

Italian Breakfast Strata

from the Mount Dora Historic Inn

Ingredients

Egg mixture
12, large eggs
1, tsp dry mustard
4, dashes of your favorite hot sauce
Black pepper to your liking
8, ounce sour cream
½ cup whole Milk
4 oz hand-grated Cheddar
4 oz hand-grated Muenster

Ingredients for Layers
Day old Italian sandwich bread—hand-pulled into ½ inch pieces—about a 1 ½
¼ each green, red and yellow peppers—cored and diced
¼ medium onion—peeled and diced
½ lb of boiled ham—hand-pulled into small pieces
4 oz hand-grated Cheddar
4 oz hand-grated Muenster

Method for Eggs

Whip together eggs, sour cream, and milk—then add spices and blend well—electric blender works best—set aside

Architecture of the layers

1) Grease well a standard pie-dish
2) Layer enough day old bread to cover the bottom of the dish
3) Sautee your onions and peppers in little olive oil—cool—then evenly layer over the bread
4) Then spread ham over the veggies and, finally, spread both cheese over the top
5) Pour ½ of the egg mixture over the layers and let sit for 5 minutes—this allows the bread some time to soak up the egg mixture
6) Add the rest of mixture reserving 1/3 inch of space from the top of the pie dish
7) Place in pre-heated oven ... Then pour remaining mixture just to the top-edge of the pie dish—this prevents spilling of egg mixture—on your floor, in the oven and on your shoes.
8) Bake for 60 to 65 minutes at 350 degrees or check with an instant read thermometer to 180 degrees internal temperature –Allow to temper and set for 6 minutes before slicing.

Note: The Strata will get puffy on the sides first and then the middle will puff during the final minutes of cooking.  If the middle does not puff—it is not done!

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Yesterday we headed over to the Mount Dora Historic Inn to learn how to make ... quite possibly... the best omelet I've EVER had. Seriously. First of all, the salty scent of frying bacon got the best of my empty belly when we first stepped in the door. But when Chef/Innkeeper Jim Tuttle walked out with a bottle of chardonnay and said, "we're going to need some wine to make this breakfast," I knew it was going to be a fabulous day.

Chef Jim shared with us his secret to making the best omelet, cooking asparagus, and even a little dance that makes water boil faster. The recipe of the day was his Bacon Asparagus Stuffed Omelet with Buerre Blanc sauce. It's the perfect gourmet breakfast for two.

****Now, there are so many different methods for making an omelet. Some add water, some add milk, some cook with butter, some with oil, there really is no "wrong" way ******

Want to make your own awesome omelet? Here's what you'll need

Freshly cooked bacon and asparagus, eggs, 1/2 stick of butter, 1/2 Cup fresh grated cheese, dried mustard powder, salt, freshly ground pepper, a dash or two of Tabasco

First, start off by taking a look at my side notes for creating the buerre blanc sauce and perfectly cooked asparagus.

Now, let's get started on the perfect omelet. Chef Jim has a couple of secret ingredients I've never added to my omelet mix ... Tabasco and mustard powder. The first step is an easy and familiar one ... just break your eggs into a deep mixing bowl and whisk together.

Then sift your mustard powder through a sieve to break up any clumps and add about 5 "dashes" of Tabasco to taste. Personally, I usually don't like hot sauce, especially on my breakfast. But adding the Tabasco at this stage gives it a little more flavor without the kick. Also add just a dash of water (Chef Jim's not known for measuring things) and whisk together again. You're about ready to start your omelet.

Bacon. Bacon. Bacon. I hear the voice of that pooch in the bacon strips commercial chattering on in my head.  I'm just as crazy about bacon as he is ... except ... of course ... this is the real thing.

Prepare the bacon as you normally would. The TIP here is, after you've finished cooking it stove top, sandwich between paper towels and microwave for about 10 to 15 seconds to further absorb the extra grease. This tip makes for extra crispy bacon.

Chef Jim likes to use butter AND olive oil to coat his frying pan. So, just in case the olive oil and asparagus threw you for a loop and gave you the impression that this is a "healthy breakfast" ...  let me just say that the taste is worth EVERY calorie. Especially the buerre blanc sauce. Mmm. On with the omelet .

Chef Jim quoted Julia Child as saying, "an omelet contains a hard outer shell of eggs containing a soft scramble." Here's his tip on how to get an evenly cooked omelet. Lift up the cooked edge and allow the uncooked egg to flow around it. This creates layers of cooked egg. See the sequence below ...

At this point, you want to flip your omelet and layer with the goodies you've pre-prepared such as the bacon, asparagus and sprinkle with cheese.

Here's another extra step I had never considered. Jim pops his omelets in the oven for 3 minutes at 375 degrees in order to bring everything to the same temperature. Note, if you are going to do this, you need to make sure you have oven-safe frying pans (without any plastic parts) and remember to use oven mitts to remove them!

Flip them onto your serving plate ... drizzle with buerre blanc sauce ... savor the moment ... sprinkle with paprika ...

Bacon & Asparagus Stuffed Omelet

Ingredients

Bacon
Asparagus
7 Eggs
1/2 stick of Butter
1 Cup Fresh Grated Cheese (we used muenster and cheddar)
Dried Mustard Powder
Salt
Freshly Ground Pepper
Tabasco

Directions

1) Create your buerre blanc sauce and perfectly cooked asparagus.

2) Break your eggs into a deep mixing bowl and whisk together.

3) Sift your mustard powder through a sieve to break up any clumps and add about 5 "dashes" of Tabasco to whisked eggs.

4) Prepare the bacon as you normally would. The TIP here is, after you've finished cooking it stove top, sandwich between paper towels and microwave for about 10 to 15 seconds to further absorb the extra grease. This tip makes for extra crispy bacon.

5) Add butter and olive oil to coat frying pan.  Bring heat to medium high.

6) As egg is cooking, lift up the edge and allow the uncooked egg to flow around it. This creates layers of cooked egg.

7) When omelet is firm,  flip and layer with the goodies you've pre-prepared such as the bacon, asparagus and sprinkle with cheese.

8 ) Add omelets to the oven for 3 minutes at 375 degrees in order to bring everything to the same temperature.

9) After baking for 3 minutes, slide omelet onto your serving plate ... drizzle with buerre blanc sauce ... savor the moment ... sprinkle with paprika ... and enjoy!

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