Virginia is for Bloggers

This is an interesting little group of blogs that I stumbled upon recently. (Click on the graphic above to check out to their site.)  The majority of the blogs focus on food, and all seem to be Virginia oriented. And since Exploding Potatoes covers both aspects, I thought I would join the fun.

Caveat – somehow, when I filled out the brief information required to associate with the blogfest, the only option available for me to choose was “Richmond,” our capital city. You long time readers know “that ain’t me.”

I haunt the vast expanses (chuckle) of the Eastern Shore, across the Chesapeake Bay, the highway and byway for New Englanders to drive through (way too fast) on their way to the Outer Banks for vacation. In fact, I am still hoping to get that interview with the owner of Brown Dog Ice Cream in Cape Charles, Virginia, the southernmost “city.”  The only problem is: whenever I am there she is making ice cream! So alas, I have to order something, and of course then eat it. By the time I am finished, I am so stuffed like a pig happy that I forget about asking any questions and go home for a nap!

Next time!

Breakfast Frittata with Oven Roasted Potatoes

Tourist season is starting here on the Eastern Shore.  It’s not really beach weather yet, but I have noticed more and more fishing boats floating around the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  That means many of the vacation rental houses around town are inhabited by small groups of guys living on frozen pizza and trips to the only McDonald’s within 40 miles.

Guys – we can do better.

The mornings can be quite chilly here on The Shore. A hot breakfast frittata can do wonders for the soul. Shoving off before sunrise? That’s okay – make it the night before and warm it up before you leave the house. Beats the heck out of “value meal number two” or a convenience store coffee and Danish.

Put on your ball caps chef hats – here we go!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

This dish starts out as oven roasted potatoes. When completed, half of the potatoes are reserved as a side dish, the other half becomes the foundation of the breakfast frittata!

Oven Roasted Potatoes, serves 8 alone or 4 when made as a side for the frittata.

9 x 13 inch glass baking dish

3  Russet potatoes, peeled and diced

1 medium Vidalia onion, peeled and diced

2 Tablespoons smoked paprika

1 Tablespoon cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Breakfast Frittata, serves 4

1 oven-safe, glass pie plate, 9.5 inch diameter

12 oz. chicken sausage ( I use Johnsonville’s fully cooked, chipotle Monterrey Jack version) sliced into 1/4 inch coins. Bonus – no MSG, either!

4 eggs

1/8 cup milk

What you need to do:

For the oven roasted potatoes, place the diced potatoes and onions in the baking dish. Add the remaining ingredients, then gently mix until all of the potatoes are lightly coated with oil.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Stir, recover, then bake for another 30 minutes.

Take potatoes out of the oven, set aside for the moment. Do not turn off the oven yet.

 

For the breakfast frittata, place the sausage coins into the pie plate and cover with a paper towel. Heat in a microwave oven for 2 minutes or in the already preheated oven (without the paper towel,) for about 10 minutes.

Once the sausage has been warmed, add half of the oven roasted potatoes. Gently mix the two ingredients.

In a separate bowl, add the milk to the eggs and lightly whisk with a fork, as if you were going to make scrambled eggs. Pour the egg mixture on top of the potatoes and sausage, gently mixing until the egg has coated all of the potatoes and sausage.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Get the plates out – you are ready to eat a hearty breakfast!

Now, some of you may not want to have a potato-based frittata with a side of potatoes. Fair enough. There are options:

1. Double the sausage and eggs and make one big batch. This is a good idea if you need more than 4 servings. Heck you could just use the 9 x 13 baking dish instead of a smaller pie plate.
2. Make two frittatas – one of them with the sausage and another substituting 2 cups of chopped broccoli florets and 1 cup chopped red bell pepper. Great concept if you have vegetarians in the crowd.
3. Make two frittatas – one of them with the sausage and another substituting 2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese. I mean, really – you can’t go wrong with cheese, can you?

Any way you make it – this frittata hits the spot on a cold or rainy day. And good luck with the fishing!

Chesapeake Bay Flounder…that Bites Back!

Horseradish-encrusted Flounder with stir-fried Vegetables

It’s the middle of Summer here on the East Coast of Virginia and that means one thing: the flounder are getting bigger! Almost iconic in status in these parts, flounder (sometimes referred to as “door mats”) are right up there with striped bass and bluefin tuna as a prized catch. If you have a boat, great. If not, do not despair – go to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, pay the $12 toll and stop at the South Island, where you will find the Seagull Pier, a great fishing pier that extends out into the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. $12 a bit much for a toll? Try paying for a seat on a charter boat. Head boats go for $40 to start and often go higher. Heck, I spend more than $12 when I go to Starbucks!

So luck was with you and you have landed a flounder big enough to keep. What to do? Why, let’s fire up the oven and have us some…

Horseradish-encrusted Flounder

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Flounder fillets (let’s assume you have 4 medium-sized fillets)
2 cups of plain bread crumbs
8 oz horseradish sauce (I use Boar’s Head)

First check the fillets for errant pin bones. You don’t want those pesky little bones, pull them out with a tweezer or a pair of pliers.

Next, slather the fillets in horseradish sauce. Then dredge them in bread crumbs. Repeat the process one more time.

Place the coated fillets in a greased. glass baking dish.

Bake for 12 minutes. Check for doneness by using a fork. If the fillet flakes easily, it is done. If it looks really, really moist on the inside, let it cook a few minutes more – it won’t hurt since the breading will keep the fish nice and tender.

When done – eat!

The horseradish taste comes through well, but is not overpowering. This is a nice alternative to the usual fried flounder or flounder stuffed with crab filing. Be adventurous. Live a little!

Now – for those of you who always go one step further, try this with Wasabi mixed in the horseradish. Add a little shredded Parmesan cheese to the bread crumbs. Cook the same way. Heck, do one fillet this way and put it in the same baking dish as the original flounder. Call it Flounder Roulette!

Try it – goes well with a nice glass of Fish Eye Merlot.

Ahhhh….

Virginia Farmer’s Market Week is here!

Celebrate Virginia's Farmer's Markets!

Once you take a drive along Lankford Highway, also known as Highway 13, the nice scenic drive that follows the spine of the Eastern Shore of Virginia from the Chesapeake Bay into Maryland, you will notice during the summer the plethora of local farmers selling extra vegetables at roadside stands.

Some of the stands are permanent structures, often selling fireworks and Virginia hams in addition to veggies. Other stands are simply pick-up trucks, parked alongside the shoulder of the road, accompanied by a handmade sign planted about five feet in front of the lowered tailgate. One of my favorites is a guy who is selling 50 pound sacks of potatoes for about ten bucks. You just can’t get that kind of deal anywhere else!

I had mentioned earlier the “secret – locals only” market, known as the Fresh Market. This is the stand where you take what you want, and leave the money in a box. Totally on the honor system…and it works. See the pics above and below for a sample of their wares.

Since moving to the Eastern Shore, and getting to know many of the farmers, I have a new appreciation for how hard they work for us. One of the best things a parent can do is teach their kids that foods don’t just show up at the supermarket – they all start one way or another with the farmer. Willie Nelson knew this years ago when he started the Farm Aid concerts.

I know President Obama is quite busy these days, what with trying to solve the ills of Wall Street with a reorganization of the Health Care System, all the while trying not to slip on oil washed up from the BP Oil Spill, so I give two “green thumbs” up to the fine Commonwealth of Virginia for helping Mr. Obama out with this one.

That’s right, August 1 – 7, 2010 is “Celebrate Virginia Farmer’s Markets” week. No matter where you are, there is probably a Farmer’s Market somewhere nearby. I just spent a week up in the Shenandoah Mountains and saw plenty of them. For more information on Virginia’s Farmer’s Markets, check out http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/vagrown/.

Know your food – thank your farmer!

Mini Crab Cakes on the Shore

For lunch today, my wife and I went to the Coach House Tavern, located in the clubhouse at the Bay Creek Resort and Club in Cape Charles, Virginia. For those not familiar with the area, Cape Charles is an old railroad town on the southern part of the Delmarva Peninsula, known as the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

If you don’t live there (on the Shore) you either have to take 13 south from Maryland or the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel north from Virginia Beach. If you take the CBBT, make sure you have an “Easy Pass” or 12 dollars for the toll. If you go back within 24 hours, it’s only 5 bucks for the return. A bit pricey for a lunch trip, so I always suggest that people make a weekend trip out of it. Chincoteague is right up the road, it is definitely worth a visit.

So if you find yourself in Cape Charles, bring your golf clubs because there are two golf courses at Bay Creek, one designed by Jack and one by Arnold. While open to the public, the resort is gated, but all you have to do is tell security that you are there for a round of golf…or lunch at the Coach House Tavern!

Here is a hidden gem of a pub.

Mostly American pub fare, there seems to be something for everyone. Being located right off the Chesapeake Bay, the seafood is fresh caught and cooked superbly. My wife had the flounder. I have had it before and will say that the lightly seasoned breading is just awesome. The best flounder I have ever had. Period.

I ordered the mini crab cakes. They came in a basket (pub fare, remember?) with fries and homemade cole slaw. Light and fluffy, these bite-sized crab cakes were magnificent. The tarter sauce was seasoned with Old Bay perhaps? A perfect complement to the cakes.

Service was attentive yet not overbearing. The staff was friendly, welcoming and knowledgeable. It did not matter to anyone that we were obviously not golfers. The Coach House Tavern is on my list of “Must Visit” places when we have out-of-town friends and relatives stop by for a visit.

While I understand the greens fees are higher than most for the area, the prices at the Coach House Tavern are very reasonable, with most main dishes priced between $8 – 15.

The Coach House Tavern – a nice way to start or finish a weekend venture to the Eastern Shore of Virginia!

Doug’s Boot Stompin’ Kick Butt Salsa

So the weather today on the Eastern Shore of Virginia is crappy.  It’s the tail end of a Nor’easter.  Off and on rain, lots of wind and the temperature is in the low 50’s.   The weather had canceled our Chesapeake Bay fishing excursion last week and put the ka-bosh on a neighboring town’s celebration this week.  There was supposed to be an outdoor festival in Cheritan, but from the looks of it, the party moved inside the firehouse.  Probably the best decision.  Judging by the number of cars parked around the firehouse, it was well attended.

I decided against leaving the house entirely, save a trip to the local grocery store for mason jar lids.  Today was “Homemade Salsa Day” and in between football games, it was time to get a cookin’!  This salsa was a variation of my normal recipe and it turned out well.  Normally I use fresh cilantro, but none was to be had.  Time to start that herb garden, I guess! It was also my first time using a pressure cooker for canning and I can happily report that three out of four jars sealed the first time.  There’s always one, as they say, and it took three tries to get the last jar of salsa to seal correctly.  It’s well cooked, to be sure.

So when you have an hour or two and the weather inside the house is better than the weather outside, get yourself some chips and make some of this salsa.  It has just a little bite to it, but I focused on good taste rather than heat.  You can always up the quantity of peppers or go for broke with a few Serranos, that’s your choice.  My salsa has good flavor, but every once in a while  you will get a piece of jalapeno. Then you’ll want to stomp your boot, saying “That pepper is kickin’ my butt!”  Enjoy.

2   28 oz. cans of whole tomatoes

1   28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes

3   Jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped (use food service-quality protective gloves, for your own safety!)

5   Chile de Arbol peppers, seeded and chopped (hopefully you didn’t take the gloves off yet!)

5   Bunches of fresh cilantro* (1 bunch chopped finely, the rest chopped coarsely)

*  4 tablespoons of dried, chopped cilantro will work, if the cilantro truck didn’t arrive…

4   Tablespoons of minced garlic

2   Tablespoons  of black pepper

2   Tablespoons of crushed red pepper

2   Tablespoons of olive oil

1   Tablespoon of salt  (don’t leave this out unless you are on a low sodium diet, in which case you shouldn’t be eating salsa anyway.)

Directions:

Assemble your ingredients.  Seed, chop, measure as appropriate.

In a big bowl, crush the tomatoes with your hand; you want big bits and little bits. Wash your hands afterward because the acidity in the tomatoes may affect your delicate skin. Or put your hand in a gallon zip lock baggie and viola, instant tomato crushing protective gear! (my personal favorite technique.)

Add everything else.

Stir with a wooden spoon until everything is mixed well.

Poof.  You’re done.  Dip in some chips and you are good to go.  Not that I would know, but a decent margarita on the rocks (no salt) would probably wash it down real good!

This makes about 5 pints.  I canned four and served 1 pint to the family.  I used a pressure cooker to be safe and after three tries I had all four pints ready for travel up north as gifts.

The weather seems to be getting worse so maybe I’ll stuff some pimento cheese into my remaining jalapeno peppers, bread ’em and deep fry them.  Ahhh, but that’s another post….

Try the salsa and let me know what you think!