Tongue in cheek?

This week the Helf family has been traveling ALL OVER Flavor-town, USA. Last weekend we had another fish fry and invited my dad, step-mom, and little sister over to help us polish it off. Dad brought some jalapeno hush puppies and an amazing coleslaw. They made the mayo from scratch, and it had all sorts of yummies in it including red onion and spinach.
Monday also happened to be my mother's birthday, and we visited her beautiful home and enjoyed some fantastic and beautiful cake from Chuck's Cake Shoppe.
Mom got a new apron and a slicer attachment for her Kitchen-Aid among other things.
>Tuesday night was probably our most extreme flavor adventure of the week... Cold Pickled Tongue sandwiches... Sounds TOTALLY disgusting, right? WRONG! It was DELICIOUS! Beni cured the tongue himself for ten days in a special brine, then boiled it Monday night, trimmed it, sliced it up, and refrigerated overnight for us to have the next day. Granted, coming home Monday night and hearing:
"The boys and I already ate the salivary glands, but here, taste this"
was a little disturbing at first, but as soon as I tasted the meat, I was converted. It was like the most flavorful corned beef I've ever had, and more tender than any cut of beef ever. Tuesday night we served it on hoagie rolls with horseradish, cheese and cabbage. On the side is a greens mix from Wynn's Tomato Ranch winter market topped with an avacado and corn salad; the perfect cooling compliment to the spicy horseradish.
Beni was very pleased at how it turned out... And the boys LOVED it!
Last night we FINALLY polished off the last of the Dauphin Island fish in one of Beni's most pleasing creations; Smoked whitefish salad. This fish that he drove all the way to Alabama and caught, cleaned, and brought home made its way from the freezer into a smoker fired by some Arkansas hickory. Beni then chopped the fish and mixed it with celery, onion, dill, and some other magical ingredient and served it on buttered rye bread with provolone, and salt 'n' pepper chips and a pickle. A important key in making this fish salad is to keep it fluffy! This was another meal I would have been ecstatic to be served at any deli.
My last meal for this post is tonight's dinner... Lamb Chops and roasted potatoes with fresh green beans. Oh yeah.
The new potatoes were roasted with carrots and spiced with garlic and oregano...
...and the lamb was seasoned perfectly, grilled, and finished with balsamic vinegar, which gave it the most wonderful lingering taste.

Thanks for reading! Hope everyone has a great weekend. Stay tuned to find out how the latest chunk of meat curing in my fridge turns out... Home-made corned beef! (Regular cow parts this time... no tongue. =)

The beach, borscht, baked duck eggs... And the bathroom sink?

Today's post is going to catch up on a few notable meals over the last couple of days. Enjoy!

Last summer we went to Dauphin Island, AL with my family for a whole week. It was FANTASTIC and so relaxing. Just what everyone needed. We played and swam all day and chased sand crabs all night, and of course with both Beni and my dad in the house, we ATE like royalty.
One of the days, Beni, my dad, and my sister went out on a charter fishing boat, and came back with quite a haul. They caught a ton of whiting and a little ground mullet, and my sister, the master-angler, caught an eel!
Well some of that fish came out of the deep freeze last Thursday night, and Beni beer battered it up Great-Britain-style and we had Fish'n'chips! It was, of course, superb.
The batter was just perfect. It fried up nice and hard with the perfect crisp, and then just melted in your mouth with every bite. We sprinkled it with vinegar and Beni made some tartar sauce. I'm inclined to say it was the best batter ever. I'd like to deep fry some more stuff in it... Snickers maybe?

Friday night was a bubbling borscht celebration of beets, turnips, and beef.

And Sunday morning was my interpretation of 'Bird's Nests'... Yes, MY interpretation. I made breakfast! My first baked eggs ever. Yes, they were delicious, but no, they were not perfect. I have learned my lesson about forgetting to pour some melted butter over the top to keep the whites from forming too thick of a skin.
I took crescent roll dough and pressed it into a muffin tin, then filled with some diced musrooms, tomatoes, and shredded cheese. Then I topped it off with a duck egg in each "nest". We usually pick them up at the Farmer's Market, and we recently heard about the "Winter Market" that I never knew existed. Please check it out if you get the itch for some Farmer's Market wares this winter. It's best to sign up for the mailing list and order ahead:
Wynn's Winter Market
Here's some pics...
Before:

After:

Inside (a little over-done):

I still have some dishes saved up to write about from while I was on hiatus. I should get those up this week for you all to enjoy.
Meanwhile, since this blog is all about "What Beni made", I'd also like to brag on his carpentry skills. He's almost as good at wood working as he is in the kitchen.
Check out my new bathroom counter! (This bathroom has just recently been rescued from 1974).

Red Sauce Saturday

I've had a post before about Beni's baked eggs, but I just have to brag about them again... Saturday he made a red sauce from scratch that was mega-YUM.

It had a magical ingredient in it...

He baked the eggs in the sauce and then put it all on top of a toasted piece of Ciabatta bread, sprinkled with Parmesan and then stuck it in the broiler for a second (we were out of "real" Parm, so used the powder stuff, which doesn't melt, but actually doesn't taste bad toasted.) On mornings where a hearty breakfast or brunch is called for, this is up there with my all-time favorite things that Beni makes.

Snow Day Suprise!

What a beautiful surprise to wake up to and see the soft blanket of white snow everywhere this morning. Especially beautiful since I didn't have anything urgent to do that required me to get out and drive around in it.
I was feeling serenely happy and rested since I got to sleep in until 8:00 this morning, which is a rarity. My darling husband had already been up for an hour and gone to the store and back, and they boys were well into their Mario-cart Grand Prix and just happy as clams.
I came into the kitchen and Beni was intensely mashing and stirring something, and after a quick look around I realized we were having bagles and lox for breakfast, one of my favorite things! He was creating a special spread out of lox, cream-cheese, and capers among other things, I'm sure. Then he sliced some ever-so thin red onion to go on top. Of course I devoured it before I remembered I should take a picture of a prepared bagel, but you can probably get the idea from this...





A beautiful snow day, bagels, lox, coffee, orange juice, and the Sunday paper. I really don't think it gets much better!