Today was a thoroughly decadent food day, and I'm sure it stopped the nice weight-losing trend I'd been on. . I began with brunch with Christian and Jacob at Esperanza's down the street from my house. I had a chalupa--not bad at all. I can eat the beans, meat, lettuce and tomato, scraped off the shell, and it's a a nice small meal. But then I thought about sopapillas. Yes, they had them on the menu. Envisioning the small, square "sofa pillows" you get in New Mexico, cut off a corner, and pour honey in, I asked how many in an order. One. So we ordered three. They are huge, puffy, sweet delights covering a salad plate, with thousands of calories. Puffed, fried bread, smothered in cinnamon, sugar and honey and sided by whipped cream. There went my sensible eating. I did not, however, eat all of it--maybe two-thirds. Jacob loved it but didn't like the whipped cream. Good thinking--it came from a spray can. Then there was supper.
Cleo Coyle, author of the Coffeehouse Mystery Series, recently posted a recipe on my favorite blog, Mystery Lovers' Kitchen, for BBQ ham sandwiches. Cleo wrote that they are a Pittsburgh favorite, either plain or with dill or sweet pickle relish. I was a bit taken back by the idea of ham and a sauce of ketchup and barbecue sauce--at least 4/1. But I was also intrigued, so I tried it tonight. My neighbors, Jay and Susan, know I like to have company on Sunday nights, and they are willing volunteers for my experiments. So easy.
Get the butcher to give you shaved ham--Cleo's directions tell you what to sasy to the butcher--at Central Market, he already knew what I was talking about. Mix the ketchup and bbq sauce, coat meat thoroughly, breaking it up into small fragmeents; heat and serve on toasted buns. Delicious. See the recipe on Mystery Lovers' Kitchen http://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com/search/label/barbecue%20ham%20sandwich. Susan and Jay raved over the sandwiches and then got into long banter about when they were growing up in Pittsburgh (which neither of them did, though turns out each has family ties to that city).
The only other thing we had for supper was an overnight salad that I'd had at a neighbor's and loved. Again, so easy. Thanks to Amy Brown for this one:
3 T. fresh lemon juice
9 T. olive oil
6 green onions, chopped
1 tsp. seasoned salt (I used plain)
4-6 cloves garlic, minced (I mashed four in the garlic press and the taste was plenty strong)
2 avoados, peeled and cut in chunks
1 head romaine lettuce
3/4 c. freshly grated Parmesan
IN a 9x13" glass pan, combine lemon juice, oil, onion, salt and garlic. Add avocado chunks and coat well. Tear romaine and place on top of mixture. Cover with cheese. (Do NOT stir.)
Seal tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 8 hours. Toss just before serving. Wonderful!
OH, we had appetizers--pimiento cheese, Cheez-its, and macadamia nuts which Jay, just back from Hawaii, brought home. For dessert--decadent wonderful cookies from Hawaii with macadamia, coconut, chocolate, and Kona coffee. Living high on the hog (sorry about the pun).
Judy, my mother used to make these sandwiches. She would fill hot dog buns with the BBQ mixture wrap them in tin foil and freeze them, then take them out of the freezer and warm them in the oven whenever we wanted to have them. This was in Youngstown, Ohio, just an hour from Pittsburgh. Thanks for the memories. The salad sounds wonderful..
ReplyDeleteJackie, glad this gave you good memories. Freezing them is a good idea and answers my question about whethr or not the meat would freeze. I may try it. Did you eat with pickle or relish or just plain?
DeleteWant to byte this :) Very Yummy
ReplyDelete