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Excellent work and organization! Hope you’re having a happy new year, and thanks!

Taquitos

This is much more of an idea - borne out of the age old question of what to do with leftovers - it’s what I’m making for dinner tonight, so I thought I’d share it.

Ingredients:

Leftover meat - tonight I’m using some sliced up steak, and some pulled pork, but this works great with shredded chicken, turkey, even ham and duck...

Flour tortillas; I use the soft taco size, about 8” diameter.

Cheese: You can use almost any type of melting cheese you might have in the fridge - I love a sharp white cheddar...

Prep:

shred or slice meat you’ll be using and set aside.

Slice cheese - enough for 2 slices per tortilla.

Assembly:

On a tortilla, place a couple slices of cheese and top with about 1/3 cup of meat, arranged in a line, just slightly off center. Roll.

Cooking:

In a large cast iron skillet, begin heating a couple tablespoons of lard (Yes! You must use lard! - it makes all the flavor difference in the world.) over medium heat. When the lard begins to shimmer, begin laying the taquitos into the pan, with the seam side down, leaving space between them for rolling. Depending on how many you’re making, you may have to work in batches. When they begin to brown and puff up slightly, roll them, and continue to cook / roll till all sides are browned and ‘puffy’. If working in batches keep cooked taquitos in a warm oven, uncovered, while browning the rest. Add additional lard as needed while cooking.

Serve with freshly chopped Cilantro, Guacamole, Salsa, and/or Sour Cream.

Brussels Sprouts

This is one recipe that I’ve served to friends and family, who always rave about how much they suddenly love to eat Brussels Sprouts. It’s one of my all time favorites too - they’re actually sort of addictive, if you can believe it...

Split 10 to 12 medium sized Brussels Sprouts lengthwise.

Bring about 3 quarts salted water to a rolling boil.

Place sprouts in boiling water - when boil resumes, reduce heat slightly to a healthy simmer - begin timing for 6 minutes.

Drain and shock Brussels sprouts with cold water to halt the cooking.

In a large skillet, melt 3 tablespoons of butter with 2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil over medium low heat.

When butter begins ‘spitting’, add Brussels sprouts, cut side down into the butter/oil mix.

Cook for about 12-15 minutes until nicely browned on the cut face.

Season with Kosher salt.

Serving suggestion - a little dab of dijon mustard on the plate to dip them in is exquisite!

Beautiful! Do you make it too?

My Favorite weekend breakfast - Toad in the Hole.

This is simply Yorkshire pudding with sausages in it.

Preheat the oven to 450.

Prepare the batter;
starting with 150 grams of All Purpose Flour in a bowl, add a teaspoon of Kosher salt. Make a small well in the center of the flour and add 2 large eggs. Whisk the eggs slowly, allowing them to take up flour from the sides of the bowl (this keeps the batter from having lumps). After about 1/2 of the flour has been incorporated into the eggs, begin whisking in 250 ml of whole milk, 50ml at a time, and continue to incorporate the flour, and thin the batter.

Set aside in the refrigerator.

Prepare your pan. Place 1/4 cup rendered beef fat or lard in an aluminum loaf pan. Place on a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil (to catch drips) on the center rack of the 450 oven. Allow fat to heat for about 7 or 8 minutes. Avoid using non-stick for this due to the high heat.

Add sausages to the fat. The ones I use are typically ‘Bangers’ which is a traditional British sausage that looks and tastes a bit like a bratwurst. 4 fit nicely in a loaf pan and cook for about 6 minutes. If you use the smaller “standard sized” breakfast sausages your pan should be able to hold about 8, and cooking time can be reduced to 5 minutes.

While the sausages are cooking, retrieve the batter from the refrigerator and whisk in 75 ml of cold water.

Pour the batter into the pan over the sausages. Allow to cook for 25 minutes at 450, then reduce heat to 400 and continue to cook for another 30 minutes.

Serve with fresh fruit (because this can get to be a little bit rich!).

Thank you for adding me to your ping list.

Couldn’t have said that better myself - when it comes to food, the French really have elevated it to a fine art!

Yeah! Rillettes! Love them!