A couple of weeks ago, Jeff came home with two boxes of Stove Top Stuffing. I thought it was kind of strange. Thanksgiving and Christmas were over. Those are the only times we ever have stuffing, and we haven't ever (to my recollection) made stuffing from a box or a bag. He said that they were on sale, so he just did it. OK, fine. I had no idea (and I am sure, neither did he) that this recipe was on the horizon. I had a cheater already in place!
My next challenge was to find oysters, I remembered that we had another call for oysters on this journey. I had looked around for some, and found that only Byerly's carried fresh oysters. I headed out that direction on my shopping trip. Unfortunately, I was feeling particularly poor that day, and my breath caught in my throat when I saw the $15.00 price tag on the small container. I just couldn't bring myself to do it that day. I argued with myself that I had obviously purchased them before with no problem, and it is for a very good cause, but food-snob-me lost out to frugal-me, and I took a stroll down the canned food aisle. Frugal-me was in luck! Canned oysters were on sale: $2.25 a can. I was going to try canned oysters.
The other shortcut I had up my sleeve was a Pillsbury Pie Crust. I had bought a package of it for something else - I can't remember what now, but whatever I purchased it for only required one, and the package comes with two crusts in it. The crust was sitting in my refrigerator, just waiting to be called into duty.
Frugal-me kicked Food-Snob-Me out of the car on the way to Cub, so there was no question that the Gruyere for the canned oysters was going to be regular Swiss Cheese, especially since the grated variety was on sale!
Wednesday night, I just made the stuffing as the box had instructed and set it aside to cool. I briefly considered opening the oysters and adding them then, so I would have one less thing to do on Thursday, but I thought better of it. I wasn't really sure what to do with canned oysters. Were they cooked? I imagine they must be, if they are canned. There was no indication on the label other than the fact that I couldn't find any warning label, saying that it is necessary to cook the product before eating. Then again, people eat raw oysters all the time, right? So, maybe the canned version of raw oysters doesn't need the warning. I decided it didn't really matter, because it would be cooked on the pizza, and the light saute that the recipe called for was inconsequential when using canned oysters. Also, if I waited to add them on Thursday, I could poll the sisters and then make a decision.
For the quiche, I precooked the pie crust. I used some pie weights that I had gotten from my mother for my birthday. They came in a plastic package that I had to rip open to get the pie weights out. When I was done cooking the pie, I realized a new dilemma - how do you store the pie weights now that the package had been obliterated. For the moment, I wrapped them in tinfoil and left them on the counter to cool. I guess I would think about that detail later.
I beat the eggs, added the half-and-half, and grated some nutmeg into it. I put a lid on that bowl and stored it for Thursday. This is one of those steps I always think doesn't take very long, why wouldn't I just do it the day of, but I have found over the years that every little bit helps, and the more I do on Wednesday, the less I forget or mess up on Thursday, when I am trying to catch up with Pam and Jen and trying to get everything to come out in a timely manner.
I also measured out the Swiss, grated the Parmesan into it, and tossed it with flour, and I sauteed the onions in butter and packaged them up in a storage container and stored them in the refrigerator for the night.
For the Turnovers, I chopped the green onions and the jalapeno (generously donated by my mother, who was clearing out her fridge for her winter escape to warmer temperatures). I added those to the stuffing before I sealed it up for the night. I had conveniently forgotten to buy celery when I was at the store, but I felt it wouldn't be missed all that much. At least by me. I am not a huge fan of the weed. I can certainly appreciate its merits in certain applications, but Frugal-Me had decided that the small amount that recipe called for didn't really warrant purchasing a whole package, when the last package we purchased for something similar, simply rotted in my vegetable drawer.
For the Turnovers, I chopped the green onions and the jalapeno (generously donated by my mother, who was clearing out her fridge for her winter escape to warmer temperatures). I added those to the stuffing before I sealed it up for the night. I had conveniently forgotten to buy celery when I was at the store, but I felt it wouldn't be missed all that much. At least by me. I am not a huge fan of the weed. I can certainly appreciate its merits in certain applications, but Frugal-Me had decided that the small amount that recipe called for didn't really warrant purchasing a whole package, when the last package we purchased for something similar, simply rotted in my vegetable drawer.
I had thought that Pam was going to be my only guest. Sometime during the day, my friend Paul had called and said that he would like to come. I asked if he was going to bring "his girls", meaning his wife Leslie, and his two little girls: Chelsea and Allegra. We hadn't met Chelsea yet, so I was hoping they would all come. He said, yes, they were all coming. Fantastic! I was really looking forward to it.
Pam was the first to arrive, so I quickly presented the can of oysters to seek her approval. She shrugged. I opened the can and asked her to try one. She did it. She is a very brave soul. When she cut into it, though, I noted that the way her fork went through the oyster - 1) it was already cooked or some equivalent of cooking and 2) it seemed like it would have the texture of foie gras, which I LOVE. I asked her if it did. She agreed. I asked her what it tasted like. She said that, surprisingly, it wasn't fishy, as we both had expected. I then tried one as well and was very surprised. It wasn't fishy or slimy as I had expected. It was a little like foie gras in texture - creamy and meaty and not at all fishy. I decided the canned oyster was going to be a good thing!
Paul and Leslie arrived with the babies and two home-made pizzas already assembled and ready to bake. It took Paul three trips from the car to bring in the babies, and the pizzas, and all of their gear for the evening. He brought a pepperoni pizza and a barbecued chicken and caramelized onion pizza.
Since his pizzas were already put together, I put him to work rolling out the dough for the calzones, while I assembled the quiche. When I put all of the cheese into the crust, I was surprised at how much there was. The crust was filled almost to the rim with cheese. Since there were only two eggs in this recipe, it was more of a cheese dish with a little egg in it.
Once I had my quiche assembled, I checked in on Paul's progress with the dough. He had perfectly round little circles. I told him that they looked great, but that he was never going to be able to fit all of that stuffing into those three little disks he had made. He contended that we didn't really need to use all of the filling. "What else are we going to do with it?" I asked. I don't think he really had an answer for it, and I certainly wasn't going to save stuffing with oysters in it for leftovers... I rolled one dough out bigger and stretched it out as much as I could over one third of the stuffing mixture. He laughed at me and told me to leave some of the stuffing out. I countered that we were already a third of the way through. Piece of cake to get the rest into the other two dough circles once they were stretched out enough.
We stuffed the other two doughs, and I started slicing the tomatoes for the Cheese and Vegetable Pie, which would have been more aptly named a cheese pie with a little tomato. We put all of the pizzas, turnovers, and quiches into the ovens and concentrated on the drink. I had chosen this drink because I had Tuaca, and where I didn't have Cognac, I did have Brandy and decided it would be an imperceptible difference.
We stuffed the other two doughs, and I started slicing the tomatoes for the Cheese and Vegetable Pie, which would have been more aptly named a cheese pie with a little tomato. We put all of the pizzas, turnovers, and quiches into the ovens and concentrated on the drink. I had chosen this drink because I had Tuaca, and where I didn't have Cognac, I did have Brandy and decided it would be an imperceptible difference.
LAKE COMO
1½ measures cognac
3/4 measure Tuaca
Mix the ingredients well with ice in a large glass, and strain into an Old-Fashioned or small rocks glass. Squeeze a twist of lemon rind over the drink and then drop it into the glass.
I didn't have any lemon, so we skipped that part, and I rather enjoy drinking out of martini glasses - I think it is much more festive than a rocks glass or a low-ball, so I served up two of these (one for me and one for Leslie). Pam was on call and Paul is a non-participator of "drink-of-the-week". It was good. I wouldn't have called it my favorite drink, and I am not sure that I would order it over other options were I in a bar, but it was tasty and slightly sweet, and it made my tummy warm.
As I was taking the quiche out of the oven, I remembered that Leslie has a very strong aversion to eggs. As a matter of fact, Paul has to secretly cook himself eggs when she is not in the house, because she cannot even stand the smell of cooking eggs. Well, that night, either she was extremely polite, or the smell of the eggs were masked by the massive amounts of Swiss cheese, and the other three recipes that were cooking simultaneously.
The oyster turnovers were wonderful! They were a bit spicy from the jalapenos, but not overwhelmingly so. The oysters added a earthy richness to the stuffing, and the onions added a bright contrast to the heaviness of the bread and the oysters.
The quiche was fantastic. A complete show-stealer. Rich, rich Swiss cheese with more Swiss cheese and a little Parmesan bound together by a couple of eggs and enhanced by cream, with a note of acidity from the tomatoes, which almost seemed like an afterthought. Or perhaps, they were there, so we didn't feel AS guilty for eating a pie full of cheese. The onions just lent a hint of extra tang to the creaminess of it all. Fantastic! This is food so comforting that it feels like a huge hug from your big pillowy grandmother that smells like cookies.
Paul's pizzas were fantastic also. The chicken for the barbecued pizza was shredded, and there were onions were sweet and delicious. There were jalapenos on the pizza that in some areas kicked you in the gut, and in others just added a little green flavor to the sweetness of the sauce and onions.
He has this way with crust. It never varies, and it is always perfect. It has the right height, and the right crispiness of the exterior - just a slight crack before giving way to the pillowy interior. He would make regular pizzerias weep if they compared his pizza to theirs.
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