Monday, August 30, 2010

Recipe 4: Cheesy Herbed Pop-overs

The entire house smells like baked cheese...of course, after this latest adventure...it better be good. So, this recipe calls for whole milk, which I never drink, and heavy cream I rarely use as well. It also calls for medium cheddar and parmesan-reggiano cheeses. Yummy, mixed with fresh herbs. Extra yum. Its making me want to put yummy in a category listing. Alas, the tale of finding cheese. I begin at an amish discount store my brother told me about. Duh, the amish don't import. And they didn't have any of the other cheeses I needed for the week. I thought I found a pint of whole milk in a glass jar there. It would be pricey, but worth it. There is a $2.00 deposit on the jar itself. When I got to the counter, I found out it was cream. I only need 3 tablespoons of cream for this, I'm not buying a whole darned pint. I purchase some farm fresh eggs....four of which just went into the popovers, and I go on my way. I go to meijer where I can get most of the stuff I need. They do not have medium cheddar cheese in the deli area. I check the back, and after nearly giving up, I do find it. I also found the fontina there, and of course the mozzerela. Now I cannot find any Parmigiano-Reggiano. Why? Because its made in a special region in italy. It's $16.99 a pound on-line and I'd rather buy local. Plus, there's shipping cost and time to wait for it to arrive. Finally, I decide to check road-side stands for my tomatoes and onions, and end up at the farm market because I know they have some of the things I want.


I get some free annuals, so I come home with onion, tomato and sweet potato plants and a fuschia. Now i need dirt, but that is a gardening blog. I go back into mount pleasant, and make my way to Ric's as they have had some tough to find cheeses and specialty items in the past. After looking, I find the only mentioned substitute in Grand Parma, but its really expensive. And then I see it, and I hear the angels singing...Parmigiano-Reggiano. $21.99 a pound. Lucky for me they are sold in half pound wedges as I only have $10.00 on me. I also notice Pancheta and praise whatever gods are smiling down on me today. I almost buy the Pancheta because they are selling it. But I'm not using any this week, so it will wait until I need it.


So, what puts this in my local category, besides buying the imported cheese from a local retailer instead of regional, or online retailer? I walked two blocks over to my boyfriend, James' house and plucked the parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme from his organic herb garden right on his front porch. Then I walked back home, chopped them up, and added them to the batter. Oh, yeah babe. More yum.


I will definitely make this recipe again. It may be a fast favorite, too.


Just bit into the popover...its almost heaven. I'm wishing it was a little warmer, but its a great amount of eggy-milky goodness...yummy. The smell of these babies baking made me want to open the oven and stick my spoon into the muffin cups as they baked. Oh, yummy!


P.S. This is probably not diet food. I better get in a walk and a jog tomorrow!

No comments:

Post a Comment