Last night we had a spectacular fire in our backyard thanks to my mancrow’s (MC) efforts of “getting all hippy and shit” by cleaning up our backyard and building an a-class fire-pit. All in all this lady had a great Saturday with holly-crow that was kicked off with a trip to Roslindale, the highlight of which was the discovery of a butcher shop right up the street! We each picked up some sausage, hand made by Tony himself! Most were cooked over the fire at the Archdale Estate that evening, but two hot links were stashed away for use during the week. I was planning on saving them for a nice meaty pasta dish later in the week, but after hearing my MC’s caws for help this morning, I knew I needed to sacrifice those plans for the sake of Sunday productivity.

This is a great breakfast recipe because breakfast for two can all be made in one cast iron- its fun to bring the whole pan to the table and scoop out the tasty morsels. For best results, make sure to use lots of fatty goodness of your choosing!

Breakfast for Two
2 eggs
about 1 1/2-2 cups of chopped potato
1 sausage link, out of the casing
1 small onion, diced
salt, pepper, chili powder
butter (or oil)
fresh herbs

Method: Cut the potatoes to small bite sized pieces. Chunks that measure 1-2 cm at the longest point would be best (or perhaps visualize 2-3 chunks per bite!). Melt 1T butter in the cast iron pan. Allow to froth a bit and place the potatoes in the pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, as well as a light pinch of chili powder. Cook the potatoes until they are golden brown all around, and are just barely be fork tender. This will take the longest amount of time, so be patient, and find a temperature that is cooking the potato, but not burning the outside. At this point add the onions, and re-season. Let the onions sweat for a short period of time, and move the potatoes to one side of the pan. Cook the sausage in the other side, breaking it up into delicious morsels. After the sausage is cooked, move it over with the potatoes. Add 1t of butter to the pan, let it sizzle and pick up all of the sausage bits from the bottom of the pan. Crack the two eggs side by side in the open portion of the pan. It should be hot enough that the raw egg doesn’t wander off into the potatoes and sausage, but instead cooks on contact. Cook the eggs to your liking!

To serve: Sprinkle fresh herbs on the potatoes right at the end so that they don’t wilt or cook. The eggs might want some hot sauce, but hopefully the eggs and sausage won’t need anything!

Crab legs, baked potato and some yummy greens. The legs were so full of meat, I was full before I finished the first one. She topped it off with a  glass of crisp white wine and I was in heaven. Thanks Mom!

Billy and I both celebrated our birthdays this month (1st and 9th, respectively) and so much delicious food came out of the two weeks of birthday celebration. For his b-day I made the standard Beer Fondue! On my birthday I was supposed to be cooked a delectable eggplant parm, but silly billy didn’t realise that eggplants are hard to come by this time of year. 3 grocery stores later, he admitted defeat and had to re-think his plans. Below is the delicious result!

Spinach, Feta and Pine Nut Sausage with Smoked Oyster Potato Cakes & Beans

Check out this little friend we found living in one of our greenbeans!

and the happy kitty who ate him

The part the was truely amazing about this years birthday festivities was that I got 3 nights of man-cooking. 1 night of delicious salad, 1 night of bangers & mash billy style, and 1 night of eggplant parm, which came about thanks to Trader Joes ability to have out-of-season produce when even Safeway does not.

Here is proof of the rare sighting of man-in-kitchen-and not getting beer- or orange juice….

A special thanks goes to my sister for getting me some much needed new pans for my birthday!

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