Beer'd Warm German Potato Salad

I love potato salad in the summertime.   It's creamy and fresh; the perfect compliment to the typical summer fare.

I wanted to try something different to go with barbecued flank steak, I found a recipe for a German potato salad that was just what I was looking for!  Warm potato salad made with a beer dressing.  That's my kind of thing!  And, it it rocked!

I used Headwall Alt., a German brown ale, by Tuckerman Brewery.  You can use whatever beer you like, but I recommend something lighter in flavor and color.  A strong tasting beer will overpower the other flavors in the salad and a dark beer will give the  potatoes an unappealing color.



Beer'd Warm German Potato Salad 

12  Small to Medium Red Potatoes
6 Slices Cooked Bacon, Crispy
3 Stalks Celery, Minced
3 Hard Boiled Eggs, Chopped
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Dry Mustard
1 Tablespoon Granulated Sugar
1 Cup Lager or Brown Ale
1/2 Teaspoon Tabasco Sauce
Salt And Fresh Ground Pepper, To Taste

Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium high and cook for 15 minutes or just tender.  Remove from heat and drain. Return to pan and cover with cold water.

Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut into quarters.  Place in a large mixing bowl, set aside.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in the flour until blended and smooth. Add the mustard and sugar. Slowly stir in the beer and Tabasco sauce. Increase the heat to medium high and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat as soon as it begins to boil.

Pour the beer dressing over the potatoes and mix gently so as to not smoosh the potatoes. Add the hard-cooked eggs, celery, and bacon. Add salt and pepper, if desisred.  Again, mix gently.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cheddar Scalloped Potatoes

Cheddar Scalloped Potatoes


4-6 Medium Sized Russet Potatoes
1-2 Cloves, Garlic - Peeled And Minced
Salt And Fresh Pepper
A Pinch Of Nutmeg  
1 1/2 Cups, Half And Half 
1/4 Cup Butter - Cut Into Bits
6 Tbsp Flour
8 Ounces Cheddar Cheese, Cut Into Rough Slices

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Lightly butter a 9x12 baking dish and sprinkle minced garlic over the bottom.

Slice the potatoes 1/8" to 1/4" thick.  Place a layer in the baking dish.  I usually peel and slice as I go so I only use the potatoes I need.

















Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a small amount of nutmeg. Top with 1/3 of butter & cheese, sprinkle with 2 Tbsp flour - distribute over surface as evenly as possible.

Continue layering as such.  You will have about 3 layers of potatoes. Drizzle over the half and half - it should barely cover the potatoes.

Place baking dish on a cookie sheet lined with foil to collect any spillage if potatoes boil over.

Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for about 1 1/2 hours, until potatoes are tender. Time will vary depending on thickness of potato slices.  Allow to stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Ham and Green Bean Soup

An excellent recipe for using leftover ham.  This is a classic soup recipe from my youth.  It conjures warm, cozy memories.  As far as I'm concerned this soup must be served with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because that's the way we always ate it.  You don't have to but that makes it super special in my book.

Ham and Green Beans


3-4 Lb Bone-In Ham
1-2 Lb Green Beans, Trimmed
3 - 4 Pounds Small Potatoes
Salt And Pepper


In a large stock pot, cover the ham with water. Boil for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Add extra water to cover as needed.

Cut the potatoes in half or quarters.  I used a combination of new potatoes and Yukon gold.

Remove the ham from the pot.  Add the potatoes and green beans to the broth and cook for 20-30 minutes or until potatoes are tender. 

Cut or shred the meat while the potatoes and beans cook.

Add the meat back to the pot and heat until warmed through. Add salt and pepper to the broth to taste.  

Let simmer until ready to serve.

Ham and Egg Hash

This is a one pan meal . . . good for breakfast, brunch or dinner . . . that uses ingredients I typically have in the fridge at the end of the week.  Quick, easy and satisfying.  

Ham and Egg Hash


3 Tablespoons Butter
8 Small Yukon Gold Potatoes, Cubed
1 Medium Onion, Chopped
1/4 cup Heavy Cream
Salt And Pepper
12 Eggs
2 Teaspoons Hot Pepper Sauce
1 Pound Cooked Ham Steak, Cut Into Small Pieces
1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese


In a large nonstick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add onions and potatoes, season with salt and pepper (or your favorite seasoned salt).  Stir to coat with butter.  Cover pan and cook for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, break eggs into a large bowl add whipping cream and beat well.

Add ham to potatoes and onions and cook until potatoes brown.

Add eggs and mix well.   Add Cheese.

Cook, stirring to scramble eggs, until cooked through.
Serve with a splash of hot sauce.  

Roasted Sausages & Vegetables

In my mind this is is truly comfort food.  Hot, savory and completely satisfying!  I cook the whole thing in a large cast iron skillet.  But you can use a roasting pan if you don't have one.

Roasted Sausages & Vegetables

8 (4″ long) sweet Italian sausages
4-5 medium red potatoes
4 large carrots
1 large onion
1 fennel bulb
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp oil
freshly cracked black pepper
2/3 c. chicken broth
4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Brown the sausages.  Don't cook them all the way through, just brown the outsides.  Cut partially slice the sausages in half once they've cooled.

Quarter or half the potatoes, depending on the size of the potatoes. Peel one large onion, and cut into wedges.

Remove the base and stalks of the fennel, and cut into wedges.  Peel and slice the carrots and cut into chunks.  





Pour the broth into the skillet or roasting pan.  Add all the vegetables.  Season generously with salt and pepper . . . I used Tony Chachere Creole Seasoning.  Toss the vegetables to distribute the seasonings and coat with broth.


Cover the tray with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes the potatoes and vegetables should be fork tender. Place the sausages in with the vegetables and pour the balsamic vinegar all over sausages and vegetables.

Place the tray back in the oven, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes.

After 15 minutes, flip the the sausages and ladle some of the juices lurking at the bottom all over the vegetables and sausages. Put it back in the oven for the remaining time, until everything is nice and brown.

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Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes

Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes

These are different regular mashed potatoes. . . not in a bad way, just different, kind of like scalloped potatoes.  This is a great recipe for a holiday when the stove is being consumed by other things . . . you can set this up on the side and let ‘er rip.  Good, creamy and delish!

5 Lbs Russet Potatoes

1 Cup Water

1 Cup Butter, Cut Into Chunks

1 Tablespoon Salt, Plus

¾ Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

1 1/3 Cups Milk, Warmed

Peel and cut up potatoes into 1-inch cubes.  Place them in crockpot with water and butter then season with salt and pepper.

Cover, and cook on High for 4 hours.

When potatoes are done, mash with a masher or electric beater.   Do not remove the excess water from slow cooker. Add warm milk to potatoes until desired consistency and texture is reached.

Keep warm on low until serving.

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Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

1 Medium Head Garlic

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

2 Pounds Russet Potatoes

4 Tablespoons Butter, Softened

1/2 Cup Milk

Salt And Pepper To Taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Drizzle garlic with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Wrap in aluminum foil. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour.

Peel potatoes and cut into 1 - 2 inch cubes.  Put into a pot of salted water.  Bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and transfer to a mixing bowl or back into pot.

 

Remove the garlic from the oven, and cut in half. Squeeze the softened cloves into the potatoes. 

Stir in butter, milk, salt and pepper.

Blend potatoes with an electric mixer or a hand masher until smooth and creamy.

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Babes in the Woods

Growing up I heard the telling of the tale the story of Joseph and George Cox.  It is well known throughout the Allegheny Mountains as The Lost Children of the Alleghenies. A small memorial is nestled in the dense forest of Spruce Hollow, Pennsylvania; not far from where I once lived and is common lore throughout the area and beyond.










I’ve never forgotten it, though it has been deca. . . er . . . a few years.   It came to me that I should share the tale.  It’s a sad story; but intriguing, nonetheless.

Blue Knob Mountain

On the morning of April 24, 1856, Samuel Cox had returned from an unsuccessful hunting trip to the little log cabin he had built for his wife, Susannah, and two small sons, Joseph, 5, and George, 6 in the dense woods of Spruce Hollow.  As they sat down for breakfast, he heard their dog barking off in the distance.  Thinking the dog a squirrel trapped in a tree he headed out with his gun to get meat for his family.

Samuel returned home about an hour and a half later from a different direction than he had left from.  He was met by his wife who was frantic because she couldn’t find the children and was certain something had happened to them.   It was a foggy morning and she was afraid the boys had followed their father into the woods. 

Samuel Cox immediately began searching for his sons.  He called for them over and over again but no voice was returned to him other than the echo of his own voice.  In desperation, Samuel sought out his neighbors to ask for their help in finding his two little boys.    The word was spread far and wide from mouth to mouth.  People stopped their labors, closed their shops and headed for the mountains . . . soon over 150 people were searching.  It was nearing dark and the search parties had looked through the fields, over the hills and in the ravines near the small cabin in the woods. Stormy weather was threatening. 

Samuel physically and emotionally exhausted begged for his friends and neighbors to continue looking.  They searched all through the night until nearly dawn.  Fires were kept burning all night long in hopes the children would see the light and go to it.  At daybreak they rested a few hours rest and then recommenced the hunt. 

Ten days later they still had found no trace of the children; on foot and horseback, people from as far away as 50 miles had joined in the search and the number of folks volunteering to help was nearly 1000 .

Only to add further anguish of the distraught parents, rumors and supposition that the Samuel and Susannah had murdered their own two little boys; going so far as to tear up the floorboards of their log cabin and ripping up their garden.  Of course, the children were not found there.

Five or six nights after the children were lost a woman who lived near the foot of the mountain said she distinctly heard a child crying in the woods late at night. A thorough search of the area was done but still the children were not found.  It is thought that the children had cried themselves to sleep and the searchers had passed them by in the dark. They were never heard to cry again.

A man came forward claiming to have the powers to using divining rod to find the lostlings.  He came to the home of the lost children with a forked peach-tree limb.  Taking a branch in each hand he held it up at arm's length in front of him and began to move forward in the direction the children had gone.  If he came to a spot where they had turned the stick would move in that direction.  He was certain that he could find the lost children. It was soon evident that he and his peach tree limb were a fraud.  He became lost himself and had it not been for those who were with him, he would have gone missing himself.

An old witch who lived in a nearby county, was known for her magic powers soon arrived at the mountain.  After performing a number of mysterious conjuring tricks, she said that she knew where the children were.  She said couldn’t find the children unless she was given money.  Her demand was met and she led a group of people into the woods.  They followed her for hours enduring the cold and rain.  They trudged over rugged hills, crossed swollen streams and tramped across sodden fields . . . places that had already been searched many times over.  On and on they followed her; all the while the crone assured them that soon they would find the boys.  It became obviously that the woman was hopelessly lost herself and didn’t have a clue as to where the children were.  

It was then, at the height of the rumors of infanticide and failures of the charlatans, that a young farmer named, Jacob Dibert, who lived 13 miles from the children's home began to have nightmares about the lost boys.

  

 In his nightmare, Jacob dreamt he was out searching for the children on his own.  He could not recognize the part of the forest he was in, but he came to a fallen tree.  Near the tree lay a dead deer.  Stepping over the deer, he followed a deer trail and soon found a small boy’s shoe.  Just beyond where he found the shoe there was a beech tree lying across a stream.  

Then, in his dream, he traveled over a ridge and entered a ravine through which flowed a small brook that came out of one of the mountain gorges. Following this brook a short distance he came to a birch-tree, the roots of which formed a semi-circle, and in this little circle, on the very margin of the stream lay the lost children, dead. Just at this point of his dream he awoke.  The vision was so vivid that he wasn’t sure if he had really been dreaming at all.

Jacob told his wife about the dream.  She had grown up in that part of the mountains and said there was a place like that in that area.   Jacob wasn’t superstitions and didn’t believe in omens.  He didn’t have any belief that what happened in dreams could be true.  They said nothing to anyone else.  The next night he dreamed the same dream over again.   He began to think that what he was dreaming might mean something.  He was afraid to tell his neighbors because he thought they would think he was crazy.

He was willing to venture out on his own to test the validity of the dream but he didn’t know the area.   So, they decided to tell Mrs. Dibert’s brother, Harrison Whysong, who was well acquainted with the area in which the boys had disappeared.  His brother-in-law was doubtful.  The place Jacob dreamt about was five or six miles away from the home of the children and he didn’t think that they could have traveled so far on their own. 

However, none of the searchers had looked for the children on the east side of the stream. No one thought that they could have crossed it without being drowned.

Harrison went along for fear that Jacob himself would get lost.  They began their search on May 8, 1856.Going in the direction indicated by Jacob; they soon passed the dead deer just as Jacob had envisioned it.  Further along on a mound of earth they found the little shoe which had been worn by the younger of the two children. They went over the ridge and into the ravine, down which the mountain stream flowed.  The woods opened up and they could see, in the distance, the tree with the broken top at the edge of the stream.  They approached the birch-tree and lying dead from exposure were the emaciated bodies of George and Joseph, just as Jacob had seen them in his dream.

Their bodies were wasted to mere skeletons.  Their little arms and legs had cuts and scratches from traveling through thorns and thickets.   Their clothing and shoes were in tatters.  Finally they had huddled together in the small bit of shelter they could find and eventually died from exposure to the elements and hunger. Physicians thought that they had been dead three or four days before they had been found.

The bodies of the boys were returned to the Cox home.  Church and school bells for miles around rang out the news that the boys had been found.  Joseph and George Cox, The Lost Children of the Alleghenies, were buried in Mount Union Cemetery.

In 1906, the people of Pavia contributed funds to erect a public monument at the spot where they brothers were found.  The monument is still there today- standing as a memorial to the nightmare of the young farmer, Jacob Dibert.

Jacob Dibert and his brother-in-law Harrison Whysong were remembered as heroes. Jacob's dreams became legend.

The epitaph on the headstone in Mount Union Cemetery marking the last resting place of little George and Joseph Cox.

"George S.,

Born March 30th, 1849,

and

Joseph C.,

Born Oct. 29th, 1850.

sons of Samuel and Susannah Cox. Wandered from home April 24, 1856, and were found dead in the woods, May 8th of the same year, by Jacob Dibert and Harrison Wysong."

Allison Kraus' touching song called Jacob's Dream is based on the story. She learned of the story through a relative of the Dibert family who is a fellow singer/songwriter.

Cher’s Cheesy Ham, Kielbasa and Potato Casserole

I try not to let food go to waste, so I often will take whatever scraps of leftover ingredientsp I have and whip up something new.  This is one of those yummy creations.

• 1 Recipe Wondra Cheesy White Sauce (Recipe Follows)
• 2 Pounds Potatoes (About 4 Large Sliced Thin)
• 1 Large Onion Sliced Thin
• ½ Pound Diced Ham
• ½ Pound Kielbasa Sliced Thin
• 8 Oz Mozzarella Cheese

Preparation

Grease a large casserole (3 qt). Spread a third of the potatoes on the bottom. Put half the onion slices, then half the ham, then half the kielbasa. 

Add one third of the sauce. Repeat with another third of the potatoes, the rest of the onion, ham and sausage, and another third of the sauce. 

Top with remaining potatoes and sauce and cheese.

Cover casserole and bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour and 15 mins until potatoes are tender. If desired (and if there's enough liquid in the casserole) uncover for last 15 mins of baking time.

Cheesy White Sauce

 

• 2 C Cold Milk
• 4 Tbsp Gold Medal Wondra Flour
• 4 Tbsp Margarine Or Butter
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1/4 Tsp Pepper
• 1 C Cheddar Cheese

Heat all ingredients  to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. CHEESE SAUCE: Add 1/2 teaspoon dry mustand and stir 1 cup shredded Chedder into hot sauce until melted.

Note:  You can use any roux or white sauce recipe you like.  Also, you can use pre-cooked (boiled, baked, etc.) for the potatoes and cut down the baking time by half.