Butter and Whiskey

Oyster and bacon omelette

Made this up today for hungry hungry hubbie:

Four slices of bacon

5 large oysters, shucked

half a red onion, chopped fine

salt and pepper

4 eggs, beaten with

1 tblsp heavy cream - although, since I didn't have heavy cream, I used all I had, which was ricotta cheese and it was heavenly

1 tblsp butter

Crisp bacon in a skillet until fat is rendered, remove to paper towels. Drain all but one tablespoon of bacon fat (Molly Malone was a lucky Scottie and got the rest this morning) from the skillet. Add shucked oysters and red onion, plus salt and pepper.

Cook on medium heat until onions are translucent and oysters are cooked.

In the meantime, beat the eggs with cream (or in my case, ricotta cheese) for a good while, until eggs have little air bubbles floating on the top.

Remove oysters and onions from skillet. Chop up the cooked bacon and mix the oysters, onion, and bacon together on a plate. 

In a separate frying pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add beaten eggs and be PATIENT while the bottom sets. Carefully add the oyster and bacon mixture, then fold one side over. Once set, flip over once until eggs are set on the inside.

Serve with a little Tabasco sauce and see a happy hubbie. And puppy.

Slow cooker beef stew

Had to use up some stuff before it went bad, made an awesome slow cooker beef stew:

1 lb. stew beef

1/2 C flour

1 T paprika

2 T salt

extra virgin olive oil

four carrots, cut into chunks

two large brown onions, cut into eighths

1 can tomato paste

1/2 C red wine

2 T soy sauce

2 T red wine vinegar

salt and pepper

1 t sugar

1 bag frozen peas

Toss the beef with the flour, paprika, and salt, then brown in olive oil on all sides in a large skillet. You may have to work in batches so you don't crowd the pan. Make sure to get each piece nice and brown on all sides.

Remove beef to slow cooker and top with carrots and onions. 

Combine last five ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk til smooth. Add a little to the skillet to de-glaze all the brown bits. Use a wooden spoon to really scrape up all that flavor. Add to the slow cooker along with remaining tomato sauce.

Mix it all up, add a little more salt and pepper, and cook on low for eight hours or high for four and a half hours. Add the peas for the last fifteen minutes of cookin'.

Serve all alone, over rice, over mashed potatoes, over some nice wide pasta. Makes a ton, so set some aside for freezing.