These are Maple Bacon Cheddar Biscuits… a little sweet, a little savory, cheesy, bacon-y… which is to say that they are perfect for a breakfast sandwich or as an accompaniment to savory things like soups and chowders too. I like that neither the bacon nor the maple syrup are too overwhelming. The sharp cheddar is just right too.
Starting off another week of the “Ingredient Game”, this week is “Cheese Week” so here is a super quick snack or appetizer. The whole things comes together in just about 20 minutes an can feed a crowd. Honestly, I just made 2 full quesadillas and will save the rest for tomorrow or the next day because 10 tortillas (or 5 quesadillas) really feeds a crowd!
Happy Lunar New Year! It’s called Tsagaan Sar in Mongolia, and I this grandiose plan to make these dumplings called Buuz. Sometimes I can be overly ambitious, but somehow I sort of got these done.
These Buuz (Mongolian Dumplings) are traditionally made of yak or mutton meat. Enter my first dilemma: yak is impossible to find in greater Boston (no kidding, right?) and mutton too — or I had to buy a frozen 4 pound block and then what was I going to do with the rest of the mutton? Lamb would have been the obvious choice, but I don’t eat veal or lamb. Goat meat from the halal butcher right around the corner? I went with bison instead because I know what bison tastes like, I like it, and I could buy a 1/2 pound without having leftovers. Dilemma number 2 is that I actually am not great at making any dumplings, but I was bound-and-determined not to let the year of the dragon get me on the first day, so I managed to make a dozen, even if some of them are a little misshapen.
Final tidbit of trivia? Buuz are evidently served with ketchup. Yup, ketchup. Because ketchup is a delicacy in Mongolia. Or something. Although I guess that I could see if being a hard thing to get in Ulaanbaatar. Again, this seemed a bit strange to me, so I mixed together my usual dumpling dipping sauce. That wasn’t in the steamer basket when I steamed the buuz; I just put it there for presentation.
So, Happy New Year! May you have a prosperous, happy and healthy year.
Switching gears, it’s week two of my little “Ingredient game” to keep us motivated during the blah months and up this week as ingredient two is “Eggs”. Pretty broad topic and I promise not to just make breakfast food. Starting off, I made Bacon Ranch Deviled Eggs for lunch today. Just the right amount of ranch (though I’ve heard people say that you can never have enough) and bacon crumbles. Easy to make. Easy to double the recipe for a crowd or a party. Just plain easy.