Every Day Is Special: recipes

Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts

June 27 - Summersgiving Day

Posted on June 27, 2020

(Saturday after the summer solstice)

I have to admit that I've never heard of Summersgiving, until this year - and this year is definitely not the best year to start a large-group-eating-together tradition. (Global pandemic!)

Back in 2009, a man named Robert Solomon was thinking about the fact that he loved traditional Thanksgiving foods but only got to eat them once a year.

Then he decided, heck with that! He invited his best friends to celebrate summer AND feast on rich-and-savory Thanksgiving foods!

And that's how Summersgiving was born.

Of course some people might want to celebrate Summersgiving with special summer versions of traditional Thanksgiving foods. For example, I can imagine eating BBQ turkey, cold cranberry-citrus jello salad, and summer mashed potatoes. Who wants to use the oven in the summertime? Instead of pie, maybe homemade pumpkin ice cream!

Also on this date:

Author and activist Helen Keller's birthday

Anniversary of the British invasion of Buenos Aires

Mathematician Augustus DeMorgan's birthday

"Happy Birthday to You” Day

Djibouti's Independence Day

National Sunglasses Day

Anniversary of first solo trip around the world

Birthday of activist Emma Goldman

Global Smurfs Day

(Saturday closest to June 25)

Great American Backyard Campout

(Fourth Saturday in June)

Shrimp Festival in Flanders

(Last weekend in June)

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

June holidays

June birthdays

Historical anniversaries in June

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

July holidays

July birthdays

Historical anniversaries in July

April 24 – National Pigs in a Blanket Day

Posted on April 24, 2016

“Sausage wraps” would be a pretty good name for this dish, because every variation is some sort of hot dog, wiener, cocktail sausage, chipolata, breakfast link, or other sausage wrapped in something and then baked or fried.

In the U.K., the sausage is wrapped in bacon. In the U.S., it's wrapped in dough – often croissant dough or biscuit dough. In some places in Europe and Mexico, it's wrapped in a pancake or puff pastry or even tortillas. In Australia and New Zealand, it's simply wrapped in a slice of sandwich bread!

We think that sausages-wrapped-
in-dough dishes have been eaten at least

since the 1600s.

These days, they seem to be most

popular as party food / appetizers.

I couldn't spot where the name “pigs in a blanket” came from – but I'm thinking it's a British name. First of all, Brits are so darned clever and even funny as they name dishes – like “toad in a hole,” “spotted dick,” “bubble and squeak,” “Cullen skink,” or “singing hinnies”!

Second, pigs in a blanket is a traditional dish for Christmas in Britain, and it is often served alongside “devils on horseback,” which consists of prunes wrapped in bacon.

Pølse i svøb is a Danish version of a long sausage wrapped in bacon, served with dipping sauce.

Salchitaco means sausage taco. They're fried in vegetable oil.

Сосиска в тесте is a Russian version of “sausage in dough.”

Also on this date:

Arbor Day in the U.S.A.

Demography pioneer John Graunt's birthday

First Day of Summer in Iceland

Poetry and the Creative Mind Day

Pay It Forward

Concord Day in Niger

Anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope

Anniversary of the publishing of America's first newspaper

Anniversary of the opening of the Woolworth Building

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

April 16 – National Eggs Benedict Day

Posted on April 16, 2016

A toasted English muffin covered with thin slices of grilled Canadian bacon.

Poached eggs.

A dollop of freshly made Hollandaise sauce.

And maybe a sprinkle of chives.

This is the traditional version of Eggs Benedict, endlessly varied by various professional chefs and non-professional cooks (like my husband).

Some people use toasted bread instead of toasted English muffins...bacon or ham instead of Canadian bacon...cheese sauce (Mornay) instead of Hollandaise sauce...paprika instead of chives.

Some people shirr (bake) the eggs instead of poaching them (cooking them without their shells in hot water)...

Some of the most famous variations have their own names, and they largely vary the meat:

Eggs Hemingway feature salmon;

Huevos Benedictos sub in sliced avocado and chorizo, and add salsa on top of the Hollandaise;

Dutch Benedict has scrapple,

Irish Benedict features corned beef.

Hollandaise sauce is made with egg yolk and liquid butter, and it is generally seasoned with lemon juice, salt, and pepper. But not all Hollandaise sauces are identical. Some people add acid to the egg yolks with either lemon juice before slowly adding melted butter. Other people add whiskey, sherry, vinegar, or a reduction of vinegar and water rather than lemon juice.

Why “Benedict”?

Two different Benedicts are claimed to be involved with the invention of this dish; food historians aren't sure which claim is true (and first!). Suffice to say that the dish apparently got its start in New York City in the late 1800s or early 1900s.

Try inventing your own version of eggs – with your own name applied to the recipe. “Eggs Cathy” would probably be soft scrambled eggs with chopped green onion, cream cheese, and crumbled bacon in the eggs. Yummmm!