Taking the Time~~~to cook over the hearth.

 I have not been blogging for a while now. Life in the retirement lane offers so many different things to do. Some that need to be done...like doctors and dentist and others that make retirement enjoyable.

In past post, I  have put on about cooking over an open fire. I think my last post was one that took place in the Fall season where my husband and his childhood friend made chili outside over an open fire.  It brought back their memories of their Boy Scout days.

A few weeks ago, my husband and I decided to try our hand at cooking over an open fire in our fireplace hearth in our dining room. Many a time we loose our electric during a storm. So we wanted to make sure we could russel up a meal by cooking it in the fireplace hearth if we needed to in an emergency.

We made two meals on this day. The first being breakfast.

 

Blaine got up early to start the fire, as it takes a long time to get it to the right heat. Once that was done, he got his cast iron spider pan out and got it set up to cook the bacon first.  This way we could use the bacon grease to cook the eggs next.

                                                                  

As the eggs were cooking we put bread on the cast iron toaster. You have to keep turning it to get the bread to heat up even on both sides.

When the eggs were done, we cut up some apples and put them in and sauteed them.

 

By now the house was smelling so good and we were getting very hungry. It takes longer doing the cooking over the fire. Once the fire is just right, it does not take long after that.

 

 

The finished breakfast meal.  Cooked to perfection.  Well, we now know we can cook a good breakfast over the hearth.!!

We figured that since that  meal turned out well, we would just keep the fire burning the rest of the day and do a late lunch/early supper next.

I was pondering what I had in the refrigerator and freezer that we could try to cook. And came up with Salmon fillets, potato and onion wedges and broccoli with onions and tomatoes. So that was our next meal plan for that afternoon.

We were really becoming creative on this spur of the moment decision. But this would have been the case if we did loose power.

I cut up the potatoes and onions and Blaine put some oil in the pan this time and a few pieces of bacon to give it flavor.  The coals were now nice and hot. And the trick is to learn where to sit the pans or pots in the fire to get the benefit of the right temperature to heat the food.

Next I cut up Brussels sprouts, tomatoes and sliced onions. We put them in the pan when the potatoes were done.

He had to keep an eye on them and kept stirring them so they would not burn.  Don't they look yummy?!

 

 

And  last but not least, the Salmon fillets.

 

 

And this is how every thing looked once cooked and plated.!!

 

This was an experiment and we were so pleased with the way it turned out. And something we will definitely try again.

 

 

After having the fire on since early morning and all day, we let it die down to embers. Not only did it provide a new way to cook, it kept the room nice and warm and cozy on a very cold and chilly winter day.

Hope  you enjoyed our experiment with us. I have to admit everything tasted so good. And we only used the one pan. So not much of a cleanup for two meals. And we were so proud of our accomplishment.!

hugs , Eileen