Mom's Birthday Dinner

The day started with a lovely brunch of smoked salmon eggs benny with the yogurt sauce I posted yesterday (see below). Then I made this Sour Cream Cheesecake. Next time I'd half the topping since it spilled over the pan. It was a simple and delicious recipe. I sliced up some fresh strawberries for the top. We went with the traditional Newfie Jiggs Dinner but instead of salt meat we had corned beef, a preference of mine and mom's since our Jersey days. The beige mashed stuff in the blue glass bowl is pea pudding. Just yellow split peas boiled in the pot in a pudding bag. Any cotton pillowcase will do to in a pinch. Tie it up tight and toss it in the and simmer for a couple of hours until the peas are soft then mash with a bit of butter. OMG, it's sooooo yummy.

You start by boiling the meat and peas pudding in a large pot for a couple of hours until the peas are soft and the meat is tender. Toss in some turnip and carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks. Cook those for about 20 minutes and then toss in the peeled potatoes and chucks of cabbage. I usually pull out the peas pudding at this point. Cook the veggies and meat for another 20 minutes or so until the potatoes are fork tender. That's it.

I use any leftover pea pudding as the base for pea soup. I also freeze the liquid I boiled the meat and veggies in for a base for pea, veggie or beef soup or stew later. It's got great flavour. My favorite is the leftover hash the day after. Mash or dice up the veggies and meat and throw it in a pan with a couple of big spoons of peas pudding. Sometimes I add some diced onion first. Best comfort food ever!

I could have made anything Mom wanted for her birthday but she thoroughly enjoyed this meal!