So Jeremy and I were talking about how Mike needs to take his French Toast recipe and turn it into a Boston Cream Pie French Toast. Jeremy linked to a recipe that looked damn good on this blog. I looked over the site and found a recipe that would work with some stuff I had in my house and made this.
http://cakebatterandbowl.com/creamy-lemon-summer-squash-pasta.html
Though I did make some modifications and I'm posting my recipe here.
1 lbs whole wheat penne pasta
2 large yellow squashes, chopped
2 large zucchinis, chopped
1 package stir fry chicken
1 red onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup chicken stock
Juice and zest of 2 limes
6 oz greek yogurt
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
salt
pepper
olive oil
Cook the penne pasta like you know what you are doing.
Saute the squash and zucchini in olive oil and put aside until later.
In the same pan, saute the onions and in the last minute, add the garlic. Put these aside with the squash.
Cook up the chicken with a little more olive oil until brown.
About this time the pasta should be done. Drain it, and in the pot it was cooked in, add the chicken stock, yogurt, lime and basil. The original recipe said to add the cheese which I did and it just ended up get all clumpy and sticking to the spoon rather then getting creamy. I recommend adding the cheese at the very end to get good coverage. Instead you'll need to get the sauce creamy another way. You could make a roux and add that, or add the squash and zucchini and get some of the starch from them to help cream up the sauce.
Either way, mix the veggies and chicken and pasta all back together. Mix it up real good, and sprinkle on the cup of parmesan while stirring. I idea is to get the parmesean to stick on each piece of food rather then sticking to itself in one, maybe delicious, clump.
I added some more parmesan to my bowl to serve but it wouldn't have been necessary if the parmesan was creamy to start with.
I really enjoyed this pasta dish. I've had dishes similar with the veggies and cheese and creamy bits. But the addition of the lemon juice, or lime juice in my case, and the yogurt is really nice. It helped to bring out the saltiness of it all.
At some point I will get a smoker, but until then the crockpot will have to do for my BBQ fix.
1 lb pork shoulder
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 Tablespoon mustard
1 teaspoon each of the following:
garlic powder
onion powder
paprika
chili powder
black pepper
Bun
BBQ sauce
coleslaw
My crockpot is tiny, so I had to cut down a 3 lb pork shoulder to fit it. If your crockpot can handle it, I recommend increased the proportions.
I mixed up all the seasoning in the crockpot, then tossed the shoulder in. I spun the meat around a couple times to make sure it was covered in juice, then let it sit for about 4 1/2 hours on High. If I would have had more time, I would have tried to let it sit for 10 hours on low. I will likely do that with the rest of the pork shoulder after I finish this stuff up. At the end, I pulled the meat out, took two forks and shredded it all up. If it isn't really easy to shred, then you need to cook it longer.
I like my pulled pork Memphis style with BBQ sauce and coleslaw.
If you make it just right, you'll end up looking like this guy.
I tried my hand at a new dish, and though I made some major changes to the original recipe, it turned out really good. And yes, I know I am a king at plate presentations.
6 chicken drumsticks
1 large onion
2 potatoes
3 carrots
(1 red and 1 green bell pepper, but only if you have room in your pot, which I did not)
1 and 1/2 cups basmati or long grain rice
3 cups water
14 oz can diced or chopped or whatever Tomatoes
3 Tbsp Canola oil (or really any type of cooking oil is fine)
chopped Cilantro
1 jar Patak's Biryani curry paste. (the most difficult but most essential ingredient)
You will want to use the largest pot you have a top for, or cut the portions down. I started by chopping up all the veggies into similar size pieces. I put the oil in the pot and tossed in all the veggies and the chicken drumsticks setting the burner on high. I let these cook for a bit while stirring it down. I also added some salt to help it cook down. After about 10 mins, I added the can of tomatoes, rice, water and the whole jar or Biryani paste. I mixed that up and turned the heat down to medium. I put the top on and and let it do it's thing. I still opened it and stirred it every once and a while, once every 5-10 minutes so the rice on the bottom didn't burn. Once it all got real hot and bubbly, I turned down the heat. Essentially it is like making a jambalaya. It seems pretty wet at first but the rice ends up absorbing it all and it thickens up. This all cooked for about 30-45 more minutes. Now at this point it was probably done, but I had to go do some other stuff. To keep it hot and just to make sure the chicken was cooked all the way through, I turned on the oven, let it heat up, then turned it off and put the pot, with the top on into the oven. I left it here for about an hour and a half. When I took it out it was really hot still. Actually after it sat out for another hour, the rice was still steaming when I dug through it with the spoon. Who'da thunk rice with all it's starch held onto heat all that well. The final step is to add some chopped cilantro to the top.
So I don't really know if the last 2 hours of being in the warm oven did much, but it turned out really good. The rice was nice and sticky, the veggies were all soft, and the chicken was tender and moist. I would probably do things different next time however. I would decrease the portion size, by a lot. I might increase the veggie ratio to get more of that flavor, specifically on the onion. And finally, the chicken, while having perfect texture didn't really have a lot of flavor. I might try grilling it up first, or maybe marinating it in plain yogurt and tandoori paste.
So this is my first meal I made after moving to Portland. It is fairly simple because we didn't have many supplies to use and pretty much all of the utensils were still packed up.
Tzatziki Sauce
Small container of Greek Plain Yogurt
4 garlic cloves, chopped
3-5 inch chunk of cucumber, chopped
Dill weed
olive oil
tsp. vinegar
salt pepper
I would have used a medium/fine grater on the cucumber but couldn't because I didn't have one. So I chopped the cuc up until it was really fine. I then squeezed as much liquid out as I could using a paper towel. Everything else I just mixed up in the yogurt until it tasted good
Salad
Lettuce
Spinach
Green Beans
Caesar dressing
We went to the Farmers Market to pick up some produce. I found a small head of unspecified lettuce, a bunch of spinach, and green beans. There was a bunch of other stuff as well but I'll save that for other Vittles And Mangia posts. I briefly boiled the Green Beans and chopped the rest.
The steak was seasoned by Tarrin using various spices we found in my roommate Michelle's spice rack.
I didn't have any spatulas or tongs and only one fork in the whole house, so that is what I used to flip the steaks and pull the green beans out of the water. While eating, Tarrin and I had to pass the fork back and forth to eat our salads and steaks. Good times.
Ingredients
24 to 30 pearl onions
4 chicken thighs and legs, or 1 (5 to 7-pound) stewing chicken, cut into serving pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons water
6 ounces salt pork, slab bacon, or lardon, cubed
8 ounces button mushrooms, quartered
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 (750-ml) bottles red wine, preferably pinot noir
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 medium onion, quartered
2 stalks celery, quartered
2 medium carrots, quartered
3 cloves garlic, crushed
6 to 8 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cups chicken stock or broth
Directions
Cut off the root end of each pearl onion and make an "x" with your knife in its place. Bring 2 to 3 cups of water to a boil and drop in the onions for 1 minute. Remove the onions from the pot, allow them to cool, and then peel. You should be able to slide the onions right out of their skin. Set aside.
Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the chicken pieces, a few at a time, into a large (1 or 2-gallon) sealable plastic bag along with the flour. Shake to coat all of the pieces of the chicken. Remove the chicken from the bag to a metal rack.
Add the 2 tablespoons of water to a large, 12-inch saute pan over medium heat along with the salt pork. Cover and cook until the water is gone, and then continue to cook until the salt pork cubes are golden brown and crispy, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the salt pork from the pan and set aside.
In the same pan, using the remaining fat, add the pearl onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute until lightly brown, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside. Next, brown the chicken pieces on each side until golden brown, working in batches if necessary to not overcrowd the pan. Transfer the chicken into a 7 to 8-quart enameled cast iron Dutch oven.
Add the mushrooms to the same 12-inch saute pan, adding the 1 tablespoon of butter if needed, and saute until they give up their liquid, approximately 5 minutes. Store the onions, mushrooms and pork in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Pour off any remaining fat and deglaze the pan with approximately 1 cup of the wine. Pour this into the Dutch oven along with the chicken stock, tomato paste, quartered onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Add all of the remaining wine. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Place the chicken in the oven and cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until the chicken is tender. Maintain a very gentle simmer and stir occasionally.
Once the chicken is done, remove it to a heatproof container, cover, and place it in the oven to keep warm. Strain the sauce in a colander and remove the carrots, onion, celery, thyme, garlic, and bay leaf. Return the sauce to the pot, place over medium heat, and reduce by 1/3. Depending on how much liquid you actually began with, this should take 20 to 45 minutes.
Once the sauce has thickened, add the pearl onions, mushrooms, and pork and cook for another 15 minutes or until the heated through. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, remove from the heat, add the chicken and serve. Serve over egg noodles, if desired.
Cook’s Note: If the sauce is not thick enough at the end of reducing, you may add a mixture of equal parts butter and flour kneaded together. Start with 1 tablespoon of each. Whisk this into the sauce for 4 to 5 minutes and repeat, if necessary.
It turned out really nice, I thought. I served it over mashed potatoes rather than egg noodles. The "wine" flavor actually wasn't all that strong at all. Most of the flavor was like a brown gravy but it was more full than just a simple gravy. Really the Beef Marsala I made a little bit ago had a stronger red wine flavor to it. This was just rich and filling, though once I did get full I thought the gravy was a bit much. Probably should have just stopped eating before I got to that point.
Here are some pretty good slow cooked chicken tacos I made last night.
3 chicken breasts
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 chopped jalapeno
1 can chopped Serrano peppers
1 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp brown sugar
corn tortillas
chopped lettuce
chopped onions
chopped cilantro
salsa
refried beans
cheese
I put the chicken into a pot that was just big enough for them each to have their own spot. I poured in the canned tomatoes and peppers and the sugar and cumin. It came most of the way up the side of the chicken breasts. I put a lid on this and heated it on low for 3 hours. I had just enough heat for it so be right on the verge of boiling the whole time. You will know they are done when they fall apart really easily. I pulled them out of the sauce they cooked in, ripped it all up, and then put them in a bowl with whatever was still chunky from the sauce. I then poured some of the sauce onto the chicken just to the point where it coated everything and added a little moisture.
I then heated the corn tortillas on a cast iron skillet for about 10 seconds on each side. After the meat, I topped it with lettuce, onions, cilantro and salsa. There was a side of beans with cheese as you can see in the picture.
My mom made this Beef Marsala tonight, but had me post it.
2 Bottom Round Steaks
1 can Beef broth
1/4 cup red wine
8oz fresh chopped mushrooms
1/2 onion
1 tsp garlic
3 T butter
Brown Gravy Mix package
1 package egg noodles
We had a salad for a side, but it wasn't anything special.
Since the Bottom Rounds are a really tough cut of beef, we braised the steaks in about a 1/2 of a can of the beef broth and the 1/4 cup of red wine, keeping it on a low heat for 1 1/2 hours.
We pulled the meat out and set it aside and using the braising liquid we made the brown gravy.
In another pan we sauteed the onion, garlic, and mushrooms in the butter. Once soft, we put them into the gravy. My mom added the rest of the can of beef broth to spread the gravy out some to feed all of us. She sliced the steaks into strips perpendicular to the grain. After the braising, they were already pretty soft, but just to make sure, the perpendicular cuts helped it to break apart easily.
We cooked up the noodles and served it all up.
The red wine and mushrooms were the main flavoring agents. Without either it would have been pretty off.
Just a quiky here. And it is almost THEME related. I'll call it queso picante.
1 lb (16 oz) Velveeta or similar cheese
1 can Ro-Tel tomato and jalapeno.
Mix together and heat in microwave until is is yummy. I know this isn't gourmet or really authentic, but it is a post.
We tried the whole barbecue thing again, opting this time to "go big, or go home", which I presumed only applied to everyone else, as we were doing it at my house. The idea was three different proteins for three different sauces. Now, I know what you're all saying - I can hear you all screaming in my head when I'm trying to go to sleep at night - "but Jeremy, there's only two meats pictured!"
Shut up.
We did a rack of ribs, but it was so good that the camera refused to take a picture of it unless it got to eat some. Suffice it to say, we like our cameras unstickified 'round these parts, so you'll just have to use your friggin imagination. Or maybe I'll draw a picture later.
Each of The BBQ Gentleman were to blame for one of the meats and sauces. Stew is sleeping with one eye open on a cot in Chino's D-block for his Dr. Pepper Can Chicken with Peach BBQ Sauce. Mike is still at large, and believed to have fled the country again to the heart of the Amazon Rainforest for his Pulled Pork with Spicy Apple BBQ Sauce. (The sauce can be seen here.) As for me? I'm still sitting pretty because there is no evidence, photographic or otherwise, of my Baby Back Ribs with Black Cherry BBQ sauce.
Method was pretty standard - rubbed the pork butt and ribs down with plain yellow mustard, applied a dry rub of brown sugar, garlic salt, onion salt, and black pepper. Threw it all into the smoker at a maintainable temperature of 200-225 f. Spritzed the meat with a "mop" of apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, and vegetable oil every 45 minutes to an hour. Cooked the butt to an internal temp of 180-190 (roughly an hour or so per pound), the ribs to an internal temp of 170-180. Pulled them out, let them rest, hit them with sauce, ate it like it was against federal law.
Stew can let you know more about the chicken, should he get internet privileges back from the warden.
This was a good night. We learned more. We improved some. I have another rack of baby back sitting around my house, and I am going to smoke it up the same way I did before, so you can all see a picture of them. Will that make you happy? No, no I didn't think so. Shame on you.
Ring the bell!
I told Jeremy I would post this sometime last week, so here we go. I whipped up this barbecue sauce for the near disastrous barbecue event on Saturday. I started with the recipe I found at this link:
http://bbq.about.com/od/barbecuesaucerecipes/r/bl50722a.htm
I decided it didn't look like it had enough heat, so I replaced the bell pepper in the recipe with a finely diced whole serrano, veins and seeds removed. The end product had a weird, smoky sort of flavor that some people seemed to like even if I found it a little odd.
Overall I think it turned out alright, confirming my latent, untapped cooking genius. My future career path as a saucier now looks bright indeed.
Yay!
Side Note: It turns out it's hard to take a picture of a liquid inside a highly reflective glass jar? Who knew?
