Cold Oil French Fries

I read a recipe somewhere and while it caught my eye, I sorta dismissed it.  Then I caught the same, or similar, recipe in several other places and decided to give it a try, cooking french fries in cold oil . . . and it worked well!

One of the things I rarely make is fresh french fries.  I buy the bags of various frozen kinds and either bake or deep fry them.  The main reason is making french fries from scratch is annoying.  Cutting, soaking, drying, frying at one temp to cook the inside and then cranking up the heat and frying a second time to get the crisp exterior . . . see what I mean, a hassle and very annoying.  So I decided to give this cold oil method a try . . . and I, and my family, was pleasantly surprised.

Ingredients:

• 4-5 potatoes of various kinds.  Like Russets or Yukon Golds
• 4, or so, quarts of vegetable oil (or peanut or safflower oil) Do not use olive oil, or any low smoke point oil
• Salt

That's it, that's all it takes.

Procedure:

• Cut the potatoes in sticks, about 1/4 to 3/8 inch cross-section.  You can go as big as a half inch, but any larger and I would worry about cooking time.  Don't worry about peeling them, the skin, especially on Yukon Golds are delicious fried.
• Put the fries into a large dutch oven, or heavy bottom pan (to retain heat)
• Cover by at least an inch in oil, but don't get too close to the top or the oil might boil over once you get it near cooking temp.
• Turn on the burner to med-high and step away -- not far, you have oil on the stove, but don't mess with them.
• After about 5 minutes the potatoes will be in a rolling boil. . . Do Not Touch Them.  If you do, they will start breaking apart, this is the point where they are at their most fragile..
• After about 10-12 minutes they are hard enough to move around.  Be gentle, but stir them around, make sure none are sticking to the bottom of the pot or each other.
• Keep cooking until they are nice and golden brown, my last batch took over 30 total minutes to cook.
• Remove to a drain rack and salt immediately.  They may still be a bit soft, the brief draining time will cause them to firm up further.
• Serve!

Delicious and crispy!  I do like to pull out a couple right when I think they are ready and test, but be careful, the oil is hot and so will the fries right out of the oil.

For some reason I was expecting them to be greasy, but to my surprise they were no greasier than the bagged fries when I deep fry them.  It does take longer than a bagged variety, but not all that much longer.  I also put a thermometer in the oil and make sure it doesn't get too hot (over 390F).  This way the oil doesn't start breaking down and after straining it through a couple of layers of cheesecloth, I can get several uses out of the oil . . . only for frying though.  Not sure how it would work in salad dressing.

Chili Verde II

Found a damn good recipe for Chili Verde and one that is pretty easy!  What I really love is how easy it is, especially compared to the other recipes I've tried.  Seriously easy!  I was roasting tomatillos, jalapenos, and other peppers for the base of the green sauce.  Between the prep work and the cooking time, it was pretty much an entire afternoon.  While I liked the result, I tried a number of different things and was kinda iffy on the whole thing.

In my search I serendipitously came across a jarred Salsa Verde (yes, a jarred salsa) that I really liked. Frontera Tomatillo Salsa, it was developed by Rick Bayless -- and anyone who watches way to much food TV knows he's one of the best chefs cooking Mexican-style food and star of the long running TV series 'Mexico:  One Plate at a Time'.  While the salsa isn't as chunky as I like, its got a great taste.  I was wondering about using this in my Chili Verde when I ran across the recipe from the Dad Cooks Dinner blog.

I am a subscriber of Dad's blog and have gotten lots of useful tips, tricks, and recipes.  This one struck me for two reasons.  The first is it uses a pressure cooker, which cuts down on the cook time dramatically.  The second is that while he includes a great homemade Salsa Verde recipe, he also includes a cheater version using the same Frontera Salsa Verde that I recently discovered, along with some canned diced green chiles.  So both prep time and cook time cut down from an entire afternoon to about about an hour.  The longest item is cutting, trimming, and browning the pork.  I also added some fresh diced peppers and cilantro to up the flavor a bit more.  Once I discovered that my regular grocery store had canned Hatch Green Chilis, I was done!  So here is the recipe, hope you like it:

Ingredients

Salsa:

• Canned Diced Green Chilis, about 24 oz.  I like Hatch Green Chili's.  They come in 4 oz cans here.  I also like Ortega Fire-Roasted Diced Green Chilis, but prefer the Hatch even though they are not roasted
• 4 Jalapeno chilis, medium dice (if you go much smaller they pretty well melt away, and I am after the bit of texture you get as well as the flavor
• 4 Anaheim chilis, medium dice as well
• 1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro (leaves and stem), separated into two piles, half of it chopped (for cooking) and the other half simply roughly chopped for garnishing
• 16 ounce jar tomatillo salsa or salsa verde, like stated earlier, I like Frontera.  I they also won the taste test on America's Test Kitchen.  If you are going to use jarred salsa, make sure it's one you like to eat, there are a few really awful ones out there.  If you want to go the whole, fresh salsa route, click on the link from Dad's above and check it out.

Chili

• 4 pounds pork shoulder, cut into 1 to 1 1/2 inch cubes trim off most of the visible fat and hold onto the bone.  I like adding the bone during cooking,  I have tried cooking the shoulder whole and then shredding it, but not in a pressure cooker. 
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt (for the meat)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, medium dice
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (for the onion)
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon roasted ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon roasted ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 cup chicken stock or water

Now the fun part.

• Mix the salsa ingredients and let sit, remember only use half the cilantro, the chopped cilantro
• If the pork isn't already cut, it's time.  I usually cut and season the meat with salt as I go.  Once I have enough cut to start browning, I get that going as well.  Dad Cook's recipe called for 1 1/2 inch cubes.  I usually go a little smaller, but no larger than 1 1/2 inches.  If you go too small, or a mix of larger and smaller, they might cook uneven.  Remember the meat will shrink during cooking, but if you go much larger than 1 1/2 inch cubes, you may have to cut the meat as you eat.
• Brown one side of the meat in batches small enough to avoid crowding the pan.  This is one of the tricks I saw on Dad Cooks Dinner.  Browning one side give you the brown-bits on the pan you want for flavor, without having to spend tons of time browning all sides.  It takes about 4 minutes a batch and you have less chance overcooking the pork.  Browning all sides takes forever, and while you do get lots of fond (french for 'brown bits'), you also run the chance of over cooking.  Think about it, a 1 inch cube has 6 sides, that's 24 minutes of cooking!  If you only do two sides, you get fond, but you really don't add enough to change the flavor profile you get from one side. The other consideration is trim off the visible fat!  Since we are only browning the meat on one side, that means there is a lot of fat that might not get rendered, so if you don't trim it carefully.
• Remove the meat to a bowl.
• Empty all the fat and return 1 Tbs back to the pot.  If you leave all the rendered pork fat in there, your chili will look and taste greasy!
• Put the diced onion and peppers in the pot and season with 1/2 tsp kosher salt.  Cook until softened.  Using a large wooden spoon or spatula to move them around and also scrape up - deglaze for those who like fancy  terms - those delicious brown bits left over from the meat.  This should take about 5 minutes.
• Clear the center of the pot and put in the spices (garlic, cumin, coriander, and oregano).  Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Do not burn your spices, you will regret it!
• Add a little stock or water and scrape the bottom of the pot one more time, make sure the pot is deglazed, then add the rest of the stock/water and the salsa.
• Return the meat, along with any juices, to the pot and close the pressure cooker and cook for 25 minutes for a stove top cooker or 30 for an electric.  Which sure beats the 2 1/2 to 3 hours in a dutch oven or the 10 hours in a slow-cooker!
• Let the pressure release naturally, and check the seasonings.  You might need a little pepper, but the canned salsa verde is usually salty enough.  Bottom line, if it tastes flat, it needs salt.

Serve with the lime juice, fresh chopped cilantro, and maybe some sour cream.  I have also served this over rice, which worked out perfectly.

Does the version using all fresh ingredients taste better?  You know, for me it's a toss up.  The two taste different, but I can't place one over the other.  So since the two are about at the same level for me, I'll stick with the quicker version for now.

I plan on playing a little with some of the ingredients.  For example I wonder how beer will work instead of the stock, or upping the liquid content and cooking the rice in the chili.  On second thought, 25 minutes in a pressure cooker might be too much for the rice.  Anyone ever try rice in a  pressure cooker?  Well in any event, be sure and have some fun with it.  Thanks again to Mike Vrobel and his Dad Cooks Dinner Blog.

Pasta Salad

I was looking for a side dish that would also serve as a light lunch.  I wanted it cold, mainly because it's hot outside.  I also didn't want anything mayonnaise-based much for the same reasons.  I settled on making a pasta salad.  Nothing earth-shattering, it was just something light and tasty.  I did have a few other requirements.  For example a light dressing, not only not mayo-based but something you don't need a lot of it.  I wanted it to compliment the flavors of the other ingredients, not overrule them.  What I discovered was that you can put pretty much any veggie you like and a wide selection of cold-cuts.  It's more versatile than I thought and it's a great way to deal with a few veggie-draw leftovers.  For example those basil leaves left over from a Caprese salad, or that half a cucumber or onion.  Here's what I did:

I boiled up a pot of the three-color rotini pasta, 12 oz box.  It's not that the green and red one are flavored all that different from the white ones, but the color contrast works nicely.  Cook this slightly past aldente -- and I mean slightly.  If you overcook these, they tend to fall apart.  The reason I go slight past aldente is that since this is a cold dish, aldente pasta tends to become a little harder once cooled down.  My preference more than anything else.  Once cooked and drained, set aside to cool.

While it was cooling, I broke out the chef's knife and started cutting and chopping.  Here's what I had on hand for my first attempt at this sort of salad:

• 1 whole cucumber, peeled (it was an older one and the peel tends to get bitter), small dice
• 1 medium red onion, small dice
• 1 large sweet red bell pepper, small dice
• 1 medium ham steak, also small dice
• 1 head of broccoli, chopped
• 2 carrots cut and sliced into thin matchsticks about an inch or so long
• 1 ball of mozzarella (1/4 inch cube dice).  I prefer fresh over the part-skim drier form.
• 4 green onions, sliced on a bias, about 1/4 inch long
• 4 basil leaves, chiffon-ed. That is rolled up together lengthwise, then thinly sliced with a sharp knife across the width.  You end up ribbons of basil.

Lastly the dressing, you put 3 Tbs of red wine vinegar in a bowl, add about 2 tsp of Dijon mustard and one finely chopped (or minced) garlic clove.  Then whisk as you slowly drizzle in 6 Tbs of good olive oil (extra-virgin is best).  The ratio of 3:1 or 4:1 seems to work well.  If you drop it to 2:1 it tastes more of the vinegar, and anything over 4:1 comes across a little oily texture.  For this type of dressing, I stay away from the county-style Dijon's, they are a bit lumpy and the flavor doesn't seem to distribute that well.

Once you are done adding the oil, whisk for another minute or two, check the seasoning for taste and add salt and pepper.  It's a nice light dressing and you won't need a lot of it.  In fact it all depends on the volume of the other ingredients.  I usually dress with half and see how things look and taste before I add any more.

And that it.  Just put everything in a large bowl and dress to your taste.  Like I said, this was what I had on hand.  The ingredients for this sort of summer salad are pretty versatile.  If my veggie drawer had a different selection, I would have used that.

An added note, I did this salad a second time and added some diced fresh button mushrooms.  The flavor was good, but they were a little woody.  So the next time, I made up the dressing early and twice the usual amount.  Then I marinated the mushrooms for a couple of hours before doing the rest.  That softened them up and they became more part of the whole instead of a slightly discordant note.

Hard-boiled eggs, leftover chicken or turkey, shredded lettuce, celery, and even a little canned tuna might work well in various combinations.  I am also tempted to spice things up a bit with some jalapeno, cilantro, and even red pepper flake, but that will have to wait until I am flying solo.  Not everyone appreciates such spices.

Ranch Fried Chicken

I made something that went over real well with the family, Ranch Fried Chicken.  I'd heard of it before but the recipes always involved a packet of dry ranch seasoning, which to me never tasted very much like Ranch dressing once cooked in anything, like a meatloaf.  Well I caught an episode of America's Test Kitchen or Cook's Country (I have trouble telling those two shows apart) and they did Ranch Fried Chicken without using the packet of whatever.  It was intriguing.  I couldn't use part of the recipe, since cilantro and cayenne don't agree with my spouse, so I changed things a couple of times and hit a recipe that not only did remind me of Ranch, but the family enjoyed it!

Ingredients:

• Finely chopped fresh Dill (5 Tbs, divided 3 and 2)
• Finely chopped fresh Parsley (5 Tbs, divided 3 and 2)
• Finely chopped fresh Rosemary (3 Tbs, divided (2 and 1)
• Finely minced garlic (2 cloves)
• Buttermilk (1 cup)
• White Vinegar (2 tsp)
• Salt (1/2 tsp)
• Black Pepper (1/2 tsp)
• AP Flour (1 cup)
• Cornstarch (1/2 cup)
• Garlic Powder (1 tsp)
• Old Bay Seasoning (2 tsp)
• 6 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs (yes, boneless and skinless, it really does work)

Preparation:

• Dry, salt and pepper your Chicken Thighs
• Mix the Buttermilk, Vinegar, 3 Tbs of Dill and Parsley, 2 Tbs of Rosemary, Salt and Pepper, and minced Garlic in a bowl.  
• Reserve a quarter cup as a dipping sauce.
• In a separate bowl combine the Flour, Cornstarch, Garlic powder and Old Bay Seasoning.
• Soak each Thigh in the Buttermilk mixture to coat.  No need to brine or marinate for long period, that's the benefit of using chicken thighs.
• Dredge in the Flour mixture and set aside.

Cooking:

• Preheat 2-3 inches of Vegetable or Peanut oil to 350F degrees is a vessel wide and deep enough for some frying.  I usually use a cast iron dutch oven.
• Once the oil is hot, gently, and I do mean gently, slid in two pieces of chicken.  Fry for approximately 7-8 minutes.  You do have to keep adjusting the flame to keep the oil about 350. 
• You will see a drop in temperature when the pieces are added, but it should recover quickly.  If it falls too far, you might need to cook one piece at a time.  About the 3.5-4 minute mark turn over the pieces.
• Remove to a paper towel for just a few seconds to get some of the surface oil off.  
• Then transfer to a wire rack over a sheet pan to drain off any more oil.  If the oil remains hot enough, there is usually very little oil drained off.
• Repeat with the other three batches.
• Let the last batch rest while plating, using a little of the reserve buttermilk mixture as a dip.  I have also found Ranch Dressing and even Frank's Red Hot are excellent accompaniments rather than the buttermilk mixture.
• I have made as many as 6 batches (12 thighs) and the first pair of thighs were still plenty hot when I was done.  If you are making more, I recommend placing your wire rack/sheet pan in the oven at 200 degrees.  It will keep it hot without cooking it further and shouldn't start drying out out before you are done.

Some notes:

• Do not let the oil go too high.  Not only can you burn your chicken, but if you let it get over 400F, you shouldn't strain the oil and reuse.  I use two strainers and a double piece of cheesecloth between them to strain my oil and I can set several fries out of each container.  I don't use it for anything other than frying.  You wouldn't want to make a salad dressing out of it.
• The chicken is also good cold and even as leftovers.  I know it sounds like a sin, but I simple put the leftovers in a plastic ziploc bag.  It's never going to be as crispy as freshly fried, so I have given up trying to maintain the crispness.  None of the techniques I have heard of seemed to work overnight anyway.

Sous Vide Cooking

I picked up a Sous Vide Cooker (Anova Precision Cooker) and have been experimenting with it.  So far, so good!  Chicken breasts come out perfectly cooked and incredibly juicy.  I vacuum-packed two of them with some thyme, froze them, and then dropped them in 145F water for two hours.  After letting them cool, I diced them and mixed in some chopped celery, onion, mayo, and some seasonings and had a great tasting and basic chicken salad.  Served with some lettuce and lunch is on.  Going to be doing some more soon!  Pork Tenderloin is up next!  I'm thinking of dicing it and tossing into a sweet-sour sauce -- NOT on of those sickly-sweet red jarred sauces -- I'll let you know how it turned out.

Only downside of sous-vide cooking is the time.  It's not for a quick meal after work.  However, I have found that if you cook it ahead, you can simply dice, brown, and mix it into just about anything else and time is less of a problem.  Just a bit of planning.

Pressure Cooker Soft Chicken Tacos

I've been doing more cooking lately, but haven't been blogging about it.  I will try and get things down on paper . . . so to speak . . . more often.  Recently I did a Root Beer BBQ sauce that came out great and last night I did chicken thighs in the pressure cooker and everyone loved them.

Ingredients:

• Chicken Thighs (about 2lbs):  I used skinless and boneless thighs, but you can use bone-in.  I do recommend removing the skin, it's kinda nasty in the pressure cooker.
• Canned Tomatoes (1 14.5 oz can of crushed or diced)
• Onion (1 chopped)
• Garlic (3 cloves, minced)
• Chicken Stock (1/2 cup)
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Serve with:

• Tortillas (I like soft, taco size)
• Lettuce (about 2 cups shredded)
• Tomatoes (2 fresh, diced)
• Onion (1 diced)
• Shredded Cheese
• Salsa

Steps:

1. Salt and pepper the chicken thighs liberally.
2. Heat some olive oil in your pressure cooker, medium heat
3. Add the chopped onion, saute until softened
4. Add the minced garlic, saute for about 30 seconds
5. Add chicken stock and de-glaze the pan
6. Add the chicken and canned tomatoes
7. Seal the lid and let the pressure rise to it's limit
8. Cook for 10 minutes under pressure and then turn off the heat
9. Let the pressure release naturally.  It will take 10-15 minutes.
10. Once the pressure is gone, remove the lid and take the chicken out with a slotted spoon
11. Shred the chicken between two forks and return to the cooking liquid to stay warm and juicy.
12. Once the rest of the meal is ready, spoon the chicken into a serving dish, it's OK to have some of the cooked onion and tomatoes as well.

Should make enough for 12-15 tacos, depending on how loaded you like them.  Serve with the condiments of your choice.  I like keeping it simple with lettuce, fresh onion and tomato, salsa, cheese, and sour cream.  But whatever you like will work!

Changes
This isn't a very spicy dish because a couple of family members can't handle spice.  There are plenty of alternatives:

• Season the chicken with Chile Powder or Cumin, in addition to salt and pepper
• Use Salsa instead of canned tomatoes for the cooking medium.  You should be able to eliminate the onions and garlic if you use salsa instead.
• Use Beer or Apple Juice instead of Chicken Stock
• I do recommend Chick Thighs over Chicken Breasts, I have had very little luck with breasts in the pressure cooker.  They get surprisingly rubbery and dry.

Blood Sugar and Oatmeal Choco-chip cookies

OK, it's been 2 months since my last post.  My blood sugar reading has been pretty stable, today was 104, 7 day average 102 and 30 day average 101.  I had one low reading, low as in way off the norm, of 90.  I took it twice to make sure I didn't mess anything up.  But I think it was because I had a very busy day, very physically busy, and really ate light, including very few carbs, much lower than normal.

I also had two high reading, 126 and 128 about a week apart.  Both of those readings were after eating out.  I think I need to work on making better choices whenever I eat out, but to be honest, i don't like eating salads in most places.  I don't mind a side-salad instead of fries or potatoes, but most of the larger, meal-sized, salads are nearly as bad as most of the rest of the menu.

To help deal with that, I've downloaded a bunch of restaurant menu nutritional information PDF's to my phone and PC. This way I can plan what's better on their menu than take guesses.  Hopefully that will help.

As for cooking, so far I have been keeping things pretty basic.  Grilling meats as opposed to other preparations, lots of greens and salads, and for snacking I've been making batches of oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies that contain about 10-12 carbs each.  So two cookies for a mid-afternoon snack satisfy a little sweet-tooth and don't do much in elevating my blood sugar.  I evaluated a number of recipes and settles on one with minimal white flour and use walnuts and Spenda Brown Sugar blend instead of straight-up brown sugar.  I've estimated the carb count based on several recipes and the best part . . . the whole family likes them, so I make them in large batches and they usually last most of a week.

Ingredients:

• 1 Stick of Crisco Butter Flavor shortening (16 Tbs)
• 4 Tbs of unsalted butter, melted
• 1 Cup and 2 Tbs of Spenda Brown Sugar Blend
• 3 whole eggs
• 3 tsp vanilla
• 1 Cup Unbleached White flour
• 1 Cup Whole Wheat flour
• 4.5 cups of Old-Fashioned Oatmeal
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 2.25 tsp baking soda

Recipe:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F.
2. I melt the butter while beating the shortening on low.  Once it's melted I add it to the bowl of the mixer to combine.
3. Then I add the brown sugar blend and beat on medium until well blended.
4. Add the eggs and vanilla.  Beat on medium until well combined.  I have tried to beat until light and fluffy, incorporating more air, but I haven't seen it make much of a difference.
5. While the liquid ingredients are beating, I combine the oatmeal, white and wheat flour, salt, and baking soda in a separate bowl and mix well.
6. Once the liquid ingredients are ready, I incorporate the dry with the liquid about a quarter cup at a time, on low.  It comes together as a very dry mixture and I usually have to switch to my dough hook to mix.  
7. Once done, I toss in 1.75 cups of chopped walnuts and 12 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Be careful here, the mixer will be working very hard!  You might need to push the mixture back down to get it well mixed.
8. I prep two cookie sheets with parchment.
9. Using a tablespoon scoop, I scoop up a level tablespoon and place on the cookie sheet about 1.5 inches apart.  I get 25 per sheet.  The cookies don't spread a lot.  If you are after more of a flat cookie, up the butter content.
10. Bake one cookie sheet at a time, 7 minutes, then rotate and cook another 7 minutes.  When I pull one out, I put in the next right away.
11. Once out, I pull the whole parchment sheet off onto a cooling rack so they don't keep cooking on the hot sheet.  
12. After rotating, I prep the next sheet.

I get about 125 cookies.  Once cool, I bag them up in two gallon-sized zip lock bags.  Like I said they last between 5 and six days around my house.  Because of my blood sugar, I limit myself to 6 a day, two about 10 AM, two about 3 PM, and if I get munchie after dinner, two more.  So far. so good!

Changes are needed!

Hey everyone,

No, I haven't been doing much original cooking and that needs to change.  A couple of months ago I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, so I have had to change my diet  . . . at the moment I am 35 lbs lighter and my blood sugar seems to be under control.  But I do feel pretty bored with a lo-carb diet so it's time to start cooking again and try and work on diabetic friendly recipes.

Am I surprised by the diagnosis?  Not overly shocked.  Diabetes does run in the family, including my grandmother and my daughter.  I've also been eating-out way too much and certainly been enjoying baked goods an awful lot.  So with a prescription for MetFormin and a few classes on dealing with Type 2 diabetes, I've been seriously watching what I eat . . . and to tell you the truth, I am bored!  There are hundreds of diabetic cookbooks and many of the recipes I have tried might please my doc, they do little for me . . . well other than in the blood sugar area.  I will be continuing my journey and looking for lo-carb, high taste, and interesting food.

Seriously, this isn't like a diet to lose a few pounds that you cheat on.  Cheating on diabetes is really life-threatening, and you can see the results every time you check your blood sugar. So no one else might end up reading my blog, but I do plan on writing more and more and focusing on my life with diabetes.  Every post will include my latest sugar result in three ways, that day's reading, my 7 day average, and my 30 day average.  For today I was 126, 102, 103.  Yes, I know today was a bit high, and I am pretty sure I can blame yesterday's mistakes with my diet.  I think that's how I realized how bored I was getting with my current diet and one of the reasons to start jazzing things up! 

So here goes a new chapter in my life and in my blog.  Anyone who wants to offer feedback and recipes, please do!  Who knows, I might actually learn something :-)

Chili Verde (2)

I know I haven't been posting, in reality I haven't been doing much original cooking.  It's been a busy year in a number of ways.  However, my office decided to have a carry in over several days so I decided to do a Chili Verde.  Now I have a recipe for one that I like and has been well received in the past, but I couldn't get my favorite Chili Verde ingredient, Tomatillos.  Instead of being in the dumps over it, I decided to do a little experimenting and take a new approach.  In addition it got me posting again here :-)

So the ingredients:

• 10 Anaheim Chiles
• 3-4 lbs of Pork Shoulder
• 2 Onions
• 6 Garlic cloves 
• 2 Tbs cumin seeds
• 1 Tbs white pepper
• 4 cups of Chicken Broth

I know,  a pretty light ingredient list, but I was really figuring this as a good starter and something to build on.  Once I was tasted the end result, I won't be doing much different the next time.

OK, now on to the cooking:

• Roast the chiles on a gas flame, charring the skin.  Place the chiles in a plastic bag or a tightly covered bowl and allow to steam for about 10 minutes.  Once steamed, the skin pretty well peels right off.  So peel and seed the chiles.  Rough chop and set aside.  Note, you can used canned green chiles, but they cannot compare in flavor to roasted fresh chiles!
• While the chiles are steaming, place the cumin seeds in a dry frying pan and roast for a couple pf minutes.  As soon as you can smell them, get them off the heat and out of the pan.  Be quick because they can burn quickly once they become fragrant.  Place in a spice grinder and reduce to a powder. 
• Trim the pork shoulder and cut the meat into 1 in cubes.  Save the bone.  Salt and pepper the meat and then brown in batches using a little olive oil.  I used a large dutch oven.  Save the meat in a bowl to also capture any juices following the browning.
• Rough chop the onions and saute in a little oil in the dutch over.  Scrape the bottom of the pan as the onions soften and release liquid.  This should take about 5 minutes or so.  I am not after browning as much as I am softening. 
• Finely chop the garlic and add to the onion.  
• Then add the cumin and white pepper.  Stir for about 30 seconds until the garlic is fragrant.
• Add in the roasted chiles.
• Add enough chicken broth to deglaze the pan, then add the rest of the broth.
• Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for about an hour.  The meat should be right at the stage of falling apart!
• If it seems fatty, you can scoop the solids out with a spider and run the broth through a gravy separator.  If it seems thin, you can crank up the heat and reduce it a bit.  Your own experience will tell more than I can at this point.  

It worked well.  If it seems thin and maybe more like a soup, it goes well over rice.  I usually thicken the broth a bit through cooking rather than any thickening agents.  I like it plain!  It's not very spicy hot, which is OK once in a while.  I think I might experiment with some mixed green chiles.  But as a simple straight forward recipe., it worked surprisingly well.

Grilled Tri-Tip

Tri-tip is a great cut of beef.  It's not too expensive, and loaded with flavor.  I've fixed it a number of ways, including grilling using the direct heat method (right over the coals).  I've roasted it, braised it, cooked it in a pressure cooker.  Yesterday I grilled using the indirect method and it worked great!

Basic method is simple.  I coated it in a rub and let it sit for several hours in the fridge.  Then indirectly cooked it for about an hour with some hickory wood.  After the hour I hit it with a few things to help keep it moist and wrapped it tightly in aluminum foil and kept it in the grill for 2 hour hours.  It was terrific.

First up the rub, equal parts kosher salt, white pepper, onion powder, paprika, and brown sugar.  I used about 2 Tbs each.  Then rubbed a 2-3 lb tri-tip on all sides and wrapped tight in plastic wrap and relegated it to the fridge. 

About 4 hours before dinner, I put the meat on the counter to warm up nearer to room temp, then I set up the grill.  I use a large kettle grill, charcoal.  I started about a chimney full, about 2.5 scoops with my cut-down gallon milk jug.  I let them get well started and then split the in half to each side of the grill.  I added an aluminum pan inbetween the two piles, added a couple of pieces of hickory chunks that had been soaking in water for about an hour.  I make sure I have two smaller pieces well soaked, smaller because they slip into openings in my grill grate easily.  Then I put on the grate, let it get hot and brush it and coat with some vegetable oil.  Then I position a thermometer probe to read the temp right in the middle of the grill, just below where the food will be placed.  I half close the lower air vents and almost completely close the upper.  I am after 225-240F, no hotter or you will dry out the meat.

I put on the cover and let it get nice and smokey while watching the temp.  At the point the meat is still on the counter.  Once I am sure the grill isn't getting too hot, I put it on the meat, fat side up, right over the aluminum pan and close it quickly.  For the first half hour, I watch the temp very carefully, keeping it no higher than 240 using the upper air vents for control.  It's not a fine-tuned as a good smoker, but I don't smoke meats that often to need one.  As long as you are careful, a kettle grill works fine.

After a half hour I take the the cover off and check out the coals and the wood.  I usually have to add the reserve pieces of wood and maybe a couple of briquettes.  I also brush the surface of the meat with a little apple juice.  I like the slight carmelization you get from the sugar in the juice.  It also helps I try not to add too much charcoal because the fire can get too hot to quickly.  If that happens, I close the bottom air vents further and keep trying to regulate using the upper vents.

A couple of interesting things.  I never turn the meat.  We are cooking using the indirect method, not searing, so turning the meat isn't needed.  Plus if you put the fat layer on the bottom, it will just melt off and not tenderize and flavor the meat.

OK, after the first hour the meat has absorbed all the smoke you need.  So get a large piece of aluminum foil.  I like the heavy duty, wider than normal sheets.  Overlapping smaller sheets tends to leak.  OK, I lay it out between a couple of hot pads, this way I can create depression for the meat.  I pull it off the grill and hit it with a couple of pats of unsalted butter, about a quarter cup of brown sugar, and a quarter cup of apple juice.  Seal it up very tight and put it back on the grill.  The additional ingredients are what help keep it very moist.  In all honesty the first time I did this recipe, I did overcook it a bit, but it was still nice and juicy.

Every half hour I check the coals and keep it going, adding just a few briquettes at a time.  Again, you are looking for low and slow!

After 2 more hours, it would be ready.  Smoked tri-tip as tender and juicy as a good brisket.  Let it rest about 15 minutes and slice it across the grain into 1/4 inch slices. While it's resting, you can take the liquid from the foil packet and reduce it on the stove by about half and it makes a great sauce.  If you don't feel like doing that. get a large bowl, pour in some of the liquid from the foil packet and as you slice the meat, put it in the bowl. 

Chicken and Rice Salad?

I saw a recipe over on Cooking.com for a Chicken and Rice Salad, but after reading it, the ingredient list made it more of a main course -- and everyone liked it, especially keeping the lemon vinaigrette on the side.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of pine nuts (Toasted for 5-8 minutes in a dry frying pan -- make sure you keep them moving, they can go from toasting to burnt in a hurry.)
• Two lemons
• 2 lbs chicken breasts
• 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock
• 6 green onions (sliced into about 1/2 inch pieces on the bias)
• 1 cup of peas (I like using frozen peas and then just blanching them to defrost rather than cook to soft)
• 1 preparation of Basmati Rice, yes, that recipe again. What can i say, I love it!
  
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Regular Olive Oil (to brown the chicken)
• Salt
• Pepper

Recipe:

• First up, get the rice cooking according to the Basmati Rice recipe. It should be ready once the chicken is done and everything else is cut and ready to mix.
• Heat a tablespoon of regular olive oil in a saute pan (one with a lid).
• Salt and pepper the chicken breasts. You can do this with breast tenders or dark meat, but watch the cooking time. The breasts stay nice and juicy, the tenders tend to over cook quickly if you aren't careful.
• Brown the breasts on two sides, about 3 minutes per side.
• Add the stock once the breasts are browned and cover. Simmer for 10 minutes.
• While the chicken in simmering, zest the lemon.
• Blanch the peas. Blanch for 5 minutes in boiling, salted water until they are defrosted. If they are fresh, blanch for only about 2 minutes -- tops. I am not a fan of mushy peas unless I am pureeing them.
  
• Juice two lemons
• Slice the scallions
• Turn the breasts and simmer for another 7 minutes. I look for an internal temp of 165F. Once there I kill the heat and let it rest in the cooking liquid for 5-10 minutes.
• While the chicken is resting, whisk 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil into the lemon juice to make a vinaigrette. Once you have the right consistency, add the zest. Reserve for serving.
• Remove the chicken from the cooking liquid and slice into 1/4 inch slices across the grain of the chicken.
• Put the rice in a large bowl, add the chicken, scallions, peas and pine nuts. Mix well. Serve with a side salad.

The vinaigrette can be used on the salad or the chicken and rice mix, or both. What I found was that some people liked it really light, others preferred more lemon. Using it more like a sauce gave them the option. It really came together quickly, not a bad work night meal.

You might have noticed that I mention toasting the pine nuts in the ingredient list, but never actually toast them while prepping and cooking the dish. That wasn't an oversight. When toasting nuts, I always do them alone and before I do anything else. When you are juggling three pans (rice, chicken, and the peas), slicing the scallions, zesting and juicing the lemons I have found that it's too easy to take your eyes off the nuts for even 30 seconds too long. That's how quickly they can burn, especially in a dry pan and over medium or high heat. So I always get that out of the way.

I did have one serving leftover, so I had it for dinner tonight. I wanted to taste it as a salad, the way the original recipe suggested, and it was good. My only issue was that the chicken was sliced a bit on the large side for a salad, so I did wind up heating it up for dinner. I might try it again for a summer-y salad and halve the amount of chicken as well as cut into small cubes.

One surprising success. My granddaughter has decided that she is my sous chef and even though she made a face after tasting the lemon vinaigrette, she did try it on the dish and enjoyed it! She is nearly the pickiest eater in the house. My wife liked the dish, but avoiding the lemon completely.

Pork Tenderloins (2)

I've had some success with braising pork tenderloins, but I wanted to roast them and I went looking for a way to roast them and still keep them moist. This was a knock-off on a recipe I saw Rachael Ray do a couple of years back but I never tried. I think she did hers with a pork loin roast, but I was looking for something for tenderloins, so I borrowed the approach of high heat and short cooking time. It roasted the outside well and the cook time was so short the inside didn't dry out. I tried this method, which worked very well.

Ingredients:

• 2 pork tenderloins
• 1 tbs Fennel seeds
• 1 tbs rubbed Sage
• 1/2 tbs kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp white pepper

Directions:

• Grind the fennel seeds until a coarse powder
• Add the sage, salt, and white pepper and grind until well mixed
• Trim silver skin from the tenderloins
• Pre-heat oven to 500F and position a rack in the bottom of the oven
• Dry the tenderloins and rub with the spice mixture.
• Sit in a shallow roasting pan and place in the oven
• Cook for 10 minutes, turn over and rotate the pan and cook for another 8-10 minutes
• Aim for 150F-155F, then remove from the oven, place the tenderloins on a cutting board and cover with foil for about 10 minutes. The temp should rise to about 160F-165F.
• Slice in 3/8 inch slices and serve.

I did up some sauteed onions with a couple of cloves of chopped garlic tossed in for the last 30 seconds of cooking. I used a combination of butter and olive oil and browned the onions nicely. I served this on top of the pork and it helped keep the pork slices, more like medallions nice and hot and the buttery sauce from the onions went well with the pork.

The meat was nice and moist, and I did have an afterthought, but I didn't do it (this time). I thought afterward that the brown bits in the bottom of the roaster would make a good pan sauce. Add some stock, water, or white wine and deglaze the pan over a stove top burner. Reduce the liquid down and hit it with a pat of unsalted butter right at the end or maybe add the sauteed onions -- then season to taste and serve over the pork.

It went over quite well, even my graddaughter liked it -- and she is a picky eater. It worked well. I think oiling the surface of the meat and even letting it marinate with the dry rub on it might add to the taste. Well all that is for the next time.

Update: I was re-reading this post and realized that the idea of oiling the tenderloin is a bad idea. Oil + 500F = smoke! Since my objective is moisture, I think I will brine the tenderloins the next time and keep the surface dry. If anyone else has a good idea for roasting tenderloins and keeping them moist and tender, please pass it on. I was able to cut it with a fork, so this method was good, but I am always looking for more.

Caprese Pasta Salad

I love a nice Caprese Salad. Slices of tomato, slices of mozzarella, chiffonaded basil and a nice light balsamic vinaigrette or even just a sprinking of good olive oil. So I was looking for a more summery version, something a little lighter and a bit different.

So I tried to turn a Caprese into a pasta salad and it worked well. I used Rotini pasta because I like the surface area for holding the vinaigrette.

Ingredients:

• 1 lbs of cooked rotini (curly pasta)
  
• 1 lemon
• 6 oz mozzarella
• 8 basil leaves
• 6 plum tomatoes
  
• Extra virgin olive oil
  

Assembly:

• While the rotini is cooking, seed the tomatoes and rough chop them
  
• Dice the mozzarella into small pieces
• Chiffonade the basil (Roll up the leaves as a group and thinly slice into ribbons)
• Zest the lemon into a mixing bowl, then squeeze the juice into the bowl.
• While whisking, slowly add about 1/2 - 2/3 a cup of olive oil into the lemon juice/zest to make your dressing. It's a nice light lemon vinaigrette, and not too much so it's never overdressed.
  
• Drain and cool the pasta. It doesn't have to be cold, just not boiling hot. I don't like to melt the cheese.
• Poor the pasta right over the tomatoes, add the cheese and basil, then stir together while adding about 1/2 of the dressing.
  
• Key step here . . . TASTE it. You might need a little salt, you might need to add more dressing. only you can make that determination, so don't be afraid! One piece of advice, if you are going to keep it overnight, save any dressing you don't add right away.
  
• You can serve immediately, which is how I prefer it. It can keep in the fridge until you are ready to serve.
  

If you are going to keep it overnight, I suggest draining any liquid the next day. The tomatoes may lose a lot of liquid. Then taste and add some more dressing if needed.

Enjoy!

Parker House Cinnamon Rolls

I took Alton Brown's Parker House Roll Recipe and turned it into Cinnamon Rolls and it worked perfectly! My wife smacked me on the back of the head and told me not to make them again -- which tells me they were successful.

Filling:

• 8 oz light brown sugar
• 1 tbs of melted unsalted butter
• 1/8 tsp of kosher salt
• 1 tbs of cinnamon

Topping:

• 3 oz of softened cream cheese
• 5 oz of powdered sugar
• 3 tbs of milk
  

The Rolls:

• OK, so make the dough exactly how you do the Parker House Rolls and do the first rise. During the rise - mix up the filling ingredients.
• Get out a 12x9x3 inch pan and spray with cooking spray.
  
• Remove the dough from the bowl and roll out to a rectangle, about 16 by 10 inches.
• Spread the filling over the dough evenly, leave the bottom half-inch of so uncovered. This will aid in sealing it when you roll it up.
• Starting from the top, roll the dough into a log. Seal the bottom edge with a bit of pressure.
• Cut into 12 equal pieces and place on their side in the pan. Spread out into a 3 x 4 layout, leaving space for rising around and between each rolls.
• Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place for about 45 minutes. They should nearly double in size. They will rise a little more in the oven. Mine ended up rising above the edge of the pan after cooking.
  
• Melt 1 tbs of unsalted butter right at the end of the final rise.
• Just before putting the rolls in the oven, brush with the butter on the top for browning.
  
• Pre-heat the oven at 400F.
• Cook the rolls for about 14 min, turning the pan at the halfway point. You might need more or less time depending on your oven.
  
• While it's cooking, mix the frosting ingredients together. I find adding the sugar slowly to the milk/cream cheese works well.
  
• Let cool for 10 minutes or so then frost and enjoy!
  

Spicy Smoked Ribs

Three simple steps, Brine the ribs, marinate in the spice rub, and cook slow!

Brine ingredients:

• 1/2 cup table salt or 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 4 quarts of water
• 2 racks baby back ribs (about 2 pounds each), or loin back ribs

Brining:

• Dissolve salt and sugar in the 4 quarts cold water in stockpot or large plastic container.
• Submerge ribs in brine and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Don't go much past 2 hours and certainly not overnight. The ribs are too thin and would absorb too much salt.
• While the ribs are brining, mix the spice rub.
  
• Remove ribs from brine and thoroughly pat dry.

Spice rub:

• 1 tablespoon hot, smoked paprika
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder (homemade preferably, Ancho Chile Powder if not)
  
• 1 3/4 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt or 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

If you are looking for a less spicy rub, eliminate the cayenne, switch the paprika from hot to sweet, and double the brown sugar. If it still seems to spicy, use a regular chili powder instead of ancho or homemade.

Marinating:

• When ribs are out of brine and dried, rub each side of racks with 1 tablespoon spice rub; refrigerate racks for at least an hour, or you can wrap tightly in plastic wrap and marinate overnight.
• While the rubs are marinating, soak several pieces of lemon-sized pieces of wood. Soak for about an hour. I prefer hickory or apple wood for ribs.
  

Barbeque the Ribs:

• Open bottom vents on grill about 3/4 of the way. Ignite a decent pile of charcoal. I do use briquettes because lump is hard to find and tends to be expensive. Now I use a cut-down gallon milk jug to scoop up the charcoal. I counted it a few times and a typical scoop is about 25 briquettes. For this recipe I start with two scoops, so about 50 briquettes.
• Depending on the humidity, it should take about 20-30 minutes to get a nice light coat of ash. Push the coals to one side and put two or three pieces of the wood on top.
  
• Position an disposable aluminum pan on the opposite side.
• Put on the grill grate and cover for 5 minutes to heat up the grill grate.
• After 5 minutes, scrape and oil the grate.
• Lay the ribs over the aluminum pan (it's for catching any drippings) and position the top vent, wide open, right over the ribs. An alternative is to use a rack to stand them up. Just make sure they are not directly over the coals.
  
• Stick a probe thermometer down the vent until it's about half between the cover and the ribs. DO NOT TRUST the thermometer in the hood of your grill. They are notoriously unreliable.
• Grill temp should register about 350F. If it goes higher, close the bottom vent some. Once you get it settled, it should slowly drop over the next 90 minutes to 2 hours. Grill temp should be about 225F after 90 min - 2 hours. Don't let it drop much further of you might have to re-start your coals -- which sucks.
  
• Flip the ribs over and reverse the racks so the one nearest the fire is now the one furthest away. Add about 10 more briquettes and another piece of wood.
• Continue to cook for about 90 minutes, turned and switching the ribs about every 30 minutes. Only add more charcoal as needed. The grill temp should be between 225F and 250F. Adjust the lower vents as needed. I have found that if you cannot keep the grill temp down at this point, wrap the ribs tightly in aluminum foil and cook that way. There has already been enough smoke in the ribs, this cooking is more to finish the ribs to the point of being almost fall off the bone.
• How do you tell they are done? First is temp, you should be looking for about 160F in a meaty part of the ribs. Also, when you pick them up with tongs, hold them up from the short edge with the tongs about 1/3 of the way down the rack. The rack should bend about 40 degrees. This is the nearly falling off the bone stage. If you pick it up and the rack collapses, they are a little overdone. I know A lot of people want it to be falling off, but I like a little bite left in them. I want it to come off the bone with a slight tug when I bite into it. If I need a fork to eat it because the bones come right out, then I feel that I just took away half the fun of eating ribs.
• Once done, wrap in aluminum foil, if you haven't already done so, and let rest on a cutting board about 10 - 20 minutes.
• To serve I like to cut into either single bone or double bone portions. I think it depends on my audience.
  

Parker House Rolls

These rolls turned out great on my first try. Yes, they are courtesy of Alton Brown from Good Eats. Some folks have mentioned that maybe i watch too much Food TV, but my counter is that cookbooks are great, but when the show not only explains but shows you how to do it, you can't beat it. What I like about Good Eats is that not only does he give clear directions, but he really seems to do it right in front of you. Well anyway, back to the rolls,

Ingredients

• Nonstick spray
• 8 ounces warm whole milk (100 degrees F)
• 2 1/4 ounces sugar (about 1/3 cup)
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 15 ounces all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 4 ounces unsalted butter, 3 ounces at room temperature, 1 ounce chilled and cut into 16 small cubes
  

Directions

• Spray a half sheet pan with nonstick spray and set aside. An alternative is to use a Sil-Pat mat. I liked the mat and it worked great.
  
• Place the milk, sugar, yeast, flour, egg yolks, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Combine on low speed for 1 minute. Change the paddle attachment to the dough hook and rest the dough for 10 to 15 minutes. I did put the yeast into the milk and sugar and gave it a few minutes to bloom before adding it to the mixer. I was worried about the yeast and the salt. I know, I know, probably nothing to worry about, but everything else I have read is to let it bloom before letting it near salt. Anyway, it worked.
  
• Add 2 ounces of the room temperature butter and mix on low speed. Increase the speed to medium and mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and you are able to gently pull the dough into a thin sheet that light will pass through, about 8 minutes.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll and shape with hands to form a large ball. Return dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm, dry place to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• Remove the dough from the bowl and roll into a 16 by 3-inch log. Use a bench knife to cut the dough into 1 3/4-ounce portions, about 16 rolls. Using your loosely cupped hand, roll each portion on the counter until they tighten into small balls. Working 1 at a time, use a rolling pin to roll each small ball into a 3-inch circle or oval. Use the side of your hand or a small dowel to make an indentation across the middle of the circle. Place a small pat of chilled butter into the center of the indentation, then fold in half and gently press to seal the edges. Place the rolls, top-side down, onto the prepared sheet pan, spacing them evenly. Melt the remaining 1 ounce butter and brush the tops of the rolls. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, dry place to rise until doubled in size, 30 to 40 minutes. I did have one problem here. I couldn't put all 16 rolls on one sheet pan. I squeezed in 12 and put the other 4 in the freezer.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Remove the plastic wrap and bake until the rolls reach an internal temperature of 200 degrees F, 8 to 10 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through baking.
• Remove the pan to a cooling rack and cool for 2 to 3 minutes before serving.
  

They came out great. My wife made a suggestion of hitting them with a little more melted butter once they came out of the oven. I'll try that next time.

Alton Brown's Pantry Friendly Tomato Sauce

I caught this recipe on an episode of Good Eats and liked it quite a bit. It's pretty simple, but it had a lot of ingredients, which gave it an interesting flavor.

Ingredients:

• 2 (28-ounce) cans whole, peeled tomatoes
• 1/4 cup sherry vinegar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 stalk celery
• 2 ounces olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup white wine
• Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

Prep and finish:

• In a sieve over a medium non-reactive saucepot, strain the tomatoes of their juice into the sauce pot.
• Add the sherry vinegar, sugar, red pepper flakes, oregano, and basil to the tomato juice.
• Stir and cook over high heat.
• Once bubbles begin to form on the surface, reduce to a simmer.
• Allow liquid to reduce by 1/2 or until liquid has thickened to a loose syrup consistency.
• Squeeze each tomato thoroughly to ensure most seeds are removed.
• Set the tomatoes aside.
• Cut carrot, onion, and celery into uniform sizes and combine with olive oil and garlic in a non-reactive roasting pan over low heat.
• Sweat the mirepoix until the carrots are tender and the onion becomes translucent, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes and capers to the roasting pan.
• Place roasting pan on the middle rack of the oven and broil for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.
• Tomatoes should start to brown slightly on edges with light caramelization.
• Remove the pan from the broiler.
• Place the pan over 2 burners on the stove.
• Add the white wine to the tomatoes and cook for 2 to 3 more minutes over medium heat.
• Put the tomatoes into a deep pot or bowl and add the reduced tomato liquid to the tomatoes.
• Blend to desired consistency and adjust seasoning.

Enjoy! I think a few substitutions might work.

• Capers aren't something I usually have, so I was thinking mushrooms or maybe black olives or both.
• Sherry vinegar is also something I don't always have, I wonder how balsalmic would work. I love it in a vinagrette in a Caprese Salad, so I might give that a try -- or maybe white wine or apple cider vinegar, I usually always have those.
• The sugar did make it a little sweet for the rest of my crew, so I might trim that by half and maybe add a little chili powder with it. Going to have to experiment with that one.

Warm Potato Salad

I came across a Wolfgang Puck recipe for a warm potato salad and it sounded interesting. However I can't find the recipe. But since I did read it, I tried to re-create it as best I could and the result were delicious. So hat's off to Chef Puck for being the inspiration. If I find the recipe again, I'll compare and see how close I got.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs fingerling or small red skin or white potatoes. I used small whites. Whatever you do -- no baking potatoes.
• Salt
• 1 large clove of garlic, cut in half
• Fresh or dried parsley
• Fresh or dried thyme
• A small white or yellow onion
• 1/2 cup of white wine vinegar
• 1/4 of olive oil
• 1/2 cup of water
• 2 Tbs of sugar
• Fresh ground back pepper

Prep and assembly:

• Cover the potatoes and the garlic clove pieces in water, add a teaspoon or so of Kosher salt.
• Boil until tender. I use the knife test. Of course the smaller the potatoes, the quicker they will cook. Whatever you do, do not overcook or you will have warm potato paste instead of a salad.
• Remove from the water and let sit while prepping the marinade.
• Small dice the onion
• Whisk together the vinegar, water, oil, sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp of thyme, 1/2 tsp of parsley, and the onion.
• Let the marinade sit and slice the potatoes to about 1/4 inch slices. Next time I think I will try an egg slicer.
• Pour the marinade on top of the warm potatoes and let sit for 20-30 minutes. The volume of marinade might not cover them completely, so you might need to stir them gently. An alternative would be to place everything in a Ziploc bag and turn every 10 minutes or so.
• After 30 minutes, heat a little oil in a large saute pan on a medium heat.
• Strain the most of the marinade from the potatoes and toss the into the oil and saute for about a minute. You aren't looking for browning as much as you are to reheat the potatoes quickly. A little browning is OK, but too much and you will burn them because of the sugar in the marinade.

Serves about 6.

I'm not sure how close I came to Chef Puck's original, but it turned out terrific. I would have never thought of the re-heating technique although I do recall Good Eats doing something similar -- only Alton Brown applied the dressing while it was hot and then let it sit in the fridge to cool off.

Anyway, I really liked it. The next time I plan on cutting the onion into thin rings and adding some garlic to the marinade. What I really liked about this recipe is you can make it ahead of time and re-heat right before serving. I do plan on removing the marinade after no more than an hour of soaking because I am after a nice potato flavor, not to heavy on the vinegar. But I figure it can easily sit at room temp for a while, or the fridge until I am ready. I also intend on reheating a little more gently if they have been in the fridge.

I got a new toy -- Pressure Cooker

I haven't done a lot of interesting cooking lately, been pretty busy. But for St. Patrick's I decided I wanted Corned Beef. My problem was that it was on a week night and takes about 3 hours to cook. I did cheat a little and picked up an already corned beef brisket, but I was still facing 3 hours of cooking time. So I broke down and bought a pressure cooker.

I went for a stove-top model rather than an electric one. I liked the idea that you could brown meat and saute other ingredients before popping in the meat and cooking it under pressure. So a nice 8 quart pressure cooker is now in my arsenal. So I did have my corned beef.

It worked well! Not perfectly, but that's more my fault being a first-time pressure cooker user, but it did work pretty well. I ended up with a nice corned beef dinner. Plus the left over corned beef was my breakfast this weekend. Cut up and rendered like bacon and mixed with some eggs and scrambled -- Yum! I didn't do anything special, just followed the package directions on the John Morrel Corned Beef. I have corned my own in the past and plan to do it again soon. Just didn't have the 10-14 days once I made up my mind.

I also did a Pot Roast on Saturday and it went pretty well also. A nice 3.5 lb bottom-round roast.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 lb Pot Roast (Bottom round worked well, plan to try a chuck roast next)
• 2 cloves of garlic (crushed)
  
• 1 medium onion (finely diced)
  
• 2 celery stalks (finely diced)
• 2 medium carrots (finely diced)
• 1 cup of beef broth
• 2 Tbs brown sugar
  1/2 tsp of dry mustard
• 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika
• 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar

Preparation:

• Heat a tablespoon of oil over medium heat in the pressure cooker.
• Brown the meat on all sides and remove.
• Toss in the carrots, celery, and onion and saute until softened.
• Add garlic, mustard, and paprika and bloom (heat until fragrant)
• Add broth, brown sugar, and vinegar and de-glaze the pan (scrape up any brown bits off the bottom). The liquid should come up about halfway up the meat. Add more broth/vinegar if needed.
• Return the meat and any juices.
• Put on the lid and cook at pressure for about 75 minutes.

Finish:

• Once the meat is done, remove from the pot. It should try and fall apart it it's done. If it still feels really firm, continue cooking for 15 more minutes. If you are doing nearer to a 4 lb roast you might have this problem.
• Cover the meat on a cutting board or plate. I usually use a plate to catch any liquids.
• Reduce the liquid in the pot by half. If the vegetables are still chunky, you can use a stick blender and reduce them. Personally I like the rustic chunks.
• Once reduced, add a tablespoon of unsalted butter and serve as an pan sauce. You can mix in some flour and make a pretty good gravy.
• I slice the pot roast into 1/4 inch slices and lay on a serving platter. You must use a very sharp knife or it will just fall to pieces.
  
• I put a little cooking liquid on the serving platter to warm it up before adding the sliced roast and top with a small amount of the reduced liquid.

Like I said it came out pretty well. Next time I'll be adding some root vegetables during the last 30 minutes of cooking. I didn't try it here mainly because I didn't have any potatoes and only had baby carrots left. I was worried about them coming apart in the cooker. So next time I'll be better prepared.

I served it with some potato salad (Roasted Potato Salad) and some corn. Not a bad late evening meal after a great day (Warm, sunny, light breezes -- best last Winter day we've had in a long time.)

Pork Tenderloins

I've tried a number of ways to cook up pork tenderloin and to often for no reason at all, they dry out. I've monitored time and temperature close, but all to often I get a dry, sort of tasteless meat. So I finally hit on a foolproof way -- braising. But not a long braise. I have done this in a crock pot and it works, but that takes 6-8 hours. Recently I had two tenderloins in the fridge and nothing else readily available. But I wanted to cook it in less than 40 minutes. So I decided to try something, and it worked well.

Ingredients:

• 2 Pork Tenderloins
• 3 cups of water (Other liquids can be used, but the first time I did this I used water.
• 3 Tbs Soy Sauce
• 1 Medium Onion
• Salt and Pepper

Prep and Cook:

• Open the tenderloins and rinse, pat dry.
• Trim the silver skin from the tenderloins
• Season well with salt and pepper on each side
• Slice onion in about 1/4 inch thick slices. Break up and salt and pepper them.
• Mix the water and soy sauce.
• Sear in a frying pan with a little oil about 43 minutes per side. You are after a nice brown crust.
• Add the onion and water mixture and cover
  
• Braise for 30 minutes -- this is not a boil, but more a simmer so watch the heat.
• Cook to about 155-160 internal temperature.
• Let rest for 5 minutes.
• While it's resting reserve a 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid and strain the cooked onions from the liquid.
• Put a little cooking liquid on the serving platter. This helps warm the platter and also provides a little juice for the meat.
• Slice against the grain in about 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick slices. Fan on the serving platter.
• Cover with about a 1/4 cup of cooking liquid and the cooked onions.
• Serve and enjoy

The addition of the cooking liquid doesn't do much to keep the meat moist. If it's not moist when you slice it, it's too late. The danger is overcooking. While you are braising, if you cook it to 180 or higher, it's going to be dry. if you find it that high, you do have an alternative. I'll discuss that in a moment.

You can use other liquid. I have done this with Chicken Stock and Apple Juice and like it. I have also use a number of spice mixtures, but found I like to keep it simple and the taste of the pork stands out. I've also used sliced apples instead of the onion, but you won't have anything left to spoon over the meat, the apples tend to break way down. What works well there it to reduce the cooking liquid into a pan sauce while the meat is resting. A little added butter and it's silky and smooth.

If you do find the braise heated the meat to 180 or over, you can save it, but it's not going to be quick. Take the pan and put it in a 225-250 degree oven. Let it continue to braise for about 90 minutes. The temperature of the meat actually goes above 200 and the meat shreds nice. It is a little dry, but it will taste well. Because this time while the meat is resting in a little of the braising liquid. Take the rest of the liquid and add chili powder (3 Tbs), Worcester Sauce (1 tsp), brown sugar (2 Tbs), garlic (1/2 tsp), powdered mustard (1/4 tsp) and whisk in while the liquid is reducing by about half. Yes, what you are making it a BBQ sauce. Shred the meat and put it back in the sauce. It sounds weird because a picnic shoulder would do this much better. But remember you are trying to save a dry tenderloin and this way works fairly well.