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.

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.

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.

Southwestern-Style Rub London Broil

Picked up a nice looking London Broil. I was after a flank steak, but the only ones in the meat case were too small, so London Broil it is. Now I really do like Flank Steak, I think it is a more flavorful cut, so I plan to jazz up the London Broil with a take on a Southwestern-style rub.

Now why do I call it 'Southwestern-style'? For one reason I think the cumin and coriander take this part of the way there, but this rub isn't very spicy -- which seems to be the hallmark of most southwest rubs. My wife and one of my daughters don't like things too spicy, so no cayenne, no hot peppers, but still lots of great flavor!

Ingredients:

• 3 tsp Chili Powder
• 2 tsp Hot Smoked Paprika
• 1 1/2 tsp Cumin Seed (freshly ground)
• 1 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 1/2 tsp Crushed Oregano
• 1 tsp Roasted Smoked Coriander
• 1 tsp Onion Powder
• 1 tsp Kosher Salt
• 1 tsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 1 1/2 - 2 lb London Broil
  

Prep and cook:

• Mix all the ingredients except for the London Broil
  
• Trim any excess from the steak
• Rub the Southwestern Rub on all sides
• Place in a Ziploc Bag, squeezing out as much air as possible
• Let it marinate in the fridge for several hours. I usually leave it for 6 hours
• Heat up a grill pan over medium-high heat
• Grill the steak on each side for 7-8 minutes, or as long as 10-12 minutes depending on the thickness of the cut.
  
• Allow the meat the rest for about 10 minutes
• Slice in about 1/4 inch slices making sure to go against the grain of the meat. I usually slice on the bias so each piece has a bit more of the crust of the meat.

I did this the other night and while I think it was a success, my wife and granddaughter did not. It wasn't to unexpected of the granddaughter, she doesn't seem to like any spices. I thought my wife would like it because it wasn't spicy hot, but she thought it was. Oh well, I'm still going to chalk it up to a success because I liked it. My daughter will try the leftovers and I think she'll like it as well.

Chili Powder

Now here is an ingredient I use often. From making a BBQ sauce to chili and even a dry rub for ribs, a good chili powder is a necessity. I have used a number of supermarket varieties they seem OK. McCormick's regular Chili Powder is usually in the spice rack because it tends to me the most available no matter where I am in the country. But in all honesty it rates near the lowest of the OK list. Durkee is there as well. It's not as available as McCormick, but it does the job in a pinch. They really are my chili powders of last resort mainly because they are pretty mild and not a very sharp chili taste. McCormick's Gourmet Collection Ancho Chili Powder is much better as is Spice Islands. However I have found one that's better. Like most things, store bought is OK, but homemade is light years better.

Alton Brown had a Chili episode on Good Eats where he made his own chili powder. Here is his recipe:

Ingredients:

• 3 ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded and sliced
• 3 cascabel chiles, stemmed, seeded and sliced
• 3 dried arbol chiles, stemmed, seeded and sliced
• 2 tablespoons whole cumin seeds
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Prep and cook:

• Place all of the chiles and the cumin into a medium nonstick saute pan or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.
  
• Cook, moving the pan around constantly, until you begin to smell the cumin toasting, approximately 4 to 5 minutes.
  
• Set aside and cool completely.
• Once cool, place the chiles and cumin into the carafe of a blender or spice grinder along with the garlic powder, oregano, and paprika.
  
• Process until a fine powder is formed.
  
• Allow the powder to settle for at least a minute before removing the lid of the carafe.
  
• Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Now maybe being in Ohio is a problem, but I could not get the exact dry chilies. But I found that matters less than I thought it would. Ancho chilies are dried Poblanos and are a pretty mild pepper. Cascabels are a little hotter and Arbol chilies are very spicy. What I found is as long as you mix a mild, medium, and spicy pepper, nearly any combination works well. The last time I did this up I used Anchos, New Mexicos, and Cayennes and the chili powder that resulted made the best pot of chili I have ever made! I had enough to dry rub a brisket before smoking and the taste was amazing!

So like anyone who cooks, recipes are great, but technique is better. I heard a commercial from one of the Iron Chef's, Michael Symon, who said when you learn a recipe, you can cook one dish. When you learn a technique you can cook a hundred. While I might never make a hundred varieties of chili powder, Using a selection of dried chilies, along with a few other spices, and toasting the cumin seeds to bring out the flavor, and then grinding up all the ingredients made a terrific chili powder.

Pass me any other chilies you might try. I think the next time I see dried chipotles, I know what's going in my next batch.

Turkey Schnitzel (breaded turkey cutlets)

I picked up a package of turkey cutlets, very thin slices of turkey breast. They can be pretty versatile and don't have a very strong flavor of their own, so they can match up with most anything.

Now I call it Schnitzel, mainly because a traditional schnitzel is veal or pork, it's breaded and fried. So it's more technique than ingredients. So here is my version.

Ingredients:

• Flour
  
• 1/2 tsp of Hungarian Smoked Paprika
• Three eggs
  
• 2 cups of bread crumbs (I prefer Panko-style)
• 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese (Fresh is preferred over a green container)
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• Olive oil
• 1 package of turkey cutlets, about 8-10 cutlets
• A half-sheet pan with a wire rack
  

Prep:

• Stir the flour, salt, pepper and paprika together in a bowl/dish. You'll be coating the cutlets in this, the first of three dippings
• Beat the three eggs in a second bowl/dish
• Combine the bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese in a third bowl/dish
• Pat dry each cutlet
• Coat in the flour mixture, shaking off any extra
• Coat in the egg wash
• Cover in the bread crumb mixture
• Set on the wire rack
• Repeat for all the cutlets

Cooking

• Preheat the oven to 200F. This is for keeping the cutlets warm once they are cooked. Put an oven-proof plate in the oven.
  
• Heat up 2-3 tbs of olive oil in a saute pan
• Saute two cutlets at a time, about 2 minutes on each side (depends on thickness)
• Once nicely golden-brown and crispy, stash in the oven

They really are nice plain like this. I did them just like that tonight, with a side of the basmati rice and a salad. There are various sauces and gravies you could serve. Since you are cooking multiple sets of the cutlets, the pan oil and residue are not good choices for a pan sauce.

My Favorite Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Courtesy of Alton Brown!

I saw these on his show "Good Eats" and had to try them. I usually use Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Chips. They have a great flavor. I tried the more traditional Nestles Semi-Sweet but found they just didn't have much flavor. I also tried to go high end with Ghiardelli's Bittersweet Chips, recommended for cookies by America's Test Kitchen. While they were very chocolaty, they were also way to bitter for my tastes. I guess I need sweetening up.

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• Optional 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
  

Hardware:

• A scoop or disher. #20 makes large cookies, smaller scoops make small ones. Adjust cooking time based on cookie size.
  
• Parchment paper
• Baking sheets
• Mixer

Prep and cook:

• Heat oven to 375 F. Don't skimp on giving your oven plenty of time. If you cut this short you might ruin the first batch.
  
• Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat.
• Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
• Pour the melted butter in the mixer’s work bowl.
• Add the sugar and brown sugar.
• Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed.
• Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined.
• Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined.
• Stir in the chocolate chips and optional walnuts.
• Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet, if you are using the large scoop. I usually wind up with 12 -16 per half-sheet pan. My wife likes small cookies.
  
• Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. For medium cookies, 11 minutes. For very small cookies, 6 minutes.
  
• Cool and store in an airtight container. Someone told me they would last several days -- but that never seems to happen around here.
  

A couple of tricks:

• I never cook more than one tray at a time. While two trays, rotated and swapped works in theory, I have never gotten even cooking.
• Parchment paper is a godsend. It also makes it easy to get them off the sheet pan quickly. If you leave them on there too long they keep cooking.
• I usually use two half-sheet pans, alternating between batches. I find better cooking on a cool sheet than putting fresh dough on a hot pan.
• Rule of thumb, if the cookies are completely brown in the oven -- they are overdone. Adjust your next batch accordingly.

Basmati Rice

Rice has long been a favorite dish, but the cooking has always been a challenge. Often I get starchy rice that clumps or undercooked rice that was hiding from my tasting spoon when I was checking on doneness. Ida Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, suggested this recipe and so far it's come out perfect every time! Of course it's slightly different than hers, but it really is mostly hers.

Ingredients:

• One cup of Basmati Rice
• One small onion finely diced
• 1 3/4 cups of water
• 1 Tbs of unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 tsp of kosher salt

Cooking:

• Cook the butter and onions over medium heat in a saucepan until translucent, Do not allow them to fry.
• Add the rice and toss until all of the grains are coated with the butter.
• Add the water and salt, cover and cook until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender, it should take about 15 - 20 minutes.
• Kill the heat and let it sit covered for at least 5 minutes, 10 is better. Don't be tempted to open the lid, just leave it alone.

Right now you have a great tasting dish, albeit a little plain. There are times this is exactly what I want. Now The Barefoot Contessa liked to add 1/4 cup of chopped scallions and 2 Tbs of chopped parsley. That is great, but the reality is you can put just about anything you want in here.

My preference is to tie in the flavors used in whatever main dish I am serving. For example with my Orange Marinated Flank Steak, I like using the zest of one orange. If you do something like add orange juice to the cooking liquid, or orange supremes, you will make it too 'orangey', but the zest adds a nice touch and compliments the main course. Rosemary or thyme are also great additions. A little cumin can really change the flavor and goes well with pork dishes. So what I am really saying is don't be afraid to experiment.

For example I once did a braised pork shoulder and the braising liquid was apple juice and sage. I added a small bit of diced apple and some chopped sage to a small amount of rice to check the flavor. The apple browned, which was a turn off, but the sage tasted great. So when I served the dish I had added a few sage leaves chopped fine and just a little bit of apple juice. So take a little rice and test your thoughts out before you assemble the final dish. Trust me, creativity tastes better than you might think!

Orange Flank Steak

I love flank steak! It's a great cut for quick grilling or even slow braising. My Mother cooks a terrific stuffed flank steak. It's one of my go-to meats. You know, you have 30 minutes before having to run out and take the kids to softball practice or marching band and you need to throw something together in a hurry. Here is a favorite recipe that you start marinating before you leave for work and it can be quickly grilled or broiled in 15 minutes after work.

Marinade:

• Zest of one orange
• Juice of one orange
• 1/2 cup of orange juice concentrate
• 1/2 tsp of crushed oregano
• 1/8 cup of a mild vinegar, like rice wine or white wine vinegar
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• Several turns of black pepper

Whisk together all the ingredients and pour over a 1 1/2 lb flank steak in a Ziploc bag, try and remove as much air as possible. A vacuum system, like FoodSaver also works well for marinating. Place it in the fridge and head out for the day. If you are home, turn the bag over a couple of times. Once you get home from work, turn it over while it's still in the fridge, since it might be a while until you prepare it anyway.

Cook:

• Preheat the oven to 275F.
• Remove the flank steak from the marinade and rinse the surface marinade off, especially if you are grilling. The marinade will burn on a high heat. Pat dry.
• Set it in the oven for 15-20 minutes. This is to raise the temperature of the meat from the fridge. I know many folks just let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes or so, but a suggestion from America's Test Kitchen had me try this. After 30 minutes on the counter a flank steak goes from about 40F to 50F, not really enough to help avoid overcooking the outside while the inside is still cold. In the 275F oven the steak quickly goes from 40 to about nearer to room temperature and you get a much better sear.
• While the meat is in the oven, reduce the marinade to about 1/2 it's original volume, simmering over medium heat.
• Preheat a grill pan, preferably one with raised lines for good frill marks. I like a cast iron one for heat retention.
• Remove the steak from the oven and lay it on the hot grill. Cook for about 7 minutes on each side. Check the internal temp and you should be about 130F.
• Remove and let rest for several minutes under some aluminum foil.
• Add a tablespoon of butter to the marinade and whisk in. This gives it a creaminess and helps to thicken it.
• Get the side dishes ready, I usually like some mashed potatoes or basmati rice and a veg.
• Once everything is ready, slice the meat into no more than 1/4 inch slices going against the grain. You should also slice it on the bias to give each piece more of the seared exterior.
• Arrange the slices on a platter and either top with some of the reduced marinade or serve the marinade on the side.
  

Thanksgiving leftovers

So tired of turkey yet? Which is one reason we tend to have a ham at Christmas. But the annual question is what to do with the leftovers form Thanksgiving dinner. This year we had a pretty significant amount of turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing.

Of course the obvious is turkey sandwiches, which is an old standby. Turkey, mayo, salt, and pepper on potato bread is a classic for good reasons! A Hot Turkey Shot (an open-faced sandwich of bread, Mashed Potatoes or Stuffing, with Turkey and then gravy served hot) is another!

After a couple of days the desire for Turkey wanes as you consider options. Now last year I did a turkey hash that wasn't bad, but I need to dig up that recipe again. This year went with a turkey salad that even my granddaughter -- the ultimate of picky eaters -- liked. I did have to hold the onions until I made her sandwich. A little thyme when a long way to give this a distinctive taste.

Ingredients

• Turkey! White or dark meat, it really doesn't matter. I prefer a mix, but for some reason the white meat tends to get eaten on sandwiches first. Cut it up pretty small.
• 1 small onion diced fine.
• 2 celery stalks, also diced fine.
• Several sprigs of fresh thyme, very finely chopped.
• A bunch of cherry or grape tomatoes halved or quartered, or an avocado diced
• Mayo, about a cup. The amount really depends on the amount of turkey.
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

• toss the turkey, onion, celery, grapes/avocado, and thyme in a large bowl. Add a couple of tablespoons of mayo and mix well. Add more mayo until you get it coated. Do this in steps because it's easy to add more, hard to take it out.
• Taste and add salt and pepper if needed

Yes, it's simple, but pretty flexible. I have found that tomatoes along with the avocado tends to bring a bit too much moisture to the party. Other ingredients included in the past are sun-dried tomatoes, julienned carrots, sliced radishes, shredded lettuce, and even slipped in the occasional jalapeno. Some of what goes in depends on what you have handy in the house. I have also made it without the tomatoes or avocado, but I like the butterness of the avocado or the acidity of the tomatoes with the turkey.

While it makes great sandwiches or wraps, you can also serve it on a small salad bed of arugula, which adds a nice bitterness. Or on endive leaves as some finger food.

Weekend cooking plans -- Flat Iron Steak

I think a Flat Iron streak is a great idea for tomorrow. If the weather doesn't let me grill outdoors, I have a nice cast iron stovetop grill -- as long as I don't smoke up the house to bad.

Ingredients

• 2 lb Flat Iron steak. If you haven't tried this cut, you should. It's from the chuck, very flavorful, quick cooking.
• Salt and pepper
• Garlic salt

Preparation

• Pull the steak out of the package, my meat counter has them hermetically sealed.
• Rinse, dry and salt and pepper.
• Let sit for about 30 minutes under plastic. This lets the salt work and raises the temperature of the meat. I hate putting ice cold meat on the grill.
• Heat up the grill, medium-high heat on either the grill or stovetop griddle.
• Hit it with some garlic salt. I know this sounds like a lot of salt, but the first salting does little for flavor and more for the surface texture of the meat.
  
• Cook approximately 6-8 minutes per side to an internal temp of 130F. The exact cooking time is based on the thickness of the steak.
• Rest under foil for 15 - 20 minutes.

Slice in 1/4 inch slices across the grain to serve.

This goes incredible with a loaf of fresh bread, some sauteed onions and corn on the cob, in season. This time of year I think the onions and bread will work, maybe with a salad.

As leftovers, those rare occasions when there are leftovers. Cold thin slices on a salad make a great lunch!

Not sure what I want to do on Sunday. Might need to wander through the meat department and see what strikes my fancy.

Potato Lasagna

I am always looking ways to work on side dishes, especially potatoes and other starches. Here is one I haven't made in a while, but I am thinking of doing it for Thanksgiving. Actually since my wife has another project for Turkeyday morning, I get to do the whole dinner!

Ingredients

• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled ·
• 2 large Idaho baking potatoes, peeled ·
• 2 large red skinned potatoes, skin on ·
• 1/2 cup olive oil, in a bottle, for drizzling. or to taste ·
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped garlic ·
• 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese (preferably yellow) ·
• 1 cup shredded Mozzarella ·
• Salt and black pepper
  

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
   
2. Oil bottom of an 8x10-inch baking dish.
   
3. Using a vegetable slicer or very sharp knife, slice sweet potatoes as thin as possible.
   
4. Slice baking and red skin potatoes as you need them, to prevent browning.
   
5. Cover bottom of dish with a layer of Idaho potato slices, slightly overlapping.
   
6. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with garlic and cheeses and season with salt and pepper.
   
7. Top with sweet potatoes, then red skin potatoes, seasoning and sprinkling each layer.
   
8. Continue layers until all potatoes are used up, reserving enough cheese to fully cover top layer.
   
9. Cover with foil and bake until potatoes are fork tender. Remove and let sit before cutting.

I can't remember where I got this recipe, looks like something from the Food Network for some reason. In any event I plan on building it the night before so I'll let you know how it turns out.

Chicken breast braised in OJ

Wanted something quick for dinner, and I had a pack of chicken breasts in the frig. But the challenge is cooking large breasts and adding anything resembling flavor. So I swiped another technique I saw on America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Country.

• Pat dried three chicken breasts.
• Salt, pepper, thyme, and a little hot Hungarian paprika on each side.
• Heated up a little olive oil in a large frying pan (one with a lid).
• Browned each side of the three breasts for about 3 minutes per side.
• Added 2 cups of OJ and brought up to a simmer.
• Covered.
• Flipped the breasts after about 8 minutes.
• At 16 minutes checked the temp (165)
• Went another 2 minutes and temp at 170.
• Rested 10 minutes under aluminum foil while prepping the side dishes.

Came out moist, tender, with a slight orange tang and a touch of spice from the thyme and paprika. Good stuff!

I did want some carbs on the side, but still haven't picked up an onion to do basmati rice the way I like -- and tired of potatoes. So I tore up several flour tortillas, hit one side with a little olive oil and salt. Put on a cookie sheet until crisp (350F oven). Worked well. A touch of lime would have made it perfect. Maybe next time.

Chili and more Chili

One of my favorite dishes is Chili. Now I make two versions, depending on my audience. I have a mild -- well mild for me -- that most folks seems to like. The other has been nicknames 'Uranus Buster' and 'Chili from Hell'. Here is the recipe I got off of America's Test Kitchen and made a few tweaks. It's my mild recipe and I am planning to make it next weekend to take into the office for no special reason.

Ingredients

• 4 strips of bacon
• 2-3 lb chuck roast -- I like chuck because of the flavor and marbling. It's perfect for low and slow.
• One 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes.
• 1 can Chipotles in Adobo Sauce
• 1 medium Onion
• 4 Jalapenos
• 3 tsp Chili Powder
• 1 1/2 tsp of Cumin
• 1/2 tsp of Dried Oregano
• 4 gloves of garlic
• 4 cups of water
• 1 tbs of dark brown sugar
• Masa flour or corn starch for thickening
  

Prep work

• Cut Chuck Roast into 1 inch pieces. Make sure you remove any hard pieces of fat or very large fat deposits.
• Small dice the onion
• Core and seed the jalapenos, then finely dice.
• Seed the chipotles
• Run the tomatoes and chipotles with the adobo sauce together through the food processor until smooth.
  

OK, time to build your chili

• Cut the bacon into 1 inch pieces
• Crisp the bacon in a dutch oven, rendering all the fat.
• Remove the bacon to a paper-towel lined plate and the fat to a bowl.
• Add back a tablespoon of the fat
• Brown the meat in 2 or three batches, adding more bacon fat as necessary. It's critical for taste to brown. If you overcrowd the pan, the meat will just steam.
• Once the meat is done, set it aside
• Add another tablespoon of bacon fat and then the onion. Cook until softened.
• Add the jalapenos, cook until you can smell them
• Add chili powder, cumin, oregano, and garlic. By doing this in a relatively dry pan, you can bloom the spices and release the oils.
• When that is fragrant, add about a cup of water and de-glaze the pan (scrape up any bit from the bottom of the pan, those equal flavor!
• Add the rest of the water and the tomato/chipotle mixture
• Return the crisp bacon, beef and any drippings back to the pan.
• Also add the brown sugar
• Bring to a simmer and simmer covered for an hour.
• Then uncover and simmer for another 30 minutes. (Whether or not you need more depends on the meat. At this point it should be ready to fall apart. If it's still tough, give it another 15-30 minutes as an uncovered simmer.
• Toward the end of cooking (about 5 minutes before you are done), add 2 tablespoons of Masa Harina Flour, or 2 teaspoons of corn starch to a small bowl. I prefer Masa because of the corn taste.
• Mix in a small amount of cooking liquid and whisk together. This lets you add a thickener without getting any lumps.
• Mix into the simmering chili and cook for 5 more minutes. You should notice a thickening of the sauce.

That's it, a hearty, meaty chili prepped and cooked in about two hours. I have also done this in a crock pot and cooked on low for about 8 hours. The only thing to be careful of is getting all the goodness from the pan you brown the meat in! Next time I plan my hotter chili, I'll post the recipe. For a teaser it used Spicy Italian Sausage and habanero peppers!

One alternative to Masa or corn starch is crumbled up tortilla chips (corn variety) or corn muffin mix. I haven't tried the crushed tortilla chips, but it was in an episode of Good Eats and might be a fun change. I would watch the salt level on that one. With the corn muffin mix, mix 2 tablespoons in a bowl with a couple of ladle fulls of the cooking liquid to remove the lumps. Whisk until well blended, the microwave for 1 minute. Then stir this into your pot and simmer for another 5 or so minutes. You should see it thickening. I have tried the corn muffin mix and it worked well. Whatever you do, avoid corn meal. It's like sand and not in a good way.

One other note. I have found it's nearly impossible to know just how hot your jalapenos will be. I have had some as spicy as okra and others that I swear rivaled habaneros. So if you are worried about something being too spicy. Add two and see how the liquid tastes after about 30 minutes. You can add more then. If you wait too long, the jalapenos won't break down and add their goodness to the whole pot. That's not a bad thing, because the little bit of raw jalapeno can come across like a garnish.

As for additions. I usually don't add any. But I have used some chopped fresh onion, cilantro, cheese, and even sour cream. Usually one at a time. They can add a little something, but I find it isn't really needed. Crackers are a matter of choice, and I do prefer oyster crackers over saltines. They hold their shape where the saltines dissolve like glue.

Braised Beet Brisket

When you can't slow smoke a brisket, braised is the next best thing! This is tonight's dinner:

Ingredients

• 4 pieces of bacon
• One onion, sliced
  
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 4 cups apple juice
• 1 small brisket, about 1 1/2 to 2 lbs
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons of chili powder
  

Preparation and Procedure

1. Crisp the bacon, rendering the fat in a dutch oven
2. Remove bacon and fat
3. Add one tablespoon of fat back into the dutch oven
4. Over high heat brown both sides of the brisket, about 2-3 minutes each side. Add more bacon fat if needed
   
5. Remove the brisket and add in another tablespoon of bacon fat to the dutch oven
   
6. Add in onion and cook until softened
7. Add the garlic (Crushed)
8. Once the garlic is fragrant, add about 1 cup of apple juice and de-glaze the pan
9. Add the rest of the apple juice and the bay leaves
10. Bring to a boil, lower the temp and add the brisket and any juices that came out of the meat after browning. The liquid should just barely cover the brisket.
11. Simmer for 2-3 hours, turning the brisket every 30 minutes.
12. It's done when the meat is ready to fall apart when you lift it out of the liquid
13. Remove the brisket and cover to rest
14. Crank the heat back to high and add chili powder, pepper, and salt. Reduce by one quarter to one-half of the original liquid volume. Melt in two tablespoons of butter and serve as a pan sauce on the side. Note - if the volume is too much to reduce in 5-10 minutes, pour some off.
    

Just slice the brisket across the grain and serve with the pan sauce. Tonight's sides will include butter noodles and canned pear slices. But it pretty much goes well with any starch and veg or fruit. I went with canned peaches because my wife loves them -- with a little cream cheese. I was planning basamati rice, but I like cooking that with onion and I used my last one with the brisket. Added onion to the shopping list.