Jesus, Mary and Joseph. This shit's GOOD. Very non-authentic key lime pie: -1 graham cracker pie crust -14oz can of sweetened condensed milk -12oz container of cool whip (I used light) -1/2c fresh lime juice Let the cool whip thaw a little, then mix all the ingredients and let it set in the fridge for an hour or two before serving. I want to eat the whole thing.
I don't have gas at my new house, which sucks. But I bought this thing for my little make-shift outdoor kitchen, and it is my new favorite thing ever: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LWK53U/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ... Aaaaand its $10 less now than it was when bought it. Super. Anyway, its more sturdy and efficient than any other outdoor burner that I prices-out, while also being about $120 less the one I was originally going to buy. I now have the ability to 1) cook with gas, which we all know is 100x better than using an electric stove, and 2) can sear steaks and cook up big pots of whatever without having to worry about smoke/having my house smell for days. I'm cooking a pig stomach tonight. I'll try to post pics.
Ponce/Chaudin/Stuffed Pig Stomach: Spoiler Roast it with a bunch of onions, peppers, and celery. Check every 30 min or so to stir, add a little water if needed, and stick with a fork and release some of the pressure/juice. Be careful not to get squirted with boiling-hot stomach juice. Makes its own pretty nice gravy. Salt and pepper to taste. Yep. That's a stomach. Slice it like a roast. The stuffing is a sausage mix, kinda like boudin. Serve over rice with the gravy.
Someone asked in a rep awhile back to share the recipes for my July 4th cocktail ideas, in which I attempted to achieve - using ingredients I already had - red, white and blue while also incorporating state names. Alabama Slammer (red), New York Lemonade (of-fwhite) and blue hawaiian (blue). Anyway, I dropped the ball on that request until I remembered tonight because I'm having a slammer. Alabama slammer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_Slammer New York Lemonade http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink5605.html Blue Hawaiian http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink1385.html Also, I would be remiss if I didn't share what I believe to be the absolute PERFECT alcoholic beverage to have with coke. Flor de Cana rum. http://www.liquorlockerla.com/wp-content/uploads/Flor-De-Cana-Gold-Rum.jpg I'm telling you right now, it is amazing. So amazing that I honestly can't mix any other alcoholic beverage with coke and not feel like I'm just wasting my booze. Flor de Cana has ruined me for any other ___& coke combinations.
Just to piggy back on Currer Bell's ___& coke recommendation, I like to point out to anyone who is a cherry coke lover there is a new vodka out there made by Ciroc called Ciroc Amaretto. One of our distributors needed to make a placement, so in exchange for me buying a bottle of this new vodka he gave me a free case of well rum. Win win as far as I'm concerned. Well if you're into the ___& coke drinks this is a drink for you. It tastes EXACTLY like cherry coke and you don't get any form of alcohol burn. I mean you can't taste the alcohol at all. It's not my thing because I don't like sweet drinks, but if you do you might just want to check this stuff out. We've had this bottle since Friday, and with no POS, just word of my from my bartenders, it's almost gone. For those of you not in the business, this is almost unheard of with a new product. It usually sits on a shelf collecting dust until it gets some traction.
So Im going to be making some pasta sauce out of my heirloom tomatoes and venison. Wondering if anyone has any good ol fashioned recipes to share. Thanks.
Puree the living hell out of the tomatoes. Depending on the cut of meat and it's fat content you should braise for .5-2 hours. 1 pound spaghetti or tagliatelle 1/2 red onion diced 1/4 large carrot diced 6-8 cloves garlic minced 26 ounces heirloom tomato sauce 1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste (if necessary for thickness) 1/2 cup red wine 1/2 cup beef broth salt/pepper to taste Olive oil Pinch red pepper flakes 2 pounds venison large handful fresh chopped basil or oregano or both Chunk the venison into 2 inch cubes. Season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a deep pot on medium high heat. Sear the outside of the meat, both sides, no more than a couple minutes until brown. Do it in batches so you don't water up the pot. Reserve them in a bowl. Add more oil to the pot as needed, lower to medium heat. Sautee onion and carrot until just softened, not browned. The onion should be yellow looking, opaque. Throw in the red pepper flakes. Add garlic for a solid minute. It will become fragrant. Do not let it toast or burn. Deglaze everything on the bottom of the pan with the wine and broth (this amps up the beef flavor in my opinion; think of it as fortifying the main ingredient). Scrape it up with a wooden spoon. Add the sauce. Season aggressively. Taste constantly. I use about a teaspoon of salt. When it is at the saltiness you desire, pitch in the venison cubes. Mix it. Let it simmer with the lid off for about 60 (put the lid on for quicker, but your sauce turns dark red). That should be good to keep the meat from overcooking. If you use pork, do it for 2 hours. Remove venison, shred it (should be falling apart, if it isn't throw it in longer), then add it back. Sauce too loose? Throw in some tomato paste and cook that out for a few minutes. While sauce is going, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt it aggressively. Like a good 1-2 teaspoons of salt. You want it to taste like seawater. If your sauce is too thick you can use some of that boiling water to loosen it up. When the pasta is ready to go, drain it, but never rinse it. In fact leave it a little wet. Throw it into the sauce. You should have the exact proper amount in the pot to coat 1 pound of pasta perfectly without over or under-doing it. Mix it together thoroughly by tossing and folding. Add chopped herbs. I highly recommend a bottle of Spanish Rioja. Fuck Chianti. Chianti tastes like an Italian man's arm pit. Rioja is meaty and tastes like the earth. Proximo was the last bottle I found; $13. I've got a massive obsession with it now.
Yeah the venison is ground into hamburger. Was going to use 2lbs of venison and 2 lbs ground pork for one huge week long amount.
Then do everything the same, except throw the ground meat in right after the garlic is done. Definitely use the tomato paste. Also double everything. Or do the pork before everything, remove it and drain it, then throw it in after the garlic cooks. Both should be OK. Get a very big pot.
I tried grilling fish on a cedar plank for the first time yesterday. I did some with the tried-and-true foil over the grate method to see how it compared too. The fish was some Lake Superior lake trout my girlfriends dad and brother caught on Saturday and were kind enough to share with me. I did about 2/3 of the fillets with a butter/garlic/lemon baste and the rest with a teriyaki sauce I mixed up (trying that for the first time too). Surprisingly neither my girlfriend nor I could tell any difference between the trout cooked over the foil and the trout cooked on the cedar plank. It just took twice as long to cook it over the plank, which burst into flames after sitting on the grill for five minutes. This was just before I flipped the fillets for the first time: Spoiler After the foil fillets were done and I took the corn off too: Spoiler Did I do the plank cooking right or wrong? I dunno. It was delicious either way. You cannot lose with fresh fish. I roasted some potatoes with fresh onions and herbs from the garden while everything was on the grill and it was a great meal. I think I will stick with cooking salmon and trout on foil because it was just easier and faster. For the "teriyaki" sauce I mixed soy sauce with enough honey and brown sugar to be mildly sweet and added a little lime juice and cayenne because why the hell not. I marinated the fillets for an hour with the mix and added a little as a baste while it was grilling. I was fearing it would end up very salty but it was the opposite- you tasted more of the soy sauce than anything, minus the saltiness. I think I prefer salmon/trout with butter, lemon, and garlic but it was worth trying.
Did you soak the plank in water for an hour or so? That will keep it from flaring. As far as it tasting the same as on foil, I see you placed them right next to each other and smoke tends to float around....so.....
I soaked the plank for a couple of hours before it went on the grill. As far as the foil and plank next to each other, well, hindsight is 20/20.
Mapo tofu. The dish I would pick as my last meal. Szechuan pork and silken tofu. Ingredients: 3/4 lb minced pork 2 tbsp corn starch or potato starch 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil 2 tbsp light soy sauce 1 tbsp mushroom flavoured dark soy sauce 3 tbsp oyster sauce 1-2 tbsp chili oil depending how spicy you like it 1 heaping spoonful of black bean garlic sauce 2 chopped green onions 2 packages of silken tofu (approximately 3 cups in medium dice) 1 heaping spoonful of preserved radish (optional)* 1 cup frozen peas Marinade pork in starch, sesame oil, soy sauces and oyster sauce. Set aside. In a hot wok, add chili oil and black bean garlic sauce. Stirfry a few seconds until they mix together into a uniform consistency. Add pork to wok and stirfry to cook through. As pork is cooking, add preserved radish and green onions. Spoiler While pork finishes cooking, drain tofu as much as possible and dice carefully to 1/2 cubes. When pork is fully cooked, add tofu to wok and heat through. Spoiler Add frozen peas and cook until they are also cooked through. Taste and add more chili oil if it isn't spicy enough. Serve over rice. Spoiler *Preserved radish comes in a can in my local Asian market that looks like this: Spoiler
I found this today and am excited because I just bought chives and garlic goat cheese and a cucumber from the farmers market. Plan to have it for dinner tomorrow night. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.sweetsonian.com/2013/06/cucumber-goat-cheese-grilled-cheese/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.sweetsonian.com/2013/06/cucu ... ed-cheese/</a> PS - I was looking for a thread today and noticed that there's actually an alcohol thread, so from now on I will submit my boozy musings to that one.
Chicken thigh kabobs 2 lbs. boneless skinless thighs cut into 1.5 in chunks 1 white onion sliced 1/2 tsp chili powder 1/2 tsp turmeric 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tablespoon salt (I found this to be too much--I'd cut it to 1/2 tbsp) 1 tsp black pepper Pinch saffron 1/4 cup lemon juice 1/4 cup EVOO Combine everything in a ziploc bag and move it all around so everything gets coated and refrigerate for at least 3 hours to overnight. Skewer the chicken and grill for 10-15 minutes until well browned, brushing any remaining marinade. You can discard the onions or sauté them. I sautéed them and added them to white rice and placed the chicken on top. 3 Envelope Pot Roast Chuck roast 1 envelope Italian dressing seasoning 1 envelope ranch dressing seasoning 1 envelope brown gravy mix 2 cups water or beef broth Place roast in crockpot ( you can brown it first if desired). Mix all other ingredients well and pour over the roast. Cook for 4 hours on high, or 8 hours on low. You can add carrots, potatoes and/or mushrooms if desired. I'm making this Wednesday with an eye round roast and mushrooms and plan to serve with egg noodles.
Jack Daniels Cured Salmon, anyone? I've found my new favorite thing to do. Cures and brines are ridiculously easy. Turned out a bit salty, but I don't think I washed it thoroughly after the cure. Was a bit like salmon jerky. Needed a little more booze too. Tomorrow morning I'm throwing it on a bagel with cream cheese, shaved red onion, and capers. 1 pound salmon chunk 3 tblsp Jack Daniels 3/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup salt cracked black pepper 2 garlic cloves sliced herbs Douse the salmon in JD. Let it soak in while you mix the salt, pepper, sugar in a bowl. Coat the fish front and back, pat it on. Place the salmon in a pan with a rack. drop the garlic and herbs over the top. Seal the pan with saran wrap. Forget about it for 48 hours. When you open it up, the salmon should have expelled a lot of water (thus the rack) and turned rigid. If that didn't happen re-seal it for another day or two. Rinse thoroughly with cold water, pat dry. Cut thin on a bias. Salmon = $7.99 a pound. Pre-made deli salmon = at least $13.99 a pound. I'm not good at math, but I win. Plus mine tastes like whiskey.
Yeah it saves you quite a bit. I got a whole side once and couldn't finish it. I think Ill wait until I have a food slicer and vacuum sealer before I go nuts again. But super super easy and tasty. How dare ye' forget Szechuan peppercorns!
Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken 2 lbs. chicken, cut into chunks 1 cup pineapple juice 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/3 cup soy sauce Put the chicken in the pot, mix the rest of the ingredients and pour over chicken and cook on low 6-8 hours. I just put this up but substituted orange juice for the pineapple. Also, in re the 3 Envelope Pot Roast recipe above, I made it with 1 cup beef broth and 1 cup water and found it a bit salty, so I'd go with 2cups water next time. Still, a delicious and easy meal.
Made this last night was happy with it. 2 lobster tails, our lobsters are spiny so we only get tails. Gnocchi Handfull of spinach chopped Pesto Garlic Chili garlic sauce (the green one with the rooster on it) Butter Hangar1 mandarin blossom Vodka I boil the lobster tails for 5-6 minutes then split them and put them in the frying pan to finish with the chili sauce, butter and garlic and a little of the water I used for boiling them, once the liquid has reduced down I dump in the vodka and let it simmer for a minute then take it off the heat and throw on the spinach to wilt. I boil the gnocchi in the lobster water to give it that good flavor and add some pesto when it is done.