Macon Dinner

A Tale of two Chilis

2010-12-14T21:35:00.000-06:00

I have talked about my love for all things, pizza, pork, and spaghetti, but I have failed to mention my love for chili. Everyone has that chili that they compare others too. Mine, of course, is my mom's. I look forward to having it every Christmas. This seems to be the only time that I am around when it is made, I actually think she makes it just for me, well if she doesn't I like to think she does. Since the weather has been, well for lack of a better way to put it, "chili" in Alabama I decided that I needed a fix. I searched for a great chili recipe and came across, yet another hit from Chris at Nibble Me This. It was a fantastic chili. Great depth in flavor and spice. Not to thick yet not to thin. Really got me over the "chili craze" that I was going through. I might also add that Byrd loved it as well. I also read recently from Dave over at Food Fire about Zac Brown Chili. It also sounded delicious and got a great review. Being a fan of the Zac Brown Band and Food Fire I had to make that one too. That was for dinner tonight. Also a really great chili with a multitude of flavors, and the first chili I've ever made with cocoa powder. I have no pictures of either of these due to my camera card being somewhere other than where it belongs, which is the camera or the computer, but this isn't about my cook. I changed nothing about either of these recipes they were made exactly as stated in the above recipes. I just wanted to say thanks to these guys for bringing two great new chilis into my life. Thanks guys. If you haven't tried these two you must, the chili and the blogs.

Big Bad Beef Brisket

2010-10-10T17:07:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago we planned for Byrd's sister's family to come stay with us for a weekend. We had a couple things planned for Saturday, one including me smoking my first good sized (7lbs.) brisket. I haven't done one this large and was quite worried about serving a large lump of dried out beef, which has happened before when attempting the brisket. So all last week I read blog after blog trying to find the perfect method/rub/all the help I could get. I settled on a recipe from amazingribs.com. There is a lot more on the site than just good rib recipes. Like I said I read everything I could find. This sounded the least complicated. I started by reproducing the Big Bad Beef Rub Recipe. I rubbed down the brisket on Friday night and let it sit in the fridge over night. Here it is Saturday morning while getting to room temp.

I set up the BGE for an indirect cook at 220 degrees. I mixed in applewood chips for smoke. I realize that hickory goes better with beef, but I realized Saturday morning that what I thought was a bag of hickory chips was actually apple. Oh well. I put the brisket on at 10 am. We (Byrd, Baby Byrd, SIL, BIL, Emma (niece), and MIL) went to the Kickn Chickn wing festival around 11. This is the first time I have left the BGE alone to do its job with out me constantly staring at the temp gauge. We came home a few hours later to find it exactly where it was when I left it. The meat temperature was sitting at 143. I started to worry it wasn't going to be done in time for dinner. To take my mind off of it, we watched Alabama get beat by South Carolina, still can't believe that happened, but as an Auburn fan, lets just say when my thermometer went off at 6:30 to say the brisket was at 170 degrees I was happy. I double wrapped the brisket in foil and poured in about a cup of some left over vinegar based BBQ sauces from the fridge. I put it back on the BGE and let it continue to cook until it reached 185 internal. This happened right when as planned. This never happens. But the stars were aligned Saturday for me. Alabama lost, Auburn won, and this is what the brisket looked like after slicing.

Great smoke ring and very moist. While cutting this with an electric knife juice flew up an hit me in my left eye. It burned like hell, but I got over it after I tasted a piece.

Paired with some great roasted corn salad, deviled eggs, squash casserole and what my BIL calls sexy sauce, which somehow didn't make the picture, sorry J.

It was delicious. The Rub was slightly spicy, which I love. I am glad I doubled the recipe so I have some ready for the next beef cook. I am sure it won't turn out this good next time, but I am glad it did yesterday.

Korean Steak with Kimchi Fried Rice

2010-09-12T21:58:00.000-05:00

Wow it has been a long time since I have had the time to sit down and do this. Well here we go.... Quick update: Baby Bird is now 4 months old and growing like a weed, Bird is more beautiful than ever, Restaurant is getting busier and taking up more of my time, oh yeah and we decided to move with all of this going on. Once again I am not sure what we were thinking, but we have been in the house for about 2 weeks and here is the first long cook I have done in a long time. I got lucky after reading this one in the most recent Food Network Magazine, my parents were in town and stopped by to see Baby Bird so I took the baby free time to prep. Free time doesn't come often around here these days.

I started by making the kimchi. I have seen this made on tv, but have never had it. It sounded spicy and delicious. I have also never tried Fish Sauce, which smelled like old rotten fish, but I pushed on. After making this it didn't smell great, but it did smell great after a night in the fridge.

I then made the marinade for the steaks. Any marinade that involves thick sliced bacon has to be delicious. The recipe in the magazine is for skirt steak, but we had 2 filets in the freezer so that is what I used for the main protein. Here we have 2 filets and 1 large white onion (quartered) covered in bacon, soy sauce, toasted sesame seeds, Coke, dark brown sugar, and garlic. The recipe calls for 6-8 slices of bacon, but really who would just use 6 when given the option to use 8. No brainer for me.

When you remove the steak and onion you are left with 8 thick slices of marinated bacon to start your fried rice. You see why I made this now. Dice the bacon, cook until almost done, then add in the drained kimchi from above, saving the liquid. When the kimchi is brown add in your cooked rice, toasted sesame oil, and reserved kimchi liquid. Stir fry. I have never stir fried before, but basically cook real hot constantly moving everything around, while pressing everything down. I am really over simplifying a century old cooking style.

I grilled the onion and banana peppers in a grill pan like suggested, then cooked the steaks to medium rare.

All together now.

All in all this was worth all the time it took to prepare. I learned that kimchi is delicious (although it doesn't sound like it), I can fry rice, and Korean flavors are awesome. Another great recipe from the Food Network Magazine. I also learned that I remember how to log into blogspot. It has been to long.

BGE Pizza and a little more.

2010-06-22T22:57:00.002-05:00

When I started writing Macon Dinner I was in between working for a restaurant and buying one. I had plenty of time to cook anything I could think of. Byrd was pregnant and we were anxiously awaiting the birth of Baby Byrd. Wow how things have changed. We opened the restaurant and then eight days later Baby Byrd was ready. Since then life has not been the same, it has been better. I remember when I was a child and my mom and dad said "you will never understand how much we love you until you have your own." I now understand and it's amazing.

I have been cooking, but just haven't had the time to put it into words. I am still reading blogs and enjoying all of them immensely. Chris, Nibble Me This, you continue to inspire and thanks for all the Egg info. Dave, MYOTG, I not only enjoy your food but envy your lifestyle. Grey, Grill Knuckles, we share not only a taste for food, but also beverages. Brent, Brent's BGE, being on of my oldest friends I am amazed at the cook you have become. Dave, Food-Fire, first food blog I read, thank you for showing me the way.

Just a few shout outs to say thanks. Now on to the recent cook.

I have had pizza more times in my life than I would ever try to count. I have discussed this in the past. The other night I tried a pizza on the BGE. (I still haven't come up with a name for her, yes it is a her, yet, but I will.) I wanted to make my own crust as I have seen it done, but didn't have the time, and lately dinner preparation is lacking. I went to Papa Murphy's and grabbed one. If you don't have one in your area I am sorry. Now I didn't make the pizza, but I did pick out the toppings. That has to count for something, right? I went with a pepperoni, onion and jalapeño pizza. I read the instructions on their website on how to grill a pizza, well it wasn't very specific. So I decided to kinda wing it. I got the Egg up to 450, with the plate setter legs down, I am still trying to get my lEGGuage down, pizza stone on top. I bought the stone the day after getting the egg. A month ago. Sad it has just been sitting waiting to be used.

Per the manager at Papa Murphy's I cooked it on the tray given for the first ten minutes, then removed the tray and placed the pie directly on the stone. At this point the cheese was melted and the crust was set.

Byrd and I like really crispy crust, so I let it go at 450 for another 25 minutes.

The cheese had a great crust on the top, with a great smoky flavor. The crust was crispy on the outside with a nice soft inside. All pizza should be wood fired. I doubt I will ever put a pizza in the oven again. Next time I will make a homemade crust, I hope.

Pork Wellington Sort of...

2010-06-10T22:00:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I saw Alton Brown make a Pork Wellington on Good Eats and I have wanted to try it. This has been my next cook since then. Well this afternoon I set things in order to have this tasty looking treat. After work I came home to take care of Baby Byrd and Byrd went to the store to get the few ingredients we didn't have. One of them being puff pastry. Byrd came back with Phyllo dough. She said the lady at Publix told her it was the same. I wasn't aware that Publix hired culinary graduates these days, but then again you never know. Well it isn't the same so what do you do when you don't have one of the necessary ingredients for wellington, well you adapt the recipe. So instead of the above mentioned this is what I did.

I layered the prosciutto so I could wrapped the tenderloin. I seasoned the wrap with thyme, light salt, and pepper.

There were a few other items that weren't what they were supposed to be as well. The 1 pound unseasoned pork loin package ended up being to very tiny pork tenderloins, but what do you do. I fileted both of them then rubbed them with course grain mustard and packed with sliced dried apples.

Then wrapped it. Since I didn't have the pastry I seasoned the outside with more thyme and garlic powder.

I got set up for an indirect cook at 400. Then onto the Egg. After about 35 minutes the pork was at 150. I removed it and let it rest. Then sliced.

The prosciutto crust was nice and crispy and the smell was overwhelming. Served with a great box of toasted pine nut couscous.

The pork was delicious. The flavor of the mustard, apples, and thyme together was fantastic. This wasn't exactly what I had planned for this evening, but what came out of this mishap was great. I will go back and make the Pork Wellington from Good Eats, but this will definitely get made again.

Early Father's Day Present

2010-06-01T22:16:00.000-05:00

There are many moments in life I will never forget. Here is the short list: When I met Byrd. My wedding day. The day I found out we were pregnant. The opening of the new restaurant. The birth of baby Byrd. Byrd's first mother's day, I got her a card, touching I know. And then yesterday. Memorial day 2010. The day Byrd surprised me with an early father's day gift. I would like to say that Byrd is a much better gift giver than I am. She always has been, and probably always will be. She went above and beyond incorporating my dad into the mix for this one. The perfect gift. You can see in the shadows are 2 of my now extinct smokers. I say extinct because this gift came with a clause. Now that you have an Egg, you have to get rid of 2 of our grills. I am glad to part with them.

I got this around 5 o'clock yesterday and it took about an hour to put it together. Then we had to go out to dinner. I say had here, but dinner was great. There is nothing like spending time with the family, but this did kill me. A new toy sitting at home waiting to be played with. If i would have known we would have cooked immediately. But that is what's great about surprises. All day today, and last night, I got to think of what to cook first. What a tough decision. I have been toying around with a new mustard based marinade and think I have finally got it the way I like it. So I went with that on some chicken thighs.

Mustard Marinade (I know, not a creative name)
1/2 cup yellow mustard
1/8 cup Saw's Sauce
2 Tablespoons McCormick's Spicy Montreal Steak Seasoning
2 Tablespoons Light Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

Mixed together until blended well

I marinaded 4 chicken thighs in half of the marinade in a zip top bag for 2 hours. Then removed them and let sit uncovered in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

While the chicken was sitting in the fridge, I got the Egg started. Following all directions I got it up to temp(400), plate setter in, legs up. I put the skin side down for 20 minutes. This was the longest 20 minutes of my recent life. Mainly because Byrd was putting Baby Byrd down while I put the thighs on. She kept wanting to look inside. I was strong enough to not let myself show her. This was tough. After the 20 minutes I flipped them over and set a timer for 20 minutes. Then basted the tops of the thighs with some of the reserved marinade. Then let them finish cooking for another 20 minutes. Here they are when I opened the Egg.

If I were a better blogger I could describe the smell/ thoughts going through my head. Christmas morning/Any present getting holiday morning comes to mind, but that is the best I can do.

Here it is with the still favorite oven fries of Byrds.

The chicken was wonderful. In Byrd's words " I didn't know there would be that big of a difference. The thighs have always been good, but these were perfect. I mean on the other grills they were a consistent 8, but these were a 10!" This stroked my ego, which is probably already to big. I can't wait to continue to play with my new toy. I am thoroughly happy with as Byrd calls it, my first gift from my daughter. Now a question to other owners of the BGE. What "EGGcessories" can I live without? Right I must have them all.

Filet and Grilled Veggie Grilled Cheese

2010-05-09T21:29:00.000-05:00

There has been a lot of food gifts for us since Baby Byrd came home and all have been much appreciated. Yesterday when my mom stopped by she brought a pack of four filets, she said she got them on sale so we should either cook them or freeze them soon. Well there is really no reason to freeze them so they were definitely on the menu tonight. Byrd didn't want a traditional steak dinner so I had to think fast, still have that 8 o'clock dinner schedule. I looked in the fridge and saw half of red pepper, yellow pepper and red onion. There was also a loaf of Publix white mountain bread sitting on the counter, what can I do. The wheels started to turn as I remembered the last Food Network Magazine, there was a great cover shot and article on grilled cheeses. I decided that would be for dinner.

I fired up my Hibachi for the first time in a while. It was a nice night out and just felt right. While the coals were getting to temp, I rubbed the peppers and onions in a little olive oil and seasoned them with some McCormicks's Char Broil seasoning. I did the same to the steaks. Then onto the grill.

When the steaks were medium rare I pulled everything off for a 10 minute rest. Then thinly sliced all of the above. I did feel slightly guilty about treating a filet this way, but I knew it was for the greater good of dinner.

I had a little trouble trying to figure out how to build this sandwich. I decided to place a couple good slices of Munster on the bottom, then add the sliced filet. Topped that with the peppers and onions, then more steak and cheese, and then the top piece of bread. Into a hot pan of butter.

At the flip.

This would have been to much for one of us so I cut it in half and served with oven baked steak fries.

This was a long way to go for a grilled cheese but it was definitely worth it. To quote Byrd, "A perfect first mother's day dinner." I couldn't be a happier guy.

Peachy Chicken

2010-05-08T21:00:00.001-05:00

We have been home from the hospital with Baby Byrd for about 4 days and sleep has definitely not been on the menu. What has been is a hodge podge of family cooked frozen food for us to heat when needed. It has all been great. Thank you everyone for the quick delicious meals. One great thing I have found about odd hour feeding times it gives me a lot of time to watch food network. This morning before I left for work I saw Rachel Ray make a dinner called A Little Bit Country. A great looking meal that I have been waiting to cook all day. I will first state that I have not always been a fan of Rachel, but that is starting to change. I need quick good meals these days and well 30 minutes is pretty quick.

Here is my take on her Chicken and Peaches

Butter
Canned peaches, I couldn't find fresh ones
1/2 lemon, juiced
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
6 Boneless skinless chicken thighs
Salt and Pepper
1 Shallot
3/4 cup Chicken Stock
2/3 cup Peach Preserves
Hot Sauce
Worcestershire Sauce

I started by adding some olive oil in a sautee pan, then added in the chicken thighs. I would like to say that I really wanted to grill real thighs, but I was on a dinner deadline of serving before 8, feeding time. I stuck to the boneless ones. Cooked them until done then removed them from the pan and placed them in the oven to stay warm. Next came the shallots, chicken stock and preserves. I let this simmer for about 5 minutes making sure to get all of the goodies off the bottom of the pan. Then I added in the hot sauce, not really sure how much, about a tablespoon. Then the Worcestershire sauce, not measured either, probably 2-3 tablespoons.

Since I didn't have fresh peaches I strained the ones from the can and rinsed them to remove the syrup. Then into a pan with a little butter and the lemon juice to heat through.

Chicken out of the oven and onto a platter. I garnished with the peach slices then covered in the sauce.

This was a great main dish that I will make again. The peach and chicken combination was delicious. Next time I will marinate some real thighs and get them on the grill then baste with a similar peach sauce. This also got me thinking about a apple sauce made the same way paired with some sort of pork.

The side dish tonight was Sweet Onion Potatoes Au Gratin. I will blog this later in the week. They too were outstanding.

Done Baking

2010-05-05T22:25:00.000-05:00

This is not a food post. But it is definitely about baking. For the last 8 month 3 weeks Byrd has been baking baby Byrd. Last Sunday night she was done. Home healthy and happy here is Byrd and what she has been baking, the loves of my life:

A very healthy 20 inch 6.43 lb. loaf of love. Cooking will return shortly. I may actually start making baby food. Who knows.

Creole Shrimp Scampi

2010-05-01T21:55:00.000-05:00

I got home relatively early from work today and Byrd had a great idea for dinner. This meant I didn't have to go through the process of figuring out what to cook. I am really glad when she gives me ideas. Last night her mom made a Publix Apron recipe and said it was delicious, so she wanted to try it. I was glad to be back in my home kitchen and went right to work. Here is the link to the original recipe. During Byrd's pregnancy she has has had no taste for seafood at all, no fish, shrimp, crap, nothing. Tonight she was craving shrimp. Finally. I love shrimp. And as I have said before, I love all things pasta.

Here is what I used.

6 slices thick cut bacon (diced)
1 (9-oz) package fresh angel hair pasta
10 oz peeled/deveined 51-60 shrimp
3 tablespoons blackening seasoning. (I used Chef Paul's I haven't made my own in a while.)
1 cup fresh diced Roma tomatoes
3/4 cup dry white wine
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon CRP
1/2 cup Publix scampi sauce
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

First season the shrimp.

I started by sauteeing the bacon then removing half of the grease, this was Byrd's idea. I hate to remove any of the delicious bacon drippings. When the bacon was almost cooked I added in the shrimp. The smell of shrimp cooking in bacon is very intoxicating. After about a minute I added in the garlic and crushed red pepper and let them heat up for a few seconds then added in the tomatoes and wine.

The smell just kept getting better. I let this simmer for about 2 minutes until the shrimp were cooked through. Shrimp are easily over cooked so you have to be careful. Then add in the cheater scampi sauce and lemon juice. I am not ashamed of using the cheater sauce, somebody at Publix spent a lot of time coming up with this and well, I am glad they did.

Hot tub of deliciousness. Not to take a line from Guy Fieri, but it works here.

The pasta was cooked according to the package which was about a minute in the boiling water. Served with a little toasted garlic French bread, for sopping.

This had a lot of flavor and wasn't as saucy as most scampi dishes. This one has room for improvement, but it was great as served.

Simple New Marinade

2010-04-29T21:51:00.000-05:00

New marinades are always fun to play with. A little of this and a little of that make a lot of difference. My only problem is when adding a little bit of anything I don't write it down. I will make a great dish, then when asked to reproduce, well I don't remember everything that went in it. I know the basics, but never down to the last detail. I am going to get better at this. A few days ago I whipped up a pretty good marinade out of things I had on hand and it turned out pretty good. Last night I tried to duplicate it with a few changes for the best, I hope. It started with Worcestershire, soy sauce, brown sugar, cayenne, salt and pepper. The original amounts I have no idea, a taste and add type marinade. Tonight I measured.

1/2 cup Worcestershire
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Cayenne
1/4 Teaspoon Onion Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper

This time I heated it up on the stove to melt the dry ingredients. I removed a 1/2 cup of the marinade and let it cool. Then poured it over a pork tenderloin and let it marinate for 1 hour. Here it is before the oven.

I cooked it at 225 degrees until it reached an internal temp of 155. Then let it rest for about 10 minutes. While it was cooking I boiled the rest of the marinade until it was reduced by half. I drizzled it over the sliced pork and potato wedges.

This was a very good simple meal. I tasted a piece of the pork pre finishing sauce and it was good, but the drizzle added a great extra bump of flavor. I like the basics of this marinade but it definitely needs a little something else. It is sweet and spicy but just didn't have the depth I was looking for. I can't wait to figure out what it is.

Busy

2010-04-27T22:05:00.000-05:00

I guess I should have titled this one a quick post. Not much detail here, just letting everyone know I am still around. I have been quite busy lately with a new venture and due to my long hours Byrd has been taking care of the cooking around here. Tonight she made a few additions to Byrd's Spaghetti by spicing it up with some left over hot Italian sausage from the tortellini cook and then threw in some spinach. I love the regular sauce but this was a nice change.

I promised last week that I would be back to my regular posting, but....such is life. I will get back to posting as soon as I get into a good rhythm with the new restaurant. We bought one. More on that later. What was I thinking opening a restaurant in the last two weeks of Byrd being pregnant. Am I crazy?

Tortellini Soup

2010-04-22T21:34:00.000-05:00

My first month of Taste and Create. I was paired with Katie from One Little Corner of the World. I have really enjoyed reading through her posts and getting to know her a little better through her words and pictures. My one issue was how do you pick just one dish, out of so many, to try and recreate? I used this as it is meant to be a cultural exchange and a learning tool. I came across a soup that sounded delicious and I don't make a lot of soups, due mostly to Byrd not really liking them. Well she likes tomato and potato soup, but thats it. Also I have never had tortellini soup, and what could be wrong with sausage, pasta, cheese and spinach. NOTHING.

Here is Katie's Recipe:

Tortelinni Soup with Sausage and Spinach

1 lb. mild Italian Sausage

4-6 garlic cloves, minced

1 lb cheese tortellini

1 bag fresh spinach

1 tsp fennel

1 tsp thyme

salt and pepper to taste

3 quarts beef stock

Parmesan cheese

Slice sausage and render in stock pot. When sausage is near to finishing, add garlic, thyme and fennel. Drain grease from pan, deglaze with beef stock. Bring stock to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add tortellini to pot and cook for 5 minutes. Add spinach and cook for 2-3 minutes more.

Serve immediately and garnish with Parmesan cheese.

Now I am sure this would be great left over, but being as busy as we have been lately and with Baby Byrd due any day now I opted to cut the recipe in half. Here is what I used.

2 links of Hot Italian sausage
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb. 3 cheese tortellini
1/2 bag of fresh spinach
1/2 tsp fennel
1/2 tsp thyme
1 1/2 quarts beef stock
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesean cheese
Once the sausage was almost cooked I added the garlic, fennel, and thyme. I let these heat through for about 2 minutes carefully stirring so I didn't burn the garlic. The smell of all these together was enough to make you want to stop the process there and spoon it on a plate, but I continued. Then deglaze with the beef stock. Simmer for 20 minutes. Even though I cut the recipe in half I still went the full 20 minutes. Added the tortellini simmered for 5 minutes, then the spinach for 2. This came together very quickly.

Always needing a little more cheese I served this with a whole grain wheat mozzarella and Parmesean cheese toast.

I know it is late spring and at some points in the day it feels very summerish around here, but this really hit the spot. Even though this was a quick soup it had deep, rich flavors that you normally get from cooking all day. I would like to thank Katie for bringing a new soup in to my kitchen. And as for Byrd, I will let her bowl speak for her.

Roasted Corn Salad with a side of chicken.

2010-04-16T08:50:00.000-05:00

Sometimes dinner decisions are hard to make. Sometimes it just comes together. Last night was one of the latter. It has been busy around here lately, lots of running around and tying up loose ends before baby byrd comes around. When we were discussing dinner Byrd said she wanted to make a roasted corn salad. I said that sounds great, what gave you that idea. She says "I saw Bobby Flay make it today and thought it looked good." My question "Where was I when she was watching a cooking show, How did I miss that."
She didn't pull a recipe off line, she told me she had it covered. I am amazed at her at this point. There is no computer in the kitchen while she makes this. All by memory. She puts four mini corns in the grill pan on the stove and starts to roast them. Then dices up some white onion, and slices some cherry tomatoes. Once the corn is good and roasted she lets them cool for a minute then cuts the corn away from the cobs. Mixed all together in a medium size bowl.

Then she asks me to get the blender down, who is the beautiful woman in the kitchen. She pulls some stuff out of the fridge. She then pours, not measuring, some rice wine vinegar, a squeeze of dijon mustard, throws in some fresh basil, a pinch of salt and pepper, and starts the blender. Then proceeds to take the plug out of the top of the blender and drizzles in olive oil. I am in awe. Once she tastes it and approves she drizzles the dressing around the outside of the bowl. covers it and places it in the fridge.

The chicken was marinaded in a mix of Worcestershire, soy sauce, brown sugar, cayenne, and salt and pepper. Then on to the grill.

All together now.

The chicken was good, as chicken thighs usually are, but the corn salad was fantastic. Simple and easy, with a side of an amazed husband.

Cajun Chicken Alfredo

2010-04-15T20:36:00.000-05:00

I have been without the internet for about a week. Here is a little about dinner last night. I will be back to my normal posting tomorrow.

Cajun Chicken Alfredo adapted from Cajun Chicken Alfredo.

I started by butterflying 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, then coating them in Paul Prudhomme's Blackened Redfish Seasoning. I used a screaming hot cast iron skillet.

Once blackened on both sides I put them in the oven on 350 to finish them. While they were in the oven I started the sauce. In a sauce pan I put a tablespoon of olive oil and 1 1/2 tablespoons of garlic. Once heated through I added a cup of sliced cherry tomatoes. While these were heating up, I sliced the chicken and added it in.

Deglaze with a 1/8 cup of dry white wine, then add in 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream. Simmer until reduced by half. Then add in a cup of grated Parmesan cheese.

Toss in some thin spaghetti (cooked al dente) and serve with some garlic cheese bread. Also top with some green onion and sliced cherry tomatoes.

This was a fantastic dinner. I am glad to be able to share again.

Jerk Kabobs and Pineapple Salsa

2010-04-09T07:33:00.001-05:00

There is a show on a couple of networks that deal with Hoarding. It makes me think of my cookbooks. I have a lot. I mean A LOT! Most of which I have never opened other than the day they came in my house. Some I have had since I was a kid. My first cookbook, Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, is still around. It is old, I am sure it was old when my mom gave it to me all those years ago. Back to the hoarding shows. I rarely use any of these cookbooks so why do I keep them? Byrd doesn't know, I don't really know, except there maybe an outstanding recipe in one of them I can't live without. The answer to why I keep them is the same response from the people on these shows. I can't live without something I don't use, that's just silly. This kind of freaks me out. So in order to not think of myself as a hoarder of cookbooks I have made a deal with Byrd. I will find a recipe in each one of them that is worth keeping, if I don't find one we can give it to whoever takes used, or hardly used cookbooks. All of the kitchen gadgets are safe for the moment, they aren't in plain sight. I hoard those too. Now where the hell do I start? After deliberating on this Byrd and I decided that on the nights we cook from a book, she will pick the book and I will find a recipe. This being the first time she couldn't decide. She handed me two. Good Housekeeping Favorite Recipes Grill It! and Shall We Gather(This is a regional cookbook from my childhood home town of Wetumpka, AL). I looked through both and decided to go with Grill It! Dave at MYOTG has been using pineapple in several recipes and they all have looked great. With that in mind this recipe jumped off the pages. Jerk Steak Kabobs with Pineapple Salsa.

Jerk Marinade
2 green onions, minced
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon grated, peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
Mix all ingredients together.
I used a 1 1/2 lb boneless sirloin cut into 1 inch cubes. I put the steak in a zip top bag and then poured on the marinade. The recipe says to marinate the steak for 15 minutes, I had more time than that so it bathed for 2 hours.
After smelling and making the marinade I decided to make a second batch to use with some vegetables. I sliced red onion, squash and zucchini and marinaded those for an hour.

I put everything on my little hibachi.

The recipe said to serve the Jerk Kabobs with a pineapple salsa. I made this first and let it sit in the fridge while everything else was prepared. I made a few changes to the salsa for my tastes. I added extra cilantro.

Pineapple Salsa
2 limes
1 ripe pineapple (rind removed) cored and coarsely chopped
1 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 green onion, sliced
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

I pulled the meat off the grill first to let it rest while I finished the second batch of veggies. Now all together.

With the salsa now.

First things first, this was delicious. The meat was tender and full of flavor. Byrd normally doesn't like allspice due to its cinnamony taste, but it was subtle enough and with everything else worked well. It had just the right amount of sweet and heat. The vegetables as well. Although next time I would leave the cayenne out of the veggie marinade, all together it was a little spicy. The pineapple salsa was fantastic, a great accompaniment to the meat. A bite with all three was even better. I will be using this marinade for all sorts of things in the future. There were a lot of tasty looking recipes in this book and I can't wait to try more. 1 cookbook saved.

Pepperoni Pizza Muffins

2010-04-07T07:25:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning I was in the middle of my routine of coffee and blog reading, when I came across these from Noble Pig. Pepperoni Pizza Puffs. I knew immediately what I was going to have for lunch. I share the love for pizza that is talked about, I fully understand the want for pizza 6 nights a week. After reviewing the recipe, I had to make a few changes due to what was on hand.

3/4 cup flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup whole milk

1 egg, beaten

1 cup mozzarella, parmesan, cheddar cheeses mixed

1 cup turkey pepperoni diced

Pizza sauce from a jar

A few shakes of garlic powder, oregano, basil, and crushed red pepper

This came together quick. Mix the flour and baking powder. Then add in the egg and milk. Once incorporated add in the pepperoni and cheese. Wait 10 minutes. It looks kinda thin at first but in thickens up nicely after the wait time.

Noble Pig says to evenly distribute them into 24 greased mini muffin pans. I am not very good at even distribution so we only got 22. You can see the two empty lonely muffin cups.

After 23 minutes in the 375 oven they were done.

I heated up the pizza sauce in the microwave and added in a the seasonings.

These were absolutely delicious. Between Byrd and I we ate all 22 for lunch. I was full but I could have eaten them all by myself. These were great for lunch, but then again they would be great for any meal/snack/party etc. Thank you Noble Pig. The possibilities are endless with a base like this. I can't wait to try many more combos.

White Chocolate Cake with Lemon Cream

2010-04-06T07:37:00.000-05:00

Easter this year we were in charge of bringing dessert as well as the sacred Prime Rib. We are in charge of this because when leaving Publix the other day Byrd saw the cover of Women's Day Magazine. On the cover was a beautiful three layered cake. A white chocolate cake with lemon cream to be exact. Although we didn't buy the magazine she found the recipe as soon as we got home, then called her mom, and just like that we are in charge of dessert. Until recently we never baked, but we were up to the challenge. There were only going to be 6 of us at Easter so we didn't really need a three layer cake, we decided to just make a 2 layer cake and eat the 3rd layer for a Saturday snack. Other than that we followed the recipe. We made the cakes on Saturday to get them done, our oven was going to be taken Sunday morning. The cake came together beautifully. We couldn't find candied lemon peel, so we opted to cover the top with lemon zest and wheels.

Beautiful cake.

So pretty.

With the cake finished we put it in the fridge to set while the prime rib was finishing. At this point all was good. Then we got in the car. Now we had discussed the short drive, and had a plan. Byrd would drive and I would hold the cake so there would be no unnecessary jolts. As we pulled out of our driveway and headed down the street the top layer of the cake started to slowly slide off the bottom layer. The next 10 minutes were a constant struggle to keep the top layer on, while all of the insides slowly melted on to the cake stand.

Nothing left in the middle.

Lesson learned, when bringing dessert it should only be one layer. or just decorate it there. That is what Duff does, we watch the show, why didn't we think of that. Not that this is anything comparable to anything on that show, but for us a masterpiece. Everyone was polite and still said it looked great, but I know what it looks like. All in all it was a delicious cake and I guess that is what matters in the end.

Prime Rib

2010-04-05T08:33:00.002-05:00

Everybody has family traditions. Byrd's family has the Easter Prime Rib. It is the only meat that can be served. I love this tradition. This year will be a little different from the years past, instead of cooking everything in one house we are cooking at home then transporting our items. This year as usual we are in charge of the protein, but since we have done some baking lately we took on dessert as well. A double layered White Chocolate cake with Lemon Cream. It is not a far drive to Byrd's parent's house, so no problem. There were going to be 6 of us at dinner so I got an 8.5 pound Ribeye Roast. I had the butcher at our local Publix do the prep work for me on this one. He removed the bones then tied them back on for flavor while cooking.

Prime Rib Rub
2 Tablespoons of sugar
2 Tablespoons of fresh cracked pepper
1/4 cup fresh minced garlic
1/4 cup liquid smoke
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup kosher salt

Give it a good rub down, and let it sit over night in the fridge.

Yesterday morning I got up and preheated the oven to 400, while letting the meat get to room temperature. After 10 minutes of searing the meat on 400, reduce the oven to 225. This is when I insert the meat thermometer. We reached 120 internal (rare) about 3 1/2 hours later. I took it out of the oven and got it ready to travel. By the time we reached the PIL's internal temp was 138, and ready to slice.

I love prime rib.

Simple and delicious. The crust from this rub is great, and the meat was tender enough to cut with a fork. Great prime rib. We served this with homemade Au Jus, and a creamy horseradish sauce, but they didn't make the picture. Not everybody wants to wait for me to take pictures. As for traveling with the dessert, I will get to that tomorrow, but here is what it originally looked like.

Farmer's Omlette

2010-04-03T11:12:00.000-05:00

With Easter tomorrow, I thought a big breakfast was the best way to start the day of preparation. I looked out my back window early this morning and saw gray skies. Not what I wanted for the day. I sat down with some coffee and read a few blogs, morning ritual, and came across some very inspiring pictures from My Year on the Grill's Daily Photos. These took me away from the dreary Birmingham, AL scenery and reminded me of a great breakfast treat from the coast. The Farmer's Omelette at Tacky Jacks in Orange Beach, AL is one of my favorite breakfast items and has been for years. I didn't have everything on hand, but I was not leaving the house before 8 on a Saturday.

I first diced a potato and roasted them in some olive oil, salt and pepper. I put them in the oven on 450 and tossed them every few minutes until crispy. About 20 minutes.

While the potatoes were cooking I:
Diced 2 thick slices of bacon.
Diced some white onion and green bell pepper.
Grated about a cup of mild cheddar cheese, its what I had.
Scrambled 3 eggs, didn't want this to be to big of a breakfast.

Cook the bacon until crispy and remove from omelette pan, don't remove the bacon grease. Then add in the onions and peppers with a little salt and pepper. I also added a pinch of CRP for a little spice. Once they are tender add in the potatoes and then the bacon. Pour the scrambled eggs on top.

Make sure to move the egg around in the pan as to not burn the bottom. Once it is almost fully set, top with the cheese. Then under the broiler until fully set. Top with a few of the left over potatoes. Then flip out on to a plate.

My favorite topper for all things eggs.

I am not sure if this is technically an omlette or a fritata. But either way it is delicious. I know I will definitely not be hungry while all the Easter prep is going on.

Pork Balls

2010-04-02T10:30:00.000-05:00

Trying to think of a way to use the thin cut boneless pork chops is sometimes tough. They are usually used for sandwiches and things of that nature around here, but Byrd came up with a new use last night. If you have not looked over the deer balls, then this will be new to you. Here is what we did. I took 5 thin pork chops and cut them in half. Pounded them out with a tenderizer, the one in the picture came from my grandmother, it has a hatchet on the reverse side. Place diced onions and bell peppers inside, and roll them up. Add a cap full of Pilleteri's, or Dale's/Moore's. Then wrap a piece of bacon around them and secure with a toothpick that has been soaked in water. This is as easy as it sounds.

Then onto the grill, I would say it was about 350, I am not much on temping my little hibachi. Make sure you constantly mess/roll/flip them in order to not burn one side. When the bacon is crispy they are done.

I know this is too many for just the two of us, but this is the main course so 4 per person is about right. With two left over for a snack tomorrow. Here they are with Byrd's favorite pregnant food, potato wedges.

I liked these more than the original deer balls. But then again anything wrapped in bacon is going to be delicious.

A tale of two Butts

2010-03-31T11:05:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking about doing a taste test on butts for a while now (don't laugh, you know what I mean.) I have never injected anything with well..anything. I have read and seen a lot of people who inject their butts/briskets/turkeys/chicken with some form of marinade. On at least 100 occasions I have seen,picked up and read, the cajun injector at any of the stores that I frequent. Just never bought it. Well I didn't buy it this time, but I did buy an injector.

Then I had to figure out what to inject. I decided on a mix of apple cider vinegar and Saw's Sauce.

I put 1 1/2 cups of the marinade into the larger of the butts. I let it marinate(I guess this is the correct term) over night. I got up yesterday morning at 5 a.m. to start the fire. I then rubbed both butts in Rut's Rub. The one on the right has been injected. Butt on the left 6.5 lbs, right 7.5 lbs.

I got the fire up to 250 then put the butts on. If you remember from yesterday I got a new smoker. This is the first big cook on it. It was 6 in the morning, dew still covering the ground, I am on my second cup of coffee, a clear white smoke coming out of the smoker, I am in hog heaven (pun intended.) It will be a great day, well....Here is the short summary of my day:

I noticed quickly the temp started to waiver, it did this early and often. Then at some point, around 10, I walked outside and heard a noise that made my heart quake. What I heard was the top rack had fallen, hitting the bottom rack, into the water pan and on into the coals. I slowly opened the door to the smoker to make sure nothing fell out. Byrd came running out and helped me take the butts off get them into the oven on 225, while I got the smoke back up to temp and set up again. I wish I would have gotten a picture of this, but the frustration of the situation did not let me think that far ahead. All set up, the butts go back on. I thank Byrd for helping me to see the funny side of this and I get my spirit back. Then things settled into a nice routine of having about 2 hour breaks in having to do something. Around 11 last night the internal temp was 175. It was a long night to say the least. I wrapped them, in a sleepy haze,around 3 this morning when the internal timer went off at 190. They stayed on until 6 when they reached 210. I went back to sleep after that.

I pulled the pork this morning at 8. I am not sure I have ever gotten out of bed, poured a cup of coffee, and started to pull pork. What a great morning. The bones slid right out, great smoke ring, and the bark was delicious for breakfast. This is my pork plate, you can barely see the pig in the middle, it is only used for pork products.

Here they are pulled.

As I tasted them this morning, I couldn't decide which one I liked better. The one with the injection definitely had the little bit of extra flavor, but I still liked the straight pork flavor from the other one. A very tough decision. Maybe after lunch I will be able to make a better decision. I will do the injection again, partly because it was fun to prepare. Although it was a much longer cook than I had expected, and extremely frustrating on the new smoker, it was still a day/night spent outside cooking. I also will be able to take pulled pork to friends and family, who are anxiously awaiting. I will say this about this cook, I envy people with the BGE. There I said it.

New Smoker and Firehouse Chicken

2010-03-30T09:17:00.000-05:00

About a week ago I came across a free smoker. I know there is no such thing as free, but this truly was a free smoker, thanks Matt. I love new toys, especially free ones. It came with all the parts, even a cover, and doesn't look like it has been used much. It is a New Braunfels Company Smoker, well that is what the cover said, the actual lettering on the smoker itself has worn off. I couldn't find out much about it, other than NB Smoker Co. sold to CharBroil in 2002, closing its plant in Texas and moving production to Georgia. This particular smoker was discontinued as far as I can tell. Here is the new addition to the family. It was raining the day I brought her home, and I had to take pictures so she was inside.

Now that Byrd likes chicken thighs, thanks to Pickapeppa Chicken, that is what she asked for tonight for dinner. I am a happy guy. I recently bought a bottle of Firehouse Subs Captain Sorenson's Datil Pepper Sauce. It is great on their subs, but I new it had a more potential than just a sub topper. I marinated 4 chicken thighs in it for about 2 hours. Removed it from the marinade and let it sit uncovered in the fridge while the fire got going.

I placed a one grate on the 6 setting above the fire. I wanted good crispy skin, but did not want the sugars in the sauce to burn. I placed them skin side down for 20 minutes then flipped them and let them go for about 40 minutes more. We were having corn on the cob with dinner so I wrapped them in foil and placed them on the grate above the fire when I flipped the chicken, not wanting to make the same mistake again. The chicken came off when the internal temp of the largest piece was 165. The corn came off with the chicken.

We also got some great asparagus to go with dinner. Very simple a little olive oil, cavenders, and balsamic vinegar. I cooked them under the broiler for about 5 minutes.

The chicken was delicious, I will marinate it a little longer next time, but the flavor of the sauce did come through. Corn was actually done this time, and the nice crisp asparagus is a great companion on the plate. I am glad I got a feel for the new smoker. Right now there are two butts on it. I am doing a test on the flavor difference of an injected butt with dry rub, and one with just rub. Should be interesting. Stay tuned for the results.

Junk Food Sunday

2010-03-29T10:16:00.000-05:00

Every once and a while we have what we call Junk Food Dinner. This is a variety of frozen baked treats. Tonight that included pizza rolls, yes the kind out of the bag, and chips and party dip. We always throw in something to make it not so bad, so carrot sticks and sliced watermelon also made appearances. I did want to try my hand at the stuffed pork biscuits. These aren't really junk food, but they are finger foods so close enough. I wouldn't call the last time I made these a blunder, more of a wrong use of a key ingredient. So this time I got the store bought biscuits in a can. Much easier to work with.

I folded them and crimped the edges with a fork.

They went in the oven on 350 for 13 minutes. They came out golden brown and looked much better this time. Served with a side of a mixture of BBQ sauces I had on hand. I know the heart plate is pretty.

For dessert we made the caramel custard again. This has become a house favorite due to the great taste and easiness of the recipe. Much better this time, I used a real plate instead of paper, and no cracks.

The melted sugar turns into liquid gold.

The pork biscuits were much better this time, but I haven't perfected that one. I will keep trying though. The dessert was beyond good. It was also good for breakfast this morning with a cup of coffee. As for the rest of the junk food dinner it was great, but I will try home made pizza rolls that I saw on brent's blog next time.

Byrd's Spaghetti

2010-03-28T10:15:00.001-05:00

Comfort food. When you hear the term you automatically start thinking of what it mens to you. To some it is meatloaf and mashed potatoes, others its a simple mac n cheese, and in Croatia its sarma. I don't know any Croatians, but that's what Wikipedia said. I like learning new food facts. And the sarma actually looks delicious. To me it is spaghetti. I have talked of my love of noodles and my love for Byrd's sauce. Well here it is. I will say the measurements, or the lack there of, are her own. I will try to estimate them though, I may be off a little.

She starts by browning some ground beef (around a pound), then adds in diced onions(medium white), garlic(4 gloves minced), and mushrooms(1lb. sliced white button.) Next she normally adds in 2 cans of diced tomatoes, but we didn't have any. We did have some grape tomatoes(a little less than a pound) so they were sliced and went into the pot.

Then add in two cans of tomato sauce and 2 cans of tomato paste, then fill all of the cans with water and add in. So 4 cans of sauce and 4 cans of water.

The seasoning comes next. Here is everything she adds. The far right is sugar.

Her measurements are cover the top with everything, then drop in 2 bay leaves. As far as I can tell it is equal amounts of all, but she is heavier with the oregano. Probably a tablespoon of all, 2 of oregano.

Stir everything together, bring to a simmer and cover. She simmers this for about 2-3 hours. Stirring and tasting anytime she wants. I am not allowed to stir or taste without her presence. I think she fears I will add in a little CRP. I beg her too anytime this is on the stove. A great sauce for any noodle. We used the last of the Tagliarini. As usual we served with garlic cheese bread.

Even with the pound of mushrooms, I always wish there were more, but it was great as usual. This is my comfort food. Heart warming, delicious, filling food, the meal you can eat all the helpings you want. What is your comfort food?

Bacon Wrapped Onions w/ Balsamic Glaze

2010-03-26T09:18:00.000-05:00

I don't think side items get enough credit. Sometimes they definitely are the star of the show/plate. Tonight was one of times. A little back story, when Byrd and I started dating she swore the only thing she could cook was spaghetti sauce. At first I believed her, I had no reason not to, I did most of the cooking when we dined at our respective houses. When she did, it was spaghetti. I was ok with this, hers is delicious. Then one night she told me we were going to have steaks and bacon wrapped onions. Yes bacon wrapped onions. I am pretty sure this is when I fell in love. She stills says she couldn't cook before we met, I don't believe her as much now. With that being said we used to eat these all the time, but like somethings you eat to often you stop cooking them in order to try new things. Well they made a come back tonight. I was glad to see/eat them. A very simple delicious treat.

To prepare the onion, skin them, but don't cut off the ends.
Then quarter the onion. Each quarter will give you 3 perfect size wedges.
Wrap the wedges in bacon and secure with a toothpick.
Then cut the end of the onion wedge off.
Place on a baking sheet, lined with tin foil.
Drizzle with a generous amount of balsamic glaze. If your local grocer doesn't carry a balsamic glaze, buy a cheap balsamic vinegar, put it over medium/low to reduce by 1/2. It will become the consistency of syrup, and the flavor is very concentrated.

As a side three per person works out well, although I always want more than we make.

Bake in a 450 degree oven for 15 minutes then flip them. Back in for another 10-15 minutes depending on the thickness of your bacon. We used a rather thick slice so it took about 35 minutes total. When the bacon is crisp they are done.

A great side item, tonight we served them with a NY strip and a spinach salad.

It was a great meal, but I would have shared a steak in order to have twice as many onions. I am glad Byrd brought these up for a side item, they are very versatile and can go with just about anything, but also it was a great taste down memory lane.

Pizza Night

2010-03-24T08:48:00.001-05:00

Pizza is alway fun to make at home and I love thinking of new combinations. Byrd and I couldn't agree on just one type of pizza so we made two. I was going to make a thick crust pizza with the left over rib meat from a previous cook, Byrd a more traditional style. I say I was going to make mine thick crust, but when I tried to get the dough out of the tube it came in, it basically fell apart. I am not sure what happened, but it was bad. Byrd very easily rolled her thin crust out of the tube and it was perfect. I persuaded her to let me use 1/2 of it, stating that "we don't really need to make two large pizzas." She agreed then noticed the huge ball of dough that I rolled up and tried to hide. She asked why I didn't just throw it away, I said it would still be good for something. After she was finished laughing at me, she cut hers in half. After the dough was out of the oven from the proofing stage, stated on the tube, we began to build our pizzas.

I started mine with a mix of two BBQ sauces I had on hand. One was too sweet and thick, one too thin. Together they made a fine base for my pizza. Byrd used some left over spaghetti sauce from the fridge.

After the sauce was down, I added rib meat, cheese, diced jalapeno, cilantro, onion, mushrooms(on half), and cheese. Byrd made a cheese, pepperoni, onion, jalapeno, and mushroom pizza.

After the 8 minutes in the oven at 425, they were ready to eat. Here is the BBQ Rib Pizza

Byrd's traditional pizza

The pizzas were delicious like most pizzas are. I was happy that my combination worked. Now back to the discarded pizza dough. I just couldn't throw it away and had a thought of a recipe for pork stuffed biscuit dough, well this was like biscuit dough, so I went for it. I cut the ball down into workable pieces then put a little bbq sauce, rib meat and cheese inside. Not the prettiest of things, but the idea was great.

Not really sure how long to cook these, we threw them in with the pizzas and checked them every 5 minutes. They ended up taking about 20 minutes total.

Not near as good as the ones from the site would have been, but they were good. The thick crust pizza dough made them a little to bready. But at least I tried. And they were fun to eat.

Roast Pork Loin Stuffed with Spinach, Bacon and Onion

2010-03-22T21:51:00.000-05:00

I've had stuffed pork on my mind for about a week now. There were a couple of blogs that I read that really got my mouth watering. Both Nibble Me This, and My Year on the Grill had different takes on stuffed pork recently. I had to have one. I have been reading Frank Stitt's Southern Table for a couple weeks and guess what I came across last night, right there on page 223, a stuffed pork loin. A pork loin stuffed with rosemary, bacon, and onions of all things. Pork stuffed with pork. What a great idea. There was only one problem with the recipe from the book, Byrd does not enjoy rosemary. So I had to make a few changes.

The original recipe calls for:
1/2 lb. slab bacon, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 medium onions, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 cups 1-inch cubes crustless day-old French bread
2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
2 rosemary sprigs, leaves removed and finely chopped
1 small bunch flat-leaf parlsey, leaves removed and finely chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil or chicken broth, if necessary

This is what I used for the stuffing:
3 slices of bacon, diced
3/4 medium white onion, diced
3 slices day old white bread, crustless
3 cloves of garlic, crushed and finely chopped
1 frozen package of spinach, drained of all liquid
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Other than those changes to the stuffing, I followed the recipe exactly.
I sautéed the bacon and onions. Then set them aside to cool. Once cooled I added the spinach, bread, and garlic, in with them. The bread was a little dry, even with all of the delicious bacon drippings, so I added the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. I added salt and pepper to taste. Then I put the stuffing in a pastry bag, well the only pastry bag I have is a zip lock bag with a hole cut in one of the bottom corners.

I took a knife and inserted it in the center of the loin, turned it in a circular motion to create a hole. Then with the back end of a wooden spoon, I widened the hole by pressing against the sides until it was about an inch in diameter. Then stuffed it, by piping the stuffing into the whole in the center of the meat. Then seasoned the pork with salt and pepper.

I put it in the oven on 450 for 20 minutes, then turned the oven down to 325 and cooked it for 25 minutes. When the internal temperature reached 145 degrees I then pulled it and set it aside to rest for 10 minutes. I might have over stuffed it, but it looked and smelled great.

Still trying to go easy on the carbs, I made some steamed broccoli and carrots. All together it made quite a meal. This is my plate, I am not a huge fan of cooked carrots.

This was exactly what I wanted. The stuffing was great, the flavor from the spinach, bacon, onion and garlic worked perfectly with the pork. I am sure the original stuffing from Southern Table is divine, but I am pretty proud of what came out of my kitchen tonight. Plus now that I have this under my belt the possibilities are endless.

Smoker Fun

2010-03-22T10:02:00.001-05:00

Byrd and I set out yesterday to spend time with some family. My cousin Matt and I wanted to fire up his smoker and try out a few new rubs and well, just cook. This is an original smoker built by Matt. He documented the entire build on The Smoke Ring. Here is the link to his build. You can tell by the size, this isn't a cooker you fire up to do a little cooking so we had big plans for the day. Matt lives across from a pecan orchard so having plenty of it, that is what was used for the heat and smoke.

We got the temperature up to 250 and put on a brisket. It looks so lonely all by itself.

One of the reasons for this cook was to get our cooking times down for a competition in April. The Bodagetta BBQ is in its second year and is held at Auburn University. Matt and I both are Auburn graduates so what better place to enter our first competition. We tried a new rub that Matt has been working on for the spare ribs. It has a cast of the normal rub characters.

Now on to join the brisket

After the spare ribs were on, some family members dropped by to get a few items smoked while it was hot. Added to the spare ribs and brisket were 2 slabs beef short ribs, 2 pork tenderloins, 5 split chicken breasts, and 1 slab of pork baby back ribs. Like I said no reason to fire this behemoth up unless you are going to cook an obscene amount of food.

Both trays pull out for easy loading and unloading.

This is the brisket after it reached internal of 165. Then it was wrapped in foil and put back on till internal of 195.

The brisket sliced. Great smoke ring and flavor.

One of the slabs of spare ribs.

Matt's wife Erin, made some great sides. A marinated slaw and spinach Madeline.

The tenderloins, beef ribs, chicken, and baby back ribs went home with there respective owners so no pictures of those meats. They all looked great when they came out though. The ribs had a great flavor, and the sides were delicious. Spinach Madeline was new to me. I did get the recipe from Erin and I will be having it again soon. Once again we came out on top with no big errors on the cook. We got our times down and close to the flavors we wanted. We also got to sit around and enjoy the first day of spring by cooking and drinking beer. Not a bad way to start off the BBQ season. Not that the season ever really stops around here.

Caramel Custard

2010-03-20T09:33:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while my mother will send me recipes in the mail. They are usually something she saw in a newspaper or magazine that she thinks I will enjoy making. She knows me all to well. I love these packages. We got one of these the other day, it contained three desserts. Knowing we are having to watch what we eat, due to Byrd's doctor, one was a "Dessert Without the Guilt". It is a caramel custard. The picture of it made it look too tempting not to try. I would link it to the magazine it was from, but there is nothing on the bottom/top/sides of the copies I have. I will look into this more and give the creator their due. Start by placing a 1/2 cup of sugar in an 8 inch non stick cake pan, melt the sugar over med. heat until golden. Take off the heat and let it sit for 5 mins.

While that cools put 2 egg yolks, 1 large egg, 1(14 oz.) can fat free sweetened condensed milk, 1(12 oz.) can evaporated fat-free milk, 3 oz. 1/3 less-fat cream cheese, softened, and 1 Tbsp of vanilla extract into a blender. Blend well. Then pour on the sugar in the cake pan.

Place this in a water bath and into the oven at 350 for 1 hour.

My mom always writes notes on the recipes that she sends. These are things she added, removed, or thinks is a better way to make the printed recipe. I don't want to discredit the very talented chefs/cooks that come up with the recipes in the magazines, but they should consult my mother before printing. I say this because I forgot to "cover with foil before baking" which my mother wrote 2 different places on the recipe. So it turned out looking like this.

But after the 3 hours in the fridge I flipped it out onto a paper plate. Paper was not a smart choice on my part.

It cracked, but it was delicious. I have learned that desserts, when they don't come out pretty, are easier to eat. You don't have to worry about cutting the perfect wedge, you can just take a hunk and go. Or just eat right from the plate, this is frowned upon when you are not at home( like rolling your corn on the cob directly on the stick of butter). This will definitely be made again. I think next time, I will pour into small muffin pans, and after cooled top with sugar and broil them. Like mini brulees.

St. Patty's....Sort of.

2010-03-18T09:38:00.000-05:00

In the days leading up to St. Patty's day I had planned to make corned beef, cabbage, and Irish Boxty's. Standard Irish themed meal. Well yesterday morning Byrd and I stopped by her parents house to pick up some baby loot from Granny Annie (Byrd's grandmother) whom her mother went to see last weekend. They had some grilled sausage for us for lunch, Johnsonville Irish O'Garlic sausage. I had never seen this and think it creative and a bit funny that they named a sausage this. Putting an O' in front of something makes it Irish, kind of like adding vowels to the end of words to make them Italian or Spanish depending on the voice used. I am guilty of the latter. Menu change 1. Byrd wanted sausage instead of corned beef.
McGuire's Irish Pub is and has been one of my favorite restaurants throughout my life. This is the first and last place I have had Irish Boxty's. Basically they are garlic mashed potatoes, made into balls, rolled in herbed bread crumbs, and fried. They serve them with a horseradish sauce, salsa, and guacamole. I have no idea why these flavors work so well, but man do they. We got to running around town and time slipped away from us, so Menu change 2 Potato cakes instead of boxtys. I have never had a potato cake, but Byrd's dad used to make them for her when she was growing up so she wanted to make them.
The cabbage got to stay.
I fired up the Hibachi for the sausage. My plan was to grill them, then add them into the cabbage and onion pan.

While those cooked I shredded some cabbage, sliced some white onion, and diced some bacon. I started the pan with about 2 Tbsp of butter, then added 2 slices of diced bacon. Cooked until the bacon was almost crispy then added in the cabbage and onion. How to make cabbage unhealthy? Fry it in butter and bacon grease. Then I pulled the sausage off the grill and put a lid on it to simmer.

While I was running around doing this, Byrd was making Potato Cakes. She washed, peeled, and shredded 2 cups of potato. Then put them in a towel and rang out all of the water. Into a bowl, then added 3 eggs, 1 1/2 Tbsp of flour, and salt. I was in awe of my wife. She then broke out a cast iron skillet and added some oil. Once it was hot enough she started to spoon in the potato mixture. I was drooling at this point.

The doctor would not be happy if she new this is what we were cooking last night, but it's just one meal right.

As for the theme of the day, we definitely ended up more German than Irish, but that's ok, because it was delicious. As Byrd reminded me, our house smells like Waffle House, and it's because we cooked, not because we needed it to soak up the St. Patty's day festivities like years past.

Wings 3 Ways

2010-03-17T10:04:00.000-05:00

Lately Byrd has been craving Chinese food, mostly Hot and Sour soup and spring rolls. Yesterday the plan was to go pick some up and that would be dinner. But at some point I got a taste for wings, I don't know where it came from, but after I talked them up, she finally agreed to put the soup and spring rolls on hold, in order to satisfy my wing craving, I am a lucky guy. I have been wanting to try my friend Evan's (evanspices.com) sweet soy wings. I started to make the soy sauce/marinade. I am usually pretty good at following a recipe, but sometimes my mind wanders and I make mistakes. This was one of those times. Instead of the 1/8 cup of soy sauce and apple cider vinegar, I put 1/2 cup of each. I finished the sauce and well, it tasted fine so I went with it. I had a package of 8 full wings, that I cut down to drumsticks and flats. I took the "hook" as I call it off. I wanted a variety so I marinated 7 wings in this sauce. Reserving 2/3 for tossing and dipping.

Sweet Soy Sauce

1/2 cup Soy Sauce

1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1 cup Sugar

1 Tablespoon Crushed Red Pepper

Years ago I worked for a restaurant here in Birmingham named Locos Grille and Pub. I have always loved their hot sauce so I made some as well. This isn't their exact recipe, but I will say it's as close as it gets. They don't marinate their wings, they fry them and toss them, like most restaurants do. But I marinated 3 wings in the hot sauce just to see how it would taste grilled. I left 8 wings with no marinade or seasoning to toss in the sauces to see how much of a difference the marinade made.

Hot Sauce

1 1/2 cup Texas Pete Hot Sauce

1/4 cup Sugar

1 Tablespoon Blackening Seasoning

1/4 Tablespoon granulated garlic

I used the 30-20-10 method from Nibble Me This. I have never tried this method, but I have tried several of his dishes and have no reason to doubt him now. So I set up my grill for an indirect cook, while the wings were drying out in the fridge. I got my temperature to 350 and put them on.

I cooked them for 30 minutes lid on, flipped them, cooked for 20 minutes, then sauced them and put them directly over the fire for 10 to crisp them up. I took them off and sauced the wings. The wings I didn't marinade I tossed in the hot sauce and sprinkled the tops with lemon pepper seasoning. I used to do this when I worked at the above mentioned restaurant. I love the flavor pairing. Here are the wings with their best friends, celery, carrots and fies. We are still on the diet, but I needed some fries.

The wings turned out perfect. I will now live by the 30-20-10 method for wings. Great timing. The hot sauce tossed wings were great, although Byrd and I agreed that a mix of the sweet soy wings dipped in the hot sauce was our favorite.

My first Brisket

2010-03-16T08:35:00.001-05:00

I have been cooking a lot of red meat lately, due to the new diet Byrd and I are on. But there is one that I haven't cooked. The brisket. I have been scared of this meat for awhile. I have heard it is difficult, temperamental, and easy to dry out, but I am a sucker for a good deal. I was at the grocery store and they had a special on briskets, so of course I bought one. I chose a little one(2.49 lbs.) not wanting my first brisket to be too expensive, in case I ruin it. But once again I am up for the challenge, and have a great wife that is up for trying my experiments. With not much of a plan in mind I used the only rub I keep around, Rut's Rub. I have used this rub on ribs, butts, chicken, sausage and just about every other meat I can think of, but not red meat. It was on hand and I like the way it tastes, so I went for it. I have done a little research on briskets, so I at least knew the temperatures to look for. I also decided to go with apple chips for smoke, because I had them on hand, why else.

I got my temperature right on the smoker and put it on. I knew I had several hours until it would be done so I used a little of the cabbage I bought for a St. Patty's day treat to make my mom's slaw. This is a really easy recipe that I love. Shredded cabbage, thin sliced white onion, oil, white vinegar, sugar(well Splenda, still no sugar in the house, thanks diet) and celery seeds. It needs at least 4 hours to marinate, better overnight, good thing I had plenty of time.

In order to have a little more on the plate I thawed out some corn(no its not on the diet, but a FEW carbs won't hurt), added a little butter, salt and some of the afore mentioned rub to have a balanced meal.

I pulled the brisket when the temp reached 160 degrees, I wrapped the brisket in foil with a little beer and apple cider vinegar in the bottom for steam. Then put it back on the grill until it reached 190. It took about 5 hours and 45 minutes. I pulled it from the heat and let it rest while I cooked the corn.

It smelled great. I was really excited about my first brisket. After it rested, for as long as I could let it, I pulled the corn off the grill. Really should have given the corn more time, but hind site is 20/20. So after it rested I sliced it, not sure if I did this the right way, but it looked and smelled great.

With everything ready to eat.

I added the juice from the bottom of the foil package back to the top of the sliced pieces. It was better than I thought it would be. I truly am happy with the outcome of my first brisket. The slaw was good as usual. Now the corn, it felt hot and smelled good, but I guess it wasn't completely thawed when I put it on the grill. Nice and hot on the outside and still frozen by the cob. I am glad this was the worst part of my first brisket cook.

Pickapeppa Chicken

2010-03-15T10:21:00.000-05:00

I have known about Pickapeppa Sauce (you can usually find it in your local grocery store) for awhile now, but the only time I have had the pleasure is when one of my friends wifes has topped cream cheese with it. Now it is delicious that way, served with a few tasty crackers or veggies. But that was it for me and Pickapeppa. When I came across this recipe on Food & Fire, a great blog by the way, I was dying to try it. It looked simple enough, but it took planning. I am not a great planner, more of an impulse cook. However, I am a great bargain shopper. I came across a great deal on chicken thighs a week ago, so I naturally bought them, I took them out and froze them in bags of two and four. Byrd doesn't really like chicken on the bone, well she likes wings, but thats about as far as it goes. She was skeptical this time. I took a pack of four chicken thighs out of the freezer and let them thaw and then marinated them in the Pickapeppa based marinade. I did make a few changes to the original. First I cut the recipe in half since we were only doing 4 thighs. I also added a little crushed red pepper, just because I like a little extra spice every now and then. Food & Fire said to:"Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, overnight is better, 48 hours rocks." They were allowed 24 hours, because I just couldn't wait any longer.

I put them on the grill skin side down for 20 minutes, then flipped them and let them cook indirectly for 40 minutes. I did add some apple wood chips for a little of that sweet smoky flavor.

To go with the chicken I made some green beans. I started by rendering a slice of bacon and some red onion, then adding a can of beans.

This was by far the best chicken I have ever cooked. It was just that good. A perfect blend of sweet, tangy, and spicy. We did serve it with a side of the Pickapeppa Sauce, but agreed that it was not needed, the flavor was perfect. Byrd actually said we can have this again this week, maybe she has finally come around to the chicken thighs. I guess it is good that we have 36 left in the freezer.

Byrds Flourless Chocolate Cake

2010-03-14T22:34:00.001-05:00

The new diet has been going well, for me, but Byrd is really not enjoying the no sweets. So she set out to find a recipe for a flourless, sugarless, chocolate cake. Nothing about this sounds good to me. I would rather just not have any desert than something that is full of "lesses". However, she wants/needs the dessert, she says. So she found one. I am a fan of Tyler Florence and his show Tyler's Ultimate...and after she found this recipe, I remember seeing him make it. This does not mean that I'm not skeptical, but I am a trooper and willing to help out when needed. After breakfast, eggs and bacon(did I mention I am loving this diet), I went to the store to get Splenda, in order to have what we need to be sugarless. We, and by we I mean Byrd, with a little help from me, set the computer up in the kitchen and followed all directions, only changing the sugar to Splenda in order to make it sugarless. Here are the stages of the semi-sweet chocolate and butter being melted in the double boiler. This is the smallest metal bowl I own. It's only use before now was to mix dry rub and make dressing.

While the chocolate was melting I separated the egg whites from the yolks. This was all the help Byrd needed. I am a bad sous chef I will admit. I normally try to take over projects, but I sat back and relaxed as this one came together. Here is Byrd and Baby Byrd (resting on the counter under the apron) pouring the batter in the springform pan. Same springform pan from the Cheesecake incident of 2010.

After this picture she put the batter into the oven for the allotted 25 minutes. She checked the center with a toothpick and it wasn't quite done, so she put it back in for 5 minutes.

It looked just like the cracked earth it was supposed to. Then as the recipe said, we waited 10 minutes to allow it time to cool. I hate waiting for things to cool. While it was cooling Byrd made homemade whip cream, using the Splenda again to sweeten and added a little vanilla extract for flavor. I am really proud of my Byrd.

I take back my statement on things with "lesses" in the name. This was great. A great treat for anyone, no matter what their diet may be. Byrd is happy now that there is a sweet treat in the house she can have while we are on the diet. I am happy that I was actually able to watch and only helped out, when asked.

Herbed Strips

2010-03-14T12:24:00.001-05:00

Night two of the red meat diet, calling it this makes it sound better to me. I looked around several sites to find a quick steak rub or some way to change up the flavor a little bit. I came across a few herb encrusted steaks, but nothing matched what I had time for, bad planning on my part, they looked delicious. I did come across a jar of herbes de provence in my pantry. This particular blend was: Winter savory(no idea what that is), thyme,rosemary,basil, tarragon, and lavender flowers. Everything sounded great except the lavender, which reminds me of lotion for some reason. The blend smelled good, so I used it. I was really looking forward to getting these on the grill, but oh the wonderful weather of Alabama. It started to rain. I am glad I have the grill pan.

I wish we could have had potatoes, but Byrd wanted me to try her mom's creamed spinach recipe. Creamed spinach from my childhood was not a pleasant memory to bring up, so I steamed a little broccoli just in case. The creamed spinach was easier than I would have thought. Cook frozen spinach, squeeze out all the water, return to pan, then add butter and 1/2 a package of cream cheese. Very simple.

The steak was delicious. The herb blend added a great flavor that I really enjoyed. The creamed spinach was great, it did not give me nightmares like it did when I was a child. I am now over that food phobia. When being forced to eat a lot of steak, I know tough life, it is nice to find new ways to flavor the meat.

New Diet

2010-03-13T08:56:00.000-06:00

Until yesterday I haven't had much to say about my wife, Byrd, being pregnant. A few things have changed:

Her steaks are now med/med well, instead of rare/med. rare

She doesn't have wine/beer while we are in the kitchen, or anywhere.

She eats all the sweets she wants, well she did that before she was pregnant, so no change there.

She loves potatoes, which she never really cared about before.

Yesterday the doctor told her that she is anemic. Low iron count in her blood. So 1st hiccup and not a big one, well for me. New rules: Very limited intake of sweets, this is a big one for her. Lower carb intake, no more potatoes, no more wedges, her favorite side item as of late. She also has to take Iron supplements, which we have been told is like adding concrete to the stomach. The good news is the doctor told her to "eat lots of red meat" and "leafy green vegetables" So we are looking at a high protein, low carb diet. This part works for me. I will miss the carbs, but I get to have a lot of steak, so I think I will be ok.

I have always loved a spinach salad, with hot bacon dressing. So for tonights dinner I set out to finally make homemade bacon dressing. I found a simple recipe from Paula Deen for the dressing. I followed the recipe, except I used Dijon mustard instead of the honey mustard, I had it in the house. As for the salad, thin sliced white button mushrooms, red onions, hard boiled eggs, and of course bacon.

For our red meat, Publix had top sirloin filets on sale so that's what's for dinner. I don't normally marinate steaks, but in order to get a little flavor in the sirloins, I used some Pilleteri's Original Marinade. This is a product of Mr. P's Butcher Shop and Deli, which is a great little local place. My little Hibachi doing its job.

I tossed the fresh spinach, onions, bacon, and mushrooms in the dressing. Then plated them and topped with the egg.

The steaks were definitely not the star of the show, the spinach salad was. Now that I have a bacon dressing under my belt we will have it more often. I know it is possible to cook a sirloin where it is tender and juicy, I just haven't figured it out yet. This I will work on. I have a lot of red meat to cook in the upcoming months so I am up for the challenge.

Brinner

2010-03-12T07:59:00.000-06:00

Brinner (I heard this term on Scrubs, one of my favorite TV shows) is breakfast for dinner. Growing up I lived across the street from my grandparents and at least once a month she would have everyone over for supper, as she called it, and it was breakfast. This was one of my favorite night/nights of the month. I am not sure if she used pancake mix, I doubt she did, but I always have. Tonight that changes. I looked through a few cookbooks and decided to go with the buttermilk pancakes recipe from "the all-new ultimate Southern Living Cookbook." The batter was thicker than the usual pancakes, which come from the Aunt Jemima box, but I guess that is to be expected.

Another component of tonights Brinner is country scrambled eggs. My mom calls them this, so I do as well. Brown a little butter, then let the egg whites cook before breaking the yolk. Then scramble. Add cheese if wanted, Byrd wanted.

I wanted to try something a little different so I dipped half a slice of bacon in the pancake batter, just to see how it would taste. Not that it can be bad, its bacon.

All together now.

I am glad I tried the non box pancakes, not that box pancakes are bad, these were just much better. Around here we have brinner a good bit, so I am anxious to try more things inside pancake mix, such as sausage or just more bacon. I wonder if you could bake the batter in a muffin cup with several different fillings? May have to try that soon.

Smoked Chicken and Relish Sandwich

2010-03-11T08:38:00.000-06:00

Today for lunch I really wanted to try some pulled pork pockets from Sizzle on the Grill with a variety of smoked chicken and pork. These look delicious. I started to pull some meat out of the freezer, when Bryd reminded me we didn't have any biscuit dough. So we had to make a quick change of plans, but since BBQ was already on my mind, might as well have a sandwich. I thawed out some smoked chicken that I had frozen in some Saw's sauce. I have never frozen chicken with sauce on it, but it turned out great. The flavor was still in the chicken and the sauce added a nice spicy touch.

With left over BBQ chicken or pork, I like to make a little something I call BBQ relish. A very simple mixture of diced white onions, dill pickles, and what ever sauce I have in the refrigerator. Today for a little extra bite, I added some diced jalapenos.

Just a little on top to add that extra kick to a delicious smoked chicken sandwich. Here partnered with some Doritos. While Doritos are my favorite chip, I prefer plain Lays with BBQ. I just didn't have any in the house.

A great simple lunch. The onion roll added a nice change of taste to a normal BBQ sandwich. I still want the "pockets" and will have them soon, but this satisfied my BBQ craving.... for now.

Braised Beef Short Ribs

2010-03-10T11:20:00.000-06:00

If only you could smell my house right now. It is unbelievable. But since you can't I will just tell you about it and show you some pictures. A month or so ago I read an article in Fine Cooking about short ribs.(This last link has the exact recipe I followed. Except I added in a little paprika during the 3rd step.) Then a few weeks ago I had my first short ribs at a local restaurant, Do-Di-Yos. So I got out the article and made the decision on what's for dinner. This being the first time cooking them, I chose the simplest recipe from the magazine. I started by searing the ribs in some olive oil. This picture shows how this eye on my stove tilts to one side, so I have to constantly spin the Dutch oven throughout the sear.

I removed them, and added the vegetables. Carrots, celery and onion.

Then added the paprika, garlic, bay leaves and a little Red wine.

I put the ribs back, then added more red wine and beef broth.

Brought it up to a simmer then put the top on and in to the oven for 2 1/2 hours. Every 40 minutes I turned the ribs in the braising liquid. Here are the ribs after the alloted cook time, while I finished the sauce.

Here is the finished dish with some roasted potatoes.

This was a labor intensive dish, but very well worth it. The meat fell off the bone and the sauce was phenomenal. Next time I cook this one, I will double the recipe so there will be left overs.

Caprese Tagliarini

2010-03-09T12:13:00.000-06:00

After a trip to Carraba's Italian Grill a few months ago I have been searching for a type of pasta we had. I do this a lot, try something new then search endlessly until I can find it, and cook it at home. I finally came across the pasta. Tagliarini.

I wanted a very thin chunky sauce to go with the pasta. I love cooking with no real recipe in mind. Just kinda shooting from the hip. The idea was to have a caprese salad in a sauce. I sauteed some onions, mushrooms and garlic in extra virgin olive oil. Then added a couple cans of diced tomatoes. Then into the sauce went a little salt, Italian seasoning, a bay leaf, and sugar. To balance out the sweetness from the sugar and tomatoes I added a little crushed red pepper. I let it simmer for about 15 minutes while we sat on the porch and enjoyed the weather. Upon returning indoors, the smell was intoxicating. A good sign of a great sauce in the making.

Nothing goes better with a pasta dish than garlic cheese bread. While on our trip to the coast we stopped by Sweet Home Cheese Farm and picked up some of their garlic gouda cheese. I sliced some Italian bread from the local Publix bakery, added some butter and the cheese. Then into the broiler.

After the noodles were drained I put them in a bowl. Then topped them with some fresh basil and diced mozzarella. Then I added the sauce on top, and tossed. I didn't want the basil to cook, just warm up.

The sauce had a great fresh taste. The basil barely wilted, and the mozzarella slightly melted so the chunks were a great surprise every few bites. The cheese bread was toasted on top, and soft on the bottom, just the way I like it. This was a successful attempt to get the flavors I wanted in the sauce. I love when that happens.

Surf and Turf

2010-03-08T19:41:00.000-06:00

So after a long day of having fun in the sun and tasting BBQ, we thought a great surf and turf would be the right ending to the day. We stopped by Blalocks, the local fresh seafood and specialty market, and picked up some ribeyes and scallops. So as the sun set we started on dinner. I say we here because it wasn't just Byrd and I. We had two other great cooks in the house.

With four of us in the house we had them cut us a couple of 20 ounce steaks. A little salt, well what I thought was salt, actually sugar and pepper. Then a little Worcestershire.

We cooked some bacon then wrapped the scallops. No seasoning needed.

We are not allowed to have a charcoal grill on the patio, so a tiny propane tank Webber has to do. In order for this not to be an all meat dinner we grilled an onion as well. We cut a wedge out of the top then added some butter, garlic and Worcestershire sauce and made a package out of foil.

The onion after the grill did its job.

My cousin took care of the scallops. Searing them in some browned butter.

We also had Byrd's favorite, potato wedges, but no pictures this time. The scallops were the real treat of dinner, they were delicious. I will have to keep the browned butter cooking method in mind next time I have some fresh scallops. I haven't cooked on a gas grill in a long time, so I did over cook the steaks a bit, but nobody complained. The meal was a great ending to an outstanding weekend. It is always nice to get to spend time with family, especially when they love food as much as we do.

Byrd's First Cheesecake

2010-03-05T19:16:00.000-06:00

So we made it safely to the coast and as planned my wife, Byrd, started her very first homemade cheesecake. We got our most recent issue of Fine Cooking in the mail a couple of days ago and it had a great article on how to make cheesecake. She decided it was going to be the first thing she did when we arrived today. She got off to a rocky start when using the food processor on the graham cracker crust, it exploded on her. But the crust came together as soon as I cleaned up the mess.

The batter was much less eventful it went off without a hitch. I am very proud of her. It took an hour in the oven and then it had to sit for an hour cooling, before you put it in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. This baking thing takes too much patience. I am ok waiting for a butt to come of the smoker 20 or so hours later, but this doesn't make the entire house smell delicious. I don't know if I can take much more of this baking.
So here is where the pretty, finished picture would be. But there was a slight issue with bringing the nicely chilled homemade cheesecake out of the refrigerator. See as Byrd pulled the pan from the fridge, her hand went smoothly right through the bottom of the pan and the whole homemade cheesecake landed face down on the newly cleaned rug... So there is no pretty picture.

I will say that it was the best cheesecake I have ever put in my mouth. We scraped what we could off the freshly vacuumed carpet, (from the crust incident) and enjoyed every bite. The texture was perfect and flavor even better. This will not be the last time she makes cheesecake, but it will be the last time she gets to serve it!

Potato.....and Steak

2010-03-05T11:20:00.000-06:00

I hate to see my grill being put through this. Snowy rain is not its favorite weather, or mine. This is a sad grill.

With the unusually cold, wet weather gone for the moment, time to get back outside. I love the combination of a steak and potato as most people do, but sometimes find it a bit monotonous. Time to try a new potato. So after reviewing a few methods from fellow bloggers, My Year on the Grill and Evanspices I decided to give it a shot. What could be better than a potato off the grill?

I was glad to get back outside, so here is my now happy grill.

The potatoes before they went on. Most people would use butter or some form of oil from a bottle to grease up the potatoes. Since I keep bacon grease in the refrigerator, a glutton/southern thing, thats what I used to help the Kosher salt stick. I left them on indirect heat for about an hour and a half.
The steak was lightly seasoned with salt, pepper, and onion powder. Then cooked for about 3 minutes a side. I love the bone-in rib-eye, or actually any bone-in steak. You get to eat steak and then eat a rib.

Here they are side by side, almost spooning each other. These are quite a pair.
A potato from the grill is absolutely delicious, much more flavor than coming out of an oven. I was really surprised at how much the potato soaked in the aroma of the grill. Next time I will put a few in the smoker and see the difference. I wonder what smoked potato salad would taste like? Oh, and the steak was pretty good as well.

Candied Bacon and Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-03-04T16:52:00.000-06:00

We have been planning a trip to The Smokin' in the Square BBQ Festival in Pensacola, FL for a month or so and tomorrow we get to leave. I've been to several festivals in my life, but this will be the first time at this one so I am extremely excited about a weekend of great Q. In order to have a few treats to take along with us for the weekend I decided to bake again today. I know this is ridiculous, 2 days baking in a row. I am that bored with no work. This does give me a lot of free time to read all of the great food bloggers that I guess I aspire to be. I ran across a blog that first made me laugh at the title, Accountants can cook?, and then drool at the name of a cookie. It involves my favorite food, BACON. To be exact, candied bacon. I have heard of candy bars that have bacon in them, but have never been able to locate one in the stores. The full recipe from the afore mentioned blog is here.

First the candied bacon: 1/2 a cup of light brown sugar sprinkled on top and baked. Then cooled.

All ingredients mixed together with the chopped bacon and chocolate chips on top.

The cookie dough balls before baking. Yes, that is half the loaf of Chocolate Chip Cornbread Breakfast Cake from yesterday. Yes there is only 2 of us in the house, and it was good enough to eat half in under 24 hours.

Same cookies, I just really liked this picture.

Out of the oven after the 12 minutes and cooled. Well all cooled except the 2 we ate immediately.

This picture actually shows the delicious super food, bacon, coming out of the top of the cookie.

These were some of the best cookies that I have ever eaten, and definitely the best ones I have ever made. I thank you Accountants can cook? I have learned a lot from these last 2 days of baking. I actually can bake if I put my mind to it and have the help of my beautiful wife. If I am to continue baking I need a few more kitchen items. A cooling rack, and something called Silipat to be specific.

Dinner Requirements

2010-03-03T20:41:00.000-06:00

While driving around Byrd asked me to cook something for dinner. Her requirements were: "Cube steak, rice, onions, some form of gravy, and mushrooms if you want." This has happened a lot more since she has been pregnant and this is a much easier list to work with than some. These can make a edible dinner. Since it was on hand I used venison. Lightly floured and seasoned into a pan of butter and oil. Why I mix the two I don't know, I am sure I saw it on TV.

After browning on both sides I removed the meat and started the gravy. I made the same style of gravy as Rouladen-ish. Then returned the venison to the hot tub of gravy.

Last Christmas my MIL gave us a Real Simple magazine subscription. It is a wealth of information on a wide variety of, well, crap. I enjoy it. I bring this up because a year or so ago they had an article on how to cook rice. It was immediately ripped out and put in the recipe box. I never stray from this. It is always perfect. The lima beans came from a bag. This is the only use a microwave has, that and popcorn.

Very simple and delicious and Byrd loved it. I can't wait for the next list.

Chocolate Chip Cornbread Breakfast Cake

2010-03-03T16:18:00.000-06:00

I want to start this off by saying I am not a baker. I am not great at measuring anything exactly right. I also have a hard time not messing with stuff while it's cooking. But earlier today I was reading Noble Pig and saw this one, well Byrd saw it and had to have it. So I set out to actually bake something today. I followed the recipe almost to the T. I did stray on 3 things, only out of me being cheap. I don't own a metal loaf pan, I have a glass one. I didn't have yellow corn meal, I had white. Also I had Milk Chocolate Chips, not Semi Sweet.

At this point I was doing well. I had successfully mixed, but not over mixed, the dry and wet ingredients. I also got everything into the loaf pan with out a major spill. I was happy. After being in the oven for the required time and letting stand for the 10 min here it is.

The smell from the kitchen was intoxicating. One of the hardest things I have done lately was to let this sit for 10 minutes after it came out. As excited as I was, Byrd was drooling. She started to get a little angry that I had to take pictures before we cut into the loaf of heaven.

For some reason all of the chocolate chips fell to the bottom. So here it is upside down.

This was delicious. As directed we ate it warm with lots of butter. I can't wait to have this again tomorrow morning with my coffee. I am glad I tried something new. I will definitely make this again, but I will follow all the directions. Lesson learned, follow all directions when it comes to baking.

Stuffed Peppers

2010-03-02T18:32:00.000-06:00

This afternoon Byrd and I went through the what's for dinner dance. Since she had a hair appointment it was up to me. Although I love our local Publix, I hate going to the grocery store. So my plan was to go through the pantry, freezer, fridge and come up with dinner. I found somethings I could work with. Stuffed peppers it is. I cut off the top of the bell pepper, in this case we had red, clean out the ribs and seeds. I hate to throw away food so I diced the tops to in the stuffing. Then place them in boiling water for 5 minutes. Then set them aside to cool.

I took the casing off of a link of hot Italian sausage and cooked it with some diced onions and the diced top of the pepper. Removed it from the pan then cooked some chicken tenders then cut them into bite size pieces. We had a box of Olive Oil and Garlic couscous so I cooked it according to the directions on the box. Then it all goes in a bowl. Once mixed into the now cool peppers.

We also had some feta left over from our trip to the Sweet Home Cheese Farm. I crumbled it up and on top it goes. Then into the oven on 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

I topped them off with some diced tomato and green onion. Other than bacon, which can top any food and make it better, these two are my choices for toppings.

The first time I stuffed peppers it was with rice and ground beef. This one has come a long way. I am glad I didn't have to go to the store tonight and still had a great dinner for us. On a side note: Right now Byrd is eating a lot of ice cream. I don't usually partake, but lately she has been buying the Girl Scout Cookie flavors of Edy's. If you haven't had the pleasure and like the cookies the ice cream is great!

Boneless Pork Chops

2010-03-01T20:59:00.000-06:00

Boneless pork chops are not one of my favorite thing to cook. They are always dry and tasteless, of course this is due to how I cook them. It never ends well for me. But I refuse to give up, and they were on special at our local Publix. I seasoned these with salt and pepper, onion powder and smoked paprika. I browned them in a little butter, and by a little I mean 2 tablespoons. I am always worried about drying out boneless pork chops, so they may have been on each side for about 2 minutes. Then removed them from the pan.

These potato wedges are a common theme these days. I think they are Byrds favorite pregnant food.

The mushrooms were a test. Trying to make them taste like some we had at a local restaurant. And I will say they were really close. Sauteed in butter with a little salt and pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, steak seasoning, and season salt. Let all the butter soak into the mushrooms then added a couple teaspoons of water, and reduced heat to low.

Back to my idea of how not to dry out the pork chops, this time. With no wine or stock in the house, I dissolved a beef bouillon cube in a couple cups of water and used this to deglaze the pan. When I got everything off the bottom of the pan I added the chops back. Then covered and let simmer for about 8 mins.

All together it made a great plate.

This attempt at pork chops was much better than the last several. They were tender, juicy, and full of flavor. With the added mushrooms it was a great dinner. I no longer have the fear of cooking boneless pork chops.

Forgotten Hashbrowns

2010-02-28T11:40:00.000-06:00

Most Sunday mornings we like to have more than our normal breakfast of yogurt. This is a dish that I used to make in college, and honestly had forgotten about. Recently a friend called and wanted some ideas for brunch dishes and asked about this one. I am glad he did. Maybe with this blog I want have the worries of forgetting dishes anymore. I would normally use frozen hasbrowns, but I happened to have a potato around so I grated it. To start I diced bacon, cooked and removed it from the pan. I left the grease from the bacon in the skillet and started the hasbrowns. After flipping them I added the bacon and onions.
I seasoned these with Boar's Breath Blazin' Cajun Seasoning. A friend of mine brought this back from Louisiana a while back and I love it, thanks Jake. It is not hot, just has great flavor.
After the potatoes are fully cooked add the eggs, careful not to break the yolks.
We don't have a lid for this skillet, so a plate will have to do. This allows the steam to cook the eggs and eventually melt the cheese.
I should have steamed the eggs a little longer before adding the cheese, if you don't this happens.
Even with the "sliding cheese factor" this was a great breakfast. Its nice to be reminded of dishes forgotten.

"Double Cheese" Burgers

2010-02-28T11:30:00.000-06:00

The cheeseburger may be my favorite food item. I crave them. A simple burger topped with any kind of cheese is delicious. It is a perfect blend of all the food groups. Grain(Bread), Fruits and Vegetables(lettuce, tomatoes, onions),Dairy(Cheese),Meat and Protein(Beef), Fats, Oils and Sweets(Mayo, Ketchup). If I were ever in the situation to have a last meal, and I hope I never am, this would be it. But these aren't your normal burgers. A friend of mine at www.evanspices.com calls these his "middle burgers." His were the inspiration behind my concoction. Start with ground beef (80/20), seasoned with a little soy sauce, Worcestershire, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Make really thin patties for the bottom. Place a slice of American cheese on top. Then top with another thin patty. Make sure you completely close off the sides of the meat.. Then on to the grill.

I tried to leave them as long as I could on the first side. A good rule of thumb for burgers is to only flip them once, plus I was worried the cheese would come seeping out.

As for the fries, we decided to go with potato wedges. Take an Idaho potato and cut it in to 12 wedges. Soak them in cold water for a few minutes, then boil for about 5 mins. Remove, pat dry, then toss with olive oil and season. Place them on a nonstick pan and into the oven on 450 for about 20 mins. Season again as soon as they come out of the oven. We use McCormick's Broiled Steak Season.

The double cheese part comes from adding a couple slices of bacon then cheese to cover. Here it is on a toasted onion roll with the wedges.

These were delicious. It takes a little more work than a regular cheeseburger, but it was definitely worth the time. Next time I may try to place the bacon inside as well.

Rib Goulash

2010-02-27T14:00:00.000-06:00

Growing up my mom made goulash. It consisted of beans, ground beef and seasonings. It was delicious. With a little left overs from last night I thought I would make my own.

I chopped up some rib meat and onions.

Then added a little left over baked beans. Poured it over two slices of white bread and topped with diced dill pickle. Add some chips and deviled eggs and here we go.

Not the normal left over meal, but trying new things it always fun. It was delicious. After lunch I was posting last night's food and Byrd came in with these.

Obviously there were smores ingredients left from last night as well.

I love my life/wife.

Friday cookout

2010-02-27T12:50:00.000-06:00

With a great forecast for the weekend, we thought a cook out was in order. I thought trying a new rib would be fun, so instead of baby backs I used loin ribs. A little meatier and a lot more fat. Also I am trying lump mesquite charcoal. I don't know why, actually I do, it was on sale at Sams. I have been using lump charcoal for a while now, but never mesquite. I was worried that the mesquite would be over powering, but why not. I also opted not to add any wood chips for smoke. I used my normal Rut's Rub and started them off at 215 degrees. I left one slab dry the entire cook. The other two I misted with a blend of Welch's Peach and White Grape juice mixed with Apple Cider Vinegar every 20 mins. I thought the sweetness of the juice would work well with the mesquite. I wrapped the last two slabs in tin foil with a little of the juice. After two more hours I unwrapped them and placed them directly over the fire and basted them for the last 15-20 minutes.

And sliced. Without the wood chips I didn't get the smoke ring , but I did get delicious tender ribs. I missed the ring.

No cookout is complete without baked beans. Canned beans with a little ketchup, mustard, onions, brown sugar, salt and pepper, mixed together in a bowl, then topped with bacon. I think everything should be topped in bacon.
Deviled eggs. This is my mother in laws recipe for them, and the first time Byrd has ever made them. These are delicious. Not your normal eggs, they have olives and bacon in the stuffing as well as the normal characters. I know it sounds a little weird, but try it. Not to take a slogan from a local restaurant, but "there is nothing like'em nowhere." It's true.

Here it is all together. Not the greatest picture, but....
Everything was great. Once again Byrd and I put good food on the table. But sometimes the food isn't the best part of the night. Fire pit, cold beer, iPod on shuffle, good friends and family, even if the food was horrible, it still would have been a great night.

Steak Frites

2010-02-23T18:38:00.001-06:00

When trying to figure out dinner, steaks are an easy and delicious way to go. Steak and a baked potato will always be a great combination, but sometimes it's nice to change things up a little bit. I have a love for all cuts of beef, so going to pick out the steaks for the night I came across one I have never cooked. The Chuck Eye Steak. I have actually never heard of this cut of beef before, so I had to look into it. The chuck eye steak is cut from the chuck eye roast, makes sense. It is further down from the rib roast, the ribeye steak, so is less tender and flavorful than the delicious ribeye. It also said that it has a tendency to dry out. I hate dried out, over cooked steak. So I knew this was going to be tricky. I seasoned the steaks well with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder. I cooked them over medium heat so they wouldn't dry out.

There are so many ways to cook the potato. One of our favorites is to cut them into 1/4 in sticks and then soak them in cold water. Then pat them dry and toss them in olive oil and a good dose of pepper. Into the oven in a non stick pan on 450 for about 30-35 minutes, flipping every so often.
A good drizzle of chunky bleu cheese dressing and it was delicious. I have no regrets on the chuck eye steak. It was delicious, as most red meats are.

Bacon breakfast bowls??

2010-02-22T08:38:00.000-06:00

We had a great weekend of family and food. We spent Saturday afternoon and evening with Byrds family cooking ribs, and I think everything else that you can put on a grill, then Sunday my folks wanted us to drive down for dinner. We usually don't like to travel on Sunday, but since we have plenty of time at the moment why not. It is not only good for your heart to get to see your family, but it's always a culinary treat. I have said it before, but I learned my love for food in my mom's kitchen. She taught me the basics, and is still teaching today. I am not sure what you should call this dish, but bacon breakfast bowls is what comes to mind. Taking half cooked bacon and wrapping them in a muffin pan, then placing some green onion and cheddar grits is the beginning.
You leave a small dent in the grits so the egg yolk will stay on top and the whites will run down.
This was a neat little trick, like I said she is always teaching and I am always willing to learn. Top with some shredded gruyere and mild cheddar cheese, green onions and thyme.

Bake on 400 until the eggs are done to your liking. These tasted as good as they look. Mom also made some baked french toast.
Brinner, or breakfast for dinner, is always a favorite of mine. Now this was a little fancier than the normal brinner, but I will say it was delicious and a lot of fun to make. This is a great idea for any meal. Using ham instead of bacon, polenta instead of grits, or next time I may use ham for the base and put bacon in the grits and on top. The combinations are endless.

Filet Oscar

2010-02-14T10:38:00.000-06:00

With a little time off from work, and by a little I am not sure when we will go back, Byrd and I decided to take a trip to the coast. My favorite kind of trip is one with no agenda. This was definitely one of those. Relax, eat, regenerate, and of course eat more. No better place than the coast. Here is our view from the patio.

And here right before sunset.

After a couple days of doing nothing, which was great, we decided to head to a local cheese farm my parents told us about. So we drove into Elberta, about 20 minutes north, to Sweet Home Cheese Farm. A great little out of the way spot that offers a wide variety of homemade cheeses. After trying around ten different cheeses, we decided to get 7. All of the cheese was great, but our favorites were habanero with a slice of granny smith apple, toasted onion with pear, and garlic with the apple.

Being the night before Valentines Day we thought a steak dinner was in order. I seared the filets, seasoned with Cavenders, on both sides in a grill pan then placed them in the oven for about 8 minutes. Normally I don't leave them in this long, but they were thick steaks.
I also roasted some asparagus in the oven with a little olive oil and Cavenders. Since we were at the beach, and kinda on vacation, I made a Bearnaise sauce and added a little fresh lump crab meat, making it Filet Oscar, I think.
I am not really sure if this is exactly Filet Oscar, but in my mind anything with sauce, asparagus and crab meat is Oscar. Dinner was delicious and the company better. Also Byrd really loved the fact that dinner matched the plates.

Sweet Pepper Spaghetti

2010-02-06T07:25:00.000-06:00

Since Byrd and I met she has been the spaghetti sauce maker. Although I have several sauces up my sleeve, hers is that good. When it comes to traditional spaghetti sauce it is what I crave. The only problem is she doesn't share my passion for all things noodles. So eating spaghetti is a treasured night around here for me. Tonight was that night, but I thought I would make the sauce to give her a well deserved break. If I remember correctly, I got the original recipe for this one off a food show when I was in college. This sauce begins with thinly slicing a red onion, 3 yellow peppers and 3 red peppers. Heat up 6 tablespoons of Olive Oil on medium heat until smoking. Add in the vegetables, 1 Tbsp of CRP, and 2 Tbsp of Oregano. After about 5 minutes I added 4 gloves of minced fresh garlic and a pound of sliced white button mushrooms. Cook until tender, about 20 minutes total.

Since I posted this I did go back and find the original recipe: Spaghetti with Sweet Pepper--Spaghetti con Sugo di Peperoni

After the peppers are tender add a can of tomato paste and cook until it darkens, which takes about 20 minutes stirring occasionally.Then add in a cup of red wine. Use a dry red, it seems to work better with the sweetness of the peppers. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. I let this cook for 30 minutes or so, adding a little wine and water, to keep the sauce the consistency of ragu.

You can't have spaghetti without garlic cheese bread. Lately we have been using Arnold Select Sandwich Thins, which are lower in calories and get very crispy in the oven. So here it is with a glass of the same wine used in cooking.

It takes a while to cook a great sauce, but it was worth it in the end. Don't be alarmed that this is a vegetarian dinner, it doesn't happen often around here. Over the years I have added a variety of meat, but it is never as good as the original. But for a great sausage and peppers dish, add links of Italian sausage.

Pizza Salad

2010-02-04T20:25:00.000-06:00

There are many kinds of pizza: delivery, take and bake, frozen or homemade. It doesn't matter what kind, it is delicious. One quote that holds true, though I am not sure who said it, is "sex is like pizza, even when it is bad it is still good." Here is the latest pizza at our house. We used Flatout Multi-grain flat bread as the crust. After a couple of tries we found that 5 minutes in the oven on 350 before building the pizza is just right for a crispy pizza. We started with sauce, added CRP, then some mozzarella, then turkey pepperoni(trying to watch the calories and they taste good), diced onions and peppers, and jalapenoes. Topped with cheese and back in the oven. Then one on the right is Byrd's, she loves cheese.

An up close picture of mine.

On to the salad. Sometimes simple is the key to a great salad. While in college a great friend of mine introduced me to the best simple salad. Lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and Ken's Steakhouse Olive Oil Vinaigrette. Great and simple. I hate to admit it but it has been over 10 years now and it is still a great combination. I do add some onions and with pizza I mix a little blue cheese dressing with the vinaigrette. This has a lot to do with the amount of CRP that I put on top of the pizza. This is called Pizza Salad and not pizza and salad because I like a bite of the cold salad on top of every bite of pizza.
This was a great topping combination, and that's the great thing about pizza, the combinations are endless.

Rouladen-ish

2010-02-03T20:28:00.000-06:00

After the "deer balls" the other day I have been thinking of a dish my mom used to make called Rouladen. I have never tried to make this particular dish of hers so she got the "mom I want to cook something you used to make phone call", which she gets often. Rouladen is basically a meat roll, that is not a technical definition but you get the gist of it. My mom used cube steak, but I happen to have a freezer full of venison, and we go to the local Publix enough so...we took venison cube steak seasoned it with salt and pepper, rubbed it in mustard then added diced onions and green bell peppers. The peppers were something we added it was not in mom's recipe.

Then rolled them tight and placed toothpicks to hold everything in. Then rolled them in seasoned flour.

I then pan-fried them in a little butter, and by a little I mean 3-4 tablespoons. Not for long due to the fact that venison will dry out if over cooked. Just enough to brown the outside. I removed them from the pan, added the rest of the diced onions and peppers, then some sliced onions with some beef stock to make a gravy. As the gravy started to thicken I added the meat back in to simmer for a bit. With this is another dish from my mom, which is her brown rice.

Here it is all together. It took me back to childhood. I have to thank my mom for raising us on such great food.

This was a great dish and fun to make. It didn't taste as good as moms, but they never do.

Smoked Chicken Salad

2010-02-01T19:29:00.001-06:00

After a long weekend in the woods and a few days without a shower, I thought we should have something simple for dinner. I was a little wrong about the amount of food we were cooking over the weekend. Instead of 10lbs. of chicken leg quarters we cooked 30lbs. So there was a little leftover. I hate to see food go to waste, and around me it seldom does. Chicken salad is a great way to use leftover bird, and I have never made it out of smoked chicken so why not. I pulled the chicken off the bone and removed some of the skin.

Now chicken salad has always been a favorite of mine, and the best to me is simple. Chicken, mayonnaise(Hellman's only please), celery, salt and pepper. This is how my grandmother and mom have made it. And they make the best in the world. This is not my opinion it is a fact. Theirs is just that good, but this wasn't your ordinary chicken so it needed a little spicing up. While I was pulling the chicken the "in laws" stopped by to visit, and I thought 4 heads are better than 2 so we hung out in the kitchen and this is what we came up with. The pulled chicken, diced pickles and celery, Hellman's, salt and pepper, a boiled egg. I will say that it turned out delicious. The smoke flavor of the chicken came through but was not over powering.

Around here we don't just eat a salad for dinner. So with the theme of my weekend we took some left over BBQ bread and and toasted it in a pan with some butter. I added my cousin MR's mustard base sauce to my bread and some Wickles slices, if you don't know what these are ask your grocer to please order some for you, and that was my sandwich. All in all it was a great way to end the weekend. Weekends away are needed and well deserved, but there is nothing like being at home.

Upcoming weekend

2010-01-28T22:30:00.000-06:00

I had big plans to come home after work and upload some pictures from past cooks. But somethings don't work out the way you think they will. I am leaving town tomorrow for the weekend and instead of sitting around playing on the computer, I thought it would be nice to go to dinner with Byrd, my wife. We went to a great local spot which serves, what I call, country Italian food. If you are ever in the area Lovoy's is a great comfort food spot. I had stuffed shells which were amazing as usual, she had the veal Parmesan. We took pictures, but the lighting wasn't that great so they weren't worthy of putting up. Back to me going out of town. It is the last weekend of deer season here in Alabama and I will be in the woods. But I will say that what will come out of this weekend should make for some great pics. My cousin MR has just finished a new cooker and will be taking it on its first run. On the menu ribs, chicken and butts. Here is the finished smoker.

Before seeing this, I am pretty sure I saw it in my sleep.
And yes below there are two fryers on the left.

If you think you are excited to see the food, imagine how excited I am to see it cooking.

The what's for dinner question?

2010-01-26T20:33:00.000-06:00

In my line of work I am around food all day. That doesn't stop me from thinking of lunch while I eat my breakfast, which these days consists of coffee and yogurt. I think of dinner while eating lunch. I know it is sad, but this is how my mind works. Food. So while eating lunch with my wife, Byrd, who I am lucky enough to work with, I ask the daily question, "what are we having for dinner?" Which unless one of us wants something particular goes like this...Me "I don't care I will eat anything." Her "I don't care either" Usually followed by Her: "Pick something." So as usual she went to the store to pick out dinner for the night. Steak. Specifically Filet. I love when she makes decisions like this.

It has been an unusually cold winter here in the south. So one of my favorite grills, my Hibachi, took a beating. It is the perfect size to cook for two, and for now(not to rip off a great song) it is just the two of us. And it was a gift from my in laws. So yesterday I spent a few hours cleaning off all the rust. I have made a promise that I will not let this happen again and bought a cover for it. So here it is clean, I wish I would have done a before and after.
Back to the filets. With any good steak salt and pepper is about all you need, but from time to time I use Cavenders all purpose Greek seasoning. I love the flavor and it creates a great crust. Here is the revitalized little grill in action.

The steaks came off the grill after 7 or so minutes rare to medium rare which is our temperature. Byrd rubbed some potatoes in bacon grease, yes we keep it in the refrigerator its a southern thing I guess, and kosher salt, wrapped them in foil and baked them at 450 for an hour. We had some lima beans in the fridge so they made the plate as well. This is how dinner turned out.

I don't know if it is true but it has been said that the skin of the potato has more nutrients than all of the insides. Whether it is true or not I am lucky that I love the outside and Byrd loves the inside.

Ribs and Deer Balls

2010-01-25T21:00:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday we went over to my wife's parents house for a an afternoon of hanging out and eventually eating dinner. What a great time to try out a new style of ribs. I have cooked the same ribs since I was in college, no better guinea pigs than the so called "in laws". Here we have 2 slabs of baby back ribs. The back ribs are lightly dusted in Rut's Rub(I'll talk more about the rub another time) the front ribs are heavily coated in the same. This is one of my wife's family recipes. I have heard about them since I met her and now 3 years later I have been allowed to have them. I guess I finally made the cut. Here is the venison tenderloin before. We took this sliced it into 1 inch steaks. Then, using a meat cleaver, pounded them down to almost see through. Placed diced onions and bellbeppers, a dash of Dale's marinade, then wrapped them in bacon. Secured with toothpicks.

The deer balls after being prepared.

I did the front slab the way I always do which is an indirect cook at 225 degrees for almost 4 hours. The back slab I misted every 30 minutes with a mixture of Apple Cider Vinegar, Apple Juice, and Saw's Sauce(a great new BBQ place in Homewood, AL) for the first 2 hours. Then I wrapped them in foil with some of the liquid in the bottom. I kept them on for another hour and 30 minutes, removed them from the foil and basted them with the Saw's Sauce for the last 30 minutes. As much as I love dry ribs I have to say the wet one's were delicious.

The "deer balls" we cooked directly over the heat until the bacon was crisp. This will depend on the thickness of the bacon. I wouldn't over cook when using venison because it will dry out, even when wrapped in bacon. The deer balls are on the right. The left is some venison sausage we smoked because the 4 of us didn't think we had enough meat for 1 dinner.

I will say that all of this plus some great potato salad, baked beans, and deviled eggs it was a great Saturday. I still stand by my dry ribs, but with the family approval of the new ones, I will continue to try new ways.