Carnitas

So tonight we had a inaugural with pork tacos (carnitas). We have had militias and these were wonderful, tonight we took it to a new level.

2.5 pounds of pork shoulder, cubed, and salted evenly with 2 teaspoons.
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic
1/4 Serrano pepper, diced
1 small lime, juiced
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup of water
2 tablespoons olive oil

Using a dutch oven heat oil to medium-high heat, add pork. Cook till browned on both sides, or 10 minutes. Sometimes the fat is too much for it to brown. Cut the onions while waiting, add onions, let them sweat down for 5 minutes and add garlic, let this saute for another 4 minutes and add the rest of the ingredients, except the pepper. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat to simmer partially covered for an 1 hour, add the Serrano and cook for another 30 minutes.. The meat should be tender and lovely. Heat whatever vessel you want flour, corn, or hard shell and add the pork, cheese avocado and a squeeze of lime on top. Chop some parsley or cilantro to garnish. You don't need beans or any other condiment, this is perfect the way it is.

Pork Roast

Pork roast, french cut.... 425 for 30 minutes, this was a 3 pound roast, 275 for a hour or so till the internal temp is 160 degrees. Pan gravy made from chicken drippings from last nights baked whole chicken. Seasoned with Rosemary, salt, pepper, garlic and a little sage.

Lasagna Soup

My wife posted a recipe to me today called lasagna soup, I liked the concept so I went to work tonight on this.

1 lb turkey, Italian seasoning (bought by mistake, but oh well)
A box of your favorite noodles
3/4 box of chicken broth
2 cans whole peeled tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon each of basil, parsley, thyme, oregano, and onion dried
1 bay leaf
small package of mushrooms, sliced then sauteed
1 can of olives chopped
Sliced mozzarella, I like the kind that is in the ball, just seems more elegant without doing much smile emoticon

Put the cans in a large deep sauce pan, crush them to your liking, I like the texture. This is so easy, I threw this together in like 30 minutes. After that throw the rest of the ingredients in except the turkey, this needs to be cooked before putting it in the sauce, same as the mushrooms, saute them then add. let that all get nice and delicious, simmering for at least an hour, don't hard boil, or all the soup will evaporate. Stick noodles in a pan and cook, add to the bowls, add the soup, top with cheese, you can melt the cheese in the oven for a spell if you want, I did....get some crusty bread to dip and enjoy!

Stew

2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 Bay Leaf, whole
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 fresh sprigs of Rosemary, whole
( add all ingredients to a dutch oven on medium high heat)
saute these ingredients for 4-5 minutes, take out before they burn)
This flavors the oil!
Take 2 lbs of roast beef, salt on both sides of the cut, cut into 1 inch think cubs, dust with flour and put in the flavored oil in sections, don't crowd the pan. Get both sides brown and caramelized. Take out each section as they get done. Cut one onion in slices, saute for 5-6 minutes and add 1/2 cup of red wine, one you drink, not one that is left over. Cook this down add 2 more cloves of garlic, diced, 1 table spoon of rosemary, chopped, 1/2 tablespoon of thyme and oregano. Let boil for 10 minutes, add cooked meat and 1 box of your favorite stock. This will cook for at least 2 hours on medium low heat. In the last hour add carrots, I like my veggies chunky so my cuts were pretty big, and then your favorite potato, I cut russets in half, you can most certainly do baby reds, whites and fingerlings, but i would leave the whole. Cook for another hour, checking the meat for tenderness, roast is at its best when it is fall apart tender.!! Add some flour and water mixture if you want it a little thicker! Salt and pepper to taste..

Indian naan

I had to improvise because i did not have plain Greek yogurt, so I used less sugar in place of honey vanilla Greek yogurt, along with i table spoon sugar, 1 tablespoon yeast, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 tablespoon garlic powder. I added 1/4 cup of olive oil and 2 cups of flour to a sticky feel. Let rise for 2-4 hours and cook in a hot cast iron pan. For my first try this was great, please feel free to adjust as needed. Also use flour to roll our and separate, or you will have a mess of dough.

Pho.. homemade

Home made Pho

Ginger
Garlic
Lime
Soy Sauce
Salt
Pepper
Green onions
Chicken broth
1 whole chicken shredded
Soba noodles...add those in last

Sriracha sauce to give it heat

This is something that you need to experiment with. I can't give you magic measurements. I would throw some Allspice, or 5 spice. Just know it needs at least an hour to develop flavors. So a slow simmer is essential to not evaporate the stock.

Zucchini cakes

Since we have an abundance of zucchini i have made some cakes with shredded carrots. So simple one to one ratio of carrot and zucchini add 1 cup of flour after squeezing the moisture out of the veggies. Add one egg, add four till consistency is thick but still work able. Salt to taste, then fry them up, add anything to jazz them up, they are literally a blank canvas. You could try self rising flour to make it a bit more fluffy, let's not forget bacon makes everything better.

Steamed Clams and Garlic

2 pounds of clams

2 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves of garlic
1 cup white wine (or chicken broth, if not wanting to add wine)
2 tablespoons of butter
2-3 tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoon white pepper

Heat oil in a large sauce pan, add garlic, let sweat for 3 minutes on medium heat. Add clams, cover pan so that the clams open up. Add butter, tomato, liquid and white pepper, bring to a boil. Serve with bread.

Flanken Ribs

I made a meal for my team members today, at the suggestion of one of them, I bought a piece of meat called flanken ribs, in the flanken style of short rib, this thin cut, which is about 1/2-inch thick, goes across the bones so that each slice contains a few pieces of bone. Look for these in your meat section, I have been displeased with flak steak for years, this renews my excitement and belief that this is a good piece of meat. I also learned that it is best to rise them before cooking them as small chunks of bone can find themselves stuck on the meat and be an unpleasant chew. You can add anything to this tender morsel, just don't over cook them!

Canning

Doing some canning and went simple this time around, shearing off the corn from the cob, added 1/4 teaspoon of salt and processed it in my pressure cooker for 50 minutes at 11lbs of pressure. I am going to do grilled corn next weekend.

Italian subs

Ok, I have been a health nut for the past 2 months and it has paid off, but we took the night of and had these wonderful Italian sandwiches.

1 pound hot Italian sausage, browned
1 medium onion, sliced
1 yellow pepper and red, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon of honey
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste
melted cheese of choice

I put the onions and the peppers in a large skillet, sweated these down for 7-10 mins, adding the garlic at the end. I chopped the sausage up and split the skillet in 2 one side meat one side veggie, browned the meat. Once the meat was cooked through, I combined and added the tomato paste and honey. you can make rolls or buy good sturdy rolls from the store, add cheese on top, broil if your using shredded cheese. We used cheese in a can or block... stinkin delicious

Shrimp done right!

Ceviche:

half pound of de-veined medium shrimp, cut into small pieces
roasted yellow pepper, rough chop
half cucumber, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
half jalapeno, diced
half red onion, diced
3 limes, juiced
1/4 cup olive olive oil
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
2 garlic cloves, minced
sat and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients, let sit for 24 hours

Spring is here!!

Grill season has started and we went full force this weekend.First we smoked a pork butt, then a turkey breast. I also marinated and canned mushrooms. IN my spare time I prepared pork belly for bacon next weekend and transplanted herbs.

Smoked Turkey:

Olive oil, salt, pepper, smoke for 2-3 hours till bird reaches 160 degrees, take out wrap with foil, let stand till it can be handled.

Smoking is the process of adding wet wood chips to a grill, smoker, or charcoal BBQ.

Another quick and easy meal

3-4 Hot link sausage (your choice), sliced
1 cup cooked rice
1/2 can of stewed tomatoes, with chilies in it.
half yellow onion, diced
1 orange and yellow sweet pepper, diced
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon smoked paprika and cumin
NO SALT or Pepper

Follow rice instructions and set to the side, combine onions and peppers and sweat them out on low heat for 5-8 minutes. Add garlic and other spices. Cook for an additional 5-8 minutes and take out, put sausage in and cook for 10 minutes, add all ingredients back along with the tomatoes and garlic cook for another 4 minutes. I warmed tortillas in the oven for a side, this was quick, easy and healthy.

Golden Trout

Tried a new fish and fish recipe, it is a Golden Trout, pink flesh and a glorious look to them, salt, pepper, butter and sliced onions. I Whipped up some pearl couscous. I like to cook that with broth to infuse flavor, sprinkled some special seasoning I make at home. Cooked it in a fry pan whole on medium high for 7-8 minutes on high.

Quick Teriyaki fix

Sometimes when life is crazy like it is right now for both me and Lisa, a quick delicious dinner is the best answer. We had some really good Teriyaki over the weekend so we wanted to recreate it without spending 6 hours on it.

1 flank steak, tenderized by pounding
1 cup of your favorite Teriyaki sauce
2 cloves of garlic smashed

Put all this in a plastic bag for 3 hours, the longer the better. When I say tenderize the meat that does not mean sprinkle the white unknown seasoning on it. Take your kitchen mallet and beat the crap out of it. This breaks the connective tissue which gives it a more tender chew. Cook this on a grill for 9 minutes each side depending on thickness. Have some of that sauce in reserve for after, make white rice and you have dinner.

Oat, Flax, Craisin cookies

1 egg
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup regular sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 stick room temperature
3 cup oatmeal
1 cup Crasins
1 teaspoon cinnimon

Cream the sugar and butter together with a mixer, add egg, and vanilla. Mix till combined add the rest slowly. Cook for 8-10 minutes on an un-greased pan.

Pasta Salad

Pasta salad, one of my favorite things to eat. There is no trick to it. The secret is the dressing. It is also a good way to use some veggies that are just hanging around.

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar with garlic
salt and pepper to taste

For something extra add 2 tablespoons mayonnaise and 3 garlic gloves, pressed. Let sit for an hour in the fridge and dress!!

Chicken roasting tricks

My first video... but if you are not putting butter under the skin of chicken please try it, you can use unsalted butter as well. It is a way to give the chicken a boost of not only flavor but tenderness

Bacon and fruit slaw

Bacon and fruit slaw (everything is good with bacon)

1/2 head cabbage, chopped
4 slices of bacon, cooked
1 small package of craisins
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 hot sauce (Sriracha), if desired

Mix all these ingredients together and just be blown away with the flavor, put this on top of burgers, hot dogs, pulled pork, ANYTHING

Chicken Burger and sweet potato fries

Chicken
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt and pepper
2 tablespoons Italian blend

wet
2 eggs
1/4 cup water
beaten

Fries

2 sweet potato, par boiled
2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 cup flour

After par boiling the sweet potato, let it cool for 15 minutes. Shred potatoes with a cheese grater. Squeeze out moisture with cheese cloth, potato ricer, or paper towels. Put in a bowl and add flour and seasoning, roll into tater tot shapes and fry in 300 degree oil for 7 minutes turning often to not burn. Put in the oven at 200 degrees while the chicken cooks.

Chicken

Add wet and dry ingredients to separate bowls or plates, dredge in the dry, then wet, then dry. Using the same oil from the fries, pan fry for 15 minutes, spiting time on each side. You want a golden crust. Drain on a rack or towel to release excess grease