Tacos Al Pastor

Tacos Al Pastor

                Al Pastor Tacos are delicious.  Somewhat difficult to duplicate at home due to the cooking method.  Real deal Al Pastor tacos are cooked on a rotating spit (a la Gyros) with a chunk of pineapple on top.  I wouldn’t rule it out for the future, but for now I do not own a trompo, so I had to improvise. 

I used pork shoulder for the meat.  I cut it into half inch or so slices, then marinated it for about 4 hours.  After that, I stacked it, and cooked it over indirect head on the grill.  After it was cooked most of the way, over the coals it went to crisp up.  I also grilled up some onions and pineapple slices.  I was fresh out of olive oil so I had to brush them with lard, which was quite tasty.  After everything came off the grill it was chopped up and added to a hot cast iron pan with a pinch of salt and squeeze of lime to finish it off.  Severed with some roasted tomato and habanero salsa and chopped cilantro on yellow corn tortillas. 

Tacos turned out to be pretty tasty.  Marinade was good, I have some leftover that I think I’ll use on some fish or something.  Meat was tasty, but wasn’t as tender and juicy as I would have liked due my lack of trompo.  I know it’s not traditional, but a pulled pork type preparation could work really well here too.  Salsa was good with a nice slow burn.  I usually get my corn tortillas from the Mexican grocery.  The come in the refrigerated section and I think they’re way better than the ones from the Mexican isle and the grocery.  I’m already looking forward to the leftovers tomorrow. 

Marinade

1 cup pineapple juice

1 cup water

Juice of 1 lime

3 cloves garlic

2 pasillia chilis

2 guajilio chilis

3 chipotles in adobo

4 small packets of achiote

1 tbls Mexican oregano

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

¼ oil

Dump everything in a blender and turn it on.  Success!  You made a marinade!

Roasted Tomato and Habanero Salsa

5 roma tomatoes

3 cloves garlic

Juice of ½ lime

½ habanero chili (seeds and membrane remove)

1 small handful of cilantro

Salt to taste

Place the tomatoes and garlic under the broiler until blackened.  Throw everything in the blender and turn it on.  Congratulations!  You made salsa!

Whenever You're Feeling Good and Hungry....

It's Skyline Time!

So, I figured that since I'm born and raised in Cincinnati and frikin love Cincinnati style chili that I should have my own secret recipe.  I think my chili pallet is pretty refined, so I should be able to come up with some pretty good stuff.  This first batch turned out ok.  Consistency was right on, but it was lacking in overall flavor, especially that deep earthy goodness flavor.  For the next batch I will add some beef base, increase the amount of chili powder, cocoa powder, and cinnamon, and decrease the amount of clove and allspice.  I think i'll also cook the next batch longer.  Here's the recipe and some chili porn.

1 large onion minced
1.5 Ground beef
1 tsp garlic powder
1.5 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground clove
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon red (cayenne) pepper
2tbls Kosher salt
1 can tomato paste

1tsp cocoa powder

2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 tbls black pepper

1 bay leaf

1 ½ Quarts of Water

Procedure

Not rocket science here- combine all ingredients and simmer for 1 hour.  

Homemade Red Wine Vinegar

Here it is ... my homemade red wine vinegar is done aging/fermenting. I read a couple articles/books on vinegar making a few months ago and wanted to give it a try. The hardest part is finding the bacteria you need (a.k.a. mother of vinegar) to turn the red wine into vinegar. I read that you could buy Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar from the store, which comes unfiltered - mother of vinegar and all - and use it instead of ordering the mother from an online store. I had my doubts, but turns out it worked!

Here is the process in a nutshell. (1) Combine mother of vinegar and equal amounts of red wine and water in a large vessel of some sort, (2) bound said vessel with cheesecloth, (3) place the vessel in a warm spot to age, (4) age for approximately 3 to 4 months. To finish, strain the liquid through a cheesecloth or a coffee filter and bottle. To try, place on a spoon and ingest. Wait an hour. If you do not die, you have successfully made red wine vinegar! Congrats...

Chili Cook Off

So Findlay Market had it's 5th annual chili cookoff this past weekend.  I've consider entering in the past so I thought I'd give it a whirl this year.  Sadly, I was not ordained chili meister, so sweet old lady with some rather pedestrian ground beef chili was.  Not to toot my own horn, but there were quite a few people let me know that they really enjoyed my chili, a few came back for seconds, and a couple told me it was the best of the bunch.  So I decided to declare myself the unofficial people's champion.  I did make it on TV though :)

Jeff’s Famous Chili

(All fame is implied, Chili has no actual fame. )

Makes app. 4 quarts

Ingredients

4 lbs of Beef Brisket, cubed

½ Cup dry pinto beans (soaked overnight)

½ Cup dry black beans (soaked overnight)

1 Large onion- chopped

3 Cloves garlic- chopped

2 Poblano peppers- roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1 Small can Tomato Paste

1 Can (28oz) 6-in-1 brand crushed tomatoes

3 Tbls Lard

2 Ancho Chilies

2 Pasillia Chilies

4 New Mexican Chilies

5 Chile de Arbols

½ tbls Cayenne

1 Tbls Cumin (from whole seeds, toasted and ground fresh)

1 bay leaf

Water

Kosher salt to taste (app. 3 tbls)

Procedure

1.      Lightly toast dried chilies and cumin seeds in cast iron pan over medium heat, let cool and grind into powder. 

2.      Heat 2 tlbs of lard over high heat in large dutch oven, brown the cubed beef in batches, remove from pan and set aside.

3.      Add chopped onion to dutch oven and sauté for app. 5 minutes.

4.      Add garlic, tomato paste, cumin, and ½ of chili powder, sauté for 1 minute.

5.      Add 1 cup of water, use a wooden spoon to scrape up brown bits from bottom of pan.

6.      Add crushed tomato, chopped poblanos, browned beef, 2 tbls salt to pot, cover with water and allow chili to simmer over medium heat for 2 hours.

7.      While chili is simmering use a separate pot to prepare the beans.  Add the soaked beans, bay leaf, and 1 tbls of lard, cover with water and simmer, uncovered for app. 1.5 hours or until tender.  Season beans with salt after they have softened (app. 1 tbls)

8.      Add cooked beans and remaining chili powder to dutch oven along with enough of the bean water to cover the mixture.

9.      Continue cooking for an additional 2 hours or until chili reaches desired consistency.

10.  Taste and adjust salt if needed.

11.  Enjoy!

Cassoulet

So a couple weeks ago I saw an episode of “No Reservations,” where they made a cassoulet and then there was a recipe on Serious eats as well so I just had to give it a shot.  This is a very hearty, savory, rich dish.  I served mine with some salad with vinaigrette on the side so you can have something bright and acidic to break up the richness of the cassoulet.  This makes a lot, probably about 6 servings.  If I were to make it again, which I will, I’d cook it in the oven without the lid, there was a lot of liquid left when I added my breadcrumbs and they were a little soggy.  There are all kinds of variations on the recipe, a lot call for duck confit to be added as well, but I was fresh out.

Ingredients

¼ lb of Thick cut bacon

1.5 lbs of Pork shoulder (cubed) I actually used a roast, but shoulder would have been better.

4 Sage Bangers (wasn’t the biggest fan of these)

1 large onion

2 stalks celery

3 carrots

4 cloves garlic

2 Tomatoes

1 cup white wine

Chicken Stock

Water

1 lb of Great Northern beans (soaked overnight)

Bouquet Garni

2 cups fresh bread crumbs

Oil

Butter

Salt and pepper

Procedure

1.       Dice the bacon and render the fat in a large dutch oven.  Remove

2.       Brown the sausages, then the cubed pork shoulder.  Remove

3.       Add The Onion, carrot, and celery.  Cook about 5 minutes then add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.

4.       Deglaze with the white wine, and scrape up the goodies.

5.       Add the meat and beans to the pan, cover with chicken stock and or water.   Toss in the bouqet garni.  You could also add the diced tomato here, but added it after the beans cooked for an hour to make sure the softened.  Bring dutch oven to a simmer.

6.       Add the covered dutch oven to a 350-375 degree oven and cook about 2 hours or until the meat is tender and the liquid is mostly absorbed. 

7.       Top the mixture with the bread crumbs and butter, raise the oven to 500 and bake until golden brown. 

8.       Serve with crusty bread and salad.

Tasso Penne Pasta

So I purchased a new stainless steel cookware set with my 2^nd place fantasy football winnings.  Cookware is by Tramontina, and is sold online through Walmart.  It is Tri-ply and from all the reviews I read very comparable in quality to All-Clad, and costs about 1/3 the price.  They offer two sets, the one I bought has a 12qt stock pot, 5qt dutch oven, 4qt pot, 2qt pot, 10in sauté, 12in sauté and lids for everything but the sauté pans.  The main reason I chose this set is because it included a 12” skillet, and I’ve been wanting me a big ass skillet.

 

Tasso Penne Pasta is not a name I came up with, but rather the name given to a pasta dish on the room service menu at the Marriott River Center where Kristin and I basically lived for 4 months before we got our house.  She probably ordered it 3 times a week and occasionally she has a hankerin for it. It’s a pretty tasty dish and is one of my favorite pastas as well.

Serves 5

Ingredients

Penne (12-15 oz)

2 Chicken breasts

1 cup diced tasso ham (or any smoked ham you can find)

½ large onion- diced

½ red bell pepper- diced

2 cloves garlic

1 can whole or diced green chilis

1 cup white wine

2 cups chicken stock

1 small carton heavy cream

Knob of butter

½ tsp cayenne

½ tsp paprika

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

2 green onions

1 tomato- diced

Parsley

Olive Oil

Salt/pepper

1.    In a 12” stainless steel skillet cook your chicken breasts in the oil, about 6 minutes on each side.  Remove and set aside.  If you don’t have a 12” stainless steel skillet go get you one!

2.     Add diced ham to the skillet and allow to brown, add onion and bell pepper, cook until translucent then add garlic, green chilies, cayenne and paprika.  Cook for a minute more then add the wine and scrape up the goodies. 

3.      After wine has reduced add chicken stock and allow mixture to simmer for about 10 minutes while you cook the penne.

4.     Add the cooked penne, heavy cream, and sliced chicken back to the pan, cook for 5-10 minutes, adding the butter at the end.

5.      Garnish pasta with feta cheese, diced green onion, tomato, and chopped parsley.

6.      Serve with some dank ass garlic bread and enjoy

No Butter Chicken and Whole Wheat Rotis

Decided to make a little healthy Indaian food tonight. The no butter chicken was very easy and quick. This is the first time I've made roti wich is a Indian quick bread stuffed with cauliflower, cilantro, chilies, ginger and corriander. Brush it with a little garlic infused olive oil and you're money.

Have the tums ready. The butter chicken was SPICY.


No Butter Chicken

Ingredients

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 small red onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh garlic
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 teaspoon red chile flakes
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound chicken breasts, boneless and skinless, cut into cubes
1/4 cup low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup water
Serving suggestion: Serve with roti or rice

Process:

Put a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the oil. When it starts to get hot, add the onion, garlic, and ginger and cook for 4 minutes, or until the onion is golden. Add the tomato paste, brown sugar, cumin seeds, garam masala, red chile flakes, turmeric, and salt and cook for 2 minutes. Add the chicken cubes and stir well to coat. Add the yogurt and water and cook, stirring until the chicken is done, about 8 minutes. Serve the chicken with roti or rice.

Whole Wheat Roti

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
Pinch kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup finely chopped fresh spinach
1 cup finely grated fresh broccoli
1 cup cooked mixed lentils
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1/2 cup water

Process:

Combine the whole wheat flour, chickpea flour, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, spinach, broccoli, lentils, ginger, and water in a large bowl and mix by hand until well combined. Continue to knead the dough until the dough has a smooth consistency, like bread dough. Remove a piece of dough, about the size of a golf ball and roll it into a round flat disk. Lightly dust a work surface with flour and then using a lightly-floured rolling pin, roll the ball into a thin patty (like a tortilla).
Place a nonstick pan over medium heat and gently place the rolled roti in the pan. Cook until it starts to bubble and then flip the roti over and cook the other side. The roti is done when there are brown spots on both sides, about 3 to 5 minutes total. Continue to roll and cook all the rotis.

Happy New Year

Contrary to what some people thought was possible, I got up at 7:30am after Jimmy's wedding (great time by the way) and New Year's festivities to start the day off right.  Cooked a 8lb Boston Butt and 5lb Brisket. 

I got them from a local butcher down the road from me.  Thanks to a little research from Urban found out they get all local, never frozen to animals and it looks like a pretty good find.  Here is their website:
http://mosleysmeatmarket.com/Mosleys_Meat_Market/Welcome.html

I will be back soon I am sure.

I decided to go with one round of charcoal first thing for some flavor then on to just smoke....used hickory this time.  One thing to note, if you are gonna use the charcoal with the electric smoker you need to rig a little stand above the heating element so it doesn't overheat and short out your outlet...I will be making one this winter for the spring...

On to the food, I just did a simple dry rub the day before of:

Salt
Sugar
Garlic Powder
Paprika
Fresh Ground Pepper
Cayenne
Chili Powder
Dry Mustard

I put the food on at 8:15am, let it get open smoke for about 5 hours then covered them in foil to lock in some moisture.  The Brisket got a total of 8 hours and the Boston Butt got 10 hours and I don't know if I would change much...it was pretty good.  5 hours was plenty of time to incorporate a good smoke flavor but not overwhelming and as you can see a great crust on the meat that locked in some moist tender pork. 






To top it all off Urban made a quick homemade BBQ sauce which was great.