Smoked Cross-cut Beef Ribs (Thick!)

When it comes to ribs, butchers can cut them so many ways that you can get lost in them.  Short ribs, Flanken, Baby-back, Korean, St. Louis, Dino, the list seems endless.  For my money, I tend to go with the biggest rack of ribs I can find!  When it comes to Beef ribs, I like to buy the entire plate (rack) of short ribs and smoke them like traditional pork ribs.  It's difficult to find a whole plate of beef ribs because butchers are cutting these racks horizontally, across the bones, into thin strips called "Korean" or "Flanken" ribs.  I detest the very idea of these paper-thin ribs!  They are often fried or stir-fried and they fly in the face of traditional BBQ, but.........

Recently a friend of mine found some very VERY thickly cross-cut beef ribs!  Just look at them!  The marbling is fantastic.  Clearly we need to get these onto the smoker...

You Will Need:

• A full "plate" of beef short ribs, cross-cut into 2.5 inch slabs
• Yellow Mustard
• Your favorite hot-sauce
• Beef Rib Rub, equal parts of:
• Kosher Salt
• Coarse Ground Black Pepper
• Light Brown Sugar
• Smoked Paprika
• Chipotle Chili-Powder
• 1 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 Cup Juice from a jar of candied or pickled Jalapenos
• Your favorite BBQ Sauce

First, we prep!  There's a membrane on the back of a beef rib that should be removed.  Lots of places leave the membrane on, I get it.  It's extra work, especially if you're a restaurant that serves hundreds of them every day.  BUT, It keeps your rub and the smoke flavor from penetrating the meat, and your belly can't digest so in my kitchen, it HAS TO GO!  Just insert the point of your knife under it, grab it with a paper towel and strip it right off.

Next, we rub!  Mix your mustard with your hot sauce and stir it together, then spread some on all sides of the ribs. Shake on a fairly generous amount of your rub.  Set it aside while you tackle the other ribs.  

Once you have each rib section slathered and rubbed, you'll want to take the time to wrap each one tightly in plastic wrap.  This is one of my "secrets" that I always do while I leave the meat on the counter to come up to room temperature.  It gives the spices in the rub a chance to mingle with the liquid in the mustard and make a "goo" that starts to penetrate the meat.  Leave the plastic covered rib sections there to contemplate their future for a few hours while you pre-heat the pit.

Once the BBQ pit is pre-heated to about 250 degrees, lay the cross-cut sections out on the grate (don't forget to cut away the plastic)!  Close the lid and walk away for 90 minutes.  When 90 minutes is up, you should see the meat starting to slightly pull away from the rib bones.  This is perfect, good things are happening!  

Place the slabs into an aluminum pan and pour in the vinegar and Jalapeno juice!  Don't be afraid to pour it right on top of the slabs.  Cover the whole thing as tightly as you can, pinching the seams and edges.  The liquid will simmer and create a flavorful steam that will aid in the cooking process.  It will also create a bit of pressure that will help break down all of that chewy collagen.  You'll be on your way to "Tender Town!"  Close the lid, check your fire, and leave the foil pan in there for one hour.

Time to reveal the goodness!  Open the lid on your aluminum pan and gaze upon what you have created!  Gently move them back onto the rack in the grill and brush on your favorite BBQ sauce.  We'll "set" the sauce by leaving them in the pit for another hour.  I use a Cherry Bourbon BBQ sauce of my own creation... more on that, later.

Finally!  After an hour, the sauce should be set, and it should darken a bit.  I moved the slabs to a cutting board so I could slice between the bones to make bite-sized portions.  Ok... maybe the "bites" are a bit over-sized?  We can call them "Multi-bite-sized portions" if it makes you feel better, but aren't they just the cutest things??  

Each one has a small bone "handle" to grab.  They were absolutely incredibly delectable!  They were super tender, delightfully sticky, full of "Big Beef" flavor, and a unique BBQ dish to enjoy!

UNBELIEVABLE Hot Chocolate!

Now and again, we all feel the urge to cheat on a diet.  I'm not talking about sneaking a few M&Ms, either.  I'm talking about an all out assault on any effort to champion fat free vegetables over fat laden goodies!  When, out of sheer spite and malice, you're ready to pour an amazing elixir of whole fats, sugar, cream, chocolate, and more cream into your face, you're ready for homemade chocolate eggnog!  It's better than melted ice cream...

 
You Will Need:

• 1 Cup Whole Milk
• 1 Cup "Full Fat" Eggnog
• 1/3 Cup Milk and Dark Chocolate Chunks, chopped for melting
• 2 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa
• 1 Tbsp Sugar
• However much Whipped Cream and/or Marshmallows you feel is "Enough" 

Ok, any feelings of guilt, remorse, shame, embarrassment, or humiliation you may be harboring, just get rid of them now. Seriously, it's the Holidays and you've earned this one.  If it helps, find a way to kick the rest of your family out of the house, turn on the fireplace, and put on your fluffy Grinch slippers because for the precious moments you sip this miracle, you'll be transported to a special happy place that might be best enjoyed alone.

Put all of the dry ingredients into a small pot.  When it comes to the chocolate, let your conscience tell you how much milk/dark chocolate to use.  You could go full dark, or half and half, I'm not here to judge!  I'm here to help... Pour in the whole milk and set the heat to Med-Low.  Begin to stir.  This will take a little while and you do NOT want it to burn so just stir and wait.  Think about how it's actually FAIR that you decided not to send Aunt Karen a gift this year!  Think about the joy of skipping your neighbor's kid's recital...

When the mixture is smooth and melted, pour in the eggnog and stir a few more cycles just to heat everything through.  Gently pour it into an appropriate Holiday tankard, mug, or chalice.  Cover it with fresh whipped cream or marshmallows and retreat to your happy place.

Merry Christmas!!! 

Beef Wellington (Re-visited)!

I've made Beef Wellington in the past, and it's a very impressive looking dish!  I am convinced, however, that while it's delicious; it just isn't as good as it looks or as the work you have to put into it.  If only it were easier!?  Well, I tried a new version of this dish for Men's Night last week, and the fellas were only too happy to be my guinea pigs!

This dish is still a bit challenging (I give it a 7/10 for "time and trouble"), but it was worth it!

You Will Need: 

• 4 8oz Beef Tenderloin Filets
• 1 Large Pack of Whole Portabella Mushrooms
• A few Tablespoons of Yellow Mustard
• Several Slices of Prosciutto 
• Several Thin Slices of Bacon
• 6 Cloves of Fresh Garlic
• 1 Stick of Butter

This recipe starts with the mushroom "Crumble."  Simply dice your 'shrooms into the tiniest bits you can (I used a food processor and pulsed them into oblivion), and cook them with the butter and garlic (and maybe some red wine) until the liquid reduces and they're delicious.  Set them aside to cool.  Once they've cooled, they'll have the consistency of couscous or mashed potatoes; this is a GOOD thing!

Now; grab of your filets and brush some yellow mustard onto the top and sides.  This is the "glue" that will hold the mushroom crumble. It will cook away, so don't worry about it!  It's entire job is to help stick the shrooms to your meat.  I had doubled this recipe and I was working with 8 filets.  Your mileage may vary...

Here's the "fun" part; using your fingers, grab up some mushroom crumble and press and moosh it all up and around your filet.  You can see in this picture that I was working the filet while it was sitting on a slice of prosciutto.  This is key to the next step...

Here's your goal!  You want to get the filet coated with shroom goop, wrapped tightly in a sheet of prosciutto, and then wrapped in bacon!  Don't worry, it's gets easier as you go.  

Once all of your filets are wrapped, place them onto some plastic wrap and roll/wrap them up SUPER tightly before parking them in the fridge. Leave them in the fridge for a few hours (or even overnight).  The object here is to use the chill air to firm these up into tight little balls that stay together.  

When it's time to cook (not before), take the steaks out of the fridge and unwrap them.  You'll notice a huge difference in their desire to stay firm and wrapped!  Working quickly, place them on the "cool" (indirect) side of a solid fire in your grill OR place them into a pre-heated smoker at 300 degrees F. 

I cooked mine to an internal temperature of 115 degrees, then I seared each one of them over the direct flames on the HOT side of the smoker's firebox, just to add a nice crust.

They were amazing.  Slicing them open revealed a true Medium-Rare center and a nice ring of mushroom paste. The salty prosciutto gave it a perfect balance and the bacon, well?  Who doesn't love bacon?

Easy "One Pan" Roast Chicken & Veggies

 Don't we all want something that's "Restaurant Quality" and easy at the same time?  Something that doesn't require the washing of a bunch of pots and pans?  Well, THIS IS IT!

How about a whole roast chicken dinner with vegetables for 4 or 5, with no washing at all?  Let's do this!!

You Will Need:

• 1 Whole "Frying Hen" (3-5lb chicken)
• Your Favorite Chicken Seasoning 
• 1 9x13 pan
• 4 or 5 handfuls of coarsely cut vegetables 

Set your oven to 375F.  If your oven has a "Roast" or "Convection Roast" setting, this is the perfect recipe for it, so I recommend that setting if you have it.  Also, look at the label on the packaging for your chicken.  Make a note of what he weighs.  He'll cook for 15 mins per pound so you'll need to do some math.  For example if it weighs 4.8lbs, 4.8 x 15 = 72 so he'll cook for 72 minutes.  

Take out a 13x9" pan and cover the bottom and sides with some heavy-duty foil.  Use two layers if you accidentally split it when you're pushing it into the corners (I hate that)!  Take your time here, because it will save you having to wash it in the sink later!  Now cut and fill the pan with a bunch of vegetables.  It doesn't matter what kind, as long as they fill the pan.  I used zucchini, yellow squash, red onions, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes and jalapenos!  Cut them coarsely and just dump them in!  Season with salt & pepper to taste.  Resist the temptation to drizzle any oil over them, because that's what the chicken is for...

So far, so good right?  Now grab your chicken and rinse it in cold water.  If you have any "misgivings" about handling raw chicken, now is the time to get over it!  Take a deep breath and get some shears and cut the backbone out of the chicken.  I like to eat the backbone so I put mine on the left side of the veggies, in the pan.  Spread the chicken out so his arms and legs are splayed in such a way that he looks like he's doing some "jumping jacks!"  Congrats, you've "Spatchcocked" a chicken!  Lay him across the pan on top of your vegetables.

Grab your favorite seasoning and sprinkle it all over the top.  You can use a good BBQ rub, Poultry seasoning, Cajun Seasoning, whatever.  Personally, I like Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning for this.. You do you!  Now slide the whole pan into the oven and set a timer for 15 mins per pound (or to in internal temp of 165 if you're using a thermometer probe.  I recommend the probe if you have one).

When it's done, your kitchen will smell terrific and all you have to do to serve is pull the pan out of the oven, use your sheers to cut the chicken into however many pieces you want, and use some tongs to scoop everyone a healthy portion of veggies!   The chicken fat helps marinate and cook the vegetables, they'll be "roasty" and juicy and delicious!  The chicken will be great and juicy as well.  Once everything is gently removed from the pan and onto plates, pull the foil out of the pan and if you've been fairly careful, the pan will be clean and ready for the next chicken!

Super Easy Blackberry (or Blueberry) Cobbler

So after our annual volunteer Pancake Breakfast, I found myself staring at a huge bag of leftover blueberries.  What to do.... Then it hit me, COBBLER!  Oh yes, Blueberry Cobbler!  I only had about an hour before the fellas showed up for Men's Night and BBQ so I had to do this quickly:

You Will Need:

• 2.5 Cups Berries (Blueberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, they all work)
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 Cup Flour
• 1 Cup Whole Milk
• 1 Stick Unsalted Butter (melted, then cooled slightly)
• 2 Tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1 9x9 deep dish baking pan
  

This recipe is super easy, but you can't take shortcuts.  Sorry!  Here are the steps:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
   
2. Get yourself a decent sized bowl with a tight lid (tupperware works) and dump in your berries and sugar.  Gently stir, put on the lid, and shake and roll it gently to get everything mixed together.
3. Park the bowl in the corner of your counter at room temperature for at least an hour.  Yes, an HOUR!  The sugar needs to chew up the berries a bit, and then dissolve. When the sugar is gone and you have a bowl of berries in syrup, you can proceed to step 4.
4. Whisk together the flour, powder, and salt.
5. Add the milk to the flour mixture and whisk it together until it looks like thick cake batter.
6. Add the melted butter and whisk to incorporate. 
7. Smear some butter around the bottom and sides of your pan and pour in the flour mixture.  Get it ALL in there!  Use a silicon spatula if necessary.
8. Pour the berry mixture over the top of the flour in the baking pan, and use a spoon to gently stir and mix it around.   BE GENTLE!  Your goal here to get a mix of batter and berries that's fairly even.  Don't stir it all into a big purple goo...
9. Now Bake for about 40 minutes.  The top will be nice and golden brown.
10. Scoop out a portion and dump some vanilla bean ice cream over the top.

MY OH MY, SHO' AM GOOD!!!  Look at that, exactly ten steps!  We can call this, Ten-step cobbler...

Steak Oscar

Want to take "Steak Night" up to a "Whole 'Nutha Level!?"  Steak Oscar is easier than you think!  Traditional Steak Oscar involves a grilled steak, topped with a lump of crab meat and some asparagus, then smothered in hollandaise sauce.  I threw in a couple of curve balls... Let's do this!

You Will Need:

• One 8-10oz Beef Tenderloin Medallion (Filet Mignon)
• Some large raw shrimp
• A heap of raw fresh spinach (washed)
• Two Tbsp bacon fat
  
• Two Egg Yolks
• 1 Stick butter, cut into small cubes or pieces
  
• 2 Tbsp Water
• 1 Tbsp Lime
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1/2 Tsp Chili powder

For the steak:

I like to use a Filet Mignon for this dish, and I like to reverse sear it.  You can grill it any way you want, as long as it's Medium Rare (I'm kidding, you can grill it to Well Done if you want, just promise not to tell me about it).  For me, Medium Rare is an internal temperature of 120 degrees.  AS SOON AS IT TOUCHES 120, take it off the heat and wrap it foil to rest.

For the shrimp:

Marinate your shrimp in some olive oil, lime juice, and some creole seasoning, for about an hour in the fridge.  When the steak is nearly done, drop the shrimp right on the grill grates and flip/stir them until they're done.  This happens quick... 3 or 4 minutes should do the trick.

For the Spinach:

Heat up the bacon fat in a large skillet, over medium-high heat.  Drop the spinach in and use tongs to flip and stir it around.  As soon as it wilts, take it off the heat!!  If you cook it too long, it will just get soggy and mushy, so err on the under-done side if you have to.

For the Hollandaise:

I do this sauce last because it's finicky and it doesn't like to sit, all alone, in a pot on the stove.  Take the smallest sauce pot you have and whisk two egg yolks with two tablespoons of water until you have a uniform frothy mixture.  Put it on the stove and set the heat to medium-low. Add the butter, and keep whisking while the butter melts.  Do not go anywhere, do not allow anyone to distract you, do not focus on anything except for the sauce!  Whisk and whisk and when the butter is melted, add the tablespoon of lime juice and the salt and chili powder.  Continue to whisk until the sauce has the consistency of gravy.  Serve immediately...

Assembling the dish:

Place your steak in the middle of a nice plate.  Arrange three nice shrimp on top of the steak.  Use your tongs place a lump of spinach on top of the shrimp, then ladle a portion of the hollandaise sauce over all of it!  Make sure it drips over everything!  Serve....

Pizza Dough (Napoli Style)

If it's good pizza you want, you need high heat and quality ingredients.  If it's GREAT pizza you want, you need to start with an excellent pizza dough!  It needs good "chew," some crunch, and a tiny bit of char.  It should be heavy and dense, but packed with plenty of little yeasty bubbles.  This recipe will provide you with 5 (or 6) 12" dough balls that you can use to make the pizza of your dreams!  Let's do this!

You Will Need:

The first thing you will need is time.  If you want to make pizza on Friday night, you'll need to start making this dough on Thursday afternoon and I'm not kidding...  You will also need EXACTLY:

• 1Kg, 00-grade Flour  (It's important.  It's VERY important!  Use your googler and find the 00 flour, it's higher in gluten and it's everything to this recipe).
  
• 1/4 Teaspoon Yeast (Yes, I know it's a small amount)
  
• 640g Cold Water
• 30g Salt

A quick note about 00 flour... Here in the U.S., we sort and label our flour by the amount of protein they have.  The higher the protein, the higher the gluten formation.  This means greater elasticity and "chew!"  In Italy, they grade their flour a bit differently.  Flour is graded based on how finely the flour has been ground. Coarsely ground type “2” flour is at one end of the ruler, and powder-fine “00” flour is at the other.  

I find 00 flour here at the Restaurant Supply store and they only sell it in 50lb sacks.  That's OK with me, it just means more pizza.... you might have to source yours from the interwebs.  Luckily, it's cheap.  You can make about 30 12" pizza crusts for less than $30.

Ok, let's get started!  If you don't have a kitchen scale, this is the time to buy one.  You could ask "Google" to tell you how many cups is equal to 640g of water, but it will only tell you that one cup has 240g in it, and then you'll have a bunch of math to do.  Honestly, every home cook who's even a little bit serious needs a kitchen scale.  Get one on Amazon and put it to use!  Put a bowl on the scale, zero it out, then add 30g of salt.  Zero it out again, and carefully pour in the cold water until you have 640g.  Now, stir until the salt is completely dissolved and pour it all into the bowl of your mixer (this is so much easier if you have a mixer)!  Dry out your bowl and fill it with 1Kg (1,000g) of 00-flour.

Now, turn the mixer on it's slowest setting and watch as it stirs you water.  Dump 5 or 6 large spoonfuls of your flour into the water and wait until it's mixed together.  It should resemble some loose pancake batter.  Sprinkle in the yeast.  Let the mixer ride for a minute to thoroughly mix the yeast in then slowly add all of the rest of the flour except for a spoonful or two.

You'll need to KNEAD the dough for a solid 15 minutes.  You can either turn this dough out onto your countertop, dust your hands with that last spoonful of flour and get to it... or you can use the dough-hook on your mixer.  Either way, this is a chore!  The dough is heavy, and the gluten will build and it will put your hands (or your mixer) through a pretty thorough workout!  It needs to be done though, so smash, pull, fold, press, and repeat for 15 minutes!  I let my stand mixer and the dough hook do this for me, but the mixer does get HOT... 

When you're done, put the dough back onto your cutting board and cover it with a damp tea-towel for TWO HOURS.  I know what you're thinking... you're thinking, "I can't wait to come back in two hours to see how much this grows!"  Well, you're going to be disappointed.  This dough won't grow much at all.  Why?  Well, we've made it very hard for the yeast to work.  We fed it salt, no sugar, and we dumped it in COLD water.  We don't want a fluffy loaf of bread here, we want a heavy dense gluten ball for pizza!  Trust me, it will be OK!  

When your two hours is up, take a final weight of your dough ball.  Divide the total by the number of pizzas you want.  This ball of dough will make five or six 12" pies, depending on how thin you like your crust.  I like mine a bit on the chewier thicker side so I divided 1,665g by five and got 333g.  So... I pulled off 333g of dough and rolled it into a tight ball before dropping it into a small tupperware box.  I did this 5 times.  Then I parked all five containers in my basement utility room where it's 65 degrees.  

Leave your dough balls in a 60ish place overnight, for up to 24 hours.  The dough will rest, the yeast will wake up and you'll end up with a pizza dough that you can stretch, toss, and use to make EXCELLENT pizza!!  If you're not making pizza right away, park the dough in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Shrimp Cocktail, Mexican Style!

This dish is fresh, crunchy, healthy, and a super cool treat on a hot summer day.  So, why did I make it in the middle of Winter?  What can I say, I have a thing for shrimp...

Let's do this!

You Will Need:

• 2lbs Jumbo Shrimp (Cleaned, boiled, tails removed, chilled in the fridge)
  
• 3 Celery Stalks, (halved lengthwise and chopped fine)
• 2 Jalapenos, (finely chopped)
• 1 large Cucumber, (finely chopped)
• 2 Avocados, (peeled, pitted, chopped)
• 2 Bundles of Fresh Cilantro, (finely chopped)
• 1 Small Purple Onion, (finely chopped)
• 2 Limes, (juice)
• 1 Orange, (juice)
• 2 Cups Spicy Tomato Juice (or Spicy V8)
  
• 1 Cup Tomato Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Horseradish
  
• 2 Garlic Cloves, (finely chopped)
• Cayenne Pepper Hot Sauce, (to taste)
• Salt/Pepper, (to taste)

This dish is super easy:

Mix all of the fruit and veggies together in a bowl.  Sprinkle in some salt and pepper to taste and stir it again.  

In a rather large bowl, mix the tomato juice and sauce together, stir it all around until it's uniform.  Taste it, and add as much hot sauce as you like.  Add the horseradish and give it a final stir.

Add the shrimp last and be creative.  If you're taking this dish to a pot-luck, you might want to lay the shrimp out on top of the cocktail in a creative way with some lime wedges.  If you're like me, you'll just stir it all together and park it in the fridge!  It makes a lot!

To serve it, you can either scoop a portion into a glass (above) or just ladle some into a bowl and eat it like a nice refreshing cold Ceviche! You can't go wrong, it's a nice low-calorie lunch of deliciousness!

Great Soup! Fantastic Soup in Four Easy Steps!

Is there anything better than your favorite hot soup on a cold day?  NO!  There is not!

Since there are an infinite number of soups and recipes to make them, I thought I would simplify your grandmother's basic soup recipe, so you can adapt it to your favorite goodies (apologies to grandmothers everywhere).  Let's do this!

You Will Need:

• 4 Cups (give or take) of your favorite veggies
• 3 Cups (or so) of your favorite protein
• 12 Cups (more or less) of your favorite soup stock
• 2 portions of your favorite starch (noodles, rice, etc)

Step 1: Dice up a bunch of your favorite veggies.  If you like carrots?  Add more carrots.  If you hate celery?  Don't add any celery!  Typically, this will include some or all of the following:

• Onions (yellow or red)
• Celery
• Bell Pepper
• Carrots
• Jalapenos
• Potatoes
• Tomatoes
  

Into your big soup pot, "blurp" in some good olive oil and heat it up over medium high heat.  When it's shimmering, dump in your diced veggies and stir them around.  Season them with some salt/pepper. Stir and saute them.

Step 2: Dice or shred your protein.  For this round of soup, I had a bunch of turkey leftover from Christmas dinner so I used that.  But you can use whatever protein matches your veggies.  Beef and Barley, Ham and Bean, etc.  When your veggies are tender (onions are clear, carrots are soft), dump in your protein.  Stir, stir, stir, bump the heat up a little.  Stir and cook everything for about ten minutes. 

Stock.  Let's talk about soup stock for a sec... I am NOT a fan of the cardboard quart-sized cartons of stock (any flavor).  They either have WAY too much salt or no salt at all.  They have a "processed" taste to them, and they can be expensive.  The best soup stock in the world is FREE!  Just make it at home!  I mean, for simplicity sake you could just drop a whole chicken (skin, bones, and all) into a pot, cover it with water, and simmer it for 3 or 4 hours.  Pull the chicken out, let the stock cool.  Shred all of the meat off of the chicken bones, put it in a bowl and use it for Step 2 above!  Season your stock to taste and use it for Step 3!  There are some amazing recipes for stock out there.  The best ones use roasted bones, red wine, brandy, exotic spices, etc.  Go nuts!  The point is, you want a stock that is amazing and delicious on it's own, without the veggies and/or protein so... take the time and do the work!

Step 3: Add the stock!  Pour in enough to cover your tender bits by at least an inch or so.  Stir it all together, bring it to a boil, then reduce it to a low simmer.  Strap on the lid and walk away from it for about an hour.  Let it come together... After an hour or so, taste it and give it a final seasoning.  This is where I add any "secret ingredients" like Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper sauce, garlic powder, Italian seasoning... whatever floats your particular boat!

Step 4: Add any starches you like to the pot and simmer one final time.  How long you simmer depends on your starch.  Spaghetti noodles?  Ten minutes of simmering should do the trick.  Rice?  20 minutes.  Big thick soup noodles?  15 minutes.  Just simmer, stir, and check on it every ten minutes or so before killing the heat and calling it "Done!"

Ladle it into your best crock, add a hunk of your favorite bread, and then look out the window and mock the snow that's outside!  Get your fireplace going, put your feet up, and tell everyone to leave you alone for awhile... Good soup should be savored!!

Homemade Marinara! aka "Red Sauce" or "Italian Gravy"

Ever since my wife started growing San Marzano tomatoes in our garden, I've been tweaking my recipe for "Simple Marinara."  Well, after 4 years of such tweaking, I think I'm finally ready to share it with the world (or at least with my own corner of the internet)!

Marinara for 150, anyone?

 

I don't have a ton of pictures of this recipe because it's very simple... There are very few steps, but I'll write them (below) carefully, providing any tips I've learned along the way.

You Will Need:

• 4lbs fresh or canned Roma, "Plum," or San Marzano tomatoes
• 1 Cup Chianti or your favorite fruity white wine
• 1/2 Cup finely shredded and diced carrots (very thin, very small, super tiny bits)
  
• 2 Tbsp dried Basil
• 2 Tbsp dried Oregano
• 2 Tbsp Sugar
• 3 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 whole bulb of Garlic
• 2 6oz can tomato paste
• 1 tsp jalapeno powder
• 2 Tsp Salt
• 2 Tsp Pepper

My first "note" is that this recipe is extremely scalable.  I've cut it half, and I've multiplied it to feed 150 people!  I recommend weighing out your supply of tomatoes and then doing the math from there.  OR, if you only have 3lbs of fresh tomatoes, add another pound of tomatoes from a can and go from there.  Whatever you decide to do, you should always start with the weight of the tomatoes.

The question I always get is, "What kind of tomatoes should I use?"  It's a legit question.  The answer lies in the texture and firmness of the tomato flesh, rather than the taste of the tomato itself.  Take another look at the sauce in the picture above.  It's thick enough to allow the spoon to stand on it's own, and that's critical!  NOBODY likes a thin soupy watery sauce; SO, start with a thick firm tomato.  Roma tomatoes are perfect.  So are San Marzano tomatoes.  Basically any "plum" type of tomato that is heavy for it's size and has very thick walls.

Steps:

1. 
   Get 4lbs of tomatoes into a large pot.  If you are using fresh tomatoes, cut them in half and pull out the juice and seeds with your fingers.  If you're using canned tomatoes, just dump them into the pot.  Use a stick blender (or food processor) to puree everything into a fairly thick pulp.  Do NOT be afraid to use canned tomatoes!  Tomatoes can very well and they already have the water and seeds removed!
   
2. Add the olive oil, the wine and the carrots.  The carrots will basically cook themselves out of the sauce, leaving behind their sugars and a nice aroma.  The wine is key.  If you use a red, it will give the sauce depth.  If you use a white, it will give the sauce a mysterious fruity flavor.  I like white.  Bring the sauce up to a boil and then reduce it to a gentle simmer.  Stir it and let the wine reduce and the sauce thicken a bit.  Also, you might take the time to realize that you just opened a fresh bottle of wine but you only used a relatively small amount for the sauce.  You might as well get your money's worth and pour yourself a glass to have while you stir...
   
3. Add the basil, oregano, and sugar.  Stir it all in and bump the heat just a bit to a slightly more aggressive simmer.  You want it to bubble, but you don't want it to bubble up and out of the pot all over everything.. Stir and cook it for about 5 minutes.  Your goal is to re-hydrate the herbs.  When your kitchen starts to smell like an Italian kitchen, reduce the heat back to a low gentle simmer.  Add the tomato paste and stir it in.  Cover with a lid and turn your attention to the garlic.
4. Peel, smash, and dice an entire bulb of garlic into as fine a dice as you can.  Deploy a very angry "Smash and Slice" mentality!  Fresh garlic is important here, don't use powder or dried garlic!  Remember, "Good stuff in, means good stuff out!"  Add it to the sauce, stir it in, put the lid back on, and simmer it for thirty minutes.
5. Ready?  Give it another stir and taste it!!  Does it need salt?  Add a bit.  Pepper?  Same.
6. Now, for the secret ingredient... I like to add just a touch of jalapeno powder.  Where do you get it?  Well, I make my own and I make a lot of it so send me a DM if you're local, but you can get it on Amazon...  I like a spicy marinara.  To achieve this, most cooks add red pepper flakes.  The problem is, red pepper flakes can overwhelm a sauce and cover up the herbs, garlic, and those fruity wine notes you worked so hard to get.  I will add just a light sprinkle of an angry chili powder, to bring a latent eye-popping "wow" to the mix.  Not so much that the sauce gets "hot," just enough to make your tongue want to know "what else is going on in there?!"
7. That's it, and that's all!  Give it a final stir and eat it.  Or pour it into jars. This 4lb recipe will make 11 servings, 3/4 Cup each.  I recently scaled this up to a batch of 50lbs of tomatoes to make sauce for a spaghetti dinner fundraiser and according to the math, it should have been 147 servings.  We had 145 people show up, and everything worked out perfectly!

 

Turkey Pot Pie (or Chicken Pot Pie; you pick!)

No matter how fancy your palette may be, once in awhile we all crave something simple that reminds of our childhood and for my money, Turkey Pot Pie is hard to beat!

I have many thoughts about pot-pie.  They should be super creamy, and without potatoes!  I seem to remember (growing up) that the cheaper pot-pies always had tons of potatoes and less meat.  That's just wrong!  Let's fix this:

You Will Need (for TWO pies):

• 2 deep dish pie crusts (9" or bigger, thawed and unrolled)
  
• 2 Large Squares of Frozen puff pastry dough (thawed and unrolled)
  
• 1 Stick Butter
  
• 1 Cup finely diced red onion
• 1 Cup finely diced carrots
• 1 Cup finely diced celery
• 4 Cups leftover turkey, (I like Smoked) light and dark meat, diced or shredded (or both!)
• 1/2 c. flour
• 4 Cups Turkey (or Chicken) Stock
• 1.5 Cups heavy cream (No substitutions!)
  
• 2 Cups frozen peas (set out to room temp)
  
• 3 Tsp Thyme
  
• Salt and pepper to taste

Set the oven to 400 degrees!  While it's pre-heating, let's assemble... For this recipe it is extremely helpful to have all of your ingredients pre-measured!  Get everything diced, shredded, measured out and ready to go before you light the burner, it will make everything so much easier later, because things happen fast!

Drop your stick of butter in a dutch oven or very large pan.  If you're paying attention to my pictures, you'll notice that I had to switch pans midstream... It was a Rookie Mistake and it will NOT happen again!  I mean, I have at least four dutch ovens, what was I thinking?  sigh.  I digress.  Melt your butter and saute the carrots, onions, and celery over medium-high heat until they're tender.

When the veggies are nice and tender, drop in the turkey meat and stir to combine.  Now sprinkle the flour over the entire mixture and stir it in very well.  Stir continuously for about 5 minutes.  When you detect a faint "nutty" aroma from the flour starting to cook, pour in your turkey stock. 

 

Once the turkey stock is in, do NOT stop stirring!  You don't want to give the flour a chance to clump.  Flour abjectly refuses to play along with liquids unless you dissolve it first in some fat (like you did with the butter).  So cook and stir stir stir until you have a nice thick bubbly mixture like you see in this video (above).

Pour in the heavy cream and the peas.  Keep stirring and reduce the heat to medium.  Keep stirring for 5-10 minutes while this final mix thickens!  Then kill the heat and move your pot to a safe place on the counter where you can scoop the goodness out and into your pie-shells.

If you follow this blog, then you know I HATE making pie-crust.  To those who enjoy it, I salute you!  For these pot-pies, I bought two frozen pie crusts, and two frozen Puff-Pastry squares.  Press the pie crusts into your own pie pans.  Use a measuring cup to scoop the goodness into the pie shell.  

Now then; gently lay the square of puff pastry over the top.  Cut the corners so that the pastry fits the top of your pie, and press the pastry dough into the pie crust,  Take you time and do the best you can.  Cut two slits on the top for the steam to vent.

Slide both pies into the middle of your hot oven, and place a cookie sheet in the rack below the pie.  The goodness will want so badly to escape and it will bubble out between the pie layers and land below.  The problem with the pie goodness is, it has cream.  Cream is dairy, dairy has sugar, and sugar will burn... So catch whatever goodness sneaks out on a sheet pan so it doesn't burn all over the bottom of your oven!

Give the pies 30-40 minutes in the oven.  The pastry dough will puff and rise and everything will turn golden brown!  Pull them out and let them cool and "Set" for about an hour.  Then it's all over but for the scooping and eating!  My oh my, sho am good...