An Unusual Turkey Day Dessert

This Turkey Day holiday,

our resident chef decided to make an unusual dessert

as a thank you for a hardworking coworker friend.

The results were amazing!

The dessert you ask?

Alton Brown's Tres Leches Cake

If you are into delicious Mexican style desserts

and have a definite sweet tooth to boot- this is the dessert for you!

Chef's notes:
This dessert, although delicious, is extremely sweet.

If we were to do this recipe again,
we would cut the sugar down
AT LEAST by 1/4 of what it recommends.
The topping is also very delicious and is basically
homemade whip cream rather than traditional frosting.
No other additions are necessary with this decadent treat.

Chipotle Meatballs

I was looking for a recipe for German Potato Salad, doing the Octoberfest thing Saturday, when I came across this recipe. I've never used chipotle chilis in adobo sauce before but I had some leftover hamburger and cooked rice that I needed to use up so I gave it a whirl.

Here's the link, and I stole the picture as well.

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chipotle_meatballs/

I used 1/4lb sauteed bacon in the sauce instead of in the meatballs. The chilis looked so innocent in the can that I went against my better judgement and placed 4 whole chilis in the sauce. I then used my immersion blender to puree the chilis along with the tomatos and onions then added the reserved bacon back in.

Dani said she could smell it from the driveway before she even got to the house. I had her taste it first in case it was too hot for me. She said it was pretty warm which usually means you can light a fire with it, but when I tasted it there was a deep smoky hot, not a burning hot like cayenne. A little sour cream cooled it a bit and it was awesome.

love and bacon,

pops

Not Another Campbell's Bean with Bacon Soup

Tired of the old Warhol-esque canned soup??

Well, no more!

Introducing
Cooking Light's Bean and Bacon Soup

Make sure to crisp the bacon.

The crunchy texture is an excellent contrast to the beans.

 The dark molasses adds a unique sweetness to the mix.

And Voila! A delicious soup that pairs perfectly

with a hot grilled cheese made with homemade pita bread.

Cheers!

Guinness + Lamb= Guinness Lamb Stew

Pictured red sauce is tomato paste.

This lamb has been dredged in flour and browned.

This flour will later act as a thickening agent for the stew.

 Simmer for longer in order for the flavors 

to blend nicely together.

If you would like your stew to be a little bit sweeter,

substitute rutabaga in place of turnips.

Bread shown in this picture
is homemade pita and goes very well
with the stew's flavors.

Guinness Lamb Stew by Cooking Light

Notes:
Recipe calls Guinness Stout
but we used Guinness Drought
for its preferred flavor (leftovers!).
This recipe can easily be adapted for a crock pot.

Another Day Another Meal

I must admit I have a love/hate relationship with grills. I love the results when it all works but more often than not I find them lacking. I think I've used at least half a dozen different models and currently have 2 grills and a smoker in the stable.

My latest grill is a propane Master Forge model from Lowes, which satisfies one of my requirements. Grills burn up and you need an easy source for replacement parts as you burn them up. This grill has a sear burner which deals with my next complaint, not enough heat to cook a steak charred and rare (also called blue or pittsburgh on the east coast).

Well I tried it for the first time on Dad's day. I cooked one steak 5 minutes per side on the grill and obtained nice grill marks and a steak done medium-rare. The other steak went on the sear burner for just 2 minutes per side. Voila! charred and rare (you know actually raw in the center). This was the steak in the photo.

And now for the next test, rotisserie chicken. My last grill was a Nexus that had an infrared back burner that would selectively burn a chicken on the spit while leaving the bird otherwise uncooked. Here's the results using the new grill:

The bird came out evenly cooked with crispy skin in an hour. I started on high but turned it down to low after 15 minutes. The bird was left uncovered in the refrigerator for a couple of days to dry it out (from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc) and the skin was lifted from the body to create an air pocket (from America's Test Kitchen).

I rubbed the bird with a mixture olive oil, garlic and lemon juice, then sprinkled poultry seasoning and smoked paprika as the bird turned.

love and bacon

pops

Dad's Day Feast

It's Father's day and a chance to try out the new grill. A quick trip to the store yields New Yorks on sale, so now for the accompaniment.

I used to do rosemary crusted steaks, but on a trip to Boston some years ago, I was introduced to Chimichurri, the wonderful Argentinian parsley relish. Why not combine the two? Of course google shows its all been done before, here's my version.

Rosemary Chimichurri

1/4 cup Olive Oil

2 Tbsp Fresh Rosemary

3 cloves Minced Garlic

1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

1 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar

1 bunch Italian Parsley cull the stems

*kosher salt to taste, although I prefer to salt the meat directly

Combine first 4 ingredients in a saute pan and simmer on low for 10 minutes, then let cool. Stir in the vinegar.

In a food processor, coarse chop the parsley then drizzle the oil mixture in, while pulsing to achieve a relish like consistency.

Serve the chimichurri at room temperature with salted and peppered steaks.

love and bacon,

pops

When Shrimp Met Avocado

May's Cooking Light magazine

featured the most mouth watering picture yet,

Shrimp Cobb Salad.

I instantly knew we had to try it!

The recipe was like one part home (Cali)

and one part seafood heaven.

I knew that with ingredients like these

nothing but pure delight could come out of the kitchen.

 The cooked shrimp were a spectacular palate
for both the flavors of the bacon and paprika.

 All the ingredients were easy to prepare and assemble together.
The mustard lemon vinaigrette was simple to make and very flavorful.

No matter how you set up your salad,
you will get a whole lot of flavors.

Preferring a separatist approach
(this way nothing distracts from the shrimp and avocado flavors).

 

And a mixed approach for the flavor adventurer.

And again,
Shrimp Cobb Salad from Cooking Light

Notes:
Avocados are difficult to pick but
an excellent way to do it is to make sure
the avocado is not too soft,
a firmer avocado is preferable.
Once you get home,
place the avocado in a paper bag
on top of the fridge.
Check on it in the next couple of days.
You will know when it's ready,
when the skin has a slight give.