Cast Iron Ribeye done right

It’s Red Meat night tonight at the Storybook House in Colonial Beach. I generally allow myself one steak a month, and I only eat half of it (for dinner). Steak is easy, right? Trust me, having spent 60 years on this planet and haven endured SO many poorly cooked steaks (and hamburgers) at backyard barbeques…I can attest to the fact that to prepare a TRULY good steak does take a bit of effort. And amazingly enough, the best I’ve cooked has not been on a grill, but a cast iron skillet. On a skillet you can control all the variables. First, of course, is a quality steak. I bought a great angus steak at Wegmans. A day before cooking it, I put it on some paper towel on a plate and put a light coating of salt on (I have a secret at the end, so don’t use too much salt),...

Slow Cooked Italian Seasoned Chicken

On a rainy winter night, this evening’s meal was all about comfort food. Italian seasoned slow cooked chicken with carrots and onions served on top of saffron rice. The nexus of this meal was a crock pot. I needed one for next week’s Colonial Beach Chili Cookoff. I had created my beta (and posted it) chili last November (https://goodpointofview.com/2022/11/14/dons-chili/) in preparation for the cookoff. It was great, but I didn’t have a crock-pot to serve it in. Last year when I attended as a civilian, there were about 15 crock pots lined up, so I knew I’d need one. Usually I just cook in a dutch oven. Now that I have a crock pot, it seemed only right that I should explore slow cooking recipes. I didn’t find one that sounded spot-on,...

Almond Flour Air Fried Chicken 2.0

Yes, I’ve posted two fried chicken recipes lately. But on a cold Virginia night, I wanted to take a stab at improving my latest almond flour air fried chicken. And I was so happy with the results, I decided to make it a new post, and not just an update for the records. I went with A LOT less seasonings than my previous recipe, and I let the chicken sit in the egg/buttermilk for much longer. 1 Cup almond flour 1 tsp cayenne 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp onion powder 2 tsp salt 2 tsp black pepper 1 cup buttermilk (1 cup milk + 1 tablespoon vinegar) 2 eggs. Mix the eggs and buttermilk, put in the chicken for 10 minutes. Dredge in the dry ingredients. The above was perfect for 2 leg quarters (cut into two drumsticks and two thighs). Air fried at 370° for 20...

Hash Brown Breakfast Cups

My recent culinary expansion into breakfast (crepes, egg cup) got me to thinking on now to make something a little heftier for a cold winter morning. Normally I don’t include potatoes in my meals very often, but this meal was based off a YouTube video I watched, and I couldn’t get it out of my mind. Mix about 4 cups of shredded potatoes (I used the Simply Potatoes brand) with the whites of two eggs and season to taste. I ground about a tsp of fresh black pepper and just shy of a tablespoon of Tony’s Cajun Seasoning. Press this into a buttered jumbo muffin tin, making a cup shape. Put this into a pre-heated oven (400°) for about 15 minutes, until it begins to crisp up. Each cup gets about 1/2 cup of potatoes. Meanwhile sauté some veggies in olive oil. I minced...

Breakfast Egg Cups

Now for something completely different… Breakfast egg cups! Butter a muffin tin, add a disk of bread, put on a small piece of cheddar, top with a slice of ham, crack in an egg. Grind some black pepper on top.Bake this for about 10 minutes at 370°. Top with some shredded Gouda cheese and broil for a couple minutes until the cheese is slightly brown. This would be good with a garlic basil aïoli on...