Peposo, Tuscan Black Pepper Beef
I know I cook some complex meals. But this one is SO easy…but you just need to give it time. Time is what makes this fantastic. Peposo, Tuscan Black Pepper Beef This is the first time I’ve cooked this. I’ve done braised beef in red wine before, and never really cared for it. The secret here is…just let it cook till it is done. 3 Hours. My previous attempts resulted in tough meat that tasted like red wine. Do it right, and it ends up tender and full of flavor. The history is that this was made by Italian tile workers who needed their cheap meats to taste better. So they slow cooked them in red wine, garlic and herbs for hours to have an edible meal. So here we have a couple pounds of round chuck, cut in ‘fist-full’ pieces. These...
Veggie-Centric Chicken Air Fried Egg Roll
Fine dice red bell peppers, onions, garlic, cabbage, garlic, green peppers and carrots. Mix with ground white chicken meat. Season as you like, I did salt and pepper. Roll and fold the eggrolls with the mix. Use a little water to seal the edges. Brush with a mix of olive oil, sea salt and garlic powder. Air fry for about 14 minutes, rotate and air fry again for a about 10 minutes, till everything is a crispy brown. Served Spanish Cauliflower and whatever dip you like! This was a sweet and sour. Make a dipping sauce you like. I did a teriyaki/fish sauce. This was so much better than doing the sauce inside of the veggie mix and then cooking it. It makes for much better...
Stuffed Pork Chops
I came across two beautiful thick bone-in pork chops at the Food Lion tonight and dinner quickly fell together. I had everything else at home already! Stuffed Pork Chops! In a bowl I mixed about a cup of Greek yogurt, a tablespoon of minced garlic, a tablespoon of pesto, about a cup of baby spinach, chopped parsley and a handful of finely shredded Gruyere cheese. The chops were sliced horizontally with a razor sharp slicing knife and the yogurt/spinach mix was spooned in and flattened. This was seasoned with my rub, which is essentially a low-salt Cajun rub. Tony’s would be fine here, but it has too much salt for me. I pan seared mine in a Moroccan olive oil for about 3 minutes a side and then slid it into a 400° oven for 20 minutes, then let it rest on a...
Chicken Biryani
We loved this at the Himalayan restaurant in King George. So it seemed like a natural challenge. But be prepared…it took 2 hours to cook. But it was worth it. Lots of leftovers. Not owning a biryani pot, so we used my dutch oven. It works fine for this. The night before we mixed some biryani seasoning (you can make your own, but it is complex and I don’t own most of the seasonings, so we got some from Amazon) with some yogurt and green chilies (lacking proper asian green chilis). We just used minced garlic and some ginger paste. 2 lbs bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and drumsticks 1 cup plain, unsweetened yogurt 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste 1 tbsp kashmiri chili powder (I used chili powder) 1 tbsp biryani spice mixture 2 tsp kosher salt ½ tsp turmeric 2...
Perfect Steak Dinner
So simple. Dried, salted/peppered rib-eye steak going into a hot cast iron skillet with butter, olive oil, onions, garlic and thyme. Flip, and spoon the juices onto the cooked side. Tonight’s difference was taking a fresh ear of corn, rolling it in the butter/garlic/thyme mix and then putting it into the air fryer for 12 minutes at 400°. Served with an air fried sweet...
Smashburger 2.0
It is officially SPRING! The cover came off the Blackstone Grill, it was re-seasoned and the First Smash-burgers went down. Onions and Mushrooms were grilled up in olive oil, French Baguette was toasted, the burger was smashed and cooked over a high heat till crispy. Then cheddar cheese was added with a cloche to steam it to a perfect melty-ness. The Bun went down, then TWO burgers, a pile of the Onion/Mushroom Mix and the sauce. The sauce was mayo with Cholula Hot Sauce and Dijon Mustard. Served with a delightful salad. Absolutely heaven! The French Bread gives the sandwich the structure it needs and...