Cowboy Candy

A favorite of brother Don's fishing buddies, I have to make an entire batch for them to enjoy at the lake cabin and enough to take back home to Chicago. This is a hot/sweet treat, if you aren't a fan of jalapeno's heat, you may not like these.  If you are, they are a refreshing addition to potato and macaroni salad, hamburgers, and lunch meat sandwiches. Be creative!  Try them wherever a splash of heat might be good.

Ingredients:

3 lbs. sliced jalapenos (1/8"-1/4" depending on preference)

3 cups apple cider vinegar

6 cups white sugar

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon celery seed

3 teaspoons granulated garlic

1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

 

Directions:

Get your water bath running and sterilize 8 pint jars. Put your lids in a separate shallow water bath to simmer. Prepare your work space for canning (trivets, funnel, metal ladle, clean towels). I leave the empty jars in the water bath while I prepare the rest.  The water should top your jars by at least 2". 

Wash jalapenos. Put on gloves. Remove the stem  and cut the jalapenos into 1/8" to 1/4" slices. Do not remove seeds or white membrane. Set aside.

Dissolve sugar, tumeric, celery seed, garlic, and cayenne pepper in the apple cider vinegar and in large pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

While the syrup is heating, remove the sterilized jars from the water bath and make sure your work station is ready for loading.  

Add jalapenos to the pot and return to a boil. Boil for 4 minute
s. Remove from the heat and load peppers into sterilized canning jars.  I prefer pint jars. Really pack them in. 

Ladle hot syrup into the loaded jars to within 1/4" of the rim.  Using a metal chop stick or knife, push down on the peppers to remove any air bubbles. Wipe the rim of the jar with a slightly moistened paper towel to remove any syrup on the rim. 

Place a can sealing lid atop each jar and tighten the bands finger tight. 

Put them back in your water bath and bring to a boil.  Process at a full boil for 10 minutes. Remove from the water bath and place on either a thick towel or a cooling tray. Allow to "cure" for about a week.  They'll develop their best color and flavor in that time.  They are however, good to eat immediately.  They may just not be as hot. 

Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread

An Allrecipes.com favorite.  Over 7000 reviews and still maintains 5 stars.  What else can I add to this except....I modified it.  Don't worry, the modifications are minor.  This is an excellent pumpkin bread recipe.  I urge you to try it sooner rather than later.

Ingredients

15 oz. pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1/2 cup veg oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 cups sugar
3.5 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup raisins

Directions

Preheat over to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour one extra large loaf pan, a Bundt pan, two large loaf pans, or 3 small loaf pans.  Set aside.

Mix pumpkin, eggs, oil, applesauce and sugar in a mixer.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, and spices.  Whisk to combine.

One low speed of mixer, combine the wet ingredients.  Add the dry ingredients in thirds until combined.  Then add the walnuts and raisins.

Pour mixture into loaf pan(s) and cook 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Venison Chili

I was gifted 3 lbs of ground venison from a student.  Turns out that we were having a chili cook off in my wing of the building, so what better way to spread the love of game meats?  Knowing that venison hasn't a lot of fat in it, I knew pork would have to be added.  Other than that, this is entirely a riff I made up on the fly.  If early tastes are any indication, this one is going to make them sweat.

Here we go.

Ingredients:

6 strips of bacon, fat rendered, bacon removed

2 lbs. ground venison

0.5 lbs. ground pork sausage

1 large yellow onion, diced

3+ tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1/2 bottle Schalfly's coffee stout

2 cans (small) Rotel tomatoes and peppers (Original) 10 oz?

1 large can Brook's chili beans (mild) 29 oz.?

16 oz. Hunt's tomato sauce

Directions:

In a large cast iron skillet, cook the bacon over low heat until crisp.  Retain fat, remove bacon and set aside.  Saute onion in bacon fat until translucent, about 3 mins.  Brown venison and pork with onion until brown.  Do not drain.  Add chili powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder, cayenne, and mix well.  Move mixture to slow cooker.  Add 1/2 bottle of beer, Rotel, chili beans, and tomato sauce.  Cook over low for 8-10 hours.

West Virginia Style Hot Dog Sauce

West Virginia, for those who've never been, is just as the song advertises. Entering West Virginia from Kentucky will see you moving from rolling hills into sharper inclines until finally, you can drive into hills so steep that the road cut might not see daylight until the sun is directly overhead.

My parents grew up in West Virginia.  My grandparents were lifelong residents.  I spent countless summer days visiting family in West Virginia.  I even lived there for a very short while before graduating from Marshall University (We are Marshall!).  It is, more so than Kentucky, the place I think of as "home".

But West Virginia is more than rolling hills and hillbilly accents.  It actually has a unique culinary tradition.  And among the things that West Virginia is famous for are her hot dogs.  West Virginia style hot dogs are always all-beef dogs.  They differ from hot dogs further south and to the northeast.  West Virginia lies above the "slaw line".   That is that hot dogs, and more often than not, pork bbq sandwiches are topped with a generous helping of mayonnaise-based cole slaw.

In my opinion, the only way to truly enjoy a hot dog is to prepare it boiled, in a steamed bun, with mustard, finely diced onions, a heaping helping of hot dog sauce and topped with a creamy slathering of cole slaw.

The hot dog sauce I remember from my youth can't be purchased at the grocery.  It is not chili sauce (even though it does have chili powder in it).  It does not have beans.  There are canned varieties--which are NOT the same--but after the Castleberry botulism debacle of 2007, I don't know of anyone who will try them.  West Virignia-style sauce is a mild, tomato based meat sauce, and you can find numerous awesome classic examples from Fairmont to Huntington.  I admit that some of my favorites are Stewart's Original Hot Dogs in Huntington, WV, and Sam's Hot Dogs in many locations throughout the Tri-State region.  This hot dog tradition even trickles into eastern Kentucky where you can find numerous worthwhile examples such as Crisp's Dairy Treat and the now out-of-business Dairy Cheer (Home of the Smashburger).

No one should die without trying a West Virignia hot dog.  So if you can't travel there, make your own at home.

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil
1 small onion, fine dice
2.5 lbs ground beef
0.25 lbs ground pork
1 box of beef broth
1.5 t black pepper
1.5 t salt
1.5 t chili powder
2 T crushed red chili pepper (medium hot)
16 oz. tomato sauce
7 oz. tomato ketchup
1/2 small can tomato paste
1/4 t cumin
Tabasco sauce to taste (I use about 12 shakes)

Directions:

In a dutch oven, saute the onion in the olive oil until tender but not browned.  Crumble the ground beef and pork and add to the pot.   Cover with beef broth and cook for 1 hour, uncovered, adding water if necessary.  Add the remaining ingredients and cook, covered, over low heat, just simmering, for two more hours.  If you wish a thinner sauce, add more water half way through the final two hours.  For thick sauce, cook down, uncovered for a while longer.

This recipe makes an entire dutch oven full of sauce.  It can be scaled down, but keep in mind, it freezes well and you are going to want this again.

Easy Bolognese Sauce

I love me some red meat sauce.  My ex's aunt used to make the best marinara I've ever tasted. Claimed she only used pork bones, tomatoes, tomato sauce and garlic salt.  I don't believe her.  But if I ever figure out what she did, I'm sharing it.  In any event, I combined a couple of recipes from Allrecipes.com into my own version of Bolognese (pronounced BOLO-NAZY) sauce.  It is rich, with depth of flavor, and some serious comfort food.

Ingredients:

4 slices bacon, chopped
2 T butter
1 T olive oil
1 onion, small dice
3 carrots, small dice
1 stalk celery, small dice
1 lb. lean ground beef
0.5 lb. ground pork
1.5 t salt
1 t dried basil, or 3-5 whole fresh basil leaves
1 t oregano
1 t freshly ground black pepper
1.5 C milk (2%)
2 C white wine
28 oz. peeled plum tomatoes (I use San Marzano)
8 oz tomato sauce (optional)

Directions:

Put chopped bacon and olive oil in a dutch oven over medium low heat.  Cook until bacon is crisp.  Melt butter.  Add onion, carrot, and celery until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add ground beef and pork and spices.  When meat is browned completely, drain most of the fat off.  Return to pan and add milk.  Simmer milk until it is almost completely reduced.  Please don't allow that milk to burn!  When milk is reduced, add white wine.  Allow it to nearly completely reduce as well.  While you are waiting on the wine to reduce, put the San Marzano tomatoes in a bowl and break them apart with your hands.  When the wine has reduced, add the crushed plum tomatoes and tomato sauce (optional) to the pan.  Bring to a very low simmer and allow to remain that way for 4-6 hours. Make sure you don't have the heat up too high.   It should barely be bubbling.  Even then, keep an eye on it.  If your pan gets too dry, add water.  The longer you cook this, the better.

Chinese Pork Dumplings

I don't know how I found this recipe, but I can assure you it was all Bin Xu's fault for causing me to fall in love with these dumplings.  He used to invite us all over for dumpling making parties.  We would eat ourselves silly.

This recipe makes 50 dumplings, but I usually double it and freeze about half.  They freeze exceptionally well.  So one night, when you don't feel like making dinner at all, you can thaw these out and have the most spectacular dinner ever.

Here we go.....

Ingredients:

2 T finely chopped chives
1 T sesame seeds
1 T chili-garlic sauce
1 lb. ground pork
3 minced garlic cloves
1 beaten egg
2 T soy sauce
1.5 T sesame oil
1 T minced fresh ginger
50 dumpling wrappers
1 cup veg oil for frying
1 quart water, or as needed

Directions:

Mix pork, garlic, egg, chives, soy sauce, sesame oil and ginger in a large bowl.  Prepare your dumpling wrappers.  I find lightly flowering your work surface works well.  Make sure to keep the unused wrappers covered with a damp towel while you work.  Place a wrapper on the floured counter surface.  Put about 1 T of the filling in the wrapper.  Don't overfill or your dumpling will come apart during cooking.  With a wet finger, draw a half moon around the outside of the dumpling wrapper.  Fold the wrapper in half and crimp the edges together.  Repeat until you run out of wrappers or filling.

You can freeze the dumplings by placing them individually (not touching) on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Once they have frozen, you can put them in gallon-size freezer bags.  I have kept them like this for up to 6 months.

To cook the dumplings.  Add about 1.5 teaspoons of oil to a large frying pan.  Put 8-10 dumplings into the pan and cook until browned about 2-3 minutes per side.  Pour in about 3/4 cup of water, and cover and cook until the dumplings are tender and the pork is cooked through.  Usually, I find this takes about 5 minutes (about the same amount of time it takes the water to evaporate.  Do not overcook.

Serve with a dipping sauce (usually available at your nearest international market).

The best cookies on the planet

I don't say this lightly.  These cookies are it.  They are the perfect texture.  They are sweet, nutty, chocolatey and equally as spectacular after they have cooled.  They are PERFECT dunked in a cup of coffee.  PERFECT I TELL YOU!

Grandma Swisher had this recipe.  Grandma was my maternal grandmother.  She could cook like a baws.  Unfortunately, she didn't pass the skills on to her daughter and I had to learn it all over from scratch.  But this recipe.  She had it forever.  I assume she got it from her mother, who appears to have been something of a baker.  These cookies are so spectacular because they are crisp and chewy at the same time.

There's a couple of tips you need to know.  Don't overcook them.  Let them cool for about 4 minutes on the cookie sheet before moving them to a cooling rack.  (Otherwise, they will fall apart on you.)  Try to keep from eating all the dough.  Try to keep from eating all the cookies straight out of the oven.  Try to control yourself.

Oh hell.  It's useless.

Ingredients & Directions:

1.5 cup AP flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

Mix together and set aside.

In your mixing bowl, combine

1 cup butter flavored Crisco (which thankfully comes in a convenient 1 cup serving size these days)
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, unbeaten
1 t vanilla
1 t hot water

Cream ingredients until well combined.

Add the dry ingredients.  Mix well.  Then, add:

2 cup Old Fashion oats (must be slow cook)
12 oz. pkg of Nestle's chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (not optional!)

Mix until homogeneous.  Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes.  Cookies are done when they are only just beginning to show some brown on the top.  At first, you'll think they are undercooked. They are not. If you don't believe me, make a batch, let them cool and then try one before baking any more.

Take them in the vicinity of your favorite suitors and wait for the marriage proposals to start flooding in.

Red Sauce like your Italian Grandma Made

I used to have time to monkey around on the internet.  And on one of those forays into the Interwebs, I found one of the best recipes of all time.  Anthony's Pasta Sauce, Meatball & Braciole.  This recipe is great for a number of reasons, not the least of which is taste.  But if you want to understand why I love this recipe, you really have to go take a look at Anthony's recipe.  It is, perhaps, the longest recipe you've ever read.  But you don't get bored.  He's entertaining.  And honestly, this is the real deal.

Just like your Italian grandma would have made if you had an Italian grandma.  

Israeli Couscous Salad: The Only Picnic Salad I Ever Liked

When I go to potlucks, I normally pass on every sort of salad.  Potato salad?  No.  Macaroni salad?  No.  Three bean salad?  Oh hell no.  If it didn't have lettuce in it, I wasn't biting.  Literally.

So imagine my surprise at finding a salad I not only liked, but was wild over.  I was introduced to this sweet little dish by Julie Schmale during the Sixth Annual Camping Event Not To Be Named.  Since this weekend was the Eighth Annual Camping Event Not To Be Named, and since Julie just sent me this link, I thought I'd share this delicious dish with you.  I love this dish.  Love it.

From Cooking with Trader Joes.

Beckie's Israeli Couscous Salad

The Dressing:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp chopped garlic (or use 1 cube frozen Crushed Garlic )
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp kosher salt or to taste
black pepper to taste
1/4 cup sugar

1 box Trader Joe's Israeli Couscous (found in the pasta/rice aisle)
1/3 cup unsalted dry toasted sliced almonds
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup  thinly sliced fresh basil
2 oz Lite Feta cheese, crumbled or 2 oz Crumbled Feta (regular or fat free)

1.) Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, and sugar in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2.) Follow cooking instructions on the Israeli Couscous box.  Add cooked couscous to the bowl containing the dressing. Toss with the dressing and let it cool (about 20-30 minutes), stirring occasionally.  The couscous will absorb the dressing as it cools.
3.) Add the almonds, cranberries, and basil. Toss the feta cheese in lightly. Add more salt and pepper if needed.

Serves 4

Variations:
If you don't have Israeli couscous, substitute 1 1/2 cups of dried orzo or TJ's Harvest Grains. Cook until al dente, drain and then add to the dressing.
If you don't have fresh basil, substitute fresh parsley (or a combination of both) . If you don't like almonds, substitute toasted pignoli nuts.



********

And because the Camping Event was this weekend, here's some pics from my short visit with the friends.  Make sure you get out this year!

Pico de gallo

Pico is quick and easy and tasty as hell.

Ingredients:

6 roma tomatoes, cored and diced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
juice of one lime
salt to taste

Mix all ingredients and allow to chill for about an hour.

Serve with your favorite corn chips.

Yum.

Cajun Cookin'

I found some shrimp in the freezer.  Two pounds of it that I refuse to let go bad.  I decided to make perhaps my favorite shrimp dish: seafood gumbo.  So I pull out my trusty Paul Prudhomme cookbook and open 'er up and got busy.

Gumbo is deceptively easy.  Sure, if you are going to make your own stock, you will have to start the day before  But you don't have to do that. I'll tell you about the short-cuts later.


First you chop some veggies.  I used two medium green bell peppers, a couple stalks of celery and at least two onions and about four cloves of garlic.  I was using rather large cloves, so if you have a normal-sized bulb of garlic, you might want to use six.  You'll need about two tablespoons worth.  I like the vegetables diced fairly small and  try to make all the cuts uniform.  Not quite a mince, maybe just a smidgen larger than a fine dice.

Next you need some shrimp stock.  Now under normal circumstances, you'd buy shell-on shrimp and peel the shrimp and use the shells to make your stock.  Making stock takes time, but it's actually a lot of fun. When else do you get to throw in halved unpeeled onions and an entire bulb of unpeeled garlic?  It is fun to watch the stock come together.  So much more fun that making chicken stock.  Unfortuantely, since I bought only tail-on shrimp, there wouldn't be enough shells to flavor a stock.  So I used some of this....

It really has decent flavor for bouillon.  These are large, oversized cubes.  Make a very dark, very pungent stock.  With stock ready, shrimp thawed, and vegetables chopped. I can get busy.  This dish takes a lot less time than you'd think for how great it tastes.

You create a spice mix, which is a combination of white, black and cayenne pepper, paprika, oregano, thyme and some salt.  Oh, and you'd better get the file and Tabasco ready.  This is Louisiana cooking after all.

Melt a stick of butter in a stock pot over medium heat.  When to temperature, add the chopped vegetables and cook for 6 minutes stirring constantly.  Add two tablespoons of file, and the spice mix and a full tablespoon of Tabasco.  Heat over medium heat for 5 minutes.  The file will become very sticky, so you must stir the pan regularly.  Over time, the file will begin to stick to the bottom of the pan, make sure you scrape off any brown bits.  They add flavor and reduce the ability of file to thicken the final product.

Add the tomato sauce and cook over medium heat for another 5 minutes....stirring constantly. Now all you have to do is add your stock and bring it to a boil over medium heat, then simmer over low heat for 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Look at that nice rich color!

Now is a good time to put on some brown rice.  You don't need a lot.  Gumbo isn't a rice dish.  The rice is an accompaniment.  After 45 to an hour, turn the heat off the stock and add the shrimp and crabmeat and cover.  Ha!  I didn't mention the crabmeat, did I?  But you can't just have one kind of seafood in gumbo.  You can also throw in oysters if you are made of money, which I'm not.  In any event, when the shrimps turn bright red, the meal is ready!If at all possible, you should only put in as much shrimp as you can eat in one meal.  If you cook the shrimp and let it sit in the broth, it will get tough.  This meal is so fluffy I think I'm gonna die!  Oh wait. Wrong movie.

Wow this was good.

Here's the full recipe from Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen

1 lb medium shrimp
5 cups basic seafood stock
Seasoning mix:
1.5 teaspoons ground red pepper (cayenne)
1.5 teaspoons sweet paprika
1 teaspoon salt
0.5 teaspoon white pepper
0.5 teaspoon black pepper
0.5 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
0.5 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
1 bay leaf, crumbled

0.5 cup margarine
2 cups chopped onions
2 cups chopped celery
2 cups chopped green bell pepper
3 tablespoons gumbo file (file powder)
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce
1-2 tablespoons minced garlic
1.25 cups canned tomato sauce
1.5 cups, packed, crabmeat (about 0.5 lb)
1 dozen shucked oysters (about 0.5 lb) (optional)
1.33 cups cooked brown rice

Peel shrimp, rinse and drain.  You can use the shells and heads to make shrimp stock if you want.  Otherwise, refrigerate shrimp while you make the rest of the dish.  Combine the seasoning mix ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.  In a 4-quart heavy soup pot, melt the margarine over medium heat.  Add the onions, celery and bell peppers.  Turn heat to high and stir in the gumbo file, Tabasco, garlic, and seasoning mix.  Cook 6 minutes, stirring constantly.  Reduce heat to medium and tir in the tomato sauce; continuing cooking 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the stock and bring gumbo to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the shrimp, crabmeat and oysters (if desired); cover and turn off the heat. Leave the pot covered just until the seafood is poached, about 6-10 minutes.  Serve immediately.

For a main course, place about 1/3 cup rice in a bowl and top with about 1 cup gumbo.  For an appetier, serve about half that amount.

This is rich folks.  Rich, rich, rich.  And delicious.  And I gotta go eat.  :)

Half a Batch o' Hummus

I have raved before about The Schamle's Favorites hummus recipe.  I love it.  Love it, love it, love it!  But it makes a mess o' hummus. So here, I just want to repeat the recipe - halved - for my own convenience.

Half a Batch O' Hummus

1 can garbanzo beans, drained, reserve liquid
1 tsp minced garlic
1 + 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
a little less than 2/3 cup tahini
1/8 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp table salt

Combine all ingredients (except bean juice) in food processor and puree.  Add bean juice until mixture takes on a smooth texture.  Or use an immersion blender.  Or a hand mixer.  I don't think this would do well in a blender.

Nutritional Info:
Serving size, 1/4 cup
Kcals: 193
Fat: 13g
Carbs: 16 g  Dietary fiber: 3 g
Protein: 5 g
Weight Watchers PointsPlus: 2

Notes:  I use the full amount of olive oil, but only 1 T lemon juice and I make up the difference with the reserved bean juice by eyeballing how the texture looks.  I also add two pinches of salt instead of the 1/2 tsp since I'm overly sensitive to salty foods.