Classic Red Beans and Rice

After a bit of a hiatus, I thought I'd drop in with a classic. Remodling the kitchen has taken up my time and it's taking awhile to complete. Older houses come with their own headaches.

This was a great dish to start while the wife and I were applying stucco to the basement walls since it takes about 3 hours to cook. If you own a cast iron dutch oven, use it! It does a great job without burning the finished product.
And while you can go vegetarian on this and/or eat it as a side dish, bacon or andouille sausage go great in red beans and rice. Of course, the wife doesn't like bacon or sausage so I capitulated and added chicken.
It's simplistic, it's easy, and it's tasty. Here's how I did it!

Red Beans and Rice
8 oz. dried kidney beans
2 T. olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1-2 celery stalks, chopped
2 bay leaves
1/2 t. dried thyme
1 t. dried parsley
1/2 t. cayenne pepper (or more if you like)
2 T. softened butter
2 T. all-purpose flour
salt and pepper to taste

Optional:
8 oz. bacon, andouille sausage, pork, or chicken

Rinse the dried beans and soak them in 3 cups of salted water overnight.

Heat the olive oil in your cast iron dutch oven over medium heat. Add in the garlic, onion, bell pepper, and celery until the onions are softened. Add the beans and the water they were soaked in to the pot. Reduce the heat to simmer. Stir in the bay leaves, thyme, parsley, and cayenne pepper and cover. From here, let it cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, stirring once an hour or so. The goal is to cook the mixture until the beans soften to your desired texture.

I wanted a thicker, gravy-like consistency, so I used a buerre manie. It's equal parts softened butter and flour, and it does a great job as a thickener for soups and stews. Hand mix the butter and flour into a ball and stir it into the pot.

At this point, add in the cooked meat of your choice. I added a poached and shredded chicken breast.
As a side note, I found the onion, bell pepper, and celery a bit overcooked at this point. Next time I will more likely add them later in the process, but it was still tasty in the end.

Serve over rice and enjoy!

Italian Rice and Peas

     It's about time I focused a bit more on side dishes. I've neglected them a bit in favor of entrees, so I'll try to give a nod to the dishes that compliment something as simple as a grilled pork chop or pan-seared chicken breast.
     I didn't know what to call this. The official name is risi e bisi (rice and peas). The origins seem to go back to 16th century Venice. It is eaten on the feast day for St. Mark. But the more I researched, the more conflicting recipes I found. Some are a rice dish, some are more like a soup, and others are in between.
     I Americanized it by using long grain rice rather than arborio, bacon rather than pancetta, and onion rather than shallot. I followed in the direction of Chef Walter Staib of the City Tavern here in Philadelphia.
     So try this out as a side to a somewhat normal entree. Honestly, I ate a double order of this yesterday - sans the entree. Either way, it tastes great!

Venetian Risi e Bisi: Americanized (serves 2)
3-4 slices of thick bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 c. onion, chopped
1/2 c. green peas
1 c. long grain rice, rinsed
1 1/2-2 c. chicken broth
freshly chopped parsley
kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

     Slice the bacon into 1/2 inch slices and begin heating them in a small saucepan over medium heat. When the natural greases begin to release, add the onion and peas. After a few minutes, add the rice and stir occasionally for 3-5 minutes.

     Pour in the chicken broth (less for crunchier rice, more for softer rice), reduce to simmer, and stir, then cover. When the majority of the liquid is gone, add in the parsley and stir. Continue cooking until the rice is at the desired consistency, then remove from heat.
     Season the rice with salt and pepper. Add the Parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Shrimp Etouffee

     I like the familiarity of a cajun/creole recipe. You see a lot of the same players - onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, cayenne, etc. This is another one of those tasty and easy one-dish meals. I went with shrimp over crawfish because they're easier to use and easier to find (although working with crawfish is pretty fun).

     While we're talking shrimp, it may be worth noting that you should buy them frozen. The ones behind the glass at the store are just thawed - not "fresh". Unless you're buying them at the docks where the boats come in, go with frozen. And from the USA.
     This works great for two, so make yourself a drink and start cleaning out the fridge!

Shrimp Etoufee
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c.(1/2 stick) butter
1/2 c. onion, chopped
1/2 c. celery, chopped
1/2 c. bell pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 c. chicken broth
1/2 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 t. cayenne
freshly chopped parsley

     Start out by making a roux. Lightly brown the flour in a skillet over medium heat. Add the butter and whisk the mixture until it is well-blended and medium-brown in color. Follow this with the onion, celery, pepper, and garlic until they just begin to soften.
     Pour in the chicken broth and reduce heat to simmer. Stir well and add the shrimp. Cooking them slowly in the liquid mixture will give you a more tender shrimp than if you had sauteed them in a skillet. You may have to add water here and there to keep the sauce at the desired consistency. When the shrimp are done, but still tender, season with cayenne and salt and pepper. Add a little Tabasco sauce if you want, just remember it has vinegar in it. Cayenne and lemon juice might work better.
     Serve over rice and garnish with parsley.

Grilled Pizza Margherita

     Pizza. C'mon, any red-blooded American could bloviate on this topic. From Atlantic to Pacific, just about anyone can point you to their favorite spot for pizza - whether you're just stopping in for a slice or calling in a delivery.
     They can also describe the perfect pie in great detail from crust to topping. For me, it's in the basics. A good pizza should still be good when stripped down to just it's crust, sauce, and cheese. That's why the margherita is my favorite incarnation of the dish.
     Yeah, I love a loaded pizza, even a deep dish from time to time. But in terms of taste, I prefer quality to quantity. In fact, I test a pizza joint's merits based on how their margherita tastes. My friend Sue from church makes pizza on a regular basis. If you stand blindfolded in her kitchen on a Friday afternoon, you'd swear you were in a local pizzeria. She'll even tell you it's fun and easy to do.
     Plus, it's a great springboard for your creativity. So start here and see how often you call for delivery after that.

The Dough
The frozen dough found in the freezer aisle of the grocery store makes a great pizza. But if you want to work from scratch, here's what I used.

1 package of active dry yeast
1 t. sugar
1 c. warm water
1 T. kosher salt (or 1 1/2 t. table salt)
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
3 c. all purpose flour
cornmeal

     Mix the first 3 ingredients together and allow them to sit for 5 to 10 minutes until foamy. In a food processor or mixing bowl, add the salt and olive oil to the mixture and stir. Mix in 2 cups of flour and blend well, adding more flour until a slightly sticky ball of dough can be formed.
     Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface, kneading a few times. Form into a ball, and place it into a  lightly-oiled bowl. Cover with a towel and allow it to rise in a warm spot for about an hour.
     Whether or not you have a pizza stone, preheat your oven or grill as hot as it can get. Divide your risen dough into 3 pieces and roll out to the desired thickness. Toss a light layer of cornmeal on your stone to prevent sticking and heat the first side. When it is slightly browned, flip and add sauce and toppings.

Sauce and Toppings
canned whole Italian tomatoes, strained
garlic cloves, finely chopped
kosher salt to taste

fresh mozzarella cheese
fresh whole basil leaves, rinsed (easily grown at home)

     I kept this one as basic as possible. You can add other classic flavors like oregano, thyme, basil, etc., but this is the stripped-down version you start from. Personally, I think it's better not to overload this recipe with too many flavors; it's meant to be simple.
     The amounts vary depending on how much sauce you think you need. Another advantage to the simplicity of this sauce is that you can make more on the fly. Puree your tomatoes and garlic. Add salt in small increments until it's just right. If you require a thicker consistency, simmer the mixture in a small saucepan before adding the salt.
     After the first side of the crust is lightly browned, add the sauce and generous chunks of fresh mozzarella cheese, and drizzle a bit of olive oil over the top. If you use the oven, switch to broil to heat the toppings once the bottom is brown. If you use the grill, move the pizza to the top rack until the cheese is melted.
     Remove from heat and add fresh whole basil leaves. After a few minutes of rest time, divide and conquer!

Caprese BLT

     Tomato. Basil. Mozzarella. They just belong together. The caprese salad is a staple antipasto of Italian cuisine, and I wondered what it would be like to try it as the base for a BLT. After I finished it off, I decided to research what others had tried. My recipe was pretty close to the rest except for the pesto. I'll probably tweak it a few more times before I settle in on my favorite version, but here's how today's attempt looked.
   
Caprese BLT (from the bottom up)
sliced Italian bread (focaccia, ciabatta, etc.)
fresh mozzarella
salad spring mix (arugula, spinach, romaine, et al.)
sliced tomato
fresh basil, roughly chopped

bacon slices, cooked

extra virgin olive oil
basil pesto

     I wanted my bread toasted, so it went into the oven while I was finishing up with the other ingredients. A friend of mine convinced me to toast the bread topped with the mozzarella so that it begins to melt when it's time for final assembly.
     Top the slice of bread with the cheese with the remaining ingredients and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Spread pesto on the second slice and serve with cold pasta salad.

     You'll like this one.

Almond Basil Pesto

     This is a great garnish for many things Italian. While I have a specific purpose in mind (more to follow), this will go great atop a pasta dish or a homemade roasted tomato soup. There's only a few ingredients, so it's easy to make. And while pine nuts are typically used for pesto, you can substitute walnuts or almonds (which were on hand here) with great results.
     If you don't have a garden out back, start with herbs. We're in an urban setting, but basil is ridiculously easy to grow (as is oregano and thyme, to complete the triumvirate), and will add more flavor to your dishes when fresh rather than dried. Plus, it's cheaper, and we still have our own dried basil, oregano, and thyme made from last year's leftovers.
     So give it the old college try, but remember it only lasts about a week in the refrigerator. That being the case, I made only half of the recipe you see here.
     Grab the few ingredients needed and your food processor...this won't take long.

Almond Basil Pesto
2 c. fresh basil leaves, lightly packed
2 garlic cloves
1/4 c. unsalted almonds
1/2 c. grated italian cheeses (can be a blend...asiago, parmesan, mozzarella, etc., but err on the side of the harder cheeses)

1/3-1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil

kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

     There's nothing to this (well, that I know of). Put the first 4 ingredients into the food processor or blender. Turn on the processor and, add the olive oil until a paste is formed; this will not take long. Salt and pepper the mixture to taste, and store in your refrigerator for up to a week.

Homemade Paneer

     It's fun to make some things from scratch at least once. And then there's things that should always be made from scratch - like biscuits. Cheese is one of those things you don't ever expect to make in your own kitchen. And for good reason. It's a time-consuming and sensitive process. It can be done, but some things are more easily left to the pros.

     Except for this one. Paneer is a hard, crumbly, non-melting farmers cheese with Indian origins. I stumbled upon a list of things to stretch your kitchen resources and someone mentioned making cheese from slightly soured milk. I thought nothing of it until I opened up the milk one day and...

     I went back and researched the idea and gave it a shot. It's easy and it makes use of something you would toss out anyway.

Paneer

slightly soured milk

2 T. lemon juice or vinegar

salt (optional)

fresh herbs (optional)

     The amount of milk used depends on how much you have. I had about a pint of whole milk. Also, the higher the fat content, the more cheese is made. If the milk is curdling up, go ahead and toss it. Fresh or slightly soured milk is what you want to use.

     Heat the milk very slowly in a saucepan while stirring. This will ensure that you don't burn it. When it begins to bubble a bit, add the acid. Lemon juice will yield a slight lemon flavor in the cheese (which I liked). When I used vinegar, the flavor was more neutral. Either way, the acid causes the solids and liquids in the milk to separate. When the milk is fully separated, remove from heat.

     Place a strainer in your sink and lay a wet cheesecloth or handkerchief in it. Pour in your separated milk. You will be left with the solids (slightly wet) in your cheesecloth. This is the time to add any salt or pepper or herbs you may want. I left this batch plain, but salt and finely chopped chives go great with it. Really, it's your choice. Fruit flavors are supposed to work too, but I've never tried them.

     Mix any flavors you added well, and draw up the corners of the cheese cloth. Wring out any excess water. It will yield a drier cheese the more water you remove, but remember that this will never be a creamy, spreadable cheese. You can store the cheese in a container in the refrigerator. 

     Whether you eat it with crackers or fry it like in Indian cuisine, at least you didn't throw it out!

The Burger, Part 1: The Ultimate Bacon Cheeseburger

     My wife doesn't eat red meat. So when work took her out of town, it was only natural that I took the opportunity to make a killer burger. For me, that meant reaching for my cast iron skillet. If you know what you're doing, you can make a great grilled or broiled burger. But, if you're not careful, you can end up with a dry, shrunken patty that is dwarfed by its accompanying bun. So I decided to take my grandma's approach and cook this burger on the stove (with a few tips from America's Test Kitchen).
     For me, a burger is like a stir-fry is like an omelet is like a pizza - it's a blank canvas. There are 101 ways to make a great burger, but I like to go with the less is more approach. I go for maximum flavor with minimum mess. For example, trade out lettuce for a spring mix of arugula, spinach, dandelion greens, etc.- there's just more flavor and less mess. Tomatoes are great, but they don't help keep the burger together and are easier to eat on the side. Swap the usual condiments (ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise) for a more flavorful homemade sauce (see below). Try a few different things, and if it doesn't add a lot of flavor, leave it out. If you notice the above picture, I had onions and mushrooms on mine, but they didn't add much overall. So they won't be on this incarnation of the burger in the future.
     This is a simply burger with no fillers. It's about the greens, the cheese, the bacon, an of course the sauce makes this one spectacular.

The Ultimate Bacon Cheeseburger
1 lb. ground beef (80-85% lean)
kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste

4 slices of cheese (provolone, swiss, cheddar, white american etc.)
6-8 strips of bacon
spring mix greens
4 hamburger buns

The Sauce (the star of the show)
1/4 c. mayonnaise
2 T. Dijon mustard
2 t. soy sauce
1 t. sugar
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. dried parsley
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 t. pepper

Heat the skillet!
     Don't overlook the ability of the cast iron skillet to help you make the perfect burger. Why do I prefer it to grilling or broiling? First, because Grandma's skillet burgers were juicier than Dad's grilled burgers. But I later found out that both grilling and broiling the edges of the burger causing them to constrict. This requires you to create a dimple in the middle of the patty to keep it from shrinking into a less-than-bun-sized meatball-like shape.
     The skillet only heats the burger where it makes contact with the pan - no shrinking edges, no dimple needed. As much as I love my grill, I've abandoned bison meat and the grill for beef and a skillet.
     Also, I'm not a big fan of fillers. Egg and bread crumbs make for soggier patties. And ditch the crazy spice mixes on this one. The flavor is in the sauce. Try it before you go reaching into your spice rack.
     If you have extra-lean beef melt down a pat of butter per patty (this adds in the fat that would normally be found in beef with a higher fat content) and add it along with the salt and pepper to the pound of ground beef. Form 4 patties by hand, but handle the meat as little as possible to preserve moisture. Place the patties in the refrigerator while you make the sauce.
     As far as the sauce goes, mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Yep, that's it.

     Bring your skillet to medium heat (medium-high if not using cast iron). Cook the bacon, and reserve the natural grease it provides. Cook the patties for about 2 minutes on one side or until well browned. Flip them and cook for a minute or two on the second side, again looking for a brown sear. Never press down on the patties! You will only lose juices (flavor).

     Finish the patties off in an oven for about 8 minutes at 300 degrees with the cheese topping them. Meanwhile, toast the buns and spread the sauce over each half. Add the spring mix, and top the burgers with the bacon. Serve with homemade steak fries and enjoy a burger that would cost you $8 or more in a pub!

Italian Meatballs and Orzo

     I found this one after searching through our cookbooks until something sounded good that fit our inventory. We had a zucchini that needed to be used, and I wanted to find a reason to get rid of the ground turkey. Heather  was out of town last week and came back wanting fresh fruits and vegetables. It sounded good to me.
     I normally shy away from recipes that have too many ingredients - the simpler the better. So, I apologize for my hypocrisy in advance, but it is a one-dish meal after all. Of course, the meatballs contain ingredients that may be left out for simplicity's sake. In the end, it turned out to be a keeper.
     Let me note something before we begin. I made the meatballs exactly to the recipe below, but I only used half of them. The rest went into the freezer for later. If you're feeding two, you will want to do the same. If you want to feed 4 or 5, use all the meatballs and double the pasta and vegetables.

Turkey Meatballs
1 lb. ground turkey (beef and/or pork if your wife will let you)
1 egg, well beaten
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 c. sweet onion, chopped
1/4 c. grated Romano cheese
2 t. dried oregano
1 t. dried parsley
2 t. salt
1 t. pepper
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1/3 c. water

Orzo and Vegetables
2 c. beef stock
1 c. orzo
2 c. canned Italian tomatoes, hand-crushed
1 medium zucchini, cubed
1/2 c. green peas, thawed

Toppings
sliced tomatoes
grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
fresh cut basil

     Start by prepping the meatballs. Mix all the ingredients for the meatballs by hand until well-blended being careful not to overwork the mixture. Heather wanted them kept small, so I used a heaping teaspoon as a guide to keeping them uniform in size. You can make them to the size you desire. Spread the meatballs out onto a sheet pan and place them in the freezer to firm up a bit.

     Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in your pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, drop in the meatballs in batches. Again, I only used half of the recipe. When you get a good sear on all sides, remove them to a separate sheet pan. Place them in a 350-degree oven for about 8 minutes. Set them aside.

     Remove any excess oil from the pan and return to medium heat. Pour in the beef stock. When it reaches a boil, add in the orzo and meatballs and reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 5-8 minutes.
     Stir in the tomatoes, zucchini, and peas. Cook for 6-10 minutes, pausing halfway through to top with grated cheese. At the end of the cooking time, top with the sliced tomatoes and fresh basil.

Enjoy.

Chicken and Dumplings

     This one always hits the spot. While it's a major hit on cold days, I could eat it anytime. I made a small lunch-sized portion for two, so I doubled the recipe to work for four. This is a bit of a departure from my mother's recipe. Her's doesn't involve any vegetables and she doesn't use spoon-in dumplings, but I was just trying something a bit different. And while your favorite is always going to be the one you grew up with, you just might like this one too. There are more time-consuming versions of this, but here's the quick and easy one.

Chicken and Dumplings

2 boneless chicken breasts

2 T. unsalted butter

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

2 celery stalks, roughly chopped

4 c. chicken broth

2 c. whole milk

2 c. flour

2 T. baking powder

1 t. salt

1 t. sugar

2 T. shortening

2/3 c. milk

salt and pepper to taste

Comfort food is on the way!

     Start by placing the chicken breasts in a medium to large sized pot and covering them with water. Boil them until they are cooked through, then strain them and set them aside to cool enough to touch. Pull the chicken apart into small pieces (think pulled pork).

     Bring the empty pot back to the stove, and melt the butter over medium heat. Cook the garlic in the butter for about a minute, then add the carrots and celery. When they begin to soften, add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat again to medium, and add the milk.

     Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a mixing bowl. Cut in the shortening (I just use my hands). Incrementally add the milk while mixing until it resembles wet biscuit dough. Spoon the mixture in to the stew in tablespoon-sized pieces.

     Add in the cooked chicken, and give it about 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and ladle into a bowl. Garnish it with parsley if you like. I usually don't wait. Grab a spoon and sit back and enjoy! 

Remoulade Sauce

     I think God created horseradish specifically for seafood (even more specifically for steamed oysters). Needless to say, great seafood is easily complemented by a great sauce. Intro the Cajun remoulade. While it goes best with crab cakes, several Southern seafood dishes can get a flavor boost with this sauce. I've experimented with this one several times, and to be honest I wasn't satisfied. This recipe was the keeper. Tweak this one as you will, keeping in mind that the horseradish, mayonnaise, and Dijon mustard are the key flavors here.

Cajun Remoulade
1/2 c. mayonnaise
1/4 c. celery, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
2 t. parsley
1 t. paprika
2 t. prepared horseradish
2 t. Dijon mustard
2 t. ketchup
2 t. lemon juice
2 t. Worcestershire sauce
2 t. cider vinegar
2 t. Tabasco sauce
1/2 t. salt

     This one is a breeze. Everything goes into a food processor or blender and pulse it down until it's smooth. It's hard to open the refrigerator and not steal a little taste of this. Try it with shrimp, fried catfish, or crab cakes. 

     Enjoy!

Experimenting with Barbecue Sauces

     Living in the land of cheese steaks and soft pretzels easily keeps your taste buds happy. Still, mine get a little homesick and in need of something traditional. Pulled pork is something you can do indoors if it's not quite grilling season - for me, that means a consistent 70-degree or more day. Plus, the slow cooker can do the work while you have errands to run.

     While the pork turned out great by itself, an equally great sauce is a must for me. So many barbecue restaurants sell their sauces in stores that you don't have to buy the generic stuff. Still, it's fun to make your own. Besides, I had plenty of leftover tomato juice that it just made sense.

     

     The first recipe is really close to one found in The Early American Cookbook by Dr. Kristie Lynn and Robert W. Pelton. It gives a quick overview of the history of American cooking along with recipes enjoyed by historical figures. I tweaked this recipe a bit, but it was supposedly a marinade and basting sauce used by Sam Houston. He was a prominent figure in the war for an independent Texas and supported its annexation by the United States.

The Barbecue Sauce that Won Texas

3 tbsp. cooking oil
1/4 c. sweet onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 c. ketchup (I substituted tomato juice)
1/4 c. Worcestershire sauce
1 lemon, juiced
2 tbsp. cider vinegar
1 tbsp. Tabasco sauce
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. dry mustard
2 tsp. water

     In a small to medium saucepan or skillet, heat cooking oil (or butter) over medium and saute the onion and garlic until soft. Stir in all but the last two ingredients. Increase heat to medium-high and stir regularly. Mix the dry mustard and water until smooth and add to the mixture.

     When the sauce begins to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Continue regular stirring. When it's ready, transfer to a mason jar or other suitable container. Keep in the refrigerator until use.

     The second sauce is a traditional "piedmont sauce" found from Georgia to eastern Tennessee and the western Carolinas. It is extremely thin and usually found in a squirt bottle on the table for you to add as much or as little as you want. It is very heavy on the vinegar, so if you like thick, sweet, Kansas City-style sauces, try a bit on the side before you drown your pork in this one. It has a very strong taste and is not for the faint-of-heart.

Traditional Piedmont Sauce
1 c. canned tomatoes
1 c. cider vinegar
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

     Most recipes call for a half cup of ketchup and a half cup of water. I had canned tomatoes instead of ketchup around, so I made a substitution. I pulsed the tomatoes in a food processor until smooth. I liked that I achieved the perfect consistency without needing to add water.
     The tomatoes go into a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the remaining ingredients and stir occasionally. Feel free to tweak the proportions to your liking. This worked for me. I think I could even double the red pepper flakes for a little more heat.

     When you get the taste the way you want it, transfer the sauce to a container and refrigerate. I would let this sit overnight before use. Don't forget to give it a shake before serving to evenly distribute the pepper.

     The third and last sauce I made was a take-off on my usual concoction. At its base is a 2:1 to 1:1 ratio of ketchup to mustard with Worcestershire sauce to taste. These are the three ingredients that my father and grandfather use to make a dipping sauce for ham. I decided to use these three as a start to a home made barbecue sauce. The rest is up to that day's imagination and the availability of ingredients.
     I like this particular blend because it incorporates the tomato flavors found in almost all barbecue sauces with the mustard flavors found in eastern South Carolina. While I love the mustard sauces, I'll leave them to the professionals at Maurice's BBQ in Columbia.
     Anyway, here's how it turned out this time.

The Ongoing Experiment
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1 tbsp. cooking oil
1 c. tomato juice
1/4 c. mustard
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cayenne

     I was forced to change up my usual pattern to making this sauce based on the availability of ingredients. I was out of ketchup, and a quarter cup of mustard was all I could coax out of the container. Still, it turned out pretty good in the end.
     Over medium heat in a small saucepan, saute the garlic in the cooking oil. Stir in the next four ingredients while stirring until well-blended. Add in the cayenne in parts, tasting regularly until you reach the desired level of heat. I may have added more than a single teaspoon too - I can't really remember off hand.
     Again, while it wasn't my desired consistency or level of mustard flavor, it still did well on the pulled pork. I doubt I'll ever nail down an exact recipe for this one anyway.

     In the end, while I like the mustard flavor of my own blend, and I'm always a sucker for the thin sauces that pack a vinegary punch, I'd have to say the Sam Houston sauce was my personal favorite this round. If you have the ingredients laying around and you're feeling curious, try a home-made barbecue sauce. If nothing else, it's a break from the stuff sitting on the grocery store shelf.

Gnocchi with Homemade Tomato Sauce

     Spring is just now visiting us that live in the mid-Atlantic region, so we're ready to start up our garden. Of course, if you live in a rowhouse, a garden consists of planters and hanging pots anywhere from the back patio to the roof. Any available space that CAN be used, SHOULD be used.

     That being said, tomatoes are something that we still have to buy right now. Heather decided to surprise me with a couple of 6 lb. cans of Italian tomatoes a few weeks ago. One of those mammoth-sized cans contained San Marzano tomatoes (I think she wants me to make pizza). But I decided to open the plum tomatoes and make a homemade sauce. Six pounds of tomatoes will go a long way, so I went into the basement to grab a few empty jars (I don't throw away any type of re-useable container). In the end, I had a jar and a half of pasta sauce, 2 jars of tomatoes left for later use, and about 2 cups of tomato juice that will probably become part of a homemade barbecue sauce later this week. I don't waste anything I don't have to.

     Since there wasn't much to watch on TV tonight, my wife decided to watch "Black Swan" on demand. That gave me an excellent idea. I won't have to watch it if I stay in the kitchen and make gnocchi. I learned about a new trick to that recipe anyway, so I gave it a shot. 

     Needless to say, both recipes worked out so here they are!

Tomato Sauce

1 carrot, quartered

1 stalk of celery, quartered

1/4 c. onion, roughly chopped

2 tbsp. olive oil

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

4 c. canned whole plum tomatoes

1 tbsp. chopped basil

1 tbsp. chopped oregano

1 tsp. salt

     Place the roughly cut carrots, celery, and onion into the food processor. After a few pulses, you should have a roughly chopped vegetable mixture.

     In a suitably sized saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute garlic for 30 seconds to a minute. Add the vegetable mixture and saute for a couple of minutes. Reduce heat to simmer, and add the tomatoes.

     Season with the basil, oregano, and salt. Using a potato masher or other similar divice, crush the whole tomatoes until they are chunky. 

     When the desired temperature is reached, pour the sauce into a container for storage. After it is cool, place in the refrigerator.

Gnocchi

2 large russet potatoes

1/2 c. all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting)

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp. salt

     I learned that microwaving the potatoes, rather than boiling them, reduces their moisture content. That means using less flour, resulting in a lighter dumpling. The cooked potatoes were hard to peel, so it might be good to peel them first. Stab them a few times with a fork and microwave them on a medium setting for about 20 minutes. Let them rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

     I don't have a ricer yet (it's on my wish list), so I mashed them with a fork. Add the half cup of flour and the beaten egg and work the dough with a spatula or your hands until you get a just-less-than-sticky consistency.

     Spread a light layer of flour down and toss the dough around until it forms a uniform ball. Roll it into a log and cut into 4 equal sections. Roll each section into a snake (about 1/2 inch in diameter) and cut off half inch to inch-sized pieces. Hand roll each into a ball and set aside. When all the dough has been processed, roll each dough ball across the tines of a fork to create ridges in the dumpling (it helps the sauce stick). 

     The dumplings then get tossed into a pot of boiling salted water. When they float, transfer them to a bowl of cold water. This allows extra starches to rinse off rather than create a sticky layer on the dumplings. Strain them and place them in a bowl.

     From here, either place them in the refrigerator for later or toss them in a hot skillet in olive oil. You can go the butter and herb route, but I decided to add in my newly made tomato sauce. They were so light and fluffy that they almost literally melted in my mouth.

     It takes time to make gnocchi, but it's fun to do and the result is better than what you get at the store. Have a great time with it and let me know how it turns out!