All this talk about Mike and we made a tuna melt today based on a receipt he gave us a long time ago. it’s very simple you make it the same way you do regular tuna except substitute avocado instead of mayo. Spread on bread of choice top with cheese and place under broiler until cheese is melted and i like it slightly burned.
Mike was moving in with Gail and we volunteered to watch the cats to make the move easier. They quickly settled in but being cats, curiosity was top on their list. They knew where to hide when I went out for the mail so many escape attempts were just that attempts. Lyn did say that if they got out all we had to do was open a can of food and boy do they come running, begging and demanding. If you listen to them, we never fed them and there was never a bowl of dried food always at their ready night and day.
I took to preparing their wet food behind closed doors and Lyn said that they would try to push the door open. Anyway I was preparing a cauliflower crust pizza last Wednesday and had to take extreme measures. See picture below
Another cook from the frig recipe. This time I had some delicata squash, red, green and yellow peppers, made some red onion relish, goat cheese, grape tomatoes earlier so I decided to roast the squash and add the rest sorry no pictures of the finished product.
Roasting the Squash
Preheat oven to 425° convection. Cut ends off of squash, then cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out seeds. Cut squash into ½” half-moons.
On a large baking sheet toss squash with oil. Season with salt and pepper. Spread single layer on pan and sprinkle with cinnamon (not the sugared kind but I suppose you could)
Roast until golden and soft on the inside, about 20 minutes, flipping halfway through.
Meanwhile I thinly slice the peppers, diced some fresh mushrooms, and prepared a small hand full of fresh baby spinach, grape tomatoes in half and goat cheese
For the cauliflower crust, Lyn’s been into the paleo version, I spread pizza sauce the topped with all the above. As Colbert likes to say meanwhile I spun out my dough which is Portland Pie Company Beer dough, my store bought favorite. And topped with everything except the goat cheese, instead I used three types of Italian cheeses. I then baked for about 10 minutes each. Will vary depending on oven.
Anyway, to make this long story short I was forced to use what I joking call the cat guard to protect my cooking area from the curious duo.
Oh they are in their new home now and enjoying it.
I’m not sure where Lyn was but she must have had other plans because I will generally whip something like this up if cooking for myself. This is a cook from the gut and largely depends on what in the frig. I like the addition of honey gave it a sweeter taste. Sorry my picture did not come out that great, probably did not have my glasses on, but the taste made up for it. Remember cooking is a lot of tweaking to your tastes as well as what you have on hand.
Ingredients
Stir Fry Sauce
How
Stir Fry Sauce
In a medium size bowl, whisk together corn starch and water. Add remaining ingredients (chicken broth, soy sauce, honey, and toasted sesame oil, red pepper flakes) and whisk to combine. Set aside.
Chicken
Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a large skillet or wok and heat over medium high heat.
Add chicken floured or not (in batches if necessary) and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from skillet.
Reduce heat to medium and add remaining tablespoon of oil to the skillet.
Add broccoli, bell pepper, and asparagus and cook, stirring occasionally, just until crisp tender. Add ginger and garlic and cook for an additional minute or until you smell the garlic.
Add chicken back into the skillet and stir to combine.
Whisk stir fry sauce and pour over chicken and vegetables and stir gently to combine.
Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, stir in cashew and let boil for one minute or thickness you like.
When done top with sesame seeds.
Serve with rice if desired.
For Christmas Lyn got me a taste of Texas, Austin Texas to be exact Blacks BBQ . It had been years since I was there, but it did not disappoint. It came frozen so after it defrosted, I followed the simple directions to reheat. Wrap in tin foil place on pan * into a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes to 1 hours until internal temp was between 110 and 120. I stuck in my remote temp gauge and began to prepare my Texas style BBQ sauce. Once it came to temp, I added another step and wrapped the whole thing, foil and all, in a towel and place in a small cooler with lid closed. It was in there for maybe 3 hours. Placing it wrapped in a cooler let it sit and absorb the juices and when I took it out it passed the flexible test gently dropping on each side. Ok enough about the brisket here is the sauce, a friend of mine in Dallas taught me this recipe which I have tweaked since.
* I like to preheat the pan in oven rather than throwing in cold pan.
Ingredients
How
In a large saucepan, heat butter over medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir 2-3 minutes or until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer until you sell it could be less time. Stir in remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 15-20 minutes to allow flavors to blend. I placed in the blender after, but this is optional. This comes out as a thicker sauce. I stored in a small canning jar.
Every year Lyn and I celebrate the new year with a Pan Seared oven roasted Tenderloin. This year I got to present on my new cutting board a Christmas Gift from my son. I’m getting so showy.
We held off the champagne until Friday since we will be celebrating my retirement! Oh ya Happy last Thursday to all I’ll soon be living the everyday is Saturday life. Yes I’ve already notice a list of thing to do compiled by Lyn.
Happy New Year Everyone!
Usually we make a dry rub pork loin which although we make it frequently I have not posted yet but this last shipment from Butcher Box had some in it I decided to tur something different. If you want to check it out please use my codes you’ll find http://fbuy.me/oqMxZ this link get $30 off this is from my on my post http://fbuy.me/oqMpH and we both get stuff for free!
Anyway, this was quick, easy, delicious and a good choice. You could do veal and chicken the same way.
INGREDIENTS
How
Slice pork into 2-inch thick slices. Place each slice between two pieces of plastic wrap and use the flat side of a meat tenderizer to flatten to ¼-inch thickness. (Season with salt and pepper)
Place the flour in a shallow bowl and dredge the pork in it. Shake off the excess.
In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, warm 2 Tbsp. of the olive oil.
Place 4 pieces of pork in the pan and cook, turning once, until browned on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a platter and keep warm under a tent of foil. Warm the remaining 1 Tbs. oil in the pan and repeat to brown the remaining pork. Place that pork under your foil tent as well.
Reduce the heat to medium and melt 1 Tbsp. of the butter in the pan. Add the garlic and cook until golden brown, about 30 seconds. Add the vermouth, lemon juice and broth, increase the heat to medium-high and cook until the liquid is slightly reduced, about 5 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the remaining 2 Tbsp. butter, the capers and parsley. Season with salt and pepper.
Drizzle the sauce over pork and serve immediately. I like to put in pan and toss to coat.
They were forecasting our first real forecast of snow while only a dusting to and inch predicted it still made me crave something that would warm up a soul. I love American Chopsuey, then there was Southwestern Chopsuey and recently found out that it is related to the Goulash family. This one was not only healthy but looked good. I was right.
American goulash, also known as old-fashioned goulash, is the perfect economical family meal. The pasta cooks right in the sauce, so this satisfying dish can cook in just one pot.
By CAROLYN CASNER
Prep: 25 mins
Total: 30 mins
Additional: 5 mins
Servings: 4
Step 1
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and beef; cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, paprika, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper; cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and their juices, tomato sauce and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add macaroni and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until tender, 6 to 9 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with Parmesan, if desired.
Tips
To make ahead: Refrigerate goulash for up to 2 days. Reheat before serving.
I love Brisket some of my best memories are brisket in Texas at Sonny Bryans. Forget who recommended it to Lyn and I but we were sold.
If memory serves it appears to be under or very close to a highway underpass very small and when he ran out he would shut down for the day. I heard that his son took over but I’m sure it is just as good. I remember a porch that had the old fashion school desk with the ink well this is going back 20 maybe 30 years ago. I remember taking my parents, out for a visit from back east, and my Dad muttering under his breath to Mom. ” I’m not eating here” we went back about 3 times in the one week visit.
Anyway I’ve been hooked ever since and always find and try new BBQ places in my travels. One year while transporting our parents car to Florida my brother and I ate Ribs all the way down using yelp to find BBQ places in route. This weekend I tried another attempt at smoking a brisket. The new twist was butcher paper and wrapping in towel and letting sit in a cooler for a few hours.
Got a 4-5 pound Flat cut from Butcherbox applied my rub and wrapped in plastic wrap over night.
Use whatever rub you have mine was mixture of brown sugar, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
This was the first smoking I was doing on my son’s old kettle BBQ so it took me a little while to get it to keep constant temp of 225. I manged to keep it between 2225 and 250 pretty much the whole time. I used chuck charcoal next time I’ll use briquettes. the chucks burned to quickly.
Now I had a slight emergency the thermometer I was using died so I had to keep opening the lid and use my instant every hour or so after the first 3. that and the fact the coals burned to quick kept me doing what your not supposed opening the lid. Anyway I got it to the desired 168ish and took out to wrap with the butcher paper. then back on the grill for another few hours. check it every hour or so with the instant read. Finnaly it got to almost 200 so off it came.
Wrapped with towel paper and all put in cooler and let it sit for a few hours later. I sliced it up and Lyn and I pigged out. My rub was a little on the too salty side for us so I made some Root beer BBQ Sauce to mellow it out. I still have the smoke smell embedded in my nostrils and its been 2 days.
A total of 10 hours latter we ate. Oh it was also over 100 that day with wicked humidity. My fitbit told me I did 48 flights of stairs and over 10K steps.
Early Saturday Lyn reminded me how she really liked the Orange Spice rub Chicken we had made not only for the taste but mostly because how it made the house smell so good. So when we were at Wholefoods I grabbed 2 boneless turkey breast. (one for smoking on another day.) and went to work. I had planned on smoking a brisket but that order did not show up our timing miscalculation for butcher box order. Anyway soon the house smelt great and the breast came out juicy, tender and really tasty.
Here is the recipe for the chicken its the same rub. I would maybe add oil to it before I rub the breast.
Gourmet Dad, Don’t Let The Title Fool You 