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kenboy.livejournal.com

This is friggin' amazing. Not mine.

Chop 5-6 large fresh tomatoes - mix with 3-4 cloves of thinly sliced garlic , olive oil, fresh basil and then a chopped up a wedge of Brie without the skin. Add some kosher salt and let it sit on the counter for a couple of hours just marinating and melting.
Grill or bake shrimp
Boil pasta
Save a cup of pasta water
Put the tomato mix in a the pasta pan for a minute or two to heat it up reintroduce the pasta & shrimp into the pot. Mix. Add oil or water as needed

kenboy.livejournal.com

(posting for Jezobel)

Slice up a couple of eggplants and some red onions (we had really sweet tiny ones from our CSA) Put on separate baking sheets; brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper.

Pop in the oven at 400 degrees, for 10 minutes (onions), 20 minutes (eggplant). Halfway through, flip; the onions you can probably just toss around; the eggplant, you should brush the top of the 2nd side with oil and put on a little more salt and pepper too.

Slice tomatoes; put in a single layer at bottom of baking pan, and sprinkle with a little oil. Cover with some fresh basil leaves, then the eggplant, then slices of provolone or mozzarella and sprinkled grated parmesan or romano, then more tomatoes, more cheese, more basil whatever, layer at will.

Bake at 350 until bubbly.

kenboy.livejournal.com

From http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/grilled-miso-shrimp, marginally modified

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons yellow miso (I used white)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons light brown sugar
1 pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined
3 scallions, cut into 1 1/2-inch lengths
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon chili garlic paste (recipe said sambel olek, whatev.)

Light a grill or preheat a grill pan. In a bowl, whisk 2 tablespoons of the lime juice with the miso, vegetable oil, ginger, garlic and brown sugar. Add the shrimp and toss to coat. Thread the shrimp and scallions on eight 8-inch skewers.

Grill the shrimp over moderately high heat, turning once, until lightly charred and cooked through, about 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk the mayonnaise with the chili garlic paste and the remaining 1 tablespoon of lime juice. Serve the shrimp with the mayonnaise.

SERVE WITH Lime wedges and cilantro.

I also did this grilled baby bok choy with it:

http://tideandthyme.com/grilled-baby-bok-choy/

4 heads of baby bok choy (or 1 head of full-sized)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon Sriracha
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat for 15 minutes, and lightly oil the grate.
In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, sesame oil, Sriracha, and black pepper. Slice the bok choy in half, lengthwise. Brush the cabbage with the soy sauce mixture on the cut side, letting the vinaigrette fall into the grooves.
Lay the bok choy on the preheated grill, cut side up. Cook until the stalks show grill marks and the leaves are crisp at the edges, about 2 minutes. Turn the bok choy, brush with remaining soy mixture, cover, and grill the other side for about 2 more minutes. Remove to platter and serve.

kenboy.livejournal.com

From here.

Classic Buttermilk Coleslaw Serves 6

1 (16 ounce bag) coleslaw mix
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons good quality mayonnaise
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Combine all of the ingredients until mixed thoroughly. Adjust seasoning, if desired. Chill until ready to serve. This can be made about two hours in advance, but any longer and it will lose its crunch and may become tinted from the purple cabbage.

kenboy.livejournal.com

Can never find this when I need it, so pasting it here:

3 to 4 Large boneless skinless chicken breast (I usually use 3 big bone-in skinless ones.)

1 cup blue cheese dressing
1 cup Crystal (or Franks or Louisiana, etc) hot sauce
2 blocks of cream cheese softened

boil chicken and shred

mix all ingred together and spread in pan bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes

I USUALLY boil, shred, mix, spread ahead of time, then refrigerate, then heat at host's house at party time.

kenboy.livejournal.com

http://lookimadethat.com/2009/06/28/carnitastacos/

So I made this last night, and it was crazy good, although once the liquid evaporated, the meat, which completely shredded itself, never actually fried in its own fat. I was afraid it would just dry out if I kept cooking it, so I stopped, and it was fantastic anyway.

So, in case that site disappears, here's the gist:

4 lbs pork shoulder, cut in 2-3 inch cubes, leave the fat on but obviously remove the skin.
2 cups water
1.5 cups fresh-squeezed orange juice + several orange peels
3/4 cup Mexican or kosher for Passover Coke (or other cane sugar cola)
5 garlic cloves, peeled
2 teaspoons salt

Dump all those ingredients into a big pot. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for about 2 hours, until pork is getting tender. Stir occasionally. Remove the lid, bring back to the boil, and stir a lot; you want all the liquid to evaporate, and the pork may or may not eventually start to fry in its own fat and crisp up. The evaporating took about 45 minutes, maybe longer, for me.

(the peels broke apart as it cooked, by the way, and while I pulled out most of the larger pieces, many tiny bits remained, but they were sweet and orangy and added a nice flavor)

While you're in the evaporation stage, or sooner if you want, do your other tasks: maybe carmelize some onions, make some guacamole and/or salsa, etc. That blog did a radish/lime juice/pepper thing, and I did too, though I dumped a spoonful of chili garlic paste (Sriracha's bad-ass cousin) in there too.

kenboy.livejournal.com

Making this tonight, and remembered the recipe existed, but couldn't find it anywhere (lost the book, apparently, and there's little trace of this one recipe on the internet.) Luckily, it's on google books right here. In case it someday isn't, I'm typing it here:

2 lbs Idaho potatoes, scrubbed
10 tablespoons butter
2 shallots, finely chopped
1/2 bunch italian parsley, leaves only, roughly chopped
salt, pepper, and an assload of kosher salt.

Preheat oven to 400. Put 1/4" layer of kosher salt on a baking pan, put the potatoes on it, and put in oven. 45 - 60 minutes, until easily pierced with knife. Take them out, wait about 5 minutes, cut them in half, and using a spoon, scoop the potato flesh out of the skins into a bowl. Add everything else and crush it into the potatoes with the spoon. Coarsely crushed, pleasantly lumpy is your goal. Salt & pepper, cover with plastic wrap, and set over a little simmering water to keep warm.

kenboy.livejournal.com

I do shrimp fajitas a lot. Tried this as a variant, and it was really good.

Just rough guidelines:

First, mix together something like this, which is supposedly the Chevy's "Fuego Spice Mix" they use in their pork carnitas recipe:

1/4 c. paprika
2 t. cayenne
2 T. salt
2 t. ground white pepper
1 T. black pepper
2 T. granulated garlic
2 T. chile powder
2 T. oregano

Get some shrimp (I thawed some frozen ones with running water in the sink) -- I'd go by count rather than weight, what you really want is enough shrimp so that each fajita has end-to-end shrimp on it -- 3 to 4 for small ones. Or figure around a 3/4 to a whole pound for two people.

Peel shrimp, toss with a little olive oil and a handful of the spice mix, and let marinate in the fridge for a while.

Make this cole slaw:

http://ourshareoftheharvest.com/2012/05/11/lemony-buttermilk-coleslaw/

1/2 head green cabbage, cored and shredded (I left this out and just used more red)
1/2 cup shredded red cabbage
1 carrot, peeled and shredded
1/2 cup chopped broccoli florets (skipped)
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
1 small shallot, minced (I used a scallion. Not even close, but it worked.)
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 tablespoon minced chives (skipped)
1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon sugar (used a bit less)
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Other good ideas include shredded cheese, avocado or guacamole, pico, etc.

When you're ready to cook, do up an onion and a pepper, and when tender, dump in the shrimp; serve on warm tortillas with the cole slaw and other stuff.

kenboy.livejournal.com

I know I'll need this next year, assuming I do this CSA thing again.

* about half a dozen garlic scapes, ends cut off & discarded, remainder chopped
* small bunch of basil
* handful of arugula or other peppery salad green
* small handful of additional lettuce-type-stuff -- i think I used deer's tongue, but CSA pickup was almost a week ago and I can never remember what's what.
* 1/4 cups walnuts because pine nuts are stupid expensive
* about 1 cup grated romano or parmesan
* about 1/2 cup olive oil
* a food processor.

Dump green stuff into food processor and process. Scrape down sides occasionally.

Add walnuts & cheese, process more. Scrape down sides.

Turn processor on and slowwwwwwly pour in a thin stream of olive oil until it gets all emulsified and stuff. You might want to stop halfway through to scrape down the sides.

Serve on pasta or whatnot.

kenboy.livejournal.com

This with this.

The gravy badly needs a splash of hot sauce and a hefty pinch of salt, but is otherwise pretty great. Biscuits are pretty fantastic, though maybe don't put them quite so close together and end up with a giant mass of melded-together biscuits next time.

kenboy.livejournal.com

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/skirt-steak-recipe/index.html

Leave out the cumin, and ignore the whole blow dryer routine. SO GOOD. Also, I used about 1/4 of an onion instead of scallions, just because I happened to have onions and no scallions.

kenboy.livejournal.com

just accidentally made Caesar-ish dressing. By following an entirely different recipe for an asparagus glaze. No eggs, no anchovies (both of which I like in Caesar dressing), and yet, it tastes better than 99% of the Caesar dressings I've made. 1/4 cup mayo, 1/4 cup Dijon mustard, 1/4 cup olive oil, 3 tblspns lemon juice, 1 tsp grated lemon zest, 1 minced garlic clove, 2 tsps kosher salt, 2 tsps ground pepper. Whisk.

kenboy.livejournal.com

This may or may not be my favorite salsa; there's a small Tex-Mex chain here called Jose Tejas, and it's apparently related to a Boston chain called Border Cafe; this is the salsa recipe from Border Care, and assuming Tejas uses the identical recipe ... and I suspect they do ... this should be it.

BORDER CAFE'S SALSA

3 c. canned, crushed tomatoes (restaurant uses Hunt's)

1 1-2 T. finely chopped fresh jalapenos

3-4 c. roasted anaheim peppers, cut into 1-4-inch dice, or 3-4 c. canned mild green chiles (restaurant uses La Preferida)

3-4 c. cold water

1 1-2 T. fresh minced garlic

1-2 t. salt

3-4 c. finely diced onion

1-2 c. finely chopped scallions

1 1-2 T. finely chopped cilantro leaves

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Let sit for 1 hour before serving to let flavors blend. Makes about 5 1-2 cups.

kenboy.livejournal.com

This was one of those don't-want-to-go-to-the-store what-can-I-make-with-what's-on-hand dinners; I think it worked out pretty well for a completely spur-of-the-moment thing.

It's really quick, too; you can put it all together while the pasta cooks.

So, you'll need something along these lines, obviously flexible as hell:

Olive oil
Butter
A bunch of scallions
Some spinach (I used the last third of a bag of fresh spinach; I think it would have been fine with a bit more, or a package of frozen.)
Half a lemon
1/4 cup or so of fresh dill
1/8 cup or so of fresh parsley
3/4 to a whole block of feta, crumbled or cut up, whatever.
Pasta (I used fettuccine, and I think that was a great choice.)

So, boil some water and put your pasta in it. While it's cooking, put a decent amount of olive oil in a skillet -- I think I used about 1/4 cup -- and melt about two tablespoons of butter in it, over medium high heat. Chop your scallions and dump them in. Once they've sizzled a bit, drop in the spinach, it'll wilt pretty quickly, and you can drop the heat back a ways once it has. Add a little salt, if you want, but not too much -- the feta will fill your salty needs later.

Chop and add your herbs as the pasta continues to cook. When the pasta is done, drain it, saving some of the water it cooked in. Dump the pasta back in its pot and add the contents of your skillet; dump in the juice of about half a lemon and your feta; add around 1/2 cup of the pasta water, and toss/mix it all around.

(When I made it, I added the lemon after the spinach; it all turned a little brown. No idea what that was all about, maybe some weird reaction with my pan? Anyway, that's why I'm suggesting the lemon go in at the end.)

That's it. Enjoy.

nigita.livejournal.com

My sister has been making this for ages, and after trying it a few times, I decided to switch to this recipe from now on.

Makes two 9 1/2 " crusts

Mix together the dry ingredients:

2 1/2 c flour
1 t sugar
1 t salt

Cut into small pieces:

1/2 c shortening
1 stick cold unsalted butter

Cut shortening and butter into the flour, salt and sugar mixture with a pastry fork, until it forms coarse crumbs.

Drizzle:

1/3 c plus 1T ice water

over flour mixture and press it into the mixture with a spatula. You want to handle it as little as possible. There will be some powder left over--that's OK, just leave it behind. Less water is better; just add as much as necessary to work the dough.

Form the dough into 2 balls. Let it rest for as long as possible in the fridge--least an hour, several hours is ideal. You can also store this in the freezer for longer periods of time.

Bake crust at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. (If you're baking a single empty crust, you'll need pie weights to keep it from bubbling up.) You may need to give it several extra minutes to get it to brown as much as you'd like--keep an eye on it after 20 minutes.

kenboy.livejournal.com

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/squid-and-black-eyed-pea-salad

Not bad at all. Needs more salt than they say, but otherwise a hit. Makes a LOT, it's a party dish, I think. Also, I used pigeon peas instead of black-eyed peas, which I couldn't find -- seems to have worked out just fine.

http://nookandpantry.blogspot.com/2007/05/greek-meatballs.html

These are cooking right now, and are really quite good, if a bit of work. The meatball-making technique is brilliant, though -- going to use that again. My own tzatziki sauce recipe -- well, Alton Brown's -- is here in the community somewhere, in the Steelhead Trout recipe.

kenboy.livejournal.com

Claire posted this excellent recipe ages ago, and I make it all the time; ~~I'm making it right now, in fact.~~ I was making it like four days ago when I started writing this up.

However, I also make another version of it, using fewer, more staple ingredients, and I find it's convenient and just as good ... and sometimes maybe even a little better.

Here's what you need, to feed about three or four people:

1 small to medium onion, diced.
about 1 lb ground beef. (would probably work just as well with turkey)
1 box of elbow macaroni, or medium shells, or maybe something like gemelli. Definitely short little shapes, not long skinny pasta here.
Vinegar-based hot sauce (Crystal is my favorite, but Frank's Red Hot or Louisiana or whatever should be fine, too.)
Some sort of grated, meltable cheese -- something cheddar-ish is great, but I've even done this with torn up slices of yellow american.

1) cook elbows. Meantime:
2) cook onions in some oil until translucentish.
3) add meat and brown.
4) add hot sauce -- a few good shots, you want to make it nice and moist, and assuming you're using something like Crystal, you won't kill yourself with it. I'm guessing 1/4 cup or so? I don't know.
5) When the elbows finish, drain and add to the pot.
6) Add your grated cheese, stir to combine, and serve.

Perfect comfort food.

Oh, Ramsay's out for now because his wife is hot and he's a jackass. Enjoy some Bourdain in the meantime.

kenboy.livejournal.com

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/baked-orecchiette-with-pork-sugo

Made this over two days -- did the meat yesterday and did the food processor & later bits today. Largely followed the recipe, but I don't have a giant enameled cast iron casserole. I used to, but it broke, or something. Anyway, I ended up using any number of pots in the course of this whole thing.

One thing that left me confused was the bit about returning the shredded pork to the casserole -- it was unclear to me if they meant with all the cooking liquid or dry. Since they didn't say to discard the liquid, I figured I should keep at least some of it. I'd cooked the pork in a big stock pot, so I put the shredded pork in another container and added the liquid a bit at a time; I then moved a subset of the pork and liquid to a Pyrex baking thinger and made that into dinner, freezing the leftover sauce/pork mix.

Quite good, really. Just a little confusing, still. I don't know if I did it "right," but I liked it.

kenboy.livejournal.com

Quick notes:

made spare ribs on the grill. Used yellow mustard and pre-made rib rub from those spice people with the Polish name that starts with SG or whatever, like Sgnedu or some shit like that.

Used something like this for the finishing sauce, but served totally on the side, never put on ribs at all. Used paprika instead of chili powder, doubled molasses and skipped honey. Forgot steak sauce, and used way less than a cup of brown sugar. Maybe 1/3 cup. And didn't bother with liquid smoke, since they'd been on the grill for five hours.

Ribs were spare ribs, trimmed to St. Louis cut, kind of. Left membrane on; lazy. marinade in rub the night before, cook about 5 hours over indirect heat.

Tasty, but not falling-off-the-bone; not sure if longer cooking would help or not.