What did I cook this weekend.....

So, I took a few hours and turned 2 lbs of ground beef, 2 pounds of ground pork, an onion, a green bell pepper, some whole button mushrooms, 3 28-oz cans of tomato product (1 "fire-roasted" chunks, 1 puree, & 1 sauce), a little wine, a few herbs & spices, and then some tomato paste after a long simmer, and made this:



I now have spaghetti sauce for the next 4-6 months! I fill quart-sized freezer bags maybe 2/3 full and freeze 'em flat. The last bag is always the best - somehow it ages & conditions even in the deep-freeze!

 

What do you do with subpar leftover takeout fried fish? Make fish cakes.
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I made a strawberry rhubarb cobbler made with fresh rhubarb from the garden. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1432513202.156316.jpg View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1432513222.873702.jpg

 

Tenderloin roast. Fire was a little hotter than usual and the thin end went past med rare. Nobody seemed to mind. Melt in yo mouth.

With colcannon and asparagus.

 

Mmmm, banana & chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. No syrup needed. It's my daughter's 21st bday.

 

I've only used cabbage. But leaks and kale just sound awesome! Definitely have to give that a try!

 

hmm, colcannon sounds a lot like dutch stamppot. then again, a lot of the potato-based dishes are shared between the northern-european countries

 

I just put on a big pot of Frijoles Borrachos, using 3 pounds of dried Borlotti beans. They cook up so nicely! 3 homebrewed bottles of beer went in there too, hence the "borracho" - meaning "drunk" in Spanish!

 

Feeling stuffed...

My grill:




SWMBO's grill:

 

I've heard beans were good for your heart or were a magical flute ir something.
I'm cooking good old chicken drumsticks with bbq sauce to go with twice baked potatoes and baked beans.
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Pork Butt

 

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Big old plate of Americana on Memorial day. As a vereran and son of a career soldier who served in both Korea and Vietnam I definitely want to pay my respects to those who gave their lives so I can live this ridiculously easy life that I live.

 

AMEN and a heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who has served or is serving now to keep all of us FREE! :rockin:

 

Beer Cheese Soup

Olive Oil
1 1/2 cups diced carrots
1 1/2 cups diced onion
1 1/2 cups diced celery
1 cup diced piquillo pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups Newcastle beer

1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
4 cups milk or half and half
6 cups shredded extra sharp Cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dry mustard

In a large saucepan over medium heat, sweat in olive oil carrots, onion, celery, peppers and garlic. Stir in hot pepper sauce, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Pour in chicken broth and beer; simmer until vegetables are tender, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat. Blend smooth with stick blender or regular blender.

Meanwhile, heat butter in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Stir in flour with a wire whisk; cook, stirring until the flour is light brown, about 3 or 4 minutes. Gradually stir in milk, whisking to prevent scorching, until thickened. Remove from heat, and gradually stir in cheese. Keep warm.

Stir beer mixture into cheese mixture. Stir in Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and dry mustard. Adjust for hot pepper sauce. Bring to a simmer, and cook 10 minutes.


I added some fried kielbasa chunks and roasted cauliflower for some texture and flavor.

Sorry no pic but just imagine a pot full of thick orange liquid.

 

Food coma kicking in. Burgers with shrooms and grilled onions, cucumber salad, potato salad, marinated asparagus, corn on the cob and killer ribs I sous vide for twenty hours then caramelized on the grill, they where killer! View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1432592752.273280.jpg

 

Looks like meat is pulled way back off the bone, nice, but that's one shat pic Chef. I'm a little jealous, meant to make them myself this wkend. Still waiting for the family to return from the beach for burgers and corn.

 

Too busy eating, grabbed the phone , shot and went back to the food

The meat didn't pull back from the bone until they went on the grill, got rave reviews, moist and fall off the bone.
Reduced the juices from the sous vide with some ketchup, vinegar and assorted spices to make a quick BBQ sauce, Ribs will be done this way again!
Still fat and bloated, great weekend!
Thank you goes out once again to our military, god bless each and every one of you!

 

I smoked up some ribs last night as well. Didnt come out as spectacularly as they have in the past but I pulled them off a little early as I would have been even later getting to bed than I was as is. Still delicious.

 

That all looks amazing.
Is the second picture stone?

 

It sure looks like it! Good catch!

I've been wanting paella for a while now, but don't have a proper pan. Plus I've been too busy with projects to really cook much.

We grilled a couple steaks on sale last night. I smoked some jalapeno poppers on Sunday while a friend and his friend came down to brew at my house (Amber ale), and then I smoked a stuffed pork loin for a bit then moved to the oven to finish. Probably could have kept on the smoker for a bit more. It was almost done by the time I pulled it off.

 

No, it's a Muurikka-pannu - a Finnish cast-iron pan made for frying pancakes and muikut (little sardines). It has three threaded holes in the bottom of it and also comes with three little steel legs, so you can screw them in and put it on top of a little campfire if you want. Also comes with a nice carrying case (actually sold seperately).

 

No, it's cast iron. This is different from my paella pan, which is steel and has edges. This wasn't paella, either, just some stir-fryed mushrooms, asparagus, onions, yellow peppers, etc.

 

Cast is good too. Probably pretty heavy. I haven't seen anything like it before.

I'm starving. Even sardines sound good.

Sardines in Paella...

 

It is pretty heavy at 48 centimeters width, but it is also pretty thin.

 

Also, FYI at the Band Boosters Banquet we had last Thursday I tried to eat at least a little of everything. There was this crazy thing that looked like Cream Cheese with a red jelly type thing spread on top of it and I just HAD to try it.

So I got a bit, and it was just like cream cheese and jelly so I grabbed a few crackers sitting nearby.

It was apparently a somewhat spicy "Pepper Jelly" on top of a cream cheese base.

It was awesome! I'd probably not eat it all the time, but the sweet and spicy was very interesting.

 

We've had that around for some time, in Finnish it's called "paholaisen hillo" (devil's jam). Pretty good stuff.

 

There is also a white elephant in that photo...

 

Emeril's book on cajun cooking has a recipe for pepper jam in it, as well as LA essence. Heini's Cheese Chalet down in Berlin, OH has their hungarian pepper jam as well.

 

House cured leg of pork glazed over an open pit.

 

That's a staple around here - put a block of cream cheese on a plate, pour a jar of red or green pepper jelly over it, scoop it up with Ritz crackers. Sounds awful, tastes delicious!

 

Dude are you wearing pink crocs?

 

I'd guess the white elephant he was referring to is in the upper left

 

I totally missed the white elephant reference all I could see was those crocs.

 

That's SWMBO, her grill ;-)

 

This past weekend I grilled up some nicely marbled strip steaks & BBQ/Thai chili glazed shrimp. I had some leftovers & yesterday I made a sort of "steak salad." Various lettuces, cucumbers, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, the leftover steak & shrimp of course, kalamata olives, crumbled gorganzola cheese, a bit of coarse sea salt & some freshly ground black pepper. There really is salad under the meat.
Regards, GF.

 

Years ago, at a company function, I discovered a cream cheese block covered in what looked like some kind of chocolate sauce or dark apple butter. Imagine my surprize when I put some on a Ritz and popped it in my mouth and it was not sweet at ALL! Turns out that the pour over ingredient is a sauce called Pickapeppa Sauce...technically a steak sauce. (Closest flavor to it to describe it would be A1 Sauce). After the initial shock, however, I quickly found myself going back for more...over and over!

 

Well, if I ever get time I'll be sure to make some. I gotsta finish the Interior of the Jeep. (Leak fixed now I have to clean the rust off the bottom of the seat frames and repaint and clean the carpet stains, and replace the headliner fabric.) and a tree fell over in our yard so it looks like I get to sharpen the chainsaw and get busy on that. Probably take 2 afternoons to cut it up and haul it away.

And I thought this would be the perfect afternoon cooking project!

 

Wow, that sounds interesting! KOTC hates A1 but I love it - I think I've tried the Pickapeppa once years ago - will have to look some up. Gee, I might get a snack all to myself!

Sounds like Mother Nature is yankin' your chain!

 

Yeah. It's not too bad, all things considered. I don't live in TX at least!

I'll probably cut the rest of that stand of boxelder down to prevent future damage. I think they may be tall enough to hit the house, and they are definitely tall enough to damage the other trees.

But I kind of like the privacy they provide...

 

I love the original Pickapeppa sauce and use it in both steak and chicken marinades. I recently got a bottle of the Pickapeppa hot mango sauce used it in a chicken soak and it too was fantastic!