Quick Chili, that can’t be beat!!

Ok, so it’s been way to long since I’ve posted, but here goes nothing…. Last week I concocted a quick chili that was pretty damn good, give it a shot adjust the heat to your liking…
1lb spicy charizo
1/2 med onion (diced)
1/2 green pepper (diced)
1/2 red pepper (diced)
1 large jalapeno (diced)
3 cloves fresh garlic (crushed)
3 large fresh tomatoes (diced)
1 large can of pinto beans
2 tbsp cumin
1/4 cup dark red chili powder (ancho, or something of the sorts)
sautee all peppers, onion, garlic, and jalapeno with the charizo, then drain the fat off the sausage, add the beans*, tomatoes, cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for about 1/2 hour and Ariba’ good quick chili….
*when adding the beans only drain about 1/2 the water off of them.

recipe: soy salmon and noodles

After battling a pounding headache and eating next to nothing for two days I finally felt up to cooking. Unfortunately, the brutal humidity that’s been building for the past two days seems to be coming to a head, which means who wants to eat a hot and heavy meal. This is a variation on elements I previously put together in the Cold Sesame Noodles w/ Ginger Soy Salmon. Obviously, this can be served warm and would make a very nice dish, but cold was a perfect way to bring together flavors that were refreshing. For the noodles regular spaghetti pasta would work fine but feel free to experiment with different sizes and different textures (I used angel hair wheat, for example) as each will bring something different to the dish. Pick your veggies based on your personal taste, what you can get fresh and make sense with the flavor combos as you change them with your experiments. For today I had snap peas, onion and broccoli. For the tea, a black tea will work fine but you can, of course, switch it up to a chai spice or other flavors.

Salmon fillets
noodles
assorted cut veggies
soy sauce
ginger
garlic
tea
garlic powder
onion powder
celery powder
cilantro
water
steamer inset or metal collendar
stock pot
frying pan
mixing bowl

Crush garlic and ginger and combine with the garlic, onion and celery powder
Use the above rub on the salmon fillet
Bring the water to a boil in the stock pot and steep the tea in the water
Place the collender of veggies to steam over the pot of water covered
Preheat the frying pan
Place the fillet skin side down in the frying pan over high heat and begin to cook
Once the water comes to a boil add the pasta and cook to the package instructions
Combine soy sauce, garlic, ginger and cilantro and set aside
Once the veggies are tender remove them from the heat, submerge them in ice water to set the color and then toss in the the soy sauce mixture
Remove the pasta, strain and toss in soy sauce mixture, combine with the tossed veggies
Remove the fish from the heat and allow it to rest
Flake the fish into the the combination of pasta and veggies
Reserve any unused soy mixture
Chill the now combined fish, pasta and veggies
Once everything is chilled, toss again in the soy mixture and serve

recipe: mustard salmon with brussel sprouts

I am a seafood fanatic and absolutely adore salmon, especially the wild caught variety. Anytime I see it in the market I am sure to pick it up and the other day there was a large package of assorted wild caught salmon fillets that was too good to pass up. There are so many ways to make salmon and it is so easy to cook, i’m sure there will be several recipes coming up from this haul alone. I had some stone ground mustard left over from working on another dish and decided for today that it would make the perfect accompaniment to the salmon tonight. Stone ground mustard includes whole mustard seeds which will bring a nice texture to the dish and provide great flavor bursts in each bite. The base below the jarred mustard is a rub I made up whose base is that of ground mustard and other related elements. I prefer to leave the skin on the fillets as it is edible and it will crisp up nicely adding yet another dimension to the dish both in flavor and texture. If you don’t want to eat the skin you can slide the flesh off right before serving but it’s worth still cooking with it on as it also helps keep the fish from sticking to the pan and destroying the fillets. The dish, of course, works with a wide variety of other fish too. As for the side, brussel sprouts were the bane of my mother. She forced my sister and I to eat them as kids despite her dislike of them. As it turned out we learned to enjoy them and I often fall back on them as a side you can do a lot of interesting treatments to. Feel free to experiment with this dish as you make it and enjoy what you come up with.

salmon fillet
stone ground mustard
ground mustard powder
onion powder
garlic powder
ground pepper (I used a combination of black and white corns)
finely crushed dried rosemary
garlic
white wine
brussel sprouts
large frying pan
medium skillet

Combine the mustard, garlic and onion powder along with the rosemary and ground pepper.
Rub your spice mixture into the flesh of the salmon and allow it to sit for between 5-20 minutes (in your fridge) to allow the flavors to meld
In the medium skillet combine the white wine with 2:1 stone ground mustard and chopped garlic cloves over medium heat
Add the brussel sprouts to the skillet and cover allowing so the sprouts steam as well as saute in the liquid
Preheat your frying pan (if non stick and necessary add a bit of olive oil)
Place the salmon in the pan and allow to cook until the flesh becomes a soft pink, is just starting to flake and firm to the touch.
Turn off the heat, leaving the fish in the skillet spoon the stone ground mustard over the top of the fillet
While the fillet is setting up uncover the skillet with the brussel sprouts, increase the heat and allow the liquid to reduce by at least by half
Plate the salmon fillet and some of the sprouts, drizzle the wine reduction over the sprouts and enjoy

recipe: cilantro pesto mahi mahi y corn salsa

So, after a long day out fishing I just wanted something that was quick and had a light, refreshing quality to it, so I threw together this meal with fresh Mahi Mahi I picked up on my way home. As always, you can take the fish I used and substitute almost any fresh fish you find, catfish is actually one of my other favorites for this dish, but chicken and even pork would work. The basics of this are based on a familiar pesto paste like what you’re probably used to with flat leaf parsley in Italian recipes. This draws upon a bit more a southern concept melding flavors that are a little more common there like the cilantro and pecan for the leaf and nut in the pest plus a surprising flavor of the serrano chili (or use an anaheim or jalapeno, whatever your flavor is)

pesto
cilantro
pecans
onion
garlic
serrano chili
black pepper
olive oil
food processor

Dice the onion, garlic and chili
Combine a minimum of 6:1 by volume of a shredded cilantro and crushed pecans
Add all to the food processor and begin to blend
Slowly add the oil to the mixture in a steady stream with the food processor running
Allow the mixture to come to a creamy texture

Mahi Mahi
Take about 1/3 of the pesto and some hot sauce and press it into the flesh of the fish.
Allow the fish to marinade in it for between 20 minutes and 3 hours.
Heat your grill or griddle or cast iron skillet to high
Sear off the fish on your heat source, turn only once, do not over cook, bringing the surface of the fish to slightly crispy while the inside should stay firm and flaky

Corn Salsa
corn (blanched kernels from the cob)
tomato (diced, retain liquids)
onion (diced)
garlic (diced)
serrano (pepper diced)
cilantro (shredded)
black pepper
lime or lemon zest and juice

Combine the all the above ingredients (including in a large mixing bowl and allow the flavors to meld over several hours refrigerated)
If you need extra liquid, you can add a little bit of olive oil to the mixture while it melds

Serving
Plate helping of the corn salsa
Plate the fish after it has stood away from the heat for a couple of minutes propped over the edge of the corn salsa
Spoon the remaining pesto over the fish filets

I personally find a few leaves of steamed collard to add another dimension to the dish, under the salsa they help bring the colors together and they add another flavor to the dish along with their health benefits. Other dark leafy greens would always work too.

recipe: poisson de polenta

Corn meal mash is one of those seeming universal recipes that any culture discovering corn meal decided to make a variety of. The Italians have some of the most well known polenta recipes, many of which are stewed, chilled, rolled and then fried, but what you may not know is grits in the south are nothing more than the American variant of polenta. Add a little cheese, or some fish, or a pork product or eggs or a variant of salsa, honey, molasses, herbs, etc and you can take this from breakfast or desert treat and turn it into a wonderful savory or sweet dish. French have been doing both and you’ll find a lot of Delta variants not under the polenta name to draw from with an open mind. My first exposure to this was seared cheese grits with a prawn etouffee topping (fan-freakin-tastic, it was the fried version of grits with a butter-garlic and alligator-andoullie egg side-dish, argh, I’ll have to share that recipe another time… as I drool over my keyboard now). You can do great things with grits and these are some special grits…

onion
bell pepper
celery
garlic
cayenne pepper
black pepper
butter
corn meal
water (or veggie stock) *
bay leaf
rosemary
black pepper
house seasoning
cilantro
fish fillet **
chicory or collard (or other dark leafy green) ***
butter

Dice the onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic
Saute the veggies over low heat until the flavors begin to meld and they begin to brown
Add the stock (will be a 4:1 stock to corn, or as low as 2:1 for a thicker, heavier recipe – increase the corn meal slightly if using straight water in the ratio), dried rosemary, bay, bring up to a boil
Add the corn meal at the boil and bring to a simmer
Add the cayenne pepper, black pepper and allow to steep for 15-20 minutes, be sure to check on the liquid level to ensure the proper viscosity
** If serving with fish fillet, season both sides of the fillet with house seasoning, place over the fillets over the polenta to steam while cooking
*** If serving the dark leafy greens fresh, place the leaves above the fish fillets at the same time over the polenta to steam while cooking, you can use frozen and integrate it into the polenta, you can add them under the fish.

Once the whole thing is finished cooking, place the greens on the side (drench in ice water to retain the green leaves if necessary)
Remove the fish fillets to set
Place leaves of greens on the bottom of a bowl
Pour the polenta into the bowl
Set the fish fillets over the polenta
Garnish with sprigs of the greens and the cilantro
Serve with hot sauce, i suggest Crystal in this case

You can fry the polenta in this case, it’ll be just as good as the sausy dish, simply let your mash cool in the fridge to a thick pasty texture, roll out on a board using wax paper or your rolling skills, till you have a 1 inch or so log, cut about 1/2 to 1 inch patties out of it, preheat your cast iron skillet till just below smoking, drop each patty on the skillet for 1/2 to 2 minutes depending on your preference of doneness and reserve with above assets, a completely different treat and just as splendid. A really nice variant on this is to include the collard or chicory inside the polenta, which will be even that much richer a flavor. Also, with the fried version, you can do more sauce wise to go with it… so have fun!

recipe: burgers espagnole

Typically, when one makes hamburgers they simply slop together some ground meat and plop it on the grill. Mayhaps, they add some veggies and some seasoning to them and maybe then use what is called a filler to help bind it. However, there are some really deep flavors you can add to a burger recipe if you have people that enjoy rare to at best medium meat and don’t need ketchup as their primary topping.

This might seem like a lot but it builds on two principles of the typical mother sauces, the Espagnole and the delta cooking idea, I’ve blended the two and taken several liberties so you will have to accept it for what it is. Delta cooking, built upon a mixture of cultures and flavors is probably one of the truest forms of American cooking. The French influence in Cajun cooking is especially prominent and as all the Delta styles come together one of the most influential veins in it is Franco-American. Typically, this would be off a veal stock to be a real espagnole, but in this case, a solid beef stock or broth will do more than enough. If you are a really good meat worker you won’t need an egg to help in the emulsification nor will you use bread crumbs in the thickening process because a great roux and some really sweet cooking techniques for people that appreciate burgers done rare (do NOT try to serve these well done) you’ll enjoy.

the espagnole:
red wine, burgundy is good, merlot on the lighter end works ok too, the better “quality” wine the better it should turn out, never cook with something you wouldn’t first drink
stock (beef or veal)
bay leaf
crushed rosemary
onion, garlic flakes
dried celery leaves
black pepper
flour
butter

Combine the wine and stock (1:1), bay, rosemary, onion, garlic, celery, black pepper allow all of the above to cure for between 2 and 24 hours
Combine equal parts, by weight, of flour and butter. Begin to brown them over low heat, do not allow to burn. Continue to mix until the mixture becomes between a dark peanut butter and light brick color.
Add the wine/stock and seasoning combination, mix thoroughly, bring up to a boil and then back down to a simmer and reduce by at least half.
Allow to cool, reserve some of it for sauce for the burgers if you’d like. *remove the bay leaf!

the burgers:
garlic cloves
peppers either a poblano or large Anaheim
celery stalks
onion
cilantro
black pepper
ground beef
Andouille sausage (de-cased – or other ground or shredded similarly spiced pork)
the espagnole
large mixing bowl

Above mixed veggies all finely chopped (finer the better, use a food processor if you’d like)
Put the veggies with the ground beef, sausage, cilantro in a mixing bowl and slowly add the espagnole. Do Not over-mix / overwork the meat. Only add enough espagnole to gain a wet consistency where the meat still sticks together itself.
Spit the meat into fist sized balls and lightly press the balls between your palms to form burger patties. Do not press the patties to be too thin. Season both sides of the patties with black pepper (and house seasoning).

You can grill the burgers or sear them off on a cast iron skillet. I suggest, either way, cook the first side 2/3 of the way and flip only once to complete the cooking for the balance of the time. Do no press the burgers while cooking, allow them to cook and keep the juices in, pressing the juices out just dries the burger out, it doesn’t really reduce the fat content or anything. Before serving allow the burgers to rest a few minutes for the juices to redistribute. Reheat the remaining the espagnole while the burgers are cooking, add Crystal Hot Sauce while it reheats to give it a little extra kick.

today i ate: Portuguese BBQ

It happens quite often that Portuguese cuisine gets grouped straight into Iberian which than gets called generically Spanish and occasionally ends up encompassing South and Central American cooking especially where Iberian culture is limited. That’s not to say there aren’t similarities and you can’t enjoy them all together but it is nice to be able to appreciate it on its own. I am fortunate enough to be of Portuguese descent and got to experience my family’s recipes as well as living in the vicinity of a several large Portuguese populations.

Tonight, I decided I was not interested in trying to cook for myself and stopped by the Portuguese BBQ “chain” down the street from my house called Stephanies (there are five of them in the area). Although the cuisine is typically associated very heavily with seafood and western Europe is not exactly a BBQ haven, this is an experience of enlightening eating. The place features an open charcoal pit with a rotisserie as the centerpiece of the kitchen and they don’t mess around with their Portuguese cooking as most of the servers and staff are all family and friends from inside that tight knit community.

Began the meal with the potato and collard soup. Followed up with a half a BBQ chicken along with the side of saffron rice and beans. Portuguese rolls on the side

today i ate: state street

Wisconsin is supposed to be the land of beer and cheese. Well, they certainly haven’t been skipping on either, for sure. Spend the day on State Street hanging out. Stopped and got some nice aged Wisconsin cheddar and munched on that for a bit while getting my bearings. First reaction to it was it felt like something clean out of a Vonnegut short story with a circa 1950 is still the current year vibe. Honestly, though, despite the old school signage and quaint buildings, there were significantly less mom-and-pop shops than I was expecting. A few alright finds in an antique book store (and I mean antique, not used), a couple of over-priced used record shops and a small outdoorsman store.

Lunch was somewhat forgettable Italian-American cuisine. It was not bad, but I could have gotten it anywhere, including the 101 places in my town. However, for a mid-afternoon snack Myles Teddywedgers was on-point! They served up exactly what you would expect, hand crafted excellence in the old-school tradition of the pasty. It easily could be a meal itself and had I planned out the trip better, very well would have been. The top layer steak with potatoes and onion was the selection, but all the specials were making me drool just reading them, especially the breakfast pies. They absolutely do NOT mess around, and neither should you, go there!

Dinner that night found me making a return trip to Great Dane Pub and Brewing Co. Much the same as the first trip, the waitstaff was excellent. You never know what to expect as a solo traveler, but they went out of their way to make it enjoyable. Began the night with the APA, Old Glory. Big hops flavor and nice malt undertone support the brew. Followed it up with the IPA, Potters Run. Again, they didn’t miss on this at all, great traditional IPA flavors, nice hop top with a great undertone. Finished the night off with Black Earth Porter. Dark, rich and creamy with a great coffee underbelly to it made it a great desert. I also sampled the viessen wheat beer. Truth be told, I’m not really a wheat beer guy, but it looked to tempting not to try it and I will say, if the stuff normally tickles your fancy, I highly suggest it here. Diner was the Webster Street Chicken Salad and a side of the Beer Bread with Honey Butter. Hey, after eating and Italian lunch and a pasty snack did you really think I’d have a heavy meal? Salad was an interesting combination of flavors and textures and got the job done. Bread was full of flavor and the honey butter was the perfect accompaniment to it. Do it up if your there. Really, you’re already blowing the diet anyhow with the beer…!

today i ate: the trollyway

Actually, to be honest today’s meals are split between Madison and Mt. Horeb so you’ll have to forgive the title being just regarding the Trollway.

While I was strolling the Trollway, Main Street, Mt. Horeb I stumbled upon quite a lovely find, the Grumpy Troll. Seriously, with a name like that, how could you possibly go wrong? You can’t, especially when you visit a pub that offers hand pulled casks along with normal taps. There’s just something to be said for traditional English hand pulls. I began with a Maggie IPA which had a great old imperial flavor, well hopped but a strong rounded body. It actually was one of the better IPAs I had. Next I had an Erik the Red. Bright, complex and clean finishing, just a hint of fruit on the underside. The most pleasant surprise however was the bartender recommendation, the Imperial Stout, served in a huge fishbowl of a brandy snifter. Heavenly rich and creamy brew wasn’t heavy at all and went down smooth as a baby’s bottom should feel. The meal was deep fried white cheddar curds, which were adorably rich and creamy on the inside while having a great texture to the breading and the honey mustard was a nice touch for the side. Would have had the pan-fried Walleye sandwich but it was off the menu for the day (booo) but informed the pulled pork was a good choice. It was pretty good, nothing to write home about, but I’m a bit of a pulled pork connoisseur so I could be a little over picky. The rest of the meal made up for it though.

That evening, back in Madison, I hit up the Great Dane Pub and Brewing Co. First off, this place does not mess around, the staff was great from moment one. Found a seat at the bar and hooked myself up with one of two IPAs they had on tap, which included something in the neighborhood of 15 brews including three hand pulls. The beer lived up to the billing, a complex and robust IPA with a huge hoppy overtone. Devils Lake Red was up next and it was a fantastic dry-hopped lager with a hint of sweet maltiness. Closed it out with my all-time favorite beer, the Scotch Ale, this one aptly titled Stone of Scone. Its lived up to it’s kingly title to say the least with a big, bold flavor that was every bit of a sipping inspiration. The menu was more typical pub grub and I was a little disappointed there wasn’t a bit more of a Wisconsin flare to it, but it did draw well on their beer brewing… started with the Brown Beer Onion Soup, a tasty take on the traditional French Onion. It more than got the job done with a subtle hint of the beer in the background. Brats and Mash were the meal. Brats were braised in beer adding a nice depth of flavor, the homemade sauerkraut has a great tangy flavor that really stuck with the meal and the baked apple sauce was a nice touch. All in all, a hearty meal perfect for after a long day.

recipe: pernil y patatas mexicana

So, for a pre-Father’s Day gathering the bourbon and tequila came out, so did the cigars and so did the cooking. Rain was not going to stop us from enjoying a wonderful meal despite it being entirely too wet out to attempt the BBQ. The pernil recipe is something my Dad had put together with Iberian friends that we’ve adapted here. It is, by no means, perfected, but you go with what’s available. The potatoes are something I put together from several recipes, it is, again, by no means meant to be “authentic” in any other way than what I’ve learned is some recipes come from what you can get fresh regularly. We had a joyful time cooking, and catching up on a way too short weekend to be what we are, a family, and really, nothing is better than a family spending time together. You know how a great meal like this really is great? One. Hours after everyone is still talking about it, not how ‘great it tasted’ but how much the ‘experience’ impacts them. Two. every distinct smell you cooked with comes back again and again and again, for hours on end after the last dish is put away. Three. You are still so adoring from how it felt you are inspired to do something like this… write it down! A couple of notes: Pork shoulder is the upper pork back on the bone, it may be called pork butt in some butcheries, not the butt is not the ass of the swine, it is the upper back, and that’s the piece you want. It is better if it comes with the fat and the skin included. Yes, I know, supposedly, fat is bad (but remember kiddies, fat IS flavor), and you’re probably used to me cooking low carb, low fat fish recipes, trust me, do this one right, please. You can do pulled pork in a slow cooker and replicate this recipe splendidly, no question, but would you want to, knowing that charred skin is waiting for you as a treat from under a broiler?

Pernil mojo
garlic
onion
pepper
cilantro
sour orange (naranja agria – though, fresh orange can work, zest skin squeeze juice keep separate)
pepper – black and white corns (lightly heated, coarsely ground)
cumin
paprika
olive oil
large mixing bowl

Finely dice the onion, pepper, garlic, cilantro.
Zest the orange skin, just the pulp and the dice up the left over pulp.
Combine all the above ingredients in a large mixing bowl along with the cumin, paprika
Toss with olive oil
Allow the ingreds to meld for a few hours in the fridge.

Pernil Recipe
Mojo
Pork Shoulder
baking dish

Lightly slit under the skin with a knife and slip your fingers between the fat and the flesh of the pork.
Once most of the skin and flesh are separated, massage the mojo in between.
Anywhere there is exposed flesh, create deep punctures in it with a knife and massage the mojo into the slits.
Place the pork in a bag with the rest of the mojo to marinate for several hours to a day.

Once the pork is marinated allow to come up to room temperature in a baking dish while your oven (or smoker or crock pot) preheats. You are looking for about 225-275 degrees tops.
Once the cooker is preheated, transfer the meat to the appropriate cooking vessel and allow to very slow cook for between 4-8 hours, until the internal temperature is about 185 degrees. Baste, as necessary and appropriate with the mojo, do not disturb the slow cook too often. Once maybe twice might be enough while checking the temperature.
During the last 5 minutes of cooking if under a broiler or if you have an open flame grill to transfer to, char the exterior skin over the high heat.

Patatas Mexicana Recipe
potatoes
cubanella peppers
jalapeno peppers
onion
garlic
Chroizo (charisse sausage, although linguisa will work too)
olive oil
broiler or grill
large skillet or fry pan

Char all of the pepper in the broiler. This is done by placing the peppers in high heat in the broiler, turning frequently, until the outer skin turns black. Place the blackened peppers in a bag, seal the bag and allow the peppers to steam themselves for a minute or two. This will help separate the skin from the flesh. Be very careful handling the peppers as they are very hot from broiling. Peel away the pepper skin and then coarsely chop the flesh. The charring is done to give the peppers a fuller and more rustic flavor, plus, it rids us of the tough skins.

Coarsely chop the onion and garlic
Slice the potato into thin rounds (crosswise circles so they look like potato chips)
Slice the charisse
Preheat the skillet with a bit of olive oil. It should be hot enough that the potato when they hit the oil begin to fry up immediately.
Add the potato, all the veggies and the charrisse to the skillet in that order.
Once everything hits the skillet, allow it to cook through to the point of becoming crispy on one side, then turn everything once to brown the other side.
If you do it right, you can probably remove the whole skillet worth as almost one large flavorful piece, serve on a platter garnished with fresh cilantro and serve it family style.

I like serving this with a warm three green salad and a corn salsa and some bread to sop up all the juices (there are some nice unleavened flat breads or corn bread to use, I’m not a bread maker so you’ll have to figure them out on your own)