Category: Recipes

The Fried Onion Experiment Part 1

Labor Day holiday weekend ended a five-day fast, followed by another 2 weeks of unrepentant feasting, with a couple days of fasting scattered in between. During this time, I spent a lot of hours in the kitchen testing recipes. If you’ve been on my Instagram feed, you’ve seen the outcomes of two weekends’ worth of BBQ: smoked “American” Wagyu brisket, pork belly burnt ends, and BBQ pork ribs (St Louis cut from Matador Meat & Wine and Back Loin from Kroger’s in-house brand). Not to mention the prime (Matador) and A-wagyu (A Bar N) ribeyes we grilled up in the intervening period.

Of course, the add-ons to these main dishes are generally what makes an entire meal complete and wholly satisfying. In my household, it’s usually some vegetable side dish (brussel sprouts, broccoli

Recipe: Smoked Glazed Pork Belly (aka Pork Belly Burnt Ends)

The Labor Day weekend is summer’s last bow before fall arrives, and the holiday is usually marked with backyard cookouts across the US, involving grills and smokers.

My household planned on staying home during the weekend, spending some intimate time with the Big Green Egg XL…and I wanted to do something different with pork belly from my usual crispy smoked roast pork. I wanted something sweet, smoky…and spicy a la Sichuan style. And of course I’d heard of pork belly burnt ends so…

This here hunk of smoked pork belly with crisped skin…

…went back into the BGE with a generous applic

Recipe: Dry Spice Rubs and Mixes

There’s nothing more indispensable than a simple spice blend of salt and pepper (and garlic powder if you’re in my household) to season every dish: raw, grilled, broiled, roasted, seared, stewed, sauced, you name it.

When it comes to letting quality ingredients–meats and vegetables–shine, simple spice mixtures are usually best. These spice rubs are my go-to when roasting, grilling and smoking healthy.

S&P: Salt & Pepper

  • sea salt or, even better, Himalayan salt
  • fresh cracked black peppercorns

You dropped a hunk o’ change on that choice- or prime-cut of steak! Salt and pepper about 20 minutes before you grill premium quality meats to give the salt a chance to draw out the moisture and intensify the flavor. S&P is so basic yet it’s the best and simplest way to savor grass-fed, free-range, exotic meats and seafood.

Citrus & Herb:

A citrus-y component …

  • orange peel
  • lemon peel
  • lemon or

Engineering the roasted vegetable

A few weeks ago I was admiring a deep roasting pan of chopped bell peppers, sliced onions and baby bella mushrooms on its way into my hot oven, to be roasted–at least I imagined–to the perfect burnished caramelization that I’d come to expect of roasted root and cruciferous–of the brassica persuasion–veggies.

Like the batch of shishito peppers that preceded it, drizzled with a bit of extra virgin olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and sprinkled with garlic powder. Yum!

Of course, I quickly got over my naive enthusiasm as the clock ticked away the minutes while I watched in dismay as m

Recipe: Brisket Jalapeno Chili

I forgot to post my brisket chili recipe last week, since getting wrapped up in chasing down issues with my web hosting (AWS and GCP). I’m not even sure I remember the ingredients any more, but technically you can follow my original Slow Cooker Jalapeno Chili recipe and get about the same results. After all, after all the prep work, the slow cooker does all the cooking for you.

So I’m just going off memory but here are the ingredients:

  • 4lbs smoked flat of brisket
  • 10oz, Onions, raw
  • 56g, Garlic, raw
  • 5-6oz, Peppers, jalapeno, raw, some see

Freshman Brisket on the BGE

We gave smoking a brisket a try on the Big Green Egg this weekend. It was our first attempt at smoking Texas brisket in a BGE. The results were tasty, but not close to the ideal Texas texture and flavor we were hoping for. A few issues marred our attempts, but the man was staunch about doing it his way. He did spend a good 8-10 hours at it, but the end result was undercooked. We learned a great deal about how the Big Green Egg did a better job of maintaining temperatures over long cook times.

A salt rub the night beforehand is key to investing a brisket with flavor, and something I’ve learned to do during my smoke experiments with the Weber kettle. Previously, I did my dry brine and rubs in one step, then let the brisket rest overnight before hitting the grill.

Recipe: Garlic Parmesan Shredded Chicken with Shiitake and Mukimame

What to do with leftover rotisserie chicken? I needed something quick and easy to fix, while utilizing a package of shiitake mushrooms that were languishing in my fridge. Good thing I still had a bag of frozen mukimame ready to go. And I really was looking forward to using the garlic parmesan olive oil I picked up at Scarborough Faire.

  • 16oz frozen mukimame
  • 12oz roasted or rotisserie chicken, meat and skin, shredded
  • 11.5 oz sliced​ shiitake mushrooms
  • 3oz raw garlic, chopped, minced
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • .25 tsp sea salt
  • 1oz extra virgin olive oil
  • 1oz Garlic Festival Garlic and Parmesan infused olive oi

Recipe: Basic Bone Broth

I’ve been having a blast lately making soups with my homemade bone broth, mostly derivations of Vietnamese pho, minus the banh (or rice noodles). It made for a more mindful and healthier start to 2017.

Bone broth is so easy to make, it makes me wonder why I ever bothered buying cartons of the store-bought stuff (e.g., convenience). But studies have revealed the healthy benefits of collagen, gelatin and all the minerals and electrolytes that go into bone broth (hello, gut health, reduced inflammation, alleviating joint issues, hydration for post-workout and the list goes on) that it’s an easy decision to skip the commercial boxed or bouillon types.

So for my

Recipe: Lamb Meatballs in Pumpkin Marinara

I had leftover pumpkin from my blondie recipe so I had to find a creative use for it. A coworker previously mentioned adding pumpkin to spaghetti sauce for extra fiber, and it sounded like a great idea. The natural sweetness of the pumpkin will take the edge off the acidity, while adding a little volume to the sauce.

This recipe provided an opportunity for me to clear out some fridge space as well. We had ample leftovers of bbq sauce and spaghetti sauce that needed to be used. About the only thing that I needed to purchase was the ground protein and the cheese; I stocked everything else in my pantry.

You’ll also notice that these meatballs are grain-free…no breadcrumbs. In the cooking instructions, I explain how to keep the meatballs together while it slow cooks. It does take an extra cooking step, but the results are worth it!

  • 8 oz(s), Canned Pumpkin
  • 4 fluid ounce, Bbq Sauce
  • 8 fluid ounce, chunky garden (tomato, onion &

Recipe: GF Pumpkin Walnut Blondie

Earlier this summer I experimented with a gluten-free dream bar/coconut bar recipe that used a homemade condensed coconut milk sweetened with stevia. Sadly, I didn’t consider it a success as it didn’t really have the sweet, rich, mouth-coating flavor that I associated with dream bars. I also mistakenly added baking chocolate to the bar which made it hard to eat.

In researching ways to tweak the dream bar recipe, I stumbled upon a paleo-friendly recipe for pumpkin blondie,  using almond butter to achieve the moist chewy texture that I was looking for.

Before I embark on testing the concept with my cococonutty dream bar recipe, I recreated the pumpkin blondie to make it gluten free and with walnuts. I also went with coconut sugar instead of stevia to see how I would like it. And you know what, it turned out great!

  • 0.50 Tsp, Cinnamon
  • 0.50