An Oven BBQ

Recently several of my friends had been going on and on about a chain of smokehouses in So-Cal called Lucille's.  Every time they would bring it up I'd realize that I hadn't had BBQ since it became winter and food trucks stopped coming to the office park where I work.  With each passing mention I wanted some BBQ more and more, until eventually I decided it was time to take action into my own hands.  And since no BBQ is quite complete without at least a side, I decided to go all in on the BBQ and try to get rid of one of my bottles of Sauce at the same time.

Ingredients:

4 Baking Potatoes

1 cup Sour Cream

1 cup Shredded Cheese

1 cup Milk

Bacon Bits

BBQ Sauce of choice

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400

Bake potatoes for an hour

Begin prepping ribs

Remove potatoes and lower heat to 350

Cut potatoes in half and scoop out centers

Mash potato scoopings

Mix mashed potatoes with sour cream, milk, bacon, shredded cheese, and BBQ sauce

Add potato mixture to hollowed out potatoes

Cover with cheese

Bake for an additional 20 minutes

Lower heat to 300

Ingredients:

1 rack of Pork Ribs

1 packet of Memphis Pit BBQ rub

BBQ Sauce of choice

Instructions:

Cut ribs in half 

Rub rub into ribs

Add rubbed ribs to gallon bags and let set (one until oven is ready, the other until you're ready for more ribs)

Remove ribs from bag and place in a baking pan and cover in foil

Bake for an hour per pound of ribs

Remove foil from ribs

Move ribs to broiler and broil for 5-10 minutes

Remove from broiler, cover with foil, and let set for 5-10 minutes

Serve alongside the potatoes (which will need to be reheated) and a side salad

This turned out extremely well.  The potatoes turned out better than I'd really expected, though I could have added a more substantial layer of cheese on top of the mixture.  They also freeze extremely well, so this is a meal that can keep on giving.  The rub gave the ribs an extremely good flavor, and after baking with a broiler finish, they were tender with a nice bit of crispiness on the outside.  There was one mistake I made with the first half rack.  I'd added sauce to the ribs before the broiler step, which resulted in the ribs having a layer of char over the top of them.  With the second set I added the sauce while the ribs were tented and resting, and it turned out a lot better, and in all honesty, the sauce isn't really necessary with the rub.  This is something that I'd absolutely recommend.

Unfortunately Solid Nachos

Since I made the chili/tacos I've been in the mood for a better done meal in that vein.  Since I live in Wisconsin, a state that believes that cheese wheels are cakes, the logical step was to up the cheese levels.  Since nachos are basically extra-cheesy deconstructed I decided to go this route.  Leveraging previous recipes, I felt like I had a good jumping off point to make some killer nachos.

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground Beef

1 Onion

1 can Jalepenos

1 can Green Chilis

1 packet Taco Seasoning

2 block of Manchego Quesadilla Melting Cheese

3 7 oz can of Hot Salsa Casera

Tortilla Chips

Instructions:

Chop Onions

Add beef and onions to pan and begin browning

Stir in taco seasoning, chilis, and jalapenos
Cut cheese into chunks
Cook cheese and salsa over medium heat, stirring frequently
Continue cooking on two burners until the meat is brown and the queso is more singular
Spread a layer of chips over a plate
Add beef and cheese to the chips
Top with pickled jalapenos and black olives

This turned out ok.  The flavor of the manchego/salsa mixture is really good.  However, it has a tendency to separate, and it resolidifies at an unfortunate rate.  Because of this, the cheese tends be stop being melted by the time that that nachos are ready to be eaten, and as good as it may taste, a layer of solid cheese that has to be cut/torn into doesn't make for a great nacho experience.  Plus the liquid portion of the queso winds up collecting along the bottom of the plate resulting in soggy chips under solid cheese, which is the opposite of the intended form of nachos.  This recipe also makes a enough for a lot of nachos.  I managed to eat them three nights in a row, and even had tacos for lunch one of the days.

Rosé chili prototype and half-assed tacos

Every year my office has a chili cookoff, but most years I don't participate, since I'm not much of one for chili, and I'm not confident enough in my cooking to subject other people to it.  However, this year I had a reason to try to enter it.  You are currently reading the reason.  I wanted to come up with a chili idea that would be decent, but different.  Thinking about it, chili typically comes in two varieties, red and white.  The only other thing I can think of that comes in red and white is wine, but sometimes wine is neither red nor white, but rather rosé.  So if a chili is between red and white, is it also a rosé chili?

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground Beef

1 can Diced Chilis

1 can Diced Jalepenos

1 can Dark Red Kidney Beans

1 can Great Northern Beans

1 box of Vegetable Broth

2 cans Tomato Sauce

1 Onion

2 tblspoon Chili Powder

1 tblspoon Cumin

1 tblspoon Minced Garlic

1 teaspoon Ground Mustard

Instructions:

Chop the onion

Begin browning the beef

Add onion and spices and continue browning

Add peppers and cook for a hot second

Drain grease

Move half of this to a pot 

(remaining half is the tacos, add to taco shells with some cheese and salsa)

Add beans, broth, and sauce to the pot

Bring to a boil

Reduce heat and cover

Simmer for a while

This turned out ok.  The tacos were a bit meh, but they were always intended to be a method to dispose of the additional beef, since I couldn't buy half a pound of beef.  The chili is kinda a mixed bag.  The chili itself was fairly good, provided you like a more soupesque chili.  Since this is what I grew up on, it worked for me.  However, it wasn't rosé in the slightest.  Scaling back the tomato sauce from 2 cans from the outset to adding in half a can then going from there to maintain a lighter, pinker look would have gone a long way to improve this aspect.  The chili was also a bit on the underfilled side, but I'm not sure whether using the full pound of beef would be too much.

Seafood Meatloaf

There was a group text amongst my extended family about my cousin cooking for my Grandparents' birthdays and inviting people to come along.  My Grandmother had requested meatloaf, while my Grandfather had requested seafood.  My mother interpreted this as a single meal, the prospect of which did not sit well with the entirety of the group chat.  However, I was intrigued, so I began to look into both how to make meatloaf, and how to adapt it for seafood.

Ingredients:

1 onion

1 14.75oz can of Red Salmon

1 6oz can of Crab Meat

1 1lb bag of Extra Large Raw Shrimp (use smaller for convenience)

1 cup Bread Crumbs

1 cup Milk

1 Egg

Cocktail Sauce

Instructions:

Begin thawing shrimp

Chop onion and add to bowl

Drain canned foods and add to bowl

Preheat oven to 375

De-tail shrimp and add to bowl

Add bread crumbs, milk, and egg to bowl

Mix

Pour into bread pan(s)

Bake for 1 hour
Remove from oven and let set
Remove from pan and serve with a side of salad and mashed potatoes (or cauliflower)

This... didn't turn out great.  The flavor was mostly alright, if you like fish, but it wasn't really a great blend of fish.  I found myself wishing I'd used a smaller size of shrimp, since the ones I used required me to cut them into thirds before adding them to the mix.  But the biggest problem with this recipe was the fact that it didn't stay as a loaf.  I'm not entirely sure why this was, but I have a couple of theories:

1. There wound up being considerably more meat in this loaf than the recipe that I'd been basing it off of so there might not have been enough egg, breadcrumbs, or both to bind it all together.
2. The shrimp were still fairly wet when I added them to the mix, combined with any excess fluids from the cans, there may have simply been too much liquid in the mixture to stick together properly.
3. I didn't give the meatloaf enough time to properly set, and in my haste to eat it, dumped it out before it was totally finished.  Considering that the second loaf held its form a lot better, this is probably a decent portion of it.
4. This mixture simply isn't conducive to staying as a loaf.
5. Any combination of the above.

While I am curious if correcting any of the things I'd listed would have any impact on the structural integrity of the meatloaf, the fact of the matter is that it wasn't good enough for me to give it another go.  I'm not a huge fan of fish as it is, and this wasn't a great way to cook it.  I can't really recommend this recipe unless you're already a fan of both meatloaf and canned fish and would like to combine the two, or can't eat meat and are jonesing for some meatloaf.

Cream of Mushroom Mushroom Chicken Mk2

In the last post I'd alluded to how there might be more to come, with buying 2 packages of chicken, but only using one, and two separate moments of inspiration.  As you may have guessed, this recipe is pretty much the same as the preceding one, but following the soup's instructions for making soup in order to turn it into actual soup.

Ingredients:

1 package Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts approx 1.5lb

1 lb package Whole Mushrooms

1 26oz can Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 26ox can Water

Instructions:

Grease a Large sized fryingpan and laugh to yourself about how young and dumb you were a few days ago

Chop the chicken

Begin cooking chicken over medium heat

Wash and chop mushrooms

Add mushrooms to chicken

Continue cooking
Pour condensed soup and water into a pot
Bring to a boil
Add the chicken and mushrooms to the pot
Simmer
Serve with a side salad

This, much like the preceding recipe, turned out decently.  This combination makes a decent soup, but much like the non-soup version, it was a bit on the bland side.  It was actually a bit more bland than the non-soup, because more of the flavor came from the soup rather than the chicken and mushrooms.  Adding a bit of cheese and hot sauce goes a long way when eating this soup.  Of the two, I think I preferred the non-soup version.

Cream of Mushroom Mushroom Chicken MK1

I was at the store the other day and realized that they had packages of boneless skinless chicken breasts (which I then double checked to ensure they weren't split chicken breasts) BOGO.  So I did.  But that left me with having to figure out what I was going to do with about 3 lbs of chicken.  Inspiration hit me when I saw the family sized cans of condensed soup.  Further inspiration hit me when I remembered my friend who didn't realize that you were supposed to add water to condensed soup and was complaining about how salty it was.

Ingredients:

1 package Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts approx 1.5lb

1 lb package Whole Mushrooms

1 26oz can Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 steamable bag Frozen Asparagus (or other vegetable)

Instructions:

Grease a normal sized fryingpan

Chop the chicken

Begin cooking chicken over medium heat

Wash mushrooms roughly so they break into 3 pieces or so

Add mushrooms to chicken

Realize that this pan isn't big enough for the both of them

Haphazardly pour the contents of the pan into a larger pan

Continue cooking

Wash first pan

Continue cooking

Realize the beeping you're hearing means it's time to move clothes from the washer to the dryer

Remove from heat

Leave briefly

Return, turn on heat, and stir chicken and mushrooms together

Pour in the can of soup, but don't add the can of water the instructions for the can seem to think they need

Turn heat to high to reduce the condensed soup/chicken-mushroom juice

Microwave the asparagus

Remove mixture from heat

With a slotted spoon, serve chicken and mushrooms in a wreath of asparagus

This turned out decently.  Chicken and mushrooms mix reasonably well, and cream of mushroom soup is a good option for making a creamier version of the dish.  Most of the flavor of the dish comes from the chicken and mushrooms themselves rather than the soup.  This actually could have used some more spices, as it wound up a bit on the bland side, but it's a good starting point for a recipe, and it's pretty easy to add other ingredients to in order to get a different taste.

Breakfast Burrito Roulette

Breakfast burritos are not only potentially my favorite type of burrito, but they also might by my favorite type of breakfast.  They are all around great.  Adding some salsa and wrapping them together adds way more to sausage and eggs than what the salsa brings to the table on it's own.  So, how to improve such a simple yet excellent recipe?  Adding risk.

Ingredients:

1 dozen Eggs

1 package Precooked (or not) Sausage Links

1 jar Medium Pace Picante Sauce

1lb bag Shredded Cheese (I used medium cheddar)

2 packages Soft Shell Taco Tortillas

3 (or more) Salsas

1/4 stick of butter

Instructions:

Cut sausage into bite-sized pieces

Melt butter in a large pan

Add sausage to the pan and cook for a bit

Add eggs, stirring frequently

Pour in half the jar of picante sauce

Continue stirring until eggs are fully cooked

Remove from heat

Ensure that the tortillas aren't cold

(For each tortilla)

Add a layer of cheese

Spoon the egg mixture onto the tortilla

Add a spoonful of one of the other salsas

Roll into a burrito

Group burritos by salsa

Add the burritos to freezer bags

Since the burritos are grouped by salsa it's possible to ensure that each bag has different salsas

Shuffle the bags and freeze

This worked out incredibly well.  I managed to make 18 burritos, which translated to several bags worth of breakfasts (and a dinner or two).  Even without the additional salsas, this is an excellent breakfast burrito recipe, but the extra salsa provide some variety, and not knowing which one you're going to get adds a little excitement.

Speaking of the salsas, I used a craft beer salsa, a jalapeno salsa, and a ghost pepper salsa.  The jalapeno salsa I'd had before and was a big fan of.  The craft beer salsa was something that I hadn't had before, but seemed like it'd be different enough from the other two that I would be able to tell, and I wound up really enjoying it.  The ghost pepper salsa I'd gotten once before and knew that only bad things would come of it.

That said, the trick to this recipe is spooning enough of the salsa into the burrito to be able to recognize it, but not so much as to overpower the rest of the burrito.  This is fairly easy to do, and as long as you use enough to be able to see it before you wrap it, but don't smother the eggs, it should work out ok.  When you hit the balance, you'll be able to enjoy more flavorful salsas without being overwhelmed by a hotter salsa, though you will still be able to feel when you've picked them.

There are a couple of things that I would do differently about this.  When I was adding the eggs to the pan I realized that they were starting to cook faster than I was able to crack them.  To try to catch up I began to rush on the eggs, resulting in pieces of shell falling into the mixture several times.  To rectify this I'd crack all the eggs into a bowl while the sausage is cooking and pour them all in at once.  The salsa could probably be added to this step as well.  I might also split up wrapping and bagging into several cycles.  This would avoid the awkward stack of burritos, and break up the monotony, even if it is a bit less efficient.  The 1lb bag of cheese is also overkill.

This is a recipe that I can strongly recommend.  It's incredibly easy to make, doesn't require all that many ingredients, and makes the next several mornings way better.  I wouldn't necessarily recommend using the same salsas as I did though, as everyone has their own tolerance for heat and flavor preferences.  The important thing is to have 3(ish) salsas that you'll (probably) enjoy that you'll be able to differentiate.  I would recommend one of them being a bit outside of your comfort zone so there is a sense of risk added to the burritos.

Green Rice Under Eggy L-fredo

There's certain things that have a rule of thumb for cooking.  One such thing is rice, which you typically cook with 1.5-2x water to rice.  However, we're going to ignore that and see if we can make it a bit differently.  

Ingredients:

1 cup Rice

1 cup Water

2 Eggs

1/4 bottle Jalapeno Salsa

1 jar Alfredo Sauce

Instructions:

Add rice and water to a pan and cook on medium heat

When the water has been absorbed/evaporated stir in eggs

Stir occasionally until eggs are cooked

Stir in salsa and cook for a minute

Add alfredo

Increase heat to reduce the alfredo

Stir occasionally to avoid burning

Remove from heat when the alfredo has reduced

This didn't turn out at all the way that I'd intended for it to.  To the point that while I had been initially been planning on naming this entry "Poorly Fried Rice with a Jalapeno Alfredo Finish", but after seeing the final result I realized that I should name it something more representative of the final product, and the fact that it looks like porridge, or gruel.  The poorly designation from the original name is still applicable though.  I'd been hoping that some of the alfredo's liquidity would be absorbed into the rice while I was reducing it, but I'm pretty sure that it mostly just evaporated, as the rice was still a bit on the harder side.  The flavor was pretty good though, with the salsa providing a bit more kick to the meal.

I probably could have used more eggs though, because while I could occasionally taste the eggs, they weren't spread throughout the dish in a consistent manner.  If I were to make this again I think that I would use about half as much sauce, and mix it into the water before cooking the rice to get it in earlier on.  I'd also use a proper amount of water.

Pork Zucchini Smash

I made a full loin's worth of Mesquite-O Bites for two holiday parties that I attended this winter.  They went over decently well at both events, but afterwards I was left with a bunch of pieces of excess pork that weren't quite big enough to warrant their own cracker.

Ingredients:

1 container leftover Mesquite Porkloin Pieces

1 package 4 Cheese Mashed Potatoes

4 cups of water

1 bag Frozen Zucchini Slices

Instructions:

Add Zucchini to a pan and begin cooking

Boil 4 cups of water

Remove from heat

Stir Mashed Potatoes into boiling water

Reheat Pork

Combine the Zucchini and Pork into Potatoes

This worked out pretty well.  The overall ratio of ingredients was a bit heavier on the potatoes and lighter on the pork than what I'd have gone for had I been making the recipe for itself rather than for getting rid of some leftover pork.  I suppose I could have separated some of the potatoes out before putting the other ingredients in, but it's a bit hard to gauge that when staring into the depths of a stockpot.  The pork and zucchini worked fairly well mixed into the potatoes, but I'm not sure that this is a meal I'd make again.

Swamp Gas Chicken

This had been intended to be Ginger Ale Chicken, but after I mixed the mix, it looked like something out of a swamp, so I opted to run with that.  Anyways, I'd been planning on using my crockpot for a while, and one of the things it does well is shredded chicken.  Also beer brats.  I might have remade the beer brats, but with the onion on bottom, and including the pepper on top.  The onion actually cooked this time, but the pepper sorta dissolved.  Anyways, back to the chicken.

Ingredients:

1 package Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

1 12oz bottle of Ginger Ale

1 tblspoon Chili Powder

1 tblspoon Ground Cumin

1 tblspoon Ground Mustard

1 tblspoon Minced Garlic

Instructions:

Mix spices into ginger ale

Place chicken into a crock pot

Pour swamp gas mixture over the chicken

Cook on Low for 8 hours

Remove chicken from the crockpot and shred with a potato smasher

This turned out better than I'd expected.  The swamp gas mixture gave the chicken a slightly sweet flavor, with a bit of a kick to go along with it.  Despite the shredding of the chicken, it was still a bit drier than I'd been hoping, but this was probably due to the fact that I didn't add it back to the crockpot after I'd shredded it.  On the subject of shredding it, the potato masher did an exemplary job of shredding the chicken.  It was a bit slow going at first, but after progressing past the "skin" that formed around the chicken after stewing  for several hours, it was easy going.  By the end of the mashing, it had a granularity somewhere between where I start fork shredding and when I finish fork shredding, but it also took considerably less time, so I'd say this is a pretty solid shredding methodology.

Boozy Mac and Ham

Knowing that I was going to have plenty of leftover ham from the innards of the bowls I decided to take steps in order to ensure that I'd have some way to use it.  And by that I mean I saw that boxes of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese were on sale and thought to myself, "ham is kinda like hot dogs, so ham and mac & cheese should go together like hot dogs and mac & cheese".  Thus the seeds for the third meal from that grocery store trip were planted.

Ingredients:

1 box Kraft Macaroni & Cheese

6 cups of Water

1/4 cup Butter

1/4 cup Milk

1 bag of Ham Scoopings

1 container Pepper/Onion Medley

1 container Beer Brat Onions

Instructions:

Bring water to a boil

Add ham and noodles

Cook for 7 minutes

Drain

Add cheese packet, butter, milk, and vegetables

Stir until even

This turned out more or less the way I'd planned it.  When boiled into the macaroni, the ham was similar (though somewhat fancier) than the hot dogs it was intended to replace.  The onions and peppers and onions weren't an intended part of this, but they worked well with it.  The onions from the beer brats gave the dish a slight beery flavor, which worked in the end.  They were still a bit on the hard side, but that was a problem with the earlier recipe, rather than this one.