Easy Prime Rib... Yes, you read that right!

The holiday parties are in a couple of weeks.  And EVERYBODY's thinking about hams and turkeys.  Honeybaked has a line out the door and Costco has a gigantic freezer section filled to capacity with pig legs wrapped in red foil.

But if you're looking for a great option, just turn your back to the ham pile and look to the beef case.  You'll find probably the most prized cut of beef in the culinary world, the prime rib.  It may be named standing rib roast or something similar, but be assured, that's prime rib.

And this time of year, the prices for this cut can be downright amazing.  Watch your local grocery ads.  You'll see roasts for as cheap as $5.99 per pound.  A 7 pound roast can feed 8-10 people and if there are leftovers, consider yourself lucky.  You have the perfect ingredient for awesome sandwiches, stews, or even one of our chilis.

The key to a great prime rib is the slow cooking  You MUST have some sort of thermometer inserted into the meat so you know exactly what the temperature is in the middle of the roast.  The difference between rare and medium rare is 5 degrees.  And the different between that perfect medium rare and a medium that is a little less juicy is also 5 degrees, as you can see in the photo above.  So you need to monitor it's temperature constantly.  You could use a mechanical thermometer, but that means checking it constantly and who really wants to do that.  For the chronically lazy like myself, a digital thermometer is the perfect solution.  Most have an alert built in so it will beep as soon as it hits the perfect temp.

So set your thermometer to beep at 122 degrees, then you can pull it from the oven and let the carryover heat take it to just the right temperature.

Perfectly Easy Prime Rib

Plan for 2 1/2-3 hours of total cooking time

One 6-7 pound prime rib or standing rib roast
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon rosemary
1 tablespoon thyme
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 tablespoon sage
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup olive oil

In a small bowl, add all the spices and the olive oil and stir until combined.  Then place the roast on a roasting pan or in a roasting rack inside a 13x9 inch pan.  Baste the entire roast with the spice and oil mixture.

Cook the roast in a 425 degree oven for 15-20 minutes to give the cooking a kickstart, then reduce the heat to 300 degrees and continue to roast until the internal temperature hits 122 degrees, about 2 - 2 1/2 hours for a 7-8 pound roast.  At that point remove it from the oven, place a tent of tin foil over the meat and then lay a couple of dishtowels over the tin foil.  This will create a miniature oven so the carryover heat can do it's job.

And now,  the most vital part of the process.... patience.

It will smell delicious, it will stir every ounce of the carnivore within you.  But you must refrain with every fiber of your being from slicing into that for at least fifteen minutes.  You'll need to leave the thermometer in the roast, cover it in tin foil and let it cook the rest of the way on the counter.  There's so much heat in that slab of meat and in the pan it sits in, that the residual heat will carryover and raise the temperature to the final internal temperature of 130 degrees.  This should take that requisite 15 minutes, but as soon as it hits 130, remove the foil and let it sit for another 10 minutes.  This will allow the juices to relocate inside the meat and hunker down.  Slice it too soon, and your carving plate will be full of the meaty juices and your roast will not.

So buy a Prime Rib and cook it for the holiday masses.  Just Remember:  NO cutting the roast until after it rests or it'll go all Game of Thrones Red Wedding on you.

Lasagna Rolls

If you're a regular reader of the blog, you know that I could be completely content if marinara sauce was fed to me intravenously.  I'll eat almost any Italian dish and lots of it, thank you very much.  So when I saw this dish at a local restaurant, it intrigued me.  Yes, it's just like the classic Lasagna, but it's a perfect portion rolled up in one noodle.  Not a bad idea at all.

So I've decided to make my own version of it using part of recipes I already have.  We're using a variation Quick and Easy Marinara sauce recipe that we've used in the past, with one extra can of the crushed tomatoes and just a little oregano added for a different flavor.  The fillings are very similar to our other lasagna recipe.  The only difference is that we're rolling instead of layering.

The essential part is getting the noodles to the right consistency.  They need to be soft enough so they are pliable, but not too soft that they start to tear or disintegrate in the pot.  So once your water reaches a boil, back of the heat and maintain a slow boil, not a violent, crazy type of boil that could tear the noodles apart.  We're going to cook 15-16 noodles, but we'll only probably use 12.  We're factoring the distinct probability that one or two noodles will tear or disintegrate in the water.  So consider them sacrifices to the pasta gods...  Better safe than sorry.

Lasagna Rolls

Makes 12 rolls

Sauce
3 14 ounce cans crushed tomatoes
1 6 ounce can tomato paste
1 1/2 tablespoons basil
1 tablespoon oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced


Lasagna Rolls

32 ounces ricotta cheese
1 cup mozarella cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon basil
1/2 tablespoon oregano
3/4 pound italian sausage
4 ounces sliced pepperoni
15-16 lasagna noodles

In a large saucier or saucepan, brown the Italian sausage and place it in a large bowl for later.  Drain off the excess oil, but set aside to use later.

Heat a large stockpot of water to boiling and add the lasagna noodles.  While they cook for about 10 minutes, so they are pliable but not completely cooked, turn to the sauce.

In that pan you cooked the sausage in, add all of the sauce ingredients and mix well over medium heat.  Once it reaches a boil, reduce the heat so it can simmer while you make the rolls.

In the bowl with the cooked Italian sausage, mix together the cheeses, egg and spices in a large bowl and then allow them to sit while you turn to the noodles.

When the noodles are ready, strain off the water and then shock them with either a spray of cold water or dunk them into a pot of cold water to stop them from cooking any farther.  Lay them on a cooling rack and prepare to assemble.

Lay one noodle out on a cutting sheet or a piece of wax or parchment paper.  Spread a thin layer of cheese and sausage on the roll.  Lay a few pepperoni slices as well, then roll it the noodle up tight.  Set aside for the moment and repeat until the fillings are gone.

Spray a 13x9 inch pan with non-stick spray.  Pour just enough sauce into the pan to coat the bottom as well.  Lay the rolled noodles in the pan, allowing for a little space between each roll.  Once the pan is full, cover the  rolls with the sauce and bake in a 350 degree oven of 30-45 minutes or until the cheese is melting.

Move the rolls to serving plates and ladel a scoop or two of the sauce over each.

Ham Fried Rice or Ways to use that leftover Easter Ham

It's pretty customary around these parts to have an Easter ham.  Whether it's out of the Costco refrigerated section or a Honey Baked ham, it's a great meal for a family get-together.

But anytime you get a spiral cut ham, there's always that part that doesn't have the spiral cutting at the bottom.  Giant meaty chunks of ham that the truly lazy write off as leftover and not worth anything.  NOT TRUE!

If you grab a large butcher's knife, you can carve off and cube those ham slabs in less than two minutes.  What I do is portion them out into 1 cup and half cup portions, drop the bits into freezer ziplocs, note the portions on the outside of each with a Sharpie and place them in the door of my freezer until I need them later.  I can usually get about three cups worth out of that leftover meat.

Don't think you don't have to freeze it all.  You can make a batch of Fried Rice in about 30 minutes start to finish, which can be a meal all unto itself or a great side dish for some Orange Chicken, General Tso's Chicken, or any other Asian dish you want.

The recipe is very simple, just rice, ham, veggies, eggs and soy sauce.  And the majority of the prep time is due to cooking the rice, which will take about 20 minutes.  Don't use instant rice!  That is built for quick hydration and has no heft to it.  You try and stir it in a hot pan for 3-4 minutes and you'll have Ham in Library Paste.  Trust me, it turns out horribly.  For even better results, you can make the rice 8-24 hours in advance and refrigerate it.  When you're ready to cook, just prep the other ingredients, pull out the rice and warm it up in the pan at the end.

The cooking of each individual ingredient in the wok takes only a minute or two, so have everything portioned out and ready to go before you start.  And if you don't have a wok, no worries, a large saucier or very large skillet will work in a pinch.

Ham Fried Rice

Cook time 30 minutes - serves 4-6


2 beaten eggs

1/2 cup frozen peas and carrots

1/8 cup water

1 tablespoon oil

1 cup diced ham

2 more tablespoons oil
3 cups cooked rice
2 tablespoons soy sauce


Put the ham, veggies, eggs and rice into separate bowls.  Have a bowl or plate for the finished dish ready as well.  Make sure you beat the eggs before you start cooking.

Place a large wok or saucier over medium high heat.  Once it's fully heated, spray it with non-stick spray and immediately add the beaten eggs.  Spin the pan around the burner so the eggs come up the side a little bit and thin out.  Then start scraping them off the sides and keep them moving until they are cooked, which should only take 30 seconds. Dump them out of the cooking vessel and into the finished meal's bowl.

Next pour the water into the pan and add the frozen peas and carrots.  The water will steam, helping the veggies to cook as well.  After about two minutes, the water will steam off and help the veggies warm up.  Dump the carrots and peas into that same serving bowl with the eggs.

Next add the single tablespoon of oil, then the ham to the pan and cook for about a minute an a half.  It's long enough to warm the ham and leave some of that ham juice in the container for the next step.  Move the ham into the finished bowl.

Now add the two tablespoons of oil to the pan and let it warm in for one minute.  Add the rice and continually stir it so the rice warms up.  Add the soy sauce after a minute or two of cooking and stir the rice until it is an even color.  Finally, add the egg, veggies and ham back in with the rice.  Continually stir the dish for 3 minutes over the heat, then move everything back to the finished meal dish and serve.

Pressure Cooker Chicken with Sage and Thyme Gravy

I can't tell you how many times I come home and I just don't want to cook.  Yes... me... the guy with the food blog and loves to cook in his free time.

You know why?  Sometimes, life sucks.  You can have one of those days where you are continually running, putting out fire after file.  Maybe you have that ONE co-worker that you would rather see burn in a fiery vat of lava than spend one extra minute with, and that person decided that today would be the perfect day to unload their frustrations on you.  Could be that someone stole your lunch out of the fridge and you were forced to eat something off the dollar menu because you had almost no cash in your pocket.  It could also be that the drive home took twice as long as you expected and your iPhone stopped working, forcing you to listen to some inane radio talk show for an hour an a half.  Whatever the reason, you walk in the door and you have absolutely no desire to spend a half hour or more in the kitchen.

But then you realize there are 3-4 other people relying on you for dinner and you have to make something.  So you have to make a meal and make it fast.

So this is where my handy-dandy pressure cooker comes in.  Pressure cooking allows you to go from frozen to cooked in about 15 minutes.  And it allows you to let the machine to do most of the work.

Pressure cooking takes the steam that builds in the vessel and contains it.   Those extra atmospheres of pressure caused by the contained steam force the water inside to boil at a higher temperature than the normal 212 degrees.  Everything not only cooks hotter and faster, but the moisture is contained.  Therefore, the meat to come out tender, moist and delicious.

So this dish is very easy to make.  Toss the majority of the contents into the pressure cooker, turn it on and walk away.  Now for the gravy, we can create the base while the pressure cooker does its magic.  We're going to create a roux.  It's a thickening agent that is just equal parts flour and fat (I like to use butter).  You heat that in a saucepan and let it cook over medium heat while the pressure cooker finishes it's work.  As the flour and butter intermingle, they make a paste that not only will quickly create a great gravy, it'll have NO lumps.  And since the broth you put in the pressure cooker already has all of the spices in it, there's nothing else you'll need to add to the roux.  As soon as the pressure cooker can be opened, you just pour the leftover juices from the chicken into the roux, cook it for all of three minutes and you're ready to rock.

While the roux is simmering and the pressure cooking is wrapping up, make a batch of instant potatoes or stuffing, warm up some frozen veggies and you have a complete meal in 20 minutes and very little dishes.

Dinner's done.  Eat up, tell everyone else that they have to do the dishes, and then crash on the couch with a nice drinky-drink that'll help all the bad memories melt away.

Pressure Cooker Chicken with Sage and Thyme Gravy

Serves 4

4 frozen skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 14 ounce can low sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon sage
1 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons butter

Pour the chicken broth, sage, thyme, and pepper into the pressure cooker.  Drop the chicken breasts into the pressure cooker and set it to cook on High for 7 minutes.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat until is is melted.  Add the flour and stir until well combined.  Allow it to cook, stirring occasionally until the chicken is done.

Quick release the pressure cooker. Once the pressure cooker has depressurized and can be opened, remove the breasts to a serving plate and pour the remaining liquid into the saucepan with the roux.  Increase the heat to medium and stir to combine.  After about three minutes, pour the gravy into a serving container and deliver both the chicken and gravy to the table.

Serve with a couple of side dishes that are quick to prepare and you've got a meal in 20 minutes.

Jambalaya and Trips to New Orleans

At my last job, I had the blessing and the curse of being required to travel... a lot.  Usually it was only one week a month, but there was one stretch where I was on the road for 34 days straight.  I would fly to one town for an install, then come home for less than 24 hours to wash everything in the suitcase.  Then I'd be back in the air the next morning to a group training or data gathering trip, followed by another quick trip home and then out again for another install.  Thank god this all happened before I had kids.

The one redeeming factor of that marathon was the last stop in New Orleans.  It was my second trip to the Big Easy and I had learned what not to do the first time I visited.  First, don't waste your time on Bourbon Street, unless all your looking for is cheap alcohol, cheaper souvenirs and rows of sleazy strip joints.  Second, take the side streets and look for the hole in the wall shops.  They're the ones that have the interesting bits of memorabilia and much more local flavor.  I ended up in a voodoo shop one time and was able peruse authentic voodoo ingredients.  After some polite and respectful questions posed to the shop owner, she took me into the back room and showed me all the REALLY good stuff.  I walked out of there with a free alligator head and a few other tools/trinkets that cannot be mentioned due to a solemn oath made to the priestess behind the counter.  Let's just say my enemies have felt the effectiveness of each and every item.

But third, and most importantly, the best food can be found far away from Bourbon Street.  On that second trip to New Orleans, the sky was slightly overcast with the occasional mist-like rain, but that didn't frighten the local restaurateurs.  Many of the little restaurants have large doors along the length of the building that open wide to the street. Perfect to expose the patrons to a great people-watching view.  Rain is nothing new so those doors stayed opened wide while I sat a little table just off the sidewalk.  As I sat there eating a bowl of some of the best Jambalaya I've had in my life, a traditional jazz band led a funeral procession down the street.  It was an almost jubilant and the mourners carried the casket to the rhythm of the music.  I know now what my funeral will be like.  All in all it was a great experience and one I never would have had if I limited myself to the blaring frat house attitude of Bourbon Street

Trying to recapture that moment is hard in Salt Lake.  The only decent jazz we have is the basketball team, and that's only on occasion.  And there are a only a few places in town that can come close to replicating the cajun and creole tastes of New Orleans.  So I've tried to make my own batch of jambalaya at home.  I think I've come pretty darn close to what I had on that French Quarter street corner.  The andouille sausage is surprizingly easy to find.  Harmon's carries it, as well as any of the specialty meat shops, like Colossimo's or Snyder's Meats.  All of the other ingredients are easily found in any grocery store.  The key to the recipe is giving the flavors time to intermingle.  When almost everything is in the pot, put on the lid and let it be.  Don't taste test it, don't stir it, don't disturb it until it's time to add the shrimp.  The rice needs time to soak in all the goodness and if you remove that lid, it'll evaporate into the ether.

This will also store in the fridge for about a week, so this can be a perfect lunch during the week.  And the aroma will stir a number of conversations in the lunch room when you warm it up.

Jambalaya

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
8 ounces boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed into 3/4-1 inch pieces
8 ounces andouille sausage (usually two sausages)
1 more tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red or green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 tablespoon teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon thyme
1 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 1/2 cups rice
3 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoon Frank's hot sauce
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 bay leaves
10-12 medium to large shrimp, deveined and without shells

In a large dutch over, saucier or stock pot over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of oil.  Once the oil is warm, add the diced chicken and brown them.  Remove the chicken, then add the sausage and cook until done.  Remove the sausage and set aside for a minute.

Keep the pan over that medium heat and add another tablespoon of oil.  Add the onion, pepper and celery and saute for about five minutes.  While the onions are becoming translucent and the peppers and celery are softening, add the tomatoes to the veggies in the pan and toss all the spices in as well.  Follow it up with the rice and give the mixture a few quick stirs, just so the spices mix evenly throughout.

Add the chicken broth (watch for steam), hot sauce and tomato paste and stir until the tomato sauce is well incorporated.  Slice the cooked sausage into bite-size bits. Drop in the bay leaves, add the chicken and sausage back into the pot, stir to incorporate, then place a tight-fitting lid on the pan.  Drop the heat to low (1 out of 10) and continue to cook while covered for 20 minutes. Do not remove this lid until the 20 minutes have passed!

When the time is up, add the shrimp, quickly stir them into the mixture (no more than 15 seconds) and return the lid to the pan.  Cover and allow to steep for another 5 minutes.

Remove the lid and move to a serving bowl.  Serve to hungry Cajuns as soon as possible.

Mexican Lasagna

So I was making a batch of my enchiladas one night and the thought hit me... is there something else I could do with these ingredients?  And then it came to me.  Mexican Lasagna!  Layer the tortillas like noodles, substitute the marinara with enchilada sauce, and VIOLA!!

Sure, I could be a pretentious asshat here and say that I was trying to create a fusion between Mexican and Italian cuisines.  But to be completely honest, I wanted an excuse to cram more and more cheese and sauce into every bite of an enchilada.  And by layering the ingredients instead of rolling them into tube, I could add a ton of sauce and cheese in each strata.

You can use any type of tortillas you'd like.  I prefer the flour tortillas that you can cook as home.  But if you want to use corn tortillas instead, by all means, go ahead.  Other ingredients can be added as well.  I like to add some diced onions and sliced olives, but I could see adding tomatoes, corn, maybe even some sour cream on a layer or two.  Do whatever sounds good to you.

Mexican Lasagna

Serves 4-6

Sauce
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 14 ounce cans of low sodium chicken broth
2 6 ounce cans of tomato paste
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder
2 cloves garlic, minced

Other ingredients
4-5 ten inch flour tortillas or 15 small corn tortillas
1 1/2 pounds ground beef or shredded chicken breast
1 small onion diced
1 can of medium olives, sliced
3 1/2 cups shredded Mexican style cheese (or just pepper jack)

Optional ingredients
8 ounces sour cream
1 1/2 cups corn kernels
1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes
3-4 sliced jalapenos, seed removed

To create the sauce, place a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add the flour and the oil and stir.  Allow it to heat up for about 5 minutes.  Add the chicken broth and the tomato paste to the man and mix well.  Add the spices and the garlic cloves.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes.

While that's simmering, cook your meat and prepare all of your other ingredients.  Place the tortillas over and 8x8" pan and trim off the overlapping tortilla edges.  Spray the pan with cooking spray to prevent sticking layer.  Add a few spoonfuls of sauce to the pan and dip the pan around so it coast the bottom of the pan.

Begin to build the lasagna.  Place one tortilla in the pan and spread enough sauce on top to coat the tortilla.  Add about 1/4 of the meat, cheese and all of the other ingredients.  Pick up another tortilla and coat one side with sauce.  Place that tortilla into the 8x8 pan, sauce side down.  Repeat each step until you reach the last tortilla.  Once it's placed in the pan, pour the remaining sauce over the top of the contents of the pan.  Liberally sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.  Cover in tin foil and place in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.  Remove the foil and cook for another 10 minutes.  Finally, remove the pan from the oven and serve while it's still hot.

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

The ultimate comfort food.  Macaroni and Cheese.

When I was six, it was one of the few things I would eat.  Besides hot dogs, beans and a peanut butter sandwich, Mac and Cheese was all I would eat.

Mom would make a batch of Mac and Cheese with the Campbell's Cheddar Cheese soup, then slice in some hot dogs and serve it to the munchkins.

There was never the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, AKA Kraft Dinner, AKA Kraft Krap.  Sorry folks, I'm not being a food snob here, but I've never liked the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.  I have nothing against it, no agenda against the Man or anything.  To me, it tastes like plastic stale Cheeto shavings melted over miniature pasta.  My wife likes it, I feed it to my kids, I personally don't like the taste.  And in a pinch for a quick meal for my kids, I'll cook up a box.

But if I'm craving the good stuff, I'll make this Macaroni and Cheese.  Yes, there's a lot of cheese in this recipe.  That's what makes it gooooooooooooooooooood.  But there are two secrets to the recipe.  First, you're not just relying on the cheese to thicken the sauce.  You're actually going to create a roux, which is a great way to thicken any sauce without creating lumps.  If you dump flour directly into a liquid, like milk or meat drippings, it'll congeal up like little tennis balls.  But if you mix it into a little fat, like butter and cook it for a few minutes, the flour and fat will intermingle.  The resulting roux will allow the flour to loosen up and thicken any liquid without flour clumps.

Second, adding the cheese slow is vital.  By adding the cheese in small batches and allowing it to melt into the sauce completely, you'll prevent the cheese from separating and getting too oily.  Just add 1/4 of the cheese each time and you'll be just fine.

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

1 8 ounce package of elbow macaroni
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
32 ounces (by weight) grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Fill a stockpot with one gallon of water and set it on the stove to boil.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Melt the butter in a large saucepan or saucier.  Sprinkle the flour over the butter and whisk it together.  Cook it over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes.  Pour in the milk and the spices and stir until to reach a simmer.

At this point the water should be boiling, so add the macaroni to the water and cook according to the package's instruction.

Back to the sauce... Slowly add the grated cheddar cheese to the sauce.  Add 1/4 of the cheese and slowly stir until it's completed melted in.  Repeat until all the cheese in incorporated.

Drain the macaroni and shake out as much water as possible.  Pour the macaroni back into the stockpot, then pour the sauce over the macaroni.  Stir until well combined.  Pour out in a large baking dish of your choice and cover with the bread crumbs.

Place the dish into the oven and cook for 30 minutes.  Let rest for 5 minutes and then serve to the horde.

Red Hot as Hell Chili - Made with Radio From Hell Red as Hell Ale

Almost a year ago, Squatter's released a new beer, the Radio From Hell Red as Hell Ale.  I've had a bottle of it in my house for most of the time since the unveiling.  And that's something, since I'm really not a beer drinker at all.

It's flavor is rich, deep, and wonderful, which makes it perfect for cooking. If you recall, a few months ago, I used it to make Fish and Chips.  It was also the main ingredient for one of the best Garlic Cheddar Beer Breads I've ever made. I took it into  the Radio from Hell show and they loved it.  By the way, the recipes I've brought to Kerry, Bill and Gina are all available on the As Heard on Radio from Hell tab at the top of the page.

I was making a batch of chili a couple weeks ago during a rather long cold snap. It turned out a little thicker than I expected, so I added about half a bottle of the Red as Hell Ale and it worked wonders.  Not only was it a great consistency, the deeper tones of the beer built up the flavors of the spices like you wouldn't believe.

You'll notice that there are no beans in the recipe, and that's by design.  I'm not a fan of beans in chili.  They do stretch the recipe, creating 2-4 extra servings, but at the cost of the taste.  In my opinion, they dull the flavor.  So try this recipe once without beans and see how the the tomatoes and spices blend together and all the meats become the focus of the chili.  After that, it you still want to use beans, be my guest.

Now this is a thick and hot chili.  It can sit like napalm on your tongue if you use all of the hot sauces and peppers listed.  So if you're not a heat freak, drop half the jalapenos, the habanero and one hot sauce of your choice and you'll end up with about 20% of the heat and a chili that will perfectly warm your insides during a horrific inversation.

One last word of warning.  Since we're dealing with jalapeno, and more importantly, habanero peppers.  MAKE SURE to be careful when you're handling them.  If you cut up the peppers and then touch your hands to your face or eyes, prepare to live in a world of unending pain.  Prevent this new hell by following a few rules.

1.  Keep other people away when you chop into the hot peppers.  Especially little children.  We don't want some residual oil ending up on their hands and then ending up in their eyes, or in their brother or sister's eyes, or on the pet.  Nothings worse than a cat running laps through the house in terror after licking habanero oil off it's fur.

2. Use protection.  If you have latex gloves, it a good idea to use them.  Disposable gloves are even better.

3. Wear eye protection if you have it.  There is no shame in wearing your glasses, sunglasses or even swim goggles to prevent any oils from accidentally ending up there.

4. Clean the prep area thoroughly afterwards.  These oils don't just evaporate immediately.  They can sit there and dangerous for a while.  I'll wipe down the counter a couple of times using a disinfectant cloth to collect all the oils.  And I'll wash my hands a couple of times as well.  Try pouring a little milk over your hands between a pair of washings. Just how a glass of milk can help kill the heat in your mouth, milk can help wash away the pepper oils.

Red Hot as Hell Chili - Made with Radio from Hell Red as Hell Ale

Makes 4-6 servings


1 medium onion
1 medium bell pepper
2 tablespoons oil
4 cloves garlic, minced fine
2 more tablespoons oil
1 pound sirloin steak, chopped into small pieces
1 pound ground pork or the sausage of your choice
1 pound ground beef
2 28 oz can diced tomatoes
2 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 6 oz cans tomato paste
12 ounces Radio From Hell Red as Hell Ale
1/2 cup chili powder
3 tablespoons cumin
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
2 chipotle peppers, chopped
1 tablespoon chipotle sauce (adobo sauce packed with the chipotle peppers)
1 teaspoon of your favorite hot sauce (like Tobasco, Cholulu, Tipatio, etc)
1 tablespoons Frank's Hot Sauce
3 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped and seeds removed
1 habanero pepper, finely chopped and seeds removed for the LOVE OF GOD!


In the bottom of a large stock pot, heat the oil over medium high heat.  Add the onion and the pepper and saute for about 3 minute until the onions begin to become translucent.  DO NOT ADD the habanero or jalapeno here or your eyes will be in a world of pain. Add the minced garlic and saute for 1 more minute.  Remove to a bowl for the time being.  Add the additional oil and all of the meat and cook until thoroughly browned.  Pour the onions, peppers and garlic back into the pot and stir to combine.  Pour in the Red as Hell Ale and stir, to deglaze all of the brown flavor bits off the bottom of the pot.

Drain the excess liquid off of the diced tomatoes, then pour the diced and crushed tomatoes into the pot.  Stir to combine.  Next add the chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, oregano, paprika, and salt and mix until it's well blended.  Taste it and add more spices according to your palette   While the chili warms, chop the chipotle peppers.  Add them to the mix along with the chipotle (adobo) sauce and other hot sauces and stir for 3 more minutes.  Now carefully add the jalapenos and habanero to the mixture and incorporate them into the mix.

Continue to cook over medium high heat until it lightly boils.  After 10 minutes, reduce the heat to medium low (2 on a scale of 10) and simmer for 30-60 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve in a large bowl and garnish with grated cheddar cheese and chopped onions.

Package the leftovers in serving size containers and store in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

So the next time you're chilled to the bone, make a batch of this and I will guarantee you'll be sweating and begging for water in no time.

What to Do with the Thanksgiving Leftovers... Seven Different Recipes

Leftover turkey is a given after Thanksgiving.  Be it because your group doesn't like the dark meat, or that one family group decided to go to the in-laws instead, or you just found a great deal on a REALLY large bird, you're going to have some extra meat.  Now you can just make the standard sandwiches or casseroles, but let me give you seven other suggestions that will allow you to eat every leftover bite without getting too redundant.

Turkey Enchiladas

Here's a great usage for the dark meat.  Use a pair of forks to shred up the meat.  You can make our sauce recipe, or whatever brand you like best.  Assemble them and pop them in the oven for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees.  And this recipe is the perfect option for pre-made meals.  Assemble them in the disposable 8x8 tin foil pans (should hold 4-5), cover in foil and drop them in the deep freeze for up to 3 months.  After a hard day's work, throw them in a 375 degree oven for about 60-80 minutes and make a batch of Spanish Rice while you're waiting.

Turkey Lo Mein

A lighter option after stuffing yourself with every carb in the world on Thanksgiving.  Slice your leftover cooked turkey into bite-size bits and allow them to soak in the marinade for about an hour.  Then go through the regular preparation steps.  The time in the wok is just to warm the meat up, so don't overcook it.

Turkey Egg Rolls

Here's an option that can go in the deep freeze after cooking.  Cube up your turkey and add it to the vegetable mixture after you've cooked them down.  Then fry them up, eat as many as you can now, then place them in a ziploc freezer bag once they're cool.  Chill them for up to 3 months.  To reheat, you can just use the microwave or in the oven for 15 minutes to warm them through and crunch them up.

Barbecue Turkey Pizza

You wouldn't think about turkey on a pizza, but it's a great ingredient, especially when you're making a pizza without the standard marinara sauce.  If you're looking for a different taste than everything you'll eat on Thanksgiving, this is it.  Just substitute the chicken for leftover Turkey chopped into chunks and baste it with a little extra barbecue sauce if you want.

Turkey Noodle Soup

Yes it's the classic soup recipe with lots of flavor and vegetables.  Once again, we don't want to overcook the turkey, so add small diced or shredded bits of the bird about 3-4 minutes before you take it off the stove.    I know that after a day or two of intensive cooking, you may not want to go through the noodle making process.  So as a substitute, look for Kluski noodles at the store.  They're usually on the bottom shelf of the noodle section in any supermarket around.  They soak up the broth like a champ and still stay firm.

Buffalo Turkey Pizza

You know I like the spicy stuff and this is a perfect excuse to break out the buffalo sauce.  Chop the turkey into small bits and then spread them all over the pizza.  If you want even more Buffalo flavor, toss the chunks in a mixture of Buffalo sauce and butter and then add it to the pie.

Turkey Tortilla Soup

If you're tired of the basic Noodle Soup, then spice it up instead.  This recipe can be made on the stove, but if you are experiencing kitchen burnout, then do it in the crock pot instead.   Cook on low until the soup is fully cooked, then add some cubed cooked turkey about 10 minutes before serving.  You can also freeze the soup in individual containers so you have quick accessible lunches for a week.




So try a few of these and break out of the turkey leftover doldrums.

The Recipes for the Thanksgiving Dinner - Turkey, Stuffing, Potatoes, Pie, etc.

OK, boys and girls.  The big day is only 10 days away.  Time to start the prep right now.  Why?  Well, the grocery stores are starting all of their sales this week.  And trust me, it's much easier to shop the grocery stores for most of your supplies this week, as opposed to next. 

Also, you need to make all of your food assignments.  You may think that you can do it all.  You're wrong.  Trust me, you're... Now don't argue with me!  I don't care how good of a cook you are or that you have the time management skills of the GM of Grand Central Station.  It's physically impossible to do everything yourself without causing major mental trauma to yourself.  And the other side effect is the stress that will put you in one of THOSE moods that will turn the holiday into one you'll remember years from now for all the wrong reasons.

So let's plan out what you want to make.  Here's a list of our past Thanksgiving posts that can make your day that much easier on your psyche.

Brined and Roasted Turkey

The centerpiece of the meal and the one thing that can so horribly, horribly wrong.  Leave it in too long, cut it too soon, or fail to treat it properly and your meat will turn out dry and spindly.  No amount of gravy will solve that problem.  So let's take out some insurance and infuse a little extra flavor into the bird by brining it.  You will need to start your preparations the day before, but believe you me... this bird will be the must succulent turkey you've ever had.  This works for any size bird, from the giant monstrosities down to a small turkey breast.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

This recipe was inspired by my grandmother's mashed potatoes.  She'd stand over the giant stockpot filled with strained potatoes and mash them into oblivion by hand.  Then she'd pour in whipped cream, drop a whole stick of butter and froth them up into fluffy clouds of oblivion.  This recipe follows her technique, but uses my giant stand mixer, so I can avoid the carpal tunnel. 

Sausage and Mushroom Stuffing / Dressing

This is the recipe handed down from my mother.  It's a beautiful conglomeration of all sorts of flavors.  The richness of the thyme and sage, the saltiness and depth of the sausage, the freshness of the onions and celery, it's all here.  I know a number of you are afraid of stuffing because you worry that it may not warm up enough inside the bird to prevent food illness.  That's OK.  We can just place it in a large casserole dish and allow it to cook next to the bird instead.

Aunt Dianne's Parkerhouse Rolls

Another classic recipe that reminds me of my childhood.  You ever have a recipe where you're name ends up in the title?   Well my mom did.  This roll recipe is classic and the perfect accompaniment when you want to sop up any leftover juices.  And if you have leftovers, cut open a roll, load it up with some turkey and you have a perfect little lunch.

Raspberry Pretzel Jello Salad

Would you be surprised that this recipe is one of the most popular on the site?  It is!  Top 5.  If you're assigned a salad or a dessert, you can avoid the mundane options and go with this.  Salty and sweet, fruity and starchy all at the same time.  It pleases your tastebuds five ways to Sunday

Pumpkin Pie

It's the classic pumpkin pie recipe.  But Like many things in this world, it's just not what you put in the pie, but HOW you make the pie.  For it to taste it's best, we need to follow the instruction from my mother-in-law, the best pumpkin pie baker in the world.

And if Pumpkin Pie is not your thing, no worries.  The COMPLETE list of every pie posted on this site is coming on Wednesday, so watch for that post listing all of the pie recipes we've done so far.

Crock Pot Salsa Chicken Tacos

If you're anything like me, Halloween is a day long event.  You have the Halloween parades and the kid's schools, then you have to make a stop by the office to show off the costumes.  Then it's off to the grandparents so they can fawn over them for a bit.  Finally, we run back home so one of us can hand out candy while the other one wanders the neighborhood with the children.    Yes, I said wander the neighborhood.  I want them to know the people who live around them and, since I can be a little introverted at times, I need the excuse to say Hi to all the neighborhood parents.

But during a day like this, it's almost impossible have a dinner that doesn't include fast food.  That is, unless, you can prepare dinner at breakfast-time.  Yes, it's time to break out the old crock pot and make some Salsa Chicken Tacos.

This recipe is great for any occasion where you only have 10 minutes in the evening.  This is a prime time to have a bag of grated Mexican style cheeses, sliced lettuce, a can of beans and a precooked batch of Spanish Rice in the fridge ready to go.  When you walk in the door from a long day of haunting, just reheat the beans and rice, shred or chop up the chicken breast, and you're ready to serve.

Now I've listed two different ways to do the salsa.  Why?  Because I'm not a real big fan of the salsa made in 'New York City!'.  To me, most of the non-refrigerated salsas you buy off the shelf have little flavor and enough salt to cause me to swell out of my costume in 30 minutes or less.  So if you're going to use a pre-made salsa, look for a fresh option.  Almost every grocery store has a refrigerated section with freshly made salsa, some even make their own brand.  I've also included a recipe here to create your own salsa in the crock pot itself.  I prefer this option, just because I can control the ingredients and the salt content.  But when time is of the essence, the pre-made salsa works great.

And if you're going to have a VERY long day, it's OK to cook this for up to 12 hours.  There's enough water in the chicken breasts and salsa to keep it moist and delicious all day long.  If you're first scheduled haunt is at 8:00AM, just turn the crock pot on as you walk out the door and you'll be ready to go whenever you get home.  And since it's meat in a somewhat gory red sauce, you can tell the kids that they have to eat their entrails before they can trick or treat around the neighborhood.

Crock Pot Salsa Chicken Tacos

The Salsa
32 ounces of your favorite pre-made salsa, or...

2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes with the juice in the can
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
1 yellow or white onion, diced
1/2 large green pepper, diced
1-2 small jalapeno peppers (depending on how much heat you want), diced with the seeds and membranes removed
1 tablespoon minced cilantro

The Rest
1 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 1/2 tablespoon cumin
3 cloves garlic, minced
4-6 skinless boneless chicken breasts or thighs

Dump the salsa or salsa ingrediends into the crock pot.  Then add the garlic and spices and stir them together.  Lay the chicken on top of the salsa, cover the crock pot and allow it to cook on low for 6-8 hours.  When you're ready to serve, fish the pieces of the chicken out of the salsa and use pair of forks to shred them to whatever consistency you like.  Stir it into the salsa so it is thoroughly incorporated into the salsa mixture.  Warm some beans and Spanish Rice, prepare your tortillas and other garnishes and you'll have a full meal in no time.

So go scare the bejeeses out of the world all day long and them arrive home to the smell of some great chicken tacos.  They'll refuel you for the grand finale later than night.

Roasted Monster Arm AKA Halloween Meat Lover's Stromboli and Calzone

Alright, let's say you're looking for something gruesome yet edible as a centerpiece for your Halloween party.    Well, I've got something for you, it's a Roasted Monster Arm!

OK, it's not really any type of flesh.  It's a fat meat lover's stromboli-like dish that's coated in overcooked mozzarella cheese.  It's actually three different parts.  The length of the arm is a tapered stromboli filled with all sorts of meat and sauce for that perfect combination of gore.  The palm of the hand is a rounded calzone with the same sort of filling. Finally, each finger is a breadstick stuffed with Mozzarella cheese.

Now you can fill this thing with anything you want, but I figured that stuffing it full of animal flesh gives it more of a gory look.  I used some pepperoni, salami, sweet italian sausage, and ham as my meats.  And by the way, save yourself some money and buy just the amount you need from the deli and butcher block in your grocery store.  The quality of the meat is better and in most cases, it's the same price as the prepakaged items in the cooler cases. I added a few mushrooms in because we like the taste.  You can put anything you'd like in there.  Matter of fact, if you cut an onion into rings, then make one cut to turn it into one large strip, you'll have the perfect look of a tendon.  Also, if you want to change it into a roasted alien arm, stuff it full of spinach, mushrooms, onions and some ricotta and mozzarella cheese.  Basically, be as creative as you'd like and add any ingredients you enjoy.

To get the nasty looking exterior, we've performed a few tasks.  First,  we've basted it in pizza sauce so we get a meaty and bloody covering.  Then we've rovered it entirely in cheese.  Finally, when the baking is done, it goes back under the broiler to scorch the cheese to give it that charred flesh look.

Serving it on a tray like this with warm pizza sauce makes it looks like a bloody mess.

Roasted Monster Arm AKA Halloween Meat Lover's Stromboli and Calzone

One batch of our pizza dough

2 cups pizza sauce

1/4 pound pepperoni

1/4 pound mushrooms

1/2 pound browned Italian sausage

1/4 pound salami
1/4 pound sliced ham or canadian bacon

1-2 pound block of mozzarella cheese
5 whole almonds (Optional)

Make your pizza sauce and crust ahead of time.  The crust can spend up to 48 hours in the fridge after it's risen.  The sauce can stay good in the fridge for up to a week.  When you're ready to assemble, grate yourself some cheese, but leave at least a 1 inch by 2 inch by 3 inch slab of the block for the fingers.  Now start making each piece....

For the length of the arm, roll out one pizza crust to approximately a 9 inch by 6-7 inch rectangle.  Coat it with pizza sauce, leave a one inch border on each side.  Load the meat and mushrooms onto the sauce and then cover with grated cheese.  Roll the crust up into a tube shape and fold/crimp one end closed.  Stretch the uncrimped end slightly to create that tapered look.  Fold or crimp this end at this point.

For the palm of the hand, roll out a piece that's about 3 inches by 5 inches wide.  Cover with sauce, but leave a 1/2 inch border around the edge.  Cover with meat, mushrooms and cheese.  Fold it over by the long end, so you'll end up with a 2 1/2 inch by 3 inch calzone.  Seal all of the edges and set aside.
 
For the fingers, cut some of the block of mozzarella into 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch by whatever length strips.  Trim them to the length of the fingers you want.  I suggest to measure them all out before you start wrapping. Start wrapping the fingers by pulling a small piece of dough from the remaining bread ball and roll it out so it's wide enough to cover the cheese.

Wrap the mozzarella with the leftover dough to cover the fingers and seal them tightly.







Now assemble the arm.  Place the length of the arm on a greased cookie sheet.  Place the calzone at the tapered end of the arm and crimp the edges of the pieces together to join.  Place the fingers in place at the end of the palm and crimp them to attach. Grab your basting brush and coat the entire monstrosity with pizza sauce.  This will give it that gory interior that will shine through the cheese on top



Speaking of the cheese, start grabbing handfuls of the cheese and spread it all over the arm.  Pat it down on all sides.  The pizza sauce will act as a glue, so it should not fall off.  Make sure to put enough on there so it's thoroughly covered, but not enough that you can't see some of the sauce.  The spaces in-between the shreds will allow some of the gore to shine through.  If you happen to have those almonds around, you can stick at the end of the fingertips to make rotten fingernails.  If you don't, don't worry, they're not mandatory.

Now poke a few slits along the stromboli and the calzone to allow the air to escape the interior as it cooks.  If you do it at this stage, the cheese will eventually melt over the holes just enough to hide them. Place it in a 375 degree oven for 30-35 minutes.  Now at this point, the bread will be cooked, but the cheese may not be completely browned to your liking.  You have a few options.  I placed mine under the broiler for about 2 minutes, watching it the whole time and moving it slightly so it browns evenly.  You can also brown it using a creme brulee torch.  If you don't have the little torch, go grab the blowtorch out of the garage and fry that cheese like a MAN!!!   There may also be a chance that the cheese has melted across the fingers so they look like one large webbed paw.  If that's the case, use a sharp knife to slice through the cheese.   That happened with this example, and as you can see, slicing the cheese looks just fine.

Once it looks the the way you want, slide it off onto a large platter.  If you want a little more gore, you can pour more pizza sauce around the platter.  Serve soon, so the cheese inside stays nice and gooey.  Or if you want to just use it as a centerpiece, you can... then slice it up, place it in the fridge and eat it for lunch for a few days.  You'll have a great lunch and the hand portion is a great conversation starter with the other employees in the break room.

So make one of these for your Halloween party and gorge yourself on the meaty gore hidden within!

Beer Battered Fish and Chips - Made with Radio From Hell Red as Hell Ale

So ever since the announcement of the new Radio From Hell Red as Hell Ale, I've been trying to create a few great recipes using it as an ingredient.  Our rule for cooking with booze is that you'd never cook with anything you wouldn't drink.  And trust me, you'll want to drink a lot of this beer.  It's flavor is  rich and unique, perfect for a flavorful batter for some fish and chips.

Now I've made some fish and chips before, but I have to say that the Red as Hell Ale gives the recipe a much deeper and fuller flavor.  The hoppiness and the grains in the beer really bring out the flavor in the fish.

I used cod for this particular batch of fish and chips, because it's a great flaky white fish.  It holds up to the frying temperature and stays firm throughout.  The best fish I've ever fried is halibut, but considering that the price per pound of halibut can exceed that of a filet mignon, it's officially a sometimes food.   Other good fish to fry include catfish and tilapia.

The batter follows the basic batter recipe we've used in other batter recipes, like our Orange Chicken recipe: 2 parts liquid, 2 parts starch and 1 part egg.  In this case, we add just a little bit of baking powder as well.  The leavening agents in the baking powder will cause the breading to expand just a little and form that great craggy exterior that's perfect to catch and hold onto the tartar sauce.

Beer Battered Fish and Chips  - Made with Radio From Hell Red as Hell Ale 

Fried Fish
Bottle of canola or vegetable oil
1-2 pounds fresh fish (halibut, cod, tilapia or catfish preferred)
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup Radio From Hell Red as Hell Ale
2 eggs

Pour the flour and baking powder into a bowl and whisk to combine.  Add the beer and the eggs and whisk it again until it's well blended. Place it in the fridge and allow it to chill while the oil heats up.

Pour enough oil into a large saucepan or a wide sided saute pan to come 2-2 1/2 inches up the sides. (If you have a deep fryer, by all means use it)  Begin heating the oil, but do not let it go over 350 degrees.

Slice the fish fillets into long thick strips and rinse with water.   Once the oil has reached at least 330 degrees, using a set of tongs, dip a fillet into the batter and then directly lay it into the oil.  Repeat, but do not add too many fillets to crowd the pan.  Cook for 4-5 minutes or until the exterior is a deep golden brown.  Remove the fish to a cooling rack with some paper towels beneath to collect any dripping oil.  Continue until all of the fish is cooked.

To keep them warm, you can park them in a 200 electric oven for up to 30 minutes.  Don't do this with a gas oven.  The burning gas creates more humidity, so the fried outer shell will get soggy.


Now either you can cook the fries in another pan or in the same pan before or after you cook the fish.  Either works great.

French Fries
Cooking Oil
1 to 1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes

Heat 2 inches deep of oil in a saucepan or a very high sided saute pan to 350 degrees. If you have a deep fryer, even better.  Slice the potatoes into uniformed fries, preferably around 1/4-3/8 inch thick.  You can use a potato slicer, mandolin (definitely the preferred method), food processor or a knife to carve up the potatoes, your choice.  Immediately place them in a bowl of water to prevent them from oxidizing (developing that grungy looking brown sheen).

Once all the potatoes are cut, start cooking them in batches.  Remove one to two large handfuls from the water and lay them across a tea towel or dish towel.  Fold the towel over to remove as much moisture as you can, so they don't pop when they hit the hot oil . After they're dry, carefully add them to the oil to avoid splashback and any popping from water left on the fries.  Let them cook for 4-5 minutes.  Evacuate them to a cooling rack with paper towels beneath it to allow the excess oil to drain off.

If you have lots to cook and you want to keep them warm, move them to a cookie sheet and place it in a 200 degree oven until all the rest are cooked.

Place portions of fish and fries on each plate and garnish with tartar sauce and ketchup.

Shrimp Scampi over Orzo Pasta

I was craving some shrimp the other day and wanted to do something a little different.  Fried Shrimp are delicious, but I've had a lot of those in the past little while.  And the weather wasn't perfect, so barbecuing a few skewers was out.

So I experimented with some shrimp scampi.  Scampi style requires you to saute your shrimp in a rather hot garlic butter and wine sauce.  The actual cooking time for the shrimp is very short, the preparation takes a little time, mainly because you need to remove the tails.  Why?

Well we're also making some pasta as a serving bed for the shrimp when we're done.  We're going to boil the tails in the water to add just a little bit of shrimp flavor into the small orzo pasta, as well as a little lemon and pepper.

If you haven't had orzo pasta, it's something rather unique.  They look like over-sized rice grains when they are cooked and cook rather fast compared to other pastas.  In this recipe, we'll cook up a batch as we're sauteing the shrimp.  As for the shrimp tails, we're going to toss them in the water as it comes to a boil so we can get a little extra shrimp flavor infused into the pasta.

Shrimp Scampi Over Orzo Pasta

Feeds 4

Shrimp Preparation
1 1/4 pound shrimp, shelled, deveined - tails off, but not thrown away
Salt and pepper
5 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 cup white wine
1 tablespoon lemon juice, squeezed from a lemon, not from a bottle...
2 teaspoons finely chopped or dried parsley

Orzo Preparation
4 quarts of water
Shrimp tails
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
8 ounces Orzo pasta


Prepare your shrimp.  Take off the tails but do not throw them away.  We need them for the pasta. 

Speaking of the pasta... Place the 4 quarts of water in a large stockpot along with the shrimp tails, black pepper and lemon.  Crank the heat up to high and bring the water to a boil.  Allow the tails to boil in the pot for about 5 minutes.  Then remove the tails and add the pasta.  This will cook within 8-12 minutes so check for doneness while you're working on the shrimp.

Place a large skillet over low heat and add the butter and garlic.  Allow the butter to sweat the garlic for about 3-4 minutes to extract some flavor.  Shake in a little salt and pepper.  Add the wine and lemon juice and elevate the heat to medium and cook for another 4 minutes.

The pasta should be done.  Strain into a collander (with small holes so the orzo doesn't escape) and set it aside while you finish the shrimp.

Add the shrimp to the skillet, making sure all of them are touching the bottom of the skillet, no layering.  Cook for 2 minutes, then flip.  Sprinkle the parsley over the dish and cook for another 2 minutes on the other side.  While you're waiting for them to finish, grab some plates and dish out the orzo, so the shrimp have a landing pad when they're done.

After the last two minutes are done, take the skillet off the heat and immediately portion out the shrimp onto the little orzo beds you've created.  Pour the leftover butter sauce over each portion equally

Add the vegetable of your choice as a side dish and you'll have a great well rounded meal.

Teriyaki Chicken Sandwiches with Wasabi Mayonnaise

We had an out of town visitor over the weekend.  Liz's cousin Pam stopped by during her road trip vacation.  She had run a marathon the day before, which is pretty darn impressive.  I wish I had that type of endurance.  The only thing I can do for three to four hours is sit at the all you can eat sushi bar.  

So since it's the last weekend of summer and we wanted to keep grilling while the weather's good, we opted for a family favorite and a large group staple, our Teriyaki Chicken Sandwiches.   The preparation is very similar to our Teriyaki Chicken that we're prepared before.  Now yes, we are using a store-bought sauce as a base for our marinade.  Use whatever brand you love.  Our favorite is the Yoshida's sauce, but I've also used Seal Sama and one the Kikkoman sauces with some success.  If you wish to build your own teriyaki sauce, by all means do it.  But the reason we use this recipe for our large gatherings is for speed.  Making the marinades by enhancing an existing sauce is extremely fast and extremely good. 

They are perfect for a large group.  With a little preparation and a basic marinade, you can do all the work ahead of time.  You basically throw them on the grill when everyone arrives and have dinner ready in less than 30 minutes.  Just make one batch of marinade for every 5-6 chicken breasts. Then add a few summer side dishes ahead of time, like our summer pasta salad or a basic green salad.  Maybe make the Fruit-cupine as an appetizer beforehand as well and you can feed the masses without spending a ton of time away from your guests at partytime.  Just ask then to congregate around the barbecue while you grill the chicken and watch their mouths water.

Teriyaki Chicken Sandwiches with Wasabi Mayonnaise

Teriyaki Chicken Breasts
5-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup teriyaki sauce (your favorite, we use Yoshida's)
1 1/2 teaspoons ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Wasabi Mayonnaise
2 teaspoons wasabi powder
1/3 cup mayonnaise (regular or light, your choice)

Combine the teriyaki sauce ginger, garlic, rice wine vinegar and soy sauce in a large ziploc bag,  Squish the bag to thoroughly mix the ingredients.  Add the chicken breasts into the bag and move them around until they're coated.  Place in another ziploc bag or a bowl to prevent leaks, then place it in the fridge for anywhere between 2 and 24 hours.

You can cook them any way you want.  You can barbecue them over medium heat for 5 minutes each side.  You could bake them in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the digital thermometer that you've inserted into the largest breast reaches 165 degrees.  You would also place them in a skillet over medium heat until they are thoroughly cooked.  Just make sure you coat the pan with cooking spray to avoid having the teriyaki glaze from scorching the pan.

To create the mayonnaise, just combine the mayonnaise and wasabi powder and whip with a fork for about 30 seconds.  Spread generously on the top and bottom of a bun.

Finish by melting some swiss cheese over the top.  You can also garnish with lettuce, a slice of pineapple that has been grilled on the barbecue along with the chicken breasts, or some sauted onions that have had a splash of teriyaki glaze added at the last moment.

So the next time you're grilling for out of town guests, make a batch of these sandwiches and enjoy the food and the company.

Zucchini... or Eggplant Parmesan

Normally, I have a rather large garden in the backyard.  We'll harvest all sorts of squash for grilling, small cucumbers for homemade kosher dill pickles, fresh beans for some great side dishes, and a bunch of different fresh herbs for the spaghetti sauces.   This year, well, the garden crashed and burned.  More like "consumed and burned" thanks to the combination of a vole infestation from the neighboring construction lots and a very hot summer that scorched anything green.  Even my lawn is suffering.

Luckily, it's also the time of year where canoe sized zucchinis start anonymously showing up on our doorstep like Dickensian orphans.  Just the other day, my parents dropped off a 15 inch monster of a zucchini.  Now, we all have a great zucchini bread recipe.  And I've tried all sorts of grilling and deep frying variations.  Few things are quite as good as a fried zucchini stick dipped in a homemade ranch dressing.

But I was cooking up a batch of spaghetti that night and thought, "why not make a version of Eggplant Parmesan, but use the zucchini instead?"  This zucchini was almost as fat as an average eggplant.  The meat inside both are rather firm.  And if I broke out my mandolin, I could slice them to that uniform width to make them fry evenly.   This worked just perfectly.  The flavorful and slightly salty Parmesan coating worked extremely well with the tender and moist zucchini to make the perfect main course.

And this dish is even a vegetarian dish!  Yes, the lifelong carnivore has created a veggie meal.  Yes, it's not vegan because of the milk and egg wash, don't send me letters.  But it is a great substitution for meat.  You won't miss it when these medallions are drizzled with the marinara sauce.

One tool I would highly recommend you purchase to make this and a number of other dishes easier to prepare is a mandoline.  Not the instrument, the kitchen tool.  This is a plane with different blades that are either be inserted or adjusted within it tool.  You slide your food down the plane and the blade cuts them to identical, uniform widths.  Some have julienne blades as well, so you can produce perfect little strips of carrots for egg rolls, potato lengths for the perfect french fries or tomato, radish or cucumber bits for your favorite salad.  Yes, you could spend $100's of dollars for one, but you DO NOT need to.  I bought a Sharper Image brand mandoline at Bed Bath and Beyond for all of $20.  It does 1/8, 1/4, and 3/8 slices, and 1/8 or 3/8 juliennes.  For most of your basic recipes, that's all you'll ever need.  If you are looking for something a little fancier, you can find a number of other mandolines that are both very functional and economically viable in my Amazon Store.

One last bit of advice when using a mandoline... use the hand guard whenever possible.  It's there for a reason.  The blade in the mandolin are VERY sharp so it can cut through anything, including your fingertips.  I cut my hand preparing food for the first time in a decade because I thought, "Hey, I can freehand this so I can get that last little slice of potato."  Yeah.. not a good idea to freehand...  I freed a little part of my fingertip from my hand in the process.  So when you're using a mandoline, do one of two things.  Either use the hand guard that's supplied with the mandoline, or spend $10 for a Kevlar cooking glove.  It's Kevlar weave protects your hand from an errant slice while dicing vegetables, or from your own stupidity if you decide to freehand on a mandoline.

Zucchini... or Eggplant Parmesan

One batch of the Quick and Easy Marinara sauce
2 large zucchinis or eggplants, enough to produce 20-24 rounds
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
1 tablespoon basil
1 tablespoon oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
Light or extra virgin olive oil, your choice


Mix up your marinara sauce and let it simmer while you work on the rest of the dish.

If you're using eggplant, peel off the outer skin.  With Zucchini, you can leave the skin on.  Slice the veggies into 3/8 inch rounds.  Mix the eggs and milk together in a bowl.  Pour the bread crumbs and all the spices into a large ziploc bag.

Dip the slices into the egg wash and then drop it into the bread crumbs and shake to coat.  Dip it back into the egg wash and back into the breadcrumbs for a second coating.  Lay the dipped slices on a cookie cooling rack while you coat the rest.

Place a large skillet over medium high heat and pour just enough olive oil into the pan to cover the bottom.  When the oil has heated up to around 300-325 degrees (should only take 2-3 minutes), place the rounds into the oil and allow them to brown for 1 1/2-2 minutes on one side.  Then flip them over and cook them for another 1 1/2-2 minutes.  Remove them from the oil and allow them to rest on another cooling rack with paper towels beneath to catch the excess oil.  Add a little more oil back into pan so the bottom is barely covered and bring the oil up to the proper heat again.  Repeat until all the rounds are fried.  Serve beside or on top of your favorite pasta with marinara sauce and grated Parmesan cheese on top.

So the next time a zucchini boat is delivered to your front door, turn it into a delicious Italian meal for the entire family.

Barbecue Chicken Pizza... prepared on the barbecue grill

We have prepared Barbecue Chicken Pizza before, when I told you about my uber-cool friend Michele (by the way, Happy Birthday, Michele!)  But since it's called barbecue chicken pizza, why don't we try it on the barbecue.

We first tried grilling pizza with the Sausage and Pepper Pizza.  The process is exactly the same. (read all the details on the assembly and science behind the cooking process here). We'll create a thin crust, grill all of the ingredients, cook one side of the crust, cover the cooked side with toppings, then place it back ont he grill for the last couple minutes.

Now I have listed jalapeno peppers here and I know some of you have an aversion to heat.  There are ways to decrease the pepper's firepower so it won't burn your sinuses out.  The first thing to do is to take the top of the pepper and take the center nodule out, the location of the seeds.  The majority of the capcaicin is in the seeds, so cleaning them out will help.  Also, if you cut the pepper in half and then slice out any white membrane in the middle, you'll reduce the heat significantly.

You can use any kind of barbecue sauce you want, including our recipe, which you can see here.  The key to all of it is grilling all the ingredients beforehand and making sure the cheese is not freshly out of the refrigerator.  Cold cheese won't melt well in the short time on the grill, so make sure it'shad some time to warm up.  And if you're a cheese fan, remember that a large layer of cheese won't have time to melt while the second side is cooking.  Put on enough as an accent and that's it, unless you have a creme brulee torch.  In that case, well, you could blast it over the pizza after it's off the grill to melt a thin layer of cheese into one solid mass of cheesy goodness.  Your choice. 

Barbecue Chicken Pizza Grilled on the Barbecue

Makes 3 9-10 thin-crust pizzas
1 pizza crust recipe, separated into three dough balls
3-4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 medium red onion
2 jalapeno peppers (optional)
1 1/2 cup barbecue sauce (our recipe or your bottle, you choose)
1 1/2 cup room temperature shredded monterey jack cheese

Fire up your grill and place it on medium heat.  Slice the onion into quarters, then peel each layer apart and lance them on skewers.  Stab the peppers with skewers as well.  Once the grill is up to temperature, place the chicken breasts, onions and peppers on the grill and barbecue them until they're thoroughly cooked.  

Once cooking is complete, remove all of the food.  Slice the chicken breasts into small strips.  Slide the onions off the skewer and chop them down to the desired size.  Top the jalepeno pepper and remove the internal membranes and seeds (if you want to remove some heat).  Slice the pepper into rings.  Set everything aside for the time being. Clean your grill slats. Crank up the grill to high and allow it to get as hot as possible with the lid down.

Stretch your pizza crust out into 9-10 inch, thin style rounds.  Brush a light coating of olive oil onto both sides of the crusts. Move them to plates when they're ready to cook.  Grab a pair of spatulas or a pizza peel (if you have it), and bring all the ingredients out to the grill.

Drop the heat of the grill to medium.  Open the grill and quickly rub the grill surface with a vegetable or olive oil soaked cloth held by a pair of tongs.  Place the crust on the prepared area and immediately close the lid. Check on the crust in 2 minutes. 

Open the lid and using your peel or cookie sheet, flip the crust back onto the plate you used to transport the crust.  Pour your barbecue sauce onto the crust and lay out the chicken, onions and peppers.  Sprinkle the cheese over the top, place the pizza back on the grill grates and close the lid again.  Allow it to cook for 2 more minutes.  

Remove the pizza using the peel or spatulas and move onto the next pizza.  Repeat until all of the crust are grilled, then slice up the pizzas and serve immediately.

So the next time you crave Barbecue Chicken Pizza, actually cook it on the barebcue for a great unique flavor.