Drinking whiskey clear!
One of my favorite memories of childhood was coming home from school and hearing that tonight was “tuna casserole night”! Sure, my mom’s recipe was nothing fancy – in fact, I’m sure you can find quite similar recipes in any United Methodist Women’s cookbook – but still… nothing makes me feel more like “home” than eating this. I make this at home today and end up missing my mom!
I’ve also included some variations at the end of the recipe, in case you don’t care for any of the main ingredients.
When I was close to graduating from college, it occurred to me that I still had hundreds of copies left on my library copy card. I suppose many students had gotten scammed in the past because none of the kids at GSU would buy my “used” copy card. So what to do?
Well, I took some time that I should have been in anthropology and instead went to the library and found the cookbooks section. And what glorious books I found there – Greek, Thai, Indian, Italian… But one book in particular stood out – an Irish cookbook of all things. Not because of delicious Irish cuisine, but because the book had recipes for just about every basic sauce and dish from the European continent as well as good descriptions of the techniques any aspiring chef would need to master. I didn’t bother copying the copyright page but it would have been interesting if I had: most of the larger measures were in metric (2kg of beef), yet most of the smaller measures were still given in Imperial units (2 oz. of butter). Must have been an interesting time to be a chef in Ireland, what with all the conversion charts all over the kitchen and everything! Anyway, I got the gist of one recipe and present it to you now in good God-fearing Imperial measures!
I once made a pecan pie for a family function. Unfortunately, frozen pie crusts come in packages of two, so the poor “extra” crust sat in the freezer for a couple of months being all lonely. One night I came home late from work too tired to cook anything, yet not in the mood for one of the few food items left in my pantry – a big can of beef stew. I suddenly remembered the frozen pie crust and in a flash a quick and easy beef pie was born. This is one hell of a starter recipe – once you get the basics of what’s going on here, you can expand it by making your own pie crust or your own filling mixture from scratch – why not try it using my Guinness Stew as a filling? You can play around with the filling ingredients and make it as simple or as complex as you want it to be. If you’re not really comfortable in the kitchen, try making this dish directly as shown below, then make it again one day and have fun with the filling ingredients!
Continue reading “Beef Pie!”
With all due respect to the people of the great city of New York, Chicago pizza is the best stuff on the face of the earth! I love the crust’s cornmeal taste as well as the overall heft of these pies! This is deep dish, baby!
Unfortunately, making one of these pizzas by yourself at home can be an all-day process. The last time I made one – for my family’s Christmas Eve “Wrapping Party” – it took around four hours to make this from start to finish. But this is a labor of love; after all, any jackass with a phone and $20 can call Pizza Hut, but making a pie worthy of Gino’s East or Lou Malnati’s is something to be proud of!
Beware that you will need a deep dish pizza pan for this recipe; although you can buy a deep dish pan anywhere, I heartily recommend the Chicago Metallic brand, because they are the company that supplies Gino’s East. For what it’s worth, I bought my pan here and have no complaints about the service or price.
This recipe is something I whipped up all by myself several years ago with things we had just lying around the kitchen. The true beauty of paella – like jambalaya – is that you can add just about anything to the basic ingredients listed below. If you have some leftover chicken or smoked sausage you can add this in step 4 below. How authentic is this recipe? Not very! But it’s good, cheap, easy and quick – just like me!
Ingredients:
1 10oz. bag of yellow rice mix
1 6.5oz. can tiny shrimp
1 6.5oz. can chopped clams
1 4oz. can octopus (in oil), drained and rinsed
1 2.25oz. can sliced black olives, drained
1 tbs. pimentos, for color
Handful of frozen English peas or capers (10-20), for color
Hardware:
1 large pot, with tight-fitting lid
1 large spoon
1 can opener
1 measuring cup
1) Open and drain shrimp and clams, reserving clam juice into a measuring cup.
2) Add water to reserved juice, sufficient for manufacturer’s directions to cook rice (usually 3 cups).
3) Bring liquid to boil.
4) When water boils, add rice mix FIRST, stir well, then all other ingredients except seafood.
5) Stir while boiling for one minute.
6) Cover and simmer per rice mix directions (usually 20-25 min).
7) Around 5 minutes before rice mixture is done, add seafood ingredients.
For more authentic flavor, season with adobo seasoning (available at better markets and Hispanic shops) instead of salt. Also, you might consider putting the shrimp and clams ONLY in ice water for 10 minutes or so to “refresh” flavor before adding them to the paella.
I found this recipe on the back of a bag of Mahatma Rice back in the mid-1980s. It’s a good thing that I wrote it down, because it doesn’t appear anywhere on Mahatma’s online recipe archive! It’s quick, easy and delicious. Although the “German-ness” of this dish is slightly suspect, you do get a great taste of German cuisine with this dish. Plus – like most of my other favorite dishes – it only requires one skillet! You can’t go wrong there!
Ingredients:
1 lb. bratwurst, weißwurst, bäuernwurst (or other German-style sausage)
1 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 cup sauerkraut
2 cups water
1 cup uncooked rice
2 teaspoons mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon caraway seed
Pepper (to taste)
Nutmeg (to taste)
Hardware:
1 knife
1 cutting board
1 skillet
1 large spoon
1 meat thermometer
The first thing you need to do is determine if the sausages you’re using are raw pork or are fully-cooked. Look carefully at the wrapper the sausages came in – if the package says “fully cooked” or “heat and eat”, you’ll only need to heat them enough to “crisp” the casings. If you DO NOT see those words, you must assume that they contain raw pork! Raw pork sausages will take at least 15 minutes to cook – make sure that they get to at least 160° before you add the remaining ingredients. Also, fully-cooked sausages can be easily sliced before heating; if you’re using these, go ahead and cut sausage against the bias into one-inch slices before cooking. If you’re using raw sausages, don’t try to slice them until after they’re done cooking – otherwise you’ll have a mess on your hands! Let them cook and cool off a bit before slicing them!
1) Brown sausage in skillet, making sure to follow the advice above.
2) Add the onion and garlic to the sausages, sautéing a couple of minutes until crisp.
3) Stir in all other ingredients, bringing to a boil. Cover, simmering at low heat for around thirty minutes.
I am *not* a fan of “honey mustard” anything. I think this is because most commercial honey mustard sauces taste more like corn syrup than either honey or mustard. But this dish is the exception. I was looking for something quick and easy and came across this recipe – which doesn’t get much quicker or simpler. But I ended up being blown away by how good a real homemade honey mustard sauce tastes! Even if you think you don’t like honey mustard, this dish will make a believer out of you!
Ingredients:
1lb. chicken thighs or breasts
Honey
Wholegrain mustard (it must be wholegrain)
Salt
Pepper
Hardware:
1 small bowl
1 spoon
1 measuring cup
1 brush
1 8″x8″ glass baking dish
Cooking spray
1) Preheat oven to 350F and lightly spray baking dish with cooking spray.
2) Trim excess fat off chicken, then place in the baking dish.
3) Mix 1/2 cup mustard and 1/2 cup honey in a small bowl and add salt and pepper to taste.
4) Gently brush mixture over the chicken.
5) Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 160F.
6) Baste occasionally with sauce from pan.
7) Spoon sauce from dish over the chicken before serving.
Coca Cola is ubiquitous here in the South. Not only is a refreshing drink, it shows up in desserts (Coke floats, Coca Cola cakes) and even main dishes like the one below. Pork chops cooked in Coca Cola, ketchup and brown sugar end up tasting a lot like slow-cooked Carolina barbeque. In fact, the sauce that ends up in the pan when this dish is done is just heavenly! And it only takes around 10 minutes of prep time to put this together!
Ingredients:
4 thick-cut pork chops
Ketchup
Coca Cola
Brown sugar
Hardware:
1 small bowl
1 spoon
1 measuring cup
1 8″x8″ glass baking dish
1) Preheat oven to 350F.
2) Place the pork chops in the baking dish.
3) Mix 1/2 cup ketchup and 1/2 cup Coca Cola in a small bowl.
4) Pour Coca Cola\ketchup mixture over the chops.
5) Sprinkle a handful of brown sugar over the chops.
6) Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 160F.
7) Spoon sauce from dish over the chops before serving.
Got some leftover chops? Put ’em over fried rice and pour remaining sauce over them for a delicious “quasi-Polynesian” treat!
My hunny makes these awesome cheese biscuits for family gatherings and parties. The amazing thing about them is that there are any left to take to the party after she’s done making them! Lisa and I both wait near the oven and greedily munch these things up by the handful when they’re done!
Ingredients:
1 lb. grated cheese
1 lb. softened butter
3 cups flour
¼ tbsp. salt
cayenne pepper (to taste)
A splash of milk (see below)
Hardware:
1 large mixing bowl
Parchment paper
Cookie sheet(s)
1) Preheat oven to 425F.
2) Mix all ingredients (except the milk) together, but don’t over-mix. Once you’ve done so, you’ll probably find that the mixture is too dry to make any kind of “dough”. If so, add tiny amounts of milk – a little as you possibly can – until the mixture holds together.
3) Place parchment on a cookie sheet, then put the biscuits on them. You can simply spoon them on the paper one at a time, or you can cut the corner off a Ziploc bag and pipe the dough into lengths if you wanna get all fancy.
4) Bake at 425 for about 8 minutes.
If you like seafood, you’ll love this dip! It’s been a hit at family functions and Super Bowl parties for years!
Ingredients:
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
2 (8 ounce) cans minced clams, drained
3 green onions, finely chopped
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 (1 pound) loaf round sourdough bread
Hardware:
1 mixing bowl
1 knife
1 spatula *or* latex gloves (see below)
1) Preheat oven to 350F.
2) In a mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, green onions, clams and lemon juice.
3) Cut the top out of the bread and hollow the bread out.
4) Pour the clam mixture into the bread bowl. You can use a spatula for this, but I prefer just using my hands, as I can easily mold the cream cheese mixture to fit all the nooks and crannies of the bread. I also prefer wearing latex gloves when doing this – not only is it more sanitary, it’s just less messy for me when I wear the gloves!
5) Place the top back on the bread bowl and bake for 60 minutes.
6) Serve with the bread you removed from the loaf when hollowing it out.