One of my very first blog posts was about how to peel a banana properly. According to my son Sam and husband Marty, both left-brained thinkers, they peel their bananas from the bottom up. My older son Noah and I are both right-brained thinkers and peel from the top down.
Many readers agreed with my theory, while others proved it wrong. Well, either way, here’s your chance again to decide…how to eat cereal.
This morning at 5 am, when I was packing up for the Troy Farmers Market, Sam came into the kitchen for his “midnight snack.” Sam’s body clock is opposite ours since he works overnight shifts as an RN in the emergency room.
Sam proclaimed there is a proper way to eat cereal from a bowl pack. He likes bowl packs better than a plain bowl; it makes it easier to make his cereal the way he likes.
Sam said, “Here’s the proper way to eat cereal from a bowl pack.” Oh boy, I couldn’t wait to hear this one. “You only peel back the top of the package a little bit to pour in the milk.” What’s with this kid and the way he peels things?
Sam continued, “After you pour in the milk, you close up the bowl pack again. This way, it pushes all the cereal down.” I took the bait and asked why. He said, “This way, all the cereal gets the same amount of milk saturation.” He is too much I almost fell on the floor laughing. 😂 Saturation…
Proper milk saturated cereal…😂
He likes all of his cereal to be soft after being “saturated” with milk. I like my cereal crunchy, adding only a small amount of milk and eating it fast before it gets soft and mushy. “No! that’s not the way to eat cereal!” That was Sam’s reaction.
When our older son Noah was little, he used to eat his Cheerios in a bowl dry without any milk. My father always tried to talk him into putting milk on his cereal, but Noah liked it dry. It was funny to me that my father was so concerned about how Noah ate his cereal.
I just asked Marty on our ride to Troy, NY, how he likes his cereal, and he said without any hesitation, “Crunchy.” “Why?” I didn’t answer him and said, “You’ll see.”
So there goes the right vs. left-brained thinking theory. Like the banana, Sam puts a lot of thought into things and amuses me with his findings and preferences.
As we left for the market, Sam was headed up to bed for his “night’s” sleep; we will most likely wake him up when we come back home and make all that “racket.” His words, not mine. 🤣
Seen here right after the initial sear; I flipped the chicken over and moved it to the indirect side of the grill,
Spatchcock chicken is a cooking method that has intimidated me until today. To spatchcock a chicken, or butterfly it, cutting along the backbone, allowing it to be completely opened out and flattened. Doing this reduces the cooking time significantly and allows the whole bird to be cooked in different, speedier ways, such as grilling, baking, or pan-frying.
I have pretty good knife skills for meats and poultry, so I don’t know why I was afraid to spatchcock a chicken; hell, people spatchcock their turkeys on Thanksgiving, so it cooks quicker. Now that I did it, I feel ridiculous it took me so long to try it.
I decided to make Piri Piri Spatchcocked Chicken. Piri Piri is a Portuguese dish, a marinade made with hot chili peppers, paprika, garlic, olive oil, and lemon. The marinade is slathered on the chicken; then, the chicken is grilled or baked.
Of course, I didn’t have any official piri piri, aka peri-peri chili peppers, so I had to improvise like usual. After reading dozens of recipes, I used what I had and put together my own marinade. I thought I made it spicy enough, but it could have been spicier for sure.
Yesterday, I brined my whole chicken then spatchcocked it. I patted it dry and popped it into the refrigerator until today. That was my first mistake. I should have applied the marinade then so that it would have permeated flavor into the chicken better.
Piri Piri Chicken is traditionally seared with grill marks on the skin side of the chicken over a hot grill, then flipped over to indirect heat to finish cooking. I used an internal digital thermometer so I wouldn’t second guess myself on doneness and temperature.
I was happy with my sear marks and the way the chicken was cooked. I rotated it once during the cooking time so both sides would be close to the hot side of the grill. I let the chicken rest and then carved it into 2 breasts, 2 wings, two legs, and 2 leg and thigh pieces.
Not burned…this is the way it should look from the initial searing on the skin side.Not the prettiest carving job because even though I let the chicken rest, it was hot af when I was cutting it.
It was cooked perfectly, juicy and tender. The char marks didn’t taste burned; they tasted grilled; I was skeptical until I actually tasted it. The meat fell off the bone and was delicious. There could have been a lot more flavor, though. Next time, I will make my marinade more potent and let the chicken marinate for at least 24 hours.
Piri Piri Spatchcocked Chicken was a hit and a lot easier than I thought! I’m going to try roasting a whole spatchcocked chicken next with lots of butter and herbs under the skin. Did I mention how much I love roasted and grilled chicken…yes, at least a dozen times.
Me at a farm stand down the Jersey shore back in 2016. I love that the sign said, “Please handle carefully.”
Every July, I start looking forward to getting my hands on some Jersey tomatoes. New Jersey is the Garden State, which most people don’t think of when they think of New Jersey. Most people have seen congested industrial areas that are not only ugly but very crowded. Many people go through the industrial areas when they take Route 95 or the New Jersey Turnpike while heading down to Florida or fly into Newark airport…they see the gray, smoky, dirty Jersey. Not the beautiful parts.
New Jersey has so many gorgeous beaches down the shore that are clean, wide, with lots of soft sand. Compared to New England, the water is warm and not ice cold. New Jersey also has abundant farmland, beautiful parks, and lots of history. It’s actually the soil and the climate is that make Jersey tomatoes so special. In 1968 Rutgers University introduced a special tomato variety called Ramapo or aka the Rutgers tomato. The classic Jersey tomato is sweet and tangy with big tomato flavor. Jersey tomatoes are not known for being beautiful tomatoes; most are perfectly imperfect.
Imagine this: picking a vine-ripened tomato from the vine and making a Jersey tomato sandwich with a still-warm tomato from the sun. Jersey tomatoes don’t last when they are ripe; you have a small window of eating them before they go bad. Jersey tomatoes also don’t ship well since they have a short life span from vine to customer. This means you get Jersey tomatoes in New Jersey mid to late July; when they are gone, it’s over for another summer. This is what makes them so special. Truly a seasonal delicacy.
BLT from last summer
A Jersey tomato sandwich is two slices of bread or toast with mayo slathered on both slices. You add thick tomato slices and generously season them with kosher salt and pepper. You can also make a kick-ass BLT with Jersey tomatoes.
A friend from my hometown in NJ brings me Jersey tomatoes every summer when she comes to Vermont to camp just 1/2 mile from our home here in Arlington. Ann always comes through for me. She lives down the Jersey shore, and the tomatoes are readily available until they are gone in just a few short weeks.
The best way to enjoy a Jersey tomato is with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. So juicy, sweet and delicious.
One of my favorite ways to eat a Jersey tomato sandwich is on toast smeared with bacon fat that I keep in my refrigerator spread on both slices of toast, no mayo, just a little kosher salt and pepper on the tomato slices, and voila! A delicious sandwich! It’s a genius way of adding bacon flavor without having the ass-ache of cooking bacon.
We picked up these fresh onions at the Troy Farmers Market today, we grilled them up with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.
To me, when I think about summertime Jersey tomatoes immediately pop into my head, either in sandwich form or used in a beautiful Caprese salad. Last night at the Arlington Farmers Market, we picked up some fresh mozzarella cheese from Norm at Maplebrook Farm to go with the tomatoes Ann brought us. I picked some basil leaves from my back deck. I added a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper. The purest, simple, delicious dish using just a few in-season ingredients.
My basil is getting big!
If you have ever had a Jersey tomato, I know you are nodding while reading this; if you haven’t, it’s something that you have to try at least once; they really are special and world-famous. I did find “Jersey field grown” tomatoes right at a produce stand in Bennington, VT, a couple of years ago. I was skeptical, but one bite, and I knew they weren’t bullshitting around. Jersey tomatoes in Vermont! Who knew!
We had a Caprese salad for dinner tonight, and I am making BLT sandwiches for lunch tomorrow. We have about two more days to eat the ones Ann brought up yesterday, then that’s it…for another year.
I love steamed clams. I like small clams such as littlenecks, cherrystone, and Manila clams. Steamer clams are larger and are the ones with that disgusting black thing sticking out on the side of the clam. I’ve eaten them, but they are things I eat quickly and do not look at or think about too much.
Last Thursday, I made the bbq chicken Marty suggested that I just wrote about last night. I saw a bag of cherrystone clams at Shop-Rite and picked up a bag as an appetizer for us. The fishmonger said they were very sweet and delicious. Done deal!
Before I became serious about cooking, I thought clams were just thrown into a pot with some water and steamed. I thought the same thing when making shrimp for shrimp cocktail. Of course, you can do it that way, but then I learned about making a Court Bouillon. This is why food tastes better in restaurants.
From Wikipedia:
Court bouillon loosely translates as ‘briefly boiled liquid’ (French court) or “short broth” because the cooking time is brief in comparison with a rich and complex stock, and generally is not served as part of the finished dish. Because delicate foods do not cook for very long, it is prepared before the foods are added. Typically, cooking times do not exceed 60 minutes.
Although a court bouillon may become the base for a stock or fumet, in traditional terms it is differentiated by the inclusion of acidulating ingredients such as wine, vinegar, or lemon juice. In addition to contributing their own flavor, acids help to draw flavors from the vegetable aromatics during the short preparation time prior to use. Court bouillon also includes salt and lacks animal gelatin.
I made my court bouillon with some white wine, salted water, lots of garlic, lemon, parsley, and a glug of olive oil. When I first started making a court bouillon, I made it a few minutes before throwing my shellfish into the broth. Now I make it ahead and gently steam it for 30 minutes, then take it off the heat. Later I get it up to a boil again and throw in my shellfish.
After I cleaned and inspected the clams I covered them with ice to stay cold until I was ready to steam them.
The cherrystone clams were very clean. I put them in a bowl to scrub them, but no sand was left in the water. I looked through each one making sure it was still alive. Yes, they are alive. The clams should be closed tightly or shut tightly if it’s open a tiny bit. You squeeze the shell, and it closes; it’s alive; if it doesn’t, it’s dead, and you throw it away.
These clams were beautiful! I only found 2 clams whose shells were cracked; I got rid of those. The clams had absolutely no smell, which is an excellent sign of freshness.
After I added the clams to the court bouillon, then put the lid on for 10 minutes. Voila! Perfect!
When my court bouillon came up to a boil, I dumped the clams into the pot and closed the lid. I waited about 10 minutes, and I checked on them. They were all open and ready to eat.
I melted some salted butter and skimmed the white debris off the top of the butter. I didn’t have time to make clarified butter; at this point, it was 9:00 pm. Thursday was my delivery day from hell, and I got a super late start on dinner; plus, I made bbq chicken beforehand.
I piled the clams in a large bowl and poured some of the court bouillon on top of the clams, and we each had a small ramekin with melted butter to dip the clams in.
Wow! They were so sweet, tender, and delicious! The bag of cherrystone clams was $19.99, a steal for such great quality and an appetizer for the 3 of us. I’m sure it would have cost more at a restaurant for all of us. I’m also sure the liquid wouldn’t be such a flavorful court bouillon.
I can’t wait until the next time we meet our distributor, the Alpine House, in the parking lot at Shop-Rite; I’ll go in with an open mind and hopefully come out with something as delicious to make for dinner.
We went to the supermarket Shop-Rite last Thursday after making a few deliveries in the Albany, NY area. I like the supermarket chain Shop-Rite; it’s where my family shopped where I grew up in Iselin, NJ. Unfortunately, there are no Shop-Rites in Vermont, so I go there whenever I can.
We wanted to make a summery meal like we would have if we went away somewhere; it would be some shellfish for me. Marty suggested grilled bbq chicken, something I have never made before, believe it or not. Meal planning is the hardest part of cooking, so if someone gives me a suggestion or request, I jump on it.
All the memories that I had of grilled bbq chicken were terrible ones. Whoever was the “grill master” would start with some delicious-smelling chicken. Then they would brush bbq sauce on the grilled chicken parts. Here’s the bad part, they would leave the chicken on the grill until it was completely black and incinerated.
I know the people who were doing the grilling didn’t do the cooking inside their homes but insisted on doing the outdoor cooking. I also know they didn’t want to kill their families and guests from food poisoning from undercooked chicken. But hello, do you have eyes and a nose? Don’t you see it turning black and smelling burned? Is that how you eat it when someone who knows how to grill serves it?
As a kid, I would be so disappointed that bbq chicken was ruined. My dad never made bbq chicken; grilling wasn’t his thing; he liked to cook. So I had to have it at other people’s cookouts. Everyone would pretend to eat the chicken that was burnt beyond recognition. I’m sure people had to stop at McDonald’s or White Castle on their way home since everyone was starving after the cookout.
Last night on a Michael Pollan show called “Cooked,” they showed an old black and white TV clip where a son watched his father grill and asked the dad why he was cooking. “A women’s place is in the kitchen; men do the outdoor barbequing.” 😖 Thank goodness things have changed.
Since we decided on bbq chicken, I read how to make it, which is much easier than smoking chicken. The cook time is quicker, but you have to pay more attention. I followed a recipe loosely that turned out better than I thought. Yay!
I brined the chicken for a few hours then patted it dry. Next, I covered the chicken parts with olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper. Unfortunately, it took me a while to have a fire hot enough to grill on; Marty had to come to my rescue since I don’t have my fire-starting badge yet.
The recipe instructions called for a hot and cool side of the grill. So, basically, you push all the hot coals over to one side. I followed the recipe searing the skin side first on the hot side of the grill, then flipping it over to do the same thing to the other side.
Next, I moved the chicken to the cool side of the grill. I kept checking and flipping the chicken. I also checked the temperature of the chicken; when it was getting close to 165 degrees, I started brushing on the bbq sauce. I repeated this a few times until the temperature of the chicken was above 180-degrees. If I didn’t brine the chicken first, it might have started drying out at that point.
I took the chicken off the grill and let it sit while I concentrated on the rest of our dinner. It came out really good! Better than I had hoped for! Yes! It was some legit bbq chicken. We all agreed it was the best thing I’ve made on the smoker grill so far.
I love roasted chicken and could eat it every day; now I love bbq chicken as much and could definitely eat it every day. I’m so happy that this time I was successful on my first try! Yay!
I’ve made French Onion Soup many times; I started with Julia Child’s French Onion Soup recipe from “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” This is a very tough cookbook to use, let alone master. I know many inexperienced home cooks who will buy a copy, try a couple of the labor-intensive recipes, and vow to never cook anything from it again.
This cookbook was intended for American home cooks who wanted to learn how to cook French food. I read somewhere that Julia thought all the recipes were “manageable.” Manageable, meaning you already know how to cook well and have odd and hard-to-find ingredients available. You also need an array of kitchenware and a whole lot of time.
Julia is a very talented cook/chef who started cooking late in life. She mastered French cooking in a snap. I’ve wondered how in the hell she can lift, flip, pound ingredients with such ease and use hefty cookware. She is over a foot taller than me and stronger than most men…that’s how.
Don’t get me wrong; I love Julia Child and this cookbook. I love rewatching her PBS French Chef TV episodes. Her French Chef TV series actually showed American home cooks how to tackle the recipes. I have the cookbook The French Chef that I got for Christmas a few years ago from my sister Heather. I like this cookbook so much more because the recipes are written more clearly, and only covered the cream of the crop recipes on the TV show, not the other 150+ unmanageable ones.
I’ve tried making Julia’s 8-page French omelet in the same kind of pan she used, I am not tall enough at the stove to follow her instructions, so I have to adapt. She adapted by having all her kitchen counters, including on the set of the French Chef, lifted so she didn’t have to bend down. Realistically, I can’t have mine lowered. I am also not strong enough to shake the cast iron pan around like I am making jiffy pop.
After I made Julia’s onion soup the first time, I tried some shortcut recipes. I did the same thing with her 38-step Boeuf Bourguignon recipe. The shortcuts didn’t cut the mustard. After trying a dozen shortcut recipes, I’ve decided to use the French Chef’s recipes if I want to make it.
None of the shortcut recipes had the same depth of flavor as Julia’s. The soup tasted ok, but not the best onion soup I ever had. The same thing happened with the boeuf bourguignon recipe. I constantly compared the shortcut recipes to Julia’s, so I stop wasting time and use her damn recipe.
Julia is straightforward before she even starts the recipe to use a very sharp chef’s knife. Using a sharp knife to cut onions does not break down the cell walls inside the onion’s membranes. A dull knife causes a rougher cut, which in turn release gases that make your eyes burn. Shortcut recipes don’t tell you that. I used a very sharp knife, and my eyes teared up anyway.
Yellow onions sliced before caramelizing
Not too many ingredients to make the soup. I used a California red like Julia did.
The caramelization process and after deglazing with red wine. All the fond came off the bottom of the pot. Fond is the brown bits at the bottom of the pot, deglazed with wine or stock. In Julia’s case, it was always wine or some other kind of liquor.
Shortcut recipes rush the caramelization of the onions resulting in not as rich a flavor. They also don’t have you add grated fresh onion at the end of the cooking. I experimented and tasted the soup before I added the freshly grated onions. It tasted like french onion soup; I tasted it again after I added the fresh onion, and I’ll be damned…it does “lift” the soup up with a stronger onion flavor in a good way. I could taste the rich caramelized onions as well as the fresh ones. Genius!
After adding the beef stock. I added half a red onion and half a vadalia onion; it’s what I had in the fridge. I would have used a whole yellow onion if I didn’t have these laying around.
Shortcut recipes have you toast the baguette slices then melt cheese on them before adding them to the soup. What the hell kind of lazy shit is that? You add a whole cup of the cheese, a combination of Swiss & Parmesan on top of the bread floating on top of the soup, then put it under the broiler to melt. The results? Ooey gooey cheesy heavenly topped onion soup.
The soup takes about 2 1/2 hours from start to finish, with the most time caramelizing the onions. I had things to do in the kitchen, and I wrote my surf & turf post while the onions were doing their thing.
I let the soup cool a bit then I popped it into the fridge for the next evening’s dinner. When it was time to reheat the soup, I brought it up to a simmer slowly. In the meantime, I got the grated cheeses and baguette crotons ready.
Just before we were going to eat, I ladled the soup into large soup crocks. Next, I floated the baguette crotons on top, topping with both grated cheeses.
Just a few minutes under the broiler and the cheese was bubbling and golden. My crocks were much too large to get the cheese to ooze down the sides of the crocks. I’ll have to keep my eye out in thrift shops for smaller crocks.
The soup was hotter than hell when we tried to eat it. It was like hot lava; cheese topped hot lava. Finally, when I could get in there, I actually used a fork to lift a piece of long pully cheese. It was so good! It was also very filling.
My sister Jennifer was visiting from NJ and said that it was the best French Onion Soup she ever had; it definitely is up there with the best of the best, not because I made it, but because I followed a fabulous recipe. Julia Child’s recipe.
If you like to cook, I urge you to try the Julia Child recipe and follow it exactly. I promise in the end; you will not be disappointed. If you don’t like to cook, find someone who does and get them to make it for you. 😉
Whenever you think of surf and turf, do you think about a fancy dinner out in a fine dining restaurant, perhaps on Valentine’s Day? I sure do! The old-school original surf and turf was a lobster tail set gloriously on top of its shell alongside a filet mignon. Usually served with asparagus or green beans almandine. Remember those I wrote about last month?
When I use the words fancy and a romantic holiday like Valentine’s Day, it can mean only one thing…Big bucks. That is exactly why the dish that doesn’t go together, culinarily speaking, was created.
Some restaurateurs had the idea of taking two of the highest-priced menus items and putting them together, creating an entrée that was over the top and special. Oh, and expensive. It became the “Surf & Turf for Two” special on Valentine’s Day especially. Surf and turf remained very popular through the 60s and 70s.
Modern takes on surf & turf. Pinterest images.
You still see variations of surf and turf in many restaurants today, but things have changed. While you can still find fancy AF surf and turf, you can also find it in a fast-food restaurants; and everywhere in between.
White Castles version of surf & turf. I love White Castle but never ordered one; now, I am gluten-free and can’t. Photo credit White Castle
The surf or seafood part doesn’t have to be lobster tail anymore; it can be shrimp or scallops or another kind of seafood. The meat doesn’t have to be a filet mignon. It can be a porterhouse or strip steak, or any beef for that matter.
Today for Sunday dinner, I went freezer hunting and found a bag of bay scallops, those are the little ones that you don’t sear, and a flat iron steak. There wasn’t enough of either to be the main entrée, so I decided to use them both and do surf and turf.
Flat iron steak is one of our favorite cuts of steak. It’s tender and flavorful; plus, it’s so quick and easy to make. I patted the steak dry and coated both sides generously with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Then I grilled it for 5 minutes on one side and 4 minutes on the other. It was medium rare on the rare side, how we all like it. I also made an herb compound butter to put on top of the steak while it was resting. When the compound butter melts and mixes with the steak juices, it creates a delicious sauce.
Before and after LOL
I never buy bay scallops, but I remember they were stupid cheap and figured I’d try something different. I always sear the large scallops, but I wanted to bake these. I made the baked scallops with a white wine, garlic butter sauce, and lemon with a panko breadcrumb topping. It was super quick and easy; it baked in only 20 minutes.
Trying to decide what sides to make stumped me for a bit since I didn’t feel like making potatoes. I remembered that Marty picked up 6 ears of corn at the Troy Farmers Market yesterday. The corn is very early for this part of the Northeast, but the farmer does the labor-intensive task of covering the rows of corn in plastic…making it ready before anyone else by at least 3 weeks.
It makes me sad that I can’t eat corn…at all. It totally sucks that I follow a low residue diet to manage my ulcerative colitis, but it’s better than a flare-up. I never cheat; it’s not worth the consequences. Marty and Sam said the corn was delicious. Tender and sweet; Marty chose 3 bi-color and 3 white ears. The way I cook corn is still the best way for us. Every time I do it on the grill, they don’t like it, plus it’s a mess.
My cooking method for corn on the cob is putting it in cold water after I remove the husks and silks. I add a teaspoon of sugar to the water. I cover the corn with the water. I turn it on, and as soon as it comes to a boil, I put on the lid and turn off the heat. It comes out perfect every time, with no overcooked, tough corn.
I needed a side dish, so I went back to some old-school restaurant classics and chose Noodles Romanoff. Noodles Romanoff was created by a chef named Michael Romanoff back in the 30s. This side dish was popular, especially during the 60s & 70s; that’s why I picked it. Michael Romanoff was of Hungarian descent and created this dish and named it after himself.
Noodles Romanoff is noodles in a creamy white sauce made with butter, sour cream, and parmesan cheese. There are many variations of the dish, but I kept it simple. I forgot to take a photo of it while I was making it. I made it while the steak was on the grill and the scallops were in the oven. I had to oversee both, so I forgot.
The scallops were flavorful and good, but I still like seared ones with a pan sauce better. The steak was bomb. It was flavorful, juicy, and tender. The compound butter that melted on it pushed it over the edge of deliciousness. The noodles were very good. I just remembered when my mother bought the Betty Crocker Noodles Romanoff in the box when I was a kid. She also used to buy mashed, scalloped, and au gratin potatoes too. I liked all of them, but now that I have had and make the real thing, there isn’t any comparison.
While I was writing this post, I was sitting right next to the stove. I was babysitting a pot of caramelized onions for French onion soup for dinner tomorrow night. I am making Julia Child’s version of the soup, which has more steps than other recipes, but tonight I had the time not to take any shortcuts and went full-on, Julia. You can really taste those extra steps.
While onions are caramelizing I am writing, I have all the other ingredients for Julia Child’s French onion soup ready to go.
Oh great! Now my mouth is watering for lobster since I’ve been writing about it and looking at the images. I’ve been craving seafood eaten at a shack type of place, outside at a picnic table, for a couple of years. I know people are like, “So go!” It’s not that easy with our business; schedules, production, deliveries, and markets. When we can take a couple of days, we have no one to watch Otto and Klaus since Sam is working on those days.
If we can coordinate all of our schedules, we will try to get away for a couple of days in mid-August. I want to go to Portsmouth, NH. I looked at all the restaurants and their menus; there are tons of gluten-free options and lots of lobster shacks. We are such beach people that we need to jump in the ocean and get our feet in the sand. Fingers crossed it works out for us.
Think of the last time you had a twice-baked potato? You never see them on a restaurant menu anymore; I also never see them on my Facebook or Instagram feeds. Twice-baked potato food porn? Not so much.
It’s been so long since I’ve gone to an event with a catered sit-down dinner, I wonder if they still even serve twice-baked potatoes. They were usually served with chicken cordon bleu. You know why? They are both pre-made frozen items that are easy to bake and keep warm for a couple of hundred people. Served usually with overcooked green beans and a plain salad. Am I right or what?
Before people start defending the food at their own weddings, I’m talking about events such as conferences, awards dinners, and, yes, some weddings. I’ve eaten that exact plate of food tons of times, and guess what? People really like it; that’s why it was served so often.
I make twice-baked potatoes every once in a while, especially when I make steak. It’s something different, filling, and delicious. Twice-baked potatoes are a side dish no one thinks about right off the top of their head. That’s why I am reminding you about them.
I’m Irish and love potatoes like most other Irish people in any way, shape, or form. Adding some cheddar cheese, bacon, and green onions makes them downright blissful.
Last night I baked two gigantic russet baking potatoes. I rubbed them with some olive oil and sprinkled them with kosher salt and pepper. I baked them at 400 degrees for almost an hour and a half; they were so big. After checking their doneness with a fork, I pulled them, and with the help of a kitchen towel, I immediately cut them in half to cool quicker.
While the potatoes were baking, I fried up a small amount of bacon, grated some sharp white cheddar cheese (I like yellow cheddar, which is for better color but oh well), and sliced up some green onions.
When the potatoes were cool enough to handle, I scooped out the insides and put them into a mixing bowl with a little garlic butter, bacon, cheddar, green onions, a touch of milk, and salt and pepper. I mashed up the potatoes and gave everything a good mix. I gave it a taste and filled the potato shells.
I popped the potatoes back into a 400-degree oven for 20 minutes; meanwhile, I pan-seared a skirt steak and made a quick pan sauce. I also made my famous breaded brussel sprouts, which Sam thought was the star of the plate. If you aren’t a brussel sprout lover or even liker, these may change your mind.
Cast iron pan seared skirt steak done medium rare…easy, quick and perfect every time. Another blog post!Sam’s favorite last night…the breaded brussel sprouts. I need to do a brussel sprout post too.
Twice-baked potatoes…you can add anything you want to the potato mixture. Sour cream, chives, any cheese, truffle oil, bacon; you get the idea. Next time you are looking for a side dish for dinner, whip some up. You can make them a day or two ahead up to the stuffing part or even freeze. Then pop into the oven to bake them the second time. Thus the name twice baked! 😉
I know they say a dog won’t starve itself to death…but bulldogs are stubborn and will hold their ground until the end of time.
Klaus used to be a great eater; in fact, he ate everything! When he was a puppy, he swallowed one of my knee socks…whole. We watched it happen; it happened so quickly it was unbelievable, actually.
Of course, we freaked out, thinking how terrible this situation could end if the sock got caught in his intestines. It was a big sock! I thank goodness we saw it happen; it would have had a different outcome if we didn’t.
Klaus was the cutest puppy EVER! His nose looked like it was drawn on with a sharpie.
I quickly read on my phone to give him hydrogen peroxide as soon as possible. We didn’t have any; I ran across the street into Stewarts, literally yelling, get out of my way. I need peroxide; my puppy ate a knee sock. People did get out of my way. I got the peroxide, paid, and was back home in under five minutes.
I put some peroxide in his dish with a few kibbles, and he ate it. He was very uncomfortable for about twenty minutes, then out popped the sock from his mouth. I had to grab it because he tried to eat it again. OMG! We were cautious with our socks after that.
Besides eating a tire off of our wheelbarrow, Klaus has been drama-free in the eating department. He ate with gusto every meal. Otto has always been a picky eater, but not Klausie boy.
Thank goodness we figured out Otto likes wet food and isn’t picky anymore! Otto is my sweet boy. He is definitely my dog, my shadow, my napping and sleeping partner and my cuddle bug.
Until now, that is. After a year of allergies and infections, we narrowed down the food he couldn’t eat. He’s been on a limited ingredient diet and no poultry for six months. His allergies are gone, and his skin and fur look great. Yay!
Yay…he hates all the limited ingredient diet kibble we’ve tried. I have to admit the salmon and potato one smelled fucking disgusting; I didn’t blame him one bit for turning his nose up to those fishy ass bowls of food.
I saw at the pet store they have kibble food toppers for picky dogs. I read all the packages and the price tags and decided I would make my own. I did a lot of research, bought ingredients, and started experimenting. Who would have thought I’d grow up to be a private chef for a bulldog!
I try to make different batches, so he doesn’t get tired of the toppers. He turned away from a pumpkin-based one quickly. I also have to hide allergy meds in his food. I have to disguise the pills, or he spits them out. That little bastard!
Browning the meat, deglazing the pan, adding herbs and veggies…
His two favorite food toppers are beef stew and Italian meat “sauce.” I know what herbs, fruits, and vegetables are safe for dogs. With some creativity, the food is edible and actually tasty. Bland since there isn’t any salt or sugar added, but good.
Every week I look at what cheap cuts of beef are on sale and load up. Carrots, green beans, peas, and apples are in most of the stews, plus whatever I have leftover in the fridge.
Yesterday’s pot of stew…looks pretty damn good right? Smelled even better!
I sear the beef so I can scrape up the bits to make a broth for the stew. In the end, I thicken the stew with a potato starch slurry since he can’t have corn.
In his pot of meat sauce, I add crushed tomatoes, fennel, oregano, and basil. The fennel makes the beef taste like sausage, for real. It tastes and smells just like “sauce.”
Am I a total asshole for taking the time to make him food toppers? Yes! Will I let him starve himself to death? No. This morning when I added the beef stew that I made yesterday to his kibble and watched him gobble it down with gusto, I answered my own questions.
Yesterday I decided to attempt to make St. Louis-style ribs for the first time on the smoker. It was in the 90’s so babysitting a fire was hot stuff. I didn’t even take too many photos since it was too hot to leave my phone outside for any amount of time. Our back deck is full sun all day long. 🔥
What exactly are St. Louis- style ribs? St. Louis-style spare ribs are the meatier ribs cut from the hog’s belly after the belly is removed. St. Louis-style ribs are flatter than baby back ribs, which makes them easier to brown. There is a lot of bone but also a higher amount of fat, making them very flavorful.
I made a spice rub for the ribs. I just threw spices into a bowl with some brown sugar and kosher salt. After I trimmed the fat and silver skin from the ribs, I patted on the rub…both sides and the edges. I let it sit at room temperature for an hour while I was outside building a fire and getting it hot.
Patting on the spice rub.
There are so many techniques for barbecuing ribs on a ceramic smoker I decided what I was going to do and go with it. There are 3-2-1 and 2-2-1 methods for ribs—three hours meat side up, two hours wrapped in foil meat side down, and 1 hour unwrapped with bbq sauce. The 2-2-1 trims off an hour in the beginning.
Since I’ve had issues overcooking and over-smoking meats, I played it safe. I did a 2-1 1/2-1/2, which worked. I was rolling smoke at a constant 250 degrees; I am getting better at keeping the temperature at bay.
I made a maple bbq sauce that was meh. The recipe I tried sucked, and I won’t make it again. I should have just made a bbq sauce I have in my bag of tricks, but whatever. 🤷🏻♀️
The shoestring fries were bomb AF!
We deep-fried some shoestring fries on our outdoor kitchen stove, and I whipped up a watermelon salad. I usually put feta cheese in my watermelon salad along with red onion, lime juice, and honey…until I opened the feta cheese and it was green. Dammit! Ugh.
I improvised and made watermelon, bleu cheese, fresh basil, and a balsamic reduction. It was good but not as good as the feta cheese one.
The ribs came out ok. The big mistake I made was adding the brown sugar to my rub. It caramelized the rib side that was grill side down for two hours and turned that side black.
I had to cut the ribs in half from the start since they were too big for the smoker.
When it was time to wrap the ribs in foil, I put some butter and bbq sauce on the foil, then set the ribs on the mixture; meat side down this time. I know I am learning, but fuck, this barbecue/smoking thing is hard to figure out with so many variables. Pitmasters have my utmost respect.
When we tried the ribs, the meat side was meaty, moist, and delicious. They had a slight tooth pull then came off the bone easily, which is what I wanted. The black side was a complete and utter shitshow.
The quality of the ribs has a lot to do with the success of pitmasters and professional barbecue joints. Supermarket meats don’t compare and are total crap. I need to up my meat game when I figure the barbecue methods out. I don’t want to waste money on expensive meats until I am sure I won’t ruin them.
So my St. Louis ribs get a B- not bad for my first try. Just for the record, my scoring is very picky and technical…I am a tough food judge and definitely harder on myself, just like at dance.
