Postings

I haven't posted for a while, not because we haven't been cooking, but because I've been distracted - Chris, Keith, and Rachel had been taking up my time.

But look for more nightly recipes shortly!

Porterhouse Steaks & Chapatis

As always, steaks from Bunzels are great. We didn't have a chance to age these, however.

The chapatis are from Mark Bittman's recipe in the NY Times from last week. They were simple to make, pretty good, although they cried our for yogurt sauce, which we did not have.

The salads were made with produce from our farm.

Chicken & 3 Vegetable Stir Fry

Cook's Illustrated has long argued the use a cast iron pan instead of a walk. The heavy, flat surface is more conducive to reaching and maintaining the high temperatures needed to quickly fry things.

I've used our Dutch oven before and decided to try it with our new, 13" i.d. skillet. It worked great!

Cut boneless, skinless chicken breasts into little pieces and marinade in dark soy sauce, pepper flakes, oil, and a little salt and sugar for at least 30 minutes.

Heat the pan until very hot, add oil, swirl, and toss in the meat being careful not to crowd it. If the pieses are two close together the pan will cool off too much and there won't be space for the excess liquid to boil off. The result will be a simmer, not a stir-fry. Stir occasionally and cook till done, about 3-4 minutes. Remove and reheat pan.


For the vegetables I used carrots, onion & shallots, and summer squash. Peel and cut into bite sized pieces. Repeat the stir fry process, starting with the longest cooking item (carrots in this case) first. Successively add the others, removing done ones if necessary.

I added some oyster sauce at this point.

Recombine and heat through. Serve with rice and light soy sauce on the side.

Chicken Breasts with Okra

Although an easy and tasty meal, we don't cook boneless-skinless chicken breasts all that much. The classic dry-wet-dry method is one of my favorite ways to prepare them.

Cut the halved breasts in half the long way by pressing it on a cutting board with the palm of your hand and running the knife parallel to your hand. Prepare three containers with flour, beaten eggs, and corn meal. Season to taste.

Dredge the breasts in order, flour-egg wash-cornmeal then saute in a cast iron skillet with a little oil for about four minutes per side, under golden brown.

Rest five minutes before serving.


We steam a lot of vegetables. Today we steamed okra and broccoli together.

Pork Chops & Grilled Vegetables

These pork chops are from the quarter hog we bought through our farm. They are not nearly as lean as commercial pork so you need to be sure to watch for flare-ups as the fat renders.

Remember the Fourth Rule Of Cooking: Brine your poultry. Brine your pork. With pork, I usually add something sweet to the brine. Today I used honey. I brined this for about 10 hours but that's very flexible. Adjust your salt content up or down depending on the time.

I used Penzey's Ozark Seasoning as a rub on these.

Grill over low heat for 6-8 minutes per side. Let rest for at least five minutes.


Peel & slice zucchini into medallions.

Skewer, rub with olive oil, and season with salt & pepper to taste.

Grill until done, turning frequently, about 15 minutes.

Ribs

We don't make ribs all that often, but I love them. They're pretty straight forward to make.

Rub the ribs with a rub. Usually I blend our own, but this time I used Penzey's BBQ 3000 rub. I'm generally suspicious of pre-made rubs since you don't know the quality or freshness of the ingredients, but I've come to trust Penzey's.

Grill over indirect, low heat for a long time - 2-3 hours. Since we have a gas grill, I put a pan of soaked wood chips over a lit burner for that good, smoky flavor.

When they look almost done, remove from heat, wrap in foil, and put into a paper bag for one hour. Don't skip this step; it make them moist and tender.
Add your favorite home-made sauce to the ribs and cut into two-rip pieces.


Laurie made this shreadded beet salad, although we both agreed that roasted beets are better.

The bread we got from Parthenon Foods, a Greek grocery on the south side. It's a great little store.

Acacia Cutting Board

We picked up this cutting board from Lowe's, of all places. It's made of acacia wood and is quite heavy.