BBQ Beans

A decade ago I learned part of this recipe from my friend Marvin. Marvin moved to Alaska but the recipe stayed with me. Recently, I made a change to use some elements of a barbecue sauce I got from another friend two decades ago. Here is the recipe as of today.

Saute on medium heat:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion diced
• 6 oz bacon (or you can use ham)

When  the onion is clear but not brown, add

• 3 15-oz cans of Pork and Beans (quickly drained but not thoroughly, set the liquid aside)
• 1/4 c Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tbsp Apple Cider vinegar
• 3/4 c brown sugar
• 1 c catsup
• 1/4 c bourbon (I use Jim Beam)
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt
• pinch garlic powder
• pinch celery flakes (or celery seeds)
• pinch cayenne pepper

Stir well as the mustard powder likes to clump. Avoid too high a heat as this will burn to the bottom of the pan. Add some of the liquid from the Pork 'n Beans if it needs thinning.

Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and serve.

Potato Salad

These quantities are from memory and may need adjusting:

Hard boil, remove shells and cool

• 3 eggs

then slice in half and set aside.

Combine these ingredients and toss together until everything is coated in the mayo.

• 2 c - red potatoes (baked in microwave, partially peeled  and cubed - 1/2")
• 2 c - sweet potatoes (prepared as the red potatoes except completely peeled)
• 3/4 c - mayonnaise (real mayonnaise)
• 2 stalks celery - diced or thinly sliced
• 1/4 c bread and butter pickles - diced (include some onions if they are in there)
• 2 Tbsp fresh parsley - chopped

Sprinkle with

• 1/2 tsp dry mustard powder

Mix thoroughly and put in a bowl. Garnish with the egg halves and sprinkle the following on the eggs only:

• salt (to taste, you may not need any)
• black pepper
• paprika

Serve cold.

Natillas (Soft Custard)

This recipe is originally from "Cocinas de New Mexico", published by Public Service Company of New Mexico. I found it here http://blog.bottger.com/2009/11/new-mexico-dessertsflan-vs-natillas.html (As usual, I changed it a bit.)

The Public Service Company of New Mexico was the electric and gas company for the state of New Mexico and collected traditional New Mexican recipes for their cookbook (back in the day) and posted them online more recently. https://www.pnm.com/cocinas-cookbook

Yield:  6 servings

Begin by separating four eggs and setting the whites aside for use later. Then add the following to a small mixing bowl.

• 4 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup of whole milk

Stir to make a smooth pase and set aside.

Heat the following in medium saucepan.

• 3 cups whole milk
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 whole nutmeg
• 1/2 whole cinnamon stick

Scald (which means put a thermometer in the mixture and heat on medium or, perhaps, low-medium until the mixture just reaches 180 degrees F (82 degrees C). You will need to stir continuously with a wire whisk to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan or forming a skin on top.

Then remove from heat.

Immediately, while stirring the egg mixture in the mixing bowl, begin to slowly add the almost boiling sugary milk to that first bowl with the eggs and flour. Do this SLOWLY and stir the eggs as you add hot milk it to slowly bring the temperature of the eggs up. If you do this too quickly you end up with scrambled eggs. If you do it slowly, you end up with the beginning of a custard.

Add it to the mixture (but you have to prepare the vanilla bean)

• 1 1/2 inch vanilla bean
• 1 tsp Laphroaig Scotch (or other very smoky Islay Scotch Whiskey)

Split the bean open and scraping the soft fragrant inside into the mixture. Stir well with a whisk. Put it all back into the saucepan and cook at medium heat until a soft custard consistency is reached. It should take about 8 minutes (give or take a couple) and the mixture will become visibly thicker.

When you decide it's thick enough, remove what is now a custard from the heat. Pour it back into the mixing bowl, set it on the counter and allow it to cool to room temperature.

Beat

• 4 egg whites

in a mixing bowl until they are stiff but not dry.

Fold the egg whites into the custard and chill. (You can not keep this in the refrigerator for too long. It will begin to separate, leaving a clear liquid in the bottom of the bow.)

To serve, spoon into individual dishes and garnish with grated (or ground) nutmeg.

Option:
Do not use ground spices when heating the mixture. If you do not have the whole spices, you can add a very small amount or cinnamon and nutmeg when you remove the custard from the heat and stir them in well. Also you can add a bit of vanilla extract at the same time as the Scotch. (Or in place of the Scotch.)

Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Pork Tenderloin - 10 inches long or so

To do this right you need one of the small pork tenderloins. Sometimes they come two to a package. Do not get the ones that have been marinated. We will add some seasoning in a bit.

1 small tenderloin will feed two very big appetites or 4 smaller ones.

By letting it cook very slowly for a long time, it comes out extremely tender.

Step 1 is to remove the hard white skin. You can see it on the left end of the picture to the right. It takes a sharp knife and you will likely sacrifice some of the meat to get it all removed. You will notice that most of the time, there is some fat here and there on the outside of the meat. No need to remove it. But the part you are removing is quite tough and you don't want to chew it off.

Sprinkle the meat all around with salt and pepper.

Now turn on the gas grill to high. Let it warm while you prepare the marinade and coat the meat with it.

Prepare a "marinade" if we call it that, by combining

• 3 Tbs olive oil
• 3 Tbs lemon juice
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder

Roll the meat in the marinade. Coat it well.

Put the meat on the grill. Leave it on high.

Cook for 2 minutes. Turn the meat over.

Cook for 2 more minutes. Remove the meat.

Immediately wrap the meat in foil. (If you have more than one of these, wrap all of them together.) Fold the foil closely around the meat to seal it completely.

Now wrap it in foil again to seal it even better. (You can even wrap it again with plastic wrap if you like.

Set the wrapped meat on a plate, on the counter. If the room is cold, put a towel over it to keep it from cooling too fast. Or, you can put it in a small cooler such as those designed to keep drinks icey. (But don't add ice.) The cooler will keep the heat in.

Now wait at least 2 hours. You can wait overnight if you want to. Do not open the foil. Do not move things around. Do not remove the towel. Do not refrigerate.

Prepare the dressing by mixing the following:

• 1/4 c olive oil
• 1/4 c lemon oil
• 1/4 tsp sugar or honey or agave nectar
• 1/3 tsp garlic powder (or 1 small clove finely chopped garlic)
• 2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh herbs (I like thyme and parsley, for example.)

After the meat has sat longer than your patience can stand, remove the foil and slice at an angle. I cut it 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick (5 to 10 mm) but the actual thickness doesn't seem to matter much.

Put it in a bowl and top with the dressing. Serve at room temperature.

You can keep the leftovers for a few days in the refrigerator. Its good sliced up and scrambled with eggs. Its good on a sandwich with BBQ sauce. Its good on top of a nice lettuce or spinach salad. (I don't even warm it up.)

Chicken Picatta

Thanks for the picture, Inge.

I had some friends over for dinner last Saturday. So, I had to refine this recipe a bit so it was doable for a bunch of people.

Here you go.
Pre heat the oven to 211 degrees F.

Start with:

• Chicken breasts. 1/2 to 1 for each person. It just depends on the people.
• Fresh lemon, sliced just under 1/4" (about 5 mm) - two slices per chicken breast.

Pound the chicken with a mallet or a can of vegetables until it is uniformly about 3/8" thick (9 mm). It is better to use many lighter strokes than fewer heavy ones.

Use a sealable, oven-proof dish and put it in the oven. I used glass casserole dish with a cookie sheet to cover the top. A dutch oven or pottery dish with lid would work as well.

Heat a skillet or dutch oven medium high nad add

• 1 T Olive oil
• 1 T butter
• 1/2" anchovy paste (assuming a 1/8" diameter exit hole in the tube)

Fry the lemon slices for about 15 seconds on each side and set them aside (or add them to the sealed dish in the oven). It should be just enough to brown it a tiny bit.

Fry chicken breast for 1 minute per side. Exactly 1 minute. Do not overcook. It will make the chicken less tender.

Add the cooked chicken to the sealed dish in the oven with the lemon slices.

Repeat (by add some more olive oil, butter and anchovie paste and frying more lemon slices and chicken) with however much chicken and lemon fits in your skillet until its all browned and put in the oven. The last chicken will need to stay in the oven for at least 10 minutes. Leave it in there while preparing the sauce.

You may need to "double" or "triple" the folowing ingredients to make enough sauce for all the chicken. These quantities are sufficient for 6-8 chicken breasts (6-8 people)

Add the following to the skillet in which you cooked the chicken/lemon slices:

• 1/2 c dry white wine (I used Pinot Grigio)
• The juice of 1 lemon (save the zest for later)
• 1/2 c chicken broth
• 1/2 tst beef boullion (or similar)

Scrape around on the dish to get all the stuck on flavor into the sauce. 

Cook on high to reduce by half. 

Cut the heat to where it will simmer and add:

• 1/4 tsp dried majoram flakes (use oregano in a pinch)
• 1/2 tsp fresh chopped tarragon (use half as much dried flakes in a pinch or just leave it out)
• 1/4 tsp white pepper (or a few grinds of fresh black pepper)
• 1 Tbsp fresh chopped italian parsley

Simmer for 3 minutes and add:

• 2 Tbsp capers

Remove from heat and float this on top:

• 2 Tbsp butter

Do not stir. Let it float and melt. 

Serve by removing each chicken breast from the sealed dish in the oven and topping with

• A bit of sauce
• A sprinkling of lemon zest
• A tiny bit of fresh chopped italian parsley
• (optional) sliced fresh arugula (you may or may not like this)
• maybe, just a tiny, tiny bit or salt and/or pepper

Enjoy.

Chris's Mom's Bowtie Pasta Salad

Now is a good time to start bringing a large pot of water to boil. It will be used to cook the pasta.

Boil the following in a saucepan until done

• 1 c chicken stock
• 1 lb chicken breast strips

Remove the chicken. Reserve the liquid.

The large pot of water should be boiling (if not get it that way). Add the pasta and stir a bit to keep the pasta from sticking. Follow directions on the package as to how long to cook. Directions for removing are below. (You will save some of the water.)

• 12 oz Farfalle (bowtie) pasta (I prefer the larger size, not the mini-bowties.)

While the pasta cooks, heat a skillet to mediium high with

• 2 Tbsp butter

Brown chicken strips then add:

• 1/4 c white wine (or water)
• reserved chicken stock (from above)

Reduce by 1/2 and then add:

• 1 can cream of condensed mushroom soup (or cream of chicken)
• 1/2 cup pesto sauce
• 1/4 c cream (or milk)

Reduce heat and simmer, stirring for 1 minute. Remove from heat and set aside until the pasta is ready.

When the pasta is done, But not too done. Set aside two cups of the pasta water. 

Remove the pasta from the water and drain it.

Mix the sauce and the pasta. Thin with however much pasta water is needed.

Serve hot or warm.

Yeast Waffles

I got this recipe decades ago, when I was in college, My aunt gave me a recipe book of collected recipes of the women of Lubbock Christian College. Since the name has changed to Lubbock Christian University, you can guess how long ago that had to be.

These are the best waffles I have ever had. Point blank. No more needs to be said.

Stir together these dry ingredients. I do it in a large pitcher.

• 3 cups flour (any kind except self-rising)
• 1 Tbsp white granulated sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 pkg yeast (about 1 Tbsp) - use more if you are in a hurry
• 2/3 c powdered milk (note that you can leave this off if you substitute half of the water with milk)

Add the liquid ingredients:

• 3 c warm water
• 1/2 c salad oil (any liquid oil similar to corn oil, peanut oil, olive oil, though each may add a bit of different taste)
• 2 eggs beaten

Mix together by hand. I stir it up with a wooden spoon. No need to get all the lumps out. In fact, its better not to. The waffles will be somewhat lighter if you stir less.

Thin to desired consistency at this point, or you can wait until just before you pour the batter into the waffle iron.

Let it rise

1. In the refrigerator, covered overnight.
2. Or on the countertop, covered, for an hour or more (depends on the air temperature)

Cook as any waffle.

Nancy's Broccoli Salad

I got this from Nancy. Of course, Nancy doesn't do measuring so I've tried to estimate the quantities.

This salad has just the right balance of bitter, salty, sweet and crunchy with that smooth feel that I love. It makes a great dish to bring to a potluck or family dinner as it does not wilt and can travel without refrigeration for an hour or more. Plus it goes with most everything.

Mix these in a bowl

• 4 broccoli crowns - see below for instructions on how to chop the broccoli
• 12 oz dry salted roasted peanuts (without the red inner shells)
• 1 8 oz can sliced water chestnuts - slice these again into slivers
• 3 oz bacon bits - the ones made from real bacon
• 2 c dried cranberries (or substitute raisins)

Take the broccoli crown and slice it up. It's best to remove the small stems first. Then cut about 1/4 " down to remove just the outside of the flowers. Continue cutting the rest of the stem into 1/8 " slices. Where the stem is large, subdivide it into smaller sticks and cut the 1/8 " slices from each of those sticks.

The end result is all the flower parts cut off into a coarse powder of broccoli and the stems sliced 1/8" thick and no more than 3/8" in diameter.

Prepare the dressing:

• 24 oz Miracle Whip or similar salad dressing. 
• 1/4 c white granulated sugar
• 1/4 c white vinegar

Taste it now. You may want to adjust the quantities to make it sweeter or more tangy.

Then pour the dressing over the salad and stir together well.

This salad needs more stirring than most because the broccoli bits are so small and you want some of the dressing to coat each tiny broccoli morsel. But its not much susceptible to squashing. I use a rubber spatula.

Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours before serving. It keeps overnight if you want to make it the night before.

Pumpkin Pie

My ex used to make the best pumpkin pie. I never much liked it before somewhere in our years together, she happened upon the perfect pie crust and pumpkin filling. So she ended up with that recipe in the divorce.

But I modified a few recipes and came up with this which is pretty good.

1) make the pie crust found in the peach pie blog entry a few back but use brandy for the alcohol part. You need a single crust for this pie. That recipe will make enough for two pies or use half and freeze half for later. Pumpkin pie starts with the raw crust in a deep dish pie pan (I use glass). NOT cooked.

2) Prepare fresh pumpkin glop with the following steps:

• Start with a pumpkin large enough to get 3 cups of glop (or use two smaller ones). I used leftover pumpkin from halloween but I hadn't carved on it.
• Cut it open
• Remove the seeds and stringy parts with a strong spoon or ice cream scoop
• Steam large hunks in a large pan. Keep the pumpkin out of the water if possible. 
• Steam for about 30-40 minutes. It may take more. You'll know when to stop. The pumpkin gets soft when you stick it with a fork.
• Scrape the insides off of the peek and put them in a bowl
• Use the immersion blender to puree the whole thing. (If you have extra, you can freeze it either before or after pureeing.)

3) Make the pie filling. Begin by preheating the oven to 425 degrees F. This makes enough for 2 deep dish pies. You can freeze the leftover portion, if there is any, for later.

• 4 large eggs
• 3 cups pumpkin glop as prepared above
• 1 5 oz can of evaporated milk
• 13 fluid oz heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup sugar 

Stir the above thoroughly (beating the eggs)

• 1.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon (*see note below about spices)
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract (or 1 inch vanilla bean insides after scraping out)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

What I do with the spices is put 2 tsp whole cloves and 2 tsp whole allspice in my spice grinder and pulverize them. Then I measure 2 tsps of that mixture and use it in the pie. I would do the same with the cinnamon but it doesn't grind very will when you use sticks. I have no idea how to get dried whole ginger. (I save the rest, with a pinch of ginger and cinnamon, and sprinkle it over a slice of pie slathered with whipping cream.)

Put the empty pie pan (with crust) on the rack in the open oven door and fill to within 1/4 inch of the top. Make sure the rack is level or at least as level as it is when shoved into the oven.

Push the rack back in and close the door.

Cook for 15 minutes at 425 degrees F.

Reduce the heat to 375 degrees and cook for 45-60 minutes until done. You can tell its done when you stick a knife into the center and it comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and let the pies cool on a rack for at least 10 minutes or until cool enough to eat.

Serve topped with whipped cream (or whipped topping of some sort) and a sprinkle of the leftover spices.