Chicken, Sausage & Shrimp Gumbo

Posted on by December 12, 2015
recipe
First made 11/16/2015 with okra and shrimp GREAT!
A symbol of Creole cooking, gumbo is ubiquitous in homes and restaurants across Louisiana. Andouille sausage and file powder make this chicken-and-sausage gumbo a classic and, as in any good gumbo, a deep, rich roux thickens the stew.

Yield: Makes 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 pound andouille sausage, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
  • 4 skinned bone-in chicken breasts (used 5 thighs)
  • 1 lb shrimp
  • Okra sliced 1/2 inch – we had about 10 pieces
  • Vegetable oil
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
  • 2 celery ribs, sliced
  • 2 quarts hot water
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon hot sauce (used more)
  • 4 green onions, sliced
  • Filé powder (optional)
  • Hot cooked rice
  • Garnish: chopped green onions

Preparation

Cook sausage in a Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring constantly, 5 minutes or until browned. Drain on paper towels, reserving drippings in Dutch oven. Set sausage aside.

Cook chicken in reserved drippings in Dutch oven over medium heat 5 minutes or until browned. Remove to paper towels, reserving drippings in Dutch oven. Set chicken aside.

Add enough oil to drippings in Dutch oven to measure 1/2 cup. Add flour, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, 20 to 25 minutes, or until roux is chocolate colored.

Stir in onion, bell pepper, and celery; cook, stirring often, 8 minutes or until tender. Gradually add 2 quarts hot water, and bring mixture to a boil; add chicken, garlic, and next 5 ingredients. Reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 1 hour. Remove chicken; let cool.

Add sausage to gumbo; cook 30 minutes. Stir in okra; cook for 30 more minutes.

Bone chicken, and cut meat into strips; return chicken to gumbo, and simmer 5 minutes.

Added shrimp to pot when I heard Tom’s truck coming. When ready to eat, remove and discard bay leaves.

Remove gumbo from heat. Sprinkle with filé powder, if desired. Serve over hot cooked rice. Garnish, if desired.

Copied from http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-and-sausage-gumbo-0

 

Boston Pork Butt Smoked

Posted on by March 6, 2016

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Pork Butt – 5 lbs. Salted the amount I would a salad then rubbed with Stubb’s Hot Pork Rub about 4 pm Saturday. Covered with plastic wrap on a small cookie sheet and left in the refrigerator.

8:30 AM – Started Weber Kettle with SnS with aluminum foil under meat to catch drippings and channel air to SnS.Lite 12 briquettes in the chimney and when almost grey added to one end of the SnS. Poured in briquettes to below the edge (less that last time) and added pecan chunks. Let it burn to settle in for 15-20 minutes. Lower vent only a crack and upper open about 50%.

9:15 am – Put on the butt. Misted it with water. Grate temp with bi-metal thermometer was 250 after 30 minutes.

10:30 am – Grate temp was still 250. Added two more pecan chunks as two have almost burned up and there was almost no smoke. Only heat from top vent and not even a wisp.

11:45 am – Grate temp was still 250. Dome temp was 290 or so.

1:30 pm – Added pecan chunks and grate temp is 225.

2:35 pm – Added 6 briquettes and a wood chunk. Grate temp was 220.

3:30 pm (6 hours) – Grate temp is 225 and internal temp with fast-read digital thermometer is 165.

4:00 pm – Need to eat at 6:30 and still internal is 165 so deployed the Texas Crutch and wrapped in foil. Added Chardonnay as that is what was in the glass. Add five more briquettes.

5:00 pm – Grate temp was still about 225 but internal was up to 190. Dome temp was still 300.

5:30 pm – Dome temp at 340 and smoke tint on grate temp makes it unreadable. Internal is at 205-195. Texas Clutch and raising fire sped it up big time.

6:30 pm – Removed from smoker and unwrapped. Meat cracked cleanly and pulled apart with little effort. Bone slide out. Bark was not crunchy but also not soggy. There was a pool of liquid inside the foil wrap and much more than the wine I added.

Ribs with Slow-n-Sear first time

Posted on by November 10, 2015

Preface – This was the first cook with the Slow-n-Sear in the Weber 22″ Kettle.

11/08/2015 – “Pork Loin Baby Back Ribs”, 4.5 lbs, bought  at HEB two weeks before and frozen.

The day before thawed out the rack of ribs and rubbed it with Stub’s Hot Pork Rub we made. Rolled it up and into a 1 gallon zip lock bag.

Smoke Day – About 2:30 PM – Lit two sheets of newspaper under 12 Kingsford Blue Bag briquettes in one end of the SnS but that did not work. Moved them to the chimney. When lit poured them in the SnS and added coals up to the edge. Added four chunks of pecan that held up the hinged grate and to some extent the entire grate. [see notes below about too many briquettes]. Placed aluminum foil over lower grate to force air draft through the SnS. Let it get to 300 per the dome bi-metallic thermometer and 200 on the grate with another bi-metallic thermometer.

Laid the ribs on the upper grate and left it for about an hour with bottom and top draft ports at 50%. Checked the bi-metallic thermometer and the grate temp was at 300 so reduced draft upper and lower to 25%. Temp consistent at 250-300 until about 5:30 PM. Grabbed with tongs 1/3 and what hung over had wide cracks between the bones. Removed at 7:00 PM and wrapped tight in aluminum foil for Mary to warm up tomorrow night. Cut the rack into thirds and wrapped in HD aluminum foil. Left them out for an hour or so to cool then into the refrigerator.

The next afternoon Mary took the foil-wrapped ribs out of the frig, let warm up about an hour then, still wrapped, into the convection oven at 225-deg from 3:00 pm to 5:30 pm. Turned off the oven and left them inside until about 6:45 pm.

About 7:00 pm I opened the foil that was still very warm and the great smokey pork smell filled the room. The ribs were very moist. They sliced apart smoothly but the meat did not fall off the bone. It was tender and pulled from the bone easily when bitten as it should.  The color was largely black but there was very little sooty oily residue. The darkness was another indication it cooked too hot–I think. They tasted great.

Notes:

  1. Alligator clips really stopped the smoke leak around the lid.
  2. Used too many briquettes. See photos at http://www.abcbarbecue.com/#!lighting-instructions/c1r27
  3. See the above link for vent settings as they say the bottom vent once well lit, should be only “cracked” and the top to 50%. Mine was a lot more and that is why it seemed to be too hot.
  4. Who knows if the bi-metallic thermometer was accurate but… The grill must have been hotter than the thermometer read due to the wide cracks appearing during the bend test 1-2 hours earlier than it should have per http://www.abcbarbecue.com/#!ribs/c4gu.
  5. When took the meat off at 6:00 pm saved ~10 briquettes from the fire. The wood chunks had all burned-even the one over the unlit briquettes had turned to charcoal. The coals would have burned another 2-3 hours.
  6. The fire seamed to be more intense than I would have thought. Likely the aluminum foil over the lower grate force fed air to the burning briquettes and that made it hotter–especially with the vents open too much. Also had too many briquettes. See other Next Time note below.

Next Time:

  1. Once it heats up with the ports wide open turn them down to 1/2 top and only a crack for the lower. Then the aluminum foil on the lower rack will have value in forcing the small amount of air through the fire in the SnS. And the small amount of air will support the right amount of fire to maintain the right temp. At least that is my hope.
  2. For a one 4 lb. rack the SnS does not need to be level full of briquettes.
  3. If it seems to hot (until I get a digital thermometer) try turning up a corner of the lower grate’s aluminum foil to not force as much oxygen through the SnS.
  4. Count the briquettes as there are to be 80-90 or one full chimney.

Herbal Oil for Dipping Bread

Posted on by August 2, 2016

Carrabba’s

1t            crushed red pepper
1t            ground black pepper
1t            dried oregano
1t            rosemary
1t            dried basil
1t            granulated garlic
1t            minced garlic
1t            kosher salt
1/4C       olive oil served over spice mix as desired

Italian Bread Dipping (Oil) Sauce

Restaurant-style sauce with Italian herbs and balsamic vinegar perfect for dipping your favorite crusty bread. Mix it up with your favorite herbs and add a spicy kick to create your own flavor blend.

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons dried Parsley
  • 1 teaspoon dried Basil
  • 1 teaspoon dried Oregano
  • A pinch of red chili flakes (optional)
  • 3-4 Garlic cloves, peeled and crushed (or minced, if preferred)
  • 1/2 cup Extra Virgin (good quality) Olive Oil
  • 4 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar (or to taste)
  • Salt and fresh ground Pepper, to taste
  • Parmesan Cheese (for sprinkling)

Instructions

  1. Place the herbs, chili flakes (if using) and garlic in a bowl. Pour the olive oil and balsamic vinegar and gently stir. Season with a little salt and pepper, if desired.
  2. Divide into 3 smaller dipping bowls and sprinkle with parmesan cheese on top. Serve with freshly warmed crusty bread!

Yield: 3 servings in small Dipping Bowls

Boston Pork Butt smoked on 10/10/2014

Posted on by October 11, 2015

Sliced fat side (max 1/2″ thick) down to meat and rubbed in a lot of Stubbs Hot Pork Rub. On other side lathered with yellow mustard and smeared on a lot of rub. Sat out for about an hour then into Weber kettle.

Smoked with pecan wood chucks with Weber dual smoking basked half full of burning brickets on one end and un-lite brickets in the other end. Quickly came up to 300 degrees and I forgot to reduce the bottom air baffle. Smoked for about 4 hours then  wrapped in aluminum foil and put in convection over at 225 for 2.5 hours.

Did not have pan with water under butt.

After time in the oven the bone was protruding about a 1/2″ and it was tender but not pull-apart tender. Good flavor.

Next Time:

  • Try with only 1 of the Weber smoking trays and add brickets. Also adjust air baffle.
  • Slather yellow mustard into knife slashes and make the slashes two ways to create diamonds in the fat.

Squash Casserole by Mary

Posted on by June 9, 2021

For this recipe Mary (I) reviewed about 6 or 8 recipes from the Food Network ap and then just went with what we had on hand.

Preheat oven to 350

Yellow Squash – I had 5 medium sized, sliced
Zucchini – 2 large – sliced
2 to 3 tbl of butter depending on the amount of squash
2 strips of bacon – I had thick sliced pecan smoked
1 medium to large onion
3 pods of garlic – minced
red pepper flakes – to taste
1/2 cup sour cream – again this depends on the amount of squash
1/2 cup le Greuyere cheese – again depends on taste and amount of squash
1/2 cup of Asiago cheese
salt and pepper – to taste
1 can of fried onion – Used for toppers of casseroles unless Kelley is around and then they are all eaten as snacks and there are none for the dish.

  1. In a large skillet saute the onion and bacon till the onion begins to be translucent.  The bacon should be cooked but not crisp.
  2. Add butter and red pepper flakes till butter is melted.
  3. Add squash and garlic. Stir occasionally  to mix the onions and bacon with the squash.  Cook until squash is slightly soft.
  4. Pour everything from the skillet into a large bowl.  Immediately fold in the sour cream, salt & pepper and cheeses.
  5. Pour this into a greased baking dish. Top with the onions and bake for 20 minutes (depending on the amount you have made) – I turned it off once it started bubbling.  It sat in the heated oven until Tom got home.

Man was it good.  Lots of leftovers which were awesome.

Aebleskiver’s from Denmark

Posted on by October 5, 2015

Aebleskiver’s from Denmark by Karleen Hester

By Maybelle Bieker Moore on Saturday, May 16, 2015 at 9:08pm

My family’s Aebleskiver recipe, straight from Denmark:

1qt buttermilk
3.5 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
2 small tsp baking soda (scoop the top with your finger so it has a depression and isn’t level)
1 tsp baking powder
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites beaten to soft peaks

Mix well all ingredients except the egg whites. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks (the peaks should be there but curl over–you don’t want stiff peaks). Fold in the egg whites. Place about a nickel size amount of oil in the bottom of each depression of the pan over low-medium heat (this always varies depending on the pan and the stove). Fill each depression 2/3 full of batter, then turn each 1/4 turn until fully turned over and cooked. Our family uses either a metal cake tester or bamboo skewers for that.

It takes practice and your first several pans will probably look terrible, but it’s worth it! This is our family’s traditional Christmas meal. smile emoticon I learned at my grandmother’s side. Enjoy!

Fajitas

Posted on by October 5, 2015

10/04/2015

Very thin (1/4″-1/2″) fajitas from Fiesta sprinkled 6 hours ahead with salt. Then 2.5 hours before grilling sprinkled with fresh, course-ground black pepper and granulated garlic. Sat out to come to room temperature for maybe 1.5 hours. Coated thinly with olive oil 30 minutes before grilling.

Lite 3/4 chimney of blue-bag Kingsford for the Weber kettle.

Grilled for about 3 minutes per side. Once time was up moved to other side of grate to stay warm. Once all complete moved to oven at 200 degrees to keep warm.

Results – Flavor was good although by the third one the fire had cooled so it did not have color–kinda grey. Too salty–should not have salted both sides so heavy. Somewhat chewy for the thinnest pieces. One thicker end (1/2-3/4″) was pink in the middle, tender and was like it all should have been.

Hungarian Goulash & Potato Pancake

Posted on by October 3, 2015

Recipe courtesy of Ted Wietrzykowski, Polish Village Cafe on 10/3/15

Total Time: 1 hr 15 min
Prep: 25 min
Cook: 50 min

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

Stew:
4 cups cubed pork butt
1 tablespoon paprika
5 mushrooms, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 Hungarian pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
Salt and black pepper

Potato Pancake:
1/4 cup ground onions
4 eggs
3 potatoes, peeled and ground, starch reserved
Salt and pepper
1 cup flour, plus more for thickening gravy
Vegetable oil, for frying
Sour cream, for serving

Directions

For the stew: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the pork, paprika, mushrooms, carrots, onions, peppers, salt and pepper in a roaster and roast 45 minutes.

For the potato pancake: Mix the onions, eggs, potatoes with their starch and some salt and pepper. Add the flour until the batter becomes thick but not too thick. Heat oil until hot in a pan. Spoon the batter into the pan and form a pancake. Fry on one side until brown, then flip and continue frying until both sides are brown, about 6 minutes.

Check the pork to make sure it is fully cooked. Strain the juice from the meat and vegetables, add to a pan and simmer over low heat. Slowly add flour into the juices to thicken the gravy.

Place the meat and vegetables on top of the potato pancake, cover with gravy and serve with sour cream.

Watch on Diners Drivins and Dives on 10/1/15. Recipe courtesy of Ted Wietrzykowski, Polish Village Cafe, 2990 Yemans St. Hamtramck, MI 48212
Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/hungarian-pancake-recipe.print.html

Steaks on the Chimney

Posted on by September 28, 2015

9/27/2015 – Bought three rib eye steaks that were 1/2″-3/4″ thick, 10″ long and 5″ wide. Cut them in half to make six small steaks that fit well within the diameter of the charcoal starter chimney. Salted with kosher salt two of them about 1pm and put them on the grill about 6pm. Coals were full grey covered and HOT. Grilled them 3 minutes per side as recommended by Meathead at AmazingRibs.com.

They were a bit chewy and not like a rib eye should be. Flavor was a bit bland as had not added fresh ground black pepper with salt per Meathead. He said the high heat would burn the pepper and make it bitter.

9/28/2015 – About 8am we salted, peppered and added Tenderizer to the other four halves. About 6pm put them one at a time on the Chimney turning them more that once and checking with instant read thermometer. Took them off at 135 degrees more or less and wrapped them individually in aluminum foil. These were more tender and better flavor. I did not detect burned or bitter pepper. Kept two in the foil for leftovers this week.