Marinate pork with cinnamon and apple juice and then load it on to skewers alternating it with chunks of apple sprinkled with a bit of cinnamon. When you grill it the pork fat and apple chunks coat each other and the apple chunks get this wonderful soft, sweet, tart flavor like a baked apple only more savory.
Pork chops and apple sauce shish kabobs
Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Scrub four large baking potatoes, prick with a fork, then bake them for one hour at 400 degrees. Let cool, then remove skins and cut into chunks.
Fry 12 pieces of bacon until crisp, then crumble.
Grate one cup of Cheddar cheese (or more, depending on your taste)
This next part goes fast, which is why I like to have the prep work done.
In a large pot, melt 2/3 cup of butter, then stir in 2/3 cup of flour. Stir until incorporated, then stir one minute (you’re making a roux.)
Slowly add in six cups of milk. I’ve used half and half in my bad old days, but one day I used 2% milk and my family couldn’t tell the difference. Stir constantly over medium high heat until thick and bubbly. Dump in the potatoes, most of the bacon and cheese, and an eight ounce container of sour cream. Stir until blended, then serve with the remaining cheese and bacon as a garnish.
You can add chives, although I find I never use enough of them to make the purchase worthwhile. I’ve added roasted garlic and onions too.
We rarely have leftovers when I make this.
Crock Pot Roast
Put one roast in a crock pot. Add in one packet of dry Lipton onion soup mix and two cans of Campbell’s beef mushroom or golden mushroom, undiluted.
Do this in the morning, and when you come home from work you will have a falling apart roast that makes its own gravy. If someone is home earlier, they can add carrots and potatoes the last hour of cooking.
Short ribs with kalbi sauce
These are not the short ribs you get at a Korean restaurant. They’re modified American-style short ribs.
Several thick meaty short ribs on the bone
Bottle of thick kalbi sauce (from Korean market)
Put short ribs in a Dutch oven and barely cover them with water. Put them into a 320 degree oven for three hours, twenty minutes.
At the end of this time, line a baking tray with foil and gingerly lift the very tender ribs out onto the foil. Raise oven heat to 425 and put the ribs back in the oven. Start brushing them with kalbi sauce every few minutes until they’re glazed and starting to get crisp and brown on the outside.
Serve with Japanese rice and some sort of tangy Asian pickle.
This isn’t my best, but it’s certainly my most convenient:
Chop a couple onions into largish chunks. Put them in the crock pot.
Obtain two or three pounds of thick cut pork chops, with or without bone. Put them in the crock pot.
Dump a couple cans of Ro-Tel diced tomatoes over the pork chops in the crock pot.
Set the crock pot on LOW. Go to work. Later, come home.
Shred the pork with a couple forks.
Dish out the shredded pork, tomato, and onion. Serve on tortillas or as tacos.
Oh, and it helps if you plug the crock pot in. Really nice for when you know you’re not going to want to cook when you get home…
Aren’t you supposed to grill those? Every Korean place I’ve ever been to treats them just like bulgogi.
The nuns tend to get quite upset…
Al’s Killer CTM
2 lbs/ 1kg cubed chicken ( I tend to use boneless thighs to get more flavour)
1 Tbsp/15 ml Madras Curry
1 Tbsp15 ml chipotle/chile powder
1 med onion chopped fine
2 cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp mustard seeds
1 Tbsp chopped cilantro
dash of fleur de sel or sea salt
1 28 oz/800 g large can whole tomatoes (diced would be fine but I like squishing them). Drain and reserve juice for deglazing pan
My Garam Masala (Feel free to modify to your taste or use pre-mixed):
1 tsp/5 ml ea of cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg,cumin
1/2 tsp fleur de sel, black pepper,
dash of turmeric
1 cup warmed cream (It should be at least room temp to avoid shocking it when you add it to the hot liquid).
Cover frying pan bottom in veg oil on med-high and add curry powder and chipotle , mix until blended and add chicken and cook through. (Since this can be tricky with the spices on I cut bigger cubes and check for doneness by bisecting them.)
In a large sauce pan on med heat cover the bottom with oil and brown up onions. Add garlic, mustard seed and cilantro and cook until fragrant (usu. about a minute)
Add tomatoes and Garam Masala to onion mixture, mix and bring to bubbling.
Slowly add cream and mix thoroughly. Finally, add the chicken and deglaze the pan with the reserved tomato juice and reduce this to about 1/2. Add to pot.
Serve up with a bed of basmati rice, naan and a bottle of IPA.
If you can grind the spices fresh the result is much better, same with fresh vice dried cilantro.
Enjoy!
The best dish I’ve ever made is Venison Wellington. I used a backstrap from a deer I shot and butchered and made the duxelles with foraged mushrooms. It was amazing and I’ll never make it again.
When I get home I’ll type out the recipe for my French Onion Soup, it takes about 6 hours (to make, not to type out.)
In the meantime, here’s my Beer Cheese Soup.
1 c minced carrots
1 c minced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 t salt
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups beer (dark lager preferred, nothing hoppy!)
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
3 cups half and half or cream
6 cups shredded **sharp** Cheddar cheese (don't use anything over 18months old, it won't melt well)
1 1/2 t dry mustard
1 t sriracha
2 t Worcestershire sauce
Put carrots, onion, and salt in a saucepan with a tsp of the butter until onions are translucent, add garlic and cook 1-2 minutes more. Add chicken broth and beer; simmer until vegetables are tender, about 8 minutes.
Melt butter in a large soup pot. Stir in flour and make a light brown roux (or dark if you’ve got the time/skill). Gradually stir in hlaf and half, whisking to prevent scorching, until thickened. Remove from heat, and gradually stir in cheese. Keep warm.
Stir beer mixture into cheese mixture. mix in Worcestershire sauce, Sriracha, and dry mustard. Bring to a simmer until well combined.
Serve with toast points and garnish with cayenne pepper.
Not my recipe and I don’t even care much for the originator, but this recipe is simple and always gets raves when I serve it.
As I said, these are not Korean-style short ribs. They’re modified American-style. They’re big thick short ribs, stewed slowly to get them very tender, then crisped up in a hot oven at the very end.
Korean-style would be long thin slices across the bone, and then these bone-containing slices are grilled. Yummy, too.
Unless I’m missing something, read her next sentence.
My sausage gravy resembles traditional Southern sausage gravy like a filet mignon resembles a hamburger. I don’t claim it to be authentic, but even women love the stuff.
Slice about a quarter pound of bacon in 1/4 inch strips. Fry until crisp and remove from the pan.
(optional) Dice up half an onion, and sweat in the fat until tender.
Add a package of Jimmy Dean Sage sausage (or get some from your local meat dude) to the pan, breaking it up. Sprinkle liberally with dried sage, ground fennel, and ground black pepper. Fry until browned.
Add the bacon back in.
Add enough flour to the pan to form a roux. Allow the roux to brown slightly, then add about a half cup of 1/2 & 1/2. Add enough milk on top of that (stirring constantly) to get the gravy consistency that you want. Check for salt. Add more pepper.
Stir in a tablespoon or so of butter.
Serve on hot, buttered biscuits and top with an over easy egg, if you feel frisky. May need more pepper.
Definitely simple, but it’s a quick breakfast/snack that’s been in my family for quite a while: the Banana Peanut Butter Shake. One banana, a heaping tablespoon of peanut butter, about a cup of milk. Blend (I use one of those blender sticks, just because it’s a faster cleanup) and garnish with chopped peanuts. It’s remarkably filling and tasty.
For a dessert twist, substitute a tablespoon or so of unsweetened cocoa powder for the peanut butter - it comes out chocolatey and sweet, without any sugar beyond the banana.
Too Much Lasagna
1 lb (1 box) noodles
2 lb hot Italian sausage
Cumin
1 onion
8 cloves garlic
8.5 oz (2 cans) crushed olives
52 oz (2 large cans) tomato sauce
1 bunch spinach
1.5 lb mozzarella cheese
2 pints cottage cheese
Liberal shaking of basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, Parmesan cheese
Brown meat, cumin, onions, and half the garlic in a frying pan, and boil noodles. Then layer all ingredients in a 10x15 inch casserole pan.
Bake 30 minutes covered, 20 uncovered at 350 degrees.
Makes 8-12 servings
Sample layers:
mozz
sauce
noodles
olives
cottage cheese
mozz
sauce
noodles
spinach
onions
sausage
cottage cheese
noodles
sauce
My dandelion salad is even better, but that’s Gramma’s recipe, not mine. Ordinarily I tweak recipes a bit to my own taste, but never for that one.
I rarely make the same exact thing twice (life’s too short) and I love to cook.
That said, when I toss sliced kielbasa, tomato juice, and cranberry sauce (jelly) together and let it simmer for hours, nobody complains.
Spaghetti sauce with Italian sausage:
1/2 large onion, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
Olive oil
3 large hot Italian sausage links (or mixture of hot and mild), skins removed (or use bulk)
Large can of tomatoes (28 ounce) with juices
1 can tomato paste
1-2 cups robust red wine like Cabernet, Barolo or Syrah.
Bouquet garni (sprigs of fresh rosemary, thyme, basil, sage, wrapped with cheesecloth)
Salt & pepper
Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet or dutch oven. Add the onions and sweat for about five minutes, until tender. Add the garlic and sweat until fragrant. Crumble the sausage and brown. Remove excess fat. Add the tomato paste and stir in until the remaining fat is absorbed. Add the tomatoes, wine, the bouquet garni, salt and pepper. Bring to bubble, reduce to simmer and cook for about an hour, uncovered.
Discard the herb bundle and serve sauce over pasta.
This sounds freaking awesome!
I make samosas. Nothing special- I don’t follow a recipe, just make a dough using yogurt and some spiced potatoes.
Hit the is something special about having a few dozen samosas.
Three pounds of pork knuckles, one pound of dried string beans, stewed for 2.5 hours into a thick gruel, seasoned with fermented anchovies. That’s salt, cholestetol, and uric acid all in a big cauldron. Yummy.
First off - I want Burpo’s banana pudding RIGHT NOW!! Gosh that sounds good.
Secondly, I’m not a fabulous cook, I just don’t have the time, but I have a pasta salad recipe that everyone asks me to bring to cookouts and potlucks. Here it is:
Sour Cream Pasta Salad
8-oz pkg small shell or elbow macaroni
3/4 cup diced bell pepper (I like the colored ones like yellow or orange for extra color)
1/3 cup pickle relish
1/4 cup chopped pimentos or sun dried red pepper in oil
1 Tbsp finely grated onion
1/2 cup Miracle Whip (or mayo)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
Drizzle of milk for consistency (I usually add this later if needed to keep the salad moist)
I mix it all up and let it sit in the frig overnight. It’s ok when first mixed, but the flavors really meld when it chills for several hours. The sour cream keeps the salad moist but not runny.
It’s easy to double this for a bigger group, too.