Another reason I'm Not allowed to bake

For this dinner I was once again reminded why I am not allowed to bake.  I attempted to make a batch of red pepper corn bread to serve with our grilled steak and Brussel's sprouts.

I popped open a bag of cornbread mix and followed the directions to a tee adding the exact right amounts of water, oil & egg.  I used a whisk to mix to the right consistency and then chopped up a fresh bell pepper and stirred that into the mix.  I poured it into the baking pan and baked for the prescribed period of time, testing with a toothpick to ensure it came out clean.

Everything looked good until I flipped it over onto the cooling rack and it promptly fell apart.  What I had neglected to account for what the additional liquid that would bake out of the peppers and completely throw off the mixture.  Yes, that's why what was supposed to be cornbread looks surprisingly like rice in the picture.  On the bright side, it was still tasty, albeit a little mushy.

Steak and Crab ... a tasty combination!

Whole Foods has had Alaskan King Crab legs off and on here for the last few months, and every now and then I just can't refuse.  For this dinner I went with a filet topped with the crab served alongside sautéed kale and stewed white beans.

To make the crab topper I sautéed the crab in butter with sliced fresh garlic and just before finishing I hit it with splash of white wine to loosen everything up.  I plated everything else and then topped off the steak with the crab mix ... it was amazing, try it an enjoy!

David Chang is an incredibly innovative chef and his line of Momo Fuku restaurants are not to be missed.  

Recently Shells found that Chang had started to bottle and sell his Ssam Sauce online.  Ssam sauce, at its core, is a mix of fermented bean paste and spicy chile paste.  For this dinner I found a nice meaty rack of ribs at Whole Foods and had them cut longwise into three strips.  I slow roasted the ribs at 325F for 3 hours covered and then added sauce and cooked them, uncovered for another hour.

I served the ribs with roasted wedges and salad.  The savory and spicy Korean flavor of the sauce adding a unique spice (no pun intended) to an otherwise very American dinner.  I highly recommend either making your own (recipe here) or buying some (much easier option) and trying this out.  Give it a try and enjoy!

Full meal on the grill

On of the great things about summer is that it's so easy to sit outside and just fire up the grill.  For this dinner that's just what I did with a whole collection of food: kale, garlic heads, bread, scallops, steak & even twice baked potatoes!

I turned on the left two burners of the grill and left the right two off to enable me to use indirect heat on some of the ingredients and direct heat on others.

The bread and garlic cloves went on the top rack for about 25 minutes before the steak went on.  The kale was on the lower rack, but as far away from the heat as it could be.  The 25 minutes was spent with the lid closed.

After the 25 minutes were up, on went the steak and potatoes.  For the potatoes I put them in a roasting tray away from the heat.

The steak, a dry aged NY Strip, went on direct heat.  After five minutes of cooking I rotated the strip 1/4 and then flipped it after another five.

Once the steak was flipped, I added the scollops to the grill.  After five more minutes of cooking I removed the steak to a cutting board and covered with a light towel.  At this point I also flipped the scallops and allowed them to finish cooking (they should not be translucent except in the very center).

After the scallops finished cooking, everything came off the grill and then it was time to plate.




I plated with the kale as a base to build on and then plated the potatoes, steak, scallops and garlic head in circular fashion around the plate.  It tasted as good as it looks in the following picture, try it yourself and enjoy!

The wonderful flavors of Pork!

I suspect that each week you go to the grocery store and buy basically the same things, I know I do.  And don't get me wrong, I love doing grilled pork chops during the week ... but I don't want to do the same boring thing each week.  I'll bet that you don't either.  With that in mind, I thought I'd share a couple of dinners we've done recently that use basically the same ingredients but feel very different.

For this first dinner, I used a base of kale as the veg component and then made baked wedges as the potato.

For the pork in this meal I did a pickle juice brining (soak the chops in pickle juice over night, flipping once) and then grilled them.  I used Stubb's spicy Bar-b-que sauce to give a sweet and spicy glaze to offset the savoriness imparted by the pickle juice.

For this next pork chop I coated it with an Italian seasoning and then grilled it.  I topped the chop with a mix of roasted red peppers and thin slices of fresh mozzarella cheese.  I used the SearzAll to melt the cheese on the top; however you could always use a broiler in a pinch.

For this dinner I served the chop once again with baked wedges and sautéed kale.

I changed the base up a little bit for this dinner, using sautéed collard greens and mashed potatoes.

For the pork I went with a grilled chop that I hadn't pre-treated in any way.  This is the toughest way to grill a pork chop because it can dry out quickly.

The "sauce" I made for this dinner was made with the bulbs of two spring onions that were lightly sautéed and then simmered for an hour with about 2 cups of beef stock.  At this point it was well reduced and was the perfect finish to this dinner.

For this final dinner I went with a Chimmichuri rub made combining a chimichurri mix and olive oil.  I grilled the steaks and then topped them with thin slices of parmesan cheese.  I melted the cheese down with the SearzAll, but as above you could use a broiler if you needed to.

I served this dish over mashed potatoes with roasted brussels sprouts.




So there you have it four fun ways to try and spice up your pork dinners, try one and enjoy!

Back with a vengeance ... or at least dinner

It's been a busy couple of weeks, but that didn't mean that when Mom and Dad came to visit we weren't able to cut back and cook some fun food.

We started with a raw bar set up, oysters and clams on the half-shell.  For the oysters I had a little fun and made a puree of avocado, lemon juice and a little bit of white wine.  The clams we ate with a traditional cocktail sauce.

Next up came Mom's contribution to the festivities, grilled octopus salad with seasoned potatoes and baby lettuce.  The marinade on the octopus helped to break down some of the chewiness and the grilling firmed up the outside just enough to give it that perfect texture.

What meal could be complete without Foie Gras?  For this I did a simple preparation of seared foie in a cognac glaze.   The trick with foie gras is to cook it in a nice hot pan so that it can warm all the way through and get a crispy exterior; all the while remembering that foie gras is a fat and will cook down to oil if you cook it too long.  I added a grilled spring onion and some sautéed shiitake mushrooms too!

The last dish was a take on a recurring favorite at our house, with the addition of a little twist; look there on the right.  The main was grilled dry aged NY Strip steak, finished with truffle butter and the searzall of course, served over white beans with greens.  And as a little treat I bought a small summer truffle and served shaved slices of truffle to finish off the dish.