Recipe thread

[anarky]

I just made THE BEST salsa ever

I got a basic recipe a while back, and I've been tinkering with it every time. Today, using some veggies that would've gone bad if they weren't used ASAP, I finally came upon the perfect combination: spicy but not too hot, sweet, and smokey.

(When I grilled the following, I dredged them in olive oil, then covered them in ground pepper and salt.)

Two poblano peppers, grilled, peeled, and seeded
One sweet onion, thinly sliced and grilled (I prefer Vidalias, but they're not available here at this time of year. I believe the one I used today was a Maya.)
Two small tomatoes, thinly sliced and grilled
Two tomatillos, blanched, thinly sliced, and grilled
About 5-6 small sweet peppers (of the sort you find at Costco), grilled and seeded (these mofos are impossible to peel)

I put this in a blender with a small amount of water and olive oil, along with salt, pepper, two cloves of garlic, about 1-2 teaspoons of cumin, and a good handful of cilantro. (I didn't measure any of it, and I'm of the mind that you can never have enough cilantro in any Mexican dish.)

My wife actually wanted homemade hamburgers tonight, so they're going to get served up with provolone cheeseburgers this evening. And the leftover salsa will probably not last long.

Like I said, I didn't measure, but just kept tasting it and adding whatever else it tasted like it needed. Salsa is surprisingly easy to make. I recommend trying it. It seems to impress people.

[anarky]

Spicy pancakes and fried pork chops

Batter: Flour and penko crumbs spiced to taste (I added salt, black pepper, white pepper, chipotle pepper, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, dried onions, and jalapeno flakes)

Egg wash: One egg, milk, salt, black pepper, hot sauce (I used Tapatio)

Note: Don't make either too hot, as the spiciness will be concentrated!

Fill one skillet about half full with oil and heat over medium-high heat. Place a second skillet in the oven and pre-heat to 375F. When the oil on the range has heated, lower the heat to medium.

Take two pork chops (room temperature, with as much blood as possible drained) and cover completely in the egg wash mix. Dip in the batter mix and cover thoroughly. Place in the oil-filled skillet and cook until golden brown on all sides (about five minutes per side). Remove from this skillet and place in the skillet in the oven. Heat for about 20 minutes, or until done.

Pour most (but not all) of the oil out of the first skillet. Mix the batter and the egg wash, and add diced scallions (and cilantro and diced jalapenos, if desired). Pour into the skillet and cook like a regular pancake.

Place the chop on the pancake (sliced into equal portions for everyone) on the plates. Serve with corn (I used the Trader Joe's roasted corn, and it worked excellently).

[anarky]

Improvised Upside-Down Hot Spinach Salad w/ Pork

I threw this together with leftovers and things in the fridge and pantry that needed to be used up or thrown out.

First, I cut three boneless pork chops into small pieces. I made a marinade using the following:
Vegetable juice (I used TJ's Garden Patch, but V8 would probably work)
the remains of two salad dressing bottles (Kraft Tangy Tomato Bacon and Kraft Roasted Red Pepper with Parmesan--about 3/4 of a bottle, altogether)
ketchup
honey
red wine vinegar
dried onion
dried jalapeno flakes

I marinated the pork overnight.

Next, I sweated carrots, onions, garlic, and celery in butter in a cast iron skillet. Removed the veggies to a separate bowl. Took the pork from the marinade (as best as possible--some of it sticks) and put it in the skillet. I poured the rest of the sauce in a pot and heated it over very low heat.

Cooked the pork on medium-high for about 10 minutes, keeping it moving so the sugar in the liquid didn't burn. Then I poured this all into the pot and increased the heat to a low boil. (Around this time, I decided it was way too vinegary, and added sugar and more ketchup to the mix. Also put in a few more dried jalapenos and a touch of orange juice.)

Deglazed the skillet with garlic wine vinegar (we keep several varieties of vinegar on hand, in case you're wondering). Let this reduce, and added a bag of (thawed) frozen spinach, mixed in the veggies from earlier, covered, and cooked it for about five minutes.

While the spinach was cooking, I took a load of bread that was on the edge of staleness and wasn't good for much else (La Brea's Three Cheese Semolina), sliced it into 1/2"-thick slices, and toasted them.

To serve, I placed the toast on a plate, covered it with the spinach, added the meat, and generously poured the sauce over the whole shebang to soak into the toast.

[mabudon]

I'll post a recipe for burr-pitoes soon, but I just had to LMAO at reading the Salsa recipe- I hadn't seen it before but DID read the epilogue in the BM thread, perhaps you'd like to add a "keeps for one week tops" to that opening post 'Nark

And the leftover salsa will probably not last long.

long enough

[anarky]

AWESOME CHICKEN DIPPING SAUCE

Beer syrup (or a beer and some brown sugar)
Ketchup
Tomato paste
Hot sauce (I used a fairly cheap but damned good Mexican sauce called Tapatio, which is similar to Cholula--hot, flavorful, and bit on the salty side)
Black pepper
Salt
Worcestershire sauce (just a dash or two)
Apple juice
Coffee grounds
Dried jalapeno flakes (these things fucking rock)

Pretty simple. Boil the ketchup and hot sauce together, then start adding the other ingredients to taste. If you use Tapatio or a similar sauce, go lighter on the salt.

As you can tell from my comment in the Beer Syrup thread, this is basically a barbecue sauce with a few added kicks.

[mabudon]

Burr-peet-oes

However many can's of beans (red kidney and black beans work well) drained and rinsed OR a few cups of lentils (green or black, red ones not so much) cooked and drained

Onions to suit

spices in whatever amount you like (recommended cumin, coriander, hot pepper flakes or powder, little hot mustard, black pepper, fenugreek if you have it, garlic)

Little oil to fry it up in

Pita breads (these will be your "flour tortillas")

Whatever garnish you like (I like lettuce and tomatoes- tomato paste will do as well, spread thin on the pita)

METHOD:

Basically chop the onions then put 'em in the frying pan with a little oil on medium heat(don't really need much more than to make them not stick)



Once the onions are softened, dump in the beans/lentils and all yer spices (you can ad however much salt you'd like at this point too, or just add it later), mix and mash it all up until it makes a nice kind of mush, after a few minutes it will be dry enough to resemble taco stuffing-type shit, kinda crumbly- you'll know when it's ready

I like to add some frozen corn at this stage and cover the pan while it heats up again, ads some steam to the mix and some texture to the finished product

Once it's cooled enough , slap it on a pita with whatever you think will go well with it (I actually like harissa paste on there too as it adds a neat bitterness and hotness- sometimes I like mustard on there too) roll it up and eat it

SUPER cheap and easy, and damn good, a weird mix of middle eastern and Mexican foods that really does work- AND I made it up myself and honed it over the past several years

[anarky]

That sounds good; I'm going to have to try it.

Unnamed Totally Improvised Chicken Dish

This was made with leftover veggies and a small pack of chicken breast tenders, all thrown together. I didn't measure anything.

First, I liberally salted and peppered the chicken, cut it into small pieces, and let it sit while I started the rest.

I cut about 1/2 a Vidalia onion (though I suppose any sweet onion would do), 1/2 an Anaheim pepper, and two cloves of garlic. I sweated these in canola oil. When they started getting transluscent and smelling good, I added salt, black pepper, dried mustard, oregano, a small pinch of jalapeno flakes (I frigging love those), sweet paprika, and dried orange peel.

Mixed in the seasonings, then added what was left of a bottle of apple cider vinegar (maybe a tablespoon or so). Then I added the chicken and stir fried it.

I added a bit of the above seasonings (particularly paprika and mustard) later in the process to taste. When the chicken was done, I served over rice, topped with cut cilantro and scallions.

I tried to deglaze the pan and make a sauce, but it came out especially bitter and ruined the portion of chicken I poured it over.

[anarky]

Kitchen Sink Hot Chicken Salad

First, I cut one very large chicken breast into cubes, and put the pieces in a large mixing bowl. To the bowl, I added apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, the juice of one lime, cumin, cayenne pepper, lemon pepper, sweet paprika, a shot of tequila, dried jalapenos, and a lot of salt and coarsely-ground black pepper. Stirred to mix, and set aside.

Chopped several sweet peppers and onions into fine pieces. Heated a skillet of vegetable oil. Added the peppers and onions and stir-fried until soft. Added the chicken and marinade and stir-fried. (This resulted in a lot more juice than I'd expected, which is why I decided to make it a salad dressing. I was originally just trying to flavor the chicken a bit.)

Poured the chicken and dressing over two bowls of salad, and crumbled up several Black Pepper & Olive Oil Triscuits. (I said this was "kitchen sink" here.) Topped with a generous handful of shredded cheddar (with a little monterey jack) and ground more pepper over it.

[Zaphod]

i just made a great hamburger. i went to jack in the box, pulled out a picture of lincoln, and asked them for a jumbo jack with cheese. excellent!