Bacon-cheddar pizza......damn skippy

Wow! Been a long time since I posted anything. Been fighting the good fight in my battle with anorexia. I won. Yeah! To celebrate my victory over anorexia I thought it might be a good idea to make some pizza. I couldn't decide what type to make, so I made three different types. That'll show that damn anorexia who's the boss around here.

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I had made some tomato sauce two days prior for another meal. I took some of the kickass sauce and added some basil-garlic olive oil to make a pizza sauce. With the sauce already made, knockin' out the pizzas was relatively quick. I started the pizza dough when Lupe's parents and sister came by the house. By the time the chit-chatting out on the patio was done, the dough was ready. Lorena has some pizza making experience, so she took care of forming the pizzas. In the meantime, I had rendered some thick bacon end pieces and had sauteed some spicy chicken breast chunks. The big pizza (16") was topped with the chicken, spicy meatballs, red onion slices, black olives and cheese. That one went in the oven first as we worked on the two little ones. One was a very simple Pizza Margherita-like affair. It was topped with the pizza sauce, ripe garden tomato slices and mozzarella cheese. Just as it was coming out of the oven I tossed some fresh basil on top. Nice. If I could just learn to make my own mozzarella I could have totally homemade Pizza Margherita. The star of the evening had to be the cheddar-bacon pizza. I wanted to make a pizza that would taste like a bacon-cheddar burger. Topped with sharp cheddar, thick-cut bacon pieces, red onion, jalapeno and blue cheese crumbles, this pizza really hit the mark. The only thing that could have made it any better would have been adding some ground beef to the topping. Absolutely the best pizza I've ever made. Next time I do this one I'm goin' full Monty on it. I'll make it in my new 14" Sicilian pizza pan and add the ground beef. I might even try putting some pickles on it.

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Bacon-cheddar pizza. Best thing ever......damn skippy.

Ribs and BBQ: a match made in heaven

Can there be anything better than barbecued spareribs? Not!

A couple of weeks ago I picked up about 25lbs of St. Louis-style pork spareribs. Got an awesome deal on them as well: $0.99/lb. Can't beat that with a stick. I saved $4 a pound on these. Can you blame me for buying every pack of ribs in the display case?

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I mixed up a big ol' mess of dry rub and started prepping the ribs on Saturday morning. We were having the family over on Sunday for BBQ'd ribs and I had a lot to do.

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I got to try out my new vertical rib rack for the first time. It works well and is quite the space saver. I also used the opportunity to try out some new BBQ techniques that I read about in Adam Perry Lang's book, "Serious Barbecue". I started all the ribs over indirect heat in my BBQ. After about an hour or two, I sprayed the ribs with a mix of apple juice and cider vinegar and wrapped them in foil. They went back on the BBQ in the foil. Wrapping the ribs in foil allows them to baste in their own juices as they slowly cook. After a couple of hours the ribs are cooked through. The meat is nearly falling off the bone. At this point you remove them from the foil, brush them with BBQ sauce and put them back on the grill to finish. Putting them back on the grill sets up the sauce and gives the ribs a nice shiny finish. I used a hybrid BBQ sauce for this batch of ribs. I started with Chris and Pitts sauce and added honey, spices and all the cooking juices from the ribs.

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Were the ribs well-received? I guess.........................

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They sure didn't last long.

Those ribs were so good, we had an encore rib dinner again last Sunday. This time we went all out with the Southern BBQ glory. We had mac n' cheese (two types), corn bread, beans and potato salad.

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I suggested that we have a salad or some veggies, but Lupe just scoffed at the idea. She looked at me with absolute contempt and said; "Why would you want vegetables with ribs and mac and cheese?" I couldn't argue with that sentiment. Why, indeed? Who needs healthy when you've got the best damn BBQ around? So that's what we had: pork fat and carbs. Oh, but it was soooo good.

I had to stop stacking ribs on this serving platter when the pile got too steep. I wasn't out of ribs; there just wasn't any room on the plate.

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There was plenty of food to go around. By the way; look at the smoke ring on those ribs. Woooo-doggy! Might fine.

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Who'd a thunk that such a skinny kid could eat so much?

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Good stuff.

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Of Brine and BBQ

I've known about brining meats for quite a while now; however, I've never gotten around to trying it. Having come into the mother lode of cheap pork loins recently, I had the perfect opportunity to try out a new technique. I've always had problems with pork loins. They can be unforgiving on the BBQ. Before I got a probe-style thermometer I had more than my share of overcooked pork loins. I'd invariably get distracted and come back to the grill to find the loin at an internal temperature of 150 or 160. That's a disaster with most store-bought pork loins. They have so little fat, they turn to shoe leather very quickly when overcooked. I've found that I get the best results when I remove the loins from the heat when they reach 129-135, depending on the size of the loin. With the probe thermometer I can continuously monitor the internal temp. I am much more confident now that I can watch the temps continuously. Hell, the other day I turned the BBQ around so I could watch the thermometer from inside. I went in, opened the window in the bathroom and took a shower. All I had to do was peak out over the top of the shower door and I could see the thermometer. That's what I call BBQing in comfort.

So that brings me to the brining. I've been pig hunting lately and I need a good way to prep and cook the leaner wild pig meat (assuming I ever actually kill one). Brining should do the trick nicely. The unforgiving, lean pork loin is the perfect training ground for wild pigs. I was amazed at how moist and tender a brined loin can be. You also gain some latitude with the cooking temperature. I found that even letting them go to 150 still yields very good results.

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I like searing pork loins directly over the charcoal and then moving them off the heat for a nice long, slow cook. My new BBQ works well for this. It has an offset firebox that has it's own cast iron grates. I can sear the loins on the firebox grates or on the first grate next to the firebox, depending on the amount of charcoal I'm using.

I've been using hickory and apple wood chips a lot lately. I love the flavor that you get. Even the pork loins, which don't take all that long to cook, still get a nice smoke ring.

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There's nothing like a moist, tender pork loin with a beautiful smoke ring.

A couple of Sunday family meals

Now that we are living close to Lupe's family, we can have some big family meals at our house. Back in San Diego, I was always making big meals for just the two of us. No wonder why I gained so much weight. Now I can have fun and cook big meals, but I get to share them with lots of folks. Here are a couple of recent Sunday meals.

Lamb kebabs and grilled lamb

Lorena came over to help us with the prep work.

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She helped Lupe make all the veggie kebabs. I wanted to have the veggies separate from the Lamb, so I could get them all cooked properly. The lamb kebabs just had lamb and onions, while the veggie kebabs had red bell pepper, calabacita, red onion and mushrooms.

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Along with the kebabs, I grilled up part of a butterflied leg of lamb. I figured I could cook the lamb kebabs a little more than I would normally do with lamb, while I could have the grilled leg medium rare.

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I served it all up with some grilled asparagus, steamed veggies and smashed potatoes. Good stuff.

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Lasagna dinner

I've been working on refining the lasagna recipe. The first time I did lasagna for the family it turned out very loose. The flavor was great, but they were awfully runny. I've cut back on the meat sauce on the red lasagna and have upped the percentage of cheese, and bechamel. We did two types again; meat sauce and spinach.

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From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Along with the lasagna we had an antipasto salad, grilled asparagus and fettuccine with meat sauce for those who didn't want lasagna (or for those who just wanted to pack on the carbs).

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Another winner and everybody got a door prize......a big plate of lasagna to take home.

The return of the enchirito

When I was a little kid I used to love getting enchiritos at Taco Bell. An enchirito is a little burrito that is covered in enchilada sauce and cheese. As far as I can tell, they just made enchiladas with the ends of the tortillas tucked in like a burrito. Just a marketing ploy for an American market that was completely ignorant of real Mexican food. It worked; I loved the damn things. The best thing about it was the sliced black olives on top. I now know that they are about as unauthentic as anything from Taco Bell, but I love black olives and I use them in lots of my 'new' Mexican dishes.

I made venison enchiladas a few weeks ago and they had some structural problems. Trying to get them out of pan resulted in the filling spilling from the open ends. Still tasty, but messy and hard to get any sort of pleasing presentation on the plate. What to do? What to do?........

Enchirito them damn enchiladas. Same great flavor, but enclosed in a nice, tidy package. This time I got the great big, giant tortillas. Each enchirito was the full width of the baking dish. Each enchirito was probably enough to feed two. Of course, I had a whole one all to myself. Sometimes you just have to sit back and admire the damn food before you eat it.

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See, Lupe was impressed. She just had to take a moment and admire the beauty of the enchirito. Oh, by the way; they were goooooood!

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Homemade pickles

Not just any pickles; kosher dill pickles. It took a couple of tries to get things right, but it was sure worth the effort. I used Alton Brown's recipe for this batch. These are very good. Very similar in taste to the pickles that they serve at Canters Deli.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

What goes well with pickles? Everything. Especially pastrami sandwiches. To keep with the homemade theme, I decided to make my own pastrami to go with the pickles. I picked up a bunch of corned beef after St. Patrick's Day with the express purpose of making pastrami. Again, I turned to Food Wishes for the recipe. I didn't cook this in the oven, as Chef John does, but I did use the recipe for the spice rub. I smoked this on the BBQ for about 5 hours. It was a little salty, but the flavors from the spices were dead-on.

I don't go with the traditional deli-style pastrami sandwich. I like mine on Jewish rye with yellow mustard, swiss cheese and sliced pickles. A couple of pickle spears on the side and you got yourself one helluva lunch.

No pictures of the pastrami sandwich. I was hungry and ate it before I remembered to get the camera. I planned to take pictures the next day when I made another sandwich for lunch. Ate that one too fast as well. Next day.....pretty much the same. Seeing a trend develop?

Hammin' it up

Did another ham. A whole bone-in ham marinated and injected with mojo criollo.

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Tender, juicy, spicy.......totally awesome.

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So, what could possibly make this any better?

Any ideas?

Anything? Farris? Farris?

How about Tater Tots?

Yes, TATER TOTS!

Lupe has been bugging me to make her some Tater Tots for a long time now. I've been tempted, but I've really been trying to keep my body in runway form, at least through the end of fashion week. Well, that's over, so now I can binge. Tater Tot time!

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Spicy ham, Tater Tots dusted with garlic and Cayenne pepper and veggies in a white wine, cream sauce. Now that's some good eatin' raht there.

Everybody is happy when Tater Tots are on the plate.

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Valentines Day

Valentine's Day dinner wasn't that memorable (the food, not the company). The real high point of the dinner was the Boston cream cake. This is another gem from Chef John's Food Wishes website. This is basically two cakes filled with Boston cream filling and topped with chocolate ganache. Doesn't get much better than that. Oh yeah, sharing it with my Valentine sweetie was better than that.

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Spring recap

I have no excuse for not posting anything in two months. It's not like I've been too busy to post. And I've definitely been cooking a lot. Oh well; I guess I'm just a slug. How the heck do real bloggers write new stuff every day? I feel like Ernest Hemingway when I do two posts in a week. Enough belly achin', let's get to the belly pleasin' food porn.

This is from a while back. Before we moved up to Long Beach, I had to travel up here every week for work. The last week before the move, I stayed at the Crowne Plaza in San Pedro (ooooohhhh swanky). Since I was exiled in San Pedro, I had the perfect excuse to eat at the fish market at Ports O' Call. I wasn't really in the mood for a whole deep fried rock cod........

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.....so I opted for the next best thing; the shrimp plate (camerones y papas).

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This is the best thing you'll ever get served on a plastic cafeteria tray. And I do mean on a plastic cafeteria tray. No plates needed for this giant helping of shrimpy goodness. The dish consists of potato, onion, tomato and peppers sauteed on a flat-iron grill. When the veggies are cooked, a pound of shrimp (or however much you want to buy) are thrown on the grill. Everything is seasoned with what seems to be a Cajun-style seasoning powder. I think they splash a little water onto everything to make a nice, sloppy sauce. This big mess is dumped straight onto a cafeteria tray. I do mean a big mess. The shrimp aren't peeled, so you're going to have to wade in and get a little messy. Actually, you're going to get a lot messy. That's part of the fun of it all. Along with the shrimp and veg, you get these big pieces of awesome garlic bread.

The only thing that can make this anymore awesome is to eat there on a Sunday afternoon. Fully half the Mexican population of Los Angeles comes to Ports O' Call after church on Sunday. It is an absolute zoo. You have to send somebody out to find a table while you're waiting in line to get the shrimp, or waiting in line to get the shrimp cooked, or waiting in line to get drinks. There's a lot of waiting in line goin' on. That's just as well, because it's going to take at least a half hour for your scout to find a table. Most of the seating is out on the patio, overlooking the harbor. The patio is as crowded as a feed lot in a cattle yard. Along with everybody getting their grub on, you've got strolling mariachi bands and all sorts of unlicensed vendors hawking various and sundry trinkets and crap. It's pretty much like eating at a place in Mexico.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Good times. We're going to gather up the Lopez family and head back there some Sunday. I can't wait.

Enchilada venado (venison enchiladas)

I am in the process of swapping out our meat stock in the freezer. I just bought 8 racks of baby back ribs, so I had to clear some space in the freezer. Out with the venison and in with the pork. The first to be thawed was a large section of hindquarter. This was at least a 4-5lb section that I had boned out and butterflied. Even after the venison meat sauce/chili experiment, I still had quite a bit left over. I took a look a Chef Scott Leysath's very cool site, HuntFishCook, to get some ideas. While I didn't actually use his venison enchilada recipe, it did give me the idea for what I should do.

Day 1

The first step was to cook the venison. As lean as the meat was, I was reluctant to actually roast the venison. I decided to braise it instead. I cut the venison into large chunks to reduce the cooking time. Seasoning was pretty much my standard; salt, pepper, Cayenne pepper, smoked paprika and granulated garlic. I also used some Mexican oregano and cumin.

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The meat was seared on each side in a little lard and then removed from the pan. I had diced an onion, sliced a few jalapeños and crushed several garlic cloves. All of these got a quick sweat and then I deglazed the pan with some sherry. The meat went back in the pot along with a splash of cider vinegar and beef stock. After about three hours the venison was fork tender. Once cooled, I shredded it and then added all the pan juices back to the meat. I also re-seasoned at this time.

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Day 2

I started out by making the enchilada sauce. This step took me several hours, but it could go much faster. You can just use canned enchilada sauce if you want. I just like doing things from scratch sometimes. I removed the stems and seeds from about a dozen of each of Japonese, California and New Mexico chiles. I also used 5 or 6 ancho and morita chiles. The chiles were lightly toasted and then simmered in 2 quarts of beef broth for an hour or so. When the chile were soft, I pureed them in the blender. The beef broth was added to thin out the puree. When making the enchilada sauce like this, it is best to press the puree through a chinois or mesh strainer to remove the little pieces of chile. The next step was to sweat some diced onion, jalapeño and garlic in pork lard. When the onion softened I added a small can of tomato paste and seasoned with salt, pepper and Cayenne. As soon as all the liquid evaporated I added a quart of beef broth. This was reduced by half and then pureed in the blender. The tomato puree was returned to the hot pot and the chile puree was added until I got the desired taste and consistency. I only used about half of the chile puree that I had made. The rest will be used for the venison chili I'll be making next week. This mixture was simmered for another hour or two.

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Once the enchilada sauce was done, it was time to make enchiladas. The shredded venison was mixed with some enchilada sauce, a couple of cups of grated Monterey jack and mozzarella cheese and about a cup of crema Salvadorena (sour cream is a suitable substitute). I don't know the exact measurements; I just eyeball this part. You want the enchilada filling to have enough cheese and sour cream to be smooth and creamy without being runny. This is also the last chance to season. I added more salt, Cayenne, paprika and garlic to 'kick it up' a bit. At this point you want to start dropping your flour tortillas (I prefer flour, but corn also work)in the enchilada sauce. Very fresh flour tortillas just need both sides covered with sauce. Corn or inferior flour tortillas need to spend a little time in the sauce to soften up. Add a thin layer of enchilada sauce to the bottom of a baking dish (greased will prevent scorching and ease clean up). The enchilada filling is spooned onto the tortilla and it is rolled up. Remember; if you fold over and close the ends it becomes an enchirito, not an enchilada. The amount of filling is dependent on the size of the tortillas and how sloppy you want the meal. The rolled enchiladas are placed, side-by-side, in the baking dish. When the baking dish is full, you drizzle some of the sauce over the enchiladas and top with shredded cheese. In a nod to the Taco Bell enchiritos that I used to love when I was a kid, I top the enchiladas with thinly sliced green onions, sliced black olives and a mix of shredded yellow and white cheese (cheddar, jack, asiago & mozzarella). I cover the pan with non-stick foil and heat in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes. The foil is removed for the last few minutes to make sure the cheese gets all gooey and starts to brown a little.

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Because the enchiladas are so rich, I thought it would be good to have a slightly bitter veg to go with them. As luck would have it, I had some Brussel sprouts. I sauteed the sprouts and green onion slices in butter and olive oil and then deglazed the pan with white wine. The sprouts were seasoned with salt, Cayenne and black pepper. I added about a half cup of water and covered the pan. When the sprouts were tender I added some cream and let it go on medium heat until the sauce thickened.

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I garnished the plate with a little salad of finely sliced cabbage dressed with a pico de gallo.

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A lovely and tasty dinner. Yum.

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