Pork Chops & Chicken

Cherry Chocolate Ice Cream

(For the record, I tried to take a picture of this ice cream on three separate occasions with two different batches. They all came out blurry. Picture Fail.)

I found this recipe while surfing FoodGawker. It's a wonderfully delicious ice cream recipe from the blog Our Best Bites. It turned out really well and was absolutely fantastic.

Cherry Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients


2 C cherries, pitted and halved or quartered (about 40-50 cherries)
1 4.5 oz dark chocolate bar (about 1 C shavings, but can't go wrong with more)
1 1/2 c. 2% milk
1 c. sugar
2 egg yolks
1 c. heavy cream
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (I used 1 full tsp.)
1/2 tsp. pure almond extract (I used 1 full tsp.)

Combine milk and sugar in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium until bubbles form around the edges. Remove from heat.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk eggs thoroughly. Very slowly, add 1/2 of the hot milk mixture, whisking the eggs constantly. Return pan with remaining milk mixture to stove top and then whisk the egg and milk mixture back into the saucepan, whisking constantly. You need to be careful here to not get the eggs too hot too fast, or else they'll curdle.

Add whipping cream. Over medium-low heat and stirring constantly, continue heating the custard mixture to 160 degrees. It will start to thicken quickly.

A good trick to test the custard mixture is to dip a spoon in and run your finger down the back of it. When your finger leaves a track, it's ready.

Once ready, remove from heat and add chopped cherries immediately. Add vanilla and almond as well. Let the custard cool (you can use an ice bath if you want to speed that process up) and then place in the fridge to chill for several hours.

Once the custard is cooled and chilled pop it in your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturers directions.

 

While ice cream is churning, grate the chocolate. Add the chocolate shavings into the ice cream when there's just a few minutes left. If you wait too long and it's already to thick to really mix it well, just stir them in by hand as you transfer your ice cream into another container. Chill in the freezer for a few hours and then devour.

*Side Note: I started to shave the chocolate and it was tedious and too thin. So I grabbed a small knife with a serrated edge and chopped and shaved it at the same time. It made for shavings and actual chunks which was much better in the ice cream.

My three different attempts to take pictures of this ice cream all of which came out blurry.

 

Update: I have made this twice now and have been actually craving it nearly everyday since I first made it. Damn you Cherry Chocolate Ice Cream! DAMN YOU!!

Captains Meeting / BBQ At The Fishers

We had a post festival captains meeting at our good friends house the Fishers last Thursday. Post beer festival meeting with the captains who graciously help me run the show. We just had the BeerAdvocate American Craft Beer Festival at the Seaport and World Trade center in Boston in June. We normally host them at the BCA in the South End but to a much smaller gathering. This festival at the Seaport was nearly ten thousand people.

This was a hard fest to pull off, but we made it and now my captains and I needed to unwind and talk it out. But not without beers and a little BBQ first!

 

 

We started out with some spreads and dips which sadly I didn't get a picture of. Then Matt McGrath, who had been quietly working on the grill, presented us with some homebrews. It was a 2005 Belgian style triple. He paired it with grilled stuffed apricots wrapped in prosciutto.It was stuffed with blue cheese and walnuts. This pairing was delicious although a tad messy as the apricots were super soft. The beer had aged nicely as it was well rounded on the edges. No sharp steel-y malt tastes but a light and crisp tripel with subtle notes of citrus. It was very soft and delicate but again delicious. Keeping all the sample glasses from past festivals serves it's purpose well.



While Matt was grilling the apricots her also had been roasting fresh garlic in Schlenkerla Urbock on the grill. Then he mashed/pureed it for a dip. It wound up being great on the burgers.

 

Other foods being served were onion burgers with cheese, teriyaki marinated chicken strips, and hot dogs made by Adam Fisher and Abby Williamson. My Baked Beans with Maple Bacon. Sauteed Kale with a spicy butternut squash puree made by Alana Rivera. And an onion, tomato, and basil tart made by Tyler Hougaboom.

   

 

Then we enjoyed homebrews from Adam along with my Dried Tart Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies with pecans and almond extract.

Adam served us with:

10W40 - approx. 17% Abv. - Its loosely based off of a Foriegn Extra Stout. Brewed on 11/24/02 and bottled on 5/8/03.

10W40 Take 2 - 15% Abv. - Don't remember exactly but this one had some weird sugars in it like Molasses, Honey, etc. Brew on 11/23/03 and bottled on 4/21/04.

Really good stuff!

So that's how we roll. A mellow low-key BBQ with some awesome homebrews, good food, and great friends around.

Mean Jean Meat Sauce (Spaghetti and Meat Sauce with Garlic Bread)

(I love that this picture shows hot steam coming from the plate.)

There is no real correlation to the name and this particular meat sauce. It entered my head and refused to leave. Mean Jean Meat Sauce is what this sauce will be called henceforth.

This is a meat sauce that I like to make from time to time. It varies with some of the ingredients, but you will notice the "optional" next to the ingredients I use or sometimes skip.

This is a recipe ideal for large families or for freezing copious amounts of leftovers. Be advised to have a pot or pan large enough to cook this massive recipe in. I use a large wok and still this sauce was almost too big.








Mean Jean Meat Sauce

Ingredients:

2# ground Beef or Turkey
2 1 pound jars of Pasta Sauce (Prego ect.)
2 cans Stewed Tomatoes not drained (optional)
1 large White Onion
1 large Green Bell Pepper
1 Large Yellow Bell Pepper
1 Large Red Bell Pepper
10 to 15 large White Mushrooms
1 to 2 Large carrots
2 stalks Celery
4 or 5 cloves of Garlic finely minced
1/2# Pancetta or a big chunk of a Prosciutto End (optional)
2 Bay Leaves
1/2 tbls. Chili Powder
1/2 tbls. Sage
1 tbls. Oregano
1 tbls. Basil
1 tbls. Italian Seasoning
1 tbls. Onion Powder
1/2 tbls. Garlic Powder
2 or 3 dashes Cinnamon (Optional)
1/3 cup Sugar (Optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste

*A couple of notes before we start. The stewed tomatoes are optional. I add them because I like them in my sauce. If you build a base sauce without the pasta sauce you can add plain tomato sauce and tomato paste with the stewed tomatoes. Just spice the sauce heavily. It's much easier to use a premade pasta sauce though.

The Pancetta or Prosciutto end add a wonderful salted pork/ham flavor to the pasta sauce. It's totally optional but I find it works well. It was a tip given to me by a cook a few years ago that I have adopted and kept on with. You won't need much salt added to the sauce if you add this step to your sauce.

I also add a pinch of sugar and cinnamon to my sauce. The sugar helps tone down the acid in the tomato sauce. If you have heart burn you might want to think about adding sugar to your sauces. I add a touch of cinnamon for a unique angle to my sauce. It will make your sauce smell like cinnamon but does not overwhelm or dominate the sauce. Believe me when I say, I know how weird this sounds. It's just and interesting option that I happen to like when balancing the salty meats added to the sauce. Sweet and Savory.

Method:

 

Wash all vegetables. Peel carrots and thinly slice them. Slice bell peppers in half and empty the cores. Cut the ends from the celery. Finely chop the peppers and celery and place in a bowl and leave on the side for now. 

Next thinly slice mushrooms and place in a separate bowl an leave on the side.

Chop onions and garlic and very fine.

In a large pan or pot begin to cook ground beef or turkey on medium high heat with onions and garlic. Once the meat is fully cooked drain off any excess water and grease.

 

Reduce heat to medium. Add sauce, stewed tomatoes, spices, vegetables, and mushrooms.

Allow the sauce to cook for a few minutes. Then add pancetta or prosciutto end and allow sauce to simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Stir occassionally while simmering. Adjust heat to make sure you have a perfect small bubble simmer.

While the sauce is simmering begin prepping Garlic bread. 

Once the sauce has simmered, remove pancetta from the sauce. Trim the fat from the pancetta and dice the meat and stir the meat back into the sauce. 

Allow to simmer for a few more minutes and then turn the heat off of the sauce. Begin boiling your pasta adding some olive oil and salt.

Once pasta is cooked, drain and add a touch more olive oil to prevent noodles from sticking. Plate the noodles and cover with copious amounts of sauce. Serve with garlic bread.

 

Garlic Bread

1 large French Baguette

1 to 2 sticks of butter (I used two because my baguette was large.)

1 tbls chopped garlic

1 1/2 tbls Italian seasoning

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp onion salt

Preheat oven to 375° Slice baguette in two inch pieces without cutting all the way through. Place baguette in foil and slightly wrap it up in foil.

Melt butter in microwave. Add garlic and spices and mix well. Drop a teaspoon of garlic butter between each slice of the baguette. Coat the top of the baguette with remaining mixture. Finish wrapping baguette in foil and place in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

Modified Fish Tacos With Pineapple And Papaya Coleslaw And Sopa Fideo

Yep I made beer battered fish tacos. I am a bad ass.

I have decided to cook more verses baking sweets and desserts. I am through being intimidated with actual cooking. I can do anything in a kitchen, the harder it seems the easier it is for me. But for some reason I avoid cooking actual meals and bake instead. Silly.

So in an effort to take more control of my kitchen I made fish tacos. And even better, I modified this recipe for a much more suitable outcome.

For this recipe I will only link the original source. A lot of it is intact but I will reference every thing I have changed with an asterisk.

Also included in this recipe, is a recipe for Sopa Fideo. My brother-in-law used to make this all the time. I thought it would be good for a side dish to the fish tacos. That's why you will see other ingredients in the picture below.



Fish Tacos with Pineapple and *Papaya Coleslaw

   By Matthew Goudge and Modified by Candice Alström


Ingredients:

For the coleslaw: Make 2 hours in advance

*1 cup of cabbage, shredded (I used 2 cups coleslaw mix)

*1 cup of red cabbage, shredded

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

*1/2 cup canned cubed pineapple with juice

*1/2 cup fresh Papaya skinned and cubed or 1 half small papaya

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon mustard

 

Mix all of the ingredients for the coleslaw in a large bowl and let sit in the refrigerator for several hours to let the flavors combine.

For the fish:

*Fresh Cod cut in to 6 to 8 two inch pieces

*2 cups all purpose flour

*2 cups  or one 16oz Tall Boy Narragansett Lager

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons onion powder

Oil for frying

8 corn tortillas for serving

 

Mix the flour, beer, egg, salt, baking powder, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder into a bowl until it has the consistency of pancake batter. Dip each piece of fish in the batter and then put aside so the batter sets.

*I dropped the fish in the batter and left it in there until my grease heated to proper temp. The original recipe called for rice flour. I used the 2 cups and found my self still using all purpose flour to thicken the batter and actually make a real batter. The rice flour was gritty and terrible. I didn't mind it as much blended but it still had a gritty texture. Skip it and use regular all purpose flour. Just make sure your batter has the right consistency and is not too thick or runny.

Also, the use of Narragansett was the right beer for this batter. Something highly carbonated and tasty. So many people (Beer Geeks) think they have to use extravagant beers when cooking. You absolutely can, but why not drink the good stuff and use the cheap stuff for the cooking? Not that Narragansett isn't worthy of drinking. Unless you need a beer with a specific flavor, like when I used a raspberry beer for Belgian Raspberry Brownies with Espresso Ganache. But we're talking about a beer batter here. Blonde ales or effervescent carbonated beers work just fine. Narragansett is a classic cheap lager that tastes great and added good flavor for this batter. And being in 16 oz tall boys, it's perfect for the recipe calling for two cups.

Heat the oil to 350 degrees or medium high heat. Fry each piece of fish until golden brown and cooked, about 6 minutes. Remove to a paper towel and sprinkle with salt.

For the sauce:

1/2 cup ranch dressing

3 tablespoons taco seasoning

2 teaspoons sugar

To make the sauce, mix the ranch and the taco seasoning right before serving the fish tacos.

Wrap the corn tortillas in a wet towel and microwave for 30 seconds to make them pliable. Use two tortillas to form the shell instead of one. Fill the taco with two pieces of fish then add a heaping pile of slaw and top with sauce.

 

 

Sopa Fideo

Ingredients

8 oz Fideo or Italian Vermicelli (I mixed the vermicelli with small pasta)
1 8 oz can plain tomato sauce
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp cumin
1 1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tsp chili powder
2 tbls canola oil



In a small pan add canola oil and heat on medium to medium high heat. Add pasta to the oil and coat with the oil until pasta begins to brown.



Add half of the can of tomato sauce and 1 cup of chicken stock to the pasta. Add spices and stir. Cook until pasta has soaked up nearly all liquids.

Add rest of tomato sauce and stock and and simmer for ten minutes until thick and creamy like. Remove from heat serve hot.

Baked Beans With Maple Bacon

Kitchen sauce baked beans are the way to go for any BBQ. They are super easy to make, they are always a crowd pleaser, and it's loaded with tons of maple bacon. How can any recipe go wrong when it calls for a ton of bacon and maple bacon at that?


(Not pictured are the spices and Worcestershire sauce.)

Ingredients

1 55oz can of Bushes Baked Beans (any flavor)
1 22 oz can of Bushes Baked beans (any flavor)
1/3 cup Molasses
1/3 cup Yellow mustard
1/3 to 1/2 cup BBQ sauce or Ketchup
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
1 package of Maple Bacon
1 white onion
2 tbls Worcestershire sauce
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder


Preheat oven to 375°.

   

Open beans in cans and drain the sauce except for 1/3 of it. Empty beans into a large bowl.



Add molasses, mustard, BBQ/ketchup, brown sugar, worcestershire sauce, and a liberal sprinkling of garlic salt and onion salt. Mix well and set on the side.



Loosely chop onions and bacon.

 

In a pan heated on medium high heat, heat up bacon. Let it cook for a few minutes and then add onions. Cook until onions are soft and have absorbed some of the bacon grease. Drain off any excess grease and add bacon to beans. Stir well and beans to a baking dish. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes covered in foil until the beans begin to have a rigorous bubbling. Then remove cover and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Serve hot.

Triple Berry Crisp

After making Chocolate Berry Rum shakes the other day I realized I still had a ton of these frozen berries to get rid of. Now that they have been thawed, they can't be refrozen. Another situation with ugly fruit and what to do about it.

Since it's July 4th, I thought abut making something American and simple. A crisp. Well I don't know how "American" the origins of a crisp actually are, and since it's a patriotic day, I will just pretend it's all American. The south seems to think it originated there, so why not? Lest we forget the Apple pie isn't American at all, but we like to say it is.

I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com.

Triple Berry Crisp

by Polly Giebler

 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups fresh blackberries
1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
4 tbls sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups butter

*My frozen mixed berries worked just as well as fresh berries. Just drain off the excess juice from the berries before adding them to this dish.

Preheat oven to 350° F.



In a large bowl gently toss together berries and white sugar and set aside.



In a separate bowl combine flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.



Press half of mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan.



Cover with berries. Sprinkle remaining crumble on top of the berries.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until fruit is bubbly and topping is golden brown.

Quick and Easy French Bread Pizza

Just like when you were a kid. Easy dinner idea and fun to make with the kids.




Ingredients:

1 Long French Baguette cut in 3rds and halved
1 Green Pepper Sliced
1 Onion Chopped
5 Large White Mushrooms Thinly Sliced
6 to 8 Thinly Sliced Prosciutto
Tomato Sauce/ Pasta Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese

*Toppings can be whatever you like. Just have a tomato sauce base and cheese to top it with.

Preheat oven to 375°F.



Place bread on cookie sheets and begin to top them starting with tomato/pasta sauce as base.





Top with mozzarella after toppings. Push the bread together to allow more of the cheese to stay on top. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and golden on the edges. Remove from oven, let stand for a few minutes and serve.

Serves 3 to 6 people.

Mom! The Meatloaf F*CK!!

Who could forget this classic scene in Wedding Crashers? Living the dream and eating meatloaf.

Well this is my famous meatloaf and fresh green beans with scallion cream cheese mashed potatoes.

This is way better than yo mama's meatloaf. It's better than my mama's meatloaf!

I have made this recipe a few times now. I am going to try a different blog approach to it. I am going to post the pictures in tandem from different times I made this so you can see how easy this recipe is and how awesome it tastes. The only problem is the first time I took pictures, I took the unbaked meatloaf to a friends house and forgot to take pictures of the finished product. So one side will go all the way up until that point. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.



My Meatloaf

4# of Ground Beef or Ground Turkey
1 Large Green Pepper finely chopped
1 Large Onion finely chopped
1 packet Dried Onion Soup Mix
1 cup to 1 1/2 cup Italian Bread crumbs
4 Large Eggs
1 1/2 tbls Garlic powder
1 1/2 tbls Onion powder
3 tbls Worcestershire Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

Side Note: This recipe can easily be halved. Use an 8x4x2 in. loaf pan for half recipe.

Topping:

1 cup BBQ sauce or Ketchup
1/4 cup Yellow Mustard
3 dashes Worcestershire Sauce
2 dashes Garlic Salt
1/2 cup or less or Brown Sugar
2 dashes Onion Salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients for meatloaf and mash together until all is thoroughly mixed with hands.





 
 




 

Form meat mixture into 9x13 in. pan. For halved recipes use an 8x4x2 loaf pan.



In a small bowl whisk together all ingredients for topping. Then coat the top of the meatloaf leaving 1/3 of the sauce for later.





Bake Meatloaf for 45 minutes. 35 in smaller loaf pan. Remove from over and coat the top of the meatloaf with remaining sauce. Put back into over for another 15 minutes. 10 more minutes for the smaller loaf pan.

 


Green Beans:

Fresh Green Beans washed, halved with the ends cut
3 tbls Butter
3 dashes of Seasoned Salt

Boil green beans in water with butter and seasoned salt about 10 minutes before serving. Boil longer for less al dente beans.



Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes

2# of Peeled Potatoes
1 8oz package Cream Cheese
1 Stick of Butter
2 dashes Garlic Salt
2 dashes Onion Salt
Splash of Milk
One Bushel of Chives finely chopped or 4 to 5 Scallions finely chopped 

Peel and chop potatoes into small cubes. Boil in water with a sprinkle of kosher salt until potatoes are very soft.





Drain potatoes and transfer to mixer. Or mash by hand. Add one stick of butter and cream cheese to potatoes gradually. Add Splash of milk, garlic salt, and onion salt. Whip the potatoes until smooth. Add chives or scallions while whipping. Let sit for a few minutes and then serve.

Plate it all up and serve it hot!

Dark Chocolate Toblerone and Pecan Cookies

 

I am supposed to be on a diet, but every time I go visit family, I have to bring something sweet. My sister-in-law is pregnant with baby number 2 and she expressed love for Toblerone. I was going to make the Toblerone block into cookies a few weeks ago but opted to use dark chocolate Kit Kat bars instead. Good thing I waited.

Again I used the simple Ghirardelli Chocolate chip cookie recipe. It really is the best recipe out there. And as proven twice now you can substitute the chocolate and play around with some of the ingredients. In this case I replaced the chocolate chips with large chunks of chopped up Toblerone


(Noticeably absent from the picture is flour. I bought a giant 25 pound bag from Costco and it sits on the floor not on the counter tops.)

The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie

• 1 400g block/bar Dark Chocolate Toblerone coarsely chopped
  
• 2 1/4 cup(s) unsifted flour
• 1 teaspoon(s) baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) teaspoon salt
• 1 cup(s) (2 sticks) butter
• 3/4 cup(s) sugar
• 3/4 cup(s) packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoon(s) vanilla
• 1 cup(s) chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Stir flour with baking soda and salt; set aside. In large mixer bowl, cream butter with sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture.

Stir in nuts and chocolate bits.

Drop 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake at 375ºF for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.

    

Doc Allen's Summer Salad

Doc Allen is my father, Ralph. I don't know to this day if my father really knows how to cook or not. He kind of wings it every time and has reasonably good results. He almost always cooks with beer, and the freshest vegetables are always used. He is a man who has worked in produce for over 30 years. And one of his hodgepodge creations is this summer salad in pita pockets.

I have asked him about 50 times for the recipe and never wrote it down. I even had him over and make it for me and my husband and never wrote it down. This time I did and am blogging about it with pictures.

*This is a large recipe. This is for picnics or for the intention of eating over the course of a few days. Unless you have a massive family with starving teenagers in the house with super metabolisms.

Doc Allen's Summer Salad



4 to 5 chicken breasts
16oz seashell pasta
Tri color peppers (green, yellow, red or orange)
3 sweet apples (Fiji or Pink Lady)
1 bundle of spring onions
1 Vidalia or sweet Spanish onion
2 4oz packages of broccoli sprouts
1 8oz package of crunchy sprouts
12oz package mung bean sprouts
5 cloves of garlic
2 8oz blocks of Monterey Jack cheese
1 16oz bottle of ranch dressing (Marzetti's if possible)
1 16oz bottle of honey mustard dressing (Marzetti's if possible)
2 to 4 packages of sturdy pita bread

You will need two large bowls to mix this salad up or one massive industrial size bowl if you have it.




Boil pasta in a large pot. Once cooked, strain the water from the past and lightly coat with oil and set aside to cool. You can rinse it under cold water as well to cool faster.





Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Salt and pepper chicken breasts.



Place on a nonstick baking sheet. Bake for about 20 to 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Remove from oven once cooked and allow to cool. Once cooled cut in to cubes and set aside.




Chop peppers medium size, onion and spring onions fine chop.



Chop garlic by hand leaving them in fairly good sized pieces. Not to big and not too small.

Side Note: In this picture I only show 3 cloves of garlic, but make sure you use 5 cloves.



Mix peppers, onion, spring onion, garlic in a bowl and set aside. Cut the mixed veg in half for two bowls if need be.



Cut cheese in to cubes and core and chop up the apples and add to the peppers and onions mix.



Add mung bean sprouts, crunchy sprouts, and broccoli sprouts.

Add chicken.

Sadly I did not take pics of the dressing. If you use one large bowl use the whole bottles of dressing. If you use two bowls one cup of each dressing to each bowl and stir well making sure everything is coated.





Refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours until thoroughly chilled.



Slice pita in half and open to make a pocket. Fill with salad and enjoy.

TIPS:

You can sub the chicken for a couple of cans of tuna. You can also add the tuna and the chicken together.

You can also add the sprouts at the end to top your pita pocket with. I like mixing it all in, but if you want something more pretty with the greens on top, don't add them at until the end. Just the Broccoli sprouts though. Leave the crunch and mung bean sprouts in.