Maafe - West African Peanut Stew

FTC Disclaimer- We are proud to have this post sponsored by Certified Angus Beef.

Our granddaughter's dad is from Senegal and a popular dish there is maafe (also mafé).  There are many variations but in general:

• maafe features a spicy peanut sauce,
• maafe can have beef, or chicken,
• maafe can be a stew or soup, and
• maafe should pack a good bit of heat.

The first time I made it, her dad and family were visiting us.  I was proud to have created something from their cuisine.  They said the flavors were right but called it a phrase in Wolof (one of the three languages they speak) and giggled. I had to ask what was funny.  The phrase translated loosely into "white man's maafe"  or "foreigners maafe" because it was so mild in the heat department.  

El Diablo Onion Rings

We wanted some pub style food for the weekend games so I decided to make some ribs and onion rings this weekend.  Is there anything more "pubby" than beer battered onion rings?

I made the ribs using the Apple Cider Ribs recipe from Chris Lilly's 2014 book, Fire & Smoke.  It's a great book and it would be a good present for the griller on your shopping list.

As much as I tout the advantages of the kamado grill (Big Green Egg, Kamado Joe, Grill Dome, Primo, Vision, Etc), there is one thing that bugs me when cooking ribs on them.  With the indirect set up using a plate setter/heat diffuser, the end of the ribs stick out over the gaps which are hot spots noted by the red arrow in the picture below.  This means those parts of the rib will cook faster and unevenly.

Sorry about the mobile phone picture.  Red arrow points out the gaps where you have hot spots while grilling indirect using a plate setter.

I thought I would try to do something about that this time.  I used a 16" pizza pan ($5.49 at Gordon Food Services) and drilled holes in it.  I placed this 1" above the plate setter.  The pan edges help deflect the heat from those hot spots so the heat can't just come straight up and hit the food.  The holes give the hot air somewhere to go besides just around the edges of the pan, otherwise I'm just pushing the hotspots out a little further.  

This worked pretty well at tuning down the hot spots just like using tuning plates on a stick burning, offset smoker. This isn't something that you have to have, I just think it makes a great grill work just a little bit better.

These loin back ribs were HUGE, weren't they?  I prefer true baby backs (2 1/4 lbs and down) but these were all that we could find at the time.

It worked well enough that I'm going to play around with that design some and make a better version with legs built in and the holes drilled symmetrically once I find the best pattern.

More mobile phone pictures - sorry 'bout that.

The onion rings were an idea I had back when we did the tailgate party but I nixed them from the list because our deep fryer had kicked the bucket.  I thought that adding one of the El Diablo Mustard varieties to my onion ring batter would spice things up a bit.  This recipe is mild as written, to increase the heat to medium just increase the mustard to 1/2 cup.  For hot, add in some of your favorite hot sauce.

El Diablo Onion Rings

www.nibblemethis.com

Ingredients

• 4 large Vidalia onions, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch rings
• oil for deep frying

 For the batter

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white corn meal
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 3/4 cup half and half
• 3/4 cup light beer (American style lager)
• 1/4 cup El Diablo Chipotle Mustard
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons oil

Instructions

1. Mix together the dry batter ingredients in a medium sized bowl.  Whisk the wet batter ingredients and then whisk that into the dry ingredients until combined in a smooth batter. 
2. Heat your deep fryer or oil in a Dutch oven to 375°F.  When deep frying, always follow manufacturer's instructions, use personal protective equipment, and ideally have a Class K fire extinguisher available.
3. Dip 5-6 onion slices into the batter, shake off the excess batter and lower into the hot oil.  Cook until golden brown on the first side, about 1 minute, and then use a long utensil to flip them.  Cook the second side until golden brown, about half the time that the first side took.
4. Remove to a resting rack over paper towels.  Lightly season with fine salt.  Keep warm in a 200°F oven*.
5. Repeat with remaining onion slices until all are cooked.

*The ignition point of paper is about 451°F so the paper towels should not ignite in a 200°F oven but I would only do this since I am near the oven the whole time and it will only be in the oven for about 10-15 minutes total. 

You can use types of onion other than Vidalia, I just like their sweet taste and meaty rings.

This is just the wet ingredients - look at all of that seasoning from the El Diablo mustard.  If substituting a different type, look for one loaded with visible seasonings, not plain yellow or dijon.

I stumbled on to this but a straight carving fork is perfect for handling the onion rings in and out of the batter as well as in the hot oil.

Notice the texture of the batter - that's where you want it.  If it is too thick, just add a beer 1-2 tablespoons at a time until you get the consistency like this.

Excuse the blurry picture but I was holding this as I took the shot and was paying more attention to keeping my hand out of the 375°F oil.   To keep the onion ring from sticking to the basket, hold each ring like this for about 3 seconds to let it start cooking before letting go all of the way.  

The color is your guide of when to flip and remove the onion rings more than time.  Also, give your oil a chance to recover its cooking temperature between batches.  You definitely don't want the oil dropping below 350°F. 

It is best to season fried foods as soon as they come out of the oil so keep doing it in small batches.  Don't wait until the end to season them all at once.

Honestly, I ate more onion rings than I did ribs.

Mafé - Beef Stew from Senegal

This is going to be my comfort food for this coming Fall and Winter - Mafé.

It is a spicy stew from Senegal with a tomato-peanut butter sauce that is just fantastic.   Mafé can be made from beef, lamb, or chicken and like any regional dish, it has endless variations.  My son-in-law, Djiby, is from Senegal and I made this based on what he told me about the dish.  

Blue Cheese Biscuits

Knoxville has been under a wet blanket of steady drizzling rain for the past two cool days and I was in the mood for comfort food last night.   Alexis had to work late so I made beef stew on my Big Green Egg while I baked blue cheese biscuits on her Egg.

Beef stew ladled over a split biscuit - extreme comfort food.

Speaking of our Eggs, my new next door neighbors also have an Egg and already knew this blog.  Their Egg is set up near our grilling area so John and I talk BBQ and grilling as we are cooking during the week.  He was cooking ribs on Sunday and I jokingly told him that I was going to sneak pictures of his food when he wasn't looking and post them on Nibble Me This for extra content.  

Back to beef stew and biscuits.  The beef stew was very similar to For The Love of Cooking's Beef and Barley Stew except I cooked it on my Egg in a dutch oven.  

325f direct - was covered during the cook except when browning the beef.

The biscuits were supposed to be a sour cream based biscuit but I was out, so I used thick homemade blue cheese dressing instead.  This should also work with chunky commercial brands but not thin, watery blue cheese dressings.  

 

Blue Cheese Biscuits

Adapted from White Lily's Peppered Sour Cream Biscuits

servings:  12 biscuits

Ingredients

• 3 cups self rising flour, sifted
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground
• 1/2 tsp chives, diced
• 1 cup blue cheese dressing, thick chunky style
• 2/3 cup half and half
• 6 Tbsp butter, melted (divided 4T and 2T)

Instructions

1. Preheat your Big Green Egg (or oven) to 450f with the plate setter in "legs down".  
2. Mix the dry ingredients together.  Mix the dressing, half & half, and 4 Tbsp of melted butter together.  Stir together until it becomes a coarse dough.
3. On a floured surface, knead about 5 times.  
4. Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut out biscuits with a biscuit cutter. Roll scraps back up and cut out more until gone.
5. Place biscuits on a floured pizza stone and bake 15-18 minutes.  Brush with the 2 Tbsp of melted butter during the last 5 minutes.

A little flour on the pizza stone keeps biscuits from sticking.

The pizza stone was not preheated.

There's a lot of flavor in these fire baked biscuits.

Comfort food that will put your butt in the bed...or at least plant it on a couch!

Spicy Braised Rib Tips

When I demonstrated how to trim pork spare ribs St. Louis style, I mentioned in the video that the trimmings would not go to waste. Actually there is nothing wrong with cooking the rib tips right along with the ribs.  But I prefer to use the trimmings for other things.

This recipe makes a bunch of spicy shredded pork that can be eaten by itself or used to make things like:

• tacos 
• quesadillas
  
• burritos
• beans and rice
• pork nachos 
• top with a fried egg for breakfast
• pizza
  

This weekend I used a batch and some of Alexis' leftover homemade rolls to make mini spicy pork subs.

Condiments were roasted red pepper mayo and a jalapeno/onion relish.

We typically freeze it in quart sized vacuum bags and then on a weeknight it can be ready in 15 minutes by putting it straight from the freezer into a pot of boiling water for just a few minutes.

It seems like a lot of ingredients but it is an “everything goes in at once” deal. 

I used a camp style Dutch oven but you could also do this by braising in your stove top/oven.

Spicy Braised Rib Tips

5 lbs pork spare rib trimmings (trimmings from 3 ribs)

1 white onion, peeled and sliced

¼ cup fresh oregano

¼ cup cilantro

4 cloves garlic, peeled

3 sprigs fresh thyme

3 dried red chiles, chopped (deseeded if you want milder heat)

½ cup beer

¼ cup cider vinegar

¼ cup oil

1 Tbsp cumin

1 Tbsp paprika

1 Tbsp seasoned salt

1 tsp coarse black pepper

1 tsp hot sauce

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

½ tsp dried lemon peel

3 cloves (whole not ground)

Put the pork and all fresh ingredients into the Dutch oven.

Whisk together the liquids and dry seasonings for your braising liquid. Pour over everything in the Dutch oven.

Braise for 2 hours. This is where I screwed up but it worked. Can you tell what I did wrong in this picture?

When using a camp Dutch oven like this the typical arrangement is 2/3rds of your briquettes on top and 1/3^rd on the bottom. My plan was 10 on bottom, 20 on top. As you can see, I reversed it - DOH! Every 15 minutes I turned the bottom 90 degrees counter clockwise and the lid 90 degrees clockwise. It wasn't until an hour in that I realized my mistake. It didn't seem to hurt anything and when I replenished the coals, I fixed it.

When the tips hit 195-200f they are done. That took right at the 2 hour mark for mine.  Remove from the coals and let rest for 10 minutes.

They will look butt ugly at this point, don't worry, they taste amazing.

Then use two large forks to shred the meat like pulled pork. 

Try not to eat it all while you are shredding it.....

It looks a little like pulled pork but the texture is a little more firm than pulled pork and because of the ingredients I used, it has a Latin flavor profile.   

 It was perfect in the black beans and rice that I made to go with the flank steak the other day.

Win a $500 Carivore Kit at Grilling.com

Kingsford is giving away a Carnivore Kit EACH WEEK just for signing up and showing where you are grilling on their interactive map [click to enter].  Each package includes -

• Snake River Farms meats
• Kingsford barrel grill
• Kingsford charcoal
• Grilling tools
• KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce

This is a very nice prize package.  I've had the Snake River Farms beef and it is fantastic, some of the best waygu beef around.  Tender and incredibly good.

I hope you all are having a great Labor Day! 

On Our Grills July

Each month, a group of bbq/grill enthusiasts participates in the “On Our Grills Challenge”. The challenge is to make a meal with a list of 4 random ingredients and at least the protein has to be cooked by some form of live fire.

Typically the ingredient list presents a difficult obstacle for us. This month's On Our Grills 4-Ingredient Challenge was mercifully easy:

hot dogs

baked beans

dill pickles

blueberries

We focused our efforts on the blueberries. I thought about doing odd things with the dogs, beans, and pickles but no matter what I did, it was going to distract from the essence of those items – their simplicity.  So I let those items be what they are. 

Hot dogs

The only thing creative I did here was that I grilled these beef franks direct over the gaps in the plate setter (Big Green Egg divider) while the beans cooked indirect at the same time.

Baked Beans

I did the basic doctored version of canned beans. I added the usual suspects: red bell pepper, green bell pepper, onion, bbq sauce, mustard, brown sugar and BBQ rub. Baked on the grill for 1 hour.

Dill Pickles

I thought about frying them, but nah. They are good enough on their own.  I can't wait to see what the others did because I know those guys came up with something whacky.

Blueberries

Alexis made a version of my mom's camp site cobbler. Biting into the crispy crust and sweet filling reminds me of camping in rustic Cades Cove with my parents several years ago, when I first had this dessert.

Dutch Oven Cobbler

½ stick butter, unsalted, melted

1 c sugar

½ c self rising flour

½ c milk

1 can blueberry pie filling

Start one half chimney of coal (about 30 briquettes). 

Mix together the butter, sugar, flour and milk.

Line the bottom of a #12 cast iron dutch oven with parchment paper. (Not a must but helps) Pour in the blueberry pie filling and spread evenly.

Pour the topping over the pie filling, covering as evenly as you can.

Put about 10 briquettes in a circle below your dutch oven.

And about 20 briquettes on the lid.

Bake for about 45 minutes until the top is golden brown. Rotate the bottom ¼ turn clockwise and the top ¼ turn counterclockwise every 15 minutes for even cooking.

Serve with confectioners sugar on top. 

Guaranteed camp site winner!

The On Our Grills group has grown a bit and I don't have the “bios” or “intros” for all the participants so this month, I will just list the links. Please stop by these other sites and see their spin on this month's 4 ingredient challenge. While I think this month is pretty straightforward, these folks always come up with something interesting!

Smoke-n-Brew 

The Dutchess Cooks 

Oshawa Ogre's Views News & BBQ 

The BBQ Grail 

No Excuses BBQ 

Jason's BBQ Adventures 

Blackened Steak Experiment

Can you feel it in the air?

It's coming.  I see it on the buds of tree.  I hear it in the voices of birds.  I smell it in the....ACHOOOOOO.... pollen floating around.  Yes I'm talking about SPRING!  Dig out and thaw out people, SPRING IS COMING SOON.

It was a beautiful blue sky day today and it couldn't be wasted inside.   Today was a day for playing in my open air kitchen on the deck.   I decided to blacken a ribeye steak, something I have not done before.   Steak doesn't need anything more than salt, pepper and charcoal, but I was in the mood for something different.

"Blackening" does not meant burned meat.  Blackening is a high heat cooking method that creates a dark, spicy seasoning crust on properly cooked meat.  Since it is high heat, it works best with relatively lean proteins such as fish, steaks, and pork chops.   This method was invented by famed chef, Paul Prudhome, so you can imagine the seasonings are Cajun based.

Blackened Ribeye Steak

source:  www.nibblemethis.com

2 ea ribeye steaks, at least 1" thick

Rub

1/2 Tbsp paprika
1 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp thyme, ground
1/4 tsp oregano, ground
1/4 tsp celery seed 

Garlic-Butter

1/2 cup butter

1 clove garlic minced

1 tsp Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning  (You could substitute some of the blackening rub or a cajun rub)

Special equipment:  Cast iron skillet

One of the most important parts of proper blackening is making sure your cast iron skillet is cooking over a "rocket hot" grill, basically as hot as you can get it.  If you are using a normal charcoal grill, use Kingsford Competition Briquettes or lump charcoal for this one, they burn hotter. [Click here for a great explanation by John Dawson of Patio Daddio.]

Preheat your cast iron skillet.  Trust me, don't cheat here.  The entire process depends on a HOT HOT skillet.  Let the skillet preheat for 10-15 minutes.   

Not a skillet but plays one on TV.

Yeah, that's not a skillet.  I got a spider rig from the Ceramic Grill Store this week.  When cleaning last night, I noticed that the upside down lid to a Lodge #12 cast iron dutch oven makes a concave griddle that fits the spider rig PERFECTLY!  

Rub your steaks heavily with the rub on both sides.  Set aside.

Make your garlic butter mix by heating all the ingredients for a few minutes in a small sauce pan over medium heat.

Now it is time to drop the hammer on these steaks.  Pour some of the garlic butter mixture on one side of each and place that side down on the skillet.  Be prepared for some serious smoke.  That is why you do this outdoors!

Cook for a few minutes (2 minutes med-rare, 3 minutes medium) and then flip.  Ladle a little of the garlic butter mixture over the steaks.  Be careful when doing this because splash overs can cause a flash fire.  (My Facebook followers will see the uncensored video of this.)  If that happens, don't panic.  Just close the grill top and the fire should extinguish itself quickly.  

Remove the steaks from the grill to a raised rack to rest for 5-10 minutes.  I use a baking cooling rack over a plate, but you could just steal the rack out of your toaster oven.  When you put the steaks flat on a plate to rest, the heat trapped between the meat and the plate will "steam" the meat pores open, releasing the juices.  Raising the steaks prevents that. 

When serving, top with a little of the garlic butter mixture.

My test steak turned out darkened just right but not burned at all. 

And the inside was still nice and juicy.  

I prefer my steak medium-rare and this one turned out medium but that is because I gave both sides an extra flip for about 45 seconds each.  Next time I'll stick with the 2 minutes per side for medium rare or use a thicker steak.   The flavors were bold and a bit of a party, just like you would expect from Louisiana.   

Cheerwine Comes To Knoxville

The Carolina soft drink company is celebrating their expansion into Tennessee with a special event at Calhoun's on Neyland Drive this Thursday, March 3rd.    Guests can win various Cheerwine prizes, including an iPod, T-shirts, 12-packs of Cheerwine and goodie bags. Hors d'oeuvres and light refreshments, including drink specials, will be served.   If you are interested, visit Cheerwine on Facebook, at www.facebook.com/cheerwine, to RSVP for a coveted invitation.

Fire Roasted Potatoes and Chilies

The "meat on a stick" concept was developed by the Michelin 3-star chef "Ogg" when he impaled a side of stegosaurus on his spear and grilled it over the newest (at the time) Ron Popeil cooking device - FIRE.
The Brazilian version of "meat on a stick" is the impressive Churrascaria style restaurant where everything is served directly at your table from ginormous skewers. I first learned about these from Steven Raichlen's Planet Barbecue and I was intrigued by the concept. But Brazieros Churrascaria opened recently in Knoxville and Alexis and I were finally able to dine there last night.

The place was PACKED but surprisingly, we did not have to wait and got seated immediately right by the fire place on this cool night. The concept is simple. You pay one fixed price for the meal and there is no menu. You start with a high quality salad bar, probably the best I've seen in Knoxville. Then they bring divine cheese rolls (more like puffs, they are angelic) and 3 sides (plantains, fried polenta, and mashed potatoes). Next, each dinner has a little card like this:

When you flip it to green, the meat party starts. A constant barrage of chefs armed with skewers...actually more like SWORDS of 12 cuts of meats offer you service. They thinly slice off pieces of large cuts of meat and you use little tongs to pull it onto your plate. You can fend them off by flipping your card back to red until you're ready to eat again. I made it through 6 of the 12 offerings.

I will do a full review later with pictures after our next visit. But it was a meat eaters paradise and a very unique dining experience. Quite fun and first class service. It reminded me of the first time I ever ate at a teppanyaki style Japanese restaurant, a total departure of what you are used to.

So I woke up this morning and what was I craving? More Brazilian beef of course! So the menu is:

Beef Ribs with an Espresso/Chile Rub
Fire Roasted Potatoes & Chilies
Rotisserie Grilled Onions
Brazilian Cheese Bread

I've done beef ribs a kazillion times, so I won't detail it. I used Adam Perry Lang's method from BBQ25 (great book!) but to make it a little more South American, I substituted some of the loot I won from Marx Foods. I used Espresso sea salt (great beefy flavor) and ground up some dried aji and pasilla chilies.

Alexis made the Brazilian cheese bread came straight from Steph over at Plain Chicken. We didn't have tapioca flour and it definitely made a difference. Ours didn't puff up.

The rotisserie grilled onions are a Brazilian recipe from Planet Barbecue! How do I use a rotisserie on the Big Green Egg? It's simple. I roll out my old Brinkmann charcoal grill!


I spit roasted large sweet onions (roots, peels, and all) over a 3/4 chimney load of briquettes for an hour.

Then cut off the tops, brush off the loose skin, and drizzle with balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. How easy is that?

Fire Roasted Potatoes and Chilies
Source: NibbleMeThis

3-4 large red bliss potatoes, peeled and diced into 1" pieces
1/4 cup oil (something with a high smoke point)
4 large cloves garlic - peeled but whole
1 dried aji chile pepper, reconstituted and diced
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt

Parboil the potatoes for one minute. (I promise, it makes a difference.)

Preheat a cast iron dutch oven in indirect heat on grill (or oven) at 400-425f. Add the oil and wait 1-2 minutes.

Add the potatoes and garlic and season with salt and chili powder. Let cook undisturbed for 20 minutes.

Stir and allow to cook another 10 minutes.

Stir, add the chilies and cook 10 more minutes. (I put them in at the beginning, which was too long, they'll be better near the end.)

Garnish with chives.
Despite the cheese bread not "rising to the occasion" (again, bad substitution), it was an excellent late lunch or early dinner. The ribs had a nice mild heat and layered taste. The onions were tender and sweet. The potatoes were crispy on the outside but soft beneath the crust.


Have you ever eaten at a Brazilian steakhouse? What is your favorite "meat on a stick"?