Espresso Yourself Steaks & Spinach Mashed Potatoes

"Hey, can we use the video camera?" is a question that should always cause a parent to go check what his/her kid(s) are doing.



That's Trevor performing a "high velocity inspection" of our street's leaf pile. With his football season ending this past weekend, he has had too much time and energy on his hands. It's like he's been drinking espresso or something.

Speaking of espresso, after participating in Joanne's Recipe Impossible challenge last week, I still had a box full of leftover goodies courtesy of Marx Foods. (Hint hint - get over there and vote)

One of the ingredients was "espresso sea salt". I recalled the Red Eye Steaks recipe that Curt of Live Fire Online used to take him to the regional semifinals in this year's Berringer Great Steak Challenge, which used brewed espresso. I knew right away I wanted to pair that with some of the dried pasilla and aji chili peppers and use it for a beef rub.


Espresso Yourself Ribeye Steaks

2 ribeye steaks
1 tsp Marx Foods espresso sea salt
1 tsp dried chilies, ground
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil


Mix all of the wet rub ingredients together and smear onto the steaks. Let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.


Set up your grill for direct heat at 450-500f.

A tip for getting good grid marks is be patient. The air temp may be hot but it takes your grill grate longer to get to the same temps. Once my Big Green Egg hits my target temp, I still wait another 20-30 minutes to let the grates load up with heat energy.

Grill the steaks for 8 minutes, flipping and turning 90 degrees every two minutes. This should get you to an internal temp of 125f for medium rare. My Craycort cast iron modular grate knows how to have it's way with a steak.

Let your steaks rest on a raised rack for 10 minutes.

Want a different side dish for your steaks? Take your favorite mashed potato recipe and add 1/2 cup of fresh baby spinach per serving. That may sound like a lot but spinach wilts down and loses most of it's volume.

Just heat 1 teaspoon of bacon fat in a pan over medium high heat and wilt the spinach for 2-3 minutes.

Chop and blend in to your potatoes as you mash them.


After eating a bite of the spinach mashed potatoes together with a small bite of steak, I thought, "This tastes like eating the whole steakhouse in one bite!"

What did I think of the rub? I probably went a little too light in applying it but I wanted the espresso flavors to be subtle. The recipe above is adjusted to reflect what I'd do next time, by increasing the salt and peppers. But the espresso gave it a nice twist and the mild fruity flavor of the chilies kind of reminded me of a mole sauce.

I haven't done a game of Versus in a while so here we go - tell me your preferences in the comments:
Coffees vs Energy Drinks

Greek Style Deep Dish Pizza

A few weeks ago, I complained that rabbits or squirrels were eating our strawberries just as they started to become ripe, before we could enjoy them. Well today, Brett rescued this little critter in our yard from a neighbor's cat's jaws.

Before everyone says, "awwwww, look at the baby rabbit", just remember, rabbits can be killers! Here's a scientific documentary proving that.



Even still, Alexis wouldn't let me make rabbit stew so we had to have something else for dinner. (Don't worry just joking, he/she is recovering fine and will be released back in our garden tomorrow morning.)

This is one that Alexis and I made up a few weeks ago (April 20th to be exact per my notebook) when she decided she wanted to try a deep dish style pizza. We looked at what ingredients we had on hand and decided to take it Greek style. It wasn't authentic Greek food, but it had a lot of Greek flavors.

We made it again tonight but this time made it in the brick oven....errr Big Green Egg. As I've mentioned a million times over, the Egg's ceramics make it the perfect wood fired cooker for pizzas. But this recipe does work well in both an oven or on a ceramic cooker.
Greek Style Deep Dish Pizza
Source: Nibble Me This

Ingredients
1 order pizza dough (make your own, buy from local pizza joint or buy a mix from store)
1/2 cup sun-dried tomato pesto
6 ounces mozzarella, shredded
8-10 slices salami, quartered
2 slices red onion
4-6 ea kalamata olives, sliced
1/4 cup portobello mushroom, diced and sauteed
8-10 ea mint leaves, fresh, chopped
4-5 ea marinated artichoke hearts, diced
6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Instructions
Roll pizza dough out and form it into a greased 9" round dish. This will work with a cake pan but does really well with a preheated stoneware pan. Poke the dough all over with a fork. Alexis tells me that will help keep the dough from bubbling up during the pre-cook. She knows the baking stuff way better than I (See? we complement each other!). Place the pan/dough into a 475f Big Green Egg or oven for 5 minutes.

Spread the tomato pesto on the base of the pizza and top with the mozzarella. We used Classico's Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto that you can find in most grocery stores but you could make your own, there's a lot of recipes available via a quick google.

Then toss in the next six ingredients (salami, onions, olives, mushroom, mint, and artichoke....don't you hate when recipes make you count?).

Top with the feta cheese and put back on the Big Green Egg or in the oven, still at 475f and cook for 12 minutes.

Pull from the cooker and let rest in the pan for another 5 minutes.

You should be able to lift the entire pan using a pair of large spatulas.

Slice and serve. Damn good stuff.

Both times this has been one of our favorite pizzas. It might not be pretty but the flavors pack a punch that wakes your mouth up. The strong flavors of the feta, olives, peppers, and other ingredients walk that fine line between making your mouth water and making your eyes wince.

Time for a quick game of Versus in the comments:
1) Deep dish vs. regular pizza
2) Monty Python rocks vs. Monty Python sucks (don't worry about offending me, I love MP, Alexis hates them).

Fairgrounds Italian Sausage, Peppers, & Onions

Close your eyes and imagine being at a fair, carnival, or festival. Can you hear the sizzle of a flat top grill and smell the Italian sausage, peppers, and onions?

Yesterday, Alexis and I got up at dawn and headed down to the inaugural Pork Knox, a KCBS sanctioned BBQ contest. A full post about the event is forthcoming.

We got there early, before the crowds showed up and food vendors opened their booths. The contestants are very friendly and willing to talk shop around this time. But once turn in times approach, I know to leave them the hell alone. We were hoping the weather that assaulted the entire southeast might hold off until after the event was done.

I was taking pictures when the vendors fired up but I knew that later I wanted two things, a funnel cake and an Italian sausage sandwich with peppers and onions. [I know, why eat that at a BBQ contest? I'll explain tomorrow but in short, a BBQ contest is a competition, not a BBQ festival. There's a difference.]

But then the skies turned ominous...and we got drenched, so I never got my Italian Sausage sandwich.

I decided to make my own today. Sure I could try to upgrade and make it "gourmet" but I wanted the real experience. There is just something about a fair sausage dog.

So my ground rules were keep it simple like a fair vendor would do. The only difference was that I was using live fire instead of a gas flat top like the carnival vendors use.


Fairgrounds Italian Sausage, Peppers, & Onions
Source: Nibble Me This

1 1/4 lbs Italian sausage links
16 oz beer (warm!)
1/2 large yellow onion, cut into 1/4" wedges
3 ea mini sweet peppers, seeded and cut lengthwise (Sub a green bell pepper if needed)
2 hoagie rolls, sliced lengthwise
2 Tbsp mustard
oil (see text)

Preheat a cast iron pan on a 350f grill. Place the sausages in the pan and add 12 oz of the beer. TIP: Be sure it is warm! Pouring a cold beer into a hot cast iron pan can cause a catastrophic failure of the pan. (That means your pan could literally break in two pieces, drench your fire, and ruin more than just one meal.)

Cover and cook for 16 minutes, turning the sausages 1/4 turn every 4 minutes. If needed, add the final 1/2 cup of beer to keep the liquid level up. TIP: Don't trust those silicone oven mitts. After opening the lid 3 times, I realized each time they were partially melting onto the lid.

Remove links to cutting board and split lengthwise. Drain liquid (if any) from the pan.

Oil: This is an area where I cheated. Carnies use plain oil. I used a high heat oil (safflower) and mixed about 1/4 cup with 1/4 tsp each of salt, pepper, oregano, and basil for a seasoned oil.

Put the pan back onto the fire and add about 1 tbsp of the oil. Place split sausages and veggies back onto the hot pan. Squirt about another 1 - 2 Tbsp of oil on the veggies.

Toss the veggies with tongs for the next 3 minutes. Flip the sausages (they should be browned at this point). Continue tossing the veggies for another 3 minutes and remove the pan from heat.

Slice the two hoagie rolls lengthwise and slather some mustard on each side. TIP: I used a mixture of 1 Tbsp plain yellow mustard with 1 Tbsp of coarse ground mustard.

Fill each roll with half of the sausages and half of the onion mixture.

Ahhhhh.....craving satisfied.


Versus: Fair/Carnie Food
(leave your preference in the comments section)
*Italian Sausage sandwich
*Cotton Candy
*Candied Apples
*Kettle Corn
*Corn Dogs
*Other

Obviously, I'd have to go with Italian Sausage sandwiches. What's your call?

Brisket Chimichanga

After smoking that gargantuan beef brisket at Christmas, we packaged the leftovers in vacuum seal bags and froze some for later use. Later is today.

This is one of my favorite uses for leftover brisket but also works for pulled pork and chicken.

Brisket Chimichanga

Ingredients
2 -3 slices smoked beef brisket
2 ea flour tortilla, burrito size
1/2 cup shredded cheese
6 TB ranch dressing
2 TB salsa
2 TB butter
1/2 cup long grain rice
1/4 ea red onion, diced
1 ea tomato, seeded and diced
1 cup water
1 TB tomato paste
1 teaspoon oregano, dried
1 teaspoon sugar

Instructions
Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Saute onion for 5 minutes. Add rice and continue sauteing for another 2-3 minutes. You know it's ready when the rice begins to turn golden and releases an aromatic nutty smell.

Add the water, tomato paste (I normally whisk the paste and water together before adding), tomatoes, oregano, and sugar. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to as low as possible yet still remain at a simmer for approximately 20 minutes. Avoid opening or stirring. After the 20 minutes, remove from heat, fluff the rice with a fork, replace cover and let cool covered.

Mix the ranch dressing and salsa together to make a "mexi-ranch sauce".

Reheat your brisket slices. I prefer to do this by brushing them with maybe a tablespoon of beef stock, wrapping the slices in foil and placing them in foil in the oven while I'm preheating a deep cast iron skillet. Take the slices out as soon as they are warm to the touch and chop them up.

Put about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the rice mixture on a tortilla. Top with half of the meat, cheese and a tablespoon or so of the mexi-ranch sauce.

Wrap the burrito closed. Here's how I roll my burritos for deep frying. I'm not an expert by any means but this works for me and I haven't had one fall apart during cooking yet.

To roll a burrito well, you want to start with a tortilla that's like a great kiss, soft and warm. A cold, dry tortilla will break instead of folding. Warm it for a few seconds (9 for me) in a microwave between two moist paper towels. Place your filling in a line to the side. Mix a "food glue" with equal parts flour and cold water. Looking at the tortilla like a clock, brush a bit of the glue from about 11 o'clock clockwise to about 7 o'clock.


Fold the short side of the tortilla over the mixture.

Fold the top and bottom of the tortilla in as shown. It will kind of resemble an envelope here.

Now roll up the mixture filled side over the empty side like this.

You should now have a burrito with neatly tucked ends, ready to be turned into a chimichanga.

Remove the preheated skillet from then oven and on the stove top, add vegetable oil to a depth of 1/2 inch. Heat skillet over medium high heat. Test for readiness by dropping a small torn piece of tortilla. If it bubbles and sizzles, it's ready for cooking.

Carefully place the burritos seam side down into the oil and let cook until they are golden brown (about 2 minutes). Flip and cook the other side until golden brown (usually less time, like 1:45 seconds).

Remove to a raised rack or a plate with paper towels to drain for a few minutes. Slice on a bias and serve with extra rice and mexi-ranch sauce or a salsa verde for dipping.


Summer: Anyway, I think I'd be a great class president. So, who wants to eat chimichangas next year? Not me. See, with me it will be summer all year long. Vote for Summer.

Bite me Summer, I'm voting for Pedro.

Versus: Burrito or Chimichanga?

Pesto Roast Chicken

I was "chicken" last night.

I've cooked outside several times in the past week despite temps in the 20s and teens. But yesterday when I looked out at my Big Green Egg, I just didn't have it in me. I "chickened" out.

I had already brined a chicken in a simple brine (salt, peppercorns, bay leaf) for a few hours. Since I wasn't going to be cooking with live fire and would be missing that je ne sais quoi that fire roasting brings, I wanted something with a little "wow" in the flavor department. This one from The Bon Appetit Cookbook seemed to fit the bill.

Pesto Roast Chicken
Source: The Bon Appetit Cookbook

Ingredients
1 whole chicken
7 ounces pesto sauce, divided
3 TB white wine
3/4 c plus 2 TB low-salt chicken broth
2 TB all purpose flour
3 TB heavy cream

Instructions As Retold by Chris
Instead of roasting the bird whole, I decided to spatchcock the chicken. Reserve 1 TB of the pesto sauce and rub the rest all over and UNDER the chicken skin.

Place a cast iron skillet in the oven and then preheat the oven to 450f. When the oven comes to temp, place the chicken in the skillet skin side up. Roast for 15 minutes. Reduce temp to 375f and continue cooking until the chicken has an internal temp of 160f in the breast and 180f in the thigh. (About 1 hour.)

Remove chicken to a platter and tent with foil to keep warm.

Pour the skillet juices into a glass measuring cup and skim any obvious fat off the top with a spoon. Put skillet on a burner at medium heat and deglaze the pan with the wine. I used more wine, about a quarter cup. Add wine juices to measuring cup. Top off with broth to make 1 cup.

Preheat a small heavy saucepan and add the cup of broth/wine/drippings mixture. Make a slurry by whisking the 2 TB broth and 2 TB of flour and then add to the sauce pan. Bring to a boil while whisking and let thicken (about 5 minutes). Add the cream and 1 TB of reserved pesto. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Make sure that you reserve the 1 TB of pesto BEFORE you start rubbing your chicken. You don't want to cross contaminate your gravy with e-coli.

The technique of rubbing a rub or paste under the chicken skin isn't a gimmick, it adds flavor to your roasted, baked, smoked, or grilled chicken. If you don't know how, watch THE VIDEO in this post at the 1:50 mark, they give a good demonstration. If you are just squeamish about handling chicken, try wearing latex or nitrile gloves.

A spatchcocked fryer fits perfectly in a large skillet.

I measure the wine very accurately, as you can tell;)

Resting...

Plated with roasted carrots and a baked tater.

And we had one half breast leftover so tonight I diced it up and added it to a batch of garlic soup with bacon for some awesome leftovers.
Question: Does anyone know if handling food with latex gloves will cause problems for someone with latex allergies that eats your food or are latex allergies more of a skin contact issue?

And a quick game of "Versus": measuring cups/spoons vs. eyeballing/guestimating