Tag: recipe

Tuesday’s Quickie – Roasted Cod and Veggies

Two posts in a day! It is the end! (not really)

So a little while ago I made something for lunch that came out pretty good and a few people asked for the recipe.

No hassles, it’s just mainly chop it up, throw it in, cook, eat. Here you go!

Ingredients:
10oz. Cod Filets (fresh, not breaded or frozen, I get them on sale all the time at the grocery store for like $3-4)
1 small bell pepper (if you’re using a big one you only need half)
8oz mushrooms (it doesn’t matter what kind, as long as they aren’t the ones that will make you have an out of body experience)
1 small white onion (half if its a big white onion, purple onions would work on this just as well too)
1 small zucchini squash
1 Serrano pepper

Prep:
Preheat the oven to 400F.
Take the mushrooms and put a layer of them in the bottom of a 6×9 roasting pan (like what you’d cook meatloaf in).
Fill the roasting pan with water until the mushroom are only a bit above the water.
Layer the cod filet(I had to cut mine to fit) on top of the mushrooms in the roasting pan.
Quarter the onion (well actually i cut them into eighths and let them fall apart)
Quarter the zucchini squash,
Cut the bell pepper into strips
Dice the serrano pepper
Cut the remaining mushrooms into halves
Mix everything together and layer on top of the cod in the pan.

Once the over is heated, drop the pan in for 45 minutes to an hour. Depending on your preferences on roasting veggies dry, you may want to add more water. However if you add less the mushrooms on the bottom will overcook a tad.

You’ll notice I didn’t actually use any seasoning. It’s up to you, but there are a number of good seasonings you can try, I prefer Slap Yo Mama Cajun Seasoning to most others, if only because it tastes decent and the name is unforgettable πŸ˜‰

-T




Tony’s Big Chili Yum Yum

So I’ve been talking up a big game regarding my chili recipe, and figured I ‘d finally getting around to sharing the Yum Yum from Tony’s Kitchen.

The first part I’ll just go over is this chili is incredibly kick ass with or without the meat, and is vegan friendly to boot (sans the meat). So no crying about your diet. The spices can be moderated easily to suit your palate and easily accommodate the whole household. As usual, this isn’t portioned for a few servings, this is portioned to feed the family and have loads for leftovers.

We’re going to go over the list of Yum-Yums (in-greed-ee-unts) now. Remember you’ll want to read the whole recipe before jumping in on this…;)

Ingredients

BIG FAT RED KIDNEY BEANS FOR CHILI!#1 BEANS
1lb Red Kidney Beans
I’ve tried black beans, and even black eyed peas, they still don’t work anywhere near as well as good ol’ Red Kidney Beans.

#2 SPICES
I tried about 20 different combinations and this one got the most kudos from my guinea pigs friends.
1.5 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp garlic
3 tbsp sea salt
3 tbsp ground multicolor pepper
3 tbsp red pepper
3 tbsp chili pepper (sometimes more)

Veggies for Chili!#3 VEGGIES!
This is where the chili really stands out. This really adds to the flavor of the chili and kills the competition.
.5 bell pepper (red)
.5 bell pepper (green)
.5 bell pepper (yellow)
4 celery sticks
3 tomatoes
3x Giant Hot jalapenos
3x large seranos
1-2x habanero (optional, will make things very hot for people not used to peppers)
1-2 cups of corn

Veggies for Chili!#4. MEAT
2lbs pork loin or ribeye (I am going to try it with Bison next!)

Prep

#1 Prep the beans by themselves first, they take the longest to get ready by far. I bring half a pot of water to a boil. Pour them in. Let the boil continue for 3 minutes. Take them off hot, let them soak warm for however many hours they decide to take πŸ˜‰

#2 & #3 About an hour before you want everything to be ready, boil water in a spare pot, for #2 & #3, chop up everything in #3, mix them all together, add boiling water to desired consistency. Let that mixture stew up…remember we want all that stuff to cook & soak hot for at least an hour.

Chopped Ribeye for Chili!#4 Pork loin really does way better for this stuff, the meat stay moist and more mean than beef, so much that ribeye is the only competition. No prep necessary except maybe dicing it all up ahead of time. I usually just dice it all up and throw it into the #2 and #3 mix about 20-30 minutes before serving.

Drain the beans and mix with the rest.

Variables

* If you are vegetarian/vegan, you have only to omit #4 and you’re golden.
* Adding a can of tomato sauce does a ton of good.
* You can skip the jalapeno and serrano by adding a can of RoTel hot, but to be honest, the pepper taste isn’t quite the same.
* Do not use canned beans!!!! (They’re Nasty!)
* 2 bell peppers are just as good as three halves mentioned above…I just love the taste they bring to the chili.

Specific People Notes:
@Jessazombie, I have not tested this with Tofu. Use at your own risk…but it does have cumin!
@andriastanley, I couldn’t get croutons to work…BUT garlic bread is surprisingly good with this!
@thebloggess, do not cook this in a red dress, but you should certainly act like it πŸ˜‰
@laurenacarlton, this is that chili your hubbie and talked about at that place that time




The “Cowboy” Ribeye

The “Cowboy” Ribeye is this awesome steak recipe we came up with back in my restaurant days. I’ve evolved it a bit since then, but the basic idea is still prevalent.

Originally I held off on publishing this because it was my baby-ace-primo-you-cant-have-it-like-this-without-my-invitation-once-a-year specialty. Until now I’ve only allowed this recipe into the hands of a few friends (namely Erica and Kevin)…but it’s time, and doing it right isn’t cheap in this case, so it’s not like everyone can do it. I don’t remember how the term “Cowboy” started…I think it was a reference to the garlic butter that we used the first time we tinkered with the recipe.

In truth, it’s all about the temperature and the marinade.

I am a HUGE fan of high end ribeyes. Almost to the point that I am an elitist. My favorite steak outside my own kitchen is that of a rather infamous cut at none other than Del Frisco’s Double Eagle of Steak House (of Addison)1. Now that said, I also like my steaks cooked “Pittsburgh Rare”2

1. This isn’t a ribeye you should cook to well done. If you like your meat well done, please be adventurous and try it at medium, because I don’t have any experience in preparing edible charcoal and honestly I don’t know how it might taste. This recipe cooks best between Pittsburgh and medium rare.

2. Get yourself as many ribeyes as you feel necessary to prove your prowess.3

3. Ingredients: (per steak)
1/4 cup melted butter
1/8 cup olive oil
1/8 tspn rosemary
1/8 tspn thyme
1/8 tspn sage
1/8 tspn oregano
1/2 tspn salt
1/2 tspn pepper
2 tspn minced garlic

4. Melt the butter/margarine in a mixing bowl, mix with oil, after mixed, drop in all the rest of the ingredients until thoroughly mixed together.

5. Lightly cover both sides of steaks with the marinade, with a heavier layer on top of the steak. Let sit in the marinade for a nice long time, I do mine for up to 8 hours(room temp), however it tastes really good even after only 20 minutes or so.4

6. Cook to desired temperature over flame. 5

You will notice in the pic we accompanied our grilling delight with a truly satisfactory beverage (Shiner 101). I suggest some easy stuffed mushrooms or twice-baked potatoes with these. We opted for the stuff mushrooms in this case. I will post the recipe for those next.

Show 5 footnotes

  1. Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House is one of the best steak houses in the entire state of Texas. Their website is www.delfriscos.com and if you really want a memorable steak experience, I highly suggest it.
  2. Pittsburgh Rare is a steak temperature that is very high, allowing the steak to remain quite red on the inside with some char on the outside. This kind of steak preference isn’t for everyone, but it’s also one of the best methods of finding out if a steakhouse you’re new to actually knows what they are about. If they don’t know what “Pittsburgh” is when checking a preferred temp on your steak, I would be a little concerned, especially if they are trying to charge more than $15 for the steak. Here is a link to the Wikipedia’s article on Pittsburgh Rare.
  3. I recommend you find them thick, like at least an inch thick, they dont have to be 18oz. cuts, but the thicker the steak the more control you have over cooking them properly, and the less likely you are to burn them all the way to the middle.
  4. This sounds silly, but in my experience the absolute best way to insure a good soak is to use large ziplock freezer bags. They can take a beating, store well, don’t leak and you can leave them in the fridge with nothing to worry about while they soak.
  5. If you’re going to grill to a Pittsburgh Rare, try this: about a minute before you are at a satisfactory rare, place steaks within 1/2″ of the heat for that last minute char.