Courtesy

Yes, this issue belongs in this cooking blog because it is important that you treat guests with respect to what they can and con not have.
You MUST know your guests before they arrive and what they like, what they do not like and what they simply must stay way from.
Although i truly eat and cook everything without dietary restrictions, i know that i will not use pork if i have someone who for whatever reason can not have pork.
Many of my recipes, chicken or beef can be substituted very easily.
What about vegetarian or even more restrictive, Vegan.
Yes, i can make a very good Vegan chili and making vegetables the center, corner and all of my meal is not beyond my grasp.
So if you are invited to my home, i will cook what is appropriate for you for us to share a meal together.
This is courtesy and essential in all manners of service.

The "gravy" again

Red sauce with meat

(Italian gravy)

·       2 32 oz cans of crushed tomatoes

·       1 32 oz can of tomato sauce or puree

·       5 cloves garlic. minced

·       meatballs from below recipe

·       1 lb country style pork ribs

·       2 tablespoons raw sugar

·       1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

·       1 teaspoon salt

·       2 tablespoons dry oregano

·       1 tablespoon died basil

·       2 cups red wine (burgundy is best)

Ingredients for meatballs:

·       1/2 onion, diced fine

·       1 clove garlic, diced fine

·       1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

·       1 lb 3 meat meatloaf ground meat (pork, veal and beef)

·       1 tablespoon dry parsley

·       1 tablespoon dry oregano

·       2 eggs, beaten

For meatballs:

mix all together well and form into 2 inch balls

brown in the pot you will use for your sauce and remove into a baking pan

finish in a 350 F oven (about 30 minutes)

For the sauce:

Brown the country ribs in the same pot as the meatballs

When browned on all sides stir in all the ingredients.

rinse out the tomato cans with about a cup of water.

cover and bring to a simmer, stirring regularly.

Add meatballs after 1 hour and continue simmering for 2 hours.

Serve with your favorite pasta.

A staple in my house

Chili

what i cook up for every day use

Chili spice ratio

·       commercial chili powder - 5

·       cumin - 3

·       paprika - 2

·       cayenne pepper - 1

·       salt - 1

·       3 lbs ground meat 85/15 lean to fat ratio is ideal, but you can remove the fat if you use 80/20

·       1 jalapeno pepper, diced

·       1 red onion, diced

·       16 oz crushed tomatoes

·       2 beers

·       1 cup bell peppers

·       1/4 cup Joe's chili spice

·       1 teaspoon dry Chipolte peppers

·       salt to taste

Optional ingredients:

diced peppers (to increase heat, use the one you like, hottest are ghost peppers)

an additional chopped onion for a topping

shredded cheese as a topping

sour cream as a topping

Roast the chili mix spice in a separate pan at a low heat till you smell them

Brown the ground beef first - this gives you the opportunity to remove some fat

Deglaze with 1 beer

add all other ingredients except the 1 beer and bring to a simmer in a covered pot.

Cook for 2 hours

as the chili begins to dry, add the final beer and cook one more hour.

serve over rice, with corn bread, on chips, whatever you like.

Expirements

My background is chemistry and that means several things;
the first is i like to "play" with my food,
sometimes they succeed and sometimes they fail and great messes are made in the kitchen.
And so you know, i clean up my own messes.
The second is that, although i was never a synthesis chemist, i know the rules and there is always an order to how things are added together.

there are times i forget those rules.
I make an excellent whip cream from scratch which has a little bit of sugar (so it is not like ready whip or cool whip) and has some great flavors (vanilla and cinnamon).
Then i go and want to do more with it and that is when i get into trouble.
I wanted to add fruit and had some frozen blackberries from a time they were on sale.
So why not add them to the whipped cream, so this is when things went "south" so to speak.
blackberries are acid and these were frozen.
I defrosted them in the microwave and add sugar to them AND THEN I PUT THEM IN THE MIXER FIRST!
What was i thinking?
The cream has to set first, adding an acid not only did not let the cream set, but curdled it!
Turning on the mixer let the mixture fly every where.
The next day i did it in the proper order, whip the cream with sugar and when it was set add the macerated blackberries slowly to the whipped cream.
This worked without a mess and the topping was great.

Next experiment went well, took leftover part skim ricotta cheese (from making spinach breakfast cups), mixed it with egg and sugar (1 cup ricotta, 2 eggs, i tablespoon of sugar) and put the mixture in a souffle baking cup.  25 minutes at 350 and everything was set.

Next, i make some fine cornbread, but it is time consuming and takes a lot of eggs, so i added beer instead of water to a premix cornbread.
I have done this before, but it really did nothing save add a nice flavor, but this time i covered the top with cheese.
2 boxes corn mix, 2 eggs, 2/3 cup beer and about 8 oz of yellow cheese on top.
What i did not think of is that the cheese melted and covered the top, trapping the carbonation of the beer (so you could use seltzer water as well) and the cornbread became light and fluffy and beautiful to behold.  It did require more time than the box said 30 minutes at 400 F, but oh how good!.
there you have my experiments for the evening!

Finding Fresh herbs in the winter

We have had an extremely cold winter, but there have been unseasonably warm periods as well which has led to having more fresh herbs from my garden than normal.
I lose rosemary every year, whether i bring it indoors or leave out and this year, i left it out and have been enjoying it regularly.
I have been turned off by rosemary in the past, mostly because it was presented so that it was an overpowering flavor in foods, many times left as "springs".
I learned to dice it very fine and just add enough to give a hint of the beautiful flavor.
Now to the big surprises:  parsley - never has parsley ever lasted past Thanksgiving, i harvested some yesterday.
chives, really?  They last in bulb form through the harshest of winters, but the green stems still available?  This is amazing, but not as amazing as:
Oregano - again - something that lives through the winter, but it had leaves to pick for Christmas (not now after the latest 2 F cold snap, but still impressive)!
Sage - yes, sage leaves still harvest-able.
Something i never grew before and so was unsure how it would fair, but of the onion family - i still harvest leeks!

I am going back to tend my Navy bean, rosemary country ham soup for tonight!

it is cold outside

And i am doing a Cajun style gumbo.
I do not have access to the dried sassafras leaves that make up the Cajun file used often, but the taste is very on point!

Gumbo - Cajun style

5 Bay leaves

1 tablespoon Sage Leaf

2 cups celery, chopped

2 onions, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper

1 table spoon basil, chopped

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon salt (add more to taste)

2 cups chicken stock

32 oz of canned whole peeled tomatoes

2 cups okra, chopped

2 cups chicken, diced

1 lb Andouille sausage, sliced

Bacon fat to coat the pot

water to maintain liquid

flour and butter to make roux

begin to sauté the onions with pepper, salt and paprika on medium high heat.

When they become translucent add, garlic, celery, peppers and okra.

Take bay leaves and sage leaves and boil then in a separate pot with water or chicken stock for 5 minutes to extract flavor, strain and add to main pot.

Add all the remaining ingredients and bring the liquid level up to 2 quarts.

Continue simmering for several hours (minimum 2 hours, but more is good!)

Add roux to thicken slightly and serve over rice

Christmas time

Okay i call it this, but call it whatever you want.
I bake this one time of the year and i bake goodies that people rave over.
This is a traditional recipe

Kourambiethes

· 1 pound softened sweet (unsalted) butter (do not clarify for firmer cookies)
· 1/2 cup granulated sugar
· 1 tablespoon Orange zest or candied rinds (reduce sugar by 1/8th cup if you use candied rinds) chopped fine
· 1 tablespoon lemon zest
· 1 & 1/2 cup well chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds or a mix)
· 2 teaspoons orange flavor
· 1-teaspoon anise flavor
· 1 tablespoon orange juice or water
· 4+ cups flour (for cookies that are more cake-like (my mother suggestion), use 2½ cups cake flour and 2 cups regular flour – this also required more flour than the original, regular flour recipe to get the correct consistency of the mixture)
· 1 egg
· Powdered sugar

Whip the butter 30 seconds then add sugar and beat till fluffy.
Add egg and continue to whip.
Change to a beater bar (not wire Wisk)
Add zest or rinds, nuts, orange and anise flavor and mix
Add flour and then add water.
Continue to beat until the mixture begins to “ball” into clumps. (Sometimes I need to add more flour)
You may shape the cookie, keep in balls or “squash down”. Your choice.
They should be place with 1/2 inch between.
Roll into balls and place on a baking tray and cook for 20 minutes at 350º F. The cookies will be tan and have the edges just brown.
They must cool before removing from tray (but not cold).
Place on tray and cover with powdered sugar.
Eat at room temperature.