Chile-Lime Marinade

This was originally posted at DC's Musings February 3, 2009. A friend recently asked how I grill my tri-tip and it caused me to think of this wonderful and simple marinade.


I love to barbecue (or grill, I use the terms synonymously knowing that barbecue is a type of food in some regions and how it is prepared in others--if you have an issue then you have issues). I love to experiment. I love to experiment with food and flavor combinations for my barbecue. This weekend I hit a homerun on a new technique that many may already know, but it was new to my un-culinary-educated experience.

Some of my favorite marinades and basting liquids contain lime juice--fresh lime juice from the limes on our tree in the front yard (a "Mexican" or "Key-Lime" tree). The limes are just smaller than a golf ball with incredible flavor. Squeeze one on a piece of tri-tip or a butterflied chicken and bliss is found.

Grilled chili peppers is also one of my favorites from the outdoor cooker, I love the flavor and the spice they bring to a tortilla filled with any grilled meat. With kids the flavor and the spice can sometimes be too intense so I have had to cut back on how many, and what type, of chilies I like to use. Until Saturday.

I was listening to a radio program and the on-air expert (not Melinda Lee who I very much enjoy) was explaining how the heat in chili peppers is cut by acid and if you soak them in acid they will retain their flavors and loose much of their heat. Perfect! I like acids: citrus juices, alcohol, vinegar (in smaller doses than Leslie) and was excited to try a new technique.

Saturday afternoon to prep for my Super Bowl chili I cut the stems off and just scraped out as much of the seeds as I could in jalapeno, Anaheim and banana peppers. Then I put them in a Ziploc with the juice of two of our small Mexican limes. Making sure the juice got inside the peppers I put the bag in the cold-box overnight.
Sunday morning when I opened the bag to retrieve the peppers for roasting I was hit with the wonderful aroma of chilies and lime--it smelled fantastic. Not one to waste something that smells that good I quickly rubbed my pork loin chops with salt, pepper and house rub, placed in a bag, poured in the chili-lime juice and vacuum sealed the contents. Into the cold-box until after church to marinade.

I grilled the pork over the mesquite and without basting the flavor of the chili-lime marinade was terrific. There was little heat, but not too much, and to be able to enjoy the flavor of the chilies without worrying about the heat was a plus.
The pork, the roasted peppers and the left over chili-lime all went into the chili pot for what may have been the best SB Chili I have made in the almost 25 years I have been making it.

Try it, bag of chilies and lime juice then use to marinate chicken, pork, tri-tip, fish--you'll love it!

A Cautionary Tale

Mmmmm, sugar cookies. Also mmmmmm, sugar cookie dough, so good it's put in ice cream. Every memory I have of my childhood that involved making cookies includes my sister as the queen of eating the raw dough. With three kids my mom would have two beaters and a bowl, one piece for each kid. My sister was oldest, biggest, meanest and most desirous of the sugary raw goodness (for accuracy let it be known that while Sharon is still the oldest she is neither the biggest or meanest--we have no more mean amongst the Smith Sibs). Part of making cookies is a few tastes of the dough. A caution on eating raw cookie dough though....

Sunday was a family party to celebrate Jenna's birthday. Instead of a cake she wanted a giant sugar cookie. On Saturday Blaire and I made the dough (very good and easy recipe from Sur La Table cookbook: 2 1/4 cups flour, 3/4 cups sugar, little salt, 2-3 egg yolks, little vanilla, two sticks of butter). Not having time to make the giant cookie-cake we put the dough in the fridge overnight.

When it was time to make the giant cookie on Sunday the dough was too hard to roll out so I left it out on the counter for a while. Once soft we began to play around with making the giant cookie when Jenna decided she would rather have a bunch of "J" cookies. So we rolled out the dough and began pressing "J's".

As we worked and re-rolled our dough it got softer and softer. Instead of refridgerating some and using as we needed it I just kept rolling and cutting, rolling and cutting.

At one point early in the process Blaire snagged a little extra piece of dough--no shock. And smacked her lips with a giant, "MmmmmmmmMMMM!" Much later in the process I proceeded to do the same thing. I grabbed a small piece of dough, about the size of a dime in diameter and popped it in my mouth, gave a few chews and swallowed.

BAD IDEA!

I started choking and gagging. The dough had gotten so warm that the butter and flour combo made it stick in my throat. I proceeded to gag and cough uncontrollably until the dough ball moved slightly and I could breath--pant would be a better word. I swallowed warm water to melt the butter and for several minutes stood over the sink gagging, coughing and trying to dislodge the butter-dough ball from my throat. I even pushed my finger way down my throat to try to pull it up but could not grab it--though I did spread it and flatten it. After several minutes and lots of warm water I felt I was no longer choking and was able to sit and catch my breath.

Once I knew I could breath I calmed down a little, but it was still a frightening for me--and probably the girls as nothing ruins a cookie making project like Dad choking and gagging. Had the dough ball been bigger the situation could have gotten a lot worse.

The obvious moral of the story is, enjoy your raw cookie dough, but make sure it is somewhat chilled and not prone to stick on the way down other wise instead of baking cookies you could be tossing them....or worse.


DCS 02222010

Crowning the Queen of Stuftivus

"I didn't know that eating pork improved sexual activity," Fernandez said in a meeting with representatives of the swine industry late Wednesday. "It is much more gratifying to eat some grilled pork than to take Viagra."

So says President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina. Between issuing true political pork to subsidize the pork industry of Argentina and promoting pork as a benefit to an active sex life, President Fernandez de Kirchner is hereby dubbed the Queen of Stuftivus II.

In her honor Smokey suggests a Saturday evening dinner with your honey featuring a menu of oysters and champagne, followed by bacon wrapped pork sausage on a bed of pulled pork with a Guiness, finished with a chocolate souffle and small glass of Tokaji.

What a great two days for Stuftivus! On Thursday we get our muse for Stuftivus II and today we find our Queen for Stuftivus II!

Now off to cook some pork for dinner!

Stuftivus II Finds Its Muse

Stuftivus I centered on the Bacon Explosion. From the simple email from Sister Sharon about the Bacon Explosion came an explosion of commentary on Facebook about when Dennis, aka Smokey Stuftivus, would be embarking on such a culinary journey. The answer begat Stuftivus. With the help of Reno Mike and some pork products it was a rousing, and rotund, success.

Now Sister Sharon has descended from Mount Novato with yet another delight. The Brandcheezie (pictured compliments of its home at Brand BBQ Market in Chicago). Some thoughts.

First, "cheezie" is in the name! Harkens "E-Z Cheese". Possible substitute for gorgonzola or blue cheese? Squirt some E-Z Cheese in that big guy? Harkens my E-Z P-Z Pasta N Chee-Z would would be a fine side dish for the Brandcheezie.

Second, while the original Brandcheezie is fried, I think Reno Mike and I showed our grit at Stuftivus I in being able to grill huge amounts of bacon wrapped pork wrapped bacon, so the Stuftivus version of the Brandcheezie will not doubt come to grill.

Third, is there a better Muse out there for Stuftivus II than the Brandcheezie? If so I don't know that I want to know. Smokey will be dreaming of sausage stuffed with cheese wrapped in bacon glazed with barbecue sauce and alcohol.

Coming soon the official date for Stuftivus II: We thought about fish, but its still about Pork!

You know what won't be at Stuftivus II, or any Stuftivus!

Simple Sausage Cornbread Stuffing

This is an easy stuffing recipe that is delicious and has an additional re-use I'll mention at the end. First off, since I cut my turkey in half and barbecue it my stuffing does not go inside the turkey, so technically it is "dressing". Bull. Dressing is something you put on salad and we don't go there on Stuftivus. It's stuffing whether in or out of the turkey.

My assumption is that you will have prepped your turkey by now and will have used the innards to make a nice flavorful stock, if not have some chicken stock in a can or carton ready (we prefer the Swansons cartons, no MSG and can seal and re-use).

Make your cornbread the day before. I always make two pans and use about one and a half. Let sit out uncovered all night as you want it to dry up to make bread crumbs/chunks out of them. Heat oven to about 350 degrees. Cut, chop one of your cornbreads into pieces that are forkful, a size you feel comfortable with eating in one bite; some like small, some like medium, some like large so it needs to be your "just right." Spread the crumbs on a baking sheet and place in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Pull them out and check them, soft and moist? Stir them up on the pan and spread back out and into the oven. Crunchy? Perfect. You want the bigger crumbs to be crust on the outside and a bit soft on the inside so they don't turn to mush when the stuffing is put together, but also absorb juices and stock.

While your bread crumbs are getting toasty start your sausage. I use a tube, one pound, of Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage and one pound of sweet Italian sausage--out of the skin. Put the sausage in your big ole pan and cook it thoroughly. As you cook chop it up with your spatula to crumble to small pieces, remember it will be eaten with the cornbread crumbs so keep in mind what a forkful should look like. Once the sausage is finished take it out and drain on paper towels. Drain the fat from the pan and add about a half a stick of butter. Add a chopped onion, not diced, chopped, depending on taste you can add another. As the onion softens add chopped red pepper and diced Anaheim chili (unless you like a lot of spice then you can add chopped, we serve this to kids so go a little more mild on the spice). When all the players are nice and soft add minced garlic to taste (3 cloves for me) and seasonings.

In a large bowl put in your cornbread and onion mixture, mix thoroughly. Does it appear to have the right balance? Too little cornbread? Take your extra cornbread, cut it in half, give it a nice rough chop and add to the bowl--if you wish you can toast these as well, I usually don't as it is not that much and there is still the crunchy cornbread. Still too little to your liking? Keep adding from your extra pan of cornbread.

Once thoroughly mixed add about a cup to a cup and a half of your turkey or chicken stock.

You can now refrigerate until about an hour before dinner. Put in a covered casserole and put in a 325-50 oven (depending on what else you need your oven for that day) for about 45 minutes. Stuffing comes out hot and moist and crunchy and incredibly delicious.

This can definitely be made a day or two before Thanksgiving and kept in the fridge.

Bonus use with leftovers: My post-Thanksgiving soup is something I start craving about Halloween. Once I have my stock and all the meat and veggies in I put in a cup or two of the leftover sausage cornbread stuffing for flavor and also as a thickener. A few are not loving the texture of the broken down cornbread, but I love it.

Ooops! Mistakes Create Opportunity for Innovation: Pumpkin Cream

Sometimes our best ideas in the kitchen come because we made a mistake and need to correct something. This Thanksgiving I had a whopper of a mistake, such a whopper that when I told my haircutter (I can't say hairdresser) while having my hair shampooed the elderly lady getting shampooed next to me laughed so hard she got water down her neck. "I can't believe you admitted you did that!" she laughed at me.

On the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving it is my tradition to make the staple for our dessert: Pumpkin Cheesecake. Over the years it has gotten better and better as I have practiced and learned about cheesecakes. The latest and best change has been the switch from graham cracker based crust to ginger snaps thanks to my friend Susan.

This Thanksgiving Eve was particularly trying with a lot on my mind and my stress level was extremely high. Usually spending time in the kitchen and cooking relieves that stress. This year that did not occur.

I went through my normal routine of making my ginger snap crust and getting it out to cool. Then put together my batter, poured it into the spring form pan and placed in the oven. About ten minutes later I smacked myself in the head.

I forgot to put the pumpkin in the Pumpkin Cheesecake!

It was too late to add it to the batter and there was no way I was going to start another one. What to do?

How about making a pumpkin whipped cream to put on the pumpkin spiced cheesecake? Perfect!

Here's how we put it together (Blaire assisted):

Take several tablespoons of canned pumpkin and put in a bowl. Whisk it to break it up and add a little cream and whisk to incorporate, then add a little more cream, whisk, and once more a little cream and whisk. During this process you can add just a dash of pumpkin spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, not too much as you don't want to overpower the pumpkin). You should have about double the amount of volume you had when you first put the pumpkin in the bowl. Whisking in the cream breaks up the pumpkin and incorporates some cream to lighten the mixture. Set aside for a minute or two.

Start your whipping cream in your mixer, add your powdered sugar to your taste. When the cream just starts to thicken and get to "whipped" stage add your pumpkin cream mixture. Continue whipping until you have your final whipped cream. Chill and serve with your dessert!

We made a couple of whipped creams for Thanksgiving, using pretty much the same process. To save for clean up we started with a plain whipped cream, then made a coffee whipped cream and then a pumpkin. Having flavored whipped cream options was fun and our guests had fun tasting the different creams with the non-pumpkin cheesecake and apple pie.

For the coffee whipped cream I added about three tablespoons of coffee to the whipped cream when it began to thicken. For the coffee I set aside the left overs from our morning coffee, about half a cup, and put in the fridge to make sure it would be the same temperature as the cream. As the finished whipped cream chilled the flavor became stronger and with the coffee, cream and powdered sugar it tasted like a wonderful cup of cafe au lait. Served with the apple pie it was a perfect match--the all American diner experience of a cup of coffee and a slice of pie!

Other options to incorporate into whipped cream to make it flavorful are: Maple syrup, about two tablespoons. Perfect for waffles or cheesecake or pie or...? Add citrus zest about one whole fruit's worth depending on size orange, lemon, lime to have a fresh taste. Maybe a few spoons of bourbon or rum for a flavored cream for coffee after dinner?

The great thing about whipped cream is the containers we buy always provides more than we need making it easy to experiment. Make your plain old whipped cream first and then start playing with your left over cream, your equipment is already dirty so why not start adding flavors and whipping away?

Don't let a mistake in the kitchen get in your way, use them to try something new.

Now I'm off to experiment with maple-bacon whipped cream for waffles. About a teaspoon or two of bacon fat whisked with a few tablespoons of maple syrup.....

Arroz Con Pollo: It's Not That Hard!

UPDATE: I realize I did not put the rice on the chalk board! You will need 2 cups of rice for the "arroz" part of the dish!

I love stews and braised meats, especially once the weather dips below 73 degrees in Southern California. This past weekend when our temperatures dipped and the breeze kicked up I was hankering for dinner in a pot. Sunday I made arroz con pollo. There are many variations on this classic dish, the one below is very simple and you can easily add your own extra ingredients to change the dish to your family's tastes.

The prep for this takes about half an hour, most of it spent browning your chicken. Before you start cooking layout your chicken in a roasting pan or cookie sheet with edges so the juice doesn't get all over the counter. I use 10-12 thighs, if you prefer you can use a cut up chicken. I use thighs because I love the flavor of the meat and also all the pieces are the same size so they cook evenly. Don't go all healthy and skinless on this one, the skin renders and adds flavor to your dish, you can always pick it off when you eat it (heresy!).

With your chicken laid out season well on both sides with salt and pepper; I also sprinkle with small amount of cumin, cloves and red pepper. Leave the chicken out until room temperature before browning. Not all day, but about half hour before you are going to start cooking.

In a dutch oven or heavy bottom pot pour about a quarter cup of vegetable or canola oil, I also add about 2-3 tablespoons of butter. Put the pot on medium heat and bring to temperature. Then depending on the size of your cooking vessel place 3, 4 or 5 pieces in the oil, I always start skin side down. You do not want to crowd the pan so the chicken pieces should not be touching if possible, if it takes your 3 or 4 rounds to brown all the chicken so they can have room then take the time you will be rewarded with beautifully browned chicken.

Brown the chicken about 5 minutes and then turn and brown about 5 more minutes. When your skin/meat has a nice brown color and starting to get dark in some areas you are good. Take out the chicken and set in a dish that will hold the juices. (Here I squirt a little fresh lime juice over the chicken I just took out of the browning pot). Repeat with your remaining chicken until all your pieces are browned and in the holding dish (again each time you pull chicken out try a squirt of some fresh lime juice).

When all your chicken is finished take a look at how much oil you have left in the pot, probably more than you want, and while it is filled with flavor, you may want to pour some of it out--I always do. I discard oil until there is just enough to barely cover the bottom of the pan.

While the chicken is browning dice 1 onion, brown, red, white, your choice; and several cloves of garlic.

Once your chicken is out of the pot and your have discarded any oil you are discarding turn the heat to medium low and toss in your onions. As they begin to sweat use a spoon and scrape the bits off the bottom of the pan. When your onions get just closed to becoming browned pour in about a quarter cup of dry vermouth, or the white wine you didn't finish last night, or as my mom used to do open a new bottle, take a swig to make sure it tastes good, pour some in the pot and then some in a glass. Once you have the wine in raise the heat a bit and reduce for about 3-4 minutes.

Time for everyone to go swimming! Add your 2 cups of rice, chopped garlic and can of black beans--do not drain toss all the juices in. At this point you can add: canned tomatoes, olives, carrots, celery, diced chilis, cooked sausage, whatever you want. I go simple just rice, beans and garlic.

Once they are all in give a couple of stirs and mix everything up. Now add your chicken pieces, and pour in all the juice that is in the dish.

When the chicken is in pour in about 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth or stock (if you make your own and save this is a good time to break it out). I say about 1 1/ 2 cups because it depends on how much liquid is in the in the other ingredients you added, you want a total of about 2 cups liquid so if you add can of beans with liquid, can of tomatoes with liquid, can of olives with liquid, you will want to back down to about 1 cup of liquid maybe. But if you are going to error do so on the side of too much liquid rather than too little.

Once the liquid is in cover and bring to temperature so liquid is bubbling on the sides of the pot, a heavy simmer. Turn the heat down to a simmer and walk away for about half an hour.

You're done, arroz con pollo for dinner! You can serve from the pot or put in a casserole or on a platter with the chicken spread over the bed of rice. This feeds quite a few, the advantage in our home is that there is plenty of left overs I can bring to lunch and get jealous looks from my co-workers!

Arroz con Pollo sounds fancy, sounds difficult, sounds intimidating. But as you can see it is really simple: brown some chicken and toss in some ingredients, simmer and serve!