Kitchen Hack

Lime-Oregano-Serrano Marinated Grilled Chicken Thighs

This nearly qualifies as a "Cooking for Dudes" entry but breaks the cardinal rule...NO GRILL. So it's a regular entry. That's just the way it's gonna have to be. 

This is, easily, the best thing I've ever created on the grill. By a lot. And it's super simple. 

Behold the ingredient list...

Ingredients
6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
salt and ground black pepper
1 tbsp ancho chili powder
1 tbsp dried mexican oregano
1 serrano chile, minced
1 lime, zested and juiced
¼ cup olive oil
¼ bunch cilantro, chopped
⅛ cup cotija cheese, grated
½ lime to drizzle juice over the top before serving

That's it. And listing stuff like salt and pepper and oil shouldn't even count. 

I'm using chicken thighs in this. The thighs have more fat than the breasts and, as a result, more flavor. By virtue of having more fat they also are more forgiving. While it's possible to cook the beejeesus out of the thigh so that it dries out, it's difficult to do. If you're a hardcore conscientious chicken thigh objector, that's cool. Use breasts. You'll have to increase the cooking time and you'll want to move them over indirect heat about halfway in so it doesn't dry out. 

Cooking for Dudes: Lardon Breakfast Salad w/Maple-Curry Vinaigrette

Okay, dudes. You have committed to fixing your best girl breakfast. Problem is you want bacon and eggs and she wants a salad. You're cooking for her so salad it is. Still, a brother gotta eat so we're gonna get you your bacon and eggs. We're combining those two things into the breakfast version of a peanut butter cup - the best of both worlds. We're gonna have a vibrant, fresh salad with bacon and egg. We're classing it up by using pancetta. And we're topping it with a Maple Syrup (that's for you), Bacon Fat (also for you) Mild Curry (for her) Vinaigrette (it's French, so totally for her).  

This is a salad for two. If you're making it for the whole family, just double it or triple it. Takes 8-10 minutes of prep time and 8-10 minutes of cooking time. 

Cooking for Dudes: Chipotle-Lime Chicken with Red Wine Pan Sauce

I'm going to be erratically posting on the topic of Cooking for Dudes. Because I have learned a great truth. Having this blog and posting cooking stuff on Facebook and, maybe most relevant, having been married to Jill, I've learned something that all my male brethren need to internalize...girls like it when you cook for them. And by cook, I mean, NOT GRILLING. I know, I know. We're guys. We like fire. We get all caveman and science geek when we get outside with a hunk of meat and some flame. We drink beer and fart and hang out with other guys while turning a perfectly good hunk of meat into charcoal and then we douse it with some off the shelf sauce and we call it cooking. 

Here's the thing...your wife, your girlfriend, your significant other...she knows you're doing that for you but you just happened to buy so much meat that you can't help but have some leftover for her and the kids. She pretends not to know that. Because she loves you. And that makes her awesome and is why you should stay with her forever. 

Hoisin Glazed Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Lemon-Miso Grilled Asparagus

Hardcore grillers will tell you any kind of weather is grillin' weather. I've seen my neighbor out firing up some flame in near zero temps. I'm not that brave. Leaving alone for a moment what it may imply about climate change, its April 1st. It's 62 outside. We will be grilling. This is not normal for April 1st. 

Here's the punchline...

Spiced Shrimp Salad with Arugula and Fennel

Hot day. Want some salad. Got some shrimp. Let's do something. Let's do a nice spiced and grilled shrimp on a bed of Arugula and Fennel and Parsley. Throw in some oranges. Make a lemon vinaigrette to top it off. Fresh. Light. And, with just a little planning, fast.  This is what we'll be working towards...

So, first get your ingredients together.

For the Vinaigrette
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1tsp Honey
2 tsp Dijon
Salt And Ground Black Pepper
½ cup olive oil

For the Spice Rub
1 tbsp Spanish paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp ground fennel seed

For the Salad:
4oz Arugula
1 blulb fennel, thinly sliced, with half the fronds roughly chopped
4 Cara Cara oranges, peeled and sliced into supremes (use regular oranges if you can't find Cara Cara)
1 Serrano, seeds and ribs removed, minced
salt and ground black pepper

For the Shrimp:
1lb 31-40ct Shrimp, peeled, devined and tails removed
2 tbsp canola oil
Salt and ground black pepper

Grab your ingredients and get them stacked up to one side. Let's get our implements together. Get a big ol' salad bowl and set it to the side. Get both large and medium size mixing bowls and set them to the side. Grab a small bowl, a whisk and a fork. Get your cutting board and knife ready. 

We're going to fire up the vinaigrette first. Combine all ingredients but the olive oil into a small bowl and whisk well. Let sit for a couple of minutes so the salt dissovles. Slowly drizzle in the oilive oil, whisking like a crazy person the entire time until emulsified. Set aside. While it's still good if you serve right away, letting it set for 10-15 minutes allows the acid in the lemon juice to mellow the garlic a bit.

Spice Rub time. Throw it all in a regular ol' bowl and stir it with a fork. Set it aside. 

Put the shrimp in a good sized bowl and add the canola oil, salt and pepper, and 2 tbsp of the spice rub. Toss it well with your hands so it's all mixed in well and the shrimp looks kinda like this. 

Set a grill pan over medium heat (or if using a proper grill, go fire it up). Don't forget that it's sitting over there heating up. Since most grill pans on this earth are cast iron, remember to put a pot holder or a towel or something over the handle so you don't burn the beejeesus out of yourself by grabbing the handle after it's been heating up. 

(Mostly) Assemble the salad. 

Build it in layers. 

Empty bowl. 

Arugula.

Fennel. Including the flavorful fronds.

Parsley and the Orange Supremes. You can see the deliciousness forming. Give it a little salt and pepper. Don't toss it just yet. 

Get the shrimp into the hot grill pan. Give it 2 minutes and then start flipping the shrimp with tongs. Give it about another minute. Add to the salad bowl. If, like me, you have a small grill pan, you'll have to work in batches, otherwise you crowd the pan and the shrimp steams instead of chars. 

BAIN #1: If you don't have a grill or a grill pan, doing this in a skillet is fine. You won't get the smoky char but it will still be good. The only thing you'll do different is along with mixing in the oil with the shrimp like we did above, you'll add a tbsp or so to the skillet just to ensure you don't stick to the pan. 

We're almost home. Using half the dressing, pour it along the edges of the bowl and then gently push the salad to the edges. This lightly dresses the salad without drowning it. 

Serve it up. Put the remaining dressing on the table in case anyone wants another drizzle or two. Otherwise, divide the salad across four plates and you're good to go. It's nice, it's light, it's fresh. The spice rub gives it a nice earthy hint and the Serrano just a touch of heat. Start to finish, this took me 20 minutes with the longest part being peeling the shrimp. Great on a hot day and probably a pretty solid "I-want-something-fast" weeknight meal. 

Ground Turkey and Roast Chickpea Scramble

Seems like I know a lot of folks who are swearing off grains. While I'm not gonna be joining you on the no grains train I could certainly do better on the "everything in moderation front". Probably, I eat enough grain-based stuff I'm a line item on Archer Daniels Midland's annual revenue report. 

And Minneapolis, despite pretending to be Southern California for about 10 days here in the middle of February, finally remembered, "shit...I'm really, really so very North" and dropped down into the teens and twenties where it belongs this time of year. 

And, and...I hadn't gone nuts whipping together something eggy...eggish...egg-laden...in quite a long spell. 

I'd gone to bed thinking "red pepper and potato frittata". I woke up thinking, "meh". 

 So...what did I want? 

I wanted something without grains that was still substantial. Like, it'd get you through the day. I wanted eggs. I wanted lots of flavor. I wanted interesting enough spices that the whole house would smell warm and kind of exotic. Did some Googling, stole some ideas, thought about it a bit. Here's what I got...

Ground Turkey and Roast Chickpea Scramble

2 160z cans of chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
salt and pepper
1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium red onion
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
salt
sugar

5-6 garlic cloves, minced to a paste
1/2 Anaheim Chile, minced
1/2 tsp cumin seeds (about 1/4 tsp if already ground)
1/2 tsp paprika
salt and pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp Sambal Olek 
1/4 cup water

2 tbsp olive oil
8oz ground turkey (the least lean you can find)
salt and pepper

8 eggs, beaten within an inch of their lives
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 bunch cilantro, chopped

Let's making something stupid good...

Fire up the oven to 450. Drain the two cans of chickpeas. Rinse then thoroughly. Drain them again. Put a kitchen towel down on a rimmed baking sheet and then use some paper towels to dab the chickpeas and soak up as much water as you can. They're not going to be completely dry but since we want a little bit of crunch from these let's reduce the moisture as much as possible so they don't steam and get mushy. Carefully, slide the towel out from under the chickpeas. Drizzle on the olive oil and hit them with salt and pepper. Use your hands (or a spoon or spatula if you insist of being civilized) to toss it well and then spread it evenly over the baking sheet. Throw them in for 25 minutes. You want them golden brown and crispy. If they're not quite crispy, drizzle on some more olive oil and throw them back in the oven for another 5 minutes or so. Just check on them occasionally. When they're done, set the sheet aside and let them cool. 

While the chickpeas are a-roasting, put a small skillet over medium heat. Throw in the tbsp of olive oil. Using your knife or a mortar and pestle, first mince the garlic. Add a good dash of salt and grind it into a paste. Throw the cumin and paprika into a grinder and give them a good whiz. Throw that into the garlic paste and mash a bit more. Mince the chile pepper, add it to the paste and give it a another smack around for a few seconds with the back of the knife or the mortar and pestle. Add this mashup to the skillet. Give it a good stir and let it bloom. After a couple of minutes it will smell heavenly. 

Big Ass Important Note (BAIN) #1: Some people like the chile pepper because of the heat. I like them for the weird but wonderful combination of earthy and fruity. I used an Anaheim pepper, which is really mild so that earthy/fruity thing comes out. If you want it hotter just walk up the ladder to jalapeño, Serrano, red Fresno, whatever. 

Once you hit the heavenly stage, grab a heaping tbsp of Sambal Olek...like a great, manly tbsp... a tbsp that's so heaping that it's really 2 tbsp. Throw it in. Give it a good stir and let it go for another minute. Add the water and let it go for 2-3 minutes to thicken. Give it a good stir every now and then (generally, cooking some spices and a paste is like having a high maintenance significant other...you gotta give it a little attention and reassurance or it gets bitter and angry really fast). Remove it from the heat and set it aside.

About now, get a good-sized non-stick skillet going over medium-high heat.

We've got some flavor, some spices, some heat. From the roasting chickpeas we're gonna get some good rich umami happening. We need something to punch through that and give it a little brightness and burst. So, while the skillet is heating up, thinly slice the red onion and drop it all in a bowl. Pour over the 1/2 cup of red wine vinegar and add a healthy pinch of salt and sugar. Toss it well and set it aside. We're doing a quick pickle of the onion. You're gonna thank me for this. 

Add the rest of the olive oil to the skillet and throw in the ground turkey. Hit it with some salt and pepper and let it brown, occasionally breaking it up with a spatula or wooden spoon and give it a few good stirs. While that's going on, crack the eggs into a big bowl, grab a whisk, and beat the beejeesus out of them. Remember that guy that used to bully you when you were twelve? The one who had a beard and mustache already. And muscles. Yeah - the eggs are him. Get all those years of latent rage out. 

As I was about to add the eggs it occurred to me that I was getting ahead of myself. I grabbed the spice paste, threw that in with the turkey and added a tbsp of red wine vinegar to even it out. Gave it a good stir and let it all cook together for a minute. Then, in with the eggs. 

With the eggs, you'll want to be in pretty constant motion. You want them to cook up into soft curds but not brown or fully set. Keep stirring, getting the eggs mixed with the turkey and the spices. This is, if I'm honest, kind of an ugly dish. But, damn it's gonna come out good. 

As the eggs get good and curded up, quickly chop the hell out of the cilantro and fold it in. Take the dish off the heat and set aside. 

Plate this up with a couple of big spoonfuls and then garnish with a handful or two of the chickpeas and a healthy handful of the pickled onions. You want plenty of the vinegar dripping off them. 

Ugly though it may be, the rich and heavy flavors of the egg and turkey mix with the heat of the paste, the fresh burst of the cilantro, and the crunch of the chickpeas really nicely. And then the acidic-sweet burst of the pickled onions opens it up and balances it out. 

No grains. Plenty of heft. Ton of flavor. 

Cold Weather Recipes: Making the House Smell Goooooood

Minnesota, after having thought it was Seattle for the week leading up to and including Christmas (30's-40's and raining) remembered it was Minnesota and cooled off dramatically. When the weather gets cold I, not being a winter sports guy, hibernate. "Cold" is a relative term. For me, up here in the great North, that's somewhere around 20 degrees. That's the temperature at which I start wishing I had an arctic survival suit.  For my friends in Arizona and SoCal...like 65 degrees.

I like to cook things that are relatively low effort, have long cooking times, and make the whole house smell good. To that end, I have two things for you...Pasta Milanese (with Mudrica) and Mulled Apple Cider. 

Tomate Frito with Yucatán Spiced Chicken

The real thing worth paying attention to here is the sauce, Tomate Frito. It has noting to do with the abomination that is the Frito. Frito, in Spanish, means fried. So when you're eating those chips, you're eating Fried. Which likely makes it the most accurately titled processed food product ever. 'Cause whatever it is, is very much Fried, but there ain't much in the way of actual food in it. 

A classic Tomate Frito is a really versatile thing. Cook it down alot and it's a great sauce for fish, pork or chicken. I use it on omlettes, fried eggs, bacon. Cook it down just a little, add a touch of lime juice, and it's a crazy good salsa. We're going Yucatán-style with this, which means there's gonna be some Habanero going on, but that doesn't mean you gotta be punished by heat. I'll take you through how to get the piquancy of the habanero while controlling the heat to your liking. I've tried a number of versions of this in a quest to make it all chef-y. I've tried some of my own invention and tried out a passel of recipes I've found online. The Yucatecan culture is ancient. It's been doing this for a long time. Not surprisingly, then, the simplest, hardly any ingredients version of the sauce is, hands down, the best. For the simplest, most straight forward version of this sauce, I'd go with the version from Rick Bayless.

In this recipe, I'm putting it on chicken, but we'll also cover how to alter the cooking and ingredients just a little so it functions as a standalone salsa. 

The Go-To Tomato Sauce and its Infinite Variations

The weather, though still unseasonably warm, is getting colder up here in Minneapolis. When that happens I kinda like things that cook slow but are still relatively easy so long as they perfume the whole house. While a slow moving sauce simmers away I'll step away, run an errand, go shovel snow, whatever. When I walk back in the house, the fragrance is wonderful. It immediately conjures up home and family. It feels peaceful. 

I thought I'd share my go-to tomato sauce. I like this because it's got alot of flavors going on, a little heat (totally controllable by you) and it smells so damn good. Also, with minor variations it can go from a sauce to a ragu to a chunky vegetable sauce. What's cool about finding a sauce that has alot of variations you can go with is you can keep your pantry stocked with the ingredients below and you'll always have a good sauce at your fingertips. And then you can improvise off of that.

 I'll cover all those but we'll hit the foundation first. 

 

Cochinita Pibil Ravigote Breakfast Ragu

Yesterday, I spent most of the day cooking up some Cochinita Pibil. Never having done it before, I followed the recipe rather closely. Here's the thing with any dish that centers on a pork shoulder... it makes alot of food. Leftovers are gonna happen. I decided to go breakfast with it (meaning I put an egg on it and called it breakfast). 

Playing around with it, it seemed like it would make a good ragu. It already was broken down and with just a little heat it would break down further. Perfect ragu territory. Instead of a, for lack of a better term, regular pasta I thought couscous would be cool. Also, it was all I had in the pasta family laying around.