Very southern

Tonight's Menu

• grilled ham steak
  
• cornbread
  
• spinach w/bacon and pinkeye peas
  

Well, this was NOT a cool-kitchen supper, I'm sorry to say. But it was very yummy and easy and I'm not sure you can get much more southern than ham, cornbread, and greens with peas, y'all.

The ham steak was easy -- just drain off the water in which it's usually packed and slap it on a grill over high heat for 3 minutes per side (more or less, depending on thickness).

The cornbread was homemade, using my usual recipe. I SWEAR this is not much more trouble than those mixes you buy at the store, and you can control how sweet it is (DH likes it SWEET) and what sort of fat is in it (this time I used an extra-light olive oil).

The spinach and peas were the real stars of this meal, though. One of the weird things I planted in my garden this year was purple-hull pinkeye cowpeas. They look a lot like blackeyed peas, if you're familiar with those (you can see the pods here, and the peas here). Of course, my garden is tiny and I don't usually get enough peas all at once to feed the four of us. I had collected maybe two tablespoons worth over the past week and had no idea what to do with such a small amount, but I definitely didn't want them to go to waste!

So, here's what I did: I brought a little pot of water to a boil, dumped in my tiny amount of homegrown pinkeye peas, and boiled them for maybe 15 minutes until they were nice and tender. Then I drained them and set them aside.

In a large skillet, I browned off some chopped bacon and then added the drained peas and a big bunch of fresh baby spinach. I tossed the spinach around until it had wilted, then I seasoned it with salt and pepper and added a tablespoon each of brown sugar and vinegar (this time I used a raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar, but in the past I've used red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar and it's all good!). Stir that around for a bit until some of the liquid has evaporated, then serve. So yummy! If you think you don't like spinach, try it like this -- it's all smoky bacon and sweet-sour sauce. Mmm!

Here was the timeline for this simple, delicious meal:

• Put the peas on to boil.
  
• Mix up the cornbread and stick it in the oven.
• Light the grill (if you're using gas; for charcoal you might want to do this first).
• Remove peas from heat after they're tender, drain and set aside.
• While grill is heating, chop bacon and have the spinach, sugar & vinegar nearby.
• Put ham steak on grill for 3 minutes per side; remove and tent with foil to rest.
• Remove cornbread from oven.
• Make spinach/pea dish (it's fast).
• Cut ham into serving pieces, ditto cornbread, serve it on up!
  

Making its first appearance this season: garlicky flank steak!

Tonight's Menu

• garlicky grilled flank steak
• crispy potatoes w/garlic and rosemary
  
• sauteed spinach
  

I would like you all to know that in the course of making this dinner I changed out propane tanks on the grill ALL BY MYSELF. And yes, that IS a big deal, because the whole propane issue kind of terrifies me. (There was a bunsen burner incident in college chemistry. I ... I don't like to talk about it.) Before I got my new grill with its sexy electronic starter, I refused to even LIGHT the thing. Now that I know how to switch out tanks, I pretty much only need DH for garbage removal, bill paying and occasional sex. Whee!

Oh, but you probably want to hear about the FOOD. Fine, then.

As longtime readers know, this flank steak is a HUGE favorite here and I make it umpteen times per year during grilling season. I've told you how to make it before, but it's easy enough to repeat: just bash up some garlic, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper with a mortar and pestle, then add fresh lemon juice and EVOO until you've made a nice slurry. Make diamond cuts in your flank steak and rub the garlic-lemon slurry all over it on both sides, pushing it into the cuts. Then pop it on a screaming hot grill for 4-5 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of your steak. Let rest for 5 minutes or so, then slice thinly across the grain and devour. It is the BEST THING EVER.

For the potatoes, I just cut some russets into chunks and put them on a foil-lined baking sheet. Then I drizzled them with olive oil and tossed them with some bashed-up garlic cloves, snipped fresh rosemary, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. They roasted in the oven for about 30 minutes at 450 degrees, and I stirred them every 15 minutes or so to make sure they browned evenly. Delicious!

The spinach was SUPER easy -- just fresh baby spinach sauteed in olive oil until wilted and then seasoned with salt and pepper.

This is one of my favorite dinners, and it's so easy! I started heating up the grill when I put the potatoes in the oven. (And then the grill burned out, and I had to change tanks, oy.) I put the meat on the grill when the potatoes were halfway done, then sauteed the spinach while the meat was resting. It's a no-brainer, y'all!

Scallops!

Tonight's Menu

• bay scallops with bacon and spinach
  

This was kind of an experiment, y'all. I think it worked out okay, but there are a few things I'd do differently if I made it again.

All I did was take about 4-5 thick slices of bacon (I used Pederson's Apple Smoked) and chop them up, then stick them in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat until the fat had rendered out and they were about 90% on their way to being crispy. Then I dumped in a pound of bay scallops (those are the little teeny ones) that had been rinsed and blotted dry. When I make this again I will do the scallops in BATCHES, because the idea was for them to get a nice sear, and in reality they just kind of simmered in their own juices. Oh well. I tossed them around for 3-4 minutes until they'd gone opaque, seasoned with salt and pepper, then removed the bacon and scallops from the pan with a slotted spoon.

With the pan still hot, I dumped in a pound of fresh baby spinach and let it wilt down. When it was nearly done, I sprinkled in a couple of teaspoons of sugar and an equal amount of red wine vinegar and tossed the spinach around to mix it all together, then seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper. The combo of sugar and vinegar gives a really nice, slightly sweet and sour flavor to the spinach and works especially well with the bacon fat still left in the pan.

To serve, just make a nice bed of spinach on the plate and spoon the scallops and bacon over top. This was really tasty -- the flavors were all there -- but like I said, I'd do the scallops in batches next time so they'd sear instead of simmering. By some miracle I managed NOT to overcook them, so they weren't rubbery, but the texture wasn't quite what I was going for. Or maybe sea scallops would be better, cooked a few at a time? Hmmm. Must experiment!

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Tonight's Menu

• red beans and rice with sausage
  
• cornbread
  
• sauteed spinach
• banana bread pudding with caramel-rum sauce
• hurricanes (virgin, or not)
  

So hey, everyone! It's Mardi Gras! And I am SO STUFFED. Let's get right to it.

The red beans and rice were from a mix (Vigo). I KNOW. Shut up, it's only once a year. I've tried making them from scratch and I actually like the mix better. I did add half a pound of sliced beef sausage to them, though.

I've given you the cornbread recipe before.

Fresh baby spinach was just sauteed in a skillet with EVOO until wilted, then seasoned with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.

Okay, now the bread pudding! This was sort of an experiment. I was going for Bananas Foster flavors, without having to flambe anything. This is how I made it:

1 loaf stale French bread, cubed
2 bananas, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup butter, melted
5 eggs
1/2 - 3/4 cup brown sugar (I didn't measure it)
1/4 cup dark rum
1 tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt
2.5 cups hot milk
cinnamon
nutmeg

Okay, toss the bread cubes and bananas into a casserole dish, pour the melted butter on top, toss with your hands or a big spoon, and set aside.

In a mixing bowl beat the eggs until well combined. Beat in the brown sugar, rum, vanilla and salt. Slowly add the hot milk, beating constantly. Pour this mixture over the bread cubes and bananas, pushing the bread down into the egg mixture to make sure it's all covered. Let sit for about 5 minutes so the bread can absorb the eggs/milk.

Sprinkle with a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg, then bake uncovered at 375 degrees F for about 35 minutes or until set. It will poof up like a souffle and be a bit jiggly, but it shouldn't be runny once it's cooked.

For the caramel-rum sauce, just combine one can of sweetened condensed milk with a tablespoon or so of dark rum in a saucepan. Put it over VERY low heat (or use a double boiler) and stir occasionally until the mixture has thickened and become a light golden brown. This will take a while. If it gets lumpy (mine did), just push it through a sieve. Serve alongside the bread pudding. This is a really easy way to make caramel sauce if you don't have any heavy cream lying around.

The hurricanes were also kind of an experiment because I didn't have some of the necessary ingredients (like passion fruit syrup). So here's how I made those.

6 oz. pineapple juice
6 oz. orange juice
4 oz. guava nectar
juice of one lime
2 oz. grenadine

Combine all of the above for a "virgin" version of the drink. Strain over crushed ice into a hurricane glass and garnish with a wedge of orange and a maraschino cherry. This makes a couple of servings.

For the non-virgin version, add 1 oz. each dark and light rum to each glass and stir.


I am not claiming that this is in any way an "authentic" Mardi Gras meal, but it was yummy!

Brown sugar makes everything better

Tonight's Menu

• grilled ham steaks
  
• yet more beer bread
  
• warm salad of caramelized veggies and spinach
  

I used to make this caramelized veggie salad all the time, but for some reason it's been ages since I've served it. It's actually pretty easy and REALLY delicious. The original recipe came from a Betty Crocker vegetarian cookbook, if you can believe it!

What I do is take some small red-skinned potatoes, cut them in halves or quarters, stick them in a big pot with about an inch of water, and bring it to a boil. While the water is heating I rinse some green beans, trim the stem ends, and cut them in half, adding them to the boiling water. Bring it all back up to the boil if necessary, then reduce to a simmer, cover, and leave them alone for about 10 minutes or until they're just tender. Drain and set aside.

Then cut up some sweet yellow onion and saute it in a skillet with about a third of a cup of butter until the onion is nice and golden and soft. Add equal amounts of balsamic vinegar and brown sugar (for a pound each of potatoes and beans, I use 1/4 cup each of the sugar and vinegar) along with a pinch or two of salt, and stir just until everything is combined and the sugar has dissolved a bit (but DON'T LET THE SUGAR BURN). Add the potatoes/beans to the skillet and toss to coat, then turn out onto a bed of baby spinach leaves. This is a nice, hearty side dish and the sweet, caramelly goodness really compliments a salty/cured meat like ham.

The ham itself was just grilled on the stovetop in my beloved IKEA grill pan.

And yes, we had beer bread AGAIN! We're not eating this every single night, I swear. It's just so damn EASY, and everyone loves it. This time I made it with Saint Arnold Texas Wheat beer and it was SO good -- not quite as sweet as when I used Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat and more, er, bread-like.

Shrimps on sticks!

Tonight's Menu

• stovetop-grilled shrimp on rosemary skewers
• quinoa
  
• spinach salad (sort of)
  

Oh, internets! I have neglected you horribly these past couple of months, I know. And I'm REALLY REALLY sorry. Blame it on The Pre-Holiday Slump That Almost Ate My Brain. But hey, it's January now, and my brain and I are back! And we are COOKING, bitches!

Okay, so the shrimp! This was kind of an experiment. What I did was cut some branches of rosemary (old/firm branches, not young/bendy ones) from the bushes out front, strip them of leaves to about an inch or so from the tip, then cut the ends (opposite the tips, yo) on an angle so they were fairly sharp. Then I cleaned about a pound of large-ish shrimp and threaded them onto the branches, alternating which direction the tails were facing (they lay a little more flat on the grill that way). I would have liked to brush them with something yummy at this point, but with the girl being allergic to soy and both kids complaining of itchy throats every time they eat garlic lately (please God, do not let my children be allergic to garlic on top of everything else), I gave up and just brushed them with EVOO.

Then I got my beloved IKEA grill pan screaming hot, and this is where the fun began, because the shrimps weren't making good contact with the grill. Since the grill pan isn't covered (because hello, it's a GRILL PAN), they were in danger of not getting cooked through or of getting burned/tough on the outside in order to be done in the middle. SO, after flipping them (I gave them maybe 2 - 3 minutes per side) I covered the pan with a cookie sheet for about a minute. This allowed them to get grilled as normal on the second side while still cooking through. As an added bonus, the leaves on the tips of the skewers were making contact just fine and were smoking a bit as a result, so covering the pan gave the shrimp a mini rosemary smoke infusion that really boosted the flavor. I cut wedges of lemon for folks to squeeze themselves and hardly missed the garlic at all (sniff!).

We've talked about how to cook quinoa (pronounced keen-wah), right? Just put a cup of it in a pan along with two cups of water (like for rice), bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. Then take it off the heat and just let it sit, covered, for five minutes or so before tossing with a fork to fluff it up. I always stir in a little salt and pepper before serving, but you can also go whole-hog and make a sort of pilaf with sauteed veggies (we just had it plain last night). This is a really great substitute for rice, particularly white rice, because it's a whole grain but doesn't have that sometimes unpleasant texture of brown rice (or whole-wheat pasta, shudder!).

Finally, the spinach salad. I say it was sort of a spinach salad because lately the boy child has requested that all our salads be served in "bar" fashion. In other words, a big bowl of greens with lots of little bowls of veggies or whatever surrounding it, so folks can mix their own. I thought this was a swell idea so that's what we've been doing. Last night it was a bowl of baby spinach with canned mandarin orange segments on the side. Dried cranberries and toasted nuts are great options, too, but we didn't have any.

Okay! So! Back to the kitchen!

Saucy!

Tonight's Menu

• spiced pork chops
  
• steamed basmati rice
• sauteed baby spinach
  

I used to make this spiced pork chop recipe, which I originally got from Taste Of Home magazine, all the time but I don't see it in my archives so I guess it's been a while! It's very yummy, particularly in cooler weather. Which we are NOT having, but hope springs eternal and whatnot.

What you do is take half a cup of flour and mix in a bunch of herbs and spices -- garlic powder, dry mustard, paprika, celery salt, ground ginger, dried oregano, dried basil, some pepper and a pinch of salt. Then dredge four pork chops (I like the thick boneless ones) in the flour/spice mixture. I usually mix the flour and spices in a big plastic zipper bag and then shake the chops right in the bag, just to save time and a bit of mess. Once the chops are coated in flour and spices, brown them on both sides in a skillet with a little oil.

While the chops are browning, mix together a cup of ketchup, a cup of water, and 1/4 cup of brown sugar and set it aside. Remove the chops from the skillet and place them in a single layer in a 9 x 13-inch pan, then pour the ketchup mixture over them and bake uncovered at 350 degrees F for about an hour. The chops come out tender with a sweet-tangy sauce that's really good with rice. This recipe is easily doubled but the sauce doesn't freeze all that well, in my experience.

Spinach was the usual deal -- a big bag of pre-washed baby spinach sauteed in EVOO and seasoned with salt and pepper. The spinach cooks WAY down, so figure on one salad-sized bag for every 2-3 people you're feeding.

Hammy

Tonight's Menu

• indoor grilled ham steak
  
• baked sweet potatoes
  
• sauteed baby spinach
  

Okay, so this was way easy.

The ham steak was grilled indoors on the grill pan. Just a couple of minutes per side to warm it through and put some sexy grill marks on it, then cut into serving-size pieces.

The sweet potatoes were just scrubbed, wrapped in foil, and baked in the oven for about an hour at 375 degrees F. They were kind of small, so you might have to adjust the time for larger potatoes. Once out of the oven they were split and buttered and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

The spinach was just one of those big bags of pre-washed fresh baby spinach. Heat some EVOO in a large skillet, dump in the spinach (you can do this in stages if it keeps jumping out of the pan -- it will cook WAY down), stir it around until it all goes nice and wilted, then season with salt and pepper.

Apart from remembering to put the potatoes in the oven ahead of time, you can have this dinner ready in like 10-15 minutes. No lie. And if you absolutely had to, you could microwave the potatoes instead of baking them in the oven. It's quicker than getting pizza delivered, yo!

Easy leftovers

Tonight's Menu

• garlicky grilled flank steak
  
• leftover grilled onions and potatoes
  
• leftover salad of baby spinach and strawberries
  

Um, yeah. Not much to say about this one.

I've already told you how to make the steak. And the onions/potatoes and salad.

Way easy.

Perfect summer supper

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken leg quarters
• grilled onion and potato packet
• salad of baby spinach and strawberries
  

Oh y'all. This was SO GOOD.

The chicken was easy. I just sprinkled each leg quarter with some Jane's Krazy Salt and freshly ground pepper, then grilled them skin-side down over medium-high heat for five minutes or so to get the skin nicely browned and crisp. After that I flipped them to skin-side-up, turned the grill down to low, and let them cook for another 20 minutes or so. They were tender, juicy and delicious.

The onion and potato packet was likewise easy. I just thinly sliced some onion and some little red-skinned potatoes (because that's what I had; do use a waxy vs. mealy potato, though) and layered them in a piece of heavy-duty foil with some butter, salt and freshly ground pepper. I sealed it all up nice and tight and stuck it on the grill when I turned the chicken. It was done when the chicken was done, and it was SO YUMMY. The onion got all sweet and slightly caramelized, and the potato was nicely tender. Mmmm!

The spinach salad could not have been easier; just dump a bag of pre-washed baby spinach into a bowl and add halved (or quartered or sliced) fresh strawberries. I served it with a bottled raspberry vinaigrette.

I washed everything down with a nice glass of white sangria. Earlier today I combined a bottle of pinot grigio (it's what I had; just use whatever white wine is laying around) with some cognac and a can of peach nectar. Then I sliced in a couple of fresh nectarines and let it all kind of get happy for a couple of hours. To serve, fill a collins glass (that's the tall one) with ice and then pour it about half full of the wine mixture. Scoop out some nectarines and drop those in the glass, add a couple of fresh raspberries, then top it off with club soda (or if you like it sweeter, use a lemon-lime soda). It's kind of like a homemade wine cooler, but NOTHING like that pre-bottled crap you buy in the store. So good, and excellent with grilled chicken!

An experiment

Tonight's Menu

• grilled pork tenderloin
  
• sauteed spinach with garlic
  
• sliced tomatoes from the garden
  
• green salad (from the garden!)
  

So yeah, tonight's dinner was a bit of an experiment. Well, the pork was, anyway. What I did was cut some garlic cloves into slivers, then poked holes in the tenderloin and pushed them in. It was kind of porcupine-y. Then I tossed together some freshly grated lemon zest (LOVE my Microplane, y'all), dried oregano (because I didn't have fresh -- use that if you have it), salt and freshly ground pepper and rubbed that over the meat, then grilled it over high heat for about 20 minutes on a well-oiled grate, turning every 5 minutes or so.

Do you know what dried oregano smells like when it meets an open flame? Do I have to spell it out for you? Yeah, I'm pretty sure our neighbors thought we were having an especially mellow barbecue. Heh.

Anyhoo, I let the meat rest while I sauteed the spinach (EVOO and one garlic clove sliced paper thin, dump in some fresh baby spinach when the garlic starts to go barely tan, stir to wilt, season with salt & pepper), then sliced it on the diagonal and it was very tasty. DH said it was not his favorite, but I liked it just fine.

I have more garden tomatoes than I know what to do with. We had to give some away to the neighbors today! Not that I'm complaining!

Surf & Turf! Kind of!

Tonight's Menu

• leftover citrus grilled shrimp from last night
• leftover garlicky grilled flank steak from the night before
• a warm salad of green beans and cherry tomatoes FROM THE GARDEN!
  
• leftover spinach salad with oranges and toasted almonds

Okay, so "embellished leftovers" would be a more appropriate title. Sue me.

I had a teeny number of green beans from the garden (I've been saving them up in a ziploc bag in the fridge for the past week) and wanted to do something with them. I also had about six cherry tomatoes, also from the garden, that were languishing on my kitchen windowsill. So hey! Warm salad!

I simmered the beans in water until they were just tender, then drained them and dumped them in a bowl with halved cherry tomatoes. Then I took a TEENY bit of garlic, like half a clove, and minced it. I tossed the garlic into a skillet and added a tablespoon or so of balsamic vinegar along with an equal amount of sugar (which was a bit too much sugar, unfortunately) and let it reduce down a bit. (NOTE: I actually had to do all the above steps twice, because the first time, the pan was too hot and the sugar burned. Yuck.) Then I removed it from the heat and whisked in a little bit of EVOO (really fast, so it would emulsify) and drizzled this concoction over the beans and tomatoes. Add a chiffonade of fresh basil (from the HERB garden!), season with salt and pepper, and toss to coat.

It was really good, but like I said, just a TAD too sweet. Next time, less sugar! I put some of the dressing/sauce on my spinach salad as well and that was AWESOME. Made me wonder what it would be like if I added just a bit of orange juice next time? And cut way back on the sugar? Hmm. I smell a kitchen experiment!

Father's Day dinner

Tonight's Menu

• citrus grilled shrimp
  
• HUGE spinach salad with oranges and toasted almonds
  

In addition to blueberry muffins for breakfast, DH requested "seafood" for dinner tonight. He didn't give me many guidelines beyond that, but I happened to spy some nice big gulf shrimp for a decent price at the grocery store, so grilled shrimp it was!

I made a little marinade for the shrimp with pineapple juice, fresh-squeezed orange juice and fresh lime juice. I also tossed in a smashed garlic clove and a sprig of fresh rosemary, along with a smidge of EVOO. Then I marinated the shrimp (after peeling them down to the tails and de-veining) for about an hour before grilling them for 3-4 minutes per side on a grill screen over high heat. They were really yummy -- citrusy with a hint of sweetness, and a bit of bite from the garlic and rosemary (which didn't overpower since I tossed them in whole).

The salad was just baby spinach tossed with fresh orange sections and slivered, blanched almonds that had been toasted in a dry skillet and allowed to cool (so as not to wilt the spinach).

We washed it all down with one of DH's favorite cocktails, the pina colada! Yeah, he likes the girly drinks. You got a problem with that?

Ham

Tonight's Menu

• ham steaks on the grill pan
  
• crescent rolls (the doughboy kind, low-fat)
  
• fresh baby spinach sauteed in EVOO
  

Ack! I know! I have been a bad, bad food blogger for not posting in ages and ages. See, we haven't been having anything new for dinner AT ALL. Everything we've been eating, I've already told you how to make. We are SO BORING over here. And tonight is no exception. See?

But I will try to post more often. Even if it's boring.

That's not a promise. It's A THREAT.

Happy New Year!

Tonight's Menu

• pork spare ribs with sauerkraut
  
• mashed potatoes
  
• sauteed baby spinach with blackeyed peas and bacon
  

So hey, everyone! Happy New Year!

In my family of origin we always ate pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day. I don't know why, we just DID. Every single person in my family, on both sides. I'm relatively certain they all still do.

I usually do a pork loin with sauerkraut in the crockpot, but this year I got a wild hair and made SPARE RIBS with sauerkraut in the crockpot! I know! Crazy! All I did was cut the spare ribs into slabs of 3-4 ribs each, salt and pepper them, brown them off in a skillet, then stack them in the crockpot (making Xes with them as I went). I drained a jar of sauerkraut and kind of dumped it on top, poking it down in the spaces between the ribs, then sprinkled a little brown sugar on top. Cook on low for 9-10 hours and Bob's your uncle. WAY yummy, too!

The mashed potatoes? FROZEN ORE-IDA. The boy child ate about four helpings.

Now we come to the Texas portion of the meal. Down here, they are all about the blackeyed peas and greens on New Year's Day. I dunno why, something to do with money or good luck or something. I don't question it. I just DO IT. Because you HAVE TO.

So anyway, what I did there was to chop up a couple of slices of bacon and brown them off, toss in some (rinsed, drained) canned blackeyed peas, then add two packages of fresh baby spinach and let it wilt down, tossing it constantly to work the un-wilted leaves to the bottom. You need to do this in a big pan, but it'll cook down to almost nothing. When the spinach was wilted to my satisfaction, I stirred in some red wine vinegar and a bit of sugar, then seasoned with salt and pepper. Delicious!

So. What did YOU have for dinner tonight? Any traditional foods for good luck in the new year?