More fall food

Tonight's Menu

• pork with leeks and apples
  
• crusty French bread
  
• steamed broccoli
  

Tonight's dinner was totally an experiment. It was one of those use-what-you-have kind of deals. Luckily it turned out delicious!

I had this pork tenderloin, right? And while I really like my usual method of preparation, it gets a little boring if I make it that way every week. So what I did instead was cut the tenderloin into medallions about 1 to 1.5 inches thick. I did NOT pound them since I was planning to cook them in liquid. I just salted and peppered them and then browned them in a hot skillet with EVOO to give them a nice crust. Then I removed them from the pan and set them aside for a bit.

To the still-hot pan I added one leek that I had chopped (cut off the root end and the dark green bits, halve it lengthwise, give it a good wash, then cut into 1-inch sections) and stirred that around for a bit until it released some fragrance (being sure to scrape up the brown bits from the pork). Then I added one apple (I used a Fuji -- it's what I had) that had been peeled, cored, and chunked. Stir, stir, stir -- just to get a TINY bit of color on the leeks and apples.

Then I added the pork back into the pan and poured in a bottle of Hornsby's hard cider. You could also use regular apple cider, apple juice, or even white wine, probably. I stripped the leaves off of a few (like half a dozen, maybe) sprigs of fresh thyme and added those in, then covered the pan and simmered it all for about 15 minutes, which is how long it took to heat up the bread and steam the broccoli. After 15 minutes I uncovered the pan, cranked up the heat, and let the liquid reduce down to almost nothing. Then I seasoned it with a bit more salt and pepper (after tasting), et voila!

A couple of notes:

1. Don't use too much thyme. You want just a hint of it, but you don't want it to dominate the dish.
2. If you're using a less-tender cut of meat, increase the simmering time accordingly and don't add the apples until about halfway through. Otherwise your meat will be tough and/or your apples will be mushy.
   
3. When you reduce a liquid like you do in this recipe, don't salt/pepper until the end. Otherwise those flavors get concentrated as the liquid reduces. Always taste before you season! The fact that I had seasoned the pork before browning meant that this dish needed very little additional salt at the end. If I'd salted without tasting, or salted before reducing, I would have added WAY too much.
   

Okay! Enjoy!

Soupy

Tonight's Menu

• potato soup

Um, yeah. That's all. Just soup. I was going to make bread but we had a busy late afternoon/early evening and it didn't happen.

That's okay. It's not like this meal needed more carbs.

It's all gravy, all the time up in here

Tonight's Menu

• chicken-fried steak with cream gravy
  
• mashed potatoes
  
• green salad
  

Oh my God. I am so full. I seriously need to stop with the gravy, y'all.

Um, so, chicken-fried steak! It's a Texas thing, dontcha know! I make mine with tenderized cube steaks. Cut them in serving sizes if they aren't already, dredge them in seasoned flour, then in an egg/milk wash, then back in the flour. THEN -- and this is key, because it keeps the breading from falling off -- let them sit for half an hour. Heat about half an inch of oil (I use canola) in a heavy, high-sided skillet, dredge the steaks in the seasoned flour one more time before putting them in the pan, and fry them on both sides until golden brown and cooked through.

I used a mix for the gravy. I KNOW. I am horrible at making gravy, and the mix (Pioneer, I think it was) was fat-free. I jazzed it up with salt and pepper and it was okay. Shut up.

This is a really REALLY heavy/filling meal. I could barely eat dessert. Ha!

Gravy

Tonight's Menu

• skillet pork chops with mushroom gravy
  
• steamed Texmati rice
  
• caramelized baby carrots
  

This was pure comfort food, y'all.

The chops recipe is one I've used since before DH and I got married. Actually, it was his recipe originally. This time I used bone-in chops. So yummy. I let them simmer while I cooked the sides. When the sides were done, the chops were done.

Rice was steamed in the microwave. I have no instructions for you except to use two parts water to one part rice. Our microwave has a "smart" setting so I use that.

The carrots were also steamed in the microwave (I used fresh baby carrots; I suppose you could use frozen if you had to). Then I melted some butter with some brown sugar (equal amounts of both) in a skillet and tossed in the steamed, drained carrots until they were coated with the caramelly goodness.

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!

It's Fall, Bitches!

Tonight's Menu

• slow-cooker beef short ribs
  
• mashed potatoes
  
• steamed broccoli
  

Yeah, I know. I HAD TO. I can't grill another thing. Not until April, at least. I don't CARE if it's still hot and humid as all hell, I WANT FALL FOOD.

Ahem.

So, I've made these ribs before and they are amazing. This time I thickened the gravy on the stove and it came out much better.

This is the heaviest meal I've eaten since at least March, I think. BUT IT WON'T BE MY LAST.

Mwahahaha!

Grilling in September

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops
  
• grilled potato-onion packets
  
• sauteed green cabbage
  

Easy, tasty, but STILL BORING.

Chops were sprinkled with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper, grilled on high heat 3-4 minutes per side (they were really thick). The same way I've made them ALL SUMMER LONG.

I've done the potato-onion dealie before too. Very easy. Takes a bit longer to cook than the chops do, so put the packet on the grill while you're prepping the meat, then take it off after the meat has rested post-grill.

Cabbage was just half a head (or more, depending on how much you want) of green cabbage given a rough chop (about 1-2 inch pieces), then sauteed in a hot skillet with EVOO. Season with salt and pepper when it's tender. Easy.


I never thought I'd get bored with grilling, especially since I didn't get to do much of it this summer due to all the rain, but I totally am! I think the problem is that my food mood depends more on the calendar than the weather. Now that it's September (my birthday month, thankyouverymuch), I feel like I should be moving more in a fall-ish direction with my food. I want roasts, stews, soups, casseroles, stuff like that. But it's still in the 90s and (finally) sunny here, so I can't really bring myself to heat up the kitchen much and/or serve heavy meals. But it's SEPTEMBER. So I WANT TO. I just CAN'T.

I am in food limbo, people.

That being said, tomorrow we are having (grilled) hamburgers. Sometime this week, we will have I SWEAR TO GOD the last (grilled) fajitas of the season, because I already have the skirt steak.

I seriously need to spend like an entire day going through my Cooks Illustrateds and my Eating Wells and whatnot to find some NEW STUFF to cook.

So stay tuned, if you feel so inclined.

Still bored, but what the hell

Tonight's Menu

• oven-braised beef brisket
  
• dinner rolls (from frozen dough)
  
• green salad with carrots from the garden
  

Okay, yeah. I am still bored over here. Feeling very uninspired, food-wise. Not making anything remotely exciting. But I feel guilty about not posting for so long, so here! A post! A really boring post!

The brisket was rubbed with the usual spices -- brown sugar, dried oregano, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, dry mustard, salt and pepper -- then stuck in a pan with some beer, tightly covered, and cooked fat-side-up at 375 degrees F for two hours owing to the fact that I totally forgot to put it in the oven at 2:00 like I meant to. It was still fairly tender. I think cutting it REALLY thin after it had rested helped a lot with that, though.

The rolls were those little frozen dough balls, thawed and baked. Easy.

I hope to cook something interesting soon.

I'm so bored

Tonight's Menu

• grilled NY strip steaks
  
• sauteed onions and mushrooms
• chuffed potatoes
  
• green salad with carrots from the garden
  

Let's get the whys and wherefores out of the way first.

The steaks were rubbed with olive oil that had minced garlic steeped in it (I minced a clove, put it in the mortar and pestle with some EVOO, bashed it up and let it sit for a bit), sprinkled with salt and pepper, then grilled over high heat for 3 minutes per side. They were medium-rare and perfect.

Onions were cut in wedges, sauteed in butter with some sliced baby bellas.

Potatoes were the usual.

I am feeling so bored and uninspired lately, food-wise. I think maybe I'm just biding my time until the kids go back to school (one week from Monday!) and I can start grocery shopping again without schlepping them along with me. Somewhere in the reptilian part of my brain, I have visions of finally finding a decent meat market in my part of town, buying my produce from farmer's markets or at least the health food store, and trying a few new recipes/techniques. But until then, bah humbug!

Spicy!

Tonight's Menu

• grilled spiced pork tenderloin
  
• fruit salad of cantaloupe, strawberries and blackberries
  
• green salad
  

Okay, so it's supposed to rain for the next several days, thanks to Tropical Storm Erin. I figured this was the last night I'd be able to grill for a while, so I busted out the spiced pork tenderloin. It was VERY yummy and a little more spicy than the last time I made it, probably owing to the fact that I didn't bother to measure anything.

The fruit salad is pretty much self-explanatory. It only had the fruit in it. Cantaloupe was cubed; strawberries were halved. Easy.

Ditto the green salad. Bagged greens, chopped carrots, wedged tomato (the VERY last of the garden tomatoes).

Kick-ass dinner

Tonight's Menu

• barbecued baby back ribs
  
• coleslaw
  
• nectarines with mint
  

Every now and then I hit a home run. This was one of them, if I do say so myself.

I mixed together brown sugar, dry mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cayenne, salt and pepper and rubbed it all over a rack of baby back ribs. Then I put the ribs on a rack in a roasting pan, added some water to the pan, covered it tightly with foil, and cooked it in the oven at 225 degrees F for an hour and a half. Then I stuck the ribs meat-side down on the grill over medium-high heat for about five minutes, just to give them some color, before flipping to meat-side up and turning the grill down to low. After 10 minutes at low I basted them with some bottled Carolina-style barbecue sauce, then basted them again 10 minutes later and took them off maybe 2-3 minutes after that. They held together but were wonderfully tender and SO DELICIOUS. Unbelievable. I think this is the best rack of ribs I've ever made.

For the coleslaw, I shredded (with a knife) three parts green cabbage to one part red, then tossed it with a mixture of mayonnaise (NOT Miracle Whip), equal parts each white vinegar and sugar, and celery seed. Refrigerate for at least an hour, and toss again before serving.

The nectarines were one of those spontaneous things. I just chopped two of them and tossed them with a chiffonade of fresh mint and a TEENY bit of superfine sugar. I was hoping the sugar would macerate them a bit, but I didn't want them too sweet. It turns out they didn't really macerate at all, but they didn't oxidize either so it was all okay. They did a fantastic job of cutting the fat and spice of the ribs, and were the perfect accompaniment.

My only regret is that DH and I pretty much porked it all down in one sitting, so there's not much in the way of leftovers. Whoever gets to them first tomorrow gets to have them for lunch. Mwahaha!

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!

Cheeburger cheeburger pepsi chip*

Tonight's Menu

• hamburgers & fixin's
  

Tonight's dinner was a hasty, last-minute affair. Part of that was expected (the boy child had a late afternoon doctor appointment) and part of it was not (we were out of propane! the horror!). Either way, hamburgers were the logical choice.

I like my homemade hamburgers SO MUCH BETTER than fast-food burgers. I keep them really simple and don't tart them up with a lot of stuff. That's what the toppings are for. All I do is take a one-pound chub of "natural" ground beef (85/15) and divide it in fourths, then squash each bit flat between two pieces of wax paper. I like them pretty thin so they fill out the bun. Then I sprinkle both sides with Jane's Krazy Salt (I know, I should buy stock) and garlic pepper (ditto) and grill them over high heat for about 3 minutes per side. Tonight we topped them with cheese, sliced onion, romaine lettuce, sliced tomato (the last of the garden tomatoes), and the usual ketchup, mustard, etc. Quick and easy, provided you're not out of propane!

*Please tell me someone understands that reference. I can't be the only one who grew up with the Not Ready For Prime Time Players.

Beginner's luck

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops
  
• leftover sweet & sour red cabbage
  
• leftover green beans from the garden
• fried green tomatoes
  

Yeah, this dinner was a bit of a hodge-podge. The cabbage and beans were left over from the other night; I was trying to clean out the refrigerator a bit.

The pork chops were seasoned with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper, then grilled over high heat for 4 minutes per side. Easy.

Believe it or not, this is the first time I've ever made fried green tomatoes. When my tomato plants first started to bear fruit in the spring, I couldn't bear to pick the tomatoes at the green stage. I had visions of ripe, juicy red tomatoes all summer long. Well, I got them, and how! We ended up giving a bunch away because there were just SO MANY. The plants were getting really gross looking lately and the bugs have been horrible, so we're not getting much in the way of ripe fruit anymore. My dad (my personal gardening guru) says it's time to plant fall tomatoes anyway, so today I yanked out all my existing tomato plants and scavenged what I could in the way of produce. I ended up with a few green tomatoes and thought this would be a good way to use them up. (If I'd had more, I'd have made my first attempt at green tomato pickles, which are a thing of beauty.)

Anyhoodle, this is how I made them. I just kind of winged it instead of using a recipe. I decided to go with a four-tray approach: milk, seasoned (with salt and pepper) flour, beaten egg, and seasoned (with salt, pepper and cayenne) cornmeal. I sliced the green tomatoes fairly thin (like 1/8 inch) and dipped them in the above order -- milk first, then flour, then egg, then cornmeal -- before GENTLY laying them into a half-inch or so of heated canola oil in a high-sided skillet. I worked in batches so as not to crowd the pan. I honestly can't tell you how long they took to cook -- I just babysat them VERY closely, turned them when they were looking lightly brown, and took them out when they were a uniform color on both sides. I drained them on paper towels but didn't re-season since I had basically salted them twice already.

They came out very crispy with a thick crust that DID NOT FALL OFF. My husband, who declared himself a hater of fried green tomatoes before I started cooking them, actually had seconds. He compared the coating to that of fried okra. I prefer more of a tempura batter on my fried veggies but wasn't brave enough to attempt one. These came out really good, though, I have to say. I think the cayenne made all the difference in flavor, and the four-tray method really helped the coating stay on the tomatoes.

Delicious cow

Tonight's Menu

• oven-braised beef brisket
  
• sweet & sour red cabbage
  
• green beans from the garden
  

Okay. This took a bit of work, I'm not going to lie, but it was not at all complicated.

I made a dry rub of brown sugar, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, dry mustard, dried oregano, salt and pepper and rubbed it all over the brisket. Then I put it in a roasting pan, poured in some beer, covered it tightly with foil and cooked it for about four and a half hours at 225 degrees F (you'll want to adjust that based on the size of your, ahem, meat).

For the cabbage, I sliced some onion and sauteed it in a large skillet over medium heat with some canola oil until the onion was reasonably soft. Then I added shredded red cabbage, a little bit of water, equal amounts of red wine vinegar and sugar (for half a head of cabbage, use about 2 Tbs. of each), some dried thyme, salt and pepper and then covered it and cooked it, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage was tender. Then I uncovered it and cranked up the heat, stirring until all the liquid had evaporated. I know this doesn't really sound like a summer dish, and I do make it fairly often for Thanksgiving, but it goes really well with slow-cooked, spiced meats like the brisket above.

Okay, now the green beans! Which were from my garden! Woo! Snap off the stem end, give them a good rinse, and set them aside. Then chop up a few slices of bacon and some onion and brown those together in a big pan. When the bacon is crisp and the onion has a bit of color, dump in the green beans along with a tablespoon or so of brown sugar (trust me on this) and add just enough water to cover the beans. Then bring them to a boil, cover, reduce to a simmer and let them go for about 15 minutes or however long it takes to get them to the tenderness you like (just fish one out now and then to test it). Drain them but don't lose the bacon and onion when you do it!

More grilling

Tonight's Menu

• grilled tuna steaks
  
• grilled asparagus
  
• giant green salad
  

Dudes! It did not rain AT ALL today! Not even while I was grilling! Yay!

Okay, the tuna steaks were brushed with EVOO, sprinkled with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper, and grilled for about 4 minutes per side. They were really thick so they came out nice and pink in the center. Yum!

Asparagus was trimmed and then grilled on one of those grill overlay thingies with the holes in it. I drizzled it with EVOO and then sprinkled it with salt and pepper halfway through the cooking time. I wasn't really timing it -- I sat outside and drank a glass of wine while babysitting the grill -- but it didn't take long to cook at all. Maybe five minutes? Six? Ten? It was like my third glass of wine. I can't really tell you.

Easy dinner, though!

Fajitas!

It FINALLY didn't rain tonight (although actually? it rained for like five minutes while the meat was grilling) so I made fajitas in the usual manner. SO yummy.

It's what's for dinner

Tonight's Menu

• grilled thin-cut NY strip steaks
  
• chuffed potatoes
  
• steamed broccoli
  

Not much to say about this one. The steaks were done indoors, on the grill pan. Potatoes were the usual. Broccoli was steamed in the microwave. Easy.

Indoor pork

Tonight's Menu

• spiced pork tenderloin
  
• quinoa
• green salad w/cherry tomatoes from the garden
  

I was going to make this pork tenderloin, but it rained at dinnertime again (some more), so I made this one instead.