Sweet Sensation Rub

Well, let's talk about everything we've missed talking about. 

Connie had a birthday.  Not one of the big ones but we celebrated nonetheless.  Three dishes and three cocktails.  Loved the meal.  Haven't blogged about it yet...  In truth, I can't find the recipes now...

Drove the Natchez Trace to a conference in New Orleans.  Amazing food and drinks.  Except for the food at the conference hotel - Hyattt by the Superdome.  Go to Borgne but do not stay at that hotel.  The food was the worst conference food I've EVER had.  And, I go to a LOT of conferences!  New Orleans, however, was stellar.  Antiones, Commanders Palace, Arnauds.  Oh, yeah.

Had a party.  90+ people at our house for a pitch-in.  We did BBQ from Black Diamond.  Except, we found out on Friday that we'd have 90+ instead of 70+ and we couldn't add to our order.  On to Sam's to purchase six racks of ribs.  Many dishes that I want the recipe for.  YUMMM

Went to Michigan for a long weekend with our friends Chris and Mark.  Saugatuck and the Hungry Village Tour.  AMAZING!  Then, on to Grand Rapids for the Meijer Gardens and the Gerald Ford Museum.  One fabulous B and B and one we'll not be back to.

Family party at my brothers where he cooked the PERFECT summer dinner.  Yup, it just doesn't get better than bbq chicken, corn on the cobb, sliced cucumbers, salad, cheesy bacon potatoes and pickled beets. 

Now, if I was to do a blog on all of those I'd still be typing tomorrow morning when I'm supposed to be at the office for the first of six appointments.  With an internet that's running at maybe 25% of what it's supposed to be doing.  Painful.  So, let me tell you about the ribs and the leftovers from the party.  Oh, and a few photos from the party.  Of course. 

Back in 1994, Cheryl and Bill Jamison published Smoke and Spice.  I bought it that year.  It was my first true barbecue cookbook and is still my favorite one.  I've tried rubs, marinades, sauces, entrees, side dishes.  They've all been wonderful.  So, when we wound up with a herd of ribs to cook at the last minute, I turned to Smoke and Spice.  I'd already decided to use the Maple Mustard Porter mop and sauce we made a couple of months ago.  Nice warm spices, thyme, brown sugar.  Those were the flavors I was looking for.  They were there.  In a rub recipe called Sweet Sensation rub that I first used back in May, 1997.  It was labeled, "WOW" back then.  Same applies today.

Here are a few shots of the party:

Then, we had leftovers.  Lots of our friends left goodies.  Sue left half a pan of baked beans.  These weren't just any baked beans.  They were so good that Connie stopped me in the hall outside our offices and asked who'd brought them and could I get the recipe because they were the BEST beans he'd ever had.  I had to agree.  Sammy and Sarah left chorizo mac and cheese.  Killer.  Just killer.  There was another half pan of REALLY good mac and cheese.  And, Nancy and Roy left some of her German potato salad. That I don't share.  Connie says he's not that fond of potatoes so I take that as a green light to hoard the potato salad all for myself.  It's the best I've ever had.  There was a big tub of a yummy bean, corn and red bell pepper salsa.  I have NO clue who brought that.  We also had some of Becky and Dave's loaded baked potato salad.  Yummy!  Brett and Gabe left a huge bowl of pimento cheese.  Not only is this one of our favorites, but Brett kicks it up with jalapenos and other goodies.  Connie said please, please, please get the recipe.  I've already got it somewhere in my email.  Thank goodness!  We had part of a pan of mostly pulled pork with a few flecks of beef brisket mixed in.  The meat was a bit crispy and dried out but I'm too Scotch to toss that.  As Connie said, it was kind of reminiscent of burnt ends.  We had a few ribs left.  Last, but not least, there were a few dried out pieces of smoked chicken.  So, an overload of protein and carbs.  What to do?

Lunch Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was ribs and baked beans.  Normally after two times I'm done.  Not quite sure I'm done after three even though we're out of beans...  Yes, I'll share the recipe as soon as I get it.  This will go to family dinners and be devoured!

Monday night was pulled pork and pimento cheese sliders.  On the side we had carbs, carbs and carbs.  And, boy oh boy was it all good!

Tuesday night some of the pulled pork got mixed into some of the mac and cheese along with some pimento cheese and milk.  The whole shebang was topped with toasted panko crumbs and baked.  The only thing missing was some red peppers.  Either roasted red bell or peppadews or another red pepper would've added a bit more pizazz.

Wednesday night was hot smoked chicken and pulled pork salad.  Topped with shredded cheddar and crumbled bagel chips that Brett had brought for the pimento cheese.  We paired that with a cherry cherry tomato salsa.  Yes, there are two cherries in that description.  I'll share those recipes in another post...

Sweet Sensation Rub

1/4 c ground allspice
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c onion powder
2 T salt
2 t ground nutmeg
2 t ground cinnamon
2 t dried thyme

Three Cheese Chicken Casserole

Sunday dinner.  First we had to cook down the crabapples.  Now, that's a fun story :-)  Then, we had to make slices of happiness.  Done.  Now, what to fix?  Raw lamb shoulder made into Tandoori Style Lamb?  Nope, no yogurt.  Well, then, how about the cooked lamb?  Ummm, no yogurt to make tzatziki sauce.  Well, then, there's a rotisserie chicken in the fridge downstairs.  Great, we'll make Chicken Elegante.  Umm, no frozen chopped broccoli.  Did I use the chutney in the fridge?  It'd make great chicken salad?  Chutney was there but chicken salad wasn't happening.  Probably because the greens for the base of the salad were at work... Well, now, we were not having any luck here, were we?  How about the fried salami sandwiches from 5 in 5?  The provolone is at the office.  The salami and peppers and ciabatta are at home.  But, alas, not the provolone. Fine, we'll make chicken green bean casserole.  Except there's no cream of chicken soup.  We do, however have cream of mushroom soup.  And, leftover mushrooms.  Maybe I could find another casserole...

Yeah, so you're probably wondering about the crabapples.  They're pesky little things.  About halfway between a raisin and a grape.  And, we have a zillion of them.  Three crabapple trees.  So, one evening we got home and grabbed an old sheet from the junque pile.  It went onto the ground below the best bearing crab apple.  Then, we started shaking the tree.  And, grabbing handfuls of crabapples from the tree.  Finally, our arms wore out.  We didn't feel like we had many crabapples.  Then, we picked up our haul.  Maybe we could cook down the whole mess?  Until I checked online and found out that the leaves and stems have a toxic substance when consumed in large amounts.  So, it was time to pick out the leaves and stems.  To the deck we went.  Here's what this all looked like. 

Now, the crabapples have been cooked down with just enough water to cover. I've got about five cups of juice that I'll cook with sugar and turn into crabapple jelly.  But, that's for tomorrow!  Into the fridge with the crabapple juice and on with dinner.

Hunting thru my scanned recipes I found one from Taste of Home called Three Cheese Chicken Bake.  Not only did (and do) I have peppers from the garden to use up but there were leftover sautéed mushrooms from Saturday evening.  And, there was cottage cheese in the fridge to use up.  And, a half a bag of wide egg noodles.  Perfect.  Along the way I added a good dose of dry sherry.  And, I put in a whole medium onion and the equivalent of a large green bell pepper instead of the half cup the recipe called for.  Oh, and I still had that box of Corn Flakes.  Corn Flakes and garlic butter instead of buttered bread crumbs - Yum!  Maybe if I could have that for breakfast I'd eat cereal!

What did we think?  We loved this.  I know there are some really wonderful casseroles out there.  Maybe even some we could call elegant.  This is not elegant.  This is good, old-fashioned comfort food.  This will go into our regular rotation. 

Three Cheese Chicken Bake

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 T olive oil
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 8 oz can sliced mushrooms, drained (or better yet, 8 oz button mushrooms, sliced and sautéed)
1 2 oz jar chopped pimentos
2 t dried basil
1/4 c dry sherry (not cooking sherry!)
4 oz - 8 oz wide egg noodles, cooked and drained
3 c cooked chicken, diced
2 c ricotta or cottage cheese
2 c shredded cheddar cheese
1 c shredded Parmesan, divided
1 c Corn Flakes, crushed
2 T butter, melted
1/2 t garlic powder

Directions:

Sautee the onion and green pepper in the olive oil.  Once they're softened, set the pan aside and allow them to cool a bit.  Heat your oven to 350.  In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients through the cheddar cheese.  Add 1/2 c of the Parmesan.  Mix just until it's all mixed together.  The recipe actually calls for mixing the sauce first then mixing it in with the noodles, chicken etc.  I didn't do that because it meant another dirty bowl...  Pour the mixture into a baking dish.  Top it first with the rest of the shredded Parmesan, then the crushed corn flakes, then drizzle it with the garlic butter.  Bake for 40 minutes.

adapted from Taste of Home

Cottage Pie

Saturday night was my favorite Halloween party.  I wasn't there.  I was home recouping from the not-so-wonderful auto accident on Friday when a gal rear-ended me at about 35 mph.  Friday evening was rough.  Friday night was more rough.  I made it through my two appointments Saturday morning.  Then, I kind of had a melt-down.  My whole body hurt.  I was sick to my stomach.  I just wanted to sleep.  I kept working because there was so much to do but I reached the point I couldn't do any more.  So, the couch at the office beckoned.  Nap time.  Connie said he was going to call Judy and tell her we couldn't make it.  :-(  Judy and Carl's parties are the best.  And, I didn't get to go.  So, enough whining.  On the way home from the office I was busy tearing apart the latest Everyday Food.  It had a recipe for a Cottage Pie.  Similar to Shepard's Pie but with thinly sliced potatoes on top instead of mashed potatoes.  Sign me up.  It looked really easy to prepare.  Even better.  And, standing feels a lot better than sitting so cooking is better than blogging about it. 

The recipe calls for either ground beef or lamb.  I knew I had ground beef in the freezer that needed to be used up.  Next time, I'll use the lamb.  It has a subtlety of flavor that the ground beef doesn't and I think it'd add a lot to this dish.  The original recipe called for two tablespoons of tomato paste, a cup of beer and a cup of water.  By the time I got the tomato paste and the cup of beer added, I knew it'd need more flavor.  I kept adding tomato paste until the entire 4 oz can was empty.  Then, I kept pouring in beer until the entire can was empty.  It still needed more flavor.  Fine, a quarter of a cup of red wine went in along with three very thinly sliced garlic cloves.  Ah, now we're talking.  The step that got me was when the recipe said to sprinkle two tablespoons of flour over the top and stir it in.  Really?  I've never added flour as anything other than a slurry (flour and liquid mixture) when adding it to an almost finished dish like this. I was very tempted to do it the way I've always done it but decided the worst that could happen was a few small lumps.  And, guess what, it worked perfectly.  The last change I made was to put about a cup of grated sharp cheddar on top of the meat sauce.  I couldn't taste it in the finished dish but my guess is it added another layer of good flavor.

Connie said the cottage pie tasted like pot roast.  He was so right.  The liquid cooked up into the potatoes and they absorbed all that flavor like little sponges.  The tomato paste and beer and red wine made the most scrumptious sauce.  There are so many variations you can make with this recipe.  Chicken or turkey or pork with leeks and shallots and carrots and a lighter beer and white wine.  It's also a recipe that's easy to double or triple for company.  We'll definitely be making this again!

Cottage Pie


Ingredients:

1 T olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 large carrots, diced
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
4 T tomato paste
coarsely ground salt and pepper
1 lb ground beef or lamb
2 t fresh thyme leaves (it's fine to substitute with dried)
1 1/2 c dark beer
1/4 c red wine (cabernet or zinfandel would be best)
2 T flour
3/4 c frozen peas
1 c grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 large russet potato very thinly sliced (use a mandolin if you have one)
2 T olive oil
coarsely ground salt and pepper


Directions:
In a large saucepan or skillet, saute the onion, carrots and garlic in one tablespoon of olive oil. 

Cook them for about five minutes until the onion is softened. 

Add the tomato paste and stir it in.  Add the ground beef or lamb and stir it in.  (My hamburger was frozen so I browned it first in another saucepan.)

Make sure you don't have a lot of big chunks of meat.  Cook the meat until it's almost cooked through.  Add the beer, wine and thyme and bring to a boil.  Allow the liquid to reduce slightly - about 2 minutes.  Be sure to keep stirring.  Sprinkle the flour over the top and stir it in quickly.  Add the peas. 

Pour the mixture into a casserole dish. 

Top with the grated cheddar. 

Cover with the potato slices.  They need to be VERY finely sliced.

You want the slices to slightly overlap. 

Drizzle two tablespoons of olive oil over the potatoes then season them with salt and pepper.  Bake at 400 for 40 minutes.  Allow the dish to rest for 10 minutes after removing it from the oven.  This will allow it to set up a bit so you won't have quite as much liquid running around your plates. 

Chicken Elegante

Many years ago, when I was married to my first husband, I fixed this for dinner.  He promptly got up from the dinner table and fixed himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Turns out he did NOT like blue cheese.  Poor guy, just think of all the wonderful dishes he's missing.  The recipe came from a family friend who has always been referred to as Cousin Polly.  Mom's made it for years and I have too.  It's great served over rice or just plain.  It freezes really well too.  I'd say that I usually make enough to have leftovers for lunch the next day and freeze some for another meal, but the extra usually disappears during a Connie midnight raid on the refrigerator.  Now, let me say that the version here is pretty different from Cousin Polly's original version.  Her's started with making a roux out of butter and flour and adding ingredients to make a sauce.  Then, she folded in the chicken and broccoli...  Well, I've made it a much user-friendlier recipe.  And, lowered the fat and some calories along the way.  And, to me, the flavor is much fresher than the higher calorie version...

Chicken Elegante

Ingredients:
2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 box chopped broccoli, thawed and drained
1 can lowfat cream of chicken soup
1/4 c - 3/4 c crumbled blue cheese (we love blue cheese so I put more in)
1/4 c finely shredded parmesan or romano cheese
1 tsp marjoram
1/2 c sour cream

Directions:
Mix everything together and put it in a baking dish. 

chicken and marjoram (fresh from the garden)

broccoli, blue cheese, cream of chicken soup, parmesan

Sour cream then all mixed up

Bake at 350 until it bubbles - about 30 minutes.  Serve over rice or potatoes or plain.