Butternut Squash Soup

Hello....

It's me....

Your old pal, Sam.

I bet you were wondering where I've been for, oh, 2 years...

Short answer?  Right here.  Still cooking.

No one has time for the longer answer.  Hint: time

Perhaps you'll forgive me if I feed you.  This trick does seem to work pretty well for long absences and such.  Seeing an old friend after years apart?  Bet you that meeting involves food!  I can get down with that. 

In honor of fall and in the spirit of reintroductions, I'm starting you guys off with something super easy, yet super tasty...butternut squash soup!  Who doesn't love a fall soup?  This one is hearty, yet healthy with minimal ingredients.  Cinch to make.  Pretty to look at.  Even better to eat, nice and hot.

This recipe will require one piece of "specialty" equipment: an immersion blender.  Oooo...ahhhh....

Just like the one in this delightful stock photo...of someone making butternut squash soup!

Get excited, cuz this thing is kinda fun.  It's a little whirring tornado of pureeing fury on the end of a motorized stick.  COOL.

If you don't have one, you should.  For around $20-25, they're an amazing soup making tool and can also make smoothies and milkshakes.  What's not to like?

Butternut Squash Soup
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp ginger (fresh or ground)
1 tsp. allspice
1 tbsp. sage (fresh) or 1 tsp. (ground)
6 cups chicken broth or stock
olive oil
1 butternut squash
salt & pepper
1/2 cup cream (optional)

Oven to 400 degrees.  Cut the butternut squash lengthwise with a large, sharp knife.  Scoop out the seeds and discard.  Lightly oil a sheet pan and place the squash flesh side down.  Roast for 40 minutes or until softened.  While the squash cools, heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in a large pot.  Chop the onion and add to the pot.  Cook, stirring frequently, until lightly browned.  Add chopped garlic to the pan and cook for 2 minutes.  Add the ginger, allspice, and sage, stirring to combine.  Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Scoop out the flesh of the squash discarding the skin and add to the pot.  Using an immersion blender, puree your soup until smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Optionally, cream can be added, if desired.  Serves 4

Try it.  You'll like it.

-Sam

Chicken with Apples and Thyme

Behold the lowly chicken breast: boring and bland, but generally cheap to purchase.  Pros and cons, people, pros and cons.  However, the very best thing about them is that they’re basically a blank canvas just waiting to be converted into edible art, and cooking is really the only art form I know anything about!  Convenient for this blog, yes? 

So let’s say you grabbed some of said chicken breasts at your local grocery store, but you have no idea what to do next.  There they are, sitting on your counter, just waiting for inspiration to hit.  Hey, here’s a thought…bear with me for this one…

Do you like apples?  How do you like THESE apples with your chicken?!  Sorry, I couldn’t resist a good movie line.

Anyways, I’ve talked in the past about how apples are great with pork.  Did you know they are also just as great with chicken?  And your kids probably didn’t eat the ones you bought last week anyway, so use them for this recipe instead.  Go get ‘em out of your fruit bowl.  Hopefully, they’re not too wrinkly yet.

Chop them up into thin wedges.  Grab an onion and chop that up as well since you’re in a chopping frame of mind.

Heat up a few drizzles of olive oil in a saucepan on medium heat.  Salt and pepper your chicken and get to sizzling!

Brown them on either side for around 8 minutes and then remove them from the pan.  Add your onions to the pan and cook them for another 8 minutes until they soften.  Then, add a cup of chicken broth.

The apples (that have been patiently waiting all this time) can now be added to the pan to cook in the yummy oniony chickeny broth for a few minutes to help them soften.  Ah what the heck, let's throw in a 1/4 cup of white wine as well before adding our chicken back into the mix.

Sprinkle the whole darn thing with some fresh thyme.  It adds a pop of both flavor and color to this lovely, simple dish.  Let it all cook on a simmer for ten minutes to make sure the chicken is cooked through.  Raw chicken is NOT your friend.  

Plate yourself a piece of chicken with plenty of sauce and apples.  Feel free to serve over rice or noodles, but I opted for a salad side.

Meat and fruit can be the best of pals under certain circumstances.  This is definitely one of them.

Try it.  You'll like it.

-Sam

Chicken with Apples and Thyme

(Serves 2)

1 medium onion

1 medium apple

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 tbsp. olive oil

salt

pepper

1 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup white wine

1/2 tsp fresh thyme

Chop an apple and an onion into thin slices.  Salt and pepper the chicken.  In a saucepan, heat the olive oil on medium heat and brown the chicken on both sides for about 8 minutes.  Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.

Add the onion to the pan and saute for 8 minutes until softened.  Add the chicken broth, apple slices, wine, and thyme and simmer for 10 more minutes, until chicken is cooked through.  Serve hot.

Bacon Wrapped BBQ Pork Chops

I get excited when pork loins go on sale at the grocery store.  Perhaps unnaturally excited, but hey, who's watching?  ;)  Anyways, I find that the store generally has them in 4-6 lbs increments which, for a family of 4, is too much for us to eat for a single meal.  I usually cut them in half and end up roasting part and turning the other part into pork chops.  I've posted a couple recipes for the whole darn thing on this blog, but I've been lax with chop recipes.  I've got a good one I think you're gonna dig.  Crazy enough, it's only got 4 ingredients.  Go ahead and preheat your oven to 400.

First, we're going to cut our half of the pork loin (roughly 2-3 lbs) into chops about an inch thick. Kinda like this:

Now, for the fun part....would you like some more pork with your pork?  It's bacon so yes, yes you do.  Duh.  We're going to wrap a strip of bacon around the edge of each chop.  Yea, I said it!  Things are getting CRAZY in this kitchen!!  Secure it with a toothpick so it stays on there.

Dang.  Just look at that.  Carnivore dream.  Let's get these suckers sizzling!  Grab yourself an ovenproof skillet with higher sides and set it over medium high heat.  Prop up the chops so the bacon can get a good sear and rotate them every few minutes using tongs.  We want that bacon to be browned up a bit on all sides.  

  

Once the bacon is browned, place the chops on a plate and pour off the excess bacon grease.  Don't wipe out the pan though...we're going to put the chops back in and brown them around 5 minutes on each side in that bit of delicious baconey goodness.  Meanwhile, whisk up 4 tbsp. of your favorite bbq sauce and 1/2 cup of beer.  Spoon the sauce over each chop making sure each is coated and pour the rest into the bottom of the pan.

Place the whole skillet in the oven and cook for 15 minutes.  Be careful removing it from the oven...occasionally, I forget the pan has just come out of the scorching hot oven and try to pick up the skillet by the handle.  That REALLY hurts.  Don't do it.  

Serve your chops hot with plenty of that tasty pan sauce.  This dish is a bit sweet, a bit savory, and a bit smokey...totally nom-nable!

Try it.  You'll like it.

-Sam

Bacon Wrapped BBQ Pork Chops

6 pork chops, 1in thick

6 strips bacon

4 tbsp, BBQ sauce

1/2 cup lager beer

Preheat oven to 400.  Wrap a strip of bacon around each pork chop, securing with a toothpick.  In a tall sided skillet, cook each chop, bacon side down rotating occasionally until bacon is browned.  Remove chops from pan and pour off excess bacon fat.

Place the chops back in the skillet and brown about 5 minutes on each side. In a bowl, whisk together the bbq sauce and the beer.  Spoon the sauce over each chop pouring the remainder into the bottom of the pan.  Place the whole skillet in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.  

Remove skillet from the oven and serve chops hot with the pan sauce. 

Serves 4-6

           

Venison Stroganoff

My wife's brother loves to hunt, especially for deer.  He feeds his family with it all year and, when they come to visit, he always brings us pounds and pounds of delicious venison. While we do have some deer steaks and tenderloins in there, the freezer is mostly stuffed with ground deer meat. One can only have so many burgers or meatloaves or tacos, so now comes the task of trying to figure out something interesting to make with it all.

Looks pretty much like ground beef but has quadruple the flavor

I figured I could play around and come up with something tasty.  When I started cooking this, I had no idea how it would turn out.  I debated just calling it "deer stuff," but venison stroganoff sounds so much fancier, don't you think?  And, as we all know, I'm so fancy!

Before you completely write off this recipe because "deer meat is icky," hear me out!  Venison is actually quite good for you...much lower in fat than our traditional burger meat and very flavorful. Give it a chance and you really might be surprised at how fantastic it can be.  Let's get to work on something good!

I happen to have some onions and mushrooms in the fridge.  Those should blend in nicely with the meat!

I've got the meat sizzling away in another skillet.  I think I'll add a little olive oil to help it brown since it doesn't have much fat of it's own.  How 'bout a few splashes of Worcestershire sauce?  A couple sprigs of thyme?  Some rosemary?  Perhaps a bit of red wine?  And, shucks, let's go crazy with some beef broth!

Now that I've added my sauteed mushrooms and onions to the meat, this dish is really starting to come together!

As a final touch, I added a bit of cream to make this stroganoffy.  I made that word up.  Cute, huh?

I debated between serving this over egg noodles (like a traditional stroganoff) but ultimately decided to serve over rice instead to help soak up all the amazing gravy.  We were NOT disappointed.

I may have added a little Parmesan cheese to the cooked rice before dousing it with the deer....ok, ok, I definitely did.  I'm a parm-a-holic!  It really went well with my deer dish.

Try it.  You'll like it.

-Sam

Venison Stroganoff

1 lb. ground deer (or ground beef)
1 vidalia onion, chopped
1 lb. mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 cups beef broth
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup red wine
2 sprigs thyme
1 tsp. rosemary
1/2 cup heavy cream
cooked rice
parmesan (optional)

Brown and then drain the deer meat in a large, deep skillet with 1 tbsp. olive oil.  In a separate skillet, brown the mushrooms and the onions with 1 tbsp. olive oil.  To the deer meat, add the broth, Worcestershire sauce, wine, thyme, and rosemary.  Bring to a simmer and then add the mushrooms and onions.

Remove from the heat and stir in 1 cup heavy cream.  Stir over cooked rice with parmesan.

Arroz con Pollo

Spanish lesson time!  Ever heard of arroz con pollo?  It's rice with chicken.

Arroz = rice   Pollo = chicken

Great lesson, right?!  You bet your Spanglish speaking booty it is!  And the only thing better than knowing what it is would be knowing how to make it.  Lucky for you, I'm here to tell ya!

In this recipe, the Spanish have transformed two ordinary and rather boring ingredients into something truly special and flavorful.   Jess and I visited Puerto Rico on our honeymoon a couple months ago and ate at the restaurant of renowned chef Jose Enrique in San Juan.  The following is an adapted version of his fantastic recipe for arroz con pollo.

Ready?  Set?  Cook!

Get your oven revved up to 400 degrees.

For this particular recipe, I'm fortunate enough to own a fantastic caldera gifted to me by my uncle Dan.  While we have a ton of great cooks in my family, he's the only bona fide chef.  Check out this lovely cooking pot:

Now, I don't expect everyone to just rummage around in their kitchen and pull out a caldera.  A large, heavier, ovenproof skillet would work well for this dish.  In that skillet, heat up 2 tbsp. of olive oil until it's shimmering.

While you're waiting for that to heat up, salt and pepper 8-10 chicken thighs.  I love to use the thighs because they're so much more flavorful than chicken breasts.  Place them in the skillet and cook until browned on each side, about 12 minutes or so.  Transfer them to a plate.

Mince a medium sized onion, two serrano chiles (de-seeded), and two cloves of garlic and add them to the skillet, seasoning them with salt and pepper.

Cook on medium-high for around 8 minutes, stirring occasionally until they soften.  To this mix, add 3 diced plum tomatoes, 1 tsp. ground cumin, and (if you have them) a pinch of saffron threads.  If you don't have saffron, don't worry...it's CRAZY expensive and, while it does add great flavor, it won't break your dish if you omit it.

Cook for about 5 more minutes until the tomatoes start to break down.  Add a cup of dry white wine and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Your kitchen is starting to smell wonderful, isn't it?  We're just getting started!  Add 3 cups of chicken stock and a cup of beer (a lager or pilsner type would be best here) and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, stir in two cups of Bomba rice (hard to find, but more traditional) or Arborio rice (much easier to find) and return the mixture to a boil.  Make sure you don't substitute another type of rice...you need the short, fat grains to absorb all your liquid and flavor in this dish.  Sorry, Uncle Ben, you're not welcome here!

Tuck your chicken into the rice.  We're going to bake it uncovered in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Once the 30 minutes is up, carefully remove your hot pot from the oven and dig in!  Bye bye, boring chicken and rice.  You've been replaced by arroz con pollo!

A little parsley adds a finishing touch.  Salud!

Try it.  You'll like it.

-Sam


Arroz Con Pollo
Serves: 4-6

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
8-10 chicken thighs
1 medium onion, minced
2 serrano chiles, de-seeded and minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 plum tomatoes
1 tsp. cumin
pinch of saffron threads (optional)
1 cup dry white wine
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup lager or pilsner style beer
2 cups Bomba or Arborio rice
chopped parsley, for serving

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a large, deep, ovenproof skillet, heat the olive oil until shimmering.  Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and cook until browned on both sides, about 12 minutes.  Transfer the chicken to a plate.

Add the onion, chiles, and garlic to the skillet and season with salt and pepper.  Cook for about 8 minutes on medium-high heat until softened.  Add the tomatoes, cumin, and saffron and cook for about 5 more minutes until the tomatoes start to break down.  Add the wine and simmer for another 5 minutes.  Add the stock and beer and bring to a boil.  Stir in the rice and return to a boil.  Tuck the chicken into the rice and bake uncovered in the oven for 30 minutes until the liquid is absorbed, the rice is tender, and the chicken is cooked through.

Serve hot garnished with fresh parsley.

Strawberry Scones

It's Spring and strawberry season is in full swing!  Strawberries are one of my favorite fruits and now that they don't cost as much as a New York Strip (seriously?!  $6 a pound?!!), it's time to make something great with them! 

Before we begin, here is a short message from my adorable new kitten Juniper who is walking on the keyboard:
ttttttttttttttttt000000000000000000

Also, here is a quick photo of her:

Sorry, I get excited.

Now, back to the food!

Six years ago, right around this time of the year, I spent a week in Ireland with my grandfather visiting relatives I had not met before.  One of these relatives, my great aunt Mona, made us the most delicious scones while we were there.  While I didn't make her actual recipe today, I'd like to think that she would enjoy this version of strawberry scones as much as I did.  I ate 4 of them just now.  In fact, I'm about to have a fifth.  I'm an adult!  I make my own rules! 

This recipe made 18 scones, so there's still plenty for my fam when they come home....we hope....

Oven to 425.  Go ahead and cover a couple of baking sheets in parchment paper.  Now let's gather our supplies, shall we?

 

We'll need 3 cups of flour, 1/3 cup of sugar, 1 tsp. salt, and 1 tbsp. of baking powder to start.  Dump all of these in a large bowl and mix.

 

In a liquid measuring cup, stir together 1 1/3 cup of cream and 1 tsp. of vanilla.

Now, we're going to drizzle the vanilla cream into the dry ingredients while stirring them all together.  This will form our dough.

 Keep stirring until it looks like this:

 

 

Set your dough aside for now and gather some strawberries.  I used about 12 or so, washed, de-stemmed, and cut into small chunks (about 1 cup).  Once chopped, add them to your dough and stir them in gently.

Onto a clean, lightly floured work surface, dump out your dough and form it into a roughly circular shape about an inch thick.

Knead the dough lightly, folding it over onto itself a couple of times to make sure the strawberries are well incorporated.  The dough may be a bit sticky at this point.  This is also the part where I realized I don't have cookie cutters.  Woops!  I improvised and used a small glass to press down and make rounds.  If you have a cookie cutter, by all means use it here!  I think mine still looked pretty good overall, despite being ill-equipped:

These lil suckers will be sprinkled lightly with sugar and popped into the oven for 15 minutes.  And thennnnnn.....

Viola!  Delicious strawberry scones!

Since they're not too sweet, I recommend eating them warm with butter and your favorite cup of tea.  Bliss...

Try it.  You'll like it.

-Sam


Strawberry Scones

3 c flour
1/3 c sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 1/3 c cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped strawberries

Preheat oven to 425 and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients.  In a mixing cup, mix together cream and vanilla.  Slowly pour vanilla cream into dry mixture and stir to incorporate and form a dough.  Wash, de-stem, and roughly chop 1 cup of strawberries (about 12 berries).  Add to dough and stir lightly.  Turn dough out onto a clean, lightly floured surface and knead a few times.  Form the dough into a 1 inch thick circular shape.  Use a cookie cutter to cut the dough into rounds and place on the cookie sheet.  Sprinkle lightly with sugar and bake for 15 minutes.  Serve warm. 

Makes about 18 scones.

Irish Mist Short Ribs

For years, Jess has been waxing poetic about the virtues of a certain short ribs recipe that her former mother-in-law used to make for the family.  She's looked for a similar dish online, but nothing matched up with what she described.  One day, while we were in an Atlanta liquor store, Jess stopped me, pointed to a pretty bottle on the shelf, and said "You know those short ribs I'm always talking about?  They were made using this."  The "this" in question was Irish Mist, something I had never tried.  I figured it was some sort of a whiskey, like Jameson or Tullamore Dew, but it was far better!  Irish Mist is, per the bottle description, a liqueur containing Irish whiskey, honey, and natural aromatic spices.  Per me, it tastes REALLY GOOD (and makes an incredible hot toddy, too)!  We bought the bottle and Jess vowed she would try and get the short ribs recipe for me.

It took a few months, but one fine day, we obtained the recipe and I got to work! 

It just so happened that I had purchased 4 pounds of organic, grass-fed short ribs earlier in the week from a specialty shop.  How fortuitous!  You can also find these tasty meat morsels at your local grocery store.

First, I browned the ribs on all sides in order to get maximum beefy flavor.  YUM.

Once browned, I added all the ribs to my dutch oven and gathered the rest of my ingredients:

   

In a large bowl, add a sliced medium onion, 4 cloves of minced garlic, 1 tsp. rosemary, 1 tsp. thyme, 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper, 1 16oz can of tomato sauce, 1 cup of our new pal Irish Mist, 1/2 cup beef broth, and 1 cup of water.  Mix all ingredients well to combine and then pour the whole thing over your ribs.  Talk about a 1 pot meal bonanza!

Looking good already!  But after about 2 1/2 hours covered and simmering on the stove, this dish looked even better:

The ribs themselves were excellent and really absorbed all the different flavors of this dish.  The real star, however, was the incredible sauce...serve this over mashed potatoes and eat it with a spoon!!

We've still got a few more cool days of winter ahead of us.  Make this belly filling, belly warming dish and you won't regret it!

Try it.  You'll like it.

-Sam


Irish Mist Short Ribs

4 lbs. short ribs
1 medium onion, sliced
4 cloves of minced garlic
1 tsp. rosemary
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
16oz can of tomato sauce
1 cup of our new pal Irish Mist
1/2 cup beef broth
1 cup of water

In one or two large skillets (or dutch ovens), brown short ribs on all sides.  Once browned, add them all to one pot.  Mix all other ingredients together in a bowl and pour over ribs.  Cover and simmer for 2 1/2 hours.  Serves over mashed potatoes.