A warming winter meal

3 or 4 pork chops bone in
2 fresh brats cut in two
2 chicken and apple sausage cut in two or 2 knockwurst cut in two
small head of cabbage sliced into 1/4 inch slices
large onion sliced
3 apples peeled, cored and sliced
1/3 cup white wine
1 can of concentrated apple juice OR two cups of apple cider

Season the chops with pork seasoning or salt and pepper and a little ancho pepper
Brown in a dutch oven in a ltlle olive oil and remove
Add and brown all your sausages and remove
De-glaze the pan with the wine or some cider, leave the liquid
Add cabbage, onion and apples to the pan and under medium heat  cook them down to reduce moisture and bulk by half, season with salt and pepper
Add concentrated apple juice or cider
Add meat back to dutch oven

Cover and braise in a 350 oven for 1.5 hour

This is a savory/sweet way to serve some old favorites...Serve with whipped potatoes and peas.

We enjoyed this today on the snowy afternoon...

Locavore

The Locavore movement is increasingly important in the United States and elsewhere as interest in sustainability has become more prevalent. Those who are interested in eating food that is locally produced, not moved long distances to market, are called "locavores".

In the early 1970's when I was growing up in southeastern Ohio we were all locavores.

Today I had the pleasure of cutting up my own pig. My pig was raised by a friend and farmer who took good care of it all summer long. No antibiotics, no stress, just apples, pasture and grain. As natural as it can be.

I know that my pig (that I split with my neighbor) was killed humanely and since we processed it, I know how it was processed. We cut the roasts, hams, bacon, chops and even ground the sausage. We wrapped everything and it is now in the deep freezer in the garage. The hams and the bacon we are taking to Barre, VT to Vermont Smoke & Cure to be smoked. The Smoke & Cure guys have been here for over 20 years and do a great job.

Tonight, I took a chop and pan fried it with salt and pork rub from Urban Herbs and it was tender and delicious. Now, I know that not everyone can do this or would want to do this but for me it was a privilege and I am grateful for the opportunity.

Eggs over easy and four tortillas

I have seen Lyle Lovett several times in concert. He is one of my favorite singer/songwriters. You can tell from his music that he is a man that enjoys breakfast.

His song Nobody Knows Me is a striking tune and the first stanza is one of my all time favorites…

And I like cream in my coffee
And I like to sleep late on Sunday
And nobody knows me like my baby
And I like eggs over easy
With flour tortillas
And nobody knows me like my baby

Eggs over easy and four tortillas. I love a warm tortilla in my hand for breakfast. I really enjoy huevos rancheros.

One of my favorite breakfast dishes that I enjoy preparing when there’s company in the house are breakfast burritos.

You could probably assemble the dish the night before, wrap in plastic wrap and bake it off the next morning like an egg strata.

The Burritos

Dozen eggs
1/2 cup of whole milk or half & half
green/red pepper and half an onion (small dice)
8 large flour tortillas
Shredded cheese (Colby Jack)

Sauté the diced pepper and onion till soft. While that is cooking - in a mixing bowl add the eggs, a cup of milk or half & half and 1 tsp of salt – whisk together. Soft scramble the eggs until they just come together – remember they will firm up in the oven. Warm the tortillas and place the eggs and some cheese in each one and roll up. Place them in a buttered baking dish.

The Gravy

1 lb of your favorite breakfast sausage
1 TB spoon of flour
1 1/2 cups of whole milk or half & half - more if needed

Crumble and cook the sausage, pouring off all but 1 teaspoon of fat. Add the flour and continue to cook the sausage until the flour browns a bit. Stir in the milk or half & half a little bit at a time. Simmer, stirring till it thickens. Do not let it come to a boil. If it gets too thick just thin it a little.

Then pour the sausage gravy over the egg burritos and add a sprinkle of cheese to the top. Bake in a warm oven at 350 for 30 minutes or until things look bubbly. Serve with sour cream and a couple of salsas of varying heat on the side.

That, and some fresh fruit and you are all set.

Urban Herbs Gift Sets

My pal Dion Tsevdos owns a spices and herbs business, Urban Herbs, that has just the most wonderful products. His gifts sets make great holiday presents for the budding chef, the kneady baker or just someone who wants to cook with great spices.

His grill sets and chili sets can't be beat. I use his prime rib rub for every Sunday roast.

So if you are wondering what new utensil to get the cook in your life... get them the best herbs and spices you can find. The link to his website is in the title above.

My Meat & Mushroom Sauce…

Ingredients –

2 cups button mushrooms sliced

½ a large onion diced

½ lb ground pork
½ lb ground beef
½ lb group veal

3 or 4 roasted garlic cloves minced

1 Tbsp of Italian seasoning
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp red pepper flakes
Salt to taste

2 cups good red wine
1 cup beef broth
1 cup whole milk

1 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes
1 28 ounce can of tomato sauce

1 Tbsp of brown sugar

Instructions -

When I was in college I spent a couple of summers in the northeastern region of Italy called Friuli-Venezia Giulia. I watched some wonderful Italian cooks use some spices and ingredients that were not so common in other regions of Italy. It was there that I learned the basics of a meat sauce that I make to this day during the fall and winter.

In a very large hot stock pot or sauce pan with a teaspoon of butter quickly brown the mushroom slices and set aside.

Add the diced onion and sauté quickly – do not brown - just soften.

Turn the heat down to med-low and crumble the ground meats into the onions little by little making sure that all the meat is broken up in small pieces of equal size.

Turn the heat to medium.

Add the minced garlic.

Add the next 5 seasonings distributing throughout.

Sauté the meat until there is no longer any pink and it is lightly browned.

Add the mushrooms back in.

Add the wine and simmer over a low flame, uncovered, until the wine has almost evaporated. Do not let the pan go completely dry.

When the wine is almost gone add the broth and the whole milk together and stir to mix well. Simmer over a low flame, uncovered, until the liquid has almost evaporated. Do not let the pan go completely dry.

Add the diced tomatoes and the tomato sauce. Simmer over a low flame slowly for a couple of hours checking and stirring occasionally.

Taste for acidity and add the brown sugar to sweeten a bit. Adjust salt.

We like this with any kind of pasta – especially angel hair - and also grilled polenta.

I love cured salmon...

I love salmon and one of the things I have come to enjoy is curing my own and making a version of gavlax. Its an easy and fun appetizer to make for friends coming over for dinner.

1 16oz piece of fresh salmon, skin removed
1 large bunch of dill
3 tablespoons of sea salt or Kosher salt
2 tablespoons of white sugar
1 tablespoon of crushed peppercorns

Remove the pin bones from the salmon with needle nose pliers or tweezers. You can feel them by running your fingers the wrong way along the fillet.

The sugar and salt draw water from the salmon. The weights are traditional, but you can just wrap the whole thing in plastic wrap and lay it on a platter in the fridge, turning once. White sugar is traditional, but brown sugar also has interesting possibilities.

Spread this mixture over the fish then wrap in plastic wrap tightly. Use a weight to press for 24 hours in the fridge, turning once.

Wash off the salt, sugar and dill, pat dry, slice across the grain, fairly thick (1/8 inch). Serve with Dijon mustard or sour cream and crackers.

Easter Ham...

Over the last several days this blog has had over 100 hits for my ham glaze recipe. If you google "cook Budaball ham" my blog comes up as the first or second hit!

Cook the FRESH ham uncovered in the oven for 18 to 20 minutes per pound, or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F on a meat thermometer.

The glaze is easy - 1 jar of french brown mustard, 1 jar of orange marmalade and 1 cup of brown sugar. Cook the ham according to the instructions and glaze the ham the last 30 minutes of the cooking.

I am amazed at how people end up at my blog. I started seeing an increase in hits on Wednesday and each day it grew more and more. Today by 10 AM the site had 70 hits alone.

I hope someone used the recipe!

Ribs...

This Saturday is the annual 4th of July pool party at my sister-in-law’s house. I started bringing barbecue ribs four or five years ago and now people request them every year.

I peel the membrane off the back of the ribs with a paper towel and trim off the skirt and meat flap. Then I rub the ribs with a mixture of Dion’s Rib Rub Seasoning from Urban Herbs and half as much brown sugar mixed together.

I let the ribs rest while I place an oblong cake pan in the bottom of the oven and fill it with water and preheat it to 275’. I line some baking sheets with foil and place the ribs on the sheets. Once the oven comes to temp I place the ribs in the oven for approximately six (6) hours.

When they are tender to the bone I remove them, cut them in two bone segments and let them cool. When it’s time to grill I warm each segment up and then sauce it a bit – being careful not to let the sauce burn too much.

I use the cheapest sauce I can find and a few specialty sauces that catch my eye. My favorite inexpensive sauce is called Chicken N' Ribs. Our local grocery carries it but you can also order it online.

Blueberry Pancakes

Most weekends we end up going out for breakfast at least once. We have our favorite haunts.

The Clifton Diner makes the best crispy fried potatoes. Sammy’s has really wonderful homemade corned beef hash. Lucky’s Cafe has great gingerbread waffles with toppings like rhubarb compote or maple apple compote. And the Juniper Grill has the richest coffee in giant bottomless ceramic mugs.

I wish that we could find all of our favorites in one place – but where’s the fun in that?

Yesterday morning as we were waking up I suggested we motivate out to one of “our places” and Chris had a better idea. Would I make some blueberry pancakes? Having just returned from VT a couple of weeks prior with some of Hardwick’s finest maple syrup – how could I resist?

I love thick, fluffy pancakes speckled with warm blueberries and topped with butter and real maple syrup. I don’t need anything else. No bacon or sausage necessary - just ‘cakes – mmm good eats!

This morning’s breakfast of wheat Chex with 2% and a small juice just does not compare with Blueberry ‘cakes.

What is your favorite breakfast food or breakfast place?

Mexican Chicken Soup

This is one of my favorite soups and it can be ready in less than an hour. It's a crowd pleaser and it is easy to double the recipe. I have been making it for almost twenty years.

Mexican Chicken Soup

2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 onions
3 – 4 chicken breasts
1 large can of chicken broth
2 cans of diced tomatoes
1 yellow and 1 green squash
1 cup of frozen corn
1 avocado
Monterey jack cheese

With two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, mix 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp cumin and 1 tsp chili powder in a dish and let stand.

In a soup pot, heat two tablespoons of olive oil.

Add two onions sliced with the grain and soften in the pot under medium heat.

Add diced chicken breasts (½-inch cubes)

Add vinegar/spice mixture

Stir frequently. Cook chicken through but not browned.

Add one large can chicken broth. Two cans of chopped tomato. Add the diced green and yellow squash and one cup of frozen corn.

Salt to taste.

Bring to boil and then reduce to a simmer 35 – 40 minutes until squash is just tender. Serve with a slice of avocado and sprinkle some Monterey Jack cheese on top.

Sea bass 4 2

I love fresh fish and I love the taste of sea bass. After looking at several recipes I concocted one of my own. This can be on the table in 30 minutes!

I made this last week – it was quick and easy and my tester (Christine) said it was delicious, a keeper. Don’t let the fact that it is sea bass scare you…

Prepare one cooked cup of (Jasmine is my favorite) rice

The Sauce:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoon of butter
1/2 large onion
1/4 cup Marsala wine
14 oz can of chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons of capers
1/2 lemon juiced

Salt and Pepper to taste

I highly recommend getting all the ingredients ready before you start (Mise en place).

- Preheating your oven to 450°.
- Heat the olive oil in your pan over medium high heat and sauté the chopped onion until it's translucent.
- Add the Marsala wine. Be careful to remove the pan from the stove when doing this to prevent the wine from igniting in your face.
- When most of the alcohol has cooked off (2 – 3 minutes) add the tomatoes and capers.
- Take half the lemon and squeeze the juice into the skillet.

- Reduce the heat to medium. Check the flavors, add a little salt and pepper, and let the sauce cook down until it thickens a bit. Just before serving add and incorporate the butter.

The Fish:

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of butter
2 8oz fillets of sea bass (approx. 1 lb.) with skin, if possible
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

In an oven proof sauté pan heat the olive oil until it’s very hot.

Season the sea bass with salt and pepper and add to the hot pan. Start cooking them skin side down for approximately 5 minutes until the skin was nice and crispy. Then flip them over for 30 seconds, transfer them into a 450° oven and roast them for 3-4 minutes.

Putting It All Together:

Fill the bottom of two warm shallow bowls with some Jasmine rice, top with the pan roasted sea bass and then spoon the sauce over the fish and rice. Garnish with lemon slices.

This Note:

I have heard that Chilean Sea Bass is being over fished and if the catching of this fish from Antarctica is not stopped, it may be commercially extinct. I was given the web site, Endangered Fish Alliance to learn more about why we all need to stop buying this fish.

So I went to the National Marine Fisheries Service (a division of the Department of Commerce) which regulates commercial fishing to see what it had to say. After searching for sea bass, I found an article saying Chilean sea bass is not an endangered species but there are a lot of unreported catches from illegal fishing.

Who do you believe? I'll leave that up to you.

One of My Hangouts…

I am a foodie. I am just letting you know up front that I like food – I like being around people who know food and I like being with people who make good food.

One of my hang outs is Cleveland’s Westside Market. For some it's just a market for me it is a cathedral dedicated to food worshippers. Built in 1902, this market's "old world" look and feel helps to draw shoppers from all over the region.

Imagine being able to find the most obscure spice, any cut of any meat (beef, goat, lamb, buffalo, and all manner of poultry), fresh pastry, fresh vegetables, and fresh fish from nearly every sea all under the same roof.

There are stands with prepared foods including Mexican, Greek, Thai, Irish, Japanese and Lebanese. There are four stands that sell nothing but cheese and dairy products!

My friend Dion has his Urban Herbs retail stand there. But some of my other favorite merchants are: Pinzone Meats, Kaufmann’s Poultry, Irene Dever’s, Kate’s Fish and K&K Bakery.

I have a Saturday routine that seldom varies.

I show up at the market around 7:00 am and get a vanilla latte at City Roast Coffee. The market is still kind of quiet – lots of vendors still arranging their products. So I kibitz with Dion about the restaurant scene, how to cook the sea bass I am going to buy that morning, or about whatever he is working on.

Then I swing by the stands that are my favorite, eye their wares and make my selections. Perhaps try some pastry, sample some cheese, maybe a piece of apple wood smoked turkey or some fresh salsa made with sweet corn and black beans. Last week at the Dever’s stand I got to sample a boiled quail egg! It was creamy good!


So if you ever come to town – I will take you to the market… but you’ll have to get up early!

"Ham, man!"

I love a good ham. There are so many bad ham examples out there, (You know what I am talking about…those honey baked, spiral sliced, grey looking “hams” that are sold everywhere for every occasion), we have almost reached the point where we have forgotten what good ham tastes like.

I love a good cured and smoked Virginia ham. The flavor of a country (salty) ham is strong and robust. I am fortunate that there is a market here on the west side of Cleveland that carries slices of Virginia ham and I can enjoy it for breakfast on the occasional Saturday morning.

For the holidays I like to fix my own city (sweet) ham. There is one that I like in particular. It’s the Triple M ‘Budaball’ Whole Ham. Triple M is a brand of Kayem Foods based in Chelsea, MA. If you have a BJ’s Wholesale Club near you they will order you one. They are about $2.99lb but worth every penny.

I saw the recipe 10 years ago in a cooking magazine and made it my own. I cook the FRESH ham uncovered in the oven for 18 to 20 minutes per pound, or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F on a meat thermometer - and during the last hour I glaze it three times with a mixture of:

1 jar Dijon mustard
1 jar of orange marmalade
1 cup of dark brown sugar

Stir those three ingredients together well and in the last hour cover the ham with the glaze at least twice to develop a crunchy, chewy, sweet coating. Let the ham sit for about 30 minutes after you take it from the oven and then carve away. Yum!

I am still trying to recover from the holidays. I lost some sleep somewhere and I have not been able to find it.

Limited television I am watching these days: NBC: Heroes and My Name Is Earl. Discovery: Dirty Jobs and Mythbusters. HBO: ROME season two starts January 14th and I am really looking forward to it. SCI FI: Battlestar Gallactica

On my iPod this morning on the bus: Al Green, The Temptations and Parliament Funkadelic.

Movies I still want to see at the theater: The Good Shepherd, Night at the Museum and We are Marshall.

Favorite places to enjoy a meal…

In Cleveland –

Momocho in Ohio City is modern Mexican cuisine. There is nothing else quite like it. We are committed regulars. Get there after 10:30 PM on Friday and Saturday nights for their “Brunch Menu” and try the Huevos Benedictos - Two poached eggs on hominy-cauliflower cakes with spinach and chile poblano hollandaise. Oh my!

In Vermont –

Lunch on the porch of Highland Lodge. Eating their great lobster roll and enjoying a cup of coffee and the “Forgotten Dessert” while looking at Caspian Lake in the distance. It does not get any better.

Breakfast at River Run. I go there for the fried catfish and eggs with homefries and a side of bacon. The bacon slices are thick, smoky and tender. The catfish is delicious and not greasy at all. The home fries are the best and the coffee is served in huge cups.