I have a brisket on the smoker

Rub is (proportions)
1 kosher salt
1 cracked pepper
1 garlic powder
.5 cayenne pepper
and about .25 each of
allspice, celery seed, coriander

I'm making this sauce to go on it, I love the Salt Lick sauce, but DH doesn't get to Austin as often as he used to. Any local sources where folks have seen a good representation of out-of-town sauces?
http://forum.bigsteelkeg.com/index.php?topic=4735.0

Last night my husband and I had a few friends over. Since the weather has been so nice and grill worthy, of course, we sat in our backyard grilling. One of our favorite things to grill in the summer are veal shoulder blade chops. A friend of mine always claimed that she would never try eating veal because to her it didn't feel right. Mind you, she is no vegetarian (extremely quite the opposite) so I never quite understood her logic on that one. Then one night last summer she came over and I made the veal shoulder blade chops by seasoning it with black pepper, thyme, rosemary, sage and garlic and marinating it in an olive oil and white wine mixture for a couple of hours prior to throwing it on the grill (This recipe comes from Epicurious). I never told her what she was eating, just that it was beef but she knew that description was not quite right. She loved it immensely and it did not stop her from coming back the next night and having the same thing again and comlpletely destroying what was on her plate. After eating it all, my husband finally spilled the beans on what it really was and ever since she has been enjoying veal at my house. Last night was no exception. I did the same marinating prep work but this time I marianted it in our fridge for about a day prior. We fired them up last night and those babies were soft, tender and quite flavorful. We ate these with a side of rice and cuban style black beans (Another recipe from Epicurious). We also grilled some caulfiflower and corn. My friend actually seasoned both with Old Bay and Olive Oil and we threw it on the grill and the corn is one of my husband's favorite things. So much so that he isn't willing to share it.

here is what i am going to cook mmmm
there are a few layers:
1st - potatoes (circles)
2nd - onions (circles)
3rd - beef+pork+salt+pepper
4th - mayo
and put this all in the oven for 40 minutes.
then add cheese on top and put it in the oven for 2 more minutes

Saturday I decided to try to make cream of roasted red pepper soup. I had been wanting to make this a long time and since my husband bought me a food processessor recently I decided to try and give it a go. I had a recipe from epicurious. However, i didn't even use it. I sauteed some shallots and red peppers in olive oil with Old Bay, garlic, basil and thyme. Afterwards I grinded it up in my food processor and then placed it all in the creamy soup for which I melted butter and whisked in flour and then added a cup of broth and half and half. My husband loved it so much I made it again last night.

I made a ham last weekend and I've been carving it up for sandwiches all week.
Last night I took the bone (still has a ton of ham on it) and covered it with water in a stock pot. By the time I get home it will have been simmering for 24 hours.
Ham bone soup tonight! I'm giddy thinking about it.

Gumbo and jambalaya, with chicken I'm roasting right now, leftovers pieces from a baked ham, and andouille sausage I bought last weekend at the West Side Market in Cleveland. By happy coincidence someone bumped the gumbo thread today, so I'm reading through that again for tips and inspiration.

Last night I made my first attempt at buffalo mushrooms. My wife and I had these as an appetizer at Molly Malone's last Satuday and I knew as soon as I tried them that I would have to try my hand at them at home.

Basically I just battered a 16oz package of white button mushrooms. I dredged them through an egg wash and then through a flour mixture. The flour was mixed with garlic powder and "wing spice" that came with the Louisina wing sauce kit.

I fried them up in canola while I heated the wing sauce with some not-butter butter.(lactose intollerant) I patted the mushrooms off after frying them, put them in a bowl and coated them evenly with the wing sauce.

The mushroom texture works as a great vehicle for the buffalo sauce flavor imo. These were so simple and my wife loved them so much that they've now been added to our Easter dinner menu. Though, I don't really know where they fit in with the rest of our menu so I may serve them before dinner.

tonight salad of braised artichokes hearts with fava beans and preserved meyer lemon & fresh thyme. I might toss in some cubed feta and serve over an arugula dressed in a lemon dressing.

Braised brisket with various southwestern flavors, served with a salad of corn, tomato, avocado, onion, cilantro, peppers, and lime.

Raided the pantry..
Corn Emulsion
Poached Salmon
Basil
Zucchini
Arugula
Barley
Guajillo

I made a nice roast in the crock pot as the weather was iffy to grill. Mashed potatoes and gravy, carrots with the roast and fresh asparagus. Pear tart for dessert.

Butcher & Larder smoked marrow burgers, seasoned only with kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper, grilled medium rare and served on Dinkels rolls; Israeli couscous with mushrooms and ramps; and a salad of chopped cherry tomatoes, arugula, ramps and good parm, dressed with a good greek olive oil and a touch of red wine vinegar, lemon, salt and pepper. Damn fine burgers.

I had a great big sausage sandwich (sammich? Calling ChefJeff!), with hot Italian sausage from Zier's, homemade marinara, a good crusty roll from Treasure Island's bakery, and a fistful of good sheepy Romano. Good eats on a chilly night!

Way too many tacos at La Chaparrita for lunch, went lite/healthy for dinner. Pan seared salmon, brown rice and mango salsa.

I made my first Spanish omelet. It's good to have a sense of humor when you cook. I flipped it too soon, and half of it stayed in the pan. Plus I cooked the omelet in the pan I had used to fry the potatoes-- I think that contributed to it sticking. When I stopped laughing long enough to put the thing back in the pan, I used a fresh pan. The second side cooked looked fine, so I flipped it again before serving.

The recipe I used basically called for frying the onion and potatoes in two cups of olive oil; I didn't use that much and can't see why one would. And still if I had one complaint (other than the texture that resulted from flipping too early) it would be that the omelet was a little oily.

I think I'm going to try this once a week until I nail it. It's a great dinner, with a salad.

Any suggestions for improvement gladly received.

It's been the first time in weeks since I have had a chance to make something substantial for dinner. Tonight was lime and cilantro swai filets, garlic and cilantro sauteed shrimp and chorizo and cheddar mashed potatoes. I bought homemade chorizo from City Fresh Market on Devon and my husband was a huge fan because it was flavorful without being fatty and was the meat counter special for today so on a whime I decided to add it to the potatoes. Very well done.

Since it was cold and rainy, and since I had a pound of ground sirloin and some nice Thai basil, shallots, and Thai bird chiles on hand, She Simmers ka prao and jasmine rice was the logical choice. So good. This recipe is simple, absolutely delicious, authentic, and 100% foolproof.

I am having a great week. It is the first time in weeks I have been able to boail something other than a pot of noodles or rice because I have a little time. yesterday I made my own lard crusted pizza with some chorizo homemade from the meat department at City Fresh on Devon and kedzie and some cheddar cheese. Delish! Very nice buttery crust. the lard was also homemade by City Fresh. My husband does not have fond childhood memories of lard so he avoids it like the plague. Lucky for me the container I bought is written in Serbian so he has no clue what it is and no clue why I made the best pizza ever last night. The chorizo was nice, fresh and not fatty at all. Worked well on the pizza.

Anywho, today was leftover pizza while tonight it is stuffed mushrooms with crab, cheddar and cream cheese.

Tomorrow, more lard crusted (Don't tell my husband) pizza.

Tonight's stuffed mushrooms

KajmacJohnson wrote:My husband does not have fond childhood memories of lard so he avoids it like the plague. Lucky for me the container I bought is written in Serbian so he has no clue what it is and no clue why I made the best pizza ever last night.
...
Tomorrow, more lard crusted (Don't tell my husband) pizza.

Your secret is safe as long as he does not read LTH. I love the thought of lard hidden in plain sight by the use of Serbian. I presume this was in Cyrillic letters, too. All the better to hide the true meaning!

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:

Your secret is safe as long as he does not read LTH. I love the thought of lard hidden in plain sight by the use of Serbian. I presume this was in Cyrillic letters, too. All the better to hide the true meaning!

Regards,

Cathy, he does read LTH. Mostly the discussions about restaurants that I point out to him not the shopping and cooking side, which means he will never see this. I made the second pizza and it turned out really good but I am wondering when he's going to start realizing there is a lard presence in there. Probably a quarter to never.

As far as the lard goes, it isn't written in Cryillic, just the American alphabet in the Serbian language. I think the words are prase mast which translates into something like pig lard litterally.

I could have taken a picture, but I was busy drooling. Think upscale garlic bread. I took some olive oil heavy pizza dough, rolled it out thin, and threw it on the grill. Flip it and then slather with what was an awesome cheese sauce: minced raw green garlic, Parmesan, olive oil, powdered Romano cheese, salt, black pepper, and a bit of water to make it paste like. After the sauce was on I hit it with a blow torch to cook the top just a little very quickly. The result was a super thin, crispy, airy, slab of cheesy garlicky goodness.

Made some things this week that were not really brag worthy. Meatballs with homemade marinara and mojito chicken. Both bland and lacking a certain umph. The latter recipe came from Epicurious which usually never fails me.

Tuesday I made some parmesan crusted pork loins chops. This was from a recipe I found on Epicurious. Turned out great but I didn't have the appropriate skillet for it so the breading stuck to the pan. My nonsticks have become old and worn so husband and I went out and bought a new one so I tried the recipe again today. All I can say is so good. I have pictures but I have to upload to Facebook before I can link. Add this with the horseradish mash potatoes and it was some good dinner to take to work with me.



Edited to add my picture

Not tonight, but the other night - quick and tasty bean salad -

1 can white cannelini beans, rinsed and drained
1 whole tomato, chopped into pieces
2 garlic cloves, pressed w/garlic press
1 small cucumber, chopped (about as much as tomato)
1 heaping Tbs pesto
1 heaping Tbs parmesan cheese
mix well

serve on large lettuce leaves, with garlic bread on the side if desired

It’s too damn hot so we’re having cold pasta salad.
It’s just tri-color rotini, vinaigrette with just a bit of mayo, diced ham – green and red pepper - celery - red onion, shaved carrot, and sliced mushrooms.
Toss it all in a big ass bowl and chill till dinner. Meets my most important criteria; easy, quick, and the kids like it.

rare worknight(Friday) supper at home:

ny strip, crab legs, bacon fat rubbed baked then grilled potato skins.....:





Tonight: ribs, chops, chickens, shrooms, asparagus, etc.

Uhh, what's your address, Jim?!


Geo

Made this a few weeks ago and never got around to posting. This is my favourite creation of the year:



It's grilled baby octopus, potatoes, chick peas, dandelion greens in a light vinaigrette surrounded by a piquillo pepper sauce

I was at my sister n law's yesterday and she made some really beautiful pork chops that she marinated with garlic, salt and pepper and then fired up on her charcoal grill. This with her yellow rice with turkey necks had my husband a very happy and full man. Should have took some photos, but it totally escaped me to do so.