Getting cooking again!

Sheesh, it’s been a while since I’ve posted any cooking stuff here, hasn’t it?  But it’s because Mike was sick, and then in the hospital, for so long, that I simply haven’t been doing any cooking.

The last recorded cooking incident is described in this post about the NuWave Oven.  And that was almost a month ago!

While Mike was in the hospital, I didn’t have time to shop and cook for myself, because I was busy getting back and forth to see him.  I lived pretty much on food from the hospital cafeteria and hot dog stands in assorted MBTA stations that I had to go through.  However, I did treat myself to a nice meal at Jasper White’s Summer Shack, the one near the Alewife T station.  I made the time for it, I so needed a treat.

While Mike was in the hospital, I made a stop at the Borders bookstore near the State Street station.  He was complaining about running out of stuff to read.  This is a really huge Borders store, with tons of magazines that you can’t find in most other places around here.  The newsstand at the hospital left a lot to be desired…they had mostly celebrity gossip rags, and women’s magazines that contained advice about how to find the best acne pill.

At Borders, I found a few railroad magazines that I knew he didn’t already have, so I bought those.  Also, on the bargain rack for $4.99, I found the book pictured above – Steven Raichlen’s Indoor! Grilling.  I’m a fan of Raichlen’s PBS cooking shows (both Barbeque University and Primal Grill are currently airing locally).  But I’m unable to grill outdoors at this time, so I’ve managed to convert many of his recipes for indoor grilling.  But in this book, Steven has taken all the guesswork out of it for you, and includes instructions for the various types of indoor grills, rotisseries, and stovetop smokers.  I was thrilled to see that he’d written such a book, and at $4.99, I had to grab it.

Tonight I’m actually doing his whole roast chicken recipe in the NuWave oven.  What’s not done on a grill or rotisserie at all is the creamy caramelized onion sauce that goes with it, that has to be done in a pan on the stove.  So if I adjust the cooking time for the chicken according to the instructions that came with the NuWave, it should come out just fine, and in less time.

I’m also going to try another recipe of his – “Wild Boar”.  It’s designed to be cooked on a George Foreman grill, or other indoor grills.  I have one of the newer George grills and I love it.

No, I didn’t go hunting, nor do they sell wild boar meat at Shaw’s.  It’s simply boneless pork medallions marinated in red wine, red wine vinegar, and juniper berries, and grilled.  Steven says that he was taught this little technique in culinary school, to make farm-raised supermarket meat taste more full-flavored, like game meat.

I’ve not been able to find juniper berries at Shaw’s, and we didn’t feel like driving all over to look for them.  But that’s okay, Steven knows that we can’t all be able to get them, so he says to substitute some gin for the berries.  After all, gin is made from juniper berries!  So we stopped at Kappy’s and I got a couple of those little airline bottles of gin…I don’t need a whole big bottle, and I’ll never drink it.  Of course, if we fall in love with this recipe, a larger bottle may be a good investment.  But we shall see.

So there you have it for now…recipe reviews coming soon!

Yummiest Sausage Recipe EVER!

When we renewed our membership to WGBH recently, we decided to donate enough to get two of Lidia’s books as a thank-you gift.  Lidia’s Italy (shown here) and Lidia’s Family Table.

The books arrived last week.  I was watching the Lidia’s Italy TV show, and she was making this dish of sausage and potatoes.  Since I now have the book, it was easy to gather up the ingredients and make it.

This recipe is so incredibly simple, yet incredibly tasty.  All you need are:

1/2 cup olive oil
6 large cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1/2 teaspoon (or to taste) dry red pepper flakes
1 12-ounce jar of peperoncini, drained and chopped
2 pounds red potatoes, scrubbed, unpeeled, and cut into wedges about 1/2 inch thick
Salt to taste
1 1/2 pounds link sweet Italian sausage

In case you don’t know what I mean by peperoncini, here is a picture of what it looks like.  They are small, light-green colored peppers, pickled in vinegar.  Many grocery stores carry Pastene Italian products, but if you can’t find them, you can order online.

You will also need a large skillet with a lid, and a slotted spoon.

Put the olive oil in the skillet and place it over medium-high heat.  When it’s hot, throw in the garlic…should just be crushed, not chopped or minced.  Also throw in the crushed red pepper flakes, to taste.   Let this cook in the oil, stirring, for about a minute.  Use the slotted spoon to remove the garlic, leaving the oil in the pan.  Don’t try to scoop out all the red pepper flakes, you won’t be able to, trust me.  Reserve the garlic in a bowl.

Put the pan of oil back onto the heat and throw in the chopped peperoncini.  Let it cook for about a minute, stirring.  Use the slotted spoon to scoop out the peppers, putting them into the bowl with the reserved garlic.

Put the potato wedges into the pan of oil, season with salt to taste, and cook for about 6 minutes, or until they atart to brown on all sides.  Stir them around a bit while they cook.

Then, push the potatoes to one side of the pan, and lay all of the sausages in the blank area.  Cook for another 6 minutes or so, turning the sausages to brown on all sides, and also stirring the potatoes to keep them from burning.

Cover the pan and lower the heat.  Cook for about 20 minutes, occasionally uncovering and stirring everything.  At this point, it’s okay if the sausages and potatoes get all mixed together.

After the 20 minutes are up, uncover the pan, and throw in the reserved garlic and peperoncini.  Mix in well, and cook, uncovered, for another 10 minutes.  Season with more salt, if needed.

And that’s it!  All you need to serve with this is maybe a green salad or a vegetable.

This is quite spicy due to the red pepper flakes and the peperoncini.  Unless you like it really wicked hot, do NOT use hot Italian sausage here.

This is the first recipe I made from the “Lidia’s Italy” book, and it will not be the last.  And it will certainly not be the last time I make this particular recipe.  If you love Italian food, you need to buy this book…or at least get it from the library!

Enjoy!

Magazine Review: Vamp Stamp News

Do you enjoy the art of rubber stamping?  Or is this something you are interested in learning more about?  If you answered YES to either of those questions, you will surely want to check out Vamp Stamp News.

VSN is a monthly magazine which is really like no other in the industry.  In fact, it is one of the few “stamping-only” publications still iin existence.  The former Rubber Stamper magazine has been absorbed by Crafts & Things…it’s still a good magazine that has plenty of stamping projects…but it also features sewing, knitting, and crafts other than stamping.  This might not be the magazine for you if you are not interested in any of that other stuff.

RubberStampMadness is still in existence, although I wasn’t sure about that for a while.  I haven’t been able to find it at my local Michaels or A.C. Moore stores in quite some time now…in fact, I think Michaels quit carrying it, because it’s been well over a year since I have seen it there.  RSM is still in existence, but they have dropped down from 6 issues per year to just 4.  Is this a sign of the bad economy?  Are people not stamping as much as they used to?  I don’t know.

Then there are the Stampington magazines, such as “Stampers Sampler” and such.  These are very nice, high-end looking publications, great for getting ideas for projects, but not as high on technique as I’d like.

Another one is Scrap & Stamp Arts.  I personally like this one because I have been published in it a couple of times.   This one combines stamping and scrapbooking, and people who don’t scrap tend to be put off by articles on that hobby.

This leads me to Vamp Stamp News.  It still comes out 12 times a year, and it’s 100% stamping…no scrapbooking, no knitting, no ads for wholesale products aimed at store owners; the ads are all for retail consumer stamping products that anyone can buy.

This is not a fancy, glossy magazine, and it’s not as thick as the others.  But it is also not loaded down with pages and pages of nothing but ads.  What it IS loaded with, though, is tons of useful information, product reviews, techniques, and more.  What is even more amazing about this magazine is that it is owned and put together by one woman, Nancie Waterman.  Of course, she publishes artwork and articles contributed by readers, but she does all of the work in putting it together each month, and writes a lot of the stuff herself.

Each issue has a primary technique theme; this month’s is Resist Techniques.  Several months ahead of time, Nancie announces the techniques as “challenges”, challenging the readers to create and send in work with the chosen technique.  She publishes the best of the work sent in the magazine, and it is accompanied by detailed articles about the technique for that month.  Each issue also contains articles and tips about other techniques, as well.

You will NOT find VSN at Michaels, A.C. Moore, or any other chain craft store.  Nancie sells only to independent stamp stores, and by mail order to individuals (single copies and subscriptions).  There is exactly ONE stamp store in the entire state of Massachusetts that carries it, and it’s a pain in the butt to get to that store each month.  There used to be another store that was much closer to me that had it, but they went out of business.  So I decided to subscribe so that I’d never miss an issue!

You can visit their website to get an idea of what to expect from the magazine.  If you want to see an actual issue and there is no store near you that has it, you can order a single copy for $4.00.  A year’s subscription costs $36, two years is $62.

If you can only afford to get one stamping magazine, VSN is the one to get.  It’s by far the best value for the money, given how much information is jam-packed into each and every issue!

Smoooookin’!

The other night, I made a smoked chicken in my Camerons Stovetop Smoker.  It was yummie, and it made the whole kitchen smell just like our favorite restaurant, Fore Street.  They have a wood-burning oven there, and they always use apple wood, as did I for this chicken.

This smoker consists of four parts – a pan with fold-in handles, a rack, a drip tray, and a slide-on lid.  To use it, you put the wood chips in the pan, put the drip pan over, then the rack, then the food, and then the lid.  The lid closes tightly enough so tht it will NOT smoke up your kitchen.  So you will not need to use fans, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, or any other special equipment to dissipate the smoke.

I bought this smoker several years ago because I wanted to make smoked kielbasa.  The commercial brands, such as Hillshire Farms, are tasty, but they contain chemicals and stuff that Mike is allergic to.  The only way to know for sure what is in sausage is to make it myself.  But until I discovered the Camerons smoker, I thought I was limited to fresh sausage, as I had no way to set up a smoker outside.

But, you may ask, how do you fit a whole chicken into this thing?  It obviously won’t fit under that slide-on lid.  Easy.  Remove the lid and use heavy duty aluminum foil instead, wrapping it tightly around the edges so no smoke escapes.

If you want to buy one of these smokers, I recommend you buy it from Amazon, as the price there is much lower than the $50 rretail price.  I also suggest that you also pick up a copy of the definitive book on stovetop smoking, Smokin’ by Christopher Styler.  Pick up some wood chips, too, while you are at it.  They are hard to find at kitchen stores, and you can only use the special wood chips that were designed for the indoor smoker.  Never use wood chips that are meant for an outdoor grill or smoker, as these contain resin that could be dangerous if burned indoors.  The Camerons wood chips have the resin removed, plus they are ground up smaller, to make them safe for indoor use.

The smoker comes with four small containers of wood chips which are enough to get you started.  If you’re not sure what you like, you could just try those, and then go back to Amazon and order more later, once you know what you like and don’t like.

The book gives a lot more detailed instructions than the booklet that comes with the smoker.  Basically, it contains master recipes for smoking meats, fish, poultry, veggies, and even cheeses.  It tells you how long to smoke, suggested woods to use, and how much of said woods.  And then it goes on to give recipes for what to do with all of this smoked stuff.  Of course, these are all delicious served as is.

I used a six pound chicken here.  I seasoned it inside and out with salt and pepper, and then stuffed the cavity with garlic, rosemary sprigs, and a couple of lemon wedges.  I used apple wood chips here, a couple of tablespoons, under the drip pan.  The chicken went on the rack, over the drip pan, and was tented with heavy duty foil, crimped and sealed all around the edges of the pan.  It was then placde on the burner over medium heat, and I smoked it for about half an hour.

This is enough time to impart the nice smoky flavor, but not enough to cook the chicken completely.  Also, the skin doesn’t look too good, no color at all.  So you must finish the cooking in the oven.  Preheat it to 425º F while the chicken is still smoking on the stovetop.  After the smoking is done, carefully remove the foil (use oven mitts, please, this thing gets HOT).  Then put the smoker in the oven, and roast for 30-60 minutes…the six pound chicken required about an hour of oven time.  The skin came out nice and crispy…my favorite part!

A word about those pop-up timers that most chickens come with…they are nearly useless.  If you don’t have a thermometer, the best way to test for doneness is to jiggle the drumstick, if it feels loose, it’s done.  You can also poke it with a fork, if the juices run clear, with no pink or read, it’s done.  My chicken was done before the timer popped up, it didn’t pop up until it had rested outside of the oven for about five minutes.  The chicken was perfectly cooked.

Leave that timer in, though, as it cooks.  Taking it out leaves a big gaping hole that will cause the juices to escape.

I hope you will consider trying indoor smoking at your house!

Spatchcock!

I just love that word.  I think it should be put on digital signage…now wouldn’t that make people laugh while being stuck in traffic? It would beat the crap out of what some people do when they get infected with road rage!

What exactly does this funny word mean? It sounds like it’s dirty, but it’s not. It’s simply another word for “butterflying” a bird, to split and flatten it so it can be cooked on a grill or other surface. Here is a video that shows you how to spatchcock a bird:

I saw Jacques Pepin make a spatchcocked chicken dish, only he called it butterflying. Same thing, though.  When you spatchcock a bird, it enables it to cook much faster than if you roasted it whole.  Thus it is a suitable recipe for Jacques’ new series,  More Fast Food My Way.  You can get recipes and even watch entire episodes on that site; HERE is the page that has the spatchcocked chicken recipe and the show.

I made this last night, and it was very tasty.  Here’s what it looked like, all spatchcocked, with the mustard sauce spread over, before putting in the oven:

This chicken is started on top of the stove, where it cooks for about five minutes, then transferred to the oven for about half an hour.  So you will need some kind of a pan that doesn’t have plastic handles, that can be used both on the stove and in the oven.  I know that some manufacturers say that their plastic-handled pans are oven-safe…but usually only up to 350 degrees F.  This chicken cooks at 450 degrees.  Here, I chose a large cast iron skillet.  Such a skillet is very versatile, and I think every kitchen should have one.  But you can use any oven-safe pan that you happen to have.

This is what it looks like when it’s done:

To serve, I did just as Jacques did, and used the shears to cut it into several pieces. This is much easier than using a knife.

You know those scissors that come with knife sets in blocks, that are called “poultry shears”?  Well, they are not, they are scissors.  I guarantee that if you try to use these to spatchcock or otherwise dismantle a bird, your hands will hurt a LOT!  And they won’t do the job very well at all.

So you COULD buy a professional pair of poultry shears, like the ones that Jacques uses on his show.  But good ones like that tend to be expensive, around $70 or so for good quality ones that do the job and won’t hurt your hands.  I don’t know about you, but I didn’t want to spend that kind of money.

Then one day I saw an episode of Good Eats, where Alton Brown was dismantling a duck.  Now, AB can certainly afford to buy $70 poultry shears, as he makes as lot more money than I do.  But nope, he was using a pair of metal shears from the hardware store.  AB is very fond of using hardware store tools as kitchen tools, mostly because of the cost savings.  He said that these shears cost ten bucks.  And sure enough, when I went to Home Depot to buy a pair, that is what they cost.  And I must say that they do the job very well.  If they can cut through metal, which they were designed for, they can certain cut through poultry bones.

Just don’t try to be cheap by looking for the metal shears that might be in your garage or basement.  Buy a new pair and use them only for food.

Oh, and as Jacques said, don’t throw away that chicken backbone!  If you hack off the ends of the drumsticks, as he did, don’t throw those away, either.  You will save these, along with the neck that comes with the bird, to make stock.  If you like, you can freeze these, and keeps saving these until you have a lot, then you can make a good amount of stock.  I talked about how to make a stock in your slow-cooker in this post.

Don’t use the giblets (liver, heart, and gizzard) in your stock.   They will cloud it up and make it look and smell and taste nasty.  Save them for another purpose, such as giblet gravy.  Another thing they are good for is making homemade cat food…I will have to start doing some posts about that sometime soon.

Anyway, I hope you’ll try spatchcocking a bird in your own home soon.  Enjoy!