Drunken Beef Short Ribs

8-10 Beef short ribs trimmed of excess fat

olive oil

2 1/2 cups of med diced carrots

1 large or 2 small onions chopped fine.

3 T of flour

1 3oz can of tomato paste

2 cups of Ruby port

5 cloves fine chopped garlic

3 bay leaves

2 T thyme

2 T fresh finely chopped rosemary

3 C red wine Zinfandel works great

3 C beef stock, veal stock or mock veal stock(1/2 beef 1/2 chicken stock)

Start by heavily salt and peppering the beef ribs and browning in olive oil to hard caramelized dark brown on all sides. Use a heavy cast pot with lid that can go into the oven. Remove the ribs from the pan, set aside on a plate and add carrots and onions to the pan and cook till the onions get translucent.

Add flour and in paste stirring constantly.  The paste will darken slightly. Cook for 5-10 min. Deglaze with port and and reduce liquid by 1/3.

Add garlic, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, wine and stock. Bring to a strong simmer. Add beef ribs back into the pot cover and place in a 275 degree oven from 3-5 hours. Halfway through the cook pull any excessive fat off the top of the pot. Please taste through the cooking process for seasoning.

Serve with a simple polenta. Better with a mushroom risotto. Very rich meal. Be ready for a nap.

Easy French Onion Soup

12 Large onions
Enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a large heavy pot
1 tsp Thyme
1/2 cup red wine
10 cups chicken stock
3 cups beef stock
Bread to cover soup(usually something rustic/crusty)
Grated Cheese (gruyere or Swiss as a base, I like adding additional cheeses)
And top with a slice of provolone

Caramelize onions until brown and creamy.... do it slowly, deglaze with red wine as needed. Add thyme and stir in cooking 10 minutes or so. Add all of the chicken and beef stock, you are creating a mock veal stock by using both.

Ladle into bowls top with crusty bread, i usually toast it first, add the grated cheese and top with a slice of provolone and put in the oven at high heat, broiling the top to a light crusty brown.

Mexican Pulled Pork

Everybody wants some

 You cannot mess up this deliciousness.

1 large pork shoulder-bone in
1 large onion, peeled sliced
1 qt chicken stock
1 quart of enchilada sauce 
(homemade with guajillo chilis is great but canned works fine)
2 T cumin
4 T a great Chili powder
(Pendry's Top Hat or Original on line)
salt and pepper liberally
1 cup chopped green chilis-hatch mild

Add some hotter chilis as you wish, any of these are fine, a couple serranos, Chipotle in adobo, Dried Chipotle, Anchos, Jalapeños, Cayenne, or even hot sauce.

This is a little more about method than pure cooking skill. Trim extra fat from the pork shoulder. Liberally cover your pork in the dry spices, cover in green chilis, add whatever heat you want to bring.... Add onions and chicken stock and enchilada sauce. Use cast iron cookware with a cover if you have it. Put in a 250-300 degree oven, covered, overnight 8-10 hours. Check it, it should be falling off of the bone.... Strain the liquid through a china cap, or medium sieve into a separate pan and put in the refrigerator.

Pull the pork off in chunks and put in containers. There will be a lot of fat still inside the pork. Work hard to get as much of the fat off as possible you will be rewarded for that. I like to return the pan to the oven when the fat is hard to get off for 10-15 min at 300, the exposed fat melts away.... I may do this a couple of times, it renders the fat away. Cool the meat in the refrigerator. 

When a solid cap of fat forms on the strained liquid(see pic), it can easily be removed. The liquid will be gelatinized. Return the liquid to the stove warm lightly and taste for seasoning. If too strong add chicken stock, or reduce at a very low boil to concentrate the flavor.

Pour the liquid over pulled pork, allow to cool in the refrigerator before covering. The liquid infuses the pork making it's flavors concentrated and very rich, and not fatty. I usually put it in small containers and freeze for tacos, enchiladas, or quesadillas. 

Chicken Soup better than Momma's

4 Stalks of celery cut in 3
6 Carrots cut in 3
1 large onion quartered
2 14oz cans of diced tomatoes
whole cut up chicken 
or 3 chicken breasts
olive oil
1 tsp thyme or a few fresh sprigs
salt and pepper to taste
3 quarts of chicken stock
rice or noodles

Brown chicken in a small amount of olive oil, remove from the pan. Add carrots, onions, thyme, and celery sweat for 10 minutes or so on low heat. Salt and pepper as you go... add back chicken and any juices, add stock and tomatoes. Cook until chicken is cooked through remove let cool and shred, take off bone add chicken back to the pot cook another 1/2 hour. Check your seasoning.

I prepare noodles or rice separately because they continue to cook and turn mushy. Add noodles or rice to bowl top with soup... Enjoy

Captain Crunch French Toast

Dogs like bacon 

Loaf of cinnamon bread
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 T sugar
sprinkle of cinnamon
5 cups of Captain Crunch Cereal(food processed to fine)

We like to make a loaf of cinnamon bread in a bread machine so that it is ready in the morning.

Take eggs, milk, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon and blend.. a blender or stick blender works great. Soak the sliced cinnamon bread in the egg mixture and then dredge in the finely crushed Captain Crunch. Cook in a pan or on a griddle at a med heat... there is a high sugar content in this recipe so it tends to burn if the heat is too high. Very lightly brown the french toast and finish on a cooling rack on a baking sheet in the oven at 325 degrees. Enjoy with homemade bacon... recipe to follow.

Lebanese Chicken

Chicken Breasts or Cut up Chicken Bone-in
A lot of people like boneless, I prefer bone-in for moisture and flavor, but I'm married... so I used boneless :-(

4 Chicken breasts
5 or 6 good sized cloves of garlic
3T of salt
The zest and juice of one large or two small lemons.
1/4 cup olive oil

In a mortar grind together the salt and garlic into a paste. Add the zest and lemon juice and continue to grind, then add the olive oil and continue to grind another few minutes. Add this to the chicken in a bag to marinate. About an hour.
Grill, do not over cook the chicken....
This is delicious extremely flavorful chicken and is great used in other dishes, sandwiches and wraps.

Easy Delicious Pesto Pasta

This is super-fast super-easy, work on your speed skills.

1 medium onion

1/2-1 tsp red pepper flake

Olive oil just enough to barely cover the bottom of the pan

1 lb pasta

1 1/2 containers grape tomatoes, or cut up tomatoes.

1/4 cup pesto + some for garnish

Parmigiano Regiano to taste

Away we go...... Boil salted water...

Start your sauce...

Add onions or shallots, olive oil and Crushed red pepper flake to the pan and start to sauté until tender on medium high heat.

Add your pasta to the water......NOW!

(now you are on the clock)

Now add the grape tomatoes, let them heat through 3-4 min... now mash up the tomatoes... (helpful hint stab them with a knife first they'll pop) Drain the hot pasta, add it to the pan with the pesto and stir until combined.

Serve with Parm and pesto garnish. The sauce actually gets really creamy and delicious.

Dinner in the time it takes to boil the pasta. (with a little practice you can start the sauce AFTER you add the pasta to the water)