Onion

I originally got this recipe from Moogie to help feed a bunch of hungry fraternity guys.  Over time I have tweaked the recipe to make it more and more my own and also make it more and more delicious.  I’ve also had many people taste it and just love it.  The dish may not be perfectly presentable, but I can’t think of anything else that is such a comfort food.  I recommend that you take this recipe and use it as a guide to making it your own.

All the ingredients here are not exact.  It all depends on how big you want to make your enchiladas and how you want to stuff them.  The basic idea is to stuff tortillas with goodness and then bake them.  Simple.  Depending on your desired spice level, you can add more cayenne or take it out all together.  Chili powder is not spicy so you don’t want to skimp on that!

Ingredients

• 1 package of 10 tortillas
• 1 roasted chicken(from grocery store) shredded.  If I have the time I like to get fresh chicken thighs and grill it myself.  It adds a ton of flavor when their grilled.
• 1 large onion, Julienned
• 1 Bell Pepper(pick a color), Julienned
• 4-6 cloves of garlic, minced
• Lots of shredded cheese.  I prefer sharp cheddar and monterey jack.
• 1 8oz Heavy or ligh whipping cream
• Homemade Enchilada sauce.  (It’s ok if you get a can)
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1 Pyrex Dish, 9×12

Small Extras

• A little Olive Oil
• Salt
• 1/4 tsp Cracked Black Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Cumin
• 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
• 1 Tbs Chili Powder

 First Steps

• Start by shredding the chicken using a fork.  Set aside in a bowl, covered with tin foil.
• Sautee the Onion, Garlic and Bell Pepper in a cast iron skillet on high heat.  Let the skillet heat up so you hear it sizzle.  While you are constantly stiring so the veggies don’t burn, add the chili powder, cayenne and black pepper.  Don’t add salt at this point as it will draw the water out of the veggies and we don’t want that.   Then add some olive oil and stir.  Once veggies are crisply sauteed, set aside from the heat.
• Grate the cheese and set aside in a bowl, covered.
• Prepare you assembly line.  I like to have a plate where I roll the enchiladas in, placing them in the pyrex dish afterwards.  So have a plate and pyrex dish next to each other.  All the ingredients need to be in a semi circle around it for easy acces.
• Time to make enchiladas!  Follow assembly line below.  But first preheat oven to 350F.

ASSEMBLY LINE

1. Pour a dash of cream and enchilada sauce on plate, enough to coat one side of the enchilada
2. Add 1 tortilla to the plate and swirl around so the outside is covered with the liquids
3. Layer a small line of beans horizontally
4. Add a layer of shredded chicken
5. Add a layer of the sauteed veggies
6. Add a layer grated cheese
7. Spoon some enchilada sauce over all layers and sprinkle some salt over it all
8. Roll up the enchilada and place in pyrex dish
9. Repeat till pyrex dish is full
10. Pour more cream and enchilada sauce over the top of all of them in the pan so the liquid comes up 1/3 of the depth of the pyrex dish
11. Sprinkle some cheese on top for good looks
12. You are done with the assembly

Cook and Enjoy!

• After you have assembled your enchiladas in your dish you want to put them in the oven for 25-30 minutes.   Remember everything is already cooked, so you are just warming everything through and letting them “get to know” each other.
• Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes before serving. 
• Garnish with a dallop of Sour Cream, a dallop of Guacamole and a dash of tabasco.  Enjoy!!!

This dish requires your constant attention to prepare.  It is a good dish to prepare when your family/friends gather in the kitchen because you can take turns cooking it, while everyone is talking and having a good time.  It is delicious and really worth the time spent preparing it.

Makes 4 side servings or 2 main dish servings.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
• 1 cup Arborio rice, washed
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• salt, to taste – probably 1/2 tsp or so
• 1 lemon – grate for zest & squeeze for juice
• 1 egg beaten
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• pepper, freshly ground

Directions:

1. Have the stock simmering very low in a separate sauce pan.
2. Heat the oil in a wide, heavy-bottomed frying pan.
3. Saute the onion & garlic over medium low heat until the onion is golden.
4. Add the rice and continue to saute, stirring constantly, until the grains are glistening with oil.
5. Stir in the wine & salt and cook over medium heat, constantly stirring.  The wine should simmer very softly until it evaporates.
6. When the wine has just about evaporated, stir in a ladleful of stock and continue to cook slowly simmering & stirring.
7. Continue cooking in this manner:  cooking rice until liquid is evaporated, adding one ladleful of stock at a time, stirring constantly, USING ALL BUT ONE LADLEFUL OF STOCK.
8. After about 25-30 minutes the rice should be cooked al dente/firm to the bite.
9. In a separate bowl, beat together the lemon juice, lemon zest, egg & Parmesan cheese and set aside.
10. Add the last ladleful of stock so that the rice is not completely dry and remove from heat.
11. Immediately stir in the lemon mixture and taste to adjust salt & pepper.
12. Return to heat and stir for a few seconds.
13. Serve right away,

This is a greek sauce and is absolutely fresh and fantastic.  The cucumber realy adds a great fresh flavor.

Ingredients

• 32 oz Whole Milk Yogurt, greek style if you can find it.
• 1 small yellow onion, peeled
• 2 cucumbers
• juice from 1/2 a lemon
• 2 or 3 cloves garlic minced as fine as you can
• 1/4 Tbs Coriander
• 1/4 Tbs Cumin
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Some chives(optional)

Instructions

• Start off by taking the onion and shredding it with the finest side of your grater, practically juicing it into the bowl that you will make the Tzatsiki sauce in.   Then take 1 cucumber that is peeled and seeded and do the same.
• Put the yogurt into the bowl and add the lemon juice, garlic, coriander and cumin.  Stir and mix.
• Peel and take the seeds out of the other cucumber as well.  Cut the cucumber into small chunks and add to the Tzatsiki along with some chopped chives.
• Salt&Pepper to taste.  Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving so the flavors have time to come together.

This is a great dinner for camping.  It’s easy and tastes great!  I like to cook this in a cast iron 7 qt dutch oven directly over your campfire, but you can also cook it on a stove.

Ingredients

• 2.5  lbs Sirloin(sirloin tips work best) cut into small bite-size cubes
• 2  large onions, roughly chopped
• 2  Bell peppers(red, yellow or orange)
• 1  small package of baby carrots
• 1  8oz container of mushrooms, chopped finely
• 4  stalks celery, chopped into 1/2 long pieces
• 2  garlic bulbs(yes it’s a lot…but you’ll see)
• 1  qt Beef Stock
• 1  small can tomato paste
• 1  8oz can vegetable broth
• 1  stick butter
• 1-2 cups flour

Spices

• 2  Bay leaves
• 1 Tbs of Cumin powder
• 1 Tbs of Chili Powder
• 1 Tbs of Rosemary
• 1 Tbs of Thyme
• 1 Tbs of Paprika
• 1 Tbs Garlic powder

Note:  I add spices to dishes as I see fit.  I probably added more garlic powder than 1Tbs and added a little more than 1 Tbs of the Chili Powder.  So adjust as you see fit.  If you like Cumin, add more and if not, add less.

Directions

• Once you have a nice campfire going you will want to prepare the garlic bulbs for roasting in the fire.  Also after washing the bell peppers you want to roast them on the campfire as well till slightly roasted.  You don’t need to get them completely black, but you can if you want.  I like it with just a couple spots of charred skin.
• While someone in your camp group watches the peppers you want to prep all the other vegetable ingredients and set aside on a plate or bowl.  That would be the Onions, Carrots, Mushrooms and Celery.
• At this point the peppers should be done.  If you really charred the skin you want to wait till they are cool enough and remove the skin.  If you didn’t char the skin too much, you can just cut them into small strips and add them to your pile of veggies.
• Take your cast iron dutch oven and rub the inside with a little butter and place over the fire.  If you fire pit does not have a grate you can place it on a rock in the fire and place coals around the dutch oven.  You want to have easy access to your pot so don’t place the pot in a part of the fire that will make it hard to get to.
• Once your pot has gotten hot add the beef cubes to it and brown the beef for a couple of minutes.  De-glaze the pot with the beef stock and make sure that you get all the crunchy tid-bits on the bottom of the pot disolved.
• Add the rest of the veggies.
• Add the vegetable broth, tomato paste and about two full glasses of wine.
• Add ALL the spices and the roasted garlic cloves.
• Stir and let simmer for about 2-3 hours.  Make sure you keep an eye on it because if the fire gets to hot the stew will boil too much.
• Once the stew is close to being done, around hour 2 you will want to make the Roux with the stick of butter(yes yes) and flour.  I would use a small saute pan and use a stove instead of the campfire because you can better control the heat.
• When you are just about ready to serve the stew add the roux and stir well.  Let the stew simmer for another 10-15 minutes.
• Take the pot of stew off the fire and let sit for 10 -15 minutes and serve.  Be careful, it’s HOT!

NOTE: When using beef in stew you either want to barely cook the beef or over cook it.  Barely cooking the beef keeps it tender.  But after it’s been cooking for a while the meat will become very chewy , but as you continue to cook the meat the collagen in the meat(it keeps the musle strands together) will break down and make the meat very tender.

I make this all the time at home and I have it down to a 20 minute meal!  I keep turkey burger patties in my freezer and they thaw in 2 minutes in the microwave.

Ingredients

2   Lrg            Russet Potato

2   4 oz          Burger Patties  (thawed & broken up)

1   Sm.           Onion  Diced

1    Ea            Carrot Diced

2   Rib            Celery Diced

1   Cup           Baby Peas

1/4 Lb            Mushrooms sliced

1/2 ts           Thyme

1   Tbs           Worcestershire or A-1 Sauce  (or both)

1   Cup           Stock

1   ts              Corn Starch  (In a slurry)

1  Tbs             Oil

Method:

Place the potatoes in the Microwave over and cook till tender about 10 minutes.  Keep turning the potatoes so they cook evenly.

In a hot saute pan add oil, onion, celery, and carrots, sweat the vegetables and add the burger.  Saute this mixture till the meat is cooked and add the mushrooms, cook this mixture for a couple minutes and add the thyme.  Pour  the stock and Worcestershire into the pan and bring it to a rapid boil.  When the vegetables are tender , add the peas, turn down the heat and add the corn starch slurry.  Stir the mixture together and cook until the sauce is hot and thick.  Check the flavor and add Salt & Pepper to taste.

Cut the baked potatoes into cubes on two plates and divide the sauce over both potatoes.

Try adding more vegetables, Tomato or Wine!

Makes 2 portions

Osso Bucco is basicly a pot roast made with a cut from the leg bone.  It can be made with Veal, Beef or Lamb and it should cook for hours.  This is the richest most flavorfull meat dish there is.

Ingredients

4  Large Veal Leg Cuts ( substiuite Lamb or Beef but it must have the bone with marrow exposed)

1  Med Onion  Large Dice

3  Carrots         Large Dice

3  Celery Ribs   Large Dice

2  Cup  Port Wine

1  Cup  Demi Glase  substituite  Ox Tail Soup Mix

2  Bay Leaves

8  Red Potato or Yukan Gold cut into wedges

1/4  Bunch of Fresh Thyme or 1/2 Tsp Dry

1/2  Cup Tomato Paste

Salt & Pepper

Olive oil

Large Braising pan with a lid!

Method:

Sprinkle salt & pepper on the meat and set it aside.  Place a large, heavy braising pan on high heat and when pan is hot add about 2 Tbs Olive Oil.   Place the meat in the pan and brown  it on both sides then remove the meat to a plate and set aside.  Add the vegetables to the hot pan and more oil if needed.  Reduce the heat and cook the vegetables till they begin to sweat.  Remove the vegetables to the meat plate and add wine to the pan.  Add wine to the pan and reduce it by half, add Demi Glace and Tomato Paste, bring to a quick low boil and pour the sauce into a container and set aside.

Place the meat in the pan, add Bay Leaf & Thyme to the bottom of the pan.  Place the potato’s in the pan and cover with the vegetables.   Pour the sauce over the whole thing and cover with a lid.  Place the pan in a 350 oven and bake for 2 hours.  Check the meat with a fork, it should be very tender, if not cook it longer.

Serve one leg cut along with vegetables and potatoes.   I suggest a side dish of baby peas.

You can add mushrooms if you like and baby vegetables for a more upscale dish.

Garnish your plate with the left over Thyme!

Makes 4 portions!

This can be cooked up to a week before and reheated in the same pot in only half an hour!

This recipe may seem long and complicated, but it isn’t.  It just takes some time to brine and to cook!  In the end the time spent makes the turkey well worth the wait!

Ingredients

• 1 fresh or defrosted turkey – 12 lbs works well in standard weber grill
• 1/2 cup melted unsalted butter
• 2 quarts Turkey or Chicken Stock
• 2 quarts Turkey or Chicken Broth
• 2 large yellow onions, quartered
• 4 large carrots, roughly chopped
• 4 celery stalks, roughly chopped
• palmful of black peppercorns, whole
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 cherry wood chunks or 4 small handfulls, soaked in water for at least 30 minutes

Brine

• 2 quarts apple juice
• 1 cup kosher salt
• 2 Tbs dried Rosemary
• 2 Tbs dried Thyme
• 1 Tbs dried Sage
• 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
• 3 quarts cold FILTERED water

Hardware

• Standard Weber charcoal grill(22inches wide)
• Aluminum baking pan from grocery store(the kind that’s $3 bucks and you can crush and throw away).  This will be filled with water and used in the grill to help regulate the temperature.  It will be directly next to the charcoal.
• Roasting pan with rack that fits inside your grill and can hold the turkey.
• Fat separator for liquids
• New trash bag that can hold your turkey

Instructions

Day before the BRINE

1. Combine brine ingredients except water and mix until salt is disolved in a mixing bowl.
2. Take turkey out of package and remove neck and giblets.  Set those aside in the fridge for tomorrow.
3. Wash turkey in cold water and place inside a NEW trash bag.
4. Pour brine over turkey in trash bag and add the cold water.  Tighten trash bag so turkey is submerged in the brine and you’ve taken out most of the air.  NOTE: It is important that when you brine the turkey you keep the turkey breast-side down so that it will always be submerged in the brine.  It’s okay if the back is not completely covered by the brine.
5. Place the trash-bag-turkey in a container that can fit in the fridge over-night.  If not, put it in a cooler with A LOT of ice.  If placing it in a cooler, you will need to check every couple hours to make sure that there is enough ice to keep the turkey cold.

Day of Dinner

1. You will need to prepare your grill for indirect heating and you will want a large tin foil pan to fill with water to help regulate the internal temperature of the inside of the grill.  You want the temperature of the grill to be between 300F and 350F.  NO HIGHER.  My method of indirect heating here is to have the tin foil pan in the middle of the bottom grate with the lit charcoal all by the top of the tin foil pan with some of the charcoal coming down each side of the pan.
2. Place the chopped onion, celery, garlic, carrots, bay leaves and whole peppercorns into the bottom of the roasting pan.  Also add the giblets and the neck to the bottom of the roasting pan.  Place rack for turkey in roasting pan.  Pour in all stock and broth into bottom of pan so that it comes a little over the bottom of the roasting rack.
3. Place turkey breast-side down into the roasting rack that’s in the roasting pan and baste with some of the melted butter. NOTE: Because the turkey legs take longer to cook we will cook the turkey with the breast-side down in the liquid to slow down the cooking of the breast meat.  After an hour you’ll flip the turkey over so that the back is in the liquid, exposing the barely cooked breast meat to the heat and smoke!
4. Once your grill is ready for indirect heat at 300F-350F, add 2 of the soaked wood chunks to the coals.  You will want to position the coals under the part of the grate that flips open for easy access later.
5. Place the roasting pan on center of the cooking grate with the legs closest to the charcoal heat source.
6. Cook the turkey with the lid closed for 1 hour.
7. After 1 hour, to maintain the heat you will need to add more charcoal(8-12 unlit briquettes).  Also add the remaining soaked cherry chunks to the coals.
8. At this point you will also very carefully turn the turkey over so the breast-side is face up.  Continue cooking turkey with the lid on as before.
9. After another hour baste the turkey with more butter!  At this time you will also want to take the temperature of your turkey.  The turkey is done when the internal temperature of the thickest part of the thigh(not touching the bone) reaches 175F and the the breast meat reaches 165F.  NOTE: The turkey will continue to cook after taking it off the grill and the temperature will continue to rise another 5F-10F.  Therefore you will want to take it OFF the grill before it reaches those “Finished” temperatures.
10. Once the turkey is 5F-10F below the finishing temperatures take it off the grill and place the turkey on a carving board covered loosely with tin foil.
11. Overall cooking times can vary depending on size of the turkey and how hot your grill is.  I’d say for a 12lb turkey, you’re looking at 2.5 to 3.5 hours.  Or more if you cook at a lower temperature.

Lets make GRAVY

What to do with all that wonderful liquid?  Oh man.  That stuff is what dreams are made of!  I recommend saving some of that liquid for soups later on, while using some of that liquid to make gravy!

1. Strain liquid and remove all solids.
2. Use the separator to remove the fat.
3. Reduce the liquid you want for gravy in half to concentrate flavors.  So start with double what you want to end up with!
4. While reducing make a golden roux with a 1/2 stick of butter and enough flour(adding just a little at a time).
5. When the liquid has reduced in half, lower heat and add the roux while stirring.
6. Once the roux has been incorporated and it’s boiled a little you will have GRAVY!

CARVE TURKEY AND SERVE WITH GRAVY!

ENJOY!

NOTE: It is important that when you brine the turkey you keep the turkey breast-side down so that it will always be submerged in the brine.  It’s okay if the back is not completely covered by the brine.

NOTE: Because the turkey legs take longer to cook we will cook the turkey with the breast-side down in the liquid to slow down the cooking for the breast meat.  After an hour you’ll flip the turkey over so that the back is in the liquid, exposing the barely cooked breast meat to the heat and smoke!

NOTE: The turkey will continue to cook after taking it off the grill and the temperature will continue to rise another 5F-10F.  Therefore you will want to take it OFF the grill before it reaches those “Finished” temperatures.