Chicken and Biscuits
Yesterday it was 80°. Right now it's 48° outside. It's been cold and damp all day. It's the perfect excuse to turn last nights leftover chicken into a pot pie. Of sorts.
This was just what the weatherman ordered! Hot and creamy with cheesy-dill biscuits on top. Perfect cold-weather fare.
This is the sort of meal I just throw together based upon what's in the 'fridge. I had actually planned to do a BBQ's pork, but the chicken was there and the weather wasn't really conducive to BBQ.
I sauteed onion and celery in some butter. When it was looking good, I added flour, mixed it well, then slowly added about a quart of chicken stock. (The chicken stock came out of the freezer - I have more simmering to replace it with.)
When it had thickened a bit, I added some salt and pepper, a bit of poultry seasoning, and some rosemary.
Next I added the chicken from the carcass, cooked pasta (I didn't have any flat or wide egg noodles so I used a couple of handfuls of open partial boxes) and some frozen mixed vegetables.I always have frozen nixed vegetables in the freezer because you just never know when you'll need them. They really are convenient.
Heat went to low and I made the biscuits.
You can use your favorite baking mix but I made these using self-rising flour. Into the flour I added butter, eggs, dill, and cubed cheese. I then added heavy cream until I got the consistency I wanted.
This is why it's difficult to actually write recipes, sometimes. I didn't start with a set amount of anything. There was maybe 2 cups of flour left in the bag so I dumped it into a bowl and went from there.
I used a small scoop and dropped the biscuits onto the boiling filling and baked it for about 18 minutes at 425°.
And the important part of that sentence is boiling filling. The biscuit needs to cook from both the top and the bottom. If it went on a cold filling the filling would not heat up fast enough to cook the biscuit and it would be doughy on the bottom - and over-cooked on top. Start with a hot filling and put into a hot oven.
We had lots of leftovers so this may keep me from eating hot dogs all day tomorrow while Victor is in New York shopping and otherwise having fun.
I get to have a knee MRI and see a Urologist.
Guess who is going to have the most fun!
Brining a Chicken
When one is pig-headed and opinionated about things, I always find it's a good idea to once in a while revisit the things that one is pig-headed and/or opinionated about. It can either validate the opinion or - in rare cases - actually change a mind.
Yes... as opinionated and pig-headed as I am, I do - occasionally - change my mind on things.
I'm pleased to report, however, that brining is not one of the things I'm going to change my mind about, tonight.
In my not-so-humble opinion, brining, at least on a commercial level, has always been about putting flavor where factory-farming has taken it away. Pick up a package of name-brand chicken breasts and notice the "May contain up to 14% (or 15% or 22%) solution" label. It's usually in pretty small print somewhere. They've bred the natural flavor out so now they have to add flavor to make it palatable. But even more than reintroducing flavor, brining changes the texture of the product. It breaks it down. Where most people say "moist" I say "mushy."
It's totally a texture thing.
So... last night, I decided I needed to revisit my pig-headed opinionatedness.
I had a lovely 4 1/2 pound organic chicken that I decided to experiment with. These are great birds on their own and I know the flavor profile perfectly. I had my base line.
Not being a brining expert, I went to Epicurious to see what was up.
I came upon every type of brine imaginable, from basic salt and water to way-over-the-top flavorings. Armed with a little bit of knowledge, I made up my own:
Brine for Chicken
- 6 qts water
- 1/4 cup kosher salt
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tbsp rubbed sage
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp onion seeds
Bring two cups water to a boil, add salt, sugar,a nd spices, and mix until sugar and salt have dissolved. Add remaining water mixed with ice cubes to chill. Pour over chicken making sure it is completely submerged. Brine 8 - 24 hours.
Into the 'fridge it went.
This afternoon, I pulled it out of the brine, rinsed it, dried it,, and got it ready for the grill.
It seems most brined chicken recipes call for the bird to be grilled, so... when in Rome...
I had preheated the grill and then turned off the middle burners and kept the end burners on high, setting the bird right in the middle.
About an hour and half later, I had a pretty good looking bird.
I must admit that the flavor was really, really good. The sage really came though albeit in a very subtle way. There - but not overpowering or overly-pronounced. Crispy skin for Victor (I'm not much of a skin fan.)
And yes, it was moist and juicy.
Victor's first bite was "It's really moist!" His second bite was "Yeah. I see what you mean about the texture." It's just too soft. There's no 'chew.' It just lacks the proper consistency. The flavor is definitely there, the texture ruins it for me.
And this is one where I know I'm in the minority.
Type in "brining" in Google and every celebrity chef and wannabe restaurateur has a recipe for brining something. More power to them all. I could almost see it if one wanted to really infuse something with a specific flavor, but I'd rather have the natural flavor and add a sauce. And it's easier and less time-consuming!
My pig-headed opinionatedness concerning brining is something I don't have to revisit for a while.
NEXT?!?
Lamb Chops and Lemon
During my Monday Shopping today, I saw some lamb chops that looked just too good to pass up.
I don't seem to buy a lot of lamb. No particular reason - I really like it - but for whatever reason, it doesn't end up in the shopping cart all that often. Tonight, I figured the chops would go on the grill but I wanted something to go with them. I first thought of lemon and mint - the mint is already growing crazy outside - but in the end I opted for lemon, garlic, and rosemary. Classic lamb accompaniments. The rosemary hasn't reached mint proportions, but it's outdoors and fresh, nonetheless.
Lemon Rosemary Sauce
- 1 small clove garlic, minced
- zest of 1 lemon
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp fresh rosemary
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- pinch salt and pepper
Place everything but olive oil in small food chopper and chop. With processor running, add oil slowly to create a lovely emulsion.
Serve atop lamb chops.
It's one of those things that is just so easy, yet takes the meal from "good" to "WOW" with no effort, at all.
Served with the chops were Brussels sprouts - actually from Belgium - and a whole-grain rice assortment. Brussels sprouts are my most-favorite vegetable in the world. I know, I'm weird, but I've always liked them.
The rice was a blend of different whole-grain rices in the cupboard... black, mahogany, red, and the end of a confetti rice blend.
And the chops... Cooked to perfection. I put them on the grill and then heard Victor speaking with our next door neighbor over the fence, so off I went to join them. They flared up a bit and the fat got a bit charred, but they were g-o-o-o-o-d!
I'm going to have to pick them up a bit more often. The mint-and-lemon sauce combination still sounds good!
Trish's White BBQ Sauce
I was perusing facebook about 10 days ago when I noticed that my friend Genevieve Boulerice was making a variation of a white BBQ sauce that her friend Trish Cairnes makes.
Well... This is the month of BBQ Sauces, right?!? I had to make it!
Gen posted her recipe and Trish posted hers right after. Just similar enough that I knew I could play with this one!
In the end, I followed Trish's recipe pretty close, but added a teaspoon of dill at the last minute - just because. I also didn't add any water. Didn't need to thin it any more than it was.
Also, I marinated the chicken in the sauce and then grilled them over indirect heat. After one side was cooked, I dipped them back into the sauce and cooked side two.
Trish Cairn's White BBQ Sauce
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup water x2
- 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1-2 teaspoon prepared horseradish. depends on what you like.
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 tablespoon sugar
This is awesome on chicken! I brush some on the chicken when its about 3/4 of the way done. But make sure you keep a bunch for dipping! There are some recipe that are thicker, but I don't like that as much. I've been using for years now. :) But play around with it and see what you think.
And what I think is that it was pretty awesome! I can see where this could just have a bazillion-and-one possibilities. I could see switching out vinegars, adding chipotle powder or smoked paprika... Really. The possibilities are endless.
So thanks, Genevieve, for posting your dinner and thanks, Trish, for the recipe!
Good food and good people. What more can ya ask for?
Well... you could ask for flooding rivers to recede, that's what you could ask for.
Lori and Ev are safe. They made a harrowing ride back to Cairo last night to grab what they could. Lori wrote about the ride back:
When you live in Southern Illinois you see some impressive storms, but I've never been in one like this. Lighting was striking so close to the car it was blinding for a few seconds. It was raining so hard it was like driving under water, with the wind whipping the big trees along I-57 and Ev hanging onto the steering wheel for all she was worth, hoping we wouldn't hit a spot where the water from the drainage ditches finally spilled across the highway.
That is much more adventure than I ever want to experience.
It's still a great big what-and-see game, but I'm of the mind that their 112 year old home has weathered floods before and will, again.
Positive thoughts...
The Royal Salad
I think I was almost the only person who didn't get up in the middle of the night to watch The Wedding.
I just kinda felt the same way I do about any strangers wedding... I wish them luck, and all, but it's not like I have a personal stake in any of it. I mean, it's fairly unlikely that we'll be running into them at the gym any time soon, ya know?!?
But it was definitely all the buzz at work. Early in the day two women were talking and one of them was sobbing - sobbing - because Diana wasn't there to see it. I have to admit that I though that to be just a tad extreme.
Maybe it's just that I'm a bit bitter because they got to celebrate their wedding at Westminster Abbey, officiated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in front of a world-wide audience, and it's recognized as legal throughout the world. Our own wedding was slightly less elaborate - no one wore hats - and is recognized in six states and the District of Columbia. I wouldn't want to be them - I couldn't imagine being hounded by the paparazzi 24/7 - but I wouldn't mind our marriage being as legal as theirs.
So we go from Royal Wedding to Royal Salad.
We had almost Spring-like weather today and salads and greens were calling my name. This particular one started with a bed of greens and sliced strawberries, blackberries, and cucumber on one end, a caprese salad - tomato, fresh mozzarella, and basil - on the other, sauteed belgian endive, micro greens, and thinly-sliced grilled beef. The dressing was strawberry white balsamic vinegar, olive oil, herbs d'Provence, salt and pepper.
As for the royal couple, the palace said guests would be served a selection of canapes, including:
- Cornish crab salad on lemon blini
- Pressed duck terrine with fruit chutney
- Roulade of goats' cheese with caramelised walnuts
- Assortment of palmiers and cheese straws
- Scottish smoked salmon rose on beetroot blini
- Miniature watercress and asparagus tart
- Poached asparagus spears with Hollandaise sauce
- Quails eggs with celery salt
- Scottish langoustines with lemon mayonnaise pressed confit of pork belly with crayfish and crackling
- Wild mushroom and celeriac chausson
- Bubble and squeak with confit shoulder of lamb
- Grain mustard and honey-glazed chipolatas
- Smoked haddock fishcake with pea guacamole
- Miniature Yorkshire pudding with roast fillet of beef and horseradish mousse
- Gateau opera
- Blood orange pate de fruit
- Raspberry financier
- Rhubarb creme brulee tartlet
- Passionfruit praline
- White chocolate ganache truffle
- Milk chocolate praline with nuts
- Dark chocolate ganache truffle
Buckingham Palace added that guests would be served Pol Roger NV brut reserve champagne - along with other soft and alcoholic drinks.
I'm equally glad I no longer do catering.
Birthday Lobster Salad
It's Victor's Birthday, today. With all the things we've done this month - from new granite counters to iPads and family parties, today is almost anti-climatic. I got the truck inspected (Ka-CHING!) and made a Dr appointment for next week, and Victor is working late. Almost like a normal day around here.
But I did make a fun screen-saver, call, sing, and bring home flowers. And pulled a couple of lobster tails out of the freezer. (Yes, we had lobster tails in our freezer. Julia Child always spoke of having a well-stocked larder.)
I thought of a dozen different things to do with them, but salads really were just the thing for dinner. It's gone from winter to summer overnight. At almost 80° the weather just screamed fresh fruits and vegetables.
The lobster salad, itself, was pretty basic... I cooked the tails and chopped them and added lemon zest, lemon juice, onion, garlic, celery, pickle, mayo, salt, and pepper. Very simple. I wanted to still be able to taste a bit of lobster in them.
The salad was greens, blueberry chevre, tomato, cucumber, strawberries, and blackberries. Dressing was strawberry white balsamic vinegar, grapeseed oil, salt, pepper, and a bit of thyme.
Really light, bright, and flavorful.
I love the fact that we can be both extravagant and low-key. It's just fun to be fun.
In an hour or so, we have Carrot Cake that need to be consumed. And three types of ice cream. Ice cream is just about my favorite food group. And it's Victor's birthday, after all.
Easter 2011
It takes weeks of planning, a week of prep, and it's over before you know it.
But what fun we have!
Easter, this year was a bit extra-special because it's 2 days before Victor's birthday.
Every year his family gets together on Saturday night for the annual pizza-and-egg-coloring-eggstravaganza. This year they surprised him with a birthday celebration, as well.
They baked a lot of cupcakes! And yes, the number is correct.
The pizza was great. There were five different varieties. This one was topped with arugula. Back in the day when I made pizza, I was such a purist I probably would have turned my nose up at something like this. Over the years I've learned to appreciate things a bit more. And I definitely appreciated this!
I ate more than I should - but then... when don't I?!? Especially when faced with something like this - and 60 cupcakes.
Earlier in the week I started the Peep-Dipping.
I personally cannot abide Peeps but they are fun to play with. And one of these days I'm going to get serious about playing with them. Every year I see the contests, creativity, and extremes people go tt with Peeps. Some of them are just outstanding. A far cry from a mere chocolate dip!
On to the eating!
Today, we started early - 1pm - with enough food to feed many more than the 15 assembled. We really tried to cut down. We really did. Somehow, though, things just kept multiplying.
We started off with appetizers, of course... Meat balls, stuffed eggs, cheeses and crackers, olives, peppers, prosciutto...
The stuffed eggs were really simple. Mayo, turmeric, dill, salt, and pepper.
We decided to do a bit of a picnic theme this year. We did cold turkey, ham, and beef tenderloin with rolls and croissants for sandwiches, lingonberry sauce and aioli for spreads, and potato salad, pasta salad, green bean and red onion salad, and a green salad.
And we had two hot dishes - Marie's pineapple bread pudding and Ricotta Rollatini - a pasta dish Victor made with homemade pasta and homemade ricotta cheese!
He made a variation a few weeks ago that was excellent - but today's was stellar. He used fresh peas instead of the spinach and the homemade ricotta.
Yum.
The ricotta is no-brainer easy to make and what a difference in flavor!
Fresh Ricotta
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 1/2 tsp salt
Add all ingredients to a heavy pot and simmer 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 30 minutes.
Scoop curds into a cheesecloth-lined sieve and drain about 30 minutes. Squeeze to remove as much whey as possible.
Cover and chill.
It really is easy to make and it's totally worth the time!
And then it was Dessert Time!
It pretty much doesn't matter how much I've eaten - when dessert is ready - I make room.
We started off with Victor's Carrot Cake.
Carrot Cake
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cups shredded carrots (about 4 medium)
- 1 1/2 cups oil (neutral oil like grapeseed – not olive)
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup coconut (optional)
Heat oven to 350°. Grease and flour 2 9″ cake pans.
In a large bowl, blend all ingredients (except nuts, etc) on low speed until moistened. Beat 3 minutes on high speed. Stir in nuts, raisins, and coconutr, if using.
Pour into pans and bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Cook cake 10 minutes before removing from pans.
Cool completely before frosting.
I made cream cheese frosting, split it into 4 layers, and decorated it with marzipan carrots we bought at Cost Plus when we were in San Francisco last month. They were festive, i couldn't resist.
And I made a Strawberry Cheesecake...
It was a variation on my most favorite recipe.
Strawberry Cheesecake
The Crust:
- 3/4 cups walnuts, finely ground
- 3/4 cup vanilla wafer crumbs
- 3 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
The Filling:
- 4 pkgs cream cheese, room temperature
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup whipping cream
The Topping:
- 16 oz sour cream
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
The Glaze:
- 4 cups strawberries
- 1 10 oz jar red raspberry jelly
Putting it together: Preheat oven to 350º. Mix crust ingredients and press evenly into bottom of 10″ springform pan. Set aside.
Cream the cheese until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add sugar, vanilla, and whipping cream, mixing until smooth and light. Pour into pan and bake 60 – 70 minutes. Remove from oven and cool about 15 minutes. Keep oven on.
Mix topping ingredients and spread onto top of cheesecake to within about 1/2 inch from edge. Return to oven and bake about 7 more minutes. Cool completely, cover, and refrigerate at least 24 hours (as I said, 2-3 days is best.)
On day you’re going to serve, make glaze. Simply melt jar of jelly over low heat.
Remove cake from pan. Press graham cracker crumbs onto sides, if desired.
Arrange sliced strawberries on top of cheesecake, covering the whole thing. Brush glaze on strawberries, allowing it to run down and pool on cake.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
It really is the best.
Marie brought a crostata di frutta that was outstanding!
A tender crust with a pastry cream, topped with sliced strawberries. Excellent.
And, finally, fresh fruit with honey and more fresh ricotta.
Totally simple and totally good.
The honey is local that I pick up down at Gentile's Market in Newtown Square. I've heard that eating local honey is supposed to help with seasonal allergies. It actually may be working. I haven't felt as bad recently as I have since moving back here!
Our final things were gifts we made for everyone to bring home with them - Limocello and Strawberry White Balsamic Vinegar.
Both are really good and really easy to make.
The vinegar is simple crushed strawberries steeped in white balsamic and then strained and filtered. It can be accomplished in a couple of hours.
The limoncello takes a bit longer. Weeks longer.
Limoncello
- 15 organic lemons, well scrubbed
- 2 (750 ml) bottles 100-proof vodka
- 4 cups sugar
- 5 cups water
Wash the lemons well and pat dry. Carefully zest the lemons with a zester or vegetable peeler so there is no white pith on the peel.
Step One:
In a large glass jar (1-gallon jar), add the vodka and the lemon zest. Cover the jar and let sit at room temperature for at least 10 days and up to 40 days in a cool dark place. The longer it rests, the better the taste will be. (There is no need to stir – all you have to do is wait.) As the limoncello sits, the vodka slowly take on the flavor and rich yellow color of the lemon zest.Step Two:
In a large saucepan, combine the sugar and water; cook until thick and syrupy, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Cool the syrup and then stir into the limoncello mixture. Allow to rest for another 10 to 40 days.Step Three:
After the rest period, strain and bottle: discarding the lemon zest. Keep in the freezer until ready to serve.
It was a lot of fun. And a lot of food.
It doesn't get much better.
Pork and Pappardelle
If I hadn't been so lazy, I would have gone down to the store and gotten another tank of propane. Or, I could have cleaned the charcoal grill.
The rain didn't materialize and the weather was actually nice. I had options.
Lazy won out. I cooked indoors.
I had a pork tenderloin all nice and thawed so I cut it into about 1" cutlets and popped them into a nice, hot skillet. After they were nicely browned, I added a splash of marsala, and after it cooked down, I added some leftover chicken gravy from the bird I roasted Monday. It's the dinner that keeps on giving. I have a gallon of chicken stock that needs to get into the freezer, too.
While that simmered away, I cooked up some pappardelle pasta and some frozen mixed vegetables.
Lazy never tasted so good!
And Victor just made banana Bread. It's in the oven right now.
French-Cut Green Beans
As a kid growing up, "French-Cut" Green Beans came in a frozen cube. Actually, pretty much all vegetables came in a frozen cube - or a can. The freezer was always full of those 10 for a dollar Lady Lee boxes. It was how you fed six kids on a fireman's salary.
Come to think of it, the majority of the restaurants I worked at in the late '60's and early '70's served most of their vegetables from #10 cans. Alice Waters wasn't yet on the scene.
French-cut green beans were always a special occasion vegetable. Definitely not your basic Tuesday night fare. If mom was going to get really fancy, there might be some slivered almonds in them. But more often than not, they were boiled, salted, and buttered.
I still eat frozen vegetables - ofttimes they're fresher and more flavorful than stuff grown for shipping durability, but when they're available, nothing beats a fresh French-cut green bean. And they're easy to prepare with the right little tool.
I'm not sure where we picked up the green bean frencher, but it's one of those gadgets that sits in the drawer just minding its own business until I decide it needs to see the light of day. There's a variation of it on the top of a lot of vegetable peelers.
It's brilliant in its simplicity... a bean gets fed into the little opening and hits about 5 razor blades. Ya pull it through and you have a French-cut bean. It only cuts one bean at a time but in a matter of minutes, I had a nice-sized pile.
I simply steamed the beans and added a pat of butter and some salt and pepper. Very basic. I wanted to taste the beans - not a lot of other stuff.
The beans set off a classic roast chicken. Lemon and herbs d'Provence in the cavity, mashed potatoes and pan gravy.
There is enough chicken left over for a couple more meals...
I'm going to have to think of something fun for tomorrow...
Boursin Mashed Potatoes
Tonight's dinner was all about the mashed potatoes. Boursin Mashed Potatoes.
Boursin is a soft, creamy cheese that hails from France, but is also manufactured right here in the good ol' USofA. Besides the obvious crackers and bread, it mixes well into sauces and is especially good mixed into mashed potatoes. Really especially good.
I don't remember when I first had Boursin. It was years (and years and years) ago. Maybe Tahoe in the '70s? We were all pretty adventurous cooks back then. Boursin would have been just the thing to liven up one of those pot-smoking-and-wine-drinking evenings with the roommates on Canterbury Drive... Ah yes... the good old days... 20' ceiling, wall of windows, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, loft... We paid $400/mo rent - split 4 ways. I'd move back into that house in a heartbeat. Serious good times were had by all!
But I digress...
The concept/recipe is pretty basic - just add some cheese to your favorite mashed potato recipe. Simple but oh, so flavorful! It really takes the spuds to the next level. There are quite a few varieties out there but my favorite remains garlic and herb.
The rest of the dinner was steamed wax beans and grilled burgers with a wild mushroom sauce.
I picked up some 90/10 ground beef because it was on sale for slightly less than my normal 80/20 and am sorry I did. The burgers just lacked flavor and were dry. What I saved in a couple grams of fat I totally lost in flavor and enjoyment. Back to the 80/20 next shopping trip.
Dessert will make up for it, though... A variation on my Aunt Kathleen's and Cousin Kate's Malt Shoppe Pie!
Springtime Salads
My body is saying "thank you" a million times over tonight. It's finally salad weather.
I know and understand that in today's world of produce being grown and flown in from all over the planet, I can have a salad any time I want. Problem is, when it's cold outside, I don't want to eat a salad. I want soups and stews and homemade bread and casseroles and good things like that. But as the temperature rises the thought of soup gives way to leafy greens and anything else I can think of to top them.
Tonight it was a grilled pork tenderloin.
I marinated the tenderloin in the Honey Clementine BBQ Sauce I made earlier, and grilled it from the top rack of the grill. Came out great.
The Honey Clementine Salad Dressing worked perfectly.
So... off-topic a bit... When did "wax beans" start getting called "Yellow Beans?" I was surprised to see them labeled that way at the produce store, today. And when did "string beans" lose their string?!? I haven't been paying attention!
I blanced the two types of beans and a bit of broccoli, boiled a couple of eggs, sliced a tomato and chopped a green onion. All on a bed of mixed greens.
We're going to be seeing more and more of these as the months progress...
Who knows... maybe I'll even drop a pound or two.
It could happen.
Honey Tangerines
Today was my day to play with honey tangerines. They are at peak season right now and probably the best I've had in a long time. I was at the produce store earlier today and while talking with a guy over the honey tangerine display, he said "these things make salt taste like sugar!"
Right to the point. Sweet doesn't even begin to describe them. There's just flavor like you wouldn't believe.
I knew couple of days ago that I was going to use them for the next BBQ sauce experiment but didn't have a clear idea of what I was going to do. The recipe came to me as I was frying peppers this afternoon. (I fried up 3 pounds of frying peppers and 1 pound of long hot peppers in olive oil just to have around the house.)
Right before that I had boiled down 5 cups of fresh-squeezed juice to 1 1/4 cups and it was cooling on the counter...
Honey Tangerine BBQ Sauce
- 1 cup reduced honey tangerine juice
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 3 fried peppers
- 1 6oz can tomato paste
- 1 tsp tabasco sauce
- salt and pepper
Mix all ingredients in sauce pan and bring to boil. Reduce heat and, using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Simmer about 10 minutes, taste for seasoning and add more salt, pepper, or hot sauce, as desired.
And since I'm doing salads for dinner and need a salad dressing for tonight, I thought a honey tangerine dressing would bw just the ticket!
Honey Tangerine Salad Dressing
- 1/4 cup reduced honey tangerine juice
- 1/4 cup strawberry white balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 cup grapeseed oil
- salt and pepper, to taste
Place all ingredients in jar or bottle and shake well.
It's really crisp and fruity - perfect for a spring salad!
As with the BBQ sauce, I really practiced restraint - not something I do on a regular basis. In both instances, I wanted the juice to be the star and really shine above the other ingredients. It's why I used grapeseed oil - a neutral oil - instead of a heavier olive oil. I didn't want the flavors to have to compete.
I made the strawberry balsamic vinegar a few days ago. It is simply crushed strawberries soaked in the white balsamic and then strained.
So dinner tonight is going to be salads with bbq'd pork tenderloin.
More on that, later...