Ham shanks dinner, Southern style

Hey Y'all, ah am a gonna have some ham shanks, collard greens, corn bread, navy beans and an ice cold co-cola.

Grilled chicken and smoked sausage

I grilled a chicken marinated in oil, paprika, garlic and lime juice. It  was lunch along with corn on the cob cooked on the grill, then cut off the cob, heated in a sauce pan with salt, butter, honey and cream.

It is a good thing I had the smoker going at the same time because I ran out of gas and had to finish he chicken and do the corn over the fire box in the smoker.

The Cajun Bratwurst was cold smoked for 3 hours. This picture is of it about half done.  The steam and smoke fogged my lens and made the picture blurry.

Chicken and corn were for lunch. I plan to do some eggplant and steam the sausage in beer for dinner.

Martini chicken and fettucini with Alfredo sauce

Cuban steak with nopalitos, chimichurri sauce and fried sweet potatoes

Cassie won't get off work until 9 tonight so dinner will be a lot later. Here are some of the ingredients that I will start working on in a minute or so. We will have corn, not pictured, nopalitos(cactus) with tomatoes and onions, Cuban style steak on the grill, chimichurri sauce, fried sweet potatoes and tres leches cake. The cake is store bought... not pictured either.

Cuban Style Beef Chuck Eye Steak

4 lbs chuck eye steak, 1-inch thick, beef 

2 tablespoons garlic-flavored olive oil ( or mix some olive oil with garlic powder or fresh minced garlic) 

2 tablespoons adobo seasoning

Preheat broiler (or grill). 

Place in oven safe baking dish (I have a special glass one). Pour garlic oil over top of steak, coating the top. Sprinkle on the spices, any order. 

Broil about 20-25 minutes, depending on the thickness of your steak. about 25 minutes.

Chimichurri Sauce           yield: Makes about 1 cup

This garlicky sauce from Argentina is great spooned over beef or chicken.

1 cup (packed) fresh Italian parsley

1/2 cup olive oil

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup (packed) fresh cilantro

2 garlic cloves, peeled

3/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

Puree all ingredients in processor. Transfer to bowl. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.)

Fried Sweet Potatoes.  Preheat oven to 300º 

2 Large sweet potatoes

1/4 C. vegetable oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Nopalitos with Tomatoes and Onions Recipe

1 lb nopalitos,  prickly pear cactus paddles that have been stripped of spines, cleaned, and chopped

Olive oil

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1/2 red onion, roughly chopped

1 jalapeño pepper, stem and seeds removed, chopped

1 medium tomato, roughly chopped

Salt and pepper

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of the pan) in a large sauté pan on medium high heat. Add red onion, garlic, and jalapeño. Cook for a minute, stirring occasionally, then add the nopalitos. Cook for several more minutes. Then add the chopped tomato. Continue to cook until all vegetables are cooked through. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Serves 3 to 4.

Brisket in the smoker for dinner

Three hours into the smoke, maybe another 3 hours to go. It is a small 2 lb. brisket so I don't expect it to take as long as a bigger one.

Cassie's birthday dinner

Today I made strip steaks on the grill seasoned with salt and pepper and allowed to set 30 minutes before grilling.

I grilled corn to get a little char, cut it from the cob, added it to a saucepan added butter salt and honey and kept hot until ready to serve.

 I cut zucchini into thick medallions added a quarter of an onion chopped and a box or baby bella mushrooms in a pan with olive oil, salt, lemon pepper and cointreau and let marinate for a couple of hours, then cooked in skillet over medium-medium low, covered part of the time until crispy soft.

Green beans simmered in water with onion, bacon and maple syrup and salt. (It needed more salt.)  Cooked at a slow simmer for an hour.  Last time used maple cured bacon-was better that way.

Served the cheesecake for dessert with mimosas.

Cassie's birthday 'cake'

I used half raspberries instead of all strawberries

STRAWBERRY GLAZED CREAM CHEESECAKE   oven 350 degrees

1/4 C. coarsely ground walnuts

3/4 C. finely crushed graham craccker crumbs

3T. melted unsalted butter

4 (8oz) pkg. cream cheese, room temp.

4 eggs

1 1/2 C. sugar, divided

1 T. fresh lemon juice

3 t. vanilla, divided

2 C. sour cream

1 quart strawberries, stemmed

12 oz jar seedless red raspberry jelly

1 T. cornstarch

1/4 C. cointreau liqueur

1/4 C. water

Heat oven.  Combine walnuts, graham cracker crumbs and butter.  Press on the bottom of a lightly buttered spring form pan. 

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese on low speed untill smooth.  Add eggs, 1 1/4 C. sugar, lemon juice and 2 T. vanilla. Beat on low-med. speed until well combined.Spoon over crust, set on baking sheet and bake 350 for 55 minutes. Cake may rise slightly and crack in several places, but it will settle again.  Let stand at room temperature15 minutes.

For topping, combine 2 C. sour cream, remaining 1/4C. sugar and remaining 1t. vanilla.  Blend well, spoon over baked cheese cake and return to the oven for 5 more minutes.  Let cool then refrigerate 1 to 3 days.

For glaze:  Wash, hull berries and dry completely on paper towels.  Combine 1 T. jelly with 1T. cornstarch in saucepan.  Add remaining jelly, cointreau and 1/4C. water.  Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until clear and thickened, about 5 minutes.  Cool to lukewarm, stirring occasionaly.  Using knife, loosen cake and remove from springform pan.  Arrange berries, pointed end up over top of cake.  Spoon glaze over berries, allowing some to drip down the side of the cake.  Refrigerate until set

Smoked spare ribs

I used my smoker again today and smoked some spare ribs, then trimmed them St. Louis style after the were done.




I used a rub on them over night in the refrigerator then smoked them at 250º while turning and basting them with bacon fat, chicken stock and another rub seasoning, finally finishing them with some sauce and letting it cook in for a few minutes at the end.