Home Made Noodles for Pasta

The thing about cooking that I always like to tell myself (and not to diss the real chef-artists in this world) is that cooking, or making food from basic ingredients is actually quite easy. Think about it. Many of the basic creations had their origins a long time ago and back in the day the people creating them; by and large were uneducated and everything was done by hand. So to make it 'it' had to be doable by the hands of commoner. And that is why with your big modern brain and some power tools you can do it too!

The only difference we have today in the preparation of food is the concept of time. Perhaps, we see that the time we have is so limited that we do not have the time to make our own food. Which is a big misconception. Next time think about it this way: did the old world baker have episodes of CSI: Miami to stay on top of? No, but she did live a quarter of the time as the modern ameture baker and was still able to master her craft, so you can too! 

What anyone chooses to waste there time on is there own business but for one to say 'I don't have the time’ in this day of intense leisure is completely a fallacy. So why does this all have to do with noodles anyway?

Well, noodles, if made by hand, take some time to make but at the end of the experience are beautiful to eat and share with your cast of friends and loved ones.

I don't have a gram scale to measure out the proper quantity but I do have a 2 cups/500 ml PYREX glass measuring cup that I filled to the point where the top of the entire container (yes that's the entire container, far beyond the) 2 cup/16 oz measuring cup line sits. To that added 2 large eggs a few shirts of Olive Oil, a little water and pinch of salt. I combine this in a bowl and mix with a wire whisk, fork or dough tool. If you have a food processor this will save you quite a bit of time, though you may have to adjust your quantities for the machine mix, I’m not sure why but every time I do this I find my Cuisineart tends to like dough a sukoshi moister in order to ‘ball up’ properly. 

Mix it till it becomes ‘doughy’ then work the dough till it become smoother dough, like a product you'b buy from the store without lumps etc. then roll onto a large cutting surface. The first time I did this I rolled and cut it straight onto my Ikea cutting board kitchen island and using just a rolling pizza cutter did some minor damage to the cutting block. From then on I’ve decided to cut it on an actual cutting block. 

Using a rolling pizza cutting tool and a straight edge I cut strips int he flat cutting dough. Usually, as I get into the tedious cutting process I recall that I can just eyeball the cuts of pasta making the straightest lines possible but keeping with the shifting irregularities to create that 

‘artisanal’ effect. 

Lay the cuts of pasta out on a towel to dry. Pasta is pretty much ready to go into the boil after its been made and cooking times vary depending on how dry the pasta became during the drying time. I usually let it dry to medium and boil for about 3-4 minutes to al dente! 

Master's Chili

Why 'Master's Chili'? No I'm not a chili making master but moreover from a lifetime of chili eating I'm a 'Master Chili Eater'. That said this chili is complex with flavors and thick with content. This is a chili you make once you've tried the mainstream recipes and cans long enough that you want to take your experience deeper into the rich pools of chili flavors. 

It's pretty simple but will take a little planning and patience so here goes:

2 cups Bob’s Red Mill 13 Bean Mix Raw (you can use any raw beans you like, this is what I had on hand and recommend because of it's diverse collection of Legumes)

(soak overnight)

Cook Beans in Homemade Chicken Stock till tender

(Roughly 20 Oz Stock)

Once the beans have simmered for a while and are starting to tender add:

1 whole onion chopped

3 Large Carrots chopped

3 Stocks Celery chopped

4 Cloves garlic Minced

2-4 Serrano or Jalapeño Peppers chopped

2 TBSP Chili Powder

1TBSP Paprika

1TBSP Cayenne

1TBSP Sugar

2 TSP Cinnamon 

Black Pepper

After cooking for a while and things are starting to thicken add:

1 16 oz can stewed tomatoes chopped (do it in can with a knife, old school!)

1 8 oz can Tomato Paste

1 cup Coffee (old and bitter)

1 LB ground round extra lean Browned (not slow nor low)  

Salt  to taste

Cook some more (all cooking slow and low) and Enjoy!

Grilled Salmon and Veggie Summer Salad

Variations of this simple Salad are my mainstay meal during the summer months (that in Souther California extend from spring through fall. Tonight I made the Salmon Variation. People often say to me 'Stephen your such a good cook' my answer 'I'm not that good, it's just that simple'

Ingredients:
Salmon
Steamed Brown Rice
Greens (any kind will do, tonight I used baby spinach)
Italian Squash
Portobello Mushrooms
Pineapple
Roma Tomatoes
Yellow Onion
Olive Oil
Soy Sauce
Balsamic Vinny
Lime Juice
Sea Salt
Coarse Ground Pepper
Parsley Flakes

Brown Rice:
Start the rice first since it takes the longest

Salmon:
Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and parsley flake and set it in the fridge to marinate.

Vegetables:
Rinse and cut the veggies. With the Italian Squash I like to quarter it from head to toe splitting it in half then quarters. I used to cut it more like boards, which also works but is more prone to over grilling and limpness.

With the Pineapple I peal it, of course, and cut it into wheels but I like to cut the wheels in half as well so they fit better on the plate. Leave the core in as they get tender enough to eat once cooked and if you whittle too much off the piece it'll fall through the cracks of your grill.

Tomatoes can be Halved or left whole, the reason I like Roma's is for the same reason you want them for salsa's _ more meat and less water, so the hold their composure better on the grill.

With the onion peal quarter and skewer to hold it together.

Portobello  just need to be cleaned, some folks remove the stem, I just leave it. When marinating the under side of the cap with the gills will absorb most of the marinade so let gravity to the work.

Place as much of the veggies as will fit into a given plastic container with a lid. Usually I'll keep the all the 'families' together but it's not really that important, if you are having several friends over and making a lot you'd be surprised at just how many containers you'll use.

Marinate in equal parts (just drizzle and eyeball it!) Olive Oil, Balsamic, Soy Sauce. (If you are a cheapskate like I am once you've marinated your veggies and put them on the grill take the remaining sauce to use as 'mopping' sauce on the veggies as they grill or save to use as either a dressing or for you next grill if it's less than a week away. Freeze it if it's more than a week _ as long as it hasn't touched any raw meat you're safe)

Pre Heat and scrape down your grill. Once Hot place everything on the grill. Grilling on high heat the fish will take about 6 minutes, with the Salmon place the skin side on the grill and leave the other side up. You always know it's done when the white fats appear on the top of the Salmon.

With the veggies let the sit on the grill in one place long enough to get some good grill marks. Some folks get all fancy with this, I figure if it gets some kind of dark lines going in then it will look better than no lines and leave it at that. With the Mushrooms place the cap part on the grill and the gills up. pour in some of the extra marinate into the 'cup' you won't need to flip the Mushroom so it's on cruise control until you are done.

Depending on how tender you like thing after about 3 minutes you should move all the veggies around (except the mushroom). The tomatoes will go the fastest so pull them once the char on a side and soften but before they become completely crushed. The skewered onions should also char up. since my skewer doesn't fit in any plastic container I have I usually don't bother marinating it so it'll tend to char up faster than the other stuff.

I pull the fist first and let it rest then pile over all the veggies to keep things warm and move to the kitchen for plating up. Everything should be warm enough to soften the greens but not so hot as to cook them outright. The idea is a warm salad for a hot summer night.

On a bed of greens I put a scoop of the brown rice along with an assortment of the veggies surrounding the gorgeous piece of Salmon. There are no rules cause it always looks amazing!

Additionally since its already a salad these dishes turn into the most amazing lunches the following day and you'll make you coworkers so jealous. So if you love grilling and looking for simple ways to eat super healthy and delicious this summer have a grilled warm salad, you won't be disappointed.

Winter Shiitake Mexican Squash Soup

Ingredients:
4 Mexican Squash
3-4-5 Small potatoes (depending on the size, mine were small and i used 5)
3 med Carrots
3-5 Stalks Celery
1 med white onion
3-5 garlic cloves
1 stick butter salted
1 tbsp salt (I'd say half this, it was a little too much, do to taste)
1 tsp red pepper flake
Black pepper to taste
1 14 Oz can chicken broth
1 14 Oz can beef broth
tbs grape or olive oil
3 tbs dried parsley flake (just cause its sitting around and I am trying to use it up, but i do think it enhanced the flavor)
1/2 Cup Dried Shiitake Ya Shiitake slices from Costco.

In a large to semi large pan, I always like a little room to wiggle, sauté up veggies working from the hardest to the softest. I also like to start with working from the most savory to least. i started with some oil in the pan then added the butter, for lower fat use more oil and less butter. Basically onions, potatoes, garlic, carrots, cellery and lastly the squash. I just slice everything up. Let it sauté in the pan about 20 minutes or untill everything is pretty broken down. Add the broths give it a stir let simmer for a few minutes. With a vertical blender turn it to liquid sludge adding water only if necessary. Let simmer another 10 Minutes and enjoy.

Lastly just cause I had them sitting around. I added some reconstituted dried Shiitake Mushrooms (about 1/2 cup dried let soak in boiled water about 20 minutes or longer) too which added another layer of warmth to the flavor but i don't think is necessary and the next time I'm going to try sans the mushrooms. This soup, like most was so amazing the following day that I had to pump out this post and snap a pic of the final bowl before I sink it to the bottom of my tum!

Here is a fun one I learned in a pinch from Meathead over at amazingribs.com. After my latest and final Indian Candy Salmon Smoke out I decided my old Brinkman water smoker was as rusty as the side quarter panel of 84 Dodge K car that’d seen too many Iowa winters. I don’t know if smoking out of a rusted up smoker is bad for you or not but it seemed pretty gross to me so out to the dumpster it went. Having some leftover ribs and hankering for a smoke I found the post from Meathead about how to turn your gas grill into a smoker. It works!

Here’s what I did:

First off got a large aluminum steam pan from the Smart and Final, see photo, for the water tray. Got a bread loaf sized aluminum tray for the wood chips. Found an old top shelf to a broiler pan to use as the rack for the ribs to sit on. For bigger smokes down the road I can use the rack from my oven, but since this one was small the broil pan piece worked just fine. Boiled up my water which I’ve seen some folks on various how to smoke not do and I think that’s pretty wasteful when the whole idea of the smoker is to have lots of steam circulating.

I kept the fire pretty low but ran all 3 burners in my grill. Definitely had some major heat leaks as the lid to my grill didn’t shut quite properly due to the extra equipment inside. It took a little while to get to full heat and for the chips to start to smoke. However once things got going there was plenty of smoke, almost too much as the wood chips eventually cooked into embers and perhaps could have combusted into a fire. I put some water on the chips and it killed the glowing embers. Additionally not seeing the smoke early on I took some of the chips and put them in foil that I wrapped up and poked some air holes into. This packet was definitely the first to smoke, eventually I had to had to seal up the foil in an attempt to damper down the smoldering chips.

All total the ribs took about 3 hours and only got as high on the temp as 212 Fahrenheit, one hour less than I would leave them on the old charcoal smoker, they charred up nicely with a good ‘bark’ and had a great tender consistency, I think that traditional smoker did render a more ‘smoky’ flavor but this was certainly cleaner and easier than setting up the old smoker and dealing with the all the charcoal. Living in Los Angeles I do think about all the smoke I’m putting into the air and the implications of burning a bunch of charcoal. Which leads me to debate what is the next smoker I’m going to purchase. Converting the grill was fast and easy but there is something to be said for the process and traditional feel of using charcoal, I mean nothing kills a Satruday in the fall better than smoking meat and watching college football on the TV in the backyard, much to my girlfriend’s chagrin. 

Kick ass Salmon & Meat smoking dry rub

Ok here is a recipe passed down through the generations only to wind up in the hands of the Ruminant Grubber. This rub is traditionally meant for smoking salmon but works great for ribs and who knows what else.. If I was going to go all Hannibal Lector then I'd soak the victim's corpse in this rub for few days before polishing them on with some lava beans and a chianti. It's that good.

You're going to make a lot that you may not use so have a dry airtight storage container standing by. This amount will make about 5-6 pounds of salmon.

What you'll need:
2 lbs brown sugar dark
1/2 cup sea salt
Handful of chopped bay leaves
2-3 tbsp of garlic powder
2-3 tbsp lemon pepper

Mix it all together thoroughly

To make salmon:

Cut the salmon into 2" pieces across the grain
Pack the pieces into a deep baking pan layering with a generous amount of the rub. Cover with Saran wrap or an airtight lid and let it sit for at least 24-36 hours or longer (baby back ribs I let sit for several days in the rub)

Get ready for a surprise when you check in on your meat. The rub will have turned into a gelatinous brine.

Smoke from from 4-6 hours depending on the meat thickness and air temp outside. Usually for both ribs and salmon 4 hours on the nose it all it takes. If you are doing ribs be sure to wrap the ribs in foil after the first hour or two in the smoker. This will really help keep in the moisture. Also let the meat rest for about 5 minutes after removing it from the heat.

Always remember: more is more



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Mi Casa

Brazilian Baby Back Ribs

This is a real simple set up I picked up from a friend who picked up it up from her friend so on and so forth. It's a simple prep, it involves beer in the recipe (so your old lady thinks that six pack you brought home from the store is for cookin') and gets you out to the grill fast.

Here's what you need:
1 full baby back rack
3 cans of shitty bear
Rock salt
Limes
Finely grated parmesan cheese

Prep:
Cut the rack into 3rds
Arrange in a Pyrex 3qrt oblong baking dish
Sprinkle with rock salt
Let sit for 10 minutes
Once meat has opened up
Squeeze limes over ribs and drowned in beer
Let sit for about 1 hour

Cook:
Get your BBQ grill heated to high
Place slabs of meat on the hottest part of the grill
I recommend using a stopwatch
Time 2 minutes rib side down
Then 4 minutes meat side down
As you rotate between sides poor over the meat more beer and lime juice
Continue till you get to about 30 minutes and the meat is looking just right (I know real scientific) times may vary due to the thickness of the cut.
When you pull your racks of ribs from the grill sprinkle with parmesan and wrap foil around the meat and plate that the rack is on. Let that rest for 5 minutes.
Cut and eat

Always remember: more is more


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Mi Casa