The Deluge

Have you ever seen that movie, “Hard Rain”? I distinctly remember thinking that it sounded like a ridiculous title for a movie. I mean, what’s next? Fall of Snow? Dense Humidity? The Fog? Oh...wait....

All of which is beside the point.

I know this is going to come as an enormous shock to you (yes, that's sarcasm), but I found a recipe I wanted to try last week for grilled chicken breast with a different flavor kick. I had the chicken all thawed out and ready to go so that we could have a quick meal on Sunday night before going to the fireworks (which we never made it to since Little Man decided he’s had a busy enough weekend and fell asleep early).

Sunday morning, the heat was oppressive when I left the house at 8:30 for breakfast at the MIL’s. While we were relaxing on her back deck over pancakes, the wind shifted and the temperature plummeted. It was wonderful. It remained that way most of the rest of the day, staying heavily overcast as though threatening to rain, but never quite following through.

Until it was time to grill.

I had been watching the skies all morning, and seeing no change over the course of the day, I had come to think of it as just an overcast day and wasn’t a bit concerned about any impending downpour. We arrived home and immediately started shucking corn (another story to be continued later in this post) and prepping the chicken for the grill. Literally, the moment the hubs put the chicken on the grill, the skies OPENED. It was so bad, I could barely reach my hand out the door to hand him the tray. I would have sworn someone had just opened a flood gate and it was pouring down the roof onto the deck.

Poor Matt, I almost felt sorry for him. Almost. If I didn’t think he would have broken my camera, I’d have taken a picture to show you. But then, as he always tells me, “A chicken has a brain the size of a pea and even it has the sense to get in out of the rain”.

Apparently the same can’t be said for husbands.

As I’ve mentioned before, he is a flipper. He can’t stand to let something sit on the grill (or in a pan, or anywhere else) and not flip it, or stir it. Repeatedly. Especially if it doesn’t need to be flipped. Or stirred. So, I say he has no one to blame but himself. It was kind of pathetic though. Looking out the screen door at him, completely drenched, while he’s standing there, holding his flipper, and looking in like a puppy that’s been kicked.

In the end, we had a very nice supper. I’ve decided this recipe needs something, but can’t quite decide what the magic ingredient will be. It was definitely a good one, though, and the hubs thought it was definitely a keeper. You can never have too many different ways to grill chicken, in my opinion.

Spicy Honey-Glazed Chicken Breasts
Ingredients:
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup honey
2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon lemon juice
8 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 4 pounds)
Salt

Directions:
In a small saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until translucent and beginning to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the honey, hot pepper sauce and chili powder and simmer for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and set aside.
Preheat a grill or large grill pan to medium-high. Rub the chicken with the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt. Grill until well marked, about 7 minutes. Flip and cook until the bottoms are well marked and the chicken is cooked through, another 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate and brush with the reserved honey glaze. Cover with foil and let rest for 5 minutes.NOTES: The recipe says to simply grill the chicken breast and then top with the glaze at the end. You cover it with foil to help the flavors absorb, and it was good. But I’m thinking that it still needs some kind of pre-grill marinade to help carry the flavor carry through the meat.As a side dish.....we had corn. The farmer who cash rents our ground is very good to us and plants two rows of sweet corn every year, just for us. So, every year about this time, we gorge ourselves on corn until we can stand no more, and then there is still a ton leftover that we have to give away.
We didn’t know that this was the last of our corn for the season. Because it shouldn’t have been.

Monday morning, we discovered that at some point between Friday night and Sunday night, someone pulled up to the field and stole all of it. Every. Single. Ear. GONE.

I’ve heard of this happening, but it really galls me that people have the nerve to do this. They wait until no one is around (like over a holiday weekend) and pull up to the field in a truck with 2-3 people. Then they clean you out. Next thing you know, your entire sweet corn crop is gone and someone is sitting on the road side somewhere selling your corn out of the bed of their truck.

I’ll tell you what, I’d sure like to know who these people are. It takes a hell of a lot of nerve. Next time you buy corn out of someone’s truck, and you don’t know who they are, think about it. It may not come from where you think.

A very bad idea..... Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Bars

As you all know, whenever Ginny comes to visit, we always have a long laundry list of recipes to try. One of the first ones that went on the list for last weekend’s visit was Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Bars.

Why? (no, we didn’t really need a reason...I mean, come on....dulce de leche? Cheesecake? No brainer.) A while back, a friend of Ginny’s brought her a can of dulce de leche. Except. This was no ordinary can of dulce de leche. This can was probably 42 ounces. In case you aren’t familiar with the size of canned goods, that’s a LOT of dulce de leche. We needed to do something with it.

The recipe itself couldn’t have been easier. A basic graham cracker crust. Mix together the filling ingredients (including some dulce de leche) and pour on the crust. Bake, and then cool. Top with another dose of dulce de leche and refrigerate.Then? DROOL. We took a plate of these to my favorite local restaurateur to enjoy with his staff. I haven’t heard from them since....there may be a sugar coma involved....either that or they haven’t come up for air yet.

If you need a dessert to take to an event. Take this. If you want to feed a new mom and her family when they come home from the hospital. Make this. If you want to cheer someone up....GIVE THEM THIS. If its MONDAY.....seriously, there is no reason necessary....just make it.

But, don’t say I didn’t warn you that this may be a bad idea....because if you do make this, you may end up eating it all yourself....

REMINDER!!! There is only a little more than a week left to get intered for my giveaway!

UPDATE 7/6/2010
Oh My Gosh!! Bev - thank you for pointing out my mistake. I can't believe I forgot to include the recipe (originally from Epicurious)! Here you go!

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Bars
Crust:
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
2 1/4 cups finely ground graham crackers
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup purchased dulce de leche
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Glaze:
2/3 cup purchased dulce de leche
3 tablespoons (or more) heavy whipping cream
Sea salt

For crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat 13 x 9 x 2-inch metal baking pan with nonstick spray. Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and cinnamon in medium bowl. Add melted butter; stir until coated. Transfer crumb mixture to pan. Press evenly onto bottom of pan. Bake until crust is light golden, about 10 minutes. Cool completely on rack.

For filling:
Blend cream cheese and sugar in processor until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs 1 at a time, processing 3 to 5 seconds to blend between additions. Add dulce de leche and vanilla; process until blended, about 10 seconds. Spread batter evenly over cooled crust. Bake until just set in center and edges are puffed and slightly cracked, about 38 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool completely.
For glaze:
Heat dulce de leche and 3 tablespoons cream in microwave-safe bowl in 10-second intervals until melted. Stir to blend, adding more cream by teaspoonfuls if too thick to pour (amount of cream needed will depend on brand of dulce de leche). Pour glaze over cooled cheesecake; spread evenly. Refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour (glaze will not be firm). DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover; chill.
Cut cheesecake lengthwise into 4 strips, then crosswise into 6 strips, forming 24 bars. Sprinkle bars with fleur de sel.

Wrapping it Up! The House, that is.....

Surprise, surprise, everyone! I’ve been keeping a little secret again. We’ve been secretly doing a little work on our house this week while the hubs has had some time off work.

Some of you may recall that last year, we put new siding on the house and added a large deck off our second floor where we often spend time grilling on Matt’s charcoal beast. Admittedly, the deck was not my idea, nor was I terribly supportive of it. Why? Well, frankly, I thought the deck should be downstairs off the kitchen and not upstairs off our bedroom. I mean, really, who wants to have people over for a cookout and have them facing your bedroom the whole time. Not me.

I did, however, grow to really appreciate the deck as a sort of sanctuary for the three of us.

That being said, for several years I’ve been talking about wanting a patio outside the kitchen where I could put my gas grill and a couple of chairs and be able to work right outside the kitchen. For some reason this spring, the hubs got it in his head that we needed a deck....get this....outside the kitchen.

Really? Hmmm....well, I wasn’t going to tell him that it wasn’t really an original idea. I find that in some cases, its better just to let them believe they’ve had a brainstorm and run with it.

And “run with it” is exactly what he did. Not only do we have a lovely little deck off the kitchen that now houses my grill and two of the chairs from our upstairs patio set, but it also connects to the back stairs with a lovely little walkway.

And that’s not all....

Our front porch has always consisted of this gigantic concrete block that came with the house.

(lovely, no?)

Sturdy, yes, but it also boasted a large gap between the porch and the house, that had a very rough edge with a pointy piece of metal sticking out. Twice now, guests of ours have lost their footing and slid a leg into that gap, leaving very nasty scratches and bruises. Frankly, I’m surprised those are the only accidents we’ve had.(view of the NEW front porch and a peek at the Adirondack chairs that need re-painting)

Well, no more! In addition to my lovely new patio, the hubs and the guys covered over the old porch with decking and angled the new steps toward the driveway instead of out into the yard. Now I have a nice respectable front porch, as well as enough room for my two Adirondack chairs, which will be getting scrubbed and receive a fresh coat of paint over the holiday weekend.

If all goes well, I may have yet another surprise in store....if I can get my butt in gear and get one more outdoor project done over the long weekend break. I’ll see you next week, hopefully with more news and pictures to share!(view of the new kitchen patio, complete with Mommy's grill)(a better look where you can see how the two decks connect together)

(view from the back of the house. on the left side you see the entrance to the upstairs deck.)

All in all, a very successful project! Hey Mom and Dad - what do you think of my surprise??

I Stand Corrected - Tomato Almond Pesto

I knew in the back of my head that I was wrong. Even as I typed it in a sweet missive to you, my readers, I knew I was lying...or at least stretching the truth.....could have been a lie of omission. The truth is, I was in a hurry, and aiming not to complicate the issue.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m referring to my post about Asparagus Pesto. In that post, I came right out and said that when you want pesto, you just start with anything green, and add nuts, oil, parmesan and other ingredients.

That much is, indeed, true. But I was keeping something from you.

The truth is.....it doesn’t have to be green. And I knew that. But. I didn’t tell you that.

Well I’m telling you now!!!

One of the recipes Ginny brought with her was one for a Tomato Almond Pesto. This one originally comes to us from America’s Test Kitchen (of which Ginny is a big fan), although we have made significant modifications (since we started cooking before we had the recipe fully in hand) to the recipe, so I will give you our abbreviated version, although I plan to go back at a later date and try my hand at the spicier original, too.

For our purposes, we started with a clean food processor and added a couple of cups of sweet grape tomatoes. Then we added a handful of slivered almonds that we toasted in a dry pan with a few cloves of garlic. And the garlic. Then a good handful of fresh basil leaves, some parmesan cheese and enough olive oil to make a nice smooth paste.

As with any pesto, the amounts may vary depending on what you have on hand, but the result is always the same, a huge flavor punch that makes a wonderful complement to pasta and any number of other things. But, we had pasta on the brain that day, so that's where this particular pesto ended up. Pure tomato yumminess.

A Hunka, Hunka Burnin' Love.....

Sometimes, not matter how well you think you're doing, something just goes wrong.....terribly wrong.

You all know me by now, and how easily influenced I am by the products made available to me by my local grocer. Well, last week, wandering the meat case, I found a lovely selection of beef back ribs. Naturally, a couple of packages went directly into my cart. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. In the cart with ya.

A bit of quick research showed me that the best way to cook these bad boys was to season, then roast on a rack in the oven, covered with foil for a couple of hours, then finish them on the grill for some nice caramelization.

That has got to be my all time favorite culinary term. CARAMELIZATION. Love it.

And so....it began. The Great Beef Massacre.

It all started innocently enough. I whipped up a batch of my new grill-seasoning-of-the-moment, and slathered it all over the fatty little bones.

Then I placed them on a rack on a baking sheet and covered them with foil.

They baked for two hours, making the house smell like heaven while Ginny and I were sampling a couple of lovely wines (to be featured later in The Ten Spot).

Pulling them out of the oven, I burned my finger on the luscious steam released by the ribs when I pulled back the foil....carefully.... I thought.

I trotted the tray outside to the front yard where the preheated grill was waiting and arranged them eagerly on the grates, then skipped back up the steps to refill my wine glass.

I was inside for TWO. MINUTES.

When I came back through the front door, I was greeted by this:

(okay, technically the lid was still closed when I came back outside, but I digress...)

Which produced THIS:

And, once the flames died down....this....(notice the white charring on the ends up the bones? Classy....)

Suffice it to say that Ginny and I survived on crusty bread and olive oil for our supper that night.

Now, as I said before....you all know me. I can't just let something like that go, So, I bought another two packages of ribs and prepared them in the oven again for the hubs the other night. I declined the use of the grill until we could nail down the issue with the uber-flamage.

Again, I seasoned and roasted them.

Again, the house smelled like heaven.

I was smart enough to avoid the steam burn this time (I still say that was an omen on the first go-round).

And....we dined.

(no caramelization, but we made do.)

Beef back ribs don't actually have much meat on them, just so you know. And I'm not in the habit of eating straight fat. But damn....this ft was goooood. The hubs and I got down and dirty with these ribs and ended up with a big greasy mess all over the place, but it was well worth it.

Upon the hubs' suggestion, I saved all the bones and excess fat and threw it in a freezer bag to use for my next batch of beef stock. That's going to be some flavorful stock....I can hardly wait to get it going.

Lesson learned? Since the grill was parked in the not-so-level front yard, the grease was pooling in places unknown instead of running into the grease trap and proceeded to cause a massive grease fire. Now that that is no longer an issue, I hope to be having some new grilled recipes to share with you soon!

In My Picnic Basket - Tomato Jam for I Heart Cooking Clubs

When I think of picnics, obviously I think of the basket with the checkerboard blanket and the deli sandwiches and fruit. What I also think of is summer produce like jams and jellies to spread on biscuits and crusty bread. When I came across this recipe, it was a magnetic force that I couldn’t resist. I believe this recipe may have originated from Bittman’s Minimalist column, as I wasn’t able to find a reference to it anywhere else.

This is my submission for the I Heart Cooking Clubs theme this week - Picnic Basket!

Tomato Jam
Recipe courtesy of Mark Bittman

1 ½ lb good ripe tomatoes (roma are best), cored and coarsely chopped
1 cup sugar
2 TB freshly squeezed lime juice
1 TB freshly grated ginger
1 tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp salt
1 jalapeño, stemmed seeded and minced

1. Combine all ingredients in a heavy medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often.
2. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture has the consistency of thick jam, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
3. Taste and adjust seasoning, then cool and refrigerate until ready to use; this will keep at least a week.

Yield about 1 pint.NOTES: This took WAY longer than the recommended 1 hour and 15 minutes to simmer down for me. I actually let it go nearly 2 and a half hours....the first night. We were going to bed, so I poured it into a container and left it in the fridge. When I got home from work the next day, I put it back on the stove and continued to simmer it another hour or so until it came to the right consistency. Not sure if it was user error or a mistake in the recipe, but it did take awhile. That being said, I’m really glad I didn’t give up on it. This is one of those foods that when you first take a bite, it gives you that feeling that you’ve tasted it somewhere before, but it’s a very strange taste combination that you can’t quite place. Then you take another bite...and it grows on you. And another bite...and you’re in love. It’s a very unusual flavor that you will either love or hate. I, personally, will be making it again, but with more heat. I used two jalapeños, compared to Bittman’s one, but I think I would almost double that or add some red pepper to amp up the heat a bit. I think this would be absolutely fabulous on a juicy burger or pureed a bit more and used as a dipping sauce.

REMINDER!!! There is only one week left to enter my giveaway! If you look closely (okay, not that closely.... there is a hint in this post as to what the prize will be!)

The Bacon Explosion....that exploded!

Ok, well, technically it didn’t “explode”.

As I posted recently, I had a secret plan in place to serve up a special meal for the hubs on Fathers Day. This scheme involved me “rolling a fatty”, which basically entails weaving a bunch of raw bacon together,seasoning it with your favorite barbeque seasoning,topping it with Italian sausage, various levels of barbeque seasoning and sauce, more bacon, and in our case, jalapeños.Then, rolling it all up into a “fatty” or “log”, adding more seasoning, and smoking it for a couple of hours,then basting it with more sauce to give it a good glaze.

Then the man of the house royally pissed me off.

I don’t normally get into my tiffs with the hubs (and believe me, we have our share) on here, but I just gotta say, he was really in the dog house. Without getting into details, we’ll just say he didn’t come home when he was supposed to (yes, I know, it was Fathers Day, and he should get to do what he wants, and I agree...to a point. Let’s just say, he pushed it a little too far that day.) In any case, by the time he finally got home (and yes, he knew this was going to take a couple of hours to smoke) it was 8:00pm. By the time the charcoal was going, it was 8:30.

Let me also add that I was sick as a dog with a 102 fever most of the day, at home with our 5 year old, so he could spend the day out with his buddies, so I was not feeling very tolerant by the time he graced us with his presence.

AND. He was a tad drunk. Yeah, spending the day at the bar will do that to a person. (and no, in case you’re wondering, he did not drive himself home. I pre-arranged that to avoid any potential issues.) That being said, my husband is bad at following directions when he’s sober. And, he’s a flipper.

You know the type....puts a burger on the grill, then flips it every five seconds instead of letting it sear, and then wonders why it falls apart on the grill. He does it to me, too. I’ll be cooking something (steaks or chops, or whatever...) and when I’m cleaning a platter, or feeding our son, or any other opportunity he can see where I have my back turned, he steps up tot eh stove and FLIPS whatever I’m cooking, whether it needs it or not. It drives me insane. I am constantly yelling at him to leave it alone. Completely ruins some of my dishes because they never get a chance to sear or caramelize or whatever it may be that they need to do in order to be successful dishes. He’s a stirrer, too.... but that’s a story for another time.

Moving right along....so, since he’s bad at listening.....half drunk.....grilling in the dark.....rushing because the wife is pissed off at him....and on top of everything else, he’s a FLIPPER.....what do you suppose happened to the Bacon Explosion?

Yeah, it fell apart. Admittedly, it had good flavor....but it fell apart. And, it got “done” in a little over an hour, when it should have smoked for at least two. I was so ticked off, that not only did I refuse to try it that night, I went to bed and left him on the deck to finish it himself, with some nasty words left ringing in his ears. Suffice it to say, that Fathers Day will NOT go down in the history books under my list of “best days ever”.

Then... we have my “girls weekend”.

Ginny came out for a quick visit this weekend, and, among all of our other projects that you’ll soon be hearing about, I went about setting things right in the world of pork-love.

I got the ingredients...again.
I rolled the fatty...again.
And we fired up the grill...again.

This time? It was a big fat log of pure pork-a-liciousness.

We were patient... we were gentle.... and we were rewarded for it... with THIS:Bacon Explosion.....we love you.