Lazy Lamb Kabob

My 5 week long hiatus in the kitchen has finally come to an end.  Sort of.  I mean, if you consider grilling pre-made frozen meat patties, cooking.  Since I’ve been off my game for so long, I’ll say it does!  This week, I took some frozen lamb patties out of the freezer and grilled them up for a quick lamb kabob dinner.  It was delicious and quick, so I’d say it fits with my websites mission.  The original recipe has you mixing the kabob patties and chilling them for an hour to marinate.  I mixed it together and froze them, so they had a few weeks to stew in their spice juices.  The result was hot and tasty.  Here’s the scoop.

Lazy Man’s Lamb Kabob

• 1 lb. Ground lamb
• ½ medium onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1-2 jalapeno peppers
• ¼ c. finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 T. fresh ginger
• 2 tsp. coriander, ground or freshly crushed
• ½ tsp. cayenne pepper
• ½ tsp. ground cumin
• ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp salt

In a food processor, pulse garlic and ginger until finely minced.  Add onions, jalapeno and cilantro, and pulse until well chopped and mixed.  (If you don’t have a food processor, just mince/chop all ingredients by hand- with a knife, dummy!)

In a bowl, mix onion mixture with spices and ground lamb.  Kneed and squeeze ingredients until well mixed.

Form mixture into 4-5 patties, about 5 inches long and ¾ inch thick.

Wrap each patty individually in plastic wrap and then put in a ziplock bag and freeze for up to 6 months.

When ready to cook, oil the grill grate over hot coals, or heat a cast iron skillet/grill over medium high burner. Arrange the patties on the hot grate and gill, turning with a spatula, until nicely browned on both sides and cooked to taste 4 to 5 minutes per side for medium.

Serve with Tzatziki sauce, fresh tomatoes and pita.

How To Make Pulled Pork: Its SO EASY!

Photo Courtesy of Flickr User FotoCuisine

Pulled pork has to be one of my most favorite summer meals.  It’s the perfect choice for large parties because one pork roast provides about 20 servings, is very easy to prepare, inexpensive, and full of delicious fatty goodness. Although it needs about 24 hours prep time, only 30-45 mintues of this is active work.  Sounds good to me!  Plus who doesn’t like pulled pork.  Well, maybe vegetarians.  I bet if you could get them to try it though, this dish would be enough to send them over to the dark side!

Easy Pulled Pork
4-12 hours dry rub marinade, 6-7 hours roasting, 30-60 min. prep, Total: 10-20 hours total

1 large 6-8 lb pork shoulder or Boston Butt (which is a shoulder cut)

Dry Rub

• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/8 c. (2 Tbs) kosher or other coarse salt
• 1/8 c. (2 Tbs) Paprika
• 1/8 c. (2 Tbs) Black Pepper
• 1 Tbs garlic powder
• 1 Tbs dry mustard

Carolina Vinegar BBQ Sauce

• 2 c. cider vinegar
• 1 c. ketchup
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. brown mustard
• 1 Tbs lemon juice
• 1 Tbs hot sauce
• 1 Tbs Worcestershire
• 2 Tbs Butter
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• horseraddish to taste

Prepare dry rub: 4-12 hours before roasting, marinate pork roast with dry rub.  The longer you can leave it the better.  I prefer to do it overnight.

Mix all dry rub ingredients in a bowl.  Rub over roast and into any folds and creases in meat to cover completely.

Wrap in cellophane and refrigerate for as long as you choose 4-12 hours or more.

Get Roast Pork In Oven: Preheat oven for 275 degrees.  Place pork roast in a roasting pan.  I’ve experimented before with placing the roast on a wire rack or just placing it on the bottom of the pan.  DO NOT use the wire wrack!  It keeps the fat from fully cooking and dissolving.  You want the fat to melt into the pot where it can then be reabsorbed by the meat, making for a much juicier roast!  Don’t worry about covering the meat for the majority of the cook time.  Just slap the meat in a roaster and put it into the oven!

You can see I’ve split up my roast into two sections.  I was experimenting with the rub.  On the darker one, I applied the rub before freezing months ago.  The other, I did according to these directions.  The freezing before hand worked, and helped cut out a bit of time, but not really worth doing as the meat flavor was a bit stronger.  It did work though.

Prepare BBQ Sauce: While your pork is roasting, make your BBQ sauce.  Mix all ingredients together.  Its just that easy.  Taste and tweak flavors according to desire.  Keep chilled until needed.

Roast Pork for 5-7 hours:  Check your roast at 5 hours.  Meat will be done with it reads about 170 degrees at its deepest part with a thermometer AND it will fall apart easily to the touch.  If the temp is good, but the meat still feels firm, leave it for another hour or so.  You’ll know your meat is done, when you can easily fork it apart.  If you check at 5 hours or so and the rub is starting to look blackish, like it might be burning, cover with tin foil and return to the oven.

You can see I used a wire wrack with this roast, but as I said before, I think it works better without it.  This roast was a bit drier then other roasts.  However, after pulling the meat apart, I poured the fat juices at the bottom of the pan over the roast and it made it much better.

Pull your Pork: When the pork is done, remove from oven and let sit for 15-20 minutes covered with tin foil.  If you have  pan full of melted pork fat, remove the pork from the pan and place in a bowl.  Using forks, pull the pork meat apart into strings.  Remove bone and excess fat.  You may want to pour a bit of extra juice from the roaster over the pork to keep it moist.  You can also pour some of your BBQ sauce on your pork now, or let people apply their own BBQ sauce depending on desire.

Serve your Pulled Pork: Set out with your BBQ sauce, buns and a delicious cole slaw for a topping.  Yum.  This really is so easy.  I’ve never had it go wrong.  I just don’t think you can screw this dish up!  Its a fail safe for anyone wanting to throw an awesome summer party!

Chicken Calzones with Sun Dried Tomatoes

I’ve been on a “sun dried” tomato kick, as I spoke about in my last post; by which I mean drying them in the oven instead of the days long process of leaving them out in the sun. By only slow roasting them for an hour or two, you can intensify the flavors but still keep the tomatoes juicy. They can create a great instant sauce by mixing with pesto and putting them on top of pasta, pizza or in calzones. I was having a friend come over for a nice lunch, so I decided to make a quick and delicious calzone with some baked chicken breast, pesto and tomatoes. Here’s my process:

Chicken Calzones with Sun Dried Tomatoes
makes 3-4 calzones; prep time: 60-90 min; bake time: 20 min

Dough:

• 1 3/4 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 c. luke warm water
• 1 tsp live active yeast (1/2 package)
• 1/2 tsp honey
• 2 Tbs Olive oil

Filling

• 3-4 large plum tomatoes
• 1 large chicken breast
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. bread crumbs
• Italian seasoning (or dried basil, rosemary, thyme)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 large cloves of garlic
• 1/4 – 1/2 c. pesto of your choice
• Mozzarella cheese, shredded
• Parmesan cheese

Prep dough: Mix flour and salt.  Make a well in dry ingredients and pour water.  Place yeast in water and let sit for 5-10 minutes until yeast is disolved and looks puffy.  Add oil and honey.  Either by hand or using a dough hook on a mixer, gently begin to kneed the dough together.  Once dough is smooth, cover with a towel and place near or on top of your stove.  Let sit for an hour to rise.

Prep Tomatoes to slow roast:  Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Cut tomatoes in half or quarters.  In a bowl, coat with olive oil, sprinkle generously with dried Italian herbs, salt and pepper.  Lay out on a baking tray and roast for about an hour.

Prep breaded chicken breast: Cut chicken in half through the width of the breast, like you would fillet a fish.  Cut slices in half, to make four pieces.   Mix dried bread crumbs with Italian seasonings, salt and pepper in one bowl.  In another bowl, place egg and lightly beat with a fork.  When tomatoes are done in oven, turn broiler on.  Take each chicken breast and coat in egg and dip in bread crumbs.  Place breaded breasts on a baking sheet and place under broiler for about 8-10 minutes for each side until breading is golden and chicken is cooked.  Keep an eye on them, so the bread crumbs don’t burn.

Assemble Calzones:  Preheat oven to 400.  Take your dough and separate into 3 or 4 balls.  Roll dough out into circles.  Dice your garlic cloves and place in a small dish.  Lightly cover with olive oil.  Brush garlic oil over middle of dough circles.  When chicken is done in broiler, remove and cut into thick slices.  Lay slices of chicken over garlic oil.  Brush 1-2 Tbs of pesto over chicken.  Lay oven dried tomatoes over chicken.  Cover well with shredded mozzarella cheese.  Using left over egg from Chicken breading process, brush egg yolk around edges of Calzone.  Fold close and pinch edges.  Brush tops of calzone with egg and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and your choice of seasoning.

Bake Calzones: Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.  Eat up.  Yum!

Left-Over-Remix: Poor Man’s Enchilladas

I love dinners which can be described as everything but the kitchen sink.  I had a collection left overs from the Rice and Beans we had for dinner the other night I wanted to use up but, I also had friends coming over, so I needed to serve something appealing.   To top this off, I was also in a very lazy mood and not wanting to fuss much as well as not spend much money on more groceries.

Here’s a list of what I had available:

• left over white rice and re-fried black beans
• oversize burrito tortillas
• salsa
• sour cream

I decided with a quick trip to the corner store for a few veggies and cheese, I could whip up a quick vegetable enchilada dish.  As I said, I didn’t want to fuss, so by mixing a bit of  the sour cream into the salsa, I could make a quick creamy enchilada sauce.  Here’s what I came up with.

Poor Man’s Vegetable Enchiladas
prep time: 20-30 minutes  bake time: 30 minutes  total: 1 hour

• 2-3 c. cooked rice
• 2 c. re-fried beans
• 2 onions, sliced
• 1-2 peppers or chilies sliced
• 2 small zucchinis sliced
• 1 lime
• 1-2 c. salsa
• 1/4 c. sour cream
• 8 oz. bag shredded cheese
• hot sauce

I started out by preparing some vegetables. You can use whatever vegetables you want.  I decided some caramelized zucchini would be nice, so I sliced them up, coated with oil, salt and pepper and broiled them until they were a light brown and a bit crispy, about 15 min.  After removing the zucchini, I turned the oven heat from broil to 350 to bake the enchiladas  Meanwhile, I sliced my onions, an orange pepper and a red chili and sauteed them over medium heat.  When the onions were transparent, I squeezed half a lime over the onions and peppers and let them cook for a minute or two before removing from heat. I then mixed the zucchini in and seasoned the veg mix to taste with a bit more salt.

Next, I assembled my enchiladas.  I heated up the rice in the microwave for a minute or two, just so they wouldn’t be so firm.  Laying out my three gigantic tortillas, I layered them with a smear of re-fried beans, topped with a layer of rice, and then the vegetables.  I sprinkled about 1/4 c. shredded cheese on top as well as a dripped a bit of hot sauce over the fillings.  Wrapping them up I placed the three rolls in a baking dish.  I took the salsa I had left, and quickly mixed in about a 1/4 c. of sour cream, and then coated this on top of the tortillas.  To finish it off, I sprinkled the rest of the shredded cheese.

Finally, I baked the enchiladas. Those pups got thrown in the oven for about 30 minutes at 350.  And then, it was dinner time!  A quick garnish of avocado and yum yum.  My favorite kind of dinner, quick, cheap and easy!  Oh yeah, and TASTY!

My Secret Beef Stew Recipe!

There are times in life when nothing is more satisfying then a nice bowl of chunky beef stew, especially if its topped with a delicious layer of gooey melty cheese.

I know most of these times coincide with the cold winter weather we are plagued with here in the Midwest, but some times it just so happens to strike during nice spring weather as well.  Last week, I was struck down with a head cold and my sore throat was calling out for a nice bowl of stew.  So despite the 60 degree temperatures, and Ira’s grousing about wanting spring food, I cooked up a nice hot pot of deliciousness.  As always, when the mood hits, this dish hits the spot!

Here’s my secret recipe with a SPECIAL ingredient sure to make your next beef stew a delicious and healthier dish!

Savory Beef Stew

• 1 1/2 – 2 lb beef chunks.  (My Mom always says chuck roast makes the best stew)
• 2 large sweet potatoes, chopped small
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1 tbs dried thyme
• 3-4 large red potatoes, skins on
• 3-4 large carrots
• 1 c. pearl onions (fresh or frozen)
• 1 c. peas (fresh or frozen)
• salt and pepper to taste
• if necessary, 1-2 tbs flour to thicken

Prepare your Beef: You can buy pre-cut beef chunks, usually called stew meat at the store for pretty cheap.  However, if you have the money, its worth it to spend the few more dollars on chuck roast and chop it yourself.  It is a better cut of meat and its much more tender and will cook down better.  Cut the meat into about 1″ cubes.

Stew the Beef: Place your beef chunks, bay leaves and dried thyme in a stew pot and add water until all the beef is covered.  Bring to a boil and then down to a simmer.  Simmer your beef for about 60 – 90 minutes.

Prepare the Special Ingredient:  Here is my secret ingredient, are you ready??  Sweet potato!  I know it sounds basic, but this is a surefire way to make a great stew.  Cut the sweet potato in small chunks, 1/2″ or less.  After the meat has been stewing for about an hour/hour and half,  add the sweet potato (its better to let the meat cook longer, but if you’re short on time, you can cut it back to an hour).  Why is this my special step?  Because we’re adding the sweet potato early to cook down into the stew.  It will act as our thickener as well as give a nice sweet flavor to counter balance the savory meat flavor!  And, sweet potatos are a super food, so they’re really good for you. Let cook for 30 or so more minutes.

Add the rest of the vegetables:  Cut the potatoes (leave the skins on for extra vitamins) and carrots into 1″ chunks.  Add these as well as the pearl onions and cook for another 45-60 minutes. Add the peas at the end and let cook for 5-10.

Season to taste: Season using a generous helping of salt and pepper.  Maybe 1 tsp each.  Start out with smaller amounts and keep adding until the flavor is at its best.  Remember, you can always add more, but its difficult to take out too much.

Short Cut: As the name suggests, stew needs to stew, which is time consuming. The longer it cooks, the more the ingredients will start to fall apart, thickening the stew naturally. If you are in a hurry and can’t let it stew for the total 3 hours (for all the steps in the recipe) you can cut back on any of the above mentioned steps.  You will have a soupier stew.  You can quickly thicken it by adding 1-2 Tbs of flour or corn starch and allowing it to cook into your stew for about 15 minutes.  This will help produce a thicker more stew-like base.

Serve: I like to serve my stew with a layer of melted cheese on top, as you can see in the pic above.  Using an oven safe bowl, place a slice of cheese over your hot stew.  Place your stew with cheese under a lit broiler for 2-3 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and ready to serve.  Yum!  Eat up.

**In my opinion, this dish is good for all times of year, especially if you’re sick!

Quick and Easy Spinach Pie

Sure, I love a traditional spinach pie in its flaky filo dough package, but who has the time time to make them?  Sure I could find a spare afternoon here or there, but lets be honest.  It won’t happen often.  That’s why I love this quick and easy spinach pie recipe, off of the Martha Stewart website.

Its basically just a spinach quiche with a crunchy filo dough topping.  It only takes an hour to make and is sooo delicious.  Plus, I was able to continue with operation freezer clean-up, by substituting two bags of frozen swiss chard for half of the spinach!  Good deal.  You can click the link above for the full recipe, but I am going to repost it here with a few alterations.  She gives the recipe enough for two pies, one which you can freeze (which I have done before and recommend), however, here is the halved recipe for just one pie.

Spinach Pie
prep time: 20-30 minutes, bake time: 30 minutes, serves up 8-10

• 1 large onion chopped
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 3 packages frozen chopped spinach, (10 ounces each), thawed and squeezed dry
• 1/2 pound feta cheese, crumbled
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
• 1 tbs fresh grated lemon zest
• 1 tsp dried dill or 1 Tbs fresh dill
• 5 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 4 ounces frozen phyllo sheets, thawed and thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare filling: Defrost spinach and squeeze out excess juice.  Chop onions and garlic.  Saute in about 1 Tbs olive oil over medium heat until translucent.  Transfer onions and garlic to a large bowl, mix with spinach, feta, parmesan, bread crumbs, lemon zest, dill and 1 tsp of salt. Mix and season with pepper to taste.  Add eggs and fold into mixutre.

Prepare pie: Pack filling into a 9″ spring form pan.  Thinly slice filo dough.  In a bowl, coat with olive oil until all pieces are lightly covered.  For one pie, you will only use maybe up to a quarter of a box of filo.  You can freeze the rest for another purpose.  Place the filo topping over pie until it is completely covered.

Bake Pie:  30 minutes in oven at 375 degrees.

Serve warm.  Here’s my slice garnished with lemon zest and with an accompanying cup of Avgolemono soup.  Yum!

Boiled Dinner: Corned Beef and Cabbage!

In celebration of St. Patricks Day tomorrow, I’m pulling this post from the archives about my annual Irish meal of Corned Beef and cabbage.  I made it last night and it was delish!  Enjoy…

St. Patricks Day Grub, Corned Beef and Cabbage
Originally posted March 16, 2009

A mandatory Chicago statute requires each citizen to spend the weekend of St. Patrick’s day stinking drunk. We’re not ones to break any laws here, so true to form, this past Saturday was spent in all day drinking binge downing all manner of green beer and Irish whiskey. Sunday awoke with a bit of a headache and an inability to think straight. Luckily for us, the traditional St. Patty’s day meal of corned beef and cabbage is so easy to make, you don’t need to think much. The Irish have made sure their holiday meal is perfect for those cooks who have a beer magnate in their hand and no control over their right arm. You just throw everything in a pot and boil it together. Yums.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

• 1 4-5 lb corned beef brisket
• 4-5 potatoes, cut into approx. 2-3″ pieces
• 3-4 carrots, cut into approx. 2″ pieces
• 1 cabbage
• water

Place your corned beef in a large soup pot. Cover with water until completely submerged. Usually the corned beef you buy from the store comes with a seasonings packet, which you can just add in. If for some reason yours doesn’t, just add 4 or 5 bay leaves and peppercorns and a bit of coriander seed to the water.

Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for about 90 minutes.

After 90 minutes, add the potatoes and carrots. Allow to cook for 20 more minutes.

Test potatoes. When slightly cooked but not completely soft, add cabbage. Just set cabbage on top so they are mostly sticking out of water. When we place the lid back on the pot, the cabbage will be steamed by the heat of the pot.

If you don’t have enough room in the pot for the cabbage, check your corned beef. If its done, you can take it out and set it aside and finish cooking the vegetables alone. Place the lid back on the pot and allow to cook for 15-20 more minutes or until the cabbage is steamed and the potatoes and carrots are cooked.

Too hung over to style the food. Doesn’t matter anyway because this isn’t stylish food, but good peasant grub.

Slice the corned beef and side with a dollop of mustard. Smear butter all over boiled vegetables and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve and eat. Meat and potatoes is the perfect meal for when you’re overhung. You can’t get more Irish then this!

How to Prepare Venison: Delicious and Easy Venison Fajitas

I’ve never been the biggest fan of the strong gamie taste of venison, until I tasted my brother-in-law’s recipe for venison fajitas.  Jason marinates the meat in lime juice for at least 4-8 hours and this helps not only tenderize the meat but also give an added kick to punch the flavor into the awesome realm!  I’m still working on cleaning out my freezer, so yesterday, when the thermometer toped 60 for the first time in 5 months, I thought of the frozen package of venison just waiting to be grilled.  Time to fire up the Smokey Joe!

Venison Fajitas

• 1/2 – 1 lb venison meat, cut into strips
• 1 large onion
• 1 large green pepper
• 1 large red pepper
• 5-6 limes, juiced
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• garnish with shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, jalapenos etc.

Marinate venison:  Mix dry spices together.  Rub spices into venison meat.  Place venison meat into a glass dish.  Add lime juice until the meat is just covered.  Cover with syran wrap and chill for at least 4 hours. The more you can marinate the better.  8 hours is great. Overnight is even better!

Prep Fajita toppings:  Slice peppers and cut onion into thin wedges.  Pour 1-2 tbs olive oil over vegetables and season with salt and pepper.   Mix vegetables with hands to disperse spices and coat with oil.

Grill it up! You can grill your toppings on a real grill or over your stove top.  If using a real grill, you’ll want to put some aluminum foil down over the grate to keep your veggies from slipping down in the firey bowls of hell.  The same goes for your venison, if its cut into too small of strips.  You can also grill your toppings using a cast iron pan on your stove top.  Just place pan on burner over high.  Let pan heat for a good 5-10 mintues before using to make sure its hot!  I strongly suggest opening a window, as it can get a bit smokey!  Grill toppings until the veggies are slightly charred and meat is cooked through.

Load ‘em up: Fajita time! Now all your toppings are prepped, get your condiments, side dishes and garnishes ready.  I like serving my fajitas with rice, beans and a selction of toppings like shredded cheddar cheese, avocado, sour cream, pickled jalapenos, and salsa.  Don’t forget to heat up your tortillas!  Serve this stuff and eat it up.

Try this recipe and I think you’ll be amazed at how easy and delicious this venison can be!

Tender Meat For Tender Moments: Pork Tenderloin

Last winter, while grocery shopping, I found this pork tenderloin on super sale and it called out to me saying “Take me home!  I would make for the perfect candle lit romantic meal.”  (I never get freaked out by talking meat).  So I did, but I never got around to actually making it.  I’m still working on cleaning out my freezer and this pork tenderloin was at the top of this list.  After 12 months in the deep freeze, I finally hauled this little guy out and got to business.  Although, I’m sure it wasn’t as great as it would have been if I hadn’t neglected the poor thing for so long, but it did turn out very well and it was a very special meal full of special tender moments.

I’d never made a tenderloin before, so it was a bit of an adventure.  Although, I went maverick on it quite a bit, I based my recipe on this food network recipe with a few ingredient additions and substitutions. I used hard apple cider as the marinade and gravy base, since the apple flavor is such a traditional pork side-kick, although you can beer as the original food network recipe uses.

Tenderloin ready to be roasted

Roasted Pork Loin with Apple Cider Gravy

• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Tbs butter
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 22 oz. bottle Hard Apple Cider
• 1/2 cup Dijon mustard
• 1 (3 1/2) pound boneless pork loin, tied
• 1 Tbs butter, sliced into tsp slices
• 1 large garlic clove sliced
• sage leaves
• 1-2 Tbs butter for roue
• 1-2 Tbs flour for roue

Evening before or morning of meal, prepare your marinade: In a sauce pan, melt butter.  Saute onions and garlic in butter until nicely browned, about 5 minutes or so.  Stir in dried spices and allow to saute and toast for about 1 minute.  Add apple cider and mustard and bring to a boil.  Allow to cool.

Marinate your pork loin: Place your raw pork loin in a container.  Pour the prepared marinade over the pork and cover.  Refrigerate 8-24 hours.

Prepare your tenderloin for roasting: Remove loin for the marinade and set marinade aside.  Using a meat tenderizer or the flat side of a cooking handle of a random tool.  Hit the tenderloin a bit to make it flatten out a bit and to tenderize the meat.  Season the tenderloin on all sides with sea salt or kosher salt and pepper.  Place the butter and garlic slices along with some sage leaves, dried or fresh, along the center of the meat.

Truss your tenderloin:  Using string, tie your tenderloin up into a circular log.  I’ve never done this before, so I sort of just winged it.  I started wraping the string around one end, and then tied it off on the bottom of the log, or the opposite side of where the meat overlaps.  I tied a knot and then bring the sting forward, holding it in place.

Wrapping the string around the meat, I pulled the string behind where I was originally holding the string forward and pulled it around, securing the string in place.  I repeated this until I got to the end of the roast.

If you didn’t get that, which I can understand, check out this video demonstrating a slip knot method, skip to 54 seconds to see the process.  My garlic, butter and sage, did squeeze out a bit when tying up, but I just slipped as much of the filling under the string again as I could.

Brown Tenderloin: Using a skillet over medium-high heat, brown all sides of the tenderloin to prepare it for roasting.  This helps trap the juices inside the meat and keep your roast nice and juicy.

Roast Tenderloin: On a baking sheet, roast tenderloin at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads about 155-160.  Remove from oven and tent with aluminum foil until ready to serve.

Make Apple Cider Gravy: While the tenderloin roasts, prepare gravy.  Take half of your marinade and place in a sauce pan.  Bring to a gentle boil and reduce heat.  Meanwhile, mix together your roue paste by forking together an equal amount of butter and flour until it forms a paste.  When sauce is boiling, add the roue paste and stir occasionally until your sauce thickens to a gravy.  You can start out with just 1 Tbs of roue paste and add the second if the sauce is not thickening quickly enough.

Get Ready For Romance: Slice your tenderloin.  Serve your tenderloin with mashed potatoes and a salad or vegetable side.  Spoon your apple cider gravy over the tenderloin and your potatoes.  Get plates on table, Barry White on the stereo, light the candles and step into something a little more comfortable! This meal is definitely going to spice up your life.  Have fun!

A Quick Fancy: Roasted Cornish Hens

When your dinner plate comes complete with a whole roasted bird just for your eating pleasure, you can’t help but feel like the Queen of England (or King, depending on gender and preference of course).

Roasted Cornish Hens with potato au jus pictured here with a side of braised leeks.

The best thing about Cornish Hens are their size: small.  Everyone loves personalized portions, and because they are so small, they cook faster then their larger bird-brained cousins.  Cooking your hens over a bed of potatoes and onions adds flavoring and makes for a quick and delicious side as the potatoes roast in the au jus.  If you only have an hour or two, but still want to host your guests to a sumptuous royal feast, this dinner is for you.  And you don’t have to sell the family jewels, because this meal can be made for two for under $15.00.

Roasted Cornish Hens with Potato Au Jus
prep time: 15-30 minutes.  cook time: 45-60 minutes

• 2 Cornish hens
• 2 limes
• 1 large onion
• 4-5 potatoes sliced
• 1/2-1 tsp dried thyme
• 1-2 Tbs olive oil
• salt
• pepper

If frozen, defrost poultry overnight in refrigerator.  Optional:  defrost the hens in a brine solution overnight.

The day of: preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Slice your potatoes.  Since we’re roasting these, you want them to be thick enough to hold their shape.  You can see I’ve cut mine in the pictures above to be about 1/4″ thick.  In your roaster, mix the potatoes and onions with 1-2 Tbs of olive oil, 1/2 tsp thyme and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Lay the potatoes and onions out evenly.  Set aside to prep the hens.

Rinse the defrosted hens in cool water and pat dry with a cloth or paper towel.  Lightly salt and pepper the cavity.

Take your limes and remove a tsp of zest from each and set zest aside. Using a skewer or fork, puncture a few holes in the lime throughout.  Stuff lime into the cavity of the hen along with a few slices of onion.  Rub salt and pepper on the outside skin of your birds.

To finish the bird, you can truss the hens with string in traditional fashion.  However, I have a bunch of bamboo skewers left over from our wedding bar, so I’ve just been using these to skewer the birds together.  First I skewer the cavity shut.  Then above that, I skewer the left leg and then through the Pope’s Nose and then through the right drum stick.  Finally I pull the two wings above the bird and skewer them together as well.  Easy!  Finish the birds off with the lime zest sprinkled on the skin.

Set hens over the potatoes in your roaster.   Roast in oven for 45-60 minutes.  At 30-40 minutes, I like to brush on a bit of fruit jam or syrup to act as a quick glaze and give the hens a nice color.  Remove hens from oven when a meat thermometer inserted near the thigh reads about 150-160 degrees and the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh.

While your hens are roasting you can finish your dinner off with a quick side like the braised leeks pictured above or steamed broccoli.

This is easy and delicious.  Perfect for special occasions.  I made this for Ira’s birthday and we both ate like kings!