My First Ham

Alton Brown's "Good Eats" Recipe

Get a "City Ham" which is just the bone-in, fully cooked, water-added.

This one weighed in @ 9 lbs. (Still some in the fridge)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees

Make a tin foil tent by rolling out about 5 ft. of foil

cut in half and line up side by side, overlapping by a few inches, then fold over the flap a few times to create a seal.  Place ham on a dry kitchen towel in a roasting rack and put tent over ham, making sure that it is not touching the ham, but creating a seal with the roasting rack.

Bake for 3-4 hours, until center of ham is about 160 degrees

(While ham is in the oven, put ginger snap cookies in a food processor and chop fine)

Change oven temperature to 350.

While ham is still warm, rub or brush dijon mustard over whole ham

Then, cover mustard layer with dark brown sugar

(This next part requires some hardware, a spray bottle of bourbon.  This step could probably be skipped if you don't want to buy a bottle of bourbon and a spray bottle just for this one ham, but it does add flavor and adhesiveness for the final layer)

Generously spray ham with bourbon

Finally, coat with chopped ginger snaps

Put tin foil tent back over ham and cook for 1-2 hours, or until center is 165 degrees

To slice, get a pair of locking pliers to grab hold of the bone

Use carving knife if you've got one, or a good serrated knife otherwise

So delicious!!

Lobster & Avocado Wontons

A variation on a family favorite...

Bring Vegetable, Canola, or Peanut oil to 350 degrees

Stuff wontons with cooked lobster and diced avocado (I kind of made a guacamole really)

take egg white and wipe edge of wonton

crimp wonton with wonton crimper or fork

Fry until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes

The sauces I made were a wasabi mayonnaise and a spicy sour cream, both just involve mixing wasabi with mayonnaise to taste, and your choice of hot sauce with sour cream

I would recommend after trying to get a soy-sauce based dipping sauce as well, like the one mom and dad make!

First Thanksgiving Meal

Thank you so much to Alyssa's mom who went and bought this rubbermaid storage box for this 22 lb turkey to brine in! The brine is loosely based on a recipe from a food magazine and is available upon request.

Basting this beautiful bird.  Looks burnt right?  Not the case, 

that's just the sugars caramelizing on the skin!!

Phil carving the finished product

The menu... You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

The spread!!!

My plate: Turkey Leg, sweet potato/caramelized pecan, cheesy potatoes!!, stuffing, green bean casserole

Sorry no picture of the finished product, but here's the inner workings of Alyssa's apple pie

Not Exactly Cooking...

Just another cool picture I like

Also, in fairness, it does include wine...

Heirloom Tomatoes!

Pardon me while I indulge in the 

artistic beauty of these heirloom tomatoes...

Alyssa sees lungs, I see an eyeball.

What do you see??

Oh yeah, and they were also sweet and delicious!

Oh how I miss these...

Blood Orange Martini

When blood oranges are in season, I buy a full reusable grocery bag full (12 lbs or so)

a truly perfect beverage for a hot summer day

to make:

get whatever device you have to extract juice

I have a primitive juicer, hoping someday to get the jamba juice style hand-press juicer

prepare to put in some elbow grease squeezing out the beautiful purple, red, and orange juices

in a shaker over ice add:

2 shots vodka (preferably blood-orange infused, obviously)

1 shot triple sec

2 shots fresh-squeezed blood orange juice

shake vigorously and strain into chilled martini glass

garnish with fresh blood orange slices and fresh-frozen raspberries

(fresh frozen means buy them fresh and freeze them, possibly vodka soaked if you want a kick with your post-martini chewables)

Healthy can be tasty

Garlic, black peppercorn, sage-infused olive oil marinated, grilled chicken breast

.... breath...

grilled onions

grilled asparagus

baked sweet potato fries

Wish i had a picture of the infused olive oil, but nevertheless...

 place chicken breast (trimmed) in ziploc bag with olive oil

marinate for 2-24 hours

preheat oven to 425 degrees

slice sweet potatoes (peeled optional) into 1/2-1" pieces

place on non-stick baking sheet or parchment paper-lined baking sheet

sprinkle with salt and pepper

bake for 30-40 minutes depending on crispness desired

while fries are in the oven, preheat bbq grill on medium-high heat

spray grates with pam, place chicken breast on bottom rack

place onions and asparagus on top rack

close lid

turn chicken, onions, and asparagus at approx. 7 minutes

cook for another 7 minutes

Espresso-infused vodka: The prequel

I know I already did a post on this, but it seems to be a pretty big hit with the twenty-something crowd, maybe further, who knows?

So a little DIY in case you'd like to try an infusion of your own

Stage 1

Pour approx. 2 cups vodka out of a 1.5L bottle

Fill with espresso beans

Stage 2

Nothing but waiting, but just wanted to show the progression

This photo is at about 3 hours

Stage 3

In this case, 18 hours, it's a fluid situation

I found the easiest way to get the coffee beans strained out is with...

you guessed it! a strainer!

Pour over strainer into another bottle or into a different container if you don't have two large bottles

If pouring into another large bottle, a funnel is definitely recommended

Asian/Pacific Island Dinner

We've got a sweet and salty dinner here!

Pistachio-crusted Halibut topped with a familiar pineapple salsa

Soy-sauce sauteed orange and green bell pepper, bok choy, and sprouts

Coconut white rice

To prepare fish:

Crush approx 1/2 cup pistachios (or put in coffee grinder/blender on pulse for a few seconds, but not so long the pistachios become powdery.. I like bigger chunks)

mix pistachio with flour, salt, pepper, garlic salt, onion powder, cayenne pepper and put on plate

using tongs, cover fish with dusting

sautee in olive oil until crisp on each side, then bake @450 degrees for 6-8 minutes

To prepare rice:

place 2 cups rice, 1 can coconut milk (14.5 oz i think) and salt in pot, cooking covered untiil milk is absorbed (35-40 minutes)

turn off burner, allow to rest for 5 minutes

fluff with fork

optional: top with shaved coconut (if you don't mind the texture it adds a little more flavor)

Summertime and the grillin's easy

i love colorful food!

NY spiedie chicken cubes on the tin foil

fresh pineapple

zucchini, mushroom, red bell pepper & red onion skewers

not included in this picture is the final preparation of the chicken:

hot dog bun (preferably from the bakery, not just a preservative-laden store brand)

melted provolone cheese

spicy dijon mustard

the very best part about bbq is the ease of cleanup!!!

Sweet & Spicy Pizza

if you know anything about me, you know i love pizza!

this was one of our favorites:

Trader Joe's pizza crust (this was the whole wheat type)

Stone Levitation BBQ sauce (I hadn't dabbled in homemade yet)

pineapple

white onion

jalapeno

mozzarella cheese

parsley

if you know anything about my cooking preferences, you know that if i can make it from scratch, i will

however, i make an exception to this rule with my pizza crust for three reasons:

the crust only costs $1.29

it saves me a full day of prep

i've made dough a few times and the TJ brand just tastes better...

when i have better baking skills and an oven that cooks at an even temperature

i'm sure i'll make my own dough

A healthy-ish Italian feast

baked chicken parmesan with melted mozzarella 

served beside whole wheat pasta & tomato basil sauce

and rosemary & olive oil bread

Ono!

i love this picture because oftentimes the hard work

of prepping goes unnoticed

sous chef dicing prep skills:

 orange peppers

pineapple

yellow peppers

jalapeno & white onion

button mushrooms

sweet onion

all that dicing turned into this:

pan seared fijian ono 

topped with a mango jalapeno & white onion salsa 

over a bed of california brown rice

alongside a goat cheese, orange & yellow pepper, sweet onion & tomato

stuffed portabella mushroom

drizzled with a balsamic vinegar reduction

Chargertinis: cocktails for Chargers football

lemondrop martinis

 blue curacao martinis

Halloween Dinner: Pulled-pork sandwiches

slow-cooked (crock pot) pork shoulder

homemade barbeque sauce (see ingredients below)

chopped romaine

smoked gouda

sesame seed buns

corn on the cobb

criss-cut fries

Curtis's Homemade BBQ sauce:

4 cups ketchup

1 cup water

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup brown sugar

6 garlic cloves (minced)

6 Tbsp. olive oil

to taste:

parprika

cayenne pepper

chili powder

hot sauce (louisiana style)

salt

pepper

sautee garlic in olive oil on medium until brown (1-2 minutes)

reduce to low

add all other ingredients and simmer for 1 hour

stir occasionally

refrigerate in pot until cool

transfer to container and refrigerate until use

Espresso-infused vodka

Ever have plans to go out but can't seem to get motivated?

Here's your answer!!!

1 cup whole coffee beans (espresso roast for a sweeter flavor)

the remaining bottle space (this is a 750mL bottle) of vodka

i used grey goose, but any mid-grade to premium vodka will do

take 2 shots about 5 minutes apart and you're ready to go!!

recipe ideas if you're averse to shots:

**white russian**

prepare a rocks glass with ice (preferably small cubes)

pour over

2 parts espresso-infused vodka

1 part kahlua

float of half & half or cream

stir gently

**espresso martini** (picture to follow)

2 parts espresso-infused vodka

1 part kahlua

1 part bailey's irish cream

pour all ingredients in shaker with ice

shake vigorously

strain into chilled martini glass

garnish with whole coffee beans or shaved chocolate if you're feeling frisky