Cookin again

crawfisha tasta gouda! How's that for a name?

I am doing some bbq action. I have two whole chickens, cut to parts, soaking in brine and ale in a stock pot. I placed a lid on the pot and stacked ice packs on top to keep it from going bad.

I did a stracciatella soup as an appetizer/meal tonight- I doubled up on the soup, Dad's going soup & sandwich. Baking some chicken, too, but it won't be done for a while, yet.

Did a nifty thing with chicken tonight.

I tossed some thighs & wings in a quick marinade of 14 Hands Pinot Grigio and Tabasco sauce, then sprinkled them with a little McCormick's garlic pepper mix and some paprika, plus just a tiny pat of butter. Baked at 350F for a while.

Came out quite tasty, but I DID make one technical error. I had the thighs & wings resting on a bed of sliced onions, garlic and mushrooms in casserole dishes. This was fine for the thighs, but I overcrowded my wing pan. Too much fat rendered off of them, so their undersides were more boiled/steamed than crispy baked.

Next time, I'm doing the wings on an edged cookie sheet with a small rack over it. That way, I still get the benefit of the drippings on the veggies below, but the bigger surface area and the elevation over the sheet will result in properly done wings.

Tonight's culinary adventures:

Baked Zucchini Medallions with Italian breading and Sausage in Tomato Sauce over Rice.

The zucchini is pretty self-explanatory: a little butter, some garlic pepper and some Italian breadcrumbs, with a little shredded Parrano.

The second experimental dish was trickier. I decided to use some slightly different seasonings than I usually would. Instead of my usual creole go-to red & black peppers, I decided to use one large jalapeño, finely diced.

Its a trick I learned from a pro: sliced, that pepper still would have added its flavor to the sauce, but diners would be getting the capsaicin in pretty concentrated doses. Instead, the finely diced pepper is dispersed through the entire sauce, and no bite has a big pepper punch, just a nice little burn.

Most of the rest was relatively traditional creole cooking. 2 onions, several cloves of diced garlic, celery and the jalapeño were all sautéed for a while (I used olive oil instead of the butter favored by Creole cooks for a slightly different flavor). They were removed from the pot and replaced by @2lbs of sliced smoked sausage, which was slowly browned. When a nice fond formed, I turned the heat down and deglazed the pan with 14 Hands Pino Grigio, and put the sautéed veggies back in the pan.

Then came 2 cans of diced tomatoes, the juice of 1 lemon, some low-sodium V8, a can of beef broth, some bay leaves, and a generous sprinkle of parsley. I brought the sauce back to a boil and let it cook for a while, to thicken it.

The final twist was the addition of some diced Parrano directly to the sauce, to cream it up a bit. It melted nicely, and the overall flavor was good, but I wasn't 100% happy with the texture.

I don't know if it was the amount of cheese I used or just the particular kind, but instead of melting completely, some of it retained its distinct nature as little cheesy, rice-like bits.

I know I could rectify this by pre-melting the cheese in a heated milk & flour mix- a step in making mac & cheese from scratch- but I don't think I want that much dairy & liquid in the sauce.

Did a creamy onion mushroom zucchini soup. Came out good, but needs work.

However, saw this and thought: YES!

http://www.reshareworthy.com/potato-bacon-cheddar-tart/

Country style ribs!



Those were the last ones on the grill.

We had a bunch of family over today, so I thawed a big container of red beans, did a pot of turnip greens, and fire-cooked ribs, sausage, and links.

The food was all good, but the ribs were a hit: marinated 24 hours in a mix of Shiner White Wing, Blue Moon, olive oil, lemon juice, bay leaf, black pepper and onion powder.

I did not baste, rub or otherwise season the ribs before placing them on the grill. The marinade imparted enough flavor that several people didn't even bother with the BBQ sauce I made.

And tender? Well, my cousin Kerry was first to the table with a plate of beans and a large rib. He took a spoonful of beans and ate it. Then he cut a chunk off the rib with the spoon...

I don't have much in the way of leftovers!

Tonight's culinary discovery: Remoulade sauce- usually partnered with seafood dishes like crab cakes or stuffed shrimp- works very well with smoked turkey. Probably could go with a nice ham, too.

Yes, definitely so! Remoulade can be a nice accent for dishes without succinct spices. Try cooked potatoes with some butter, asparargus with some (not too much) Hollandaise and ham with a bit of Remoulade.

I wish I could cook.

Stop wishing and take a class somewhere! Cooking is learnable- I started @7 years old. Now I apply those lessons because of health issues.

Biggest hurdle is being wiling to try new things. Last night's discovery was mere chance. I had thawed some cabbage I cooked, as well as a smoked turkey leg bought at our church fair. My mom- with whom I was dining- was having cabbage partnered with crab cakes bought at Whole Foods grocery.

She remarked on the tanginess of the remoulade sauce- another WF product- and I tried it on my turkey...because that was what I had. It was an experience akin to the first time having prime rib at a steak house served with au jus and creamy horseradish.

Would do again.