Meatballs in Marinara Sauce

Ingredients:

Sauce:

2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp fresh oregano
2 tbsp fresh basil
2 tbsp fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
2 oz whiskey
ladle of water or pasta water

Meatballs:

2 tbsp fresh oregano
2 tbsp fresh basil
2 tbsp fresh parsley
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 c parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1 lb ground beef, veal, pork mix (often sold as "meatloaf mix")
1/3 c bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk

Directions:

Sauce:

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat until it shimmers.
Sauté the minced garlic until nicely browned.
Pour in the can of crushed tomatoes, bring to a simmer and then lower the heat to just maintain a simmer.
Stir in the salt, herbs, and whiskey and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep it from burning.
If the sauce gets too thick, stir in a ladle full, my ladle is about half a cup, of water. The best would be water from cooking pasta, but just a ladle of water will do fine.

Meatballs:

Preheat oven to 400ºF and and grease or line a baking tray with non stick paper.
Mix all of the ingredients for the meatballs together in a mixing bowl until everything is just combined. The more you handle the ingredients the tougher your meatballs will be, so less is more.
Form into 1" balls, or golf ball sized balls.*
Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through and lightly brown.

If you time it right, you can get these all done at roughly the same time. Add the meatballs to the sauce and serve over pasta, or ladle some sauce over pasta and place some meatballs on top, however you want to serve it. Enjoy!

*If you are going to be making a meatball sandwich like a meatball sub or meatball parm, make the balls a bit larger, you will just have to adjust your cooking time accordingly.

Chili con Carne for Red Dead Redemption 2

So Red Dead Redemption 2 came out recently, and it looks amazing. I am one of the unhappy few that does not own a device that it is available so I hope that, this time, Rockstar feels like bringing the game over to PC. Sorry, PC gamer problems, you all are here for the food.

I was inspired by the games Southern setting to make this amazing Chili con Carne. My wife says it is the best chili she has ever had, but she is obligated to compliment my food. It is a really great chili and would serve equally well as an entrée or topping for chili dogs, eggs, or chili cheese fries.

I also need to add an obligatory apology to my friend Jay. He hates cinnamon in chili. I think it gives it a quick dash of sweet heat, he sees it as an abomination. Oh well, I will make him eat it anyway!

Ingredients:
¼ lb. of bacon, diced*
3 lb. of ground beef
1 large white onion, diced
1 tbsp salt
2 jalapeños, seeded and minced
2 red fresno chilies, seeded and minced
1 serrano chile, sliced
40.5oz can of kidney beans, drained
28oz can of crushed tomatoes
½ tsp ground red pepper
1 ½ tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
½ tsp of cinnamon (sorry again, Jay)
1 tsp cocoa powder

Directions:
Heat a dutch oven or stock pot over medium heat and brown the bacon until all the fat is rendered out and the bacon bits are crispy. Remove, drain, and set aside for later. Next, brown the ground beef in the bacon grease in 1 pound portions, removing each portion after it is well browned. You are going to be simmering the beef later so it does not matter if it is not cooked all the way at this point.

Once you have evacuated all of your beef, add the onions and salt and sweat the onions over medium to medium low heat until they are translucent and soft. Next, stir in all the chiles and sweat down until soft.

Dump in all the spices and cocoa powder and fry them until they are looking toasted and are stinking up your house something good.

Finally, pour in the can of tomatoes and the can of drained beans, and add your reserved meat back in. Bring to a simmer and simmer, stirring regularly, for 20 minutes or until a nice thick gravy is covering your chili.

Optionally, serve with plenty of cheese, sour cream, and corn chips.

A really fun party idea is to keep your chili warm in a slow cooker and let your guests serve themselves in individual corn chip bags and load up on toppings. Some people call this a "walking taco" I just think its amazing.

*Pro tip: it is way easier to chop bacon up into a fine dice if you stick it in the freezer for an hour to get hard, not enough to freeze through, but enough to be stiff. That makes it way easier to dice up.

Family Style Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

"But Matt," I hear you say, "you already put up a Spaghetti with Meat Sauce recipe. What is so different about this one? What makes it family style?"
A few things actually! This recipe does not have beer in it, to make it a little more family friendly; it has two different meats, to appeal to everybody; and it is a one pot wonder, as the dishwasher, I appreciate whenever I can make less work for myself.
This is a simple recipe and everything flows well, one step in to the next. It is a very hearty entree, good for the cold nights coming, and it makes plenty of leftovers.

Ingredients:

1 lb spaghetti
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb ground beef
1 lb spicy Italian sausage, sliced
48 oz pasta sauce
parmesan cheese

Directions:

In a stock pot, cook your pasta till al dente according to the package instructions (here are some tips to making better pasta). Strain and leave in the colander while you make the rest of the dish.

Add the oil to the pot and heat over medium heat until it shimmers.

Add in your ground beef and sliced sausage and brown until cooked through before adding in your pasta sauce and bringing it to a simmer over low heat.

Add your cooked pasta back in and serve, garnished with grated parmesan.

P.s. This would go amazing with my Cheesy Roasted Garlic Bread!

The Legend Of Zelda's Monster Curry

It is no secret that I love videogames. I've been a huge Nintendo fan since a friend of mine brought his Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask strategy guide to play practise when I was 10. I've been in love with that kind of storytelling ever since. Last year the amazing Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild came out and included a fun cooking mini game. This presented me with a great opportunity to combine 2 of my great loves, videogames and food.

This dish might look pretty funky, but trust me, it's really good. This is not a spicy curry, in fact it has a slight sweetness from the sweet potatoes, and it is really easy to make. Sweet potatoes and red onion have plenty of great flavor so you don't have to break open all your spice jars to make this dish taste amazing.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp ghee or butter
1 tsp salt
¾ lb purple sweet potatoes, cleaned and diced
½ red onion, diced
1 lb ground beef
2 tsp garam masala
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cardamom
¼ tsp white pepper
28 oz can of diced tomatoes
blue food coloring (optional)

Directions:

Melt the ghee in a large saute pan and add the potatoes and salt. Saute for 3 minutes before adding the red onion. Cook, stirring often, until the potato is tender, about 3-5 more minutes. Add the ground beef and brown until thoroughly cooked.

Add the spices and lightly fry them until they are highly aromatic. Stir in a can of diced tomatoes until combined and saute for another 2 minutes before serving with rice.

At this point, the dish looks pretty purple, but to get it looking really monstrous, you might want to add some blue food coloring before serving. Just a couple drops should do the trick.

Cheese Steak

So, today is the big game! The Eagles have their big chance to finally get to another Super Bowl, and maybe win this time! Now, I'm a Ravens fan, so it is not that important to me, but since I am living near Philly, I might as well root for the current home team. To that end, I'm offering my take on that most classic Philadelphia sandwich, the cheese steak.

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

2 tbsp oil
½ medium onion, sliced
½ lb white mushrooms, sliced
½ tsp salt
.6 lb top round steak, thinly sliced into ribbons
4 slices provolone cheese
2 sub rolls
Mayonnaise
Iceberg lettuce, shredded
Sweet peppers

Directions:

Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the onions, mushrooms, and salt. Saute the onions and mushrooms, stirring frequently, until they are dark brown and shrunk to about half original size. Add the steak and cook until just cooked through before removing from the heat.

Divide the meat and veggie mixture in half and put two slices of provolone cheese on each. Let the residual heat in the pan and in the food melt the cheese.

Now comes the discussion of toppings. I like mayo, lettuce, and sweet peppers on my steak sandwich, so I take a lightly toasted sub roll and add a thin layer of mayo (toasting and using mayo help keep the roll from getting soggy), a handful of lettuce, and a few sweet peppers before placing the cheesy beef, mushroom, and onion mix on the roll. Feel free to add tomatoes, banana peppers, or whatever you like. I'm from Baltimore, I'm not here to judge your cheese steak game!

Boerenkool met Wurst

Hopefully, some point soon it will actually be Fall weather here in Pennsylvania, which means it'll be time for hot food and steaming up kitchens. When that glorious day comes, I'll be making Boerenkool met Wurst, which is a great hot meal for a chilly night.

Boerenkool met Wurst, or kale with sausage, is a classic Dutch stamppot. A stamppot is a dish of potatoes mashed with another vegetable, and is a staple of traditional Dutch home cooking. I recommend serving with beef gravy, and if you'd like to make your own I've included a recipe for that too.

I don't remember exactly how I came across this dish, but my wife and I were looking at pictures of odd food and we ended up on one that looked like green mashed potatoes. I was really intrigued and figured I would give it a try. What came about has become one of my favorite one-pot meals that makes great leftovers.

Ingredients:

Stamppot:

3lbs of potatoes
1 qt chicken stock
1 lb kale, trimmed and cut into strips
1 smoked kielbasa
salt and pepper to taste

Beef gravy (optional):

1 qt beef stock
4 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 tsp dried sage
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Peel the potatoes and cut into small pieces. Place in a large stock pot and cover with the chicken stock. Top with the kale and the kielbasa. Cover with a lid and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to maintain a boil. Boiled for 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender enough to be pierced easily by a fork.

If you'll be making gravy, while the potatoes are cooking, combine the beef stock and cornstarch in a medium saucepan and whisk until smooth. Bring to a boil over high heat and then reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the gravy thickens. Add the herbs and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside until ready to serve.

Remove the kielbasa and pour the excess water out of the pot, reserving at least 1 cup of cooking liquid. Use a potato masher to combine the kale with the potatoes, adding in some of the reserved cooking liquid as necessary to get a creamy texture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Slice the kielbasa into bite-size pieces. Serve a heaping scoop of kale and potatoes, topped with beef gravy, with a fan of sliced kielbasa.

Tenderloin with Pesto

I love steak. All kinds of steak. Tenderloin is a great cut, but, since it is so lean, it can dry out easily. It is my wife's favorite cut because it has so little connective tissue. But, steaks with more fat and tissue are more flavorful. Serving it with an herbed finishing butter or an oil based sauce, like pesto, helps keep this tender cut super moist and gives it great flavor.

Ingredients:

2 ⅓lb tenderloin steaks
salt
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp cashew pesto

Directions:

About 1/2 and hour to an hour before you are cooking your steaks, remove them from the fridge and liberally season each side with salt. This will let the meat come to room temperature which helps ensure an even level of doneness since there won't be any really cold spots. The salt keeps any undesirables from growing on the surface and pulls protein laden moisture to the outside which helps form the great crust you are looking for on any well seared steak.

10 minutes before cook time, heat a heavy cast iron skillet over medium heat. You want enough heat to get a good sear, but you want to make sure you have even heat. Cast iron does a great job of evenly dispersing heat, but it works best when it's put on medium heat and let to heat up slowly.

Preheat your broiler on high. Add the olive oil to your skillet and sear your steaks for 2 min per side, around 12 minutes total. Everytime you flip your steak try to position it on an unused piece of the skillet so you get maximum heat for the best possible crust.

Once the steak is well seared on all sides, place your steaks in the skillet under the broiler for 3-5 minutes. I recommend checking the internal temp at 3 minutes and removing the steaks when they are 5-10 degrees from your target temp.

Remove from under the broiler and spoon 1 tbsp of the pesto on each steak. Let the steaks rest, uncovered, in the skillet, for 10 minutes before serving.

I recommend serving with crushed fingerling potatoes and a good merlot.

If you enjoyed this recipe and want to support me and my content, please consider subscribing to my Patreon.

Beef Bulgogi

My mom used to make bulgogi for us a lot when I was a kid. I'd always loved it, but I wasn't sure how authentic it was. Recently, I finally got to compare it to the genuine article.

In the last year, I've been fortunate to make a great friend, Evan. He's a really talented artist. He's also, possibly, an even bigger foodie than me. I've been down to his neck of the woods a few times and we always go on some pretty fun food adventures. He's the one who took me to get my first taste of real ramen. Recently, we went to get Korean BBQ and I finally got to see how my mom's recipe compares to the real McCoy.

It turns out that her flavors are spot on, but the technique isn't. So, I took my mom's recipe, applied a more authentic method, and came up with something great.

Ingredients:

1 lb ribeye
4 tbsps soy sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp fresh chopped ginger
2 cloves crushed garlic
¼ C chopped green onion
2 tbsp sesame seeds

Directions:

One of the defining features of bulgogi is very thin slices of beef. To make that easier, place your steak in the freezer for 1.5 to 2 hours., not enough to freeze solid, but just enough to be stiff. Cut into slices as thin as your knife will allow. Set aside.

In a tupperware or sealable container, combine the remaining ingredients. Mix well to combine. Add in the sliced steak and stir to thoroughly coat the pieces. Place in the fridge and let it marinate for 1-2 hours.

Heat a grill pan or skillet over medium high heat. Remove the meat from the marinade and reserve any leftover marinade. Sear the steak, 1 minute per side, and set it aside to rest. Pour the reserved marinade into a small saucepan, bring to a boil over medium heat, and reduce to a syrup. Pour the syrup over the resting meat and mix it with any juices from the resting meat so everything is nicely sauced. Garnish with more chopped green onion.

Serve over rice or in lettuce wraps. As with most of Korean BBQ, the sides make the meal and I suggest kimchi, kongnamool (Korean mung beans), or spicy pickle.

As always, if you enjoy my work and want would like to support me and my blog, please consider subscribing to me on Patreon. My subscribers have already helped me get rid of ads and get some snazzy business cards!

Chesapeake Burger

If, like me, you have leftover deviled egg with crab filling, it might go great on some crackers, but it goes even better on a burger. It's an easy way to turn up the flavor on your traditional burger and add some Maryland flair to an American classic.

Ingredients:

Topping:

1 cup of deviled egg with crab filling
56 grams finely grated cheddar cheese

Patty:

1lb of ground beef
1 tbsp Old Bay or crab seasoning
2 tbsp unseasoned bread crumbs

Directions:

To make the topping, gently fold the cheese into the leftover filling and set aside.

Mix together the beef, Old Bay, and bread crumbs and form into 4 equal sized patties. Heat a skillet, griddle, or grill pan over medium high heat. Cook each patty 3-5 minutes on each side until cooked through or a meat thermometer reads 125.

Preheat your broiler on high.

Spread a portion of the topping on each burger and place under the broiler and broil until the topping forms a light golden brown crust. Serve on a kaiser roll spread with a little mayo or tarter sauce and garnished with some crisp lettuce and a meaty tomato slice.

If you like this recipe and would like to support me and my work, please consider supporting me on my Patreon. If you'd like some more info on Patreon, check out my previous post here.

Ground Beef with Taco Seasoning

Well, I wanted to make nachos again, and I decided to make a more Americanized version with ground beef, and I thought this would be a great opportunity to make my own taco seasoning. Dear lord, this stuff turned out great!

I'm going to write this recipe with parts, like a cocktail, so it is easy to scale and you can make as much or as little as you need. I made mine with teaspoons as the base, but you can use any measure of volume, as long as you keep the same ratios. I'm also providing directions on how to properly use this stuff with ground beef, but feel free to use what ever protein you would like!

Ingredients:

Taco Seasoning:

3 parts chili powder
3 parts ground cumin
2 parts salt
2 parts cornstarch
1 part garlic powder
1 part onion powder
1 part cayenne pepper
1 part smoked paprika
½ part ground black pepper

Ground Beef:

2 tbsp of olive oil
1 lb of ground beef
2 tbsp taco seasoning
½ cup of water

Directions:

For the taco seasoning, add all the ingredients to an airtight container and shake well to combine.

For the ground beef, pour the oil into a nonstick or cast iron skillet and bring to a shimmer over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and cook, stirring frequently, until thoroughly browned. Drain off the extra moisture and fat and return to medium heat. Add the taco seasoning and water, bring to a boil, and then simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with your favorite taco toppings, on nachos, or how ever you feel like. Enjoy!

Meatballs

Making meatballs has always been something I was a little afraid of doing. Most people I know will tell you, "oh my mom has a great meatball recipe," and I did not want to go up against that kind of sentimentality and fail. So, I invited one of my friends, who used to be a breakfast chef, to come over and help me get my flavors just right... and I gotta say, this beats my mom's meatballs.

When I made this recipe, I focused on making it easily scalable so you can easily halve this recipe if you don't feel like making so many meatballs, or double it if you are cooking for a large party.


Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time: varies depending on the size of your skillet
Makes: 55 meatballs

Ingredients:

1 cup breadcrumbs

⅔ cup milk

1 lb each ground pork, veal, beef

2 eggs, beaten

½ tsp garlic powder

1.5 tsp parsley flakes

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp dried rosemary

½ tsp dried basil leaves

1 tsp dried oregano

½ tsp dried thyme leaves

1 tbsp onion powder

½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
Olive oil

Directions:

In a bowl, combine the milk and breadcrumbs and set aside to allow the breadcrumbs to hydrate. In a large bowl, mix together the 3 ground meats and the eggs. Combine thoroughly and then add the breadcrumbs and sprinkle on the spices and parmesan cheese. Make sure everything is thoroughly mixed before shaping into golfball sized balls. It should make about 55 meatballs. Place your meatballs on a wax paper or parchment paper lined baking sheet and refrigerate for about an hour to firm them up.

When you are ready to cook, place a cast iron skillet over medium-low heat and allow it to preheat for a while. You want good, even heat for this, so I let mine preheat for about 5 to 10 minutes on heat setting 4 before I started cooking. Once your skillet is ready, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet and put in 1 batch of meatballs. (About 10 fit in my 10.25" skillet.) Cook for 2 minutes and then turn over, repeating until all sides are a nice brown, about 6 times. Once that batch is done, wipe out your skillet (because burned loose bits in the bottom will just make your following batches taste bad), add another 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and repeat until all of the meatballs are cooked.

If, while you are cooking them, you find the meatballs are falling apart when you try to turn them, stick the uncooked ones back in the fridge for a bit to firm up. I neglected that step the first time I made these, and so about halfway through I ended up with a lot of meatball bits in the bottom of my skillet and a few less meatballs.

You can use these meatballs right away in a variety of pasta dishes or store them in the fridge for a week or the freezer for a few months. Just reheat in the microwave or a simmering sauce and you are ready to go.

Southwestern Meatloaf with Southwest BBQ Sauce

A couple weeks ago I decided I wanted meatloaf cause I had some ground beef left in the fridge that needed to be used up. It was a fine meatloaf, but it was a bit bland and not very exciting. I thought about adding some regional flavors to it and settled on southwest style as I was in the mood for chili at the time. I was talking to a co-worker about trying to make a southwest style meatloaf, we bounced around some ideas, and I settled on combining American chili flavors with Mexican pico de gallo flavors to capture a more full range of southwest flavors, and it turned out delicious.

Like anything southwest style, it demanded a sauce so I doctored up my favorite bbq sauce to add a bit more flavor

Ingredients:

Meatloaf:

1 t chili powder

½ t paprika

½ t cayenne powder

¼ t cinnamon

1 t cumin

¼ t garlic powder

½ t ground black pepper

½ red onion, diced

1 tomato, diced

¼ C packed chopped cilantro

1 C crushed tortilla chips

1 T Worchester sauce

1 egg, beaten

1 c milk

1.5 lb ground beef

¼ C BBQ sauce

2 T brown sugar or demerara sugar

Sauce:

1 C BBQ sauce
3 T of brown sugar or demerara sugar
½ t of cumin
½ t of chili powder

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375.

Combine the spices then add the produce and stir in the milk and eggs. Add the ground beef and gently work in the mixture. I recommend using your hands, but a spatula will do if you don't want ground beef and egg all over your fingers. Place in a greased loaf pan and use a spatula to smooth the top and work into the corners. Baste the top with the BBQ sauce and sprinkle with brown sugar or demerara sugar. Bake for 1 hr and then let rest for 15 minutes.

While the loaf is resting combine the 1 cup of BBQ sauce with the sugar and spices in a small sauce pan and stir over medium heat until smooth. Serve alongside the meatloaf.

One of the interesting things about this recipe is that, as long as you use a gluten free BBQ sauce, this is gluten free.

Pan Seared Filet Mignon with Herbed Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Filet mignon is always a show stopper. It comes in these nice easy portions, it's low fat (for beef), with little to no connective tissue. It can stand up to almost any cooking method, including one of my favorites, high heat! A finishing butter adds a little fat to the steak which, since it contains little fat itself, helps it taste juicier. Using the same finishing butter to flavor your potatoes helps pull your dish together and helps it really impress.

Ingredients:

Herbed Creamy Mashed Potatoes:

1 lb of butter potatoes
¼ C of herbed finishing butter

½ C of heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Filet Mignon:

2 ¼ lb filets
2 T of olive oil
Salt
2 T herbed finishing butter

Directions:

To get everything on this plate out at the same time, let's start with prep. First, peel and chop your potatoes into small even chunks, then coat your 2 filets in olive oil and salt liberally. Start your cooking by placing the potatoes in a saucepan and covering with two inches of water. Bring to a boil and boil for 15-20 minutes or until the chunks are easily pierced by a fork or crushed with tongs.

While the water heats up, heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat, until water boils off instantly when spritzed on the surface. Sear your steaks for 5-7 minutes on each side, or until desired internal temp is reached. Remember that some heat will carry over and so they will continue to cook for a little bit once removed from heat.

Once the steaks are finished cooking, the potatoes should be nearly done, so cover the steaks and let them rest while you finish up the potatoes.

Drain the potatoes and place them in the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Add the butter and the cream and whip until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, portion the potatoes on the plate, place each steak on one plate and put a 1 tablespoon slice of butter on top of each steak. I served my plates with a side salad dressed with a citrus dressing.

Lager Gravy Mashed Potato Bowl

I was attempting to make a pasta sauce, but it wasn't really coming together. The flavor was good, but I couldn't quite get the consistency to what I wanted. So, I scraped it, well, I ate it, but I'm not going to share it. I decided to take some of the things I learned from that experience, learn from my mistakes, and make something new. It turned out really well, and I hope you enjoy it. One of the things I really like about this recipe is that the gravy is made in 1 skillet.

Ingredients:

Gravy:

2 thick sliced of bacon, diced
1 medium onion, diced fine
1lb of cheese steak steaks, cut into bite sized pieces
2 T of flour
2 12oz bottles of lager
Salt and pepper to taste

Mashed potatoes:

2lb of butter potatoes, cut into chunks
1 C of heavy cream

½ C of butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a 10 inch skillet, render the fat out of the bacon, and remove the cooked bacon bits. Saute the onions in the bacon grease until soft and translucent, then remove. Finally, brown the beef in the remaining bacon grease, and once the beef is well cooked, add the flour. Stir the beef and the flour until well combined and then add the onions and the bacon back in and pour in the beer. Allow the gravy to come to a simmer and then reduce the heat and simmer until the desired consistency is reached, about 45 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste before serving.

When the gravy is about 25 minutes out, place the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water by about 2 inches. Bring to a boil, and boil the potatoes for 15-20 minutes until the pieces are easily pierced with  a fork or crushed with tongs. Drain the potatoes and place them in the bowl of your mixer, with the whisk attachment, add the butter and cream and whip until creamy. Salt and pepper to taste and serve.

I recommend serving the mashed potatoes topped with the gravy and then garnished with some shredded cheddar cheese, and maybe some sour cream.

Biscuit Beef Stew

One of my favorite memories from when I was a kid was when my mom would make biscuit beef stew. She steamed her biscuits, but when I found out I could bake my favorite biscuits right on top I jumped at the chance and never looked back. This recipe really shines with leftover beef stew because beef stew is one of those few foods that tastes even better the next day.

Ingredients:

Leftover beef stew

2 cups AP flour

1 T plus 1 t baking powder

¼ t baking soda

½ t salt

2 T butter

2 T shortening

1 cup buttermilk

Directions:

Place your leftover beef stew in a bake safe container, you will want to make sure your stew is warm before you place your biscuits in it, otherwise they will not cook up properly. I placed the stew in the oven as I preheated it to 450 and then removed it when the oven was ready so I could place the biscuits in it.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, backing soda, and salt. Cut the butter and shortening into small pieces, make sure the butter is chilled, and work into the flour mixture using the tips of your fingers, so you don't melt the butter. Make a well in the dough and pour in the buttermilk, mix until the dough just comes together. Place the dough on a floured surface, flour the top of the dough, then fold the dough over itself 4 or 5 times. Press the dough into an inch thick square then cut out your biscuits using a 1 inch cutter, arranging them in the stew as you go. Reform the scraps and repeat.

When I made this, I ended up having too much biscuit dough so I just had to make some regular biscuits with the excess, but those are still delicious.

Place your biscuit stew in the top third of your oven and bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown. I always lay down a sheet of foil beneath it so I catch anything that bubbles over. Let the stew rest for 5-10 minutes and then serve.

BBQ Meatballs

With the start of fall, it's time for me to break out my slow cooker. This is the first of a bunch of slow cooker recipes you'll be getting from me as the weather turns cold. When I was younger I had meatballs served at my birthday party every year. Because my birthday is close to Christmas, we always decorated the tree at my party. Since we would be moving around, any food served had to be an hors d'oeuvre. Meatballs were always my favorite.

Ingredients:

1 large shallot minced fine
1 T of olive oil
1 18 oz (be weight) jar of grape jelly
Same jar filled with BBQ sauce
2 T of whiskey (I used Jack Daniel's)
Aprox. 34 meatballs (I added them in frozen)*

Directions:

Place a medium saute pan over medium high heat and add the olive oil. Heat the olive oil until it shimmers and then add the shallot and saute until the shallot is well browned, about 2 minutes. Put the shallot in your slow cooker and then add all of the liquid ingredients. Mix well, but don't be surprised if it does not mix thoroughly, because the jelly is hard to mix when it is cold; it will mix more thoroughly when the sauce is warmed. Then add enough meatballs for the sauce to cover, in my slow cooker this was turned out to be 34, but that will change depending on the size of the meatball and the size of the slow cooker.

Turn your slow cooker on high and let it cook for 2-2.5 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Once the sauce is thickened to your liking, remove the meatballs and serve. I usually just serve these with toothpicks, but these also make an amazing meatball sub when served with provolone cheese.

*I use frozen meatballs for this recipe because when I am making party food, I'm going to be making a lot of food and I don't usually have time to hand-make meatballs. If you feel like making your own, go right ahead, I'm sure they will be excellent. However, if you are using handmade meatballs, make sure they are cooked through since this recipe's cook time does not take that into account.

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

This recipe might make me hand over my foodie card, because it uses jars of tomato sauce, but I don't mind. Making your own tomato sauce is time consuming and when I'm in the mood for comfort food I'm in the mood to set it and forget it. Spaghetti with meat sauce is one of the first things I used to make when I was a kid. When I turned 21, I usually cooked with a beer in my hand, and this recipe was spawned from that.

Ingredients:

1 lb of ground beef
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 24 oz jars of your favorite pasta sauce

2 bottles of lager

½ cup of grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Start off by opening one of the bottles of lager and drinking it while you cook.

Brown the ground beef in your cooking vessel of choice, I like my 10" cast iron skillet, over medium-high heat. When the meat is nearly done, add the garlic and sweat lightly. Once the meat is evenly browned, add it to a large pot with the sauce. Don't drain the meat, as you want all the flavor possible getting into your sauce. Pour in the lager and heat on medium-low until it simmers and then lower the heat to maintain a simmer.

Right now you would have a pretty good sauce, but the flavor really comes together if you let it simmer for awhile longer. You can even do this part in a crock-pot or slow-cooker if you would like. I usually let it simmer for at least 2 hours, stirring every few minutes, before I serve it.

Before serving, stir in the Parmesan cheese and serve over pasta with more Parmesan on top as desired. If you add the cheese too early and it gets too warm, it might curdle and get lumpy. The best way to prevent this is to mix it right before service and with the heat off. There will still be more than enough heat to melt the cheese.

Notes:

My wife likes when I use 90/10 ground beef, but I prefer 80/20. 90/10 will make for grainier, slightly drier meat, but 80/20 will make a greasier sauce; it's up to you.

I cooked about a pound of spaghetti until a little before al dente, and then I added the under-cooked noodles to the sauce to allow them to finish cooking. This lets the noodles take on a bit more flavor, and any starch that is left on the noodles will get into the sauce, thicken it, and help it cling to the noodles better. Keep testing the noodles for doneness and serve as soon as they are cooked to your liking. The spaghetti should go in right before the Parmesan.

This would be a good recipe to use an actual block of Parmesan cheese, despite the cost. Pre-grated Parmesan cheese tends to include cellulose powder, or wood pulp, which keeps the product from caking or clumping. While that is a good thing, the added starch can make a sauce taste and feel grainy. Plus, you can't beat the flavor of the fresh stuff. Again, as with anytime I use a more "premium" ingredient, feel free to substitute.

Zesty Corndogs

For years I have been longingly gazing at the packages of corndogs in the freezer section of my local mega mart. I decided if I was going to make my favorite local fair concession worth the calories, I needed to make it myself.

Ingredients:

1 C of cornmeal

1 C of AP flour

¼ t of salt

¼ t of cayenne pepper

¼ C of sugar

4 t of baking powder

1 egg

1 C of milk

1 large jalapeño seeded and minced

16 hotdogs

16 wooden skewers (I used disposable chop sticks)

4 T of corn starch for dredging

Directions:

Heat oil in a deep fryer, deep skillet, or dutch oven to 375.

Combine the cornmeal, flour, salt, cayenne pepper, sugar, and baking powder in one bowl. Beat the egg into the milk and jalapeño. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry team, and thoroughly combine. Pour the batter into a tall cup; this makes it easier to coat the hot dogs. Skewer the hotdogs on your choice of skewer; I used chop sticks that are still connected because they make it easier to flip during cooking.

Spread the corn starch on a plate and lightly coat each hotdog being sure to rub off any excess. Why the corn starch? The dredge creates a starch layer that will help the batter stick to the hotdog. Either too much or too little and the batter could just sort of slide off after it’s cooked, and then you just have a hotdog on a stick, which, while still tasty, is not the desired result. After the dredge is applied, dip the hotdog in the batter and then straight into the oil.

This part can be a bit challenging, but it mostly just requires you to pay attention. As with all frying, and most cooking, temperature control is essential. Be sure to pay attention to the temperature of the oil. Ride the temperature control to make sure the oil stays around 375. If it gets too hot, the outside will get all burned and greasy before the inside is cooked. If it gets too cold, the outside will get to greasy and won’t get a nice crust by the time the inside is cooked. If you do your job right, the breading will be golden brown and not greasy when it is done.

Cook for 2-3 minutes until golden brown and then move straight onto a draining rig. I use as paper towel lined baking sheet. Let them rest for a few minutes and then consume with ketchup or mustard.

A note about jalapeños: the capsaicin, what makes peppers hot, is mostly in the seeds. So, if you remove the seeds from them, they lose the vast majority of their heat. But, be careful handling them, the capsaicin will stick to your fingers and washing your hands will not remove it. If you don’t want to experience a new kind of pain the next time you rub your eyes, blow your nose, or go to the bathroom, use latex gloves or dip your fingers in a bleach solution after handling them.