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.

Slow Cooker BBQ Spare Ribs

To me, nothing says 4th of July like a plate of ribs. Grilled and especially smoked ribs might be the definitive expression of the art, but nothing gets consistently quality results like a slow cooker. Also, the 4th in my area is promising to be a rainy one, which will push people inside and grilling in bad weather is only fun to a select group of odd balls (like me). So, to make sure no ones celebration is spoiled, here is a good recipe to use if it (literally) rains on your parade.

Ingredients:

1 rack of spare ribs*
½ C brown sugar
2 tsp salt
½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp smoked paprika
¼ tsp red pepper
BBQ sauce**

Directions:

Cut the ribs in half so they fit better in a slow cooker. Pat dry with some paper towels to help the dry rub stick.
Mix together everything remaining except the BBQ sauce and rub onto the ribs. Make sure you cover both sides and every edge.
Place in a slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 5-6 or until they reach an internal temp of 190-205 F. Yes, this is way higher than the done temp for pork, but ribs, especially spare ribs, have a lot of fat and collagen in them. This needs to be rendered out for the ribs to be their best. If you cook to the usual pork temp of 160 F you will have much tougher and fattier ribs. This makes it difficult for low and slow methods to over-cook ribs, but it is easy to under-cook them.
Once they have reached temp, remove and let them rest for 10-15 minutes before cutting into portions. I like to get them into pairs so people do not have to commit to a half or full rack, but can still take a plateful. Toss in BBQ sauce and serve, with plenty of napkins, to a grateful world.

*This recipe was specifically made with spare ribs in mind. If you are using baby-back ribs, you might need to adjust times.
**I made this dry rub to specifically go with my BBQ sauce recipe by using the same base of spices, but any sauce that goes well with some sweet heat will work great.

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.

Pretzel Style Sausage Rolls

My Oktoberfest recipe for this year!

My wife has never been a fan of my original sausage roll recipe unless I take the time to trim all the casings off. This has always seemed a little too time consuming for me, so I don't and she doesn't eat them if I make them for a party. This time I just started with a pound of sausage meat and that made the whole thing much easier.

When I was coming up with this recipe I did some research on egg washes and discovered that doing an egg wash with just a beaten egg yolk gets you a deep brown color when baked. When you add a nice serving of large grain salt, it can give puff pastry a pretzel like exterior.

Ingredients:

2 sheets of puff pastry
1lb of pork sausage meat
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 egg yolk, beaten
salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400

Roll out the sheets of puff pastry. I like to use a rolling pin to smooth any creases, I think it makes it easier to roll in the end. Divide the ground sausage into 4 equal portions.

Take one portion and place it on the narrowest edge of the pastry sheet and form into an even log that stretches along the entire edge. Brush the sausage with some of the maple syrup.

Carefully roll the puff pastry around the sausage and right before the pastry would overlap, brush the bit that would overlap with a little egg yolk to seal it. To make sure the roll has a flat bottom, before I seal it up, I lightly dock, or poke with a fork, the piece that will overlap. This collapses the layers of pastry and keeps them from rising as much. This is mostly a cosmetic decision but I find that it makes the whole batch turn out more even and uniform looking.

Cut the roll off from the remaining sheet. Each roll should take half a sheet, feel free to stretch the dough or roll it out thinner if you find that you don't have enough space.

Repeat for the remaining sausage portions. When they are all rolled, lightly brush with the remaining egg yolk and then sprinkle liberally with large flake salt. If you can get pretzel salt, even better.

Cut the logs into 6 equal portions. I shallowly score the tops twice with a knife, not deep enough that it goes through the pastry, so that they don't expand too much. Again, this is a personal preference that helps the finished product look nice and uniform.

Bake on a greased or parchment covered baking sheet for 15-20 minutes until dark golden brown.

To make the dip, combine equal amounts of maple syrup and mustard. Enjoy!

 If you are interested, here is a great place to find some great info on egg washes and how they work and what they do

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!

Kaiser Wiener

Well it's October so you know what that means, pumpkin spice everything! Well, yes, but it's also Oktoberfest! So, I'll be putting out a couple recipes celebrating classic German flavors that go perfectly with a cold pint. Let's start off with something I actually came up with last year, that I affectionately call my Kaiser Wiener.

My goal was to come up with a dish that contained as many prototypical German things as I could, and, outside of using a pretzel roll, I think I've done pretty well.

This recipe calls for a slightly obscure dried meat called speck. Speck is a smoked German version of prosciutto. Like prosciutto, it is great raw with cheese or wrapped around melon or asparagus, but when it's fried it cooks up like bacon. If you can't get your hands on speck you could use prosciutto, but I'd recommend very thinly sliced bacon.

The ingredients listed below are per serving so you can scale easily for any size gathering. Also, it is a one skillet method that minimizes clean-up.

Ingredients:

1 club roll
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 German style bratwurst
1 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
¼ c speck, cut into thin strips
1 tbsp German mustard
¼ c sauerkraut, well drained*

Directions:

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat for a few minutes until water sprinkled on the surface boils and skitters away. Butter the inside of a club roll and toast, butter side down, in the skillet until lightly brown and toasted. Lightly frying in butter helps create a moisture barrier that will help maintain the integrity of the roll when wet toppings (ie. sauerkraut) are introduced.

Set the toasted buns aside and then brown the bratwursts in the skillet until lightly browned on all sides and heated through. Evacuate from the pan.

Pour in the oil and then add the speck. Fry the speck for 3-5 minutes until lightly crisped and browned before removing from the pan and draining.

To assemble, spread mustard on the inside of the bun, layer on the sauerkraut, place on the bratwurst, and cover with the speck. Serve with a nice cold pint of amber and enjoy!

*When I say well drained, I mean I wrapped the sauerkraut in paper towels and squeezed it out. Anything less and you get a very soggy roll even after it has been lightly fried in butter.

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.

Miso Ramen with Chashu

Here it finally is: my ramen recipe! One of the best things about ramen is how versatile it is. A basic broth with ramen noodles can host a whole bunch of toppings. I'll list out some of my favorites, but it is only a fraction of the whole world of toppings and condiments you can add.

Ingredients:

Base per serving:

2 cups dashi
1½ tbsp white miso
½ tbsp red miso
¼-½ cups of cooked ramen or soba noodles

Toppings:

Chashu
Marinated Tofu
Blanched bean sprouts
Corn
Sliced scallions
Soft boiled egg

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, stir the two flavors of miso into the dashi and bring to a simmer. Place your noodles into your soup bowl, layer on your prefered toppings, and pour on the hot broth. Let the soup sit for a minute to give everything time to heat up before enjoying.

This makes a really great build-your-own meal with plenty of toppings and a big pot of broth for everyone.

Chashu

Chashu is Japanese BBQ pork. It's extremely delicious and tender. It's great by itself, but it's also the perfect pork to add to your ramen. This is the last piece of the puzzle before I put out my ramen recipe. I hope the wait has been worth it!

This recipe calls for using a unique piece of hardware called an otoshibuta. An otoshibuta helps your food cook in a steam environment, but allows enough vapor loss to reduce a sauce. It's placed directly on the cooking liquid, which helps keep big bubbles from forming so delicate foods aren't broken apart.

Don't worry, I don't have one either, but it's extremely easy to make one out of parchment paper and here is a link to the instructions. I don't recommend making one out of tin foil because aluminum and acid doesn't mix well.

Ingredients:

1 lb pork belly
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
¾ c water
½ cup low sodium soy sauce
½ cup sake

¼ cup dark brown or demerara sugar

2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 scallions, sliced
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
2" piece of ginger, sliced

Directions:

Salt both sides of the pork belly. Pour the olive oil into a cast iron skillet and heat over medium-high heat until the oil starts to lightly smoke. Lay the pork belly in the oil, fat side down, and sear for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Flip and repeat. Remove from the skillet and let it rest.

In a heavy-bottom pot, like a dutch oven, add the remaining ingredients and the pork belly. Bring the whole thing to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cover with the otoshibuta and simmer for 1 hour, turning the pork over every 10 minutes.

After an hour, you should have a thick sauce. Roll the pork belly in the sauce to make sure you have even coverage on all sides. Take it out of the pot and let it rest for about 15-20 minutes before slicing thin and serving by itself, over noodles, or with ramen.

For some added flavor and color, lightly sear under a boiler or with a propane or culinary torch.

If you plan on storing for later, place your slices in a zip-top bag with the remaining sauce. Make sure you get most of the air out so the slices get good, even coverage. They should keep for about a week in the fridge.

To reheat, just pour your piping hot ramen broth on top or lightly sear in a medium-heat skillet.

Bourbon Maple Glazed Bacon

For Easter, my mother-in-law gave me a bottle of bourbon aged maple syrup. It was amazing. I've already used it up and bought a second. So, expect to see it featured in plenty of upcoming recipes. One of the first things I thought of when I tasted it was bacon. I'd never glazed my own bacon and every time I baked bacon, it turned out wrong. Now, after a little experimentation, I've come up with a method I like.

Ingredients:

8 or 9 strips of thick cut bacon
2 oz bourbon aged maple syrup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. While you oven heats up, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a cooling rack on top.

Lay your bacon on the rack and bake for 18-20 minutes or until the fat is rendered and the bacon is starting to brown. Remove from the oven. There will be a lot of liquid fat in the pan so be careful and feel free to drain it off.

Brush one side of the bacon with the coats of the maple syrup and then bake for 3-5 minutes. Remove again from the oven, flip the bacon, and brush the other side with another two coats before baking an additional 3 minutes or until desired crispiness. My wife likes hers nearly burnt while I like mine with a little flop.

Remove from the oven and let cool, though I recommend not letting the bacon cool entirely on the rack because the maple syrup will adhere the bacon to the rack.

This bacon is amazing by itself, with eggs, or even a cheese platter.

Ham Chowder

After Easter a lot of people have plenty of leftover ham. My mother-in-law had purchased an entire extra ham, and insisted I take a freezer bag full of ham back home with me. My wife doesn't like ham any where near as much as I do, so I decided to make a great soup to help me use up a bag full of ham.

Serves: 10
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 white onion, diced
½ lbs frozen corn
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 tsp dried basil leaves
2 tbsp flour
6 cups milk
2 lbs russet potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
1.5 lbs ham
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
¼ tsp smoked paprika
¼ tsp cayenne powder

Optional:

Diced chives
Shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Pour the olive oil into a stock pot or large dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the corn, thyme, and basil and cook until the spices are fragrant, about 4 minutes. Stir in the flour until all moisture on the bottom of the pot is absorbed then turn the heat to low.

Slowly pour in the milk while vigorously whisking. Once all the milk is in, add the potatoes, bring the soup to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and easily pierced by a fork.

At this point you have a fairly thin soup, if you like it that way, feel free to add the ham and the rest of the seasonings and serve. If, like me, you want it thick and creamy, grab your handy stick blender and blend until creamy. After you get the consistency right, add the ham and the rest of the seasonings and serve garnished with the chives and cheddar cheese.

Andouille Apple Stir Fry

I was trying to come up with something for dinner and I was standing in the produce section of my local mega mart. I thought, "What kind of vegetation doesn't usually end up in stir fries?" and I immediately thought of fruit. I've had some really great sausages that contained fruit, so I thought of making a sausage and apple stir fry. I wanted it to be sweet and spicy, so I added some apple cider and a bit of agave syrup. It turned out brilliantly, and I wanted to share it with you.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 large, sweet apple, diced
2 jalapenos, seeded and diced

1 lb of andouille, sliced

½ cup apple cider

3 tbsp of agave syrup

Directions:

In a cast iron skillet, heat the oil to a simmer, add the jalapenos, and saute until lightly browned. Add the onion and apple and saute until they are translucent. Stir in the andouille before pouring on the apple cider and agave syrup.

Bring to a simmer and cook until the liquid forms a syrupy consistency, which will take about 5 to 10 minutes. Serve over rice, pasta, or quinoa.

Andouille is pretty spicy stuff, so I won't blame you if you decide to skip the jalapenos. I also recommend serving with some sour cream and a hard cider to dull the fire.

Root Beer Pulled Pork

Now the last pulled pork I made, I made with Dr. Pepper, this one I made with root beer, and I decided, rather then just replace the Dr. Pepper with the root beer, I decided to make a whole new BBQ sauce that would be a little sweeter to play with the vanilla in the root beer.

When selecting a root beer for this recipe, I would suggest getting a good one. It is the foundational flavor of the sauce and so, just like with wine or beer, don't cook with what won't drink.

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 7-8 hrs

Ingredients:

3-4 lb bone-in pork shoulder
20 oz root beer
1/2 t salt
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T honey

Directions:

Place your pork shoulder or butt in your slow cooker and pour on the root beer. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hrs.

When the pork is fork tender, remove from the liquid and place on a platter. Cover with foil or plastic wrap and let it rest while you build the sauce.

Strain the cooking liquid, you should have 3-4 cups, into a large measuring cup or bowl. Put the bowl in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes so that the fat on the top solidifies and can be easily removed, or you can use a gravy separator. Pour your reserved liquid a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add the salt, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and the honey. Simmer, uncovered, until your sauce is reduced to about 1 cup.

Now it's time to pull the pork. If you would rather have chunks, you can always use a knife, but I prefer using a pair of forks to pull the pork into bite sized shreds. Once your pork is pulled to the right sized pieces, pour on the sauce and stir thoroughly, but gently, to combine.

Enjoy room temp or warm it up in your slow cooker for a nice hot lunch.

Steamed Mussels in a Spicy Broth

Ok, straight talk, this is the actual meal I served on Valentine's Day. There is minimal prep, and very little cook time, but tons of flavor. Plus, since this is a meal you mostly eat with your hands, it stays very light-hearted and casual, which I think is the perfect tone for an intimate evening alone.

Warning: though I do add a bit of spice to many recipes, even I think this one is actually spicy. It tastes amazing, but if you don't like spicy food, don't make this.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Serves: 2-4

Ingredients:

3 cups of vegetable stock
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
¼ cup of white wine*
2 tbsp dried parsley
½ lb of andouille sausage cut into bite size pieces**
2 lbs of live mussels

Directions:

In a stock pot or dutch oven, pour in the stock and add the pepper, garlic, wine, parsley, and sausage. Cover and bring to a boil.

As you bring your broth to a boil, do a thorough inspection of your mussels. Assuming you kept your mussels in the fridge, when you take them out of the cold, they might start to open. This is perfectly fine, you should only worry about mussels that won't close back up. If you tap on an open one and it starts to close, it's good. Alternatively if you hold it closed and it doesn't open back up very much, you're good. If there are any that are cracked, or were open in the fridge, throw them away. Do not cook them.

Once your broth has reached a boil, add the mussels, return the broth to a simmer, and then re-cover. Cook the mussels for 4-5 minutes or until they are open. If there are any that didn't open, throw those away.

Serve your mussels in a bowl with a good helping of broth, a glass of the white wine you used in the broth, and some nice crusty bread to soak up all that deliciousness. I highly recommend serving the crusty bread with my roasted garlic and tomato spread since the tang of the sundried tomatoes goes great with the spicy broth.

*I would recommend a riesling for this recipe. If you want it spicy, use a dry or semi dry variety. Use a semi sweet or sweet riesling if you want it to be less spicy.
*If you want this to be less spicy, or want to make it pescaterian, leave out the sausage, it will still taste great.

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.

Tres Cerditos Tacos (Three Little Pigs Pork Tacos)

My wife and I were visiting her best friend in NY when we stopped by this great gastropub called Prison City Pub and Brewery in Auburn, NY. (Whenever we are back up there, I'll probably do a full review.) I ordered a sandwich they call Three Little Pigs which is made of pork prepared 3 ways: pulled pork, ham, and bacon. I really enjoyed this so I decided to come up with my own version with a Mexican flair called Tres Cerditos Tacos. I did a bit of research into the ways pork is prepared in Mexico and I came up with my duo of tacos that contains pork three ways: carnitas, chorizo, and bacon.

Ingredients:

Basics:

Carnitas
1lb chorizo

½lb bacon
Corn tortillas

Recommended Toppings:

Chopped cilantro
Sliced avocado
Queso cotija
Fresh lime
Crema
Roasted tomato salsa

Directions:

Cook the carnitas according to the recipe I previously posted here, and while it is resting prepare the other meats. Cook the pound of chorizo by either cooking the sausages and then chopping them, or, my personal favorite way, strip off the casings and cook the stuffing. If you can find uncased ground chorizo, that would be perfect but I have had a lot of difficulty finding that. Once cooked, set aside. Slice the bacon into thin bits and fry again, set aside and drain once finished. I recommend using the bacon grease to fry the carnitas.

Once you meats are all prepared, prepare your toppings. I recommend chopped cilantro, avocado slices, some fresh slices of lime, cotija cheese, crema, and my roasted tomato salsa. Cotija cheese is a crumbly Mexican cheese that has a similar texture to grated parmesan, but it doesn't melt. If you can't find it, feel free to use any cheese you usually like on your tacos, I suggest a combination of monterey jack, cheddar, and mozzarella. Crema, as I mentioned in my nachos recipe, is Mexican sour cream. Crema is more liquidy than sour cream so I like to store it in a squeeze bottle for easy serving. If you can't find crema, feel free to replace with sour cream.

Once all of the meats and toppings are ready to go, it's time to start making tacos! Place two soft corn tortillas and put a serving of carnitas in one and a serving of chorizo in the other. Sprinkle the carnitas with the bacon bits, and some cheese, then spritz with lime. Top the chorizo with some chopped cilantro, a few avocado slices, some of the cheese, and then squeeze on a little crema and spritz on some lime. Enjoy!

Carnitas

Carnitas, as anyone who frequents Chipotle will know, is Mexican pulled pork that is usually fried after it's cooked so it forms a nice crust. In Mexico is it usually confit or, slow cooked,  by simmering the pork in lard. I chose to go the more American route by just using a slow-cooker. These carnitas have way more flavor than anything you'll get at your usual burrito place and then go great in burritos, tacos, nachos, or a host of other Mexican dishes. My favorite part is that they make your whole house smell like a good Mexican restaurant.

Ingredients:

3lb bone in pork shoulder
4 T of olive oil, divided
Salt and pepper
2 t of dried oregano
2 t of cumin
1 jalapeno, sliced
2 sticks of cinnamon
1 orange, cut in half

Directions:

Coat your pork shoulder with 2 T of the olive oil and then liberally cover with salt and pepper. Combine the oregano and the cumin and the rub onto the pork. Place your pork shoulder in your crockpot or slow cooker and then add the sliced jalapeno. You don't have to worry about seeding the jalapenos in this dish because they will cook for so long that most of the heat will be gone. Add the two sticks of cinnamon, and then squeeze the juice from each orange half onto the pork and then add the spent orange halves.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high 4-5 hours.

Once the pork is fork tender, remove for the pot and let is rest, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove the other solids and discard. While to pork is resting, pour the cooking liquid in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat to reduce by half. Once the pork is rested, use forks to pull into bite sized shreds and then put the meat back in the crock pot. Add the reduced cooking liquid and then stir until is absorbed back into the meat.

In a 10 inch skillet, add the remaining 2 T of olive oil and heat it over medium high heat. Once the oil is nice and hot, add the carnitas and cook until a light crust forms on the bottom. Remove from the heat and serve.

Sausage Rolls

EDIT: Here is a better, updated version of this recipe! Check it out!
When I was traveling in the UK with my family, I noticed that in every convince store, instead of the usual fruit danishes, they had these sausage rolls in pastry instead. I missed those once we got back in the States, and I decided to make them myself. These ones are a very simple and easy recipe that can be easily augmented.

Ingredients:

17.3 oz package of pastry dough
1 lb of Italian style sausage links*
1 egg, beaten

Directions:

Defrost the pastry dough according to the package instructions and preheat your oven to 350.

Once the dough has been defrosted, roll it out so that the long side is the length of 2 sausage links, as pictured. When the dough is the proper size, place your sausage links together at the top and gently roll them up. Right before the dough is about to overlap, brush a bit of the egg wash on the two pieces that are about to touch. Overlap the dough a little and then cut off that roll. Brush the top of that roll with some egg wash to enhance browning.

Repeat with the remaining sausage links and sheets of pastry dough. if you get to the end of  a sheet and find that you don't have quite enough to overlap, just roll the dough a bit or stretch it out by hand, yes that will make the pastry a bit thinner, but it will still work.

Once your rolls have been assembled, cut them into 1 inch pieces and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the sausage is cooked through and the top is golden. Enjoy these warm with ketchup or mustard.

*When I make this I leave the sausage casings on because they don't bother me in the final product. They do, however, bother my wife, and if they would bother you, feel free to strip them out of there casings or use a 1 lb package of sausage meat and roll it into thumb size strips.

Sausage Stir-fry

I love stir-fries, they are a great chance to use up stuff around your house, they don't take long to make, and are a great way to experiment with new flavors and combinations. This recipe takes advantage of one of the more interesting sausages the grocery store I work at sells. If you cannot get your hands on wine and cheese pork sausage, I think a mild italian sausage would substitute nicely.

Ingredients:

2 T of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red onion, cut into wedges
2 t of salt, divided
1 lb of wine and cheese pork sausage cut into 1" pieces

⅓ C of low sodium soy sauce

3 T of honey

4 C of red swiss chard cut into ribbons

½ t of black pepper

Directions:

Over medium high heat, heat the oil in a large non-stick skillet, and once it shimmers, add the 2 cloves of garlic and saute until lightly browned. Add the red onion and the first teaspoon of salt. Once the onion is lightly browned, add the sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Once the sausage is cooked, reduce the heat to medium and add the soy sauce and the honey. Reduce them to a syrupy consistency and then add the chard. Steam the chard until it is tender, this took me about 3 minutes. Add the black pepper, and serve. I recommend serving over quinoa or rice.

When I say stir-fries are quick, I mean it. from prep to service, this took me about 20 minutes total, an easy recipe for when you need to whip up a quick, nutritious dinner for the family.

Loaded Nachos

Nachos have come a long way since they were invented in the '40s by Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya. The original nachos were simply fried tortilla chips, melted cheddar cheese, and sliced pickled jalapenos. Since then, nachos have become pretty integrated into Ameri-Mexican cooking and can be found on the menu of almost any bar in the U.S. of A. These nachos are piled high with traditional Mexican flavors and toppings.

Ingredients:

1 lb of Tortilla chips
1 lb Oaxaca cheese or low moisture mozzarella, shredded
1 lb of chorizo, cooked and broken apart
Black bean corn salsa

¼ C of pico de gallo

Disclaimer:

Where I live there are a lot of Mexican grocery stores so I have easy access to fresh, good quality ethnic cuisine. So, I can get a wide variety of Mexican cheeses. Oaxaca cheese is from Oaxaca county in Mexico, and is sort of like Mexican string cheese. It is a fresh cheese, like mozzarella, but it is stretched and folded so it has a bit less moisture than your usual fresh mozzarella. So, if you can't find Oaxaca, or if it's a bit out of your budget, I recommend regular mozzarella, but feel free to use any cheese or blend of cheeses you like best.

Directions:

Preheat the broiler on your oven and place a rack of your oven in the lowest position.

In a baking dish or casserole start with a layer of tortilla chips, bean salsa, pico de gallo, chorizo, and then Oaxaca cheese. Then, add another layer of chips, beans, meat, and cheese, save the rest of the pico to serve alongside. Mine ended up being a bit piled high, so I made sure to put a piece of tin foil down to catch any spills. Depending on how much stuff you like on your nachos and the size of the baking dish you use, you might have some leftovers. I had some cheese and bean dip left over that I'll use for quesadillas or mix in with my scrambled eggs some morning.

Put your nachos on the lowest rack and broil until the cheese is nice and melted. For me this took about 7 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on it as it cooks to make sure the cheese doesn't burn. Serve immediately.

I serve mine with guacamole and crema. Crema is Mexican sour cream, which is a bit runnier than sour cream, with a bit more flavor, but feel free to use sour cream.