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Smoked Salmon Dip

I am pretty much forbidden from visiting my dear wife’s family without a sizable tub of this dip in tow. Call it a hostess gift. Call it a bribe. Call it a get-out-of-jail-free card. It always gets us in (and generally safely back out of ) the door.

As smoked salmon can be awfully pricey, the only way I can afford to keep the outin-laws happy is to buy fresh salmon when it goes on sale and smoke cure it myself.

The Salmon

1 salmon fillet (1-1/2 to 2 pounds), preferably wild-caught
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon Chesapeake Bay seasoning (I use Penzey’s, which is a blend of paprika, salt, mustard, celery, ancho, black pepper, red pepper, dill, caraway, allspice, horseradish, cardamom, thyme, ginger, bay, mace, cinnamon, savory and cloves)

Combine all of  the dry ingredients in bowl, mixing well. This is the dry cure.

Put the fillet flat in a large zip-top bag. Cover one side of the fillet with half of the cure, working it in with your hands to cover. Flip the fish and repeat on the other side. Squeeze as much air out of the bag as possible, seal, and lay flat in fridge for at least 12 hours, but no more than 24. Turn the fillet over every 3-4 hours.

Remove the fish from cure and rinse it well in cold water. Let soak in fresh water for 30 minutes.  Remove from water and pat dry. Place the fish skin-side down on a rack (I use a small baker’s cooling rack). Move the fillet to the fridge until surface is dry but slightly sticky to the touch – 1 to 3 hours.

This semi-gloss finish is called the pellicle, and it helps the fish hold both moisture and smoke.

Set up your grill for a 3 hour indirect cook at 225°F. Add your smoking wood (I used guava) and smoke until the fillet starts to flake – about 2 hours. Remove from the grill and let cool to room temp. Package and store in the fridge overnight so the flesh gets a little firmer and the flavors get to know each other.

I’ll often smoke several fillets up in advance, vacuum seal them, and freeze them for later. I’ve not noticed much loss in quality and it’s a ton cheaper than buying store-bought smoked salmon.

The Dip

1 smoked salmon fillet (1-1/2 to 2 pounds), skinned and de-boned
24 ounces cream cheese, softened
8 ounces sour cream
4 ounces mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh ground horseradish
1 teaspoon Chesapeake Bay seasoning
1 (3.5-ounce) jar capers, undrained
Fresh ground back pepper to taste

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine everything but the black pepper. Blend until smooth and almost paté-like (you can add more mayo or sour cream if the mixture is too dry). Season with black pepper. Store in a sealed container in the fridge. Top with more capers and/or a few pomegranate seeds scattered on top before serving. It goes great with almost any dipper – crackers, pita chips, corn chips, baguette slices, even sliced veggies.

The Verdict: ★★★★★
This dip is always a monster hit – smoky and rich with just enough tang from the capers to keep everything in balance. This recipe will make a good 2 quarts and we can finish it off during the course of a long weekend just hanging with my brother-in-laws and their families. Sometimes I’ll just make the smoked salmon and serve it as an appetizer with a fancy cheese log.

Chicken Tagine

As the proud owner of a Big Green Egg, I am sold on the joys of ceramic cookware and the consistently even and moist heat that they produce. So I was very happy when Emile Henry sent me a flame-proof tagine to try out.

A tagine is a North-African meal named for the cone-topped ceramic pot in which it is cooked. Typically it’s a heavily-spiced stew that’s slowly braised in the sealed pot so that all of the flavors meld together while the meat becomes amazingly tender.

This recipe of a rough adaptation of Adam Perry Lang’s Moroccan Lamb Stew from his Serious Barbecue book. I really like the idea of grilling the meat first to get it charred and crispy, adding it to the veggies, and then letting the tagine do it’s magic.

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon dried lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Combine all of the spices in a small bowl and mix them together. Put the chicken in a zip-top bag, dust it with the spice mix, and toss them to make sure that all of the thighs are covered. Squeeze the air out of the bag, sealed it, and put it in the fridge to marinate for at least 4 hours, overnight is better.

1 large onion, sliced
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (14.5-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons dried parsley
4 ounces butter

Over medium-low heat, melt the butter in the bottom half of the tagine. Removed from the heat and add the remaining veggies and spices.

Set your grill up for a direct cook over high (500°F) heat.

Grill the thighs for about 3-5 minutes a side. They don’t have to be cooked through – what you are looking for are some good grill marks and some crispy bits. When the thighs are nice and brown, move them off to the bottom of the tagine with the veggies. Push the thighs into the mixture so that they are at least partially covered with liquid.

Set your grill up for an indirect cook at medium (350°F) heat. On the Big Green Egg this means removing the grate and dropping in the inverted plate setter. On a kettle-style grill you could just move the briquettes to the sides. On a gas grill you’d want to turn off the middle burner and reduce the heat on the side ones.

Set the bottom half of the tagine on the grill.

Cover the tagine, close the lid on the grill, and let the goodies braise for an hour.

Bring the whole works to the table, crack the lid open, and voilà – fragrant,  spicy, warm, and tender.

The Verdict: ★★★★★
I had not cooked with a tagine before, and frankly couldn’t imagine how if would be any different than using a Dutch oven – boy, was I wrong. The tagine really seemed to concentrate flavors. While the veggies cooked down quite a bit, they also caramelized more than I expected and didn’t turn all mushy.

The flavors were wonderful. No one flavor dominated, so it wasn’t overwhelming, but still very complex. I was afraid with all the sweet spices and honey that the dish would end up cloying, but it turned out to be very savory, warm, and aromatic.

Simple Spring Steaks

Nothing earth-shattering here, just the joy that comes from moving onto daylight-savings time, getting past the vernal equinox, and finally being able to stand on the deck and actually see the food I’m grilling.

I fired up the Big Green Egg and set it up for a hot (600°F+) direct cook.

These rib eyes got a light coating of olive oil, a bit of Dizzy Pig’s Raising the Steaks, and a couple of grinds of sea salt before they were ready for the grill.

I grilled them for 90 seconds, rotated them 90 degrees and gave them another 30 seconds. Then I flipped them and repeated the process on the other side.

For the guests we had over I went a little more to the medium side of medium-rare and pulled them off the grate when the thickest steak hit 130°F internal (after about another 30 seconds on the grill). I pulled them off the grill and onto a warm plate and covered them with another plate, and let them rest for 10 minutes before serving.

The Verdict: ★★★★½
The steaks got raves and I joked that they were the best steaks I’ve made this Spring (true enough). For as simple as they were, I don’t think I could have done any better. They were not, however, my A-game steaks.  Those would be the bombs from Adam Perry Lang’s BBQ 25. When I have the time and inclination, those are the way to go.

Corned Beef

Since I come from the line of barbarous folk that gave Hadrian good cause to build his wall, it’s a matter of pride that I cure my own brisket for corned beef. But seeing as it’s a little late now to get that done before St. Paddy’s Day this Thursday, here’s a recipe that you can use with a store-bought corned brisket to create that iconic Irish-American dish with a smoky twist.

Buy a 3 to 4 pound pre-seasoned corned beef brisket. Throw away the nasty package of seasoning that came with it, remove the brisket from the brine, and rinse with fresh cold water for at least 30 minutes.

Move the brisket to plastic container with a lid, or a large zip-top freezer bag, and cover with water. Store in the fridge at least overnight, and up to 48 hours, changing the water a couple of times.

Smoking

Set up your grill for an indirect cook that will burn for at least 5 hours at between 225 to 250°F. Add wood for smoke (I like grape vine for this dish).

While the grill is getting up to temp, remove the brisket from the water and pat dry. Season with a few grinds of black pepper. Cook at 225°F for about 3 hours, or until the internal temperature of the meat hits 160°F. Remove the brisket from the grill and let it rest on a cutting board.

Braising

1 medium cabbage, shredded
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground allspice
2 bay leaves
Enough water to come up about halfway on the cabbage

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

In a large Dutch oven, add the cabbage, garlic, spices, and water. Bring cabbage to a boil over high heat. Cook uncovered until cabbage has started to wilt (about 5 minutes). Remove pan from heat and lay the brisket on top of the cabbage. Add enough water so that it comes half way up the brisket. Cover the dutch oven and move to the oven. Braise until the cabbage is tender and the meat is very tender, about 30 to 45 minutes.

Remove the corned beef and slice thinly across the grain. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cabbage to a large platter. Lay the sliced meat over cabbage and ladle over with a little of the remaining liquid. Serve with boiled potatoes.

The Verdict: ★★★★★
While my nephew didn’t care for it (his loss), I thought it was a tasty dish – tender flavorful meat on a bed of savory cabbage with a salty/smoky broth. Yum! The only thing better than corned beef and cabbage is the corned beef hash and Reuben sandwiches that I’ll be making later this week with the leftovers.

Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole

I love enchiladas, but never seem to have the time or (truth be told) patience to make them. While this casserole version isn’t authentic, it is a great bit of gluten-free comfort food. Braising the thighs in the slow cooker makes them incredibly tender and tasty while reducing the hands-on time. This is adapted from a Kill the Gluten recipe.

1 (14.5-ounce) can of gluten-free cream of chicken soup (Health Valley)
3-4 teaspoons of gluten free flour (Pamela’s Baking mix)
8 ounces sour cream
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (16-ounce) jar salsa verde (Trader Joe’s)
1 (4-ounce) can green chiles
1 jalapeño pepper, diced
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
8 corn tortillas
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 cup water

Put the chicken thighs in the crock pot with the salt, chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, and water and simmer on low until they are falling apart done (about 4 hours). You could even do this the day ahead if you wanted.

Pre-heat your oven to 350F.

In a small saucepan, bring the soup to a boil of medium-high heat.  Gradually add the flour and whisk until desired thickness (it will thicken more after cooling). Remove from heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, combine soup, sour cream, salsa, green chiles, jalapeño, garlic, and onion. Stir to combine.

Spread a small amount of the sauce in a 9×13 baking pan. Layer on half of the tortillas, half the chicken, a little more sauce, and half the cheese. Then layer on the remaining tortillas, sauce, chicken, and cheese.

Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until the dish is bubbly and cheese has started to brown. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

The Verdict: ★★★★☆
When the weather calls for tasty, rich, and filling comfort food, this casserole fits the bill. The chicken was very tender and the chilies gave it just the right amount of warm, green heat.

There is a line where rich and filling becomes thick and gloppy. This dish (thankfully) sits just on the right side of said line, but it could use a little help. Next time I might try crisping the tortillas up a bit first and adding some more veggies like bell peppers or green onions.

Carnitas

I finally got a chance to try out the lovely 4.2 qt Dutch oven that Emile Henry sent me on the Big Green Egg. For its maiden voyage, I decided to try a batch of carnitas. To make these tender, yet crispy bites of porky wonderfulness, you need to provide a nice, even heat while the fat is rendering from the meat. Then after the fat has rendered, you need to reduce the liquid and crisp up the meat.

4 pounds pork shoulder roast (aka Boston Butt)
Juice of 3 oranges (about 1 cup)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder

Set your grill up for a 5 hour cook over indirect heat at 350°F. On the Big Green Egg I used an inverted plate setter with a trivet on it to diffuse the heat and keep the bottom from burning.

While the grill is heating up, cut the pork into big (4 to 6-inch) chunks, discarding any nasty pieces of connective tissue, but keeping all of the fat.

Combine all of the ingredients in a Dutch oven, and stir to combine. Cover the oven with a lid and set it on the grill. Let it simmer for an hour. The hot juice should have started to break down the fat in the meat.

Remove the lid and let it simmer for another hour. Keep checking and stirring once an hour until most of the liquid has evaporated and the pork has started to fry in its own fat (about another 2 hours).  Then check it every 15 minutes to make sure the meat is getting crispy, but not becoming dry or burned. Total cook time for this batch was just over 4 hours.

The Verdict: ★★★★★
I dearly love carnitas, and this batch was one of the better ones I’ve made. Making a smaller batch (just 4 pounds) and cutting the meat into larger pieces gave me a better crisp/tender ratio. There was lots of nice crunchiness, but the meat didn’t break down too much or dry out. Perfect.

The Emile Henry Dutch oven performed flawlessly. The lid sealed nice and tight to keep the heat and juices in for the braising part of the recipe, yet the pot is wide enough to let the liquid evaporate when I wanted to crisp the meat. This is part of their Flame-Top line, so even when the fire got a little too hot at one point, the pot handled being “flame-licked” just fine and provided nice, even heat.

I really like the design of the lugged handles and the knob on the lid. They really fit the hand and it’s easy to get a good grip on them, even while wearing grilling gloves. I’m sure looking forward to more cooks with this great Dutch oven.

Pork Ragú

I had this velvety meat sauce a while back at an Italian restaurant and knew immediately that I needed to figure out how to make it at home. But months pass, and I kinda forgot about it. Then Chris over at Nibble Me This posted about a similar dish, Milk Braised Pork, and I am inspired.

Ragù alla Bolognese is a (lotsa) meat and (not so much) tomato-based sauce originating in Bologna, Italy. By simmering ground and cubed meat in tomatoes, wine, stock and milk for a long time the meat softens and begins to break down into the sauce. It takes some time to make, but the results are so much more than worth it.

4 pounds pork butt, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds ground sweet Italian pork sausage
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon Italian herb mix (I used Penzey’s mix of oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme and rosemary)
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup  chicken stock
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1 pound pasta (Mrs. Leeper’s gluten-free corn pasta)
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese for topping

Season the cubed pork butt with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large, oven-safe pan or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown the pork butt, about 3-5 minutes a side. Remove the browned pieces to a large bowl and add the sausage to the pan. Crumble and cook until it is just no longer pink, about 10 minutes.

Add onion and garlic to the sausage and cook until the onion is soft and the sausage has started to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, browned pork butt, and any juices from the bowl. Stir well and cover the pan. Cook until the tomatoes have started to break down, about 10 minutes

Uncover and stir in the herbs, red pepper, and milk. Let mixture come to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the milk combines with the tomatoes and starts to soften the meat, 40-60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Stir in the wine and stock and bring the pan back to simmer over medium-high heat. Cover and transfer to the oven. Cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has been absorbed, and pork butt cubes have completely fallen apart, about 3 hours. If the sauce starts to dry out before the meat is tender, add a little more stock or water and continue cooking. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Cook pasta according to the directions on the package and drain. Return the pasta to the pan you cooked it in and add a couple of scoops of the ragú, toss well to wet the pasta.

Serve the pasta topped with more ragú and some grated Parmesan.

The Verdict: ★★★★☆
The sauce was almost everything I had hoped it would be – rich and meaty with just enough canned tomato to add some sweetness and help pull the flavors together.

The 4 stars is for all the things I plan to do to improve the sauce.  Next time Ill try a little spicier sausage, maybe half sweet and half hot. Some of the recipes I saw called for the classic Italian soffritto of diced celery and carrot in addition to the onion and I think this would make the sauce even more complex. Also, I’d cut the pork butt into smaller cubes, probably an inch or less to make the sauce smoother.  Last, but not least, I’d serve it like I had it in the restaurant – over a bed of polenta.

P.S. This recipe makes a ton of sauce, almost a triple batch, which is fine because it freezes well and the only thing better than ragú sauce the first night is more ragú sauce the next night ;).

Emile Henry Flame-Top Cookware

The fine folks at Emile Henry have been kind enough to send me some of their new Flame-Top clay cookware to try out. While they have been making cookware in Burgundy, France since 1850, this is their first line of flameproof ceramic designed to go directly on a live flame, like a gas burner or a barbecue grill.

I can’t wait to try the pieces out on the Big Green Egg, but so far the weather hasn’t been cooperating. In the meantime, I made this chicken pizza in our oven on the Emile Henry pizza stone.

1 12-inch pizza crust (Against the Grain Gluten-Free in this case)
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 large cooked chicken breast, diced
2 cups (8-ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon Greek oregano
1 (6-ounce) can ripe olives, sliced
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup pepperoncini peppers, diced
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion

Place pizza stone in oven and preheat to 350°F. Put crust on stone and pre-bake for 10 minutes. Remove stone from oven and top crust with the sauce, chicken, olives, feta, peppers, and onion. Cover with mozzarella and sprinkle with oregano.

Return pizza and stone to oven and bake for 20 minutes, until crust is crisp and the cheese is brown and bubbly. Remove from oven and let rest 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

The Verdict: ★★★★★
It’s pizza – what’s not to love? I’m usually more of a pepperoni and sausage kind of guy, but the chicken is good with the contrasting salty/spicy peppers, olives, and feta.

The Emile Henry stone really made a difference in the crispness of the pizza crust. The Against the Grain crusts are great, but this time it was considerably more crisp, but still nice and chewy. The stone also cleaned up easily with a little soap and water. Can’t wait to try it on the Egg.

Birthday Surprise

We usually try to get away to someplace warm every year for my birthday. Mostly because the middle of February is a great time to try and dodge cabin fever, but also because I have this idea that if I’m out of the country on my birthday it doesn’t really count. But this year we decided just to lay low.

I thought that meant a nice, quiet weekend lounging around the house, but my dear wife surprised me with a last-minute getaway in a cozy cabin on Lake Superior. She’s the BEST!

No Egging, but we did pack the fixins for my favorite breakfast in the whole wide world – biscuits and gravy.

6 gluten-free biscuits
1 pound pork breakfast sausage
2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup gluten-free flour (I like Pamela’s Amazing Bread Mix or Gluten-Free Pantry Country French Bread Mix)
1 teaspoon hot sauce (Suck Creek WFR Hot Sauce in this case)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Brown the sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Do not drain.  Add the flour and cook over low heat for 5 minutes until it forms a roux and begins to brown.

Remove pan from heat and stir in the milk a little at a time. Scape the bottom to get up any brown bits. Return to medium-high heat and stir occasionally until gravy comes to a simmer and starts to thicken, about 10 minutes. Add the hot sauce, salt, and black pepper and stir to combine. Remove from heat and ladle over warm biscuits.

We ended up getting caught on the wrong side of the blizzard that swept through on Presidents’ Day and had to stay over, snuggled in front of the fire, for another day. Darn it ;)!

Valentine’s Day

I would no more go out to eat on Valentine’s Day than I would go out celebrating on New Year’s Eve.  It’s amateur night – too many packed restaurants with uninspired food and iffy service. Plus, since we’d both been sick, I didn’t want to be out with a whole bunch of people. I just wanted to be home with something tasty – oh, and a good meal too.

Earlier in the week I had gotten a couple of really nice ribeyes out of the freezer and my dear wife had caught a deal on a some king crab legs, so we were set.

I fired up the Big Green Egg and set the oven to 350°F. I seasoned up the steaks with a little sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. When the Egg got up to 600°F, I put the crab legs on a jelly roll pan in the oven and headed out to the grill.

The ribeyes went on for 90 seconds of undisturbed searing. Then I rotated the steaks 90 degrees and gave them another 30 seconds on that side. I flipped the meat and repeated the process on the other side. I flipped them back over and checked for doneness. I gave them another minute on the grill and pulled them when the big one had hit 130°F.

I pulled the steaks off to a plate, covered them with another plate and let them rest for 10 minutes. By then the crab was heated through and my dear wife had bowl of roasted brussels sprouts ready.

A better-than-going-out Valentine’s dinner on the table by 7pm. Not too shabby.

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