Open For Business!

Finally, we had painted the last drop, touched up the last scrape and nailed the last baseboard in place. The kitchen is cleaned up and ready for business. I say, let's have a party and celebrate this hard work.

After

Before

Its all in the details

Buffalo Chicken Wing Soup

Tonight was a night of experiments. Burgers on the grill and this soup. Careful...its a bit spicy.

1 qt of heavy cream
1 qt of chicken broth
3 c diced onions
3 c diced celery
1/4 cup butter with green onion, parsley and garlic added mixed in
1/2 T celery salt
1 T Dijon mustard
2 T Tomato paste
1 cup Franks Hot Sauce
1/3 c flour
1 1/4 pounds grilled chicken breast diced
4 oz blue cheese

Heat cream and chicken broth to a boil. Meanwhile, saute the celery and onion in butter mix till soft.
Mix celery salt, tomato paste, Dijon and hot sauce into veggies.
Sprinkle flour over veggies a and add a few ladles of the boiling broth mixture and allow the mixture to thicken then add to pot with broth. Add the chicken. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
Makes 1 gallon.

Garnish with blue cheese crumbles.  This recipe was marked M's Pub from Omaha. A great eating establishment in the Old Market area.

I made a 1/3 the full recipe and took some liberties. Too much cream for me so I used some skim milk. Pretty good but spicy for some.

Breast of Lamb...a Monday treat

Roasted a golden brown, the house smells insane. I put it in when I came home from work and had a short nap. At 5 p.m. the fragrance overpowered the house. A deep mahogany crust formed on the surface encasing  incredibly tender morsels of meat ready to fall off the bone. Albeit there was a good 3/4 inch of fat at the bottom of the pan that will congeal as soon as it hits cool air but the meat is so tasty.  It's just a snack really. You could not eat this very often but thats what a treat it is. And some folks like cake! Huh.

For dinner tonight I made some chicken milanese with plenty for the rest of the week. Still waiting for my lovely bride to finish her shift and a nice salad topped cutlet will be waiting for her.   

Pumpkins are us.........

The harvest is in which means months of good eats ahead (at least through Thanksgiving). Small pie pumpkins are showing up at the market. Just in time for cold weather recipes including stuffed pumpkins. I love a savory filling with fresh thyme, sausage and mushrooms. Of course I had to have a least one today. Made a nice Italian sausage filling with mushrooms and bread stuffing. Some onions and celery mixed with cubes of cheddar and a sprinkling of Italian blend cheeses. Topping it off with a few springs of fresh thyme and a shake or two of Italian seasoning. Fall is here.





St. Euphrosynos in the kitchen.

A Cool Nebraska Football day....

We worked like fools today generally cleaning up and I tiled the back splash in the kitchen. Today was a day for Beef Bourguignon. I made it early because it has to cook for so long in the oven and we served it over a bed of mashed turnips. Yum. I used Ina Garten's recipe and added pearl onions and quartered crimini mushrooms. The final thickening with a bit of buerre blanc. I dressed the turnips with some parmesean, a splash of cream and knob of butter.

Before the long cook and oinions and mushrooms are added.

Used a split faced travertine 1 x 2 inch stack tiles on a mesh. They cut really nice with a tile saw and did a bit of puzzle work to make them all fit nice and neat. I had to use a hammer to smack a few into place. Very tight fit.

Stuffed Poblanos

Stuffed Poblanos with Chipotle Cream Sauce and shrimps. I could not find any banana peppers so I subbed poblanos and made the stuffing like I posted previously. I used the leftover Alfredo Sauce I had and mixed a package of Wagner's Chipotle Cream sauce with it. Baked the whole thing with a top layer of Pepperjack cheese and served with a side of Roasted Shrimps. Yummy.

Cooking again....kinda

Making pizza again as it has been so long since we have had a nice homemade pizza.  I used a whole pound of seasoned ground beef on one 13 inch pie. The crust was my usual recipe, pre baked and then topped and set directly on the stone. Oven at 400.  Wow, that was one crisp crust. The other pizza was sliced chicken with Alfredo Sauce. ( I used a pouch mix from Knorr, gasp) just being lazy but it was great especially with a few halved grape tomatoes and fresh shredded basil.  I have been putting the cheese on top of the sauce and then the toppings lately. I just like the way things crsip up. I did not try my new cast iron pizza baker yet. This would have been a good opportunity.

Last night, since the weather is turning oddly colder, I harvested a bunch of basil and made pesto. I had to check with Mackenzie first to see if I could add walnuts (allergies) but she said go for it. Some things she is doing better with lately.  So the Pesto is in the fridge but it made only one pint jar and that was a lot of basil. I use it sparingly though. we don't eat pasta so I add it to soups and pizza toppings.

Kitchen confidential, I still have the tiling of the backsplash to go. We also found out that in order to get the carpet finished at the threshold we will need to call the carpet layer. That's a bit of a surprise. I would have guessed for that much money the job would have been finished. Period.  So far, it's been a couple of bucks at every turn, escalating out of control.

The "new" kitchen table is in the garage getting the treatment before a coat of black paint. Recycle and reuse but I still need to buy 6 chairs unless I can find those out there somewhere. We found a great carpet to place the table on also.


How cool is that? My lovely bride collects Bee's in case you don't know.

The wine station/ sideboard

Fortina dropped by today to install the back splash. If you are looking for granite and quality work, these are your guys!

Hot Stuffed Sweet Banana Peppers

Hot Stuffed Sweet Banana Peppers

12 to 14 sweet banana peppers
1 med. yellow onion
1/2 bell pepper, finely chopped
1/8 tsp. Old Bay Seafood Seasoning
Lg. tbsp. mayonnaise
1 1/2 c. French bread crumbs moistened with 2 tbsp. milk
1 c. chopped shrimp
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. parsley flakes
2 tbsp. butter
2 ribs celery
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp. chicken bouillon
Melt butter, add bouillon cube or dry mix. Saute all vegetables (finely chopped) until soft. Add seasonings and bread crumbs and shrimp. Mix well. Add mayonnaise and mix well. Split peppers down one side.
Clean out seeds and membrane. Stuff with mixture. (If the mix is too dry I added cream to moisten it a bit.) Dot with one tablespoon Pace Picante Sauce or tomato sauce. Sprinkle with Canadian Italian seasoned bread crumbs. (instead of that,  I usually make a nice bechamel sauce with cheese and bake the peppers in this.)
Place in buttered baking dish. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour. (Skip this next part if you decide to use the sauce)  Just before done, place strips of grated Monterey Jack cheese on top of each pepper and cook until cheese is bubbly.

Sticky Basalmic Ribs

Ian Knauer's Sticky Balsamic Ribs

by Genius Recipes

Serves 8

For the ribs:

• 8 large garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon kosher salt (divided)
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary
• 2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 8 pounds baby back pork ribs
• 1 cup water

For the glaze:

• 2 cups hot water
• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1. Mince and mash garlic to a paste with 1 teaspoon salt. Stir together with rosemary, brown sugar, vinegar, cayenne, remaining tablespoon salt, and pepper. Rub evenly all over ribs and transfer to roasting pans, meaty side up. Marinate, chilled, 8 to 24 hours. Alternately, marinate in a zippered bag or bowl covered with plastic wrap.
2. Preheat oven to 425°F with racks in upper and lower thirds.
3. Pour 1/2 cup water into each roasting pan and tightly cover pans with foil. Roast ribs, switching position of pans halfway through, until meat is very tender, about 1 3/4 hours. Remove pans from oven and transfer ribs to a platter.
4. Add 1 cup hot water to each roasting pan and scrape up brown bits. Skim off and discard fat, then transfer liquid to a 10-inch skillet. Add vinegar and brown sugar and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Boil until thick and syrupy and reduced to about 1 cup, about 15 minutes.
5. Prepare grill for direct-heat cooking over medium-hot charcoal (medium heat for gas).
6. Brush some of glaze onto both sides of racks of ribs. Grill, turning occasionally, until ribs are hot and grill marks appear, about 6 minutes.
7. Brush ribs with more glaze and serve remaining glaze on the side.

Hmmm these sound awfully tasty. Perhaps I will find some time this weekend to fix them.