PICKLED RED ONIONS

Whether for a taco, a sandwich or even on top of a few slices of brisket for a little acidic crunch - these are tremendous. And they make an easy, great gift when going to someone’s for dinner.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1   1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
• 6-10 black peppercorns
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 medium red onion, sliced into thin semi circles

 DIRECTIONS

1. Combine everything except onion in a small bowl and stir well to dissolve the sugar & salt
2. Put sliced onions in a large bowl and cover with boiling water - let sit about a minute then drain well
3. When the onions are cool enough to handle, put as many as you can into a sterilized pint mason jar, and cover with the brine liquid
4. Screw on the lid and when it’s cool, refrigerate
5. They’ll start being good tomorrow, but great after 3 days or so days 

REFRIED BEANS / FRIJOLES

Great when you buy them, but amazing when you make them. My favorite.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups dry pinto beans
• 3 tablespoons bacon fat, or
• 2 tablespoons neutral oil
• 1/2 white onion, cut into a small dice
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• Kosher salt

DIRECTIONS 

1. Pick through beans and remove anything not bean-like: little stones, gross ones whatever
2. Put beans into a pot and cover well with water – like at least 3 inches
3. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer, cover and let cook until tender and the skins begin to split open - 2 to 2 ½ hours
4. While they simmer, cook onion in bacon fat (or oil)until softened – 3-5 minutes
5. Stir in garlic and cumin to the onion & cook until fragrant, about a minute
6. Then add drained beans – reserving some of the cooking water
7. Using a hand blender, potato masher or even the back of a large spoon (just not a processor) mash the beans to your desired consistency adding as much reserved water as necessary – you’ll likely use 1/3 to ½ a cup
8. Season to taste with salt and serve

WATCH ME MAKE IT

Pesto Pizza

So fricking simple and delicious – a great reason to keep pesto in the fridge. It's super easy and quick, and by quick, I mean in about a minute.

Makes 1 Pizza

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Pizza Dough (store bought or homemade)
• All-purpose flour
• 2-3 tablespoons cornmeal
• One 7 oz container pesto sauce (you'll use about half)
• ¼ -½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 fresh mozzarella cheese ball (broken up in smallish pieces)
• Olive oil
• Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees (unless you are using a pizza oven like Uuni)
2. Sprinkle just enough flour to prevent sticking on dough and working surface. Use your hands or a rolling pin to flatten the dough until it is 1/4-inch thick or less
3. Spread cornmeal on baking sheet and lay the pizza dough on top
4. Spoon a few tablespoons of sauce into the center of the pizza and use the back of a spoon to spread it out to the edges.
5. Next sprinkle red pepper and top with mozzarella
6. Drizzle a little olive oil on top, season with salt and pepper to taste
7. Bake 8 to 12 minutes, depending on the thickness, or until the crust is crisp and golden in a regular oven - but in a pizza oven only as long as needed
8. Slice, eat & repeat!

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Cold Asian Noodle Salad

A simple and delicious way of eating without cranking up the oven.

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

• 4 ounces soba noodles
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• ½ teaspoon sesame oil
• ½ teaspoon white granulated sugar
• ½ tablespoon Sriracha
• ½ cup carrots, julienned (matchstick size)
• ½ cup sugar snap peas sliced diagonally
• ¼ cup radish sliced thin in half circles
• 1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup English cucumbers sliced thin in half circles
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil (like avocado)
• 10 peeled, deveined tail-on shrimp (I used 16/20’s in this recipe)
• Kosher salt
• Sesame seeds
• Thinly sliced green onions and chopped cilantro for garnish

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook noodles according to package directions - do not overcook, drain, rinse well with cold water, drain again and transfer to a bowl
2. While noodles are cooking, in a small bowl combine vinegar, soy, sesame oil, sugar and sriracha - stir well and set aside
3. To the noodles add carrots, peas, radishes, celery and cucumber - mix and add a little sauce (adding more sauce as needed)
4. Heat a pan over medium/high, add oil and justvwhen it’s about to smoke add the shrimp and cook about 1 minute - season with Kosher salt, add splash of ½ tablespoon soy and 1 tablespoon Sriracha; mix well and cook until done, remove shrimp from heat
5. Place the noodles/vegetables on serving plate, top with shrimp and garnish with green onions, cilantro and sesame seeds

WATCH ME MAKE THIS

Buffalo Chicken Burger

Makes 3

Who says ground chicken is dry?  This is moist, messy and stupid good.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1/3 cup finely diced celery
• 1/3 cup finely diced green onion
• ¼ cup finely chopped curly parsley
• Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
• Franks Red Hot
• 1/3 cup panko crumbs
• 2 tablespoons each mayo & sour cream
• ¼ cup blue cheese crumbles
• 3 buns – and make good ones like brioche
• Shredded lettuce for serving

DIRECTIONS

1. In a bowl put chicken, celery, green onion, parsley, salt, pepper, 2 teaspoons Franksand panko – mix well
2. Shape into 3 patties, put on a wax paper or a parchment lined plate and refrigerate at least 30 minutes
3. Meanwhile combine mayo, sour cream & blue cheese – mix really well and set aside
4. Cook burgers any way you like (but a cast iron pan is always a good thought)
5. Once you flip them over, brush the tops with more Franks and cook until done
6. Grill or toast buns
7. Build burgers: bun, sauce, lettuce, burger, bun

WATCH ME MAKE THIS... 

Salmon with Garlic Cream Sauce

I served this delicious sauce over salmon, but you can use it on chicken, shrimp, scallops, shoes (ok not really) - but seriously pretty much on anything!

Sauce:

1 teaspoon neutral oil, like avocado

2 tablespoons red onion, finely diced

1-2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons dry vermouth

2 tablespoons very cold butter

1/3 cup heavy cream

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

• Warm a small pot over medium heat - add oil, onion, garlic and cook until onion has softened, 2-3 minutes

• Slowly add vermouth and simmer until liquid reduces to about half

• Put in butter, whisking in until melted - then add cream and stir through to heat and until sauce slightly thickens

• Mix in lemon juice and dill - season with salt and pepper to taste - set aside

Salmon:

Four 6 - 8 ounce salmon fillets, skin off and out of the fridge at least 20 minutes

Neutral oil

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

• Lightly oil salmon and season with salt & pepper, be generous

• Heat a non-stick pan really well - until almost smoking

• Turn on the fan and carefully add salmon to pan - top side down first

• Cook until about 1/4 of the way done - and you can see this by watching the sides of the salmon change color

• Carefully turn over, cook the same – remove

• Serve with garlic cream sauce and garnish with a touch more dill

WATCH ME MAKE THIS

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Herbed Slow Scrambled Eggs

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 eggs
• Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon fresh curly parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh dill, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon green onions, finely chopped
• 1 - 2 tablespoons shredded Monterey Jack cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt butter in a small skillet over low to medium heat, making sure it covers the bottom and sides
2. Add parsley, dill and green onions to melting butter - cook, stirring often about 2 minutes to really bring out the flavor of the herbs
3. Crack eggs into a small bowl, add salt & pepper, beat well and then add to the pan with the herbs
4. Cook slowly, stirring often making sure the eggs don’t stick to the bottom
5. When the eggs are about halfway done, add cheese - continue stirring until eggs are cooked through but still creamy
6. Serve

WATCH ME MAKE THIS

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Double Wrapped Shrimp & Bacon Tacos

Makes about 6

I like the idea of putting everything out in bowls, and letting my guests make their own.  I mean come on – why do I have to do all the work?  

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 3/4 lb peeled, uncooked shrimp cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
• 1 lime cut in half, then one half into wedges
• 6 soft corn tortillas
• 3/4 cup refried beans, warmed
• 6 hard taco shells, warmed according to package directions
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• Lettuce, shredded
• 6 slices bacon, cooked, crispy and crumbled
• 3 green onions, finely diced
• Cholula hot sauce

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat pan well then add oil and shrimp - stir-fry quickly as the shrimp will cook fast 
2. When almost done (about 2 minutes) sprinkle shrimp with Old Bay then squeeze juice from the lime half on top 
3. Give them one quick mix and remove to a bowl alongside the tortillas, beans, sour cream and lettuce, bacon and green onions 
4. Now simply let people make their own: put some beans on one side of a soft tortilla, the wrap that around a hard shell tortilla
5. Add some sour cream, some lettuce, the shrimp, some bacon, some green onions and finally a few shakes of hot sauce
6. Eat – as if that wasn’t fricking obvious

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Easy Chicken Adobo

A little sweet, a little sour and all damn delicious - and did I mention tender? This is sure to make a Filipino lola (grandma) very proud :)

Serves 2-4 people (depends how hungry you are...)

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pounds skin on, bone-in, chicken thighs (skinless, boneless work great too)
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon fresh ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 bay leaves

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine soy, vinegar, pepper, brown sugar, garlic and bay leaves in the bottom of a large pot with a well fitting lid pot.
2. Place chicken skin side down in pot and bring to a boil
3. Immediately turn down to a simmer and cover
4. After 30 minutes remove lid, turn chicken over and simmer for another 20 - 30 minutes until super tender
5. Serve with steamed rice.

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WATCH ME MAKE THIS...

Btw, yes – I did forget to add the brown sugar in this video (I hate me sometimes).

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5 Minute Beer Bread

To be honest - it makes in 5 minutes but cooks in about 50. In any case it’s only 3 ingredients and so damn good it won’t matter.

Ingredients

• 3 cups self-rising flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 bottle (12 ounces) beer - preferably something with a little flavor - room temperature

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix flour and sugar and slowly add beer
3. Mix all ingredients well, until smooth
4. Place in greased loaf pan & place pan in center of oven and bake for about 50 minutes
5. Remove from oven and take bread out of pan and allow to cool on a rack or stove grates

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watch how I make this

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