Blackened Pork Tenderloin Medallions – with Strawberry & Rhubarb Compote and Greek Yogurt

aka...

Homemade Superchef Winner!

Before we get to the recipe, I feel compelled to provide narrative about the competition.  Homemade Superchef was an incredible experience.  My fellow competitors made fantastic dishes, the students from HACC freely gave so much time and effort, Chef Patty was fantastic and it was an honor to work in her kitchen, my personal sous chef Steve was awesome, and the organizers of the event, Events By Eye Candy did a great job.  We managed to support two amazing organizations, The Peyton Walker Foundation and New Hope Ministries, who do great work in our community.  I want to thank everyone who was part of the event, those who came out, and those who supported us financially.  It truly is an honor to be name the First Homemade Superchef.

As to the dish, I put this idea together for various reasons, first my love of sweet and savory, heat and sweet, and fruit and cream were all somehow mixed in to it.  When I looked at the list of PA Preferred products that I was supposed to highlight, it just came to me.  The strawberry & rhubarb compote was inspired by a dish I had at Aureole's in Las Vegas earlier this year on my anniversary trip. The blackened pork loin was chosen from the list of PA Preferred and my years of watching Top Chef and knowing that it will hold and serve well during the competition.  The yogurt was added to cool the heat and meld with the compote.  And there you have it.  The oats were simply to add a little texture.

So without further ado...

Pork

.5 lbs Pork Tenderloin

6 Tbsp Sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp Kosher Salt

2 Tbsp Paprika

2 tsp Garlic Powder

2 tsp Onion Powder

3/4 tsp Coriander

3/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Pepper

1/4 tsp Cayenne

1/4 tsp White Pepper

2 Tbsp Butter

Compote

11 ounces Rhubarb

2 Tbsp Vanilla sugar

3 Tbsp Apple syrup

1 pound Strawberries

2 Tbsp Cornstarch

2 sprigs Mint

10 ounces Greek Yogurt (low-fat)

2 Tbsp Sparkling Mineral water

Granola

1 cups Rolled oats

1 Tbsp Dark brown sugar

1 Tbsp Maple syrup

1 Tbsp Vegetable oil

1/4 tsp Salt

1.       Brine Pork in Sugar, Salt and Water mixture for about an hour

2.       In a skillet, melt butter add blackening seasonings.  Whisk until dark brown.  Remove from skillet and cool

3.       Rub spice mixture all over pork

4.       Cook pork on high direct heat about on all 4 sides (about 2 ½ minutes per side), move to indirect heat or oven, cover and continue cooking until pork reaches medium rare-medium (145-160)

5.       Rest meat before cutting

6.       Peel and prep rhubarb into even ¼ chucks

7.       Mix rhubarb, vanilla sugar, apple syrup, and ¾ cup water (enough) bring to boil, cover and let simmer

8.       Prep strawberries into 1/4s, puree about of them with immersion blender.

9.       Put puree through sieve add to rhubarb pot

10.   Make cornstarch sluree, add to rhubarb

11.   Add remain strawberries to rhubarb pot

12.   Add remained apple syrup and mint

13.   Cook until strawberries soften, chill for a few hours

14.   Mix wet granola ingredients in a bowl

15.   Fold in oat

16.   Bake on cookie sheet (lined) for about 1 hour 15 mins, stir occasionally for color

17.   Whip Greek yogurt, mineral water, and remaining vanilla sugar

A few notes..

Apple Syrup can be made using sugar and apple juice, the same manner in which you make simple syrup

Vanilla sugar is made by placing a vanilla bean in the sugar, sealing it in a plastic bag for about 1 week.

Enjoy!

Standing Rack of Venison with Cabernet Juniper Reduction, served with Corn Bread Oyster Stuffing

Standing Rack of Venison with Cabernet Juniper Reduction, served with Corn Bread Oyster Stuffing

The hunt.  A time honored tradition in many homes across the country.   It is a special time of year when a boy wakes up before sun up and wanders into the woods with their father, hopefully get a chance to shoot their first deer, and return home a young man.  I personally have been hunting most of my life.  I am one of the lucky ones, whose grandfather happened to buy into a camp in the middle of West Virginia years ago, and through good management it has passed down the generations and I get the honor of hunting every late fall. 

The only problem with hunting, is most of us come home to a spouse who says, “I don’t like deer meat.”  To which like most red blooded American hunters we reply, that is because you haven’t had it cooked right.  For the hunter, we grew up eating venison, many of our child hood memories center around a good deer steak and potatoes, or deer chili, but for those who were not so lucky, aka the spouse, they have only been exposed to venison a hand full of times.  Now the problem, as I see it anyway, is when someone who does not normally eat deer bites into it for the first time, they are expecting the taste of beef.   And much to their dismay, they bite down on venison.  To believe venison should taste like beef is to believe Cabernet should taste like grape juice, or chicken should taste like duck.   If you put something in your mouth and expect a different flavor, odds are you are going to not be happy.  Venison, beef, and lamb are all red meats and that is about where the comparison ends.  Venison is leaner, and has much deeper taste.  Now when the lucky hunter is trying to “cook it right” for their spouse, they do whatever they can to try and mask the natural flavors of the venison and prop it up with other flavors.   That is where you get the “Italian dressing marinade” recipes.  No matter what the hunter does he cannot cook the flavor of the deer out of the venison.  Nor should you, as I recently proved to Shawn. 

I have been planning on doing this standing rack of venison for about three years now.  But, my aim has been off, or I just didn’t see a one.  But this year as I watched my nine point buck drop in my scope, I knew it was time.  I prepared this wonderful dish for myself, Shawn, and a couple of friends.  At the end of the meal, Shawn admitted she liked venison. 

A few tips before you try one on your own.  First, the standing rib rack was a lot of butchery and knife work for presentation purposes.  But as most of you know I like my presentation, you may replicate this with the whole or a portion of the loin.  As venison is very lean, many people tend to overcook it, medium rare of steaks and chops.  I know that is how I feel about my beef as well, but really, the bad raps venison gets is it is “tough” and that is a direct result of over cooking it.  The other option is low and slow.  This works great for roasts, which is the method I used here.  And for the love god, please quit trying to make it taste like beef or mask the flavors with marinades.  I actually use a chicken stock when doing sauces and braising liquids.  Anyway enjoy….

Butchery

While butchering the deer and it is still hanging, but before you remove the quarters.  Make a slice along the spine the length of the “back strap” The cut should go all the way through to the rips and run as close to the spine as possible.  Now using a saws-all, I prefer the wood blades, cut the rib cage along the sternum from the neck all the way to the bottom of the rib cage.  Then cut the ribs along the spine through the slice you made by the back strap.  Two quick horizontal cuts and the rib rack has been removed and is ready to move into the kitchen.

Clean the meat with a damp paper towel.  There will be bone fragments and possible hair on the meat and nobody wants that.  Using a sturdy utility knife “whittle” away all of the connective tissue on the bones.  This process is known as Frenching and it takes time, practice and patients.  Your knife will suffer.  Make sure you get an edge back on it when complete.

Using a very sharp utility knife and trim up your loin.  This is a simple process of making it look pretty by cutting excess flaps of meat, trimming the ends, and slice off the remaining connective tissues.

 

One Venison Loin

2 Quart of Chicken Stock
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Bottle of Cabernet (If you won’t drink it, don’t use it to cook with)
5-6 Dried Juniper Berries
Corn Bread (See my recipe here)
1 Cup Raw Oysters
3-4 cloves of Garlic
3 Stalks of Celery
2 Large Yellow Onion
1 tbs Corn Starch
Olive Oil
2 sticks of unsalted butter

 

Combine salt, pepper, garlic powder 1:1:2 in a bowl.  Generously rub the loin down with garlic mixture.  In a large hot skillet sear as much of the meat as you can.  If you are doing a standing rack this can be tricky but just use your tongs to turn and hold it.  Now notice I said sear, not cook.  You just need to lightly brown the outside of the meat.  If you are doing the standing rack use string to wrap the loin into a circle or crown if desired.  Use foil to cover the end of the bones to keep them from burning.  Place standing up, using foil for support in your roasting pan.  Deglaze the pan with a ¼ cup of the cabernet.  Pour the deglazing liquids into roasting pan.  Add 1 chopped onion, 2 cloves diced garlic, and 1 chopped celery stick.  Add 3-4 dried juniper berries.  Cover with foil place in 350 degree oven for 1 hour. 

Crumble corn bread into 1 inch chunks and put in a medium sized baking dish.  In a skillet, melt 1 stick of butter, add olive oil, add 2 cloves of minced garlic, diced yellow onion, and finely chopped celery.  Sautee until onions are beginning to be translucent.  Add your oysters, liquor and all.  Sautee for about 2 minute.  Melt your other stick of butter into pan.  Fold into corn bread.  If more moisture is desired add chicken stock.  Place baking dish in 350 degree oven for 20-30 mins.

Pour remaining cabernet, assuming you didn’t drink it all, then open another bottle and pour about half the bottle into a pot.  Add to it the remaining juniper berries.  Put on medium heat and allow to reduce.  About 10 minutes before the loin comes out of the oven, mix 1 tbs of corn starch with about 1/8 cup of water, our into reduced wine.   This will thicken the sauce for presentation.

Serve, enjoy, and await your spouse’s response.

 

 

Rosemary Pork with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Black Truffle Sour Cream Sauce and Green Beans

Rosemary Pork with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Black Truffle Sour Cream Sauce and Green Beans









Recently I had the pleasure of touring Sterman Masser Potato Farms in Central Pennsylvania.  They are one of the largest grower, packer, and shipper of yummy spuds on the east coast.  I was lucky enough to get a guided tour of the facility, and man, if you can imagine a lot of potatoes, now double it, you still are not even close to the amount of potatoes these guys are handling.  They do everything from the basic russetsr to the blues, reds, and yes my personal favorite fingerling varieties.  They are even taking potatoes to a new level and have developed steamer bags, that you can just pop into a microwave and have a simple side dish for those busy nights.  If you think that Idaho has a lock on the potato market, well you might want to keep you "eye" on Central Pennsylvania as Sterman Masser has a serious amount of "skin" in the game.  In the picture above you can see just one of the massive rooms of potatoes.  (Couldn't help my self with the puns)

After my tour I was given a selection of some of their finest.  And this is the dish that was inspired by my great day at Sterman Masser.

2 Medium Thickness Pork Chops
1 lbs Finferling Potatoes
3 cups Fresh Cut Green Beans
1 tsp Black Truffle Butter (you can find this at William Sonoma, pricey but worth it)
1 cup sour cream
3-4 sprigs of Rosemary, chopped
Enough Powdered Rosemary
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
1/2 cup Vegetable Stock
1 finely diced Shallot
2 cloves finely diced Garlic
1 cup Red Wine (prefer pinot)

As for the above referenced measurement of "Enough", it is a valid measurement.  You will see me use it again, as there is no other term to describe the amount you will need.  I was first introduced to the term "Enough" by my mother and making pie crust.  See when she was a little girl, her father sent her to her great aunt to learn how to make pie crust, as nobody made pie crust like her great aunt, and my grandfather was a picky man.  So, my mom climbed up on a stool, paper and pen and hand, ready to transcribe the recipe for the worlds greatest pie crust.  My great, great, aunt (just aunt going forward) dumped some flour out onto the board and started plopping shortening in and kneading the dough around.  My mom quips, ok how much was that?  And my aunt in all of her home grown cooking glory says "Enough".  My mom asked for clarification on enough, to which my aunt replied "Until it is short".  Baffled my mother tried to define measurement of these two new term, enough and short, only to discover they are completely accurate.  As when making pie crust the ratio of flour, water and shortening depends on elevation, humidity, and general feel of the dough, there is no quantitative measurement that quite gets it right.  When it was my turn to learn how to make pie crust, I went through the same baffling experience.  But after many failed attempts, I now understand that it is a feel, a feel you can only get from experience.  As I continued to learn to cook, my mother often times used the term "Enough" and now I can't find a better way to describe certain elements of cooking.  You can always shoot me an email when you finally understand the term, and we can have a small chuckle.

First the potatoes.  Quarter cut the potatoes.  You can practice your knife skills here and make them into wedge shapes for presentation, but just remember to keep the pieces as uniform as possible.  Spread them out on a cooking sheet and coat with enough olive oil.  The oil is going to keep the seasoning stuck to the potato during baking.  So you need enough, but don't drown them in oil.  Sprinkle with sea salt, cracked black pepper, garlic powder, rosemary powder, and copped fresh rosemary.  I use both as the powder insures that you get a uniform flavor, but the fresh adds something you can't get from powder. Place in oven at 425 degrees, and leave them alone.

Season pork chops with salt, pepper, garlic powder, rosemary powder, fresh rosemary. Heat a sautéing pan (that is the skillet with the straight up and down sides) to medium high. Coat pan with olive oil.  Place chops in pan and sear meat until browned on both sides.  Transfer pork into a small pyrex roasting roasting dish, pour in a red wine until pork is half submerged, add additional rosemary to wine.  Cover with foil and place in oven.

In a medium sauce pan put green beans and cover in water, season water with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Place on medium heat and let cook beans.  Be careful not to get to hard boil, if you need turn temp down.

Back to the sautéing pan, make sure pan is still hot.  Add more olive oil, once oil is hot add shallots and garlic.  Sautee until brown.  Deglaze pan with vegetable stock.  On "deglazing", the idea here is to add a cool liquid to a hot pan.  When you do this the yummy bits and dried flavors on the bottom of the pan come up and join the party with the liquid and other ingredients in the pan, while most amateur cooks think those black and brown bits on the bottom of the pan are burnt, good cooks know it is chalk full of flavor.  Now don't get me wrong here, if you burnt you garlic or shallot, deglazing will not get rid of that foul taste, but if the meat, garlic, and shallot were all cooked properly the explosion of flavor you are adding to the sauce is amazing.  The liquid you use can be all kinds of things, but most commonly they are wine or stock.  Use of liquors is also common, but make sure you burn of the alcohol when doing this, you can either cook it down for a while or catch it on fire (have your fire extinguisher near by, congrats now you look like a TV chef).

Allow the stock you just added to boil down until about 25% has evaporated.  Add sour cream, as the sour cream melts, add truffle butter.  Keep stirring until the butter melts and the sauce gets to the consistency you desire.  It is a thin sauce so do not go looking for alfredo here. 

Pull potatoes and pork from oven.  Plate and serve. 

Enjoy!

A Religious Experience

Her face says it all.  But for those of not practiced in the art of reading people's faces, let me give you a  few moments of back ground.  Shawn loves pizza, and that may be the understatement of the year.  She may even love pizza more than me.  So when we began planning our trip to Italy, she insisted we eat a lot of pizza.  When she discovered that pizza was invinted in Naples and we were going to be in Naples, well it was either eat pizza in Naples or lose my wife forever.  

So that morning we awoke in Sorrento, jumped the local train to Pompeii to explore the ruins.  This is what I had been waiting for, ancient history is almost as important to me as food.  Shawn, was looking forward to the ruins, but more importantly, Pompeii is outside Naples.   As we departed what I think was one of the highlights of my Italian experience, I could see in Shawn's eyes that she was ready for what she thought was going to be the highlight of her life.

For those of us who don't know the story of the pizza, the Royal Palace of Capodimonte commissioned the Neapolitan Raffaele Esposito to create something in honor of Queen Margherita's visit to Naples.  He came up with three versions, of which the Queen prefered the one that reminded her of the Italian flag: tomato (red), basil (green), and mozzerella (white).  So they named it the Pizza Margherita.

To be honest, a fresh from the brick oven Pizza Margherita in Naples, was an amazing experience.  The flavors, atmosphere, and general historical significance has become a cherished foodie memory.  As you can tell from the picture, it has become something quite more in line with a religious experience for Shawn.  I have always been a meat lovers pizza kind of guy, but now I will order the Pizza Margherita; and embrace it.  So for dinner tonight, I suggest you order one up from your local pizza shop and share the history with your family.  

          

Slow Roasted Rosemary Pork Chops on Apple and Parsnip Hash with a Leak and Portabella Blue Cheese Morney Sauce

Slow Roasted Rosemary Pork Chops
on Apple and Parsnip Hash
with a Leak and Portabella Blue Cheese Morney Sauce

First let me apologize for my absence.  I begun this project, like many projects I begin, with the highest hopes.  But life, is life, and I go distracted by the day to day rat race.  Shawn has been on me for some time now to come back to it and get blogging.  She pointed to my traffic and how it was higher than anything she had ever managed.  So here I am, back at it again.  I promise to you my foodie friends that I will not the rat race blind me again.  As Food is Life and this is my best way to share.

Ah, fall.  The time of harvest, the time of the farmers market.  Not like I don't take every chance I get to go to the farmers market, I mean its like a foodie paradise.  Local vendors hawking their wears.  Small booths set up with unusual ingredients for the foodie.  Entrepreneurs trying to get their slice of the pie, mostly by selling pie.   And of course fresh produce from the surrounding fields and recently departed animals waiting to be consumed. 

This dish is what I whipped up after my last trip, and you can look forward to more as the harvest continues.

Enjoy!

2-4 Pork Chops
1 cup red cooking wine
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
3 medium to large parsnips
3 red gala apples
3 table spoons apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
1 table spoon sugar
1 Leak
1 1/2 cups sliced baby portabella mushrooms
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups crumble blue cheese
salt
pepper
garlic powder
olive oil


Season both sides of the chops with salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Heat a medium skillet, coat bottom with olive oil.  Sear pork chops on both sides.  Transfer the chops to a large baking dish.  Pour red cooking wine into dish, creating a bath for the chops.  Do not cover them completely, just a nice bath.  Strip the sprigs of rosemary placing the leaves on top of each chop.  Wrap dish in foil, place in preheated oven at 350 degrees.  Now forget they are in there for at least 45 mins.

Peal and Dice Parsnips into small squares.  Now for those just learning, it is important to keep the squares about the same size so they cook evenly.  Place parsnips into medium sauce pan with water, bring to a boil until parsnips are just before fork tender.  (Fork Tender, there is one of those terms that I picked up on over the years, and was completely unaware that the whole world didn't know what it means.  Simply put, you can stab it with a fork with very little resistance.  Now in this case I am saying before fork tender, which means you would have to know what fork tender was, how to identify it, and how to know what things look like just before they become fork tender, and because parsnips are not a widely used ingredient, I am sure, you have no idea.  So cook them until they get soft, but not mushy) 

This process of partially cooking the parsnips by boiling them, is known as par-boil.  Again another term I was unaware that the whole world didn't know, and I am not completely sure its not some West Virginia Hillbilly word from my youth.  But, it is what I call it, and will continue to call it, until Wiley Dupree or some such celeb chef corrects me.  Par-boiling is used to get dense food cooked partially so the cook time of them matches the cook time of other ingredients in your dish.  Use it wisely and cautiously as you don't want to boil the flavor out of your food.

Peal and Dice Apples.  Keep these about the same size as your Parsnips.  Heat on med-high the pan you used to sear the pork, coat the bottom of the pan in olive oil.  Place Parsnips and Apples in pan and sauté them.  Once they Parsnips and Apples begin to cook, combine Apple Cider Vinegar, Water and Sugar in a bowl and pour on top of Parsnips and Apples.  This will deglaze the pan.  Meaning get all of the brown bits from the pork off the bottom and up adding to the flavor of the hash.  Keep cooking the has until it browns.  Keep moving the hash around as to get all of it some time on the bottom to get browned.  Be careful not to smash it up to much, we are making hash and not mash.

Chop the Leak Up.  As many people don't use leaks on a daily basis, let me just clarify how to do this.  Cut the root end off.  Make sure you can see the rings of the leak clearly and there isn't any funny grey color.  If you can't see the rings, cut off more.  Then on the other end, the dark green is no good.  Yes, yes I am aware you paid for these by the pound, and now I am telling you to cut most of it off, but just do it.  If you really want to make use of the dark green find a blog from some crafty person and learn how to make a center piece out of them.  Then cut cylinder you have left long ways.  Then chop into little half moon pieces just like celery.  Heat a medium skillet, coat the bottom in olive oil.  Add Leaks and Mushroom.  Sauté until mushrooms break down.  Add Butter.  Melt Butter.  Add Flour, whisk/stir until all the flour is gone and it appears that there is a paste all over the food.  If you still see flour, add oil, add butter, add fat.  (Fat equals flavor)  Pour in Milk and begin to whisk.  Keep whisking and the sauce will begin to thicken.  It should begin to resemble gravy.  Add Crumbled Blue Cheese, whisk until it completely melts.  Tada!  You have made Morney Sauce, and quite elaborate one at that.

Spoon hash onto plate, remove pork from oven and place on top then add sauce.  Yummy, Harvest!

Manchego and Portobello Crepe with Balsamic Reduction

It was the first morning of our honeymoon.  After getting in late, we awoke in a tropical paradise, Playa del Carmen, Mexico.  To celebrate our nuptials, we had chosen an all adult, all- inclusive resort named El Dorado.  This was my first vacation out of the country and both of our first time in an all-inclusive resort, so we had no idea what to expect.  When we were being taken to our room late that night, the bell hop had pointed out the Garden Grille and said that is where breakfast would be served.  In the morning sun it was beautiful; ceiling to floor glass wrapped the entire dining room looking out on to a tropical garden, all topped with a very tall thatched roof.  After being seated the waiter came by, gave us a cup of coffee and some fresh squeezed orange juice.  We placed our orders and this dish is what Shawn had ordered.  After a moment, the waiter came back and topped off my coffee with a shot of Kahlua, then shortly thereafter did the same for my orange juice, but vodka this time.  I looked up at the waiter and asked if this is what it was going to be like all week, and the reply was simply, “Si Senior”  So for Valentine’s Day last year, I recreated the dish for my beautiful wife.

Enjoy…

½ cup All-Purpose Flour

1 Egg

¼ cup Milk

¼ cup Water

1 tablespoon Butter (melted)

1 cup Sliced Portobello Mushrooms

1 cup Shredded Manchego Cheese

1 cup Balsamic Vinegar

1/8 cup Sugar

Salt

Pepper

2 table spoons Olive Oil

In a 1 quart Pot put Vinegar, Sugar, and a pinch of Salt.  Please make sure you use a good balsamic, the cheap stuff just won’t taste the same.  Place on medium heat and reduce until the mixture to ¼ cup.

In a medium Skillet heat Olive Oil over medium to medium high heat.  Add Portobello Mushrooms and season with Salt and Pepper.  Sauté until mushrooms shrink some and become tender.   Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the Flour and Eggs.  Gradually add the Milk and the Water, stirring to combine.  Add the salt and butter and beat until smooth.

Heat a large Skillet and spray with cooking spray.  You need to get a good coating; you do not want it to stick.  Poor about a ¼ cup of the batter into Skillet.  Tilt the Skillet in a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.  Crepes are supposed to be very thin, and even, this is not an omelet.  Cook for about 2 minutes, or until the bottom is light brown.  Flip it carefully and lay Mushrooms and Manchego Cheese, (Manchego is a soft goat cheese from the center of Spain, it has a rich smooth taste without a lot of bite.  Feta or gorgonzola will not work as a substitute, if you can’t find it think more like Monterey Jack) 

Fold the crepe like a burrito and place in the center of the plate.  Drizzle with the Balsamic Glaze and sprinkle a little Cheese on top.

Enjoy!

Ricotta and Pistachio Stuffed Figs with Honey

The Amuse-bouche, that is French for amuse the mouth (My high school French teacher would be so proud), is a course that precedes the appetizer.  It is intended to be one simple bite with a complex flavor.  I for one find it very hard to create little bites like this one, but this was not one of those times.  I first prepared this for Shawn on Valentine’s Day, and now I get bugged to make it again on a regular basis.  Only trouble is finding good figs.  So when you come across some, grab yourself some, and mail me some as well.  I think this will be a staple at Christmas.

Enjoy…

2 cups Figs

1 cup Ricotta Cheese

6 oz. chopped Pistachios

¼ cup Honey

  

Toast Pistachios in a med Skillet.  These will burn quickly.  The oils will take the nuts from warm to roasted to burnt inside of 1-2 min, so watch them very carefully.  Let them cool. 

Cut figs in half long ways, and deseed. Fold nuts into Ricotta Cheese.  Stuff Figs with the nut and cheese mixture.  Drizzle with honey and serve.

Enjoy!

Braised Beef Rib with Parsnip Mash

After watching Masterchef Season 3 Finale last night I decided it was time to post my Season 3 tryout dish.  There is one small draw back to this dish; I will not share my BBQ Sauce recipe.  That does not mean you can’t enjoy this tasty dish, it just means you have to use your own BBQ Sauce.  If you aren’t into making your own sauce from scratch I recommend the Sweet Baby Ray’s line of products.  I find them to have a nice flavor and enough varieties to satisfy every pallet.  If you want to try my sauce, you have the option of attending one of the few events a year in which I make it.  Those times being, the Superbowl, hunting camp (those invites do not come easy), and once during the summer.  Now if you would send me a check, I may be inspired to return a bottle of my sauce, but it needs to be a big check and expect a small bottle.  You may recognize the Parsnip Mash from my Steak Roulade, I choose it here because it transports well.  (Remember cook in HBG, transport to Washington DC, wait in line for ever, and then serve) But you may sub out some nice mash potatoes.  (I wasn’t kidding about the checks, LOL)

2 Beef Ribs

16 oz. BBQ Sauce of your preference

4 oz. Liquid Smoke

2 cups Beef Stock

4 Parsnips

2 Gala Apples

½ cup Milk

1 tablespoon of Butter

3 tablespoons of Olive Oil

1 teaspoon of Horseradish

½ cup Micro Greens

Salt

Pepper

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

1 dried Chipotle Chili

1 dried Arbol Chili

(If you do not have access to the Chilies you may use Chili Powder instead)

Carefully separate your Beef Ribs into two separate ribs, being careful to keep the same amount of meat on each bone.  Now it’s time to French the bones.  Put your tongue back in your mouth, the term French refers to the scrapping of the tendons and such from the end of the bone.  Use a paring knife to complete this task.  Chop up your Chilies and put them in your spice blender.  (another great toy that is a must have in your kitchen)  Grind them until they reach a powder consistency.  Dry rub the Ribs with Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, and Chili Powder.  Let stand at least 1 hour, overnight preferably.

Heat a medium Skillet over medium-high heat.  Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Sear Ribs.  This will cause a lot of smoke, so make sure your hood is cranking and the nearest windows are open.  Sear every side of the meat.  Place seared Ribs in medium baking dish. 

Pour ½ cup of Beef Stock into the Skillet in which you seared the Ribs.  Add liquid smoke.  Whisk all of the little burnt bits into the liquid and pour liquid in baking dish with Ribs.  Add the remaining Beef Stock to baking dish.  Cover with foil and place in oven at 325 for at least 3 hours.  (The longer it goes the more “fall of the bone” the meat will become)  Once meat has reached the level of doneness you prefer, pull off foil and drain most of the broth.  (This is yummy, yummy broth.  You may want to freeze it for future cooking.)  Coat the Ribs in the BBQ sauce.  Place back into oven for about 15 mins to let the sauce seep into the meat.

Peal and cube the Parsnips into ¼ inch cubes.  Fill a 4 quart pot ¾ full of water, add salt to the water, and then add in Parsnips.  Bring to boil and boil until Parsnips are fork tender.  Peal and cube Apples into ¼ inch cubes.  Heat Olive Oil and 1 tablespoon of Butter in a medium Sauté Pan over medium to medium high heat, add Apples and sauté until they become tender and golden brown.   You will need to stir them constantly as the sugars in the Apples will burn easily, you are trying caramelize them not charcoal them.  Drain Parsnips and place them and Apples in a large mixing bowl, add tablespoon of Butter, season with salt.  Using your hand mixed beat Parsnips and Apples, while slowly adding Milk.  I say slowly because sometimes it takes a half cup milk, sometimes it only takes a quarter cup milk.  There are more factors than I care to go into here on why, but when you first heard these factors you were in 7^th grade science class and if they didn’t make since then, they probably won’t again.  The easiest thing is slowly add milk and stop when you reach the consistency you are looking to achieve.

Mound the Puree Mash on the plate, top with Rib, then garnish with Micro Greens.  Place a nice smear of extra sauce on the plate and a mound of Horseradish for those bold pallets.

Enjoy!

Filet Mignon Stuffed with Gorgonzola

“Keep them as a storage fee,” my friend Sam uttered as she collected the bulk of the steaks she had been storing in my freezer.  She was moving and didn’t have enough space to keep most of her frozen goods during the process, so I offered up my freezer as a home to her collection of steaks.  When she was picking up her assorted meats, she was sweet enough to leave me with several packages of steak.  Now to simply cook a filet and serve it with a baked potato would almost be sacrilege to my creative culinary spirit, so my mind began to spin.  One of Shawn’s and my favorite local places to eat, Bube’s Brewery has a stuffed steak every day on the menu, so in homage to Bube’s off to the kitchen I went. (I will be sure to add a post about Bube’s Brewery in the near future)

Enjoy…

2- 8oz Filets

1 cup crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese

3 minced cloves of Garlic

4 Russet Potatoes

½ cup Sour Cream

4 tablespoons of butter

2 cups beef stock

1 tablespoons of flour

1 large slivered Yellow Onion

2 tablespoons of Olive Oil

1 tablespoon of Cayenne Pepper

Salt

Pepper

Garlic Powder

Trim any excess fat from the steaks and toss in to medium Skillet.  Using a good paring knife, “Good Knife,” this is an essential to cooking.  Please do yourself a favor and lay out the cash for a high quality set of knives.  This will make prep time and honestly cooking much more enjoyable.  Using a good paring knife slice pockets into the side to the steaks.  You are trying to create a hole to stuff with cheese not butterflying the steak, so keep the entry hole on the small to medium side, while the depth should be just short of the other side, and as wide as the steak. 

In a bowl combine 2 tablespoons Minced Garlic, Gorgonzola Cheese, and 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil.  Mix until Garlic is evenly distributed throughout.  Stuff the mixture into the pocket of the steak.  Pack it in tight, do this in small bits at a time.  Pressing each bit in and compressing before moving on to a new bit.  The cheese should almost be bursting out the side when done.  Season steaks with Salt, Pepper, Cayenne Pepper, and Garlic Powder.

Heat a medium Skillet over medium high heat.  Get one tablespoon of Olive Oil hot.  Place steaks in the center of the Skillet.  You are just searing the steaks; not cooking them all the way through, so 1-2 minutes on each side will be perfect.  Place steaks into medium baking dish and into the oven on 350 for 10-15 minutes or until they reach medium rare.  (Again, medium rare is how you should be eating steak, if you are one of those well done people, please reconsider the flavors are just gone)

Turn the Skillet with the excess fat on med heat and render the fat.  Render means cook the fat until the oils seeps out into the pan.  With tongs pull the fat out.  Add 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil.  Melt Butter and turn heat down to medium to medium high.  Add Yellow Onion, salt and pepper.  Keep them on medium heat stirring regularly until they become translucent and soft.

Cube Potatoes, personally I prefer the skins in my mash, but you may choose the extra step of peeling them before cubing.  If you like extra work and the reduction of nutrition go right ahead.  Place in 3 quart Pot and fill ¾ full with water.  Add salt to water.  Potatoes need salt to cook.  Not doing this will lead to lack luster potatoes.  The added benefit of lowering the boiling point of the water and speeding up the cooking process is nice as well.  Place on high heat and bring to boil.  You want the potatoes to become fork tender.  That means pull out a single cube, one of the larger ones if your cuts are uneven and try smashing it on your board, if it crumbles it’s done.  Strain potatoes and place them back into the pot.  Add 1 tablespoon of butter, Sour Cream, Garlic Powder, Salt and Pepper and start mashing.  Mashing can be done in a multitude of ways, I personally prefer the good old fashion hand masher, and the potatoes get creamy with a few chunks of goodness.  But if you prefer a hand mixer will do the trick.  Try to stay away from the stand mixer or food processor.  They end up getting a little too whipped and the fun texture is gone.  You may find you need to add a splash of milk if you want creamier potatoes.

In the same Skillet you seared the steak, melt 1 tablespoon of Butter.  Whisk in 1 tablespoon of Flour until smooth.  Add 1 Beef Stock, whisking constantly until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper.

Place Mashed Potatoes in center of plate, add gravy, place steak on top of mashed, top with caramelized onions. 

Enjoy!