Kitchen Conundrum

Serve Up a Big Plate of Comfort- BBQ Beef Brisket

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BBQ BrisketStews, soups and one pot meals are the epitome of comfort foods, along with mashed potatoes and mac and cheese. But sometimes, you just need a nice slice of meat on a plate and BBQ Beef Brisket is a simple and delicious, comforting food.

The best part about this recipe is that it’s so incredibly easy, and yet, it’s a crowd pleaser every time. You basically put it in the oven and two- three hours later (depending on the size) it emerges tender and incredibly flavorful.

You can make your own BBQ sauce or you can just pour a bottle of one that you happen to have in your fridge or pantry over the meat. On a weeknight, don’t bother fussing so much.  Any bottled flavor will do, but Hickory Smoked and Original Recipe BBQ Sauces are my favorites. When you have more time, you can make your own sauce.

 

BBQ Beef Brisket

Ingredients

1 3-4lb Beef Brisket

1 c. BBQ sauce (recipe follows)

¼ c. water

1 onion, sliced thin

Salt & Pepper

Method

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees F.

Season both sides of the brisket with salt and pepper being generous.

Add the onion to the bottom of a large roasting pan.

Place the brisket on top of the onions and pour the BBQ sauce and water over the meat.

Loosely cover with foil and place in the oven to bake for 2-3 or until fork tender. If you see that it is drying out too much, add more water and BBQ sauce. About half way through the cooking, flip the meat over so both sides absorb the liquid and the edges don’t become too charred.

Remove meat from oven and rest on a cutting board for five minutes before slicing very thin.

Enjoy with your favorite side. The meat also makes incredible sandwiches for days to come- with cole slaw and a pickle on the side!

Homemade BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

2 tbs chili powder
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt

2 c. ketchup
½ c. mustard
½ c. cider vinegar
1/3 c. Worcestershire Sauce
¼ c. lemon juice
¼ c. molasses
¼ c honey
1 c. brown sugar (preferably dark)

3 tbs vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced

Method

In a small bowl, mix the chili powder, black pepper, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the ketchup, mustard, vinegar, Worcestershire, lemon juice, molasses, honey, and brown sugar. Blend until mixed thoroughly.

Over medium high heat, warm the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and continue cooking for another minute or so.

Add the chili powder mix and the wet ingredients. Simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes with the lid off to thicken it a bit.

Taste and adjust the seasonings. Add more of anything you prefer a little at a time. Some prefer a sweeter sauce, so add more honey and brown sugar. Some prefer more vinegary, so add a touch more. For more spice you can add hot sauce and more chili powder.

Not only is this a very good standard BBQ sauce for brisket, but it’s great on chicken too. You can keep a bottle in the fridge for a week or two.

 

 

100th Post- Comfort and Beef Stew

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When I sat down to write today I realized that this is our 100th post! Wow, has the time flown. And while this blog is still a work in progress, it has come rather far from it’s humble beginnings! I am rather proud of what we have accomplished so far, but it still has a long way to go in my opinion. But, ever slowly, it will evolve and become everything we desire it to be in good time. Meanwhile, I do hope that you will stick around and share some of our favorite eats, drinks and antics with us. Because there will be many!

As you may or may not know, this has not been the most healthful year for me. The year started off with the cancer scare, then the kidney issues and a few surgeries, then endless colds and most recently, pneumonia, which was by far the sickest I have ever been. It wiped me out for nearly four weeks. I am better now, but still tire very easily, which, with a four year old running around, doesn’t make for very good days overall. There has been far too much time spent unproductively lying in bed.

The one good thing about lying in bed though is all the wonderful comfort foods I have enjoyed this past month. Homemade chicken soup; not only does it nourish the body, but it soothes the soul as well. Don’t forget the matzoh balls the size of baseballs! Dense, slightly salty and oh so filling.   There has been chicken and dumplings, made the way my aunt makes them, rolling out the dumplings and filled with large pieces of chicken and carrots. It’s truly heaven in a bowl. My favorite meatloaf, chock full of veggies and mashed potatoes with homemade gravy. It’s been really a month of comfort and good eats.

While Ari made several of the items, I have been feeling up to cooking this week and tonight the comfort food of choice is Beef Stew. A sort of cross between Beef Bourguignon and a traditional stew, it’s perfectly filling and only gets better with a day or two in the fridge. Serve with a big piece of crusty bread and a glass of hearty red. Start a fire in the fireplace and curl up with a blanket and a tray on your lap. It’ll be a great evening.

 

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds chuck beef or stew meat, cut into 1 1/2-inch
cubes

1 cup all-purpose flour

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp. ground cloves

2 tsp. paprika

2 tsp. thyme

3 tbs.  olive oil

1 (750-ml bottle) good red wine, Cote du Rhone or Pinot Noir
(or a mix of open bottles)

3 whole garlic cloves, smashed

2 tbs. Worcestershire sauce

2 cups or chicken or beef stock or 1 cup stock and 1 cup
water

3 bay leaves

2 tbs. tomato paste

2 yellow onions, cut into 1-inch circles

1 pound carrots, peeled and cut diagonally in 1 1/2-inch
chunks

1 pound small potatoes, quartered

1 large branch fresh rosemary

1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas

 

Method

Combine the flour, salt, pepper, cloves, paprika and thyme
in a small bowl. In batches, dredge the cubes of beef in the flour mixture and
then shake off the excess. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a Dutch oven and
brown the beef over medium high heat for 5 to 7 minutes, turning to brown
evenly.  Remove the meat to a plate and
add the red wine to the pot scraping up the brown bits. Add the garlic and Worcestershire
sauce and cook for 2 minutes before returning the meat and it’s juices to the
Dutch oven.

Add the stock, bay leaves and the tomato paste dissolving it
amongst the liquid. Let cook for one hour over medium heat, simmering but being
sure not to boil the liquid as it will reduce too quickly.

After an hour, add the onions, carrots, potatoes and
rosemary to the Dutch oven. Simmer over medium heat for another hour and a half
or until the meat is fork tender and the potatoes can be pierced easily.

Right before serving, stir in the frozen peas, season to
taste, and serve hot with crusty bread.

Options

As with any recipe, it’s up to you and your tastes to add
whatever ingredients you like.  If you happen
to have fresh mushrooms, green beans or a bag of pearl onions, you can add them
right at the end. Just keep in mind that root vegetables, yams and such should
go in with the carrots and potatoes to assure their cooking through. Fragile
veggies can go in right at the end.  Experiment and have fun!

 

On a Stick! 80 Party-Perfect Recipes By Matt Armendariz, Cookbook Review

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On-A-Stick-CoverI seriously did a happy dance in my kitchen the other day when the mail arrived and brought me the new cookbook, On a Stick!, written by one of my favorite bloggers, the esteemed food photographer, Matt Armendariz, of Matt Bites.

I had the pleasure (and honor!) of meeting both Matt and his partner, Adam Pearson (famed food stylist) this past January at Food Blog Camp and have to say that they are even more awesome in real life!  They gave an incredible session on food styling and photography, sharing their immense talents with us.  But besides being generous with their knowledge, they are really super nice people with great sense of humors.  Matt truly has the most infectious smile that lights up the room and instantly improves the moods of all those around him!

His new book, On a Stick, 80 Party Perfect Recipes, was written for Ari and me. Well, not really, but it could have been, since we absolutely love food on a stick! We enjoy taking our family to fairs, and we find fair fare, irresistible!  The sausage pepper hoagies, the cotton candy, corn on the cob, fried turkey legs and of course, our favorite on a stick fair food, Corn Dogs! (Page 48!)

But this book isn’t just about all the cool foods on a stick you’ll find at your local fair, you’ll find those recipes too, like Spaghetti and Meatballs On a Stick and Fried Candy Bars On a Stick (HELLO!), it’s also about taking everyday foods and upping their fun factor by stabbing, skewering and piercing them with a stick. There is something for everyone in On a Stick!; sophisticated Stuffed Olives, Grilled Fruit Skewers, Caprese Sticks; Fun Fried Mozzarella, Pizza Skewers, Fudge Pops and Worldly Dak Sanjuk, Scotch Eggs and Lamb Souvlaki. But it’s tons more fun when presented On A Stick!

In the first section, Matt introduces readers to all kinds of things that can be used as the “stick”, from sugarcane and rosemary to cocktail picks and traditional wood skewers. He encourages you to “think off the plate” and employ a more portable, hand hold-able, convenient utensil that can be thrown away to make clean up a breeze!

If you are looking for the perfect dipping sauce to accompany your hand held treat, Matt includes several pages of recommendations and recipes to tantalize your taste buds including one for a Latin Green Goddess Dressing, a Mango Salsa and a Sweet and Sour Chili Sauce.

On a Stick! is divided into sections for both Savory and Sweet dishes, with each of the 80 recipes personally introduced and brought to life by Matt’s beautiful photography. (See more of his stunning portfolio here.)

While I am dying to test out every recipe in this entertaining book, here’s a list of my Top 5 to try right away:

1. Breakfast Pancake Dogs

2. Chicken and Waffles

3. Chinese Five-Spice Skewers

4. Deep Fried Mac ‘n’ Cheese

5. Molotes with Fresh Tomato Salsa (An Oaxacan street food of masa crusted potato and sausage filling)

6. Pizza Skewers with Garlic Butter Dipping Sauce (the kids and the child within will love these!)

7. Son-in Law Eggs  with Tamarind Sauce (Thai fried egg salad)

8. Suppli (Italian Rice Balls)

9. Chinese Meatballs with Sweet and Sour Chili Sauce

10. Tofu Tod (who’s Todd?) with Sweet Chili Sauce

Did I say 5? I really meant Top 10! This short list is only from the Savory recipe section! (There really are so many fabulous sounding recipes to choose from! How could I possibly just pick 5?!)

The Sweet recipe section should be recreated page by page as each recipe could only bring more and more joy!  There’s Deep-Fried Candy Bars, Chocolate Covered Cheesecake, Cinnamon Rolls with Creamy Vanilla Frosting, Frozen Elvis and even Margarita Jello- Shots. And yes, they are all On a Stick!

So if you are looking for incredible ideas for a party, or if you just want to bring out more fun in food, be sure to grab a copy of On A Stick! I guarantee you will have a blast with these and will definitely be a hit at your next gathering!

Last year, we saw this at a fair upstate and were mesmerized by this food on a stick and wondered how it could possibly be made (as well as eaten, but that’s another story!). Well, we were so happy to see this recipe in On a Stick! and wanted to share it with you:

 

Spaghetti and Meatballs

by Matt Armendariz

I know what you’re thinking: Spaghetti and meatballs on a stick? What was wrong with them on a plate? Well, you can relax. This recipe takes everyone’s favorite, pops it on a stick, fries it, and increases the fun factor by about a million. Seriously.

Serves 4

8 Popsicle sticks

Homemade Meatballs

Ingredients

1/2 lb lean ground beef
2 tbs minced yellow onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 egg white
2 tbs seasoned bread crumbs
Salt and pepper, to taste

5 cups plus 3 tbs vegetable oil, divided
1/2 lb cooked spaghetti
2 cups marinara sauce
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper

Method

1. Line a baking sheet and a shallow baking dish with parchment paper.

2. Make the Meatballs: Place all meatball ingredients in a medium bowl and mix until well combined. Shape into 1-inch balls and place on the prepared baking sheet.

3. Warm 3 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add meatballs and cook, turning to brown all sides, until just cooked through. Remove from heat and let cool.

4. Gently toss meatballs, spaghetti, marinara sauce, and Parmesan in a large bowl until thoroughly combined. Place mixture in the prepared baking dish, cover, and refrigerate at least 12 hours and up to overnight.

5. Preheat the remaining 5 cups of oil to 350 degrees F. Cut chilled pasta mixture into 8 equal squares. Remove squares from baking dish and insert a pop stick into each. Carefully place spaghetti sticks in pot, one at a time, and fry about 6 to 8 minutes, or until golden and crispy. Drain on paper towels, season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve warm.

 

To find out more about Matt and this book, be sure to check out his blog, Matt Bites. You can also find Matt on Twitter.

Disclosure: We received a copy of On a Stick! to review. All photos and recipes have been reprinted with permission of Quirk Publishing.