Sllabtaem yseehc

Dreams are like repressed desires of things we wish we could have. In this case, my repressed desire consisted of a cheesy meatball risotto. I mean, if you're going to dream, dream big.

Do they serve meatballs in the Black Lodge?

Basically I had a dream where I was eating meatballs in a creamy, cheesy sauce, but it was a little spicy and had a lot of tomatoes in it. Think sort of like a tortilla and cheese soup, but a little thicker, served over risotto. Why? I don't know. Most of my dreams are typically night-spanning epics, involving subplots and cliffhangers, but this...this was different. Maybe it was a commercial? Anyway, I wanted to make it.

Since I had other things going on that night, I opted for pre-made meatballs and baked them in the oven. The sauce was going to be 100% trial and error. I started with about two cups of water and a few chicken bullion cubes. I added about 3/4 cup of milk as well. I brought that to a boil and added Velveeta (well, the Kroger version) and a can of diced fire-roasted tomatoes to the sauce. I let that all start to simmer and then added a small can of chipotle sauce that I had purchased a bunch of when they were marked down to $0.29. 

 

The sauce began to thicken and the meatballs were nicely baked, so I removed the meatballs from the oven and combined them into the sauce. I figured any mingling of flavors would be good while the risotto cooked. As the risotto finished, I ground some black pepper into the sauce. 

I plated the dish with risotto on the bottom and meatballs on top, covered with the cheesy sauce. It didn't turn out as thick as it was in my dream, but then again I literally threw this together with stuff I had at the house (and I had spent most of the evening working on my Mustang, so it was nearly 8pm when I started cooking!)

Gratuitous picture of my Mustang

In the end, it turned out to be delicious! A little spicy, lots of tomato, oodles of cheese, and a really nice risotto base. It made a ton, so I am looking forward to eating the leftovers. 

I've taken up smoking

For Father’s day this year, my wife got me a charcoal grill and smoker- something that I had wanted for a while. I had never once in my entire life cooked with, or even eaten food cooked with charcoal, but had chicken that was and knew I needed to have one.

No, got-dangit! Taste the meat, not the heat!

My inaugural meal on the grill was the old standby- ribs. While I have no photographic proof, you’ll have to take my word that they were fantastic. It really isn’t that hard to get a charcoal grill going, but it is a little disorienting cooking without a flame, only heat. I was using the charcoal that already had the lighter fluid in it, and getting it started was a breeze.

Gimme some of that mmm mmm good, meat falls of the bone...baby i'm hongry, i said baby you hongry?

After doing the ribs, I wanted to try burgers, which were delicious. I mixed in some A1 steak sauce with the beef and grilled them. I’m pretty sure I could never go back to gas grilling!

Artist's depiction of a burger

The real test came when I wanted to smoke something. I initially tried smoking some chicken, but had no idea what I was doing. I had the wrong kind of wood, didn’t soak it, etc. It turned out ok, but was very wasteful when it came to how I actually proceeded.  This time, I bought a really nice looking pork loin, some applewood chunks, and I was ready to roll.

One yummy pork loin

Soaking the wood was something I didn’t know you were supposed to do, but it makes sense- otherwise the wood burns too quickly and you don’t get any smoke. Well, very little smoke, and for a very short time. So the wood was soaking, and I made a simple rub for the pork, consisting of sea salt, red wine salt, black pepper, onion powder and seasoned salt.

Charred...coal?

I had read that you want to slow-cook the pork, and that required a lower heat. I lit the briquettes, then added the wet applewood to the top and let them start to smolder. I kept the heat inside of the grill around 200 (occasionally spiking to 250 when I wasn’t paying really close attention…) and occasionally freshened the wood chips. With about 30 minutes left, I put on a coat of Open Pit BBQ sauce. For what I wanted, which was basically just to have a glaze, it was perfect. As the pork neared completion, the sauce turned to a dark, sweet glaze. The aroma wafting up from the grill was damn near indescribable. As my wife put it, the whole yard smelled like the fair.

What's wrong with the license plate? I should get that looked at.

It took about 3.5 hours from start to finish. I had to add a couple of pieces of charcoal, and I found some chicken quarters in my fridge and tossed them on the grill as well.

Do not drool on your keyboard (or iPhone or Android...)

I wish I could show you picture of everything plated….but I was so excited to carve into the pork loin that I didn’t get any pictures. If you don’t have a smoker, you really should get one. It opens a smoky door to another smoky world. I can’t wait to try more! Anyone out there have any recommendations? Wood type, meats, etc?

Feeling a bit saucy

I've been experimenting a lot lately with different kinds of sauces, but haven't gone too far from the basic tomato-based variety. Inspiration struck last week though, and I had a major taste for something involving onions. I thought about what I had available, and struck off into uncharted (for me, at least) territory.

Next stop....Sauceville!

As I mentioned previously, I am part of a co-op program called Azoti. They partner with a local small farms to bring fresh vegetables and meat products directly to the public. You place an order weekly and the food is delivered, in my case to my work. I had just taken a delivery of both meat and vegetables, and had an idea about what I wanted to do. It was going to be an interesting mix of flavors, so all I could hope is that it was going to work out. 

A small portion of my first fresh delivery. The bacon is hands-down the best i've ever had (both smoked and peppered)

My thought process went something kind of like this: I want onions. Mmm. But what? Maybe an onion sauce? Oooh, like a creamy onion sauce. Using what though? Milk. Cheese? Parmesan cheese. It'd still be too thin. What about a sour cream base, cut with a little milk? That should be thick enough. Ok, so that. Dice up some onions and cook it in the sauce. Onion powder? I don't have any. How about onion salt? That'll work. Yeah, still too thick. Let's add some chicken broth. There ya go. It's too bland looking. I've got fresh peppered bacon! Yes, that. Exactly that. Cook then crumble the bacon annnnnnd....done.

Listen closely- you can actually hear it sizzling!

So the sauce took shape pretty quickly. As with just about everything that I do, I had absolutely ZERO plan as to how I was going to make the sauce. I've found that throwing together a sauce is so incredibly rewarding when it turns out because it's instant gratification. The sauce was creamy without being too thick, but thin enough that it could be poured on top of pasta or chicken and not look out of place. Of course, I had to have something to put this sauce over.

Mild Italian sausage links 

The meat portion of my Azoti delivery comes from Oink Moo Cluck Farms here in Central Ohio. One of the meats I ordered were fresh mild Italian sausage links. I envisioned cutting the links into medallions and searing them in a pan and then serving them on top of a bed of pasta with the onion sauce. I had cooked beer bratwurst from Oink Moo Cluck before, so I had an idea of the consistency, which is different than the store-bought varieties. Typically the kind you buy in the store is has a lot more fat and fillings, which in turn makes the sausages cook a lot faster. I've found that these are much leaner, which makes them a lot more dense. This, in turn, requires a little longer cooking on the stove. 

Browning

I started by browning the links in the pan, then removing them and cutting them into slices. Getting clean, even cuts is not important, as having some asymmetry to them enhances the overall look of the meal. Once they were cut, back into the pan they went. First at a high temp to char the outsides, then lower to finish the cooking while retaining the juiciness. 

The smell of fresh tomatoes is indescribable

I could eat these all day long

While this was cooking, I made one of my summertime favorites- tomato and cucumber salad. I had a package of cherry tomatoes, a couple vine ripe tomatoes, and some seedless cucumbers from my delivery. If you've never made a salad using freshly-picked veggies, you are really doing yourself a disservice. The salad itself couldn't be more simple- slice the cherry tomatoes in half length-wise, dice up the big tomatoes, quarter the cucumber and then cut into slices. Mix these together, add olive oil, red wine vinegar, Lowry's garlic salt, and a couple sprinkles of onion salt. For best results, letting it all mingle overnight is recommended, but not necessary. If it were possible, I could live on this stuff.

If "fresh" had a taste, this would be it

While cooking the sausage and making the tomato salad, I had the pasta boiling. For this particular dinner I used the San Giorgio Trio Italiano pasta, which is a mix of three kinds of pasta. Once that was finished and drained, I plated the meal with a bed of pasta, topped with sausage and sauce and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. As a side dish, I cooked a bag of Brussels sprouts ($1.29 a bag at Aldi!).

Not only did the meal sate my desire for onions, as the sauce was deliciously onion-y but not overpowering in the least, but mixing the flavor of the amazing Italian sausage and the perfectly cooked bacon while really made for a unique experience. I think of all of the other things that sauce would be good on and want to make it again. I absolutely will make this meal again- not only because it's awesome for dinner, but the leftovers are even better the next day. That's the mark of a fantastic meal!

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