Cassie’s Ruminations

Bratwurst

This is one of those traditional game day meals. We had these with some green salad at half time after enjoying some chilled steamed shrimp and popcorn for first half snacks.

Bratwurst
Serves 5

1 package (5 links) bratwurst (I use Johnsonville Beer and Bratwurst links)
1 bottle beer (I used Redhook ESB)
1 tsp Lawry’s Season Salt
2 cloves garlic, pressed

For serving:
5 outdoor rolls or other long roll
condiments – we like Fischer and Wieser Raspberry Chipotle Sauce

Dump the bottle of beer into a large saucepan and add about a quart of water so there is enough liquid to fully cover the brats and allow them to move as they cook. Add the season salt and garlic and stir. Add the brats and turn the burner to high. When it reaches a boil, turn to medium high and let boil for about 20 minutes or until cooked through.

In the meantime, preheat the grill. Grill brats for 5 minutes on each side to brown and heat the rolls. Serve hot.

Posted in Food, Grilling, Pork | 3 Comments »

Gorp (aka Trail Mix)

This is a high energy, filling snack, good for hiking, or morning snacks in the office 😉 This particular mix combines my favorite variations on the traditional mix of nuts, dried fruit, and chocolate. I split it up into 1 ounce portions in little zip top bags and keep my desk drawer snack stash supplied.

Gorp
Makes about 11 cups (54 oz)

1 lb roasted salted almonds
1 lb roasted salted cashews
1 14-oz bag M&Ms (about 2 cups)
2 cups dried sweetened cranberries (about 8 oz)

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl or bag. Portion into smaller bags for easy transportation and serving.

Posted in Food, Snacks | 1 Comment »

Beer Roasted Chicken

This is one of those classic internet recipes, beer can chicken. It was originally written to use the beer can directly in the chicken cavity and to be cooked on the grill, but there are many modifications out there. This is my version, cooked in the oven. I have a little roasting stand that I got on sale at Sears one year for a couple bucks (sorta like this, but a cheap knock-off 😉 ), so I use that instead of a can. It’s a lot more stable that way. While neither Shaun nor I like to drink beer, we like the subtle flavor that it imparts to the meat in this recipe. We had this with a simple tossed green salad and some russet potatoes that baked at the same time and temperature.

Beer Roasted Chicken
Makes 1 whole chicken, about 6 servings

1 whole chicken, 4-5 pounds
1½ tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 bottle dark beer (I used New Belgium 1554)
5 cloves garlic, pressed

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Rinse the chicken, removing and discarding the neck and any giblets, and pat dry. Rub the skin all over with the salt and pepper. Pour most of the beer into the chicken roaster stand. If you like beer, drink the rest. Add the garlic to the beer. Place the chicken, legs pointing down, over the roaster so that it’s standing vertically, supported by the center of the roaster.

Bake for 1½ -2 hours or until the internal temperature taken in the center of a thigh is 175 degrees F. Remove from the oven, use tongs to take the chicken off the roaster and onto a platter, and let rest for 10 minutes before carving and serving.

Posted in Food, Poultry | 1 Comment »

Chicken Bruschetta (redux)

I often make this in the summer, grilling the chicken (as seen here), but it sounded really good for some reason this week, so I made it with a few modifications for the winter weather.

Chicken Bruschetta
Serves 2

1 tsp garlic powder
¾ tsp kosher salt, divided
¾ tsp black pepper, divided
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1.25 lb)
1 tbsp olive oil
10 oz button mushrooms
3 small zucchini (about 15 oz)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (14.5 oz) petite diced tomatoes
1 tsp dried basil
4 tsp balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Preheat a grill pan over medium high heat. Mix together the garlic powder, ¼ tsp of the kosher salt, and ¼ tsp of the black pepper. Sprinkle the chicken breasts with the mixture and put on the grill pan. Cook for 15 minutes, then flip and move the pan to the oven to cook for 15 more minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, cut the zucchini into fourths lengthwise, then slice crosswise to end up with thin wedges. Set them aside in a bowl. Mince the garlic cloves with the remaining ½ tsp of kosher salt (it will help keep the garlic from sticking to your knife). Cut the mushrooms into large chunks, quarters or sixths depending on how big your mushrooms are.

After putting the chicken in the oven, heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes or until golden and just starting to give off a bit of liquid. Add the zucchini and stir to combine. Sauté for another 5 minutes or until the zucchini and mushrooms are tender. Add the tomatoes, remaining ¼ tsp of black pepper, the basil, and the vinegar, and stir to combine. Let simmer for 5 minutes to meld the flavors. Turn off the heat.

Remove the chicken from the oven and let rest for five minutes. Place chicken on plates and top with the vegetable mix.

Posted in Food, Poultry, Vegetables | 2 Comments »

A Chinese New Year Meal

We had egg drop soup and a lovely veggie filled pork stir fry for dinner tonight. Neither of us was much a fan of the egg drop soup, so I’m not going to post the recipe. The vinegar that the recipe called for seemed quite out of place.

The stir fry was very good, though. It was very similar to the broccoli, mushroom, and pork stir fry that I posted a bit ago, but with a bunch of asparagus cut into small pieces and half a head of green cabbage, shredded, added in place of the broccoli. I also put about ½ tsp of ground ginger into the sauce since I didn’t have any fresh ginger for some reason.

Posted in Asian, Food, Pork, Vegetables | 1 Comment »

French Onion Soup

I love French onion soup. It’s one of the few ways I can eat onions without getting a migraine. Whatever I’m allergic too seems to be chemically altered in the hour-long caramelization process. Shaun didn’t like it, but he’s not a fan of onion soups.

I based my recipe from a few sources: Elise of Simply Recipes – combining her original recipe with her recent instructions on caramelizing onions, and also drawing off of the very highly rated recipes of Ina Garten’s and Tyler Florence’s. For the white wine, I used one of the little 187 ml bottles that come in a four-pack. It’s about 0.8 cups. They’re very convenient for cooking when you aren’t much of a wine drinker.

I think it turned out quite nicely. The calories below are for the soup only, without the bread and cheese. I topped mine with a toasted sourdough English muffin half and some provolone because that’s what I had, but I do highly recommend the French bread and Gruyère if you have it 🙂

French Onion Soup
Makes 10 cups, serves 4-6

For the soup:
4 large sweet onions, about 4 pounds (I used Mayan Sweet, but Vidalia or Walla Walla also work well)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
½ tsp of sugar
½ tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 quarts low sodium beef broth
¾ cup white wine
3 tbsp brandy
1 bay leaf
½ tsp dried thyme leaves
¼ tsp ground black pepper
For the topping:
4 slices French bread, toasted
1 cup grated Swiss Gruyère
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Peel and thinly slice the onion. Sauté in a large saucepan with the butter and olive oil over medium high heat for 10 minutes. Add the salt, sugar, and garlic, and sauté for another 5 minutes at medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring often, for another 30-45 minutes or until the onions are nicely browned throughout, but not burned.

Add the beef broth, wine, brandy, and spices and stir to combine. Turn heat up to medium high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 30 minutes. Serve alone or if topping is desired, continue on with instructions.

Preheat broiler to high. Ladle soup into 4 ovenproof crocks or bowls. Top each with a slice or two of toasted bread to cover the soup, then top the bread with cheese. Place under the broiler for 2-3 minutes or until the cheese is melted and turning golden.

Posted in Food, Soup | 1 Comment »

Famous Dave’s Barbecue

This past Monday, Famous Dave’s Barbecue opened up a new location quite close to us, and having just seen a special on the Travel Channel about their award winning ribs, we decided to try it out for lunch today.

We got there right as they were opening, so we were seated right away. The staff was very friendly and courteous, and went over the menu and their different barbecue sauces with us before leaving us time to peruse the menu. We especially liked the Devil’s Spit spicy sauce.

I ended up trying the ribs with drunkin’ apples and wilbur beans, and Shaun got a combo with chicken tenders and chopped pork with the fries. Everything was great. The sweet and spicy sauce that came with the chicken tenders really complemented them very well. The ribs were smoked to perfection. We’ll definitely be coming back, though not too often, for the sake of our waistlines!

Posted in Food, Restaurant Review | 1 Comment »

Winter Corgi

I’ve been quite remiss in posting pictures of Emma. She adored all the snow we had around the holidays, so here’s a picture of her out and about a bit before Christmas.

Posted in Corgi, Ramblings | 1 Comment »

Crock-pot Pulled Pork

This is a really easy and surprisingly good recipe. I’m not sure where I first saw this, whether on AllRecipes or one of the food blogs that I regularly read. I make a few modifications from the original recipe to suit our tastes – foremost being that I use a boneless pork shoulder roast rather than tenderloin. The shoulder is not only much cheaper, it also responds much better to the low and slow cooking. Tenderloin is so lean that it can dry out, even with the moist cooking method. The brand names mentioned below are simply what we like flavor-wise. I am not paid by anyone to mention names, and you won’t hurt my feelings if you use something different. I’m just telling you what we use 🙂

It’s odd how pork and soda seem to have an affinity. Nigella Lawson’s cola roasted ham is amazing, and the leftovers make the best black bean soup on the planet. Hopefully I’ll get to blogging those recipes in the coming months.

For a side dish, we just had a green salad, but coleslaw and baked beans also work very well when you have more people eating.

Crock-pot Pulled Pork
Serves 8

For the pork:
1 pork shoulder roast, 4-5 pounds
2 12-oz cans Barq’s Root Beer (we like the spicier bite of Barq’s)
10 fl oz (a bit more than ½ a bottle) Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbecue Sauce

For serving:
8 kaiser rolls
1 small jar pepperoncini, aka pickled peppers

Put the roast into a large crock-pot (mine is 6.5 quarts) and pour the root beer over the top. Cook on low for 8 hours.

Remove the roast to a large plate or bowl. Drain the liquid from the crock-pot, reserving about ½ cup. Pull the pork into pieces using two forks or your fingers. Return the meat to the crock-pot. Pour the barbecue sauce over the top and add the reserved ½ cup of cooking liquid. Stir to combine and cook for another ½-1 hour on low. Serve on toasted rolls with extra barbecue sauce and pickled peppers, if desired.

Posted in Food, Pork, Slow Cooker | 5 Comments »

Roasted Green Beans

This is an easy and tasty side dish. The method works with other vegetables as well. Since this was accompanying teriyaki chicken bowls, I tossed in half vegetable oil and half sesame oil rather than my usual olive oil.

Roasted Green Beans
Serves 4

1 pound fresh green beans
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp sesame oil
½ tsp kosher salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Rinse the green beans, trim off the tips, and cut them into bite sized pieces – halves or thirds depending on the size of the bean. Toss the beans with the oils and spread out in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Sprinkle with salt and roast for 45 minutes, stirring once, or until tender and turning golden. Serve hot.

Posted in Beans, Food, Vegetables | 1 Comment »