Things I've Cooked For Jenni

Go Bulls! - Bulls v. Heat Eastern Conference Final

2011-05-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

Italian lemonade at Salute in Key West, FL

2011-05-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

Lazy Days - Islamorada, FL

2011-05-19T19:15:00.000-07:00

Sunset Key

2011-05-19T19:14:00.001-07:00

Going back to Bisbee, AZ

2011-03-19T17:49:00.001-07:00

Sunset - Tucson, AZ 2-3-2011

2011-03-19T17:45:00.000-07:00

Sabino Canyon, Tucson, AZ

2010-12-21T17:05:00.000-08:00

The Kehoe House - Savannah, GA

2010-11-16T19:21:00.000-08:00

All set for the Taylor-Ensign wedding!

Jekyll Island Club, Jekyll Island, GA

2010-11-16T19:02:00.001-08:00

Quite the swanky pad. Lots of golfers from the Sea Island PGA tournament were staying there.

The beach at Jekyll Island, GA

2010-11-16T18:58:00.000-08:00

Shepherd's Pie

2010-11-16T18:51:00.000-08:00

Made this with beef and veal. Mashed potatoes with Irish cheddar on top.

Jim Neeley's Interstate Bar-B-Que

2010-11-16T18:43:00.000-08:00

Gotta go to Interstate. Had the BBQ spaghetti. Spicy but good. Jenni had the pulled pork sandwich and it was amazing.

Rendezvous Ribs Baby!

2010-11-16T18:38:00.000-08:00

Only the BEST ribs ever!

Pops has a new friend

2010-09-01T17:52:00.000-07:00

Who wants a pepper???

2010-09-01T17:48:00.000-07:00

Grilled Vegetable Paella

2010-09-01T17:43:00.001-07:00

More Ribs

2010-05-11T19:20:00.000-07:00

Dry Tortugas - Ft. Jefferson

2010-05-11T19:17:00.000-07:00

Bahia Honda

2010-05-11T18:57:00.001-07:00

Sunset! Woo-hoo!

2010-05-11T18:53:00.001-07:00

Beef Stroganoff

2010-02-28T09:35:00.001-08:00

Welsh Rarebit

2010-02-28T09:32:00.000-08:00

Beer Can Chicken

2010-02-28T09:30:00.001-08:00

I'm a gonna git ya

2010-02-28T09:24:00.001-08:00

At the St. Louis Bench Rest Rifle Club.

F1 Season to begin in 2 weeks!

2010-02-28T09:18:00.000-08:00

Christmas at The Colony

2010-01-01T13:02:00.001-08:00

Not quite in correct posting order but here is the Christmas tree at The Colony in Bonita Springs, FLA. (the famous bread pudding is just to the left outside of the shot).

Happy New Year from Ashes and the Big Cat!

2010-01-01T12:59:00.001-08:00

Golf in November! Awesome!

2009-11-28T15:50:00.000-08:00

There is nothing better than playing golf in Chicago in late November. Played the 9 holer on the North Side, Robert Black.

Here is a picture of the 7th hole.

Pixies at the Aragon

2009-11-28T15:47:00.000-08:00

Saw the Pixies the other night. Fun show. Played the entire "Doolittle" album plus a lot of B sides. Business-like show. Short and sweet.

Not the best of pictures but it will have to do.

White City

2009-11-28T15:35:00.000-08:00

Took a fun White City (sans Devil) tour the other week. Jenni's friend Mary gave the tour.

A lovely view of the Museum of Science and Industry from behind.

Take a brief walk and you get this beautiful view from the Japanese Gardens.

Restaurant Review - Machu Picchu

2009-09-05T11:20:00.000-07:00

This place is awesome! It is my new favorite restaurant in Chicago (sorry Maza). The food is fabulous. The decor... not so much. But that's ok. I ain't eating the food. If you can get past the 70s feel and the funky out of focus mural on the wall, you will get some truly great Peruvian food. Jenni and I had a $25 off coupon from restaurants.com that got us on our way. It is BYOB so we brought a bottle of our favorite cheap vino with us. We took the #9 bus up Ashland from Bucktown to Irving Park road and walked the block back to Machu Picchu. My childhood friend Mike joined us too as he has been to the real thing in Peru.

When we got there the manager told us we could sit anywhere which was a plus. We told him right away that we had a coupon and he said he loved it since it got new people into his restaurant. What a pleasant surprise and what a great attitude. That set the tone for the rest of the evening.

We started with the Papa Rellana. It is fried mashed potatoes stuffed with ground beef. Tasty! The red onion salad it was served with was very good too.

Then, on to the best soup I've had in years. Sopa a la Criolla. Holy cats was this good. It's a creamed beef in a milk and tomato based broth with angel hair pasta and Aji Panca (sun dried red chili). Yeah baby!

For the entree, Jenni had the skirt steak special that was torched on the grill on the outside and red and tender on the inside. Perfect.

I had the Aji de Gallina which was shredded chicken with sun dried yellow peppers, walnuts, milk and cheese. Very good as well.

Mike had beer.

This is what is left of my shredded chicken and Jenni's steak.

Total tab - $63 for 2. We kind of overdid it for a BYOB restaurant but the $25 coupon helped.

The Verdict - Loved it! The food is fantastic. The waiter was great. Decor = meh. This place is definitely in the rotation.

Restaurant Review - Felony Franks

2009-09-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

This next restaurant has been in the news a lot. The owner thought it would be a good idea to open a hot dog stand in a not so good neighborhood and employ some ex-cons as the cooks and counter help. What's wrong with that? Pretty good idea you say. Killing 2 or more birds with 1 stone you say. But wait... this is Chicago so of course somebody is going to have a problem with the concept. People will complain about anything in this town. Instead of recapping all of the back and forth on this non-issue, let me tell you about the dogs. They were very good. Jenni and I had the "Misdemeanor Wiener". Not bad at all. A slight garlicky undertone which we liked. The fries were just ok. A little limp. They stuck to the wrapper which was kind of cool. Everything was served piping hot which is a big plus. I also got the fried shrimp (just cause I could).

The neighborhood is a little sketchy so keep 1 eye on your car. Also, only outdoor seating.

The tab $16 for 2 dogs with fries, 2 pops and 1 fried shrimp plate.

The Verdict - meh. A good dog and worth a try on a nice, sunny day but not so much to go out of your way.

Go Cubs Go!

2009-09-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

Shot from Wrigley Field upper deck. Cubs Win!!

Sunset!

2009-08-18T21:05:00.001-07:00

Home Depot parking lot. Chicago, Il 8-18-2009

Ribs baby!

2009-08-18T20:23:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't like ribs? Nobody, that's who. Everybody loves ribs - 'cepting the cow. So, how does one make fantastic ribs? It's actually very easy. I used some monstrously large St. Louis ribs. Very meaty and beefy. Also used a dry rub for the oven cooking part and a BBQ sauce for the grilling part.

Here's what you do:

Ribs

- preheat oven to 250.

- 1st, take a couple of pieces of thick gauge foil. Place the ribs on top of the foil. On both sides, sprinkle some garlic powder, onion powder, ground mustard, cayenne pepper and brown sugar. (Or, you could just use a pre-made rub too. I use the rub from my favorite rib joint, Rendezvous Ribs in Memphis TN all the time). Gently massage the rub onto both sides. Then, crimp the foil tightly over the slab. Leave a little hole or funnel at one end. Take a look at the picture below. See the slab on the right.? That's the funnel at the side closest to you.

- Now, for each slab, pour 1/2 can of coke, 1 cup orange juice and 1 cup of pineapple juice into the funnel. Gently lift the funnel end to evenly distribute the liquid and crimp up the funnel end to close it. Place the ribs on a cookie sheet (with sides). Stick them in the oven for 1 hour.

- After the hour is up, pull the ribs out of the oven and let cool. Preheat the grill to indirect medium heat if using charcoal or 300 if using gas (use only 1 burner). Then, cut a little hole at one end of the foil and drain out the liquid. Take the ribs out to the grill and place bone side down over the indirect part. Please don't cook them over the flame or else you will burn them and dry them out too much. Cook for about 15-20 min. and then flip over so that the meat side is down.

- Now it's time to sauce up the ribs. {You can just use more of your dry rub if you want to do that instead. I make them all the time this way. Just mop the ribs with some apple cider vinegar and pat more of the rub on both sides of the slab and cook 15-20 min a side longer on indirect heat.} But we're saucing tonight! Woo-hoo! And we ain't using just any old store bought BBQ sauce. We're bringing out the big guns. Yeah, that's right, we got the gallon jug of Hayward's!

Slather that on what is now the bone side up and cook for 15 min. Then, flip the slab over so that the meat side is up and slather some more on. Cook just a few minutes more so that a nice crust develops from the caramelized sugars in the BBQ sauce. Pull the ribs off and let them cool for a few minutes.

Now these are some bad-ass ribs!

Big Wednesday - Part II

2009-08-18T20:12:00.001-07:00

Big Wednesday in Chicago continues... after Trattoria Isabella, Jenni & I then headed over to Flatwater Grill to a party. My co-worker, Jeff, retired and this was his send off. By the time we got there, some of the lads had been hitting the scotch and bourbon. Tried to play catch up - and the pours at Flatwater are generous.

Jimmy's boat parked at Flatwater Grill

and then over to Navy Pier for the fireworks.

ooohhhhh

aaahhhh

Restaurant Review - Trattoria Isabella

2009-08-13T20:32:00.000-07:00

Big Wednesday we like to call it in Chicago. An evening in 3 parts. 1st was dinner at Trattoria Isabella. 2nd - a party at Flatwater Grill. And finally, fireworks at Navy Pier!

So, 1st up - a restaurant review! My mom and my niecey-pie #1 headed in to the big city for a day of celebration... mom's 39th birthday. They had a lovely time taking the water taxi to Navy pier and walking thru Millennium Park. Then, they and Jennie met me at the riverwalk near my office. We decided to go to Trattoria Isabella. I had never been there before but saw it while I was walking home from the office the night before. There was a big outdoor seating area with a maroon colored fence and awning with cute white clothed tables. It reminded me of the look of a restaurant I had enjoyed in Italy. I was a little concerned since there wasn't anyone seated in the patio when I walked by the night before. That concern was for naught as we will find out later.

I have to say that we all enjoyed the restaurant immensely. We were seated right away since there were only 4 other diners in the patio at the time. There was a cute little 10 seat bar underneath the awning with about 5 or 6 folks sitting there. We didn't have much time due to a departing train that mom and niecey-pie #1 had to catch back home so we ordered main courses right away.

Jenni and niecey-pie #1 wanted to try the pizzas but the waiter told us that the pizza oven was still being built. Too bad. Time for plan B. Mom had the Involtini di Pollo. It was a chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes. It came with a vodka sauce. Mom had been saying that she would need a doggie bag since she wasn't very hungry at all. So delicate, that one. Needless to say she finished it all.

I had the Risotto al Funghi. It was rich, creamy and beefy. Fantastic. The mushroom flavor really came through. Loved it.

Jenni had the Rigatoni al Filo di Fumo. It had pancetta, mozerella and basil in a tomato sauce. She loved it. Niecy-pie #1 had a spaghetti bolognese. It wasn't too bad but not great. For dessert mom had an espresso and we split 2 lemon sorbets. They were to die for. Creamy and not too sweet.

By the time we left the rest of the outdoor seating area was packed so it looks to be here to stay.

Total bill including tax and tip was $104 for 4 people. Drinks not included.

The Verdict - loved it! The food was great. The waitstaff excellent. We will definitely come back to try the other delicious sounding dishes on the menu.

Michael Schumacher's F1 Comeback Called Off

2009-08-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

I know. This is a food blog, right? What's the deal with a car racing post (and the sunset post)? Well, I really wanted an excuse to post this picture. It's of Michael Schumacher's '04 championship winning F1 Ferrari. I took it in Milan a couple of years ago - it is so cool in person. Michael was supposedly making his F1 comeback in Germany in 2 weeks to replace injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa. But, the great one suffered some injuries of his own in a motorcycle race in February and hasn't recovered enough to withstand all of the G-forces that an F1 race car can dish out. So, this morning, the comeback was called off and instead of posting the picture for the race in 2 weeks, I'm posting it now just 'cause I want to.

Ferrari F1 car - Milan, Italy

Fried Chickpeas with Sage and Ham

2009-08-11T19:39:00.000-07:00

We love chickpeas. We really, really do. And I'm talking the canned stuff too. Nobody has time to soak a bunch of peas overnight. Whenever I do, I forget about the stupid things and by the time I remember them they look like they would be better suited for Alexander Fleming's petri dish. So canned it is! I love fried chickpeas especially. This recipe is very simple and can be done on a weeknight easily. Feel free to substitute pancetta or prosciutto for the ham if you want. Or leave the ham out altogether for a vegetarian meal.

Fried Chickpeas with Sage and Ham

2 cans chickpeas
1/2 cup ham chunks
4 fresh sage leaves (roughly chopped)
sm. red onion (chopped)
olive oil
salt
pepper
fresh parsley
red wine vinegar
lemon juice

Drain the chickpeas and give them a quick rinse in a colander. Then pat them dry on paper towels. In a medium sautee pan, heat 2 tblspns of olive oil on med. high. Add chickpeas. Let them sit in the pan for a while before stirring so that they get nice and brown. Be careful as the oil may splatter a little - use a splatter guard. Then stir them around so that you get as much of the other side brown as you can. Move the peas to the sides and add the ham chunks to the center. When one side of the ham is brown, add the chopped red onion and the sage. Don't be afraid to let this cook a while. You are trying to fry it! Give it a stir every so often. When the sage is nice and crisp, you are done. Right at the end of the cooking, add the parsley and cook 30 secs. more to release the oils. Add a splash of red wine vinegar and a little lemon juice (start with a little juice and add more depending on your taste). Salt and pepper. Stir and serve.

I cooked this recipe on the grill outside with some yummy grilled pizza!

How 'bout a sunset!

2009-08-10T17:53:00.000-07:00

Key West sunset. Taken from my cell phone.

Gorgonzola Shallot Mushroom Lime Sauce

2009-08-10T17:27:00.000-07:00

This is the sauce that we used for the Chipotle Lime Pork Tenderloin. It was originally intended for steak - and some may find it too strong for pork - but we felt that it was a perfect counterpoint for the strong chipotle flavor of the pork. This is another Food Network recipe, from Everyday Italian. I changed a couple of things from the original due to pantry restrictions. And Jenni says it tastes better the 2nd day.

Gorgonzola Shallot Mushroom Lime Sauce

olive oil
1 shallot sliced thinly
8oz. cremeni mushrooms (sliced)
1 cup white wine
2 tblspn reserved pork/bacon juices (from prior recipe)
5oz. Gorgonzola cheese
splash of milk
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp fresh chopped thyme
juice of 1 lime
salt
pepper

Sautee the shallots in a little olive oil on med. heat until starting to get soft. Add the mushrooms. While they are sauteeing, combine the gorgonzola, milk and mustard in a small food processor. Blend until smooth. You can add more milk if needed to smooth out the cheese. Add the white wine & reserved pork juices to the pan and simmer until almost all reduced. Then, add the cheese mixture to the pan and gentley heat thru. Add thyme and lime juice right at the end. Stir. Salt and pepper to taste.Spoon over pork and asparagus.

Chipotle Lime Pork Tenderloin

2009-08-10T17:19:00.000-07:00

OK. Here we go! 1st recipe! Yea!

Now, this one is a mix of a stolen Food Network recipe with a little made up stuff too. I was originally going to make a pork tenderloin stuffed with dried apples but kinda messed up my carving. Got up a little early this hot Saturday morning in Chicago to start some prep work and may not have been quite awake yet. I wanted to make a couple of small incisions in the tenderloin to butterfly it to make it nice and thin for stuffing. But - as those of you who know me - I ain't too sharp when I don't have a belly full of coffee. I decided to cut all the way through the tenderloin - not once, but twice! So now I have some lovely pork strips. Well... now we gotta fix us some pork. Whipped up a little smokey, hot and citrusy marinade and played a quick 9 holes with my boy. Turned out great. Jennie-pie loved it. I served it with a Gorgonzola Shallot Mushroom Lime sauce (recipe in the next post), roasted sweet potato rounds and roasted asparagus. A nice Pinot Grigio went well with this dish.

Here's what I did:

Chipotle Lime Pork Tenderloin

1 3-4lb pork tenderloin
1 sm. can of chipotle chilies with adobo sauce
garlic powder
onion powder
salt
pepper
juice of 3 limes
juice of 1 orange
honey
fresh rosemary
fresh cilantro
4 slices of maple bacon
olive oil

Marinade: In an extra large zip lock bag, combine the lime juice (2 only - save 1 for later), orange juice, chilies with adobo sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, honey, salt and pepper. Add the pork tenderloin. Shake it up nicely, squeeze out the air, seal it up and stick it in the fridge. An hour minimum will do the trick. I left it in there, turning it once, for about 8 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat a large cast iron skillet and, when hot, add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. When the oil is hot, sear the tenderloin until golden brown on all sides, about 2 minutes per side. Remove from stove top. Take the maple bacon slices and lay over the top of the tenderloins. Add a little chopped rosemary and cilantro over the top. Carefully tent with aluminum foil. Transfer to the oven and continue to cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees F, 10 to 12 minutes longer. Pull it out of the oven & set aside to rest for about 5 minutes before slicing to serve.

Reserve 2 tablespoons of fat/juices for the accompanying sauce. Drain the fat off before placing on cutting board to rest.

Crisp up the bacon in the oven on broil for 2 minutes.

Slice thinly. Chop up the bacon and sprinkle it with the juice of the remaining lime over the top of the roasts.

Spoon a little of the sauce over the top of the pork and the asparagus.