Garlic Festival Visit

If you love garlic this is a great place to go. Here's a great description of what its like. Click here to view the blog.

Peach Cobbler with Homemade Peach Ice Cream

Peach season is here and we were lucky to get a small batch of sweet, juicy peaches. In some ways I'm happy this year wasn't a 'bumper crop' because I've been too busy to can, bake, jam, and anything else you can think of to do with peaches. Although I think a few people at work are probably wondering what happened to my peaches, because a few years ago the tree exploded with peaches and we had hard time using and giving away the peaches. Since the peaches were bigger this year than normal and quite juicey, I decided to make some peach cobbler today. I have a fairly easy recipe that doesn't require you to roll out biscuit dough. I think the hardest part of the cobbler recipe is peeling and slicing the peaches because I was getting peach juice everywhere :).

I also decided that I wanted to try and make some peach ice cream. My ice cream machine is a fairly new purchase (1 year old, but I only use it during the summer) and I didn't have the opportunity to make peach ice cream last year. One of the reasons I wanted to start making my own ice cream was so I could control what goes into it. Over the past few years, I've become lactose intolerant and by making my own ice cream, I can create it lactose reduced. I can't make it completely lactose free because I still like to use heavy cream in it (it makes for a smoother end result). I've also noticed that if I use certain brands of organic whole milk, I have an easier time digesting it. I prefer to use just pasteurized heavy cream (i've only been able to find this at Trader Joe's) istead of the ultra-pasteurized you normally find at the neighborhood supermarket. I've actually noticed a consistancy difference between the two. I think by using just the pasteurized heavy cream, you end of with a smoother ice cream that is more along the lines of a premium brand of ice cream.

Peach Ice Cream
1 1/2 cups peeled and diced ripe peaches
3 tbs fresh lemon juice
1 cup sugar, divided in 1/2
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream (preferably not the ultra pasteurized)
1 ts vanilla extract

In a small bowl combine the diced peaches, lemon juice and 1/2 cup of the sugar. Stir gently and allow the peaches to macerate in the juice for 2 hours.

In a medium bowl, combine remaining sugar and milk. Whisk to combine until sugar is dissolved. Stir in heavy cream, vanilla and any juice that has accumulated in the peaches. Freeze in ice cream maker, following manufacturer's directions. Add diced peaches during the last 5 minutes of freezing in ice cream maker.

Easy Peach Cobbler
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup flour
2 cups sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
1 cup milk
5 cups peeled peaches, sliced thin (6 to 7 medium peaches)
1 tb fresh lemon juice
dash cinnamon and/or nutmeg (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Pour melted butter into a 13x9 in baking pan. (I prefer to use glass like pyrex)

In a medium bowl combine flour, 1 cup of sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine. Add milk and stir until just combined. Pour over melted butter but DO NOT stir them together.

In a saucepan combine peaches, 1 cup sugar and lemon juice. Heat over high heat and bring just to a simmer. Pour all over the batter but DO NOT stir them together. Sprinkle with cinnamon and/or nutmeg.

Bake in oven 35 - 45 minute or until golden brown. Serve warm with ice cream or it can be served cold.

Pan Fried Pork Chops

This is just a quick little dish I made today. I wanted something relatively simple, but tasty. All I did was lightly season some boneless pork loin chops with some Garlic Award Mix. Then I pan fried it in just a little bit of oil. I made the sauce in the same pan, taking advantage of the fond that developed while I was cooking the pork chops.

If you've been read some of my other recipes, there has a been a trend of the all-purpose seasoning that I use. I really like the Garlic Award Mix, its an excellent blend of spices and garlic (one of my favorite spices). Any other season blend can be used (e.g. Mrs. Dash, Montreals Steak or Chicken seasoning, or make your own etc).

Brine
1/2 cup kosher sault
1/4 cup sugar
2 quarts water

Pork Chops
6 1/2" pork loin chops
Garlic Award Mix
2 tb oil

Sauce
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 ts worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup vermouth
1 tb lemon juice
2 tb butter


Mix salt & sugar in 2 quarts of water until dissolved. Place pork chops in brine to soak and place in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Drain and lightly rinse the pork chops. Pat the pork chops dry with paper towels. Lightly sprinkle the garlic award mix on both sides of the pork chops.

In a 8" skillet heat oil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook pork chops in 2 batches. Cook on each side for 3 minutes. Place cooked chops on a warm plate, tented with foil, while cooking the 2nd batch.

Once all the pork chops are cooked, remove pan from heat and saute the shallots for 15 seconds, scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add garlic and cook (off heat), for another 5-10 seconds. Put pan back on the burner at medium low heat and add the vermouth worcestershire sauce. Stirring over medium low heat, bring just to a slight simmer, about 2-3 minutes. Add juice that has collected in the bottom of the plate where the chops have been resting, bring back up to a slight simmer. Add lemon juice and butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. Stir until well combined.

Serve sauce on the side.

Hot Wings

One of my favorite appetizers are buffalo hot wings. This is a simple hot wing recipe. For healthier wings, they can be baked in the oven at 350 degrees for about 45-60 minutes. If you bake them, spray the pan with cooking spray (like Pam) to prevent sticking. I also lightly spray the wings with the cooking spray to promote a crispier skin. For a spicier sauce, add a few dashes of tobasco.

1 dozen chicken wings
1/2 cup Frank's hot sauce
4 tablespoons butter

Deep fry wings in oil heated to 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

In a bowl in the microwave, melt butter with the hot sauce. Stir.

Toss the wings in the sauce.

Simple BBQ Chicken

This is fairly simple recipe for BBQ chicken. I just gussy up some bottled bbq sauce, and voila yummy sauce. The chicken can be grilled or broiled. If broiling, I suggested basting with the sauce prior to putting under the broiler and to make sure its at least 6" from the element. Otherwise the bbq sauce can burn before the chicken cooks. The recipe I made was for a big batch of chicken, it could easily be halved. I also found that cutting slits into the thighs makes cooking the bone-in thighs easier. You could use boneless, skinless thighs for the recipe, but you would need to decrease the cooking time by almost 1/2, depending on the thickness of the chicken. And reduce the brining time to 30 minutes, otherwise the chicken might be a little salty.

Brine:
1 cup kosher salt or 1/2 cup table salt
6 garlic cloves, smashed
2 quarts water

Sauce:
1 cup Bull's Eye Original BBQ sauce
1 tb molasses
1 tb worcestershire sauce
1 tb Garlic Award Mix (or other seasoning, like Mrs. Dash)
couple of dashes of tobasco

12 bone-in chicken thighs

1. Dissolve salt in the 2 quaarts of water. Addgarlic cloves and chicken. Soak in brine solution for 1 hour in refridgerator. Drain and rinse with water to remove some of the surface salt. Cut two slits crosswise (across the bone) on the skin side.

2. Fill a chimney starter with 6 quarts of charcoal and light. Once charcoal have a light grey ash all over, pour onto grate and stack 2 high on one side of the grate. Put grill on and let heat for 5 minutes. Clean grill with a grill brush. With a paper towel lightly soaked with oil, wipe the grill down. Close the vents closest to the fire, and keep the vents wide open on the opposite side.

3. Grill chicken skin side up for about 6-8 minutes until the underside is starting to get golden brown. You may need to spritz any flare up with a water bottle.

4. Turn over and start grilling skin side down. While the chicken is cooking with the skin side down, start basting with the bbq sauce. After about 6-8 minutes turn over to start carmelizing the bbq sauce. Start basting the skin side with the bbq sauce.

5. After a few minutes and the underside just start to char turn over to carmelize the skin side of the chicken. Baste the chicken again with the bbq sauce.

6. Turn over one last time and check for doneness. Take off the grill once internal temperature reaches 175 degree. If additional cooking time is required, give one last basting with bbq sauce.

Serves 12

Guacamole

I was in the mood for some guacamole for the bbq. I rarely have it, but a good guacamole recipe is hard to find. This is a fairly easy and quick recipe.

I don't like my guacamole super chunky, but I do like to have a few chunks of avocado in it. And when I came across the base of this recipe, I was thrilled. I did try the original, that I got on the Cook's Illustrated website (original recipe here), but it didn't quite have the umph I was looking for. By adding a little bit of cumin, I thought it had just the right taste. If you want it chunkier, just change the ratio of mashed up avocados to the ones you dice up.

Since I was also making my salsa recipe for the bbq I was having, I just used some of the left over jalepeno, serrano and anaheim chilis from it. The recipe I made this weekend is not quite as spicey as I normally like it, but what I like about this recipe, is all that you have to do is add more jalepeno and its spicier.

4 avocados
1/2 bunch cilantro, minced
1 jalepeno, seeded and minced
1/2 serrano pepper, seeded and minced
1/2 anaheim chili, seeded and minced
1/2 small red onion, diced
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1 lime, juiced
1/4-1/2 ts cumin
cayenne pepper to taste
salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut 3 avocados in 1/2 and remove pit. Scoop out the flesh into a bowl and mash with a potatoe masher or fork (you could also use a food processor on pulse).

2. Add cilantro, peppers, onion, tomato and mix.

3. Cut remaining avocado in 1/2 and remove pit. Cut into small cubes without piercing skin. Scoop out with a tablespoon into bowl.

4. Add lime juice, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper. Mix gently.

5. Refrigerate at least 1 hour and serve with tortilla chips.

BBQ Tri Tip

When I was doing my shopping in preparation for the BBQ I was having this weekend, I came across a Jack Daniels Mesquite EZ Marinade. The marinade was already in a heavy duty zip lock type bag, and all you needed to do was add meat. I've always liked the Jack Daniels menu items at Friday's, and I thought what the heck I'll try it. I did have enough tri tip to marinate both in the Jack Daniels Mesquite EZ marinade and a Garlic, Ginger and Soy marinade I had originally been planning on doing. In this recipe I used tri tip steaks (at least thats how it was marked on the Costco packaging). It just looked like a tri tip that was cut into strips. I thought it would be easier to cook when it was in strips, and easier to cook the strips to different doneness. When I have the whole family over, I normally have to cook beef from anywhere between medium-rare to well done.

I got the Garlic, Ginger and Soy Marinade from one of my favorite sites for recipes, America's Test Kitchen. I used a little less ginger than the recipe called for becase I'm not fond of a strong ginger taste. The recipe actually calls for marinating for 1 hour, but I marinated it for 3-4 hours and got good results. I was surprised that the flavor was quite mild, but tasty. As opposed to the tri tips that I marinaded with the Jack Daniels EZ marinade that had a bold, sweet flavor. Quite reminiscent of the Jack Daniels items at Friday's. Both sets of tri tips came out quite tender. I'm not sure if they start out that tender, or by marinating for up to 3 hours helped in its tenderness.

I cooked the tri tip over medium hot coals, and I pulled most of them off by the time it was medium (some of the pieces were tapered so I knew those ends would be closer to well done). I let the meat rest for about 5-10 minutes

1 pkg Jack Daniel's Mesquite Marinade
Garlic, Ginger Soy Marinade (recipe below)
4 lbs Tri Tip Steaks (about 1 1/2 inches thick)

1. Poke all the tri tip steaks with a fork all over. Put 2 lbs of tri tip steaks into Jack Daniel's marinade bag. Put other 2 lbs of tri tip steaks into a zip lock bag and pour the garlic, ginger, and soy marinade over it. Refigerate for at least 1 hour. Flipping the bags over about 1/2 way through the marinating time.

2. Fill a chimney starter with 6 quarts of charcoal and light. Once charcoal have a light grey ash all over, pour onto grate and stack 2 high. Put grill on and let heat for 5 minutes. Clean grill with a grill brush. With a paper towel lightly soaked with oil, wipe the grill down.

3. Lay tri tips to a right angle of the grill grates and baste with some of the extra marinade. Cook for 5-6 minutes on first side. Turn over and cook for another 5-6 minutes (or longer depending on desired doneness). Baste again.

4. Remove from grill when you're 5 degrees below desired doneness. Tent loosely with foil and let rest 5 minutes.

Medium-Rare 145 degrees
Medium 150 degrees
Medium-Well 165 degrees
Well 170+ degrees

5. Slice thinly (about 1/4") pieces against the grain and serve.

Serves 6-8
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Garlic, Ginger, and Soy Marinade
Source: America’s Test Kitchen

1/3 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
3 medium cloves of garlic pressed through garlic press or minced (about 1 tablespoon)
1 piece fresh ginger (1 inch), minced (about 1 tablespoon)
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons grated orange zest from 1 orange
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 medium scallion sliced thin

Combine all ingredients in small bowl