Pulled Beef Tacos

For some reason colder weather triggers my desire for red meat.

I was shopping last night and picked up a big beef roast. As I have a long day today  and needed to pick up my daughter tonight I decided to break out the crock pot.

At five this morning, I dredged that big roast through some seasoned flour and seared it in all sides.

Into a crockpot with onions, garlic and a bit of chicken stock.

12 hours later  I opened the door  and was greeted by the rich aroma.

It was falling apart.

Shredding took no effort at all.

I warmed some tortillas in a skillet, some beef, cilantro, onion, avocado. The tomato of course is from the garden.

Tender deliciousness ensued!


Eat Well & Keep Digging


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Not quite a peck of pickled peppers, of course I'm not "Peter"

We had picked a bunch of the cherry peppers, concerned they would not ripen in time. To that add my trip to the Carniceria tonight to pick up some supplies and the gorgeous red Jalapenos. Let's pickle them. I expect to break a sweat when I have them.

Ingredients:
2.75 lbs of hot peppers
6 cups vinegar
2 cups water
3 garlic cloves crushed

Directions:
Prepare jars and lids according to instructions.
Leave peppers whole or cut into 1 inch pieces (I cut them).

Combine vinegar, water and garlic in a big pot. Bring mixture to boil, reduce heat  and simmer 5 minutes. Remove garlic.

Pack peppers into hot jars leaving 1/4" headspace.

Ladle hot liquid over peppers leaving 1/4" headspace.

Remove air bubbles.

Adjust 2 piece caps.

Process 10 minutes in boiling water canner.

After 10 minutes, lift rack, wait 5 minutes then remove jars (why is it called canning?)

5 jars of garden jewels.

I think these will be HOT!

Until next time Eat Well & Keep Digging!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Apple Butter - a taste of autumn preserved!

Yesterday the DW and I went out to an apple orchard to walk around, get some apples, and some apple cider donuts. The doughnuts were sublime, light, fluffy and warm, they almost melt in your mouth, but I digress.

We ended up with 1/2 a peck each of Jonagold and Honeycrisp. DW prefers the Jonogold, I like the Honeycrisp. That's about 20 lbs of apples.  It is unlikely we'll eat that many out of hand so I immediately started looking in my canning book for recipes. I decided to make some apple butter, if you are not familiar with it, it is like very thick and highly spiced applesauce - great on toast for breakfast instead of jam or jelly. I used the Honeycrisp for this  recipe.


Canned Apple Butter  - Makes 3 pints.

Ingredients:
4 lbs apples, peeled, cored and quartered.
2 cups water
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground clove

Honeycrisp are large heavy fruit - here is the 4 lbs!

Using the super peeler, (no I don't feel like I am cheating) all I have to turn the crank! This makes very short work of the apples. All peelings go right out to the compost pile.

To make the apple puree, put the prepped apples into a large pot with 2 cups of water. 

Simmer until soft.

Run the cooked apples through the food mill with the largest screen - you want a puree not liquid.

Return the puree to the pot, add the sugar and spices.

Cook over medium head until thickened and puree will round up on a spoon. That is, if you scoops some out, it has enough body to be a small mound on a spoon.

Prepare your jars for canning following manufacturers instructions. Here is my filling station.

Fill jars, remove any air bubbles, leave 1/4" head space, adjust 2 piece lids, and process in hot water canner for 10 minutes.

As I had the water canner  already setup and had all the ingredients on hand, I went ahead and  made another batch of the Eggplant Tomato Relish. - another 6 1/2 pints.

As you can see, by this point it was dark outside. I cleaned up and called it a night.


Until next time, Eat Well & Keep digging!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt

http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Steak on the Barbie + Mysterious Shadows

I had not had a steak in a long time. Last night just seemed like the right night. A little nip in the air, a glass of red wine. Let's fire up the grill.

I had this steak waiting for such a day, I'd taken it out of the freezer a day or so ago, and out of the fridge an hour before prepping. It is huge and will serve 2.

A little salt and pepper, and get the cast iron pan on fire. Start the grill as well.

It fills the pan!

Two minutes a side.

Add a pat of butter, and into the grill, pan and all until internal temp of 125.

While the steak was finishing in the covered grill, I was surprised to see the evidence of a thought to be extinct creature, the Backyardasaurus.  It appears mates were moving through the neighborhood. While they look like herbivores, perhaps they were drawn by the smell of the cooking steak?

With the steak off the grill and resting, a quick sauté of spinach and Korean greens, with a little olive oil and garlic.

Time to carve and serve! It looks charred but it is just a nice crust

Delicious!


I am getting found of the pan to grill technique. It works well for me.

Eat Well and Keep Digging!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Eggplant stuffed tomatoes

A reader send me a recipe for zucchini  stuffed tomatoes. Well, with today's harvest, I decided to take that recipe and give it a twist to make use of what I had on hand.

Ingredients:
2 Japanese eggplants medium dice
1 small onion diced
1/2 cup diced mushrooms
7 tomatoes,

4 cloves garlic finely diced

1 tsp Herbs De Provence

2 tsp olive oil + more for drizzling

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1/2 cup grated Parmesan (I know the picture shows mozzarella, but I changed my mind at the last minute.

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F
Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and onions.

Cook until onions are soft, stirring often.

Add eggplant and mushrooms and a pinch of salt and grind of pepper.

Cook over medium heat until eggplant browns stirring often. Add herbs.

While eggplant cooks, cut top third of tomatoes off and remove veins, seeds and pulp. Repeat with the rest of the tomatoes.

Add half the Parmesan and bread crumbs to the eggplant mixture, stir to mix.

Stuff the tomato shells with the eggplant mixture.

Mix the remaining bread crumbs and cheese. Sprinkle over the top of each stuffed tomato. Drizzle each with a little olive oil.

Put in preheated oven for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, change oven to broil, and broil for 3-5 minutes until tops are browned.

Enjoy!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

First Acorn Squash of the Season makes it to the plate

Acorn squash is a winter squash, no, it doesn't grow in the winter, rather it can keep all winter long if stored properly.  Last weekend we harvested some of the first squash of the year. I checked it and a sugary liquid was coming off of it. Rather than waiting, I decided to prepare it simply.

Sometimes simple is the most satisfying.

Ingredients:
1 small acorn squash
1 tbs butter
pinch of salt

Pretty, isn't it?

Cut it in half, scoop out seeds the carefully cut into sections following the ribs.

Here comes a quick cheat. At this point you could steam it, or even bake it in an oven. I'm hungry NOW.

Into the microwave (gasp!) for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile heat a pan over medium high heat, add butter melt swirling often, add steamed squash.

Cook for  8- 10 minutes until it is browned and crispy on the outside tender and moist on the inside.
A pinch of salt and serve.

Simple is good.

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!


The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Garlic Anchovy Pasta

Some of you may have strong negative reactions to anchovies. If so, skip this post.

Otherwise read on!

While at the Korean Market they had a big tasting table set up and one of the items was stir fried anchovies. Heads and all! They were like fish jerky. A bit sweet and chewy, with garlic and sesame. I liked them!

I'm home today nursing a heavy chest cold but still feeling a bit peckish.

A fast brunch of pasta, the anchovies and garlic seemed like a fine idea!

Put the pasta on to boil.

Put some oil, the garlic and anchovies in a pan.

Add a few spoonfuls of the pasta water to help steam the dried fish. Drain the pasta and add to the pan.

A quick toss, a sprinkle of chives

Plate it up and dig in!

The fish is chewy, sweet and nutty. A perfect light meal!

I'm headed back to the couch to try and beat this cold.

Until next time,

Eat Well & Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener