Cleaning & re-seasoning a Cast Iron Pan

I was fortunate to have a friend give me a cast iron pan - a Griswold #9 pan. They had picked it off a curb after it had failed to sell at garage sale for $15.  It is worth at  least three times that! He wasn't using it and it was taking up space in storage so he made a gift of it. Thanks buddy!

Aside from a few pits, a little rust and caked on grease it was in great shape.

Cleaning
First I scrubbed it with a metal scouring pad, boiling water and soap. Then I put the gas grill outdoors on preheat, and turned the oven in the house to its lowest setting - 170F for mine.

I put the pan on the grill for 30 minutes at the same preheat. The idea is to carbonize any remaining crud. It worked like a charm.

This is what it looked like after it cooled for 30 minutes.

You can even read the stamp on the back now.

One more scrub with hot soapy water and we're ready to start the seasoning part of the process.

Seasoning
1. Crank the burner on high and heat the pan for 5 minutes.
2. Add high smoke point oil (I used peanut) and swirl around  the pan. I took some paper towels (Be careful, the oil is hot!) and spread the oil all over the pan, inside and out. Discard paper towel. I suppose you could use a rag too if you want to be "greener".
3. Next I put the pan upside down over a sheetpan with the handle resting on the lip of the sheetpan. This allows extra oil to flow off.

4. Let it sit in the warm oven for 30 minutes, remove and let cool. Wipe it out again.
5. Repeat steps 1 through 4 2 more times.

Looks pretty good. I"ll use it to cook the "test patty" from the bratwurst I'm making later today.

So there you have it, all it took was a little elbow grease and time. You may be able to skip the first soapy water scrub and go straight to the super hot grill. Seemed pretty effective.

Eat well & keep digging!


The Gastronomic Gardener
My garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
My cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Product Review - Flaming Joe's Caribbean Style Jerk Sauce

I've been waiting to do this review for a long time. Flaming Joe's Caribbean Style Jerk Sauce is a heady brew that is fantastic on pork, chicken and seafood.

This sauce has won many awards including:
2005 Scovie Awards 2nd place winner in the Amateur Division.
2006 Scovie Awards GRAND PRIZE winner in the Amateur Division.
2008 Scovie Awards First Place winner in the Professional Division. Cook-It-Up category, Jerk seasoning.
2009 Fiery Food Challenge Golden Chile Winner - Jerk Seasoning (Original Hot)
2009 Fiery Food Challenge Third Place winner Jerk Seasoning (Mild)
2010 Fiery Food Challenge - 2nd Place Jerk Seasoning -Caribbean Style Jerk Sauce – MILD
2010 Scovie Awards - 5 entries, 5 awards!
1st Place, Sweet Heat, Jams/Jellies Island Fire Tropical Fruit & Habanero Marmalade
2nd Place, Sweet Heat, Jams/Jellies Strawberry Jalapeño Jam
1st Place, Barbeque Sauce, Unique Caribbean Style Jerk Sauce HOT
2nd Place, Barbeque Sauce, Unique Caribbean Style Jerk Sauce MILD
3rd Place, Meat Required, Jerk Seasoning Caribbean Style Jerk Sauce MILD
Professional Division. -Cook-It-Up category, Jerk seasoning.

With this pedigree, it certainly has a reputation to uphold.

Flaming Joe has a unique logo that can't be missed! Don't be scared, flavor is is the key, the heat secondary.

There are two flavors of the Caribbean Style Jerk Sauce. Original and Mild. Today I used the mild, the difference is the mild has 1/4 the habenero of the original. If you like the heat, by all means use the original!

Here are the ingredients:

key lime juice, soybean oil, soy sauce, green onion, Worcestershire sauce (vinegar, water, corn syrup, salt, molasses, carmel color, spices, garlic, natural flavorings, anchovies, tamarind, dextrin, and sulfating agents), ginger, habanero pepper, brown sugar, garlic, cilantro, chili powder, spices, xanthan gum, guar gum, sodium alginate.

Upon opening the bottle you smell spice and the worcesterchire sauce. It smells delicious!

I poured some in a plate to get a good look. While it looks a bit gritty, it isn't. It's just chock full of spices and herbs.

I decided to make jerked pork sandwiches with a pineapple cole slaw.

Trim a pork loin of most of the fat, and cut for butterflying. That is, every other cut goes all the way through and the others go almost through the meat.

Open up the butterflys.

Place the pork in a large zip bag and add some jerk - I used about 1/2 to 3/4 cup. Here it is with the mexican bread I got at the market.

Put the pork in the fridge and let marinate for a few hours or overnight. A day or two would only deepen the flavor.

While the pork marinates, I whipped up some slaw with crushed  pineapple. I wanted some sweet and crunch to  offset the jerk.

Prep the grill. - That is get it very hot, scrape and oil. Add the pork.

The pork is thin so it will cook pretty fast. Five minutes a side. Six if you don't like a little pink. These days, commercial pork need not be cooked to well done.  Holy cow does it smell good!

Toast the buns.

Pull them off the fire and let them rest a few minutes. Five minutes if need be.

Assemble Sandwich. Bread, Pork, Slaw. So simple. So good. The way good food should be. Add some just picked tomato and some spicy pickled green beans.



















That thing is too big to handle all at once so slice it in half.



















The toasted bread, the savory pork and the sweet and crunchy slaw was magic. My wife said between bites,"You know, this tastes like summer!"  I have to agree! It was tangy, sweet, a nice amount of heat.

Get yourself some today!
Flaming Joe's Website


FULL DISCLOSURE:
I am a personal friend of Flaming Joe. I was there when he was developing his sauces. My wife and I  have traveled to Albuquerque to help him at the Fiery Foods show. We had a blast and sold a bunch of product as well as soaking up the party festival atmosphere!

That said, this was an uncompensated review, I’m just happy to be able bring his great product to you!

Eat well and keep digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
My garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
My cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt

Canning some salsa

Since I have so many tomatoes, I decided to make some salsa.

The recipe is based on one from a colleague of mine. His salsa is always a hit in the office.

Tomato Salsa (Spicy)


Yield – 4 pints

5 cups chopped peeled seed tomatoes
1 ½ cups roasted seeded long green chiles
½ cup finely chopped roasted jalapenos seeded and skinned (per taste)
3 chopped roasted Serrano peppers seeded and skinned (per taste)
4 cups chopped onions
1 cup bottled lemon juice
6 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 TBS ground cumin
1 TBS salt
1 tsp ground black pepper

Here are the ingredients

Did you catch whta I forgot to lay out? That's right, the onions.

Roast the peppers  till they are charred. Place in a paper bag to steam and further loosen the skins.

While the peppers are charring, bring a pot of water to boil to blanch the tomatoes. Plunge the tomatoes a few at a time until the skins loosen, remove from pot and put in colandar. Repeat until done.

Peel, and seed the tomatoes and peppers. Chop them up. Put all ingredients into a large pot, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Ladle hot salsa into pint jars , leaving 1/2" headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water canner 15  minutes. (at 0-1000 foot altitude). Adjust for your altitude.

After canning stage - allow to rest 5 minutes before removing jars and placing in a dry place.  Follow cooling  and  storage instructions.

We'll see how it is later.

Keep digging and eat well!


The Gastronomic Gardener
My garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
My cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt

Carrots for the winter

I'm not a huge fan of carrots, not one of my favorites to munch raw, unlike a just picked tomato, where a little salt and pepper on top and I'm happy.

That said, the little carrots harvested were fun to pull up and will be great in the deep of winter. I'll make my mother's Honey Ginger Carrots. Those I like and they bring fond remembrances.

I started with a couple pounds of washed fresh carrots.

Trimmed down and  portion out - after cleaning and taking the leaf ends off I'll end up with 4 6oz bags.The scale helps with the portioning. If you follow this blog you'll notice the cast iron skillet. It is almost always there. It makes me happy to have it on the stove top.

I'm following the instructions From Ball Blue Book - guide to preserving. According to them I should blanch for 3 minutes

followed by 3 minutes in an ice bath.

I dried them off and bagged them in the vacuum sealer. Into the freezer to await their turn to shine.

Eat Well & Keep digging

The Gastronomic Gardener
My garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
My cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt

Tomatoes "Poached" in Olive Oil with Garlic and Basil

The recent rains have caused some of the ripening tomatoes to split from excess moisture. Not pretty enough for a salad. Too rough to put up as they are.  The Solution? Poach them in olive oil! Basil and a lot of garlic won't hurt either. They should keep about a week, more if topped off  (covered) with oil. Or freeze them!

Even if your tomatoes are perfect, this is an interesting way to use them up! It takes a few hours.

Tomatoes "Poached" in Olive Oil with Garlic and Basil

Ingredients:
 A bunch of Tomatoes  - Imperfect is OK, just keep cutting them in half or big chunks, until the pan you choose is one layer deep.
A large bunch of basil chopped
4+ cloves of garlic - chopped
1/2+ tsp of salt (to taste)
1/2 -3/4 cup olive oil


Preheat oven to 300 F

Slice tomatoes and put in oven proof pan. Sprinkle with salt.

I gathered some basil from the kitchen garden.

Now we need some garlic, I need to plant some this fall to have a spring harvest.

Chop the garlic and basil. Sprinkle over the top of the tomatoes. Add a good amount of olive oil, I used about 1/2 a cup.

Put it in the oven. After an hour take it out and give it a stir. Put it back in the oven. Then again, depending on texture you want you could be done now. I like the tomatoes to almost melt, you might like them with a little more body.

An hour later, take it out and let cool to room temperature.

Put in a clean jar or tupperware. Use in soups, with pasta, drained on toast, eggs, or sandwiches.

Use your imagination.

As I said, you can also freeze it, use thawed tomatoes on pasta and soups.


Eat Well!
The Gastronomic Gardener

My garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
My cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt

What to do with the Japanese eggplant?

I have two eggplants from the garden that need a purpose in life other than to be purple and beautiful. I chose a Thai eggplant / basil stirfry.


1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 bunch basil, leaves picked from the stem
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons fish sauce (or soy)
2 eggplants chopped
2 chili peppers

Chop garlic and slice chili peppers. Pick the leaves from the stem of the basil.

Heat the wok (or pan) over high or medium high. Add oil, chili peppers and garlic.

Stir until the garlic turn golden brown. Add eggplant and stir.

Add a cup of water and cover the wok with a lid. Keep the lid closed until the eggplant is cooked. It should take about 5-7 minutes before the eggplant is done. The eggplant turns from white to translucent when it is done. Almost all of the water should have been evaporated at this point. If the eggplant is still not cooked, add a little bit more water and keep lid closed until the eggplant is ready.

Add fish sauce and sugar and stir.

Add basil and quickly stir to heat the basil, so that it retains it color.

Turn off heat immediately.

Serve hot with rice.

The eggplant was silky, the basil adds a lovely bright licorice flavor, and the chilis provide a nice little glow. Highly recomended!

Eat Well!

The Gastronomic Gardener
My garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
My cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt

Caprese Salad - a snack for my wife

My wife was hungry, so I scrounged around, we had basil and tomatoes from the garden, some mozzarella, olive oil and balsamic glaze. In two shakes of a lamb's tail we had a lovely, mostly home grown caprese.

Eat well!

My garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/

My cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/

Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt