We don't need no stinkin' PAN. Free-ballin' chicken.

OK all, time to enjoy life. Don't be afraid, I got you. A really simple way to roast a chicken and save some clean-up at the same time. I call this one...











CHEF NICK'S FREE BALLIN' CHICKEN !!!!! (thanks TR)

Mise en place.

This is an all day thing but really worth it.

BRINE THAT POULET
3 cheap beers ( I used the one with the big horses)
handful of kosher salt
cracked black pepper
a few cloves garlic, barely crushed
a few cloves (the spice this time)
3 bay leaves
a couple splashes of Tabasco

Clean out your bird, remove all livers, neck and stuff. Save 'till later.
Combine all the brine ing's in a large ceramic or glass bowl. Swim the carcass in it for at least 6 hours or overnight. Turn it over once.


FOR THE ROASTING PAN
1 large red onion, large dice
some red potatoes, large slices
couple good sized carrots, large slices...ok you get it now right?
1 head garlic, peeled
brussel's sprouts, trimmed
bunch red char, trimmed
fresh parsley and any other FRESH herbs you have laying around. Rosemary, sage, thyme all work.
S and P
Put all this stuff in a large roasting pan, season well and toss with a bit of olive oil.

OK bird time
Inside the birdie I want you to put some fresh parsley, stems are just dandy
half a lemon packed with kosher salt
cracked black pepper. Outside the bird season with salt and pepper.

GLAZE
4 oz peanut butter the best you find. I used the stuff with the initials L and S
2 oz Maple syrup. If you use the "aunt" crap I will kill you.
big pinch chili flakes
cayenne pepper
S and P
1 TB butter
2 TB olive oil

Heat gently just until butter melts.
Smear over your bird

Heat oven to 400 degrees.
place bird directly on a rack right over the roasting pan with all the vegetables, just like that.




Roast for 45 minutes, re-glaze after 30. All those lovely drippings go right onto the veggies turning them into the most delicious things ever. Remove bird and reset oven to 425 degrees and continue roasting vegetables for another 15 minutes. Add any livers, kidneys and hearts at this time.

Plate up, eat up

As always, go get your grub on. Ciao. GO RAMS

It's just so weird...shortribs

Sometimes I come across a recipe that is just so whacky that I have to drop everything and try it. It took me over a year to futz with it and after some tweaking I finally got it to do what I wanted. This was given to me by one of my favorite customers. I call him Da Big D but his real name is Dave and is a sweetheart of a guy. I look forward to his visits. He's good for a food/wine chat anytime. Thanks buddy.
There I was, standing on the floor with this strange formula. It resembles Boef au Carbone but only sorta. It has some traces of the American Southwest but not really. What the heck. It uses some Great Depression era elements and then it doesn't. Sounds like big stupid fun right? Sh'yeaaahhh. I'm a chef, I got this. I have no idea what to call this except...

Chef Nick's Weird Braised Short-ribs.

Mise en place

4 1/2 # short-ribs, trimmed. Separated and seasoned.
about two slices of good bacon chopped
1 large onion, large dice
3 cloves garlic, chopped
handful of button mushrooms, large slices
3 dried ancho chilies, toasted and soaked then minced
2 cups fresh brewed coffee (see? I told you it got weird)
half bottle dry red wine
handful of fresh cilantro chopped
handful of fresh parsley chopped
salt and pepper *note. If you aren't using anything but Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper then you are beyond my help.
One large pot.

OK in my last post I talked about toasting and soaking dried chillies. Use a dry saute pan. Seed and de-stem the peppers. Heat up your pan. Toast up your chillies and put them into hot water. Let them soak until soft about 15-20 minutes.

In the pot put in those bacon pieces and crank up the heat. Turn over to crisp and remove to a separate plate. Mmmmm bacon fat. Perfect medium for our next step.



Sear those ribs. Only a few at a time. Deep golden brown is what we want. If the pot becomes dry add some olive oil, no worries. Remove to a separate plate.



Work your way through all the ribs. Once done add your onions, garlic, mushrooms and minced chillies with a big pinch of salt and pepper. Sweat through and add your cilantro and parsley.





Toss through and add the coffee.



Scrape the bottom of the pan. then add the red wine.



Nestle the ribs back into the pot. Add bacon pieces and bring to simmer. Place into a 350 degree oven covered for 90 minutes or so. Test for doneness by stabbing those bad boys with a fork. If they surrender like the french, they are done.
I served this with some salt boiled potato and broccoli in brown butter with sage. Thanks Tamara. Her blog site is www.forkingfantastic.com WE ARE THE MIGHTY RAMS !!!

Nick's pulled pork. I have a blender and I'm not afraid to use it.

One of the best reasons why I love living in Phoenix is our easy access to terrific Mexican ingredients. This an easy way to make a load of grub for very little money. Cheap cut of pork, some dried peppers and a blender. You can use the finished product as a filling for enchiladas, burritos or tamales.
* note. Pasilla Chilies have a wonderful smokey sweetness but if you can't find them where you are by all means use another kind. You might discover something new and wonderful on your own.

CHEF NICK'S PULLED PORK

Mise en place
3 1/2 pound pork chuck roast, season with salt and pepper
1 large white onion, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
2 cloves garlic
1 good sized jalapeno pepper, chopped with seeds.
1 can spicy mexican style tomato sauce with the initials "E" and "P". Rhymes with "tell fato".
3-4 dried pasilla chilies
1 small can black beans, rinsed. (ok yeah I used canned, get over it)
2 chipotle (the canned kind)
pinch ground cinnamon
juice of one lime
1/2 cup white vinegar. NOT white wine vinegar, the kind you use to clean windows...yeah that kind.
grated lime peel
cilantro, use the leaves for garnish and use the stems for the sauce.
dried oregano
1 bayleaf
small bowl of hot water
large baking pan
blender

the idea is to make the whole house smell so good that your neighbors come by.

Carefully remove the stems and shake out the seeds from your dried chilies.
Turn up the heat under your smallest saute pan and toast them on both sides. If you can smell the yummy and they feel pliable to touch you are done. Immediately throw into the bowl of hot water and place a small saucer over to hold them under, they need to hydrate and soften. This will take about 20 minutes. In the mean time let's talk pork.



With clean hands, rub salt and black pepper onto all sides. Heat up a large saute pan over high heat with a little oil and sear the roast on all sides. By sear I don't mean grey. The easiest way to tell if you have a good sear is to try and pick it up off the pan surface. If it sticks, it ain't done. Put the roast into your baking pan. Cover with the sliced onion, bell pepper and bay leaf.


It's blender time.





In the blender dump in your can of mexican tomato sauce, 1/2 cup white vinegar, dried oregano, jalapeno, garlic cloves, cilantro stems, cinnamon, chipotle, big pinch of salt and pepper and your now softened chilies with a little of the water. Let 'er rip. Once pureed, dump over roast. Add your rinsed beans, just kinda smoosh it around.



Cover loosely with foil and place in a 325 degree oven for about 4-5 hours. We have a lot of connective tissue and fat to cook down and the best way to render that and maximize flavor is by using a long slow cooking method. Trust me, your house will smell fantastic. Check every once in a while and scoop up some of the yummy from the bottom back on top.

Once done, remove from oven and see if you can shred it easily. If you can't, just place it back in the oven for a little while longer.

Today I just fried up some corn tortillas, added shredded lettuce and tomato to make tostadas. Easy right?
Now go get your grub on, Ciao.

MAMBO ITALIANO

ahhh spring. I feel like classic Italian. My local grocery had Italian sausage on special and I have all this free Basil and Eggplant in my backyard so I made a big silly pot of spicy tomato sauce with roasted peppers and sausage.
The Italians are geniuses at maximizing the pleasure of food without breaking the wallet so I drew upon my own heritage for this month's grub.


My Mise en place ( for those who don't know this means "all in place")
2 large cans tomato puree
1 large can crushed tomato
5 cloves garlic par-roasted ( I'll explain later)
I large onion chopped
4 cloves garlic pureed
1 skinned, roasted red bell pepper
mushrooms, rough chopped large pieces
some eggplant, chopped,
1 TB crushed black pepper corns
1 tsp chili powder
good handful of Basil, chiffonade.
1 bottle of good dry red wine, I used a simple Cabernet Sauvignon but use what you have, no worries.
2 #'s Italian sausage.
1/4 cup dried oregano ( but Nick you say to always use fresh !! in this case I prefer the flavors of dried, get over it.)
2 bay leaves

Now, get out your blowtorch. Don't have one? Get your butt to Homo-depot and get one. It's terrific for skinning peppers and tomato.




After you char the skin off, place it in a plastic bag and let it steam for a bit, then wipe off the skin. Seed it and slice, done.

Semi-brown off your sausage. ( I only cut them in half) put them back in your fridge, wait for it.

Hey you know what would be cool? Let's take some garlic cloves and par-roast them. Heat up your smallest saute pan, add oil and throw the cloves in it, re-set to a low heat until they start looking a little roasted, turn them over, let them cook just for a little bit and remove from heat. if you need to, cut them up a little, save the oil.

OK here we go. Turn the heat up under your deepest pan and add some of that killer garlic oil you just created. Throw in your onions, garlic and eggplant. Season with salt, pepper and chili powder.

Once sweated through throw in all remaining seasonings. (oregano, bay leaf blah blah) add tomato stuff. Bring back to simmer and reduce for about an hour. Add the peppers, par-roasted garlic and mushrooms. pour half the bottle of red wine into the pot and the other half into yourself. VIVA ITALIA !!

Just before you take it off heat add the Basil chiffonade. Do this by stacking the leaves and rolling them into a cigar then use a sharp knife to make tiny ribbon slices.

Now go get your grub on. Much love to all my friends but especially my RAMS.

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COOKING POOR, EATING RICH. Learn how.

We have been here before. Ask your grandparents, ask your own parents. Many of us feel helpless and at a loss as to what else we can do to make our paychecks stretch even further.

The expression "waste not, want not" is never more appropriate than in times like this. What is waste? Is it throwing things away without thinking? Is it not seeing the value in what is right in front of you? Yep, all that.

The truth is all great cuisines came out of times like this. Yes all of it. Italian, French, Chinese, Mexican. All came out of necessity in times of privation. We used to know this. Some still do.

Waste nothing, real food is scarce. Prove this to yourself by really looking what is in stores these days. Real food items are on the perimeter, everything else has almost no good food value.

Even the baking aisle is being taken over by pre-packaged items. Where is the flour and sugar these days? It's toward the end of the aisle, on the bottom shelf. We have become far too relaxed on what we think "FOOD" is.

We cannot afford to live like that anymore. Compare the price on a bag of cookies versus baking your own. Not just cents but almost triple the cost. The added value of cooking dinner from a well stocked kitchen versus fast food is staggering, not to mention the loss of nutritional value. Cook dinner for your family, My Mom did and that was back during the last economic crisis.

OK enough of the soapbox. Here's some practical ideas on reducing waste and what I do in my own house.

Before you throw anything out, think of three things you can do with it. Here's some examples.

Sour milk: can be used as a substitute for buttermilk. Biscuits, Irish soda bread and pancakes.

Stale bread:Make bread pudding or dry out and make bread crumbs. Cube and toss with oil and seasonings, lightly toast to make croutons.

Left-over corn chips: Pulverize and use as a breading on chicken or fish.

Wash and re-use plastic bags.

Don't throw away vegetable scraps, make stock. You can use left over chicken bones, beef bones, get as much value from your purchase as possible. Stock freezes.

Apple peels boiled with equal parts sugar and water makes apple simple syrup

Learn to harvest your neighborhood, citrus is ubiquitous in Phoenix. Lemon peels and orange peels freeze well if you pare carefully, avoiding the white part and squeeze juice over them.

One of the best things you can do is plant your own vegetable garden. I see community gardens springing up everywhere from apartment complexes to retirement homes. Trade seeds and produce with your neighbors. COMPOST !!

SAVE THE BACON FAT...My personal favorite. Bacon fat used to be the most popular cooking fat, ok I know there is concern about being heart healthy but I use it as a flavoring in so many things, I can't live without it.

One of my passions are collecting "antique" recipes. I go to used bookstores and look for cookbooks from the 1930's and 40's. People then knew how to live well in bad times.

Lastly, here is a list of things that I keep in my kitchen at all times.

I grow my own herbs. It really pisses me off that stores charge $5.00 for less than a handful of Basil when you can buy 2 living sets from any nursery and grow 20 times as much.

Flour, sugar, baking soda and powder.

Dried pasta, one small and one ribbon.

Stock, I make my own from onion peels, celery and carrot trimmings. Reuse left over chicken bones. Buy whole birds and learn to divide, freeze bones.

Olive oil, it's a necessary expense

Dried legumes of all kinds. I grow most of my own, I don't know any bean that cannot grow in Phoenix. making soup? Add a handful of lentils to increase protein and fiber. Find a recipe for Pasta Fagioli.

Onions, celery and carrot. It's the base of just about everything from stock, sauces and soups.

In addition and in closing. Yes I realize that this means you will have to spend more time in the kitchen. Guess what, your kitchen is in your home. I don't see a down-side. Your families live there too.

Now go get your grub on. Ciao !