A Christmas Carol. God bless us, everyone.

My friend Mary is the kind of person that many aspire to be. Compassionate, caring and darn pretty.

She keeps her eye on an army of kids aging out of the Foster Care system. Once a year at this time she struggles to throw them a gigantic party. For one night they experience the things we take for granted everyday. Home cooked meal, family at the table, the warmth and light of the season. The other 364 days? Some of these kids are homeless, most are severely lacking of security, support and guidance.

Mary is also a Washington High RAM.

She calls for help, we answer. This is my second year serving as a volunteer. I wasn't alone.

I reached out to my friends at Atlasta Catering again, they came through in a big way. Cambro full of Turkey, I headed out to the church hall, hoping to make some Christmas magic.

We entered the hall, HUGE, dark.

I headed right for the kitchen, my buddy Kevin followed. Lots of work ahead. Luckily we had a big professional kitchen this year. Convection ovens, grill top. All waited to heat and hold all the food the rest of the volunteers would bring. Re-heat, slice and carve. Kevin who was just getting over a cold gave up his Birthday to be there. He got a crash course of slicing Ham and Turkey. Champ.

Our friend Jeff appointed himself as expo, ran food back and forth like a BOSS.

Jamie and her lovely daughter helped keep things from getting out of hand.

 

People given the chance are magnificent. We had a gigamountain of food this year. Kids ate until bursting and we were able to pack to-go containers for anyone who wanted. Grateful they would have food for the Holiday weekend. There was even enough Mary was able to drop some off at a homeless shelter.

The kids are tremendous. All night long they would thank us, hang out with us. Such a tight group.

I know that I'll be back next year. I hope this continues to grow. With the support of our WHS RAMS we can continue to show the kids with the least that they matter.

I still wish we could have more. Next year?

Here's some pics of my friends being RAMS

Another RAM Chef, Patti.

 

lady with the bright smile. Our Cindy.

 

Cindy hugs!

More kids!

All it takes is two hands and a willingness to help. Thank you RAMS! Tom, Jeff, Mary, Mary G. Jennifer (hi!), Jamie, Kevin, Susie, Patti, Cindy and John, and all who volunteered either their time, food, gift-cards..etc. Happiest of Holiday seasons.

Cooking poor, feeling rich

Get your grub on

Ciao

 

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Jerk. Keep your hands off. Caribbean style.

I love jerk. Truly. Sweet, spicy, peppery and smokey. Easy way to transform a basic protein into something unforgettable. A close friend brought me a jar for Christmas. Good thing too, I was almost out.

I'm also getting tired of Holiday leftovers. Seems like a good day to fire up the grill. Along the way I'll show ya some Sweet Potato Pudding and Collard Greens. Ja man.

First a little history (you knew this was coming) Jamaican Jerk is a miracle. It's a blend of Allspice, Scallions, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Scotch Bonnet Peppers, Vinegar, Black Peppercorns and Sugar. That's just the basic formula, there are many variations. It can be a dry-rub or a wet marinade. It's applied to meat and grilled. Today I'm using Chicken thighs but it's also really great with pork, goat, lamb..etc.

It came about after the British invaded the Spanish colony of Jamaica. The African slaves; rather than be recaptured, fled into the mountains and joined the native tribes. Surrounded by deep forests where game was plentiful they used whatever they could gather and their own heritage to transform humble meals into something wonderful. Truly cooking poor, eating rich.

Mise-en-Place

Today I used Chicken thighs, 'cus it's good. I took the skin off and the bone out

Jar of Jerk (this can be tricky to find) look for one that is more paste like than sauce.

 

4-5 White Sweet Potatoes, peeled

Jar of Pineapple chunks

Four large eggs

1/2 cup milk

Pinch of ground Nutmeg

Salt and Pepper

 

2 big bunches Collard Greens, stems removed and rough chopped

4 pieces Salt Pork, cubed

1-2 Jalapeño chopped, seeds and all

One whole Clove

Salt-Pepper

2 cups water

 

It's so easy

Smear a good heap of Jerk onto Chicken. Wear gloves, you do NOT want to touch anything with Scotch-Bonnet pepper in it. Turns your hands bright red and burns.

Set aside for at least an hour.

 

Onto the Collard Greens. It's a relative of Kale, has smooth leaves and a mustardy, spinach kinda thing going on. Very fibrous so it takes time to make it tender.

 

Heat up a deep pot.

Plop in the chunks of Salt Pork. Render the fat out. That'll be our Sauté medium.

Mmmmm pork fat

Add those Peppers, season. Wilt for a bit, it will shrink some. Add your water, whole clove and bring to simmer, cover and wait. Takes about an hour, I'm not kidding.

 

Next let's tackle Sweet Potato pudding.

pre-heat the oven to 375F

Peel spuds and chop into equal chunks. Place in deep pot and barely cover with salted water. Add some ground pepper in there too. Bring to boil and simmer until soft all the way through.

Once done, drain all water and put the pot back on the stove and shake it until all steam stops. Water equals lumps. Neat trick right?

Think of regular mashed 'taters.

Now, off heat add butter, Nutmeg. Use a fork and mash around, should be real easy. Add the milk. Still beating? Good, switch to a sturdy spoon. Add the eggs, mix, now empty the entire contents of the can of Pineapple chunks. Mix.

Dump the whole thing into a Casserole pan, sprinkle with a little Paprika if you like. Throw it into the oven. Bake for 40 minutes, check it. It will puff up some. Done? Good, remove from oven.

 

 

Check those greens ok? Maybe pull one out and bite it. Tender? Yes! Good, remove and drain. Done.

 

Heat up that grill, 500. Fast and smokey.

 

Keep your heat consistent. Flip once. Remove to plate and let it rest.

It's great just the way it is but I always like to hand chop it first. Simple right?

Knife and cutting board...done

Doesn't need any garnish. It's great, trust me. Scoop of pudding for sweet, greens for bitter and jerk for heat. Try it.

 

 

Cooking poor, eating rich.

Get your grub on

Ciao

 

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What the dickens is "left-over wine?"

My favorite kind of project. Making something for the people I love.

My dear friend Becky Sue Cook gave me this idea. She can bake me under a table and is a terrific example of someone who cooks poor, eats rich. Plus she's a fellow WHS RAM. Kudos love!

Most of you know that I make a little jar of something for gifts at Christmas. The brilliance of this project is it combines two of my favorite things. Hockey and Doctor Who...no, wait I meant COOKING and WINE. Yeah, those two.

Great use of any leftover wine. Simple stuff. Nothing you haven't seen before, I've done at least one jar project every year.

Wine jelly

MISE-EN-PLACE

3 cups dry wine. Red or white. I picked a nice fruity Merlot from Washington. Just about one 750ml bottle.

4 cups sugar

1 3.78 ounce package of Pectin. They used to be labeled straight 4 ounces...bastards. It's ok, it works.

One big pot for sterilizing jars and lids

One pot for jelly process.

Pair of tongs

Ladle.

And yes, they do sell special equipment just for processing jars. Do you need it? Well, no. I'm a professional and I don't. I'm not the kind of person who spends money on stuff I'll only use once a year.

Anyway....

Put all jars, lids and rings into your large pot and cover with water. Bring to boil. Sterilization. Just let it go. Make sure your tongs and ladle are in there too.

 

In your other pot over high heat dump in the wine and pectin. Stir gently until it comes to a boil.

Dump in all the sugar. Stir until dissolves. Keep stirring and boil hard for one minute. Lower to simmer.

Now you're going to notice a wacky, foamy scum gathering on the surface. You'll want to remove that. Just use a small spoon and dump it.

If you want to test your batch, easy. Grab a small plate or bowl. Dribble some onto it and count to 10. Turn it upside down. If it's perfect it will set and not drip.

 

 

Ok? All good? Time to process.

Using the tongs, grab one jar and fill where the ring screws on. Wipe rim with a paper towel dipped in the hot water, this will insure a tight seal. Grab one lid (that's the flat one) place on top, grab one ring and screw it on tight. I use a clean cloth towel.

ONE

TWO

As each jar is filled, put them on a towel out of the way.

Once all jars are filled and lidded. GENTLY lower them standing back into the hot water and let it come back to boil for 5 minutes.

Remove, dry and let stand until cool. Out of any cold drafts, we don't want anything to crack.

I know! Easy right? You'll get 6-8 oz jars of yield. That's a pretty fair return for little effort.

Wine jelly is a terrific condiment for savory cheeses, goes terrific with bagels and cream cheese, rye crackers...etc. Be your family's gourmet this holiday!

If you are so inclined, if you'd like to help out this poor man's blog. On the top of the site you'll see a PayPal button, any amount is greatly appreciated. Also, if you are considering buying anything off Amazon. On the right is a link. Anything you purchase, a small amount is given to support this blog. Thank you.

Have a joyful season y'all

Cooking poor, eating rich

Ciao

 

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It's November, it's 85F. Squash.

And again. I took a long time away from the blog. My RWJ finally went full time and has taken up most of my focus sorry. I got bills. So do you.
Dad did it again, grew some great produce that I must share. What you're looking at is "Buttercup" squash. Sorta punkiny kinda butternutty. Green on the outside and rich orange inside with an earthy and sweet character. Now sure I coulda done all kinds of crazy things, made gnocchi, filling for ravioli but my focus here is to think about what YOU might do with it. So quick bread is easy. Another master recipe you can use with any golden gourd-like squash, including pumpkin, turban, butternut etc...

Mise-en-place
Master formula
PREHEAT OVEN TO 350F
2 cups AP Flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp fine salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup squash, puréed
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup cooking oil
*optional
1/2 cup chopped nuts ( I'm allergic so I didn't)
1/2 cup dried fruit ( I used cranberry)
The first order of business is to render our squash. Easy. Quarter, scoop out seeds and that gushy, thready gunk. Put the quarters into a large plastic bag with a splash of water. Pop it into the Microwave for about 10 minutes or until completely soft. Scoop out (don't burn yourself) and measure out one solid cup. Any left overs just freeze.

Sift together the flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a separate bowl. Combine squash, brown sugar and oil. Whisk together thoroughly. Add eggs and whisk until absorbed.

Add the dry ingredients in two additions. Mix thoroughly. Easy right? If using any or both optional ingredients add them NOW. I said NOW.
Grease up one 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.

Dump the batter into the pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Test with a knife or skewer, anything clings to it, let it go for a little more.
Remove from oven and let it cool until no longer dangerous to handle, remove from pan. Let it sit until completely cool. Wrap and chill overnight before slicing up. I know it's hard to wait and sure you could eat this right away but this formula renders a really fluffy, crumbly product. If you do it my way it gets much more dense and moist.

Quick breads are a great way to send love without breaking the bank. Using a master formula gives you the foundation to experiment with your own ideas. There are no wrong answers.

Happy Autumn

Cooking poor, eating rich

Ciao

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Soft Shell Blue Crab and local beer. It's a fry heat.

 

I'm having a great summer. Yeah it's hot but you come to expect that here in Phoenix. Coyotes are staying put for now, they backed off the mass-transit strike and I spent the 4th with my folks so all-in-all can't complain. Now I got crabs....not those kind, yeesh.

Once a year the good Lord sees fit to make available one of the yummiest treats known to man. Soft shell crab. Immature freshly molted crustaceans. Usually something this pricey I would back away from for this blog but some jerk-wad ordered a bunch from my local butcher and then refused them. His loss my gain, usually they sell anywhere from 8 to 10 each but these needed to sell quick so I got them by weight at 9 a pound. See how having a good relationship with a supplier comes into play? Right.

What should I do? Maybe go Asian with a light tempura batter and Thai Curry? Maybe classic Cioppino?

OR...wait for it. We have a terrific local brewer called San-Tan that has a new seasonal. A light wheat Ale with Pineapple. Do some Midwest style corn on the cob and a Cajon style slaw? Sounds good right?

Here's what we need.

Soft Shell Blue Crab Sandwich with Cajon Cole Slaw

Mise-en-place

8 or so soft shell crabs

2 1/4 cup flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

Salt and Pepper

2 12oz Beers

A quantity of Cajon Blackening Powder ( I make my own, we've covered this before) We're using it a lot today

Oil and a deep pot for frying

smallish head of Cabbage

1 red Bell Pepper, small dice

3 Green Onions, same

A jar of Mayonnaise, sure I could make my own but I'm not gonna

1 whole Lemon

Fresh Corn with husk, let's be real, it's everywhere this time of year

Corn's easy. I'm keeping it Midwestern style so once the shucks are removed put it in a pot with Milk, Water, salt, pepper, sugar and butter. Just do it. Bring it to a boil, drop the heat and just forget about it.

The longer you let it sit, the better.

Cajon Cole Slaw

Basically it's a chopped salad isn't it?

Remove the core, cus yuck

Add your Pepper and Green Onion

Stupid easy I know

Take about a Cup of the Mayo. Add 1TB of Blackening Powder, a few good splashes of Tobasco, some more of the same of Cider Vinegar, pinch of Salt and Pepper, pinch of Celery Seed some chopped Dill and combine.

 

Dump it over the chopped stuff and toss to coat. Let that sit for a spell, longer is better.

See? It doesn't have to be fancy.

 

Now we set up our fry station

We're using seasoned flour first so in a wide bowl add one cup flour with a good pinch of Salt and Pepper, to that add tsp of Cajon Blackening Powder, toss , set aside

For the batter, measure out 2 1/4 cups flour. One tsp Baking Powder. Good pinch of Salt. Combine.

Dump in both Beers, whisk thoroughly.

 

Let sit for about 60 minutes.

 

Get those crabs ready. Dry as much as you can with clean paper towel. We're frying, hot oil and water don't like each other.

For frying stuff like this I like a combination of oil and shortening. Any vegetable oil will do, just add an equal amount of Crisco. Sure, if you want to drag out your deep-fryer go ahead. I'm just gonna use this pot, so there. Betcha my clean up will be easier. Test the oil temp by dropping a speck of batter in. If it bubbles and floats immediately you are ready to go.

Frying is done in steps. Use your hands and be careful.

First coat the item in the seasoned flour, shake off any excess.

Now dunk it into the batter

 

 

let it drip for a second and lower low and slow into the oil.

 

It only takes a minute or so, then flip it over for another 30 seconds, remove to a plate lined with paper towels. Repeat. Don't rush and don't panic. Golden brown or nuthin'.

As an added bonus let's do an Aioli. Basically a special Mayonnaise.

A cup of Mayo

1 tsp grated Lemon peel

Juice of half a Lemon

Scant pinch salt

Big-ass pinch of Black Pepper

That'll be the spread for the sandwich. Cool.

 

 

Done? Let's plate up. Grill your bun if ya wanna, or not, your call.

 

Now that's summer right there

Cooking poor, eating rich

Get your grub on

Ciao

 

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