How To Cook Chris' Quick Black Beans And Rice

As ugly and dreary as yesterday was, today was just glorious. Blue skies, autumn colors, and moderate temperatures meant my butt was grilling today!
The black beans and rice were a side dish to a couple of ribeyes that I had introduced to my cajun beef rub.
Then said ribeyes made the acquaintance of a certain Big Green Egg who was running along at about 550f degrees.
TIP: It's important to let your steaks "rest" after cooking. I don't just let mine rest, I give them the day spa treatment. Drizzle some Worcestershire sauce, olive oil and fresh herbs on the plate on which they will be resting.
See? It makes them happy.
Ok, on to the Black Beans and Rice. The thing I like about our quickie version is that it bypasses hours of soaking dried beans, simmering them with ham hocks, etc but still results in a reasonable facsimile of real black beans and rice. One of the tricks is using bacon grease/pork fat to saute the veggies. This lets you get away with only about a 20 minute cooking time.
Chris' Quick Black Beans and Rice
Ingredients
1 can black beans rinsed
1/2 cup onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 ea Jalapeno peppers seeded, finely diced
1 tablespoon Pork fat (substitute butter if necessary...you don't keep your bacon grease?)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco
2 teaspoons Cilantro chopped
1/2 teaspoon pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt to taste
2 cups rice cooked
Instructions
Heat pork fat (bacon grease) in a saute pan. Once it comes to temp add the onion and saute for about 5 minutes.
As the onion starts to become soft and translucent, add the garlic and pepper (very finely diced & seeds removed). Saute for another 3 minutes.
Add the cumin, cilantro, salt, pepper, Tabasco, and black beans. Either add 1/4 cup of chicken broth or swirl 1/4 cup of water in the black bean can to get out the leftover "goodies" and add to the pan. Bring to a boil and simmer until thickened.
Serve the beans over a timbale of rice and garnish with bacon, cilantro, sour cream, or whatever sounds good.
Here's a trick I came up with during cooking tonight. One of those aha moments. It may have been done before but it was new to me.

How To Cook Brisket Chimichanga

After smoking that gargantuan beef brisket at Christmas, we packaged the leftovers in vacuum seal bags and froze some for later use. Later is today.
This is one of my favorite uses for leftover brisket but also works for pulled pork and chicken.
Brisket Chimichanga
Ingredients
2 -3 slices smoked beef brisket
2 ea flour tortilla, burrito size
1/2 cup shredded cheese
6 TB ranch dressing
2 TB salsa
2 TB butter
1/2 cup long grain rice
1/4 ea red onion, diced
1 ea tomato, seeded and diced
1 cup water
1 TB tomato paste
1 teaspoon oregano, dried
1 teaspoon sugar
Instructions
Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Saute onion for 5 minutes. Add rice and continue sauteing for another 2-3 minutes. You know it's ready when the rice begins to turn golden and releases an aromatic nutty smell.
Add the water, tomato paste (I normally whisk the paste and water together before adding), tomatoes, oregano, and sugar. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to as low as possible yet still remain at a simmer for approximately 20 minutes. Avoid opening or stirring. After the 20 minutes, remove from heat, fluff the rice with a fork, replace cover and let cool covered.
Mix the ranch dressing and salsa together to make a "mexi-ranch sauce".
Reheat your brisket slices. I prefer to do this by brushing them with maybe a tablespoon of beef stock, wrapping the slices in foil and placing them in foil in the oven while I'm preheating a deep cast iron skillet. Take the slices out as soon as they are warm to the touch and chop them up.
Put about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the rice mixture on a tortilla. Top with half of the meat, cheese and a tablespoon or so of the mexi-ranch sauce.
Wrap the burrito closed. Here's how I roll my burritos for deep frying. I'm not an expert by any means but this works for me and I haven't had one fall apart during cooking yet.
To roll a burrito well, you want to start with a tortilla that's like a great kiss, soft and warm. A cold, dry tortilla will break instead of folding. Warm it for a few seconds (9 for me) in a microwave between two moist paper towels. Place your filling in a line to the side. Mix a "food glue" with equal parts flour and cold water. Looking at the tortilla like a clock, brush a bit of the glue from about 11 o'clock clockwise to about 7 o'clock.
Remove the preheated skillet from then oven and on the stove top, add vegetable oil to a depth of 1/2 inch. Heat skillet over medium high heat. Test for readiness by dropping a small torn piece of tortilla. If it bubbles and sizzles, it's ready for cooking.
Carefully place the burritos seam side down into the oil and let cook until they are golden brown (about 2 minutes). Flip and cook the other side until golden brown (usually less time, like 1:45 seconds).

Grilled Orange Beef With Broccoli Stir Fire

Many people don't think about using a work on the grill but actually it's an ideal match.   Traditionally woks were used over a pit stove with live fire.  A charcoal grill generates the high heat that woks crave.  A flat bottomed wok will work on just about any large grill.   You can use a round bottom wok too, if you have a "spider rig" or if you have a mounting base for it.  The things I like about using a wok on the grill, or as I call it, "Stir Firing", are:
It is a fast dinner option.  Most dishes on the wok take only a few minutes of prep and cooking.
It is a healthier option.  (less oil, more veggies)
It is just fun!
So break out of the same ol', same ol' and try using your wok on your grill.  That is what I did tonight, I made a Grilled Orange Beef w/ Broccoli Stir Fire (aka stir fry).  The steak by itself was pretty damn good but the rest of this dish is good too.
Grilled Orange Beef with Broccoli Stir Fire
1 ea flank steak
Marinade
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup sherry
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 ea green onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp ginger, fresh ground
Veggies
1 Tbsp peanut oil
1 ea shallot, diced
1 head broccoli, cut into 1" pieces
1/3 cup chicken stock
Sauce
1/2 Tbsp sesame oil
1/2 Tbsp peanut oil
1 inch ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks (about 2 Tbsp of fresh ginger)
1 Tbsp orange peel, fresh grated
1/2 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp dry sherry
2 tsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp cold water
salt and pepper to taste
Mix the marinade ingredients together and marinate the steak for 3-4 hours.
The beef and broccoli was good.  It disappeared quickly, with my 11 year old having seconds.  But the sauce seemed awfully thin, it just didn't coat like my usual stir fry does.   After dinner I was cleaning up my out door kitchen, gathering things to be washed and there on the table was my unused bowl with the cornstarch slurry in it.........DOH!  Mystery solved.

TuNofish Salad Sandwich Recipe

I am a sandwich person at heart… I love sandwiches for lunch or even dinner. Heck, I love sandwiches for breakfast and snacks as well. I bought these nice whole wheat hoagie rolls this last week and I have just been making sandwiches away…
One of my favorite ones is TuNofish Salad – pay attention to the spelling, because it’s made with Tuno, the soy protein flavored with seaweed to taste like regular tuna. It’s light and makes a great lunch. My friend Jesiel would say it makes a great breakfast… because she only has tuna sandwiches as breakfast, ever since she was a little kid.
TuNofish Salad Sandwich
1/3 cup Tuno soy protein, defrosted and squeezed as dry as possible
3 tbs egg-free mayonnaise, such as Vegenaise
1 tbs finely chopped onion
juice of 1/2 lemon or lime
Garlic salt and pepper to taste
Choice of bread – I used a whole wheat hoagie roll
Lettuce – romaine or arugula works great
3 tomato slices
Extra mayo to spread
Mix together in a bowl the Tuno, mayo, onion, lemon juice, garlic salt and pepper.
1. Toast bread to your liking.
2. Spread mayo on both sides.
3. Place TuNo salad on bottom bread. Top with lettuce and tomatoes. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on top of tomatoes.
Enjoy with your favorite kind of natural potato chips or plantain chips.
Just to give you an idea that if you enjoy tunafish sandwiches and you decide to go veggie, you will not have to give the experience or the flavor. Believe me, these taste just as good as the real thing used to taste to me.

How To Make Thick Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

In honor of National Nutrition Month, I’ve decided to devote all of my blog entries to healthier eating. I’m one of those people who has tried go for healthy eating (NOT a diet) in such an extreme way (i.e. eliminating too many foods that I love) that I quickly fail. This is my continual mantra: healthiness is moderation. The idea of balance, from the size of my food servings to the amount of sugar I consume, is how I check in when I’ve defenestrated any sense of control.
My first instinct was to not post desserts this month. Then I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be great if I could practice moderation by baking a somewhat healthy cookie?’. So I searched. I’ll be honest, it was a multiple-day effort. At the end of this mini-journey, I found Smitten Kitchen’s ‘Thick Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.’ The recipe fit my criteria:
Not dry
Larger proportion of oatmeal than flour
Flexible with the raisin/chocolate chip/nuts/etc options
Fom a blog (supporting fellow bloggers is a recipe search priority)
Thick cookies, none of that thin and flat stuff
Thick Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
Makes 30 small cookies.
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
(optional: 1/2 cup of raisins/dried cherries/chopped nuts/other inspirations)
Cream butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla in large bowl until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir into creamed butter. Add oats and chocolate chips, stir.
Chill dough for about 20 minutes & preheat oven to 350F.
Spoon onto baking sheet. Bake until edges begin to brown (10-12 minutes). Remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to cooling rack.