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Lemon-Dill Roasted Potato Salad

July 26, 2010 by 11 Comments

I know, I know; posting about potato salad during the summer. How novel. Next thing you know, I’ll be waxing poetic about hamburgers and hot dogs. But I just can’t help it – this is the first thing I’ve cooked in quite awhile that I’ve felt excited enough about to post on here. I made it for poker night this past Tuesday, and if left to our own devices, I’m sure my friend and I would’ve been able to eat the whole bowl ourselves.

There’s something about potato salad that I love, no matter how it’s made. It’s such a comfort food, and since I’m still lacking a stove, I’ve been lacking some of those comfort foods. I was kind of bummed out for awhile, because I like making potato salad, but not being able to boil the potatoes is obviously going to gum up the works. Luckily, I got my head out of my ass and realized I could just roast the potatoes and then treat it like I would any other potato salad.

That realization, along with the fact that I got an amazingly beautiful bunch of dill for $2 the other day, was the impetus for this potato salad. I love dill yet I rarely cook with it, so this seemed like a perfect opportunity to do something different.

Lemon-Dill Roasted Potato Salad

2.5 lbs baby red potatoes, diced
1/8 cup of roughly chopped fresh dill
3/4 – 1 cup of mayo, to taste
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons freshly cracked lemon pepper seasoning
2 tablespoons olive oil

Heat oven to 425 F. Toss diced potatoes with oil and lemon pepper seasoning, try to evenly cover all the potatoes. Put in the oven to roast, about 40 – 50 minutes, depending on how well done you’d like the potatoes. Thoroughly mix the mustard, mayo and dill. Chill for about 20 minutes, to allow the flavors to combine. When the potatoes are done, put them in a large bowl and let them cool for a few minutes. Add in the mayo/mustard mixture and distribute evenly among the potatoes. Best served warm, although honestly, just as tasty room temperature.

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Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches. Mmm.

April 22, 2010 by 2 Comments

My husband is currently complaining about the movie Julie & Julia. I, too, have a few complaints about that movie, but mine are mostly related to the fact that I could have done entirely without the “Julie” segments of the movie and had the whole thing focused on the fabulous Julia Child. Her relationship with her husband, her passion for cooking and everything about her is just imbued with such joie de vivre, whereas the parts of the movie that focus on Julie are so lackluster and you can’t help but feel annoyed with her over and over again. And maybe that’s the point; although the Julie “character” [this is in quotes because I don't think the real life Julie Powell is as cute and cuddly as Amy Adams] is dull as dishwater and whiny and very “me, me, me”, I also think she’s very representative of a whole generation of people out there who equally felt adrift in life and without any passions to guide them.

I’ll admit I’ve felt that way, and I’m ashamed to also admit that I finally started this blog after I read Julie Powell’s book. It’s something I had wanted to do for a few years but never got up the gumption to do it; finally, I just did and I am pretty pleased with the results. Plus, it’s forced me to rediscover my passion of writing and it allows me to futz around with my fancy camera and hope for the best. It’s got a little of something for everyone!

But the biggest reason I’m so happy I started this blog? I probably would have missed out on some pretty awesome food. Case in point is what I made for poker this week: pulled barbecue chicken sandwiches. It’s something that’s really simple, but the combination of the home made barbecue sauce and the tender, slow cooked chicken made for one of the best poker night dinners I’ve made in a really long time. Which was certainly attested to several times as I was told over and over how good it was. The fact that some people had four sandwiches was also a tip off.

I got the sauce recipe from allrecipes.com and it was amazing. I know I use a lot of superlatives, but for real: this barbecue sauce is tangy, sweet, smoky, with just the slightest kick to it. It’s a perfect fit for so many things.

Bourbon Whiskey BBQ Sauce
1/2 onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup bourbon whiskey
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon salt
2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/3 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons liquid smoke flavoring
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 teaspoon hot pepper sauce, or to taste

In a large pan over medium-high heat, add the onion, garlic and whiskey. Bring to a simmer and let cook for about 8 – 10 minutes or until onion is translucent. Mix in remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer about 25 – 30 minutes or until thickened. This makes about 4 cups.

Now, the original instructions say that you can strain the sauce before letting it cool and sit overnight. I, however, was in no mood for that and used my immersion blender on it. The onions were perfectly blended into the sauce and it actually thickened it up enough that next time I’d probably cut back on the tomato paste. Because oh yes, there will be a next time.

I let the sauce sit overnight, and then the next day I put 2.5lbs of frozen chicken breasts into the slow cooker along with all of the barbecue sauce and set it to cook on low for 8 hours. When I came home, the whole apartment [and everything in it, including our cat Paul] smelled like the barbecue sauce. And then? THIS:

A pulled barbecue chicken sandwich. The stuff dreams are made of, if your dreams are filled with juicy, shredded meat with just the right amount of sauce that tantalizingly lingers on your taste buds. Yeah, seriously, it’s that good.

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Only communists don't like chili!

February 24, 2010 by 1 Comment

I’ve been making this chili for about ten years now. Over the years I’ve refined the recipe and the process to the point where I can pretty much make it in my sleep. I think I meant to blog about it one other time but forgot to take pictures before everyone at poker night got to it. Last night I made it for poker again, and will now share the wonders of this chili with you.

Well… maybe I don’t always make it the same way. Last night after everyone left, the husband said the chili was good and asked if it was for the blog. I thanked him and said yes it was, to which he replied he thought so, because I put whole chili peppers in there instead of diced and it seemed more bloggy. This was an adorable [and true] observation on his part, and it reminded me of what a good decision I made in keeping him around six years ago. Which was actually pretty easy: I just had to buy him a meatball sub and he was all mine!

And now that I’ve made everyone want to vomit with our cuteness, on to the food!

Chili of Doom

1 1/2 lb ground sirloin
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, with juice
1 can (14.5 oz) crushed tomatoes, with juice
8 oz beef broth
8 oz dark beer
12 oz tomato paste
1/2 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 chili peppers, whole
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large stockpot. Add the onions and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant; add in the ground sirloin and brown the meat. Add in all remaining ingredients except the tomato paste. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for about two hours over medium-low heat. Before serving, remove the chili peppers and stir in the tomato paste. Serve garnished with cheese and/or sour cream. Serves 6 – 8.

I have to say, this is pretty awesome chili. It’s not the hottest chili on the block, but it’s got a nice, smoky heat to it and has plenty of savory flavor. All the sweet ingredients add a nice depth of flavor, particularly the cocoa powder which is such a great pairing with any dish containing chilies. I tripled the recipe for yesterday’s poker game and there was nothing left at the end of the night. It’s definitely a crowd pleaser!

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Potato salad … with bacon.

August 25, 2009 by Leave a Comment

I feel like I should declare it “Bacon Month” here at Food Shenanigans, since this is my second dish with bacon thus far, and I have something planned with pancetta at the end of the week [and pancetta is basically just Italian for "expensive bacon"]. But we aren’t gimmicky like that, and it’s kind of weird to declare it anything month when the month in question is almost over. Regardless, be on the lookout for the gnocchi pan fried in pancetta fat with garlic that I have envisioned in my head for later this week. Maybe with asparagus? Mmmm….

Ahem. Anyway. Sorry; it’s poker night and I’m distracted by the guys bitching about me watching Legally Blonde on ABC Family. I have to watch this movie every time it’s on. I’m not really sure why, but it’s just one of those movies for me. And before anyone mocks me too much, my husband has watched at least a portion of Pearl Harbor every time it’s been on lately.

On to the food! There aren’t that many pictures, because it’s a pretty basic dish. Even Smitten Kitchen doesn’t have that many potato salad pictures! It’s a simple food, with few ingredients, and those ingredients are just tasty, not particularly attractive. Also, I realize everything I write is rife with commas, but I just can’t help it. It’s a disease.

In keeping with my theme of non-Mexican food, I decided to make kielbasa and potato salad for poker night this week. The kielbasa was easy – pan fried, with half of it doused in Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce, the other half plain. For the potato salad, I wanted something creamy, but not overpoweringly so, because that’s not how I roll. I can appreciate mayonnaise in small doses, but not big globs of it. It’s kind of gross looking.

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The recipe I used is below:

3 pounds baby red skinned potatoes
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
2 teaspoons garlic powder
6 celery stalks, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
8 oz bacon, diced
salt and pepper to taste

Boil the potatoes whole, with the skin on. Cook until fork tender, then drain and set aside to cool. Dice celery and onion. While potatoes are cooling, mix together the mayonnaise, mustard and garlic powder. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cut raw bacon into small pieces and fry until crisp. Set aside. Once potatoes are cool, add mayonnaise mixture and mix thoroughly. Add celery, onions and bacon. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Chill at least two hours; if serving next day, you may want to add the bacon the following day, so it doesn’t get soggy.

I thought it was really good. The husband, who is not a fan of potato salad, said it was “all right” before having his second helping. My indicator that it was good? There’s about half a pound left, out of the three pounds made, and there are only five people that ate here tonight.

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Carnitas means little meats.

July 25, 2009 by 1 Comment

It also loosely translates into delicious, fyi.

For some reason, I usually end up making either some quasi-Mexican food or pasta for poker night. It’s always easy to make and it’s not too expensive to make for a large group (on poker night, we can go through 3 – 5 pounds of meat, along with whatever else I make). This time around, I decided to bust out the slow cooker my mother-in-law got me for Christmas and use it to to slow cook some pork for tacos.
 

 
I figured the rub probably couldn’t be screwed up, so I didn’t bother looking for a recipe. For the 4.5 pound pork shoulder that I bought, I used the following mix:

2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons Mexican chili power
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon salt

That went onto the pork shoulder, and then I wrapped it tightly in plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Then in the morning before I went to work, I tossed it [almost literally, I came pretty close to dropping it] into the slow cooker along with 2 cups of chicken stock. Now, before you say it, I know that traditional carnitas should be cooked in lard, but .. c’mon. I just can’t do it. I know it would have added more flavor, but it’s LARD. I am slowly broadening my cooking horizons, but I’m not there yet, dudes.
 
The pork shoulder cooked for just about 10 hours, and when I got home from work it was perfect. Tender enough to shred apart, still enough bite that it wasn’t just mush. Also? The rub was great. Next time I’ll probably cut the pork shoulder up into smaller pieces and sear those, so that the flavor really comes through.
 

 
After it was shredded, I threw it in the pan to crisp up a bit with some oil, to give it something closer to the traditional carnitas, with the crispy, almost caramelized edges and tender meat.
 
Once all of that was done, I served the carnitas with diced chicken breast [seasoned with salt, pepper and Mexican chili powder, with a splash of lime juice], refried beans, salsa, and corn on the cob.
 

 
This is a nice way to still keep the poker food budget down, but still also make something that’s a bit more creative than the typical stuff I’ve been making lately. I also liked the fact that it’s a pretty healthy meal and has great flavor from the pork and the fresh salsa.
 

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Casserole of Doom!

June 7, 2009 by 3 Comments

Doom doom doom doom … really? No fans of Invader Zim? Huh. Anyway.

This casserole is awesome-slash-ridiculous. It was inspired by one of my favorite blogs, Nuclear Toast. As soon as I saw it posted, I knew it had to be a poker night dish. The guys that come over for poker night are my guinea pigs for food I’d like to try and cook, but can’t bring myself to make it for just the husband and I.

My casserole has the basic same ingredients as the original, except I used ground beef, and I used homemade macaroni and cheese.

First, I put the tater tots in the oven at 400 degrees, to get them cooked through, and somewhat crispy.

While those are cooking, I cooked 1.25lbs of ground beef with half an onion, diced, and a generous sprinkle or twenty of seasoning salt.

Mmm, meat. As exciting as that is (okay, I know it’s not really, but you get step-by-step instructions regardless of how easy it is!), the best part was making the macaroni and cheese. Now, I’ve never made homemade mac and cheese, as my husband insists he doesn’t like it. He is a liar, because as soon as he saw me making it, he started hovering over the oven every time he got up. I have now decided that I will no longer listen to him when he tells me he doesn’t like things (note to husband: pretend you didn’t read that).

For the macaroni, I cooked a pound of elbows, and then made up a mixture of milk and cheese. If I were making the dish to stand on it’s own, I probably would have started with a béchamel sauce and gone from there, but for poker night this was good enough. I used two eggs, a cup of milk, and a pound of cheese consisting of mild cheddar, sharp cheddar and monterey jack, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and some garlic powder. None of the seasonings were measured, I just threw some in, and as I was stirring the mac and cheese while it was cooking, I adjusted the seasonings to taste.

About halfway through baking, this is how the macaroni looked. The cheese wasn’t fully melted, but I kept mixing it and eventually it did reach a smooth and creamy consistency. When it was all done, I layered the tots in a 13 x 9 baking dish, with the ground beef layered over that, and the macaroni and cheese topping it. Because everyone loves cheese, I added a layer of shredded cheddar on top for good measure. I threw all of that into the oven at 450 for about 20 minutes. When it was done, it looked and smelled amazing:

Surprisingly, it also came out of the pan pretty easily. I was half expecting it to fall apart, but it stayed in shape pretty well.

This went very quickly and people had bigger portions than I had expected; even though there was over 3lbs of food, there still wasn’t enough for everyone! A few people got stuck just eating brownies for dinner (aww, life is hard). I will definitely be making this again, most likely trying something different for one of the layers just to experiment.

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Failure cake

May 11, 2009 by Leave a Comment

So this is my first blog post (finally)! I just wanted to get something out here, so I’m going to gripe about failure cake.

Failure cake

Failure cake!

I have a problem. I love semi-useless and strangely shaped baking pans. Every time I buy one, the first few cakes I bake in them work out perfectly, and then never again. I committed to baking a Kosher for passover octopus shaped cake for a coworker recently, and stayed up past midnight three nights in a row trying to get it to work. No dice. I got the tentacles out of the pan, but not all at once, and the head of the octopus was a total loss. I’ll get this to work eventually because octopuses are just that cool. They deserve a cake tribute.

I wanted to be able to deliver something for Passover, so I switched to tiny flower-shaped cakes that I *knew* would work with box cake (a fool proof plan?). No. The cakes just won’t come out of the mold! But man, they are so delicious. I left them to my roommate who gladly consumed them.

Sad face.

So to leave on a happy note, here is a genius idea Katie and Michelle devised at poker. Cookie sandwich made with snickerdoodle cookies and filled with snickerdoodle cookie dough. Cookie squared == so good!

Snickerdoodle squared

Snickerdoodle squared

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Everyone loves meat wrapped in meat.

April 10, 2009 by 2 Comments

Someday soon, we’ll post something of substance here.  But until that fateful day, we leave you with a picture of the first thing we ever cooked together: bacon-wrapped hot dogs, covered in brown sugar.  Mmm, meat.

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