Author: Robert Andrews

Salt and Vinegar French Fries

fries

Fat Fries – Ranch Fries – Chips – Whatever you may call them, these are relatively healthy  French Fries that bake (not fry) the taters. Salt to your own taste.

  1. Preheat the oven to 425º
  2. Wash, and cut the potatoes
  3. Soak in ice water 1-2 hours
  4. Pat dry with a towel, then let air dry another 15 minutes
  5. Toss in 2 TBL EVOO, 2 TBL melted butter, and  a bit of chopped rosemary
  6. Spread the potatoes on a lightly greased rimmed baking sheet in a single layer with the potatoes not touching another
  7. Bake until golden brown – about 25-30 minutes
  8. Turn fries half way through
  9. Sprinkle with malt vinegar and salt
  10. Optional:  Sprinkle with crushed red pepper
  11. Serve immediately

Nashville Hot Chicken

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This is a long-time standard in the southeast United States, but KFC brought this recipe to the attention of the Nation when they put it on their menu. Here is my recipe, plus links to three others.

If you don’t like it QUITE so hot, feel free to substitute Grandpa’s Thunder Powder instead of my Arghhh Powder.  Even less heat, use a bit of cumin.

2 chicken breasts and 2 thighs

CLICK HERE to see Nashvill Hot Chicken across the Nation
2016-02-05 11.11.10
I wish I could find the name of the magazine from which I clipped these photos, but I can’t so at least I credited the people who took the photos.

Dry Marinate
1 TBL Grandpa's Thunder Powder or Arghhh Powder
2 TBL brown sugar
1 tsp salt

  1. Cut chicken into finger-eating-sized pieces
  2. Toss is Dry Marinate
  3. Refrigerate overnight in a plastic bag

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Chicken Dip
1 C buttermilk
1 TBL Franks Red Hot Sauce
2 Medium eggs

Chicken Dredge
1 C AP flour
2 TBL Grandpa's Thunder Powder or Arghhh Powder
2 TBL brown sugar
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1 tsp corn starch (for crispness)

    1. Pat chicken pieces dry (do not wipe off marinate though)
    2. Set on wire rack
    3. Dip in milk mixture – Hold until drips stop
    4. Cover well in dredge
    5. Dip again
    6. Cover in dredge again
    7. Gently shake off excess
    8. Fry about 10-12 minutes each piece at 325 – 330º
    9. Drink on a wire rack.
    10. Serve with Dipping Sauce

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Dipping Sauce
1 TBL EVOO
1 TBL Franks Red Hot Sauce
1 TBL brown sugar
1 TBL Grandpa's Thunder Powder or Arghhh Powder

Serve with Dill Pickles and Parker House Rolls

Four other notable recipes:

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Kimchi ~~ 3

Basic Napa Cabbage Kimchi

kimchi1 head Napa cabbage
1/2 C sea salt
1 C Daikon radish – julienne strips
1 small red onion – julienne strips
1 tsp corriander seeds
6 green onions – one inch or less
Gochujang (to taste – about 2 TBL)
6 cloves Garlic – sliced very very thin
1 tsp Ginger – grated
1 tsp Sugar
3 TBL Asian Fish Sauce

  1. Slice the cabbage into 1 inch strips, removing the hard core
  2. Toss the cabbage with salt in a large glass bowl, mixing well
  3. Add water just to cover – put a plate on top to weigh it down and completely submerge it.
  4. Let rest for two hours
  5. Drain and rinse the cabbage several times
  6. Place it in a colander for 30 minutes to continue to drain
  7. Combine the garlic, ginger, sugar, and seafood flavor in a small bowl to create a paste
  8. Mix in the gochujang, 1 TBL for mild, or 5 for very spicy
  9. Combine the cabbage and paste in the glass bowl from step two
  10. Add radish, scallions, and seasoning paste and mix
  11. Toss all until very thoroughly coated.
  12. Pack the kimchi into a widemouth jar
  13. Press down on it until the brine rises to cover the vegetables.  Place a clean rock on top of the vegetables.
  14. Leave about 1/2 inch of head space above the liquid, and seal the jar with a lid that DOES NOT fit tightly. A half-gallon canning jar works really well.
  15. Now the waiting begins:  Let the jar stand at room temperature for 5 days.
  16. You should see bubbles inside the jar and brine may seep out of the lid; place a bowl or plate under the jar to help catch any overflow.
  17. Check it daily and top off with distilled water.  Make sure vegetables stay submerged by pressing down.
  18. Check the kimchi once a day, pressing down on the vegetables with a clean finger or spoon to keep them submerged
  19. Taste at Day Five.  When the kimchi tastes ripe enough for your liking, transfer the jar to the refrigerator.  The fermentation process will substantially slow in the fridge.
  20. You may eat it right away, but it’s best after another week or two.

Recipe Notes

  • Use Kosher salt since additives could inhibit the fermentation process, and your kimchi will just rot
  • Use either spring, distilled or filtered water, NOT water from the tap
  • Do not use your water especially if you have a water softener installed

CLICK ON EITHER RECIPE FOR AN ENLARGEMENT

Traditional Napa Cabbage Kimchi

Almost Instant Hot Kimchi

 

Open Faced Breakfast Sandwich

INGREDIENTS

  • A muffin ring or even a tuna can with both ends removed
  • One egg
  • Shaved (thin) ham
  • Sliced or shredded cheddar cheese
  • Onion diced – one slice

STEP BY STEP

If you haven’t tried my recipe for English Muffins, you should. That being said, this is a sandwich using those muffins and the metal ring used to make them. If you need a larger ring, click here.

    1. Place your ring in the bottom of a skillet and turn on the heat to medium high.
    2. Spray the bottom and insides with spray oil
    3. Dice onion and put on the bottom.
    4. Next put a slice or two of shaved ham in and mash it down
    5. Put in one beaten egg
    6. Top with shredded cheddar or American cheese

 

  1. Cover with a plate or another skillet to retain heat.
  2. Reduce the heat down to low and let cook about 10-12 minutes
  3. Slide a spatula under the ring and move to your English muffin
  4. Use a tongs to remove the metal ring.  Careful – it’s hot.
  5. Sprinkle with oregano or hot ground pepper
  6. Serve with Grandpa’s Marmalade for the other half of the muffin.

 

Crown Roast

This recipe is not that hard, and it looks as if you’ve gone all out.
Buy TWO center cut pork roasts – about $3 per pound
Cut straight across the top of the bones and clean them. Use the meat for something else, don’t throw it away.
Lay down cleaned ribs side by side
Using a sharp knife, poke holes in between each rib
Use a potato peeler to thread a long piece of butcher twine in and out and in and out
Tie them together making a circle with the cleaned bones pointing up. Roll into a “bell” and tie the twine securely Tie the top bones together too, just to be safe

Season well with Grandpa's Thunder Powder or Arghhh Powder

IF YOU DON’T WANT TO DO ALL OF THIS, MANY BUTCHERS WILL FRENCH CUT IT FOR YOU. SOME WILL EVEN TIE IT UP FOR YOU.

Fill the cavity with stuffing
Cover it all loosely with foil
Bake 3 hours at 350º
At the 2 hour and 15 minute point, remove the foil
Allow to rest for 20 minutes before cutting or removing the twine.

Breton Cake – Kouign Amann

As shown on The Great British Baking Show

Ingredients

  • 300g (10½ oz) strong plain flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 5g fast-action yeast
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 200ml (7 fl oz) warm water
  • 25g (1 oz) unsalted butter, melted
  • 250g (9 oz) cold unsalted butter, in a block
  • 100g (3½ oz) caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

Directions

  1. Put the flour into the bowl of a freestanding mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the yeast to one side of the bowl and the salt to the other. Add the water and melted butter and mix on a slow speed for two minutes, then on a medium speed for six minutes.
  2. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and shape into a ball. Put into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with cling film and leave to rise for one hour.
  3. Sandwich the butter between two sheets of greaseproof paper and bash with a rolling pin, then roll out to a 14cm (5½ in) square. Place in the fridge to keep chilled.
  4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a 20cm (8 in) square. Place the butter in the centre of the dough diagonally, so that each side of butter faces a corner of the dough. Fold the corners of the dough over the butter to enclose like an envelope.
  5. Roll the dough into a 45x15cm (18×6 in) rectangle. Fold the bottom third of dough up over the middle, then fold the top third of the dough over. You will now have a sandwich of three layers of butter and three layers of dough. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. This completes one turn.
  6. Repeat this process twice more, so you have completed a total of three turns, chilling the dough for 30 minutes between turns.
  7. Roll the dough into a rectangle as before. Sprinkle the dough with the caster sugar and fold into thirds again. Working quickly, roll the dough into a large 40x30cm (16×12 in) rectangle. Sprinkle the dough with caster sugar and cut the dough into 12 squares.
  8. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin well with oil. Gather the dough squares up by their four corners and place in the muffin tins, pulling the four corners towards the centre of the muffin tin, so that it gathers up like a four-leaf clover. Sprinkle with caster sugar and leave to rise, covered with a clean tea towel, for 30 minutes until slightly puffed up.
  9. Preheat oven to 220C/200C(fan)/425F/Gas 7. Bake the pastries for 30-40 minutes, or until golden-brown. Cover with foil halfway through if beginning to brown too much. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a couple of minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Be careful not to burn yourself on the caramelized sugar, but don’t leave them to cool for too long, or the caramelized sugar will harden and they will be stuck in the tin.
  10. Serve warm or cold.

Tips/Techniques

Equipment required: a 12-cup muffin tin and a freestanding mixer fitted with a dough hook

 

Secrets to a Great Stir Fry

The first secret is heat.  Lots and lots of heat.

An infrared thermometer will help you here.  ThermaWorks has one that I’ve purchased and have been very happy with.  At just under $50 it seems a bit pricey, but I guarantee that this will change the level of your cooking.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW or ORDER

wok185º Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs
220º Marmalade
285º Slow cook meats
300º English Muffins
310º Hard Crack Candies
325º Fried Eggs
350º Pancakes
400º Hashed browns
450º Stir Fries

MIS en PLACE

This means get things ready, because at 450º things happen really quickly.  Have all items sliced, diced and julienned before you even put oil into your wok.
Chill meat 20 minutes in the freezer before cutting.  This will help you with really thinly sliced meat

COOK HOT and COOK FAST

Hot pan, cold oil.  You can also use a popcorn kernel, which explodes at about 350º

I have a cast iron wok that I use, but it’s not necessary.  A large cast iron skillet will work equally as well.  Cast iron holds the heat better than thinner skillets, although they will work too.  Adding ingredients will drop the temperature of your skillet, so wait a few moments between adding ingredients.  Also, don’t overcrowd your pan or your food will steam rather than sear.  Remove your protein while you finish your veggies.

Use oil with a high smoke point, such as sesame oil.  Also consider your cooking time.  Carrots cook longer than cabbage.

Add the meat and sauce back in right at the end.  This will only take a few seconds to finish.

A note about cleanup:  NEVER immerse (or fill) your cast iron into water or use detergent.  For stubborn food particles, use coarse salt.

  • Aromatics into the pan first and cook 60 seconds
  • Hard veggies, salt and pepper in next, and cook four minutes
  • Soft veggies in, and cook one minute
  • Cabbage and green onions for one minute
  • Rice wine vinegar and herbs in last
  • Stir to combine and serve immediately.
  • Serve with pickled ginger or shichimi togarashi
  •  

 

 

Party Pasta Salad

Cooked ingredients
Three different colors of Rotini Pasta (cooked)
– 1/2 cup each before cooking)
1/2 C egg noodles or spinach pasta – cooked

Knife work
1/2 C halved cherry tomatoes or sun dried tomatoes
1/4 C halved pepperoni (optional)
1/4 C pieces of salami (optional)
1/4 C cheese – cubed
1/2 stalk celery – thinly sliced
1/4 C Red Bell Pepper – diced or julienne strips
1/4 C Green or Yellow Bell Pepper – diced or julienne strips
1/4 sweet onion – julienne strips
1/4 red onion – julienne strips
1/4 C black olives – halved
2 cloves garlic – shaved or minced

Just pour it in
1/2 C Italian Dressing
1 TBL EVOO
1 TBL sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano

Top with shaved Parmesan Cheese

If you don’t have some of the above ingredients, that’s OK. This is a party!

Sodium Benzoate or Fruit Fresh as a preservative

Roasted Provolone

Use approx 6 ounces (two cups) Provolone cheese cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Toss with 1/4 C shredded Parmesan cheese and 1/2 C cubed Mozzarella cheese
Add a pinch of oregano and a drizzle of olive oil
Preheat broiler to high and put cheese into an ovenproof ramekin or cast iron skillet
Broil until browned and bubbling (about 8-10 minutes.
Transfer to a plate lined with several paper towels or a nice kitchen cloth
Season with oregano an other favorite toppings (such as crumbled bacon or more shaved Parmesan).
Serve hot with toast

Roasted Provalone
(Photo from Bon Appetit Magazine and La Huella, Uruguay)

Arepas

  • 1 C pre-cooked corn meal (P.A.N. is very popular)
  • 1/2 C hot water
  • 1/2 C warm milk
  • scant salt
  • 1 TBL butter
  1. Mix above to playdough consistency.  Add a little more milk or corn meal if necessary
  2. Form into golf-ball sized balls, and flatten just a bit
    You can make them bigger, but if you do, consider baking at 350º for about 15 minutes or deep fry for 6-8 minutes
  3. Indent the center and put a bit of filling
  4. Wrap around the filling and flatten again
  5. Fry in 1 TBL EVOO for about 5 minutes per side

Fillings:  meat, cheese, beans, cream cheese, avocado, etc.

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