Chicken Legs

Chicken Legs on Big Green Egg

Bought this nifty hanging rack off Amazon by Bayou Classics.

1. Brine chicken legs, preferably overnight.
2. Take out of brine, rinse, pat dry and put them back in the fridge for several hours to tighten back up
3. Mix up a batch of flour and your favorite spices (salt, pepper, chili powder, paprika, etc)
4. Lightly dust all sides of legs
5. Recommend a drip pan with a little water in it
6. Indirect setup, 400 degrees for approx 45 min to 1 hour

Spicy Avocado Chicken Enchiladas

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 Serrano pepper, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 cup medium salsa verde
• 1/2 cup fat free sour cream

• 3 cups shredded chicken breasts (about 4 breasts)
• 8 oz Cabot Monterrey Jack Cheese, shredded & divided
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 3 avocados, peeled and chopped
• 8-10 flour tortillas

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a medium sauce pan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Saute serrano pepper and garlic, for 1 minute. Stir in flour, constantly stirring, and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in the chicken broth, cumin, salt and pepper and bring to a low boil. Once boiling, whisk in the sour cream, salsa verde and cilantro. Remove from heat. Spray/grease a 9×13 baking dish. Add 3/4 cup sauce to the bottom of the pan. Add chicken, Cabot Monterrey Jack Cheese, onion and avocado to the center of each tortilla and roll, placing seam-side down in the dish. Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas. Top with leftover cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes or until bubbling. Serve immediately.

Creamy Mac & Cheese

For the bechamel sauce:

• 1/3 cup unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 2 cups whole milk
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)    
• 1 1/2 cups packed sharp aged cheddar cheese *see note
• 1/2 cup shredded Pecorino Romano cheese
• 8 ounces (2 cups) sturdy macaroni noodles *see note
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Add Paprika and Rosemary to taste   

Instructions

1. Cook the macaroni noodles in a large pot of salted water according to package directions, draining them a minute before the "al dente" cooking time.
2. Heat the milk in the microwave or on the stove top until very hot but not boiling. 
3. In a heavy bottomed sauce pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and continue to cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture turns a light brown color, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat. Slowly start pouring in the milk, whisking constantly. The mixture will look very thick at first and will thin out as you whisk in the remainder of the milk. Return the pot to the heat and cook the mixture, whisking continuously, another 3-5 minutes or until thickened. The sauce should coat the back of the spoon. If you put a little bit on a spoon and run your finger through it, the line from your finger should remain. Stir in the salt, garlic powder, and ground mustard. 
4. Return the remaining sauce to the stove. Over low heat, add the cheeses, stirring to melt. If you're unable to melt in all the cheese, add a bit more milk, a Tablespoon at a time, until the cheese is melted completely. Stir the sauce into the pasta until your desired level of creaminess is reached. I find I use all of the sauce sometimes and sometimes I have a little leftover. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed or simply serve hot with a sprinkle of parsley. 

Notes

I recommend using large elbows, cavatappi, wagon wheels, or gemelli pasta for this recipe. For the cheddar cheese, look for a good quality aged cheddar, preferably aged over 9 months. I recommend Tillamook.


Variations:
For a milder, classic flavor and more yellow color, substitute 1/2 cup of the cheddar for 1/2 cup of yellow American cheese.
For a bit of a kick, try subbing the Pecorino Romano for hatch chile or pepper jack cheese.
You can also try Gruyere in place of the Pecorino Romano.

Pork Carnitas

This is my take on this recipe because I don't think you need all the confusing details of adding things and waiting, and covering and uncovering, yada, yada, yada.  This recipe takes about 3 hours all told, but my version, I pretty much dump it all in and let the heat do the cooking.

4lbs pork shoulder in 1 inch cubes or smaller (get boneless and make it easy on your self)
1 white onion
4 poblano peppers
4 cloves garlic (sometimes I use more)
2 tsp salt and pepper respectively (I really just do this to taste)
2 cans of diced tomatoes (14 oz)
1 cup of a good resposado tequila
1 dark mexican beer like Negro Modelo

Olive oil or spray dutch oven
Dice 4 poblanos and 1 white onion, add salt, pepper and garlic and saute for a few minutes.
Cube 1 inch pieces of pork shoulder and add to pot.  Cook covered for 30 min on a lively simmer stirring frequently
Few minutes later, sir in tequila
Few minutes later stir in beer
Cook uncovered for a few minutes to let it thicken up
Move to oven (optional) but continue stirring frequently
Bring back to stove and cover or uncover based on how "liquidy" the sauce is and what you are looking for (thicker sauce, cook uncovered longer, etc.)

How to cut the Cable Cord

Cutting the cord has become a symbolic term for getting rid of cable.  The fact of the matter is that you need internet if you want to cut the cord and not see any drop off in what you watch...so you're still gonna have a cord, but it'll be a helluva lot cheaper.  My watchout here is that if you're the type of person that loves just channel surfing and watching a wide variety of random stuff you never planned on watching, this is not for you.  You need to know what you want to watch and then find the best way to get that content without paying for cable.

First steps, get an OTA (over the air) antenna and DVR.  You can start with just the antenna, but I recommend not half assing it.  I have a Tablo DVR that is two tuner (meaning you can watch or record two things at the same time.  I recommend a 4 tuner DVR because I sometimes have conflicts and the price difference isn't that great.

The OTA antenna will get the major broadcasting channels like CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, and CW and in HD quality.  Depending on how good your antenna is and your location, you may get additional random channels like Grit, Laff, Ion, etc. I've got a cheap RCA 70 mile antenna mounted in my attic but I've also used several Mohu models in the past.  Mohu is focused on making the antenna's look cool and that's not really something I care about since it's in my attic.  You can plug your attic antenna into your existing coax cable run through your house and run about 4 tvs.  However, I run mine directly to my Tablo DVR and stream the antenna content from there to every tv in the house that has a streaming device.  This can seem like a lot of streaming devices if you have a bunch of tvs at your house, but the cost is a drop in the bucket compared to what you pay for cable every month, year after year.

You'll also need a signal amplifier for the antenna, this is the one I have.

As far as streaming devices go, Apple TV is the best and it's not even close.  The main TVs in your house need to have Apple TV to make your experience enjoyable.  Other less used tvs can have other devices like Chromecast, Amazon Firestick, Roku, etc.  Maybe these other devices catch up soon, but as of this blog post, Apple TV is the best there is for this purpose.  You can get deals on streaming devices when you prepay for certain streaming services when they have deals running (ie, Sling was giving away Roku's when you prepay for two months).  

Next is figuring out what you watch and the best streaming services to get it.  The cool thing about these services, is that there's no commitment.  It's month by month and most are really easy to turn on and off.  Sling, Hulu, Netflix are just few of your options, but are really easy to cancel and resign up.  You'll just need to look at each and see what meets your needs.  If you have want AMC, Sling is a good option, etc.  And you don't have to get them all.  That's the cable company's argument for cord cutters, "if you have a bunch of different services, you're paying as much as you would for cable.  Not true, even if you have 3-4 services going at the same time, your total spend is still usually way less than your cable bill.  

The bad part about having to watch some of your show live through a streaming service is that you can't skip commercials.   This isn't always the case, but some services like Sling that offer live and on demand options have commercials.  Another option is to just buy a season of a show on Itunes.  Instead of paying for Sling for 3 months to see "Better Call Saul" on AMC, I just bought the season for about 1/3 of what I would've paid for 3 months of Sling.  Buying the season doesn't always make sense, but in certain situations it might.

You also need good wifi or your cord cutting experience will be frustrating.  I recommend biting the bullet and getting an Eero system or really any type of mesh system.  It's expensive, but its a great investment for rock solid wifi.  If you think you have good enough wifi, I guess you could just try it and see how your original wifi setup does.  But there are so many other things we are adding to our Wifi everyday (thermostats, lights, etc) that having a great Wifi setup is becoming crucial to living with 21st century appliances.

You can also get a lot of content through certain sites streaming services HBO Max, ESPN, etc with more and more being added every day (like NBC's Peacock).  If you can "borrow" a subscriber login, you can get a ton of content that way.  Some call this theft of service but I don't like to put labels on things.

Some downside to cutting the cord:

• People that come to your house can't figure out how to operate your tvs.
• Even people living in your house may have a steep learning curve
• Watching commercials in certain situations.
• Becomes hard to channel surf
• You're giving up a one stop shop of DVR'd shows

Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter
1 small white or yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
4 large garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken stock or vegetable stock
2 cups milk (I used 2% low-fat milk)
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, divided
4 pounds Yukon Gold Potatoes, sliced into 1/8-inch rounds (and peeled beforehand, if desired)
1 1/2 cups freshly-grated sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 cup freshly-grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F.
Melt butter in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.  Add onion, and saute for 4-5 minutes until soft and translucent.  Add garlic and saute for an additional 1-2 minutes until fragrant.  Stir in the flour until it is evenly combined and saute for an additional 1-minute.  Pour in the stock, and whisk until combined.  Add in the milk, salt, pepper, and 1 teaspoon thyme, and whisk until combined.  Continue cooking for an additional 1-2 minutes until the sauce comes to a simmer (not a boil) and thickens.  Then remove from heat and set aside.

Meanwhile, grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.  Then spread half of the sliced potatoes in an even layer on the bottom of the pan.  Top evenly with half of the cream sauce, the sprinkle evenly with 1 cup of the shredded cheddar cheese, and all of the Parmesan cheese.  Top evenly with the remaining sliced potatoes, the remaining half of the cream sauce, and the remaining 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Then remove the foil and bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the potatoes are cooked through.
Remove and sprinkle with the remaining 1 teaspoon thyme.  Serve warm.

Texas Casserole

Blend together 10 eggs, 3 T sour cream, and salt and pepper to taste.  Put in 9x13 greased baking dish and bake 8 minutes at 400 degrees.

Brown 1 lb sausage, 1 small green pepper, and 1 small chopped onion.  Drain well and place on top of egg mixture.

On top of meat mixture, spread 1 (10oz) can of Rotel tomatoes with chilies (drain Rotel if desired).

Sprinkle 8 oz of grated cheddar cheese, 8 oz of grated mozzarella cheese, and 8 oz of cube velveeta cheese on top

Refrigerate overnight.  Bake for 30-45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Brown Butter Lobster, Bacon + Crispy Kale and Fontina Pasta

Ingredients

• 4 slices thick cut bacon
• 4 ounce lobster tails 4-8
• 6 tablespoon butter divided
• 2 cloves garlic minced or grated
• 1 leaves bunch kale torn away from the stem
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 pound angel pasta
• 1/2 lemon juiced
• 1 pint grape tomatoes halved
• 6-7 ounces fontina cheese cubed
• 1/4 cup fresh basil or parsley or both chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, add kale, olive oil, parmesan cheese, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Toss to coat with your hands and massage kale for about 1 minute. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes, tossing 1-2 times while cooking, until crispy. Remove and set aside.

Bring pasta water to a boil and prepare pasta according to directions.

While the kale is cooking and the water comes to a boil start working on the bacon. Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until the fat has rendered and the bacon is crispy, about 7 minutes. Remove bacon from pan and set aside on paper towels to drain. Once cooled, crumble. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of bacon fat.

To prepare the lobster, lay the lobster tails flat on a cutting board with the shell side facing upward. Using a very sharp, large knife, cut the tail in half lengthwise and slice all the way through the shell. Season the meat side lightly with salt and pepper.

Bring the skillet used for bacon back to medium-high heat. Once it’s hot, add 1 tablespoon butter and swirl to coat. Place the lobster tails meat-side down in the pan and sear for 5 minutes or until the shells turn bright red. Remove tails from the pan and set aside.

To the same skillet add another tablespoon of butter. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, add the pasta, crushed red pepper, cayenne and a pinch of salt and pepper. Toss well and cook for 2 minutes, just until the pasta is hot. Once the pasta is hot add the tomatoes and cubed fontina cheese. Then remove the pasta from the heat, drizzle with lemon juice and toss well. Add in the crispy kale.

In a separate small skillet melt 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat until just browned. Butter will melt, foam and froth, then begin to brown along the bottom. Whisk browned bits off of the bottom of the pan.

Pop the lobster meat out of the shells and divide the pasta among plates or bowls. Top each plate with lobster meat and a sprinkle of chopped basil. Drizzle with browned butter and top with the crumbled bacon.