Peppercorn Sauce

This is a wonderful accompaniment to steak.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped shallots
2 tablespoons red, green, white and black peppercorns
1/2 cup Cognac or Brandy (bourbon works as well)
3 tablespoons undiluted veal/beef demi-glace
3/4 cup heavy cream

In saute pan, melt the butter over low heat.  Add the shallots and peppercorns and saute for 5 minutes, or until softened.  Add Congac and raise the heat to medium and cook until the Cognac is evaporated. Add 3/4 cup of water and the demi-glace.  Bring to boil and stir until the demi glace is dissolved. Add the cream and bring to simmer.  Cook for about 5 minutes or until thickened.  Season to taste with salt.

Makes about 2 cups

Pork Belly Burnt Ends

Pork Belly Burnt Ends

• Light egg and setup for indirect smoking
• Costco fresh pork belly, sliced in long thick pieces
• Cube into 1 inch pieces
• Slather in olive oil and coat all sides with your favorite rub
• Smoke for 3 hours placing them an inch apart on the grate
• Pull and place back in a pan, add a cup of BBQ sauce, a few tablespoons of butter and several long squirts of honey. Mix up well, cover in foil and put back on egg for two hours.
• Pull, mix up again and serve.

Pan Seared Baked Chicken

1. Brine - put chicken breasts in large bowl with salt, sugar and luke warm water. (20min to an hour but no longer)
2. Remove and discard brine.  Rinse chicken and pat dry (important)
3. Slather with olive oil and then liberally coat in Old Bay or Cavender's seasoning (or your favorite)
4. Preheat oven to 375.
5. Fire up the cast iron skillet on med heat with a little bit of oil to coat the bottom.
6. Sear breasts for 3-4 minutes per side.  You want them to almost get to the color you want when you eat them.  Color won't change much after the sear.
7. Move skillet from stove to oven for about 15-20 min, adding two ice cubes before shutting the oven door (It's OK, just do it)
8. Cook to 160 because you'll get a carryover of at least 5 degrees getting you likely above 165.

Sweet Potato and Chorizo Tacos

This is a nice, easy, one skillet meal for two with leftovers.  Can be easily increased for more.

Ingredients:
canola oil
kosher salt
1 small white onion
1 medium sweet potato
1 pound Mexican chorizo, removed from casing
1 lime halved
2 ounces cotija/feta
2 ripe avocados
corn tortillas


How to Make It
Step 1
Peel and dice onion, cut sweet potato into 1/2-in. cubes. Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion, potato, and salt and cook until onion begins to soften, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until potato is just tender, 8 to 9 minutes.

Step 2
Increase heat to medium-high and add chorizo. Cook, breaking up sausage, until cooked through, 7 to 8 minutes.

Step 3
Meanwhile, heat tortillas however you do it. Wrap in foil or tortilla warmer.

Step 4
Halve, peel, pit, and thinly slice avocados; put in another bowl and toss with juice from lime half.

Step 5
Spoon about chorizo-sweet potato mixture into each warm tortilla. Divide cotija and avocado among tacos with a squeeze from the other half lime half.

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.