This was an impromptu dinner thrown together with ingredients on hand and a couple supermarket pork chops. I usually steer clear of thick pork chops unless I’m dropping the cash for an heirloom hog- something with a little fat and flavor. The quick brine and cornmeal crust pack all the flavor one could ask for back into your chops and remember- even those prudes at the FDA gave a thumbs up to pork chops cooked medium.

ingredients (chops)

• 3-4 thick cut pork chops, 6-8 oz each
• instant cornmeal
• 1 egg
• flour for dredging- 1/2 cup or so
• seasoning salt- I like the one pictured
• 1 tsp honey or maple syrup
• vegetable oil for pan frying
• 1 tsp butter for frying

ingredients (hash)

• 12-18 whole Brussels sprouts
• 1 small onion
• few cloves garlic
• fresh herbs
• 1 tbsp butter/olive oil
• Crying Onion hot sauce

recipe

Sprinkle your chops with a little seasoning salt and honey/maple syrup.  Recover and set aside to come up to room temperature while you work on your mise en place.

Rinse the sprouts, cut the stem off and slice them into discs.  Don’t worry about the shape if your knife or knife skills are dull, we’re making a hash here.  Dice the onion and mince the garlic and put everything in a bowl off to the side.

Set up a breading station for the chops- flour, egg wash (the egg mixed with a splash of milk or water) and corn meal. Season each stage with a bit of seasoning salt (and a few drops of hot sauce in the egg wash).  I’ve had the best luck with the instant corn meal readily available pretty much everywhere.  In the pictures it’s a mixture of the very last of my instant masa and some stone ground hominy I had one hand from making grits or polenta. The stone ground gives it an extra bite but maybe too much.

Bread the chops in the flour, then egg wash, then cornmeal.

Preheat two saute pans- one for pan frying the chops, the other for your hash.  If you don’t like working two pans at once heat the oven to 300 and transfer the chops to a sheet pan as soon as they’re a little brown on both sides, dump your oil, wipe the pan and get started on hash.

Add enough vegetable oil to fully coat the bottom of the chops pan- more oil won’t necessarily hurt but will make things messier and harder to control the temperature. When it starts to shimmer add the bit of butter- the lower smoke point will aid in the browning. Sprinkle a little flour or corn meal into the pot.  If nothing happens your pan is too cold, if they immediately fry hard and loud it’s too hot. Just right is gently bubbling and dancing on the surface.

Add your chops to the pan and fry on each side for about 3-5 minutes, until golden brown.  Don’t mess with them too much- this will cool the pan and encourage the breading to come off.  Instead make your hash.

Turn the hash pan up to high and add your oil/butter.  Again the bit of butter is there to help everything brown. Add the sprouts, onions and garlic and toss, then let sit until the bottom begins to brown.  Stir and repeat- what we’re going for here is the same as if you had a large flat top griddle to work on.

The chops should be ready when the hash is almost finish cooking.  I’ve found them to be just over medium when the breading is dark brown and slightly crunchy on the outside- keep in mind this is after resting 5 minutes while I finish the hash and start plating.  Going by internal temperature take them off at around 145 F.

The hash is ready when the vegetables are soft and lightly browned all over.  Season with salt and pepper, add fresh herbs and hot sauce and plate.  Put a hot pork chop on top and serve.  I used the butternut squash soup mixed with hot sauce and maple syrup as the sauce.

Heirloom tomatoes have a much higher water content than your run of the mill supermarket tomato which leading scientists believe to be more closely related to Styrofoam packing peanuts.  As a result they tend to produce a salsa that exudes a great deal of moisture, and thus requires a good deal of straining, particularly if you’re trying for a chunkier pico de gallo.   This slightly charred salsa mellows out the bite of onion and garlic while still tasting fresh (not canned).

Ingredients

• 2 quarts assorted heirloom tomatoes
• 2 medium onions (sweet, yellow or purple)
• 3-5 cloves garlic
• 3-5 limes
• large bunch cilantro (rough chopped)
• small can chipotles in adobo (choose your own level of heat)
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp organic tomato paste (optional, approximate)

Recipe

Start by preheating a heavy cast iron pan to white hot.  It will take at least 10 minutes on high unless you have a commercial stove-top. Rinse your tomatoes and rough chop.  Do the same with the onions and lightly mince the garlic.  Since you’re going to be blending it there’s no need to spend a ton of time chopping things perfectly. Keep your onions and garlic separate or at least on top on the bowl- you want them to be the first to hit the pan.

When everything is ready to go pour the tomatoes, onions and garlic into the pan.  If you don’t hear a lot of sizzle then pan wasn’t hot enough but you’ll still end up with a tasty salsa. I should emphasize that you are trying to burn a small portion of the ingredients, the same effect as if you’ve quickly marked large slices of tomatoes and onions on a very hot gas or charcoal grill and then made salsa with them.

Let the mixture cook without stirring for at least three minutes.  By then there should be a little char on the bottom layer and the mixture should have started to simmer.  Turn off the heat and stir until the mixture stops steaming.  Transfer to a large bowl, add the cilantro and lime juice and a little bit of salt and pepper.

Using an immersion blender in small bursts slowly break down the larger pieces.  Add chipotles and adobo sauce (the sauce has a much higher flavor to heat ratio than the peppers themselves) and be sure they’re blended thoroughly.  If the sauce seem too loose or watery add the tomato paste and blend in. Do so with a little of the salsa in a separate bowl if you want a chunkier salsa. If you want a smooth salsa or only have a standard blender then by all means blend away at will.

Taste again for salt, cool and serve.  With a cerveza or margarita or course.

this technique can be applied to pretty much any vegetable- pickled banana peppers are wonderful on sandwiches and pizzas

Fresh, unbelievably easy and requiring absolutely none of the planning of classic pickling techniques. As long as you don’t mind eating all your pickles within a handful of days this is the perfect recipe for you to show off your pickling prowess.  Stay tuned after the recipe for some other vinegar+heat+jar ideas as well as a word on the shorter lifespan of quick pickles.

INGREDIENTS (for a 1 quart container) All measurements can be eyeballed- these are pickles, not a souffle.

• 2-3 pickling/smaller cucumbers (any type will more or less work)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
• 2-3 cups vinegar (any kind of lighter vinegar will work- see note)
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3-5 cloves garlic, slivered
• 2 tablespoons dried dill weed, or a couple springs fresh dill
• optional things to add (1 tsp mustard seed, thin sliced onion or shallot)

RECIPE

Bring the vinegar to a boil in a small pot.  While you’re waiting rinse your cucumbers and peel if necessary.  When is it necessary, you ask? I like to peel rad racing stripes into my vegetables, but that’s mostly for the look.  If you came home with standard supermarket cucumbers there might well be a heavy, bitter coating of wax that just isn’t very delicious.  That’s the necessary peeling scenario.

Slice cucumbers as thick or thin as you like.  A mandolin, food processor or even some classier cheese graters can speed up this task for the sharp knife-phobic but this isn’t the kind of pickle recipe where you want to make jars and jars to give your friends and coworkers.

Place sliced cucumbers, garlic, dill (dry or fresh), and the mustard seed (I have never used mustard seed but I rarely keep any in the pantry) or onion/shallot if you’re using them in your canning jar. This can be any glass with a screw top, there’s no need for specialized sterilization procedures.

Turn off heat to the pot and stir in the salt and sugar until dissolved.  Carefully pour this brine into the glass jar with your vegetables.  Lightly screw on the top and place in the fridge.  When your jar is cool to the touch the pickles are done! Continue to store them in the fridge.

These pickles were made at a lakefront bbq, on the grill. The recipe is just that easy!

ADDITIONAL NOTES

Shelf life-because we’re adding hot vinegar to the cucumbers instead of cold water (here’s Alton Brown’s take on classic dill pickles) we can go from cucumber to hamburger topping in under 90 minutes vs. a week.  But because we’re cooking as well as pickling the cucumbers will continue to soften and become unpleasantly mushy after 3 or 4 days.  Similar recipes online claim these will keep up to 10 days, your mileage may vary.

Vinegar choice- I’ve been happy using plain white, apple cider, rice wine and white balsamic vinegar.  The apple cider vinegar has a more flavor and sweetness to it but the jar of pickles tends to be less beautiful to look upon.

Other fun things to quick pickle- once you get the hang of this (and it really is very easy) the world is your oyster- salty, briny and delicious.

Jalapenos, like the banana peppers pictured, are great once pickled (and last a little longer in the fridge).  Omit the dill and reduce the sugar to a tablespoon or two.

Ginger- make your own pickled ginger for sushi or salads. Peel and shave super thin and leave out the dill and try to use rice wine vinegar.

Carrots and daikon radish- if your in to bahn mi replace the dill with fresh cilantro and cut most of the sugar.

Truffle salt and truffle butter are currently the best way to enjoy both the aroma and flavor of black or white truffles.  You can purchase both from online stores like D’Artagnan or, if you are bold and pure of heart, make your own.

Breaking down your truffles.  I had four small, fresh black truffles as well as a can of black truffles in “truffle juice.”  I’ve used the canned truffles at restaurants before- they’re not really your best option but is fine for salt or butter.  I should mention that all of these truffles were gifts, leftover props from a reality cooking show.

Ideally a microplane or other grater/shaver is the best way to go for bits of truffles in nice yellow butter.  My truffles had started to get a little moist, despite being packed in dry risotto and resisted this method so I drained the can and threw everything in the food processor, pulsing until they were in nice size little bits. 

When all was said and done I had about 3/4 or so of truffle…paste? I removed all but about 2 tablespoons and slowly pulsed in kosher and large sea salt until I had mixture that was dry and mostly salty- it took 2 cups of salt to get there.

I made a poor choice brought on by laziness in making the truffle butter.  The canned truffles still had a lot of juice, which already would have thrown off the creamy yellow color of my delicious fancy butter but instead of mixing room temp butter and truffle by hand or with the paddle attachment of the Kitchen-Aid (both options would have required more things to wash) I threw the butter and truffles back into the food processor.  The result was delicious (I left a little truffle salt in the bottom for flavor and to help the butter keep) but as I said before came out a color I dubbed “confederate gray”.

I start each day with a cup of coffe and a big bowl of truffle salt

Recipes:

Truffle Salt

• 2 cups kosher or sea salt, large crystals are best
• 2 tablespoons truffle shavings/paste

Pulse everything in the food processor until well incorporated.  Store refrigerated in plastic containers or in a cool pantry.

Truffle butter

• 1/2 – 3/4 cup truffle shavings/paste
• 24 – 36 oz quality butter, room temperature

Just as easy as the truffle salt.  When the butter is warm enough to mix by hand gently stir or use the Kitchen-Aid paddle attachment to incorporate.  Add a sprinkle of salt if you used unsalted butter.  Store in plastic containers or form into 1/4 lb butter stick size tubes and wrap in parchment or butcher paper, twisting the ends in a pleasing manner. Truffle butter should keep about month in the fridge and several months in the freezer.

after taking this picture and packing the butter for storage I may have eaten about a tablespon of truffle butter using my finger

Dough:

• 4 1/2 – 5 cups (630 – 700 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1 package (1/4 ounce) (7 grams) active dry yeast
• 1 cup (240 ml) milk
• 1/3 cup (75 grams) unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup (66 grams) granulated white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 grams) salt
• 3 large eggs

Filling:

• 3/4 cup (160 grams) packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup (35 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, cold (cut into pieces)
• 1 tablespoon half-and-half (light cream)

Powdered Sugar Glaze (no one will complain if you double this):

• In a medium-sized bowl stir together:
• 1/2 cup (58 grams) powdered (confectioners or icing) sugar
• 1 tablespoon half-and-half (light cream)
• Make the glaze thin enough to drizzle over cinnamon rolls.

Recipe:

In your stand mixer using the paddle attachment combine the flour and yeast.  In a small sauce pan heat and mix together the butter, milk, sugar and salt.  With the motor running slowly add to the flour until incorporated.  The heat of the liquids will help get the yeast moving but be careful not to add a boiling liquid or the yeast will die and your dough will be sad.

Scrape down the sides and switch to the dough hook.  With the mixer on low add the eggs one a time and continue to knead another 3-5 minutes.  Your dough should be elastic and no longer sticky to touch when it’s ready.

Cover with a damp towel and let it rise for an hour or two- it should be roughly doubled in size. The ambient room temperature and general vivacity of your yeast cultures will dictate how long this takes.  I try to put my rising dough near an air vent in the winter or near a sunny window in the summer.  Resist the urge to speed things up by placing it in the oven on low. Use this time to make your glaze and filling!

Punch down your risen dough and place on a lightly floured work space.  Cover with a towel again and let it rest ten minutes- this will make the dough a lot easier to work with.

Filling: Place everything in a food processor and pulse until mixed and crumbly.  I did it by melting the butter in a pot and mixing the brown sugar and friends which also works if you’re making this after midnight and don’t want to get out and wash any more equipment.

Glaze: In the pictures I made this cream cheese frosting:

• 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

but I prefer the straight powdered sugar glaze listed earlier.  There are no rules to glazes.

Cinnamon Rolls: ASSEMBLE!

To put it all together roll out your dough into a rectangle of about 1/3″ – 1/4″ thickness.  Sprinkle a little flour on the dough or work surface if you’re running into sticking problems but don’t get all flour crazy- too much will kill the flavor and texture.  A little patience and technique will get you through.

Spread the cinnamon filling mixture evenly leaving a half inch or so at the edges.  Carefully roll the dough as tightly as you can and pinch the edges on the bottom seam together.  With a sharp or serrated knife slice your rolls into the desired thickness, about 1.5″ is where I settled.  Bonus challenge: some daring gastronomes has been known to add strips of bacon prior to rolling for a complete breakfast in one artery clogging bun.

Arrange your sliced rolls on a greased baking pan and let rise another 15-30 minutes before baking.  You can also refrigerate (up to 24 hrs) or freeze (until the end of time or a few months) the dough while it’s a cylinder or sliced into rolls.

Bake at 375 F for 25-30 minutes.  They’re done with the standard toothpick test and a light golden brown.  If you’re getting too much color while the insides are still gooey cover with foil and reduce the temperature to 350F.  I usually pull my rolls out ahead of the curve to retain a decadently moist and luscious interior that some might describe as not cooked enough; one of the benefits to doing the cooking is doing everything to your specifications.  For example: a number of cinnamon rolls recipes give you the option of adding raisins, which is wrong and possibly immoral.  If you do want to add raisins, sprinkle a couple in the dough and the rest in the filling.

Drizzle or douse with your choice frosting and enjoy!

ready for consumption

Ingredients

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, crudely peeled and diced
• small onion, your choice, diced
• clove or two of garlic, crushed
• 1 lb frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1 tbsp tomato paste (pretty optional)
• 1-2 tbsp chipotles and adobo, minced
• oil for sauteing
• salt and pepper

Recipe

Preheat a heavy pan. Add a few tablespoons of oil (this is a fantastic use for bacon/ducks fats).  When it’s shimmering add the diced sweet potatoes.  Toss them to coat with oil and let cook for about two minutes until one side gets a good browning.  Add garlic and onions, toss again and let saute a few more minutes, until the onions start to soften and brown.  Continue to cook in the pan until the sweet potatoes are fork tender.  Watch that the onions and garlic don’t burn but you are looking for some good brown color on everything.

Add the tomato past and chipotles  if using.  The tomato paste adds a nice richness but I wouldn’t open a fresh can just to throw the rest away and of course chipotles are great all the time.  Saute for a minute or two until everything starts to thicken and stick together.  Turn heat to low and mix in the spinach, just long enough to warm it through. Season, taste, adjust and serve.