All posts by Drunken Chef

Blog Post

Welcome Back to School

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Yesterday was the first day many students went back to school. For some, it was their very first day. I can still feel a bit of anxiety in the air as school busses begin to line the streets and parents walk their youngest ones to school. As I look back over my short lifetime, it seems as if not much has changed.  The same fears, anxieties and excitement over the first big day all still exist. Yet so much has changed in terms of technology and new science. These anxieties are just one of the reasons many we attend school. School helps us learn how to concur them and feel more confided as we travel though life.

School seems pretty much the same as when my older brothers and sister went to their first day of school. They did not have to deal with corvid but they did have to worry about Polio or the aton bomb. My mother could not do anything about world politics but she did worry about her children getting polio. That, just like corvid today was a real concern. My sister remembers attending in line at school to get that sugar cube vaccine. Life’s adventures will always be the same but different somehow. Instead of paperback books and the comic’s page as a book cover for our science book. We have tablets with rubber tablet covers. There is still homework but now, it’s done on Google docs or some other on-line platform. Does that mean there are no more pens, pencils or even a pencil sharpener in class rooms?

Yes, technology has transform learning or the way we learn. Just as television might have done with shows like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, Sesame Street or my favorite The Electric Company (if I ever meet Morgan Freeman I will thank him for doing that show). That was all in the sixties (shiver).

I do not want to travel back in time. Things were no better then they are now. It is just different is all. We work. We learn. We try to get along with our neighbors and make new friends and it is a good day we all have dinner together with those family members and friends we love.

Sitting around the table eating, laughing and having fun with at the end of the day makes life worth living. In the end, not much has changed. Just how we do it. Maybe we even have more time to watch TV, but who am I kidding. We are still just as busy as we were in the fifties or sixties. So enjoy school while you’re in it. Enjoy life when you get out. Enjoy the fall and don’t rush through the seasons or life. Stop and smell….the fall flowers or the apple pie and have lots of snacks ready when the kids get home! Shhh my favorite elementary school snack was Drakes Devil Dogs!

The Drunken (blabbering) Chef (Russ)

Recipe, Wines

Steak and Lobster Tails or Surf and Turf)

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  • Seasoned steak
  • Tiny tails
  • Grill marks
  • Sliced steak
  • Steaming potatoes
  • Tiny tail cooked
  • potatoes
  • Creamed spinach
  • Yellow Tomatoes
  • My plate
  • White wine
  • Red wine

This has been a long and delightful weekend, for the most part. The down side is Jennifer is still in pain. We did have company come over on Saturday night.  I proceeded to make a repeat of the Valentines dinner I made back in February. At Jenifer’s suggestion, we purchased lobster tails to go with the steak I was already planning on preparing. After I cooked the tails, I was disappointed in their size at $30.00 a pound. They were tiny after they were cooked. Maybe two bites. Next time I will go somewhere other than Costco to buy them. In February, they was much bigger and a better deal. Live and learn.

The main meal was of course the steak. They were sirloin steaks and 2 inches thick. Because my mother in-law does not like seasoning on her steak I purchased her a separate small porterhouse steak. It was about an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half thick. The vegetable I served was creamed spinach. I cheated as it was not from scratch but frozen. The starch was small red and white potatoes. The plan was to microwave them for a bit and then throw them on the grill to finish cooking them and brown them a bit.

I started by washing and precooking the potatoes in the microwave. To accomplish this I placed the potatoes in a microwave safe glass bowl with a ½ inch of water at the bottom. I covered the bowl with plastic wrap so they wound steam and cut a ½ inch slit into the plastic so some of steam could escape. I microwaved them for about ten minutes, just until they got soft. I checked on them every 5 minutes to see how done they were. I then let them sit coved in the bowl while I barbequed the steaks. The potatoes would continue to soften in the still covered bowl.

I seasoned the sirloin steaks with onion powder, garlic powder, coarse salt and fresh cracked pepper. Then placed them on a hot grill. My mother in-laws likes her steak rare, so hers waited in the wings as it would cook faster then the ticker sirloin. I wanted ours to be medium rare and was a bit thicker so I started with the sirloin first. When it was ¾ of the way done I put on my mother in-laws. Mmmm yumm meat on the barbeque. I was so ready to eat. I ran into the house to get the potatoes. When I returned to the steaks the barbeque gas tank would run out of gas just as I opened the lid. No worries I thought. I have one more filled tank handy. I attached the second tank of gas and turned on the knob. Immediately I heard gas seeping out around the connector. I checked the connection and tried again. This time many curse words flew from my mouth. Thinking quickly I ran the potatoes back into the house and threw a cast-iron pan onto the stove and heated up. Lucky for me the sirloin steaks was almost done. I left them in the grill to keep warm and rest and threw my mother in-laws half-cooked steak into the now hot frying pan.

I switched gears now back to the potatoes. I put them back into the microwave but first added butter and seasoning before recovering them up. I microwave them only five more minutes so they were now done. Next, I began heating up the creamed spinach. I retrieved the sirloin from the grill and it was ready to slice having rested nicely in the less then warm grill. I plated my mother in-laws rare steak right from the pan to her plate. By the time the steaks all hit the table the spinach was ready and I served it right alongside the potatoes. The sirloin steak was served sliced and perfectly medium rare.

Scott of course bought two bottles of wine with them. The first bottle of wine was a white wine and he served that as I bought out the steamed lobster tails to the table. The white wine was a Chardonnay and was fabulous. I had made some drawn butter that I put in small bowls to go with the lobster tails. It was an excessive amount of butter for these tiny tails. The lobster was good tasting despite their small size and the wine was perfect. I guess size isn’t everything.

I called my mother in-law over to join us at the table when the steaks were served (she does not eat lobster). We all kept the extra butter from the tails in front of us and used it for the steak. That is when Scott opened the second bottle of wine. It was a red wine from Brian Arden, a Cabernet Franc from Napa Valley. I really need to go to California with them next year. It sounds like they have so much fun touring the wineries. The wine went perfectly with the steak. Even the potatoes turned out to be good but I was disappointed I could not grill them. They just look more appetizing with the little grill marks on them and it gives them a bigger depth of flavor. No matter, I will have to do it again. WHY? Because the lobber tails were not big enough sheeeesh….

I made a simple salad and had some terrific fresh tomatoes. There is nothing like a good steak and tomatoes. Except steak, tomatoes and red wine. The salad was just a bonus for the blue cheese dressing.

For dessert, we had cream filled lobster tails from one of my favorite local bakeries. There were leftover potatoes….hence why I had to do brunch…and make the home fries the next morning!

May the rest of your grilling season be a good one!

The Drunken Chef (Russ)

Recipe

HASH BROWNS vs HOME FRIES

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  • Bloody Mary
  • Bloody mary ingredients
  • Grapes
  • Bacon
  • Cinnamon buns
  • Last nights potatoes
  • Home fries

Welcome back to school dear readers. I have been more than extremely busy with all kinds of back to school activities at my real job plus losing my two editors Sam (whom I helped move back to Boston for college) and Juliana (also a second year college student).

Alas, I am left here to fend for myself in trying to correct my own spelling errors. Forget about me trying to correct my own grammar. That. Is. Just. Not. Happening. Have I mentioned my dislike for the English language? I’m sure as many of you are writers you are offended by this statement but I ask you, who the hell invents a language where one word sounds the same and then is spelled so many different ways as to change its meaning? Except the Eskimo’s of course who have over 200 ways to say the word “SNOW”. That makes sense! Sorry, tangent, reeling it back in.

Here I am reminiscing about the breakfast I made on Sunday. Yes I have been cooking. Sunday was Brunch Day at my house. This came about because Saturday was steak and lobster tails (Valentine’s day dinner repeated). We I made too many potatoes (seen here) for dinner so I said I guess I will just have to make home fries for breakfast. Then Jennifer said why don’t you all come over for breakfast? Soooo by the time I was done cooking breakfast turn into a small brunch. I know this is a long way to get here but here it is. So what the difference between hash browns and home fries?

Home fries are chucks of potatoes that are then fried. Whereas, hash browns are a grated potatoes that are fried. Home fires take much longer to prepare for because you need to cook the potatoes and let them cool FIRST before cutting them up and frying them. You could start with raw potatoes but it takes way too long to cook and then the morning is over and you’re starving and they are not as good as they are in the diner.

The diner is where I had my first home fries. I think. It could have been a coffee shop. The coffee shop is the place I remember the best. It was right next to a grocery store I used to work in. You could sit at the counter and watch the owner cook your meal. He was open for breakfast and lunch. It was there I learned the secret of cooking the potatoes first to make the hash browns.

This brings me to the potatoes I made from the night before. That is what Is use to make my last batch of hash browns. I have even used the ones I make on Saint Patrick’s Day or the baked potatoes from the night before on camping trips to make hash browns. I had a Cub Scout father that would wake up even earlier then me to start cooking breakfast. He is a great hash brown maker!

Hash browns are good too and you don’t have to plan ahead to make them. Just peel and grate some potatoes and your off and running. Mix in some flour and eggs and you have Latkes…Whoa. I had better slow down. The Irish in me is beginning to show with all this talk about potatoes. I do love hash browns served with eggs and bacon.

Home Fries

        Serves 8

SPECIAL IMPLEMENTS

Pan

Chef’s Knife

Cutting Board

INGREDIENTS

3 – 4 Potatoes

2 to 4 TBL Vegetable oil

Paprika, onion powder salt and pepper

Onion (diced)

Red or green peeper (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Boil/cook potatoes the night before and store in the refrigerator.

The next morning peel and cut up the potatoes into large bite size pieces. Season the potatoes with paprika, salt and pepper

Heat a pan and add 2 to 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil or olive oil to the pan. When hot add the potatoes. Cook on high until they just start to get brown. Add any diced onion or bell peppers now, if you like. Continue to cook until the outside of the potatoes just get a bit crispy but don’t burn them.

NOTES: Serve with eggs any style and maybe bacon. If you did make bacon. Save the bacon grease and cook the potatoes in that!

Enjoy life, stay healthy, and have a great weekend!

The Drunken Chef (Russ)

Blog Post

GROCERY SHOPPING

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Grocery shopping in the 21st century has not evolved into anything less time consuming since the Supermarket was first invented by Michael J. Cullen in 1930 in Jamaica Queens, New York. I started working for King Kullen supermarkets as a teenager and continued through my twenties. I watched as these family-owned stores grew in the eighties into mega-markets. This is the same time when big hair, big clothes, and big cars were the all the rage, as was the way the supermarkets were going. They now were turning into these huge mega-stores that included bakeries, seafood departments, floral shops along with the usual deli and meat departments all under one roof.

It’s true what they say: “bigger isn’t always better”. Parachute pants AKA “Hammer pants” are a fine example of this. King Kullen did add a bakery department inside their stores in the nineteen-eighties but it could not replace the wonderful Italian Bakery around the corner from my childhood home. The bakery was called Everbest bakery. If I remember their slogan correctly, it was “everything tastes better with butter” or was it “everything is baked with butter” or something like that. All I know is it was good and there were all kinds of the best tasting baked goods. These bakeries, even here in New York, are hard to find now but I seek them out for their excellent selection of fresh baked goods.

Supermarket bakeries are okay. However, they are not outstanding. After a short time, everything starts to tastes the same. The bread and rolls are not the same quality as the old-fashioned hard roll I ate when I was a child. The Italian bread in a supermarket bakery tastes exactly the same as its rolls. Don’t get me wrong, I still purchase these items for what they are and I have a use for them but to me there is nothing that can compare to walking into a family-owned bakery and taking a deep breath. Buying top quality food was always a top priority for my mother. Places like A & G bakery in Deer Park or Dolci Momenti Bakery in Patchogue reminds me of a simpler time when you weren’t overwhelmed by the enormity of a huge building but instead you can focus on your senses and that fine aroma of cinnamon buns fresh from the oven. To me it is one of those aromas of childhood. Like the smell of pine on Christmas morning coming from the tree. Now, due to allergies and other various reasons I own an artificial Christmas tree and burn a pine scented candle for effect. It’s just not the same. Once again I digress.

The Supermarket has always had its meat department. Now here in the 21st century the family-owned meat markets/butcher are all gone too. My mother shopped at a place called Spot Light. I went with her occasionally when school was out. The cashier was the butcher’s wife and she would give me a penny from the register to get a gumball. Holy shit! Who does THAT anymore? Can you imagine the cashier at Kroger’s giving some kid a buck for a pack of gum out of her cash register? For one, the mother would have a cow and scream: “Don’t give my kid that sugary treat you bitch”! Then it would be a whole big thing…I digress yet again. Today, I still go to a butcher. This new place I found has that old time wonderful smell I remember as a child. It’s just missing the saw dust on the floor. This butcher shop is mainly a restaurant supply wholesaler, but they allow local customers to come in a buy there meat. The place is called Mathews and it even has my favorite number 10 size can (32 ounces) of Italian plum tomatoes for Spaghetti Sauce.  This shop does have some great beef and chicken, but it has a lot more. Frozen seafood and some Greek gyro meat. Not to mention fresh eggs and other restaurant quality items.  Best of all is friendly service. They treat everyone just like you are one of the family!

It is still important today to purchase only good quality food items for your family and yourself. Shopping is an art or it can be. Some people are good at buying clothes and dressing nice. I tend to spend my energy on buying more groceries and eating well then looking like I do. Just like clothes, name brand stuff is usually better than the store brand but not always. Somethings like cheese are unique to the brand. An example of this is mozzarella cheese. I have tried many brands over the years but I prefer getting Polly-O brand when it’s on sale. I even freeze what I don’t use right away because it is what like to use on my chicken parmesan and baked ravioli so it is always good for me to have extra on hand.

Produce too has always been in the supermarket. At least as long as I can remember. Some supermarkets have better produce then others, but no one can beat the local farm stand for freshness and taste, and you are also supporting your local economy by buying fresh from the farm. Besides that, I have read that eating local produce is healthier for you in terms of cutting down your allergies. As you eat more local produce and honey, the local pollen is absorbed by your body and this helps you to withstand those heavy pollen days when the local flowers and trees are in bloom. This is not a bad thing. This of course is not truly a medical definition but you get the point I hope. Local produce is good for you.

I do enjoy being able to buy vegetables out-of-season in supermarkets. I rarely buy fruit this way, as it is usually is tasteless, although once in a while it is nice to have grapes with cheese in the middle of winter. Buying produce locally while it is in season can’t be beat. To this day I still cannot buy a single peach from any place other than the farm stands on the east end of Long Island or I find them mealy and dry. While I’m all the way out there I might as well get a bottle of wine or maybe a case. This whole fresh fruit thing is why I make apple pies in the fall when the fresh apples are in abundance. Peach pie is perfect at the end of summer and blueberry pie is baked in spring…etc etc.

Another thing supermarkets sell is cold cuts from their deli counter. Most of the time these are mass produced pieces of cured meat and were terrible coming from supermarkets. Even back in the eighties, much to my surprise was the fact that my favorite cold cut company, BoarsHead, is not found on sale everywhere across the country. I distinctly remember my mother having to go to yet another store just to by the cold cuts in the Boarshead brand we all enjoyed. Even when my Aunt Betty and Uncle Harry moved to Florida in the seventies they ask us to bring down cold cuts and bread with us whenever we visited. We never had the money to visit Florida from New York often but when we could, my mother always packed as much stuff as far as bread and cold cuts as we could carry on the plane. At the time no supermarkets carried the Boarshead Brand and not every deli has this brand or sold it in sufficient quantity to keep it fresh so you had to pick and choose where you went to get it. The second item at these local deli’s were there “homemade” salads. Particularly the potato salad, cold slaw, and macaroni salad.  I am always looking for ways to improve my own recipe for these salads to match the taste and flavor of the ones I grew up on in my local deli. If memory serves me and it usually does when it comes to food. These salads were always found to be the best in large German-owned delicatessens two or three towns away from where we lived. Yes, I too went there to buy cold cuts as soon as I was old enough to drive. Even our pickles came from a specialty store because we were just so dam fussy. That place is no longer in business and we all miss that Sterns family store terribly.  Now I know where I get it from! Uggg! I’m crazy!

Fish to me is also a summer season food. I don’t know why, but I guess it stems from when I went fishing here on Long Island or out to dinner by the water. We used to have the best calms and scallops around until we polluted the water in the Great South Bay. Now I have to get stuff from as far away as Maine or Alaska. I don’t even fish much anymore but I used to love it. My taste and pallet for fish has increased too, especially with the addition of Sushi. Sushi is one of those things I don’t make myself and leave that to the experts. I do really try and make more fish, but no one will eat it. Partially during the spring I like eating fish grilled. The fall however is a good time to try and fry it. So I think I need to make more Fish and Chips or fried flounder or even fried shrimp. I buy this all at a local fish store in Amityville. Something about a fish store being right down by the water makes them seem more authentic and fresh even though everything arrives by truck these days.

I think since I started writing this article I have lost track, I cant remember the total number of stores my mother used to travel to, to buy our weekly groceries. Even our beverages were not purchased at the local supermarket, which was call Food Fair back then. For that stuff she travelled to a place called the Beverage Barn two towns away in an opposite direction from anything else just because it has the best prices on beer and soda. They even helped load up her car because she was in her late fifties early sixties buying multiple heavy cases of bottled beer.

I am looking forward now to the fall months if only for its abundance of apples and Oktoberfest Beer of course. So go shop. Eat as local as much as you can and buy those name brand things you love when they are on sale. Don’t limit yourself to only shopping at the super-mega market, rather take some extra time to patronize your local shops, you’ll be happy you did!

The Drunken Chef (Russ)

Restaurant Review

RETURN TO THE BASIL CAFE

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The Basil Café in St. James, New York is a tiny little restaurant hidden always among trees and shrubbery that surround it. If you didn’t know it was there, you would drive right by it, and that would be a shame because you would have missed one of the best culinary dining experiences here on the North Shore of Long Island.

I returned to 413 Lake Avenue, St James to eat at the Basil Café at Sam’s request. It is his last day here on the island before he leaves and heads back to Boston, Massachusetts as a college student for the start of his second year.

Accompanying me was my wife and mother in-law.  My sister-in-law, her son Adam, and Sam were travelling separately.  I knew I had to suffer through this meal without wine, since I was the designated driver for this adventure. Jen is still in pain and her driving skills are not as good as they used to be.

We started with the humus appetizer, and those little bread triangles that are just so divine, along with the complimentary bread, of course.  As soon as my sister in-law arrived with Sam and Adam we ordered our entrées .

Sam and Adam both ordered the lamb shank. This Persian dish is called KHORESH BUDEMJAN. It is a lamb shank cooked and served in a tomato sauce with eggplant. Did I mention this a Persian restaurant that serves Mediterranean food. All I know is its dam good and if you haven’t been there before, this is the first dish I recommend to try. Assuming of course you like meat, more so lamb. I also recommend having the rice with it because you will want to eat every drop of the sauce.

My wife, ever the new food enthusiast, order the New York strip steak (medium rare). I did try a piece and it was very good but when in Rome order Italian. When in a Mediterranean restaurant, order the lamb! Jen hates lamb.  I however, desperately needed to try somthing else on the menu having already had the lamb shanks and they are to die for I need to see if that was just a fluke or was this chef as good as I’d hoped he was. The chef’s special was an eight ounce piece of sea bass in a butter sauce. It was served with your choice basmati rice or fingering potatoes. I choose the rice of course and it came with some of the best broccoli I have ever eaten at a restaurant. This dish did not disappoint me. The fish was cooked to perfection and the sides were perfect. I just wish I had a nice Chardonnay wine to wash it all down.

I recommended the rack of lamb to my mother in-law, who immediately ruined it by ordering it well-done.  My sister in-law, who truly is adventurous in terms of food, practically let the waiter order for her since she was not able to make up her mind. He recommend the Basil special which consisted of skewered chicken and beef over basmati rice, jeweled. Jeweled rice is something extra you can add on the top of the already good basmati rice. I am not sure of everything in it, it did have onions, currants or raisins, and pistachios all cooked in a succulent saffron sauce.  She loved it and next time would order just the chicken skewers.  She let Jennifer try a piece of the beef skewer, and that was enough to convince Jennifer to order the beef next time.

Both Sam and Adam finished every grain of rice and every bit of the lamb shank and sauce. Unfortunately, after all that food no one had room for dessert. This is a shame really because I so wanted the pouched pear in rice pudding. Always leave them wanting more I suppose.

Anyway, that was my Sunday culinary adventure. Sorry if I have not posted in a few days. I have been busy taking Sam back to College. Maybe, when Sam returns from school, I will see you at the Basil Café.

That’s all for now. Until tomorrow when my post will be about Grocery shopping.

The Drunken Chef (Russ)

Recipe, Uncategorized

CHEDDAR CHEESE SAUCE RECIPE

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Happy Friday! This recipe dates back to the early1970’s when my mother made the Thanksgiving Day vegetables of broccoli and cauliflower. She would pour this sauce over the top of these two cruciferous vegetables to get us to eat them. After my mother made this sauce for the first time, I thought these two vegetables were now yummy! That was a big deal coming from a young teenager!

I adopted this recipe recently for those Stuffed Baked Potatoes I made earlier in the week.

Cheddar Cheese Sauce

        Serves 8

SPECIAL IMPLEMENTS

Pot, measuring cup, wire whisk

Chef’s Knife

Cutting Board

INGREDIENTS

3 – 4 Tablespoons Flour (Wondra Brand) if using All-purpose 2 to 3 tablespoons

2 cups whole Milk

Sharp Cheddar Cheese (Kraft or Sargento) (16 oz. package)

½ tsp White Pepper

(Add 8 to 16 ounces more cheese when using sauce for Stuffed Baked Potatoes)

DIRECTIONS

Whisk the flour into 2 cup of cold milk.  Heat milk and flour mixture in a heavy saucepan over medium heat while continuing to stir.  When sauce begins to thicken, slowly add in the cheese by the handful. Continue stirring over medium- low heat constantly until cheese is incorporated. When all the cheese has been incorporated and hot. Remove from heat and serve over steamed vegetables. Sauce may break (separate) upon reheating or overheating.

NOTES: Try this sauce over the steamed broccoli or cauliflower. DON’T use nonfat cheese or your sauce will bit gritty, also high heat will “break” the sauce. 

If a sauce breaks, one remedy to fixing it is by adding a few teaspoons of its base liquid. In this case, add some cold milk to your broken sauce and try whisking it in.

Enjoy life, stay healthy, and have a great weekend!

The Drunken Chef (Russ)

Recipe

STUFFED Baked Potatoes (ala Barbecue)

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Happy Thursday. Yesterday, I had hot dogs with my famous spicy onions. That’s a recipe that already here (just click the link above) but here is a new one.

This recipe can be done on the barbeque or in the oven. So it is versatile and yumerific!

Stuffed Baked Potato Recipe

        Serves 8

SPECIAL IMPLEMENTS

Microwave

Barbeque or Oven

Cutting Board

Vegetable brush

INGREDIENTS

8 extra-large Russet Potatoes

2 pounds Bacon

1 large head of broccoli

16 ounces sour cream

8 ounces butter

Fresh chives

Olive Oil

Coarse Salt

Cheese sauce (click here for recipe)

DIRECTIONS

I selected my russet potatoes at the local farm stand from the loose pile sold by the pound.  Scrub the potatoes with a vegetable brush under cold water. Coat the potatoes with olive oil and sprinkle on coarse ground salt (McCormick salt grinder). Pierce the potatoes in several places with a fork. I think this step helps to prevent the potatoes from “popping open” while they are cooking in the microwave. Place oil covered and forked potatoes in a microwave safe bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Poke a hole or two in the plastic to let some steam to escape. Microwave these suckers for five to fifteen minutes on high or until the potatoes just begins to give to the touch a little. Check the potatoes after each five-minute interval of cooking for doneness. My six pounds of potatoes took the full fifteen minutes.  Be careful both the bowl and the potatoes are hot! Remove from the microwave using oven mitts. CAREFULLY remove plastic wrap. This whole microwave step speeds up the cooking time of the potatoes so they cook faster. After the microwave, you can transfer the potatoes to a four hundred degree oven for thirty minutes or very hot barbeque. Be careful not to burn the potatoes on the grill. I turned the burners off that were directly under my potatoes and finished cooking them just as if they were being “baked” in an oven.

While the potatoes are “baking” it time to steam the broccoli. Wash the broccoli under cold water. Cut the stems away from the head of broccoli. Cut the head of the broccoli into bit size pieces. Place the broccoli florets into a microwave safe bowl. Add a ¼-cup of water to the bowl. Cover with a paper plate to keep steam in bowl or plastic wrap and cut slits in plastic to let some steam escape. When the potatoes are cooked, (thirty minutes have passed) begin cooking broccoli in the microwave high for six minutes.

Remove broccoli from the microwave using oven mitts. Carefully remove the plastic or take off the paper plate.

Carefully slice open each potato and place on a plate. Add one half tablespoon of butter to each half. Add the steaming hot broccoli then cover with shredded cheddar cheese. Add bacon, sour cream and chives to finish it.

Cheese sauce option: For true over indulgence, make a fancy ass cheese sauce, like the one shown on the potatoes above. Instead of grated cheese, cover the whole potato with cheese sauce at the end. Mmm. Yummy.

Serve this with your favorite wheat beer like Weihenstephan or a Blue Moon.

Enjoy life, stay healthy, and may everyone be kind to you.

The Drunken Chef (Russ)

Recipe

INSTA-POT PULLED PORK (CARNITAS)

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Below is the recipe for pulled pork from an Insta-pot that I promised a while back. I use it for tacos, burritos or even nachos.

Carnitas Recipe

Serves 8

SPECIAL IMPLEMENTS

Insta-Pot

Chef’s Knife

Cutting Board

INGREDIENTS

SOFT TACOS

8 flour tortillas

1 large tomatoes diced

16 ounces cheddar cheese shredded

1 head lettuce (shredded)

1 jar taco sauce or Cholula hot sauce or both

Pitted and sliced black olives (optional)

Guacamole or sour cream (optional)

PULLED PORK

2 Loins of Pork

1 small can of chili peppers (pictured below)

1 onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 container of low sodium beef broth

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp Garlic powder

1 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Black pepper

4 tablespoons Olive oil.

DIRECTIONS

PULLED PORK:

Cut the meat into large pieces. Season by sprinkling with onion powder, garlic powder, ground cumin, paprika, salt and black pepper. Let the seasoned meat marinate for a minimum of two hours in a zip-lock bag in the refrigerator.

In a 6-quart or larger Insta-Pot add just two tablespoons of olive oil. Turn on the insta-pot to Sauté and brown the meat in two or three batches. Return all the meat back into the pot. Add an onion that has been peeled and quartered to the pot. Add three cloves of whole garlic. Pour in enough beef broth to almost cover the meat.  

Cover and Cook for one hour on the “stew” setting. Move the meat without the cooking liquid to a bowl. It should fall apart easily. Use meat for tacos, burritos or nachos.

SOFT TACOS or BURRITOS:

Add cheese to a flour tortilla, add meat on top, and add guacamole and/or sour cream. Pour on the sauce of your choice (Cholula hot sauce or taco). Top with shredded lettuce and diced tomato. This also goes well with grilled red bell peppers and onion instead of the lettuce and tomato. 

NACHOS

Fill a platter with chips. Add grated cheddar cheese on top and melt in oven or microwave. Top with meat, guacamole, sour cream, sliced black olives; or add hot refried beans and jalapeno peppers for an additional extraordinary culinary experience.

This can be paired with a nice old vine red zinfandel or an Icey Cold Modelo Beer.

Enjoy life, stay healthy, and may everyone be kind to you. 

The Drunken Chef (Russ)

Recipe

INSTA-POT Spagetti Suace

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Good Morning. Last night was chicken cutlet parmesan and spaghetti night at Sam’s request. I was going to make it on Sunday, since this is usually a very time-consuming recipe making it the way my mother did it for years. Unfortunately, I got home later than expected, just after 5:30pm, so I knew I couldn’t keep everyone waiting too long for dinner.

I told my mother in-law, and wife, dinner would not be ready for two hours. “Why?” Jennifer asked. I answered: “I am making chicken cutlet parmesan tonight.” I answered. To which my wife replied, “OH! Sam must be there influencing you.”

Anyway, I decided to speed things up and make the sauce in the Insta-pot. Besides, this gave me the perfect opportunity to write-up the recipe on how to make sauce in an Insta-pot.  My coworker is thinking of getting one of these pressure cooker appliances for this very reason. She was a big fan of my pulled pork and brisket recipe from this very Insta-pot.

So here is the recipe:

Insta-pot Spaghetti Sauce

1 # 10 size can of plum tomatoes or 3 of those really large 32 once imported plum tomatoes

1 Large or two medium size onion

4 to 6 cloves garlic

2 teaspoons Parsley flakes or tablespoon fresh

1/4 tsp Oregano

1/2 tsp Basil

1/2 tsp Crushed red pepper

1 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Fill the blender half way with plum tomatoes or one 32 ounce can. Using the pulse button and blender set to chop (lowest setting), pulse bleeder until the tomatoes are well chopped. Pour chopped tomatoes slowly into the Insta-pot and turn it on to the sauté setting. Repeat this three times (leaving the Insta-pot on of course). Stir the sauce after each addition. Roughly chop the onion and garlic. Add the roughly chopped onion and garlic to the blender with a 3/4 cup of water. Pulse until well chopped (Almost smooth). Pour the fragrant smelling onions and garlic into the sauce. Stir, stir stir. To get out the remaining onion, use an addition 1/4 cup water in the blender, swish it around, and pour it into the Intsa-pot and stir well. Add seasonings – parsley, oregano, basil, crushed red pepper salt and black pepper. Stir, stir stir. Keep stirring occasionally to keep the sauce from burning and until it starts simmering (bubbling up to the top).

Put on the cover and set to pressure cook on low pressure for 20 minutes. THAT’S IT DONE. Carefully release the pressure and serve.

That’s how to make homemade spaghetti sauce in an hour. If you want to add meat balls omit one can of tomatoes and cut back on the spices a bit.

This is what I used to make the chicken parmesan and then put it on our spaghetti. I thought it was good. Sam and my mother in-law both loved it!

I served mine with an ice cold Peroni beer along with some fresh grated parmesan cheese. I also made garlic bread for everyone. I had no time for a vegetable or salad, sorry. Bad Husband.

Until next time when I might be bring you a stuffed baked potato recipe, we’ll see. Be well, be happy and enjoy life.

The Drunken Chef (Russ)

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THE WEDDING or CATERING FOOD

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Happy Monday everyone. Yes, I’m happy even though I am on my way to work. The fact that I am on my way to work is one of the reasons I’m so happy! I like having a job and being employed not to mention the fact that since the hurricane missed us the place is still standing as well as my house!

I did not do a whole heck of a lot of cooking this weekend. In fact I barely did any cooking. I don’t really remember Friday except I’m sure I ate something. I just don’t think I was the one who cooked it cooked it.

Saturday morning, bright and early, I went with Jennifer to get acupuncture for her back pain. Then later that same day we had a wedding. Yes, a wedding! This had originally been planned exactly one year ago and Covid had stopped it. Now it was almost canceled by a hurricane but the hurricane was scheduled to make landfall until the early morning hours of the next day. SO to the wedding we went.

It was a beautiful affair with a lovely couple that looked totally in love. It was just like a Hallmark movie! It was nice to see this and it raised my faith in humanity just a little bit.

The event was held right on the water with the boats bobbing on the waves from the encroaching storm as the wind pickup just outside. Dark storm clouds slowly filled the sky but love was in the air and it felt good to be doing somthing normal again after a crazy year. I liked being here with all these people, in this closed space, with doom on the horizon and a beer in my hand.

The first thing I did was hit the bar for a beer and get Jennifer a plain seltzer with three cherries as she does not usually consume alcoholic beverages. Next we found our seats and watched the ceremony. The ceremony itself was almost as beautiful as the bride. The groom was a handsome young man and I envied his long happy life ahead, just for a bit. I prayed that their life would be filled with children and much happiness. I figured she wanted kids, being she is a kindergarten teacher who loves her job.

After the ceremony it was onto the food and cocktail hour. We found our table and we knew one other couple we were sitting with. The cocktail hour food was ready almost immediately whisked Jennifer off to the buffet line. Jennifer was already in pain from sitting through the ceremony but standing seamed to help a little bit as we waited in a short line. In the first chaffing dish we came up too was shrimp and scallop marsala. I placed two shrimp and two scallops on my plate with some sauce. The very next chaffing dish was baked clams so being a glutton I only placed one of those on my plate as well. I could always come back for seconds I thought. Since this was a seafood restaurant I was looking forward to these two items in particular.

Both the clam and the seafood marsala was not as hot as I would like but it was not cold either. The shrimp and scallops were cooked well but the marsala sauce seemed a little bland. Perhaps they ran out of wine? The baked clam however was just the opposite. It was over seasoned with spices, particularly pepper . I think it was the cayenne that made them almost inedible, so I didn’t finish it. So much for seconds.

I could not even drink any more beer as I would be the one driving us home. Jennifer was already in pain and it was getting worse. Next we headed over to the caving station. It was beef. Yum, love beef. I asked for a nice slice off the center and Jennifer asked for the end slice. There too I also saw some mashed potatoes so I added that t my plate. Jennifer later pointed out that the table it was set up as a mashed potato “Bar” with bacon, broccoli that looked like it was over cooked and some sour ream. I missed it, didn’t I didn’t even see gravy. In the end it did not matter. This whole round of food was cold. Mash potato’s suck when they are not hot.

I was not there for the food I told myself but there to share in the fun and joy of our friends wedding. Hell who am I kidding I used to LOVE to eat catered food. What happened to me? I glanced at the small menu of the table to choose my entrée. Fish not beef. That’s my choice and I’m sticking with it, I thought. Funny at weddings they always serve beef, fowl and or fish.

I choose fish and when the waiter came (who I knew from Scouting) I stuck to it. In the mean time Bill from the couple I knew asked if I wanted to join him outside for a cigar. I wanted to even though the weather looked nasty but I could not leave Jennifer alone and in pain so I sat back down next to her. She chatted with the gentleman we both knew sitting next to her. The music was too loud to hear him across from Jennifer so I was left out of the conversation. To my left was one of the groomsmen so he was not there often enough to have any conversations with. Besides he was with his wife and another couple and they all didn’t need me honing in of there good time. SO I sat and watched as the storm roll in and as the cocktail hour wrapped up and was rolled out through the storm and back to the main restaurant. Did I mention we were in a separate building? We were and it was lovely.

The wedding party was back from their picture adventures and dinner was soon served. It started with a salad of spring greens with strawberries. Did I ever tell you Jennifer is allergic to strawberries. I snatched hers off her plate with my fork but she still didn’t touch her salad. She didn’t miss anything as far as a good salad. It was not cold. Mine had no dressing and yet it was one of the best things so far. The strawberries were delicious.

Next was the ravioli course. These were spinach pasta ravioli with a mushroom stuffing. This sounded like something I would order off a menu. They came to the table in a butter sauce with freshly parmesan cheese on top. Again not hot, but well cooked. The first thing i noticed was the color the the pasta. They (to me) didn’t look like an appetizing green. It was the color green that almost look artificial. They tasted okay and I ate most of this dish but could not get past the color. I’m getting weird and picky as I get older, huh. DONT answer that Sam!

Next was the entrée. The music was softer during dinner and I had finally noticed it when a plate with a small piece of swordfish was placed in front of me. I tasted it. It wasn’t bad. If it were hotter I would have even liked it more. After all this is a seafood restaurant, they should be able to get a piece of fish right. Correct? So yes, I can recommend the swordfish at Captain Bills Restaurant.

Then it was time for dessert. Mmm. Coffee. And cake. I’m not a big cake person. I’m not a big dessert person in general. I am usually finishing up my beverage, either wine or beer. I usually have coffee and rarely eat cake. This however was a wedding. The whole cake thing is a must! We all watched as the bride and groom fed each other cake. Jennifer was happy just to be standing again after sitting so long in a folding chair and was now in more pain. I tried to rub her back as best I could through her beautiful dress but I don’t think it helped much. She did find two Tylenol in the woman’s room courtesy basket and took them with her seltzer.

The cake came and it was a cannoli cream cake. It looked wonderful and if it were not so humid because of Hurricane Henri coming it would have been delicious but between the storm and being on the water it didn’t go well for the cake. Again, I’m not here for the food but the fun, so I asked Jennifer if she wanted to dance. Right after that she gave me that look like “Are you f-ing kidding me! NO!” So I rubbed her back and sipped on my coffee.

We left shortly after that. It had been the latest we were out in a long time and Jennifer could not wait to get home and put an ice pack on her back.

I, in true form, took no pictures except for one of Jennifer and the bride. I really need to get better at that. So Saturday was a day of not cooking. Sunday was not much better. We ordered take out finding the only place open after a hurricane was Chinese restaurant. I picked up the food and we all headed over to my sister in-laws for dinner.

On the bright side of a dreary rain filled day, she made some delicious scones and coffee for dessert. I should have skipped the coffee as it kept me up ALL night. So until tomorrow have a good day and may all your food adventures be good ones.

The Drunken Chef (Russ)