INGREDIENTS:

1 pound of mushrooms

2 Green Bell Peppers

2 Red Bell Peppers

4 Large yellow onions

2 Tbsp. Butter

1 Tbsp. Olive oil

Italian seasoning (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Prepare peppers by removing the white pit from the center and slice into ¼ inch strips. Prepare the onion by cutting it in half lengthways from bulb end to tip. Remove papery outer skin. Place onion cut side down on chopping board. Using the tip of the knife, cut onion lengthways into even slices, or, at a slight angle, into even wedges until thin strips are left.

Wash mushrooms under cold running water and slice 1/8 to ¼ inch thick.

Heat oil and butter in a large sauté pan. Add peppers and onion and sauté over medium high heat for 2 minutes until pepper just begin to soften. Add mushrooms and cook until peppers and onion are tender but not mushy.

NOTES: Perfect with a steak or chicken as a side dish.

May 28, 2021

Here is a BONUS recipe I enjoyed last weekend. You may what to try it this weekend!

GADGETS:

Cutting board

Paring knife

Chef knife (optional)

Shrimp Deveiner (optional) 

INGREDIENTS:

Two pounds of Raw Extra Jumbo Shrimp

1 lime

3 cloves garlic

1 or 2 Tablespoons Franks Red Hot Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon paprika

DIRECTIONS:

Clean and devein two pound of 16–20 size shrimp. Rinse toughly under cold water and place into a zip top bag.  Wash and cut lime in half around the middle, not stem to stern. Squeeze both halves, juicing it over the shrimp in the bag. Toss both halves in the bag now with the shrimp. Slice three cloves of garlic and add into the bag with shrimp and limes. Add 2 tbsp. hot sauce, 2 tbsp. of olive oil, and 1 tsp. paprika. Close bag and turn over a few times, mixing ingredients together. Open the zip top bag smidge and squeeze all the air out of bag. Then reseal it and place in refrigerator to marinate one hour. Turn bag over after thirty minutes. Grill on a grilling mat or skew those suckers up so the shrimp don’t fall through the BBQ grate. It’s almost heartbreaking to lose a beautiful shrimp to the fire goddess, but sometimes sacrifices must be made.

SERVE with steak or on a spinach salad, or BOTH! Just remember, red wine for the steaks and a white wine for the Shrimp. The salad needs a dressing…Hmm  

Well, that’s all for now.

ENJOY!

The Drunken Chef (Russ)

P.S., These shrimp will go great with beer too!

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 6 minutes Clean up: 0 minutes

COOKING UTENSILS NEEDED

Hamburger press, BBQ Spatula, Plastic wrap or Wax paper, BBQ Grill

INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs. 80% lean Chop Meat & Sesame Seed Hamburger Buns

Toppings:
Lettuce
Tomato
Raw Onion
Grilled Mushrooms
Grilled Onions
Avocado, Guacamole
Roasted Red Pepper
Ham (thinly sliced) Bacon

Cheese:
Swiss
American
Provolone
Cheddar
Monterey Jack

Condiments:
Ketchup
Mustard
Mayo
BBQ sauce
Buffalo Wing Sauce
Salt & Pepper
Taco Seasoning
Blue cheese dressing

DIRECTIONS

Form the patties in a hamburger press by lining the press fist with plastic wrap. Separate each patty with a piece of wax paper or wrap up in plastic wrap. Unwrap and throw away the plastic wrap when cooking them. Cook on a hot grill on high according to taste (3 to 6 min per side), only flipping once. Add cheese 2 min before the burger is done on the second side.

To make the Buffalo Burger, melt provolone cheese on top before removing the burger from the grill. Add Buffalo Wing Sauce, lettuce, tomato, and blue cheese dressing on top.

The Taco Burger needs to be seasoned with taco seasoning before cooking. I use McCormick Taco Seasoning and sprinkle it on both sides. After cooking one side and flipping it over, melt Monterey jack cheese on top before removing the burger from the grill. Add guacamole, lettuce, tomato, and taco sauce or ranch dressing on top.

The Mushroom-Swiss Burger: Season the hamburger before cooking with salt and pepper. Melt Swiss cheese on the burger while cooking. Add hot sautéed mushrooms on top and ketchup or bbq sauce.

My Take on the Double RR Bar Burger: Melt American cheese or Swiss cheese while the burger is cooking. Add a slice of deli ham, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and BBQ sauce. Thank you Roy Rogers!

Last is the bacon cheese burger: Melt American cheese on it while the burger is cooking. Add bacon, tomato, BBQ sauce, and ketchup on top.

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup Frank’s Red Hot Sauce

½ stick of butter

2 tablespoons Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbeque Sauce or Hunt’s original barbeque sauce

8 to ten 10 drops of Cholula Hot Sauce

1 tablespoon honey (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Melt butter over low heat. Add the Frank’s Hot Sauce, Barbeque Sauce, and Cholula Hot Sauce. Heat to a simmer but do not let it boil. Taste test with a bit of celery. Adjust by adding more hot sauce or barbeque sauce if necessary.

NOTES when making the wings on the barbeque, use Sweet Baby Ray’s Honey Barbeque sauce or add tablespoon of honey to the sauce.

Serving Suggestions: Buffalo Wings, Barbeque Wings, Buffalo Chicken Sandwich, Buffalo Chicken Wrap, Buffalo BBQ Chicken Legs, Buffalo Burger.

May 11, 2021

            It’s early in the morning and I only have a few minutes to myself so I folded the laundry. Then I made Jennifer lunch (just a boring sandwich) and now the coffee is finally ready. Last night was boring too, in terms of gourmet meals. I was not feeling very inspired for a Monday night.

            I decided on chicken burritos and black beans. Normally I would even have some kind of rice with this dish but lately Jennifer is tired of rice. So I eighty sixed the rice idea.

            I stared by cubing the chicken and sautéing it but I won’t go into all the details this morning as this is a short article written before I leave for work. I pretty sure, I have made chicken Burritos before for this Drunken Chef cookbook project and don’t need to repeat things.  This post is a simple one, I really to have to going and get to work! Long Island traffic can be… a bit troublesome.

This post is about last night’s side dish of black beans that both Sam and Jennifer love.

BLACK BEANS recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

1 can of black beans

½ yellow onion diced

1 glove garlic minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

Rinse and drain the black beans under cold water. I use a medium sized strainer for this step. While the beans are draining (balancing the strainer on the empty can). Chop one onion and mince your garlic using a chefs knife and cutting board. Add one tablespoon of olive oil to a small pot with a lid. Don’t put the lid on yet! Heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the onion. Simmer one minute or until translucent then add the garlic and stir. Please do not let the garlic burn. The beans will then taste gross. Gross; in this case is a technical term meaning disgusting and it is not to be confused with the numerical value of 144. Now add your beans to the pot with onion and garlic then stir. Cover and turn down the heat down to low.

By the time your chicken is cooked, the beans will be ready. Do you remember I started cooking the chicken at the beginning of all this or is your brain as fuzzy as mind at 6:00am?

Now you can add the beans to the burritos just like I did or serve them on the side with Spanish style rice (recipe to come when I have more time). No vegetables again yikes! Unless you count the beans but black beans are really like another protein aren’t they?!

Well yay me as I’m off to sit in traffic on my way to work.

Until next time. Stay healthy, be happy and eat well!

The Drunken Chef (Russ)

May 11, 2021

© Russ Ahrens and The Magic of a Perfect Pairing,2021

Prep time: 10 minutes | Cook time: 7 minutes | Clean up: 5 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

6 Large eggs

2 quarts of water

DIRECTIONS:

Bring water to a rolling boil. Add eggs to boiling water with a slotted spoon. Return to a boil and cook for for 4 to 7 minutes for large eggs (I recommend 7 minutes for a soft cooked large egg directly from the refrigerator). Cook longer for Jumbo size eggs. I also recommend Jumbo eggs. Remove the eggs to a shot glass. Crack the upper half of the shell with the back of a teaspoon and peel it off. Slice off top with a knife. Salt and eat. Serve with buttered toast strips.

Toast strips: Butter warm toast and cut into one inch strip for dunking into the eggs yoke.

NOTES:

This was something I ate as light meal for when I had an upset stomach or when recovering from the stomach flu. 

Prep time: 10 minutes | Cook time: 15 minutes | Clean up: 5 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

6 Large eggs

2 quarts tap water

1 quart Ice Water

DIRECTIONS:

Bring water to a full boil in a large pot. Add eggs to boiling water slowly one at a time with a slotted spoon. Return to a boil and cook for 12 to 15 minutes gently boiling. For larger eggs a longer cooking time is required, (15 to 18 minutes) for Jumbo size eggs. Remove the eggs to a bowl filed with ice water and place in refrigerator (for best results overnight). 

KITCHEN TIP: Peeling Hard-Cooked Eggs

To ensure that the shell of a hard-cooked egg peels off without leaving chips or gouges, use this technique. Before cooking, prick a tiny air hole in the wider end of each egg with a tack or push pin. Remove the eggs from the hot water with a slotted spoon and plunge them into ice water. When chilled thoroughly, the shells should peel right off.

Green Yolks The occasional green-gray discoloration on the surface of hard-cooked yolk is a harmless compound of iron and sulfur. High temperatures and prolonged cooking time produce more of a discoloration. Yolk greening can be minimized by using fresh eggs, by cooking them as briefly as possible, and by cooling them rapidly after cooking. The green also looks bad if you use them to make Deviled Eggs (recipe to be posted in the future).

NOTES:

When making the entire dozen eggs, let eggs stand out and come to room temperature before cooking for best results.

This was my mother’s favorite item to have when we went out on my brothers boat. A hardboiled egg along with her beer. Yum.

Electric egg cookers use steam and that is the best method of making hard boiled eggs if you need to own another small appliance this is a good one. Especially if you like to make deviled eggs!