what would i want to eat if i had just risen from the dead?

for me, nothing says "welcome back jesus!" like spareribs.

for mike's family's easter dinner i decided to take some spareribs in addition to the hundreds of sauerkraut balls i made with his mom, aunt and cousin.

i brushed some bbq sauce on the ribs and then rubbed 'em down with some cayenne, brown sugar and spices.



i put the ribs on wire baking racks on a foil lined cookie sheets.



these babies slow cooked in a 300 degree oven for like 4 hours. maybe 5.



happy easter jesus! welcome back!

french fries!

real, homemade french fries are sooooo good. so bad for you though. and they're also a bit of work and messy. i make oven fries quite a bit but sometimes you just need fries. real fries. the other night we needed real fries.

i sliced up two large russet potatoes (skins on) and then soaked the fries in a bowl of cold water for about 10 minutes to suck out some of the starch. while those were soaking i put some canola oil in my single-woman's dutch oven and heated it over medium low heat to about 250 degrees.

i drained the potatoes on a towel and dried them. once the oil was ready i fried them in batches for about ten minutes. you don't want to cook them through at this point. the key to good fries is frying 'em twice. after the first fry drain them on a wire rack over a cookie sheet.

while they're draining crank up the heat to medium high and bring the oil up to about 350 degrees.

once the oil is ready, fry them in batches until they are nice and golden brown and drain them on your wire rack.



mmmm!!

spring (and the smell of meat) is in the air!

the perfect accompaniment to sunshine is the scent of searing meat wafting through the air. mmm...steaks.



i seasoned these ribeyes with some salt and pepper and while they were coming up to room temperature i started on my kale.

kale is probably my very favorite green. well, maybe collard greens but kale is a close second. i use it in soups a lot. i like to roast it and i really, really like to braise it.



i started with some shallots in a lil' butter and canola oil.



then i tore up the kale and threw that in and tossed it with the shallots.



after just a minute or so i added about a 1/4 cup veggie stock and some salt and pepper and red pepper flakes. this braised for about 20 minutes or so.



the steaks went on the grill for just about 5 minutes per side.

mmm....



i let these rest while the kale finished braising and the potato in the microwave finished baking. we sat out on the front porch to enjoy this spring feast!

everybody's workin' for/on the weekend!

i am becoming the side work queen. i guess this is because my real job is so low paying that i am forced to supplement if i want a living wage. sometimes i bake or cook for co-workers. i also like to think i can cater. and now it appears i've resorted to
scrubbing toilets.

saturday kp and i filled up on creme brulee french toast and duck fat potatoes and headed over to my dad's to clean for him. and it's not just my dad that lives there. it is also my 22 year-old-brother and 21-year-old cousin. it is like the supreme bachelor pad and it contained some serious man filth.

luckily the fridge was stocked with high life and the champagne of beers fueled us through 5 1/2 hours of sweeping, scrubbing, dusting and vacuuming. it is a workin' woman's beer after all.

by the time we were done i was exhausted, starving and half drunk. we had roughly 30 minutes until duma's closed and i had a cool $75 burnin' a hole in my pocket. i drove 80 mph and arrived with about 8 minutes to spare.

they were starting to unload the coolers and i had to be quick. $5 pork roast? don't mind if i do! i also snagged two yams and a big yellow onion.

when i got home i had mike fire up the coals on my lil' marc's grill and i got to workin' on my meat. hehe.

i rubbed down my roast with some dijon mustard and then covered it in a blend of cumin seeds, chili powder, pepper, dried oregano, dried parsley and salt. once the coals were ready (partial-indirect heat and some soaked hickory chips) the roast went on and i took a much needed power shower.

once i was all fresh 'n clean i started working on some sides. i cut my yams up into fries and parboiled 'em for just about 5 minutes. i hate waiting on raw potatoes to roast. takes freakin' forever.



then i drained them and dumped them out onto a towel to dry. while those were drying i cut up that big yellow onion into lil' slices and tossed them with some olive oil, salt, pepper and panko bread crumbs.

i put the yam fries on a cookie sheet and drizzled 'em with a lil' olive oil and some of my leftover pork spice. this all went in the oven to roast.



when those were about done and the pork was resting i threw a bag of those steamable veggies in the microwave. hey! i just cleaned up mega-man-filth all day and was even drunker by this time due to some red wine. no time or energy to cut fresh veggies. plus we didn't have any anyways.

mmm! a delightful saturday night spread!



i really liked the crispy roasted onions over the pork. mmm.

doe. a deer. a female deer.

so i read the omnivore's dilemma a while ago and it was the final push i needed for local meats. i was already trying to buy most of meat at the local meat market and michael pollan really just knocked it home.

now, i only buy meat at the farmer's market or dumas. it turns out that beef and pork are easy to come by but chicken - fucking chicken - is tough. so tough in fact that since january one i've only bought/cooked it twice. i was lucky enough to snag a whole bird from a friend and i also picked up some
frozen thighs at the market.

so when mike said, "you should make the chicken coconut stuff again" (aka chicken and basil coconut curry over rice) i knew that i would need to adapt it. make it work with the what
we had in the freezer.

and what we have in the freezer is deer. venison if you're fancy.

venison coconut curry it was!

back when i took third place at the library cook-off i got a pretty kick ass penzey's curry spice box. nice.



i mixed together some garam masala and some hot curry with a lil' veggie stock to make a paste and i set it aside.

i snagged a tenderloin from the freezer and cut it into medallions. i seasoned them with a lil' salt and pepper and seared 'em off in a hot skillet and removed them to a plate.



i added some chopped broccoli, red pepper, shallot, mushrooms and scallions to the skillet, cooked it for a minute and added my curry paste. i cooked it for another minute or so and then poured in a can of coconut milk and added some veggie stock.

once it thickened up i added the seared venison and some fresh basil. mmm.



i served this over rice and it was delicious!



i don't need no stinkin' fowl.

a lil' of this. a lil' of that.

i don't really have much to say. on the edge of my seat like everyone else in anticipation of spring. in the meantime, i continue to cook and eat.

valentine's day was lamb shanks with gremolata (which is freakin' delicious by the way on like everything. made it like 5 times since.), white beans and kale, brussel sprouts with pecans and creme brulee.

thank you shaker heights indoor market.











this eventually became the creme brulee. look at those yolks!



making and freezing stock is like my new saturday morning hobby. thanks to high mill park for this fantastic batch of chicken stock!



a co-worker asked if i could make a pie for her.
and i said, "my pleasure!"





and a friend asked me if i could make some bbq sauce for her to take to a party. and i said, "i'd love to!"



and for sunday family dinner my culinary co-conspirator and i looked to julia for inspiration. we kicked it old school and tackled duck l'orange.









*disclaimer - duck l'orange enhanced with chicken leg l'orange. it was a small duck and according to my co-conspirator,
"we have big appetites."

all work and no play makes me glad it's time for the library cook off!

once again it was president's day observed at the university and that means only one thing - library cook-off! woohoo!

this year we had to make something out of jane snow's latest cookbook.

i flipped through the pages and then a line jumped from the pages and struck a cord, "the best barbecue in the world is the pork barbecue in the back hills and piney woods of the carolinas."

yes jane! yes!

further examination revealed 7 hours of cook time. hmmm. looks like i would have to take monday off.

saturday morning we hit the indoor winter market in shaker square for the pork and i found a kick ass 5 lb. bone-in shoulder from new creation farm. perfect!

jane's version of carolina bbq called for a dry rub of the usual suspects on the pork followed by 4 hours indirect grilling over coals and hickory followed by 3 more hours in a 300 degree oven.

we had to start early.



my trusty partner in pork readied the coals.



and i readied the meat.

and then we waited.



look at that beautiful smokey crust! my word. a crowning achievement for my kick ass marc's grill.



i wrapped the shoulder up tight in foil and roasted it in the oven for 3 more hours while i made my favorite vinegary-mustardy bbq sauce.

this beauty took home third place which got me a sweet curry gift box!

kick ass!