I seriously should have hit the brakes several times because:
A) daddy always needs money.and can convincingly pass off stress-related muscle tension as ‘pain and suffering,’ and
B) I would have taken an unseemly amount of joy if the asstard didn’t hit me but wound up in a ditch.

You’re from Indiana. You have endured winters here. You know to allow for more following distance.

Next time, I’ll let you hit me and sue your sorry ass for all that you own.

But I digress.

Due to the weather, I stayed in today and cooked this little Pantry Masterpiece.

Pork Posole Stew

Ingredients

3-4 Onions, Chopped
2 Tbs Oregano (or more)
6-8 cloves garlic, diced
1/12 -2 lb pork loin cut into 3/4 inch hunks
2 1/2 boxes chicken stock
Flour, for dredging
oil as needed
1/2 stick Butter, unsalted
1 can Chipotles in adobo, chopped (more or less, depending on how spicy you like it)
3 cans Pozole (Hominy) White or yellow--your call, drained
2 1/2 boxes Chicken or vegetable stock

Directions

Preheat oil in a big ass stock pot over med-high heat.  While this is going on, dredge the pork hunks in flour and brown on all sides, in batches if needed.

Add the onions, garlic, olive oil and butter and saute until onions are translucent. Re-add any browned pork and juices that had to be removed and set aside.

Add the posole, oregano, chipotles and stock to the pot.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer.

Simmer, covered for a couple hours until pork is fork tender.

Serve with cornbread.

Note: Depending on how much oil you used while sauteing the pork and the incredibly large amount of onions and garlic, there will be a boatload of oil floating on top by dinnertime. I used a couple slices of bread to soak most of it up.

Ingredients
4 tsp olive oil, divided
1 lb pork loin, cut into 1/2 to 1 inch cubes
1 onion, halved and sliced
2 Poblano peppers, diced
2 clove garlic, minced
1 med russet potato, peeled and dice into 1/2 inch cubes
1 can chicken broth
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cayenne
1 Tbs lime juice

Directions

Pour 2 tsp oil into a large saucepan over med heat. Add the pork and cook until no longer pink outside, maybe 4 or 5 minutes. Move to a bowl along with any pan juices.

Add the other 2 tsp oil onion and poblano to the pan. Cook until softened, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook another minute or so.

Add the chicken broth, potatoes, cumin, oregano, salt and cayenne. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Reduce to a low simmer, partially cover the pan and simmer about 10 minutes until potatoes are tender.  Add the port and accumulated juices back to the pan, cover partially and simmer until pork is cooked through and potatoes are fall apart tender, maybe another 5 minutes.  Stir in lime juice before serving.

Serves 4.

Notes:
I used that new Knorr stock that’s being advertised by Marco Pierre White. It’s expensive, but highly concentrated. A six pack makes 14 cups of stock that tastes pretty damn good all on it’s own.  Much better than the canned or aseptic-packaged dreck you can buy at the local Food-a-Teria.

This would be equally good made with chicken.

Bowl: Key West by Lenox Casual Images

Ingredients
4 tsp olive oil, divided
1 lb pork loin, cut into 1/2 to 1 inch cubes
1 onion, halved and sliced
2 Poblano peppers, diced
2 clove garlic, minced
1 med russet potato, peeled and dice into 1/2 inch cubes
1 can chicken broth
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cayenne
1 Tbs lime juice

Directions

Pour 2 tsp oil into a large saucepan over med heat. Add the pork and cook until no longer pink outside, maybe 4 or 5 minutes. Move to a bowl along with any pan juices.

Add the other 2 tsp oil onion and poblano to the pan. Cook until softened, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook another minute or so.

Add the chicken broth, potatoes, cumin, oregano, salt and cayenne. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Reduce to a low simmer, partially cover the pan and simmer about 10 minutes until potatoes are tender.  Add the port and accumulated juices back to the pan, cover partially and simmer until pork is cooked through and potatoes are fall apart tender, maybe another 5 minutes.  Stir in lime juice before serving.

Serves 4.

Notes:
I used that new Knorr stock that’s being advertised by Marco Pierre White. It’s expensive, but highly concentrated. A six pack makes 14 cups of stock that tastes pretty damn good all on it’s own.  Much better than the canned or aseptic-packaged dreck you can buy at the local Food-a-Teria.

This would be equally good made with chicken.

Bowl: Key West by Lenox Casual Images

Ingredients

”

Directions

”

Fill center of tortilla with corned beef mixture and lay flat in skillet so that it gets wet from the oil than fold gently in half.  Fry both sides till lightly golden brown.

Remove from skillet and place on paper towel to drain/absorb excess oil. 
Immediately sprinkle cheese inside taco so that it will melt

Add lettuce and tomato when ready to eat.
Makes 12-16 tacos.

”

I was able to cook 3 at a time by staggering when I put them in the skillet.

I put the cheese directly on top of the filling and let it cook/melt whilst frying rather than add it later.

After eating them, enchilada sauce seems like it would be a nice substitute for the tomato sauce.

China: Whitley Manor

Is there anything that this miraculous substance can’t make better?  Bacon, perhaps, but that’s only because it doesn’t firm up enough to be able to make Nutella coated bacon bars. Anyway, I finally found a recipe for them and not only does it have Nutella in it, but lots of Nutella and not much else.  Seriously.  There’s only four ingredients. Two of them containing chocolate.

Nutella Chocolate Chip cookies

Ingredients

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Use a 1-1/4-inch ice cream scoop (or teaspoons) to shape the cookies into balls of batter, placing them on the parchment-lined baking sheets as you go.  There should be about 15 per sheet, with about 2 inches between them.

Bake in the preheated oven until the cookies are almost dry, about 7 minutes.  It’s okay (in fact, it’s great) if they are still a bit doughy — they’ll continue to cook a bit out of the oven.  Let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.  Cool them at least until they are room temperature before serving.

notes:

If you want to make these gluten-free, use almond meal or unsweetened cocoa instead. It’ll probably make them a little flatter but also crispier, which is also delicious.

If you make the balls of batter a little bigger (say about 1 inch wide) they’ll turn out taller, but have more of a brownie consistency.

After tasting far too many of these than my diet would allow, I’ve begun to think that it might be a neat to substitute some chopped nuts or or dried fruit for some of the chocolate chips in order to add a bit of a different taste and cut back a bit on the chocolate overload.

best wishes, gents!

4 Bone-in Chicken Breasts (skin on too!)
3 Carrots, peeled and chunked
1 Green Pepper, chunked
1 Jalapeno, seeded
2 Sweet Potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 Small to Medium Onion, chunked
1 Cup Peas
3 TBSP Flour, Heaping
4 Cups Chicken Stock
2 tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp Curry Powder
1 tsp Soy Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 Cup Unsweetened Coconut Milk
Olive Oil for sauteeing

In a large soup pot, add in some olive oil (2TBSP) and heat over medium heat. Lightly sprinkle the chicken breasts with some salt and pepper. Add to the pot and gently brown on each side, about 2 minutes per side.  Depending on the size of your pot, you may want to dig out your poultry shears and cut each breast in half.  This will also help them to cook faster as well. Once they’re lightly browned, transfer them to a platter and set aside. Add in all of the veggies except for the peas.  Sautee for about 3 minutes then seasoning with all of the seasonings, including the soy sauce. Cook for about another 3 minutes. Add in the flour and stir, cook for about 2-3 minutes.  Slowly add in the chicken stock and stir, making sure to scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan.  Once all the stock is added, place chicken breasts and any juices that collected on the platter into the pot as well.  Bring to a simmer and simmer for about 20 minutes or so until the chicken is cooked through. Depending on how big the breasts are, will determine cooking time.

When the chicken is cooked, remove from pot and set aside on a clean platter for a few minutes to cool.  With an immersion blender, lightly blend the soup. Not too much, you don’t want the soup to be pureed. You want it to be chunky and thick.  Once the soup is blended, remove skin from chicken and start to shred the chicken.  Add the shredded chicken back into the soup along with the 1C of peas. Add in the coconut milk as well.  Bring back to a simmer and cook for about another 10 minutes.

Dish into bowls and serve!

Notes:  I threw in some cauliflower that I had on hand as well and probably will still add another carrot and another sweet potato the next time I make this. Maybe a bit more flour also so that the stew is thicker and the liquid is more gravy-like.

China:  Southampton Garden by Lenox

But I digress. We here at Nergens are sure that Bart will fit right in (though not under the cabinet, obviously) and become as valued a family member as Mr Choppy himself was.

He died as he lived, creating tasty food--in this case, delicious home made sausage--when his mighty Blades of Bad-Assedness broke apart.

He is survived by his nephew, Little Oscar who will try to live up to the giant expectations created by Choppy until a replacement can be found.

His funeral was a well attended and well catered affair, including members of the Flynn-Fletcher family, representatives of the food groups he serviced, Pinky, The Brain, and delegates from royal houses, including The KING, King Tutankhamen, and the Big J himself.

Then I found a recipe for an Andouille po-boy on Serious Eats that I’d bookmarked and decided that it’d do. It’s surprisingly quick to prep and assemble. From start to finish I doubt that I took more than 10-15 minutes.I called it a pobrecito instead of a po-boy because the pickled jalapenos and Rooster sauce kick up the heat quite a bit.

Andouille Sausage Pobrecito

Ingredients
2 6 inch french bread loaves or other crusty rolls
1/2 lb Andouille sausage
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbs whole grain or creole mustard
squirt of hot sauce to taste
1/2 sm onion, thinly sliced
dill pickle slices
pickled jalapeno slices

Directions
Cut the Andouille into 1/2 inch thick bias slices.  Toss into a skillet over medium heat and cook until browned on both sides. If they’re too greasy after cooking, drain on paper towels after they’re done.

While the sausage is cooking, combine the mayo, mustard and hot sauce in a bowl.  Slice the bread horizontally and scoop a small pit out of the bottom slice of bread, leaving about 1/2 inch around the outer edges. 

Spread the mayo-mustard mixture on the top and bottom of each bun.  If you didn’t use a mandoline to slice your onions like I didn’t, rise the blood off the onions before layering them, the jalapeno slices and pickles before putting the sliced Andouille on the bottom slices of bread.  Cover with the top slice and enjoy. 

Notes:
The next time I make these (and I will) I’ll double the amount of mayo and make it spicier--maybe add a bit of garlic as well.  The samiches could have used more and it’s pretty damn tasty on its own.

China: Westchester, by Lenox. The most expensive china I’ve ever held, with the exception of a few pieces of Nancy Reagan’s White House China when I worked for Lenox.