Bolognese Sauce

I was so diligent about taking pics through out the cooking process, but I forgot to take a picture of the finished sauce. It tasted too freakin good, I just wanted to eat it. F--- pictures. I want to enjoy my food. Needless to say I had to make it again just to take pictures.

1 lbs ground beef (I used 15/85)
1 onion
3 large red bell peppers, roasted
5 cloves of garlic
2 Tbsp Oregano, separated
1 tsp thyme
1/4 cup fresh basil finely chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp olive oil, separated
1 14oz can of diced tomatoes
1 6oz can of tomato paste
1 lb of cherry, grape or roma tomatoes, smoked.
 Salt, pepper to taste

In a large pan, heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil. Saute onions until translucent, add garlic. After about a minute, add 1 Tbsp of oregano, thyme, fennel, salt, pepper and heat for 30 seconds, then add beef. Brown beef then remove from heat.

In a slow cooker or Dutch oven, add beef mixture, canned tomatoes, basil, 1 Tbsp oregano and vinegar then put on low heat. In a food processor, puree the red peppers. Add to slow cooker, then add tomatoes, 1 tbsp of olive oil and tomato paste. Cook on high for about 4 hours, stirring occasionally.

Serve over zucchini linguini or spaghetti squash or whatever.

One week later, my kitchen still smelled like Bolognese.

Tomato Tortillas

Looking for a fun food? Are you at a loss for things to do with the plethora of tomatoes in your garden that you must use or preserve before their only fit use is to throw at mimes? Do you have an Excalibur dehydrator? If not, think about it. It's awesome. You want dense tomatoes for this recipe, I recommend heirloom. You don't want to use tomatoes that are too watery.

5 large heirloom tomatoes
1/2 a large onion
1 clove of garlic
dash of mexican oregano
dash of cumin
dash of chili powder (chipotle, cayenne, ancho, whatevere)
dash of smoked paprika
sat, pepper

You don't want to over do it on the spices because this will condense into a highly concentrated tomato leather. Line dehydrator trays with parchment paper or dehydrator liners (The parchment will be harder to peel off, so if you don't have patience, get the reusable liners) In a blender, combine all ingredients. When thoroughly pureed, pour into a 1 cup measuring cup (or 1/2 - 3/4 if you want smaller tortillas) and onto lined dehydrator trays. Spread into circles, about 1/4" thick. Dehydrate on 135 for about 12 hours. Dehydrating times may vary depending on climate. I live in vast desert wasteland, so my stuff dries quickly. Store in ziplock bags. You might want to put parchment between each tortilla to keep them from sticking.

Pork Burgers with Figs and Fennel

Figs were on sale at Whole Foods this weekend. I have never had fresh figs before. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure if I've ever had figs in any form other than a Newton. We got figs, not knowing even what to do with them. We also got fennel. I thought the two would go nicely together. I wanted something sweet, spicy and a bit smoky and pork always goes well with those 3 flavors.

2 lbs ground pork
2 Tbsp Fig Balsamic vinegar
1 tsp cinn
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp crushed brown mustard seeds
1 tsp chipotle powder
1/2 tsp ground fennel
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cayenne

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and let sit at room temp for about 30 mins (or more). Shape them into burgers or sliders. Then grill to awesome perfection. 

1 Fennel bulb
8 figs
1/2 cup sweet onion, sliced thin
1/2 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar 
butter or oil

Heat butter or oil. Jullien fenneland cut figs into 8ths. Saute fennel and onions for about 10 minutes. Let them caramelize a bit and then add figs. continue to saute for 3 minutes then add balsamic and reduce for a few minutes. Serve on top of pork burgers.

Broclinguini

What do you do with broccoli stems? I've noticed a lot of supermarkets carry "broccoli slaw" which is basically julienned broccoli stems mixed with carrots. Apparently you can make slaw out of this. That sounds like a bag of gas to me.  I have a Benriner spiral slicer. There are several brands of spiral slicers out there, but I bought mine based on the amazon.com reviews. One reviewer bought 2 different spiral slicers and gave the one she didn't like to her mother-in-law and kept the Benriner. That was enough for me.

This is pretty simple. Cut the crown off of the broccoli and do with them as you please. I blanch mine and keep them in the fridge for a week of awesomeness. Cut the bottom 1/8-1/4 inch off the stem.

With a knife and/or peeler, remove the fibrous outer layer. the bottom of the stem is the most fibrous and as you get closer to the top, it's easier to digest. Spiral slice those stems! I had to cut mine in half to fit them on the spiral slicer. The top half where the crowns come off should be upright or they'll split apart. I used the widest blade attachment because I like linguini rather than spaghetti.

With the finished product, saute as you would zucchini linguini (or "zoodles" as some people call them. Does that make these "broodles") and serve with whatever sauce you like. Or you can eat this raw if you want a big plate o' gas.

Lamb Satay with Sunbutter Sauce

I used to make Chicken Satay all the time. For a while it was my signature dish. I adapted my Chicken Satay Recipe from "365 Great Barbecue & Grilling Recipes" by Lonnie Gandara. My parents had  the complete series of "365 Ways" cookbooks and I think they used "365 Ways to Cook Chicken" every day for a year. Growing up, we ate chicken so much I'm surprised I don't cluck. My dad used to make "chicken and sauce" almost every night. The sauce was always a different color, sometimes it was red, sometimes it was yellow, but it always consisted of onions, bell peppers and a ton of garlic. It was almost always served with brown rice and a salad with balsamic vinaigrette. My dad was consistent.

I took the grilling cookbook with me when I left home because I fucking love to grill. Then I became a vegetarian. That lasted a year; I'm over it. This recipe is an adaption from that book, which I no longer posses. (I think I gave it back to my parents). I used lamb instead of chicken and made the marinade more lamb adapted (i.e. cinnamon for a stronger and earthier flavor). To make it paleo, I eschewed the peanut butter in the dipping sauce and replaced it with sun butter. You could probably use cashew butter instead. Almond butter would work well too.

1 lbs lamb cut into cubes
Juice of 1/2 lime
2 tbsp coconut aminos
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp lemon grass
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp coriander
1/8 tsp smoked paprika
1/8 tsp cayenne

Combine all ingredients and marinade for an hour or longer. 

1 Tbsp coconut oil
1/8 cup onion, minced
1 tsp garlic minced
1 tsp  red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp cumin
Juice 1/2 lime
1 Tbsp coconut aminos
1/4 cup Sunbutter
2 Tbsp coconut milk

Heat oil in a small sauce pan. Add onion and saute until translucent, then add garlic, red pepper flakes and cumin. after about 5-10 minutes, add lime juice and aminos. let that simmer for about 5 minutes then stir in Sunbutter and then coconut milk and remove from flame. Serve warm. stir in water or more coconut milk if you want a thinner sauce.

Beef Jerky

Some like it hot, some like it hot.

Food doesn't get any more awesome than this. Beef jerky is a convenient, portable snack and what makes it better than other convenient portable snacks it that it's made of delicious red meat. And you can make your own paleo kits! I make mine with dried beet and sweet potato chips. Taste the rainbow.  My recipe is a bit spicy so if you don't like it hot, cut back on the cayenne.

2 lbs Flank Steak
1/3 cup Worcestershire
1/3 cup Coconut aminos
2 Tbsp Fig Balsamic
2 Tbsp Chipotle Tobasco
1 Tbsp Chili 9000
1 Tsp Smoked Paprika
1 Tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp chipotle powder

Slice steak into strips 1/2 inch thick. Combine all ingredients in a ziplock bag and mix up well. Marinate for 12-24 hours. Place strips on food dehydrator trays and dry at 155 degrees for 24 hours. Keep refrigerated until ready to eat.

Cherry Chipotle Barbecue Sauce

Pairs well with a Julian Cherry Bomb Hard Cider

It's that time of the year again, when fruit is cheap and it's too hot to cook in the house. I made this sauce for boar ribs but it also goes nicely with rabbit and chicken.

3 Cups Cherries
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp Mustard Seeds
1-2 tsp chipotle powder (depending on how spicy you like it 2 tsp is pretty spicy.)
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp cumin
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 Tbsp coconut aminos
2 Balsamic Vinegar
1 Tbsp Honey

Smoked Rabbit legs and Chicken thighs.

In a large saucepan heat oil and add onion. Saute until translucent. Add garlic and mustard seeds and cook for about a minute. Add cherries and spices. Let simmer for about 10 minutes then add balsamic, aminos and honey. simmer on low heat for 20 minutes, then puree with immersion blender.