Come on...

If I told you that I once ate an entire red onion in one sitting you would probably feel very bad for my loving wife, Betsy.

But you know what? I did it and I can’t take it back now. Nor do I want to frankly because when you slice red onions really thinly and fry them they just turn out to be these crispy little delicious strings. They have a slight spice to them that you wouldn’t get with normal onions.

And that made it impossible for me to stop eating them.

Red Onion Strings

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

2 large red onions, sliced thin
3 Cups buttermilk
3 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon paprika
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon black pepper
2 quarts oil, for frying

Homemade Buttermilk Ranch:

1 Cup buttermilk
1 Cup Greek Yogurt
1/8 Teaspoon paprika
1/8 Teaspoon dried mustard
1/4 Teaspoon fresh dill (don't over-do it)
1 Teaspoon fresh parsley
1 Teaspoon fresh chives
1 Teaspoon lime (or lemon) juice
1 pinch of salt and pepper

Helpful Equipment:
Deep Fry Thermometer

Directions:

1) Slice onions thinly and soak in buttermilk for at least 30 minutes.

2) For ranch, dice fresh herbs finely and mix together with other ingredients in a mason jar. Shake for 10 seconds to combine well. You can also whisk everything together in a bowl.

3) Set up a fry station with a thermometer. Heat oil to 350 degrees.

4) Mix flour with spices (paprika, salt, pepper).

5) Drain onions and let sit for a few seconds.

6) Dip onions in flour and coat lightly. Then transfer straight to the fryer.

7) Fry for about 5 minutes until they are golden brown. Work in batches and make sure your oil stays hot.

8) Let drain on a paper towel for a minute and serve immediately!

Prepping the Onions

These aren’t rocket science to make. You need some onions obviously. Might as well get the biggest ones you can find!

Pretty basic...

The key to these suckers is to slice them as thin as possible. If you wanted to be exact about it you could use a mandoline slicer. If I were making a bunch of them, I would. But for just a few, I think it’s easier and good practice just to slice them up with a sharp knife.

And frankly, I kind of like it when the strings are a bit irregular.

If you sliced them too thick though they would be over-powering. So keep them on the thin side. And I wasn’t going for onion RINGS really so it doesn’t matter if they are whole rings.

Nice and thin...

Let these guys soak for at least 30 minutes in some buttermilk. The buttermilk will actually pull out some of the strong onion flavor and mellow them out a bit. This is a good thing considering how strong red onions can be.

A nice soak.

The Dipping Sauce

Honestly, these are good enough to be eaten on their own. But I was in the mood to make some salad dressing and a good ranch dressing happens to be a good dipping sauce also.

If you’ve never had real buttermilk dressing before, I highly recommend it. It’s a lot different than the stuff in the store. It requires some fresh herbs and stuff, but it’s really simple to mix up assuming you have most of the ingredients.

Looks like a lot, but not bad.

Make sure to mince all your fresh herbs really finely so they mix well.

You could whisk everything together in a bowl, but I prefer the mason jar method. Just stick everything in a jar and give it a good shake!

Mason jar WIN.

After about 10 seconds of shaking you should have a really nice dressing.

This will keep in the fridge for one or two weeks without a problem and it’ll get stronger as it sits in the fridge.

Be especially careful of the dill. It can completely over-power the other flavors if you over-dill it.

REAL ranch dressing

Frying the Strings

When you’re ready to make the strings, set up your fry station. As always, I recommend using a good deep fry thermometer to make sure your temperature is correct. You’re shooting for 350 degrees.

When you’re ready to go, drain the buttermilk off the onions. I just throw mine in a colander and let them sit for a few seconds to make sure most of the buttermilk has drained off.

Then give them a quick toss in your flour and seasoning. Obviously, make sure to stir the flour and seasoning so it’s mixed well.

A light coating is all you need.

Seasoned and floured.

Then straight into the fryer!

You’ll want to work in batches to make sure the temperature of your oil doesn’t drop too much. Depending on the size of your pot, two onions will take three or four batches probably.

These are looking great though.

Perfect.

These guys will need 5 minutes to fry nicely and turn golden brown. Don’t rush them.

Use a slotted spoon or tongs to get these guys out of the hot oil and let them drain for a few seconds on a paper towel.

Eat NOW.

This probably isn’t a surprise to you, but these are best if you eat them right away!

The dipping sauce is good, but completely optional. These are delicious as-is.

Not much beats these guys with a good burger so the next time you’re grilling out, give them a shot!

Packed with stuff!

New Yorkers LOOK AWAY.

This post is a tribute to your windy city competitor when it comes to pizza and hot dogs (and possibly underworld crime).

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good New York street dog. The problem is that I don’t really consider them a meal. I mean, sure, you could eat two or three of them and probably be okay.

Or you could eat one massive Chicago dog and be set for awhile. I’m not exactly sure what the history is behind the dog, but I know that it has all of my favorite things packed on top of a hot dog. What’s not to love?

The Chicago Dog

Yield: 4 dogs

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

4 1/4 pound beef franks, boiled
Mayonnaise
Mustard
Pickles, sliced
Tomatoes, sliced
White onions, diced
Relish
Celery Salt

Quick Cucumber Relish:
1 Cucumber, peeled, seeded, minced
4-5 sweet pickled cherry peppers, seeded and minced
1/3-1/2 Cup vinegar (try it with apple cider vinegar or white or red wine vinegar)
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Teaspoon kosher salt (or to taste)

Directions:

1) To make relish, peel and seed a cucumber. Dice it small and mix it with the other relish ingredients. Let it sit in the fridge for at least 15 minutes before using.

2) To prep dogs, boil them in lightly salted water for 5 minutes.

3) Toast buns.

4) Build dog with mayo and mustard. Add sliced tomatoes and pickles.

5) Add dog and toppings.

6) Serve with napkins. You'll need them.

Relish the relish

A good Chicago dog has to have relish on it, but I quickly ran into a problem. When I was browsing through the store, I couldn’t find a single relish that looked good to me. They all seemed really processed and most had a huge amount of sugar and/or high fructose corn syrup, which seemed a bit unnecessary.

So I figured I’d just make my own. It turned out to be my favorite part of the dog!

Traditionally, relish is made with pickles, but I decided to use cucumbers for a bit more freshness.

Peel, seed, and dice your cucumber and stir it together with the other ingredients. Let this sit in the fridge for at least 15 minutes and you’ll be well rewarded. It’s awesome on a dog.

Make your own relish...

Other Fixings

A few other necessities for a good Chicago dog include pickles, tomatoes, and white onions. You could not use any of these I guess, but then you best not be calling it a Chicago dog.

Other needs...

As far as the hot dogs go, just toss them in some salted boiling water until they are nice and plump, probably 5 minutes. Then they are ready to go.

Building the Dog

When it comes to hot dog buns, I like mine nice and toasted. I toast them under the broiler for a minute or two to get nice and crispy. Not a necessary step, but I think it holds up to the fillings a bit better if it’s toasted.

Layer on mayo and mustard followed by sliced stuff.

Constructing...

Then stick in your dog and top with onions, relish, and a sprinkle of celery salt.

You might think that celery salt is a weird ingredient for hot dogs, but just go with it. It’s awesome.

Bring some napkins to the party. These guys are messy.

These are messy guys.

Here’s my slightly more staged version.

This is about as staged as I get people.

The staged version...

Hopefully, I didn’t just lose my entire New York readership.

Without a doubt, I give New York the pizza badge, but I think I might have to give the hot dog award to Chi-town.

What's the beef with stroganoff?

I’m from the generation that grew up on soup can dinners. Smart marketing departments came up with twists on traditional recipes that took out all the fuss and substituted in a can or two of their delicious Elmer’s-like goop and most of my generation’s parents ate it up.

I guess these dishes are still popular today, but I know that I pretty much grew up eating them. And while they actually taste okay, we can do better. One of the classic dishes where real ingredients get substituted for soup (of the mushroom variety) is beef stroganoff.

Here’s what I don’t get about the substitutions in this case: They really save you no time. Whether you use the can or real ingredients, it takes about the same time to prepare because you still need to cook the beef and the noodles and stuff.

You might save a buck or two, but we’ll completely make up for that in the flavor department.

Real Beef Stroganoff

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds beef tenderloin or sirloin, cut into 1 inch chunks
3 Tablespoons butter
1 large onion, sliced
8 ounces mushrooms, trimmed and sliced (I like cremini)
1/2 Cup chopped canned tomatoes
1 Cup chicken or beef stock
2/3 Cup sour cream
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard (opt.)
Salt and pepper
Chopped parsley for garnish (opt.)

1 pound egg noodles
2 Tablespoons butter (or the noodles)

Directions:

1) Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once melted, add beef and let brown well on all sides. This should take 2-3 minutes a side.

2) Add onions and mushrooms to skillet after beef is browned and continue to cook for a few more minutes until veggies are tender. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.

3) Add tomatoes, stock, and mustard if you're using mustard. Turn heat down to low and simmer for a few minutes.

4) Finally, stir in sour cream and garnish with some parsley if you want.

5) Cook egg noodles according to package. Drain them and stir in a few tablespoons of butter to coat the noodles.

6) Serve stroganoff over noodles as soon as possible!

Adapted from How To Cook Everything.

The Ingredients

As you can see, the ingredient list here is pretty simple. It’s really not a complicated dish. All the soup version does really is substitute some of the mushrooms and the sour cream for a can or two of the goop soup.

There is some chopping involved (onions, mushrooms, beef), but it’s pretty simple work. The mushrooms and onions should be kept in pretty large chunks.

Keep it simple people.

To make the sauce, I used some chicken broth I had in the fridge. I wish I had homemade handy but I’m out of it at the moment. Also, I think if I were going to buy some stock just for this recipe, I would’ve went with beef stock just to enhance the beef flavor, but this is what I had on hand. You can use either.

Fresh tomatoes would be good, but not in the winter. It’s better to just use canned in my opinion.

No soup sauce!

And don’t forget the noodles! These are non-negotiable in my opinion for this dish. They do such a perfect job of sopping up all the delicious sauce.

No substitutions!

Cooking the Dish

Start to finish this dish took me 30 minutes and some of that time I was futzing around with my camera. I bet you could do it even faster.

When all your ingredients are ready, melt your butter in a sturdy pan over medium-high heat. Once it’s melted and bubbling, add your beef chunks and brown well on all sides. Try not to move the beef too much when doing this.

Cook for a few minutes on each side until the pieces are nicely seared.

I love this smell.

Then add the mushrooms and onions to the dish with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Stir this all together and continue to cook until the veggies are a bit soft.

This will probably take 5 or 6 minutes.

Yum.

Next, add the tomatoes, stock, and mustard if you’re using it. I recommend the mustard but I left if out for my version because Betsy has a horrible aversion to the stuff.

Turn your heat down to medium and let the whole pot simmer for a few minutes until the beef is nice and tender.

As a final step, stir in the sour cream which will make the whole thing deliciously creamy and thick.

Creamy and delicious.

As far as the noodles go, just cook them according to the package in heavily salted water. Once you drain them, add in a few tablespoons of butter and stir it together until the noodles are nicely coated.

The butter is optional but not if you’re eating at my table.

Egg noodles rock.

Then pile it high and deep!

Great winter dish.

Betsy and I both agreed that this version pretty much ruled. It has so much more flavor than the canned situation.

So, ditch the can and go with the real thing. You won’t lose any time and you’ll be happy that you did.

Such a great appetizer.

I used to be a kitchen minimalist. Ok. Actually, I still am in theory, but one can only be a food blogger for so long before strange contraptions and specific dishes start appearing in your cupboard.

What I’m trying to say is that I’m not entirely sure why there was a 70′s style deviled egg plate in with our normal plates. I think Betsy maybe stole it from her Mom, but the point is that I can’t see something like that and not want to put it to use!

So deviled eggs is the subject and a mighty good one given the upcoming holiday this weekend. You just might need a handy appetizer to take to a party or something and this one will not disappoint. It’s really just a standard deviled egg recipe with bacon coming out its deviled ears, but trust me. They’ll be gone before you can say, “Happy New Year!”

Smokey Deviled Eggs

Yield: 1 dozen

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

6 large eggs (a few weeks old makes them easier to peel)
2-3 slices bacon, cooked crispy
1 Tablespoon bacon grease (yea that's right)
1/3 Cup Mayonnaise
1 Teaspoon dried mustard
1 Teaspoon white vinegar
Pinch of salt and pepper
Smoked paprika for dusting

Directions:

1) To boil eggs, add eggs to a pot with cold water. The water should cover the eggs by about an inch.

2) Set on high heat and cover until the water boils. Once it's boiling, turn off the heat, keep the lid on, and let sit for 13 minutes (more if you're using really big eggs. I used large eggs.)

3) Remove eggs and run under cold water. Crack eggs all around and carefully remove shells.

4) Slice eggs in half and scoop yolk into a bowl. Be careful to keep white halves intact.

5) Cook bacon on a wire rack over a baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees until very crispy, about 15 minutes.

6) Let cool slightly then pour bacon grease into measuring dish.

7) Add bacon grease, mayo, dried mustard, vinegar, and salt and pepper to yolks and mash well to combine. Mix until smooth. To get rid of all lumps, mix with a hand mixer.

8) Scoop filling into a plastic storage bag. Cut off a corner and carefully fill egg white halves.

9) Dust with paprika and dot each egg with a few pieces of crumbled bacon.

Boiling the Eggs

There’s always a lot of talk about making the perfect hard boiled egg. At the end of the day, I’m pretty sure that it’s impossible to guarantee a perfectly boiled egg 100% of the time because there’s a lot of variables that go into the perfect hard boiled egg like the size of the egg, the age of the egg, etc.

That said, here’s how I do it which gives me pretty consistent results.

Start with older eggs. If the eggs are a few weeks old then they’ll peel easier.

Make sure your eggs are roughly the same size. If you’re totally OCD you could weigh them, but I usually just eyeball it.

These were my six beauties I picked out for this batch of deviled eggs.

Start with the basics.

I start by adding my eggs to a pot with cold water that covers the eggs by about an inch or two. Then cover this and put it over high heat until it starts to boil. Once the water is boiling, turn off the heat but keep the pot covered, and let it sit for 13 minutes!

Now. Thirteen minutes may seem a bit specific to you, but that has always given me good results. If you’re using extra large eggs, go with 15 minutes.

I hope this method works for you, but again, I can’t guarantee a perfectly cooked hard boiled egg 100% of the time.

Prepping the Eggs

Once your eggs have sat in their hot water bath for some amount of time, take them out and run them under cold water. Carefully crack the shell of one egg and peel off the outer shell.

Hopefully. HOPEFULLY. It will peel right off without too much of a problem.

Tricky business.

And hopefully. HOPEFULLY. When you slice into the egg, the yolks are just cooked and there’s no weird gray ring between the yolks and the whites.

This batch turned out great for me.

No green ring!

Once you get all your eggs peeled, carefully scoop out all the yolks and add them to a bowl. Try not to break up the white cups. Set the whites aside for later.

The Bacon

The thing that kicks this recipe up a notch involves bacon. Not only did I sprinkle crunchy bacon on top of each egg, but I also mixed in some bacon grease into the yolk filling.

Evil. I know.

For extra crispy bacon, I like to cook my bacon in the oven on a wire rack over a baking sheet. The grease drips down as the bacon cooks and the bacon gets really crispy.

Baking it at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes should give you some really crispy sticks.

The only way to cook bacon.

Once it cools a bit, you can pour off the bacon grease as well.

This has tons of flavor and you can save it to cook potatoes in or something. I added a tablespoon of it to my yolk filling to give some nice bacon-y flavor to the eggs.

Liquid gold.

Making the Filling

Once you have all your yolks separated, just mash them up with a fork a bit and then add in all your filling ingredients.

If you’re really picky about lumps, you can mix the filling until really smooth with a hand mixer, but I just used a fork to get my pretty mashed. I don’t mind a few lumps in my filling, but if I were serving a crowd, I might mix them better.

A few lumps won't kill you.

Then I spooned my filling into a plastic bag. These eggs are best if you fill them right before serving, so you can store the filling like this for a day or two without a problem and then just fill the egg whites when you’re ready.

The plastic bag makes it really easy to fill because you can just snip off the end corner with some scissors and use it like a pastry bag.

This dish is in the bag.

Once you fill all the eggs, give them a good dusting of smoked paprika and then dot each egg with some big crumbles of crunchy bacon.

I have every kitchen contraption.

I had to test one out obviously.

Chomp!

It’s funny how just one simple change can really spice up a deviled egg. Just adding some bacon goodness to these guys really make them a completely different deviled egg. I’d also recommend using some really good smoked paprika if you can find some.

Oh and serving them on their own special platter of course. JOKING.

I had absolutely no problem eating 4 or 5 of these right away. They were very delicious.

An acquired taste maybe...

I hear that liver and onions is an acquired taste, but if that’s true I must have acquired it in the womb because I’ve always loved this dish.

The softness of the liver (if it’s cooked right) and the crispy coating on it is my definition of comfort food and plus you get to try a cut of meat that’s kind of uncommon, which is always something I like.

My one problem with the traditional dish is that I could never figure out why people used just onions when they prepare it. So I figured I’d try some other veggies along with the onions and guess what: Improvement!

Liver and Onions

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

1 pound beef liver (calf liver is the best if you can find it), sliced thin
2 Cups milk
1 medium onion, sliced thin
1 red pepper, sliced thin
1 green or yellow pepper, sliced thin
2 Russet potatoes, diced into 1/4 inch cubes
3 Tablespoons neutral oil (for cooking veggies)
2 Cups flour
1 Teaspoon paprika
1 Teaspoon dried mustard
Salt and pepper
1/3-1/2 Cup (3/4-1 stick) of unsalted butter (for cooking liver)
3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/3 Cup cream (approx)

Helpful Equipment:
Large cast iron skillet (on Amazon)

Directions:

1) Slice liver 1/4 inch thin and lay in a shallow pan. Cover with milk and let marinate for 20-30 minutes while you prep everything else.

2) Mix flour and spices together in a medium bowl.

3) Slice peppers and onions so they are roughly the same width. Peel and dice potatoes.

4) Add a few Tablespoons neutral oil to a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat and add all the veggies. Stir and cook until soft, about 10-15 minutes.

5) Remove veggies to an oven-safe bowl or dish and store in a warm oven (200 degrees) until needed.

6) Take pan off heat while you prep liver. Take liver slices and dredge lightly in flour mixture.

7) Add butter to cast iron skillet and return to medium-high heat.

8) Once butter is melted and hot, add liver slices. Don't crowd the pan. Work in a few batched if you need to. Cook liver for about 90 seconds on each side. Don't overcook it or it will be really rough.

9) Remove liver from pan and turn heat down to low. Add balsamic vinegar and scrape up any bits in the pan. Add cream and stir to combine.

10) Spoon balsamic sauce over liver and veggies and serve immediately.

Preparing the liver

When you get your liver (you’ll probably have to ask your butcher), it most likely won’t be sliced (unless you have a really nice butcher). That’s okay though because liver is really tender and easy to slice. Just be gentle with it and slice up about a pound of it into 1/4 inch thick slices.

If there are any tough tendons or something, just cut them off. Pile your slices in a dish.

Try to slice this pretty thin.

Once your liver is sliced, cover the slices with milk and let them marinate for 20-30 minutes. The milk will tenderize the meat and keep it really nice and juicy. It’s not an essential step but I think it’s worth it. It also makes it easier for the flour to stick on later.

Buttermilk might work too...

While the liver is marinating, get your flour mixture together for coating the liver slices. Add a few cups of flour to a medium bowl along with a good pinch of salt and pepper, some paprika, and dried mustard. You could use a wide variety of spices here, but I wanted to keep mine pretty simple.

Pretty basic.

Also, wash all your veggies, peel your potatoes, and slice and dice them all up. You’re looking for pretty even slices on the onions and peppers and then a nice even dice on the potatoes.

Why stop at onions?

Cooking the dish

This dish is technically a one-pot dish since it should all be cooked in a nice, sturdy cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.

Cook the veggies first by adding a few tablespoons of neutral oil to your cast iron skillet and add the onions, peppers, and potatoes. Cook these for about 10 or 15 minutes until all the veggies are nice and soft. Be sure to test the potatoes as they’ll be the last thing to be nice and tender.

This makes me hungry.

Once your veggies are done, remove them to an oven safe bowl or dish and keep them in a warm oven until we need them (200 degrees).

Back to the liver. Take your skillet off the heat while you prep the liver. Take the slices and lightly dredge them in the flour mixture. Dust off any extra flour and set the slices on a plate. You don’t need a really thick coating for this dish.

Also get out some butter!

Butter because... why not?

Now you could cook these in oil, but there’s something really decadent and delicious about cooking them in butter. This isn’t a time to count calories people, just go with it.

Add about 3/4 of a stick (3 ounces) of butter into your cast iron skillet and crank up the heat to medium-high. Let it melt. It should be bubbling nicely. As an aside, there’s no need to clean out your pan between the veggies and the liver. Any oil leftover will just help cook the liver.

Once the butter is hot, add slices of liver. Don’t overcrowd the pan and make sure the slices aren’t overlapping so they brown nicely.

Julia Childs would be proud of me.

These don’t need long to cook. About 90 seconds per side should do the trick. Try not to overcook them as liver gets tough pretty quickly when it’s overcooked. When they are done, remove them to a plate to rest.

Making the sauce

The sauce is optional as the liver is pretty good without it, but I figure if you have all this good butter and stuff in a pan, the country of France might come get you if you don’t make a sauce out of it.

This is a really easy sauce to make. Once all your liver is done, turn your heat down to low and add a few Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Use the vinegar to scrape up any little bits stuck to the pan and stir it in with the butter and everything. Then add about 1/4-1/3 Cup of cream and stir it together until it’s combined.

The sauce goes great with the liver and the veggies. Serve this meal as soon as possible!

The sauce is KILLER.

So I know that this won’t be the most popular dish I’ve ever made, but I really enjoy it.

Any other liver lovers out there? Speak up!

I went to my first barbecue of spring a few weeks ago and decided to whip up a potato salad. For potato salads, I like to use red bliss potatoes or new potatoes so you can leave the skin on.

It’s a great salad for a hot day!

Simple and delicious.

Some people have some really strong opinions about potato salad. Many hate mayonnaise. Some people dislike mustard. Some hate dill. My salad has all of those things in it so it might not be for you.

Have no fear though. The great thing about potato salad is that you can customize it to your liking on the fly. There’s really only one ingredient that’s essential: potatoes.

Red Bliss Potato Salad

Yield: Serves 5-6.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes + chill time

Ingredients:

3 pounds red bliss potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
1/2 large red onion, diced
1 large red pepper, diced
2-3 Tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
2-3 Tablespoons parsley, chopped
2/3 Cup mayonnaise
2/3 Cup Greek yogurt
2 Tablespoons dried mustard
2 Teaspoons paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 Teaspoon cayenne (very optional)

Directions:

1) Scrub potatoes and cube them so they are roughly the same size. About 1/2 inch cubes is best.

2) Boil potatoes in salted water (1 Tbsp/gallon) until they are fork tender, about 8-10 minutes.

3) Drain potatoes and dunk them in ice water to stop the cooking.

4) Chop up all your other ingredients and herbs.

5) Stir everything together and whisk together your dressing in a separate bowl (mayo, yogurt, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper).

6) Mix dressing with salad and chill for 3-4 hours or overnight.

Prepping the Potatoes

Ok. So most of this recipe, as with most salads I guess, just involves a lot of chopping. But the one thing you need cook is your potatoes.

The humble potato...

Spend some time to make sure you scrub them all well and cube them into roughly the same size. That’ll make sure they cook evenly and also make the salad easier to eat since the potatoes will all be the same size.

Try to keep them roughly the same size.

Cooking the potatoes is maybe the only tricky thing about this recipe. Here’s the things to remember:

- Cook the potatoes in salted boiling water (1 Tablespoon kosher salt per gallon of water is a good start).
- Depending on the size of your potatoes, they’ll take somewhere from 8-10 minutes to become fork tender.
- You don’t want to overcook your potatoes. Mushy potatoes don’t make great potato salad. Just keep an eye on them and try one every few minutes.
- When you’re done cooking them, put them into salted ice water. This will shock them and stop the cooking. It’s a really important step. I do this by putting all my potatoes in a colander and then submerging the colander into a very large bowl of ice water. You could obviously just add the potatoes to ice water and drain them afterward if you don’t have this set up.

You'll need a big bowl to do it this way...

The other stuff

Besides the potatoes, you really just need to chop up a lot of stuff.

This is the fun part.

Earlier when I said that the only thing I think potato salad has to have is potatoes, I was kind of lying. I also think that potato salad has to have red onion in it. Everything else can be changed or substituted, but red onion is pretty important in my book. It gives a great bite to the finished salad.

A careful dice.

The Dill-emma

Some people hate dill. Some people love it. You won’t be able to make everybody happy. Personally I love it and I was the one making the salad so I added it!

The Dill-emma

If you’re worried about the flavor of the dill, just go light on it. It can definitely overpower the salad if you use too much.

Colorful!

The dressing

Yet another contentious issue involves the dressing for potato salad. Some people just don’t do mayonnaise and that’s fine. I’ve had potato salad with olive oil or honestly you might be able to just use all Greek yogurt if you’re looking for something creamy. For me though, mayonnaise is fantastic. I don’t eat it very often, but sometimes it really hits the spot.

I added spices to mine like mustard, cayenne, and some paprika. You could leave any of these out or adjust to your tastes. Mix up your dressing first and then add your potatoes. Make sure they are well coated.

The dressing.

Then just add in all your other chopped veggies and herbs and stir it up! Be sure to taste for salt and pepper at this point. Mine definitely needed a good pinch of both.

Done deal.

Chill out

Ideally, you could make this a day before you need it. This salad only gets better after some time in the fridge. At a minimum I’d recommend 3 or 4 hours in the fridge, but the day before would be best honestly.

Yum.

So there ya go. My potato salad which has basically every ingredient that people tend to have a problem with. What can I say… I like to start trouble.

What’s essential for a potato salad in your mind? Leave a comment!

I was right to be excited. I was wrong to be worried.

As far as briskets go, I haven’t had too many braised ones actually. I usually eat them smoked, but that might change. Slow cooking a brisket for many hours in a rich Porter sauce makes for a really amazing fall dish.

No need for a knife!

It should go without saying that this lovely dish is not a weeknight afterthought meal. This is a meal you need to plan for, but don’t worry. It will pay back dividends for your planning.

The original recipe called for a 6-7 pound brisket and you could even get a much larger brisket if you ordered a full one from a butcher (probably in the 12 pound range). I just couldn’t justify cooking that amount of food when I’m basically cooking for two people (although a very helpful neighbor did stop by to help us put a dent in this on day one.)

I decided to pare down the recipe and use a 4 pound brisket and I think that was about as big as my kitchen equipment could handle. But if I had the right pans, I would make a larger version next time just because it turned out so perfectly wonderful and would be great leftovers for sandwiches and stuff.

Porter Braised Brisket

Yield: Serves 4-6.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 6 hours + overnight rest

Ingredients:

1 4 pound brisket
2 Tablespoons olive oil (for browning the brisket)

Dry rub:
2 Teaspoons fresh ground pepper
2 Teaspoons dry mustard
2 Teaspoons fresh sage, minced
2 Teaspoons fresh thyme, minced
1 Tablespoon Kosher salt

Braising Liquid:
4 Cups chicken broth (homemade is best)
1 12-ounce bottle Porter beer (stout is cool too)
6 whole prunes (kind of strange, but works)
4 bay leaves
2 Teaspoons brown sugar

Veggies:
4 Cups sliced onions (about 3 medium onions)
6 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1 pound mushrooms, halved
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon malt vinegar (I actually used red wine vinegar)

Helpful Equipment:
Heavy Iron Pan (or cast iron dutch oven)

Directions:

1) Make the dry rub by mixing together all the ingredients in a bowl. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Trim off some fat from the brisket.

2) Take spice rub and cover brisket with it on both sides.

3) In a large heavy roasting pan, heat a few Tablespoons of oil. When it is really hot, put the brisket in and sear it well on both sides. This should take about 5 minutes per side.

4) Once you pull the brisket out, add 2 Cups of chicken stock to the pan. Use a spatula to stir up any little burned bits stuck to the pan.

5) Once chicken stock is simmering, add prunes, brown sugar, bay leaf, and Porter. Bring that mixture to a boil.

6) Set brisket in this liquid, fat side up. Then layer all those sliced onions on top of the brisket with the garlic cloves! Cook this, covered, for one hour.

7) Take it out and you should see that the onions have turned translucent.

8) Turn the brisket over and push all of the onions into the braising liquid. Cook this uncovered for 30 minutes.

9) Add another cup of chicken broth, cover it and cook it for another 90 minutes.

10) Meanwhile, prepare mushrooms and carrots. You want pretty large pieces or they will just disintegrate.

11) After the 90 minutes, take the brisket out and add the other veggies and one more cup of chicken broth. Set the brisket back on top of the veggies so the veggies are mostly submerged in the braising liquid. Cook this for another 45 minutes with the lid on.

12) Let it cool at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, then let it sit in the fridge for at least 24 - 48 hours.

13) 24 – 48 hours later, get a spoon and gentle spoon off as much fat as you can. Don’t worry about getting all of it.

14) Lift the brisket out of the pot and put the pot with the sauce and veggies over high heat. You want it simmering nicely!

15) Slice the brisket against the grain. Lay out all the slices in a large baking dish.

16) Once the sauce and veggies has come to a simmer, very carefully pour it over the cold brisket slices. Cover this with foil and bake it for yet another 75 minutes at 350 degrees.

17) Finally. Once that baking is done, you can eat it up! Serve up a few slices with all the veggies and sauce.

Adapted from Bon Appétit Oct 2009.

Making the rub

Make the dry rub by mixing together all the ingredients in a bowl. Note that they amounts above are for the 4 pound brisket I had. Adjust if you are using a larger one. Also, now would be a good time to preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Here's the rub.

Preparing the brisket

Depending on where you get your brisket from and what size you get, you might need to trim off some fat from the brisket. The fatty side of the brisket should have an even layer of fat. Trim off any extra. Don’t worry too much about getting it perfect.

Then take your spice rub and cover your brisket with it on both sides. In a large heavy roasting pan (I used my cast iron pot which was only big enough for a 4 pound brisket), heat a few Tablespoons of oil. When it is really hot, put the brisket in and sear it well on both sides. Should take about 5 minutes per side.

Brown food tastes good.

Prepping the liquid

Once your pull your brisket out, add 2 Cups of chicken stock to the pan. It will hiss! Use a spatula to stir up any little burned bits stuck to the pan. That’s all flavor. Once your chicken stock is simmering, add your prunes, brown sugar, bay leaf, and Porter. Bring that mixture to a boil.

Preparing the braise

Next, set your brisket in this liquid, fat side up. Then layer all those sliced onions on top of the brisket with your garlic cloves! It’s okay if you lose a few onions into the liquid. Just get them all in the pot.

Lots of onions...

Cook this, covered, for one hour. Then take it out and you should see that the onions have turned translucent.

Brisket hiding under onions.

Turn the brisket over and push all of the onions into the braising liquid.

Cook this uncovered for 30 minutes. Then add another cup of chicken broth, cover it and cook it for another 90 minutes. This is the definition of slow cooking here people…

Meanwhile, prepare your mushrooms and carrots. You want pretty large pieces or they will just disintegrate.

More Veggies are needed.

After the 90 minutes, take the brisket out and add the other veggies and one more cup of chicken broth. Set the brisket back on top of the veggies so the veggies are mostly submerged in the braising liquid.

Cook this for another 45 minutes with the lid on.

After that, you should end up with a very tender piece of meat and a stew of veggies in a really rich sauce. It’ll look about like this:

After a long day of cooking...

Oh the waiting…

Here’s the hard part. This needs to sit in the fridge for at least 24 hours. I let mine sit for 48 hours. One note, make sure to let it cool at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before sticking it in your fridge.

After a day or two you’ll pull out something that looks much different. Don’t worry. All of the deliciousness is still intact.

Maybe not the most attractive photo. Deal with it.

There will be a decent layer of fat that has congealed on the surface. It’s not attractive and won’t really help your final cause. Get a spoon and gentle spoon off as much as you can. Don’t worry about getting all of it.

Then lift your brisket out of your pot and put the pot with the sauce and veggies over high heat. You want it simmering nicely!

Meanwhile, slice your brisket against the grain. It will be really easy to slice if you do it while it’s cold. Then lay out all the slices in a large baking dish.

This is when I fell in love.

See all those little veins in each slice? Those are little veins of fat and as the brisket warms up, they will melt and make for a wonderfully tender finished product.

Once your sauce and veggies has come to a simmer, very carefully pour it over your cold brisket slices. It might be a tight fit depending on your pan size!

Somewhere in there is 4 pounds of brisket.

Cover this with foil and bake it for yet another 75 minutes at 350 degrees.

Finally. Once that baking is done, you can eat it up! Serve up a few slices with all the veggies and sauce. I can’t even explain in words how tender and flavorful this was.

Serve with a dark beer or red wine obviously.

Here’s the kind of cool thing about this dish. I made it on a Sunday morning and ate it on a Tuesday night. I watched football while it cooked. There really isn’t a lot of work involved with it. Just a lot of time. Then I just did the reheating step on Tuesday night and it made for a perfect weeknight dinner.

I mean this stuff was amazing. It was a great combination between a very tender steak and a delicious pot roast. I had it for leftovers in sandwich form and just sliced. It’s amazing no matter what.

I wish I had 4 more pounds of the stuff.

For this peach salad you can grill the peaches or saute them slightly if you were so inclined, but honestly, I like mine ripe and fresh. This salad only has a few ingredients, but let’s face it, some of the best salads only focus on a few key ingredients. This one is no exception.

This my friends, is a good salad.

If I’m left on my own, I always cook chicken with the skin on. I buy it like that and I cook it like that. I’m willing to eat a few more calories for the incredible amount of flavor it brings. If I were cooking this for Betsy though, I would do hers without skin because that’s what she likes. Personal preference really, but we know who is right about this. :)

Fresh Peach Salad

Yield: Serves 2-4.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

2 ripe peaches, cored and cut into 1/8 sections
2 chicken breasted
Baby greens, spinach, or arugula
4 ounces goat cheese
1/2 Cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped

Molasses Vinaigrette:
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 Teaspoon molasses
1 Teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon shallot, minced
1 lemon, juice only
1/3-1/2 Cup olive oil
Salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Whisk together all the vinaigrette ingredients or shake them together in a jar.

2) Cook the chicken by liberally seasoning two chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Heat 2 Tablespoons of oil in an oven safe pan. Once the oil is hot, set the chicken in the pan, skin side down. Let that cook for about 7 minutes and then flip it. Cook for 7 more minutes and then transfer to an oven to finish cooking at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

3) Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes and then slice it up!

4) Toast the pecans by setting them in a dry pan until they are warm and fragrant.

5) Wash and dry the greens if they aren’t pre-washed.

6) Add a few handfuls of greens along with cheese to a large bowl. Pour a few tablespoons of dressing in the bowl and tossed everything for a bit until all the greens were well coated.

7) Sprinkle on the pecans, lay down your sliced peaches and chicken.

Adapted from Cooking Light.

The dressing in this salad is awesome. To quote my coworker, “I could drink the stuff.”

An interesting dressing.

Making the Vinaigrette

Please note the empty mustard jar above. I keep one or two of these on hand just for making dressing. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I actually purchased a salad dressing. Also, I’ll be honest, I never measure ingredients when it comes to making a vinaigrette. If you have a small jar like this, you don’t need to know measurements. It’s all about proportions!

These were my basic proportions for this recipe which I roughly translated into amounts for the above recipe:

Get it?

Cooking the chicken

You could cook the chicken any way you like really. I chose to pan sear it and finish it in the oven. If you were being really healthy, you could even poach it.

I liberally seasoned two chicken breasts with salt and pepper and then heated 2 Tablespoons of oil in an oven safe pan. Once the oil is hot, set the chicken in the pan, skin side down. Let that cook for about 7 minutes and then flip it. Cook for 7 more minutes and then transfer to an oven to finish cooking at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

My chicken breasts were very thick so I cooked them for an extra 5 minutes just to make sure they were cooked through. Let them rest for 5 minutes and then slice them up!

Simple stuff.

Other stuff

If you are toasting your pecans you can do that while your chicken is in the oven. You can just set them in a dry pan until they are warm and toasty. You’ll be able to smell when they are done. Don’t burn them though!

I guess optional.

Prepping the greens

Wash and dry your greens if they aren’t pre-washed. For this salad, I chose the “bowl method” for dressing. This means that I added a few handfuls of greens along with my cheese to a large bowl. Then I poured a few Tablespoons of dressing in the bowl and tossed everything for a bit until all the greens were well coated.

This is a great way to dress salads because it makes it basically impossible to overdress a salad. The extra dressing, if there is any, will be left in the bowl after you remove your greens with tongs!

The bowl method.

Then just sprinkle on your pecans, lay down your sliced peaches and chicken and go to town!

Just peachy.

I ate this salad for two meals in a row: dinner and lunch the next day. Honestly, I could have eaten it for ten meals in a row I think. It was that good. And when I finished it, I just felt… healthy.

Peach salad. Give it a shot.

Oh sorry. I mean Niçoise salad. And as I was corrected on many times, it’s pronounced [niˈswaz]. Not Nicoozy. Or Nicweese.

Anyway, the point is that Niçoise salads are delicious.

I'm embarrassed to say I ate all of this by myself.

Let me start by saying that I may offend some French readers by messing with this classic dish. I substituted asparagus for the traditional green beans in the dish and I completely left out capers by accident. That said, I thought my version was pretty darn tasty.

Nicoise Salad

Yield: Serves 2-4.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

1 8 Ounce tuna steak
12 new potatoes
1 bunch of asparagus
4 hard boiled eggs
1/2 Cup Niçoise olives
2 ripe tomatoes, sliced (or use cherry tomatoes)
1/2 red onion, sliced thin
Anchovies (optional)
Capers (I left these out but they would definitely be good in the dish.)
Lettuce or greens (apparently the use of lettuce or no lettuce is also debatable. I like a bed of lettuce so I used it.)

Vinaigrette:
1 shallot, minced
1 Tablespoon minced oregano (you could also use basil, thyme, or a bit of all of them)
1 Teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 lemon, juice only
2-3 Tablespoons red wine or balsamic vinegar
1/2 - 3/4 Cup olive oil
Salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Add all the dressing ingredients in the order listed above to a jar and shake it up! Really go to town on it. Be sure to taste it and adjust accordingly.

2) Get a large pot of water boiling with a Tablespoon of salt. Once the water is boiling, add the potatoes first to the dish. After five minutes, carefully lower the eggs into the boiling water.

3) After about 10 more minutes, the eggs and potatoes should be done at the same time. Take them out and toss in the asparagus. Be sure to clip off the ends on the asparagus.

4) The asparagus will only need about 4 minutes. Pull them and rinse them with cold water to stop the cooking.

5) Peel the eggs and toss the asparagus and potatoes (cut them in half after cooking them) with a few Tablespoons of the dressing.

6) Put a skillet over high heat with a bit of oil in it.

7) Coat the tuna with oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Once the oil is very hot in the pan, toss in the tuna.

8) Cook it for 3 minutes on one side and 3 minutes on the other. If you don’t like the tuna rare (blasphemy), then cook it a bit longer on both sides.

9) Pull off the tuna and let it rest for a few minutes before slicing it up.

10) Put the salad together and enjoy!

Making the dressing

Anytime I have a mustard jar, I hang onto it after all the mustard is gone. Turns out that the jar is perfect for making a vinaigrette. You need a bit of mustard to help emulsify the olive oil and vinegar so by using the jar to shake up your vinaigrette you get a bit of mustard and also can store any leftovers in the jar.

Basically, add all your ingredients in the order listed above to the jar and shake it up! Really go to town on it. Be sure to taste it and adjust accordingly.

To anyone who called me weird for keeping empty mustard jars.

Prepared ingredients

There are a few ingredients in this salad that are already prepared for you. Things like the anchovies, capers, and olives should be ready to go. If you can’t find Nicoise olives, I think you could probably use kalamata olives. I wouldn’t use black olives. You should be able to find Nicoise olives in most stores though.

Small and flavorful.

Blanching the vegetables

Besides the tuna, there are only three things you need to cook for this salad: the eggs, the potatoes, and the asparagus. Luckily, you can do them all in one dish.

Get a large pot of water boiling with a Tablespoon of salt. Once the water is boiling, add your potatoes first to the dish. After five minutes, carefully lower your eggs into the boiling water. Some people have a very specific way that they like to make hard boiled eggs, but I opted for simplicity over perfection for this. It might mean that some of the shell sticks to the egg, but it isn’t the end of the world.

After about 10 more minutes, your eggs and potatoes should be done at the same time. Take them out and toss in your asparagus. Be sure to clip off the ends on the asparagus.

The asparagus will only need about 4 minutes. Pull them and rinse them with cold water to stop the cooking.

Peel your eggs and toss your asparagus and potatoes (cut them in half after cooking them) with a few Tablespoons of your dressing.

Blanched and tossed.

Searing the Tuna

Put a skillet over high heat with a bit of oil in it. Coat your tuna with oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Once your oil is very hot in the pan, toss in your tuna. Cook it for 3 minutes on one side and 3 minutes on the other. If you don’t like your tuna rare (blasphemy), then cook it a bit longer on both sides.

Pull off the tuna and let it rest for a few minutes before slicing it up.

Good lookin' seafood.

Then watch this helpful animation on putting together the whole thing!

Making the salad!

I’m not kidding that I ate this entire salad by myself. This was probably 2/3s of the whole recipe. I put it all together for the photo but then was going to take part of it for lunch along with some of the other leftovers. I ended up eating all of it in one sitting. It’s a really awesome pairing of flavors.

Lots of flavor going on here.

I thought this was perfect for the summer. If I had a grill, I would’ve grilled the tuna, asparagus, and potatoes. Blanching them was the more traditional way to go though.

If you are looking for a flavor-packed salad, you can’t lose with this.

Spicy food is one of my favorite things and I like my spicy food to be really spicy so I was happy to see this. I like spicy stuff so much that I’m usually that annoying guy in an Indian food restaurant that asks the chef to “Bring it on!” This sometimes results in serious pain, but it’s always fun and I just can’t get enough of the spice even if I know it is burning my taste buds off.

For this dish I cooked chicken slowly in a homemade mango and habanero sauce so it would absorb some of the flavors. It was spicy, flavorful and yet it was pretty light and summery due to the mangos.

This was spicy and delicious.

Quick Rant. Before I bust out the recipe I used for this, let me just say that I highly dislike it when grocery stores (especially high-end ones – I’m looking at you Whole Foods!) don’t keep their produce in the appropriately labeled bin. For example, when trying to buy some Habaneros for this dish, there were two different kinds of very small pepper in the bin marked habaneros. I knew only one of them was actually habaneros, but it was hard to tell which one. So I ended up buying five of each kind. And yes, I did ask an employee, but they had no idea.

Mango Habanero Simmer Sauce

Yield: 2 cups of sauce

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients:

5 Habanero peppers (5 equals a pretty spicy sauce. I think I would make it even spicier if I made it again.)
3 Mangos or 1 30 Ounce can of Mango pulp which can be found at Indian food stores.
2 Tablespoons oil
1 small onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 Cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons Molasses (I think you could use honey also)
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons mustard (Dijon or dry is fine)
1 Tablespoon cumin
1/4 cup brown sugar
Juice from 1 lime
Kosher salt to taste

Helpful Equipment:
Le Creuset 7.25 Quart French Oven or high quality Cast Iron Dutch Oven

Directions:

1) De-seed and dice the peppers pretty fine. Dice the mangoes.

2) To make the sauce, start by heating up the oil in a large pan. Add the onion, garlic, and peppers and sauté for 3-5 minutes on medium heat until they are soft. Then add the mangos and stir for 5 more minutes.

3) After 5 minutes, add all the other ingredients. Let the sauce simmer on low for 15-20 minutes.

4) After the sauce has reduced a bit, taste it! Add some salt if necessary. Maybe add another pepper if the spice level isn’t high enough.

5) While the sauce is cooking, prepare the chicken. In an oven/stove top safe pan, heat a few Teaspoons of oil over high heat and then set the chicken in the pan for about 3 minutes per side. The chicken should brown nicely.

6) Then pour the sauce over the chicken (the sauce should still be boiling hot) and stick the whole thing in the oven for about an hour (30 minutes covered and 30 minutes uncovered) at 325 degrees.

Note: If you don’t have a pan like that, you can sear the chicken in a standard pan and then transfer the chicken to an oven safe baking dish and cover with the sauce and cook for one hour at 300 degrees. You could cover the baking dish with foil for the first 30 minutes to mimic the first option.
At the halfway mark and gently stir the chicken pieces around.
Serve over a bed of rice with some chopped cilantro as a garnish.

Adapted from a ChileFire recipe.

These are the fruits and veggies you will need. Notice the two different peppers. The smaller ones are deadly. The larger ones I could eat like an apple.

HINT: The very small peppers are habaneros. The larger ones are impostors.

After tasting and learning which peppers were the real deal, I decided to use both anyway, because I had them. If habaneros were too hot for you, you could use something milder like a jalapeno, but the intense heat goes really well with the mango.

De-seed and dice your peppers pretty fine. You can dice your mango loosely. It will dissolve mostly in the sauce anyway.

Some basic prep work.

As noted in the recipe, you will also need all of the below stuff. The original recipe called for way more molasses and Worcestershire sauce but I cut way back on both of those for fear that they would dominate the sauce. In fact, I think you could leave the molasses out all together or substitute honey for it.

Other recommended simmer ingredients.

The Sauce

To make the sauce, start by heating up your oil in a large pan. Add the onion, garlic, and peppers and sautee for 3-5 minutes on medium heat until they are soft. Then add the mangos and stir for 5 more minutes. The mangos should release a lot of liquid and make a kind of soup.

After 5 minutes, you can add all your other ingredients.

Then let the sauce simmer on low for 15-20 minutes. It should reduce by about 1/4, but keep a close eye on it so it doesn’t burn or scorch! Stir it frequently.

Strange brew.

After the sauce has reduced a bit, taste it! Add some salt if necessary. Maybe add another pepper if the spice level isn’t high enough. Play around with it and have fun!

The Chicken

While the sauce is cooking, you can prepare your chicken. I actually used a whole chicken that I cut up because that’s my preferred method, but you could use all boneless skinless breasts if that is your favorite. This is more than enough sauce for an entire chicken or 4-6 breasts depending on the size.

In any event, once you have your chicken ready to go, there are basically two steps that we need to happen: 1) Sear the chicken on high heat in a few Teaspoons of oil and 2) Slow cook the chicken on low heat in the simmer sauce.

If you have a pan that is oven safe and stove top safe (Le Creuset is the best but pricey, Lodge’s model has good reviews also), this is super easy. In your pan, heat a few Teaspoons of oil over high heat and then set your chicken in the pan for about 3 minutes per side. The chicken should brown nicely. Then pour your sauce over the chicken (the sauce should still be boiling hot) and stick the whole thing in the oven for about an hour (30 minutes covered and 30 minutes uncovered) at 325 degrees.

If you don’t have a pan like that, you can sear the chicken in a standard pan and then transfer the chicken to an oven safe baking dish and cover with the sauce and cook for one hour at 300 degrees. You could cover the baking dish with foil for the first 30 minutes to mimic the first option.

The simmer is on.

The slow cooking

Because I was using a cast iron pan, I chose to cover my dish for 30 minutes which trapped in all the moisture and flavor and really got everything mingling together. Then I uncovered it for the last 30 minutes to let the sauce reduce further. This worked like magic.

I also checked it when I uncovered it at the halfway mark and gently stirred the chicken pieces around. The slow cooking basically means that you can’t overcook this dish. The chicken will be super moist and flavorful no matter what. And the sauce, while kind of difficult to photograph, is very spicy but kind of sweet from the mangos and brown sugar.

I served mine over a bed of rice with some chopped cilantro as a garnish.

Tender and spicy. Very spicy.

This dish was freakin’ good and spicy. I ate it for a few days in a row and it never got old. If you didn’t want it so spicy you could cut down on the peppers a bit, but I think the heat is lovely.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for a new poll on what I should make next week and some other fun stuff!