When I think of the many Easter dinner’s I’ve shared with my family two distinct memories stand out. The first is the few times we were fortunate to make the trip to the north shore of Boston to visit our grandparents where my butcher grandfather would always present a perfectly cooked ham. The other is the times where my immediate family would go out to eat and my mother would always order lamb. I was always fascinated by the neon green color of the mint jelly that always accompanied her entree.

As I was preparing my thoughts for what I was going to do for Easter dinner in my own home I received an email asking me to take part in the Sam’s Club Grilling Challenge. The task: shop for my menu items at Sam’s Club, prepare a test run of the dinner plan on the grill and share it will you all. When it comes to cooking I’m always up for a challenge and love thinking of twists on classic flavors.

The first thing I had to do was think about what I wanted to the menu to look like and, given my proclivity for utilizing pork products, ham was an attractive option. However, I decided to see what I could do with lamb and the bright Greek and Mediterranean flavors that usually follow. The rest of my plan as far as sides go was to let whatever was fresh and in stock at Sam’s Club dictate.

I set off on my journey Tuesday morning and with my new membership card in hand I was ready to assemble a grilled Easter dinner to remember. As you can see from my haul I had a very successful trip:

I was excited to see the nice leg of lamb roasts, as that was my desired protein, and then I spent the better part of an hour just perusing the aisles focusing on the fresh produce to hammer out the rest of my menu. In addition to the lamb I picked up some boneless country ribs, a potato medley, some campari tomatoes, a nice hunk of feta cheese, some yeast rolls, a tub of Greek yogurt, some hearty looking asparagus stalks, some enormous strawberries and a box of madeleines.

All told I spent about $75 at Sam’s Club for the ingredients for my meal. I had to hit one other store to pick up some fresh herbs, a package of pea shoots (my new favorite topping for burgers in place of lettuce) and a bottle of Prosecco, which brought my total for this meal to just over $100.

After returning from my shopping trip I sat down to finalize my plans and create the actual menu, which is:

• Spiced lamb sliders with a mint and feta pesto
• Potato skewers with a garlic yogurt sauce
• Grilled asparagus; and
• Grilled strawberry shortcake with a prosecco gelatin

While the menu is fairly simple, there was a decent amount of prep work to do. From making garlic confit that was used in the slider patties, the pesto and the yogurt sauce to grinding the leg of lamb roast and the boneless country ribs into a 70/30 ratio, I had a good deal of work cut out for me. I also finely chopped a herb mix of flat leaf parsley (also sold as Italian parsley), rosemary and thyme that I used in the yogurt sauce and with the garlic infused oil from the confit to brush on the asparagus and potato skewers just as they finished grilling.

With everything set to go…

…it was time to get to grilling.

And then the best part. Time to eat!

We are just at the beginning of the strawberry season here in Charlotte and these were ripe and sweet. The strawberries were hulled, cut in half and then skewered. They were on the grill for no more than 2 or 3 minutes, just enough time to warm them up and get their juices flowing. While they were on the grill I brushed on a mix of one tablespoon of honey and one tablespoon of port wine as a glaze. Combined with the fresh whipping cream, the airy madeleines and the crisp and cool Prosecco gelatin this was a great way to end the meal.

This challenge was a lot of fun and there are a great number of fresh ingredients to create a great meal at Sam’s Club. My family and I were very pleased with the quality of the lamb and after this test run there is more than enough to feed my family again on Easter Sunday. If you’re interested in giving anything here a go here are most of the recipes I devised for this menu:

Spiced Lamb Sliders

Software

4# Lamb
2# Pork
6 cloves garlic confit
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin seed
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
2 teaspoons dried oregano or marjoram
2 teaspoons white pepper

Assemblage

• Cube the lamb and pork and mix to combine, then refrigerate for 20 minutes
• Using a coarse grinding plate run the cubed meat through the grinder and refrigerate for 20 minutes
• Make a paste with the garlic confit and all of the spices and mix with the ground meat
• Form into patties (2-3 ounce for sliders, 5-6 ounce if you prefer a full size burger), then refrigerate until an hour before ready to grill

Mint and Feta Pesto

Software

3/4 cup mint
1/4 cup parsley
2 scallions
2 cloves garlic confit
feta – four one inch cubes
lemon zest
olive oil – 1/2 to 3/4 cup from making the garlic confit
salt and pepper to taste

Assemblage

• Add all ingredients except the oil in a food processor and pulse four to five times
• Slowly drizzle the oil in until the desired consistency in reached
• Taste, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste
• Refrigerate until ready to serve

Garlic Yogurt Sauce

Software

1 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 cloves garlic confit, finely minced
1/4 cup herb mix – parsley, rosemary, thyme
1/2 shallot, finely minced
Juice and zest of half a lemon
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Assemblage

• Finely mince the shallot, set aside
• Zest and juice half of a lemon, add zest to the cup of yogurt and macerate the minced shallots in the lemon juice for five minutes
• When shallots are macerated add them and the lemon juice to the yogurt along with the remaining ingredients and stir to combine
• Refrigerate until ready to serve

Prosecco Gelatin

Software

2 packets unflavored gelatin
1 cup cold white grape juice
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 cup Prosecco

Assemblage

• Pour 1/2 cup of the white grape juice into a small saucepan and quickly stir in the two packets of unflavored gelatin
• Turn the heat on low and keep stirring until the gelatin fully dissolves, then add the sugar and stir until that dissolves
• Remove from heat, stir in the remaining white grape juice and allow mixture to come to room temperature
• When fully cooled, gently stir in the cup of Prosecco, pour into a rectangular baking dish and refrigerate until firm (approximately two hours)
• When ready to assemble the short cake cut the Prosecco gelatin into small squares for garnish

Disclosure: Sam’s Club gave me a free one year Advantage membership to their store and a $50 gift card to use to shop for my grilled Easter dinner. I was not offered or promised anything else for my review of my shopping trip or required to use specific ingredients in my menu. All opinions are my own.

It took me most of the weekend, but I finally shot, edited and submitted my video for the 2011 Perdue Verifiably Good Video Contest. Trying to get over 21 minutes of raw video footage down to under the 3 minute mark and ensure that I hit all the main elements of my theme for the video was extraordinarily difficult.

With the submission guidelines more loosely defined, if you will, than last years contest (and after taking a peek at some of the other submissions) I tried to present something a little different. This time they enabled you to include your best tips, tricks, techniques as well as recipes for preparing and serving chicken.

So, with all of that in mind, I decided to lead off with something and that is near and dear to my culinary heart – dry brining. I’ve discussed this concept on a few occasions, most notably in my column Dry Brine Your Turkey over at Man of the House. The idea behind dry brining, other than saving you a ton of time, frustration and storage dilemmas as compared to wet brining methods, is that the salt works to draw out moisture from the chicken (or turkey, or steak) and as the liquid is reabsorbed during the resting period the salt will flavor the meat.

The one thing dry brining will not do, as long as you follow the very simple rule of 1 tablespoon of kosher salt for every 5 pounds of meat, is make your chicken too salty. You can even ask Kevin over at Always Home and Uncool. After Thanksgiving he sent me a message on Twitter telling me he tried it and his turkey came out great.

After walking through the dry brining process from refrigerator to oven I decided to show how you can use a roasted chicken to save yourself money. In the Chickenomics portion of the video I prepared 10 servings each of Chicken Vatapa and Tarragon Chicken Salad, as well as made 5 quarts of chicken stock, with the two chickens I roasted.

While I had a few staple items on hand, I spent approximately $50 to prepare these 20 meals (including the cost of the two whole roasters) that will serve as either lunches or dinners for my wife and me over the next two weeks. At approximately $2.50 per serving that is a great deal.

Finally, it cost me about $5 for the veggies that I needed to prepare the stock.  When you compare that a good, no sodium added chicken stock can run approximately $4.00 per quart in a grocery store the stock I made saved me $15 (5 quarts X $4.00 less $5.00). That savings alone would nearly cover the cost of the two chickens I used (approximately $21 with tax).

The video is pretty fast paced, but I’m hoping the message comes across clearly. This may seem like a lot of work, but in reality there are only about two hours of active prep and/or cooking time. The bulk of it is spent waiting for the dry brine process to end, roasting the chickens or having the chicken stock get happy in the oven while you do other things.

Like play Angry Birds Rio.

As always, thanks for reading (and watching).

Dry Brining and Chickenomics | Perdue Verifiably Good Contest ’11 from PJ Mullen on Vimeo.

If you liked my video, I’d appreciate it if you would consider jumping over to Perdue’s site and rate it up for me. Click here to go directly to my Dry Brining & Chickenomics page. Thanks!

The Recipes:

Chicken Vatapa

adapted from Cooking Light

Hardware

Large sauce pan or dutch oven

Software

Olive oil
3 strips bacon, cut into lardons
1 medium leek, washed, halved and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 12 ounce light beer (I used a Corona Light)
1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup chicken stock
3 cups roasted chicken, diced
1/2 cup light coconut milk
1/2 cup unsalted peanuts (reserved half for serving)
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Assemblage

• Take the bacon cut into lardons (tiny strips) and render until crispy.
• Drain off half of the bacon grease, add the olive oil, leeks, onion and garlic, then saute for about five minutes
• Add the ginger, jalapeno and chili powder, saute for one minutes while constantly stirring
• Pour in the beer, chicken stock and undrained can of tomatoes, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for about thirty minutes
• Using a spice or coffee grinder (or food processor) finely grind 1/4 cup of the peanuts and add to the base along with the chicken, coconut milk and lime juice
• Bring the mixture back to a simmer and cook for five to seven minutes
• Stir in the parsley, cilantro, salt and pepper
• Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary

Presentation

After ladling out this stew into some bowls all I added was a few leaves of fresh cilantro and some peanuts to provide a textural element to the soup.

Tarragon Chicken Salad with Craisins and Walnuts

Hardware:

Medium saucepan
Large mixing bowl
Cutting board and knife
Measuring cups
One cup serving bowls (for storage)
Spatula

Software:

1 package boneless chicken breasts
1 cup white wine (optional)
2 medium celery stalks
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
Salt and pepper to taste

Assemblage:

• Fill the saucepan about 2/3 of the way with water (and white wine, if you so choose) and bring to a boil
• Put the chicken breasts into the boiling water, reduce heat to medium high and keep a rolling boil until cooked through (about 12-15 minutes)
• While the chicken is poaching, chop the celery, walnuts, craisins and tarragon and put in large mixing bowl
• When chicken is done poaching, remove from hot water and allow to cool
• Dice the cooled chicken and add it to the bowl with the remaining ingredients, fold in mayonnaise

Variations on a Theme:

This recipe is flexible and very much open to interpretation. I’ve made this with both red seedless grapes and golden raisins in place of the craisins. You could also mix up the vegetable content by adding some onions or even some diced bell peppers.

If you choose to add onions, specifically red onion to the mix, be sure to soak the chopped onions in some cold water for about five minutes. Raw red onion can tend to linger on your breath and soaking it helps draw some of that sharp flavor out of them.

Presentation:

The nice thing about this recipe is you can make it in advance and you’ll get about six or seven servings out of one turn at the stove. Whenever I make a batch of this I usually portion it into one cup individual serving sizes. This way my wife can take it to work for lunch, or, if we are pressed for time, we can serve it on a bed of arugula and baby spinach to make dinner in a flash.

Chicken Stock

For a simple chicken stock I generally follow Michael Ruhlman’s oven method stock recipe with a few small changes. First, I add the bones, vegetables, spices and water all in at the same time. He roasts the bones in water for the bulk of the cooking time before adding the remaining ingredients. And, second, I’ve never added the tomato paste and usually throw in a few stalks of celery if I have them hanging around.

I allowed my stock to steep at 180 degrees for about ten hours and it always comes out a very fragrant light amber color. After letting it to cool a bit I discarded the solids and refrigerated it overnight before straining it a second time. It helps ensure you’ve gotten rid of as much of the fat as possible because it has returned to a solid state.

Stock is not difficult to make, but it is time consuming. Therefore my final tip or suggestion would be to store your bones whenever you roast a chicken in a bag in the freezer until you can make as big a batch as your largest stock pot will allow.

One of the first Dad in the Kitchen posts I ever did when I first started writing about my culinary exploits was a conversation about the ways in which my friends and I prepared our Super Bowl Day feast. Over the years we had gotten away from the original big sangwich competitions that started back in our days at Bentley.

Well, this year we weren’t able to get together for the Super Bowl so my friend Vinnie had the brilliant idea to resurrection the big sangwich traditional digitally. We tasked ourselves with planning, constructing and capturing our Super Bowl Sunday offerings to be presented right here for your viewing pleasure.

All we ask of you, dear reader, is to vote for your favorite after seeing what each of us put together. There are no prizes for the win, just the title of Big Sangwich King. I was going to say something about a job well done, but let’s be honest bragging rights are what this is all about.

So, without further adieu I am pleased to present the first ever Virtual Big Sangwich Competition.

Vinnie’s “Tre Panini di Cenzo”

Materials

Country bread
Caramelized garlic and arugula pesto
Breaded chicken cutlet fried in olive oil
Homemade roasted peppers
Prosciutto di Parma
Tellagio & Asiago Fresco

Tale of the Tape

Unavailable

Jason’s “4 Quarter Snacker”

Materials

Tuscan bread hollowed out and prepped with mustard, mayo and hot pepper relish
½ pound Black Forest Ham
¼ pound Provolone cheese
¼ pound Carando hard salami
¼ pound Prosciutto
¼ pound Hot capicola
¼ pound Italian dry salami
¼ pound Pepperoni

Tale of the Tape

Length: 7”
Height: 4 ½”
Weight: 3 pounds 5 ⅛ ounces

PJ’s “Packer Backer Speck-tacular”

Materials

Focaccia Bread
¼ cup Smokey Pancetta Aioli
Arugala
⅓ pound fresh mozzarella, sliced thin
2 medium tomatoes, sliced thin and marinated in balsamic vinegar for one hour
¼ pound sweet capocollo
½ pound Speck (smoked prosciutto di parma)

Tale of the Tape

Length: 10 ½”
Height: 2 ¾”
Weight: 1 pound 10 ½ ounces

Media

The Packer Backer Speck-tacular from PJ Mullen on Vimeo.

As you can tell my boys and I like our charcuterie and salumi. If this competition came down to sheer girth, then Jason would win this without the assistance of the officials – unlike Super Bowl XL. However, for the purposes of this competition big can be interpreted a number of ways – actual size, bold flavors and innovative ideas.

We would appreciate it if you would vote based on which sangwich you would have liked to have in front of you during the big game. The poll will be open until midnight EST on Sunday, February 13th.

Thanks for voting and if you would like to participate we are interested in making this competition open to the blogosphere at large next year. Drop me a comment and let me know if you’re game.

Back at the end of August my wife and I managed to get a night out away from the kids to celebrate our anniversary. We chose to try out a new gastropub in Charlotte called The Liberty.

We read a solid review of the place in the Charlotte Observer and combed through its menu online plotting out our gastronomical feast in advance. Their menu features a number of “small plates” that are excellent for sharing and we planned to order several of them to sample diversity of their menu. The calamari was one of the best I’ve ever had and while the flavors in their pork belly sliders had so many moving parts it just worked.

One thing we noticed was that they held cooking classes once a month and as we were leaving I made a reservation to attend their “Love the Pig” class that was held this past Saturday. As I left the house to head out for class my wife joked that I should bring my knives with me.

Thankfully, I didn’t.

As I entered the restaurant I scanned the bar area that I was being directed towards and noticed a large group of people. There was a large table in the center of the room with mis en place ready and immediately I knew that something wasn’t right.

I stood there frozen wondering how they were going to accommodate all these people in the restaurant’s kitchen. Then there was the painful realization that it wasn’t going to be a hands on cooing class, but rather a local, more intimate version of watching the Food Network.

As I sheepishly wandered the room looking for an empty seat, I found a group of people kind enough to let me join their table. The pangs of guilt at being there without my wife began to wash over me and I fired off a text message to her apologizing my ignorance in advance for the experience I was about to have alone.

Over the next three and a half hours I had a front row seat to watch Chef Tom Condron do what he does best – create beautiful dishes using simple ingredients and inexpensive cuts of meat. We had the opportunity to sample a soup, two entree dishes and a dessert that, yes, featured pork and that were all paired with a wine chosen for that day’s menu.

As I finished the dessert course those pangs of guilt returned. However, The Liberty provided all in attendance with a complete list of recipes so that we could try our hand making them at home. I will most certainly be making the slow roasted pork belly with curried lentils, as well as the bittersweet chocolate and chorizo crostini.

The thought of chocolate and paper thin slices of smoked sausage doesn’t sound like a logical fit, but it was amazing. A terrific balance of salty and sweet.

Leaving The Liberty I scanned the list of remaining cooking classes with every intention of returning, this time with my wife and maybe even a small group of friends. I had an excellent time and loved the leisurely pace of the meal.

If you think about it, you can go out to a nice restaurant during dinner hours, be in and out in an hour and a c-note lighter with having only sampled what you ordered (and possibly what your date had). I paid $25 plus tax and tip for a three and a half hour experience, tried four different dishes paired and just as many different wines and got to meet some really nice new people.

I strongly encourage you to seek out restaurants in your area that offer cooking classes and try them out. These classes represent an incredible value for your dining dollar, plus you might go home with some inspiration to try something new in your kitchen.

We are already making plans to attend their Thanksgiving dinner class next month. Maybe I’ll try to bring my knives anyway.

Photo credit: ishane on Flickr

This post was the last in a five part series that I wrote for a dad blog that is no longer active. I stumbled upon this previously unpublished post while cleaning up some files. It is unedited from when I first wrote it over a year ago. If you’re interested the series starts here then continues with post two, post three and post four.

In the final installment of this series I’m offering up an idea to help you do something special for a busy wife that is always on the go. With all that needs to get accomplished first thing in the morning we sometimes forget things like breakfast or the all important mid afternoon snack to help power us through the day.

Since it’s the little things that can make a big difference, here is another great way to do something special for your wife if she is too strapped for time, but would love to have something healthy bring along. One of the best things I did for my wife both during and after her pregnancy was make her banana nut muffins.

They are simple to make, very versatile and keep well in the freezer for a week or two. Depending on how she was feeling she would have the muffins with some peanut butter and yogurt for a nutritious breakfast. Other times, especially when she was on second shift at work, she would take them along as a snack to avoid the vending machine temptations.

Over the past few years I’ve made these muffins a number of ways, including vegan. Our son developed a milk protein allergy around the four month mark and my wife was determined to continuing nursing. To accommodate this I had to perform a modest overhaul of the basic formulation. After two batches I managed to get them where she thought they were even better than the ones with dairy products.

The recipe you see here was adapted from the Eating for Pregnancy cookbook, as I altered recipe from time to time based on what we had available in the house when I was baking or to tailor them more to my wife’s tastes.

Banana Nut Muffins

Hardware:

Two muffin pans
Two medium mixing bowls
Measuring cups and spoons
Whisk, spatula, spoon and other utensils

Software:

3 or 4 mashed bananas
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. oatmeal
1/4 c. flax seed, ground
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 c. chopped walnuts (or your favorite nut)
1/2 c. light brown sugar (packed)
1/3 c. canola oil
1 large egg
1/4 c. milk

Assemblage:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Mash the bananas in one of the mixing bowls and add the milk, oil, egg and brown sugar, stir to combine.
• Mix the whole wheat and all purpose flours, oatmeal, baking soda, salt and walnuts, stir to combine
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly
• Divide the batter into the greased muffin pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes (depending on your oven), or until you can easily remove a knife from the center cleanly.
• You should yield a dozen muffins

Variations on a Theme:

If you are interested in these vegan style, the recipe is pretty easy to modify. I’ve exchanged the milk with both soy and rice milk and I dropped the egg for a 1/4 cup of apple sauce. With the milk protein allergy, my wife also had to drop any peanuts or tree nuts from her diet, so at her request I substituted them with pumpkin seeds so she had some textural element.

Serving Ideas:

These are great with a little peanut or almond butter as a great on the go breakfast or fine all on their own as a mid morning or mid afternoon snack.

Well, that is all from me. I hope you enjoyed the series and took a little something away from it. As always, If you give this, or anything else here, a try I’d love to hear from you about how you liked it, or to tell us about something you do in your home.

This post was the fourth in a five part series that I wrote for a dad blog that is no longer active. I stumbled upon this previously unpublished post while cleaning up some files. It is unedited from when I first wrote it over a year ago. If you’re interested the series starts here then continues with post two and post three.

One of the things I love about my wife is that she is a creature of habit. Despite the regularly changing work schedule that seems to be the norm when you work at a hospital, she enjoys a good routine.

Take her lunches, for instance. Being a single income household we do everything we can to save money wherever we can, and that usually means she packs a lunch. In my role as family chef it is usually up to me to prepare her lunches for the coming week so it is as easy as possible for her to grab it and go each day before work.

For as long as I can remember I have been making her a curried beef stew that I would portion out into freezer and microwave safe containers. She found the recipe when she was pregnant with our son and it has been a staple in our house for so long now that I can recite the recipe, as modified for her tastes, in my sleep.

However, as summer approached she asked me if we could mix things up with her lunch menu. Considering I had been making her this stew for the better part of two years now, her request came as a shock. Mostly because it took her this long to ask for something different.

As it turned out, it wasn’t because she was tired of having the stew for lunch, rather it was too hearty for her to eat outside in the summer heat. She told me about a chicken salad sandwich she had one of the few times she didn’t take her lunch to work and asked me if I could devise something like that for her.

Eager to make something different for her, I set out to create a chicken salad recipe that she would be happy eating. After two or three attempts I’ve managed to construct something that she truly enjoys.

Tarragon Chicken Salad with Craisins and Walnuts

Hardware:

Medium saucepan
Large mixing bowl
Cutting board and knife
Measuring cups
One cup serving bowls (for storage)
Spatula

Software:

1 package boneless chicken breasts
1 cup white wine (optional)
2 medium celery stalks
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
Salt and pepper to taste

Assemblage:

• Fill the saucepan about 2/3 of the way with water (and white wine, if you so choose) and bring to a boil
• Put the chicken breasts into the boiling water, reduce heat to medium high and keep a rolling boil until cooked through (about 12-15 minutes)
• While the chicken is poaching, chop the celery, walnuts, craisins and tarragon and put in large mixing bowl
• When chicken is done poaching, remove from hot water and allow to cool
• Dice the cooled chicken and add it to the bowl with the remaining ingredients, fold in mayonnaise

Variations on a Theme:

This recipe is flexible and very much open to interpretation. I’ve made this with both red seedless grapes and golden raisins in place of the craisins. You could also mix up the vegetable content by adding some onions or even some diced bell peppers.

If you choose to add onions, specifically red onion to the mix, be sure to soak the chopped onions in some cold water for about five minutes. Raw red onion can tend to linger on your breath and soaking it helps draw some of that sharp flavor out of them.

Presentation:

The nice thing about this recipe is you can make it in advance and you’ll get about six or seven servings out of one turn at the stove. Whenever I make a batch of this I usually portion it into one cup individual serving sizes. This way my wife can take it to work for lunch, or, if we are pressed for time, we can serve it on a bed of arugula and baby spinach to make dinner in a flash.

There you have it, a quick, simple chicken salad you can prepare in advance and have for either lunch or dinner.

If you give this, or anything else here, a try I’d love to hear from you about how you liked it, or what you do for quick dinners in your home.

Brinner is a staple in our household.

Little man loves him some brinner and has even gotten to the point where he will occasionally ask if we can have pancakes for dinner. Every few weeks we have one night where I forget to plan a meal or just want to mix things up a bit, so I am happy to oblige.

Having breakfast for dinner is usually a very simple thing to execute in a short period of time. We are always well stocked with eggs, milk and all the other necessary ingredients to make pancakes.

However, now that I’m on the Paleo Diet, when my son very politely asks me out of the blue “Papa, can we please have pancakes for dinner” I need to think about my response before I commit to things.

Sure, I could always whip up a batch of standard issue pancakes just for him, but we are working hard to get him to eat what we eat at dinner. Our opinion is that he needs to realize that dinner is a family event and that his father isn’t a short order cook who will cater to his every culinary whim.

After nine days on the diet of eating just meats, vegetables and fruit, I decided that it might be a good idea to test out a few recipes I had been researching. One of them just happened to be almond meal pancakes.

Long story short, I made a batch and they were very tasty. I cheated a little by using sugar free maple syrup and a vegan spread on them. I know that’s not totally paleo, but I’m still following the spirit of the diet with a few minor exceptions.

Almond Meal Pancakes

1 1/2 cups almond meal or flour*
1/2 cup coconut milk
4 eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
Blueberries (or your favorite fresh fruit)**

Combine all ingredients, portion out onto a hot griddle and cook until golden brown.

* Almond meal is simply ground up almonds with their skin on. Almond flour is made by first blanching the almonds to remove the skins prior to them being ground.
** You could also mash up a banana and mix it in the batter to make them Banana Almond Meal Pancakes

Little man wholeheartedly approved of my efforts.

I’ve oft spoken of my praise for the braise. Of all of the culinary techniques out there turning an inexpensive cut of meat into a transcendental experience is easily my favorite.

Surely there are more difficult things to do in the kitchen, but few are as comforting and satisfying.

Not only that, but as a stay at home parent, it makes my job putting a delicious meal on the table that much easier. If I want I can set up everything to go the night before, drop the slow cooker insert in, set my time and walk away for six to eight hours.

As a result, I am always on the looking for new and interesting flavor combinations so I don’t fall victim to predictability. When I caught an interesting recipe on Mark Bittman’s blog for Coconut Braised Beef earlier this year I was rather excited.

It is a simple recipe using coconut milk to braise some cubed chuck and not long after discovering it I made it for dinner. It was good, but it wasn’t great. I think it may be a textural thing, but I’ve come to the realization that I’m not as much of a fan of braised beef as I am of slow cooked pork.

Deciding that I needed to try it again, this time with pork, I also wanted to add a little more of my style to the dish. I substituted srirracha for the dried red chilies out of convenience, then I proceeded to add mango and lemongrass into the mix. By the time I was done making my modifications only five ingredients remained of the original recipe in my now very Thai style dish.

To make the presentation more appealing (my wife loves colorful food) I diced some mango, scallions red bell pepper for garnish to make it look festive. Personally, I think that it ended up making the dish look like a pork sundae – and that certainly isn’t a bad thing.

The results of this experiment were phenomenal and, according to my wife, this dish vaulted to the top of her list of favorite things that I make. After nearly six years together and a lot of kitchen adventures I felt that for a first try it was a rather impressive accomplishment.

Personally, I’m not much of a fan of a lot of sauce on my dishes, but the braising liquid reduction with pureed mango was very silky and would taste good on a car bumper.

Interested in giving this a shot? Then head over to peaches en risotto for my coconut and mango braised country rib recipe.

One of the challenges I’m preparing for now that we have two children in the house is organizing meal time, especially finding something that your uber picky two year old will actually eat. Fortunately, my wife is still on maternity leave, so I have two weeks left before this could really become a problem.

With my son stating to show an interest in certain forms of meat, I have been stealing any moment I can to prepare food in advance and freeze it so I can cut down the prep time after my wife has returned to work. I’ve made a few batches of sausage (chicken and cold smoked barbecue) and meatballs to give me some breathing room during the week.

The other day I read a post about old fashioned burger stand burgers by a blogger I have recently started following and was inspired to prepare a custom burger blend to add to my icebox warchest. After putting together a burger bar for my son’s second birthday using Chef Michael’s Symon’s Lola burger blend I was curious to make some modifications based on Julie’s post.

This is my grinder. There are many others like it, but this one is mine. My grinder is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my grinder is useless. Without my grinder, I am useless.

If you’ve read my Dad in the Kitchen posts for long enough, then you know that grinding up meat is one of my favorite things to do.

I have an old school hand crank model that I use for batches under 10-15 pounds and then I have a 3/4 HP motorized one for when I’m going to crank through forty to fifty pounds of meat.

I started out by grabbing a few pounds of tri tip sirloin steaks and a brisket, but rather than the chuck I had used previously I substituted boneless beef short ribs. I stuck with the 40/40/20 ratio, broke the meat down into cubes, seasoned it using a Umami Hamburger recipe and let it get happy in the refrigerator for an hour or so.

After coarsely grinding the mixture I loosely packed the meat that I had into a dozen burgers (about 1/3rd of a pound) and six little man sized burgers. Since we were having them for dinner that night I dug up my 2’’ round ravioli cutter and trimmed a sandwich thin and a slice of cheese to fit his burgers and served them up.

We were pleasantly surprised with his reaction, as he ate the entire burger with dip (his name for ketchup and maple syrup) and the broccoli slaw that I served with it.

The burgers I made that we weren’t going to consume in the next few days got partially frozen before I vacuumed sealed them for their stay in the freezer.

The substitution of the boneless beef short ribs for the chuck was a great move. From a cost standpoint I only spent about $.30/pound more than I would have for the leanest pre-ground meat at my local mega mart (which is the best comparison since I don’t add fat beyond what the meat already has) and I got to control what went into it.

If you’re interested in making your own custom burger blend you don’t even need your own grinder – although it is much more fun. Julie’s post provides a great set of instructions on how to do it by using a food processor and partially frozen meat so it doesn’t turn to mush.

PJ’s Custom Burger Blend

adapted from Chef Michael Symon, Willow Bird Baking & White on Rice Couple

Software

• 2 pounds tri tip steak, sirloin tips or sirloin steak
• 2 pounds boneless beef short ribs
• 1 pound beef brisket (with the fat cap on)
• 5 garlic cloves, finely minced*
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/4 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground star anise

Assemblage

• Cube all the meat and add to a large mixing bowl
• Add the remaining ingredients to the cubed meat and stir to combine well
• Return seasoned meat mixture to the refrigerator for an hour or so
• Grind using a coarse plate, or follow instructions on this post for using a food processor
• Pack loosely into patties of a size that fits your need, cook and enjoy
• Should yield 10 to 15 burger patties depending on preference

* When I made my batch I did not add garlic as baby girl doesn’t seem to appreciate it at this time. We are hoping to be able to return garlic to our diet shortly.

Just before our daughter was born I went on a bit of a cooking spree. We had some close friends who were due a few days before we were and just over a week ago they surprised us with the news that their son was born.

Given that it was their second child, and second son at that, there was nothing they really needed that we could have bought them for the baby. Instead, we came bearing the gift of a home cooked meal.

When our son was born the best thing people did for us was bring food over because more often than not we were so preoccupied with attending to his needs that we neglected our own. The meals that we received were a godsend and we figured this was the best way to both help our friends and welcome their child into the world.

As I was shopping for the ingredients for a super sized meatball and lasagna dinner for them, I figured it was just as easy to double down and freeze some for us. Considering our daughter was born only 10 days later I feel like an absolute genius.

Late last week I was reading the blog of food author Michael Ruhlman, a favorite of mine, and he had a video post on how to make sausage.

While I wouldn’t consider myself an expert by any means, I feel am a seasoned sausage maker. My cold smoked barbecue sausage is easily my favorite cased creation. It takes nearly two days to create a batch, but when they grill up with that beautiful mahogany color it makes it all worth while.

Still, I’m always up to see if I can learn any new tricks, and as I was watching his video the sausage recipe he included in the post caught my eye – Chicken Sausage with Basil and Tomatoes.

All of a sudden inspiration struck and evil plans immediately began constructing themselves in my head. I decided that I would cash in some of my contest winnings and experiment with a chicken sausage recipe based on my prize winning dish.

With the exception of a German weisswurst I made for Christmas a few years back I have only ever used pork as the base for my sausages. Since I haven’t made any sausage in a few months I was intrigued by the possibilities of using chicken.

I set out to build my base ingredient list and decided that instead of using chicken skin or substituting pork back fat that I would use pancetta, which would also replace the proscuitto in the braciole di pollo recipe. Next I eliminated the bread crumbs because they made no sense to include and I substituted ricotta salata (you could characterize it as Italian feta) for the fontina cheese.

After procuring all the ingredients, I cubed the meat (the chicken and the pancetta) and seasoned it with salt, fresh ground black pepper and finely minced garlic overnight. Father’s Day afternoon I mixed in the remaining ingredients I had planned and ground it up.

With all the ingredients mixed together and ground, I cooked up a quick patty to test my seasoning and to ensure my concept was as good in practice as it appeared to be in theory.

The seasoning was perfect and the  results were phenomenal.

About an hour after we had the sausage cased and packaged up for storage my wife started to go into labor. A little more than five hours later we welcomed our sweet baby girl into the world.

Now that we are home with her I’m a little more than relieved that the “what’s for dinner” question won’t be an issue for a week or two.  Also, I’m pretty confident that chicken sausage will be making its way into my sausage making rotation.

If you are interested in the recipe, shoot on over to peaches en risotto for Braciole di Pollo – The Sausage*

*yeah, I know, I need a better name