Quick chicken burritos for a crowd

I don’t know why, but I like burritos on a hot summer evening. Last Saturday was another lazy day for us ‘river people’ at my humble abode. I spent most of the afternoon with my book and a chair in a shady spot in my backyard.

At dinnertime, I pulled out my cutting board and started slicing. I was in the mood for something spicy. This is how I put dinner together. It must have been ok because there are no leftovers and there were only three of us.

Olive oil

2-1/2 lb. chicken breasts, cut into strips

3 bell peppers, cut into strips

4 jalapeños, cut into strips

3 large onions, cut into wedges

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. white pepper

1 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. adobo seasoning

4 limes, cut into wedges

Extra large sized tortillas - burrito wraps

Preparation

Heat an extra large cast iron pan and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Add the chicken and spread it out. Cook the chicken until it starts to brown and any liquid is boiled off. Stir often. Add the seasoning a little at a time as you stir.

When the chicken is cooked through, add the peppers and stir. After about five minutes, add the onions and stir. Keep cooking, stirring often, until the onions are softened. Squeeze the lime wedges and stir.

Serving

Heat another large cast iron pan until it is very hot. Have each person heat their large tortilla and place it on the plate. Next you simply add some of the meat and vegetables. Now add some hot salsa, a little greek yogurt and a bit of cheese and wrap it up like a burrito. 

Wolf that down. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Ice cold beer is good for washing everything down.

Smokey neck bone spaghetti with San Marzano tomatoes

This is one of those recipes where you have to do something the day before. You see, on Saturday I went to the store to get something for the grill. I picked up a pork roast and on the spur of the moment, I bought some pork neck bones, which are good for spaghetti sauce.

I lit the grill for the pork roast, and I decided to roast the pork neck bones on the smokey charcoal grill as well. That night we had pork roast, with a smokey gravy over boiled potatoes with a side of wilted cucumbers and onions. 

The next afternoon I pulled out those charcoal roasted neck bones and made this spaghetti sauce. I ended up making two meals out of one batch of charcoal. 

2 lb. pork neck bones

Cajun seasoning

Olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped fine

3 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp. thyme

1tsp. marjoram

2 tsp. basil

2 cups red wine

2 cups chicken broth

2 28 oz. cans of San Marzano tomatoes

1 6 oz. can of tomato paste

1-½ lb. of spaghetti

Preparation

The day before you make the spaghetti sauce, season the neck bones heavily, with cajun seasoning, on all sides. Roast them over indirect heat in a covered charcoal grill. Add a few pieces of hardwood to add a little extra smoke. Let them roast for a couple of hours. Cool them, and save them in a zipper bag for tomorrow.

The next day, heat a large heavy bottomed pot. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Add the smokey neck bones and stir. Add the onions and let them cook for about ten minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic, thyme, marjoram and basil and stir. Let that cook for another couple of minutes. Add the wine and bring it to a boil. Add the chicken broth and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover the pot. Let that simmer for an hour or more, stirring often.

Add the San Marzano tomatoes and break them up with a knife and fork. Stir and let that simmer for another half hour. Stir in the tomato paste and keep stirring until it is well mixed in. Let the sauce simmer, uncovered, while you put spaghetti water on to boil. Stir the sauce often. Cook and drain the spaghetti and serve.

Serving

Serve large mounds of spaghetti, covered in the sauce. Now most of the neck bone meat will have fallen off the bone by now, but there will be some still attached to the bone, so pile on the neck bones too. Cover it all with tons of fresh grated parmesan cheese. Add in a large salad, some homemade bread, and open a bottle of Montepulciano DʼAbruzzo. Dinner is served.

Norman's pepper steak hash

I don’t often have too many leftovers on hand. You see, I am not supervised in my daily life (except by my two dogs), and I usually eat until the food is all gone. I often serve dinner for four, without inviting the other three. (I know someone famous said that, but I can’t remember who, so I’ll pretend I’m the first one to say that.)

Anyways, a while back I had cooked a bunch of steaks for a group, and I had two leftover. Here’s how I turned them into a meal for four (this time I did invite the other three).

10 medium potatoes

Water

Salt

½ lb. bacon

2 large bell peppers

2 large onions

2 large cloves of garlic

2 medium rare strip steaks

Red pepper flakes

Ground cayenne

Paprika

Adobo seasoning

Worcestershire sauce

Louisiana Hot Sauce

Preparation

Grab a large pot and fill it half full of salted water. Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes. As each one is cut, put the cubes in the pot of water. When all the potatoes are peeled and cut, place the potatoes on the stove to heat the water. Bring the potatoes to a boil and let them boil for about five minutes. Drain the potatoes.

While the potatoes are on the stove, heat a very, very large cast iron skillet (or use two if you must). Cook the bacon until it is crisp. Set the bacon on a paper towel and add the potatoes to the skillet. Spread them out.

While the potatoes are in the skillet, chop the onions, bell pepper and garlic. Set them aside and cut the steaks into cubes.

Turn the potatoes over with a spatula and sprinkle them with a generous sprinkling of red pepper flakes, cayenne, paprika, and adobo seasoning. (Adobo seasoning is a Mexican version of cajun seasoning. If you don’t have adobo, just use cajun seasoning.) Every few minutes, turn the potatoes. After about ten minutes, add the chopped bell peppers. Continue to stir every few minutes. After another ten minutes, add the onion. 

When the onion begins to soften, add the garlic and steak. Also chop and add the bacon. Continue to stir every few minutes. After the hash develops a nice crust each time you turn it over, (about another ten minutes), sprinkle on a generous sprinkle of Worcestershire sauce and then splash on a little Louisiana Hot Sauce. Stir and let the hash cook another five minutes, turning it over often. When the hash is kind of crusty and sizzling hot, turn off the stove and serve.

Serving

Serve a huge pile of hash on a plate and have ketchup and/or hot sauce and/or salsa available to spice up your hash. You also want a crisp salad, homemade bread and butter and plenty of ice cold beer to wash everything down. A big fruit salad makes a nice dessert.

Pasta with tuna, basil and lemon

I almost always have a couple of cans of Italian tuna packed in olive oil on the counter. I just love that stuff, and I could eat it right out of the can. A few years ago I started making a pasta out of it that always turned out pretty good.

The other night, I was going to make up a batch of this for some friends. As I was getting started, I saw a large lemon on the counter. Hmm. Then I remembered I have some fresh basil in my garden. I decided to add these to my tuna pasta. Here’s what I did.

Olive oil

Red pepper flakes

1 large onion, chopped fine

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. dry basil

4 anchovy fillets, chopped

1 tsp. flour

Cajun seasoning

White pepper

1/2 cup white wine

1 cup (approximate) of chicken or vegetable broth

2 6 oz. cans of tuna packed in olive oil

Juice of one lemon

1/4 cup fresh torn basil leaves

1 lb. rigatoni, cooked and drained

Preparation

Heat a large skillet until hot. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Add the onion and red pepper flakes and stir. Let that cook about ten minutes until the onion is soft and starting to turn golden.

Add the anchovy, basil and oregano and stir until the anchovy kind of dissolves. Stir in the flour and sprinkle on some cajun seasoning. Stir until all the flour is absorbed in the oil and let it cook for about a minute. Add the white wine and stir, and then add a cup of the broth. Stir and bring it to a boil. 

Reduce the heat so it simmers. You want it to have a gravy consistency, so you may have to cook it a few minutes to thicken it (Or if you are like me and don’t measure anything, you might need to add more broth. Either way, adjust it so it has the right thickness).

Add the tuna and break it up with a knife and fork. Stir to incorporate it into the sauce. Once it is simmering again, stir in the lemon juice. Let that simmer one minute and turn off the heat. Add the torn basil leaves and toss the sauce with the rigatoni in a large bowl. Serve immediately.

Serving

We served this pasta, next to a pasta with a basil/tomato/sausage sauce. To that, we added some homemade bread, a bowl of olives and a bottle of ice cold Vinho Verde wine. I sprinkled a little crumbled blue cheese over my tuna pasta and grated parmesan over my tomato pasta. I also went back for a huge second helping and got a sidewards glance from my friends, for overeating.

Chicken fajitas

When I left the office yesterday, I was kind of hungry so I stopped off at Jewel and picked up some chicken. I was in the mood for something spicy and all of a sudden I had fajitas on the brain. I picked up some peppers and checked out.

Have everything cut up before you begin. Once you do, this cooks up fast.

1-1/2 lb. chicken breasts, cut into strips

Olive oil

1 tsp. cajun seasoning

1 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. cayenne

1 tsp. white pepper

1/2 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. oregano 

2 large onions, cut into wedges

2 red bell peppers, cut into strips

4 jalapeño peppers, cut into strips

4 limes

Soy sauce

Large burrito sized tortillas

Preparation

Heat a very large cast iron skillet until it is very hot. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. In batches, sear the chicken strips until they are cooked through and starting to brown. Remove them to a plate.

Add the peppers and onions to the pan and stir. Let them cook until they are hot and sizzling. Add the chicken back to the pan and stir. Stir in the seasonings. When everything is mixed together and sizzling, squeeze the limes over the pan and then sprinkle on a little soy sauce. 

Let that cook, stirring, for another couple of minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Heat another cast iron skillet so your dinner guests can heat their tortillas.

Serving

Heat a tortilla on the hot cast iron and put it on your plate. Spoon on a bunch of the chicken and peppers. Cover with some hot salsa or hot sauce. Fold or roll up the burrito wrap.

Along with your fajitas, you want a cool crisp salad, chips and homemade salsa, and set a bowl of olives on the table. Open an ice cold bottle of Riesling to wash everything down.

Steak fajitas after deliberations

Well, I finished serving on a jury for the first time in my life. It was a lot better experience than I expected. The wonderful people who served on the jury with me, really made it great. They ranged everywhere from as young as 19, all the way up to old grouches like me. It was close to half male and half female, and all were a pleasure to work with. The 3 day trial was interesting, and deliberations needed only a couple hours. All in all, it was a great experience.

During the time I was serving on the jury, I had to do all the paperwork from my day job, at night, which then had to be emailed. That didn’t leave me much time to cook and enjoy dinner. I had to concentrate on quick, easy meals. One of the nights, I opted for fajitas.

I love fajitas. I always have. Here is how I like to make beef fajitas, using nice little ribeye steaks. I like to use large burrito wrap tortillas, but you could use regular corn or flour tortillas for this. This recipe is for four. I know that most people don’t eat as much as I do, so you may have leftovers.

Seasoning mix

1 tsp. cajun seasoning

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. cayenne

1 tsp. smoked paprika

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. white pepper

1 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. thyme

Everything else

4 ribeye steaks

Olive oil

1 large onion, cut into wedges

1 bell pepper, cut into strips

5 jalapeño peppers, cut into halves

1 zucchini, sliced

2 medium tomatoes, cut into wedges

4 limes

Lots of burrito wraps (heated in the oven or on cast iron, and covered with a towel)

Preparation

Mix the seasoning mix well in a bowl. Season all steaks generously on both sides with some of the seasoning mix. Keep the remaining seasoning mix nearby for later in this recipe and for future use.

Heat a large cast iron skillet (big enough to hold all four steaks in a single layer) until it is very hot. I used olive oil because that’s what I had, but peanut oil would be better. Add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the steaks and sear them approximately four minutes per side so the steaks are medium rare. Remove the steaks to a platter in a warm place.

Heat the skillet again so it is hot. Dump all the vegetables into the pan and let them cook, stirring occasionally so they are charred in spots and sizzling hot. Sprinkle on a teaspoon of the seasoning mix and stir it in. Squeeze on the lime juice and stir until it is sizzling again.

Serving

Place the vegetables in a serving bowl and set them on the table. Place the tortillas on the table along with some lime wedges, soy sauce and hot sauce. Place one steak on each plate and let your dinner guests do the rest.

Sprinkle a little soy sauce over the steak. Take a burrito wrap and add some sliced steak. Now add in lots of vegetables. Squeeze on some lime wedges, and a little hot sauce, and roll it up to eat. A spicy Zinfandel, or an ice cold Riesling, are good choices for wine, or simple serve lots of ice cold beer. 

Smokey bone-in pork - roasted long and slow

Usually I am pretty lazy on Sunday. On Saturday, I do a lot of chores, but Sunday, I don't do much but relax. Recently, I bought a nice bone-in pork butt roast, which I wanted to roast over wood and charcoal. I seasoned it up and let it rest for a few hours. 

When it was time to cook, I lit two fires in the grill. I put the roast in a cast iron pan on the grate and centered it between the two piles of coals and closed the lid on the grill. Next I found a nice shady spot to sit and read ... for the next five hours. As I said, I am kind of lazy on Sundays.

Every once in a while, I’d get up to add a small chunk of wood to the coals and turned the roast over in the pan. After five hours, it was beginning to fall apart and was smokey good. Here's how I prepared everything.

Rub

1 tsp. cajun seasoning

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. cayenne

1 tsp. smoked paprika

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. white pepper

1 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. thyme

Roast

4 lb. bone-in pork roast

Olive oil

3 limes, quartered

6 potatoes, washed

Flour

Cajun seasoning 

Water

Preparation

Mix the rub together and stir well. You won’t need all of it for this, just save the rest. Rub the roast on all sides with lots of the rub and let it sit in the refrigerator for a few hours, or better yet, overnight.

Make two piles of charcoal on opposite ends in your grill. Place a hardwood branch, about 2” thick and five inches long, as a border for each pile of charcoal. Light the charcoal by placing dry sticks on top of each pile of charcoal and lighting them with a torch.

When the sticks have burned down and the coals are glowing, place the roast on a cast iron pan and drizzle a little olive oil over the roast. Place the pan on the grill centered between the two piles of hot coals. Add the potatoes to the grill, but not over the coals. Squeeze half of a lime over the roast and cover the grill. Sit down and read.

After an hour or so, the coals will start to dwindle. Add a chunk or two of hardwood to the coals to produce smoke. Also, add a few pieces of charcoal to each pile. Not enough to raise the heat a lot, just enough to keep the coals alive and smokey.

Every hour, turn the roast over, add a few pieces of charcoal, and squeeze some lime juice over it. After about an hour or so, you will notice the potatoes are done. Remove them from the grill. 

After five hours, the roast will want to fall apart when you try to turn it over. That’s a good thing. It’s a sign that your roast is ready to serve. Put the potatoes back on for a few minutes to heat them back up and then bring everything in.

Place the roast on a cutting board and pour off some of the fat out of the cast iron pan, but leave enough for gravy (about half a cup, depending on how much gravy you want). Heat the remaining fat on the stove and add enough flour to absorb most of the fat. Season the flour and fat with cajun seasoning. Start adding water, a little at a time to make a gravy. When it is the right consistency, taste it and adjust it for salt and pepper.

You won’t have to slice the pork as much as pull it apart. I was able to pull the bone out of the meat and it came out clean. It should pull apart easily. Place the meat on a platter.

Serving

To serve this, take a potato and break it open. Pile a big pile of the roast pork next to the potato and then smother both in gravy. Add some sautéed broccoli next to that. Slice the fresh baked bread, pour the wine and dinner is served!