Category: home cooking

barbeque sauce

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I have had lots of requests for this one as we used it on one of the early burgers and I have often stated that I won’t buy barbeque sauce any longer. It is that great. It reminds me slightly of some sauce I had when I lived in Overland Park, KS at Hayward’s Pit BBQ and is adapted from Bobby Flay’s book we have been cooking through in this blog, Bobby Flay’s Burgers, Fries & Shakes. The book that changed our thinking! This is worth any trouble. Pick up a squeeze bottle at the grocery store before you make it and dub it the sauce bottle because it does stain plastic. See the Cheyenne burger earlier in the blog for a photo that does it justice!

a healthy splash of canola oil
1 medium onion chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
1 T dijon mustard
1 T red wine vinegar
1 T worcestershire sauce
2 canned chipotles in adobo diced (put the rest in a baggie and freeze, use as needed…works great)
1-2 T Cayenne
1/4 cup brown sugar
2-3 T molasses

Cook onions five or so minutes in the oil over medium heat. Add in garlic and cook another minute or so. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes or so.

We then transfer everything to the blender and puree the heck out of it. Be careful – it is really hot and blenders can explode! Pour through a funnel into your bottle and store in the fridge.

We love it and use it on fries, burgers, hash browns…

mary’s pecans

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a lovely lady that I used to work for in Denver spent some time living in North Carolina and I don’t know if she brought this recipe away from that or not but it is how I associate these wonderful pecans. They are great sprinkled on salad or eaten out of hand or for gift giving in cello bags tied up with ribbon.

1/2# pecan halves
1 egg white
1 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Froth egg white in a medium size bowl. Pour in nuts and toss in egg whites.
In a second bowl mix sugar with salt and cinnamon. Sprinkle over top and toss with nuts.

Spread nuts evenly on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour tossing and stirring every 15 minutes. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container in your fridge. They keep for ages!

Cheers!

pasta alfredo con limon

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a recipe a day from Christmas Adam’s (that’s the day before Christmas Eve according to a friend of ours) until the New Year. May your days be merry and bright and your table filled with friends! Happy Christmas! This is a super easy supper (make the sauce in the time it takes to boil the pasta to al dente. This recipe is adapted from Giada DiLaurentiis.
8 ounces pasta (fettucine is ok, but I really enjoy Spaghetti Rigate)
1 1/4 cup light cream
juice and zest of one lemon
6 tablespoons salted butter (I didn’t say it was light just tasty.)
1 cup grated parmesan
Freshly ground black pepper (red pepper flakes give a bit of zing on top and color)
Cook the pasta to al dente in boiling salted water stirring occasionally. Drain.
In a large saucepan over very low heat pour in one cup of the cream along with the lemon juice and zest. Add the butter and cook on low just until the butter melts, stirring occasionally, (for a few minutes.)
Remove from the heat and add the pasta and toss until it starts to thicken and slightly absorbs the sauce. Add the remaining cream and parmesan to the cream sauce and stir until it thickens slightly, just a minute or two.
Top with a bit of extra cheese and pepper. Serve with some lightly dressed greens or oven roasted asparagus so you can feel a bit more virtuous.

Happy Christmas!

home cooking

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It’s a Saturday and I had to work today. It turned out to be pretty interesting though, a simulcasted conference called either LeadNow or RightNow depending how they feel about it. A 20/30 something conference that was basically about, doing the right thing. The right thing being knowing and then actually living out the gospel of Jesus and how that might affect someone considered a ‘leader’.
But, the actual reason for this blog is that I came home to Z making me dinner. He had gone to the vegetable market today and picked up some veg for the week and was making oven roasted asparagus. They were tossed in a glug of olive oil and roasted with salt and pepper until they crisped and laid on top of a bowl of pasta alla amatriciana that was resplendent with garlic, red pepper flakes. bacon and bacon fat. A piece of fresh baked crusty bread was tucked in at the edge.
I never realized this as much as I have lately but I love eating at home. Don’t get me wrong, I like eating out, particularly when it is thoughtfully chosen and carefully cooked food well presented. But I love eating at home with it’s comfort and care. I know that everyone in the world does not have the privilege of coming home to a meal, hot or otherwise. Some do not have a family or home to come ‘home’ to at all. I am thankful that I do.