I've been making this salsa over and over and over again the last few weeks. We've just been plowing through it.
Ridiculously fast to make if you need something for guests or a party or late night munchies, which is generally our case. I'm having a hard time deciding if I like this salsa more? Or pico de gallo more? I think I must like them equally for different reasons.
I'm not sure why I didn't take better pictures of any of the batches I made. All I did was take a quick pick in a plastic storage container. We fancy. Next batch (which won't be long) I'll try for some better pics.
Here's a band from my home state, Illinois - Blue Meanies with "The Infidelity Song". -jen
RESTAURANT STYLE SALSA Time: 5 minutes
Difficulty: Easy Makes: 4 cups Need: Food processor or blender
2 cans (14oz each) diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 onion, rough chopped
1 jalapeño, rough chopped*
5 medium-sized garlic cloves
1/2 cup packed cilantro
juice of 1 lime (about 1-1.5 tbsp)
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
*For a medium spicy salsa, leave seeds in. For a mild salsa, remove seeds. For a hot salsa, add a second jalapeño.
No Cook Version: Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse until desired consistency.
Cooked Version: I prefer to actually cook the canned tomatoes in a sauce pan over a medium-high heat for about 15-20 minutes, then let them cool about 10 minutes before placing in a food processor or blender with all the other ingredients and pulsing until desired consistency. Cooking them takes away some of the "tinny" taste from the can. I've made it both ways and they're both good! This is just my preference.
Clearly, I've been on a cheese spread kick. Not only did I do the Cheddar Cheese Spread recipe, and Justin did Ina Garten's smoked salmon spread, but I also made a cream cheese, green olive and pecan spread that I remembered my mom stuffing celery sticks with for holidays when I was a kid. After talking to my grandmother the other day, come to find out, my great-great grandmother used to make the pecan-olive spread stuffed in celery. 100 year old family recipe! Pretty cool to me! One of my older brothers and I both had the urge to make it this year (without having talked about it) - must be feeling reminiscent. I hope at least one of my nieces or nephews end up liking it too to carry on the tradition.
Anyway, this all actually started with me having the desire to do a Swiss-almond cheese spread. I just hadn't gotten to it yet. I was trying to think of something to do to it so it wasn't just Swiss-almond spread and I thought caramelized onions would be great with it... and they were. I think this might be our favourite dip/spread yet. The Swiss cheese is so mellow and mild... but the almonds give it a good crunch and the onions with it almost remind me of French-onion soup. Really delicious!
I blame the holidays for my cream cheese extravaganza. And I've definitely been in a holiday mood - I am guilty of being one of those dreaded people who loves Christmas music. Justin suggested a song from Bad Religion's Christmas Songs, but I couldn't decide on one. And Christmas only comes one a year, so I thought I'd share a link to the whole album. -jen
SWISS-ALMOND CHEESE SPREAD WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS Time: 25-30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Makes: about 2 cups
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, 1/4" slices (on the thin side)
8oz cream cheese, softened
8oz finely shredded Swiss cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon paprika
salt and fresh ground pepper
1/2-3/4 cup finely chopped almonds
In a large skillet over a low heat, melt butter and add olive oil. Add sliced onions and let cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Onions will be soft, dark and sweet. Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, in a food processor (or with a fork), combine cream cheese, shredded Swiss, mayonnaise, paprika, a pinch of salt and a few cranks of fresh ground pepper; blend until creamy and smooth. Add caramelized onions and pulse (or fork) until combined. Fold in chopped almonds by hand. Taste and add more salt and pepper if desired.
Here's the thing about this recipe - you can go all out and do the whole thing: marinated chicken, whiskey caramelized onions and mushrooms, whiskey cheese sauce, and it'll take a few hours, but be well worth it! Or... you can only go half ass and make it quick! You could just marinate the chicken and bake it, easy enough. You could make the onions and mushrooms to stuff in the chicken breast, and pass on the cheese sauce. Or throw the whiskey onions and mushrooms on a burger. You could just make the cheese sauce to go on some veggies, or nachos, or pasta or whatever you want to put cheese sauce on. I'm trying to say it's versatile! And only as complicated as you want to make it. But it was smokey and rich... delicious.
I could see this being good with a variety of whiskeys. I used Jameson, because that's what we like to drink. Jack would be good. Use whatever you like to drink... and I highly suggest shots while cooking.
So tunes to go with it... some SoCal punk we were just introduced to and really enjoying - The Sparring. Check out their Facebook page for tour dates, news and new music! But first... enjoy their video for "Straitjacket". -jen
1-2 teaspoons minced garlic, depending on taste (we love garlic)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
a few good cranks of fresh cracked black pepper
4-6 chicken breasts
2 cups Whiskey Caramelized Onions And Mushrooms (see recipe below)
2 cups shredded Smoked Gouda cheese
Whisk all ingredients together. Butterfly chicken breasts and place one at a time in a Ziploc bag and using a mallet or bottom of a sauce pan, pound the chicken out to 1/4" thick. Then place all the butterflied breasts into the Ziploc and add the marinade. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (for quick clean up) and coat foil with non-stick cooking spray. Lay the butterflied chicken breasts open on the foil and on one half of the breast, sprinkle a layer of smoked Gouda. Top with a big mound (about 1/2 a cup) of the caramelized onions and mushrooms, then sprinkle another layer of Gouda on top. Fold the breast the other half over the stuffing like a taco. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until chicken has reached 265 degrees. Cooking time is going to vary depending on size of chicken breasts. (We use a leave-in thermometer, they're awesome.)
WHISKEY CARAMELIZED ONIONS AND MUSHROOMS Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30-40 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Yields: about 4 cups
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, julienned
16oz of sliced crimini mushrooms
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced ginger
3 shots of whiskey
Heat butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add onions and mushrooms, Worcestershire, brown sugar and pepper flakes. Toss to coat, then let cook for about 10 minutes, stirring once or twice. When onions start browning, turn heat to low and add garlic, ginger and whiskey. Let cook an additional 20 minutes or until all liquid has evaporated and onions have caramelized, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
(If you're going to make the cheese sauce below, you can remove the caramelized onions and mushrooms and just use the same skillet - no need to even rinse it out. That's flavour!)
WHISKEY AND SMOKED GOUDA CHEESE SAUCE
Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Yields: about 2 cups
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 and 1/2 shots whiskey (divided)
1 pint (2 cups) heavy cream
1 cup chopped Caramelized Onions and Mushrooms (optional)
dash of cayenne pepper, depending on taste
1.5 cups shredded smoked Gouda cheese
salt and pepper
In a skillet or sauce pan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add flour and whisk for 3-5 minutes. Whisk in 1/2 a shot of whiskey and heavy cream. Add Caramelized Onions and Mushrooms (if you choose to) and cayenne. Continue stirring until sauce begins to thicken. Once thickened, turn off heat and stir in shredded cheese, one handful at a time, until melted. Stir in 1 shot of whiskey. Add salt and pepper to taste if needed.
So this is an older recipe from five or six years back that we decided to resurrect and revitalize. My brother, Drew, always raved about this one since it's creamy, cheesy, pasta goodness with some awesomely spiced chicken so this remake is for him. I used some penne that I had around the house but you could use some fettuccine or whatever you prefer. Also, the mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes are optional and can be added in quantities to your liking or not at all if that's what you prefer.
For musical accompaniment, The Vandals with Urban Struggle. Cause it's the Vandals, that's why. - justin
BLACKENED CHICKEN ALFREDO Prep time: 20min Cook time: 25 min Difficulty: Medium Serves: 4-6
Enough water to boil 1 lb of noodles
1lb of noodles
1 lb boneless skinless chicken cut into 1 inch cubes or thin strips
1 tbs blackened seasoning
4 tbsp butter
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 cup diced yellow or white onion
1/4 cup diced sun-dried tomatoes
2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup white wine (I used a pino grigio)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon zest
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tsp Kosher salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup shaved or shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 chopped green onions
Toss the chicken and the blackened seasoning together in a gallon ziplock and set in the fridge. This can actually be done as early as the day before cooking if you really want to get those flavors in there.
Salt your pasta water generously and bring it to a rolling boil and add your pasta of choice. Bring it back up to a boil and drop it to a low boil for 10 min, or until al dente. Drain and set aside.
When you drop the noodles in the water, bring a cast iron pan up to heat over a medium burner and add 2 tbsp of the butter and let it melt. Add your chicken that had been sitting in the blackened seasoning and let it blacken. The milk solids in the butter, along with the spices in the seasoning, will turn dark and blacken as the chicken cooks. Try not to move it around too much before the surface touching the skillet has time to caramelize a bit. If it doesn't blacken completely, don't fret. You're going to smother it in alfredo later anyway and it's going to taste awesome so no worries.
When your chicken has cooked, remove and set aside. Return the pan to the heat and add the mushrooms, onions, and sun-dried tomatoes. Saute for 3 minutes or until onions become translucent. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute more. Add the wine, lemon juice, and lemon zest and simmer for 5 minutes, using a spatula or wooden spoon to scrape up all the brown bits from the bottom of the skillet. Add the chicken that was set aside, the heavy cream, kosher salt, and ground black pepper and bring the heat up till the cream is at a low boil. Allow it to reduce by 1/3.
After the cream sauce has reduced and thickened, kill the heat, stir in the butter, Parmesan and the pasta. Mix well and allow the pasta to absorb some of that sauce. Serve it up with the chopped green onions served on top and with a couple of slices of the sun dried tomato if you like!
Jen and I love pickles. Jen a little more than me, I think, but we both like the Claussen brand refrigerated dills.
We set about trying to find a good homemade substitute and came up with one that's pretty close to the same taste and equally as good. It's simple to make, costs less than store bought and requires no cooking or canning at all. All the ingredients are cheap and if you don't have them you can find them all at your grocery store for cheap and have enough left over to make tons of pickles.
We've tried this pickling liquid with carrots, onions, English (or hothouse) cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, garlic cloves and a variety of other stuff. Get crazy and add fresh herbs or different spices or add some sweetener if you prefer sweet pickles (we do not happen to prefer sweet pickles). You can also use this for any style of cut cucumber you like; spears, chips, whole, sandwich slices, etc.
The brine tends to last for 3-4 weeks in the fridge and can be reused several times if you happen to go through your pickles quickly, like we do.
I was in a rockin' mood when I made these and thought it was a little odd, and a tad remiss, that we hadn't had a Bad Brains song on here yet in the past 2 years so for your listening pleasure, Bad Brains and Hank Rollins covering "Kick Out the Jams", which happens to be on the Pump Up the Volume soundtrack. An awesome 80's movie, incidentally. Anyway, here's Bad Brains:
Add all ingredients to a 1qt mason jar. Stuff full of cucumbers, or whatever you like, and fill the remaining space with water. Seal tightly with a lid and shake to dissolve and infusilate all the spices and seasonings. Place in fridge and let it pickle. For cut veggies, it only takes a day or two to pickle. For whole cucumbers and such, 3-4 days are required and the bigger the veggie, the longer the time.
I like to slice some ribbons of onion, some carrot sticks, and toss some whole garlic in with the cucumbers and then you've got all the fixins for a good salad or a relish.
This is basically a "we're broke and gotta do something with leftovers" soup that came out fantastic! Very rich, creamy soup and surprisingly, neither the asparagus nor the broccoli are overwhelming. As Justin just said, it's a stick-to-your-ribs soup. Now, I actually made this soup with some of Justin's homemade pork broth which gave it this great, smokey, ham or bacon flavour. However, since I know most people don't have pork broth hanging around in their freezer, I'm going to post the recipe with chicken broth, which is perfectly acceptable.
I'm going to be honest here with the music - I was in a retro mood and listening to my Rosemary Clooney Pandora station (even my garnish got retro!), but this is a rock'n'roll blog and I just can't bring myself to post one of her songs. So I'm going with a song that came across my ears yesterday that I hadn't heard in years! T.S.O.L.'s "Black Magic"! I remember loving this song the first time I heard it and then playing it over, and over, and over, and then over again! Hard to find a video of this song at all! -jen
CREAM OF ASPARAGUS & BROCCOLI SOUP Time: 45-60 minutes total Serves: 6-8 Difficulty: Easy
1.5 pounds of asparagus
1 pound of broccoli
olive oil
salt and pepper
10 tablespoons butter
2 medium onions, chopped
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
2/3 cup flour
5 cups chicken broth
3 cups milk
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending on taste)
2 tablespoons dry sherry
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Remove woody ends of asparagus and discard; chop the asparagus into 2" pieces. Chop broccoli into about 2" pieces, including the stems. Lay out on a baking sheet and drizzle generously with olive oil, then toss to coat all vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 30 minutes. Set aside.
Meanwhile, heat butter in stock pot over medium-high heat and saute onions until soft and transluscent, 5-10 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook an additional 3 minutes. Add flour and stir until combined, cook another 5 minutes. Whisk in chicken broth and milk until all clumps have disappeared and sauce begins to thicken. Add roasted asparagus and broccoli, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, tarragon, and cayenne pepper. Taste soup to see if it needs additional salt and pepper. Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. (If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a regular blender or food processor, but do it in batches and be careful because the soup is hot!) Stir in sherry and serve.
So, I'd had a desire to make some onion jam recently and finally found a recipe I liked as well as the motivation to actually attempt it. It came out delicious! With roasted garlic and some apple cider how can you go wrong? Once it was done, however, I needed to use it on something. So we got a nice, big pork tenderloin roast and carved it out into a flat sheet, brined it overnight, smothered it with the jam, cranberries, raisins, pecans, and rolled it back up and baked it. Awesome is the best way to describe it. The brine is good for both pork and chicken and the jam works well on bagels with cream cheese, most meats, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are next on my list to try.
To back it up musically, I've got some Cock Sparrer with one of my favorites from them "Take 'Em All". Nothing like some gutter punks to compliment a nice fall meal! - justin
Add all ingredients to a 3 qt saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. This can be frozen for later use if desired.
Caramelized Onion & Roasted Garlic Jam
Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 60 minutes Makes: Slightly less than 2 quarts Level: Easy
4 heads of garlic
4 cups onion, chopped
1 cup raisins
1/4 cup butter
2 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
5 cups sugar
2 oz dried pectin
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove the papery outer skin from the garlic heads but do not peel or separate cloves. Cut off the top inch of the garlic bulbs and brush with olive oil. Wrap each bulb in heavy duty foil and bake for 35-40 minutes or until soft. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.
In a dutch oven, saute onions in butter for 30-40 minutes or until lightly browned. Squeeze softened garlic into pan. Stir in the cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, salt, white pepper, ginger, cloves, and smoked paprika. Bring to a rolling boil. Gradually add sugar, stirring constantly. Return to a boil for 3 minutes.
Add the pectin and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and allow the liquid to cool for 5 minutes, scraping any foam off the top afterward. Pour mixture into sterile quart canning jars, leaving 1/2 inch of head space. Adjust the caps and process in boiling water for 10 minutes if long term storage is desired. Otherwise the jam can be stored in the fridge for immediate use.
Onion Jam Pork Roast
Prep Time:12 hours Cook Time: 2 to 2.5 hrs Serves: 8 people Level: Medium
5 lb pork tenderloin roast
1 qt pork or chicken brine
1 cup Caramelized Onion Jam
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp ground black pepper
Fillet the pork roast out into a flat sheet, like a flank steak. Take a large knife and cut an inch thick piece along the length so the as you roll the roast away from the knife you create a sheet of meat. Place in a gallon ziplock bag and all enough brine to cover the top of the meet. Place in a spill proof container overnight.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Remove the pork from the brine and rinse with cold water to remove the brine. Pat dry with a paper towel. Lay the pork out flat, over three pieces of butchers twine (cotton string) cut to 1 ft in length, and cover evenly with the jam, raisins, pecans, and cranberries. It should look like this when you are done:
Roll the roast back up and tie off at even intervals with the butchers twine. Place in a roasting pan, sprinkle the top with the salt and pepper and place in the oven for 30 minutes a lb, or until the center of the roast reaches an internal temp of 150 degrees. Remove from heat and allow the roast to rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing and serving.
Serve with the jam as a condiment or topping and enjoy!
So I've been tromping around the wooded hills here in Humboldt lately, and after harvesting some wild apples, onions, and some laurel leaves, I made a nice pork recipe. I saw a lot of pig sign in the hills, taking walks every day, that reminded me of my hunting days, several years back. When I returned home, the wife said she'd be brave enough to try my concoction, so I decided to make it tonight. Up in the hills, I had fresh laurel leaves, or what most folks know as "bay", and that has a very different flavor than the dried "bay" leaves. However, there's no loss of flavor in the dish, simply a different one, when using dried "bay". The apples, onions, and peppers all combine to make a delicious medley of flavors that the pork chops only compliment.
The trick to this meal is that it can mostly be done ahead of time and the total prep time, in terms of work hours, is less than 30 minutes. And it yields a great end result!
The brine is the key in this dish. It can be used for the chops, a loin roast, chicken thighs, a turkey, etc. When one figures out that its uses, and subsequently its variations, are endless, then one truly becomes "Lucky". It can be made, and used, days ahead of time or used for as little as 2 hrs, if necessary. - justin
Osker: Lucky
FALL HARVEST BRINE
5 cups water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flake
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp herbs De Provence
1 star anise pod
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
1/2 tsp whole brown mustard seeds
2 bay (or fresh laurel) leaves
10 whole cloves
4 large, bone-in pork chops, approx 3 lbs
Bring all ingredients, except the pork, to a boil and reduce to a simmer for five minutes, to allow flavors to incorporate. After five minutes, remove from heat and allow to cool. Place pork chops and brine in a Ziploc bag or air-tight container and refrigerate for 4-6 hours.
FALL HARVEST PORK CHOPS
2 cups chopped red bell pepper, deseeded
2 cups chopped yellow onion
2-1/2 cups chopped green apples (I used Granny Smiths)
In a 13x9 baking dish, combine the chopped bell pepper, onion, apple, olive oil, salt, and black pepper and toss thoroughly. Place the brined chops on top of the veggies and apples, spacing them evenly apart. Sprinkle 1/4 tsp of Dry Meat Rub on each side of each chop. Bake in a 350 degree F oven until an internal temp of 145 is reached, or approximately 45 minutes. Cover dish with aluminum foil and allow meat to rest 5-10 minutes before serving.
This came out to be such a tasty, home cookin' kinda meal! We'd just had the whole chicken in the freezer for a while, not sure what we were going to do with it. Justin had mentioned brining it. But I left work early today and decided I was cooking up a meal. We had a lot of the stuff on hand - that's often inspiration enough for us... trying to see what we can use up in the fridge and still create something fantastic. We had the garlic sourdough bread, the leftover corn bread, we had onions and lemon... so I really just picked up a few odds and ends to complete it.
Oddly, we weren't really listening to much music while cooking this tonight. So as I posted this, I had this random stream of thoughts that made their way to Rage Against the Machine's "Bulls On Parade" in a ridiculously long, out-of-the-way though process. Punk? Well, not really, though I can think of a handful of arguments on how you could call Rage punk. But I get to break my own rules whenever I want. And if I want to post some Rage, I'm gonna post some Rage! :) -jen
ROASTED SAGE CHICKEN
1 whole chicken (about 5 pounds)
1 cup sage butter (recipe below)
1/2 a lemon, quartered (use other 1/2 in butter below, zest whole lemon first)
1 large carrot stick
1/2 a medium onion, quartered
1-2 celery sticks
a handful of fresh parsley
a handful of fresh basil
salt and pepper
butcher's twine
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Make sure all innards are removed from chicken cavity. Generous salt and pepper the chicken cavity. Stuff lemon, carrot, onion, celery, parsley and basil into cavity.
Tie legs tightly together with butcher's twine. Then gently lift the skin from the chicken and using your hand, rub a generous amount of sage butter under the chicken skin. Rub remaining sage butter over entire outside of chicken. Place chicken in a roasting pan and cook for about 90 minutes, or until the breast reaches 160 degrees F and juices run clear.
SAGE BUTTER
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temp
1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons fresh sage
2 teaspoons parsley, chopped
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 a lemon
several cranks of fresh cracked pepper
MUSHROOM SAGE STUFFING
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1.5 medium-sized yellow onions, chopped
3 cups roughly chopped crimini mushrooms
1 cup chopped celery
5 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
several cranks of fresh cracked pepper
6 cups stale bread, cubed (I like 4 cups sourdough, 2 cups cornbread)
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 eggs, beaten
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Melt butter over medium-high heat and add onions, mushrooms, and celery. Saute until tender, 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in sage, parsley, salt and pepper. Set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, combine bread, chicken broth, and beaten eggs. Mix in sauted vegetables.
Pour into a buttered 9x13 baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees F. Remove foil and continue baking for an additional 30 minutes.
I've always loved Salisbury steaks... the crappy TV dinner kind, the school cafeteria kind, the greasy diner kind. They're usually made with ground beef or cubed steak. Well, we had some pre-tenderized pork steaks we'd been buying lately that were like cube steaks, and they've been a fast, tasty fix for nights we haven't felt like cooking. Recently, we've had some sitting in our freezer and rather than breading and frying them like we usually do (delicious!), I thought I'd try something that "fancied" them up a little, but wasn't a pain in the ass to cook. And this is the recipe I came up with! It looks like a lot of ingredients, but don't let it scare you, it's really fast to make. Basically you're just throwing some onions and mushrooms in a pan with flour and broth, then making a quick dry rub and broiling the steaks for 8 minutes. Super basic, cheap, and some serious home style comfort food.
Having come up with the recipe, I had to decide what kind of music I wanted to listen to while cooking. It seemed like it was a bit of a Southern dish, but I just wasn't in a real hard, punk rock mood. Instead, I did a little 90's flash back to some good, southern alt-rock: The Toadies. I know, I know, we said this was a punk rock cooking blog. But we listen to a LOT of different kinds of music, and we cook a whole lot, so sometimes we're just going to have to mix it up a little. The Toadies never fail to bring some messed up, dark, Southern imagery to mind... creeping kudzu, old plantation houses, old dark family secrets, people mentally and emotionally (and sometimes physically) tortured by generations of fucked up bible thumping... oh yeah, and gravy! So here is one of my favourite Toadies songs, "Away". -jen
PORK STEAKS WITH MUSHROOM AND ONION GRAVY
3 tablespoons olive oil (plus additional oil for drizzling)
2 tablespoons butter
1 large yellow or white onion, julienned
1 pound white mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4 cup flour
1-1/2 cups chicken broth
1-1/2 cups beef broth
2 tablespoons dry Sherry
1/2 to 1 teaspoon Sriracha hot sauce (depending on how spicy you want it)
salt and pepper to taste
4 large pork steaks, tenderized (we bought ours pre-tenderized, like cube steak)
Seasoning Mix:
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dried cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
In a large skillet with straight sides, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter on medium-high heat. Add onions and mushrooms, tossing to coat with oil and butter. (The pan's going to look too full, but it'll all cook down.) Cook, stirring occasionally until onions are translucent and mushrooms are tender. Add garlic, Italian seasoning, thyme, Worcestershire and soy sauce, cooking another 3-5 minutes. Sprinkle flour over vegetables and stir in until completely absorbed, cooking about 3-5 minutes. Add chicken and beef broth all at once and stir quickly in order to avoid lumps in your gravy. Bring to a boil, and then simmer until gravy has thickened. Add Sherry, Sriracha and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside on very low simmer, stirring occasionally to make sure gravy isn't sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Meanwhile, turn oven to broil. Mix together all of the ingredients for the seasoning mix. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil and drizzle with a small amount of olive oil. Pat pork steaks dry and lay over olive oil on one side, then flip to the other side so both sides are coated with a small amount of oil. Season both sides of steaks with seasoning mix to taste (you'll probably use 3-4 teaspoons of the mix in total). Leftover seasoning mix can be stored in airtight container for future use! Broil steaks on one side for about 5 minutes. Flip and broil an additional 2-3 minutes. Serve smothered in onion and mushroom gravy. We used homemade mashed potatoes, but concurred that egg noodles or rice would also be delicious.
MASHED POTATOES
Serves 4
3 large baking potatoes
salt
4 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup milk
pepper to taste
Bring well salted water to boil in large pan. Peel 1/2 of the potatoes (and scrub skin of the unpeeled ones clean). Dice into 2" cubes. Carefully put into boiling water and cook until they're fork-tender (about 12-15 minutes, fork should slide in easily). Remove from heat and drain. In a large bowl, combine potatoes, butter, and milk. Mash with a hand masher until all ingredients are well mixed (butter will melt from the heat of the potatoes). Add pepper to taste.
(We're really trying to work on our plating techniques... so we thought we'd each try a plate.)
I've been making this salsa over and over and over again the last few weeks. We've just been plowing through it. 
