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When my wife and I got together, she would tell me her fish stories. Her family did not grow up a fishing family, as a matter of fact, I think they did very little of it. However, they loved fish, and one story she has is that when she would travel to visit cousins, her parents would insist that she bring them smoked fish from Port Washington, Wisconsin. She would have to bring a carry on of smoked fish! I’ve tried that fish, and not only was it wonderful, it had a phenomenal smoke smell. A smoke that if brought on a plane would get some heads turning!

That wonderful smoked fish that my in-laws would travel close to a hour for no longer exists, and based on those stories, and the memories of how great that smoked fish was, I decided to provide my take on smoked fish for my wife. No travelling necessary. Furthermore, I ended up smoking more trout that weekend and freezing it for later use, it was just that good.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

• 4 fresh trout, gutted, skin on
• 1 gallon cold water
• 2/3 cups of brown sugar
• 1 cup of kosher salt
• 1 tbsp black peppercorns
• 2 cloves of garlic, smashed
• 1 cup of cherry wood chips, soaked in water for 2 hours

Start by adding the water, brown sugar, salt, peppercorns, and garlic to a large enough container where you can fully submerge the trout. Stir the mixture to get all of the salt to dissolve.  This is your fish brine and will have an impact on the fish. It will add a bit of flavor, while at the same time keeping the fish moist throughout the smoking process. Once dissolved, add the trout, place a cover on the container and place in a refrigerator for 3 hours.

After 3 hours, remove the fish from the brine, and rinse the fish off under cold water. Pat the fish with some paper towel to remove some of the water.

Your next step is to get your smoker going. I use a drum smoker, and use charcoal as my base, and when the coals are heated, put the water pan in the middle layer, top rack, and lay on the fish. Cover the smoker, add the soaked wood chips on and around the heated charcoal, and cook on medium-low for about 3 hours.

Due to the fact that trout are fairly small is size, they do not take that long to cook. Keep an eye on the temperature, and your result should be a fish that is not dried out, but firm and ready to go. The meat should be opaque.

When the trout is cooked, remove it from the smoker, and let it come to room temperature.

Now, the possibilities are endless.  I enjoy how my wife and her family grew up eating smoked fish. Basically grab a fish, put it on your plate, add a bit of cooked rice as a side, and dig in. The smell is nothing but amazing and the texture and flavor of the fish is phenomenal.

Other ideas are to use some of the fish in salads, pastas, or sandwiches. However you use this smoked fish, I am certain you will enjoy!

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As the Christmas meal often stems around a bone in, spiral ham (which I love), I decided to surprise the family with something new. I wanted them to experience a whole new dish, and something that is elegant in its own right. The porchetta.  Days prior to the holiday feast, I began preparing the porchetta. A bit labor intensive, and time consuming, the end result is nothing but spectacular.

Lets get started.

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

• 11 lb pork belly, thick skin in tact
• 6 sprigs of fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup of sage, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup of fresh thyme, chopped
• 2 tbsp toasted fennel, ground
• 3 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp cracked black pepper
• 2 heads of garlic, minced
• olive oil
• 15 slices of pancetta, thinly sliced
• 4 lb pork shoulder, butter flied
• Additional Salt, pepper, chopped rosemary, thyme, sage
• 3 large carrots
• 3 celery ribs
• 3 cups of chicken stock
• butcher’s twine

Begin by cutting the meat side of the pork belly into crisscross incisions being careful not to cut through the skin. Do this for the whole pork belly.

Add the minced garlic, and herbs to a bowl. Drizzle enough olive oil until it just becomes wet. Set aside.

Generously season the pork belly with salt and pepper. Take the garlic and herb mixture and begin massaging it into the pork belly, making sure you get into all of the scoring of the meat. Roll, and securely wrap it in plastic wrap. Place this in the refrigerator for 3 days.

To the pork shoulder, season with some salt, pepper, and the additional herbs, just enough to lightly coat. Lay down the pancetta on a flat surface, making it a blanket for your pork shoulder. Add the shoulder to the pancetta, and carefully roll into place. Place in a large plastic bag, seal, and refrigerate for 3 days.

When you are ready to prepare the porchetta, take the shoulder and belly from the refrigerator and let them come to room temperature. Unroll the pork belly. To the top of the pork belly, add the pork shoulder, making sure everything is nice and snug. Roll the porchetta, lengthwise, into a roll. Take your kitchen twine and begin securing the porchetta.

Now what you end up with is a pretty darn long pork roll. My guess is that it will be too long for your roasting pan, so what I did is simply cut the porchetta in half and roasting them in two separate roasting pans. With that said, to the bottom of your roasting pan, add the carrots and the celery stalks, laying the porchetta, skin side up, on top of the vegetables. Drizzle a bit of olive oil onto the skin and massage it all over the skin. Season with a bit more salt.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

Lay your roasting pan in the preheated oven, and cook for roughly 45 minutes. Take in the smell, it’s amazing. After this time, begin basting the top of the skin with the pan juices every 30-40 minutes.

Your total cook time for the porchetta will be roughly 4 hours.  After this time, remove the porchetta from the oven and onto your cutting board. Let this rest for about 20 minutes so that all of the juices distribute throughout the porchetta.

Remove the butcher’s twine and discard. With a serrated knife, or better yet if you have an electric knife, begin slicing through the crisp pork skin, then through the succulent pork. Cut into rounds if you can. Plate on a large serving dish for your guests.

A layer of crisp pork fat, then a wonderful blend of herbs and pancetta, followed by succulent pork shoulder, every bite is succulent and extremely delicious. This porchetta was the perfect meal to serve lots of people, inexpensive compared to most other holiday meals, and I had plenty of leftovers for some really killer sandwiches.

Probably not the best name for this open-faced sandwich, but when you make it,  you will understand when it comes out from the broiler, hot and bubbly. The sandwich has been around since the 1920′s and was invented in Louisville, Kentucky at the Brown Hotel, a hotel which still exists to this day, as does the sandwich.

I have been wanting to make this sandwich for some time now, and with the passing Thanksgiving holiday, I figured this would be the prime opportunity to make the sandwich. Boy, am I ever glad that I did!

The sandwich is simple, yet divine. It is a sandwich unlike most other sandwiches, not just because it resides on thick Texas toast, or possibly the fact that it is smothered in a mornay sauce, but it also had the wonderful thick sliced tomatoes, and oh yeah, topped with smokey bacon!

Enough said. Let’s get started.

Serves 2

Ingredients for the Mornay Sauce:

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1/8 tsp grated nutmeg
• 2 cups of heavy cream
• salt
• pepper
• 1/4 cup of Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

Begin by melting the butter in a sauce pan. Once melted and it begins to bubble, add in the flour. Stir to mix all of the ingredients, and continue to stir for a few minutes, until you have a nice golden brown. Just be careful not to burn it. Slowly add in the cream, and begin whisking at a slow pace. Continue to whisk until the sauce begins to thicken and the flour mixture is nice and smooth.

Remove it from the heat, add in the cheese, the nutmeg, and season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Set this aside.

Ingredients for the Hot Brown Sandwich:

• 4 slices of Texas toast bread, crusts trimmed
• 1 cup of roasted turkey
• 1 large tomato, cut into 1 inch slices
• 4 slices of cooked bacon
• Reserved bacon fat, optional
• Pecorino Romano Cheese, grated
• Flat leaf parsley, chopped, optional

Preheat your broiler to 450 degrees.

To an oven proof serving plate, add the slices of bread, and lightly brush with some of the bacon fat on both sides. Place into the broiler oven for a few minutes to lightly toast, then remove the plate from the oven.

Stack two slices of the bread onto individual, oven safe plates. I used a cast iron, fajita-style plate for this sandwich. To each sandwich, top with the roasted turkey, then two slices of tomato, then coat the sandwich with the mornay sauce. Sprinkle with some pecorino romano cheese. Place back into the broiler oven for about 5-7 minutes, or until the cheese is really bubbly and begins to turn brown in some areas.

Remove from the oven, top each sandwich with two slices of bacon, and shower the sandwich with chopped parsley.

Cutting into this open faced sandwich is something beyond words. A bit rich from the cheese sauce, sure. But the combination of the bread that soaks up the mornay sauce, along with the subtle sweetness and acidity from the tomato, and then there is the warmed turkey with the bacon, and when all said and done, it is nothing but pure heaven in a bite.  So if you never get to Kentucky, at least you can make one of these Hot Brown sandwiches! Hope you enjoy.

The things I have always loved about the portabella mushroom is that you can do so many things with it. Whether you decide to grill it and place it on a sandwich, or finely dice it and make duxelle, one of my favorites is thinking of ways to stuff them and serve them as an appetizer, or heck, a light meal for that matter.

This is not my first time posting on stuffed mushrooms. Indeed, I have posted a few times on making these lovely appetizers. Maybe it is that time of year. The near end of summer when the lighter, more crisp air enters Wisconsin that makes me want to turn on the oven and bake these lovely appetizers, or maybe it my love for blue cheese. I think it is the blue cheese!

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb of lean ground pork
• 6 medium sized portabella mushrooms, cleaned and gills removed
• 1 cup of gorgonzola blue cheese, crumbled
• 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt

Begin by lightly dampening a paper towel. Take each mushroom and lightly remove the gills with the edge of a spoon. To the head of the mushroom, lightly brush off any dirt with the towel. Repeat.

To the ground pork, add the salt and pepper, and one sprig of the fresh thyme. Thyme only, no stems. Mix well.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Add the mushrooms to the baking sheet.

To each mushroom, fill each one with about one tablespoon of the blue cheese. To the top of the cheese, add a thin layer of the ground pork mixture. Top with a small pinch of salt and pepper, and some of the fresh thyme.

Place in the oven and cook for approximately 25 minutes.

When you are ready to plate, remove from the oven and place on a serving tray. Top with a bit more blue cheese.

Earthy, salty, and overall delicious, this one is a good appetizer any time of the year.

If you are looking for a satisfying appetizer that will please a small crowd, try these gorgonzola stuffed mushrooms out. I think you will be happy that you did.

As you have probably seen, I have been making everything from mint chocolate chip ice cream to cookies and cream, to yes, pecan pie ice cream. I made this pecan pie ice cream because a friend of mine on Faceook suggested it. I do open the polls from time to time asking what friends would create should they have the opportunity, and the responses have been pretty creative. Everything from chocolate and Sriracha, to green tea, to pumpkin, but it was the pecan pie that I thought I would create.

This pecan pie ice cream has everything you would expect in that lovely piece of pie, and it is also one that all of my kids really enjoyed. Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of whole pecans
• 1/4 cup of light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 pie crust, store bought, cooked according to directions
• 1 cup of whole milk, cold
• 1/4 cup of granulated sugar for the ice cream maker
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups of heavy cream, cold
• pinch of salt
• Ice Cream Maker

As I always say when making ice cream, freeze the bowl, as it is very important that it is completely frozen.

Begin by adding the milk, and the quarter cup of granulated sugar to a mixing bowl, and do just that, mix with a whisk until all of the sugar dissolves. Add in the vanilla extract, and the heavy cream. Assemble your ice cream maker, and turn it on, adding in your mixture. Let the mixer spin for at least 30 minutes.

During this time, cook your pie crust, as well as caramelize your pecans.

To make the pecans, add the butter and sugars to a skillet. Toss in the pecans, and cook on medium to low heat until the sugars dissolve and begin to caramelize the nuts. Remove and place on parchment paper, allowing them to cool.

Once the pie crust is cooked, remove from the oven and let it cool. Once cooled, break into bite sized pieces.

Once the pecans are cooled, pulse them in a food processor. Do not pulse them into a fine texture, as you want bits and pieces to be throughout your ice cream.

Once the ice cream has formed, fold in your pie crust, salt, and the pecans. Now it is ready to be eaten. Serve in a bowl with any remaining pie crust, and save the rest in some pint sized containers.

Hope you enjoy!

Thankfully, I plan ahead. I hide the chocolate bars where they cannot reach, and typically the marshmallows, as I have one boy who would eat them all day long if he could. So my answer is always yes. Yes, we can make smores. It is nice to see how they are quickly growing and as they would only want their marshmallows uncooked a few years ago, they now want them charred to the crisp. This has allowed me to see how their tastes are changing and how they are beginning to be curious about how the burnt marshmallow tastes on a bed of chocolate and covered in graham crackers. Because I am a foodie, that simply brings a bit of joy to my life.

So happens a couple of Sundays ago, I was unable to make a fire due to the weather. That caused a change in my Sunday routine, but it did not stop me from making smores! If you know me, I quickly came up with the idea of making an ice cream packed with everything you would expect in a great smore.

Lets get started.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of whole milk, cold
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 2 cups of heavy cream
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 5 graham crackers, roughly crumbled
• 1 cup of miniature marshmallows, torched
• 2 Hershey bars, crumbled
• Ice Cream Maker

Always make sure you freeze the ice cream bowl. Do this the night  before. Begin by adding the milk and sugar to a mixing bowl, and do just that, mix with a whisk until all of the sugar dissolves. Add in the vanilla extract and the heavy cream. Assemble your ice cream maker, and turn it on, adding in your mixture. Let the mixer spin for at least 30 minutes.

During this time, prepare your remaining ingredients.

To torch your marshmallows, I use a micro torch that I purchased years ago for making creme brulee. You can find one at your local hardware store, or online. So torch your marshmallows, burning them to your liking.

When the ice cream has formed, fold in the graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows.

Scoop and serve.

I am not sure what my kids loved more. They were quiet and somewhat giggling at the fact that they were loving smores ice cream, possibly more than smores around the fire pit. That laughter and quiet joy made my Sunday evening, much like staring at the fire does.

Give this one a shot, and let me know what you think. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of Bing cherries, pitted
• 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups of water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup of brandy

Start by pitting your cherries. This takes some time. If you have a pitter, use it. I do not, so I used a pairing knife to carefully wedge in by the pit to remove it.

Next add the water and sugar to a pot. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat and add in the vanilla and the brandy. Stir. Let cool then add in the cherries. Store in a sealed tight container, in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks.

The end result is what I expected, and very similar to that of the distillery. Cherries that were sweet, delicious, soft, and ones that were perfect in dessert as well as a refreshing cocktail.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

• 2 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
• 1 cup of plain yogurt
• 1 head of garlic, minced into a paste
• 2 tbsp grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 large yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup of canola oil, plus 3 tbsp
• 1 whole cinnamon stick
• 1 large tomatoes, diced
• 6 whole cloves
• 3 whole Bay Leaves
• 1 tsp ground coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp Caraway seeds
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg, grated
• 1/2 tsp cayenne powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 8 oz tomato sauce
• 1/2 tsp tumeric powder (for color)
• 3 Thai Bird chili peppers, stem removed, chopped
• 1/4 cup of craisins
• 1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
• 5 tbsp clarified butter
• 2 1/2 cups of Basmati rice
• large pot of boiling water
• salt

Sounds like a lot, right? Well, it is, but everything is well worth it in making this dish. So, lets begin by marinating the chicken, for at least 8 hours. To do this, combine one tablespoon of the garlic paste, and the ginger paste, the cup of yogurt, a pinch of salt, and the cubed chicken pieces. Seal in a plastic bag, giving it a good massage, and place in the refrigerator.

During this time, gather the rest of your ingredients, feeling free to slice, dice, and measure. There is nothing wrong with being prepared.

When you are ready to get this dish moving along, do the following:

Get a large skillet heated on the stove, along with a large pot of water, but lets not heat the water. Add the 1/4 cup of the oil into the skillet, and bring it to a medium-high heat. Add in all of the sliced onions, and lower the heat to medium. Give a nice stir, and let the onions begin to brown.

While the onions are cooking, add the rice to the pot of water, along with the cinnamon stick, cloves, and caraway seeds, along with about a teaspoon of salt. Give a good stir, and let the rice take on some of the flavor. Let the rice soak for about 30 minutes. Continue cooking the onions.

The onion process is going to take you about 25-35 minutes, keeping in mind that you want to stir, and stir frequently. The goal is to get the onions to caramelize, but at the same time get a certain crisp to them. When the onions have maintained this state, remove them from the skillet and place them on a paper lined plate, spreading them out, allowing them to drain, and crisp up a bit. Reserve the skillet for making the chicken mixture.

Strain the rice. Add a lot of water back to the large pot, and bring this to a boil. Salt the water, and place the strained rice, along with the other items we placed such as the cinnamon stick, etc, back into the boiling water, and cook for about 6 minutes, or until the rice is just slightly cooked through. The goal with this is to not overcook the rice, as we are going to layer the rice, along with the other items, and continue cooking the rice on very low heat. Once the rice has boiled for about 6 minutes, strain, and lay into a large dish, spreading out, and fanning if possible, to quickly cool.

As the rice cools, prepare the chicken mixture.

Take the same skillet you used to cook the onions, and add a few tablespoons of additional oil, bringing it to a medium-high heat.

Toss in two cloves, and the bay leaves, and let the sizzle for a minute. Next toss in the additional garlic and ginger paste, giving a quick stir. This process you want to go pretty quickly, almost like stir frying. Toss in the diced Thai chilies, and the chicken, with about half of the marinade. Give a good stir, and let the mixture reduce down. Once it reduces, add in the remaining dry spices, the craisins, as well as the tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Stir, and reduce down again. Remove the bay leaves and cinnamon sticks from the mixtures.

Now we are ready to layer the chicken biryani. To a large and heavy pot, I like to use my dutch oven for this one, add in about half of the clarified butter, swirling along the bottom, and sides of the pot.

To the bottom of the pot, add in a nice layer of the semi-cooked basmati rice. Next add a layer of the chicken mixture. Top that with some of the cilantro and fried onions. Repeat this process, eyeballing how much you have of each layer, until you have the last layer being the rice. Drizzle with the remaining butter, along the top, and on around the sides.

Cover the entire top of the pot with aluminum foil before placing the cover on top. The goal here is to not let any steam escape during the next slow cooking process.

So, to the stove, add the large pot and cook over very low heat for approximately 40-50 minutes. Once that time is up, remove from the burner, and let it rest for about 15 minutes before uncovering.

Prepare yourself. Remove the cover, and the foil, and as stated, prepare yourself for your house to be smelling so delicious. You get cinnamon off the bat, plus the clove, then the garlic and ginger. I am not kidding when I say that this simple dish is one that  you can keep out on a Sunday afternoon as your family will keep coming back for more.

Every bite is packed with great textures, and one where the aroma just hits your nose. The smell before eat bite is really divine. Enjoy.

As I wanted to make hard boiled eggs for my kids, I also had a craving for deviled eggs, but with a twist. I wanted to create something that had two things I loved; blue cheese, and Spanish chorizo, and do a special delivery to my in-laws. The flavors of the blue cheese and the chorizo really knocked these deviled eggs out of the park.

Let’s get started.

• 10 eggs (makes 20 deviled eggs)
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• cold water, enough to cover the eggs by at least 1 inch
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup of mayonnaise
• 1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1 tsp of your favorite hot sauce
• 1 chorizo link, cut into small cubes
• 1/4 cup of blue cheese, crumbled
• ice water

Begin by adding the eggs to a large pot of water, adding the vinegar, and cover with water. Bring to boil, then cover, and remove from the heat. Keep covered for 13 minutes. During this time, fill a large bowl with water and add about a cup of ice.

As the eggs are cooking, add the chorizo to a skillet, preheated on medium heat. Cook the chorizo for about 5 minutes, or until fully cooked. Remove them with a slotted spoon and place onto a paper towel to let any excess grease be removed.

Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and place them into the ice water to quickly cool.

Take an egg out, and gently tap the egg on the counter, just lightly cracking the shell. Carefully remove the shell from the egg. It should peel right off. Continue with the rest of the eggs.

Next, with a long and sharp knife, slice the egg in half, lengthwise. To another bowl, add in the cooked egg yolks from each of the eggs, and place the cooked egg whites onto a plate. Continue with all of the eggs.

To the bowl of egg yolks, add the mustard, mayonnaise, hot sauce, and black pepper. Mix well until all lumps have been removed. Next, fold in half of the cooked chorizo, and all of the blue cheese.

I like to add my mixture into a quart size ziploc plastic bag, then in the corner of the bag, simply cut off some of the corner, allowing you to pipe it into the egg whites for a much more consistent presentation. Fill each egg white, just a bit over, and repeat with all of the eggs.

Top each egg with the remaining pieces of the chorizo, and dig in.

The hidden treasure of the blue cheese adds a bit more excitement to the tangy filling, and you get these nice spicy cubes of chorizo to balance these deviled eggs out. Addicting and delicious, to say the least. Hope you enjoy.

At first when you hear carrot soup, you are probably like most people, and say “no thanks, I’ll pass”. But do not pass this one up. Sure, it does not look like anything special, but after I made it, and both my wife consumed it over the course of a few days (yes, it is that good), every slurp of that soup was ended by either one of us, or both, saying things like “oh my”, “oh my gosh”, and “wow”. I kid you not, this soup is so simple to make, and is just packed with great flavor, and heck, it is good for you to boot.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

• 2 large yellow onions, diced
• 2 pounds of carrots, peeled, and roughly chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 6 cups of chicken stock (or vegetable)
• 2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
• 1 cup of heavy cream (or 2% milk will work just fine)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• Crushed Pistachios (optional)

To your soup pot, add in the butter, toss in the onions, carrots, ginger, and garlic. See how easy so far? Sweat these down for about 8 minutes or so, then toss in the stock. Bring this to a boil, then cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 40 minutes, or until the carrots are nice and tender.

Now, if you have an hand blender, use it. If you do not, you are going to want to transfer your soup in batches to a blender, being ever so careful to place a towel and some of your force over the lid of the blender before making it into a puree.  Do this in batches, and return the carrot soup back to the soup pot.

Add in your salt, pepper, and heavy cream. Mix well, and let the soup come back up to temperature.

When you are ready to serve, simply ladle the soup into some bowls, and top with some of the crushed pistachio nuts. Now, get ready to start your engines and after your first spoonful, get ready to say “oh my gosh”. Enjoy.