BBQ Grilling: Goat Cheese Stuffed Grilled Sweet Potatoes

                    AP photo: Matthew Mead -- Goat Cheese-Stuffed Grilled Sweet Potatoes

From Denny:  This is a delicious unusual recipe twist for the popular sweet potato.  We all know that goat cheese is a low salt and low fat alternative to the regular highly salted - OK, totally yummy - cheeses.  

I've tried goat cheese as the soft melting quality cheese in my omelets and found it a bit sour in comparison to  my favorite cheddar cheese but eventually created a medley of white cheddar, fontina or mozzarella in addition to just a touch of goat cheese for my favorite blending of flavors..  

Yet that slightly tangy sour taste is the perfect healthy complement to the very sugary sticky sweet potato.  This recipe also adds fresh thyme and olive oil for aromatic delight and lots of fresh garlic and butter for robust flavor.  To sweeten it up a bit the zest of an entire orange is added for that citrus brightness that pairs so very well with sweet potato!

It's advised you slice the sweet potato in thick chunks so it is easy for the thick smear of cheese, oils, herbs and citrus zest to adhere better.  If you like your potatoes to have a bit of crispness on the skin, then open up the aluminum foil in the last 10 minutes of grilling to brown and crisp up a bit.  

Also note that you will require a microwave to partially bake the potatoes before placing on the grill.  This recipe is best done at home instead of at some remote fishing camp with no electricity - like we have so many of here on the Gulf Coast, especially Louisiana. :)

This is such an easy recipe it is kid friendly and a good choice to help teach the kids to learn how to grill by helping you with the prep work.  What creative kid would not enjoy smearing a gooey mess onto those sweet potatoes?  I rest my case. :)  Enjoy!

Let Good Times Roll Stein

Let Good Times Roll celebrates Mardi Gras all year long!

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Easy Fall Recipe: Sauteed Red Cabbage With Apples

Photo: Heather McClelland @ 2TheAdvocate.com

From Denny:  Red cabbage is both a pretty color for the table and an easy vegetable to cook up quickly.  Red cabbage, like regular green cabbage, is great for your skin, an added health benefit!  Who wants wrinkles?  Dine regularly on chicken and cabbage and you sure won't need to bother with silly botox injections or face lifts.  We really are what we eat.  It helps when it tastes good too!

Now that many varieties of apples are in season you can enjoy your favorite apple paired with red cabbage.  All you do is first steam the cabbage. Then saute the apples with some onions in butter, adding the steamed cabbage.

Ahead of time I like to clarify the butter to remove the artery clogging milk fats and it also makes it easier to store at room temperature if you desire, once filtered of the milk fats.  I use a small tea strainer once it's cooled enough to go into a storage container.  I also prefer cooking with Vidalia sweet onions or red onions, sometimes called purple onions or Bermudas, but that's just my personal preference.  This recipe calls for yellow onions.  You decide what your family enjoys best.  Once the cabbage is just cooked through then stir in the cider vinegar and brown sugar mixture.

By the way, be sure not to use an iron skillet for this recipe as it tends to darken the cabbage and apples.  Yeah, it's the vinegar that creates that reaction.  (You could use an iron skillet that is coated with enamel so you wouldn't get that chemical reaction.)

Red Cabbage differs a bit from the common green cabbage.  How?  Well, the leaves are crunchier and the flavor a little bolder.  Some people cook down this cabbage until soft as it tends to get sweeter like in German cuisine.  It's really more healthy if you choose to saute it quickly or lightly steam it just until it's properly cooked through.  Again, it's all about your family's personal taste.  After all, the whole point of cooking is to enjoy the eating, right!? :)

Also, please remember that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, keeping these women in your thoughts and prayers.  Here's my latest Denny Lyon Gifts design (at Cafe Press) to honor all the fabulous women and their supporters fighting this disease.

This design first started off as one of my photos of those favorite hot pink azalea blooms, in addition to many other filters, employing a kaleidoscope filter to create this abstract medallion effect. This design reminds me of how our beauty is always there, no matter what form it takes.  Of course, here in Louisiana, we take creative "French" license with English spellings. :)  The thought bubble is to remind others to support these women on their journey to wellness.  Lots of other styles of t-shirts and other products to enjoy too.  The link takes you to the page of all the products featuring this design.  Thanks for visiting!

Geaux Wear Pink! Women's All Over Print T-Shirt

Help support breast cancer awareness and hope for the cure!

Recipe: Mole Sauce, My Style: Mole Sanchez

Mole Sauce, My Style: Mole Sanchez

From: Recipe courtesy Aaron Sanchez of the Food Network show Nuevos Chilies

Prep Time: 30 min
Inactive Prep Time: 0 min
Cook Time: 1 hr 30 min
Serves: 12 servings

Ingredients

1 pound guajillo chiles, stemmed, seeded, and deviened

1 pound pasilla chiles, stemmed, seeded, and deviened

1 pound ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded, and deviened

2 Spanish onions, quartered

4 tomatoes, quartered

10 tomatillos, peeled

8 large garlic cloves, peeled

1/2 cup black raisins

1 cup dried apricots

1 cup prunes

4 cups red wine

2 tablespoons Mexican oregano

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns

5 cloves

2 large cinnamon sticks

1 gallon chicken stock

2 sweet plantains

Vegetable oil

1 piece Mexican chocolate

5 corn tortillas

Serving suggestion: beef, lamb, or chicken

Directions

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.

Begin by placing all the dry chiles on sheet tray and toasting them in hot oven for 2 minutes until they start to let off an aroma, remove quickly and submerge them in bowl with hot water. Set aside.

Preheat the broiler.

Place the onions, tomatoes, tomatillos, and garlic on sheet tray and allow until roast and allow to char in a salamander or broiler and the vegetables have roasted for about 5 minutes. Remove and set aside.

In a medium saucepan combine the prunes, apricots, and raisins with the red wine and allow to cook for 10 minutes or until the fruit has absorbed all the wine and set aside.

In hot pan, toast all the spices, turning quickly as not to burn them. As soon as you see them smoking, remove, grind in a spice grinder, and set aside.

To start assembling the mole combine the chiles, roasted vegetables, red wine-soaked dry fruit and the spices in large heavy bottom pot. And add the chicken stock and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile peel the plantains and slice into 1-inch thick slices. In a saute pan with 3 inches of oil, fry the plantains until golden and add to the pot as well as chocolate and tortillas cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and puree the sauce until smooth. Serve with chicken, beef, or lamb.

Recipes: Culinary Salute To Spring

From Denny: More comfort food on a $35 budget from a famous chef! Does life get any better? This is the first I've heard of a hanger steak as explained below in the food facts. It's no wonder most of us have never heard of it; turns out most butchers kept this intensely flavorful cut all to themselves. Now it's become quite popular in upscale restaurants. I guess butchers and chefs decided to "share" with the public finally - for a hefty price. :)

Rhubarb is a wonderful Spring tonic as it is a diuretic. Make sure you DO NOT cook or eat raw the leaves as they are toxic! The stalks are perfectly fine to eat and cook up nicely with a lot of brown sugar, some clarified butter, a little salt as a morning porridge or to slather on your toast. That's how we used to eat it at our house when we lived in Maine for a time. We grew our own rhubarb just outside the kitchen door like a little kitchen garden. As a kid I used to love to go pick the long stalks and the huge prehistoric leaves waved at me. It was like they knew they were going to be breakfast without regret. The mind of a child...

Featured here are the recipes of executive chef Kerry Heffernan of the South Gate Restaurant at New York's Essex House Hotel which overlooks Central Park.

Note: If for any reason this video does not display properly or CBS disables it you can click on the title link to take you to the page where the article and video are both located.




FOOD FACTS from CBS:

Gemelli: A type of pasta. The name derives from the Italian word for twins. Gemelli aren't twin tubes twisted around one another, as they may appear to be, but rather are a single, "S"-shaped strand twisted into a spiral. It's similar to fusilli.

Hanger Steak: Hanger steak is so-named because it's part of the diaphragm muscle that hangs between the loin and the ribs. Like skirt steak, hanger steak is a grainy, fatty cut that turns out beautifully if it's well-marinated before cooking. But it can be tough if it's prepared incorrectly. Hanger steak is nicknamed "butcher's tenderloin" because butchers traditionally kept this full-flavored, odd-shaped cut for themselves. It's become very popular now at both high-end and lower-priced restaurants. If you can't find hanger steak, you may use skirt steak or even flank steak.

Rhubarb: Rhubarb can be eaten raw with a little sugar sprinkled over it, but is generally cooked with other ingredients to produce a fruit dish of some type. Rhubarb can be used nicely to enhance the flavor of other fruits, such as pairing it with strawberries in baked sauces or beverages. Rhubarb stalks vary from red to pink and may also appear speckled or green. This color variation has little or no impact on the ripeness of the rhubarb. When selecting, choose stalks that are fresh looking, crisp and blemish-free.

Cardamom: Cardamom is the ground seed of a tropical fruit in the ginger family known as Elettaria cardamomum. The seeds are found in ovalshaped fruit pods that are between 1/4 and one-inch long. Cardamom has an intense, pungent, sweet flavor. In India, Cardamom is traditionally used in curry blends, and in Scandinavian countries, it's commonly added to breads; however, most of the world's Cardamom crop is used in Arabic countries as a flavoring for coffee.


Gemelli Pasta with Spring Peas

INGREDIENTS:

12 ounces pasta (gemelli or fusilli)

1 pound fresh or 8 ounces frozen peas

1 bunch fresh tarragon, picked and coarsely chopped

1 half pint heavy cream

3 ounces grapeseed or canola oil if for salad

2 ounces dried mushrooms

1 shallot, minced

2 gloves garlic, minced


METHOD:

Bring 4 quarts water to the boil in a large pot.

Shuck, blanch and shock peas if fresh; allow peas to defrost if frozen.

In a broad 4 quart saucepan, bring cream to a boil, season with salt and pepper add dried mushrooms and allow to infuse for 7 minutes. Add Pasta to salted boiling water.

Bring cream back to a boil, and add peas, check seasoning, add ½ tarragon, shallots and garlic and bring to a boil. Once it reaches a boil remove from heat and reserve.

Check pasta and cook to desired stage. Drain Pasta and toss in cream mixture, serve with remaining chopped tarragon.

Grilled Hanger Steak with Fresh Asparagus and Sweet Onions

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound cleaned Hanger steak

1 pound pencil asparagus, trimmed 2 inches from bottom

1 pound spring onions, peeled and sliced horizontally into ½ inch rounds

1 bunch scallions trimmed of roots and washed

1 bunch parsley, stems removed

1 bunch Sage, stems removed

2 ounces canola oil

Zest of ¼ of an orange

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 teaspoon chili flakes


METHOD:

Heat grill to medium/high.

Make a quick herb puree, by blending first garlic, orange rind parsley and canola oil in blender (not food processor) with salt and pepper and blending at progressively higher speeds until bright green but still slightly rough. Taste, correct seasoning and add sage and blend further at high speed until well chopped and combined. Reserve.

Season onions, scallions and asparagus well with salt pepper and canola oil
Cook vegetables on grill, in this order, onions first then asparagus and scallions, until well marked and just about cooked (they will continue to cook off the grill). Reserve on an attractive platter.

Turn grill up to high, clean off any remaining bits of vegetables. Season steak very will on each side and grill steak to desired doneness, remove from grill and allow to "rest" at least 7 minutes so that the juices can recede back into the flesh.

Slice meat and arrange over and around vegetables and serve sauce on the side.


Vanilla Ice Cream with Homemade Rhubarb Syrup and Crumbled Butter Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound fresh rhubarb

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 pods green cardamom

1/2 cup Sugar

1/4 cup water

Pinch salt

1 pint ice cream

4 butter cookies (such as Pepperidge farms Bordeaux) roughly crumbled


METHOD:

Wash and trim rhubarb into 3 inch lengths in a sauce pan large enough to accommodate rhubarb in one layer. Bring sugar, water, salt, and cardamom pods to a boil, simmer one minute then add Rhubarb, and vanilla (if you prefer you can do it in 2 batches but it should not exceed one even layer on the bottom surface area).

Cook over medium heat until just before rhubarb is tender (it will go to mush very quickly!), remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Scoop Ice Cream into glasses and layer in poached rhubarb and some of its syrup and crumbled butter cookies over top.

So, how did Heffernan do with our $35 budget?

Gemelli Pasta

pasta $1.19
peas $1.99
tarragon $1.49
heavy cream $1.19
grapeseed oil $3.99
mushrooms $1.99
garlic $.39
shallot $.16
total $12.39

Hanger Steak

hanger steak $4.29
asparagus $1.69
spring onions $1.49
scallions $.69
parsley $.99
sage $1.49
orange zest $.39
chilies $.16
total $11.19

Rhubarb Ice Cream

rhubarb $2.99
Cardamom $4.69
butter cookies $2.00
ice cream $.99
total $10.67

Total: $34.25

Top Three so far in our "How Low Can You Go" competition:

1. Scott Peacock $32.60
Watershed Restaurant

2. Patrick Connolly $33.32
Bobo Restaurant

3. Bill Poirier $33.35
Sonsie Restaurant

Recipe: Seasoned Rump Roast

Image by mrlerone via Flickr

From Denny: Sometimes simple and rustic is best!

From: Cochon Butcher

Ingredients:

4 lbs rump roast

2 cups crimini mushrooms, chopped in ½ inch pieces

1 cup carrots, chopped in ½ inch pieces

1 cup onion, chopped in ½ inch pieces

1 cup par cooked potatoes, chopped in ½ inch pieces

2 cups red wine

1 cup stock (or water)


Directions: Place roast in a roasting pan or rack and cook at 450 degrees for about 30 minutes to form a nice brown crust. Add the chopped vegetables and the wine and reduce heat to 300 degrees. Cook for about one hour and 15 minutes for medium rare. Remove meat from pan and place the roasting pan over a medium high burner. Add stock and cook vigorously for 3 to 5 minutes to slightly intensify broth. Serve to accompany the roast.