A Little Orange to Aid Digestion

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Photos By AJ Coltrane

I am finally getting around to posting the recipes from the Odd Bits dinner. I will be doing this in reverse order of how they were served, because the end of the meal is much less involved to write than the beginning was.

Honestly, I have no idea what to call this drink. The idea came from a wonderful book, Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas, by Brad Thomas Parsons. Bitters have intrigued me since I read an article about a year ago on how to make your own (which I still haven’t done). Bitters are basically an infusion of herbs and other flavors in alcohol and are generally used to enhance the flavors of drinks. They were originally sold as a restorative.

Early in the Bitters book, there is a recipe for a “restorative tonic” which I decided to play off of. Limoncello is an Italian liqueur that is usually served at the end of the meal, so why not use a bitters drink to do the same. It also helped that blood oranges were just coming into season, so I got a little creative.

The Software
Juice of half a blood orange
4 dashes Orange Bitters
4 Dashes Chocolate Bitters
4 oz sparkling water or club soda
2 ice cubes

The Drink
It is easy – in a highball glass, juice the orange, add the bitters and water or soda and give a quick stir. Add the ice cubes and serve.

Notes
I was going for a “chocolate orange flavor on this drink without it being oppressive. It is a light and refreshing and slightly fizzy drink with a hint of bitterness and chocolate notes at the end of the sip. A twist of orange peel would be a nice touch, but I wouldn’t really increase the amount of bitters in the drink without increasing the other liquids, otherwise they will overpower everything.

Chicken Salad Redux

By Iron Chef Leftovers

One of the very first posts to this blog was a recipe for chicken salad. It is a good recipe, but I am always looking to make things better. Recently I was at a friend’s place and we were hungry and there was leftover chicken, so I decided to whip something up with the ingredients on hand. It was good; possibly better than the original, but I will let you decide.

The Software
1 chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces
1 large carrot finely minced
1 large stalk celery, finely minced
2 tablespoon finely minced yellow onion
2 scallions minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon minced fresh dill
2 teaspoons minced fresh basil
Salt
Pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons mayo (see note)
1 1/2 tablespoons tzatziki (see note)
2 teaspoon whole grain mustard (see note)

• Note – when I say tablespoon for the mayo and teaspoon for the mustard, I am not talking about the measurements, I am talking about the spoons you would find in your silverware drawer. I just take 1 1/2 big scoops each of mayo/taztziki and 2 big teaspoon of mustard. If I had to guess measurements, 1/4 cup each of mayo abd tzatzki, 1 1/2 tablespoons (the measurement) of mustard.

The Salad
In a large bowl, combine the chicken, carrot, celery, scallions and onion.

The Dressing
This is a salad, so you are making a salad dressing essentially. In a bowl, combine the mayo, tzatziki, mustard, herbs, garlic powder and balsamic vinegar. Mix until well incorporated. Taste it. Add any additional seasoning as needed.

The Final Product
Add the dressing and fold using a spatula. Taste it. There should be a subtle hint of heat from the onions and mustard. I usually will add a few grinds of black pepper and, if needed, some salt and fold that in. That is it, you are done. If for some reason you like more dressing, just make some more and add it in. This is pretty potent stuff and you are really looking more to coat everything rather than drown it.

To Serve
Serve it however you want – on a sandwich, salad, or my favorite, just out of the bowl with a spoon.

The Spicy Variation
Add 1 minced jalepeno and 2 tablespoons (or more) of siriacha to the dressing and combine.

Bacon Bread Pudding

By Iron Chef Leftovers
Photos By AJ Coltrane

The Odd Bits dinner I made a while back was supposed to end with a Pig’s Blood Ice Cream. Everyone cringes when I say this, but don’t knock it until you try it. It is actually healthier than traditionally made ice cream as the blood replaces the eggs as the thickening agent and you need to use less volume of blood than you do eggs and the blood is higher in vitamins and minerals and lower in fat and cholesterol than the eggs. It is also the most intensely flavored chocolate ice cream you will ever have and no, it does not taste like blood – you actually wouldn’t even know blood is in there unless someone mentioned it.

That being said, it is freaking impossible to find usable blood in Seattle. You can get a “blood solution” but it is like jelly and will not return to a liquid state, which is fine for making blood sausage, but not so much for ice cream. As a result, I had to go to plan B on desert and went with Bacon Bread Pudding. Not exactly odd bits, but you generally don’t find many people having bacon for dessert (although you should). The nice thing about this recipe is that it is easy and can easily feed a large number of people with a minimum of effort. I adapted this recipe from Chef Larry Monaco’s original Maple Donut and Bacon Bread Pudding.

The Software

Bread Pudding:
2 cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 loaf (1.75 lbs) brioche, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup bacon fat
1 lb thick sliced bacon, cooked crispy

Sauce:
1 1/2 cup of cream
1/2 cup brandy or bourbon
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup bacon fat or 1 stick of butter

The Bread Pudding
Spread the cubed bread on 2 rimmed baking sheets and put into a 300 degree oven for 1 hour a to 1 hour, 15 minutes until they are dried, rotating the pans half way through the process. You are essentially making brioche croutons. Let cool and place in a large bowl

Cook the bacon until it is crispy, reserving all of the fat. Dice the bacon into 1/4 inch pieces and set aside

In a bowl, combine the eggs, sugar milk and vanilla and whisk to combine. Pour the mixture over the bread and toss gently to combine (you don’t want to break up the bread). Let sit for 10 minutes for the liquid to absorb.

In a separate bowl, combine the bacon fat, brown sugar and bacon and toss to combine.

Grease a 9x13x2 baking dish with either butter or bacon fat. Put the bread mixture in first, arranging in one even layer, adding any remaining liquid from the bowl. Sprinkle the brown sugar bacon mixture on top in an even layer and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes until set (you are looking for an internal temp of about 165-170 degrees). Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

The Sauce
Add the fat, sugar and cream to a saucepan over medium heat, whisking until the sugar is incorporated, approximately 3-5 minutes. Add the alcohol and bring to just below a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer for 5-7 minutes until slightly thickened. Drizzle over the bread pudding.

Notes
I used bacon fat, but butter can be substituted for it. I would recommend using very high quality bacon in this dish as it is going to be a dominant flavor. I would caution using bacon that has been cured in maple syrup as it might cause this dish to become too sweet. The drying out the bread in the oven is critical to the creamy texture of the dish – stale bread does not absorb the liquid as well as the dried bread and will lead to a less creamy dish. If you can’t find brioche, you can use just about any bread (challah will work really well), just make sure you can slice it thickly. This recipe will serve 12 people easily, so you can scale it down accordingly.

Avocado Yogurt Dressing

By Iron Chef Leftovers

It is summer and it is hot out, so you probably don’t feel like cooking anything in the kitchen and you don’t always have veggies that can be grilled easily. I tend to eat a lot of salad in the summer – they are quick and easy, refreshing and tasty salad greens are easily found during the summer. Another summertime treat are avocados. Mrs. Iron Chef loves them and they are very versatile. They also make a great salad dressing that is so good that you can actually use it as an accompaniment to fish, chicken or pork (and probably beef, although I have never tried it). All you need is 5 minutes, a few simple ingredients and a blender.

The Software
½ of a ripe avocado, pitted, skin removed and roughly chopped
½ cup good quality yogurt
¼ cup cilantro
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
Salt
Pepper

The Recipe
Take all of the ingredients except the oil and add the blender. Pulse a few times to break up the avocado and then with the blender running, add the oil slowly until the dressing comes together. Add salt and pepper to taste and you are done. Toss with salad or serve as a sauce for meat or veggies.

Notes
A clove of garlic, a squeeze of lime or a small hot pepper would also be nice in this dressing. If you would like the dressing thinner, add some water slowly to dilute until you reach the ideal consistency. This makes about 1 cup of dressing, which is a lot of a salad, but it is so good you might not end up with leftovers anyway.

Beer And Honey Bread

by A.J. Coltrane

I thought this bread compared not unfavorably to the No Knead bread we’ve all been enjoying.

To back up a bit, I was looking to make a bread with the following characteristics:

1. It needed to be out of the oven within two hours of when I got home from work.

2. I wanted to use the No Knead Covered Dutch Oven method. I wanted a 75% hydration dough, since that’s the same hydration as the No Knead. I went online to find out how much of butter and honey is represented by water weight — it’s about 15% for each. (That’s right, it was another mathy baking thing.)

3. I wanted to use honey, inspired by a Cheese Board Collective recipe that I’m still meaning to try out.

4. I wanted a flavorful end product, so I thought I’d add beer to the mix. And butter.

Ingredient	Quantity
350 g	Bread Flour
50 g	Wheat Flour
8 g	Kosher Salt
2 tsp	Instant Dry Yeast
1/4 cup (57 g)	Melted Butter
1/8 cup (43 g)	Honey
256 g	Beer (Pyramid Hef)
30 g	Water

The Process:

1. Combine all of the ingredients and mix at low speed for 6 minutes. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.

2. Coat a bowl lightly with oil, then dust with flour.

3. Shape the dough into a ball and place seam side down in the bowl. Use damp hands so that the dough won’t stick as much.

4. Let rise 60 minutes. With about 10 minutes to go preheat a dutch oven at 450F.

5. Carefully invert the bowl so that the dough gently falls into the dutch oven. Slash the dough if desired. Place the lid on the dutch oven.

6. Bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake 20 minutes more.

The bread had a lightly crispy, buttery crust. The wheat flour, beer, and butter all combined for a flavorful interior. And it went from the mixing bowl to the table in under two hours. Next time I’m going to try a few stretch and folds before placing the bowl in the final rise bowl. Slashing didn’t do anything for it, but if I can get a little more gluten development maybe I’ll get a better shape next time — I’ll definitely be making this one again when I don’t have much time for baking before dinner.

Nearly Award Winning Chickpea Salad

by A.J. Coltrane

Ok, so it was up against two potato salads and this dessert, and the dessert won the “winner” medal, even though the dessert wasn’t a “side dish”, which is what the medal was supposed to be for, but I’m not bitter at all, even though a dessert isn’t technically a side dish, I don’t think anyway… don’t you agree?

Seriously, the medal said “WINNER” on it.

Anyhow, here’s the chickpea salad recipe that I “borrowed” from somewhere and I can’t find the recipe again, but it’s always a hit. Even the 1,000,000 kids at the BBQ ate it, they about wiped out a big tupperware container of the stuff. (At least it seemed like 1,000,000 kids.)

Ingredient	Action Required
3 cans chickpeas	opened, rinsed
1 English cucumber	diced to chickpea size
1 Red pepper	diced to chickpea size
1 med. red onion	finely diced
1/2 bunch parsley	minced
2 large lemons	juiced
1/4-1/2 cup olive oil	add to taste
salt	add to taste
pepper	optional

I think maybe the kids liked the colors.

Leftover Calzone Ingredients? More Pizza!

by A.J. Coltrane

I just liked the way this one looked… It reminded me of the pizza that I loved when I was small.

It’s the leftover calzone ingredients from the other night: sausage, bacon, sauteed onion, sauteed red pepper, “pizza sauce” with additional oregano and roasted tomato flakes, and mozz.

And a bonus picture of the princess.

Calzones On The Grill

by A.J. Coltrane

It’s too hot to turn on the oven, so… Calzones On The Grill!

The dough recipe: 1-1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup water, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp instant yeast, and 1-1/2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil. (Essentially the Smitten Kitchen pizza dough recipe, goosing the yeast slightly.) An Allrecipes.com recipe calls for brushing the calzones with melted butter before baking, and that 350F is a good target for the grill temperature.

That all sounds reasonable. And reasonably easy. So here’s my first attempt at grilled calzones, or any calzones, really — I think it’s remarkable that it’s taken me this long to fold pizza in half before baking.

The dough was given a bulk rise for almost two hours, then divided in half. Each half was rolled into balls and allowed to rest for about 20 minutes. During that time I browned off some mild italian sausage, then cooked the rawness out of a diced red pepper and some yellow onion in the sausage fat.

The dough balls were rolled out and topped with a streak of red sauce and some grated mozz. The sausage, red pepper, onion, and some crumbled leftover pepper bacon were added, then topped with more sauce and mozz.

The packages were folded over and crimped, brushed with melted butter, and slit with a knife.

I turned on the left of the three grill burners and carefully placed the calzones over direct heat for a few minutes, then moved the packages to the far right of the grill — far away from the direct heat.

All that was left at that point was to cook the calzones for about 30-35 minutes. Naturally this involved drinking a beverage while periodically checking to make sure the thermometer said something like 350F.

The interior. (The last two photos were taken in direct sunlight. I rolled out a bit of a roll of paper towels and filtered the sunlight through the white towels. A paper towel improvised light diffuser! *I* thought it was pretty clever.)

In retrospect, I might have added a little sugar or honey to the dough to promote more browning. I didn’t do that because I was concerned about the end result being too brown. It worked out ok though — I may have to figure out more stuff to grill.

——–

Late edit: CSE’s 500th published post! Woof!

A Simple Spice Rub

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I like spice rubs, but I tend not to buy ones in the store since they are mostly salt and very expensive and you can actually make the same thing at home for a fraction of the price. I have a default spice rub that I use for chicken, fish or pork when I am not really sure what I am in the mood for. It is quick and easy to make a spice rub with the spices you have on hand and they will keep in an airtight container for 6 months (which is as long as you should be keeping spices around anyway), but I usually just make them on the fly since they take less than a minute to put together. For this recipe, I will give the ratios in parts and you can use whatever measuring device you want.

The Software
2 parts smoked paprika
2 parts powdered garlic
2 parts cumin
2 parts dried oregano
1 part ground adobe
1 part ground black pepper
1 part salt

The Recipe
Take all of the ingredients and add them to a container with a lid. Close the lid tight and shake until well combined. Spread on your protein or veggies of choice. Cook and you are done.

Notes
If the rub is not salty enough for you, add more salt. It is easier to add more than it is to remove it after you have put everything together. The ratios are really just suggestions, add and subtract whatever you would like and feel free to substitute sweet paprika for smoked and to take anything out. This recipe was developed with what I had on hand, you can pretty much make your own by combining spices and herbs and trying them out.

Gumbo File

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I love gumbo but it can be really hard to find one with a good balance of flavor and heat in a restaurant. Most of the ones that I have had around Seattle have been too soupy or bland, so I decided to make one recently that was basically a modification of Alton Brown’s recipe from Good Eats.

The biggest problem with making gumbo is getting the roux dark enough – the roux is the foundation for the flavor of the dish and traditionally it requires at least an hour of cooking on the stovetop with constant stirring. Alton Brown devised a short cut method, which does not reduce the cooking time, but it does reduce the need to stir it constantly by cooking the roux in the oven instead of on the stove top. The other thing I like about this recipe is that it uses file powder instead of okra. I am not a fan of okra, but you need it to thicken the dish. File powder does this.

The Software
* 4 ounces vegetable oil
* 4 ounces all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 pounds raw, unpeeled medium-sized (31-50 count) shrimp
* 2 quarts water
* 3 chicken thighs, skin on, bone in (Optional)
* 3/4 cup chicken stock (if not using the chicken in the dish)
* 1 cup diced onion
* 1/2 cup diced celery
* 1/2 cup diced green peppers
* 2 tablespoons minced garlic
* 1/2 cup peeled, seeded and chopped tomato
* 1 tablespoon kosher salt
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
* 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 2 bay leaves
* 1/2 pound andouille sausage, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and browned
* 1 tablespoon file powder

The Recipe

The Roux
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the vegetable oil and flour into a 5 to 6-quart Dutch oven and whisk together to combine. Place on the middle shelf of the oven, uncovered, and bake for 1 1/2 hours, whisking 2 to 3 times throughout the cooking process. The roux will come out dark brown, almost brick red when it is done.

The Stock
While the roux is baking, de-head, peel and devein the shrimp. Place the shrimp in a bowl and set in the refrigerator. Place the heads and shells in a 4-quart saucepan along with the 2 quarts of water, set over high heat and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour or until the liquid has reduced to 1-quart. Remove from the heat and strain the liquid into a container, discarding the solids.

If including the chicken – In a separate pot add 2 cups of cold water, a pinch of salt and the chicken. Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium-low and cover. Cook for 45 minutes to an hour, until very tender. Remove the chicken to a plate to let cool and de-fat the cooking liquid in a fat separator, reserving 3/4 cup. Removed the chicken and shred when it is cool enough to handle.

The Gumbo
Brown the sausage on both sides over medium-high heat and remove to a bowl. Add the shrimp and cook for about 1 on each side (don’t worry about cooking them completely, they will finish cooking in the gumbo). Deglaze the pan with the reserved cooking liquid from the chicken or the chicken stock, scraping up the brown bits. Once the brown bits are scrape up, add the liquid to the shrimp stock.

Once the roux is done, carefully remove it from the oven and set over medium-high heat. Gently add the onions, celery, green peppers and garlic and cook, moving constantly for 7 to 8 minutes or until the onions begin to turn translucent. Add the tomatoes, salt, black pepper, thyme, cayenne pepper, and bay leaves and stir to combine. Gradually add the shrimp broth and chicken stock while whisking continually. Decrease the heat to low, cover and cook for 35 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the shrimp, chicken and sausage and stir to combine. Add the file powder while stirring constantly. Cover and allow to sit for 10 minutes prior to serving. Serve over rice to a happy public.

If the gumbo is not thick enough for your liking, you can add additional file powder after serving.

Notes
The recipe is really hands off compared to most other ones I have seen. You can eliminate the chicken and chicken stock and replace it with vegetable stock if you are so inclined, but I am not sure if there is a way to make this vegetarian. The heat is pretty tame in this recipe, if you like more heat, increase the cayanne, or just add some hot sauce when serving. Traditionally this is served with rice, but would also work with pasta. You can also add more or less of the meats in it, depending on what your preferences are.

File powder can be found at any good spice shop and most mega marts.