BBQ chicken at home

I enjoy watching America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country.  They tend to make meals that are appealing and the recipes are very easy to follow as they've done a lot of testing (in the Test Kitchen) to make sure the food turns out great.  This was a pretty simple recipe, but I had been scared of doing chicken on my grill so they gave me the confidence to give it a try without fear of overcooking it.  This is the Cook's Country "Classic BBQ Chicken on a Gas Grill" recipe.  You have to have an account to view it (lame, I know), but I don't think you have to pay for it.

everything on the grill

I didn't make my own BBQ sauce like they do in the recipe, I used their store bought substitute, Bullseye and it was good.  I bought one bone-in breast and leg quarter from Sun Harvest, and paired it with some grilled yellow squash and zucchini.

finished product

I think it turned out very good (this is the second try, I was more liberal with the seasonings this time).  One concern is getting a good amount of flavor from the breast.  I don't want to slice into the meat to put rub in it for fear of it drying out, but the meat at the thickest part ends up tasting very plain.  I guess that is what sauce is for then?  Any suggestions on how to add more flavor to the breast meat?

Recipe from Cook's Country, "Classic BBQ Chicken on a Gas Grill".  Be sure to rub the seasonings over and under the skin for the best flavor.

Squash and zucchini prepared with olive oil, kosher salt, and McCormick brand Hot Shot pepper blend.

I Can Show You My Cheesy Biscuit

Not a cheesy biscuit

My wife and I love a big breakfast on the weekends (see homemade biscuit sandwich above).  We frequently make many incredible meals including over easy eggs, scrambled eggs, omelets, sausage, bacon, avocado, cheese, biscuits, and/or pancakes (not necessarily all at once).  After realizing that the biscuits at Cafe Java were so good because they split them and toasted them on the griddle with a little butter we began doing the same thing, and it made our biscuits even better.

A couple of months ago I was feeling just a little too healthy and decided to experiment with a biscuit, some cheese, and our comal.  What resulted was the creation of the cheesy biscuit.

The comal was already hot after toasting the biscuits, so I added some shredded cheese.

Then I placed the biscuit half on top of the cheese.

After letting the cheese melt a bit I used a spatula to push the cheese closer to the biscuit.

Then I used the spatula to scrape it off the comal and onto my plate.

A cheesy biscuit with some hardened "baked" cheese.  Ready for bacon and eggs.

This whole process doesn't take any longer than 90 seconds, and the result was delicious.  This was probably my best idea since starting this blog.  Here's a view of a cheesy biscuit from a different day with less of the hard cheese on it.

This is very easy to make at home.  We use the Alton Brown Southern Biscuit recipe.  The cheese we use is a combination of HEB Mild Longhorn cheddar and HEB Monterey Jack (both mentioned before right here in comidablog!).  We buy the blocks and shred it ourselves, not that pre-shredded stuff!

Give this a try and let me know how it goes for you in the comments.

Bean Wars

I hit a nerve with my Bert's BBQ post.  Fellow Comidablogger Lils took exception to my description of ranch style beans in the black can as "horrible".  I just never enjoyed the heavy chili powder taste that is apparently popular on the ranch.

The formerly "Husband Pleasin'" beans used to be made in Fort Worth in a factory off of I-30.  I remember passing by it on the way to Texas Rangers games and thinking of the culinary horrors that must take place there.

Gebhardt chili powder not pictured

I'll admit that I did not grow up with giant pots of fresh beans on the stove every week.  My mom apparently had a low opinion of her own home made beans so we ate Gold Tip brand pinto beans from a can.  Later, when Gold Tip was no longer available (went out of business?), we switched to Bush's Best pinto beans.  This today remains the standard for a quick preparation of beans at my house.  They aren't as good as homemade but are very good when pressed for time.

Here is a quick recipe if you just aren't up to making a pot of beans or maybe don't know how, but would like some beans with your meal.

One can of Bush's Best pinto beans (I drain at least half of the water, my wife doesn't drain any), 1/4 cup chopped onions, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro:

Heat beans as directed, add onions and garlic powder.  Mix the onions and powder in, and let the beans simmer at medium (they might boil, that's ok).  After about five minutes add the cilantro.  If you want "refried" style beans use a potato masher and mash them up.

Occasionally for breakfast we will add the bacon grease to the beans, but this is rare.  They taste good without the bacon.  I'm not saying these will win in a contest against abuela's beans, but they are an excellent quick fix.

Carne Guisada at home

I made carne guisada for the first time several weeks ago.  It turned out good, but it didn't have enough gravy.  I cobbled together a recipe from a book and the one my wife uses along with her notes.  On our last two pots of carne guisada we've used prime top round from HEB.  Although it is prime it has only been about $6 per lb (since it's top round) and has been very good.  The extra marbling has made a big difference in flavor and tenderness.

Carne Guisada

Here is one of the recipes I used:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1826,145177-235193,00.html

The other was from "The Tex-Mex Cookbook" by Robb Walsh.  The ingredients and instructions were basically the same, but as previously noted I should have used more water/beef broth to make more gravy.  I also used tomato sauce instead of of whole or fresh tomatos because I think the sauce comes out heartier.  We like onions and garlic so I used six cloves of garlic and one half of a large onion.  We also do not use bell pepper in our cooking.  The book recipe adds potatoes, but since this isn't picadillo, that was never even considered.  The cooks.com recipe says to simmer for 45 minutes and the book says one hour.  I left the carne guisada simmering for about an hour and a half.  With the right pot you won't lose much moisture which means you could basically simmer even longer if desired, or if you aren't really hungry and ready to eat.

Meat used:  Prime grade top round beef
Pan used:  Stainless steel 3 Qt. saute pan.
Recipe changes:  Additional garlic, additional onions, no bell pepper, no potatoes, replaced half of water with beef broth.

I'll have the regular - Normal lunch at home, chicken sandwich

As Lils pointed out in her post about lunch, eating lunch out everyday can be expensive, bad for your calorie count, and bad for your career if you have an "asshole boss".  This is sage advice no matter where you live.  Despite the glamorous blogging lifestyle most of my lunches are chicken sandwiches made at home.

The ingredients are simple:  HEB whole wheat bread, mayo, mustard, cheese (normally Monterrey Jack or cheddar), Boar's EverRoast chicken, lettuce, tomato (normally Roma), and avacado.  Most of the time this is eaten with "blue" Chee-tos (puffs) and water.

The sandwich is simple, and tasty enough for me to normally eat it two to three times a week.

Happy New Year from The Comida Blog

I know this is late, and posting has been light, but The Comida Blog wants to wish everyone a Happy New Year.  We are unsure if anyone besides the actual bloggers even read the site, but if anyone else is reading we thank you.  We all have full-time jobs that we probably hate (I know I do), so we don't have as many posts as we would like.  If anyone else is reading let us know in the comments.

For now here is a picture of something from HEB I did not buy.

Ribeye at home - September 4, 2010

This was dinner on 9-4-2010:  A half ribeye cooked medium, Eckridge smoked sausage, homemade macaroni and cheese (with the disappointing Hatch chiles), mixed vegetables, grilled zucchini squash, a half baked potato, and some toasted bread. 

This was an excellent and well rounded meal.  The grilled zucchini and the macaroni and cheese were particularly palate pleasing.  Although the macaroni would have been better without the chiles.  The steak might have been cooked a little over medium, but that's because I have a new grill that I'm still getting used to.

That is sour cream AND mayonnaise on the baked potato.  DON'T JUDGE ME!

Breakfast tacos at home - August 28, 2010

Hatch chiles judged, deemed “disappointing”.
Weekends are when I have time to make a great, hearty breakfast.  I had been thinking about these breakfast tacos since I finished the ones from the previous Sunday.  Hatch chiles are in season right now and we bought some pre-roasted mild ones at HEB.  This would be my first bacon, egg, cheese, Hatch chile, and avocado taco.  Having never used the chiles before I had no flavor expectations, but considering all the hype they receive I was hoping for a palate changing experience.  Unfortunately for the foodie hypesters the result was underwhelming.

It is possible the preparation was lacking.  After rinsing the skin off and deseeding them I threw them in the skillet with some olive oil and let them sauté for a bit.  I did not add any salt, and perhaps that was my mistake.  Of course, the taco was very good.  It had bacon, cheese, avocado, and egg, how could it not be?  I just don't think the chiles added anything to them, kind of like Entourage to HBO.

El Lago flour tortillas (from Sun Harvest, the ones from HEB aren’t the same)
2 large Hill Country Fare eggs
1 ½ strips of HEB brand bacon
HEB fat free, lactose free milk (purple carton)
½ regular sized Haas avocado
HEB Mild Longhorn cheddar cheese
HEB Monterrey Jack cheese
1 Hatch chile, roasted, skinned and deseeded
Kosher salt, black pepper

Cook bacon according to directions.
Shred cheese to your desired ratio of yellow to white.
Halve avocado, using the half without the pit to make slices.
Add a two to three second pour of milk to a bowl with the two eggs.  Add black pepper and beat.  Start a skillet on medium and add olive oil.  Place chopped chiles in skillet once it’s at temperature and let sauté for five minutes (For non Hatch tacos, omit the olive oil and chiles and use cooking spray in the skillet).  About one to one and a half minutes before putting eggs in skillet, add a pinch of salt and mix.  Put the heat just below medium and then pour eggs into skillet.  Mix well with the chiles.  Keep watch on eggs to make sure they don’t dry out on the edges.  Mix it around with a spatula occasionally.  I like my eggs wet so I make sure heat isn’t too high and take them off the heat while they still have a wet look to them on top.
Use comal to heat tortillas
Place eggs in tortillas, top with cheese, bacon, and avocado slices, and enjoy.  Take a nap in the afternoon.