SuperBowl XLIV

Neither Cookie Monster nor I cared about the football game, but we felt it was our patriotic duty to watch the SuperBowl. Naturally, I had to make football food. So I bought a loin of pork at Trader Joe's and pulled out my trusty Crockpot. Into the pot it went, along with mustard, worchestershire sauce, barbeque sauce, ketchup, molasses, hot sauce and water. 10 hours later, it was a glorious mess of pulled pork. Mmm... see the greasy, porky goodness?

 I took the pork out and shredded it with a fork.

 

Then I reduced the sauce by about half, thus making a homemade barbeque sauce to complement the pig.

For Cookie Monster, I piled two Arnold Sandwich Thins (the closest thing we had to a bun) high with the pulled pork and homemade sauce.

For myself, I made a fun tasting plate centered around my vegetarian buffalo wings. Yes, I realize this is an oxymoron, but I don't care. They were good. I baked them in the toaster oven until crispy, then doused them with hot sauce. To go alongside, I made a bleu cheese dip out of plain Greek yogurt, parsley, crumbled bleu cheese, hot sauce, S&P and a little milk to thin it to a more dressing-like consistency. 

The "wings" were quite tasty. They didn't taste anything like chicken, which is fine with me. They tasted almost like a mozzarella cheese stick and they definitely had the same type of consistency.

Also on my tasting plate were celery sticks to complement the buffalo wing theme, slices of sharp white cheddar cheese, a few pita crackers, three candied pecans and some apple slices. I also had a bit of Cookie Monster's pork, and it was actually pretty tasty.

Go football!

VCK Marinara Sauce

Here is something I make a lot. I like to make my own marinara sauce because I know exactly what's in it. Plus, it doesn't take too much time and it's easy.

I start by sauteeing up onions and whatever vegetables are around. Usually this ends up being carrots, bell peppers and zucchini. Then I add a shit-ton of garlic. This is a precise measurement, people. Not one clove, not 3 Tablespoons, but a "shit-ton."

Then I add a 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes, lots of S&P and some dried herbs--usually basil and oregano. Sometimes parsley, but only if I'm feeling daring. I usually also add parmesan or other hard cheese rinds that I freeze just for this occasion. If you've ever wondered what to do with your inedible cheese rinds, you've found the place. It adds a really yummy flavor. You just gotta fish it out before you serve it, lest someone end up with a soggy cheesy remnant.

Sometimes I can't find the large can of crushed tomatoes, so I get diced or even whole and just squish 'em up with my hands. This can be fun, and quite cathartic if you're frustrated with someone. Just imagine the slippery tomato is that person's slimy head you're crushing. Really, it makes you feel better!

Then, essentially I let it simmer for a really long time.



See? That's the rind in there.

Today I had some fresh spinach that needed to be used up, so I chopped it up and added it to the sauce. You can't taste 99% of this stuff once it gets incorporated. It's like chili. Everything ends up tasting like chili. All the vegetables do here is lend some sweetness (in the carrot's case) and nutrients to the sauce.

I usually let it simmer away for at least an hour. Mind you, this is mostly inactive time. You don't have to babysit, just reduce the heat a lot, pop on a lid and let it go. You don't have to do it this long, but it helps the flavor.


Then I use it for whatever! Pasta, pizza sauce, etc. Once I even made "eggs in purgatory," a dish where you poach eggs in the tomato sauce. (Kinda like this one.) I served it over some garlic bread and it was awesome.

If I'm not planning to use the sauce right away, I just put it in the freezer. Voila!

Zucchini Sticks and Pasta with Herb Sauce

Here we have a lovely zucchini straight from ChezVCK garden! Those snap peas are also from the garden!

Watch out, zucchini. I'm gonna eat you!

Here is the zucchini stick-making assembly line. Fried zucchini is a very delicious food that I would love to consume. However, eating fried food makes my pants very angry. In protest, they refuse to fit me anymore. So, I have adapted fried zucchini in a different way, making it taste like fried zucchini without actually frying it. (Ssshh... don't tell my pants.)

Instead of dredging the zuke slices in egg, as is typical, I just used a bit of vegetable stock to make sure the breading adhered. This saves some calories too!

After I dredged the zuke sticks in the veggie stock, I dipped them in a mixture of Italian bread crumbs and grated parmesan cheese.

See?
Then I put them all into neat little rows on a cookie sheet sprayed with a little cooking spray, so they won't stick.

And this is how they turned out after a short stint in a hot oven. I think it was about 15 minutes at 400 or so.
I served the zucchini sticks alongside some whole wheat pasta and a tofurkey dog. For the pasta, I made a simple pesto-like sauce. I grabbed some fresh herbs from my garden--chives, basil and oregano--and buzzed it all together in the food processor with some olive oil, veggie stock and good ol' S&P. It was really simple and really tasty. Finished with more parmesan cheese, it was done!

De-lish!

Homemade Barbeque Sauce

I had been thinking about doing this for quite a while, and finally got around last week. Instead of buying high-fructose corn syrup-laden sauce from the store (ok, so you can check the label and find some without it, too), I decided to make my own. I stole Pioneer Woman's idea of arranging all the ingredients on the counter so I remember everything I put in. Except then I put in some more stuff after I took this picture, thereby pretty much defeating the whole purpose. Sigh.

Oh, well. Here's most of the stuff I put in my bbq sauce. I first started by sauteeing some finely chopped onion in some EVOO. Then I added all this stuff:

Then I basically just cooked the crap out of it. Ok, not really. I let it cook on very low heat for a long time--about an hour. Once it had reduced, I tasted it and discovered it needed more stuff. I put in a lot more molasses since I got a little enthusiastic about the vinegar and put too much in initially. I also added some chili powder and a bit of cayenne. And salt.



I kept tasting and adding 'til it tasted right. And voila! Homemade bbq sauce! Using some of my leftover chicken from the freezer, I made a killer bbq chicken pizza, which I will share with you in my next post. I know you can't wait.

Until then, I'll leave you with a joke:
What did one earthquake say to the other earthquake?
"It's not my fault!"