Hearty Southwestern Chicken Soup

Soup is great in the winter time.  Over Thanksgiving, I boiled down the leftover turkey carcass and made some stock.  I had a gallon or so left over in the freezer, I decided to do some experimenting this past weekend.  I give you, Southwestern Chicken Soup...

First, I removed the frozen broth from the bag, placed in a pan, and melted on low heat...

While the broth was melting, I took 1 pound of dried pinto beans, placed in a colander, rinsed out the dirt, and sorted to remove the stones...

Once the broth was boiling, I added the beans along with 1 tsp of ground cumin, 1 tbsp of diced garlic, and simmered for three hours...

While the broth and bean mixture was simmering, I brought a pan of water to boil and added 3 chicken thighs.  Then, I simmered for 20 minutes and cooled in the refrigerator.  Once the chicken was cool to the touch, I removed the skin and gristle, then removed the meat from the bone and shredded.

After the beans were nice and tender from the simmer, about three hours, I added to the broth:

1 quart of canned tomatoes, drained.  If you don't have any canned tomatoes, one, 16 oz can of store bought diced tomatoes would work nicely.
1, small can of diced, green chilies.
1 packaged of corn that we had blanched over the summer and froze for the winter.  It was about 8 oz.
The shredded chicken...

I mixed it all up and let simmer for about 20 minutes to mingle the flavors.  Then, I added salt to taste...

The soup was exactly what I was looking for.  Nice chunks of chicken and lots of pinto bean goodness.     The green chilies added the southwest flavor that I was looking for.  I served with some crusty bread for a nice dinner and lunches during the week.

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

Smoked Steelhead, Part Deux...

I love smoked fish.  It is actually one of the things I was looking forward to most when we upgraded our smoker equipment.  Around to holidays I like to slow smoke all types of fish to have throughout the year for stews, dips, and just to snack on in the summer.  One of my favorite types of fish for the smoker is steelhead.

Steelhead is a close cousin to a salmon.  It is sort of like a cross between a salmon and a trout.  I think they have more complex flavors than your garden variety salmon.  Slightly more fatty than a salmon, it is perfect for smoking.

So, to smoke one of these taste treats, I made a batch of brine.  I played around with my usual brine to try something different, and here is what I came up with:

Steelhead Brine

6 cups Water
½ cup Salt
⅓ cup Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp Tbsp. Pepper
⅔ cup Sugar
½ cup Brown Sugar

Bring to a boil and cool...

This is the time of year where I love my alternate freezer...

While the brine was cooling, I rinsed and patted dry my fillets...

Then, the fish go for one last overnight swim in the brine...

The next day, I lit my smoker and brought to a temperature of 150 F.  While I was waiting on the smoker to come to temp, I removed the fillets from the brine, rinsed with water, patted dry, and placed on a cookie rack until shiny.  This takes about 1-2 hours.  Allowing the fish to dry a bit and take on that shiny appearance allows the fish to take on more of the flavor of the smoking wood...

I placed some Alder (courtesy of my friend Darrell in Seattle) in the ash pan and put the fillets on the top rack...

I shut the smoker door and came back 12 hours later...

The white that you see is the fat rendering from the fish.  That is a good indication that you are close to done.  At this point, I tried a suggestion that my friend Mark in MN told me about...  I drizzled some honey on one of the fillets and started to ramp the temperature up to 180 F.  Note:  Darrell has also suggested using brown sugar.  I will try this the next time I smoke up some steelhead...

The ramp time for the temperature is slow.  I went from 150 F to 180 F over a two hour time frame.  Once I hit 180 F, I removed the fillets.  The shiny one out in the front is the honey glazed fillet...

I let the fillets cool for about 15 minutes, then flipped them over and peeled off the skin.  At this point, it comes right off the meat...

I then broke the fish up into equal portions, vacuum sealed, and put in the freezer for use at a later date...

I was very happy with this batch of steelhead.  The taste was wonderful.  What Alder does to steelhead should be criminal (in a good way).  Most of the fat is rendered, but there is just enough that mingles with the smoke flavor.  Serve with cheese, crackers, and some good dipping mustard, and you have a great appetizer that everyone will enjoy.

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

Slow Smoked Fresh Kielbasa

It is the holiday time of year and during that time, my local butcher (Dave's Country Meats) has some products that you cannot get year round.  One of the these tasty treats is fresh kielbasa...

In the winter time, he tends to make ring kielbasa and in the summer he makes patties for grilling.  Each have their good points.  I like the ring kielbasa for smoking and the patties for grilling out.  Either way, his homemade kielbasa is outstanding.  Perfectly seasoned with spices that you can actually see, unlike the store brands.

So, when I was picking up other holiday treats, I picked up a five pound ring to smoke.

First, I bought some untreated dowel rods and cut them down to size so that they would fit across the top rack of my smoker.  They are perfect for hanging any sausage.

I cut the ring in two pieces so that I could do two types of cooks.  More on that later.  First, I brought my smoker temperature up to 165 F and added oak wood in the ash pan for smoke flavor.  Take my word for it, oak wood goes very well with any type of sausage.  The fat just soaks up that oaky goodness.

Once the smoker was up to temp, I arranged my kielbasa on the dowels for placement in the smoker.  As you can see, I attracted a lot of attention...

Then, I took the dowels outside and hung on the top rack of the smoker...

It was a very cold and snowy day...

For 3/4 of the ring, I smoked for about two hours until the internal temperature of the sausage was 150 F.  This leaves the sausage about 15 degrees F short of being safe for consumption.  Again, I attracted a lot of attention...

I plunged the kielbasa in cold water for 10 minutes to stop the cooking process...

Then, I rinsed with fresh water, patted dry, cut into bun sized pieces, and vacuum packed for summertime grilling...

The remaining kielbasa stayed in the smoker until it's internal temperature reached 165 F.  This internal temperature thoroughly cooks the sausage but leaves the fat intact.  Remember, don't eat any sausage that has not been cooked to at least 165 F internal temperature...

As you can see, the color of the sausage is darker due to the longer cooking time, the added smoke, and the partial rendering of the fat.  These tasty treats were cut up and will be served with cheese and crackers for a nice appetizer over the holidays...

There you have it, two different ways to cook and serve fresh kielbasa that you can buy at your local butcher.  Both are excellent ways to prepare this tasty polish treat.

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

New Years Pretzel

A New Years Pretzel?  "What is that?" you ask?  Well, it is a Pittsburgh tradition.  Eating some at midnight is supposed to bring you good luck during the New Year.  It is kind of like the pork and sauerkraut tradition.  Some say it is a German tradition.  I say it looks delicious.  I have had store bought pretzels in the past.  These are usually covered with a basic sugar glaze and covered with maraschino cherries or dried fruit that mercifully did not make it into fruit cake.

As I was surfing through the new food blog, PG Plate, on the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, I saw a great looking recipe for a bread maker version of a New Years Pretzel.  Here is the recipe.  The author suggests a lemon glaze and slivered almonds.  Hope makes a killer lemon glaze and we had some smoked almonds sitting around.  So, why not give it a try.

Hope was the lead on this adventure.  She followed the recipe step by step.  She even hand slivered the almonds without shedding any blood...  ;)

Her lemon glaze is just a basic creamed butter, powdered sugar, and lemon juice.

So, here are the results...

Pulled out into a three foot rope after one cycle in the bread maker...

Rope twisted into pretzel form...

Letting raise some more...

Finished product.  Looks more like a Valentines Day heart...  It all came together while baking.

Sliced for Midnight...

The bread is dense, moist, and not overbearingly sweet.  If you have ever had Hot Cross Buns at Easter, that is what it tastes like.  I also think this dough would make a killer base for a cinnamon bun or sweet rolls.

Thanks to the PG Plate for posting this recipe.  We will be making this again for sure!

Happy New Year!

Bill