Spinach and Eggs

I've been off all week with my daughter and we've been doing different stuff for breakfasts.  Our best thing to date was the chunky peanut butter and banana sandwiches on English muffins which she's never had before and now absolutely loves,

So this morning I wanted something different, good and somewhat healthy.  Looked in the freezer and there's a pack of frozen spinach staring at me.  So here's what you'll need and what I came up with.

Spinach and Eggs

• 5 - eggs whipped
  
• 1 - 10oz Pack of frozen chopped spinach
• 2-3 slices of ham 
• 3- Slices of Swiss cheese
• couple thin slices of red onion
• 3-4 - TBS Butter 
  
• 2-3 cloves of garlic smashed
• Parmesean cheese
• Salt and pepper

I used what we had in the house, but mushrooms would have been a nice addition.

Place frozen spinach in a non stick pan until thawed and the excess water has evaporated.  Then add in 2 TBS butter and the onions and garlic until softened.  Then reduce heat to low add in the remaining butter and whipped eggs, ham and cheese and fold until the eggs are done and the cheese is melted. Salt and pepper to taste.  Top with a little Parmesan cheese. 

I wasn't sure if my daughter would really like it since the spinach was the dominant part of the meal, but she had seconds!

 

 

My biggest fan!

Reverend Marvin Honey Glazed Chicken Legs

One of my favorite BBQ sauces in the world is Reverend Marvins Gourmet BBQ Sauce made out of Florence South Carolina.  Not only is the sauce extremely good, so are the people that make it.  I am privileged to personally know Woody Lynch and his family who are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

The sauce is a Mustard based BBQ sauce typical of the SC region.  It has the perfect blend of vinegar and peppers that make it good on anything.  My good friend Jim 'Captain' Morgan from Myrtle Beach, SC, even says it's good on monkey.......I'll take his word for it!

The sauce comes in two versions, Hot which is my favorite, but is not overwhelmingly hot and an Original.  Both are equally good and extremely universal.  Great on their own but equally great with something else added as you will see in the following recipe.  But to give you an idea of things you can use this sauce for when not using it on it's own, here are a couple ideas.  Mix Reverend Marvins with equal part mayonnaise for a nice tangy sandwich spread, mix it in your meatloaf recipe, mix equal parts Rev's, ketchup and brown sugar for a fantastic meatloaf glaze, equal parts Rev's, brown sugar and honey for a ham glaze, the list is endless and most of all the sauce it the best on pulled pork, brisket, pork chops......well you get the picture, I LOVE THE STUFF!

Okay, one last story and then onto the chicken leg cook.  I was at a cooking competition in Myrtle Beach with Woody, and two other good friends, Captain Morgan and Chris 'Finney' Finney and we had turned in all of our meats and were sitting around.  Captain Morgan and I had been drinking beer since around 7am and I was getting HUNGRY.  Only thing we had was Tostito chips and Reverend Marvins......so I poured a little Rev's into a plastic cup and began dipping the chips in it and continued to refill the cup until the bottle was empty....yeah IT'S THAT GOOD!    

Enough reminiscing and now, onto the cook

Started out with a family pack of chicken legs to snack on during the Sunday football games.  Wet down with a little Zesty Italian Dressing and a liberal dosing of Wolfe Rub Citrus. 

 

Started out cooking indirect in the 350º range.

 

 

While the legs were cooking, I went inside to make the glaze.  Started out with 1 cup of honey, 1 cup of brown sugar and 2 cups of Reverend Marvins Original.  (you can get it in smaller bottles, but we use alot of it, so we get it by the gallon)

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Brought to a boil for about 5 minutes to slightly thicken.

 

Tossed the chicken over direct heat just to get a little more color and texture on the skin.

 

Then began dipping the chicken into the glaze every 10 minutes to build up layers of flavor.

Repeated this process about every 10 minutes until the legs were done.

 

Time to snack!

Christmas Rib Roast

Our traditional Christmas dinner is a standing rib roast, so that's what I cooked last night!

Started out with a 4 bone 9lb USDA Choice rib roast.  I do not trim any fat at all.

Wet the roast down with worcestershire sauce, then liberally seasoned with Kosher salt, fresh ground pepper and minced garlic.

 

Then placed on a raised rack in a 225º oven.  I prefer rib roasts cooked in the oven versus grill or smoker, just a personal preference.  You can certainly cook it on a grill this way as well.

While the roast was cooking I boiled a couple pounds of shrimp in Old Bay, beer and vinegar to munch on until dinner time.

5 hours later the roast was at 129º and I removed from the oven and loosely tented with foil to rest, while I finished up the side dishes.  During the rest the roast climbed up to 134º, for a perfect medium rare.

After about a 45 minute resting, it's time to carve.  Removed the bones, which my wife will eat sometime today.

 

Then sliced into serving pieces about 1.5 inches thick for a nice hearty serving.

 

 

 

Dinner is served.  Here's my plate with my wife's mashed potatoes and broccoli casserole which is made exactly like the typical green bean casserole, just with broccoli instead.  We also had Brussel sprouts and Parker House rolls.

Same plate with added Au Jus to the meat.

Shrimp Gumbo

I remember when I was a kid and my father and I would travel down to Wilmington N.C. and we eventually moved down there.  But anyways, my father had a small electric pot that is usually used to boil water.  But my father the 'MacGyver' of cooking and would actually steam crabs we caught in this thing, 2 at a time he'd jam them in there with a little beer and Old Bay and there we sat in a small motel room eating crabs.

But he didn't stop at crabs, he'd cook alot of different stuff in his make shift kitchen and gumbo was one of them.  And to this day, it was still the best gumbo I've ever had........out of a small two cup pot!  But that just show's how good of a cook my dad was and who I try to duplicate when I cook!

So anyways, here's my version of gumbo.  Though pretty good, it didn't come close to 'Dad's Hot Pot Gumbo'!  lol

So I started off making the roux with a little all purpose flour and some oil over medium low heat in a cast iron pan.

Cooked over medium low heat for about 20 minutes stirring very often.  I'm normally looking for an almost peanut butter color and texture for the roux.

 
But being a little impatient, I decided to finish cooking the roux while I sauteed the mirepoix of celery, onion and bell pepper just until they begin to sweat and the flour has reached the color I like.

Just about there.

Once the mirepoix was finished, I deglazed the pan with chicken broth and then added in a couple TBS of tomato paste, a can of whole tomatoes, 2 bay leaves, several drops of worcestershire sauce and about 1 TBS of Old Bay Seafood Seasoning and let simmer for about 1 hour.

Then I added in 1 bag of frozen okra..(if you can get fresh it's much better) and let this cook for about 5 minutes.

While the okra was cooking I peeled 1lb of medium shrimp.

Then added to the gumbo and cooked for 5 more minutes.

If you prefer you can add file' powder just before serving.  Serve over fresh cooked rice.

 

What is a Fatty?

I have had alot of questions about 'what is a fatty' or for 'fatty recipes'.  You are going to be amazed when you hear this.  A basic fatty is nothing more than a 1lb roll of your favorite breakfast sausage that has been rolled in your favorite BBQ rub and smoked over indirect heat.....THAT'S IT!  Doesn't get much simpler huh?  My two favorites are Jimmy Dean Maple Sausage rolled in a liberal dose of Wolfe Rub Orginal and Jimmy Dean Bold Sausage rolled in Wolfe Rub Bold.

The sky is the limit with making a fatty, you can roll out the sausage and stuff it with anything you like, then roll it back up and smoke as normal.

Here is a Bold Fatty

Maple Fatty

Country Fried Steak with Fried Okra and Mashed Potatoes

Southern Comfort food at it's best on a cold night!  Simple, easy and stick to your ribs dinner!

Couple pounds of cube steak.

Several cups of all purpose flour seasoned with salt and pepper in a gallon size Zip Loc bag.

Dredge a couple pieces of cube steak in the flour until thoroughly coated.

Dip each piece into milk.

Then back into the seasoned flour.

While the cube steaks are resting in the flour, I fried up some okra....what's a Southern Dinner without okra?

Then the star of the show goes for a hot oil bath for about 7 minutes.

Almost done.

Steaks and Okra are done and into a warm oven to hold while I make the gravy.

Couple TBS of the grease and the seasoned flour used to bread the steaks to make the roux.

Couple cups of milk and simmered until thick, about 4 minutes.

Dinner is served.