Category Archives: Dude Food Dishes

Chocolate Chipotle Chili

It’s an award winner, y’all!

I always come back to this chili recipe…not just because it’s won two awards, (let me just brag for a minute!) but because it’s That. Damn. Good. This week, I sent the recipe to a girlfriend of mine who made it for a potluck party. She promptly declared– and I do quote: “Oh dear God, Parker. I’m not kidding. That’s the best chili I’ve ever tasted! And I live in Texas. I’m giddy with excitement to take it tomorrow!”

I never get tired of hearing ~~applause~~ compliments for my recipes— mostly just because it makes my heart happy to share food, and for me, it’s sharing pure L.O.V.E.

The show-stopper ingredients in this chili are the hint of chocolate (1 Tb cocoa) and the chipotle peppers. Once you brown all the ingredients and combine, you can let it simmer on the stove or in a crockpot on low for about 3 hours, but don’t keep it going in the crockpot all night or it will dry it out. Just put it in the fridge and thin it out in the morning with a bit of beef stock.

Just let it simmer in the crockpot for 3 hours on low, but not overnight.

Ingredients

Lots of ingredients, but so worth the effort!

2 pounds ground beef (sometimes the butcher will label it “chili mix”– the beef is thicker than regular hamburger meat)

1 pound spicy sausage (I use Jimmy Dean HOT sausage)

3 Tablespoons butter

2 medium or 1 large yellow/white onion diced

4-5 garlic cloves diced

2 jalapeno peppers diced (not seeds)

2 cans Rotel tomatoes (original)

1 (6 oz) can of tomato paste

1 can of red beans with juice (Kidney)

1/4 cup honey

4 Tablespoons BBQ sauce

1 Tablespoon Tabasco sauce

4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (diced with seeds), plus 4 Tablespoons of sauce

1 12 oz bottle amber beer

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 Tablespoon Cocoa

2 cups of beef stock (I prefer using “Better Than Bouillon” paste. You boil 2 cups of water and add 2 Tablespoons of the paste and mix.)

2 Tablespoons Cumin

4 Tablespoons Chili powder

1 Tablespoon Garlic powder

1 Tablespoon Onion powder

2 Tablespoons Paprika (Hungarian/spicy is best)

2 Tablespoons Brown sugar

1 Tablespoon Cayenne pepper

1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt

2 Tablespoons Black pepper

4 ears corn on cob, cut off cob

Bunch of Scallions chopped to garnish

Shredded cheese to top

Directions: In a large saucepan, brown chili meat and sausage. Do not drain. In a separate frying pan, melt butter and saute onion, garlic, jalapeno and corn until soft, 5-7 minutes. Add to beef saucepan and stir to combine. Add all the spices to the beef mixture and saute over medium heat until combined…Pour in everything else and simmer for 2-3 hours! Top with chopped scallions and shredded cheese!

Love Jambalaya and Chili? Try my Chili-laya recipe too!

Ready to dive in…

Meaty Monday: Chipotle Turkey Roll with Guaco-Cream

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Trifecta of Delish: Cheesy, Spicy, Crunchy!

Phyllo dough is the NeNe of Culinary Housewives– super high maintenance, super rich, but oh-so-worth the drama.

Making the filling for this is easy, so get that over first, so you can concentrate on the dough!

$$$ NeNe would agree. $$$

Filling:

1.3 pound package of ground turkey

Spice Mixture (recipe below)

1 cup chicken stock

1/2 block (4 oz) of full-fat cream cheese

3 Tb adobo sauce (from a can of chipotles)

1/4 cup (handful) of chopped fresh cilantro

Spice Mixture:

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions: Brown turkey meat (do not drain) and add spice mixture with the chicken stock. Simmer for 10 minutes on low to combine and reduce broth. Add cream cheese, adobo sauce and cilantro, stir until cream cheese melts and combines with turkey mixture.

NOW PAY ATTENTION, LOVELIES. Here’s the phyllo fun….

Phyllo– (pronounced FEE-lo, by the way, which I botched for years…I thought it was FIE-lo) is paper thin sheets of unleavened dough. You get it in the freezer section near the frozen pies/pastries at the grocery store. Let the package defrost for an hour or two before you attempt to use it.

You’re going to need 10 single phyllo sheets and a stick of butter melted. Yes, a whole stick. It’s worth it, I promise.

It’s easiest to use a large baking sheet with tin foil that is sprayed with some cooking spray. Then lay out your first sheet of Phyllo. Using a spoon, or a basting brush, drizzle some butter on the phyllo sheet. It doesn’t have to be even, just get it around all four corners and some in the middle.

Spread some butter over the first sheet of phyllo– a basting brush makes it easy

Then, add a second sheet, brush on more butter. Add a third sheet, brush on more butter. Add a fourth sheet, and so on and so on, till you get ten, (yes, 10!) sheets of buttered phyllo piled on top of one another. It’s OK if the sheets rip a little, they’re all going to be baked in a layer so no one will notice if there’s a tear.

Layer 10 sheets of buttered phyllo dough

Next, take that creamy, chipotle turkey mixture and spoon it out lengthwise, close to the edge of phyllo so you can start to roll it up.

Spoon out turkey mixture onto phyllo off center, closer to the edge

Then, start to roll up the phyllo dough burrito style…be gentle, cuz it’s a delicate process!

Gently, now…start to roll the phyllo

End with seam side down and brush with a little more butter on top of the roll.

Now you’re turkey roll is ready to bake, baby!

Once you have your turkey roll buttered (again)! Bake at 350 for 20 minutes until browned.

I serve it with some guaco-cream on the side. The fresh garlic gives it a real kick and is the perfect companion to the turkey roll. Here’s that recipe:

Guaco-Cream

Mix in food processor:

1 avocado

2 garlic cloves

1/2 lime

pinch of kosher salt

1 tsp honey

Scrumptious on a plate

Shaken Taters…AKA the best damn roasted potatoes. Ever.

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Shake Your Money Maker!

Yes, that is my messy, 1970’s drab chic kitchen. Notice the box of wine and my Goodwill microwave. That’s how I roll, y’all! I digress.

I like my martinis and my potatoes SHAKEN, not stirred.

I grew up with a New England family who served rich roasts like pot roast and roast chicken every Sunday and there were always roast potatoes with thick gravy on the plate. My Mom, her mother and her mother before her all made roast potatoes the same way: Peel, boil, roast. And they were delicious. But I add a step.

SHAKE, baby SHAKE! The potato slam displaces the starch, so the insides stay soft and the outside gets crispi-fied. (Sorry Mom, Grandma Ronnie and Great Grandma Nea, but mine are waaaaaay better!)

Here’s how to make them. Preheat oven to 400. Peel and slice Yukon gold potatoes lengthwise like this:

Peel then slice

Then toss them into a big pot of boiling water for exactly 5 minutes. You want them to get a little tender, but not soft enough to mash. I always put a timer on or my ADD brain will get distracted and I’ll overcook them. 5 minutes. That’s it! Drain immediately.

Drain your taters!

OK, the fun part is about to start. Are you ready? Put the taters BACK INTO THE POT WITH THE LID ON.

Hold onto the top and sides and shakebabyshakebabyshake!! Like the classic Cars song goes, Shake it up! You’re gonna make the taters a little messy– that’s the whole plan. Trust me. Do it for a solid 30 seconds. You’re making the best potatoes of your life and getting a bicep workout. Your welcome!

There should be little bits of tater all over your lid after the shake!

Now, drizzle some olive oil in the pan and stir to coat. I pour the shaken taters onto a greased wide rimmed cookie sheet and sprinkle with some Montreal Steak Seasoning. I love that stuff. Bake for 20-25 minutes and then turn over. Bake another 20-25 minutes until thoroughly crispi-fied.

They’ll look like this:

Shaken Taters, baked and ready to eat

Shaken Taters are good enough to serve alone. Warning: Carb coma may occur.

Best Onion Rings…EVER.

White Girl Can Cook Wings

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Wings and Rings…

Back in 2008, I was cooking for a friend of mine for the first time. She and her now hubs, had just introduced me to JP, and I was making the meal so we could dish about my new man. (Talk about blind date success!) Little did I know, before dinner was served, she’d had a quick convo about whether she’d need a real dinner after my meal…It went something like this:

“White girl cooking chicken wings? You better have something ready when I get home.”

There apparently was some doubt that this black soul food queen trapped in the body of a white girl could throw down in the kitchen…Let’s just say, not only was she pleasantly surprised, but since then, I have catered her wedding shower, her rehearsal dinner and her baby shower….AND, I have officially been dubbed by her friends and family, “White Girl Can Cook Productions.”

It’s a title I wear proudly!

Oh, and those delish looking onion rings shown in the pic? Here’s THAT recipe.

Ingredients:
2 shallots
4 garlic cloves
2 Tb butter
1 chopped jalapeño
1 1/2 cups BBQ Sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray’s)
1 cup Buffalo Wing Sauce (I use Frank’s Red Hot Wings)
1/2 cup chili garlic sauce (I use Sriracha Hot Garlic Chili Sauce, aka “Rooster” sauce)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 Jack Daniel’s Bourbon
1 family pack of chicken wings
flour for dredging

Wings: Preheat oven to 425. Dredge chicken wings in flour and place on a well greased pan. Bake for 30 minutes and flip over. Continue baking for 20-25 more minutes until crispy.

Sauce: Saute shallots (substitute a medium onion if you need to) and garlic cloves in 2 TB butter on medium heat until soft but not browned, about a minute. Add chopped jalapenos and saute for another minute. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until well combined. Let simmer on stove top on low heat until wings are done. Dip wings in sauce after they come out of the oven and serve immediately with additional BBQ sauce on the side.

**Mix some fresh crumbled blue cheese with full-fat sour cream, a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of salt and dip wings if you’d like…

Easy to make and your friends will be blown away by the delish factor! (Especially if you’re a white girl!)

Chili-laya

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Turn up the heat, baby!

This Culinary goddess has won a major award for her chili recipe. (I can’t help but think of one of my favorite scenes from A Christmas Story: “It’s a Major Award! I won!”

2 awards in fact! Let me brag on meeeeeeeee for a minute: I placed in the Roswell Chili Cook Off last spring and also won a Ford Owners competition a few months before that and took home, yes, A Major Award!

It’s a MAJOR AWARD!

It’s tough to mess with perfection, but the weekend was winding down and JP and I started talking about coming up with a new chili recipe. The weather is getting cooler and there’s nothing better than a pot of chili simmering on the stove on a Sunday afternoon. He had a brilliant suggestion: Chili Meets Jambalaya.

It’s Chili-laya, y’all!

Ingredients:

1 pound ground chuck

1 pound ground sirloin

1 pound spicy ground sausage (like Jimmy Dean)

1 package of spicy smoke adouille sausage (I like Ragin’ Cajun brand) sliced

1 Tb Grade B Maple Syrup

1 Tb butter

1 Tb olive oil

1 can tomato sauce (15oz)

1 can drained kidney beans

1 can diced tomatoes

2 Tb brown sugar

1 Tb honey

2 cups Guinness beer

2 cups beef stock

2 jalapeños diced

1 poblano pepper diced

1 red bell pepper diced

1 habanero pepper diced (optional)

1 sweet onion chopped

2 garlic cloves chopped

2 celery ribs chopped

3 Tb chili powder

1 Tb coriander

1 Tb paprika

1 Tb onion powder

1 Tb garlic powder

1 Tb black pepper

1 Tb basil

1 tsp kosher salt

2 Tb fresh thyme

Chopped cilantro for garnish

Smoked Gouda (this cheese is the shiznittabam) shredded for garnish

Sliced avocado for garnish

Directions:

In a large, wide rimmed frying pan, saute ground chuck, ground sirloin and spicy ground sausage on medium heat until browned. Do not drain. Put meat in a large soup pot and set aside. In the same frying pan, toss in 1 Tb butter and when butter gets bubbly, add the chopped andouille sausage and cook through. When andouille is browned, add 1 Tb Grade B maple syrup and stir to coat. Keep the heat on medium and let the syrup get caramelized on the sausage– try not to eat it all before you’re finished. It’s soooooo good. Add maple encrusted andouille to the rest of the meat.

Now, time to saute your veggies. I use the same pan, just add about 1 Tb olive oil and saute onion, garlic, celery, and all of the peppers. Be very careful when you’re chopping up the habanero and the jalapeños — get that hot stuff under your nails or in your eyeball and it’s not fun. I sometimes put on kitchen gloves– or just toss them in the food processor and pulse for a few seconds. Then scoop them into the mix. No need to brown the veggies– just soften them in the pan on medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add veggie mix to your pile ‘o meat.

Next, add in all the canned yummies. The tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, the beans, the beer and the stock, sugar, honey, and all those spices. Mix it all together and keep on a low simmer for 1-2 hours (if you can wait that long!)

Spoon it out and top with chopped cilantro, smoked gouda and sliced avocado. Serve with Jalapeño Cornbread for maximum Chili-laya satisfaction.

Chili-laya and Cornbread “GetinmymouthRAWTnow”

It might be the best chili that has never won a Major Award….YET!

Jalapeño Cornbread

Chipotle Beef Burritos with Whipped Avocado Cream

Meaty Monday: Asian Meatballs with a Soy Ginger Dipping Sauce

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Meaty Monday Meatballs

I love meatballs….I have several go-to recipes, but they’re all Italian Jersey Shore style and I wanted to change it up a bit. Meet Asian Persuasian Meatballs with a little Snooki mixed in. I mean, you always need a little mozzarella with your meatballs. The only Meatball Problem you’re gonna have is that they’ll be gone faster than The Situation’s shirt on a Saturday night.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 pound ground pork

1 onion (pulverized in the food processor)

4 garlic cloves chopped

2 Tb fresh chopped ginger (or use the same amount with Gourmet Garden’s Ginger tube in the produce aisle)

2 jalapeños

2 Tb soy sauce or Tamari

1 Tb garlic powder

2 Tb Sriracha sauce

1 cup shredded mozzarella

1 egg

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1 cup cilantro chopped

Spring onions chopped for garnish

2 Tb butter

1 Tb olive oil

Directions:

My grandmother’s meatballs were legendary in our family. She would put her onion and parsley in the food processor till they were pure liquid and then mix it into the meat. That way, you don’t get any chunks of onion when you bite into the meatballs, but you still get all the flavor. Brilliant. For this recipe, I blast the onion in the food processor for about 30 seconds and pour it all into a big bowl with the meat. Add all of the other ingredients and mix with your meaty hands (don’t be afraid to get ’em dirty!) Ball up into golf ball size balls.

Preheat oven to 400.

Heat up 2 Tb butter and 1 Tb olive oil in a frying pan on med/high heat till butter gets bubbly, then add meatballs in batches. Don’t crowd the pan too much– I do about 6 at a time. Brown on all sides– about 5-7 minutes total.

Put those bad boys on a rimmed cookie sheet (I put foil down and spray with Pam) and bake for 20 minutes until cooked through. Make sure you test one out to double check they’re done! (And to double check the delicious factor….)

While meatballs are baking, make your dipping sauce. Saute the chopped garlic cloves in 1 Tb olive oil on medium heat for a minute– keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn. Add 1/2 of a chopped jalapeño, the soy sauce, sugar, sherry, spring onion and ginger. Bring to a simmer and then turn heat down to low to keep warm until meatballs are done.

I usually make this with rice– then add some of the dipping sauce to your rice…it’s awesome. Drizzle the sauce on the meatballs and make sure to put a little extra sauce on the side for added dipping pleasure!

Dipping Sauce:

1 1/2 cups soy sauce or Tamari

3 Tb sugar

1 Tb fresh ginger chopped

2 garlic cloves chopped

1/2 chopped jalapeño

1 chopped spring onion

1 Tb sherry (use the real thing, not anything labeled “cooking sherry”)

The Ultimate Dude Dip

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: The Ultimate “Dude Dip”

I nicknamed this “Dude Dip” because it’s such a hit with my man and his buddies, but it’s too good to relegate to “Dude Only” status. I was catering a party a few years ago and my appetizer fell apart at the last minute, so I whipped together this dip, stuffed it into some mushrooms and called it GOURMET! The jet set guests went crazy for it…I just smiled and let their distinguished palates assume I had zested in some pricey imported truffle. No one has to know how easy (and cheap) it really is!

Only 3 ingredients….

1 package of Spicy sausage (I prefer Jimmy Dean)

1 can “Original” Rotel Tomatoes

1 8oz package of full fat cream cheese (Warning: If you use low-fat cream cheese, it gets watery and gross!)

Directions:

Saute sausage until browned. Drain and mix with cream cheese and entire can of Rotel (juice included). I put it all in a casserole dish, let the cream cheese melt and then pop it into the oven at 400 for about 10 minutes just before guests arrive so it’s hot. Serve with tortilla chips.

Dude-licious.