Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

Christmas this year has been delightful.  After opening our presents Christmas morning, we traveled from our Son and DIL’s home in Cary to Jacksonville NC to join the other family members at Kristen’s sister’s and brother-in-law’s home.  Jeff is a grill master.

The 12 pound beef brisket was smoked on the grill for 15 hours.  Jeff maintained a temperature of 180 degrees for most of the time, but cranked up the heat to 250 degrees for the last two hours of cooking. The pans of water helped to maintain the moisture while they cooked.  The pork ribs were grilled at some point in the process.  We had them as appetizers with an array of other goodies.

Dinner was a feast.  The brisket was moist and tender.  To add to the splendor on the buffet we had a cajun deep fried turkey.  Unfortunately I did not take any pictures because I was too busy admiring and eating.

We awoke this morning to a snow storm.  We were planning to drive to Lake Lure today but the roads are covered with snow and traveling is dangerous.  We have all hunkered down in the house, the kids have been playing in the snow and there are good smells coming from the kitchen.

Peppers and beef being sauteed by Kim for Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches.

Sandwiches hot out of the oven.  They were delicious.

If you are hosting get togethers during the holidays, this is a very easy and festive appetizer.  We have travelled to North Carolina to be with our family for Christmas so I have not had an opportunity to post much during the last week.  This afternoon I visited the Trader Joe’s in Cary and picked up a package of their store brand puff pastry.  It is made with all natural ingredients which is great, but if all you can find is the Pepperidge Farm puff pastry, it works just as well.  For appetizers for a crowd use both sheets in the package which will make 16 hors d’ oeuvres.

Simply cut each sheet into an 8″ or 9″ circle,  prick them, spread them with boursin cheese and sauteed red peppers, sprinkle with thyme and seasoning and bake until browned and puffed.  It could not be easier.

RED PEPPER AND BOURSIN TARTS

2 red bell peppers, quartered lenghtwise, seeded and thinly sliced crosswise
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 (17 1/2 oz) package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
1/4 cup herbed Boursin cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Cook bell peppers in oil in a large nonstick skiller over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 8 minutes, then cool.

Unfold passtry sheets on a ligthly floured surface and cut out an 8″ or 9″ round from each.  Transfer rounds to a buttered large baking sheet and prick all over with a fork, leaving a 1/2 inch border around edges.

Spread 2 tablespoons cheese evenly over each round, then scatter with peppers and sprinkle with thyme, kosher salt, and pepper to taste.

Bake tarts in middle of oven until puffed and golden brown, about 15 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool slightly.  Cut each tart into 8 wedges and serve warm.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Printable recipe

Salads at Thanksgiving are sometimes overlooked.  A tossed green salad seems like an afterthought when you are serving such hearty dishes as mashed potatoes, dressing, green bean casserole, and turkey and gravy.  But this salad is a little different.  It is substantial with ebony colored wild rice and  is full of fruit like bright navel oranges,  pale green grapes, dried red cranberries or dates fruit. And when looking for dates fruit, Pemborong kurma green diamond which means Dates wholesaler in Malaysia, and is where you can buy dates with wholesale prices with best quality in all over Malaysia. You can also order dates online in Malaysia. Product such as kurma Ajwa, kurma Mariami, and Kurma Rotab.

The light dressing of olive oil, raspberry vinegar and orange juice adds just the right refreshing tang.  But the main reason to love this salad is that it goes so well with the other components of the Thanksgiving table.  Wild rice has always been associated with game, game hens and turkey.  It is an earthy and unexpected addition to the usual line-up of dishes.

The recipe is adapted from Ina Garten’s new cookbook, How Easy Is That?  It is similar to one that I have been making for years.  The main difference is the use of raspberry vinegar.  It is worth using in this salad and you will have it to dress any salad in which you incorporate fruit.

WILD RICE SALAD

1 box of long-grain wild rice (6 ounces)
3 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 naval oranges, peeled and sliced into segments
1/2 cup seedless green grapes, cut in half
1/2 cup toasted pecan pieces
1/4 cup dried cranberries
2 tablespoons green onion, chopped

Bring the 3 cups of water, the salt, and the butter to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Add the wild rice and stir to combine.  Reduce the head to medium-low and simmer covered until the rice is tender (about 50 to 60 minutes).  Drain off the excess water.  Return the rice to the saucepan and cover.  Let sit for about 10 minutes.  Transfer the rice to a mixing bowl.  Combine the dressing ingredients and pour over the rice.  Mix well.  Add the remainder of the ingredients and toss to combine.  Transfer mixture to a serving dish and serve at room temperature.

I have been enjoying cooking up all of these Thanksgiving dishes because we will not be home for Thanksgiving this year and I will not be cooking.  We are going to the Washington DC area to spend time with family.  I will be going on a pilgrimage while there.  Since the last time I was in DC the Smithsonian has added a new exhibit that I want to see.

I am going to see Julia Child’s kitchen.  I am so excited.  I promise not to sneak in a stick of butter, but I will report back with pictures of my own.

Speaking of kitchens, I would still like more of you to participate in my Kitchen Reveal on December 1st.  Just leave a comment on my previous post and let me know that you are interested in posting pictures of your kitchen on that date.

Printable recipe

David (Mr Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen) here again. Penny asked me to write about some of our Labor Day food….specifically, the BBQ part that I was responsible for. We had a house full of extended family here for the long weekend, and everyone pitched-in in the kitchen.  Needless to say we ate well…you might even say “high on the hog”, at least as high as the shoulder.

As of late, I have been inspired by another Dave, the one responsible for the blog My Year On The Grill (MYOTG),  not to mention the inspiration I always get from Bobby Flay and The Neely’s on The Food Network.  It was actually a Neely’s episode back in April about how to smoke spare ribs at home that inspired me buy a Char-Griller off-set charcoal smoker grill.  I christened the grill by cooking some ribs following the Neely’s dry rub recipe and techniques, and I must say they were some pretty tasty ribs.  I was then ready to step it up a notch and tackle some Carolina Pulled Pork, i.e. Pork Butt, which is kind of an odd name for what is in reality a pork shoulder. For detailed instructions on smoking a Pork Butt (it’s a lot more fun to say than shoulder) I referred to MYOTG.  MYOTG Dave is doing for Steve Raichlen’s book How To Grill what Julie Powell did for (or some might say to) Julia Child’s Mastering The Art Of French Cooking…cooking his way through the book, one recipe at a time. Dave has many detailed recipes and instructions on his blog, and his info on Pork Butts was exceedingly helpful in my quest to achieve a nice Butt.  I was particularly interested in his comments on using coffee in the dry rub. After reading MYOTG’s musings on pork butts and studying Steve Raichlen’s and Pat Neely’s recipes, and never being one to leave-well-enough-alone, I concocted my own java dry rub with this formula.

1    Cup white sugar
1    Cup brown sugar
3/4 Cup paprika
1/2 Cup ground coffee
3    Tablespoons onion powder
3    Tablespoons black pepper
2    Tablespoons course salt
2    Teaspoons garlic powder
2    Teaspoons cocoa powder
1    Teaspoon cayenne pepper
1    Teaspoon ground cumin
1    Teaspoon ground coriander

The only picture I thought to take during the Butt cooking process was this one showing the rub on the raw Butt, which I then let sit in the fridge over-night.

For the mop sauce and Carolina vinegar finishing sauce I made up some of MYOTG’s  Raspberry Chipotle Sauce Concentrate and added it to Steve Raichlen’s standard mop and vinegar finishing sauce just like Dave suggested.  I forgot to take a picture of the butts on the grill or after they had cooked for 9 hours, so the only photo of the finished product is the sandwich shot above.

For sides, we did MYOTG’s Blue Cheese Potato Salad and Smoked Beans, both of which are described here.  I had quite a struggle convincing Penny to even let me make the Blue Cheese Potato Salad…she has an aversion to blue cheese for some reason. In the end, she caved in, and guess what….she actually liked it. The blue cheese is not over-powering if you follow Dave’s recipe. 

 
I had actually been making smoked beans very similar to Dave’s since I got my smoker.  The main difference between mine and Dave’s being the additional bean varieties Dave throws into the mix. Where I had been using only Bush’s baked beans as the base, he adds a can of pinto’s and  a can of great northern’s to the pot….a worthwhile addition.  The smoked beans need to include smoked pork of some variety.  I had some smoked ribs in the freezer, so I chopped some up and threw it in the pot along with a little leftover andouille sausage.  I left the bean pot in the smoker, under the pork butts to catch some of the drippings, for three or four hours.  They were pretty yummy beans.

Penny whipped up some coleslaw following a Bobby Flay recipe.  All in all, a very satisfying all-American Labor Day feast.  Thanks for the recipes Dave, and the advice on how to cook a good Butt.