Yum de la PORK CHOP

2 Bone in Pork chops
Vegetable Oil (used because I heard it was better with cast iron?)
Onion
Flour
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Paprika
Onion Powder
Celery Salt
Cast Iron Skillet

I know it has been two forevers since my last point and I apologize greatly for that, but get over it, this DudeFood should make up for it and more. Not many of you may know this but port chops are the crème de la crème of the meat world, the T-bone of the pork world, and the key to my heart.

To get this party rockin you start by heating your pan up. Before going forward I should say that you need to used a cast iron skillet or pan because you will be tossing this into the oven after we are done on the stove top. I have heard to do this a couple of ways. You either put the oil in and heat the pan and the oil at the same time, or I have also heard that you should add the oil after heating your pan. I personally heated the oil and the pan up together but who knows?

Once your pan is heating up, move on to prepping the meat. I like to create a little dry rub. This mixture is a simple way to add some bang without taking away from the chop. Just add equal parts onion powder, celery salt, paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Mix this simple rub up and then just sprinkle it onto your chops (do not coat them in it. This will take away from the meat. )

Once you have gotten them seasoned toss them in flour. Be sure to remove most of the excess flour because you’re not trying to deep fry them, you just want to sear them in the pan. Once they have gone for about 3 minutes a side (they should adopt a nice dark golden color) pull them out of the pan and let them sit on a plate for a few seconds.

Take you onion (I forgot to mention that you should have sliced it up) and toss it in the pan. Cook until translucent and it begins to caramelize. After the onions are looking good, toss your chops back in the pan and situate the onions over top of them.

Throw the entire cast-iron skillet into the oven at about 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes allowing the chops to cook all the way through.

Plate and serve.

YATS

This is the first in a series of blogs on restaurants in the Indianapolis area. This idea dawned on me when I was thinking of when I was going to have time to cook, blog, and write my history paper on archeological and documented historical evidence...like anyone anywhere cares, I mean I love the history channel as much as anyone but this is outrageous. Anyways I will not bore you on that crap anymore.

For the first restaurant I want to take you all to a place where you can gorge yourself while listening to snazzy jazzy music, and enjoying a relaxing Marti Gras themed environment. Yats is located in the broad ripple area of Indianapolis, to be specific it is on College Ave. just a few blocks south of Westfield. That, however is more than enough on the location and atmosphere on to what really matters....FOOOOOD!!!!

This place has Cajun down to a T or what ever other letter is more Cajun. Offering an ever changing menu that rotates through choices of chili cheese ettuffe, jumbulaya, white chili with chicken, and hunter's stew (which due to horrible timing and menu rotation I have still never tried) Yats is grade A+ food. It is my belief that the chili cheese ettuffe with crawfish is hand made by angels and sent to the restaurant daily. If however the huge portions of delicious glop is not enough for you, they also throw a few slices of the the best buttery garlicyish bread I have ever eaten.

For anyone who really cares to know the pricing for what you get is great. It is about 7 bucks for a plate and a drink and only 50 cents you can get EXTRA BREAD!!!!!! Also, free refills on drinks, but that's nothing compared to the bread. 

To wrap things up, if you come to Indy and are looking for a quick bite that is way worth the buck and Cajun suites your fancy, then Yats is for you. Large portions of great chow is just something that can't be beat in my book.

Check out more of their menu at the official site www.yatscajuncreole.com  

Garlic Packed Dirty Bird Breasts With A Side Of Sweet Fries

Chicken Breast
Sweet Potatoes
Celery Salt
Curry Powder
Chili Powder
Onion Powder
Black Pepper
Cayenne Pepper
Garlic Powder
Paprika
Rosemary
Garlic Clove
toothpicks

This little treat is re-gosh-darn-delicious. It brings together some REALLY bold flavors to create a debauchery of taste in your mouth. To start things off you first make the rub for the chicken. First add equal amounts of the curry powder, chili powder, celery salt, cayenne, black pepper, paprika, and rosemary, and for the rest of the spices at double the amount of each of those (kind of a one part all of those and then two parts garlic powder and onion powder). This is a pretty mean flavor but it blends well with the chicken and some of the bite will cook off.

Next, prep the sweet potatoes because they will take longer to bake. as you can see I just cut them into fries and then hit them with some cold water being sure to dry them off well after. then spread them on a baking sheet and hit them with a little cayenne pepper and salt to add some flavor. After that, throw them puppies in the oven at about 350 and let them go for about 20 min... be sure to watch them cuz I am not positive on that time and you don't want them to burn.

Now lets get to work on that chicken. Start by slicing your garlic into thin slices. Now you take your chicken breasts and make a pocket in them. I did this by making a lateral slit in the chicken in one direction and then pulling that flap back and making a cut in the other direction (be careful not to cut through the chicken)

Once you have your pockets formed slide your garlic slices into them and then use the toothpicks to pin the flap closed (this is important because it will want to open up when you start to cook the breast.

Once you have the garlic in the bird, rub it down with your seasoning blend and then get ready to grill. Throw the birds on the grill and let them go. I wanted to make sure that the garlic was nice and soft in the middle so I let them go about 8-10 min a side depending on the size of the breast.

NOTE!!! be sure to watch your fries through the whole process you they may burn... I said I wasn't sure about the time. If you have more experience with this and know please comment or shoot me an email.

Lastly, once all is done, plate and eat... enjoy

Sweet Potato Chips and a Onion Topped Wiener

Sausage
Onions
Dijon Mustard
Olive oil
Hoagie Bun
Beer
Sweet potato

I know this is exciting having two posts in one week but don’t get to anxious this is just a really simple combo of ingredients to make a tasty morsel of deliciousness.
First off, take your potato and run it through a mandolin slicer (I was amped about this being that it is the first time I actually got to use it) being sure to slice them thin. If you don’t have a slicer, use a knife… not as class but will get the job done.

This next step is kind of important when it comes to crisping and sadly it was forgotten when we tried it. After you slice them you take them and SHOCK them in a bowl of cold water (I have heard this will remove the starch? and help the chips crisp up). If you want a little soggier chips then don’t do this but if you want crispy… try it and let me know if it really works.

Next, dry them off, hit them with a little olive oil and then lay ‘em out on a baking sheet. We put the oven at about 300 and just kept an eye on them. It took about 10 min a side with the junky oven we had access to.

While those are baking, cut your onion into slices and toss them into a pan with the olive oil and cook ‘em up. Once those are on their way to the caramelization station take your wiener and put her in the pan. To add some extra flavor we added our beer to the mix pouring about ½ of a can into the pan with the onions and sausage. I like to poke a few holes in the casing of the sausage to allow the beer to soak up.

After you feel like you are getting close with your sausage onion pan, throw your buns in the oven and toast them up a little.

Finally once everything has cooked and is done, take everything away from the heat and plate it. Add a little bit of the mustard to your dog and eat away.

Boiled Chicken with a Chipotle Mushroom Hat

Chicken Breast
Mushrooms
Chipotle Powder
Garlic
Oregano
Olive Oil

This is a quick and easy little diddy and that has come up off of me trying to boil or poach chicken... (I want to try poaching a whole chicken, but that is a future story)... but anyways I started by halving some mushrooms and thawing out the chicken.

I threw the garlic in a pan with some olive oil and let the heat pull the flavor out of the garlic. After a few minutes, I laid in the mushrooms and began to cook them up. I gradually added the seasoning as they cooked to taste.

While that was going I began to boil some water and tossed in the chicken. When cooking chicken in this way. You really do not have to watch the time, you just have to watch the chicken and once it starts to float to the top of the water its done.

I pulled the chicken out put a layer of shrooms down atop of them and TADAAAAH!!!! done.

Kinda Kickin Chicken and Squash

Chicken Breast
Acorn Squash (winter acorns)
Celery Salt
Red Pepper Powder
Black Pepper
Garlic Powder
Cayenne Pepper
Olive Oil

The prep work on this is pretty easy. First I cut the squash in half right down what I would call one of the vertical lines. Then, I coated the squash with olive oil. Then I sprinkled the celery salt, red pepper powder, black pepper, and garlic powder on in about even amounts. As for the chicken I coated it with the garlic powder and then some of the cayenne. This blend of salty, pepper, garlicy was my attempt at creating a Cajun heat and it worked relatively well providing a flavory kick without lighting a fire.

Next, I preheated my grill and put the acorn squash on face down. The squash will take ten to fifteen min longer than the chicken depending on size so I waited about 10 before putting my chicken on. Once my chicken was on I waited about 10 minutes and flipped everything on the grill over. This meant the squash was on there about 20 min before it was flipped and the chicken about 10 min. I let it all go for about 10 minutes and then pulled everything off.

So all in all I cooked the squash for about 30 min (20 face down and 10 face up) and the chicken about 20, flipping it halfway through.

In preparation for eat, I grabbed some BBQ because I thought the amount of garlic powder I put on the chicken would have dried it out, but never ended up using it. Everything was grade A and now acorn squash on the grill seasoned this way could be this Dude’s favorite food.

Jumpstart Breakfast Sami

2 Eggs
Milk
Butter or Pam
Tomatoes (I used cherry)
Lettuce (I used arugula)
Mozzarella
Bacon
Hoagie Roll

This is a quick and simple idea for breakfast. First you start by mixing a little milk in with your eggs (quantity depends on preference, I like a good and fluffy egg so I tend to add a little more but if you could skip the milk altogether if you wanted) Next cook the egg milk mix scramble style, but don’t break the egg apart as much trying to leave it in larger pieces or even one big piece (more omelet like). This makes form a much neater sandwich come time to put everything together.

While whipping up the eggs throw your bacon on. I like to use a pan cooked bacon because it keeps a lot of the grease and will crisp up really nicely retaining some of the fat on the bacon, but microwave, baked, or even fried bacon will get the job done

While all that is happening you can toast your hoagie. Now since my toaster would not handle the hoagie bun I used a pan on the stove top being sure to keep an eye on it so that it didn’t burn.

Once all that is pulling to a close slice up your tomato and get ready to slam this breakfast sami together, and then down the hatch. Enjoy!

First Guest Robbie and a Saucey Chicken Pesto Pasta

Pasta (we used elbow)
Can of chopped toms
Chicken Breasts
Mushrooms
Oregano
Garlic (1 Clove)
Salt
Pepper
Pesto (homemade or store bought)

This is my first duo cook, and the guest chef was Robert Warren. This is a simple recipe so I am going to kind of breeze through so pay close attention.
Through your chicken in a pan and sear it. When you are about half way done cooking the chicken and the outside no longer looks raw add the tomato, garlic, mushrooms, and oregano. Cook together until the chicken is done and then let stew. Now you can (or you could have been during the previous step) boil your pasta. Once you have it good and ready add your pesto while it is still hot to allow it to melt around otherwise you wind up with a bunch of gooey clumps of basil.
Once you have got that done toss your chicken veggie sauce on top and enjoy.

Pig Wrapped Pork with a Side of Zs and Toms

Pork Chops
Bacon (2 slices per chop)
Zucchini
Tomato
BBQ sauce
Olive Oil
Toothpicks

This is a pretty easy meal that just about any half lit dude could pull off. I like to start with my zucchini so that I can get them going on the grill. Take a knife and whack it up into about ½ inch pieces… or at least that’s the size I like, you can go a little bigger or smaller if you would like. Once you have your slices in front of you drizzle them with the olive oil ( I like to salt and pepper mine during this stage but it is not a necessity. Now just let those sit for a sec.

Now, grab a chop and wrap the bacon around it meeting both ends and then push the toothpick through the touching ends to secure the bacon around the chop. Repeat this process with the other strip of bacon so that you have two bacon stripes (yes I mean stripes) going across your pork chop.

I would now recommend lighting your grill so that it has a few minutes to get hot. Next grab your tomato and slice it in half adding whatever seasonings you feel (I like it plain). It is at this point you must do something very crucial. Walk to your fridge and pull out an icy cold beer (my current beer of choice is Miller High Life because for every top you turn in they donate money to the troops, but you can choose whatever beer you like.)

With beer in hand it is time to start grilling. I like to start my zucchini a little before my chops because i prefer them to be a little charred and if they are thick cut it may take time for them to cook all the way through. So toss them on for about 3 minutes before your chops.

When you are ready to grill your chops CHECK THE TIME, if you are a true dude fooder you will be doing this by time and touch so you don’t have to hack apart your meat to see if it is cooked through. My chops were pretty small, less than an inch thick and I went about 4-5 minutes a side and they were just about perfect, but you can’t totally rely on time. You have to be able to gauge the meat by how it feels to the touch. Cooked meat is substantially firmer than raw meat and this skill may take time to develop but is the only sure fire way to know when your meat is good to eat.

Be sure to slap that tomato on the grill when you are putting your chops on.

Once you have got your food flipped once and about where you would like it to be apply a layer of BBQ sauce (it doesn’t have to be fancy, I just used original Masterpiece). Then let it sit for a minute, roll over your meat and do it again.

Now you should be ready to pull everything off at once if you timed this right, so just grab a platter and fork and dig in.

Apologies and future!

Faithful followers,

I am so very sorry for my absence the past week. I am currently a student first and an amateur chef second and had a huge presentation to complete. Have no fear though, The Bear is back and ready to make some food. While I was gone I made a few dishes (gnocchi and deep fried delight) and did some brainstorming and have some great creative ideas (Sushi style bbq and homemade sauces). Also, be on the look out for recipes that include the use of a grill, which I will be using for 90% of all cooking activities from here on out.

Chicken Philly Cheese Sauce

Chicken breasts
Green Pepper Chopped
Onion Chopped
Cheese Sauce (instructions below)
Hoagie Rolls

Cheese Sauce
Butter 1Tbs
Flour 1Tbs
Milk 1c
Shredded Cheddar 1c
Shredded Mozzarella 1c

This cheese sauce tasted awesome but the texture came out a little funny but you can't notice once you get it on the sandwich.

Well you first start of by making a kind of roue which is just a cream made of the butter and flour. First melt the butter in a sauce pan and once that is done whisk in the flour being sure to keep it moving because it WILL BURN EASILY (believe me I know).

Once you get it to a good consistency slowing pour your milk being sure to whisk it real good. Leave it on the heat until it begins to thicken just a little and then add your cheesy goodness. You may want to switch from a whisk to a wood spoon or spatula for this because the cheese gets stuck on the tip of the whisk and if you are like me and lack the patience to deal with it will safe your blood pressure.

After you get a gooey delicious cheesy sauce then remove from the heat and let sit.

Now you take your veggies and chicken breast and throw 'em in a pan and cook. Be sure to make a mess of the chicken breasts breaking it apart to make a good consistency for the sandwich.

Once that is done up then toast your rolls and construct the deliciousness.

Jalapeno, Lemon, Garlic Pesto

2c basil
1c spinach
1 clove garlic
1 lemon's juice
1 jalapeno
1/4c parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
tad of water

YES IT IS TRUE, 2 posts in one day. I have had this one on the back burner and never through it up here. First step is put everything in a food processor (i used a Magic Bullet) and blend the S*** out of it. Once you have grainy green paste you are good to go. I have no pictures but I have had it on angel hair pasta three times, once with chicken, once with pork chops, and once with out any meat (i know its a sin for a dude to pass on protein but i had none so deal...).

The MANWICH!!!! STEAK SANDWICH!!!

-Steak
-Jalapeno (sat on counter until red and shriveled)
-Onion
-Cilantro
-Oregano
-Garlic
-1 large bun

This one is for the real dudes. Cheap, easy, and "F"ing delicious! Rough Chop all veggies and begin to saute with olive oil in a pan. Slice steak into ¼ inch pieces. Add meat to veggies. Cook until meat is browned and onions begin to caramelize. Serve as a sandwich on a bun. If this doesn't satisfy your everyday dude then I don't know what will.

Caramelized scallops, onions, and apples over steamed snap peas

Fresh Scallops
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Lemon
Snap Peas
1/2 apple
1/2 onion

Now this one sounds terrifying because it is scallops, but seriously dudes if you want to impress your girl friend with a dish that is easy to cook, plate, and eat give this a try.

First start by chopping your apple and onion so that is done and out of the way.

Then coat a pan in oil. Not too much just enough to put a layer down. Then put it over med-high heat and let it get hot before putting in the scallops. Now salt and pepper your little seamen and then they are ready to go in the pan. Once your pan is hot then drop in the little critters and let them cook on that side for about 2-2.5 minutes. Then flip em over and do it again. Once they look like they have a nice little bit of caramelization on them then pull them off throw them on a plate and set aside.

Now in the exact pan that you cooked the scallops in put your chopped onions and apple. saute until caramelized.

At the same time as you are doing up the apples and onions, fill a pot with your snap peas and put a little bit of water in the bottom. Toss that pan on a burner set to about med-high heat. Cook them until they are a lively green color and hot when you eat them. I assume you could probably do this part with a steaming pot if you happen to have one laying around but I am no chef and I am in college, so my method works fine enough.

I guarantee that if you do this right you will be a happy man and if you leave any for your girl friend you will be an even happier man.

Jalapeno Chicken Cheese Dumplings Galore

2c flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
dry basil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
(1) 8oz pack of crm cheeze
2 good size chicken breast
2jalapeno peppers
1 clove garlic

Once again I began by making the dough. This dough was pretty simple and I made sure to get measurements so there should be no mishaps. Start by putting the flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the salt, baking soda, pepper, garlic powder, basil, and then form a well in the middle. Pour the about 1/4 cup of water into the well and mix. Continue to add water a tablespoon at a time until the dough is tacky and just barely clings to your fingers.

Next, pull the dough out and kneed on flour board until consistent texture all the way through. Cover with a damp towel/ paper towel and set aside while preparing filling.

For the filling you must start by prepping the chicken. I pan fried mine, but I imagine you could boil or grill it for a different taste. Once the chicken is cooked you need to shred it. To do this I took two forks and pulled the chicken apart until it was shredded through and through. Once the chicken is shredded then you need to move on to putting the filling together.

To make the filling add cream cheese, peppers, garlic, chicken and mix thoroughly. I added a little salt to taste but it really is not needed.

Now, you need to get your dough back out. Roll your dough into a tube about 2 to 2.5 inches thick. Then cut off about a 1 inch peace of the tube at a time. Flour your board again and rolling pin (I a wine bottle from the night before) and flatten your 1 inch pieces out. Once flat, spoon in a glob of filling being sure to leave enough room to fold up the edges of the dough and crimp it closed tightly.

Once you get your dumplings formed fill a pan with about 1/2 inch of your oil and heat it up. Drop your dumplings in the pan being careful not to burn yourself it hurts (I know from experience, it hurts like a S.O.B.). Once your dumplings have been in for about 1 minute or so roll them over and you should now see a goldeny brown dumpling staring you in the face. Let that side cook for a minute or so and then pull it out and the entire dumpling should look a beautiful golden color. Let them stand for a minute or two on a paper towel to cool and let oil drain off.

Once they have cooled enough for you to plate them its WAM BAM THANKYA MAM the most delicious thing that you will eat at that moment.

A Dough Boy Special

Dough:
-Flour 5 cup
-Yeast 1.25oz (five of the little packets that I had)
-Olive Oil

Sauce
-Tomato Paste 1 can
-Grape Jelly 1 tbls
-Water .25 cup
-Oregano
-Parsley
-Basil
-Garlic Powder
-Finely diced onion
-Finely diced Jalapeno (guts removed)

Toppings (I used)
-Mozzarella Cheese
-Pepperoni
-Green Pepper
-Onion
-Mushrooms.

Now I am not going to admit this was the easiest thing to cook. I will say however that is was a fun and successful battle in the kitchen. I walk through the entire process here and it took some time, about 3 hours to be exact, so if you are in it for the long hall block out some time.

I started by adding the yeast to warm water to get it... ready I guess, I don't really know (note at this time i only have about 3 packets used do not do this use all 5 now!). Next I put my flour in the bowl and formed a little crater in the middle. Then I added the yeast concoction and began to mix. What I got was not dough it was a gummy flakey mess so i struggled to miss up some more yeast stuff and added it on. After some kneading and mixing I finally got what I considered to be dough. I threw a towel over it and let it sit for 1.5 hours.
(If for some reason you are not feeling up to making a dough you can usually get a hearty chunk from a local pizzeria for really cheap and it works just as well.)

After waiting 1 hour I began work on my sauce which was supposed to be a red wine sauce. I was envisioning it being just like The House Of Pizza's pizza sauce in Hammond, Indiana (best thin crust pie in the world btw), but I forgot my red wine at the register so I settled for grape jelly because it is all I could find. I added the paste, jelly, seasonings, and veggies into a bowl stirred them up and then transfered them to a sauce pan where I cooked them on low heat, with the intention to pull some of the flavor out of the Jalapeno and onion. I now let this sit.

Returning to my dough, I found that it had nearly DOUBLED in size I cautiously removed the puffy ball from the bowl and smashed it. I began to knead a little flour into the dough and WAM BAM THANKYA MAM! I had the dough I was looking for. I Chopped off about a third of it and threw the rest in the freezer (I hope it stays good). At this point I began to think my name was Mario because I started tossing it around and all was going well until I went to catch it and sent my hand through the middle. No worries though because with a little patchwork everything was as good as new.

Next, I oiled a pan and arranged my dough. I threw on a hearty amount of toppings and then tossed it in the oven at 500 F.

After 15 min I peeped in to check on the little guy and quickly pulled him out. I had taken the crust just past crisp to the point where it only has a few small burns on the bottom. So for all of you I suggest only going about 14 minutes at that high of heat or, drop the heat down a tad.

The Pizza ended up looking great, tasting totally awesome (aside from being crunchy in places) and still having leftovers ( a rarity for me). The only things I would have changed in this trip to the kitchen is make the right amount of yeast the first time and checked the oven about 2 minutes faster. Enjoy!



Feel free to ask any questions you have.

Tomanion BBQ Pork Chop

To start things off I am going to tell of the Tomanion BBQ Pork Chop.

Ingredients
-Pork Chop
-Tomato
-1/2 White Onion
-Cilantro
-Salt
-White Rice
-Garlic Clove
-Olive Oil
-Favorite BBQ sauce

Due to my lack of grill, I began by using a grill-pan to cook the pork chop until tenderly done.

While that was going I decided that a pork chop was not enough and that I wanted to get fancy so I CHOPPED one tomato and 1/2 of an onion and minced the garlic. Added the tomato, onion, and garlic into a pan with a little olive oil in bottom (I am not a chef but I would say it was enough for normal cooking purposes). Let ingredients cook together until the smell makes you drool, or until the onions begin to brown. At this point add a hearty amount of your favorite BBQ sauce (I think I had Masterpiece at the time) to the pan and stir ingredients. Let simmer.

Boil rice (I like to use minute made because of ease)

Now for the difficult part. I put the rice on the bottom, lay the pork chop on top of the rice and then dowse the entire pile in the Tomanion BBQ sauce. Finaly season with salt and finely chopped cilantro if for no other reason than it looks pretty.

That is my first post. Simple, easy, and perfect.

Who, What, and Why

Hello All,

I am posting this to give an explanation of what I am doing with this blog. The objective of this blog is to provide readers with narrative recipes for meals that will serve to satisfy your everyday dude, and hopefully everyone else. I have no professional cooking experience and am just a country boy from Indiana that loves sharp knives and fire so naturally I am a HUGE fan of being in the kitchen. So, don’t expect perfection with every post because pretty much everything I cook is a complete experiment. I encourage all readers to comment, give advice, criticize, and try recipes and tell me how they go. If all goes well with this who knows maybe I’ll write a cookbook or get on Food Network? Lofty dreams I know but hey it could happen. So here we go, get ready to ignite your taste buds and try some of my creations.