Ingredients:

 

• 1 picnic cut pork shoulder
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 1/2 tbsp white pepper
• 1/4 tsp  cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tsp  garlic powder
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp  allspice
• 1/4 tsp  Chinese five spice
• 1 tbsp ground mustard
• 5 TBLS maple syrup
• 1 tbsp molasses

 Directions:

 

1. Mix all ingredients (but pork of course…) together in a bowl.
2. Rub the seasoning mixture paste onto the pork shoulder, making sure to coat all sides, and inside any flaps.
3. Place the pork shoulder skin side up in a smoker.
4. Place a deep disposable aluminum baking pan under the shoulder to collect fat and juices. This will keep the smoker cleaner, and the fat and juices can be used for anything.
5. Smoke at 225°F for 10 hours.
6. Remove the pork shoulder from the smoker and let it rest for 15-20 minutes before slicing and serving. Sounds simple but not tasting it right away is not easy
7. Be careful when removing the aluminum pan as the fat is hot and heavy.

 

In a picnic cut you get different types of meat, skin, fat and bone. The skin will be crispy, you can separate and cut it with a heavy cleaver. If you’re going for shredded pork, mix the “bark (the outside of the meat that got most spices and smoke) with the different types of meat and fat. You can dig some bone marrow, or cook the bones for a broth. 

 

The post Smoked Picnic Cut Pork Shoulder appeared first on Opine Away.

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 Persian lemons
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tspn black pepper
• 1 tspn roasted coriander seeds
• 1 cup coconut milk
• Pinch hot pepper 
• 3 chicken breasts cut to 6 half thickness pieces
• Olive oil
• Chopped dill (or cilantro or parsley) for serving

Cut Persian lemons in half and boil covered for 30 minutes. Squeeze lemons in water to extract their goodness. 
Mix everything but chicken, olive oil and dill. Mix and let stand for 5 minutes to let cool down to no more than a warmish temp.

Add chicken and let marinade for at least a couple of hours. Overnight covered in the fridge even better.
Heat a little olive oil in a pan, take out chicken and let drip so it’s not too wet, and fry for 3-4 minutes each side until browned. Strain marinade into pan to deglaze, let boil, cover and let simmer covered for 8-10 minutes, flipping the chicken in the middle.

That’s it! Serve with the pan sauce and chopped herb of your choice, fancy rice which I’m sure I’ll describe someday soon. Or anything else you like!

The post Persio-Caribbean Chicken appeared first on Opine Away.

1 tbls olive oil
2 boneless/skinless chicken thighs, cubed
1 shallot, thin sliced (small onion will work too)
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp sliced or slivered almonds
2 tbsp golden raisins
One side of a mango, cut to tiny cubes (about 2/3 cup)
1 tsp butter
1 1/2 tsp curry powder (make you own click here)
1/3 tsp salt
1/4 cup spicy pickle juice (optional, I pickle hot peppers, add a bit vinegar and a little more salt instead, hot pepper to taste)
1/4 cup white wine
Chopped cilantro to serve

Heat oil in pan on high flame. Add chicken, stir until most got white/just starts to show golden spots.

Move chicken to one side, add shallot and garlic on the other side, let sauté for a couple of minutes.

Mix and move to one side, add almonds and raisins and let fry for a couple of minute.

Mix and move to one side. Add mango and butter. When butter melts, stir with mango, and then stir all together.

Add Curry powder and salt, stir, add pickle juice (or a bit vinegar) and white wine, stir and keep stirring and let liquids reduce until almost gone, and it’s ready.

You might want to make a bigger portion, because this will mysteriously disappear real fast. I had it with some fresh cilantro, wrapped in my Buckwheat Wrappers.

The post Atyuttama Chicken appeared first on Opine Away.

So chopped liver. It’s really very simple to make. It’s good hot just as you make it, or cold on a piece of toast with horseradish, it’s delicious. Originally there’s no red wine, but that makes it so much better, and no hot pepper, but then gain, I like to change stuff, and I like it much better that way, plus both cut out completely any “metallic” feel some people comment when eating liver.

• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 2 large onions roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic roughly chopped
• 1lb chicken livers
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 1/2 cup red wine
• Pinch hot pepper
• 4 hard-boiled eggs

Sauté onions in olive oil on medium flame until golden.

Add garlic and sauté while stirring for a couple more minute.

Add livers, salt and black pepper to taste and hot pepper, and sauté for 3-4 minutes, add red wine, bring to a boil on high and simmer for 3 more minutes on medium, until livers cooked but not hard.

Let cool down for 5-10 minutes. Grind with a meat grinder alternating liver mix and hard boiled eggs. Lightly mix and add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with red horseradish and pickles. If you want to bring it to higher new levels, fry chopped onion until gets crispy and server the chopped liver with the crispy onion on top.

The post Chopped Liver appeared first on Opine Away.

This chicken dish is a mish-mash hybrid of Chicken Scarpariello, Plao Ubjij (Iraqi chicken and rice), Paella, Tunisian Frikase and Indian buffet rice. Or something like that. Bottom line? It came out really good. Here goes:

1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp butter
4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
5 garlic cloves sliced
1 Medium Onion cut to 1/2″ pieces
Juice from three lemons
2 slices pickled lemon (optional) chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
Pinch (or to taste) hot red pepper
1/4 tsp dry thyme (I get it from my sister, but you can buy some dry or fresh)
3/4 cup rice (basmati is good)
1/2 cup frozen green pees

In a deep pan heat olive oil and butter. Add chicken thighs, top side down on med-high until browned, 4-5 minutes. Flip, then add garlic and onion, until chicken bottom is browned, another 4-5 minutes.

Add lemon juice and pickled lemon, salt, peppers and thyme, Bring to a boil, then let cook for a minute.

Add rice in between chicken pieces, add tap hot water until covers rice, bring to a boil, cover, simmer on low for 20 minutes. Add frozen pees on top, cover and simmer for another minute. Turn off flame and leave cover to another 5 minuted.

Serve on a white dish and eat by holding fork in left have and knife in right. Yep, this has to be eaten in a classic European manner. Why? Because I said so. Behave.

The post Lemon Chick appeared first on Opine Away.

My version is made with chicken thighs, and is relatively simple – marinate for at least an hour in lemon juice (at least three lemons), thyme, a little oregano, salt, black pepper, garlic and hot pepper. Then place in an oven pan, herbs on the bottom, chicken on top with all the marinade juices, put some butter on top of the chicken, some more salt and pepper, cook for 40 min on 450f, then broil for 20 minutes. Sometimes I do a quick version on the stove, crisp the chicken first with a little butter and olive oil then add the lemon juice and spices and cook covered for 10 minutes, then uncover and reduce the sauce a bit. Either way I really like it…

The post Chicken Scarpariello the short version appeared first on Opine Away.

The post Chicken Boozed Deux appeared first on Opine Away.