Older Bolder Life

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the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Jalapeño Garlic Cucumber Salad v. Quick Pickle

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We’ve long been fans of what most folks call quick pickles around our camp. Quick pickles are a great way to add a burst of flavor to meals or snack time, and you can make great quick pickles out of just about any vegetable you favor.

Some might argue that a quick pickle is just as much a salad as a pickle (count me among those who ponder that now and again); call it what you want, these types of recipes are quick to prepare, simple enough for those with the most basic kitchen skills to cobble together, and score very highly on the taste to effort scale.

By the way, some of our favorite quick pickle recipes I’ve shared her on OBL before: Quick Pickled Beets and Onions, Tasty Quick Dills, Quick Pickled Daikon Radishes, and Quick Turmeric Zucchini Dills.

Today’s recipe, this Jalapeño Garlic Cucumber Salad v. Quick Pickle, is one we’ve been playing with a bit after talking about the recipe with Chef Libby after Thanksgiving. Serve it within 30 minutes of preparation and it’s more like a salad; let it rest in the fridge for an hour or two ahead and give the vinegar time to work its magic – and you’re more in the quick pickle zone.

We like this with two cloves of grated garlic, though some might find that level of garlic a bit strong. And I prefer it with a bit more heat (occasionally adding a teaspoon or two of crushed red pepper flakes or a sliced serrano) though my wife thinks the recipe as written below is right on the money.

This one is a nifty addition to any meal during the long, cold January to come, and if you can’t find Persian cucumbers (as I haven’t been able to in my neighborhood of late) hothouse English cucs work just as well.

6 Persian or 2 English cucumbers, see note above, sliced on diagonal
1 tsp (scant) kosher salt

1 large jalapeño chile, thinly sliced
1-2 garlic cloves, grated
3/4 cup rice vinegar (unseasoned)
1 tbsp good honey
1 tbsp avocado oil

Combined the prepped cucumbers and salt in a medium bowl, stirring to coat the cucumber slices with salt. Let sit at room temp for 15-20 minutes, stirring twice more, until the cucumbers release some liquid.

While the cucs are resting, whisk the rice vinegar, oil, honey, garlic, and sliced pepper in a medium bowl.

Now squeeze as much liquid as possible from the cucumbers, add to the pepper vinegar and stir to coat well. Taste for salt and adjust as needed, these need to marinate at least 30 minutes before serving.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast on Thursday: Toasted Pecan Blue Cheese Ball

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In sharing many recipes here over the years I’ve unabashedly claimed the fact that I’m a child of the South having grown up in Texas, and in particular having grandparents ensconced on the Texas Gulf Coast (with ties to Louisiana and Tennessee woven into the family tree).

My earliest childhood holiday memories with these coastal-dwelling grandparents include tables spread with simple but oh so tasty – and plentiful – foods, and the venerable cheese ball never failed to make an appearance. Not only did the cheese ball make an appearance, it drew attention throughout holiday afternoons and evenings, through multiple refills of crackers and carloads of family and friends passing through.

The Southern cook’s holiday cheese ball has been around so long, persisted through so many generations, that it’s passed from being an old standby to kitschy cliche to being back in vogue again, with some nifty new flavors and ingredient combinations stealing the show these days.

A friend asked me a couple of weeks back for our favorite cheese ball recipe; this is the one that we’ve pulled together over the years, based on one that my Ma-Ma (pronounced maw maw) hand wrote years ago, and modified by bits and pieces as we’ve run across great recipes over the years.

I also reached out to Chef Libby in Austin, who emphasized that in her catering world, she builds all cheese balls around a great blue cheese (she likes Maytag) and a sharp, fresh goat cheese, with fresh dates for an earthy sweetness, two different alliums, and a generous splash of Worcestershire for the tamarind flavors, and a shake of a Cajun inspired hot sauce. For those really wanting to layer in flavor, she also toasts her pecans in a bit of Cajun spice mix and good Irish butter…

Libby added that the most critical mistakes home cooks make with this recipe include using pre-chopped dates, often dusted in sugar, which Libby likens to eating musty, slightly wet cardboard, and using a bland, minimally flavored cheese in lieu of the boldly flavored blue. You can of course throw in any cheese combination your heart desires (along with the cream cheese and butter to fill this one out), and experimenting with flavor is part of what makes the kitchen and cooking game so interesting.

By the way, once chilled these transport very easily for the days when we’re past the COVID hump and enjoying our friends and neighbors again.

3/4 cup full fat cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup good butter (11 tbsp), softened
1/2 cup blue cheese – get the good stuff
1/2 cup fresh goat cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh dates (see note)
2 tbsp chives, chopped
2 tbsp chopped green onions, white and light green parts
1-2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp hot sauce of your choice (we lean to a Cajun sauce here)
Up to 1/2 tsp salt

To finish
2/3 cup spiced roasted pecans
1/4 cup fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley

Take the first four ingredients (cream cheese, butter, blue cheese, and goat cheese) out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before starting.

Throw everything into a mixer bowl (paddle attachment) and combine on low speed until evenly mixed; the mixture will be quite soft. Scrape the paddle and place the bowl in the fridge for 20 minutes, then form into one big or two smaller cheese balls and coat with the roasted pecans and chopped parsley.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast on Thursday: Christmas Eve Tamales #2

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In a year marked by extraordinary disruptions of all sorts, we like many of our family, friends, and work acquaintances have found comfort and solace in what are often simple, but meaningful, family traditions.

I truly hope you and your family have had similar experiences as well, embracing or reviving family and/or communal traditions that have some genuine meaning to you and yours.

Personally I don’t think these traditions need be monumental, life-changing, events; many of life’s most encouraging and endearing customs and conventions are damned simple – and for many of us, involve food.

Here’s an example from our own family life; even from childhood days growing up in my modest household in the Texas Panhandle, we’ve enjoyed tamales as part of our holiday tradition over the past fifty plus years.

We didn’t host tamaladas (a tamale making party) in my household growing up, but several hispanic friends did, and even though anglo I was welcomed every year and given some (relatively simple) task to do as hundreds of tamales were crafted around a big table in the kitchen.

My wife and I didn’t craft our own holiday tamales for several years during my training in San Antonio (there were tamales everywhere during the holidays!) and later in SLC, though we started our own tradition making tamales for Christmas Eve, and later hosting tamaladas of our own, back in 1988, and have done so every year since.

And yes, while we pretty damned consistently adhere to a much-enjoyed and appreciated Primal / paleo food plan year round, we still bow to tradition and prepare a batch of tamales with family for Christmas Eve. IF you don’t have the least bit of interest in venturing far from the Primal/paleo path, by all means don’t, and stop reading here…

For those curious about the option, yes, we have tried a host of gluten free masa alternatives out there; if you’re genuinely interested you should experiment after some easy research online. After trying a host of alternatives, we still make a batch of traditional masa for holiday tamales – we find the other options just too far off the mark for our palates.

We used the same recipe for 29 years when preparing our filling from scratch, slow cooking pork shoulder with a bevy of spices and chiles, though changed to this recipe in 2017 after having a friend share it with us.

You’ll note that I’ve not included a masa recipe here; there are a host of great options available (like this one), and I’d recommend, if you’re truly serious about your tamales, picking up a copy of one of the many great tamale cookbooks out there (I still reach for Tamales by Miller, Pyles, and Sedlar most often when looking for creative masa’s).

And by the way, here’s the recipe we used for years, and it includes a fairly traditional, and very good, masa recipe.

1 and 1/2 lb boneless pork shoulder, trimmed, 1-inch pieces
1 and 1/2 lb pork belly, trimmed, 1-inch pieces

1 tbsp avocado or olive oil
1 large onion, chopped fine
10-21 ancho chiles
8-9 guajillo chiles
4-5 morita chiles
4-5 pasilla chiles (chile negro)
3 cups chicken broth, perhaps more
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tbsp cumin seeds
8 garlic cloves, peeled
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp kosher salt
2 tsp crushed Mexican oregano
1 tbsp ACV

Prep the meat and chiles (stem, seed, and toast).

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and then sauté the onion until it begins to caramelize; now add the prepped chiles and broth and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover, let rest 30 minutes, stir and recover, and let rest another 30 minutes.

Meanwhile toast the coriander seeds in a hot dry skillet for 90 seconds, then add the cumin seeds for another 30 seconds. Remove from the hot pan, cool, then grind.

Now puree the chile mixture in your trusty blender, along with the toasted and ground spices, garlic, and the oregano.

Add the meat to your braising pot or Dutch oven and pour in the chile puree, stir to cover. Add the bay leaves and salt, stir again. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat on the stovetop, then cover, and throw in a 275 degree oven for three hours, stirring every hour.

The meat should be fall apart tender at this point; if so, let cool uncovered for 15 minutes, then skim the fat and pull the bay leaves. Shred the meat, stir in the vinegar, and cool enough to throw in the fridge for at least three hours (see note above).

Now your ambrosial tamale filling is ready to fill your tamales or use as otherwise suits you (see discussion above).

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Grilled Tacos al Pastor

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Working from the premise that my clan hasn’t really met a taco they didn’t like, over the past couple of months we’ve been on a(n) (intermittent) quest to perfect a recipe for Tacos al Pastor.

This culinary journey started after a trip to see family in San Antonio and a venture downtown to a friend’s favorite hole-in-the-wall eatery where we enjoyed an ambrosial taco feast lunch one still-too-damn-hot early October afternoon.

My lovely wife was particularly taken with the Tacos al Pastor, roughly translated “shepherd style”, which prompted a bevy of research including a couple of focused chats with friend Chef Libby in Austin, who like us resonates mightily with the chile-infused flavor palate of the American Southwest and Mexico.

She reminded me of the history involved here – what most of us refer to as tacos al pastor is loosely based on the lamb shawarma that Lebanese immigrants brought to Mexico during the 18th century. History authorities suggest these immigrants were mainly Christians (i.e. the Maronites) who had no religious dietary restrictions regarding pork consumption, and of course brought with them an affinity for shawarma from back home.

Food historians suggests that as they and their progeny began to adopt culinary influences from Mexico, and with the eventual advent of a more widespread Mexican restaurant industry in the 1960s, the taco al pastor we know today was born.

In it’s most classic form, tacos al pastor has traditionally featured pork marinated in a slather based on dried chiles, pineapple, onion, achiote paste, and a handful of different spices, then stacked and cooked on a rotating spit, eventually being sliced off in a fashion akin to gyros from Greek cuisine, providing a perfect crust and tender underlying meat in every morsel.

Of course there are regional variations today, and most of us – and many restaurants / street vendors – don’t have a rotating spit available to prepare our tacos al pastor.

This recipe is one that Libby has crafted to suit the palates of her staff and clients in Austin, a place with a fairly solid understanding of tacos (understatement of the year), certainly from a Tex Mex perspective. The beauty of recipes like this one is you can certainly vary the chile profile to suit your own tastes (for example, I think this is better with 2-3 dried chipotles thrown in, along with a bit of cumin), and this one finishes really well right on your trusty grill over a slow fire.

For those who indulge in the occasional classic corn-based taco, these are divine with the Quick Grilled Pineapple Habanero Salsa from last week, and they’re damned good on one of the gluten free tortillas available today (we still favor the Siete brand around our campfire).

Pro Tip: Trim most of but not all of the fat off the pork shoulder, you want some of that fat to render down as you cook these low and slow over your fire.

3 pounds boneless pork shoulder, sliced roughly 3/4-inch thick

10 guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
3 dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
2-3 chiles de arbol, stemmed and seeded
2-3 dried chipotle chiles, stemmed and seeded, optional

1/2 fresh pineapple, peeled, cored, roughly chopped
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
8 garlic cloves, peeled
1 cup distilled white vinegar
3 tbsp achiote paste
3 ounces kosher salt
1 tbsp ground cumin
Optional: 2-4 tbsp sugar in marinade

Gluten free or corn tortillas if you’re going full out taco

Prep the pork and set aside.

Bring 2 cups of water to a gentle; pour over the prepped chiles in a bowl, cover, set aside to steam and soak for 30 minutes.

Now puree the chiles and soaking liquid, chopped pineapple, chopped onion, garlic cloves, vinegar, achiote paste, sugar if using, and the salt until smooth; pour over the pork, making sure each slice of pork is coated. Cover and chill overnight (at least 6 hours).

Fire the grill; build a two-zone fire if using live fire or set your trusty gas grill to low.

Remove the pork slices from the marinade, gently shake off excess marinade, and slowly grill until the marinade is caramelized and slightly charred on each side and the pork is just cooked through, 9-11 minutes per side (remember, this is over a slow/low fire).

Pull the pork, let it rest for 7 to 10 minutes, when slice against the grain into 1/4-inch strips; build your tacos and top with the Grilled Pineapple Habanero Salsa from last week.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Quick Grilled Pineapple Habanero Salsa

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The weather this week here in North Texas has been delightfully un-winter like with several afternoons boasting of bright sunshine and temperatures much more reminiscent of October as opposed to December (mid-70s).

I’ve been stuck in my home office the past couple of weeks grinding through some intensive training for a new project, and have been working through trials on a couple of new recipes, including this Quick Grilled Pineapple Habanero Salsa that we’ve been pairing with a tacos al pastor recipe I’ll post next week.

We’ve long been a fan of fresh fruit, tropically-inspired salsas; at least around our camp those creations are typically paired with some protein hot off the grill. Probably some of the best fruit salsas we’ve enjoyed over the years have deep Central American and Caribbean roots and have topped various delicious fish tacos.

Our compadre Chef Libby in Austin was talking about a Tacos al Pastor recipe she and her team had served at an event last month and mentioned this recipe, which I prompted cobbled together with a spicy grilled chicken the following Sunday afternoon.

Interesting, bowing to their shared bias toward food flavors of Texas and the Southwest, my lovely wife and Libby think this one is even better using jalapeños and/or serranos for the chiles and cilantro subbed in for the fresh mint.

That version is damned good, though the fruity, front-of-the-tongue heat of the habanero version is like nothing else in the pepper game, and I’d suggest you try both and see what your clan likes best. (I don’t know about you, but I still wear gloves when finely chopping habanero peppers after one very uncomfortable eye rub post a salsa prep several years ago.)

Finally, grilling the pineapple isn’t absolutely essential, but it does make a nifty difference. The salsa is good with the pineapple freshly chopped, it’s great with the pineapple grilled.

1 fresh pineapple, peeled, cored, cut into 1/2-inch rings
2-4 habanero chiles, stemmed, seeded, finely chopped
1 small-medium onion (we prefer red onions here)
1/3 to 1/2 cup mint, chopped
3-4 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp fresh lime zest
Good salt to taste

Options
Sub out cilantro for the mint
Jalapeños and/or serrano chiles for the habaneros

Grill the pineapple rings over med-high heat until they develop some nice char, cool slightly, then chop fairly small.

Now combine the pineapple with the prepped chiles, onion, mint, lime juice, and salt; stir to mix well, and adjust for lime juice and salt. Chill until using or go to it.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Roasted Turkey Stock

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This past week thousands of home cooks across the fruited plain made turkey stock using their favorite recipes; we’ve been doing that thing in our own kitchen literally for decades after Thanksgiving and other turkey feasts, in part to fulfill a tradition we have of making a turkey bone gumbo sometime during the post-holiday festivities.

Well over a decade ago, during our stint in Kalispell (Northwest Montana) running a horse farm, training barn, and show facility (and practicing medicine at the time) I met a guy we named Bib and learned how to up our turkey stock game with his easy technique anyone can master at home.

I wrote about Bib back a few years ago on our fly fishing blog Chi Wulff; here’s an excerpt from that post (and please note the recipe posted at the link was one we used before adopting a Primal nutrition plan)…

Back a few years ago, when the family was living up in the Flathead north of Kalispell, I met a guy nicknamed Bib who lived in a nearby community.

Bib wanted to be a horseman and a welder when he grew up; unfortunately a wayward youth and some very poor decision making led him down the path to becoming an ENT (ear, nose and throat physician), in truth a damned good one.

He forever had a project pony or two that he was working with and dragging around in a beat up two horse trailer pulled by his dilapidated flatbed pickup with the rusty welder-generator unit in back. And yes, he was almost always wearing his trademark bib overalls, even now and again in the hospital.

He was unceasingly late to meetings, swore like a true cowboy and earned his weathered Montana patina the hard way – cutting hay under the endless summer skies and feeding stock year round no matter how cold the wind was blowing.

Of course he could bullshit the feathers off a chicken too.

Bib fly fished a bit though lacked the patience to fish well when things were slow; he’d get fidgety and demand to row, though he’d inevitably get distracted by something and run the boat under a sweeper or right down the lane we’d be trying to fish.

Bib had done part of his training at the infamous Charity Hospital in New Orleans, way back in the day before LSU took it over, and while no doubt he was truly a fish out of water in that setting, he loved his time ‘on the bayou’.

It was there that he learned to make a tried and true roux-based gumbo and he always swore that a roasted turkey carcass made the best gumbo broth. He’d even get friends to save turkey bones for him and he’d round them up, spray with a little olive oil and roast in a 325 degree oven for an hour or so until they were a rich, dark brown. Then into the stock pot they’d go….

He’d then serve his Roasted Turkey Bone Gumbo at a party during the holidays out in his barn; it was a grand time.

(I can hear the scoffs and snickers from the city crowd about folks still having parties in the barn. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. And leave your freakin’ Italian driving moccasins at home.)

This recipe is so danged simple, I’ll just remind you of a few key things to remember in narrative form below.

When making any kind of stock now – turkey, chicken, beef, or vegetable – we take the simple additional step of roasting the bones or veg (in this case the turkey carcass) after a quick spritz with olive or avocado oil in a 375 degree oven for an hour or so until they’re dark and wonderfully aromatic.

That done, we typically drop the roasted carcass in a suitable stock pot, add the aromatics we have on hand, at minimum celery – be sure and include the damned tasty celery leaves from the inner stalks, a large onion – halved, a carrot or two, 4 or 5 peeled garlic cloves, bay leaves, peppercorns, and a sprig or two of fresh thyme (our favorite with turkey) or parsley.

You then simply cover the assembled ingredients with water, bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, then reduce the heat to keep things just simmering until it’s golden brown and richly scented (I typically leave mine on for 3 hours or so). Skim any fat or foam you see.

Strain through a fine mesh strainer (discarding the solids), cool, then throw in the fridge to chill completely (you can remove the fat layer that accumulates in the fridge if you wish). If I’ve made a big batch, I’ll often freeze in 1 quart blocks to have a supply of great stock on hand at all times.

This recipe is so simple to do even a kid could manage this one; we do it reflexly now after roasting or grilling chicken or turkey just about every time.

There are two additional optional steps that Chef Libby reminded me about when discussing this recipe a few days ago, both options add a bit of deeper color and richness to your stock.

One option is to brown your vegetables in the stock pot in a bit of oil before adding the roasted carcass and water; you’re just after a bit of caramelization here. The second option is to add a tablespoon or two of a really good tomato paste to the stock as it cooks down; we love this option when I’m getting stock ready to make tortilla soup or posole when the call for deep Southwestern flavors is over-whelming. By the way, the stock in these images was made by simply roasting the turkey carcass only – not the veg, and I didn’t add tomato paste to this recipe either.

Save those turkey and chicken bones every time…