Southern Chicken Salad

 

Description: Tricia Yearwood's recipe.  Classic and Southern.

Ingredients:

6 chicken breasts

1/2 t salt

4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and diced

1/2 cup sweet pickle relish

1 cup mayo 

S&P

Directions:

Place the chicken in a large pot with water to cover. Add the salt, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low a low simmer and cook the chicken until tender, about 30 - 45 minutes. Drain the chicken, cover and refrigerate until cool.

Pull the chicken into shreds and place in a large bowl. Add the eggs, relish and mayo and stir gently until well mixed. Season with S&P.

 

 

Turkey (or Chicken) Tetrazzini

 

 

Notes: This recipe was developed from 3 different recipes I have made over the years. Make sure you have enough liquid in the stock and cream as the pasta soaks up a lot of liquid and you don't want this dish to be too dry.

 

Ingredients:

12 oz spaghetti, broken into thirds

6 T butter, divided use

1/2 cup onion, chopped

12 oz sliced mushrooms (button or baby Bella's)

2 t minced garlic'1/4 cup flour

1 1/2 cups chicken broth (or more to taste as the pasta soaks up the liquid)

2 cups of Half-and-half

3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

4 oz cream cheese cut into small pieces

1/2 t Italian seasoning

1/8 t nutmeg

1/4 cup sliced almonds

S&P

3 cups cooked chicken or turkey, shredded or chopped

3/4 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs

2 T chopped parsley (optional)

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 9x13 glass dish with cooking spray.

 Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of salted water according to package directions.

Melt 4 T of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook 3-4 minutes until softened. Add the mushrooms and cook another 4-5 minutes until browned and tender.

Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.

Slowly add the chicken broth and 1/2 &1/2 to the pan, whisking constantly.

Bring the milk mixture to a simmer and cook until thickened, a few minutes.

Remove the sauce from the heat, and mix in the parmesan cheese, cream cheese and Italian seasoning. Stir until blended and season with S&P.

Drain the spaghetti and return to the warm cooking pot. Now add the chicken and peas to the pasta.

Pour the sauce over the pasta and toss to coat evenly.

Put the chicken mixture into the prepared dish. 

Melt the remaining 2 T butter. pour the melted butter into the breadcrumbs and almonds and mix to combine. Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture over the pasta.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until bubbly and breadcrumbs are browned. 

 

 

Pickled Red Onions

 Once you start making your own pickled red onions, you'll wonder why you ever bought them. This recipe is so simple but creates these gorgeous pink onions that brighten up any meal. The cinnamon stick and cloves give them a subtle warmth that sets them apart from basic pickled onions.

Ingredients:

2 cups distilled white vinegar

4 whole cloves

1 garlic clove, halved

2 t sugar

2 t kosher salt

1 bay leaf

1 cinnamon stick

4 cups boiling water

1 large red onion, halved and thinly sliced

Directions:

In a 1-quart glass jar, stir together the vinegar, cloves, garlic, sugar, salt, bay leaf and cinnamon stick until the sugar dissolves.

Place the sliced red onions in a mesh strainer set over the sink. Slowly pour the boiling water over the onions. Using tongs, immediately transfer the hot onions down into the vinegar mixture until they are fully submerged. 

Seal the jar and let the red onions pickle, refrigerated for at least one-hour before using, preferably overnight. Store for up to 3 weeks.

Makes 2 cups.

BBQ Brisket (Guest Post - Jeff)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 With a full packer brisket, you will need to trim the fat cap down to 1/4" thick.  Any more than that is too much fat.  Remove the deckle (very hard fat in between the Point and the Flat) the deckle will not render during the cook, so it has to go. There are lots of YouTube videos on how to remove the deckle before smoking. Use a liberal amount of SPG (salt, pepper, and granulated garlic in equal amounts) to rub the meat.

Light your smoker.  you are looking for a pit temp of 250 degrees for low and slow cooking.  If you wish to cook it quicker, go ahead and let the temp come up to 275-300 (some folks go to 325) for the hot and fast version.  I find that hot and fast works best with a prime brisket rather than choice or select.  After the smoke clears to a thin blue color, the meat is ready to go on.  I highly recommend using a multi-probe, WiFi-enabled thermometer to keep track of pit temp and internal temp of the meat.  Set alarms on the thermometer to indicate an out of control fire (325+ degrees) and when meat is completed cooking (203 degrees).   

Now put the rubbed brisket on with the fat cap towards the fire in order to help insulate the meat from the fire.

 If you want, you can spray apple cider vinegar or apple juice on the meat as it gets barky...I never do this before about 7 hours.  Most of the time, I don't do it at all.  If there is moisture on top of the brisket, no need to bother spraying it.

Remember this:  if you are looking...you are NOT cooking.  Keep the lid closed, there is no need to constantly check the meat.

When the meat hits about 170-180 degrees, the internal temp may stall.  Go back inside and have another couple of beers. It will overcome the stall at some point and then the temp will rise to the finish temp of 203 degrees.

When the alarm sounds off that you are done...go push a hand held probe into the meat.  if it pushes in like warm butter....take the meat off and wrap in pink butcher paper.  Wrap it well, then wrap it again. now put it into a small cooler, fill the airspace with  newspaper or a towel.  Let it rest for a MINIMUM of 1 hour, 2 -4 hours is better.  

Remove from cooler, unwrap and remove the point from the flat. Slice across the grain.  

  I usually cut a full packer into dinner + a couple big chunks that can be frozen in food saver bags and reheated in the sous vide.