July is National Hot Dog Month, & Recipes From Koegel’s
Posted on 1 July 2008 under Holidays, Michigan Cuisine, Recipes | 1 Comment
The following press release and recipes are from my buddy Aswathy Mathew. A Senior Account Executive at Hermanoff Public Relations, one of Ash’s accounts is that of Koegel Meats in Flint, Michigan. Long-time readers know I grew up eating Koegel’s products and that I’m a bit proud to be serving them at the city’s beachhouse this summer here in Luna Pier. I seriously appreciate the connection I now have with the company, and Ash is the one who made that happen. You’ll now be seeing press releases from her from time-to-time within this blog. Thanks, Ash!
July is National Hot Dog Month and July 19 is National Hot Dog Day. In recognition of these two celebrations, Koegel Meats, a leading manufacturer and wholesaler of first-class, quality meats is inviting the entire family to celebrate with fun recipes.
“Summer is a fun time for cooking, especially when families are cooking America’s favorite food, hot dogs,” said John Koegel, president of Koegel Meats. “As a family company, we enjoy celebrating National Hot Dog Month with our customers and sharing recipes.”
Following are spectacular summer recipes from Koegel Meats, sure to make a splash at your family gathering:
Koegel’s Smoked Sausage and Pineapple Kebabs
Ingredients:
1 pkg. Koegel’s 6 inch Smoked or Italian Sausage, thickly sliced
1 Pineapple, cut into chunks
1 Red Pepper, cut into chunks
1 Onion, quartered and separated into slices
8 oz. Mushrooms
Your favorite Italian dressing, for marinade
Instructions:
Alternate threading Koegel’s Smoked or Italian Sausage with pineapple, onions, red peppers and mushrooms on kebab skewers. If using wooden skewers, presoak for 30 minutes to keep them from burning on the grill.
Place kebabs in a 9” X 13” non-reactive pan, pour Italian dressing over. Cover and refrigerate. Marinate 2-6 hours, turning occasionally.
Preheat gas grill to medium, or make a medium-hot fire on a charcoal grill.
Grill kebabs until vegetables begin to soften and brown, basing occasionally. All Koegel products are fully cooked. Just heat for full flavor.
Smoked Sausage Fajitas
Ingredients:
1 pkg. of Koegel’s Smoked Sausage
1 pkg. of flour tortillas
½ cup of chopped green peppers
Shredded lettuce
Shredded taco cheese
Salsa
Instructions:
Grill Smoked Sausage until heated, and heat the flour tortillas until softened. Place Smoked Sausage on the tortilla and add toppings of green peppers, lettuce, cheese and salsa.
Italian Sausage Pizza
Ingredients:
1 pkg. of Koegel Smoked Sausage
1 pkg. of English muffins
1 can of pizza sauce
1 fresh tomato
Shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions:
Toast English muffin until crunchy. Top with pizza sauce, then top with Smoked Sausage slices. Add fresh tomato slices and cheese.
These tasty recipes can also be prepared with Koegel’s Skinless Footlongs, Bratwurst, Skinless Frankfurters or Smoked Sausage. Koegel Meat products are available at selected stores in Michigan and northern Ohio. More recipes are available at www.koegelmeats.com.
I’ve found “selected stores” around here to mean Kroger locations in Monroe County and north Toledo, GFS Marketplace stores in both areas, and a few Koegel items being available at the Sam’s Club on Airport Highway and I-475 west of Toledo.
How Many Are You Grilling For?, and Flight Deck Picnic Pics
Posted on 23 May 2008 under Barbecuing, Grilling, Holidays, Special Events | No Comments
Click on either photo for a larger version.
Any time I start worrying about how many people I’m cooking for at any given meal, I think back to the day these pics were taken. I wasn’t a cook on the aircraft carrier USS America (I was just a technician in one of the electronics repair labs on the ship) but I saw how hard the cooks worked in feeding a crew of over 5,000 men four meals each day. (As ships operate 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, with two shifts, there’s a fourth meal around 1 a.m. for the night shift.) I took these pics almost exactly 16 years ago on May 22, 1992. We were making the passage from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal and the Captain had designated that day “Ditch Day”, a common name for such events. There was BBQ chicken, burgers, baked beans, corn, cole slaw, tossed salad, potato salad, dill pickles, and plenty of canned Coca-Cola for everyone. The day was rather hot, so there were massive water balloon fights and a few somewhat “leaky” firefighting hoses strewn about the deck. Note the band to the left of the first picture. How the drummer managed to get his kit onboard a combat vessel is beyond me.
Before anyone asks, the ship is no longer afloat:
In $22 million worth of “experiments that will last from four to six weeks,” the AP reports, “the Navy will batter the America with explosives, both underwater and above the surface, watching from afar and through monitoring devices placed on the vessel.” … These explosions would presumably simulate attacks by torpedoes, cruise missiles and perhaps a small boat suicide attack like the one that damaged the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen in 2000 … At the end, explosive scuttling charges placed to flood the ship will be detonated, and the America will begin its descent to the sea floor …
According to Wikipedia, the scuttling location on May 14, 2005, was 33°09′09″N, 71°39′07″W, around 250 miles (400 km) southeast of Cape Hatteras. The wreck lies in 2,810 fathoms (5139 metres or 16,860 feet).
So how many are you grilling for this weekend? Navy ships around the world may very well be conducting such a picnic as the one in these photos, with thousands in attendance on a small metal “island”. We can only hope the sailors on those vessels can have as peaceful a picnic as we did that day.
Christmas 2007 … In January 2008; + Easy Cheesy Potatoes
Posted on 21 January 2008 under Holidays, Recipes, Special Events | 2 Comments
<==If you’ve ever wondered what a blonde looks like when she sees her first cell phone, I imagine this is it.
We were finally able to have Christmas with my family in the Flint area on Saturday. Of course that means as many friends and relatives as possible converge on my parents’ house, stories are told, food is prepared and served … and if you come away hungry it’s your own darned fault. We went into the house with pizzas, strombolis and pop (this is Michigan … it’s not soda). While there we had meatballs, fresh green beans and some of the gang’s special Easy Cheesy Potatoes. The gang, seen in these images, were responsible for cubing the frozen hash browns for those potatoes. These are my kids and some of their cousins, all led in this endevour by their infamous Aunt Danette, who was ready to go Postal on their butts at a moment’s notice.
Ok, so really, she’s not like that. Not one measly iota. The going Postal thing makes Danette roll her eyes, which always gets a good laugh.
Danette and I aren’t related but have known each other since we were in probably 6th grade. She and her sister Della have always been another couple of sisters to me, so they’re my kids’ Aunts. As for Danette going Postal … well, she does work for the Post Office, sooooo …
Anyway, Danette herded this gang into the kitchen where they formulated an ad-libbed version of Easy Cheesy Potatoes for our dinner. The real recipe for this dish is available online but ad-libbed versions are simple to create and are highly modifiable. (My sister Barb, a pro cook for over 30 years, calls the dish, “highly mutatable”.) With all these kids in the kitchen making hash out of the hash browns, and Danette making sure the dish that went into the oven at least looked edible, all I was able to do was take pictures.
And then … do you know what this woman went and did?
She packed up her kids and went home.
That’s right. She’s the kind of person who can, and will, help make your own dinner, and then leave, not having any at all, and go home to cook a full meal for her own family.
Her sister Della is the same way.
Imagine how nice this world would be if there were more Danettes or Dellas around.
Some Unexpected Gifts
Posted on 1 January 2008 under Gifts, Holidays | No Comments
The question has come up in quite a few online forums: What do you get a Chef for Christmas? We bought Chef Tad a copy of A Fork In The Road by Eric Villegas, while giving Catherine a one-hour massage from one of her long-time friends who owns a licensed massage therapy center.
We weren’t expecting anything in return, especially the kind of stuff in this photo! The 8″ Chef’s knife is beautifully made, and I’d mentioned to Tad that he needed to check out the panini skillet for his own use at the restaurant. “The Cook’s Companion” is the kind of book I really enjoy, outlining thousands of basic techniques in one volume.
But even more special is the basket. While containing a bottle of the 2005 Stephen Vincent Crimson we had at dinner tonight, it also contains a pair of custom handpainted Frog Leg Inn wine glasses.
Thanks Tad and Catherine for a wonderful evening!
Eat This Blog: A Bachelor-Hosted New Year’s Eve Dinner
Posted on 1 January 2008 under Eat This Blog, Holidays, Photos, Special Events | 2 Comments
Mary’s brother David is a bachelor like only one other I’ve ever known. Having lived with their dad until he passed away this past April, he’s cooked and cleaned in that house for decades. Because of this, he’s one of the finest grill and fry cooks around. Unlike most other fine cooks though, he only cooks for his own and our enjoyment. I do tease him that he should open his own restaurant, but I actually believe he wouldn’t enjoy cooking as much then.
On this plate, the prepped breaded shrimp for deep frying and the pre-wrapped bacon-wrapped shrimp for grilling came from The Fish Market on Telegraph just south of the state line. David cooked the breaded shrimp off in a countertop deep fryer, along with th French fries, while grilling the bacon-wrapped shrimp outside. Steve Gayle, owner of The Fish Market and a family friend, also prepped and steamed some large shrimp marinated in Old Bay, which he’d then chilled. We always have these shrimp with a dipping sauce David makes, made of a mix of ketchup and fresh ground horseradish. The Porterhouse steaks, which David also grilled, came from Lee Williams House of Meats in Point Place, Ohio. Mary also made some lasagna for the boys, and everyone ended up happy and full.
Happy New Year!
In Defense of a Better Green Bean Casserole
Posted on 27 December 2007 under Food In The News, Holidays, Projects | 1 Comment
Over at the Toledo Blade, Mary Alice Powell has posted a column titled “Fruitcake Fan Won’t Back Down“. While expounding on the qualities of a good Claxton fruitcake (something I myself enjoy), she also, like, totally disses Grean Bean Casserole. Yeah I know, regardless of what the current TV ads show, pine trees do not like green bean casserole … While I do agree with some of what Ms. Powell wrote on the subject, I did feel it necessary to send her the following:
You wrote, “the green bean casserole, a combination of three canned commercial products, is an embarrassment to American culinary ingenuity and taste.” Ah yes, that could easily be said. But as with fruitcake, some of which is like eating a brick off a one-room schoolhouse, you don’t have to follow what’s generally accepted when making it. While the “classic” dish is, as a result of the TV dinner culture, a “peasant dish”, it’s definitely possible to upgrade the beast ala Ratatouille, i.e. both the movie and its Thomas Keller version of the dish.
For example, clean some fresh green beans and break them in half. Clean and slice a few shallots, and wash and slice some mushrooms. Make a bechamel sauce and add, say, a bit of fresh shredded Meunster and some salt and pepper to taste. Coat the shallots in a corn meal batter and deep fry them till golden brown. At the same time, sauté the beans and mushroom slices in some olive oil with some minced garlic. To serve, the beans and mushrooms go on the plate, topped with the sauce and garnished with the fried shallots.
No, I don’t have a photo. Looks as though I’ll have to make some of this to prove its worth.
A weekend project? Sure seems that way. I wonder what Dorcas Reilly would think?
Recipe: Church Window Cookies
Posted on 22 December 2007 under Cookies, Holidays, Recipes | 2 Comments
Yeah, I’ve been a bit remiss in getting these cookie recipes posted. The fact is I made these Church Window Cookies earlier this week. This evening, 13abc’s Zack Ottenstein came off his first-ever solo anchoring at the news desk, headed directly to our house, had dinner with us while still in makeup … and then Briahna asked, “Can I have some of the Church Window Cookies?” Mary mentioned she hadn’t gotten any of them yet either … and then it dawned on me the roll was still in the fridge, un-cut! Everyone had some, with Zack eating all but the coconut. This batch was great … it’d be rather difficult to screw them up anyway.
Sorry, Rebecca. I should have had this posted by now. Mea culpa!
These are by far my favorite Christmas cookies. My mom’s been making them ever since I can remember (this is her recipe) and still does. The recipe is quite simple, and the cookies themselves are quite delicious.
Church Window Cookies
12 oz package semisweet chocolate chips
1 stick margarine (not butter!)
10.5 oz package of colored mini marshmallows
1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
sweetened shredded coconut
Equipment
Double boiler
Wax paper
In a double-boiler, melt the chips with the margarine, stirring almost constantly. Once they’re melted, remove them from the heat and allow them to cool quite a bit (at least an hour) so the marshmallows won’t melt. Fold in the mini marshmallows and nuts. On a sheet of wax paper, roll into a log about 3″ in diameter, then roll in shredded coconut. Wrap the roll in the wax paper and refrigerate for at least 12 hours. Slice into 1/2″ cookies before serving.
Monroe County Community College Holiday Party
Posted on 21 December 2007 under Catering etc., Eat This Blog, Holidays, Special Events | 4 Comments
I didn’t put this plate together. Neither did one of the many chefs working on yesterday’s holiday luncheon for the 240 staff and faculty at Monroe County Community College. This was just some guy who’d made up his own plate. I stopped him for a few seconds as he went by, and shot this photo before he went to sit down to enjoy his holiday lunch on his last day of work at the college prior to the holiday break.
Catherine Cousino of the college’s Frog Leg Bistro had asked me to be there yesterday specifically to shoot photos of both the food and the proceedings, and I was all too happy to simply look for decent shots, and stay out of the way! When I got to the dining room at the college at about 9:30 yesterday morning, Catherine and her staff had already been working for almost three hours. I’d barely gotten into the door and hadn’t even taken my coat of yet when I lined up this shot of the tables in the dining room. Of course right away one of the school’s administrators came up with the first instance of the seemingly common phrase, “Can I help you with something??” I explained that I was there at Catherine’s request. He was happy with that, and was on his way. This happened at least three times that I remember, possibly more! For next year’s festivities, I think I should probably wear a nametag …
Back in the Bistro’s large catering kitchen, one of the busier prep stations was where Molly and Alicia, both current students in Monroe County Community College’s Associate of Applied Science Degree program with Specialization in Culinary Skills and Management, were putting together a few hundred desserts. From Molly’s iced-and-decorated sugar cookies, to Chef Cedric’s rich chocolate cake medallions, to Alicia’s cherry pies, chocolate pecan pies and fresh apple pie with caramel, to Cedric’s beautiful Buche de Noel, along with smaller desserts such as a pecan mock baklava and chocolate brownies with shaved white chocolate, Molly and Alicia took care of each dessert individually. Once the desserts were ready, loaded onto a speed rack and taken out to the dining room, the girls built an amazing dessert table, with each piece arranged perfectly for a mouth-watering presentation to a large crowd. I lost track of how many pieces of how many types of desserts the girls prepped for this incredible dessert table, and the work took them almost the entire morning to accomplish. Alicia actually insisted I wait before taking any shots of the end result so she could position each and every dish just so, so each dessert would stand on its own within the photo you see here. The whole of it, each and every dessert, and various levels on the final table, was something I think the girls were quite proud of.
Returning to the kitchen while Molly and Alicia finished the dessert buffet, I found the various other dishes for the holiday lunch were taking shape. Chef Tad made about four gallons of Alfredo sauce for the multi-colored farfalle, or “bow-tie”, pasta, while a chunky marinara sauce was also made for those diners who would prefer it with the pasta. Towering over the rest of the crew, Michael took care of the redskin mashed potatoes, which was coming together alongside a number of huge sections of slow-roasted roast beef. Chef Cedric concentrated on the steamed al denté vegetables with butter and 15 Million Spice, while Catherine and Claudia ensured each of the slow-roasted hams, custom cut for the occasion by a local butcher, were glazed to perfection and piping hot.
The college’s faculty and staff were more than punctual for this lunch! People started showing up shortly after 11:30 a.m., scoping out their tables, checking out the dessert buffet, and talking to the Bistro’s staff as final preparations continued. Two serving lines had been created in the room behind the culinary program’s kitchen, with five ornate chafing dishes on each line, along with a carving station at the far ends. The line of guests in the hallway outside the serving room started forming at about five minutes before noon and grew rapidly as more-and-more guests arrived from across the campus. The anticipated number of guests was 240, and it seemed as though the final number was quite close to that preliminary estimate. Once the guests were finally able to enter the serving room, lines formed on either side of each of the serving lines and, with Chef Tad and Chef Cedric carving the roast beef, all the guest were able to work their way through the room and back to their tables rather rapidly.
Along with the massive dessert buffet in the dining room and the two serving lines in the smaller room off the Culinary Arts kitchen, the dining room also contained two smaller tables. Here were large bins of various types of dinner rolls, along with huge bowls of freshly-made Ceaser Salad topped with mounds of shredded parmesan cheese. The drink counter in the dining room had also been commandeered. Available drinks were coffee, ice tea, and a made-from-scratch punch made of a mix of orange and cranberry juices. All the guests seemd quite happy with what was available for their holiday meal, many of them thanking the Bistro’s staff and exclaiming about how wonderful the food was.
Finally, after most of the guests had finished their meal and the immense stack of china plates and dirty utensils were on their way to the dishawashing room, the staff of the Frog Leg Bistro were finally able to break down one of the serving lines, and then enjoy their own work at a stand-up meal at one of the Bistro’s prep stations. When I was growing up my mom had taught me the cook always eats last, regardless of how hungry they might be. This hard-working crew is proof of how much this statement still holds true today. It was after 1 p.m. when they were finally able to have their own lunch, having started work on the meal about 6 hours before. There was simply no time to do otherwise, given the scheduled time of the lunch for the guests. This is just a small part of why these kinds of folks deserve considerable respect.
I had grabbed a couple small to-go containers and headed to the remains of the dessert buffet when I found Alicia staring at the beautiful Buche de Noel her guy Chef Cedric had made. Without extra plates at this buffet, and without anyone thinking about cutting this amazing dessert … as seen below, the darned thing was still in one piece while most of the guests had already left! We felt so bad for Ced, who had literally spent hours creating this dessert. Alicia and Ced took the flowery left end for themselves, and I cut off about the next four inches to take home. A couple more pieces were then cut by some of the guests who’d stayed longer before Catherine decided to save the rest of the dessert for another event.
This was an amazing meal. Kudos to all the folks at the Frog Leg Bistro at Monroe County Community College who worked so hard to make it happen.
Eat This Blog: Zack vs. The Turkey
Posted on 22 November 2007 under Eat This Blog, Holidays | 4 Comments
13abc’s Zack Ottenstein poses with all that was left of our Thanksgiving turkey this afternoon! This was after us seven adults devoured it, along with mashed potatoes, sausage stuffing, cranberry and lingonberry sauces, biscuits, and chilled cocktail shrimp. Ok, so there’s a plate of turkey behind Zack in this image … he and I missed that when Zack posed for this picture …
Memorial Day 2007
Posted on 28 May 2007 under Holidays, Recipes | No Comments
Last night, I dumped about a cup of dark brown sugar into a bowl, mixed it up with some sea salt and coarse ground pepper, rubbed it onto a couple racks of baby pork ribs and shoved them into the fridge.
This morning, Briahna and I made up a double batch of my mom’s Ground Bologna Sandwich Spread, made up some sandwiches with it and packed up the picnic basket. We then went to the noon Memorial Day service at Memorial Park here in Luna Pier (MC’d by perrenial fave, and City Administrator, Tom Treece), and afterward had a picnic lunch at the beach here. While the kids started their first Lake Erie swim of the season, I headed back to the house. In a glass bowl, I whisked a bottle of Coors with a bottle of Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce, dumped it all over the ribs, covered them up, shoved them into a 300 degree F oven, and went back to the beach.
At about 5 this afternoon I transferred the ribs to a grill set for medium-high heat and gave them a coat of Sweet Baby Ray’s. After about 10 minutes, I flipped them over and coated the other side. Another 10 minutes, and another flipping later, they were ready to serve, along with some Uncle Ben’s Long-Grain & Wild Rice, and some beautiful homemade pull-apart garlic bread from our friends at Nehring’s Market up in Burton, Michigan, near Flint.
When it came to meals, on a lazy day like today, simplest has definitely been best.
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